Biographies from Historical and Biographical Annals by Morton Montgomery

McHOSE,
ISAAC

p. 1316

Surnames: McHOSE, LOHRBACH, BLAINE, BOYER, WIEDER

Isaac McHose, a well-known citizen and retired business man of
Reading, Pa., residing at Fifth and Walnut streets, who was for
many years a generous supporter of public institutions and the
prime mover in various business enterprises, has been a resident of
this city since 1852. Mr. McHose was born Dec. 6, 1822 in Hanover,
Lehigh county, son of Isaac and Elizabeth (Lohrbach) McHose and
grandson of Isaac McHose, the latter a native of Scotland who came
to America at an early date and settled in Northampton county, Pa.
Isaac McHose, father of Isaac of Reading, was a contractor and
builder in Northampton county for many years, and was a lieutenant
in the war of 1812. In later years he removed to Rittersville,
Lehigh county, and there died in the faith of the Reformed Church.
Politically he was a Democrat. Mr. McHose was married to Elizabeth
Lohrbach, a native of Northampton county, and to them were born ten
children, of whom Isaac is the only one now living.

Isaac McHose attended the subscription schools
of his native locality, and with his father learned the trade of
brick-layer, and when seventeen years old helped to build the first
anthracite furnace at Catasauqua in 1839. Working with his father
at different places he soon learned how to build furnaces and made
this his business. For thirty years he was engaged in building
blast furnaces in Reading, Robesonia, Topton, Millerstown, Temple
and other places in Eastern Pennsylvania, putting the furnaces into
successful blast before turning them over to their owners, and
finally became interested himself in the manufacture of iron. In
company with Mr. Clymer he carried on an extensive iron business at
Temple Furnace, which Mr. McHose built, known as the McHose, Clymer
& Co., for eight years.

Mr. McHose developed the Reading Fire Brick
works from a struggling plant to a flourishing business, and for a
number of years was president of the Keystone National Bank. He was
a member of the select council, the Reading school board and the
water board. He was one of the three citizens who secured the site
now occupied by the Reading Hospital and was one of the organizers
of this institution, as well as of the Homeopathic Hospital, of
which he was the first president. He helped to secure the location
of the Reading silk mill here, was one of the organizers of the
Reading Steam Heat Co. and was its first president and subsequently
became its superintendent, was the first president of the Reading
Library Co., and with two other citizens bought the Odd Fellows’
Hall, Fifth and Franklin streets, in which to locate the library.
He helped to organize the Y. M. C. A; and was its first president.
As president of the Board of Trade and through his friendship with
President Roberts of the Pennsylvania Railroad, he was instrumental
in securing the erection of the substantial iron bridge spanning
the railroad and the river at the foot of Penn street. It was his
suggestion that the city, the county and the railroad company each
pay one-third of the cost of the structure. He continued in the
iron business until 1890 when he retired.

On Aug. 16, 1862, Mr. McHose was made a member
of Lodge No. 62, F. & A. M., and he is now connected with
Reading Commandery, Excelsior Chapter, and Rajah Temple, A. A. O.
N. M. S. Formerly he was a member of the I. O. O. F. He was one of
the presidential electors when James G. Blaine was a candidate for
the presidency in 1885, was at one time the Republican candidate
for the nomination for State Treasurer and about twenty years ago
was the party’s nominee for Congress. He has long been a member of
St. Paul’s Reformed Church, served in its consistory and presented
to the congregation the fine pipe organ which cost $5,500. He was
for many years a trustee of Bethany Orphans’ Home of Womelsdorf.
Mr. McHose is looking well for a man of his age, is in excellent
health and spirits and is thoroughly enjoying life. He has always
taken good care of himself and observed regular hours, to which he
attributes his general good health.

Mr. McHose was married to Letitia Wieder, a
native of Emaus, and to them have been born four children: Susan,
m. to Jerome L. Boyer; Ambrose, of Philadelphia; Wilson, engaged in
the manufacture of fire brick in Reading; and Isaac, a clerk in the
offices of the Philadelphia & Reading Railway Company.

McKITTRICK, ROBERT

p. 525

Surnames: McKITTRICK, TAGGERT, DAVIDSON, HARRISON, STERNBERGH,
WALKER

Robert McKittrick, a well-known resident of Reading, who is
employed by the American Steel & Iron Manufacturing Company, of
the city, was born March 4, 1847, in Cumberland, England, son of
Robert and Mary (Taggert) McKittrick.

