Indiana County, Pennsylvania; her people, past and present, Volume II, Part 12

Author: Stewart, Joshua Thompson, 1862- comp
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 884

USA > Pennsylvania > Indiana County > Indiana County, Pennsylvania; her people, past and present, Volume II > Part 12

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father, William Neal, the first of this branch of the family to settle in America, was from the north of Ireland. His wife was Mary Reynolds. They first located at Philadelphia, Mr. McCormick then brought out a turbine about twenty-five per cent stronger as to di- ameter than the "Hercules," entitled "Mc- Cormick's Holyoke Turbine," which was per- fected in all sizes at the shops of J. & W. later in Franklin county, Pa., and eventually came to Indiana county, in the seventeen hun- dreds, where he obtained nearly three thou- sand acres of land west of Indiana, near Jacksonville. He was a surveyor, and became Jolly, Holyoke, Mass. It was also made by the very well known. His death occurred in 1813, S. Morgan Smith Company, York, Pa., and when he was seventy-seven years old, and he the Dubuque Turbine & Roller Mill Com- was buried in the cemetery at Bethel Church, pany, Dubuque, Iowa. James Emerson, the in this county. We have the following record great tester of wheels, said: "Mr. McCor- mick as a designer and perfecter of hydraulic motors stands upon the top rung of the lad- der, has stood there for twenty years without a parallel, not in the United States alone, but upon this planet."

of his children: (1) Thomas lived on part of his father's old place at Jacksonville, where he put up a gristmill, and later moved to near Georgeville, this county. He was twice mar- ried, first to Margaret Creviston, by whom he had four children: William, who was burned to death at Phoenix, Pa .; John, who

Mr. McCormick has published two musical works, viz .: "School & Concert," 310 pages, had a gristmill east of Punxsutawney, Pa .; 54

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HISTORY OF INDIANA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

and Samuel and Thomas, who went West. To John Chambers. Margaret (Peggy), born his second marriage, with Catherine Barn- Feb. 18, 1826, married Robert Patterson. hart, were born five children: Margaret, who Hardy Hill married Margaret Timblin; he married S. Hoover and (second) George lived in Porter township, Jefferson county. Weaver, and lived in Perry township, Jeffer- son county, Pa .; Arr, who lived in Punxsu-

The second wife of William Neal was Susan Neff, by whom he had six children, namely : tawney, Pa .; Ogg, who was killed by a live James C., a merchant of Perrysville, Pa., wire at Horatio, Pa .; Thomas, who was killed married Catherine Hadden; Winfield Scott, by a boiler explosion in Homer City, Pa .; of Perrysville, married Rebecca Piper ; Amelia (Millie) married Joseph Unkerphire; Euphe- mia died unmarried; Sanford, who married Lydia Lewis, was a land owner, and lived at Punxsutawney; Sharp is mentioned else- where.

and Mary R., who married R. Trusel. (2) John lived near Jacksonville and was en- gaged in farming and sawmilling. He mar- ried Lydia Lewis and they had four children, Jolın, Hugh, Rachel Loman and Kissie. (3) Mary died unmarried. (4) Rosanna died unmarried. (5) William was the father of John Neal.

William Neal, son of William and Mary (Reynolds) Neal, was born in Franklin county, Pa., on Caneoguages creek, and had little opportunity to acquire an education. He was noted in his day for his musical at- tainments. Prior to 1807 he settled on the Big Mahoning, where there were only two white settlers at that time, and it was he who ran the first raft down Big Mahoning creek. His home was half a mile from Perrysville, where he cleared three acres of what is now the Robert Hamilton farm. Later he moved to where Charles Neal now lives, in North Mahoning township, which place he im- proved, making his home there for a number of years. In 1832 he moved across the creek north, to where H. Neal now lives, and he died March 17, 1869, when nearly ninety years old, at the home of his son John, in West Mahoning township. In the early days he was noted for his skill and success as a hunter and trapper, one winter killing forty bears. He was well known in northern Indiana county and the adjoining territory in Jeffer- son county. Ten children were born to his first marriage, with Mary Cunningham, of Jacksonville, Pa., viz .: Abraham L., born Dec. 29. 1807, lived in West Mahoning town- ship. Elizabeth (Betsy), born Oct. 22, 1809, married Jacob Young. Ann, born Nov. 22, 1811, married James McHenry, and lived at Northpoint, Pa. Catherine, born April 15, 1813, married James Neal and (second) Joseph Sharp. and all are now deceased. John, born Dec. 4, 1816, married Rachel Blose, and is mentioned below. Thomas, born April 11, 1818, lived in West Mahoning township; he married Elizabeth MeClellan and (second) Nancy Wingrove. Mary R., born Sept. 2, 1820, married Artemus Purdy and lived in Illinois. Sarah, born Sept. 2, 1823, married

