[p. 747] a representative
citizen of Union Township, and a
local minister in the Methodist Episcopal
Church, was born April 5, 1844, in Scott
Township, Lawrence County, Pennsylvania,
and is a son of John W. and Sarah
D. (Patterson) Locke. His paternal grandfather,
David Locke, was a pioneer settler
in Lawrence County. The Locke family is
of Scotch-Irish extraction, and has numbered
many illustrious men, one of whom
was the distinguished philosopher, Sir
John Locke. David Locke married Elizabeth
Nelson, who traced her ancestral line
to the same Nelson family which produced
Admiral Lord Nelson. The great-grandfather
of Rev. Locke, in direct line, was
William Locke, who, with Thomas Patterson,
on the maternal side, served in the
Revolutionary War. John W. Locke,
father of Rev. David M. Locke, was born
in Lawrence County. He died in 1859. His
father was a miller and he became a millwright
and cabinetmaker. He was a natural
mechanical genius, and was at home
with almost any kind of tools. Mrs. Sarah
D. (Patterson) Locke, mother of the subject
of this sketch, was a native of Westmoreland
County.
David M. Locke was reared in Scott Township, and obtained his education in the district schools. In April, 1861, he enlisted for service in the Civil War, becoming a member of Company E, One Hundredth Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, and before his honorable discharge on July 24, 1865, he had participated in twenty-six of the memorable battles of that great struggle, besides innumerable minor engagements, in which his life and liberty had been endangered. Although Mr. Locke is now a man of peace, he fought with the best at Port Royal, James Island, Cedar Mountain, White Sulphur Springs, Second Bull Run, Chantilly, South Mountain, Vicksburg, Jackson, Blue Springs, Campbell Station,, Knoxville, Wilderness, Spottsylvania, North Anna River, Bethsada Church, before Petersburg, Weldon Railroad, Squirrel Level, South Side Railroad, and Fort Steadman. He was wounded at South Mountain and was confined for several months in the military hospital at Frederick City, Md., and subsequently received other injuries at Spottsylvania and at the battle on the Weldon Railroad. Formerly Mr. Locke was a member of Grand Army Post No. 100, at New Castle, and of the Union Veteran Legion, No. 9.
After his return from the army Mr. Locke lived for a time in Lawrence County, and then removed to Greeley County, Kansas, where he resided for fourteen years, subsequently returning to Lawrence County, and since the fall of 1905, he has been a resident of Union Township. For many years he has been engaged in evangelistic work, as an accredited minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He has met with much encouragement in his labors, and enjoys, in high degree, the esteem of those who have come within his influence.
Mr. Locke married Eunice C. Irvine, who was born in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, and who had three sons—Charles S., residing in Union Township, and John C. and Earl L., who are both deceased. The former has one son, David Ray, and one daughter, Eva O. Mr. Locke has ever taken an interest in good government, and from principle is an ardent supporter of the Prohibition party. Formerly he was identified with the order of Odd Fellows.
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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