History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 142

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 142

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His grandfather, William, settled npon the For- syth homestead in 1775. He came from the Eastern Shore, Md. The farm was known as " Wolves' Har- bor." He had eleven children. William's father, Eli, was one of the younger. He was born about 1770. He married Jane McKee, who emigrated from Ireland when about seventeen. They had eleven children, William being the oldest.

WILLIAM ELLIOTT.

William Elliott was born in Jefferson township, April 5, 1814, and died July 21, 1878. He was of Scotch-Irish stock, and was educated in common schools and Georges Creek Academy. He was mar- ried, April 12, 1837, to Eliza Jane Conwell, of Luzerne township. They had eight children,-James Stokely, married to Jane Wood; Annie Mary, married to Robert R. Abrams : George Craft, deceased ; Marga- retta Davidson ; Matilda Florence, married to Wil- liam Craft; Virginia Bell, married to William P. Allen ; Sarah Emma, married to Frank V. Jeffries, and is dead; and Louisa Searight, unmarried.

Mr. Elliott was born in the old Elliott homestead, about a mile from where his family now resides, to which place he moved in 1837, and led the life of a farmer the rest of his years. He held a number of township offices, and was collector of internal revenue for Fayette County, receiving his appointment in 1862. He and his wife joined the Presbyterian Church soon after their marriage. Mr. Elliott was a successful business man. He was honest, and en- joyed the respect of his neighbors. He left his fam- ily in very comfortable circumstances. He had but little, if any, aid when starting out in life, and gath- ered what he had and which his family now enjoy by his own energy and good management.

JOSEPH S. ELLIOTT.

Joseph S. Elliott is the son of James Elliott, whose father, William, came into Fayette County from Westmoreland County at an early day, and had what is now called " the old Elliott homestead," in Jeffer- son township, patented. His wife was Ruth Craw- ford. They had eleven children. James was the fifth child and only son who grew to manhood, and was born in Jefferson township, April 25, 1785, and was a farmer. June 3, 1813, he married Mary Cun- ningham, of Rostraver township, Westmoreland Co. They had ten children,-William, James C., Edward J., Robert, Ruth, Mary A., Joseph S., Alexander, Sarah R., and Martha,-all of whom grew to matur- ity.

Joseph S. Elliott was born at the old Elliott home- stead, Jefferson township, Fayette Co., Pa., April 18, 1827. His school education was limited. His busi- ness education, gathered from observation and con- tact with business men, is excellent. He was mar- ried Oct. 7, 1852, to Nancy J. Forsyth. They have six children,-William F., married to Laura A. Wells ; Violette H., married to Joseph A. Cook; Oliphant P., Ida J., Eva M., and Gracie F.

Mr. Elliott spent his early life upon his father's farm. In 1850 he began work for himself upon the farm where he now resides, and has ever since been engaged in farming and stock-dealing. He is a shrewd, energetic, successful business man, one of the real business men of the county. He makes money and enjoys it, and has one of the most comfortable homes in the county. He has no church record, but is a liberal supporter of all causes which he deems worthy. His business status among those who know him is as good as need be. He has held the usual township offices intrusted to business men in a busi- ness township. His possessions are chiefly stock and lands. He owns a thousand acres of as good land as there is in Western Pennsylvania, and all underlaid with bituminous coal except one hundred and thirty- two acres. Ile has made his own fortune, with the assistance of a most excellent wife. Mrs. Elliott is a lady of rare general intelligence, and has a wider

Wim Elliott

Henry B Gov

629

JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP.

knowledge of the requirements of business life than have most ladies, and has always eagerly united with her husband in his various enterprises, while at the same time paying special attention to domestic affairs.

A lesson for the young men of Fayette County may be gleaned from Mr. Elliott's career in the fact that he began with but little means, and, contrary to Horace Greeley's well-known advice to young men, refused to "Go West," he holding that a dollar earned here in a settled country is worth two wrought out in the far West. So he settled down in Jefferson township, and went into debt in the purchase, against the judg- ment of his neighbors one and all, of the "Tark farm," feeling that if he could not make a great sum of money on it he could at least so manage as to make of it a good practical savings-bank, which would on sale render up whatever deposits he might make in it; and by extreme industry, by tact in man- agement, and by possessing himself of and applying the best arts of agriculture, under a system of mixed | the adjoining "Springfield farm" of two hundred farming, including the raising of sheep for their fleeces, etc., demonstrate that Fayette County is as good a land as any in the West, or anywhere else, to stay at home in and grow up to fortune.

HENRY BATEMAN GOE.

