Enon Valley, Lawrence county, Pennsylvania. 9. Mary, married Isaac
Funkhouser, both are deceased.

(HI) John W. Freed, eldest child of Abraham and Susan (Showalter)
Freed, was bom in Big Beaver township, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, Feb-
ruary 12, 1819, died in the same locality, January 10, 1906. He grew to
manhood on the home farm, attended the local schools, and at his father's
death inherited the homestead, containing then about one hundred and
twenty acres. His wife was also the possessor of land to the extent of
some one hundred and fifteen acres, so that in all they owned well over
two hundred acres. This he farmed, and in 1862 erected a stone dwelling,
a part of which is still standing, the building having fallen into disuse and
subsequent decay. Here he lived until his death. He was a Democrat
in politics, although never seeking or holding public office. He married
Elizabeth, daughter of William and Annie (Craig) Johnston. She sur-
vives him to the present time (1913) daily enjoying health and happiness.
She is of Irish blood, her parents bom in Ireland, which country was also
the birthplace of their three eldest children. Upon coming to the United
States they made their home in Pennsylvania, on Little Beaver creek,
P.eaver county, near the town of New Galilee. This state was ever their
home, although after a short time spent in Beaver county they moved to a
farm of two hundred and thirty acres near Enon Valley, Lawrence county.
This was their residence during the remainder of their lives, both being
called to rest about 1864. In both of the regions in which he had lived
during his life in America William Johnston took prominent part in all
public affairs, the novelty of organizing and maintaining government and



620 PENNSYLVANIA

of making laws appealing strongly to him, this being a form of activity in
which people of ordinary station had little opportunity to indulge in the
country from which he came. In church attendance he was regular, and
in his worship devout. William and Annie (Craig) Johnston were the
parents of: i. James, killed at the battle of Shiloh in the Civil War. 2.
William, a carpenter, died at Jeflfersonville, Indiana, where he had
gone in the pursuit of his trade. 3. Hugh, a farmer, lives near Appleton
City, Missouri. 4. John died in Warrensburg, Missouri. 5. Ann mar-
ried Hugh Steen, and died in Newcastle, Pennsylvania. 6. Mary, married
a Mr. Crumm, and died in Homewood, Pennsylvania. 7. Margaret, mar-
ried Robert Dalzell, and died in the Northwest, probably in Oregon. 8.
Elizabeth, of previous mention, married John W. Freed. Children of
John W. and Elizabeth (Johnston) Freed: William Abraham, of whom
further; Andrew Johnston.

(IV) William Abraham Freed, eldest of the two sons of John W.
and Elizabeth (Johnston) Freed, was born in Beaver county, Pennsyl-
vania, September 17, i860. He attended the public schools, later Peirsol's
Academy, completing his studies at Geneva College. After leaving school
he engaged in farming and took up the management of the home farm,
which he later inherited, the tract consisting of one hundred and thirty-
five acres. Twenty acres of this is planted in fruit trees, and from this
source he realizes a profitable revenue, and also raises garden truck in
large quantities, for which he has a large and steady demand. He is a
member of the Beaver County Agricultural Association, of which he
has been a director. Aside from his farming operations he concerns him-
self to some extent with other business, having previously a place upon
the directorate of the Federal Title and Trust Company, a position he held
since the organization of that institution until 191 1, and is president of
the Beaver County Triumph Mutual Insurance Company. He is a Demo-
crat in political belief, and for the three years from 1897 to 1900 served
the county in the capacity of commissioner. He belongs to Beaver Valley
Lodge, No. 478, Free and Accepted Masons; Beaver Falls Chapter, Royal
Arch Masons; and Beaver Falls Commandery, Knights Templar. Mr.
Freed is known throughout the locality in which he lives as a successful
and prosperous farmer, a business man of ability and a neighbor of straight-
forward, honorable principles.

He married, March 11, 1885, Mary F. Hudson, born in Beaver county,
Pennsylvania, daughter of Robert and Mary Ann (Fry) Hudson, born
February 12, 1864. Robert Hudson was a son of Richard D. and Beth-
sheba (Stockman) Hudson. Richard and his wife were early residents of
Lawrence county, Pennsylvania, where he was a farmer and surveyor,
doing much of the surveying for the first farms in that locality. He there
died, his wife surviving him several years, her death occurring in New
Galilee, Pennsylvania. Children of Richard D. and Bethsheba (Stockman)
Hudson: i. Stockman. 2. Amanda, married H. J. Marshall. 3. Richard.



