USA > Pennsylvania > Clearfield County > Twentieth century history of Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, and representative citizens > Part 105
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Mary Morris. They were of the society of Friends; their home was near Coopertown, Delaware County. Samuel MacMinn, for a number of years carried on farming for Mr. Charles Willing, financier and banker at the time of the Revolutionary war; the farm was located near Sugartown, Willistown township, Chester County. Samuel and Christiana Mac- Minn had eight children, namely : Albon, was a soldier in the War of 1814, in Captain John G. Wersler's company, 2nd Regiment Pennsyl- vania Volunteers, Light Infantry ; he remained a bachelor. Dorothy, married Ist, William Jackson ; their descendants reside in Baltimore, 2nd, William Copeland, their descendants re- side in Philadelphia. John Ross, Samuel, Thomas (his wife was the daughter of Charles McLean, a soldier of the Revolution, was des- perately wounded at the storming of Stony Point by General Anthony Wayne, on the night of July 16th, 1779). Lydia married William Johnson; their descendants reside in Chester Valley, Nathan and Edward both died young. Mary married George Williams, moved to So- lon, Johnson County, Iowa. Samuel Mac- Minn died August 8th, 1811, of cancer of the liver : he was buried in the old Revolutionary burying ground at Strafford, Chester County, where his name appears on the monument erected there to mark the burial place of several Revolutionary soldiers ; his wife died Oct. 4th, 1850, aged eighty-seven years; she was buried in the Goodwill M. E. churchyard, West Nant- meal, Chester County. John Ross MacMinn, their eldest son, grandfather of Herman S. MacMinn, was born in Willistown, Chester County, September 20th, 1792; he learned the trade of milling at the Gulf Mills, near Valley Forge; subsequently he operated the flouring and chocolate mills for John Black at Frank-
ford, Philadelphia. Here he met and married his employer's niece, Mary Brown, the daugh- ter of Abram Brown, born Oct. Ist, 1768, a descendant of Thomas Brown, an emigrant from Barking, Essex County, England. He settled in Bucks County as early as 1712, his son Thomas Brown, Jr., became a minister among Friends ; his declaration of intention of marriage with Elizabeth Davison, Feb. 7tlı, 1720, was the first made in Buckingham Quar- terly Meeting.
Rebecca Black, the wife of Abram Brown, born March 13th, 1772, granddaughter of Abraham Black, a Scotch-Irish emigrant from County Antrim, Ireland, who settled on Deep Run, Bucks County ; his name appears third on a list of thirty-five petitioners towards the or- ganization of Bedminster township in March, 1741. Abram Brown died Oct. 14th, 1799, his wife, Rebecca Brown, died in Chester County, February 5th, 1829, and was buried in the Friends' burying ground at Marshalltown. They had five children, two only had issue to survive. Abraham, born March 6, 1797, mar- ried and settled near Grafton, in southern Il- linois ; has numerous descendants.
Mary Brown, the youngest child of Abram and Rebecca Brown, grandmother of Herman S. MacMinn, was born April 11, 1799, in Buck- ingham, Bucks County. John Ross MacMinn and Mary Brown, were married at the home of the bride's uncle, John Black, the 19th of No- vember, 1818, by the Rev. John C. Murphy. Their children were as follows, namely: John Matthias, born August 23rd, 1819. Anna Mat- thias, born July 19th. 1821, died Mar. 28, 1824. Reuben Myres, born Nov. 8th, 1823, died Oct. 14th, 1849. Rebecca Brown, born Oct. 24, 1825. married to William Clark, of near Brandywine Springs, Delaware, Mar. 15, 1855:
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she died Feb. 9, 1864; issue, four children- accepted and continued with them for four two sons and two daughters-live in Delaware. years. Mr. Pyle died and the firm failed, when Samuel MacMinn, born Dec. 27, 1827, mar- ried, had one son, lives in Honey Brook, Ches- ter County. Samuel MacMinn died March 13, 1905. Joseph Brown MacMinn, born April 2, 1830, died Sept. 14, 1833. Lydia Ann MacMinn, born July 22, 1832, died Nov. 21, 1843. Mr. MacMinn became interested in a tannery with James Hays, who, proving to be dishon- est, Mr. MacMinn lost all he had saved and invested in the business. He then went to Milesburg and engaged in teaching school which he continued for about four years, when he went into the lumber business in partner- John Matthias MacMinn, was born at Mill- town, Philadelphia. At the age of eight years- on the first of April, 1828-his father and fam- ily moved to Valley Creek, Chester County, where he had purchased a grist mill and farm; here he carried on the business of milling and farming for thirty-nine years. John Matthias MacMinn was a student of nature ; geology and botany were his favorite studies. He attended the subscription schools of his day, and later on obtained an advanced education in the Friends' School in West Chester, taught by Joshua Hoopes, and at Unionville, Chester County. taught by Jonathan Gause, renowned instructors in those days. Here he found companionship, mutual