| You are here: Cambria > Books > History of Cambria County, V.3 |
| History of Cambria County, V.3 |
| 656 | HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY. | |
|
after a brief sojourn in Johnstown. He was a man of education and refinement and served with the rank of lieutenant in the war of 1812, participating in the campaign in and about Baltimore. Hugh Sinclair West married Axie Wright, also a native of Baltimore, and a member of an old Virginia family, and their children were: Thomas, succeeded his father in the pottery business and died in Clarion; Hugh Sinclair, lost at Pittsburg while his father was en route to Clarion; and Matilda, born in Baltimore, 1808, wife of Andrew Wilson. Mrs. West died in 1811 in Baltimore, and Mr. West survived to the advanced age of eighty-seven, his death occurring at Clarion, he having been a resident of western Pennsylvania since 1823. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson became the parents of the following children: Josephus, of Newcastle, Pennsylvania, served during Civil war in Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, Army of the Potomac, married Margaret Etcheson; Smiley, of whom later; Constantine, married Lillie McGarry, and died in Johnstown; Henry, served during Civil war in Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry and died in 1865 at Harper's Ferry; and Henrietta, wife of Robert Phillips, of Johnstown. Mr. Wilson died in 1867, at the age of sixty-seven, and the death of the mother of the family occurred in Johnstown in 1893. Both are buried in Grand View cemetery. Smiley Wilson, son of Andrew and Matilda (West) Wilson, spent the first six years of his life at Brady's Bend, and then lived for five years at Clarion, in the family of his uncle, Thomas West, who sent him to school. He returned to his parents in 1857, who were then living at Johnstown, and for six months attended school in that city. At the end of that time he began his business career as water boy in the works of the Cambria Iron Company, and later was employed in the nail mill, remaining until he exchanged the life of a citizen for that of a soldier. He enlisted August, 1862, for nine months in Company A, One Hundred and Thirty-third Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry; Captain Downey and Colonel Speakman commanding, and served under Generals Porter, Burnside and Hooker, in the Fifth Army Corps, Army of the Potomac. He was present at the battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, the latter engagement being opened May 5, 1863, by the Fifth Army Corps. His term of service expired May 5, and he was mustered out and discharged at Harrisburg. He returned home and the same year went to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where he was employed in an iron mill until 1871, when he went to St. Louis, there finding employment in the Vulcan Iron Works. In less than a year, however, he turned his face eastward, and for twelve months worked in the Thirty-third street Carnegie mill, Pittsburg. At the end of that time he returned to Johnstown, where he has since been employed in the Bessemer Steel Works, having filled his present position for twenty years. His political affiliations are with the Republicans. He is a member of no church, but inclines to the doctrines of the Methodist Episcopal denomination. Mr. Smiley married, in 1868, in Bethlehem, Charlesanna, daughter of James and Sarah (Mahard) Beggs, of that place, and they have three daughters: Blanche, wife of Elmer Shafer, of Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania; Leonora, who lives in Johnstown; and Stella, who resides with her sister in Wilkinsburg. JOSEPH ALLEN, who has been for the last seven years successfully engaged in business in Johnstown, was born March 19, 1869, in Athens, Greece, son of James Allen, a clothing and silk merchant of |
||
![]() |
Title Page | Contents | Image | ![]() |