BEAVER COUNTY 621

4. Mary Jane, married David Knowles. 5. Bethsheba, married Hamilton
Bannon. 6. Eliza, married Robert McDowell, and lives in Pittsburgh, Penn-
sylvania. 7. William, lives in Sacramento Valley, California. 8. Isaac,
died in Toledo, Ohio. 9. Robert, of further mention. Robert Hudson
was born in Beaver county, Pennsylvania, and after his marriage lived
successively at Wampum, Hoytdale and New Galilee. He entered the
mercantile business, was rewarded with a large share of success, and is
now living retired at Evans City, Butler county, Pennsylvania. He is a
Republican in politics, and with his wife is a member of the Methodist
Episcopal Church. He married Mary Ann, daughter of Michael and
Katherine (Maloney) Fry. Both were residents of Big Beaver township,
Beaver county, Pennsylvania, where he owned a small farm. Michael
Fry was of German descent, the parents of his wife coming from the Isle
of Man, in the Irish Sea. They were the parents of: i. Reuben, a veteran
of the Civil War, lives in the state of Wisconsin. 2. Mary Ann, of previous
mention, married Robert Hudson. 3. Martha, married Isaiah Forbes, and
lives at New Castle, Pennsylvania. 4. Caroline, married Joseph Malone,
and lives in New Galilee, Pennsylvania. 5. Uriah, died in Hoytdale in
1887. 6. Eliza, married Charles Shurlock, and lives in Wisconsin. Chil-
dren of Robert and Mary Ann (Fry) Hudson: i. George, a resident of
Starbuck, Washington. 2. Mary F., of previous mention, married Wil-
liam Abraham Freed. 3. William, a merchant of Evans City, Butler
county, Pennsylvania. 4. Kate, married A. S. Latcshaw, and is deceased.

5. Maude, married (first) A. L. Wilson, (second) F. A. Rowland, and
lives in Lawrence county, Pennsylvania. 6. Nina, married J. A. Dombart,
and lives in Norwalk, Ohio. Children of William Abraham and Mary F.
(Hudson) Freed: i. Herbert A., an attendant of Geneva College, also the
engineering department of the Pennsylvania State College ; married Maryi
Boyer. 2. Elta M., a graduate of Geneva College, class of 1910. 3. Eliza-
beth, died in infancy from an attack of diphtheria. The family are mem-
bers of the Methodist Episcopal Church.



The Peflfer family of Western Pennsylvania have been iden-
PEFFER tified with a variety of important business interests since

their advent in this country. They have shown themselves
to be energetic and desirable citizens, and have been highly esteemed in
the different communities in which they have resided.

(I) Gottlieb Peffer, who was born in Germany, emigrated to the United
States and settled in Harmony, Butler county, Pennsylvania. He was a
tailor by trade, and later purchased a farm north of Harmony, on which he
resided until his death. He became a very prosperous member of the
community, and was liberal in proportion to his prosperity. He assisted
generously in the payment for the first Lutheran Church erected at Zelien-
ople, Butler county. He married Martha Rice. They had children: J.
Frederick, went to California in 1849, established a cattle ranch, and died



622 PENNSYLVANIA

there; William H., see forward; John, deceased, was a farmer; Gottlieb,
a retired merchant; Joseph, a farmer, now living retired in Harmony;
Frank, a retired merchant, lives in Ambridge, Pennsylvania; Mary, mar-
ried Christian Texter, and lives in Evans City; Rebecca, deceased; Emma,
married Peter Scheidemantel ; Elizabeth, married Jacob Fleming, and lives
in New Castle, Pennsylvania; C. G. L., a resident of Harmony.

(H) William H. Peffer, son of Gottlieb and Martha (Rice) Peffer,
was born in Jackson township, Butler county, Pennsylvania, July 12, 1828.
His entire life has been spent in his native county, where he owned and
cultivated a farm of one hundred and forty-five acres in Lancaster town-
ship. He and his wife are members of the Grace Reformed Church of
Harmony. He married Judith Boehm, born in Bethlehem, Northampton
county, Pennsylvania, in 1834, died in February, 1909, daughter of James
Peter and Judith (Wasser) Boehm, both bom in Northampton county.
He taught in one schoolhouse for twenty-one successive years, both the
English and the German language. He also followed the occupation of a
stone mason. He was active in the public affairs of the community in
which he resided, and served as justice of the peace for many years. He
and his wife were members of the Lutheran Church. They had children:
William, died in young manhood; Cordelia, married C. V. Bauer; Edwin,
a teacher; Frank, at one time employed on the railroad, later a hotel pro-
prietor; Judith, married Mr. Peffer, as above stated; Mary, married Jacob
Shelley, and lived in Zelienople, Pennsylvania. William H. and Judith
(Boehm) Peffer had children: Mary R., was a school teacher, and died at
the age of eighteen years; Eliza, married James A. McGowan, and lives
at Prospect, Pennsylvania ; Clarence Wesley, see forward ; Jacob F., a clerk
in Wheeling, West Virginia.

