HEADER
Joseph Hamilton Stivenson
JOSEPH HAMILTON STIVENSON, ex-mayor of Leechburg, a prominent merchant of
that borough who has long been classed among its leading citizens, belongs to
an Armstrong county family of Revolutionary descent. Old members of the family
claim descent from Peter Stuyvesant, of New Amsterdam (now New York).Mr. Stivenson�s great-grandfather was a shoemaker, going from house to
house to work at his trade. His children were Joseph (eldest son), John,
William, Tobias, Hannah (married Jacob Lynch), and Nancy (married an Olinger).Joseph Stivenson, grandfather of Joseph H. Stivenson, was a soldier in the
second war with England, 1812-15, enlisting in an Armstrong county company
which went to Black Rock, N. Y. He served as a private. By occupation he was a
farmer. His family consisted of five sons and four daughters, namely: George,
a mason and stonecutter of Kittanning, married Nancy Hunter; John was the
father of Joseph Hamilton Stivenson; Daniel, a carpenter, was killed on the
railroad across the isthmus of Panama while on his way to California (he was
unmarried); Joseph, a teamster, of Kittanning, married Sarah King, daughter of
Isaac King; Jacob, a carpenter, married Esther Schreckengost (he was a private
in the 14th Pennsylvania Cavalry during the Civil War); Lydia married Thomas
Morrison, and they moved to River Styx, Medina Co., Ohio; one daughter married
a Martin, who went to California and was lost track of, never being heard from
again; Christina married George Yount and lived in Kittanning (he was a
private in the 14th Pennsylvania Cavalry during the Civil war); Margaret died
in young womanhood.John Stivenson, son of Joseph , followed farming all his long life. He died
May 6, 1894, aged seventy-two years, six months. In religion a devout
Lutheran, he served as deacon of his church for many years. He married Flora
King, daughter of John and Susanna (Heilman) King, and granddaughter of
Matthias King. John King was a pioneer settler in Armstrong county, owning and
residing on property in what was then Kittanning (now Burrell) township still
held in the family. He was a prominent and much esteemed man of his day. His
wife, Susanna (Heilman), belonged to an old and substantial family of this
section, being a daughter of Peter and Elizabeth (Harter) Heilman, pioneers of
Armstrong county who settled in what is now Manor township in 1796. Peter
Heilman died in 1833, aged eighty-three years, his wife in January, 1831, aged
seventy-nine years, and they are buried in the old Heilman graveyard, on his
homestead place. The Kittanning Gazette had the following notice: “Died
Jan. 21, 1831, Mrs. Elizabeth, consort of Peter Heilman, of Kittanning
townshiip, in the seventy-ninth year of her age.””The various members of the Heilman family are recorded in the assessment
lists of 1807 as owners of mills, distilleries and large tracts of land, and
the Heilman whisky, made by Jacob Heilman, was celebrated in its day. The
family of Peter Heilman consisted of twelve children. More extended mention of
the Heilmans will be found elsewhere in this work.Joseph Hamilton Stivenson was born March 27, 1851, in Kittanning township,
this county, within one and a half miles from the original homestead of John
King, his maternal grandfather, and on his grandfather King�s birthday. He
assisted with the farm work at home and attended school winters until eighteen
years old. When a young man he taught during the winters, having made the most
of his opportunities for securing an education, for besides going to public
school he was a student at select school for two terms. When twenty-one years
old he entered the employ of a man who was engaged in huckstering, continuing
with him two and a half years, after which for four years he was engaged at
work in rolling mills. He was next weighmaster at a coal tipple for eight
months, at the end of which time he embarked in the mercantile business at
Leechburg, where he has since conducted a general store. His trade has
increased steadily through the third of a century he has done business in the
borough, and his honorable methods and capable management of his own affairs
have led him into other avenues of usefulness. His fellow citizens with just
appreciation of his value to the community, have called upon him for various
public services, and he had been councilman for three years, burgess three
years and constable five years, still acting in the latter capacity. He is
also marshal of the borough., An active member of the Lutheran Church, he has
served in the office of deacon, having taken a useful part in church work as
in all other things which enlist his interest and attention. All in all, he
has led a worthy life, whose activities have not been limited to promoting the
success of his own enterprises. In his early youth he harvested with the
sickle and did other work in the manner typical of the times. He sowed flax,
pulled it, threshed the seed out, rotted the wood on the grass (by watering,
to make the wood brittle), then broke it by hand with the old sword brake, and
scutched it, after which it was made into linen which wore well. In those days
many people spun and wove all their cloth and there was no shoddy in those
clothes.On July 4, 1872, Mr. Stivenson married Harriet Smail, daughter of Peter and
Polly (Klingensmith) Smail, both descendants of local pioneer families, and
granddaughter of Jacob Smail, a civil engineer, who was a large landowner in
which is now Bethel township. He married a Klingensmith of Westmoreland
county. Mrs. Stivenson is like her husband a member of the Lutheran Church.
They have one son, Robert F., born August 12, 1879, now engaged in
merchandising in Leechburg as hisfather�s partner. He married Grace Gosser,
daughter of Albert M. and Susanna (Hill) Gosser. Socially he is a member of
the I.O.O.F., B.P.O. Elks and Knights of the Maccabees.
Source: Page(s) PAGES 345-346,
Armstrong County, Pa., Her People, Past and Present, J.H. Beers &
Co., 1914Transcribed July 1998 by Pat Godesky 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:
These electronic pages cannot be reproduced in any format, for any presentation, without prior written permission.
Return to the Beers Project
Â
Â
Return to the
Armstrong County Genealogy ProjectÂ
Return to the
Armstrong County Genealogy Project
Return to the
Armstrong County Genealogy Project
(c) Armstrong County
Genealogy Project
About Author
