Venango County, Pennsylvania: Her Pioneers and People (Volume 1), Part 98

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 98

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Mr. Speer read law at Oil City, Pa., and was admitted to the bar of Venango county, Pa., in 1889, immediately beginning the prac- tice of law at Oil City, in said county, where he has resided and continued in practice until the present time. He has been unusually suc- cesstul in cases before the Supreme court of the State, involving the construction of the Constitution and Statutes, frequently revers- ing the lower courts. Among such cases in which the lower court was reversed are Cana- van vs. City, where he established the right of a city to maintain uncovered gutters at street crossings; City of Franklin vs. Han- cock, sustaining the constitutionality of the city charter allowing the city to sue in assump- sit for paving assessments; Pettit vs. R. R. Co., holding the railroad company liable for damages to oil properties from a slide caused by excavating the railroad right of way; and recently the case of City vs. Postal Telegraph Company, sustaining the right of the city to compel the telegraph company to put its wires underground, thus enabling the city to remove from its streets the menace of a mass of wires. Perhaps the most notable case won by him was that of Simpson vs. Pennsylvania Rail- road Company, a suit for personal injuries in which he obtained a verdict for plaintiff of $41,500, the largest verdict but one ever ob- tained in Pennsylvania in such a case.

In 1891 Mr. Speer was elected on the Re- publican ticket as district attorney for Venan- go county, and served one term of three years, during which time he personally conducted the prosecutions, with an unusually large percent- age of convictions. He convicted several of a gang of horse thieves and burglars operating through several of the adjoining counties, and effectively broke up their organization. In 1895 he was elected city solicitor for the city of Oil City, and re-elected for five successive terms-eleven years in all. He was elected on the Republican ticket and served as a member of the Pennsylvania legislature in 1897. Dur- ing this session he spoke against and was in- strumental in defeating a most obnoxious bill

Digitized by Google

Pmspeer

Digitized by Google

THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY

Digitized by Google

497

VENANGO COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

known as the Electric Light Bill, which would have prevented cities from owning their own electric light plants. He also had charge of and procured the passage of a bill amending in many essential particulars the law relating to third-class cities, which among other things gave to such cities the right to construct con- duits and compel electric wires to be placed underground. This beneficial act was vetoed by the governor, lest it might confiscate the poles of telegraph companies. In 1910 Mr. Speer was elected on the Republican ticket as a member of the Sixty-second Congress, and served one term. He was renominated in 1912, but was defeated by the split in the Republican party. In Congress he was an earnest sup- porter of a Tariff Commission, of a Work- men's Compensation Law, of the enlargement of our navy and building of more battleships, and of a number of laws improving the condi- tions of labor. He spoke in favor of a Parcel Post Law, which was finally enacted by this Congress, after a struggle of more than a quarter of a century.

Mr. Speer has been president of the Petro- leum Telephone Company since its organiza- tion. It is one of the most successful of the independent telephone companies operating in Oil City, Franklin, Titusville, and the sur- rounding territory. The policy of this com- pany, under his presidency, has been to make connections with farmers' telephone lines, so as to extend the telephone service throughout the country districts, with the result that prac- tically every prominent farmer in the county now has fairly good telephone service.

In 1891, Mr. Speer married Isabella Paul, of Titusville, Pa., who was a graduate of Westminster College with the degree of A. B. She was manager of the Women's Edition of the Oil City Derrick, which the ladies of Oil City published some years ago with great suc- cess, and has been active in and president of the Belles Lettres Club of Oil City, and was at one time a director of the State Federation of Women's Clubs of Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Speer have had two children: A son, Stuart Paul Speer, a graduate of Harvard University and of the Harvard Law School, and now in the United States service as Cap- tain of Infantry; and a daughter, Katharine, married to Thomas M. Brown, of Franklin, Pennsylvania.

ALEXANDER SPEER, of Oakland town- ship, Venango Co., Pa., was a native of Ire- land, of Scotch-Irish ancestry, and came to America in 1840. He had been preceded by 32

two uncles, one of whom was a Dublin Uni- versity man, who for a short time conducted a private school in Philadelphia, but his health failing the two brothers came to Oakland township, Venango county, where they pur- chased a tract of land of about two hundred and twenty-five acres, and began to clear it up. When Alexander came, after working in the rolling mills at Franklin for a short time, and teaching a term of school, he arranged to purchase the farm from his uncles, and re- sided there until his death. He was one of the principal supporting members of the Oak- land United Presbyterian Church, and highly respected for his ability, integrity and fair 'dealing. He was an ardent and active Repub- lican, yet notwithstanding was repeatedly elected justice of the peace, although the town- ship was overwhelmingly Democratic. | He succeeded in having practically every case that was brought before him settled, persuading his neighbors to avoid litigation, and always throwing off his costs to obtain a settlement.

