USA > Pennsylvania > Westmoreland County > History of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, Vol. II > Part 54
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About 1840 he became interested in politics. He had always been a Dem- ocrat, and being a leader in his county, was put up as a candidate for state senator, to which position he was elected in 1850, serving with great satis- faction to his constituents for the term of three years. His opponent in this election was none other than the renowned John Covode, whom he defeated at the polls.
He married, July 17, 1832, Elizabeth Elder, a descendant of Colonel Robert Elder, the Revolutionary soldier, and sister of the late Colonel Samuel Elder. She was born May 5, 1813, died December 5, 1840, leaving three daughters : Mary, Josephine and Martha. He married (second), August 20, 1844. Julia A. Tantlinger, born in 1812, died May 18, 1849. By her he had two sons : James Burns and William Wallace, and one daughter Agnes, all of whom died in infancy.
One of his favorite ambitions, which he probably acquired while a con- tractor on the railroad, was the building of a railroad from the main branch of the Pennsylvania into Ligonier valley. With his usual business sagacity, he easily foresaw the great advantage such a road would be to that locality, filled as it was with timber, coal, stone and many other marketable products. He even advocated this project in the fifties, when in the senate, and introduced a bill providing for its charter. The road was at length projected by popular subscription, and Colonel McFarland headed the list by subscribing and pay- ing $3.000.00, which was then an immense sum compared with what it is to- day. He was elected president of the proposed Ligonier Valley railroad, though it was finally completed under another organization, headed by Judge Thomas Mellon, of Pittsburg. Before the advent of the railroad he made many trips eastward on horseback, in carriages and by stage coach, passing over the old turnpike, and in his old age was wont to dwell on that romantic period of our state's history. All his life he had been a reader of books and knew more about them than most men of his day. In his earlier days he had mingled with the most eminent men of the state, and had acquired through these associations a polish and address usually found only among elderly men in our large cities. There were few prominent men in the fifties, in the state, whom he did not know intimately. These associations had polished and de-
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veloped his powers of conversation, until he became one of the most charming companions socially one would meet in a lifetime. He was a strictly honest man, a lover of justice, and ever faithful to an old friend.
During the greater part of his life he was a member of the United Presby- terian church, then known as the "Seceders." This society had no place of worship at that time in Ligonier, and it was his custom to ride on horseback every Sunday morning to the church near Fort Palmer, about seven miles north of Ligonier, there to mingle with his neighbors in their religious devotions. A quiet and unobtrusive charity, so quiet indeed that even those who were benefitted by it often knew nothing of its source, characterized his entire life, and this doubly endeared him to those who knew him best.
His declining years were spent almost entirely in retirement and in looking after his own estate. Surrounded by all the comforts that loving friends could give. firm in the faith of his church, he passed peacefully away while on a visit at the home of his daughter Mary, June 30. 1886, and was buried in the old Ligonier cemetery. His three daughters who grew to womanhood were all born and reared in the McFarland homestead in Ligonier. and educated in the Ladies' Seminaries of Washington and Blairsville. Pennsylvania. Mary married Rev. Benjamin Kelso Ormond, D. D., a descendant of the Revolution- ary soldier. Colonel Thomas Kelso. Dr. Ormond is a minister of the Presby- terian church, and their home is in Toledo, Ohio, where their four children also reside. They are : John McFarland Ormond. attorney-at-law. married Lucy Jameson, of Warren. Ohio. Josephine E., married John Robb Calder. attor- nev-at-law. M. Georgia Ormond, sculptor. Nannie P., married Frank Will- ard Thomas, publisher. Josephine, the second daughter of Colonel John Mc- Farland. married Thomas G. Stewart, commission merchant, who died in Baltimore. 1889. Mrs. Stewart died on September 22, 1869, leaving one son, Frank M. Stewart, now secretary of the Stock Growers' Association of Buffalo Gap. South Dakota. He married Rose Taylor. of Baltimore, Maryland. The third daughter. Martha, married Rev. John Calvin Boyd. D. D., a minister in the United Presbyterian church, who died in Pittsburg in August. 1903. His wife died May 16. 1869. leaving one son. William McFarland Boyd, who is now master mechanic with the Westinghouse Company of Braddock. Pennsyl- vania. He married Jessie Neely. There are seven great-grandchildren, namely : Jane and Isabella Stewart. Martha M. and Helen Boyd. Dorothy Ormond, Thomas and Margaret Elder Thomas.
