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Raphael Stearns Smullen
RAPHAEL STEARNS SMULLIN, fire insurance agent, of Putneyville, was born in
Mahoning township, Armstrong county, March 1, 1847, son of Absalom and Mary
Ellen (Putney) Smullin.William Smullin, the first settler in America of this branch of the family,
was a native of the North of Ireland, and became a pioneer of what is now
Mahoning township, where he owned a farm of 400 acres. Here he worked and
improved his land until it became a fine homestead, and it is now owned by
Craig Snyder. His wife was Catherine McNutt, and their children were: Absalom,
Margaret (married James T. Putney), Jane, Catherine, Monroe, Charlotte,
William and Fletcher.Absalom Smullin, son of William, was reared on the old homestead and soon
after attaining his majority purchased forty acres of land from his father,
and forty-five acres from W. R. Hamilton, which he cleared and farmed until he
reached the age of about forty. Then he embarked in the mercantile business at
Putneyville, as a member of the firm of G. S. Putney & Co., with which he
was connected for nearly a quarter of a century, when he retired from active
business life.Mr. Smullin married Mary Ellen Putney, daughter of David Putney (a native
of Connecticut, and the founder of Putneyville, where he settled in I833) and
his wife Lavina Stevenson. Mrs. Smullin and three of their children died of
typhoid fever in 1885, and Mr. Smullin broke up housekeeping soon after and
went to Marionville, forest Co., PA., where he worked as clerk in the store of
his son-in-law for a short time. Then he removed to Tennessee, where he died
at the age of eighty-four years. Children as follows were born to Mr. and Mrs.
Smullin: Adolphus M.; S. Florella; Annetta, deceased wife of William W. Wann;
Emory B., deceased; Kitty Belle, who married Charles Leech; Mary Olive,
deceased; Lillie May, who married Burley Ladell; William Putney; Novella,
deceased, and Raphael S.Raphael S. Smullin was brought up in Mahoning township, this county, and
received his higher education in Dayton Academy and Allegheny College. He
commenced his business career in the oil field of Venango county, Pa., and in
the Parker oil district, where he spent three years, and he spent the next few
years ‘-,engaged in the fire insurance business at Putneyville. This he
followed until 1880, when he removed to Council Bluffs, Iowa, and engaged in
the same business for three years. He was then appointed captain of the police
there and held that position for four years. At this time he went to Lincoln,
Neb., where he remained fifteen years, six of which were spent in the
insurance business, and the remaining nine years he engaged in the grocery
business. His health failing, he sold out his grocery and came East, locating
at Ravenna, Ohio, where he had charge of a gang of men in the handle
department of the sadiron works one year. His wife’s death occurred there and
in 1903 he returned to Putneyville, where he has since been the representative
of the Hartford Fire Insurance Company.In I877 Mr. Smullin married Jennie A. Warren, daughter of Benajah Warren,
of Georgeville, Indiana Co., Pa. They had one son, Claude C., a painter of
Joliet, Ill. Mr. Smullin is a member of the Woodman of the World, Camp No.
625, of Lincoln, Neb. In politics he is a stanch Republican.Source: Pages 757 – 758, Armstrong County, Pa., Her People, Past and
Present, J.H. Beers & Co., 1914
Transcribed February 1999 by Doris Rizza for the Armstrong County Beers
Project
Contributed for use by the Armstrong County Genealogy Project (http://www.pa-roots.com/armstrong/)Armstrong County Genealogy Project Notice:
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