USA > Pennsylvania > Venango County > History of Venango County, Pennsylvania : its past and present, including > Part 78
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CHARLES WILLIAM MACKEY, attorney at law, was born at Franklin, Penn- sylvania, November 19, 1842, son of Charles Washington and Julia Anne (Fagundus) Mackey. He received a good academic education, learned the
Char. Dr. Mackey
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trade of printer, and commenced the study of law at the age of eighteen in the office of his brother-in-law, Charles E. Taylor, now president judge of Venango county. At the outbreak of the civil war he enlisted in Com- pany C, Tenth regiment, Pennsylvania Reserves, popularly known as the "Venango Grays" and the first organization recruited in this county. Of this company he afterward became first lieutenant, and served with it, except when on detached duty, until July 11, 1863, when he was honorably discharged. During this period he served as ordnance officer for a time on the staff of General McCall, and also in the same capacity on the staff of General E. O. C. Ord. In the month of August following his discharge he was appointed special agent of the United States treasury by Secretary Chase, for the district composed of eastern Virginia and North Carolina. It was through his office that the commercial and coastwise intercourse between the localities named and the northern states was conducted. He received and disbursed large sums of money for the government. He resigned this position August 1, 1865, and shortly afterward returned to Franklin.
Mr. Mackey was admitted to the bar of Venango county August 28, 1865, and soon afterward entered the law firm of Taylor & Gilfillan as a partner. He was admitted to practice in the supreme court of the United States December 5, 1875, on motion of the late Jeremiah S. Black, ex- attorney general of the United States. He has also been admitted to prac- tice in the supreme courts of Pennsylvania and several other states. He is recognized as a leader in his profession and has been employed in many of the most important cases ever tried in this section of the state.
Besides this Mr. Mackey has been identified with many manufacturing and railroad enterprises of importance. For several years .he was attorney for the Allegheny Valley Railroad Company; vice-president and general solicitor of the Olean, Bradford, and Warren Railroad Company (now a part of the Western New York and Pennsylvania system); president of the Pittsburgh, Bradford and Buffalo Railroad Company (since merged into the Pittsburgh and Western system); vice-president and general solicitor of the Cincinnati and Southeastern Railroad Company (afterward consolidated with the Chesapeake and Ohio); general solicitor and a director of the Pitts- burgh and Western Railroad Company; president of the Columbia Gas Light and Fuel Company, and of the Franklin Gas Company. At the present time he is president of the Norfolk and Virginia Beach Railroad Company; a director of the American Oxide Company of Franklin; vice- president and director of the Shenango Coal and Mining Company; and a director of the Savings Bank of Franklin, the Emlenton Bank, and the. Edenburg Bank. Mr. Mackey is also connected with various other finan- cial and industrial institutions. He is a man of broad, liberal views, keen and sagacious in the prosecution of his business affairs, and is recog- 43
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nized as one of the most enterprising, generous, and public-spirited citizens of his native county. His business engagements for some time past have been of such a nature that he finds it necessary to have an office in New York city, where he remains the greater portion of his time. The firm of Mackey, Forbes & Hughes is in active practice at Franklin, but its affairs are conducted mainly by the junior members.
In politics he is an ardent Republican, having cast his first vote for Lin- coln in 1864, and taken an active part in every political campaign since 1866. He was the candidate of that party for congress from the twenty- seventh district in 1884 and 1886, and although defeated each time, his majority in the district outside of the city of Erie, the home of his opponent, was much larger than that given any other Republican candidate for many years. In his own county he ran largely ahead of Blaine in 1884, and had more than double the majority of General Beaver in 1886. In the presi- dential campaign of 1888 he was "on the stump" in New York and New Jersey for several weeks, and his speeches elicited very favorable comment from the metropolitan press. He has also frequently delivered addresses on various subjects, and possesses in a marked degree the power of con- vincing and molding an audience to his views.
Mr. Mackey is a past commmander of the Grand Army of the Republic. In the Masonic order he has been commander of Knights Templar, district deputy grand master of Pennsylvania for many years, and district deputy grand high priest of Royal Arch Masons of Pennsylvania. He is a member of the New York club, the Lawyers' club of New York, and the Nursery club of Franklin. In 1872-73 he was captain in the National Guard of Pennsyl- vania. He has been mayor of Franklin, city solicitor three terms, and mem- ber of council several years. He has traveled extensively, and visited Europe three times.
