USA > Pennsylvania > Westmoreland County > History of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, Vol. II > Part 17
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HARRY D. COSHEY, of the Henry S. Coshey undertaking and livery establishment, of Greensburg, Pennsylvania, was born at Greensburg, June 3. 1861, one of the five sons of Mr. and Mrs. Henry S. Coshey.
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
The Coshey family is French. Harry D. Coshey's paternal great-grand- father came from France to America at an early day and settled in Millersdale, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania. He married Miss Seigfert, by whom one child was born, Samuel. She lived to the advanced age of ninety-three years. The ancestor, Coshey ( I), was killed by the falling of a tree, while felling tim- ber in Westmoreland county.
(II) Samuel Coshey, grandfather of Harry D. Coshey, married Elizabeth Heasley of this county, who died when eighty-four years of age. He died, aged sixty-two years. They were the parents of ten children : Joseph, died in 1904, aged seventy-six years ; Jacob, Cybilia and Louis, died young ; Lebious, Lydia Ann, Henry S., Ellen, William and Robert, now living.
(III) Henry S. Coshey, the father of H. D. Coshey, was born February 18, 1836, four miles from Greensburg. In 1858 he married Elizabeth Everett, daughter of John Everett and wife. Anna (Everett) Coshey, died August 24. 1903, aged seventy-two years. Henry S. Coshey and wife were the parents of five sons : Charles, Harry D., John, Edward and William, all of whom are married and all associated with their father in business. The father learned the cabinet making trade, and from 1853 to 1858 was employed by others at this trade and had much to do as an undertaker. He embarked in business for himself in 1858, and continued as a furniture dealer at Greensburg until 1879. when he sold the stock and engaged in undertaking and general livery business in the same city and is still in business, assisted by all five of his sons. In his experience as an undertaker, covering more than a quarter of a century, and located in the same block for nearly all this period, he has cared for the remains of about ten thousand people. In 1905, with an expansion of the undertaking. and livery business, Henry S. Coshey required more room than that afforded by his own pioneer quarters, hence bought the ground at the corner of Penn- sylvania avenue and Tunnell street, and erected thereon a spacious brick build- ing. It is ninety by one hundred and twenty-five feet on the ground, and three stories high. A suite of rooms for undertaking offices and morgue are on the first floor, convenient to the street. It is one of the finest business houses in the city. Mr. Coshey's livery business is large. He keeps twenty-five horses for hire, and boards from fifty to seventy-five more. He has ten closed carriages for funeral occasions, and three hearses. He counts his patrons by the thousand. Beginning in 1858, Mr. Coshey has been a reliable, trustworthy man, who has become widely known in Westmoreland county. Mr. Coshey received a com- mon school education and learned the trade which was the foundation of his successful business career. The Cosheys, as a rule, are members of the Re- formed church, and in politics are Democrats.
(IV) Harry D. Coshey obtained a fair common school training, and early engaged in business with his father, and is now in company with his brothers, relieving their venerable father of a lifelong responsibility in business affairs. He married Carrie Smith, of Greensburg, Pennsylvania.
CYRUS T. LONG. among the leading surveyors and most thoroughly accurate civil engineers of western Pennsylvania, as well as an ex-county sur- veyor of Westmoreland county, was born three miles north of Mount Pleasant, in Mount Pleasant township, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, November 22, 1840, the son of Jacob and Elizabeth (Tedrow ) Long. The American ancestor of the Long family was Jacob Long (grandfather), who was born in Wurtemberg. Germany, in 1759. He emigrated to America, served as a team-
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ster in the war of the revolution, and came to Westmoreland county in 1803. He purchased a farm of one hundred and seventy-five acres near Mount Pleas- ant, and died in 1841, at the age of eighty-two years. He had four sons and one daughter, all long since deceased.
Jacob Long (father of Cyrus T. Long) was born in Caernavon township, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, November 19, 1797, and came with his parents to Westmoreland county when but six years of age. He was a highly success- ful farmer ; a Republican in politics, and a staunch member of the Evangelical Lutheran church. In manners, he was a quiet, unassuming man, and died September 26, 1871. His wife was Elizabeth Tedrow, youngest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Tedrow, of Fayette county, Pennsylvania. They had two children : Cyrus T., and Nancy, who married William G. Kell, now deceased.
