Bios: Selected Bios K-Z : History of Fayette County, by Franklin Ellis, 1882: Fayette Co, PA Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Marta Burns. marta43@juno.com USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: Printing this file within by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. We encourage links to the state and county table of contents. http://www.usgwarchives.net/ ______________________________________________________________________ History of Fayette County, by Franklin Ellis, Philadelphia, L H Everts and Company, 1882. ______________________________________________________________________ INDEX KERN LAUGHLIN, John McILVAINE, Robert Andrew MILLER, Ludwig NUTT, Adam Clarke PEIRSOL/PEIRSEL PLAYFORD, Robert W PHILLIPS, Theophilus REIST, Christian RESLER, Daniel ROGERS RUSH, Sebastian SHANK, John SHEARER, Jacob SHREVE PARTY SMITH, Robert STONEROAD, Joel STRICKLER, Stewart SWEARINGEN, John and Van TRADER, William H WELLS, Tunis WILLSON ______________________________________________________________________ p753 The KERN family emigrated from Holland to Eastern Pennsylvania about 1700. From thence some of the family moved to Westmoreland county, settling in the neighborhood of Jones Mill. There one of the family was killed by Indians while returning home from a visit with a neighbor; several of those who had accompanied him escaping. Among some of the above family were Micheal Kern, William Kern, George Kern and Peter Kern. The latter died in Westmoreland County; George Kern becoming a resident of Washington County. William Kern served in the Revolution and after the war married Catherine Hoover. He moved to Springfield, buying out the claim of a man who held a tomahawk right to a tract of land in the present Murray district. On this land he died about 1837 at the age of ninety one years. He reared sons named: Solomon Kern, Abraham Kern, William Kern, Jacob Kern, Jonathan Kern, Joshua Kern, and daughters who married Joseph Eicher and George Nicholson. Solomon Kern was born in the township and died in 1862, at the age of eighty one years, his father being probably one of the very first settlers and he one of the first born in Springfield. Solomon Kern was a carpenter by trade and made many of the early carding machines. He also had in operation wood carding (shouldn't this be wool carding??) machinery in different parts of the State. For a time he was engaged in the Baldwin machine shops at Connellsville, but finally settled on a farm west of Springfield village, which is at present the home of his son, Judge John Kern. Other sons were: Josiah Kern, Solomon Kern, and Simon Kern. His daughters married Samuel Davis, Henry Gebhart, Henry Griffin and Aaron Hart. Abraham Kern, the second son of William Kern, removed to Ohio; William Kern, the third son, married Nancy White and lived and died on the Kooser place. Jacob Kern lived a little south of Springfield village where he died about twenty eight years ago. He was the father of George Kern and William Kern, both of the township. His sons, Abraham Kern and David Kern, died in the Rebellion. Jonathan Kern, the fifth son of William Kern, became a resident of Greene county, and Joshua Kern, the youngest son and only survivor, lives on Indian Creek, more than eighty years old. He has sons named William M Kern and George Kern yet living in the township; and John Kern and James Kern died in the war for the Union. The Kerns have become one of the largest and best known families in Springfield. page 726 JOHN LAUGHLIN, a conspicuous character in Redstone's early history, tomahawked a four hundred acre claim that included the present Benjamin Phillips and Colvin places. Laughlin was a bachelor, a farmer of some enterprise, and employed slave labor almost exclusively. He must have occupied his land as early as 1780, if not before. He was esteemed a man of considerable wealth, and was noted for keeping a large amount of it, in the form of gold and silver, tied up in a pair of buckskin breeches. Once, when he lay quite ill, he sent for his neighbors, William Colvin, Thomas Wells and Samuel Grable, whom he requested to count in his and each other's presence the gold and silver that was within the buckskin breeches. That task they performed and left him satisfied, and his mind relieved. Contrary to his expectations, however, he did not die that time, but he did die about six months later; and then, strange to relate, not a vestige of either his buckskin breeches or the wealth they contained could be found. There were many conjectures as to what became of the money, and many faithful searches in every place of supposable concealment, but every search was fruitless, and the disappearance remained as much a mystery as ever in the end. People whose cupidity outran their judgement dug upon the present Benjamin Phillips farm in various places and under cover of night, hoping to unearth the treasure which then was and today is confidently believed by some persons to be hidden in the earth, placed there they say by the hands of old John Laughlin himself; but as the case stands at present, they are not likely to learn whether their theories are or are not correct. Mr Laughlin's death occurred shortly after the year 1800, and although his silver and gold were not found, he left behind him a bountiful supply of this world's goods for those who came after him. He had been an excellent master to his slaves, and in his will left to each one a substantial reminder of his thoughtful care. Laughlin was not only a kindly-disposed and gentle master to his servants, he was an earnest and faithful worshipper at the Dunlap's Creek Church, despite the fact that he was not a member thereof. For a long time it was the generally accepted belief that he was a member, and indeed, the church members themselves were so convinced that he was one of them that they chose him a ruling elder. When they learned from his own lips that he had never been in membership, they were both surprised and disappointed. That one so devout and regular in attendance upon church meetings could be without the circle did not once occur to them. John Laughlin was as precise in his dress as in his manners, and as famous almost for his knee breeches, slippers, silver buckles and perique, as he was for his simple and correct methods of speech and honorable dealings with his fellow men. He followed the business of distilling to a considerable extent, and kept his neighbors as well as his own farmhands well supplied with the juice of the grain. An old manuscript in the possession of Mr Benjamin Phillips purports to be an order from some person (signature missing) upon John Laughlin for delivery to John Miller of two gallons of whisky "the day he begins to reap and not before." John Fulton, who located upon the present Samuel Colvin farm about 1800, died there in 1818. One of the daughters of his son, John L Fulton, is Mrs Benjamin Phillips. p538 Dunbar Township, Fayette County, Penna ROBERT ANDREW McILVAINE The Scotch Irish McIlvaines of America point to Ayrshire, Scotland, as the home of their ancestors and revert to a period as far back as 1315 when Edward, brother of Robert Bruce, led a large force into Ireland with the purpose of expelling the English troops from the soil of Erin, great numbers of his soldiers and retainers remaining in Ireland and founding what is known as the Scotch Irish race, many of whom migrated to America in colonial times, and among whom were the ancestors of Robert Andrew McIlvaine of New Haven, Fayette County, Penna, whose father, John McIlvaine, was a native of Delaware, where in 1796 he married Sarah White by whom he had ten children, six born in Delaware. In 1813 he with his family left his native State in the latter part of June for Washington County, Penna, arriving there after a tedious journey, a great undertaking in those days, in the early part of August and locating on Pike Run. In the same county two of his uncles, George McIlvaine and Grier McIlvaine, were then living and also two of his brothers-in-law, Fisher White and James White. On the 25th of August, 1814, his son Robert