On the 9th of May, 1867, Mr. Mackey married Lauretta Barnes Fay of Columbus, Ohio. Her father, Cyrus Paige Fay, was the youngest son of Daniel Fay, of Hardwick, Massachusetts, who was born December 14, 1752, and served in Colonel Larned's regiment during the Revolutionary war. Her maternal great-grandfather, Timothy Paige, was born in Hardwick, Massa- chusetts, May 24, 1727, and died April 26, 1796. He held various official positions of a civil nature and served during the Revolution with the rank of colonel. The late Right Reverend Philander Chase, bishop of the Protest- ant Episcopal church in Ohio and founder of Kenyon College, was the uncle of Mrs. Mackey, and accompanied her father to Ohio, from Vermont, in 1812. Her father was for many years a prominent merchant of Columbus and at the time of his death, October 2, 1872, was treasurer of the Columbus and Xenia Railway Company. He was a man of the highest character and standing. His wife, Myra (Barnes) Fay, was a daughter of Doctor Samuel Barnes, a surgeon in the Revolutionary army. Mr. and Mrs. Mackey are
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the parents of six children: Susan Taylor, wife of E. E. Hughes, attorney at law of Franklin; Myra Fay, Cyrus Fay, William Chase, Julia Anne, and Marion Paige.
MAJOR GEORGE CROGHAN MCCLELLAND, deceased, was born at the United States hotel in Franklin, November 29, 1819, a son of George and Agnes (Seaton) McClelland. In 1839 he was appointed a cadet at the national military academy, West Point, from which he graduated July 1, 1843, in a class numbering among its members some of the famous military men of the late civil war. He was at once assigned to the Third infantry with the rank of brevet second lieutenant, and was successively stationed at Fort Leaven- worth, Kansas, and Fort Jessup, Louisiana. April 9, 1846, he resigned his commission, but on his way home learned of the commencement of hos- tilities and with characteristic patriotism resolved to return to the army. After a brief visit to friends in Pennsylvania he set out for New Orleans and volunteered for service against the Mexicans. He served as private and corporal in the First Pennsylvania Volunteers and as second lieutenant of the Eleventh Infantry, participating in the siege of Vera Cruz, the defense of Pueblo, and a number of other operations. His bravery and gallantry at the assault upon Molino del Rey elicited a highly complimentary testimonial from General Cadwallader. During the war of the Rebellion he served for a time with the rank of captain, but resigned after two years' service and returned to this county. For several years he was engaged in business at Polk and in the later years of his life resided upon a farm in French Creek township, where he died in November, 1887, his widow surviving him only a few months.
JOHN LINDSAY HANNA is a son of James and Rebecca Hanna, and a grand- son of John Hanna, the pioneer, a sketch of whom will be found among the biographical notices of French Creek township. His mother was a daugh- ter of John Lindsay, also a pioneer of French Creek township. His father, James Hanna, was the second son of John and Jane Hanna, and was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, July 1, 1796. He was twice married, first in 1823, to Rebecca Lindsay, who died in 1854. His second wife was Mrs. Maria Walker. James Hanna was from early manhood a member of the Presbyterian church until his death, which occurred in Franklin, March 16, 1883. The subject of this sketch was born in French Creek township, Feb- ruary 5, 1824. He received his education in the common schools. In 1855 he removed to Franklin, and engaged in the real estate and insurance busi- ness, which he continued until 1863. Since that date his attention has been given, in part, to dealing in real estate. His life has been an active and en- ergetic existence. In 1863 he organized the Franklin Gas Company and the Venango Water Company, and was president of the latter twenty-five years. In 1864 he, with others, organized the Exchange Hotel Company, whose fine building was destroyed by fire in 1870. In 1865 he erected the Hanna
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block on Thirteenth street, which was burned in 1886. In its day it was the largest and finest building in Franklin. He also established a brickyard in the Third ward of Franklin, and carried on that business for twenty years. Mr. Hanna was married in 1858 to Emily, daughter of Richard Roberts, then a resident of Sugar Creek township, and owner of the land now known as the Venango county poor farm. They are the parents of six living chil- dren: Richard J., general manager of the Venango Water Company; Charles, who lives in French Creek township; John L., Harriet, Emily, and Jane. Mr. Hanna is one of the most enterprising citizens of Franklin, and has been identified with nearly all of the movements tending toward the progress and development of the town .- A. P. W.
