Indiana County, Pennsylvania; her people, past and present, Volume II, Part 76

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 76

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

SAMUEL MARSHALL NESBITT, now living on his farm in Conemaugh township, Indiana county, has been a well-known resi- dent of that section for years, having formerly been located at Tunnelton, in the same town- ship, where he conducted a general store and long served as postmaster. The Nesbitt fam- ily has been established in this country for over a century. They came hither from Clear Spring, Washington Co., Md., at which site Nathaniel. Nesbitt, great-grandfather of Sam- uel Marshall Nesbitt, made the first improve- ment.

place where he settled with his parents and now owned by his heirs, and he was particu- larly successful as a stock raiser, winning many prizes at the county fairs for his horses and cattle. In association with another man he owned the "Tribune," a canal boat (which was sunk by his partner), meantime also con- tinuing his agricultural operations. He was jury commissioner of Indiana county, took a deep interest in the success of the Prohibition party, which he supported, and was a promi- nent member of the Presbyterian Church at Livermore, and Tunnelton, serving many years as elder. In politics he was a Demo- crat, in social connection an Odd Fellow, be- longing to Blairsville lodge. Major Nesbitt died July 13, 1898, at his home in Conemaugh township. He held a commission in the Penn- sylvania militia.

Nathaniel Nesbitt, grandfather of Samuel Marshall Nesbitt, was reared at Clear Spring, Major Nesbitt was united in marriage to Martha Keener, who was born in 1810 near Slatelick, Armstrong Co., Pa., daughter of George and Sarah (Frantz) Keener, and died March 17, 1878. Mr. and Mrs. Nesbitt Washington Co., Md., and was about fifty years of age when he came with his family to Indiana county, Pa., in 1816. That year he located on the farm in Conemaugh town- ship where his son, Maj. Nathaniel Nesbitt, are interred in the Livermore cemetery. They passed most of his life, and which is now

had a family of nine children, viz .: (1) Sarah

1184

HISTORY OF INDIANA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

(deceased) married Jonathan R. Burns and served twenty years as elder, also teaching a had children: John, Milton, Charles, Ida Bible class. Fraternally he has been a Mason and Martha. (2) Nathaniel enlisted in the for years, is a Good Templar and member of the Sons of Temperance. Union service June 21, 1861, for three years, and entering the army as a private became Mr. Nesbitt was married Oct. 26, 1880, to Martha J. Davis, daughter of Samuel and Eliza (Miller) Davis, of Conemaugh town- ship, and they have had five children: Isaac Charles, born Nov. 14, 1881, who died Jan. 17, 1893, and is buried in the Saltsburg ceme- tery; Paul Edwin, traveling salesman for a wholesale stationery house; Nathaniel, living at home; Ralph Burrell, who is studying at Princeton, N. J., preparing for foreign mis- sionary work; and Eliza, born Oct. 17, 1885, who died Aug. 5, 1887. captain of Company E, 11th Pennsylvania Volunteer Reserves, and was shot by a wounded Confederate lying behind a log, Sept. 14, 1862, at the battle of South Mountain, while leading a charge. He died Sept. 21, 1862. (3) Elizabeth S. was born April 7, 1836. (4) George K. enlisted June 21, 1861, in Company E, 11th Pennsylvania Volunteer Reserves, was promoted to corporal July 27, 1861, and died Oct. 14, 1861, at Washington, D. C., of typhoid fever. (5) Samuel Mar- shall is mentioned below. (6) Mary, unmar- ried, lives at Livermore, Pa. (7) Martha (deceased) married James J. Fritz (who served in the Civil war, in Captain Nesbitt's company), and had children: Nat, Bessie, Lee, John, Alice, Susie and Sarah. (8) Kate died unmarried. (9) Susan is unmarried and lives with her sister Mary at Livermore.

Samuel Marshall Nesbitt was born Nov. 5, 1839, in Blacklick township, this county, where his parents lived for a short time. He attended public school in Conemaugh town- ship and later went to select school, and when his own school days were over taught for one winter. He then followed farming, as- sisting his parents, until 1866, in which year he went to the oil fields, remaining a year. Returning home he engaged in lumbering as well as farming for a number of years, in 1882 entering the employ of the Pennsyl- vania Railroad Company as station master, freight agent and express agent at Tunnel- ton, Pa., in Conemaugh township. He held that position until the spring of 1910, and meantime also embarked in the general mer- chandise business. He was appointed post- master, and served as such for over twenty years, being one of the best known residents of the place. During this period, in 1899, he bought a farm of 138 acres near Tunnelton, and carried on its cultivation in connection with his other enterprises. But in 1910, when he retired from the railroad service, sold his general store and gave up the post office, he moved to his present liome, a very fine farm, where he and his son Nathaniel are engaged in general farming and stock raising. Mr. Nesbitt has found time for public as well as business interests, served many years as school director, and is an ardent member of the Prohibition party. He has long been a mem- ber of the Presbyterian Church and has Clara.

