USA > Pennsylvania > The Biographical encyclopedia of Pennsylvania of the nineteenth century. Pt. 2 > Part 61
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ARTIN, BARTON B., Lumber Merchant, was born in West Earl township, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, in 1821. Ilis father, John Martin, was a prominent farmer and agriculturist of the above-mentioned place, and prominently identified with the various progressive movements chronicled in the history of his county. Barton was the eldest of a family consisting of nine children, all of whom are now well known in their respective communities as men and women of integrity and worth. Ile was the recipient of the ordi- nary common-school education, and, at an early period of his existence, found that the limited circle and circum- stances of the farm-home were too confined for his views and purposes; he, accordingly, determined to seek else- where a wider field offering greater opportunities for the prosecution of profitable enterprise. Removing to the vil- lage of Millersville, in Lancaster county, he there became engaged in mercantile pursuits, meeting with great and rapid success. A large family gathering around him, and noting anxiously the meagre array of educational advan- tages presented in this locality, it suggested itself to him that the origination and firm establishment in Millersville of an institute of learning would be highly advantageous, AGEE, CHIRISTOPHIER, Lawyer, was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, December 3d, 1829. Ile is descended from old Scotch- Irish Presbyte- rian stock of western Pennsylvania. His great- grandfather was Alexander Thompson, of Cham- bersburg, whose descendants emigrated to and settled in Allegheny county. He is connected with the Wiley family of Philadelphia, and is also a relative of IIon. Thomas A. Hendricks, of Indiana. Being prepared to graduate in the Western University of Pennsylvania, he was persuaded to defer it and to pursue a higher course of not only to that town, but also to the country adjacent. Acting promptly and ably upon this idea, he, in the summer of 1854, at the head of a self-constituted committee con- sisting of five of the most influential and energetic men of the town, succeeded in laying the foundation of the cele- brated State Normal School of Millersville ; ultimately, in connection with other residents, and acting as leader and prime mover, he, by his strenuous efforts and generous dona- tions, raised the institution to a position which entitled it to State aid, and since that date its affairs have become a part of the common-school history of the State. During the studies in the University of Pennsylvania, at Philadelphia,
business at Columbia and Lancaster; possessing in the former place an extensive wholesale yard, and at the latter a large retail establishment. In Clinton and Cambria coun- ties he is the proprietor of various mills, and of important tracts of timber and coal lands ; in the last-named county he is one of the largest individual land-owners in the State. In addition to these properties, he owns over three thousand acres of bituminous coal lands, situated near Portage Sta- tion, on the Pennsylvania & Central Railroad, and is about to build a branch road from the Pennsylvania Central Rail- road to his properties, purposing to commence mining ope- rations on an extensive scale. In the lumbering business, wholesale and retail, he is the largest operator in this sec- tion of Pennsylvania, his last year's (1873) business having exceeded six millions of dollars. " Westlawn," his resi- dence at Lancaster, is admittedly the handsomest specimen of architecture in the city, and, as a villa residence, one of the most elegant in the State. He has been a Director in the Lancaster Fire Insurance Company, and also in many other organizations and corporations; while as a warm and generous patron of the Young Men's Christian Association, he has dene much to further its interests. In religion, he is intimately connected with the Lutheran Church, and con- tributes materially to its well doing both by Christian de- portment and munificent donations. During the Rebellion he evinced great loyalty and energy in the support of the Government, and sent his two sons to battle for the integ- rity of the Union. The eldest, E. K. Martin, now a grad- uate of Amherst College, enlisted, when but fifteen years of age, in the 79th Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers, in September, 1861, and participated actively and perilously in many actions until the close of the conflict. Ilis other son, Lieutenant J. C. Martin, entered the army in 1862, also while in his fifteenth year, as Second Lieutenant in the 145th Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers, was pro- moted to a First Lieutenancy, and eventually served on General Tyler's staff in the Army of the Potomac. B. B. Martin married a daughter of Christian Rohrer, a prom- inent citizen of Millersville, Lancaster county.
