Alexander Eicher

ALEXANDER EICHER, deceased, for many years an attorney of Greensburg, Pennsylvania, was born November 24, 1851, in the village of what is now known as Old New Stanton, in Hempfield township, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania. His great-grandfather, Abraham Eicher, was born in the neighborhood of the river Rhine, in France, and he was of German and French extraction. He was a tailor by trade. He settled at Hagerstown, Maryland, and from there moved to Ligonier, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, accompanied by his wife, Elizabeth Sophia (Golden) Eicher, and a large family which she bore him. Among their children was a son, Jacob. Eicher, (grandfather) who was born in Hagerstown, Maryland, in 1800. He was a millwright, a miller and carpenter, and a devout member of the Baptist church, being an elder therein for years. He married Sallie Slonecker, a lady of rare intelligence, daughter of John Slonecker. Among their children was a. son, John Slonecker Eicher. In 1855 Jacob Eicher and his wife moved to Washington county, Iowa, and were there buried.

John Slonecker Eicher (father) was born July 25, 1823, in Pleasant Unity, Unity township, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania. His educational advantages were very limited, and although he had no trade or profession, was a very handy man, and for many years was known as the best auctioneer in the county. Prior to the Civil war he served as fifer for five or ten years in the state militia. In his day he was a factor of considerable importance in the Democratic party, and held the office of treasurer of Westmoreland county during the years 1869-70. He is a Campbellite in religion. Although advanced to four score and two years, he is possessed of his powers of body and mind to a good degree, and is spoken of by many as the very soul of honor and manliness, a gentleman of the old style type, but ready to accept the best brought forth by modern civilization. He is a man of decided, deep convictions, and has yet to forsake a friend who has aided him, though others talk ill of him. He-married Mary Pool, born May 20, 1833. in Hempfield township, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, just below the village of New Stanton, daughter of John Pool and his wife, Betsey (Rouser) Pool, who was one of a family of eight-daughters and no sons. John Pool was a son of Samuel Pool, Jr., and brother of the mother of the Venerable Harrison Null, of Greensburg, Pennsylvania. Samuel Pool, Jr was a son of Samuel Pool, the founder of the Pool family in Westmoreland county. Mrs. John S. Eicher died February 14, 1861. In 1856 Mr. Eicher moved to Washington county, Iowa, but after a residence of twenty months there returned to Pennsylvania. He and his wife were the parents of three children: Alexander, born November 24, 1851, mentioned hereafter; John P., born September 30, 1853, and Jacob, born December 29, 1858.

Alexander Eicher attended the common schools of Hempfield township until twelve years of age. He then entered the country store of his maternal uncle, C. H. Pool, in Pennsville, Bullskin township, Fayette county, and remained there two years. The following five years he clerked in a general store in Pennstadt, now Penn borough, Westmoreland county, the proprietors thereof being J. F. & D. Landis. In 1870 he was appointed deputy in the register and recorder's office of Westmoreland county, continuing for six years, three under Clark F. Warden and three under John M. Laird. On January 10, 1876, he entered the law office of Archie A. Stewart, in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, as a clerk, but with the object of becoming a lawyer, and he was engaged in that office up to his decease, September 23, 1905. He was admitted to the bar July 30, 1880, and built up a large practice. He was engaged in a number of noted trials, among which was the Painter case, the Ritenour case, and the B. F. Rynd case, which gave him an excellent opportunity to display the legal talent he so abundantly possessed. He was a Democrat in politics, and while a strict partisan enjoyed the respect of the members of the opposition party. He joined the Christian church in the early eighties, and was actively connected with the A. O. U. W., R. A.. and N. U. His friends were not confined to the limits of Westmoreland county, but were to be found all over the state. He was extremely kind-hearted and generous, possessed a fund of humor and jokes, with which he could entertain an audience? and therefore was popular and in much demand at social gatherings and dinners.

Mr. Eicher married, at Greensburg, Pennsylvania, October 4, 1873, Ella M. McClelland, daughter of Archibald and Mary (Funk) McClelland, the former named having been a native of Ireland, a contractor and builder. Her death occurred in the spring of 1898. Their children were: Clark Warden, born June 17, 1874, attended the schools of Greensburg, and Washington & Jefferson College, at Washington, was a member of Company I, Tenth Pennsylvania Regiment, and served in the Philippines during the Spanish-American war. He is a lawyer, a member of the Westmoreland county bar, and practiced with his father under the firm name of Eicher & Eicher. He married Sarah Glunt, of Greensburg. Alexander, Jr., born April 24, 1878, also attended the schools of Greensburg and Washington and Jefferson College, of which latter institution he was a member of the famous football team, and in 1898 was elected captain, but went to the war before the season opened. He graduated at the head of his class in Greensburg high school, and stood among the first of his class at college in his junior year. He served during the entire period of the Spanish-American war as a member of Company I, Tenth Pennsylvania Regiment, and during this time was never on the sick list. He is also a lawyer, a member of the Westmoreland county bar, and engaged in practice with his father and brother under the firm name of Eicher & Either. He married Winona Gallagher, who resided in the vicinity of Uniontown. Mary McClelland, born August 25, 1880, became the wife of J. Ed. Stevenson, of Greensburg, Elinor McClelland, born March 16, 1882, became the wife of Robert C. Jones, of Boston, Massachusetts. Romayne McClelland, born June 29, 1883. John S., born November 23, 1884, Archibald, born May 23, 1890.

Source: Page(s) 77-78, History of Westmoreland County, Volume II, Pennsylvania by John N Boucher. New York, The Lewis Publishing Company, 1906.
Transcribed May 2007 by Nathan Zipfel for the Westmoreland County History Project
Contributed for use by the Westmoreland County Genealogy Project (http://www.pa-roots.com/westmoreland/)

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