USA > Pennsylvania > Crawford County > Our country and its people. A historical and memorial record of Crawford County, Pennsylvania. > Part 78
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April 1, 1861, Mr. Austin married Miss Armina L. Gehr, a daughter of Cephas and Mary Gelir of Summit township, old and honored citizens of this locality. The children born to our subject and wife are Isaac E., who is engaged in farming on a portion of the old homestead; Bradford W., who for eight years has been interested in running a fruit farm in the state of Washington, and Grace A., who is still at home. The family are identified with the United Evangelical church at Gehrton.
Cephas Gelir, father of Mrs. Austin, was the youngest son of Jacob Gehr (see sketch of Gehr family, in connection with that of Josialı Gehr, printed upon another page of this work ), and was born at Dennison Corners, Summit township, in 1806. He died in July, 1886, and is survived by his widow, who is now in her eighty-eighth year. She was a cousin of her hus- band and is a daughter of Baltzer Gehr, a centenarian at the time of his death. Cephas Gehr was one of the most successful and progressive business men that this township ever knew, for, beginning the manufacture of staves here in 1855, he gave employment to a great many hands and transacted an immense volume of business. For years his trade amounted to about one hundred thousand dollars annually and his shipments were frequently to far distant fields. His son Cyrus is living with the aged mother on the old home- stead.
James A. McLachlin of Randolph Township .- Mr. McLachlin's fath- er, James, was of Scotch ancestry and a soldier in the war of 1812, and came from Vermont with Jacob Guy. He married Polly, daughter of Adam and Elizabeth Stainbrook, and settled on what is now the Baldwin place, about two miles from Guy's Mills. The children born to them there were Phebe, wife of William Coburn: Mary; Sarah. wife of Nelson Coburn; James Alexander; Nancy Ann. wife of Thomas Hume; John L., and Adam, who
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enlisted in Company B. Eighteenth Pennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry, served nearly three years, and died in the army.
The subject of this sketch was born December 11, 1828, and March 7, 1867, married Catharine, youngest daughter of James and Mary ( Radcliffe) McConnell of Randolph township. Having no children, they have adopted a girl as a daughter, named Grace Adelaide.
Mr. McLachilin was for several years engaged in business in the Penn- sylvania lumber woods. llis farm consists of one hundred and twenty acres. Ile has served several terms as supervisor and school director, and is a mem- ber of the Grange.
Zephaniah Bishop of Rome township came to this township at an early day from Whitehall, New York, with his team and wagon. A few years after clearing up a lot of uncultivated land, he died, leaving his wife, Caro- line ( Pangman ) Bishop, and eight children. Three of the children are still living: Mrs. A. E. Wood; George W., who lives in Kansas City; and Faz- clo, who lives in Perry, Oklahoma.
James Renwick Barber, the son of Andrew and Margaret ( Thompson ) Barber, was born in Mercer county, Pennsylvania, January 15, 1838. His paternal grandfather, Samuel Barber, came from county AAntrim, Ireland, to the United States, settling first in Westmoreland county, this state, about the year 1816. He afterward moved to Mercer county. Andrew Barber, the father of James R., died about 1846. James lived with an uncle, James Thompson, for about two years following his father's death, and after that he lived for about three years with a farmer named Thomas Courtney. He came to Titusville in 1851 and lived with a brother-in-law, Charles Kellogg. While in Mr. Kellogg's family he attended school seven or eight years. In the fall of 1850, after Drake's discovery, he engaged in the oil business. (An account of Mr. Barber's oil operations will be found in this book, in the oil history of Titusville.)
After leaving the Mcclintock farm, in September, 1860, Mr. Barber went to Pittsburg and took a commercial course in the Iron City College, at which he was graduated in January, 1861. On his way home he engaged to finish a term of school in Venango county, teaching two and a half months, at the close of which he returned to Titusville and engaged as a clerk in the postoffice, under John Tracy, the postmaster. A change in the incumbency of the office was soon afterward made, when Lewis M. Bloomfield was ap- pointed postmaster. Mr. Barber continued clerk under Bloomfield, who held the office about a year and a half, and then Mr. Barber was appointed post- master in his place, to fill the unexpired term, the vacancy caused by Bloom- field's retirement from the office. He was again commissioned postmaster
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April, 1882, to April, 1888, he was city solicitor. For the past twenty-seven years he has been a notary public; for the seven years dating from February, 1890, he was a member of the board of school controllers, and during four years of this period was president of the same.
Born in Fredericksburg, Lebanon county, Pennsylvania, August 17, 1848, Samuel Grumbine is a son of John P. and Maria (Light) Grumbine. the second of a family of three sons, all of whom learned their father's trade, -- saddle and harness maker, -- and all abandoned the same for other pur- suits. The oldest, Ezra Grumbine, studied medicine, graduated at the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania, and for upward of thirty years has successfully practiced his profession in his native county. The youngest, Lee L. Grum- bine, after graduating at the Wesleyan University at Middletown, Connecti- cut, studied law and was admitted to the bar at Lebanon, Pennsylvania. After practicing law for some time he went into journalism, founded the Lebanon Report, and later became editor of The Commonwealth at Harrisburg. Penn- sylvania.
Outside common school advantages, the subject of this sketch received no special educational privileges, save one term in Dickinson Seminary, Wil- liamsport, Pennsylvania, and a few weeks in the Millersville State Normal School. While there he was offered a position as a teacher in the Soldiers' Orphans' School at Titusville. Accepting the proffered place, he entered upon his new duties here in October, 1869, his only experience prior to this. as a teacher, having been gained in the schools of his native county. He was very successful in his new field of effort and continued to occupy the same place until the spring of 1871. That his qualifications as a teacher were of the best is shown by the fact that he was granted a permanent certificate by the state superintendent. Mr. Wickersham. In his leisure time the young man had taken up the study of Blackstone and other legal classics, and he now entered the law office of the late Gurdon S. Berry, and was duly regis- tered as a student. Then followed his service as city clerk, but in 1874 he resumed his interrupted studies in the office of Harris & Fassett, and was admitted to the bar of Crawford county November 17, 1875, by the late Judge Lowrie. Afterwards he was admitted to practice before the United States courts at Pittsburg and to the supreme court of the state. In 1876 he devoted much of his time to the work of securing data from the recorder's offices in the several counties of Pennsylvania where oil had been discovered. He was employed by the late Henry E. Wrigley, a civil engineer, who desired accurate information, in order that inaps could be made of the Pennsylvania oil regions, giving boundary lines of farms, etc., and other useful statistics. For three years, until he had made a start in business life and had gained essential experience, he was employed on a salary in the law office of Roger Sherman, since deceased. Then, from January 1, 1881, to April 1. 1884, he
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practiced law alone, after which he was again associated with Mr. Sherman, this time in partnership. Their business relations continued up to the Ist of September, 1893. since which time Mr. Grumbine has practiced alone. He has been favored with marked success, and has built up a large and growing clientage. Up to 1880 he was an ardent Republican, voting for Grant, Hayes and Garfield, but becoming disgusted with modern political methods he has since voted independently for the candidate or measure which he believed best. He is a member of the Pennsylvania German Society, and in the Royal Arcanum he was regent for two years. Religiously, he is an Episcopalian, and since March 26, 1883, has been a vestryman of St. James Memorial church, and for ten years has been accounting warden.
A marriage ceremony was performed in the parlors of the Girard House, Philadelphia, May 5, 1874, by which the destinies of Mr. Grumbine and Re- becca Coates of West Grove. Chester county, Pennsylvania, were united. Mrs. Grumbine departed this life July 30, 1886, leaving two little daughters : Agnes E., born June 10, 1876, and Lucy C., born December 1, 1878. Sep- tember 5, 1888, Mr. Grumbine married Annette M. Farwell of Turners Falls, Massachusetts.
James P. Colter of Meadville was born in Venango township, Craw- ford county, Pennsylvania, on April 30, 1845. His father, Thomas Colter, a life-long resident of Venango township, was a son of Thomas Colter, Sr., who settled in Venango township in 1797. His mother was Maria J. Cul- bertson, daughter of William Culbertson of Edinboro. He attended the public schools of Venango township, preparing for college at the Edinboro State Normal School. He entered Allegheny College, and was graduated at that institution in June, 1868. He was admitted to the Crawford county bar on August 14, 1871, and in September of the same year commenced the prac- tice of law in Armstrong and the adjoining counties, residing much of the time in Kittanning. In August, 1889, Mr. Colter came to Meadville, where he has since made his home. During his residence in Armstrong county he was for twelve years a school director, and since coming to Meadville has served a term of three years in the Board of Control of the Meadville Schools. He is also a trustee of Allegheny College, these being the only offices he has ever held. Although taking an active interest in politics, Mr. Colter has never been a candidate for office, devoting his whole attention to the practice of his profession. He is a Democrat, serving as chairman of the Democratic city committee from 1891 to '93, and as chairman of the Democratic county con- mittee from 1897 to '98, and as delegate at many of the state conventions of his party during the past twenty-five years.
He was married June 1I, 1874. to Miss Mary E. Archbold of Salem, Ohio, to which union there have been born three daughters and one son.
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Hon. Frank J. Thomas, president judge of Crawford county, and a resi- dent of Meadville, is the son of Darius Thomas of Woodcock township, and was born October 13, 1859. He attended the district school and the high school at Cambridge, and then taught school for three years in Woodcock township. He entered the second preparatory class in Allegheny College in the fall of 1881, and graduated in the classical course in June, 1885. After his graduation he taught school in Woodcockboro, and was for two years principal of the school at Saegerstown, Pennsylvania. In the fall of 1885 he registered as a law student with Hon. John J. Henderson, and continued his law studies during his school vacations. Mr. Henderson being elected judge in 1887, Mr. Thomas finished his studies with Hon. H. J. Humes, and was admitted to the bar in May, 1889. Not quite willing to give up his old pro- fession, he accepted a position as principal of schools at Tuscola, Illinois, where he remained three years. He then returned to Meadville, entered into partnership with ex-Senator Humes, and began an active practice of law.
Mr. Thomas was a candidate for district attorney on the Democratic ticket in 1893, and ran ahead of his ticket, but was defeated by a large majority. He was chosen chairman of the Democratic county committee in 1896, and showed himself a good organizer and a shrewd manager. He was nominated by his own party for president judge in June, 1897, was endorsed by the fusion Populists, was elected in November, and entered upon the duties of his office on January 3. 1898. As a private citizen Mr. Thomas has always been interested in good government and has served' the public in various local offices.
Rensselaer Walrath was born in Cortland, Cortland county, New York, December 28, 1833, and died March II. 1867. Mr. Walrath came to Titus- ville early in 1861, during the first of the oil excitement of that locality, and as a contractor and builder aided in transforming many of the rude huts into more habitable tenements.
February 22, 1859. Mr. Walrath was united in marriage to Elizabeth M., daughter of Timothy and Elizabeth ( Hesler) Gridley, descendants of the historical Gridley family of Cazenovia, Madison county, New York. Mrs. Walrath graduated at the Oneida Conference Seminary, with the class of 1857. She accompanied her husband to Titusville in 1861, and with him endured many of the privations attending the building up of a prosperous city ; and for him there was there a lucrative business. She is a member of a family of six children, as follows: Daniel W., of Syracuse, New York: Cornelia, wife of D. D. Palmer, of Oran, Madison county, New York; Emily, wife of Levi P. Swan, of Fayetteville, New York; Elizabeth M., wife of Mr. Wal- rath, of Titusville, Pennsylvania; Alice M., wife of George Benjamin, of
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Cazenovia, New York; and Clara M., wife of O. N. Dunster, also of Caze- novia.
Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Walrath: Willard G., born at Titusville December 7, 1862, died April 1, 1866; and a daughter, Lillian M., wife of L. P. Elsmer of New York city.
Timothy Gridley died October 4, 1895. His wife died at the age of sixty-five years, December 12, 1883. Daniel J. Walrath, father of Mr. Wal- rath, was during his life-time a resident of Chittenango, New York, and died at the age of sixty-nine years. Mr. Walrath was a progressive, straight- forward business man, a man of keen foresight and excellent business ability.
Julius Byles, the son of William D. and Nancy (Smith) Byles, was born at Pleasantville, Venango county, Pennsylvania, January 18, 1841, where he passed his boyhood at school and on a farm, and at the age of seventeen he entered the academy at Waterford, Erie county, this state, where he spent some time in that school in a preparatory course for college. While con- nected with the academy he taught school three terms, and afterward he taught two terms at Springboro, in Crawford county. In 1863 he entered the sophomore class of Jefferson College, at Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, and while a student there the Washington and Jefferson colleges were merged into one institution, taking the name of the Washington and Jefferson Col- lege. He was graduated in 1866. Then he read law. (His professional history is given in the account of Titusville Attorneys at Law in this work.) On September 23, 1874, he was married to Miss Mary A. Axtell, daugh- ter of J. P. Axtell of Painesville, Ohio, and they have had three children, two daughters and one son. The daughters are Emma A. and Florence L., both students now at Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts. The son, Axtell J., is a student at Princeton University, New Jersey. The original ancestor of the Byles family, to which Julius belongs, came from England and settled in Connecticut. Miss Emma A. Byles is a member of the Titus- ville branch of the Daughters of the Revolution.