John Neal, son of William and Mary (Cun- ningham) Neal, born Dec. 4, 1816, in North Mahoning township, had limited educational advantages, but he was a business man of ability and had practical experience which supplied any lack of early training. He lived along the Mahoning creek and was a pilot and raftsman on that stream, also engaging as a farmer and drover. He took an active part in the public affairs of his locality as a member of the Republican party, and held various township offices. His wife, Rachel (Blose), was born at Perrysville, Jefferson county, and died in October, 1906. Mr. Neal was killed on the Buffalo, Rochester & Pitts- burg railroad bridge Oct. 28, 1903. They were members of the M. E. Church. They were the parents of ten children, as follows: Cynthia is the widow of Joseph Coon, of North Mahoning township, Indiana county ; Thomas Sharp is mentioned below; Martha is the widow of William MeKillip, of West Mahoning township; George (deceased), who was a farmer, married Lucinda Van Horn; Aaron, of Seattle, Wash., who is engaged in breeding and dealing in fast horses, married Maggie Morgan, who is deceased; Sarah mar- ried Peter Stear, of North Mahoning town- ship; Emma married Frank O. Harrat, of West Mahoning township; Josiah lives in In- diana, Pa .; William R., a traveling salesman, of Punxsutawney, Pa., married Cora Wins- low ; Mary (deceased) was the wife of Austin Strickland, of Jefferson county, Pennsyl- vania.

Thomas Sharp Neal lived at home until twenty-six years old and was reared to farm- ing on his father's place in North Mahoning township, where he lived for eighteen years. He obtained a common school education. Settling at Trade City, he engaged in the mercantile business, which he followed for eighteen years and also acted as postmaster. He has always been a prominent figure in

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HISTORY OF INDIANA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

official circles, has held numerous local offices, sengers on the same vessel and formed an ac- and in 1897 became sheriff of Indiana county, quaintance at that time which resulted in serving one term of three years, until 1900. their marriage two years later. The result of this union was six sons and one daughter, the names of the sons being Tate, John, An- drew, Robert, James and Thomas; the daugh- ter, Jane, married William Hamilton. The Allison family fled from Scotland during the time of the persecution of the Protestants, settling in the North of Ireland. He is at present supervisor of North Mahon- ing township. Mr. Neal's interests have be- come quite extensive, his various undertak- ings having been successful, and he now owns several farms, and residence property in Punxsutawney, Pa. He has a fine peach or- chard, eight hundred trees, located west of Trade City. His fine home in that town was built in 1912. Mr. Neal has bought and sold considerable timber in his day; one fall he sold 140,000 cubic feet. He became a pilot on the Big Mahoning when fifteen years old, and has been familiar with lumbering opera- tions in their various branches, becoming very well acquainted all over the county in this connection and in following his other indus- trial interests.

In 1866 Mr. Neal married Annie Oberlin, of Pittsburg, and seven children have been born to this marriage: Preston died when nine years old; Naoma married Dr. George E. Simpson, of Indiana, Pa .; Lawrence grad- nated from the State normal school at In- diana, Pa., attended law school at Ann Arbor, Mich., and went to Seattle, Wash., where he is a practicing attorney (he is married and has one child) ; Selina married Ezekiel Bar- ber, of Dixonville, Pa .; Irene married Joseph Buchanan, of Dubois, Pa .; Harry, M. D., is practicing medicine at Indiana, Pa .; Walter, a farmer and mill man at Trade City, married Emma Smith.

Mr. and Mrs. Neal are active members of the Lutheran Church at Trade City, Pa., and politically he is a stanch member of the Re- publican party.

ALEXANDER HAMILTON ALLISON, M. D., is now, after many years of usefulness in his profession, living retired on the farm where he was born, in East Mahoning town- ship, Indiana county. He was in active prac- tice for about forty years, throughout which period he was in Indiana county, though at various locations.

