History of Venango County, Pennsylvania : its past and present, including, Part 80

Author: Bell, Herbert C. (Herbert Charles), 1868-
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Chicago : Brown, Runk & Co.
Number of Pages: 1323

USA > Pennsylvania > Venango County > History of Venango County, Pennsylvania : its past and present, including > Part 80

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He was married in 1863 at Springville, New York, to Miss Ann Adelaide Sibley, eldest child of Doctor Joseph Crocker and Lucy Elvira (Babcock) Sibley. Their children are: Adelaide Sibley, Charles Joseph Sibley, Henry Sibley, LeRoy Sibley, Julius French, and Metta Evalina. These are all now living, except Henry Sibley, who died in infancy.

Mr. Miller commenced business for himself in 1864, in the same store in Boston, New York, in which he had first begun as clerk. His own capital was only two hundred dollars, but Doctor Sibley loaned him two thousand dollars, and also aided him by valuable suggestions. In 1866, Doctor Sibley having died, he sold out his store, the profits of the business being about one thousand dollars above living expenses. The same year he came to Franklin, formed a partnership with John Coon, of Buffalo, and for three years did a successful dry-goods business, but the fall in prices was then so great as to equal all the profits and nearly the whole amount originally invested.

In 1869 the partners purchased a works and a patent for Galena oil. R. L. Cochran was taken into partnership in the oil business. The dry-goods business continued depressed and the store was closed out at a loss of eleven thousand dollars. Mr. Miller himself auctioned off most of the goods. The following year the works burned down, and Miller and Coon found them- selves liable for thirty-two thousand dollars with assets amounting to about six thousand dollars. In this misfortune several citizens together subscribed and presented one thousand dollars, which was gratefully accepted as a loan and subsequently repaid. Necessary funds for continuing the business were obtained by taking in a new partner, H. B. Plumer. Another works was purchased and refitted, and within thirty days after the fire, oil was being

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shipped from the new manufactory. Since that time the business has been prosperous and continuously growing. In the fall of 1878 his partners dis- posed of their interests to the Standard Oil Company. Mr. Miller retained his interest, was made president, and given entire management of the busi- ness. To-day nearly three-fourths of the railway mileage of the United States lubricate their equipment with Galena oils. Mr. Miller deals directly with consumers. Since 1870 his business trips have averaged nearly five days of every week. Probably no other man has a wider acquaintance with railroad officials, and what is highly gratifying is that they are almost with- out exception his personal friends.

Mr. Miller is a director in many other enterprises, among which may be mentioned the Paige Car Wheel Company; the Middleton Spring Company; the Railway Speed Recorder Company; the Anglo-American Oxide Com- pany, and the First National Bank of Franklin. He is also the senior part- ner and joint owner with his brother-in-law, J. C. Sibley, of the noted Pros- pect Hill Stock Farm.

For two successive terms, 1885 and 1886, Mr. Miller was elected mayor of Franklin on the Republican ticket. His vote and influence are now cast for the Prohibition party. He is now serving his fourth continuous term as president of the Northwestern Association of Pennsylvania of the Grand Army of the Republic. He was ordnance officer of the Second brigade of Pennsylvania under General James A. Beaver, and when General John A. Wiley succeeded to the command, Major Miller was appointed assistant ad- jutant general, which position he still holds.

He united with the Baptist church in Boston, New York, in 1865. At Franklin he assisted in the organization of the First Baptist church, of which he was, at the age of twenty-four, made deacon. The First Baptist Sunday school, of which he has been for seventeen years the superintend- ent, numbers nearly six hundred members. He is also superintendent of the Third Ward mission school. In each school he teaches a Bible class. The one in the First Baptist school comprises over one hundred and seventy- five men. He has been for several years past conductor of the French Creek Sunday School Association. He is at present president of the Young Men's Christian Association of Franklin and is now serving his fourth successive term as president of the Pennsylvania Baptist Association.

Mr. Miller's gifts to worthy objects have kept pace with his increasing wealth, and many churches, schools, and benevolent institutions, as well as deserving individuals, have been substantially helped by him. In October, 1889, he opened a free night school for his employes and the young men who attend either of the two Sunday schools of which he is superintendent. Four teachers are employed, and some ninety pupils enrolled. - E. H. S.

