Francis Smith Reader and Merran F. Darling
Husband Francis Smith Reader 1 2
AKA: Frank Smith Reader 3 4 5 Born: 17 Nov 1842 - Greenfield (later Coal Center), Washington Co, PA 3 5 Christened: Died: Buried:
Father: Francis Reader (1798-1884) 3 6 7 Mother: Eleanor Bentley Smith (1817-1847) 1 7
Marriage: 24 Dec 1867 - New Brighton, Pulaski Twp, Beaver Co, PA 3 8 9 10
Wife Merran F. Darling 3 8 9 10
Born: 28 Sep 1846 - Chautauqua Co, NY 9 11 Christened: Died: Buried:
Father: Joseph Quint Darling (1806- ) 8 9 10 Mother: Rebecca Cobb ( - ) 8 10
Children
1 M Frank Eugene Reader 3 8 11
Born: 15 Dec 1868 - Greencastle, Sullivan Co, MO 11 12 Christened: Died: Buried:Spouse: Jennie B. Nesbit ( - ) 11 12 13 Marr: 3 Jun 1896 11 12 13
2 M Willard Stanton Reader 3 8 13 14
Born: 28 Sep 1871 - New Brighton, Pulaski Twp, Beaver Co, PA 12 13 14 Christened: Died: Buried:Spouse: Lily D. Robinson (1875- ) 13 14 15 Marr: 1 Mar 1897 13 14 15
General Notes: Husband - Francis Smith Reader
He passed most of his early life on the farm and in working at the carpenter's trade; he attended the public schools and Mount Union College, Mount Union, Ohio.
He entered the Union army April 27, 1861, serving in the 5th W. Va. Cavalry, and while scouting June 20, 1864, was captured, but succeeded in escaping from the train while on his way to Andersonville July 19 following, arriving in the Union lines at Petersburg July 30. In July of the following year he entered the civil service and became chief deputy collector for the Twenty-fourth Collection District of Pennsylvania. He established the weekly Beaver Valley News at New Brighton May 22, 1874, and the daily edition Feb. 5, 1883. He was a member of council and secretary of county committee. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church; a Republican in politics.
He worked at farming and carpentering, and acquired at the schools of his town, and at Mount Union College, Ohio, an academic education. He lived among the scenes of the Monongahela Valley, Pennsylvania, until 1861, when he enlisted as a soldier, on April 27, 1861, serving in Company I, 2nd Reg., Va. Inf., in the commands and departments of Generals Rosecrans, Reynolds and Milroy, until April, 1862, in Western Virginia; he took part in the campaign of Gen. John C. Fremont in the Shenandoah Valley, and in that of Gen. Pope in Eastern Virginia, in 1862. His regiment returned to Western Virginia in October, 1862. June 1, 1863, the regiment was changed to the Fifth West Virginia Cavalry. He was offered a promotion in his company but declined it, and was assigned to duty at Gen. W. W. Averill's headquarters, July 1, 1863, and afterwards to the headquarters of Gen. Franz Sigel and Gen. David Hunter in the Shenandoah Valley, taking part in their campaigns. After the victory under Gen. Hunter, at Piedmont, Virginia, June 5, 1864, he was one of the first Federal soldiers to enter Staunton, Virginia, and there had charge of paroling five hundred wounded Confederates. He was captured on this expedition, June 20, 1864, and after being thirty days a prisoner, made his escape from a train, with three comrades, twenty miles south of Bunkersville Junction, Virginia, while on the way to Andersonville prison. Having undergone eleven days and nights of great suffering, hardships and hunger, hiding in the woods by day and traveling by night, he reached Gen. Grant's headquarters at Petersburg, Virginia, June 30, 1864, having passed through the right wing of Gen. Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army. His term of service having expired July 10, 1864, and being so broken in health that further duty was impossible, he was discharged in August of that year. He taught school the following winter, and in July, 1865, accepted a position in the U. S. Civil Service, in which he served at different periods for over ten years; he was chief deputy collector of internal revenue nearly eight years, and acting collector for some months.
Mr. Reader became a member of the Methodist Episcopal church December 15, 1865, and entered the North Missouri Conference of the church, in 1868, as preacher in charge of a circuit of nine appointments, but owing to the failure of his voice, he was compelled to retire after one year's service. He held an official relation in the church thereafter, and was Sunday school superintendent for over twenty-two years. Mrs. Reader was a member of the Presbyterian church.
