History of Mercer County, Pennsylvania : its past and present, Part 134

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

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JOHN MILLER, deceased, was born November 18, 1829, in Fairview Town- ship, Mercer County. He was a son of William Miller and a brother of Hon. S. H. Miller, of Mercer. He was brought up at rural pursuits, and was mar- ried to Mary E. Tait in 1854. She is a daughter of Samuel and Rebecca (Smith) Tait. Her mother survives, and is the daughter of Furgus and Agnes (Giffin) Smith. Furgus Smith was born in County Derry, Ireland, in 1763, and immigrated to Westmoreland County, this State, in 1783, where he married

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Agnes Giffin, a native of Westmoreland County. He came with his wife to Mercer County in 1801 or 1802, and settled for a short time in the forks of the Shenango, and in 1808 they located on the farm now owned by Charles Ver- non, where he died January 1, 1853, and she July 15, 1854. They were the parents of eight children: Eleanor, married Alex. McCullough; Martha, mar- ried William Stinson; Hannah, died young; John, Nancy, married Rev. James Mckean; Rebecca, married Samuel Tait, and had four children: William B., Samuel W., Mary E. and Furgus S .; Mary, Amelia T., married Henry Burton. Samuel Tait was a son of the distinguished Rev. Samuel Tait, the founder of the old Cool Spring Church. He died in 1837, and his widow survives at the ripe old age of eighty years. Mrs. Miller reared only one, an adopted, child, whose name was changed by law to Anna G. Miller, and who was married October 12, 1887, to J. C. North. Mrs. Miller is a consistent member of the Presbyterian Church, in the faith of which her husband died September 21, 1871. Mention of the Tait and Miller families will be found elsewhere.

S. G. MILLER, farmer, post-office Mercer, was born March 4, 1820, to Robert and Nancy (Dean) Miller. The parents came to Mercer County in 1833, and settled on a rented farm for five years, when they became able to purchase a farm in Wolfe Creek Township, where they lived a number of years, but finally moved to Butler County, where they died. Their children were: Robert, Mary, S. G., Nancy and James A. Our subject attended school in the country, and began for himself when twenty years of age, with just 10 cents, with which he bought a handkerchief. He hired to Matthew McLean for $10 per month to labor on a farm. Ten years later he bought a farm in Wolf Creek Township where he remained for twenty-six years, and in connection with his farm labor ran a huxter wagon through the oil regions for three years. He was married in 1850 to Eliza Cross, daughter of Samuel and Letitia Cross, and has had no children. She died in 1878, and he was again married, to Minerva Emerson, a daughter of Ira and Delia (Chapman) Emer- son. They came to Cool Spring Township in October, 1877, and bought sixty acres of good land where they now reside. He is a Republican, and has been assessor and collector four years. He and wife are members of the First United Presbyterian Church of Mercer. They have reared two children: Mary Moore, who married M. C. Holland, and George W. Cathers, born October 13, 1861, son of B. W., and Rosannah (McMullen) Cathers, both of whom died when George was young. George married Lottie B., a daughter of William and Elizabeth Chambers, and has one child, Leslie M. He farms with Mr. Miller as a partner.

JOHN NORTH, farmer, post-office North's Mills, was born February 18, 1831, in Cool Spring Township, on the farm where he now lives. His father, William North, was born in 1777, in Derbyshire, England, and was there mar- ried to Mary Davile, a native of the same country. They immigrated to America about 1819, and settled for three years in either Worth or Sandy Lake Township, thence removed to where John North now resides. William died March 6, 1860, and his widow died in 1865. He improved about 325 acres from the green woods, and at one time owned over 500 acres. He, of course, was content to use the oxen in the early cultivation of his farm. He and his wife were members of the Cool Spring congregation of Presbyterians. . Their children were: Samuel. married Jane McFarland, and after her death he married Lizzie J. Brockleyhurst; Sarah, married James Miller; William, mar- ried Catharine Zahniser in 1844; Elizabeth, married David Zahniser; Lucy, married John L. Zahniser; Mary, married Rev. Samuel Bowman; Maria, de- ceased, and John. Our subject attended the common schools, and was mar-

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ried to Rebecca Zahniser in 1859. She is a daughter of Jacob and Melinda (Smith) Zahniser, whose sketch appears in Jackson Township. By this union he has had six children: William T., married Eva C, Supple; Mary G., mar- ried D. L. McMillan; Melinda S., married to W. W. Runkle; Jacob Z., Ira C. and John N. Mr. North has been school director for twelve years. He helped to defend the cause of his country by hiring a substitute for the war. He and wife are members of the Cool Spring Presbyterian Church, and he is a stanch Republican and a strong temperance advocate.

