Husband Isaiah Lawrence "Spotty" McBride 1
Born: 31 Aug 1857 - Butler Co, PA 1
Christened:
Died: Aft 1909
Buried:
Father: Col. Francis McBride ( -1859) 1
Mother: Elizabeth Hazlett ( - ) 1
Marriage:
• Property: : Butler Co, PA.
• Property: : Butler Co, PA.
Wife Mary A. Cantwell 1
Born: - Boston, MA
Christened:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Thomas Cantwell ( - ) 1
Mother: Mary [Unk] ( - ) 1
Children
1 M Thomas Kerr McBride 1
Born:
Christened:
Died:
Buried:
2 M Francis Edward McBride 1
Born:
Christened:
Died:
Buried:
3 F Marie Elizabeth McBride 1
Born:
Christened:
Died:
Buried:
4 M Cloud Isaiah McBride 1
Born:
Christened:
Died:
Buried:
5 M Joseph Paul McBride 1
Born:
Christened:
Died: Bef 1909
Buried:
General Notes: Husband - Isaiah Lawrence "Spotty" McBride
Following the death of his father, his mother moved to Winfield Township, Butler County, Pennsylvania, where she taught school for a time and then moved to Greene County, in the oil fields, where she opened a boarding house. About this time he made his first money in the oil business, being engaged by an operator to clean the paraffin out of four oil tanks at Titusville, and although the beginning was humble, it opened the way to the future success which crowned his efforts in the industry. Through many boyish efforts to gain capital, and they were constant and earnest, including selling newspapers, working on a farm and as an employe, for several years, of the Lowry House, at Butler, he made some progress, and in 1887 he went to work for his brother, the late Kerr ("Curly") McBride, as an oil pumper. It was Kerr McBride who got the first extension of the rich field near Thorn Creek. Isaiah had the usual early successes and discouragements that awaited oil speculation, and after he began prospecting, would frequently lose all his earnings and be obliged to do ordinary labor in order to gain enough capital to continue prospecting. The first well that returned any adequate result was on the Sweeney farm at Coylesville, and it was owned by an organization called the Store Box Oil Company, in which James Haymaker, deceased, and Michael Haymaker, owned a three-fourths interest, and J. W. Frazer, deceased, and Mr. McBride, a one-fourth. They drilled four wells, paid $1,500 bonus and before they were through they lost $14,000 on the venture, and out of the twenty-two wells sunk there, but thirteen barrels of oil were sold. He continued with varying success, as was the way with speculators, becoming equally familiar with ill and with good fortune. The well which finally made him famous in the area was struck in Butler Township, May 9, 1905, and was the twenty-third well in which he had owned an interest, with a proportion varying from one-eighth to one-half. In the well just mentioned, which brought him ample reward for all his years of effort and many vicissitudes, was one in which his ownership was one-fourth. The limits of the present article prevent the insertion of extracts from the Butler newspapers regarding the interest excited at the time the McBride well was drilled into the sand on that mild afternoon in May, and the response of pure petroleum was of such quantity that it was immediately placed in the "gusher" class, producing about 2,400 barrels per day. Mr. McBride was the hero of the hour, for he had located and also done the drilling of the well. On May 25th the well passed into the possession of the Southern Oil Company.
For many years Mr. McBride was known through the oil regions as an expert driller and at times kept large gangs of men in his employ. After becoming an oil capitalist, Mr. McBride bought a farm in Butler Township, which contained about thirty acres. It was cultivated by his sons, with hired help, and corn, oats, wheat and hay were produced. Mr. McBride also had other real estate investments. He long kept his finger on the pulse of the oil business and probably knew more, not only of the practical work going on in the different sections, but of the trend of the great interests in that line, than any man of his age in Pennsylvania.
With his family, Mr. McBride belongs to St. Paul's Roman Catholic Church. He is a member of the Elks of Butler, of the Knights of Columbus, of which he is a trustee, and of the Catholic Mutual Bene-fit Association. In politics, Mr. McBride terms himself an Independent Democrat.