USA > Pennsylvania > Jefferson County > Jefferson County, Pennsylvania : her pioneers and people, 1800-1915, Volume II > Part 53
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war of 1812 as an officer in Colonel Du Pont's regiment, and in the latter part of that year came to what is now North Mahoning town- ship, Indiana Co., Pa., where he took up a tract of government land, for which he paid $1.25 an acre. Charles Gaskill was the agent who handled the transaction. The property was in the wilderness and wild animals abounded in the region, but Mr. North set resolutely to work to make a home, and as he cleared his land engaged more and more ex- tensively in its cultivation, following farming the remainder of his days. At times he also worked at his earlier business of weaving, as his services might be required by his neigh- bors, and by thrift and industry he maintained his family in comfort, rearing nine children to useful manhood and womanhood. He mar- ried Elizabeth Pogue, who was born in Ire- land, and died in May, 1848, aged sixty-three years. His death occurred in November, 1845, in his seventy-second year, and they are buried side by side in the old cemetery at Punxsu- tawney. Of their family, Deborah, born in 1807, married William Pogue, and died in Philadelphia; Margaret, born in 1809, mar- ried John Henderson, and died in Johnstown, P'a., leaving five children ; John, born in 1811, married Elizabeth Simpson, and was the father of Hon. S. Taylor North, Congressman from this district ; Eliza, born in 1814, married James Means, and they both died at Whites- ville, Pa. ; Joseph P., born June 14, 1816, mar- ried Marjorie Kinsel, and died in McCalmont township, Jefferson county, aged eighty-seven years ; Daniel, born in 1820, married Catherine Bell; Phoebe, born in 1822, married John Steffy ; Thomas P., born July 2, 1824. was the father of John G. and Irwin C. North ; William P., born in 1826, married Margaret Simpson.
Thomas Pogue North, son of John and Elizabeth ( Pogue) North, was born July 2, 1824, in North Mahoning township, Indiana Co., Pa., and died Feb. 2, 1905, after an active and useful career. From early manhood he was engaged in farming and lumbering, which he carried on most successfully, having a well improved farm of 160 acres in Young town- ship. Jefferson county. Mr. North was an intelligent man, and held advanced ideas re- garding the general welfare and betterment of social conditions, subjects for which many of the citizens of his day did not feel they could spare time from their own interests. He had the courage of his convictions, and put them into practice in his public service, taking a leading part in township affairs. He held the
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office of overseer of the poor for many years, was a school director, and particularly inter- ested in the Covode Academy, of which he was a trustee. During the Civil war he was a Union supporter, and served with the 206th Pennsylvania Volunteer Regiment, later join- ing the G. A. R., in which he was active as a member of Captain Little Post of Punxsu- tawney. He was a prominent member of the Methodist Church for fifty-six years.
Mr. North was twice married, his first wife being Sarah McConnaughey, who was born near Marchand, Indiana Co., Pa., and died June 9, 1866; she is buried at Covode, In- diana county. Seven children were born to this union, viz .: Catherine, Mrs. W. E. Piffer: Clayton, who married Ida Mor- ris; Jane, Mrs. Charles T. Hauck ; Roda, Mrs. Fred Kaught; David, who married Jennie Boreing; Meade, who married Catherine Dickey; and Loretta, Mrs. Joseph Corl. For his second wife Mr. North married Eva Sut- ter, daughter of Philip Sutter, and she sur- vived him several years, passing away in 1912. They are buried together in the Circle Ilill cemetery at Punxsutawney. By this mar- riage there were four children: John Gourly ; William P., who married Pearl Dougherty ; Irwin C., unmarried, living on his father's homestead in Young township ; and Nora, also unmarried and living at the old homestead.
John Gourly North was born. Oct. 25. 1868, in Young township, Jefferson county, where he attended public school. The work on the home place gave him ample opportunity to become familiar with farming, which he fol- lowed there until he reached his majority. when he turned to other business, beginning drilling and contracting. He was occupied in this line for a number of years following, he and his brother Irwin C. North doing an ex- tensive business under the firm name of John G. North & Brother and acquiring a high rep- utation as reliable operators. During this time Mr. North resided in the borough of Punxsu- tawney, where he had a hand in the direction of public affairs for a dozen years as mein- ber of the council, resigning that office when first elected county commissioner, in the fall of 1911. Mr. North had the honor of being one of the first commissioners in Jefferson county chosen for a four years' term, and made so good a record that he was renominated in 1915 and reelected in November of that year with slight opposition, entering upon his sec- ond term in January, 1916. His associates on the board are H. M. Cochran (like him-
self a Republican) and Harry L. Grube ( Democrat ).
