USA > Pennsylvania > Westmoreland County > History of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, Vol. II > Part 94
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Harry T. Henry, son of William and Mary ( Truby ) Henry, was born January 23, 1866. in Apollo, and received a common school education. In June, 1882, he went to work in the shops of the Apollo Iron & Steel Company, beginning at the bottom, as scrap boy, and working his way up through the
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positions of opener, doubler, matcher and rougher, until in 1889 he was made roller. On the completion of the Vandergrift mills he was transferred thith- er, and had the honor of rolling the first iron rolled in the mills. He has since retained this position continuously, having charge of one of the large mills. He is one of the leading skilled rollers of the valley and a representa- tive citizen of Vandergrift. While a resident or Apollo he held the office of councilman, and is now serving on the school board of Vandergrift. He affil- iates with the Apollo Lodge, No. 386, Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, votes with the Republicans and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Henry married in 1890, Lydia E. Horne, of Apollo, and they have children : Mary, Gertrude, Harry T., Jr., Joseph, and Theodore.
JAMES WILLIAM LANDYMORE, engineer on the Pittsburg and Lake Erie Railroad, is a native of England, born in the county of Nor- folk, in 1842, son of Jolin S. and Mary ( Woods) Landymore, one of nine children, five of whom emigrated to America, settling in Canada, with the exception of one, Jonathan.
The paternal grandfather, Jonathan Landymore, was a farmer and brick manufacturer, living at Sustead, England. He died at the age of ninety-two years. He had a family of three sons and one daughter: Jonathan S., Wil- liam B., and Isaac, the daughter's name not known. His son, Jonathan S., the father of James W., was also a farmer and an extensive brick manti- facturer, operating a large brick yard. He died at the age of sixty-five years. His wife is still living, a resident of Edingthorp, North Walsham, England, being at the advanced age of eighty-six years. The maternal grandfather, James Woods, was a farmer and harnessmaker, a resident of the town of Thagerton, England, where he died in 1886. He was the father of four children: Mary, Christopher, Robert and James WV., a veteran of the Crim- ean war.
James W. Landymore was one of the five sons of Jolin S. Landymore who came to America, the others being: Augustus, an extensive ranchman of California ; Charles A., a resident of Dallas, Texas; William B., a resi- dent of Toronto; Jonathan, an engine watchman for the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, resides in West Newton.
Jomes W. Landymore was reared in his native place and was educated in the common schools. After leaving school he was articled for five years to study law in the office of Walter J. Scott, but his distaste for the law was so great that he ran away at the end of two years and went to Leeds, Eng- land, and secured work as an engine wiper for the Great Northern railroad, gradually advancing to the position of fireman and then engineman. In 1878 he emigrated to Canada, locating at Richmond Hill, Ontario, where he found employment in an agricultural works. At the end of four years, in 1882, he came to the United States and settled in West Newton, where he secured employment in the Markle paper mills. In 1885 he went to work as fireman on the Pittsburg and Lake Erie railroad, receiving promotion to the position of engineer in 1887 and has since been thus engaged by this road. He is a member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and of the Knights of Malta. Politically he is an independent voter. Mr. Landymore married, April 17, 1875, Sarah Ward, a daughter of Thomas and Emma (Newell) Ward, natives of Yorkshire, England. Of this marriage were born ten children, nine of whom survive: Herbert N., a telegraph operator. of West Newton; William W., an engineer for the Pittsburg and Lake Erie
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railroad : Beatrice M., resides at home ; Alice E., also living at home; Minnie F., at home; Jonathan Thomas, at home : Charles Amos, at home ; James W., deceased; Jessie L., at home; Harry R., at home. The members of the family belong to the Presbyterian church and hold a prominent social posi- tion in the town.
HERBERT ELVIDGE FRANKLIN, son of John and Sarah (Sails) Franklin, was born February 24, 1835, in Nottinghamshire, England, one of nine children. His father was born in Nottinghamshire and his mother was born in Dublin Barracks, Dublin, Ireland ; her father was a mem- ber of the Scottish Highlanders and was stationed in the Dublin Barracks at the time of her birth. Jonathan Franklin learned the trade of weaving and followed it in England until 1834. when he emigrated to this country, settling in Philadelphia, and continued to follow that trade until his death at the age of seventy-four years.