Robert McKittrick, the elder, was also a native
of Cumberland, England, and received his education in the common
schools there, being later employed around blast furnaces. He
became what is known as a furnaceman, and was an expert iron maker,
following this occupation for many years. He had been previously
employed in a chemical works, but gave this up for the iron works.
Mr. McKittrick died in 1890, aged eighty-one years, as a result of
injuries received in an accident. He and his wife were
Presbyterians in religious belief. They were the parents of six
children: James; Agnes; Sarah, who lives in South Africa, the wife
of William Davidson; Elizabeth, also of South Africa, the wife of
Thomas Harrison; Robert; and Henry, of South Africa.

Robert McKittrick, the younger, was educated in
the schools of his native Cumberland, and as a boy learned the
molder’s trade which he followed for four years, and later acquired
a thorough knowledge of the machinist’s trade, being employed for
eighteen years as superintendent of the blast furnaces at Cleater
Moor. In June 1889, Mr. McKittrick came to America, locating at
Talladega, Ala., for about two years, and then located in
Pennsylvania, accepting a position at Sheridan as foreman of the
Sheridan furnace. He remained there for two years and nine months,
and then coming to Reading, he entered the scale works, where he
was employed until he entered the employ of J. H. Sternbergh, now
the American Steel & Iron Manufacturing Company.

In 1873 Mr. McKittrick was married to Anna
Walker, a native of Cumberland, England, and to this union have
been born children as follows: Ada, Margaret Ann, Agnes (deceased),
Aaron Edward, Robert, Marie, William H. and Harry. Mr. and Mrs.
McKittrick are both members of the Episcopal church. In his native
country Mr. McKittrick was a member of Sterling Lodge, F. & A.
M.

McKNIGHT, MILTON
BRAYTON

p. 367

Surnames: McKNIGHT, GEISE, HIESTER, HOLMES, MORRISON, SCHAEFFER

Milton Brayton McKnight, son of David McKnight and Elizabeth
Hiester, his wife, was born in Reading, Sept. 30, 1855.

Paul McKnight, his great-grandfather, of
Scottish ancestry, came to America in 1752, from the North of
Ireland, and settled in Chester county.

Paul’s son, John McKnight (born May 31,
1774-died March 9, 1855), came to Reading in 1808. and conducted a
Branch of the Bank of Pennsylvania of Philadelphia, which Branch
Bank was afterward incorporated as the National Union Bank of
Reading.

David McKnight (born May 2, 1814-died Aug. 29,
1873), a son of John McKnight, assisted and succeeded his father in
conducting the Reading Branch of the Bank of Pennsylvania, and upon
the incorporation of the Union Bank of Reading (afterward the
National Union Bank) became its first president, and held this
office until his death.

On his mother’s side, Elizabeth Beck Hiester
(born May 5, 1817-died Oct. 11, 1897) was a daughter of Joseph
Hiester of Reading (born Aug. 4, 1768–died April 16, 1830), and a
granddaughter of Joseph Hiester (1710-1772), who came to America
from Westphalia, Germany, in 1737.

M. Brayton McKnight attended the local public
schools, graduating from the Reading high school in 1872, and
entered Amherst College the same year, from which college he was
graduated in 1876. He then read law in the office of his
brother-in-law, Charles H. Schaeffer, Esq., of Reading, and was
admitted to the Bar of Berks county in 1878. Going to Colorado in
the fall of 1879, he was admitted to the Bar of that State and took
a clerical position in the office of Hon. Robert S. Morrison, a
prominent attorney of Georgetown, Colo. Returning to Reading the
following year, he resumed the practice of law.

In 1881 he assisted in the incorporation of the
Mt. Penn Stove Works, a company just forming for the manufacture of
cooking and heating appliances, and being elected secretary and
treasurer of the new corporation, he relinquished his law practice
and devoted his whole time to manufacturing. He retained the office
of secretary and treasurer of the Mt. Penn Stove works for
twenty-five years, and in 1907 he was elected president of the
company, which office he now holds. During this time this company
has grown to be one of the prominent manufacturing and business
enterprises of Reading.