S. B. PAGE, farmer, post-office North's Mills, .was born June 22, 1840. His father, John B. Page, was a son of Joseph Page, and was born November 11, 1789, in Philadelphia, and married Sarah S. Steele February 14, 1812. She was born March 14, 1793, and died January 30, 1837, after blessing her husband with the following children: Deborah M., born November 8, 1812; John M., born May 1, 1814, died February 29, 1817; William M., born Feb- ruary 29, 1816; Anna E., born August 22, 1818; Sarah S., born January 1, 1820; Hiram R., born December 13, 1821; Washington B., born August 16, 1823; Elias H., born January 21, 1825; Henrietta F., born December 24, 1826; Nancy W., born August 15, 1829; James B., born October 22, 1831; Margaret J., born September 6, 1833, and Adam P., born March 1, 1836. The father was again married, to Susannah Engle, born August 27, 1800, by whom he had four children: Joseph W., born January 15, 1839; S. B., born June 22, 1840; Thomas T., born December 31, 1841, died in 1841, and Mathias L., born July 24, 1843. This last wife died March 22, 1825. The father was a merchant for many years in Angelica, county seat of Alleghany County, N. Y., and was sheriff of that county for twelve years. About the year 1830 he came to Mercer, and for a short time was in partnership with Andrew Patterson in the mercantile business. He sold to Mr. Patterson, and removed to a farm of 212 acres in Cool Spring Township, where he lived until he sold the farm in 1866. He died March 8, 1873, was in the War of 1812, from Warren County, and was a Democrat. S. B. Page was educated in the common schools and learned carpentering. He spent nine years in the oil regions of Pennsylvania. He bought fifty-five acres, where he now resides, in 1868, and was married April 28, 1869, to Miss Emily M. Service, by whom he had two children: Adda A., born December 22, 1872, and Engle, born March 22, 1880. He was elected a justice of the peace for Cool Spring Town- ship in 1883, and is still serving. He is a Democrat, and, with his wife, belongs to the Cumberland Presbyterian Church at Jackson Centre.

W. H. REED, farmer, post-office Mercer, was born May 3, 1822, in Trumbull County, Ohio, to William and Martha (Thompson) Reed, natives of Allegheny and Fayette Counties, Pa., respectively, and the parents of five children: John, Elizabeth, married Moses Brownlee; Mary, married David Brownlee; W. H., and Nancy, married James Milligan. The parents are dead, and were Presby- terians. William H. Reed was educated in the common schools, and was brought up at rural pursuits. He began for himself with but little means. He was married in 1845 to Anna Hoskins, a daughter of Benjamin and Mary Hoskins. Her mother died when she was ten years old, and she lived with her aunt, Mrs. Thornton, of New Castle. Mr. and Mrs. Reed settled at their marriage in Trumbull County, Ohio, until 1847, when he bought 100 acres in Cool Spring Township, and moved to it. He engaged then more extensively in putting out sheep to various farmers on certain terms. He was only pre- ceded in this business in this county by Wilson Thorn, of Youngstown, Ohio. Mr. Reed continued to deal in the sheep business extensively until after the close of the war. His children are: John T., married Emma Boyd, and has

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three children: Gertrude, W. H. and Boyd; W. F., married Isabella Babcock, and has four children: Alice M., Edward B., Harry S. and Rebecca M. ; A. S., married Loretta, daughter of James McEwen, and has three children: Stella I., Frank C. and Mary. William Reed and wife are members of the Cool Spring Presbyterian Church, and he is a Republican.