Cyrus T. Long received his education in the common public schools, and at Sewickley Academy which he attended two and one-half years, when it was under the charge of Professors L. Y. Graham and W. A. Raub. He made a specialty of mathematics during his academic course, yet made much progress in Greek and Latin studies. He began reading law with Hon. Henry D. Foster in 1859, and four years later went to Johnstown, Pennsylvania, where he com- pleted his legal studies with his cousin, Cyrus L. Pershing, who subsequently became judge of one of the eastern Pennsylvania counties. In September, 1864, Mr. Long was admitted to the bar of Cambria county, Pennsylvania, and in August, 1865, to the bar of Westmoreland county, but he soon forsook that profession for what seemed to be more to his natural liking-surveying, which profession he had commenced in his boyhood days. He was elected county surveyor in Westmoreland county in 1871, and re-elected in 1874. For a score of years and more he has been employed by individuals and large corporations to do their surveying. He is thoroughly competent in this line, and possesses a fine library on the subject, as well as a fine collection of the best standard books in literature and science. The universal opinion in this part of the state is that he has few equals and no superiors, as a practical engineer and surveyor. He married, July 8, 1872, Barbara S. Durstine, daughter of Henry Durstine, near Mount Pleasant. Their children were: 1. John D., born February 12, 1874: a graduate of Washington and Jefferson College, with a de- gree of Doctor of Medicine from the University of Pennsylvania. For the last four years he has been practicing in the United States service at Manila, Philippine Islands. 2. Henry D., born March 13, 1876, a medical doctor, who graduated from Johns Hopkins University, and now located at Ellis Island, New York, in the service of the United States government. 3. Edwin C., born April 13, 1878, attended Wash- ington and Jefferson College, but left prior to graduation. When the Spanish- American war came on, he enlisted from the college he was attending, as a private soldier for one year and was promoted to second lieutenant and served as such two years in the Philippine Islands, came home and was promoted to first lieutenant, and is stationed at San Francisco, California. He was appointed by President Mckinley.
Mrs. Long died the last week in December, 1894, greatly mourned by a well reared family. Mr. Long is still vigorous, and attends to the duties of his profession with the same skill and industry, as would one a score of years younger. Politically he is a Democrat, but he has never taken to campaign work, preferring to attend strictly to the calling of his life in which he is a master. He has had an active career in his profession, and there are many
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
results of his work in western Pennsylvania. He is a member of the Presby- terian church at Greensburg, his home.
LEONARD J. DUFF. Greensburg recognizes in Leonard J. Duff one of the most active and public-spirited of her citizens. He is a son of John Duff, born March 12, 1810, in Unity township, and married Elizabeth Temple, born October 4, 1821, in Westmoreland county. They had children: Vincent P., born 1840 ; John A., born 1842 ; Agnes, born 1844: Susan, born 1846; Selie, born 1849; Mary, born 1852; Rosa, born 1854; Maggie, born 1856; and Leonard J., mentioned hereafter. This large family has furnished to the com- munity many good citizens.
Leonard J. Duff, son of John and Elizabeth (Temple) Duff, was born February 12, 1859, in Unity township, and obtained his education in the com- mon schools. He takes an active part in public affairs, and the confidence with which he is regarded by his neighbors is sufficiently indicated by the number of offices to which they have elected him. He has served four years as supervi- sor, the same length of time as township clerk, and is now serving a term of three years as auditor. His political affiliations are with the Democrats. He is a member of the Roman Catholic church. Mr. Duff married in 1880, Sarah Foust, and they have children : Isabel J., born August 16, 1881, wife of Harry Lopes ; Joseph M., born July 6, 1883, married Dora M. Shirey ; Jolin A., born March 6, 1886; Mary A., born January 15, 1890; and Clarence E., born May 30, 1893. The parents of Mrs. Duff were Joseph and Susan (Shaffer ) Foust, and they had children: Elizabeth, born December 2, 1846; Mary, born April 6, 1848; Julia, born June 20, 1850; Susan, born January 26, 1852; Sarah, born April 2, 1854, and became the wife of Leonard J. Duff, as mentioned above ; Shaffer, born January 11, 1857 ; John, born April 13, 1859; and Christian, born October 5, 1861. Mrs. Duff is a member of the Lutheran church.
FAREWELL SKIDMORE. One of the successful men of Greens- burg is Farewell Skidmore. He was born October 6, 1848, in Sheffield, Eng- land, and is the son of Edward and Mary ( Sayles) Skidmore.
