USA > Pennsylvania > Westmoreland County > History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men > Part 138
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GIBSON
JOHN GIBSON'S SON & |
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ON MILLS, „, WESTMORELAND CO., PA.
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ROSTRAVER TOWNSHIP.
THE CUNNINGHAM FAMILY.
James Cunningham was born in Lancaster County in 1857, and removed in 1784 to Rostraver township, where he had purchased a considerable tract of land. He married Mary Robinson, of this township. Their children were:
1. Robert, born April 15, 1790.
2. Mary, married James Elliot.
8. Alexander.
4. James.
5. John.
6. William.
7. Nancy, died unmarried.
He served in the navy in the Revolutionary war, and died in 1841. He had a distillery on his farm, where the populace often met in the " Whiskey Insur- rection of 1784" to discuss their grievances. Robert Cunningham married Brittie Bennett in 1818. He served in the war of 1812 in Capt. James Markle's company, and was shot through the body, but lived to be eighty-four years of age, and died Aug. 20, 1878. His children were :
1. John Bennett, born Jan. 1, 1820.
2. Mary, married John V. Hurst.
3. Harriet, died young.
4. Nancy.
5. Harriet (second), died young.
6. Lavina.
7. Elvira.
8. William H.
9. Minerva. 10. James Elliott.
The family is of Scotch-Irish origin, and settled in Lancaster County on arrival in America in 1725.
GIBSONTON MILLS.
The mills of John Gibson's Son & Co. are located at Gibsonton, near Bellevernon, on the Monongahela River, and manufacture pure Monongahela rye, wheat, and malt whiskeys. It employs seventy-five hands, and is the largest rye-distillery in the State and probably in the Union. The mills began opera- tion in 1857, under the firm-name of " John Gibson, Sons & Co .; " but after the death of John Gibson, in 1864, and of his son Alfred, the firm-name was changed to "John Gibson's Son & Co.," the son being Henry C. Gibson, of Philadelphia, and Andrew M. Moore and Joseph F. Sinnott. When first established, a quarter of a century ago, the capacity of the mills was two hundred and fifty bushels daily, but the business has grown to such dimensions that the ca- pacity now is seven hundred and seventy-five bushels, or a product of sixty-five barrels of whiskey every twenty-four hours. For twenty years these mills have been under the superintendence of T. L. Daly, whose father was one of the contractors in the build- ing of the original works. The mills and various other buildings are on grounds of forty acres of area, contiguous to which is the farm of three hundred
acres. The eight bonded warehouses have a capacity of forty thousand barrels of whiskey, and at this wri- ting are filled to their utmost limit. This distillery is registered as No. 14 in the Twenty-second Revenue District of the State. The buildings were erected in 1856-69, warehouse No. 4 in 1870, No. 5 in 1880, and the others since then, and all under the trained eye and supervision of Mr. Daly, the efficient superin- tendent of the mills.
BONDED WAREHOUSES.
No. 1 is 50} by 100 feet, basement, two-story, attic, slate roof, and built of stone.
No. 2 is 110 by 50 feet, basement, three-story, attic, slate roof, and built of stone.
No. 3 is 50 by 93} feet, basement, three-story, attic, slate roof, and built of stone.
No. 4 is 50 by 106 feet, basement, three-story, attic, slate roof, and built of stone.
No. 5 is 200 by 50 feet, basement, one-story, iron roof, and built of stone.
No. 6 is 200 by 50 feet, two-story, basement, attic, slate roof, and built of stone.
No. 7 is 225 by 50 feet, three-story, attic, slate roof, and built of stone.
No. 8 is a one-story frame, board roof, 50 by 250 feet, and is only a temporary building.
