History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 122

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 122

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Number of schools

Average number of months taught.

Teachers.

Average salary per month ..

$30.00

Number of male scholars.

female

Amount levied for school purposes. 102.85

Amount received from the State ...

tax collections 486.78

Expenditures ..

492.48

The directors for 1881 were C. Smutz, T. R. Tor- rance, S. S. Myers, Kell Long, J. A. Mestrezat, and G. A. Mathiott. C. Smutz is president, Kell Long treasurer, and G. A. Mathiott secretary.

POST-OFFICE.

New Haven tried many times and for years to obtain a post-office, but until late in 1878 fruitlessly. The inconvenience of having to depend upon the Connellsville post-office for mail was not only an aggravating but a costly one, for every time a citizen of New Haven desired to post a letter or get his mail, he not only had to make a considerable journey, but pay toll to cross the river. Many efforts were made to remedy the evil, but as often as New Haven tried for a post-office, Connellsville influence was suc- cessfully brought to bear to frustrate the project. The purpose in such opposition lay, it is said, in the con- clusion that as long as New Haven lacked a post- office Connellsville would reap the benefit of addi- tional trade by forcing people from the other side of the river to come to "town" for their letters. The

New Haven effort of 1878, based upon former futile experiences, was, however, so quietly conducted that before Connellsville was aware of what was going on the New Haven post-office was established, and George A. Mathiott commissioned postmaster Jan. 1, 1879.

RELIGIOUS.

TRINITY CHURCH (PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL).

It would appear from a fragmentary church record that as early as 1780 Protestant Episcopal Church services were held in Dunbar township and the neighborhood by the Rev Mr. Mitchell, and, further, that he preached in the vicinity from 1780 to 1790 as an Episcopalian missionary. Who Mr. Mitchell was, where he came from, or just where he preached are matters upon which the record is silent. At some time previous to the Revolutionary war, Rev. Daniel . McKennon, an Englishman and an Episcopalian, preached in the neighborhood of Connellsville. Upon the outbreak of hostilities he sailed for England, and was subsequently reported to have been lost at sea. One of his daughters married Thomas Rogers, one of Dunbar's early settlers. In 1780 the Episcopalians living near what is now New Haven were Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Rogers, Col. Isaac Meason and his wife, Benjamin Wells and wife, Mrs. William Crawford and her daughter Ophelia (or Effie).

In 1817 Trinity Church was organized, but beyond the bare statement not much can be added touching the event, since there is now no record of the inci- dents attendant, or showing who became members of the organization at the ontset. Among the members, however, it seems pretty certain were Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Gibbs, their daughter Anna, Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Moore, Abraham Baldwin and wife, Mrs. Ann Norton (sister to Mr. Baldwin), and Elizabeth Fell.

The first meetings were held in a log building that stood upon the site now occupied by the Connellsville publie school. Services were held on that side of the river until 1832, when a house of worship was built in New Haven. That house is still used. Mrs. Daniel Rogers donated the ground, and, beyond that, liberal aid toward the building enterprise was given by Daniel Rogers. A handsome memorial window in the church commemorates the grateful spirit with which the kindly deeds of Mrs. Rogers are cherished. To the gifts mentioned James Mellvaine added later those of a church-bell and a parsonage. The first rector of Trinity was Rev. Jehu Clay, and the second Rev. Samuel Johnson. Succeeding them followed Revs. Jackson Kemper, Dean Richmond, John P. Bausman, Henry Pfiffer, Lyman N. Freeman, and Silas Freeman. During Rev. Silas Freeman's term of service, from 1833 to 1835, Trinity Sunday-school was established.

After the Rev. Silas Freeman came Rev. J. J. Kerr and J. J. McElhinney (now Professor of Theology in | the Seminary of Virginia). The latter left in 1840,

1 A Baptist minister and bis daughter.

Average daily attendance. $588.27

538

HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

but returned in 1842. The interval was filled by the Rev. William Arnott. Those who succeeded Mr. Mc- Elhinney were Revs. Kinsey J. Stewart, Edward Walker, William J. Hilton, N. M. Jones, Samuel Cowell, J. G. Furey, H. T. Wileoxon, George Hall, C. N. Quick, Faber Byllesley, Richard S. Smith (now of Brownsville Deanery), G. C. Rafter, J. H. Me- Candless, S. S. Chevers, G. W. Easter, Timothy O'Connell, and W. G. Stone. Rev. Mr. Stone, the present rector, began his labors in 1877. Rev. J. J. McElhinney was the first rector of Trinity to wear a surplice. This was in 1846.

