History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 151

Author: Crumrine, Boyd, 1838-1916; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Hungerford, Austin N
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : H.L. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 1216

USA > Pennsylvania > Washington County > History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 151

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Having obtained his education in the best schools the country afforded, with the addition of one year at Washington College, from which he retired on ac- count of ill health, George V. Lawrence applied him- self to farming, doing much of the labor there with his own hands, and directing the scientific cultivation

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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

of the soil. He was elected to the Legislature in 1843; renominated in 1844, and defeated by twelve votes, the only defeat he has ever suffered. He was elected a second time to the State Legislature in 1847. In 1848 he was elected State senator, the district being Washington County, over Hon. William Montgomery. He regards that as the ablest Senate in which he has ever served. Hons. John H. Walker, William A. Crabb, Augustus Drum, George Darsie, H. A. Muh- lenberg, and other noted men of the State were mem- bers. In 1858 he was again elected to the Legislature, and returned in 1859, when his brother, William C. A. Lawrence, was Speaker. In 1860 he was elected State senator from the district composed of the coun- ties of Washington and Greene, overcoming one thou- sand Democratic majority, and was Speaker of the senate during the session of 1863. In 1864 he was elected to Congress from the Twenty-fourth Congres- sional District, composed of the counties of Greene, Washington, Beaver, and Lawrence, over Gen. Jesse Lazear, and re-elected in 1866, serving on important committees, and taking an active part in the delibera- tions and discussions, especially that relating to the tariff on wool. In October, 1872, he was elected as one of the delegates at large to the convention to amend the Constitution of the State, and was chair- man of the committee on new counties and county- seats.

In 1874 he was elected to the State Senate from the Forty-sixth District, composed of the counties of Washington and Beaver, for the short term of one year. He was re-elected for the short term of two years from the same district in 1876, and in 1878 by the same district for the full term of four years. In 1882 his name was presented by Washington County as her choice for Congress in the Twenty-fourth Dis- trict, composed of the counties of Washington, Beaver, and Lawrence. (At this writing, August, 1882, the district conference has not selected a candi- date.) He was a Whig and then a Republican, has attended many State conventions, and was the chair- man of two Republican conventions of the State of Pennsylvania.

He married, in 1839, Elizabeth Welsh, daughter of William Welsh, Esq., a prominent citizen of Wash- ington County, Pa. She died in 1854, leaving two children, Mary V. and Joseph. He married a second time, in 1857, Mary Reed, daughter of the Rev. John Reed, an eminent minister of the Presbyterian Church, by whom he had three children, two of whom-George R., a lawyer practicing at the Pittsburgh bar, and Carrie Belle-are living. That Mr. Lawrence comes of a thoroughly Presbyterian stock is evinced by the fact that there are connected with him by blood and marriage seventeen ministers and twenty-five or more elders of that denomination.

HON. T. R. HAZZARD

Died on Monday morning, Sept. 3, 1877, at his late residence in Monongahela City. He was taken ill while at church, Sabbath evening. He died of disease of the heart. The deceased was born on the 25th day of October, 1814, at Oxford, in Che- nango County, N. Y. He immigrated from James- town, N. Y., to this city in the year 1836. After teaching a classical school for a time, he returned to Allegheny College, at Meadville, and completed his collegiate course. Among his classmates at college were ex-Governor F. H. Pierpont and ex-Governor Reuben E. Fenton. He studied law with Judge Mar- vin, and was admitted to the Washington County bar at November term, 1840. At the time of his death he was the oldest member of that bar, excepting Hon. A. W. Acheson. He was married by the Rev. Dr. Ral- ston to Miss Harriet Hamilton, daughter of the late Joseph Hamilton. His wife and four sons survive him, but little Willie and his daughters Nettie and Martha had gone before. He lived, with the excep- tion of a few years, all the time in Monongahela City since his first arrival. He was the first academic teacher in this place, and to him his adopted city owes the largest measure of that educational spirit which is so characteristic of its citizens. He was especially versed in polite and classical literature, and as a teacher he had few superiors. To him are indebted for their taste for learning many who are now active and prominent participants in the great field of liter- ature and science. He was a finished musical scholar, and was for many years a leading musician in the Presbyterian Church. He was principal of the Belle Vernon Academy. In speaking of this academy Dr. Van Voorhis, in his centennial address in 1876, said, "This academy was started in the spring of 1842. T. R. Hazzard, Esq., an experienced teacher, formerly of New York, was the principal. The institution closed in 1845. At this institution as students were Chief Jus- tice G. W. McIlvain, of Ohio, Hon. D. M. Letherman, of Pennsylvania, Dr. J. H. Storer, of West Virginia, Dr. J. C. Cooper, of Philadelphia, and other distin- guished personages. Hon. T. R. Hazzard still lives, and has long resided in Monongahela City, where as counselor and citizen he enjoys the confidence of his fellow-men." He was for many years editor and pro- prietor of the Republican, in which he always fear- lessly defended the right. He was a chaste, intelli- gent, and forcible writer, expressing his ideas in short but well-finished sentences. The deceased was a great friend of literary institutions, and was always in the front when the good of literature was in question. He was devotedly wedded to his adopted city, ever ready to aid whatever might redound to its progress.