(HI) Clarence Wesley Peffer, son of William H. and Judith (Boehm)
Peffer, was born near Harmony, Butler county, Pennsylvania, September
17, 1862. His education was acquired in Peffer School, No. 4, which he
attended for a period of five months each year. As he was the eldest son,
some of the more responsible duties of the farm soon devolved upon him,
and he became the chief assistant of his father. At the age of twenty years
he accepted a clerkship in the store of his uncle, C. G. L. Peffer, in Har-
mony, remaining there two years. For a period of fourteen years he was
then a clerk for G. D. Swain, in Harmony. At the end of this period he
became associated in the lumber business with John Ifft, under the firm
name of John Ifft & Company, this being continued for nine years. In 1907
he came to Darlington, Pennsylvania, where he purchased the general store
of Jonathan Marks, with which he has been identified since that time. He
has added largely to the general stock of the business and increased its
capacity in every direction. In addition to this he is also interested in
farming lands in Butler county, Pennsylvania.

Mr. Peffer married (first) September 17, 1896, Elenora Ifft, bom at
Petersville, Pennsylvania, died March 26, 1898, daughter of John and



BEAVER COUNTY 623

Sophia Ifft, of Zelienople, Pennsylvania. They had one child, Beulah E.,
born September 19, 1897. Mr. Peffer married (second) August z8, 1907,
Margaretta Christiana Laderer, born in Lancaster township, Butler county,
Pennsylvania, September 15, 1870. He is a member of the Grace Reformed
Church, and Mrs. Peffer is a member of the Lutheran Church. Her father,
Jacob Laderer, was born in Erkennbrechts-Weiler, Upper Bailiwick, Nur-
tingen, Wuerttemberg, Germany, January 12, 1831, died February 21, 1909.
After being graduated from the public schools he prepared himself for the
profession of teaching by a course of study at a seminary at Nurtingen. He
then taught school for a time at Darmsheim, and in 1854 emigrated to
America with his young wife. Having studied for a time in Pittsburgh, he
obtained a position at the parochial school of St. Paul's Church, in Zelienople,
Pennsylvania. He also played the pipe organ in that church for a period
of forty years. In addition to teaching in the school he gave private in-
struction in music, on the fine piano made in Stuttgart, Germany, which had
been presented to him by his mother upon his fourteenth birthday, at which
time a good instrument was a rare and costly possession. Mrs. Peffer still
has this instrument, and it is in remarkably good condition. In 1858 he
purchased a farm in Middle Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and in 1864 a store
in Middle Lancaster, which he conducted several years. He was a man of
decided influence and prominence in the community, filling the responsible
office of postmaster for eighteen years; for the same length of time he
acted as secretary of the German Fire Insurance Company of Zelienople;
and he was justice of the peace and school director for many years. Mr.
Laderer married, in 1853, Sarah Geiger, born at Darmsheim, Upper Baili-
wick, Boblingen, April 30, 1833, eighth of the nine children of John Jacob
and Dorothea (Santer) Geiger, of Darmsheim. Jacob and Sarah (Geiger)
Laderer had children: Mary Louisa, born September 10, 1854, married T.
D. McKinney, of Independence, Missouri ; Henry Edward, born June 4, 1856,
married Elizabeth Dornhoflf, and lives in Portersville, Pennsylvania ; William
Carl, born September 21, 1857, married Matilda Wahl, and has a carriage
factory at Evans City, Pennsylvania, where he also resides ; Jacob Frederick,
born February 18, 1859, married Emma, daughter of ex-Governor Rich,
and lives in McPherson, Kansas, where he is the proprietor of several stores
for general merchandise; Sara Matilda, born June 27, 1866, married John
Christophel, a farmer at Middle Lancaster; Margaretta C, who married Mr.
Pefifer, as above stated. John George Laderer, the grandfather of Mrs.
Peffer, was bom June 11. 1798, died December 27, 1847. He married Mar-
garethe Schott, of Erkennbrechts-Weiler, Upper Bailiwick, Nurtingen,
Wuerttemberg, and Jacob, the father of Mrs. Peffer, was their only child.



William Lafferty, a farmer, whose entire life was spent in
LAFFERTY Ireland, married Ellen and had children: Barney,

see forward ; John : James ; Hugh ; Patrick ; Mary, died

unmarried ; Maggie, married Flannigan ; Nancy, died young. They

all lived and died in Ireland.



