Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens
Lawrence County Pennsylvania 1897
[p. 315] a prosperous market-gardener, residing in Shenango township about three miles south of New Castle, was born in Taylor township, May 28, 1866, and is a son of George G. and Margaret (Mack) Weinschenk, being the oldest of the following family of children—Annie M., who married Charles F. Alborn, the miller at Big Run Mill, Alice, Margaret, deceased, and William Henry, the subject of this sketch.
Our subject's father was born April 10, 1835, his birth-place being in Geradstetten, Wurtemberg, Germany; he was a son of John G. and Katherine (Retter) Weinschenk. He commenced making his own way at the age of fifteen years, and when twenty-two years of age, having thoroughly mastered the art of gardening and floriculture, he came to America as a field of greater promise and possibilities. . He began his ocean voyage in May, 1857, and thirty-five days elapsed from the time he left the port of Havre, before he was again on terra firma at New York City. He arrived in the city of New Castle June 22, 1857, having come on immediately from New York, and at once secured employment at gardening for Mr. Butz at Croton, which gentleman was then the leading gardener of New Castle; he was in his employ for two years, and then worked for a period in the service of Mr. Peebles. Five or six years were spent in the South in and about the city of Louisville, Ky., having charge of private gardens of the rich planters; the war left the country so impoverished, that Mr. Weinschenk found little demand for his work, so he returned to the vicinity of New Castle, worked for Mr. Butz for nearly a year, and then purchased a tract of land in Taylor township, where he engaged in gardening about eight years, and then disposing of his property there bought his present farm in 1873, taking possession the following year. The home garden comprises twenty-four acres of land in the highest state of cultivation, with half an acre under glass, and this tract of land is utilized to the utmost in raising and bringing to perfection splendid crops of fruits and vegetables. He is also the owner of various other tracts of land in different parts of the county.
Our subject was nine years of age when his parents moved from Taylor township to Shenango township, and the latter township has continued to be his home since. He attended the district schools and the public schools of New Castle until he was sixteen years old, and supplemented this preliminary education with a course at Duff's Business College at Pittsburg, Pa., graduating from that institution March 7, 1884. Until March, 1894, Mr. Weinschenk was a member of his father's household, and assistant to his father in the latter's gardening operations; in this way he secured a splendid training in gardening, and in 1894 was in complete trim to engage in work for himself. He accordingly rented a ninety-acre tract of his father a few miles south of the homestead, and subsequently purchased sixty acres of the tract, still renting the remaining thirty acres. On this farm in 1896 he built one of the most elegant and complete country residences in Shenango township, or, in fact, in the county; it is of modern architecture and an adaptation of the old colonial style, which has proved itself to be one of the best for country houses; the structure is erected on a commanding site, and makes an imposing picture of country comfort as viewed from the highway, and this idea of comfort is the more pronounced the more one sees of the interior, with its many provisions for convenience, and well-adapted furnishings. Mr. Weinschenk has his land in a high state of cultivation and the whole is an ideal garden spot; he finds a ready home-market for his fruits and vegetables in New Castle, and the neighboring boroughs. He is entitled to rank among the first gardeners of the county from his experience and training, and by reason of his success in obtaining uniformly good results.
Mr. Weinschenk was married March 22, 1894, in Shenango township to Lavina Reed, daughter, of John C. and Phoebe Ann (Iddings) Reed, and sister of William E. and Luther M. Reed, neighbors of our subject. They have been blessed by the birth of one child, Marguerite, born Nov. 16, 1895. Phoebe Ann Iddings was a daughter of Joseph and Hannah (Hoopes) Iddings, and granddaughter on her mother's side of Ezra Hoopes of Chester Co., Pa. John C. Reed, an account of whose life may be found in this work included in that of his sons, was a son of William Reed, who was born in Zanesville, Ohio, in 1803, a son of John and Margaret (Lutton) Reed, the latter a daughter of Ralph Lutton. John Reed was born in Ireland, and settled in 1806 in Ohio, and then came to Lawrence County; his father, Michael Reed, lived and died in Ireland; they followed the trade of weavers in the Old Country. William Reed, the father of John C., married Anna Canon, who was born in Mahoningtown, Feb. 10, 1805, and is now residing at the advanced age of ninety-two years with her granddaughter in New Castle; her mind is very clear and memory good for one of her years, and her bodily strength is reasonably good. She is a daughter of James and Betsy (Hendrickson) Canon, the latter a daughter of Dr. Cornelius Hendrickson, the first physician to settle in the boundary of the county; he attained the extreme age of ninety-six years, and when within one year of his decease rode six miles on horseback to set a broken limb. James Canon was a son of James Canon of Shirleysburg, Pa. More of this interesting family is recorded elsewhere in this work. Mr. Weinschenk and his wife are members of the Savannah M. E. Church. Our subject early allied himself with the Democratic party, and follows its leadership in national, state and local politics. He is a member of New Castle Lodge, No. 404, Knights of Pythias. He is a valued member of society, and occupies a position high in the esteem of his fellow-citizens as an honorable, industrious and enterprising young man, who is bound to succeed in his work.
Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens Lawrence County Pennsylvania
Biographical Publishing Company, Buffalo, N.Y., 1897
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Updated: 24 May 2001