Please submit your family histories (genealogies), stories concerning Warren County families, and other web pages about Warren County families and individual biographies.
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z
ABBOTT, James A. - Sugar Grove *
Was born in Sugar Grove in 1839, and married on March 1, 1865, to Lavantia C. Steward, in Harmony, Chautauqua county, N. Y., where she was born in 1845. They had a family of three children born to them — Sardius Steward, Archie Allen, and Florence Rhoda. James A. Abbott has been commissioner for two terms, and is a large stock and general farmer. He was a son of John G. and Agnes N. (Allen) Abbott. She was born in Colchester, N. Y., in 1806, and her husband was born in Rome, Oneida county, N. Y., in 1806, and they were married in Sugar Grove in 1829. They had a family of ten children born to them, eight of whom are now living — Albina C, Charles, Robert, James A., Noah W., Isabell, Loretta, and Jane. John G. Abbott died in 1873, Agnes N. Abbott died in Sugar Grove October n , 1886. John was a son of Nathan and Johanna (Gibson) Abbott, who settled in Warren county, on the Brokenstraw, in 1814, coming there from Oneida county, N. Y. Agnes Nancy (Allen) Abbott was a daughter of John and Margaret (Holmes) Allen, who were born in Scotland and married there, and with one child immigrated and settled in Delaware county, N. Y., in 1801, and later went to Chenango county, N. Y., and in 1832 they came to Sugar Grove, where they settled. They had a family of nine children born to them, three of whom are now living — James, John, and Margaret. John Allen, sr., died in Sugar Grove in November, 1844; his wife also died at the same place.
ABBOTT, Noah W. - Sugar Grove *
A practical contract sawyer and farmer, he was born in Sugar Grove in 1841. He was a son of John G. and Agnes Nancy (Allen) Abbott. Noah W. Abbott was married in 1864 to Mary M. Norris, of Freehold, who was born in 1845. They had a family of seven children born to them, six of whom are now living, one having died at an early age. Those living are John, Eugene, Earl, Christopher, Edward, and Harry. Mary M. was a daughter of Thomas and Ann Norris, who were early settlers in Freehold. They had a family of five children born to them—John, James, Elizabeth, Mary M., and Alice. John enlisted and it is supposed that he died while in the army.
ACOMB, Dr. James L. - Tidioute, Deerfield Twp. *
Born in Stanford Bridge, Yorkshire, England, February 27, 1828. He was a son of Joseph and Elizabeth Acomb who settled in Geneva, N. Y., in 1832. In the spring of 1834 they moved to Sandy Hill, Steuben county, N. Y., and settled on a farm which he purchased and which is still owned by them and known as the Acomb homestead. Joseph Acomb died in the fall of 1834, of cholera, leaving an invalid wife and four children, two sons, and two daughters — Thomas, James L., Margaret, and Elizabeth, the eldest of which was Thomas, aged eight years. Elizabeth Acomb by her own industry and economy maintained herself and four children until they were able to contribute to their own support. She lived to see them all grown up, married and settled, and in good circumstances, dying at the good old age of seventy-four years on April 7, 1875. Dr. James L. Acomb left home at the age of seven years, and by his own efforts and close application to business fitted himself for his medical profession, and graduated from the Syracuse Medical College in 1853. He studied medicine in Buffalo, Erie county, N. Y., where he began his medical practice, afterward moving to Cuba, Allegany county, N. Y., there following his profession until 1865; then spending one year at Pit Hole, Venango county, moving from there to Tidioute, Warren county, where he now resides and enjoys a large and remunerative practice in his profession. On settlement here he embarked in the drug and prescription business and still continues in the same, dealing in all grades of fancy and staple goods of the drug trade. He has also been an oil producer for the past fifteen years and is still in the same business. He was a volunteer surgeon in the army in 1862, and has held some of the town offices in which he now resides. He married Seraph Oliver, daughter of Squire Charles Oliver, of Rogersville, Steuben county, N. Y., in 1863. By this union he had born unto him six children — four sons and two daughters; the sons died in their early childhood; the daughters, Seraph May and Lillian T., are still living and have received a collegiate education. Seraph May married C. M. Knight, professor of chemistry and natural sciences, of Buchtel College, Akron, O., where he now resides. Lillian T. graduated at Buchtel College, Akron, O., in 1885, with appropriate honors.