Andrew McIlvaine was born, and in October of the same year, John McIlvaine moved to Connellsville where he lived until March, 1815, when he moved across the river into New Haven, a town at that time comprising about twenty dwellings and a few shops. Here in 1815 Mrs McIlvaine taught a small school and counted among her pupils Margaret Connell and Eliza Connell, daughters of Zachariah Connell, the founder of Connellsville. This school was one of the pioneer educational enterprises of the village. While living there three children were born to Mr McIlvaine: Sarah McIlvaine, Isaac McIlvaine, and Eliza McIlvaine. The parents instructed their children in the precepts and practices of Christianity and endeavored to impress them with a sense of the importance of habits of industry and frugality. John McIlvaine died in 1850 in his seventy ninth year, Sarah his wife having gone before him in 1835 in her fifty second year. Of their ten children only four survive: Mary Tarr, the oldest survivor, a resident of Bethany, Westmoreland County, Penna, in her seventy sixth year: James McIlvaine, aged seventy three, now of Washington County, Penna, a gentleman distinguished for his benevolence as well as great business ability; Isaac McIlvaine, the youngest survivor, residing near Pittsburgh, Penna; and Robert A McIlvaine, the subject of this sketch, who is sixty seven years of age and lives in New Haven where he has spent the greater part of his life, actively identified with the business and growth of the place, In the early part of 1853 Mr McIlvaine, after having been engaged with the ordinary share of success in various avocations of life, entered upon the business of a druggist, earning an exceptional reputation therein for scientific accuracy in the compounding of medicines, and securing the confidence of a large circle of customers thereby, as well as augmenting his own financial resources. From this business he withdrew in 1876, and though keeping a watchful eye over his affairs, now lives in comparative retirement, unpretentious in his habits, and greatly preferring to fields of public duty the quiet enjoyments of home. In May, 1841, Mr McIlvaine married Miss Susan King, an estimable young lady and former resident of Westmoreland County, Penna. Of this union four children were born, the first not surviving its birth. The others, Josephine McIlvaine, Gertrude McIlvaine, and Ada McIlvaine, grew up to maturity and were in proper time given the best educational advantages at command. Josephine McIlvaine graduated at Beaver Female Seminary and Institute; Gertrude McIlvaine at the Washington Female Seminary; and Ada was educated at the Moravian Seminary at Bethlehem, Penna. In 1868 Gertrude McIlvaine was married to Thomas R Torrence of New Haven. In 1871 Mr McIlvaine lost his daughter Josephine who died only four months before her mother, Mrs Susan K McIlvaine, who expired in the fifty second year of her age. In 1872 Ada McIlvaine married Dr Ellis Phillips of New Haven. Mr McIlvaine and all his children are members of the Episcopal Church, the office of senior warden having been filled by him since 1854. He has five living grandchildren: Josephine Torrence; Catharine Torrance; and Robert McIlvaine Torrence; and Ada Phillips and James McIlvaine Phillips, two having died in infancy: Thomas Torrence and Gertrude Ellisa Phillips. p743 LUDWIG MILLER was born in Somerset county but in 1800 moved to the present Christner farm in the southern part of Salt Lick township where he died in 1845. His son, Jacob H Miller, was just a year old when his parents settled in the township. He yet resides in the eastern part of Salt Lick, one of the oldest and most hale men in the county. For twenty five years he was a justice of the peace and in that period of time joined two hundred and forty couples in matrimony, a very large number considering the sparsely settled condition of the country. The other sons of Ludwig Miller were Ludwig H Miller, who moved to Ohio; George H Miller, who died near Sparks Mill; Henry H Miller, whose death was caused by falling from a horse; Abraham H Miller, who died in Springfield; Frederick H Miller, who fell from a cherry tree and was killed; John H Miller, removed to Ohio; and Isaac H Miller, the youngest, died in the township. The daughters married Christian Bungard; Ludwig Hart; Jacob Bungard; George Sleasman; and Henry Cassell. There were thirteen children in all, and when Mrs Ludwig Miller died at the age of eighty six, she had one hundred and fifty grandchildren and two hundred great grandchildren, some of her children being parents to eighteen and twenty children. Nearly all the Millers in Salt Lick originated from this family and have displayed remarkable unanimity in their political predilections. At the late Presidential election, the family cast twenty votes for General Hancock. John Harbaugh, who resided for many years on the headwaters of Poplar Run, was a grandson of the Millers. He received from General Jackson a hickory cane which passed from him to the Millers and is cherished by them as a memorial of the stern old hero of New Orleans. p489 Bullskin Township, Fayette County, Penna At Pennsville and north of the village, a large tract of land was settled early by PETER NEWMEYER. He died in 1836, aged seventy five years and was interred in the cemetery at the Baptist church. His sons who attained manhood were named: Jacob Newmeyer, David Newmeyer; Samuel Newmeyer and Jonathan Newmeyer; and his daughters married: Betsey Newmeyer, Henry Strickler of Tyrone township; Mary Newmeyer, Christian Newcomer of Tyrone township; Ann Newmeyer, David Shallenbarger who lived on the Sherrick place; Rachel Newmeyer, Abraham Shallenbarger who lived on the adjoining farm; Susan Newmeyer, Henry Arnold of Connellsville; Hattie Newmeyer married Edward Riggs; Jacob Newmeyer married Ann Shallenbarger and died in Tyrone; David Newmeyer moved to Ohio; Samuel Newmeyer married Elizabeth Stauffer and removed to the West; Jonathan Newmeyer married Mary Strickler and lived on the home place till his death, May 15, 1879 at the age of eighty years. None of the family remain in the (Bullskin) township. Abraham SHALLENBARGER and David Shallenbarger lived on the fine farms west of Pennsville until their deaths. The former had sons named Jacob Shallenbarger; John Shallenbarger; Abraham Shallenbarger; and David Shallenbarger, all deceased. The sons of David Shallenbarger were John Shallenbarger, Henry Shallenbarger, Abraham Shallenbarger and David Shallenbarger. The Shallenbarger farm is now well known as the home of A H Sherrick, whose family were pioneers in Westmoreland County. p358 Connellsville Borough and Twp, Fayette Co, Penna ADAM CLARKE NUTT, present cashier of the National Bank of Fayette County, is the son of Joseph Nutt, a farmer, and Anna Randolph, his wife, who was born on the 8th of January, 1839. Although the 8th was "New Orleans Day" and the elder Nutt a strong Democrat, he was also an ardent Methodist and his Methodism then getting the better of him, the boy was named for the great commentator instead of Andrew Jackson. Both the families Nutt and Randolph migrated into western Pennsylvania from New Jersey and were of Quaker stock. Joseph Nutt, the father, died in California in 1851, when Adam Clarke Nut was twelve years old. The boy was sent to the common schools and for one term attended the graded school taught by L F Parker in Bridgeport in the fall of 1855, walking to and from school daily a distance of three miles each way. There he studied geometry and Latin. After private studies conducted at home, he entered the preparatory department of Allegheny College in Meadville in 1856, and supporting himself by teaching during the winter months, graduated from the college in 1861 with the highest honors of his class as valedictorian. While connected with the college he paid much attention to general literature and received the Woodruff prize for the best essay in the Philo-Franklin Literary Society on the subject propounded for competition, "The Western Continent as a field of laudable ambition." In the war of the Rebellion he was connected