Blaine Aiken    

Blaine Aiken, a veteran of the Spanish-American war with an officer’s commission and a record of foreign service; for years one of the members of the bar of the Washington county courts; a practicing lawyer in Washington since 1901, and thus one of the veterans of the local bar, was born in Washington, Pennsylvania, on West Wheeling street, December 1, 1873, a son of John and Jennie (Blaine) Aiken, the latter of whom was born on the old Blaine homestead place in Somerset township, this county, October 31, 1845, finished her schooling in the California Normal School and for a time prior to her marriage was a teacher in the schools of this county. She was a daughter of Matthew and Mary (Morton) Blaine, the latter of whom was born on the old Morton homestead, in the Beallsville neighborhood, a daughter of Bennett B. and Mary Ann (Hill) Morton, the latter of whom was a member of that family of Hills which in the time of the Revolution was represented by Stephen B. Hill, a commissioned officer on the staff of General Washington. The Mortons of this line are of that family which in his generation was conspicuously represented in Pennsylvania by John Morton, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, a native of Chester (now Delaware) county, this state, a member of the Continental congress from its beginning in 1774, and in whose memory many years ago a tablet was erected in Independence Hall. Matthew Blaine, who in his generation was one of the substantial farmers and landowners of Somerset township, an active democrat and a leading member of the Methodist Episcopal church, lived to the great age of ninety-two years, his last days being spent in Beallsville.

Though the late John Aikin, a veteran of the Civil war and in his generation one of the leading lawyers in Washington, passed from the scenes of his earthly labors more than thirty years ago, the good memory he left at his passing is kept green in this community, for in his time he had created a distinct personal impress upon the community. He was born in West Liberty, in the adjacent county of Ohio, over the line in West Virginia (then Virginia), February 7, 1844, a son of William and Ann (Dougherty) Aiken, both members of pioneer families in this region. William Aiken was born in Mount Pleasant township, this county, a son of Joseph and Rose Ann (McGouch) Aiken, the former of whom was the progenitor of this line of Aikens in America. This Joseph Aiken was born in the seaport town of Coleraine, in the county of Londonderry, in the province of Ulster, Ireland, and was there trained to the trade of weaver, a fabricator of fine linen. He became an ardent and active mem­ber of Wolfe Tone’s historic Society of United Irishmen, organized in 1791 for the purpose of procuring parliamentary reforms in behalf of Ireland, and which was one of the influential factors in bringing about the bloody Irish rebellion of 1798. For his activities in that movement Joseph Aiken came under the ban of proscription and his small property was confiscated by the British. With his three brothers he fled to America and was for a time located in Adams county, this state, later coming to Washington county and settling in Canton township, where he took up weaving and was thus engaged until presently he bought a farm and retired. He died in 1843 and is buried in the North Buffalo churchyard, and his great-grandson, Blaine Aiken, has the rosewood chest which he brought with him to this country and in which was packed such personal belongings as he was able to save from the conscriptatory processes of the government. This pioneer’s son, William Aiken, was trained to the vocation of weaving and tailoring and in due time became a merchant tailor. He was an expert in his line and when the McKee factory was established in McKee’s Rocks he was employed as the designer of the first clothing turned out there. Upon his retirement he bought a farm in the Coolville neighborhood over in Athens county, Ohio, and there spent his last days. He was a stanch democrat and was a steward in the Methodist Episcopal church.

Though he was but seventeen years of age when the Civil war broke out, John Aiken was four years in the service of the Union army and rendered service until the close of the war, being mustered out in 1865, a first lieutenant, Twenty-ninth United States Infantry. With the money saved from his soldier’s pay he paid his initial tuition in Washington and Jefferson College and entered upon his studies there with a view to preparation for the law, but his limited finances did not see him through and he was compelled to leave college before he had finished the course. Under the capable local preceptorship of Alexander Wilson, in Washington, he finished his reading in law and on December 13, 1869, was admitted to the bar and entered upon the practice of his profession in Washington, a profession he followed the remainder of his life and in which he became quite successful, long having been regarded as one of the leaders of the bar and one of the most influential citizens of the county. For years Mr. Aiken was a member of the board of trustees of Washington and Jefferson College, a member of the directorate of the Washington Refining Company, Washington County Fire Insurance Company, First National Bank of Washington, a director of the Citizens Water Company and one of the organizers of and a director of the Electric Light Company. He was an influential figure in the councils of the republican party in this district and was an elder of the congregation of the First Presbyterian church and for years the teacher of the students’ Bible class in the Sunday school of that church. John Aiken died on March 17, 1894. His widow survived him for a little more than thirty years, her death occurring on August 21, 1924, she then being almost seventy-nine years of age. 