Mr. Reader was the author of a life of Moody and Sankey, the noted evangelists,-and also of the history of the Fifth West Va. Cavalry, besides historical sketches of the Harmony Society, Economy, Beaver County, Pennsylvania, of New Brighton, and the Beaver Valley, in which his paper was published. On May 22, 1874, he and Major David Critchlow established the "Beaver Valley News," at New Brighton; on January 1, 1877, he bought the major's interest in the paper, and on February 4, 1883, he began the publication of the first daily paper in the county,-"The Daily News." He was secretary of the Republican county committee for several years; while in that office he prepared and presented in the state legislature the first law enacted in Pennsylvania for the government of primary elections; he was alternate to the Chicago convention which nominated James G. Blaine for president in 1884; he was suggested as a candidate for congress and for the state senate, but declined to be a candidate; he served in the council and school board of his borough, and held other positions of trust, but never solicited any public position.
He received his schooling in the public schools, and a short course in Mount Union College, Ohio, and a commercial course in Iron City College, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His summers were generally spent with relatives in the country, and he worked some time with his father at the carpenter trade. At the breaking out of the Civil war he was clerk in a store and assistant postmaster of his native town. Preceding the war he was an interested listener to the arguments for and against slavery, and his sympathies were enlisted on the side of the Abolitionists. The feeling was intense, but he kept his counsel, determined to stand by his country.
When Fort Sumter was fired upon, he joined with his neighbors in forming a military company, which was organized April 27, 1861, but was not accepted by the state on account of the quota being filled. Governor Pierpont, of reorganized Virginia, asked this company to serve in his state, and the invitation was accepted, the company being mustered into the United States service July 10, 1861, at Wheeling, Virginia. Later it was sent to Beverly, Virginia, where it was designated as Company I, Second Virginia Infantry. The regiment retained this name until June, 1863, when it was mounted, and then named mounted infantry, and later the Fifth West Virginia Cavalry. As infantry the regiment served under General John C. Fremont in the Shenandoah Valley campaign against "Stonewall" Jackson, and under General John Pope in his campaign in Virginia, and other campaigns in western Virginia. As cavalry it served under General William Averell in his famous campaigns in western Virginia. In July, 1863, Francis S. Reader was detailed by special order to General Averell's headquarters, and in the spring of 1864 to General Franz Sigel's headquarters in the Shenandoah valley, and on the retirement of General Sigel was transferred to General David Hunter's headquarters, and was connected with the Assistant Provost Marshal's department. He was captured in General Hunter's famous expedition to Lynchburg, Virginia, in June, 1864. His term of service having about expired he, with others, was ordered to form the advance guard for a command in charge of a wagon train returning to the Kanawha Valley. He and other comrades were cut off and captured June 20, 1864, near White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, and taken to Lynchburg, Virginia, where they were imprisoned in a tobacco warehouse. From here they were taken on a train bound for Andersonville prison, and on July 19 he and three comrades jumped from the train, about twenty miles south of Burkesville Junction, Virginia, and after ten days and nights of suffering and hunger, walking in the night and hiding during the day, reached General Meade's headquarters at Petersburg, Virginia, July 30, 1864, having passed through the right wing of General Robert E. Lee's grand Confederate army. Broken in health, he was sent home and was discharged August 8, 1864. He rested at home and took part in the political campaign, casting his first vote for Abraham Lincoln in November. He taught school that winter, and in the spring took a course in bookkeeping in Iron City College, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In July, 1865, he was offered a clerkship in the civil service, under Hon. David Sankey, Collector of Internal Revenue, New Castle, Pennsylvania, and entered upon his duties July 22, being associated intimately for over a year with Ira D. Sankey, the famous singing evangelist. With the exception of one year, he was in this work for about ten years continuously. He was converted December 16, 1865, at a series of meetings in the Methodist Episcopal Church. October 22, 1866, he left New Castle and entered the office of Archibald Robertson, at Brighton, later Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, successor of Mr. Sankey, and remained until August, 1867, when he resigned to attend Mount Union College, Ohio, spending two terms at that school.
In March, 1868, he received an appointment to preach in the North Missouri Conference, Methodist Episcopal Church, but was compelled to abandon it before the year was up, on account of failure of voice, and returned to New Brighton, Pennsylvania. He held the office of local preacher for a number of years, was an official member thirty-five years and Sunday school superintendent twenty-seven years. In October, 1904, he transferred his membership to the First Presbyterian Church, New Brighton, Pennsylvania, of which his wife was also a member, and was elected a ruling elder September 20, 1905.
