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PART III
James Henry Ewing and Eleanor Jane Rhea Ewing
At this point we take up the genealogy and history of James Henry Ewing, of the third generation from William (A) of Part II, and Eleanor Rhea, of the sixth generation from Thomas (A) of Part I.
James Henry Ewing was born on February 1st, 1825, in Conemaugh Township, Indiana County, Pennsylvania, not far from Ebenezer Church. He died at Saltsburg, Pennsylvania, October 24th, 1905, aged eighty years, eight months and twenty-four days. On March 4th, 1852, he was married to Eleanor Jane Rhea (page 58), who was born July 21st, 1830, in Bell Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. Their marriage ceremony was performed by the Rev. Cochran Forbes. They began their home life about four miles above Rural Village in Armstrong County. After one year they removed to the “Old Stone House,” three and a half miles below the Village, where they remained until their removal to the “Old Town Bottom” farm—the place where Eleanor Rhea was born—in April 1860. Here they resided for thirty years. Here they reared a large family. When the children were grown and the most of them had taken up their several avocations they removed to Saltsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1890, where they dwelt for the rest of their lives. Before they had removed from Armstrong County, James Ewing (Note 1) was elected to the sacred office of Ruling Elder in the Rural Village Presbyterian Church. But despite the confidence thus reposed in him by the people he did not see his way clear to accept ordination. Not many years after removing to the new home and connecting himself with the Saltsburg Presbyterian Church, he was selected for the high office of Elder there, accepted ordination and installation and creditably filled the office until his death, in 1905. He was a man of deep piety; an exemplary husband; a kind and considerate father, and was warmly devoted to the welfare of the church and Kingdom of God. Sometimes his family of growing children used to wonder at and even resent his occasional interruptions of an afternoon routine of work on the farm in order that he might ride away to Saltsburg for the monthly meeting of the Church Session. Then there were surprises and sometimes questionings in the minds of the upgrowing family, when the course of the years were found demonstrating the fact that no member or members of the family ever became weary enough, or the work on the farm sufficiently pressing to ever justify the omission of family worship before every breakfast and before retiring at night. A look backward, however, now reveals in these habits and practices the clear reflection of a life that was lived close to God. Moreover, in his prayers, day by day, he nearly always made mention of the Heathen World and besought the Heavenly Father’s blessing upon the ambassadors of the Cross, pleading daily that He would send forth laborers into His harvest. Who will say that some of the fruitage of his supplications does not appear in three of his sons placed by the God of the harvest in the Gospel ministry; two of these being laborers in the darker part of the world known as heathen? To the end of his years his faithfulness to the church was marked, and his integrity as a friend and citizen was unshaken. Eleanor Rhea Ewing shared with her husband in all things that make for character and usefulness. With the rearing of a large family of children, their careful Christian nurture and the multiform duties of a housewife on the farm, her life was a most active one. She occupies even to old age an unusual interest in the affairs of religion, and though advanced to fourscore years, she is recognized as one of the prominent counsellors among the women of the church.
In the rearing of their children these parents always kept the deeper, better things of life uppermost. With the twice-a-day family worship faithfully observed, and grace at every meal, there went much instruction in Bible truth, the reading of only the best books, the weekly recital by all the family of the Westminster Shorter Catechism, and the most faithful observing of the weekly appointment in the family pew at church, two miles from home. And if family discipline was ever misunderstood, or if faithful drill in religious practices ever seemed to any of the children unnecessary or irksome, the reflections of later years find all the children of these exemplary parents more than glad that such wholesome life-shaping influences were theirs while they were under the family roof.
It could be here mentioned in regard to the “Old Town Bottom” family home, that all the farm buildings were erected of large hewn logs. Later the barn was weather-boarded with broad pine boards, set perpendicularly. About the year 1878 the log house was replaced by a modern frame structure. The oldest half of the house, the part in which the children were born and into which the family was crowded while the new house was being erected, was carefully taken down and rebuilt near the barn, and is now used as a sheep house and hay-shed. A few years after removal to the present family residence in Saltsburg, the farm was disposed of. The money received for it was invested and used in such ways as gave the most comfort and cheer for the declining years of the subjects of our sketch. The old farm passed through the hands of several owners during the first years after it was sold. It is now owned and managed by C. W. Bollman.
