Jefferson County, Pennsylvania : her pioneers and people, 1800-1915, Volume II, Part 54

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 54

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Mrs. Holden died Jan. 10. 1912. She be- longed to the Presbyterian Church, in which the Doctor also holds membership.

CLAUDE W. ESPY, late of Brookville, oc- cupied a leading position among the business men of that borough at the time of his death. As founder of the now flourishing establish-

ment of C. W. Espy & Son he not only proved his title to place with the progressive forces in the county, but showed courage and re- source in entering a new line here, the house being still the only one of its kind in this sec- tion. At the start Mr. Espy had all the un- certainty of an experiment to contend with, but he soon found that he could depend on the home market if his patrons could depend upon him, and he enlarged the scope as well as the proportions of his business from time to time until his stock and facilities were com- prehensive enough to meet every requirement of the territory in which he operated. Always enterprising about keeping ahead of the de- mand in new lines, the Espys have well de- served the liberal patronage they enjoy. The business is now so well organized that the service to customers is not excelled by any local concern.

Mr. Espy was born at Brookville and spent all his life there. His father, Thomas Espy, also lived and died at that place. where he fol- lowed shoemaking. He had two sons, Claude W. and Thomas. Claude W. Espy had a pub- lic school education, and when a young man learned his father's trade, at which he was em- ployed for some time. Having been ap- pointed sexton of the Brookville cemetery, he found himself in touch with work entirely to his taste, and in 1892 he engaged in the florist business regularly, thereafter devoting prac- tically all his time to its development. His first work was done on a very small scale, the orig- inal equipment consisting of a glass covered box for the raising of plants. From that be- ginning to the extensive acreage and green- houses now necessary is a long stride. For a long time the firm has been known as C. W. Espy & Son, who have a valuable property of twenty-three acres lying just outside the bor- ough limits, on which are located five green- houses of good dimensions, the interior space being over forty thousand square feet, under fifty-two thousand square feet of glass. The annual production of bedding plants is fifty thousand; cut flowers, two hundred and forty thousand; carnations, two hundred and fifty thousand; roses, two hundred thousand; chrysanthemums, twenty thousand ; other

flowers, twenty-five thousand. The annual im- portation of bulbs from Holland, hyacinths, tulips and daffodils, amounts to fourteen thou- sand : from Japan, lily bulbs, many thousands ; and they also purchase large quantities of lily bulbs in Bermuda until a recent blight affected the lily fields of those islands. Besides han- dling flowers and ornamental plants, they sell

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a large number of garden vegetable plants in the spring and early summer, about one hun- dred thousand of the different varieties each season.

The care of this live industry calls for sci- entific management in the commercial as well as the producing department. The general oversight is intrusted to Mr. John Espy, son of the founder, who gave early evidence of his talent for the work, sufficient to justify his parents in allowing him opportunities for the most careful training. At that time they raised nothing but plants, and they decided to add floriculture, in which their son John was specially interested. So he took four years of study and work at Pittsburgh and Alle- gheny, and with this as a foundation has con- tinued to add to his knowledge by study and experimenting in the various branches, in- forming himself on the advance made by others and himself originating effective meth- ods in the growing and handling of plants and flowers.

The modest beginning of the Espy estab- lishment gave no indication that it would ever attain to the importance it now assumes in the industrial activities of this section of Pennsylvania, for it is the largest in this part of the State and properly valued as a business institution. The employees at the plant include the heads of ten families. So vast an amount of coal is consumed during the winter months that it is said to require the constant work of two men for the digging, and two men with two teams for the hauling. The heating ap- paratus consists of two tubular boilers, a gaso- line engine, and 14,600 feet of steam and water pipe. Over two thousand, five hundred paper boxes are used yearly in the shipping of floral products, while half of all the store goods boxes that come to Brookville are needed to pack the larger shipments, and four tons of newspapers and other paper are consumed in packing for shipment. The trade extends over a radius of one hundred miles. All the avail- able manure in the town is purchased and hauled to the grounds for fertilizing purposes, being subjected to a process of rotting and dis- integration for months before being ready for use. Mr. John Espy is particularly successful in the preparation of soil for the greenhouse beds, the composition of which, especially for bringing to perfection the tints and blooms of the finer species of plants and flowers, is a matter of scientific precision. Three tons of sheep manure { obtained from the Pittsburgh stockyards), five tons of lime and twelve tons of commercial fertilizer are purchased annual-

ly, the work of soil enrichment never relaxing in order to keep all the products up to high grade. No expense has been spared in the im- provement of land and buildings, the invest- ment to-day representing an outlay of over thirty thousand dollars. Claude W. Espy con- tinued his active connection with the business and his work as sexton of the Brookville ceme- tery until his death, which occurred Jan. 9, 1909. He is interred in the Brookville ceme- tery. His interest in local affairs led him into the public life of the borough, which he served most efficiently in the capacity of auditor.

