Jefferson County, Pennsylvania : her pioneers and people, 1800-1915, Volume II, Part 64

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 64

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out of a total of three thousand votes cast receiving all but one hundred and twenty. Mr. Forster has already gained secure vantage ground in his profession, recognition of his ability being significantly shown when he was appointed to the office of special assistant to the city solicitor in January, 1916. He is a popular figure in professional, business and social circles, and is identified with various civic and fraternal organizations, including the Racquet Club. He is still a bachelor.

In the maternal line Mr. Forster is a great- grandson of Dr. John W. Jenks who gradu- ated at the medical school of the University of Pennsylvania in the year 1816, one hundred years ago last June, and is the only one of the Doctor's descendants who cared to follow his example in this respect, having graduated in the law school of the same institution in 1904. Dr. John W. Jenks was the father of George A. Jenks, at one time U. S. solicitor general, and of Mrs. Mary (Jenks) Gordon, mother of Mrs. Helen Gordon Forster, and grandmother of I. G. Gordon Forster.

JOHN TELFORD STEWART, of Brook- ville, has been a member of the firm of Stew- art & Porter since its establishment in 1904, and is one of the most popular merchants in the borough, where he has been engaged throughout his business career. As dealers in dry goods and men's wear, clothing and fur- nishings, they are catering to a large custom among the residents of the town and surround- ing country, and offer a good assortment of attractive merchandise to their patrons, who have learned to place confidence in the quali- ties and values to be found in their store. Mr. Stewart was born in Rose township, Jefferson county, where his grandfather, Paul Stewart, first settled upon his arrival from Ireland, his native country. Later he removed to Eldred township, this county, where he died, and he is buried in the Mount Tabor cemetery. Agri- culture was his principal occupation. but he also followed lumbering. in which line there was plenty of work during the early days.

John Stewart, son of Paul Stewart, was born in Rose township, Jefferson county, and like his father carried on farming and lum- bering in Rose and Eldred townships, Jeffer- son county. He met an accidental death in March, 1873, and is buried in the Brookville cemetery. Mr. Stewart was twice married, his second wife, Mary (Cochran). being the mother of John T. Stewart. She was a daugh- ter of James and Elizabeth (Katz) Cochran, and survived her husband many years, passing

away Nov. 13, 1896. Two children were born of this marriage, Maude and John T. The daughter is now a resident of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

John T. Stewart was born July 21, 1873, and received his education in the public schools of Brookville, being given an excellent training in the common branches. He began work as a clerk in a grocery store, and before long engaged in the same business on his own ac- count, acquiring an interest in a store in the year 1889. Mr. Stewart remained in that line for a number of years, giving it up to enter his present enterprise, in 1904, in partnership with his brother-in-law, S. B. Porter. Stew- art & Porter have an up-to-date store, with convenient facilities for displaying and stor- ing goods, and they always carry a full stock, attractively displayed and systematically cared for. Both the partners are men of progressive spirit, willing to undertake anything that will improve their own establishment or the com- mercial advantages of the borough. Person- ally, they are classed with the best element of its residents. Mr. Stewart is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and politically he associates with the Republican party.

Mr. Stewart was married to Florence Emma Porter, daughter of William Porter, and they have two children, Mary Helen and Ruth Porter.

WILLIAM G. LOUGHREY was an alert, vital and ambitious young man when he came from Ireland to the United States, and within a very short time after his arrival in America he gave splendid manifestation of his loyalty to the land of his adoption by going forth as a soldier of the Union in the Civil war. He was one of the world's earnest and honest workers, content to apply his energies along normal lines of enterprise and satisfied in being able to provide well for his growing family and to achieve independence and prosperity without ostentation and with no desire for public plaudits. He lived a goodly and right- eous life, was for more than thirty years a popular and well known citizen of the Beech- woods district of Washington township, this county, and when he passed away, on the 26th of May, 1900, that township signified a gen- eral sense of loss and sorrow and the com- munity paid fitting tribute of respect at the funeral services, when the remains of this sterling citizen were laid to rest in the Beech- woods cemetery. Mr. Loughrey was a zeal- ous and consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Beechtree, and served a

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long time as steward as well as trustee of this church, of which his widow continues a de- voted adherent. Ile was one of the influential citizens of Washington township and was serv- ing as postmaster at Beechtree at the time of his death.

