USA > Pennsylvania > Jefferson County > History of Jefferson county, Pennsylvania, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 49
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HISTORY OF BROOKVILLE.
Madge, reside in Brookville, the two latter occupying with their brother, W. F., the old homestead erected on Jefferson street by their father in 1833. John, the eldest son, resides in Memphis, Mo., and Mrs. Jane Allison, the eldest daughter, in Punxsutawney.
Another of the pioneers of the town was John Ramsey, who was born in the north of Ireland in 1803, and came to the United States in his twenty- second year. For the first ten years he lived in Centre county, and then re- moved to Brookville in 1834, having been married that year. He located on Jefferson street, built a little house and a wagon-making shop, and went to work to help build up the new town. Mr. Ramsey was one of Brookville's most worthy and respected citizens, and almost a life-long member of the Pres- byterian Church. He died January 26, 1870, aged sixty-seven years. The old house gave place a few years ago to a beautiful modern residence, where Mrs. Ramsey, and three of her children, Wilson, R. Louise and Cecelia still reside. Two other daughters, Mrs. Roswell P. Blood and Mrs. H. C. Litch are also residents of Brookville, and another, Mrs. Joseph P. Taylor, resides in Du Bois The eldest daughter, Mrs. Mary McDowell, died in Clearfield county some years ago.
Samuel Truby was born in Greensburg, Westmoreland county, June 13, ISOS, and when only four years of age his parents removed to Kittanning. He learned the trade of a tinner at Zeilienople, Butler county, and in 1832 came to Brookville and worked at his trade until 1833, when he married An- nie Sterling, at New Castle, Lawrence county, and began housekeeping in Indiana. They moved to Brookville the Ist of January, 1834, where Mr. Truby purchased the lot corner of Jefferson and Pickering, and the adjacent lot on Jefferson street, which he cleared off and built a small frame house on Picker- ing street, and in 1837 he bought on a store. In 1849 he built the brick house on the corner of Jefferson and Pickering, now the property of Mrs. Sarali Means, and moved into it in 1850. He kept his store in the basement of this building until 1864, when he sold the property to S. G. Fryer, and purchased a small farm in Rose township, from Uriah Matson, half a mile from Brook- ville, where he built a comfortable and commodious residence. In 1868-69 he again followed merchandising in the room now occupied by W. F. Craig, in the Matson block, since that time he has devoted himself to his farm.
Mr. Truby was one of those who helped to improve Brookville, and for a long time he kept one of the best stores in the town. When he first settled here he had to " rough it," like the rest of the early settlers, and Mrs. Truby says that it was often very hard to get any butter, or any "spread " for their corn and rye bread, and that she one day took a little tin pail and went through the woods to Findley's mill to get a quart of molasses. After he began store- keeping Mr. Truby, when he was fortunate enough to secure any butter, eggs, or other produce, would blow a horn to let the neighbors know the fact, and
51
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the housewives of the place would then hurry to his store to get a share of the eatables.
Mr. Truby's family consisted of six children, of whom the oldest son died in infancy. Of the others, Mrs. C. M. Matson, and Samuel C. reside in Brook- ville, Sarah, with her parents, Mrs. Caroline Robinson, at Parker City, and Mrs. Mary Clark, at Kittanning. In 1883 Mr. and Mrs. Truby celebrated their golden wedding. They are now serenely enjoying the evening of their life.
Mathew Dickey was one of the first merchants in Brookville, having started a store in partnership with Benjamin McCrieght in 1832 or '33, and after- wards conducted it in his own name. He was born in County Derry, Ireland, in 1800, and came to this country in 1817, where for a number of years he followed school teaching in Armstrong county, and where in 1819 he married Elizabeth Templeton. In 1831 he removed to Jefferson county and settled on the farm, in what is now Clover township, which he cleared from the dense forest, and where he resided until his death, in 1881. Mr. Dickey was one of the sterling men of the county, and a prominent member of the United Pres- byterian Church, to which his family still adhere. His sons, James and David, reside in Clover township, and William in Brookville.
The Hall family, whose early emigration to the wilds of Jefferson county is related in the history of Rose township, have been largely identified with Brookville. Enoch Hall, who is the only one residing in Brookville, came here in May, 1836, and November 31, 1837, married Martha A., daughter of Elijah Clark. He worked at cabinet making, and was engaged in lumbering and merchandising for a number of years; is now engaged in the planing-mill business.
Joseph E. Hall, another brother, for many years largely identified with the lumbering interests of the county, removed from Brookville to Paxton, Ill., in the spring of 1867, and died there December 7, 1885. Two sisters are yet living-Mrs. Priscilla Moyer, at Butler, Pa., and Mrs. Cordelia Lucas, at Denver, Col.