thought and touch with nature, with Bayard Taylor, afterwards fa- mous traveler, lecturer, and minister of the United States at the Court of Berlin. At the age of sixteen John Matthias MacMinn began teaching in his own home school. It was at the beginning of the Public School System; for five years this was his main occupation. While engaged in teaching in the neighborhood of Downingtown he became acquainted with the Pyle family, iron manufacturers. Benja- min Pyle, a member of the family, was part- ner in the firm of Whittaker & Co., of the Washington Iron Works, Centre County. This was in 1840. Mr. MacMinn was offered the position of bookkeeper for the firm, which he ship with Samuel McKean, on the Moshannon, but by forest fires and a great flood in 1849 he lost all, which caused him great embarrass- ment for a little time, in 1850, he moved to Unionville six miles away, and took up civil engineering and located and constructed the Bald Eagle and Tyrone Plank Road, in length thirty-one miles, as engineer and superintendent until its completion, during this time he paid off all the claims held against him and acquired a comfortable home. In September, 1853, he removed with his family to Williamsport. As an engineer, he has claims to be remembered, as his achievements were of large importance in this direction. At Williamsport he took the position of first assistant to the chief engineer in the construction of the Sunbury & Erie Rail- road. He did much with his pen to promote the building of this road and that of the Tyrone & Loch Haven R. R., through the Bald Eagle Valley, being the chief engineer in its location. During sixteen years' residence in Williams- port he was promotor in other large contracts for the public good. When he moved to Vir- ginia, in October. 1869, here he bought a plantation near Norfolk, proposing to retire from professional work and spend his remain- ing years in comparative ease, but at once see- ing the importance of procuring for the City of Norfolk one of its most needed utilities, a system of fresh water supply, he brought the
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matter before the people by his public writings and business meetings; its importance was at once seen and acted upon by appointing him chief engineer and general manager. He lived to see his plans well under way, but the treach- erous miasma in which his work was environed poisoned his system with malaria, fever fol- low ed rapidly and after a few days he died, on the eleventh of September, 1870. His remains were taken to Williamsport, Penna., and buried in "Wildwood" that had been his masterpiece as a city of the dead.
On October 15th, 1844, Mr. MacMinn was married to Miss Caroline Youngman, daughter of Elias P. Youngman and Amelia Antes, of Nippenose. Amelia Antes was the daughter of Henry Antes, Jr., son of Colonel John Henry Antes, a patriot of the Revolution, and Ann Elizabeth Shoemaker, daughter of Henry Shoe- maker of Muncy. Her grandmother, the wife of Col. Antes, was Mary Paul the daughter of Jonathan Paul, of Philadelphia. John Mat- thias MacMinn and Caroline Youngman had issue, four sons and three daughters, namely : Joseph H. resides in Williamsport, Pa. : Charles Von Linnaeus, lives in Newberry, Williams- port ; Herman S. of DuBois. Edwin, pastor of the First Baptist church of Kearney, Nebras- ka: Mary, married to Isaac M. Grier, lives in Williamsport, Pa .; Caroline, widow of Stan- ley Mackey, resides in Philadelphia, and Ben- jamin F. in the same city
Herman Samuel MacMinn, was nine years old when he went to East Bradford, Chester County, to live with his grandparents, April 16, 1858. He remained there for seven years when he returned to Williamsport. He was educated in the common schools, Dickinson Seminary and Williamsport Business College, finding his talents and an inheritance from his
father. He worked under the latter super- vision for four years, and was his father's as- sistant in the making of surveys and the first map of Wildwood Cemetery, at Williamsport. He also worked from the bottom upward on the surveys, location and construction of the old Winslow Colliery Railroad. a length of 248 miles between Milton and Franklin, of which his father was chief engineer, becoming his assistant. In the summer of 1867, he spent three months on preliminary surveys in the Eastern Shore of Maryland, for the Baltimore & Potomac Railroad. In March, 1870, going to Philadelphia, to accept a position as princi- pal assistant engineer on the North Pennsyl- vania Railroad, in which he spent four years, at the end of that time he became assistant to the chief engineer on the Delaware and Bound Brook Railroad, from the Delaware River to Bound Brook, a distance of twenty-eight miles, in the state of New Jersey. Mr. MacMinn then built the Trenton Branch of the same road, being engaged in this engineering enterprise for two and one half years. He then came to Du- Bois and for a year was in the employ of John DuBois, afterward, as division engineer on the construction of the Pittsburg and Lake Erie Railroad in charge of the western division. Mr. MacMinn was, later, appointed general inspector of masonry and assistant engineer in the construction of the Pittsburg, Youngs- town and Toledo Railroad, after the comple- tion of this road he entered the employ of the Andrews Brothers, iron manufacturers of Youngstown, Ohio, and in their interest spent three months in the wilds of the northern Pen- insula of Michigan examining some ore lands. From there they sent him to the ore ranges in North Hastings County, Canada, where he dis- covered and opened up a small mining proper-