Reared in Washington, Blaine Aiken had his initial education in Hannah Warrick’s private school that was being carried on at the corner of Maine and East Wheeling streets, supplemented this by a course in the public schools and then spent four years in Trinity Hall, a military academy in Washington, Pennsylvania, following this by further study in the Kiskiminetas Springs School in Saltsburg, Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Military Academy at Chester, Pennsylvania, and at Washington and Jefferson College, a member of the class of 1896. During his course in this latter institution he was for four years a member of the football team and in 1892 was its captain. He also acted as coach for three years. Mr. Aiken was twenty-one years of age when his father died. The example of his father’s success in law was a continual inspiration to the young student and he early had determined to enter the same profession, his studies being pursued with that end in view. Registering under John H. Murdoch and A. M. Templeton, he was prepared for admission to the bar and in March, 1901, was so admitted and began the practice of law in Washington, a profession he since has followed with success, with present offices at No. 93 South Main street.

During his student days Mr. Aiken had become connected with the operations of the Pennsylvania National Guard. a member of the local unit of the guard, Company H of the Tenth Pennsylvania Infantry, and when the Spanish-American war came on in 1898 he went out as the first lieutenant of that command and with his company was in service on the Island of Luzon during the time of the war with Spain and the Filipino insurrection. With the return of the Tenth and its restoration to the ranks of the guard he continued his service and by gradual promotion rose to the grade of lieutenant-colonel and became the division inspector of small arms practice in the state. During the time of the international “flurry” on the Mexican border in 1916 the National Guard troops again were federalized and called into service, and as a staff officer he spent nine months on the border in Pershing’s army, and upon his return was placed in the Officers’ Reserve Corps, with the rank of colonel. During the time of this country’s participation in the World war he was asso­ciated with the operations of the Hazel-Atlas Glass Company, which was declared an essential war industry, manufacturing glass food containers for the army. Mr. Aiken is a republican, a Knight Templar and thirty­second degree Scottish Rite Mason and a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His diversions are hunting and fishing and he is recognized as an authority on rifle and pistol shooting.

On October 21, 1901, in Washington, Blaine Aiken was united in marriage to Miss Mary Lillian Graham, and they have had four children, namely: John Matthew Blaine Aiken, born August 9. 1903 who was graduated from the Grafton (West Virginia) high school in 1922. and is now a student at Washington and Jefferson College, a member of the football team; Malinda Jane Aiken, born March 25, 1905, who was graduated from the Grafton high school in 1923, from the Washington Business College in 1924, and is now attending the Washington Seminary; James Barnett Aiken, born January 5, 1908, who was graduated from the Wash­ington high school in 1925 and now is a student in Washington and Jefferson College; Harry Linn Aiken, born September 2, 1917, who died on January 19, 1919. The Aikens are members of the First Presbyterian Church and Mr. Aiken is the assistant superintendent of the Sunday school of that congregation.

Mrs. Aiken was born in Newburg, West Virginia, May 18, 1877, a daughter of the late Rev. Samuel and Malinda Jane (Archer) Graham. On the paternal side Mrs. Aiken’s ancestors took active part in the Revolutionary war, the War of 1812, the Mexican war and the Civil war. An uncle, Robert Graham, a soldier of the Union army, during the campaign in Georgia, was taken prisoner and died in the dreadful rebel prison pen at Andersonville, one of the countless victims of the inhuman treatment there accorded Union prisoners of war. Mrs. Aiken’s father, Rev. Samuel Graham, was a graduate of Washington and Jefferson College in the class of 1860 and of the Western Theological Seminary in the class of 1862. He was widely known as a Presbyterian clergyman in the northern West Virginia section.

Samuel Graham was born in Clarion county, Pennsylvania. January 15, 1827, and died in Washington, Pennsylvania, on April 9, 1902, in his eightieth year. Among the charges he filled during the period of his active service in the ministry were Kingwood and Newburg. West Virginia. Mr. Graham was a man of large physique and commanding appearance, of strong character and void of fear. In the mine disaster in Newburg in 1886, known as the “Newburg disaster,” in which one hundred and nineteen miners lost their lives, Mr. Graham headed the first relief squad to enter the mine after the explosion, and his bravery, exhibited during that period, is yet retold by the grandchildren of some of those who perished in that disaster.

Mrs. Aiken’s mother was born on the old Archer homestead, near Amity, in this county, January 7, 1842, a daughter of Benjamin Franklin Archer. She spent her last days with her daughter in Washington. She was a descendant of Revolutionary stock, having two great-uncles who served in General Washington’s army. One of these, David Ross, is buried in Meadville, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Graham also had a brother, David Ross Archer, who was a soldier in the Civil war and died in the service. Mrs. Graham was a graduate of the State Normal School, then located at Millsboro, Pennsylvania, and after her graduation was a school teacher in this county. She died in Washington, Pennsylvania, on August 31, 1912.

Mrs. Blaine Aiken received her early education under the tutelage of her father who, for a time, conducted the Kingwood Academy, and later in the public schools of Kingwood and Graysville. she was graduated from the Washington Seminary in the class of 1896.

History of Washington County, Pennsylvania, 1926; Forrest, Earle Robert, Chicago: S.J. Clarke Pub. Co., page 219-224.  Search Hundreds of 1880s-1890s Pennsylvania County History Books for biographies and historical information on your ancestors.  View the book page images on line and print them out for your genealogy file!  Free Access to the old history books - plus birth & death records, census images and ALL other records at ancestry.com.