History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 133

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 133

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).

: His dislike of Gen. Jackson commenced with the . high hand with which he carried things in Florida, -hanging Arbuthnot and Ambruster, and imprison- ing the Spanish commissioner, Callava, in Monroe's administration, and for some irregularity or failure of memory on the general's part in regard to an order for a number of large iron salt-pans, evapora- tors, which he ordered while stopping over night in Uniontown, on his way to Washington, as a member of Congress, to be made at Fairchance, to be boated down the river to the mouth of the Tennessee, on the Ohio. He also disliked him later on account of his war on the tariff and the Bank, which he firmly be- lieved would rain the business prosperity of the country.

When Jackson was a candidate for President there were frequent animated tilts between him and his sister Juliet, who, in sympathy with her hus- band, Capt. James A. McClelland, was a stalwart Jackson man, and on one occasion, when words were running higher between them than she liked, their mother laid her command upon them to stop, and said, " Hughes, you are a good deal of a Gen. Jack-

son yourself when you have the power, and Juliet you are entirely too much of a politician for a woman."

Growing warm in a discussion during the war, he declared a wish "that old Jackson was back to shoot down rebels and hang up traitors to the Union." "What!" said some one present, " would you bring old Jackson baek?" " Yes, to save the Union," was the answer. "Forgive him his war on the tariff and the Bank?" "Yes; and the salt-pans too; anything to punish Rebellion and save the Union," was his reply.

Within a year after the sale of the "Oliphant Fur- nace" property he began to fail in physical health, and the decline continued until his lamp of life went out on the morning of the 10th of November, 1879, at the residence of his oldest son, John, on the Sunnie Brae farm, within two miles of Fairfield, where he was born, within two miles of Fairchance, where he toiled, and within the sight of his last lingering look upon earth he could see over the intervening woods and vales the " old Tent Church" in which he and his wife together, in 1825, professed the faith in which they lived and died, and in which he became a ruling elder in 1838.

On the 12th of November, 1879, he was borne from the Presbyterian Church in Uniontown, where the funeral services were conducted by the Revs. S. S. Bergen and Isaac Wynn, by six of his grandsons, and buried in Oak Grove Cemetery.

HENRY BERNARD MATHIOT, M.D.

Dr. Mathiot, of Smithfield, was born at Connells- ville, Fayette Co., Pa., Aug. 31, 1815. He is of French ancestry, having descended from a French officer who, at the time of the massacre of St. Bar- tholomew, obeyed the voice of conscience rather than that of the king and charged on the priests with his regiments, for which he was compelled to fly from France. But the king, winking at his official miscon- duct, furnished hin a letter intended to serve as a warrant of immunity from civil arrests, and he re- turned to France seeking to regain his estates. The family still found France dangerous ground on ac- count of the priests, and Jean Mathiot, grandfather of the doctor, emigrated to America in 1754, settling in Lancaster, Pa. He had the previous year married Catharine Margaret Bernard, daughter of Hon. Jean James Bernard, mayor of Dampierre, France. They had three sons,-Christian, who located in Baltimore, John, who remained in Lancaster, and George, who was the father of the subject of this sketch.

George Mathiot was born Oct. 13, 1759, and raised in Lancaster, Pa., where he enlisted in the patriot army Nov. 18, 1776, and served until the close of the war, when he was honorably discharged. He then located at Elk Ridge Landing, near Ellicott's Mills, Md., where he was married Oct. 31, 1787, to

1 American Standard, Nov. 13, 1879.

588

HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Ruth Davies, daughter of Joshua Davies, of Anne Arundel County, Md. This lady was a Quakeress, a perfect type of the gentle but strong character we are accustomed to associate with the sect to which she belonged. In 1796 they moved west of the moun- tains and located in Connellsville, Fayette Co., Pa., where they resided until his death, which occurred April 4, 1840, at the advanced age of eighty-one. He was a man prominent in his day in affairs of church and State. He was commissioned in 1800 justice of the peace for Bullskin township by Governor Thomas Mckean, to serve "so long as you behave yourself well," and served until the infirmities of age com- pelled him to relinquish the office. He was a promi- nent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. His house was the home for itinerant ministers, whom his Quaker wife cordially and kindly entertained. George Mathiot was the father of eleven children, viz. : Jacob D., Eliza, Catharine, Mary, Joshua D., Cassan- dra, John, Susan, Ann M., George F., and Henry B. Of these but two are now living, namely, Ann M. Dorsey, widow of George W. Dorsey, who now resides with her daughter, Mrs. Stephenson, of Parkersburg, W. Va., and Henry B., the youngest of the family. Some of them were prominent in business life and public affairs, and all lived to raise families.

