Thomas was the only one of the three who, in that agricultural region, chose
the farmer's life. George was made sheriff of the district, a very honorable
office, but eventually went abroad and was lost at sea, dying without issue.
Of the three, however, John Weilersbacher, the maternal grandfather of
our subject, led the most romantic and eventful life. He was a man of
property and substance, with much to bind him to his native place, but with
a strong taste for the adventurous. Standing six feet two inches in height
and of great personal strength, he was one of those who joined the army
of the great but unfortunate Emperor Napoleon for his ill fated campaign
in Russia in 1812. For the next four years he followed the fortunes of
that gigantic adventurer, which during that time were anything but fair,
was present at the seige of Moscow and took part in the disastrous retreat
therefrom. He endured every kind of hardship, especially then, but to some
extent thereafter until he finally left the army some time after the Battle
of Waterloo. That the hardships did not result in any permanent injury
to his health may be inferred from the fact that after the more strenuous
days of his youth, he settled down on his property in Bavaria and lived to
the good old age of ninety-six years. He was, like the rest of the Weilers-
bachers, a member of the Catholic Church. He was married to Margaret
Schmidt, who lived to the age of eighty-seven, and by whom he had four
children, as follows : Thomas, who came to the United States and settled
in Ironton, Ohio, where he died ; Peter, who died in his native land ; Kuni-
gunde, our subject's mother; and Margaret, who came to the United States
in 1858 and, settled in Baltimore, Maryland, married there Adam Dotzer,
of that place. To Mr. and Mrs. Caspar Weilersbacher were born three
children, all of them sons, as follows : Peter, who came to the United
States in the year 1872 and established a tailoring business and his home
on the south side of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania ; John, our subject ; and a
second John, who came to the United States in 1880 and settled in Pitts-
burgh, Pennsylvania, where he established himself as a tailor. He mar-
ried Antonia Mayclosak and they are now living at ion Braddish street,
Pittsburgh.
300 WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
John Weilersbacher, the second son of Caspar and Kunigunde (Weilers-
bacher) Weilersbacher, was born June i, 1854, in Chrisover Felder, village of
Pautzfeld, Bavaria, Germany, the home and birthplace of his forebears. He
passed his childhood there and attended the school in connection M^ith the
Catholic Church, in which, as was the universal custom at that time, he was
confirmed when fourteen years of age. He then went to the town of Bam-
berg and there learned the trade of cabinet maker, serving the usual three
years apprenticeship. His youthful ambitions, however, turned to a field
of larger opportunities than awaited him at home, and accordingly embarked,
on September 15, 1871, on the sailing vessel "Laura" for the United States.
He was seventy days on the ocean, but at length, on November 25, he landed
at the port of Baltimore and there made his home for two years, working
in the meantime at his trade of cabinet making in which he found employ-
ment. On July 9, 1873, he removed to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he
secured a position in the American Iron Works, working there for a year.
Going thence to Ironton, Ohio, he worked in the employ of John Kelly, at
first in the ore mines at Lucinda Furnace, and afterwards at the furnace
itself. His next move was to Cincinnati, where he remained for three
months, and then, in 1874, returned to Pittsburgh, and has there lived to
the present time. After his return he worked in a number of mills, four
years in the Singer and Nimick Steel Mill, four years in a window glass
factory as, what is technically known as, a teazer, then for a year and a
half in the same capacity in Chambers' Glass Factory. In 1882 he secured
the position of roadmaster and began work on the railroad known as the
Twelfth Street Incline. This work he kept up intermittently until 1886,
giving it up temporarily to run a hotel at 124 Twelfth street. In 1891 he
returned to this business, opening a new house at 80 Twelfth street, Pitts-
burgh, which he continued fourteen years until 1905. All this time Mr.
Weilersbacher's fortunes had been improving. The habits of industry and
frugality inculcated by his early training in the Fatherland, bore splendid
fruit among the easier conditions of the new world, and in 1905 he was
enabled to retire from active business with a handsome competency. Mr.
Weilersbacher's active nature would not admit of continuing altogether a
life of leisure, and, after three years, he bought out a bottling concern and
engaged in the manufacture of what is known as sun pop. In 191 1 he also
opened a wholesale liquor store at Nos. 82, 84 and 86 South Thirteenth
street, Pittsburgh, both of which enterprises he is continuing with a high
degree of success today. But Mr. Weilersbacher's activities and interests
are by no means confined to the conduct of his personal enterprises, on the
contrary, he has a wide range of associations, financial, social and charitable.
