USA > Pennsylvania > Westmoreland County > History of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, Vol. II > Part 27
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95
He was educated at the Greensburg Seminary. At the age of fourteen
175
HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
he obtained the position of bookkeeper with the firm of J. Bowman & Son, with whom he remained two years. At the end of that time, realizing the advantages to be obtained from a more extensive educational equipment than he felt him- self to be possessed of, he attended school for one year and then taught for two years. The two years immediately following he spent in the service of J. Bowman & Son, his former employers, and then entered Franklin & Mar- shall College, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where he remained three years. On leaving that institution he began to read law with A. M. Sloan, of Greensburg, and on February 25. 1893, was admitted to the bar of Westmoreland county. He moved to Mount Pleasant, June 5, 1893. and there entered upon the practice of his profession. He opened an office in Greensburg, October 1, 1900, has remained there up to the present time, and has built up an extensive practice. For nine years he has held the office of solicitor for the borough of Mount Pleasant. He belongs to Lodge No. 350, I. O. O. F., the R. A., the I. O. H., and is one of the charter members of the B. P. (). E., No. 868, all of Mount Pleasant. In politics he is on ardent Republican, and is very active in the councils of his party. Mr. Cort married Mary E. Laird, and their children are : Helen L., born May 9. 1895 : Thomas L., born May 19, 1896 ; and M. Margaret, born July 31, 1902. Mrs. Cort is the daughter of Thomas and Margaret Laird, who were descendants from Scotch ancestry. Mr. Laird held the position of general superintendent of the Heckla Coke Company of the Connellsville coke region for many years.
MRS. J. H. LEIGHTY, the genial proprietor of the Tarr Hotel, Tarr Station, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, is the daughter of Thomas and Harriet (Buttermore) Cunningham.
George Buttermore, maternal grandfather, was born and reared in Fay- ette county, and was a farmer by occupation. He owned a large tract of valu- able, well cultivated land near Collinsville, and was a very successful farmer. In religious faith he was a member of the Baptist church. He married Barbara Smith, and their children are: John : Nancy, married Abram Franks ; Mary, married a Mr. Lyon : Catherine, married George Eicher : Thomas: Jackson ; Smith, M. D .: Maria, married Abram Franks: Margaret, married Harry Franks : Amanda, married Benjamin Baer ; and Harriet, the mother of Mrs. Leighty.
Thomas and Harriet ( Buttermore) Cunningham are the parents of chil- dren : Charles, a well driller of Fayette county : Jennie, deceased, married A. 31. Umbel: Lillian N., of whom later : George, a stone mason of Collinsville ; Carrie, wife of W. A. Ganiet ; Laura, married William Waite : Daisy ; Richard, an engineer on the Baltimore and Ohio railroad : Harry, a farmer of Fayette county ; Blanche, died at the age of sixteen years.
Lillian Cunningham married, November. 1881, J. H. Leighty. Their chil- dren were : Walter H. and Ralph H. Mrs. Leighty is now engaged in the con- duct of the Tarr Hotel, and has achieved gratifying success in this line. Her house compares favorably with the best equipped hotels in this section, and en- joys a generous patronage.
JOHN FREEMAN. The grandfather of John Freeman, of Ligonier village, was Jacob Freeman, who was a miller by trade and lived and died in the Ligonier valley. He and his wife were the parents of children: John ; James : George, of whom later : Polly married Abraham Eicher : and Hannah, married John Anstraw.
176
HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
George Freeman, son of Jacob Freeman and his wife, was born in 1804, in the Ligonier valley, and learned the shoemaker's trade which he followed in connection with farming throughout his life. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He married Katie Kriley, and their children were : Jacob, deceased ; John, of whom later ; James, a retired merchant of Mill- wood, Pa .; George, lives in Ligonier ; Nancy, married Joseph Mathews, and after his death married Robert Ewing. The death of Mr. Freeman occurred in 1868.
John Freeman, son of George and Katie ( Kriley) Freeman, was born Jan- uary 26, 1832, in the Ligonier valley, and attended the old subscription schools. He remained at home, assisting his father in the labors of the farm, until he at- tained his majority, and then went to learn the shoemaker's trade with Henry Burrell. After following the trade for about three years he purchased a farm in Cook township on which he lived until 1866. He then bought a farm in Ligonier township to the cultivation of which he devoted himself assiduously until 1889, when he purchased a flour and feed mill at Ligonier and moved into the village. This mill he operated in partnership with his sons, under the firm name of John Freeman and Sons, until it was destroyed by fire on July 28, 1899, since which time he has led a retired life in Ligonier village. He belongs to the K. H., of Greensburg, and is a member of the Presbyterian church, of Ligonier, in which for seventeen years he served on the board of trustees. Mr. Freeman married Rebecca, daughter of James and Hannah Guffey, of Sewickley township, and their children were: George, an engineer at Greensburg : James, died at the age of twenty-one : Sarah J., died unmarried ; John M., graduated from Jefferson College, and is an attorney in Pittsburg ; and Anna Lucinda, wife of Charles B. Hollingsworth, of Greensburg.
