born January 10, 1778, and died April 17, 1853. His entire life was spent
in Beaver county, where he was active among the pioneer settlers of that
section. His death occurred in what is now Chippewa township. He owned
about one hundred acres of land, a large portion of which he cleared, and in
1826 he served in the office of overseer of the poor of Chippewa township,
as is stated in a document now in the possession of his grandson, Robert J.
Rhodes. He married, January i, 1806, Margaret, born April 2, 1781, died
May 25, 1855, a daughter of Andrew and Catharine Elizabeth (Mercer)
Eberhardt and a niece of General Hugh Mercer, of revolutionary fame.
Children : Jonathan ; Margaret Ann ; Robert Mann ; Milton J. ; William, of
further mention; Smiley; Joseph Andrew; Hghnc t ftjwgn .

(VII) William, son of William and Margaret (Eberhardt) Rhodes,
was born in Beaver county, September 25, 1814, and died November 28,
1883. He was educated in the early district schools, and followed the occu-
pation of a farmer all his life. He was a man of prominence and influence
in the community, and filled a number of township offices. He married
(first) November 22, 1836, Mary Maria Baird, who died September ^
1852. He married (second) October 6, 1853, Eliza Isabel McMillan, who
died July 23, 1855. He married (third) April 5, 1856, Mary Jane Whann.
Children by first marriage: Margaret Ann, married Williarn Bradshaw
Hunter; Bradford, married Caroline Augusta Fuller; three who died in
infancy. Child by second marriage: Joseph William, married Margaret
Moore. Children by third marriage : Elizabeth Jane, married John Louthan ;
Robert James, of further mention ; Jonathan PeaVson Finley, married (first)
Jane Oskey, (second) Isabel Whitten; Thomas Josiah, married Ella Thom-
son ; Elmer Elsworth, married Amy Dinsmore ; Nancy Isabel, married Am-
brose Fombelle ; Ira Hillis, married Nettie Dausmann ; Nettie Jane, mar-
ried Stephen S. Smith; Norris Odley, married Myrtle Barnes.

(VIII) Robert James, son of William and Mary Jane (Whann)
Rhodes, was born in Chippewa township, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, in
i860. He received an excellent education in the public schools of Chippewa
township and at the Darlington Academy, and then engaged in the occupa-
tion of teaching. He followed this profession four years in the schools of
Beaver county and five years in Lawrence county, Pennsylvania, after which



BEAVER COUNTY 1043

he became actively identified with mercantile pursuits. For a period of two
years he held a clerkship in Beaver, then became a commercial traveler, and
for the past six years has been a resident at College Hill, Beaver Falls. He
has been frequently solicited to accept public office, but until recently, re-
fused. Now, however, he is filling the office of a school director of College
Hill Borough.

Mr. Rhodes married Laura Anna Taylor. During the past nine years
he has been an active worker in the interests of the Masonic fraternity, and
is a member of blue lodge and chapter. He is a member of the College Hill
Presbyterian Church, and ever ready to do what he can for the success of
the church and Sunday school, and the welfare of all connected therewith.



The western part of the state of Pennsylvania appears to
McKIBBIN have been particularly fortunate in some respects, one of

these being that it has attracted an unusually large per-
centage of the intelligent and educated class of emigrants, whose attention
was called to the fertile soil and generally favorable conditions. This seems
to have been more especially the case with the Irish element, and the coun-
try has profited accordingly. The McKibbin family of Beaver county, Penn-
sylvania, forms no exception to this rule.

(I) Alexander McKibbin was born in the north of Ireland, and emi-
grated to the United States in the year 1832. He located in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, where he followed his calling of stone mason for one or two
years, then purchased a farm in Green Garden, Beaver county, Pennsylvania,
and also established himself in the mercantile line there, conducting a store
very profitably for a period of thirty-five years. At the time of his death in
1870 he had one hundred acres of land in clear and improved property. He
was one of the active members of the Service United Presbyterian Church,
and was a staunch supporter of the Republican party, although he never
desired public office. He married Nancy Bryson, also born in the North of
Ireland, who came to this country in 1832, and was a daughter of John and
Mary Bryson, who came to West Deer township, Allegheny county, Penn-
sylvania, in 1832, where they purchased a farm on which some of their
descendants still reside.