Mr. Loughrey was born and reared in County Donegal, Ireland, the year of his nativ- ity having been 1840. He was a son of James and Susannah ( Morrison ) Loughrey, whose remote ancestors were for generations resi- dents of Scotland, the families having finally found refuge in Ireland when religious intol- erance compelled them to leave Scotland, where they held to the Protestant faith. The parents of Mr. Loughrey passed their entire lives in Ireland, where the father died at the venerable age of eighty years and where the mother passed to eternal rest Sept. 24, 1905. at an even more advanced age. She was a rep- resentative of the well known Morrison family that has given many sterling citizens to the United States. Of the brothers and sisters of William G. Loughrey only brief data are available, but all of the number remained in Ireland except himself and his eldest sister, Letitia, who became the wife of John Morri- son, their home having been established in Pennsylvania. Of the brothers the eldest was Thomas, who died in Ireland; William G. was the second son ; Robert is still a resident of the Emerald Isle; the three sisters who remained in Ireland were Susan, Eliza and Mary.

Shortly prior to the outbreak of the Civil war William G. Loughrey, who was then about twenty-one years of age, came from Ire- land. landed at the port of New York City. and thence proceeded to the home of his sis- ter Letitia, Mrs. John Morrison, who was at the time a resident of Illinois. Mr. Loughrey was cordially welcomed by his sister and her husband, and while he was at their home the Civil war was precipitated on the nation. Though he had not yet become a naturalized citizen. he was one of those who responded to President Lincoln's first call for volunteers, for it was early in 1861 that he enlisted. becom- ing a private in the 18th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, with which he proceeded to the front and with which he participated in many hard- fought and sanguinary battles, the history of the gallant regiment constituting virtually the record of his military career. He served until the close of the war and was honorably dis- charged with the rank of corporal.

After the close of the war Mr. Loughrey came to Pennsylvania, and on the 16th of May. 1866, was solemnized his marriage to Lucy

Belle Simpson, who was born in Brush Valley, Indiana county, this State, on the 2d of Janu- ary, 1847, and who was eighteen years old when she joined her parents in their new home in the Beechwoods of Jefferson county, where her marriage was solemnized about one year later. For a time after his marriage Mr. Loughrey had charge of the operation of a sawmill owned by a man named Guld Scott, and after severing this association he was sim- ilarly engaged for twelve years at Bell's Mills, this county. . He was thereafter employed at the Penfield Mill, and it was about the year 1885 that he established his permanent home at Beechtree. He was even at that time a man of remarkable strength and agility, and he gained no little local reputation by climb- ing a prodigious beech tree that had challenged and defeated similar effort on the part of other athletic citizens.

Mr. Loughrey was a man of simple, direct and upright nature, always to be depended upon, and ever showing a deep sense of per- sonal stewardship, while his genial and kindly nature gained and retained a host of warm friends. His political allegiance was given to the Democratic party, and he was long and. influentially affiliated wtih a local post of the Grand Army of the Republic, through the medium of which he manifested his continued interest in his old comrades and also perpetu- ated the more gracious memories and associa- tions of his military career in the Civil war. lle was a member of Loyal Lodge, No. 1020, I. O. O. F., of Beechtree, and served as dis- triet deputy of the order for three terms. Since his death his widow has continued to maintain her home at Beechtree, and she is sustained and comforted in the devotion of her children and the gracious association of many old friends. Of the three children the eldest is Clara Bell, who is the wife of Wallace O'Hara, of DuBois, Clearfield county ; Jen- nie W. is the wife of Roy Patton, of DuBois; Edith Pearl is the wife of Robert N. Moore. of the same city.

Mrs. Loughrey is a daughter of Elijah and Jane (Stewart ) Simpson, who were married in Indiana county. The father was a resident of DuBois, Clearfield county, at the time of his death, in September. 1890. when seventy- four years of age; the mother died in the Beechwoods district of Jefferson county, when sixty-four years old, and the remains of both are laid to rest in the beautiful Beech- woods cemetery. Of their twelve children Mrs. Loughrey is the youngest of the three now living ; James is a resident of Clarington.

THE NEW YORK PULLAC LILMARY

Pantal

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Forest county ; Elizabeth and her husband, whose name is Williamson, reside in the city of Spokane, Wash. Elijah Simpson learned in his youth the trade of cabinetmaker, and later he became a skilled contractor and builder, many houses and barns having been erected by him in Indiana and Jefferson coun- ties and a large number of these structures still remaining to attest his ability and con- scientious workmanship. His sister Sarah was the mother of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, whose second personal name was that of the mother's family, Simpson.

