known that some of these brothers' descendants lived in Washington county,
Pennsylvania, and a daughter of one of them, a Mrs. Croft, lived and raised
a family near East Liverpool, Ohio.
Children of James and Hannah (Bull) Stevenson: i. Margaret, mar-
ried John Caldwell. 2. Lucy, married Andrew Elliott. 3. Nancy, married
E. R. Gilson. 4. Sarah, married John Gilson. 5. Hannah, married William
Crow. 6. Mary. 7. Thomas, of whom further. 8. Elijah. 9. Andrew.
Children of James and Catherine (Moore) Stevenson: 10. Robert, ri.
James, married (first) Jane Guthrie, (second) Nancy Moore. 12. William.
BEAVER COUNTY 1003
13. Rebecca. 14. Elisha McCurdy, married Nancy Dawson (he was born
December 22, 1806, died December 16, 1899). 15. Silas, married (first)
Sarah Cracraft, (second) Eliza Hoover (he was at one time sheriff of
Lawrence county, Pennsylvania, and a grandson of his, Joseph S. Edwards,
is the present treasurer of Beaver county, Pennsylvania). 16. Sampson. 17.
Samuel, married Nancy Ann Dawson.
(II) Thomas, seventh child and eldest son of James and Hannah (Bull)
Stevenson, was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, August 25, 1788,
died at Hookstown, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, July 14, 1847. When a
young man he came to Beaver county where he conducted farming opera-
tions upon rented ground until 1840. In this year he purchased the prop-
erty now owned and cultivated by his grandson, William Stewart Stevenson,
and there lived until his death. He and his daughter Nancy and sons
Jonathan and Andrew were carried off in the space of a few weeks by an
epidemic known locally as the "Hookstown fever," and that baffled the
skill of the local physicians, and caused the death of many. It is now
believed to have been typhoid fever. Thomas Stevenson was a Democrat
in political sympathy, and affiliated with tlie Presbyterian church. He
married, December 19, 181 1, Jane Smith, born July 23, 1783, died October
27, 1853. Children of Thomas and Jane Stevenson: i. Nancy, married
John Calhoon. 2. Esther, married Joseph McCready. 3. James, married
Elizabeth Ewing. 4. Jonathan, married Jane Ramsey. 5. Thomas, married
Isabell Stewart (daughter of William Stewart, hereinafter mentioned). 6.
Elizabeth, twin of Thomas, married Eli Ramsey. 7. Martha, married
George Stewart (son of Samuel Stewart, hereinafter mentioned). 8.
Andrew. 9. Sampson, of whom further. 10. Mary Jane.
(III) Sampson, son of Thomas and Jane (Smith) Stevenson, was
born in Hanover township, Beaver county, September 8, 1824, died in
Hookstown, August 28, 1880. Like his forefathers, he followed that most
useful and honorable of all pursuits, agriculture, all his life, and in this
occupation he met with moderate success, never attaining a position of
affluence, but was always considered one of the well-to-do farmers of the
region. He supported the Republican party with his vote and influence, and
was a member of the United Presbyterian church. He married (first)
Rachel Stewart, born February 27, 1828, and died June 2, 1854; (second)
Rebecca Manor. Rachel Stewart was a daughter of William and Elizabeth
(Henderson) Stewart. George Stewart, the father of William, was born
in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. In 1776 he was serving in the Revolu-
tionary War as major in the First Pennsylvania Battalion, James Crawford,
colonel. Later he was lieutenant-colonel in the same until after 1780, when
he was appointed colonel and continued to serve as such to tlie close of the
war. He was in command of his regiment at the battle of Yorktown and
other engagements. After the close of the war it appears he first moved
to Washington or Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania (where children
of first wife seem to have remained), but finally settled in Brooke county,
I004 PENNSYLVANIA
\"irginia, where he owned, lived, and died on a farm close to the Beaver
county line, in what is now Hancock county. West Virginia. This farm
is now owned and occupied by R. G. Stewart (a grandson) and by "the
Stewart brothers" (great-great-grandsons of the fifth generation), by
descent through Samuel Stewart. Colonel George was twice married, the
names of his first wife and their three children cannot be given. He
married his second wife, Susannah Wilson, in Lancaster county, Penn-
sylvania, April 22, 1779. The children of this second marriage were Samuel,
William, Mary and Hesther (twins), Benjamin, and James. Colonel
George died September 9, 1801, and was buried in the old Mill Creek grave-
yard in Beaver county. On September 21, 1841, his widow, at the age of
eighty, applied for a pension, which was allowed. She died May 4, 1843.
Of the above children, William married Elizabeth Henderson, and lived
and died on a farm he owned close to the old original Stewart homestead,
in the same county and state. He was born in Lancaster county, Penn-
sylvania, July 29, 1782, and died October 6, 1858. Elizabeth, his wife, died
August 18, 1871, aged eighty-eight years and five months. Their children
were: George, James, William, Benjamin, Mary, Elizabeth, Isabell, and
Rachel, who married Sampson Stevenson. December 26, 1850. Sampson and
Rachel (Stewart) Stevenson were the parents of two children, William
Stewart, and Laura E., the latter dying in infancy. There were no children
to the second marriage.
(IV) William Stewart, son of Sampson and Rachel (Stewart) Steven-
son, was born in Greene township, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, December
20, 1851. He attended the public schools in his youth, and has spent his
entire life on the farm where he now resides. This is a fertile tract of one
hundred and forty-five acres, on which he conducts general farming and
dairying, in which he has been comparatively successful. His party affilia-
tions and church membership are the same as those of his father, except that
in late years he has been voting independent of party.
Mr. Stevenson married, April 23, 1879. Mary Alice Graham, who was
born in Toledo, Tama county, Iowa, January 18, 1857. She was a daughter
of Robert N. and Martha (Moore) Graham, both natives of Carroll county,
Ohio. Robert N. Graham was a son of James and Mary (Nelson) Graham,
the former a native of Ireland. Robert N. was also a grandson of Matthew
and Hannah (Hunter) Nelson, pioneer residents of Greene township,
Beaver county, Pennsylvania. In 1861 he enlisted in Company I, Seventh
Iowa Infantry Regiment. He took part in the Fort Donelson, Pitt.sburgh
Landing, and all the battles in which his regiment was engaged, being
wounded at Fort Donelson. He was first lieutenant, acting captain at the
time of expiration of his three years' term of enlistment. He re-enlisted
in the Sixth United States Veterans, and at the close of the war was sta-
tioned at Wa.shington, D. C. In this capacity he was a participant in the
gruesome closing of the final tragedies of the war. He was in the detail
that guarded the prison in which the Lincoln assassination conspirators were
BEAVER COUNTY 1005
confined, and guarded the scaffold when Herrold, Atzerott, and Mrs. Surratt
were executed, and later when Wirz, the keeper of the Andersonville prison,
shared the same fate. Robert N. was bom September 11, 1833, and died
March 17, 1912. Martha, his wife, was born September 30, 1829, and died
at Malvern, Ohio, June 4, 1909.
Children of William Stewart and Mary Alice (Graham) Stevenson:
Sampson Percy, Robert Willis, Samuel Nelson, Martha Hunter, Rachel
Florence, Mary Luella, and Susan Nelson, called "Nellie," who died Decem-
ber 17, 191 1.
Philip E. Hamilton, a promising young lawyer in Beaver
HAMILTON county, Pennsylvania, maintains offices at Beaver and
Beaver Falls. Although he has been engaged actively in
legal work for only one year, he has already built up a large and lucrative
clientage, and is rapidly gaining prestige as one of the leading young at-
torneys 'in this section of the State.
A native of Tyrone, Blair county, Pennsylvania, Philip E. Hamilton
was born February 9, 1884, son of James C. M. and Eliza Ann (Wilson)
Hamilton, the former of whom is a prominent dentist at Beaver Falls, where
the family home has been maintained since 1895. Philip E. Hamilton
received his early educational training in the public schools of Tyrone and
Beaver Falls, in which latter place he attended Geneva College, from which
institution he was graduated with honors as a member of the class of 1906,
duly receiving his degree of Bachelor of Science. In the autumn of 1906
he became principal of the Fallston, Pennsylvania, public schools, and after
serving in that capacity for a period of four months he was appointed prin-
cipal of the Slippery Rock Model High School of the State Normal Insti-
tution, where he remained for two years. In the fall of 1908 he was
matriculated at the University of Pennsylvania, in the law department of
which he was graduated in 191 1, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws.
During the last year of his law course he was associated in legal work
with Hon. Henry J. Scott, of Philadelphia. After graduation he came to
Beaver Falls, and on admission to the Pennsylvania State bar, February 3,
1912, he entered into a partnership alliance with Hon. J. Sharpe Wilson, of
this place. On May i, 1912, this partnership was dissolved, and he is now
practising alone, and is doing a splendid legal business in Beaver Falls. Mr.
