J.B. Finley Wyant

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J.B. Finley Wyant

 

J.B. FINLEY WYANT, M.D., of Kittanning, has been located in practice for a
number of years and is one of the most successful and progressive physicians
of Armstrong county. With a strong realization of the worth and dignity of his
chosen calling, he has endeavored to live up to its highest ideals, and that
he is considered a fit representative of this useful and privileged profession
is well shown in the honors he has received from his fellow practitioners.
Possessing those qualities of mind and heart generally associated with the
true physician, he has been proud of his work, and has been a credit to the
medical fraternity throughout his career. Born Aug. 7, 1862, in Washington
township, Armstrong county, the Doctor is a son of Adam Wyant, a substantial
farmer of that township, and belongs to the honest, hardy, Pennsylvania German
pioneer stock which has contributed so much to the building of this and other
States, with its strong religious tendencies, industry and thrift. The members
of this family have been well represented in the various wars of this country
waged in their time, especially in the Civil war.

Dr. Wyant is a great-grandson of Henry Wyant, who was born in Germany, came
to the United States, and landing in Philadelphia later located in the
Delaware German settlement, and then in Bedford county, Pa. He was a veteran
of the Revolutionary war.

Martin Wyant, son of Henry, was born and raised in Bedford county, and
married Christeena Booher, also a native of Bedford county, daughter of
Bartholomew Booher. The Wyants and Boohers came from Germany together, the
Boohers first locating in Berks county, and moving thence to Bedford county.
To this union came fourteen children: Christian, Adam, Bartholomew, John,
David, Frederick, Henry, Martin, Jacob, Susan, Julia Ann, Catharine,
Christeena and Elizabeth. All of these grew to manhood and womanhood except
Christian, who was killed by the kick of a colt when he was ten years old. The
next death in the family was that of Martin, who was drowned at the Dickey
Island. Three of the sons were in the Union army during the Civil war,
Frederick, Henry and Jacob. Frederick enlisted in 1861 in Company C, 78th
Pennsylvania Regiment, commanded by Colonel Sirwell, and was transferred to
the Veteran Reserve Corps Oct. 1, 1863. Henry was a member of Company D, 103d
Pennsylvania Regiment, enlisting in 1861, and died in Andersonville prison.
Jacob, who also enlisted in 1861 in Company C, 78th Regiment, was killed at
the battle of McLemores Cove, Ga. The remaining ten children lived to a good
age near the three-score and ten mark and some of them well up in the
fourscore years. Martin Wyant with his large family left Bedford county in the
spring of 1832 and under great difficulties crossed the mountains and finally
made a settlement in Washington township, Armstrong county, in the fall of the
same year, where he engaged in farming and charcoal manufacturing. Here the
family in time grew up and were married, and followed out the great command
given in the beginning of time, “Multiply and replenish the earth.”
But it was left principally for Adam to fulfill the Biblical injunction, for
he had the distinction of being the father of seventeen children, two of whom
died in infancy, fifteen growing to maturity, marrying and following the same
injunction given to the first Adam, as well as to Adam the second, for they
“multiplied and were fruitful.” The son Bartholomew had a son
Jeremiah, who enlisted during the Civil war in Company D, 103d Pennsylvania
Regiment, and was a prisoner at Andersonville for several months in 1864, from
April 20th to Dec. 10th.