There are five other warehouses. The malt-house is & four-story stone building with slate roof, and has an annual capacity of thirty thousand bushels of malt. The other buildings are the distillery, mill-house, dry- ing kiln, saw-mill, boiler-house, two carpenter-shops, two cooper-shops, blacksmith-shop, and ice-house. Adjoining the mills is the residence of the superin- tendent (an elegant stone structure), near which are the coach-house, spring-house, wagon-house, and two barns, and on a street leading to the mills are nine- teen tasteful dwellings, the residences of the work- men. There are four steam-engines of forty, sixty, sixteen, and twenty horse-power respectively. There are eight boilers, one wooden and two copper stills. The mills have an organized fire brigade among the employés, and in their operations of a quarter of a cen- tury have never had a fire, and the only one on the premises that ever occurred was a small fire in one of the dwellings, in which the loss was less than forty dollars. The mills make all their own barrels, and carry a stock of a million of staves. The bonded warehouses are heated by steam, and thus the stored whiskeys are continually improving in age beyond any other known methods. All their grain is received by rail over the Monongahela Division of the Pennsylva- nia Railroad, and then transferred by boats across the river. The mills are only forty miles from Pittsburgh and near the Fayette County line. There is no dis- tillery in America that has such costly and substantial buildings, and none that equals it in the purity and flavor of its whiskeys, which have a world-wide repu- tation for their excellence.
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
THE DAVIS FARM.
This old farm, adjoining lands of Hortentious Lowry, John Stoneman, Andrew Moore, and Benja- min Thompson, has a curious history. Every person who has had anything to do with it in the way of ownership has become ruined financially. About & century and a third ago two men came from Vir- ginia, settled there, built a cabin, and cleared a little patch of ground. When winter came, one of the men went back to Virginia to bring his family out in the spring to their new home out in the wilderness, leav- ing his companion in charge of their new acquisition. So when spring came the man brought out his fam- ily, but instead of finding his companion at the cabin he found a man by the name of Davis in full posses- sion, but he could learn nothing of the whereabouts of the companion he had left there. The Davis family claimed the property as their own, that they had cleared what had been cleared, had erected the cabin, and refused to give up the place. Nothing was ever heard of the lone companion, and it has always been the belief that he was murdered by the Davis family. Only one of the Davis family died a natural death. Several of them committed suicide, others became insane, and they all became financially ruined. The belief seems to be universal that a curse rests and has ever rested upon this tract, and the financial ruin that has attended its history, as well as the miserable ending of the Davis family that first possessed it, seems to afford good grounds for this belief.
THE POWER FAMILY
is one of the oldest that settled in the township. One of its descendants, Patrick Power, married Nancy Galliher. Their son, Samuel W. Power, was born May 14, 1823, and married in September, 1847, Melinda Hasler. Their children were Ada, John Patrick, Homer James, Sarah H., Anna H., and Calvin Oliphant, of whom John Patrick and Homer James are deceased.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
THOMAS L. DALY.
Thomas L. Daly was born in Philadelphia, Pa., Sept. 18, 1839, the sixth in a family of eight children of Thomas and Mary (Marr) Daly. His father and mother were natives of Dublin, Ireland, and after emigrating to this country eventually settled in Phil- adelphia.
His father was a distiller and followed his occupa- tion in Philadelphia and Wilmington, Del. In the early part of the year 1857 he was employed to su- perintend the erection of the distillery apparatus of the Gibsonton Mills, situated in the township of Ros- traver, Westmoreland Co., Pa. (For a full descrip-
tion of these extensive works see another page of this volume.) While thus employed he was killed by fall- ing through a hatchway of the mills. His death occurred April 7, 1858.
Thomas L. Daly lived at home until eight years of age, when he went to live with Samuel Anthony, near Wilmington, Del., where he remained eight years. Mr. Anthony owned a farm and flouring-mill, and here young Daly received his first ideas of machinery. His education was received in the public schools near Wilmington and in Philadelphia. Upon leaving Mr. Anthony he spent about one year at home, then went to Iowa, where he remained about a year on a farm, with his brother James. In the spring of 1856 he went to Indianapolis, where for about another year he was employed in the flouring-mill of William Winpenny.