He is a director of the German Savings Deposit Bank, and of the Moose
Brewing Company. He is grand secretary of the Bayrischer Vuband of
Pennsylvania, treasurer of the Monroe Building and Loan Association, and
treasurer of St. Michael's Manna Confrence since 1891. He is first trus-
tee of the Birmingham Turner Society, a member of the Order of St.
WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA 301
George, and of the C. M. B. A., Branch 49. Mr. Weilersbacher is a Re-
publican in politics and vitally interested in the questions of the day. He
has twice made trips to revisit his old home in Bavaria and renew the asso-
ciations of his youth. These trips occurred in 1892 and 1905 respectively
and were greatly enjoyed by him. Mr. Weilersbacher is a member of the
Catholic Church, as has been his family for many generations. He attends
St. Michael's Church of that denomination in Pittsburgh and is prominent
in the life of the church.
Mr. Weilersbacher was married, July 10, 1877, to Sophia Bonert, a
daughter of Gabriel and Breginda Bonert, of Baden, Germany, where she
was born. She came over as a young girl with relatives to America. Mr.
and Mrs. Weilersbacher are now living at No. 97 South Thirteenth street,
Pittsburgh. To them have been born eight children, as follows : Henry J.,
born May i, 1878, married Abbie Aldridge, is now a civil engineer in Pitts-
burgh; Mary, born April 16, 1880, is now Mrs. Ferdinand Stark, who since
the death of her husband, lives with her parents; John, born June 2, 1882,
died at the age of six and a half years; Elizabeth, born January 12, 1885,
married Henry Allerman, a glassworker of Utica, Ohio ; Albert Peter, bom
December 15, 1887, now engaged in business with his father; Rosa, born
April 27, 1892, now Mrs. James J. Fleming, of Youngstown, Ohio; Louis,
born December 2, 1897; Clara Anna, born August 12, 1899; the two latter
live at home with their parents.
Wilson is a familiar name in western Pennsylvania, its record
WILSON a proud one, many of those bearing the name having been
closely connected with the business life of the city of Pitts-
burgh. The first of this line is Stephen Wilson, born in 1779, died February
26, 1823, who married Mary Culbertson, born in 1786, died December 13,
1840. One of their sons was Alexander, of whom further.
(H) Alexander Wilson, son of Stephen and Mary (Culbertson) Wilson,
was born in Pittsburgh, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, July 7, 1807, died
June 14, 1862. He grew to manhood in Pittsburgh, there obtaining his edu-
cation, and soon after starting in business life became the proprietor of a
large produce business, which he managed skilfully and well, prospering
in a marked degree. He was also the owner of a grain elevator, buying
and shipping great quantities of grain, and becoming one of the most
influential men in the lines in which he engaged in the city. Pressure of
afifairs and the requirements of temporal matters neither blinded him to
his spiritual and religious duties nor caused him to neglect them. The
Presbyterian Church had no more devoted servant than he, none gave more
liberally of his means nor more unselfishly of his services. In the church
organization he was an elder, while for a long time he was superintendent
of the Sabbath School, discharging his double duties in a faithful, steadfast
manner that was a source of inspiration to his co-workers in the church,
and which lent strength to its endeavors. He married, June 11, 1828, Agnes
302 WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
Herron, who died November 21, 1832, and Mr. Wilson married a second
time. Children of his first marriage: i. Mary Elizabeth, born March 15,
1829, married Dr Todd, and resided in Ohio. 2. William H., of whom
further. Children of his second marriage : 3. Robert, drowned during
the Civil War, being on a United States vessel that was sunk, several on
board losing their lives. 4. Stephen, lived at Canton, Ohio. 5. Anna, mar-
ried Isaac Corson, and resided in Edgewood, Pennsylvania. 6. Virginia,
married Simpson H. Daft, both deceased ; they lived in Crafton, Pennsyl-
vania. 7. Caroline, died in infancy.
