USA > Pennsylvania > Jefferson County > History of Jefferson county, Pennsylvania, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 77
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Mr. McGhee remained in the Beech Woods, working on the farm, and running on the creek when there was rafting, until he was eighteen ; but being of a roving disposi- tion. in 1853, he started to the west with three other young men of the neighborhood - Welsh, Groves and Lewis. At that time Jefferson county had no railroads, and as the Allegheny River was too low for steamboats, the travelers had to walk to Pittsburgh, where they took the cars. At that time the farthest west that trains ran was to within sixteen miles east of Galena, Illinois, where our travelers took the stage, arriving in
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
Galena October 24, 1853, and the next day started for the Wisconsin lumber camps. Janesville, through which they passed, had only one house, and a very poor one at that- On the 29th they reached the mouth of Yellowstone River, and at the hotel there were Informed that they could get work at Williams's mill, a distance of fourteen miles. They reached this place about dark, and were promised work by Mr. Williams, who directed them to a shanty, where there were about forty rough-looking men, with hair hanging over their shoulders, and having the appearance of not having been shaved for at least five years, and whose every word was an oath. When supper was ready each man took down from a wooden peg on the wall a wooden bowl and spoon, and the new-comers being furnished with the same articles, followed the others into the next room, where on tables made of rough boards were placed large wooden bowls, such as are used for mixing bread, filled with pork and beans. This was all the food the men got. but all seemed strong and in good health. Mr. McGhee stayed here three days, but as the weather was very cold, and he had no blankets or bedding of any kind, and none could be had, he determined to return home, and dividing his money with his companions, he turned his steps homeward. After this journey he worked on the farm at home until he was twenty years of age, when, having accumulated about four hun- dred dollars, he again started westward. This time he was able to buy a ticket from Pittsburgh to Galena, from where he struck out for St. Paul. Near Portage, Wisconsin, he found Mr. Lewis, his companion of two years before. After spending the night with him, he proceeded on his journey, and just after crossing the Wisconsin River, found himself surrounded by a tribe of Indians, who seemed to be quarreling. He was con- siderably alarmed, and was greatly relieved when one of them, in English, inquired what day of the week it was. On being told that it was Sunday, he seemed much pleased, and informed Mr. McGhee that that was what they were disputing about, some of the rest asserting that it was not. Finding they could talk English, he inquired the way to Black River Falls. They told him there was an Indian trail through the woods, but that the white man went by Devil's Lake, which was nearer. but Indians dare not go that way. Not being afraid of the evil spirits of the Indians, Mr. McGhee chose this route, and that night encamped on the banks of the lake, whose beauty and grandeur repaid him for the trip. There is a railroad built to the place and a summer resort upon the spot where, on the eve of July 4, 1855, Mr. McGhee spent a lonely night.
At Black River he fell in with a young man who was going to Chippewa Falls to work at the millwright trade. Having worked at this with his father, Mr. McGhee concluded to join him. On reaching the Eau Claire River the settler with whom they spent the night advised them to go no further, as the Indians were on the war-path. But, after exchanging some of their coffee and hard bread with him for dried venison and fish, they decided to push on. After going some distance they met a party of whites, who informed them that the Winnebago and Chippewa Indians were fighting at the falls. They turned back with them, and that night, for the first time, he saw a picket guard thrown out. The next day the party, forty in number. went down the river to Eau Claire, where Mr. McGhee remained until the 16th of July, when he again set out for St. Paul, a distance of two hundred miles. There was no road save an Indian trail, and the traveler did not see a human face for three days, except a party of Indians, whom he was terribly frightened to meet, in war-paint; but the leader assured him that he need not be afraid, as they were on their way to " fight bad injun at Chippewa Falls," and with a war-whoop they left him. He reached St. Paul without further adventure, and
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JAMES MCGHEE.
found but a small village, containing a few dwellings, a small frame hotel, the dock. warehouse, and three stores. While there a German wanted to sell him forty acres of land for forty dollars, which covered the ground now occupied by the union depot, and taking in a large portion of the city ; but after looking about for a week he concluded that the place would not amount to much, as there would never be a market for the grain raised in Minnesota. From there he went to Minneapolis, St. Anthony's, and visited the beautiful falls of Minnehaha. He then retraced his steps to Iowa, through which State he made a very pleasant pedestrian tour. Though there were roads to guide the traveler, there were no bridges, and he frequently had to wade streams where the water was waist-deep. The country was beginning to be settled, and Mr. McGhee could generally find shelter for the night. One night he stopped for the night at a sod house, and soon after two men rode up who he thought acted rather suspiciously. Mr. McGhee at once decided they were robbers, who had obtained knowledge of several hundred dollars he carried on his person, and had followed him to rob him ; but his fears were all allayed when one of them asked a blessing at the supper-table.