SAMUEL M. McKELVEY. The grandfather of Samuel M. McKel- vey of Lose, was James McKelvey, born in the Ligonier valley, and was edu- cated for the ministry of the Presbyterian church but was never ordained. He spent his life in his native valley where he owned two large farms to the culti- cation of which he applied himself. He married Jane Paterson, and their chil- dren were: Sarah, married Marshall Reed ; Agnes, married Aaron Wells ; Reuben Mckinley, of whom later : John Jackson ; James P .; Jane, married Robert Adams ; and Thomas.
Reuben Mckinley McKelvey, son of James and Jane ( Paterson) McKel- vey, was born April 18, 1822, in the Ligonier valley where he passed his life in agricultural pursuits. He purchased about 1850, the farm which is now the property of his son James. He was a member of the Presbyterian church, and a Democrat in politics. He married Jane Menoher, and their children were : Samuel M., of whom later ; Jannie, married B. R. Robb ; Sadie, died unmarried ; James, a farmer on the homestead ; Samantha; Permelia, married Josiah H. Brant : Catherine, married F. S. Robb ; Josephine, married C. C. Brant ; Agnes, married Jacob E. Keffer ; and Emma, married Herbert Johnson. They are all living in the Ligonier valley.
Samuel M. McKelvey, son of Reuben Mckinley and Jane ( Menoher) McKelvey, was born December 26, 1849, in Ligonier township, and received his education in the common schools and at the Ligonier high school. He be- came a farmer early in life, and continued to devote himself to the duties of a husbandman until 1881. In that year he established in Lose the general mer- cantile business which he has ever since conducted. He was appointed post- master of Lose in 1893, and held the office until it was abandoned, July 1, 1905,
177
HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
on account of the establishment of rural free delivery. He and his family are members of the Presbyterian church of Ligonier. Mr. McKelvey is a Demo- crat. He married Elizabeth J., daughter of John Johnston. By this marriage there were no children. Two years after the death of his wife Mr. McKelvey married Elizabeth, daughter of Isaac and Elizabeth Matthews, and their chil- dren were: Pearl C., married Robert Johnson : Ira J., died in childhood ; Mary E., a graduate of the township schools, and has taught for two terms; and Russell M., is at home.
WILLIAM M. CARNS. The paternal grandfather of William M. Carns. of Laughlinstown, was George Carns, who passed his entire life in Mercer county, Pennsylvania, where he was engaged in the lumber business. His son George was born in Mercer county, and was associated in business with his father. He also engaged in farming and contracting and helped to build the reservoir at South Fork, which so greatly added to the disasters caused by the Johnstown flood. Later he moved to Westmoreland county, where he engaged in farming near Ligonier on what was known as the "Koon farm." During the Mexican war he was proprietor of a hotel at Laughlinstown known as the Horse Shoe Bend Hotel. Mr. Carns married Rachel, daughter of Frederick Mathews, one of the pioneers of the Ligonier valley, and their chil- dren were: Gottfried; Mary, wife of Frank Shaffer; Edward, lives in Cali- fornia ; Frederick and Lizzie, died in childhood ; William M., mentioned here- after : and Philip M. The death of Mr. Carns occurred in 1849, and was the result of smallpox which he contracted from emigrants who were guests at his hotel.
William M. Carns, son of George and Rachel ( Mathews) Carns, was born December 3. 1840, in Mercer county, and was six months old when taken to Westmoreland county by his parents. He was educated there in the common schools, and when a mere boy drove the stage from Shellsburg to Bedford and from Somerset to Johnstown. In 1862 he enlisted in Company K, Fifth Reg- iment. Pennsylvania Volunteers, and served until the close of the war. He was wounded three times and was imprisoned for ninety-one days in York river station house and in Libby. He was honorably discharged at Cumberland, Maryland, April 17. 1865. After his return home he went to Venango county, where he worked by contract for the Empire Oil Company and others, drilling no fewer than twenty-seven oil wells. In 1878 he returned to the Ligonier valley and went into the lumber business, in which he has been continuously en- gaged ever since. He is a member of G. A. R., Ligonier Post. He is a Re- publican in politics.
