History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 115

Author: Bradsby, H. C. (Henry C.)
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Chicago, S. B. Nelson
Number of Pages: 1340

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

Gen. Grant for President, and has kept on voting with the Republican party ever since. He is a favorite campaign speaker in political con- tests. He has never been a candidate for, or held any office, except that of district attorney, from 1877 to 1880. He was married, in 1879, to Miss Berenice McGill, a daughter of Hiram W. and Emily (Sweet) McGill, of Towanda, Pa., and they had two beautiful little daughters, Christine and Gertrude, but the former died in 1888. Mr. and Mrs. McPherson are both members of the Presbyterian Church.

ARTHUR B. McKEAN, of Beardsley & Mckean, general hard- ware merchants, Troy, was born in West Burlington, this county, August 4, 1850, and is a son of James S. and Sarah W. (Blackwell) Mckean. His paternal grandparents were Robert and Martha (Wilson) McKean, and his great-grandparents were James and Jane (Scott) Mckean; the latter, who were natives of Scotland, resided for some time in Cecil county, Md., then settled in West Burlington township, on what is known as the County Farm, in 1791, and resided in that township until their death; their children were: Allen, William, James, Andrew, John, Rebecca (Mrs. John Dobbins), Robert, Samuel, Benjamin and Jane (Mrs. John Calkins); of these, Samuel was United States Senator from Pennsylvania, and lived and died on the old homestead. Robert, the paternal grandfather of Arthur B., also resided in Burlington township until his death, and cleared and improved a farm. By his wife, Martha Wilson, he had the following children : Allen, Thomas J., Noah W., Lemira (Mrs. John Lilley), Andrew J., James S., Robert, and Jane (Mrs. Edward Kemp) ; of these, James S., father of the subject of this sketch, was born, reared and died in what is now West Burlington township. He was a black- smith by trade, and was postmaster of West Burlington for eight years ; his wife was a daughter of John and Sarah (Blackwell) Black- well, natives of England. They had one son, Arthur B., who was reared in West Burlington, educated at Susquehanna Institute, Towanda, and began life as a bookkeeper in Troy, Pa., in August, 1868, which he followed three years in Troy, and two years in Wil- liamsport; he then engaged in the grocery business one year at Williamsport; returned to West Burlington in 1873, and embarked in general merchandise business, in which he continued up to 1878, and then engaged in the lumber business. In 1884 he located in Troy and engaged in the hardware business as member of the firm of Beardsley, Spalding & McKean. He married, June 17, 1873, Sibyl, daughter of Bingham L. and Abbie (Pierce) Rockwell, of Troy, and has one son, Scott R. Mr. McKean is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, is the present burgess of Troy, and in politics is a Republican.

COLONEL HENRY B. McKEAN, of Towanda, was born in Columbia township, this county, September 13, 1831, and is a son of Benjamin and Elizabeth (Mathewson) McKean. His paternal grand- parents were James and Jane (Scott) Mckean, of Scotch-Irish descent, pioneers of Burlington township, this county, and who lived and died on what is now known as the County Poor Farm. The maternal grand- parents were William and Elizabeth (Satterlee) Mathewson, formerly of Connecticut, and pioneers of Tioga Point (now Athens), this county.