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ty, which proved to be small pocket of ore and was exhausted after about nine months opera- tion. Mr. MacMinn then went east to New York City in the interest of Mr. W. C. An- drews, to secure sites for the location of sta- tions, for his steam plant which he was intro- ducing for heating and power purposes in that city; this being accomplished. after a few weeks, Mr. MacMinn was sent again to Northern Michigan to explore some lands on the Marquette Range, and again on the Men- ominee Range, where considerable time was spent with Diamond Drills. In the meantime Mr. Andrews had his steam system installed and put into practical operation, he obtained the privilege of laying the pipes on Fifth Ave- nue, when he sent for Mr. MacMinn to take charge of the new work as assistant engineer, this engaged his time for fifteen months, when the Kings County Elevated Railroad in Brook- lyn had obtained their charter to construct that road on Fulton Avenue. Mr. MacMinn was engaged in the location of the line from Fulton Ferry to East New York, a distance of about five miles. This work required about fifteen months, and construction was commenced only to be delayed by injunction proceedings, this, by the way, only prevented the work from go- ing forward, for about a year, when the in- junction was dissolved by the court ; however, at the beginning of the delay Mr. MacMinn left Brooklyn and returned to DuBois, when in a short time he was engaged by the Andrews Chapin & Co., of Youngstown, Ohio, and Du- luth, Minnesota. to examine the iron ore ranges north of Lake Superior, those of Vermillion and Mesaba Ranges, and at the head waters of the Mississippi river. After a year spent in these regions, through a winter when the mer- cury was as low as fifty-two degrees below
zero, Fahrenheit, and the summer temperature very high, exposed to the torinenting poisonous bites of the insects and miasmic atmosphere of forests and marches, camping out and making long journeys in canoe, and tramping Indian trails after many months, which was making inroads on his hitherto robust constitution, he resolved to make a change. The opportunity came unexpectedly, in the offer of a position as assistant engineer on the Chicago & North Western Railroad with headquarters at Mad- ison, Wisconsin. This appeared, on reflection, as a delightful change, and the offer was ac- cepted. The several roads in Wisconsin mak- ing up the division over which Mr. MacMinn was placed, included 800 miles; careful semi- annual inspections were required, a great deal of new work was carried out, numbers of men employed. and separated at long distances, and being entirely unfamiliar with the road here- tofore, it required great exertion and constant work, from sixteen to eighteen hours every day. This was a task endured for nearly a year, when it became no longer endurable and Mr. Mac- Minn resigned his position and returned to Du- Bois, where he was engaged by Mr. John Du- Bois to make a survey of the DuBois estate, including nearly 20,000 acres in Clearfield County : also by Mr. A. C. of Lock Haven, for the survey of the Osborn Baum and Carrier lands, including several thousand acres in the vicinity of DuBois and Falls Creek. During the time of this work and the years that fol- lowed, Mr. MacMinn was engaged almost con- stantly in various lines of work in his calling. in borough work, sewers, water supplies, town plots, and the location of the DuBois Electric Street Railway. In the fall of 1896, Mr. Mac- Minn planned and located a private water sup- ply for Mr. DuBois, one of the most complete
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to be found anywhere. The length of the line is about two and one quarter miles ; fifteen hun- dred and forty-two feet of this passes through a ridge of solid rock by a tunnel but four feet high by three feet wide; the work was started in November at both ends and worked contin- uously for five months (except Sundays). But two men could work together on account of the contracted space. The headings came togetlier on Wednesday at noon April 21st, 1897. A short distance below the tunnel a res- ervoir was constructed in a ravine, covering an area of two and two-thirds acres, containing 4,500,000 gallons, the water of the finest qual- ity is obtained from fifteen springs and small streams flowing from the sandstone formation of Boons Mountain, nearly seventeen hundred feet above sea level, and conveyed through eighteen and twenty-inch vitrified pipe. At the tunnel, which is sealed at both ends, the water is allowed to flow