Mr. McKnight was married in 1880 to Ida May
Geise, who died in 1882, without any children. On March 31, 1898 he
married Wilhelmina Hamilton Holmes (daughter of Robert Holmes, of
Reading), who died on Nov. 3, 1901, leaving two daughters, Helen,
born June 16, 1899, and Katharine, born May 23, 1901.

Mr. McKnight is identified with various business
enterprises of Reading, is on the board of directors of the Mt.
Penn Gravity Railroad, the Reading & Temple Railway, the
Reading Hospital, the Charles Evans Cemetery Company and the
Reading Sanitarium for the Treatment of Tuberculosis, and is a
member of the Berks County Historical Society, the
Pennsylvania-German Society and the Pennsylvania Forestry
Association.

McKNIGHT, WILLIAM S.

p.
1717

Surnames: McKNIGHT, SEAMAN, HEISER, SCHAEFFER, MOYER,

William S. McKnight, whose death occurred at his home, No. 528
Spruce street, Reading, Aug. 17, 1907, had been a resident of that
city all of his life, and was one of its well-known and highly
esteemed citizens. Mr. McKnight was born Oct. 29, 1848, in Reading.

After securing a good public school education
Mr. McKnight entered the Eastman Business College, at Poughkeepsie,
N.Y., from which he was graduated, and he then engaged in the
grocery business with his brother, John McKnight, at the northwest
corner of Fourth and Penn streets, Reading, for several years. For
many years thereafter he was employed by the Harbsters as
bookkeeper, and filled a like position for other well-known firms
in Reading, until 1903, when failing health caused his retirement.

Mr. McKnight was buried at Charles Evans
cemetery, with the service of the Episcopal Church, in which he had
been baptized. He was an active member of St. John’s Lodge. No.
435, F. & A.M. and also belonged to Neversink Fire Company and
to Camp No. 89, P.O. S. of A.

On Sept. 9, 1887, Mr. McKnight was married to
Lydia A. Seaman, daughter of Lewis and Mary (Heiser) Seaman, and
granddaughter of Lewis Seaman, the latter of whom had these
children: Catherine, Moses, Elias, Lewis, Ann and John. Lewis
Seaman, Mrs. McKnight’s father, was a blacksmith of Leesport and
later of Bernville. He had the following children: William, who is
single; Lydia A., who became Mrs. McKnight; Alice, who married
Charles Schaeffer; Kate, who married Charles Moyer; and Charles,
who is single. All of this family reside at Reading, where they are
prominent in the business and social life of the city.

McLEAN,
JAMES B.

p. 1237

Surnames : McLEAN, BREUSTER, ERMENTROUT, GRIESEMER, LORAH, NEFF

The McLean family originated in Ireland where Daniel McLean was
born in the northern part, April 8, 1812, and came to America when
21 years of age. His death occurred June 22, 1876, when he was 64
years, 2 months and 14 days old. His remains are interred at
Amityville.

After coming to America he located in the
vicinity of Mauch Chunk, Carbon Co., Pa., being attracted there by
the coal mines, as he was a miner. There he resided until 1850,
when with his family he moved upon a farm in Amity township, near
Weaverstown. This farm consisted of 116 acres of good, fertile
land, and he farmed it successfully until his death. Daniel McLean
was an enterprising man, and very industrious, and labored hard to
bring up his children in the right way and give them more
educational advantages than he had enjoyed. Although a
Presbyterian, as there was no church of that denomination in the
vicinity, he attended the Reformed Church. His wife was Elizabeth
Ann Breuster, who was born Aug. 12, 1816, and died Oct. 17, 1881,
aged 65 years, 2 months and 5 days. She too was a native of
Ireland, and she and Mr. McLean met on shipboard. During the two
months consumed by the trip on the sailing vessel, the young people
grew to love each other, and upon landing in New York they were
married. Their children were: James B.; Samuel B., who resides in
Amity township on the old homestead; Dr. Daniel B., who resides
near his brother James B.; and John, who was born Dec. 10, 1851,
and died April 6, 1886, aged 34 years, 3 months and 26 days. The
old homestead has a stone house upon it built by Daniel McLean in
the sixties. Mr. James B. McLean has an old dinner gong, brought
from Ireland, and of a kind seldom seen in this country. It is
2-1/2 inches in diameter and 3/8 of an inch thick. This family
relic is over a hundred years old, and is greatly prized.