He was long a member of the Presbyterian Church, and cherished its precious doctrines as an epitome of that holy Bible of which he was a devoted student. He always took an active part in the prayer-meetings

J. R. Hazzard

599

MONONGAHELA CITY.

and Sabbath-school, of which he was many years super- intendent. On the last Sabbath of his life he attended church in the morning, sat at the communion table at noon, attended his Bible class in the afternoon, went to church in the evening, was taken ill while there. When the morning came he was in heaven. The smile that graced his countenance at death tells the story " that he heard the music within," and as he passed from earth heard the voice of the Saviour saying, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you." He was buried on Wednesday in the beautiful cemetery overlooking his adopted city. The deceased was often called to stations of honor and trust by his fellow-citizens, who never regretted their choice, for when his work was done he surrendered those trusts, and received the plaudit, ".Well done, thou good and faithful servant." Our friend has gone to the grave with/true nobility stamped on his brow.

He was a member of the late Constitutional Con- vention, in the proceedings of which he took an active and prominent part. His speeches, delivered in his usual calm and dignified manner, grace many of the pages of its journal, and to his learning and sound judgment we are indebted for many of the valuable ideas incorporated in the new Constitution. His domestic virtues cannot be more beautifully portrayed than by quoting his own words, as uttered by him on the occasion of the death of his colleague, Col. Hop- kins, a member of the same convention: "He was an affectionate and true husband, a kind parent, a considerate neighbor, a faithful friend, a sound and wise counselor, and an exemplary Christian gentle- man. He was charitable to the poor and foremost in all benevolent and Christian enterprises. By his death his immediate neighborhood will lose the in- spiration of his public spirit, his interesting, highly respectable, and intellectual family his kind words of wisdom and advice and the rich gifts of his social nature." Socrates died like a hero, but friend Haz- zard like a Christian. In the full consciousness of his condition, with his characteristic coolness, he declared, "This is the end," and passed away,

" Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch About him and lies down to pleasant dreams."

At a meeting of the members of the Washington bar and the officers of the court, held Sept. 3, 1877, Thomas H. Baird, Boyd Crumrine, and Alexander Wilson, Esqs., were appointed a committee to prepare and present to the court at the October term a minute in relation to the death of Thomas R. Hazzard, Esq. The committee, after relating the facts above men- tioned, thus continues,-

"In view of this brief outline of our late brother's life, as well as our intimate personal knowledge of him, it is fitting that we, his fellow-mem- bers of the bar and officers of the court, should place upon record an ex- pression of the sincere and unfeigned sorrow with which we heard of his sudden death, and that we should also thus perpetuate our estimate of his personal character as a Christian gentleman; that in all the period of nearly thirty years during which he was actually engaged in the

business of this bar his intercourse with his professional brethren war marked by the most unvarying kindness and courtesy. Impulsively frank and open-hearted in disposition, and gifted with an unfailing fund of ready wit and genial humor, he was one of the most agreeable of com- panions and most sincere friends. In the practice of law his nim was always to get at the substantial justice of a case and to search an honest result, and this rectitude of purpose was so generally known and appre- ciated that he was enabled to acquire and retain the confidence, respect, and esteem of his brethren.