Coming now to the children of James Henry and Eleanor Rhea Ewing, they are as follows: Martha Elizabeth, James Caruthers Rhea, John Alvin, Ada Lucretia, Anna Mary, Herbert Austin, Ira Charles, Arthur Henry, Joseph Lyons, Robert Merton, William Howard and Walter Livingstone.
Martha Elizabeth Ewing
Martha Elizabeth was born in the Old Stone House, south of Rural Village, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, May 10th, 1853. As she grew to womanhood she gave considerable attention to music, was active in the work of the church, and for a number of years was a teacher of the township schools in the region near the family home. On March 19th, 1878, she was married to Joseph Albert Hawk, of Indiana County, Pennsylvania. They began their domestic life near Lewisville (Ebenezer), Pennsylvania. Later they spent one or two years at Clarksburg, Pennsylvania. They then resided at Saltsburg for some years. Their next move was to a farm, which they purchased in Westmoreland County, two miles from Saltsburg. After a few years an exchange was made for some property in New Kensington, Pennsylvania, whence they removed and where they have made their home since the year 1896. Like his wife, Albert Hawk was for some years a school teacher. Even after marriage he gave part of his time to this profession. He taught in different schools in Indiana County, Pennsylvania. (This writer was one of his pupils and made his home with the family in the winter of 1882-1883, when his brother-in-law taught the “Number Seven” school at Lewisville.) His general occupation for several years was farming. Part of the time, however, was given to lumbering in Indiana and Westmoreland Counties, working in connection with his brother-in-law, Thomas Gilkerson. Since removing to New Kensington he has conducted a successful grain and feed business. For a number of years he was a Ruling Elder in the United Presbyterian Church at Saltsburg, Pennsylvania. Since his removal to his present home he has served in like capacity in the United Presbyterian Church at Parnassus, Pennsylvania. He has been a Bible Class teacher for many years.
The children of Joseph Albert and Martha Elizabeth Hawk were RHEA EWING, who was born May 11th, 1880, and died April 22nd, 1882; Verna McMath, Eleanor Irene and Wilbur Daniel. VERNA McMATH was born October 2nd, 1881. She was graduated from Grove City College, Pennsylvania, in 1904. For some years she followed school teaching as a profession. On June 11th, 1908, she was married to Harry Turney Yingst, a bookkeeper of New Kensington, Pennsylvania. The ceremony of their marriage was performed by her uncle, Rev. Arthur Henry Ewing, D.D., of Alahabad, India. They reside in their own home in New Kensington. They have one child, Eleanor Louise, who was born May 10th, 1909. ELEANOR IRENE was born January 22nd, 1884. She, too, has followed the profession of teaching, and now occupies a specialist position in the High School of Freeport, Pennsylvania. She was graduated from Grove City College in 1907. WILBUR DANIEL was born January 2nd, 1886. He was graduated from Grove City College in 1908.. He is also engaged in the profession of teaching, holding a High School position in Reynoldsville, Pennsylvania. All three of these children were graduated from the High School of New Kensington, prior to entering Grove City College, and stood at the head of their respective classes at graduation.
