History of Venango County, Pennsylvania : its past and present, including, Part 86

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

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W. J. YOUNG, president of the Oil City Trust Company Bank, vice-pres- ident of the Forest Oil Company, treasurer of the Oil City Tube Company, a director in the Washington (Pennsylvania) Oil Company, and a member of its executive committee, member of the executive committee of the United Oil Trust of Pittsburgh, one of the directors in the Toledo Natural Gas Com- pany, and a member of the firm of Vandergrift, Young & Company, oil producers, is a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and was born November 8, 1842. He was educated in his native city and there took his first lessons in business as clerk for a hide and leather concern. In 1862 the Alle- gheny Belles, a line of small steamers plying principally in the oil trade between Oil City and Pittsburgh and numbered for convenience and identity, one, two, three, and four, which were owned by John and William Hanna,

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were doing a large carrying trade, and Mr. Young, being chief clerk of the general warehouse also owned by these gentlemen, attended to their ship- ments as well as others. In process of time the warehouse passed into the hands of Burgess & Company (Mr. Young being of the company), who in time sold to Fisher Brothers, and Mr. Young remained with the latter owners until 1872. His next business engagement was book-keeper for the Oil City Savings Bank, and in December, 1873, he was made cashier of the Oil City Trust Company Bank. In 1876 he became vice-president of this institution and under its new organization in July, 1883, he was elected to the presidency. The firm of Vandergrift, Young & Company, then the owners of the United Pipe Lines and extensive oil producers, was organized in 1876, and the Forest Oil Company was organized in 1877. From the organization of the latter company Mr. Young has been its vice-president and general manager. He was one of the organizers of the Derrick Pub- lishing Company, after that paper passed out of the hands of Longwell & Company, and was, for some length of time, its treasurer. The records of the Buffalo, Pittsburgh, and Western Railway Company show that Mr. Young was a long time its assistant treasurer and paymaster, though it is difficult to see just when he had time to attend to the duties of those offices. However, it is safe to say that they were promptly and efficiently looked after. Mr. Young was married in Oil City in 1866 to Miss Morrow and has had borne to him two daughters. He has been one of the trustees of the First Presbyterian church since 1867. He is a Knight Templar Mason, belong- ing to Talbot Commandery, No. 43, Oil City, and to the Pittsburgh con- sistory.

CHARLES M. LOOMIS, cashier of the Oil City Trust Company Bank, was born February 22, 1848, at North East, Erie county, Pennsylvania, and is a son of . Joel and Susan (Hall) Loomis, the parents of the following chil- dren: Mary H .; Annie L .; Charles M. ; Carrie E .; George E., and Loomis. Charles M. Loomis was educated in the common schools, North East Academy, and Grand River Institute, Austinburg, Ohio. He was married in North East, Erie county, November 15, 1878, to Eda E. Smith, born November 4, 1857, daughter of E. H. and Elizabeth (Lingenfetter) Smith, natives, the former of Massachusetts and the latter of Pennsylvania. After leaving his father's home at the age of twenty-two years, Mr. Loomis clerked in a grocery at North East, Pennsylvania, for three years, and was then elected secretary of the People's Saving Institution of Erie county at North East. After three years' employment at this business he was elected teller of the Oil City Trust Company, served for seven years in that capacity, and was then elected cashier, which position he now holds. He is a Democrat. Mr. and Mrs. Loomis are the parents of two children: Harriet E. and Catharine I., and belong to the Presbyterian church.