RICHARD WHITE WEHRLE, head of the firm of R. W. Wehrle & Co., of Indiana, does the leading jewelry business in Indiana county. He is also interested in other lines of commerce, and as a student of natural his- tory is a recognized authority in certain branches of information concerning the county. Mr. Wehrle was born in Indiana Oct. 1, 1852, and is of German descent. His grandfather, Eliseus Wehrle, lived and died in Germany.

Blaseus Wehrle, father of Richard W. Wehrle, was born Feb. 2, 1809, in Baden- Baden, Germany, and learned the trade of jeweler in his native country. He came thence to the United States in 1828, landing at New York after a long and stormy voyage of forty days in a sailing vessel. At first he journeyed around selling clocks and doing repair work, being thus engaged for ten years, principally in Huntingdon county, Pa. In time, in 1845, he located at Indiana, and engaged in the jewelry business, which he continued up to within two years of his death, which oc- curred Sept. 2, 1887. He was a master work- man in his line, characteristically thorough and familiar with its details as old country workmen learned to be, and these qualities, together with his untiring industry, brought him success. He married Cornelia Tinthoff, daughter of William Tinthoff, of Indiana, and she preceded liim to the grave, dying Feb. 23, 1882. They were Catholics in their re- ligious faith, and are buried in the Catholic cemetery at Indiana. They were the parents of eight children: Mary H .; Boniface I., who was engaged in the jewelry business in Indi- ana, and died in October, 1899; Richard White; Elias; Juliet; Blanche; William, and

RSS. Wchod

1185

HISTORY OF INDIANA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

Richard White Wehrle grew up in Indiana, and there received a public school education. He began to learn the jeweler's trade and business with his father, and when a youth of fourteen went to Brookville, Jefferson Co., Pa., to finish the apprenticeship with his uncle, Sylvester M. Tinthoff, with whom he remained about three years. He made the journey from Indiana to that place on foot, and it took him two days, and the three dol- lars he had in his pocket constituted all he owned. Returning thence to Indiana county he located at Blairsville, where he established a jewelry store of his own in 1873, carrying on same for over twenty years. His store on Main street was well stocked with a general line of goods, and he built up a fine trade, but sold out in 1895 to remove to Indiana, where he has since been engaged in the same line. He was with his brother Boniface the first few years, under the name of B. I. Wehrle & Brother, this association lasting until his brother's death in 1899, since when the business has been conducted under the name of R. W. Wehrle & Co. He has an up-to-date store and commands the best pa- tronage in his line in Indiana county. Mr. Wehrle is himself a skilled workman, and has always made it a point to give personal super- vision to the repair department since his busi- ness became too large to permit him to do the work alone.

Meantime Mr. Wehrle has acquired other interests. In 1889 he purchased two stone quarries, both located in Indiana county, from which he shipped blue stone and Belgium block paving stone to Pittsburg. He has disposed of the quarries. He now owns coal and timber lands, having over one thousand acres in Center and Burrell townships, this county, underlaid with valuable coal deposits and covered with timber, and he gives con- siderable time to the development and man- agement of this property.

Mr. Wehrle has devoted much of his leisure to the study of natural history, particularly in its relation to local conditions, and is at present giving instruction to a class on this subject. He has made a collection, complete so far as known, of the fish, snakes and turtles of Indiana county.

Socially Mr. Wehrle is a Mason, belong- ing to Acacia Lodge, No. 355, F. & A. M., of Blairsville. He attends the Presbyterian Church in Indiana, Pa. Politically he is a Republican.

JACOB F. GERHARD, a resident of Blacklick, now living retired, has for many years been one of the most respected farmer citizens of his section of Indiana county, Pa., where he has made his home for over thirty years. Born Feb. 11, 1847, in Berks county, this State, son of Elias Gerhard, he is a de- scendant of that sturdy Pennsylvania Ger- man stock whose honesty, industry and thrift have made the Commonwealth one of the most prosperous in the Union.