Trinity is now a prosperous parish, and owns not only a house of worship but two parsonages. The church membership is fifty-five, and that of the Sunday-school about sixty. The wardens are Robert A. MeIlvaine and George A. Torrance. The vestry- men are E. K. Hyndman, E. V. Goodchild, Thomas R. Torrance, Thomas Turner, Charles P. Ford, Henry Wickham, and E. A. Jones. The Sunday-school su- perintendent is Charles P. Ford.

Besides Trinity Church there is but one other re- ligious organization in New Haven, the Zion Methodist Episcopal African Church, whose house of worship was built in the summer of 1880.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

COL. JAMES PAULL.

James Paull, who lived in Fayette County from childhood to old age, and was one of its prominent and most honored citizens, was born in Frederick (now Berkeley) County, Va., Sept. 17, 1760, and in 1768 removed to the West with the family of his father, George Paull, who then settled in that part of Westmoreland County which afterwards became Fay- ette ; his location being the Gist neighborhood, in the present township of Dunbar, which was the home of James Paull during the remainder of his long life. Judge Veech says of him that "early in life he evinced qualities of heart and soul calculated to ren- der him conspicuous, added to which was a physical constitution of the hardiest kind. Throughout his long life his bravery and patriotism, like his gener- osity, knew no limits. He loved enterprise and ad- venture a> he loved his friends, and shunned no ser- viee or danger- to which they called him. He came to manhood just when such men were needed."

In the early part of his life James Paull was much engaged in military service, and in it his record was that of a brave, honorable, and efficient soldier and officer. Ili- military experience began in 1778, when, as a boy of eighteen years, he was drafted for a tour of duty in the guarding of Continental stores at Fort Burd, on the Monongahela, under Capt. Robert Mc- Glaughlin. Three years later-in 1871-be was made

a first lieutenant by Thomas Jefferson, Governor of Virginia, and in that grade served with a company raised largely by his efforts, and which formed a part of the expedition which went down the Ohio under Gen. George Rogers Clarke on a projected campaign against Detroit, as is mentioned in the Revolutionary chapters of this history. Upon the failure of that expedition he returned on foot through the wilder- ness from the Falls of the Ohio (Louisville, Ky.) to Morgantown, Va., and thence home, being accom- panied by the men of his own command and also the officers and men of Maj. Isaac Craig's artillery, of Pittsburgh. In 1782 he served a short tour of duty as a private soldier at Turtle Creek, above Pitts- burgh, and at its close joined (still as a private) the expedition of Col. William Crawford against San- dusky. The story of the hardships and perils which he met in that disastrous campaign, and the manner of his almost miraculous escape from the savages, has been told in preceding pages. Again in 1783 and 1784 he was engaged in frontier service against Indian incursions along the southwest border of the State. In 1790 he served in the grade of major and lienten- ant-colonel under Gen. Harmar in the unsuccessful campaign of that officer against the Indians in the Maumee country, and in this, as in all his military service, he acquitted himself most honorably. This was the end of his military experience. Having married, he settled down to the comforts of domestic life and the pursuits of agriculture, in which he was eminently successful. He reared a large and most respectable family, seven sons-James, George, John, Archibald, Thomas, William, and Joseph -- and one daughter,-Martha, who became the wife of William Walker. He had some concern in iron manufacture, and was occasionally in middle life a down-river trader. But he was a lover of home, with its quiet cares and enjoyments. He was never ambitious for office, and the only one he ever held was that of sheriff of Fayette County from 1793 to 1796. Col. Paull was a man of perfect and unquestioned integrity and truth, and of the most generous and heroic im- pulses. He died in Dunbar township, July 9, 1841, aged nearly eighty-one years.

ROBERT ANDREW MCILVAINE.

The Scotch-Irish MeIlvaines of America point to Ayrshire, Scotland, as the home of their ancestors, and revert to a period as far back as 1315, when Ed- ward, brother of Robert Bruce, led a large force into Ireland with the purpose of expelling the English troops from the soil of Erin, great numbers of his soldiers and retainers remaining in Ireland and founding what is known as the Scotch-Irish race, many of whom migrated to America in colonial times, and among whom were the ancestors of Robert A. MeIlvaine, of New Haven, Fayette Co., whose father, John MeIlvaine, was a native of Delaware,

12.0 m thrane

1. It Maneraad

539

DUNBAR TOWNSHIP.

where in 1796 he married Sarah White, by whom he had ten children, six born in Delaware. In 1813 he with his family left his native State, in the latter part of June, for Washington County, Pa., arriving there after a tedious journey-a great undertaking in those days-in the early part of August, and locating on Pike Run, In the same county two of his uncles, George and Grier Mcilvaine, were then living, and also two of his brothers-in-law, Fisher and James White.

