Isaac Wilson    

ISAAC WILSON was the forefather in Beaver County of a family of that name that has lived in and been identified with the business interests of New Brighton through four generations. William W. Wilson the present representative, though now domiciled in Patterson Heights, has been for the greater part of his life a New Brighton citizen and maintains his real estate office at 1128 Third Avenue.

The earliest mention of Isaac Wilson in Beaver County is in 1803 when the so called “old red front” building was built for him for merchandising purposes, in Bridgewater near Brady’s Run. Two years later he was supplying goods from this warehouse and storeroom to the workmen employed by Aaron Burr in building flat boats nearby to be used in the latter’s futile southwestern empire project for which he was later tried for treason at Richmond.

In 1805, Mr. Wilson bought the tract upon which the lower part of Beaver Falls now lies, upon which was erected a sawmill and an uncompleted forge. He finished the forge the following year and began the construction of a furnace. in 1808 he sold a half interest to Jeremiah Barker and Isaac Gregg for $16,000 and the firm name became isaac Wilson & Co. As a storekeeper in Bridgewater (then Sharon), Mr. Wilson became acquainted with the brothers named Constable who laid out old Brighton.

For four years Isaac Wilson & Co. prospered. Their forge and furnace stood just north of Walnut Run and their output was stoves, pig iron, hollow ware and other cast iron articles, made from kidney ore found nearby. In 1812 Mr. Wilson sold out his remaining half interest in the land and workshops to his partners for $15,000.

In 1810 a charter was granted for the building of a bridge over the Beaver “opposite the town of Brighton.” Before the bridge was begun it was discovered however that the western end would not reach the limits of the Brighton plot, though the proposed structure was to be a continuance of Third Avenue in a direct line, for a part of a township intervened. The eastern end would rest at the edge of a red oak woods. They were nonplussed for a time. Then the fertile mind of David Townsend with Quaker resourcefulness evolved a plan. He owned the land east of the Beaver, in 1815, so he laid out a plot of lots on it, crossed his fingers and named it (East) Brighton, thereupon conforming to the wording of the charter. It was not long before “New” had supplanted “East” in the cognomen of the new village and “Old” was applied to the town founded by Isaac Wilson, subsequently becoming Beaver Falls. In 1817 Mr. Wilson built and made his home in the former historic old “brick house” of upper Third Avenue. It later was the home of his son, J. Webster Wilson, who was the chain carrier when David Townsend’s plan was laid out by Joseph Hoopes, the Surveyor.

In 1828-9 David Townsend built what was long both known as the Old Stone mill and the Quaker mill, on the river bank below the foot of Fifth Street. Before the completion of the plant it passed into the possession of J. Webster Wilson, son of Isaac Wilson. He finished it and put it in operation. When the State canal was being constructed in 1832-3 an agreement was made with the canal commissioners that the owners of the mill could secure water from the canal instead of the dam as long as the mill was in operation in consideration of the right of way of the canal over the flour mill property. First J. Webster Wilson, and then his son, Wade Wilson, operated the mill successfully until about 1877; during which period it was known as Wilson’s mill. Prior to 1877 an attempt was made to fill up the canal or the lock above, which would have destroyed the water power of the factory had it proceeded.

Wade Wilson, then the owner was obliged to resort to court proceedings to protect his rights. He was finally winner of the decisions, but at a large cost. Wherefore in 1877 the Wilson interests in the property were finally disposed of. Along in the ‘90’s another attempt was made to close the lock opening of the canal at the Beaver Falls dam, but the owner of the mill at that period, like Mr. Wilson, successfully resisted the attempt in the Courts, and it was not until the P. Y. & A. R. R. had bough both the mill and the canal bed above that the end sought could be attained.

Isaac Wilson was born in Harford County, Maryland in 1768 and died at New Brighton January 10, 1852. His wife was Susannah Hoopes, born in 1768 and died August 26, 1853. J. Webster Wilson was born August 23, 1798 and died January 23, 1877. His wife was Mary B. Wade. Wade Wilson was born April 9, 1846 and died in 1917. After forsaking the milling business he became a machinery salesman, which occupation he pursued until his decease. Mrs. Wilson was Sarah B. Jackson who died in 1918. They were the parents of three children, Frank B. who died as the result of an accident about 1890, Esther W. Wilson, a Missionary, living in Egypt, and William W. Wilson, formerly mentioned.

