History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 159

Author: George Dallas Albert, editor
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Honorableness and fair dealing have been the marked characteristics of Gen. Markle in the conduct of his business affairs. A contract once made has always been to him a sacred matter, something to be fulfilled and not shirked, though its fulfillment, as sometimes has happened to him, might entail large loss; but in the long run his successes have abun- dantly proven the truth of the old adage, " Honesty is the best policy." Though he has uniformly declined official position, few men have exerted a wider per- sonal influence in local and State politics. Men whose candidacy he approved and measures which he favored have always found in him a powerful ally. The Union cause in the late war had no more ardent sup- porter. Relying upon his discretion and good judg- ment in all business affairs, his counsel and advice have been frequently sought after by his neighbors and friends. In the development of the material resources of his locality and the advancement of all interests which look to the betterment of society it would be difficult to find one who has exerted a more commanding influence.

SHEPARD B. MARKLE, JR.,

youngest son living of Gen. C. P. and Sarah (Lippin- cott) Markle, was born at Millgrove, Sewickley town- ship, Westmoreland County, Pa., May 15, 1844. He was twin-brother to Cyrus P., who died Jan. 8, 1845. From a fall, which happened when about eighteen months old, and which affected the left limb, he was rendered a cripple for life. Many of the most eminent physicians of the country were consulted without favor- able results. Finally horseback riding and " plenty of it" was advised by Dr. Pancoast, of Philadelphia, as the means most likely to bring relief. The sequel proved the wisdom of the doctor's advice, for, though no permanent cure was possible in the case, he con- tinued to gain daily in strength, and his ability to discharge these many years the varied duties de- volving upon an exceedingly busy man is attributed almost solely by Mr. Markle to the benefit he derived from horseback riding. "Sheppy" Markle and his horse became, if not one, at least almost inseparable. The varied business interests of his father, in which he began early in life to participate, gave him ample scope for his favorite exercise. An average of from

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twenty-five to thirty miles per day for many years is no exaggeration of the extent of his riding. The necessity for this exercise, together with the impor- tant part he was thus enabled early to take in his father's business matters, quite precluded the idea of his entering upon any extended course of study, and in consequence his education was limited to an at- tendance at the neighborhood district school and a select school at West Newton.

In 1870 he became associated with his father and brother, Capt. C. C. Markle, under the firm "C. P. Mar- kle & Sons," in the manufacture of paper, the produc- tion of coke, raising of stock, and farming generally. He has given special attention to the stock department. In 1876 he purchased twelve head of registered Jer- seys at Philadelphia, the first introduced into West- moreland County, since which time the operations of the firm in that line, managed principally by Shep- ard B., have been very extensive, involving many thousands of dollars yearly. For the last five or six years he has been obliged to discontinue his horseback riding, having become too stout to use his favorite mode of conveyance with any comfort to himself or horse. Few men of soundest body, however, ride more miles .in the day, or accomplish more in the . execution of business. Rain or shine, cold or hot, a man may "set his watch" by the promptness and regularity with which he may be statedly seen with his carriage at his usual places of business.

In politics he is a Republican, and though he has neither sought nor desired office, no man in the locality is more liberal of his time and money in forwarding the interests of the party.

He married, June 11, 1874, Isabella, daughter of James P. and Jane K. (Moore) Carothers. Mrs. Markle was born in South Huntingdon township, Westmoreland County, Pa., Oct. 18, 1852. She is the great-granddaughter of the Rev. James Power, one of the pioneer ministers of the Presbyterian Church in Western Pennsylvania. It is not too much to say that the Markle home at "Millgrove," always pro- verbial for its unstinted hospitality, has lost nothing of its prestige in this respect since Mrs. Markle be- came its presiding genius. Mr. and Mrs. Markle have children, as follows: Sarah Ann, born June 5, 1875; Jane C., born Jan. 29, 1877 ; Maggie McMasters, born Dec. 80, 1878; Mary Emily, born Feb. 23, 1880; and Cyrus Painter, born April 7, 1882.

CAPT. C. C. MARKLE.

Capt. C. C. Markle was born at Millgrove, Sewickley township, Westmoreland County, Pa., Oct. 31, 1840, the fifth child of Gen. C. P. and Sarah A. (Lippin- cott) Markle. He received his primary and academic education in the district school of his native place, at Turtle Creek and Mount Pleasant Academy. He took a business course of study at the Iron City College, Pittsburgb.

