History of the counties of McKean, Elk, Cameron and Potter, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections; including their early settlement and development; a description of the historic and interesting localities; sketches of their cities, towns and villages biographies of representative citizens; outline history of Pennsylvania; statistics, Part 93

Author: Leeson, M. A. (Michael A.) comp. cn; J.H. Beers & Co., pub
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers & Co.
Number of Pages: 1320

USA > Pennsylvania > McKean County > History of the counties of McKean, Elk, Cameron and Potter, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections; including their early settlement and development; a description of the historic and interesting localities; sketches of their cities, towns and villages biographies of representative citizens; outline history of Pennsylvania; statistics > Part 93
USA > Pennsylvania > Potter County > History of the counties of McKean, Elk, Cameron and Potter, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections; including their early settlement and development; a description of the historic and interesting localities; sketches of their cities, towns and villages biographies of representative citizens; outline history of Pennsylvania; statistics > Part 93
USA > Pennsylvania > Elk County > History of the counties of McKean, Elk, Cameron and Potter, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections; including their early settlement and development; a description of the historic and interesting localities; sketches of their cities, towns and villages biographies of representative citizens; outline history of Pennsylvania; statistics > Part 93
USA > Pennsylvania > Cameron County > History of the counties of McKean, Elk, Cameron and Potter, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections; including their early settlement and development; a description of the historic and interesting localities; sketches of their cities, towns and villages biographies of representative citizens; outline history of Pennsylvania; statistics > Part 93

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A. G. ROUNSEVILLE, druggist, Johnsonburg, Quay P. O., was born in Coudersport, Penn., June 17, 1868, and is a son of A. and M. (Holland) Rounse- ville, who were among the first settlers in Potter county. They were the par- ents of seven children, of whom A. G. is the third son. He was educated in Coudersport, and entered the drug store of M. S. Thompson when quite young, where he remained one year; then for six months had charge of a drug store for Drs. Breisneck & Hastings, at Costello, Penn., afterward going to Austin, and working for N. H. Hastings. In 1886 he went to Kansas City, Mo., where he entered the laboratory of the medical college, and in 1887 he was appointed president of his class, under the name of Bifer. The same year he engaged with Park, Davis & Co., of Kansas City, Mo., as general manager of their wholesale and retail drug store, remaining there for some time. when he returned to Coudersport, Penn., and studied medicine a short time with Dr. Mattison. In 1888 he came to Johnsonburg, to work for M. A. Lillibridge & Co., in the drug business; they failed, and July 16, 1889, he bought the stock, and is now conducting a prosperous business.

PHILIP SCHIRK, harness-maker, Ridgway, a son of Jacob and Cath- erine (Schuler) Schirk, natives of Germany, was born in Warren county, Penn., January 4, 1845, and remained at home with his parents until Feb- ruary 2, 1864, when he entered the United States service, and was assigned to Company D, One Hundred and Eleventh Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, serving until July 19, 1865. He then returned to Warren, where he learned the harness-maker's trade. He married, November 15, 1870, Miss Amelia Reig, of Warren, and they are the parents of four children: Hattie L .. Alice A., Leona C. and Katie M. Mr. Schirk came to Ridgway in 1879, where he worked for Jacob Butterfuss, and in 1886 established the shop he now owns. He is a member of Ridgway Post, No. 370, G. A. R.

W. H. SCHRAM, proprietor of the "Hyde House," Ridgway, is a native of Belfast, Allegany Co., N. Y., born June 1, 1826, and is a son of John Schram, a wheelwright by trade. The subject of these lines received his edu- cation at the district schools of Cuba, in Allegany county, to which town the family had removed. In the spring of 1834 his father came to Ridgway, where he built the Dickinson mill, and the following winter he brought his family to the place. At this time the number of families in Ridgway did not exceed twelve, and of the members of these families, besides the Schrams, there are now living here only two, Mrs. Houk and Mrs. Dill. John Sebram died in 1837. His son, W. H., commenced life for himself at the early age of eleven years, and for some time followed various occupations in New York and

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HISTORY OF ELK COUNTY.

