History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 161

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In 1863 Mr. Kreps was appointed a commissioner to visit the Pennsylvania regiments attached to Rosecrans' army in Tennessee, where he spent five I sary of their married life.

or six weeks. Three of his sons were in this branch of the army. In 1864, with a number of other gen- tlemen, he was again appointed a commissioner to visit the Pennsylvania regiments in front of Rich- mond and Petersburg, and to supervise the Presiden- tial election of that year. He has always felt a deep interest in the improvement and welfare of his adopted home, and has at different times been elected to a place in the Borough Council and school board. In 1869 he was honored by an election to a seat in the Legislature from the Westmoreland and Indiana leg- islative district, and served in the session of 1870. Mr. and Mrs. Kreps, although partially reared in an- other branch of the Christian Church, have for near half a century been attached to the Methodist Epis- copal Church. A license to preach as a local preacher is among the many positions of honor and trust to which Mr. Kreps has been called by his church. Ac- cording to their means they have been liberal con- tributors to the different benevolent institutions of the church, especially to the Freedman's Aid Society, in which they have always felt a deep interest.

Their family consists of six sons and two daughters living, and one son and one daughter. deceased, twenty-eight grandchildren living and six deceased. We give the following personnel of their descendants : Catherine, the eldest, wife of Dr. J. Q. Robinson, of West Newton; four daughters and one son living, and one daughter deceased. George Rippey Kreps, postmaster, Greenville, Mercer Co., Pa .; four daugh- ters living and one deceased. Hannah, wife of A. E. Dravo, Sewickley township; three sons and one daughter living, and one son deceased. Capt. John W. Kreps, proprietor of dry-docks, Allegheny City ; three sons and two daughters living, and one daugh- ter deceased. Maj. Frank A. M. Kreps, business manager of Evening Mail, Allegheny City ; one son and one daughter living, and one son deceased. Lieut. Adam T. Kreps, manufacturer of engines, saw-mills, etc., Greenville, Mercer Co., Pa .; three sons living. David Dempsey Kreps, manufacturer of lumber, and planing-mill, Greenville; two sons and one daughter living and one son deceased. Capt. William Augustus Kreps, lumber manufac- turer and planing-mill, Greenville; one son and one daughter living. His oldest grandson, Jacob Ford- ney Kreps, Jr., was appointed one of the pages of the House by Gen. Selfridge, Clerk of the House, at the session of 1870, and in 1879, after a competitive examination, in which twenty-three participated, he was appointed a cadet to the United States Military Academy at West Point from the Twenty-third Dis- trict by Col. Thomas M. Bayne, M.C., and he expects to graduate in June, 1883.

Mr. and Mrs. Kreps still reside at West Newton, where, on Jan. 20, 1881, surrounded by their numer- ous descendants and a large company of their friends and neighbors, they celebrated the fiftieth anniver-

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J. P. CAROTHERS.

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JAMES P. CAROTHERS.

James P. Carothers was born near Port Royal, South Huntingdon township, Westmoreland Co., Pa., Sept. 18, 1806.

His grandfather, James Carothers, emigrated from Ireland, and eventually settled on a farm situated on the Little Sewickley Creek, Sewickley township, about three miles north of the present homestead. He served as a soldier in the war of the Revolution, in a company raised principally in Lancaster County, Pa. He was twice married. By his first wife he had six children, viz .: John, James, Samuel, Martha, Jane, and Elizabeth. John and Samuel were twins. James was twice married. By his first wife he had two daughters; by his second, Elizabeth McClure, one son, John Carothers, a farmer, living in South Hun- tingdon. Samuel married Ruth Elliott, by whom he had two sons and five daughters. He carried on the old homestead farm in Sewickley, and both he and his wife died there. Martha, wife of James Kirker, a merchant in North Huntingdon township. Dr. William Kirker is their only son .. Jane, wife of John Richey, a farmer and coppersmith, moved from South Huntingdon, and settled in Wayne County, Ohio, where they died, leaving a large family. Elizabeth, wife of Charles Hunter, a merchant in Port Royal, no children. Both died there. John Carothers, one of the twins above named, and father of James P., was born in Sewickley township, Westmoreland County, in the year 1789. He was a convert under the preach- ing of Rev. Dr. Power, whose daughter Isabella he afterwards married. He was a man distinguished for his kindness and charity, and his house was the home of the Christian minister ; his hospitality was shared alike by the poor and the rich. In 1808 he moved from a farm near Port Royal, and settled on the farm which has since been the homestead of the family, situated near Millgrove, on the Greensburg road. It consists of one hundred and eighty-one and a quarter acres, and was a portion of a tract deeded by patent to John Barr and James Wilson, described in the original patent as a certain tract of land called " Bachelor's Hall." At the time of his settlement on the place only a log house had been erected and a small clearing made in the forest.