with a three month company in 1861. From October, 1862, to July 29, 1863, he served as a private soldier in the One Hundred and Twelfth Pennsylvania Volunteers and from the last mentioned date to October 31, 1863, he was captain of the Third United States Colored Troops under Captain B C Tilghman. He participated in the siege of Fort Wagner and in operations on Morris Island until February 8, 1864. He went into Florida under Gen Truman Seymour in the Olustee campaign, being for a time in the brigade commaned by Gen Joseph R Hawley. After the disaster at Olustee, he was engaged in fortifications around Jacksonville, Florida, until April, 1863, and subsequently commanded the post at Lake City, Florida, until October of that year. And here may be mentioned a matter of national history with which he was connected while at Lake City and which may otherwise escape record in connection with Payne, who attempted to kill Secretary Seward at the time of the assassination of President Lincoln. The government wishing to fix the identity of Payne, Gen Foster sent Captain Nutt on the delicate mission of visiting the alleged family of Payne and securing the evidence; the result of his mission being the determining of the fact that Payne's correct name was Lewis Thornton Powell, and that he was the son of a Baptist minister living about twelve miles from Lake City. Captain Nutt returned home in December, 1863, and in April, 1866, removed to Uniontown where he has since resided. He read law with Hon Daniel Kaine, and was admitted to the bar in December, 1868, practiced a while and came connected in 1871 as a teller with the National Bank of Fayette County where he has meanwhile served having been cashier since August 20, 1878. He was Republican candidate for prothonotary of Fayette County in 1881, and was beaten by only one hundred and eighty seven votes by Col Thomas B Searight, the Democratic candidate, in a proverbially Democratic County, many leading Democrats openly voting for Captain Nutt in honor of his talents and moral worth. Captain Nutt holds a high place among his neighbors as a man of integrity, but above all he is esteemed as a gentleman of large information and accurate scholarship. He has contributed considerably to the best literature of the day, and while enjoying enviable repute as an incisive and effective off-hand and political stump speaker, has occasionally delivered upon history, education, and kindred subjects public lectures of a character, both as to their embodied thoughts and rhetorical methods, which places him in the front rank of thinkers and writers. PS. Since the above went to press, Captain Nutt has resigned his post as cashier of the Fayette County Bank and has been appointed cashier of the State treasury under Gen Baily, the State treasurer. Harrisburg will open to him a wider and more important field than Uniontown, a field which he cannot but ably fill. p721 PEIRSOL Among the old families of Perry township we find the name of PEIRSOL. The first of the family to settle in Fayette County was William Peirsol/Peirsel, who bought of Thomas Estel in 1784 the farm now owned by James Peirsol and Lewis Peirsol. He was married to Miss Grace Cope, and was born according to the Cope genealogical history, about the year 1748. For a time Mr Peirsol lived in a rudely built cabin which in time gave way to a log house, which at that time was considered a model of elegance and comfort, and which still stands on the farm of James Peirsol In this he resided till his death at a ripe old age. His children were: John Peirsol, born 1782; Sarah Peirsol, born 1785; Jeremiah Peirsol, born 1787; Samuel Peirsol, born 1789; Mary Peirsol, born 1792; Elizabeth Peirsol, born 1794; William Peirsol, born 1797; and James Peirsol, the subject of this sketch, born May 29, 1799 All of the children grew to man's and woman's estate. On the 29th day of June, 1823, James Peirsol was married to Elizabeth Gue who was born October 2, 1806. To them have been born: John Peirsol, June 10, 1825; Mary Jane Peirsol, December 2, 1827; James A Peirsol, February 5, 1830; Sarah Peirsol, February 6, 1832; Joseph Peirsol, July 4, 1834; Emeline Peirsol, February 2, 1837; Edith Peirsol, March 17, 1739; Nancy V Peirsol, May 6, 1842; and Jacob L Peirsol, November 28, 1851. After his marriage he went to Ohio and settled on a tract of wild land owned by his father Here he remained four years clearing away the forests and improving the farm when not engaged in his favorite pursuit of hunting, of which he was passionately fond, and at which he became an expert Not liking his new home he returned at the expiration of the four years, his place being filled by an older brother. On the death of his father the old homestead fell to him, on which he still resides and to which he has added until it now comprises 300 acres of valuable land For more than thirty years, Mr Peirsol has been a consistent member of the Baptist Church and through a long life has been an honored and respected citizen. p667 JEREMIAH PEIRSEL was born in what is now Perry township, March 4, 1787, and died in Menallen township, November 20, 1880. He was of Welsh descent and educated in the common schools He was married to Mary Beal of Menallen township in 1810. They had twelve children, seven sons and five daughters He was always a farmer and located upon the farm where his son Samuel Peirsel now resides in 1824, and remained there until his death. He was an exemplary member of the old Redstone Baptist church for more than sixty years. He never held a political office; never had a lawsuit; never had any difficulties with his neighbors His long life was due in a measure, not doubt, to his amiable disposition. He had all the good qualities that usually attend a lovable disposition He belonged to a long-lived family. The average age of himself, brothers and sisters is eighty years. His father, William Peirsel/Peirsol, came to Fayette County from Chester County, Penna, early in life. He married Grace Cope. They had eight children. Jeremiah Peirsel was the third. William Peirsel died in 1848, supposed to be over one hundred years old. Grace died in 1854, aged ninety four. Seven of the children of Mr Peirsel are living: Elizabeth Peirsel married to James McLaughlin; Samuel Peirsel married to Maria Radcliffe; Jeremiah Peirsel Jr married Melvina N Frasher and has one living son, Isaac F Peirsel, who has received a liberal education, is a farmer and is married to Mary Hormel and has one child, Arthur L Peirsel, the only grandchild of Jeremiah Peirsel Jr. The other four children are: Sarah Peirsel married to Henry Frasher; Anne Peirsel married to Jacob Grant; William Peirsel married to Catharine McKay; and Uriah Peirsel married to Dettie Swayne. One of his sons, Levi Peirsel, was killed in the late war at the battle of Petersburg. For a great part of her life the wife of Mr Peirsel was seriously afflicted by mental maladies and he took the utmost tender care of her, never being heard to complain of his unhappy lot. Jeremiah Peirsel Jr well maintains the goodly name he bears, is industrious and thrifty, and is the enjoyment of a comfortable home and a competency, which he has acquired through his own energy and business sagacity. He, like his father, has the confidence of his neighbors and if not so gentle and retiring as his father, it is because the latter was extremely so. p438 Dr ROBERT W PLAYFORD was born in London, England, on the 12th day of March 1799 and educated at Eton College, the celebrated English public school founded by King Henry VI in 1440. In this school he was what is known as a "king's scholar." His position in his classes on leaving the college entitled him to a scholarship at Oxford, but he preferred to enter at once upon the study of medicine in the office of his father, a reputable London physician. With his father he came to this country locating in Brownsville in 1820. Dr Playford Sr remained here almost two years, in that short time establishing in connection with his son, a large and lucrative business. He returned to London where he died in 1826. Dr Robert W Playford remained in Brownsville