He entered the army Aug. 25, 1861, as second lieu- tenant Co. E, 105th Regt. P. V. I., Col. McKingly, of Brookeville, commanding ; was promoted to first lieu- tenant, and afterwards to the captaincy of the com- pany. He was appointed and served as provost- marshal under Gen. Birney, and subsequently was appointed inspector - general of forts north of the Potomac, first under Gen. Hoskin, and afterwards under Gen. Hardin, and occupied that position at the time of the expiration of his three years' term of enlistment. He was honorably discharged Sept. 3, 1864. Upon his return from the army he became actively employed in the business enterprises of C. P. Markle & Co., and upon the dissolution of that firm became a partner in the firm of C. P. Markle & Sons, and since the retirement from that position of his father, Gen. C. P. Markle, the management of their exten- sive paper- and coke-works has devolved chiefly upon him. He married Feb. 21, 1865, Mary A., daughter of Jacob S. and Mary (Fox) Overholt. Mrs. Markle was born in Mount Pleasant township, Westmoreland County, July 1, 1846. Their children are Cyrus P., born Feb. 12, 1866 ; Thomas McMasters, born Feb. 25, 1868 ; Mary O., born Sept. 13, 1870; Sarah Bessie, born Feb. 2, 1873, died Nov. 27, 1874; Jessie Ben- ton, born May 25, 1875; and Margaret Z., born March 8, 1878.

HON. GEORGE PLUMER.

George Plumer was of English descent. His great- great-great-grandparents, Francis and Ruth Plumer, with their children, Samuel, Joseph, Hannah, and Mary, emigrated in 1633 from Newbury, in Berkshire, England, to New England, and in May, 1634, Francis Plumer took the freeman's oath in Boston.

Francis Plumer was descended from an ancient and honorable family, which from the time of the barons' wars has always maintained a respectable standing in the midland counties of England.

In 1635, Francis Plumer, in company with some of the inhabitants of Ipswich, under the pastoral care of the learned Dr. Parker, obtained leave of the General Court to remove to Quascacunquen, and began a town at that place which they called Newbury, Francis Plumer being one of the original grantees; and it may be here mentioned that it is stated in a recent history of Essex County that "the meeting-house, which was likewise the school and the town-house, was on land owned by one of the descendants of Francis Plumer, who have held the paternal acres through all the years to this date" (1878).

Joseph, the second son of Francis, was born in 1630, married Sarah Cheney, Dec. 23, 1652; Jonathan, the youngest son of this couple, was born May 13, 1668, and on the 10th of June, 1696, he married Sarah Pear- son ; John, the eldest child of the last-named pair, was born March 25, 1697, and Jan. 30, 1722, he mar- ried Rebecca Wheeler; and their second son, Jona-

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than, was born April 13, 1724, and June 6, 1744, he married Mehitable Herriman.

Jonathan Plumer resided in Newbury, the place of his nativity, until the death of his wife, which oc- curred about the year 1749 or 1750. Her loss was so great an affliction that he decided to seek relief in change of scene. Accordingly he arranged to leave their three sons, who were entitled to a good estate from their mother, with her relatives in Rowley, and traveled southward.

In his youth Jonathan Plumer had been converted under the preaching of Dr. George Whitefield, and always took a deep interest in the religious move- ments of his day. Whitefield in his travels through the colonies had made long visits in the congregations in Southern Pennsylvania and neighboring Mary- land, under the charge of the Finleys and Blairs and Smiths, then the great lights of the Presbyterian Church in those regions, and it doubtless was from his report of them, and of the fertility of the soil, etc., that young Plumer was led to seek his fortune among them.

A record prepared in Newburyport many years ago says of him : "Jonathan Plumer (5th) emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1750; was commissary to Gen. Brad- dock in 1755."

One of the foremost and most remarkable men of that day in Maryland was Col. Thomas Cresap, who had fixed his residence in what was then called " Old Town," near Fort Cumberland.

After the disastrous failure of Braddock, Jonathan Plumer seems to have settled in Old Town, for it is shown in a published correspondence between Gover- nor Dinwiddie to Col. Adam Stephen, at Fort Cum- berland, and from the latter to Capt. Dagworthy, at Fort Frederick, that Cresap and Plumer were at the date,-March, 1757, collecting commissary supplies in that country.

It is traditional in Mr. Plumer's family that he was also in the army of Gen. Forbes the following year, when that " Head of Iron" took possession of the smok- ing ruins of Fort Du Quesne and named the place Pittsburgh.

The main portion of the army made only a short stay, and then returned to the east of the mountains, Mr. Plumer accompanying them.