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3.3 Martin
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where he graduated in IS49. Undecided as to what pro- fession to adopt, he took a course of instruction in the medical department of the University. Afterwards deter- mining upon the study of the law, he entered the office of William B. Read and Alexander McKinley. . During the time he was in the office of these distinguished gentlemen, he also attended the law lectures of Judge Sharswood, and was a graduate of the first law class under this eminent jurist. He was admitted to the bar of Philadelphia, in 1853, and, by virtue of his high degree as a graduate, to practice in the Supreme Court. In the same year he re- turned to his native city, and was admitted to its bar on motion of his cousin, Colonel Samuel A. Black. Two years later he was elected to the Legislature as a Demo- crat, and was the youngest member of that body at the time. In 1856, he was the Democratie candidate for Mayor of Pittsburgh, but was defeated by a small majority, his youth-he being then but twenty-seven years of age- contributing not a little to his non-success. In 1874, he was nominated, against his wishes, for Judge of the Or- phans' Court, of Allegheny county. As a lawyer, he enjoys an excellent reputation, but is too reserved to take an active part in politics, and is only ambitious to quietly and honorably practice his profession. IIe is married to a daughter of the late Rev. John N. McLeod, of New York, a prominent clergyman of the Reformed Presby- terian Church, and a member of the Committee ap- pointed to revise the Bible.
YON, REV. GEORGE ARMSTRONG, D. D., was born in Baltimore, Maryland, March Ist, 1806. Ile was the son of Samuel Lyon and Pety W. (Broom) Lyon, daughter of the Ilon. Jacob Broom, of Delaware, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Ilis an- cestors came originally from the north of Ireland, and settled in Pennsylvania; his grandfather having laid out and surveyed the town of Carlisle; and since that time, by frequent inter-marriages, many of the most distinguished families in the country have become connected with the Lyon family. Dr. Lyon's boyhood was passed principally in Wilmington, Delaware; and his education was acquired at Dickinson College, whence he graduated, in 1824, at the age of eighteen. Ile then entered the Theological Department of Princeton College; upon the completion of his studies in that institution, he moved to Carlisle, and in the following year ( 1828), crossed the Allegheny mountains on horseback, arriving in Erie in the fall' of IS28. Having received calls to the Presbyterian Churches at the above place, and also at Fredonia, New York, he spent the winter of 1828-'29 between those two places. In the following spring, he accepted the call to the First Presbyterian Church, at Erie, and, September 9th, 1829,
was ordained and installed by the Presbytery, as Pastor of that church. In this capacity, he thenceforward acted with distinguished ability and success, until his decease, While officiating at Erie, he led the denominations over the whole of the western part of Pennsylvania, that sec- tion of the State lacking, at this date, any regularly ap- pointed and ordained pastors. In 1847, the degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon him by Dickinson College, and afterward also by Princeton College. For a period extending over forty years, he was the loved and revered Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, of Erie, and it was his first and only ministerial charge. Intro- duced there during a season of ardent revival, he evinced an indefatigable ardor in his pastoral duties, and, through his constant exertions, many effective religious revivals added greatly to the strength and prosperity of the church. Ile was a wise and zcalous laborer; and his undivided time and talents, as well as much of his own private means, were cheerfully given to advance the precepts and the institutions of the Gospel throughout the State and else- where. As a pastor he was distinguished for the grave, affectionate, and instructive nature of his addresses and discourses, by his powerful and trenchant intellect, cul- tivated taste, and a warm and practical charity, manifested repeatedly in both publie and private actions, He was married, in Carlisle, in 1828, to Mary Sterritt, by whom he had six children; one of these survivors is now the wife of the HIon. J. W. Douglass; another, George A. Lyon, is well known as a prominent citizen hokling the rank of United States Paymaster. He died at Avon, New York, where he was residing in order to strengthen his failing health, on March 24th, 1871. On Tuesday, March 28th, his body was placed in the tomb in Erie Cemetery; the funeral ceremonies performed in the church upon that occasion being of the most solemn and impressive char- acter. The invocation was pronounced by Rev. J. O. Denniston, of Park Presbyterian Church, and the funeral sermon was preached by the Rev. R. Craighead, of Meadville.
YON, GEORGE ARMSTRONG, JR., Lawyer and Paymaster in the United States Navy, was born in Erie, Pennsylvania, December 23d, 1837. ITis father was the Rev. G. A. Armstrong, D. D., a distinguished Presbyterian minister of Western Pennsylvania. His early education was ac- quired in the Erie Academy, whence he entered Dartmouth College, graduating from that institution in 1858. Return- ing to his native place, he pursued a course of legal studies, and, upon its completion, was admitted to the bar of Erie county, March 12th, 1861. He subsequently pursucd the practice of his profession, until June, 1862, meeting with fair success. He then entered the United States Navy as Assistant Paymaster; joined the Mississippi squadron in
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the following July, and participated actively in all the battles of the Mississippi until the surrender of Vicksburg, taking part also in that memorable action. In September, 1863, he was detached from that squadron, and in April, 1864, joined the United States ship " Pontoosuc." While connected with this vessel, he participated in both of the attacks on Fort Fisher, and in the ensuing actions and operations on the James river, and at Cape Fear, being constantly engaged .up to the time of the surrender of Richmond, the event which terminated the conflict. In the fall of 1865, he joined the frigate " Potomac," at Pensacola, Florida, remaining at this station until the
summer of 1867. Moving to Philadelphia shortly after, in the ensuing fall he joined the United States ship " Idaho," and sailed with her to Japan, where he was stationed until the spring of 1870, when he returned home. In the commencement of the following year, he was ordered to the United States ship " Worcester," detailed by the Navy Department to carry supplies to the French after the Franco-German War, and with it proceeded to Southampton, Liverpool, and various other points on the English coast. Returning again to the United States in August of the same year, he was ordered, in September, to the United States ship " Michigan," doing duty on the Lakes. In 1866, he became Paymaster, with the rank of Major, which position he still fills.
