USA > Pennsylvania > Allegheny County > Allegheny in Allegheny County > Recollections of seventy years and historical gleanings of Allegheny, Pennsylvania > Part 22
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Mr. Campbell's parents were among the early settlers of Pittsburg. On April 13, 1813, they removed to Allegheny, to the west side of Middle Alley, between North and Strawberry Alleys (the latter now North Diamond Street) : from here they removed to the south-east corner of Federal Street and North Alley. From this point they removed in 1817 to the west side of Federal, between the Diamond Square and Water Alley (now Park Way), and lived on property he owned and main- tained as a hotel. In 1829 they removed to the south-east corner of Ohio Street and the Diamond Square.
He was variously employed in commercial and manufactur- ing pursuits. In 1831 he was extensively engaged with his brother-in-law, Capt. John Hay, in the manufacture of flint glass, under the name of Hay & Campbell. In 1834 he pur- chased his partner's interest, and formed a partnership with John E. Parke and James P. Hanna, under the name of Parke,
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HENRY CAMPBELL.
Campbell, & Hanna. This firm was dissolved in 1838, and the business abandoned. He subsequently was engaged in steam-boating on the Ohio River.
In politics he was formerly a leading Whig, and was after- ward an ardent supporter of the Republican cause.
In 1840 and 1841 he was elected to the city councils. He was also elected city treasurer, and served in that capacity during the years 1854-57.
Mr. Campbell acquired a fair education under the care of the early educators of Allegheny, - Thomas Salters and the Rev. Joseph Stockton. " He is in a certain sense a " self-made man," and has established for himself an honorable distinction among his contemporaries. He possessed many warm personal friends, and enjoyed in an eminent degree the confidence and esteem of all who know him. As a business man he evinced com- mendable enterprise, ability, and uprightness, and as a public officer won many commendations for his zeal and loyalty under all circumstances.
He was married on the 18th of May, 1828, to Miss Sarah Anderson.
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HISTORICAL GLEANINGS OF ALLEGHENY.
ROBERT S. CASSATT.
ROBERT S. CASSATT was chosen mayor of the city of Alle- gheny in 1846, succeeding Hezekiah Nixon. He was a resi- dent of the First Ward. He was born in the city of Wheeling, W.Va., in the year 1805. His father died in that city in 1807 : during the same year his mother removed to Pittsburg, where she subsequently married the late Paul Morrow. She was a lady of more than ordinary culture and intelligence, and pos- sessed all the virtues that adorn the female character : in short, she was considered a model matron, one of the excellent of earth.
The subject of our sketch was highly educated, and possessed a fine personal appearance. Courteous and gentlemanly in his manners, these qualities won for him the confidence and esteem of the citizens generally. In the years 1847 and 1848 he was chosen president of the select council, the duties of which he discharged with manifest ability.
Although his administration as mayor was unmarked by any event requiring special notice, he always sustained the reputa- tion of being a good and faithful officer.
He was extensively engaged in the mercantile trade, cotton- manufacture, and the banking and broker business, the latter with George H. Cooke, on Wood Street, Pittsburg, under the name of Cooke & Cassatt. During the year 1848 he removed to Pittsburg, and resided on the corner of Penn Avenue and Marbury Street. He subsequently removed to Philadelphia, and afterwards to Europe for the purpose of educating his children : he remained in Europe six years, and, returning to his native land, he located again in Philadelphia.
During his residence in Pittsburg and Allegheny, he was regarded as an intelligent and enterprising business man by all
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ROBERT S. CUSSATT.
who had the pleasure of his acquaintance. Mr. Cassatt is a descendant of a family of French origin, who emigrated to this country at an early day, and settled in Bergen County, N.J. Subsequently they removed to York County, Penn., and located in a portion of the county now embraced within the limits of Adams County.
He married Catherine, the only daughter of the late Alex- ander Johnston, the first cashier of the bank of Pittsburg, who was a descendant of Alexander Johnston of the Chester-county family of that name.
His son, A. J. Cassatt, who has recently been elected one of the vice-presidents of the Pennsylvania Railroad, was born in the city of Pittsburg in the year 1846. He married a daughter of the Rev. Edward Y. Buchanan of Philadelphia. Although comparatively young in years, he has acquired a high reputation among railroad officials for intelligence and executive ability.
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HISTORICAL GLEANINGS OF ALLEGHENY.
WILLIAM COCHRAN.