Mr. Espy married Laura L. Matson, daughter of Robert L. and Margaret (Hime) Matson, and they became the parents of five children: (1) Robert E. Espy is member of the firm of C. W. Espy & Son and his father's successor as sexton of the Brookville cemetery. He married Sarah Catherine Kunselman, and they have one daughter, IIelen Catherine. ( 2) John M. Espy, who married Emma Jenks Emery, is manager of the plant of C. W. Espy & Son. (3) Jenetta L. is the wife of Harvey J. Kutz, and has two children, Charles Matson and Laura Espy. Mr. Kutz is a member of the old and prominent Kutz family of Berks county, Pa., and is now engaged in the lumber business at Fairwood, Va., where he and his family reside. (4) Mary A. died when four years old. (5) Helen is the wife of Frank C. Walters, of Tarentum, Pa., manager of the Tarentum Floral Company. Mrs. Espy was always a great aid to her husband in the con- duct of the business, in which her ability and energy were most valuable factors, Indeed, she is considered one of the ablest business women in Jefferson county.

ISAAC PIFER, of Henderson township, now living retired, is a descendant of one of the earliest pioneers in what is known as the Paradise settlement, being a grandson of Jolin Pifer. John Pifer came here with Frederick Kunley in 1828 or 1829, attracted by the big game then abundant in the heavy forests, and they were not disappointed, enjoying many a successful hunting expedition as well as the meat obtained thereby for the family larder. The facilities for sport, and the many beauti- ful flowers found in the neighborhood where they located, seemed to justify their choice of a name. Among the pioneers who followed them were John Pifer's nephew, Anthony Pifer, who also secured a farm; the Smith family, who soon settled to the north ; Philipi Strouse, and Mr. Deemer.

John Pifer was a native of Dauphin county,

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Pa., and was married in Westmoreland county to Charlotte Frye, whose ancestors were early settlers there. There they continued to live until their removal to Jefferson county, which was made in the most primitive fashion, by ox-team, with an old jumper sleigh bought especially for their son William, who was taken sick just before the time for starting. The weather was cold, and the trip took seven days. Mr. Pifer and Mr. Kunley had bought 202 acres in Henderson township, at a dollar an acre, and divided it, Mr. Kunley's portion including the farm now owned by Isaac Pifer. upon which an old hunters' cabin stood at an opening above the pine timber. They lived in truly primitive fashion for many years, not even having access to a mill, grinding their corn and other grains in an old hand mill which broke a kernel of corn into about eight pieces. Besides progressing well in the clear- ing and cultivation of the original tract, Mr. Pifer bought and partly cleared the place 110w owned by his grandson John Pifer. He was an intelligent man and took a leading part in local affairs, serving as county commissioner and justice of the peace. His death, in 1851. was very sudden. occurring a half mile from Brookville while he was returning home with his son George. He was sixty-two years old at the time, and his wife reached the age of seventy, dying in the early seventies. They are buried in the Rider graveyard one mile from their homestead, at the site of the old Paradise Lutheran Church, which was built a mile and a quarter distant from the present church of that congregation. It had been organized in the early days, and John Pifer assisted in building the log church first used. Mr. and Mrs. John Pifer had a family of nine children, six sons and one daughter reaching maturity, and it is noteworthy that of those who grew up none died under the age of sixty- three years. Four sons are buried in the

Lutheran cemetery near the old home. Jonas.

the eldest, died in 1884. aged sixty-five : John F .. a farmer of McCalmont township, lived to be over eighty : Simon died in youth ; Wil- liam Elias, born Dec. 27. 1817. is deceased : George, who spent his last years in retirement in Henderson township, is deceased; Eliza- beth married James Dickey, of Winslow town- ship, Jefferson county, and lived to be over seventy : David was the father of Isaac Pifer : Mary A. died young: Thomas, the last sur- vivor of the family, lived in retirement in Hen- derson township until his death, which oc- curred in 1908, when he was about seventy

years old. The last named left no family. He

was a very large man, weighing at one time 340 pounds. All this family remained in Jef- ferson county.