The Allisons were among the first white set- tlers in Indiana county. Robert Allison, the founder of the family in this country, was a native of County Derry, Ireland, whence he came to this country as a young man, in 1750, locating in Cumberland county, Pa. In 1752 he married a lady by the name of Re- becca (Beckie) Beard, a granddaughter of Charles Stuart, a descendant of the house of Stuart. Robert and Beckie had been pas-

Coming west to what is now Indiana county, Pa., the Allison family located in Center town- ship, on what is now known as the McCon- aughey place near Homer City. One of the sons, Andrew, born in Cumberland county in 1757, "after following General Washing- ton through the most gloomy period of the Revolution," returned to his father's family in Cumberland county, but did not remain there long. In 1785 he crossed the mountains and settled in Westmoreland county, near the site of the present village of New Derry. There he commenced an improvement, making his home with John Pumroy in times of peace, and when the Indians invaded the settlement he took refuge in a fort in the vicinity. Dur- ing his sojourn in Westmoreland county the settlement was frequently attacked by In- dians, and several men were killed and others wounded. In 1788 he sold his improvements to Francis Pumroy, crossed the Conemaugh river and settled on the bank of Twolick, on the site of an old Indian town, opposite what was later the village of Homer. Here he built a cabin and cleared some ground for agricultural purposes. The cabin was without a door, a hole in one side serving for entrance. In the year 1790 his father came from Cum- berland county, and took charge of his im- provements, Andrew going farther into the forest and opening up the farm later owned by Archy Nichol, three miles east of Indiana. "Here he was the frontier settler, with noth- ing between him and the Susquehanna river but the howling wilderness, abounding with wild beasts, and traversed by hostile savages." In October of that year he married Sally Barr, and they remained at that location until 1792, when the Indians again showed hostility and they fled with their one child, to the nearest neighbor, Irwin Adams. Re- turning after several days to look after his farm, and get some articles that had been left. Andrew Allison found that the cabin with all its contents had been burnt by the Indians. He returned to his father's place on Twolick and Yellow creek, on an improvement made at an earlier date by one John Henry, who

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IHISTORY OF INDIANA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

returned to his former home in Virginia on manhood. About 1837 he came to what is account of the dangers of the locality. Alli- now East Mahoning township, locating on son remained there until 1795, when he pur- what was known as the William Riddle tract, chased an improvement made in 1772 by a farm of two hundred acres which at that Joseph Hopkins, about three miles south of time was a wilderness. By occupation he Indiana, Hopkins and his family having left he was on the frontier, with neither a horse nor a public road, bridge, church or school- house within ten miles. It was truly a se- cluded spot; the silence of the forest was seldom broken, except by the howling wolves, the yelling panthers or the crack of the hunt- er's rifle. Here he spent the remainder of his days, and cleared out a large farm. He died in 1815, aged fifty-eight years.

was a carpenter, having learned the trade on account of Indian troubles. Here again from Colonel Altimus, of Indiana, and he continued to follow that calling for some years. He built the first house in Brook- ville, Jefferson county. Settling on the farm, he first lived in a house constructed of round logs, later building a frame dwelling and making various other improvements on the place. He did not live to enjoy for long the comforts which he gained by his industry, dying Dec. 7, 1853, at the age of forty-five John Allison, another of the sons of Robert years, six or seven months. He was buried and Beckie (Beard) Allison, was a miller, he and his sons following milling and farming in this section for years. His descendants are still to be found among the best citizens of the county, and a lengthy account of this branch of the family will be found elsewhere in this work. in Gilgal cemetery. He was a Presbyter- ian, attending the Gilgal Church, and was active in its work, serving as trustee and Sab- bath school teacher. He was a well-read man for his 'day, a good penman, and looked upon by all who knew him as a valuable and in- telligent citizen. He filled the office of col- lector of taxes.

Robert Allison, fourth son of Robert and Beckie (Beard) Allison, was the ancestor of Mr. Allison married Rebecca James, who was born in 1814 of English descent. She died Jan. 25, 1884, and was buried in the cemetery of Gilgal Church. Like her hus- band she was a Presbyterian in religious connection. They had a large family, viz. : Nancy Jane (deceased) married Henry K. Dilts; William R., who was a prominent law- Dr. Alexander H. Allison. Born about 1768 in Cumberland county, Pa., he came west with his parents and settled near what is Homer City, in Center township, where the family acquired land and engaged in farming. He continued to make his home in that sec- tion the remainder of his life, owning and operating the first gristmill in the locality; yer of Indiana, serving as district attorney he built the race to run it. Mr. Allison died from 1871 to 1874, died in 1883, at the age there in 1832, at the age of sixty-four years, of forty-six years; Robert died young; Alex- ander Hamilton is mentioned below; Andrew W. became a member of Company A, 61st United States Regiment (regular army), served during the Civil war, and died while in the army; Adeline married Ebert Kinter, and they are the parents of Mrs. John B. Mc- Cormack, of East Mahoning township; Mar- garet L. is deceased; John Harry resides in East Mahoning township; Robert Cromwell T., a physician, resides in Chicago, III .; So- phia married William H. Kinter and resides in Grant township, Indiana county. and is buried in the cemetery of Bethel Church in Center township. He was a mem- ber of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Allison married four times. His first wife was Mary Simpson, his second Ann Ramsey, by whom he had two sons: Robert T., who married Isa- belle Brown; and David Ramsey, a doctor, who died at Saltsburg, this county, and who married Lydia Roney. His third marriage was to Nancy Riddle, whose children were: John R .; William B., who married Ann Brown; Thomas B., who married Hannah Dickey and (second) Isabelle Kinter; and Andrew B. By his fourth union, with Rhoda

