Bios: W - Z Surnames: Gresham and Wiley, 1889: Biographical & Portrait Cyclopedia, 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/ ______________________________________________________________________ Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Fayette County, Pennsylvania editorially managed by John M. Gresham assisted in the compilation by Samuel T. Wiley, A Citizen of the County Compiled and Published by John M. Gresham & Co. Chicago: 1889 http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/fayette/gresham.htm Table of Contents. ______________________________________________________________________ NOTE: "Brnv & Bdgpt" stands for "Brownsville and Bridgeport" NAME LOCATION PAGE Wadsworth, Stephen E Uniontown 234 Waggoner, L C Brnv & Bdgpt 306 Wagner, G W Dunbar 479 Warnock, C J Tyrone 402 Waters, John A, Rev Uniontown 234 Watt, T W Dunbar 479 Ways, C H Connellsville 480 Weltner, J A German 530 Wertz, J M, Rev Tyrone 401 West, Morgan Brnv & Bdgpt 306 Whetstone, J L Nicholson 531 White, E Y Connellsville 482 White, Joseph Uniontown 233 White, N G, Rev Dunbar 481 White, T H, Dr Connellsville 482 Wiggins, James B Uniontown 235 Wiggins, John Harrison Wharton 575 Wiley, J W Washington 404 Wilhelm, William H Uniontown 235 Wilkin, George W Miscellaneous 576 Williams, J G Springhill 308 Williams, Josiah V Uniontown 236 Williams, R T Nicholson 532 Williams, Theophilus Springhill 307 Williams, Thomas Springhill 307 Willson, A E Uniontown 236 Wilson, W O, Rev Springhill 309 Wood, J D Menallen 403 Woodmency, David Stewart 576 Woods, S D Connellsville 483 Woodward, E B Menallen 405 Woodward, E F Dunbar 484 Woodward, I C, Capt Luzerne 573 Woodward, S W Menallen 403 Work, James C Uniontown 238 Work, Samuel Miscellaneous 601 Workman, David L, Jr Bullskin 577 Wurtz, J H Tyrone 405 Yeager, George Nicholson 533 Zimmerman, J A Connellsville 484 W SURNAMES p234 STEPHEN E WADSWORTH, the efficient superintendent of the Schoonmaker Coke Works, at Brownfield, is a son of Walter M Wadsworth and Sarah Guy Wadsworth, and was born in Madison county, Ohio, September 27, 1842. Walter M Wadsworth, son of Samuel Wadsworth, was born in Hartford, Connecticut, July 17, 1801. In 1825 he emigrated from the "land of steady habits" to Ohio, where he engaged at his trade of fancy and fine painting. He married Sarah Guy, daughter of Jacob Guy, a member of the Universalist church and a native of Montreal, Canada. Mr Wadsworth was engaged in farming several years preceding his death on February 4, 1874. Stephen E Wadsworth was reared on a farm, and enjoyed the rural school privileges of Ohio. When the Civil War began, he enlisted in Company H, Second Battalion, United States Infantry, August 9, 1861. His company was commanded by Colonel Carrington, who at that time was adjutant general of Ohio. Mr Wadsworth was in the battles of Green River, Kentucky, Stone River, Chickamauga, and for strict attention to duty both in the camp and on the field, he was promoted to first sergeant of his company. After four years of severe marching and hard fighting, he was honorably discharged August 9, 1865. In 1868 he engaged as an engineer on the P R R, serving in this capacity until December, 1885. During this period of twenty years he never received an injury nor met with an accident of any kind. He left his position on the railroad to become superintendent of Colonel J M Schoonmaker's coke works (known as Moore's works) at Brownsville station. On May 30, 1876, he was married and has one child: Frederick G Wadsworth. Mr Wadsworth married October 26, 1888, for his second wife, Miss Sallie R Brownfield Brown, the widow of Isaac Brown. She received her education principally at Adrian College, Michigan. Mr Wadsworth is a fearless and aggressive republican, but has never held any office. He has ably discharged the may important duties of his responsible position, and is an energetic, upright business man. p306 LEVI C WAGGONER was born December 28, 1851, at Brownsville, Fayette county, Penna, where he was brought up and attended the common schools. Leaving school he learned the marble trade with M & T S Wright, a firm then engaged in the business at Brownsville. He continued at this business for twelve years. In 1880 he commenced the business of groceries, provisions and feed and has since successfully carried it on. He has built up a good trade and is located in "the Neck" or Main street. He is a member of I O O F and of the Royal Arcanum and is part owner and manager of the Brownsville Lyceum and president of the Brownsville Natural Gas Co. He was married in 1875 to Miss Ella Aubrey, daughter of Thomas Aubrey, the proprietor of Aubrey Planing Mills at West Brownsville. They have three children: Thomas A Waggoner; Leroy C Waggoner; and Carrie Waggoner. He is the son of George Waggoner and May M Craft Waggoner, both natives of Redstone township, Fayette county, Penna, and are now living at Brownsville where they removed in 1851. George Waggoner, the father of Levi C Waggoner, served for three years in the army during the Civil War. He belonged to Company D, Eighth Pennsylvania Reserves, was mustered out of the service at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, just after the battle of the Wilderness, and held the position of wagon master for a part of the time. Oliver A Waggoner, brother of Levi C Waggoner, was in the same company and regiment with is father in the war. He was only sixteen years of age when he entered the service, remained till the close of the war, and as mustered out of the service at the same time with his father. Joshua Waggoner, the grandfather of Levi C Waggoner, was a native of Westmoreland county, Penna, came to Fayette when quite a young man, ans settled upon a farm in Redstone township. He was an elder in the Cumberland Presbyterian church for many years and died in 1877 at the age of eighty four years. George B Craft, grandfather of Levi C Waggoner, was a native of Fayette county, Penna, was a farmer and was a writer of poetry published in the Brownsville papers. He died in 1877 at the age of ninety two years. p479 GEORGE W WAGNER's maternal grandfather, William Holland, was a native of Fayette county, Penna, and resided at Uniontown up to the time of his death in 1858. He married Miss Mary Ellis by whom he had the following children: Ellis Holland; Sarah Holland; Jane Holland; Ann Holland, deceased; and Rebecca Holland, the latter the mother of the subject of our sketch. Joseph Wagner, father, was born in about 1829 in Fayette county. He was a blacksmith by trade and worked at that business on the National Pike at Uniontown and Searights. He was one of the old Pike boys and drove a team from Uniontown to Cumberland for about four years before the B & O Railroad was built to Uniontown. He married Miss Rebecca Holland in 1849 and they had the following children: Watson Wagner; George W Wagner; Martha Wagner; Rachel Wagner; and Ellis Wagner. His wife died and he married for his second wife, Martha Holland, a sister of his first wife. They had the following children: Paris Wagner; Mary Wagner; Tillie Wagner and Samuel Wagner. Joseph Wagner removed to Mahoning county, Ohio, in about 1886 and is a farmer. George W Wagner was born May 29, 1851, in Menallen township, Fayette county, Penna, and was educated in the common schools, principally in Uniontown. He is a brickmaker by trade, having worked at his trade from the age of sixteen years up to 1888 since that he has been engaged with the Dunbar Furnace Company, with the exception of three years he spent in Illinois making brick. George W Wagner came to Dunbar in 1869 where he remained until 1874 when he went to Tazewell county, Illinois, remained for three years and returned to Dunbar where he now resides. In 1879 he was married to Hattie Artis and has one child, Christy Wagner, born in 1880. Mr Wagner is a member of the Jr O U A M. Christy Artis, father of Mrs Wagner, was born July 11, 1822, and married Mary A McDowal in 1841. They had the following children: Bertha Artis; Irwin Artis; John A Artis; Mary Ellen Artis and Hattie Artis. He was a farmer by occupation. Christy Artis served three years as county treasurer of Fayette county from 1876 including 1878. p402 CHARLES J WARNOCK, bookkeeper and superintendent of the Union Supply Company's store at Summit, is a son of David Warnock and Elizabeth J Evans Warnock, and was born in the edge of Wayne township, Lawrence county, Penna, January 2, 1866. David Warnock, father, was a son of Major David Warnock, a pioneer of Western Pennsylvania, an early settler of Beaver county, and a militia officer in the War of 1812. David Warnock is a farmer in Beaver county. He is a republican and industrious citizen, and has been for many years a ruling elder in the United Presbyterian church. Mrs Warnock's father, Jonathan Evans, was also an early settler of Beaver county. He located at Beaver Falls but was once chased away by the Indians before he made a permanent settlement at that place. Charles J Warnock was raised principally on a farm, educated in the common schools, and attended two terms at North Sewickley Academy. Leaving the school room he entered the printing office of the Greensburg PRESS, remained six months, and then (1881) accepted a position as timekeeper with Carnegie Bros & Co, Limited, at the Scotia mines, Centre county, Penna. After two years satisfactory work he left Centre county and came to Broad Ford where he accepted the position as clerk in the Union Supply Company's store and remained for two years. In 1885 Mr Warnock came to the Summit store and clerked so acceptably that in 1887 he was promoted to his present position of bookkeeper and superintendent. He is a member of the Heptasophs, a republican, and a member of the United Brethren church. His brothers, L D Warnock; John J Warnock; and Robert T Warnock are commercial travelers for Pittsburgh houses, and Horace G Warnock and David A Warnock are attorneys at law in Dakota and Nebraska, respectively. Charles J Warnock has faithfully earned and justly deserves the confidence and esteem of all with whom he has had business relations. p234 Rev JOHN ARMSTRONG WATERS, pastor of St Paul's Evangelical Lutheran church, a popular young minister of Uniontown and a fearless divine in denouncing modern vices and home follies generally, is a son of Asa H Waters and Hannah C Steck Waters, and was born in Butler county, Penna, July 16, 1857. Rev Asa H Waters retired from the school superintendency of Butler county, Penna, in May, 1866, and in the same month was requested by Hon Thomas H Burrowes who was then organizing the system of Pennsylvania soldiers' orphan schools, to select a suitable location for a soldiers' orphan school somewhere in the western counties of Pennsylvania, that was not already furnished with a school of that kind. So on the 19th of September, 1866, he opened a soldiers' orphan school in Madison College at Uniontown and superintended it successfully for eight years. April 8, 1874, the school was moved to Dunbars' Camp, four and a half miles east of Uniontown on Laurel Hill where it has flourished and prospered until the present time under the efficient supervision of the Rev Asa H Waters. No finer or healthier location for a school can be found in the State than Dunbars Camp where the health of the pupils has been universally good. Rev Asa H Waters is a native of Pittsburgh and was married to Miss Hannah C Steck of Greensburg, Westmoreland county, Penna. She