WILLIAM RODGERS, farmer, post-office Otter Creek, was born February 11, 1807, in Mercer County. His father, Samuel, was born in Ireland, and came to Delaware County, Penn., about 1780, and later to Fayette County, where he married Mary Henry, and in 1798 with her settled in Greene Township, this county, where they bought a tract of 400 acres. Here he died in 1839, and his widow September 20, 1865. They had nine children: Betsey, married John Brooks and afterward Joseph Mathers, and she died November 26, 1887, at the home of our subject; Nancy, married Charles Love; Sarah, died July 22, 1879; William, Mary, Jane, Margaret, Robert and James. Mrs. Samuel Rodgers rode to Mercer County on horseback, while her husband walked and drove a cow. They packed their household goods and hired two men to bring them in a boat down the Monongahela and Ohio, up the Beaver to New Castle, and then up the Shenango to near their cabin, in what is now Greene Township. Robert and Samuel Henry, brothers of Mrs. Rodgers, had previously come to Craw- ford County, and on the arrival of Mr. and Mrs. Rodgers they walked six miles, and in one day, with the assistance of Mr. Rodgers, they built a cabin 16x16 feet. Here Mr. Rodgers did a large amount of weaving. William Rodgers was educated in a log cabin school-house, which became so cold at times that the ink froze on the goose-quill pen which he used. He settled in Cool Spring Township in 1833, and was married March 27, 1834, to Nancy Bowman, daughter of Robert Bowman, which resulted in fiye children: Mary J., Robert, Margaret E., Samuel R. and Nancy B. Mrs. Rodgers is dead, while he resides on the old place. He was baptized in the Reformed Presbyterian, or Covenanter, Church when a child, and made a public confession when twenty years old. His wife was a consistent member of the same church. Their oldest son, Robert, was born October 12, 1839, in Cool Spring Town- ship, and was married October 14, 1869, to Eunice Alexander, daughter of Samuel and Ruth (Dodd) Alexander, the parents of the following children: Samuel, Elizabeth, Joseph and Jennie. The children of Robert and Eunice are: William A., Minnie E., Nancy R., Albert W., Samuel B., Robert W., Myrtle and Norris L. Samuel R. Rodgers married Mary Godfrey, and has six children: Edward J., Mary E., Nancy E., Jennie R., Clara A. and Alice B. P. Nancy Rodgers became the second wife of John B. Maxwell, of Find- ley Township, and is the mother of seven children.

M. D. SCURRY, farmer and contractor, post- office Otter Creek, was born March 25, 1824, in County Kilkenny, Ireland, his parents, James and Eleanor (DeLahunty) Scurry, natives of the same country, and also parents of John, Walter, Mary and William D. John published a newspaper in the Irish language in Waterford, Ireland; Walter, a dry goods merchant in Waterford; Mary is the widow of Michael | Dunphy, and resides in Peoria, Ill .; William D. is a ranchman in Victoria, Australia. James Scurry, the father of the above named children, died in his native country in 1824. He was educated in the college at Kilkenny, and was the author of several works in the Irish language, and translated a number of works from the English, Latin and Hebrew into the Irish language. He was for many years employed in the Four Courts, Castle and Royal Irish Academy, in Dublin, on the translation of old Irish documents. Mr. Scurry and all his family were pronounced Cath- olics in their religious belief. Our subject was educated in a general literary

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school in Waterford, Ireland, and brought up on a farm and clerking for his brother Walter. He came to Rochester, N. Y., in 1849, and soon afterward took contracts on the construction of the New York & Erie Canal, New York Central, Erie & Lake Shore Railroads. In 1860 he came to Mercer County, and took a contract on the Erie & Pittsburgh Railroad, and built the greater part of it from Jamestown to New Castle. He then built the Bear Creek, now the Pittsburgh, Shenango & Lake Erie, from Greenville to Pardoe. He sub- sequently built the Sharon Railway and other short branches in this county, also built the second track on Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad, in the State of New York. Mr. Scurry was married in 1853 to Mary Sharpe, daughter of Daniel Sharpe, a farmer and contractor, now deceased, but who then lived in Monroe County, N. Y. His union was blessed with ten children, seven still living: Daniel M., Rose E., William M., James B., Mary, Michael J. and Alice. Mr. Scurry is a stanch Democrat, and though an American first, is an ardent Irish nationalist and home ruler.

JAMES SIMPSON, farmer, post-office Mercer, was born February 18, 1848, in Cool Spring Township, to Robert and Mary (Johnston) Simpson. Robert and Mary were married in 1835, and their children were: Robert, Mary, James, Almira, Alexander and Celia. The father died May 24, 1865, and his widow lives with her daughter, Mrs. Albert Buxton. Their oldest son, Robert, left home when fifteen years old and has never been heard of since. Our subject was educated in the common schools and was brought up at farm labor. He was married June 13, 1877, to Clara Collier, daughter of Simon and Elizabeth (Swarts) Collier, natives of the State of New York. Mr. and Mrs. Simpson have had the following children: Perry, deceased; Freddie, Eva, deceased; Mary, deceased, and Bertha. He owns fifty acres of good land, is a Demo- crat, and he and wife attend the Second United Presbyterian Church of Mercer.

