[p. 867] whose fine farm of 173 acres lies about twelve miles south of New Castle, in Big Beaver Township, is a prominent citizen and successful general farmer of this section. He was born July 17, 1833, in County Antrim, Ireland, and is a son of Robert and Ellen (Drummond) Buchanan.
The parents of Mr. Buchanan lived out their long and useful lives in Ireland, where the father died when sixty years of age, and the mother after reaching her seventy-ninth birthday. They had seven children: John; Mary, who married Samuel McCormick; William; Jane Isabella, who married Robert Apsley; Robert; Charles; and Ellen Jane, who married James McWilliams.
Until he was twenty years old, John Buchanan remained on his father's farm in County Antrim, and like every loyal Irishman, he cherishes a loving remembrance of his old home, which he left, in 1853, to come to America. After landing in the United States, he remained for two days in the city of New York and then went on to Philadelphia. A short residence in that city made him seek a better business location farther west, and hence he crossed the mountains and finally reached Pittsburg. There he obtained railroad construction work for the following winter, and at other points worked on the railroad for seven years after that, becoming, in the course of time, a trusted man in that work, and serving as division foreman. At length he tired of railroad labor, and in 1861 he purchased his present farm, from John F. Miller. While he was successful in his earlier work, he has found more enjoyment as a farmer, and ever since coming to this place has continued to improve it. He erected all the substantial buildings and has enriched his land until it produces abundantly.
On December 25, 1860, be married Margaret McClintie, who died in 1898, aged sixty years. She was a daughter of Alexander and Mary McClintie. They had the following children: Robert, who married Ann Jenkins; Mary Ellen, who married Thomas J. McClue; Charles A.; Isabella Jane, who died aged twenty years; William, who married Mary McChesney; Sarah E.; and James E., who survives his wife, who was a Miss Swisher.
Mr. Buchanan is a member of the United Presbyterian Church. In politics he is a Republican, and on his party's ticket he has frequently been elected to local offices, serving in all of them with the efficiency of a capable man and good citizen.
20th Century History of New Castle and Lawrence County Pennsylvania and Representative Citizens Hon. Aaron L. Hazen Richmond-Arnold Publishing Company, Chicago, Ill., 1908
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Updated: 17 Jan 2002