History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 109

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 1314

USA > Pennsylvania > Fayette County > History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 109

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tice. In politics he was an ardent and enthusiastic Democrat ; he was also an active member of the order of Freemasons for fifty years preceding his death. His surviving descendants are Capt. William H. Stoy, the well-known professor of music; Mrs. Dorothy A. Kimber, of Oil City, Pa., and Mrs. Char- lotte Reese, of Pittsburgh, Pa.

Dr. Thomas G. Lamb was born in Connellsville, Fayette Co., Pa., in 1796; studied medicine with Dr. Moore, of Connellsville, and in the Medical Depart- ment of the University of Pennsylvania, at Philadel- phia. He came to Bridgeport and engaged in the practice of his profession in 1820, continuing in active business until 1836, in which year his death occurred. He was married Jan. 27, 1822, to Sarah W., daughter of Dr. Jesse Pennel. He was a man of active habits and dignified presence. In religion he was a Quaker, having a birthright in the Society of Friends.

Dr. Caleb Bracken was born in 1804 in Washington County, Pa., about three miles up the Monongahela River from Bridgeport. In 1826 he came to Bridge- port and engaged in the practice of medicine, remain- ing until 1836, when he removed to Belmont County, Ohio, where he engaged in agricultural pursuits and died in 1877. Dr. Bracken was a consistent member of the Society of Friends, being a preacher in that religious denomination. While practicing medicine in Bridgeport he was also the proprietor of a drug- store, and at the same time followed the business of brewing beer on the premises now owned by James Miller, Esq. The doctor was evidently a gentleman of considerable versatility of character.

Dr. Abraham Stanley was born in the neighbor- hood called Cedar Creek, Hanover Co., Va., Aug. 30, 1804. In early life he taught school in Ohio, then the far Northwest. He studied medicine in the office of Dr. Pettit, of Columbiana County, Ohio, and spent one winter at the Cincinnati Medical College. He came to Bridgeport in 1836, purchased the drug-store of Dr. Bracken, and at the same time began the practice of his profession. The drug business proving unremunerative was soon abandoned, and the re- mainder of his business life was devoted steadily to his professional duties. Soon after his arrival in Bridgeport he was married to Lydia, daughter of Eli Haines. He was a prominent member of the Society of Friends, occupying an important position in the councils of that body ; he was also, like most of the Quakers of the North, a strong Abolitionist, taking an active and hearfelt interest in all that pertained to the abolition of negro slavery in the United States. He was a number of times importuned by his friends and influential persons in the community to permit his name to be used as a candidate for Congress on the Anti-Slavery ticket, but always peremptorily de- clined. He was appointed by the State authorities a manager of the House of Refuge for Western Penn- sylvania, which position he held with credit for sev- eral years. In private life he was kind and urbane,

1 By W S. Duncan, M.D.

479

BRIDGEPORT BOROUGH AND TOWNSHIP.

charitable to the extent of his means, and universally respected wherever known. While returning from Harrisburg, where he had been on business connected with the House of Refuge, he met with a railroad accident, from the effects of which he died in the summer of 1856, leaving no children. He was a member of the Fayette County Medical Society.

Mathew Oliver Jones, M.D., was born of Quaker parents in Southampton County, Va., on the 1st day of May, 1822. In early childhood he emigrated with his parents to the State of Ohio, and studied medi- cine in the office of Dr. Flanner, in Mount Pleasant, Jefferson Co., Ohio, attending one term of medical lectures in the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania during the winter of 1841-42. In December, 1843, he came to Bridgeport, forming a partnership with Dr. A. Stanley in the practice of medicine. In the autumn of 1849 he returned to the University of Pennsylvania, where the degree of M.D. was conferred upon him in March, 1850. He remained in Bridgeport, devoting his entire attention to the study and practice of his profession, until the spring of 1861, when he removed to the city of Pittsburgh, where he now resides, enjoying a large practice and an honorable position in his profession. On the 29th of April, 1851, he was married to Margaret C., danghter of Capt. Elisha Bennett, of Bridgeport, by whom he had two children, a son and a daughter. The son, Dr. W. W. Jones, is now engaged in the practice of medicine in Allegheny City, Pa. The daughter re- mains with her father. In 1844, Dr. Jones assisted in organizing the first medical society in Fayette County, which, however, was short-lived. He is the author of a paper on the causes and treatment of vomiting during pregnancy, which not only attracted much attention among the profession in this country, but was extensively published in the medical journals of England and other Enropean countries. He is a member of the Allegheny County Medical Society, also of the Medical Society of the State of Pennsyl- vania, and of the American Medical Association. In politics he was an old-time Abolitionist, and is now a Republican. His religion is that of the Society of Friends.