THE subject of this brief sketch was born in the county of Derry, Ireland, on the 9th of November, 1777. He came to the United States in the year 1791, and settled in the city of Phila- delphia. In 1795 he left Philadelphia on account of the yellow- fever, which prevailed there at the time to an alarming extent. The fearful mortality and the fleeing, panic-stricken inhabitants left the city in an almost depopulated state.
He came to Allegheny County the same year, and purchased from the government twelve hundred acres of unimproved lands in Pine township, which he divided into three farms of four hundred acres each. One of these he disposed of to his father, one to his brother George, the other he occupied him- self. Upon it all his children were born.
He was married June 8, 1808, to Miss Mary Davis, by the Rev. Robert Steel, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Pittsburg.
The lady was the sister of the late Judge Hugh Davis : she was born in the county Tyrone, Ireland, April 7, 1780. Her parents, with the family, came to this country in 1801, and set- tled on a part of a large tract of land which had previously been purchased by her father in Pine township, fronting on the Ohio River, and extending back so as to embrace the Ninth and Eleventh Wards of the city of Allegheny. She died at the residence of her daughter, Mrs. Jane Lecky, Jan. 28, 1877. In life she was highly esteemed as a devout Christian, and in her death deeply lamented by a large circle of loving friends and relatives.
During the year 1809 Mr. Cochran was appointed a justice of the peace in and for the county of Allegheny, his residence being in Pine township.
In 1815 he was elected a member of the Legislature, and
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WILLIAM COCHRAN.
was re-elected the following year. In the session of 1815 he had charge of the bill for the charter of the Allegheny Bridge Company (St. Clair Street), which passed both Houses, and was approved by the governor.
He was the warm personal friend of the late President James Buchanan, who was also a member of the session of 1815, and who greatly aided him in his efforts to have the application for that charter favorably considered.
In 1826 he removed to Allegheny, and was appointed assist- ant warden of the Western Penitentiary. In 1831 he resigned the position ; and in 1832 he returned to his farm in Pine township, where he resided until 1859, when he again removed to Allegheny.
He died in the city of Allegheny at the residence of his daughter, Mrs. Jane C. Lecky, May 12, 1867, aged ninety years, and was interred in the Allegheny Cemetery.
Mr. Cochran and his wife in early life espoused the cause of religion, and always proved themselves humble and devout Christians.
They united with the Highland Presbyterian Church of Ross township, afterwards by certificate with the Cross-roads Church of Pine township, and subsequently with the First Presbyterian Church of Allegheny, Rev. Joseph Stockton, pastor.
They had five children, -two sons and three daughters, - viz., Robert D., George W., Mrs. Jane C. Lecky, Mrs. Sarah Ann McGonnigle, and Mrs. Eliza Davis.
Mr. Cochran traced his Scottish ancestry as far back as the beginning of the seventeenth century. They were associated with the fearless signers of the "Solemn League and Cove- nant," and on account of the religious persecution, headed by the notorious "Claverhouse," fled to Ireland. The history of these eventful times must ever be associated with that of civil and religious liberty.
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HISTORICAL GLEANINGS OF ALLEGHENY.
HUGH DAVIS.
HUGH DAVIS, late of the city of Allegheny, was elected bur- gess May 10, 1830, and served in that capacity until 1838.
He was born in the county Tyrone, Ireland, in 1777, and was a descendant of a Scotch-Irish stock.
Enthused with the glowing tales related of the transatlan- tic Eldorado, he determined to leave his friends and native land, to seek his fortune in it. With this object in view, he came to the United States in 1801, and settled in what was then Pine township, Allegheny County, on a farm fronting on the Ohio River, now embraced within the limits of the Ninth and Eleventh Wards of the city of Allegheny.
He was married in the borough of Pittsburg in 1805, to Miss Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Henderson, a prominent citizen of Pittsburg at that early day, by whom he had five children, three of which are now living, -two sons and one daughter, - viz., R. H. and H. E. Davis, and Hannah Morrison.
He was a kind and affectionate parent, courteous and affable in his habits and disposition, and was marked for his strict integrity of purpose. He prospered in an eminent degree in all his business transactions, and by honest industry acquired a large and valuable property in the city of his adoption.
The various positions of honor and trust conferred upon him from time to time without solicitation, afford the strongest testimony that could be offered of his sterling worth as a citi- zen. Whether as a public officer, merchant, or gentleman, he leaves behind the enviable record of an untarnished reputation and successful career.
In 1810 he received the appointment of deputy, under William Wasthoff, high sheriff of Allegheny County, and served with ability and fidelity.
