Colonel Israel Painter

COLONEL ISRAEL PAINTER was born in Hempfield township, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, November 11, 1810. He was of German descent on both his father's and mother's side. Jacob painter, his grandfather, after marriage emigrated from Mecklenburg, German, and settled in Berks county, Pennsylvania. Here six children were born : Jacob, Michael, John and Tobias. One daughter was married to George Myers, and the other was married to Christopher Harrold. Jacob painter and his wife died and were buried in Berks county. Jacob Painter, their eldest son, married a daughter of a Mr. Rapiere, who lived in Indiana county, and settled on a farm in Hempfield township, situated on the Big Sewickley creek, eight miles south of Greensburg, which was known for many years as the "Judge Painter place." By his first wife he had children : Rebecca, Catharine, Tobias, George, Elias. His first wife died , and was buried at Harrold's Church. He married (second) Catharine, daughter of Christopher and Elizabeth (Mueller) Lobingier. By her he had ten children : Polly, John, Jacob, Christopher, George, Joseph, Benjamin, Susan, Israel and Sophia. Jacob Painter always lived on the farm on which he first settled. He built on the place a stone grist mill which he carried on in connection with his farming. He Ws an energetic, active business man, a member of the legislature for several terms, justice of the peace for many years, and was the Whig candidate for congress against William Findley, in which contest he came within seventeen votes of being elected. He held the position of associate judge at the time of his death. He was man of commanding presence, being abut six feet in height, heavy set, an weighing abut two hundred and twenty pounds. In personal appearance his son, Colonel Israel Painter, is said to have resembled him. He died at the age of fifty-nine, and was buried at Harrold Church. His widow, Catharine, survived him about thirty years, lived with her sons, Christopher and Israel, at the "Willow-tree Farm," where she died, aged eighty-four, and was buried at Markle cemetery. His daughter Betsey was wife of General Joseph Markle, and mother of General C. P. Markle, Of "Millgrove." 

Christopher Lobingier, grandfather of Catharine Lobingier, the second wife of Judge Jacob Painter, came from Mecklenberg, Germany, and settled in Dauphin county. He was married before leaving Germany. Little is known of him except that he was a farmer, and that both he and his wife died, and are buried in Dauphin county. They had one son, Christopher, who married (1766), Elizabeth Mueller, by whom he had eight children : John, Christopher, Catharine, Barbara, Mary, Elizabeth, Susan and George. His wife died at Stoystown, Somerset county, September 15, 1815, aged seventy-one years. He settled in Mount Pleasant township in 1772, was a member of the Pennsylvania constitutional convention of 1776, and of the house of representatives from 1791 to 1793. He died July 4, 1798, and was buried at the Presbyterian meeting house near Pleasant Unity. 

Israel Painter lived at home until he was seventeen years of age. He then taught the district school two terms, and was employed as clerk at Mount Pleasant in his brother Christopher's store one year. H then attended several terms at Jefferson College, Canonsburg. In company with a Mr. Newmyer in 1830, he purchased his brother's store in Mount Pleasant and carried it on one year. He next built the "Mastodon" Salt Works, subsequently became interested in the "Fountain" and Mammoth" salt works and was the owner of them all at the time of his death. In company with Daniel Waltz, he put down a salt well in Monongah county, West Virginia, and established salt works there, an enterprise requiring no small amount of pluck an energy, on account f the transportation through an almost unbroken wilderness off everything required in its construction an operation. He was interested in these works from 1832 to 1835. He became at an early date an extensive dealer in live stock--horses, cattle, hogs and sheep. His operations in this line of trade took a wide range, extending through the states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia, and during the Civil war his dealings with the government in cattle, horses and mules were on a large scale. Though not of the same political faith, he enjoyed the acquaintance and confidence of President Lincoln, a relation which was of great service to him in his operations with the government. Through his brother Christopher he became at one time largely interest in the cotton trade, making a number of trips to New Orleans in that interest. His operations in real estate were carried on upon the most extended scale. These embraced the purchase and sale of over one hundred farms in Westmoreland county alone, while he also operated largely in lands in Fayette, Indian, and other Western Pennsylvania counties. At the time of his death he was the owner of thirty-two farms. He operated largely in oil and oil lands. From 1865 to the time of his death Colonel painter gave much attention to coal and coal lands. He was the first to introduce coal into the eastern market, western Pennsylvania, eastern manufactures of gas using up to that time an imported coal as a gas coal for that purpose. In company with John George, Jr., Colonel Lewis McFarland and others, he purchased large tracts of coal lands on the line of the Pennsylvania railroad in North Huntingdon township, selling the coal to the Penn Gas-Coal Company and Westmoreland Coal Company. In company with General Herman Haught, John Derbyshire, H. N. Burroughs, S. B. an C. P. Markle, he bought an sold many hundreds of acres of coal lands in Sewickley township. He built seventy-four coking ovens in Bullskin township, Fayette county in 1873, and carried them on till 1879. H owned one hundred and seventy acres of caking coal lands near Mount Pleasant at the time of his death. He wa interested in contracts for the construction of sections of the Pennsylvania railroad, of the Northwest Pennsylvania railroad, also of the Pittsburg and Erie and Connellsville railroads. He was a stockholder in the Mount Pleasant and Robbstown turnpike, also in the Younghiogheny Navigation Company. He was prime mover in the building of the Southwest Pennsylvania railroad, also the Mount Pleasant and Broad Ford railroad, and a director in both, as also in the Pittsburg and Connellsville railroad. He was associated with Governor John W. Gerary in contesting the will or Stephen Girard, in behalf of the heirs of the latter against the city of Philadelphia. He represented his district in the house of representatives from 1846 to 1848 ; was canal commissioner from 1849 to 1852 ; was a delegate to the Democratic national convention at Charlestown, South Carolina, identifying himself with the Douglas wing of gress, but was defeated in the convention by Hon. Henry D. Foster. His death was the result of an accident. By a fall a glass bottle was crushed in his hand, by which the latter was so cut and lacerated he survived the effect of it only ten days. H died July 4, 1880. It has fallen to the lot of but few men to be more prominent in business affairs that Colonel Israel painter. His energy and will seemed inexhaustible. He was constantly on the alert. With him to think was to act. Dufficulities and obstacles which would have everwhelmed and swamped most men only inspired in him renewed exertions. All his enterprises were conducted on a large scale. To figure in small way with him was in impossibility. In his disposition he was wholesouled and genial, consequently few men commanded a wider or warmer circle of friends. 

Source Pages 63 thru 65 History of Westmoreland County, Volume II, Pennsylvania by John N. Boucher. New York, The Lewis Publishing Company, 1906 
Transcribed January 1, 2000 by Marilynn Wienke 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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