USA > Pennsylvania > Erie County > The history of Erie County, Pennsylvania, from its first settlement > Part 18
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being a couple remarkable for personal grace and beauty. Dr. W. resigned his commission as surgeon in the army, and after a residence of three years in Franklin, removed to Erie.
Dr. Wallace commanded an Erie County regiment at the commencement af the War of 1812, and was called into ser- vice with his regiment in the alarm that arose on the burning of Buffalo. Dr. Parsons, of the navy, was acting-surgeon of Col. Wallace's regiment for a short time. In attending upon the wounded after the batttle of Lake Erie, Dr. Wallace assisted Dr. Parsons at the hospital (courthouse) during the months of November, December, and January.
Dr. Wallace was elected the first Burgess of Erie, in 1806, and also held the offices of Justice of the Peace, County Com- missioner and coroner. He was possessed of very considerable talents, being endowed by nature with unusual discernment, which he exercised as well on ordinary occasions as in his pro- fession. He died December 8, 1827, being but little past the meridian of life. The direct descendants in Erie are Maj. R. A. Pollock and Miss Elizabeth Pollock (1893).
REV. ROBERT REID 1 was the son of James and Elizabeth Craig Reid. He was born at Reid's Hill, Hillsborough, near Belfast, Ireland, on November 5, A.D. 1781. Owing to the troublous state of the times in their native country, his father, James Reid, and the three sons, Robert, Isaac, and James, then their sole family, the mother having died young, emi- grated to this country in the fall of 1798, during the political troubles then raging ; in which, as most Protestants had done, he and his connections had taken sides with the government and Orangemen. This was not remarkable, as their ancestor, Capt. John Reid, had emigrated to that country from England under William of Orange, and was under him at the famous battle of the Boyne over a hundred years before, and after the final success of that struggle, remained in the country where most of his descendants are still.
James Reid settled in Philadelphia, and died there in 1821, and was buried in the then Spring Garden Cemetery. James Reid, the son, removed to Boston, but died young in Philadel- phia, leaving an only daughter, Elizabeth, wife of Dr. Koch, 1 Biography of Rev. Robert Reid, written by his son, James C. Reid, Esq.
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the paleontologist, of St. Louis. Isaac Reid became a' ship- owner and trader to the Guianas and South America. He died in Philadelphia in 1854, leaving an only son now living, Dr. Neville Craig Reid, of Philadelphia ; while Robert, the oldest and subject of this sketch, deeply imbued with the idea of religious duty, determined to devote himself to the service of the Gospel of Christ. He entered, as a student, the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, in 1801, and graduated with honor in 1805, being appointed immediately thereafter tutor in the chair of mathematics, which post he continued to fill during the following year.
Then entering the Theological Seminary of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian church, at that time located in the City of New York, he continued his clerical and professional studies under the presidency of the celebrated Dr. John Mason. Having engaged in the necessary preparations for the sacred calling with a zeal and perseverance characteristic of him through life, his studies were deep and thorough. Religion was in him not only practical piety, but a science as profound as the great Author of the universe, into the work- ings of whose mind we might by means of it obtain some faint glimpses ; while his study of the original languages of the sacred writings continued and prosecuted they became one of the main pursuits of his life-one hour of every secular day when in his study being ever after devoted to the critical study and examination of the Scriptures in the original, as " containing the only rule of faith and practice," and as being the emanations and teachings of the Divine Spirit. Having completed the usual course and trials, he was licensed in 1809 under the authority of the Presbytery of Philadelphia, and for the next two years the field of his labors was in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania ; principally in and west of the mountains, fulfilling Presbyterial appointments.
During his licentiate, he traveled over much wild and then thinly settled country, and preached in many neighborhoods, sometimes a sermon for each day in the week.
In the fall of 1811, in company with the Rev. Samuel Wier (afterward his brother-in-law), also a licentiate of the same Presbytery, under the authority of the Presbytery of Monon-
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gahela, he arrived at Erie, and in 1812 he was regularly ordained and installed as pastor of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian church, then the only organized religious associa- tion in Erie. 1
Some years after, another congregation of the same church was organized in Waterford, and for many years thereafter he continued to preach. During the war of 1812-13, he often of- ficiated as chaplain to Perry's fleet here and to the army on shore, and in alarms, like most of our older citizens, was some- times on duty in the ranks.
