Bios: MRS. LIZZIE ANN PADEN : Lawrence County, Pennsylvania ________________________________________________________________ Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Lawrence Co transcribers. Coordinated by Ed McClelland Copyright 2004. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm _____________________________________________________________ Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens Lawrence County Pennsylvania Biographical Publishing Company, Buffalo, N.Y., 1897 An html version with search engine may be found at http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/lawrence/1897/ _____________________________________________________________________ MRS. LIZZIE ANN PADEN [p. 657] is a business woman of Mahoning township, Lawrence County, who is spoken of wherever she is known with the greatest amount of respect and approva1. She is the widow of Samuel M. Paden, who was in his day a representative citizen and a leading farmer of Lawrence Co., Pa. Mr. Paden was a son of the eminent Rev. S. K. Paden of Pulaski, a preacher who was celebrated throughout Western Pennsylvania for his piety and learning. Mr. Samuel M. Paden, at his marriage with the subject of our article, settled down on the old Paden homestead in Pulaski township. This farm was one of the very best in its locality, and on it Mr. Paden successfully followed general farming for a long term of years. In 1886 he sold the place so long his home with the intention of retiring from active labors; shortly after this, while on a visit in the West, he was taken ill with spinal meningitis, and died at Carbondale, Ill., May 30, 1886. Mr. Paden was thought very much of by a large circle of friends, and his death in a distant part of the country was mourned by all. He was at all times very active and energetic in all the affairs of life, social or otherwise. In politics he was an enthusiastic Prohibitionist. Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Paden, and they are: Cora May and Foster Spurgeon. Mrs. Paden comes from rugged English stock. Her father, John Hawley of Mahoning township, was born near Herefordshire, England, Jan. 5, 1827, and was brought to America when a lad of fourteen by his father, Matthew Hawley. The latter was a son of Matthew and Elizabeth (Pitt) Hawley. Matthew Hawley, the senior, was a butcher by trade and lived in the west part of England. The younger Matthew learned his father's trade, and followed it during his residence in the Old Country. He was married in England to Elizabeth Margin, who became the mother of John Hawley, and through him the grandmother of the subject of this personal history. Matthew Hawley arrived in America in 1841, and first made his home in the State of Ohio. The country in which he took up his home was quite hilly. Happening to make a visit to the western part of Mahoning township, Lawrence County, he saw a place that suited him better than did the Ohio home. This Pennsylvania farm of 117 acres he purchased from William Strain, and at once settled upon it; it was a fine place even then, when scarcely any improvements to speak of had been made. Level, fertile and well-watered, Mr. Hawley saw the grand possibilities in store for the person who should intelligently put the resources of the farm to the proper use. He planted apple seeds brought from England, and from these sprung the orchards which are so much in evidence on the estate to-day. The place is now owned by his son John, the father of Mrs. Paden. Matthew Hawley scarcely lived to witness the results of his work, for he died, four years after settling on his new farm, at the age of fifty-six. His wife lived until her sixty-fifth year. The children were named: Matthias, who died in youth; Thomas; John; James; Joseph; William, who was taken home in childhood; George; Elizabeth; Annie, who died at the age of sixteen and Maria. Of these, John, Mrs. Paden's father, remained with his mother after his father's demise, and assisted in rearing the large family. He bought out the other heirs to the property latern, and in 1871 built a new brick house, fitting it up throughout with hot and cold water, together with other modern fixtures. This was the first house in the township so equipped. When John Hawley first began farming for himself, he paid a great deal of attention to sheep-raising, owning some of the finest flocks ever seen in Lawrence County. Later he devoted his farm to general stock-raising and grain. He built spacious barns as they were needed. He also became the owner of another farm of 250 acres, on which he has built a house and barns. He was married to Angelina Brown, daughter of William Brown, and to this couple nine children have been born: William, a farmer of Pulaski township; Lizzie A. (Paden), the subject of this article: Lottie, who married William Harland; George, who is farming on one of the homestead farms; Brown, a merchant; Thomas, who is employed in the postoffice; Mary, who died at the age of sixteen; Reece, who is living at home; and Jane, also at home. John Hawley is one of the leading and most influential members of the Democratic party in Mahoning township. He has held several offices, among them those of overseer of the poor, school director and supervisor. He is very liberal in religious matters, and is in every sense a broad-minded and well-informed citizen. Mrs. Paden returned to Hillsville after the decease of her husband, and in the fall of 1886 was appointed postmistress at that point. With the energy and enterprise so characteristic of her family, she opened in connection with the office a store, beginning in rather a small way, but increasing her stock and broadening her field of operations as her efforts met the appreciation and approval of her towns-people. It soon became necessary to enlarge her quarters, so the present large store was built, equipped and stocked with the thousand and one things that go to make up the resources of a general store. In this building, the second floor is used for living purposes. The tenement house which adjoins the store was built by and is the property of our subject. Mrs. Paden has fully established the fact that she is a woman of extraordinary resources. Few people, being left alone as she was with no special training for business, would have known what to do, nor could they have turned so quickly from domestic cares and duties to the task of bread-winning and the busy whirl of a mercantile life. The business has grown to large proportions, and all through the efforts of the proprietor to deal fairly and alike with all. Her perseverance and good business sense are admired in the community, in which her success has been steady and deserved.