Joseph Henderson, or "Judge Henderson," as he is familiarly called, is one of the pioneers of Jefferson county. He came to Punxsutawney in 1831, and clerked four years for William Campbell. In the fall of 1836 he was elected sheriff of the county, and served three years. In 1840 he was appointed assistant United States marshal, and completed the census of the county. In 1841 he removed to Dowlingville and kept a small tavern there for a few months, and in 1842 removed to Brookville where he kept the Franklin House for about a year and a half. In 1842 he was elected treasurer. In 1848 he was a partner with John J. Y. Thompson in the mercantile business. In 1851 he purchased Mr. Thompson's interest and continued in the business until 1855. In 1856 he was elected associate judge. He then served as clerk to the county com-
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missioners from 1857 till the fall of 1860, when he was elected prothonotary. In 1870 he was elected justice of the peace and served five years. Since 1865 he has been engaged in the stove and tinning business. Very few men have taken a more prominent part in the business and politics of the town and county than Judge Henderson. Of his seven children all are living but one, and all but one are residents of Brookville, six of his sons being prominent business men.
Andrew Craig came to Brookville in 1838, and went into the shop of his brother, James, and learned the trade of cabinet-maker. He purchased the business in 1843, and moved the shop down to the lot, where he afterwards erected the dwelling house now owned by G. E. Brown, and in 1859 vacated this shop to take up his quarters in a new building erected at the foot of Jeffer- son street, where he formed a co-partnership with E. H. Wilson, as Craig & Wilson, which continued for twenty years, Wilson selling his interest to Mr. Craig in 1879. He is now managing the furniture warerooms of his son, H. B. Craig, and with the exception of one term as justice of the peace, has been con- tinuously engaged in the furniture business, covering a period of almost forty- five years. He is the veteran undertaker of the town, and has since January I, 1874, to August 1, 1887, buried one thousand and two persons. Prior to that time he kept no record of interments.
Robert Darrah was one of the first lumbermen to locate in Brookville. He was the descendant of Revolutionary patriots; his father, John Darrah, who was born in Scotland, having emigrated to Massachusetts, and served in the War of the Revolution. His wife, Sivia Mitchell, was the daughter of Charles M. Mitchell, another Scotchman, who also emigrated to Massachusetts, and served in the same war. Robert Darrah in 1824 came to Pennsylvania, resid- ing for some time in Tioga and Luzerne counties, and came to Brookville in December, 1837, and commenced to lumber on Sandy Lick, which business he continued until 1855, when he removed to Mecosta county, Michigan, where he died in 1865.
His sons, Edward H. and W. Robert, were born lumbermen, and have never departed from the ways of their father. They both commenced their career on Sandy Lick, and have probably been more actively and for a longer period engaged in the trade than any of our lumbermen. Neither are now engaged in business in Brookville, though both reside here. Edward HI. is extensively engaged in Forest county, as part owner of a ten thousand tract of timber with a saw-mill thereon, also in large lumber interests in Michigan, Wisconsin, California and Mexico, while Robert also engaged in Michigan and Wisconsin, has pushed his way into the timber region of Washington Territory.
Arad Pearsall was one of the first to penetrate into the wilds of northern Jefferson county, settling first in what is now Elk county in 1827, and remov- ing to Brockwayville in 1830, and from there to Brookville in 1837, where he
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bought and located upon the property now owned by the heirs of Mrs. Furley, on Main street. From there he moved to Warsaw township, then to Port Bar- nett, then successively back to Warsaw and Brookville, from there to Walnut Bend and Oil Creek in Venango county, and from there back to Brookville, where he died in March, 1866. Mr. Pearsall and his wife were both born at Saratoga Springs, N. Y .; the former in 1807, and the latter in 1804. Mrs. Pear- sall died in 1875. Of eleven children but five survive ; none of them residents of Jefferson county. Mrs. Harriet Fullerton resides at Parker City, Peter at Meadville, Myron M. at Bradford, and John and Harvey at Buffalo, N. Y. Mr. Pearsall was a blacksmith by trade, and nearly all of his sons followed his call- ing for a time.
Thomas Mabon came to Brookville in 1846, from Indiana county, and moved into the house now owned by the heirs of A. J. Brady, on the corner of Main and Mill streets. He purchased a quantity of land south of Redbank, and laid it out in lots, which portion of the town was called " Mabontown," now the "Southside." He erected the large house, on South Pickering street, in which he resided for years, and which is now the residence of his daughter, Mrs. Harriet L. Ferguson.
