Venango County, Pennsylvania: Her Pioneers and People (Volume 1), Part 95

Author: Babcock, Charles A.
Publication date: 1879
Publisher:
Number of Pages:

USA > Pennsylvania > Venango County > Venango County, Pennsylvania: Her Pioneers and People (Volume 1) > Part 95

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(VII) Platt Smith Osborne, born March 26, 1798, died at Sherman, N. Y., April 20, 1887. He married Mary A. Platt, daughter of Nehemiah and Anna Platt, and they had children as follows, born at Ripley, N. Y .: Sophia Lucretia, born June 14, 1829, married Dr. Graves. David Cuvier is mentioned below. Platt Smith, Jr., was born April 27, 1834. Harriet, born Jan. 20, 1836, married Samuel P. McCalmont. Cynthia Ann, born April 3, 1838, married Dr. Samuel McNair. Isadore was born Dec. 12, 1839. Harris Bur- nett was born Aug. 11. 1841. James White- hill was born Feb. 10, 1843. Mary Ann. born July 15, 1845, married Stephen Benedict.

(VIII) REV. DAVID CUVIER OSBORNE was born Aug. 3, 1830, and was reared under primitive conditions, his father having taken up a farm from the government in 1820 in an undeveloped section of New York State. The father was a tanner, following the calling of many of his ancestors. The boy was given the best possible education under the circum- stances, attending the local public schools and Westfield Academy, and made such good prog- ress that at sixteen he was engaged to teach the village school at Sherman, where the fam- ily then resided. All the Osbornes were fond

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of music and talented in that line, and David was especially gifted. He cultivated his musical skill, spending two years in New York City studying with the best instructors of the time and later teaching music, both vocal and instrumental. For two and a half years he studied law in Panama, N. Y., in the office of Hon. Abner Lewis. But the course he had laid out for himself was changed on New Year's Eve, 1850, when he formally embraced Christianity while attending evangelistic serv- ices, and not long afterward he united with the Methodist Episcopal Church. He had already shown such promise as a public speaker that his friends saw a useful career for him in the ministry, which he soon decided to adopt, and in 1853 he was admitted to the Erie Confer- ence to preach the gospel. The early predic- tions of his admirers were more than fulfilled. He became one of the leading ministers of the Methodist denomination, setting a standard of earnest and effective work in every pastorate and leaving substantial evidences of the vigor- ous spirit which animated him in every enter- prise: His love for music led him to give it an important place in the church services, and he himself would organize and drill church choirs and labor zealously to provide musical facilities, pipe organs having been installed in many of the churches which he served through his influence. The young were always the special objects of his care and attention. It was not only his idea to make the church and its activities attractive to them, but he planned to make them take the serious responsibilities of maintaining the church organization, and met with great success in this field, no doubt attributable to the never fading youthfulness of his own spirit. He believed that the church should lead in social regeneration, and the famous "Akron Plan," originally used in the First Church, Akron, Ohio, he worked out while pastor of that church in collaboration with Louis Miller, superintendent of the Sunday school and financier of the enterprise, and Jacob Snyder, the architect. They usu- ally met in Dr. Osborne's study to discuss their ideas, which had such wonderful fruit. These progressive souls were anxious to pro- vide a building especially adapted to the needs of Sunday school and church social activities. and it proved so successful at Akron that it was adopted by other congregations with simi- lar problems all over the country. Dr. Os- borne was also called upon to help plan the Chautauqua movement, Dr. John H. Vincent asking counsel of him in arranging for and conducting the Chautauqua assemblies. While

