Jefferson County, Pennsylvania : her pioneers and people, 1800-1915, Volume II, Part 117

Author: McKnight, W. J. (William James), 1836-1918
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Chicago : J.H. Beers
Number of Pages: 972

USA > Pennsylvania > Jefferson County > Jefferson County, Pennsylvania : her pioneers and people, 1800-1915, Volume II > Part 117

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where he grew to manhood and remained until 1861, when, as a youth of about eighteen, he came to Jefferson county and found employ- ment in the limber woods. He began in 1867 the development of his present farm, his mar- riage having been celebrated about two years previously, and the young couple had experi- ences involving ceaseless endeavor and not a few hardships. To aid in providing for the fam- ily and in paying for his land he worked in the lumber camps for a long term of years. He became an expert in the hewing of timber, much of which was squared before being rafted down the creeks and rivers, and he not only assisted in rafting but was at times em- ployed in sawmills. To such workers success comes as a natural prerogative and just re- ward, and Mr. Harriger now finds himself compassed by well earned independence and prosperity. with a farm whose fields yield their tribute from year to year and with a pleasant home in a community where he is surrounded by friends tried and true. He has shown a loyal interest in matters touching the social and material welfare of his township and county, has served as township supervisor and school director, and his political allegiance is generally given to the Republican party.

On the 26th of .April, 1865, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Harriger to Elizabeth Stine, who was then a young woman of seven- teen years. Mrs. Harriger was born in Clarion county, but was only six years of age when her parents, Joseph and Sarah (Lowers) Stine, settled in Polk township, one and a half miles distant from her present home, and thus she, too, was reared under the conditions and in- fluences of the pioneer days. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Harriger have upheld the honors of the family name. All received the best edu- cational advantages their parents were able to accord, both of the surviving daughters gain- ing educational discipline in the Pennsylvania State Normal School at Clarion and becoming successful and popular teachers in the schools of Jefferson county, each with a record of ten terms. Amanda. firstborn of the children, be- came the wife of Daniel Plotner and died one year after her marriage, when but nineteen years of age; George is in the grocery busi- ness at Clarion: John is a progressive farmer of lleath township: Josephine is the wife of Guy Wingerd. Polk township: Clark is identi- fied with lumbering operations in Forest county ; Frank is in the employ of a natural gas company at Wooster. Ohio; Effie is the wife of 1 .. W. Wray. of Perrysville, Ohio.

RUSH M. MEHRTEN has resided in Brookville some fifteen years, it being con- venient headquarters for his business opera- tions, which are principally in the soft coal fields. Mr. Mehrten has been from boyhood familiar with another great industry, the pro- duction of oil, and has met with notable suc- cess as a driller and contractor in the oil fields, the family having had holdings of valuable oil lands for many years.

John Henry Mehrten, grandfather of Rush N., was born in Hanover, Germany, emigrat- ing thence at the age of .fourteen, and landing at New York City. There he remained for sey- eral years and was there married. Meanwhile he followed various occupations, including merchandising; but deciding to try farm- ing in western Pennsylvania, in 1832 came by wagon to Clarion county. He bought two hundred acres of land in Beaver town- ship and the day of his arrival purchased three hundred acres more, anticipated increases in values justifying the investment. The rich stores of oil later found beneath the surface yielded more than cultivation of the soil, a number of productive wells being located upon the property. Mr. Mehrten led an industrious, useful life, and died on his farm in 1865, at the age of sixty-five years. He is buried with his wife, Mary Magdalena (Whitling), at the Stone Church in Beaver township, Clarion county. Their children were: John Henry, Jr .; Mary, who died unmarried; Magdalena, wife of Levi Allebach ; and Martin, a veteran of the Civil war, now deceased.

John Henry Mehrten, Jr., was born Jan. 1, 1835, in New York City. He was brought up in close familiarity with agricultural work and owned a farm in Clarion county, receiving as part of his inheritance the farm upon which his father was living at the time of his death. He was largely occupied also in painting and in the oil business. His farm, which is situ- ated in Beaver township, is now owned by a company of which R. M. Mehrten was a mem- ber. John Henry Mehrten, Jr., was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Knights of Pythias and Ancient Order of United Workmen, and belonged to the Luth- eran Church. He married Amelia Heeter, daughter of George Heeter, of eastern Penn- sylvania ; they had a large family: John H. ( who died young), Mary, Martha, Rush M., John H. (2), Louella. Elizabeth. Charles G., William H. and Lawrence P. The father died June 20. 1804, the mother at the age of sixty- nine years, and both are interred in the Stone

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Church cemetery in Beaver township, Clarion county.

Rush M. Mehrten was born April 14, 1864, in Salem township, Clarion county, and was reared upon his father's farm and attended school. At the age of fourteen he found em- ployment about the oil wells and has followed contract drilling in the oil fields for the last twenty-six years, having more recently added coal testing, his operations extending over a wide territory.

On Feb. 23, 1888, Mr. Mehrten married Clara Elizabeth Chitester, daughter of the late David Chitester, and they have had seven chil- dren : Raymond R., who died July 15, 1916, as the result of an automobile accident, leaving two children, Arden A. and Margaret Eliza- beth : Hazel E .; Anna L .; Parma C., a gradu- ate of the class of 1916, Brookville high school ; David and Archie, both deceased; and George H.

HENRY STEVENSON, a venerable and honored citizen who has been long and suc- cessfully identified with agricultural activities in Jefferson county and who still resides on his fine homestead farm, in Winslow town- ship, was born in County Tyrone, Ireland, on the 16th of August, 1839, and is a son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Moore) Stevenson, both of whom passed the closing years of their long and useful lives on the farm in Washington township, this county. The re- mains of these honored pioneers rest in the beautiful Beechwoods cemetery, both having been earnest members of the Presbyterian Church. The names and respective dates of birth of their children are here recorded : Robert, May 24, 1830; William, Oct. 28, 1832 ; Martha, Jan. 8, 1835: James, May 3. 1837; Henry, Aug. 16, 1839: Nancy, Jan. 12, 1842; Rebecca, Ang. 20, 1844: Thomas, June 27, 1847; Mary, Feb. 17, 1850.

Thomas Stevenson. father of Henry, was born and reared in Ireland. He was of re- mote Scotch ancestry. About 1850 he came with his family to America (his parents passed their entire lives in Ireland) and be- came one of the pioneer settlers of Washing- ton township, Jefferson Co., Pa., where he purchased 150 acres of land, which he re- claimed and developed into one of the pro- ductive farms of the county, the while he naturally was concerned with the lumbering operations incidental to the cutting of the heavy timber from his farm and from other districts in the county. He was a sterling and honored citizen and the names of this worthy

pioneer couple merit enduring place in the history of the community, where they lived and labored to goodly ends and where they were true and loyal in all the relations of life.

Henry Stevenson, named in honor of his paternal grandfather, was about ten years of age at the time of the family immigration to America and his rudimentary education was acquired in the schools of his native land. He thereafter attended the pioneer schools of Jef- ferson county at intervals and early began to lend effective aid in the clearing and cultiva- tion of the home farm. Under the direction of his brother William he learned the car- penter's trade, and later they formed a part- nership and developed a substantial business as contractors and builders. With this line of enterprise Henry Stevenson continued his identification several years and then engaged in farming on the old Colwell place, in Wash- ington township, where he remained several years and made many permanent improve- ments. After disposing of this place Mr. Ste- venson purchased a tract of land in Winslow township, near the Washington line, in which latter township about twenty acres of his fine farm of nearly one hundred acres are sit- uated. He was likewise actively concerned with lumbering a number of years and in this connection gained reputation for being one of the most skillful pilots of lumber rafts on the Red Bank creek.

Lasting honor and distinction shall attach to the name of Mr. Stevenson for the loyal and valiant service which he accorded as a soldier of the Union in the Civil war. In 1861, when about twenty-two years of age, he enlisted in Company H. 105th Pennsyl- vania Volunteer Infantry, commanded by Col- onel McKnight, and he had the honor of serving as color guard of this gallant regi- ment during the greater part of its splendid activity at the front. He took part in the most arduous of marches and other cam- paign service and participated in a number of the most important engagements marking the progress of the great conflict between the States of the North and the South. includ- ing the battles of Gettysburg and Chancellors- ville. On the latter field it was his to witness the fall and death of his honored commander. Colonel McKnight. He continued with his regiment until the close of the war and the only severe injury he received in battle was a wound in the right arm, in the battle of Gettysburg. In later years he has perpetuated the more gracious memories and associations of his career as a soldier by maintaining af-

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filiation with the Grand Army of the Repub- lic. Mr. Stevenson has always given stanch allegiance to the Republican party and has been influential in public affairs of a local order, as one of the steadfast and honored citizens of the beautiful Beechwoods district. He has served in various local offices of trust, including those of school director, overseer of the poor, tax assessor, collector, etc.

