[p. 824] a prosperous business man and well known citizen of Wayne Township, Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, comes of one of the oldest families in the county. He was born in Chewton, which at that time was in North Sewickley Township, in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, February 20, 1837, and is a son of John T. and Rachel (Davidson) Cunningham.
Benjamin Cunningham, the grandfather, came to Lawrence County at a time when there were but two white settlers here, one being Hugh Gaston, located near Moravia, and the other a man named Nye, who lived at now Ellwood City. He came from Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, in 1796, being accompanied by eleven others, among them being his brother, William Cunningham, Joseph and Abel Hennon, William Carnes and his brother, and a Mr. Stambaugh. After locating their land and making a small clearing, they planted corn and potatoes. In the fall of 1796 they went back to Westmoreland County, to return in the spring of 1797, on horseback, following the Indian trail. The land was partly what was known as donation land, granted to the Revolutionary service soldiers, and the remainder was purchased by the Chews at a cent and a half per acre. The first settlers were given 425 acres of land, six acres for every hundred being given for road purposes, and after five years, the settler was given title to 212 acres for the improvements made on the whole of it. Benjamin Cunningham settled near what is the Houk farm near the big ore bank, and his brother located just below him. The latter married a Miss Mary Smith. Benjamin married Margaret Morton, and they had the following children: William, who lived in Venango County, Pennsylvania, was thrice married, the surnames of his wives being respectively, White, Werner and Kline; John T.; Joseph married Isabella Wilson, daughter of William Wilson, by whom he was survived, she afterward becoming the wife of William Work; Anna married John Smiley; and Nancy was the wife of Jacob Houk. All except William lived and died in Lawrence County. Benjamin, the father of this family, died in 1843, aged sixty-eight years.
John T. Cunningham settled in Chewton, Wayne Township, and was a man of social and political prominence. For twenty years he was justice of the peace, and although his dockets show the trial of 640 cases the pages are immaculately clean and neat, not a single page revealing a blot. These records are now possessed by a grandchild, Mrs. A. D. Morns, wife of the court stenographer of Lawrence County, and are most highly prized. In the fall of 1844, he was elected a member of the General Assembly, but did not live to complete his term in that office, dying on April 15, 1845. A brainy, high-minded man, with bright prospects before him, he was cut off while in the flower of manhood. His wife preceded him to the grave, dying January 8, 1830, lacking one day of being thirty years of age. She was in maiden life, Rachel Davidson, and was one of the following children born to her parents Robert and Margaret (McCord) Davidson, pioneers of Lawrence County; John; William; Rachel, wife of John T. Cunningham; Mary, wife of Thomas Wilson, resided two miles from Slippery Rock, Butler County; Margaret, who lived and died in the old brick house which was built more than eighty years ago on the old homestead north of Wampum, and still stands; and Eliza, who became the wife of Associate Judge Joseph Cunningham. Robert Davidson died in 1846, aged sixty-eight years and was survived many years by his widow who died in 1882, aged eighty-six years. John T. and Rachel (Davidson) Cunningham reared four sons, namely: Robert D., who died near Foxburg; Benjamin W.; Oliver Perry, who first married Amanda Herman, and secondly Miss Susan Kennedy, resides in Chewton; and John Harvey, who resided in Aetna, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, died in June, 1902.
Benjamin W. Cunningham was reared to manhood in the vicinity of Chewton and there received his early educational training. The farm on which he has lived since his marriage, he inherited partly from his father, buying the remainder of his brother. It was a heavily timbered tract at the time and he had to make a clearing in order to erect a home. The part he purchased was paid for by the timber he sold off the tract. At the present time a limestone quarry is being operated.
In 1863, Mr. Cunningham was joined in marriage with Clara Allen, a daughter of John M. and Esther (Miller) Allen, who was born and reared in Shenango Township, Lawrence County. Her death occurred in April, 1890, and besides her husband, two daughters were left to mourn her loss, namely: Amelia Jane, wife of A. D. Morns of New Castle, by whom she has a son, Arthur; and Olive Eliza, who died of typhoid fever in 1889, at the age of twenty-four years. Mr. Cunningham formed a second union in February, 1900, with Mrs. Elizabeth (Morgan) Hoagland, a daughter of Philip Morgan of Beaver County. Fraternally, he was formerly a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He is a Republican in politics, but exercises the privilege of supporting the man he deems best fitted for the office. Having been left an orphan at nine years, the success achieved by Mr. Cunningham is greatly to his credit and reflects the energy and ability which characterized his business transactions. A substantial man and enterprising citizen, he is respected by all who know him.
20th Century History of New Castle and Lawrence County Pennsylvania and Representative Citizens Hon. Aaron L. Hazen Richmond-Arnold Publishing Company, Chicago, Ill., 1908
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