. Alexander Hamilton Allison was born June 6, 1842, and was reared on his father's farm. Anderson, Mr. Allison had three children: Ile received excellent educational advantages Rebecca J., who married George Bratton; for the day, attending public school in the Samuel A., who married Mary E. Bothel and (second) Jennie Mccluskey; and Margaret, who married George Ilammers.

home locality and the Glade Run and Covode academies. For a short period he taught school in Jefferson county. As he was only eleven years old when his father died he had to assist with the work at home from early

John R. Allison, son of Robert and Nancy (Riddle) Allison, was born in Center town- ship, near Homer City. and there grew to boyhood, but his ambition was to enter pro-

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HISTORY OF INDIANA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

fessional life. When a young man he began to study medicine, under Drs. McEwen and Ansley, of Plumville, in 1862, later entering Jefferson Medical College at Philadelphia, from which institution he was graduated March 4, 1867. On May 13th of that year he began the independent practice of his pro- fession at Cookport, Indiana county, where he was the pioneer physician, and he con- tinued to reside there for a period of thirteen years, building up a fine practice and be- coming prominently associated with the de- velopment of the best interests of the place. In 1880 he moved to Marion Center, where

drug business, which he began in 1881. In 1884 he built a fine store for the accommoda- tion of his growing trade, and carried it on for some years. In 1899 he moved from Mar- ion Center to the borough of Indiana, where he was engaged in practice for the next seven years, retiring in 1907 because his health could no longer stand the demands of his professional labors. While practicing he had given some attention to agricultural and busi- ness pursuits, owning the old Allison home- stead in East Mahoning township, where he kept some of the finest thoroughbred horses to be found in Indiana county. There he took up his home when he withdrew from his profession, and he now gives all his atten- tion to farming and kindred pursuits, having his fine tract of two hundred acres under first-class cultivation. His enterprising and progressive ideas have been put into practice in its improvement. He has never lost his delphia.

love for fine horses and still takes consider- able interest in raising thoroughbreds. For some years he conducted the Marion Cream- ery, turning out from one hundred to two hundred pounds of butter daily, shipping to various parts of the county. It was destroyed by fire. Dr. Allison is one of the oldest sur- viving physicians in the county who practiced under the old order of things. He and Dr. W. B. Ansley of Plumville read medicine to- gether at Plumville.

director, being thoroughly public-spirited and interested in the welfare of the community in which he made his home. He has been a member of Gilgal Presbyterian Church for fifty years and has been active in all its work, serving as trustee, Sunday school teacher and its superintendent; his wife is also a member of that church and teaches in the Sunday school. Socially Dr. Allison belongs to the I. O. O. F. lodge at Cookport, is a past grand of that lodge and a member of the Grand Lodge of the State. He is a member of the Indiana County Medical Society.

In 1863, during Lee's threatened invasion he was established for the nineteen years fol- of Pennsylvania, he was in the army for a lowing, and there he not only commanded a short period, having enlisted in Company B, wide practice but also became engaged in the 62d Regiment, Pennsylvania Militia.

On July 4, 1879, Dr. Allison married Mary Lockhard, who was born in Green township, this county, daughter of David and Sarah Jane (Jones) Lockhard. Her father owned the well-known Lockhard flour mills of In- diana. Dr. and Mrs. Allison had one child, Birdie, who died in Marion Center when six and a half years old.

MISS JANE E. LEONARD is an educator, one of the most widely known and honored in the State. She and her father were born at Leonard, near Clearfield, Pa. Leonard's sta- tion, Leonard's run, the "Leonard House," and the Leonard graded schools are traces of her father and his brothers.