Dr. James B. Grooms was born July 22, 1827, at Carmichael's, Greene Co., Pa. He was educated at Greene Academy, in Carmichael's ; studied medicine in the office of Dr. John Whitsett, at Washington, Pa., attending the lectures in Cleveland Medical College in the winter of 1852-53. He began the practice of medicine in his native town in 1853, con- tinning there until the latter part of 1862, when he i entered the army as a member of the Ringgold Bat- talion, which was afterward a part of the Twenty- second Pennsylvania Cavalry. He served in the army three years, part of the time as assistant sur- geon, and located in Bridgeport in 1866, where he has since remained, engaged in the practice of his profession. Dr. Grooms is the inventor of the first

repeating rifle that was ever successfully operated in the United States, and for which he obtained a pat- ent in 1855. The rifle was tested satisfactorily, in the presence of officers of the army and navy, the same year, in Washington City. Owing to nnex- peeted business arrangements the invention was for some time neglected, the manufacture of the rifle being postponed until others, profiting by the doctor's invention, brought the improvements they had made thereon before the public and the government, after which no further attention was given to the original invention. In 1858 he also took out letters patent for a rotary steam-engine. The principle involved in this invention has since come into extensive use in the manufacture of steam fire-engines and steam- pumps. The doctor, although the first to apply sne- cessfully the valuable principles involved, has, like many other inventors, failed to reap any pecuniary benefit from his labors. He is a member of the Fayette County Medical Society ; also of the Metho- dist Episcopal Church.

William Stevens Duncan, M.D., son of Thomas Duncan, and grandson of Dr. Benjamin Stevens, one of the earliest medical practitioners of the county, was born in Bridgeport, May 24, 1834, and educated at Monnt Union College, Stark Co., Ohio. He began his medical studies in 1855, in the office of Dr. M. O. Jones, then of Bridgeport; matriculated in the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania, and received the degree of M.D. from that institution in March, 1858. The same year he formed with his preceptor a partnership in the practice of medicine, which was terminated in about two years and a half by the removal of Dr. Jones to the city of Pittsburgh. He has been ae- tively engaged in professional pursuits up to the present time, still occupying the same office in which his first prescription was written. He served as a volunteer surgeon at Gettysburg, and was captured by the Confederates, but managed to escape. In 1869 he was instrumental in seenring the reorganization of the County Medical Society, which had not held a meeting for twenty-five years, being elected its presi- dent. In 1871 he went to San Francisco, Cal., to attend a meeting of the American Medical Associa- tion. Besides various articles on miscellaneous sub- jects, published in newspapers and magazines, he is the author of the following scientific papers, viz. : "Malformations of the Genito-Urinary Organs," " Belladonna as an Antidote for Opium-Poisoning," " Medical Delusions," "Reports of Cases to State Medical Society," 1870-72, "Iliae Aneurism Cured by Electrolysis," 1875, "The Physiology of Death," and various reports published in the "Transactions of the State Medical Society." He is a member of the Fay- ette County Medical Society, the Medical Society of the State of Pennsylvania, the American Medical Association, the Rocky Mountain Medical Associa- tion, and an honorary member of the California State Medieal Society.

480

HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

James R. Nelan, M.D., was born in Luzerne town- ship, Fayette Co., on the 10th of September, 1851; educated at Waynesburg College, Greene Co., Pa; studied medicine under the tutorage of Dr. Duncan, of Bridgeport, and received the degree of M.D. in the Medical Department of the University of Pennsyl- vania in the spring of 1877, the subject of his grad- uating thesis being "Nervous Influence." In the same year he began the practice of his profession in Bridgeport. He is a member of the Fayette County Medical Society and the Medical Society of the State of Pennsylvania ; has served several years faithfully as a director of the public schools, and is an active Democratic politician.

Dr. Charles Hubbs was born in New Jersey in 1767, pursued his medical studies under the direction of Dr. Benjamin Rush, of Philadelphia, and practiced his profession in Germantown, Pa., and Baltimore, Md., until 1816, when he removed to Mount Pleasant, Westmoreland Co., Pa .; came to Bridgeport in 1820, remained one year, returned to Mount Pleasant, and died there in 1847.