Mr. Henry B. Goe, late of Jefferson township, but now a resident of Allegheny City, Pa., is the great- grandson of William Goe, a native of Scotland, who migrated to America at an early day and settled in Prince George's County, Md., near what is now known as Upper Marlboro', a suburb of Baltimore. William Goe was there married to Elizabeth Turner, a daugh- ter of John Turner, Jr. He was a planter and slave- holder, but boasted that he never sold a slave. He died in the summer of 1762, leaving a widow and two children,-William, Jr., and Margaret.

William Goe, Jr., was born Aug. 4, 1729, and, like his father, was a planter and slave-holder, and was married, Nov. 28, 1754, to Doreas Turner, a daughter of Philip Turner, and who was born May 4, 1735. They had fourteen children. William, Jr., with his family, migrated from Maryland to Fayette County (then Somerset County, Va.) about 1773, and settled ! Goe, who, in the course of three or four years, closed on a farm on the east side of the Monongahela River, it out for him. In 1866, Mr. Goe sold his farm to his son, Robert S. Goe, and moved to Allegheny City, and entered into the oil business in Pittsburgh and Bradford, Pa., and is still interested in the business. between it and Little Redstone Creek, near where the creek unites with the river. He died March 27, 1824, and was buried in a vault of his own construc- tion on the farm. Of the number of his children was In religion he is a Disciple, or Christian, and was baptized by immersion, together with his wife, in December, 1836. He has for many years held the office of elder in the church, and has been a liberal contributor to missionary and other church causes. one named Henry Bateman Goe (the father of the present H. B. Goe), and who was born in Upper Marlboro', before referred to, June 14, 1770, and came to Fayette County with his father when three years old. After reaching maturity he went to Mary- Mr. and Mrs. Goe, having lost one child, are the parents of nine living children,-John S., H. Bate- man, Mrs. Susan Gettings Newcomer, Mrs. Sarah Caroline Elliott, Robert S., Mrs. E. S. Ganse, Joel S., Rose S., and Laura. land, and there made the acquaintance of Susan Get- tings (born Oct. 2, 1763), a daughter of Philip and Elizabeth Gettings, of Prince George County, and whom he married Feb. 16, 1792. She died June 30,

1837, and was buried in the same vault with her father-in-law, William Goe, Jr., and her husband, who had died twenty years before her.

Henry B. Goe, Sr., was an unusually active and prompt business man. and lived on a farm cast of Brownsville, and near Great Redstone Creek. His farm was patented in the name of " Friendship," by which it is known to this day. Besides carrying on his farm, he ran a mill and distillery located on the farm. Ife also traded on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, going as far as New Orleans by flat-boats, and returning home overland by bridle-path through the wilderness. At one time, in 1806, failing to make at New Orleans satisfactory sale of a cargo, he erossed over to Cuba, and sold out in Havana. He died Oct. 28, 1817, leaving a widow and an only child, ITenry Bateman Goe, Jr., whose name is the caption of this sketch, and who was born on Friendship farm, Dec. 29, 1803. He in- herited Friendship farm of three hundred aeres, and

and fifty actes, together with a smaller farm near by these and a seetion of land below Zanesville, Ohio. His father dying when he was but fourteen years old, his mother, a woman of wonderful energy, assisted him at first in carrying on the farms and the distil- lery. He was married, Jan. 20, 1824, to Catharine Shotwell, a daughter of John and Sarah Shotwell, of Fayette County, and continued to operate the farm in connection with his mother until her death, when he came into full possession of the estate of his father, and conducted the farm and distillery as his principal active business until about 1832, when he abandoned the distillery and entered upon thre scientifie improve- ment of his farms and the raising of improved stock, and soon became a noted breeder, for those days, of short-horned cattle and merino sheep. He about that time raised an excellent floek of improved merino sheep, descended from the Atwood stock and that of the early importers. His short-horns were better known than his merinos, and perhaps he carried their improvement still further than he did that of his sheep. He continued actively engaged in the stoek-raising business until the fall of 1866, when he relinquished it into the hands of his son, John S.

630

HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

JOHN S. GOE.