"That our brother was a thorough good man, being not only consist- ent in his Christian profession and in the example of a godly life which he set for others, but also identifying himself with every religious, moral, and educational cause having for its object the welfare of the community in which he lived or that of humanity at large. That in all the relations of life, and in the discharge of the many and various duties, public and official, which were required of him, he was always kind, courteous, and obliging, thus securing a large number of earnest and devoted friends, who will long feel and sincerely mourn bis loss, and who will heartily join in this tribute of respect which we now offer to his memory. That while we sympathize and condole with his be- reaved wife and family in their affliction, we feel that we can minister no more assuring consolation than to remind them of the many evi- dences which our brother gave of his unwavering faith in his Saviour, and of the calm reliance which he exhibited upon a conscious death-bed on Him ' who hath done all things well,' "

Remarks were made by a number of members of the bar relative to the high character and spotless life of Mr. Hazzard. He was truthfully said to have been a good and conscientious lawyer, a man of fine social qualities, and a Christian.

REV. JAMES SLOAN, D.D.

James Sloan was born in Hopewell township, Wash- ington County, Sept. 16, 1807, of James and Martha Sloan, who came from County Tyrone, Ireland, about 1804. He was reared in the church of Upper Buffalo, and in early life made a public confession of his faith in Christ. At fourteen years of age he entered a select school taught by Rev. Thomas Campbell, father of the distinguished Alexander Campbell, and there laid the groundwork of his classical education. From this time, with that strong will and determina- tion which came to him as a natural inheritance, he supported himself by means of teaching in schools and academies during his vacations, defraying the expense of his collegiate and theological education. In this sense, like so many of our strong and useful men, James Sloan was a self-made man. After an interval of teaching he entered Washington College, then under the presidency of Dr. Andrew Wylie, but on the suspension of the college in 1828 he transferred his relation to Jefferson College, and was graduated in the class of 1830. On leaving college he taught for a time the Pleasant Hill Female Seminary, and then in the adjoining village of Middletown, and while thus engaged was married in 1831 to Sarah, daughter of William Lindsey, of the latter place. She departed this life after a happy union of three years, leaving a daughter, who still survives. During the same period he placed himself under the theolog- ical instruction of his venerable pastor, John Ander- son, D.D., and was the last of the candidates for the ministry trained under his care, having been preceded

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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

by McFarren, Stockton, Anderson, Koontz, McKen- nan, and others not unknown to fame. After the death of his wife, the subject of this sketch united with Robert Fulton in establishing an academy at Florence, Pa. While thus engaged he was licensed to preach April 22, 1835, by the Presbytery of Wash- ington. The next year he was ordained, and was instrumental in organizing a church at Frankfort Springs, and was its first and useful pastor for about eight years, being associated also with Thomas Nich- olson, Esq., in charge of an academy at that place. During his residence at Frankfort Springs he was married a second time to Margaret, daughter of the late Hon. James Gordon, of Monongahela City, a most estimable Christian lady, who survived him several years, and died Dec. 12, 1881, leaving one son, James G. Sloan, M.D., of Monongahela City. Dr. Sloan was called to the ministerial charge of the Presbyterian Church of. Pigeon Creek April 15, 1844, and was installed pastor in December of the same year. This relation, continuing over a period of eighteen years, was dissolved in October, 1862. From the commencement of his pastorate he showed his profound appreciation of the power of prayer in awaking and supporting all spiritual vitality. One of his first steps was the establishment of a regular weekly prayer-meeting in portions of the congrega- tion previously destitute of this important means of grace. His constant presence at the meetings, his earnest, heart-searching, and tender appeals to the impenitent, and his importunate pleadings at the mercy-seat for their conversion eloquently attested his faithfulness as a pastor and the sincerity of his faith in the Hearer and Answerer of prayer.

Second only to the power of the Holy Spirit be- stowed in answer to prayer, he placed the power of personal Christian example. In this connection he also immediately commenced a regular system of pas- toral visitation. Old and young, rich and poor, culti- vated and uncultivated, all alike shared in the sun- shine of his genial courtesy.

Hardly inferior in importance to the regular dis- pensation of the gospel from the pulpit, Dr. Sloan regarded the work of Sabbath-school and Bible-class instruction. To these important agencies for good he gave the sanction of his constant presence and influ- ence. The Bible class was never so prosperous as when under his care, frequently numbering as high as sixty members. His clear, forcible, and impressive expositions of truth were deeply appreciated by them, and resulted in the edification and advancement of the church.

In his pulpit ministrations, Dr. Sloan laid peculiar stress on the practical duties of religion. While dis- tinctly stating and enforcing the cardinal doctrines in a logical, impressive, and oftentimes eloquent manner, he let no opportunity pass of insisting on the vital necessity that all true and genuine faith must be illustrated by good works. As might be supposed,

this preaching was bountifully blessed. During his pastorate three hundred and ninety-one persons were received into the communion of the church, two hun- dred and ninety-nine of whom were received on confession of faith.

