Indiana County, Pennsylvania, her people, past and present, Volume I, Part 133

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 133

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Armagh and the Johnstown public schools. His first employment was with the Pacific & Atlantic Telegraph Company at Johnstown, as telegrapher, and after a year in that em- ploy he changed to the service of the Balti- more & Ohio Railroad Company, in the same capacity, at Connellsville, Fayette Co., Pa., for a period of twelve years. At the end of that time he went out to Iowa, where he was employed by the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company for a few years. Returning East he was successively at Hinton, W. Va., Richmond, Va., and Paris, Ky., where he was employed by the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad Company for seven years. His next position was with the Central Railroad Com- pany of Georgia, for whom he was located at Macon, Ga., for two and a half years, follow- ing which he was with the Illinois Central

work taking him all over the system of the Illinois Central railroad. During all these years he was engaged as operator, train dispatcher, train master and, the last nine- teen years of his services, as superintendent on the different roads mentioned above. Re- turning to the town of his birth in 1905, he en- gaged in the lumber business and opened the large general business there which he has since conducted, and which is widely known all over the adjacent territory as the Dill Supply Company. He put up the large build- ing in which the business is carried on. Mr. Dill is one of the most substantial and re- spected residents of his part of Indiana coun- ty. He is at present serving as justice of the peace and is school director and member of the local election board. In politics he is a Republican. He is a Mason, belonging to the Blue Lodge, Chapter, Commandery and Shrine, and a member of the Royal Arcanum.

Mr. Dill was united in marriage Nov. 27, 1879, with Eva Elizabeth Newcomer, daughter of Jonathan and Eliza (Keepers) Newcomer, of Connellsville, Fayette Co., Pa., and they

have five children: Joseph Royer, now em- ployed by the Pennsylvania Railroad Com- pany at Evansville, Ind., who married May Burtis and has one child, Burtis Royer; Lula Kate; Hallie Ryder; Eliza Belle, a graduate of the Allegheny General Hospital and now

Hospital, of Johnstown; and James New- of West Wheatfield township. 1819 in Buffington township, and reared on the home farm there. When a young man he moved to Strongstown, in Pine township, this county, where he kept a general store for a number of years. He also acquired extensive agricultural interests, having five different farms, and in official as well as business asso- ciations was one of the most prominent men of the locality in his day. He was a Demo- crat in political connection, held many town- ship offices, and during the Civil war was with the army as wagonmaster, being an ex- pert driver; he never enlisted, however. Eventually he moved out to Kansas, settling in Clay Center township, Clay county, where he lived and died. His death occurred in 1905, when he was eighty-six years, five months old.

On Jan. 16, 1840, Mr. Dill married Eliza- Railroad Company for thirteen years, his beth Conrad, daughter of Samuel and (Mattern) Conrad, who came from Hunting- don county, Pa. Children as follows were born to this union: Mary Ann married Frank Ruttinger, and they live in Johnson county, Kans., where he follows farming; Amanda married Archibald Tomb and resides at New Florence, Pa .; George Sanford, now engaged in farming in Johnson county, Kans., married Catherine Dunwoodie ; Benson Stewart is men- tioned below; Anson Jasper married Mary Hays; Samuel Asgood, a retired contractor, is a resident of Clay county, Kans .; Alma Jane married Albert Alquist, a farmer in Clay county, Kans .; Elizabeth Catherine mar- ried Arnold Bookman, a jeweler, of Clay Center township, Clay Co., Kansas.

BENSON STEWART DILL was born Aug. 7, 1849, on the homestead at Dilltown, in Buf- fington township, and attended the common schools of the vicinity until he reached the age of fourteen years. He then went to work hauling lumber. Becoming owner of 126 acres in Buffington township, he has made. extensive additions to it by purchase. His son now operates 110 acres of the tract. Along with general farming he has made a specialty of raising cattle. Ile is thoroughly repre- sentative of the best type of modern farmer, whose skill in management and business tal- ents are just as important factors as his thrift and prompt attention to the numerous details

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HISTORY OF INDIANA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

which make up the sum of farm labor, and he that time he had succeeded in saving some stands high in the confidence of his fellow citizens. He has served as school director and member of the election board in his town- ship, participating in politics as a member of the Democratic party.

Mr. Dill married Matilda Tomb, daughter of Samuel and Louisa (McCartney ) Tomb, of East Wheatfield township, this county, and they have four children: Clatus Wade, who is farming in Buffington township, married Cora -; Maria Louisa married Irwin and has two children, Mary and William (they live at Johnstown, Pa.) ; Elizabeth Edith is the wife of Harry Stephens, of Buf- fington township; Mary Catherine is the wife of Alvin I. Davis, of Buffington township.

