Indiana County, Pennsylvania, her people, past and present, Volume I, Part 119

Author: Stewart, Joshua Thompson, 1862- comp
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 930

USA > Pennsylvania > Indiana County > Indiana County, Pennsylvania, her people, past and present, Volume I > Part 119

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On March 27, 1847. Mr. Wilson was mar- ried to Nancy Wray, Rev. Alexander Donald- son performing the ceremony. Mrs. Wilson was born Aug. 11, 1825, in Armstrong county, daughter of Robert and Abigail Wray, and she still survives, living on the old homestead. She and her children also united with the On Dec. 5, 1878, Mr. Wilson married Emma Olivet United Presbyterian Church. Mr. and L. Blakely, of West Lebanon, Pa., daughter Mrs. Wilson had six children : Hugh, born in of James Blakely, and granddaughter of 1849, who died in infancy ; Robert Henderson, David Blakely. The Blakely family is of

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HISTORY OF INDIANA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

Irish descent, and was among the early pion- eers in what is now Young township, Indiana county. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson have had seven children : (1) Florence, born Jan. 11, 1880, is married to Roy A. Long, a coal dealer and contractor of Newcastle, Pa. They have one daughter, Dorothy. (2) Karl C., born Dec. 23, 1881, an engineer and architect, was con- tractor's engineer in the building of the Car- negie Library, Pittsburg, Pa. He superin- tended the construction of the first "sky- scraper" in Little Rock, Ark., and is now resi- dent manager for a large architectural com- pany at Waco, Texas. He married Eva Mil- ler, of Pittsburg, and they have one son. (3) Zora Wray, born Feb. 1, 1884, married Clark J. McKee, also an engineer, for some time with the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, later with the State Highway Department of Virginia, and now mining engineer for the Keystone Coal and Coke Company, of Greens- burg, Pa., having charge of surveys of their Cambria and Indiana county mines. They have one daughter, Jean. (4) Irene Blakely, born Jan. 9. 1886, is a successful teacher in the public schools of Newcastle, Pa. (5) Rob- ert Murdoch, born June 11, 1888, followed the family tradition and calling, and is as- sistant engineer in the office of his father. (6) James D., born Nov. 14, 1892, died Dec. 2, 1893. (7) Mary Abigail was born Nov. 14, 1894.

Daniel Wray, Mr. Wilson's maternal great- grandfather, was born in 1754 in County An- trim, Ireland, and came to America in youth. He lived at Mercersburg, Franklin county. and Mount Pleasant, Westmoreland county, in Pennsylvania, before he settled at the site of what is now Saltsburg, Pa. On March 8. 1775, he took out a patent for 137 acres of land on part of which the borough of Salts- burg now stands, and some of this land is still owned by the Wray family. The land was at that time in the woods, and wolves frequently drove his sheep to the cabin door. In 1781 he married Elizabeth Mckibben, and they had a family of seven children : James, Elizabeth, John, Jane, Margaret, William and Robert. The father died about 1825. He was a Whig in politics, and a Presbyterian in religious he- lief

Robert Wray, son of Daniel, was born Dec. 8, 1784, near Mercersburg, Franklin County. Pa., and came with his father to the site of Saltsburg in 1800. When his father's health began to fail he assumed the management of the farm, and finished paying for it, adding to what he made by farming by the manu-

facture of salt, which was one of the earliest industries in the Conemaugh and Kiskimi- netas valley. In 1819 he settled in Kiskimi- netas township, Armstrong county, where he continued to reside until his death, which oc- curred Aug. 15, 1869. He prospered in ag- ricultural pursuits, and acquired six hundred acres of land which he divided among three of his sons, and another tract of 120 acres near Olivet which he gave to another son. Few men of his day were more respected, and he held the confidence of his fellow citizens to such an extent that he was a frequent neigh- borhood arbitrator. He was active in the pub- lic affairs of his locality, holding at one time or another most of the local offices, and he was an original and most valued member of the Presbyterian Church of Eldersridge, serv- ing as a member of the first building commit- tee of that congregation. In political con- viction he was a Whig and Republican.

In 1812 Mr. Wray married Abigail Man- ners, whose father John Manners was born in 1760 in Washington county, Pa., and about 1810 moved to Kiskiminetas township, Arm- strong county, where he bought and settled on a farm of 200 acres adjacent to the pres- ent coal works near Avonmore. Mr. Manners was a member of the Presbyterian Church. In 1785 he married Sallie Couch, and they had eight children: Joseph, Elizabeth, Na- than, Margaret, Nancy, George, Polly and Abigail (Mrs. Wray).

Ten children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Robert Wray: Sarah, born July 9, 1814, mar- ried Robert Smith, and died June 13, 1860. Daniel, born April 1, 1816, married Sarah France. John M., born Nov. 23, 1817, mar- ried Anna M. Townsend. Elizabeth. horn Jan. 1. 1820, married John A. Ewing. Mar- garetta, born Feb. 29, 1824. died in infancy. William H., born Dec. 2. 1821, married Su- san Townsend. Nancy, born Aug. 11. 1825, married James D. Wilson. Robert, born Feb. 11, 1827, married Martha Gray. Anna .J. was born March 16, 1830, and Abigail M. July 29, 1832. All of these are now dead except Mrs. James D. Wilson and Abigail Wray. It is a rather striking example of family longevity that Mr. and Mrs. Robert Wray and seven of their ten children lived beyond man's allotted span of three score years and ten.

JOHN P. ST. CLAIR. a resident of Homer City who has been prominent in the life of that place as business man, public official and church worker for many years, was born Dec.

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HISTORY OF INDIANA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

31, 1848, at Indiana, the county seat of In- honorable standing. His wife's maiden name diana county, Pennsylvania, son of the Iate Dr. Thomas St. Clair.

The St. Clair family is of Scotch-Irish origin, a branch of the St. Clair family of Scotland, which was founded in the middle ages by Sir Walderne de St. Clair, a Norman knight, who married Margaret, daughter of Richard, Duke of Normandy. Their second son, William, settled in Scotland, and one of his descendants, William St. Clair, became prince of the Orkney Islands under the King of Norway, and high chancellor of Scotland under the royal house of Bruce. In 1741 the St. Clairs exchanged their lofty title and island domains for the earldom of Caithness, which they still hold. The name has since become Anglicized to Sinclair. Two of the descendants of one of these earls, through a younger son, were Gen. Arthur St. Clair and his cousin James St. Clair, Sr., the former of whom was president of the Continental Con- gress in 1787, and commander in chief of the armies of the United States in 1791.

James St. Clair, Sr., was the great-grand- father of John P. St. Clair. His parents were natives of the North of Ireland, and he was born in 1741 in eastern Pennsylvania. He Clair commencing independent practice in lived nine miles from York, Pa., where he owned a valuable farm and mill, and he was not only a prosperous citizen of his time but an earnest sympathizer with the Colonial cause, serving throughout the Revolutionary war. His wife's maiden name was Miller. James St. Clair, Sr., died in York county in 1806, at the age of sixty-five years.

James St. Clair, one of the sons of James St. Clair, Sr., was born in York (now Adams) county, Pa., in May, 1774, and passed the greater part of his mature life in Indiana county, Pa. In 1809 he came to Brushvalley township, in 1816 removing to what is now the northern part of White township, where he took up a quarter section of government land and followed farming for many years. He died in Center township, this county, April 8, 1855, at the advanced age of eighty-one. He was an old-line Whig in politics. He mar- ried Jennie Slemmons, who was born in Lan- caster, Pa., of Irish descent, and was reared in Washington county, Pa., her father, Wil- liam Slemmons, removing from Lancaster to Washington county in 1790 and there fol- lowing farming until his death, which oc- curred in 1820, in his sixtieth year. Mr. Slem- mons was justice of the peace, by governor's appointment, for a period of thirty years, and he was a man of the highest character and of

was Boggs, and they had several children. Mrs. Jennie (Slemmons) St. Clair died Oct. 15, 1855, aged seventy-one years, a member of the Presbyterian Church. She and her hus- band had a family of ten children, namely : Margaret, William S., Mary W., James, Sam- uel, Isaac, John, Robert, Thomas and Hiram.