J. ERVIN PANTALL, of Punxsutawney. cashier of the County National Bank, has been allied with financial and industrial operations in that borough and the adjacent sections of Jefferson and Indiana counties ever since he reached his majority, excepting for the period he was at Rochester, Pa., 1904 to 1910. With a liberal endowment of the business talent long recognized as characteristic of the members of his family. he has tried to carry worthily the responsibilities contingent upon the posses- sion of ability and position. His father filled a large place in the life of the same community for many years, and the continuance of his re- lations to it has been assumed by his posterity in a conscientious spirit, with a full realiza- tion that it requires the same careful exercise of the best faculties that he gave.

The Pantalls have been in Jefferson county for three quarters of a century. J. Ervin Pan- tall being of the third generation of the family here. His grandparents, James and Elizabeth ( Reece ) Pantall. came to America from Here- fordshire, England. in 1825, their family then consisting of two children. Locating at Phil- ipsburg. Center Co., Pa .. James Pantall worked for Hardman Philips, who established one of the first screw factories in the United States. But he was a miller by trade, and on coming to Jefferson county followed that calling at Port Barnett until 1839, the year of his removal to the vicinity of Punxsutawney. Here he also engaged in the milling business for five years, having charge of the mills of Dr. John Jenks, after which he purchased and moved to the farm later owned by his son John R. Pantall the old homestead in Oliver township still owned by the latter's estate. The rest of his life was passed there in agricultural pursuits, in which he prospered, and he died in 1882. when over eighty years old. having been born in 1799. His wife, a native of Herefordshire, died in April, 1867. They were the parents of the following children : James, now deceased ;

Elijah, living in Tennessee ; William, deceased ; John R., deceased ; Philip R .; Theophilus ; Mary Jane, deceased, who was the wife of Samuel Jordan ; Ralston, deceased; and Thomas M .. of Punxsutawney. The last named married Mary Ann Rogers, daughter of Isaac Rogers, and had five children, Nora A., James J., Clyde T., Nannie I. and Frank B.

John R. Pantall was born Aug. 10, 1838, at Port Barnett, Jefferson county, and was reared at Punxsutawney and in Oliver township. He had such education as the common schools conducted during his boyhood afforded. none too liberal, though well supplemented in his case by the experience and observation of an intelligent mind. Until seventeen years old he remained on the home farm, assisting with the farm work and acquiring the familiarity with the practical duties of life which was the foun- dation for much of his subsequent success. When he left home he began lumbering, and that was his principal business for thirty years. his active interest in that line being retained until 1894. Meantime, however, he had also formed other business associations, which eventually came to occupy most of his time and attention. He acquired the ownership of the old homestead in Oliver township, which he farmed as long as he lived, engaged in stock dealing, invested in coal properties, and had valuable property holdings and banking in- terests at Punxsutawney, where he made his home from 1891 until his death. Previously he had resided at Oliveburg, being on his father's old homestead until his removal to Punxsutawney. Mr. Pantall was one of the organizers of the First National Bank of Punx- sutawney, and served many years as a director of that institution, later taken over by the Punxsutawney National Bank. When the County National Bank was organized he be- came its first vice president.

Mr. Pantall, though an ardent Democrat. was a Union sympathizer during the Civil war. and in 1864 enlisted in Company B. 74th Penn- sylvania Volunteer Infantry, with which com- mand he served to the close of the conflict. He joined the Grand Army of the Republic, and was also an Odd Fellow. Mr. Pantall was

honored by his party with the nomination for sheriff, and though the county was then largely Republican came within forty-two votes of being elected, a tribute to his public spirit and reputation for fairness which he well deserved. He was particularly zealous in the matter of securing the best possible educational facilities for the community, and gave all his own chil-

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dren excellent advantages, the kind he would have appreciated himself.

