George H. Stairs

  General Notes:

SEE DESCENDANTS OF GEORGE H. STAIRS

CREDITS AND NOTES

1.Thanks goes to Agnes Tomechec of the Westmoreland County Historical Society who revealed the connection of the Stairs Families to Jacob and Conrad Steer. She also provided other contacts with persons researching the Stairs, including Anne Stairs.

2. Thanks also goes to Anne Stairs of Acme, Pa. who invited me into her home where she lives with her son Jesse Stairs, a Representative from Mount Pleasant Township to the Pennsylvania State Legislature. She and her brother-in-law, Russell Stairs, provided family tree information showing their descendancy from Adam, one of the sons of Conrad.

3. Much time was spent attempting to determine the origins of Conrad and Jacob Steer. All of the Steers (and variations to the name) were listed that might provide a clue about where they might have migrated or immigrated from. Names were taken from Stassburger, PILI, American Biographical Index and the Pennsylvania Archives. Historical Societies, libraries, and archives were visited in West Chester, Philadelphia, and Harrisburg all with no success. There were many Steer and Steeres, who were mainly Quakers who immigrated from Great Britain. These were discounted first since no connection could be made, and since it is unlikely Jacob or Conrad were Quakers. There were Jacob and Conrad Stiers and Stoehrs who immigrated from Germany, via Amsterdam, who seemed more likely. But still no connection could be made with our forefathers. It was likely that Jacob, and Conrad as well, either migrated or immigrated into Westmoreland County after 1770, since this territory was officially closed to settlers before that time. They were likely German based only on the fact that Conrad belonged to the Lutheran Church. Also his grandson in The Encyclopedia of Westmoreland History speculates that Conrad came from Germany. One other avenue pursued, was the possibility that Jacob was a German mercenary leased to the British Government by his German Prince to fight during the Revolutionary War. No evidence of this could be found, either.

4. Information on Samuel Stairs was very sparse, indeed. An attempt to find he or his family members recorded in church records was attempted, without success. The most desirable piece of information not found was the maiden name of his wife, Elizabeth. One possible source to explore is military records for the Mexican War.

5. One of the greatest unsolved mysteries in researching the Stairs Family is the burial place of Elizabeth O. Stairs. Four people die of Typhoid and four graves are found. The grave one would expect to be the mother's, is inscribed Elizabeth Orose, 1813-1903. It is unlikely anyone made a mistake as bad as including totally wrong dates and not including her married name. Its possible she was born in East Greensburg, but again unlikely.

THE FAMILY OF GEORGE AND ELIZABETH STAIRS

Figure 1 George H. and Elizabeth O. (Summy) Stairs

The history of the Stairs Family begins in Mammoth, Mount Pleasant Twp., Westmoreland Co., Pa., Pennsylvania where George H. Stairs and his wife Elizabeth brought ten children into this world. By 1889, the oldest son, Edward, had married. It would not be long before the eldest daughter, Minnie, would marry and move over to Upper Turkeyfoot Township, Somerset County with a new husband. George and Elizabeth had just recently moved the family from Mammoth in Mount Pleasant Township to East Greensburg. Edward and his wife were working the older home.
After moving to Greensburg, tragically, a number of the family came down with Typhoid Fever. Sarah Summy, widow of Elizabeth's brother Andrew, was asked in to help with moving and ended up housekeeping and caring for the sick. In late September, two nights after Sarah's arrival, Elizabeth died. According to one doctor bill, both Minnie and Bessie were sick but they obviously survived the ordeal. Two other children, Orion and Adam, died of the disease in November. By mid December, George was apparently sick enough that a will was drawn up andfour days later, on the fourteenth, he died. According to the children of the youngest daughter, Ethel, he died as much from grief as from typhoid. During the subsequent probate proceedings, the family possessions were inventoried and auctioned. Not much remained after the creditors were paid.
According to Clara Belle Stairs, historian of the Edward Stairs family, Edward moved his family to Somerset County near his sister Minnie, who by this time was married to William Willis Nicklow. Edward and Hattie took in the three older children. Minnie and William took in the three younger children. It has been learned, since, that the Grandfather Abraham Summy cared for Ethel Fern, the youngest.
As these children grew older, they went to work various places. Harry went to live and work for Joseph Kreger who owned a farm not far from the old Jersey Church in Lower Turkeyfoot Township. Raleigh went to live and work there, too. By 1900, Harry had married Joseph Kreger's daughter, Catherine (known as Kate), and had a son George. Joseph Kreger had retired and was living in Confluence. Raleigh was still living with Harry.