David Pifer, father of Isaac Pifer, was born in Westmoreland county in 1825 and was consequently very young when he accompanied his parents to Jefferson county. He lived on the farm where they settled or the adjoining part originally owned by Mr. Kunley all his life, never being absent from the place for more than two weeks at a time. Having bought the Kunley tract he continued clearing and cultivating on that place as well as on the paternal homestead, which came into his pos- session, and where he resided until he built a substantial frame house on part of the Kun- ley property, that portion now occupied by his daughters Lizzie and Mrs. Minnie C. Muth. It was there that his death occurred in Novem- ber. 1908. David Pifer devoted considerable of his time to lumbering, working for himself and jobbing for others, making rafts of square timber which were sent down the neighboring streams to market. Like his father he inter- ested himself in matters of importance to his locality, served as supervisor, school director, and in other local positions, and was one of the active members of the Paradise Lutheran Church, doing his full share toward the erec- tion of the present church building, erected in the early seventies. By his marriage to Eliza- beth Hess, who died in 1882, he had eleven children: J. J., who lives on a farm in Hen- derson township adjoining his brother Isaac's home, married Lizzie Strouse, of Jefferson county, and has three children. Albert, Lot- tie and Clair; Isaac was second in the order of birth : Charlotte is the wife of Joseph Zu- fall, a farmer of Henderson township, and has four children, David, Eldry, Clarence and

formerly lived on a farm, but now resides at Brady township, Clearfield county, where he : Jonas married Mary Bonsal, of

DuBois : Sarah married Charles Scheffler, for- merly of Center county, later a butcher at Big

reside on the "Wash. Miller farm," and they Winslow township, this county, where they Willson ; Lydia married Amos Strouse, of Run, now in DuBois, and they have one child,

have six children, Lizzie, David, Minnie, Clar- once, Gem and Nanie; David, a farmer of Henderson township, married Ollie Ludwig,

of Winslow township, and they have two chil-

ried Gilbert Fye, of Winslow township, who dren, Ethel and Ivan; Mina, deceased, mar-

has a farm at Big Soldier where they settled. and they had six children, Minnie, Harry,

Oscar, Laura, Ora and Clara ; William T., who

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farms his father's homestead where John Pifer settled, married Rachel Zufall, of Hen- derson township; Lizzie lives at the home last occupied by her father, with her sister Mina C., who is now the wife of Thomas Muth. The sons Isaac and William T. were executors of their father's estate. The Par- adise settlement, of which it forms a part, lies in the eastern part of Jefferson county, eight- een miles southeast of Brookville, four and a half miles north of Big Run, eleven miles northeast of Punxsutawney, and six miles south of Reynoldsville.

It was here that Isaac Pifer was born Aug. 8, 1850. He grew up on the farm, and was educated in the neighboring public schools. and in his early manhood was occupied like most of the youths at agricultural work in the summer season and lumbering during the win- ters. In 1878 he began dealing in sheep, and carried on that business for a number of years, buying in Jefferson, Clearfield and Indiana counties, and shipping to Philadelphia. For eight years his partner in this line was W. S. Dellett, of Milroy, Mifflin Co .. Pa., who died in August, 1916. Having for two years bought cattle for John DuBois, of DuBois, he subsequently combined the handling of cattle with his transactions as a sheep trader. Then for some years he was engaged in buying fat cattle at the stockyards in East Liberty, Pitts- burgh, shipping them to Reynoldsville and other points. In 1884 he became associated with Adam Miller in the purchase of a saw- mill in Henderson township, from A. Wine- burg, and having purchased several pieces of timberland, including the William Pifer tract in McCalmont township, they engaged exten- sively in cutting and sawing himber. In 1901 Mr. Pifer became a stockholder in the Miller Lumber Company, named for Adam Miller, of Big Run, its chief member and promoter, whose operations were in South Carolina, be- tween Columbia and Savannah. For four years Mr. Pifer acted as foreman of the com- pany's mill, while Milton Stahlman, of Sigel. Jefferson Co., Pa., was foreman in the woods. About twenty men were employed about the mill and yards. When operations at the mill ceased the company supplied timber to David E. Pifer, son of Isaac Pifer, who was selling logs to another lumber company, using a rail- road for delivery. David E. Pifer was on a work train which was wrecked while going into the woods for logs, a storm having felled trees which lay across the track and derailed it. the engine being at the back of the cars. pushing them. The accident caused his death.

