USA > Pennsylvania > Warren County > History of Warren County, Pennsylvania, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of some of its Prominent Men and Pioneers > Part 74
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M ERRITT, HON. CHARLES C. The first of Judge Merritt's ancestors to immigrate to America was his grandfather, George Merritt, a native of England, who, in his younger days, settled near Hartford, Conn., about 1767 or 1768. He was thus placed in the center of a "rebellious " territory, and became, during his first ten years, thoroughly initiated into all the grand mys- teries of American patriotism. He imbibed the sentiments of his adopted countrymen, and was one of the first to take up arms in defense of oppressed rights when the War of the Revolution burst like a storm cloud upon the de- voted heads of the " Rebel Americans." He bore an active part in that fa- mous struggle. In times of peace he was a farmer He was the father of five sons and two daughters. Thomas, the father of the subject of this sketch, was the youngest of these sons, and was born on the Ist day of November, 1790. He received a common school education in Hartford, and at the age of about twenty-one years removed to Chautauqua county, N. Y., near Forestville, by the way of Buffalo, at a time when the only tavern in that city was a double log house, and when there was no road to Forestville. He therefore found his way from Buffalo to his destination by the lake shore. He engaged in farming near Forestville until as late as 1850, when he removed to Deerfield township, Warren county, Pa. In 1864 he removed to Strawberry Point, Jowa, where he died on the 12th of November, 1874. He was a thorough-going Whig from the time he became a voter until the dissolution of that great party, and the organization of the Republican party. From that time until his death he voted with the Republicans. He was an out-spoken anti-slavery man.
At the age of twenty years he married Sally, daughter of Jeremiah Wright,
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HON. CHARLES C. MERRITT.
of Chantauqua county, N. Y., who died in 1834, leaving a family of seven sons and three daughters. In 1836 Thomas Merritt married, for his second wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Samuel and Hepzibah Jewett, of Chautauqua county, by whom he had five sons and three daughters. She died in 1847.
Charles C. Merritt, the subject of this sketch, is the eldest son of Thomas and Elizabeth Merritt, and was born in the township of Hanover, near the village of Forestville, N. Y., on the 3d of April, 1837. He passed his boy- hood, until his thirteenth year, at the place of his birth in attendance upon the common schools, and in 1850 accompanied his father's family to Deerfield township, in this county. There he continued his attendance at school for six months each year, including several terms at the school at Tidioute, until he reached the age of twenty years. From 1857 to 1860 he engaged in farming and lumbering on his own account, and during the oil excitement, until 1862, he operated in oil. In August, 1862, he enlisted as a private in Company F, One Hundred and Forty-fifth Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers, from which he was promoted in the following January to the office of orderly sergeant, and was afterward commissioned captain. He was wounded at the first battle of Fredericksburg, and again at Gettysburg. He participated in the battles of Cold Harbor, Gettysburg, Fredericksburg, and Antietam. On the 16th of June, 1864, he was captured at Petersburg, from which time he was for ten months and seven days a prisoner at Andersonville and at Florence, S. C. He was exchanged in the latter part of March, 1865, after suffering the indescribable horrors of starvation and prison life, which could be sustained only by " muscles of iron and a heart of steel." Immediately after his exchange he returned to Warren county and engaged in farming and lumbering in South- west township. This occupation he continued with uninterrupted success until the spring of 1886, when he began to operate in oil, in which he is still en- gaged.
Judge Merritt has ever taken a very active interest in politics, his sincerity and disinterestedness having been abundantly manifested by the part he bore in the war for the preservation of the Union. He is an uncompromising member of the Republican party. His fellow townsmen have honored him with repeated elections to nearly every office within their gift. He served fifteen years as justice of the peace, nine years as road commissioner, and nine years as school commissioner. In the fall of 1885 he ran for his first term in a county office, and was elected associate judge of the Court of Common Pleas for a term of five years, beginning with January 1, 1886. For this position he has been partic- ularly well trained by his long experience as justice of the peace.
Judge Merritt is a member of the church of the United Brethren in Grand Valley, and has for twenty years been one of its trustees. He has ever been a liberal contributor to the support of all churches, believing that the influence of a sincere religion is the most elevating and ennobling that can be shed upon
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
any community. He has not been sparing, either, in his practical aid to those who have been more unfortunate than himself, especially when he believes them to be deserving. One most remarkable fact should not be omitted, viz., that neither he nor any member of the Merritt family, within the memory of living man, have ever used intoxicating liquors in any form, and only one member, a boy, has used tobacco for a short time. This is remarkable in view of the general and respectable use of these intoxicants and narcotics, and un- doubtedly explains, in part at least, the rugged health of the family. In the face of all these facts, Judge Merritt's success is not in opposition to any natural law, but strictly in conformity to nature. It is the reward of continuous and well directed industry, probity, and intelligence. Moreover, Judge Merritt has never been known to desert a friend. This is one secret of his popularity and of his political success. He is prominent for the one fact that when he espouses the cause of a friend he " stays by him." He is at the same time fair toward his opponents, and consistent in his own position.