James Caruthers Rhea Ewing
James Caruthers Rhea Ewing, the eldest son of James Henry and Eleanor Rhea Ewing, was born in Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, June 23rd, 1854. He spent some years in teaching, and attended the Saltsburg Academy and Washington and Jefferson College. He was graduated from the latter institution in the year 1876, and from the Western Theological Seminary in 1879. In the year of his graduation from the Seminary he was ordained by the Presbytery of Kittanning and commissioned by the Board of Foreign Missions for service in India. His service in India has continued ever since. He was in his earlier years there stationed in turn at Alahabad, Mainpuri and Saharanpur. In 1888 he was appointed President of the Forman Christian College at Lahore. In this position he has served for these twenty-two years. At the close of the Spanish-American War, in 1900, he was commissioned by the Board of Foreign Missions to spend some months in the Philippines, looking over the outlook for church occupation there, and to confer, on the ground, with the representatives of other denominational bodies with reference to the best methods of establishing the church in the new acquisitions on the Pacific. In 1905 he was the recipient of a very unusual gift, viz.: the “Kaiser-i-Hind” gold medal of the first class. This was given him by King Edward of England as a mark of public, official recognition of his many services in India in connection with state affairs, and particularly for his efficient leadership in filling the chairmanship of the Earthquake Relief Fund Committee. This is one of the highest honors that the British government can bestow for public service, and in comment a Hindu journal of Lahore remarked that “the medal itself gains distinction by being associated with the name of our good Dr. Ewing.” (Note 2) (Note 10) Although the service was of another kind the official notice by the King of England suggests a parallelism to the honor conferred by the presentation of a sword to Findley Ewing by an earlier King (William) for service rendered at the Battle of the Boyne Water in 1690 (page 12). When on furlough in this country in 1897-1898 he was elected to the Presidency of Wooster University. Though the offer was a tempting one, the lifework to which he had committed himself in India loomed so large that he could not be persuaded to leave it for the more lucrative position in this country. When on furloughs in America he has traveled many thousands of miles for the Board of Foreign Missions, earnestly and ably presenting the claims of the Hindu and Mohammedan world. He received the degree of LL.D. from his Alma Mater in 1907. He married Jennie H. Sherrard on June 24th, 1879. The ceremony was performed by the bride’s father, the Rev. John H. Sherrard, of Ohio. She was graduated from the Washington Female Seminary. In this institution she was a teacher for a short time. Their children are Eleanor Elizabeth, Anna Keziah, John Sherrard, Margaret Rhea (born June 14th, 1889, and died May 24, 1890), Nancy Sherrard and Rhea McCurdy. ELEANOR was born April 24th, 1880. She was graduated from Wooster University, and taught vocal music for a number of years at Little Rock, Arkansas. On June 24th, 1908, she was married to Vernon L. Jackson, a business man of Little Rock, where they reside. They were married at Crafton, Pennsylvania, the ceremony being performed by the bride’s father. ANNA KEZIAH was born August 10th, 1881. She was graduated from Wooster University, Ohio. On May 25th, 1905, she was married to Robert Goheen, M.D. He is a medical missionary in India. They are stationed at Simla. Their children are Nancy Sherrard, born June, 1908, and Alice Ewing, who was born January 24th, 1910.
JOHN SHERRARD was born October 18th, 1884. He was graduated from Washington and Jefferson College in 1906. For some time he was connected with the “Pittsburg Post” in an editorial position. He is now secretary of the Pittsburg Civic Commission. He was married to Estelle Houston, of Washington, Pennsylvania. They have one child, James Huston, born September 19th, 1908. They reside in Pittsburg. NANCY SHERRARD, who was born September 9th, 1892, and RHEA McCURDY who was born December 23rd, 1902, are with their parents at Lahore, India.
Dr. J. C. R. Ewing was chosen Vice Chancellor of the University of the Punjab in February, 1910. (Note 10)
John Alvin Ewing
John Alvin Ewing, the second son of James Henry and Eleanor Ewing, was born in Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, March 20th, 1856. He was educated at the public schools, the Saltsburg Academy and Indiana, Pennsylvania, Normal School. For some years he taught in the township schools in the region of Saltsburg, and during one season was at the head of a successful private school at Rural Village, Pennsylvania. In preparation for the legal profession he began his course of study at Indiana, under the Honorable Harry White. His law course was finished after his removal to Alma, Colorado, in 1882, where he was associated with County Judge Rucker. During nearly all these years he has practiced law in Leadville. Much of his practice has been in connection with large mining and land corporations of the West. For some time he was the Vice President of the State Bar Association of Colorado. While residing in Leadville he was a trustee of the Presbyterian Church. He now resides in Denver, where he has a large law practice, which he carries on in connection with his practice at Leadville. He is a trustee of the Westminster (Presbyterian) University of Colorado. On June 14th, 1898, he was married to Georgia Muriel White, of Colorado. They have one child, ELEANOR EILEEN, who was born October 2nd, 1899.
ADA LUCRETIA EWING was born October 27th, 1857, and died April 25th, 1860. ANNA MARY EWING was born September 6th, 1859, and died February 6th, 1862. HERBERT AUSTIN EWING was born May 13th, 1861, and died October 10th, 1862.