Dr. Mathiot's oldest brother, Col. Jacob D. Mathiot, was well known among the business men of Western Pennsylvania, being extensively engaged in the man- ufacture of iron at Ross Iron-Works, Westmoreland County. He represented this county in the State Legislature in the session of 1833-34.

Another brother, Joshua D. Mathiot, located while a boy in Newark, Ohio. He became a lawyer, and represented his district, then the Thirteenth, in the United States Congress in 1841-42, refusing a re- election. A daughter of this gentleman married the distinguished Dr. Cuyler, of Brooklyn, N. Y. The doctor's eldest sister, Eliza Mathiot, married Col. Davidson, an officer of the war of 1812. Col. David- son was in Hull's command at the time of the sur- render of Detroit, and marched out the forces im- mediately under his command and escaped.

Dr. Mathiot had only the advantages of a common- school education, and began life on his own account when, as a boy, he left home with his wardrobe in a cotton handkerchief and fifty cents in his pocket, walking forty miles in a deep snow to accept a posi- tion as clerk in the office of his brother at Ross Iron- Works. The courage and self-reliance here displayed in the youth foreshadowed the indomitable energy that has enabled the man to achieve success against every obstacle. In 1837 he went to Newark, Ohio, and entered the office of Dr. Anderton Brown as a medical student. He returned to his native county in 1840, and began the practice of his profession in Smithfield as an under-graduate, which was the com- mon practice of the time in Pennsylvania. He grad- uated at Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, in

the class of 1852. Nature as well as education made him a physician, and his success was assured from the beginning. For more than forty years he has ranked at the head of his profession in his commu- nity. With cool judgment and quick perception he unites large sympathy and an exceeding cheerful dis- position. In the sick-room he at once commands the respect and secures the confidence of his patients. Perhaps he has obtained reputation and practice as much from his cheerful, sympathetic manner with patients as his superior skill in administering reme- dies. His physical endurance has been wonderful. For twenty-five years his professional field embraced an extent of territory that made his average day's riding about thirty miles, and his visiting-list im- mense. This was done in the saddle, and the older inhabitants well remember his celebrated horses " Bill" and "Charley," which were never seen with their rider, going up-hill or down, in any gait but a full gallop. He is one of the very few old-fashioned doctors who answer all calls, night or day, regardless of weather or roads, attending rich and poor alike.

Ile married Rebecca Ruth Brownfield, daughter of Col. Thomas Brownfield, of Georges township, Fayette Co., March 19, 1844. Ilis domestic life has been most fortunate and happy. His wife has been a helpmeet in the grandest sense. Her husband's comfort and her children's happiness have been her greatest care, and to her wifely devotion he is largely indebted for the comforts of his home, the hospitable doors of which are ever open. It is proverbial that no house in the community entertains so many persons, friends and strangers, as Dr. Mathiot's. In politics the doc- tor has been a decided and positive Whig and Repub- lican, an earnest advocate of the principles and meas- ures of his party. He has twice been the candidate of his party for the State Legislature, but as the opposition had an overwhelming majority in the dis- triet, he was on both occasions defeated. He is an earnest and persuasive public speaker, and for a quar- ter of a century his voice has been heard in advocacy of every moral, temperance, and religious movement that has agitated the community in which he lives. Since 1851 he has been an active and consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and has held most of its official positions. Ile was ordained a deacon by Bishop Morris in 1859, and was ordained an elder by Bishop Simpson in 1872, and consequently occupies the responsible position of a minister in his church. His services are much sought, especially by the poor, to officiate at funerals, as he regards it one of the crowning glories of the Christian dispensation that the gospel shall be preached to the poor.

Ile is possessed of a comfortable home, most desir- ably located, and sufficient means to render his old age secure from want. His family has consisted of ten children, five of whom are now living : Caroline, Charles H., Ida F., Edward B., and Perie A. Several of these evince excellent mechanical and artistic tal-

Reuben Haque

Justus Dum

Robert Britt

588

GEORGES TOWNSHIP.

ent, in which the doctor takes a father's pride. The daughters are young ladies of careful mental disci- pline; Charles is engaged in the drug business in his native town; Edward is just graduated (March 30, 1882) from Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, with every promise of success in his profession. Dr. Mathiot, like many of our self-made men, has been an assiduous reader and thoughtful student of the vari- ous subjects touching public interest and general cul- tnre, thus largely supplying the lack of a collegiate education. But few vocations in life furnish so many opportunities for usefulness and wide-spread personal influence as that open to an intelligent, Christian physician, imbued with publie spirit and possessing a mind richly stored with the fruits of years of care- ful research. With unremitting energy and consci- entious zeal the doctor has endeavored to discharge the manifold duties thus open to him, and is still, at the age of sixty-seven, an active man, earnestly en- gaged in the various occupations of his busy life.

