Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens
Lawrence County Pennsylvania 1897
[p. 407] city treasurer of New Castle, is a native of Ireland, that oppressed dependency of the English Crown, which has furnished so many sturdy, industrious citizens to our country, whose presence has been especially felt in the growth and development of this section of the State. He is a son of John and Elizabeth (Anderson) Blevins; the mother passed away in 1870, aged seventy-six years, and the father followed six years later at the same age. John Blevins, Sr., emigrated to America in 1831, and after the first two months spent in Canada came to this State to that part of Mercer County which was set off to make Lawrence County; in what is now Washington township, he found a cousin of his wife's named Anderson, and there he bought a farm, and set out to acquire a comfortable competence and rear his children decently.
Till the age of seventeen years, our subject attended the country schools, where the whole year's instruction never exceeded a three months' term in the winter. When seventeen years old, he came to New Castle, and learned the tailor's trade with T. D. Morgan, then in 1846 he went to Mercer, and worked at his trade, and in the spring of 1847 he came to New Castle again, and this city has since been his home. The first ten years were spent at his trade, and then he embarked into the grocery business, in which he continued until 1875, in which year he was elected county treasurer on the Republican ticket, and served a full term of three years; he then became a clerk in a grocery store and was so occupied until 1884, when he was elected city treasurer, which office he has held continuously ever since. Mr. Blevins has been an active supporter of the Republican party ever since its birth and inception in 1856.
Mr. Blevins was joined in the marriage bond with Ruth J. Thorne on Jan. 3, in Washington; the bride was a daughter of Smith and Mary (Stewart) Thorne, and a granddaughter of James and Ruth (McLean) Thorne. James Thorne was a soldier on the side of the Union in the War of 1812. Our subject is one of three children, James, a resident of Washington township, and Elizabeth, wife of R. C. Rice, being the others; four children born to his parents are deceased. To our subject and his much-esteemed wife have been given six children, the three of whom that now live are: Mary Elizabeth; John Smith, who married Mary Gantz, a daughter of the well-known Prof. Gantz; and William James. Mr. and Mrs. Blevins are devout members of the United Presbyterian Church. Mr. Blevins has with credit established and sustained a splendid record through many years of public service as an honest and capable servant of the people.
Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens Lawrence County Pennsylvania
Biographical Publishing Company, Buffalo, N.Y., 1897
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Updated: 6 Jun 2001