It was in Old Town, or in Fort Frederick, that Jona- than Plumer, on short acquaintance, married Miss Anna Farrell, who proved a loving wife and help- meet in all their after-life of dangers and trials.

Their oldest son, William, was born in or near Fort Cumberland in 1757, and one other son in 1758, named John; but while it is certain that the father was in Fort Pitt in 1759, there is nothing now to show that he had his family west of the mountains till in 1761.

Col. George Croghan having obtained a grant from the Indians of fifteen hundred acres on the Alle- gheny River, extending from Two-Mile Run up to the

Narrows, Jonathan Plumer became interested in the grant, and in the summer of 1761, " by permission of Col. Henry Bouquet, built a cabin and made many valuable improvements thereon" (Binney's Reports, vol. ii., page 95, et seq.), and it was in that cabin, on Dec. 5, 1762, that George Plumer, the subject of this sketch, was born.

When Jonathan Plumer built his cabin all that region was in a state of transition. The claim of the British had not been acknowledged by France, and the territory to the westward was held by force of arms.

Quebec had fallen the previous year, and the ap- proaching end of French domination seemed certain, but the hopes and fears of the settlers kept them in continued anxiety and alarm. Houses were going up around the fort, but until news of certain peace none could tell in whose territory they would stand.

At the last, on the 21st of January, 1763, intelli- gence was received in Philadelphia that on the 3d of the previous November preliminary articles of peace between France and England had been signed, and as speedily as the army express of those days could reach Fort Pitt, the announcement there was greeted with great joy and thanksgiving. "This peace," says a writer in Mr. Craig's "Olden Time," " removed for- ever from our vicinity all fear of the arts and arms of the French."

And in the " History of Old Redstone" Dr. Joseph Smith says, page 52, " After the encroachments of the French and their Indian allies were successfully re- pelled, and the treaty of peace signed at Fontaine- bleau, Nov. 3, 1762, secured to the British crown this long-disputed section of the West, emigrants from Eastern Pennsylvania, Virginia, Scotland, and the north of Ireland began to pour in," etc.

Other testimony might be quoted to show that the date of " British dominion" was then fixed as of the third of November, 1762.

What is here recited is in explanation, in so far as now may be, of what was said by the few settlers and the officers and soldiers then in and around Fort Pitt, that George, the son of Jonathan Plumer, was the first male child born "to the westward" under the " British dominion."

The portion of Croghan's grant owned by Jonathan Plumer was held by him till about 1777, when he sold it back to Croghan ; but he, Col. Croghan, was then in financial troubles, and the whole was sold at sheriff's sale in July, 1783, and bought by Samuel Ewalt, whose old home on the land is yet in good condition.

The Plumer cabin stood about one hundred yards east of the Ewalt mansion.

George remained with his parents, becoming a noted hunter and scout, and occasionally accompanying parties of surveyors.

Soon after the close of the Revolutionary war, Miss Margaret Lowrey, the youngest daughter of Col. Alexander Lowrey, of Donegal, Lancaster Co., Pa.,

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came over the mountains to visit her sisters, Mrs. Daniel Elliott and Mrs. John Hay.

Col. Lowrey was a prominent, wealthy, and influ- ential Indian trader of that day. Miss Lowrey first met with George Plumer in the store of Mr. Elliott, who introduced him quite kindly to her, as he had a friendly regard for the young " Buckskin."

They had occasional meetings, and became engaged; but Mrs. Hay, with whom Margaret was staying, op- posed the match, but in the following August of 1784 they made a " runaway match" of it and were mar- ried.

The first home of the newly-married pair was on the right bank of the Pucketos (now called Puckety) Creek, near Fort Crawford, where the husband had taken up three hundred acres of land and built a log cabin and cleared thirty acres. Here they struggled against cares and trials new to the wife, with no hope of the father's forgiveness. He worked hard, clear- ing and cultivating the land. Deer, bears, turkeys, and other game were abundant, and afforded them all the fresh meat which they needed.

They were, however, often annoyed by Indians, and compelled to take refuge at night in the adjoin- ing woods, and occasionally in Fort Crawford.

Their neighbors were Samuel Skillen, James Gray, Alexander Logan, and Robert Hays, who had mar- ried Mr. Plumer's sister Nancy.

George Plumer and Robert Hays being called on to perform one month of military service as scouts, an attorney of Pittsburgh took advantage of their absence to send a surveyor to survey their lands, and had patents taken out before they knew anything about it; by this they lost their all.