continuing in active practice until 1861 when he was stricken with hemiplegia which unfitted him for further active practice. He enjoyed the reputation of having the largest business of any physician in the county. In all his practice he was singularly successful; his acute perception, his clear judgment, and rapid decision fitting him particularly for emergencies and seemed to render his knowledge of his duties almost intuitive. During the whole period of his business life he was once away from town five days at one time, being the only instance of absence from his professional cares for more than one during the forty one years of his life that were devoted to active professional pursuits. He frequently wrote for the local press on sanitary affairs and matters of home interest. He died at his home in Brownsville, March 24, 1867. His surviving children are: Mrs Sophia Parkinson of Monongahela City, Penna; Miss Harriet Playford of Brownsville; Dr Robert Playford of Petroleum Centre, Penna; Hon William H Playford of Uniontown, Penna; and Mrs Amanda Kennedy of Philadelphia, Penna. p763 Springhill township Prominent among the early settlers of Springhill township was Colonel THEOPHILUS PHILLIPS. In May, 1767, he in company with his brother-in-law, the Rev James Dunlap, emigrated to Fayette county (Penna) from New Jersey and settled, or rather squatted, on a stream which has been called Dunlap's Creek for more than a century. After clearing a piece of land and farming it jointly for a time, they dissolved partnership and cast lots for the land which fell to Dunlap. Phillips then purchased a large tract of land in Springhill township called "Phillips' Choice," containing 453 3/4 acres and allowances. The patent is dated December 12, 1786. Mr Phillips enjoyed the respect and confidence of all who knew him and was often called to fill public positions. It was near his residence that the courts of Monongalia County, Virginia, were held in the last half of the eighteenth century. The buildings have long been demolished and nothing but the foundations of them remain to mark the site. To the left of the New Geneva and Springhill furnace roads, via Morris Cross Roads and about two hundred yards from the same, on a long knoll with direction northeast, stood the Phillips residence with many outbuildings, including shop, negro quarters, still house and stables. Among his grandchildren are Theophilus P Kramer, Theophilus Williams and Adolph Eberhart, whose ages are eighty one, seventy eight and sixty four years respectively. They recollect hearing their parents say that the Monongalia court was held in the shop which stood near the old Phillips dwelling house. Colonel Phillips was ordained an elder of the Mount Moriah Church in Springhill township in 1774. He was among the first to ship four and whiskey to New Orleans from Wilson Port, as the mouth of Georges Creek was then called. In 1789 he was elected to the State legislature which at that time met in the city of Philadelphia. His boats were ready laden for New Orleans and he resolved to go with them and instead of crossing the mountains, sail around by the Gulf and the Atlantic to Philadelphia. Before starting he willed his estate, giving each of his children their portion in case he should never return. This proved to have been the act of a sensible man for not long after leaving the port of New Orleans en route for Philadelphia, he fell a victim to ship fever and was buried at sea. He left a numerous family. Captain John Phillips of the War of 1812 was his son. He died of cholera near Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1832. Of the Williams family, many of whom have been elected justices are: John P Williams; Thomas Williams; Joseph G Williams; and Thomas Williams Jr; grandsons and great grandson of Colonel Theophilus Phillips. Dr William Wilson of Indiana, brother of Mrs Eliezer Robinson of Uniontown, married a granddaughter, Miss Elizabeth Kramer. Theophilus Phillips married a Miss Joanna Prater (Prather). It is said on several occasions Washington visited the Monongalia court house near Colonel Phillips place. It is, however, doubtful whether he was ever in that vicinity more than once-in the year 1784. p488 Bullskin Township, Fayette County, Penna CHRISTIAN REIST, a native of Lancaster County, settled in the Boyd neighborhood about 1800 and died in 1827. He had three daughters, two of whom married Thomas Boyd and Simon Roughcorn, and the third remained single, all of them long since deceased. Presley Carr Lane was also a Virginian who settled on the Henry D Overholt place. He was a man of culture and great gentleness of manner and for those times quite wealthy. He served in the Legislature with creditable distinction. The family removed to Kentucky before 1830, and the original homestead has been much divided. Henry Freed, a native of Bucks County, Penna, after living a short time in Virginia settled on Mounts' Creek about 1785. He died about 1863, aged eighty four years, having reared four sons and three daughters. Jacob Freed, the oldest, married Susan Garver, a daughter of Martin Garver, a pioneer of Bullskin, and settled on that part of the homestead now owned by his son Joseph Freed where he died in August, 1875. Other sons were Henry Freed, Samuel Freed, and Jonathan Freed, the former two living on Green Lick Run. Peter Freed, the second son of Henry Freed, lived and died in Tyrone township; John Freed, the third, moved to McLean County, Illinois; Henry Freed, the youngest, lived on the homestead west of the creek until his death, caused by an accident, about ten years ago. The land is now the property of the Cleveland Rolling Mills. One of the daughters married Joseph Beidler, who lived on a farm adjoining the homestead; another daughter married Jacob Overholt; and the third daughter married Joseph Johnston of Union township. p753 DANIEL RESLER, a native of Berks County, Penna, settled on the stream of water which bears his name about 1787 and died in that locality before 1817. He had three sons and three daughters, the latter becoming the wives of Solomon Kern, Christian Senff, and John Murphy. Daniel Resler and David Resler, two of the sons, moved to Ohio many years ago. John Resler, the other son, married a daughter of Peter Bruner and lived on Resler's Run until his death in 1856. His widow yet lives in the township at the age of eighty four years. She was born in Stewart, but since she has been three years of age has been a resident of Springfield. The children of John Resler were: Daniel Resler, deceased; David Resler and Jacob Resler, removed to the West; Mary Resler, the wife of David Barned; Elizabeth Resler, the wife of John Brooks; and Susan Resler, the wife of Samuel Scott. Peter Bruner settled in what is now Stewart township some time during the Revolution, but in 1798 settled on the Rogers farm on Indian Creek. His son, Daniel Resler, moved from the township. At that time Indians yet roved along the stream, but did not disturb the family. p753 SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP ROGERS In the early history of the county, three brothers, Thomas Rogers, John Rogers and James Rogers, came from Frederick, Maryland, and settled at New Haven, Fayette County, Penna. Their sister was married to Colonel James Paull, at that time one of the leading men of Fayette. Thomas Rogers and John Rogers remained citizens of Dunbar, but Major James Rogers, after living some time at the Findley Furance, settled on Indian Creek in Springfield about 1828 and resided there until his death about 1842. He superintended the building of the Fayette Furnace for the mining company which also controlled about three thousand acres of land, which Major Rogers sold to the settlers. He had nine sons: John Rogers; William Rogers; Phineas Rogers; Joseph Rogers; James Rogers; Thomas Rogers; George Rogers; Daniel Rogers and Erwin Rogers. Of these William Rogers served in the War of 1812 and died of disease contracted in the service; George Rogers is yet living in Ironton, Ohio; and Dr Joseph Rogers, after living in Springfield more than twenty score years, actively engaged as a practitioner and manufacturer, died March 20, 1876, at the age of seventy nine years. In 1831 he was married to Elizabeth Johnston of Connellsville, who yet resides in that city. They reared sons: Dr James K Rogers, who died after the late war; Dr Alexander Rogers, residing at Scottdale; John Rogers, at the same place; and William D Rogers, yet residing on the homestead. p840, Wharton Township, Fayette County, Penna SEBASTIAN RUSH The late Sebastian Rush, known far and wide as "Boss" Rush and also popularly designated as the "King of the Mountain," filled a large place in his locality, Farmington, Wharton township, as farmer, businessman, and friendly advisor of a wide circle of acquaintances who sought his counsel and particularly as the genial host of "Boss Rush's hotel" on the line of the National Pike and over which he presided from 1840 when he bought the hotel until he died February 9, 1878. This hotel was a favorite stopping place of many of the great men of other days. Henry Clay, Tom Ewing, President Polk, etc, when journeying over the National Road, and Jenny Lind in her famous tour through the country with the great showman, Barnum, tarried over night at "Boss's hotel," and Mrs Rush while living, as does Mrs Rush who now conducts the house, made his more distinguished guests "twice happy" by honoring them with lodgings in Jenny Lind's room, a species of sagacity as well as gallantry worthy of imitation by publicans in general. Mr Rush was an ardent politician, early in life an old line Whig afterwards a Republican, and wielded a great influence in his region, putting into local office whom he would when his party was in power and was a Presbyterian in religion, which fact doubtless added to his success as a politician. He amassed a large property, owning at the time of his death about twelve hundred acres of good land adjacent to his house, as well as several outlying farms of considerable size besides the country store opposite the hotel, and which he for a long time conducted in connection with his other business and other property. He was also an extensive stock raiser. Though noted for his unusually good sense and "clear head" in mature life, Mr Rush enjoyed but meager advantages of study in his childhood but in after life was notable as a reader. He was a man of great physical strength and during the latter portion of his life of ponderous size, weighing sometimes two hundred and fifty pounds. When he arrived at about twenty two years of age he was made a constable and for years filled his office with more than the usual ability, but for the first year or so he was obliged to execute his duties on foot, lacking a horse to ride through pecuniary inability to buy one. From such a beginning his great energy and sound sense built up for him the fortune he afterwards enjoyed. He was the son of Levi Rush, born 1783, who came to Fayette County from Somerset County late in the eighteenth century. His mother was Mary Kemp, a native of New Jersey but living in Henry Clay township when she married. "Boss" Rush was born in the same township, November 20, 1808, and in November, 1829, married Margaret Baird, a girl of fifteen years of age, born 1814, a daughter of James Baird, a native of County Derry, Ireland. This was a "runaway match" and though it proved a happy one, Mrs Rush, a vigorous and intelligent lady now conducting the hotel, as she and her husband so long and successfully carried on the business, is emphatic in pronouncing against "runaway matches" among her children especially. Mr Rush died leaving seven children, four sons and three daughters, three other children having died before him, two in childhood. p489 Bullskin Township, Fayette County, Penna JOHN SHANK, a German, after his emigration to America settled at Hagerstown, removing thence to Bullskin township, Fayette County, Penna. He located on Mounts Creek, building mills about the beginning of the new century which occupied the site of Detweiler's mills. He was a Mennonite and at his death was buried in the Mennonite graveyard on the township line between Tyrone. He had sons named John Shank and Jacob Shank, and the daughters married John Stauffer; Martin Myers who lived near the Shank place; and Christian Seigfried of Westmoreland. Jacob Shank married Nancy Stauffer and settled a mile north from Pennsville where he died in 1845. He was the father of John Shank of Ohio; Henry Shank of the same State; and Christian Shank and Jacob Shank, yet living in the township. The latter was for many years a journeyman hatter, having learned that trade of Herman Gebhart of Connellsville. The second son, John Shank, remained single and died in the eastern part of the township. The Shanks have always been sober, steady citizens. John Stauffer removed to Bullskin from Hagerstown, Maryland, settling on a farm in the neighborhood of the Baptist Church, on which he died. His only son, John Stauffer, lived at Mount Plesant. A grandson, John C Stauffer, resides at Pennsville. Other families in the township bearing this name had a different origin and made a settlement at a later date. p563, Franklin Township, Fayette County, Penna JACOB SHEARER of Franklin township is the son of Frederick Shearer, who was born March 24, 1770, in Eastern Pennsylvania. He was married March 23, 1793, to Rebecca Markle of Berks County, Penna. They had eleven children of whom Jacob Shearer is the eighth. He was born in Franklin County, Penna, January 30, 1809, and removed with his father in 1815 to Jefferson township, Fayette County, Penna. Mr Shearer is of German stock. He received his early education in the common schools and was married March 27, 1838, to Emily Shotwell, daughter of John Shotwell, long a prominent man of Franklin township. They had seven children, two of whom, Emanuel Shearer and Sarah Catherine Shearer Flemming, are still living. Emmanuel Shearer married Elizabeth Cook and has five children: Esther E Shearer; Fred Orvill Shearer; Harry J Shearer; Jessie Shearer and an infant boy as yet unnamed. Sarah Catherine Shearer married Rufus Flemming of Franklin township and has three children: John Frederick Flemming; Guy Shearer Flemming; and Esther Emma Flemming. Mr Jacob Shearer has never held office, never aspiring to public place and has led a modest and industrious life and bears an excellent reputation for integrity. He and his family are all members of the Christian Church. The church which they habitually attend stands near the spot, where in the open air Alexander Campbell, the founder of the sect called Disciples, first promulgated his distinctive doctrines after the severance of his relations with the Baptist Church. Mr Shearer has resided in his present home since 1843 and is the possessor of valuable properties, consisting of coal lands, etc. For the last few years he has been a considerable sufferer under physical ills, which he has patiently borne. p710 SHREVE PARTY, Perry township General Washington, however, did not succeed in selling or otherwise disposing of his lands until after the fall of 1789 when they were leased for a term of five years to Col ISRAEL SHREVE, who afterwards became their purchaser. Col Shreve emigrated to Western Pennsylvania in 1788 from New Jersey, leaving his old home in Hunterdon county in that State on the 7th of July. With him came others, forming a party of thirty persons in all: Israel Shreve and Mary, his wife, with their children-Keziah Shreve; Hester Shreve; Israel Shreve, George Shreve; Greene Shreve; Rebecca Shreve and Henry Shreve; with John Fox and James Starkey; William Shreve and Rhoda, his wife, with their children-Anna Shreve and Richard Shreve, the preceding named traveling in three two horse wagons and driving three cows; Joseph Beck and Sarah, his wife, with their children: Benjamin Beck; Rebecca Beck; Elizabeth Beck; Henry Beck; Joseph Beck; and Ann Beck in one three-horse wagon; Daniel Hervey, his wife Sarah, their son Job, a mulatto boy, Thomas Wheatley, Joseph Wheatley and Ann Wheatley; and John Shellow, the last named seven traveling with one three-horse wagon, one two horse wagon and one cow. They came