He was by trade a coppersmith, and while he cleared and worked his farm by day, he worked at his trade at night. He had remarkable health and vigor until within a few months of his death, which occurred at the homestead Dec. 2, 1858. His wife died many years before. Both are buried in the Se- wickley Church burying-ground.

The children of John and Isabella Carothers were as follows : James P., Mary, Catharine, and William Swan. Mary moved to Illinois with her sister Cath- arine, and died near Rockford, in that State. Cath- arine was married to the Rev. Joseph B. McKee, a Presbyterian clergyman, and pastor for several years in the West Newton and Sewickley Churches, and

afterwards at Harmony and Indian Creek. He had made preparation to move to Illinois with his family, but was taken sick at West Newton and died there. Eventually Mrs. McKee .moved to Illinois, and sub- sequently to the State of Minnesota. She has three children, and at the present time she is living with her son John. William Swan was educated at Jef- ferson College, moved to Illinois, married, and died there.

James P. Carothers was two years old when his father moved on to the farm which has ever since been held in the family. Upon the death of his father he came into its possession by will after pay- ing certain specified amounts to his brothers and sisters. As a farmer he was thorough and painstak- ing. He made many improvements to the residence and farm buildings. In politics he was Republican. For many years he was a member of the Sewickley Presbyterian Church, and was three times elected to the office of ruling elder. He married, May 4, 1843, Jane K., daughter of Robert and Mary (Kerr) Moore.

Mrs. Carothers was born in Nottingham township. Washington County, Pa., Oct. 11, 1824. On the father's side she comes from one of the oldest families of Ros- traver township. Her mother was a granddaughter of the Rev. James Power, D.D., the second clergyman upon the frontier in Western Pennsylvania, and the founder of the old Sewickley Church. Mr. and Mrs. Carothers' children are as follows : John C., born April 14, 1845; Mary F., born June 6, 1848; Isabella, born Oct. 18, 1851. By will of his father, which pro- vided for the payment to his mother and sisters of certain amounts of money, John C. Carothers became the owner of the homestead farm, and carries it on. The family at the homestead consists of himself, mother, and sister Mary F. Isabella is wife of Shep- ard B. Markle, Jr., living at the old Markle home- stead at Millgrove. There were eleven children in the family of Robert and Mary Moore, viz. : David, Eliza, Louisa, Obadiah, Ard, Robert, Maria, Jane K., James, Frances, and John Power. Obadiah died at the age of two, and John Power at the age of twenty. All the rest were married and, except Frances, raised families, and all are deceased except Mrs. Carothers and Louisa, widow of Robert Mccullough, who lives in Jackson County, Ill. Mr. Moore was an elder in Pigeon Creek Church over forty years.

The following extract from an obituary notice will give something of the estimate in which he was held : " In his death the church lost an efficient member, his family an affectionate husband and father, and the community a useful citizen." He died June 8, 1850; his wife Oct. 19, 1838. James P. Carothers died Feb. 5, 1879. We cannot better close this sketch of him than to quote the following from an obituary notice of him written by the Rev. J. C. Maloy, pub- lished in the Presbyterian Banner : " A conscientious, upright citizen of more than ordinary intelligence, a man of liberal views in all matters pertaining to the

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public good, kind and tender towards any who were in trouble, for integrity of purpose, sound morals, and consistent Christian conduct no man stood higher in the community. In his death the church lost a liberal supporter, and the county one of its best citi- zens. He was greatly afflicted the last four years of his life. His illness commenced with gangrene in his foot, which defied the skill of his physician, and little by little brought him to the grave. He died as he lived, in full faith in Christ as his Saviour, and in full hope of a blessed immortality."

JACOB BAUGHMAN.