Up to this time Mr. Plumer had never met his father-in-law ; their meeting was a curious one. Col. Lowrey had a body of land north of Hannastown, about which there was some litigation. Preparatory to the trial of the case, Col. Lowrey was out with surveyors, when George Plumer, who was hunting in that direction, accidentally met the party. The sur- veyors, with whom he was well acquainted, after shaking hands, introduced him to his astonished father-in-law; but the colonel, having been preju- diced against him by John Hay, was cold and dis- tant, but eyed him sharply. Mr. Plumer, however, maintained his serenity, and making gradual ap- proaches to the colonel, finally invited him to go home with him and see his daughter and grand- children. But the colonel declined, and after shak- ing hands they separated.

But the old trader's heart was touched, and he fol- lowed his son-in-law in a day or so, and entering the cabin unannounced, overwhelmed his daughter and her little sons with embraces, and all was well again. After spending some days with them he told Mr. Plumer that there were three fine tracts of land near the mouth of Big Sewickley Creek belonging to Simon Gratz (with whom he was in extensive business rela-

tions), and for him to go and make a selection, and he would give it to him and his wife. This was speedily done, and in 1791 George Plumer built a house on the tract, at the mouth of the Sewickley, and moved into it.

After the Plumers had been two years on their new place Col. Lowrey made them another visit, and was so much pleased with improvements by Mr. Plumer's energy and industry that he gave him eight hundred pounds to erect mills.

The next year the colonel was out again, and found the saw-mill up, running, and masons at work on the foundation for a grist-mill. He was delighted, and gave Mr. Plumer three hundred pounds, and sent him burr-stones for his mill. The following year Mrs. Plumer and her sister Mary went East to see their father, and just before they started for home he gave each of them five hundred pounds.

Soon after his wife's return Mr. Plumer was taken down with fever, from which he recovered slowly. During his protracted illness a sudden freshet swept away his mill-dam, which in his feeble condition greatly discouraged him, and finally, in connection with his physician's warning against continued hard work, induced him to sell his mills, with some adjoin- ing lands, to Maj. Michael and Adam Frichman.

In the following year Mr. Plumer built a large square log house on the upper portion of his farm, to which he removed, and in it spent the remaining por- tion of his days.

Early in 1808 he opened a store in connection with his large distillery and farming business. In 1812, Mr. Plumer was elected to the Legislature, and was re- elected in 1813, 1814, 1815, and 1817.

On the 24th of June, 1818, he lost his wife, the be- loved of his youth. In her cultivated and refined society he had in a great measure overcome the dis- advantages of imperfect education, and suited himself for the higher duties which, in the latter years of his life, he was called on to perform.

In 1820, Mr. Plumer was elected a representative to the Seventeenth Congress of the United States, and was re-elected to the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Con- gresses.

On the 14th of November, 1821, he was married to his second wife, Miss Martha Dean, of Indiana County, Pa., who survived him some years.

In 1826 the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church decided to establish a theological seminary west of the mountains, and a board of directors, con- sisting of twenty-one ministers and nine ruling elders, was elected by ballot to report the following year a suitable location for it in or near Pittsburgh. Mr. Plumer was one of the nine ruling elders; he, how- ever, did not favor the site finally selected on Hogback Hill, in Allegheny Town, but advocated the purchase of Braddock's Field.

In 1832, Mr. Plumer was again urged to permit his name to be used as a candidate for Congress, but he

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declined, and spent the remainder of his days in the quietude of private life.

Of the children of George and Margaret Plumer, four, namely, Jonathan, Alexander, John C., and Lazarus Lowrey, were born on Puckety, and the re- mainder of their children, Mary, Nancy, Sarah, Wil- liam, Elizabeth, and Rebecca, were born on the place bounded by the Youghiogheny and Sewickley. All but Jonathan and Rebecca were married and raised families, and all are deceased except William, whose years go with the century, having been born in 1800, an old man indeed, but still erect in form, remarkably active, and with memory quite unimpaired in all mat- ters of the local history of his native county of West- moreland, an invaluable assistant in his recollection of men and events of a past generation.

The following are a few of the names of the first Sewickley neighbors of George Plumer: Anthony Blackburn and his sons, Joseph, John, Anthony, and William ; James and John Thompson; Isaac Miller, a soldier of the Revolution; Isaac Robb, who bought out John Simerall, who established "Simerall's ferry" and laid out "Robbstown," now West Newton; Col. Davis, a surveyor; Christian Funk, farmer and miller; Gaspard Markle, the father of that noble man, Gen. Joseph Markle; Patrick Campbell; Alexander and William Simerall; Nathan McGrew ; James Caldwell, whose father was cousin to the father of John Cald- well Calhoun, of South Carolina; Benjamin and Abner Gilbert; James, David, and Isaac Maines; James and Abraham Davidson; John Milligan, Esq .; John Jack; John Carnahan; John Cooper; James Carothers, a soldier of the Revolution, and others, but these will suffice.

