History of Mercer County, Pennsylvania : its past and present, Part 108

Author:
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : Brown, Runk
Number of Pages: 1288

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FREDERICK H. LEET, physician and surgeon, was born on the site of Roches- ter, Beaver Co., Penn., October 17, 1821, and is a son of Jonathan and Mary (Haymaker) Leet. The former was a native of Washington County, Penn., but removed to Beaver County with his parents, who were among the first settlers. He kept a trading post at Beaver Point, and subsequently a hotel on the site of Rochester. In 1819 he was married to Miss Mary Haymaker, one of the very first settlers of Crawford County, Penn., and a subsequent. pioneer of Beaver County. The Haymaker family removed to the site of Kent, Ohio, at an early day, where some of the descendants now reside. In 1851 Jonathan Leet and family removed from Beaver to Mercer County and located on a farm close to Greenville, where the parents passed the remaining years of their lives. The mother died in 1862, leaving a family of eight children to mourn her loss. Her husband survived her ten years, and both lived and died in the Baptist faith. Dr. Leet was educated in Beaver County, at the school which subsequently became the Sewickly Seminary, and afterward attended Beaver Academy. He taught school in Beaver County five years. In 1854 he began the study of medicine under Dr. H. D. La. Cossitt, of Green- ville, and in March, 1858, graduated at the Western Reserve Medical College, Cleveland, Ohio. He immediately opened an office in Greenville, where for the past thirty years he has prosecuted the duties of his profession. In Janu- ary, 1863, Dr. Leet was appointed assistant surgeon of the Fifty-seventh Pennsylvania Volunteers, and served in that capacity about nine months, when failing health compelled him to resign and return to his home. He was mar- ried March 8, 1864, to Miss Sarah F. Waldron, of Portsmouth, N. H., who has borne him the following children: Frederick (deceased), Irene, William H.,

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Susan, Blanche (deceased) and Clara. Dr. Leet was first a Whig and then a Republican, and still affiliates with the latter organization. He is to-day one of the oldest medical practitioners in Mercer County.

DAVID LINN, retired farmer, was born in Delaware Township, Mercer Co., Penn., October 19, 1812. About the year 1802 his grandparents, David and Susan (Coyle) Linn, came from Westmoreland County, Penn., to what is now Sugar Grove Township, Mercer County, with a family of nine children: James, David, John, William, Anna, Betsey, Margaret, Polly and Jane, all of whom, except Polly, became heads of families ere their decease. . After a few years' residence in the north part of the county, the family removed to Delaware Township, where the grandparents died. James, the father of our subject, married Anna Williamson, of Centre County, Penn., in 1811, and located in Delaware Township, where both passed the remainder of their lives. James was a soldier at Erie in the War of 1812. He and wife were members of the Presbyterian Church, and reared a family of seven children: David, . James W., Jane, Susan, William P., Eliza A. and Oliver H. P., all of whom are dead except the eldest and the youngest. David grew to manhood in his native township, and in 1839 settled in what is now Otter Creek Township. He was married October 18, 1840, to Mary M., daughter of Joseph Leech, who has reared a family of seven children: Joseph, who died from the effects of imprisonment at Columbia, S. C., during the war; Sylvester J., of Salt Lake City; Anna B., wife of W. A. McLean; Rhoda B., wife of W. E. Davidson; D. D., of Sugar Creek Township; Jennie, wife of John Wiley, and William P., of Salt Lake City. In the spring of 1873 Mr. Linn located in Greenville. He and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and in politics Mr. Linn has been a life-long Whig and Republican. He is to-day one of the oldest representative pioneers of Mercer County, where he has lived over three- quarters of a century.

SAMUEL C. LIVINGSTON, of Livingston & Moyer, general hardware mer- chants, was born in Pymatuning Township, Mercer Co., Penn., January 10, 1848, and is a son of Andrew T. and Elizabeth (Caldwell) Livingston. The former was born in Washington County, Penn., in 1817, and was a son of Samuel Livingston, born in 1776, and grandson of Joseph Livingston,, of County Antrim, Ireland, who immigrated to America about 1788, and settled in Allegheny County, Penn. In 1836 Samuel, Sr., located in Pymatuning Township, Mercer County, where his son, Daniel L., now lives. His wife, Sarah, was a daughter of Andrew Thompson, a native of Ireland, and a resi- dent of Allegheny County, Penn. They reared seven children: Joseph, deceased; Eliza J., who married Samuel Caldwell, of Delaware Township; Margaret L., who married William Walker; Andrew T., deceased; Daniel L., Sarah L., and Catherine P., who married Samuel Kennedy, of New Brighton, Penn. The parents both died on the old homestead near Transfer. Andrew T. Livingston was nineteen years old when his parents settled in this county, and he here married Elizabeth Caldwell, who was born in Delaware Township in 1819, and was a daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth Caldwell, pioneers of that township. She bore him seven children: Samuel, Mary E. (deceased), William, Ada, Eliza, and two died in early youth. Mr. Livingston died in the United Presbyterian faith in November, 1884, and his widow resides upon the old homestead. Our subject grew up in his native township, and after obtain- ing a district school education, spent two years at the Edinboro Normal School. In 1869 he and his Uncle Daniel engaged in milling at Hadley Station, in which he remained four years, then came to Greenville and clerked for Pack- ard & Co. nine years. In 1882 he and William Lohr established a general