AGRELIUS, John W. - Youngsville, Brokenstraw Twp. *
A general dry goods and grocery merchant, and proprietor of a drug and prescription and fancy goods store; he is also engaged in the manufacture of staves, heading and shingles, having a large steam-mill and factory in Youngsville. Mr. Agrelius was born in Sweden in 1838, and with his parents — Isaac and Inga Christina (Peterson) Agrelius— and their other five children, came to America and settled in Brokenstraw in 1851. Two more children were born after their arrival. Two sons of Isaac enlisted in the army during the civil war— Charles Gustavus in the 4th Pennsylvania Cavalry, and Andrew Peter in the 83d Pennsylvania Volunteers; both were captured and confined in Andersonville prison; were removed thence to Columbia, S. C , where they died. The six now living are Eva C, J. W., Clara T., Otto M., Eugene, Frank O. Isaac Agrelius was born in 1809, and his wife in 1810; the former is dead, and the latter is living in Kansas. John W. Agrelius is one of the energetic business men of the county. He embarked in the pump business in 1866, and in 1873 built a steam-mill, which was burned in 1876. Taking with him a partner — Judge Kinnear—he rebuilt the mill the same year. In 1878 he engaged in mercantile trade, and purchased the interest of his partner in the mill, which, together with his dry goods and drug stores, he conducts at present. He was appointed postmaster in January, 1884, and resigned December, 1885. He is agent for the American line of steamships of Philadelphia. Mr. A. [sic] married Sarah Jane Demmon, of Russellburg, in 1867; they have four children — Alice B., Grace G., Blanch B., and Ray V.
SANFORD, Joel G. & SANFORD, Samuel W.B. - Eldred Twp *
The ancestors of J. G. Sanford are traceable several
centuries in the past. The Sanford and Hoyt families, both his ancestors,
were among the very earliest settlers of New England. One of the
great-grandfathers of the subject of this sketch, named Ward, was a sea captain
in the War of the Revolution. During that struggle he was taken prisoner
and confined in one of the British prison-ships. He jumped overboard
with a companion and attempted to swim ashore, but was drowned, though
his companion escaped and lived to tell the story. John Sanford, grandfather
of J. G. Sanford, was born in Connecticut in 1772, came to Warren county
with his son in 1838, and died at Rome, Crawford county, Pa., in 1856. His
son, Samuel Ward Benedict Sanford, was born in Reading, Fairfield county,
Conn., on the 22d of August, 1796, and the record of his birth is still engrossed
on the town books. He removed to Onondaga county, N. Y., in 1819,
and four years later went to Batavia, Genesee county, in that State. Just previous
to his removal to Batavia, he married Esther Hill, daughter of John
Green, who was a soldier of the Revolution, was with Washington at Valley
Forge, and after living for a time in Vermont, died in Onondaga county, N.
Y., not far from 1840. Samuel and Esther Sanford had four children, three
of whom are now living. These three, besides the subject of this sketch, are
Nancy Irene, wife of Calvin Nichols, of Spring Creek; and Orsamus Orland,
living in Eldred township. The one that died was Washington Sobrieski, his
death occurring on the 6th of June, 1862, when he had reached the age of
thirty-one years.
Samuel W. B. Sanford came to Eldred township from Batavia in the spring
of 1838 with horse and wagon, reaching that township on the 6th of May.
He immediately built a house on the site now covered by his present dwelling,
and began to clear his farm of seventy-six acres. During the summer he engaged
in farming, and to some extent in lumbering, and in the following winter
taught school in Garland, in Pittsfield township. From then to the present
he has continued his farming. He is now an old man, but bears the respect
and esteem of all who know him. He has for more than fifty years been a
consistent member of the Methodist Church. He was a member of the old
Whig party until its dissolution, when he united himself with the Republican
party. He has been at all times a prominent man in town affairs, having held
all the offices which it is within the power of his townsmen to bestow. He
has been a justice of the peace three terms, school director seventeen years,
and has also been prominent in county elections. It was chiefly through his
efforts that the township was formed and the post-office established here. His wife, who was born on the 25th of March, 1801, in Grafton, N. Y., is still living.