is a daughter of the Rev Michael J Steck and a granddaughter of Rev John Michael Steck, both pastors of the Lutheran church at Greensburg. Rev John A Waters came to Uniontown with his father in 1866 receiving his early education in the soldiers' orphan school, graduating from Thiel College at Greenville in 1879, and from the Theological Seminary in Philadelphia in 1885. In the time intervening was principal of the Uniontown Soldiers' Orphan School. At the organization of the Lutheran church, December 18, 1885, at Uniontown, he became pastor of the church and has served in this capacity faithfully and acceptably until the present time. He is courteous and pleasant in manner and conversation, but forcible and energetic in the pulpit in denouncing wrong and wrong doers. He stands deservedly high as a minister, a gentleman and a citizen. p479 THOMAS W WATT was born in County Donegal, Ireland. His great grandparents on both sides of the family were of Scotch origin. His grandfather, John Watt, a native of Ireland, was married to Mary Ann Breading and had the following children: John Watt; Sarah Watt; George Watt; Mary Watt; Martha Watt; and Elizabeth Watt. George Watt, father, was born in Ireland, was a farmer and was married to Jane Wilson, a daughter of Thomas Williams, also a native of Ireland. They had the following children: Martha Watt; John Watt; Mary Ann Watt; Sarah Watt; Margaret Watt; Eliza Watt; Thomas W Watt; William Watt and Jane Watt. Thomas W Watt was born in County Donegal, Ireland, August 12, 1828, and came to American in June, 1853, in the ship "Helen Thompson." He settled near Dunbar and was in the employ of his brother in the Union Furnace owned by John Watt & Co. He took charge of the mill and store at the furnace for his brother; in 1856 his brother sold out and the furnace was purchased by Baldwin and Cheeney, and Thomas W Watt became their general superintendent for one year, when he resigned that position and went to manufacturing coke for the same firm for one year. In 1858 he purchased a farm near Dunbar where he now lives. The following year he built one section of the Fayette county railroad known as the Baltimore & Ohio branch from Connellsville to Uniontown, and carried on farming at the same time. In 1860 he started in the manufacture of oil barrels at which he continued for three years. In 1864 he engaged in the lumber business; in this he remained for about two years. As superintendent of "The New York and New England Petroleum Oil Co" he commenced boring for oil in Dunbar township and worked at it until 1868. He assisted in organizing the coal and coke company known as "The Taylor, Watt & Co Uniondale Coke Works." In 1872 he aided in organizing another company known as the "Hogsett, Watt & Co Coke Co" at Mt Braddock. In 1873 he organized the Henderson, Watt & Co Coke works known as the Anchor Coke works. He was the superintendent of the works at Mt Braddock and one for Taylor, Watt & Co. He continued in the coke business until 1878. Since 1878 he has resided on his farm, at intervals furnishing the Connellsville Coke and Iron Co at Leisenring with supplies for their pits. He was married in 1856 to Sarah Stevenson, a native of Ireland. They have the following children: Jennie Watt; Lavinia Watt; William Watt; Margaret A Watt; Martha S Watt; John Watt; James S Watt and George Watt. Mr Watt and wife are members of the Presbyterian church. He has been a member since seventeen years of age and his wife since 1846. Their children are also members of the same church, except William who died when an infant. Mr Watt has been a ruling elder in the church for eighteen years. He was mainly instrumental in establishing a Presbyterian church at Dunbar. In the early beginning of railroads, only a few Presbyterians lived at Dunbar. At Connellsville was the nearest church and in order that they might be able to attend, Mr Watt and Joseph Paull had a hand car built which carried them to Connellsville to church. After a time the hand car was too small to accommodate the people, and Mr Watt chartered a special car for their use at a monthly cost of thirty dollars. members of other churches using the train were charged half fare. This continued till a Presbyterian church was organized at Dunbar with a membership of eighty four members. He gave the ground for the church building and the parsonage and contributed largely towards erecting the building. The church at present numbers 157 members. He also gave the ground for the Methodist Protestant church. p480 CHARLES H WAYS, dealer in fine watches, clocks and jewelry at Connellsville, was born at Cumberland, Maryland, May 24, 1850, and is a son of Joseph H Ways and Elizabeth Miller Ways. Joseph H Ways was born in Maryland in 1827. He is a member of the Catholic church, a democrat, and was engaged for several years in the confectionery business at Cumberland where he now resides. He was a member of the city council for several years. His wife was born in 1829. She is a daughter of Conrad Miller, a native of Germany. Charles H Ways was educated in the select schools and academy in Cumberland, Maryland. Leaving school he learned the trade of jeweler with P J Smith and S T Little of the same place. In January 1875, he came to Connellsville and engaged in the jewelry business in which he is successfully engaged at the present time. June 27, 1887, he married Miss Josephine Browning, daughter of Frank T Browning, a lumber dealer at Ohio Pyle Falls and a native of Garrett county, Maryland. They have one child: Arthur Ways. Charles J Ways is a member of the Catholic church and is a democrat. Mr Ways jewelry establishment is at No 32, Main Street, Connellsville, and contains a large stock of valuable goods, embracing fine gold and silver watchers, the latest fashionable jewelry, rich designs in silver ware, and a complete assortment of novelties in crockery and art goods. The repairing department is fully equipped for repairing all kinds of work in his line. Mr Ways personally superintends all his work and enjoys an ample patronage and a well merited popularity. p530 Lieutenant JAMES ALEXANDER WELTNER, one of the leading farmers of German township and an extensive wool buyer of Fayette county, is a son of John Weltner and Elizabeth Dunaway Weltner, the former a native of Greene county, and the latter of Luzerne township. James A Weltner was born in German township March 3, 1839, and is of German extraction. His father, John Weltner, was born in 1799 and died in 1877. He came to Fayette county about fifty one years ago and was a justice of the peace for Nicholson township in 1856. He subsequently removed to German township where he farmed for many years. He was a member of the Presbyterian church, and one of the building committee of the McClellandtown Presbyterian church. He married Miss Elizabeth Dunaway, a daughter of Matthew Dunaway. They had nine children, eight living in Fayette county, and one in Greene county, Penna. Mrs Weltner died in 1850. James A Weltner was raised on a farm, attended the common schools. He desired to enter the army at the beginning of the war, but his father objected. In 1862 he enlisted in the One Hundred Sixty Eighth Regiment Pennsylvania Infantry, and went to Camp Howe where he was immediately elected First Lieutenant of Company D, and afterwards declined a captaincy on the promotion of the captain of the regiment to major. His declination was on account of not thinking himself competent when more experienced men were members in the company. His brother, Thomas N Weltner, was in Captain Gilmore's company and saw a great deal of hard and dangerous service. Another brother was Captain John R Weltner who raised and was captain of Company I, Eighty Fifth Pennsylvania Volunteers, till his health failed him, when he resigned. Recuperating, he raised a company for the One Hundred and Sixteenth Regiment, serving through the war and dying afterwards from disease contracted while in the service. After serving faithfully through the war, Lieutenant Weltner came home and persuaded his father that he could do something besides plowing corn. After convincing him of the fact, he borrowed six hundred dollars from his father and engaged in speculation. In six months he increased his capital to twelve hundred dollars, and after this successfully branched out for nineteen years into all kinds of stock with William McShane as partner, of German township. He has been for twenty years in the wool business. He buys from twenty to fifty thousand pounds every season, and sells to eastern markets. In 1883 he married Miss Malzenia Allebaugh, daughter of James M Allebaugh, a glassblower by trade. Unto their union have been born two children: Robison Gray Weltner and Elizabeth Hale Weltner. Lieutenant Weltner owns 240 acres of choice and well improved land situated in the center of German township, which he devotes more to grazing than to farming. He has a fine and tasteful residence, a first class barn and splendid outbuildings. He is a model farmer and owns a valuable farm. He is a substantial member of the Presbyterian church and is emphatically one of the go-ahead farmers and business men of his township. p306 MORGAN WEST, one of the successful carriage builders of Fayette county, is a native of Redstone township, Fayette county, Penna. He was born June 8, 1842, and is a son of James West and Louisiana Ball West, the former was born in Redstone township, Fayette county, Penna June 5, 1805 and died July 6, 1888. Morgan West's grandfather, Samuel West, lived and died on the farm now owned by Thomas Simpson in the same township. Morgan West was married to Martha H Hubbs, a daughter of W G Hubbs of Bridgeport. To their marriage have been born two children: William J West, born July 19, 1878, and Allen G West, born in Redstone township, Fayette county, Penna, December 9, 1882. Morgan West, on leaving the common school, attended Dunlap's Creek Academy at Merrittstown. Early in life he learned the trade of carriage builder and is at the present time successfully engaged at his trade at Sandy Hollow on the National Pike ½ mile east of Brownsville. He is a democrat. Where he now resides he owns thirteen acres of land containing valuable deposits of coal and sandstone. He holds at present the collectorship of Brownsville township, the office to which he was elected in the spring of 1889. p531 JOHN L WHETSTONE descended from one of the old and respected families of Fayette county. He is of German Irish and Welsh extraction and was born in Springhill township, Fayette county, Penna, August 10, 1831. His father, Joseph Whetstone, was born in Springhill township in 1792. He was a farmed, owned a small farm of fifty acres, and in connection with his farm, started and operated a fulling mill in Springhill township. He afterwards purchased one hundred acres of land on the Cheat River. Joseph Whetstone was the father of twelve children, two of whom died in infancy; the others lived to be men and women. Seven of the children are living at the present time. He was a democrat and for many years a consistent member of the Methodist Protestant church. He died in 1852 at the age of sixty years. His wife, Eliza Louchrey Whetstone, was born in Maryland in 1808 and when very young she came with her people to Fayette county. She was a member of the same church of her husband, and died in 1874 at the age of sixty six years. The paternal grandfather of John L Whetstone was one of the pioneers of Springhill township. He owned a large tract of land but his principal occupation was boating on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. He had five children. His death occurred after a long and well spent life in 1800. The maternal grandfather, Louchrey, was an early settler in Fayette county. He was a fuller by trade and owned a farm in Virginia. John L Whetstone's school advantages were limited. At the age of ten years he removed with his father to West Virginia where he remained till 1861 when he returned to Springhill township, thence to Nicholson township in 1862 where he has since resided. December 18, 1856, he was married to Miss Sarah A Franks, daughter of Samuel Franks, now in the eighty third year of his age. To their union were born five children: Aurelia E Whetstone, deceased; Eliza S Whetstone, deceased; William W Whetstone, deceased; the two living are Pleassie M Whetstone and Samuel F Whetstone, the latter is now in his seventeenth year. Mr Whetstone learned the shoemaker's trade, but has followed farming most exclusively all his life. He owns a comfortable home and two and one half acres of land and superintends his father-in-law's farm of one hundred and sixty two acres. He is a staunch democrat in politics and has filled the various township offices. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church at Smithfield, is one of its trustees and has held the offices of steward and class leader. His wife and daughter are members of the same church. Mr Whetstone has a clock that has been in possession of the family for three generations and is over one hundred years old and is still a splendid time piece. p482 EDWARD Y WHITE of Connellsville was born April 21, 1842, in Bullskin township, Fayette county, Penna, and is the son of Henry White and Elizabeth Giles White. Stouffel White, grandfather, came from Germany in 1750, and was among the first settlers in Bullskin township. He came to the site of Gillmore's Mill and built a gristmill and a distillery. He owned two mills, eight farms and eight hundred acres of land in Ohio. He married Peggy Poe, a niece of Andrew Poe, the celebrated Indian fighter. To their union were born seven children: Henry White, David White, Peter White, George White, Sarah White, Peggy White and Mary White. Henry White, born January 2, 1799, was a miller by trade and married Elizabeth Giles, on August 14, 1826. Their children were as follows: Christopher C White, born May 27, 1827, engaged in work on a boat that plied the Mississippi river and was never heard of after leaving home; Samuel B White, born November 23, 1828, died May 2, 1880, he was a contractor at Connellsville; George W White, born October 27, 1830, a patternmaker, resides at McKeesport; Elizabeth A White, born November 3, 1832, wife of John McCormick and lives in Illinois; David S White, born December 9, 1834, was a carpenter by trade; Eliza C White, born April 30, 1836, wife of John Kerr of New Haven; Henry B White, born February 24, 1838, tank and rig builder at Findlay, Ohio; Mary E White, born July 29, 1840, wife of John Trader, lives at Pennsville; Edward White; Sarah J White, born July 21, 1844, wife of James English, resides in Pittsburgh; Minerva E White, born August 20, 1846, the widow of H J English, and lives in Birmingham, Alabama. Samuel Giles, grandfather, whose father was killed at Braddock's defeat at Braddock's Fields, was born in 1766, came to Fayette county in 1814, and married Dorotha Day. Their children were eight in number: Anna Giles; Dolly Giles; Mary Giles; Sallie Giles, dead; John Giles; Thomas Giles; Elizabeth Giles, mother; and Samuel Giles. Edward Y White was educated in the subscription schools of the county. He enlisted August 12, 1862, in Company H, One Hundred and Forty second Pennsylvania Volunteers, commanded by Captain J M DuShane, and was mustered out May 15, 1865. He fought in the battles of Fredericksburg, Wilderness and Gettysburg; at the latter place he was wounded in the leg and taken prisoner; when exchanged he went back to his regiment then before Richmond; on June 18, 1864, in a charge on Fort Hell, he was again wounded in the leg and entirely disabled for active service. He married on April 27, 1868, Florence Henrietta Brown, daughter of John K and Elizabeth Brown of Connellsville, a lineal descendant of General Warren of Revolutionary fame. Three children have been born to them: Alice Kate White, born April 29, 1869; John Henry White, born August 13, 1871; and Samuel Basil White, born March 15, 1884. Edward Y White was engaged in the confectionary business in Connellsville for seven years; he is now a traveling salesman for the firm of Boyts, Porter & Co of Connellsville. He has been supervisor of the construction and operation of coke works for Hutchinson & Bros, McClure & Co, colonel J M Schoonmaker, and A O Tintsman. He served in the N G P for five years and was first lieutenant at the expiration of his term of service. He has passed the chairs in General Worth Lodge No 386, I O O F and in Council No 346 of R A; he also belongs to Lodge No 239 K P and is a Master Mason. He is a man of extended business experience, and his services are always in demand. p233 JOSEPH WHITE, a native of Claysville, Washington county, Penna, was born January 3, 1834, and was brought up in Claysville and learned the marble business. His father was engaged in the same business up to the time of his death, which occurred when his son Joseph was quite small. The elder brother took charge of the business, and Joseph worked for him till 1850. He was in Waynesburg, Penna, from 1850 to 1856. In 1856 he came to Uniontown and started a business for himself. He continued in business at Uniontown up to the commencement of the war when he went into the army. He was in the quartermaster department, sick and confined to the quartermaster's hospital at Washington City for two months when he was discharged and returned home. His education was confined to the public schools of Claysville, as he had to work for his own living at the time many young men, more fortunate than himself, were finishing their education in the academies and colleges of the country. In 1853 he married Miss Barbara Hager of Greene county, Penna, who died in 1854, leaving one child: Caroline White. In 1856 he married again, to Miss Margaret Hagan. She died in 1884, and was a daughter of John Hagan, a farmer of the county. He died in 1869. By this marriage he has three children living: Alice White, William H White, and Alexander White. In 1875 he again started in the marble business at Uniontown, and has successfully carried it on ever since. He has built up a large trade and has made a host of friends. He is a member of the Heptasophs, served in the council in 1878-79, and was elected on the republican ticket. He was elected a member of the school board in 1880, and is at present a member of the board. His parents were Alexander White and Sarah Carr White. His father was of Scotch Irish origin, came to this country in 1811, and died in 1848 at the age of fifty seven years. His mother, Sarah Carr White, was a native of Washington county, Penna, and died in 1856 aged sixty five years. Her father, Alexander Carr, was born near Staunton, Virginia. He ran flatboats from Pittsburgh to New Orleans before the day of the steamboat. He was drowned, which occurred by his hearing a cry from a lady in distress in a cabin on the bank near the mouth of the Ohio river. Starting to rescue her on a horse that he kept on the boat, he swam to the bank and rescued the lady and brought her to the boat in safety. He made a second trip for some of her apparel, but on his return to the boat the horse gave out and sank, and both were lost. p481 Rev NATHAN GRIER WHITE was born at Fagg's Manor, Chester county, Penna, April 11, 1810. Nathan Grier, maternal grandfather, was born near Easton, Lehigh county, Penna. He was a Presbyterian minister and pastor of the Presbyterian church of the "Forks of the Brandywine," Chester county, Penna. He married Susanna Smith and they had the following children: Nancy S Grier; Robert S Grier, a Presbyterian preacher, pastor for fifty four years of the church at Tom's Creek, Adams county, Penna; Martha Grier, who married Samuel Park, Presbyterian preacher of Chester county, Penna, pastor of Slate Ridge church, York county, Penna; John N C Grier, who succeeded his father as pastor of the church of Brandywine Manor for fifty two years; and Sarah Grier who married a physician, Robert Thompson. Abner White, paternal grandfather, was born near Norristown, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, and was married to Jane McCrea, who was born and raised in Montgomery county, Penna. They had children named: Joseph White; Robert White; William White; James White and two daughters, Martha White and Hannah White. Rev Robert White, father of Rev Nathan Grier White, was born July 26, 1784, near Norristown, Montgomery county, Penna. He was a Presbyterian preacher, pastor of the church of Fagg's Manor for twenty six years and preached till his death September 20, 1835. On June 1, 1809, he was married to Miss Nancy S Grier, who died September 27, 1870. They had six children: Nathan G White; Robert M White; Sarah J White; Anna E White; Martha White; and Mary E White. Rev Nathan G White spent three and one half years at Nottingham Academy, Cecil county, Maryland, preparatory to entering Dickinson College, Carlisle, Penna; entered that college in 1826 and was graduated in 1828. He spent two years in teaching in classical schools: one year in Reading, Penna and one year in Harford county, Maryland. He entered the Theological Seminary at Princeton, New Jersey, in 1830 and took the full course of three years study and was graduated in theology in October, 1833. He was licensed to preach in October, 1833, by the Presbytery of New Castle. He received calls from McConnellsburg, Greenhill and Wells Valley churches, was ordained and installed as pastor of these churches on June 11, 1834, by the Presbytery of Carlisle and served them till 1864. Having received a unanimous call from the church he went to Williamsburg, Blair county, Penna, in the Presbytery of Huntingdon where he remained as pastor till the spring of 1883 when he resigned his charge on account of age and came to New Haven where he still resides and preaches occasionally, as age and its attendant infirmities permit. He was married to Susan Mayers on January 31, 1837. They had one child: Robert G White, who died while in the army during the late Civil War. He was married a second time on November 1, 1842, to Catherine McDowell of Franklin county, Penna. They had the following children: Thomas H White; Anna M White and Edwin M White. Thomas Henry White, the only living son of Rev Nathan Grier White, is a practicing physician of Connellsville and is a man of recognized ability in his profession. He is a young man of thorough education both literary and professional. Rev White has been a power in the Presbyterian church of Pennsylvania. His counsel is sought by the clergy and laity in his neighborhood and throughout the Presbytery. He is esteemed as an "Elder of Israel," a "Holy man of God." p482 Dr THOMAS H WHITE, a prominent physician and surgeon of Connellsville, was born at McConnellsburgh, Fulton county, Penna, October 26, 1845. His father, Rev Nathan Grier White, married Catherine McDowell of Franklin county, Penna. He was born at Fagg's Manor, an old place of