Jefferson County, Pennsylvania : her pioneers and people, 1800-1915, Volume II, Part 12

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 12

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JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

urer of that body. He has served as secretary of the pension examining board from 1904 until the present time. It was through his labor and efforts that the board of health of DuBois (Pa.) was established, maintained and made progressive, and he served on that body the second time from 1901 to 1916, and was the secretary and health officer during this time. He is a member of the Clearfield County Medi- cal Society, Pennsylvania State Medical So- ciety, and of the American Medical Associa- tion. As may be judged by the numerous hon- ors shown him, Dr. Smathers is as highly es- teemed by the members of the profession as he is by his large circle of patrons, and for years he has been greatly respected as a consulting physician. Socially he holds membership in the Improved Order of Heptasophs, and has been examiner for that fraternity. He was one of the promoters of the Citizens' Mutual Building & Loan Association, organized in 1889, wrote the bylaws of that institution, and served as a director many years. In fact, there are few phases of the life of the community in which his influence has not been felt, and he has been found invariably on the side of law. order and progress.

On July 22. 1875. Dr. Smathers was mar- ried. at Smicksburg, Indiana Co., Pa., to Maggie C. Fulton, who was born in that county Feb. 16, 1851. daughter of Samuel M. and Frances L. ( Sims) Fulton, the former born in Center county, Pa., the latter at Wheeling, W. Va. Her grandmother on the paternal side was a Mattern. related to the Matterns and Grays of Half Moon Valley, Center Co., Pa. Dr. William Neal Sims, grandfather of Mrs. Smathers, was born April 27. 1798, and died March 9. 1872. Through his uncle, Samuel S. Neal, of Kittanning. Pa., he located at Glade Run in 1831, and nine years afterwards moved to Smicksburg, Indiana Co., Pa., being the pioneer physician there as he had been at Glade Run. Samuel M. Fulton settled in Indiana county at an early day, and died there April 26, 1896, aged eighty-one years, Mrs. Fulton surviving him two years: her death occurred April 19, 1898. Mr. Fulton was a Union soldier for two years during the Civil war, serving in the 78th Pennsylvania regi- ment. Of the eleven children born to Dr. and Mrs. W. T. Smathers six are deceased, the others being: Francis C., Margaretta. John Marion Sims, Bessie Fulton and Dorothy Ruth.

Francis C. Smathers was born March 23, 1878. at DuBois, where he spent his youth. acquiring his early education in the public

schools. He was the first native-born boy of DuBois to graduate from the following insti- tutions : DuBois high school. DuBois Business College of that place. Clarion ( Pa. ) State Nor- mal School ( 1899), Grove City (Pa.) College ( 1901 ), and Jefferson Medical College, Phil- adelphia, where he was admitted to advanced standing, graduating therefrom in 1905. He spent one year at the Adrian Hospital, Punxsu- tawney, in further preparation for private practice, eventually settling at Big Run, this county, where he has since had his home. For several years he also practiced from that point, but after spending eight months of the year 1911 in Philadelphia, taking specialties, on his return opened an office in Punxsutawney, where he finds the larger part of his work. Now he is again associated with the Adrian Ilospital, as pathologist, Roentgenologist and gastro-enterologist. Dr. Smathers is a member of the County and State Medical Societies, of the American Medical Association, and of the Roentgen Ray Society of Central Pennsylvania ( charter member of the latter), and keeps in touch with their work, as well as that of sim- ilar bodies wherever he finds enterprises afoot which have beneficial purposes.

Dr. Smathers married Bess M. Kearney, daughter of James Kearney, of Brockwayville, Jefferson county. They have had three daughters: Marian Elizabeth. Mary Frances and Helen Louise.

GEORGE W. MILLER, the vice president of the Citizens' National Bank of Big Run, has effectively upheld the honors of a family name which has been prominently and worthily linked with the history of this section of Penn- sylvania for more than three fourths of a cen- tury. His own right to a place as one of the substantial citizens of his native county needs no further voucher than the fact that he has been identified actively with the affairs of the Citizens' National Bank of Big Run from the time of its organization, in 1890, to the present. Of the charter members of this pros- perous and ably managed financial institution only one other is now living. Isaac Pifer, who was one of the original stockholders and who still retains his stock in the bank. The first president was William Irvin, and Adam Miller was chosen the first vice president. Dr. A. P. Cook became the second president of the insti- tution, and in 1901 he was succeeded by George WV. Miller, who continued to serve as its chief executive until 1912, since which time Charles H. Irvin has been president, while Mr. Miller

JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

has continued a valued member of the execu- tive corps in the capacity of vice president.