In 1892 Mr. North was married to Clara E. Lamison, daughter of Squire Thomas R. Lam- ison, of Horatio, Jefferson county, and four children have been born to them: Thomas Paul, who is now a student at Pennsylvania State College, class of 1917; Robert C., a high school student at Brookville ; Laura, at school ; and William Henry. The family moved to Brookville in the latter part of 1915, for the more convenient facilities their location at that point will afford Mr. North in the attention required by his duties as commissioner. They are Methodists in religious association, and he is a Mason fraternally, belonging to John W. Jenks Lodge, No. 534, F. & A. M., Williams- port Consistory (thirty-second degree), and Jaffa Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., at Altoona.
LINUS MEAD LEWIS. While a place of marked relative precedence is to be accorded to Linus M. Lewis as one of the successful and representative farmers of his native county and as an influential and popular citizen of Young township, there is special interest attaching to his career by reason of his being a scion of one of the honored and distinguished old pioneer families of Jefferson county, his paternal grandfather, Stephen Lewis, having come to this county soon after reaching his legal major- ity and having established his home in Perry township about the year 1820, when this sec- tion of the State was little more than an un- trammeled forest wilderness.
Stephen Lewis was born in Indiana county. Pa., in the year 1799, and was a mere boy at the time of the death of his father, who had emigrated from Wales in company with one of his brothers and who had become one of the very early settlers in Indiana county. Stephen Lewis reclaimed a farm from the forest, his homestead in Perry township comprising 160 acres, which he had purchased from the Hol- land Land Company at the rate of a dollar and a quarter an acre. He died, as the result of ' an attack of typhoid fever, when he was forty- nine years of age, and his widow, whose maiden name was Ann Hopkins, lived to attain the venerable age of eighty-four years. Both were charter members of the old Perry Presbyterian Church in Perry township. Of their eight children. John H .. father of Linns M., was third in order of birth. and of the others more specific mention is made on other pages, in the sketch of Harry Lewis, older brother of him whose name initiates this article. To the re- view mentioned ready reference may be made
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LASlewis
THE NEW YORK CLICKARY
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for many other details pertaining to the fam- 1 ily history.
John H. Lewis still resides upon his father's old homestead farm in Perry township, and has the distinction of being the oldest man in that township. He was born on this farm March 16, 1829, and thus is one of the ver- itable patriarchs of his native county, where he has lived and labored to goodly ends and where he has the unqualified esteem of all who know him. He has held various local offices, includ- ing that of justice of the peace, and is affec- tionately known to his host of friends as Esquire Lewis. He is a zealous member of the Presbyterian Church in Perry township, of which his father was one of the founders, and to which his wife also belonged from the time of her marriage. Her maiden name was Isabella Dilts, and she was a representative of another sterling pioneer family of this section of the State. She was born in Indiana county, daughter of Judge Peter Dilts, of that county, and died Oct. 1, 1916, aged eighty-seven years, nine months, the last of a family of nine chil- dren. She was in excellent health until about two years before her death, when she injured her hip in a fall, afterwards walking on crutches. Mr. and Mrs. Lewis were married Oct. 17, 1852, and from that time resided on the farm where she died. She is buried in the Perry cemetery. Of the fourteen children of John II. and Isabella Lewis, the eldest, Anna A., Mrs. Titus, died at the age of fifty-two years; the next three, Sarah Emma, Laura Bell and Martha Jane, died young; Harry is individually mentioned elsewhere in this vol- time, as previously intimated : Dilla Ruth is the widow of James Trezona and now lives . at Grove City, Mercer Co., Pa. ; Alonzo died when six months old; Linus M. was next in the order of birth : John Dilts resides near Punxsu- tawney, this county : Dr. Charles is a medical missionary in China ; Nora M. remains at the parental home ; Dr. Stephen is likewise a med- ical missionary in China; Carrie Bell follows in China her profession of trained nurse ; Eliz- abeth Fair is a graduate physician and has charge of an important hospital in China.