WILLIAM RALEIGH STAIRS
While staying on the Kreger Farm, Raleigh met his future wife Elizabeth. She was the oldest daughter of James B. Colborn who owned the adjacent farm. Her mother was the former Mary Ellen Kreger, daughter of Joseph Kreger, and thus a sister to Kate. The bride-to-be, Elizabeth, would not only be a niece to Kate, but now she would become a sister-in-law as well.
Raleigh and Lizzie were married 29 December 1902 in Cumberland, Maryland. The early census records list her as Lizzie, but we know that later she was called Lib or Libby. The newlyweds lived first in Confluence where Jim and Mary Lou were born. Then they lived in Braddock, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh, until at least 1904 or 1905 where Raleigh must have worked in the Mill.

Figure 2 Elizabeth Amanda (Colborn) and William Raleigh Stairs
Apparently, Lizzie did not like Braddock because she became homesick and the family moved back to Somerset County. They lived for a while in Humbert where daughter Bess was born, and where Raleigh worked in a lumber mill.
In January 1909, Raleigh purchased a farm along the Jersey Hollow Road just above the Jersey Church. This was the same farm that both Will Colborn and Raleigh's son John would own at different times much later. Unfortunately, that same year while working for Pap Colborn down on the old Sanner Place toward Humbert, Raleigh drank contaminated water and contracted typhoid fever. He died November the third of that same year.
He and Lizzie were only 26 years of age. Their oldest child, Jim, was six years old. Mary Lou was four, Bess two, and John only four months. This disease had now struck down six members of the George Stairs Family. Edward, George's oldest son, died of typhoid in 1903 and was buried in the Jersey Cemetery.
Lizzie's brother, Will Colborn, was executor of Raleigh's estate. The widow was given all the personal property, valued at $138.50. It consisted of three calves, two hogs, various quantities of grain and staples, a stove and a buckboard wagon. Raleigh had debts amounting to $2705.36. The farm was sold at auction for $2000.00 to Joseph Kreger. Lizzie took her children and went back to her father's farm to live.

EDWARD MILTON STAIRS

Figure 3 William Willis and Minnie R. (Stairs) Nicola

Edward and Hattie, his wife, owned property near Kingwood between June 1891 and 1894, after which they moved to Claremont, Virginia. He worked for a while in Atlanta, as well. He finally moved back to Pennsylvania looking for carpenter work with his brother, Harry. Edward died there in 1903 of typhoid fever and was buried in Harry's plot in the Jersey Cemetery in Somerset County. He left behind four children: Annie, Clara Belle, Mable, Sadie, and Albert. His daughter, Clara Belle, has written a complete account of this family's life. See Appendix III.

MINNIE R. (STAIRS) NICKLOW
Aunt Minnie and her husband William Willis Nicklow remained near Kingwood in Upper Turkeyfoot Township. They raised five children, Clarence, Harry, Orion, Lula, and Lola. Most everyone remembers them living down in the hollow on the road below the Old Bethel Church. But their Grandson, Dale Nicklow, says they initially lived next to the church.
Several of the nephews and nieces can remember visits with the Nicklows. Uncle John can remember being invited for Sunday dinner. The parents of John's future wife, Mary Trimpey, lived not far away. Cora Scandrol has a letter written by Aunt Minnie to Sister Ethel that, besides complaining of her stomach problems, recalls how kind their Grandfather Summy was.
William died in 1952 and Minnie, 1970. They are buried side-by-side in the Old Bethel Church Cemetery.

HARRY A. STAIRS

Figure 4 Harry A. and Catherine B. (Kreger) Stairs

Harry Stairs bought a farm from his father-in-law in October 1904, referred to in the deed as the Old Dull Place. He sold it to John Enos in April 1908. According to old maps, the Old Dull Place was very close to the Enos home farm. It is difficult to tell from the maps whether this farm and the Enos farm were one and the same, or whether it just became an addition to it.