ETMORE, HION. LANSING D., Lawyer and Judge, was born in Warren county, Pennsylvania, October 18th, ISIS. His father, of the same name, was a native of New England, but had early moved to Warren and was a prominent lawyer of that place. ' His 'mother, Caroline Ditmars, was descended from " Holland Dutch" ancestors. The means of his father enabled him to obtain a thorough education from the most approved sources of the day. His preliminary instruction was received at the academy of his native town, and after a preparatory course at Washington College, Pennsylvania, he matriculated at Union College, New York, and graduated with honor from that institution, in 1841. For a year and a half after quitting college, he was engaged as a teacher in an academy ; then, entering the office of Johnson & Brown, of Warren, for the purpose of reading law, he applied himself with such diligence that he was enabled to pass a most creditable examination, and gain his admission to the bar in the fall of 1845. Immediately commencing the practice of his profession with all his characteristic energy, industry, and ability, he soon formed a large and lucrative connection in the county of his birth and those adjoining. To his ever-increasing business he devoted his entire attention until his well-earned reputation as a jurist caused him to be elevated from the ranks to a position of
honor and trust. In the fall of 1870, he was elected President Judge of the Sixth Judicial District, composed of the counties of Erie, Warren, and Elk, and in these courts he continued to preside until 1872. At that date, by a change in the constitution and law, Erie was made a single district, and Judge Wetmore chose the Thirty- seventh District, composed of the counties of Elk, War- ren, and Forest, as the scene of his future labors, and upon this bench he still continues in his high capacity. Prior to his elevation to the Judiciary, he had occupied the post of President of the First National Bank of War- ren, and is now President of the National Lumberman's Association. Ile has been twice married; first to Miss Weatherby, of Warren, who died in 1856, and, in 1858, to Miss Shattuck, of Massachusetts.
EED, COLONEL SETH, the Founder of the City of Erie, and the head of a family which for four generations has been the most important one in northwestern Pennsylvania, was a native of Rhode Island, but at an early period of his life removed to Uxbridge, Massachusetts. He was a physician by profession; and in the battle of Bunker Ilill held the rank of Colonel. In 1790, he acquired a large tract of land in Ontario county, New York, known as the " Reed & Ryckinan Location," of which he dis- posed, in 1795, and with a stock of Indian supplies came to Erie and established a trading-post on the site of the old Presqu'ile stockade, long before desolated by the famous Massasawba massacre. He had four sons and two daughters, all of whom with his wife followed him hither. He died, in March, 1797, at the age of fifty-three. ITis wife survived till December, 1821, dying at the age of seventy-three.
ILES, ROBERT, Merchant and Capitalist, was born in Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, April 2d, 1793. His parents were both Penn- sylvanians; the father, Robert, with the mother, Katharine (Watts), passed with the three-year old son, through the town which is now his home, when on their way to settle on lands near Sugar Loaf. What education he received was obtained from private tuition, and at a proper age he was obliged to do his share of work upon his father's farm, which had been put into cultivation in 1797, the family being about the first who settled in Warren county. Ile continued upon the home farm until the death of his father, when he engaged in the lumber trade, and continued to be most actively and extensively connected with that interest until very recently. In 1833, he was elected Prothonotary of the Courts of Warren county, being the second person to hold that office after
Galaxy Y'en & Playin
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its creation. Ile has been also identified, very consider- ably, with mercantile and real estate transactions, most of them involving large amounts. Ilis business tact and sound judgment have almost invariably caused his invest- ments to turn out to his advantage. Ile was married, January 16th, IS17, to Sallie Smith, of New York. llc has been an active, thinking business man during his long life, and as the result of his labors is now quietly enjoying the fruits of the substantial fortune he has accumulated. Ile is public spirited, patriotic, and liberal, and to his efforts much of the prosperity of Warren county is to be ascribed. The town in which he now resides he has seen grow up from the very first, and he takes keen delight in aiding and advancing its interests.