Adam Wyant, son of Martin, was born in Bedford county July 4, 1813, and
came with his father into Washington township, Armstrong county, in 1832. In
1833 he married Rachel Yerty, who died in 1846, the mother of seven children,
namely: (1) Christian Yerty, born Oct. 3, 1834, married Elizabeth Johns, and
had these children: Mary married Curtis Philips and had two children, Hollis
and Grace; Rose married Cash Kramer and had seven children, Charles, Dr.
Homer, Alexander, Ruth, Willard, Isabelle and Elizabeth (the last named
deceased); Dr. A.R.E. married Louise Hulbert and has had three children,
Florence, Elizabeth and Christian (deceased); Adam Martin, an attorney,
married Katherine Doty, and has had two children, Anna Moore and Christian
Lucien (the latter deceased); Dr.W.W. married Rachel Sanders and has one
child, Christian; Dr. Florence married William Matta and has one child,
Elizabeth. (2) Martin, born Feb. 20, 1836, married Sarah Zerby and had seven
children: John; Mary, who married John Daily and had seven children; Martha,
who married William Boyd and had two children; Margaret, who married George
Gray; Etta, who married William Morgan and has two children; Cora; and Martin,
the last named deceased. (3)Andrew H., born Jan. 4, 1838, married Frances
Harding and had three children, Harding, Maude and Pearl, both the daughters
being deceased. (4) Archibald M., born Feb. 8, 1842, married Sarah Bowser, and
had nine children: Ida, who married Phil. Schreckengostt and had three
children, Herman, Cora and John; Rebecca; Christopher; William, who married
Florence Connell and had one child, Mary; Harry S. who married Margaret
Handyside, and has three children; Robert, who married Anna Potter and has
three children, Sarah, and Florence and Olive, twins; John Finley and two
others died in infancy. (5)George, born in 1843, died in infancy. (6)Rachel,
born in 1844, died in infancy. (7)Elizabeth, now the only survivor of the
children of Adam Wyant’s first marriage, born May 4, 1845, married Harvey
Frick, and had four children: Minnie, who died young; Pearle, who married John
Sutton and had one child, Harvey; William; and Chattie, the last named
deceased.

On March 25, 1847, Adam Wyant married (second) Sophia Bowser, daughter of
Abraham and Mary Bowser, and they had ten children: (1)Mary, born march 2,
1848, married Albert Rea, and had two children: Tillie, who died young; and
Albert, who married and has two children. (2)Delilah S. born Sept. 23, 1849,
married George Boylstein, and both are deceased. They had seven children:
Archibald, who married Elizabeth Serene and had one child. May; George L., who
married Kate Hanes and has had six children. Jessie (married Thomas Taylor and
has two children, George and Kathryn), James, Frederick, Daniel, and two that
died in infancy; Elizabeth, who married J.B. Greer and has one child, Mary
Louise; Kathryn; Sarah; Daysie; and Sophia, who died young. (3)Eli Fluke, born
Aug. 9, 1851, married Parmelia Sindorf and had eight children: Alma, who
married William Anderfer and has six children; James; Roy, who married and has
one child; Bell, who married Will Butcher and has four children; Stella; May;
and two who died in infancy. (4) Christena, born March 13, 1853, married
Thomas Jack and has had six children: Laura married Harve Mechling and had two
children, Hazel and Kerneal; Margaret married Herbert Summers and had five
children, Homer, Edward, Ira, Howard and Thomas; Robert married Alice Stringer
and has three children, Dorsey, Alice and Mary Louise; Rose; Milton married
Dorothy Wolf; Laban married Marie Bish. (5)Benjamin Wyland, born Sept. 4,
1855, is a prominent resident of Washington township. He married Cynthia
Dickey and had six children: Finnie, who died young; Mary, who married Horace
Nichols and had one child, Kenneth; John F.; Samuel R.; Anna Sophia, and
Benjamin F. (6)Emma Theresa, born Feb. 4, 1858, married Frank L. Wolfe and had
five children: Daniel W., who married Pearle Lias and had four children,
Vernon, Pauline, Theone and Sidney; A. Weldon, deceased; May, who married
George McAuley; Clifton, and Milburn. (7)S. Katherine, born April 13, 1860,
married Isaac F. Kramer and had two children, Margaret (deceased)and
Frederick. (8) Jay B. Finley was born Aug. 7, 1862. (9)Martha Margaret, born
Sept. 2, 1865, married Labana Wolfe and had eight children, all deceased but
hazel and Kramer. Mr. Wolfe died and she married Thomas Kramer, being the only
one of this large family who married a second time. (10) Susanetta, born June
3, 1869, married William Manross and had seven children: George, who is
deceased; Luetta; Benjamin; William; Finley, deceased; Eli, deceased; and Ira,
who married Marie Cochran and has one child, William.