Pennsylvania, eventually moving to Jefferson county, Penn., where, until the spring of 1869, he was engaged in the hotel business. In April of the latter year he returned to Ridgway, and took possession of the Hyde House, of which he has since been the genial and courteous landlord. To this hotel he built an addition in the summer of 1885. In February, 1852, Mr. Schram married H. A. Clark, daughter of Dr. A. M. Clark, of Brockwayville, Penn., and they have had four children-two sons and two daughters: J. M., in the hardware business with D. B. Day (firm name Schram & Day), Lucy A. (now Mrs. Dr. D. B. Day, of Ridgway), Nellie (now Mrs. E. J. Miller, of North Carolina) and W. M. (who learned the trade of jeweler, married May G. Gor- don. and died five months later). Mr. Schram is a member of Elk Lodge, No. 379. F. & A. M .; of Elk Chapter, No. 230; of Knapp Commandery, No. 40, and of Caldwell Consistory, Bloomsburg. Politically he was brought up in the ranks of the Democratic party, but since the war of the Rebellion he has given his suffrage to the Republicans.

W. H. STACKPOLE, collector for the Ridgway Light & Heat Company, Ridgway, was born in McVeytown, Penn., July 27, 1864, the third son in a family of eleven children born to E. H. H. and Margaret (Glasglow) Stackpole, natives of Mifflin county, Penn. W. H. Stackpole received an education such as the common schools of his county afforded, and when fourteen years of age was employed in a blacksmith shop as an apprentice. In March, 1883, he came to Ridgway, and worked at his trade for the contractors who built the B. R. & P. R. R. The same year he was employed as clerk in the real estate office of Dr. C. R. Earley, remaining one year, when he engaged with Hyde, Murphy & Co., as book-keeper. Since November 15, 1885, he has been em- ployed by the Ridgway Light & Heat Company, as book-keeper and collector. In June, 1889, he, in company with his brother, W. W. Stackpole, started a steam laundry in Ridgway.

H. S. THAYER, lumberman, Ridgway, is a native of Ridgway, Eik Co., Penn., born in 1847, a son of David and Sarah Thayer, former a native of New York, latter of Ireland. They were married in Steuben county, N. Y., and in 1836 located in Ridgway, where the father was engaged in the lumber business, and also kept a hotel and carried the mail in an early day. His first hotel was kept in a primitive way, but as the demands for good accommodations grew in Ridgway he advanced with them, and for several years was proprietor of one of the best houses in the borough, retiring in 1870. He died in 1884, mourned by all who knew him, his widow surviving him but six weeks. They had a family of three children: Esther J. (widow of Hon. George Dickinson), Albina (wife of J. H. Hagerty) and H. S. David Thayer was one of the first sheriff's of Elk county, and a prominent citizen. H. S. Thayer has spent his life in Ridgway, and was given good educational advantages, attending school at Alfred Centre, N. Y., and Adrian, Mich. When he started out for himself he engaged in mercantile business, and has also for some years been largely interested in the manufacture of lumber. He casts his suffrage with the Demo- cratic party, but is in no sense an office seeker. He married Miss Mary E., daughter of B. F. Ely, and they have two children, Harry and Helen E.

ALBERT THOMPSON, manufacturer of and dealer in lumber, Ridgway, is a native of the town of Berlin. N. H., born February 28, 1839, and is a son of Benjamin and Sarah (Wheeler) Thompson, both natives of the State of Maine, the former of whom died in 1881. Mr. Thompson was brought up on the farm, attending the common schools until the age of eighteen, at which time he entered Gould's Academy at Bethel, Me., remaining one year. On re- turning from school he studied dentistry with Dr. Josialı Heald, of Portland,