James B. McLean, a farmer of Weaverstown, Amity
township, was born Sept. 9, 1843, and when 25 years old he began
farming in that vicinity. His boyhood was filled with work on the
farm and attending school, until he was given the advantage of a
course at the Hill school at Pottstown and at the Boyertown
Academy. He was licensed to teach by Professor Ermentrout and was
examined by James N. Ermentrout, later presiding judge. Mr. McLean
taught school one term during the winter of 1866-7 at Weaverstown,
and received 25 dollars a month for his services. Then he worked
for his father-in-law for several years, and after the latter’s
death he bought the farm of 131 acres of very good land, suitable
for mixed farming. The house was built by George Lorah in 1797, and
is in excellent condition.

Mr. McLean and family are members of the
Reformed Church of Amityville, in which he is a deacon and elder,
and has been since 1866. In politics he is a Democrat and has
served his township as committeeman, auditor, assessor and registry
assessor. He might have had any of the other offices within the
gift of his neighbors, but refused them, feeling that he had done
his full duty as a good citizen. He was a State delegate to four
conventions, and a delegate to a number of county conventions. Mr.
McLean was a delegate to the convention that nominated Judge James
N. Ermentrout for the first time, and to the one which nominated
him for the second term.

In 1866 Mr. McLean was married to Mary A. Lorah,
a daughter of John and Emma (Griesemer) Lorah. Mr. and Mrs. McLean
have had two children: William Lorah, who died in infancy; and Rev.
Eugene Lorah.

The Rev. Eugene Lorah McLean was educated in the
public schools of his community, Kutztown State Normal school,
Franklin & Marshall college, and in a theological seminary.
After his graduation he was ordained and his first charge was at
Everett, Pa. There he preached the gospel for 10 years and is now
stationed at Frederick, Md. He married Mary Neff, of Huntingdon
county, Pa., and they have a daughter, Mary Margarite.

James B. McLean is widely and favorably known in
Berks county as a man who is industrious as a farmer, and
public-spirited as a citizen. He is pleasantly located and he has
brought his land to a high state of cultivation.

McLEAN, WILLIAM F.

p. 510

Surnames: McLEAN, FUTCHER, DOUGLASS, TALBERT, MANDERBACH, SCHEETZ,
DEPPEN, FILBERT

William F. McLean, one of the most prominent farmers of Berks
County, Pa., and a leading citizen in the affairs of Heidelberg
township, owns a fine farm of many acres one mile east of
Womelsdorf, on the Berks and Dauphin pike. He was born Oct. 1,
1854, in Philadelphia, Pa., son of Daniel J. and Adeline F.
(Futcher) McLean.

The great-grandfather of William F. McLean, who
was the progenitor of the family in this country, came here in
middle life from Aberdeen, Scotland, and was a member of the noted
military McLean family. He was married and had children at the time
of his location in America.

William McLean, son of the progenitor, was born
Feb. 15, 1778, at Philadelphia, and died Jan. 20, 1844. He married
Sarah Douglass, born Sept. 10, 1783, who died at Philadelphia, Dec.
31, 1843, and both are buried at the old Philadelphia cemetery. Mr.
McLean was a jeweler all his life, and was very successful. He and
his wife had these children: Elizabeth, born Oct. 3, 1801; Andrew,
born Feb. 22, 1803; Martha, May 25, 1804; John D., Feb. 28, 1806;
William S., June 3, 1808; James V., Jan. 29, 1810; Margaret, Jan
22, 1812; Samuel G., Oct. 6, 1813; Robert M. Oct. 4, 1815; Col.
George P., July 13, 1817 (was colonel of the 88th Pa. V. I.);
Daniel J., July 14, 1819; Jonathan D., May 4, 1821 (Lieut.-Col. of
the 88th Reg. Pa. V. I.); Joseph A., May 22, 1823; and Mary E.,
March 28, 1826. Lieut. Col. Joseph A. McLean was killed at the head
of his regiment while leading a charge on the Confederate masked
battery at the second battle of Bull Run, and his body was never
recovered, resting in an unknown grave on the battlefield. McLean
Post, G. A. R., No. 16, was named in this hero’s honor.