Thomas St. Clair, M. D., son of James and Jennie (Slemmons) St. Clair, was one of the foremost citizens of western Pennsylvania in his day. Born May 5, 1824, in what is now White township, Indiana Co., Pa., he lived on his father's farm there until he reached the age of fifteen years. His early education was received in the common schools and at the academy in Indiana. In 1843 he took up the study of medicine with Dr. John W. Jenks, of Punxsutawney, and after a year's study with him removed to Indiana, where he completed his preparatory course under the tuition of Dr. James M. Stewart. Entering Jefferson Medical College in 1845, he was graduated and received his degree of M. D. in 1847. Re- turning to Indiana, he formed a partnership with his former preceptor, he and Dr. Stewart practicing together for two years, Dr. St. 1849. Dr. St. Clair was not only a skilled general practitioner, but, what was more rare in the early days of his professional career, a reliable surgeon. He was the first surgeon in this State west of the Alleghenies who suc- cessfully removed an ovarian tumor, his first experience of the kind being the removal of a tumor which weighed forty pounds; his inany subsequent operations of that nature

were successful, and the confidence which a wide circle of patients placed in his skill and judgment was justified by a long life of the most conscientious devotion to the alleviation of their ills. During the Civil war he was in the Union service in his official capacity, and he was in attendance on the wounded after the Seven Days' fight and the battle of Get- tysburg.

Though his professional duties wer'e suffi- cient to fill the life of an ordinary man, Dr. St. Clair found time for useful activity in the public affairs of his community, which he served faithfully and intelligently in many offices of trust. He was a member of the bor- ough council, and for several years repre- sented his district-the Thirty-seventh-in the State Senate, to which he was first elected in 1864. At that time the district was com- posed of Indiana and Armstrong counties, but when he was reelected, in 1876, it comprised

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HISTORY OF INDIANA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

Indiana and Jefferson ; he served continuously ness, he having a one-third interest and his until 1880. His services in the Senate were marked by unswerving fidelity to the interests of his constituents. He was identified with the Republican party, and with the reform element of that party in the days when it was found necessary to break up "ring rule" and "bossism." He always had the courage of his convictions when it came to supporting candidates, helping good men whether they belonged to his own party or not. In 1882 he was identified with an independent move- ment, and again in 1890 took the stump in favor of Pattison and reform, doing good work in both campaigns. As an honest, sin- cere advocate of the best interests, he found many friends and supporters and had particu- larly strong influence with the agricultural and industrial classes, among which he was well known, having served three years as president of the Indiana County Agricultural Society. He belonged to the M. E. Church, and served as steward. Dr. St. Clair passed away in March, 1893.

On Feb. 24, 1848, Dr. St. Clair married Charlotte D. Patton, daughter of John Pat- ton, and she died in June, 1868, the mother of seven children: John P. is mentioned helow ; James H., a veterinary surgeon, is a resident of Blairsville, this county; Charles M. gradu- ated from Jefferson Medical College in 1878. practiced with his father for ten years, and is now located in practice at Latrobe, Westmore- land Co., Pa. (he married Sarah D. Taylor, daughter of Dr. James M. Taylor) ; Charlotte D. is the widow of J. Lesslie Hazlett; Jennie S. died young, in 1862 ; Mary L. married Grif- fith Ellis; Sarah Josephine resides with her mother in Indiana. for his second wife, March 30, 1869, Sarah Walker, daughter of Moses Walker, of Wash- ington county, and she survives him, she and her daughter Sarah Josephine residing in In- diana.

Dr. St. Clair married his support of candidates.

father a two-thirds interest in the old Two Lick gristmill, which they bought and oper- ated under the firm name of Thomas St. Clair & Son. In February, 1876, they sold the mill, and thereupon became engaged in the lumber business at Two Licks station, operating as the Two Licks Lumber Company, Limited. Continuing thus until 1879, they sold their property at the station that year and dis- solved partnership, John P. St. Clair on Jan. 1, 1879, entering upon his duties as clerk to the county commissioners, to which position he had just been elected. He served three years in that incumbency. In 1882 he became a third owner of the flour mills at Homer City, having inherited the interest in this es- tablishment, one of the oldest of its kind in Indiana county. Devoting his time to the management of these mills, and the extension of the business, he continued to operate them for a period of fifteen years, during which time he improved and refitted them through- out, increasing the capacity to seventy-five barrels daily. The mill property was valued at $25,000. Fire destroyed the buildings after Mr. St. Clair had conducted the business for fifteen years, and he has since given his time and attention to other business matters, prin- cipally insurance, he being agent for the Mu- tual Life Insurance Company of New York, which he represents in Indiana, Westmore- land and Armstrong counties. He has also been engaged in farming and stock dealing, and is at present interested in coal mining, having a coal bed on his farm which he op- erates.

Mr. St. Clair is independent in politics and He has served seven years as member of the school board, of which he has been president and treasurer ; and was a member of the borough council of Homer City for several years. He has been a most active member of the Presbyterian Church, which he has served as trustee and elder, and he was superintendent of the Sun- day school for a number of years; he also taught the Bible class. Few citizens of the community have been more thoroughly iden- tified with its best interests.

John P. St. Clair began his education in the public schools of Indiana and later at- tended the academy there. He began his busi- ness career at an early age with the firm of Sutton, Lloyd & Co., in which he had an in- terest, but was with that concern only a short time when he left it to become a member of On Jan. 4, 1872, Mr. St. Clair married Martha J. Daugherty, daughter of James R. and Anna M. (Hart) Daugherty, and sister of W. S. Daugherty, of Indiana; an account of the Daugherty family appears elsewhere. Mrs. St. Clair is, like her husband, a member the firm of Loughry & St. Clair, his partner being W. R. Loughry. After a time Peter Sutton bought an interest in their business, which was subsequently conducted under the firm name of Sutton, Loughry & Co. In 1871 Mr. St. Clair severed his connection with this of the Presbyterian Church. Seven children business to join his father in the milling busi- have been born to them: (1) Mary C., born

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HISTORY OF INDIANA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

March 3, 1873, in Indiana, received her edu- cation in the public schools of Homer City and at the Indiana normal school. She mar- ried Paul Moorhead, a lawyer, son of Rev. W. W. Moorhead, and they live at Minneapo- lis, Minn. They are the parents of six chil- dren. Donaldson St. Clair, Martha, Wallace, Mary Jo, Pauline and John. (2) Thomas, born Jan. 2, 1876, in Indiana, was educated at the public schools of Homer City and at the Indiana normal school, and taught school at Latrobe, Pa., for several years. Taking up the study of medicine he graduated from the Western University, at Pittsburg, and is now engaged in practice at Latrobe. He married Emma Howard, a native of Hagerstown, Md. (3) Frank D., born June 10, 1879, at Indiana, received public school advantages at Homer City and later graduated from the normal school at Indiana, class of 1897, after which he taught school at Manor station, in West- moreland county, for four years. Later he taught at Kiskiminetas, Westmoreland county, where he is now manager of the Kiskiminetas Springs School. He married Bertha Gilroy Sellery, a native of Kincardine, Ontario, Can- ada, daughter of Robert and Martha (Gilroy) Sellery, and they have one child, John Dennis- ton. (4) John Denniston, born July 4, 1881, at Homer City, received his education in public school there, graduated at the Indiana normal school, class of 1900, and became a teacher. He died Jan. 19, 1903. (5) Jennie S., born May 11, 1884, attended public school at Homer City and later the Indiana normal school. She married Dr. Charles Paul Reed, who was born Sept. 30, 1877, son of the late Dr. Wil- liam L. Reed, of Homer City. (6) James Roy, born Aug. 26, 1886, in Homer City, re- ceived his literary education in the public schools there, the Indiana normal school, and the Kiskiminetas Springs School, from which he was graduated with the class of 1906. Af- ter this he became a student at Jefferson Med- ical College, Philadelphia, graduating in 1912. (7) Anna Jo, born Dec. 2, 1888, at Homer City, completed her education at the Indiana normal school, and is now the wife of Dr. W. A. Simpson, of Indiana, Pennsylvania.

JOHN A. SCOTT, lawyer, and president of the Savings & Trust Company, of Indiana, has been one of the vital factors in the evolu- tion of modern commercial conditions in In- diana county. Becoming associated in a pro- fessional way with one of the industries of particular value to Indiana county, the de- velopment of coal property and its accom-

panying operations, he acquired an intimate understanding of the local situation which in time led him to extend his personal interests into its financial activities. His success in both lines has stamped him as a man of ability and force, one who has proved his title to the high position he holds.

Mr. Scott is a son of Thomas J. and Sarah A. (Anderson) Scott, and in both paternal and maternal lines is descended from Scotch- Irish pioneer stock of Indiana county. His great-grandfather Thomas Scott came hither from his early home in Huntingdon county, Pa., about 1820, settling on the farm in Bur- rell township on the Philadelphia pike now owned by G. W. Butler.

John Scott, son of Thomas, was born in Huntingdon county, and coming to Indiana county with his father afterward lived on the farm in Burrell township where the latter set- tled, following farming there for many years. Thence he removed to the farm in Center township, this county, where he died in 1859, at the age of sixty-five.

Thomas J. Scott, son of John, was born Aug. 24, 1834, in Burrell township, and there grew to manhood. For many years he was engaged in the general mercantile business at Clarksburg, and during his son's service as prothonotary of Indiana county acted as deputy. On Oct. 12, 1857, he married Sarah A. Anderson, who was born Sept. 16, 1839, in Young township, this county, and reared there. They became . the parents of the following children: John A .; May, unmar- ried, of Indiana, Pa .; William M., M. D., a physician, of Harrisburg, Pa .; A. W., de- ceased; and Lyda O., now Mrs. Samuel H. Hughes, of Harrisburg. The father died Sept. 4, 1994. He was a member of the Presbyter- ian Church, to which the mother also belongs.

Thomas Anderson, father of Mrs. Thomas J. Scott, was a native of Mercer county, Pa., and about 1824 came to Young township, In- diana county, where he conducted a pottery in connection with his farm. In the later part of his life he purchased a gristmill at Clarks- burg, which he operated successfully for a number of years. He died in 1879, at the ad- vanced age of eighty. He was a strong Pres- byterian in religious faith, in politics a Re- publican.

John A. Scott was born Sept. 2, 1858, at Clarksburg, in Conemaugh township, this county, where he passed most of his youth and received his elementary education, attending public school. He was prepared for college in the academy at Eldersridge, after which