In 1860 Mr. Pantall married Margaret F. Mahaffey, daughter of James Mahaffey, of Center county, Pa., and she died in October, 1861, leaving one child. Robert Lindsey, who lived to young manhood, passing away Nov. 27, 1883. In 1865 Mr. Pantall married ( sec- ond ) Airs. Martha Jane ( Benton ) Douglass, widow of James Douglass and daughter of David and Esther (Terry ) Benton, of Clarks- burg, W. Va., the former a veteran of the war of 1812; he was a cousin of Hon. Thomas Benton, the Missouri statesman. William H. Douglass, brother of James, was appointed by President Lincoln one of the commissioners to separate West Virginia from the "Old Do- minion." By her first marriage Mrs. Pantall had one child. Kate, who married Dr. J. Miles Grube, of Punxsutawney, and died in 1914. To her second union were born six children, viz .: J. Ervin; Bertha, who married Dr. John E. Grube, of Punxsutawney, and is deceased ; Della M., who died in 1882: Fannie F., who was educated at Waynesburg ( Pa.) College and now lives in the old homestead of her par- ents at Punxsutawney, unmarried ; Lulu May, a graduate of the Punxsutawney high school and of Waynesburg College, now the wife of Ilaller H. Dawson, manager of the Hazel Atlas Glass factory, residing at Clarksburg, W. Va. ; and Walter Benton, a graduate of the Punx- sutawney high school and University of Penn- sylvania, now sales manager for the Toledo Scale Company, of Toledo, Ohio.

Mr. Pantall died at Punxsutawney Dec. 23. 1913. the year following his wife's death, which occurred .Aug. 8, 1912. They are buried in the Circle Hill cemetery. Their religious connection was with the Cumberland Presby- terian Church, in which he was an elder. He had a distinct remembrance of the first Sabbath school which he attended, held in a primitive little building with puncheon floor and log seats supported on pegs.

John Ervin Pantall was born at Oliveburg AApril 26, 1866, and was brought up there, dur- ing his boyhood and youth attending public and private schools in the home neighborhood. When eighteen years old he taught two terms of school in Bell township, and was a student of the State normal school at Edinboro, Pa., eighteen months during 1885-86. On July 7. 1887, he became a clerk in the old First Na- tional Bank at Punxsutawney, and two years later was elected assistant cashier, in which capacity he was connected with that institution until 1901. In the meanwhile he had become

interested, with his father and J. Clark Speedy, in coal lands in Indiana county, making the first sale of coal lands to the Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh Company negotiated in Indiana county. From 1901 to 1904 he gave his time principally to the handling of coal properties in Jefferson county, in the latter year going to Rochester, Pa., where he was connected with 11. C. Frey for several years, being treasurer of the Beaver Valley Glass Company. Selling his interest there in the spring of 1910, he re- turned to Punxsutawney, and organized the County National Bank, which was opened for business Oct. 11. 1910. W. J. Brown is presi- dent, and John R. Pantall was vice president until his death, his successor being H. Meade McGee. J. E. Pantall has been cashier from the beginning. This is his principal business association.

Mr. Pantall holds membership in the Coun- try Club, the B. P. O. Elks and the Masonic fraternity, in the latter connection affiliating with John W. Jenks Lodge. No. 534, F. & A. M .. of Punxsutawney : Williamsport Consist- ory, thirty-second degree; and the Shrine at Altoona, Jaffa Temple. He belongs to the Presbyterian Church.

J. Ervin Pantall's first wife, Agnes (Mc- Guire ), daughter of Thomas McGuire, of Al- bion. Erie Co., l'a., died in June, 1903. the mother of three children: Ruth, a student at Wilson College. Chambersburg, Pa., member of the class of 1917; Martha, attending the same college ( they are graduates of the Punx- sutawney high school) : and John. By his sec- ond marriage, to Anna P. Rosenberger, young- est daughter of Isaac Rosenberger, of Punx- sutawney. Mr. Pantall has also three children, Sarah Louise, Robert Ervin and Richard Carle.

JOHN F. REED, of Falls Creek, at pres- ent has his principal interests there in the hotel business, but during the forty odd years of his residence at that place he has had many other important associations with local affairs, of private enterprise or public nature. His father settled there in 1874, and the name has ever since been prominently associated with its material expansion and the administration of its government. father and son having in turn maintained responsible relations to the com- munity.