After looking over Iowa, Mr. McGhee again turned his face homeward, thinking, as he says, " that there was too much good land in the west, and it would produce so much grain that there would be no market for it."
He reached home August 26, and had not been there very long until there was a " flood in the creek," and in company with David McGeary and Samual Sloan started a raft from Brookville. The water was low when they started, but the rain soon fell in torrents, and when they reached Troy the water was rising rapidly. When they came in sight of Hess's dam they could see the breakers rising up some ten feet. Mr. McGhee says : " It made my hair stand up on my head at sight of the peril that was before us. I secured a good hold on one of the grubs and concluded I would go to the bottom with the raft. It was soon over, as the raft was in the current of the dam, and as soon as the front end had struck the breaker it went down. We were afraid we would strike the pier below the dam, but McGeary being a good pilot, we escaped. We soon found ourselves out of danger, but without coats or hats. Our oar was on the back of the raft : we soon secured it, and after some hard work succeeded in landing at New Beth- lehem. I give this as one of the many adventures of a lumberman." In 1858 Mr. McGhee formed a co-partnership in the lumber business with David McGeary, to whom he sold his interest in 1860, and purchased some timber land, in which he invested all the money he had, thinking to sell his timber in Pittsburgh in the spring. But when on his way " down the river" with his first rafts in the spring of 1861 he was met with the news that the rebels had fired upon Fort Sumter. On reaching Pittsburgh all was found to be excitement, and no sale could be made. Leaving his timber in charge of James Cathers, he returned honie. He was out of money and discouraged, but he soon im- bibed the war fever that was rousing up the North, and as the ranks of the first three months' companies were full, he enlisted under the next call in Captain Evans R. Brady's company, and accompanied it to Pittsburgh, but having some business to attend to, he returned home, where he fell sick, and before he was able to rejoin his company Captain Brady wrote to him that his place was filled. He then enlisted in Captain A. H. Tracy's company, which became Company H of the One Hundred and Fifth Regiment. He served almost three years in this brave old regiment, and participated in forty-two bat- tles and skirmishes. until he was wounded at the battle of the Wilderness. Mr. McGhee says of his army experience : "After I was wounded I never saw the good old flag again
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
until I saw it at the reunion of Jefferson county soldiers at Brookville, September 22, 1887. When I beheld its tattered rags, it brought many sad thoughts to my mind. I thought of what Colonel Craig said at the battle of Gettysburg, when the rebels were among us as thick as bees, and the color-bearers were being shot down : 'Boys, stand by the flag until the last man is killed, and then I will take it out.' When the Sixty- third was driven back to Randolph's battery, and we had rescued them, I heard one of the regiment say : 'God bless the old One Hundred and Fifth, she is always on hand.' At the battle of the Wilderness we were marching along a road, when the rebels poured into our ranks a deadly fire. The men fell in great numbers, and as soon as we could load we returned the fire. We could not hear the report of their guns for the noise of our own firing. The only way we knew they were firing at us was seeing our men fall. The enemy occupied higher ground than we did, and suffered more. Each man fired one hundred and twenty rounds before we were relieved. We then retired a short distance and lay down to rest. I was lying behind a small tree, upon which the rebels opened fire and shot away at it until it fell."
In the fight of the next day Mr. McGhee was wounded severely in the arm. The rebel who shot him was not fifty rods distant. After receiving the wound Mr. McGhee was sent to Belle Plain, and it was four days before he reached there, and during that time his wound did not receive proper attention. At Belle Plain he was put on a boat, where his wound received proper care. He was taken to the hospital at Washington, and a few days after he arrived there an order was received to furlough the soldiers and send them home. The surgeon thought he was not able to go, but he had received intelligence of his father's serious illness, and his nurse interceded for him, and he was allowed to go home. reaching there the day before his father's death, which occurred May 23, 1864. He remained at home until July r, when he returned to the hospital and was transferred to Satterly hospital, where he remained until his term of service expired.
