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JOSEPH K. CASS, president of the Morrison & Cass Paper Company of 
Tyrone, and a grand-nephew of Gen. Lewis Cass, distinguished alike for 
his patriotism and his statesmanship, and whose services to his country 
will never be forgotten, was born in Coshocton, Ohio, October 10, 1848, 
and is a son of Dr. Abner L. and Margaret (Kerr) Cass.  The Casses are 
of English descent, and it is presumable that John and Joseph Cass were 
the founders of the Cass family in America, as they came from England 
and settled in New Hampshire at an early day in its colonial history.  
One of these two Granite State pioneers was the paternal ancestor of 
Maj. Jonathan Cass, the great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch. 
 Maj. Cass was at Lexington and Bunker Hill, and served until the close 
of revolutionary struggle under the immediate command of Washington.  In 
1790 he left his New Hampshire home and went to what is now Muskingum 
county, Ohio, where he entered a large tract of land on a military 
section reserved there for revolutionary officers and soldiers.  He 
improved his land and resided in Ohio until his death.  He married and 
reared a family of six children, of whom were:  Gen. Lewis Cass, who 
served as secretary of State under President Buchanan, and was the 
democratic candidate for the presidency in 1848 against General Taylor, 
the whig nominee; Captain Charles, and George W. George W. Cass 
(grandfather), the third son, married and reared a family of six 
children:  George W., jr., was a graduate of West Point Military 
academy, but preferred a business to a military life, and was the first 
president of the Adams Express Company, as well as holding the 
presidency of the Pittsburg, [sic] Ft. Wayne & Chicago Railroad Company 
for many years; Augusta; John J., who died in early life; Dr. Abner L.; 
Dr. Edward, who is the only member of the family now living, was 
graduated from Jefferson Medical college of Philadelphia, and resides at 
Dresden, Ohio, where he enjoys a large and first class practice; and 
Mary, who died when young.  Dr. Abner L. (father), the third son, was 
born in 1816, and died in Chicago in 1886.  He received his education in 
Kenyon college, Gambier, Ohio, read medicine with Dr. Andrews, a 
prominent physician of Stubenville, that State, and in 1836 entered 
Jefferson Medical college of Philadelphia, this State, from which 
celebrated institution he was graduated in the class of 1838. After 
graduation he opened an office in Coshocton, Ohio, where he practiced 
successfully for thirty years, at the end of which time he came to 
Pittsburg, this State, but only remained two years, then went to 
Chicago, Illinois, where he died in 1886.  He was a democrat in politics 
and served three terms as a State senator in the Ohio legislature.  He 
was a member of the Presbyterian church, and ranked high in his 
profession.  He married Margaret Kerr, who died in 1886, aged sixty-six 
years.  They were the parents of five children: Joseph K.; George W., 
who was graduated in the classical course of Kenyon college and the law 
department of Ann Arbor university, married Rebecca Osborn, and is a 
successful lawyer of Chicago, Illinois, now serving as president of the 
bar association of that great city, in which he is prominent in law and 
political circles; John J., who died at nine years of age; Abner, died 
when three years of age; and Agnes, who resides with her brother, Joseph 
K., at Tyrone. Joseph K. Cass received his education at Kenyon college, 
from which institution he was graduated in the classical courses of the 
class of 1868. Leaving college he engaged in civil engineering, was 
employed for four years in railroad work throughout western Michigan, 
and then came to Pittsburg, this State, where he served for three years 
in the general office of the Panhandle Railroad Company.  At the end of 
that time he relinquished civil engineering to embark in the manufacture 
of paper.  He formed a partnership with J. S. Morrison and D. M. Bare, 
under the firm name of Morrison, Bare & Cass, and they operated a large 
plant in Roaring Springs until 1880, when the increase of their trade 
necessitated the erection of the Tyrone plant.  In 1886 the company 
dissolved, and the Tyrone plant became the property of Morrison and 
Cass, who operated it under the firm name of Morrison & Cass until 
October, 1890, when it became the property of a stock company, under the 
present title of the Morrison & Cass Paper Manufacturing Company, of 
which Mr. Cass is the largest stockholder, and has been president since 
its organization.  The plant covers three and one-half acres of land, 
has a capacity of twenty-two tons of printing paper from the fibre of 
wood per day, and employs one hundred and fifty hands.  It is at the 
north end of town, fronting five hundred feet on Main street.  The main 
buildings, two stories in height, are in the form of a hollow square, 
and are: Alkali building, engine house, containing washing, bleaching, 
and sizing engines, wet machines, and Jordon engines; machine building, 
55 x 120 feet; boiler house; and evaporator building. On February 19, 
1879, Mr. Cass married Sarah, daughter of John Anderson, of Coshocton, 
Ohio, and to their union have been four children, two sons and two 
daughters:  Charles A., Margaret K., Joseph K., jr., and Anna S. In 
addition to paper manufacturing, Joseph K. Cass is interested in several 
other business enterprises, and has been for some time president of the 
Solar & Carbon Manufacturing Company, of Pittsburgh.  He is also 
president of the First National bank of Tyrone, succeeding in that 
office his partner, Mr. Morrison, who died in three months after the 
organization of the bank, in 1890.  Mr. Cass is a pleasant, courteous, 
and intelligent gentleman, and, though unassuming, yet is firm and 
decided in any course of action upon which he has resolved after due 
consideration. Joseph K. Cass has been for the past decade a prominent 
factor in the active business life of Tyrone, where he has well 
performed the duties of good citizenship. Transcribed and submitted to 
the Blair County, PA, USGenWeb archives by Lyn Frieda  
areume@hotmail.com