USA > Pennsylvania > Allegheny County > Memoirs of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, personal and genealogical with portraits, Volume II > Part 35
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48
LLOYD F. THOMPSON, for twelve years station agent for the Allegheny Valley railroad at Verona, was born in Armstrong county, Pa., June 15, 1868. His father, Jacob N. Thompson, son of Robert and Mary (Nolf) Thompson, was for the greater part of his life a merchant at Mahoning, Armstrong county, a republican in politics, school director, and a member of the I. O. O. F. He was a veteran of the Civil war. He was a native of Clarion county, but spent most of his life in Armstrong county, and died there.
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His wife, Mary (Myers) Thompson, mother of the subject of this sketch, was the daughter of Samuel and Mary (Rhodes) Myers, pioneers of Armstrong county, where they spent their last days. Mrs. Thompson died in 1897. Jacob N. and Mary (Myers) Thompson had six children, of whom only two survive. Lloyd F. Thompson, subject of this sketch, was reared and educated at Mahoning. and engaged in business there for a short time with his father. In 1888 he began his career as a railroad man as telegraph operator at Verona for the Allegheny Valley railroad, and was after a few years made station agent, in which capacity he has pleased his employers and made himself justly popular with the traveling public. He is a republican in politics, and has served his borough several terms as school director and clerk of the council. He is a member of the Royal Arcanum. Mr. Thompson was married, in 1890, to Miss Gertrude B. Wiggins, of Mahoning, and has had five children, viz. : May (deceased), Edgar B., Lloyd Earl, Howard D. and Gertrude. Mr. and Mrs. Thompson are members of the Second United Presbyterian church of Verona.
DANIEL BOWMAN, a prominent farmer of Scott township, Allegheny Co., Pa., was born in that county, March 15, 1848. He is a son of Max and Catharine Bowman, both of whom were natives of Germany. They came to America about the year 1846, in an old-fashioned sailing vessel, and settled at Pittsburg, Pa., where they passed the remainder of their lives. Catharine Bowman died about five years after coming to this country, but her husband lived until 1897, when he too passed away. Max Bowman was a stone-mason by trade, and for many years plied his trade in Pitts- burg and the adjacent towns. The death of Catharine Bowman left Daniel an orphan at a tender age, and he grew to manhood without knowing the blessings of a mother's care, living with different families, wherever he could find a home. The last family with whom he lived during his boyhood was that of Simon Coutch, where he lived ten years. From the time he was able to earn any- thing, Daniel worked by the month at whatever he could find to do, his first wages being three dollars a month. Under these circum- stances his opportunity to secure an education was very limited
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indeed. Yet he managed to obtain a fair knowledge of the com- mon branches, to which he has added, by self-study and culture, until he is a well-informed man. In February, 1864, at the age of sixteen, he enlisted as a recruit in the 87th Pennsylvania volunteer infantry, and served as a private until July 15, 1865, when he was honorably discharged from the service with the mustering out of his regiment. After the war he continued to work by the month until his marriage to Miss Christina Frick, which occurred on April 2, 1872. She was a daughter of Peter and Christina Frick, and was born in Allegheny county about the year 1847. Like her hus- band, she had lived a somewhat strenuous life during her girlhood, and is a fitting helpmate for her frugal and industrious husband. For three years after his marriage, Mr. Bowman followed the occupation of a farmer. Since then he has been continuously in the positions of supervisor and tax collector of Scott township. Politically, he is a republican, and has always stood ready to work for the success of his party. He has twice been elected justice of the peace, each time for a term of five years, and is now serving his second term. Before his first election to this office he served two years by appointment. Mr. Bowman is generally recognized as one of the substantial citizens of the township. He is a member of Thomas Espy post, No. 153, Grand Army of the Republic, and enjoys nothing more than a social meeting with his old comrades, with whom he bore arms in defense of his country, when he was scarcely out of his boyhood. Mr. and Mrs. Bowman have one son, Charles, who was born in February, 1874, and who still lives at home with his parents.