Until reaching the age of thirteen, Farewell Skidmore attended the com- mon schools, and then learned the steel smelter's trade. He emigrated, in 1872, to the United States, landing in New York on the first day of May in that year. He went to Lewistown, Pennsylvania, where he mained three years, and then moved to Pittsburg. In that city he was employed for seventeen years in An- derson and Wood's Steel works, prospering to such a degree that at the end of that time he was able to purchase property in Greensburg, whither he removed. He set out a grape vineyard from which he manufactures fourteen varieties of wine for which he finds a market in various states of the union, and he also deals largely in fruit of all kinds. He married, March 6, 1869, Catherine Melvin, and their children were: Mary Ann, born December 29, 1869, died April 9, 1871 ; Ada, born January 29, 1871 : Mary, born June 21, 1872, died August I, 1873; Farewell, born February 10, 1874, died August 17, 1874; Charles, born in 1874, died same year ; Farewell Earnest, born June 28, 1875 ; and Lillie, born in 1879, died same year. Mrs. Skidmore was the daughter of Thomas and Mary Melvin, and was born May 10, 1848, in Sheffield, England. Her husband and family suffered the affliction of losing her by death October 23, 1902.
WILLIAM A. HENSEL, son of Jacob B. and Mary A. (Bash) Hensel was born in Loyalhanna township, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, November 6, 1859, and is descended from German
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
ancestors who were early settlers in this county. After completing the course in the common schools William A. Hensel attended Delmont Academy two years. Leaving school at the age of eighteen he taught two terms in Delmont and nine terms in the country schools. Following this he was a clerk in a store for two years. In 1890 he was elected county editor for three years. After completing that service he engaged in the agency business, which he still car- ries on. The only society of which he is a member is the Fraternal Order of Eagles. He married, August 16, 1883, Margaret J. Thomas, daughter of Major Cyrus and Eliza (Ernest ) Thomas, born March 6, 1860, in Hempfield township. They have children : Bertram T., deceased ; Cyrus Taylor, deceased ; Mable E., Sarah M., and Mary A.
DAVID M. DENMAN. One of Greensburg's most respected citizens is David M. Denman, a son of John and Harriet (Hogland) Denman, born July 9, 1833, in Herkimer county, New York.
David M. Denman received his education in the common schools of his native state, and at the age of fifteen began to learn the carriage-maker's trade, which he followed for eight years. He then engaged in farming and for eigh- teen years devoted himself to this occupation. He kept forty-five cows and car- ried on a large dairy business. Deciding finally to relinquish his agricultural labors he sold the farm and moved to Greensburg, where he engaged exten- sively in the shoe business, conducting a factory and two stores. In 1895 he sold the factory and now conducts but one store. He is a Republican in poli- tics, and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church of Greensburg. Mr. Denman married in 1858, Emma Whiteman, born February 15, 1838, in Spring- field, Otsego county, New York, and their children are: I. Frederick B., who lives at Butler, married Julia Bard and has four children ; Nelson, Thomas, Hancock and John. 2. Everet N., who has always followed the shoe business, and is now engaged with his father in Greensburg, married Mary Kuhns, and has three children : Rachel K., David M. and Mary E. 3. Minard R., married Metta Roberts, of Moundsville, West Virginia, and has one child, Adelaide. 4. Elgirtha, unmarried, and resides at home. 5. Ethel B., wife of J. Frank Beatty, and mother of two children, Elizabeth and Frank.
JOSEPH FRANKLIN KLINGENSMITH. One of the well-known men of Hempfield township is Joseph Franklin Klingensmith. He is the son of Joseph Klingensmith, who was born in 1800, in Allegheny township, and married Catharine, daughter of Michael Frey, of Unity township. Their chil- dren were: Joseph Franklin and Levi Kemp Klingensmith. Mr. Klingensmith, the father, died in 1886, in Hempfield township.
Joseph Franklin Klingensmith, son of Joseph and Catharine (Frey) Kling- ensmith, was born June 20, 1858, in Hempfield township, and received his prim- ary education in the public schools. He afterward studied for two years at Greensburg Seminary, leaving in 1880 in order to devote himself to his chosen pursuit of agriculture. In 1890, in partnership with William S. Turney, of Greensburg, he embarked in the ice and commission business in that town, the firm being known as Klingensmith & Turney. They were the first to enter upon that line of business in their section of the county. Later in the same year he purchased the "Gilchrist farm" in Hempfield township, two miles west of Greensburg, and decided to lead thenceforth the life of a farmer and stockman. Intrusting the care of the interests of the firm to Mr. Turney, he has since de- voted himself with marked success to farming and dairying. Mr. Klingensmith
HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
married, October 12, 1882, at Greensburg, Pennsylvania, Margaret M., daugh- ter of John and Mary Ruff, of Hempfield township, and they are the parents of the following children : Irene Estella, John Mac, Levi Franklin, Mary Naomi and Margaret Josephine, all living.