W. H. LONGWELL, an oil producer residing in South Oil City, although

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identified in the past with many important enterprises, will probably be longest and best remembered as the founder of the Oil City Derrick. In 1866 he published the Pithole Daily Record, a paper as short-lived as the famous town itself. In 1868 he transferred the plant to Petroleum Center, substituting the name of the latter town for Pithole in the caption, and for ten years gave the people the red-hot Petroleum Center Daily Rec- ord. Having in the meantime, September, 1871, started the Oil City Derrick, he was prepared, when the noisy citizens of Petroleum Center folded up their tents, to repair without delay to this place (the history of the Derrick and other papers will be found in this volume). In 1879, Mr. Longwell, associated with others, purchased several newspaper plants at Bradford and established the Daily Era of that place. In the same year, having realized a fortune from it, he sold out his interest in the Derrick to its present own- ers and has spent much of the time since in travel. Mr. Longwell was born in Adams county, Pennsylvania, January 16, 1839. His father, Hamilton Longwell, a contractor and an active business man during his life-time, died at Gettysburg in 1870, aged about eighty-nine years. His mother's fam- ily name was Wilson, and she was a lineal descendant from James Wilson, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Our subject was educated at Gettysburg, and learned the printing trade in the office of the Repository and Whig at Chambersburg, then edited by the now famous Alexander McClure. In 1861 he entered the army as a private in Company D, Forty-Fourth New York Volunteer Infantry, and served one year. He was promoted to second lieutenant of Company C, One Hundred and Four- teenth New York Volunteers, for proficiency in drill and meritorious conduct under General Mcclellan during his famous Seven Days' battles. He served four years and until the close of the war, and was mustered out at Elmira with the rank of captain. During his connection with the army his command formed at various times part of the Nineteenth, Eighth, and Fifth army corps, and he participated in the battles of Yorktown, Hanover Court House, Gaines' Mills, Turkey Bend, Malvern Hill, Port Hudson, Mansurs, and Opequan. At the last named engagement, while leading a charge he was so severely wounded that his life was despaired of. Captain Longwell is a member of the G. A. R., and the military order of the Loyal Legion of the United States. He was married in New York state and has one child.

CHARLES A. COOPER, M. D., superintendent of the United Petroleum Farms Association, Oil City, came to this place from New Jersey in the spring of 1866. He was born in Sussex county, that state, January 2, 1821, and his father was Elias Cooper, an old New Jersey planter and slave owner whose native place was Dutchess county, New York. A history of Sussex county, New Jersey, says of Captain Elias Cooper: "He was a gentleman of the olden times, liberal and public spirited, of strong judgment and common sense, and one whose advice and assistance were sought by all classes of peo-

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ple. * * He took great interest in military affairs, and was a captain of militia in his day. * * * He passed away September 9, 1846, dividing his property equally among his children. * *

* He was born July 19, 1783, and in 1811 married Sarah Dodge, a daughter of Henry and Sarah (Rosencranz) Dodge, of Dutchess county. He reared seven sons and two daughters, the subject of this sketch being the fifth son in order of birth." Our subject was educated principally at select schools in Sussex county and at Mount Retired Academy, and was graduated from the Univer- sity of New York, with the degree of M. D., in 1842. Immediately after leaving college he located in the practice of his chosen profession at the town of Wantage in his native county and there remained twenty-two years. His health having become impaired he came to Oil City expecting to spend a year in recuperation. Here he has remained and that his life has been a busy one is attested by his record. As superintendent of the United Petro- leum Farms Association and the Hoffman Petroleum Company, he has charge of all their vast estates in the oil regions-embracing oil fields whereon some of the most noted "gushers " have been found; farm property devoted to agriculture, and valuable city property-while at the same time he has conducted some of the most important deals in oil and oil wells known in the history of petroleum. As to the practice of medicine, he has virtually re- tired therefrom-prescribing only for personal friends and consulting occa- sionally with the profession in important cases. The doctor's wife, to whom he was married in Orange county, New York, was Caroline Howell, and his only son, Charles, is a prominent oil operator in Oil City. The family be- long to the Presbyterian church.

FRANCIS HALYDAY, a pioneer of the Oil Creek valley, settled on the Alle- gheny at the mouth of Oil creek early in the present century on a tract of land which he purchased from the state in 1803, part of it now occupied by Oil City. Holidaysburg was his native place, but his ancestors were Irish. The few brief years allotted to him in his new home were still sufficient to earn the character of an honorable, trustworthy citizen among the pioneers. He died in 1811. His wife, Sarah Horth, daughter of Hiram Horth, of New York, was a woman of singular energy and attainments for the period in which she lived. Of Scotch parentage she brought to her husband a dowry of tact and management more valuable than gold in their wilderness home. With early widowhood there came the responsibility and support and educa- tion of eight children, the youngest, a son but two years old, and the eldest, her only manly help, to be speedily summoned to the defense of his country.