SARGENT FAMILY. The early ancestor in America of the Sar- gent family was one William Sargent, the first record of whom appears in the general court records of Massachusetts in 1633. There an act of court was passed protecting certain grantees of land then at Agawam, now Ipswich. in their rights. and William Sargent was one of them. The court records also show that in 1639 he took the oath of allegiance and fidelity to the colony of Massachusetts. The Sargent family numbers among its members many of the most noted men in our history, they being all descended from the common an- cestor. William Sargent.
Elijah Sargent was the sixth in line from William. He was born in 1786. near Methuen, Massachusetts. In his early years he immigrated west. set- tling near Chambersburg. Pennsylvania. From this place he enlisted in the War of 1812. Later in life he lived in Greensburg and in Ligonier, in both places being engaged in the manufacture of shoes. In 1822 he married Matilda Tannehill, of Somerset, Pennsylvania. He died at Ligonier. November I.
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1850. His wife died in Ligonier, March 31, 1852. Both are buried in the old St. Clair cemetery in Greensburg. Their children were as follows: 1. Lydia L., died in Ligonier, 1849; 2. Sarah J., living at present (1906) in Larned, Kansas ; 3. Chauncey Forward; 4. Matilda ; 5. James Tannehill ; 6. Susan H. ; 7. Linda C. ; 8. William Dunlap.
Chauncey Forward Sargent grew to manhood in the county, and later was engaged in business in Harrisburg, Philadelphia, and at Bellwood, Penn- sylvania. When a young man he learned the printer's trade in Greensburg, and in 1846, while a citizen of Ligonier, he chanced to visit Greensburg when a company was being formed for service in the Mexican war. Among the volunteers were many of his intimate friends and they induced him to enlist with them. In that way he became a member of the Second Regiment in the Mexican war, and was the only soldier in the Mexican war from Ligonier val- lev. The service of the regiment is fully given in that part of Volume I of this work which relates to the Mexican war. Mr. Sargent was with the regi- ment in the march under General Scott from Vera Cruz to Mexico, and was seriously wounded at Chepultepec just outside of the City of Mexico, and lay in the hospital there for many months. The wound disabled him more or less during the remainder of his life. Though absent from Westmoreland for many years he was all the while intimate with our interests and associated with our best people. He was an intimate friend and companion of such men as General Richard Coulter, Colonel John McFarland, Colonel John W. Johnston, Henry C. Marchant, Thomas J. Barclay, Colonel James Armstrong, and many others. He had many qualities of mind and heart which greatly endeared him to his friends, who in Westmoreland county were legion. He took a great in- terest in the early history of Westmoreland county, and particularly in that part of it which related to the Mexican war, and we believe attended all the Mexican war veteran reunions in their annual meetings. He was connected with the Pennsylvania Railroad Company in the early years of its history, serving as mail agent, passenger conductor, and later as station master with headquarters at Harrisburg. On leaving that employment he engaged in the news business at Philadelphia, which has since become the Union News Com- pany. He married, July 20, 1862, Annie Isett, daughter of John S. Isett, an iron manufacturer of Spring Creek, Pennsylvania. They had children named Lewis Henry, George, Annie and Florence. He died at Bellwood, Pennsyl- vania, December 19, 1904, and was buried in the new St. Clair cemetery at Greensburg. His widow resides at Reading, Pennsylvania.
James Tannehill Sargent also learned the trade of printer in Greensburg, and in later years owned and edited a paper in Iowa, and still later one in South Dakota. He was instrumental in raising a company in Iowa for service in the Civil war, and was elected its first lieutenant. He served his time and re- turned home without any serious injury, having participated in Grant's cam- paign around Vicksburg. He died at Yankton, South Dakota, in 1900.
Susan H. Sargent was married to Dr. J. Mathiot Cummings, who lived and practiced medicine in Ligonier and Beaver Falls for many years and moved later to Kansas. Dr. Cummings was born in Ligonier, and was the son of Dr. Samuel Cummings, who in his day was one of the leading pioneer physicians of that place. Dr. J. Mathiot Cummings died in 1905, but his wife is still living in Larned, Kansas.
Linda C. Sargent and Matilda Sargent, who is now Mrs. Frank Connely, are also living in Larned, Kansas.
