Jefferson County, Pennsylvania : her pioneers and people, 1800-1915, Volume II, Part 15

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

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JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

died in South America, while on a visit, aged forty years. (2) John died in infancy. (3) Jane accompanied her brother to Texas, where she was twice married. Her first husband, Colonel Sandusky, was secretary to Gen. Sam Houston, the first president of the Texas re- public.

Alexander McKnight, second son of James and Jane ( McNutt) McKnight, married May 10, 1831, Mary Thompson, daughter of Wil- liam Thompson, of Altman's Run, and grand- daughter of Rev. John Jamieson, the pioneer preacher to locate in Indiana. Alexander and Mary (Thompson) MeKnight commenced married life in Blairsville, Indiana Co., Pa., and on the 19th of May. 1832, their son Amor Archer was born ; he afterwards became dis- tinguished in the war for the Union as colonel of the 105th Regiment of Pennsylvania Volun- teers. Late in the fall of 1832 the young couple moved into the wilderness of Jefferson county, Pa., locating in Brookville, and Alex- ander taught the first term of school in the borough. Their son, W. J. Mcknight, was born in Brookville, May 6, 1836. Alexander McKnight was a good scholar, but having con- tracted fever and ague in New Jersey was an invalid : yet he filled the offices of lieutenant colonel in the militia, justice of the peace and county treasurer, holding the latter position at the time of his death, which occurred in June. 1837, when he was but twenty-seven years old.

Amor Archer McKnight, son of Alexander and Mary (Thompson) MeKnight, was born in Blairsville, Indiana county, May 19, 1832. In November, 1832, he was brought by his par- ents to Brookville. Jefferson county, and in June, 1837, his father died. While a little boy he worked upon the turnpike. At an early age young Mcknight returned to Blairsville and learned the art of printing in the Appalachian office, and afterwards worked for Mr. Samuel McElhose on the Jefferson Star, of Brookville, Jefferson county. In 1853 he was admitted to the bar, and entered into partnership with the late George W. Andrews, Esq., and at once secured a good practice. He had a strong predilection for military matters, and from 1854 until the breaking out of the Civil war had been captain of a military company called the "Brookville Rifles." Long before the ac- tual storm burst he felt that trouble was at hand. and as early as the winter of 1860 com- menced to recruit his company so as to be ready when the emergency might arise. When the news of the firing upon Sumter reached him he at once offered the services of his com- pany, and as captain of Company I, 8th Penn-

sylvania Regiment, served three months. As soon as that term of service had expired he re- cruited the 105th Pennsylvania Regiment, a regiment that had no superior in drill, disci- pline and manual of the bayonet in the Civil war. A rigid disciplinarian, he made his com- mand one whose fame was known throughout the Army of the Potomac. He was an intrepid. daring soldier, winning the praise of his su- perior officers, and fell May 3. 1863, at the head of his gallant veterans in the battle of Chancellorsville while leading them against the command of Stonewall Jackson, who had fallen only a few hours before.

Amor Archer McKnight at an early age cvinced a deep love for study, and proved an apt and diligent student in the common schools and the Brookville Academy, obtaining a good average education. He was a close, careful reader, and when quite young gathered to- gether, as his means would permit, a collection of books which in after years proved the nucleus of an excellent and extensive library. The death of his father when he was so very young made him the main support of his mother and her little family, and the loving care he gave that mother as long as she lived was one of his pleasant duties.

The late Mr. Samuel McElhose, who was editor of the Star, in his notice of Colonel Mc- Knight's death said of him: "He was an ex- cellent workman : what he found to do he did with all his might." The practical and general knowledge he gained in the printing office, he admitted in after years, had been of incal- culable benefit to him. On leaving the Star office he entered the law office of W. P. Jenks, Esq., where he applied himself to the study of law half of each day, the balance of the time he had to work at the "case" in the printing office, as a means of support. At the February term, 1855, he was admitted to practice, and soon afterwards entered into partnership with G. W. Andrews, Esq. Their firm was one of the most successful and had as large a practice as any at the Brookville bar. When the first alarm of war sounded forth he was one of the first to enlist in defense of his country, but his military record is given elsewhere in the his- tory of his regiment. The court of Jefferson county appointed R. Arthurs, W. P. Jenks. G. W. Andrews, A. L. Gordon and D. Barclay. Esqs., to report resolutions upon the death of Colonel MeKnight, when he fell at Chancel- lorsville, one of which reads as follows :

"Resolved, That whether regarded as a sol- dier, patriot, citizen, friend, brother, or pro- tector of his aged parent, Colonel McKnight

JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

was true to duty. By his death our country has lost one of its brightest ornaments, the legal profession a well-informed, trustworthy and honorable member."