Her nearest neighbors were Indians, and doubtless her best friend was their chief, Cornplanter, who was ever a welcome guest in her home and ever ready to exchange the wild game of the forest for her savory domestic meats and pastries. As these wild sons of the forest helped to lighten her burdens not less did she and her daughters contribute to the comfort and

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care of squaw and papoose when sickness and death invaded their tents, and not infrequently were the tears of Indians and pale faces mingled at the open grave. The bold bluff on the north side of the creek overlooking both creek and river was the burial ground of the Senecas at that time, and a similar spot on the opposite hill (now Clark's Summit) was made sacred to their white friends, as one after another their loved ones were consigned to their last repose.

To Francis and Sarah Halyday there were born the following children: Columbus, who went with his comrades to the defense of Erie, was brought home sick of fever, and died in 1813; Uretta, who married Alexander Carle in 1812, and died in 1829 leaving five children, viz. : Lovina, Columbus, Mary, James, and Sarah; Margaret married Samuel Hunter, and died in 1817, leaving two children since deceased; Sarah married Moses Davidson in 1816, and died in 1817, leaving one child, Francis; Cassandra, married to James Bannon, died in 1846; Lovina died in 1813, aged twelve years; Amelia, born December 10, 1805, married Captain Samuel Phipps in 1823, and died September 28, 1870; and James, born January 13, 1809, married Almira Coe, October 16, 1828, and died in Oil City November 9, 1884.

The following, taken from a late sketch of Oil City, is appropriate here: "In his youth James Halyday's playmates were the Indian boys of Corn- planter's tribe, and little he dreamed of the city, founded as if by the ma- gician's wand on his old home. His life was passed within half a mile of the place of his birth (near the site of the Petroleum house, Third ward) and he watched the changing scenes of the discovery of oil, the building up of the busy marts of trade, the floods and fires and the gradual development of this section, culminating in making this city the 'oil metropolis of the world,' all passing before his eyes like the dissolving views of the stereopti- con." Peculiarly kind and benevolent to all who needed either sympathy or more material aid, the memory of James and Almira Halyday will be cherished for many years by those whom destiny has brought to occupy their native place .- E. E.

THOMAS MORAN, deceased, a pioneer settler of this part of the state, was born in County Westmeath, Ireland, in 1815, and came to America in 1832. His father was a farmer, but the son learned the trade of dyer and worked at it a few years after coming to this country. He settled in Paterson, New Jersey, and became a merchant. He afterward was in the mercantile business in New Orleans and returned thence to Paterson. In 1842 he came to Pennsylvania and settled on a farm near Titusville. In 1845 he moved down the Allegheny river and located on Oil creek eddy, where he bought a farm and erected a hotel-the Moran house. The building is yet standing and is at the foot of Main street on the north side of the river. Years ago it was the popular resort of river men and in a part of it Mr. Moran kept the postoffice. He died in this hotel, October 16, 1857. He was

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a Christian gentleman, a member of the Catholic church, and noted for his charity and oft repeated deeds of kindness. Mr. Moran was married in Jersey City, June 9, 1838, to Catharine McGee, a native of New York city. They reared four children of the eight born to them. The living are Thomas J., Daniel O., and John F. Anna, the daughter, died in 1863 at the age of twenty-one years. Mrs. Moran was born in New York in 1817, and is yet living in South Oil City (July, 1889).

THOMAS J. MORAN, street commissioner of Oil City, son of Thomas Moran, was born in Paterson, New Jersey, March 12, 1839, the year his father moved to Oil creek eddy. He attended the common schools and worked on his father's farm, during his minority, and afterward made farming a business for many years. Since 1860 he has been engaged in oil produc- tion. Away back when the postoffice was Cornplanter he was assistant postmaster for a time; subsequently he held the offices of director of the poor, school comptroller, city councilman and, in 1888, was elected street commissioner.

JOHN F. MORAN, district foreman of the United Pipe Lines, is a son of the late Thomas Moran, one of the pioneers of Venango county, and was born on Oil creek in Cornplanter township, April 23, 1850. He was edu- cated at the common schools and at Niagara Falls Academy, and in 1868 began business in this city as an oil operator. From that date to the pres- ent he has been identified in some way with the oil business, and is now a producer to some extent. He is also an extensive real estate owner in this city and gives some attention to matters connected therewith. He has been in his present position with the United Pipe Lines Company since 1882. Mr. Moran is a member of the Catholic church and the C. M. B. A. He was married at Oil City, June 20, 1877, to Miss Mary S. Malony, of Altoona, and has four children: William F., Catharine Jane, Mary, and Cecilia.

