J.
N. EGBERT, farmer, post-office Sandy Lake, was born December 2, 1823,
in Sandy Lake Township. His father, Lewis Egbert, was a native of the
eastern part of Pennsylvania, and came to this county with his father,
William Egbert. William Egbert was a shoemaker, the first in what is
now Sandy Lake Township. He was the father of the following children:
Job, was a very prominent man in his day, was for many years a justice
of the peace, and finally went to Kentucky, where some of his relatives
still live; Clarissa, married Charles Shields; Charlotte, married
Daniel Perrine; Ursula, married Enoch Perrine; Elizabeth, married
Nathaniel Hazen, and Lewis. The family settled on the farm in Sandy
Lake Township that is owned by W. H. Clawson [in 1909], and William and
his wife were consistent members of the Baptist Church. Lewis Egbert
obtained his education mostly in the old log school-houses, with their
slab seats, puncheon floors, slab writing desks and big fire-places. He
was brought up to hard labor on his father’s farm, and was married in
Virginia to Miss Aseneth Nixon, and settled on the old homestead, where
he died in 1872, and his widow died in 1880.
They were the
parents of the following children: Edwin, John N., Albert G., Prudence,
married John Lamb; Patience, wife of W. H. Clawson, whose sketch is
given elsewhere; Harriet, married James Coleman; Thaddeus, Milton,
Lewis, Aseneth, Levina, married Edward Taft. Lewis Egbert, whose
portrait appears in this work, and the father of the children just
named, was for many years a justice of the peace, and was a director of
the poor; was a Whig, a strong anti-slavery man, later a Republican,
and he and his consort were earnest and active members of the Wesleyan
Methodist Church. Edwin, the eldest of his children, was born February
14, 1822, was educated in the common schools, and was married in 1847
to Milcah Grace, a native of Mercer County, and daughter of Bennett
Grace, by whom he had two children: Rufus A. and Nancy J. The former is
a practicing physician at Bradford, Penn, and the latter married Prof.
J. J. Wasson.
Mrs. Egbert died in 1855, and he was again
married, to Ruth S. Dorchester, born December 2, 1835, daughter of M.
C. and Nancy (Tuttle) Dorchester, natives Connecticut and Mercer
County, respectively. Mrs. Egbert’s parents died when she was four
years of age, and she was reared by her grandparents, Tuttle, who were
early and prominent citizens of this county, they being two of the four
to form a Methodist Church in the neighborhood in which they lived.
This union has given Edwin the following children: Lillian, Lucy,
Newton, Mark, Ezra, Milo, Lizzie, Prudence, Arthur, Lewis, Edwin,
Benjamin and Chester.
J. N. Egbert received a common-school
education, and was married in 1848 to Ann Fowler, and settled on the
farm where he now lives, which contains 100 acres, and was given to him
by his father. He and his son William have 300 acres of well-improved
land. His union blessed him with seven children: Elizabeth, born
January 7, 1847, married [Richard Graham] R. G. Morrison; William, born
July 28, 1848, married Sarah Kelley, and has three children, Kate,
Thaddeus and Echa; Eliza, married T. Wright; Sarah; Eveline, married
Veet Porter; Aseneth, married L. L. McClelland, and Ruth, married Rev.
H. H. Wallace of the United Presbyterian Church. J. N. Egbert has from
time to been elected to the various township offices, and has served as
a justice of peace, which office his son is now filling.
Albert
G. Egbert is a retired physician of Franklin, and one of the most
worthy citizens of that place. He is known all over Northwestern
Pennsylvania as a quiet, unostentatious man, good to the poor, and a
liberal contributor to various public enterprises.
In the
history of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church of Jackson Centre it is
mentioned that Dr. Egbert gave several thousand dollars toward the
erection of the present elegant brick edifice, and it cannot be out of
place to herein mention what led to this unsolicited and liberal
contribution. When the Doctor was a small boy he and his eldest
brother, Edwin, went to a meeting to listen to the preaching of a Rev.
Murphey. On this occasion the sacrament was administered, and the
reverend gentlemen excluded every one who did not belong to his church.
Edwin was an earnest Christian boy, and was deeply affected by this
seemingly unchristian act, while the future doctor treasured up a
lasting impression. Long afterward Albert attended another meeting,
which was presided over by this same Rev. Murphey. He took a seat well
up to the front of the church, and when the minister came into the
church he suddenly halted just as he reached the pulpit, and, after a
few moments of solemn reflection, he said:
“My friends, I am
going to preach a different sermon than any I have ever preached. While
coming to this pulpit I heard a voice telling me what to say, and that
this was my last sermon. I want everybody to commune with us to day.”
It was a glorious meeting, and proved to be the last sermon from Rev.
Murphey, for on the next day he was stricken with paralysis, and soon
died. This new church at Jackson Centre was to supplant Rev. Murphey’s
old church, and this last liberal sermon caused Dr. Egbert to
subsequently make the unsolicited and liberal contribution of $4,444 to
assist in the erection of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church at Jackson
Centre.
Thaddeus was a graduate of medicine at both the Ann
Arbor and Cincinnati medical colleges, and practiced in Oil City for
nineteen years. Milton O. was graduated from the Cleveland Medical
College, and retired to Pittsburgh after many years’ practice. The
Egberts are one of the most respected families of Sandy Lake Township,
and are mentioned in the historical portion of this work.
History of Mercer County, 1888, pages 1052
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