(II) Alexander L. McKibbin, son of Alexander and Nancy (Bryson)
McKibbin, was born in Green Garden, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, March
24, 1845. At the completion of his preliminary education, when he was in
his sixteenth year, the struggle between the north and the south had its
commencement. Mr. McKibbin at once enlisted, becoming a private in
Company H, 140th Pennsylvania Volunteers, in August, 1862, his regiment
being assigned to the Second Corps, Army of the Potomac, Chancellorsville
being their first engagement. In 1864 he was transferred to the Sixth
Regiment Veteran Reserve Corps, and assigned to Johnson's Island, Ohio,
to guard rebel officers, and from there was assigned to Company B of the
same regiment, to do patrol duty at Cincinnati, Ohio, and later became mail



1044 PENNSYLVANIA

carrier for the company. In July, 1865, he was honorably discharged at
this post. During his three years' service he was constantly engaged except
for a short period when afflicted with typhus fever. He was fortunate in
never having received a wound and never being imprisoned. He keeps in
touch with the old soldiers by membership in the post of the Grand Army
of the Republic, at Beaver, and is strict in his observance of decorating the
graves of the soldiers in his home cemetery.

At the close of the war, Mr. McKibbin entered Iron City College,
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and was graduated from that institution. He
then returned to his home for a time, taking charge of the homestead farm,
which consisted of one hundred and sixty acres, and has been identified with
agricultural pursuits since that time. He purchased one hundred and seven-
ty-one acres in Beaver county, which he has devoted to fruit raising and
general farming. He has been a member of the State Board of Agriculture
for the past fifteen years, and during this period has held three Farmers'
Institutes in the county each year, and through this influence considerable
good has been accomplished. He has been one of the most public-spirited
men in the county, and among the other public offices he has filled with a
remarkable degree of ability are the following: Member of the school board
for many years, and secretary of the same for fifteen years ; member of the
board of supervisors for eight years, and secretary of the board ; one term
as county auditor; one term as director of the poor of the county; deputy
register and recorder of the county; director of the First National Bank of
Monaca; vice-president and director of the Beaver County Mutual Insur-
ance Company; director of Dixmont Hospital for the Insane for the past
fifteen years and chairman of the board of directors ; member of the County
Fair Association; served two years as inspector of orchards in division of
zoology, and served two years in tlie state highway department as inspector
of roads. He has also taken an active part in the councils of the Republican
party, and is a devoted member of the Raccoon United Presbyterian Church.
Mr. McKibbin married, in 1870, Matilda J. Irwin, who bore him four
children, all now married : Ella May, Martha Jane, Anna Mary, Stewart L.



John MacDonald, member of a family of Scotch origin,
MacDONALD was bom in the north of Ireland, and is found in the
colonies in 1773, when he settled on Robinson's Run, in
Washington county. Of him it is said that he became the possessor of
valuable property, wide in extent, cultivated by a large number of slaves,
his first home being near the Virginia line. He married Martha Noble, a
native of Maryland, daughter of the founder of Noblestown, Pennsylvania.
John MacDonald cleared the meadow on which an Indian trading post was
erected, much of his original tract of land still remaining in possession of
his descendants. He was a Federalist in politics, and a member of the
Presbyterian church at Candor. Children of John and Martha (Noble)
MacDonald: James. Andrew, William, twin of Andrew (of whom further) ;



BEAVER COUNTY 1045

Alexander, Edward, John, Margaret, married a Mr. Glenn ; Martha, mar-
ried a Mr. Allison; Elizabeth, married a Mr. Mitchell, and Mary, married
William Nesbit.

(II) William, son of John and Martha (Noble) MacDonald, was born
on Robinson's Run, Washington county, Pennsylvania, died in that state.
In 1800, the year in which they attained their majority, he and his twin
brother Andrew settled on a tract of land extending along the Ohio river
for four miles, a site part of which is now occupied by Woodlawn. He
married and had several children ; among whom was Captain John, who
married Rachel Oliver, and had David Alexander, of whom further.