On the 25th of August, 1814, his son, Robert An- drew, was born, and in October of the same year John MeIlvaine moved to Connellsville, where he lived until March, 1815, when he moved across the river into New Haven, a town at that time com- prising about twenty dwellings and a few shops. Here, in 1815, Mrs. Mellvaine taught a small school, and counted among her pupils Margaret and Eliza Connell, daughters of Zachariah Connell, the founder of Connellsville. This school was one of the pioneer educational enterprises of the village. While living here three children were born to Mr. Mcilvaine,- Sarah, Isaac, and Eliza. The parents instructed their children in the precepts and practices of Chris- tianity, and endeavored to impress them with a sense of the importance of habits of industry and frugality.

John McIlvaine died in 1850, in his seventy-ninth year, Sarah, his wife, having gone before him in 1835, in her fifty-second year. Of their ten children only four survive,-Mary Tarr, the oldest survivor, a resi- dent of Bethany, Westmoreland Co., Pa., in her sev- enty-sixth year; James, aged seventy-three, now of Washington County, a gentleman distinguished for his benevolence as well as great business ability ; Isaac, the youngest survivor, residing near Pitts- burgh; and Robert A., the subject of this sketch, who is sixty-seven years of age, and lives in New Haven, where he has spent the greater part of his life, actively identified with the business and growth of the place.

In the early part of 1853, Mr. McIlvaine, after having been engaged, with the ordinary share of suc- cess, in various avocations of life, entered upon the business of a druggist, earning an exceptional repu- tation therein for scientific accuracy in the con- pounding of medicines, and securing the confidence of a large circle of customers thereby, as well as aug- menting his own financial resources. From this busi- ness he withdrew in 1876, and though keeping a watchful eye over his affairs, now lives in compara- tive retirement, unpretentious in his habits, and greatly preferring to fields of public duty the quiet enjoyments of home.

In May, 1841, Mr. MeIlvaine married Miss Susan King, an estimable young lady and former resident of Westmoreland County, Pa. Of this union four children were born, the first not surviving its birth. The others-Josephine, Gertrude, and Ada-grew up to maturity, and were in proper time given the

best educational advantages at command. Josephine graduated at Beaver Female Seminary and Institute, Gertrude at the Washington Female Seminary, and Ada was educated in the Moravian Seminary at Beth- lehem, Pa.

In 1868 Gertrude was married to Thomas R. Tor- rence, of New Haven, In 1871 Mr. Mellvaine lost his daughter Josephine, who died only four months before her mother, Mrs. Susan K. Mellvaine, who expired in the fifty-second year of her age. In 1872 Ada married Dr. Ellis Phillips, of New Haven. Mr. Mellvaine and all his children are members of the Episcopal Church, the office of senior warden having been filled by him since 1854. He has five living grandchildren,-Josephine, Catharine, and Robert Mellvaine Torrence, and Ada and James McIlvaine Phillips,-two having died in infancy,-Thomas Tor- rence and Gertrude Ellisa Phillips.

REV. JOEL STONEROAD.

Venerable not only for his ripe old age, but for his well-spent life, as also by reason of his almost classic, chastened face and fine presence and port as a gen- tleman, and for those acute instinets and sensitivities which belong only to the scholarly man of thought, is the Rev. Joel Stoneroad, who has been identified for over half a century with Fayette County, doing ex- cellent work in moulding its moral character and disciplining its intellectual forces.

This gentleman is of German descent, the name Stoneroad being the English translation of the German "Steinway," and was born near Lewistown, Mifflin Co., Jan. 2, 1806, the son of Lewis and Sarah Gardner Stoneroad, both natives of Lancaster County, the name of the former's father ( Mr. Stoneroad's grand- father) having also been Lewis. Mr. Stoneroad was educated at a common country school and at Lewis- town Academy, under Rev. Dr. James S. Woods, a son-in-law of the famous Rev. Dr. Witherspoon, then president of Princeton College, N. J., at which acad- emy he remained for a year and a half, there apply- ing himself to study with such remarkable assiduity and cleverness in acquirement as in that brief period of time to fit himself to enter the junior class of Jef- ferson College, Washington, Pa., as he did in the fall of 1825, graduating from that institution in 1827 ; whereafter he entered the Theological Department or Seminary of Princeton College (New Jersey), where he remained three years, taking (what was then not the custom to do) the full course, and receiving a diploma. Leaving the seminary he was licensed to preach, and returned home to Mifflin County, whence, with saddle, bridle, and horse, provided him by his father, he set out upon missionary work, under the commission of the Board of Home Missions, and be- took himself at first to Hancock County, Md., where he preached his first sermon, and from thence to Mor- gantown, and Kingwood, Preston Co., W. Va., at which

540

HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

place he continued in his missionary labors for about a year, when he accepted the call of the Presbyterian Church of Uniontown, Fayette Co., in 1831, of which church he was pastor for about eleven years.

An important incident in his history while residing at Uniontown was the active part he took in 1836 in the trial of the celebrated Rev. Albert Barnes for doctrinal heresy by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, of which he was a member, and then in session in Pittsburgh. The controversy was at its height when Mr. Stoneroad made a most telling speech, which was extensively published through the Pittsburgh and Philadelphia papers, and has fre- quently been quoted from since.

Leaving Uniontown he received a call from the church of Florence, Washington Co., where he re- mained eight years. His next call was the joint or united one of Laurel Hill, Franklin township, and Tyrone, Fayette Co. After holding this double charge for about twelve years, he relinquished that of Tyrone and devoted himself to Laurel Hill, with Bethel added, for about sixteen years, when, after having been in the active ministry nearly fifty years, he resigned this charge, his health having failed him, through too great devotion to his pastoral duties and consequent exposure to the severities of an inclement climate, which broke down in good part a constitu- tion which was apparently, and otherwise might have continued to be one of the most robust. Since that time Mr. Stoneroad has taken no active part as a clergyman. He now resides with his family, in their quiet, romantically-located farm-house in Woodvale. He is an old-time Calvinist in doctrine, but not of that very bigoted school whose cruel austerities are sometimes pictured by ill-tempered or despairing mothers, and so made use of to frighten refractory children, for he is both genial and benevolent.

Mr. Stoneroad has twice married, the first time in Greene County, Sept. 11, 1832, Miss Rebecca Veech, daughter of David Veech, Esq. (and sister of the late Hon, James Veech, the celebrated historian of West- ern Pennsylvania), by whom he had two daughters, the elder being the wife of Rev. T. P. Speer, of Wooster, Ohio, the younger, Miss Sarah Louisa Stoneroad, who resides with her sister. Mr. Stoneroad's second marriage, on June 27, 1854, was with Miss Hannah Paull, daughter of Col. James and Mary Cannon Paull, of Fayette County, and who is still living. Of this union are four children,-James Paull, now residing in New Mexico; Thomas L, a graduate of Lafayette College, Easton, Pa., in business near Philadelphia ; Mary Belle, who having taken full course of studies at Hollidaysburg Female Seminary, is spending her time at the present making advanced studies at home; and Joel T. M., now attending Wooster University, Ohio.

JAMES MADISON REID.

They who have won notable success in life are not all old men. By the vigor and skill of men ranging in years from twenty-five to forty-five most of the world's weal has been wrought out. In the battles of business, as in military life, they who win the rank of leaders do so in early age or then give earnest of some time so doing. Notable in the history of Fay- ette County, as much so perhaps as that of any one in the county, is the career of the young man whose name is the caption of this sketch, James M. Reid, of Dunbar. Toward his prosperity "good luck" has perhaps played the part of an important factor; the envious would say so. But "luck" is a term which admits of several definitions, and though " there is a tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune," the number of those who by lack of sagacity fail to discern just when to take it and move not, or, launching their crafts unwisely, go backward with the reflux and are submerged, is, com- paratively, as ninety-nine, to the one who rises tri- umphant and crowns his ambition at last " high on the hither shore" of security and success.