Hamilton is a valued member of the Beaver County Bar Association, and is
affiliated with the Sons of Veterans, his father having served as captain of
Company D, iioth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, during the
entire four years of the Civil War. In his religious faith he is a member
of the Presbyterian church, to whose charities he is a most liberal con-
tributer. In politics he accords allegiance to the principles and policies for
which the Republican party stands sponsor; and, while he is not an office
seeker, he is ever on the alert and enthusiastically in sympathy with all
measures and enterprises projected for the general welfare.
ioo6 PENNSYLVANIA
This name is an old one, found in England as early as the
BALDWIN Conquest, and was there quite common. It appears on
the roll of Battle Abbey and in Domesday Book, but there
were Baldwins in England as early as 672. In America the name appears
with the earliest settlement of Massachusetts and Connecticut. The branch
of which Robert Bell Baldwin, of Rochester, Pennsylvania, is a twentieth
century representative, springs from the Massachusetts family, and first
appeared in Western Pennsylvania in 1803. In a list of early settlers of
Robinson township, Allegheny county, made for the year 1803, is found
the name of Robert Baldwin. He was the grandfather of Robert Bell Bald-
win, and came to Allegheny county from his Massachusetts home. He was a
millwright and surveyor, following both occupations in Allegheny county,
and became a man of many affairs, prominent among his fellows, well liked
for many agreeable qualities. He married Annis Perry, and was the father
of : Perry, Robert, John, Samuel, Henry, of whom further ; Mary, Amanda,
Julia A., and Sarah.
(II) Henry, son of Robert and Annis (Perry) Baldwin, was born in
Robinson township, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, in 1808. His trade
was that of his father, millwright, and he engaged in this business through-
out his active years. He married Mary Bell, and had children: i. Daniel,
deceased. 2. James F., a carpenter employed by the Pittsburgh & Lake
Erie railroad ; was killed between Beaver and New Brighton by the train
bearing the body of President James A. Garfield. 3. Robert Bell, of whom
further. 4. John, born in Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, in 1841 ; a sol-
dier under Captain Darrah, Company I, 140th Regiment Pennsylvania
Volunteer Infantry, in the Civil War. During his term of service he was
thrice taken prisoner, and at different times was confined in Libby, Belle
Isle, and Salisbury prisons. While held prisoner in the last-named place
he attempted to escape, and, detected in the act, was struck on the head
by one of the guards, the blow such a hard-delivered and such a vicious one
that it caused almost total deafness, from which he has since been a sufferer.
All of the important battles in which his company was engaged found him
in action, and he held a worthy record as a soldier. He now lives retired
at Monaca, Beaver county, Pennsylvania. 5. Elizabeth, deceased. 6.
Amanda, a resident of Monaca, Pennsylvania. 6. Albin.
(III) Robert Bell, son of Henry and Mary (Bell) Baldwin, was born
in Robinson township, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, May 17, 1839. He
was educated in the common schools of the locality, and worked on his
father's farm until he attained his majority, when he moved to Oil City,
Pennsylvania, and became interested in oil producing. This was his busi-
ness from 1862 until 1877, and substantial success attended his operations
during the intervening fifteen years, receiving at times a price reaching
seven dollars and one-half per barrel for oil. He became an expert well-
driver, and was the first to successfully drive what is termed, in the language
of the oil fields, a "dry hole," being the second to attempt this method of
/l. /^ /^tff-^*Z-t^A.»—
BEAVER COUNTY 1007
well-driving. Upon his moving to Rochester, Pennsylvania, in 1877, he
built his present home at No. 399 New York avenue. From 1877 until his
retirement from active business in 1895, Mr. Baldwin was engaged mainly
in the driving of oil wells, operating principally in Somerset and West-
moreland counties, and in this line became well known as a driver whose
work was uniformly successful and one who was a thorough master of his
craft. Mr. Baldwin's early political faith was Republican, and his first
vote was cast for Abraham Lincoln, when that great man was first a presi-
dential candidate, but he is now in sympathy with the Washington party,
holding great admiration and respect for the Progressive leader, Theodore
Roosevelt. Since 1900 he has been assessor of the borough of Rochester,
and for seven years was a member of the school board, serving as president
during that time. His religious belief is Lutheran. Mr. Baldwin is a
citizen of loyal and generous attributes and has always willingly answered
a call to public duty, and in Rochester commands the hearty friendship of
many who are glad to call him friend.
