History of the city of Washington and Washington County, Pennsylvania and representative citizens 20th century, Part 215

Author: McFarland, Joseph Fulton; Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1474

USA > Pennsylvania > Washington County > Washington > History of the city of Washington and Washington County, Pennsylvania and representative citizens 20th century > Part 215

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Early in the spring of 1798, James McNary and his wife Margaret (Reed) McNary, crossed the Allegheny Mountains and located in Cross Creek Township, Wash- ington County, upon a part of the tract of land, received as compensation by his father-in-law, Col. Reed, from Col. James Marshall, for the transportation of Rev. Joseph Smith and family over the mountains to become the first pastor of the Cross Creek Presbyterian Church -the said Rev. Smith being the "worthy" in honor of whom Smith Township was named, at the date of the organization of the county. After a brief wedded life of eleven years James McNary died, July 12, 1809, aged forty years. His devoted widow survived her husband fifty-seven years, dying at the home of her son, Joseph

McNary, in Smith Township, May 25, 1866, aged ninety- four years. They were the parents of six children, three sons and three daughters, namely: John, Joseph and James; Nancy, wife of John McKee; Esther, wife of Judge Thomas McCarrell; and Janet, wife of Joseph Lyle. James and Margaret McNary were members of the Seceder (now the U. P.) Church at Hickory, Pa., and they are interred in the U. P. Cemetery at that place.

Joseph McNary, father of our subject, and second son of James and Margaret (Reed) McNary, was born on the home place in Cross Creek Township, June 16, 1802. He was reared to an agricultural life and being early orphaned, had few advantages for intellectual im- provement and self culture; yet, by strict industry, economy and perseverance, he rose to occupy an honored position among his fellow citizens, and became a power for good in the community in which he resided. On the second day of March, 1826, he was wedded to Jane Rea, youngest daughter of William Rea, Esq., of Cross Creek Township, who, along with James Edgar and Aaron Lyle, composed the "trinity" of prominent and active public leaders in pioneer times. William Rea was a son of Col. Samuel Rea, of Northampton County, Pa., who was an officer in the Continental forces in the time of the Revolution. A sister of William Rea, Ann Rea, a daughter of Col. Samuel Rea, was the grandmother of the wife of the late ex-President Benjamin Harrison. After a brief residence in Cross Creek Township, Joseph and Jane (Rea) McNary removed in the year 1827, to . Smith Township, locating upon the premises now owned and occupied by the Jones Brothers, for the operating of the "Francis Mines" of the Pittsburg-Buffalo Coal Company, on the Panhandle Railroad, one mile west of Burgettstown, Pa. Here they continued to reside to the end of their days. Joseph McNary was a successful and progressive farmer and filled many local positions of trust with fidelity and honor. He was long a ruling elder in the U. P. Church at Burgettstown, Pa. He reared a family of ten children who lived to maturity- two sons: Joseph R. McNary, (subject proper) and W. James McNary, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere, and eight daughters. The mother of this family died in 1866; the father in 1874. Both are interred in the Fairview Cemetery at Burgettstown, Pa.

Joseph Rea McNary, eldest son of Joseph and Jane (Rea) MeNary, was born on the old McNary homestead , in Smith Township, one mile west of Burgettstown (on. the line of the P., C., C. & St. L. R. R.) July 19, 1847, where he was reared to manhood, receiving the benefit of a public school education, supplemented by a course of instruction in the grammar school of Prof. S. F. Patterson, who later became Speaker of the Pennsyl-

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GENEALOGICAL CHART OF FAMILY OF JOSEPH R. McNARY

John McNary (1738=1802), Col. Joseph Reed (1733=1804), and Col. Samuel Rea (1734-1813) served as officers in the Revolutionary Army.

