John Samuel Corbus    

JOHN SAMUEL CORBUS came from Maryland to Fallston about 1824 and was at first apprenticed as a scythe maker at the William Blanchard factory in that town. He soon changed his mind however and became a wire drawer at the Townsend plant where he was continuously employed for sixty-eight years, or until his death in September, 1892. His wife was Eliza, daughter of Daniel Reeves of Old Brighton, and they became the parents of 7 children; Mary J., wife of Hugh Irwin; Thankful, wife of Dr. Louis Jack; Elizabeth, who died unmarried; Margaret, wife of Richard Irwin; Jesse M., Daniel R., and John Corbus.

In 1838 John Samuel Corbus bought a lot at the corner of Fourth Avenue and Thirteenth Street, New Brighton, and immediately began the erection of a brick home. It was ready for occupancy the following year, when he removed from Fallston, though it was not fully completed until about 1840. This is the Corbus family residence known as 401 Thirteenth Street, one of the oldest houses of the town.

All three sons were Civil War soldiers, Jesse M. and Daniel R. enlisting at the first call for volunteers in May, 1861. At the close of the war Jesse M. went to Texas where for ten years he was engaged in contract railroad work, getting out timbers, etc., and while there he married a Miss Harris of San Antonio. He later returned to New Brighton and for many years was a bridge salesman for the Penn Bridge Company. He died about 1923. His wife is also deceased, and they left no surviving issue.

Daniel R. Corbus also became an employee of the Townsend plant at Fallston where he served forty years. He was twice elected Coroner of the county occupying that office from 1869 to 1875. He was a town councilman for some time, and was New Brighton’s postmaster for several years prior to 1902. He married Camella Fairman, and died about 1926. Mrs. Corbus died about a year previously. Their children were Thankful Corbus who lives in Wilkinsburg, William D., a former railroad conductor of Peoria, Ill., who died about 1927, and Samuel, who died about 1923.

John Corbus was born in Fallston in 1831 and was for many years a merchant in New Brighton. In 1879 he became Superintendent of the Beaver Falls Car Works which position he held until the plant was burned in 1886. In 1887 Mr. Corbus bought the machine shop and foundry of that concern and ran it some ten years when he retired. He died about 1918.

John Corbus was twice married. His first wife was Mary Blair of Pittsburgh who was the mother of three of his children, Curtis C., who died at Los Angeles in 1937; Harold, who died as an infant, and Clarence C., a retired gentleman living in the Corbus family homestead.

The second Mrs. John Corbus was Elsie, daughter of Dr. Isaac Winans of Mahoning County, Ohio.

History of New Brighton 1838-1939, published by the Historical Committee of the Centennial, Butler, PA, pages 26-27. 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.