John Moorhead was a son of James and Katherine Moorhead, and was born on the same farm as was his father—a tract bought by his grandfather, William Moorhead (107747283), between New Castle and Mahoningtown, now within the city limits.
William Moorhead was born in what was then Westmoreland County, and came to Beaver County, prior to 1775, and purchased three or four hundred acres of rich farming land in the river bottoms. He followed farming all his life, and was finally laid away to rest in Greenwood Cemetery. A cherry tree some six feet in circumference, is growing above him, and has crowded from its pedestal the moss-grown slab, on which is carved in quaint old letters: "Beneath this stone lies the body of William Moorhead, who died May 27, 1819, aged seventy-one years."
John's father James Moorhead died in 1857, at the age of eighty-two years and his wife was a Miss Christy. James was engaged in pursuits of an agricultural nature all his life, and owned in addition to the ordinary farm buildings a still-house, as it was the custom in those days for every well-to-do farmer to utilize his surplus crop of rye in the manufacture of spirits. Everyone kept a decanter of "old rye" on the sideboard, and its contents were as free as water. When John came to the age of choosing a profession or of being apprenticed to a trade, his father James bound him out to a hatter on Beaver Street, with whom he served his three years of apprenticeship; after learning the trade and becoming entitled to journeyman's wages, he gave it up, as he did not like it. John soon afterwards became interested in railroad building, and developed into a railroad contractor, and was known extensively through Western Pennsylvania and the upper Ohio Valley. John began working with his son Samuel in 1851 on the Baltimore & Ohio R. R., near Wheeling, VA. They also worked together on street grading, paving, etc. After a few years, they started a partnership under the firm name of John Moorhead & Son and their first work was on the Northwestern R. R. in 1857. This partnership continued until John's death in 1887, at the age of eighty-seven years.
Of the six children born to John and Jane (McCleary) Moorhead, only two survive: Samuel, the eldest, and Charles, the third in order of birth.
Source : Biographical Sketches of Lawrence County PA, 1897 (page 175)
William Moorhead was born in what was then Westmoreland County, and came to Beaver County, prior to 1775, and purchased three or four hundred acres of rich farming land in the river bottoms. He followed farming all his life, and was finally laid away to rest in Greenwood Cemetery. A cherry tree some six feet in circumference, is growing above him, and has crowded from its pedestal the moss-grown slab, on which is carved in quaint old letters: "Beneath this stone lies the body of William Moorhead, who died May 27, 1819, aged seventy-one years."
John's father James Moorhead died in 1857, at the age of eighty-two years and his wife was a Miss Christy. James was engaged in pursuits of an agricultural nature all his life, and owned in addition to the ordinary farm buildings a still-house, as it was the custom in those days for every well-to-do farmer to utilize his surplus crop of rye in the manufacture of spirits. Everyone kept a decanter of "old rye" on the sideboard, and its contents were as free as water. When John came to the age of choosing a profession or of being apprenticed to a trade, his father James bound him out to a hatter on Beaver Street, with whom he served his three years of apprenticeship; after learning the trade and becoming entitled to journeyman's wages, he gave it up, as he did not like it. John soon afterwards became interested in railroad building, and developed into a railroad contractor, and was known extensively through Western Pennsylvania and the upper Ohio Valley. John began working with his son Samuel in 1851 on the Baltimore & Ohio R. R., near Wheeling, VA. They also worked together on street grading, paving, etc. After a few years, they started a partnership under the firm name of John Moorhead & Son and their first work was on the Northwestern R. R. in 1857. This partnership continued until John's death in 1887, at the age of eighty-seven years.
Of the six children born to John and Jane (McCleary) Moorhead, only two survive: Samuel, the eldest, and Charles, the third in order of birth.
Source : Biographical Sketches of Lawrence County PA, 1897 (page 175)
John Moorhead was a son of James and Katherine Moorhead, and was born on the same farm as was his father—a tract bought by his grandfather, William Moorhead (107747283), between New Castle and Mahoningtown, now within the city limits.
William Moorhead was born in what was then Westmoreland County, and came to Beaver County, prior to 1775, and purchased three or four hundred acres of rich farming land in the river bottoms. He followed farming all his life, and was finally laid away to rest in Greenwood Cemetery. A cherry tree some six feet in circumference, is growing above him, and has crowded from its pedestal the moss-grown slab, on which is carved in quaint old letters: "Beneath this stone lies the body of William Moorhead, who died May 27, 1819, aged seventy-one years."
John's father James Moorhead died in 1857, at the age of eighty-two years and his wife was a Miss Christy. James was engaged in pursuits of an agricultural nature all his life, and owned in addition to the ordinary farm buildings a still-house, as it was the custom in those days for every well-to-do farmer to utilize his surplus crop of rye in the manufacture of spirits. Everyone kept a decanter of "old rye" on the sideboard, and its contents were as free as water. When John came to the age of choosing a profession or of being apprenticed to a trade, his father James bound him out to a hatter on Beaver Street, with whom he served his three years of apprenticeship; after learning the trade and becoming entitled to journeyman's wages, he gave it up, as he did not like it. John soon afterwards became interested in railroad building, and developed into a railroad contractor, and was known extensively through Western Pennsylvania and the upper Ohio Valley. John began working with his son Samuel in 1851 on the Baltimore & Ohio R. R., near Wheeling, VA. They also worked together on street grading, paving, etc. After a few years, they started a partnership under the firm name of John Moorhead & Son and their first work was on the Northwestern R. R. in 1857. This partnership continued until John's death in 1887, at the age of eighty-seven years.
Of the six children born to John and Jane (McCleary) Moorhead, only two survive: Samuel, the eldest, and Charles, the third in order of birth.
Source : Biographical Sketches of Lawrence County PA, 1897 (page 175)
William Moorhead was born in what was then Westmoreland County, and came to Beaver County, prior to 1775, and purchased three or four hundred acres of rich farming land in the river bottoms. He followed farming all his life, and was finally laid away to rest in Greenwood Cemetery. A cherry tree some six feet in circumference, is growing above him, and has crowded from its pedestal the moss-grown slab, on which is carved in quaint old letters: "Beneath this stone lies the body of William Moorhead, who died May 27, 1819, aged seventy-one years."
John's father James Moorhead died in 1857, at the age of eighty-two years and his wife was a Miss Christy. James was engaged in pursuits of an agricultural nature all his life, and owned in addition to the ordinary farm buildings a still-house, as it was the custom in those days for every well-to-do farmer to utilize his surplus crop of rye in the manufacture of spirits. Everyone kept a decanter of "old rye" on the sideboard, and its contents were as free as water. When John came to the age of choosing a profession or of being apprenticed to a trade, his father James bound him out to a hatter on Beaver Street, with whom he served his three years of apprenticeship; after learning the trade and becoming entitled to journeyman's wages, he gave it up, as he did not like it. John soon afterwards became interested in railroad building, and developed into a railroad contractor, and was known extensively through Western Pennsylvania and the upper Ohio Valley. John began working with his son Samuel in 1851 on the Baltimore & Ohio R. R., near Wheeling, VA. They also worked together on street grading, paving, etc. After a few years, they started a partnership under the firm name of John Moorhead & Son and their first work was on the Northwestern R. R. in 1857. This partnership continued until John's death in 1887, at the age of eighty-seven years.
Of the six children born to John and Jane (McCleary) Moorhead, only two survive: Samuel, the eldest, and Charles, the third in order of birth.
Source : Biographical Sketches of Lawrence County PA, 1897 (page 175)
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