Ira Charles Ewing
Ira Charles Ewing was born February 9th, 1863. At the age of about eighteen years, after passing through the usual course in the public school he was about to enter upon the family “habit” of school teaching, when a promising business opening presented itself in connection with the William Moore & Son hardware and tinning firm in Saltsburg. After learning the trade he became a shareholder in the stock of the firm. He subsequently removed to Avonmore, Pennsylvania, where, for several years, he carried on the same line of business. About the year 1897 he removed to Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, and engaged in the real estate business in Pittsburg. He resides now in Wilkinsburg, and has been variously engaged in steam and hot-water supply business, coal operating and other successful lines of trade. On June 19th, 1894, he was married to Elizabeth Lewis, of Indiana County. Like many members of the family into which she married she was a school teacher. They were married by the writer, the ceremony being performed in the parlors of the Duquesne Hotel in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Their children are MARGARET ELIZABETH, who was born October 22nd, 1895; JAMES LEWIS, who was born October 4th, 1897; ELEANOR, who was born March 15th, 1906. They are members of the Second Presbyterian Church of Wilkinsburg. Ira Charles Ewing is a member of the Board of Trustees.
Elizabeth Lewis Ewing, being in direct line of descent from John Shields, joined the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1909. The ancestor just named was her great grandfather on the maternal side, and served more than four years in the country’s struggle for independence. He also served with distinction in the later wars with the Indians. His son, James Shields, was the father of Mary Shields, who married Enoch Lewis in 1867.
Arthur Henry Ewing
Arthur Henry Ewing was born October 18th, 1864, in Bell Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. He acquired his education at the public school, Saltsburg and Elder’s Ridge Academies, Washington and Jefferson College, and the Western Theological Seminary. From college he was graduated in 1887. He completed his Seminary course in the summer of 1890. In both institutions he ranked unusually high in his class-work. In college he won the “Samuel Jones Classical Prize” of one hundred dollars in the Junior year. It was given for excellence in assigned Latin and Greek. He was graduated with the unusual honor of “cum laude” and was Valedictorian of his class. He received the honorary degree of D.D. from his Alma Mater about the year 1904. He was licensed and ordained by the Presbytery of Kittanning, and commissioned by the Board of Foreign Missions for service in India in 1890. For several years he was in charge of the Boys’ School in Lodiana in the Northwest Province. On his return to India from his first furlough, in 1900, he was placed in charge of a rapidly developing educational work, the College of Alahabad. He is in this position to-day. In 1908 the Young People’s Missionary Movement brought him from his distant field to Pittsburg to assist in the World’s Young People’s Convention of Missionary Leaders, held in that city. By extending his first furlough, about 1899, he was able to pursue a post-graduate course in Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. From this institution he received a diploma and the degree of Ph.D. in 1901. On August 19th, 1890, he was married to Estelle Loomis, of Dickeyville (now Hillsdale), Maryland. She was the only sister of Ella K. Loomis (page 58). Their only child, born in 1892, lived but a few hours.
Joseph Lyons Ewing
Joseph Lyons Ewing was born at the family home, “Old Town Bottom,” on November 28th, 1866. Pursuant to family custom, his first years of school were spent in what was known as “Clawson’s,” or the “Dutch Flat” school. During the years spent at this noted seat of learning, he received occasional applications of the “birch,” which in those days of “Sam” Elwood and “Jim” Clawson was considered a necessary adjunct to a finished education. He attended the Saltsburg Academy for a number of terms. In this institution, and by dint of long-hour study at home in summer vacations, he managed, as had his brother Arthur, to beat his way into the Sophomore Class in Washington and Jefferson College. He was graduated from the latter institution in 1890. Unlike his elder brother, who outdid his class-mates in high grades and securing prizes, he pursued his course in a way which gave no special anxiety to those who sought fame as prize getters. He managed, however, to make grades considerably above the average in the class with which he graduated. Swerving not from the path well beaten by senior members of the family, he began his professional career as a school teacher. His first experiences were with the “Keeley” School, which was located near the family home, though across the river, in Indiana County. In the second year he was the honored teacher of the home, “Dutch