BENJAMIN STOKELY .- The subject of this memoir, Benjamin Stokely, was born in the State of Delaware in October, 1766. The family of which he was a member moved to the western side of the mountains in 1776. A short time afterward the western settlements were very much disturbed by murdering and plundering inroads of the Indians, incited by the British Government, the policy of which was so severely denounced by the Earl of Chatham in the British Parliament. The forts at Red Stone, Grave Creek, Catfish, etc., were the places that the settlers fled to for safety in Westmoreland, Fayette and Washington Counties. It was in these troublous times that young Benjamin Stokely received his early training in the life of a backwoodsman. Between 1779 and 1784 he learned to be both a shoemaker and a tanner, improving every opportunity in the meantime to go to school. In 1785 he found and embraced an opportunity to make a surveyor of himself, and in the fall of that year was employed as an assistant under Griffith Evans, of Philadelphia, who was then engaged in surveying the Third District of Donation Lands. From 1786 to 1789 he was a clerk in the office of the register and recorder of Washington County, during which time he studied Latin, and at the close of which he married Miss Esther Alexander, full sister of Benjamin and Joseph Alexander, and half-sister of William and John Alexander, all of whom after- ward settled in this county, in the neighborhood of Mr. Stokely. In the year 1792 he was appointed surveyor of the Fourth and Fifth Donation Districts, which were united and called the Third, and which lie in the southern part of the county. In the fall of 1794 and the spring of 1795 a number of warrants were put into his hands in his office at Pittsburgh, and on the 1st of May he started to survey his district and to locate the warrants put in his hands. This surveying expedition came to a speedy end on the 8th of June, in consequence

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of a letter from Capt. Heath, of Fort Franklin, informing him of the murder of two white men, near Conneaut, by the Indians, and advising him that he and his party were in great danger of being cut off. This letter was dated June 6, 1795, and sent by a friendly Indian, who delivered it on the 7th. In August of this year Wayne's treaty with the Ohio and other Indians was effected, after which it was deemed safe for the surveying party to return, which they did in October, continuing at their work until the first week in December, when, their provisions being exhausted, they set their faces for Pitts- burgh. They sought what was to them a new route, starting from near where Mercer stands, and proceeding by way of the Shenango and Mahoning country, over streams swollen by recent heavy rains, wading swamps and suffering con- siderably from cold, hunger and drenching rains, until they reached the town of Beaver, previously known as Fort McIntosh, where they first got the great comfort of bread at their meals. The next spring saw Mr. Stokely and his party again at their surveys. The survey of the Third District had been com- pleted the year previous, and his work then was to levy the warrants in his hands. This was completed in June, 1796, when the party returned to the settlement on the other side of the river. In the fall of this year, October, 1796, he moved his family to the farm he settled on the banks of the Cool Spring, in the township of that name, where he resided until his death in 1843. There had been several others who came out that year, but they all returned to the settlements when winter set in, so that Stokely and his family were without other society than the Indians and wild animals of the forest, until about the middle of February, 1797, when a number of settlers came out and took up their abode with him until they had picked out places for their own settlement. Mr. Stokely seemed to have somewhat of an eye to trade. In a manuscript left behind him it is stated that, in December following his removal, he got 600 pounds of flour and 300 pounds of corn meal brought out to him-that during the same winter he purchased about 3,000 pounds of venison from the Indians at 1 cent per pound, paying for it chiefly with powder at $2 per pound, lead at 50 cents per pound, and flour at 1 shilling a quart, also rough tallow at 6 cents per pound; dressed buck-skins were purchased for $1, and doe-skins for 50 cents. The venison hams he sold at Pittsburgh for $1 per pair, or 6 cents per pound, and for the tallow, when rendered, he got 20 cents per pound. Stokely also relates that his cows and oxen started off on the 7th of December, when the snows were deep, returning on the 17th, and that three of them lived through the winter by his cutting small trees for them to eat; that about the last of March one of the cows was far gone for the want of food, but was saved through the use of straw found in the pads of an old pack-saddle, which was given to her in small quantities and eaten with great avidity, helping her along until spring came with its relief. In the fall of 1797 he sowed three bushels of wheat, which is claimed to have been the first sown in this county, and from which he harvested a good crop the follow- ing season. The spring of 1798 he planted twenty-one bushels of potatoes, which cost him $1.33 per bushel, the proceeds of which were sold, but at what price is not related, although it may well be concluded that he was no loser in the operation, for the incoming settlers would be sadly in want of them for planting. It was along about this time, or the year following, that he built his first double barn, a log structure, with threshing floor in the center. The

great trouble in this was to get enough men who could handle the ax, and were conversant with the mode in which structures of this kind were put up. White men were not numerous enough; he could get but six of such together, one of his corner men coming all the way from Franklin for the special pur-

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pose of assisting. The Indians around, however, were willing-it was a frolic they desired to enjoy-and between twenty and twenty-five of them assembled on the occasion. As a matter of course, whisky was used by both white and red- skins, care being taken that its consumption did not reach the danger limit, but enough to exhilarate and keep the party in good working humor. The following night, however, was nearly a sleepless one from the hilarity and fun kept up during most of it by the Indians, whose appetites had been gratified in an unusual luxurious manner by the food prepared for the occasion. They were in no hurry to leave when the barn was up, like the whites, but stayed most of the next day to help cut out the doorways and to get in the sleepers for the threshing floor, besides other necessary work in the finishing up.