On the 17th day of July, 1857, Charles C. Merritt married Esther L., daughter of Robert and Lovisa Hunter, of Southwest township, who has blessed him with six children, all daughters, three of whom are living-Lovisa, wife of Robert Meabon, lives in Michigan ; Lorinda, after attending the State Nor- mal school at Edinboro, Pa., and engaging with conspicuous success in teach- ing, now resides with her parents, as does Grace, the youngest.
Such are the salient particulars of a life crowned with virtue and culminat- ing with a well-developed character. The mere dates are of little value; the achievements are worthy to be studied and emulated. The secret of success, of usefulness, is revealed in this brief sketch. Judge Merritt has always been what Carlyle has called "an carnest man." This earnestness is what made him a good soldier, and a still better citizen in times of peace, and exemplifies the saying that " peace hath her victories no less renowned than war."
M cKINNEY, PETER, was born in Lawrenceville, N. J., on the 17th day of April, 1817. He was a son of Patrick and Sarah (Brown) Mckinney. Patrick was a native of Ireland, and emigrated to New York in 1792. He was a brother of John McKinney, who settled in Brokenstraw in 1795. Pat- rick settled and married in New Jersey. He died about 1820, leaving a family of three children-Mary, Peter, and Elizabeth. Peter is the only one now living. He married in 1840 Sarah Ann White, who was born in Pittsfield in 1820. They reared a family of eight children, five of whom are now living, as follows: Elizabeth, Amanda, Almeda, Orris F., and Stella, while Olive, Lena, and Genevieve are deceased. Sarah Ann Mckinney was a daughter of James and Eunice White. Mr. Mckinney, who is one of the most prominent citizens of the county, has been called upon to officiate in the following public positions : deputy sheriff, constable, town commissioner, school director, and
627
PETER MCKINNEY .- JOSHUA TURNER CURRIE.
assessor. He began lumbering and farming at an early day, and by his in- dustry, economy, correct habits and fair dealing has achieved a conspicuous degree of success. He is now a retired capitalist. His son, Orris F., married Emily Grennell, by whom he has had one son and one daughter. Mrs. Pat- rick Mckinney settled in Pittsfield with her family in 1824, where, ten years later, Peter embarked in the lumber trade. He died on the 22d day of De- cember, at his old homestead in the township of Pittsfield; was sick two months and fifteen days; buried in Garland Cemetery.
C' URRIE, JOSHUA TURNER, was born in Stanbridge, county of Mis- sisquoi, P. Q., on the 6th day of September, 1815. His father, Francis Currie, was a captain of militia in Stanbridge at that time, when the title was a term of positive and complimentary distinction. Francis Currie, whose par- ents were from Scotland, was born near Albany, N. Y., on the Ist of August, 1785, passed his life as a farmer, and died at Stanbridge on the 7th of October, 1846. His wife, Polly Turner, was born in Vermont on the 23d of June, 1788, and died at Stanbridge in June, 1872. They reared a family of seven sons and one daughter, of whom Joshua Turner is the second son. Only three of these children are now living, the other two being H. M. Currie, who resides in Michigan, and George Earl, whose home is in Dayton, Ky., but who is en- gaged in business in Cincinnati and Louisville. He was a colonel in the last war.
The subject of this sketch was reared on the farm on which he was born in Stanbridge, Province of Quebec, until May, 1837, when he removed to Rus- sellburg, Warren county, Pa., and for some six months assisted his elder brother and uncle in the manufacture of lumber. In the winter of 1837-38, deeming his education unfinished, he attended the academy at Warren, when Hon. Rasselas Brown was principal, and in the fall of 1838 returned to the place of his birth. At the end of one year he came back to Russellburg, engaging as clerk in the store of A. G. Lane. From the fall of 1840 to the fall of 1842 he was Mr. Lane's partner, but at the latter date disposed of his interest in the business, and removed to Youngsville, where he began the work of mill build- ing. He had never served his time as a mechanic, but was naturally gifted with mechanical ingenuity, and performed his contracts with such scrupulous punctuality and accuracy, that he soon had more work than he was able to do. He introduced a patented water wheel of superior construction, which brought him in generous returns. He followed this business for thirty years, putting power in nearly all the mills in the vicinity, and entirely rebuilding many of them-sixty-three in number. One prominent secret of his success is his re- markable executive ability. He has always depended on himself as much as possible, leaving little to be done by his subordinates that required responsible duties or skill. He has ever been willing to accommodate his patrons, also, and for years previous to the war received his payment more in interest bear-
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
ing notes than in cash, and was always paid. In 1864 and 1865 he made con- siderable in investments in real estate, since which time he has also been act- ive in brokerage, purchasing notes, etc. In this way he has by industry and sagacity, by perseverance and economy, by honesty and fidelity, amassed a competence, although at the beginning he had nothing for capital but his character and determination. His landed property now consists of sixteen and a half acres in Youngsville borough, and fifty-six acres in Brokenstraw town- ship, in another lot. Its principal value is in its location.