Herbert E. Franklin was eight years of age when his parents came to America and he was reared and attended the common schools in Philadelphia. As early as his ninth years he worked in the mills as a bobbin winder, con- tinuing until he had served his apprenticeship for an expert weaver, at which he was employed until his nineteenth year, with the excption of on year that he spent in the eastern part of Maryland. At nineteen years he began to serve an apprenticeship as a plasterer, but his employer went out of business and Herbert E. embarked on board a whaling vessel and for three years followed a sea-faring life. He sailed around the world, touching at most of the great sea-ports, and acquired an education such as can be gained only by wide travel. About 1870 he went to Pittsburg, but after a few months there re- moved to Green county, remaining there one year, then went to Allegheny City, where he remained but a short time, next locating at Southton, where he stayed until 1876. He then settled in Sutersville, where he has since resid- ed. Mr. Franklin married Jane Dalzell, of Philadelphia, in 1869. Five children were born of this marriage. In politics Mr. Franklin's sympathies are Republican, and he served one term on the school board although he has never been an officeseeker. H is a member of the board of trustees of the Presbyterian church, and a member of the Sons of Temperance, also having passed through all of the chairs. He is one if the most highly esteemed men of that section of the county and wins the respect and admiration of all who come into contact with him. He served three years in the Civil war and was captured at Gettysburg, spending two months as a prisoner on Belle Island. With him were his brothers Henry and Frank, the latter of whom, while acting sargeant major, was severely wounded at the battle of Cold Harbor.
JOHN G. BECKER, of New Kensington, is the son of Conrad and Elizabeth Becker, and was born January 27, 1867. in Germany, where he received his education in the common schools. In 1883 he emigrated to the United States, settling in Pittsburg, where he learned the baker's business with Samuel Beltz, of South Side, and in 1886 opened a bakery for himself on Penn avenue, where he remained four years and a half. He then moved to New Kensington, where he purchased on of the first lots sold in the town, erecting thereon a fine building in which he conducted a bakery, restau- rant and confectionery until August 14. 1900, when he sold out to his brother. January 1. 1901. he purchased the New Kensington opera house, in which he made extensive improvements and of which he has been general manager
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ever since. He is a charter member of Lodge No. 1121, Modern Woodmen of America, and belongs to the First English Lutheran church.
Nr. Becker married Lena Horne, a native of Germany, and their chil- dren are : August H., Elenora, Tillie, Carl, Josephine, George and Edward.
KENNETH COOPER. John Thomas Cooper, father of Kenneth Cooper, of New Kensington, was born in 1829, in Ireland, and when but eight years of age was brought to this country by his parents, Charles and Mar- garet Cooper. They settled for a short time near Scranton, Pennsylvania, and later took up their abode on a farm at Parker, Armstrong county, where. they remained some years. Charles Cooper died at the great age of ninety- three.
John Thomas Cooper, son of Charles and Margaret Cooper, was en- gaged during the greater part of his life in the oil business. He was an elder in the Presbyterian church. He married Sarah Bailey, and they had the following children: Albert, farmer of Armstrong county; Mary Elizabeth, wife of Franklin Ottinger; Thomas, druggist of Allegheny ; Margaret, wife of C. E. Harrington, of Kittanning, Pennsylvaniaa : Charles, on the old home- stead : Hope B., superintendent of a coal mine at Rennersburg, Pennsylvania ; Kenneth, mentioned hereinafter : and Catharine, unmarried. The father of the family died at the comparatively early age of fifty-four.
Kenneth Cooper, son of John Thomas and Sarah ( Bailey) Cooper, was born November 4, 1880, in Parker, Pennsylvania, and received his education in the common schools. At the age of eighteen he became clerk for F. M. Curtis & Company, of New Kensington, with whom he remained four years, and in 1902 purchased a half interest in the grocery business of A. W. Craw- ford. This business he has successfully conducted down to the present time under the firm name of Cooper and King. Mr. Cooper married Henrietta V., daughter of S. H. and Agnes Morrow, and they are the parents of one child: Sarah Belle Cooper.
ABRAHAM OVERHOLT FRETTS, one of the most prominent and prosperous business men of Greensburg, Westmoreland county, Pennsyl- vania, largely engaged in leasing and speculating in coal and oil lands, is one of the most enterprising men of this section. He is a representative of an honored family of Pennsylvania.
Henry Fretts, father of Abraham Overholt Fretts, was considered one of the leading farmers in Huntingdon township in his day, and was a well- known member of the United Brethren church. He was a staunch supporter of the Republican party. He married (first) Diana Myers, of Mount Pleas- ant township, and they had children: Emma, who died at the age of nine years : Abraham Overholt, of whom later ; Lydia, married Martin B. Hough. Henry Fretts married (second) Mrs. Elizabeth Fretts, widow of Henry Fretts, and they had one child: Mary, who married Comp.