Mr. Mabon built the grist-mill known as the "White mill" in 1849 or 1850, and owned and operated it until 1867, when Henry and John Startzell purchased half of the property. He also built the woolen factory, now owned by Newcome & Fawcett, which was burned down and rebuilt about 1868, and the planing-mill now owned by Anderson & Leech. Mr. Mabon died Novem- ber 5, 1884, in the ninety-third year of his age. Mrs. Mabon died in February, 1887, aged about ninety years. They were both prominent members of the United Presbyterian Church, and were respected and venerated by all who knew them. Of their four surviving children Emily, now Mrs. Welshouse, lives in Westmoreland county; Louise, Mrs. Milliken, in Youngstown, Ohio ; and Mary A., Mrs. G. A. Jenks, and Harriet, Mrs. Ferguson, reside in Brook- ville.
The English family came to Brookville in 1846, and have been prominent in the business and political circles since that time. Edmund English, the only one now residing in the town, is a prominent Democrat, having served one term in the Legislature. Since 1850 he has been engaged in the foundry business. Daniel English is well known as a prominent architect and builder. He built the Brookville school building, and the court-house at Clarion. He removed to Allegheny county the spring of 1887, but still owns his residence on Main street.
Samuel C. Espy came to Brookville from Huntingdon county in 1842, and moved into a little house that stood opposite the old grist-mill of R. P. Barr. This house went off in the flood of 1847. He then lived in a house on Main street, which occupied the site of the Pearsall building. He then purchased a
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lot on Jefferson street, near the old M. E. Church, where he resided until 1857, when he moved to Corsica and remained there until 1871, when he removed to Dakota, and died in Yankton county, January 26, 1887, in the eighty- fourth year of his age. Mr. Espy followed merchandising and tailoring. Three of his children, Thomas E. and John Espy, and Mrs. Levi Lerch, reside in Brookville.
Robert R. Means, one of the most prominent business men and soldiers of Brookville, was born in Mifflin county, April 25, 1819, and came to Brook- ville in 1846 or 1847. He, for a number of years, principally followed hotel- keeping, but during the latter years of his life was engaged in lumbering. Ilis record as a soldier has already been given. He was for a number of years one of the justices of the peace of the borough, and in 1870-75 one of the asso- ciate judges. He was married to Mrs. Sarah G. Clark, widow of Jesse G. Clark, esq., who survives him, and with four sons, George W., Thomas H., John B. and Harry G., and one daughter, Mrs. George T. Rodgers, reside in Brookville. Captain Means died October 4, 1877.
Thomas B. McLain came from Indiana county in the thirties and settled in Washington township. He removed to Brookville about the year 1849, and was engaged in merchandising for about twenty years. From 1858 he was associated with his son-in-law, George Van Vliet, until the latter went into the army in 1862. In 1865 the firm of McLain and Van Vliet was again resumed, until 1871, when Mr. Van Vliet retired, and Mr. McLain associated his son, James B. McLain, with him in the business, until the death of the latter in 1872, then he conducted the business alone, until 1874. when his store was de- stroyed by fire. Mr. McLain was killed by falling from the roof of an out- building that he was tearing down, August 10, 1882. He was in the seventy- second year of his age. His wife, née Eliza Hutchinson, died June 14, 1882, aged seventy years. All of his six children preceded him to the grave, the Jast one, his daughter Annie, dying a few weeks before her mother. Mr. Mc- Lain was one of Brookville's most respected and energetic citizens, and owned considerable real estate in the town.
Among the most respected and useful citizens of Brookville was William Erdice, who was born in Ireland and came to this country in 1820, when only ten years old. He located in Kinsman, Ohio, and in the fall of 1846 removed to Brookville. He was a carpenter and builder, and built twenty-three houses in Brookville and vicinity. He died September 3, 1877, in the sixty-eighth year of his age. He was a prominent member of the United Presbyterian Church, and a man of sterling honesty of character. His wife and five children survive him, three of whom reside in Brookville, his son, Laselle R. Erdice, being the present postmaster.