on the Barnesville district (1893-98) he was superintendent and instructor in the Epworth League Assembly of Bethesda, Ohio, and those who appeared on the program of that assem- bly in those years were guests at his cottage. A number of ambitious church building enter- prises were carried to completion by his energy, his pastorates in every church having been periods of memorable activity. Yet with all the success he had in a material way, he never sacrificed the spiritual to that end-it was rather that he raised the spiritual to a vigor and intensity which made many things possible. His eloquence was appealing, and a number of laymen who proved highly useful to the denomination were brought in under his preaching, notably the late President William Mckinley. His pastorates were as follows: Randolph, 1853; Wattsburg, 1854; Dunkirk, 1855-56; Warren, 1857; Franklin, 1858-59; New Castle, 1860-61 : Erie, First Church, 1862-64; Akron, 1865-67; Erie Street Church, Cleveland, 1868-70; Titusville, 1871-72 ; Cleve- land district as superintendent, 1873-76; Steu- benville Kramer Church, 1877-78; Massillon, 1879-80; First Church, Canton, 1881-83; First Church, Youngstown. 1884-86; Painesville, 1887-89; Conneaut, 1890-92; Barnesville dis- trict as superintendent, 1893-98; Niles, 1899- 1900; Madison, 1901; superannuated, 1902; moved to Kalamazoo, Mich., where he died Oct. 26, 1912. While there he supplied a pul- pit at Comstock, Mich., 1904-07.

On October 23, 1856. Dr. Osborne married Arvilla Maria Hill, eldest daughter of Rev. Bryan S. and Mary E. (Sanborn) Hill and they had children as follows: Bryan Hill is mentioned below: David Winthrope, born at New Castle, Pa., March 16, 1861, died at Kala- mazoo, Mich .. Nov. 14, 1917; Cyrus Clarke. born at Akron, Ohio, Oct. 19, 1865, married Oct. 12. 1893. to Myra Fay Mackey. of Frank- lin, Pa., is now residing at Havana, Cuba ; Mary, born at Cleveland, Ohio, Sept. 21, 1869. died at Kalamazoo, Mich., Nov. 10, 1904; Donald Platt. born at Steubenville, Ohio, Oct. 28. 1878, married May 15, 1918, to Mrs. Mabel H. Boudeman, is now residing at Kalamazoo. Michigan.

Mrs. Arvilla Maria (Hill) Osborne, born Dec. 29, 1837, at Sheridan, N. Y., daughter of Rev. Bryan S. and Mary E. (Sanborn) Hill, died Oct. 18, 1913, at Kalamazoo, Mich., was the eldest of their family, the others being: (2) Robert Allen, born March 23, 1839, died April 29, 1858. (3) Mary E., born Oct. 3, 1840, died April 23, 1859. (4) Adeline, born Aug. 20, 1842, married Nov. 17, 1864.

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Bryan At Osborne

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George M. Permer, who died in the spring of 1918. (5) Julia, born Dec. 20, 1844, married Oct. 26, 1865, Daniel B. Foote. (6) Emily, born Jan. 17, 1847, married Sept. 3, 1870, Dr. S. F. Chapin. (7) Stella was born June 8, 1849. (8) Eva Marila, born Feb. 12, 1852, married June 28, 1881, John C. Compton. (9) Moses Simpson, born Feb. 18, 1854, died Oct. 1, 1857. (10) John Sanborn, born July 26, 1856, died July 16, 1886, married Nov. 9, 1881, Minnie H. Fritts. (11) Johanna Stew- art, born July 26, 1856, died April 28, 1899, married June 28, 1882, Joseph R. Allen, and (second) in January, 1892, George Sammons. (IX) Bryan Hill Osborne, born at Franklin, Pa., Aug. 10, 1858, began his education in the public schools there and attended high school at Cleveland, Ohio, where he fitted for college. He studied at Ohio Wesleyan University as a member of the class of 1880, but did not take the full course. He began the study of law in the office of McCalmont & Osborne at Franklin, and was admitted to the bar in 1881, entering upon active practice immediately. His law office has since been maintained at Franklin, and he has attained high distinction in his profession, at the same time filling various offices of trust with which he has been honored, in connection with the administration of the city government. For several terms he was a member of the council, was mayor in 1896, and in 1903, 1905 and 1906 repre- sented his district in the State Legislature, running on the Republican ticket ; in 1916 was one of the presidential electors who supported Hon. Charles E. Hughes. Mr. Osborne's business connections include association with the First National Bank of Franklin, of which he is a director ; Sibley Soap Company ; S. T. Karns' Sons Company and West End Water Company-director of all these and secretary of the Water Company; and he is financially interested in various other enterprises in the vicinity. He has co-operated in the promotion of many projects appealing to men of public spirit in Franklin; is president of the board of trustees of the Franklin Hospital; and a trustee of the State Hospital for the Insane at Warren, Pa. His religious connection is with St. John's Protestant Episcopal Church at Franklin, which he has served as vestryman for some years.