B. FRANKLIN VOGLE, one of the editors and proprietors of the Westmoreland Democrat, was born in Greensburg, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, May 10, 1854, and is the youngest son of Augustus and Mary Ann Vogle.
His grandfather, Augustus Vogle, lived and died in Germany, where he was in active military service for fifty-six years, during the greater part of which he held the high rank of chipf-of-staff in the army of the Grand Duke of Hesse. On his retirement from the army he was signally honored by a ban- quet given by the king, who also presented him with a silver tankard on which was engraved a befitting inscription as a token of esteem.
Augustus Vogle ( father) was born in the city of Darmstadt, Germany, Oc- tober 1, 1815, and was educated in the military institutions of that country. Shortly after his graduation he was placed in command of the military post at Mayence, on the Rhine, a strongly fortified station of much importance on the border between France and Germany. He held the rank of captain, and had flattering prospects of high advancement, but owing to some differences with his superior officers, and being a firm believer in the Republican form of gov- ernment, he resigned his position and came to the United States in 1839, being then twenty-four years of age. Coming to Westmoreland county almost di- rectly, he engaged in the tanning business at Greensburg, and soon invented a process which so facilitated the art of tanning that results formerly requiring nine months were attained in one-fifth of that time. His new process was adopted widely throughout the country, and the art of tanning was practically revolutionized. He was successfully engaged in the tanning business until his sudden death, which resulted from drinking ice water while heated by work ; he died March 9, 1856. Mr. Vogle was a man of literary taste and ability, and left behind him a number of sketches and short poems, some of which gave evi- dence of much merit. He was one of the founders of Odd Fellowship at Greensburg, having organized the first lodge of that place. Decided in his con- victions, strong and impulsive in disposition, upright in character and bright in intellect, he was a man whose influence for good was felt, and whose im- press was necessarily left on his generation. He was a typical blue eyed Ger- man, a pronounced Democrat, and an active member of the Lutheran church. His wife was Mary Ann, a daughter of Michael Winsheimer, by whom he had five children. The Winsheimers originally came to this country from near Nuremberg, Germany, at an early period in the history of Westmoreland county. Mrs. Mary A. Vogle died at her home in Greensburg, September 12, 1892, in the sixty-seventh year of her age.
B. Franklin Vogle, a "worthy son of an illustrious sire," received his edu- cation in the public schools of Greensburg, and began active life as a printer, learning the trade in the office of the Democrat, edited at that time by Edward J. Keenan, a distinguished lawyer and noted politician. After completing his trade he and a company of others purchased the equipment of Frank Cowan's paper and established, in September, 1875, The Democratic Times, which had an existence of two years, Mr. Vogle being the real, and E. J. Keenan, Esq., the apparent editor, because of the almost continuous illness of the latter during that time. Mr. Vogle became, in 1877, the editor of The Oil Times, owned by
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James F. Campbell, and published in the active oil field town of Edenburg, Clarion county, Pennsylvania. A year later he became city editor of The Daily Breese, of Bradford Pennsylvania, which was afterwards merged into an es- tablished paper of that place, The Daily Era, of which journal he was for three years city and managing editor, and was at the same time the represen- tative of the Associated Press for the northern oil region. During that period Mr. Vogle was likewise the special correspondent of that busy petroleum cen- tre of several of the leading newspapers of New York and Philadelphia. Mr. Vogle removed to Pittsburg early in 1882, and was employed on the staff of The Leader of that city, and also did considerable work for several of the morn- ing papers at the same time. He returned to Greensburg in November, 1882, and in company with T. R. Winsheimer purchased The Westmoreland Demo- crat, which they have ever since edited and published. The Democrat is a live weekly Democratic journal, and circulates largely among the old families of the county, being the second paper founded west of the Allegheny mountains, having been established on May 24, 1799. Mr. Vogle was the author of an in- tesesting and beautifully illustrated history of Greensburg, published by Vogle and Winsheimer in 1899, the centennial anniversary of the incorporation of Greensburg as a borough. Mr. Vogle was elected a director of the Greensburg school district for terms covering a continuous period of ten years. From June, 1890, to June, 1900. He was also chosen and served as president of the school board for several years. At the regular annual meeting of the Pennsylvania State Editorial Association, held at Harrisburg, in January, 1903, Mr. Vogle was honored by election as president of the association for the ensuing year. He married, June 10, 1901, Minnie Jane Frederick, daughter of John C. Fred- erick, Esq., and Mrs. Martha Oliver Frederick, of Irwin. To Mr. and Mrs. Vogle has been born a daughter, Alice Augusta Vogle.