Linus M. Lewis was born Jan. 26, 1863, on the old homestead farm of his paternal grand- father in Perry township. He is indebted to the public schools of his native county for his early educational training, and at the age of seventeen years he put his scholastic attain- ments to practical test by entering the ped- agogic profession. He proved a successful and popular teacher in the district schools, and his labors were in the schools of Oliver, Perry and
Young townships. After withdrawing from this work he was identified with lumbering operations during the winter seasons for a number of years, and was also engaged in the coal business for some time. In 1886 he estab- lished his home on the Theodore Morris farm, in Young township, where he engaged in gen- eral farming and stock raising, in lumbering and in the operation of a coal bank, from whichi he still draws a supply for the local trade. In 1899 he purchased this valuable farm, which now comprises 280 acres and which is acknowl- edged by competent judges to be one of the best farms in this section of the State. In all departments of his farm enterprises Mr. Lewis is distinctly energetic and progressive, and thus he has made of success not an accident but a logical result.
Mr. Lewis is an ardent and active supporter of the cause of the Republican party, and he has been called upon to serve in various offices of local trust, these preferments indicating the high estimate placed upon him in his native county. He had held the offices of township clerk and auditor, served three terms as as- sessor, three terms as township supervisor, and three terms as school director. Noteworthy manifestation of his popularity came in the primary election of 1916, when he was made the Republican nominee for representative of his native county in the State legislature, and in the ensuing general election in November he was elected with an unusually large majority. Mr. Lewis was originally affiliated with the Presbyterian Church of which his paternal grandfather was one of the founders, but he and his wife later transferred their member- ship to the Central Presbyterian Church of Punxsutawney, in which he is now serving as an elder. He is vice president and a direc- tor of the Patrons' Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Indiana and Jefferson Counties. and has served as treasurer and collector for this company for a number of years. He was one of the organizers of the Farmers' Tele- phone Company of Jefferson and Indiana Counties and was a director of the same for a number of years. He is the owner of a valu- able business building in the borough of Punx- sutawney, and is emphatically one of the pro- gressive and substantial citizens of the county in which he has maintained his home from the time of his birth, and in which he has rendered excellent account of himself in all of the rela- tions of life. He is affiliated with the Patrons of Husbandry, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Fraternal Order of Eagles.
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On Dec. 31, 1885, Mr. Lewis was united in marriage to Salina Morris, youngest daughter of the late Theodore Morris, an influential and honored citizen of this county, and of the eight children of this union all are living except the seventh, Elizabeth Golden, who died when two years old. The others are: Fannie V. re- ceived her higher education at Grove City (Pa.) College and subsequently taught school in Young township ; Edna J. took a two years' course in the Indiana ( Pa. ) State Normal School and subsequently taught seven terms in the same room of the graded school at Walston, Jefferson county ; M. Paul is a graduate of the Indiana Normal School and of Pennsylvania State College, class of 1917, and is now ( 1917 ) specializing in milling engineering: M. Ruth is a graduate of the Punxsutawney high school and of Oberlin (Ohio) University, class of 1917, now specializing in kindergarten training with the view of entering the mission field in China ; Alice Bell is a graduate of the Punx- sutawney high school and now a junior in Grove City College, specializing in languages preparatory to taking up mission work in China ; Dorothy H. is a junior in the Punx- sutawney high school, and expects to follow that course with one in domestic science at Pennsylvania State College; Martha E. is at- tending the common school at home. The fam- ily is particularly gifted in music, the older daughters especially giving evidence of un- usual talent, both vocal and instrumental, which has been well developed under careful train- ing. and the social atmosphere of the home is most delightful.