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

The father of our subject spent most of his life in Columbia township, and was a farmer by occupation. He was sheriff of Bradford county in 1828, '29 and '30, and was thrice married; his first wife was Lucy Calkins, of Burlington, by whom he had two sons, James C. and Charles S .; his second wife was Elizabeth Mathewson, by whom he had two children, twins, Henry B. and Helen E. (Mrs. Dudley Long) ; his third wife was Laura LeBarron, by whom he had one daughter, Alma (Mrs. Hezekiah Lament). Henry B. was reared in Bradford county, and educated at Troy and Athens academies; he studied law with John C. Adams and William Elwell, of Towanda, and was admit- ted to the barin 1855. He practiced his profession until the breaking out of the Civil War, and had been postmaster of Towanda, during Buchanan's administration. April 21, 1861, he enlisted in Company I, Sixth Regiment Pennsylvania Reserves, and April 22, 1861, was elected and commissioned second lieutenant of the company ; on the organization of the regiment, June 22, 1861, was appointed adjutant, and April 1, 1862, was commissioned lieut .- colonel of the regiment. He participated in the battles of Dranesville, Va., the Peninsular cam- paign, Second Bull Run, South Mountain and Antietam, but on account of disability was compelled to resign, and was discharged by brigade and corps surgeons' certificate of disability, November 25, 1862. On Lee's invasion of Pennsylvania, in 1863, he was commis- sioned colonel of the Thirty-fifth Regiment, Pennsylvania Militia. He resumed the practice of law at Towanda, where he continued until 1875, when he entered the employ of the Lehigh Valley Railroad as attorney and car agent, at Sayre, Pa., which position he held until 1880, when he again resumed the practice of law at Towanda, and continued until 1887, when he was appointed to a position in the Pen- sion Bureau, Washington, D. C. In 1888 he was transferred to the Executive Mansion, and remained there until March, 1890, when he was transferred to the Pension Bureau of the Interior Department, where he now is. Col. McKean was married, November 19, 1869, to Mary E., daughter of John P. and Mary E. (Sayre) Cox, of Bethlehem, Pa., and has one son, John C. He is a member of the Episcopal Church, is past master of Union Lodge, No. 108; past H. P. Union Chapter, No. 161, past E. C. Northern Commandery, No. 16, K. T., Tow- anda, Pa., Scottish Rite, Thirty-second degree, Bloomsburg and Harris- burg Consistory; past G. C. grand commandery Knights Templar of Pennsylvania, past commander Watkins Post, G. A. R., No. 68, Towanda, Pa., and member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States Commandery, of the District of Columbia, and member of the Military Order, Sons of American Revolution, of Washı- ington, D. C. Elisha Mathewson, his great-grandfather, enlisted August 1, 1777, under Capt. Robert Durkee, and Lieut. Spalding, and was discharged in November, 1783, George Washington certifying to six and a half years of service; politically he is a Democrat.

CHARLES J. McKEE, farmer and dairyman, P. O. Grover, is a native of Canton township, this county, and was born March 25, 1859, a son of John McKee, who was born in County Down, Ireland, March 17, 1824; his parents were John and Elizabeth (McMahon) McKee,

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natives of Scotland. Mr. McKee emigrated, in 1850, to New York with his family, where he remained five years, and then removed to Canton township, where he has since resided on his farm. Mr. McKee was married in Ireland, in 1850, to Margaret, daughter of James and Sarah (Dougan) Clements, natives of County Armagh, Ireland, and of Scotch descent. She is the youngest in a family of seven children, and was born in County Armagh, March 7, 1830. To them were born four children, of whom two are now living : Joseph A., married to Gertrude Fitzwater, and Charles J. Our subject received his education in the public schools, and has made farming and dairying his occupation, shipping most of his milk to Williamsport. He was married in Canton township, June 2, 1887, to Harriet, a daughter of Ichabod and Harriet A. (King) Sellard. Mr. Sellard was born in Canton township, March 24, 1821, the youngest son of Stephen and Polly Sellard ; he married, in 1845, Harriet, the youngest daughter of John and Sophia King of Tioga county, Pa., who were early settlers of Sullivan township, Tioga Co., Pa. Mrs. McKee's great-grandfather, Simon King. was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and her grandfather, Stephen Sellard, was a soldier in the War of 1812. Ichabod Sellard was a farmer and cattle dealer; was instrumental in getting the switch railroad put at Grover ; owned an ore mine near there, and also gave the land for the switch ; he died October 21, 1877; Mrs. Sellard died January 22, 1888, in her sixty-first year. Mrs. McKee is the youngest in order of birth in a family of five children, of whom four are now living, and she was born in Canton township, January 23, 1866. To Mr. and Mrs. McKee was born one son, Harry C. The family are members of the Presbyterian Church. He is a member of Grover Grange, No. 815, and is secretary of the same. Politically he is a Republican.