Again, on May 27th, the Star said: "He cared most tenderly and affectionately for his mother. He mourned in deep sorrow over her death, and gave the most convincing proofs of the great nobleness of his heart. No man is without his faults, and of course he had his. but one trait we cannot overlook, and that was his perfect abstinence from gambling and in- temperance. He spent his earnings for stand- ard books, and his spare time in perusing them. He was laborious and studious. He was fear- less and outspoken, generous and obliging. he was an ardent admirer of the free institutions of his native land, of the right of man to self government, and loathed the institution of human slavery. His career on earth is ended. He has sealed his love of country with his life's blood."

Colonel McKnight never married. At the time of his death a commission for general was on President Lincoln's desk. At his death Colonel MeKnight was thirty years, eleven months, fifteen days old.

JOHN G. STEINER, A. M., M. D., an hon- ored and influential citizen of Brookville, is a native son of Jefferson county and a member of a family that was founded in Pennsylvania in the second decade of the nineteenth een- tury, whose lineage goes back to patrician origin in Germany. As a teacher, a clergyman, a physician and a man of affairs, Dr. Steiner has marked the passing years with worthy and varied achievement, through his character and services lending new honors to the family name. In the history of Jefferson county no names merit more of veneration and fragrant memory than those of the parents of Dr. Steiner, to whom an appreciative tribute will be paid in later paragraphs.

Relative to the genealogical history of the Steiner family the following interesting data are available and properly find place in this article : The Imperial Archives of the Nobility of the Empire at Wetzlar and the Registry Office of Family Ancestry and Arms in the city of Vienna contain reference to the origin of the nobility of the Steiner family, which with germane information gained from the books of heraldry and tournament at Speyler and at Frankfort-am-Main shows that the family of Steiner appears as a noble house recorded in the archives of Richshammer of Regensburg, dated Aug. 22, 1340, where refer-

ence is made to Maximilian Steiner, who was created Knight ( Ritter) Nov. 26, 1311, by Ludwig of Bavaria. The occasion of this preferment was incidental to a bear hunt in which Maximilian Steiner, who was a Squire ( Knappe) of the Count of Mansfeld, served Ilis Royal Highness, Ludwig of Bavaria. In the hunt His Highness became engaged with a wounded bear and in a hand-to-hand en- counter was receiving the worst of the struggle when Maximilian Steiner rushed to the rescue, literally strangling the infuriated bear and thus saving the life of His Royal Highness. In return for this valiant service the King created him a Knight ( Ritter ), at Goslar, and presented him with a silver armor ( Rustung ) and a shield, the arms of which portrayed a bear in red on a silver field. His Highness also gave to his faithful servitor a knight's castle, the name of which was thereupon changed from Gunthersburg to Steindorf.

Concerning the coat of arms of the Steiner family, it is sufficient to say that it consists of a silver shield, in the middle of which is a bear represented in a standing position attack- ing the king. the device being surrounded with ornaments of gold, underneath which is stretched a white band on which is inscribed "Maximilian Steiner," the right of which is bestowed by His Royal Highness to all of the descendants of Maximilian Steiner. It is worthy of special note also that Maximilian Steiner in later years laid down his life in a (leath struggle for his sovereign and country. in contest at Mühldorf against Frederick of Austria.

While it is not within the province of a sketch so circumscribed as the one at hand minutely to follow the line of genealogy to the present time, the data being of themselves suf- ficient to fill a volume, it may be of interest to note that within the course of a protracted conflict, "der lange Krieg." possibly the thirty years' war. 1618 to 1648, one branch or house of the Steiner family was all but extermi- nated. A lone little lad, the only survivor, was found on the field of battle, and his identifica- tion was effected only by reason of the fact that his name was wrought or embroidered in his garments, in accordance with the custom of the locality and period. This youth was reared to manhood in the Kingdom of Würt- temberg and figures as the ancestor of the distinguished Steiner family of Pennsylvania to which this review applies.