Samuel G. Fryer and family came from Philadelphia to Brookville in 1849 and commenced merchandising in the Brady building, corner of Main and
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Mill streets. He afterwards purchased the Franklin House, which he sold in 1866, and then bought the Truby property on the corner of Jefferson and Pickering streets, selling it in a short time to James C. Matson, and in 1867 bought the Harry Matson property, in which he resided and kept store until the fire of 1874, when his building was destroyed by fire, and he sold the lot to N. G. Edelblute. Soon after he removed to Reynoldsville, where he kept store until his death in 1886. Mr. Fryer was an Englishman, and a real gen- tleman of the olden style. He was a cultivated man, a connoisseur in art, and had many rare and valuable paintings. He died July 25, 1886, aged eighty years. Mrs. Fryer, who was an energetic business woman, having for years the general management of their business, died December 19, 1886. Only one of their children, Mrs. Mary G. Brown, who succeeded to their business in Reynoldsville, resides in the county.
Christopher Fogle came to Jefferson county and started a tannery at Heath- ville about the year 1825. In 1843 he moved it to Troy, where it was situated on the farm of Hulett Smith, to whom he afterwards sold it. After selling out to " Yankee Smith," as he was called, he came to Brookville and purchased the tannery of A. Colwell, and Judge Heath-the old Henry tannery on Jefferson street. He sold this property just in time to escape the fire of 1856, and moved to the farm, now owned by K. L. Blood in Rose township, where he farmed for several years, then came back to Brookville and engaged in the harness and saddlery business with his son Daniel. In 1863 he purchased the old Lucas property on Jefferson street, and started a general store. In 1870 he sold this property to John J. Thompson and built a residence in South Brook- ville, where he died June 4, 1874. Mr. Fogle's first wife died in 1858, and his daughter Rachel, after an illness of several years' duration, in ISSI. His son Daniel, formerly associated with him in business, lives in Kansas, and his other remaining child, Mrs. Sarah Steel, in Rose township. He married the second time Mrs. Jane Milne, nce Brown, who alone of the family resides in Brook- ville. Among those who learned their trade of harness and saddlery with Mr. Fogle were Christopher Smathers and Charles and Wylie McLain.
John J. Y. Thompson, whose biographical sketch appears elsewhere, was one of the early and for many years one of the most prominent citizens of the county, and who was foremost in aiding every public enterprise of his day.
Philip Taylor, one of the early and prominent lumbermen of his day, located in Brookville in 1841, and at once began lumbering on Sandy Lick, building the mills afterwards known as the "Tunnel Mills" of I. C. Fuller, which he operated until his death. He built the red grist-mill, now the property of I. C. Fuller. He was the first president of the First National Bank of Brook- ville, and in 1866 was elected associate judge. Judge Taylor was a native of York county, but at an early age removed to Westmoreland county, where he run a boat on the Pennsylvania Canal, taught school and engaged in farming,
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and where he married Miss Mary Anne Ogden. The result of this union was eight children. Of these one son, Winfield Scott, fell in the battle of Gaines's Mills ; the others died in childhood, with the exception of Evaline, who mar- ried Captain W. W. Wise, Reid D., and Philip. Mrs. Taylor died in 1867, and in 1869 he again married Mrs. D. E. Dean, nce Estep, who survives him. Judge Taylor died in 1872. The only survivors of his family are his son, Reid D., of Michigan, and his grandson, Malcolm W. Wise, of Du Bois. All of the family have left Jefferson county, with which they were so long identi- fied, except Mrs. D. E. Taylor, who resides in Brookville. On the death of his son Philip, the homestead became the property of his son, R. D. Taylor, and James E. Long, the latter now owning the property, and who has enlarged the house into a large hotel, which, standing on beautiful and spacious grounds, is becoming famous as a summer resort-Hotel Longview. None of Judge Taylor's property now belongs to his heirs.
James R. Fullerton came to Brookville in 1833. He died in 1842, and Mrs. Fullerton in 1860. The family has been for over fifty years residents of the town, Henry R. Fullerton being for many years identified with the busi- ness interests of the county as a lumberman, in which occupation he lost a limb while working on his mill in Eldred township. In 1869 he removed to Parker City, Armstrong county, where he soon took a prominent place in the community, and was identified with the leading business projects and public enterprises. He died there in 1885. Alexander Fullerton and Mrs. Jane Smathers are the only ones of the family who reside in Brookville, Mary, the other daughter, making her home in Warren, Pa.
John Gallagher was for a number of years a prominent citizen and land owner of Brookville, being for some time landlord of the hotel " Peace and Poverty," and for fifteen years justice of the peace. He returned to Butler county, where he died.
William Furley came to Brookville in 1843 and located on the lot yet occupied by his daughter, Mrs. C. E. Clements, and engaged in blacksmithing. He died in July, 1850. He was born in Newry, County Down, Ireland, in 1803. Mrs. Furley, nce Barbara Anna Gingery, found herself left with a small family of children, and with an energy rarely equalled, set about the task of gaining a livelihood for them. She built the home that was hers for so many years, and where she kept boarders. She was born in Lebanon county in 1810 ; died in 1879, respected by all who knew her. Three of her daughters -Mrs. Mary A. Carroll, Mrs. Clarissa Clements, and Mrs. Harriet Burns- reside in Brookville.