DANIEL O. MORAN, gauger in the employ of the National Transit Com- pany, is a son of Thomas Moran, deceased, and was born at Oil creek eddy, October 29, 1844. He began dealing in oil as a producer and later on drifted into speculation and lost his money. During 1882 and 1883 he was street commissioner, and in 1884 accepted his present employment. He was married in Pittsburgh when twenty-five years of age to Miss Margaret O'Connor, and has had borne unto him eight children, seven of whom are living.

FID BISHOP, a well and favorably known citizen of South Oil City, is a native of Centerville, Crawford county, this state, a son of Zephaniah and Caroline (Pangmon) Bishop of Whitehall, Washington county, New York, and was born December 25th, 1840. At an early age he began his business life as a clerk in the mercantile establishment of McFarland Brothers at Meadville, Pennsylvania. From there he came to Oil City in January, 1861, as manager of a grocery house for the same firm, and filled that position

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until April, 1864, when he purchased the stock and goodwill, running the business until the big fire of May 28th, 1866, when the fire consumed the building and most of the stock of goods. He next turned his attention to the production of petroleum, with which he was more or less identified for some time, with but very little success; was appointed postmaster by Presi- dent Lincoln in March, 1865; the commission was issued by President Johnson the latter part of April, it being among the first signed by Presi- dent Johnson after the assassination of President Lincoln. He held the office one year and a half and then resigned on account of the salary not being large enough to meet the necessary expenses of the office. Before any banking houses were established the firm of Culver & Company secured his services and bought and sold exchange, Mr. Bishop being cashier and book-keeper at the same time. When the borough of Oil City was organized Mr. Bishop was elected a member of its first council, and was the first treas- urer of the borough. At this time the entire receipts from borough taxes were about eight hundred dollars. During the winter of 1868 he held the position of messenger of the house of representatives at Harrisburg, Penn- sylvania. In July, 1877, he was again appointed postmaster by President Hayes, and re-appointed by President Arthur in 1881 without opposition, holding the office until February, 1886, and the record made therein is one of which he may well be proud. Near the close of his term of office he received the following letter from Mr. Speese, postoffice inspector, stationed at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania:

Dear Sir: I regret that your term of office is fast drawing to a close, not only on account of our pleasant official relations, but because the department will lose an effi- cient officer, and Oil City a faithful and painstaking postmaster. You have kept a good postoffice; you have been faithful in the discharge of your duties, and I am con- fident that when your successor demands the property of the office the accounting will be found correct to a penny. You take into your retirement the thanks of this office, and we gladly bear testimony to a duty well performed, and express our thanks for many courtesies received at your hands. Very truly yours,

I. M. SPEESE.

Mr. Bishop's marriage ceremony was the first one performed after the borough of Oil City was organized. He was married by the Reverend S. J. M. Eaton of Franklin, March 12, 1863, to Miss Sarah E. Hopewell, and has one child, Clara H., now the wife of Thomas G. Phinny. During the whole term that Mr. Bishop has resided in Oil City he has always felt a deep interest in every enterprise having for its object the benefit of the place. To him in a great degree the city is indebted for the beautiful sus- pension bridge which spans the Allegheny river; he was the originator of the Oil City steam laundry, which has now become a solid and permanent institution. In politics Mr. Bishop has always been a consistent, active, and earnest Republican.

COLONEL A. J. GREENFIELD, postmaster of Oil City, was born November

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20, 1835, in Washington county, Pennsylvania. His parents were William and Eleanor Greenfield, natives of Maryland and Pennsylvania, respectively. He was educated in the common schools and began his business career in a wholesale store in 1859 in Baltimore. Soon after the battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1861, he severed his business connections, entered the Union army, and served until mustered out, October 31, 1865. In February, 1866, he came to the oil country, locating first at Reno and afterward at Rouseville, where he was engaged as a dealer and operator in oil. He removed to Oil City, July 5, 1871. He was a member of the Titusville and Oil City oil ex- changes at the time of their organization and took an active part in their interests. In February, 1874, he was elected vice-president of the Oil Ex- change of Oil City; he became president in 1871 and filled that position two terms, was elected a member of the board of control in 1878, and became president in 1881. He was elected mayor of Oil City in 1882 and served one term. He was appointed postmaster of Oil City by the Cleveland ad- ministration. He was married in 1867 to Louise Castle, daughter of Ed- ward H. Castle, and has the following children: Nora L., Carl J., Roy C., and John B. K. He and his family are members of the Episcopal church, of which he has been a vestryman since 1871.