Revolutionary note in Pennsylvania. Of Rev Nathan Grier White's four children, two are now living: Mrs Captain W L Neff of New Haven, and Dr Thomas H White, the subject of this sketch, who was educated in the common schools of Fulton county and afterwards attended Tuscarora Academy, which at that time wa sunder the control of J H Shoemaker. Subsequently he entered Princeton College and was graduated in 1867, ninth in a class of ninety. Leaving college he soon began the study of medicine and in 1870 was graduated from Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia. The first twelve years of his practice was done at Williamsburg, Penna, when he came to Connellsville. At Connellsville he has built up a large and paying practice and has the reputation of being an excellent physician. In 1873 he was married to Miss Clara V Ake, granddaughter of the founder of Williamsburg. They have three children. He is a medical examiner for the Royal Arcanum of Connellsville, is also the efficient secretary of the board of pension examiners, Connellsville district, and has been for seven years or since the organization of the board. He is a member of the Presbyterian church. p235 JAMES B WIGGINS, an intelligent and prosperous farmer of South Union township, is a son of Isaac Wiggins and Matilda Brenton Wiggins. He was born on the home farm in South Union township January 17, 1835. Isaac Wiggins was born in 1797 in Eastern Pennsylvania and died in South Union township in 1866. He was an active republican, an elder in the Cumberland Presbyterian church and a director in the National Bank of Fayette county. He was fully trusted by his neighbors, and settled many estates in Fayette county. He married Miss Matilda Brenton, daughter of Joseph Brenton. Isaac Wiggins was a son of Basil Wiggins who came from eastern Pennsylvania and kept the "old Moxley stand" in early Pike days. James B Wiggins was educated in the common schools and engaged in farming. He served as a soldier in the late war, enlisting in July, 1861, in Captain G W Gilmore's Cavalry Company from Fayette county and was in the Kanawha Division of the Army of West Virginia. He served under Generals Averill, Rosecrans, Hunter, Cox and Hays, and was twice sent east. He was in the battles of Carnifex Ferry and Winchester, Wytheville, and many others. He did some hard marching and scouting, and was captured at Frederick City, Maryland by J E B Stuart's cavalry, a few days before the battle of Antietam, but he was soon paroled. He was promoted to a sergeant and was honorably discharged at Wheeling, West Virginia, September 10, 1865. In 1869 he married Miss Elizabeth Freeman, daughter of John Freeman of Georges township. She died in 1880. In 1885 he married his second wife, Miss Jennie Downard, daughter of Jacob Downard of Georges township. Unto the latter union have been born two children: I B Wiggins; and James Arthur Wiggins. Mr Wiggins owns a fertile and beautiful farm, two miles west of the county seat, where he is engaged in farming. He succeeded the late Jasper M Thompson as president of the Fayette County Agricultural Society, is a director of the National Bank of Fayette County, and is also a director of the Fayette Fuel and Gas Company. He is a very pleasant, intelligent gentleman, and is highly esteemed for his strict business integrity. p575 JOSEPH HARRISON WIGGINS, one of the foremost citizens of Wharton township, was born near Brownsville, Fayette county, Penna, August 30, 1812, and is a son of Colonel Cuthbert Wiggins and Margaret Bunting Wiggins. Colonel Cuthbert Wiggins was a native of Bucks county, Penna, where he married Miss Margaret Bunting, daughter of Emanuel and Septema Bunting, "on the 13th day of the third month," 1799, according to the Quaker marriage certificate in possession of Joseph Harrison Wiggins. Colonel Wiggins came to Fayette county, Penna, in about 1809 and served under General George Mason in the War of 1812 in which he commanded a militia regiment and helped launch Commodore Perry's immortal fleet on Lake Erie. Entering the army he relinquished the Quaker faith and afterwards united with the Cumberland Presbyterian church. Leaving the army, he removed to Uniontown, kept a hotel for four years, and thence to Wharton township and erected the Fayette Springs Hotel. His family consisted of three sons and five daughters, of whom three are living: Hannah Wiggins, widow of William McMullen; Anna Wiggins and Joseph Harrison Wiggins. Colonel Wiggins was a great admirer of Henry Clay and General William Henry Harrison. He was a gentleman of the "old school" and a man of commanding personal appearance. His father was a native of Philadelphia. Joseph Harrison Wiggins was reared at Uniontown until 1821 when he removed to Wharton township where he received his education in an old log school house. He worked for some time on the National Road, and spent one year, 1839, in Iowa. In 1840 he returned to Wharton township and one mile east of "Chalk Hill" he opened the present popular summer resort now conducted by his son, Henry H Wiggins. Joseph Harrison Wiggins owns 450 acres of improved land and devotes some time to the chase of which he is very fond. His sporting friends have named his location the "fox hunters paradise." In 1834 he married Miss Sarah J Risler, daughter of John Risler and Harriet Madden Risler. Mr and Mrs Wiggins have had eight children, born and named as follows: Kate R Wiggins, born November 26, 1843, died December 29, 1872; Hannah M Wiggins, born February 20, 1837, died December 26, 1861; John R Wiggins, born January 16, 1839, died February 26, 1873; Henry H Wiggins, born April 4, 1841; Anna E Wiggins, born January 16, 1844, died April 23, 1846; Maggie B Wiggins, born March 24, 1846, died February 8, 1865; Sarah T Wiggins, born February 28, 1852, died May 17, 1860; Mary E Wiggins, born April 27, 1854, died June 21, 1867. Mrs Wiggins, an estimable and highly respected woman, died November 18, 1888. Henry H Wiggins was educated in the common schools and enlisted in the One Hundred and Twelfth Regiment Volunteers in August, 1862, and served in the Army of the Potomac until the close of the war. October 19, 1865, he married Miss Huldah Morris, daughter of Harvey Morris, a prominent man of Stewart township. Henry H Wiggins was census enumerator, and since then has held various township offices. Since 1870 he has rented and conducted successfully his father's summer resort and his son is book keeper with H C Frick & Co. Joseph Harrison Wiggins has retired from active life and lives in Wharton township. p404 JAMES W WILEY, a good businessman, a successful coke operator of Fayette county, is a son of Sampson Wiley and Sarah Todd Wiley and was born in Sewickley township, Westmoreland county, Penna, October 17, 1845. Sampson Wiley Sr, grandfather, was a native of County Tyrone, Ireland, where he owned a farm of forty five acres whose title made it his while "grass grew and water ran..." He emigrated to Westmoreland county in 1790 where he died in 1825 at fifty six years of age. He married Miss Jane McGrew, a member of the old and well respected McGrew family of Westmoreland county. Sampson Wiley, father, was born in Westmoreland county in 1805, died January 3, 1888, was a farmer until 1840 when he engaged in merchandising and continued successfully in the merchandising business till 1870 when he retired from active life. He was a democrat, was several times elected to local offices in a strong republican township, but always declined to accept them. He married Miss Jane Todd, daughter of Henry Todd, a native of Ireland, and a farmer of Westmoreland county early as 1812. they had ten children. One of their sons, Sampson M Wiley, enlisted in Company A, One Hundred and Fifty fifth Pennsylvania Volunteers, was in the battle of Gettysburg, and died soon afterward with typhoid fever. Mrs Wiley was born in 1809 and lives at Everson. James W Wiley was reared in Westmoreland county, attended the common schools until twenty years of age when he engaged as bookkeeper of the Youghiogheny Coal Company and remained with them till 1873. Three years of this time he served as United States gauger at their distillery. From 1873 to 1877 he was engaged in general mercantile business in the firm of S Wiley & Son. In 1877 he became a member of the mercantile firm of Wiley & Sherrick and also engaged in the coke business. In 1881 Mr Wiley withdrew from the mercantile firm, buying out Mr Sherrick's interest in the coke works and forming a partnership with J R Staufer in the same business. The firm Staufer & Wiley are successfully engaged in the coke business. In 1868 he was married to Miss Jennie Gallagher, daughter of William Gallagher of Latrobe, Penna. They have seven children: Sadie T Wiley; Carrie M Wiley; Margaret O Wiley; Minnie Wiley; Charles S Wiley; Sampson M Wiley and James W Wiley Jr. James W Wiley is a democrat and has served continuously as a justice of the peace for ten years. He is a member of the Masonic Order, a stockholder in several banks, and is a prominent member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He is a well known and intelligent citizen of Upper Tyrone and has been remarkably successful in all his business ventures. p235 WILLIAM H WILHELM was born in Franklin township, Fayette county, Penna, February 27, 1840, was reared on a farm, and resided in Franklin township till he was eighteen years old. His education was obtained in the common schools of the township. At the age of fifteen he commenced his trade-blacksmith-with George Crop, and served with him for three years, when he came to Uniontown, and worked as a journeyman for eighteen months. In 1861 he started in business for himself, and has continued ever since at the same location. He built a new and better shop on the same place occupied by the old building. His principal business now is the manufacturing of wagons, and selling agricultural implements. He has built up a large business at Uniontown. He is the son of George Wilhelm and Lydia Quaill Wilhelm. His father was born in Fayette county, Penna, and was by occupation a farmer. He is now living at Hanover, Jefferson county, Indiana. George Wilhelm, grandfather of the subject of this sketch was the first to discover iron ore in the mountains, and the place still goes by the name of "Wilhelm Ore Banks." He was a trapper and hunter of the mountains. Before the country was settled to any great extent, he transported fur and game to Baltimore on sleds. He was once captured by the Indians, and made his escape at night by secreting himself in a hollow log, but was found an taken back to the Indian village. The second attempt he succeeded in making good his escape. He has been dead about seventy years. p576 GEORGE W WILKIN, one of the useful citizens of Marchandville and a popular ferryman, was born at Coal Center, Washington county, Penna, January 28, 1827, and is a son of Reuben Wilkin and Bethsheba Dowler Wilkin. George Wilkin, grandfather, died soon after coming from Virginia to Washington county, Penna. Reuben Wilkin, father, was a native of Hardy county, Virginia, and was a carpenter, and died in 1879. He married Miss Bethsheba Dowler, daughter of Thomas Dowler, a farmer of Washington county. She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and died in 1868 aged sixty two years. George Wilkin was reared at Coal Center, and learned the trade of carpenter. His first employment was boating coal down the Monongahela. After