When he came out of the army Mr. McGhee had about three hundred dollars. With this he bought five hundred acres of timber land in Forest county, at Orphan's court sale, at fifty cents per acre, and in a few days sold it for five dollars per acre This gave him money enough to carry on business, and he took out timber that winter and in the spring had fifteen rafts which he run to Pittsburgh and sold for twenty-five cents per foot.
Having money enough to go into some business, he concluded to go to California, and was ready to start, when R. S. Cathers persuaded him to purchase a mill property. During the winter of 1865 he took out timber on Little Toby, which he run to Pittsburgh in the spring and sold for twenty-three cents per foot. In the spring of 1866 he sold, at a good profit, his interest in the lands on Little Toby, and purchased four thousand acres of timber land in Michigan, from Ira C. Fuller. After visiting and locating this land be returned home, and in the summer of 1866 bought one-fourth interest in the mill at Sandy Valley, in Winslow township. While taking out timber after the mill froze up, about March 1, 1867, one of the scorers' axes came off the handle and struck Mr. McGhee on the wrist, severing an artery. He took cold in the sore after it was par- tially healed, and says: "Had it not been for Dr. Heichhold's watchful care, I would have lost my arm."
Since then he has made several trips to Michigan, where he has extensive lumber interests. He owns an interest in the large steam mill at McGhee Station (Sandy Val-
4. J. Brary
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JAMES MCGHEE. - ANDREW JACKSON BRADY.
ley), which was built in 1869 and saws four million feet of boards per annum. Mr. McGhee resides in his large and commodious residence at this place.
On the 8th of August, 1865, Mr. McGhee was married to Elizabeth S. Boner, daugh- ter of Charles Boner, of Rose township. Six children have blessed this union, four of whom - Anna M., Mattie, Charles P., and James W. - survive, and are all at home with their parents ; Carrie S. died November 25, 1875, and John W., December 13, 1875.
Very few of Jefferson county's citizens have lived a more eventful or busier life than Mr. McGhee, and his adventures in the far west and in the army would fill a volume.
B RADY, ANDREW JACKSON, was born in Mahoning township, Indiana county February 3, 1815. His father, James Y. Brady, was a prominent citizen of Indiana county, and held the office of justice of the peace for forty years. His mother was Sarah Ricketts, of Virginia, and a very estimable woman. They had quite a large fam- ily, two of whom, the subject of our sketch and his brother, Oliver, became citizens of Jefferson county. His father was a cousin of Captain Sam Brady, of Indian fame.
In 1840 A. J. Brady, who was a carpenter and cabinet maker, came to Pine Creek township to build a house for Mr. John Long. He remained for a year or two and worked at his trade in the summer, and taught school during the winter. One of the schools taught by him was the Moore school, near Emerickville. On the 3d of March, 1842, he was married to Miss Susannah Catherine Long, daughter of Mr. John Long, and returned to Indiana county and went to farming.
In those days money was very scarce, and books of all kinds were luxuries often unobtainable, and Mrs. Brady found herself in her new home without a Bible. Having been brought up to read and abide by the Word of God, she felt this deprivation very much, and as soon as an opportunity presented, she purchased the volume from which the records for this sketch have been taken, and for which she paid the last money in her possession, the only time when, as she says, she was ever obliged to part with her last cent ; but she felt that she must possess a Bible of her own at any sacrifice.
The young couple worked hard, and being young, healthy, and energetic, they suc- ceeded. When the first little one came, the mother took it with her to the field, and placing its cradle in the shade of a tree, she followed after her husband's plow, setting up the corn or helping put up the hay. After the first two years they were able to hire a hand. and from that time Mrs. Brady was relieved from out-door work ; but she looks back to those early days as among the happiest of her life.
