USA > Pennsylvania > Westmoreland County > History of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, Vol. II > Part 2
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IV. George Franklin Huff, son of George and Caroline Boyer-Huff, is widely known as one of the most enterprising and public spirited men in West- moreland county, and is closely identified with nearly all of its many industrial and financial enterprises. When four years of age he accompanied his parents to Middletown, where he attended the public schools until 1851, when his parents moved to Altoona. There he attended the public schools until seven- teen years of age, when he entered the car shops of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company at Altoona and learned the car finisher's trade. So faithful and true to every duty was he that three years later he was, without solicitation on his part, highly recommended by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company to a bank- ing house in Altoona, that of William M. Lloyd and Company. He accepted the position and in 1865 his employer sent him to Ebensburg to establish a bank there. He succeeded remarkably well and a year later was re-called to Altoona.
In 1867 he removed to Greensburg, where he established the banking house of Lloyd, Huff and Company, known as the Greensburg Deposit Bank, and having branches at Latrobe, Irwin, Mount Pleasant and Ligonier. The panic of 1873 caused these several institutions to go out of business, but their property paid their full indebtedness with interest.
In 1871 Mr. Huff established the Farmers' National Bank of Greensburg with a capital stock of one hundred thousand dollars. He was its first presi- dent and remained as such until 1874, when he became the active manager of the house as its cashier under General Richard Coulter as president. By Act of Congress the bank was reorganized as the Fifth National Bank of Pittsburg, Mr. Huff being elected its vice-president, which position he held until 1876, when he resigned. In 1874 he, with others, organized the Greensburg Banking Company, which soon became a leader in the rural banking business of West- ern Pennsylvania. He was cashier of this bank until 1887, during which time through his untiring efforts and business sagacity, a very large volume of busi- ness was secured.
In 1881 the First National Bank of Greensburg was chartered, and Mr. Huff became one of its most potent directors, which position he still retains. Since then the First National Bank has absorbed the Greensburg Banking Company, and has now a larger deposit and surplus than any other institution in the county.
Mr. Huff also became largely interested in the coal and coke industry of Westmoreland county. He was the prime mover in organizing the Greens- burg Coal Company, the Alexandria Coal Company, Mountain Coal Company, tlie Argyle Coal Company, the United Coal and Coke Company, the Mutual Mining and Manufacturing Company, the Manor Gas Coal Company, the Madi- son Coal Company, the Salem Coal Company, the Latrobe Coal Company, Car- bon Coal Company, and several others. Most of these companies were since con- solidated in the Keystone Coal and Coke Company, of which Mr. Huff is presi- dent. It and the companies with which he is connected, employ about 7,500 men and produce now in the neighborhood of six millions of tons of coal per year, or twenty thousand tons per day. He was also one of the organizers of the Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad Company, the main line of which passes
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
through the Connellsville coking coal region, he being its treasurer until the offices were removed to Philadelphia. He was one of the founders of the Greensburg Electric Street Railway Company, the Greensburg Fuel (artificial and natural gas) Company, and the Greensburg Steel Company. He was formerly president of the Greensburg Electric Light and the Westmoreland Water Companies.
The development of the Jeannette natural gas region also felt his potency as well as the general upbuilding of that sprightly town. He donated seven acres of valuable land for manufacturing purposes at Burrell, a station near Greensburg. The thriving towns of Youngwood, Southwest Greensburg, and other outlying sections of Greensburg were laid out largely by his efforts, and he has always been financially interested in the Kelly & Jones Company and its various improvements.
He is also a director of the American Surety and Trust Company of Wash- ington, D. C., the President of the Westmoreland Hospital Association, and is further interested in coal companies outside of the Keystone Coal and Coke Company in nearly every section of the bituminous region in Pennsylvania.
Adjoining Greensburg he has a large landed estate containing about 500 acres, upon which the family residence is built. It consists of highly cultivated farm land and original forest, all of which is beautified by a system of landscape gardening and parks ; and through the entire farm there are winding driveways of over four miles in length, which are kept up by Mr. Huff and are at all times thrown open for the public to enjoy.
Mr. Huff is a progressive Republican. His political career began in 1880 when, as a member of the Chicago Republican Convention, he was one of the 306 who supported General U. S. Grant for a third term as President. In 1884 he was a candidate for the office of State Senator in the Thirty-ninth Sen- atorial District, composed of the County of Westmoreland. He was elected by a majority of seven hundred, although the county had for long years been re- garded as the Democratic stronghold of the West. Since then the county has been generally Republican.