HALLECK M. COCHRAN is a repre- sentative of the third generation of the Coch- ran family in Jefferson county, and that he holds high place there in popular confidence and esteem needs no further voucher than the fact that he is now serving as president of the board of county commissioners, of which important governmental body he was elected a member in the autumn of 1915. In his native county he has acquitted himself as a man of energy, probity and good judgment, and has won success through well directed efforts. Mr. Cochran owns and resides upon his well im- proved farm of eighty-five acres in Union township, about eight miles northwest of Brookville, and has excellent facilities for mak- ing the visitations to the county seat necessary in discharging the duties of his official position. The farmstead mentioned was the place of his nativity and has been the stage of his success- ful activities as an agriculturist, but much of
his time has also been given to effective lum- ber operations, of which he has been a prom- inent representative in this section of the State. From an article which appeared in a Brookville newspaper shortly after his elec- tion to his present county office are taken, with minor paraphrase, the following quotations :
"Halleck M. Cochran, the only new mem- ber of the board of county commissioners, was born May 23, 1862, in Union township, and has resided all his life on the farm where he first saw the light of day. He was the eldest of a family of nine children and was little more than twenty years of age at the time of his father's death, when he thus early be- came the head of the family, with his mother and eight younger children dependent upon him. He engaged in farming and lumbering and is credited by his neighbors with being a keen business man who is honorable and upright in all of his dealings. He brings to the commissioner's office a wealth of knowl- edge and experience that will be of value in the adjusting and deciding of many matters of importance. He never held or was a can- didate for any county office until last fall, when he entered the race for county com- missioner. He was easily nominated and easily elected. He has held the offices of su- pervisor and school director in his home town- ship, where he is also a director of the Red Bank Telephone Company. In addition to his wife and children, his venerable mother re- sides with him on the farm, and for the pres- ent he will make his home there, going back and forth weekly to the county seat in the dis- „ charge of his official duties."
Mr. Cochran is a grandson of James Coch- ran, who removed from his old home near Latrobe, Westmoreland county, to Armstrong county, whence he came in an early day to Jefferson county and settled in Union town- ship, there engaging in farming and also in the work of his trade, that of carpenter. Both he and his wife died on the old homestead farm, and their remains rest in the Presby- terian churchyard at Corsica. Their children were: Robert, Samuel, John and Nancy, the only daughter becoming the wife 'of Jacob Howe.
John Cochran, father of Halleck MI. Coch- ran, was born in Armstrong county and was a boy at the time of the family removal to Jefferson county, prior to which time he had been employed on the canal. at Freeport, Arm- strong county; his youthful experience also included the driving of a stage. After reach- ing years of maturity he was employed in con-
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nection with the operation of the old-time saw- mills operated by waterpower, in Jefferson county, and here also he gave vigorous atten- tion to the development and cultivation of his farm, three miles distant from the borough of Corsica. He was one of the well known and highly esteemed citizens of Union township at the time of his death, which occurred July 26, 1886, and his mortal body was laid to rest in the Pine Grove Methodist cemetery. in that township, of which church he had been a member for a number of years. His widow, whose maiden name was Sarah Jane Smith, still survives, and remains with her eldest son on the old homestead farm. The second of the children is Minnie J., who is now the wife of William A. Butler, and the third child, Clara B., is the wife of Frank S. Butler, a brother of William A .; Nannie C. is the wife of Charles E. Matthews; Sarah E. is the wife of William Reisinger ; Myrtie E. is the wife of John Bowser; Harry J. died at the age of twenty-eight months, and Lucy M. at the age of fifteen years ; William J. was about twenty- eight years of age at the time of his death.
The early educational advantages of Halleck M. Cochran were those afforded in the pub- lic schools of his native township, and while still a boy he began to work in the lumber woods and gained enduring appreciation of the value of honest toil. His experience for- tified him for the heavy responsibilities which devolved upon him at the time of his father's death, and he was faithful to the trust. even as he has been to the responsibilities that have been his in all the other relations of life. The major part of his time for many years was given to association with the lumber indus- try in this section of the State, and in 1900 he engaged in this line of enterprise independ- ently, buying timber tracts in Union, Eldred, Warsaw and Rose townships, Jefferson county, and other tracts in Clarion county. He is still connected with lumbering operations, though not so extensively as in former years, and continues to give his supervision to his excellent homestead farm, which has always been his place of residence.
