Jefferson County, Pennsylvania : her pioneers and people, 1800-1915, Volume II, Part 29

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 29

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ordinary educational advantages, and when a youth learned the trade of carpenter, which he continued to follow all his active life, tak- ing contracts, besides carrying on farming. His death, Dec. 9, 1916, was very sudden, when he was apparently in his usual good health, and the affectionate regard in which he was held by all his associates is well ex- pressed in an obituary notice which appeared in the Punxsutawney Spirit: "He grew to manhood in this section and so lived that he gained the esteem and love of every acquaint- ance. Ile was a progressive farmer, a master carpenter. conscientious in his work and in his dealings with his fellows. For more than a year he was the superintendent of outside work at the State Sanitarium at Cresson. He was a lifelong member of the M. E. Church at Frostburg, and a member of the Odd Fel- lows lodge of this place." He was buried in the Frostburg cemetery. Mr. Means married Euphemia J. Curry. daughter of Samuel Curry, and they had three children : Lloyd L .; Bessie, wife of Omer B. Depp, who is engaged in the transfer business in Punxsutawney ; and Alda, wife of J. M. Cook, a merchant of Ham- ilton, Perry township.

Lloyd 1. Means was born Sept. 7, 1874, in Perry township, where he began his education in the public schools. He took his higher literary course at Grove City College, and had his professional training in the Philadelphia Dental College, from which institution he was graduated in 1898. Immediately afterwards he located at Reynoldsville, where he has been practicing continually since, enjoying a well deserved reputation as the reward of sincere efforts to give his patients the benefits of the most approved modern methods. Dr. Means has given his townsmen loyal service as a mem- "ber of the school board, and as president and secretary of that body has been influential in its councils. Ile is a Mason, holding member- ship in John M. Read Lodge, No. 536, F. & A. M., and also in Reynoldsville Lodge, No. 824, T. O. O. F.

Dr. Means married Lena Gertrude Deible, daughter of Henry C. Deible, present post- master of Reynoldsville, and they have two children, Alton and Josephine.

THOMAS LUCAS TEMPLETON. A strong, valiant and noble spirit was that which burned in and illumined the mortal tenement of the late Thomas Lucas Templeton, of Brookville, who passed his entire life in Jeffer- son county, who was a scion of one of the hon- ored pioneer families of this county, and who

gained large and worthy success through his own ability and well ordered endeavors. De- pendent upon his own resources, he worked his way forward to the goal of independence and prosperity and that he was early compelled to take the initiative in connection with the practical duties and responsibilities of life was primarily duc to the fact that he was a lad of but seven years at the time of his father's death. He gave effective service to the Union during the Civil war, and ever afterwards, in all of the other relations of life, manifested the same spirit of loyalty that prompted him to do his part in upholding the integrity of his native land. He lived and labored to goodly ends, wielded much influence in connection with civic and business activities in Jefferson county, commanded the unqualified confidence and goodwill of all who knew him, and his name is held in lasting honor in his native village and county.

Thomas Lucas Templeton was cashier of the National Bank of Brookville from the time of its organization until his death, and he was summoned to eternal rest on Saturday after- noon, March 9. 1907, after a somewhat pro- tracted illness. He was born at Brookville on the 19th of October, 1843, and was the eldest son of John and Mary ( Thompson) Temple- ton, his grandfather, Walter Templeton, hav- ing been one of the earliest pioneer settlers in Jefferson county, and the family name having been prominently and worthily identified with the history of this county during the long in- tervening years. John Templeton was but thirty-eight years of age at the time of his death, in 1850, and his widow survived a num- ber of years.