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HISTORY OF INDIANA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

he took a course at Washington and Jeffer-" sand acres of coal lands in Indiana county. son College, Washington, Pa., graduating July This was in the year 1899, and practically 1, 1879. Subsequently he taught one year at Eldersridge Academy, and then for one year was a teacher in the grammar school at Johns- town, at the end of which period he was elected principal of the Johnstown high school. After holding that position one year he left it to devote all his time to the study of law, which he commenced reading under Hon. Silas M. Clark. Upon Mr. Clark's election to the Su- preme bench of the State he continued his studies with Hon. George W. Hood, and was admitted to the bar in Indiana county Dec. 19, 1884. During the next three years he was engaged in legal practice in Indiana, and meantime, in 1886-87, acted as chairman of the Republican county committee. In the fall of 1887 he was nominated and elected pro- thonotary and clerk of the court of Quarter Sessions and court of Oyer and Terminer, on Jan. 2, 1888, entering upon the duties of the office. So satisfactory were his services that he was elected to succeed him- self, serving continuously until Jan. 1, 1894. After completing his two terms of service Mr. Scott located in Pittsburg, becoming asso- ciated with Hon. James S. Young (now United States district judge) in the practice of law. Owing to the death of his father he did not remain in that city for long, returning to Indiana, where he could have a home and care for his widowed mother, for whom he built the comfortable residence in which he now lives. After his marriage his mother and sister moved into a house he built on the lower end of the original lot.

Shortly after qualifying for admission to the bar Mr. Scott came into prominence through his participation in the Blair-White judicial contest, which resulted in increasing Judge White's original majority of 79 to 123. Among the other lawyers conspicuous in the case were D. B. Taylor, Samuel Cunningham and J. N. Banks, and the contest was heard by Judges A. V. Barker (of Ebensburg), Lucien Doty (of Greensburg) and Calvin Ray- burn (of Kittanning). Mr. Scott's connection with this investigation, eventuating as it did favorable to his client, Judge White, could hardly be construed as injuring his prospects, which were showing promise even then. His conduet commended him to the good offices of Judge Barker, representing the Lackawanna Steel Company, who engaged Mr. Scott's ser- vices for that company, to examine and pass on titles in its purchase of sixteen thou-

marked the beginning of his long and promi- nent association with a business that has since developed into one of the important industrial assets of Indiana county. It was about this time, in 1901, that the Rochester & Pittsburg Coal & Iron Company began testing and buy- ing coal lands in this region, and they, too, engaged Mr. Scott to examine and pass opin- ion on titles, his experience and judgment in this line entitling him to the standing of a recognized authority. He has continued his relations with them in this capacity and as Indiana county attorney since, and he has the legal business for the Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburg Railway Company, looking after their rights of way and all other matters in Indiana county. His reputation for alertness and prudence in the management of all affairs intrusted to him, and a conscientious regard for faith reposed in him, combined with the ability to protect the interests of his clients, have attracted much confidence. Iu 1903, when Corrigan, Mckinney & Co., of Cleve- land, Ohio, purchased lands at what was then known as Bell's Mills (now known as Jose- phine), where they erected the first modern blast furnace put into operation in Indiana county, Mr. Scott became local attorney for this immense concern, and has been retained by them as counselor and adviser to the pres- ent. Besides giving adequate attention to the demands of all these corporations, he has ac- quired a private practice which has reached notable proportions, and the standing of those who leave the legal details of their affairs to his direction is a sufficient basis for calling Mr. Scott a leading lawyer of this part of Penn- sylvania.

Successful as he has been in his profession, his energies have not been limited to his legal work. He has attained similar prestige in financial circles. The rapid development of the county created a demand for additional banking facilities, particularly such as a trust company would afford in the handling of estates and the carrying through of large deals. Mr. Scott, together with other live men who saw the needs of the situation, organ- ized the Savings & Trust Company, and from the beginning until now he has served as president of the same. This institution has assets of over two million dollars, and its standing is such that the officials who control its interests are considered as reliable and trustworthy as the walls and vaults them-

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Indiana County, Pennsylvania, her people, past and present, Volume I, Part 119

Author: Stewart, Joshua Thompson, 1862- comp Publication date: 1913 Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers & co. Number of Pages: 930

Author: Stewart, Joshua Thompson, 1862- comp
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 930