Jacob Baughman was born in Armstrong County, Pa., March 14, 1802. His grandfather, Henry Baugh- man, and grandmother, Catharine Conkle, emigrated from Germany with their parents, the former when four years, the latter when two years old, and settled in the "Blue Ridge" region of Pennsylvania, thirty miles from Lancaster City. Here they were married and raised a family of eight children, four sons and four daughters. They moved from the Blue Ridge, and settled in the eastern part of North Huntingdon township, seven and a half miles from Greensburg, where he purchased six hundred acres of land at twenty shillings per acre. Their children were Mar- garet, John, Adam, Barbara, Catharine, Sarah, Peter, and Henry. Henry was killed by the falling of a tree at the age of twenty-two. All the rest were mar- ried and, except Peter and Margaret, raised families.

Adam Baughman, his third child, and father of Jacob, married Magdalene, daughter of Peter Roof (or Rugh). She was born near Greensburg in 1779; her grandparents emigrated from Germany. Her uncle, Jacob Roof, represented his district in the Legislature for a number of years. There were four- teen children in her father's family, six sons and eight daughters, to each of whom he either gave a home or money to procure one. Six of them settled in Kentucky ; all the rest remained in Westmoreland County.

After his marriage Adam Baughman settled on a farm in Armatrong County, about seventy miles up the Allegheny River, and here four children, viz. : Catharine, Michael, Polly, and Jacob, were born. Upon the death of his brother Henry, to whom in the division of their father's estate the homestead had fallen, he sold his place in Armstrong County and returned to Westmoreland, and became the owner of and occupied the homestead until his death. Here the following children were born, viz .: Elizabeth, Margaret, Peter, Anna, Henry, Christian, and Lydia. Henry died at the age of eleven. All the rest were married and raised families, and, with the exception of Polly and Christian, settled in Westmoreland County, and all are deceased (1882) except Jacob, Christian, Anna, and Polly. Catharine was wife of George Krok, one child; Michael was twice married,

and raised a family of fourteen children; Polly mar- ried Joseph Klingensmith, one son ; Elizabeth, wife of Joseph Lenhart, two sons and six daughters; Mar- garet, wife of George Croushore, six sons and four daughters; Peter married Elizabeth Lenhart, three sons and nine daughters ; Anna, wife of John Berlin, six sons and three daughters; Christian married Sarah Diel, one son and six daughters; Lydia, wife of Samuel Alshouse, four sons and six daughters. Adam Baughman died at the homestead in 1841, aged sixty- eight; his wife in 1831, aged fifty-two.

Jacob Baughman was an infant when his father moved from Armstrong County to the homestead. Here he lived until he was twenty-two years of age. He received the education afforded by winter attend- ance at the common school. He married Aug. 5, 1824, Margaret, daughter of Daniel and Elizabeth (Turney) Cort.

Mrs. Baughman was born in Hempfield township, Westmoreland County, July 24, 1804, the eldest in a family of fourteen children, all but one of whom were married, and settled in Pennsylvania, Colorado, and Iowa.

In April, 1825, Mr. Baughman moved on to a farm belonging to his father in North Huntingdon town- ship, five miles from West Newton, which he carried on for three years. During this time he accumulated a capital of $800, with which in the spring of 1828 he came to West Newton, where he purchased of John Richie an acre of ground, upon which a tannery and log house had been erected, for which he stipulated to pay $1200, half down and half upon credit, leaving him $200 working capital. He built a slaughter- house upon the place, and for seven years carried on there the business of tanning and butchering. At the end of that time he purchased 85 acres lying north of the village, for which he paid $4000, and in 1836 he added 762 acres at $5000, lying on the south and east side of the village, purchased of John Nic- colla, Jr., and in the spring of 1837 moved on to the latter property. The house, still a substantial farm residence, was built in 1776 by Joseph Van Kirk. Here he resided until 1879. He built upon the place a new tannery and slaughter-house.

In 1837 he purchased in West Newton a store, which he carried on for three years, and subsequently, from 1858 to 1865, was interested in a store with Daniel Swaim. He owned and ran a grist- and saw-mill, to- gether with salt-works at the mouth of the Big Se- wickley, which he sold to Alexander Plumer in 1845. The same year he purchased the grist- and saw-mills now known as the Apple Mills, on the Big Sewickley, which he operated twenty years, selling them to Mr. Apple in 1865. His dealings for years in grain, flour, cattle, and hogs were very large for the locality, his sales in flour alone often amounting to seven and eight hundred barrels per day, while he kept not only his own but many of the neighboring mills employed in grinding his wheat. Though he operated at dif-

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ferent times in any commodity out of which he might realise a prodt, be held well on to his original busi- ness of farming, tanning, and butchering as sheet- anchors, which from first to last under his vigorous management yielded him sure and ample returns. His dealings in real estate, besides the purchases al- ready mentioned, have been quite extensive in the vicinity of West Newton and in the State of Iowa, in all amounting to several thousand acres, enough, indeed, to give all his children a farm and still have enough left to occupy the time of his old age, either for farming or disposing of in village lots.