(IV) David Alexander, son of Captain John and Rachel (Oliver)
MacDonald, was born in Economy township, Beaver county, Pennsylvania,
April 4, 1842. He was reared in the township of his birth, in boyhood at-
tending the public schools and when a young man entered upon river work
with Captain William H. Brown. From a penniless beginning, by his un-
tiring industry and ever-evident willingness to work, he prospered in this
line of endeavor, and at the outbreak of the Civil War owned seven boats
plying the waters of the Ohio. A large share of his well earned pros-
perity was taken from him during the war of the rebellion, when he was
occasioned a fifty-thousand-dollar loss by the seizure of his boats for gov-
ernment uses, and he himself was impressed into service for a term of six
months. He immediately began to repair his wasted fortune and continued
as the captain of several boats on the Ohio until his retirement about 1900.
During all of this time, with the exception of a few years passed in Sewick-
ley, Pennsylvania, his home was in Beaver, Pennsylvania, where his death
occurred October 12, 1910. He was a Republican in politics, and although
he was interested in the welfare of the place in which his residence happened
to be, the nature of his calling prohibited the acceptance of public trust or
responsibility. His church was the Presbyterian, of which he was for many
years an elder, and he held membership in Rochester Lodge No. 229, Free
and Accepted Masons. He was twice married, his second wife, whom he
married June 17, 1869, being Mary Frances, born in Sewickley, Allegheny
county, Pennsylvania, daughter of Dr. William and Sarah St. Clair (Wilson)
Woods, her father a son of William (i) Woods. William (i) Woods
married a Miss Moore, and had Frances, John, Joseph, Samuel and William,
of whom further. Dr. William (2) Woods came to Woodlawn, Pennsyl-
vania, in 1878, and was associated with Captain David Alexander Mac-
Donald and other prominent citizens in the incorporation of an educational
institution in that place. He was twice married, first to Mary Semple,
whose family line is connected with that of the Bissell family of Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, one of the old and honorable families of the state. Children
of first marriage of Dr. Woods : William Semple, John Semple, and Samuel
W. Semple. Children of the second marriage: Robert Wilson, Mary
Frances (of previous mention), married Captain David Alexander Mac-
Donald, Charles Gelty, and Thomas Patterson. Children of first marriage



I046 PENNSYLVANIA

of Captain David Alexander MacDonald : William, Ida, David, and Ellen.
Children of Captain David Alexander and Mary Frances (Woods) Mac-
Donald: Charles Woods, a resident of Rochester, Pennsylvania; Sarah St.
Clair, deceased ; Mary Frances, deceased ; Florence June, married George
Hoffman ; Julia St. Clair, lives at home.

Lord John MacDonald, of Scotland, is a relative of this branch of the
MacDonalds. Certain it is, that though never honored with title from
monarch or potentate, there was as true nobility in the life of Captain David
A. MacDonald as was ever possessed by man, whether conferred as a mark
of respect, inherited from ancestors, or acquired through upright life, and
in the paths where he was wont to walk there are many who would rejoice
once more to hear the sound of his footfall and the greeting of his cheery



The North of Ireland was the point of departure of the Reid
REID family from the old country, to which land the Scotch ancestors

of the name had come. In their native land the orthography of
the name had been Reed, but later change and subsequent usage has made it
Reid, as it is spelled by the present generation of the name. The great-
grandfather of Samuel Reid, of this record, the fourth generation, was
born on the ocean en route to America, and upon attaining mature age mar-
ried a Miss Finnley, settling in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, later moving
to Allegheny county, his death occurring near Clinton, where he owned and
cultivated land. He was the father of : Andrew, Samuel, of whom further ;
William, James, Moses, Isabella, Mary, and Dorcas.

(II) Samuel Reid was probably born near Clinton, Allegheny county,
Pennsylvania, 1777, died in Independence township, Beaver county, Penn-
sylvania, April ID, 1840. In early life he lived near Newcastle, Lawrence
county, Pennsylvania, and was a distiller, owning a large plant near his
residence. In 1812 he moved to Beaver county, locating in Independence
township, where he built a distillery, but decided not to operate it. The
attitude of many people toward drinking and the manufacture of spirituous
liquors had changed somewhat in the intervening time, and upon thoughtful
and earnest consideration of the matter he came to the conclusion that his
was not a legitimate line of business, and straightway he discontinued the
manufacture of his products. He later moved to Hopewell township, pur-
chasing a farm of three hundred and twenty acres, which he cultivated for
the rest of his life. He and his family were members of the Associate
Church of Scottsville, known as the Ohio congregation. He married Agnes
Scott, and had: i. Jane, died unmarried. 2. William, died unmarried;
lived on a part of the home farm. 3. David, of whom further. 4. Maria,
died unmarried ; lived with her brother and sister, William and Jane. 5.
Samuel C, a United Presbyterian minister, died 1887, in Beaver, Penn-
sylvania. 6. Agnes, married Rev. Andrew Irons, died 1902.

