Jefferson County, Pennsylvania : her pioneers and people, 1800-1915, Volume II, Part 131

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 131

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Harry E. Cochran is indebted to the public schools of Brookville for his early educational discipline and his initial activities were in con- nection with farm work and the operation of sawmills and other phases of lumbering. In 1898 he began independent operations as an agriculturist, on the old Sharp McCreiglit farm, in Winslow township, and in 1904 he purchased this fine farm of 130 acres, the same having since been the stage of his operations along the lines of diversified agriculture and stock growing, in connection with which he has achieved substantial success and a place as one of the representative farmers of his native county. He is a Republican in politics and served two years as supervisor of Winslow township. Both he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Sykes- ville.

In 1896 Mr. Cochran wedded Miss Laura Radaker, who was born and reared in Clear- field county and who is a daughter of James and Amelia (Lankard) Radaker. Of the four children born to Mr. and Mrs. Cochran the eldest is Helen Althea, who continued her studies in the public schools until she had com- pleted a course in the Sykesville high school and is now a successful and popular teacher in the schools of her home township ; James R. and Margaret are still attending school; and George died Sept. 27, 1916, at the age of five years, three months, twenty-nine days, suc- cumbing to infantile paralysis, this being the first case of this baffling disease in Jefferson county.

CLARENCE A. COCHRAN, of Punxsu- tawney, has for several years held the respon-

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sible position of manager of the Elk Run store of the J. B. Eberhart Company, and in that connection has made an enviable repu- tation for business capacity. He has been in the same employ ever since he came to the borough, beginning as a clerk, and meeting the requirements of all his duties with such fidelity and ability that he is regarded as one of the most competent and trustworthy em- ployees of the concern with which he has been so long associated.

Mr. Cochran belongs to a family of excellent standing in this section of Pennsylvania, where it has been established about a century, from the time of his great-great-grandfather, many of whose descendants are resident in Jefferson and Indiana counties at this time. The Coch- rans are of Scotch origin, the first ancestor in this country coming from Scotland and settling at Baltimore, Md., where he died. He had two sons, Isaac and David, both of whom came to western Pennsylvania and settled at what is now Trade City, Indiana county, in pioneer times. Isaac Cochran died there, leaving two sons, William and Joseph.

David Cochran, son of the emigrant an- cestor, was born in Baltimore, and when a young man settled at Trade City, he and his brother Isaac being among the early residents of that locality. He cleared land and engaged in farming, prospering by dint of industry and making his permanent home upon the farm. He was murdered upon his farm when an old man, the crime being the first of the kind com- mitted in Indiana county, and is buried at the well known Gilgal Church in that county. His children were : Matthew, the great-grand- father of Clarence A. Cochran; George, who settled in Oliver township (he had no chil- dren) ; David settled near Brookville (he had a son George who served in the Civil war, and after the war settled in the State of Indiana) ; Isaac, who settled at Reynoldsville, where he died (his children were Matthew, James, David, Charles, Jane, Elizabeth, Emma and Annie) ; William, who moved to Jefferson county, and died in Bell township March 8, 1890, aged seventy-five years; Mary married Daniel Hopkins and had four children, David, George, James and Margaret (all the sons served in the Civil war, James in the Confed- erate army) ; and Rachel, who died unmarried at the home of her niece, Mrs. Eli Horner, in Oliver township.

Matthew Cochran, son of David, was born in Indiana county. Pa., and when a young man settled at Coolspring, in Oliver township, Jef- ferson county, where the greater part of his

life was spent. He died in Perry township, when about eighty years old, and is buried at Frostburg. By trade he was a stonemason. His children were: David N .; Andrew; Matthew; Isaac; Shields ; Margaret, Mrs. Robert Miller ; Angeline, Mrs. Jacob Burkett ; Henrietta, Mrs. Ellsworth McAninch; Ade- line, who married John Keller and (second) Dr. McCormick; and Jane, who married a Mr. Miller and (second) Peter Burkett.

