Henry Bestwick   

HENRY BESTWICK was born in Derbyshire, England, in 1808 and died in New Brighton in 1876. He was a tinner in the country of his birth and when he came to New Brighton about 1840 he brought his tin shop with him on a canal boat and was ready for business therefore at his new location in a few days. He married Mary Kaye, a young Englishwoman who died in 1884.

His shop was located at the northwest corner of Third Avenue and Tenth Street. His children were Isaac, Rachel, Jacob, Reuben, Sarah and Abraham. Of these Isaac, Jacob and Abraham followed the father’s occupation as tinners, and when the country became involved in the Civil War all three enlisted as Union soldiers.
Abraham succeeded to and continued the business established by his father at the same location, but combined with it house furnishing goods. As the business increased he added hardware to his stock, which was the inception of the Bestwick family into the latter business. All tinware at that time was hand made, and Abraham was considered an expert in its manufacture.

During the first week in 1876 the store and most of its contents were destroyed by fire. Undaunted, Mr. Bestwick retrieved such goods as were left marketable, and adding fresh stock, a new store arose from the ashes like the fabled phoenix and was soon open for business at what now would be 908 Third Avenue. But his ill fortune was not ended for in just two weeks after the first fire a second conflagration occurred in his latest store, which consumed the building and contents.

Somewhat discouraged but persistent he was doing business again in a short time at the southwest corner of Third Avenue and Tenth Street upon property owned by the Bestwick family since the late “fifties,” but this was confined to the tinning industry only. In a few years he removed to 1013, on the other side of Third Avenue and again started a hardware store in connection with a tin shop, which he operated until his death.

History of New Brighton 1838-1939, published by the Historical Committee of the Centennial, Butler, PA, page 20. More Beaver County History Books  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.