(Ill) William H. Wilson, son of Alexander and Agnes (Herron) Wil-
son, was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, August 23, 1831, died May 4,
1897. After completing his general studies he completed his education by a
course in Duff's Commercial College, and after leaving that institution was
for a time employed as a bookkeeper, serving the Union National Bank,
of Pittsburgh, in that capacity. In 1871 he was one of the organizers of
the West End Savings and Trust Bank, commonly known as the West End
Bank, and was connected with that institution until his death His official
position was that of cashier and he was also acting president. His relation
with this bank was productive of the highest good for that institution, for
towards placing it in the most lofty plane in banking circles and acquiring
for it a reputation for soundness, permanence and conservativeness he gave
the best of his services. Those who are acquainted with the history of the
bank unhesitatingly place at his door praises for the part he played in its
sure, firm, founding, and credit for its present strong condition. Like his
father, Mr. Wilson was prominent and active in the work of the Presby-
terian Church, being an organizer, charter member, and trustee, of the
Hawthorn Avenue Church of that denomination at Idlewood. Politically he
was a Republican. In 1886 Mr. Wilson bought and remodeled a house at
No. 19 North Emily avenue, Crafton, Pennsylvania, and there his widow
resides to the present time.
He married, July 16, 1884, Mary O., born in Franklin, Venango county,
Pennsylvania, daughter of Josiah and Ann Eliza (Daft) Adams, her father
born in Utica, Pennsylvania, in 1807, died in October, 1889, her mother born
in 181 5, died in 1899. Josiah was a son of James and Rachel Adams, of
Scotch-Irish descent, both members of the Presbyterian Church, both born
near Utica, Venango county, Pennsylvania. James Adams was a farmer,
and was known throughout the locality in which he lived as a pious, godly
man, scrupulous in the performance of every church duty. Eliza was a
daughter of Thomas and Mary (Johnson) Daft, her father a native of
England, coming to the United States when a young man, landing in New
Orleans. He was a descendant of a very wealthy family and had inherited
a fortune in his own right, and had never performed labor of any kind.
Proceeding northward to Pittsburgh, he took up his residence on Stevenson
street, investing in a great deal of property in that place. Two of his sisters
lived in Newark, New Jersey, and there died unmarried, one, Aleva, in
WESTERN PKXXSYLVANIA 303
1879, aged one hundred and four years, she and her sister having been close
friends of the family of ex-President Roosevelt Josiah Adams was an oil
producer and operator all of his life, his entire years spent in Utica and
Franklin, Pennsylvania. His dealings were in the main successful, but later
in life he met a succession of financial reverses that completely destroyed
his fortune. He and his wife were members of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, both regular attendants at its services. Children of Josiah and
Ann Eliza (Daft) Adams: i. Thomas D., married Ann Breckenridge, of
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and lives retired in Hydetown, Pennsylvania. 2.
Albert B., married Anna Boyer, deceased, and lives in Cleveland, Ohio,
a government inspector. 3. Mary O., of previous mention, married William
H. Wilson. 4. Rachel Elizabeth, died aged eighteen years.
Children of William H. and Mary O (Adams) Wilson: i. William
Herron, Jr., born June 19, 1886, a law student in Harvard University. 2.
John Alexander, born March 16, 1890, a graduate of Washington and Jef-
ferson College, class of 1910, later a student in Duff's Commercial College,
Pittsburgh, now an employee of the American Bridge Company. 3. Anne
Daft, born August 2}^, 1893, lives at home.
Patrick Hamniill is a native of county Armagh, Ireland,
HAMMILL which, with the surrounding region has been the home and
birthplace of his family for many generations. Indeed it
seems probable that the Hammills or O'Hammills, as the name was origin-
ally written, were an offshoot from the O'Neils, who for five hundred years
supplied the ancient kingdom of Ireland with its High Monarchs, who oc-
cupied with relation to the kings and princes of the country much the same
position which the legendary Arthur did to those of Britain. County
Armagh, itself, is a lovely region in the southeastern part of the Province
of Ulster and its very name seems to hint of its great past, now, alas, well
nigh forgotten. In the northern part of the county lies the city of Armagh,
once the educational and literary center of Ireland and, indeed, of Europe,
and the seat of one of the great mediaeval universities, which, between
the sixth and twelfth centuries, is said to have numbered at times as high as
nine thousand students. Fifteen miles away, forming the northern boundary
of the county, lies Lough Neag, the largest landlocked body of water in
the British Isles, and one of the most beautiful of lakes. In this country,
whose historic, romantic and picturesque interest it would be hard to surpass,
Mr. Hammill's forebears made their home, and here in the latter half of
the eighteenth century was living one Patrick Hammill, the grandfather
and namesake of our subject, a picturesque, old world figure in the knee-
breeches which he continued to wear to the end of his long life of one
hundred and one years, and his six feet of height and great physical strength.