ten years spent on the river, he engaged (1855) in building skiffs and operating the ferry between Coal Center and Marchandville. In 1873 he removed to Marchandville and has continued in the ferry business up to the present time. In 1849 he married Miss Margaret Ann Addis of Menallen township. She died March 31, 1865, and left four children: Angeline Wilkin, Louisa D Wilkin, Emma E Wilkin and John H Wilkin. In 1866 Mr Wilkin married Miss Joanna Halliday of Dunbar. After her death, he was married in 1885 to Mrs Annie Dial Hamilton, daughter of the late Isaac Dial, formerly a farmer of Tyrone township. Mrs Dial Wilkin was born near the site of Everson, June 7, 1839. She accompanied her father to Ohio in 1844, and six years later removed with him from that State to Illinois. Mr Dial was drowned in the Mississippi river near Fort Madison, Iowa, and sleeps in the cemetery at Montrose in that State. Mrs Wilkin's first husband was William Murray of St Louis, whom she married September 21, 1862. He died in 1868 and December 8, 1877, she was married to Isaac Hamilton of Jefferson township this county. He died in Washington county in 1883, and she was a resident of that county until her marriage with Mr Wilkin. She has one child: Edward H Murray, now living in Marchandville. George W Wilkin is one of the oldest ferrymen on the river. He is a republican and has served as school director. He is a member of the Disciple church, a pleasant and agreeable man and an industrious citizen. p308 JOSEPH GORDON WILLIAMS of Springhill township is of Scotch, Irish and Welsh descent and was born in Greensboro, Greene county, Penna, September 24, 1842. He was educated in the common schools until fourteen years of age when he entered Monongalia Academy, Morgantown, West Virginia, attended eight terms at that institution; leaving there he engaged in teaching and taught his first term of school at Morris Cross Roads. He continued to teach for four years. In 1865 he began handling cord wood and continued in the same for eight years. In 1873 he returned to teaching and taught for four years in Monongalia county, West Virginia. For the next two years he conducted a farm belonging to J G, T and B K Williams. In 1882 he came to New Geneva, Fayette county, Penna, and became a member of the mercantile firm of J G and T Williams. One September 24, he was appointed postmaster at New Geneva and held the office until July 18, 1889. Under his administration two extra daily mail lines were established in his district. On May 21, 1874, he was married to Miss Mary V Burtnett, daughter of Thomas Burtnett of Uniontown. Of this union three children were born: Joseph G Williams; James Hysen Williams; and Charles Carroll Williams. Mrs Mary Burtnett Williams's maternal grandfather was William Hale, usually called "Old Master Hale," as he was an old time school teacher. Joseph G Williams is a man of intelligence, has been successful in various kinds of business and is a descendant of one of the old, useful and time honored families of southern Fayette county. p236 JOSIAH V WILLIAMS was born September 17, 1848, at Uniontown, Fayette county, Penna, where he was reared and attended the public schools. His family for four generations have resided in Fayette county. His grandfather was a native of England and was one of the earliest settlers here. He was a shoemaker by trade and as it was the custom in those days, he went from house to house to do his work. His son, Isaac Williams, a native of Fayette county, Penna, and the father of Josiah V Williams, was married to Martha Jane Lancaster who was also born in Fayette county, Penna. Isaac Williams was engaged a great deal of his life in the manufacture of brick until 1869 when he retired. Josiah V Williams took charge of the business and has successfully conducted it ever since. In 1889 he bought J W Miller's brickyard. He is now running both yards, is making 25,000 bricks per day, and employs from sixteen to twenty hands. Josiah V Williams was married September 17, 1871 to Ellen M Derrick, daughter of Joseph Derrick, a prominent farmer of South Union township. To their marriage have been born three children: Allen D Williams; Florence Williams and Eliza Williams. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and was elected assessor of South Union township on the republican ticket. p307 THEOPHILUS WILLIAMS, son of Theophilus P Williams and Rebecca Thompson Williams, was born at Smithfield, Fayette county, Penna, April 24, 1836. His father, Theophilus P Williams, was born at New Geneva, July 29, 1802, and was the son of Thomas Williams, a tailor by trade. His mother was a daughter of Theophilus Phillips. Theophilus P Williams learned the tailor trade and improved a limited education by studying during all his spare moments from work. He was a good mathematician and a fine penman. He wrote nearly all the legal documents written in his neighborhood and attended to a large amount of legal business before the justice of the peace. He worked at the tailor trade until 1856 when he went on a farm. He died February 12, 1889, aged eighty seven years. His paternal grandfather, Thomas Williams, came from Wales to New Orleans and walked from that city to New Geneva, subsisting for several days during his journey on parched corn. He was also a tailor by trade. His mother, Rebecca Thompson, was born September 3, 1804, and died October 16, 1886. She was the mother of eleven children, six sons and five daughter, of whom four sons and two daughters are living. She was a daughter of James Thompson, who left Maryland, his native state, when Washington city was captured by the British. He came to Fayette county and was killed while mining ore by the roof of the mine falling in and crushing him. Theophilus Williams, the subject of this sketch, removed from Smithfield to Greensboro, Greene county, Penna, when quite young. He attended the common schools until nineteen years of agent hen engaged in farming for twenty four years and while farming he learned the carpenter trade. In 1882 he and his brother engaged in the mercantile business in New Geneva. They do business under the firm name of J G & T Williams and are successful merchants having a large custom. They own a farm of forty nine acres in the county and on this farm General Washington stopped overnight with Theophilus Phillips, their mother's paternal grandfather. Theophilus Williams was married July 22, 1884, to Emma Baker, daughter of James Baker and Mary Eckert Baker, both natives of West Virginia. They had one child: Rebecca May Williams, born February 20, 1887. His wife, Emma Baker Williams, died December 13, 1887, and was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church at Drummond's Chapel. Theophilus Williams is a democrat and never voted anything but the democratic ticket. He is a member of the Old Frame Presbyterian church and is a good businessman. He was again married in 1876 to Miss Rachel Blaney, daughter of Isaac Blaney. They have four children: Addie Williams; Ashbel F Williams; Blackburn Williams and an infant. Blackburn died when two years old. Thomas Williams is a member of the G A R post at Smithfield and he and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church at Springhill. p532 ROBERT THOMAS WILLIAMS of French -German descent and a very successful businessman of New Geneva, was born at Millsboro, Washington county, Penna, August 9, 1852, and is a son of John P Williams and Sarah Simington Williams. John P Williams was born in Fayette county in 1810, learned the trade of tailor which he pursued for many years, and was justice of the peace for several terms at Masontown and also at Greensboro, Greene county, Penna. He was a sober, industrious man, had a good knowledge of law, was a democrat in politics and a consistent member of the Presbyterian church. His death occurred in 1875. His wife was a daughter of Rev Robert Simington, a Methodist minister. She was a member of that church and died in 1856, leaving four children, of whom only Robert Thomas Williams and Rachel Williams, wife of A Cunningham, are living. Robert T Williams was reared in Millsboro and at eleven years of age went to Ohio where he remained eighteen months then returned to Pennsylvania. After a short time he removed to Masontown and was engaged for one year by Benjamin Jones, a farmer of German township. After the expiration of his year on the farm, he was for a time at Fairview, and then at New Geneva. In 1869 he engaged with Littell & Co of Greensboro to learn the trade of potter. Upon this firm suspending business in 1870 he completed his trade with Hamilton & Jones and then was in their employ till 1875 when he removed to Morgantown, West Virginia, and was engaged in the pottery business for three years. Leaving West Virginia he returned to Greensboro and worked for Hamilton & Jones till 1880 when he was engaged by John P Eberhard & Co of New Geneva with whom he remained for two years. In 1882 Mr Willliams became proprietor of the New Geneva Pottery Works and has successfully operated them ever since. His ware is in demand and he enjoys a liberal patronage and support. In addition to his pottery business, he engaged in the mercantile business at New Geneva, March 27, 1888, and has successfully continued in merchandising till the present. On April 13, 1876, he was married to Miss Elizabeth Sanduskey. To this union were born two children: Charles R Williams and William A Williams. Mrs Williams was a member of the Presbyterian church and died March 16, 1887. Robert T Williams is a Jeffersonian democrat and an active member of the Presbyterian church. He began life with no capital but good health and strong hands, yet by industry, perseverence and careful management has acquired considerable property. p309 Rev WILLIAM ORRIS WILSON was born May 2, 1837, near West Chester, Chester county, Penna. On the paternal side he is of Scotch Irish Lineage and on the maternal side of English descent. His grandfather was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and was a descendant of the celebrated Wilson family who took a leading and distinguished part in the struggle for liberty. Rev William O Wilson was educated at Academia in Juniata county, Penna, in the Turscrora valley. he entered the academic course in his seventeenth year and continued for four years. His father, a well to do farmer, having met with some financial reverses, by generously but unwisely endorsing for a friend, rendered him unable to continue his son at the academy, but with commendable pluck and energy at the same charge upon his parents during his vacations clerked in a store to obtain the means to continue his studies at the academy. After completing his course he entered the private study of the Rev Dr Thompson, an eminent Presbyterian minister, to commence a theological course. The Rev Thompson becoming too ill to instruct him, Mr Wilson made arrangements with the Rev Dr D H Focht to continue the course. He was thus engaged for two years, then entered the Theological Institute at Selin's Grove in Snyder county, Penna, under the tuition of the Rev D H Zeigler who is still living at an advanced age in Chicago, Illinois. He remained in this institute one year. W O Wilson and Mary J Wallis of Lewistown, Penna, were married January, 1860, by the Rev Dr Wood. In May, 1861, he was ordained by the Synod of Central Pennsylvania and immediately entered upon his ministerial duties at Millerstown in Perry county, Penna. At