freely over the rock bottom which has a fall of but a quarter of an inch in every sixteen feet; at the end of the tunnel the water is again taken up and conveyed to the reservoir in a pipe. Each tributary line of six- inch pipe has for its inlet a small reservoir, re- ceiving-box, arranged with settling basin, trap and screens to prevent any floating substance from entering the line, along the main line at several places are sediment basins. Each in- let reservoir is carefully fenced with wire to prevent any approach to the water. From the main reservoir the water is conveyed to the town a distance of about three miles. In May and June of 1896, Mr. MacMinn made a sur- vey for a railway line from DuBois to Centre- ville over Boons Mountain, a distance of eigh- teen miles, to determine the feasibility of reaching the timber tracts Mr. DuBois owned on Hicks Run in Elk and Cameron Counties ;
this project was abandoned and it was deter- mined subsequently, to build up that stream from its mouth, Mr. MacMinn making the reconnoisance of this Route in April, 1902, from which he followed it up with the location. To reach the distant lines of the several timber tracts several switch back tracks have been re- quired, and the removal of the timber has been progressing since that time. The almost con- stant demand for some manner of work has deprived Mr. MacMinn of times usually al- lowed as vacation and recreation has been of rare occurrence with him, the only one of which he can recall with any degree of satisfaction was a trip to the Pacific Coast in the summer of 1891, occupying three months time. Mr. MacMinn made the study of geology and min- eralogy a pastime and his collection is on a large scale, his opportunities for collecting curios appealed to his fancy and these are in great number, along with his interest in Indian relics, compose a museum full of varied in- terest. The gathering together of all this col- lection was but the passing of many hours in strange lands and in the wilderness, away from home and friends, in an agreeable and con- tented frame of mind, and with it all his life has been a busy and useful one.
H. S. MacMinn was married first to Miss Mary Louisa Fowler, a niece of John DuBois, in Christ Church, Williamsport, Pa., Novem- ber 23rd, 1875: she died without issue Febru- ary 28th, 1894. Mr. MacMinn married sec- ondly January Ist, 1869, Miss Cora F. Fisher, a daughter of William P. Fisher, of Unionville, Centre County, Pa. They have two children : Marjorie and Dorathea. Mr. MacMinn first united with the Dutch Reformed Church, at Seventh and Spring Garden Streets, Philadel- phia, in the year 1870, after coming to DuBois
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he and his wife united with the Presbyterian Church, his present wite is a member of the Society of Friends, of the Baltimore Yearly Meeting. In politics Mr. MacMinn is a Re- publican and is now a member of the School Board and of the Building Committee. The family residence is on the corner of DuBois Avenue and Fourth Street, DuBois.
DANIEL MILSOM,* a highly respected citizen of AAllport, Pa., who has been foreman of Lane No. 5, of the Todd Brothers Coal Company for the past two years, was born in Brookfield, Trumbull County, Ohio, May 20, 1872, and is a son of John and Elizabeth ( Pritchard) Milsom.
John Milsom was born in 1842 in Bristol, England, and when seven years of age started to work in the mines there. In 1865 he came to America, landing here the day of President Lincoln's assassination, and he at once went to Brookfield, Ohio, where he secured work in the mines. After ten or twelve years there lie went to Mercer County, Pa., as a miner, and in April, 1887, came to Allport, Pa. He is now mine foreman for the Berwin White Coal Con- pany, at Smoke Run, Clearfield County, with which concern he has been connected for four- teen years. Mrs. Milsom, who was born in Scot- land in 1849, preceded her husband to this country. They had a family of eleven chil- dren, as follows: W. J., a mine foreman of Madera; Alice, who is the wife of Joseph Napper of Philipsburg: Charles, who is a mine foreman of Osceola; John, who holds a like position in the Pittsburg district : Daniel; Eliz- abeth, who is the wife of Charles Diehl of Phil- ipsburg: Maggie, who married Thomas Gate- house of Gates. Pa .: Phoebe, who married Adolphus Bowser, a mine foreman of Smoke
Run: Annie, who is the wife of William Johns of Smoke Run: Sarah Jane, who married Charles Smith, an electrician for the Berwin White Coal Company at Janesville ; and Eddie, who is a mine foreman near Pittsburg.
Daniel Milsom attended the public schools of Mercer County, and when between twelve and thirteen years of age left school to work in the mine at Hazzard and continued there until coming to Allport, working in both the .Allport and Rutherford mines. He was em- ployed for four or five years as a blacksmith in the mines, and for the past eight years has been a foreman. In addition to his comfort- able home, Mr. Milsom is the owner of valu- able real estate in Allport, and he is considered one of the good, public-spirited men of the town.