REUBEN HAGUE.

Reuben Hague, of Smithfield, is of English stock, and was born April 16, 1809. Of his ancestors we have no special account save that they were Quakers ; but his maternal grandfather was a farmer of some note, of whose history the legend has been preserved that he plowed in the forenoon the field of Brandy- wine whereon the famous battle took place in the afternoon. Mr. Hague has resided in Fayette County sixty-five years. He was educated in the common schools, and is a bricklayer by trade, and has worked in all parts of Western Pennsylvania. When he started out in life for himself at eighteen years of age he had only a "quarter" and a "fippenny-bit" in his pocket, in all thirty-one cents. He helped lay up the first briek dwelling iu Allegheny City. He was once a cavalry officer in the Virginia militia, and has served as a school director of his township for nearly twenty years. For over fifty years he has been a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and has for a long time been an elder therein. He is a rigid temperance man, and has been a constant worker in the cause of temperance since he became twenty years of age. He never spent but three cents for whisky for his own usc. He can- not be turned from his course by the taunts and jeers of wine-bibbers. Mr. Hagne is the possessor of one of the best fruit-orchards in Fayette County. His property consists mainly of real estate. Whatever criticisms the liquor-loving portion of the community may indulge in over his extreme but consistent ob- servance of abstinence from intoxicating beverages, his neighbors say no harmful words of him.

Feb. 14, 1836, Mr. Hague married Mary Swan, who died July 1st of the same year. Feb. 14, 1839, he married again, being united to Mary Lemley. Of

this marriage there are six living children,-Samuel ; Rebecca Ellen, who married William Booth; Emily ; Frances; Jeffries; and Snyder. The second Mrs. Hague having died, Mr. Haguc married a third time, Nov. 27, 1862, his wife's maiden name having been Jane Abraham. A son, James A., is the issue of this marriage.

WILLIAM H. TRADER.

William H. Trader, of Georges township, is a man of mark, distinctively of that honorable class called " self-made," having fought the battle of life to finan- cial success by his own energy and skill. He was born in Maryland, near the line of Virginia, Jan. 15, 1818. When he was two years of age his father left Virginia and settled in Georges township. Mr. Trader never enjoyed opportunities of schooling. What he learned he picked up as he could. His summers were employed cultivating the home farm, his winters in threshing with a flail, until he became eighteen years of age, when he left his father, or " turned out," with- out money or education, to make his own way in life, first working for a farmer of his neighborhood.

In 1841 he married Charlotte Franks, of Nicholson township. By her he has ten children, all living,- three sons and seven daughters,-all of whom but one are married. Mr. Trader has held the office of school director and other important township offices. Both himself and his wife are members of the Baptist Church. He is a modest, unassuming man, and en- joys an excellent business and general reputation. He has lived upon his present farm thirty-five years, and has steadily worked on to fortune, accomplishing the purpose of his early life, and is now regarded wealthy, his estate being estimated by his neighbors at from sixty thousand dollars to seventy-five thou- sand dollars. About two hundred and fifty-seven aeres of Mr. Trader's homestead farm are underlaid with the five-feet vein and the nine-feet vein, also, of Connellsville coking coal.

ROBERT BRITT.

Robert Britt, of Smithfield, is of Irish descent, and was born in Chester County, Pa., June 4, 1805. and removed from there with his father to Springhill Furnace, Fayette Co., in August, 1811. He re- ceived his education in the common schools. Mr. Britt is by occupation a carpenter. He spent two years working at his trade in Kentucky, and, follow- ing his vocation, passed eight years of his life in Virginia ; the rest has been spent in Fayette County. He has resided in his present home for thirty-two years.

Dec. 11, 1831, he married Asenath Greenlee, a lady of Irish stock, whose mother was three years old 'only when brought to America. Of this union are three children, -Mary Emily, married to Benjamin

590

HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Franklin Goodwin ; Frances Elizabeth, wife of Al- bert S. Miller ; and Frank P., who was educated in the common schools at Washington and Jefferson College, and the Allegheny Theological Seminary, and is now pastor of the Pisgah Presbyterian Church at Corsica, Jefferson Co., Pa. Mr. Britt and his wife have been members of the Presbyterian Church for more than a quarter of a century. In December, 1881, they celebrated their golden wedding. Mr. Britt has held the office of school director, and other responsible township offices. He has always been a Jefferson Democrat, and never swerved from his party.