Thomas L. Templeton acquired his early education in the common schools of his native village and was favored in having gained also the fortuitous discipline that has consistently been pronounced the equivalent of a liberal education -that of the country newspaper office. At the age of eleven years he entered upon a practical apprenticeship in the office of the Brookville Star, where he gained practical knowledge of the "art preservative of all arts" and familiarized himself with the various de- tails of the printing business. For two years he was employed in the office of the Clarion Democrat, at the judicial center of Clarion county, and this period, with that of his serv- ice during the Civil war. represented practi- cally the only interval of his residence outside the borders of his native county, to which his loyalty was over of intense and appreciative order. While providing for his own main-

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tenance by his work as a printer Mr. Temple- ton continued to attend school when oppor- tunity presented, and he thus alternated be- tween work and educational pursuits until, at the age of seventeen years, he responded to the call of higher duty and showed his youthful patriotism by tendering his aid in defense of the Union. About the Ist of August, 1861, upon the organization of the 105th Pennsyl- vania Volunteer Infantry, he was appointed private secretary to the commanding officer of the regiment, the late Col. A. A. McKnight, and he went with the regiment to the front, where he continued his service in this capacity until the 28th of April, 1863, when he was appointed sutler of his regiment. On the 17th of the following December he resigned this office and returned to Brookville, where he be- came associated with Dr. William J. Mcknight in the drug business, as junior member of the firm of Mcknight & Bro. He soon gained precedence as one of the alert, vigorous and successful young business men of his native village, and he continued to be prominently identified with the business life of Brookville during the remainder of his earnest and pro- lific life, the while he gave his influence and loyal cooperation in the support of the various measures and enterprises that were projected for the general good of the community. thus showing his high sense of civic stewardship.

Mr. Templeton was one of the zealous pro- moters and organizers of the Jefferson County Agricultural Society and Driving Park Asso- ciation, of which he was elected the first secre- tary and treasurer, a dual office of which he continued the incumbent for three years, Of his connection with the organization the fol- lowing statement was made in a Brookville paper at the time of his death : "In the Driving Park Association he was untiring in his labors, and to his intelligent management, seconded by other officials, can be attributed much of the success of that institution."

Upon the organization of the National Bank of Brookville Mr. Templeton was, on the Ist of August, 1891, elected its cashier, and in this important and exacting office he continued his effective administration until the time of his death. It has been consistently said that "He was able and skillful in managing the busi- ness, and superintended the erection of the beautiful building which the bank has occupied for a number of years."

From an appreciative estimate that appeared in a local newspaper when Mr. Templeton was called from the stage of life's mortal endeavors are taken. with slight paraphrase, the following

quotations, which are specially worthy of per- petnation in this more enduring vehicle : "Mr. Templeton was a man of fine tastes and me- chanical ideas. He was one of the building committee of the Presbyterian parsonage and had been a trustee of the Brookville Presby- terian Church since January, 1885. To him perhaps more than to any other one man is due the fine edifice which the Presbyterians now occupy for church services. He was for years treasurer of the principal funds of the church and was of great service in its financial affairs, the while his deep Christian faith was a dom- inating force in every relation of his life. Possessing in a marked degree the confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens, Mr. Temple- ton occupied throughout his life-time a prom- inent position in the business and social affairs of the town, and he was known to all as a citi- zen whose word was at all times as good as his bond, a man incorruptible in his rugged hon- esty and integrity of purpose. He had served as a member of the town council, giving to his official duties the same conscientious attention that marked his association with business af- fairs. He had been foremost in many works looking to the upbuilding of his home town, and his death removes one whose every act tended toward the real betterment of civic con- ditions. The funeral services in tribute to this sterling citizen were conducted at the Presby- terian Church on the Tuesday afternoon fol- lowing his death, which occurred the preceding Saturday, and the remains were given inter- ment in the Brookville cemetery. Hobah Lodge, No. 276. of which the deceased had been a valued member, attended the funeral in a body and performed the last rites due a member of the fraternity. The deceased leaves to survive him his wife and one half-brother, Dr. William J. MeKnight, of Brookville. He is survived also by Mrs. Daniel Bernard Curll, of Wayne, Pa., who was formerly Lilian An- thony and who was a member of the Templeton household throughout her youth and young womanhood, Mr. Templeton having been her guardian and foster-father."

Though Mr. Templeton never manifested any desire to enter the turbulence of practical politics and was not imbued with aught of ambition for political office, he was well forti- fied in his opinions concerning matters of governmental and economic policy, was pro- gressive and public-spirited in his civic attitude and accorded loyal allegiance to the Republican party. In a preceding paragraph it has been noted that he was affiliated with the local lodge of the Masonic fraternity, and it should be

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added that he held membership also in Jeffer- son Chapter, No. 225, Royal Arch Masons.

