Bios: MRS. ELIZABETH J. BEAR: Lawrence County, Pennsylvania

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  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
 
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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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    MRS. ELIZABETH J. BEAR
    
    [p. 553] of Hickory township, Lawrence Co., Pa., is the widow of the Rev.
  Richard M. Bear, a most highly respected Methodist clergyman, whose death
  took place in the city of New Castle, in 1888, when he was aged three score
  and ten years. Mrs. Bear was a daughter of Michael and Rebecca (Ramsey)
  Jordan, and granddaughter of Henry Jordan, who was a native of Germany. Our
  subject's grandfather came to America when fourteen years of age, having been
  drafted into the British Army, and very soon after his arrival he took part in
  the Revolutionary War, joining the Continental Army at New York, deserting
  from the British. He served through the remaining portion of the war as a
  private, and when discharged from the band of patriots, who had fought and
  bled in Freedom's cause, settled in what is now Washington township, Lawrence
  County, where he purchased a tract of virgin soil, heavily timbered; he
  occupied the rest of his years in clearing the tall forest trees, and in
  following the peaceful and honorable calling of an agriculturist, at which
  line of work he was very successful, taking high rank for general ability and
  excellence of work among his brother-farmers. Although not personally
  interested in politics, he was, notwithstanding, a strong partisan of the
  Democratic party. He married Elizabeth Marsheimer, a native of Eastern
  Pennsylvania, and the fruits of their union were: John; Henry; Daniel;
  George; Michael; Susan; Elizabeth; Catherine; and Mary. They looked for
  religious counsel and upholding faith in the Presbyterian Church. Henry
  Jordan died sometime in the '40's, aged ninety-two years; his wife was called
  to join the ransomed ones on the other shore, when in her ninetieth year, in
  1851 or 1852.
    
    Educational advantages in new sparsely settled districts of a country that
  is still poor in everything but its natural wealth, are sometimes
  unconventional in the extreme, and the school-house, wherein Michael Jordan,
  the father of our subject, received his education was much after the usual
  run of school-houses of that day, when out in the remote pioneer districts.
  It was, of course, built of logs, unhewn, with the cracks filled up with
  stiff clay; the windows were small and high in the wall, and because of the
  price of glass were glazed with oiled paper; everything was primitive to the
  last degree, but who shall say that the rudiments of learning imparted in
  such institutions, under all kinds of obstacles, have not been of the
  greatest influence in molding our life as a nation, and in kindling a spark
  of ambition for higher attainments that has led many a bright, barefoot boy
  to rise from one position to another, till his name becomes famous, and his
  works have been given a place among the best works of the age. The American
  school-house should occupy a tender spot in every loyal American's heart.
  When the school had done as much for him as it was able, he became a young
  farmer, but was also interested extensively in the buying and selling of
  horses, cattle, sheep, etc., and at one period was successfully engaged in
  the mercantile business. His was a well-rounded, vigorous character, and his
  energies intelligently directed in whatever direction always brought him
  wealth and a farther rise in his station; money once acquired became the
  nucleus of a larger amount, and kept on increasing indefinitely. He has spent
  all of his life in Washington township, where he is looked upon with respect
  as a leading citizen. He married Rebecca Ramsey, daughter of James and Sarah
  Ramsey who were both natives of Westmoreland Co., Pa., and of this union
  there resulted four children: James, who died in 1844, aged seventeen years;
  Sarah A., deceased at seventeen years of age; Maria, who married Thomas
  Martin of Washington township, and has a family of three children, Agnes,
  Elizabeth, and Margaret; and Elizabeth, the subject of this sketch. Mrs.
  Jordan died in 1851, aged forty-two years. Michael Jordan died in 1888, aged
  eighty-six years.
    
    Mrs. Bear has been married twice. Her first marriage was in 1850 to
  Alexander McDowell, a native of Neshannock township (now Hickory), and by
  this union she became the mother of three children: Rebecca and Rachel, both
  of whom died in infancy; and Hannah M., who became the wife of Eliphaz B.
  Wilson, a native of Hickory township, and has five children, Lillie,
  deceased, Bertha (Mrs. E. Snodgrass) of Allegheny Pa., who has one child,
  Robert, Alexander Mc, who is studying for the ministry, Elizabeth, and Paul.
  Mr. McDowell, who was born in 1827, departed his life in 1873, and his widow
  thereupon, in 1877, married the Rev. Richard M. Bear, a Methodist clergyman,
  who was then located at Mt. Jackson, Pa., and who for many years was a member
  of the Erie Conference. After his marriage with our subject he filled pastoral
  positions in Jamestown, Pa., Middlesex, Pa., Fredonia, Pa., and Volant, this
  county. Mrs. Bear's grandmother, Sarah Taylor, was the first white woman who
  crossed the Slippery Rock River; she was a distant relative of Zachary Taylor.