William Dunlap Sargent, the youngest son, was born in Ligonier. After
MBau ghman
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
the family moved to Harrisburg he became a telegraph operator on the Penn- sylvania railroad. At the beginning of the Civil war he was appointed a tele- graph operator in the government service and was assigned to duty at the headquarters of General A. E. Burnside, at Cincinnati, Ohio, and was thus engaged at the time of the Morgan raid. He left the service on account of ill health, and returned to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where he was engaged as manager of the Western Union Telegraph Company's offices, but was later removed to Chicago on the staff of C. H. Summer, electrician under General Anson Stager. Later Mr. Sargent removed to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he became superintendent of the American District Telephone Company, which was instituted in 1873 under his supervision. In 1877 he became asso- ciated with Thomas E. Cornish, who had secured a license for eastern Penn- sylvania and the states of Delaware and New Jersey for the telephone business, with headquarters in Philadelphia, and remained with him until 1882, when he accepted a position with the New York and New Jersey Telephone Com- pany, with headquarters in Brooklyn, New York, of which company he is now vice president. He married in 1903, Mary Forward Kooser, a daughter of Judge Francis J. Kooser, of Somerset. They reside in Brooklyn, New York. All the children of Elijah Sargent had inherited from their parents qual- ities which, with their added industry, made them prominent in life beyond their fellows of equal opportunities.
WILSON BAUGHMAN, late of Greensburg, came from an old and very numerous Pennsylvania German family. He was the third son of Daniel and Mary McCready Baughman, who had six children, three girls and three boys, all of whom grew to manhood and womanhood. They lived on a farm in Hempfield township, Westmoreland county, and were a thrifty and indus- trious people, Daniel Baughman being regarded as a good farmer. The old homestead was near Hannastown.
Wilson Baughman was born December 29, 1836. He was taught to do general farm work, and was sent to the country schools until he was thirteen years old, at which time he came to Greensburg, being employed as a clerk in the general store of Augustus Stoy, the store occupying the lot on which the Keck building now stands. He remained in the employ of Mr. Stoy for six years, when he purchased the book store of Samuel B. Laufer. Under his management the stock of books was increased rapidly, and he soon built up a large trade not only in Greensburg but in the surrounding sections, and in later years had customers from all parts of the county, for he was a pioneer in the stationery business. His store was at first in the Mccullough building. Afterwards he built and occupied the building known yet as the Baughman building on the corner of Main and West Pittsburg streets. He remained in this business about thirty years, and sold out and abandoned it only when other business matters demanded his entire attention When he retired from this business he had undoubtedly the largest book store and stationery business in the county. In 1881, on the death of Thomas J. Barclay, the leading Greensburg banker, he became president of the Barclay Bank, a position which he filled with great credit to himself and his business associates until his death. He married Sarah S. Barclay, a daughter of John T. Barclay and a sister of Thomas J. Barclay. She was born in Greensburg, March 15, 1834, died March 13. 1884. She was undoubtedly a woman of more than ordinary intellectual attainments, and was credited by her husband for bringing about in a large degree the success which attended his efforts in life. The Barclay family is treated of elsewhere in these pages.
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Mr. Baughman was noted all his life for paying most strict attention to whatever business he engaged in. He had great faith in real estate invest- ments and in the future of Greensburg. He accordingly invested his accum- ulations largely in real estate in this vicinity. This rapidly increased in value and made him at his death one of the wealthiest men in the county. He was by nature a man of athletic build, lived an abstemious and most exemplary life. and was apparently in perfect health until his death, which occurred suddenly and without previous sickness, on December 12, 1895. Mr. Baughman's leading characteristic was his lifelong close attention to business. While with a limited circle of friends, to whom he was most loyal, he was known as a man of jovial disposition, who relished most keenly all kinds of amusement, yet the summing up of his life is that he was essentially a man of business. He had, however, an acute intellect and an energetic disposition which would have made him successful in any vocation he might have chosen to fol- low. Though he led an extremely busy life he had found time to delve deeply into the best English and American literature. Both he and his wife were active workers in the Episcopal church of Greensburg, and in his will he re- membered his church in a substantial way.
FRANK M. WELCH. The grandfather of Frank M. Welch, of New Kensington, was Elisha Welch, who was born near Chicago and was one of the pioneers of Illinois, where he led the life of a farmer. He married Mary Osborn, of West Virginia, and two of their children were massacred by In- dians, the survivors being : Edwin Elisha, a soldier in the Union army, served three years and re-enlisted, and a short time after was taken prisoner and was in Andersonville prison several months, and died in the prison. He served in Company B, One Hundred and Twelfth, Pennsylvania Volunteers, and had seen hard service during his first three years campaign. Alfonzo, local preacher in Welch, Washington state. Lucy, wife of Patrick Foley. George H., men- tioned hereinafter. Mr. Welch, the father, was one of the victims of an epidemic of cholera.
