Western Pennsylvania Genealogy
Compiled by Douglas H. Lusher


Family Group Record



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Col. James Bleakley and Elizabeth Dubbs




Husband Col. James Bleakley 1 2 3 4 5




           Born: 13 Sep 1820 - near Unionville, Berks Co, PA 1 2 3
     Christened: 
           Died: 3 Oct 1883 - Franklin, Venango Co, PA 6 7
         Buried: 5 Oct 1883 - Franklin Cemetery, Franklin, Venango Co, PA 8


         Father: John Bleakley (1788-1869) 1 3 4 5
         Mother: 


       Marriage: 3 Aug 1843 - Franklin, Venango Co, PA 1 7



• Business: : Franklin, Venango Co, PA.




Wife Elizabeth Dubbs 1 7 9

           Born: May 1822 7
     Christened: 
           Died: Aft 1890
         Buried: 


         Father: Jacob Dubbs (1797-1845) 7 9 10
         Mother: Elizabeth Alleman (Abt 1799-1835) 9 11




Children
1 F Elizabeth "Lizzie" Bleakley 2 7 12

           Born: 16 Jan 1845 1 2 7
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 
         Spouse: Thaddeus W. Brigham (1827-      ) 7 13 14
           Marr: 1863 13


2 F Clara Bleakley 1 2 7

           Born: 6 Apr 1847 - Franklin, Venango Co, PA 1 2 7
     Christened: 
           Died: Aft 1875
         Buried: 
         Spouse: Maj. Alexander McDowell (1845-Aft 1909) 15 16 17
           Marr: 17 Sep 1867 18


3 M William James Bleakley 1 5 6 19

           Born: 6 Jul 1849 - Franklin, Venango Co, PA 1 6 7
     Christened: 
           Died: 27 Sep 1908 20
         Buried: 29 Sep 1908 - Franklin Cemetery, Franklin, Venango Co, PA 8
         Spouse: Mary Smith Lamb (1854-      ) 1 5 21 22 23
           Marr: 17 May 1876 6 22


4 F Effie Bleakley 1 7 24

           Born: 26 Nov 1851 1 7 24
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 
         Spouse: Dr. Edwin Wilson Moore (1848-      ) 1 7 25 26
           Marr: 2 Sep 1873 25


5 M Orrin Dubbs Bleakley 1 2 3




           Born: 15 May 1854 - Franklin, Venango Co, PA 1 2 7
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 6 Dec 1927 - Franklin Cemetery, Franklin, Venango Co, PA 8
         Spouse: Harriet Elizabeth "Hattie" Richardson (      -1938) 1 27


6 M Harry Bleakley 1 7

           Born: 8 Jan 1859 1 2 7
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 



7 M Edmund Bleakley 2 7 28

            AKA: Edward Bleakley 1
           Born: 30 Oct 1860 1 2 7
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 
         Spouse: Bertha Legnard (      -      ) 7



General Notes: Husband - Col. James Bleakley


He was a boy when he accompanied his father to Venango County, Pennsylvania, assisting him until his sixteenth year. In 1836 he was apprenticed to learn the trade of printer, and after serving a three years' term found occupation in that line at Butler, Pennsylvania, where he remained three years. At the end of this period, though little past his majority, he returned to Venango County and located at Franklin, where he and John W. Shugert began the publication of the Democratic Arch, being so engaged for about two and a half years. The venture is evidence that the self-reliance and confidence for which he is well remembered were manifested early. It is said that his total attendance at school would not exceed eighteen months, but he got so much out of his restricted privileges that he was far in advance of the average young man of his time in mental training, and his experience in the printing office was the very thing he wanted to give him opportunity for the practical application of his acquirements. One story of his school days is worth repeating. He was late so often returning home during his last term in school that his father investigated, and found that the teacher, being frequently unable to work the examples for his advanced class in arithmetic, had the boy remain to help him prepare the lesson for the next day. The Bleakley family have the files of the Democratic Arch from July, 1842, to October, 1843, the earliest continuous files in existence of any Venango County newspaper. Mr. Bleakley had a subsequent experience in the newspaper business, beginning in 1851, from which time for several years he was associated with the late A. P. Whitaker in the publication of the Venango Spectator. But from the spring of 1844, when he engaged in the mercantile business at Franklin, he was occupied principally with commercial and financial enterprises, though he also acquired manufacturing and real estate interests of considerable magnitude. The variety of his investments, and his uniform success in their management, would indicate that he had the underlying principles of business at his fingers' ends, and also that he had a mind versatile beyond the ordinary in its ability to grasp the details of many subjects of diverse character.
Mr. Bleakley continued merchandising for about twenty years. He started modestly, but he had good methods and the assistance of a capable wife, and within a few years had accumulated a little money, which he put into real estate in Franklin and elsewhere. In 1849 he erected the building on Liberty Street where almost twenty years later he opened the International Bank, one of the most substantial business structures in the city. For two years he filled the office of county treasurer, to which he was elected in 1851. He first entered the banking field in 1854, operating a private bank in connection with his mercantile business, and in 1864 assisted in organizing the First National Bank of Franklin, of which he was cashier from that time until 1867. In 1868 he founded the International Bank, which he continued until his death and in which his sons succeeded him. He was president until his death, and the institution became one of the best known financial establishments in the county under his management. In the spring of 1870 he started a banking house at Sharon, Pennsylvania, in the name of James Bleakley, Sons & Co. Meantime he also took on many other responsibilities, becoming associated with interests of all kinds in this vicinity, including a tannery, foundry, oil refinery and tinning establishment, real estate investments and various branches of the oil business, with which he was associated from 1859 until his death; he was one of the purchasers of the Galloway tract and outlot No. 8, famous for their production of Franklin lubrication oil. In addition to looking after his own affairs, he took a leading part in the administration of the government of Franklin, served in the council of the borough and later of the city, and was burgess for several terms. One of his special projects was the care and development of the public parks and other improvements for the beautifying of the city. Politically he was a Democrat in his early life, joining the Republican Party in 1856, and supporting it to the end of his days. [HVC 1919, 528]