He was born in county Tyrone, but met and married a Miss Cullen, of
county Armagh, and after the wedding removed there and occupied land
that had been owned by an uncle of Mrs. Hammill, Charles Casey. Mrs.
304 WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
Hammill nearly equalled her husband in the length of her life, dying at
the venerable age of one hundred years. To them were born five children,
as follows : Charles, who lived and died in county Armagh ; James, who
also passed his whole life in his native land; Francis, who went to live in
England; Mary, who lived and died in Ireland; and Henry, the father of
our subject. The Hammills, at the time of the birth of Henry Hammill,
were living on and cultivating a number of small farms in the vicinity of
the city of Armagh, and it was here that his birth occurred in the year
1794. The men of the Hammill family were, as a general rule, large,
and to this Henry was an exception, but what he lacked in stature he made
up in cleverness and wit, which he was fortunate enough to be able to
develop by an vmusually good education for that day and place. He was
married in Ireland to Esther Donnelly, a native of county Armagh, where
she was born in the year 1798. She was the daughter of Thomas and Mary
Donnelly, of the same county, where her father died at the age of forty-five
years of a fever. After Mr. Donnelly's death, his widow, with one of her
sons, emigrated to the United States and settled at Freeport, Pennsylvania,
where she was joined by her entire family of children, and where she finally
died at the age of one hundred and one years. Mr. and Mrs. Donnelly's
children were : Thomas, John and James, who became the owners of salt
works on the Allegheny river, Pennsylvania, near Freeport, as well as other
property in the shape of farms ; Nancy, who married John Dunlap, a stone
contractor of Freeport ; Alice, who married John Hayburn, a blacksmith
living near Freeport; Elizabeth, who became Mrs. A. Barrett, of Freeport,
Pennsylvania; and Esther, the mother of our subject. After their marriage
Mr. and Mrs. Hammill continued to live in Ireland for a number of years,
and until their seven children were born, but eventually Mr. Hammill sold
his farm, and with his entire family, embarked by sailing vessel for the
United States. The date of his journey was 1850, and the voyage oc-
cupied a period of thirty-one days before the sea-weary immigrants had a
glimpse of the new land of promise. Upon their arrival, Mr. Hammill and
his family went to Freeport, Pennsylvania, where Mrs. Hammill's relatives
were already established, but only remained there temporarily, eventually
locating in Allegheny county near Tarentum, where all the boys found em-
ployment in the extensive salt works. In 1859 Mr. Hammill moved his
family farther west to Carroll county, Ohio, where he bought and operated
a farm of one hundred and twenty acres, and where he spent the remainder
of his life. His death, which occurred when he was seventy-six years of
age, came about as a result of an accident. He had made a trip to Pitts-
burgh, Pennsylvania, for the purpose of marketing some hogs and other
produce, just before Christmas, and had taken the opportunity to spend
the night with a married daughter. Rising in the night, he missed his footing
and fell down stairs, dying nine days later from the efifects. To him and
Mrs. Hammill were born seven children, as follows : John, deceased, a
farmer in Wisconsin, near the town of Appleton in that state; Patrick, our
WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA 305
subject; Frank, who lives retired with his brother Patrick; Mary, deceased,
was the wife of Barnard Moore, a contractor of Mount Washington, Pitts-
burgh; Sarah, now Mrs. Patrick Kelly, of Carnegie, Pennsylvania; Ann,
deceased, was Mrs. David Collins, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania ; and Alice,
deceased, was a sister of mercy, and known as Sister Clovis.
Patrick Hammill, the second child of Henry and Esther ( Donnelly j
Hammill, was born on a Good Friday, April 5, 1833, about two miles from
the city of Armagh, Ireland. He obtained his education at the national
schools in the vicinity, and when not so occupied worked on his father's
farm. This continued up to his eighteenth year, when, with his entire
family, he was an immigrant to the United States. Upon their settling in
the State of Pennsylvania, near Tarentum, Allegheny county, the youth se-
cured work in a salt furnace there, continuing in this employment for one
year. His next work was in the coal mines at Banksville, Pennsylvania,
where he remained three years, and then went to the Pan Handle Mines,
belonging to the Fort Pitt Coal Company. These mines are located two
miles from the present site of Carnegie, Pennsylvania, and here Mr. Ham-
mill remained a long period, becoming eventually the superintendent of the
mines, a position which he held for six years. In the year 1881 Mr. Ham-
mill decided to enter business for himself and, accordingly, moved to Car-
negie, then known as Mansfield, Pennsylvania, and built for himself a
store and residence at No. 310 Third avenue. Here he opened a grocery
business which he has conducted most successfully ever since. Mr. Ham-
mill is a conspicuous figure in Carnegie, in the matter of stature, he takes
after his father rather than the Hammills generally, being rather under
the average height, but his level eye, his well formed head and strong
mouth, denote common sense and an uncommon sagacity and will. Nor do
his looks belie him, for Mr. Hammill has been a force in his community.