Dr. John G. Steiner, son of Michael and Maria Steiner, was born April 26, 1797, in Württemberg, and thus was nearly twenty

JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

years of age when, on the 17th of April, 1817, he embarked on a sailing vessel and set forth to seek his fortune in America. After a voy- age of nearly nine months' duration he arrived and disembarked at Staten Island, New York, on the 12th of January, ISI8. Three months later, on the 27th of April, he established his home at Lancaster, Pa., where the majority of the original colonists had come from the same "staat" in Germany as had he himself. Dr. John G. Steiner had received in his Father- land the best of educational advantages, and it is supposed that there he received his train- ing for the medical profession, of which he became a skilled and honored representative in the land of his adoption.

On the ist of August, 1819, Dr. Steiner wedded Katharyn Watkins, and they became the parents of two children : George, who was born July 13, 1820; and Michael E., who was born Oct. 19, 1822, and who was the father of him whose name initiates this article. On the 2d of April, 1821, Dr. Steiner removed with his family to Selin's Grove, Snyder Co., P'a., where his devoted wife died on the 9th of July, 1823. On the 13th of March, 1824. was solemnized the marriage of Dr. Steiner to Katharyn Frey, of Union county. By this union there were three children: John and Isaac, twins, were born Aug. 22, 1826, the former dying on the 5th of November, 1837; Elizabeth, the only daughter of Dr. Steiner, the honored pioneer, was born Nov. 2, 1828. On the 2d of April, 1838, Dr. Steiner removed with his family to Limestone, Clarion Co., Pa., there continuing in the active and success- ful practice of medicine until about 1850, when he retired from the work of his profes- sion after many years of earnest and self- abnegating service in the alleviation of human suffering and distress. He passed the closing period of his long and noble life at Knox Dale, Jefferson county, where he was sum- moned to eternal rest on the 2d of February, 1880, at the age of eighty-two years, nine months, six days.

Of the children of Dr. Steiner, the eldest, George, set forth for the West on the 2d of July, 1843, and thereafter all trace of him was lost by his kinsfolk in Pennsylvania. Michael E., the second of the children, is the subject of later paragraphs. Isaac Steiner, one of the twin sons of the second marriage of Dr. Steiner, was reared and educated in Clarion county and on the ist of August, 1850, wedded Wilhelmina Cupp, whose father was a clergyman and at that time a resident of Fayette county. Isaac and Wilhelmina Steiner

became the parents of six children, of whom Alvin and Alice died in early childhood. Of those who attained to years of maturity Wes- ley married Miss Anna McCarty, and they are now residents of Lancaster, Ohio; Albert Wilson first wedded Miss Rose Sweezy and after her death he married Mrs. Sue L. E. Horn, of Brookville, Pa., their present home being at Monticello, Iowa; Sadie is the wife of James McConnel, of Hopkinton, that State : Amy, who became the wife of Robert Craig ( deceased ) on July 31, 1900, is now a resident of Brookville; their union was blessed with two children, Robert, Jr., and Mary. Eliza- beth, the only daughter of the late John G. Steiner, was united in marriage, on the Ist of February, 1844, to Amos Hinderleiter, and they became the parents of three children who attained to maturity : Isaac, who wedded Miss Clara Tyson, their home being at Oil City, Pa .; Amanda, who is the wife of William Fryer, of that place; and Emma, who is the wife of Millard Scheide, of Franklin, Venango county.

Michael E. Steiner, father of Dr. John G. Steiner, was reared to manhood in Clarion county and made good use of the educational advantages that were afforded to him in the schools of the period. His character was the positive expression of a strong and noble nature, and he made the world better and brighter for his having lived. On the 20th of August, 1843, he was united in marriage to Susan Rhoads, of Greenville, Clarion county, and for a number of years thereafter they maintained their residence in Crawford county. In the spring of 1851 Mr. Steiner came with his family to Jefferson county, where from the Samuel Fox estate he pur- chased a tract of timbered land in what is now Knox township. There he instituted the reclamation of a farm from the wilderness and continued his earnest activities until 1857, when, foreseeing the possibility of establishing a village which should become a place of no little relative importance in the county, in con- sonance with his progressiveness and faith he platted and founded the village of Knox Dale (it should have received the name of Stein- dorf, bitt he showed his characteristic modesty by adopting that of Knox Dale). His son, Dr. John G. Steiner, has written an appreciative estimate from which we make the following extracts, with slight paraphrase.