George H. Welch, son of Elisha and Mary (Osborn) Welch, was born April 18, 1841, near St. Vincent, Illinois, and in 1861 enlisted in Company B, One Hundred and Twelfth Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, serving three years. After the war he went to Allegheny, where he worked for about fifteen years at the cooper's trade, and for the remainder of his life was in business for himself as a drayman. His wife was Annie Kelley, and their chil- dren were: George H., Edwin E., of Alliance, Ohio: Frank M., mentioned hereinafter : Ida, wife of George Eckert, of Allegheny : Annie, wife of John Engeman, of East Pittsburg ; Mary, and John, of Alliance. Ohio, employed on the Fort Wayne railroad. The death of the father of the family occurred July 25, 1885.
Frank M. Welch, son of George H. and Annie (Kelley) Welch, was born September 1, 1866, in Allegheny City, where he was educated in the common schools. At the age of eleven years he began working as an errand boy for W. P. Price, with whom he remained about eighteen months. After working for the same length of time for John Limegrover, he served for two years as bartender at the Fifth Avenue Hotel and was then employed for a time by his father. In 1886 he took a position with the Adams Express Com- pany, which he retained until 1891. From that year until 1899 he was travel- ling salesman for Walker Stratman's fertilizer plant, and was then elected su- perintendent of the plant, a position which he retained until 1902. In that year he moved to New Kensington and leased the Hotel Windsor, of which he
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is still the successful proprietor. He is a member of the Homeless Twenty- six, of Pittsburg, and Lodge No. 112, American Mechanics, of Allegheny City, in which he has passed all chairs. Mr. Welch married Annie Haines, of Rochester, Pennsylvania.
ROBERT CRUMLEY. Stonebridge Crumley, grandfather of Rob- ert Crumley, of New Kensington, was born in Germany, whence he emigrated to the United States, settling in Virginia, where he passed the remainder of his life. He married and was the father of the following children: William, died in the hospital during the war of 1812; Rebecca, died unmarried ; John, died in Indiana ; Rachel, and Henry, mentioned hereinafter.
Henry Crumley, son of Stonebridge Crumley, was born January, 1800, in Frederick county, Virginia, and was a tanner, following his trade for a number of years. He also worked as a teamster between Baltimore and West Virginia. He was a member of the Society of Friends. Mr. Crumley mar- ried Adeline Lailor, and their children were: Hattie, of Parkersburg, West Virginia : Peachey, deceased : Andrew J., of Williamstown, West Virginia ; Henry and Robert (twins), the latter mentioned hereinafter. The death of Mr. Crumley occurred in 1884.
Robert Crumley, son of Henry and Adeline ( Lailor) Crumley, was born July 17, 1849. on the old homestead in Frederick county, Virginia, and in early life learned the carpenter's trade, at which he worked for a number of years in Parkersburg. West Virginia. He also worked as a carpenter and millwight in the oil fields. In 1864 he was employed by the government as a teamster, remaining in the service until the close of the war. On May 18, 1892, he ar- rived in New Kensington, being one of the pioneer settlers, and has ever since worked there as a carpenter and millwright, having fitted up the rolling mills. He is treasurer of the Carpenter's Union, and affiliates with Lodge No. 1048. I. (. O. F .. in which he has passed all chairs. He is also treasurer of the Encampment. Mr. Crumley married Mary Belle Davis, of Virginia, and their children were: Herbert D., a student at Mount Union College. Ohio: Clara Estella, wife of Samuel Love, of Braddock, Pennsylvania; Edward H., a graduate of Parnassus high school, and clerk of Pittsburg tin works; Carl Robert, timekeeper for the Union Springs Manufacturing Company of New Kensington : Floyd Glendale, storekeeper at the Pittsburg works of the Amer- ican Sheet & Tin Plate Company : Ulmont Sherman, at school. The mother of these children died March 4, 1892, and Mr. Crumley subsequently married Roxannah Huffman.
William E. Taylor, half-brother of Mr. Crumley, enlisted in the United States army as assistant sergeant on the old Savannah, and is still in the ser- vice. being now stationed at Honolulu.