James McNary

John McNary 1738-1802 Esther Boyle

James McNary 1711-1796 (Born in Scotland) York Co., Pa. 1

Joseph McNary

[Col. Joseph Reed 1733-1804

Margaret Reed

Janet Brotherton 1745-1838

[Jos. R. McNary

Alexander Rea 1700-

Bessie (McNary) Scott

William Rea

Col. Saml. Rea 1734-1813

Ann McCracken

(Born in Ireland) Northampton Co., Pa.

Ethel R. McNary Joseph Vance Mc- Nary

Jane Mason

Georgiana (McN.) Taylor

[Isaac Ghrist

Saml. James Mc- Nary

[Saml. J. Ghrist

Maria Willison

Catherine Ghrist

John Stevenson

James Stevenson

Mary

Elizabeth Steven- son

Jane Vance

Maj. Joseph Vance. 1750-1832

William Vance 1718-1788 (Born in Scotland) Winchester, Va. L

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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY

Jane Rea

Thomas Mason

Katharyn (McN.) McCalmont

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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY

vania House of Representatives. In connection with his brother, W. James McNary, J. R. McNary took charge of the home farm after the death of the father in 1874, and engaged in farming and stock raising, breeding and exhibiting American Merino sheep and Poland China swine. Later the homestead was divided between the brothers, J. R. retaining the "mansion" property. Here the McNary brothers resided until 1903, when their two farms became the property of the Pittsburg-Buffalo Coal Company, and is the site of their extensive "Francis Mines" west of Burgettstown.

In November, 1875, J. R. MeNary was united in mar- riage to Catherine Ghrist, daughter of the late Samuel J. Ghrist, of Burgettstown. Mrs. J. R. McNary is a granddaughter of Jane (Vance) Stevenson, wife of James Stevenson, (one of the early settlers of Smith Township, and a soldier of 1812,) and a daughter of Maj. Joseph Vance, who came from Winchester, Va., and located at and erected Vance's Fort, in Cross Creek Township, in 1773. This fort or "block house," was the city of refuge for the pioneer settlers of the north- ern townships of the county, in the perilous days of Indian depredations, during, and following the "Lord Dunmore" War. Maj. Vance was a leader among the pioneers of those troubled times, and he, along with many other settlers of the northern townships, accom- panied the famous "Williamson Expedition" to the Moravian Settlement in Ohio, in the year 1783, that has been the subject of much comment, favorable and otherwise, for the past century and a quarter. This in- cident reminds us that all races of the human family possess a "streak of the wild" which may, under intense provocation, hark back to acts of primitive savagery.

To Joseph R. and Catherine G. McNary have been born six children. Bessie Jane is the wife of John M. Scott, of Chester, W. Va. They have two children- Catherine E. and Harry McNary. Ethel R. McNary is a teacher and is a graduate of the Indiana (Pa.) State Normal School. Joseph V., the eldest son, is a civil engineer, a graduate of the Pennsylvania State College, 1905, and is assistant engineer in the Bureau of Con- struction, Pittsburg, Pa. On October 16, 1907, he was married to Catherine Luke Hays, daughter of Rev. Dr. W. M. Hays, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Burgettstown. They have one daughter, Mary Helen. They reside in Brookline, South Side, Pittsburg; S. Georgiana McNary, a graduate of the Indiana State Normal School, Class of 1902, is the wife of William Ernest Taylor. He is a civil engineer and is president of the Monarch Coal Company of Pennington Gap, Va., general manager of mines at Wallsend, Ky., and of the Big Hill Coal Company, near Heidelburg, Ky. They have two daughters-Catherine Rosette and Georgiana.

Katherine G. McNary, the youngest daughter, is the wife of Samuel J. McCalmont, who is employed as book- keeper at the Francis Mines of the Pittsburg-Buffalo Coal Company, in Smith Township. They have one son, James Edwin. Samuel J. McNary, the youngest son, is a student at the Pennsylvania State College, in the Class of 1910, school of electrical engineering. After disposing of the farm to the Pittsburg-Buffalo Coal Com- pany, J. R. McNary and family removed to Burgettstown in 1905, where he now lives a retired life.