Elias Gerhard, father of Jacob F. Gerhard, was also a native of Berks county, where he followed farming, selling his produce in the markets near his home. He was a Union sol- dier during the' Civil war, enlisting at the first call for volunteers, and served nine months. He died when sixty years old, being accidentally killed, in a runaway. In religion he was a member of the German Reformed Church, in politics a "war Democrat." Mr. Gerhard was twice married, his first wife be- ing a daughter of Jacob Zellers. She died in April, 1849, leaving four children, Isabelle, Amelia, Jacob F. and Darius. For his second wife Elias Gerhard married Sarah Kauffman, daughter of Daniel and Judith Kauffman, and she died six months prior to her hus- band. Their son, George W., now a minister of the Reformed Church, located at West Reading, Pa., was thirteen years old when his father died, and he was reared among strangers.

Jacob F. Gerhard was but two years old when his mother died, and he was taken to the home of his grandfather, Jacob Zellers, where he received such educational advantages as the local schools afforded. From an early age he worked on his grandfather's farm, where he remained until fourteen years old. His grand- father dying then, he was thrown upon his own resources and has since made his own way in the world. He did farm work in Berks county and elsewhere in that section of the State until he reached the age of twenty- five years, in 1872 coming to western Pennsyl- vania and locating in Burrell township, In- diana county, where he farmed a tract of 125 acres on shares for Samuel McCrea, spend- ing two years on that place. The next two years he farmed on shares for Dr. Rutledge, in Robinson township, Allegheny county, from there removing to Westmoreland county, where he farmed for two years near Millwood. Thence he removed to the Sloan farm near Blairsville, in Burrell township, Indiana county, cultivating that place for one year and in 1881 buying the Rugh farm in the

1185

HISTORY OF INDIANA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

same township, a tract of 273 acres, where he ing a store on the Hugh Evans farm. This engaged in farming on his own account for was the first store in the township, and a year the twenty-six years following. Under his later he located in Mechanicsburg, where he practical and progressive management the became the first merchant in that village. He farm became one of the best in the township continued here in active business for a num- ber of years and became a prosperous and suc- cessful man. In 1845 he was elected sheriff of Indiana county, and served in that capacity for a period of three years. He was one of the founders of the town of Mechanicsburg. In 1837 he bought of Robert MeCormack fifty acres of land on which Mechanicsburg is now located, and in 1840 he sold one third of that tract to Squire Stewart, who laid out an addition to the village. Mr. Truby was also an extensive land owner, and became one of the best-known men of the township. He was one of the incorporators of the borough of Mechanicsburg, and filled the office of burgess of the borough. He served as postmaster at Brushvalley for several years. His death oc- curred in Mechanicsburg Dec. 5, 1897, at the age of ninety-one years, and he was buried in Mechanicsburg. In politics he was a Whig, then a Republican. He was a member of the U. P. Church, as was also his wife. and he was a very successful worker, taking much pleasure and interest in improving lis property, which showed the intelligent care he bestowed upon it. He followed general farm- ing and stock raising. In 1907 Mr. Gerhard , retired (his sons now operating the farm) and located at Blacklick, where he built two fine dwelling houses, one being the residence he occupies. He is one of the directors of the First National Bank of Blackliek, but he takes no active part in business at present, though he has good health and is well preserved. Be- ginning life a poor boy, he has succeeded by dint of industry and steady application, and he deserves to be called a self-made man, since he had neither means nor influence to aid him in making a start. He has taken some part in local affairs, having served his town- ship efficiently as overseer of the poor, school director and supervisor. In polities he has been associated with the Republican party.

In 1873 Mr. Gerhard married Sophia Sides, who was born April 12, 1849, daughter of Adam and Nancy (Dougherty) Sides, and they have a family of four children : Calvin, who is engaged in farming in Westmoreland county, Pa .; Frank, farming the homestead ; Alfred, also on the homestead; and Clara, ried Margaret M. Rugh; Mary, who married at home.

SIMEON HOVEY TRUBY, general mer- chant and optician, of Mechanicsburg, Brush- valley township, Indiana county, was born Dec. 5, 1860, in that place. He is a member of an old established family in western Penn- sylvania.

Christopher Truby, his great-great-grand- father, had his home in Westmoreland county, Pa., where his son Christopher (2) was born. Michael Truby, son of Christopher (2) and grandfather of Simeon H. Truby, also lived in Westmoreland county, near Greensburg. He married Mary Kline.

Simeon Truby married in 1835, Nancy Kelly, born July 16, 1816, daughter of John Kelly. She died April 8, 1891, aged seventy- four years, and was also buried in the Mechan- icsburg cemetery. Their children were: Wil- liam Harrison, now deceased; John, who mar- James Rugh; William, who married Inez Hebe Runyon; Agnes, who married William Nesbit; James T., who married Belle Smith ; Elizabeth (deceased) and Margaret, twins, the latter of whom married Samuel Rugh ; Jane, deceased; Ann, deceased; and Simeon Hovey.