Daniel J. McLean, father of William F., was born
at Philadelphia, July 14, 1819, and died May 30, 1880, in the place
now occupied by his son William F. He was a watch case maker by
trade, which he followed for many years at the old stand at Dock
and Walnut streets, Philadelphia, under the firm name of McLean
& Harper. Much of the concern’s business was done in the South,
and at the outbreak of the Civil war the partners sustained much
loss, and finally mutually agreed to sever their business
connections. Mr. Harper, however, continued the business on a
smaller scale. Mr. McLean also served in the militia of emergency
men who were mustered in at Philadelphia during the raid of the
Confederates into the State of Pennsylvania. Mr. McLean was active
in the ranks of the Republican party, serving for a number of years
in the city council from the Twentieth ward, and being highway
commissioner. He was on the presentation committee when the city of
Philadelphia awarded General McClellan a gold medal for bravery;
participated in the Philadelphia Council’s reception committee,
June 9, 1860, when the first Japanese embassy visited the United
States, and was on a similar committee, Feb. 21, 1861, when
President-elect Abraham Lincoln visited Philadelphia. He is buried
at the Union cemetery, Womelsdorf.

Mr. McLean was married to Adeline F. Futcher,
born Oct. 17, 1824, who died Aug. 28, 1892, and was buried at Mt.
Vernon Cemetery, Philadelphia, daughter of William and Catherine
(Talbert) Futcher. One child was born to Mr. and Mrs. McLean:
William F.

William F. McLean was educated in the public and
pay schools of Philadelphia which he left at the age of nineteen
years, his last schooling being in the Philadelphia High School for
Boys. In the spring of 1872 his parents removed to the old
Manderbach property, opposite Womelsdorf station, in Berks county,
this removal being made on account of the failing health of Mr.
McLean’s father. Here William F. McLean taught in the public
schools for three terms, and at the end of this time engaged in the
poultry business, raising fine thoroughbred poultry, which he sold
in different parts of the country, disposing of their eggs all over
the United States. This he followed with much success until the
spring of 1876, when he was appointed to the position of turn-stile
keeper at the entrance gate to the exhibition of the Philadelphia
Centennial, serving with ability until the end of the exposition,
by which time he had been promoted on merit to a lieutenancy. His
duties completed here, Mr. McLean returned to poultry raising which
he continued until his father-in-law William Scheetz’s death, in
1584, when he purchased one of the latter’s farms at appraisement
and since that time has been giving his entire attention to the
cultivation thereof. He breeds thoroughbred Jersey cattle and has
also made numerous importations from England of Scotch collie dogs.
His farm consists of 135 acres of which forty acres is woodland
located on the South Mountain, and it is very highly cultivated.
Mr. McLean is a practical agriculturist and has his farm furnished
with the best and most modern farm implements, and in the spring of
1897 he built an addition to his residence. He operates a dairy,
the product of which he sells to a creamery. In politics Mr. McLean
is a Republican, but in local matters votes independently.

On Nov. 30, 1873, Mr. McLean was married to Mary
Agnes Scheetz, daughter of William and Henrietta (Deppen) Scheetz,
and to this union four sons have been born: William S. m. Reta,
daughter of John and Isabella Filbert, and resides at Robesonia,
and has charge of the hospital department of the State Asylum at
Wernersville: Walter D. m. Catherine Scheetz, works for his father
and resides in the tenant house; Robert D. resides at home; and
Edgar P. died in infancy.

McLENEGAN, JOHN
ARCHIBALD

p. 705

Surnames: McLENEGAN, DUNN, FORDNEY, HUMPHREYS, McKNIGHT,
MUHLENBERG, MUSSER, PAULI, RANDALL, REIGART SHEPLEY, WALLACE,
WITHERS, YORKE