NOAH BYERS. The paternal grandfather of Noah Byers, of Rector, was a native of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, and when a young man moved to Somerset county, where he passed the remainder of his life in agricultural labors. His children were: Jacob, mentioned hereafter : and five daughters.
Jacob Byers was born in Somerset county, near Jenness cross roads, where he spent his entire life as a farmer. He was a member of the Lutheran church and a Republican. His wife was Elizabeth Beacherker, and their children were : D: niel, deceased : John, deceased ; Jacob and IIenry, who are farmers in Ligon- ier township : and Noah, mentioned hereafter. The death of Mr. Byers, the father of the family, occurred in 1860. Mrs. Byers, the mother, died in 1895. Noah Byers, son of Jacob and Elizabeth (Beacherker) Byers, was born October 9. 1848, in Somerset county on the home farm. He received his edu- 2-12
178
HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
cation in the common schools, and in early life worked as a teamster. In 1875 he purchased the farm which is now his home and which was formerly known as the "Lewis Rector farm," in the Ligonier valley. About 1897 he erected a fine building which he named the Mountain Home and furnished with all the modern improvements. Here during the summer he has as many guests as can be accommodated. The building is situated four miles south of Ligonier, on the Pittsburg, Westmoreland & Somerset Railroad, within two hundred yards of the Mountain Home station, and near it is one of the best flowing springs in the Ligonier valley. Mr. Byers and his family are members of the Evangelical church of Rector. He believes in the principles of the Republican party, but is extremely independent in his voting. Mr. Byers married Susan, daughter of Noah and Sarah ( Zimmerman) Shawley, and they had children : Palmer A., an engineer on the Pennsylvania Railroad at Pitcairn; Etta, married Jacob Johnston, and is now deceased ; Sarah, married H. L. Phillips, of Wilkensburg, Pennsylvania, and has three children : Joseph Arthur and Eta Melda (twins), born July 19, 1900 ; and Noah Howard, born July 18, 1903 ; Pearl, at home.
DAVID H. STITELY, of Ligonier, was born September 30, 1858. in Franklin county, Pennsylvania. He was educated in the common schools, and in early life learned the trade of carpenter, which he followed for a few years in Irwin, whence he moved to East End, Pittsburg, and there for some years worked as a carpenter, contractor and builder. In 1898 he went to the Lig- onier valley and settled at Laughlinstown, where some years before he had purchased a farm known as the "old Clark farm." In 1901 he organized a lumber business in Ligonier, which he has successfully continued to the present time, furnishing finished lumber and frames to the Ligonier valley. He is a member of Lodge No. 585, I. O. O. F., of Pittsburg. Mr. Stitely married Alice K. Linthimer and they have children : David H., Louise R., Thomas. D., and Walter M.
CHARLES W. BOUCHER. The name of Boucher is undoubtedly of French origin, and that branch of the family of which Charles W. Boucher, of New Kensington, is a member, has long been resident in Pennsylvania. Henry Boucher lived in Somerset county, where his son, Isaiah Boucher, was born in 1824. About 1838 Isaiah Boucher went to Garret county, Maryland, where for some years he followed his trade, which was that of a tinner. During the latter portion of his life he was a farmer. From 1875 to 1878 he was county commissioner of Garret county, and in politics was a steadfast Republi- con. He was a member of the German Reformed church. Mr. Boucher married Lucretia, daughter of Phineas and Adeline Compton, and granddaughter of Henry Compton, who was a messenger boy in the service of General Washing- ton while in the state of New Jersey. whence the Compton family originally came. Mr. and Mrs. Boucher had children: Henry Stewart, a merchant in Glade, Pennsylvania ; Phineas Compton, lives on the old homestead in Mary- land ; Samnel A., a physician in Bartin, Allegheny county, Maryland ; Charles W .. mentioned hereafter ; Arthur M., a farmer in Allegheny county, Maryland ; and two who died in infancy. Mr. Boucher, the father, died in 1903.
Charles W. Boucher, son of Isaiah and Lucretia ( Compton ) Boucher, was born May 19, 1865. in Grantsville, Maryland, and in 1892 graduated from the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery. He opened an office at Bruston Mills, West Virginia, where he remained one year, and then moved to New Kensing- ton, being one of the pioneer settlers of the new borough. He there established
Q.f. McCann
179
HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
himself as a dentist in partnership with Dr. L. H. France, of Greensburg. . \t the end of two years he purchased his partner's interest and has since success- fully conducted the business alone. For three years he served as school director. His political principles are those advocated by the Republican party, and he is a member and trustee of the United Presbyterian church. Dr. Boucher mar- ried Jennie A., daughter of John M. and Isabel Hill, of Freeport, Armstrong county, and they have two children: Lucretia Isabel, born May, 1898; and Margaret Ruth, born June, 1903.