Mr. Currie is a lifelong Democrat. Although he has taken an active and keen interest in political matters, he has never sought, and seldom held office. In his religious views he is independent. He is at the same time advanced and conservative. His opinions do not coincide wholly with any religious creed, but he gives much time and thought to the conflicting theories respect- ing man's origin and destiny, and finds his ideas becoming clearer with ad- vancing years. His faith is bottomed on no metaphysical hypothesis, but on upright conduct.
He married Jane, daughter of Samuel Irwin, of Venango county, on the 4th of February, 1846, who through all the wasting years has blessed his life with the consolations of an intimate and self-sacrificing companionship. At the time of his marriage he first settled on the place which is still his home. The members of his household in the past have been, in addition to himself and his wife, Martha McDowell, who came to live with them when she was seven years of age, and is now the wife of Nelson Mead, of Corydon ; and John L. Currie, who lived with them from the time he was five years of age until his marriage at the age of twenty-three years. He now lives on a farm in Brokenstraw township.
D AVIS, ALPHEUS J., was born in Reading, Steuben county, N. Y. He is the fourth son of Greeley and Lucy (Dow) Davis. His mother was born at Wat- kins, Steuben county, N. Y., on the 10th of October, 1792, and died at Tionesta Forest county, Pa., in 1868. His father was a native of Saratoga county, N. Y., the date of his birth being August 4th, 1787, and of his death at Pleasant- ville, Venango county, Pa., June 15th, 1863. They were married at Reading, N. Y., in 1811. During the war of 1812 Grecley Davis enlisted in the Amer- ican army, was stationed principally at Ticonderoga, and for his meritorious services received a soldier's land warrant. A partial record of his children would rcad somewhat as follows: Lot B., born in IS12, twice married, first to Susan Cencipaugh, secondly to Julia Hudson, and resides at Watkins, N. Y .; John D., born in 1814, died after the family removed to Warren, Pa .; Barnum, married Manda Wright, died in Illinois ; Alpheus J .; Mary, born in 1822, mar- ried Flavius J. Benedict, and resides at Pleasantville, Pa .; Meredith and Mi- randa, twins, born in 1824, the former twice married, first to Amanda Benley,
A. J. Davis
629
ALPHEUS J. DAVIS. - WILLIS B. BENEDICT.
secondly to Anna Evans, and now resides in Clearfield county, Pa .; the latter married Daniel Whitney, and resides in Buffalo, N. Y .; Priscilla Ann married James H. Clark, and resides in New York city; Frances married Marshall Couch, died in 1858 ; Samuel married Adeline Henderson, and resides at York, Neb .; Luther married Mary Houston, and resides in Warren county, Ill .; Ephraim married Elizabeth Dale, and resides at Tionesta, Pa.
Alpheus J. Davis received his education at Reading and at Warren, Pa., to which place the Davis family moved in 1833. At fifteen years of age, leaving his older brothers to assist on the farm, he was apprenticed to a clothier, and served three years. Then, wishing to continue his education, he passed the next three years at school in Warren. Afterward he engaged in the lumber business, and continued to be most actively and extensively connected with that interest through all his side issues of other business operations. He served a year as constable of Warren borough with such fidelity that the people earnestly importuned him to serve longer, but the pressure of his pri- vate affairs, and his dislike for public office constrained him to refuse. In 1858 he opened a flour and feed store, in which he remained two years. Meantime he was appointed the first express agent of Warren county, and he held that office with signal credit until his resignation in 1861, in favor of his friend, L. D. Crandall. He had always been successful in business enterprises, selling out readily at good opportunities. Upon the first development of petroleum he built on Oil Creek a refinery with a capacity for sixty barrels per diem, which, after successfully managing for three years, he sold, and returned to the lumber business. From 1876 to 1883 he owned the largest drug store in Warren.