Flat,” school (Note 3) From his college course he omitted the spring term of the Junior year and took charge of a select school at Rural Village. The work omitted, however, was made up and examinations passed upon it before the middle of the Senior year. Though possibly not a criminal above other members of the family, he had no well defined ambition to enter the ministry when he entered college. However, the first year’s contact with life in the college atmosphere appeared to turn his mind toward his life work of the Gospel ministry. He entered the Western Theological Seminary in 1890, the same year in which his elder brother left it. He was graduated from the Seminary in May, 1893. He was licensed to preach the Gospel at Freeport, Pennsylvania, by the Presbytery of Kittanning in April, 1892. During his Seminary course he supplied many pulpits. His first sermon was preached at the Morning Side Presbyterian Church, Pittsburg, in the latter part of January, 1891. During two years of his course he assisted in the management of a “Mission,” which held its meetings in the First United Presbyterian Church, Pittsburg. He spent the summer of 1892 in charge of the Presbyterian Church of Richfield, Kansas. During the Seminary year, 1892-1893, he supplied the church at Hoboken, Pennsylvania. To this church he was called to become pastor at the close of the Seminary course. He served this church jointly with the church of Aspinwall, Pennsylvania. The latter organization was formed but a few years before the call was extended. He was ordained to the ministry in the Aspinwall Public School Building, which, prior to the erection of the church edifice, served as an auditorium for religious services. The ordination was conducted by the Presbytery of Allegheny. In this two-church pastorate he served for almost exactly five years, when he was installed over the Presbyterian Church of Jamesburg, New Jersey. His pastorate at Jamesburg continued for a period of five and a half years. He was then called to the West Presbyterian Church of Bridgeton, New Jersey, in which parish he is serving at present. In June 1909, he was called to the pastorate of the First Presbyterian Church, of Haverhill, Massachusetts. He did not, however, see his way clear to accept the call. On the 28th of June, 1893, he was married to Julia Isabelle Marquis. She was the daughter of James T. Marquis, a Ruling Elder in the Presbyterian Church of Cross Creek, Pennsylvania. She was born on January 9th, 1867. She attended the public schools, Cross Creek Academy and the Blairsville College for Women. She taught two terms of school near the family home, and for two years just prior to her marriage she served under commission of the Board of Missions for Freedmen at Brainerd Institute, Chester, South Carolina. After several weeks of severe illness in the summer of 1907, she entered into rest on October 18th, in the fortieth year of her age. (Note 4)
The children are MARY ELEANOR, who was born April 8th, 1894, at Aspinwall, Pennsylvania, (Note 5), and JOSEPH MARQUIS, who was born June 22nd, 1901, at Jamesburg, N. J.
Robert Merton Ewing
Robert Merton Ewing was born January 31st, 1868. He attended the Saltsburg Academy. He taught school a number of years. One year he was a member of the faculty of the Kiskimminetas School at Saltsburg, Pennsylvania. He entered Washington and Jefferson College in 1888, but remained only one year. He then took up the study of law, with the firm of Watson & Keener, in Indiana, Pennsylvania. He was admitted to the practice of his chosen profession in Indiana County. He subsequently removed to Pittsburg, where in a few months he won the privileges of the Allegheny County bar. He made his home in Wilkinsburg, where he still resides. From 1896 to 1900 he was a member of the Board of Education in his home city. During the time of his residence in Indiana, Pennsylvania, he entered upon a military career, enlisting as a private in Company F, Fifth Regiment. He was on duty in the famous Homestead, Pennsylvania, strike, when the presence of a regiment of the National Guards was necessary to keep the peace in the lower Monongahela valley. In 1896 he was appointed Regimental Sergeant Major of the Fourteenth, and in February, 1898, elected Second Lieutenant of Company F in the same regiment. On August 17th, 1898, he was made a Major in the Seventeenth Regiment, and upon the disbandment of the organization he was elected a Major in the Fourteenth Regiment. He has a steadily increasing practice at the Pittsburg bar, and is a Ruling Elder in the First Presbyterian Church of Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania. On June 14th, 1894, he married Anna S. Davis, daughter of McLain Davis, of the Indiana Normal School. After a prolonged illness she died on October 29th, 1907, the interment taking place in Homewood Cemetery, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. To them a daughter, who lived but one day, was born March 9th, 1895. CAROLINE ISABEL was born March 13th, 1897. ROBERT MERTON was born December 16th, 1903.