REVEREND CYRUS DICKSON, D. D., deceased, was born December 20, 1816, at Harbor Creek, Erie county, Pennsylvania, the son of William and Christina (Moorhead) Dickson, of Scotch ancestry and among the pioneers of Erie county. He entered the Erie Academy April 17, 1832, and Jeffer- son College, Cannonsburg, Pennsylvania, in November of that year, gradu- ating in 1837. His theological studies were pursued privately. October 13, 1839, he was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Erie, and on June 24th of the following year he was ordained and installed as pastor of the churches of Franklin and Sugar Creek, continuing in this relation with the former until March, 1848. He was pastor of the Second Presbyterian church of Wheeling, West Virginia, from 1848 to 1856, and of the West- minister church, of Baltimore, from 1856 until 1870, when he became sec- retary of the Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church, of which position he performed the duties most efficiently ten years. His death oc- curred September 11, 1881. Memorial services of an appropriate character were held at Franklin on Sunday morning, the 25th of that month, at which the Reverend S. J. M. Eaton, D. D., delivered an address in fitting tribute . to the character of the deceased, his services to the church and to the mis- sionary cause, his usefulness and energy in the promotion of humanitarian and benevolent objects, and his fidelity to the many responsible duties with which his life was occupied.
REVEREND S. J. M. EATON, D. D .- The death of Doctor Eaton, which occurred July 16, 1889, created a profound impression in the community, and it removed one of the oldest, best known, and most prominent men of his calling in the Erie Presbytery. He had been indisposed for several weeks, but his condition was not considered serious. On the afternoon of the day stated, while walking along the street near his residence in Frank- lin, he was seen to raise his hands suddenly and then fall heavily to the sidewalk. He was carried into his house, but the services of the physicians were of no avail. Death had taken place almost instantly, the immediate cause being heart failure.
Samuel John Mills Eaton was born in Fairview, Erie county, Pennsyl-
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vania, April 15, 1820, and hence his useful life had compassed sixty nine years. He was a son of Reverend Johnston and Eliza (Cannon) Eaton. His ancestors were among the first settlers in Pennsylvania, having lived in the state for over two hundred years. Reverend Johnston Eaton, born in Franklin county, graduated at Jeffersou College; he came as a Presbyterian minister in 1805 to Erie county, and preached for some time near the mouth of Walnut creek and in Springfield, and in northeastern Ohio. In the fall of 1805 he went back to his home, where he married, and in 1806 returned with his bride and settled permanently in Fairview township. They came through the dense forest on horseback, with nothing but a rude trail to guide their course. Reverend Johnston Eaton preached the gospel in Erie county continuously up to the year of his death, June 17, 1847, a period of forty one years. He and his wife were well endowed with the resolute spirit and sterling qualities requisite in the work of the pioneer ministry. On the side of both father and mother the subject of this sketch was de- scended from that strong blending of the races which he himself on one oc- casion called "the seed royal of the church of the living God."
In his boyhood he received an academic education at the Erie Academy. In 1842 he entered Jefferson College, where he graduated in 1845. Hav- ing studied theology in the Western Theological Seminary, of Allegheny, Pennsylvania, he was licensed by the Presbytery of Erie, on the 16th of March, 1848, to preach the gospel.
On the 16th of April, 1848, Mr. Eaton commenced his ministerial labors in Franklin. February 7, 1849, he was ordained and installed as pastor of that charge, succeeding Reverend Cyrus Dickson, who resigned in March, 1848. His pastorate at first included also the Mt. Pleasant church, to which he gave one-third of his time. He was released from the latter August 29, 1855, thenceforth giving his entire time to Franklin.