Early in life, Mr. McNary developed a taste for liter- ature; being of an inquiring bent of mind, and a dili- gent and persistent reader, he soon took rank as one of the well informed citizens of the township, and became a writer of some note. While upon the farm he was attached to the editorial staff of the National Stockman and Farmer, of Pittsburg, Pa., the leading agricultural paper of the East, to which publication he contributed for many years. He has served as township auditor and as school director and as a member of the Union Agri- cultural Association. As corresponding secretary he was largely instrumental in compiling and publishing of a complete history (in 1907) of the MeNary family of Pennsylvania, giving names and address of upward of 2,000 members of the "clan." In politics, Mr. McNary is a devout believer in the pure and simple Democracy of Thomas Jefferson, and is a party man up to the sup- porting of unworthy candidates for office-where a halt is called. In religion, Mr. McNary and family are Presbyterians, members of the First Presbyterian Church, Burgettstown, Rev. W. M. Hays, pastor.

GEORGE MYFORD,* who has been proprietor of the Hotel Myford at Charleroi, Pa., since October 14, 1907, was born in Allegheny County, Pa., and is a son of Fran- cis Myford, who for many years conducted a hotel at Sunnyside, Pa.

George Myford was reared at Sunnyside, Pa., and after leaving the school began working in the mines. It was in a mine accident that he, on September 11, 1893, lost his right arm, but in spite of this he continued at this work until 1900. He has since that time been engaged in the hotel business, conducting the Commercial Hotel at Monessen, Pa., for about five years before coming to Charleroi. On October 14, 1907, Mr. Myford bought the Hotel Chaney, now known as the Hotel Myford, from W. S. McFeely, and has since successfully conducted it. The hotel is located on the corner of Sixth street and Fal- lowfield avenue.

Mr. Myford was united in marriage with Miss Sarah H. Melvey and they have had seven children, namely: Mercy Iola, Ellen Marie, John Francis, Samuel Alexan- der Stopher, Ruth Eldora, George Curtis Gregg, and

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Jessie Irene. The last mentioned is deceased. Frater- nally, Mr. Myford is a member of the B. P. O. E., the Eagles and the Knights of Pythias.

ORRIN B. STEVENSON,* an enterprising young business man of Florence, Washington County, Pa., where he is manager of the R. P. Stevenson general store, was born at Frankfort, Beaver County, Pa., December 22, 1884, and is a son of R. P. and Nettie (Bigger) Steven- son.

R. P. Stevenson is a substantial farmer of Hanover Township, Washington County, where he owns 191 acres of valuable land. He is locally a man of importance and is secretary of the Hanover Township road com- mission, of which Orrin B. Stevenson is treasurer. He is the owner of the general store at Florence, which his son manages with much success, doing a large but safe business and displaying much mercantile capacity. R. P. Stevenson married Nettie Bigger, who is now deceased, and their children were: Laura B., who married Joseph D. Cooley; Richard R., and Orrin B.

Orrin B. Stevenson attended the Robert's school in Beaver County, later Frankfort Academy, and then was a student in the Washington Business College. He then went to Sheridanville with the intention of learning the carpenter's trade, but finding it not to his liking, turned his attention to dealing in real estate. His father then purchased the general store at Florence and Mr. Steven- son has managed the business at this point ever since and to great advantage. Both father and son are stanch Republicans. Mr. Stevenson was reared in the Presby- terian Church. He is a member of Lodge No. 607, Odd Fellows at Florence. He is one of the popular young men of the village.

WILLIAM G. BRENTON,* who with is brother, John- ston P. Brenton, owns and operates the Brenton Brothers' Meat Market at West Brownsville, Pa .; has been a resi- dent here since about 1894 and was born October 31, 1871 on a farm in East Pike Run Township, and is a son of Isaac and Jane (Johnston) Brenton.

