in New Sewickley in 1897. They had children: John Martin, of New
Sewickley, married Margaret Post, and had six children; Christena, now
deceased, married Andrew Fisher; Fredrika, mentioned above as the wife
of Mr. Strohbach. Mr. and Mrs. Strohbach had children, i. Franklin
Arthur, died at the age of twenty-two years. 2. Lydia Louisa, married T.
S. Hare, of Conway, Pennsylvania, has three children. 3. William Henry,
deceased ; married Lillian Evans ; has three children. 4. Otto Albert, of
Terre Haute, Indiana ; married Susan Goodnight ; no children. 5. Josiah
R., of further mention. 6. Joseph, unmarried. 7. Sarah, married Thomas
Dawson, of Freedom ; has two children. 8. Emma, married David Daw-
son, of Freedom; has one child, Lillian, now four and a half years old. 9.
John, died aged seventeen years, January 5, 1902. 10. Edward Charles,
married Gertrude Carey ; resides in Freedom.
(IV) Josiah R. Strohbach, son of Charles Frederick and Fredrika
(Duerr) Strohbach, was born in Etna, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania,
January 3, 1877. He attended school in New Sewickley, and upon the
completion of his studies accepted a position in the Glass House, Roch-
ester, Pennsylvania, where he remained employed for sixteen years, and
then came to Conway, Pennsylvania, and accepted a position as clerk in
8i2 PENNSYLVANIA
the employ of his brother-in-law, Thomas S. Hare', these being the only
two positions he has occupied, a fact which testifies to his capability and
efficiency. He is a Republican in politics, and has served for several
times as a member of the election board. He is a member of the Evan-
gelical Associated Church, of Freedom, National Order of Kings, of Free-
dom, and a charter member of the Fraternal Order of Eagles, of Roch-
ester.
Many of the Harris surname in the United States are de-
HARRIS scendants of English ancestors, those of this record are of
Welsh descent. Settlements by those of the name was gen-
eral in character and confined to no one region or locality, in consequence
of which New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New England families are found
bearing, so far as can be ascertained, no relation to each other, excepting
the identity of name. Harris, both as a name of persons and of places,
was early introduced into Western Pennsylvania by Ephraim Harris, who
came to Butler county from the eastern part of Pennsylvania, and there
settled. He was a farmer by occupation and in 1825 caused the town of
Harrisville to be laid out, the sale of lots in the place commencing on
April II of that year. Soon after the surveying of the site and the first
sale of property, a post-office was established, Ephraim Harris being the
first postmaster, succeeded in the following year by his son, Samuel E.
Another of his sons, Major John R., established there, two years after
the survey of the town site, as a merchant, built a carding mill, opened
a tavern, and there continued in trade until his death in 1874.
(H) Samuel E. Harris, son of Ephraim Harris, was born in Harris-
ville, died in New Brighton, Beaver county, Pennsylvania. He obtained
a common school education and was ever a tiller of the soil, at one time
being proprietor of a hotel in Butler county, which he sold when he went
to New Brighton, where his death occurred. In his active life he was in-
dustrious, thrifty, and energetic, never devoting much time to public
affairs, but holding firm and decided views upon all of the momentous
questions of the day, his feeling rising strongly against the system of
human servitude as then practiced. He married and had children, one
of his sons being Ephraim, of whom further.
(Ill) Ephraim Harris, son of Samuel E. Harris, was born in Harris-
ville, Butler county, Pennsylvania, died in New Brighton, Beaver county,
Pennsylvania. In his boyhood he attended the public schools of Harris-
ville, and as a young man went to Pittsburgh, where he learned the painter's
trade, following that as his life occupation. He was married in Pitts-
burgh and in 1848 moved to New Brighton, the scene of his activities until
his final summons. He was a man of simple principles, doing his duty
according to the light furnished him, and lived quietly and peacefully among
his neighbors, his daily contact with them being most cordial and his
public relations enjoyable. All forms of church work received his warm
BEAVER COUNTY 813
support, personal and financial, and he filled the offices of trustee and
steward of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He married Martha Crilly,
born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, her father, a ship carpenter, being of
Irish descent. Children of Ephraim and Martha (Crilly) Harris: Homer
H., lives in Oregon; Mary, deceased; OHver C, of whom further; Anna,
a resident of Salem, Ohio; Charles F., lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania;
Harriet J. and Robert R., both of New Brighton.