Later, Harry and Kate bought a five-acre truck farm on the city line, one mile north of Overlea, for five thousand dollars. The farm included a big old twelve-room house which stands even today near Route One and the Baltimore Belt.. There were no farmer?s markets in those days; Harry would huckster his vegatables and Kate?s flowers all over West and North Baltimore
The flowers were beautiful bouquets of cut peonies, dahlias, gladiolas, and lilacs. Harry had an old horse, Ned, to pull the wagon. In addition, Harry used Ned to plow people?s gardens all over the territory.
Harry also worked locally at the Fullerton Supply Company bagging all kinds of animal feeds. During World War II, he worked as a guard at the hosing project for The Glenn L. Martin Company. He eventually moved in to this housing project, called Victory Villa.
Uncle Harry was a very religious man. One of Cora Scandrol's keepsakes is a letter written by him to Cora telling how one can believe in God and pray in one's own privacy. He also tells of the opening of the new Baptist Church in Perry Hall near Baltimore. This is the church that sponsors the missionary work done by Harry's son Glenn and his wife Emily.
Harry and Kate had three children: George, Joseph, and Glenn

CLARA GERTRUDE (STAIRS) ENOS

Figure 5 Clara Gertrude (Stairs) Enos

Gertrude(Aunt Gertie) married John Enos when they were both in their teens. They began married life in a little frame house near the mining town of Humbert, Pennsylvania. John worked in the coal mines there and part-time as a laborer in the local saw mill. But John?s dream was to own his own farm. When their frame house burned down in the early 1900s, with what little savings they had, they were able to take out a loan and buy a 200 acre farm in Lower Turkeyfoot Township. The farm included a lot of hilly farming acreage, some timberland and a crude two-story house. With the support of Gertie and plenty of hard work by both, John became a successful farmer. With careful management they were able to build a new eight-room house on the property nearby. Their dream was coming true; they moved in with their eight children in the fall of 1920. Unfortunately, Gertie died the following April of complications two hours after the birth of her eleventh child, Saylor. Without Gertie?s guidance, the family was really lost. They managed only with the help of dear friends and relatives.
After three or four years, John married Elizabeth Leydig, a widow from Confluence. She was the mother of six children, four of which were grown and lived away from home. The younger two, Ruth and Harry, came to live with the Enoses.
Eventually, John turned the farm over to his sons, Lester and Glenn. John built another house accross the road from the Jersey Church and lived there until his death in December 1949. Elizabeth, who was a wonderful stepmother, lived until March 1965.
Gertie was a wonderful hardworking mother and wife. She and John had eleven children: Bessie, Elizabeth Mary, John Alvin, Martha Jane, Lester James Marshall Glenn, Mildred Fern, William Clarence, Verna Ruth, Samuel Judson and Saylor(infant).Of all the cousins, the Raleigh Stairs Family felt closest to this family. Martha was a very close friend of Mary Lou; John was close to Glenn. Mary Lou remembered how they frequently went to Aunt Gert?s after church for chicken dinner. Aunt Gert always had chicken, creamed corn, and mashed potatoes. For dessert there was tapioca pudding with pink lozenger candy.

Figure 6 Bessie Maude (Stairs) Brown, Elizabeth and Bess Stairs and Louise Brown
Aunt Gert is buried at the Jersey Church in the Enos Family plot close to the Kregers, Colborns and the Stairs.

BESSIE MAUD (STAIRS) BROWN
Bessie worked at the Markleton Sanitarium, helping with the patients. She eventually became a masseuse and worked in that capacity and as a nurse. Bessie married Harry Brown and raised a fine family. They successively lived in Martinsburg, Altoona and Lewistown, Pa. Their children were Louise, Walter, and Harold. Aunt Bessie Brown was a caring woman and attentive to her relatives. She invited her niece Bess to live with her family and attend high school with her daughter, Louise. In the history of Edward Stairs (Appendix III), Clara Belle tells of Aunt Bessie sending them a tea set.

