[p. 399] who conducts a blacksmith business on his farm in the southeastern part of Little Beaver Township, where, with his sister, he owns sixty-five acres of valuable land, was born near his present farm in Little Beaver Township, Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, November 29, 1856. His parents were John and Mary Ann (McPherson) Haggarty.
John Haggarty was born in Ireland and was a son of Robert and Dorothy Haggarty. The family consisted of four sons and two daughters, namely: John, James, George and Robert, and Esther and Jane. When the three brothers came to America about 1840, they located first on the west side of the Schuylkill River, in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, where the family lived for ten years, John, in the meanwhile, having entered the employ of some people of large fortune, who placed him in charge of their gardens and greenhouses. George and James Haggarty were the first members of the family to come to Western Pennsylvania, and the others followed, John Haggarty reaching Lawrence County in April, 1856. The three brothers were associated in the purchase of the old Wheeling farm and the land now owned by Robert Haggarty and his sister, who resides with him, is a part of their father's portion. John Haggarty was born March 17, 1818, and died in January, 1894, aged over seventy-four years. He was married in Eastern Pennsylvania to Mary Ann McPherson, who was also born in Ireland. She died on this farm in 1885, aged fifty-six years. They had the following children: Robert James, Mary Jane, who died in 1879, aged twenty years; Dora, who died aged fourteen years; John W., who died in 1872; Esther, who owns a one-half interest in the farm under consideration; George, who died in 1872; Allen W., who died in 1876; Charles, who was accidentally killed at High Bridge, in 1897, and two who died in infancy.
Robert J. Haggarty spent his boyhood on the farm and was twenty-five years old when he learned the blacksmith trade and then opened a shop on his farm for his own use. Soon, however, the neighboring farmers began to come to him with their work, and in 1899 he opened his general shop. Prior to that he had spent four years in J. W. Mitchell's blacksmith shop at New Galilee. Mr. Haggarty is something of a traveler and has visited fifteen of the States of the Union, mainly those in the South. In addition to his blacksmithing and general repair work, in which he has a very large trade, he also runs the farm. The old log house is still standing, its date of erection being about 1815. A part of the farm is utilized by the P. F. Railroad. In politics Mr. Haggarty is a Republican. He is a leading member of the Reformed Church and is one of the elders in the same.
20th Century History of New Castle and Lawrence County Pennsylvania and Representative Citizens Hon. Aaron L. Hazen Richmond-Arnold Publishing Company, Chicago, Ill., 1908
Previous Biography | Table of Contents | Next Biography
Explanation/Caution | Lawrence Co. Maps | Lawrence Co. Histories
Updated: 16 Oct 2001