(IV) Oliver C. Harris, son of Ephraim and Martha (Crilly) Harris,
was born in New Brighton, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, September 19,
1849. After completing a course of study in the public schools of his
birthplace he learned his father's trade with that artisan and for many
years made that his business. In later years he still contracts for such
work, but performs little of the actual labor involved personally, a corps
of workmen executing the contracts awarded him. Mr. Harris has been
prominently identified with public affairs in the county for many years, as
a Republican having been elected judge of elections on several occasions,
for twenty-two years a member of the New Brighton school board, and
was in 1900 elected register and recorder for a term of three years, ful-
filling the duties of his office faithfully and well for that length of time.
Besides his work at his trade, his only other business connection has been
as director of the Beaver County Building and Loan Association, an in-
stitution of firm founding, a position he held for a number of years. The
Sunday school of the First Methodist Episcopal Church of New Brighton
felt the beneficial effects of his earnest workings for sixteen years, during
which time he was at its head as superintendent, when the Sunday school
had a larger enrollment than that of any other school in the county.
During his administration as superintendent worthy results for the church
and community were achieved through the Sunday school, his agency
guiding the excellent work that was done. His fraternal relations are
with the Royal Arcanum, the Woodmen of the World, and the Protective
Home Circle.
Mr. Harris married, August 4, 1870, Elizabeth A. Ross. Children:
I. Lois, deceased. 2. Wilbur R., educated in the public schools of New
Brighton, was for two terms prothonotary of Beaver county, now con-
nected with the Federal Court at Pittsburgh. In the Spanish War he held
the rank of adjutant ; is now serving on the colonel's staff of the Tenth
Regiment, Pennsylvania National Guard. 3. Walter W., a painter,
lives in New Brighton, also was in the Tenth Regiment in the Spanish-
American War. He married Nellie McGee ; children : Oliver, Paul, Walter,
Frances and Elizabeth. 4. Ida B., married Herbert Douglas, and has
two children: Helen and Herbert.
The name of Stewart, originally spelled Steward, is de-
STEWART rived from the occupation of him who first used it. The
steward of an estate was a man of consequence in the
8i4 PENNSYLVANIA
days when surnames were assumed, as well as since. One family of
Stewarts furnished four kings of England.
(I) William Stewart was of Scotch ancestry, and at first settled in
Pennsylvania where Allegheny City now stands. Later he removed to
Beaver county, Pennsylvania, where he settled near Monaca, and engaged
in farming. He was twice married. By his first wife he had children:
William, Charles, David, Andrew, Archibald, John, of further mention.
By the second marriage he had: James and Jane.
(II) John Stewart, son of William Stewart, was born in Moon town-
ship, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, and followed farming all his life. He
married Barbara Ann Kronk, and had children: Mary Ann, born August
17, 1842; married, in 1875, John Hutchinson, and had one child, Catherine,
born February 24, 1877. 2. Archibald, born January 29, 1844; married,
June 22, 1880, Gertrude Miller, and had children: Anna Legina, born April
25, 1881 ; John A. M., born December 19, 1886; Carl W., born December
9, 1888, died young. 3. Elizabeth Jane, born May 18, 1848; married John
Smiley, and has one child, John Stewart. 4. Joseph Kronk, deceased. 5.
Catherine N., married, February 18, 1896, Dr. C. C. Bippis. 6. William
James, of further mention. 7. Sarah Emma, deceased. 8. John S., died
young.
(HI) William James Stewart, son of John and Barbara Ann (Kronk)
Stewart, was born in Raccoon township, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, April
27, 1854. There he was educated in the public schools and labored on the
farm until he was nineteen years of age. For the next eleven years he was
employed on the Ohio river as an engineer on tug boats, after which he
engaged in the manufacture of bricks, and was general manager of the
Fallston Fire Clay Brick Company. He sold out his interests in this con-
cern in 1913, and since that time has been engaged in real estate operations
in Beaver, Pennsylvania. He has been a strong supporter of the Republican
party, has served thirteen years as a member of the borough council, being
chairman of the board of water commissioners during six of them. Mr.
Stewart married, December 25, 1878, Ella S., a daughter of W. G. Taylor,
M. D., and has had children: i. William James Jr., born April 23, 1880;
now superintendent of the repair department of the Buick Motor Company,
of Pittsburgh; married, February 26, 1913, Matilda Dawson. 2. Herbert
Thompson, born February 7, 1882; in the employ of the Studebaker Auto
Company, of Detroit, Michigan. 3. Ethel Taylor, born March 25, 1885;
married, July 5, 1905, Charles Albert Patterson, bookkeeper for the Im-
pervious Sheet Metal Company, of Rochester, Pennsylvania; children:
James Stewart, born February 13, 1906; Charles Albert, born February
10, 1912.