Simeon Hovey Truby, son of Simeon and Nancy (Kelly) Truby, attended the public schools of Mechanicsburg and the Millersville State normal school, and later took a com- mercial course in the Iron City Commercial College, at Pittsburg. After leaving school he became a clerk in the store of J. C. Rugh. who conducted a general mercantile business at Penn Run and also at Marion Center. Later he formed a partnership with Thomas Ramey, and they conducted a store for some time, until they sold out, at which time, in 1885. Mr. Truby located at Mechanicsburg, in Brushvalley township, going into business for himself. This was at his present location. known as the Grand Central Store, where for

Simeon Truby, son of Michael and Mary (Kline) Truby, was born near Greensburg. Westmoreland county, April 14, 1806. When he was but fifteen years of age he came to In- diana and found employment with William Houston, as elerk in his store. Here he also attended school, continuing, however, in the employ of Mr. Houston until 1832, when he the last twenty-seven years he has been en- removed to Brushvalley and became engaged gaged in the general mercantile business with much success. In 1892 he became interested in the mercantile business for himself, open-

1187

HISTORY OF INDIANA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

in the science of optics, and took up the study "Soon after my ordination I accepted a commission from the American Baptist Pub- at South Bend, Ind., later taking another course at the Spencer Optical Company, New lication Society and traveled as their mission- York, where he was graduated in 1910. He is now engaged as optician in connection with his mercantile business. He is also the rep- resentative of the Bell Telephone Company of Brushvalley. In politics Mr. Truby is a stanch Republican, and he has done good work as an official, having been a member of the council of Mechanicsburg, also a school director and auditor of the borough. Frater- nally he is a member of the Royal Arcanum of Indiana. He and his family are members of the U. P. Church.

In 1899 Mr. Truby married, in New Flor- ence, Westmoreland county, Jennie M. Hood, who was born in New Florence, daughter of John Hood. They have had children as fol- lows: Estella Agnes, Cora J., John Hood and Mary Blanch.

ANDREW BETHUEL RUNYAN-Auto- biography, dated Brushvalley, Indiana Co., Pa., March 28, 1896. "I was born in Lycom- ing county, Pa., Sept. 5, 1826, son of Thomas Runyan, grandson of George Runyan, and great-grandson of Rev. Thomas Runyan, of the old-school Baptist [ministry ?] of Bed- ford county, Pa. Was baptized by Rev. Wil- liam S. Hall at the old Madison Baptist Church in Columbia county, Pa., near Jersey- town, in the fall of 1845. Was licensed to preach by the above church Oct. 19, 1850. Came to Indiana county in the fall of 1852, and was ordained by the Twolick Church Feb. 11, 1853, by Rev. Aaron Neff and Rev. Samuel Furman and a council composed of delegates from several churches. Served this church for over a year. Came to Brushvalley to re- side in March, 1853. Married Miss Lucinda Evans, daughter of Hugh Evans, Sept. 1, 1853. Removed to Clarion county, Pa., and served as pastor of New Bethlehem, Leather- wood, Red Bank and Strattonville Churches. About 1860 removed to Curwensville, Pa., and served as pastor [of?] Curwensville, Reynoldsville and Clearfield Churches for a short period only. Removed to Brushvalley in 1862 and enlisted in the army of the United States Aug. 29, 1864 [was corporal, Com- pany L, 6th Regiment, Pa. V. I.]. Was dis- charged at Fort Ethan Allen June 13, 1865, by reason of the war closing. Was taken to Pittsburg and delivered up our arms; thence to Camp Reynolds, where we were paid off, and from thence returned to our homes, the latter part of June, 1865.

ary colporteur for about two years, during which time I organized at East Mahoning the first Baptist Sabbath school in all Clarion Association, which then included Indiana Association also. Have had five children, two sons and three daughters, all of which are dead except my daughter Annie Jane, who is married to F. D. Jolly. Organized four churches, viz .: Apollo, during the year 1868; Liberty Church, at Eagleville, Centre Co., Pa., January, 1871; Ambrose, Jan. 22, 1880; and Homer City Memorial Church in 1894. Have helped to build under my pastoral care eight (sic) houses of worship, Brushvalley, Lock Haven, Liberty at Eagleville, Centre Co., Pa., Ambrose, East Mahoning, Pine Flat and Homer City. Solemnized 128 marriages, but I have no record of either baptisms or funerals.