WILLIAM BORLAND NEEL, one of the successful and progres- sive business men of the country, was born near Mount Pleasant, Westmore- land county, Pennsylvania, January 4, 1826, the only son of Samuel and Rachel (Borland) Neel. He is of pure Irish descent, his ancestors on both sides having been natives of north Ireland. The progenitor of the Neel family in America was John Neel, who left his native land, sailing for American shores, and lo- cated in Dauphin county. He married, and had children : John, William, Rob- ert, James, Margaret Cochran, Jane Clark, Eleanor Simpson, and Agnes Flem- ing. His death occurred October 7, 1792, in Dauphin county. Two of his sons, John and William, crossed the Allegheny mountains about 1770 and set- tled near Mount Pleasant, where they were married to two sisters of Samuel Warden, who was residing on the Warden farm one mile west of the present borough of Mount Pleasant.
John Neel, son of John Neel, senior, and grandfather of William Borland Neel, was an elder of the Presbyterian church and one of the six who held the first meeting of Redstone Presbytery, at Pigeon Creek, Pennsylvania, Septem- ber 10, 1781. He married, May 23, 1775, Margaret Warden, and their children were: Robert, John, Samuel, Eleanor Vance, Margaret, Andrew, Martha Tittle and Mary Thompson.
Samuel Neel, third son of John Neel, Jr., was born in 1785, and was by occupation a farmer. He inherited a portion of the home farm and this he operated and lived upon until his death. He was industrious and prosperous, having in his possession a tract of land comprising one hundred and seventy acres located near Mount Pleasant. His political belief was in accordance with
MR. AND MRS. WILLIAM B. NEEL TAKEN FOR THEIR FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
the old line Whigs, but after the formation of the Republican party he joined that organization. Like his father he was an elder in the Presbyterian church.
He married, April 1, 1812, Ruth Jack, and their children were : Lucinda Lytle, and Rev. J. J. Neel, who died February 10, 1852, aged thirty-three years. Ruth (Jack) Neel died in 1819, and Mr. Neel took for his second wife, Rachel Borland, June 25, 1822. She was the daughter of Samuel Borland, who emi- grated from Ireland to America settling in "The Manor," Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, where he engaged in farming. He was an officer in the Revolutionary war. At the close he married Mrs. Lidia Gregg, at her father's home, Winchester, Virginia. They made their home for a few years in Bed- ford county, Pennsylvania, before moving to Westmoreland county. He was a Presbyterian and married Lydia Gregg, who was born in Winchester, Virginia, removing from there to Bedford, Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Neel had chil- dren : William Borland, of whom later ; Lydia G .; Ruth Shields ; and Margaret A., who died November 28, 1884. Samuel Neel died October 28, 1862, at the advanced age of seventy-seven years, after a useful and well spent life. His wife survived him ten years.
William B. Neel acquired what education the subscription schools of those days afforded, and was reared to agricultural pursuits. Immediately after leav- ing the school room he engaged in farming, which occupation he has followed ever since, ever being attended with the greatest success in this line, and has now in his possession four hundred acres of valuable and fertile farm land, and also town property. In about 1859 he engaged in the stock droving business, in partnership with William J. Hitchman, continuing in this business for about twenty years. Mr. Neel was also largely identified with the coal and coke bus- iness of East Huntingdon township, and purchased extensive coal lands in West Virginia which he still has in his possession, but which have not yet been de- veloped. He was also connected with Mr. Hitchman in the banking and real estate business for many years. He was one of the organizers of the First Na- tional Bank of Mount Pleasant in 1865, and is still a director in that institution. In politics he is a staunch Republican, and takes the deepest interest in the wel- fare of that organization. He is also largely interested in educational pursuits, and served in his township for over ten years as school director. In matters of religion Mr. Neel adheres to the principles of the Presbyterian church, the denomination of his forefathers. He has been elder of his church since 1862, and represented the Red Stone Presbytery in the general assembly at Chicago in 1877, and again at Saratoga Springs in 1890. Mr. Neel is one of the repre- sentative men of Mount Pleasant, a leading factor in business circles of that place, and a man who by his liberal views, commendable industry, patient per- severance and genial, hospitable disposition, has won the confidence of his busi- ness associates and endeared himself to a host of warm and admiring friends. William B. Neel married Nancy J. Hurst, daughter of Nathaniel Hurst, a prominent citizen of Fayette county, Pennsylvania. Their children were : John J., a civil engineer, of Greensburg, Pa .; Samuel, a farmer and contractor, of Westmoreland county ; Rachel ; Ella May; and Sarah H.
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