Doctor Eaton's ministry here was prosperous. From year to year the church and Sunday school grew in members and interest throughout his long pastorate. When he finally relinquished his pastoral office, the con- gregation which was so small at the outset of his work had grown to be among the largest and most influential in this part of the state. The little Sunday school had become a small army, and the plain little church edifice had given place to the present beautiful structure, dedicated to the worship of God in 1869. Doctor Eaton's name is rightly inscribed on the corner- stone of that building. Some may see in that edifice a monument of his work; but his more lasting monument is that erected in the hearts of his people, the record of a useful life, interwoven with the life and progress of the community in which he lived.
In 1881 he decided to sever the pastoral relation which had existed for more than a third of a century. In December of that year he tendered his resignation. A large portion of the congregation sought to influence
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him into reconsidering the step, but he had definitely made up his mind that it was best, and insisted upon his action as final.
His subsequent career illustrates some of the high qualities of his nature, his unswerving devotion to the duties of his calling, his zeal and willingness to go on while life lasted with the work that his hand found to do. When he vacated the pulpit, which had been the scene of his life's arduous labors and successes, he had reached that age which entitles the veteran to some exemption from the hardships of active service in the field. But he did not yield to the temptation and opportunity to fold his hands and rest. The veteran soldier of the Cross felt that he was enlisted for life. For him there was no discharge in that warfare. For him, also, member- ship in the army meant active service at the front. So he went right on with the work before him, constantly engaged in writing, preaching at one place and another, and devoting himself in every way to the advancement of Christ's cause and kingdom. There was no change in his Christian bearing, in his solicitude for his people, in his kindness, his courtesy, his friendship, his active interest in the welfare of all who came within the range of his sympathies.
Viewing him as a pastor, those who knew him long cannot speak of Doc- tor Eaton without esteem and affection. He made it a point to know all with whom his duties, whether religious or social, brought him in contact. He looked after and interested himself in all; but especially in the abode of suffering or affliction was his presence felt. In many a home they remem- ber how he came in their time of trial; how he sat at the bedside of the sick; how he ministered to the dying; how he comforted the bereaved; how he poured out his soul in strong prayer in the final rites of the dead. He was indeed a help and a comforter in affliction. His tender hand not only soothed the sufferer, but it gave substantial help in a thousand ways and places of which the world will never know. It was natural that such a pastor should retain the love and esteem of his people to the last.
Doctor Eaton also retained the friendship of the community at large. His was a character that commanded general respect and confidence. His acquaintances all recognized his unswerving integrity, his high and chivalric sense of honor, his wisdom, his fidelity to duty, his purity of life. While he had some of the stern spirit of the Puritan in religion, he had also the noble faculty of friendship, and by this he was bound to his associates through all the years as with hooks of steel.
No account of Doctor Eaton would be complete without a mention of his scholastic attainments. He was a constant student, and his library of valu- able works grew to large proportions. His knowledge of the classics was extensive, and during his pastorate he conducted a number of pupils through a course of the languages. His progress in general standard literature is indicated by the fact that he stood highest of all the army of students in the
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Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle. As long ago as 1869 he was honored with the degree of Doctor of Divinity by Washington and Jefferson College. In an address before the Jefferson alumni in 1885, Judge W. H. West of Ohio called Doctor Eaton "the Addison of his class and the Irving of his society."
With the cares of an important pastorate on his hands Doctor Eaton found time to do a great amount of exacting literary work. Among the works from his pen published from time to time are: "The History of Petro- leum;" "History of the Presbytery of Erie;" "Lakeside," an historical romance; "Ecclesiastical History of Centennial Missionary Work," and a "Biographical History of the Western Theological Seminary." He also wrote the "Memoirs of Reverend Cyrus Dickson, D. D.," an elaborate and worthy tribute to an able man; and in 1876 he delivered a centennial discourse in Franklin, which, in a pamphlet of forty-eight pages, gives a concise history of Venango county from the earliest settlement. He compiled a "Biographical and Historical Catalogue of Washington and Jefferson Colleges," which went to press the day of his death, also left the completed manuscript of a religious work, and a couple of unfinished manuscripts. In addition to these excur- sive tasks, Doctor Eaton held a responsible position in the presbytery, in which his counsels and assistance were highly valued. He was stated clerk of the Presbytery of Erie for thirty-two years, and of the Synod of Erie for nine years.
