History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania...
George Dalla Albert
PHILADELPHIA: L. H. EVERTS & CO. 1882
Pages 656 and 657
Biographical Sketch and Illustration of GEN. CYRUS P. MARKLE

GEN. CYRUS P. MARKLE. Gen. Cyrus P. Markle was born in the township of Sewickley, county of Westmoreland, Pa., April 18, 1810, the third in a family of four children of Gen. Joseph and Elizabeth (Painter) Markle. (For genealogy of family see biography in this volume of Gen. Joseph Markle.{MEMORIAL OWNER NOTE: JOSEPH MARKLES BIO ON HIS MEMORIAL HAS HAD THE GENEALOGY REDACTED}) His education was limited to an attendance at the common school. One of the most pleasing incidents of his boyhood, and one remembered with no little pride, was his meeting Gen. La Fayette at Uniontown, Pa., and acting as one of his escort on horseback from that place to the city of Pittsburgh. This occurred when he was fourteen years old. Very early in life he became actively employed in the business enterprises carried on by his father, and foreshadowed in the boy a capacity in the management of affairs which has been a marked characteristic of the man. In 1829, at the age of nineteen, a partnership was formed with an elder brother, Shepard B. Markle, under the firm-name of S. B. and C. P. Markle, which partnership continued for more than half a century.

The manufacture of paper was the business in which the firm was chiefly employed, though farming was also quite extensively carried on. Two tracts of land containing over three hundred acres and the paper-mill at Millgrove were deeded them by their father on condition of their meeting certain pecuniary obligations for which he had become liable by undersigning. These obligations were eventually fully met by the firm. For thirty years the firm continued in the manufacture of paper at the " Millgrove" mill. In 1859, in order to meet the increasing demand for their products, and at the same time to avail themselves of better facilities for transportation, they built a large paper-mill (brick) at West Newton. At this mill paper from rags was manufactured until 1865, when they erected a straw pulp-mill (wood), and subsequently the production of wood pulp was introduced.

In 1870, Mr. S. B. Markle retired from the firm, since which time the business has been carried on, largely extended, under the firm name of " C. P. Markle & Sons," the firm consisting of Gen. C. P. Markle and his sons, Capt. C. C. Markle and Shepard B. Markle, Jr. In 1881 this firm built at West Newton another mill (brick), designated "Mill B," ... In 1880 the firm purchased five thousand acres of coal and timber land in Milford township, Somerset County, Pa., and in 1881 built thereon extensive wood-pulp works. ... In addition to the works, a station house, store, and twenty-four dwelling-houses were built by them. The place, named after the general, is named Markleton. It is situated on the Castleman River, on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. A better conception of the magnitude of these works can be formed by a visit to them. ... While their mills at West Newton are devoted exclusively to the manufacture of printing paper, a very superior quality of hardware paper is produced at the " Millgrove Mill."...

While the manufacture of paper has been the leading business of the general, he has also been largely interested in the product of coke. In 1871, in company with John Sherrick, of Mount Pleasant, under the firm of "Sherrick & Markle," he built on the Mount Pleasant Branch of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad the " Eagle Coke-Works," one hundred ovens. Sold his interest in these works in 1879 to H. Clay Frick. In 1873 he purchased of Peter Sherrick and William McMasters their farms, two hundred and sixty acres, in East Huntingdon township, near Mount Pleasant, and in company with the former firm, Markle & Sherrick, erected on the Sherrick farm the " Rising Sun" Coke-Works, one hundred ovens. On the McMasters farm C. P. Markle & Sons built the " Bessemer Coke-Works," one hundred and fifty ovens. In connection with these works about fifty tenant-houses were built, also about a mile and a quarter of railroad, which is known in that section as the "June Bug" Branch of the Baltimore and Mount Pleasant Railroad.

In company with Col. Israel Painter, Gen. Larimer, Horatio Burrows, and Gen. Haupt, Gen. Markle has operated extensively in coal lands in the township of Sewickley. To the original homestead tract of three hundred acres, he has added nine hun dred acres adjoining in the townships of Sewickley and South Huntingdon.

For a number of years the general and his sons have taken interest in blooded stock. Four of the finest "Jerseys" in the country may be seen at their ] stock-farm. Their yearly sales of stock run into the thousands.

In all the operations of C. P. Markle & Co. about six hundred men are employed. Owing to a partial stroke of paralysis, from which he has never fully recovered, Gen. Markle has for a number of years left the active conduct of the business to his sons, by whom he is kept thoroughly posted in regard to all operations, and who fully appreciate the value of his advice and mature judgment in all business matters. The general became very early in life interested in the military, a taste undoubtedly inherited from his father. At the age of fourteen he became a member of the Sewickley Artillery Company, afterwards its adjutant, and then captain. Still later he was elected major and finally general of the Thirteenth Legion Pennsylvania Militia, composed of the counties of Washington, Fayette, and Westmoreland.

In politics he has been a firm supporter of the principles of the Whig and Republican parties, but, like his father before him, has always been more ready to help a friend to office than to accept official position him self. Indeed, the successful conduct of his extensive business interests, which have made him one of the busiest men of his times, would have precluded his entrance upon public life, even if he had entertained any aspirations in that direction. He was interested in the construction of the Pittsburgh and Connellsville Railroad, and served as one of its directors. He was for many years a member of the Sewickley Presbyterian Church, but at the present time is a member of the church of the same denomination at West Newton.

He married, May 5, 1835, Sarah Ann, daughter of James and Margaret Lippincott. Mrs. Markle was born June 12, 1814, at Mount Pleasant, Westmoreland Co., Pa. Their children are as follows: Margaret Ann and Mary Elizabeth, twins, born Jan. 28, 1836. The former, widow of Thomas McMasters, residing at Turtle Creek. She has one child, Rachel, wife of M. C. Miller, Esq. Mary Elizabeth, died June 14, 1843 ; Joseph L., born Nov. 7, 1837, died July 4, 1843 ; Jesse Henry, born Jan. 8, 1839, died June 10, 1843; Cassius C. Markle, born Oct. 31, 1840 ; 1 Shepard B. Markle, Jr., and Cyrus P., twins, born May 15, 1844* (Cyrus P. died Jan. 8, 1845) ; Mary Emily, born Sept. 7, 1846, wife of John M. Larimer, a merchant at Turtle Creek. Two children living, viz., Cyrus P. Markle and Thomas McMasters Markle. Harriet Cornelia, born Sept. 28, 1847, wife of A. O. Tintsman, living at Turtle Creek. One son, Cyrus Painter Markle. Amanda, born July 26, 1850, died Nov. 18, 1850; Winfield Scott, born Feb. 14, 1852, died November, 1853.

Mrs. Markle died Nov. 26, 1869. In the death of this most estimable woman the family, her church, and indeed the entire community in which she lived met with an irreparable loss. She possessed in large measure all the rare qualities which characterize the devoted wife and mother and the truly Christian woman. In the home and social circle she was easily a leader, and she was a helpmeet indeed in the dispensation of a hospitality for which the Markle home has always been distinguished, — a hospitality without stint, extended to the stranger equally with relatives and friends.
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{NOTE: Some Details of the locations of business properties, such as structural dimensions, and the last paragraph consisting of biased praise have been cut for length. Redactions are noted by ...}