over the mountains to Westmoreland county, Penna. Without pausing to follow the fortunes of other members of the party, it is sufficient to say that Col Shreve stopped with his family in Rostraver township, occupying the house of Joseph Lenman for something more than a year until he rented the Washington lands before mentioned. Soon after concluding the bargain, he wrote to his brother Caleb Shreve of Mansfield, New Jersey, which shows what was the condition of the Washington lands at that time as also the fact that the mill built by Gilbert Simpson was then in disuse and too much out of repair to be again started without considerable expense. The letter referred to is here given as follows: Forks of Yough, December 26, 1789 Dear Brother, Having an opportunity to Philadelphia, I embrace it and mention my situation or intended one. Since I have been here, have worked to get Washington Bottom and have at last obtained the whole tract on rent for five years. I write to the General by his Agent in this county, Col Canon, who a few weeks ago returned from New York; the General was pleased to order Col Canon to let me have the whole of the Bottom so called at my offer. The old farm contains about eighty acres of improved upland and about 40 of the best kind of meadows, a bearing orchard of 120 applie and 100 peach trees, the buildings as good as most in this county, pretty well situated, and five other improved farms that at this time rent for £ 43 10s. I am accountable for the whole rent which altogether is £ 60, so that I shall have the old place for (pound sign) 16 10s, to be paid either in money or wheat at 3 s per bushel. I considered that the land at the Miami settlement was rising fast and that I had better pay this low rent for a well improved farm than barter away my land at a low rate for land here. Land does not rise much in this place owing to the great emigration down the river. It seems as if people were crazy to get afloat on the Ohio. Many leave very good livings, set out for they know not where, but too often find their mistake. I believe this as good as any of the settlements down the river for the present. This Mississippi trade is open at this time, and all the wheat, whiskey, bacon, etc, buying up by those concerned in it. The highest price for wheat is four shillings in trade, or three shillings ninepence cash, whiskey three shillings cash, and bacon ninepence per pound cash. On the farm where I am going is as good a chance of a ghrist mill as any in the whole forks, and a mill that can be set going as it will produce more grain than all the six farms on the tract. I am to have possession the first of April next, and flatter myself I have as good a chance as any person in my circumstances could expect. I shall have nothing to attend to but my own private concerns. I think this way of life far preferable to any other. Richard Shreve is to have one of the small farms. They contain of improved land as follows: One forty acre upland and five good meadows; the other two twenty five acres upland and five or six good meadows; the whole in fences they being the year before last rented for repairs. Peggy Shreve has a daughter. She and her husband have been very sickly this last fall, but have recovered. I am grandfather to another son. John and his wife are pretty well, as is our family at present, but except the measles as it is in the school where our boys go. I hope you are well also. I am, with great respect and love, Your Brother, Israel Shreve This letter, as also the account of the party with which Col Shreve emigrated from New Jersey to Western Pennsylvania, was published in the AMERICAN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY in 1842. Footnote: Israel Shreve was born December 24, 1739, at the Shreve homestead, Mount Pleasant, Mansfield, Burlington county, New Jersey, but at a later period removed to Hunterdon county in the same State where he was living at the outbreak of the Revolution. When the first two battalions were raised in New Jersey for the Continental army, he was appointed by the Congress (Oct 28, 1775) lieutenant colonel of the Western Battalion. William Maxwell being appointed colonel and David Ray major. These officers were commissioned November 8, 1775, and the Battalion was mustered into the regular Continental service in the following December and marched to the vicinity of the City of New York which was then occupied by the British. On the reorganization of the New Jersey line, he was made colonel of the Second Regiment and remained in that command to the close of the war, serving in Maxwell's brigade, and taking part in many of Washington's most important battles, including that of Monmouth. His brother was colonel of the First New Jersey Regiment, and another brother, Samuel Shreve, lieutenant colonel of the First Battalion of New Jersey in the Continental line. Nearly two years after General Washington's death, his executors, George Steptoe Washington and Samuel Lewis, constituted James Ross of Pittsburgh, their lawful attorney, to convey the five tracts in pursuance of the agreement of July, 1795; and accordingly on the 17th of June, 1802, Ross did so convey the property to the heirs of Israel Shreve. Colonel Shreve had four sons, Henry Shreve, John Shreve, Samuel Shreve, Israel Shreve Jr. Henry Shreve was a civil engineer and was employed by the government to clear the channel of the Red River in Louisiana. He finally settled on that river at the present town of Shreveport which was named in his honor. John Shreve lived in what is now the township of Perry and represented the district in the Assembly with John St Clair and Colonel Henry Heaton. Samuel Shreve settled in Perry and was one of the original proprietors of Perryopolis, Israel Shreve Jr also lived and died in Perry. The heirs of Colonel Shreve sold the greater part of the property purchased from General Washington to Isaac Meason. In the division of the property after his death, the Shreve homestead, containing one hundred and sixty one acres, was set off to Mrs Williams of Greensburg, by whom it was sold to Caleb Antrim, a Quaker. He left it by will to his daughter Mary, Mrs William Campbell, whose heirs sold it to the present owner, John Rice. A tract of two hundred and thirty six acres of the Washington lands was set off in the partition of the Meason estate to Alfred Meason. He sold to Benjamin Martin who is turn sold in 1838 to Pierson Cope, who still occupies it. His father was one of the early settlers in Jefferson township, and he is himself one of the oldest living settlers of Perry. p550 Franklin Township, Fayette County, Penna ROBERT SMITH came from Westmoreland County before 1790 and settled on the farm now occupied by his son, Robert Smith. Mr Smith had served as a private in the Revolutionary war, and of his record in that struggle has left the following: "An account of the military services rendered by me during the Revolutionary war in the Pennsylvania militia of Berks County. I was drafted and served two months in 1776, during September, October, and November in Colonel Burns' regiment, stationed at Bergen and Paulus Hook in New Jersey. In 1777 I served two months as volunteer in the Berks County militia during September, October and November. Our officers' names I do not recollect. Our general's name was Irven of Philadelphia. Our encampment was along with General Washington's main army at sundry places. When we were discharged the army was encamped at White Marsh about fourteen or fifteen miles from Philadelphia. When I returned home I was drafted and served two months in the same fall and winter with Col Heister's regiment of Berks County militia. We were stationed at Plymouth Meetinghouse near Barren Hill Church. From thence we went to the banks of the Shammine near the Crooked Billet tavern. Robert Smith" Mr Smith set up a blacksmith's shop on the Lazy Hollow Road in front of his dwelling and for years plied his trade in the service of the people who came from near and far. He died in 1837 at the age of eighty. Of his ten children, only one is left, Robert Smith aged eighty two and living still