He is a Democrat in politics, but has never sought office or distinction of
any kind in connection with public affairs. On the other hand, he plays
an active part in the work of the Roman Catholic Church, of which he is a
staunch member, as his forebears on both sides of the house have always
been. He is the sole survivor of the six men who founded and organized St.
Luke's Church, Carnegie, and here he still attends worship and is a member
of the Holy Name Society connected with it.
Mr. Hammill was married, October 2, 1862, to Catherine Rogers, a
native of Columbiana county, Ohio, where she was born in the year 1841.
She was a daughter of Joseph Rogers, a farmer of Columbiana county,
but a native of Donegal, Ireland. Mrs. Hammill was, like her husband.
a member of the Catholic Church, and in that faith all their children have
been reared. Mrs. Hammill's death occurred in September, 1913. To
Mr. and Mrs. Hammill were born seven children, as follows : Jane, un-
married and lives with her father; Ann, now Mrs. Thomas Connelly, of
Carnegie, Pennsylvania ; Joseph, who is now a real estate man in Car-
negie, married Miss Ellen Newell ; Catherine, deceased, married John
3o6 WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
Flarety, of Indiana; Patrick, a resident of Economy, Pennsylvania, where
he is employed in the rolling mill, married Bridget Bault; Chloe, who is
unmarried and lives at home with her father; Bridget Esther, deceased,
who married Robert Boyce.
John and Mary (Cavenaugh) Friar were residents of Roscom-
FRIAR mon, Ireland, where they owned a small farm. In middle hfe
they moved to a farm two and a half miles from Glasgow, Scot-
land, where John Friar died of cholera, his widow living to a good old
age. Their children : Thomas Patrick, of whom further ; a son, died in
Ireland; James, now deceased, came to the United States, a coal miner of
Carnegie, died in Wharton, Texas, unmarried ; Catherine, died in Scotland.
Thomas Patrick Friar was born in Roscommon, Ireland, in February,
1845, died in Carnegie, Pennsylvania, November 27, 1893, son of John and
Mary Friar. He lived in Ireland until nine years of age, then, with his
mother, brothers and sisters went to Scotland to join the husband and
father, who had prepared a home for them in Duncannon, near Glasgow.
The sudden death of the father left the boy to his own resources at an
early age, and he soon was employed in the mines nearby. He became
a skillful miner, married in Scotland, and soon afterward brought his bride
to the United States, locating in Western Pennsylvania, where for a few
months he worked in the coal mines along the Monongahela river. He
next made his home at Brady's Bend, Pennsylvania, working there for
Richard Jennings in his coal mines. In 1869 he moved to Mansfield Valley
(Carnegie), where he was employed for several years as a miner by the
Bell and also the Reno interests. Industrious and saving, he had acquired
some capital, and abandoning the mines, he engaged in general contracting
in Carnegie. He was successful in that business and continued therein
until his death. He was a member of St. Luke's Roman Catholic Church,
a strong Democrat, a member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, a worker
in church, lodge and party. He was an active energetic man, well liked
and respected. Thomas Patrick Friar was married, January 14, 1865, at
Duncannon, Scotland, by Rev. Father Shaw, to Margaret A. McCusker,
born in county Derry, Ireland, October 31, 1845, daughter of Patrick Mc-
Cusker, mentioned below. Children : Mary, died aged seven years ; a
son, died at birth ; Margaret, died aged four years ; Kate, died aged nine-
teen years in 1891 ; Mary, died aged eighteen months; Elizabeth, died aged
two years and two months; John, died aged two years; James, died at
birth; Mary, died at birth; Anna, residing at Carnegie with her mother;
Mary, also residing at home.
Patrick McCusker was the son of Matthew McCusker, a prosperous
farmer of "Derry," owning 350 acres of land. Matthew McCusker's wife,
Mary McKenna, was born in county Armagh, and came of a large and
well educated family, farmers for many generations, several members of
the family having been priests of the Roman Catholic Church. Children of
WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA 307