The Barr Family of Bradford, Pennsylvania

There are many branches of the Barr family in Pennsylvania, not all springing from the same source. The branch herein recorded cannot be definitely placed, but it is supposed they are of German descent. They were in Lancaster county prior to 1790 and lived near Quarryville where stands the famous “Ark” built in that year by Martin Barr, a wealthy distiller, as a residence. This house, at the time it was built, was not only the largest in that locality, but it was one of the finest and best. The main house was sixty-five by fifty-five feet and thirty feet high from the foundation wall to the eaves. The walls were two feet thick, built of stone. Not a nail was used in its inside finish, wooden pegs and pins being used instead. The hall, twelve feet wide, runs through the centre and the stairway is winding, continuing to the garret. This stairway is a mechanical marvel and has not been improved on by modern stair builders.

The Barrs were good farmers and the land always improved under their farming methods. They fed a large number of cattle and had large flocks of sheep. Martin Barr, builder of the “Ark,” had four sons and two daughters:

1. Abraham Barr. Son.
2. Christian Barr. Son.
3. Martin Barr. Son.
4. Jacob Barr. Son.
5. Christina Barr, daughter, married John Mowrer; she was the first child born in the “Ark” and lived to be one of the oldest residents in her community.
6. One other daughter.

Martin Barr, the father, lived to be a very old man, dying early in the nineteenth century. He was buried in the Barr graveyard, one of the oldest burying grounds in the country. He and wife Elizabeth were Mennonites.

(II) Martin (2) Barr

Martin (2), youngest son of Martin (1) Barr, was born in 1773, died in 1826. His father built him a substantial house and barn in 1792. These were of stone, well finished, and are yet in use. He married and had issue, but after the death of their parents the children left Lancaster county and settled in Western Pennsylvania and Ohio.

(III) Jacob Barr

Jacob, son of Martin Barr, was born in Quarryville, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, where he resided until well along in life. He spent the last years of his life as a collier in Bruin, Butler county, Pennsylvania, where he died. He was a communicant of the Methodist Episcopal church. He married and had issue:

1. Jacob Barr, died in Bruin, Butler county, Pennsylvania; he was a collier; he married and had a family.
2. Samuel Barr, a lumberman, died in Clarion county, Pennsylvania, leaving issue.
3. John Barr, a collier, died in Oil City, Pennsylvania; married —– —–, deceased, and had children.
4. Katherine Barr, deceased, married —– —–, deceased, and had issue.
5. Christian Barr, of whom further.

(IV) Christian Barr

Christian, son of Jacob Barr, was born in Bradford county, Pennsylvania “East of the Mountains,” April 6, 1806, died in Bruin, Butler county, Pennsylvania, August 23, 1862. He followed the business of a collier all his life. He settled in Bruin, Pennsylvania. He was a Republican in politics. He married (first) Christiana Stull; (second) in 1830, Sarah Bossard, born in Woodcock township, Crawford county, Pennsylvania, February 28, 1808, died in Meadville, Pennsylvania, in August, 1876. Children: one child by first wife; the following twelve children by second wife, born in Woodcock township, Crawford county, Pennsylvania, six miles north of Meadville:

1. One child by first wife.
2. Anna Catherine Barr, born June 22, 1831, died in Union City, Pennsylvania, January 6, 1893; married (first) Garrett Davison, deceased, and (second) Morton, deceased; children, all by first marriage:
   1. John Davison, deceased.
   2. Addie Davison, married Albert Wales, and lives in Corry, Pennsylvania.
   3. Charles Davison, lives in Union City, Pennsylvania.
   4. Laura Davison, deceased.
3. John Henry Barr, born in Crawford county, Pennsylvania, June 20, 1833, died September 10, 1905, at Union City; was a cooper; married Jane Floyd, of Blooming Valley, Pennsylvania; children:
   1. Christian Barr, deceased.
   2. Minnie Barr, deceased.
   3. Ellen Barr, deceased.
   4. Catherine Barr, married Max Cottrel, an employee in a chair factory at Union City.
4. Thomas Jefferson Barr, born October 6, 1834, died in Meadville, Pennsylvania, June 2, 1886; was a cabinetmaker; married Margaret Briggs, living in the west; they had a large family.
5. Rosanna Barr, born June 13, 1836; lives in Hayfield township, Crawford county, Pennsylvania; married Harrison Deross, of Crawford county, Pennsylvania, a farmer.
6. Mary Anjeline Barr, born May 2, 1838.
7. Samuel Barr, born June 8, 1839.
8. Jacob Barr, born December 13, 1840, unmarried, died in 1862 at Bakersburg, Maryland, from effects of a fever incurred shortly after enlistment in the army during the civil war.
9. William G. Barr, born September 7, 1842; a cooper of Blooming Valley, Pennsylvania; he fought through the civil war in Company C, One Hundred and Fiftieth Regiment Pennsylvania Infantry Volunteers; he was taken prisoner and kept in the Confederate prison pen at Andersonville for seven months and seven days; he married Matilda Brown, of Blooming Valley.
10. Sarah Elmina Barr, born July 12, 1844; lived at Blooming Valley; married Samuel P. Gilmore, a farmer of Blooming Valley, where he died in 1908; children:
    1. Lynn Gilmore, of Crawford county, Pennsylvania.
    2. Lyle Gilmore, deceased.
    3. Hugh Gilmore.
    4. Grove Gilmore, living in Mason City, Iowa.
    5. Harry Gilmore, living in Mason City, Iowa.
11. Jonathan David Barr, born September 15, 1846; a merchant living in Blooming Valley, Pennsylvania; married (first) Anna Thompson, deceased, (second) Stella Hayse, (third) Hester Dewey, of Blooming Valley; children:
    1. Lulu Barr, child of first wife, married Oscar Rondebush, sheriff of Crawford county.
    2. Hayse Barr, child by second wife, of Blooming Valley.
    3. Dewey Barr, child by third wife, living with their parents.
    4. Elizabeth Barr, child by third wife, living with their parents.
    5. Douglas Barr, child by third wife, living with their parents.
12. Charles C. Barr, born January 29, 1851; a farmer of Erie, Pennsylvania; married Florence McKelvy, of Bruin, Pennsylvania, and has two children:
    1. Harry E. Barr, a consulting engineer in Erie, Pennsylvania.
    2. Brendis Barr, lives with parents.
13. Christian S. Barr, of whom further.

(V) Christian S. Barr

Christian S., son of Christian and Sarah (Bossard) Barr, was born in Woodcock township, Crawford county, Pennsylvania, September 8, 1853. When he was very young his parents moved to Bruin, Butler county, Pennsylvania, and when he was but nine years of age his father died and he then made his residence with his oldest brother, John, in Blooming Valley, Crawford county, Pennsylvania, where he was educated in the public schools. In 1877 he began working on an oil lease in Butler county, Pennsylvania, where he remained until January 1, 1881, when he moved to Derrick City, McKean county, Pennsylvania, taking a position with the Tide Water Pipe Company, with which company he is still employed. His career with them has been a series of promotions, each one coming from merit recognized. He began with the company on construction work, at which he remained for fifteen months, was promoted to gauger, a position he held until 1902, when he was advanced to the office of district foreman, and on July 1, 1908, he received his final promotion, becoming superintendent of the local lines of the company with his office at No. 14 South avenue, Bradford.

Mr. Barr is one of the leading and most enterprising and energetic citizens of Bradford, held in high regard throughout the community. His political sympathies are with the Republican party, although he has never held any office. He is a regular attendant of the Methodist Episcopal church. His club is the Merchants of Bradford, and he is a member of the Bradford Lodge, No. 334, Free and Accepted Masons; Chapter, No. 260, Royal Arch Masons, at Bradford; Commandery, No. 58, Knights Templar, and Zem Zem Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine.

He married, July 24, 1880, Elizabeth Ellen Marshall, born near Wilmington, Lawrence county, Pennsylvania, January 11, 1858. She was educated in the public schools of Venango county, Pennsylvania. She is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church of Bradford, and belongs to the McKean County Historical Society.

Child of Christian S. and Elizabeth Ellen (Marshall) Barr:

1. Gretchen Freda Barr, born in Derrick City, Pennsylvania, May 9, 1891; she was graduated from Bradford high school, class of 1907, of which she was valedictorian, and later attended Mount Holyoke College, from which she was graduated, class of 1911, holding the office of treasurer.

The Marshall Line

(I) Samuel Marshall

Samuel Marshall was a farmer of Beaver, Pennsylvania, and died at the age of eighty years. He married Elizabeth Swager, a native of Pennsylvania. Children:

1. Catherine Marshall, died in Bradford, Pennsylvania; married —– Johnson, of New Castle, Pennsylvania, and had one son:
   1. Marshall Johnson, deceased.
2. Belle Marshall, died in New Castle, Pennsylvania; married Samuel Duncan, a merchant tailor of New Castle, where he died.
3. Hugh Marshall, of whom further.
4. John Marshall, a merchant, died in Oil City, Pennsylvania; married Mary Zuver.

