Bios: Charles Sherrer Beatty, 1843 -  : Dunbar Twp, Fayette Co

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Quoted from:Nelson's Biographical Dictionary and Historical Reference
Book of Fayette County.

   Hon.Charles Sherrer BEATTY,a leading citizen and successful farmer of 
Dunbar Township,was born in Dunbar Township on the farm where he now
resides July,28,1843.He is the son James and Sarah Jane(Sherrer)Beatty.
James Beatty was born July 25,1822 in Dunbar Township, where he devoted
his life to farming.He was a son of John and Isabelle(Hyndman) Beatty.
John Beatty was born in New Jersey near Trenton,about 1796.He and his
two brothers,James the oldest and Samuel the youngest,came over the
mountains from New Jersey and settled in Dunbar Township near Laurel
Furnace about 1816,they being accompanied by their mother.James
Beatty,the great-grandfather,was born in Ireland and with several
brothers came to this country,settling near Trenton in New Jersey,prior
to the Revolutionary war.He and some brothers were soldiers in the
Revolutionary war.John,a brother,was captured by the indians in 1783 and
burned to death.James Beatty died about 1790.The family remained in New
Jersey until about 1816,when the three sons,as stated above,settled with
their mother in Fayette County.The family was one of the wealthy
families of the country,but converted their property into Continental
money,which became worthless.James Beatty,the oldest son of James
Beatty,the first American ancestor,remained in Fayette County,PA
until his death about 1850.He left four children,one son and three
daughters.Thomas,the son,married a Miss Keffer,was a soldier in the
Union army during the Civil war and died in 1886,leaving three
children:Mattie,who married and moved to Illinois;Mary Jane,who married
J.S.Showetter,of Virginia(now WestVirginia);and Margaret,who never
married.
  Samuel;the youngest son of James,the great-grandfather,was engaged in
the manufacture of paper.Later became interested in the manufacture of
woolen goods at New Haven,Fayette County,and accumulated great
wealth,and
afterwards engaged in the mercantile business in Philadelphia.He moved
to
Bellville,Washington county,where he was engaged in the mercantile
business.About 1840 he went to Washington,Pa,where he for twenty years
was considered as the largest wool dealer in the county.He died about
1894;being about ninety-four years of age.He left four children:Mary
A.,widow;Preston,a resident of Washington,Pa;Elizabeth,married a
Mr.Smith and resides in Allegheny,Pa,;Gazella,married a minister and
went West.The mother of James,John and Samuel Beatty,died in Fayette
county about 1830.John Beatty,the grandfather of the subject of this
sketch,was born in 1796,and married Isabelle Hyndman,a native of Fayette
county about 1820.Six children blessed that union;James(father)born
July,27,1822;Mary
Jane,deceased,wife of James Graham(deceased),resided in Dunbar
Township,where Mr.Graham died(about 1884)and left three
children:Geo.B.,John S.,and Thomas,all of whom reside on the
homestead;Samuel,never married and died in 1891;John died in 1848 at the
age of twenty years;Joseph,married Miss Lydia Humbert,of Fayette
county,and left three children:John C of Fayette county,married
;William,a resident of Allegheny,Pa;Florence,unmarried,resides at home
with her mother;Sarah,married Uriah McNatt,resides in Redstone township
and has three children:Isabella,Amanda,Katherine;and James.James Beatty
married July 26,1842 Miss Sarah Jane Sherrer,daughter of Charles
Sherrer,of Baltimore,the latter a native of Germany,born about 1786,Jane
Sherrer was born in September,1823.Nine children were born to James and
Jane(Sherrer) Beatty;Charles S;Mary,married John Long and resides in
Dunber Township and whose children were:Granville,Albert,Emma,
Clara,Queen,Samuel and Pearl:Isabell,married William Long and has one
child; John C,who married Miss Ella Kelley,and both are dead,leaving no
children;James W.,a resident of North Union township married Miss Mary E
Ache,of Uniontown and has five children:Blanche,John,James,Edgar and
Elizabeth;Alice,unmarried,and resides at home;Emma married Charles
Sherrer and has four children:Gertrude,Grace,Fern and Wilber.
  Charles Sherrer Beatty attended the common schools of Fayette
county.He left school when eighteen years of age to engage in farming
and
teaching-farming in the summer and teaching in the winter.On Augest
25,1863,he married to Miss Rebecca Woodward,daughter of Davis and
Mary(Boyd) Woodward,of Dunbar Township,Pa.Eight children bless that
union:Luella B,wife of Osmond Thatcher of Moundsville,W.VA
now of Dunbar township,and has one child,Sidney;Mary Florence,married
Thomas Hughes,an engineer of Scranton,Pa and resides at Plymouth,Luzerne
county,Pa.and has four children:Annie,Maggie,Edna and Llewellen;Davis
Woodward,married Miss Annie Hankins and has four children:John,Robert
Lee,Lena May, and Davis Dempsey,and resides in Dunbar
Township:Sarah,married William A Hankins,formerly of Virginia,but at
present resides in Dunbar township and has four children:Helen
Rebekah,James Alfred,Flodoris and Rhea Lafayette of Dunbar Township;
Charles S,a student of the Allegheny Theological seminary(Presbyterian)
and who will graduate in the class of 1900;James Lee,at home;Robert
Earl,at home. Mr.Charles S Beatty purchased his present farm in 1869;it
is valuable and contains one hundred and twenty-five acres of land well
improved and in a high state of cultivation.Mr Beatty is one of the
successful farmers of the county.He has taken an active interest in
every move to advance the agricultural interests of the county.He and
his ancestors have been lifelong Democrats;and leaders of as well as
active workers in the party.Mr Beatty is strong in his convictions,yet
liberal in his views and is deservedly by popular with all classes.In
1873-4 he served as secretary of the Democratic county committee;has
served fourteen years as a member of the school board and secretary of
the 
same for Dunbar Township and previous to this taught seventeen terms in
the public schools of Dunber township.He is one of the best and most
efficient school directors the Township has ever had.He was nominated
and elected on the Democratic ticket in 1888,and again in 1890,from
Fayette County to the House of Representatives of Pennsylvania,which
office he filled with honor to himself and credit to the County.He was
nominated in 1894 on the Democratic ticket for State Senator,but was
defeated as were the Democratic nominees nearly all over the county.Mr
Beatty introduced a number of bills of interest to the county while in
legislature,but as his party was in the minority,many measures were
defeated for party reasons.Mr Beatty is a member of the presbyterian
church at
Leisenring and has been an elder since the organization of the church.He
has been a member of King David Lodge,No.826,Independent Order of Odd
Fellows,of Dunbar,for many years.He is a member of Leisenring Lodge,No
334 K.P.,formerly of Dunbar Lodge,No 410 and has been secretary of the
same for many years.He is a member of the Junior Order of American
Merchanics,Leisenring Council,No 184,and secretary of same;also a member
and secretary of Dunbar Grange,No 1022,A member of and secretary of
Fayette County,Pomono Grange,No 49. Mr Beatty is a man of pleasing
address,unimpeachable business integrity and splendid intellectual
endowment.