Carouthers, James P.

JAMES P. CAROTHERS.

James P. Carothers was born near Port Royal South Huntingdon township, Westmoreland Co., Pa. Sept. 18, 1806.

His grandfather, James Carothers, emigrated from Ireland, and eventually settled on a farm situated on the Little Sewickley Creek, Sewickley township, about three miles north of the present homestead. He served as a soldier in the war of the Revolution, in a company raised principally in Lancaster County, Pa. He was twice married. By his first wife he had six children, viz.: John, James, Samuel, Martha, Jane, and Elizabeth. John and Samuel were twins. James was twice married. By his first wife he had two daughters; by his second, Elizabeth McClure, one son, John Carothers, a farmer, living in South Huntingdon. Samuel married Ruth Elliott, by whom he had two sons and five daughters. He carried on the old homestead farm in Sewickley, and both he and his wife died there. Martha, wife of James Kirker, a merchant in North Huntingdon township. Dr. William Kirker is their only son. Jane, wife of John Richey, a farmer and coppersmith, moved from South Huntingdon, and settled in Wayne County, Ohio, where they died, leaving a large family. Elizabeth, wife of Charles Hunter, a merchant in Port Royal, no children. Both died there. John Carothers, one of the twins above named, and father of James P., was born in Sewickley township, Westmoreland County, in the year 1789. He was a convert under the preaching of Rev. Dr. Power, whose daughter Isabella he afterwards married. He was a man distinguished for his kindness and charity, and his house was the home of the Christian minister; his hospitality was shared alike by the poor and the rich. In 1808 he moved from a farm near Port Royal, and settled on the farm which has since been the homestead of the family, situated near Millgrove, on the Greensburg road. It consists of one hundred and eighty-one and a quarter acres, and was a portion of a tract deeded by patent to John Barr and James Wilson, described in the original patent as a certain tract of land called "Bachelor’s Hall." At the time of his settlement on the place only a log house had been erected and a small clearing made in the forest.

He was by trade a coppersmith, and while he cleared and worked his farm by day, he worked at his trade at night. He had remarkable health and vigor until within a few months of his death, which occurred at the homestead Dec. 2, 1858. His wife died many years before. Both are buried in the Sewickley Church burying-ground.

The children of John and Isabella Carothers were as follows: James P., Mary, Catharine, and William Swan. Mary moved to Illinois with her sister Catharine, and died near Rockford, in that State. Catharine was married to the Rev. Joseph B. McKee, a Presbyterian clergyman, and pastor for several years in the West Newton and Sewickley Churches, and afterwards at Harmony and Indian Creek. He had made preparation to move to Illinois with his family, but was taken sick at West Newton and died there. Eventually Mrs. McKee moved to Illinois, and subsequently to the State of Minnesota. She has three children, and at the present time she is living with her son John. William Swan was educated at Jefferson College, moved to Illinois, married, and died there.

James P. Carothers was two years old when his father moved on to the farm which has ever since been held in the family. Upon the death of his father he came into its possession by will after paying certain specified amounts to his brothers and sisters. As a farmer he was thorough and painstaking. He made many improvements to the residence and farm buildings. In politics he was Republican. For many years he was a member of the Sewickley Presbyterian Church, and was three times elected to the office of ruling elder. He married, May 4, 1843, Jane K., daughter of Robert and Mary (Kerr) Moore.

Mrs. Carothers was born in Nottingham township, Washington County, Pa., Oct. 11, 1824. On the father’s side she comes from one of the oldest families of Rostraver township. Her mother was a granddaughter of the Rev. James Power, D.D., the second clergyman upon the frontier in Western Pennsylvania, and the founder of the old Sewickley Church. Mr. and Mrs. Carothers’ children are as follows: John C., born April 14, 1845; Mary F., born June 6, 1848; Isabella, born Oct. 18, 1851. By will of his father, which provided for the payment to his mother and sisters of certain amounts of money, John C. Carothers became the owner of the homestead farm, and carries it on. The family at the homestead consists of himself, mother, and sister Mary F. Isabella is wife of Shepard B. Markie, Jr., living at the old Markle homestead at Millgrove. There were eleven children in the family of Robert and Mary Moore, viz.: David, Eliza, Louisa, Obadiab, Ard, Robert, Maria, Jane K., James, Frances, and John Power. Obadiah died at the age of two, and John Power at the age of twenty. All the rest were married and, except Frances, raised families, and all are deceased except Mrs. Carothers and Louisa, widow of Robert McCullough, who lives in Jackson County, Ill. Mr. Moore was an elder in Pigeon Creek Church over forty years.

The following extract from an obituary notice will give something of the estimn ate in which he was held: "In his death the church lost an efficient member, his family an affectionate husband and father, and the community a useful citizen." He died June 8, 1850; his wife Oct. 19, 1838. James P. Carothers died Feb. 5, 1879. We cannot better close this sketch of him than to quote the following from an obituary notice of him written by the Rev. J.C. Maloy, published in the Presbyterian Banner: "A conscientious, upright citizen of more than ordinary intelligence, a man of liberal views in all matters pertaining to the public good, kind and tender towards any who were in trouble, for integrity of purpose, sound morals, and consistent Christian conduct no man stood higher in the community. In his death the church lost a liberal supporter, and the county one of its best citizens. He was greatly afflicted the last four years of his life. His illness commenced with gangrene in his foot, which defied the skill of his physician, and little by little brought him to the grave. He died as he lived, in full faith in Christ as his Saviour, and in full hope of a blessed immortality."