David N. Cochran, son of Matthew, was born in 1821 in Oliver township, Jefferson county, where he spent practically all his life, being one of the prominent citizens there in his day. He followed farming and lumbering, owning two farms comprising about two hun- dred acres, considerable of which he cleared. The improvements he made were a distinct ad- dition to the progress of the neighborhood and its development from primitive conditions. He died at the age of seventy-two years, and is buried in St. Paul cemetery, located upon his farm, he having donated two acres for burial purposes. A man of energetic temperament, physically and mentally, he took a leading part in local affairs, filled most of the township offices, held membership in St. Paul's Luth- eran Church, and took his share in promoting all movements looking to the advancement of the community. He served in the Union army during the Civil war. Mr. Cochran married Mary Elizabeth Rickard, a native of Scotland, who lived to the age of seventy-three years and is buried beside her husband. Children as follows were born to them: Julia Ann, who died young; Matthew, mentioned below ; Delilah, Mrs. William Bear, deceased; Lu- cinda, Mrs. Joseph Osman, deceased ; Hen- rietta, who married Clarence Snyder and is living in Brookville; Lydia ; Alexander, living on the old homestead in Oliver township; James, married, and working in Forest county, Pa. : Susan, Mrs. Samuel Geist, deceased ; and Elizabeth, who is the wife of Peter Evans and lives in Michigan.

Matthew Cochran, son of David N. Cochran, was born Aug. 17, 1851, in Oliver township, and has passed most of his life in Jefferson county. Ile has devoted himself to farming and lumbering. In his earlier years he resided in Oliver and Bell townships, and for five years was located in Canoe township, Indiana county. In 1906 he purchased the old Henry Depp homestead in Young township, Jefferson county, upon which he is now living. The property comprises 130 acres at present, and he has sold thirty acres from the original area. Mr. Cochran has always been a progressive

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farmer, and as such has been an interested member of the Grange. Other activities in the locality have also received his support and encouragement, and he has been especially prominent in the Presbyterian Church, which he is serving as elder and trustee at the present writing. On April 4, 1878, Mr. Cochran mar- ried Barbara Reitz, daughter of Godfrey and Catherine (Thomas) Reitz and granddaughter of George Reitz. Iler father lived near Cool- spring and followed farming there; he died at Coolspring. His children were: Peter D., Lydia. Kate, Sadie, Michael, Polly, Samuel, Elizabeth, Lavina, Barbara, Godfrey F. and Ella. Four children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Matthew Cochran: Godfrey J., living at Troutville, Pa. ; David M., deceased ; Clarence A., of Punxsutawney ; and Nettie B., at home.

Clarence A. Cochran was born March 3, 1885, at Coolspring, Jefferson county, and spent his youth in Oliver and Bell townships, attending public school in Bell township and at Sprankle MFills. He was trained to farm work, at which he was employed upon the home place until the year 1902, when he came to Punxsutawney and found employment as a clerk in the department store of the J. B. Eber- hart Company, leading merchants of the bor- ough. He continued in that capacity until 1908, in which year his efficient services were rewarded with promotion to the position of manager of the Elk Run store operated by the company. Mr. Cochran's talents have devel- oped steadily with duties of increasing im- portance, and he has measured fully up to every responsibility intrusted to him. Though one of the younger element in merchandising circles in Punxsutawney, he has attained an honorable position, and stands well in the con- fidence and esteem of those with whom he has been associated.

Mr. Cochran married Pearl Virginia Graf- fius, daughter of A. J. Graffius, better known as "Doc" Graffius. They have one child, a daughter, Barbara Catherine. The family are Lutherans in church connection.

EDWARD CALDWELL, who has a fine farm in Eldred township, six miles northwest of Brookville, at the junction of the Brookville and Olean road, part of his father's old home place, was born there Aug. 13, 1863, son of Timothy and Jane ( Steele) Caldwell. The name of Caldwell is deservedly respected in this section of Jefferson county. Various mem- bers of the family have added to its prestige by useful service to the community both as private citizens and in public capacities, and

Edward Caldwell has been no exception. In his own enterprises and in the responsibilities intrusted to him by his fellow citizens he has endeavored to live up to the standards set be- fore him in boyhood, in the home circle, where the influences of heredity and environment combined to good purpose.