JOSEPH CROCKER SIBLEY, the second child and eldest son of Doctor Joseph Crocker and Lucy Elvira (Babcock) Sibley, both of Puritan ancestry,

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was born at Friendship, Allegany county, New York, February 18, 1850. In 1866, upon the death of his father, he gave up, on account of limited means, a course in college for which he was about prepared, and came to Franklin and began clerking in the dry-goods store of his brother-in-law, Charles Miller. From that time the business interests of Messrs. Miller and Sibley have been closely allied. In 1870 Mr. Sibley married Metta Eva- lina Babcock, youngest child of Simon Milton and Celia (Kellogg) Babcock, of Friendship, New York. Their two children are Josephine and Celia Mary. After the closing out of the dry goods store Mr. Sibley was agent for the Galena Oil Works at Chicago for about two years, and during the great fire lost all his effects and came near losing his life.

The beginning of his business prosperity may be said to date from 1873, when he returned to Franklin, and after many experiments succeeded in making a signal oil superior to those previously in use in quality of light, safety, and cold test. The Signal Oil Works, Limited, was organized with Mr. Sibley as president, and the proprietors of the Galena Oil Works, Limited, whose plant was used for the manufactory, as partners. A few years later Mr. Sibley compounded a valve oil for locomotives, which was more economical and free from all the bad effects of the animal oils that had hitherto been in use. This oil has been introduced on three-fourths of the railway mileage of the United States.

His purchase of St. Bel and other animals that afterward became noted is mentioned in the article on Prospect Hill Stock Farm. His judgment in regard to live stock has been many times strikingly confirmed, and he is now generally considered one of the best judges of horses and Jersey cattle in the United States. For several years prior to 1889 he was one of the leading members of the Venango County Agricultural Society, and its yearly fairs, which rivaled in excellence the state fair, owed no little of their success to his plans, and the loose purse strings of himself and Major Miller.

After the burning of the Hanna block, there being no place in Franklin suitable for concerts, operas, or theatrical representations, Mr. Sibley drew up a subscription list and himself and Major Miller having headed the list called on the leading citizens and in one or two days enlisted sufficient capi- tal to erect the tasty and commodious opera house building that is now such a credit to the city.

The large pipe organ in the First Baptist church of Franklin, of which he is a member, was the gift of himself and Major Miller, and they also bear the entire expense of the music, which is said to compare favorably with that of any other church choir of equal numbers in the country. The only church services in the Third ward are supported by these same gentlemen.

Prior to the Blaine campaign Mr. Sibley was an ardent Republican and

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HISTORY OF VENANGO COUNTY.

made many speeches in behalf of that party. Since that time he has voted with and spoken for the Prohibition party, whose principal object, the sup- pression of the liquor traffic, he heartily indorses. Although a member of the class principally benefited by the high tariff laws, a careful study of the question has led him to believe that such legislation is unwise and unjust, taxing all for the benefit of a few, and on several public occasions he has earnestly stated his views and given many illustrations in support of them. His sympathies have always been with the laboring classes. He was elected mayor of Franklin in his twenty-ninth year on the issue of public improve- ments, but has never since been a candidate for any political office.

Mr. Sibley is president of the Pennsylvania State Dairymen's Association, vice-president of the National Half-Mile Track Association, a director and member of the executive committee of the National Association of Trotting Horse Breeders, and a member of the State Board of Agriculture. He has twice been a director of the American Jersey Cattle Club and is the author of some of its most important measures. Besides the business interests al- ready referred to, he is president of the Franklin Opera House Company and a director in the Railway Speed Recorder Company, and the First National Bank of Franklin. He has made several contributions to live stock litera- ture. An address on the Jersey cow, and an article comparing George Wilkes and Electioneer as trotting sires excited wide comment and have been many times reprinted. - E. H. S.

DANIEL GRIMM, oil producer, is a son of Abraham and Caroline (Koehler) Grimm, and was born in Rheinish Bavaria, on the borders of France, in 1838, and came to America in 1850. In early life Mr. Grimm was engaged as a clerk in a grocery house at Meadville, Pennsylvania. In 1861 he came to Franklin and engaged in the mercantile business, and in 1869 went into oil producing. In 1866 Mr. Grimm was married to Carrie F., daughter of William Weyman, of New York city. They are the parents of two sons and six daughters: Charles D., and Eugene Eaton; Stella K., wife of John F. Renfro, of Opelika, Alabama; Lula, Mary Etta, Eva C., Lida, and De Pearl. Politically Mr. Grimm is a Democrat, has served two terms on the city council, and belongs to the Masonic order, and the A. O. U. W. He is one of the most successful and substantial business men of Franklin.