On the eighth day of April, 1822, he was duly commissioned
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HUGH DAVIS.
by James Monroe, President of the United States, marshal for the Western District of Pennsylvania, and on the twenty-sec- ond day of December, 1825, was re-appointed by President John Quincy Adams, as will more fully appear in the following correspondence had on the subject :-
DEPARTMENT OF STATE, WASHINGTON, 16th April, 1822.
JONATHAN H. WILKINS, Esq., Judge of the United States for the Western District of Pennsylvania, Pittsburg.
SIR, - I have the honor to enclose you herewith a commission appointing Hugh Davis, marshal of the United States for the Western District of Pennsylvania, and to request the favor of you, to deliver it over to him after he shall have given the official bond required by law, and complied with the usual forms in such cases.
I am very respectfully, sir, your obedient servant,
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
DEPARTMENT OF STATE, WASHINGTON, 2d Feb., 1826.
HUGH DAVIS, Esq., Marshal of the United States for the Western District of Penn- sylvania, Pittsburg.
SIR, - I have the honor to inform you that a commission appointing you marshal of the United States for the Western District of Pennsylvania has just been forwarded from this office to Mr. Wilkins, judge of the said dis- trict, with a request to him to deliver it over to you when you shall have given the official bond required by law, and complied with the established forms in similar cases : you will be pleased to acknowledge to this depart- ment the receipt of your commission so soon as it reaches you.
I am very respectfully sir your obedient servant, H. CLAY.
In 1838 he was appointed by his Excellency Joseph Ritner, Governor of the State, associate judge of the Courts of Com- mon Pleas, Quarter Sessions, Oyer and Terminer, and Orphans, of the county of Allegheny. In this position he served for three years, giving entire satisfaction.
In politics he consistently adhered to the principles of the Whig and Republican parties.
He was ever loyal to his party and convictions, and expressed his opinions upon all proper occasions, though never offensively or unnecessarily obtruding them.
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HISTORICAL GLEANINGS OF ALLEGHENY.
His wife died at the family residence, north-west corner of Federal Street and Water Alley (now Park Way), in 1852 ; and on the 17th of February, 1862, he died at his mansion on Stockton Avenue, highly esteemed and much lamented by a large number of affectionate friends.
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HUGH S. FLEMING.
HUGH S. FLEMING.
HUGH S. FLEMING was elected mayor, and served in that capacity during the years 1850, 1851, and 1852. He was born in Ross township, Allegheny County, now Third Ward, Alle- gheny, March 26, 1820; has resided therein all his life, and is prominently identified with its local history.
. He acquired an ordinary academic education under the Rev. Joseph Stockton and John Kelly. In 1835 he entered the drug-store of H. P. Schwartz, and continued in the business until 1839.
He early took an active part in the politics of the city and county, and was elected to the common council from the Third Ward in 1841, 1842, and also in 1859. During the latter term he was chosen its president. In 1853 he received the nomina- tion for county treasurer, and was elected on the Whig ticket. In 1861 he recruited Company K of the Thirty-eighth Regi- ment, Ninth Pennsylvania Reserves, Col. Conrad Jackson com- manding ; was mustered into the service with the company, May 4, 1861, and commissioned as captain. He resigned June 27, 1862, on account of impaired health. In 1870 he received the Republican nomination for sheriff, and was elected to succeed Samuel B. Cluley. This position he held for seven years. In 1872 he was chosen to serve out the unexpired term of the late Mayor A. P. Callow : the emoluments of the office he gen- erously gave to his predecessor's widow.
In all the various positions he held, he proved himself a gen- tleman of ability, integrity, and indomitable courage : prompt and energetic in his movements, he was eminently qualified to discharge the duties of his civil as well as his military appoint- ments. As an illustration of his efficiency as an executive officer, it may not be considered out of place to relate the following incidents.
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HISTORICAL GLEANINGS OF ALLEGHENY.
During his administration as mayor in 1851, he had occasion to issue a warrant for the arrest of a certain well-known des- perado (Jack Aldrich), who had evaded the vigilance of his police. Meeting his man accidentally on the street, he at once approached him, and, placing his hand upon his shoulder, said, "Come along, I want you," and after a short struggle suc. ceeded in taking him to the mayor's office, a feat which would scarcely have been attempted single-handed by any one know- ing the desperado.