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

Me., and then located at Norway, Me., where he followed his profession four years. In 1865 he came to Ridgway and became a partner with G. T. Wheeler in the lumber business, which copartnership continued four years. Mr. Thompson then removed to his old home in New Hampshire, and there resided engaged in the lumber business with his father until 1881, in which year he returned to Ridgway, and immediately embarked in the lumber busi- ness in Elk county, which he is still conducting. His extensive establishment manufactures on an average 6,000,000 feet of lumber per annum. In 1887 Mr. Thompson made a tour through West Virginia, where he purchased some valuable timber lands, and in the following spring organized the Blackwater Boom & Lumber Company, of Davis, W. Va., with himself as manager. This company has a cash capital of $100,000, owns 20,000 acres of land in West Virginia, gives employment to 200 men, and manufactures 12,000,000 feet of lumber per annum. In June, 1861, the subject of our sketch married Miss Mary E. Blake, a native of Norway, Me., and daughter of Jonathan and Eliza- beth (Crockett) Blake, by which union there is one son, Frank E., and one daughter, Sarah Maud. The son graduated from Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, in 1882, and came directly to Ridgway, Penn., where he has since been engaged in the lumber business. He is a young man of considerable busi- ness ability, and assumes entire charge of his father's lumbering interests at Ridgway. At the age of twenty-one, Mr. Albert Thompson was made a F. & A. M., in Oxford Lodge, No. 18, at Norway, Me., and subsequently became a member of King Hiram Royal Arch Chapter of Lewiston, Me., and of Port- land Commandery, Knights Templar, of Portland, Me. In politics he is a stanch Republican; was elected to the State legislature of New Hampshire in 1873. and re-elected in 1875, serving two terms.

MRS. MARY VAUGHAN was born in Ireland in 1847, a daughter of John Healy, and came with her parents to America about 1850. They lo- cated in Schuylkill county, Penn., where they lived several years, a part of the time keeping a hotel. The mother is now deceased, and the father lives with his daughter.

Mary Healy was married. in 1865, to John Vaughan. and with him engaged in keeping a hotel, and in 1880 took charge of the Clarion House. Mr. Vanghan died in 1877, and Mrs. Vaughan continues the business, in which she is very successful. She is a woman of fine business ability, and conducts her house with great credit, her table being furnished with the best the market affords, the Clarion House being a favorite resort for the traveling public. Mrs. Vaughan has three children. She is a member of the Catholic Church.

J. T. WAID, M. D., Ridgway, was born at Randolph, Crawford Co., Penn., in 1844, and was there reared and received his elementary education, completing his classical course at Allegheny College, Meadville, Penn. He began the study of medicine with Dr. A. P. Waid, of Centreville, Penn .. and took one course of lectures at the University of New York. He after- ward took a course of lectures at the University of Buffalo, from which he graduated. He first located at Spartansburg, but in December, 1882, re- moved to Ridgway, where he now has a good practice. He is a member of the Elk County Medical Society, the Pennsylvania State Medical Society. American Medical Association, the Seventh International Medical Congress, and also the American Society of Microscopists. He is a hard student, and takes advantage of every opportunity offered to better acquaint himself with his profession. The Doctor is a member of the Masonic fraternity, Elk Lodge, No. 379; Elk Chapter, No. 230. and Knapp Commandery, No. 40. He is a member of the First Congregational Church, and takes an active

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HISTORY OF ELK COUNTY.

interest in church and Sunday-school work; and is also connected with the local and State associations of the Congregational Church. He was married. in 1869, to Miss Louie Eberman, who died in 1882. His present wife was formerly Mrs. C. S. Spencer. The Doctor is a Republican in politics.