EORGE, J. P., Journalist, was born in Westmore- land county, Pennsylvania, in the year 1832. Ilis mother was a connection of the Patterson family of this State. llis grandfather (paternal) was born in Ireland and emigrated to the United States, about 1790. Ile moved to what was then the " Far West," and for some time made his home in the State of Kentucky, being, while there, an associate of the noted Daniel Boone. lle removed finally to Penn- sylvania and settled in Westmoreland county, where he married and raised a large family. The second son of this pioneer was Thomas George, born in 1800, and the father of the subject of this sketch. Ile lived in Westmoreland county until 1832, when the son was born; he then re- moved to Clarion, and afterwards to Armstrong county. J. P. George received his entire early education in the common schools of Clarion county. Ilis father being a farmer, he passed his time in labor on the farm and in study, until he reached his eighteenth year, when he entered the office of the Clarion County Democrat, then under the management of Colonel William P. Alexander. Ilere he remained for about two years engaged in master- ing the details of his art; and, in 1852, removed to Jeffer- son county, where he entered a printing office and quickly rose to the post of foreman, remaining in the position for seven years. Upon the commencement of the late Civil War, he at once responded to the calls of patriotism. Ile enlisted, early in 1860, in the 11th Regiment Pennsylvania Reserves, and was at once appointed First Lieutenant of a company in that regiment commanded by Captain Brady. Ile served faithfully and bravely in every field, and upon all occasions proved himself a valuable and efficient officer. In 1862, he was honored with a promotion to the rank of Captain. After leaving the army he returned to Brookville, and purchasing the paper upon which he had formerly been employed, assumed editorial charge, which he continues to the present. He has honestly and con- scientiously served the Democratic party, and that organiza- ! Public School Board. Although warmly interested in the
tion fully acknowledge their obligation to him. Though often solicited to accept public office, he has ever persist- ently declined so to do. He is a journalist of ability, an honest and fearless editor, a public-spirited, unselfish, and valuable citizen.
ILKINS, HARVEY LORENZO, M. D., Phy- sician and Druggist, was born in Victor, Ontario county, New York, March 6th, 1815. llis an- cestors came originally from the north of Eng- land; his great-grandfather, on the paternal side, having arrived from England as a missionary to the present city of Boston. His grandfather was one of five brothers, all of whom fought valiantly at the battle of Bunker Ilill, and he was an active participant through- out the Revolutionary struggle; at the expiration of the war, he was married to a sister of the father of the Ilon. Amos Kendall, Postmaster-General under General Jackson. Subsequently, he settled at Wilkins' Falls, Franklin county, Vermont, and for a long time was a member of the Legis. lature; in that place he raised a large family, five sons and four daughters; and the youngest, James, the father of Harvey Lorenzo, served with his brother in the War of 1812; he, marrying in 1814, became the father of eight children, Ilarvey Lorenzo being the eldest. The prelimi- nary cducation of the latter was acquired in the common schools of Chautauqua county, New York, whence, in due time, he entered Fredonia Academy. Abandoning school life when eighteen years of age, he moved to Canada, and there began the study of medicine under the able instructions of Dr. Luther Cross. While engaged in pursuing his medical studies, he held the position of Col- lector of Tolls and Deputy Collector of Customs; after fulfilling the duties of these offices for three years, he re- signed, and returned to the United States. Entering the Geneva College, he ultimately graduated from that institu- tion, after which he settled in Charlotteville, Niagara county, New York, practising his profession' there until ISGI, and meeting with much success. Owing to the precarious state of his health, he then deemed it advisable to discontinue the active prosecution of his vocation. The Oil Fever dawning into existence at that period, he started for the Oil Regions, and there became successfully interested in various enterprises. Moving to Erie, Pennsylvania, he, in connection with John W. Ilammond, invested in several oil refineries, and secured profitable returns. In this busi- ness he was actively occupied for several years, meeting with varying success, and becoming noted as an industrious and enterprising operator. Subsequently, he disposed of his oil interests, and established an extensive drug store in Erie, which he is at present conducting with great success. Ile has always been prominently identified with the Public School System, and is now an influential member of the
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chief political questions of the day, and a firm and loyal | of Slavery, which was incorporated by the Legislature of the citizen, he is neither a seeker nor holder of political office ; and has repeatedly refused to accept various positions which have been tendered him by admiring friends, a school trusteeship being the only office which he has consented to hold. Ile is noted for his scholarship, his undeviating integrity and his fearless maintenance of that which he esponses from conscientious motives. Ile was married, in 1837, to Miss Reed, of Canada, a daughter of one of the oldest and most honorable English settlers, and has a family consisting of two daughters.