on the Smith homestead where he was born. Long before Robert Smith the elder came to Franklin township, the farm he bought there had been occupied by David Allen, of whose sons Josiah Allen and George M Allen, Smith purchased it. The farm now occupied by Jesse Piersol was owned at a very early date by Hugh Shotwell who settled thereon about the year 1780. His four sons, John Shotwell, Joseph Shotwell, William Shotwell and Arison Shotwell, settled in Franklin but the last three ultimately moved to Ohio. John Shotwell died in Franklin in 1869 aged eighty five. One of his daughters is now the wife of Robert Smith, above mentioned. p539 Dunbar Township, Fayette County, Penna Rev JOEL STONEROAD Venerable not only for his ripe old age but for his well spent life, as also by reason of his almost classic, chastened face and fine presence and port as a gentleman, and for those acute instincts and sensitivities which belong only to the scholarly man of thought, is the Rev Joel Stoneroad, who has been identified for over half a century with Fayette County, doing excellent work in moulding its moral character and disciplining its intellectual forces. This gentleman is of German descent, the name Stoneroad being the English translation of the German "Steinway," and was born near Lewistown, Mifflin County, January 2, 1806, the son of Lewis Stoneroad and Sarah Gardner Stoneroad, both natives of Lancaster County, the name of the former's father, Mr Stoneroad's grandfather, having also been Lewis Stoneroad. Mr Stoneroad was educated at a common country school and at Lewistown Academy under Rev Dr James S Woods, a son-in-law of the famous Rev Dr Witherspoon, the president of Princeton College, New Jersey, at which academy he remained for a year and a half, there applying himself to study with such remarkable assiduity and cleverness in acquirement as in that brief period of time to fit himself to enter the junior class of Jefferson College, Washington, Penna, as he did in the fall of 1825, graduating from that institution in 1827; whereafter he entered the Theological Department or Seminary of Princeton College, New Jersey, where he remained three years, taking what was then not the custom to do, the full course and receiving a diploma. Leaving the seminary he was licensed to preach and returned home to Mifflin County whence with saddle, bridle and horse, provided him by his father, he set out upon missionary work under the commission of the Board of Home Missions and betook himself at first to Hancock County, Maryland, where he preached his first sermon and from thence to Morgantown, and Kingwood, Preston County, West Virginia, at which place he continued in his missionary labors for about a year when he accepted the call of the Presbyterian Church of Uniontown, Fayette County, in 1831, of which church he was pastor for about eleven years. An important incident in his history while residing at Uniontown was the active part he took in 1836 in the trial of the celebrated Rev Albert Barnes for doctrinal heresy by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of which he was a member and then in session in Pittsburgh. The controversy was at its height when Mr Stoneroad made a most telling speech, which was extensively published through the Pittsburgh and Philadelphia papers, and has frequently been quoted from since. Leaving Uniontown he received a call from the church of Florence, Washington County, Penna, where he remained eight years. His next call was the joint or united one of Laurel Hill, Franklin township and Tyrone, Fayette County. After holding this double charge for about twelve years, he relinquished that of Tyrone and devoted himself to Laurel Hill with Bethel added, for about sixteen years, when after having been in the active ministry nearly fifty years, he resigned this charge, his health having failed him, through too great a devotion to his pastoral duties and consequent exposure to the severities of an inclement climate, which broke down in good part a constitution which was apparently and otherwise might have continued to be one of the most robust. Since that time Mr Stoneroad has taken no active part as a clergyman. He now resides with his family in their quiet, romantically located farmhouse, in Woodvale. He is an old time Calvinist in doctrine but not of that very bigoted school whose cruel austerities are sometimes pictured by ill tempered or despairing mothers, and so made use of to frighten refractory children, for he is both genial and benevolent. Mr Stoneroad was twice married, the first time in Greene County, Penna, September 11, 1832, Miss Rebecca Veech, daughter of David Veech Esq, and sister of the late Hon James Veech, the celebrated historian of Western Pennsylvania, by whom he has two daughters, the elder being the wife of the Rev T P Speer of Wooster, Ohio; the younger, Miss Sarah Louisa Stoneroad, who resides with her sister. Mr Stoneroad's second marriage on June 27, 1854, was with Miss Hannah Paull, daughter of Col James Paull and Mary Cannon Paull of Fayette County, and who is still living. Of this union there are four children: James Paull Stoneroad, now residing in New Mexico; Thomas L Stoneroad, a graduate of Lafayette College, Easton, Penna, in business near Philadelphia; Mary Belle Stoneroad, who having taken full course of studies at Hollidaysburg Female Seminary, is spending her time at the present making advanced studies at home; and Joel T M Stoneroad, now attending Wooster University, Ohio. p805, Tyrone, Upper and Lower Townships, Fayette County, Penna STEWART STRICKLER, the only son of Jacob Strickler, a farmer of Fayette County, was born at New Salem near Uniontown, February 17, 1812, and received a common school education. When he was sixteen years old, his mother died and his father breaking up housekeeping, Stewart Strickler and his eight sisters, all younger than himself, were scattered among relatives. In the spring of 1830 Stewart hired out to John Smiley, a farmer, at six dollars per month and stayed with him till Christmas after which he began peddling chickens and eggs which he carried down along the Youghiogheny River in a very simply constructed boat made by himself of boards, giving away the boat when he sold his merchandise and walking back, making such a trip every few weeks during the year 1831. Early in 1832 he began working about for different persons at making rails and washing sand, which was taken to the Pittsburgh glass makers. In the latter part of 1832 Mr Jacob Strickler got his children together again, Stewart with the rest joining him on the old place known as the Jimtown farm where Stewart remained till 1835 when he married Mary Newcomer of Tyrone township and bought a piece of land from his father at Jimtown, and built thereon a house and barn and commenced farming. In 1837 the great financial panic came and found Stewart badly in debt for his farm, he says times were then so hard that he had to pay fifty cents in "shinplasters" to see a quarter in silver. He struggled on till about 1840 when times began to improve, but farming being poor business, he found it necessary to exercise his brain power and began to conjure up ways to enable him to pull through and get out of debt. Here let us remark that in an early day there had been an iron furnace at the mouth of Jacob's Creek, known as Turnbull Furnace, but then long abandoned and in ruin. Near it was a huge pile of cinders containing a great among of iron unextracted from the ore. Mr Strickler conceived the notion of taking the cinder to ironworks in Pittsburgh, bought it for fifty cents a ton, built a large flat boat on which he carried the cinders to the city, and there sold it for four dollars and a half a ton and afterwards sold his boat, making something on it. The enterprise stimulated him to plot and plan still further and early in 1842 he bought ten acres of coal land on the Youghiogheny River at the point now called Sterling Coal Works, built six ovens, and began making coke which he shipped out by flatboats to Cincinnati, Ohio. He carried on this business successfully for several years. About the same time