As a citizen, Doctor Eaton was not a partisan, but he was a patriot who loved his country, glorying in her past and believing in her future. When the war of the Rebellion arose, his innate patriotism took active shape in word and deed. He lent his best aid toward upholding the Union and strengthen- ing the hands of its defenders in the field. For a time, as a member of the Christian Commission, he was at the front, ministering to the wants of the men in the Army of the Potomac. His love for his country's flag was not a mere sentiment; it was an abiding and reverential affection.
A tour to Europe and the Holy Land, taken in 1871, enabled Doctor Eaton to enlarge his knowledge of Eastern lands by actual observation and research. These resulted in two volumes from his pen, "The Holy City" and "Palestine," which were issued as text-books by the Chautauqua Liter- ary and Scientific Circle. Doctor Eaton's knowledge of Oriental lands and customs secured him a call to the ranks of leading teachers at Chautauqua, and for many years he filled the position at each recurring assembly. Next to Chancellor (Bishop) Vincent he was probably the most prominent man in the work at the assembly grounds, a work with which he had been identi- fied from its inception.
Doctor Eaton's indefatigable industry, his persistent activity, and capac- ity for labor, were striking characteristics and were at once an example for imitation and a rebuke to the self-indulgent. He was never idle. He
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seemed ever mindful of the injunction to work while it is called to-day, ere the night cometh wherein no man can work. The fact that much of his study and his labor in pulpit and lecture room were done while under the discouragements of impaired health, enhances the tribute of praise due him on this score. Through his later years, in which he was called to pass through much bodily suffering, Doctor Eaton kept on with his work. Even up to within a month of his death he was engaged in assisting in the com- pilation of that portion of this History which deals with the earlier events and residents of this locality. As if with a premonition of some possible interruption, he brought all his energies to bear on the completion of his task. Before the pen had fallen from his fingers that task was finished.
This, one of the concluding services of his life, suggests the reflection that the people of this locality owe a lasting debt of gratitude to Doctor Eaton for what he has done to preserve local history. He was endowed with the historic spirit and gift. He had an aptitude for this line of re- search, and lost no opportunity to gather all that could be learned from the older generation. He discerned that the charm of local history lies in details. He is really the man who rescued the early history of this county and section of country from oblivion. The traditions were fast fading out. He preserved, unraveled, culled, and collated them. His contributions, as will be seen, make up an important part of this History of Venango County. In writing them he performed a valuable service for the people.
To the virtues that have been recounted may be added the absolute pur- ity of Doctor Eaton's life and conversation. He kept the door of his mouth against all hurtful and improper speech; his self-control withheld him from bursts of temper, and he never wounded the feelings of a fellow man with bitter words. He was a charming man socially, abounding in the " afflu- ence of discursive talk." In his home he was the soul of hospitality. There he was fully assisted by his wife, whom he married in Franklin on the 5th of November, 1850, and who is now living. She was Miss Clara Taylor Howe, daughter of John W. Howe, in his day prominent in politics and at the bar of Venango county.
At the funeral of Doctor Eaton, held Friday, July 19, 1889, a great con- course gathered in the Presbyterian church of Franklin to honor his mem -. ory. His brother ministers of the presbytery were present, and in brief remarks depicted his excellence of character, his courtesy, his manliness, his ability, his worth in his calling, the loss which the presbytery and the community had sustained in his death. Reverend James Allison, D. D., editor of the Presbyterian Banner, who graduated with Doctor Eaton in the class of 1845, spoke of him as the most loyal of friends; and gazing upon the casket he exclaimed: "Farewell, friend; thou hast ascended to the hill of frankincense and to the mountain of myrrh. Farewell, friend, until the day break and the shadows flee away."
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One who was present at that impressive service reflected the thoughts of many when he wrote: "Long will we remember the character and the per- son who has passed from among us-that strikingly fine presence, the large expressive eyes, the classically regular features; the broad, thoughtful brow, with the abundant locks thrown back from it; the gentle manner, the cor- dial greeting, the kind words. He has fought a good fight, he has finished his course, he has kept the faith. Not a broken shaft, but a pyramid com- pleted, should mark his resting place. Crown him with the victor's chaplet. Strew his pall and his grave with the flowers he loved so well, types of the immortal amaranth and asphodel and 'pure lilies of eternal peace' which bloom by the river which makes glad the city of God."-H. M. I.
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