JUSTUS DUNN.

Justus Dunn, of Georges township, is a prosperous farmer and stock-dealer, and was born in Erie City, June 8, 1817. He is the son of Simeon Dunn, of Irish stock, and who served in the war of 1812 as a "dispatcher," carrying orders or dispatches from Erie to Buffalo, N. Y. He bore the first news of Perry's victory to Buffalo.

Mr. Dunn began business life at the bottom of the financial scale, chopping wood at twenty cents per cord when he first came to Fayette County ; but he is now in good circumstances, and owns a valuable tract of land, which is well improved. He settled in his present location in 1844. He has been treasurer of Fayette County for two years and eight months. On May 26, 1852, he married Mary A. Zearly, of Nichol- son township, by whom he has had eleven children, four of whom are married and have left the homestead, seven remaining at home. The Dunn family is hardy and long-lived. Mr. Duun has an uncle who is ninety- eight years of age, and was married for the second time when he was ninety- four. An aunt of his died a few years ago aged over one hundred years.

Mr. Dunn is a good business man, and commands the respect of his neighbors and all others with whom he deals.

COL. JAMES ROBINSON.

Col. James Robinson, of Oliphant Furnace, repre- sents the Scotch-Irish Presbyterian stock. His grand- father settled in 1780, in what was then Georges town- ship, now Nicholson, upon a farm which remained in the Robinson name for ninety-nine years. James Rob- inson was born Nov. 27, 1806. He was educated in the common schools, and spent over twenty years of his early manhood in the iron business with F. Hughes Oliphant, at Springhill and Fairchance Furnaces. The greater part of this time he was superintendent, as which he was not only successful, but by his unassum- ing yet potent influence obtained and held the respect and good will of all in his employ. In all business transactions he is a man of the most strict integrity. He obtained his military title by election to the posi- tion of colonel in the State militia, receiving his com- mission from Governor Wolf during the latter's first term in the gubernatorial chair. Jan. 27, 1857, he married Mrs. Catharine Saams, of Allegheny County, who died Sept. 9, 1863, leaving three children,-Mar- garet Aun, John Taylor, and Emma Caroline. The colonel was again married Feb. 13, 1866, to Miss La- vinia P. Caldwell, of St. Joseph, Mo., and has no living children by his second wife. He was elected director of the first railroad built from Connellsville to Uniontown, now owned by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company (and in which he is yet a stock- holder). He was also elected a director of the National Bank of Fayette County at its organization, and held position as such for a number of years, and was elected director of the People's Bank of Fayette County, which position he still holds. Coal land-, railroad and bank stock, and United States bonds constitute his chief possessions.

Col. Robinson is an energetic man, of few words, pleasant and unobtrusive in manner, of a kind, be- nevolent spirit, especially to the worthy poor, greatly attached to home and fireside, and walks blameless before, and is popular with, his neighbors. Withal, a true gentleman of the old school.

GERMAN TOWNSHIP.'

THE township of German occupies a position south of a line drawn east and west through the centre of the county. It is bounded north by Luzerne and Menallen, east by South Union and Georges, south by Nicholson, west by the Monongahela River. There are no mountains nor any considerable elevations in

it. The township is well watered, but has no large streams except the Monongahela, its western bound- ary. Its principal creeks are Brown's, Middle, and Deep, all flowing west and falling into the river. The controlling topographical feature is a series of hills or ridges crossing it from east to west. When viewed from a higher elevation, they resemble a plain covered with a multitude of cones, some large, some small.

1 By James Rose.

GERMAN TOWNSHIP.

In the northwest of the township a considerable number of those mounds exist which have so long engaged the attention of travelers and philosophers, and of which Mr. Jefferson speaks iu his " Notes on Virginia." Their shape has been so often deseribed that a repetition seems altogether superfluous. Many bits of pottery, stone implements of various kinds, pipes, aud remains can be found after plowing or hard rains. Along the Monongahela are rocks, upon which are cut strange hieroglyphics. Others are in- dented with footprints of birds and animals, said to have been done when these rocks were in the plastic state. Just sonth of Middle Run several rocks may be seen when the water is low, upon which a great many figures could plainly be seen until recently. Of the indentations the rocks below Geneva are full and perfectly formed. These are out of water during most of the year, and are visited by many lovers of the mysterious.