In 1868 Mr. Stevenson wedded Martha M. Mccullough, daughter of Hugh Mccullough, another sterling pioneer of this county, and she passed away in 1886, her only surviving child being James W., who was born Aug. 24, 1870, and who is now a resident of Texas. In 1889 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Stevenson to Rebecca F. Fuller, who was born April 26, 1848, and who is a daughter of the late John and Rebecca (Cathers) Fuller, residents of Jefferson county for many years prior to their death. Mr. and Mrs. Steven- son are members of the Baptist Church and they are numbered among the revered pioneer citizens of Jefferson county. Their only son, Henry Walter, was born Jan. 18, 1891, and remains with them on the old homestead.

CORNELIUS STAHLMAN, son of Jere- miah and Elizabeth Stahlman, was born Jan. 7. 1834, in Northumberland county, Pa. His father, of German extraction, was reared in Schuylkill county, in 1838 removing to Clar- ion county, where he settled in the wilder- ness, developed a farm, and lumbered. He died there in 1868. He was a devout mem- ber of the Lutheran Church and strict in its observances. His eleven children were : Moses, Paul, Benewel, William, Cornelius, De- walt, Gabriel, Lucy, Hettie, Elizabeth and Catharine.

When Cornelius Stahlman was in his fourth year the family moved to Clarion county, settling on what is known as the Stahlman timber in Pinecreek township and spent a youth on the farm. When grown to manhood he came to Jefferson county and · worked in the lumber woods. In 1858 he married Mary Gaupp and then returned to Clarion county, where he worked on the old homestead a few years. Lumbering being the most profitable. he returned to Jefferson, bought a tract of timber in Pinecreek township and spent a number of years operating in the woods. After the timber was taken off he made a farm out of what had once been a vast forest. With the help of a faithful, industrious wife he erected suitable buildings for a comfort- able home. In the early part of his married

life, being musically inclined and talented, he conducted a number of successful singing schools throughout the country. He loved to sing and enjoyed associating with those in- terested in music.

The closing days of his life were spent on the farm. Ile died Dec. 21, 1908, and is survived by his widow, four daughters, one granddaughter and one grandson. Of the daughters : Clara married Robert McNeil, of Brookville: Ida is the wife of William Kuhn, of Baltimore : Minerva married George Shaffer and died in March, 1914: Estella, who married U. S. Shofstahl, for the past fifteen years has had a millinery store at Brookville.

In his church relations, as might be ex- pected in a man of such characteristics, Mr. Stahlman was a power for good. Always faithful and willing to serve in any capacity, the past records of the Brookville Lutheran Church show him to have been a most active and loyal member. He gave every evidence in word and deed of a life of true faith in and love for Christ, and though he neither claimed to be nor was perfect and faultless, yet of him it could truthfully be said as of few others, he "walked with the Lord" and "died in the Lord." So he passed away peacefully, with- out a struggle, falling asleep with childlike trust and confidence.

WILLIAM PERRY POSTLETHWAITE, of Valier, has been living in retirement for some years, after an active life spent prin- cipally in agricultural pursuits. He is a native of Perry township and has always resided within its boundaries.

Mr. Postlethwaite belongs to one of the oldest families in Jefferson county. His first ancestor in Pennsylvania. John Postlethwaite, came from England between 1709 and 1713, locating on Conestoga creek, Lancaster county. His son; John Postlethwaite, the great-grand- father of William Perry Postlethwaite, and three brothers served in the Revolutionary war, John and William as privates, and Sam- 11el as captain of one of the first troops en- listed.

John Postlethwaite, son of the above, came to Jefferson county in 1815, after twenty years' residence in Westmoreland county, purchasing four hundred acres from the State, in what is now Perry township. The home was established a half mile northwest of Perrysville (Hamilton), and a log house was built when the rest of the family came. Like many others of his day Mr. Postlethwaite made whisky, operating a still. Here he

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passed the remainder of his life, dying at the homestead in 1852. He was a Democrat and a Presbyterian. By his marriage to Sarah Ross there were the following children, all of whom but Hannah lived and died in Jeffer- son county : David was the father of William Perry. Hannah became the wife of William McKee. of Westmoreland county. John mar- ried Eliza Timblin and located on Pine run, Ringgold township, where he cleared a farm on which they died. Martha died in infancy. William, born in Westmoreland county, mar- ried Jane McHenry, developed a farm and reared his family in Perry township. Mary married William Johnston and lived three miles north of Perrysville. James R. married Betsy Piper and located on his father's home- stead, after his wife's death removing to Min- nesota, where he died some years later.