Isaac Brenton, also a native of East Pike Run Town- ship, was born on the farm on which his father, Joseph . Brenton, a native of Virginia, settled at an early period. He married Jane Johnston, who was born in Ireland, and came to this country during her girlhood days, with her parents, Thomas Johnston and wife, and of their union were born the following children: Johnston P., who is engaged in business with our subject; James; William G .; Louisa, who married David Watkins; Henry; Emily; Elizabeth; Joseph, deceased; and Allen, deceased. The father died on the farm in East Pike Run Township when our subject was but a boy, and is still survived by his widow, who is a resident of West Brownsville, Pa.

William G. Brenton was reared on the farm, where

he continued to live until about 1894, when he came to West Brownsville, Pa., where for the past ten or twelve years he has been engaged in conducting a meat market in partnership with is brother, Johnston P. Brenton. The Brenton Brothers have established an extensive and prof- itable business at West Brownsville, and also own their own slaughter house in East Pike Run Township.

GEORGE N. CUMMINS,* general farmer, residing three miles north of Canonsburg, in Cecil Township, where he owns seventy-six acres of valuable land, was born in Chartiers Township, Washington County, Pa., and is a son of J. L. Cummins, who resides at Canons- burg. He attended school in both Chartiers and Inde- pendence Townships, after which he engaged in farm- ing on the home place until his marriage. Following that he resided for a time in Chartiers Township and then moved to Cecil Township, investing in his present property. He has done a large amount of improving here and carries on general farming and dairying, for the latter industry keeping thoroughbred cattle and shipping twenty-five gallons of milk daily to Pittsburg.

On March 3, 1882, Mr. Cummins was married to Miss Anna Crumm, a daughter of Andrew Crumm, of Canons- burg, and they have two children: Alvin L., a bright youth attending the Canonsburg Academy; and Lillian, who is a student in the home school. Mr. and Mrs. Cummins are members of the Greenside Presbyterian Church at Canonsburg. Although Mr. Cummins is in- terested in public matters in his own community and never fails to vote with the Republican party, it is a well known fact that he desires no political advancement for himself.

WILLIAM H. BOYLE,* a representative business man of Roscoe, Pa., where he is engaged in the grocery line, has been a resident of this town since April, 1897. He was born at Green Oaks, Allegheny County, Pa., June 1, 1875, and is a son of Edwin R. and Mary A. (Tyson) Boyle.

The parents of Mr. Boyle moved to Allenport, Pa., in 1881, where the father has been foreman of Vesta Mine No. 1 ever since, and William H. Boyle was reared there and after attending the local schools, began to work in the mines when sixteen years of age. Later he attended the State Normal School at California, Pa., and still later took a course at Monongahela College, at Jefferson, Pa. Mr. Boyle then accepted a position in a grocery store at MeKeesport, where he remained three and one- half years and then embarked in business for himself at Roscoe. Until 1900, he maintained his home at Elco and each day went back and forth, but then moved to Roscoe where he has resided ever since.

Mr. Boyle married Miss Fannie Gainer, a native of Washington County, and they have three children: Ed-

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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY

win, Grace and Dorothy. Mr. Boyle is a member of the Roscoe school board. He is identified with the Knights of the Golden Eagle.

BLANCHER DIX NORTHRUP, machinist, and owner of an iron and brass foundry at Washington, Pa., comes of one of the oldest established families in America, and is one of the leading and enterprising citizens of Wash- ington County.

