George D. McNutt    

George D. McNutt, president of the First National Bank of Canonsburg and for years recognized as among the leaders in the general commercial affairs of that community, is a native of Washington county, a member of one of the old families here, where all his busy and useful life has been spent, active in business in Canonsburg since the days of his young manhood. He was born on a farm in the immediate vicinity of Houston, Chartiers township, December 12, 1862, a son of William A. and Nancy (Weaver) McNutt, both members of pioneer families in this county, the latter born in Canonsburg in 1823, a daughter of John and Mary (McMillan) Weaver, whose respective families were among those who had been represented here since settlement days. Mary McMillan Weaver was a daughter of the Rev. John McMillan, pioneer Presbyterian missionary clergyman, first minister of that faith to venture west of the Alleghenys, founder and first pastor of the Chartiers Hill Presbyterian church, teacher, preacher and friend of man, whose little log schoolhouse proved to be the nucleus around which came the establishment of Jefferson College, which in the ‘60s was merged with Washington College and thus became the present well established Washington and Jefferson College—an interesting story that is told in circumstantial detail elsewhere.

The Weavers also are one of the real pioneer families of this section of Pennsylvania, the Washington county connection of this line dating from the coming here and settlement at Canonsburg in the latter part of the eighteenth century of Thomas Dell Weaver, a Quaker blacksmith, who established his home and became one of the useful pioneers of the Canonsburg settlement, where he died about 1804. The Weavers of this line have had representation in America since 1681 when the family was established in the Chester settlement in the Pennsylvania colony. Thomas Dell Weaver was a son of Richard and Elizabeth (Baldwin) Weaver, who were married in the Chester neighborhood in 1733. John Weaver, maternal grandfather of Mr. McNutt and a son of Thomas Dell and Jane (Hinkson) Weaver, was born in 1789 and became a substantial farmer and landowner in the Canonsburg neighborhood, where he died in 1859. He was an active member of the Chartiers Presbyterian church. John Weaver married Mary McMillan, who was born on the old McMillan homestead place three miles out of Canonsburg, and their daughter Nancy, in 1845, was married to William A. McNutt, who established his home on a farm in this county.

The late William A. McNutt was born in die vicinity of the city of Philadelphia in 1822, a son of William and Rachael McNutt, the former of whom was a native of Ireland and the latter of Wales. William McNutt was a lad thirteen years of age when he came to this country with his parents and he grew to manhood in Chester county, where he was married to Rachael Rees (Davis), who had come to this country with her parents when she was but seven years of age. William A. McNutt became a well established farmer and a force for good in his community, for some years serving as school director. He and his wife were active members of the Chartiers Hill Presbyterian church and he was for years the leader of the choir of that congregation. William A. McNutt died at his home in Hopewell township in 1881, then being fifty-nine years of age, and his widow survived him for more than ten years, her death occurring in 1893, when she was in her seventieth year. Mr. George D. McNutt is one of eight children, the other seven being: John McNutt, who was killed in the battle of Gettysburg during the Civil war; Elizabeth. deceased, who became the wife of Samuel H. White, also deceased; William, deceased; Rachael McNutt, who became the wife of John A. Berry, and both are deceased; Mrs. Mary E. (McNutt) Munson, widow of R. A. Munson; James K., who married Clara V. Buxton, and both are deceased; and Catharine J., wife of J. W. Munnell of Canonsburg, Pennsylvania.

Reared on the farm, George D. McNutt acquired his initial education in the neighborhood schools, supplemented this by a course in Duff’s Business College at Pittsburgh and then became a clerk in the John W. Hiles shoe store in Canonsburg. A year later, in 1885, he transferred his connection to the office of the old Canonsburg Bank, going in as bookkeeper in that financial establishment, and in 1890 became the cashier of this bank. When under the reorganization that was effected in 1891 and the establishment in that year of the First National Bank of Canonsburg, the old bank was merged with the latter, he was retained as cashier of the new institution and in that capacity continued to serve the bank until 1923, when he was elected president of this sound old financial institution and is now serving in that executive capacity. The bank’s capital stock is two hundred thousand dollars, the surplus and undivided profits, over two hundred and fifty-three thousand dollars, and its deposits nearly three millions. The other officers are: J. W. Munnell, cashier; and Clyde H. Jacobs and J. W. McNutt assistant cashiers. The directors are: George D. McNutt, J. A. McConnell, R. L. Munce, J. H. McBurney, H. L. Cockins and J. W. Munnell. In addition to his interest in the First National Bank, Mr. McNutt has other interests of a substantial character in and about Canonsburg and has for years been recognized as among the leaders in local commercial circles. He is the president and a director of the Cecil Improvement Company of Canonsburg and is also a member of the directorates of the Chartiers Building and Loan Association, the First National Bank of Houston and the Oak Springs Cemetery Association. He is a republican and has ever given a good citizen’s attention to local civic affairs, particularly attentive to the needs of the city schools, for years a school director in Canonsburg and treasurer of the school board. He is an elder of the congregation of the First Presbyterian church in the affairs of which congregation both he and his wife have long taken an earnest interest, and he also is a member of the Hungary Club, the Houston Club and the Yorick Club. Mrs. McNutt was graduated from the Canonsburg high school and has ever been a gentle and helpful influence in the city’s general welfare movements, a member of the woman’s auxiliary to the Canonsburg Hospital and in other ways active in social service.

In July, 1889, in Canonsburg, George D. McNutt was united in marriage to Miss Alice R. Fife, who was born on a farm in Bethel township, this county, in 1863, is a daughter of John and Mary (Adams) Fife, both of whom were born in that same township and whose last days were spent in Canonsburg. The late John Fife was a substantial farmer and landowner, who upon his retirement from the farm established his home in Canonsburg. He was an elder in the Bethel Presbyterian church. Mr. and Mrs. McNutt have three children: Two daughters, Nancy Olive, born January 4, 1891: and Mary Adams, born July 17, 1897—and a son, John William McNutt, born October 11, 1895. Nancy Olive McNutt, who was graduated from the Canonsburg high school and had supplemental work in the State Normal School at Indiana, became the wife of Dr. D. M. Lyon, who is now associated with the operations of the Lederle laboratories at Pearl River, New York. Mary Adams McNutt also was graduated from the Canonsburg high school and then took supplemental work in a finishing school in Philadelphia. She was married to W. K. Galbraith, a moldmaker in the pottery at Canonsburg and has two children, daughters both, Mary Alice and Olive Jeanne. John W. McNutt, a veteran of the World war and now serving the First National Bank of Canonsburg as assistant cashier, was graduated from the Canonsburg high school. When this country took a hand in the World war in 1917 he enlisted his services in behalf of the army—August 1, 1917—and was assigned to the Medical Corps. This service was rendered in Washington, D. C., and Macon. Georgia, and he continued in service until honorably discharged with the grade of sergeant of the first class on March 20, 1919, the war then being over. Five days later, on March 25, 1919, in Washington, D. C., he was united in marriage to Miss Irene V. Gonyo, daughter of Henry and Nellie (Denton) Gonyo of West Chazy, Clinton county. New York, and with his bride returned to Canonsburg.

History of Washington County, Pennsylvania, 1926; Forrest, Earle Robert, Chicago: S.J. Clarke Pub. Co., pages 242-247.  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.