Joel Green Sanford was born in Batavia, Genesee county, N. Y., on the 3d
day of September, 1824. He accompanied his parents to this county, and received
the education that could be given to all the children in a new country.
He kept his home with his parents until he was twenty-five years of age, working
on his father's farm. On the 10th of July, 1850, he married Nancy Ann,
daughter of Samuel Moore, of Pittsfield township, and she lives to crown his
latter days with comfort, as she did his earlier days with joy. At the time of
their marriage Mr. Sanford removed to a piece of land containing eighty acres,
embraced partly within the farm which he still owns and occupies. This farm
now contains only seventy-five acres, Mr. Sanford believing in thorough cultivation
of a small farm rather than in loose management of a cumbersome tract.
He owns another piece of land, however, of thirty-four acres. He built a
house on the site of the one that he now occupies, which gave place to the
present one in 1870. He has made his agricultural labors as general as the
soil and climate will admit, refusing to confine himself to any specialty. He also
engaged quite largely in lumbering until about 1880, when he allowed the sawmill,
which he had operated for years, to run down. Previous to the oil period
he used occasionally to run down the river, though his suspension of these
trips did not result from any interest he had in oil, as he has kept free from the
entanglements and exciting fevers that disturb the oil operator's peace of mind.
He is a natural mechanic, moreover, and though he was never apprenticed to
the carpenter's or blacksmith's trade, or, indeed, any but the farmer's, he has
done admirable work in all these branches of business and more. He built a
number of the finest dwellings and barns in this part of the town. Besides
this, he has a wagon or wheelwright's shop in which, at leisure moments, he
manufactures some of the best wagonsin the world. In fact, he seems at home
in any branch of the mechanic arts.
Mr. Sanford is a Republican of the uncompromising type, believing that the
nature of Democratic institutions like the United States demands the perpetual
though peaceful collision of two opposite parties, the one conservative and
the other radical. He favors the Republican principles because he thinks that
party to be the one of moral force and ideas. He is well adapted for the administration
of public affairs and is a natural leader. He has held all the
offices within the gift of his township, and was, indeed, school director for
thirteen consecutive years. He has been postmaster at Sanford post-office for
five years. He is not a member of any church, but favors the establishment
and rejoices over the success of churches, and contributes to their support without
regard to creed.
J. G. Sanford and wife have had five children, four of whom are living—Samuel Myron was born on the 12th of September, 1851, and resides in Eldred township; Ida lanthe, born November 2, 1854, died July 6, 1878; Mary
Jane, born February 14, 1858, now lives at the home of her parents; Washington
Aaron, born January 19, 1862, now at home; and Etta Irene, born October 23, 1866.
STRUTHERS, Thomas - Warren, Glade Twp *
The subject of this sketch was born in Trumbull (now Mahoning) county, O., on the 6th day of June, 1803, His father, John Struthers, came of a Scotch family, and, imbued with the spirit of adventurous enterprise characteristic of that hardy race, removed with his father's family from the State of Maryland to Washington county, Pa., in 1776. By reason of his skill as a practical land surveyor he rendered invaluable assistance to the settlers then crowding into that region; and by reason of his military prowess he rose to the command of a company of mounted rangers, who were commended for their courage and skill in protecting the government from the fierce onslaughts of the desperate and savage allies of the British during the Revolutionary War. He married a Miss Foster, of Irish extraction, and with a family of four children removed to Trumbull county, O., in 1798, where he settled on lands that he had previously selected during his excursions as an Indian hunter. He was thus one of the first settlers in the Connecticut Western Reserve, which from that time became rapidly peopled with immigrants from New England and Pennsylvania. Here he cleared and cultivated a large farm, built mills, and in company with Robert Montgomery, erected a small blast furnace, the product of which was cast into pots, kettles,caldrons, and such other articles as were demanded by the household necessities of the settlers. He afterward unfortunately met with disastrous business reverses.