CALEB LEE, Jr., was born in Pittsburg, Pa., Nov. 18, 1837, a son of Caleb and Margaret (Skelton) Lee, the father a native of Dutchess county, N. Y., and the mother a native of Pittsburg, and daughter of Dr. John P. Skelton, a Pittsburg pioneer, who resided there many years, and spent his last days near Hulton, Pa. Caleb Lee, Sr., was a tailor by trade, at one time the leading tailor of Pittsburg, and for many years alderman of that city. He and his wife have had fifteen children, of whom four are living. Caleb, Sr., was born in 1800 and died in 1878, while his wife, who was born in 1805, died in 1883. Caleb Lee, Jr., the subject of this sketch, was educated in Pittsburg, and learned the tailors' trade, working at it with his father for eight years. In 1858 he moved on a farm near Hulton, resided there until 1879, and has since made his home in Hulton and Oakmont. He and his wife now live in
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Oakmont, where, away from the cares of life, they spend their time in secluded ease. On Aug. 26, 1852, Mr. Lee was married to Miss Mary Knox, of Allegheny county, Pa., daughter of Robert and Isabella (Legett) Knox, has two children, a number of grandchil- dren, and one great-grandchild. Robert K., the oldest, born in 1853, is a farmer. He married Elizabeth McKelvy, of Plum town- ship, and has two children. Of these, Robert, now a resident of Kensington, Pa., married Ellen Farren, and has one child, Ellen; and Caleb, born in 1879, is a clerk in Pittsburg. He was for three years with the National tube company, and is now in the employ of the Allegheny Valley railroad company. Mr. Lee's other child, Jennie, born in 1858, is the wife of Harry Paul, and has four chil- dren : Alice, Mary, Susan and Harry J. Mr. and Mrs. Lee cele- brated the fiftieth anniversary of their wedding, Aug. 26, 1902. Mr. Lee is a republican in politics, though never politically ambi- tious. His wife is a member of the Presbyterian church.
CORNELIUS O'SHEA, of Port Perry, Pa., a successful and prosperous hotel- keeper, was born at Cork, Ireland, July 22, 1845, son of Cornelius and Mary (Hyde) O'Shea, his father having been a conductor on the Great Southern & Western railroad from Cork to Dublin, and died in 1872. The elder O'Shea was the father of seven children, the subject of this sketch being third in order of birth. Cornelius O'Shea came to America when seventeen years of age, landing in New York city, May 10, 1862, and sub- sequently secured employment at the Baldwin locomotive works, of Philadelphia, but remained there only a few weeks. He then enlisted in the marine corps for a term of two years, and at the expiration of his service was discharged and went to Johnstown, Cambria Co., Pa., and secured a position with the mills of that place, where he learned the melting trade. He was married, on May 13, 1875, to Annie, daughter of Squire and Mary Fitzpatrick, of Johnstown, Pa., and they have had seven children, viz. : Mary, wife of Harry Rose, of Allegheny city; Annie, wife of M. P. Leyden, of Glenwood; Margaret, Elizabeth, Nellie, and two others (deceased). On July 10, 1875, he accompanied Captain Jones to Braddock and remained in his employ until July 22, 1884, when he
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went with the firm of Jones & Laughlin, of Pittsburg, and con- tinued with that concern for seven years. He also served on the Pittsburg police force for a term of two years, and in r896 began the hotel business at Port Perry, where he has since prospered in that line. He is prominently identified with the public affairs of that section of the county and is a township commissioner of North Versailles township, having been one of the first five commission- ers of that township. An interesting part of Mr. O'Shea's history, and one of which he is justly proud, is that he melted the first pound of iron ever melted in the great Edgar Thompson steel works, Braddock.
JOSEPH HEIDENKAMP, of the Heidenkamp mirror com- pany, of Springdale, is a self-made man, who has by sheer pluck and ability risen from a humble position to the head of a large and prosperous manufacturing concern. He was born in Germany, Dec. 13, 1863, and educated in the schools of his native country. When twenty years old, he came to Creighton, Allegheny county, with less than five dollars in his pocket, and for ten years worked for the Pittsburg plate glass company. He then began in a small way as a manufacturer of French mirror glass, employing only one man and a boy, his plant being located in Tarentum and known as the Tarentum mirror and glass works. This continued until 1900, and grew to a large concern, employing about forty men, and hav- ing a capacity of $20,000 worth of mirror and art glass a month. In May, 1900, Mr. Heidenkamp came to Springdale, purchased forty-five acres of land and built a large plant, the concern having a capital of $300,000. Mr. Heidenkamp owns two-thirds of the capital stock. The plant had at first a capacity of 60,000 square feet of polished plate glass and mirrors per month, but on account of the high quality of the goods produced, and the consequent increased demand for them, it was found necessary to more than double the capacity of the factory, so that now the company turns out yearly 2,000,000 square feet of plate glass and mirrors. The plant is equipped with four furnaces, twenty-four pots to each furnace, and now employs over 300 men. The company owns forty-two houses, which are rented to the employes. Mr. Heidenkamp is a republican in politics and a Catholic in religion. He organized the Catholic church at Springdale, and built for the congregation a building in which to hold services until a regular church building had been erected. Mr. Heidenkamp was married, in 1884, to Miss Louise Baldus, of Allegheny county, a native of
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Germany, and has a family of six children, viz. : Annie L., 'now employed in her father's office, educated at St. Aloysius' college ; Theresa, educated at the same place; Mary, Elizabeth, Joseph and Louise.