THOMAS H. FLEMING, of Indiana, who has recently become superintendent of the grounds of the Indiana County Fair Associa- tion, is a man of proved business ability and was a successful farmer for a number of years before he settled in Indiana. He is a native of this section of Pennsylvania, born Dec. 25, 1846, on a farm in Kiskiminetas township, Armstrong county, son of James Fleming. His grandfather, Samuel Fleming, came to this country from Dublin, Ireland, with his parents, and his wife's family came from the same place with her parents, the fam- ilies settling in Pennsylvania, where they were married. James Fleming, son of Samuel, married Elizabeth Shirley, daughter of John Shirley, who was a farmer of Armstrong county, Pennsylvania.

money, with which upon his return home in 1869 he bought the old home place, resuming farming on his own account. He cultivated that property for ten or twelve years, finally selling it to his brother Samuel and removing to Center township, this county, where he bought a tract of seventy-two acres, known as the Judge Campbell farm. He was on that place for ten years, during which time he had disposed of the coal rights, and he sold the land at the end of that time. He then bought a 125-acre farm in Armstrong town- ship upon which he remained for two years, continuing to follow farming, selling that place and removing to Indiana borough. Two years after settling there, in 1909, he became superintendent of the grounds of the Indiana County Fair Association. His services in this connection have been highly satisfactory, his thorough understanding of the requirements of the position and his high regard for its responsibilities making him a most desirable incumbent.

On April 7, 1876, Mr. Fleming married Mary McAllister, of Rayne township, Indiana county, daughter of John and Sarah (Keester) McAllister. They are the parents of ten chil- dren : James A., now of Steubenville, Ohio, who married Ethel Lowry; Mabel, Mrs. Ira Mikesell, of Steubenville, Ohio; Ira H., of Steubenville, Ohio, who married Sarah Mc- Kinstry ; Nora, Mrs. Charles Hildebrandt, of White township, Indiana county ; Sarah, Mrs. Clyde Cameron, of West Virginia; Guy M., who is in Nebraska; Kenneth, Margaret, Dorothy and Helen, at home. Mr. and Mrs. Fleming are members of the First U. P. Church. In his political views he has always been a Republican.

Thomas H. Fleming was three years old when his father removed with his family to Washington township, Indiana county, and there he grew to manhood. He attended pub- lie school in that township, his first teacher being John Bothel, after which he was under the tuition of Mary Griffith, Wesley Bell (now JOHN C. GOURLEY, M. D., physician and surgeon located at Heilwood, in Pine town- ship, Indiana county, is associated in prac- tice with Dr. Ralph F. McHenry, both being physicians for the Penn-Mary Coal Company. Dr. Gourley was born in North Mahoning township, this county, son of George A. and Margaret (Coulter) Gourley, and is of Irish extraction, his grandparents and great-grand- parents having been natives of County Derry, Ireland. The latter were George and Rosanna (McNeill) Gourley. a physician) and others. Leaving school at the age of 'fifteen, he worked on the home place for his father until the latter's death. His brothers John, Samuel and Gilbert hav- ing gone to the front in the defense of the Union, he was the only son left at home, and he cared faithfully for his widowed mother until their return from the army. In 1866 he went to the oil field in Venango county, and boated oil from Petroleum Center to the Susquehanna, continuing in that region for three years. After he gave up boating he ran John Gourley, the grandfather, was born the engine at a pumping station. During in 1808 and was but a boy when the family

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HISTORY OF INDIANA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

crossed the ocean to Nova Scotia in 1817. In James Graham, the father, was a native of 1819 they removed to Philadelphia, Pa., and Ireland and came to this country in 1844. In in 1821 to Huntingdon county, Pa., where he New York he married Eliza E. Young, also continued to live until he settled in Indiana a native of Ireland who came to this country in 1844, and they settled in Banks township, Indiana county, when there were only two houses between their place and Rossiter. Bears and deer were still plentiful in the sur- county, in 1830. His first settlement here was in West Mahoning township, whence he and his family subsequently removed to North Mahoning township, huying land upon which they passed the remainder of their lives. rounding woods, and the country was almost John Gourley married Jane Russell, of Blair county, Pennsylvania.

George A. Gourley, the Doctor's father, was born in 1840 in North Mahoning town- ship, this county, and the mother, Margaret (Coulter), was horn in Jefferson county, Pa., in 1846, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Bell) Coulter, early settlers of Jefferson county. Mrs. George A. Gourley died in 1875, Mr. Gourley in 1910. They had four chil- dren: Elizabeth Edith (deceased in 1873), drew Pollock, a farmer of Rossiter, Pa .; Mary John C., Herbert M., and Jennie A.