About 1848 A. J. Brady sold his farm in Indiana county and returned to Jefferson county, and in 1850 with Irvin Long, his brother-in-law, bought the Port Barnett prop- erty, and in addition to the mills he also kept the old Barnett Hotel. In 1849 Mr. Brady and Samuel Findley bought a fleet of boards and ran them to Cincinnati, where they sold them. In 1852 he sold the Port Barnett property to Jacob Kroh, sr., and moved to Brookville and purchased the house on the corner of Mill and Main streets, in which he resided until 1857, when he purchased the property on Mill street where his family still resides.
In 1867 Mr. Brady made a trip to England in the interest of the heirs of William Robinson. He left New York September 23. and landed in Liverpool October 7. Al- though not successful in his search, Mr. Brady enjoyed his trip to the old country very much. He visited all places of interest in Liverpool, London, and Nottingham, among others the Crystal Palace. He returned home in the latter part of November. A. J. 82
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
Brady was one of the most prominent and successful business men in the county. He was the senior partner of the firm of Brady & Long in the lumbering business, and the Blaine mill and the lumber business connected with it is yet conducted under the same firm name. He was well identified with the lumber interests on Redbank Creek, and for many years he owned considerable valuable real estate, and was possessed of con- siderable of this world's goods.
He was always prominently identified with the Republican party, and for years held the office of justice of the peace in Brookville, and was elected and re-elected assessor again and again. He was always honest and straightforward in all his dealings with his fellows, and so strong was the faith of his neighbors and those who knew him in his integrity that he was guardian for scores of orphan children.
On the 16th of November, 1865, after an illness of some duration, he calmly passed from earth. Mr. Brady was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, but made no loud professions of religion. He was as unassuming in his church relations as in his daily life, but his faith in his heavenly Father was steadfast and sure. When about to embark on his trip to England. he wrote to his wife: "I put my trust in God, and I believe that he will permit me to come back again. I have a good deal of faith in your religion, and I want you to pray for me when I am at sea, and I will pray for myself and all the rest at home."
He was a true and steadfast friend, and the troubles of his friends affected him almost as much as if they had been his own.
Mr. and Mrs. Brady had eleven children. Of these Hezekiah F., Sarah Elisabeth. Margaret Alvira, Mary Alzaide, Nora Adelphia, Harry Grant, and Walter Zeigler died in infancy, except Maggie, who was taken from earth when a lovely girl of some twelve summers.
Four children yet survive- Lewis Armstrong, now residing in Du Bois, Minerva J., married to John Matson, jr., and a resident of Brookville, and Milton Seymour, also married and residing in Brookville, and Gertrude, who, with her mother, resides in the homestead.
JENKS, HON. GEORGE A., is the youngest of ten children, and was born in Punx- J sutawney, Jefferson county, Pa., March 26, 1836. His father, a physician, was de- scended from a Welsh Quaker family, who were among the early settlers of Philadelphia. His mother was a daughter of the Rev. D. Barclay, a Scotch Presbyterian minister. When Mr. Jenks was a child his eldest brother, D. B. Jenks, who was a lawyer, was teaching him to count a hundred, and casually asked him what business he would fol- low when he became a man. The reply was, " Wait till to-morrow morning and I will tell you." During the night the determination was formed, and the next morning com- municated by the subject of this sketch that he would be a lawyer. This purpose, so early formed, was unalterably fixed. Thenceforward his every labor and study was di- rected to the purpose of his life. To these early studies is largely to be attributed his capability to deal with origmal legal questions, such as he manifested on the impeach- ment of Secretary Belknap, the discussion of the Louisiana and Oregon cases before the Electoral Commission, and the debate on the distribution of the Geneva award.
When attending the common school, one of the readers then in use was the Intro- duction to the English Reader. In this, one of the lessons was the story of the " Noble Basket-Maker." From this story the moral was derived : That every man, no differ-
GAeriks
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GEORGE A. JENKS.
ence what his circumstances or purposes in life might be, should learn a trade. This moral he determined to act upon. When fourteen years old his father died. At six- teen he entered upon an apprenticeship of two years to the carpenter and joiner trade. When his term expired he worked at his trade, taught school, and occasionally was em- ployed at civil engineering, till he entered college. While engaged in the latter voca- tion, in the spring of 1855, he assisted to lay out Omaha, in Nebraska. In the fall of that year he entered the junior class at Jefferson College, having, in the mornings and evenings, while teaching and working, steadily pursued his literary studies. He had been entered as a student of law before he entered college, and the Hon. W. P. Jenks, who was his guardian, had from early boyhood directed him in his legal and lit- erary reading. He graduated at Jefferson College in the class of 1858, and in February, 1859, was admitted to the bar in Jefferson county, having finished his legal studies under his elder brother, P. W. Jenks.