Samuel Funkhouser, of German descent, was born in
FUNKHOUSER North Sewickley township, Beaver county, Pennsyl-
vania, and his entire life was spent in New Brighton.
^^iCZey^u^^i^^-r^
BEAVER COUNTY 815
He was a blacksmith by trade, a man of great physical strength, and was
among the early settlers of the county. He married Caroline Osman, born
in what is now Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, daughter of John Osman, who
was an English sea captain, and became a farmer at Beaver Falls, about
1780 or 1790. Children : Jacob Osman, of further mention ; James Madison,
who served throughout the Civil War in the One Hundred and Thirty-
fourth or One Hundred and Thirty-ninth Regiment, Pennsylvania Volun-
teer Infantry; George Dallas, Charles and Denny, who also served in the
Civil War.
(H) Jacob Osman Funkhouser, son of Samuel and Caroline (Osman)
Funkhouser, was born in New Brighton, Beaver county, Pennsylvania,
January 10, 1839, died in New Brighton. He learned the blacksmith's trade
under the supervision of his father, and worked with the latter until the
Civil War. Upon the conclusion of this struggle Mr. Funkhouser estab-
lished himself in this trade independently, later becoming a tinner, and when
he retired from this calling was toll taker at tlie bridge between New
Brighton and Beaver Falls for a period of ten years. He took an active
part in the public affairs of the community as an adherent of the Republican
party, and served as high constable and tax collector of the borough. For
a period of nine months he was in active service during the Civil War. He
was brought up in the faith of the Methodist Episcopal Church but later
affiliated with that of the Lutheran denomination. He was a member of the
Knights of Pythias. Mr. Funkhouser married (first) Margaret Hays, (sec-
ond) Catherine Ufferman, bom in Whitestown, Butler county, Pennsyl-
vania, of German descent. Children by first marriage: Dallas, Caroline,
and an infant, the last mentioned dying young; children by second marriage:
Drusilla, who married Joseph Fillmore Paulson, of New Brighton, Penn-
sylvania ; Samuel Hendrick, of further mention ; Virginia May ; Harvey
Allen.
(HI) Samuel Hendrick Funkhouser, son of Jacob Osman and Catherine
(Ufferman) Funkhouser, was born in New Brighton, Beaver county, Penn-
sylvania, April 16, 1869. He was educated in the public schools of New
Brighton, and at the age of nineteen years was apprenticed to learn the
tinner's trade with Charles Bracken. Upon the completion of his appren-
ticeship he worked for some years as a journeyman, then, in association
with his brother, Harvey Allen, organized the firm of Funkhouser Brothers,
tinners, which was in existence for thirteen years. The brothers then ad-
mitted Sherman McNeese to a partnership, the firm becoming S. H. Funk-
houser & Company, engaged in the general tinning business, and they erected
their present building in 1905. They have executed many important con-
tracts, and the greatest attention is paid to every detail of any work they
undertake, whether it be a large or a small contract. Mr. Funkhouser mar-
ried, November 27, 1890, Cornelia Ann McNeese, and they have had chil-
dren: Howard Clifton, Lydia Catherine, Mendal Titus, Clare McNeese and
Helen Whitcomb. Mr. and Mrs. Funkhouser are members of the Free
Methodist church.
8i6 PENNSYLVANIA
Jacob Blinn, a prominent citizen of Beaver county, Pennsyl-
BLINN vania, is a member of a Pennsylvania family, though of Ger-
man parentage on his mother's side. He was born April 15,
1857, in Marion township, Beaver county, a son of Jacob and Elizabeth
(Schwartz) Blinn. His father was a native of Pennsylvania and was bom
in the year 1834, died in 1905 on the farm which in his youth he had cleared
and cultivated, replacing the old log buildings with a frame house in 1872
and barn in 1878. His wife, Elizabeth Schwartz, was born in Germany,
December 27, 1832, and came to America with her grandfather when she
was but sixteen years old. They settled at first in Defiance county, Ohio,
but later removed to Pennsylvania, where Miss Schwartz met and was mar-
ried to Jacob Blinn Sr. in the month of May, 1856. Mrs. Blinn is still living
with her daughter, Mrs. Philip Householder, of Marion township. The
paternal grandparents of our subject were residents of Sewickley township
during Mr. Blinn's life, after which Mrs. Blinn removed to Marion town-
ship, where she died in the year 1877 at the age of sixty-three years. To
the parents of our subject were born five children, as follows: Jacob, our
subject ; Amelia, now Mrs. Philip Householder, of Marion township ; Mary,
who became the wife of Christopher Metz and died March 17, 1912; Caro-
line, of New Brighton, Pennsylvania; William, a resident of Marion town-
ship.