In April, 1857, he came to Gibsonton, where he was employed in the building of the mills there. Having filled one position after another in these extensive works, and having acquired by his experience a thor- ough knowledge of the business, in July, 1873, he was appointed superintendent of the works, which position he still (1882) holds. The management of works as extensive as are the Gibsonton Mills, involv- ing the outlay of large amounts of money and the employment of a large number of men, requires busi- ness qualifications and an executive ability of no mean order.
In politics Mr. Daly is a Democrat. He is a mem- ber of the Trinity Church (Episcopalian), Pittsburgh, Pa. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, hav- ing received the three symbolical degrees at Monon- gahela City, Capitular and degree of Knight Templar at Washington, Pa.
He married, Sept. 19, 1860, Carrie W., daughter of Jonathan and Mary Ann Wilson. Mrs. Daly was born in Pittsburgh, Pa., Feb. 2, 1837. They have had five children, viz. : Mary Emma, born June-19, 1861; died Nov. 7, 1869; Harry C., born Dec. 5, 1864; Atha- lia C., born Dec. 4, 1868; Thomas L., born Nov. 20, 1872, died young; Kerfoot W., born April 24, 1874.
CAPT. JOSEPH SHEPLER.
Capt. Joseph Shepler was born in Rostraver town- ship, Westmoreland Co., Pa., March 6, 1807, the eld- est in a family of seven children of Isaac and Sarah (Hill) Shepler. His ancestors on both his father's and mother's side emigrated from Germany and set- tled in Virginia, in the neighborhood of Winchester.
His grandfather, Matthias Shepler, with two bro- thers, Peter and Philip, moved from Virginia before the war of the Revolution and settled in Rostraver, taking up farms on the Monongahela hill in that township. He married Margaret Houseman, whose family was one of the early settlers of the township. Their children were John, Philip, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Mary, Margaret, and Catherine. All were mar-
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ried and raised families, and all are deceased. Isaac Shepler married Sarah, daughter of Joseph and Mary Hill. Her father at the age of eighteen came to Rostraver township, several years before the Brad- dock expedition, the first white settler of the township. The children by this union were as follows : Joseph, subject of this sketch. Lewis, a farmer, died Decem- ber, 1881; children, Bela Wright, I. Hill, and Fran- ces. Bela Wright married the youngest daugh- ter of the Rev. Dr. Samuel Wakefield. They have two sons and four daughters. I. Hill is deceased. Frances, wife of Samuel S. Blackburn, one son and two daughters. Mary, deceased, wife of James Wright, the latter now living in Carmichael's, Greene Co., Pa .; children are Frances, Homer, Elizabeth, John, and Anson. Samuel, born July 13, 1814, own- ing and living on a farm adjoining Capt. Joseph, be- ing a portion of the land taken up by his grandfather, Joseph Hill. Has been twice married. First wife, . Eveline Steele, whom he married Dec. 12, 1839. By this union three sons and three daughters, viz. : John Walker, Mary E., deceased, Olive J., Dr. Joseph Tay- lor, Samuel W., deceased, and Eveline. His wife died April 18, 1850. Jan. 29, 1852, he married Eliza- beth Couldren; by this union, two children, Irvin S. and Anna C. Margaret died at the age of eighteen. Elizabeth, deceased, wife of Davis Shepler; chil- dren, Lewis, Sarah Ellen, Margaret Jane, deceased, Samuel, Lewis M., deceased. Sarah E., wife of John Stephens, a farmer living in Washington, Fayette Co., Pa .; children, Eltess C., Margaret, Elizabeth, Levi, deceased, Fitch, deceased, " Doe," and Ada.
Isaac Shepler died Dec. 10, 1837. His wife sur- vived him many years. She died July, 1869, aged eighty-seven. Both are buried at the Fell's Church.