John S. Goe, the oldest son of Henry Bateman Goe, a biographical sketch of whom precedes this, was born on Friendship farm, Jefferson township, Dec. 13, 1825. Gen. Goe enjoys to-day a world-wide repu- tation as the breeder of the finest flocks of pure-bred merino sheep in the world, and as one of the breeders of the best herds of thoroughbred, short-horned cattle to be found. The raising of pure-bred domestic animals and the improvement of his farm have been the special aspirations, aims of ambition, and labors of his life, and, as is conceded by his most envious competitors even, his labors have been crowned with signal snecess. His stock is sought for from all the States and Territories of the Union, from Mexico and Australia, colonies of his stock having been sent out from his farm to all the States and the countries above named. The fame of his stock, thus widely spread, is a just one, for his short-horns are descend- ants from special selections from the great herds of the old English breeders, the Collings, Whiticar, Ste- venson, Mason, Bates, and Booth. In his herd are descendants of one of the most famous bulls which ever snuffed the air, "The Duke of Oneida," 9927, and his dam, "The 10th Duchess of Geneva," said to have been the best pure Duchess in America. Slie was sold at the great sale of short-horns at New York Mills in 1874 for thirty-five thousand dollars to a foreign purchaser, who took her to England, where' she was recognized as the best pure Duchess in that country.

Gen. Goe's experience as an exporter has not always been a smooth one. . He has had many obstacles to surmount. The first exportation of his sheep to Australia, in response to an order from there, com- prised a struggle of three years or more with the English government. Importation into Australia was forbidden by an old and obsolete law, under pen- alty of confiscation and fine, and perhaps imprison- ment also. The Australian purchaser of Gen. Goe's sheep, after having forwarded a draft of six hundred pounds sterling and an unlimited letter of credit to pay expenses, found himself foiled by the captain of the steamer "City of New York" and by envious Australian breeders who took advantage of the law, and finally a special permit was prayed for from Par- liament to land the sheep in Australia, which permit was granted about two years after it was first applied for.

Gen. Goe, having previously held the position of major of the First Independent Squadron of Dragoons of uniformed militia of Pennsylvania, in the Second Brigade of the Seventeenth Division, obtained his title of brigadier-general by commission issued by Governor William Bigler on the 20th day of June, 1854, giving him command of the Second Brigade of the Seventeenth Division of the forces of the Com- monwealth.

Colvin, then residing near Freeport, Harrison Co., Ohio. They have five children,-Dorcas C., John S., Jr., Eva C., Emma Virginia, and Irene.

WILLIAM G. PATTERSON.

William G. Patterson, of Jefferson township, is of Irish descent. He thinks that his great-grandfather was born on the ocean, while his parents were on the way to America. His grandfather, William Patter- son, came with three brothers into Fayette County from Dauphin County, Pa., about 1780. His father, James Patterson, was born in Dauphin County in 1771, and about 1801 married Mary Given, a native of Ireland. They had ten children ; William G. was the fourth. James Patterson was a captain in the war of 1812. His business was farming, distilling, and teaming. He located on the farm where his son, Wil- liam G., now lives, about the time the county was or- ganized. He commanded a company in the State militia for many years.

William G. Patterson was born in Jefferson town- ship, upon the farm where he now resides, Dec. 20, 1809, and was educated in the common schools. He was married April 6, 1854, to Mrs. Edith Nichols Craft, daughter of Samuel Sharpless, of Jefferson township. They have three living children,-Samuel S., Mary E., Minerva C. Amanda, another child, is dead. Mr. Patterson's entire life has been passed in Jefferson, except a few years spent in California, Pa., while educating his children. He has been a farmer and general business man all his life, and has been successful. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and has been a justice of the peace and held other important town offices. Mr. Patterson is a use- ful and honorable citizen, respected by his neighbors and all who have known him in life.

CHRISTIAN SWARTZ.

Christian Swartz was born in Germany, near the Rhine, Jan. 6, 1806. He died in Jefferson township, Fayette Co., Feb. 25, 1875. He was educated in the public schools of Germany, and emigrated to America in 1833, landing at Charleston, S. C., and then went to Baltimore. He there took a road-wagon and traveled to Westmoreland County, Pa., near Mount Pleasant, where he rented a farm. There he married Elizabeth Seightlinger, who had emigrated from Germany with him. They remained in West- moreland County eight years. Then they located in Tyrone township, Fayette Co., where they remained four years. They settled where the family now lives in 1846. They had six children, five of whom are living,-Susan, married to Hugh Laughlin; John, married first to Maggie Blair, again to Mary Krepps ; Christian, married to Mary Jane Clark, who is dead ; Lizzie, unmarried ; Joseph, unmarried ; James, mar-

Oet. 6, 1846, Gen. Goe married Miss Catharine E. ried first to Mary S. Lytle, again to Catharine Beck.

CHR.

RESIDENCE OF THE LATE CHRISTIAN SWARTZ, AND PRESENT RESIDENCE OF JOSEPH SWARTZ, JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP, FAYETTE CO., PA.

JOHN S. GOE.