David Postlethwaite was born July 18, 1794. in what is now Dauphin county and grew to manhood in Westmoreland county. He pre- ceded his father to Jefferson county, selecting the location and assisting in clearing a part of the homestead. About 1818 he purchased three hundred acres of timber land in Ring- gold township where all his family but the youngest child, William Perry, were born. He built a hewed-log house and a round-log barn, and during the twenty years and more of resi- dence there managed to clear a pretty good farm. In 1840 he bought six hundred and twenty-five acres one mile east of Perrysville, adjoining the village of Whitesville, and here developed another farm. Mr. Postlethwaite was a pioneer lumberman, cutting lumber to pay for his land, and for many years rafted on Mahoning creek and the Allegheny river. Besides farming and lumbering he raised con- siderable stock, and one year drove sixty head of cattle to Mifflin county. He had excellent judgment in business transactions, and hy good management coupled with industry acquired a large amount of property, owning over one thousand acres in Ringgold and Perry town- ships, as well as a farm in Indiana county, and gave a farm to each of his large family. He was a Democrat and a member of the Pres- byterian Church. During the war of 1812 he enlisted and went as far as Kittanning, where news of peace was received.

In 1821 he married Jane M. Bell, who was born about 1796 in Westmoreland county, daughter of Squire John and Elizabeth (Welsh) Bell. She died in 1855, he surviv- ing until March 20, 1876. The ten children born to this couple were: (1) John Bell, born Oct. 21. 1822, married Margaret Weaver, of

Perry township, reared his family in Ringgold township and removed to Smicksburg, In- (liana county, where he died in October, 1894, his widow surviving. Their children are: Hannah J., George W., Samuel, Philip H., Mary, Margaret and John. (2) Emily Jane, born April 30. 1824, married Dr. Theophilus Smith and lived on her father's farm in Perry township until her death in 1862. Her seven children are: David P., Jessie, Rachael J., Franklin, William, James and Monroe. (3) Sarah E., deceased, born in 1825. married James Means ; they resided on a farm in Perry township and reared their family of five chil- dren : Scott, who died at sixteen, Bell, Eunice J., Thomas and David. (4) James Madison, born Dec. 1, 1827, married Jerusha Howard, of Porter township, and settled near Lake Pepin, in Minnesota, where he died. (5) Mary M., deceased, born Dec. 10, 1829, lived with her brother at Whitesville. (6) Joseph Warren, born Jan. 20, 1832, married Sarah Ann Heemer, and died in 1903. (7) David M., born April 5. 1834, married Sarah J. Blose and reared a family of four children in Perry township. (8) Thomas J., born May 9, 1836, served three years as a member of Company A, 6Ist Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. He married Elizabeth Means and died in Punx- sutawney. They had two children, Cora and Claude. (9) Benjamin F. died in infancy. (10) William Perry completes the family.

William Perry Postlethwaite was born April 5. 1842, in his boyhood attending the public schools. supplementing this with one year's study at Glade Run Academy. He he- came a teacher, continuing for six terms. He then began farming at Whitesville and with stock growing was a successful agriculturist, accumulating a comfortable competency. For twenty years he has lived retired at Valier. He enlisted in Company C. 206th Pennsylvania Infantry, in August. 1864, sery- ing until mustered out on July 3. 1865. He has been equally interested in the general good. ever advocating progressive measures and movements. He is a Democrat and a Mason.

On April 7. 1870, Mr. Postlethwaite mar- ried Elizabeth C. Means, of Whitesville, who was born March 30. 1850, daughter of Joseph and Margaret (Sutter) Means. Six children have been born to them: Lillie J., born March 12, 1871, deceased at the age of twenty-two years: David N., born Sept. 12, 1872, prac- ticing law at Columbus, Ohio, is married and has three children : Maggie Pearl, born July 11, 1874, died in infancy; Ira Warren, born May 26, 1876, now in the oil business at

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Mankato, Minn., is married and has three children ; Ilomer B., born May 21, 1878, vice president of a bank at Duluth, Minn., is mar- ried and has one child; Paul Revere, born Oct. 26, 1885, now a steam fitter at Columbus, Ohio, is married and has one child. Mr. Pos- tlethwaite is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and his wife belongs to the Methodist denomination.