On Dec. 11, 1889, Mr. Osborne married Stella V. Mitchell, daughter of Forster W. and Laura M. (Wilson) Mitchell, of Frank- lin. Pa. They have but one child, Geraldine, born at Franklin, who was married June 16.

1917, to Frederick Studebaker Fish, of South Bend, Indiana.

JOHN HOWARD SMILEY, of Franklin, bears a name which has there been synonymous with integrity and strength of character, and eminent intellectual ability, during a century of praiseworthy citizenship and association with the history of city and county. His father, the late Edwin Wilson Smiley, long prominent as editor and political leader, and for thirty years prior to his death an honored worker in the public service of the State, was one of the representative men of his genera- tion in Pennsylvania.

As far back as the records go, the Smileys seem to have been noteworthy for their sub- stantial traits and general capabilities. Wil- liam Smiley, the first of this line of whom we have definite ' information, came to America from Scotland about the middle of the eight- eenth century and settled near Philadelphia, Pa. He was a descendant of John Smylie, barrister, who lived in Dublin, Ireland, in the seventeenth century, and the coat of arms con- firmed by the Crown through Sir William Betham, knight deputy of Ulster, King of Arms in 1815, and duly recorded, was con- ferred upon his ancestors. William Smiley's children were: John, Thomas and James, Thomas being the next in the line here under consideration. John Smiley settled at Carlisle, Pa., and founded the Cumberland county branch of the family, many of his posterity still living in that and Perry counties. James was the ancestor of another branch of the family settled in this section of Pennsylvania.

Thomas Smiley. son of William, above, was born near Philadelphia, and died about 1824 in Franklin. Venango county, where he set- tled subsequent to his service in the war of 1812. On coming to this locality he first lived along French creek, about one and a half miles below Utica, later disposing of his interests there and removing to Franklin. He was well known in his day as "Uncle Tom." His wife, Mary (Duffield), daughter of William and Elizabeth (Hassan) Duffield, died in 1830. They had children as follows: Armstrong, born May 27, 1810, married June 13, 1832, Dorothy Alt, and died April 11, 1883. Wil- liam, born Sept. 12, 1811, married Jane Kin- near, and died Dec. 29, 1870. John Hassan was the grandfather of John Howard Smiley. James married Elezan Whitacre in 1838, and died July 28, 1844. Philip Duffield, born Aug. 28, 1822, married Mary Scott in 1845, and died

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Nov. 28, 1898. Charlotte was married Nov. 3, 1836, to James Gordon, and died Sept. 12, 1848.

JOHN HASSAN SMILEY was born Aug. 20, 1820, at Franklin, Pa., where he was reared and educated, having such literary training as the public schools then afforded. In his early life he learned the tailor's trade, but later he was in the coal business for a number of years. He took a live interest in public affairs, joined the Republican party, and was elected asso- ciate judge of the Venango county courts, assuming the duties of that office in 1856. In religion he was a Methodist and a prominent member of the church at Franklin, which he served many years as trustee. On Jan. 19, 1837, Mr. Smiley married Nancy McCalmont. His death occurred at Franklin Jan. 8, 1882. They were the parents of children as follows : Mary, born April 10, 1838, married Noah S. Ridgway and had children, Catherine, Frances, Joseph, and Olivia Elizabeth. Emma, born April 5, 1839, married N. K. West, and died in January, 1898, the mother of three children, Clarence, Harry and Margaret. Alexander, born June 17, 1841, died in July, 1842. Joseph McClelland, born March 19, 1843, married Adaline McFate, and died Nov. 24, 1894; his children were Ina, Robert, Effa, Thomas, George, Ruth and Katharine. Edwin Wilson was next in the family. Horatio Stearns, born Dec. 14, 1847, died May 18, 1904; he married Linda McElhenny, and their children were Arthur Wayne and Emma Stella. Frank Dale, born Jan. 21, 1851, married Aug. 12, 1879, Elizabeth Robinson, and had two chil- dren, Edwin Wilson and James Lee. Char- lotte Gordon was born April 8, 1854. Essing- ton Kephart, born July 25, 1856, married Emma F. Neely, and has one child, James Gordon. Alfred McCalmont, born May 14, 1860, married Mary Wenzel, and they have one son, John W.

Edwin Wilson Smiley was born Sept. 12, 1845, in Franklin. There he attended the pub- lic schools and Franklin Academy, graduating from the latter institution when fourteen years old, and shortly afterward, in the fall of 1859, beginning an apprenticeship in the printing office of the American Citizen. In time he be- came a regular compositor, but desiring to make a change on account of his health he gave up this work in 1865 and became a student in the Eastman business college at Poughkeep- sie, N. Y., to prepare himself for a change of occupation. Upon his graduation from that institution he returned to Franklin and took a position with the engineer corps engaged on the construction of the Jamestown & Franklin

railroad, remaining in that work until the road was completed. Then for a short time he was in the coal business with George W. Brigham, but in the fall of 1867 he went back to the American Citizen, to which, with one brief exception, he devoted much of his time and thought for many years thereafter. On April I, 1869, he was solicited by the owners of the Tionesta Republican, a Forest county paper, to publish and edit that paper, which he carried on successfully the year following, returning to Franklin in 1870 and purchasing the Citizen, which was from that time issued by him and his son, in turn, until the plant was destroyed by fire in 1901. H. S. and F. D. Smiley were associated with him in its publication for sev- eral years, until its consolidation with the Independent Press in 1884, when F. D. Smiley retired. From this time the paper was known as the Citizen-Press, and under Mr. Smiley's gifted management became the acknowledged organ of the Republican party in Venango county, being so distinguished for many years. He was recognized as one of the best informed men in the party in his part of Pennsylvania, his knowledge being sufficiently comprehensive to give his opinions the weight of authority. and his vision and clear judgment were such that his conclusions were to be relied upon for accuracy, a fact which made him valuable in counsel. He was frequently a delegate to State conventions, serving in 1872 when Gen- eral Hartranft was nominated for governor, and again in 1873, 1874, 1876 and 1879. Mean- time, in 1875, .he became chairman of the Re- publican county committee, was chosen again in 1876, and served later several times, 1881, 1885-87 and 1889. In 1876 he was elected reading clerk of the Pennsylvania Senate, and filled that position until 1881, in which year he was defeated because of divisions in the party over the election of a United States senator to succeed Mr. Buckalew. In 1883 he was elected journal clerk of the Senate, the following year chief clerk, and was retained in that incum- bency for the rest of his life, a continuous service of over thirty years. In 1888 he was a candidate for the Republican nomination for Congress in the Twentieth district and carried V'enango county by a large majority, but lost in the district. He died in September, 1904. and on Feb. 7, 1905. the State Senate sat in memorial session in his honor, paying well de- served tribute to the superiority of the services he had so long rendered that body. His long experience of legislative business and parlia- mentary procedure, supplementing a compre- hensive general knowledge of men and af-

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fairs, made it possible for him to handle his work with rare intelligence, and gave it a greatly increased value and dignified relation to the proceedings of the Senate which com- manded the attention of all who took a con- scientious interest in their public duties. Nor could any fail to appreciate the impartiality and courtesy with which he performed his task, the friendships which he formed among representatives of all parties showing personal qualities which gained him the affectionate es- teem of all who had relations with him.