From the first Mr. Baughman took an active inter- est in every effort to make West Newton accessible to the markets. To this end he took stock in the West Newton and Somerset plank-road, in the Youghio- gheny Slack-Water Navigation Company, in the steamers "Shriver" and " West Newton," plying be- tween West Newton and Pittsburgh, and in the Pitts- burgh and Connellsville Railroad, enterprises which benefited the town, but which yielded to their pos- nessor no dividends.

He was on the building committee with Alexander and John C. Pfumer, Henry Fulton, William Linn, and Judge Bell in the construction of the West New- ton bridge, and when Jacob Mace, its builder, was likely to fail of completing his contract on account of the difficulty of collecting subscriptions, Mr. Baughman came to his rescue by timely raising the necessary funds.

Like many others, Mr. Baughman "took a hand" in oil operations, which only resulted in the loss of many thousands invested.

In politics he is a stanch Republican, but has never desired or sought office.

For many years he was a member of the Lutheran, and his wife of the German Reformed Churches, but for the last twenty-five years they have been members of the Presbyterian Church at West Newton.

Their children are as follows :

Lavina, born Aug. 28, 1825, married John Parson, & farmer living in Cass County, Iowa. Two children, Simon and Elizabeth.

Elizabeth, born Nov. 3, 1826, wife of George Welty, farmer, living at Pleasant Unity, Pa. Nine children, Jacob, Louise, John, Sherman, Susanna, Rose, Cort, Samuel, and Clara. John and Susanna are deceased.

William, born June 19, 1828, a farmer in Cass County, Iowa, and a member of the State Legislature, married Barbara Schwartz. Children, Henry, Jacob, Cyrus, John, Emma, Addie, Samuel, Mary, Clara, and Albert.

Adam, born Feb. 16, 1830, living in California.

Harriet, born Jan. 27, 1832, wife of George Greer. Both deceased.

Sarah Ann, born March 7, 1834, wife of William Fritchman. Two children, Edith and Elizabeth.

Cyrus, born Feb. 21, 1836, married Martha Ann Clark, living in Cass County, Iowa. Children, Henry, 48

Margaret (deceased), Joseph, Lewis, Lavina, Eliza- beth, William, and an infant.

Martha, born March 2, 1888, wife of William Hay- worth, living in Iowa.

Henry Harrison, born May 25, 1840, enlisted as private in Company E, One Hundred and Fifth Reg- iment Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, wounded at the battle of Yorktown, from the effect of which he died April 19, 1868.

Samuel, born Sept. 15, 1842, enlisted as private in Company E, Thirteenth Regiment of Pennsylvania Cavalry Volunteers, March 10, 1862, promoted to ser- geant, and honorably discharged March 10, 1865, at Wilmington, N. C. Now a merchant in West Newton, of the firm of Baker & Co. Married Margaret Baker.

Joseph, born May 24, 1844, married Sarah Simrall. Both deceased. Children, Frank, Charles, and Eben- ezer.

Lucian, born June 2, 1846, married Jane Gracely. Children, Margaret, George, Alvin, Martha, Annie, Wesley, and Ira. Living in Pottawattomie County, Iowa.

Ebenezer, born March 21, 1848, married Amanda Smith. Children, Minnie (deceased), Grace, Edward, Mary, James (deceased). A farmer owning and liv- ing on the old Niccolls farm.

In 1879 Mr. Baughman purchased in West Newton, on Vine Street, the property of Philip Nett, where he has since resided. The family consists of himself and wife, and his son Samuel and wife, and grandson Frank. As will be seen from this account, the Scrip- tural injunction "to multiply and replenish the earth" has been literally fulfilled in the Baughman family. A patriarch indeed is he who may number at a family reunion ten children, forty-one grand, and fifteen great-grandchildren.

The declining years of Mr. and Mrs. Baughman are indeed blessed with the conscious enjoyment of the love and filial regard of this large family circle, and the best esteem of the entire community in which they have lived for more than half a century.

DR. LEWIS SUTTON.