GRACE LORENE (STAIRS) HUMBERT

Figure 7 Grace Loreen (Stairs) Fisher

After her parents died, Grace lived with her oldest brother Edward and his family. When she became of age, she worked at the Markleton Sanitarium where her sister Bessie worked. She is listed there in the 1900 census as a waitress. According to Clara Belle's history of the Edward Stairs Family, Grace went to stay at the Joseph Kreger Farm (where her two brothers worked). This was shortly after helping Edward?s wife Hattie get through a childbirth.
She married Theodore A. Humbert, probably about 1902, and went to live in Confluence. They had four children: Clarence B., Adam R. , Harold Rae and Mary. Adam was remembered as a policeman in Confluence.
Theodore died at an early age, probably around 1916 or 1917. Grace took her family to Monaca, Pa. Where she worked in a glass factory. While there, she met and married Otto Ralph Ruhe, a glass blower at the Phoenix Glass Company. He lived in a house boat on the Beaver River when she met him; he built a log cabin for them in Monaca soon after. They had one son who they named Otto Ralph after his father. Grace?s husband Otto, too, died at an early age, when his son was only six or seven years old.
Grace married a third time to a hardware store owner in Monaca by the name of Grutz. He died only a month after they were married. She took some money she inherited from this marriage and opened a boarding house in Uniontown, Pa. This was apparently not a successful business. She eventually moved back to Somerset County.
What is known of the events in Grace?s life from then on is very sketchy. Her grandson Harold Humbert can remember Grace working for a neighbor of theirs for a short while in Rochster, Pa.. He also remembers her as being very poor, living alone many years in Listonburg, Pa. She stubbornly insisted upon living in a second floor apartment, there, where she carried coal, ashes and water up and down very steep stairs. He also remembers her visiting them in summer during happier times and then later in 1952 during less happy times when his mother was dying of cancer.

Figure 8 Ethel Fern (Stairs) Thomas with Scandrol Grandchildren
No one knows much about it, but sometime during this latter period, Grace married a fourth time to a man named Fisher. Grace died in 1955 and was buried at the Jersey Church. Her marker is inscribed: Grace L Fisher, 1885 - 1955.
When Grace?s son Harold retired, he moved to Listonburg where he converted a two-room schoolhouse into a five-bedroom home. It served as a happy retreat for all his growing grandchildren.
ETHEL FERN (STAIRS) THOMAS
When her parents died of typhoid, Ethel Fern was cared for by her Grandfather Abraham Summy. A picture (not shown) shows her with Abraham and other members of the Summy family in 1904. According to her children, Ethel said her grandfather was a kind and soft-spoken man. The only time she could remember him raising his voice was one time when she showed unreasonable fear of a cow. On the other hand, Abraham's second wife, Rachel, was less amiable; she likely resented the attention shown to the grandchild of Abraham's first wife. However, it is said that this wife had some premonition of her last year on earth and she bought Ethel a teapot as a gift before she died. Ethel was named in Abraham Summy's will as a beneficiary to share equally with the surviving children of Abraham and Rachel. According to her family, Ethel never saw any of that inheritance.
Ethel Fern married Michael Thomas from Markleysburg, Pa. At one time, Michael?s family owned over 1000 acres of farm land It was about 350 acres when Ethel and Michael lived there.
In the early days, the Thomases had a grocery store in Dunbar. During World War II, the entire family moved to Baltimore and worked in the Bethlehem Steel Shipping Yards. After the war, they returned to work on the farm.
Ethel died in Baltimore in 1960 and was buried next to brother Edward in brother Harry's plot in the Jersey Cemetery.
Ethel and Michael had five children: Aubrey, Frances W., Effie May, Cora, and Blanche Roche. The three living children remember Ethel as a kind and loving mother and diligently maintain her grave. They have several good pictures and letters that attest to the closeness of the Stairs sisters and brothers of Ethel's generation. Two great treasures they have are two full size photographs, one each of George and Elizabeth Stairs that hung on the wall of the family home in Westmoreland County. Minnie had given them to Ethel for safe-keeping.

George married Elizabeth O. Summy. (Elizabeth O. Summy was born on 22 Aug 1850 in Donegal Township, Wstmrld Co., PA. and died on 28 Sep 1889 in E. Greensburg, PA.)