Capt. Joseph Shepler has spent his whole life in Rostraver; received his education in the district schools of the town. To the age of twenty-two lived on the homestead farm now occupied by Bela Wright Shepler. He married, April 16, 1829, Mary, daughter of Joseph and Nancy Blackburn. Mrs. Shepler was born in Rostraver, March 28, 1807. Her family were among the early settlers of the township. One year after marriage he lived at home, then moved on one of his father's farms, which he carried on for eight years. In 1838 he moved on the farm where he still resides. In 1836 he located three hundred and sixty acres in Putnam County, Ohio, with the intention of moving there, but on account of the death of his father was persuaded by his mother to' remain in Rostraver.
In politics the captain has been a life-long Demo- crat, and has always taken a lively interest in local pol- itics. He has been called to fill most of the offices of the town. He has been a member of the Fell's Metho- dist Episcopal Church forty-nine years, and one of its stanchest supporters. His wife has also been a mem- ber for the same period. At the age of twenty-one he was chosen captain of the first company, Eighty-eighth
State Volunteers, which position he held for seven years; was captain of the Monongahela Blues five years, and first lieutenant of the Rostraver Cavalry seven years. His children are as follows : Sarah, born Jan. 7, 1830, wife of William Jones, farmer and banker, residing in Rostraver township; children, Ella Jane, Joseph Shepler, and Samuel Jones. Violet, born Aug. 20, 1833, wife of Capt. Martin Coulson, a resident of Allegheny City; children, Joseph S., Margaret E., and Alfred Kerr. John B., born Feb. 18, 1835, married Josephine Claywell, of Jo Daviess Co., Ill .; children, Shedrach Claywell and David Richey. Isaac Hill, born March 20, 1840, married Eveline, daughter of Samuel Shepler; children, James Kerr, Mary Blackburn, and William Jones.
BENJAMIN F. BEAZELL.
Benjamin F. Beazell was born in Rostraver town- ship, Westmoreland Co., Pa., Jan. 2, 1796, the seventh in a family of twelve. children of William and Re- becca (Fell) Beazell. About the year 1760 his grand- father, Matthew Beazell, and his grandmother, Cathe- rine, emigrated from the town of Basil, on the Rhine, Germany, meeting and becoming acquainted for the first time on shipboard during the passage to America. They settled in Berkeley County, Va., and were married soon after their arrival. Their children born in Virginia were William and Elizabeth (twins), Mat- thew, Christianna, John, and Luke. In 1773 he moved with his family and settled in the township of Rostraver, on the farm now owned by William Jones, and here the following children were born : Catharine, Barbara, and Joseph. All except Jo- seph, who died when a lad, were married and raised families. Elizabeth, after marriage, settled first in Kentucky, afterwards in Missouri; Barbara settled near Bucyrus, Ohio; John went to Trumbull County, Ohio; and Catharine settled in Fayette County, Pa. The rest remained in Westmoreland County. Mat- thew Beazell died in Rostraver, and was buried on the farm now owned by John Rankin. His wife survived him many years. She died at the residence of her daughter Catharine, in Fayette County, and is buried at Fell's Church.
William Beazell, his father, married Rebecca, daughter of Benjamin and Rebecca Fell. Her pa- rents moved to Rostraver in 1783, from Bucks County, Pa. The first Methodist sermon in Rostraver town- ship was preached in Benjamin Fell's house, which for a number of years was headquarters of that church. He gave the grounds upon which was built the "Fell" Methodist Episcopal Church, taking its name from the donor. Prior to his moving to West- ern Pennsylvania, Mr. Fell was prominent in both Church and State. He took a decided stand in the cause of liberty; was a member of one of the first Conventions that assembled at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, and was the intimate friend of Gen.
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Washington. Both he and his wife are buried at the church bearing his name.