Abraham Overholt Fretts, son of Henry and Diana ( Myers) Fretts, was born in East Huntingdon township, Pennsylvania, September 1. 1850. He was educated in the public schools of his district and at the Mount Pleasant Academy. His first business venture was in the mercantile line, in Mount Pleasant, and he later became the proprietor of the National Hotel in the same place. In addition to his hotel business he conducted a livery stable, which was a profitable undertaking. He removed to Bradford, Mckean county, Penn- sylvania, in 1878, and there commenced the operation of oil wells, completing:
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his first well in the same year. He left Bradford at the end of three years and removed to Greensburg, where he determined to make his permanent home, and where he has resided since that time. He has engaged very extensively in leasing and speculating in the coal and oil fields, and has been remarkably successful. He is thoroughly well-posted in his particular field of industry,. and has the happy faculty of being able to take advantage of every oppor- tunity as soon as it presents itself. He has a large circle of friends, and is highly respected in the business as well as the social world. He is a member of the Baptist church of Mount Pleasant, and his political affiliations are Republican. He married Mazie Reamer, daughter of Philip and Katherine (McMasters) Reamer, of Mount Pleasant, and they had two children: Wil- liam, who died in infancy; and Ethel Kirk, who married J. Edwin Gatchel, of New York City, and has one child: Katherine Kirk.
JOHN WILLIAM McFADYEN, an attorney-at-law of Latrobe, Pennsylvania, was born October 10, 1876, the son of John and Mary A. Rush McFadyen. His father, John McFadyen, emigrated to this country from Scot- land at the age of seven years, and his father and mother, John W. Mc- Fadyen's grandparents, were natives of Monaghan county, Ireland, and came: to this country at a very early day.
John W. McFadyen received his English education at St. Vincent's col- lege, of which institution he is a graduate. With the idea in view of becom- ing a legal practitioner, he entered into the study of law, and November 3, 1900, at the age of twenty-four, he was admitted to the bar at Greensburg, and two years later, November 3. 1902, was admitted to the superior court, and to the superior court of Pennsylvania. April 20, 1903. He later became a member of the United States district court, and also the circuit court. On the same day he commenced practice in Greensburg, and later removed his office to Latrobe, Pennsylvania, where he is still engaged in his profession. The remarkable industry that has thus far characterized Mr. McFadyen's work, together with his unceasing diligence and studious habits, bid fair to win for him an enviable place in the ranks of his profession.
November 25, 1903, Mr. McFadyen married Mary Gertrude Kuhn, who was born September. 1879, in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, the daughter of George C. B. and Mary Catherine (Tipp) Kuhn. One child was born to them, John William, December 9, 1904.
HON. GEORGE RHEY. A man who, by his sterling worth of character and estimable qualities of mind and heart, has the power of winning to himself friends, is never forgotten by those who have had the privilege of knowing him personally. Such a man was the late Honorable George Rhey, of Willwood, of which place his paternal ancestors were old settlers, their venerable stone dwelling having stood for more than eighty-five years on land which has been long in the possession of the family.
John Rhey, father of Hon. George Rhey, married Catherine Beamer, and their children were: James, born April 23, 1811; Nancy, born October 24. 1812: Mathias, born September 28, 1814: Catherine, born November 18, 1816: George, of whom later: Susan, born April 25, 1822; Mary E., born December 22. 1824: Elizabeth, born April 15. 1827; John, born May 18, 1829: and Christian, born July 15. 1831. All these children with the excep- tion of the youngest are now deceased.
George Rhey, son of John and Catherine (Beamer) Rhey, was born January 26, 1819, and received a college education. After completing his 2-41
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY
studies he read law for a considerable period, but was finally forced to abandon it on account of his health. He then engaged in the wholesale grocery busi- ness in Pittsburg, where he remained a number of years. During the latter part of his life he was in the iron business in Johnstown. In the course of time he became by inheritance the owner of the homestead in Millwood. He took an active part in public affairs, was elected to the legislature, and served with credit to himself and satisfaction to his constituents. He was a member of the Roman Catholic church.