On December 16th, 1908, Robert Merton Ewing married (second), Eleanor McCrea, of Pittsburg. The ceremony was performed by Rev. Joseph Lyons Ewing, of Bridgeton, New Jersey. They reside on Penn Avenue, Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania. Their daughter, Liberty McCrea, was born July 13th, 1910.
William Howard Ewing
William Howard Ewing was born August 4th, 1870. Impaired health in his growing years interfered with his education to some extent. However, he managed to gather a liberal fund of knowledge by supplementing his interrupted terms of school with generous reading. He was more than ordinarily alert mentally. He taught the township schools for two or more terms. He was possessed of an extraordinary taste for music, and has been much in demand in his home community as a musician. For several years he has filled the position of organist at the Saltsburg Presbyterian Church. He is employed as a bookkeeper at Saltsburg, where he resides. Never having married he has been for several years the home companion of his parents.
WALTER LIVINGSTONE EWING was born May 30th, 1874. He died January 24th, 1875.
Clara Hermann
Clara Hermann, when a child of about seven years of age in the Protestant Orphan Asylum, of Cleveland, Ohio, was taken into the family of James Henry and Eleanor Rhea Ewing, in December, 1878. By common consent she was given the family name, was known as “Clara H. Ewing,” and was reared in every respect as one of the family. No steps of legal adoption, however, were ever taken for her. She was born August 1st, 1871. Upon reaching young womanhood she learned the tailoring trade. As a settled lifework, however, she became a professional nurse. She was for several years employed in this capacity in connection with the Presbyterian Hospital of Pittsburg. She now resides in Pittsburg, and is very successful in her vocation.
Notes on Part III
Note 1 - James H. Ewing was born February 1st, 1825, in Indiana County, Pennsylvania, near Ebenezer Church, on the farm owned in later years by Sylvester Kennedy. His mother died when he was six and one-half years old, and he and his father lived at his grandfather’s, John Ewing’s, until March, 1833, when his father married Sarah McCurdy. [Click here to return to note's citation in text.]
Note 2 - A Mohammedan newspaper at Lahore, India, spoke of Dr. Ewing’s gift and service in this wise: “Among the recipients of the Kaiser-i-Hind medal of the first class the most distinguished, and, of course, at the head of the list is our esteemed fellow-townsman, the Rev. Dr. Ewing; principal of one of the oldest and largest colleges in the Punjab; a gentleman long and intimately associated with the administration of the Punjab University, and wielding strong influence in its counsels; the head of the Kangra Relief Committee, and one of the leading citizens of Lahore. Dr. Ewing has done work of an unusually high character, and it is no more than right that he should receive some tangible recognition of his services.” [Click here to return to note's citation in text.]
Note 3 - Six members of the family taught in the schools of the home township: Elizabeth, Arthur, Joseph and Howard taught the “Dutch Flat” home school. All except Ira were in the teaching profession from one to ten years. [Click here to return to note's citation in text.]
Note 4 - A coincidence. It may be here mentioned that Rev. James B. Lyle, whose first wife was Elizabeth Marquis, and Rev. Joseph Lyons Ewing, who married Julia Isabelle Marquis, of the same family, were great-great-grandchildren of the Honorable William Findley (page 99). The fact was not realized until 1907. [Click here to return to note's citation in text.]
Note 5 - Mary Eleanor Ewing recited perfectly the entire Westminster Shorter Catechism when just seven and one-half years old. It is said that her Aunt Elizabeth Ewing Hawk performed a like feat when she was but seven years of age. [Click here to return to note's citation in text.]
Note 6 - The family of James Henry and Eleanor Rhea Ewing, being widely scattered, and on account of the two sons and their families being in India, rarely gets together. Several reunions, so-called, however, have been held, but none have been complete since January, 1888, when all were together at the old homestead, below Saltsburg. At that time all the children of the family went to Pittsburg and had a group picture taken. The nearest approach to a real reunion was held on April 10th, 1908, when all were together except the grandchildren, Goheens, of India. At this time another picture like the one in 1888 was taken. A second picture with all present at the reunion was taken at the same time. Copies of this group are preserved by various members of the family. The group numbered thirty-one persons.
Note 7 - The family bulks large in avoirdupois. All were carefully weighed at the family reunion, April 10th, 1908. Their respective weights of the living children, one daughter and seven sons, were in order of their birth, 237½ pounds, 228, 234½, 193, 200¼, 188½, 225, 128¾; a total of 1641½ pounds. An average of 205 pounds.