On this farm, some eighty-four years ago, Thomas Struthers was born and disciplined in the then undeveloped mysteries of agriculture. He obtained his early education in the common schools of the time; during intervals of farm work, prepared for and entered Jefferson College at the age of seventeen years, worked his own way through, and after graduation entered the law office of A. W. Foster, of Greensborough, Westmoreland county, Pa. In December, 1828, one year and eleven months after his admission to the bar, he opened an office in Warren, Pa., which has ever since been his home, and, as we shall see, the object of his pride and bounty. He was partly induced to settle here by offers of agencies by owners of large tracts of disposable wild lands in northwestern Pennsylvania, but chiefly by his belief that the best thing for a young man to do was to cast his lot among the pioneers of a new and promising country, and keep step with the march of improvements. There were only about five hundred voters in Warren county at that time. His success in the practice of his profession was active from the first, though he found his commissions from the sale of land more profitable. His unwavering fidelity to his clients, his diligent efforts in their behalf, and the signal ability with which he discharged the duties imposed upon him, soon established for him a most gratifying reputation. He was from the beginning so successful in disposing of lands and turning the tide of immigration in this direction, that he was encouraged to purchase large tracts on time, and pay for them by the proceeds of resales, at a moderate advance. The greatest difficulty with which he had to contend in this work was the utter want of railroad or other facilities by which to reach these lands. "Here" it has been well said, " was a broad expanse of almost unbroken forest lands, partly in the State of New York and partly in the State of Pennsylvania; probably one hundred and fifty miles north and south by two hundred and fifty or three hundred miles east and west; not penetrated even by good wagon roads; and in some directions one hundred and fifty miles without any roads, and this, too, in the direct line between New York city and the West, and Philadelphia and Lake Erie. The State of Pennsylvania had left it intact by her line of canals and railroads on the south, whilst the Erie Canal passed around to the north." His attention was thus directed to the incipient movements on foot for the construction of railroads through one part or another of this wilderness. Whilst he preferred a road from Philadelphia, by the route now occupied by the Philadelphia and Erie (originally the Sunbury and Erie) railway, and a branch by the Catawissa and Lehigh Valley to New York, he found the projectors of the New York and Erie road first in the field, and hastened to give them all the encouragement he could, attended many of their primary meetings held along the proposed line, aided them in getting the necessary right of way through Pennsylvania, and in other ways evinced his interest in the scheme.
In 1836 efforts were first made to establish a line between Philadelphia and the great lakes, and Mr. Struthers, as a delegate from Warren county, attended the first convention held at Williamsport. Here was developed the scheme for the Sunbury and Erie road, and Mr. Struthers, with others, appointed to lay the subject before the Legislature and induce, if possible, that body to adopt the appropriate measures. A bill was accordingly introduced early in the session of 1836-37, but the members of the Legislature, from their ignorance of the character of the northwestern part of Pennsylvania and of the trade of the lakes, looked upon the scheme as altogether absurd and chimerical. The committee thought it best, therefore, not to urge precipitate action on the measure, but gradually to educate and interest the southern and eastern members in the geography and unbounded resources of that region, and the importance of the lake trade, and thus win their approval. By virtue of his zeal and of his more intimate knowledge of the country, Mr. Struthers was requested by the Philadelphia gentlemen who had been chosen to act with him, to pilot the measure through to its enactment. After months of untiring work he succeeded in obtaining the passage of the bill, though he did not dare bring it to a vote until April, 1837.
