USA > Pennsylvania > Crawford County > Our country and its people. A historical and memorial record of Crawford County, Pennsylvania. > Part 91
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take the nomination from his district for Congress, but his refusal was un- conditional and absolute.
Mr. Mckinney has three children, whose names are Thomas J., Louis C. and Charlotte. Their respective ages at present are 29, 26 and 21.
George N. Il'ilcor, sheriff, Meadville, is a native of Chautauqua county, New York, and was born February 14, 1853, a son of George and Saralı Spen- cer Wilcox, the former of whom died in December, 1886, aged seventy-seven years, and the latter still survives, at the age of eighty-four years. Mr. Wilcox was educated in the common schools, and was first elected to the office of sheriff, on the Democratic ticket, in 1890, and again in November, 1896, which office he now holds. He has always been a progressive politician and a leading citizen of the county where lie has resided since his boyhood.
Two brothers and three sisters of this Wilcox family survive, namely : Mary, wife of Arthur Jervis, of Richmond township; J. M., a resident of Rockdale township; Celestia, wife of G. F. McCray, of Richmond township; Sarahı E., wife of W. I. Blystone, of Jamestown, New York; and Spencer N., of Rochester township. A brother, William H., was killed in 1892, by the collapse of a barn. His age was forty-two years. In 1875 Mr. Wilcox mar- ried Della, daughter of John and Sarah Hathaway Hotchkiss. To this union have been born five children : Bertha E., wife of Dr. J. Herbert Hood, of Oil City, Pennsylvania ; Gaylord, Park F., Katherine and Harold. Mr. Wilcox is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, of Meadville Lodge, No. 408, A. F. & A. M., and Crawford Lodge, No. 734, I. O. O. F.
William A. Davenport was born on the site of his present home in Dick- sonburg, Summerhill township, September 24, 1855. His grandfather, Sol- omon Davenport, and his grandmother, Nancy Davenport, took up, in the beginning of the century, a claim of two hundred acres in the same neigh- borhood.
William A. Davenport is the son of John Ashfield and Mary (McDowell) Davenport. John Davenport was a great man in the community in which he lived and exercised a conspicuous influence over public affairs. He was born in Tompkins county, New York, December 8, 1827, and lived until May 3. 1895. He came to Pennsylvania in 1834, when but six years of age. At the time of his death he owned one hundred and fifty acres of highly improved land and was one of the best farmers in the county. He was an old-time Whig. but later became a Republican and held many local offices. He was a member of the Royal Templars and the Grange, and also of the Fail Asso- ciation. His wife died May 21, 1887, at the age of fifty-eight. There were four children in this family. Alice D. married Robert G. Henry and died when a young woman, her husband being also deceased; Etta married George
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Parkinson and died March 8, 1889; Lina is the wife of J. H. Cole and owns the old homestead; James E. died March 26, 1898, at the age of twenty-eight : he was a railroad employe at Conneaut, Ohio.
William A. Davenport had an early farm training, but spent eight years of his youth in Illinois; he later lived with his father on the home farm until the latter's death. February 28, 1875. he married Miss Alice D. Dearborn, a daughter of William H. and Ruth Morrison Dearborn of Summerhill town- ship. One child was born to this union,-Harry L. He married Jessie Hag- gerty, and with their one child, Fenton, they reside near the old homestead. Mr. and Mrs. William A. Davenport have an adopted daughter, Daisy B .. who still resides at home.
Mr. Davenport is a Republican in politics, and has been town treasurer for five years, and is inspector of elections. He is a member of the Grange and Fair Association. and has been a delegate to conventions.
James J. Jolly .- There are few more interesting careers in Summerhill than that of James J. Jolly, born in Enniskillen, Fermanagh county, Ireland, who justly claims distinguished parentage. His father, James Jolly, was a soldier in Her Majesty's service for twenty-six years, and during fifteen years was a lieutenant of the highest rank obtained by merit. In common with all military servants of the crown who lived during the latter part of the eighteenth and the beginning of this century, his opportunities for adventure and dis- tinction were limited only by his inability to be in more than one place at the same time. His field of activity extended to the hot sands of Africa when, in 1801, he fought at Alexandria, Egypt, and his son has a watch, captured from an enemy, that is a memento of this memorable occasion. Mr. Jolly also took part in one of the twelve important battles of the world, witnessing under Wellington the fall of the great Napoleon. It is not recorded that he was seriously wounded in either heroic encounter, for he lived until 1877, attain- ing the age, remarkable for a soldier so long in active service. of ninety-three years.