He married Jane Ellen, daughter of Rev. J. B. Breckenridge. Children
of Robert Bell and Jane Ellen (Breckenridge) Baldwin: i. Charles B.,
born in Oil City, Pennsylvania, March 4, 1873; publisher of the Saturday
Evening Journal, a Socialist periodical ; married Ida Schiedmantel ; children :
Robert J., Cecil H., and Ruth Esther. 2. George Augustus, born December
12, 1875; an attorney of Rochester, Pennsylvania; he has twice represented
the Twenty-fourth district in the Pennsylvania legislature, being elected the
second time as the candidate of the Progressive party ; he married Elizabeth
J. Spyerer, and has two sons, Richard S. and George A. 3. Paul Howard,
an attorney, associated in practice with his brother, George Augustus; he
married Dr. Caroline Marcy, a graduate of the Women's Medical College
of Philadelphia, who after one year of hospital work began practice, now
attending a large clientele in Rochester, Pennsylvania. Children of Mr.
and Mrs. Baldwin: Thomas Marcy and Mary S.
To trace the family of McCreary to the fountainhead
McCREARY from which all of the name spring, would require a
lengthy excursion into Irish history, and a minute explora-
tion of all of its interesting details, for in all of the great national move-
ments of that harassed land, whether political, social, industrial or religious,
a McCreary was ever among the leaders. Decisive convictions have dic-
tated the actions of those of the name of whom record remains — a trait
that time has done little to weaken or years to efface.
(I) James McCreary, the immigrant, was born in county Tyrone, Ire-
land, in 1812, and there spent his youthful days, occupied in the obtaining
of an education and in preparation for a life work. Farming had for many
years been the calling of his ancestors, and in this he was trained as a boy
in his native land. Later he was proprietor of a hotel or inn, and on account
of upholding personal liberty, fled to the United States. He was married
ioo8 PENNSYLVANIA
in Ireland to Mary Hopper, October 30, 1837, and upon reaching this
country he settled in Pittsburgh, and engaged in the bakery and confec-
tionery business. Later he took up the cattle and horse business in the same
city, where he died August 7, 1848. His widow, Mary (Hopper) McCreary,
who was born in county Tyrone, Ireland, in 181 1, married, September 22,
1849, David Brown; she died in Pittsburgh, September 17, 1867. Children
of James and Mary (Hopper) McCreary, the first two born in Ireland,
the others in Pittsburgh: i. David, born August 3, 1838: came to the
United States, and served in the army during the Civil War; he was a
member of Hancock's division at Gettysburg; was wounded in the battle of
Antietam, and participated in the Wilderness campaign, and the first battle
of Bull Run; he served in the volunteer fire department; died in Pittsburgh,
December 2, 1871. 2. James, born July 9. 1839; came to the United States;
served through the Civil War, and like his brother David, was engaged
in the desperate Wilderness campaign. 3. Robert, of whom further. 4.
Thomas, born January 3, 1845; married. May 24, 1878, Suzanna Smail.
5. Eliza, born June 20, 1847 ; died May 25, 1848. Child of David and
Mary (Hopper-McCreary) Brown: William John, born December 28,
1852, married Catherine (Hester) Brown.
(II) Robert, son of James and Mary (Hopper) McCreary, was born
in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, April i, 1841, and died in Monaca, Beaver
county, Pennsylvania, November i, 1895. His education was obtained
in the public and private schools of the locality, and in young manhood he
learned the glassblower's trade in the factories of Pittsburgh, following
that occupation for many years. He located in Bridgewater in 1867, later
removed to Pittsburgh and resided there until 1882. Still later he once
more completed the circle between the two places, and after making his
home for a time in old Phillipsburg, moved to Bridgewater, later to Roches-
ter, finally coming to Monaca, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, his home at
the time of his death. When the discord between the northern and the
southern states heightened into actual warfare he took up arms in defense
of the union of the states, as did two of his brothers, and served ten months.
His political sympathies were strongly Republican, and in religious belief
he was reared in the Presbyterian faith ; his wife was a communicant of
the Roman Catholic church. He married Mary Hester, born in Wolver-
hampton, Stafifordshire, England, August 15, 1852, daughter of John Hester,
born in county Mayo, Ireland, and his wife, Catherine Prile, who died in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. John Hester came to the United States and
Pennsylvania in 1855, and for a considerable number of years was em-
ployed on boats plying the streams of that region, then for eighteen years
holding a position in a gas plant. Coke burning and quarrying later were
his occupations and he was engaged in the original construction of the
Lake Erie railroad. He died in Allentown, Pennsylvania, at the home of
his youngest son, James. Children of John and Catherine (Prile) Hester:
1. Bridget, deceased. 2. John, lives in West Virginia. 3. Mary, married
BEAVER COUNTY 1009
Robert McCreary. 4. Bernard. 5. Catherine, married W. J. Brown, of
Pittsburgh. 6. Patrick, resides in Toledo, Ohio. 7. William Thomas. 8.