In the subsequent organization of the company Mr. Struthers was chosen one of the directors, the others being of Philadelphia and east of the mountains, while the accomplished financier, Nicholas Biddle, was made president. After elaborate surveys made in 1838-39, the location of the line and the beginning of the work of grading in 1840, operations were suspended by the recurrence of the financial panic of 1837, the consequent failure of the United States Bank and its associates, and the long train of failures that followed in the wake of these disasters. In 1847 the Philadelphians abandoned the scheme and transferred their efforts to the Pennsylvania road. This project was not dead, however, and Mr. Struthers, with sublime faith and perseverance, despite a host of discouraging circumstances, obtained a revival of the company and its works in 1851. Philadelphia returned to her allegiance and subscriptions came in from all along the line. To prevent the subscriptions from the west from being conveyed to the east, Mr. Struthers placed himself at the head of a company associated at Warren, while a similar company was formed at Erie. These parties took contracts covering eighty-six miles of the western division, receiving the municipal bonds of their several localities and stock of the company for their principal pay, taking only a very small percentage in money. They also rendered aid to the eastern division. The financial operations of the Warren party were managed altogether by Mr. Struthers, to whose energy it is largely due that, while the prosecution of the work on the remainder of the line was suspended nearly two years for lack of means, this party went steadily forward with their labors, trusting to events for that part of their pay which they were to receive in money—a misplaced confidence, as the subject of our notice realized in a loss of more than all the profits of the contract. However, under a new arrangement he took an individual contract for the completion of a portion of the work, and carried it through. The road was finally completed in 1862.
In the mean time, early in the decade of years that ended with 1860, Mr. Struthers became interested with General Wilson in constructing the first railroad in California, from Sacramento to Folsom, or Negro Bar. When he took hold of the enterprise it was unendowed. By his superior tact and financial ability, he procured in Boston the rails and equipment complete for forty miles of road, to be delivered in San Francisco, without money or other securities than the bonds of the company, and his own and Wilson's guarantee. Soon after this he embarked with others in the enterprise of building street railways in the city of Cincinnati, and obtained from the city council a grant for about half the city, after which he sold out his interest. It was about this time, too, that in company with others, under the supposed protection of an act of the Iowa Legislature, procured for the purpose, he undertook the improvement of the Des Moines River for steam navigation. No sooner had they located their dams, and several towns and cities on the donated lands, then their grant was repudiated by the Legislature.
After the completion of the Sunbury and Erie Road, Mr. Struthers procured the passage of a law incorporating the Oil Creek Railroad Company, with powers to build a line from the Sunbury and Erie Railroad in Warren or Erie county to Titusville, and down Oil Creek and Allegheny River to Franklin. In the year 1862 he organized the company, located the road from Corry to Titusville, a distance of twenty-eight miles, and in one hundred and twenty working days the road was completed, without subsidies from any source, and almost without stock. Finding it almost impossible to inspire the people along the route with confidence in the project, he and his associate, Dr. Streator, took nearly all the stock themselves and built and equipped the road upon its own bonds. The project developed into a remarkable success. He remained the president of the road and chief financial agent until 1866, realizing large profits from its earnings, when he sold his interest, and with his entire family passed a year and a half traveling through Europe, Asia, and Egypt. Previous to his departure, however, he made arrangements for the completion of the Cross-Cut Railroad, which he and Dean Richmond had organized for the purpose of connecting the Oil Creek and New York Central Railroads. After his return from the Old World, and as late as 1870, he, in conjunction with John Stambaugh, John Tod and others, completed the Liberty and Vienna Railroad. Again he was remarkably successful; this road was afterward sold to the Atlantic and Great Western, and Ashtabula, Youngstown and Pittsburgh Railroad Companies. Mr. Struthers was also one of the projectors of the Youngstown and Canfield Railroad, connecting the Lawrence Railroad with the Kyle and Foster Coal Mines, in which he owned a large interest. Notwithstanding the multitude of his business undertakings, the care of an extensive law practice, his dealings in land, and his various public enterprises, Mr. Struthers had not forgotten the place of his birth. In 1863 he purchased the farm on which he was born, and four years later, in company with several associates whom he had induced to join him, he erected upon it a large blast furnace and built up the prosperous village of Struthers, on the Lawrence Railroad. In the same year, 1867, he purchased an interest for himself and son in a flourishing machine shop and foundry in Warren, which he extensively enlarged and had incorporated under the name of the "Brown & Struthers Iron Works." In August, 1875, he bought up the entire property of the corporation and founded the firm of Struthers, Wells & Co.