Mr. Speer was married to Grizzey Ann Hays, also of Scotch-Irish descent, and they had seven children, five of whom survive : Wil- liam J. and Rebecca, residing on the home- stead; Mrs. Mary Fleming and Robert N., re- siding in Franklin; and Peter M., residing at Oil City. Both the parents lived to be seyenty- six years of age, dying within a year of each other.

SAMUEL PLUMER. eldest son of Arnold and Margaret (McClelland) Plumer, was born April 2, 1830, in Franklin, Pa., and died Oct. 8, 1902. He received his rudimentary educa- tion in the schools of his native town, after- ward taking a two years' course in the academy at Jamestown, N. Y., and then entering Alle- gheny College, Meadville, Pa., where he studied two years more. He read law under the guid- ance of Judge Alexander McCalmont, obtain- ing admission to the bar July 7, 1852, and im- mediately began practice. Forming a partner- ship with Edwin C. Wilson, he maintained the connection during the ensuing three years. In the autumn of 1855 Mr. Plumer removed to Minnesota, where he practiced his profession until the spring of 1857, when he was appointed by President Buchanan as register of the land office for southern Minnesota, serving in this capacity most creditably until the beginning of the Lincoln administration. Returning then to Franklin, he there associated himself in the practice of law with James K. Kerr. His thorough equipment, profound and compre- hensive learning and great innate ability caused

Digitized by Google

498

VENANGO COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

Mr. Plumer to be recognized as an acknowl- edged leader of the local bar, and he soon at- tracted an extended and important clientele.

Mr. Plumer continued active in his profes- sion until the death of his father, but being then elected president of the First National Bank of Franklin he thenceforth devoted his attention to the affairs of that institution. taking an influential part in the promotion of its interests. His talents as a financier were of a high order, and his executive force was of the greatest service in the development of the important enterprise of which he was the head. As a true citizen, Mr. Plumer ever ac- corded to every movement tending to promote the general welfare his ready support and hearty cooperation. Always steadfastly ad- hering to the principles of the Democratic party, he was a vigilant and attentive observer of men and measures, and possessed to a re- markable degree the ability to read "the signs of the times." No good work done in the name of charity or religion appealed to him in vain. In combination with strong mental endow- ments, Mr. Plumer possessed generous im- pulses and a chivalrous sense of honor. He was a man whom it was a delight to know. His very presence conveyed the impression of those sterling qualities of manhood which were so strikingly manifested throughout his career, and a genial nature which recognized and appreciated the good in others surrounded him with devoted friends. His countenance and bearing showed him to be what he was-a true and kindly gentleman and an upright, coura- geous man. In his death the community lost a member of exceptional ability, great reliance and unswerving loyalty. Respected by all, he was loved by many, and those who were ad- mitted to his intimacy felt that in losing him they had lost a part of themselves, and that life could never again be as complete as it had been. The resolutions adopted by the Venango County Bar Association were strongly expres- sive of the high esteem in which he was held. the following extracts being especially sig- nificant :

Samuel Plumer, the seventh in descent from two New England families who landed upon the shores of Massachusetts early in the seventeenth century. the fifth in descent from the first of his race to settle in Pennsylvania, and the third from the pioneer of his name in Venango county, was an American in the truest and broadest sense. He inherited the personal qualities and principles which have made America great, and cultivated that veneration for the Consti- tution of his country and for the laws made in pur- suance thereof without the general prevalence of which American citizenship will be but a name and American greatness can not endure.

Mr. Plumer married Mary Mytinger, of Harrisburg, Pa., who died Aug. 21, 1878. They were the parents of two sons: Lewis Mytinger, an attorney at law and resident of Pittsburgh, Pa., for past forty-two years; and Arnold Gilmore, the latter deceased. In No- vember, 1879, Mr. Plumer married (second ) Eleanor Bosler, of Philadelphia. A man of strong domestic tastes and affections, Mr. Plumer passed his happiest hours in the home circle, and all who were ever privileged to be his guests could testify that he was an incom- parable host.