(II) Hugh Marshall

Hugh, son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Swager) Marshall, was born in Beaver, Pennsylvania, January 28, 1826, died in Pleasantville, Pennsylvania, December 8, 1898. He married Susanna Zuver, born June 9, 1831, in Mercer county, Pennsylvania, died in Pleasantville, December 25, 1904. She was a granddaughter of George Zuver, who fought during the revolutionary war, and a daughter of William Zuver, born in Mercer county, Pennsylvania, in 1790, died in Pleasantville, Pennsylvania, 1869. He married Mary Sampson, born in Lawrence county, Pennsylvania, 1800, died in Pleasantville, 1879. Children of Mr. and Mrs. Zuver:

1. George Emery Zuver, an oil producer, died in Pleasantville; married Susan Turner, deceased; children:
   1. George Quincy Zuver, lives in Tionesta, Pennsylvania.
   2. Mary Zuver, lives in Butler, Pennsylvania.
   3. Lewis Zuver, lives in Butler, Pennsylvania.
   4. Jennie Zuver, lives in Martinsburg, Pennsylvania.
   5. Thomas Zuver, deceased.
   6. Leander Zuver, lives in Tionesta, Pennsylvania.
2. Sampson Zuver, a lawyer, died at Sandy Lake, Pennsylvania; married Nancy Musser, deceased; children:
   1. Nancy Zuver, lives in Franklin, Pennsylvania.
   2. Joseph Zuver, deceased.
   3. Amanda Alice Zuver, lives in Jamestown, New York.
   4. Mary Zuver, deceased.
   5. Florence Zuver, lives in Sharon, Pennsylvania.
   6. Sampson Zuver, lives in Sharon, Pennsylvania.
   7. William Zuver, deceased.
   8. Emma Zuver, lives in Franklin, New York.
3. Elizabeth Zuver, died in Sandy Lake, Pennsylvania; married Lewis Patterson, deceased, a farmer; children:
   1. William Patterson, deceased.
   2. Lewis Patterson, lives at Sandy Lake.
4. Mary Zuver, died in Oil City, Pennsylvania; married John Marshall, deceased, a merchant; he was a brother of Hugh Marshall, of previous mention.
5. William Zuver, an officer of the Eighty-third Regiment Pennsylvania Infantry Volunteers, was killed in the battle of Gettysburg; married Sarah Culbertson.
6. Susanna Zuver, of previous mention.
7. Andrew Zuver, died in Conneautville, Pennsylvania, where he was sheriff and justice of the peace; he married Nancy Mars.
8. Brownlee Zuver, died in Franklin, Pennsylvania; married Martha Hammel, living in Pleasantville; children:
   1. Audley Zuver, lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
   2. Berdina Zuver, lives near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
   3. Clyde Zuver, lives in California.
   4. Harry Zuver, lives in Pleasantville.
   5. A son, who lives in Pleasantville.

Children of Hugh and Susanna (Zuver) Marshall:

1. John Marshall, born in Mercer county, Pennsylvania, July 17, 1849, died in Pleasantville, October, 1881; married Elizabeth McGinley, of Pleasantville, who has remarried; children:
   1. Mirl Marshall, married and living in Pleasantville.
   2. Minnie Marshall, lives in Pleasantville, married James Rumbaugh, a contractor of Pleasantville, Pennsylvania; they have two children, both living at home:
      1. Roland Rumbaugh.
      2. Lloyd Rumbaugh.
   3. Hugh Marshall, unmarried, lives at Pleasantville.
2. Curtis Sanford Marshall, born in Mercer county, Pennsylvania, February 26, 1851, and is engaged in the oil business in California; he married Cecelia Stevens, of Oil City; children:
   1. Claud Marshall, born 1880, engaged in the oil business.
   2. Catherine Marshall, born 1882, married Lester Buck, a merchant from Sistersville, West Virginia, and they have one child:
      1. Talmadge Buck, born 1889, lives in Sistersville.
3. Isabelle Marshall, born in Mercer county, Pennsylvania, June 19, 1853, died in October, 1882; married Ralph Pyle, of Forest county, Pennsylvania; children:
   1. Charles Pyle.
   2. Lois Pyle.
   3. Edith Pyle.
   4. Roy Pyle.
4. Mary Marshall, born in Mercer county, Pennsylvania, February 26, 1856, died August, 1883; married Daniel Brown, of Connecticut, who is engaged in the oil business; child:
   1. William A. Brown, born in 1873, lives in Virginia.
5. Elizabeth Ellen Marshall, born January 11, 1858; married Christian S. Barr (see Barr V).

See: Genealogy of the Allegheny Valley Pennsylvania

Source

Jordan, J. W. 1840-1921. (1913). Genealogical and personal history of the Allegheny Valley, Pennsylvania. New York: Lewis Historical Pub. Co.

This genealogy is based upon the source cited above. Only the structure and formatting have been changed for clearer presentation; the genealogical and biographical content has been preserved.