During the period of his management of the Oil Creek Railroad, he established the Corry National Bank, becoming and for years continuing its president.
Mr. Struthers has always been an earnest and active politician of the Whig and Republican persuasion, and a tried friend of the protective tariff system. He represented his district in the State Legislature in the sessions of 1857 and 1858 with distinguished ability, and was a prominent member of the convention of 1872-73 to revise and amend the constitution of the State, serving on important committees. He spent much time and money in aid of the Union cause during the war with the South, filling quotas, etc., and furnished two substitutes, though not subject to service himself.
His course in the Legislature so inspired his fellow-members in that body with confidence in his abilities and integrity, that at the close of his term many of them insisted on his becoming their candidate for State treasurer, to which he was reluctantly constrained to consent. During the canvass for the nomination the following tribute to his worth, one of many published throughout the State, appeared in a paper more than a hundred miles from the district he represented:
"Among the Republican gentlemen named as candidates for the responsible office of State treasurer, the Hon. Thomas Struthers, of Warren county, stands conspicuous. His sterling integrity, business capacity, and the efficient services he has rendered to the political cause upheld by the great Republican party, render him, in our opinion, by far the most suitable and available candidate. The West, we think, is now entitled to the office, more especially when one so capable and trustworthy is presented. During the sessions of 1857 and 1858, Mr. S. represented in the State Legislature, first the counties of Warren, Venango, and Mercer, and afterwards Warren and Crawford. Those who served with him during two sessions can testify to the important character of his services to the State and to his party.
"We agree with the Reading Journal when it says to the members of the present Legislature, let us for once have a State treasurer upon whom we can look without suspicion or distrust; in whose past life and freedom from evil financial associations the people can have some guaranty of future honesty. There are such men before the people. Give us one of them if only for this once. Give us a man of pure and spotless honesty, not one whose name has been dragged in the mire. Give us a man whom we can hold up before the people as a servant worthy of their confidence, as a servant of the kind in whom they will be well pleased."
Neither his business nor private inclinations permitted him to give the canvass the attention necessary to obtain the nomination. He had no political aspirations. To aid in developing the resources of the country by public improvements, was ever his highest ambition and greatest pride.
The work for which he will be longest remembered is the magnificent structure known as the Struthers Library Building, which was built for the borough by Mr. Struthers in the winter of 1883, at an expense of about $90,000 in addition to the site, which was furnished by the citizens. It is described in the history of Warren in this work.
Mr. Struthers's "predominant mental characteristic," says one who has for many years been closely associated with him by the ties of friendship and business connection, " is concentrativeness. He would always become totally absorbed in the project or enterprise in hand, and pursue it with an avidity and pertinacity that admitted of no diversion or interruption. His mental resources in extricating himself from embarrassment, and in combining agencies to accomplish his purpose, have always proven sufficient for all drafts upon them and seem inexhaustible, and his power for attracting both men and capital and enlisting them in his adventures, is wonderful. His temperament is over-sanguine, producing too favorable estimates of future results, and would often have led him into serious difficulties, except for his indomitable will and perseverance. He never surrendered, and consequently was always victorious, or made a draw game of it.
"He has always shown himself emphatically to be what Carlyle said of Cromwell, 'an earnest man.' Whatever his hand has found to do he has done with his might. Bold, apparently to rashness, and hopeful to enthusiasm, whatever he has undertaken he has carried through with an earnestness and energy that surmounted all obstacles. These elements in his composition induced him sometimes to venture too much, perhaps, and take risks which the timid prudence of less resolute men would have avoided. He would buy, on time, far beyond his income from other sources to pay, trusting to sell at an advance before the liability matured. Yet no protests came. He would spread more canvass and run farther out to sea than larger crafts dare venture, yet his frail bark, through calm or storm, always made the voyage bravely, and returned to port safely. His industry has ever been as indefatigable as his will indomitable. Had he not enjoyed perfect health and great powers of endurance, he would often have overtaxed his energies and broken down.