and his father, after having lived retired on his farm in Jefferson county for three years, took up the contracts made by the son and which required two years to complete. Hav- ing wound up the business satisfactorily, he returned to his farm, to which he has since devoted much of his attention, though his son Luther now carries on the work of cultiva- tion. Luther Pifer also acted as administra- tor of his brother's estate in South Carolina. Mr. Pifer was one of the original stockholders in the Citizens' Bank of Big Run, and he and G. W. Miller are the only survivors of that group. The bank has since become the Citi- zens' National Bank. Mr. Pifer was a direc- tor of the institution for some years. In his earlier life he took a close interest in the administration of the local government and held some offices, serving sixteen years as constable and tax collector of his township. Politically he has been a lifelong Democrat.

Mr. Pifer was married in 1876 to Susanna Bonsall, of Brady township, Clearfield county, and the same year built a two-story residence of frame construction on his part of the old homestead, making a permanent home there. The large bank barn was built ten years later. Mrs. Pifer died in 1886, leaving five children, namely : Jacob K., born March 4, 1878, lives on a farm near his father's; he married Min- nie Muth, and has two children, Hugh and Lyle. Lydia, born Nov. 10, 1879, is the wife of John Rudolph, assistant superintendent at the Eleanor mines, and her children are David, John, Catherine, Fay and Herraugh. Luther. born Feb. 12. 1881, has operated the home farm for his father for ten years; he married Anna Keeler, and has three children, Susanna, Charles and Vere. David E., born Dec. 12, 1882, was thirty years old when he died, and was unmarried. Wilson, born in 1886, died one year after the mother. Mr. Pifer adheres to the Evangelical denomination, he and his wife joining the church at Paradise, to whose support he has contributed liberally.

DEXTER BISHOP McCONNELL. the present executive head of borough affairs in Falls Creek, has by his notable efficiency in all his undertakings earned the confidence of his fellow citizens, enjoying a prestige in busi- ness gained in many years of honorable activ- ity as a merchant there. His career has been one of steady and creditable progress ever since he became independent. and his opera- tions have been of the class which incidentally work to the general advancement. Now he is the leading general merchant at Falls Creek.

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influential in the direction of its public inter- ests, and doubly respected in both capacities because of his high personal character, evi- denced in every association of life.

Mr. McConnell is of Irish descent, his grandfather, William McConnell, having been born in Ireland. He died in the Beechwoods in Jefferson county, Pa., having settled in this region in the early days. Joseph M. McCon- nell, father of Dexter B. McConnell, was born in Center county, Pa., and was only a boy when his father moved to Jefferson county, where he engaged in farming throughout his active years, dying March 3, 1884. in the Beechwoods, when seventy years old. He married Ellen Smith, a native of Ireland, who came to the United States when a small girl, with her parents, and died in the Beechwoods in the year 1862. Their family consisted of nine children, viz .: William, who is residing in the Beechwoods : Ellen, Mrs. G. W. Wilson, who died March 1, 1898; James S .. of Iowa City, Iowa; Margrett and Mary, who are in the Beechwoods; Jennie O., Mrs. F. P. Best, who died in February, 1898; Frances S., Mrs. R. F. Millen, of Falls Creek; Martha, twin of Frances. deceased in infancy ; and Dex- ter B.