"No sooner did he resolve to found the new village than he began the building of inexpen- sive dwellings, which were quickly tenanted and purchased. One of these houses, after an

JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

occupancy of nearly half a century, is still in a good state of preservation.

"Mr. Steiner held many offices of trust, and he was appointed postmaster at Knox Dale in the early period when it was deemed a luxury to receive mail once a week, the same being transported by a postman from the county seat. lle served twenty years as justice of the peace, being noted for a number of amicable settlements he secured between liti- gants, always throwing off his costs. During the Civil war, though incapacitated for service by reason of physical infirmities, he was not unmindful of the necessities of the bereaved widows and orphans of soldiers ; the poor were never turned empty away when they applied to him for aid. About the year 1861 Mr. Steiner engaged in the general merchandise business at Knox Dale, but sold the same within a comparatively short period. A few years later. however, he repurchased the busi- ness, and after conducting the same success- fully until 1876 turned it over to his son Daniel 1.

"Mr. Steiner's crowning work, which should be regarded as his true monument, was accom- plished in 1874, when, during the ministry of his eldest son, Rev. John G. Steiner, he built the Knox Dale edifice of the United Brethren Church, his wife and children assisting him and his eldest son holding the first services and protracted meeting in the new church, to the membership list of which scores of names were added at this time. Prior to this, the congregation had worshipped in a schoolhouse from the date of its organization, in 1860, and when the little brown schoolhouse could no longer accommodate the growing needs of the times, Mr. Steiner heeded the commands of the Divine Master and cheerfully placed his life's earnings on the altar. Though other noble heart offerings were bestowed, the sum total of the same did not equal one-fourth of his contribution. He simply purchased, em- ployed, built and paid the same as though he were building for himself, and with this he continued the chief contributor to the general upkeep of the church for years to come. Sec- ing this church edifice, after almost half a century, occupied by a large and constantly growing congregation, with a Sabbath school numbering hundreds of members, with an in- fluence that extends far and wide in its benig- nancy, and from the altar of which church many have entered the arena of right living, pub- lishing a life of universal brotherhood, as taught by the Master; and remembering the hosts who have from the corridors of this

place of worship seen the light and found the better way, finally to enter the Eternal City, need anyone wonder that the writer regards this opportunity as heaven-sent and that he has the privilege, from memory and records, of offering these lines in honor of the life work of the sainted Michael E. Steiner and his wife, Susan Steiner, whose bodies rest in Mount Pleasant cemetery, Mrs. Steiner having entered into eternal rest on the 16th of July, 1895, and Michael E. Steiner having passed to his re- ward on the 27th of December, 1897, so that in death they were not long divided."

Michael E. and Susan Steiner became the parents of nine children, of whom four, Julian, Curtis, Susan and Joseph Henderson Steiner, died in early childhood. Two daughters, Eliza- beth and Amanda, lived to the ages of nineteen and fourteen, respectively, both dying during a diphtheria epidemic in 1863. Of the three children who attained to years of maturity the eldest is Dr. John Goodwin Steiner, to whom this sketch is dedicated, and who was born at the old Steiner homestead in Knox township, on the 26th of March, 1851 ; Alice B. was born January 14, 1854; and Daniel I., February 25. 1858.

Alice B. Steiner was united in marriage to Maberry C. Rhoads, of Indiana, Pa., on the 30th of March, 1876. Of their children the eldest is E. Burdette Rhoads, who was born Sept. 14, 1882, and who resides with his fam- ily in the city of l'ittsburgh. Ile wedded Lula Twigger, of that city, and they have three children, Alice B., John Goodwin Steiner and Reba Maize. Jerry M. Rhoads, the younger of the two children of Maberry C. and Alice B. ( Steiner ) Rhoads, was born Dec. 2, 1885. and now resides at Brookville. He married Reba Maize Stewart, daughter of Robert B. Stewart. of Brookville, the marriage ceremony having been performed April 25, 1906. Mrs. Alice B. ( Steiner ) Rhoads died on the 30th of October, 1906, and her husband passed away Nov. 6, 1011, their remains being laid to rest in Mount Pleasant cemetery.