"Although his travels and associations with the business world have been such as to subject him to frequent and strong temptations, his habits have ever been temperate and free from dissipation of any kind. He, indeed, attributes much of the vigor, both physical and intellectual, which he enjoys at his present advanced age, to the fact that several years ago he abjured the use of spirituous liquors altogether. He seldom indulges even in a glass of beer. He says its use defiles the stomach, vitiates the appetite, destroys the sensitive organs, and results in intellectual stupidity, physical grossness and deformity, and total unfitness for business or society. The medicated wines generally in use he considers equally obnoxious and to be avoided.
"But paramount among his virtues it may be affirmed that he is an honest man. In his immense and complicated business transactions, no one was ever found to charge him successfully with a dishonest or dishonorable act. Naturally a little credulous, although usually cautious, he has sometimes been overreached and involved in litigation. But he has lived through more than forty years of trials without a tarnish upon the escutcheon of his manhood, or a stain on his integrity as a citizen. During all that time he has been the recognized leader, and often the originator of measures calculated to benefit the county and borough in which he has lived, and still enjoys the confidence and esteem of the present, as of the past generation."
In December, 1831, Mr. Struthers married Miss Eunice Eddy, of Warren, Pa., and reared two children. His son, Thomas E., died in 1872. His daughter, Ann Eliza, was married to Captain George R. Wetmore, a soldier of the war for the Union, and a prominent manufacturer and influential business man. She died in 1880 leaving one son, who is Mr. Struthers's only lineal descendant.
THOMPSON, Robert - Deerfield Twp *
He was born in Deerfield township, Warren county, Pa., on the 16th day of August, 1816, and died in Irvine, Warren county, on the 10th day of March, 1877. He was one of ten children (seven of whom were sons) of Robert and Rachel (Irvine) Thompson, who were of Irish nativity. From the time of his birth until his marriage in 1843, the subject of this notice remained at home, attending the district schools of his native town, and rendering assistance on the large farm and timbered lands of his father. At the same time he engaged quite considerably in lumbering on his own account, taking frequent and regular trips down the river on rafts, until he became well and widely known as a skillful and trusty pilot. Upon his marriage he purchased a large tract of land at Dunn's Eddy, in Deerfield township, which he cultivated with diligence, at the same time continuing and increasing his activities as a pilot and lumberman. Indeed, he did not relinquish lumbering until a short time previous to his death. Some twelve or fourteen years ago he opened the Dunn's Eddy House, and kept it until his removal, in February, 1875, to Irvine. At the date last mentioned he had become owner, by purchase, of the fifty-one acres now occupied by his widow, and built the house which stands thereon at this day.
Robert Thompson began in life with a small capital, and by unremitting industry, by the practice of frugal economy, by temperate habits, provident foresight, pleasant manners, and honest dealings acquired more than a competence. His widow and heirs now own the property which he left, including the land at Dunn's Eddy, much of it still heavily timbered, and the property at Irvine.
He married Hannah, daughter of John Thompson, of Deerfield, on the 22d of January, 1843. His wife, who survives, was born in that township on the 20th of December, 1823, though at the time of their marriage she had been residing at Jamestown, N. Y., and at Warren. She has ever sympathized with her husband in his domestic affairs, in his business undertakings, in his Republican politics, and in his willing contributions to the support of school and church. Although not members, they were regular attendants upon worship at the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Thompson left, living, at his death four children, sons, as follows: James A., born March 1, 1852; John Nelson, born June 29, 1854; G. Canby, born April 22, 1863; and Harry Dale, born November 22, 1865; all of whom are now at home with their mother. The eldest two are married.
*Source: History Of Warren County Pennsylvania with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers, edited by J.S. Schenck, assisted by W.S. Rann; Syracuse, N.Y.; D Mason & Co., Publishers; 1887.
Return to Warren County Genealogy homepage | Township Index
A proud participant in the USGenWeb and PAGenWeb Projects
© 2010 - 2011 Penelope Repko and contributors
© 2008 - 2009 Bill Klauk and contributors