HENRY M. HUGHES, deceased, was born in Rockland township, Venango county, Pennsylvania, May 12, 1831, son of James and Mary (Mallory) Hughes. His father, James Hughes, Jr., was born in Butler county March 29, 1804, and his grandfather, James Hughes, Sr., was one of the pioneers of the Scrubgrass region, where he was early engaged in operating a grist and saw mill, and later embarked in the iron business. His death occurred in Cranberry township in February, 1857. James Hughes, Jr., was also an active business man and operated mills in various parts of the county. Our subject received his education in the common schools, at an academy at Nel-

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son, Ohio, and at Allegheny College, Meadville. In 1857 he went to Kansas, where he filled various positions of trust and responsibility. In October, 1861, he enlisted in Company K, Fourth Pennsylvania Cavalry, of which he was elected first lieutenant, and served until honorably discharged, October 17, 1864, rising to the rank of captain and filling for a time the position of chief of staff of the Second brigade, Second division, cavalry corps. After the war he located at Plumer, and was connected for a time with the United States revenue service. He was subsequently one of the organizers of the Antwerp Pipe Line Company, and upon its consolidation with the United Pipe Lines became secretary of the latter. On the 27th of November, 1859, Mr. Hughes married Frances A. Richardson, and they were the parents of nine children: Harry R .; Edward E .; Albert D .; Virginia E .; Eugene E. ; Nina M .; Ural S .; Annetta L. L., and Frances A. Mr. Hughes died in Valparaiso, Saunders county, Nebraska, September 9, 1885.

COLONEL LEWIS H. FASSETT, oil producer and refiner, was born Decem- ber 10, 1832, in Bradford county, Pennsylvania, and is the seventh and youngest son of Philo and Miriam (Wheeler) Fassett, who moved from Vermont to Bradford county about 1808. They afterward removed to Elmira, New York, where two of their descendants, N. P. Fassett, at- torney at law, and J. Sloat Fassett, present state senator of that county, now reside. Colonel Fassett was educated at Elmira, New York, and spent his early life upon the homestead farm, which he purchased at the age of "twenty-one, and continued farming and lumbering until the breaking out of the Rebellion. When Lincoln made his call for "three hundred thousand more " it aroused his patriotism, and he "left the plow in the furrow" and enlisted in Company G, Sixty-Fourth New York Volunteers, September 17, 1861, at Elmira, New York. Ten days afterward he was elected first lieu- tenant of his company, and at the battle of Fredericksburg December 13, 1862, he was promoted to the captaincy thereof. Immediately after the advance on Petersburg, in 1864, he was promoted to major, which was very soon followed by a commission as brevet lieutenant colonel for gallantry and meritorious conduct. He served as colonel of his regiment until the end of his term of service, and was mustered out with the remnant of his command Sep- tember 8, 1864. His regiment was attached to the Second army corps, Army of the Potomac, and he participated in forty-two regular engagements, com- mencing at Yorktown, May 5, 1862, and ending with the battle of Ream's Sta- tion, August 25, 1864. He served in the following battles in 1862: Yorktown, May 5th; Williamsburg, May 6th; Fair Oaks, June 1st; Mechanicsville, June 26th; Gaines' Mills, June 27th; Peach Orchard, June 28th; Savage Station, June 29th; Glendale, June 30th; Malvern Hill, July 1st; South Mountain, September 14th; Antietam, September 16th and 17th; Snicker's Gap, No- vember 2nd, and Fredericksburg, December 12th, 13th, and 14th. In 1863: Chancellorsville, May 2nd, 3rd, and 4th; Gettysburg, July 1st, 2nd, and

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3rd; Funkstown, July 12th, and Falling Waters, July 14th. In 1864: The battles of the Wilderness, May 5th, 6th, and 7th; Poe River, May 10th; Spottsylvania, May 12th, 13th, and 14th; North Anna, May 23rd, 24th, and 25th; Tolopotomoy, May 28th, 29th, and 30th; Cold Harbor, June Ist to 12th; Petersburg, June 17th, 18th, and 19th; Weldon Railroad, June 22nd and 23rd; Deep Bottom, July 27th and 28th; Strawberry Plains, August. 14th, 15th, and 16th; Six Mile House, August 19th and 20th, and Ream's Station, August 25th. He was captured at the last named battle and held prisoner for a few moments, but in the general rush and confusion he es- caped to the Union lines.