this place under his immediate supervision was erected an elegant church edifice and three other congregations were organized in the vicinity. In September, 1864, Rev W O Wilson was called to Wheeling, West Virginia, to engage in mission work and continued till the fall of 1865. He was then called by the congregations at Oakland, Maryland, and Scenery Hill, Washington county, Penna, at the same time. He accepted the Washington county call. Here he remained eight years, built a parsonage at a cost of $3,200, also a magnificent church edifice at Zollersville at a cost of $9,000. Here he established and obtained corporate privileges for the first rural cemetery in western Pennsylvania. During his stay in Washington county he made frequent visits to Kanawha valley, West Virginia, and established missions. He was next called to the Fayette county charge, embracing Jacob's and St John's congregations in German and Springhill townships. He remained in charge of these congregations for twelve years, rebuilt the church edifice in German township, established with corporate franchises cemeteries for both congregations and added more than two hundred communicants. While resident in the parsonage near Jacob's church, the title doctor of divinity was conferred upon him by the board of trustees of Ripon College, Wisconsin. He was next called by a unanimous vote of the general council of the Lutheran church, and was elected and commissioned to labor in Bismarck, Dakota, for the Scandanavians. After a short stay among these people, much to his regret and also of the citizens of Bismarck, Rev Wilson had to give up the charge. Having been afflicted for years with heart disease, the attitude of Bismarck, together with the rarified air of that region increased the malady to such an extent that there was but the alternative of leave or die. He returned to Fayette county, Penna, in May, 1886, much impaired in health but soon recovered sufficiently to resume the charge of the St John's congregation near Morris Cross Roads, Penna, which position he is at present filling very acceptably. Eleven children have been born to Mr and Mrs Wilson, six of whom are living: Anne E Wilson, intermarried with John W Bowers; Harry L Wilson; Charles K Wilson; Ella Wilson; Ettie Wilson; and Lena Wilson. Mrs Wilson is of Scotch descent. Rev W O Wilson is a man of fine presence, easy and affable manner, firm and abiding in his attachments, and unswerving in his convictions of the right. While he rightfully abhors the mingling of church and State affairs, he is not afraid on all proper occasions to express his political opinions and preferences. Rev Mr Wilson is an easy, fluent and pleasant speaker, and never tires his congregation. He is well versed on the general topics of the day, eminently social in disposition, and enjoys the companionship of friends and neighbors. p236 Hon ALPHEUS E WILLSON. One of the ablest lawyers and one of the finest jurists that Fayette county ever had was the distinguished judge whose name is mentioned at the head of this sketch. He was descended from one of the oldest, most polished, cultivated and influential families of old Virginia. His grandfather, the Hon Thomas Willson, read law with Judge Stuart of Staunton, admitted to the bar, and removed to Western Virginia where he was engaged in most all the important cases at Morgantown, besides doing considerable practice at Clarksburg and Wheeling. He was a member of Congress during the War of 1812, and his son, Edgar Campbell Willson, represented the same district in the Twenty third Congress. Hon Thomas Willson held high rank as a lawyer, and was a gentleman of polished manners and a man of unquestioned integrity. His wife's maiden name was Mary Poage. He died in 1826, leaving behind him five sons and three daughters, all of whom were distinguished for their talent and ability. Hon Alpheus E Willson died in Uniontown of consumption at five o'clock, Tuesday morning of September 9, 1884. He was the son of Hon Alpheus Poage Willson and Eliza Evans Willson, and was born at Rock Forge on Decker's Creek in Monongalia county, Virginia (now West Virginia), October 24, 1828. Hon Alpheus Poage Willson was born March 2, 1794; he was drowned in the Monongahela River near Brownsville, February 10, 1832. He was an excellent lawyer and served in the Virginia legislature in 1819 and 1820, and in the Virginia senate from 1821 to 1825. September 20, 1821, he married Miss Eliza Evans, daughter of Jesse and Mary Evans and a sister of the late Colonel Samuel Evans, who was one of the Fayette county's prominent and honored citizens, and a son of Jesse Evans, one of Pennsylvania's successful and leading iron manufacturers. When the Hon Alpheus E Willson was four years old, his parents removed from Virginia to Uniontown. In Uniontown he prepared himself in the public and private schools for college and at the age of sixteen years entered the sophomore class at Princeton College, and graduated from that institution in the class of 1847. He read the law with the late Judge Nathaniel Ewing, admitted to the bar June 3, 1850, and immediately opened a law office. After ten year's practice, he removed to London, Ohio, where he formed a law partnership with Judge Lincoln of that place. In August, 1863, he returned to Uniontown and resumed the practice of law. He at once "rose to the front rank in his profession, and was known throughout the country as a safe and learned counselor." September 18, 1855, he was married to Miss Catherine H Dawson, daughter of George and Mary Dawson of Brownsville, Penna, and a sister of the late Hon John L Dawson. Judge Willson left three daughters-Mrs R H Lindsey, Mrs Hazard, and Miss Mary K Willson. He was the only son of his parents; his youngest sister, Mrs Judge John K Ewing, died January, 1884. His mother is still living at the advanced age of eighty eight. In 1873 he was nominated by the democracy of Fayette county for president judge of the fourteenth judicial district, composed of the counties of Fayette and Greene. His opponent was Hon David Crawford, nominated by the Greene county democrats. The republicans of the district made no nomination, but supported Judge Willson, who was elected by a large majority. At the time of his election, he was president of the Dollar Savings Bank of Uniontown, and a director of the S W R R Co, both of which positions he resigned before taking his seat upon the bench. He was also a member of the coke manufacturing firm of Willson, Boyle and Playford, from which he retired in 1880 with fair profits as the result of successful management. While on the bench, Judge Willson discharged each and every duty of the high position with unquestioned probity, courage and ability for a period of ten years. p403 JOHN D WOOD, one of Menallen's representative farmers, is a son of Amos Wood, and was born on the Woods farm in Menallen township, April 3, 1857. Amos Wood was born October 12, 1812, was brought up in the Quaker faith, but he now holds to the doctrine of the Dunkard church. His father, John Wood, was born March 17. 1765, in Winchester, Virginia, where he married Miss Catherine Littler. John Wood was a son of Cornelius Wood and Mary Sharpless Wood, the latter a daughter of Samuel Sharpless. She was born March 20, 1737, at Middletown, Virginia, and died at Winchester, November 11, 1762. John D Wood was educated in the common schools of Menallen. Among his early teachers were Dr Hill and Edward Hackney. In politics he is a republican; in his religious views he adheres to the doctrine of the Cumberland Presbyterian church. He was married April 11, 1876 to Miss Retta Stewart, daughter of Lewis Stewart. Three children have been born to them: Jemima Bell Wood, born November 11, 1878; Anna Maud Wood, born September 25, 1880; Jennie Pearl Wood, born April 17, 1883. He owns a valuable farm of one hundred twenty five acres of land which is underlaid with coal and limestone. Mr Wood is descended from the celebrated Sharpless family, and through his paternal great grandmother, his family traces its ancestry back to 1591. In 1682 John Sharpless of Hatherton, England, came with William Penn to Philadelphia; his descendants scattered over the eastern States and in Pennsylvania. In 1882 there was a Sharpless reunion at "Sharpless Rock," England, where several hundred descendants of this ancient and honorable family assembled. They were from various parts of the United States and Europe. The Sharpless coat of arms bears the Latin motto: Pro veritate suffer fortitur. p576 DAVID WOODMENCY/WOODMANCY was born in Fayette county, Penna, January 22, 1835. He received only the advantages of a common school education in the schools of his neighborhood. When quite young he learned the business of tanner at the Beaver Creek tannery. He afterwards bought the property known as Sugar Loaf Knob in Stewart township, and is now a thrifty farmer and stock raiser of that township. He has been twice married: the first time, May 5, 1853, to Casinda Morrison, daughter of G Morrison of Fayette county. She died January 12, 1858, leaving three children: John L Woodmency, Mary W Woodmency (deceased) and Ella C Woodmency. He was married the second time October 19, 1862, to Mary A Butler, daughter of Esquire Sylvenus Butler of Allegany county, Maryland. By this marriage were born eight children: Frank Woodmency, David R W Woodmency (deceased), Anna Sabina Woodmency, Andrew J Woodmency, Sarah E Woodmency, Lillie C Woodmency, Millie F A Woodmency (deceased), and Abraham S Woodmency (deceased). David Woodmency, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, came from New Jersey with a colony and settled in what is now known as the "Jersey settlement" near Turkey Foot, Somerset county, Penna. He was a soldier in the Revolutionary War and was wounded. p483 SAMUEL D WOODS, a leading dentist of Connellsville and a soldier of the late Civil War, was born at Rogersville, near Waynesburg, Greene County, Penna, January 20, 1848. He is a son of Samuel and Leah Divers Woods. His grandfather, Samuel Woods Sr., was a native of New Jersey and was twice married. His second wife was Mary Ann McCoy, by whom he had seven children. He removed to Washington County, was elected constable and meeting with reverses of fortune he died soon afterwards. One of his sons, Samuel Woods, was apprenticed to A Shannon to learn the trade of shoemaker. After completing his trade, he married Miss Leah Divers. They had eleven children. Samuel Woods was born March 16, 1803, and died June 21, 1887. His wife was born December 4, 1805, and died June 6, 1885. She was the daughter of John Divers and Anna Ford Divers, the latter afterwards married John Scott. Samuel D Woods was educated in the common schools and Waynesburg College. In 1868 he studied dentistry with Dr Kramer of Greensboro, Greene County, Penna, and after six years' practice went to Chicago and learned the finer and more difficult parts of dentistry. After three years practice in the city of Chicago and vicinity, he returned to Pennsylvania and located at Connellsville, where he has built up a large and lucrative practice. In 1869 he married Miss Alice Coughenour, daughter of Daniel Coughenour of Greensboro, Penna. They have five children: Margaret L Woods, James B Woods, Afred H Woods, John Y Woods, and Flora A Woods. At the age of seventeen years he entered the Union service, enlisted in Company K, Sixteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry, and