Together with his abundant abilities, force of char- acter, etc., the chief characteristics as a business man which mark Mr. Reid would seem to be those which are as likely to serve him and achieve for him con- tinued victories in the future as they have served him in the past, namely, a mercurial temperament and a peculiarly well-balanced, controlling brain, enabling him to form opinions or judgments rapidly and with accuracy. While other men ponder and " calculate" by slow processes, he decides at once, and either se- cures new accessions to his worldly goods, or escapes what might have proven a misfortune. But this may be " luck" after all, but it is a kind of luck which is somehow closely allied to genius. Mr. Reid has a good deal of the same character-and, indeed, per- sonal appearance-as had the late Alexander T. Stew- art, of New York, and comes of much the same stock. Ile is on both sides of Scotch-Irish descent, and both his paternal and maternal ancestries or lineages have frequently adorned the pages of history by deeds of military prowess, and hy sagacity, honor, and learn- ing in the peaceful walks of life. In short, the name of Reid, as well as that of Henry, and also that of McAuley (both on Mr. Reid's mother's side), have played a grand part in the old world, and rank high in various parts of America. Mr. Reid not only need feel no diffidence in pointing to his ancestry for fear of being charged with unworthy vanity, but may be justly proud of his lineage, since it has been as much distinguished for high honor as for brave deeds, and " blood always tells" in some or other avocation or position in life.

Of Mr. Reid's blood relations who have made their mark in this country, we may name among others Capt. Samuel C. Reid, the distinguished naval officer, "who, in 1814, when in command of the privateer

一

иже

5-11

DUNBAR TOWNSHIP.

'Gen. Armstrong,' fought with a British fleet the most brilliant naval engagement to be found on re- cord." (We quote from a biographical notice of Capt. Reid in the Washington Union of April 30, 1858.) It was Capt. Reid who, in 1818, at the com- plimentary request of a committee of Congress, de- signed our present national flag. The first brigadier- general of the war of the Revolution was a Reid of the same stoek. On his mother's side Mr. Reid belongs to the Henry family, who, with Patrick Henry, the illustrious orator of Virginia, and the late Prof. Henry of the Smithsonian Institution, and others, have added Instre to the American name, and were sprung from the same common source with Mrs. Reid ; and that ardent patriot, John McAuley, an officer on Gen. Washington's staff, was a relative of Mrs. Reid on her mother's side, a great-uncle. But we need not enlarge on this head, for nature sets her own visible seals upon those whom she honors with strength and skill to do great deeds either of war, commerce, art, or literature ; and, after all, success is the mirror which reflects them.

A gentleman well understanding the courtesies of social life, and which he dispenses in a generous, un- ostentatious manner; and enjoying among his neigh- bors and all with whom he has business dealings an unblemished reputation for integrity, and withal, and quite as commendable, for free-handed, liberal dealing,-for he is neither heartlessly avaricious, nor made exacting and dominating through his great suc- cess,-Mr. Reid is popular in the best sense, and widely respected by all classes. Of his parentage, boyhood, and remarkable business career, it only remains for us to tell the story in swift detail.

Mr. Reid is the son of James Dunlap Reid, who came from the city of Belfast, Ireland, about 1840, and settled in Pennsylvania. He married Miss Mary Henry (whose mother was a McAuley ), daughter of Mr. Edward Henry. James M., born April 10, 1849, is the third child of this union, and was raised in Allegheny County. He was educated in the common schools only, till about fourteen years of age, when he entered the Allegheny Institute, and continued there about two years, and then became a clerk in a general store, where he was occupied for about a year ; where- after he removed to Broad Ford, Fayette Co., and was engaged as a clerk with his brother, E. H. Reid, for about four years, and from that place went into the business of merchandising in partnership with others at Dunbar, where he now resides. He continued partnership merchandising, with various changes in copartners, for about six years. Meanwhile Mr. Reid condueted, alone or with others, more or less other business, particularly the mining of coal and manu- facture of coke on lands and in works belonging to himself and his copartners, but all of which he now owns, the capacity of his coke-works being at present ten car-loads a day.

Aside from these coke-works and coal lands, Mr.

Reid is largely interested in coal-fields, covering in the aggregate over six thousand acres, the major portion of or controlling interest in which he and his brother, E. H. Reid, own ; and in February last (1882) he organized the Connellsville and Ursina Coal and Coke Company, with a capital of $400,000, of which company he is president. The chief pur- pose of this company is to develop the iron ore, coal, and limestone-beds which the lands above referred to contain. He also holds a large interest in the business of Boyts, Porter & Co., extensive brass and iron founders and machinists at Connellsville.

Mr. Reid is a Republican who takes active inter- est in politics, and was appointed a delegate for the representative district of Fayette County to the State Convention of 1881. He is also a member of the Republican State Central Committee, and bas won the gratulations of his party throughout the State for the efficient and judicious work done in his dis- triet since his occupany of a seat in the committee's councils.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 122

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