USA > Pennsylvania > Westmoreland County > History of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, Vol. II > Part 19
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Politically Mr. Ruffner is an Independent Democrat, always supporting the best man, but everything being equal votes the Democratic ticket. Both Mr. and Mrs. Ruffner are members of the Greensburg Roman Catholic church.
He married, June 2. 1887, Annie E. Ehalt, daughter of Jacob and Lydia
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Ehalt, of Greensburg. Their children are: Charles E., born February 29, 1888 : James Lawrence, born January 17, 1890, died aged one year and a half ; Elizabeth Lydia, born July 29, 1893 ; Victor Leo, born July 23, 1895 ; a son and daughter (twins), born February 22, 1898, died in infancy ; John Elmer, born February 21, 1899; Ralph Benedict, born August 22, 1901 ; Philip, born May 30, 1904, died June 14, 1904; Anthony Chrysostom James Regis, born Oc- tober 31, 1905.
CHALMERS RAMALEY, one of the successful men of Pennsyl- vania, and a resident of Greensburg, Westmoreland county, was born June 6, 1873, the son of Jacob and Susanna R. (Cutchell) Ramaley. Jacob Ramaley was born about 1829. He was by occupation a millwright, and in the practice of his trade contributed liberally to the development of the milling industry in Westmoreland county. He married Susanna R. Cutchell, daughter of Parmenus Cutchell, and their children were: Murray, P. A., Dr. E. R., M. J., Ida M., Molly B., Blanch M., and Chalmers.
Chalmers Ramaley is one of the energetic and prosperous business men in the county. He is an architect of ability, and owns a sawmill, several excellent farms that are worked for him by tenants, and other farms that he buys for the standing timber, after the removal of which he sells them and buys others, in the regular course of his business. Mr. Ramaley is now building a large barn, one of the best in the county in point of construction, as it will also be in appoint- ments when finished. Its location will be convenient to the farms he owns, and will comfortably house the dozen or more working horses and the other farm products. Mr. Ramaley contemplates the building of a house for his family which though simple in architecture, will be one of the finest residences in the county. On the hill near the ground upon which this house is to be erected is a spring of excellent water. It is high above the house and barn, and Mr. Ramaley will build a reservoir to supply them with water and to furnish power for electric lighting and such light machinery as will make housework and the feed and care of stock most convenient. Mr. Ramaley married, February 8. 1900, Nora M. Young, daughter of Norman C. Young, and their children are : Susan, born September 14, 1901; Chalmers E., February 1, 1902; and Simon Steck, March 27, 1904.
JOHN HARGNETT was descended from a family that had settled in the United States before the Revolution. He was of the third generation in descent from the pioneer ancestor who came from Germany.
(I) Jacob Hargnett, the grandfather of John Hargnett, and the founder of the Hargnett family, was born in Germany, December 23, 1736. He was still a young man when he came to America and settled near Hagerstown, Mary- land. He remained there a few years and then removed with his family to Westmoreland county, where he took up land in the Ligonier valley about 1770. The hostility of the Indians, however, compelled him, as it had many other pioneers, to abandon this home in a very short time. Ile accordingly returned to Maryland, where he lived for the next eight years. When peace had in some degree been established on the western border, he returned to the Ligonier valley and again settled on lands he had previously occupied. This was situ- ated about two miles southwest of Fort Ligonier, and is yet in the possession of some of his descendants. At that time the fort was garrisoned and served as a place of refuge for all pioneers within reach of it in times of Indian invasions. Mr. Hargnett lived on this farm until his death, which occurred at the advanced
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age of ninety years, in 1826. His widow, Barbara, survived him but one year, and they are both buried in the Brant cemetery near their former home. Their children were: Frederick, Ester and Sarah ..
(II) Frederick Hargnett, son of Jacob (I) and Barabra Hargnett, was born in Hagerstown, Maryland, in 1774, and was brought to Ligonier when his parents removed to that section. He was a farmer by occupation, and suc- ceeded to the land taken up by his father. In 1803 he married Catharine Tosh, and they had eight children : Jacob, born in 1805 ; Henry, born July 10, 1807; Christina, born March 20, 1809, intermarried with Jacob Miller ; John, born April 13, 1811 ; Ann, born August 7, 1813, intermarried with Samuel King ; David, born August 17, 1818 ; Elizabeth, born September 21, 1821, intermarried with Peter Myers; Sarah, born January, 1824, intermarried with J. M. Bren- iser. All of the above family of Frederick Hargnett are dead. In politics Frederick Hargnett was a Democrat, and in religious faith a member of the German Reformed church. He died May 3, 1845, and his widow survived him until February 15, 1871.