The Northrup family was established in this country by Joseph Northrup, who landed here in 1637 and settled in Connecticut, where he married Mary Norton, and ac- cording to the records of Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York, ninety-five of his male descendants bearing the paternal name, fought for American Independence in the Revolutionary War. Our subject, B. D. Northrup, is of the ninth generation of the Northrup family in America. He was eight years of age when his parents came to the oil fields of Pennsylvania, which region was then but little better than a wilderness. His education was such as could be obtained in the schools of that period and we find him in his early boyhood pumping an oil well and running a regular tour from midnight until noon for the late Jonathan. Watson, of Titusville, Pa. At the age of sixteen years he apprenticed himself to J. H. Luther, of Petroleum City, Pa., who was re- garded as one of the best and most expert machinists in the oil country. After leaving the employ of Mr. Luther, he drifted with the excited element from Butler County to the Bullion field in Venango County, and in 1876 when Bullion's star commenced to pale he emi- grated to Bradford field, where he remained until 1880, when he went back to Butler County until 1884. He then went to Bradford field, where he worked as journey- man machinist until the shut-down movement was in- augurated, after which he came to Washington County and engaged in business for himself at Washington, his equipments being one lathe and one drill press. About this time Mr. Northrup perfected and placed upon the market his noted steam gas regulator, which met with most wonderful success, and two years after establish- ing the business was enabled to build his present plant to which he has since added a finely equipped iron and brass foundry. This plant lies 334 feet along the P., C., C. & St. L. R. R., is 165 feet in width and was erected in 1898, giving employment to about sixty men, all of whom are capable, many of them having been with Mr. Northrup fifteen years. The motive power of the plant is furnished by a gas engine, and the entire estab- lishment is heated by steam, the whole plant being one of the finest and most complete in the oil region. Mr. Northrup has given his entire time to the business and has demonstrated what perseverance and ability can accomplish, when justly applied, and has became con-

spicuous as a manufacturer of oil well devices and ap- pliances of various kinds. One of the principal products of his shops is the most reliable gas regulators in exist- ence, 8,000 of them being in use from New York to Cali- fornia, the territory embraced being the oil and gas fields of New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Indian Territory, Oklahoma and Canada. Mr. Northrup is also very successful in the manufacturing of "The Either Steam-Gas Engine."

Mr. Northrup is one of the leading citizens of Wash- ington County, enterprising, industrious and ever ready to give aid to any enterprise, which tends to develop or improve the community in which he lives.

In 1882, Mr. Northrup was joined in marriage with Emma Hollobaugh, who was born at Brady's Bend, Armstrong County, and is the youngest daughter of Squire Jacob Hollobaugh, of Armstrong County. Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Northrup, namely : Mary, married F. C. Coppes, of Allegheny; Burton, a student at Cornell University; and Sarah Margaret at home.

WILLIAM T. MITCHELL,* one of Washington's leading business men, who has been engaged in the gro- cery business here since 1907, was born in Center County, Pa., in 1856, where he attended the local schools and the Pennsylvania State College.

Mr. Mitchell has been connected with mercantile inter- ests during almost his entire business life. When he left college he served as a clerk in a store at Lamont until he had gained some experience and then became manager of the stores of J. B. B. Melvin, at Frugality, Pa., and from there went to Gallitzan, Pa., as manager for Taylor-McCoy & Company. His next position was as manager of the stores for the Berwin-White Coal Min- ing Company and he continued there until he came to Washington, where he bought out J. B. Strable. Mr. Mitchell carries a large stock of staple and fancy gro- ceries and his long experience in the business has enabled him to offer the best quality of goods at reasonable prices and still to maintain a reasonable amount of profit. He has found that the people of Washington are quick to recognize first-class commodities and also honorable business methods.

In 1883, Mr. Mitchell was married to Miss Annie Ir- vin, of Oak Hall, Center County, Pa., and they have one son, Joseph Irvin, who is a promising student at Wash- ington Academy. Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell are members of the Second Presbyterian Church. He is identified with the Masonic bodies at Washington, the Blue Lodge, Chapter and Council.

E. R. WEISE,* manager and leaser of the Germania mine, at Finleyville, Pa., has been a resident of this

BLANCHER D. NORTHRUP

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place since 1901 and is known as an energetic and reli- able business man. He was born in Saxony, Germany, March 4, 1866, and before coming to America, in 1881, had attended school for nine years. He is a son of Au- gust and Henriette (Tressler) Weise.