WILLIAM S. REID is numbered among the sterling citizens and progressive business men who are prominently identified with the coal mining industry in this section of the State, and is treasurer of the Stewart Coal Company, as well as active manager of the Timblin mine. His home and business head- quarters are maintained at Knox Dale, and concerning the company of which he is treas- urer more specific mention is made on other pages. in the sketch of the career of its presi- dent. William B. Warren, whose wife is a sis- ter of Mr. Reid.

William Simpson Reid is a scion of the stanchest of Scottish ancestry on both the pa- ternal and maternal sides. He was born in Fifeshire, Scotland, April 3. 1858, a son of David and Ruth Reid. David Reid had become a miner in his native land, whence he came with his family to America when William S. Reid was an infant. The family home was established at Barclay, Bradford county, Pa .. and there, on the 21st of April, 1881, the father met his death while working in a mine, having been crushed and killed by the falling of the slate roof. He was but thirty-nine years of age at the time, and his tragic death left his young widow to care for their eight children, a posthumous child, a daughter, having been born six months after the death of the father. With the providence of the true Scotsman. David Reid had carefully saved as much as possible from his earnings, and thus at his death he left a sum of money in the bank, so that his widow and the nine children did not face the world in absolute indigence. The eld- est two sons, aged respectively thirteen and eleven years, showing their loyalty to the wid- owed mother by promptly arranging to pro- vide for her and the younger children, and they found employment at trapping and door tending in the mines, for which service they re- ceived fifty cents a day. It was thus that Wil- liam S. Reid, the second son, served his novi- tiate in connection with the line of industrial enterprise with which he has continued his association during the long intervening yeats. His loved and devoted mother attained the age

of fifty-two years, and was a resident of Har- mony, near Punxsutawney, at the time of her death. The nine children, seven sons and two daughters, are yet living.

Under the conditions noted above, it may readily be understood that the early educa- tional advantages of William S. Reid were necessarily limited, but like many another man who had thus become in youth one of the world's workers, he profited in large measure by the discipline gained under that wisest of all headmasters, experience. Earnest and in- dustrious, he advanced step by step to positions of increasing responsibility, and he continued his association with mining operations in the Bradford county fields until 1887, when he came to Jefferson county and found employ- ment at the mines in the Adrian district. Here he was promoted to the position of driver boss, and in 1896 he was given a clerkship in the general store of the Mahoning Supply Com- pany at Adrian, which was then under the management of D. H. Mclntyre. Mr. Reid con- tinued to be thus occupied for six years, and for the ensuing eight years he had charge of the meat market conducted by the same com- pany at Adrian. Upon severing this associa- tion he came to Knox Dale. In the meanwhile he had carefully conserved his earnings, as he was animated by the resolute ambition to initi- ate an independent business career. He there- upon formulated plans for engaging in coal mining on his own account, and in seeking a suitable field of enterprise he finally had a conference with Robert B. Stewart, at Brook- ville, who invited him to inspect the coal de- posits in and about Knox Dale, especially on the extensive tracts of land owned by Mr. Stewart himself. The result of this careful investigation was the taking of leases on the land and the organization of the Stewart Coal Company, which was incorporated in IQUI, W. S. Reid becoming treasurer of the company. William J. McAninch became one of the stock- holders in the new organization and served as mine superintendent until 1911, when, upon the incorporation of the business under the present title, he became treasurer, in which office Mr. Reid has since succeeded him. Mr. Reid has also been general manager of the mining operations since the reorganization. He was president of the company as originally organized, in 1008. In the development work carried forward by the company its success has far transcended original anticipations, and its field of operations is now one of the most important in Jefferson county, the Stewart Coal Company being the largest independent

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concern operating on the line of the Pitts- burgh, Shawmut & Northern railroad.

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Jefferson County, Pennsylvania : her pioneers and people, 1800-1915, Volume II, Part 117

Author: McKnight, W. J. (William James), 1836-1918 Publication date: 1917 Publisher: Chicago : J.H. Beers Number of Pages: 972

Author: McKnight, W. J. (William James), 1836-1918
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Chicago : J.H. Beers
Number of Pages: 972