Daniel I. Steiner succeeded his father in the general merchandise business at Knox Dale in 1876, and, with a few brief interrup- tions. he there continued his active association with this line of enterprise until 1913, since which year he has there lived virtually retired. lle served as postmaster of the village and also in numerous other offices of local trust. On the 26th of January, 1882, he married Phoebe J. North, daughter of Joseph P. North, of which union was born a daughter, Isa North Steiner, on Dec. 22, 1886. At an early age

JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

this daughter commenced the development of her exceptional musical talent, and became a successful and popular teacher of instrumental music, but when in the prime of life became afflicted with Graves' disease, to the ravages of which she succumbed, during an operation, on the 22d of April, 1913.

Dr. John G. Steiner was afforded the advan- tages of the Belleview Academy at Stanton, Pa., under the able preceptorship of Rev. James McFarland and Prof. Thomas B. Gal- breath. At the age of sixteen years he began teaching in the schools of his native county. and later completed the classical course in Lebanon Valley College, from which he was graduated, receiving from this institution at that time the degree of bachelor of arts; later the master's degree also was conferred upon him. Dr. Steiner was graduated in the Union Biblical Seminary, and in 1874 he was ordained a clergyman of the United Brethren Church. As a minister he served the charges at Knox Dale. Allegheny and Bellefonte, and later Wilkinsburg, Shamokin and St. John stations.

During Dr. Steiner's student days at Leb- anon Valley College he became acquainted with H. Lincoln Musser, a student and later a graduate of that college, who subsequently incorporated the Musser & Johnson Seed Com- pany, of Los Angeles, Cal., which friendship led to Dr. Steiner's acquaintance with his sister, Miss Ada Musser, daughter of Henry S. Musser. The latter was a pioneer lumber- man of Lancaster county, and for sixty-one years a member of the Musser & Miller Lum- ber Company, of Marietta, Pa., which co- partnership was dissolved only by the death of Mr. Musser, which occurred on the 17th day of January. 1901. The marriage of Dr. Steiner and Miss Musser was solemnized on Dec. 25. 1883. by Dr. D. D. DeLong, president of Leb- anon Valley College, since which time they have together shared life's labors and enjoy- ments. When impaired health compelled the Doctor to resign from the active ministry- having been granted a superannuated relation with the East Presbyterian Conference of the United Brethren Church -- he began the study of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, where he remained several years, when on ac- count of greatly impaired health he removed to California. completing his course in Cooper Medical College, from which he received the Diploma of the institution, which was again indorsed by the Western University of Pitts- burgh, after which he located at Knox Dale. where he continued a successful and unopposed practice up to Nov. 10th, 1915, since which he

has retired to private life with his wife, and they are now residents of Brookville, Pennsyl- vania.

During Dr. Steiner's practice at Knox Dale he became interested in coal lands and became one of the organizers and incorporators of the Knox Dale Coal & Coke Co. in 1910, of which he is president. Joseph B. Henderson being its treasurer and Ira J. Campbell superintendent and general manager. This company has vaht- able coal lands in Jefferson county and is prose- cutting successful operations in the develop- ment of the property. Though the enterprise is one of immature order it shows a constantly growing importance, and gives employment to an average force of about seventy-five men.

During Dr. Steiner's more active career he was always interested in children and young folks, and while engaged in the work of the ministry he organized young people's societies in the various churches over which he had pastoral charge, though this was before the time when such organizations were of frequent occurrence. He aided scores of worthy young men and aspiring young women to gain posi- tions of trust that culminated in life profes- sions. While the incumbent of a pastorate in the city of Pittsburgh he was a member of the Gounod Choral Club, and he has been a liberal contributor to temperance and Sun- day-school music, his love for the "divine art" being possibly a family inheritance from the days of Jacob Steiner, of violin fame in the fourteenth century of the Christian era.

WILLIAM J. BROWN, of Punxsutawney, president of the County National Bank, has followed a career entirely in keeping with the traditions of his family. As chief execut- tive officer of this bank since its establishment, he has by his success in the field of finance brought additional honor to the reputation of the members of the Brown family for versa- tile ability in business, combined with progres- sive ideals which enhance the value of their cooperation in any enterprise so favored.

Bells Mills, Jefferson county, was the home of the Browns for many years. William John Brown was born March 13, 1854. son of Henry Brown, who is mentioned at length elsewhere in this work. Though the second eldest of a large family, he was carefully reared and educated. After attending public school up to the age of seventeen years, he became a student at Scio University, in Ohio, where he remained for three years, and upon his return to Pennsylvania he was located at Pittsburgh for two years, following the lum-

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Jefferson County, Pennsylvania : her pioneers and people, 1800-1915, Volume II, Part 15

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