Dr. William G. Hubbs (of the so-called Physio- Medical School), son of Dr. Charles Hubbs, was born in Baltimore, Md., Feb. 21, 1811; studied medicine under the direction of his father and brother, Dr. N. G. Hubbs. He began the practice of medicine in Cookstown (now Fayette City), Pa., in 1830, remain- ing there until 1861, when he removed to Greenfield, Pa., and from there in June, 1867, to Bridgeport, where he continued to practice his profession until within a few weeks of his death from typhoid fever, April 6, 1881.

John Allen Hubbs, M.D., son of Dr. W. G. Hubbs, was born in Fayette City, Pa., Feb. 13, 1840. He studied medicine under his father and Dr. J. R. Nickel; attended lectures in the Physio-Medical Col- lege at Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1855-56, and the winter of 1856-57 ; practiced in partnership with his father at Fayette City until he attended another course of lectures in the Physio-Medical Institute at Cincinnati, Ohio, from which institution he received the degree of M.D. in February. 1860, when only twenty years of age. He practiced his profession in Fairview, Greene Co., Pa., until 1867, when he came to Bridge- port, where he has since been engaged in practice, also in the drug business. He takes an active interest in the affairs of the town, and has served several years as a member of the Borough Council.

PUBLIC-HOUSES.

in regard to these old taverns. Bridgeport has never had many public-houses, the greater part of the business of the vicinity in that line in the palmy days of the National road and of Western emigration being done on the other side of the creek in Brownsville. The principal hotel of Bridgeport at the present time is the " Bar House," kept by Matthew Story on the site where Kimber opened the first tavern of the place in 1814.

FIRE APPARATUS.

On the 29th of November, 1842, the Council of Bridgeport, in accordance "with the will of the people, expressed at a town-meeting called for the purpose," subscribed one hundred dollars for the purchase of a fire-engine for the use of the borough. Afterwards the sum of two hundred and fifty dollars was sub- scribed by citizens, when, as one hundred dollars more was necessary, that additional amount was sub- scribed by the Council. An engine was then built for the borough by Faull & Herbertson, and a company was raised and organized to take charge of and work it. The subsequent history of Bridgeport with regard to the extinguishment of fires has been the same as that of Brownsville. Fire companies have been raised from time to time, and have as often gone down and disbanded, and at the present time Bridgeport, like Brownsville, is without a fire department or any effec- tive means of preventing serious disaster to the borough from the ravages of fire.

NATIONAL DEPOSIT BANK OF BROWNSVILLE.

This institution (located in Bridgeport notwith- standing its name and style) was organized in 1872 as a State bank, named the Deposit and Discount Bank of Brownsville, with Dr. W. Cotton as president, and O. K. Taylor, cashier. The bank commenced busi- ness in the building at present occupied by it on the 1st of April in the year named. In 1873 it sustained severe losses, from which it recovered only after sex- cral years of successful business. In April, 1880, it was reorganized under the national banking system, with its present name and a capital of $50,000. It is now in a prosperons condition and has the confidence of the community. The present (1881) officers of the institution are : Directors, Dr. W. Cotton (president), Joseph S. Elliott (vice-president), William H. Miller, Samuel Thompson, Joseph Farquar, O. K. Taylor (cashier), E. H. Bar, Dr. S. S. Rogers, Jeremiah Baird.

SCHOOLS.

For some years after small schools had begun to be taught at irregular intervals in Brownsville, Bridge- port had none, and consequently during that period such of the scholars of the last-named place as at- tended school at all were compelled to cross Dunlap's opened under the auspices of the Friends who lived there, and the earliest teacher of whom any knowl- edge can be gained at the present day was Joseph

The earliest tavern stand in Bridgeport was the old red house that stood on the corner of Water and Bridge Streets. In that house Isaac Kimber opened a tavern in the year 1814. After Kimber, its land- lords were Robert Patterson and others. Another Creek to do so. The first schools of Bridgeport were early tavern was opened by John Nelan about 1818, at the place where now is the residence of Burnet Mason. Little beyond these facts has been learned

481

BRIDGEPORT BOROUGH AND TOWNSHIP.

Oxley, a Quaker, and a man of no little fame as a mathematician, who taught in a building that stood near the site of the grist-mill of Mason Rogers & Co. Another very early teacher was Eli Haynes.

