WILLIAM GALBRAITH, an influential citizen of Carroll township, is a native of the fair "Green Island" which has given so liberally to America of its noblest product—the warm hearted energetic sons and daughters of Erin. Robert Galbraith was born in 1774, in Ireland, where he was married to Elizabeth Alexander, and where the following children were born to them: Robert, William and Frances. In 1825 he and his family came to America, locating in Carroll township, Washington Co., Penn. William Galbraith, the only living representative of his family, was born July 14, 1810, in Ireland, where he attended school and resided until fifteen years of age, when he came with his parents to America. His education was practically finished in the old country, as one day's experience in an American public school was all he afterward received. He learned the boat building business, and was set to work at an early age to assist in paying off the debt on the home farm, consisting of 200 acres. He followed the boat business between the years 1827 and 1840, when the hard times of 1837 brought disaster upon that branch of industry. On April 29, 1835, he was united in marriage with Lucinda, daughter of Noah Fry. William and Lucinda Galbraith reared the following children: Robert, living in Allegheny county,, served three years I the war of the Rebellion; William, who was also a soldier in the war of the Rebellion, and served three years under Col. Hambright in the Seventy-ninth Regiment P.V.I., and was killed in an accident in Nevada in the silver mines; Noah, a farmer in Delaware county Ohio; Emeline, deceased wife of Frank Williams, and Cornelius, a resident of Kentucky. The mother died in 1845, and for his second choice William Galbraith was married November 30, 1848, to Mary, daughter of William Hill. The children of this union were Samuel, an enterprising farmer; Elizabeth, deceased wife of Albert Wickerham; John, assisting on the home place; Alexander, a farmer of East Pike Run township; Mary Frances, wife of John P. Mosier, of North Strabane township, this county; Thomas, living on the old place; Stephen A.B. (deceased), who was a graduate in the class of 1886 at Washington and Jefferson College (died while attending the Medical College, Philadelphia, December 3, 1889) and Ethel, living at home. In 1829 Mr. Galbraith erected the large barn, which is a model of workmanship and convenience, and in 1866 he built the handsome brick residence which is his home. He is the inventor of the "steel bit," a carpenter's tool, and is a most enterprising citizen.

Text taken from page 922 of: Beers, J. H. and Co., Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1893). Transcribed September 1997 by Cathy Cadd of Redmond, WA as part of the Beers Project. Published September 1997 on the Washington County, PA USGenWeb pages at http://www.chartiers.com/.

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