Note 8 - In March of the year 1880, when Joseph Lyons, Robert Merton and William Howard Ewing were crossing the Kiskimminetas River, homeward bound, directly opposite the “end of the lane,” in a broad, flat-bottomed boat, with Robert Merton at the oars, the boat was suddenly overturned in midstream by an oar catching on the bottom of the river. The three were thrown into the water. Howard was only ten years old and unable to touch bottom. The current was swift, and all three were borne down into deeper water, and, in all probability, would have been drowned but for the timely crossing in a boat, some distance below, of Judson Kulp and sister Lulu, and Bella Protzman. Through their presence of mind and effort the three dripping, shivering youths were, Moses-like, drawn out of the water and sent home to dry.
Note 9 - Every member of the family described in Part III early united with the Presbyterian Church of Saltsburg. Elizabeth was active in the work of the church. At maturity she married a Ruling Elder in the United Presbyterian Church. Rhea, Arthur and Joseph entered the Presbyterian ministry. Alvin was a trustee and treasurer of the Presbyterian Church of Leadville, Colorado. Ira, a trustee and Sabbath School teacher at Avonmore and later in Wilkinsburg. Robert M., a Ruling Elder in the First Presbyterian Church of Wilkinsburg, and Howard, the organist and an active worker in the church at Saltsburg.
Note 10--Light is thrown on the high character of the office and the esteem in which Dr. Ewing is held among the non-Christian people of India by the following sketch from the Lahore “Tribune” of issue February 13th, 1910:
We heartily congratulate His Honor the Chancellor and the University on the selection of Rev. Dr. J. C. R. Ewing, M.A., D.D., LL.D., as Vice Chancellor, as we respectfully greet the new Vice Chancellor himself on the event. It goes without saying that it is the University that deserves to be felicitated on its great gain in securing a gentleman of Dr. Ewing’s pre-eminence and position to take up the helm of its affairs, far more than Dr. Ewing on his enhanced responsibilities, coupled as they no doubt are with greater opportunities for public good. There was a remarkable consensus of opinion on all hands that Dr. Ewing was marked out for the high office, and it is highly gratifying indeed that Sir Louis Dane has, in this instance, fully responded to the universal anticipation. Every great and noble cause for the amelioration of the social, moral and material condition of the Indian community has looked up to Dr. Ewing as a guide, philosopher and friend, and has ever found in him a ready sympathizer and willing helper. As the head of the Forman Christian College, one of the best conducted institutions in the country, for a long span of time Dr. Ewing has played a remarkable and an honored part in molding the intellectual life and moral character of generations of students with whom he is a persona grata for his numerous acts of kindness, for his paternal interest, and for his genuine interest in their welfare. We have no hesitancy in saying that Dr. Ewing’s selection will not only be deservedly popular, but will, we feel no doubt, prove of great and substantial benefit to the University and the cause of education in the Punjab. During Dr. Ewing’s tenure of office, sober and reasonable opinion may always expect a free and fair hearing, and the student community count upon a thoroughly informed, practical and sympathetic treatment of questions affecting its welfare.”
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Our task is done. We wish it were better wrought. Those who have scanned the pages of our book must note how utterly impossible is the making of a genealogy that could be complete. In our tracing we have covered the years, in one family line from 1650; in another from 1765, and in a third, which is a secondary or outgrowth line, from 1852 to the present. In these years, two hundred and sixty in all, seven generations have risen, passed in review on the stage of life, and for the most part disappeared. Some of the eighth and ninth, yes, the beginning of the tenth, generation are here filling the places once held by forbears. These are soon, in turn, to give place to their posterity. May our name and history be cherished, and may these be preserved untarnished. May the good Spirit who has brooded over the family all down the years, and who so graciously breathed in the lives of Maskell and Mary Ewing of the third generation, in Richard and Eleanor Caruthers of the sixth, and in James Henry and Eleanor Ewing of the eighth generation, and who has so blessedly wrought among all whose names have found place in this volume, be the ruling spirit of the generations now on the world’s stage of action and of all our successors. Let us live worthy of the name left us by a noble ancestry, and let us transmit to our children a heritage of patriotism, of piety and of integrity which shall never perish.