In 1888 Mr. Huff was nominated for Congress by the Republicans of Westmoreland county, but another was selected under the conferee system. In 1890 he was chosen as Congressional candidate by the Republicans in the district and elected by a large majority, representing the counties of Westmore- land, Indiana, Armstrong and Jefferson. He served in Congress until 1893, and in 1894 was elected Congressman-at-Large from Pennsylvania. In 1902, 1904 and 1906 he was returned to Congress, and now represents the counties of Westmoreland and Butler. During his service in the National House of Representatives, Mr. Huff has proved his ability to well represent the large and varied interests of his constituents, and no member of Congress from the Commonwealth stands higher than he. He is now prominently mentioned as a candidate for the Governorship in 1906.
On March 16, 1871, Mr. Huff was united in marriage with Henrietta Burrell, a daughter of the late Jeremiah M. Burrell, twice President Judge of the Tenth Judicial District of Pennsylvania. and later United States District Judge for the Territory of Kansas. Tudge Burrell died at Greensburg, Octo- ber 21, 1856. (See sketch of Judge Burrell in that part of the first volume of this series relative to the Westmoreland Bench).
Mr. and Mrs. Huff are the parents of eight children, four of whom are living, namely, Lloyd Burrell, Julian Burrell, Carolyn Burrell and Burrell Richardson.
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
JOSEPH ALEXANDER MCCURDY, a leading member of the Westmoreland county bar, residing at Greensburg, Pennsylvania, comes of Scotch, Scotch-Irish and English ancestry. He was born in Derry township, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, Friday, December 11, 1857, the second son of Alexander J. and Sarah ( Pounds) McCurdy.
In an open boat, during the days of religious persecution in Scotland, were five brothers escaping by a dangerous voyage from Galloway to the coast of Down, Ireland. These true hearted men were named McCurdy, and from one of them Joseph A. McCurdy is descended. The Mayflower, which crossed the Atlantic in 1620, contained one of his paternal ancestors and two of his maternal ancestors. His grandmother, Mary Doty, descended from Edward Doty, who was one of the forty-one men who signed his name to the first con- stitution of government ever subscribed by a whole people in the history of the world. Mr. McCurdy's mother. Sarah Pounds, descended from Thomas Pounds, who in 1635 came from London to New England, and his wife was one of the children who came in the Mayflower. William Drummond, who came from Scotland to New Jersey, had among his grandchildren Mary Drummond, the maternal grandmother of Mr. McCurdy. The maternal great-grandmother was Sarah Collier, descendant of William Collier, a London merchant, who came to America in 1633 and was assistant governor of Plymouth colony for thirty years. The great-great-grandmothers on the paternal side were Hannah Cannon, wife of Stephen A. Pounds, and Ella Cannon, wife of William Drum- mond. Three of his great-grandfathers, Alexander McCurdy, Joseph Pounds and Nathaniel Doty, were in the War for Independence, and two of his great- great-grandfathers, Stephen A. Pounds and William Drummond, were killed in that struggle. For more than a century, Mr. McCurdy's ancestors have re- sided in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania.
Alexander McCurdy, the great-grandfather, was born in Ulster, Ireland, 1744 ; came to America in 1756, settling on the banks of "Crooked Creek," in Westmoreland county, (now included within Indiana county). Subsequently he lived near the Salt Works, on the Conemaugh river. He died near Liver- . more, aged ninety-four years. He was a Revolutionary soldier in Captain Matthew Scott's Company, Thirteenth Pennsylvania Regiment, and was wounded in both arms in Yorktown and became a pensioner. For a short time. he accompanied his son Samuel in the War of 1812, and was employed in training soldiers in military exercises. He possessed considerable wealth, was a noted musician, a strict seceder and well known for his knowledge of the scriptures. He was married about 1785 to Jane Heridenon, by whom were born : William, Alexander H., Andrew, Samuel, Keziah,- Ann and Jane.
Alexander Henderson McCurdy, the grandfather of J. A. McCurdy, was born at Crooked Creek, 1794. He was a farmer and carpenter. He was a pump manufacturer for many years. He owned the "Piper Farm," near Latrobe, where he resided many years previous to his death in 1851. About 1820 he married Mary Doty, by whom was born: Samuel Henderson, Nath- aniel; Alexander Jackson, Mary, Phoebe and Jane. The mother of these children, Mary ( Doty) McCurdy, was born in 1795 and died 1887. She was a lineal descendant of Edward Doty, who came in the Mayflower. Rev. Francis. Doty (son of Edward) was a minister in the first settlement of Taunton, Mas- sachusetts. For utterances contrary to some of the Pilgrim Fathers' practices, he was driven to Long Island in 1611. The Dutch settlement issued a patent to him, "for a Colonie, Messpath Kill, twenty-eight of March, 1642." Some of his descendants settled in New Jersey. Three of these, Nathaniel, Jonathanr
HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
and Zebulon Doty, sons of Nathaniel Doty, Sr., ( great-great-grandfather ; set- tled in Derry township, Westmoreland county, about 1785.
