Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens
Lawrence County Pennsylvania 1897

JAMES L. WELCH

[p. 371] is a flourishing, thriving merchant of Pulaski, Pa. He was born in Coitsville, Ohio, July 18, 1824, and was a son of John and Charity (Lyons) Welch. The father was from Washington Co., Pa., and the mother was a native of Hubbard, Trumbull Co., Ohio, her people coming there from New Jersey. After going to school in Hubbard, Mr. Welch learned the harness-maker's trade, and that included carriage trimming and trunk making; after his apprenticeship was ended he worked on his own responsibility until his health began to fail and he was forced to consider a change. This was in 1859, when with a comparatively small amount of capital he began to deal in merchandise; by judicious buying and attractive display of his goods he managed to continue in business and to gradually extend his operations, so that now he possesses a fine, large stock of dry goods and groceries. He is a man of business talent, as is evidenced by his rise from humble beginnings, and he has good standing among the business men of Pulaski, where in his dealings he has made a host of acquaintances, and where socially he is a person of importance. Mr. Welch is a Mason and in the line of political offices he has been overseer of the poor and school director.

Mr. Welch was wedded in 1848 to Eliza Johnson, daughter of A. Johnson, and they have three children. Ellis L., the eldest, is in the employ of the Pennsylvania R. R., in the freight depot at Youngstown, Ohio; he married Susie P. Lee of Poland, Mahoning Co., Ohio, and is the father of three daughters-Flora, Grace, and Mabel. Florinda is deceased. John E. married Elizabeth T. Foley of Reynoldsville, Pa., and they have one daughter, Helen M. John clerks in his father's store.

John Welch, father of James L., was educated in the common schools of Trumbull County, O., and learned the shoemaker's trade in Youngstown. He located in Hubbard, Ohio, and spent the rest of his active period there. His wife was Charity Lyons, daughter of Barnabas Lyons, and they were faithful members of the M. E. Church. They had these children: James L., William; Plympton; Margaret; Bascomb R.: and John W., who died while in the army. The father was called home to his rest in Brookfield, Ohio.

James Welch, the grandfather, for whom the present James Welch was named, was Irish by birth; after his marriage to Margaret Welch he came to America, and made his home in Washington County, Pa., and later removed to Trumbull Co., now Mahoning Co., Ohio. He was a tailor and worked at that trade for several years until he had saved enough to buy a farm, where he went to spend the rest of his life. He was for that time a man of means. He and his wife were the parents of Samuel, James, Robert, Isabell, Margaret, Lydia, and two children who died in infancy. They were adherents of the M. E. Church. Mr. Welch's life closed in 1833, when he was sixty-eight years old.

James L. Welch has attained his present prosperity in the way open to all by hard work and presevering endeavors, and he is eminently deserving of greater good fortune. We find just such men in the front ranks of every business and among every community, whose success has been independent of another's assistance.


Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens Lawrence County Pennsylvania
Biographical Publishing Company, Buffalo, N.Y., 1897

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Updated: 30 May 2001