Joseph Wilson was born in 1822. His parents were Jeremiah and Lydia (Davidson) Wilson, the latter lady of Scotch-Irish ancestry. His grandfather, also named Joseph Wilson was born in 1766 and died in 1836, was a commissioned officer in the War or 1812, and settled in that former part of Beaver County then called Little Beaver Township, at a very early date. The youngest, Joseph, was a farmer until his majority when he learned the trade of carpentry and attracted by the many opportunities of employment-in the busy industrial village of many factories, Faliston, he came to that place in 1852. Two years later he crossed to New Brighton where he operated a planing mill for a few years, in 1860 he became a partner with T. C. & Cyrus Waddle in the same business. In 1864 C. Waddle retired from the firm. After a time a Mr. Cohen became a partner, but at the end of two years he disposed of his interest to the other co-partners and the business name became Waddle and Wilson. In 1867 they sold the mill and business to Boyd, Ingram and Company. It later was the Union Planing mill, and the building was finally converted to the uses of the Bentley and Gerwig Twine Works.

Beaver Falls was just at that time in its first stages of the progress that followed so rapidly for years thereafter, so Messrs. Waddle and Wilson cast their eyes in that direction. The result was that they were the first purchasers of lots in the new town plot with the intention of erecting a planing mill and establishing a lumber yard thereon. With all dispatch they had the excavations made and the foundation walls built for a new building, when those in charge of a new cutlery being erected on adjoining, premises coveted their property. At a good profit they sold their holdings, and their former lots were later covered by the brick buildings of the extensive plant of subsequent years known as the Beaver Falls Cutlery Company. This happened in 1869. Waddle and Wilson then found other lots suitable for their purpose on the east of the race, and at once built their plant upon them. The planing mill they erected is now the main building of the Commercial Sash and Door Company. About 1872 Mr. Waddle’s poor health caused a desire to retire, so Mr. Wilson traded his residence property on Seventh Avenue between Tenth and Eleventh Streets for his partner’s interest and became sole owner of the business and the real estate connected therewith. Within the next couple of years F. F. Brierly became a partner in the business but acquired no interest in the property, and the firm name became Wilson and Brierly for many successful years thereafter.

One of the buildings erected by Waddle and Wilson about 1867 was the present New Brighton freight station of the Fort Wayne Railway for which in payment they received the former freight station of the same company, its shops and buildings, and the premises upon which they- were located being the block surrounded by Fourth and Fifth Avenues and Seventh and Eighth Streets. They soon leased the same to T. S. White for whom they erected new and altered the old structures for bridge building purposes, the business of the new owner. The property was finally sold about 1874 to the Logan and Strobridge Iron Company. They were also the original contractors of the First Presbyterian Church, and constructed most of the larger buildings in the town while in business.

Subsequent to 1866 Mr. Wilson became identified with Knott, Harker Company, John H. Knott & Co’s flouring mill, Beaver Falls Glass Company, the Art Tile Company, and other Beaver Falls enterprises, in addition to becoming vice-president of the First National Bank. As a member of the New Brighton council he was the moving factor in changing the borough park from an eye-sore to a place of beauty. He married in 1844 Isabella, daughter of Thomas Silliman of Lawrence County and they had eight children, four of whom grew to maturity as follows: Irene, wife of W. G. Harker, Ada, wife of William C. Peatling, and Ella C. Wilson, all of whom are dead, also Thomas S. Wilson, who survives.

The property was sold to the Commercial Sash and Door Company about 1902, hut Mr. Wilson had long before disposed of his interest in the planing mill and lumber yard business to his partner F. F. Brierly. He had retired when his death took place in 1910.

Thomas S. Wilson, was born November 25, 1849, in Hickory Township, Lawrence County, and at 15 years of age became an apprentice at the carpenter trade, at which occupation he was employed a number of years. He came to New Brighton with his father and was married in 1871 to Emma, daughter of Philip
Martsolf, who died on October 14, 1936. In 1882 he became the sole proprietor of a brickmaking business on Oak Hill on the site of a former plant that is declared to have been the first brick yard in Beaver County. It stood within what is now the High School athletic field. Previous histories state that a brick yard was operated there as early as 1830 but are silent as to the name of the owner.

The plant had been operated for some time before Mr. Wilson became interested by George McManegal and Elias Alexander, but McManegal was the owner when Mr. Wilson became a partner. The latter soon became the sole owner, and in 1887 took his brother-in-law, W. C. Peatling into the business which was then carried on under the firm name of Wilson and Peatling until the panic of 1893, when operations were finally discontinued.

In 1894 Mr. Wilson became an employee of the Penn Bridge Company for several years when he retired, and is now living at 1510 Fourth Avenue, with his daughter Ella May, and son, Joseph Wilson. He is a clear-minded and active gentleman whose apperance [sic.] and vigor would indicate a lesser age than 89 years.

His other children are Harry, living in Cleveland, Ohio, Sarah, wife of C.M. Merrick of New Brighton, Flora, wife of Dr. I. M. Tiedemann of California, Lucille, wife of Alfred Hutchinson of New Brighton, and Ada, wife of C. M. Wilson of McKeesport, Pennsylvania. The former Wilson homestead stands at 327 Third Avenue.

History of New Brighton 1838-1939, published by the Historical Committee of the Centennial, Butler, PA, pages 59-63. 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