Mr. Rhey married, April 25, 1878, Margaret A. Flanigan, and they were the parents of one son and three daughters: Paul, born September 18, 1879, deceased : Mary E., born October 16, 1881, wife of George B. Phillippi, and the mother of one child, George R .: Susan T., born November 22, 1884, married Owen E. Jones, of New York City; and Catherine, born October 14, 1887, deceased. The death of Mr. Rhey occurred March 7, 1888, and while an irre- parable loss to his family, was felt by the entire comunity as a personal be- reavement. He was a man who numbered his friends by the hundred and inspired in all who knew him sentiments of affection and esteem. His widow resides in the old stone house on the homestead in Millwood.
Mrs. Rhey is a daughter of John and Ann (Nevin) Flanigan, whose children were: Margaret A., born March 24, 1854, became the wife of George Rhey, as mentioned above : Thomas, born February 13, 1856, deceased ; Mary, born May 5. 1857; Jolin, born June 14, 1859, deceased; James, born February 4, 1862, deceased ; Thomas, born January 25, 1865 ; and John, born March 19, 1868. This family has contributed by its two surviving sons toward maintaining the standard of good citizenship.
HUGH C. McKEAN. The grandfather of Hugh C. McKean, of Leechburg, was William McKean, a native of Ireland, who migrated to the United States and was one of the original settlers of Allegheny township. He was a prosperous farmer in his day, owning one hundred and forty acres of land. He was the father of six sons : Robert, of whom later ; Lingey, Hugh, Thomas, Cavitt, and John.
Robert Mckean, son of William McKean, was born in 1801, on the Alle- - gheny river, and was engaged in the construction of the Pennsylvania canal, and after its completion purchased ninety-four acres of land. He married Nancy McKiverson, a native of Brownsville, Pennsylvania, and their children were : William, deceased : James ; Hugh C., of whom later; Susan, deceased ; Eliz- abeth; Frances ; and Robert, deceased. Mr. Mckean, the father, was a man who was universally liked. He died in 1888, at the advanced age of eighty- seven.
Hugh C. McKean, son of Robert and Nancy (McKiverson) Mckean, was born in 1833, on his father's farm, of which he is now the owner. He was reared and educated in his native township, and his early life was spent on the Allegheny river, acting as steamboat pilot, which responsible position he held for thirty-seven years. In 1850 he moved to his present farm of ninety-six acres, which originally formed part of his father's property, but continued to act as pilot until 1875, when he retired from the river. Since that time he lias devoted himself wholly to agricultural pursuits. His buildings are of modern construction and were erected by himself. He has held the office of school director for several terms. Mr. Mckean married in 1861, Mary E. McGeary, and their children were : William, deceased ; Agnes, Walter, Fannie, Hugh, Maggie, Theresa, Robert, and three who died in infancy.
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
ALEXANDER WILLSON, of Pittsburg, a member of the Willson Bros. Lumber Company, was born January 14, 1868, in West Newton, West- moreland county, Pennsylvania, a son of Andrew Patterson and Lavenia (Cun- ningham) Willson, and a representative of Scotch-Irish ancestry.
The early years of the life of Alexander Willson were spent on his fath- er's farm, and his education was acquired in the public school of Westmoreland county, West Newton high school, and Rochester Business University, from which he was graduated. On the completion of his school days he went to Philadelphia and entered the employ of George Watson & Son, building con- tractors, as a bookkeeper. In 1889 he went to Kansas and was engaged with the Union Mortgage & Trust Company, of Marion, as an examiner of lands, remaining for a period of three years. The following three years he was in the employ of the Ash Grove White Lime Association, of Kansas City, and during a portion of the time was employed at the heading and stave plant of this association at Black Rock, Arkansas. He then entered the service of E. V. Babcock & Company, in May, 1896, as an office man, in which capacity he remained for about one and a half years.
January 1, 1898, Alexander Willson and his elder brother, Frank Elliott Willson, organized the firm of Willson Bros., and entered the jobbing lumber trade in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, which is one of the greatest manufacturing centers of the country and its wealth has been contributed to largely by the mines and forests. Situated as it is near the western border of the Keystone state it is the center of supply for a wide territory. In the earlier days little lumber was handled in that market except white pine, hemlock and hardwoods, but today yellow pine, of both the shortleaf and longleaf varieties, and of more recent date the products of the Pacific coast have figured in the consuming trade. The resources of the brothers were very moderate indeed, but they had confidence in their ability to carve out success in their enterprise, and most fully has their confidence been justified. During the first business year of the firm it handled about four hundred cars of lumber, a total in dollars and cents of a little more than $100,000. The business has grown steadily year by year until today they conduct a business of more than $1,000,000 an- nually. The company's handlings of lumber embrace the entire range of building woods. It is an important factor in hemlock, white pine, longleaf yellow pine, poplar and spruce, and it is practically the pioneer institution in Pittsburg to develop a trade for North Carolina pine in that district.