SAMUEL JONAS HORNER, a con- tracting plasterer and member of the Wilkinsburg council from the first ward, was born in Armagh, Indiana Co., Pa., Sept. 29, 1870. His ancestors were among the early settlers of western Pennsylvania. His great-grandfather was born in Adams county about the middle of the eighteenth century, the exact date not being known. In 1780 he crossed the mountains in company with his brother and attempted to settle where Johnstown now stands, but they were driven away by the Indians. They settled near Somerset, where the great-grandfather married Hannah Besecker, a native of Ger- many, who came to America in her infancy. They settled near Johnstown, where they raised a family of six girls and two boys, the next to the youngest, Jonas A. Horner, being the grandfather of the subject of this sketch. In 1835 he was married to Miss Mary Penrod, of Berlin, Pa. Her father was drowned in the Cone- maugh river, at the Packsaddle, when she was a babe. Franklin Horner, the father of our subject, was born Sept. 20, 1836. On July 24, 1861, he enlisted in Company H, 12th regiment, Pennsyl- vania volunteer cavalry, for a term of three years. During the war he participated in the following engagements: Dranesville, Va. ; Mechanicsville, Va .; Gaines' Mill, Va. ; Gainesville, Va. ; the second Bull Run; South mountain, Md .; Antietam, Md .; Fred- ericksburg, Va .; Gettysburg, Pa .; Mine Run, Va. ; Bristol Station, Va. ; the Wilderness, Va .; Spottsylvania Court House, Va., and Bethesda church, Va. He was promoted to the rank of first sergeant in August, 1861, and at Gaines' Mill, in June, 1862, he was captured and held prisoner until the following August, when he was exchanged. While a prisoner he was commissioned second lieutenant, and was mustered out with that rank on June 11, 1864, at Harrisburg, Pa. Franklin Horner and Sallie Alice Killin were married at Armagh, Pa., July 1, 1869. They had a family of three boys and one girl. Samuel J. Horner was educated in the public
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schools of the city of Pittsburg, to which place his parents removed, and in 1889 he started in to learn the plasterers' trade. In 1894 he went into business for himself as a contractor of plastering. Since Nov. 14, 1887, he has been a member of the Junior Order of United American Mechanics, and on May 1, 1891, he became a member of the Patriotic Order of the Sons of America. He is also a charter member of Charles Freeman lodge, No. 1036, Independ- ent Order of Odd Fellows, and of Valetta commandery, No. 129, Ancient and Illustrious Order of the Knights of Malta. In politics he is a republican, and as such was elected to the council in the borough of Wilkinsburg in February, 1903. He is unmarried and resides with his parents in the first ward.
BARKLEY J. KLINGENSMITH, a prominent railroad man of Verona, was born in Armstrong county, Pa., May 4, 1860. His. parents, Peter and Sarah (Schuster) Klingensmith, were natives of Westmoreland county, but moved to Armstrong county, where the father died, Nov. 6, 1893, and the mother, Feb. 22, 1889. The grandfather of the subject of this sketch was Peter Klingensmith, a pioneer settler of Westmoreland county. He and his wife both died in Armstrong county. They had six sons and four daughters, only one of whom survives. Peter Klingensmith, first referred to, was a farmer, and later a business man at White Rock, Pa. He was a prominent democrat, and served his township as school director and overseer of the poor for fourteen years. He and his wife were Lutherans. Of six sons and four daughters born to. them, three sons and three daughters are living. B. J. Klingensmith, whose name heads this article, having received a common-school education, began railroading, and has been in the employ of the Allegheny Valley railroad about twenty years, eight years as conductor. He is a well-known citizen of Verona, owning a home there, besides several other residences. He is a democrat in politics, although not politically ambitious. He is a member of the Royal Arcanum. Mr. Klingensmith was married, June 18, 1885, to Miss Annie M. Pickels, a native of Armstrong county, and a daughter of Jonathan and Nancy A. (Snyder) Pickels, early settlers of Armstrong county, both now deceased. Jonathan Pickels was a son of Jonathan Pickels, a native of England and a pioneer in Armstrong county. Mrs. Klingensmith's maternal grandparents were Joseph and Mary (King) Snyder, natives of Westmoreland county. Mr. Snyder died at Logansport, Pa., but his wife is still living, at the advanced age of eighty-seven. Mr.