served til the end of the war. He belongs to the Royal Arcanum, is a member of the Presbyterian church and a prohibitionist. He has an interest in a large tract of valuable mineral land in eastern Virginia, and is a skillful dentist and one of the enterprising citizens of Connellsville. p484 EBENEZER FINLEY WOODWARD, a prosperous farmer and stock raiser, was born in Dunbar township, Fayette county, Penna, September 11, 1840, and is a son of David Woodward and Mary Boyd Woodward. His grandfather, Caleb Woodward, came from Chester county, Penna, to near New Salem early in the present century. He was born in 1799 and died October 18, 1856, and was married to Phebe McCarty and had six children, five daughters and one son. Mrs Woodward was born in 1780 and died December 4, 1856. His father, Davis Woodward, was born in Menallen township, June 11, 1806, and died April 6, 1882. He was a farmer and stock dealer, a truthful man and a consistent member of the Presbyterian church. On November 2, 1828, he was married to Phebe Boyd, a daughter of Judge Robert Boyd and Rebecca Work Boyd. They had thirteen children. One of their daughters, Rebecca Woodward, married Hon Charles S Beatty, member of the Pennsylvania legislature. Mrs Woodward was born April 13, 1810. Her grandfather, William Boyd, was a native of Ireland and settled in Tyrone township. His father was killed by the Indians on the Potomac River, April 13, 1757. Ebenezer F Woodward was reared on a farm and received his education in the common schools and has since been engaged in farming and stock raising. On March 25, 1869, he was married to Elma Cox, daughter of George Cox. They have had ten children born and named as follows: Elizabeth Woodward, born January 15, 1870; Dempsey Woodward, born March 5, 1871; George Woodward, born June 28, 1873; Mary Woodward, born March 2, 1875; Jessie Woodward, born November 12, 1876; Jennie Woodward, born November 1, 1878; Finley Woodward, born November 8, 1880; Belle, dead; Joseph Woodward, July 29, 1884; and Elma Woodward, May 10, 1887. Mr Woodward is road commissioner of Dunbar township and is a member of the K of P, and the J O of U A M at Leisenring. He is a member of the Presbyterian church and is a prudent, careful and reliable businessman. p405 ELLIS BAILEY WOODWARD of Menallen township was born July 25, 1816, near Jennings Run, South Union township, Fayette county, Penna; was brought up on a farm and educated at the winter schools of Menallen and South Union townships. He commenced life as a farmer but was afterwards wagoner on the "Old Pike" for about seven years. The principal freights were corn, provisions and merchandise. The corn was hauled to the road for the purpose of feeding hogs on the way to market. At that time the hogs were driven on foot, from the States of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois to market in the cities of Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York. It took thousands of barrels of corn yearly during the season of driving which was usually in the fall and early winter, and the wagoner always had a busy time in the hog season. It was the same when cattle were driven to market along the Pike; a great amount of feed had to be hauled to the road and the merchandise was back freight from Cumberland to Wheeling. The old wagon which Mr Woodward used on the Pike is still in use. He stopped overnight at fifty seven different houses on the Pike between Uniontown and Cumberland while he was engaged in wagoning. He never drank any whiskey in his life although it was as plenty as water on the road while he was teaming. When he quit the road, he settled down on a farm and made farming his vocation in life. He owns 106 acres of land in Menallen township where he now lives. He was married March 12, 1840, to Miss Mary Jane Lynn, who died in 1856. She was the daughter of Samuel Lynn of Redstone township. He married for his second wife, Miss Mary Ann Schaeffer, born July 14, 1839, in Wharton township. She was the daughter of Charles Schaeffer of Stewart township who died March 15, 1869, aged seventy nine years, one month and nineteen days. They have seven living children, and one dead: Mary Jane Woodward, born April 3, 1858, married Abraham F Vance; Elizabeth Woodward, born April 23, 1859; Sarah Woodward, born April 20, 1861, married George W Holland; Prudy Woodward, born December 1, 1862, married to William Schwartz; Feliz H Woodward, born May 5, 1866, a farmer; Eliza Woodward, born December 21, 1867; and Charles Andrew Woodward, born December 4, 1869. Mr Woodward is an ardent democrat. In the campaign of 1844 he drove a team of seventeen horses to one of his party's political conventions. His parents were Joshua Woodward and Sarah Dannels Woodward. His father was born in Chester county, Penna, in 1783, came to Fayette county when he was six years old and was a blacksmith. His mother was born in Chester county, Penna, in Kennet Square. They had eight children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the fourth. Mr Richard Woodward, the grandfather, was probably a native of Chester county, Penna, as he came from there to Fayette county in 1789 and settled on a farm in Menallen township where he afterwards lived till his death. Jesse Dannels, the grandfather of Ellis Bailey Woodward, came from Chester county to Fayette at a very early day. p573 Captain ISAAC WOODWARD of Luzerne, president of the Pittsburgh, Brownsville and Geneva Packet Company, is a son of Levi Woodward and Mary Chalfant Woodward, and was born May 20, 1813, at Chad's Ford on the old historic Brandywine Creek, Chester county, Penna. His paternal ancestor, William Woodward, was an English Quaker, coming to America with William Penn in 1682. Woodward owned forty acres of land adjoining the newly founded city of Philadelphia. Penn was desirous of disseminating the Quaker faith and doctrines into the interior of the colony, and accordingly offered Woodward one thousand acres of land in Chester county for forty acres near Philadelphia. Woodward accepted the offer and settled on the Chester county tract, now known as "Marshalltown." The Woodwards still own a portion of the Marshalltown tract, where now stands a large Quaker church called Bradford. Captain Woodward's paternal grandfather was born at Chadd's Ford, where he lived and died. In 1816 Captain Isaac C Woodward was brought by his parents to Chad Chalfant's, a relative of his mother near Brownsville, and shortly after their arrival his father died. In 1819 the Captain was taken by an old Quaker by the name of Cattell with whom he remained ten years. While with him he received his education in the subscription schools of the surrounding neighborhood. He learned the trade of carpenter which he followed for several years. He next engaged in building steamboats, and during a period of thirty years built about twenty boats. During the Mexican War he built a boat for the United States government which ran on the Rio Grande river. He also commanded steamboats on the Mississippi river and its principal branches. For several years he has been president of the Pittsburgh, Brownsville and Geneva Packet Company, and is one of the company's largest stockholders. At the breaking out of the Civil War, he left the western waters and purchased a fine farm of three hundred acres near Brownsville, where he is at present engaged in farming and stockraising, making a specialty of fine sheep. In 1846 he married Miss Maria Brashear. She died in 1853. He has two children living: Anna Woodward, educated at Mechanicsburg Seminary, and wife of Rev Joseph J Parks; and Mary Woodward, educated at Mechanicsburg Seminary and wife of Dr Reichard of Brownsville. He was married January 1, 1880, to Miss Martha J Woods of near Brownsville, an only daughter of James Woods Jr. They have no children. p403 SAMUEL WORK WOODWARD is a son of Davis Woodward and Mary Boyd Woodward, and was born April 24, 1833, in Menallen township, Fayette county, Penna. His paternal grandfather, Caleb Woodward, was born in Chester county, married Phebe McCarty, and removed to Fayette county, where he died October 18, 1856. His father, Davis Woodward, was born June 11, 1805, in Menallen township, on the farm where Frank Elliott now resides. On November 2, 1828, he married Miss Mary Boyd, who was born in 1810, and is a daughter of Robert Boyd, whose father-in-law Samuel Work came from Ireland and purchased a large tract of land near the site of Dunbar furnace. Davis Woodward had thirteen children: Robert B Caleb Woodward, Samuel W Woodward, Davis Woodward, Joseph Woodward, Rebecca Woodward, Ebeneezer Woodward, Finley Woodward, Jno W Woodward, Phebe Woodward, Mary E Woodward, Eliza Jane Woodward, Dempsey Woodward and Harriet Woodward. Samuel W Woodward was raised on a farm and received his education in the common schools of Dunbar township. Among his teachers were James Darby and James Curry. He was married December 29, 1859, by the Rev Joel Stoneroad, to Mary Curry who was born April 19, 1842. Her father James Curry was born July 11, 1805, and married in 1840, Elizabeth Parkill (not Parkhill). James Curry was a son of Solomon Curry, a native of Ireland, who married Mary A Hatfield; he lived to be one hundred and one years of age. Mr and Mrs S W Woodward have had five children born to them: Elizabeth J Woodward, born September 5, 1860, married Edward Gilchrist and has five children; Ida Belle Woodward, October 13, 1862, married Rufus Phillips, has two children and is living in Harvey county, Kansas; Anna Laura Woodward, born February 8, 1865, married to John Frasher of Franklin township; James Curry Woodward, born November 8, 1867; and Ewing Finley Woodward, born August 26, 1873. Mr Woodward owns 280 acres of good land in Menallen township, and gives the most of his time to its cultivation and improvement. He and his wife are members of Laurel Hill Presbyterian Church. p238 JAMES C WORK was brought up a "farmer boy" and as the name indicates is of Irish origin. He was born February 8, 1859, in Fayette county, Penna. His father, John Work, is an intelligent and prosperous farmer of the county and owns quite a large tract of valuable land. He is a native of Harrison county, Ohio, coming to Fayette county with his parents (James C Work's grandparents), James and Nancy Work, when he was only seven years old. The maiden name of James C Work's mother was Sarah McLaughlin, born in Fayette county, Penna, and a daughter of Charles and Mary McLaughlin. James C Work attended the public schools of his native township. Leaving the common schools, he entered college at Waynesburg, Penna, and graduated with honor from that college in 1884. He immediately began the study of law and in the same year entered the law department of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where he prosecuted his law studies for nine months. In the fall of 1885 he went to Yale and graduated from the law department of that institution in June, 1886, with the degree of LLB. He was at once admitted to practice at the bar of the supreme court of Connecticut. In December, 1886, he was admitted to practice in the several courts of Fayette county and immediately opened a law office at Uniontown where he has been engaged in active practice ever since. In practice Mr Work is careful and painstaking and often discourages rather than encourages litigation. He looks upon the law as a science and not a mere trade by which to grind out a living. p599 SAMUEL WORK. An