German is one of the nine original townships into which the county was divided by the first court held at Uniontown, Dec. 27, 1783.1 The following bound- aries were ordered by the court: " A township begiu- ning at Oliver Crawford's ferry ; thence up the Monon- gahela River to the mouth of Jacob's Creek ; thence up said creek to the head branch thereof, where Michael Franks, Sr., lives ; thence to John Wait's ; from thence to Frederick Waltzer's ; thence to pass between James Downer's and George Watson's, to include the three first-mentioned persons, to the head of the west branch of Jennings' Run; thence by a straight line to the head of the Burnt Cabin branch of Dunlap's Creek ; thence down the same and the creek to the road that leads from Uniontown to Oliver Crawford's ferry ; thence by said road to the beginning."

The township was settled largely. by Germans, hence the name given to it on its erection by the court. Although at first a part of Springhill, its early settlers were altogether different in customs and language from those of the former. According to Withers, "Several families had settled on the Monon- gahela, in what was once a part of German, as early as 1767. Among these were John W. Provance, Joseph G. Provance, and John Hardin,"-a name famous in Kentucky. Frederick Waltzer is said to have been a very early comer also, but undoubt- edly not so early as 1754, at which time he was scarcely three years old. He died Dec. 21, 1834, aged eighty-two years and three months. The oldest land titles are those of Provance's, Gilmore's, and Rabb's, viz. : John W. Provance, warrant dated Oct. 11, 1771 ; surveyed March 10, 1772; number of acres, 347. Jo- seph Yard Provance, warrant dated Oct. 11, 1771; number of acres, 366; surveyed March 11, 1772. An-

drew Rabb, warrant dated -; number of acres, 203; surveyed July 11, 1771. Hugh Gilmore, warrant dated -; surveyed 1770. Thomas Moore, war- rant dated Sept. 13, 1769. John Mason, date of war- rant and survey and number of acres unknown. The names of property holders in the territory then em- braced in the township are indicated in the follow- ing "Return of the Names of the Taxable Inhabit- ants of German Township, together with their Taxable property. Witness my hand this 10th day of August, 1785." Signed by the assessor, Jacob Rich, viz. :

Adir, John.

Gilmore, Matthew.

Artman, John.

Gilleland, John.

Aryesmith, Samnel.

Gilbert, Margaret.

Alison, John.

Godhert, Willinm.

Alexander, the Scotch-

Gilmore, Hugh.

man.

Gordon, Robert.

Andrews, John.

Gilmore, William.

Alton, Mary.

Galagher, John.

Barkman, John.

Hollingsworth, Jesse.

Braekbill, Jacch.

Hester, Jacob, Jr.

Bnrkmnn, Frederick.

Huston, Andrew.

Brown, James.

HogJehery, George.

Burns, Andrew.

Hester, Jacob, Sr.

Beard, John.

Ilillicost, George.

Baxter, William.

Hainey, William.

Balsinger, George. Ilillieost, Conrad.

Boyers, Philip.

Howard, Gideon.

Baker, Malachi.

Hlibhs, William.

Branbury, Conrad.

Huffman, John.

Berry, Thomas.

Hloover, Jacob.

Bowman, Philip.

Ilester, Martin.

Baker, Philip.

Herber, Thomas.

Catt, John.

Ilerinn, Jobn.

Chrisly, Michael.

Hlilyard, Thomas.

Cooper, John.

Helmick, Nicholas.

Colleos, Henry.

Harrison, Robert.

Collens. John.

Harrison, John.

Coon, Philip.

Heald, William.

Carnes, John.

Ilolly, Samuel.

Catt, George.

Kindle, Reuben.

Carnes, Lewis.

KinIle, Jared.

Cnner, Sebastin.

Kindle, Benjamin.

Catt, Michnel.

Leckey, John.

Core, Henry.

Lee, Randle.

Dawson, John.

Little, Adonijah.

Dawson, Charles.

Lee, Alexander.

Davisen, Thomas.

Lawrence, Jacob.

Dolap, Robert.

Lesly, Thomas.

Delenger, George.

Lesly, Jobo.

Debolt, George.

Myers, Elizabeth.

Eberly, Nicholas.

McClean, Robert.

Easter, Jacob.

Moss, Joseph.

Easter, Jacob, Jr.

Meets, Ilenry.

Eberly, Leonard.

Mills, Jnmes.

Fleck, William.

MeMulin, John.

Ferst, Jacob.

Myers, Adam.

Frame, Thomas.

MeWilliams, Samnel.

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 133

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