Jefferson County, Pennsylvania : her pioneers and people, 1800-1915, Volume II, Part 132

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 132


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In 1905 Mr. Gilligan purchased his present farm, which comprises 106 acres, the major part of the land being under cultivation. He has made modern improvements and has one of the most attractive rural domains of War- saw township. The house was erected by him in the year he purchased the farm, and in his possession of this splendid farm he may well consider himself rewarded for years of ardu- ous and earnest labor, for he has been in the fullest sense one of the world's productive workers. He has never had any desire for public office, but his support is given to the Democratic party. He was reared in the faith of the Catholic Church, but both his first and his second wives were Protestants and reared their children under the influence of the Meth- odist Church.


The first wife of Mr. Gilligan died in Clear- field county, and was survived by five chil- dren : James Edward is a prosperous farmer in Warsaw township; Mary Alice is the wife of Charles Kerberger, of Sistersville, W. Va .; Jennie Alta married Albert Brown, of DuBois ; Laura Belle was a young woman at the time of her death ; William John has the active man- agement of his father's farm; he wedded Ida Smith and they have five children, Margaret Valgene, Albert Wayne, Kenneth Earl, Blair Smith and Mary Alice. For his second wife Robert E. Gilligan married Mrs. Mary Alice ( Duff ) Shields, a sister of his first wife, and the widow of Hugh Shields. They have seven children : Ella May is the wife of Harry Franks, of Lima, Ohio ; Elizabeth Maude mar-


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ried Webster Shofstahl, of Brookville; Frank- lin Earl is residing in Lima, Ohio; Charles Adrian remains at the parental home; Hilda Blanche is the wife of Clarence E. Geer, and they maintain their home at Oil City, Pa .; Zelma Larue and Florence Helen are the younger members of this family.


SAMUEL L. MCLAUGHLIN, owner of Mount Valley farm in Snyder township, is a son of John R. and Mary Ann ( Humphreys) McLaughlin, of whom extensive mention may be found elsewhere.


Mr. Mclaughlin was born in Snyder town- ship May 21, 1867, and attended school at Lanes Mills, keeping up his studies until he reached the age of seventeen years, and mean- time acquired considerable knowledge of agri- cultural operations. At times he also took employment in the lumber woods, but since his marriage, in 1892, has given practically all his time to farming. The young couple lived at Lanes Mills for the first six months, until he bought a tract of fifty acres where they made their home for ten years. Mr. Mc- Laughlin made considerable improvement in the property, still retaining ownership of it. Ifis present home, known as Mount Valley farm, contains eighty-four acres near his other property, he managing both so ably that he is entitled to place among the most progressive farmers. The appearance of the farm is suffi- cient testimony of the intelligent care and unremitting industry bestowed upon it. Mr. MeLaughlin has not taken any part in public affairs, but is sincerely interested in national policies, and is himself a stanch Pro- hibitionist. In religion he is a Methodist, belonging to the M. E. Church at Lanes Mills, which he is serving as trustee.


On Dec. 14, 1802, Mr. MeLaughlin married Martha Isabella Cochran, who was born in December, 1872, at the home place of the Cochran family in Snyder township, known as Sunnyside farm. She was educated in the public schools at Lanes Mills and Crenshaw. Six children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Mclaughlin: Howard Roy, born in June, 1894; Daniel Wesley, born March 11, 1896; Edith. born April 5, 1808: Quinn Humphreys, born in September, 1900; Ethel, born Nov. 8, 1907 ; and Evelyn, born Oct. 3, 1914.


JAMES S. COOPER has for more than twenty years conducted a thriving grocery busi- ness which he has built up by courtesy, accom- modation and fair dealing. He has also been identified in various capacities with borough


government, no movement in furtherance of the welfare of the town but has found in him an ardent adherent. He belongs to an old family of Jefferson county, being a son of the late James Cooper and grandson of the pioneer, William Cooper, who settled in the Beech- woods early in 1826.


