Bios: WILLIAM N. AIKEN: Lawrence County, Pennsylvania
    
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  Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Lawrence Co transcribers.
  Coordinated by Ed McClelland

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  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/
  
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    PROF. WILLIAM N. AIKEN
    
    [p. 472] of New Castle, Pa., for many years the efficient superintendent of
  public schools of Lawrence Co., Pa., and now interested in life insurance
  business, was born in Wayne township, now a part of Lawrence County, but
  formerly in Beaver County, Jan. 12, 1834. He traces his ancestry back through
  David Aiken, William Aiken, Jr., to William Aiken, who was the first of the
  family to settle in America. Our subject's great-grandfather, William Aiken,
  was born in Ireland, where he spent the years of his early manhood until he
  was attracted by the glowing accounts he had heard of this country to take up
  his home in a foreign land, and to grow up with the country with a chance
  equal to that of any other young man of industrious habits and energetic
  disposition. He brought his family with him, among whom was William Aiken,
  Jr., to a place near Baltimore, Maryland, where he lived a number of years,
  removing from there at last to take up a residence in Westmoreland. Co., Pa.,
  which was the place of his death.
    
    William Aiken, Jr., did not long remain in Pennsvlvania after attaining his
  majority but removed to St. Clairsville, Ohio, where he met Dorothy Newell and
  won her hand in marriage. This worthy pair was blessed with the birth of three
  children, triplets, all of whom grew up to maturity and married and raised
  families. David was the father of our subject. William married Martha Smiley
  of Wayne township, and they had two children, William and Margaret. The other
  one of the triplets, Dorothy, married Daniel Thomas, and has five children:
  William, John, Elam, David, and Sarah. In 1801, Mr. Aiken returned to
  Pennsylvania and took up a residence in Wayne township, and immediately after
  his settlement there he became interested in the milling industry, and built a
  carding mill, saw-mill and grist-mill, and was quite busily engaged at this
  work in connection with some farming until his death at the advanced age of
  eighty-three years. In 1821, some time after the death of his first wife, he
  married Miss Margaret Clark, and they lived happily together with nothing to
  mar the calmness of their lives until her death in 1845, leaving him then to
  walk the path of life alone. In religious matters Mr. Aiken was a
  Presbyterian, having been elder many years. Politically, he was an adherent
  of the old Whig party.
    
    David Aiken, the father of our subject, was born during the time of the
  family residence in Ohio in 1800. He remained in Wayne township, whither his
  father had removed since his birth and located, until 1845, when he obtained
  possession of a tract of land in extent 267 acres in Shenango township. Here
  he farmed until his death, being very highly respected among his neighbors as
  a very prosperous man, and as one of more than ordinary ability. He was a
  Whig, and he served as assessor, as school director, and as a delegate to the
  first county convention ever held in Lawrence County. His wife, Martha, was a
  daughter of James Vance of Slippery Rock township, and was born in 1807, and
  died in 1883. Their children were: Martha; Dorothy, wife of Robert Van Horn
  of Slippery Rock township; William N., our subject; James W., who fell in the
  engagement at Petersburg; David W., who married Marian Young, and has four
  children, Bell M., Frank, Mary, and Dora; Isaiah W., who served in the army,
  and died from disease contracted there; William H., who married Mary Gemmel
  of Greensburg, Westmoreland Co., Pa.; Sarah E. (now deceased), who became the
  wife of James Adams, and bore him two children, Henry W. and William N.; Mary
  J. (now deceased), who married Harvey Palmer of Shenango township and had
  three children, David, Hugh, and William; Margaret M. (now deceased), who
  married Milton Walton of Slippery Rock township, and left him with the care
  of three children, William D., Jesse, and James H.; and Isabella T.,
  deceased, a twin sister of Margaret M. The family were regular attendants of
  the United Presbyterian Church, where David Aiken, the father, took an active
  part in church affairs and for many years acted as trustee. In his political
  belief he was a Whig, but upon the formation of the Republican party he
  joined the ranks of the new organization. His death occurred March 1, 1860.
    
    Prof. William N. Aiken was educated in the district schools of his
  neighborhood, and took an advanced course at Westminster College, which was
  located at New Wilmington, Pa., and graduated from that institution in 1861.
  Immediately after his graduation he accepted a position as teacher, and
  taught in the public schools of the city of New Castle several years. In
  1869, he was elected superintendent of schools of Lawrence County, a position
  he held intelligently and to the great good of the educational interests of
  the county until 1878. He was also city superintendent of the New Castle
  schools from 1884 to 1887. Since that time he has been engaged in the life
  insurance business, representing as its agent the Mutual Benefit Life
  Insurance of Newark, N. J. In politics, he sides with the Republicans, and
  casts his vote in support of Republican candidates.
    
    On April 6, 1865, he married Margaret M. Laughridge of Youngstown, Ohio.
  Their marriage has been blessed with two children: Martha R., a teacher in
  the public schools; and Willlam L. The family are United Presbyterians in
  their religious attachments.