Colonel Fassett passed through the campaign without serious injury, but he had some very "close calls." He was a temperate and brave soldier, and used neither whiskey, tobacco, nor profanity. He was respected by his men and received many complimentary appointments of trust and responsi- bility. `On the 20th of January, 1862, he was appointed by General O. O. Howard to take command of a recruiting party and report for duty at Al- bany, New York. Completing this service he returned to his regiment April 28th in time to take part in the battle of Yorktown. In July, 1863, soon after the heavy losses at Gettysburg, he was detailed in command of a detachment to report to Elmira, New York, to take charge of drafted men that were assigned to the Second army corps. His regiment was always attached to the Second corps, commanded by General Winfield Scott Han- cock. Lieutenant Colonel William F. Fox, in his popular work on "Regi- mental Losses in the American Civil War of 1861-1865" says of this corps: "The Second army corps was prominent by reason of its longer and continuous service, larger organization, hardest fighting, and greatest num- ber of casualties. Within its ranks was the regiment which sustained the largest percentage of loss in any one action; also the regiment which sus- tained the greatest numerical loss in any one action; also the regiment which sustained the greatest numerical loss during its term of service; while . of the one hundred regiments of the Union army which lost the most men in battle, thirty-five of them belonged to the Second corps." A remarkable feature with regard to losses in Colonel Fassett's regiment is that the rec- ords on file at Washington show that it lost more men in killed and wound- ed than its original number when it marched to the front in 1861. It would thus have been wiped out of existence had it not been replenished from time to time with recruits and drafted men.

At the close of the war Colonel Fassett located at Elmira, New York, and engaged in the wholesale grocery trade. In 1870 he removed to Frank- lin and commenced the production of oil, and in 1873 established the Cres- cent Oil Works, which he operates in connection therewith. He produces and manufactures the celebrated natural Franklin lubricating oil, which is produced in no other part of the United States. He was married May 27,

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1880, to Miss Leah J., daughter of Samuel F. Dale of Franklin. One daugh- ter, Eliza D., is the fruit of this union. Colonel Fassett has always been an ardent Republican, is one of the charter members of Mays Post, G. A. R., and is a member of the Presbyterian church. He is one of the enterpris- ing business men of his adopted county.

MAJOR ROBERT J. PHIPPS, oil producer, was born in Clinton township, Ve- nango county, January 24, 1839. His parents were Joseph and Elizabeth Lowrie (Whann) Phipps, the former a son of John Phipps, and the latter a daughter of Robert S. Whann, pioneers, respectively, of Clinton and Min- eral townships, in the biographical chapters of which sketches of both fami- lies will be found. Robert J. obtained a common school education in his native township. After a brief business experience at Franklin and on Oil creek, he enlisted October 14, 1861, as a private in Company H, Fourth Pennsylvania Cavalry, and served until the close of the war, participating in fifty-six engagements and skirmishes and in every important battle in which the Army of the Potomac was engaged. He filled every grade in his regiment from private to major, served a year and a half as inspector gen- eral of the Second brigade, Second division, cavalry corps, Army of the Potomac, and was brevetted lieutenant colonel near the close of the war upon the recommendation of General Sheridan, " for gallant, efficient, and meritorious services in action." John M. Phipps Post, G. A. R., at Clin- tonville is named in honor of his brother, who died at his home in 1862 from exposure incident to military service. After the close of the war our subject engaged in mercantile pursuits at Franklin, continuing in business at Polk and Parker until 1869, when he returned to Clintonville. In 1875 he engaged in oil production in the Bullion field, and later in Butler county, where his operations have met with fair success. Major Phipps was mar- ried January 16, 1865, to Miss Hattie A., daughter of Robert Cross, who was elected associate judge of Venango county in 1851. They are the par- ents of two children: Marshall L., a graduate of Lafayette College in 1887, and a student at law in the office of Lee, Criswell & Hastings, Franklin; and Elizabeth, who died March 11, 1883, at the age of sixteen. Politically Major Phipps is a Republican, and was a justice of the peace at Clinton- ville twelve years. He is a member of the Masonic order, the G. A. R., and other fraternal societies, and present colonel commander of Encamp- ment No. 45, Union Veteran Legion.

COLONEL JOHN HERRON CAIN, producer and refiner of lubricating oils, was born at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, November 18, 1838, son of Henry P. Cain, a native of Trenton, New Jersey, who came to Pittsburgh in 1832, where he spent the balance of his days. He was engaged in the boot and shoe business and occupied a room on the corner of Fifth avenue and Mark- et street for half a century. Our subject was reared and educated in Pittsburgh, and subsequently was employed as teller in the old Pittsburgh