McKEE BROS., proprietors of the Towanda Daily Review, Elmer B. McKee being general manager, and Frank C. McKee, editor. The publication firm was formed in June, 1885, and has been one of the prosperous houses of the county's capital ; the paper started "Inde- pendent " and the " boys" are evidently to be considered as much so as their valued publication; and in public life the man or paper that is "Independent " of all cliques and clans may well be envied. The grandfather, Asa McKee, was a pioneer in Orwell township and a prominent citizen, his son Robert McKee, who died at Towanda, April 7, 1891, the father of these brothers, was born in Orwell in 1829, and came to Towanda in 1868. His wife, the mother of three chil- dren, was Jane E. Craft, a native of New York. Elmer B. McKee, who was born February 4, 1859, became widely known as a teacher before entering the publishing line; he is a product of the Towanda public schools and the Susquehanna Collegiate College, where he graduated in 1873, then attending the State Normal, at Oswego, N. Y., where he graduated in 1882. He had been teaching in Towanda and at Sayre, and in 1884 was employed in the Teachers' Institute work. He was married, January 29, 1891, to Fannie M. Burns, of Fresno, Cal. He is a member of the school-board, the Presbyterian Church, and Towanda Lodge, No. 167, I. O. O. F.

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JOHN McQUEEN, florist, Robert Packer Hospital, Sayre, is a native of Scotland, and was born August 1, 1825. His parents were Hugh and Jane (Cornell) McQueen, natives of Scotland, who immi- grated to this county about the year 1852, and here the former died, in 1859, in his eighty-third year, and the latter in 1876, in her seventy- eighth year. John McQueen, who is the second in eleven children, was reared in Scotland, and came to Philadelphia, in 1848; he learned floriculture, and in 1852 came to Smithfield; then removed to Ulster township, and engaged in farming and lumbering until the spring of 1883, when he came to Sayre and took charge of the greenhouses, grounds, etc., of the Robert Packer Hospital. One greenhouse is 20x80 feet, and the other 24x120 feet. Mr. McQueen was married, in Smithfield township, in 1856, to Miss Emma, daughter of Ira and Sophia (Mason) Adams, natives of Connecticut (she is the fifth in a family of eight children, and was born in Smithfield, in 1833, and died in 1875). To Mr. and Mrs. McQueen were born seven children, of whom four are now living, as follows: William, Mary (wife of W. S. Sleighter), Annie and Frank. Five of our subject's brothers served in the Civil War. Mr. McQueen casts his suffrage with the Democratic party.

JOHN MADDEN, engineer, Lehigh Valley Railroad, Sayre, a native of Towanda, this county, was born December 15, 1849, and is a son of Patrick and Mary (Lyons) Madden, natives of Ireland, who immigrated to Towanda in 1836. The mother died in May, 1889, in her seventy-third year; the father is still living. John, who is the seventh in a family of nine children, found his first occupation in life at boating for the railroad company; then he worked on the track for some time. About the year 1869 he began firing for the L. V. R. R., and afterward was promoted to first engineer, which position he has held since. He was married in Dushore, Sullivan Co., Pa., in 1863, to Miss Ann, daughter of John and Mary (Clarey) Daugherty, natives of Ireland (she is the second in a family of seven children, and was born in Ireland in 1848). Mr. and Mrs. Madden had eleven children, three of whom died young. The living are: Kate (wife of John Sherry, of Elmira), Annie, James, Maggie, Agnes, Nellie, Jerry and Mary. The family are members of the Roman Catholic Church. Mr. Mad- den is a member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, and is a Republican in politics.

