HON. A. D. GLENN
John Glenn, the progenitor of the Glenn family in Armstrong county and the
great- grandfather of A. D. Glenn, came from Ireland when eighteen years of
age, and settled in Center county, Pennsylvania. He married Mary Borland by
whom he had two daughters, Ann and Mary, and four sons, Robert, John, James
and Joseph. The latter, of whose family we shall here give a brief history,
was born February 10, 1787, and was married, date unknown, to Mary Thompson,
who was born the same day as himself. The fruits of this union were three
children, Archy, William Turner and Mary Ann. In 1818 he moved to Indiana
county where he remained for three years, after which he located near Mahoning
creek in Wayne township, Armstrong county, about two miles from Dayton. On
this farm to which he came while the region was almost a wilderness, he lived
until his death in April, 1852, seeing the country cleared up, the game
destroyed and villages spring up all around him. He was a strongly religious
man, a member of the Methodist church, and particularly zealous in
Sunday-school work, superintending at different times many schools at quite a
distance from home, one of them being on Pine creek, twelve miles away. His
family were all of the same religious faith as himself. After his death his
wife lived with her children until her own demise in 1866. Of the three
children, Archy, the father of A. D. Glenn, was married January 28, 1828, to
Miss Susannah B., daughter of Abraham and Elizabeth Coursin, who lived near
Curlsville, Clarion county. William Turner was married to his cousin, Mary
Jane Thompson, in 1849, and died in the army in eastern Virginia in 1864. His
widow and family still reside in Milton, this county. Mary Ann was married in
1856 to Isaac Hopkins, who died in December, 1862. She and her family now live
at West Decatur, Clearfield county, Pennsylvania. Archy Glenn first settled at
Rockport in Clarion county, but subsequently lived at various places in
Armstrong county, among them Milton, Eddyville and Putneyville, where he now
resides. He was elected to the office of county commissioner in 1849, and
served efficiently and acceptably to the people for three years. This is the
only public office of consequence he ever held except that of jury
commissioner to which he was elected in 187 , and from which he resigned
before the expiration of the term because his private business conflicted with
its duties. He has held various township offices and has been justice of the
peace for about fifteen years. While Mr. and Mrs. Glenn were living at Camp
Run about three miles from Dayton, their son A. D. was born, January 30, 1842.
He attended the public school at Milton, the Dayton Union Academy and the Iron
City College. He engaged in teaching when between fifteen and sixteen years of
age, taking a place in Milton which the directors had left vacant.
Subsequently he taught in Red Bank and Brady’s Bend townships in this county,
West Mahoning in Indiana county and Robinson township in Allegheny county. In
the latter he taught four consecutive terms of seven months each. When he
ceased teaching he was principal of the Woods Run school in Allegheny City. In
1861 he and all of his brothers living, namely, Abraham R., Elijah, C. T.,
James A. and William T., went into the Union army. The first two named and our
subject went into Co. B, 78th regt, Pa. Vol. Inf; James A. into Co. I, 62d
regt., and William T. into the 48th regt. By the spring of 1862, the
vicissitudes of war had so separated the family that no two of them were
within a hundred miles of each other. On account of continued sickness, A. D.
Glenn was discharged from duty, February 16, 1863. William T. was also
discharged the same spring for the same cause, but re-enlisted in the spring
of 1864 in Co. M, 2d Pa. Cav., and on account of inflammatory rheumatism was
unable to get home until six months after the close of the war.. Subsequently,
he enlisted in Co. L, 2d U. S. Cav., and spent several years in the Rocky
Mountain region. He returned much broken down, and died at Eddyville in April,
1875. The other brothers passed through three years’ service, James A. being
badly wounded in the battle of the Wilderness. A brother-in-law and two uncles
were also in the service. Returning to Mr. A. D. Glenn’s civil life we find
that when he ceased teaching he traveled as the representative of Wilson,
Hinkle & Co. (now Van Antwerp, Bragg & Co.), of Cincinnati, one of the
largest schoolbook publishing houses in the United States. He remained with
this house from April, 1868, to July 1, 1870, having his headquarters
successively at Pittsburgh, Crestline (Ohio), Cleveland and Meadville. After
quitting the agency he was engaged with his father in the mercantile business
at Eddyville. In 1872 he was elected over six competitors to the office of
county superintendent of public schools, to which he was re-elected with
comparatively little opposition in 1875 and in 1878, serving nine years — the
longest continuous term served by any incumbent since the establishment of the
office. At his first re-election the salary was increased from $1,000 to
$1,200 per annum. Mr. Glenn’s services were very valuable in the way of
elevating the standard of public instruction, and were generally so
recognized, a fact which was attested by the offer of a fourth election,
which, however, he declined. He was editor of the Kittanning Union Free Press
from June, 1879, to April, 1881, and ably conducted that well known journal.
He served as D.D.G.M. of the I.O.O.F, in Armstrong county for two terms and
was urged by several lodges to longer continue in that capacity. He was
nominated without opposition by the republicans of Armstrong county for the
assembly in 1882, and was elected to the legislature by a majority of 180
votes, while his colleague on the ticket for the same office had a much
smaller majority. The career of Mr. Glenn which has carried him to the halls
of legislation now, when he has but scarcely reached the prime of his manhood,
will doubtless be fruitful of greater successes in the future. At least the
beginning augurs well for his filling a broad field of usefulness and
attaining the eminence that his intellectual and moral merits entitle him to.
Whatever he has thus far attained is traceable to his good character and to
his own exertions. Enjoying only limited advantages in his boyhood he
obtained, however, a thorough education, and has made his way in the world by
close application and energetic, manly endeavor. The family of Archy and
Susannah (Coursin) Glenn consisted of six sons and one daughter, A. D. being
next to the youngest. Their names in order of birth are as follows: John
Coursin, Abraham R., Elijah C. T., James Alexander, Mary Jane, Archy D. and
William Turner. John C. died unmarried in Illinois in 1855. Abraham R. married
Sarah E. McCurdy in 1853, and now lives in Smicksburg, Indiana county. Elijah
married Louisa Allen in 1858. He died in February, 1871, and his widow and
family now live in Dayton. James A. was married to Mary Broombaugh in 1875,
and now lives in Eddyville. Mary J. was married in 1857 to John S. Oyler, and
now lives near Murrysville, Westmoreland county.Source: Page(s) 602-603, History of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania by Robert Walker Smith, Esq. Chicago: Waterman, Watkins & Co., 1883.
Transcribed July 2000 by James R. Hindman for the Armstrong County Smith Project.
Contributed by James R. Hindman for use by the Armstrong County Genealogy Project (http://www.pa-roots.com/armstrong/)Armstrong County Genealogy Project Notice:
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