W/m & Patterson 1

allerson

William Hough

Antibula Baya

631

JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP.

Christian Swartz was a farmer, and one of the best in the county.

Mr. Swartz and his wife had about three dollars when he married and settled in Westmoreland County. By industry and economy he accumulated a good deal of property, leaving his children lands, bonds, ete. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church before he left Germany. He united with Little Red- stone Presbyterian Church soon after coming to Fay- ette County. He was noted for his piety, and was a useful citizen. Mr. Swartz had the respect of all who knew him, and was specially known and esteemed by his neighbors as a kind father to his family, as a faithful friend and honest citizen, upright in all his dealings with his fellow-men. Mrs. Swartz, now sev- enty-two years of age (1882), survives him, together with three sons and two daughters. Another son, Christian, died in the spring of 1878.

WILLIAM HOUGH.

The Hough families of the old stock in this country are known to have descended from a William Hough, who emigrated from Cheshire County, England, and located first near Plymouth, and then at Gloucester, Mass., and finally at New London, Conn., where he died Aug. 10, 1683, or from Richard and John Hough, who also came from Cheshire, England, in the ships " Endeavor" and "Friendship," in the year 1683, and settled in Bucks County, Pa.

David Hough was the first of the name to settle in Fayette County. He emigrated from Eastern Penn- sylvania at an early day, and located upon a farm still occupied by his descendants. He was a tiller of the soil, and lived an industrious, useful life. He married Barbara Orally. They had twelve children. David died March 3, 1858, aged eighty-four years. Barbara died Oct. 11, 1841, aged sixty-two years.

The subject of this sketch, William Hough, was the sixth son of David and Barbara Hough, and was born in Fayette County in 1812, a few months after the declaration of war against Great Britain. He re- ceived his early education in the district schools, and spent most of his life upon the farm of his parent- age, where for more than half a century his labor and attention were given to agriculture. His first vote was cast for Gen. Andrew Jackson. Becoming dis- satisfied with the policy of the Democratic party, he united with the Whig party, and continued in that faith until the organization of the Republican party, when he joined it, and continued an earnest sup- porter of its principles until his death.

William Hough was married Nov. 7, 1833, to Cath- arine Fisher, of Rostraver township, Westmoreland Co., Pa., and there were born to them five sons and four daughters, of whom seven are still living, viz. : Elvira, married to Richard Brown ; Abia Allen, mar- ried to Mary Atkinson ; George F., married to Eliza- beth Weaver; David S., married to Elizabeth Krepps;

Deraza, married to Daniel Bostner; William F., mar- ried to Ruth Forsyth; Clara, married to Ewing Mc- Curdy.

Mr. Hough held a number of township offices, al- ways discharging the duties satisfactorily. He was for many years a devoted member of the Presbyterian Church, and for several years a ruling elder in Little Redstone Church of that communion. During his latter years he was much afflicted with paralysis, which terminated his life Feb. 13, 1876.

He was held in high esteem by his neighbors. His Christian life challenged the respect of all who knew him. His life was one of industry, and he left his family a valuable inheritance, namely, a good name, lands, etc.

ARCHIBALD BOYD.

The late Archibald Boyd, of Jefferson township, was born July 4, 1799, in North Huntingdon town- ship, Westmoreland Co., Pa. He was of Scotch-Irish descent, and was educated in the common schools, learned the business of farming, and worked with his father until he was twenty-one years of age. He then engaged in roving. This he followed until his mar- riage, Jan. 29, 1833, to Margaret IIunter, of West- moreland Connty. He then rented a farm, and worked it for six years. After that he moved to Stewartville, and kept a hotel for one year. He next bought a farm in South Huntingdon township, West- moreland Co. Here he remained for twelve years, when he bought the present homestead of his off- spring, and here he lived until the time of his death, Oct. 9, 1879.

He had three children,-Robert, married to Mar- garet A. Gray, and who is a farmer, and lives upon the Boyd homestead. His children are Jennie G., Maggie V., Mary E., Carrie E., George M., Maude O.

William, who was born March 13, 1836, and died April 13, 1881.

Mary, who married John H. Bryson. They reside in North Union, Fayette Co. They have seven living children,-Maggie V., Susan V., Andrew O., William H., Melvin H., Robert E., Lulu May.

Archibald Boyd held the usual township offices. He was a member of the Little Redstone Presbyterian Church. His peenniary start in the world was small. By industry and judicious management he increased this largely, and left his progeny all well situated. IIe was a first-class farmer, a valuable citizen, a good man.