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hardware store in Greenville, in which he has since been engaged. His part- ner died in 1886, and in January, 1887, H. F. Moyer obtained the interest of Mr. Lohr, and the present firm was organized. Mr. Livingston was married October 19, 1887, to Miss Mary Ohl, of Greenville. Politically he is a Republican.

MARVIN LOOMIS, president of the First National Bank, was born in Tyring- ham, Berkshire Co., Mass., December 19, 1807. His father, Josiah Loomis, was a native of Massachusetts, of English and German extraction, and was reared in Windsor, Vt. His mother, Rebecca Loomis, nee Ray, was born in Great Barrington, Berkshire Co., Mass., and was of Irish and French ances- try. Josiah and Rebecca Loomis reared a family of six sons and five daugh- ters, some of whom were born after their removal to Williamsfield, Ashtabula Co., Ohio, in 1816, where the parents spent the balance of their lives. Mar- vin was the third eldest, and remained under the parental roof till attaining his majority. He received a good English education, and taught school six

winter terms. In 1828 he visited Mercer County, and the next year took up his residence in Salem (now Sugar Grove) Township, where he was married, October 29, 1829, to Miss Mary Ann Walker. She was a daughter of James and Catherine (McFetridge) Walker, and was born upon the old Walker home- stead, half a mile west of Leech's Corners, March 13, 1812. Her parents were natives of Ireland, and her father settled in Mercer County in the fall of 1797. [See Walker sketch in Sugar Grove Township. ] Mr. Loomis resided with his wife's parents and took charge of the farm until both had passed away. In 1865 he removed to Greenville, where lie has since continued to reside. He was one of the organizers of the First National Bank, and also of the Greenville National Bank; is a director of each and president of the former, but has not been otherwise engaged in business since coming to Greenville. Mr. Loomis and wife reared two daughters: Electa C., wife of John H. Wilson, of Rock Island, Ill., and Dora F., wife of W. W. Emery, of Greenville. Mrs. Loomis died May 22, 1874, a fervent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, to which her surviving husband and daughters also belong. Politically Mr. Loomis has been a Whig and Republican all his life. During his residence in Sugar Grove Township he served as school director about twenty years, and since locating in Greenville he has filled the office of burgess one term. In 1863, though fifty-six years old, he exhibited his patri- otism by going into the three-months service, and is now a member of John C. Dickey Post, G. A. R., of Greenville. Mr. Loomis has always taken an active interest in the social and material development of Mercer County. He was prominently connected with the first fairs held in Greenville, and president of its first agricultural society; and was also one of the organizers of the She- nango Valley Cemetery Association and its secretary and treasurer. For many years Mr. Loomis had the general management of the cemetery, and was largely instrumental in having it finely improved and beautified. For nearly sixty years he has watched the steady growth of his adopted county, and for a large part of that time has been one of its best known citizens. Beginning in early manhood without a dollar, he so improved his opportunities that he is to-day one of the wealthiest pioneers of the county.

FREDERICK W. LOOSER, coal dealer and operator, was born in Essen, Prus- sia, Germany, March 18, 1842, and is second in a family of fourteen chil- dren, and a son of F. W. and Katrina Looser, of Prussia. In May, 1867, he immigrated to Illinois, and engaged in coal mining, which business he had followed for nine years in his native land. He came to Greenville in 1870, and continued working in the coal mines till 1878, when he opened a bank

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HISTORY OF MERCER COUNTY.

two miles west of town. He ran this till 1882, and then opened another mine, which he operated till 1886, when he sold out and started his present coal yard in Greenville. Mr. Looser was married in August, 1868, to Miss Amelia Obst, a native of Germany. Six children are the fruits of this union: Will- iam, Ella, Matilda, Lawrence, John and Fred. Politically he is a Democrat, and adheres to the Catholic Church.

JACOB LOUTZENHISER was one of the hardy band of land prospectors who came from Westmoreland Co., Penn., in the fall of 1796, and selected their future homes in the Shenango Valley, where they settled permanently in the spring of 1797. Our subject first located on the site of Orangeville, in Pyma- tuning Township, where he erected a mill in 1798. In 1802 he sold his prop- erty and removed to a tract of land west of the Shenango, now partly in- cluded in Greenville. In 1809 he sold this to Jacob Hommer, Sr., having purchased in 1806 the Williamson Mill, near Greenville, afterward known as the Loutzenhiser Mill, which he ran up to his death in 1821. In 1815 he built the old log grist-mill, which stood on the site of Mathers Mill, and also operated it up to his death. Mr. Loutzenhiser was a native of Germany, and a son of Joseph Loutzenhiser, who settled in West Salem Township in the spring of 1800. He was reared in Westmoreland County, Penn., and married Mary, a daughter of Daniel Klingensmith, and with his father-in-law became the owner of a large tract of land in Mercer County, including the site of Greenville, which they purchased from Lodge, Probst & Walker, Mr Probst being the brother-in-law of our subject. These lands were sold or divided up among the family, Jacob retaining the old homestead in Greenville till his. death. Jacob and Mary Loutzenhiser reared the following children: Betsey, who married Jacob Keck; Jacob, one of the pioneer sheriffs of the county, who died in February, 1864; John, who removed to the West; David, Daniel, who died in Ohio; Joseph, who died in Indiana; Henry, who died in Illinois; Polly, who married William Bean, and after his death became the wife of Adam Wier, and died in this county, and Catharine, who married James L. Wick, of Greenville, and died in 1887, being the last survivor of the family. The parents both died upon the old homestead in Greenville.

David Loutzenhiser is perhaps the best remembered of Jacob Loutzenhiser's children. He was born on the site of Greenville August 12, 1803, and resided on a portion of his father's original purchase all his life. The widow of his son Amos still occupies the old home on East Main Street. He was married March 25, 1823, to Euty Brown, a native of Crawford County, Penn., born in 1805. They reared the following children: Amos, deceased, who left two children ;. Jacob, deceased, who left a family of five children; Benjamin, deceased; Maria, deceased wife of James Nesbit; Frederick, deceased; Catharine, deceased; Henry, deceased; Emeline, deceased, and Felicia, wife of L. L. Keck, of Greenville, and the only survivor of the family. Mrs. Loutzenhiser died March 5, 1871, in her sixty-sixth year, and her husband survived her till June 21, 1882, in his seventy-ninth year. For many years preceding his death he was comparatively retired from the active duties of life. He was a generous- hearted neighbor, a kind father, and an honest, enterprising citizen.

AMOS LOUTZENHISER, the oldest child of David, was born on the old home- stead May 20, 1824. He was married June 5, 1850, to Emily Ikler, a native of Columbia County, Penn., whose parents, Phillip and Elizabeth (Kitchen) Ikler, removed to Crawford County when she was nine years old. Her father died in Kentucky and her mother in Greenville, Penn. Two sons were born to Amos and Emily Loutzenhiser: James and Henry A., residents of Green- ville. Mr. Loutzenhiser followed farming and stock dealing all his life, and

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died January 5, 1881. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church, and in politics a Republican. His widow resides on the old homestead in Green- ville.

BENJAMIN LOUTZENHISER, deceased, was born in Greenville, Penn., January 28, 1829, and was also a son of David Loutzenhiser. Benjamin grew up and was married in Greenville May 9, 1859, to Elizabeth, daughter of Jacob and Mary Hommer, one of the pioneer families of West Salem Township. One son was born of this union, but died in infancy. Mr. Loutzenhiser resided in Greenville and vicinity all his life. He was one of the most enterprising and successful citizens of his native county, and accumulated through the passing years quite a respectable estate. He died in the faith of the Methodist Epis- copal Church November 11, 1887. He was a stanch Republican, and a man of unsullied reputation and honest character.

JAMES LOUTZENHISER, queensware dealer, was born in Greenville, August 15, 1853, and is a son of Amos and Emily Loutzenhiser, the former a native of Greenville and the latter of Crawford County, Penn. James was the eldest in a family of two sons, his brother, Henry A., being also a resident of Green- ville. Our subject was educated in the public schools of his native town, and afterward attended Eastman's Business College, of Poughkeepsie, N. Y., for one year. In the spring of 1877 he and L. D. Leech purchased interests in the queensware store of D. D. Lynn & Co., and with John R. Artherholt estab- lished the firm of Artherholt & Co. In December, 1881, Mr. Leech sold out to his partners, and the two remaining members of the firm have since continued a successful and growing business. Mr. Loutzenhiser was married February 10. 1880, to Miss L. B., daughter of Dr. Isaac Mulholland, of Greenville, now of Toledo, Ohio. Two children are the fruits of this union: Clifford and Margery. Mr. Loutzenhiser is a member of the I. O. O. F., and in politics is a Republican. He is now filling the office of second burgess of Greenville, and is recognized as an energetic, enterprising business man.

DR. WILLIAM COWAN EDMISTON MARTIN, for thirty years one of the most prominent physicians of Mercer County, died at his home in Greenville, Novem- ber 19, 1885. He was born in South Shenango Township, Crawford Co., Penn., October 28, 1829, and was a son of Robert and Jane (Stinson) Martin. His father was a native of Ireland, and his mother of Mercer County, the Stin- sons being one of the pioneer families of this section of the State. Dr. Mar- tin was the fourth in a family of seven children, only three of whom are now living: James, Samuel and Mrs. Susan McArthur. His early life was spent on his father's farm in Crawford County, where he received the usual advan- tages that country schools afforded. In his fifteenth year he became a student of Mosiertown Academy, where he spent one year, the two succeeding years being passed in Kirtland Institute, then located in West Chester, Ohio. Upon the close of his academic course, he taught school one term near Green- ville, and in the spring of 1851 he entered the office of Dr. F. H. Judd, of that town, as a student of medicine. After a year's perparatory study he attended lectures in the Eclectic Medical College, Cincinnati, Ohio, and gradu- ated in the spring of 1854. He soon afterward purchased the residence, office and drugs of his preceptor, Dr. Judd, and located in Greenville as a practicing physician. Dr. Martin was married July 12, 1854, to Miss Jennie E., daughter of Dr. John Hall, of Syracuse, N. Y., a refined and accom- plished lady. Mrs. Martin died in 1859, leaving one son, John H., who is now one of the leading physicians of Greenville. On the 5th of November, 1867, Dr. Martin was again married, to Miss Jennie P. Ralston, of Cannons- burg, Penn., who, with their daughter, May, survives him. Dr. Martin was

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a Republican in politics, and in October, 1862, joined Company A, One Hun- dred and Sixty-ninth Regiment, and served nine months. Soon after com- mencing practice Dr. Martin united with the Associate Presbyterian Church, and remained a faithful and practical member of the United Presbyterian denomination until he passed to his eternal reward. He was a true, unselfish friend, a kind, generous, father and husband, and a progressive, enterprising, Christian gentleman. As a physician he was skillful and conscientious, and no call of the sick or afflicted was unheeded by him, when in his power to answer it, whether there was a prospect of compensation or not.

DR. JOHN H. MARTIN, physician and surgeon, was born in Greenville April 13, 1855, and is the only son of Dr. W. C. E. Martin, deceased. He was educated at Thiel College, Greenville, and Westminster College, Wilming- ton, Lawrence Co., Penn., and read medicine in his father's office. Dr. Mar- tin graduated at the Eclectic Medical Institute, Cincinnati, Ohio, June 3, 1879, and at once associated himself in practice with Dr. W. C. Brittain, of Cochranton, Crawford County, a former student in his father's office. He practiced there and at Utica, Venango County, five years, and then spent about one year in the Homoeopathic Medical College and Hospital, of Chicago, Ill., where he graduated February 25, 1885. The failing health of his father necessitated his return to Greenville, where to a large extent he took charge of his father's business, and has since continued in active practice. Dr. Mar- tin was married Feburary 2, 1887, to Mrs. Grace P. Hill, of Akron, Ohio, and resides in a handsome residence on East Main Street, Greenville. The Doc- tor is a member of the Masonic and I. O. O. F. fraternities, and a warm ad- herent of the Republican party. Since opening an office at Greenville he has built up a large practice, and is now surgeon-in-chief of the Pittsburgh, Shenango & Lake Erie Railroad.

JAMES MATHERS, who died in Greenville February 14, 1888, was born near Mount Jackson, Lawrence County, Penn., July 8, 1810. His parents, Mar- garet and Thomas (Baird) Mathers, were natives of Westmoreland County, Penn., and removed to Lawrence County, Penn., then a part of Mercer, early in the present century. His father died when James was only six years old, but his mother lived to the ripe old age of nearly ninety, and died in Hubbard, Ohio. They reared a family of eight children, none of whom are now living. James worked on the home farm till eighteen years of age, and then went out in the world to begin the battle of life. Soon after reaching manhood he engaged in contracting on the Sandy & Beaver Canal, which public work subsequently proved a failure. When the State began the construction of the Beaver & Erie Canal Mr. Mathers obtained a contract to build Lock No. 16, and afterward Dams Nos. 2 and 5. In 1842 the State refused to appropriate any more money toward completing the canal, and subsequently turned over the work to a private company. Mr. Mathers took a contract from that company to finish eighteen miles of the canal, which he carried to a successful completion. In partnership with James C. Brown, of Greenville, he afterward assisted in building two bridges over the Shenango, at Green- ville and Sharpsville, respectively. Mr. Mathers was also a contractor in the construction of the Erie & Pittsburgh Railroad; built two short coal lines, and was interested in the abandoned Air Line road. He was quite successful in these several enterprises, and made considerable money during their prose- cution. Mr. Mathers was married December 23, 1841, to Miss Sarah Welch, a native of Hickory Township. Her father, William G. Welch, was born in Washington County, Penn., and married Elizabeth Flenniken, of Greene Coun- ty, Penn., whence they came to Mercer County in 1801 and 1803, respect-

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ively, both dying on the old homestead in Hickory Township. In January, 1842, Mr. Mathers and wife located in Greenville, where he had previously purchased an interest in a flouring mill. With the exception of two intervals, when he disposed of his mill interest and engaged in contracting, he was prominently and successfully connected with the milling business in Green- ville up to the illness which closed with his death. In August, 1880, the frame mill was burned, and Mr. Mathers immediately began the erection of the large, substantial brick mill, on the site of the old structure, which his sons, J. F. and M. P., now manage. Six children were born to James and Sarah Mathers: Sarah J. (deceased), William W., James F., John G. (deceased), Elizabeth (deceased) and Mead P. Politically Mr. Mathers was a Republican, and a consistent member of the Presbyterian Church, to which denomination his widow also belongs.

HON. WILLIAM MAXWELL, attorney at law, was born in Gettysburg, Adams Co., Penn., February 28, 1809, the son of William Maxwell, a member of the Adams County bar, who died in 1816. Our subject read law in the office of John Lashells, Esq., a well-known lawyer of New Berlin, Union Co., Penn., and was there admitted to the bar in September, 1831. In February, 1832, Mr. Maxwell came to the town of Mercer, and was admitted to practice the following term of court. In March, 1832, he opened an office, and practiced the duties of his profession in Mercer until the fall of 1866, when he removed to Greenville. In May, 1874, he was appointed president judge of Mercer County, and served on the bench nearly a year. In September, 1861, by authority of Gov. Curtin, Judge Maxwell raised the Fifty-seventh Pennsyl- vania Volunteers, of which he was commissioned colonel. He commanded his regiment till sickness compelled him to resign. During his brief term of ser- vice his regiment was stationed at Washington, D. C., where he acted as brigadier-general in organizing several regiments into a provisional brigade. It was the constant worry while thus engaged that produced the sickness which necessitated his retirement from the service. Col. Maxwell was married October 17, 1833, to Miss Caroline Geddis, a native of Lewisburg, Union Co., Penn., born in 1812. Of this union were born three sons: James, who com- manded a vessel throughout the Rebellion, and died at Tampico, Mexico, in 1867, while serving as lieutenant-commander of the United States gunboat "Yantic;" Ralph, now a notary public of Greenville, who served as captain in the Fifty-seventh Pennsylvania Volunteers the greater portion of the war, and was subsequently a lieutenant in the regular army, which position he resigned in 1867; and William, who died in New Orleans during the yellow fever epidemic of 1867. Mrs. Maxwell still survives to solace her aged hus- band in the evening of his life. Judge Maxwell is the Nestor of the Mercer bar. Of the attorneys at the bar when he was admitted to practice but three representatives in Northwestern Pennsylvania are still living. Before the Rebellion Judge Maxwell affiliated with the Democratic party, but when Sumter was fired upon he at once became prominent in organizing the Union party, and subsequently united with the Republican party. He has ever since been stanch in his allegiance to the principles and measures of that political organization.

JAMES B. McCLIMANS, proprietor of meat market, was born in Salem Township, Mercer Co., Penn., January 17, 1846, and is a son of Samuel and Jane (Cannon) McClimans. The former is a native of Butler County, Penn., and came to this county with his parents about 1828, where he grew up and married Miss Jane Cannon, a native of Fayette County, Penn., whose parents settled in West Salem Township, Mercer County, in 1833. Of this union ten

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History of Mercer County, Pennsylvania : its past and present, Part 108

Author: Publication date: 1888 Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : Brown, Runk Number of Pages: 1288

Author:
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : Brown, Runk
Number of Pages: 1288