EED, RUFUS SETII, son of Seth Reed, the founder of Erie, was born at Uxbridge, Massa- chusetts, October 11th, 1775. In 1798, he mar- tied Dolly Oaks, of Palmyra, New York, who died the same year; and, in ISO1, he married Agnes Irwin. His career is so identified with the early growth and prosperity of Erie, that the record of either is the history of both. Ile died June 12th, 1846, leaving a large fortune, and only one child, the late General Charles M. Reed, who became one of the greatest financiers of the country. Mrs. Reed survived her husband many years, dying in 1864.
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LLISON, HON. JOHN, Register of the United States Treasury, was born in Beaver, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, August 5th, IS12, and is the son of James Allison, now deceased, formerly an able and distinguished attorney-at-law. Ifis grandfather, the late Colonel James Allison, of Washington county, Pennsylvania, was one of the pioneers of western Pennsylvania, having removed to that territory in 1773, and made his settlement in the last-named county in the ensuing year ; he was of Scotch descent, and was born in North Carolina, in 1744, whence he moved to Cecil county, Maryland, where he was married to a member of the Bradford family. Subsequently he was one of a small company of pioneers who left the eastern settlements and crossed the Allegheny Mountains to find and people new lands and homes in the wilderness. His biographer says of him : " He was a man of great moral worth, combining the personal courage so necessary in those trying times and circumstances with the ennobling Christian principles. He was one of the late Rev. Dr. McMillan's first Ruling Ellers of the Presbyterian Church. After the Revolutionary War had closed and Washington county become organized, he represented that county in the State Legislature almost con- tinnously from 1786 till 1793. He took an active part in advocating the abolishment of slavery, and voted for the final Act which passed the Legislature in 1788. . . . Was a member of the Pennsylvania Society for the Abolishmeut
State in 1789. . . . At the time of his death, which occurred in 1821, he was one of the Associate Judges of Washington county, a post he had held for many years," Some of his descendants still own and reside upon a part of the land which he purchased and settled upon in 1774. His son, James Allison, commenced the study of law under the late David Bradford; completed his researches under the in- struction of Mr. Purviance, then a lawyer of Washington, Pennsylvania ; and, in 1795 or 1796, was admitted to the bar. Upon the organization of Beaver in 1802, he removed to that county and was there engaged in the practice of his profession until 1846, when he retired, having completed his half century in full and successful practice. In 1822, he was elected to Congress from the Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler and Mercer District, and re-elected in 1824; owing to a strong distaste for the agitations attending public life, however, he resigned at the close of his first term. Thereafter, he continued to reside at Beaver until his decease at the age of eighty-two, in 1854. John Allison was the recipient of a common-school education at Beaver, his native place. When a boy, he conceived an intense desire to enter the army or navy, and, in 1828, his father applied for a warrant of admission to the Military Academy at West Point, but failed to secure the desired object. In the first year of General Jackson's administration, he again filed his application, but the cadetship was, for political reasons, given to another, and John, greatly disappointed, cared little concerning what should be his pursuit in life, since his most ardent desires had been thwarted. He was afterward, by means of his elder brother James, apprenticed to learn the hatting business with the once celebrated firm of McKee & Graham, of Diamond street, Pittsburgh. Ile remained in this employment until the spring of 1833, when the establish- ment was sold and he returned to Beaver, where he com- menced business on his own account, opening a store in April, 1833; that business he prosecuted for some time, meeting with considerable success. In March, 1839, he removed to Marietta, Ohio, continuing in the hatting, busi- ness until June, 1843 ; at this date his father and brother William prevailed upon him to return to Beaver, in order to begin the study of law. Complying with their wishes, he entered upon a course of legal studies, purposing to enter into partnership with his brother, as his father intended to retire from the bar upon his admission to practice. Their plans were frustrated, however, by the death of William, an event which occurred in 1844; but, continuing his studies under the guidance of his father, he was admitted to the bar in the fall of 1846. Subsequently, he remained in active practice for a sufficient length of time to terminate the affairs and business of his father, but abandoned all idea of practising on his own account-" a step which in latter years he has greatly regretted." In 1846, he accepted the noir ination by the Whig party for a seat in the Assembly, and was elected, and re-elected in 1847, also in 1849; an.1,
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