624 PENNSYLVANIA

(II) Barney Lafferty, son of William and Ellen Lafferty, was born in
county Down, Ireland, in 1802, died in Darlington, Beaver county, Penn-
sylvania, in 1879. He was a carpenter by trade, and in addition to this
cultivated a farm. He married and raised all of his children in Ireland,
but in his old age came to America to live with them. He married Mary
McMullin, bom in county Down, Ireland, died in Belfast, Ireland, at the
age of sixty-one years. She had an only brother, Patrick McMullin. Mr.
and Mrs. Lafferty had children : William, deceased, was a farmer in Darling-
ton township, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, married M'argaret Reynolds;
Hugh, died unmarried ; Elizabeth, died unmarried ; Barney, see forward ;
Patrick, died unmarried in April, 1887 ; Mary Ann, unmarried, lives on the
homestead.

(III) Barney Lafferty, or, as he was christened, Bernard, son of Barney
and Mary (McMullin) Lafferty, was born in county Down, Ireland, in
March, 1836. He was educated in the district schools of county Down, and
from an early age assisted his father in the labors of the farm. In 1852
he emigrated to America, deciding that the New World held out better
prospects for advancement to a young man of energy and ambition. In this
idea he was not mistaken, and he has made a success of his career in this
country. He selected the state of Pennsylvania as a suitable place for a home,
and for the first year worked as a laborer in Schuylkill and Luzerne coun-
ties. He then went westward to Pittsburgh, where he worked in the coal
mines. On July 5, 1861, he enlisted in Company G, Twenty-sixth Regiment
Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served three years. He fought bravely at
Shiloh, and later in the Army of the Cumberland. He was once wounded
in the ankle. After the war he came to Darlington township, Beaver county,
Pennsylvania, where his brother Hugh had settled in 1851, and to which sec-
tion his brother Patrick and sister Mary Ann had come during the progress
of the Civil War. For some time he was employed at the coal mines, and
in 1885 purchased the Governor Todd farm of one hundred and four acres.
He and all in the family are devout Roman Catholics, and he gives his
political support to the Democratic party.

Mr. Lafferty married, December i, 1875, Mary Roth, born in Germany,
who carrte to America with her parents when she was two years of age, and
died in May, 1892. They had children : Bernard, an engineer on the Penn-
sylvania Railroad, married Lousia Steinley, and lives in Freedom, Pennsyl-
vania ; Wilhelmina, unmarried, manages the household for her father ; Ellen,
married Robert Myers, and lives in Rochester, Pennsylvania; William, un-
married, a brakeman in the employ of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company ;
John, has charge of a stationary eng'ine in a coal mine.



The Fitzgerald family of Beaver county, Pennsylvania,
FITZGERALD traces its ancestry to the "Emerald Isle," where the fore-
bears were for the most part engaged in agricultural

pursuits. With a natural love for the beautiful particularly in nature, they

devoted themselves extensively to gardening.




5L.jfJ^




BEAVER COUNTY 625

(I) John Fitzgerald, whose entire life was spent in Ireland, married
Mary Conway and had children : James and Thomas.

(II) Thomas Fitzgerald, son of John and Mary (Conway) Fitzgerald,
was born in county Kerry, Ireland, 1846, and came to the United States at
the age of twenty-five years. The greater part of his life has been spent in
and in the vicinity of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he was in the employ of
wealthy families as a gardener. He came to Beaver county, Pennsylvania, m
1885, resided there three years, then removed to Dixmont, where he remained
for a time, and finally settled in Beaver permanently ten years ago. He
married Mary, also a native of Ireland, daughter of Anthony Healey, and
they have had children: Joseph, born June 10, 1865, died June 4, 1884;
John, born November 3, 1866, manager of the Plumbers' Supply Company
in Erie, Pennsylvania; Thomas M., see forward; James, born September
16, 1869, married Gertrude Potts and lives in Pittsburgh ; Anna, born Novem-
ber 7, 1870, died, unmarried, October 20, 1909; Mary Catherine, born April
8, 1875, died in April, 1905, married Edward Kennedy ; Edward Lawrence,
born August 13, 1879, married Catherine McConnell; William A., born
March 20, 1881, died November 27, 1884.