At a public meeting held in front of City Hall on Sunday afternoon on the occasion of the railroad riots in 1877, to adopt measures for the protection of the peace of the city, Mr. Fleming, with his characteristic promptness, was among the first to step to the front, and say, "Come, boys." His courage and calm determination with others on that eventful night served much to secure the city's safety. He also assumed the responsibility of stopping and searching the street-cars as they emerged from the suspension bridge, for suspicious characters and contraband articles, explaining to the conductors and drivers, that, if any objections were made by the authorities of the road, he would be personally responsible for results.
On the occasion of the cotton-factory riots in 1850, word came to his office that considerable disorder and intense excite- ment prevailed among the employees of the cotton-mills, and that great danger to the Eagle Mill was apprehended. The entire police-force at that time consisted of six men. Mayor Fleming was not long in deciding his course of action : he immediately impressed into service a number of citizens, cloth- ing them with authority to act as special police. A load of wagon-spokes passing at the time, he stopped and ordered the driver to unload instanter. He did so unwillingly, but was somewhat re-assured by the fact that Mayor Fleming made himself personally responsible to the owner. These spokes served as formidable weapons in the hands of the "specials," whose numbers and martial appearance overawed the turbu- lent crowd, who, upon the conclusion of the mayor's address, quietly dispersed.
In the year 1877 he was chosen president of the Third
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HUGH S. FLEMING.
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National Bank of Allegheny, and in 1879 he was elected a member of the select council from the Second Ward.
He is still an active citizen, and, although pretty well up in years, retains the vigor of his early manhood. He mingles as usual in the busy whirlpool of politics, and is warmly and ardently attached to the doctrines of the Republican party, ever ready to advocate or defend them to the utmost of his ability.
He was married in 1856 to Miss Julia H. Bollman.
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HISTORICAL GLEANINGS OF ALLEGHENY.
ROBERT W. PARK.
ROBERT W. PARK was elected mayor of Allegheny in 1853. He was born in the city of Pittsburg, on the west side of Third Street (now Third Avenue), between Wood and Smith- field Streets, in the year 1822. In 1826 his parents removed to Allegheny, and occupied the house on the north-west corner of the Diamond Square and Federal Street.
Mr. Park is a gentleman of culture and refinement : having received a liberal education, he is well qualified to take a prom- inent position in all the relations of life. His genial manners, and kind and generous disposition, endeared him to all who had the pleasure of his acquaintance. In his youth he took an active and intelligent part in acquiring a knowledge of mechanics, and is the author of several ingenious and use- ful inventions, for which he has taken out patents.
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He married Miss Catherine, eldest daughter of the late William Robinson, who, during the latter part of his life, resided on the south-east corner of Cedar Avenue and Liberty Street, Allegheny, and who was generally termed Irish Wil- liam, in contra-distinction to Gen. William Robinson, who claims to be to the "manor born."
Mrs. Park is a lineal descendant of Gen. John Wilkins, who was prominently identified with the early history of Western Pennsylvania.
Mr. Park removed to Philadelphia in 1852.
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HUGH GALLAGHER.
HUGH GALLAGHER
WAS born in the city of Philadelphia, Aug. 12, 1779; was married to Miss Margaret Hawk, a native of Ligonier Valley, Penn. She was born in 1783, and died in the city of Alle- gheny in 1837. Her father was a soldier in the British army during the French and Indian war, and also served with credit under Gen. Washington in the Revolution. He had three brothers who also served creditably in the same wars.
The subject of this short sketch settled in Pittsburg in 1811, and in 1826 took up his permanent residence in Allegheny, where he lived continuously until his death, which occurred Sept. 6, 1875, having reached the advanced age of ninety-six years. He was a moulder by trade, and was at one time con- nected as a partner in the foundery and engine-shop carried on by Stackhouse and Tomlinson on the corner of Liberty and Short Streets, Pittsburg, where the engines were constructed for the first steamboats built at Pittsburg. He was celebrated among his friends and acquaintances for the intelligent interest he manifested in all matters connected with the history of the noble qualities of the horse, especially the racer. He was an ardent student of the diseases incident to them, and modus operandi of their cure : his services as an expert amateur veterinary surgeon were frequently called into requisition with marked success.
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HISTORICAL GLEANINGS OF ALLEGHENY.
RICHARD GRAY.
RICHARD GRAY was a native of Ireland. He was born in the town of Drumgumberland, in the county of Donegal, in the year 1781. When in his eighteenth year, he came to the United States in search of better opportunities for making his way in the world, than were offered in his native land.