JOHN JAMES McLAURIN, only child of Peter and Ann (Buchanan) McLaurin, both natives of Scotland, was born on a farm close to the northern border of Glengarry county, Ontario, where his paternal grandfather, John McLaurin, rounded out a century of active pio- neer life, coming from the estate in the land of the heather and glen long famous for "St. Fillan's Well" and tenanted by his ancestors since the days when raiding their Lowland neighbors and stealing English cattle were the chief pursuits of the rugged Highlanders. His mother, fifth daughter of the Rev. Dr. George Buchanan, first minister, physician and teacher of Beckwith township, Lanark county, who married Ann Aitkin, cousin of the renowned Thomas Carlyle, and was for forty-five years a leading Presbyterian divine across the seas and in Canada, left a widow with an infant, re- moved to Vankleek Hill and later to Montreal, schooling her son there and in Toronto. She was a noble Christian woman, finely educated, familiar with the classics, zealous for the right, notably successful in establishing and conduct- ing Sunday schools, a frequent contributor to the religious press and a profound student of the Scriptures, memorizing most of the Bible and such works as Milton's "Paradise Lost," Cowper's "Task," and Pollock's "Course of Time." In a recent interview John J. Mc- Laurin furnished these biographical details :

"It was my luck to clerk in a country store at thirteen, keeping the books and handling the accounts : to teach two rural schools while in my teens, and to begin my literary career as local editor of the Perth Courier, a weekly newspaper, scouring the district for pertinent paragraphs and paying subscribers. The pe- troleum development luring me to Oil creek along in the sixties, contributing items to the . Titusville Herald, the Rouseville Bulletin and the Oil City Times, most of them written 'on tower' between midnight and dawn, varied the program of producing seven-dollar crude.

Digitized by Google

----

499

VENANGO COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

Selling my interests on Cherry run and locat- ing in Canal township, a test well a mile be- yond Hannaville pumped the darkest stripe of heavy oil and a morsel of light green for two years. Nov. 23, 1872, started me with the Oil City Derrick as its first traveling representa- tive, with the entire petroleum regions as my parish and positive instructions to 'get the news regardless of man or devil.' Adventure and excitement, accident and incident, tragedy and comedy, filled to overflowing four years of what the late John D. Archbold often termed 'the busiest life in oildom,' bringing me into touch with nearly every prolific tract and personal acquaintance with nearly every operator and man of affairs from Richburg to Sistersville. Much of my time was spent traversing the oil fields afoot or on horseback, two thirds of each year through mud prac- tically unfathomable. The 'monthly oil re- ports,' always a leading feature, demanded careful attention and abundant labor, requir- ing regular trips to all producing sections in the rushing. hustling world of petroleum. It is a proud reflection to be able to look everybody squarely in the eye and declare that never once was wilful injury done any creature and that no figure or estimate was ever changed or colored a single iota to favor or damage any company, firm, individual or interest. Eighteen 'oil towns' visited in one day and their happen- ings dished up in print next morning estab- lished a record that has stood for four decades. A twelve-month followed in Kentucky and Tennessee, leasing eight hundred thousand acres of land in a score of counties, buy- ing farms and drilling wells for the Boston Oil Company, a strong corporation headed by Frederic Prentice, in his day a big fac- tor in petroleum matters. Few of the people then prominent remain to tell the tales of yore and none of the Derrick force at that period is still at the helm. My happy marriage to Elizabeth Cochran, daughter of a well-known and highly esteemed citizen of Franklin, preceded a second term with the Derrick at Bradford and some years of edit- ing in Harrisburg, meanwhile issuing several books, two of which-'The Story of Johns- town' and 'Sketches in Crude Oil'-circulated largely in the United States and Europe. Three years of strenuous mining for gold in the Black Hills of South Dakota ended with my return to Franklin, at peace with God and man, nursing no grudges and harboring no vain re- grets. to dwell in the delightful home bright- ened and beautified by the dearest and truest of devoted wives. The closing laps of the

earthly journey find me healthy and alert, sound in wind and limb, wearing my own home- grown teeth and hair, tobogganing down the western slope and facing the sunset unafraid, looking backward cheerfully and forward hopefully, striving to 'do my bit' humbly and worthily, and neither seeking nor shirking fresh duties and responsibilities. Providence permitting, it is my purpose next spring and summer again to tour the American and Canadian oil-diggings, to renew former asso- ciations, gain new friends, note time's changes, size up prospective territory and swing around the circle according to Hoyle."

ALFRED SMEDLEY is living retired after a long and honorable career in business activities and official life in Venango county. Born March 29, 1839, on a farm in Willistown township, Chester Co., Pa., five miles east of West Chester, he is of Quaker stock estab- lished in Pennsylvania since its settlement by the Penns, with whom his first ancestor in this country, George Smedley, came over in 1682.

George Smedley, a native of Derbyshire, England, came to Pennsylvania as stated in 1682, and bought 250 acres of land from the proprietaries, spending the remainder of his life in Willistown township, Chester county, where he died in March, 1723. In May, 1687, he was married at Friends Meeting in Phila- delphia to Sarah Goodwin, widow of John Goodwin and daughter of Thomas Kitchen, of Dublin township, then in Philadelphia county. She died in Willistown March 16, 1709, and they are buried probably in the cemetery of the Middletown meeting-house. Their children were: Thomas, Mary, George, Sarah and Alice.

Thomas Smedley, son of George, above, was born Feb. 15. 1688, in Middletown township, and died in Willistown March 9, 1758. On Aug. 26, 1710, he was married at Middletown Meeting to Sarah Baker, daughter of Joseph and Mary Baker, of Edgemont township, who was born in England in 1682 and died in Willistown March 14, 1765, aged eighty-three years, two months. Mr. and Mrs. Smedley are buried at Middletown meeting-house. They had six children : Francis, John, Sarah, Mary, Thomas and George.

John Smedley, son of Thomas, was born Nov. 22, 1714. and died in August, 1793. In 1772 he married Susanna (Dawson) Cowgill, who was born July 2. 1746, in what was then Radnor township, Philadelphia county, now Delaware county, opposite Christ Church, daughter of Benjamin and Elizabeth (Fus- sell) Dawson, of Smyrna, Del., and died Nov.

Digitized by Google

500

VENANGO COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

29, 1834. The children of this union were: Elizabeth, Thomas, Dawson, Esther, John, Susanna, Benjamin, Mary, Isaac and Jacob.

John Smedley, son of John and Susanna, born Sept. 7, 1777, died Oct. 15, 1825, and is buried in Willistown. On Oct. 23, 1800, he was married at Bradford meeting-house to Rebecca Cope, daughter of Nathan and Amy (Bane) Cope, of East Bradford township, and they reared a large family, viz .: Nathan, Ben- jamin (who married Jane Williams), Enos (who married Hannah Sharpless), Jeffrey, Nathan (2), Ezra, John, Thomas, Amy C., Ellwood and Chalkley. The mother is buried at West Chester.

John Smedley, son of John and Rebecca, was born Jan. 11, 1814, on the same farm in Willistown township where his son Alfred was born, possibly in the same house. He was a lifelong farmer, the last of the family to occupy that part of the original tract pur- chased from William Penn by his ancestor George Smedley, and sold the property, buying another farm near West Chester where he spent the rest of his days, his death occurring on that place March 20, 1855. He is buried in Willistown township, Chester county, and his wife, Sarah (Lewis), born Feb. 20, 1812, died Sept. 21, 1887, is interred at Bradford, Mc- Kean Co., Pa. They were married April 5, 1838, at Willistown meeting-house, she being a daughter of Elijah and Esther (Massey) Lewis, of Willistown. Children as follows were born of this marriage: Alfred is men- tioned below ; Elijah, born Jan. 10, 1841, lives in Bradford, Pa .; Thomas D., born Sept. 15, 1842, married Jane Martin; Anna L., born Sept. 3, 1844, died April 12, 1865; Esther M., born Oct. 4, 1846, married Homer O. Brooks ; Mary D., born Feb. 22, 1849. married William P. Gordon ; John H., born May 21, 1851, died Jan. 7, 1882, and is buried at Bradford, Pa .; Jane G., born Nov. 25, 1853, married Charles P. G. Scott.

Henry Lewis, emigrant ancestor of Mrs. Sarah (Lewis) Smedley, was the son of Evan and Margaret (Philpur) Lewis. He was mar- ried Jan. 12, 1670, and in 1680 came to this country from Narberth, Pembrokeshire, Wales. settling in Haverford township (now in Dela- ware county), in Pennsylvania. His son Henry, born Oct. 26. 1671, was mar- ried Oct. 20, 1692. to Mary Taylor, daugh- ter of Robert and Mary. Their son John, born March 23, 1697, married Nov. 6, 1725, Kath- erine Roberts. Their son Evan Lewis was married Oct. 31. 1770, to Esther Massey, born Dec. 15, 1740, daughter of Thomas (Jr.) and

Sarah (Taylor) Massey, of Willistown; his second marriage, on Dec. 20, 1774, was to Jane Meredith, who was born Jan. 12, 1742, daugh- ter of John and Grace (Williams) Meredith, of Vincent township. Elijah Lewis, son of Evan and Jane (Meredith) Lewis, born May 2, 1778, married Sept. 19, 1799, at Willistown Meeting, Esther Massey, born May 17, 1777. daughter of Thomas and Jane and granddaugh- ter of Thomas and Sarah Massey.