He was married on April 11, 1816, to Elizabeth, daughter of David Calhoun, Esq., of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, an elder of the Associate Reformed church, who died young. In 1828, he was again united in marriage with Elizabeth, daugh- ter of Rev. Matthew Lind, an eminent clergyman of the Associate Reformed church, and long pastor of the famous Paxton church, near Harrisburg.
In 1819 the Erie Academy was incorporated, and he was elected President of the Board of Trustees, the duties of which office he continued to perform for twenty-five years, to the close of his life. In him the cause of popular education from the earliest times here, and during all that period, had a con- stant, efficient, and devoted friend ; and after the organization of the Erie Academy, until a competent principal could be procured, he occupied the position of the first principal of the institution.2 After a service of more than a third of a century in the ministry, he died on the 16th of May, 1844, in the sixty- third year of his age.
1 " On Wednesday, October 21, 1812, Rev. Robert Reid was ordained pastor, the Rev. Messrs. David Kerr, Mungo Dick, and James McConnell were the members of the Presbytery who were present. On Wednesday, April 21, 1813, the Rev. Mr. Galloway, of Mercer, and Mr. Junkin, ruling elder, assist- ing, Archibald McSparren, Thomas Hughes, and David Robinson were ordained, and Alexander Robinson was installed, ruling elders, and James Dumars ordained deacon of the congregation."-Copied from the original records, pp. 83, 84, of the Associate Reformed Church of Erie, Pennsylvania. |
2 One of Rev. R. Reid's parishioners informed me that his custom was to visit every family of his congregation once in six weeks. This, with memorizing all sermons, in accordance with the practice of the denomina- tion, must have called for untiring industry. Two hundred and fifty dollars, and at the utmost never more than three hundred dollars, was the salary allowed for the support of the pastor and his family. Mr. Frank G. Carpenter, the traveler and lecturer, of Washington City, is a grandson.
L. G. S.
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His published works are :
1. A Funeral Sermon on the Death of Lieut. Brooks, United States Navy, published in 1813.
2. A Sermon, "The Reign of Truth and Righteousness about to commence," in 1824.
3. A Tract, "Observations on Dr. Watt's Preface to the Psalms of David," etc., in 1825.
4. "The Seven Last Plagues, being Dissertations on the Prophecies of the Book of Daniel, and on the Book of Revela- tions." 1 Vol., in 1828.
5. "Helps to Christian Devotion" ; consisting of critical translations of, and dissertations on, the first twenty-three Psalms. 1 Vol., in 1833.
6. Two "Tracts on Church Government," published in 1839 and 1841.
As a scholar, he was distinguished for a profound and crit- ical knowledge of the original languages of the sacred writings and their cognates, and as a mathematician. To the study of the exact sciences much of his leisure was appropriated, and his occasional contributions to the scientific periodicals of the day are still evidences of his extra-clerical lucubrations.
THOMAS WILSON was born near Sunbury, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, in 1772. His father, John Wilson, who, was one of the earliest settlers of Northumberland County, died in 1774, and his sister Agnes soon after was married to Gen. David Mead, the pioneer to the waters of French Creek, and the first settler of the pleasant town which bears his name. In 1782 a band of Indians entered the residence of Mrs. Wilson, being led by a chief who had frequently been fed there, and after emptying the ticks and filling them with the most valuable household goods, departed with the mother and Margaret, a little daughter, prisoners. Seeing one of Thomas' garments on the grass, the chief angrily demanded him also, but fortunately he could not be found. Before evening they sent the mother back, but she feared to enter the house lest the Indians should return, and remained through the night in the stable. The child was redeemed three years after at Detroit, and afterward married a Mr. Barry, of Toronto. In 1802 Mr. Wilson was married at Waterford to
1 1
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Miss Mary Naylor, who resided with her brother, James Naylor, Esq., being stationed there as Issuing Commissary for many years. Mr. Wilson removed to Erie in 1805. He had, for many years, been in partnership with Mr. Oliver Ormsby, of Pittsburg, in contracts for supplying all the Western military posts from Niagara to New Orleans ; his last contract, which was at the time when Louisiana was ceded to United States, proved unfortunate, and involved him finan- cially beyond recovery. The year of his removal to Erie he built two vessels, one on Lake Erie, called the Mary, and the ' Fair American on Lake Ontario, being the best on those lakes ; afterward he built the Lark at Erie.