(III) David, son of Samuel and Agnes (Scott) Reid, was bom in



BEAVER COUNTY 1047

Independence township, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, in 1820, died there
March 17, 1905. He grew to manhood on the home farm, his youth being
passed after the manner of that of the majority of boys, in home duties,
school attendance, and pleasure, and after his father's death he and his
brother William purchased the rights of their co-heirs in the home property,
then dividing it, the share of David Reid being one hundred and fifty-
eight acres. He here lived until his death, at one time owning a large flock
of sheep, the rest of the time engaging in general operations of an agri-
cultural nature. As a Republican he was elected to the office of justice
of the peace, and served as such for many years, with his wife belonging
to the United Presbyterian church. He was a successful farmer and
stock raiser, a man of substantial parts and qualities, one who lived in
peaceful and enjoyable companionship with his fellows, by whom he was
well liked and respected. He was never above discharging the humblest
duty required of him, and strove, with the most impersonal desire, to per-
form well all the tasks of public service that were allotted him. He
married Mary, born near the present site of the borough of Aliquippa,
Beaver county, Pennsylvania, in September, 1829, died March 17, 1907,
daughter of Thomas and Emily (Potter) McKee. Thomas McKee was
born in county Antrim, Ireland, and was brought to Beaver county, Penn-
sylvania, when he was four years of age, the family home being in Hope-
well township. He there grew to manhood, became a farmer, and culti-
vated land near the homestead all of his life. They were members of the
United Presbyterian church. Children of Thomas and Emily (Potter)
McKee: i. Mary, of previous mention; married David Reid. 2. James L.,
twin of Mary, died in November, 1913; a merchant of Richland Center,
Wisconsin. 3. Elizabeth, married John T. Shannon, a farmer, and died
near New Sheffield, Pennsylvania. 4. William, died unmarried in young
manhood. 5. John, died unmarried, in young manhood. 6. Cyrus P., a
merchant at Wall Rose, Beaver county, Pennsylvania; retired from busi-
ness and moved to Patterson Heights, in the same county, and there died
in 1909. 7. Emma, died October 15, 1913; married John C. McCormick,
and lived in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. Children of David and Mary
(McKee) Reid: i. Agnes, died in 1900; married Samuel Purdy. 2. Thomas,
died in infancy. 3. Emily, died in infancy. 4. Samuel, of whom further.
5. An infant son, died unnamed. 6. Elmer W., married Ella McKibben,
and lives on the home farm. 7. Valeria, married Dr. J. A. Shaffer, and
died in 1901.

(IV) Samuel, son of David and Mary (McKee) Reid, was born in
Independence township, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, August 20, 1865.
Born and reared on the homestead farm, he attended the public schools
of Independence township, in 1895 entering the University of Western
Pennsylvania (University of Pittsburgh), whence he was graduated in the
engineering department in 1899, with the degree C. E. His connection in
his profession has been with but one company, the Pittsburgh & Lake



I048 PENNSYLVANIA

Erie .-ailroad, with whom he became associated immediately after gradua-
tion, and by whom he has been since employed as civil engineer. When
one says that Mr. Reid is a master of his profession and that he has yet
to be awarded the commission to which his knowledge and scientific skill
does not extend, one has covered his professional career, for he has con-
tracted no outside relations and has given his entire time to the service
of the road of which he is an employee, using his wide and extensive
knowledge in safeguarding the lives of the thousands who travel over its
roadbed and in performing well his part as a member of the corps of
engineers of that road. Since 1899 he has been a resident of Beaver
Falls, and owns a tastefully designed, comfortable home at No. 411 Elev-
enth street.

He married, September i, 1887, Margaret, born in Raccoon township,
Beaver county, Pennsylvania, daughter of James and Mary Todd, both
deceased, her father a tanner and farmer (see Todd). Child of Samuel
and Margaret Reid: Mary, born May 30, 1888, married James O. Clark,
an employee of the Ohio Steel Company, and lives in Youngstown, Ohio.
(The Todd Line.)

The original spelling of this family name was Tod. Mrs. Reid's great
grandfather, James Tod, emigrated from Scotland, and soon after his
arrival located at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where for some time he fol-
lowed the business of carpenter and architect. As early as 1788 he came
to Beaver county and purchased 600 or more acres of land. He married
Kate Forbes, who bore him five sons and two daughters. James, the second
son, was born in Moon township in 1796, and married Mary, daughter of
William L. Littell, of Beaver county, and five children were born to this
union : William L. ; James, of whom further ; Elizabeth, married to George
Lawrence; John and Forbes — all now deceased.