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and Mrs. Klingensmith have had three children, of whom Barkley D. is dead, and the other two are Portia L. and J. Gordon. The family attend the Methodist church.
WILLIAM M. BRINKER, a prominent real estate dealer of Wilkinsburg, is a native of Clarion county, where he was born in 1843. His education was ac- quired mainly in the common schools and at Rimersburg academy. In 1877 he came to Allegheny county, and for about twenty years was engaged in the whole- sale grocery business on Liberty avenue, in the city of Pittsburg, and at Wilkins- burg. After retiring from the grocery business he became interested in real estate operations, and soon came to be recognized as one of the leading real estate men. He was the originator of apartment buildings in Allegheny county, and is the owner of the largest apartment building there. It was built about five years ago, is five stories high, has ten stores and fifty-five suites of apartments, and accommodates about 160 tenants. In his real estate business he acts as broker in the sale and rental of property, but in the work of building and selling he invests his own capital and acts solely for himself. In 1892 he built fifty- three houses. He now owns several valuable pieces of property, among them Bessica plan of lots, in East Wilkinsburg, and is the heaviest taxpayer in the Wilkinsburg borough. Mr. Brinker was married, in 1873, to Miss Mary Scott, of Clearfield county, and they have four children-one son and three daughters. Two of the daughters are married, the eldest being the wife of H. U. Hart, a civil engineer in the employ of the Westinghouse company, in Havre, France, and the second daughter, the wife of H. W. Kellar, a teller in the Keystone bank, of Pittsburg. During the Civil war Mr. Brinker served three years as a member of Company C, 78th Pennsylvania volunteer infantry. As an evidence of his public spirit, he was the originator of the Wilkinsburg electric light and water companies, and was the first president of the latter. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity and of the Presbyterian church. Politically, he is a democrat, but he never held a public office of any kind.
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WILLIAM McCLINTON (deceased) was in his lifetime one of the best-known and most highly-respected farmers of Moon township, Allegheny county. He was a son of Nathaniel and Mary ( Hare) McClinton, the father's family being natives of Ireland, coming from County Antrim in about the year 1817. The paternal grandparents were Nathaniel and Nancy (Sevis) McClinton, who settled on a farm where the Dixmont hospital now stands, residing there about seven years. In 1826 they removed to Moon township, and that farm has passed from one generation to another, being now in the possession of some of the descendants. William McClinton's father and mother were among the thirteen original organizers of the Sharon Presbyterian church, of which Dr. Jen- nings was the first pastor, and in which he preached for fifty years. The children born to Nathaniel and Mary McClinton were ten in number: John, Robert, Nathaniel, Mary, Nancy, Jane, William, Martha, Alexander and Samuel H. Of these children, John, Robert, Nancy and William are deceased; Nathaniel is living in Kansas, and the others live in Allegheny county. Mary is the wife of Joseph Parker; Nancy, wife of Bradberry Morgan; Jane, wife of Joseph Chapman; Martha, wife of William McElhaney; John married Mary Jane Miller; Robert married Louise Bowman; Nathaniel married, first, Matilda Pickring, and second, Mary Davis, who is still living; Alexander married Susan Campbell, and Samuel H. married Jane Bartley. Mary (Hare) McClinton died on Nov. 12, 1852, and her husband on July 6, 1876. William McClinton, the seventh child of the family and the subject of this sketch, was born in Moon township on June 19, 1834, upon the farm on which he passed his life and where he died on Nov. 10, 1902. In his boyhood days he received his education in the com- mon schools, after which he took up the life of a farmer. In this work, to which he devoted his best energies, he was excelled by few. He was interested in the political affairs of the country, but he was more interested in his stock and crops, and mixed but little in the turmoil of political strife. At the age of thirty-nine he was married to Mary Ellen, daughter of James and Mary (Stoncipher) McCormick, and to them were born three children: Albert Nathaniel, Mary Eva and Maud Janette. All are members of the
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Presbyterian church, and are held in high esteem by the people of the neighborhood in which their ancestors have been honored and respected for three-quarters of a century. The McCormicks were among the first settlers of Moon township. Benjamin and Anne (Brown) McCormick, Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, came to this country at an early day, settling first in Maryland, where Hugh McCormick, the grandfather of Mrs. McClinton, was born. The family soon removed to Moon township, where Hugh married Margaret Nichle, reared a family of four sons and one daughter, and died in 1852 at the age of eighty-six. The children were: Ben- jamin, John, Mary, wife of Joseph Scott, Hugh (all now deceased), and James, the father of Mrs. McClinton. James McCormick was born on Feb. 13, 1813, on the old homestead, a part of which is now his home. On March 24, 1842, he was married to Mary, daughter of John and Rachel (Schaffer) Stoncipher, and to this union ten children were born: Margaret, wife of Henry Knopf (deceased) ; Rachel A., wife of Nathaniel Mulholland; Mary E., wife of Wil- liam McClinton (deceased) ; Eliza J., wife of John Wilson; John, who married Anna Knopf; Joseph Scott, who married Anna Hallie Ramsey; Emma M. (deceased) ; Kate L. M., wife of Joseph A. McCurdy; James I. (deceased), and Elmer. James McCormick cast his first vote for president in 1836, and since that time has been a whig and a republican. His wife died on July 29, 1886, aged sixty-four years. During her life she was a member of the Presbyterian church, which she and her husband joined in early life, and he still continues firm in that faith.