Mr. Wilson was a man of remarkable business talent and enterprise. His popularity in the county and among his acquaintances was only equaled by his large hearted benefi- cence. He held various offices of trust in Erie with credit, being successively Justice of the Peace, County Treasurer, County Commissioner, member of the Legislature, and member of Congress, and at the time of his death, in 1824, he held the office of Prothonotary.
His eldest daughter, Jane L., who deceased in 1860, was an agreeable and interesting writer, and the author of several works published by religious societies. The titles of the prin- cipal ones are " Broken Cisterns," "Arthur Singleton," and " Ruth Elmer."
P. S. V. HAMOT was born in Paris, France, on November 28, 1784. His father was a captain in the French army, and a royalist, and left France for Russia, where he resided during the "reign of terror." Returning to France after the estab- lishment of the " Republic," he offered to procure for his son a lieutenancy in the army ; but such a position not being in accordance with his tastes, and his attention having been turned to the new republic of the West, he preferred to come to America and to try his fortune in a new and strange land. His father consenting, he came to Philadelphia, with the French consul, in 1802, as "l'homme de confiance," as ex- pressed in his passport. The consul died soon after his arrival, leaving Mr. Hamot a friendless youth, and among a people in whose language he was little versed. His self-reliance,
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peculiarly a trait of his character, did not allow him to despond. A mercantile situation offering, he started for the West, as the clerk of a French house, in charge of a stock of merchandise. The vessel on the route was wrecked on Lake Ontario, but, with the goods recovered, he opened a store at Niagara, Canada, and from thence removed to Lewiston, and in 1805 to Erie. In 1810 he formed a partnership with Messrs. E. & D. Alvord, of Salina, who dealt largely in salt. This business connection continued many years. He was also engaged in general mercantile business on his own account, and was one of the first and most successful merchants of the place.
Mr. Hamot held responsible and honorable offices under the government ; being at one time Canal Commissioner, and at another Superintendent of Public Works at Erie. He was the first cashier of the Erie Bank and one of the principal stock- holders. As a business man, he was fortunate, and noted for his activity and energy in the prosecution of his plans, and for sound judgment. He engaged warmly in politics, his sympathies and feelings being with the Democratic party ; and his politeness and hearty hospitality won for him many attached friends. Mr. Hamot was twice married : to Adeline Woodruff, of Lewiston, New York, in 1818, who died in 1821 ; and to Elizabeth Coltrin, widow of Dr. Asa Coltrin, and daughter of George Keefer, of Thorold, Canada, in 1825. He died October 17, 1846.
CAPT. DANIEL DOBBINS was born near Lewistown, in Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, January 5, 1776. He came to Erie with Esquire Rees' party of surveyors in 1795, when all was a wilderness. In July, 1812, while lying with his vessel, the Salina, at Mackinaw, he was taken prisoner by the British, it being his first intimation that war had been declared. Having landed the night before on the north side of the island, they took possession of the fort and the vessels in the harbor. R. S. Reed and William Reed, of Erie, were on the Salina as passengers, but were dismissed on parole. Capt. Dobbins was also allowed to return home.
In Chapter XV. is found an account of Capt. Dobbins' services in forwarding the construction of the squadron in
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1813; and that through his discernment and perseverance Erie became the naval station,
While in the navy as sailing-master, he was also engaged in the merchant service. He had command of the Washington in 1816, which the same year conveyed troops to Green Bay, and was the first vessel which had entered that harbor, it being a difficult task to navigate it. On this first visit, Wash- ington Harbor was called for the vessel; Boyer's Bluff, for Col. Boyer, who was aboard ; Chambers' Island, for Col, Chambers, aboard ; Green Island, for an officer of the name, aboard ; and the Captain's own name, Dobbins, was given to a small group of islands.
In 1826 Capt, Dobbins was ordered to sea in the vessel fitted out to bring home the remains of Com. Perry, and resigned his commission. In 1827 he was engaged in constructing piers at Ashtabula. In 1829 Gen, Jackson appointed him to the command of the revenue cutter Rush, to which he was re- appointed by President Polk in 1845, and he left active service in the revenue department in 1849.