Upon his retirement from this charge, Dr. Sloan supplied the chapel pulpit of Jefferson College and the church of Canonsburg for a time, and then be- came more permanently a stated supply of the church at Waynesburg, Greene Co., Pa., where he labored with great acceptance until ill health compelled his retirement from the active works of the ministry. During the remaining two years of his life his re- signed, humble, hopeful spirit found repose in the promises of Christ. Peacefully, though suddenly, at last he yielded his spirit, March 11, 1871, in the sixty- fourth year of his age, in the blessed hope of the gospel.

Dr. Sloan was a man of ardent friendship, of de- cided purpose, of earnest Christian zeal. As a hus- band he was kind; mildness and tenderness were manifested in all his domestic life. As a parent he performed his duties to his children with rare fidelity. As a citizen he was warmly attached to the govern- ment, and always careful to aid every effort to exalt and dignify the race. As a man he was without guile; as a preacher he bestowed great care on his sermons ; he was a logical thinker, an impressive and eloquent speaker. He was a faithful Presbyter. He was a friend of èducation. He spent a number of years in teaching, was a trustee of Jefferson College, and after- wards of Washington and Jefferson College. He was at one time chosen President of Franklin College, Ohio, which was regarded as a fitting tribute to his personal worth and high character as a Christian and scholar.

Dr. Sloan was an earnest advocate of the cause of temperance; it was through his influence the first temperance society was organized in his native town- ship. On the question of human slavery he occupied no doubtful ground, having made a speech on the subject condemning it, and claiming its unconstitu- tionality as early as 1828. In a word, he was prom- inent among the leaders in morals, politics, and reli- gion from the grand old county of Washington.

MAJ. JAMES WARNE.

Maj. James Warne was of English stock, the son of Abram Warne, who came from Virginia and set- tled and died in Allegheny County, Pa., upon a farm near the village of Sunnyside, Forward township, where James was born, Dec. 6, 1779. James was educated for the profession of law in the schools of his native county and the academy in Uniontown, Fayette Co., Pa., but, soon after leaving school, en- gaged himself as a clerk in a store at Parkison's Ferry, now Monongahela City. His next venture was in boat-building, boating, and trading upon the

Lameg Warnes

601

CANONSBURG BOROUGH.

rivers as far as New Orleans. He followed the cus- tom of that day of returning overland to his home after disposing of his cargo and boat.

In 1811, being duly elected and returned, he was commissioned by Governor Simon Snyder captain of a light infantry company attached to the second bat- talion of the Fifty-third Regiment of the militia of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, his term to be computed for four years from the third day of August in the year named. In 1812 his company offered the United States government their services for the war. On June 11th they were ordered to parade for inspec- tion. They were accepted by the government, and, September 5th, took up their march for headquarters. Maj. Warne served as captain of this company until Sept. 25, 1812, when he was elected, and September 27th commissioned, major of the First Battalion in the Third Infantry Regiment, commanded by Col. Snyder, and in that capacity served until Dec. 31, 1812, that being the date of his discharge. He then returned home, and in connection with his brother- in-law, William Parkison, built a glass-factory in Williamsport, the first one located there. This they operated, and at the same time engaged in a general merchandising business, until about 1820, when they sold out, and he purchased the farm in Carroll, township, then known as " Eden," now the

property of his son, Joseph P. Warne. Here he lived as a farmer until his death, Oct. 28, 1855. He was a member of the Methodist Church, honorable and upright, a good and patriotic citizen. He was married in 1805 to Mary Parkison, daughter of Joseph Parkison, the patentee of the land where now stands the greater portion of Monongahela City, and upon which he erected an inn, which, together with the ferry, he kept for many years. The children of Maj. and Mary Warne who grew to maturity were Amuzet I., Margaret, Joseph P., James, Hiram, and Eliza.

Amuzet I. was born Dec. 5, 1805. He married Mary Jacobs, was a farmer, and died at Parkersburg, W. Va., in 1879.

Margaret, born Dec. 28, 1807, married Samuel De- vore, and lives near Parkersburg, W. Va.

Joseph P., born Jan. 6, 1810, married Eliza J. Irwin, and resides upon the old homestead, near Monongahela City.

James, born May 11, 1812, married Catharine Niccolls. He is a farmer, and lives near Ginger Hill, Washington Co., Pa.