Although a strong Democrat, he has never taken any active part in political matters, preferring rather to assist in advancing the material interests of his own town. He is a member of several town and county associations, and has performed the duties which have devolved upon him with credit to himself and advantage to others. He contributes liberally to the support of the Pres- byterian Church, of which his wife is a member.
In 1852 he married Nancy J. Miles, daughter of Robert Miles, a sketch of whose life appears in this work. They have two children, Jessie Miles, wife of Dr. A. C. McAlpine, of Warren, and Annie Grace, now residing with her parents.
B ENEDICT, WILLIS B., was born in the village of Enterprise, township of Southwest, on the 19th day of February, 1838. He comes of an an- cient English family, the first emigrant from which to this country, Thomas Benedict, settled in Massachusetts Bay in 1638, removing from there to Con- necticut. He died at Norwalk in 1690, where many of his descendants are now living. The great-grandfather of the subject of our sketch, named Thomas
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
Benedict, bore an active part as a soldier throughout the War of the Revolu- tion, and was afterward a pensioner, as was also another great-grandfather, James Spencer. W. B. Benedict's grandfather, Jare Benedict, was the first of the family to settle in Southwest. He was born in December, 1787, in West Stockbridge, Mass. His father emigrated from Massachusetts to Onondaga county, N. Y., whence, in the winter of 1833, Jare Benedict removed to South- west, bringing his family and worldly effects with him in sleighs. His wife Annis, daughter of James Spencer mentioned above, was born in West Stock- bridge, Mass., in 1791, and died in Southwest township on the 9th of August, 1858. When they came to this township, in 1833, their children, Elbridge G., Selden Spencer, Major F., and Harriet, afterward wife of George C. Pettit, of Fabius, N. Y., were all born. Jare Benedict, at once upon his arrival in Warren county, formed a partnership with his brother-in-law, Selden Spencer, for the purpose of engaging in the manufacture and sale of lumber. They purchased large tracts of lands covered with a dense growth of pine timber of the best quality, and erected what was in those days a fine saw-mill on Pine Creek, at what is now the site of Enterprise village, on the ruins of the first mill ever built in this part of the county. Mr. Benedict continued in a most successful prosecution of the lumber business until his death, on the 19th of July, 1844, when he had reached the age of fifty-six years, six months and twenty-eight days. He was a noted man in his day, both for his superior sagacity and energy in the management of his private affairs, and for his unbounded public spirit. He was an acknowledged leader in all matters relating to the welfare of his town and county. He was a staunch but intelligent Democrat. To his enterprise and industry are due the laying out and opening of many of the roads in this vicinity. He and all his family were members of the Baptist de- nomination. Before coming to Pennsylvania he and his brother Aaron, al- most unaided, built a Baptist house of worship in Fabius, N. Y., which is still standing. His only surviving son, Major F. Benedict, resides in Titusville. Major F. and Selden S. Benedict succeeded to their father's estate.
Selden Spencer Benedict was born in Fabius, Onondaga county, N. Y., on the 27th day of March, 1817, and was consequently sixteen years of age when he came to Southwest with his father's family. In July, 1836, he married Mary H., daughter of the celebrated Dr. John Heffron, of Erieville, Madison county, N. Y., where she was born on the 22d of March, 1817. Her father was a graduate from Dartmouth College, and a surgcon in the War of 1812. Sclden S. Benedict and wife reared a family of five children : Willis B., the eldest; Eugenia, now the wife of W. J. Booth, of Titusville, Pa .; Francis Wayland, who died November 22, 1865, aged twenty-two years; M. Laverne, who became the wife of Dr. John Chick, removed with him to Kansas City, Mo., and after his death, in 1881, removed to Titusville, where she now resides ; besides a son, born next after Wayland, who died in infancy. Selden Benedict
631
WILLIS B. BENEDICT.
succeeded not only to a share of his father's property, but inherited his energy and public spirit. He was esteemed for his open-handed charity and liberality ; was a member of the Democratic party until 1856, when he joined the ranks of the Republicans, during that period of general osmosis between political par- ties ; and was a member and supporter of the Baptist Church in his own town. In 1865 Major F., his brother, retired from business and settled in Titusville, after which he conducted the business in his own name until his death, on the 6th of February, 1873. His wife died on the 23d day of May, 1879.