(III) John Hargnett, the third son of Frederick (II) and Catharine Tosh Hargnett, was born April 13, 1811. His constitution being a delicate one, he left the farm in 1830 and became a clerk in a store in Ligonier. Two years later he established himself in the mercantile business there, which he conducted personally until old age compelled him to retire from its active duties. He was for forty years associated in business with John T. McGowan. It was his cus- tom to make two trips each year to Philadelphia or Baltimore, one in the spring and the other in the fall, to replenish their stock of goods for the coming season. These journeys as a rule were made in stage coaches, but at times they were made on horseback. In either case he was obliged to carry with him the money to be paid for the goods purchased, and this was no light weight, since it was useless with the paper money of that day to attempt to pay in anything but gold or silver. He made these trips regularly in this manner for twenty years, until the completion of the Pennsylvania railroad rendered such long turnpike jour- neys unnecessary. Nothing delighted him more, in his declining years, than to talk of these old-time customs, and his conversation was always fraught with interest and instruction. In politics he was a Democrat, casting his first presi- dential vote for Andrew Jackson in 1832. In 1834 he was appointed postmas- ter of Ligonier under President Jackson's administration, and held this office, though not consecutively, for a period of twenty-seven years. In 1863 he was elected by his party as a member of the legislature. He united with the Metho- dist church in Ligonier, 1830, and was one of its most active members until his death. For more than a quarter of a century, ending in June, 1870, he was superintendent of the Ligonier Methodist Episcopal Sunday school, which he helped to found when a young man.
.In 1836 he married Susan, a daughter of David Armor. She died in 1848. They had two children : Pamelia, born in 1837, and a son Armor, born 1843, who lived but fourteen months, dying in 1844. Pamelia was educated at the Blairsville Seminary, now known as Blairsville College, and was an honor member of its first graduating class. She married, June 28, 1858, Dr. L. T. Beam, of Ligonier, and died July 31, 1859. Dr. Beam afterwards removed to Johnstown and perished in the flood of 1889. In 1850 John Hargnett married Laura Platt, daughter of William Platt, of Berlin, Pennsylvania. She lived but on year. In 1854 he married Euphemia Bernetta, daughter of James and Catherine Carnahan McDonald, of Indiana county. The McDonalds, as their name indicates, came from Scotland. John, the first American ancestor, was a
yours July James bittemy
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son of John and Isabella McCartney McDonald, who lived near Edinburgh, and a grandson of John McDonald, a captain in the Scottish army. In 1772 John McDonald, the grandson, when a young man, visited his relatives in Rich Hills, county of Armagh, Ireland. While there a company was formed consisting of himself and sixteen other young men, three of whom were his cousins, and they all came to America, landing at Baltimore. When the Revolutionary war broke out John enlisted in Captain Casper Weitsell's company, First Battalion Rifle Regiment from Pennsylvania. He rose to the rank of captain of the Flying Camp and served through the war. Before entering the army he was married tc Jane Wilson, and at its close settled on the lands which he had taken up in York county, where they resided until his death more than twenty years after- ward. They had nine children, one of whom, James, born in 1779, married Catharine Carnahan, and settled in Indiana county. He was a farmer by oc- cupation, and a Presbyterian in religion, though late in life he united with the Methodist Episcopal church of which his family were already members. He died April 20, 1852. They had a family of ten children : John, James, Samuel, Alexander, Elizabeth, Mary, Jane, Nancy, Susan and Euphemia Bernetta, the last of whom became the wife of John Hargnett, as above indicated. To them were born two daughters, Wilhelmina Platt and May Idona, both of whom were sent to the Pittsburg Female College, May being graduated in one of its latter classes before it was destroyed by fire and merged with Beaver College. Wil- helmina P. married, August, 1880, Dr. John S. Garman, of Berlin, Pennsyl- vania. They have four children living, namely, John Hargnett, May Idona, Ralph and Lorena. For some years before his death Mr. Hargnett was not en- gaged in active business. In April, 1896, he had an unfortunate accident, fall- ing and fracturing his hip joint, the effects of which finally caused his death on June 13, 1896. He was buried in the Valley cemetery. His widow resides in Ligonier.