ORLANDO METCALF, treasurer of the Verona tool works, was born in Pittsburg, on the corner of Cliff and Fulton streets, July 31, 1840, and is a son of Orlando and Mary M. (Knap) Metcalf, both natives of New York, the father, of Metcalf Hill, Coopers- town, and the mother, of New Berlin. His paternal grandfather was a soldier in the Revolution, and lost his hearing while in the service. Orlando Metcalf, Sr., father of the subject of this sketch, came to Pittsburg in 1828, and died there in 1850, and his wife in 1876. He attended Union college, New York ; graduated from that institution, then studied law, and practiced first in Canton, Ohio, and afterwards in Pittsburg. He was for about twenty years a partner of Andrew W. Loomis. The subject of this sketch is one of seven children, of whom three are living. Orlando Metcalf, whose name heads this article, was educated in Pittsburg, and from 1858 to 1873 had charge of the financial end of the Old Fort Pitt
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foundry. He then organized, in company with J. W. Paul, the firm of Metcalf, Paul & Co., now the Verona tool works. He spent fourteen years in Colorado, still retaining his interest in the company, and on returning to Verona, in 1892, became its treas- urer, in which capacity he has since continued. Mr. Metcalf is a republican in national politics, but votes in local elections inde- pendently. He was married, in November, 1863, to Agnes McElroy, daughter of James M. McElroy, a Pittsburg merchant, and has had seven children. They are: Mary, Agnes, Edith, Orlando, Elizabeth, Lois (deceased) and Emma E Mr. Metcalf and family were formerly attendants at the old Trinity church of Pittsburg, and are now identified with St. Thomas' church in Oakmont.
JOHN SCOTT, who owns and conducts one of the finest farms in North Fayette township, was born in County Down, Ire- land, in the year 1827. His parents were Moses and Elizabeth (Martin) Scott. Moses Scott was a farmer and a fine ex- ample of that Irish peasantry of whom so much has been said in poetry and song. He died in 1847 at the age of fifty-five years. About three years after the death of his father, John Scott was married to Miss Isabella Mckibben, a daughter of Robert Mckibben. Two weeks after the wedding he set sail for America and reached Pittsburg, Pa., on a Saturday night with only ten cents in his pocket. Some men would have become discouraged under such circumstances, but not so with John Scott. With true Irish pluck he went to work on the following Monday morning at seventy-five cents a day, out of which he had to pay his living expenses. After renting farms for twenty years, he saved enough money to purchase the one he now owns, paying $7,000 for it. Since then he has expended more than $2,000 in the erection of buildings. Since coming to America, Mr. Scott has faithfully and intelligently discharged the duties of his adopted citizenship. Ever since he has been naturalized he has affiliated with the republican party, but he has never taken an active part in party work. Mr. Scott is an influential member of the Montour Presbyterian church. For a number of years he has been a mem- ber of the board of trustees and also of the board of sessions. To
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John and Isabella Scott were born four children: Maria Elizabeth, Sarah Jane, Robert John and Margaret Ann. Isabella Scott died on May 14, 1863, in her twenty-ninth year. About two years later Mr. Scott married again, his second wife being Miss Nancy McCrig- ger, daughter of James McCrigger, a well-known citizen of Alle- gheny county. The second Mrs. Scott died in May, 1893, at the age of seventy-two. Since that time Mr. Scott has lived a widower, enjoying the happy reflections consequent upon a well-spent life, and the fruits of his early industry and frugality. In his old age he is surrounded by a circle of friends, all of whom respect him as a law-abiding Christian gentleman, and love him because of his genial disposition and his warm Irish heart.
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