excellent representative of the best class of county agriculturalists, combining the instincts and culture of the gentleman with the stead industry and the muscle of the prosperous farmer is Mr Samuel Work of Dunbar, who was born December 5, 1817. Mr Work's paternal ancestors came to America from the North of Ireland. His grandfather, Samuel Work, whose name he bears and who was born July 17, 1749, and died in 1833, moved from Lancaster county to Fayette county and settled in Dunbar township about 1766, where John Work, the father of Mr Work, was born in 1787, and married in 1814 Nancy Rogers, daughter of John Rogers of Fayette county. Mr Work, the second issue of this union, attended in childhood the so called subscription school at the old "Cross Keys" school house in Dunbar until about seventeen years of age, and after that the academy at Uniontown conducted by Rev Dr Wilson till well advanced in his twentieth year, and then commenced the life of a farmer on the old homestead farm, and subsequently inherited an adjoining farm which he cultivated with skill and profit raising cattle among other things, together with carrying on the business of a dealer in cattle, which he often sent in droves to the Eastern market until 1876 when he retired from business having previously sold the Connellsville coking coal which underlies a large portion of the farm he occupied, the surface of which he has since disposed of, he now residing in Dunbar village. Mr Work is a gentleman of genial, active temperament, and in early life greatly enjoyed all kinds of athletic, manly sports particularly that of fox hunting with horses and hounds and was noted as a finished horseman and a bold rider; but being ever temperate and attentive to business he never allowed his love of the chase to infringe upon important affairs. He belonged to the Fayette County Cavalry, at one time a famous organization, and took great pride in military matters. In politics he is a republican, and was formerly and old line whig. He took great interest in the late war on the side of the Union and contributed liberally particularly in aid of the work of the Sanitary Commission. He is a member of the Presbyterian church, of which his wife is also a member and to which he has belonged for about fifteen years, and enjoys an unsullied reputation for general integrity and honest dealing wherever he is known. On the 23rd of September, 1858, he was united in marriage to Miss Jane W Watts, born in 1837, a native of County Donegal, Ireland, and daughter of George Watts and Jane Wilson Watts, both of Scotch descent. When about fifteen years of age, Mrs Work, then well instructed for her years came to America and here continued her studies until the time of her marriage. They have no children. p577 DAVID L WORKMAN Jr, one of the representative young farmers of Bullskin township, was born in Perry township, Fayette county, Penna, December 9, 1850. He is a son of David Workman and Elizabeth Wilkinson Workman. the former born n Fayette county in 1818, was a blacksmith by trade, removing to Bullskin township in 1867; the latter a daughter of Moses Wilkinson of Perry township. To their union were born five children: Joseph A Workman born February 8, 1880; Ella Blanch Workman, born November 27, 1881; Lizzie Workman, born June 22, 1883; Harry B Workman, born June 30, 1885; Howard A Workman, born August 23, 1888, all born in Bullskin township, Fayette county, Penna. David L Workman Jr was married to Catherine Biedler, a daughter of Joseph Beidler (both spellings!) of Bullskin township, December 27, 1877. He received his education in the common schools of Fayette and Westmoreland counties. Leaving school he has made farming is principal business. For three terms he has held the office of school director. He is a member of the Ancient Order of Knights of the Mystic Chain, Monarch Castle, No 84, Moyer, is a member of the Baptist church at Connellsville, and holds the office of deacon. He is an ardent democrat, and stands well as a citizen in his neighborhood. p405 JOHN H WURTZ, general manager of the Sterling Supply Company's, Redstone Coke Company's and Youngstown Coke Company's stores, was born near Confluence, Somerset county, Penna, October 10, 1852, and is a son of Christian Wurtz and Susan Hyatt Wurtz. Among the early settlers of Westmoreland county from Eastern Pennsylvania was John Wurtz Sr. He was an active and honored member of the Mennonite church in East Huntingdon township. One of his sons, John Wurtz born 1789, was a staid and industrious farmer of Westmoreland county, where he died in 1854. Christian Wurtz, son of John Wurtz, was born on the home farm in 1824. He removed to Franklin township, Fayette county, engaged in farming and died in 1888. He was a life-long democrat, but was very liberal in his views, political or otherwise-an upright, honest and obliging man. He married Miss Susan Hyatt, born in 1832, and now residing with her son, Andrew J Wurtz, at Abilene, Kansas. Her father, Andrew Hyatt, was a farmer near Confluence, Penna, where in early life he was a fine marksman and successful deer hunter. His death occurred in 1869. John H Wurtz came to Fayette county at six years of age. He attended the common schools for then years and then took the full course at the Iron City Business College in Pittsburgh, from which he was graduated in 1872. His first employment was teaching in the common schools, at which he continued from 1869 to 1872 when he accepted the position of bookkeeper with Brown & Cochran at Jimtown Coke Works; he discharged the duties of his position so satisfactorily to his employers that he was retained as long as they operated these works. When Colonel Schoonmaker became proprietor in 1879 of the Jimtown Coke Works, Mr Wurtz was continued as bookkeeper until the death of Mr B F Oglevee in January, 1889, when he was promoted to succeed him as general manager of Colonel Schoonmaker's stores at Redstone, Alice, Sterling and Youngstown. On November 21, 1877, at the Catholic church in Connellsville, he married Miss Ellen Quinn, a native of county Roscommon, Ireland. They have three children: Andrew Jackson Wurtz, Annie Belle Wurtz and Nellie Wurtz. Mrs Wurtz's father, James Quinn, came to the United States about 1863, and died from injuries received at Alice mines in 1886. Mr Wurtz is a democrat, and while having but little time to spare from his many and pressing business duties, yet he has filled several township offices. He owns the old Wurtz homestead farm of seventy five acres of good land in Franklin township, and two fine farms near Abilene, Kansas. By industry and economy he has acquired a competency, and has always been true to the many and varied business trusts that have been confided to his care. He has show by his energy, skill and judgment, in his past business transactions, that he is capable of managing and controlling large and extensive business enterprises. X SURNAMES NONE Y SURNAMES p533 GEORGE YEAGER of Nicholson was born December 25, 1811, in Greensboro, Greene county, Penna. He is of German and English extraction and is a son of George Yeager and Rhoda Fennimore Yeager, the former born and reared at Reading, Penna. He was a hatter by trade. From Reading he removed to Morgantown and later went to Greensboro where he engaged in making hats. He was the father of fifteen children, nine of whom grew to man and womanhood, and three of the nine at present survive: Alfred Yeager, Samuel Yeager and George Yeager. George Yeager, father of the subject of this sketch, was a Jackson democrat and prior to the breaking out of the War of 1812 was commissioned colonel in the State militia. He left home with the intention of becoming a soldier in the War of 1812 and 1815, but soon after he left home, peace was declared. He was a active member of the Lutheran church while his wife was a member of the Presbyterian church. The last twenty years of his life he lived retired and at his death was possessed of considerable wealth. The grandfather of George Yeager was also born at Reading and was a carpenter by trade. George Yeager was educated in the ordinary subscription schools of his native town. Early in life he learned the trade of hatter with his father and for a number of years successfully ran a hatting business at Greensboro. In 1855 he removed to New Geneva and engaged in merchandixing which he continued up to 1878 when he sold his stock. In 1863 (?) he began the hotel business and has continued up to the present time. His hotel is known as Yeager House. Mr Yeager was married May 13, 1841, to Miss Anna Maria Reager, daughter of Benjamin Reager of Greensboro, Penna. To their union have been born four children: James W Yeager; Flora L Yeager; Maria L Yeager; and Elizabeth E Yeager. The first two mentioned are dead. James W Yeager was a private soldier in the Fourteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry. While out in the service he sickened and died of typhoid fever at Martinsburg, West Virginia. Mr Yeager is one of the leading members of the Presbyterian church at Greensboro, having been a member since 1855. He is at present one of the trustees of the church and one of the teachers at the Sabbath school. He organized the Sabbath school at Greensboro and has accomplished much good in the Sabbath school work. His wife has been a member of the same church of her husband since 1854. Z SURNAMES p484 JAMES A ZIMMERMAN, a leading grocer of Connellsville, is a son of Jacob E Zimmerman and Anna Houck Zimmerman, natives of Fulton and Franklin counties, Penna, respectively. His father is one of the leading farmers of Fulton county where he owns a fine farm of four hundred acres of land. The grandfather of James A Zimmerman, George Zimmerman, born in Pennsylvania and was in his day one of the leading farmers and merchants of Fulton till his death in 1867. Jacob Zimmerman, the great grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born in Pennsylvania making the Zimmerman family one of the earliest that settled in Pennsylvania. He was of German origin and a farmer and miller of Franklin county. J A Zimerman's maternal grandfather, Micheal Houck, was also of German extraction and followed farming in Franklin county. James A Zimmerman was born in Fulton county, Penna, February 27, 1851. Reared on the farm, educated in the common schools of his native county and at the Normal School at Shippensburg, Penna. He afterwards graduated from the commercial college at Williamsport, Penna, in 1876. At the age of twenty years he began teaching district school in Fulton and Lycoming counties. In 1881 he went to Altoona where he was engaged as a teacher in the commercial college. He continued to teach therein till 1883 when he located at Connellsville and started in the grocery business, and has been very successful in building up one of the most paying mercantile businesses at Connellsville. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, of the Masonic fraternity, of the Knights of Pythias, of the Senior Order of American Mechanics, of the Heptasophs and is a republican. He was married in 1884 to Miss Carrie Fields of Hancock, Maryland. They have one child: Etta Zimmerman. Mr Zimmerman is a stockholder in the Connellsville Flint and Glass Works and is also interested in a loan association at Minneapolis, Minnesota. He owns considerable property at Garden City, Kansas, and is one of the most enterprising and progressive young businessmen of the county.