In the manuscript alluded to as having been left by Mr. Stokely, mention is made of a heavy frost occurring on the 19th of August, 1800, which killed all the corn and most of the potatoes, causing a very great deal of distress among the early settlers. It was in this year, and the year previous, that the first missionaries made their way into the county. Messrs. Stocton, McCurdy, Wick and Tait, of the Presbyterian Church, and Mr. McLean, of the Seces- sion. Stokely, although then a doubter, had previously been a member of the Methodist Church, and continued to entertain a friendship for its organization. This, however, did not prevent his accepting a trusteeship, along with William McMillan and John Alexander, to receive the voluntary contributions of others, in the shape of butter, sugar and some other kinds of trade, for the support of the pious missionaries, and handing over to them their value in money out of his own funds. It was in 1800 that the first Presbyterian Church was put up for Mr. Tait, in the neighborhood of Stokely's residence, when he rendered so valuable a service to the builders by taking his ox team, the only one in the neighborhood, to haul the prepared logs into position for the raising, crying out as he was seen approaching, as related by Eaton, in his History of the Presbytery of Erie, "with his great merry voice, 'Here comes the devil with his oxen to help you build your meeting-house.'"' Stokely was undoubtedly an original man, and by many deemed eccentric, and hence his indulgence in the habit of speaking irreverently of things held sacred by most of his neighbors. Nevertheless he was always fond of entertaining the preachers of any persua- sion that called upon him, treating them with great kindness and a liberal hospitality. Although priding himself in unbelief, he was yet the regular patron of the itinerant Methodist as well as, the helper of other organizations. Many anecdotes are told of him in this relation, some of which will bear recital here. For a year or two he had been entertaining a certain Elder Bronson (who, by the way, organized the first Methodist class in Mercer, in 1819), who found it convenient to stop with him, as the nearest house to his place of preaching. When the last appointment was filled, on the Monday morning following, on rising from the breakfast table he was informed that the time had come when a settlement of their business must be made. Young Bronson was astounded-he had not expected to be charged, having little or no money with him, and he accordingly made known his inability to pay for the accommo- dations he had received. Stokely could not be put off in this way, and with a serious and determined face said to him, "D-n it, sir, we must settle any- how before you leave," and proceeded to read to his astounded and distressed hearer his bill of items, so many meals at 25 cents each, so much for the dif- ferent nights' lodging, and so much for horse feed, the whole amounting to a sum in the neighborhood of $10 or $15. "Well, Mr. Stokely," said poor Bronson, "I am unable to pay this bill now, but as soon as I can do so, I will discharge the debt." Stokely replied that there was another side of the ac-

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count to read, and proceeded with the credits he had entered. He allowed so much for each blessing asked, so much for leading in family prayer each time, so much, according to his estimated value, for each sermon, and when the sums were added together, to his feigned chagrin and disappointment, he found himself indebted to the preacher just $2.75. The joke was then out, the heart of the preacher relieved, the money paid over, and the parting made with the best of feeling on both sides. On another occasion he engaged a needy local exhorter to preach in his barn to such an impromptu gathering as could be assembled on the occasion, for which he agreed to give him fifty pounds of flour. The sermon was duly delivered in the noisy fashion of the speaker, and when Stokely came to pay therefor he weighed out a hundred instead of fifty pounds of flour. The exhorter, in the innocent honesty of his heart, sug- gested that he was getting too much, that his only claim was for half that amount. "You preached so well and so loud, that you scared all the rats away from my barn, and as this was not in the contract, I give you the extra fifty for that service." In 1802 Mr. Stokely was elected lieutenant-colonel of the Mercer County regiment of militia; in 1808 he was apointed a justice of the peace by Gov. McKean, acting in that capacity afterward for over thirty years, when the office was made elective by a change in the State constitution; in 1825 he was elected one of the county commissioners.

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History of Mercer County, Pennsylvania : its past and present, Part 134

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