Dr. Lewis Sutton was born in Rostraver township, Westmoreland County, Pa., April 15, 1820. His father relinquishing his trade purchased a farm in Eliza- beth township, Allegheny County, Pa. In the year 1824 moved thereon with his family ; at a very early age was placed at labor in assisting his father on the farm. While thus engaged his primary education was not neglected, his father securing for him one or two terms annually at common school, at which he obtained a good English education. At or about the age of eighteen, desirous of furthering his education, obtained the consent of his father, was placed in a select school (Peter Hayden being the teacher), where he commenced studying the languages. He remained with him one year as a pupil, then was placed at a

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select school in Elizabeth, Allegheny Co., Pa. (Rev. Mckinstry being principal), he remaining about one year under his instruction, at the close of which time, being desirous of a more advanced education, became a student at Washington College, Washington County, Pa .; continued his studies at this college for about two years. At the close of that period, being eager to study a profession, selected medicine as his choice. In the year 1845 entered the office of Dr. John Has- son, now deceased, in West Newton, Pa., as medical student, there remaining until the month of Febru- ary, 1846. Through the advice of his preceptor, went to Philadelphia, Pa., in view of facilitating his studies in medicine, where he spent about two months in at- tending anatomical lectures, dissecting, and clinics in Pennsylvania Hospital, at the close of which re- turned to the office of Dr. John Hasson, remaining under his instruction during the summer months. In the fall of this year returned to the city ; entered the office of Dr. A. B. Campbell (now deceased) as a stu- dent ; spent much of his time in the doctor's private dissecting-room, in the way of dissecting and securing anatomical knowledge; at the same time matricu- lated at the Jefferson Medical College, attending the medical lectures delivered therein. During the ses- sion of 1846 and 1847 entered the Philadelphia Hospi- tal for daily medical instruction and bedside experi- ence, remaining at this hospital for one year. After the close of the session at the Jefferson Medical Col- lege matriculated for the summer term of 1847 at the Philadelphia Medical Association, at the same time continuing his daily visits at the hospital. In the fall of this year matriculated again at the Jefferson Medical College for the session of 1847 and 1848, at- tending the lectures therein during this term. At the close of this session the degree of Doctor of Medicine was conferred upon him.

. In the month of March, 1848, after receiving his diploma, returned to his father's in Allegheny County, Pa., remaining there a few months, but spent a greater part of his time in traveling. On the 22d of February, 1849, selected Mendon and vicinity as his place of practicing his profession. In due time he built up a large and extensive practice, which he held without interruption till the fall of 1877, when he found his labor and close confinement to business re- quired a rest and relinquishment for a time. He there- fore withdrew from business in his old vicinity, went to Philadelphia, Pa., visited his old alma mater, Jef- ferson Medical College, became a regular attendant upon the course of lectures delivered therein, also attending the clinics delivered at the most important hospitals in the city. Returning in the month of April, 1878, he resumed practice at his former place.

Finding much benefit derived from this course in the way of improving his health as well as medical knowl- edge, he returned to Philadelphia in the fall of 1878, which he has continued to do for the past five winters regularly, spending his time there in attending lectures

and clinics, and in taking special courses in the science of medicine, such as on the eye, under Dr. Little, chief in ophthalmology in the Jefferson Medical Hospital; heart and lungs, Dr. Bingham, chief in the medical department in the hospital; ear and throat, Dr. Trumbull, also chief in the same hospital ; on dermatology, Dr. John V. Shoomaker, principal in the American Hospital for Skin Diseases. For the past ten years has always kept a young physician with him, in the way of aiding him in acute diseases; has for the past five years relinquished much of the general practice, attention to chronic diseases occu- pying much of his time in office practice.

John Button, the father of Lewis Sutton, was born in New Jersey, Dec. 1, 1782; died Aug. 29, 1856; was the oldest son of Jonathan and Hannah Sutton ; was raised and educated there; learned the carpenter and cabinet-making trades. Came to Westmoreland County, Pa., the year 1812 ; located at Budd's Ferry, where he worked at his trades. Was married to Amy Bndd, Sept. 21, 1818, who was the oldest daughter of Col. Joseph Budd, deceased. After moving, located at the Deep Cut (Rostraver township, Westmoreland County, Pa.), where he continued to labor at his trades. Had five children, three sons and two daughters. About the year 1824 purchased a farm in Elizabeth township, Allegheny County, Pa., where he moved during the same year, at the same time quitting his trades, devoting his whole time to farming and stock- raising. By industry and economy accumulated wealth, investing in lands, and at his death possessed several hundred acres of land and a considerable amount of money.

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History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 161

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

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