John C. Gourley received his preparatory education at Covode Academy, the State nor- mal school at Indiana, this county, and the Pennsylvania State College. He took his med- ical course at the University of Pittsburg, from which institution he was graduated in 1904 with the degree of M. D. Meantime, be- fore he entered medical college, he taught school for several terms in Indiana county. Upon his graduation he began the practice of his profession at Marion Center, this county, remaining there for two years, and

since been engaged. Dr. Gourley is a mem- ber of the Indiana County Medical Society. of the Pennsylvania State Medical Society, and of the American Medical Association. Socially he is a Mason, belonging to Indiana Lodge, F. & A. M.

In 1905 Dr. Gourley married Myra Park, of Marion Center, this county, daughter of Dr. L. N. and Martha (Thompson) Park, na- tives of Indiana county, who now live at Mar ion Center, where Dr. Park is engaged in the practice of dentistry. Four children have been born to Dr. and Mrs. Gourley : Martha M., George P., John C., Jr., and Mary J. Dr. Gourley and his wife are members of the Presbyterian Church.

in its primitive state. He bought 125 acres, his property including the creek known as Bear run, and was a farmer all his life, clear- ing and cultivating the homestead place and also following lumbering and operating a saw- mill. He died in 1871 at the age of sixty- four years, and his widow lived to the age of eighty, dying in 1898. Four of their daugh- ters survive : Agnes, who lived at home, died Aug. 8, 1912; Elizabeth is the wife of An-

Ann is the wife of Curtin Holden, a miner, of Banks township; Jane is the wife of John C. Fry, of Pittsburg, Pa., superintendent of lumber yards; Sarah is the wife of A. W. Gailey, a contractor and builder of Indiana, Pa .; two daughters died in infancy, unnamed ; James was the only son.

James Graham was born in 1844 in Banks township, Indiana county, received his educa- tion in the neighboring country schools, and was reared a farmer. He has always followed farming and lumbering, and by making the most of his opportunities has managed his in 1906 settling at Heilwood, where he has affairs very successfully, owning two farms,

of 150 and 100 acres, respectively, in Banks township and several timber tracts in Banks township, a small lot in Leesburg, Fla., and an interest in an orange grove near there. His holdings include his father's old homestead farm in Banks township. In addition to look- ing after his agricultural and lumber inter- ests Mr. Graham has done considerable work in opening small community mines, and has sold a large quantity of coal land to the Bear Run Coal Company ; he still owns some of the best coal land in Banks township. He is energetic in all he undertakes, and his well- directed efforts have been well rewarded, not only in material results but in the high stand- ing he has attained among local business men.

On Jan. 11, 1911, Mr. Graham married

JAMES GRAHAM lives in that part of Jeannette L. Crawford, of Philadelphia, Pa., Banks township, Indiana county, known as who was born in Philadelphia, Pa., daughter of Andrew and Martha J. (Forsyth) Craw- ford, who were of Scotch and Irish birth, re- spectively. The late Mr. Crawford was a car- pet mannfacturer. Mr. and Mrs. Graham the "Irish settlement," and his father, James Graham, was one of the little colony who es- tablished the first homes in that region, his fellow settlers being Samuel Beckett, James Herbison, John Williams and Thomas Smith. have a beautiful home three miles from the

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borough of Glen Campbell. They are mem- bers of the old school Presbyterian Church.

HARRISON SEANOR, of Indiana, Indi- ana county, former county treasurer, and now serving as deputy State fire marshal, has like his father been prominent in political circles in this section, and both have been ex- tensively engaged in stock dealing, being well known in that line. He was born May 18, 1863, in Westmoreland county, Pa., where Jeannette now stands, son of Hon. Noah and Barbara Ellen (Kinnan) Seanor.

The Seanors are of German origin, and the name was originally written Zaner. Michael Seanor, great-grandfather of Harrison Sea- nor, was born in eastern Pennsylvania, and coming to the western part of the State set- tled on a farm which he purchased in Hemp- field, on which later a church was built, known as the Seanor Church. Later he sold this to his son George and bought a farm on the Pittsburg pike, in Westmoreland county, at the present town of Grapeville. He culti- vated his land, kept hotel, and was an all- round active and successful business man. Eventually he sold his farm to his son Michael and purchased a home in Grapeville. In re- ligious connection he was a Lutheran, in poli- tics a Whig. He died in 1867, in his seventy- eighth year. He and his wife, Elizabeth (Weible), who was also of German descent, had six children, two sons and four daughters.