Nathaniel Doty, Jr., (great-grandfather ), born 1757, died in 1844: he had served in the Revolutionary war. He married Jane Bethoven, and one of their children, Mary, was married to Alexander H. McCurdy, whose third son, Alexander Jackson McCurdy, father of J. A. McCurdy, was born in Derry township, June 4, 1829. He was a farmer and was for some time in the employ of the Pennsylvania canal and later engaged in the construction of the Pennsyl- vania railroad. Politically he was an active Republican. He died September 2, 1884. He married Rachel Lightcap, who died in 1852, leaving a daughter. Mary Susan, born February 22. 1852, who was married to William Fishell, and died in August, 1880. Mr. MeCurdy married ( second), in 1854, Sarah Pounds, born May 12, 1833, eldest daughter of Joseph and Mary (Drumond) Pounds. By the union of Alexander Jackson Mccurdy and Sarah Pounds, seven children were born: Rev. Irwin Pounds, D. D. ; Joseph A., see forward; Hannah May, deceased ; John Drummond ; Ella S .; William W. and Minnie May.
Joseph A. McCurdy was reared midst the rural scenes of his father's home in Derry township, and attended the common schools. During 1869-70 he re- ceived valuable instructions from Rev. W. H. McFarland. After attending the State Normal school at Edinboro, Pennsylvania, one term, he commenced teaching when but sixteen years of age. He obtained his education by teaching winters and attending school summers. He graduated from the State Normal school at Indiana, Pennsylvania, in 1878. He was a student in the classical courses, first in the University of Wooster, Ohio, then in Lafayette College. Easton, Pennsylvania, in 1879-80. He was principal of the schools at Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania, in 1880-81, and became one of the owners and the editor of the Mount Pleasant Dawn, which he changed to the Journal. He improved and greatly enlarged the circulation of that paper, but after two years relinquished the editorial chair for his life-work in the legal profession. Mr. MeCurdy became a law student in the office of Moorhead & Head, at Greens- burg. Pennsylvania. April, 1883. While thus studying he was principal of the Greensburg High School one term. He was admitted to the Westmoreland county bar August 31, 1885, and soon gained a lucrative practice. He has been solicitor for his county and attorney in many important law cases. He was district attorney of Westmoreland county from 1892 to 1895, being the first Republican elected to that office. He is the senior member of the law firm of McCurdy and Cunningham. He was chairman of the Republican county committee in 1886, when Hon. Welty Mccullough was elected to congress. In his church connections he is a member of the First Presbyterian church of Greensburg. He has been a director of the Westmoreland Hospital Associa- tion of Greensburg since its organization. Mr. McCurdy was married. Sep- tember 10, 1885, to Jane Brady Armstrong, daughter of Col. James and Rachel (Welty) Armstrong, of Greensburg. She died February 28. 1888, leaving an infant, Rachel Welty, who survived her but five months. Mr. MeCurdy was married, June 29, 1897, to Florence Ludwick, daughter of Humphrey Fuller- ton and Josephine Cort ( Zimmerman ) Ludwick, of Manor, Pennsylvania.
BOUCHER FAMILY. The name Boucher is purely of French origin, although the first ancestor in America spoke the German language. This was likely brought about by the family being among the Huguenots, who were banished from France by the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685.
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
Otherwise he could scarcely have come to America with a French name and a German tongue. But this is entirely speculative and the family has long been recognized as distinctively Pennsylvania German. It was a numerous one in Westmoreland county half a century or more ago, particularly in Ligonier Valley, but they who bore that name then are nearly all gone now, and their descendants are scattered throughout the western states.
I. Daniel Boucher, the founder of the family in America, came from the German States of France, most likely from Loraine. The tradition is that he crossed the Atlantic ocean in a ship called the "President." In his Bible, which the writer has seen, he wrote that he, with his wife and children, landed at Philadelphia on June 20th, 1753. They settled in Berks county, Pennsyl- vania, in what is now known as Albany township, where he purchased lands and became a farmer. The location is twenty-two miles from the city of Reading, on the present railroad leading from Reading to Slatington. He was of the German Reformed faith in religion, and was mainly instrumental in erecting a church edifice called "Bethel," near his home. It has been rebuilt three times, but still retains the name given it by its pioncer founder. Little is known of him further than that he lost heavily in the Revolution, that he died in the early years of last century, and that his remains were buried in the churchyard near the church which he built. He had sons named Peter, William, Philip, Jacob and Henry. Peter died without issue ; William settled in Ross county, Ohio, in 1801 ; Philip remained with his father and fell heir to his estate, much of which still remains in the name of his descendants ; and Jacob settled in Schuylkill county.
II. Henry Boucher, youngest son of Daniel Boucher, was born in Berks county, March 10, 1759. He was married to Mary Shoemaker, and removed to Hamburg, Pennsylvania, where he became a farmer and shoemaker. In 1801, in company with a neighbor named Jacob Will, he started west on horse- back for the purpose of purchasing lands and moving on them. They rode as far as the Miami Valley in Ohio, but there the fever and ague prevailed to such an alarming extent that they returned, and upon reaching Somerset county, Pennsylvania, purchased lands, to which they moved with their fam- ilies in the spring of 1802. The land bought by Henry Boucher is about three miles from Glade. There were four hundred and fifty acres in the tract, and it was conveyed to him by John Gross. He spent the remainder of his days there as a farmer and died on November 19, 1834. His wife, Mary Shoe- maker, who was born January 22, 1762, survived him until May 12, 1840. They are both buried in the cemetery at Glade, and the dates given are taken from their tombstones. Their children were: Jacob, Henry, Christian, David, Solomon, John, Elizabeth, Magdalene, Mary, Rebecca, Catharine, Sarah and Hannah. Christian died in his youth. Henry, Solomon and John brought up large families and lived and died in Somerset county. Hannah married Jere- miah Strawn, who removed to Ottawa, Illinois, and was the ancestor of that branch of the Strawn family.
III. David Boucher, son of Henry Boucher (2), was born in Hamburg, Pennsylvania, November 12, 1789, and when twelve years old came with his parents to Somerset county. He was bred a farmer, and acquired land in Turkeyfoot township. On May 19, 1814, he was married to Mary Eve Fried- line, who was born August 23, 1794. They were the parents of a large family. There were two daughters: Elizabeth, who died when quite young ; and Susan, who was married to Abraham Brant, of Ligonier Valley, and with a large fam- ily survived her husband many years. Their sons were : Daniel, died in Illi-
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
nois ; Hiram, to whom we will refer hercafter; Josiah, Isaac and David, who died in California ; Henry, who now resides in Kansas; and John and Simon, who died in that state. Hiram alone remained in Ligonier Valley, all the others except Simon having gone to California in search of gold soon after its discovery.
In 1833 David Boucher removed from Somerset county to Ligonier, pur- chased lands near that place from William Ross, and became a very successful farmer. His wife, Mary Eve, died at Ligonier on January II, 1842. David was a man of deep convictions, and manifested great earnestness in any cause which enlisted his attention. In politics he was a Whig, and later a Repub- lican. He was most noted, however, in church work, being a Methodist of the old style, and by no means lax in supporting his church and in upholding its principles. On November 11, 1844, he was married to Mrs. Sarah Stahl, to whom the following children were born: Charles Wesley : Lucius Chapman ; Emma, married John Wood ; and Anna, married Morgan Beam ; they and their descendants live in and near Pittsburg. David Boucher died April 12, 1868, and his second wife survived him until March, 1887.
IV. Hiram, son of David Boucher (3) and Mary Eve, was born in Som- erset county, December 7, 1821, and came to Ligonier Valley with his parents in 1833. On January 26, 1843, he was married to Abigail Slater, of Lig- onier township, by Rev. Stevens. He united with the Methodist Episcopal church of Ligonier, and was one of its leading members throughout the re- mainder of his life. He was especially a potent factor in the Sunday school work of the church, and taught a class of both old and young men for more than a quarter of a century. Few men were more competent for this work than he. Though, like many others in the first half of the last century, he had received but a limited education in his youth, yet, being more or less of a life- long reader, he became well versed in the Bible, and was familiar with many of the books relating to it, and in this line of thought he had few equals among the laity of his community. He spent his entire life as a farmer in Ligonier Valley, and died of bilious fever October 18, 1889. Abigail Slater, his wife, was born in Donegal township. January 13, 1822, daughter of Samuel and Mary Show Slater. The first ancestor of the Slater family came from Eng- land and became a resident and farmer in Donegal township during the Revo- lution or shortly afterward. He had three sons Martin, Samuel and Isaac. Martin built and managed Mount Hope Furnace, situated two miles southeast of Donegal. Samuel and Isaac were farmers in that township. Isaac was mar- ried to Abigail Ulrey shortly after the Revolution. In volume I of this work will be found the story of the escape of Abigail Ulery and her sister from the Indians during the Revolutionary war. She was born December 29, 1765, and was brought up on the Slater farm near Ligonier. Upon her marriage with Isaac Slater they removed to Donegal township, where they lived the re- mainder of their lives. Isaac Slater died in 1836, and his wife Abigail sur- vived him until October 29, 1855, when she died in her ninety-second year.
The sons of Isaac Slater and Abigail Ulery were Joseph and Samuel. The latter born February 2, 1794. He was their third child, and was married to Mary Show. who was born in Maryland, March 14, 1860, and was brought up near Connellsville, Pennsylvania. In 1824 Samuel and Mary Slater removed from Donegal township, having purchased lands two miles southwest of Lig- onier, from the Ulery heirs, one of whom was Abigail, Samuel Slater's mother. Upon this land, now known as the Slater farm, they resided the remainder of their days. Mary Show Slater died on June 27, 1876, and her husband Sam-
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
uel survived her until January 30, 1882. Both are buried in the Brant ceme- tery, near their old home. Their children were Abigail, Julia, Christenia, Isaac, Catharine, Sarah and Mary. It was Abigail, the oldest of the family who was married to Hiram Boucher. Though past four-score years and four, she still survives him, and resides near Ligonier.
The children of Hiram Boucher and Abigail Slater were: Elizabeth, mar- ried to Dr. J. T. Ambrose, of Ligonier ; Mary Eve, married to William C. Knox, of Ligonier township, died April 15, 1892 ; Amanda, married to Hamil- ton Smith, of Ligonier, (Mr. Smith died August 7, 1897) ; Caroline, married to Rev. (). A. Emerson, of the Pittsburgh Methodist Episcopal Conference ; Sarah, married to Hugh M. Clifford, of Derry, died January 11, 1887 ; Kate, married to Dr. Edward M. Clifford, of Greensburg: David Wilbert, died in 1863, aged two years ; and John Newton, of Greensburg.
V. John Newton Boucher was a teacher in the Westmoreland schools, and was graduated from Mount Union College at Alliance, Ohio, in 1876. He is a member of the Greensburg bar, and the author of the Westmoreland portion of the "Twentieth Century Bench and Bar of Pennsylvania," published by Cooper Brothers, of Chicago, 1903, and of the historical narratives contained in volume 1 of this work, entitled "A History of Westmoreland County."
VI. The sixth generation of this family are the children of Dr. J. T. Ambrose and wife ; of William C. Knox and wife, Mary ; of Rev. O. A. Emer- son and wife : Lillian, daughter of Hugh M. Clifford and wife Sarah, and the daughter of Dr. Edward M. Clifford and wife.
VII. The seventh generation are the children of William and Abigail Knox Graham, of Ligonier Valley ; of Dr. A. H. Caven and Blanche Emerson Caven of Youngwood, Pennsylvania ; and of Charles Emerson and Sallie Luke. Emerson of Creighton, Pennsylvania.
JAMES HENRY GALLAGHER, the present recorder of deeds for Westmoreland county, was born November 23, 1867, at New Alexandria, West- moreland county, Pennsylvania. He is the son of General Thomas F. Gal- lagher and Elizabeth Kier McBride Gallagher, his wife. She was daughter of Henry and Elizabeth McBride, of Loyalhanna township, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania.
To better acquaint the reader with the progenitors of Mr. Gallagher it may be said that the first to come to America, was Thomas Gallagher (I), born in Donegal county, Ireland, July 28, 1750. He died February 21, 1844, near Pleasant Unity, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, aged ninety-four years. He was buried in the Unity Presbyterian graveyard. He married Isa- belle McIlhaney, daughter of James McIlhaney, of Ireland. She died January 14, 1817, and was buried in the same church yard in which her husband was buried. They came from Ireland in 1810, landing in Baltimore, May Io, of that year and after visiting the Pattersons and other relatives of that section, they came over the mountains in "Mountain Wagons" to Greensburg, first settling in Washington township, but later in Unity. In Ireland, Mr. Gal- lagher was an under-landlord and the proprietor of an inn. He was captain of volunteers under the king in his native country. The children of this American ancestor-Thomas Gallagher and wife, were: James, Thomas, died unmarried at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and was buried in the Episcopal cem- etery of that city, where a suitable monument marks his resting place. Major George, John, Mary Ann and Isabella, who died on board ship, aged ten years.
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