In May, 1866, Mr. Smiley was married to Mary Jane Kilgore, daughter of James and Nancy Kilgore, of Mineral township, this county, Rev. John Baine performing the cere- mony. They had three children, born as fol- lows: John Howard, Dec. 24, 1867; Ralph Allen, Dec. 7, 1873 (died April 26, 1900) ; and Jessie, Nov. 13, 1877.

John Howard Smiley is a native of Frank- lin and was reared there, obtaining his early education in the public schools of the city. When he completed the high school course he entered Pennsylvania State College, and re- turning to Franklin became associated with his father in the publication of the Venango Citisen-Press, as assistant editor. Under the close instruction of his father he was well trained in the editorial and executive duties of newspaper management, and when his father retired, five years later, in 1895, he became owner and editor, continuing to publish the paper until the destruction of the plant by fire, in 1901. He has since been successfully following the brokerage business, being a mem- ber of the Pittsburgh Stock Exchange, with offices in the Printz block, at Franklin. He is a director of the Exchange Bank, and in gen- eral maintains the family reputation for mental vigor and cleverness in business, combined with the energy to see through any enterprise in which he becomes interested. On matters af- fecting the general welfare he has been thor- oughly public-spirited, standing by the best in- terests of the community in all movements. He was one of the first councilmen chosen under the commission form of government, holding the position for two years with his customary fidelity to any obligation assumed.

On Feb. 18, 1903, Mr. Smiley was married to Mabel Louise Bowe, daughter of Charles A. and Martha (McGay) Bowe, of Columbus, Ohio, and they have had four children : Louise Bowe (born Dec. 22. 1904), Charles Bowe (born May 6. 1909), John H. (born Feb. 17, 1912) and Edwin W. (born July 14, 1916). The family have a beautiful home at Franklin,

and an attractive place in Maine, where they spend their summers. Socially Mr. Smiley is connected with the Franklin Club, the Wanan- go Country Club, the local lodge of B. P. O. Elks, and is a member of all the local Masonic bodies.

GEORGE WHITTEN MAGEE, M. D., late of Oil City, passed away in his prime after a quarter of a century of successful medical practice, all in Venango county. Medicine was his chosen field of usefulness, and the reputa- tion he attained in that profession alone bears witness to a lifetime of well spent endeavors. He showed the broadest interpretation of its duties, and unselfish standards regarding his personal responsibilities, with a willingness to live up to his principles which greatly increased his labors. Yet even then they did not fill the whole measure of his desire for service to his fellows, which he manifested by taking a def- inite part in securing wise administration of public and private institutions operated in the interest of the general welfare. His sym- pathies were broad and practical, and he never spared himself in demonstrating the sincerity of his views, his honest zeal making him a valued friend of any cause he espoused. Though he died just toward the completion of his fiftieth year he left a record of accomplish- ment which permits no doubt of the quality of his ambitions or his ability to realize them.

Dr. Magee was born July 27, 1864, in Plain- grove, Lawrence Co., Pa., son of James E. Magee, and a descendant in the fifth genera- tion from his first ancestor in America, who settled in Pennsylvania about the time of the Revolution. Though of Scotch origin the family had been established for some time pre- viously in Ireland, whither they removed in the wave of emigration that took place in the lat- ter part of the seventeenth century, carrying large numbers of Scotch Covenanters to north- ern Ireland to escape religious persecution. Between 1720 and 1800 they and their descend- ants sought the freedom which America offered, and among these was Dr. Magee's ancestor, Col. W. A. Magee, an officer of the English army who settled in Philadelphia sup- posedly about 1750-60. The family had been in Ireland for several generations, being found about the middle of the eighteenth century at Rathmullen, in the most northern section of County Donegal, just southwest of Scotland, whence their forbears had emigrated less than a century before. One branch of the family was founded in Philadelphia by Michael Magee, who settled there in 1795, and who was

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a native of Rathmullen, where in 1785 he mar- ried Frances McAdoo.