After his marriage his father settled on a farm near Bellevernon, now owned by Levi Johnson, and here he lived about ten years. By purchase from the heirs he subsequently became the owner of the old Beazell homestead. This he eventually sold to Joshua Budd, when he moved on to a farm in Mifflin township, Al- legheny Co., one and a half miles above Mckeesport, on the Monongahela River. Finally, at the request of his father-in-law, Benjamin Fell, he purchased the old Fell homestead, the farm consisting of one hun- dred and sixty acres, and here he passed the remnant of his days. He lacked but a few days of being ninety-two years old at the time of his death, and his wife, who survived him about two years, was in her ninety-second year at the time of her death. They were both earnest and consistent members of the Fell Methodist Episcopal Church, and are "at rest" in the burial ground of that church. Twelve children were born to this worthy conple, viz. : Elizabeth, Rebecca, Catharine, Matthew, Hannah, Phebe, Benjamin F., Christianna, Jane, William, John, and Eliza. Eliza- beth and Catharine.died in childhood. All the rest, except Christianna, were married and raised families. Rebecca and Eliza moved to Ohio ; the rest settled in Westmoreland County. All, except Benjamin F., are deceased. The latter, now (1882) in his eighty- seventh year, the eldest but one living in the town- ship, with the exception of a slight impairment in his eyesight and hearing, is a man both mentally and physically well preserved. His memory of early times and events is simply remarkable. Ou this account, in all questions of local history, Father Beazell has been the leading and the most reliable authority. He was eight years of age when his father moved on to the farm near Mckeesport. His education was in the main " picked up." As he quaintly expressed it, "I never went to school enough to get out of the spelling-book." He has always been fond of reading, a love of which was inherited from his mother, who was a great reader. With the faculty of remember- ing what he read, his knowledge of men and things acquired in this way has been quite a substitute for a "good schooling." Especially does he treasure, now that his failing eyesight precludes his reading, those Scripture passages which he may draw at will from the unfailing store-house of his memory.
At the farm near Mckeesport his father built a saw-mill and a yard for the construction of river boats, and here young Beazell received his first ideas of boat-building, which afterwards served him a good purpose. Nov. 16, 1820, he married Sally, daughter of William and Dorcas (Neel) Samson. Mrs. Beazell was born in Rostraver, April 13, 1801. Her father emi- grated from Ireland, was a soldier in the war of the Revolution, and served throughout the war; was an early settler and a large landholder in Rostraver. Her mother was a native of Lancaster County, Pa.
Both were members of the Presbyterian Church. They died at their home in Rostraver, and are buried at "Round Hill."
The first five years after marriage Mr. Beazell lived on the Fell farm. In the spring of 1825 he rented the " Daily" farm, which he carried on two years; then moved to the " Black Horse" tavern, where he kept store seven years. In 1835 he built at Webster the steamer "Moravian," nine hundred tons, the largest carrier for that date on the Mississippi River. In the spring of 1836 he moved to Webster, where he con- tinued boat-building and merchandising, and where he remained until 1844, with the exception of two years (1840 and 1841), when he moved back to the " Black Horse" tavern. In the spring of 1844 he purchased of his brother, John Beazell, the old Fell homestead farm, where he moved and where he resides.
In politics Mr. Beazell was first a Whig, and a Re- publican from the organization of that party. The Union cause had no stancher friend. Has been a mem- ber of the Fell M. E. Church since 1828, is the only sur- viving member of its original nine trustees, and with one exception (Hannah Linden), the only one living of its members at the time he joined it. He was a class-leader over thirty years and its Sunday-school superintendent many years. Except William Plumer, of West Newton, he is the only surviving member of John C. Plumer's troop.
The old age of Father Beazell is indeed made bright by the loving attention of devoted children, by the conscious enjoyment of the best esteem of his fellow- men, and above all, by his unwavering belief in im- mortality through Christ his Saviour. Children are as follows : Dorcas, Rebecca, William S., Thomas C., James S., Samuel W., Mary, John S., Matthew B., Frank, and Emma S. Thomas and Matthew are deceased. Samuel, a farmer, and John, a lawyer, live in Chillicothe, Mo. Emma, wife of Dr. J. A. Mink, lives in Topeka, Kan. Frank, clergyman in the M. E. Church, member of the East Ohio Conference. William and James, farmers in Rostraver. Dorcas, wife of John Darr, a farmer in Rostraver. Mary and Rebecca living at home, and James S., carrying on the home farm.