JAMES C. HENRY. One of the most capable and enterprising business men of Westmoreland county, and a man prominently identified with all community affairs is James C. Henry. He was born in Derry township, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, February 25, 1858, son of Conrad J. and Catherine (Gary) Henry, and grandson of Conrad Henry. His grandfather removed to Westmoreland county, when his son Conrad was but a small boy. He located in Unity township, near Youngstown, where he built and operated a still house for a number of years. He subsequently sold this property and purchased a farm in Derry township, where he resided up to the time of his death. Prior to the advent of the railroads, Mr. Henry was one of the best known teamsters operating from Baltimore and Pittsburg, owning and running some three or four six-horse teams.
Conrad Henry, Jr., father of James C. Henry, was reared at home, and in his young manhood drove one of his father's teams, and had charge of the teams while on the road. With the coming of the railroads, however, and the conse- quent abandoning of teams as a means of transportation, young Mr. Henry was out of employment, so having a strong liking for farming he purchased a farm in Derry township, Westmoreland county, which he operated and on which he resided until his death. In politics Mr. Henry was a staunch Democrat. He married Catherine Gary, and five children were born to them, three of whom survive : James C., of whom later ; Edward S., in the employ of James C. ; and Joseph L., manager of the oil fields of Beaumont, Texas, for James M. Guffey, of Pittsburg. After the death of his wife Mr. Henry married Anna A. Downey,
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of Cresson, Cambria county, Pennsylvania. She was a model mother and the idol of her step-children. Five children were born, as follows: Mary A .; Emma, wife of James E. Brennon, Latrobe ; Charles J., Greensburg ; Frank X., Greensburg : and Harry V., in the office of the superintendent of the Southern Pacific Railway, California. Mr. Henry died when he was fifty-four years of age, and his wife sold the farm and removed to Greensburg, where she now re- sides at her home on West Otterman street.
James C. Henry, son of Conrad Henry, Jr., was reared at home, and was educated in St. Vincent's Monastery in Westmoreland county. At the age of sixteen he removed to Maryland, where he was engaged in managing a farm for Charles McFadden. Mr. Henry continued in the management of this large plantation of three hundred and sixty acres for three years. After this time he returned to Westmoreland county, where he superintended the farm of Mrs. George Braden in Derry township for four years, then removing to Greensburg where he was engaged for four years in overseeing the farm of the Sisters of Charity at Seaton Hill. He then formed a copartnership with Frank Peifley, and under the firm name of Peifley & Henry conducted a general drayage business, which proved quite successful. Three years later he sold his interest to his partner and entered into the plumbing business with John Walker, which he continued for two years. In November, 1892, Mr. Henry became one of the organizers and was made president of the Greensburg Coal & Ice Company, limited. In 1901 the name of the company was changed to the Westmoreland Ice Company, of which Mr. Henry was president, manager and one of the di- rectors, all of which offices he still holds. In 1903 he organized the Henry & Sheffler Machine Company, handling a full line of boilers, engines and pumps, and is treasurer of this company. Mr. Henry may well count his career in the business world one of success and credit. His industry, perseverance, and energy, also the straightforward, upright manner in which all his business dealings have been conducted have won a high place for him in the world of business and made him one of the best known merchants in Westmoreland county. As a citizen he holds the esteem and respect of his fellow townsmen, and his affable and genial disposition have won for him many friends. Politi- cally Mr. Henry is a staunch Democrat, and in religious matters he is a devout member of the Roman Catholic church. He is a member and trustee of Amer- icus Lodge, and a member of the Grand Fraternity.
JOHN L. SHIELDS, owner and editor of the Mount Pleasant Jour- nal, was born near Salem, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, June 6, 1857, a son of Matthew and Sarah (Larimer) Shields. During his active working life Matthew Shields followed the occupation of farming, but is now living a re- tired life.
John L. Shields obtained his education in the Chambersburg Academy and Princeton College, entering the latter institution in 1876, and retiring in his junior year. In 1878 he returned to Westmoreland county and engaged in the newspaper business in Mount Pleasant. He associated himself with his broth- er-in-law, forming the firm of Kennedy & Shields, editors of the Mount Pleasant Journal, then a weekly paper. This publication was orignally the Mount Pleasant Independent, and the first copy was issued Saturday, October 19, 1872. The paper was then a four column, single sheet publication, and Mr. E. B. Halsinger was the editor and proprietor. However, the real founder of the paper was Mr. A. W. Fox, who owned the major part and assisted in the con- duct of the paper until 1874, when Mr. A. C. Haverstick purchased it. Mr.
