Timothy White    

TIMOTHY WHITE was the Quaker progenitor of another family that came to New Brighton from Fallston. In 1839 he built and removed to a dwelling on the site of the Dawes Gymnasium, which was the first residence on the third terrace. He was a contractor-carpenter, and an advertisement in the New Brighton Record of March 31, 1855, reveals him as a proprietor of a planing mill, and sash and door factory on the Canal. In 1850-51 he completed the unfinished Merrick House. The Beaver County Jail was built by Mr. White in 1856, while the following year he erected a brick structure extending from Twelfth to Thirteenth Streets, on Fifth Avenue. This factory was built for the manufacture of Iron Cars by Merrick, Hanna & Co. It was last occupied by the Pittsburgh Wallpaper Co., and razed in 1936. Mr. White later became superintendent of bridges and buildings for the O. & P. Railroad.

In 1859 he began the manufacture of Wooden bridges, erecting many throughout the country, but in 1868 changed to the production of iron bridges. It is reliably stated that the first iron bridge ever produced -in this country was built by T. S. White and the place of building was on the raceway east of the Canal between Ninth and Tenth Streets. It was of latticed construction, hand-made and riveted together. Although not a large bridge, possibly only 18 feet in length, but when shipped, loaded upon wagons and hauled by horse power to the former freight station on Eighth Street, it was the subject of much local comment. The factory was located on Fifth Avenue between Seventh and Eighth Streets, and was burned in the early “seventies.” After the fire the car works building, above mentioned, was used until a new plant was built in Beaver Falls and the business continued afterwards in conjunction with his sons, as the Penn Bridge Co. He died in 1885.

Mr. White was not only a friend but such a zealous Abolitionist that he always refused to vote until Abraham Lincoln became a candidate for President in 1856. His home was used as a station on the Underground Railroad, and when two colored youths were kidnapped, John Collins and he at the instance of the Anti-Slavery Society, went to Kentucky and rescued them. One was Lem Dawson, a colored driver, remembered by many of the older residents.

Mr. White had six children, one of whom died when small from eating seeds of the Jamestown (Jimson) weed.   Adrain C., who was a Civil War soldier died in 1878 survived by Maude and Charles A., Adaline and Lucretia, both of whom died unmarried, Hon. Samuel P. and T. Sidney. Samuel P. served two terms as State Senator, 1895-98 and 1902-05 dying August 1, 1918. T. Sidney died February 7, 1913 survived by Samuel A. White.

History of New Brighton 1838-1939, published by the Historical Committee of the Centennial, Butler, PA, pages 56-57. 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