Mr. Miller was born in Henderson township, this county, on the Ist of January, 1850, and the old homestead is not far distant from Troutville, in the adjoining county of Clear- field. lying adjacent to the line dividing the two counties. He is a son of John George and Anna Marie (Wise ) Miller, both natives of Germany, the father having been born in Wur- temberg and the mother in Bavaria. The father of John G. Miller never came to this country, and John G. was twenty years old when he came to Jefferson county in 1838 with his brother John M. Miller,-the brothers settling on adjoining pioneer farms in Henderson township. John M. Miller there met his death in an accident, when he was fifty-three years of age. Adam and Barbara Wise, the ma- ternal grandparents of George W. Miller. set- tled in the same neighborhood about the year 1810, and both attained to venerable age, Mr. Wise having been eighty-two years old at the time of his death. His old homestead farm is now owned by his grandson. Milton Wise, a son of Adam Wise, Jr.

The marriage of John G. Miller and Anna M. Wise occurred in Jefferson county in 1841. and they began housekeeping on the land which he eventually developed into a produc- tive and valuable farm. He had previously been a skilled blacksmith in a steamship yard in New York City, and he obtained his land in Jefferson county from one of his brothers to whom he had lent a considerable amount of money and who made payment by this means. He developed a farm of 118 acres, having re- claimed to effective cultivation about sixty-five acres of the tract. which was heavily timbered when it came into his possession. Here he died at the age of seventy-seven years, one of the honored pioneers of the county, and his widow. who attained to the venerable age of eighty- seven years, passed the closing period of her gentle and gracious life in the home of her son. George W. Miller. They had but two chil- dren. Adam and George W.

Adam Miller was born June 27. 1843. and was reared and educated in Jefferson county. He assisted in the reclamation of his father's farm, became associated with lumbering oper- ations in this section of the State, and finally went to South Carolina, where he remained about five years and became engaged in lumber manufacturing on an extensive scale. The ulti- mate result of the enterprise was somewhat disastrous to Mr. Miller, however, his asso- ciates permitting him to bear the entire burden

of maintaining the business. He bought a good farm in Henderson township, where he remained a prosperous agriculturist until the late eighties, when he removed to the borough of Big Run. There he became the first vice president of the Citizens' National Bank, and his death occurred at that place on the ist of October, 1915.

George W. Miller acquired his early educa- tion in the public schools and continued his as- sociation with the activities of the home farni until he had attained to the age of twenty-two years. He was obliged to go a distance of three miles from his home to the little district school, which he attended only when his aid was not in demand to assist with the work of the farm. His father finally sold his original farm and purchased what was known as the Philippi farm, George W. assuming the active management of this place and virtually becom- ing its owner soon afterwards. There he continued his farming and reclaiming activities for twenty years, clearing much of the land and erecting a number of farm buildings. He continued in the ownership of this excellent farm for twenty-two years, and in the meall- while had continued to be associated with the lumbering industry, his connection with which began when he was a young man. He was identified with lumbering operations in this section of the State for twenty-six years, and he was successful in his ventures in the pur- chase of timbered land, principally in the vicinity of Eleanor, this county, and in the fell- ing of the trees, many of which were hewed into square timber and rafted down the creeks and rivers to Pittsburgh. His farm proved to be underlaid with an excellent coal deposit, and he finally sold the property to the Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh Coal Company, at the rate of one hundred dollars an acre, this com- pany having been engaged in coal mining there since 1889; the fine six-foot vein has yielded large financial returns. With marked circum- spection Mr. Miller made careful investigations and invested his money in other coal lands, which he would later sell at an appreciable ad- vance. He still has in his possession about seven hundred acres of valuable coal land, in Jefferson, Clearfield and Indiana counties. He continued to be identified with lumbering until the supply of available timber in this locality was practically exhausted, in the early eighties. In January, 1893. he established his home in the borough of Big Run, where he erected his present modern and attractive brick residence, and where his business affairs have since been centered, he being recognized as one of the

JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

leading citizens of this part of the county, with secure place in the popular confidence and goodwill. He has had naught of ambition for public office of any kind and has never con- sented to become a candidate for the same, though he is liberal in civic affairs. He has always had an abhorrence for the destroying of animate life, and thus has never had any inclination to hunt game, though reared in a locality where such diversion was much in vogue. He gives liberal support to the Re- formed Church, of which his wife is a devoted member.

In the year 1893 Mr. Miller was united in marriage to Rachel Pifer, a daughter of Jonas and Elizabeth (Shetterly) Pifer, her father a sterling pioneer of Henderson township, where Mrs. Miller was born and reared. Eugene, the only child of Mr. and Mrs. Miller, died at the age of ten years, as the result of an attack of scarlet fever.

JEREMIAH R. COOK, a venerable resi- dent of Barnett township, lives in the town of Cooksburg, named in honor of his father, who was one of the earliest pioneers in this part of Jefferson county. His home is sixteen miles northwest of Brookville, on the Clarion river. where his parents settled in 1828, though John Cook had been interested in land hereabouts for several years previously. The last cen- tury has been one of the most wonderful in the development of the earth, and no one spot has more examples of the marvelous strides made during that period than western Pennsylvania. One hundred years ago it was a wilderness sparsely populated by white people, who had to forego even the rude civilization of the times when they took up residence here. Transportation of all kinds was slow and dif- ficult. Lumbering was the chief industry, be- cause the land had to be cleared before it could be plowed, and the settlers had to have some means of gaining a livelihood until the soil produced. Now all is changed. The forests have been so depleted that there is scarcely enough timber to supply the local demand, and the work of conservation has become necessary in order to remedy the reckless waste which went on during the early years. The agricul- tural and mining resources of the region have been thoroughly developed. other industries have been introduced to fill the wants of the inhabitants and provide employment for many hands, and modern conditions flourish on every . hand. Mr. Cook is one of the few who have been spared to witness the thorough transmu- tation which his section has undergone, and

his recollections of its primeval state, and of the various stages of its development, are highly interesting.

Born Jan. 3. 1829, in Beaver township, in what is now Clarion county, Pa., he was the youngest of the nine children of John and Su- san ( Helpman ) Cook, both of whom were born east of the Allegheny mountains, the father in Center county, this State. They were mar- ried in Clarion county, and lived for some years in Beaver township. Mr. Cook was a lumberman and farmer by occupation. About 1826 he entered a tract of land at what is now Cooksburg, in Jefferson county, lying partly in Forest county and partly in Clarion county, at the point where the three counties adjoin. The site of the town was then known as Tom's Run, from an Indian who formerly lived there. It was all in the woods, the nearest settlement being five miles distant, at what is now known as Scotch Hill. He at once began to clear the unbroken forest. In 1828, having some land cleared and in wheat, and a shanty built, he moved his family into it. He had to follow a trail and make his own road ahead of him through the dense forest of pine and hemlock. He built a sawmill at the mouth of Tom's run and in 1830 began the lumber and boat busi- ness, floating his lumber and boats to market down the Clarion and Allegheny rivers, to Pittsburgh and Allegheny. Often he made the return trip in a canoe, bringing groceries and other necessaries for his family. He owned two mills on the run, and carried on the manu- facture of sawed lumber on an extensive scale. Mr. Cook died on the farm he had cleared and improved in 1858, when about seventy years of age, and was buried in the Cooksburg cem- etery, which he had established. Though a man of limited education he had strong men- tal and moral qualities, and his perseverance and industry enabled him to cope with the dif- ficulties of pioneer life very successfully. He was twice married, his first wife, Susan ( Help- man ), dying in 1830, and being one of the first to be interred in the Cooksburg cemetery. In 1832 he married Catherine Ritter, who sur- vived him, after his death marrying William Mayes. She died in 1872, and is buried in the Cooksburg cemetery. Jeremiah R. Cook is the only survivor of the large family born to the first union. His brother Philip, born in 1822, (lied in May, 1897; and his brother Anthony (known generally as Andrew), born in 1824. died Nov. 18, 1891. The latter was one of the most prominent citizens of this section of Pennsylvania in his day. Of the seven chil- dren born to the second marriage, three sons

JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

and four daughters, only two survive : Mary J. married William Henry, of Forest county, Pa., who had a farm on the Clarion river. Elijah, born April 19, 1835, became a leading farmer in Farmington township, Clarion county. Se- bastian married Sarah Morgan, of Forest county, and settled at Cooksburg. Sarah mar- ried John Lindsey, of Cincinnati, Ohio, and died leaving six children. Martha married Levi Snyder, of Farmington township, and had a family. Levanca married Wilford Slocum, of Farmington township, and died leaving one son, Frank. Squire S. H. married Emma Mays, by whom he had four children, and they made their home on his farm in Forest county. John Cook's old home at the village of Cooksburg is still owned by his descendants.

Jeremiah R. Cook passed his early years at home working with his father, helping in the mill and with the clearing of the land until his marriage, when he was twenty-two years old. Then he lumbered for a year in company with his brothers, getting out square timber and building flatboats, which were run to Pittsburgh loaded with pig metal that was mined (by others ) in Clarion county, a few miles below Cooksburg. The boats were sold at Pittsburgh for use in the Ohio river coal trade. Subsequently he was engaged in operat- ing on his own account, buying about three hundred acres covered with pine, chestnut and hemlock and clearing up one hundred acres on the hill, where his sons now live. He also bought and cut other timber, and in connection continued to carry on boat building and farm- ing and rafting. employing from five to ten men regularly. For a long time, however, the boat building formed his chief interest, as there was plenty of iron and lumber to load the boats, and he also dealt in produce, being interested in a store at Cooksburg. his various interests combining to make each other prof- itable. For several years he cut boat ma- terials principally. meantime rafting all that was suitable for square timber. 'He continued his lumbering operations until the year 1911, when he retired after more than sixty years' active connection with the business. Mr. Cook weathered a number of hard times periods when lumber was cheap and he had to work hard himself to get any returns. Then he had to hold lumber until prices advanced enough to pay for the investment, but on the whole he was successful, and he never allowed him- self to become disheartened through all his trials. He acquired about four hundred acres of land which he held, and has been able to

give a farm each to two of his sons. He has occupied his present home at Cooksburg for sixty-three years.

Mr. Cook has always kept track of the pro- gress of events in his locality, and has taken some part in the administration of township affairs, having for years served in such local offices as school director, tax collector, super- visor, etc., giving the same scrupulous atten- tion to such responsibilities as he would to his own interests. He has been a strong Republi- can in political sympathy practically all his life, though for a time he was inclined to Progres- sive doctrines. For forty years he has been associated with the United Brethren Church, which he helped to build and which has always received his regular support.

On Feb. 20, 1851, Mr. Cook married Julia Ann Agnew, who was born July 2, 1833, in Clarion county, Pa., daughter of John and Ellen ( Bailey) Agnew, and was twelve years old when her parents settled in Jefferson county, near Cooksburg. Her father was reared east of the mountains. and came to west- ern Pennsylvania in young manhood. In Clarion county he married Ellen Bailey, then eighteen years old, who had been reared by a family named Youngs. After making a farm in Jefferson county Mr. Agnew returned to Clarion county, where his last years were spent, his death occurring when he was eighty- four years old. His wife Ellen died at the age of sixty-three years, and he subsequently mar- ried Mrs. Rebecca Walters, who survived him. Mrs. Cook has a brother, John Agnew, resid- ing in Barnett township ; he is a widower.

Seven children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Cook: Wesley died in infancy; Amanuel M. lived on part of the old homestead near Cooks- burg (see mention elsewhere) ; Richard also owns part of the old farm ; Rose Zillie became the wife of Harry Custer, and died when thirty-three years old; Lincoln M. died in childhood ; Ellen A., Mrs. Robert Macbeth, lives at Cooksburg; Allison C. is in West Virginia. engaged in sawmilling.

Mr. and Mrs. Cook celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of their marriage appropriately. and they have had the unusual privilege of passing their sixty-fifth anniversary. "Uncle Jerry" has, indeed, been remarkably favored with health and long life. A few years ago. under the title "A Hardy Pioneer, One of the Survivors of a Bygone Era," the following appeared in a local paper concerning Mr. Cook :

"The moment you meet the stalwart old man his very visage and his homespun look appeal

JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

to you as having before you a splendid speci- men of the old-time backwoodsman. In fact, he is one of an extremely limited number now living of those who were born and raised in the shadows of our once mighty forests. From his home he can still see over forest areas as untouched and as primitive as when only Indians and wild beasts roamed those hills. In this respect his case is unique- he has abso- lutely no compeer. Like all old people, his mind wanders back to the things of his early history. When his people first settled Cooks- burg there was not at that time a road of any description nearer than five miles. After pro- viding a log cabin in which to live, the next work of his father was to build a small saw- mill, and then followed the work of opening out a road to Scotch Hill. Until land had been cleared and cultivated, the task of getting cer- tain necessaries of life by canoe from Pitts- burgh, when related, sounds to those of the present day like a story taken from the Arabian Nights. The canoes were homemade, being worked out of the bodies of large pine trees. Into one of these heavily constructed species of craft thereabouts a ton of provisions would be taken aboard, and then picture this being poled and towed upstream for a distance of one hundred and twenty miles by two men. For some reasons, in the earliest stages of this primitive life, canoes could not be got nearer than eight or ten miles of Cooksburg, thus compelling the hauling of the barrels of provisions overland by oxen and wagon. The road, scarcely bearing the imprint of a wagon track, that then descended into Cooksburg was so steep as to render any manner of locking of the wagon useless. Therefore, to make the long descent, the oxen were taken off the tongue and hitched to the hind axle, the driver then undertaking to guide the wagon by means of the tongue, depending on the oxen holding the wagon after the fashion of drawing a pair of cats by their tails. On one occasion, an accident having happened, a barrel of precious beverage was thrown off the wagon on the lar- board side of the hill, down which it rolled and jumped and thumped against rocks and trees for half a mile to the river below, where it was afterwards found whole and sound and as intact as had it been a rubber ball.

"In all these hardships; as in our fancy we now picture them to have been, happiness and contentment reigned. These people were of a type that is today non-existent. They were a product made by nature and the force of cir- cumstances to battle successfully with the con- ditions of life by which they were surrounded,

and to overcome trials which our present pampered generation would quail at the merest contemplation of. In the earlier half of the last century contests, of whatever character, were entered into by nearly all alike, but now, while the masses live in a state of almost frantic frenzy over sports, the greater propor- tion have become a mere mass of inertia, ex- pecting to sit and yell and bellow throughout a game being played by the ambitious few.

"Coming back again to our historic Cooks- burg, there now comes to mind the stories of wild animals and of hunting, as told by 'Uncle Jerry,' when the woods were teeming with bird life and quadrupeds. One day's sport yielded threescore turkeys, besides a number of bear and deer. Nights were often made hideous, as we would now put it, by the howling of wolves, and panthers lurked in the denser soli- ttides. To the modern mind, life amid such surroundings was fitted only for the Indian, but to those intrepid settlers the creatures of the woods, whether fierce or harmless, lent a sort of fascination by their very presence rather than any feeling whatever of fear.

"One or another has written time and again of Cooksburg, yet its story has been but poorly told. Its history, as concerns our own region, has no equal, and its present beauty is match- less. In its forest wealth and charm it is not only incomparable, it stands unique and alone. Its value for preservation is beyond the possi- bility of estimation-it is priceless."

J. FRANK RAINE, M. D., not only holds prestige as one of the representative physicians and surgeons of Jefferson county but also as one of the most resourceful and progressive citizens of the prosperous borough of Sykes- ville, which is the center of his professional activities. He controls a large general prac- tice and has the distinction of being president of the First National Bank of Sykesville, of which specific mention is made on other pages of this work.

Dr. Raine was born at West Fairview, Cum- berland Co., Pa., on the 4th of September, 1870, and as both of his parents died before he had attained to the age of twelve years he early became dependent largely upon his own resources, his advancement being the di- rect result of his own well ordered endeavors and resolute purpose. In Bedford and Perry counties he passed the period of his boyhood and youth, and after having made the best possible use of the educational advantages that were afforded him in the public schools it was his to gain that valuable discipline that is in-

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Jefferson County, Pennsylvania : her pioneers and people, 1800-1915, Volume II, Part 12

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