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Haverstick was succeeded by a Mr. Cooper, who in turn sold his interest to Mr. Job A. Stevenson and MIr. Joseph A. McCurdy, who conducted it success- fully until it came into the hands of Mr. Shields and his brother-in-law, Decem- ber 1, 1882. This arrangement existed until 1885, when Mr. Shields purchased the interest of his partner, thus becoming sole editor and owner of the Mount Pleasant Journal. In 1896 Mr. Shields enlarged the paper to eight pages. It is a well-edited publication, devoted mostly to local news, and in every respect is considered one of the best in the county. The plant is well equipped with the very best and most modern machinery, and it is operated with a first-class gasoline engine. The circulation is two thousand two hundred copies. The Mount Pleasant Journal is independent in politics, although its proprietor is a strong Republican. Mr. Shields is a member of the B. P. O. E., and is a mem- ber of the Presbyterian church. In August, 1900, Mr. Shields married Hannah G. Ramsay, a daughter of Morris Ramsay, general superintendent of the coal and coke company. Two children, Matthew and James R. Shields were born to them.
BRYCE BROTHERS COMPANY. In the fall of 1893 A. H. Bryce and J. McD. Bryce formed a copartnership under the name of Bryce Brothers and operated a factory of one furnace at Hammondville, Fayette county, about three miles south of Mount Pleasant. The product consisted of light blown tumblers, stem and stable ware, decorated by the process known as needle etching. This class of work had previously been imported and this was the first concerted effort made to supplant foreign glass for fine table ware. In two years the demand had outgrown the product of the plant, and it was re- moved to Mount Pleasant in July, 1896, where a substantial brick building was erected as nearly fireproof as possible to make it when the company, known as Bryce Brothers Company, was incorporated with A. H. Bryce as president, J. McD. Bryce as secretary and treasurer. These with William McNaughton con- stitute the board of directors. The business has kept on growing until at present the plant consists of three furnaces, and the buildings cover four acres of ground and employ over six hundred people. The company produces all styles of light tumblers and stemware, suitable for the table and buffet, in plain as well as cut, engraved sand blast, needle etched and color decorations. They find a market all over the United States and have a reputation for quality of goods equal to the best French factories, and while succeeding in creating a trade in this country for the class of goods they manufacture have been able to curtail to some extent the importations.
JOSEPH P. KELLER. It may safely be asserted that in all West- moreland county there can be found no more popular host than Joseph P. Keller, of Mount Pleasant. He is a son of Michael Keller, who was born in 1813, in county Kerry, Ireland, and about the time of attaining his majority emigrated to the United States. He settied at Tiffin, Ohio, where he owned and cultivated a farm of two hundred and eighty acres. While devoting most of lis attention to his estate he was interested in various other enterprises, being a stockholder in the carriage factory, the woolen mills and the Standard Ma- chinery Manufacturing Company of Tiffin. In 1849 he crossed the plains to California in quest of the gold fields, where he accumulated a considerable sum of money. In 1854 he returned to Ohio. He married Margaret Kinney, who was born in 1823, in Tiffin, Ohio, where her parents settled on coming from Ireland, and the following children were born to them : Frank,, chief accountant
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of Dillinger & Sons' distillery, Scottdale ; Ella, wife of H. E. O'Brien, of San Francisco, California ; Edward J., assistant cashier of the Merchants' National Bank, Indianapolis, Indiana ; Joseph P., mentioned hereafter : James, teller in ą bank at Santiago, California ; Eugene, proprietor of the Hill House, Scottdale ; Lewis, a dentist in Tiffin, Ohio ; and Irvin, a physician in Baltimore, Maryland. Mrs. Keller, the mother of these children, died in 1900, and her husband sur- vived her but two years, passing away in 1902. Mr. Keller was a well-known citizen and took a deep interest in the welfare of the community. He was a devout member of the Roman Catholic church.
Joseph P. Keller. son of Michael and Margaret ( Kinney) Keller, was born March 18, 1866, in Tiffin, Ohio, where he received his primary education, after- ward entering Notre Dame University, South Bend, Indiana. In 1884 he went to Connellsville, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, where for about eighteen months he was employed as clerk by the Frick Coke Company. He then went to Mount Pleasant, where he was employed by the same company in the same capacity. In 1889 he migrated to Chicago and while there engaged in business on his own account as a dealer in housefurnishing goods. He took one of his brothers into partnership and together they conducted the business for five years. At the end of that time he sold out and went to Scottdale, where he again became a clerk for the Frick Coke Company, remaining with them until 1900, when he accepted the position of teller in the Frist National Bank of Scottdale. The po- sion he held until 1904, when he resigned and went to Mount Pleasant in order to become proprietor of the Cooper House. He caused the establishment to be remodeled throughout, and it is now one of the first-class hotels of the borough, its popularity being greatly increased by the genial manners and obliging dis- position of the proprietor. As a citizen Mr. Keller holds a high place in the regard of his neighbors, as is shown by the fact that in 1904 he was nominated for the legislature on the Democratic ticket. He belongs to Lodge No. 777, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, of Scottdale: also to Modern Wood- men of America and Scottdale Council. He and his family are members of St. Joseph's (Roman Catholic) church.
Mr. Keller married, June 10, 1889, Emma K., daughter of Daniel and Sarah S. (Seese) Shupe, and a native of Mount Pleasant. The following chil- dren have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Keller: Leo Paul, Michael Eugene, Thomas Lynch, Edward Shupe, Joseph Whitmore, and Joseph Paul, deceased.
DAVID MILLER LYLE. Among his ministerial brethren of West- moreland county David Miller Lyle, of Mount Pleasant, holds a recognized place. He is the fifth in descent from Robert Lyle, who with his two brothers, John and Aaron, came from eastern Pennsylvania about the middle of the eighteenth century, and settled in Washington county, their father having come from Scotland some years previous.
John Lyle was one of the pioneers of Belmont county, Ohio. He was a farmer and a strict Presbyterian. His wife was Isabel Miller, and they were the parents of several children, the youngest of whom was David, mentioned hereafter. The sons were all farmers and are all now deceased.
David Lyle, son of John and Isabel ( Miller) Lyle, was born in 1829, in Belmont county, Ohio, and like his father followed agricultural pursuits. He was active in public affairs, both political and otherwise. He was a zealous member of the Presbyterian church, in which for years he served as elder. He married, in March, 1856, Mary, born in Harrison county, Ohio, daughter of George and Nancy ( McCracken) Love, of Scotch-Irish descent, and seven
1
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children were born to them: George, a farmer: John, engaged in mercantile business at Mckeesport, Pennsylvania : James, a farmer : Annabelle, wife of Brainerd C. Lyle, of Washington county, Pennsylvania : Sadie, who resides at home : Ella, wife of the Rev. William E. Guthrie, a United Presbyterian minis- ter of Mexico, Pennsylvania : and David Miller, mentioned hereafter. Mr. Lyle, the father of the family, died in 1898, at the age of sixty-nine. He was a man of the highest integrity. His widow is still living at the old home in Ohio.
David Miller Lyle, son of David and Mary ( Love) Lyle, was born August 26. 1872, in Belmont county, Ohio, near Uniontown, and was reared on the farm, receiving his primary education in the district school. He afterward entered Franklin College, New Athens, Ohio, from which institution he re- ceived in 1895 the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In the autumn of the same year he matriculated at the Western Theological University, Allegheny, Pennsyl- vania, graduating thence in the spring of 1898. He then went to Leisenring. Pennsylvania, where he filled the pulpit for two years. In June, 1900, he went to Mount Pleasant in response to a call to the pastorate of the Reunion Presby- terian church of that place. Under his ministrations the membership of the church has increased, and various improvements have been made in the edifice. including the placing of a fine new pipe organ. He has endeared himself to his parishioners, to whose best interests he is thoroughly devoted, and is active in the discharge of his duties as a citizen. Mr. Lyle married. July 21, 1900. Florence, daughter of James G. Bailey, of New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, and they have one child, Donald Fraser.
JOHN DICKEY McCALEB. Among the old residents and worthy representatives of Westmoreland county and the men who have contributed largely to the upbuilding of that place, is John Dickey McCaleb, a prominent business man, and for many years justice of the peace and notary public of Mount Pleasant. He was born near Congruity church. in Salem township, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania. August 4. 1824. a son of John and Sally ( Hosack) McCaleb, and grandson of James McCaleb, who was a farmer at Harveys Cross Roads in Salem township, where he lived for many years. He was a man of means and an extensive property holder. He married, and the 'following named children were born to him: Margaret, Elizabeth. Archibald, John. James and Martha.
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