SAMUEL LINN. No township in Washington county has been more favored in the matter of fine farm land, and prosperous, intelligent husbandmen, than North Strabane, and a record of the agricultural pre-eminence would be incomplete were the life sketch of Samuel Linn omitted. He is a native of the township, born January 30, 1831, a son of Matthew and Sarah (Pollock) Linn. Matthew Linn was a son of James Linn, a native of Scotland, whence, when a young man, he came to America with his parents, who made a settlement in Lancaster county, Penn. Here James married Ellen, daughter of Robert Young, of that county, and in 1792 came with his family to North Strabane township, Washington county, where he purchased 300 acres of wild land (the same at his death being divided between his sons), on which he erected a log cabin wherein were born nearly all his children five sons and two daughters of whom the following is a brief record: William settled in West Newton, Penn., and died there; Mary married George Ferry, and they settled in East Liberty, Allegheny Co., Penn.; Sarah married William Hunter; Robert settled on the home farm (his descendants moved West); Moses died on his portion of the paternal estate; James late in life sold out his share in the homestead, and settled near Washington borough, on a farm where now stands the village of Linntown; Matthew is more particularly spoken of further on. The father of this family died at the age of eighty-four years. He was a member of the Seceder Church (of which Dr. Ramsey was the minister), and in politics he was an Old-school Democrat.
Matthew Linn was born in North Strabane township, Washington Co., Penn., in 1796, and when yet a young man was married to Sarah, daughter of Samuel Pollock, their children being James, Ellen (deceased), Mary (Mrs. James Bruce), Samuel, Martha (Mrs. Lee Crouch), Matthew (who died in the army), William, Jane (who married James Patterson, and they reside in Nottingham township, this county), Harriet (Mrs. Charles Pitman, living on the old homestead), and John P. (deceased). The parents died in Washington county, the father in 1870, the mother in 1876; and they are buried at Canonsburg; they were members of the U. P. Church. In politics Mr. Linn was a Democrat, and held various offices of trust in his township; in 1840 he was elected county commissioner, during the building of the courthouse; from the age of twenty-two years until his death he served as a justice of the peace; in 1854 he was elected a member of the State Legislature, serving one term, and for thirty-three years he was in the State militia, in which he held every rank, in rotation, up to general.
Samuel Linn received his education at the common schools of his district in North Strabane township, and on the home farm had a thorough, practical training to agricultural pursuits, which have been his life vocation, and in which he has met with gratifying success. On October 20, 1858, he was wedded to Ellen, daughter of James Harbison, of Allegheny county, Penn., and the names of the children born to this union are Sarah J. (at home), Nettie and Mattie (twins, the former of whom is yet living at home, the latter married to James Wylie Vasbinder), Nannie (deceased), J. Bruce, Clark, Mary (married to A. D. Weller, of Canonsburg) and Thomas B. Mr. Linn was formerly an adherent of the Seceder Church, and is now a member of the Chartiers Hill Presbyterian Church. In his political associations he is a Democrat.
Text taken from page 1064 of:
Beers, J. H. and Co., Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1893).Transcribed March 1997 by Neil and Marilyn Morton of Oswego, IL as part of the Beers Project.
Published March 1997 on the Washington County, PA USGenWeb pages at http://www.chartiers.com/.[ [Back to Beers Table of Contents] [Back to Beers Project Page]