George Seanor, removed to Indiana county, Pa., at an early day, and cleared a large farm there. He and his wife, whose maiden name was Fisher, had a family of nine children, four sons and five daughters. One of the sons, Daniel, was sheriff of Indiana county; and another, Josiah, became a physician and set- tled in Illinois, where he served as a member of the State Legislature.

Hon. Noah Seanor, son of George, was born May 14, 1844, near Seanor's Church, in Ilempfield township, Westmoreland county, and attended school in his native township and county. He was reared on his father's farm there, near Madison. His father's early death threw him on his own resources at an early age, he being only six years old at the time. For some years he worked by the day. After his marriage he engaged in farming on his own account, and in 1864 came to Indiana county, between his two terms of service in the Civil war. In 1867 he began dealing largely in live stock, in which line he became notably successful, some years shipping be- tween one hundred and one hundred thirty carloads, with a value of over one hundred thousand dollars. In 1877 he purchased the farm in South Mahoning township, where he resided for the next thirty years, built a large dwelling house and barn there, and made other notable improvements, having a valu- able property. He also owned two other farms, of seventy or more acres each, in Arm- strong and Indiana counties, the former of which he sold, and has been a prosperous business man in all his undertakings. In 1908 Mr. Seanor removed from his farm to Plum- ville, where he has since resided, and he is now engaged in lumber dealing and is a contractor and builder. He is also engaged in lumber dealing at New Kensington, Westmoreland county.

George Seanor, son of Michael, was born in 1817 in Westmoreland county, and died in 1851, at the comparatively early age of thirty- four years. Besides managing his farm and dealing in live stock he drove a six-horse team on the old pike, for several years running be- tween Philadelphia, Baltimore and Pittsburg. In politics he was a Whig, in religion a mem- ber of the United Brethren Church, in which he served as class leader. In 1838 Mr. Seanor married Sarah Ansley, of Westmoreland county, and they had four children, two sons and two danghters: Mary; Harrison, who was a non-commissioned officer in Company E. 105th Pennsylvania Volunteers, and was killed May 31, 1862, at the battle of Fair sylvania Cavalry. In January, 1863, he was Oaks; Noah; and Sarah, deceased. The captured by the Confederates under Colonel mother of this family died in 1882, in her sixty-third year. Her paternal grandfather

After the breaking out of the Civil war Mr. Seanor enlisted, for three months. His company was not accepted. In 1862 he joined Company H, 14th Pennsylvania Cavalry, but his company shortly afterward withdrew from that regiment and united with the 18th Penn- as exchanged he rejoined the army, but soon afterward, upon the application of his mother

Moseby after shooting two of their horses, near the battlefield of Chantilly, and sent to served in the Colonial army from New Jersey Middleburg, where he was paroled. As soon during the war of the Revolution, and ran away with and married the daughter of a Tory (leaving a large fortune behind), who that he was not of age and her only support, followed them with a gun for three days. he was discharged. In 1865, after attaining Their son, Daniel Ansley (father of Mrs. the age of eighteen years, he reentered the

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HISTORY OF INDIANA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

Union army, enlisting in Company F, 28th township, and there he attended public school Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, and was until he reached the age of fifteen years. discharged at the close of the war. He took part in Sherman's famous march to the sea, and was present at Johnston's surrender.

Mr. Seanor has long been a leading member of the Republican party in his section. In the spring of 1890 he was nominated for repre- sentative from his district in the State Legis- lature, and at the election in the fall was successful by the largest majority received by any Republican candidate for such office in the county. He was twice reelected, serving three successive terms. The same year he was unanimously elected to represent Armstrong county on the State board of agriculture for the term of three years, in spite of the fact that his residence was in Indiana county. He was one of the first members of the Dayton Agricultural Society and one of the most ac- tive workers in that organization, serving as president of its board of managers. Mr. Sea- nor is a man of notable personal appearance, being six feet, one and a half inches in height. He is strictly temperate, indulging in neither liquor nor tobacco, and his thoroughly upright life has won him an honorable place among his fellow citizens. He has never failed them in any of the responsible positions to which they have chosen him, his record in any one of them being sufficient to demonstrate his fit- ness for other trusts.