Jacob Blinn Jr. was educated in Marion township, and save for a
residence of fourteen years in New Brighton, has always lived there on the
home place, which he and his brother helped their father to clear. He has
now lived continuously on his eighty-eight acre farm, for twenty-one years,
and works the same for general farming purposes. Mr. Blinn is a member
of the Democratic party, and is extremely active in local politics, having
held every ofiice in the gift of the township (except that of tax collector)
including the office of judge of elections.
Mr. Blinn was married, in 1879, to Elizabeth Knepp, of Franklin town-
ship, Beaver county, Pennsylvania. To them have been born six children,
as follows: Morris Ellwood; Laura, now Mrs. Charles Hartzell; Elsie
Majors ; Howard, a resident of Marion township ; Lawrence, educated at the
High School at Zelienople, Pennsylvania, and at college at Beaver Falls,
Pennsylvania, now a teacher; Harvey, who lives at home. Mr. Blinn is a
member of Burry's Presbyterian Church and his wife of the Presbyterian
Church at Zelienople.
Casper Zahn, who was for many years a well known farmer in
ZAHN Beaver county, Pennsylvania, was a fine example of a self-made
man. He was born in the Duchy of Hesse, Germany, and emi-
grated to America when he was twenty-seven years of age. At that time
steamships were unknown and he came across in a sailing vessel, the voyage
lasting forty-eight days. During this trip Mr. Zahn was robbed of all his
possessions by some unprincipled fellow traveler, and arrived here absolutely
BEAVER COUNTY 817
penniless. He was obliged to borrow five dollars from a friend in order to
make his way to Pittsburgh, and this sum was completely expended during
the journey. Compelled to take the first employment which offered itself,
in order to obtain the bare necessities of life, Mr. Zahn became a mine
worker, and for a period of seven years dug coal in Pittsburgh and its
vicinity. Naturally industrious and economical, he managed to save up a
sufficient sum of money to enable him to purchase a farm of seventy-five
acres in Beaver county, on which his son, William Charles, now resides in
New Sewickley township. He continued his industrious career, making a de-
cided success of his farming operations, and in the course of a few years
was able to purchase another farm, the old Grimm place, consisting of one
hundred and six acres in the same township, near Unionville. Finally he
retired to Rochester, Beaver county, where his death occurred, February
IS> 1905- He was a staunch Democrat, and served for a time as school
director. He and his wife were members of the Presbyterian church. Mr.
Zahn married Mary Noell, a daughter of John Noell, born in Germany,
who came to America and settled in Beaver county, where he was a farmer,
and died at Unionville, having been a widower many years. He had chil-
dren: Margaret, married John Wolfe, died in Ohio; Catherine, married
Philip Wolfe, died in Ohio; Mary, who married Mr. Zahn, as stated above;
Elizabeth, married George Ift; Marie, married Sebastian Butt. Mrs. Zahn
was seventy-eight years old, November i, 1913. Mr. and Mrs. Zahn had
children: John, a carpenter, who died in Pittsburgh; George, a farmer in
New Sewickley township, Beaver county; Annie, widow of John E. Schmidt,
lives in Rochester, Beaver county; Casper, a farmer in Beaver county;
Nicholas, lives in Rochester with his mother; Catherine, married (first)
William Rosenberger, (second) Nicholas Lotz; Elizabeth, died in infancy;
Margaret, married Martin Hartman, and lives in Rochester; William
Charles, see forward ; Sophie, w'idow of Charles Conrad, lives in Rochester.
(H) William Charles Zahn, son of Casper and Mary (Noell) Zahn,
was born on the farm on which he is at present living, in New Sewickley
township, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, February 2, 1872. His education
was acquired in the Knob schoolhouse, and all his life has been spent on
the farm. From a very early age he was obliged to assist his father in the
farm labors, and in this way obtained a thorough and practical knowledge
of all the details of farm work. In 1899 he purchased the farm of seventy-
five acres, and has cultivated it for general farming. He is a Democrat in
political matters, having been active in the interest of the party with which
he affiliates, and has held office as tax collector. Both he and his wife are
members of the Presbyterian church. Mr. Zahn married, February 13,
T895, Annie S. Young, born in New Sewickley township, Beaver county,
Pennsylvania, January 18, 1869, a daughter of Jacob and Sophia (Goehring)
Young (see Young line). They have had children: Melvin W. O. ; Hazel
G. ; Esther S. ; Milton A., died at the age of thirteen months; Forrest A.
8i8 PENNSYLVANIA
(The Young Line.)