Sophia (Bowser) Wyant, mother of these ten children, was born in Franklin
township, Armstrong county, May 29, 1828, and is still a hale and hearty
woman, living on the farm in Washington township, where this great family was
born and brought up, and which place belongs to one of her sons. Her children
gather at the old home each year to celebrate with her the anniversary of her
birth. This has been their custom for years, and the occasion is always looked
forward to with a great deal of pleasure by her children, grandchildren and
neighbors.

Mrs. Wyant was a granddaughter of Valentine Bowser, born in Germany, who
married Elizabeth Fluke. Her father, Abraham Bowser, born in 1803 in Bedford
county, Pa., was killed April 10, 1853, by a falling tree. In 1822 he married
Mary Stevens, a mighty power in the organization of the free school system,
and daughter of Benjamin and Sarah (Milligan) Stevens, and they had fourteen
children: (1) Benjamin S. Bowser, born Dec. 20, 1823, married Elizabeth Bowser
in 1843 and had two children. She died in 1844, and he married Elizabeth Yerty,
by whom he had five children, forty-one grandchildren and sixty-eight
great-grandchildren. This wife died in 1855, and he married Katharine Yerty.
They had eight children and nineteen grandchildren. (2) Elizabeth Bowser, born
1825, married Fred Bowser, and had eight children, twenty-one grandchildren,
and eleven great-grandchildren. (3) Sophia Bowser, born May 29, 1828, married
Adam Wyant, and had ten children, fifty-seven grandchildren, forty-four
great-grandchildren and four great-great-grandchildren. (4) Sarah Ann Bowser,
born Oct. 17, 1829, married Jacob Booher, and had eleven children, and thirty
grandchildren. (5)Dr. Mathias S. Bowser, born in 1831, married Elizabeth
Booher, and had seven children, twenty grandchildren and six
great-grandchildren. (6) Eli Bowser, born in 1833, died in 1844. (7) Delilah
Bowser, born in 1835, married Abraham Frick and had six children, thirty-two
grandchildren and sixty-three great-grandchildren. Mr. Frick died and she
married John D. Wolfe and had four children, fifteen grandchildren and seven
great-grandchildren. (8)Nancy Bowser, born in 1837, died in 1845. (9)Rosana
Bowser, born in 1839, married Archey Bowser, and had eight children and ten
grandchildren. (10) Jennie Bowser, born in 1841, married Adam Grant and had
five children and nineteen grandchildren. (11) Joshua C. Bowser, born in 1846,
married Kiziah Bowser and had three children and thirteen grandchildren. He
was a musician and served throughout the Civil war, being a member of Company
D, 103d Pennsylvania Regiment. (12) John Bowser, born in 1848, died in
infancy. (13) Mary Bowser, born in 1850, died in infancy. (14) James H.
Bowser, born in 1852, married Amanda Bowser, and had seven children and twelve
grandchildren.

This was a family of strong Baptists, and Mary (Stevens) Bowser was the
pioneer Baptist in this part of the county. It is said that none of the
children ever left the faith of their mother; few if any mothers have had such
a following as she; and the end is not yet, for the records show a continual
growth.