On the 4th of February, 1874, was solem- nized the marriage of Mr. Templeton to Anna Henderson, who likewise was born and reared in Jefferson county and who is a daughter of the late Judge Joseph Henderson, who was one of the most honored and influential citizens of the county for many years prior to his death. Mr. Templeton is survived by no children, but his widow, who still remains in their beautiful home, on Main street, finds her measure of consolation and compensation in the gracious memories of their long and devoted compan- ionship and in the thought that she touched upon and entered so fully into the life interests of a husband whose every quality made for true nobility of character. She is sustained and comforted also by being surrounded by hallowed memories and associations and by a large company of friends tried and true, the while she has long been a popular figure in connection with church affairs and the repre- sentative social activities of her home com- munity.

ALEXANDER E. CLAWSON, of Bell township, belongs to a family much respected in Jefferson county, being a son of the late Benoni Clawson and grandson of Matthias Clawson, both citizens of high standing in their day.

Matthias Clawson was born in 1792 in West- moreland county, Pa., son of Cornelius Claw- son, and at an early day came to Jefferson county, settling in what is now the West End of Punxsutawney. He bought six hundred acres of land lying in and about Punxsutaw ney, and engaged in the timber business and farming, becoming one of the most successful men in this region. As early as 1855 he was known as a rich man, and by the time of his death, in 1860, had accumulated a large estate. In August of that year he went to Kansas, and died at Williamsburg, that State, a month later, at the home of his son-in-law, Daniel Fogle. He is buried there. His wife, Mary (Wil- liams ), a native of Mifflin county, Pa., died in 1877 when seventy-eight years old. They had children as follows: Cornelius ; Benoni ; John; Elizabeth, who married Daniel Fogle; and Mary C., widow of John M. Graffius, all de- ceased but Mary C.

Benoni Clawson, father of Alexander E. Clawson, was born at Punxsutawney in 1831. and though he had very meagre educational privileges he used them to such good purpose

that he became a teacher during his young manhood, following that profession for twenty years. Meanwhile he also farmed during the summer season, having been reared to agricul- tural life, and eventually he gave all his atten- tion to farming and lumbering, owning a good property in Bell township, where he was re- garded as one of the most progressive men in the vicinity. He died Aug. 4, 1904, and is buried in Oaklawn cemetery at Cloe. During the Civil war Mr. Clawson served as a mem- ber of Company B. 74th P. V. I., until the close of the conflict. He was a Republican. and took some part in local public affairs, serving as supervisor and poor overseer.

On June 6, 1861, Mr. Clawson married Mary Ann Williams, who was born April 19, 1842, in Jefferson county. and has spent all her days there, still living on the old homestead in Bell township, with a son and daughter. Four children were born to this union: Rev. Wil- liam W., a Methodist minister, formerly a mis- sionary in New York State, now stationed at Thayer, Kans .; Bell M., at home; Daniel F., at home and operating the farm ; and Alexan- der Elsworth. Mrs. Clawson is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, to which her husband also belonged.

Mrs. Clawson is a granddaughter of John Williams, a resident of Jefferson county, who died here about 1865, when about seventy-five years old; he married Rachel Thompson. Their son, William F. Williams, father of Mrs. Clawson, married Margaret Thompson, and they settled in Winslow township, this county.

Alexander E. Clawson was born Sept. 4. 1871, in Bell township, and after receiving stich advantages as the local schools offered attended Franklin Business College at Law- rence, Kans., Grove City ( Pa.) College, and later Wesleyan College in West Virginia. For fifteen years he was in the South, bookkeeping and inspecting lumber, and returning at the end of that period to his old home in Jefferson county he became interested in farming and is still so engaged. In 1912 he became con- nected with the Summerville Telephone Com- pany, at Punxsutawney, as solicitor and col- lector, and fills that position creditably. His home is on part of the old Clawson farm. Mr. Clawson has served Bell township for nine years in the capacity of school director, in that and other associations giving his time and energies to promote the welfare of local insti- tuttions.

Mr. Clawson married Maetella Davis,

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daughter of Samuel C. Davis, of Knox town- ship; their one daughter, Helen, is attending school.