In 1852 James J. Jolly, in response to the call of a westward spirit, sailed for America, going direct to Summerhill, Pennsylvania. The Erie Extension canal was then a source of vast revenue to the stockholders, and with this canal James J. Jolly was identified for eighteen years as a tender of locks, until, in 1872, the famous old waterway was abandoned for more progressive means of transportation. So highly were Mr. Jolly's worth and services ap- .preciated that he has since been the company's agent for selling their lands, amounting to several hundreds of acres.
Mr. Jolly was married July 5, 1847, with Miss Eliza Jane McDowell, a daughter of Alexander and Julia Ann Fetherman McDowell. Alexander McDowell came to this county when nine years of age and served in the war
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of 1812. Since his marriage James Jolly has made the MeDowell farm his permanent home, and while working on the canal was greatly interested in agriculture and improved and extended his domain.
Mr. Jolly has filled most offices within the gift of the township, including that of supervisor for six years, and that of county committeeman for eleven years. He is a member of Summerhill Grange and the A. O. U. W. Mr. Jolly is a Republican and takes a vital interest in all of his party's campaigns and issues. Front 1876 to 1879 he was a county sealer of weights and meas- ures, and was one of the organizers of the Fair Association.
Mr. Jolly has four children : Elsie Ann, who before her death, in 1886, was the wife of John Ellis, of Meadville, left one son, Clarence, now living with his grandparents. Lizzie Jane married G. W. Belknap and is now living in Erie, Pennsylvania; they have five children. Irvin, farmer, married Miss Fannie Ellis of Meadville, a granddaughter of Colonel Horace Ellis, of Mead township; there are three boys. Tina Cordelia is the wife of Merton J. Webb and has no children.
Mr. Jolly came to America without money or influence. Of all the changes that he has witnessed, none are more startling or praiseworthy than that wrought in his own condition. From the locks of a canal to a position of trust and influence in the community is not eleared at a single bound. He has risen on the confidence inspired by his own industry and integrity, and while so doing has accumulated lands and property and is one of the town's most en- terprising citizens.
Z. R. Powell, farmer, was born in Fairfield township, March 3, 1828, a son of Jesse and Susan ( McFadden) Powell, natives of Pennsylvania. He is the seventh child of a family of twelve children : Silas, deceased; Alexander; Sally Ann, deceased: Rebecca, who married John Long: Ellis; David; Zach- ariah R. : Hiram K .: Louise, deceased ; William; Lucy Ann, who became the wife of David Culver, and Melissa, now Mrs. Dennis Grennell. Jesse Powell built a log house and began pioneer life on the very farm now owned by his two sons. Zachariah and William, and during his lifetime often related his adventure in killing twenty-seven deer in the locality during a single winter. He was a veteran of the war of 1812.
February 8. 1849, Mr. Powell married Miss Lydia Beard, and to them have been born seven children, viz. : Margaret Jane, born November 12, 1850, and died June 23, 1871 ; Silas Warner, born October 28. 1852 ; George Weston, October 26, 1854: John H., born October 10. 1856, died February 13, 1858; Emily Ann, born July 29. 1859. died June 30, 1871 ; Hannah Elizabeth, born February 23, 1862, died July 2, 1871 ; and Frank Oliver, who was born May 20, 1869, died June 30, 1871.
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Amos C. Quigley, proprietor of the Midway Hotel at Conneaut lake, was born March 16, 1839. His grandfather. John Quigley, located on a farm of four hundred acres at Watson's Run in Vernon township, in the early part of the present century, and he died in 1862, aged ninety-three years. Henry. the second child of John Quigley and father of Amos C., was born in 1810, at Watson's Run. He was married to Elizabeth, daughter of Frederick Brown, of Vernon township, and they had nine children, of whom Amos C. was the fourth in order of age. Henry Quigley died in 1856, and his wife in 1863. Amos C. was married October 2. 1868, to Elizabeth, daughter of John and Eliza Van Liew, of Summit township, and they have two children,-Harry L. and Alfred V.
Mr. Quigley erected the Midway Hotel in 1895, and enjoys a prosperous summer business. He has a farm of one hundred acres surrounding the hotel. with a frontage of seventy rods on the lake. The boat was built and launched by H. L. Quigley, son of Amos C. Quigley. It is named the Iroquois, and is the finest steam excursion and pleasure craft on Conneaut lake. H. L. Quigley is also a stockholder in the Conneaut Lake Milling Company.