Both parents of Mr. Weise were natives of Germany. The father's occupation was coal mining. He worked until 1881 in the mines of Saxony and then decided to emigrate with his family to the United States, hoping to find better industrial conditions. In eighteen days from the time they left their German home they reached West Newton, Pa., where the father and eldest son began work for Lattimer Bros. & Co., at the old Yock Slope mine, and as the other sons grew old enough, they also became miners. The father now lives retired at West Newton, having spent fifty years as a coal miner. Four of the children were born in Germany and four in America, the family record being: Edmon Robert; Otto, deceased; Fredia, wife of Peter Snyder; Olga, wife of John Keck; William; Walter; Clara, wife of August Petrick; and Minnie, wife of E. Haggerty.

E. R. Weise continued to work for Lattimer Bros. in the coal mines until he was married, when he and his wife settled at Snowden, Allegheny County, Pa. He be- came an employe of the Pittsburg & Chicago Coal Com- pany, remaining with them for ten years, and then of the Pittsburg Coal Company at Miller 's Run, working as fire boss for four months. He was fire boss at Lick Run after that for eighteen months; was mine foreman at First Pool No. 2, for four months; fire boss of the Eclipse mine for three months; mine boss of the Ger- mania mine for one year; mine boss at Nottingham mine for three years; mine boss for the Hazel Kirke Coal Company (Hazel Kirke Mine No. 2), one year; mine boss of the Euclid mine for four months, this bringing him, with a great wealth of practical mine experience, up to 1907, when he leased the Germania mine from the Pittsburg Coal Company. Employment is given forty men and the output averages 200 tons of coal per day ..

Mr. Weise was married in December, 1887, to Miss Alma George, who was born in Germany and is a daugh- ter of Lewis and Hennie George. The mother of Mrs. Weise died in 1908. Mr. and Mrs. Weise have eight chil- dren-Frank, Minnie, Lewis, Paul, Clara, Eleanor, Carl and Ralph. Mr. Weise bought his present comfortable home in 1905. He is a Republican and is a member of the Masonic lodge at Monongahela and belongs to the Marion Game and Protective Association at Finleyville.

JACOB WILL, owner and proprietor of the Hotel Will, one of the leading hostelries of McDonald, Pa., was born in Allegheny County, Pa., October 22, 1853, and is a son of Joseph and Emerencia Will. Mr. Will lost both parents when he was very young, his mother

dying when he was six years old, while his father, with three others, was a victim in a coal mine accident, when the subject of this sketch was nine years old. By these domestic afflictions five children were left orphans, namely : Phillips, Jacob, Barbara, John and Frank. The daughter, Barbara, married Frank Weinheimer.

During his father's lifetime, Jacob Will attended the public schools and when he was left an orphan found many kind people in the mining regions to offer him pro- tection, many of them, at one time or another, having suf- fered bereavement from the mines. He managed to take care of himself to the extent of being self support- ing until he was old enough to learn the barber's trade and this he followed for about twenty years. He then turned his attention to hotel keeping, taking charge of the St. James Hotel, at Irwin, Pa., where he remained four years, then conducting the Hotel Will at New Kensington, for ten years, after which he built the Me- Donald Hotel and- was proprietor of it for three years. From there he went to Monongahela City, and for four years conducted the Hotel Beatty. He then erected the handsome structure at McDonald, called the Hotel Will, equipping it with modern comforts and conveniences. He is well and widely known to the traveling public and has friends in every direction.

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History of the city of Washington and Washington County, Pennsylvania and representative citizens 20th century, Part 215

Author: McFarland, Joseph Fulton; Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co., Chicago, pub Publication date: 1910 Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1474

Author: McFarland, Joseph Fulton; Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1474