HARRY H. PFEIFFER. Charles Pfeiffer, father of Harry H. Pfeiffer of New Kensington, was born in Germany, and in 1880 emigrated to the United States, settling in Pittsburg, where for about five years he worked at his trade of shoemaker. He then moved to Saxonburg. Butler county. where he conducted a livery business for about fourteen years. In 1896 he went to New Kensington and there for some years continued in the same line of work. He is now employed by the Independent Brewing Company. He affiliates with the Maccabees and is a member of the German Lutheran church. Mr. Pfeiffer married, before leaving Germany, Amelia Glantz, and they had children: Annie, wife of William Sayer, of Pittsburg : Charles, of New Ken- sington ; Lizzie, clerk in Kaufman's store, Pittsburg; Albert, roller at Can-
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onsburg. Pennsylvania; William, of New Kensington; Harry H., mentioned hereinafter ; and Herman, of New Kensington. The mother of these children died in 1887, and Mr. Pfeiffer subsequently married Mrs. Minnie Wagner, nce Konrumph, and their children were: Walter, Fritz, Wilber, and How- ard, deceased.
Harry H. Pfeiffer, son of Charles and Amelia (Glantz) Pfeiffer, was born January 30, 1884, in Saxonburg, where he received his education in the common schools. He learned the plumber's trade with W. T. Griffith, of Pittsburg, and in 1904 engaged in business for himself in New Kensington, where he is now building up a very profitable connection. He is a member of the First Lutheran church.
WILLIAM STEEL, of Salem township, was born in Mount Pleas- ant township, October 1, 1833, on the Steel homestead farm, on land taken up by his grandfather, James Steel, which land was granted to him by the Penns. In 1826, his father, John Steel purchased a large farm near Hannastown, in Salem and Hempfield townships, and in 1835 he moved to it, bringing his son William with him. This is perhaps one of the most historical spots in western Pennsylvania, for on it was situated the famous Hannastown, our first county seat, a fuller description of which will be found in the first volume of this series of books. It was originally the farm of Judge Robert Hanna and con- tained three hundred acres.
William Steel's grandfather, James Steel, was born at Castle Blaney, near Carrick Macross, Ireland, about 1741. He came to America after the Steel Boy Insurrection in 1772. On his way westward he sojourned a short time cast of the mountains in the noted Scotch-Irish settlements, in what was then Cumberland county, now Franklin county, Pennsylvania, and came westward across the mountains in 1773, settling on land in Sewickley Manor, now Mount Pleasant township, of this county, arriving there about the time of the forma- tion of Westmoreland county ( 1773). Here he bought land from the Penns and became a prominent land owner in his day. This land has since became immensely valuable, for it is in the coking coal region of the celebrated Con- nellsville seam. The tract contained four hundred acres and has never since been out of the Steel name, but has passed down through his descendants and is now owned by his great-grandson, Joseph W. Steel, of Greensburg, Pennsyl- vania. He was a soldier in the Revolution for three years, and was in the campaign of the Jerseys with Robert and Andrew Donaldson, his brothers-in- law. Like all Scotch-Irish, he was an agitator for freedom. He was also a member of the Mount Pleasant Associators, a very important pioneer military organization. He took the oath of allegiance before Justice Hugh Martin, March 3, 1777, as is shown by our court records.
James Steel married (first) Elizabeth McMasters, a sister of James Mc- Masters, who owned the farm on which Hecla is now located. He had the fol- lowing children by her: 1. Joseph, intermarried with Barbary Blystone, of Franklin township. 2. Jane, intermarried with William Hunter, whose de- scendants still live near Perrysville and Lowdensville in Richland county, Ohio. His wife dying about the close of the Revolution, he married Eliza- beth Donaldson, who is said to have been his cousin. By this union were born three children : 3. Elizabeth, born September 24, 1785, intermarried with Alexander Hamilton, of near Ruffsdale, Pennsylvania. 4. James, born September 17, 1787, the day upon which the United States constitution was ratified. He was intermarried with Martha Mccutcheon, of Franklin town- ship. 5. John, the father of William Steel, the subject of this sketch. John
CHPliam Steel
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
Steel was born April 7, 1789, and was married to his cousin, Martha Walker, a daughter of Andrew and Salley ( Donaldson) Walker, of Virginia, their place being now included in that part of West Virginia which lies near Steuben- ville, Ohio. James Steel, the father, was the owner of slaves in Westmoreland county, all of whom he manumitted as is shown by our court record. He died September 10, 1823, and is buried at the Middle Presbyterian church yard, Mount Pleasant township.
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