L. Frank Norton, of Richmond township, was born in Fredonia, New York, in 1842. With his father. Colonel James Norton, he removed to Erie Pennsylvania, and in 1850 to Conneautville. In 1859, with his father and brother-in-law, he went to Atchison, Kansas, and Denver, Colorado, driving wagons over the plains, but returned to Conneautville in 1860. The year 1861 he married, at Edinboro, Martha E., daughter of George W. Townley. Sr., and this union has been favored with two daughters,-May E., wife of Elmer L. Smith, of Detroit, and Katie E., wife of Edward L. Williams, of East Mead, Crawford county, Pennsylvania.
During the war Mr. Norton held the sutlership of the Fourth Corps Re- serve Artillery, under General Keyes. Although now engaged in farming he is by profession a musician, and has given particular attention to orchestral music.
Benjamin Rosaback, of Sparta township, is a son of Peter Rosaback, of Holland descent, and came from Smithville, Chenango county, New York, to the town of Sparta, this county, with his wife and family in 1824. He took up a section of land containing seventy-five acres, which after building a log house and clearing up his farm he enlarged to one hundred and twenty-five acres. He was a soldier in the war of 1812 and drew a pension. He was an upright farmer and good citizen, was very fond of hunting and fishing, and in the early days used to keep his family in fresh meat and fish, the products of his skill. He had six children. The name was originally Rosibaugh.
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Henry Pease, superintendent of schools at Titusville, was born in West Leyden, Lewis county, New York, May 30, 1856, a descendant of Puritan ancestry. His grandfather, Major Alpheus Pease, served in the Revolutionary war and was a prisoner in the Jersey prison ship. He built the first gristmill and sawmill on the upper Mohawk in 1804.
Mr. Pease received his early education in the common schools of his native town, prepared for college in the State Normal School at Brockport, New York, and graduated at the University of Rochester with the degree of A. B. in 1887. The degree of A. M. was given by the same university in 1890. He first began his teaching career in the district schools of Lewis and Oneida counties, New York. After his graduation at Rochester University he was appointed principal of the public school at Holly, New York, and this position he lield until 1889, when he was elected principal of the Tonawanda, New York, high school, which position he held in 1889-1891, when he was elected superintendent of Medina, New York, public schools. In 1897 he was elected superintendent of the public schools of Titusville, which position he now holds.
As an educational worker Mr. Pease is always found in the front rank in anything that pertains to the building up and extension of general school work, and under his management every detail has the closest attention with only one motive in view, and that along the line of improvement with a view to higher educational work.
Sylvester H. Ray, contractor and builder, at Meadville, was born in this city, April 28, 1832. His ancestors were from New England. His parents, Cooper and Hannah ( Hemingway) Ray, came to Crawford county, from New Haven, Connecticut, coming in company with two other families in covered wagons and taking forty days to make the journey, and settled in Meadville in 1816. The former died in 1861, at the age of seventy-two years, and the latter in 1857, at the age of sixty-six years. They reared ten children, four of whom survive, viz .: A. R .: Adeline, widow of Rev. E. B. Lane: Jerome, a resident of Cleveland, Ohio; and Sylvester H., who was the ninth child.
December 29. 1856, Mr. Ray married Miss Margaret A. Hart, and this union has been blest with three sons: William H., a representative of the Woodward & Tiernan Printing Company, of St. Louis, Missouri; Frank E., in the engineer's office of the Erie Railway, at Meadville; and George S .. who graduated in the medical department of University of Pennsylvania in 1895. and located in Erie, Pennsylvania. Mr. Ray began his trade in Jan- uary, 1851, with Joseph Butler, and in 1856 began on his own account. Many of the most prominent buildings of Meadville were built either under his per- sonal supervision or from plans furnished by him.
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Hiram C. Smith, of Randolph township, was born on the Smith home- stead. December 31. 1837. His grandfather, Lemuel Smith, who came front Massachusetts in 1819, had three sons,-Reuben, John and Lemuel. John married Lucy Jones, and their children were Affie F., wife of Daniel Ban- nister, David J., Warren M., Hiram C., Mary M., wife of Leonard Kyle, Catharine L., wife of Smith Byham, Lucyett, wife of Sylvester Byham, John L. and Leonard A. David and Warren were soldiers in the Civil war, the for- mer serving three years and the latter succumbing to the privations of AAnder- sonville prison. In 1862 Hiram C. married Sarah J., daughter of James and Jane Wykoff. Their children are J. Mortimer; Hiram Elbert, the present county treasurer; Rev. Wilbur C., of Oregon; Anna A .; Raymond E., a soldier of the Spanish-American war; and Larue Free.
Mr. Smith has a farm of one hundred and twenty-five acres. In religion he is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
Samuel Post, of Athens township, was born in New York state and mar- ried Mary Sprague, who was born in Vermont. He came to Crawford county, settling in the town of Spartansburg in 1830, with his family of nine children, and afterward settled in Athens township, where he lived until his death. There are four of the sons living, namely: Leonard, in New York; Joshua lives in Athens township; Samuel, in Centerville; and Harvey, in Athens township. The last mentioned married Chloe, daughter of Henry Hatch, an early settler in Athens township.
Lewis Sperry, of Athens township, was born in the town of Woodbridge, Connecticut, and came to Crawford county, about 1820, with a wagon and a yoke of oxen, being six weeks on the road. When he arrived he took up a piece of uncultivated land, erected a log house and cleared up his farm. He married Mary Wooding and had ten children. His son Garry married Lucy Boyles, daughter of Jesse Boyles. In 1865 he moved to Little Cooley, where he now lives.
Stephen Jude, son of Stephen Jude and AAnne Holiday Jude, was born in Charteris, Isle of Ely. Cambridgeshire, England, in 1832. He ran a stationary engine from his thirteenth year until he came to America, in 1860, and settled in Sparta township. this county. He was the first man in the United States to utilize steam for running a threshing machine, and he has owned and oper- ated a steam thresher ever since coming to this country.
He was twice married. Before coming to America he married Ruth Smith, by whom he had two children .- one a son, Allison W., who is married and lives in Oil City and is a railroad engineer ; and a daughter, who died in infancy. Mr. Jude's second wife was Emma Fish, daughter of Oatman Fish,
55
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one of the pioneers of Crawford county, who came here from "York" state and settled in Sparta township on what is still called Fish Flats.
Lorenzo Washburn, a farmer, of Sparta township, is a son of Abijalı, and was born in Rochester, Vermont. He married Gratis Aikins, who was born in Barnard, Vermont, May 11, 1825. In 1848 he moved to Ellington, New York, and in 1853 to Sparta township. where he was a farmer. He had five children, two of whom are living,-Charles B. Washburn, a farmer, and Clark, who enlisted in the navy in 1864 and was stationed on the war vessel Fair Play, and also was with the Mississippi squadron. He was discharged in June. 1865, when he returned home.
Abram Wheeler, a son of L. D. Wheeler and a resident of Meadville, was born June 16, 1849. in Athens, Pennsylvania, lived on a farm until he was twenty-one years of age. He learned the blacksmith trade and conducted a shop in Lincolnville, then learned to be a stone-mason, and since 1885 has been contracting bridge work. In 1896 he built the bridge at Cambridge Springs. using thirteen hundred perch of stone and employing from ten to twenty men.
He married Harriet King, and they have had four children, two of whom are living. Ilis wife died March 21, 1883.
George A. W. Tarr, son of Jacob and Barbara Tarr. was born August 17, 1827, in Cherrytree, Venango county, Pennsylvania, and the second child of a family of eleven children, namely: Mary, George A. W., Thomas J., Samuel P., Elizabeth, Daniel, Isaac, Fannie, Lydia, Susan and Jacob J., Jr. Mr. Tarr's grandparents were natives of Germany, who emigrated to America in 1792. where they settled in Oakland township, Venango county, Pennsylvania.
About 1848 Mr. Tarr bought a small farm situate about two and one-half miles west of the Rynd farm, which he continued to work for a number of years. In 1858 he bought a few acres of timber land adjoining the celebrated Rynd farm and the Mcclintock farm, of "Coal-Oil Johnnie" fame, and for the purpose of removing the timber, in 1861, he established his residence thereon. where he remained until 1865, during which period he was occupied a consid- erable time at the business of teaming. He was one of the pioneer oil-carriers along the historic Oil creek between Titusville and Oil City. In 1865, when the oil excitement ran high and just prior to the great panic which followed, Mr. Tarr sold this strip of land for oil purposes, and a few years thereafter sold the first mentioned farm for the same purposes and from each of said sales he realized handsomely. After this, on the 15th day of April, 1870, he moved his family to Titusville.
In 1851 he married Nancy, daughter of Peter and Catharine ( Knoel) Bennehoof. Nine children were born to this union, namely: Matilda, wife of
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Jolin Whelan, Olean, New York; Eli C., an accountant ; Catharine, wife of George B. Carr; Annetta. wife of William Fibbs; Mary E. : Zula, deceased ; an infant son, deceased; Peter B., an attorney ; and Goldie. Frederick Benne- hoof, grandfather of Mrs. Tarr, was a native of Germany. He married Eliza- beth Wert and emigrated to America at an early day and located first in Union county, Pennsylvania. About 1830 he removed to Venango county and pur- chased what is known as the Mason farm, on Oil creek. Peter, his son, there- after came into possession of this farm, which produced oil in fair quantities. His son, John Bennehoof, whose name has been heralded over this country, was the victim of a cruel three hundred thousand dollar robbery, which took place at his farm on Oil creek, near Petroleum Center, in 1866. This farm became the most valuable piece of oil property on record, from which he real- ized immensely. After losing a fortune in the failure of a bank at Franklin, Pennsylvania, he decided to purchase a safe and be his own banker. A month later the safe was robbed of three hundred thousand dollars, not a cent ever being recovered, although five thousand dollars was spent in the attempt. With all these losses he died leaving four hundred thousand dollars in cash to his family !