MAJOR-GENERAL H. J. MADILL, Towanda, is a Bradford county man whose military fame is national, and whose record in the Civil War will ever form a most thrilling chapter of our country's history. He was born in Adams county, this State, March 30, 1829, the son of Dr. Alexander Madill, a native of Ireland, born of Scotch- Irish stock, and who immigrated to America in 1823, locating in Hunterstown, Adams Co., Pa., where he was in the practice of his profession ; thence he removed to Bradford county, settling in Wysox township, in 1831, where he had an extensive practice many years, and died in 1852; his family of children were five in number-four sons and one daughter-of whom Gen. H. J. Madill is the eldest. The subject of this memoir received a liberal education, both from

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private teachers and in an academy, and then entered, as a law student, the office of John C. Adams, in Towanda. He was licensed as an attorney in 1851, and, opening a law office, rose quickly in the line of his profession. He was thus busily engaged when the Civil War coming upon the devoted land; he laid down his briefs, buckled on his sword, and was one of the first to answer his country's call. With two companies he went to Harrisburg, where they found the call for three months' men was already full, and that they could not be received; but in a few days, June 26, 1861, they were mustered into the three years' service, as a part of the Sixth Pennsylvania Reserves, Henry J. Madill, major. He was with this command, in the front, until August 30, 1862, when he was appointed colonel of the One Hundred and Forty-first Regiment, Pennsylvania Infantry. The already brilliant service of Maj. Madill pointed to him as the proper person to take command as colonel of this regiment, seven companies of which had been recruited in Bradford county. The "boys " bailed this fortunate appointment with joy, and from that hour until the day of its muster-out there was no command in the Union army that was more conspicuous for dash and courage; as cool in the fiercest of the battle as at the mess-table, always careful of the lives of his men, yet as reckless of danger to himself as a plumed knight, he forged his way to the highest military office ever conferred upon any one from Brad- ford county-from major of a regiment, at the beginning of the war, to that of brevet-major-general at its close. His command of the One Hundred and Forty first Regiment was itself not only historical, but soon made a reputation for that command that was as brilliant as it was dangerous to the lives of the total membership. The chaplain and historian of the regiment, Rev. David Craft, in his history says : "To show the estimation in which they were held by the officers of the Corps, I need now but mention the fact that they were selected by the Division and Corps commanders, in the celebrated mud march of Gen. Burnsides, to cross the river alone, carry the opposite heights at the point of the bayonet, and hold the crest of the hill, in order that the army might cross to the opposite side, for the purpose of attacking Fredericksburg in the rear. * * * Through thirty-three battles, in which they fought, they never became demoralized, or willingly turned their back upon the foe."

It is said that in the loss of life on the battlefield there was but one other regiment in the Union Armies that could show a longer list than this Bradford command; " two-thirds of the men on its rolls carrying muskets" is the awful score of death on its balance-sheet. The remnant of this regiment made forever famous the spot they occupied in the Peach Orchard at Gettysburg. They had entered that field of carnage 200 strong, and already twenty of the brave boys had fallen ; Gen. Madill says: "I now found myself alone with a small regiment of one hundred and eighty men; twenty had been killed or wounded by the severe cannonade, and in a charge of the Eighth South Carolina Regiment." This little band received the shock of a charge by overwhelming numbers; thirty of the one hundred and eighty fell at the first fire of the enemy, and in a

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moment, as it were, twenty-seven lie dead on the field, and one hundred more are prone on the ground, bleeding from severe wounds; the color-bearers and all the color-guards are killed or severely wounded, when Col. Madill seizes the flag, and marches slowly from the slaughter pen, with but nineteen of his brave boys able to follow him. The little forlorn hope are met by Gen. Sickles who beseechingly says to Col. Madill: "Colonel, for God's sake, can't you hold on ?" when with tears and choking voice he answers: "Where are my men ?" Of the nineteen followers of their leader were three officers, Capt. Horton, and Lieuts. Brainard and Atkinson, the latter of whom, though severely wounded, was able to walk and was at his post. There is nothing in war history, not even the "Charge of the Six Hundred," that is more thrilling than this stand by the little band of heroes under Col. Madill at Gettysburg. It was more than " when Greek meets Greek," it was the flower and pick of the Virginia veterans hurling themselves like a thunderbolt of lead and flame and iron upon the brave and unconquer- able Pennsylvanians, the leader of whom was defending nearly the very spot on which he was born, standing as a stone-wall, defying the invading foe.

Gen. Graham being taken prisoner, Col. Madill was placed in com- mand of the brigade, and was commissioned brigadier-general, Decem- ber 2, 1864, and brevet major-general, March 13, 1865. He was wounded by a sharpshooter at Sutherland's Station, April 2, 1865, in charging a battery at the head of his brigade, the ball lodging in the groin, from the effects of which wound he has never recovered. The others were slight wounds, one received at Petersburg and the other at Gettysburg. The number of bullets that passed through his clothes, and the six horses that had been shot from under him in different engagements, look as though he escaped with his life through naught else than Providential interference. When he had sufficiently recovered from his last wound to be moved, the war was over, so as soon as able he returned to his Towanda home, and resumed the practice of law. This, however, was soon interferred with by his election, in 1866, to the office of register and recorder of Bradford county, in which he served a full term. In 1879 he represented this district in the State Legislature. In 1890, in obedience to the behests of his many friends all over the county, he stood for the office of prothonotary, in opposi- tion to the regular Republican party nomination, was triumphantly elected on the Independent ticket, and is now filling that position. No man in the county stands fairer with all classes of the people than Gen. Madill-cheerful, kind, affable and suave, the world is his friend, but it is for his old comrades to love him in those strong bonds that came of life in the tented field.

Maj. H. J. Madill was united in marriage, in this county, in 1856, with Ellen, daughter of George Scott, and they have one son, Harry, who is now in the West. The family worship at the Presbyterian Church ; the Major is a member of the G. A. R., the I. O. O. F., and of the K. of P.

THOMAS F. MADILL, M. D., a native of Kingston, Pa., was born September 30, 1828, a son of Alexander and Rose (Edgar) Madill.

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His father was a physician of distinction in his day, receiving his education in Edinburglı, Scotland, and coming to Pennsylvania in 1816; he first settled at Kingston and in 1830 removed to Wysox, where he spent the remainder of his life in the practice of his profes- sion ; he died in 1864; his family were seven in number, five of whom grew to their majority, and of these Thomas F. Madill was the second in order of birth, and has spent his life in the spot where he now lives. He received a good education in the common schools and Collegiate Institute, attending Lafayette college after leaving the Towanda Insti- tute. He commenced a course of reading in his father's office in 1850, and completed his preliminary studies in the office of Dr. George F. Horton, of Terrytown ; then he attended Jefferson Medical .Col- lege, Philadelphia, where he was graduated March 13, 1855, and at once returned to his home and opened his office, engaging in the general practice of physic, but, perhaps, gaining a more extensive repu- tation from his operations in surgery than otherwise. One operation, the treatment of the tibia by the successful insertion of ivory, became a noted first case of the kind, and was given in extenso in the " Phila- delphia Examiner," 1863; he has probably ridden more miles, and visited more cabins and farm houses of every degree, than any other physician ever in the county. His long professional life has been one unbroken success, and while advancing years and wealth have come together in his case, he still ministers to the afflicted, but mostly where the prejudice of old friends will not allow them to be sent away. He was married in Bradford county, October 5, 1857, to Eliza M. Weston, by whom there are four children living : Jean Lillian, William Lester, Daisy Dean and Robert Packer. Mrs. Madill is a daughter of the late Dr John N. Weston, of Towanda. No man stands fairer with the people of Bradford, both professionally and socially, than Dr. Madill, in his long residence and an active business life; and now as an age is coming with its wane in some respects, his high moral cour- age, that command of a strong will over dull matter, still asserts itself unmistakably on all proper occasions, and easily commands due deference and respect. The Doctor is in the meridian of his intellectual vigor, and his trained hand can still guide the surgeon's knife with all the steady precision of perfect machinery. His residence in the rich Wysox valley is a model of elegance and solid comfort, and is the pro- duct of his active professional life, backed by a tireless energy.

WILLIAM M. MALLORY, coal operator, Towanda, was born November 25, 1817, in what is now Corning, N. Y., and is a son of Laurin and Mary (Mead) Mallory. His paternal grandfather, Ebenezer Mallory, whose wife was Clara Judson, was a nativeof Connecticut, and a son of Ebenezer Mallory. He was a pioneer of the Johnson settlement in Schuy-

. ler county, N. Y., and was a farmer. Laurin Mallory was a pioneer of what is now Corning, N. Y., where he was extensively engaged in lumbering, merchandising and farming, and also as a shipper of grain and other produce down the Susquehanna river in the pioneer days. He was also identified with the first bank of Corning, and for a time served as cashier, and this bank was one of those that survived the financial crisis of 1842. He married, in Corning, Mary, daughter of Eldad Mead,

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a pioneer of that section, and a brother of William Mead, founder of Meadville, Pa. William was reared in what is now Corning, and re- ceived a high-school education, studied civil engineering, in which he became proficient in a short time, and was one of an engineer corps when there were but three finished railroads in the United States. He joined this corps in 1837, though he had worked as a surveyor the year previous, and followed that profession for seven years; he then operated the Blossburg Railroad, under lease, until 1853, mined all the coal at that place during that time, and up to 1858, when he sold out, and spent four years thereafter closing up his business affairs connected with the railroad and his Blossburg interests, and spent the years 1862 and 1863 at Irvington, N. Y. In 1864 he located in Towanda, where he has since resided. From 1864 to 1875 he was manager of the Fall Creek Coal Company, since which time he has been operating in the coal fields of the Wyoming district. He was twice married : his first wife was Sarah T., daughter of Judge Isaac and Sarah (Strong) McConachie, of Troy, N. Y., and by her he had three children, viz .: Catherine, William P. and Judson ; his second wife was Anna M., daughter of Lucius B. and Martha (Day) Peck, of Montpelier, Vt., and by her he had five children, as follows: Mary, Martha, Lucius B., IIarriet Anna and William F. Mr. Mallory attends the Episcopal Church ; in politics he is a Republican, and he attended the first con- vention of the party held at Syracuse, in 1854.

LAWRENCE H. MALONEY, farmer and breeder of Hamble- tonian horses, Troy, was born in Troy borough, this county, July 4, 1856, and is a son of Lawrence and Bridget (Ryan) Maloney, natives of County Tipperary, Ireland, who came to America in 1849, and settled in Troy borough, this county, where his father worked as a laborer until his children grew to maturity, when he purchased the farm now occupied by subject, and resided there until his death. His children were as follows: Bridget (deceased), Michael W., John, Mary (Mrs. Robert Gilbert), Anna, Lawrence H., and Ella; of these, Michael W. is a popular conductor on the New York, Lake Erie & Western Rail- road ; John is a local engineer on the Central Railroad of New Jersey, and Lawrence H., the subject proper of this sketch, resides on the old homestead, known as the "Troy Hill Stock Farm." He has followed farming as an occupation since reaching his majority, and has estab- lished a reputation as a breeder of Hambletonian horses. He is a well- known citizen of Bradford county, a member of the Roman Catholic Church, and in politics he is a Democrat.

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History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 115

Author: Bradsby, H. C. (Henry C.) Publication date: 1891 Publisher: Chicago, S. B. Nelson Number of Pages: 1340

Author: Bradsby, H. C. (Henry C.)
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Chicago, S. B. Nelson
Number of Pages: 1340