WALTER LOWRIE WILLIAMS, M. D., Ridgway, the subject of this sketch, was born at Williamsburg, Clarion Co., Penn., on April 13, 1844, and is the son of Amos Williams, the first treasurer of Clarion county. On July 4, 1861, being then seventeen years of age, he enlisted in Company C. Sixty-second Pennsylvania Volunteers, and served three years, one year as a private and two years as chief bugler of the Second Brigade, First Division, Fifth Corps, under Gen. J. B. Switzer. During this time he passed through all the Peninsular campaign, and was engaged in nearly all the battles fought by this notable division. After returning from the army, Mr. Williams com- pleted his literary education at Reed Institute, Reedsburg, Penn., from which he graduated, and then commenced the study of medicine with Dr. Thomas, of Freeport, Penn. Later he attended lectures. and finally graduated from the University Medical College, of New York, in 1872. He began the practice of medicine at Fryburg, Penn., and from there removed to Strattonville, Penn. In 1879 he located at Ridgway, Penn., where he has since resided, and since which time he has given his undivided attention to the duties of his pro- fession. Dr. Williams was elected coroner of Elk county in 1880, and held that position until January 1, 1890. He has been surgeon for the Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh Railway Company since 1882, and for the Pennsyl- vania Railroad Company for a number of years. He is also United States ex- amining surgeon for pensions for Elk county. He has been a member of the Ridgway borough school board since 1887, and in 1888 was elected president of the Elk County Medical Society. Dr. Williams was married on May 10. 1867, to Miss Belle Frampton, of Clarion, Penn. As the fruits of such mar- riage children are now living as follows: E. Blanche Williams, who has at- tended the Conservatory of Music at Boston for several terms, and is now teacher of music in Hall Institute, Sharon, Penn. : Samuel W. Williams, at present a student in Rensselaer College, Troy, N. Y. ; Amos T. Williams and Mabel A. Williams, both students in the Ridgway high school.

THALIUS WINGFIELD, lumberman, was born in Jacksonville, Va., in 1846. He was reared and educated in his native city, remaining there until 1865, when he moved to Sheffield, Warren Co., Penn., where he was engaged in the lumber business and was also proprietor of a hotel for some time. In 1869 he moved to Ridgway, Elk county, and has since been one of the promi- nent business men. He is one of the leading lumbermen of the borough, and is also proprietor of the Thayer House, a first-class hotel. well patronized by the traveling public. Mr. Wingfield married Hannah Miller, and they have three children. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity. Elk Lodge, No. 379; Elk Chapter, No. 240, R. A. M., and Knapp Commandery, No. 40, K. T. In politics Mr. Wingfield is a Democrat, and has served several years as justice of the peace.

W. E. ZIERDEN, merchant, Johnsonburg, Quay P. O., was born in New Brunswick, March 1, 1864, the only son in a family of six children born to Nicholas and Rebecca S. (Spofford) Zierden, natives of Germany and New Brunswick, respectively. They came to Williamsport, Penn., from New Bruns- wick, and were among the early settlers, moving from there to Caledonia. Elk county, where they permanently located. W. E. Zierden completed his edu- cation in the Lock Haven State Normal School in 1881. In 1887 he started in mercantile business in Caledonia, and June 26, 1888, sold his store and

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

stock to M. E. Taylor, coming to Johnsonburg in January, 1889, where he has erected a fine brick store and is conducting a prosperous mercantile business. Mr. Zierden married, January 17, 1888, Miss Ella E., daughter of W. E. and Sophia (Winslow) Johnson, who were among the first settlers in Benezette township. Mr. and Mrs. Zierden are the parents of one child, Cecelia A. They are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Johnsonburg.

CHAPTER XVIII.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES-JONES TOWNSHIP.

A. T. ALDRICH, postmaster and merchant, Wilcox, was born in Onondaga county, N. Y., April 1, 1826, a son of Abel and Nancy (Hibbard) Aldrich, the former a native of Rhode Island and the latter a native of Connecticut. His father was a Baptist minister by profession, and had charge of a church in Genesee county, N. Y., and also one in Onondaga county, N. Y. About 1840 he moved his family to MeKean county, Penn. A. T. Aldrich received an ordinary education, and learned the blacksmith trade. which he followed for some years in Mckean and Potter counties. He also, with his brother, erected a saw-mill near Smethport, and engaged in manufacturing lumber for a number of years. In February, 1859, he came to Elk county, and located at Wilcox. where he has since been engaged in mercantile business. He was appointed postmaster by President Buchanan, in 1860. and has ever since held that office. He married. in 1852. Miss Sarah A., daughter of Joseph King, of Mckean county. Penn., and they have four children living and one deceased: Ernest O., of Lock Haven, Penn., married Miss Dolly, daughter of Isaac Shaffer, of Clin- ton county, Penn. ; Jessie M. is the wife of Dr. A. B. Bevier, of Wilcox, Penn. ; Bayard died at the age of twelve years; M. W. and Edith are at home. Mr. Aldrich has always been identified with the Republican party. For five years he has served as justice of the peace of Mckean county, and also five years in Jones township, Elk county. He has been on the school board for twenty-one years in the two counties, and for twelve years has been clerk of Jones township; he has also served as auditor and treasurer of the township. He is a member of the Equitable Aid Union of Wilcox, No. 460. His wife and family are members of the Presbyterian Church.