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Trust Company, now the First National Bank. In 1858 Colonel Cain went to St Louis, Missouri, where he occupied a similar position, and in the spring of 1860 removed to Chattanooga, Tennessee. In March, 1861, see- ing that a war between the states was imminent, he returned to Pittsburgh, where he soon afterward enlisted in Company K, Twelfth Pennsylvania Volunteers, for the three months service. At the expiration of his term he came home and recruited Company C, One Hundred and Fifty-Fifth Penn- sylvania Volunteers, of which he was elected captain. He served in all the battles and campaigns of that regiment up to his resignation in September, 1864. After the battle of Antietam he was promoted to the rank of major, and subsequent to the battle of Fredericksburg to that of lieutenant colonel of his regiment. While holding the latter rank he commanded his regiment at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, and on the 3rd of July, 1863, was promoted to the colonelcy, and served in that capacity until his resignation some months afterward. In April, 1865, he came to Franklin to accept the tellership of the First National Bank, which position he filled eighteen months, and then went into the oil business. He followed pro- ducing solely until 1885, when he established the Keystone refinery, and operated it in conjunction with the producing business until January 1, 1890, when he consolidated with the Franklin Oil Works. Colonel Cain was married in Franklin, January 13, 1876, to Miss Jennie H., only daugh- ter of William Elliott, deceased, one of the well-known citizens of the county. In politics he is a Republican, a member of the G. A. R., also of the Masonic order and the A. O. U. W., and is connected with the First Presbyterian church of Franklin.

HUGH CARR, one of the proprietors of the Franklin Oil Works, was born in County Derry, Ireland, March 3, 1839. His parents, Patrick and Martha (Marling) Carr, were natives of the same county, where the latter died; the former immigrated to Franklin, Pennsylvania, in 1873, and here spent the remaining years of his life. Our subject was reared in Ireland, where he followed the linen weaving trade. In early manhood he removed to Scot- land, worked in a locomotive manufactory, and in 1867 immigrated to Pitts- burgh, Pennsylvania, where he continued to follow the iron business. In August, 1868, he entered the employ of Doctor W. C. Tweddle, then oper- ating the Eclipse Oil Works at Pittsburgh. The works were burned in 1870, and Doctor Tweddle removed to Aladdin, Armstrong county, and in 1873 established the Eclipse Oil Works of Franklin. Mr. Carr removed here at the same time, and has ever since been engaged in the refining busi- ness, being one of the two oldest refiners now engaged in the business in Franklin. In 1877 he and George Allen and Robert Fleming erected the Franklin Oil Works, with which he has since been connected. Mr. Carr was married May 10, 1864, to Mary Gregg, of County Derry, Ireland, who is the mother of four children: Anna Belle; Andrew, deceased; Mattie, and

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Hugh Tolman. The family are members of the Protestant Episcopal church of Franklin. In politics Mr. Carr is a Republican, and believes that every foreign-born citizen should be a resident of the United States twenty-one years before enjoying the rights of citizenship. He has been fairly suc- cessful during his residence in Franklin, and enjoys the confidence of a large circle of friends.

JACOB W. REAMER, of the Franklin Oil Works, is a native of Westmore- land county, Pennsylvania, born August 27, 1846, and grew to manhood in Greensburg, the county seat of that county. In 1872 he went to Parker's Landing, Pennsylvania, whither he was attracted by the oil excitement. He followed producing at that point until 1881, when he came to Franklin, and has been a resident of this city for the past nine years. In April, 1887, he purchased the interest of George Allen in the Franklin Oil Works and has since been one of the proprietors of that institution. Mr. Reamer was mar- ried in 1873, to Miss Annie A. Tinstman, of Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania, who has borne him four children: Edna B. and Katie, deceased; Daniel, and Earl. The family are adherents of the Methodist Episcopal church, and in politics he is a Republican. In 1864 he enlisted in the Two Hundred and Eleventh Pennsylvania Volunteers and served until the close of the war. He is a member of the G. A. R. and Royal Arcanum, and thoroughly in har- mony with the growth and progress of his adopted home.

O. B. STEELE, manager of the Relief Oil Works, was born in Crawford county, Pennsylvania, son of George and Mary (Hill) Steele. He came to Franklin with his parents in 1850, and in 1859 engaged in the oil business. In 1866 he organized the Cranberry Oil Company, in 1877 the Valley Oil Company, and in 1878 was one of the organizers of the Relief Oil Works. Since the erection of the last mentioned plant he has been manager. He was married in 1861 to Miss Mary Fleming, who is the mother of two children: Charles A. and Albert P. Politically Mr. Steele is a Republican, and an energetic, enterprising citizen.

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History of Venango County, Pennsylvania : its past and present, including, Part 80

Author: Bell, Herbert C. (Herbert Charles), 1868- Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Chicago : Brown, Runk & Co. Number of Pages: 1323

Author: Bell, Herbert C. (Herbert Charles), 1868-
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Chicago : Brown, Runk & Co.
Number of Pages: 1323