William Cooper brought his family from County Tyrone, Ireland, in 1823, landing after a voyage of thirteen weeks. They drove to Valentine's Furnace, in Center county, Pa., where he found work about the furnaces. Three years later they came to western l'enn- sylvania, journeying by wagon to Luthersburg and with ox-sled to the Beechwoods, in Wash- ington township. Jefferson county, where they arrived in February. 1826. He located a for- est tract of 200 acres near the center of the Beechwoods, at what later became known as Rockdale Mills. Only two or three settlers had preceded them, the Osborns, Keyes, Mc- Gees and McIntoshes being their nearest neigh- bors. The usual log cabin was constructed and provided with home-made furniture. But these God-fearing people never lost sight of their Christian duties, and welcomed the preacher who soon came into the wilderness, holding meetings in the modest homes. One of the first ministers to come was Rev. Mr. Bishop. The first gathering in a public place was in a log schoolhouse on the Meln- tosh farm. The early school teachers in the district were William and Thomas Reynolds, and Nancy Jane McClelland, mother of Mrs. James S. Cooper. William Cooper spent the remainder of his life making improvements and helping to enhance civilization. He cleared part of the farm later owned by his son James, and there died in February, 1868, at the age of eighty years, his wife, Martha ( MeMorris). surviving until 1871. Six children were born to them: James: John, who married a Miss Armstrong, of Clarion county ; Hugh; Wil- liam, who married a Miss Groves ; Ninian, who is mentioned elsewhere ; and Elizabeth, who married William Bond, of the Beechwoods. William Cooper was long remembered as a typical Irishman, quick-witted and ever ready with a sharp answer, his humor and friendly nature making him popular in a wide circle.


James Cooper was born Feb. 18, 1818, in County Tyrone, Ireland. and was reared on the home place. After his marriage he assumed charge of part of the homestead, where he died in January, 1903. He is buried in the Beech- woods cemetery, formerly known as the Cooper graveyard. Mr. Cooper was a Whig. later becoming a Republican, and took an active


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part in politics and all local affairs, holding all the township offices, and discharging his duties with conscientious fidelity to trust. He was married in Beechwoods to Isabella Patton, a native of County Donegal, Ireland, who ac- companied her parents to the United States when twelve years old. Mrs. Cooper, who died in 1901, was a devout member of the Presby- terian Church, in which she was an able co- worker. Eight children were born to them: William, who married Nancy McConnell, and is living on a farm in Washington township; Robert, a tanner by trade, lives in Nemaha county, Kans., engaged in farming and stock raising : Hugh died in 1874 at the age of twenty-four years; James S. is next ; Martha Jane died unmarried ; Samuel, who lives in Kansas with his brother Robert, married a Miss Pearson : John, of Le Mars, lowa, mar- ried a Miss Schipper ; Elmer, who lives on the home farm, married Cora Temple.


James S. Cooper was born Dec. 14, 1852, in the Beechwoods district, and there passed his boyhood. He had about three months' attend- ance at school annually, helping with the chores before and after school hours, until it became necessary for him to give his whole time to work. He was engaged in the customary agri- cultural duties until 1886, when he met with an accident while clearing land which crippled him so that he turned to other employment. Coming to Brockwayville he became a clerk in a grocery and meat market, and in 1893 en- gaged in the business on his own account. By faithful attention to the wants of the trade he has made it profitable and has become one of the most substantial merchants. For ten years he has been a director of the First National Bank of Brockwayville. He has served as overseer of the poor, member of the borough council, was assessor for fourteen years and some months ago he was appointed justice of the peace, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of J. W. Green. While a resident of Washington township he was constable, auditor and tax collector. He cast his first vote for Grant, and has adhered to the Repub- lican party. His local connections include membership in the Presbyterian Church and Cicero Lodge, No. 897, I. O. O. F.


On Dec. 7, 1893, Mr. Cooper was married, in the Beechwoods, to Nannie Daugherty. They have no children.


Mrs. Cooper was born March 21, 1852, at the home of the Daugherty family in the Beech- woods district and acquired her education in the Dennison school. Her father, Hugh Daugherty, was born in County Tyrone, Ire-


land, being fifteen years old when brought to this country by his parents, William and Mary ( Bryson ) Daugherty, following children who had come on before. They landed at Phila- delphia, where William Daugherty died, his wife dying in the Beechwoods. Their chil- dren were: John married Rebecca Morrison and both died on his farm in the Beechwoods ; Thomas died unmarried ; James, who farmed in the Beechwoods, married Sarah Campbell, both now deceased ; Sarah married John Mc- Intosh, a farmer in the Beechwoods, and both are deceased ; Hugh was the father of Mrs. Cooper; Williani, who farmed in the Beech- woods all his life, married Jane Smith ; Rob- ert, a farmer in the same district, and for six years county commissioner of Jefferson county, married Mary Ann McClelland, and both died on their farm.