At the September term. 1859, he led in conducting his first case in court, which was an all-important one to his clients, a widow and her minor children, whose all was their home, and that home was dependent upon the result of the case. He was opposed by the leading legal talent at the bar, including Hon. I. G. Gordon, Hon. W. P. Jenks, and Hon. G. W. Zeigler. He won the case, and thenceforward was employed in most of the important causes in his own county, and his name soon became familiar in many of the courts of Western and Central Pennsylvania, to which he was called for the trial of important cases.
When not engaged in the courts, his life has been one of constant study and prepa- ration. He never sought public position, but was known as a Democrat. In the fall of 1874 he was tendered the Democratic nomination for Congress in the Twenty-fifth District of Pennsylvania, against General Harry White. The district was heavily Re- publican, but his personal popularity and the tidal wave elected him to the Forty-fourth Congress. Speaker Kerr appointed him chairman of the Committee on Invalid Pensions. A masterly report on the condition and working of the Pension Bureau, derived from an investigation by order of the House, he soon made, and followed this by a bill which was calculated to prevent future abuses. Bounty land warrants, which, before this, had been personal property, had become the plunder of a dishonest ring, which, at one sin- gle time, had seized upon over one hundred thousand acres of land. were changed to realty through his efforts, and so guarded that only the rightful owners, their legal heirs or assigns, could obtain them.
His forensic ability first became known to the House in a discussion concerning the character of an invalid pension. He had asserted that an invalid pension, for death, or clisability of a soldier in the service, in the line of his duty, was a contract right. This was denied by some of the leading Republicans of the House, who alleged it was mere gift or gratuity, and a warm debate ensued, at the conclusion of which Mr. Jenks made a legal argument, tracing the legislation on the subject from and since the Revolutionary War, and establishing so conclusively the position he assumed that it has not since been denied. This was soon succeeded by a legal discussion concerning the refusal of Hal- lett Kilbourne to testify before a committee of the House.
The legal prominence he had already attained led the House to elect him as one of seven managers on the part of the House to conduct the impeachment of Secretary Belknap, the others being Messrs. Lord, Knott, Lynde, McMahon, Hoar and Lapham. On that trial, before the Senate, the defendant was represented by three leading lawyers
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of the nation-Hon. Jeremiah S. Black, Hon. Matt. H. Carpenter and Hon. Mont- gomery Blair. Mr. Jenks was selected by the managers as one of the committee to draw the pleadings. He was afterwards appointed to make one of the arguments on the question of the jurisdiction of the Senate to impeach after the officer had resigned, and subsequently, in consequence of the illness of Mr. Lapham, he was selected to dis- cuss the facts. His legal attainments were, on this trial, made conspicuous to the Sen- ate and the nation, and conceded to be unsurpassed by any in the cause.
The subject of the distribution of the Geneva award came before the House on ma- jority and minority reports from the Judiciary Committee. Mr. Jenks offered an amendment to the majority report; in support of the amendment and report as amended, made an argument involving some of the most difficult questions of interna- tional law. The report, as amended by him, was passed by the House.
Soon after the meeting of the second session, he was appointed by Speaker Randall one of the committee of fifteen to investigate the conduct of the elections in Louisiana, and on his return was appointed, by the chairman of the Democratic caucus, with Mr. Field, of New York, and Mr. Tucker, of Virginia, to represent the Democracy of the House in preparing, presenting and discussing the facts and the law before the Electoral Commission. It fell to Mr. Jenks to make opening arguments in the cases of Louisiana and Oregon. While he was engaged in the discussion of the first of these cases before the commission, Senators Thurman and Bayard sat side by side. Senator Bayard passed a note of admiration of the argument to Senator Thurman, and in response received the following reply : " The more I hear this man the more I admire him. He reasons like a Newton or La Place. He has spoken half an hour, and has not uttered a superfluous word." This complimentary opinion was generally concurred in by those who heard or read the proceedings before the Electoral Commission.
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