Green County PA 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 |
| Hon. Arthur I. Boreman Among the distinguished men of West Virginia who were leaders, not only in the legal profession but figured prominently in the organization of the State, was the subject of this sketch. He was born in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, July 24, 1823. In boyhood he came to Virginia, and after receiving a common school education, he read law with his elder brother, William I. Boreman, at Middlebourn, Tyler County, and was admitted to the Bar in May, 1843. In November of that year, he located at Parkersburg, where he continued to reside, until the day of his death, when he was about eighty years of age. For many years he was a Whig in his political convictions, but became a Republican at the organization of that party, and remained in that political party the remainder of his life. He was a tireless worker, a man of unlimited energy, of sleepless industry, of absolute courage and during his entire life there was never an aspersion, or an attack of any sort on his moral character. His long public and private life were noted for integrity, uprightness and usefulness. He was successful as a lawyer, and was thoroughly honorable in all of his dealings with his fellow men. He was a man of positive convictions, and was, during all of his mature years, sought by the people for counsel and advice. In 1855 he was elected from Wood County a member of the Virginia Legislature, and was successively re-elected until 1860, and was a member of that distinguished body in 186l when the question of secession was discussed, and his opposition to that movement was conspicuous. During that year he presided over the Wheeling Convention that organized the Restored Government of Virginia. In October, 1861, he was elected a Circuit Judge of the Parkersburg Circuit, and discharged the functions of that office ably, until his election in 1863 as the first Governor of the new State of West Virginia. Two years later he was re-elected to the same high office, serving both terms honorably and ably. In 1868 he was elected to the United States Senate, and was regarded as a faithful and able Senator. After retiring from a six-year term as a Senator he returned to Parkersburg, reopened his law office, and was re-establishing a profitable practice; without the asking on his part, he was elected Judge of the Circuit Court over which he had presided a quarter of a century before. As a lawyer he was able, and as a Judge he was fair and just, and was absolutely incorruptible. He ended his days on the Bench he had highly honored in his early and later life. He was for many years, a leading member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and was a delegate to its General Conference in 1888. He married Mrs. Lauraine Bullock, November 30, 1864, but left no direct descendants. [Bench and Bar of West Virginia by George Wesley Atkinson, 1919 - Transcribed by AFOFG] |
|
John Crawford John Crawford, in the year 1814, March 28th, was commissioned to survey the Monongahela River, from the junction with the Allegheny River to the southern boundary which crosses the same, by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He began his work with the assistance of his son, John Lynn Crawford, 12 years of age, as chain bearer. His work was to inspect depth, swiftness, and distances between riffles, as well as the number of dams already made. His expenses were not to exceed $600.00 to be paid $3.00 per day with expenses paid. The first memorandum of the survey; Course of the Allegheny Warf, to Parkeson's Mill Dam, to lower end of Pigeon Riffle. The following places are mentioned in order, with distances, Beckets Grist Mill Run, Town of Columbia, Maple Creek Riffle, Town of Belle Vernon Riffle, Big Redstone Riffle, Dunlaps Creek Riffle, Tow Mile Run Riffle, Crawford Riffle, Saw Mill Run Riffle, Rice's Riffle, Muddy Creek Riffle, Armstrong Riffle, Little Whiteley Riffle, Big Whiteley Riffle, Dunkard Riffle, Dillingers Riffle, Cheat River Riffle, Saddlers Run Riffle, southern boundary of Pennsylvania. The equipment: Canoe coating $4.00, 64 lb of pork, a stew kettle $2.50, spider $1.75, ½ bbl of biscuit $2.25, 4lb of sugar, and 1 hart $2.50, bread and butter 37¢, copper boiler $1.62, and a number of other items such as blankets and clothing. This job was extremely hazardous due to rough terrain and enormous forest trees; a jungle like terrain. The country being in a primeval condtiion; persistent labor under trying circumstances. And who was John Crawford? John Crawford, third child of William and Alice (Kennedy) Crawford, born near Carmichaels, PA on September 26, 1772, died November 8, 1831, buried in Glades Cemetery. John was a brother of Col. William Crawford, who had a fort east of Carmichaels. John was an elder in the Glades Church and donated land on which it was built. He married Saloma Jennings, daughter of Jacob and Pheba (Ball) Jennings. Pheba was the daughter of Nathaniel Ball of New Jersey, and descended from the same family as Mary Ball, mother of George Washington. These people are all buried in Glades Cemetery. {Source: Persons, Places and Things Interesting To Greene County; Article #11 - John Crawford's Survey of the Monongahela River; This data copied from The Crawford Memorial by Neri G. Hart - Transcribed by Debbie Ovechka] |
|
John G. Fordyce Gilmore Township John G. Fordyce, farmer and stock-grower, born in Gilmore Township, February 14, 1841, is a son of Corbly and Jane (Bailey) Fordyce. His parents were also natives of this county, and of English extraction. His father, who was a farmer and stock-grower all his life, was reared in Greene County. He died in 1862, leaving a family of twelve children, of whom John G. is the sixth. He was reared in Gilmore Township, on the farm where his brother resides. He received a common-school education, then engaged in farming as an occupation, and is now one of the most successful farmers in the county. He owns 400 acres of valuable land. In 1866 Mr. Fordyce married Jane Huffman, and they were the parents of two children - Dora and Charles. Mrs. Jane Fordyce died in 1877, a faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Fordyce was afterwards united in marriage, in 1878, with Miss Anna, daughter of Phillip and Lydia (Kennedy) Phillips, and they have one son, Phillip Corbly. Mr. and Mrs. Fordyce are prominent members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. (Source: History of Greene County, Pennsylvania. Samuel P. Bates, Chicago, 1888, p. 721) -- Contributed by Michelle Kennedy Byrd |