Having acquired a liberal education in the schools of his native village, and being endowed with a hopeful and cheerful spirit, he felt himself fully qualified and willing to commence the active struggles of life, depending alone on his personal efforts for success ; and for this purpose he left his native land to seek a more congenial home in the Western World.
He landed at the port of Philadelphia in 1789, where he re- sided for a year : he then decided to come westward, and arrived in Pittsburg in 1801. He determined, after a full examination of the surroundings, to make it his future home.
His cheerful and buoyant spirit, his pleasant countenance, genial and agreeable manners, rendered him a pleasant com- panion. He evinced more than ordinary ability as a conversa- tionalist, ever ready, either in relation to Church or State, to give a reason for the hope he enjoyed.
He was married in 1807 to Sarah, eldest daughter of Col. William Anderson of Revolutionary fame.
In 1810 he removed to Allegheny, and was engaged exten- sively in the manufacture of brick. The town at that early day was a mere hamlet of log cabins.
His first residence on the north side was on the north-east corner of what is now called Anderson Street and River Ave- nue, where he established a ferry, and operated it for several years. It was at this point that the troops under Gen. Tanne- hill crossed the Allegheny River on their way to Black Rock in the war of 1812. Subsequently he erected the third brick
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RICHARD GRAY.
house in Allegheny on Cedar Avenue, between Avery and Liberty Streets, on the site now occupied by "Gray's Row." Here he resided during his latter days.
All the territory now embraced within the limits of the populous city of Allegheny was then a part of Ross township, and constituted but one election district : the place of voting was at the Green Tree tavern on the Perrysville road.
Mr. Gray served in the council of the borough of Allegheny from its organization in 1828 to 1831, also in 1836, and in both branches of the city councils. He was one of the corporators for the erection of the Pittsburg and Allegheny Bridge, and was for many years connected with its management. In all the various positions to which he had been called, he took an active and intelligent part, and was always found faithful in guarding the interests committed to his care.
He was a consistent and efficient member of the First Pres- byterian Church of Allegheny during the pastorates of the Rev. Joseph Stockton and Rev. E. P. Swift, and was a ruling elder under the latter at the time of his decease.
Eminently successful in all his business transactions, he was always ready and willing to give his counsel and material aid to the misfortunate. He was charitable in his judgment of the weakness and shortcomings of others. Those who knew him best gave him full credit for his goodness of heart and integ- rity of purpose. In no instance, even when most unguarded, did he utter a sentiment that did not indicate the noble Chris- tian character of the man.
His success in life was the result of an earnest purpose to do right : to it he devoted the energies of a whole life, -to accomplish it, he spared no labor.
His faithful and loving wife survived him four years : she died highly respected and much lamented in the year 1853.
Five children were the fruits of this marriage; viz., Elinor Gray, James A. Gray, William C. Gray, Richard C. Gray, and Sarah Gray (now Mrs. James Park, jun.). Elinor died in 1833, in the twenty-fourth year of her age. Her premature death cast a gloom over a wide circle of relatives and personal friends, who loved her for the beauty of her character, her purity, unselfish-
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ness, and freedom from vanity. James A., prominent in politics and business circles, died in 1876.
The grandsire, Col. William Anderson, a soldier in the Revo- lutionary army, joined the patriot forces shortly after his arrival in the country in 1776; thus evincing, by the trials and suffer- ings encountered during that eventful period, his devotion to the cause of his adopted land. He remained in the service until the surrender of Lord Cornwallis, at the siege of York- town; after which he settled in Cumberland County, near Car- lisle, Penn., where he married, and where all his children were born, except the youngest, - three sons and four daughters, - viz., Paul, James, William, Sarah (Mrs. Gray), Letitia (Mrs. Caldwell), Mary (Mrs. Way), and Clarissa (Mrs. Hender). Mrs. Way is the only one of this large family now living (1881) : she resides in the family mansion near Sewickly, full of years and hopes of a blessed immortality.
In addition to Col. Anderson's fame as a gallant soldier, his ability as a mechanic was considered of the highest order. He erected the first Presidential mansion at Washington, D.C., which was subsequently destroyed by the British troops under Gen. Ross, Aug. 24, 1814. He was the personal friend of Gen. James O'Hara, upon whose invitation he determined to come to Pittsburg with a view of superintending the erection of the public buildings in Allegheny County. On his route, with this object in view, he was detained at Bedford in con- sequence of the troubles arising out of the Whiskey Insurrec- tion. At this point his youngest daughter, Clarissa, was born.
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