John Archibald McLenegan was born at Lancaster, Pa., Feb. 2, 1841,
at the homestead on East King street. When six years of age, he was
adopted by an uncle, George B. Withers Esq., of the Lancaster Bar,
and his earliest education was received at private schools in that
city. He afterward attended the Strasburg Academy, to which place
his uncle had removed on account of failing health. He then assumed
the care of his uncle’s farms near Strasburg until the latter’s
decease in 1859, when he accompanied his aunt, Mrs. Withers, to
Reading where he secured a position with the Philadelphia &
Reading Railway Company, as private messenger, traveling between
New York and Washington. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he
enlisted as a volunteer in the Ringgold Light Artillery for three
months, and then for three years with the Anderson Troop. He is
enrolled as a First Defender. Upon being mustered out of service,
he joined a colony of friends and relatives from Lancaster, and
invested in farm lands in Wisconsin, where he remained for five
years. He then returned to Reading and resumed employment with the
Philadelphia & Reading Railway Company, continuing with the
company until 1983, and afterward for upward of twenty years filled
the position of traveling salesman for the Reading Woolen Mills,
visiting the business centers in the South and West and developing
a large business for this important enterprise at Reading. In 1905,
his health failing, he located with his family on his farm at White
Bear, along the Wilmington & Northern Railroad, at this place
he died June 10, 1906.

Mr. McLenegan was married to Mary Ann McKnight,
daughter of David McKnight, and granddaughter of John McKnight, the
first banker at Reading, and they had seven children: Elizabeth
Hiester, Selina (m. Frederick E. Yorke, and has a daughter,
Dorothy), William and Henry (twins, the latter deceased), John
(deceased), Robert Wallace, and Frederick Augustus. The mother died
Oct. 19, 1908.

His father was Zephaniah McLenegan, born at
Lancaster, in 1801, where he was educated and admitted to the
Lancaster Bar in 1822, and afterward came to occupy considerable
prominence in the official life of the county, serving as county
treasurer in 1833 and 1834 and as prothonotary from 1836 to 1839.
He was a man of scholarly tastes, and possessed one of the best
private libraries in Lancaster. He was member of the Presbyterian
Church, and died in 1842. He m. Henrietta Augusta Musser, daughter
of John Musser (for a time Collector of the Port of Philadelphia),
and great-granddaughter of Rev. Henry Melchior Muhlenberg. They had
four children: Edward (m. to Mary Dunn), Henry Hall (m. to Sarah
Reigart), Charles (died in Rio de Janiero in 1859, aged twenty-two
years) and John Archibald.

Mr. McLenegan’s grandfather, Archibald
McLenegan, was born in 1739, in Ireland, of Scotch parents, and
emigrated from Monaghan, County Ulster locating at Lancaster, Pa.
In 1791 he m. Mary Wallace, daughter of William Wallace, and
granddaughter of James Wallace who had emigrated to Pennsylvania
prior to 1721 and settled in Swartara township. They had ten
children: Samuel, Elizabeth (m. an Humphreys), Elijah (m. Mary
Fordney), Sarah (m. a Randall), Zephaniah, Isaiah, Mary (m. William
Wallace), Athalia (m. a Shepley), Martha (m. Robert Wallace), and
Ann (m. the Rev. Mr. Pauli). Archibald McLenegan was possessed in a
marked degree of those sterling virtues which characterize the
Scotch-Irish. He was largely interested in farming operations in
Leacock township, and was a well-known citizen of Lancaster in its
early days, being the proprietor of the old “White Horse Inn,”
which was situated at the east end of King street, and which later
became the private residence of his son Zephaniah. He died in 1831.

MCNURNEY, JOHN J.

p. 1398

Surnames: MCNURNEY, FALLON

John J. McNurney was a native of Wisconsin, where he received his
education, and learned the blacksmiths trade. After finishing his
trade, at the age of nineteen, he started in business in Chicago,
Ill., where he was burned out during the big Chicago fire, after
which time he came East and located in Reading. He had an
exceptionally fine professional and business reputation, being an
industrious and skilled mechanic, in his line of business. The
success that came to this well-known and popular man was deserved,
and was the fitting reward of a lifelong determination to excel in
all that he undertook. He was a progressive man, of a positive
type, having perfect confidence in his ability, and took great
interest and pride in his business.

He retired Jan. 1, 1907, and left Reading the
following July on a tour of the Pacific coast, for pleasure and
enjoyment. He was accompanied on this trip by his niece, Miss May
Fallon, who resides at No. 46 North Eighth street, and is the only
living relative in Pennsylvania. On returning home he met with an
accident which caused his death in Chicago, Sept. 1, 1907. His
remains were taken to Reading and buried in the Charles Evans
cemetery.