On her mother's side Miss Leonard is descended from a line of Quakers from Wil- liam Penn's time-Quakers who were official members of the first Yearly Meeting in Phila-

The aim and work of Miss Leonard's life is that of a teacher. She has spent almost the whole of her adult life in the two leading normal schools of the State, first as a student and then as a teacher in the normal school at Millersville. Later, when the normal school at Indiana was founded, she was called there and there she has remained ever since, holding both the office as preceptress as well as acting as instructor. She has seen the school grow gradually, from thirty boarders the first winter of its existence-the winter of 1875-to more than a thousand students now. She looks upon what she may have done for Indiana as her life's work, and the honor and esteem of its students as her life's re- ward. -

In politics Dr. Allison has always been a stanch adherent to the principles of the Demo- cratic party, and he was a strong admirer of President Cleveland. In 1893 he was ap- pointed postmaster at Marion Center, and served four years, proving a painstaking and - highly satisfactory incumbent of the office. He also served as burgess of Marion Center, FRANCIS BRADLEY CAMP is one of as member of the council board and school the leading citizens of Montgomery township,

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HISTORY OF INDIANA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

Indiana county, where he has been associated Thomas Parry, who was a minister of the with some of the most progressive enterprises Presbyterian Church for many years and is now superannuated (they reside at Cherry- which have characterized the advancement of the region. He has the strength of purpose tree) ; Eben Howard, of Mountain City, Tenn., and executive ability which have been marked traits of all the members of the Camp family in this section, where his grandfather settled some twenty-five years ago.

Heth F. Camp came to Indiana county in 1837 from Washington, D. C., in the inter- est of a land company, for whom he continued to act as agent the remainder of his life, selling thousands of acres of land in this vicinity. He settled at what is now Cherry- tree, laid out that town, and sold the land on which it stands. Though he lived only twelve years after his arrival here, dying in 1849, he had borne a large part in the early activi- ties of the locality, becoming interested in farming on his own account, engaging in the mercantile business and also acting as civil engineer. He had married in Counecticut Phoebe Bates, and they had a family of five children, of whom Elizabeth M. Camp, a resi- dent of Cherrytree, is now the only survivor.

Eben Bates Camp, son of Heth F. and Phoebe (Bates) Camp, was born Jan. 11, 1825, in Connecticut, and was but a boy when the family settled in Indiana county. He at- tended public school and an academy at In- diana, this county, and had entered college, but was called home upon the death of his father to look after his landed interests. Few men of his day were more intimately asso- ciated with the progress and development of this locality. He continued the general mer- cantile business established by his father, be- ing interested in that line for fifty years alto- gether. He also followed lumbering, buying, selling and rafting timber on the Susque- hanna river, was a civil engineer, and in fact was an all-around active business man. He retired about twenty years before his death. He held the offices of school director and member of the town council, and was a great worker in the Presbyterian Church, serving for years as ruling elder and trustee. He died July 3, 1910.

Mr. Camp married Frances E. Waller, a native of Washington, D. C., born March 17, 1830, member of one of the oldest families of Montgomery township, and she survives him, still residing at Cherrytree. Of the seven children born to this union two are deceased : Arthur Bates, who was an attorney, of Chi- cago, Ill .; and Maria Coe, who married Rev. Thomas W. Hine, of Saulsburg, Pa. The five B. Camp. Mr. and Mrs. Camp have had five surviving are: Cecilia Crawford, wife of Rev. children, of whom Leila Waller died when

a lumber manufacturer; Francis Bradley ; Hannah Waller, wife of William M. Boal, of Ronceverte, W. Va .; and Everett Brace, a lumber manufacturer, of Waynesville, North Carolina.

Francis Bradley Camp was born July 28, 1857, in Indiana county, and was reared at Cherrytree, receiving his early education there in the public schools. He also attended the Glade Run academy, in Armstrong coun- ty. When twenty-two years old he was taken into partnership with his father in the gen- eral store, the firm becoming E. B. Camp & Son, and continued to hold an interest in same until his father sold out and retired. He also established a wholesale lumber busi- ness which be conducted successfully for some time, and for a number of years he has been engaged in farming, having a fine place of two hundred acres in Montgomery town- ship, one of the best farms in that township, tastefully improved and thoroughly well kept up. Several local enterprises which mark the progress of this section have counted him among their early advocates. He was one of the organizers of the Farmers' Telephone Company and has been president since it was established; was one of the organizers of Schryock Grange, Patrons of Husbandry, and is now serving as master of that body; and was one of the early friends of the rural free delivery system, doing his share toward the practical realization of what seemed to many an impossibility. He has served twenty years as school director of his township. He is a leading worker in the Presbyterian Church, being a ruling elder, and formerly served as trustee; and he is equally inter- ested in the Sunday school, being president of the Presbyterian District Sunday School Association.

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Indiana County, Pennsylvania; her people, past and present, Volume II, Part 12

Author: Stewart, Joshua Thompson, 1862- comp Publication date: 1913 Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers & co. Number of Pages: 884

Author: Stewart, Joshua Thompson, 1862- comp
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 884