OBED H. NORDSTROM came to Jeffer- son county from the Pine Tree State shortly after attaining his legal majority, and he be- came one of the pioneer business men and prominent and influential citizens of Punxsu- tawney, where he maintained his home for nearly half a century and where he was one of the most venerable and revered citizens of Jefferson county at the time of his death. which occurred April 21, 1909, about four months after his eighty-seventh birthday anni- versary. Mr. Nordstrom was a man of ex- ceptional initiative and constructive ability, was a pioneer in the establishing of important industrial and commercial enterprises at Punx- sutawney, and was a resourceful and valued factor in furthering the civic and material de- velopment and upbuilding of the metropolis of Jefferson county. Strong in his virile and upright manhood, he commanded unqualified popular confidence and respect.

Obed Hand Nordstrom was born at East- port, Maine, on the 3d of December, 1821. and there received his early education in the common schools of the day. His father, John Nordstrom, was born' in Sweden, and was a child at the time of the family immigration to America. He became a successful shipbuilder at Eastport, Maine, and both he and his wife continued their residence in that State until they died. As a youth Obed H. Nordstrom gained valuable experience through association with the shipbuilding operations with which his father was identified, and at the age of twenty-one years he came to Jefferson county, Pa., and established his home in the little vil- lage of Punxsutawney. Later he passed a brief interval in the State of Iowa, and upon his return to Punxsutawney he here engaged in lumbering operations. In 1864 he estab- lished on what is now the south side of this thriving borough the first brickyard in all this section, and he further showed his business energy and progressiveness by operating for a number of years a woolen mill, besides hav- ing conducted one of the old-time distilleries of this part of the State. For a number of years he operated a sawmill, in connection with a well established lumber business, and he was one of the leading men of affairs in the community. It is worthy of note that his old woolen mill stood on the present site of the Mahoning Valley Milling Co. plant. In 1866 Mr. Nordstrom erected the fine old homestead

which is still occupied by his venerable widow and which is endeared to her by the hallowed memories and associations of the past. This was the third house to be erected in what is now the splendidly improved south side of the borough, and upon the spacious grounds of this old homestead is the little private ceme- tery in which rest the mortal remains of this honored pioneer.

In 1850 Mr. Nordstrom was married to Hattie Hoover, and of the three children born to this union but one survives, Laura N., now the widow of Charles Brewer, who was a member of the Jefferson county bar. She has four living children, James, Frederick, Paul and Roy. On Dec. 24, 1863, Mr. Nordstrom married Matilda Jane Walker, who was born in Armstrong county, this State, where her father, the late Robert Walker, was a pioneer and a representative citizen. Mrs. Nordstrom, though now venerable in years, maintains won- derful mental and physical vigor, presides gra- ciously over her beautiful old home on the south side, and is held in affectionate regard by the entire community in which she has lived many years. Of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Nordstrom Robert Roy and Grace Ger- trude died young : Osie Virginia is the wife of Lot Craft, of Punxsutawney; Otto is de- ceased ; Jessie B. is the wife of Charles Mc- Quown, who is engaged in the automobile business at Punxsutawney.

EDWIN G. SPRAGUE, of Winslow town- ship, is one of four brothers who own finely improved farms in that section of Jefferson county, sons of the late George G. Sprague, whose long life was passed principally in Winslow township and Reynoldsville, a lead- ing agriculturist and business man of his day. The grandfather, Samuel B. Sprague, was born in New Hampshire, of old New England stock. In early life he went to Vermont, where he met and married Hannah Farley, a native of that State, by whom he had five children : George G., William, Hannah, Hiram and Mary. In 1824 the family removed to New York State, and thence in 1832 to Penn- sylvania, making a permanent home at Pros- pect Hill. four miles from what is now Reynoldsville, in Winslow township, Jefferson county. Samuel Sprague made the first im- provements upon this property, and followed farming there during his remaining years, clearing part of his land, and his death in 1845 was caused by a fall from a building. His widow remarried, her second husband being

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a Mr. Farley, and died in 1880, at the age of eighty-four years.