"Served as pastor of the following churches in Indiana Association: Brush Val- ley, Indiana, Mahoning, East Mahoning, Ambrose, Cookport, Crooked Creek, West Lebanon, Blairsville, and Homer, three years at Saltsburg, one year at Apollo and one at Brady's Bend. Served as juryman three terms, twice as petit juror and once as fore- man on the grand jury. Served as secretary of the Brush Valley school board for three years and as township treasurer two years. Taught school, either public or select, for about three years. Was never sued and was never on a witness stand, either before a jus- tice or the court. In all the years of my ministry my average salary did not exceed four hundred dollars per annum. I attended school at Lewisburg two summers when that school was held in the basement of the First Baptist Church building. Afterwards I spent two full years at Bloomsburg Academy. under the instructions of Rev. Joel E. Brad- ley (Baptist minister). This is all the educa- tion I ever received except what I have se- cured by my own effort.

"Served the church at Lock Haven three years, Liberty three years and Milesburg two years.'

A memorandum says further: "I espe- cially request that no memorial services be held after my departure. I am conscious of many defects in my life. To err is human. But God will forgive and overrule all for- His glory .- A. B. RUNYAN."

1188

HISTORY OF INDIANA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

Rev. Mr. Runyan died in Homer City May acres, part of which was in Green township. 6, 1908, and was buried in Oakland cemetery, There his daughters and sons-in-law settled. at Indiana, Pa. His daughter, Mrs. F. D. He spent all his life in Blacklick township, Jolly, is a resident of Brooklyn, N. Y. His dying there in June, 1896, and was buried in second wife, Margaret R. (St. Clair), daugh- the family plot in Hopewell cemetery. He ter of the late Samuel St. Clair, whom he married May 3, 1902, survives him, making her home at Homer City.

was a member of the Hopewell M. E. Church, and in political belief a Democrat. On Dec. 15, 1831, Mr. Clawson was married to Rachel Davis, whose ancestors were natives of New CLAWSON. The Clawson family of Indi- ana county has been settled here for over a century, and its members in every generation have been respected and useful citizens, a credit to the community and to the honored 1833, is mentioned below; Eunice, born Aug. name they bear. England. She died in July, 1897, in Black- lick township, and is buried in Hopewell cemetery. Seven children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Clawson: Benjamin, born July 11, 16, 1835, died Feb. 27, 1838; Mary Ann, born Benjamin Clawson, the first of the family in this part of the State, was born Aug. 27, 1781, in Huntingdon county, Pa., son of Richard and Sarah (Mitchell) Clawson. He grew to manhood there, and came to western Pennsylvania when a young man, about the March 31, 1838, married John Donahey and settled in Green township, where she died; Silas, born July 22, 1840, died March 2, 1858 ; Gere, born July 31, 1847, is mentioned below ; Rebecca, born March 8, 1852, married Ben- jamin Donahey and resided in Green town- close of the eighteenth century, crossing the ship; Cynthia, born March 25, 1860, died aged Alleghenies and making a settlement in what seventeen years. is now Blacklick township, Indiana county, BENJAMIN CLAWSON was born on the old Clawson homestead in Blacklick township then, however, a part of Westmoreland county. He became the owner of a large and attended the local public schools. Work- ing with his father, who owned and operated over six hundred acres at that time, he be- came thoroughly familiar with farm work and management, and after starting out for himself became the owner of a tract of 400 acres. He followed stock raising as well as general farming, and made extensive improve- ments upon his property during his active years, working hard and prospering deserved- ly. His well-directed labors and intelligent at- tention to all the details of his work placed him among the foremost farmers of his town- ship, and few of its citizens have been more thoroughly respected for substantial worth and useful lives. In the last few years he has given up arduous work, enjoying the fruits of his early industry in comfortable retire- ment. He has never taken any part in the

tract of land in what was at that time a wilderness, and experienced the various phases of pioneer life. He engaged in general farming and made what improvements he could upon his land, residing there until his death, which occurred when he was past eighty years of age. He is buried in Hope- well Church cemetery in Blacklick township. Mr. Clawson was twice married, the first time Feb. 21, 1811, to Mrs. Mary (Donahey) Low- ers, widow of Robert Lowers, by which union there were six children, born as follows: Richard B., Dec. 15, 1811; Mary, Nov. 16. 1814 (married Samuel Bennett) ; Sarah, Sept. 10, 1816 (married John Clawson) ; William, Sept. 1, 1818 (died in infancy) ; William (2), Oct. 6, 1819 (also died young) ; Benjamin, Oct. 10, 1824. After the death of his first wife Mr. Clawson married, Dec. 1, public affairs of his locality, supporting the 1838, Mary Huffman. There were no children by this marriage.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Indiana County, Pennsylvania; her people, past and present, Volume II, Part 76

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