CHARLES J. W. ASP. farmer, P. O. Kane, Penn., is a son of Otto and Annie (Colson) Asp, natives of Sweden, the former of whom served as a soldier in his native country for thirty-five years and came to Kane, Penn., in 1886. Charles J. W. Asp was born in Sweden. January 22, 1855, and when eighteen years of age, in May, 1873, came to Kane, Mckean Co .. Penn .. where he worked for the railroad company for three months, subsequently entering a saw mill. in which he worked six years. In November, 1876, he married Miss Eva Nil- son, a native of Sweden, born September 13. 1850, and a daughter of Nils and Kathrina (Anderson) Nilson. Mrs. Asp arrived in New York in April, 1873, and, as will be seen, was married about three and a half years later. She has borne her husband six children, in the following order: Annie M .. in Kane, December 9, 1877; Jennie E., in Kane, March 31, 1879; Charles A., at Dagus Mines, January 28, 1881; Augusta A .. in Kane, April 10, 1882; Amelia E., in

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HISTORY OF ELK COUNTY.

Kane, July 23, 1884, and Otto W. S., in Kane, August 2, 1886. Mr. Asp, in 1878, purchased the farm in Jones township, Elk Co., Penn., on which he still resides, and which he cultivates with skill and profitable results. In politics he affiliates with the Prohibitionists, and he and his wife are members of the Free Mission Church.

R. BRENNEN, merchant, Wilcox, was born in Genesee county, N. Y., Jan- mary 28, 1847. His parents, John and Mary Brennen, were natives of New York and Vermont, respectively. They were farmers by occupation and moved to Cattaraugus county, N. Y. The father was killed in an accident on the Erie Railroad about 1860. The mother died in Allegany, N. Y., in 1888. Mr. Brennen left Cattaraugus county, N. Y., at the age of eleven years and went to Wisconsin and followed lumbering for several years. He then returned to New York State and engaged in farming for a short time. In 1868 he first came to Elk county, but soon after moved to Jefferson county, Penn., and thence to Butler county, where he built a portion of the Low Grade Road, and where he took the contract and built several miles of the Parker & Karns City road. He also resided in Corry, and owned forty village lots there. In 1875 he came to Wilcox, and purchased a farm and built fine trout ponds on the same, which are open to the public. He afterward built the Grant House in Wilcox and conducted the same for five years. February 1, 1889, he estab- lished his present general mercantile business. In 1874 he married Miss Lena Hedsnecker, of Jones township. They have four children: Fred, John, Charles and Sidney. Mr. Brennen is a supporter of the Republican party, and is a member of the Knights of the Maccabees, of Wilcox.

RASSELAS WILCOX BROWN. Among the early settlers of Elk county, probably no man was better known or more highly esteemed than Rasselas Wilcox Brown.

Mr. Brown was born at German Flats, Herkimer Co., N. Y., September 30, 1809, and was one of three children born to Isaac and Polly (Wilcox) Brown. When Rasselas was sixteen years old, his father moved to Onondaga county. N. Y., and located upon a tract in the town of Cicero, which Rasselas helped to transform into a productive farm. Upon this farm is located the cemetery, where at his own request Mr. Brown was buried. It is a beautiful spot over. looking the village of Cicero and the surrounding level, prairie-like country, and contains the remains of several generations of the Brown family. Mr. Brown united with the Baptist Church, of Cicero, when eighteen years of age, and adhered to that faith throughout his life. He was married September 25, 1832, at Fort Brewerton, N. Y., to Mary P. Brownell, the only daughter of Jedediah and Eunice (Watkins) Brownell. She was born at Trenton, Oneida Co., N. Y., September 23, 1815. Like her husband she early united with the Baptist Church, and has adhered to that faith ever since. At the present time (1890) she is in good health, and her mind is as vigorous as that of most women at fifty. She has been, and still is, a woman of wonderful energy and unconquerable ambition. No matter in what society she might live, she could be nothing less than the acknowledged peer of the truest and best. No sacri- fice was ever demanded, or ever could be demanded, which she would not cheerfully make for her husband and children. She enjoys the esteem of all who know her, and she glories in the unquestioned affection of all her children and children's children.

