Middleton, Francis A.

FRANCIS A. MIDDLETON, farmer, is a son of John and Mary (Phipps) Middleton, the latter a daughter of Nathan Phipps, of Clarion county, Pennsylvania. The grandfather of our subject was James Middleton, a native of Ireland, who immigrated to Centre county, Pennsylvania, in 1792, where he married Jane Anderson, by whom he had three children: John; James, and Mary, who married Thomas Arters. He subsequently removed to Tionesta, Pennsylvania, where he died in 1834. His widow afterward married Girard Hunter, of Warren county, Pennsylvania, after whose death she removed to Venango county, and died at the home of her son, John, in 1856. James, the second son, remained in Forest county, where he died in 1885.

John Middleton, father of Francis A., was born in 1799, removed to Scrubgrass township in 1836, where he purchased one hundred acres of land, which he subsequently increased to three hundred. In early life he was engaged in the lumber business, and, in connection with Isaac Ball, built a saw mill on Tionesta creek, in what is now Forest county, and named it Balltown. He was one of the enterprising men of his day, took an active interest in public affairs, and built the Methodist Episcopal church located at Big Bend, Scrubgrass township. He was an ardent Democrat, and died on the 4th of January, 1881, while attending a funeral in St. Michael’s Catholic church, at Emlenton. His widow survives him, and resides with our subject upon the old homestead. They were the parents of fourteen children: William S., deceased; Julia Ann, deceased; Jane; Emmeline, deceased; John A.; Isaac S., deceased; Martha A., wife of John Cubbison, of Emlenton; Caroline, deceased; James H., deceased; Wilber; Christopher C.; Francis A., Henry B., and Mrs. J.H. Reed. Our subject was born in Scrubgrass township, was educated in the common schools, and reared a farmer, in connection with which he is now engaged in the oil business, having had twenty-nine wells upon his own farm. He was married in 1870 to Catharine, daughter of John and Jane Burns, natives of England. Politically Mr. Middleton is a Democrat. His mother is in her eighty-third year, and for the past sixty-nine years has been an active member of the Methodist Episcopal church.