On December 22, 1890, Mr. Milsom was united in marriage with Miss Jessie Wilson, whose parents came from Scotland and set- tled in Tioga County, Pa., later moving to Clearfield County. Seven children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Milsom, namely : John W., who is deceased, and Nellie, Elizabeth, Jean, Alice, Margaret and Adam. Mr. Mil- som is a member of Winburne Lodge No. 931, I. O. O. F., and Clearfield Lodge No. 540, B. P. O. E., also being connected with Mo- shannon Lodge, F. & A. M., of Philipsburg. He is a Methodist in his religious views and a stanch Republican in politics.
A. H. REED,* an enterprising farmer and highly respected citizen of Lawrence township. Clearfiekl County, Pa., resides on the old Reed homestead, which consists of 175 acres, and was born here in May, 1866, a son of Alex- ander and Isabelle (Clyde) Reed.
Amos Alexander Reed was born in 1824 at
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Wolfe Run, Lawrence township, Clearfield Democratic conventions. Mr. Reed is a mem- County, Pa., and obtained his education in the ber of the M. E. Church, of which he has served in all the offices, and was for some time county Deputy of the Grange of this County.
common schools of Lawrence township. Af- ter his marriage he resided some time in Goshen township, but subsequently removed to Law- rence township, where he followed lumbering and operated a farm of 240 acres. During the last five years of his life he lived in retire- ment at Clearfield, Pa., where he died at the age of 74 years. His wife died two years pre- viously at the age of 73 years, and both were buried in the Goshen Cemetery. They were members of the Presbyterian Church, and he was politically a stanch Democrat. Amos A. Reed was united in marriage with Isabelle Clyde, a daughter of Ex-Associate Judge Clyde of Clearfield County, Pa., and their union re- sulted in the following issue: Mrs. M. J. Owens of Lawrence township; J. Mansfield, of Lawrence township; Belle, a resident of WilkesBarre, Pa .; S. C. of Lawrence town- ship; Rachel, a physician, now in Japan ; A. H., the subject of this record ; and Amos, who died aged 12 years.
A. H. Reed was reared in Lawrence town- ship, and obtained his education in the common schools of the township and at Clearfield. He then engaged in the lumber business and built and operated a saw mill on Lick Run for some time. He subsequently sold the saw mill and located at Clearfield, Pa., where he resided about eighteen months, when he removed to the old home farm in Lawrence township. The farm consists of 175 acres, of which 25 acres are located in Goshen township, and in 1889 he fitted the house throughout with hot water heat, and also installed a bath. Mr. Reed is politically a Democrat, and is at present writ- ing candidate for Representative from Clear- field County, and has served as tax collector and several times as Committeeman at the
In 1891 Mr. Reed was joined in marriage with Nettie Price, who is a daughter of Lo- renzo Price, formerly a resident of Pike town- ship, but later of Curwensville, Pa., and their union resulted in the following issue : Clarke ; Bernice ; Bruce ; Margaret ; Bigler and Augusta.
SAMUEL E. FOWLER,* mine electrician for the Victor Coal Company, at Morrisdale, Clearfield County, Pa., has been a resident of Morris Township for the past twenty-two years and is a member of the township school board. He was born at Arnot, Tioga Coun- ty, Pa., April 6, 1871, and is a son of James and Jeanett (Rumgoy) Fowler.
The parents of Mr. Fowler were born in Scotland and were married there and came to Tioga County in 1870 and to Clearfield County in 1888. The father resides at Morrisdale and is still an active man although sixty-seven years of age. He devoted almost all his life to min- ing and now performs the duties of janitor in one of the borough's public school buildings. The mother died August 2, 1910, at the age of sixty-four years. Their nine children all are living as follows : Nellie, who is the wife of Oscar Carlson, of Braddock, Pa .; Samuel E .; Mary, who is the wife of Andrew Campbell, of Morrisdale Mines; James, who lives at Houtzdale; J. Walker, who is a resident of Morrisdale : Robert, who is employed at Shaft No. I, Morrisdale; John, who is a coal mine worker at Morrisdale: Margaret, who is the wife of Henry Mansell, of Morrisdale; and William, who is employed as a motorman in the Morrisdale mines.
Samuel E. Fowler was eighteen years of age
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when he came to Clearfield County, having obtained his schooling in Tioga County. He worked for the Coaldale Coal Company until 1892 and from then was with the Morrisdale Coal Company until October 15, 1910, for four years being electrician for that company. He came then to the Victor Coal Company and has continued with the same and has the repu- tation of being one of the most efficient men in the employ of the company.
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