Mrs. Tarr was born in Cherrytree, Venango county, Pennsylvania, July 17, 1834, being the oldest of a family of seven children, namely: Nancy ; George W .: Elizabeth, wife of Elias Long; Daniel; Isaac, a clergyman ; Mary Jane, deceased ; and Samuel, a physician.
Jennie E. Young, M. D., Meadville, was born in Highland, Ulster county, New York, in 1862, a daughter of Dr. C. H. and Sarah M. (Osborn) Yelving- ton, natives of Dutchess county, New York. She is the second child of a family of four children: Dr. A. P. Yelvington, of Binghamton, New York; Jennie E., our subject ; Lottie B., wife of Cornelius Blackman, of Forest City, Pennsylvania ; and Stephen O. Yelvington, a student in Allegheny College.
Dr. Young was educated at the common schools in Susquehanna, Penn- sylvania, and served several years in the Cumberland Hospital at Brooklyn, New York, as a trained nurse. She afterward spent some time in the Woman's Infirmary in New York city, and received a portion of her medical education in the college connected therewith. In 1891 she graduated at the Woman's Medical College, at Atlanta, Georgia, and during the same year began the practice of medicine in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania, and a year later removed to Forest City, Pennsylvania, where she followed her chosen profession until the fall of 1895, when she removed to Meadville, and here she continues to enjoy a large practice.
She was married April 25, 1894, to C. J. Young, of Forest City, Penn- sylvania.
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Samuel II. Roberts, of Spring township, was born in Rochester, Monroe county, New York, on December 10, 1828. His father, Chester Ives Roberts, died in Adrain, Michigan, in 1863. He married Rachel Staats, who died in Toledo, Ohio, about 1834. (At that time there was but one frame house in Toledo, the rest being log structures.) Originally a shoemaker, in late years our subject has been a farmer. In the war of the Rebellion Mr. Roberts served his country well. He was captain of Company B, Fifty-sixth Pennsylvania Regiment, and was in service until discharged, on August 13, 1863. Mr. Roberts had married, in 1853, Miss Permelia Smith, of Fredonia, Chautauqua county. New York, and in November, 1854, had permanently made his home in this state, as a resident of Rundell. Mr. and Mrs. Roberts have two chil- dren,-Mabel M. and Clarence J. Mr. Roberts was postmaster at Rundell for several years and has held the office of justice of the peace and also been a conveyancer for twenty-two years. Both himself and son are strong adherents of the Republican party.
Almon Smith, father of Mrs. Perinelia Roberts, was born in Schenectady county, New York, on December 9, 1803. He first came to this county in 1818, buit soon returned to Penfield, New York, where was his home for many years. He married, on February 12, 1827. Mrs. Amy Beatty, whose maiden name was Vosburg. They were parents of four children,-Nelson B., Eli P., Per- inelia and Theron. Mr. Smith died January 17, 1878, Mrs. Smith on October 14, 1873. Mabel M. Roberts married Charles Amidon, of the township of Hayfield. Their children are Millicent G., Paul R., Dorris, Florence and an infant boy.
Clarence J. Roberts was born at Rundell, in Spring township, Crawford county, Pennsylvania, on May 2, 1865. Educated at the local schools, he en- gaged in business on his own account at the age of fifteen, and right well has he succeeded. On December 27, 1884, he married Florence A. Spaulding, of Pennside, Erie county, Pennsylvania, and they have a daughter, Georgia P. He owns a fine farm one mile south of Springboro, and here, when not traveling as a dealer in nursery stock, Mr. Roberts enjoys himself in much loved farm labor and in the care of his sleek Jersey cows.
Mrs. Roberts' father, George W. Spaulding, was born in 1842, in Erie county. His occupation has ever been that of a farmer. Marrying Josephine Palmer, formerly of Ohio, they have three children,-Florence A., Garner P. and Nellie J.,-and both are now living. Ancestry of Roberts family, Welsh, Scotch, German and Dutch.
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