Dexter B. McConnell was born Feb. 21, 1860, in the Beechwoods, and in his youth had the ordinary advantages acces- sible to farmers' sons in that neighborhood in the way of literary training. He attended the common schools up to the age of sixteen. but the terms were short, being limited to three months of the winter season, and as he was the only boy at home he was needed to help his parents. Eliza Sterrett was one of his early teachers. When a mere child he became familiar with the lighter farm duties, and when a boy of thirteen he ploughed with oxen, the improved methods now in use among farmers having been unknown in his youth. He assisted his father until the latter's death, after which he continued to operate the home place on his own account, remaining in Wash- ington township until his removal to Falls Creek in 1899, and engaging more or less in lumbering in connection with his agricultural work. His farm property was always kept up with great regard for appearance as well as profitable cultivation, characteristic of the systematic manner in which all his interests are handled. When he came to Falls Creek, in 1899. Mr. McConnell entered into a part- nership with R. F. Millen, and they were associated as general merchants under the firm name of Millen & McConnell until 1913;

since when Mr. McConnell has been sole owner of the business. He now has the principal establishment of the kind in the borough, where he has also become prominent in pub- lic matters, his election to the office of burgess, in 1913, indicating the high estimation which his townsmen place upon his ability and trust- worthiness. He has not disappointed them in his ideas on the responsibilities attaching to the office, giving its duties conscientious atten- tion and sparing neither time nor trouble in their performance. On political questions he has always been a Democrat.

On Feb. 14, 1888, Mr. McConnell married Martha Jane Mccullough, who was born July 2, 1862, daughter of Archibald and Margaret (Armstrong) Mccullough, mention of whom may be found elsewhere in this work. Her death occurred June 7, 1890, and she is sur- vived by one child, Archie B., M. D., now prac- ticing his profession at Dagus Mines, Pa. On March 6, 1895, Mr. McConnell married ( sec- ond) Mrs. Annie (Richards) Swisher, of Warsaw township. There are no children by this union. Mr. and Mrs. McConnell are active members of the Presbyterian Church, in which he has held the office of elder con- tinuously since 1905. He was formerly super- intendent of the Sunday school. Socially lie is affiliated with the I. O. O. F.

JOHN C. SAYERS, M. D. Within the pages of this work will be found individual mention of a goodly percentage of those who hold representative position in professional life in Jefferson county, and such considera- tion is justly given to Dr. John Curtis Sayers, whose standing as a citizen and as a skilled and successful physician and surgeon marks him as one of the influential members of the medical profession in this part of the Key- stone State. He maintains his residence and professional headquarters in the progressive borough of Reynoldsville, and controls a sub- stantial general practice.

Dr. Sayers was born in Redbank township, Clarion Co., Pa., June 8, 1872, and is a son of John E. and Mary E. (Pierce) Sayers, both of whom continued their residence in Clarion county until they died, the father having there been actively concerned with lumbering ac- tivities in the early days and having also de- veloped one of the excellent farms of Red- bank township. Both parents passed the closing years of their lives on this old home- stead. Dr. Sayers is indebted to the public schools of his native township for his pre- liminary educational discipline, and as a boy

J.C. Dagens

TUR NETH YORK L .... Y

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he gained practical experience in connection with the operations of the home farm. He pursued a higher course of study in the Penn- sylvania State Normal School at Clarion and the West Millville Academy. from which last named institution he was graduated in 1895. In preparation for the work of his chosen pro- fession he entered the medical department of Western University, now known as the Uni- versity of Pittsburgh, and on the 25th of March, 1897, he received from this well or- dered institution his well earned degree of doctor of medicine.

Shortly after his graduation in the medical school Dr. Sayers established his residence at Reynoldsville, and there he has since continued in the general practice of his profession, at no time permitting himself to lose touch with the advances made in medical and surgical science and bringing to bear his technical knowledge and skill as well as an abiding human sym- pathy in the work of his exacting profession, which he has honored alike by his character and services. He is one of the influential members of the Jefferson County Medical Society, which he served as president in 1914, and is identified also with the Pennsylvania State Medical Society and the American Med- ical Association. In a fraternal way he is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias. and both he and his wife are earnest members of the Presbyterian Church. He was one of the organizers of the People's National Bank of Reynoldsville and was a member of its direc- torate until his recent election to the presi- dency. He subordinates all else to the de- mands of his profession, and thus has had no time or desire for political activity or for the honors of ordinary public office, though he gives a stanch allegiance to the Republican party and is well fortified in his convictions concerning economic and governmental poli- cies. However, he has served creditably as coroner of Jefferson county from 1908 to 1016.

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Jefferson County, Pennsylvania : her pioneers and people, 1800-1915, Volume II, Part 54

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