(III) Thomas M. Fitzgerald, son of Thoma^id Mary (Healey) Fitz-
gerald, was born in Allegheny county, Q|pns>^^n, February 27, 1868.
His school education was commenced in liJKity ot^ttsburgh, Pennsylvania,
after a time he was sent to Ireland, and at the expiration of three years re-
turned to this country and completed his education in this country. He has
always been identified with business as a florist, and has achieved a more than
satisfactory amount of success. He came to Beaver county, Pennsylvania,
with a fortune consisting of one hundred dollars, and from this small be-
ginning he has attained his present prosperity, owing to his indefatigable
energy, his perseverance and his excellent business methods. At first he
leased the Dravo place, remaining in that location for a period of eight years.
By this time he had amassed a sufficient capital to enable him to purchase the
Campbell place on Fifth street. At first he devoted the greater part of his
time to raising vegetables, but later turned his attention to floriculture. At
the present time he has six men constantly in his employ, and at times is
obliged to add to this number. He is called upon to fill orders for all parts
of the United States, the superiority of his output having become recognized
far and wide. He commenced with one thousand feet of glass, and now has
about thirty thousand ; at first he had the ordinary wooden benches to sup-
port his plants in the greenhouses, now he has model cement benches.
Altogether he now has twelve greenhouses of large size, covering a huge
tract of ground. He understands fully the needs and requirements of the
diflferent plants, the soil best adapted to their growth, the temperature and
all the other conditions necessary to produce the most healthful and beauti-
ful specimens. He is a member of the Pittsburgh and Allegheny Florist
Association and of the Horticultural Association of the United States.

Mr. Fitzgerald married, July 30, 1895, Nora, daughter of Jeremiah and



626 PENNSYLVANIA

Catherine Miniham, and has had children: Catherine, John and Joseph,
twins ; Helen, Anna, Agnes, all still at home. The family attend the Catholic
Church, and Mr. Fitzgerald is Independent in his political opinions. He
keeps well in touch with all important current events, and takes pleasure in
forming his opinions in an unbiased manner.



In view of the amicable feelings that have always characterized
MAY whatever dealings have existed between the United States and

Germany, and in consideration of the inestimable aid that was
rendered the thirteen colonies by that country when the United States of
America was in the process of formation and the American continent was
writhing in birth throes preparatory to giving to the world a new nation,
it is pleasant to consider the vast number of natives of Germany to whom the
United States has offered a home. True, it was but payment of the debt
incurred at the time of the Revolution, and the immigrants have again placed
our country under lasting obligations to them by their works in raising our
nation to a position of eminence among the other leaders of thought and
civilization. Another strand in the ties binding the two lands was added
when the May family of^^rmany came to the United States.

( I ) George May, ^^^lig jgjgt ancestor, settled in Brighton township,
Beaver county, Penns)^^nia, a^B^as one of the first t(J make a home in
that sparsely settled region. His occupation in the fatherland had been that
of farmer, and so he continued in his new environment, clearing the land
from which he afterward derived a living. His wife had come with him to
his new home and there both died, she having borne him several children.

(II) James May, son of George May, was born in Brighton township,
Beaver county, Pennsylvania, died in Fallston, same county. In his youth
he attended the schools of his birthplace, later in life engaging in general
farming operations on his one hundred acres of land in North Sewickley
township. He possessed inherent skill in farming, and continued therein
with more than ordinary success, taking pride in the excellent appearance of
his property, which he had improved to a marked extent and also enjoying the
respect accorded him by his neighbors for the profitable results that attended
his agricultural work. He married Mary Lafferty, whose parents were both
natives of Ireland who had settled in Washington county, where Washington
now is located. They were the owners of three hundred acres in that
vicinity, later moving to Brighton township, Beaver county, where they
died. James and Mary (Lafferty) May were the parents of ten children.

(III) John W. May, son of James and Mary (Lafferty) May, was
born in North Sewickley township, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, December
15, 1859. When he was four years of age he was brought to Fallston, and
in that place attended school, obtaining his education in the public institu-
tions of that place. His first employment was in the keg works of the M.
F. and S. Kennedy Company, and on January 2, 1885, he began in the
grocery business in Fallston, one room of his house serving as his store.



BEAVER COUNTY 627

After seven years spent in these quarters his business had so expanded that it
justified the building of a separate store, which he did in 1892, continuing
in business in the place then erected to the present time. He handles an
excellent line of groceries, as well as the numerous commodities useful in
rural life, and holds the patronage of a large proportion of the residents
of the country-side. Mr. May is a Democrat in politics, and has served
his community as member of the school board and as councilman. His
fraternal society is the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and with his
wife he is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Mr. May married, March 22, 1883, Emma Ora Jackson, of Fallston,
Beaver county, Pennsylvania, and has children : Maude R. ; Clark J., lives at