His father, Robert Boyd, was a native of Adams County, Pa. He married Elizabeth Larimer, of ('hester County, Pa. They moved soon after mar- riage to Westmoreland County, where most of their children were born. They had nine. Archibald was the fourth.

632

HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

LOUIS SOWERS MILLER.

Louis S. Miller is the grandson of Israel Miller, in his day a leading business man of Brownsville, Fay- ette Co., and the only child of Augustus I. Miller, a native of the same place. Israel Miller was born April 6, 1783, and on May 6, 1810, married Anna Maria Sowers, daughter of Michael and Dorothy Sowers, who was born June 29, 1790. Michael Sowers was one of the earliest business men of this region, and was born Oct. 16, 1762. Israel Miller died April 16, 1871. Mrs. Anna M. Miller died May 5, 1850, in her sixtieth year. Israel and Anna Maria Miller were the parents of eleven children, five sons and six daughters, of whom was Augustus I. Miller, who was born Feb. 2, 1821, the third in number of the sons. On Nov. 13, 1845, he married Elizabeth K. Marchand, daughter of Dr. Louis and Sarah Sackett Marchand, of Uniontown, Pa. He was a soldier in the war of the Rebellion, and enlisted among the three months' troops in April, 1861, joining the Twelfth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, and after the expiration of that period of enlistment enlisted in November, 1861, for the term of three years, being attached to Com- pany H, Seventh Regiment Pennsylvania Cavalry, and died at Louisville, Ky., Aug. 19, 1863, of disease contracted while in the service.

Louis S. Miller was born in Brownsville, Fayette Co., Pa., March 16, 1848. His early education was received in the public schools, his business education in Iron City Commercial College and the business world. His mother dying when he was two days old, his early life was spent with his grandmother, Mrs. Dr. Louis Marchand. He was married Nov. 10, 1870, to Mary A. Forsythe. They have five children,- Laura, Frank, Oliver, Jennie, and Lizzie. IIe has occupied his present residence three years. His farm is worked by tenants under his direction. He devotes most of his time to the coal business. His neighbors regard him as a good business man.

JOSEPH WELLS.

It sometimes happens that refined feelings, the do- mestie virtues, and true nobility of character adorn and brighten the obscurity of a country home, and achieve for the possessor all the happiness and com- fort that cultivated society and enlightened civiliza- tion can give. Instinctively just and upright in his dealings with his fellow-men, kind-hearted and chari- table to the poor, careful and attentive to his busi- ness, thrifty and economical, but single-minded and generous,-in short, a good illustration of the domestic and social virtues,-such a man was Joseph Wells, late of Jefferson township, Fayette Co., Pa.

Joseph Wells was of Irish descent, and was born April 19, 1803, on the farm where, with true Irish in- stinet, he lived all his days. He received such educa- tion as the common schools of the Commonwealth afforded in his youthful days, and in early manhood |

became a "pike boy," driving his team on the Na- tional road from Brownsville to Cumberland and return, a business he followed for many years. On Dec. 1, 1824, he married Anna Shaw, an estimable lady, who is still living, and who is well known for her many social and Christian virtues. They had eight chil- dren, one of whom died in infancy ; two others, mar- ried daughters, are dead, and the remaining four daughters and one son are all married and living in the county, the son occupying the homestead.

Mr. Wells began life with little of this world's goods, but by industry and careful husbandry he ac- quired the ownership of the paternal homestead, and a handsome competence besides, enjoying in his old age the comforts and even the luxuries of life. While struggling to pay for his farm he unluckily lost several hundred dollars by indorsing for a friend, and al- though he recovered from this financial trouble, his autograph was seldom, if ever, afterwards seen on the back of a promissory note.

In religion he was a Presbyterian, having been a communicant in that church for fifty years. He joined the Brownsville Presbyterian Church under the ministrations of Rev. William Johnston, and in 1840 united with the Little Redstone Church at its organization, where for many years he was a ruling elder, and continued a member until the time of his death. Of Mr. Wells one who knew him long and inti- mately, pertinently says, " Unlike many Presbyterians we meet at this day, he believed the decrees which constitute the peculiar tenets of his church, or at least he came as near believing them as any person I have ever met, with a single exception." Still in business he was human, and while strictly honest, his excellent judgment often gave him the best end of the bargain in buying a steer or selling a horse. To him the sermon on the mount was law, but in practical opera- tions he had acquisitiveness and secretiveness enough ! to enable him to do business successfully, and add a balance to the profit account at the end of each year. In politics he was a Democrat of the old school, and held as firmly to the Jacksonian and Jeffersonian De- mocracy as he did to the everlasting decrees.

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History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 142

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