The early history of the Caldwell family in this locality will be found elsewhere in this work. Edward Caldwell has spent practically all his life at his present home, and having given his best years to its development may take great satisfaction in the possession of a very desirable property. He was but a few days old when the house his parents were occu- pying was burned. and his father built the present residence in 1864. It was remodeled by Edward Caldwell a few years ago, and in 1914 he replaced the basement barn built by his father in 1861 with an up-to-date one 62 by 70 feet in dimensions ; there is stabling for forty head of cattle. Mr. Caldwell has also put up an adequate silo, to enable him to feed his stock properly. He was brought up in familiar touch with lumbering as well as farm- ing. having assisted his father in the woods and on the streams from the age of sixteen years, and he himself did the last lumbering on the home property. One hundred and fifty acres of the parental farm were left to him by will, and he has proved a worthy successor to his father in its possession. the place being in first-class condition under his management. Mr. Caldwell has been specially interested in the improvement of his locality through the medium of good roads, and two years ago he was elected to the position of supervisor, in which he has done exceptionally good work. though the board has been hampered by lack of provision for this class of improvements. Such citizens as Mr. Caldwell constitute an element whose influence in any community could be only for good. From boyhood he has attended the Mount Tabor Church and has long been one of its faithful members. For twelve or fourteen years he has held the office of elder. In political opinion he is a Republi- can.

Mr. Caldwell has always lived on the home- stead and at the age of twenty-six years mar- ried Anna Steele, who was then twenty years old. She was born in Union township, this county, where her parents, William and Mar- garet (Furley) Steele, spent nearly all their married life. Her father died when she was a girl, and her mother passed away at the old home in 1915. at the age of eighty-four years. This Steele family is but distantly related to

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Mr. Caldwell's mother. Six sons have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Edward Caldwell: Ellis Clinton married Nell Yeariger, and they live on the farm with his father; Mervin Leason, who married Carrie Stahlman, lives at New Kensington, Pa., where he is engaged in office work; Timothy Dwight, who lives at home. is a graduate of the Clarion State Normal School and taught school for two years in Clearfield county: William Edward, Joseph Russell and Kenneth Ralph are at home.

WILLIAM J. GATTI, M. D., has been in practice for only a short time, but he is al- ready in command of a clientele which speaks well for the impression he has made in the borough of Punxsutawney and vicinity. He settled there in 1915, when ready to enter the profession, and has been well received in the community, where he may find many oppor- tunities for valuable service to the public even in the course of his every day duties.

Dr. Gatti is a native of Jefferson county. born at Walston .Aug. 2. 1892. His father. Felix Gatti, who was born in Italy, came to America in the year 1886 and soon afterwards made his home at Walston, where he yet re- mains, being now in the employ of the Mahon- ing Supply Company. William J. Gatti ob- tained his preliminary education in the public schools at Walston, later attending St. Bona- venture's College at Allegany, N. Y .. from which institution he was graduated in 1908. Then he took the full course at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Baltimore, Md .. graduating in 1913. after which he spent eighteen months at St. Margaret's Episcopal Hospital, in Pittsburgh, where his experience was a valuable supplement to his college work. During the next six months he was engaged as relief physician in the employ of the Buf- falo, Rochester & Pittsburgh Company, and he has since been in general practice at Punx- sutawney, where he has an office in the Clark building, at No. 220 North Findley street. In addition to the preparation already noted. Dr. Gatti spent some time in special work at the New York City Lying-In Hospital. His pa- tients are now reaping the benefits of his com- prehensive training, and his whole-souled in- terest in their welfare has won confidence and sincere regard among his steadily increasing circle of patrons. As a young man of fine character and attainments. and a member of a profession whose usefulness is generally con- ceded. he has every prospect of becoming one of the valuable residents of Punxsutawney borough. He holds membership in the county

and State medical societies and in the Amer- ican Medical Association.

Dr. Gatti married Nov. 15, 1916, Miss Rosa Wery, daughter of Jules Wery, who was presi- dent and manager of both the Eldred Window Glass Co. of Punxsutawney and the Reliance Window Glass Company, of DuBois. Mr. Wery was killed at DuBois Oct. 12, 1916.

EDWARD J. CHELIUS has been a resi- dent of Jefferson county since 1889 and in 1916 recorded his twenty-sixth year of con- tinuous service in the employ of the Jefferson Coal Company, holding the responsible position of head bookkeeper. His ability as an account- ant has thus received due recognition ; he is one of the well known and popular citizens of Washington township.