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Sources


1 J. H. Newton, History of Venango County, Pennsylvania (Columbus, OH: J. A. Caldwell Publishers, 1879), Pg 483.

2 —, History of Venango County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Brown, Runk, & Co., Publishers, 1890), Pg 785.

3 Charles A. Babcock, Venango County, Pennsylvania, Her Pioneers and People (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1919), Pg 528.

4 John W. Jordan, LL.D., Genealogical and Personal History of the Allegheny Valley, Pennsylvania (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1913), Pg 628.

5 George P. Donehoo, Pennsylvania - A History (NW) (New York, NY; Chicago, IL: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, Inc., 1926), Pg 83.

6 —, History of Venango County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Brown, Runk, & Co., Publishers, 1890), Pg 786.

7 Charles A. Babcock, Venango County, Pennsylvania, Her Pioneers and People (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1919), Pg 529.

8 Franklin Cemetery - Record of Interments (Franklin, PA.).

9 —, History of Venango County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Brown, Runk, & Co., Publishers, 1890), Pg 765.

10 J. H. Newton, History of Venango County, Pennsylvania (Columbus, OH: J. A. Caldwell Publishers, 1879), Pg 483, 493.

11 J. H. Newton, History of Venango County, Pennsylvania (Columbus, OH: J. A. Caldwell Publishers, 1879), Pg 493.

12 J. H. Newton, History of Venango County, Pennsylvania (Columbus, OH: J. A. Caldwell Publishers, 1879), Pg 483, 502.

13 J. H. Newton, History of Venango County, Pennsylvania (Columbus, OH: J. A. Caldwell Publishers, 1879), Pg 502.

14 —, History of Venango County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Brown, Runk, & Co., Publishers, 1890), Pg 762.

15 J. G. White, A Twentieth Century History of Mercer County Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1909), Pg 376.

16 —, Biographical Annals of Franklin County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: The Genealogical Publishing Co., 1905), Pg 105.

17 John W. Jordan, LL.D., Genealogical and Personal History of the Allegheny Valley, Pennsylvania (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1913), Pg 376.

18 John W. Jordan, LL.D., Genealogical and Personal History of the Allegheny Valley, Pennsylvania (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1913), Pg 377.

19 Charles A. Babcock, Venango County, Pennsylvania, Her Pioneers and People (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1919), Pg 529, 545.

20 John W. Jordan, LL.D., Genealogical and Personal History of the Allegheny Valley, Pennsylvania (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1913), Pg 261.

21 —, History of Venango County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Brown, Runk, & Co., Publishers, 1890), Pg 786, 1078.

22 Charles A. Babcock, Venango County, Pennsylvania, Her Pioneers and People (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1919), Pg 545.

23 John W. Jordan, LL.D., Genealogical and Personal History of the Allegheny Valley, Pennsylvania (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1913), Pg 263.

24 —, History of Venango County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Brown, Runk, & Co., Publishers, 1890), Pg 785, 815.

25 —, History of Venango County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Brown, Runk, & Co., Publishers, 1890), Pg 815.

26 John W. Jordan, LL.D., Genealogical and Personal History of the Allegheny Valley, Pennsylvania (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1913), Pg 963.

27 Charles A. Babcock, Venango County, Pennsylvania, Her Pioneers and People (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1919), Pg 530.

28 —, Encyclopedia of Genealogy and Biography of the State of Pennsylvania (New York, Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1904), Pg 350.


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