On Dec. 4, 1860, Mr. Seanor married Bar- bara Ellen Kinnan, who was born Feb. 19, 1839, in Westmoreland county, Pa., daughter of Jonathan and Mary J. (Stahl) Kinnan, the former of whom served three years during the Civil war as a sharpshooter in a Penn- sylvania regiment. Mr. and Mrs. Seanor had a family of seven children, three sons and four daughters: Sarah J., who married John Fer- guson, a farmer of New Bethlehem ; Harrison ; Sherman, of East Liberty, Pa., who married Mary Johnson; Mary E., deceased, who was the wife of Charles Kroh; Emma, who mar- ried George W. Dinger, of Jefferson county, as traveling salesman for the Morrison-Ricker

and after his death became the wife of Robert J. Melzer; Annie, who married G. A. Polliard, of Clarion county ; and George W., living on the old homestead in South Mahoning town- ship, engaging in farming and stock dealing, who married Bertha Shilling, of Jefferson county and (second) Estella Smauthers, also of Jefferson county. Mr. and Mrs. Noah Sea- nor are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Harrison Seanor was a year old when the family moved to a farm in South Mahoning

From boyhood he helped his father with the work on the home place and drove stock, and he continued to live with his parents until his marriage, which took place in 1882. Then he located on a farm in South Mahoning township, where he lived for one year, thence moving to Washington township, this county, where he settled on a tract of 137 acres. His home was on that place for twenty-five years. In 1903, while living in Washington township, he was elected county treasurer for a term of three years, during which he continued to re- side on his farm. In 1909 Mr. Seanor moved to the borough of Indiana, where he has built a beautiful home. He located on his farm when it was a wilderness known as Bradford tract, and the old log house which stood there was his home for the first few years. Mr. Seanor cleared fifty acres of that property, and built a substantial house there. On July 1, 1912, he was appointed deputy State fire marshal, there being two such officials in the State, and he is giving excellent satisfaction in this responsible position.

On Sept. 21, 1882, Mr. Seanor married Alice Kroh, of Armstrong county, Pa., daugh- ter of Jacob and Mary A. (Raybuck) Kroh, and they have had a family of ten children, namely : (1) Clyde Willis, born July 26, 1884, in South Mahoning township, attended school in Washington township, where his parents settled when he was nine months old. Leaving the public school when thirteen years old, he was a student at Elderton academy for two years, and then for one year went to the Grove City business college. For eigh- teen months afterward he was engaged as clerk in the register and recorder's office of Indiana county, at the end of that time re. suming his studies, at the Kiskiminetas Springs School, Saltsburg. He then entered Washington and Jefferson College, which he left in his sophomore year, taking a position

Glove Manufacturing Company, of Grinnell, Iowa. On June 5, 1907, he married Charlotte Crossman, daughter of Mayor J. A Cross- man, of Indiana, and his wife Agnes (Ober- lin). Mr. and Mrs. Clyde W. Seanor reside in Pittsburg. He is a member of the St. Luke's Lutheran Church there, and in poli- tics is a stanch Republican. (2) Wilda L. died in infancy. (3) Beryl Lyman, born Feb. 2, 1887, was educated in the common schools, Elderton academy and Grove City business college. He is now residing on the

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home farm in Washington township, this was greatly beloved. A great reader, he owned county. He married Ethel Schuckers, and a fine library, containing all the leading med- they have one child, Mildred A. (4) Noah ical works of his time. He was actively inter- Blaine, twin of Estella Blanche, born Sept. ested in township affairs and served as burgess 22, 1889, was educated in the public schools, of Shelocta and assessor of the township. Earlier in life he was a Democrat, but later became a Republican. He rounded out a long and useful life, dying Nov. 27, 1899, aged eighty-two years. Elderton academy and Grove City business college and then went to Nebraska, where he worked on a farm. He is still living in the West. (5) Estella Blanche attended public school, Grove City high school, and the State Dr. Robert McChesney married Isabel Car- son, who died in October, 1893, aged seventy- six years. Both were buried in the cemetery in Armstrong township. Their children were: Laura Jane, who died in childhood; John N., who is a dentist of Chicago; William A., who is mentioned below ; Adeline; and Mary Eliza- beth, who married Dr. A. C. McChesney, and lives in Chicago. normal school at Indiana, from which latter institution she graduated in 1910. She has been teaching in Indiana county the last three years. (6) Walter Dale, born Feb. 20, 1891, attended public school, the Grove City busi- ness college, and the State normal school at Indiana, and is now working as a machinist. (7) Virginia Alice has attended public school at Grove City, and is a graduate of the con- servatory of Music at the Indiana State nor- mal. (8) Wilbur Harrison, born March 22, 1895, is a student at the Indiana State normal. (9) Lillian Velma is also attending the In- diana State normal. (10) Mary Ella, born July 16, 1900, is attending public school.

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Indiana County, Pennsylvania, her people, past and present, Volume I, Part 133

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