Willis B. Benedict passed his boyhood in attendance upon the district schools of Southwest township, after which he underwent a thorough training at the Waterford Academy in Erie county. In 1856 he had the benefit of a course of study in Duff's Commercial College of Pittsburgh, the first and about the best institution of the kind west of the Allegheny Mountains. Thus equipped for the serious business of life, he returned to Enterprise and busied himself in aiding his father, until the oil development of 1859, when he added the production of oil to the manufacture of lumber. He commenced the pro- duction of petroleum in the fall of 1859, when he drilled a well in Rouseville, Venango county. From that time to the present writing Mr. Benedict has united the two industries-that of operating in oil and that of manufacturing lumber-with a degree of success. He has drilled many hundreds of wells, and still owns large tracts of timber and oil lands. He was, unfortunately, a victim of the great oil fire, which caused the death of Henry R. Rouse, on the 17th of April, 1861, and himself escaped only with serious injuries.
Though not ambitious for political eminence, Mr. Benedict's ability for management, and his personal influence, has made him, of necessity, active in public affairs. He is in principle a Republican, and while a firm and unyield- ing one, is not an " offensive " partisan. In 1862 he was elected treasurer of Warren county, and during his administration demonstrated his fitness for the position. He was elected to a seat in the State Legislature in the fall of 1880, and served with credit to himself and his constituents. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Enterprise, and contributes liberally to its support.
Mr. Benedict has been thrice married. His first wife, Mary, daughter of Elisha Sprague, of Fabius, N. Y .- (an early friend of his father)-he married on the 18th of September, 1860. She died in July, 1872, leaving one daugh- ter, Myra E., who was born on the 30th of December, 1868, and is now living with her father. In June, 1874, he was united in marriage with his second wife, Jennie, daughter of Judge Richard Irwin, of Franklin, Venango county. She died in April, 1877, leaving one child, Selden S., born on the 23d of June, 1875, and also at home. On the 25th of July, 1878, he married Edna J. Ruland, then of Shamburg, Pa., though formerly of Batavia, N. Y., who is his present wife. By her he has had four children-Willis B., born on the 16th
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
of March, 1880; Wayland R., born on the 19th of January, 1882; Harry H., born on the 4th of January, 1884; and Robert B., born on the 8th of March, 1886.
M ARSH, WILLIAM S. Joseph Marsh, the father of William S. Marsh, was born of Quaker parentage in Woodbury, county of Middlesex, N. J., on the 10th of March, 1795. When he was five years of age his father, John Marsh, left his old home in New Jersey, and started for the wilds of Northwestern Pennsylvania. He transported his family and goods in carts, drawn by oxen. They wended their way slowly along through rough and hilly roads until they reached Franklin, on the Allegheny River, where they unloaded their goods and placed them in keel-boats together with carts, as there was no road up the river to Warren, their destination. Their cattle were driven over the hills and through the woods to Warren, where their goods and carts were disembarked from the boats, and they proceeded as before until they reached the end of their journey, in what was known as Beechwoods, later Pine Grove, now Farmington township, on the 15th day of October, 1800. Mr. Marsh's brother, Hugh, had preceded him thither two years before. He settled on a piece of land now embraced within the limits of the " Marsh burying-ground." His house stood in the fields (east) about eighty rods from the route of the present highway. He had married Phebe Allen on the 26th of August, 1790, and in 1800 followed his brother Hugh to this county. Another brother, Charles, came a number of years later. Joseph Marsh became in time one of the leading men of the township. He held many of the township offices, and was justice of the peace for fifteen years and until about 1856. His record as a justice is a remarkably good one. It was his aim to persuade all litigants to adjust their difficulties peaceably if possible. In nearly every case which was pushed to a judgment before him, however, his decisions were supported by the appellate courts. He was a man of few words, was very deliberate in his opinions, could hardly be provoked to anger, practiced the utmost lenity toward those who were his debtors, never could say " no" to anybody who asked him for favors, and in his domestic life was irreproachable. His carefulness is exemplified by the fact that it was his lifelong habit to make notes of all the occurrences of interest in the vicinity of his home. He was twice married. His first wife was Ruth, daughter of William and Parthena Sheldon, of Farm- ington. He married her on the 28th of December, 1820. She died on May 7, 1844, after becoming the mother of ten children, born and named as fol- lows: Parthena, born on the 15th of October, 1821, died February 15, 1838; Phebe, born May 4, 1823, died August 28, 1826; Miriam L., born June I, 1824, died December 28, 1841 ; William S., the subject of this sketch ; Nancy l'., born May 22, 1828, died March 15, 1844; John A., born April 4, 1832, died September 22, 1881 ; Phebe A., born June 23, 1834, married Edwin Wat- kins, died February 23, 1860; Joseph L., born July 5, 1837, died December
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