John Showalter came to Brookville in 1833, and located on the property on Mill street where his widow nee Anderson resides. He was a leading gun- smith for many years.
Another prominent lumberman of Brookville was Robert J. Nicholson,
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who came from Westmoreland county in 1844, and after teaching one term of school at Heathville, removed to Brookville, where he taught from 1845 to 1850. He then engaged in the lumber business, which he followed exten- sively until his death. From 1850 to 1855 he was engaged in the mercantile business with S. J. Marlin, and in 1856, in company with William Dillworth, of Pittsburg, purchased the saw-mill on the Five Mile Run. This mill was destroyed by fire in 1857, but was immediately rebuilt and operated until 1868. In 1869 he built the large building on the site now occupied by the buildings of B. Verstine and G. A. Pearsall, in the second story of which he made a large and elegantly fitted public hall. He was engaged with M. M. Meredith in the mercantile business in this building until it was destroyed by fire. He was also interested in the Carrier and Baum mills, on Mill Creek, and was one of the firm of Means & Nicholson, in the Iowa Mills. He built the Excelsior mills, now the Wainwright and Bryant mills, on Redbank, which he disposed of to Straub & Burkett, in 1883.
He was a very prominent Democrat, and was three times elected to the Legislature from Jefferson county-in 1856, 1878, and 1882-and there were few men who have done more for the upbuilding and advancement of the town. Mr. Nicholson died very suddenly on Friday, February 22, 1884, in Buffalo township, Caldwell county, North Carolina, where he had gone, in company with Mr. E. H. Darrah, to examine pine timber lands, which they had in view to purchase. He died on the roadside before his companion and friend real- ized that he was really ill. Mr. Nicholson's wife, née Anna Anderson, pre- ceded him to the grave, and now not one of his family remain in Brookville, while the extensive properties he once owned are all gone, not any of it belong- ing to his descendants.
The Blood family were early identified with Jefferson county, as will be seen in the sketch of Jenks township, where their early history is given.
Kennedy L., the eldest son, has been for many years actively identified with the business and politics of the town and county, being one of the ac- knowledged leaders of the Democratic party. In 1846 he was appointed deputy-sheriff, serving under Sheriffs Wilkins and St. Clair. In 1848 he was defeated for sheriff, and in 1858 elected to the State Senate. In 1850 he formed a co-partnership in the drug business with Dr. C. P. Cummins, and the latter retiring, he, in 1854, associated his brother, Parker P. Blood, in the busi- ness with him. In 1853 he was appointed postmaster. For the last two or three years he has not been actively engaged in business.
Parker P. Blood, who was a partner in the drug store with his brother, K. L. Blood, in 1856 was appointed postmaster by President Buchanan, and in 1 860 embarked in the dry goods business with Samuel Craig. In about six years Mr. Craig retired, and Mr. Blood conducted the business alone until 1870, when he sold his store to Nicholson & Mcredith. In 1863 he was elected treasurer of the county.
alexander@White
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Mr. Blood has always made lumbering his principal occupation, but since 1882 has added two large livery stables and two extensive carriage and wagon warerooms to his business. He has contributed largely to the building up of the town, building in 1875-6 the large three-story brick building on the west half of the Evans lot on Main street.
Among others of the old citizens who came into the town at an early date, were Robert Stewart in 1838, R. R. Brady in 1851, George Laflin in 1852, Bernard Verstine in 1851, William Melchoir in 1855, F. Boylan in 1852, P. McTaffe in 1854, John Wann 1856, John Butler 1858, Peter Helmheckle 1852, John Mills 1831, R. P. Blood 1854, C. Smathers 1846, Darius Ingraham 1852, Alexander B. Paine 1855, William Goss 1849, A. B. McLain 1852, George Vanvliet 1856, Rev. T. S. Leason 1858, David Banks 1850, Joseph Wallace 1850, Martin Sadler 1853, E. Snyder 1857, Edward Kirkman 1852, James Tate 1840, Edward and Daniel English 1846, Henry Pride 1841, James Mit- chell, S. W. Smith, Daniel Burns, Charles Sitz, James P. Black, J. P. Lucas, Edward Bleakney, Reuben Hubbard, Peter Miller, Thomas Goodar, Casper Endress, Peter Van Milders, William Woods.
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