William Magee, son of Col. W. A. Magee, settled in the Black Log valley in Huntingdon county, Pa. His family consisted of six sons and four daughters, the eldest son and the daughters remaining at the old homestead; of the other five sons, one settled in West Vir- ginia and the rest in Pennsylvania, in Alle- gheny, Mercer, Butler (at Harrisville) and Lawrence counties, respectively.

George Magee, one of the six sons of Wil- liam Magee, was born and reared on the old homestead in Huntingdon county, Pa., and settled in Slippery Rock township, Beaver (now Lawrence) county, where he acquired land and followed farming until his death in May, 1854. His wife, Nancy (Appleby), died before him, in 1851. They had the following children : Mary, Jane, Margery, John, Nicebey and Catherine.

Jahn Magee, son of George and Nancy (Appleby) Magee, was born Dec. 17, 1804, was reared in Lawrence county, and spent his life there engaged in agriculture and stock raising, dying Nov. 23, 1884. On March I, 1831, he married Jane Munnell, who was born Feb. 9, 1813, and died July 31, 1905. We have the following record of their nine children : Rosanna, born Dec. 30, 1831, married Robert McCammon, and resides at Plaingrove, Pa .; James E. was the father of Dr. George W. Magee; Agnes, born June 18, 1836, married Robert Van Horn, and died April 23, 1876; George, born July 11, 1840, was killed at the battle of Bull Run, Sept. 5, 1862; John A., born April 22, 1843, a resident of Plaingrove, is a justice of the peace and registrar of vital statistics ; Martha J., born Aug. 17, 1845, mar- ried John Book, of Plaingrove, and both are deceased, her death occurring Sept. 9, 1882; Margaret E. married J. W. Boak, and died May 27, 1877 : Mary E., born March 20, 1854, married Joseph Seth, and lives at North Lib- erty, Pa .; Sarah C., born Oct. 17, 1859, died Aug. 18, 1894. unmarried.

James E. Magee, father of Dr. George W. Magee, was born May 22, 1834, and died April 26, 1893. He made his home at Plaingrove, where he followed farming and served as tax collector, to which office he was elected on the Republican ticket, which he always supported faithfully. In religious connection he was a Presbyterian. On Nov. 20, 1855, he married Mary Ann Hanna, who was born March 5, 1835, daughter of William Hanna and like him a native of County Donegal, Ireland. She died Dec. 29, 1905. Ten children were born to

Mr. and Mrs. Magee, as follows : Francis W., born May 3. 1857, married Charlotta Cooper and had a daughter Mary, wife of Paul D. Clutton ; Zeldas, born May 31, 1859, married Isaac J. Pizor and had children, Francis W., James C., Ira, Lottie and Mary ; Kathryn J., born Jan. 13, 1862, married Joseph S. Long and had a son Harry; George Whitten was next in the family; James E., born July 2, 1868, married Millie Sproul, and died in 1904 (his children were Frank and Mabel) ; Martha M. was next in the family ; John W. was born Sept. 24, 1871 ; Mary Olive, born March 29. 1873, married Dr. Homer G. Duncan and had a son Paul M. : Martha Myrtle, born July 13, 1877, wife of Samuel W. Bragdon, is living in Colorado Springs, Colo .; Dessie Bird, born May 17, 1881, died in May, 1911.

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Venango County, Pennsylvania: Her Pioneers and People (Volume 1), Part 95

Author: Babcock, Charles A. Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Number of Pages:

Author: Babcock, Charles A.
Publication date: 1879
Publisher:
Number of Pages: