James Brockington Witherup and Achsah R. Coulter
Husband James Brockington Witherup 1 2
AKA: James V. Witherup Born: 9 Jun 1838 - Rockland Twp, Venango Co, PA Christened: Died: 3 Jul 1920 Buried: - Calvert-Riddle Cemetery, Clinton Twp, Venango Co, PA 3
Father: Capt. Abraham Witherup (1787-1875) 4 5 6 7 Mother: Elizabeth Phipps (1800-1880) 4 8 9
Marriage: 18 Feb 1875 - Jackson Center, Jackson Twp, Mercer Co, PA
Wife Achsah R. Coulter 10 11
Born: 14 Feb 1839 - Scrubgrass Twp, Venango Co, PA Christened: Died: 20 Aug 1891 Buried: - Calvert-Riddle Cemetery, Clinton Twp, Venango Co, PA 12
Father: Dr. John Coulter, M.D. (1787/1797-1849) 11 13 14 15 Mother: Achsah Riggs ( - ) 10 11
Children
1 M Willie M. Witherup
Born: Abt Dec 1875 Christened: Died: 31 Jan 1876 Buried: - Calvert-Riddle Cemetery, Clinton Twp, Venango Co, PA 12Spouse: Did Not Marry
2 M Leslie Park Witherup 16
Born: 16 Feb 1877 - Venango Co, PA 16 Christened: Died: Buried:Spouse: Maud May Boney (1879- ) 17 Marr: 28 Jun 1897 - ? Venango Co, PA
3 M Cyrus R. Witherup 18
Born: Abt 22 Jul 1879 18 Christened: Died: 12 Sep 1879 18 Buried: - Calvert-Riddle Cemetery, Clinton Twp, Venango Co, PA 12 Status: TwinSpouse: Did Not Marry
4 M Castle Marr Witherup 18
Born: Cal 22 Jul 1879 Christened: Died: 14 Sep 1879 Buried: - Calvert-Riddle Cemetery, Clinton Twp, Venango Co, PA 12 Status: TwinSpouse: Did Not Marry
General Notes: Husband - James Brockington Witherup
He was born on his father's farm in Rockland Township, Venango County, Pennsylvania, where he spent the first eight years of his life. He was first sent to school when but four years old, sitting on a hard bench with no back, and so high that his feet dangled, physical discomforts which no doubt accounted for his slow progress during the first three terms. It was unfortunate that soon after his lessons began to acquire interest he should lose his hearing, through illness brought on by exposure during his early years, for the pioneers found it no easy task to secure sufficient shoes and clothing for their families. He has never regained this sense, and his success in business was an uphill fight from the first on account of this handicap. In his boyhood, before he was old enough to help with the farm duties, he assisted his mother and sister about the household, an experience which stood him in good stead many a time during his later years, when he had to keep house alone on a farm. He had the pleasures, too, that an active boy in rural surroundings enjoys, becoming an expert swimmer and a skillful fisherman. His youth was occupied in chores about the farm, and as he grew stronger and more experienced he also took part in his father's and brothers' activities in logging, boatbuilding and agriculture. In April, 1857, he made his first trip to Pittsburgh on a flatboat loaded with pigiron, landing at the wharf after a pleasant trip of three days down river. He made the return journey on the steamer "Belle No. 2," commanded by Capt. William Hanna. Mr. Witherup became a good hand on the river, being especially clever at getting boats in the water again after they had been stranded on an island in low water periods, the river often being blocked with boats caught in this fashion, and he made as much as five to ten dollars a day by releasing boats from their "forced moors." Once he nearly lost his life while so engaged. The incident is typical of the tedious and laborious routine of river life. He was helping three other men to get a large flatboat loosened from the bar, and after working several hours concluded to empty the boat and let her float off. A large barge was moored a little way downstream. They decided to throw the barrels into the creek, catch them when even with the barge, and hoist them up with the aid of a block and tackle. The plan worked admirably until Mr. Witherup's assistant grew careless and failed to secure the grapple, and as the strain of the weight of the barrel broke the end of the stave to which the grappling hook was fastened the barrel came down with such force as to upset the boat, throwing him into the water. Nothing but the fact that he was a good swimmer saved his life, for he was so stunned that he could hardly collect his senses enough to swim.
Following this and other hard work industriously, he managed by frugality and self-denial in saving six hundred dollars during his early manhood. When the railroad was built boating was discontinued, and he turned to teaming in the oil fields, being so occupied until the summer of 1868. He then built a new house for his parents, so they could have a comfortable dwelling for their latter years, and in the summer of 1869 began to look around for an opportunity to get some land and try farming on his own account, meanwhile living at home. Preparatory to his new enterprise he sold a yoke of oxen and bought himself a team of horses, and in the spring of 1870 his father let him have the farm on the hill, where he began operations on the 1st of April with his team, a plow, and fifty dollars in cash. Though some improvement work had been done on the place it had practically lapsed to its primitive condition, the fences having rotted and the fields grown up so thickly with briers that it was impossible to run a plow, besides being rough with stones. There were no buildings on the tract. After putting in a crop and looking after the details that needed immediate attention he set to work to repair his fences, which kept him busy until harvest. Having no implements, he had to cut his grass by hand, and his next need was a good barn. He himself got out the logs for the necessary lumber, hauling them to the Sterritt sawmill on the William Phipps farm, and as Mr. Sterritt offered to do the sawing on shares he had lumber and shingles sufficient for his purpose before Christmas, enough for a large barn. Borrowing five hundred dollars to pay for the carpenter work, he had a commodious two-story barn ready to receive his next harvest, and by the closest economy he succeeded in paying off this debt in 1874. When he married, a few months later, he had only fifteen dollars, out of which he feed the minister who performed the ceremony. But he continued work on the farm bravely, prospered in the face of discouragements and setbacks, and developed a valuable property, which since 1891 has also been operated as oil territory. The first oil well on the farm was drilled in January of that year, and thirty wells have been sunk altogether, but though only three were dry holes the yield has not been more than average and the returns have not made the oil business notably profitable, though it has paid from the beginning. With all his work Mr. Witherup found time for articles now and then for the columns of the Venango Spectator, and he spent considerable time collecting the data for the history of the Witherup family already mentioned. After his wife's death he lived alone on the farm for some years, making his home with his son part of the time when the latter married, and he is now [1919] leading a retired life in Cincinnati, Ohio, to which city he removed in September, 1915, residing at No. 2693 Darcy Avenue. He is fortunate in the possession of a comfortable competence, gained by his industry and good management during his active years. [HVC 1919, 1070]
As an occasional contributor to the Venango Spectator, over the signature of "Old Dad," his recollections and comments on local happenings have been of interest to many of the readers of that paper, and in 1909 he published a history of the John Witherup family, the branch to which he belongs, covering the period from 1762 to 1909, and including a history of the allied Phipps family, posterity of John Phipps, from 1682 to 1909.
Residing in Cincinati, Ohio, in 1919.
General Notes: Wife - Achsah R. Coulter
Her death was caused by an accident, her clothing catching fire from the cooking stove while she was preparing dinner. There was no one close at home at the time, and she was found lying in the back yard by her son when he returned to the house at noon.
Notes: Marriage
They were married at the Cumberland Presbyterian parsonage.
1 —, History of Venango County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Brown, Runk, & Co., Publishers, 1890), Pg 990, 1000.
2 Charles A. Babcock, Venango County, Pennsylvania, Her Pioneers and People (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1919), Pg 1063.
3 Venango County Historical Society, Venango County Pennsylvania Cemetery Records and Early Church Histories, Vol. 2, Clinton Township (Franklin, PA: Venango County Historical Society, 1994), Pg 24.
4 —, History of Venango County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Brown, Runk, & Co., Publishers, 1890), Pg 980, 989.
5 Charles A. Babcock, Venango County, Pennsylvania, Her Pioneers and People (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1919), Pg 585, 1065.
6 John W. Jordan, LL.D., Genealogical and Personal History of the Allegheny Valley, Pennsylvania (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1913), Pg 321.
7 James Brockington Witherup, History of John Witherup Family from 1762 to 1909 (Butler, PA: Ziegler Printing Co., 1909), Pg 6.
8 Charles A. Babcock, Venango County, Pennsylvania, Her Pioneers and People (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1919), Pg 585.
9 James Brockington Witherup, History of John Witherup Family from 1762 to 1909 (Butler, PA: Ziegler Printing Co., 1909), Pg 8.
10 —, History of Venango County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Brown, Runk, & Co., Publishers, 1890), Pg 1000.
11 Charles A. Babcock, Venango County, Pennsylvania, Her Pioneers and People (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1919), Pg 680.
12 Venango County Historical Society, Venango County Pennsylvania Cemetery Records and Early Church Histories, Vol. 2, Clinton Township (Franklin, PA: Venango County Historical Society, 1994), Pg 21.
13 J. H. Newton, History of Venango County, Pennsylvania (Columbus, OH: J. A. Caldwell Publishers, 1879), Pg 574.
14 —, History of Venango County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Brown, Runk, & Co., Publishers, 1890), Pg 986, 1000.
15 —, History of Mercer County, Pennsylvania. Its Past and Present (Chicago, IL: Brown, Runk & Co., Publishers, 1888), Pg 1043.
16 James Brockington Witherup, History of John Witherup Family from 1762 to 1909 (Butler, PA: Ziegler Printing Co., 1909), Pg 50.
17 James Brockington Witherup, History of John Witherup Family from 1762 to 1909 (Butler, PA: Ziegler Printing Co., 1909), Pg 51.
18
Ruby Jane (Bailey) McCord, Genealogy of the Phipps Family (Self-published), Pg 26.
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