Capt. Dobbins was possessed of sterling qualities, and being a close observer, recorded many interesting incidents con- nected with the navigation of the lakes and life on the frontier. He died at the age of eighty, February 29, 1856.
THOMAS HALE SILL.1-Among the early residents of Erie, and belonging to that set of men who found it a frontier settlement in what was then the distant West, and of those who devoted their energies and talents to the building up of the place, the development of its resources, and the welfare of its inhabitants, the name of Thomas H. Sill may well be men- tioned,
A daily familiarity with the city and harbor, their natural advantages and all the improvements which skill has devised and industry added, may indeed cause the present generation to forget the unremitting and varied exertions, extending through the past half century, by which those advantages, now regarded as a matter of course, were first developed and secured,
Of the men who during this period thus actively exerted 1 From the pen of his son, Hon. James Sill.
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themselves, hardly a survivor remains ; and a history of Erie County would be incomplete were no mention made of them.
Mr. Sill having in early life selected Erie as his home, and become identified with its people and interests, and having for nearly half a century participated in the vicissitudes, hopes, struggles, and triumphs always incident to a settlement through the various steps of its progress and development into a city, the very incidents or events of the life of such a citizen are inseparable from and part of its history.
We give, therefore, from the Erie Gazette next succeeding Mr. Sill's decease, the following biographical notice :
"This gentleman, who closed his earthly career at his resi- dence on Sixth Street last Thursday evening, was the senior member of the Erie County bar as well as one of the best known and most esteemed citizens of Northwestern Pennsyl- vania. He had so long and conspicuously figured in the affairs of this section of the State, and particularly of our city and county, that his name had become a household word- and seldom was that name mentioned without deep-seated respect. Aside from his qualifications as a lawyer, which were of the first order, he possessed traits of character calculated to inspire universal regard and admiration. His deportment was unassuming yet dignified, his disposition kind and accommo- dating, his general course of conduct based upon principles of acknowledged integrity. As a husband he was attentive and affectionate ; as a father, kind and indulgent ; as a neighbor, generous and sympathizing ; as a citizen, active, honest, and true. In short, in all the relations of life, whether as a law- yer, legislator, friend, or neighbor, he exhibited a commend- able spirit of interest in the welfare alike of the county, State, and country, ever sustaining his endeavors to promote and secure the same by a strong and well-cultivated intellect and ready and effective eloquence.
"Mr. Sill was born at Windsor, Connecticut, on October 11, 1783. His father, Capt. Richard L. Sill, served in the Revolu- tionary War, and occupied an honorable position in his day. Graduating at Brown University, in September, 1804, and his health failing him, he traveled in the Southern States and made a voyage to the West Indies-at intervals, as health
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permitted, studying law. Completing his law studies with the Hon. Jacob Burnett, of Cincinnati, in 1809, he commenced practice in Lebanon, Warren County, Ohio. His health again failed, and after going back to Connecticut and return- ing to the West as far as Pittsburg, he was induced to locate at Erie, then a naval station, where he arrived in July, 1813, and remained until his death. From 1816 to 1818 he held the office of Deputy United States Marshal. In 1816 he married Joanna B. Chase, daughter of Rev. Amos Chase, of Litch- field County, Connecticut. In 1819 he was appointed Deputy Attorney-General for Warren County, and was present at the opening of the first court-practicing from that time until a recent period in the several courts of Erie, Warren, and Craw- ford Counties. The confusion occasioned by the burning of the courthouse, with the records, in 1823, induced a general movement in favor of sending him to Harrisburg in the capacity of a representative. In compliance therewith he relinquished his practice, and represented the district during the session of 1823-24. By dint of earnest effort he procured the passage of an act remedying the losses and inconveniences resulting from the destruction of the county records, con- nected with an appropriation from the State to assist in rebuilding the courthouse. He succeeded Hon. Patrick Far- relly in Congress in 1826, and was re-elected in 1828-being at that period the only anti-Jackson member from Penn- sylvania. He declined a re-election at that time. He was appointed President of the United States Branch Bank in 1837, and held the office to the close of the existence of that institution. At various times he was elected burgess of the then borough of Erie, and for nearly thirty years filled the office of trustee of the Erie Academy ; ever exhibiting a deep interest in the educational affairs of the city and county. He was elected in 1836 to the Convention to amend the Constitu- tion of Pennsylvania-a body composed of the ablest and best men in the State-men like Forward, Sergeant, Meredith, Chauncey, Chandler, and Reigert-and it is due to his memory to say that in this body he acquired and maintained a position of commanding influence. He was chosen Presidential Elector in 1848, and, in accordance with the expressed voice of
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the State, as well as his own preference, voted for Taylor and Fillmore. Feeble health having, in a great measure, incapaci- tated him for the laborious practice of his profession, he was appointed postmaster of Erie by President Taylor, on April 16, 1849. President Fillmore reappointed him, and he con- tinued to serve until June, 1853. He died February 7, 1856, 'full of years and full of honors.'