He resumed work in the revenue office, and when Charles M. Merrick was appointed by President Grant as Collector of Internal Revenue in May, 1869, he was appointed chief deputy collector, and remained as such until January 1, 1877, when the office was abolished. He was secretary of Building and Loan Associations for nearly ten years; the first secretary of the first gas company in his county; member of council and school board, and active in all work for the welfare of the community. He was an active Republican, and was frequently suggested as a candidate for Congress and the State Senate, but declined to be a candidate for any office, except for a second term in council. He was elected a member of the Republican County Committee in 1869, and served several years being secretary of the committee most of the time. Always an earnest advocate of fair play and decency and honor in politics, his service at times was very stormy. In 1878 fraud was charged in the primary elections of the party, resulting in a great upheaval and defeat of part of the ticket. Following this he was appointed chairman of a committee on new rules of the party, and in reporting them recommended that a committee be appointed to take the necessary steps to secure a law to govern primary elections. He was appointed to do this work, and prepared a special bill for that purpose, to govern the Republican primaries of Beaver county, Pennsylvania. He advertised it and paid personally all the expenses connected with it. The bill was presented to the Legislature in January, 1879, and after much hard work it passed both bodies of the Legislature, and was signed by the governor, May 22, 1879, the first law in the United States to govern primary elections. It was enacted into a general law in the session of 1881.
His first efforts in journalism were reporting political meetings in 1872 for Pittsburgh papers, later in a Pittsburgh paper a series of twenty-five articles on the history of the Beaver Valley, and a history of the Harmony Society. In May, 1874, he and Major David Critchlow started the "Beaver Valley News," the first issue appearing May 22, Mr. Reader being the editor. He purchased Major Critchlow's interest January 1, 1877, and February 5, 1883, started a daily issue. The paper always advocated purity in politics, and opposed the improper use of money in primaries and elections. It favored the cause of temperance, and refused always the use of its columns to liquor and similar advertisements, taking a stand for purity in the reading columns.
In addition to his newspaper work, he wrote the "Life of Moody and Sankey" in 1876; "History of the Fifth West Virginia Cavalry," his own regiment, in 1890; "History of New Brighton, Pennsylvania," in 1899; "Some Pioneers of Washington County, Pennsylvania," a family history, in 1902; "History of the Newspapers of Beaver County, Pennsylvania," in 1905, and in 1910 the "History of the Schools of New Brighton, Pennsylvania." In addition to these, he wrote many articles on the Civil war and local history. He was a member of the National Geographic Society, the Grand Army of the Republic, and the Pennsylvania Society Sons of the American Revolution.
General Notes: Wife - Merran F. Darling
from New Brighton, Pulaski Twp, Beaver Co, PA
1 John W. Jordan, LL.D., Genealogical and Personal History of Beaver County, Pennsylvania (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Co., 1914), Pg 1.
2 F. S. Reader, Some Pioneers of Washington County, Pa. - A Family History (New Brighton, PA: F. S. Reader & Son, 1902), Pg 134.
3 —, History of Beaver County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia and Chicago: A. Warner & Co., Publishers, 1888), Pg 805.
4 —, Book of Biographies, Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens of Beaver County, Pennsylvania (Buffalo, NY: Biographical Publishing Company, 1899), Pg 338.
5 F. S. Reader, Some Pioneers of Washington County, Pa. - A Family History (New Brighton, PA: F. S. Reader & Son, 1902), Pg 127.
6 John W. Jordan, LL.D., Genealogical and Personal History of Beaver County, Pennsylvania (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Co., 1914), Pg 2.
7 F. S. Reader, Some Pioneers of Washington County, Pa. - A Family History (New Brighton, PA: F. S. Reader & Son, 1902), Pg 96.
8 —, Book of Biographies, Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens of Beaver County, Pennsylvania (Buffalo, NY: Biographical Publishing Company, 1899), Pg 339.
9 John W. Jordan, LL.D., Genealogical and Personal History of Beaver County, Pennsylvania (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Co., 1914), Pg 7.
10 F. S. Reader, Some Pioneers of Washington County, Pa. - A Family History (New Brighton, PA: F. S. Reader & Son, 1902), Pg 136.
11 F. S. Reader, Some Pioneers of Washington County, Pa. - A Family History (New Brighton, PA: F. S. Reader & Son, 1902), Pg 139.
12 —, Book of Biographies, Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens of Beaver County, Pennsylvania (Buffalo, NY: Biographical Publishing Company, 1899), Pg 340.
13 John W. Jordan, LL.D., Genealogical and Personal History of Beaver County, Pennsylvania (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Co., 1914), Pg 8.
14 F. S. Reader, Some Pioneers of Washington County, Pa. - A Family History (New Brighton, PA: F. S. Reader & Son, 1902), Pg 141.
15
—, Book of Biographies, Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens of Beaver County, Pennsylvania (Buffalo, NY: Biographical Publishing Company, 1899), Pg 341.
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