(I) Jacob Young, born in Germany, emigrated to the United States
about 1850, with his wife and four children, and located in Beaver county,
Pennsylvania. He was a farmer, and for a number of years conducted
his operations on leased ground, but finally bought 160 acres in Marion
township, on which he lived until his death. Politically he was a Democrat
and served one term as supervisor. He and his wife were members of the
United Evangelical Protestant Church, and for some years he was secretary
of this institution. He married Catherine Miller and they had children, of
whom the first four were born in Germany : Jacob, see forward ; Philopena,
married her first cousin, Charles Young, and both died in Zelienople ; Cathe-
rine, married John Slipper and died at Allegheny, Pennsylvania; Daniel,
died unmarried in Marion township; Philip, died in Marion township;
Elizabeth, the widow of Joseph Miller, lives in Harmony; Margaret, de-
ceased, married Adam Remler, who now lives in Beaver Falls; Caroline,
died in young girlhood; Michael, a farmer, lives in Marion township.
(H) Jacob Young, son of Jacob and Catherine (Miller) Young, was
born in Germany, February 13, 1838. He received a good, public school
education, and was reared on a farm, and always identified with farming
interests. In 1863 he took up farming independently, buying a farm of
160 acres in New Sewickley township, and in 1878 erected a large brick
house, in which he resided until his death in 1901. He also put up a barn
and a number of other buildings on this property. He always gave his
political support to the Democratic party, and was a member of the same
church as his parents. Mr. Young married, in 1863, Sophia Goehring, bom
in Beaver county, Pennsylvania, July 10, 1842, a daughter of John and
Marguerite (Barton) Goehring. John Goehring was born in Germany, and
came to America with his parents when he was eight years old. His mar-
riage occurred in Mercer county, Pennsylvania, from whence he removed to
Butler county, Pennsylvania, and finally he bought a farm in Franklin
township, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, on which he died in 1898. He
married Marguerite Barton, also born in Germany, who came to this coun-
try with her parents when she was twenty years of age, and died on the
farm purchased by her husband, in October, 1894. They had children:
Elizabeth, widow of Jacob Brenner, lives in Butler county; Mary, married
Peter Brewey, and lives in Lawrence county, Pennsylvania; Sophia, who
married Mr. Young, as above stated; Catherine, deceased, married John
Brewey; William, is a farmer near New Castle, Lawrence county, Penn-
sylvania; Charles, a farmer in Marion township, Beaver county. Mr. and
Mrs. Young had children : Catherine Marguerita, widow of Charles Holtz-
man, lives in Beaver Falls; Elizabeth Matilda, married Charles Klein, and
lives in Dougherty township; Emma Virginia, married John Sheiderline,
and lives in New Brighton, Beaver county ; Annie, married William Charles
Zahn (see Zahn II) ; Bertha, married John Shaffer, and lives in Beaver
Falls; Charles, is a farmer in North Sewickley township, Beaver county;
BEAVER COUNTY 819
Molly, unmarried, lives in California; Walter, died in infancy; Albert;
Amanda, married Harry George, and lives in Beaver Falls; John William,
is a tinner, and lives in New Brighton, Beaver county.
This branch of the Marquis family, originally of England,
MARQUIS first appears in Pennsylvania in the person of David Mar-
quis, who was one of the first settlers in Potato Garden
Run, Washington county, later coming to Beaver county. He was a farmer
and followed tliis occupation in both of his Pennsylvania residences, con-
tinuing in the latter place until his death. With his wife he was a member
of the Salem Presbyterian Church, the faith of which the family have long
been communicants. He married and had issue, among whom were several
sons, one of them David.
(H) David (2) Marquis, son of David (i) Marquis, was born in
Washington county, Pennsylvania, in 1793, died in Beaver county, Penn-
sylvania, in 1884. He obtained the usual amount of schooling in the common
schools of the day and when quite a youth apprenticed himself to the saddler
and harnessmaker's trade at Noblestown, Washington county. Completing
the term of his apprenticeship, he followed the trade for a few years in
the place where he had learned it and then came to Beaver. Here he
still worked actively at his trade, continuing so all his life. He was a Re-
publican in political action and was at one time supervisor of Rochester
township, taking besides a prominent part in all public matters. Although
it was rather a departure from the regular channels of his trade, he was
engaged to bore out the logs that served as the first pipes for the distribution
of the water supplied by the first waterworks of Beaver, that being long
before the day of terra cotta or metal pipes. His shop was located on
Third street, the site now occupied by the Mayo Drug Store. In his later