James, lives in Pittsburgh. Children of Robert and Mary (Hester) Mc-
Creary: I. Mary A., deceased. 2. William J., deceased. 3. Thomas William,
of whom further. 4. R. James, deceased. 5. John, born April 12, 1873;
an employee of the Phoenix Glass Company, lives in Monaca ; married Rose
(Bird) McCreary. 6. Robert Bernard, born February 14, 1875; an employee
in Phoenix Glass Company, Monaca; married Gertrude (Sanders) Mc-
Creary, who died February 17, 1910; he subsequently took unto himself a
second wife, Mary (McGuire) McCreary. 7. Joseph, deceased. 8. George
W., born February i, 1879; a glassblower in employ of Phoenix Glass
Company; lives at Monaca Heights; married Margaret (Feeney) McCreary.
9. Gertrude, deceased. 10. William, deceased. 11. Mary, born December
23, 1884; married Albert Pollock, and lives at Monaca Heights. 12. Paul,
deceased. 13. Bridget, deceased.
(HI) Thomas William, third child and second son of Robert and Mary
(Hester) McCreary, was born in Pittsburgh, South Side, Pennsylvania,
April 24, 1870. His public school education was obtained in the city insti-
tutions of the Sixth ward of Pittsburgh, his residence when he was twelve
years of age being changed from Pittsburgh to Monaca. His education,
however, did not stop at this point, for after he had attained his majority
he attended night school in Beaver and studied commercial subjects under
Professor W. P. Pollock. When ten years of age he began to work in a
glass factory, interrupting this pursuit to attend school for two years more,
in 1882 obtaining a position with the Phoenix Glass Company in the capacity
of "carrying-in" boy. In 1890 he moved to Indiana, locating at Ellwood,
returning after a short stay to Monaca, where he once more began work
at his trade. In this line he continued until 1897, when he was placed in
charge of the subscription department of a Rochester, Pennsylvania, weekly
newspaper, which he directed for three months and resigned to attend
school. He then enrolled in Beaver College, taking a course in a few selected
subjects for which he felt that he would have a future use. In 1899 he
resigned his position with the Phoenix Glass Company and spent the winter
in Philadelphia, working at his trade during the day and attending school
during the evenings. This he did during all the winter months, in July
of the following year returning to Monaca, Pennsylvania, and accepting
the assistant superintendency of the Phoenix Glass Company, of which
Edward Kaye was superintendent, served in this capacity until December
20, 19 ID, when he resigned. He immediately formed a connection with the
Glass Specialty Company, of Fostoria, Ohio, as traveling salesman, later
having charge of one of the company's plants. In June, 1913, he returned
once more to Monaca, becoming general manager of the Phoenix Glass
Company, whose service he had left three years before. This is the position
he now fills with experienced ability, the vast gulf separating the humble
station that was his when he first appeared in the firm's employ, and his
loio PEXXSYLVAXIA
present high office only sending to show how well his efforts have been
directed in the struggle for advancement. Especial honor is due him in
praise of his steady rise, for at the beginning of his career he not only
possessed no advantages, but lacked many of the opportunities that are
commonly regarded almost as a birthright by youths of today. Recognizing
bis deficiencies along educational lines, he did not let this condemn him
to a lifelong association with those of mediocre talents, but by assiduous
application and the devotion of spare hours to study he acquired a knowl-
edge practical in all its phases and liberal in many. Hard labor held no
terrors for him, and to this qualitj- much of his material success may be
attributed. Through a lifelong acquaintance with glass manufacturing and
selling he is admirably fitted to direct the affairs of his company, and under
his jurisdiction a continued reign of prosperit}- should attend his efforts.
He was formerly a member of the glassworkers' union, and besides being
a member of the executive board and numerous important committees of
that organization, he had on several occasions represented the union as a
delegate at conventions, and for several years as a representative in con-
ferences. His close acquaintance with union affairs and his knowledge of
conditions existing among those whom he employs, is greatly in his favor
in preser\-ing amicable relations between the heads of the company and the
employees, and should ser\-e to avert the ever-threatening danger of strikes,
the industrial bugbear. He is a member of the Roman Catholic church,
as are his family, and allies himself with the Democratic party, having at
one time been secretan.- of the Democratic county- committee and for one
term auditor of the borough of Monaca.
Mr. McCrean.- married, June 26, 1894. Mar\- Rose Ganley, born in
Cambridge. Massachusetts. October 8, 1874. daughter of John and Mary