there were others engaged in the business, but they were not successful and became discouraged and gave it up. About 1855 Mr Strickler bought eighty acres of coal land, known as the John Taylor farm and began improving it with the intent to carry on the coal business as before, but on a larger scale. In 1857 the Pittsburgh and Connellsville Railroad was completed and Mr Strickler put into operation his place eighty coal ovens. At this time he built a side track from his works to the main line of the railroad for the purpose of shipping coal and coke to Graff, Bennett & Co of Pittsburgh, keeping their furnaces going from 1860 to 1864 with two thousand bushels to day. He then sold a third interest in his business to the above named firm for $35,000, a few months afterward selling the balance to Shoenberger & Co for $45,000. Somewhere between 1835 and 1840, Mr Strickler bought all of his father's old farm, paying $30 per acre. In the spring of 1864 he sold it to J K Ewing for $200 per acre, the latter afterwards selling it for over $400 per acre. In 1867 Mr Strickler removed with a portion of his family to Middle Tennessee near the Cumberland Mountains. He is the father of eight children, two sons and six daughters, the eldest of whom, Mrs Caroline Hill died in March, 1879. His wife and the rest of his family are living. Three of the daughters reside in Tennessee. Two sons and two daughters live on the farm formerly owned by John Smiley, for whom and where Mr Strickler worked in 1830 as above related. The children living in Fayette County are: Mrs Maria Strickler Boyd; Lyman Strickler; Dempsey Strickler; and Mrs Martha Strickler Herbert. Those in Tennessee are: Mrs Harriet Strickler Ramsey; Mrs Kate Strickler Thompson, whose husband is a physician; and Miss Deccie F Strickler, the latter residing with her parents. Mr Strickler is now over seventy years of age and notwithstanding his serious labors in life and many dangers encountered from some of which he barely escaped with his life, he is in good health and in full possession of intellectual vigor. He is respected by his wide circle of acquaintances as a man of strict integrity and nobility of heart. Not only cane he look back upon a life well spent, triumphant over early and great difficulties, but he is also entitled to enjoy the reflection that through his excellent judgment, advice and influence not a few persons in the region where he spent his most active days are also successful, enjoying many of them, the blessings of wealth. p764 JOHN SWEARINGEN and VAN SWEARINGEN, father and son, were among the earliest settlers in Springhill township, Fayette County, Penna, being here as early as 1770 and possibly in 1769, Van Swearingen being in the latter year twenty six years old. Thomas Swearingen Sr and his son Thomas Swearingen came to Western Pennsylvania about the same time and settled west of the Monongahela. The ancestors of all the Swearingens in this region were Garrett Van Swearingen and Barbara De Barrette, his wife, who came from Holland to America, settled in Maryland and were with their children Garrett and Barbara naturalized in that province in April, 1669, as is shown by the records in Baltimore. Two other children of theirs, Elizabeth and Zachariah, were born in the Delaware counties and so needed no naturalization. The prefix Van was afterwards dropped from the surname of the family, but was used as we see, as the Christian name of the son of John Swearingen. Of this John Swearingen who settled in Springhill township very little is known beyond the fact of his settlement here and that he was a resident of the township in 1785. His son, Van Swearingen, did not remain long in Springhill but removed to a new location on the east side of the Monongahela near the mouth of Redstone, but retaining ownership of his lands in Springhill at least until 1785. Before that time, however, he had left his second location near Redstone and removed to Washington County, of which he was elected sheriff upon its organization in 1781. After a few years spent by him in Washington County, he removed to land which he had located in early 1772 in Ohio County, Virginia, and died there December 2, 1793. During all the period of his residence west of the Alleghenies, he was a prominent man both in civil and military life. p588 WILLIAM H TRADER of Georges township, is a man of mark, distinctively of that honorable class called "self made," having fought the battle of life to financial success by this own energy and skill. He was born in Maryland near the line of Virginia, January 15, 1818. When he was two years of age, his father left Virginia and settled in Georges township. Mr Trader never enjoyed opportunities of schooling. What he learned he picked up as he could. His summers were employed cultivating the home farm, his winters in threshing with a flail until he became eighteen years of age; when he left his father or "turned out" without money or education, to make his own way in life, first working for a farmer of his neighborhood. In 1841 he married Charlotte Franks of Nicholson township. By her he has ten children, all living, three sons and seven daughters, all of whom but one are married. Mr Trader has held the office of school director and other important township offices. Both himself and his wife are members of the Baptist church. He is a modest, unassuming man and enjoys an excellent business and general reputation. He has lived upon his present farm thirty five years and has steadily worked on to fortune, accomplishing the purpose of his early life and is now regarded wealthy, his estate being estimated by his neighbors at from sixth thousand dollars to seventy five thousand dollars. About two hundred and fifty seven acres of Mr Trader's homestead farm are underlaid with the five feet vein and the nine feet vein, also, of Connellsville coking coal. p618 Jefferson Township, Fayette County, Penna TUNIS WELLS On September 5, 1784, a tract of land including four hundred and twenty three acres and called "Tunis" was surveyed to Tunis Wells and in 1790 patented to him for three pounds, ten shillings and sixpence. Mr Wells made his settlement about 1780 and losing his wife by death soon after coming, married for his second wife, Margaret Williams. By his first wife he had six children of whom none are now living. By his second the children were: Mary Wells, Joseph Wells, Rachel Wells, Elizabeth Wells, Margaret Wells, James Wells, Jacob Wells and Charlotte Wells. The only one living is Charlotte whose home is in Iowa. James Wells died in Jefferson; Jacob Wells in Ohio; and Joseph Wells on the old homestead in 1877; there his widow still lives. Tunis Wells himself died on his Jefferson farm in 1811 and was buried in the Dunlap Creek churchyard. His widow died in 1845. Joseph Wells' widow, now residing on the Tunis Wells place, came with her father, Issachar Shaw, to Jefferson in 1816. p810 WILLSON In 1771 John Willson landed in Virginia from Ireland and from Virginia in 1788 he removed to Washington township, Fayette County, Penna, to occupy a two hundred acre tract bought for him by his sons Hugh Willson and John Willson, living respectively in Allegheny County and Perry township, where they had then been residing for some time. The two hundred acres lying on the line between Westmoreland and Fayette counties were bought for Willson from one Jones and into the house Jones had put up Willson moved with his family. In 1804 Mr Willson replaced the Jones cabin with the log house now standing on the place (1882). Three sons came with him in 1788. They were James Willson, Robert Willson and David Willson. James died in Washington in 1827; Robert moved to Ohio and David Willson, inheriting the homestead, died there in 1863 at the age of ninety years after a residence of seventy five years on the farm. John Willson, the father, died in 1807, aged eighty two years. It is worthy of mention that three of his sons, Hugh Willson, John Willson and Robert Willson, saw service in the Revolution. Of the children of David Willson, the living ones are John R Willson, Mary J Willson and James M Willson.