Joshua Gibbons, now living in Bridgeport, but re- tired from active life, has been a resident of the county for seventy years, of which fully sixty years have been spent by him in educational employment, teaching every year except when serving as county superintendent of schools, which office he filled for four terms of three years each, commencing as the first superintendent of the county, under the school law of 1850. Two of his sons, James W. and Henry, are also successful teachers. Another son, Rev. H. O. Gibbons, is pastor of a Presbyterian Church in Phila- delphia, and a daughter married the Rev. Robert Fulton, of Baltimore, Md. This digression is thought to be excusable in making honorable mention of a man who has labored as long and faithfully in the cause of education as has the veteran teacher and school officer, Joshua Gibbons, of Bridgeport.

Not only were the Quakers of Bridgeport the first to open a school in the town, but the fact is also to be recorded that the first building erected here especially as a school-house was built by members of the So- ciety of Friends, on their grounds on Prospect Street. One of the teachers in this old stone house was Eli Haynes, above mentioned.

The earliest reference to a school-house found in the borough records of Bridgeport is under date of Jan. 1, 1815, being a mention of the amount to be paid "to Israel Gregg for the expense of purchasing a lot and building a school-house on Second Street, and to procure a Deed and have it executed on behalf of the Corporation." The school-house here referred to was on the 29th of May, 1823, rented by the Council to Jolin Stump for the term of three months, to be used for teaching a "subscription school," and on the 8th of September in the same year the borough school- house (without doubt the same building referred to above) was rented to Charles Van Hook for the term of six months.

March 25, 1824, the school-room was rented to James Reynolds for three months; but on the 21st of April following he declined using it, and resigned the privi- lege which had been granted to him. Three days later, Joel Oxley " requested the privilege of the use of the School-House as a school-room for two years from the first day of May next," and on this applica- tion "the Burgess was directed to lease the same to Joel Oxley for the above term, reserving the cus- tomary privileges of the Council, and to the Metho- dists as a Meeting-House."

Oct. 8, 1828, " Major King and James Reynolds applied for the use of School-House," and the privi- lege was granted to Reynolds.

Under the public school law of 1834, the courts of the several counties in the State appointed school di- rectors for each township district. At the January

term of Fayette County Court, in 1835, Caleb Bracken and Joshna Wood were appointed as such officers for Bridgeport. On the 15th of June following the Bor- ough Council took action, ordering a tax of twenty- five cents on the $100, to be levied for the use of common schools, in addition to the tax levied by the county commissioners for that purpose. Aug. 13, 1835, the township of Bridgeport complied with the requirements of the law, and so notified the county treasurer. The amount of money received from the State in that year for school purposes in Bridgeport was $39.78; received from the county of Fayette, $79.56.

On the 6th of May, 1837, the Council took into con- sideration the question "of erecting a building on the west end of the Market-House, to answer the double purpose of a Town Hall and School-House for the Borough," and a committee was appointed to act with the school directors in the matter, the Council agreeing to pay $200 towards the erection of the building. The committee contracted (June 6, 1837) with Joel Armstrong to build the hall and school- house, and on the 23d of April, 1838, the Council transferred the school-house and lot to the school di- rectors.

In this old building the schools of the borough were taught until they were transferred to the present Union school-house, which was built in 1852-53, on a lot which was purchased for $400, located on Prospect Street, and being part of the grounds occu- pied by the old Friends' meeting-house. The cost of the Union school-house was 82948.90, and of the furniture and fixtures, 81150.85; making, with the cost of the lot, a total of $4499.75. From November, 1854, the old stone school-house was used for the schooling of colored pupils until 1875, when it was demolished and a new brick school-house erected on its site.

The schools of the borough are now under charge of Thomas S. Wood, principal, who is assisted by seven teachers. The whole number of scholars is two hundred and seventy-six. Total receipts for the year for school purposes, $2965.67 ; expenditures, $2631.77. Valuation of school property, $10,000.

The present (1881) board of school directors is com- posed as follows : W. S. Duncan, president; William H. Miller, William Cock, Daniel Delaney, James Reynolds, and Jesse H. Bulger.

Following is a list of persons whose names appear on the records as having been elected to the office of school director in Bridgeport since the commence- ment of the operation of the school law of 1834, viz. : 1835, Caleb Bracken, Joshua Wood, "reported Aug. 13, 1835;" 1836, Tilson Fuller, Thomas Duncan ; 1856, R. W. Jones, S. B. Page; 1857, Benjamin Leon- ard, John W. Porter, Dr. M. O. Jones, Thomas Dun- can ; 1867, O. C. Cromlow, Thomas Duncan ; 1870, Edward L. Moorehouse, Daniel Delaney ; 1874, Wil- liam H. Miller, C. W. Wanee ; 1875, Daniel Delaney,

432

IIISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

O. R. Knight, G. W. Springer ; 1876, Jesse H. Bulger, John S. Wilgns; 1877, William Patterson, William J. Porter; 1878, James Reynolds, William S. Dun- can ; 1879, Daniel Delaney, James Blair, William Cock ; 1880, J. H. Bulger, W. H. Miller; 1881, James Reynolds, W. S. Duncan.

RELIGIOUS HISTORY.

FRIENDS' MEETING.

In the early period, before 1820, the members of the Society of Friends in Bridgeport outnumbered those of all other denominations, and their meetings for divine worship were held here many years before any other churches were organized in the place, be- ginning as early as about the year 1790. For a few years they met in private dwellings. On the 28th of February, 1799, a lot of three acres of land was pur- chased from Rees Cadwallader, and soon afterwards a meeting-house was built upon it. It was a stone building, low, but nearly or quite one hundred feet in length. Some years afterwards, when the Hicksites seceded from the regular congregation, this old meet- ing-house was partitioned across in the middle so as to accommodate both meetings. This was continued for some years, but gradually, by reason of removals and the death of members, the congregation became reduced in numbers, and finally religions worship after the manner of the Quakers ceased to be held in Bridgeport.

Besides the old stone meeting-house built by the Friends on the lot purchased from Rees Cadwal- lader, they also built on it a stone school-honse (the first school-house in Bridgeport ), and set apart a por- tion of the ground for a burial-place. Upon the lot purchased by the Friends from Cadwallader there now stand the residences of William Miller, Eli Cock, and Richard Swan, and the Uuion school-house of the borough.

SECOND METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF BROWNSVILLE.

This church, although located in Bridgeport, re- ceived and has retained its designation as " of Browns- ville" from the fact that it was an offshoot from the church of Brownsville, its original members being from the membership of that church. The date of the Bridgeport organization has not been ascertained, but it is certain that it was as early as or prior to the year 1833. Before that time, for many years, the Bridgeport members of the Brownsville Church had been accustomed to hold meetings for religious wor- ship in the stone school-house on the hill in Bridge- WESLEYAN METHODIST CHURCH. port. In 1833 they purchased from Ruth Jones lot The date of the organization of this church has not been definitely ascertained, but it is known that it was in existence some years prior to 1848, at which time it had a membership of about seventy five, and in which year also its meeting-house ( the same which is now the Methodist Protestant house of worship) was erected. During its existence the church was No. 54 of the Bridgeport plat, situated on Second Street, for 8230, and that lot was accordingly con- veyed by the grantor to Joseph Reynolds, Adolph Merchant, Charles McFall,. Thomas Gregg, and Ed- mund Draper, trustees for the Second Methodist Episcopal Church of Brownsville. On this lot in 1834 a church edifice was built, thirty-five by fifty- . served by the Revs. - Smith, John P. Bedker,

five feet in dimensions, and costing about $2000. Its location was opposite the site of the present church.

In that first church building the congregation wor- shiped for thirty years. Before the end of that time it was thought necessary to build a new edifice, and arrangements were made to erect one, but a consider- ation of the high prices prevailing during the war of the Rebellion caused it to be delayed. The new house was, however, completed in 1866, at a cost of about $12,000, and was dedicated by the Rev. William Pershing of Pittsburgh. The Rev. Charles W. Smith was at that time pastor of the church.

Among the preachers who have ministered to this church during the past twenty-two years have been the Revs. Artemns Ward (1859), J. W. McIntyre, Charles W. Smith, J. J. Hayes, J. R. Mills, S. W. Horner, C. W. Scott, Homer Smith, John C. Castle, T. N. Eaton, and Charles Cartwright, the present (1881) pastor. The church now numbers two hun- dred and seventy-five members. In connection with it is a Sabbath-school, having an attendance of about three hundred, under the superintendency of J. Well Porter.

METHODIST PROTESTANT CHURCH.

This church was organized in Bridgeport in 1830 by the Rev. William Collins, who was its first preacher. In the following year a stone building was erected as a house of worship on lot No. 46, which was at that time bargained to the trustees of this church, but was not transferred by deed until Oct. 16, 1849. The location was on the side of the hill, where the resi- dence of James Kidnew now stands. This old church edifice was used by the society until 1866, when the building of the Wesleyan Methodists was purchased. The old meeting-house was then sold, and the Wes- leyan building has since that time heen used as the Methodist Protestant house of worship.

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History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 109

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885 Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co. Number of Pages: 1314

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 1314