Immediately after their marriage this couple settled at Fort Brewerton, N. Y., where they lived two years, and then moved to Summer Hill, Cayuga county, where they lived for about three years. In 1837 Mr. Brown, in com- pany with his brother-in-law, Judge Brownell, now of Smethport, Mckean

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

county, started on foot from Cayuga county to seek his fortune in the then western wilds of Michigan. On their journey thither they passed through the wilderness of Jones township, Elk county. Here Col. W. P. Wilcox, his uncle. had a few years before located, and he became exceedingly anxious that Ras- selas should settle near him. After two or three months passed in the journey to Michigan, the two travelers returned and decided to cast their lot in the wilds of Pennsylvania. It was late in the fall when they returned, and after employing a man to hew the timber, and leaving with him the means to pre- pare for the erection of a house early in the spring. Mr. Brown returned for his family. So poor were the mail facilities at that time that the letters from his friends in Pennsylvania advising him of the absconding of his hired man did not reach their destination until he had started with his wife and two little boys for their new home, which they reached on March 16, 1838.

With a will and energy that would not brook defeat, he went to work, and on April 21, a little more than a month after his arrival, he was able to move into his new house. The desperate effort and great anxiety required to get his family under roof, resulted in his prostration on a bed of sickness, to which he was confined more than six months. Slowly recovering from his illness, the terrible truth forced itself, day by day, upon him that his eyesight was seriously impaired, and that the injury to his eyes would be permanent. Now came the time for his young and hopeful wife to show her worth and her ability. Would she prove equal to the occasion ? It was evident that her husband could not for a long time, at least, perform the manual labor necessary to clear and cultivate a farm, and they must, therefore, seek some temporary employment where her skill and energy would count for the support of the little ones. The Will- iamsville Hotel offered such a place, and thither without delay they moved. They remained at the hotel until the spring of 1841. During a good share of the time the two did the entire work required to care for their guests and the traveling public-the provisions and supplies for whom had to be hauled from Smethport or Olean, and sometimes from Buffalo. This, of course, demanded the frequent absence of Mr. Brown, and threw upon his wife burdens that none but the most heroic of women could or would have endured. No wonder that both felt relieved when the spring of 1841 came, and they again assumed the some- times more exhausting, but always more agreeable, toil upon the farm. Here they lived together until the death of Mr. Brown, which occurred on June 27, 1887. At the time they moved onto the farm the children had grown to four in number, and there was, if the wolf were to be kept from the door, to be no rest from labor and anxiety. The tract of land, out of which it was proposed to make a farm, was located mainly in the midst of a dense growth of pine and hemlock. To be sure the land was cheap, costing only $1.25 an acre, but the labor necessary to fit it for cultivation was enormous. There was no mill near to cut logs into lumber, and no market for the lumber if it could have been cut. In those early days there was, therefore, no alternative-both pine and hem- lock must be burned to ashes. The struggle was constant and sometimes des- perate, but never a failure. If the farm failed by ordinary means to make both ends meet, they always found some effective plan to supply the need. Sometimes the scheme had little profit in it, but if it availed to tide over a present difficulty, it was resorted to with cheerfulness and satisfaction. At times the plan hit upon was to manufacture by hand the pine trees into shingles; at others, to dig coal from a mine opened on the farm, and then to market these wherever a purchaser could be found-often fifty, and sometimes one hundred miles away. That the purchaser would only pay in goods, and at exorbitant profits, was little reason for breaking off the trade. The waiting

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Author: Leeson, M. A. (Michael A.) comp. cn; J.H. Beers & Co., pub Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers & Co. Number of Pages: 1320

Author: Leeson, M. A. (Michael A.) comp. cn; J.H. Beers & Co., pub
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers & Co.
Number of Pages: 1320