[p. 706] who has been a resident of Wampum since 1891, has attained high rank in his profession and enjoys a large and lucrative practice. He has been a life-long resident of Lawrence County, having been born in Wurtemburg, Wayne Township, September 22, 1857, is a son of Robert and Christina (Liebendofer) Mehard, and a grandson of James and Mary Mehard.
James Mehard, the grandfather, came from County Antrim, Ireland, about the year 1816, settling first in the city of Philadelphia, and shortly afterward at Wurtemburg, Lawrence County, Pennsylvania. He and his wife were parents of the following children: Robert, Thomas, James, Jr., William, D.D., who died in New Castle; Joseph, Samuel, who was a prominent physician and surgeon of Mercer County, Pennsylvania, and the father of Judge Mehard, of Pittsburg; Matilda (Davidson), Anna (Davidson), and Mrs. John Wilson, mother of Dr. L. W. Wilson, of New Castle.
Robert Mehard was born in the town of Larin, County Antrim, Ireland, in 1813, and was about three years of age when his father came to Wayne Township, Lawrence County, Pennsylvania. He purchased a farm at Wurtemburg and resided there until his death in 1888. He was a man of prominence in the county, and for a period of fourteen years served most capably as county commissioner. He was a Republican in politics, and filled other offices, of minor importance. His wife died in 1886, aged seventy-four years. She was of German parentage, her people coming to this country from Wittenberg, Germany. Their union was blessed by the birth of eleven children, six of whom grew to maturity, as follows: Anna, deceased wife of James Morrison, who conducted a general store at Wurtemburg for many years; Christiana, deceased wife of Lloyd Pyle, of Camp Run, in Perry Township; Thomas, deceased; Matilda, wife of Henry Stetler resides in the East End, Pittsburg; Elizabeth Jane, wife of J. W. Dobbs, resides in New Wilmington, and George H.
The late Dr. Thomas Mehard, brother of Dr. George H., was a man of distinction, not only in the medical profession, but in politics and business circles as well. He was born on the old home place in Wayne Township, July 29, 1844, and after completing the courses taught in the common schools, attended Westminster College. He then began his preparation for the medical profession, and in February, 1870, was graduated from Western Reserve Medical College, at Cleveland, Ohio. Immediately thereafter he located at Wampum, where he engaged in practice with unusual success for a period of twenty-one years. A stanch Republican in politics, he served in the town council and on the School Board, and in November, 1888, was elected to the State Senate of Pennsylvania, from the Lawrence and Mercer District, by an overwhelming majority of 4,000 votes. He served on a number of important committees the first year, and in the session of 1891 was chairman of the Committee on Federal Relations, and a member of the Committees on Appropriation, Agriculture, Health and Sanitation, Retrenchment and Reform, and Public Buildings. He was an important factor in the financial affairs in his home village, owning a large flouring mill at Wampum, an interest in the Wampum Run Coal Company, and considerable business and residence property. He had, also, valuable realty holdings in Cleveland. His death, which occurred October 15, 1891, was a sad loss to the community in which he lived. He married Miss Mary Henry, of Sewickley, by whom he had three daughters and one son, all of whom survive him. Fraternally, he was a member of Wampum Lodge No. 865, I.O.O.F., and the Masonic Lodge at New Castle.
George H. Mehard was reared at Wurtemburg, where he received a rudimentary educational training in the public schools. Ambitious for knowledge, at the age of seventeen years he entered Washington & Jefferson College at Washington, Pa., from which he was graduated with the class of 1879. In the fall of that year he entered the Western Reserve Medical College, and after his graduation in 1881 with the degree of M.D., he attended lectures at Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, from which institution he was graduated in 1882. He began practice at Wurtemburg, Lawrence County, where he continued successfully for nine years, then in the fall of 1891 he removed to Wampum, which affords a greater field for practice. A man of superior educational attainments, who was kept well abreast of the rapid advancement in medical science, Dr. Mehard has handled some of the most complicated cases, with a skill that did not leave the issue long in doubt, and which established for him a prestige throughout this part of the county. Fraternally, the Doctor is a member of Wampum Lodge No. 865, I.O.O.F. Wampum Lodge No. 240, K.P.; Mahoning Lodge No. 243, F.& A.M., at New Castle; Pittsburg Consistory, and Zim Zim Temple, A.A.O.N.M.S.
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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