James Todd, the second son of James and Mary (Littell) Todd, was
born on the old homestead, in Raccoon township, in 1828, and learned the
trade of tanner and currier, which he followed until 1871, when he pur-
chased 200 acres of land. He married, in 185 1, Mary, daughter of Amasa
and Eleanor (Van Kirk) Brown, and by this union were eleven children,
four sons and two daughters now living: Alice M., married Morton Ram-
sey, of Hookstown, Pennsylvania; Dr. James W., of Los Angeles, Cali-
fornia; Dr. Joseph L., of Canton, Ohio; Dr. John C, of Pittsburgh, Penn-
sylvania; Sharp W., of Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and Margaret, married to
Samuel Reid. Mary Ellen Todd died in 1878 ; Dr. Wilbert A., died in 1897 ;
Samuel Brown Todd died in 1908; and two other children died in infancy.
James Todd was elected county commissioner in 1887, for a term of three
years, by the Republican party, of which he was a life-long member. He and
his family were members of the United Presbyterian church.

Amasa Brown (referred to above) at the age of twenty-nine years,
being a skillful ship carpenter and boat builder, was engaged by Aaron Burr
as master builder, and came to Bridgewater, Beaver county, Pennsylvania,



BEAVER COUNTY 1049

where he superintended the building and launching of the fleet of boats
•with which Burr's company started down the Ohio on their expedition to
set up an independent state in the southwest. Amasa and Eleanor (V^an
Kirk) Brown had six children: John, Amasa Jr., Jesse, O. H. Perry;
Hannah, married to Alexander Richey ; Milton ; and Mary, married to James
Todd, all of whom married in Beaver county, and, except Jesse (who died
without issue), left children to survive them.



The Noss family, now of Beaver county, Pennsylvania, is of

NOSS German descent, and is one of the old-established families of

this county. At the time the immigrant ancestor came to this

country there were none of the swift greyhounds of the present day and

it took about three months, more or less, to cross the ocean.

(I) Jacob Noss, the immigrant ancestor, was bom in Wuerttemberg,
Germany, and came to America about 1753. He made his home at Harris
Ferry, Pennsylvania, and there his death occurred. His wife was a Harper,
of Harper's Ferry.

(H) Jacob (2), son of Jacob (i) Noss, who lived in Juniata county,
decided to move to the west with his family, making Illinois his objective
point. They set out on this journey, using an ox team as a means of pro-
gression, but being snowbound near Four Mile Square, Beaver county,
Pennsylvania, they were persuaded by the settlers there to spend the remain-
der of the winter at that location. The neighbors were helpful in reroofing
an empty cabin, in which Mr. Noss and his family spent the winter. By
the time spring arrived the family found their new surroundings so con-
genial that they determined to make their permanent home there. They
became the owners of two hundred acres of land, a part of which was
utilized for farming purposes. He married (first) a Miss Knox; (second)
a Miss Mary Copeland, mother of Jacob (3).

(HI) Jacob J., son of Jacob (2) Noss, was born in Juniata county,
Pennsylvania, and died in 1887. He was eight years of age in 1818, when
he came with his parents to Beaver county. He established a brick works,
being the first man to manufacture brick west of the Allegheny Mountains.
This business grew to large proportions for that time, and Mr. Noss was
connected with it until his death. He transported the brick down the
river on keel boats, built by himself, the motive power being horses and
oxen. He was a man of many-sided ability, and constructed the C. & P.
railroad from Rochester to Vanport, for the Coudersport & Port Allegheny
railroad. He made use of every opportunity. When he went to Pitts-
burgh with his loads of brick he would get stoves, nails, and a number of
other useful commodities for a return load, and then use his home as a
distributing point, for various sections of the country, even sending as
far as Wheeling, West Virginia. He was one of the most extensive land
owners in that region, and laid out the town of Vanport, Beaver county.
While he was active in the interests of the community and a consistent



I050 PENNSYLVANIA

supporter of the Republican county, he would never consent to hold public
office. He was also an active member of the Presbyterian church, and
held in high esteem in it. Mr. Noss married Anna Irwin, born in Beaver
county, Pennsylvania. Her grandfather, William Irwin, came to Beaver
county between 1790 and 1800, and was married to Sarah Boyd, a daughter
of John Boyd, of a family of Philadelphia. He became a large land
owner and a farmer in that section of the country. William Wallace Irwin,
his son, and the brother of Mrs. Noss, was the owner of Oak Grove Farm,