Mr. Chelius was born in Boston, Mass., on the 29th of September, 1866, and is a son of Daniel and Mary ( Beyler) Chelius, both of whom were born in Germany, and married there. The parents were young folk when they came to the United States and here the father, a talented musician, devoted many years to the teaching of music and piano-tuning. He was a resident of Buffalo at the time of his death, in 1907, and his venerable widow now resides in the home of her eldest daughter, at Spring- ville, that State. Of the seven children the eldest is Otto, a resident of Alden, N. Y. ; Bertha is the wife of leo Fox, of Springville, that State; Charles resides in Buffalo; Julia is the wife of Frederick Sweet, of Buffalo; Albert maintains his home in the city of Phila- delphia; Edward J. is the next in order of birth ; and Lena is the wife of Charles Faust, of Buffalo.

Edward J. Chelius was an infant when his parents established a home at Dunkirk, N. Y., and when he was six years old the family re- moved to Buffalo, where he attended school and lived to adult age. In Buffalo he took a course in the Bryant & Stratton Business Col- lege. and then learned telegraphy in an office of the Western New York & Pennsylvania Railroad Company. As a skilled operator he was employed for ten years at various rail- way points in New York and Pennsylvania, and in the autumn of 1880 came to Jefferson county as operator for the Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh Railroad Company at Beechtree Junction. There he continued as agent and telegraph operator about three years, at the expiration of which he accepted the position of which he has continued the efficient and valued incumbent for a period of more than a quarter of a century-that of head bookkeeper

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for the Jefferson Coal Company, with head- quarters at Coal Glen, Washington township. At Salamanca, N. Y., on the 4th of Octo- ber, 1889, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Chelius to Ella R. Morrow, who was born and reared in the Empire State, and they have five children : James Albert is a traveling sales- man for the Keystone Mercantile Company, of DuBois ; Lena M. remains at home and was formerly a popular teacher in her native county, now employed as a bookkeeper by the Jefferson Coal Company ; Irene is a student in the conservatory of music in Warren, Pa .; Robert is a student in Grove City College, at Grove City: Carl is the youngest member of the home circle.

EDWARD C. WALLACE is a popular rep- resentative of an honored pioneer family of Jefferson county and on other pages of this volume is entered a memoir to his father, the late William Wallace, so that further record concerning the family history is not demanded in the present connection. Edward C. was born on the old homestead in Barnett township. two miles north of Sigel, Dec. 9, 1870. By virtue of the conditions and environment that compassed him he early gained practical ex- perience in work of the farm and with lumber- ing operations the while he did not neglect to profit by the advantages afforded in the public schools.

Mr. Wallace finally became concerned with development of the natural gas fields of this section, and has become a skilled and valued factor in the local fields, as evidenced by the fact that since 1913 he has been field foreman for the United Natural Gas Company in the Eldred field. During the entire time since the development of natural gas in this field he has been employed by this company. He has the supervision of an average force of about thirty men. The United Natural Gas Com- pany owns valuable gas lands with seventy- two producing wells, and the field over which Mr. Wallace has general supervision comprises the company's holdings in Barnett and Eldred townships, and Mill Creek township, Clarion county.

The Eldred gas field now has. within a ter- ritory about five miles in width, about three hundred producing gas wells, and the principal operations are under the control of the United Natural Gas Company, the Jefferson County Gas Company, the Clarion Gas Company and the firm of Shields & Long. The first pro- ducing well was developed in 1910, on the Wyncoop farm, one mile west of the village

of Sigel, where is now located the modern pumping plant of the United Natural Gas Company. The landowners receive in revenue from their leases from one hundred and fifty to two hundred dollars per annum for each producing well on their property, though some wells gives to the landowners as high an an- nual return as one thousand dollars. The cen- ter of the Eldred field now seems to be near the Stone schoolhouse two miles west of Sigel. In this field nearly two hundred men are em- ployed in connection with gas production, and the product is piped principally for supplying the cities of Buffalo (N. Y.), Warren ( l'a.), and Ashtabula ( Ohio).

Mr. Wallace takes a loyal interest in all things pertaining to the social and industrial welfare and advancement of the county, is a vigorous and popular executive in his chosen field of endeavor, and though he has mani- fested no ambition for political activity or pub- lic office he gives a stanch allegiance to the Republican party.

At the age of twenty-six years Mr. Wallace wedded Emma McNeil, who was born and reared in this county and is a sister of Frank McNeil. Mr. and Mrs. Wallace have three children, Alice, Jeanette and Dean, and the family home is in the village of Sigel, where Mr. Wallace has his business headquarters.

ROBERT E. GILLIGAN, one of the sub- stantial farmers and influential citizens of Warsaw township, has passed virtually his en- tire life in Pennsylvania, though he claims the old Buckeye State as his place of nativity. He was a gallant young soldier of the Union in the Civil war. and the same spirit of loyalty has animated him throughout the entire course of his life, so that he merits fully the high esteem in which he is held.

Robert English Gilligan, whose fine home- stead is situated five miles northeast of Brook- ville, was born in Monroe county, Ohio, on the ist of January. 1844, and was an infant when his parents. Edward and Elizabeth (Eng- lish) Gilligan. natives of Ireland. removed from the Buckeye State to Pennsylvania and established a home in Clearfield county. There the father obtained a large tract of land which he farmed until his death. at the age of sixty- two years. his wife having survived him a num- ber of years.

Robert F. Gilligan was reared to the sturdy discipline of the farm and attended the com- mon schools of Clearfield county. At the age of sixteen he entered upon an apprenticeship to the blacksmith's trade, with Andrew Mil-

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ler. a specially fine workman. In the shop conducted by Mr. Miller at a crossroads ham- let, young Gilligan gradually perfected him- self in all details pertaining to a general black- smith business. In pay for his services the first year he received twelve and a half cents a day, and in the third year of apprenticeship his compensation ranged from forty to fifty cents a day. In the meanwhile he had also received his board ; from his earnings he pro- vided his own clothing. Once each year while thus engaged Mr. Gilligan had what to him was a valued privilege, that of assisting in running rafts of green lumber down the Suis- quehanna river to Marietta, Pa., the trip con- suming seven or eight days and the distance traversed being fully two hundred miles. His work in this connection netted him forty or forty-five dollars a trip, and he became expert as a steersman, though he was but a lad, his physical strength being on a parity with his marked alertness.

After three years of work in the blacksmith shop Mr. Gilligan enlisted in Company B, 206th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. His service was during the final year of the Civil war and was largely detail duty. He was one of forty- four men detailed from his regiment, with an equal number from the 11th Maine, to act as brigade skirmishers. In case of battle the men were sent to the front on the skirmish line, and though he had many hazardous experiences and narrow escapes, he was fortunate in hav- ing been neither wounded nor captured. He was constantly found at the post of duty, his fine constitution and splendid physical powers forfended illness, and when such preventive remedies as whiskey and quinine were passed out he invariably gave his portion to a certain one of his comrades.

After the war Mr. Gilligan conducted a blacksmith shop at Ansonville, Clearfield county, for a period of about two years, and then came to Jefferson county and as a black- smith entered the employ of Henry Brown, who was engaged in lumbering and farming. In the shop, on the farm and in his employer's sawmill and lumber camps, Mr. Gilligan found ample demand upon his time for a period of three years, and he then married Sarah Jane Duff, a niece of his employer, his bride having been at the time eighteen years of age, the marriage taking place at Punxsutawney. In 1870 Mr. Gilligan returned to Clearfield county and opened a blacksmith shop in the village of West Liberty, which he successfully managed for nineteen years. A prominent lumber com- pany then induced him to take up contract

work in cutting, peeling and making ready for water transportation timber utilized at the mills, from which he gained substantial profits, his operations continuing several years and several million feet of timber having been handled by him. With the original concern and its successor, the firm of Cook & Graham, of Clarion county, Mr. Gilligan continued his operations until he had done more than one hundred thousand dollars' worth of business for the last named firm, his work being princi- pally on Pine creek and in Warsaw township. on the North Fork. He delivered the logs in the boom and they were cut into lumber in the mills at Brookville. In 1904 he cut off the last of the available timber, and in the height of his work gave employment to an average force of about fifty men, besides making sub- contracts in which others assumed a part of the work. In all his experience in this field but one of his men was severely hurt in an accident, and this one instance was in connec- tion with a drive of logs on the river.

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Jefferson County, Pennsylvania : her pioneers and people, 1800-1915, Volume II, Part 131

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