John Pursell King, son of Henry J. and Rebecca (McCoy) King, was born at Williamsport, Pennsylvania, September 22, 1864, was in school at Williamsport until fifteen years old, and then became messenger boy for the Western Union Telegraph Company at that place, and while in that service learned practical telegraphy. He was then employed by the Western Union Telegraph Company as an operator at Philadelphia one year, then went to Bradford and for twelve years was in the employ of the Standard Oil Com- pany, the last two years of which period he had charge of the company's gas plant at Parkersburg, West Virginia. In 1894 he went to Warren, Pennsyl- vania, and took charge of the Carver House for about three years.
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In the fall of 1897 he came to Titusville, and on January 24, 1898, he opened the Brunswick Hotel, which had undergone a system of thorough repairs and refurnishing. Under his management the Brunswick has con- stantly grown in public favor. He has recently also taken charge of the Ar- lington Hotel at Oil City, and he will manage both the Brunswick and the Arlington at the same time.
On October 16, 1890, he was married to Miss Sarah A., daughter of Mrs. C. W. King, at Warren, this state, and they have one son, Wallace Hoyt, born September 13, 1892.
James Langstaff Dunn, M. D., was born September 9, 1826, near Mead- ville, this state. ( His medical history is given in the account of the Titusville Doctors of Medicine in this work. ) To his record as a surgeon in the army, as embraced in his medical history, may be added the copy of a letter front the late Governor Geary of this state, who was in command of the division to which Dr. Dunn belonged, as he was about to be mustered out of the service, as follows :
HEADQUARTERS SECOND DIVISION, TWENTIETH ARMY CORPS, NEAR GOLDSBORO, N. C., April 5, '65. DR. JAMES L. DUNN :
My Dear Sir :- As you are about to leave this command, by reason of the expiration of the term of service for which you were originally mustered, I consider it due to you to express my most profound regrets at the loss the division thus sustains, and for the vacuum that occurs amongst us both so- cially and professionally. Permit me to say to you that your eminent ser- vices at the battles of Cedar Mountain, Antietam, Chancellorsville, Gettys- burg, Wauhatchie, Lookout mountain, Mission Ridge, Ringgold, Mill Creek Gap, Resaca, New Hope church, Pine Knob, Muddy creek, Noses creek, Chep's farm, Kenesaw, Marietta, Peach Tree creek and Atlanta; also upon General Sherman's brilliant campaign from Atlanta via Milledgeville to Savannah, and upon that more difficult, arduous and ever-to-be-remembered one from Savannalı. Georgia, through South Carolina to Goldsboro, North Carolina,- the whole embracing a period of upward of three years, during which your urbanity, kindness and humanity to the sick and wounded has been such as to endear you to all who knew you, both men and officers.
In parting with you, I know I but feebly express the feeling's of the men of this division in attempting to give vent to those entertained by myself; and permit me further to assure you that you carry with you, in your retire- ment, my most hearty desires for your health, happiness and prosperity. I have the honor to remain. as ever.
Your friend and fellow soldier,
JNO. W. GEARY, But. Maj. Gen'l.
It should be stated that Dr. Dunn's grandfather, Rev. James Dunn, was a Revolutionary soldier from the state of New Jersey, enlisting from Middle- sex county, in the spring of 1776, and serving as both private and as a lieuten-
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ant, under Captain Manning, in Colonel , Webster's regiment of New Jersey militia. He was in the battles of Monmouth and Springfield.
He married Priscilla Langstaff, who, after the death of her husband, which occurred September 16, 1820, was granted a pension. He came to the western part of this county in 1797. He was a Seventh-Day Baptist clergy- man.