Hiram, born in 1822, married Elizabeth Niccolls. He is a farmer, and lives near Washington, Pa.

Eliza J., born June 26, 1824, married John Wat- kins, and lives in Richmond, Ray Co., Mo.

CANONSBURG BOROUGH.

Gist's, at Mount Braddock, to Paul Froman's mill on Chartiers Creek (now Linden, North Strabane town- ship). In the same year he was appointed by Lord Dunmore as one of the justices of Augusta County (which as then claimed by Virginia embraced all the territory now Washington County). In 1776, after tiers United Presbyterian, Methodist Episcopal, and ' Augusta County was divided into the counties of

CANONSBURG is situated on Chartiers Creek, and on the line of the Chartiers Valley Railroad, about seven- teen miles from Pittsburgh and seven miles from Wash- ington. The borough limits embrace only about one- half of the town proper, which is built on both sides of the creek and contains three church edifices,-Char- African Methodist Episcopal Church,-the college buildings, hotel, bank, post-office, Odd-Fellows' Hall, Masonic Hall, library, public school building, depot of the Chartiers Valley Railroad, a great variety of business interests, and seven hundred and four inhabi- tants, according to the United States census of 1880.

Early Settlers .- John Canon, one of the earliest settlers in the Chartiers Valley, took up a large tract of land under Virginia authority, on which land he settled about 1773, his place of settlement being the site of the present town of Canonsburg. The first mention of his name found in any record is in that of the court of Westmoreland County, when, at the January term of court in 1774, he was with others appointed one of the viewers of a road from Thomas

Ohio, Yohogania, and Monongalia, John Canon was appointed one of the justices of Yohogania County. On the 20th of August, the same year, " David Shep- herd and John Canon, gent., were appointed to Con- tract with some person or persons to build a house twenty-four by fourteen, with a Petition in the mid- dle, to be used as a gaol, at Catfishes Camp, Augusta Town."1 The next year he became colonel in the Washington County militia, and was always after- wards mentioned as Col. Canon. Holding that rank, he was of course somewhat prominent in military affairs, was made sub-lieutenant of the county under

1 It is supposed that this old fall was erected on the farm theu owned by Richard Yentes, later purchased by John Gabby, and now known as the Gabby farm, in Franklin township.

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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Col. James Marshel, and took part (though not as commander of a regiment) in some of the numerous Indian expeditions of that time, including that which marched under Col. Crawford against the Sandusky towns in 1782.

In this connection it is proper, and it is but just to the memory of Col. John Canon, to notice a statement which has been made in some accounts of the horrible butchery of peaceful Moravian Indians on the Mus- kingum by the men composing Col. David William- son's expedition in the spring of 1782, namely, that he (Col. Canon) was present at, and a ringleader in, that massacre, with an intimation, almost amounting to a positive assertion, that it was he who first used the murderous mallet, and when his arm became weary with the bloody work resigned it with a brutal remark to his successor. But the fact is that there is neither evidence to show nor any circumstance to indicate that Col. John Canon accompanied the Mo- ravian expedition, but, on the contrary, it is stated on apparently excellent authority that at the time the dreadful work was being done by Williamson's men at Gnadenhütten he was in Philadelphia, attending the sessions of the General Assembly, of which he was a member for Washington County. On the 9th of May, 1782 (only a few weeks after the massacre), Gen. Irvine, commandant at Fort Pitt, said in a letter addressed to the president of the Supreme Executive Council, "Sir,-Since my letter of the 3d instant to your Ex- cellency, Mr. Pentecost and Mr. Canon have been with me. They and every intelligent person whom I have conversed with on the subject are of opinion that it will be almost impossible ever to obtain a just account of the conduct of the militia at Muskingum. No man can give any account, except some of the party themselves. If, therefore, an inquiry should appear serious, they are not obliged, nor will they give evidence." It is a matter of history that the atrocities committed at the Moravian town were re- garded with horror and detestation by Gen. Irvine. That officer of course knew whether or not Col. Canon was a participant in them, and he would never have summoned a man red-handed from the butchery to hold consultation with him as to the practicability of bringing the murderers to justice.1

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History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 151

Author: Crumrine, Boyd, 1838-1916; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Hungerford, Austin N Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Philadelphia : H.L. Everts & Co. Number of Pages: 1216

Author: Crumrine, Boyd, 1838-1916; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Hungerford, Austin N
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : H.L. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 1216