|
Thomas Reed Information Wanted Thomas Reed an old Revolutionary soldier, at present a resident of Greene county, Pennsylvania, having lost the certificate of his discharge from the revolutionary army, and being desirous of renewing the application he has already made to Congress for a pension, requests such persons as can testify either directly or by circumstance, to his having been in the service of the United States, during the first war with Great Britain, to make a communication of it to him, directed to Jefferson, Greene county, Pennsylvania. The subject of this advertisement was born near Rock Run, in Hartford county, Maryland. At an early age he married Mary Nut, of Middletown, Dauphin county, Pa., soon after which he removed to Indian Manor, near Harrisburg, Pa., where he lived on the land of Mr. Thomas Fisher, following the double business of a laborer and shoemaker. He lived there eight or nine years, including the period of his service in the army. He enlisted at Carlisle, Pa., under Capt. Nichols, in the ninth regiment of the Pennsylvania troops, commanded by Col. Noggle. The first Lieutenant of the company was Stephen Stevenson, of Monohan township, York Co., Pa. Thus Reed served five years in the American army and was at the Battles of Brandywine and Germantown. Sometime after thse battles were fought, he was placed in the baggage department. Persons in Harford county, Md., and in York, Dauphin and Cumberland counties, Pa., are desired to institute an inquiry into this subject, among the older inhabitants and editors of papers generally, but particularly those of Maryland, Pennsylvania and the western country are requested to give publicity to this and thus, perhaps, assist one of the earliest defenders of our liberty, who is now suffering all the complicated evils of age and poverty. [Source: Republican Compiler (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania), June 6, 1827 - Transcribed by Nancy Piper] |
| James McNeil Stephenson Mr. Stephenson, one of West Virginia's most learned lawyers, late of the city of Parkersburg, was born November 4, 1796, in Greene County, Pennsylvania. He received his education in the log school houses of the pioneer, which did not extend beyond the three R's of that early period, and for which he had to labor, early and late. He possessed more than an average intellect and an innate ambition to make a record in life. He was large of stature, and was physically able to endure the severest of hardships, and possessed the industry and energy to read and carefully digest all of the books that he could buy or borrow. His reading and study increased his ambitions. Unsatisfied with existing conditions, and thirsting for a higher grade of knowledge, he decided to become a lawyer. Whilst learning the trade of a tanner, all of his spare time was devoted to a careful study of legal text books. Many times he was found currying leather with his text books open before him. By these means, and the unsparing use of the "tallow dip," he became qualified for, and was admitted to the Bar, and commenced practicing law at Wheeling, Virginia, but shortly thereafter he located at Miudlebourne, the county seat of Tyler County. Here he practiced his profession for several years, and by close attention to his law office, and by judicious investments in real estate, he prospered beyond many of the favored of fortune. Looking for a wider field of labor he moved to Parkersburg, Wood County, and opened a more pretentious law office, and largely increased his business as an attorney. When thirty-three years of age he married Miss Agnes M. Boreman, a member of a noted family of Wood County. They reared a family of six children, three boys and three girls. He was very fond of his family, and his home-life was beautiful and exemplary. When the Civil War broke out in 1861 he stood strenuously by the Union, notwithstanding the fact that he had a son in the Confederate Army. He was a slave-holder, or rather his slaves owned him. He bought a number, but never sold one. Notwithstanding the fact he never went to college, he was in many ways a learned man. As a lawyer, perhaps, he had no superior in West Virginia. He was remarkably successful in handling his cases. Ho accumulated a large estate, mainly by his efforts at the Bar. He was noted for his unswerving honesty and integrity. He was learned in all the branches of the law, but specialized in land laws and suits in ejectment. He was a whig in politics, but was never a politician, nor an office-seeker. He represented Tyler County three terms in the Legislature of Virginia in 1838, '39 and '40. Subsequently he represented Wood County, a number of terms in the State Legislature. He was also a man of large public spirit. To his exertions more than to any other man or men, the construction of the railroad from Grafton to Parkersburg is due. He also organized two banks, and was also a leader in a number of other public improvements. He was foremost in his day, in every movement that was for the betterment of the community in which he lived and adorned. He died April 12, 1877, and carried to his grave the respect of all the people with whom he associated in life. He was a benevolent man, giving much money for the good of mankind. He was a devout Christian. His death was universally mourned by the citizens of Parkersburg. [Bench and Bar of West Virginia by George Wesley Atkinson, 1919 - Transcribed by AFOFG] |