GEORGE D. HAMOR. On the paternal side George D. Hamor, of New Kensington, is descended from ancestors who settled several generations back in the eastern part of Pennsylvania, while through his mother he comes of German and Irish lineage.
Allen Nathaniel Hamor was born in 1820, in Blair county, and was a mer- chant at Freeport, Pennsylvania. During the Civil war he served in the Union army. He was a Republican and a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Hamor married Jane N. Sniger, born in 1818, near Saltsburg, Westmore- land county, and like her husband was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
George D. Hamor, son of Allen Nathaniel and Jane N. (Sniger) Hamor, was born January 21, 1855, at Freeport, Armstrong county, where he received his preparatory education in the common schools, afterward attending Mount U'nion College, Ohio. June 8, 1876, he was admitted to the bar at Butler, Pennsylvania. In 1888, at the time of the great fire in Du Bois, he was a resi- dent of that place and held the office of burgess. He affiliates with Lodge No. 512. B. P. O. E., the Heptasophs and Maccabees, all of New Kensington. Po- litieally he is a Republican, but has never taken a very active part in public affairs. Mr. Hamor married, May 4. 1883, Maggie J., daughter of Dr. William A. Means, a prominent physician of DuBois, and they have two children : Edna, born May 3. 1884. wife of S. M. Lee, attorney at law of Pittsburg. Pennsyl- vania : and William Allen, aged eighteen, student in Western University, Pitts- burg.
PETER F. McCANN. Among the sturdy and energetic men of Westmoreland county who hewed their way to usefulness and distinction, Peter Francis McCann stands prominent. He aspired more to usefulness than to greatness and will leave his imprint on our rugged hills rather than to leave his name in the halls of dubious fame. He was born at Wellersburg, Somerset county, Pennsylvania, August 12. 1857. His father was killed at the Boarding Shaft Mines at Frostburg, Maryland, when Peter was but a child. At the age of thirteen years, with only two years schooling, he began the battle of life, and his inborn energy enabled him to earn a man's wages. His mother, with her family, moved to Scottdale, Westmoreland county, in 1874. He found employment in the mills of the Charlotte Furnace Company. In 1876 a sad misfortune befell him, resulting in the loss of his right arm. He was appointed to a position in the revenue service in 1886 which he held for four years. In 1892 he was nominated on the Democratic ticket for the office of sheriff, and in one of the most exciting contests in the history of the county he was elected, being the only Democrat to escape defeat. He was the last of a long continu- ous line of Democratic sheriffs. He took charge of his office January 2, 1893. He found sufficient to test his courage, to challenge his judgment, and employ his wits. Fortunately for him and his eight score thousand constituents that
180
HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
he: possessed in the highest degree the qualities that conquered without blood- shed, and paved the way for general armistry when the troubled waters sought their wonted rest. His jurisdiction lay within the storm centre of the great labor troubles that darkened the pages of our social and industrial history. He was confronted by one of the most serious and violent outbreaks ever wit- nessed in the great Connellsville coke regions. Ten thousand men participated in the unhappy conflict. Violence was threatened on every hand. Men were frenzied in their efforts for victory. He waved aside every appeal for military force, and depended on the deputies he had carefully selected. Without the sacrifice of a single life he conquered, and received the heartfelt thanks of an intelligent and peace-loving constituency. This is the enduring monument he had builded-it is even better than he knew.
Peter F. McCann is descended from Thomas and Maria McCann, both of whom were reared in county Longford, Ireland, but, emigrating to America, were married at the church, attached to Saint Vincent's Arch-Abbey, near Latrobe, August 5, 1852. Their children were: ( 1) Katherine, married James A. Kittl, now deceased, brother of Reverands Ferdinand and William Kittl, of the diocese of Pittsburg. (2) James T., unmarried, served as a director of the poor of Westmoreland county. (3) Peter F. (4) Mary Ellen, married P. C. Coyle.
Peter F. McCann was married to Rosalie L. Lambing, August 4. 1884, in the church at Kittanning. Christopher Lambing, the founder of the Lambing family in this country, was a son of an officer in the French army, and came from near Strasburg about 1740, and settled in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, where his tenth child, Matthew, married Magdalene Kohn, in Adams county, to which he had previously moved in 1798. His fifth child, Michael Anthony, Mrs. McCann's father, was born there October 10, 1806. The family moved to Long Run, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, in the fall of 1828, and to Mano1 - ville, same county, two years later. December 1, 1837, Michael Anthony Lamb- ing married Anne Shields, and lived in Manorville the remainder of his life, except from 1844 to 1856, dying December 8, 1886.
Thomas Shields came to America from County Donegal, Ireland, about 1745, and purchased a large farm in the northern part of Franklin county, Pennsylvania, in 1767 and made it his home. His son John, great-grand- father of Mrs. McCann, was born on the voyage to America, and about 1771 married Mary Easby. Their oldest child, William Casper, Mrs. McCann's grandfather, was born in 1772. He came to near Greensburg, Westmoreland county, when a young man. Later he bought a farmi in South Buffalo town- ship, Armstrong county, and May 24, 1805, married Mary Ruffner. They spent the remainder of their lives on the farm. Anne, the sixth child, Mrs. McCann's mother, was born July 4, 1814. married December 1, 1837, and died July, 1880. Rosalie Lambing (Mrs. McCann) is the youngest of five boys and four girls, and was born in Butler county, Pennsylvania, near Sugar Creek Church. The family returned to Manorville, June 3, 1856, where Rosalie re- mained until her marriage. The following children survive Mr. and Mrs. P. F. McCann: Mary A., Rosalie L., Idlefonsa, Josephine L., Peter F., Jr., and Thomas.
Reverends A. A. Lambing, of Williamsburg, Pennsylvania, and M. A. Lambing of Scottdale, Pennsylvania, are brothers of Mrs. McCann, and both are prominent in the Pittsburg diocese. The former is one of Pennsylvania's most distinguished historians, and the latter is equally prominent as a leader in the work of the Total Abstinence Society.
181
HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
Peter F. McCann engaged in 1897 in industrial prusuits. In that year he assisted in building the Old Meadow Rolling Mill at Scottdale, Pennsylvania, for the manufacturing of sheet iron. He was manager for one year, when the mill was sold. In 1899 he went into the business of contracting. He has built railroads, trolley lines, coke plants, reservoirs, etc. He has built the new state road running north from Greensburg, which is the first of its kind in the county, one of the first in the state under the existing law. The extent of his operations may be best measured by the fact that he employs constantly over one thousand men. With pardonable pride he can leave to history his part in the battle of life.
DAVID H. MCCARTY. The father of David H. McCarty, of New Kensington, was Hugh McCarty, who about 1845 or '46 emigrated from Ban- bridge, county Down, Ireland, and settled in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, where he worked at landscape gardening and other branches of horticulture. Later he engaged for some years in market gardening on a tract of land which now forms a part of Allegheny City. In 1868 he settled on a farm situated where New Kensington now stands, and there continued to labor as a market gardener until 1881, when he retired and returned to Allegheny City. In that place he held at one time the office of poor director. He supported the Democratic party, and was a member of the Roman Catholic church. Mr. MeCarty married Mary MeNalley, a native of county Armagh, Ireland, and their children were: Ed- ward F., lives in Allegheny City; David H., mentioned hereafter : Mary J., Louise E., married Edward F. Kelley, and after his death becme the wife of John F. Donovan : and Letitia H. There were also three who died in infancy. The death of Mr. McCarty occurred in 1891, in Allegheny City, where the clos- ing years of his life had been passed.
David H. MeCarty, son of Hugh and Mary ( McNalley) McCarty, was born December 12, 1852, in Pittsburg, and received his education in the com- mon schools of Allegheny City and Parnassus. In his youth he assisted in his father's business both as manager and as salesman until the year of his father's retirement, after which he conducted the business alone until 1801. He then entered the service of the Burrell Improvement Land Company as field salesman in the Kensington plan of lots, a position which he retained for two years. When the town was incorporated he was elected chief burgess for one year, and was re-elected the following year for a term of three years. After serving about two years of the second term he resigned in order to accept the office of postmaster to which he was appointed by President Cleveland for a term of three years, which he completed, and then served two years under the first Mckinley administration. At the end of that time he resigned and ac- certed the nomination for sheriff of Westmoreland county, but was defeated by B. F. May, the county being largely Republican. At the age of twenty-one he was elected a member of the council of Allegheny City, and during his term of office served as chairman of the board of health. For three years he was poor director of Allegheny City, and in 1904 was again a candidate for the office of sheriff of Westmoreland county. He belongs to Electric Council, N. L' .. and Lodge No. 512. B. P. O. E., of New Kensington. He and his family are members of St. Joseph's ( Roman Catholic) church of New Kensington.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.