KENTON CHICKERING, secretary of the Oil Well Supply Company, Limited, is a native of Worcester, Massachusetts, and was born in 1847. His father, Cyrus C. Chickering, a manufacturer of dental material, and in after life a farmer, died in Brooklyn, New York, in 1867, at the age of fifty-three years. His mother's family name was Scott, of the old Philadelphia Scott family, and a near relative of General Winfield Scott, famous in American history. Kenton Chickering was an only son. He was educated in the public schools of Massachusetts. In 1863 he became dispatch bearer to General Clark, United States commissary department, New York city, and held that posi- tion two years. For about one year after the close of the war he remained in government service, and for the succeeding two or three years sold goods as clerk and traveling salesman for different New York establishments. In 1869 he accepted employment with Eaton & Cole of New York, dealers in brass and iron goods, fitting pipes, etc., and as their representative came to Titusville in 1870. In that year the Eaton, Cole & Burnham Company was organized, and he was in their interest till 1874, having moved in the meantime (1873) to Oil City. The Oil Well Supply Company was organ- ized first in 1874; in 1879 it was reorganized and Mr. Chickering, a stock- holder, became its secretary. Though of a retiring disposition he is always interested in public affairs and wide awake to the best interests of the com- munity. He has been three years a member of the select council since the adoption of the city's new charter, was one of the organizers of the Oil City Board of Trade, and has been identified with the Oil Exchange and the Ivy Club from their inception. He is a communicant of the Episcopal church,

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and has been seven years junior warden therein. He was married in New York city June 13, 1872, to Miss Elizabeth, daughter of James Hamilton, and has four children: J. Hamilton; Myra Scott; Cornelia K., and Mary.

J. H. OBERLY, oil producer and tobacco dealer, was born July 8, 1833, in Lebanon county, Pennsylvania, and is one of five children born to Henry and Catharine Oberly. He was educated in the common schools and began for himself in the coal and grain business in Berks county, which he con- tinued until 1868; he then sold out, coming to Oil City, established his present tobacco store and commenced to produce oil, both of which he has continued without cessation. He married Helen M. See, a native of Berks county, Pennsylvania, and has four children: George S., married to Jennie Steffee; Alice, Mamie, and Edward. Mr. Oberly served as mayor of Oil City from 1880 to 1882 and was a member of the city council for eight years. He has been one of the county Republican committee and was a delegate to the state convention in 1878. He is a director of the Union Loan Association, a member of the Masonic order, chapter, and commandery, and belongs to the Lutheran church,

MICHAEL GEARY, proprietor of the Arlington hotel, president of the Oil City Tube Company, and one of the owners of the Oil City Boiler Works, is a signal example of that push and energy, that undaunted resolve, which all men admire so much. Born in Ireland September 26, 1844, Mr. Geary first set foot on American soil at the age of four years. His father died of the cholera soon after arrival, leaving the subject of this sketch the legacy of only a sound constitution and inherent pluck. The widowed mother, with her little ones, sought a home in Buffalo, New York. The educational opportunities that he had, meager at the best, ceased altogether so far as schools were concerned, when, at the age of thirteen, with that loftiness of purpose which has always marked his career, he began to earn his own bread. Though but a child, he realized his position in life, and labored with his childish might to better it, labored in a way known to the generation of to-day but by hearsay. Thus uneventfully ran his career until the close of the war, when he entered the employ of the Erie City Iron Works. Seven years of close application to the positions assigned to him in this institution found him thoroughly acquainted with every detail of the iron industry necessary for the successful management of such an establishment. During the following year, 1871, he went to Titusville, and later was employed as manager of the iron works of Runser & Company, at Sharon, Mercer county, subsequently becoming a partner in that business concern. In 1876 he removed to Oil City, and in company with B. W. Vandergrift and Daniel O'Day, started the Oil City Boiler Works. He and Daniel O'Day are now the sole owners of these works, and the marvelous growth of the enterprise is referred to in Chapter XXIII. Mr. Geary is one of the largest stock- holders of the Brush Electric Light Company of Buffalo, New York, presi-

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History of Venango County, Pennsylvania : its past and present, including, Part 86

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