Alfred Smedley lived on the farm until nine- teen or twenty years old, meantime acquiring his education in the township schools and get- ting the ordinary experience of rural training. Then he took a civil engineering course in the Polytechnic School at Philadelphia conducted by Dr. Kennedy, studying there until after he attained his majority, soon after which, in the fall of 1861, he enlisted from that city as a member of Company D, 14th Pennsylvania Cavalry, commanded by Capt. George Stroud and Col. James E. Shoonmaker. The regiment, recruited mostly from western Pennsylvania, was attached to the Army of West Virginia under General Averill, and was engaged largely in scout duty, participating in many skirmishes on the border of West Virginia. Mr. Smedley served until December, 1864. receiving his discharge at Philadelphia, and as his mother had in the meantime sold the home farm he rejoined her at West Chester. In Jan- uary, 1865, he came to Oil City, where he im- mediately became engaged in the oil fields, drilling wells along the Allegheny river during the next two years. The first one he sank was owned by David Stranford. His association with Lewis & Bonsall (Col. M. Lewis being the senior partner), as manager of their properties. covered the period following until 1873 and enlarged his experience of local oil conditions considerably, their holdings being mostly in Venango county, along the river. Thereafter until 1875 he was engaged by different pipe line companies as engineer, when he became manager of the Atlantic Pipe Lines, and as they were merged into the ownership of the Standard Oil Company, founded in 1878, he continued under the new management with in- creased duties and higher responsibilities, at the time of his retirement, in 1915. being chief engineer of the National Transit Company, a subsidiary of the Standard Oil Company. Mr. Smedley also became interested in oil produc- tion on his own account, but he has disposed of all his holdings.

Few residents of Oil City have equalled Alfred Smedley in public spirit or definite achievements relating to its social and material

Digitized by Google

501

VENANGO COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

advancement. The excellent water system now in operation there is due largely to his untiring efforts, for he was a member of the water board at the time it was inaugurated and worked zealously for its installation. He served as president of the board for fifteen years, up to the time that the commission form of government was adopted. For two terms he represented the Fourth ward in the common council, and was president of that body during his second term. Mr. Smedley's interest in matters affecting the general welfare began early. While a resident of Bradford, Pa., he served seven years on the school board and was a member of the teachers' committee. His first presidential vote was cast for Lincoln, and he has been loyal to the principles of the Re- publican party ever since. Fraternally Mr. Smedley is a Mason, affiliated with Edenburg Lodge, No. 550, F. & A. M., Franklin Chapter, No. 211. R. A. M., and Talbot Commandery, No. 43. K. T., of Oil City.

Mr. Smedley had one child by his first mar- riage, to Ellen McNamara, who was born in November, 1847, in Crawford county, Pa., daughter of George and Jane (Ewing) Mc- Namara, and died aged forty-one years. Their son, George M., born in December, 1874, was prepared for college in the local schools, at- tending Oil City high school, and was gradu- ated from Cornell University as a civil en- gineer, being engaged in that capacity by the Standard Oil Company until his death, at the age of twenty-five years. For his second wife Mr. Smedley married Laura Mease, who was born at Colfax. Cal., and they make their home at No. 202 West First street, Oil City. Mrs. Smedley attends the Episcopal Church, Mr. Smedley retaining his membership in the Society of Friends.

Dr. I. W. Mease, grandfather of Mrs. Smed- ley. was a native of Lebanon, Pa., and died aged seventy-five years at Shippensville, Clar- ion county, where he and his wife are buried. He was a graduate of Jefferson Medical Col- lege, Philadelphia, and practiced medicine at Shippensville to the end of his long life. His wife, Sarah (Tipton), died at the age of sixty- five years. Their religious association was with the Methodist Church.

Dr. U. G. Mease, only child of Dr. I. W. Mease. was a native of Shippensville, Clarion Co., Pa., received his higher education at Alle- gheny College and Jefferson Medical College, and started practice at Plumer, Venango county, where he was located for ten years. For about six years he practiced at Bradford, Pa .; spent a few years in Buffalo, N. Y .; and

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Venango County, Pennsylvania: Her Pioneers and People (Volume 1), Part 98

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

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