The Daugherty family came to western Pennsylvania, settling in Washington town- ship, where they bought a large tract of land which was divided into several farms, one of which, the homestead of Hugh Daugherty, contains 156 acres. There he lived until his death, which occurred Oct. 30, 1894. He is also buried in the Beechwoods cemetery. He was a Democrat, and with his wife was a mem- ber of the Presbyterian Church. He was mar- ried in the Beechwoods to Nancy Jane Mc- Clelland, who was born in Baltimore, Md., daughter of John and Mary ( Neil) McClel- land, and who died the January previously to the death of her husband. Three children were born to this marriage, viz .: Eliza, now the widow of Charles Matthews, of Washing- ton township; Mary H., and Nannie. Mary 11. Daugherty was born on the homestead and obtained her education in the local school, at Brookville and at the Edinboro State Normal. When young, she began teaching, and for sev- eral years was widely known as one of Jeffer- son county's successful instructors.


MERTON W. CHAMBERLIN. Eligibly situated in Warsaw township, a half mile south of Richardsville, is the valuable estate owned by Mr. Chamberlin, who is demonstrating his progressiveness and well ordered enterprise as one of the representative local agriculturists. His domain comprises 310 acres, and it can not be looked upon other than as giving in- creased valuation to the property when it is known that two hundred acres of the tract is covered with timber, from which reserve the owner has already sold a considerable amount for lumber. He has seventy acres devoted to diversified agriculture, and the remaining forty


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acres is mainly stump land, available for pas- turage and in line for development. This brief description gives voucher for the fact that here Mr. Chamberlin has an inviting field for progressive and productive enterprise along industrial lines, and all who know him realize that he will make the best possible use of the opportunities thus presented. Mr. Chamberlin is giving special attention to the propagation of high-grade potatoes and is also making a splen- did record in the development of a substantial dairy business, the products of which are con- signed to the creamery at Brookville, he being a stockholder and director of this thriving creamery company. His father. George W. Chamberlin, is mentioned elsewhere in this work.


Merton W. Chamberlin was born in eastern Warsaw township, on the 23d of July, 1866. and was raised under the sturdy discipline of farming and lumbering, meanwhile attending the public schools. He remained on his father's farm until twenty-five years of age. when he made provision for establishing a home of his own. It was at this juncture that. on the 24th of June, 1891, he was married to Nancy R. Miller, who was born in Warsaw township and is one year his junior. Mrs. Chamberlin is a daughter of Silas and Eliza- betli ( Preston ) Miller, and she has proved a devoted and efficient helpmate to her husband. After his marriage Mr. Chamberlin purchased the Miller farm, two miles north of Richards- ville, and in connection with farming became a contractor, getting out hemlock and hard- wood timber for A. W. Cook. He cut it and loaded the product onto cars for transportation on a branch railway line that had been con- structed for this purpose. Prior to the autumn of 1894 he had taken out timber to the value of about forty thousand dollars, and made good use of the profits of his contract by pur- chasing his homestead, of which adequate de- scription already has been given. He is recog- nized as a vigorous, resourceful and progres- sive citizen and has so ordered his course in all the relations of life as to retain the high regard of his fellow men. He takes a vital interest in all things pertaining to the com- munity welfare, is a Republican in politics, and he and wife are zealous members of the Bap- tist Church at Richardsville, of which he has been a trustee for many years. Mr. and Mrs. Chamberlin have two daughters, Dessie and Zelma, graduates of Pennsylvania State Nor- mal School at Clarion and both successful and popular teachers, Miss Dessie in 1916 having been at Kaylor, Armstrong county, and Miss


Zelma at Ellwood City, Lawrence county. Both of the daughters are ambitious young women with the culture and pleasing personality to win success in their profession.


LAFAYETTE SHARP holds a substantial place as a representative farmer of this county and resides upon the fine old homestead which was the place of his birth, situated two and a half miles west of the village of Sigel, in Eldred township. He is of the third genera- tion of the Sharp family in Jefferson county, his grandfather. William Sharp, having been a very early settler at Roseville. This sterling pioneer was born in Ireland and was a vigor- ous and ambitious youth of seventeen when he came to America. He and his wife, whose family name was George, were well fortified for the labors and vicissitudes which fell to their lot as pioneers, and it is supposed that at Roseville was born their son John G., father of Lafayette Sharp. When John G. was about twelve years of age his parents established their home on the farm now owned and occu- pied by Lafayette, the property having come into their possession about 1840, when the land was little more than a part of the untram- meled forest. William Sharp and his wife here lived and labored for many years, and their names merit enduring place on the roster of the pioneers of the county.


John G. Sharp was reared to manhood on the pioneer farm and in connection with its reclamation and development he found ample demands upon his time and attention. His parents removed in 1866 to LaSalle county. 111., where a married daughter had previously established a home, and there the venerable couple passed the remainder of their lives. Their two sons were William James and John G. William James Sharp was a farmer near the village of Sigel, where he died at the age of thirty years. Of the two daughters, the elder was Martha, who became the wife of Taylor Alexander, both residents of LaSalle county, Ill., at the time of their death. The other daughter, Margaret, became the wife of Stuart Wilson and both ended their days in Strattonville, Clarion county.


John G. Sharp reclaimed sixty acres of land, and the buildings he erected on his old farm long ago outlived their usefulness and were torn down. He died in the autumn of 1865. at the age of forty-one. As a youth he married Milicent Haight, who was but four- teen years old at the time, and was born in Cattaraugus county, N. Y. She was a small child at the time her parents, Nelson and Hat-


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tie ( McCabe ) Haight, came to Jefferson county and settled in Barnett township, near the Clarion river. After her marriage her parents removed to Houston county, Minn., where they continued to reside until their deaths. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Sharp was solemn- ized about the year 1851 and she was a young woman at the time of the death of the husband of her youth, but with courage and self-abne- gation she remained on the farm and managed to provide for her children during a widow- hood covering nearly twenty years. She then married Thomas Kirkman, who maintained a home at Sigel many years, her death having there occurred in May, 1913. Of her chil- dren. Lafayette is the eldest ; Martha becanie the wife of Manuel Kale, and died at the age of thirty-nine; Lizzie is the wife of William Frost, and they reside at Independence, Ore- gon ; John is a resident of Sioux Falls, S. Dak. ; William lives in Alabama; James resides in Oregon, not far from his sister Lizzie.


Lafayette Sharp was but twelve years of age at his father's death and as the eldest of the children he soon assumed heavy responsibili- ties. Ife earnestly helped his mother in her efforts to keep the family home intact and as he labored early and late he found but little opportunity to attend school. in fact his broader education was gained under the direc- tion of the wisest of all headmasters, experi- ence. He worked at clearing and improving the farm. and as his younger brothers advanced in years they began to aid him in his arduous labors. They assumed the practical manage- ment of the place after he had attained the age of twenty-two, but eight years later he purchased the interest of the other heirs and came into sole ownership of the homestead. In the meanwhile he had been lumbering and had kept clear his title as one of the world's productive workers. He became the owner of his present farm about the year 1882, and his brothers shortly afterwards removed to the West. Through well ordered industry and enterprise he has brought about half of his farm of 162 acres under cultivation. From 1901 to 1906 Mr. Sharp was also identified with lumbering operations on Spring creek, Elk county, where he took contracts for the cutting of timber and loading it on rafts or cars for transportation. He made this venture profitable, and in 1906 returned to his farm to give its management his undivided atten- tion. He erected the commodious and attrac- tive house that is now the family home. A substantial barn he had erected in 1891 was destroyed by fire in 1911, entailing a loss of


$2,000, as all the contents were destroyed, in- cluding his horses. On its site he built a mod- ern barn, and has made other improvements of permanent order. To the United Natural Gas Company Mr. Sharp gave leases on the land of the old homestead, and the company devel- oped five producing gas wells unexcelled in this field, their operation yielding a handsome revenue in royalties to Mr. Sharp. He is the owner of two other valuable farms, and on one of these he sunk an oil well which proved but a moderate producer. One of his farms is located in Clarion county, in the tested gas and oil district, though no development work along these lines has been done on the prop- erty.


Mr. Sharp has been emphatically a man of action and his indefatigable industry has effec- tually dulled any possible inclination for ent- trance into practical politics. He has been too busy to attempt any political activity, though he shows the best type of civic loyalty and is an independent in politics.


On the 17th of March, 1878, Mr. Sharp was married to Jennie L. Rankin, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth (Kissinger) Rankin, who settled in Eldred township, in 1856, upon coming from Clarion county. Mr. Rankin passed the residue of his life on his farm, where he died in 1878; his widow passed the remainder of her life among the children, her death having occurred at Warren, at a vener- able age. Mrs. Sharp is but fifteen days the junior of her husband, who was twenty-three years old at the time of their marriage. Of their five children all are living except the third. Cassius, who died at the age of twelve years; Elsie Belle is the wife of Edward P. Gulnac, an extensive lumber operator in West Virginia and who resides at Parsons ; Clinton Harry operates a steam loader in the lumber woods of Mississippi; Bertha Millicent is the wife of M. G. Morris, principal of the public schools at Evans City, Butler county ; Mearl Lafayette, who completed a course in Grove City College, is now employed by the Bessemer Railroad Company, at Albion, Erie county, after having been his father's assistant in the management and work of the home farm.


MILO H. MILFORD is one of the younger business men of Brookville whose enterprise and modern methods have placed him on a firm foundation. By sincere endeavors to keep abreast of the times in his work, Mr. Milford has built up a profitable patronage and added another important establishment to the local


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JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA


business houses. He began on his own account ten years ago.


The Milford family is of Irish extraction, its founder in this country, the great-grand- father of Milo H. Milford, coming from Mil- ford, a town near Belfast, Ireland, and settling in pioneer days in Venango county, Pa. He made his home in Scrubgrass township, that county, where he owned six hundred acres of land upon which he remained until his death. He built a log cabin and improved as much of his property as was possible under the cir- cumstances.


Samuel Milford, the grandfather of Milo H. Milford, grew to manhood on his father's homestead in Scrubgrass township, followed farming and lumbering, and remained on that place all his life.


Thomas N. Milford. son of Samuel, was also reared upon the family place mentioned, and spent his entire life there, dying on the farm March 22, 1916. He is buried in the Scrubgrass Presbyterian Churchyard. Like his father he was engaged in agriculture and lumbering, and he was a man of substantial character, able in business and diligent in look- ing after all his obligations. Mr. Milford mar- ried Julia Davis, who still resides at the old home place. Of the ten children born to them three are now ( 1916) living: Milo H. ; Lee, living at Parker's Landing, Pa., where he is associated with an oil company : and Rowley. driver on a rural free delivery route, who lives at home.


Milo II. Milford was born Sept. 1. 1882, on the old Milford homestead in Venango county, Pa., and began his education in the immediate locality, where he attended public school. Later he studied at the Slippery Rock State Normal School, in Butler county, and the Tri- State business college, at Toledo, Ohio, gradu- ating from the latter institution. The next three years, from 1899, he spent at Butler, Pa., learning the plumbing business, and he en- larged his experience by three years more of work in that line at Emlenton, Venango Co., Pa. From there he came to Brookville, where he opened business on his own account in the year 1906, as a jobber and contractor for plumbing and heating. Integrity in business transactions has gained him a solid place among the citizens of his adopted town.


On Oct. 24. 1908. Milo H. Milford was mar- ried to Philiminda .Aaron, daughter of Thomas Aaron, of Jefferson county. He is a Presby- terian in religious association. and his wife is of the Catholic faith.


F. EDWARD HEID, M. D., of Cren- shaw, Jefferson county, has an extensive prac- tice as well as being physician for the North- west Mining Exchange. During his compara- tively short residence in the county he has become well and favorably known, gaining a place in the confidence of his fellow citizens.


Dr. Heid is a native of Allegheny county, Pa., born Dec. 21, 1888. His father, Justin Heid, was born in Germany in 1851, coming to the United States at the age of twenty-one years and locating at Pittsburgh, engaged as a barber. He was married in Pittsburgh to Mary Wenzeral, a native of that city, and of the eleven children born to them eight are still living: Dr. Austin B. Heid, of Pittsburgh ; Wilhelmina, wife of John Loibl, of Pittsburgh ; Dr. George J. Heid, of Wilcox, Elk county ; F. Edward; Leo P .. a student in the Univer- sity of Pennsylvania ; Matilda E., Magdalene and Loretta.


F. Edward leid grew up in Pittsburgh, at- tending the German Catholic parochial school and the high school. He is a member of the Catholic Knights and the Red Men. In 1909, he entered the University of Pittsburgh, tak- ing the classical course, then changing to the medical department of the University of Mary- land, at Baltimore ; he was graduated in 1913, He was interne at St. Margaret's hospital. Bal- timore, for one year, and was in relief work at various places. On Sept. 15, 1915, he came to Crenshaw, where he has applied himself closely to professional duties. He is surgeon for the Northwest Mining Exchange and the power plant which serves the entire chain of mines in this district, and besides has a pri- vate practice drawn from a wide territory. He is a member of the American Medical Association, and deeply interested in all the work of his profession, whether of private practice or the wider field of benefit to man- kind generally. He is a member of St. Tobias Roman Catholic Church at Brockwayville. On political questions he gives support to the Re- publican party.




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