Dr. Dunn was married November 15, 1849, to Miss Temperance, daugh- ter of Robert and Temperance ( Mason) Osborne, of Hayfield township, this county, and their children were: Josephine Alden, who married Augustus Castle, of Titusville, in November, 1880, and died December 24, 1881 ; James Alfred; Jessie E. ; Gertrude, who became the wife of B. F. Shamburg ; and James A., who married Miss Anna Kitzmiller, of Millersburg, Dauphin county, this state.
James Alfred Dunn, son of Dr. J. L. Dunn, was born in Crossingville, this county, January 21, 1854. ( His medical record appears elsewhere in this work, in the history of Titusville's medical men.) He was educated at the Meadville high school, the Titusville high school and Allegheny College, at Meadville. This was preparatory to a thorough education in medicine and surgery, lasting several years, before entering upon the practice of his pro- fession, in company with his father, in Titusville.
Hon. William Reynolds was born in Meadville in April, 1820. His fath- er, John Reynolds, was a native of Colchester, England, and came to this country in 1795, and two years later settled at Cherrytree Run, in Venango county, on a tract of land purchased from the Holland Land Company. In 1805 he removed to Meadville and became a teacher in the academy here, later on being connected with Colonel Marlin in surveying lands of the Hol- Jand Land Company. He afterward studied law and was admitted to the bar of Crawford county in 1812, but devoted little time to practice, apply- ing himself almost exclusively to real-estate business. His son, William, the subject of this sketch, received his education in Meadville, attending Alle- gheny College, at which institution he was graduated in 1837. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1841, but devoted most of his attention to business enterprises. In 1850-I he was a director in the Meadville, Alle- gheny & Brokenstraw and in the Meadville & Edinboro Plank Road Compan- ies. In 1852 Mr. Reynolds became interested in the project of bringing a line of railway through Crawford county, connecting the railroads of New York and Ohio. In October of that year he represented the interests of the Meadville citizens in a meeting of railroad presidents which investigated the practicability of running a line through Pennsylvania. Various negotiations were carried on during the next five years, but without any material result,
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until in May, 1857. the Meadville Railroad Company was incorporated, and the work and franchises owned by the Pittsburg & Erie Company were transferred to it. In all these negotiations Mr. Reynolds had taken a promi- nent part, and he was elected president of the company. Not being able to make satisfactory connections with the Erie Railroad in New York state. they decided to secure an independent line and commenced the work of con- struction. They changed the name to the Atlantic & Great Western Railroad Company, and purchased the Erie & New York City Railroad. The track was completed to Meadville in October. 1862, connecting Meadville by rail with the cities of the east. This enterprise was largely due to the energy of Mr. Reynolds, and greatly aided the development of Meadville. In 1865 Mr. Reynolds was elected burgess of the town, and upon its incorporation in 1866 was elected the first mayor of Meadville. In 1867. in partnership with Will- iam Thorp, he started the Athens Mills Company, an enterprise which for many years was one of Meadville's chief industries, furnishing employment to thirty or forty employes. In March, 1877, Mr. Thorp withdrew, and Mr. Reynolds continued the business several years, afterward associating with him his son, H. W. Reynolds.
Mr. Reynolds is president of the Meadville Gas & Water Company, a director of the Meadville Water Company, and was for many years a director of the Merchants' National Bank, in all of which he is a large stockholder. He was one of the incorporators of the Greendale cemetery, and has for many years been president of the Meadville Library. Art and Historical Asso- ciation.
Mr. Reynolds is a member of the Park Avenue Congregational church, which he has served many years as a trustee. He married Miss Julia Thorp of New York city, and has a family of four children: Frances, married Major A. C. Huidekoper : Julia, married H. H. Fuller: H. W., manufac- turer of grill work: and John E., a practicing attorney.
Charles Marvin was born in Springwater valley, Genesee county. New York. November 24. 1839. His paternal descent is from what is known as the Hartford branch of the Marvin family, he being of the seventh genera- tion from Matthew Marvin, who settled on what is now the site of the city of Hartford. Connecticut, about the middle of the seventeenth century. In 1844 the family moved westward, residing at various periods in Michigan. Illinois and Iowa, and making a permanent home in Des Moines. During the war of the Rebellion Charles Marvin served as a member of the Second Colorado Regiment, being much of the time on special duty as Government scout. In 1865 he removed to Kansas City, where his career as a trainer of race horses commenced. His success attracted attention, and in 1867 he went to Mexico, remaining two years. Returning to Kansas City, he formed a
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