George G. Sprague was born Feb. 2, 1818, at Danville, Caledonia Co., Vt., and had common school advantages, such as they were in his boyhood. After the family settled in Jeffer- son county the nearest school was three miles distant, and as he was old enough to be of material assistance with the farm work he could not be spared to attend regularly, but even under such circumstances he picked up sufficient learning to enable him to teach, and he followed the profession at times during his young manhood. Throughout his active years farming was his principal occupation, and having acquired his father's homestead in Winslow township he prosecuted its improve- ment vigorously, putting up all the substantial buildings which now stand there, besides con- tinuing the work of clearing. The house was erected about 1868, the barn in 1878. In 1886 he retired from agricultural work and moved into the borough of Reynoldsville. turning the farm over to his son Charles, who has since carried it on. However, Mr. Sprague retained the active management of his interests, and in 1892 he was chosen president of the Seely & Alexander Bank at Reynoldsville, in which position he gave ample evidence of the shrewd- ness and clear judgment for which he had long been noted. He retained the office until Sept. 18, 1902, dying at Reynoldsville when eighty-four years of age. Mr. Sprague was one of the most influential characters of his generation, his convictions helping to shape many matters of the utmost importance to the community, and though his actual participa- tion in its affairs was principally in business his well formed ideas regarding public policies had their due effect. As a sincere Demo- crat, he was firm in his opposition to monop- oly and special privileges and maintained it by his ballot. Though not specially covetous of the power attaching to local office lie accepted a number of public positions from a sense of duty, his services as school director covering about a quarter of a century.

In 1844 Mr. Sprague married Prudence Broadhead, who was born in England and came to America in 1832 with her parents, James and Mary Broadhead, also natives of that country. They lived in Winslow town- ship the rest of their lives, and there Mr. and Mrs. Sprague were married. She lived to be just past eighty-four years of age, dying Oct. 4, 1910. We have the following record of the eight children born to this marriage: An- geline, wife of Samuel Bailey, lives at Big

Soldier, this county ; Martha married Wallace Garsline, of New York, and died there in 1878; Edwin G. is next in the family ; Albert J. is a leading farmer in Henderson township : Walter lives in Winslow township : Charles O., born April 8, 1860, now living on the home farm, married Margaret M. Pierce; Mary is the wife of Asa Philippi and lives at Homer City, Pa .; Edith married Milan Philippi and after his death became the wife of Dr. B. E. Hoover, of Reynoldsville. Mrs. Sprague was brought up in the faith of the Baptist Church, and kept her membership in it all her life.

Edwin G. Sprague was born Dec. 26. 1851, in Winslow township, and lived on his fa- ther's farm there until he went to the home of his sister Martha, in New York State, where he also attended school. Upon his return to Jefferson county he lived at Reynoldsville for four years, during which period he was employed at the mines, cutting coal, and he removed thence to the "Mile Hill" farm in Pinecreek township, this county, upon which he made his home for twenty-nine years, ac- quiring the ownership of that valuable prop- erty, which comprised about one hundred and fifty acres. Upon selling it he purchased his present home place, formerly the William Rey- nolds homestead, a tract of 120 acres in the Paradise section of Winslow township, where he took up his residence in February, 1913. It is a very desirable farm, in up-to-date con- dition, and he is carrying on general farming there very profitably. being one of the well- to-do land owners of that vicinity. in whose development the Spragues have taken so prom- inent a part. Since settling there Mr. Sprague has not been associated with public affairs, but while in Pinecreek township he assisted in the administration of the local government to the extent of seven years' service on the school board. He is a substantial citizen in every respect, and has the unqualified respect of all his neighbors.

Mr. Sprague married Hannah Lawhead, daughter of Nathan Lawhead, and they. be- came the parents of six children : John ; Harry ; Frank; Mattie, wife of John Figge; Ai, who has been in the United States navy for the last ten years, being now on submarine duty in the Pacific; and Catherine, who was the wife of Theodore Mowerv. The last named. Mrs. Mowery, died in Oklahoma, and Mr. Mowery was killed by lightning in the summer of 1916. in a field on his father-in-law's farm in Wins- low township, a horse being struck dead at the same time. Mr. and Mrs. Mowery left two children, Theodore and Paul. Mrs. Han-

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Jefferson County, Pennsylvania : her pioneers and people, 1800-1915, Volume II, Part 29

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