In 1902 the firm bought a large interest in the Major & Loomis Company, of Hertford, North Carolina, on the line of the Norfolk & Southern railroad. This company has a completely equipped band sawmill, dry kilns and planing mill, with a capacity of twelve million feet annually, and they also have North Carolina pine timber holdings sufficient to continue the enterprise for at least ten years. Of this company Alexander Willson is vice-president and a director. During the same year the Willson Bros. purchased an important interest in the Conway Lumber Company, of Conway, South Carolina. This company has timber holdings aggregating one hundred million feet of short- leaf pine and a complete band mill, dry kilns and planing mill equipment. Frank Elliott Willson is the vice-president and a director in this company. In 1903. through a business connection formed with the Willson Brothers, who constituted the Willson Lumber Company, of Elkins, West Virginia, Willson Bros. purchased a tract of twelve thousand acres of spruce, hemlock and hardwood timber lands at Wildell, West Virginia, on the line of the coal and iron division of the West Virginia Central & Pittsburg railroad. During
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the same year this timber land interest was organized into the Wildell Lumber Company with a paid up capital of $150,000. The following year a modern band and resaw saw mill was built, as well as a planing mill, with a daily capacity of seventy-five thousand feet. The business of Willson Bros. was continued as a copartnership until December 31, 1904, when it was incorporat- ed under the name of the Willson Bros. Lumber Company. Frank E. Willson became president of the new company and Alexander Willson the secretary and treasurer. The capital of the company is $150,000, which is fully paid in, practically all of the stock being held by the two brothers. Another en- terprise owned by the company is the Willson Bros. Lumber Company, of Huntley; Cameron county, Pennsylvania, which is a hemlock and white pine operation with a capacity of about ten million feet annually. The company is the sales agent of all these enterprises, every one of which is a successful and prosperous institution. Their business is conducted in a handsome suite of offices in the Farmers Bank building, Pittsburg.
Alexander Willson married, June 6, 1905, Elenore Hamilton, daughter of J. P. Hamilton, of East End, Pittsburg. Mr. and Mrs. Willson occupy a beautiful home which is located on Darlington road, Squirrel Hill. Mr. Will- son is a man of pleasing personality, popular with his contemporaries and with the trade at large, and possesses in a marked degree the commercial instinct which is the basis of a successful business career.
JOHN W. BENNETT, a representative of a well known and highly respected family of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, was born in Donegal township, April 17, 1862, a son of Dr. James M. and Catherine (Durstine) Bennett.
Dr. James M. Bennett was born in West Virginia in 1817, and in 1859 removed to Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, settling in Donegal town- ship, where he was engaged in the practice of medicine until his death. He married (first) Mary Gilbert, and of this union one child was born, Samaria, the wife of A. J. R. Lohr, of Greeley, Colorado. His second wife was Annie Grimes, who was the mother of one child, deceased. In 1860 he married Catherine Durstine, and of this union nine children were born, namely: John WV., see forward; Henrietta, wife of Philip C. Ralp; Abram L., a farmer in Utah; James E., of Denver, Colorado; Joseph, a resident and farmer of Westmoreland county ; Edward, a machinist, of Greensburg; Marion Ward, a farmer of North Dakota; Emma, wife of Edward Ayres; and David. Dr. James M. Bennett died January 19, 1887.
John W. Bennett received a good common school education, and in 1884 commenced upon an independent career, being for five years engaged in farm work. He then established himself in the mercantile business at Jones' Mills, in which he was very profitably engaged for seven years. At the expiration of that period he removed to Bakersville, and there bought out the store of J. Schlag & Co., and was for six years engaged in the conduct of same. In 1902 he removed on the farm where he now resides, and where he gives his entire time and attention to agricultural pursuits. His farm is now in a high state of cultivation and improvement, and compares favorably with the finest in the vicinity. Politically Mr. Bennett is a Democrat, and has served in the offices of township clerk, judge of elections, auditor, school director, post- master in Cleveland's last administration at Jones' Mills. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, No. 350, Moss Rose Lodge. Mount Pleasant. In religious faith he is a member of the Brethren church at Mount Pleasant, and a trustee of the same.
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