While Mr. Cochran has been loyal and pro- gressive as a citizen, stanch in his support of the principles and policies of the Republican party, and the incumbent of the local offices of supervisor and school director, his first appearance as a candidate for county office was on the occasion of his nomination for county commissioner, to which office he was elected on the 2d of November. 1915, by a significant and gratifying majority. Upon the
organization of the board he was chosen its president, and his administration, broad- gauged and progressive, is fully justifying the wisdom of the voters of the county. He and his wife hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church, as does also his venerable inother, and in a fraternal way he is affiliated with the Falls Creek Tribe of the Improved Order of Red Men, and the lodge of the Loyal Order of Moose at Brookville.
On the 30th of September, 1887, Mr. Coch- ran was united in marriage with Myrtle A. Stewart, who likewise was born and reared in Jefferson county and who is a daughter of Alvin J. Stewart, of Richardsville, Warsaw township. Mr. and Mrs. Cochran have three children : Elva Vida, who is a competent stenographer, now holding a responsible posi- tion as such in the city of Pittsburgh; Wayne S. and Mary Jeannette, still attending the pub- lic schools.
NEWELL E. HOLDEN, M. D., has justly acquired the reputation of being one of the best qualified physicians in Jefferson county. Throughout his career he has been located at Corsica, where he is highly honored, not only in his professional capacity but also for his citizenship and the admirable principles mani- fested in his bearing towards his fellow men in every relation of life.
Dr. Holden is a native of the county, born Sept. 18, 1855. near Summerville. His parents, Hartley and Alretta ( Anderson) Holden, were both natives of Pennsylvania, the father born in Jefferson county, the mother in Westmore- land county : she was a daughter of James Anderson, Sr. Hartley and Alretta Holden had a family of five children, two sons and three daughters, but only two grew to ma- turity, Newell E. and Lavilla, the latter be- coming the wife of Dr. J. G. McCoy and dying March 24. 1914. Mr. Holden had lived in Wisconsin for a number of years, and there married a Miss Echler. who died leaving one son, Wallace ; he was cared for by his mother's family in Wisconsin, and met an accidental death when about thirty years old. After the death of his first wife Mr. Holden returned to Pennsylvania, and he spent his clos- ing years in retirement in Clarion county. He was a farmer and lumberman all his ac- tive years. For some years he conducted a drug store on the site of his son's present office.
Newell E. Holden spent part of his boy- hood in Clarion county, where he attended pub- lic school, and later he was a pupil in the
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academy at Corsica, where he was taught by Prof. J. . \. Ritchey. He began his medical studies in 1879 with Dr. Hindman at Corsica, and in 1880 entered Jefferson Medical Col- lege, graduating with the class of 1883. In 1894 he took a post-graduate course at the Polyclinic of Philadelphia, and he has taken special courses in women's and children's dis- eases and obstetrics, all of which have been valuable in his work, which has taken him into all the branches of medicine and surgery. His experience, as might be expected in the life of a popular physician in country practice, has been wide and varied, and his prompt and conscientious attention to all calls made upon him has made him the esteemed counselor of many families.
Dr. Holden's part in local affairs has always been in the capacity of a public-spirited private citizen, though he did serve one term as cor- oner. He is a Democrat in his political opin- ions.
On Nov. 29, 1893. Dr. Holden married Laura E. Orcutt, who was born in Corsica. daughter of Edward B. and Rachel (McCol- lough) Orcutt, the former a native of the State of Maine, the latter of Jefferson county, Pa. Her father was a hotelkeeper and lum- berman, engaging in the hotel business at Cor- sica for over half a century. For years he was the landlord of "The Emporium," the popular inn between Brookville and Clarion during old stagecoach days. He also was pro- prietor of other houses. Mr. and Mrs. Orcutt had a family of seven children, five sons and two daughters. To Dr. and Mrs. Holden was born one child, Anna Laura, now the wife of Elmer N. Glenn, a machinist, of Akron. Ohio. Mrs. Glenn received an excellent edu- cation, begun in the public schools of Corsica. After attending high school there and at Brookville, she entered Bucknell University, at Lewisburg, Pa., and on the completion of her course there the Doctor took her for an extended tour of the country, their travels covering some ten thousand miles, in visits to the most interesting points in the United States. She is accomplished as a musician and artist, and has had an exhibit of paint- ings at Bucknell University.
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