Chambers, William

WILLIAM CHAMBERS.

The Chambers family has long been prominent in Westmoreland County. The first of the name to settle here was one John Chambers, who was born in York, Pa. He was of Scotch-Irish descent, and settled at Pleasant Unity, Westmoreland Co., in 1793. Here he built a mill and engaged in the manufacture of woolen goods. He married Leah Hartzell, of his native town. They had seven children, all of whom (except Joseph who was a Presbyterian minister, and resided and died at Wooster, Ohio) spent their lives in Westmoreland County. The children were as follows: William, John, Elizabeth, George, Joseph, Daniel, and Mary.

The subject of this sketch, William Chambers, was the eldest of the family, and was born in York, Pa., a short time before his father’s removal. He worked in his father’s mill learning the trade of carding and finishing cloth. He followed his trade until 1837, when he engaged in farming, which he followed for two years. He then purchased what is known as Findley’s Flouring-Mill, on the Loyalhanna. Here the remainder of his life was spent.

He married Elizabeth Leasure, second daughter of Daniel and Elizabeth Ryan Leasure, of Sewickley, Westmoreland Co. Elizabeth Ryan Leasure’s father, Daniel, was the youngest son of Abraham Leasure, a native of Germany. His ancestors were natives of Navarre, and fled during the persecution of the Huguenots to a province on the Rhine in Germany. Here Abraham was born in 1735, and married a French wife. They emigrated to the colony of Pennsylvania, and settled near Chambersburg, some years previous to the war of Independence. He afterwards settled on the "old Virginia road," leading from Baltimore to Fort Pitt. During the war of Independence he removed to the valley of, the Kiskiminetas, where he was engaged as an Indian scout. When there were no Indians to encounter, he kept a train of pack-horses carrying merchandise from the Conecocheague to the Allegheny and its tributaries.

After the close of the war he removed with his family to a farm near the present site of Pleasant Unity, where he located a large tract of land for which he obtained a deed from the heirs of Penn. It was then known as "Manor Land," now the David Pollins’ farm, the "garden spot" of Westmoreland County. Here he remained till his death in 1805. His wife survived him fifteen years. They were both buried in the old family burial-ground upon the old homestead.

Daniel Leasure was the youngest son of Abraham Leasure. He lived upon a part of the tract located by his father, what is now known as the Andrew Giffin farm. He was born in 1767. Before he was of age he was made captain of a company, and continued in that position until fifty years of age. He served as captain of a company in the Indian war of 1790. He enlisted and reported for service at Pittsburgh as a lieutenant in a light-horse company in 1812, but was discharged.

He married Elizabeth Ryan, of French-Irish descent, and raised a family of seven children, namely, Mary, Abraham, George, John, William, Elizabeth, and Jesse.

Elizabeth was in Hannastown Fort at the time it was burned, and fled with the garrison to Leasure’s Fort on the Pollins’ farm.

The original spelling of the name, as obtained from some very old foreign authorities, is Le Sueur. However spelled, it has always been respectable.

William and Elizabeth Leasure Chambers had five children, all of whom are living in or near Latrobe. They are John L., married to Eliza Glessner; Daniel L., married to Mary Smith; Jesse, married to Kezzia Geiger; Eliza, married to John Beatty; and Eli, married to Lydia Harvey.

William Chambers was early instructed in the doctrines of the Presbyterian Church, and for many years was a devoted and zealous member of that communion. He never held political office, his active life being devoted entirely to his own business. By untiring industry and economy he was able to leave to each of his children a good pecuniary start in life, to which each of them has added largely since his decease.

He died in 1851, and was buried in Unity Cemetery beside his wife, who died in 1840.