HORTENSIUS LOWRY.
Hortensius Lowry was born in the township of Rostraver, Westmoreland Co., Pa., Oct. 22, 1818.
Stephen Lowry, his grandfather, when thirty years of age, emigrated from near Dublin, Ireland, and settled in Rostraver in 1774. He purchased about two hundred acres of land of Adam Wickerham, which he cleared and upon which he erected the first log house, where for a time he kept " bachelors' hall." He married Anne Pollock, a native of Maryland. Two children were born to this worthy couple,-a daughter, who died at the age of five years, and a son, Stephen Lowry, Jr., father of Hortensius.
For many years the grandfather, Stephen Lowry,
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took the products of his farm in flat-boats to the New Orleans market, a custom not uncommon in those days among farmers residing near the river. His wife died' Aug. 23, 1822. He survived her six years ; died, aged eighty-four, in September, 1828. Both are buried at Rehoboth Church cemetery. His son, Stephen Lowry, Jr., born on the homestead in 1791, was educated in the common schools of the neighborhood, studied medicine with Dr. Joseph Pollock, of Monongahela City, and practiced his profession in his native town until his death. He married, Feb. 7, 1815, Anne, daughter of David and Anne (Rholand) Pollock. Mrs. Lowry was born in the year 1793. Her parents moved from Maryland some time towards the latter part of the last century, and settled in Mckean town- ship, Erie Co., Pa., and both died there. Mr. Lowry served as a soldier in the war of 1812, under Gen. Joseph Markle. He died of consumption, brought on by exposure in a horseback ride to Erie County, Pa. His death occurred Oct. 3, 1820, at the home- stead. He left two children,-a daughter and son, -Herpalice, born Sept. 17, 1816, wife of Thomas Isherwood, living near Mount Vernon, Linn Co., Iowa; they have four sons and one daughter and Hortensius. Mrs. Lowry was again married in No- vember, 1832, to Randle Johnson, a farmer of Ros- traver. By him she had one child, Caroline Matilda, born July 24, 1884, wife of A. B. Moore, a farmer of Rostraver, and a descendant of one of its oldest fami- lies. They have five daughters living. Mrs. John- son died Dec. 25, 1847, and is buried at Fell's Church. Her first husband, Mr. Lowry, is buried at Rehoboth Church.
Hortensius Lowry was born in the old brick house, the first built on the place, where his present resi- dence stands, and has spent his whole life on the
farm which came into his possession in 1839 by will from his grandfather and subsequent purchase of his sister's interest. His mother, after her marriage to Mr. Johnson, lived at the old place for six years, to 1839, then moved on to a farm about one mile east of the homestead.
From 1889 to 1850 his sister kept house for him. Upon her removal West, in 1850, he leased the farm to Robert Douglas, who carried it on to the time of his death, which occurred Jan. 1, 1862.
Mr. Lowry married his widow, Mrs. Harriet F. Douglas. She was the daughter of David and Eliza- beth Weimer, born Jan. 17, 1829, in Connellsville, Pa. By her first husband she had seven children, viz. : Mary Elizabeth, born July 10, 1847, wife of H. A. Stewart, living near Creston, Union Co., Iowa, two sons ; Susan Rebecca, born Aug. 25, 1849, living at home; David Harstine Presley, born July 81, 1851, a farmer of Rostraver; Hortensius Azariah, born Sept. 5, 1853, merehant in West Newton; John W. S., born Feb. 11, 1856, farmer in Rostraver; Margaret Emma, born April 7, 1860, now living at home.
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