"Mr. Sill was confessedly one of the first members of his profession. He excelled particularly as an advocate, never failing, by his clear logic, smooth diction, strong sympathies, and unvarying candor and courtesy, to produce a deep im- pression, and frequently carrying the jury with him against the instructions of the court and the apparent law of the case. In this respect he had few, if any, superiors, and was always considered a dangerous competitor in the prosecution of im- portant suits. Taking him all in all, he was a great and good man, enjoying the confidence and respect of all classes of society, and dying without a known enemy."
GILES SANFORD was born in Norwich Farms, now Franklin, New London County, Connecticut, September 18, 1783, and with his father's family removed to Herkimer County, New York, in 1801. Mr. Sanford came to Erie to reside in 1810.
The family can be traced back directly to John Sanford, President of Rhode Island in 1655. In 1637, having been disarmed for sympathizing with Wheelright in his famous opinions, in connection with Coddington, Hutchinson, and other well-known colonial men of wealth and eminence, Rhode Island was purchased. On the maternal side Giles Sanford was descended from Richard Edgerton, who, in 1655, was one of the thirty-eight original proprietors of Norwich, Connecticut.
In 1814 Mr. Sanford formed a mercantile partnership with Mr. R. S. Reed, which continued until 1824. In 1823 the firm in his name was contractor for supplying the military posts of Fort Dearborn (Chicago), Mackinaw, St. Mary's, and Fort Howard (Green Bay).
Mr. Sill and Mr. Sanford were delegates to the Canal Con- vention, which met at Harrisburg (in 1824, we believe), and which convention gave the first impetus to internal improve-
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ments in the State. The Board of Trade and the Natural History Society he was the first to suggest.
Mr. Sanford was ever a zealous and disinterested friend of public improvements, did much for the promotion of agricul- ture and horticulture in the county, and contributed liberally to benevolent and Christian enterprises. In consequence of his business connections, habits of observation and general information, he has rendered valuable assistance in this work.
JOHN GALBRAITH was born in Huntingdon County, Penn- sylvania, August 2, 1794. His father was a soldier of the American Revolution, and took part in the battle of Long Island, where he was taken by the enemy, and being, with many others, imprisoned in New York, he there suffered hard- ships and privations, from the effects of which he never fully recovered. He resided in Huntingdon County after the war, when he removed with his family to Butler County, Pennsyl- vania, where he passed the remainder of his life. He gave to his children such opportunities for learning as were attainable in a new and thinly settled country. The subject of this sketch early exhibited a fondness for study, and although the facilities afforded to him were but meager and limited, he yet managed to acquire a liberal education.
Like many others who have attained a prominent position, he at one time, and when yet quite a youth, taught a country school. He served an apprenticeship to the printing business in the same office in Butler where James Thompson, afterward Chief Justice, was employed. He married Miss Amy Ayres, daughter of Rev. Robert Ayres, an Episcopal clergyman, of Brownsville, Pennsylvania. He studied law in the office of Gen. William Ayres, of Butler, at that day one of the leading lawyers of Western Pennsylvania, and was admitted to the bar in the year 1819. He began the practice of his profession soon afterward at Franklin, Venango County. He soon took a prominent place as a lawyer and acquired a large practice. In 1828 he was elected to the Pennsylvania Legislature, and was twice re-elected. In 1832 he was elected to Congress, from the district at that time composed of the Counties of Venango, Crawford, Warren, and Erie. He was re-elected to Congress in 1834, and again in 1838. On the expiration of his third con-
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