We close this sketch of one of the representative men of the early day of Western Pennsylvania with the following notice of his decease from the pen of his nephew, the Rev. William S. Plumer, D.D., at that time editor of the newspaper Watchman of the South, in which it appeared in Richmond, Va., June 22, 1843 :

"Died, near West Newton, Pennsylvania, on the 8th inst., Hon. George Plumer, who was a representative in Cougrees for six years from the Westmoreland district, aged eighty years, six months, and three days.

"It has often been said of him that he was the oldest man living born west of the mountains. He outlived all his brothers, of whom he had seven. He was by nature remarkably generous and kind. A more af- fectionate relative no nuan bad. He has left a large family of children and grandchildren. His last illness continued more than four weeks. A large concourse of sympathizing friends and acquaintances attended his burial from his own residence, where his pastor, Rev. Mr. Gillett, delivered an appropriate and impressive discourse. By a fall in the winter he received considerable personal injury, but recovered so far as in the month of May to ride several miles to Sewickley Church, where he conducted a prayer-meeting with much ability and solemnity. That night he was taken with violent pains through his whole frame. From the first of this attack he believed it would be fatal, and set his house in order.

" His views of religious truth were clear and solemn and appropriate. The blessed doctrine of the perfect righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ imputed to believers lay near his heart and wasall his hope. He recom- mended the blessed Saviour to all who visited him. He had spiritual conflicts in his last hours, but hope aud faith triumphed.

" Thus has fallen asleep one of the best of men, who while living was

revered by all good men who knew him; one who proved what upright- ness and the fear of God can do for those who are called to drink deeply of the cup of human suffering and sorrow.

"May his children and relatives (the editor of this paper is his nephew) and their descendants have like precious faith, and obtain like good re- port."

ALEXANDER PLUMER.

Alexander Plumer was the second child of George and Margaret Plumer, born in their first home on Puckety, Dec. 18, 1786.

Feb. 15, 1810, he was married to Susan, daughter of Isaac Robinson, of Versailles township, Allegheny County, Pa. By this union there were two children,- Jean, born April 4, 1811, yet surviving, the widow of Jesse Greer. The mother died 8th of August, 1814.

Nov. 3, 1815, Mr. Plumer married Elizabeth Moore, by whom he had four children. His second wife died July 16, 1844. Sept. 7, 1846, he married Miss Eleanor Reynolds, who died April 23, 1860.

March 13, 1862, he married Miss Livia E. Maclay, who survives him, residing in Peoria, Ill.

Alexander Plumer had an aptitude for business and trade which in more propitious times would have brought him distinction and wealth. He was early placed in his father's store on the farm adjoining Robbstown, and when it was transferred to the village was intrusted with its management. When it was closed out, Mr. Plumer formed a partnership with Messrs. Cromwell & Dent, merchants, in Pittsburgh, and conducted for several years a large general trade, including the receipt of goods by wagon from the East, and shipment by keel-boats to Pittsburgh to his part- ners there for the lower country.

Robbstown was then one of the points of river navigation for emigrants to the Ohio country, and A. Plumer & Co. furnished boats and supplies to the "movers." But they were involved in the embar- rassments of the Pittsburgh house, the members of which removed to Missouri, where, on a farm on which he afterwards resided, near St. Louis, the daughter of Frederick Dent married Capt. Ulysses S. Grant.

When A. Plumer & Co. were sold out by their creditors he was left with an indebtedness of six thousand dollars beyond their assets. For this he was given an extension of ten years, with annual payments, and to the payment of his firm's debts he bent all his energies. He took charge of the im- provement of the Youghiogheny River by dams and wing-walls under supervision of government en- gineers. Next he made several trading voyages on the lower rivers, and with William T. Nicholls, Samuel Hunter, John Robertson, and his brother-in- law, James Smith, brought droves of cattle, sheep, and hogs from Ohio to the Eastern markets. In 1826-27 he built half the distance of turnpike from Robbs- town to Williamsport, and was one of the contrac. tors for building the bridge at Robbstown. He put down several wells for salt on the Sewickley Creek, in doing which he invented the plan of casing his

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History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 159

Author: George Dallas Albert, editor Publication date: Publisher: Number of Pages:

Author: George Dallas Albert, editor
Publication date:
Publisher:
Number of Pages: