Jefferson County, Pennsylvania : her pioneers and people, 1800-1915, Volume II, Part 129

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 129

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After the close of the war Mr. Wasson re- turned to Pennsylvania ; the first year worked as a carpenter, building derricks in the oil fields. In the spring of 1867 he came to Jef- ferson county and engaged in carpentry. with residence and headquarters at Richardsville. In this field of enterprise he associated him- self with the late Harvey Barr, and incidentally it may be mentioned that they constructed the first bow window to appear on a building in Brookville. still in evidence on the Cyrus Blood building. In the winter of 1867-68 Mr. Was- son gave his attention principally to getting out logs near Richardsville, and in the mean- while erected for himself a comfortable house in the village. As a contractor and builder in the early days he had to do with the framing of many barns, the same having been of the heavy timber construction in vogue at that time and many of the structures still remain to attest his mechanical skill. In Warsaw township he purchased a tract of land, which he reclaimed from the native hemlock forest. his enterprise including the operation of a planing mill at Richardsville. He secured for the latter purpose the building formerly used as a woolen factory, and here built up a pros- perous business in the manufacture of sash and doors as well as general lines of build- ing material. He still owns his well improved farm of one hundred acres and supervised the erection of his present substantial house and barn. the former in 1873.

Mr. Wasson has ever ordered his course in a way to merit and receive the unqualified con- fidence and goodwill of his fellow men, and this objective estimate placed upon him is vouched for by his continuous service in the office of justice of the peace for twenty-five vears. He was first elected in 1873, and so infrequent have been the intervals that he has not been the incumbent that his service in this office has covered a total period of about thirty-six years. In earlier years he presided at many minor trials. and his decisions were marked by such fairness and good judgment that his rulings were seldom reversed by courts of higher jurisdiction. As justice of the peace he has insistently worked to make the office justify its name and has been able to effect settlement of innumerable disputes and con- troversies without recourse to litigation. In politics Mr. Wasson has ever been a stalwart Republican, but in the national campaign of 1912 he showed the courage of his convictions by identifying himself with that wing of the

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organization that formed the new Progressive party, with Theodore Roosevelt as its stand- ard-bearer. In the campaign of 1916 he was again found enrolled as a vigorous supporter of the Republican candidates. His religious faith is that of the Methodist Episcopal Church and his wife holds membership in the Presbyterian Church.

In Clarion county, Pa., the year 1868 gave record of the marriage of Mr. Wasson to Mar- tha A. Simpson. a daughter of Jacob Simpson and a sister of John Simpson, a well known citizen of Corsica. Mr. and Mrs. Wasson have no children, but they reared a foster- daughter, Carrie Woods, whom they took to their hearts and home when she was but two years old and to whom they gave excellent advantages, their care being amply repaid in the filial solicitude which she always mani- fested toward them; she is now the wife of Frank Rerick, of DuBois.

WILLIAM WALLACE, whose character and achievement marked him as one of the honored and influential citizens of Jefferson county, lived there from boyhood until death and there achieved prominence in connection with lumbering operations and agricultural in- dustry, his homestead being situated in Bar- nett township, ten miles north of Brookville and about two miles distant from the village of Sigel. Mr. Wallace was born in Butler county, Pa., and on the site of his birthplace now stands the borough of Karns City. At his home farm in Barnett township, he was summoned to eternal rest on the 9th of July, 1894, at the age of sixty-four. A man of sterling character and one who proved a pro- ductive worker in the world, he was a citizen who commanded unqualified popular esteem and a memorial tribute is properly paid to him in this publication.

Mr. Wallace was a son of Robert and Eliza- beth (Mccutcheon) Wallace, and, as the names indicate, was of sterling Scotch an - cestry on both sides of the family. Robert Wallace burned or manufactured charcoal in Butler county and resided for a time in Law- rence county. His first visits to Jefferson county were made on hunting and fishing trips, and when his son William was a lad of about ten years the family home was estab- lished on an embryonic farm in the midst of the forest wilds of this county. Robert Wal- lace became prominently identified with lum- bering operations necessarily incidental to the reclamation of the land in this section of the State, and his sons continued in the same in-

dustrial enterprise. Through activities in the cutting of timber he assisted in supplying the sawmill that had been established on the Clarion river, near Clarington, Forest county, by a man named Armstrong. He passed the closing years of his life in Jefferson county and attained to venerable age, his wife having been eighty-three at the time of her death. Robert Wallace was a man of exceptional mental and physical vigor and even in ad- vanced age lie enjoyed hunting and fishing, in which he developed marked prowess. He served in various public offices of local order and was one of the honored and influential pioneers of Barnett township. Of his four sons Joseph became a substantial farmer in this county, where his death occurred and where he left no family; James, who died several years ago, came into possession of a portion of the old homestead and his family still own the property ; William was the next younger son : Samuel died about twenty years ago, and his son John still lives on the old homestead in Heath township. The four daughters, Mrs. Mary Walfort, Mrs. Bertha Grant, Mrs. Maggie Coon and Mrs. Anna Coon, are all deceased.

William Wallace was a mere boy when he began lumbering operations, and his early edu- cation was gained in the pioneer schools of Butler and Jefferson counties. His energy and ability eventually enabled him to institute lumbering in an independent way, and he be- came prominent in this important industry. For a number of years he operated a sawmill on Callan run, and developed a large business in the manufacturing of squared timber, besides which he made flatboats for the transporta- tion of coal from Pittsburgh. He manufac- tured a number of these boats, which generally transported lumber to the Pittsburgh market. Mr. Wallace developed a farm of fifty-six acres in Barnett township, and later added to his holdings until he had a well improved farm of one hundred and twenty-five acres. There is one producing gas well on the property. The house on his old homestead was erected by him about a third of a century ago, and the barn he built in 1858 is of the old-time sub- stantial construction, so that it is in an ad- mirable state of preservation. He not only developed a productive farm and achieved merited success but he was also a leader in the promotion of those things that made for the social and material progress and welfare of the community. His devoted wife, whose maiden name was Anna Johnson, was born at Otsego Lake, N. Y., and survived him several

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years, the remains of both being laid to rest in the Mount Tabor cemetery ; Mrs. Wallace was an active member of the Baptist Church at Brookville for many years. Of the chil- dren the eldest was Alva J., who was for a quarter of a century a successful oil well con- tractor in Pennsylvania and passed the last four or five years of his life in similar ac- tivities in the west, where he finally met death by drowning in the Big Horn river, in Wyoming ; Clifton remains on the old home- stead and is identified also with lumbering and natural gas development in this county ; Ed- ward C. is mentioned elsewhere ; Wilbur W. is associated with his brother Clifton in the con- trol of the home farm and in lumbering and gas operations; Abbie remains with her two brothers on the old homestead; Bessie is the wife of Taylor Kopenhaver, of Brookville ; Stella likewise remains at the family home- stead.

EMANUEL WEISER, late of Emerick- ville, was born in 1835 at Mahanoy, Northum- berland Co., Pa. When nineteen years old he came to Jefferson county, following lumber- ing for a number of years, and later engaging in the mercantile business at Emerickville, which he continued until two years before his death, April 20, 1908.

By his first marriage, to Mary Emerick, Mr. Weiser had eight children, two daughters sur- viving : Mrs. Lavinia Baum, and Mrs. O. F. Haines, who resides on the old homestead in Emerickville. Mr. Weiser's second wife was Mrs. Mary A. ( Startzel) Burkhouse, who sur- vives him. No children were born to them. but she had two daughters: Cora Burkhouse, who graduated from the Brookville high school and taught one term in Rose township, and is now a milliner in Cleveland ; and Emma, who also graduated from high school, taught one term in Knox township, and is now teach- ing in Clarion county. Shortly after her hus- band's death, Mrs. Weiser removed to Brook- ville, for a time conducting a general store.

The Weiser family are descendants of Conrad Weiser, patriot, statesman, philoso- pher, maker of treaties and Indian interpreter, who in the latter capacity especially-he was official interpreter from 1732 until his death --- was intimately connected with the making of history in Pennsylvania. He was one of the few men of his time familiar enough with the Indian character, languages and customs to carry on negotiations intelligently and effi- ciently, and at the same time possessing a

reputation which made him the trusted agent of both the red and the white men.

Conrad Weiser was born Nov. 2, 1696, at Afstaedt, Wurtemberg, Germany, son of John Conrad Weiser, a local magistrate. He ac- quired a general education, including the prin- ciples of the Christian religion. At fourteen he emigrated to America with his father and family, including seven children besides him- self, landing at New York June 17, 1710. They were soon sent to Livingston Manor, N. Y., to burn tar and cultivate hemp to de- fray the expenses incurred by Queen Anne in their migrations. John Conrad Weiser was at the head of this colony of four thousand Palatinates. In 1713, finding they were under a form of bondage, they protested and thus effected their release. About 150 families, in- cluding the Weisers, removed to Schoharie, forty miles west of Albany, their immediate neighbors being the Mohawk Indians, with whom the' elder Weiser was frequently in communication. A chief taking a liking to Conrad proposed that he visit the Mohawks' and learn the language, and in his eighteenth vear he went to live with the Indians. In a few months he acquired a knowledge of their language and customs and was adopted. Though strong, he suffered from exposure and hardship, having scarcely clothing suffi- cient to cover his body during the trying win- ter, and was frequently threatened with death when the Indians were drunk. From 1714 until 1729 he was farming, continuing to in- crease his Indian knowledge by acting as in- terpreter between the Germans and the Mo- hawks. In the spring of 1723 Conrad Weiser's father settled in the Tulpehocken. in Berks county, Pa., Conrad Weiser, following in 1729, locating near Womelsdorf. He was engaged as interpreter by the Provincial government, thus retained for thirty years, being inter- preter at the various treaty meetings, and was intrusted with important missions to the great council at Onondaga and to the Ohio tribes. He helped organize Berks county in 1752. was one of the commissioners in the sale of town lots at Reading, which was laid out by the Penns in 1748, and served as county judge from 1752 until his death, in 1760. He lived mostly at Reading, but died on his Heidelberg farm July 13. 1760, his remains resting in a private burying ground near the borough of Womelsdorf. On Oct. 30, 1907, a tablet was placed in the west wall of the Stichter hard- ware store on Penn Square, Reading, by the Ilistorical Society of Berks county, to com- memorate the site of the Weiser building,

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which he erected at that point in 1751 and where he often met the Indians in conference.

In 1720 Conrad Weiser married, and he was the father of fifteen children, his wife and seven children surviving him: Philip, Fred- erick, Samuel, Benjamin, Peter, Anna Maria (who married Rev. Henry Melchior Muhlen- berg) and Margaret (Mrs. Finker).

Mrs. Mary A. Weiser is a daughter of Alvin Startzel and granddaughter of Jacob and Catherine (Weary) Startzel, of whom ex- tended mention is found in the sketch of John Startzel.

Alvin Startzell learned the trade of carpen- ter. For a number of years he lived at North- ville, this county, later moving to Falls Creek, Pa., where he died. He is buried at North- ville. To his marriage with Elizabeth Rebuck were born: Monroe, Reuben, John, James, Lucy (Mrs. Charles McGiffney), Mary A. ( who first married a Burkhouse and is now the widow of Emanuel Weiser) and Cora (unmarried).

ADAM A. SHELLY has been conducting a thriving general business at Brockwayville for a dozen years, building up a trade by honorable treatment of customers and efficient service. He has gained a substantial place by his own efforts, and merits both the material rewards of industry and the creditable standing he now enjoys.

Mr. Shelly is a native of Armstrong county, Pa., born Aug. 25, 1867, at New Salem, but was reared principally at Hawthorn, Clarion county, where he graduated from the high school. His first regular employment was in a brickyard, at fifty cents a day. Subsequently he worked in the woods in Elk, Mckean and Potter counties, afterwards becoming an en- gineer on the Mead & Laurel Run railroad. between Brockport and Ridgway. He was then employed as clerk for the Shawmut Com- mercial Company at Shawmut under the man- agement of J. E. Jackson, remaining in that position five years, when he came to Brock- wayville. For four years he was engaged in buying and selling horses, and was in the livery business, until ten or twelve years ago. In 1904 he embarked in the mercantile line, in which he has since continued, removing to his present location in 1915. He has devoted himself faithfully and intelligently to the acquisition of a regular custom, and has gained a fair share of the local patronage in his line. For twenty-four years Mr. Shelly has been a member of Brockport Lodge, No. 582, I. O. O. F. He was reared in the faith of the Ger- 41

man Reformed Church. Politically he is iden- tified with the Republican party. He married Chloe Lockwood, daughter of Lester L. Lock- wood, whose history appears elsewhere in the biography of Talbert Lockwood, and they have the following family: Virginia May, born in May, 1896, is a graduate of the Brockwayville high school and of the Southern Training School, of Graysville, Tenn .; Hester Evange- line, born in May, 1904, and Elizabeth Bon- well, born in January 1910, are attending school.

Jacob Shelly, grandfather of Adam A. Shelly, came originally from Lancaster county, and settled in Armstrong county, where he died. Farming was always his occupation, and he was respected as one of the industrious and thrifty men of the vicinity. His wife, whose maiden name was Hess, also died in Arm- strong county ; they are buried in the cemetery of the German Reformed Church. Three of their sons became preachers: Henry ; Jacob, and William, all located in Indiana or Mich- igan. Besides these there were two other sons, Jonas R. and Peter, and three daughters : Mrs. Susan Dobson, of Brookville; Eliza, Mrs. Sherman, of Strattonville, Clarion county ; and Catherine, Mrs. Solomon Yountz.

Jonas R. Shelly, son of Jacob, was born in 1844 in Sugarcreek, Armstrong county, and died at Hawthorn. Pa., at the age of forty-nine years. His wife, Caroline ( Mohney), a native of Clarion county, also died at Hawthorn, but seven months after her husband, and at the same age. They had three children: Rebecca, Mrs. Charles Barnhart, of Frampton, Clarion county ; Adam A .: and Jacob, now living in North Carolina, who married a Miss Knuff. The parents were members of the German Re- formed Church. Mr. Shelly was a Republican.

SHELUMIEL SWINEFORD has been a resident of Jefferson county from the time of his birth and his memory constitutes an in- dissoluble link between the early pioneer pe- riod and the twentieth century. In the course of a signally active and well ordered career he has justified the strength and leadership implied in the scriptural name which he bears. In the first chapter of the fourth Book of Moses, called Numbers, it may be noted that Moses, in the wilderness of Sinai, after the exodus from Egypt, ordered the taking of the sum of all the children of Israel. In the as- signment of the heads of the various tribes, that of Simeon was represented by Shelumiel, who was made captain of the children of Simeon. The name thus given to the subject

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of this sketch indicates the religious devotion of his parents and he has been in no sense un- worthy the title of captain in the affairs of the sterling family of which he is a representative. Now venerable in years, Mr. Swineford is living practically retired on his farm, three miles southeast of Brookville.

On a farm near that which he now owns, Shelumiel Swineford was born on the 26th of February, 1843, a son of Israel and Mary (Baughman) Swineford, who came to this county in 1835, from either Union or Snyder county. In the midst of the virgin forest Israel Swineford set himself the task of re- claiming a farm, and the results of his labors are shown in the appearance of the Martin Syphrit farm, his old homestead. He was comparatively a young man at his death and thus did not live to see the fruition of his labors. He was born in Union county, Pa., June 5, 1808, and died June 8, 1855. His wife was born Sept. 18, 1810, in Bucks county ; she contracted a second marriage, with Jacob Lie- bendorfer, Feb. 7, 1830. She passed the clos- ing years of her life at Wurtemburg, Lawrence county, where she died Sept. 11, 1885. Israel Swineford cleared about half of his land, the timber of which he squared and floated down the streams in rafts to Pittsburgh. He served as a member and captain of a militia company at Brookville and was a well known and highly esteemed pioneer of Jefferson county. His children reaching maturity are: Lucinda, who became the wife of Henry Milliron, died in 1904; George resides near Erie; Catherine is the widow of Samuel C. Brown and resides at Newcastle, Pa .; William was twenty-four years of age at his death, when an enlisted soldier of a Pennsylvania regiment in the Civil war; David also was a soldier and died in the service in 1861, at Alexandria, Va. ; Thusen- elda is the wife of David Liebendorfer, of Newcastle: Elizabeth, the widow of Cassius West, resides at Newcastle, as do also Hannah, who is a widow, Mrs. Waggoner, and her next younger brother, Israel ; Shelumiel is the only representative of his generation now in Jef- ferson county.

Shelumiel Swineford was but twelve years old when his father died, and remained with his mother two years after her second mar- riage on the farm of his stepfather, in Law- rence county. When the Civil war was pre- cipitated on the country he promptly gave evi- dence of loyalty and patriotism, for when but eighteen years of age he enlisted, in 1861, at Brookville, in Company K, 8th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, and saw service in Mary-

land and Virginia. In August, 1862, he re- enlisted and became a member of Company I, 148th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, and with this regiment served until the close of the war, becoming a sergeant. Though he par- ticipated in many noteworthy engagements he was fortunate in never having been wounded. He took part in the battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg and was with his regiment in the Virginia campaign from 1864 until the sur- render of General Lee. He proceeded with his regiment to Washington, where he par- ticipated in the grand review of jaded but vic- torious troops, and was mustered out and received an honorable discharge. For many years he was concerned with lumbering opera- tions, having been interested in the taking of forty or more rafts of timber and lumber downstream to Pittsburgh. He became well known as a skilled raftsman on Red Bank creek and the Allegheny river. In 1880 he purchased his present farm of 120 acres. lt had been but partially improved and was much run down, but with characteristic energy and good judgment he carried forward the clear- ing and improving of the land. The home- stead, now one of the well improved places of Knox township, was formerly owned by Robert P. Barr, who had erected the present substantial house and barn more than sixty years ago. Though living retired, Mr. Swine- ford takes satisfaction in giving general super- vision to the farm, which is devoted to diver- sified agriculture and the raising of good grades of live stock. He has been influential in local affairs and has served as township assessor, auditor, supervisor and constable, as well as a member of the school board. He was originally aligned with the Republican party, but for a number of years has been an ardent advocate of prohibition, and was active and influential in bringing about the elimina- tion of the liquor traffic in Jefferson county. He and wife are zealous members of the congregation of Meade Chapel of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church, which he has served as steward. Interest in his old comrades of the Civil war is shown by active affiliation with the Grand Army of the Republic.

On the IIth of June, 1868, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Swineford to Esther Mat- thews, who was born and reared in Knox town- ship, a daughter of Lewis and Margaret (Stewart ) Matthews. Mr. and Mrs. Swine- ford have had the following children: John A. holds a responsible position in the car shops of the Buffalo. Rochester & Pittsburgh Rail- road Company at DuBois; George R. resides

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at Brookville, in the employ of the Standard Oil Company ; Edgar E, lives near Brookville and is employed in the glass manufactory ; Mattie B. is the wife of Wildred F. Hutchison, of Pancoast ; Orrin is employed as an engineer at Brookville; Cassius holds a position in the glass factory at Brookville ; Frank D., in active management of the home farm, married Dessie McAninch, daughter of Henry II. MeAninch, and their five children are Henry S., Harry W., Dorothy R., Doris and Miles T.

ROBERT MACBETH identified himself with lumbering operations in this locality in 1872, after having had similar experience in his native Province of Ontario, Canada. After coming to Pennsylvania he became associated with John Cobb & Sons, who were carrying on extensive Jumbering activities in the north- western part of the state, and served as book- keeper for the firm, as well as a clerk in their general supply store. He was employed as bookkeeper at the firm's mills at Nebraska, Forest county, as well as at the Red Hot mills and their mill near Crown, Clarion county. After maintaining his association with this firm for a period of three years Mr. Macbeth became bookkeeper and clerk in the general store of Judge Andrew Cook, at Cooksburg, and continued with him and his successors un- til 1912, when he retired from active business. lle had served many years as assistant post- master at Cooksburg, and since 1913 has been postmaster of this village, which is a pictur- esque little community on the Clarion river. situated at the point where Clarion, Forest and Jefferson counties join. It is an old lumber town and was formerly the stage of bustling activities in connection with lumbering oper- ations, the Clarion running deep between beau- tifully wooded hills, and a bridge crossing the river from Jefferson county to Cooksburg. Mr. Macbeth is the owner of a farm in Jef- ferson county, and one in Clarion county. For fourteen years he has lived in Jefferson county near the home of his wife's parents, and held offices of public trust in this and Forest coun- ties. He served many years as justice of the peace and resigned the office to assume that of postmaster at Cooksburg. His political allegi- ance is given to the Republican party and he is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and Odd Fellows. Mr. Macbeth has become well known in this section of the State and his cir- cle of friends is limited only by that of his acquaintances.

and there received the advantages of the com- mon schools, besides which he carefully fitted himself for business and became a competent bookkeeper and accountant. He was a young man when he came to this part of Pennsyl- vania, and here his record has been one marked by close application and worthy achievement.

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Jefferson County, Pennsylvania : her pioneers and people, 1800-1915, Volume II, Part 129

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