To return to the Wyants. Adam Wyant settled in Washington township,
Armstrong county, where he was a farmer, and died May 28, 1882. He held the
offices of tax collector and constable. At the first election held in that
township, in February, 1859, the votes for the place of holding the election
were as follows: Henry Helzel, 69; Adam Wyant, 52;William Groves,5. Some of
Jacob Frick’s heirs conveyed their interest in the residue of the real estate
which their father and mother had left to Adam Wyant, and he conveyed part of
it to Christian Yerty Wyant March 21, 1864. Part of the tract to which this
belonged came into possession of the Reeds, who sold four acres to Adam Wyant
for $80. The Brethren in Christ Church was organized in that part of what is
now Washington township, about 1842, by Rev. George Shoemaker, and was
sometimes called the “Shoemakerian” Church. The frame church edifice
was erected in 1858, on that portion of the “Canton” tract conveyed
by George Leasure to Abraham Leasure. For the purpose of conveying a moiety of
the edifice and ground to the Church of God, Abraham Leasure conveyed the lot
to Nicholas Leasure. Samuel Stouffer and Adam Wyant on Feb. 13, 1864, and they
conveyed it the same day to Abraham Leasure and J.C. Plowman, who conveyed
“one-half of a house of worship, and graveyard with all the
appurtenances” and the eighty square perches on which they were situated
to “John Hovis, chairman of the Standing Committee of the West
Pennsylvania Eldership of the Church of God,” March 26, 1866, for
$302.67, after which the property was jointly owned by these two
congregations.

Three of the sons of Adam Wyant served in the Civil war: Andrew H., who was
in Company M, 59th Pennsylvania Regiment, 2d Calvary, was wounded in the right
arm at Gettysburg; Martin enlisted Feb. 22, 1865, in Company K, 104th
Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, and served to the close of the war (he was
shot through the thigh); Archibald M., who was in the cavalry, was wounded in
the battle of the Wilderness, being injured when his mule was shot from under
him.

J.B. Finley Wyant attended public school in Washington township and later
continued his education in the Reid Institute in Clarion county, Pa. After
completing his classical course he became assistant principal there for three
years, during which time he read medicine with Dr. Frank Ross, of Clarion,
with whom he had commenced reading previously, while a student. He then
entered the Western Pennsylvania Medical College (later known as the Western
University of Pennsylvania, now the University of Pittsburgh), graduating with
the degree of M.D. on March 28, 1889. He began practice the same year at
Templeton, Armstrong county, where he continued for ten years, in 1899
removing to Kittanning, where he has ever since remained. He commands a wide
practice, and his standing with the other members of his profession in his
community is sufficient testimony of the respect he has gained during his
active and useful career. He is a prominent member of the Armstrong County
Medical Society, which he has served as secretary continuously since 1901, and
he was its president in 1896; the Doctor has just completed a history of the
Society. He is also a member of the Pennsylvania Medical Society and the
American Medical Association. Socially he is a member of the I.O.O.F. Lodge at
Kittanning; Blue Lodge No. 244,F.& A.M., of Kittanning, and Royal Arch
Masons; the Royal Arcanum, and the Heptasophs.

On Aug. 6, 1885, Dr. Wyant married Mary Louise Gilbert, the ceremony being
performed by Dr. B.H. Thomas, Baptist clergyman, who was connected with Reid
Institute for forty-five years. Mrs. Wyant was born May 11, 1864, daughter of
Prof. C.A. and Sarah Frances (Evans) Gilbert, the former a well-known
instructor at the Reid Institute. Dr. and Mrs. Wyant have had the following
children: Sophia Irene, born Oct. 12, 1886, died Oct. 8, 1904; Sarah Alleine,
twin of Sophia Irene, is married to Dr. Edward Ellis Evans, and resides in
McKeesport, Pa. (they have one child, Finley Edward); Margaret C., born March
13, 1890, Corbin Wayland, born March 23, 1896, and Mary Louise, born July 20,
1902, are at home; one died in infancy.

The Doctor and his family are members of the Baptist Church and he has been
prominent in its work, serving several years as member of the official board,
s deacon, financial secretary and trustee.

Source: Page(s) PAGES 332-335,
Armstrong County, Pa., Her People, Past and Present, J.H. Beers &
Co., 1914

Transcribed July 1998 by Patti Godesky for the Armstrong County Beers
Project
Contributed for use by the Armstrong County Genealogy Project (http://www.pa-roots.com/armstrong/)

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