The Reeds are of old Pennsylvania stock and Scotch-Irish extraction, John F. Reed's great-grandfather having come to this country from the North of Ireland and landed at Bal- timore, whence he proceeded to Westmoreland

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county, Pa., making a permanent settlement there. His children were: William, Robert, James and Hugh. Of these, James Reed, the grandfather of John F. Reed, was born in Westmoreland county, and his wife, Mary Martin, was a native of the North of Ireland. They removed to what is now Clarion county after their marriage, locating on a farm near Strattonville and Clarion, where he died about 1830, at the age of fifty years. Their children were as follows: Joseph married Elizabeth Pierce; Ellen married John Pierce, brother of Elizabeth ; Martin married a Miss Anderson ; Jane married James Dixon; Mary married David Vandervort; William married Elizabeth Baum; James married Caroline Baum (sister of Elizabeth) ; John L. married Sarah Ann Snyder; one died in infancy.

John L. Reed was born June 24, 1828, near Strattonville, Clarion county, and was reared in Jefferson county, when a young man set- tling in Warsaw township, where he made his home for many years. He married Nov. 27. 1849, Sarah Ann Snyder, who was then a girl of eighteen, having been born Aug. 28, 1831, in Northumberland county, Pa., and having come to Jefferson county when young, growing up in Warsaw township. The young couple located in the midst of the forest in Warsaw township, where Mr. Reed proceeded to im- prove the land upon which they resided for a number of years. About 1869 he removed to Keystone, Elk county, where he was in busi- ness as a lumberman; in 1872 he located at DuBois, and in 1874 at Falls Creek, where he made a permanent home. During the first few years of his residence there he carried on the lumber business, in 1881 opening the first store at that place, which he conducted until the year 1894. Meantime he was appointed the first postmaster in the town, holding the office until succeeded by his son. He spent his lat- ter years in retirement, dying Oct. 23, 1914, at Brockwayville, to which borough he had re- moved about four years before his death. IIis wife passed away in 1911. They were the parents of nine children, viz. : Daniel Webster resided in Colorado, where he died in 1916: Samuel Curtis is now a resident of Hawthorn, Clarion county : Caroline married George Vas- binder and (second) James Bechtel, of Du- Bois ; Gillis Louis and Rush Benjamin live at DuBois ; Mary E. married Walter Rogers, of Falls Creek, and (second) Lawrence Rearick, of Brockwayville: Annie E. is the wife of Donald McDonald, of Butler, Pa .; two died young.

John F. Reed was born Oct. 7. 1855, at

Hazen, in Warsaw township, and lived there until fourteen years old, when he accompanied his parents to Keystone, Elk county. His schooling was begun at Hazen, under John Trimple, a good disciplinarian, who taught the common branches in the old-fashioned style. and he was also allowed to attend after the family settled at Keystone and DuBois, where his student life ended. It was his ambition to enter professional work, but conditions were unfavorable, and he went to work determined to make the best of whatever opportunities offered. In his boyhood he helped with the ordinary work on the home farm at Hazen, and he remained with his parents until he reached his majority, meantime, when his fa- ther did not have employment for him, work- ing in a sawmill making shingles. The family arrived at DuBois May 20, 1872, and at Falls Creek in 1874, and he found plenty to do in the lumber woods and at the mines. In 1884 he succeeded his father as postmaster at Falls Creek (having been connected with the office as assistant from the time of its establish- ment), and held the office for sixteen years. conducting it in his store, which he established in July, 1884. In 1894 he erected a substantial two-story brick and stone building for the accommodation of the store and post office, carrying a comprehensive and well selected stock of general merchandise which attracted a full share of the local trade. Mr. Reed closed out this business in 1898 because of ill- ness. In other ways also he participated in the life of the town, particularly as a member of the school board, in which office he served nine years, being secretary of the board for six years of that time and president two years. His interest in securing the best possible edu. cational facilities for his community is an indi- cation of the high ideals he has held to in all matters of citizenship, and the local public schools owe him a debt of gratitude for his effective labors in their behalf. In 1911, being desirous of resuming active business, Mr. Reed bought the "Evergreen Hotel" in Sandy township, Clearfield Co., Pa., which he has been conducting since in the most commenda- ble manner. As a landlord he has been exem- plary, from both the business standpoint and the courtesies extended to his guests, who have shown their appreciation by continued patronage. He is well known in the local fra- ternal bodies. belonging to Garfield Lodge, No. 559, F. & A. M., of DuBois; and to Falls Creek Lodge, No. 957. I. O. O. F., in which he has passed all the chairs, and which he has represented in the Grand Lodge. He was

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Jefferson County, Pennsylvania : her pioneers and people, 1800-1915, Volume II, Part 64

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