William Buchanan Chambers, p. 131

WILLIAM BUCHANAN CHAMBERS, treasurer of Washington county, and one of its most efficient, courteous and painstaking officials, was elected in 1890 to the position he so ably fills, his term expiring January 1, 1894.

John Chambers, father of subject, was born in South Strabane township, this county, September 6, 1813, and in early life learned the trade of blacksmith, which he for a time followed, but on coming of age he abandoned the anvil for the counter, embarking in mercantile business in Buffalo village. Here he remained till 1830, when he removed to Canonsburg and opened out a store for the sale of general merchandise, which he conducted up to the time of his death. He was twice married; first time to Miss Catherine, daughter of Josiah Ramsey, of South Strabane township, by which union there were children as follows: Martha, wife of Dr. W. G. Keady, a Presbyterian minister of Greensboro, Ala.; Josiah R., who died in 1886 (his family are now residents of Washington county); John S., in Leavenworth, Kans.; Nannie H, widow of Merrick S. McCloy, of Canonsburg (she has one child, Walter L.); William B., of whom special mention will be presently made; and Dora A., wife of A. B. Galbraith, of Allegheny City. The mother of this family died in 1851 in Canonsburg, and Mr. Chambers married, for his second wife, Mrs. B. P. McConnell (nee Watson), a widow lady who had one child by her first husband, Annie, who was married to John Gamble, of Nottingham township. By Mr. Chambers' second marriage there is one child, Ida May, now living with the subject of this sketch at his home in Canonsburg. John Chambers was a Democrat, and had held borough offices; he died October 26, 1885, a member of the Presbyterian Church. His second wife died November 9, 1891.

William Buchanan Chambers was born in Canonsburg, Washington Co., Penn, August 14, 1850, and received his education at the common schools of that borough, afterward attending Washington and Jefferson College to the close of the freshman year. His vacations he spent in his father's store, gaining an insight into commercial routine, but soon after leaving college he moved to McDonald Station, same county, where he was engaged as clerk in store of J. D. Sauters, and here he remained five years. Thence he proceeded to Pittsburgh, and clerked in a grocery store there two years, for the Valley Milk Co., after which he came, January 1, 1880 to Washington to fill the position of deputy sheriff, under George Perritte, who was then sheriff of the county. Mr. Perritte he succeeded, being elected sheriff in 1882, and served three years from January 1, 1883, to January 1, 1886. At the expiration of his term he was appointed chief U. S. deputy marshal, under George W. Miller, marshal for the Western District of Pennsylvania, serving four years and on the latter's removal, continued in office four months longer, under the present marshal, but being a Democrat, and the Government Republican, he was removed. He then returned to Canonsburg, where he remained unemployed until his election to his present incumbency, overcoming a nominal Republican majority of 1,800, the first Democratic treasurer elected in the past twenty-five years. Our subject is the only Democratic county official. Washington being strongly Republican. While a student at college, he was a member of the Phi Kappa Sigma Fraternity, and of the Philo-Union Literary Society of Washington and Jefferson College. His esteem and worth as a public officer were recognized at a banquet held by the Washington county bar, on his retirement from the office of sheriff, on which occasion Alexander Wilson, Esq., offered the following sentiment, which was unanimously accepted by the assemblage:

William B. Chambers, Esq.: A faithful officer, fearless in the discharge of his duties, pleasant in his intercourse with his fellow-citizens, kind and obliging to the members of the bar and officers of the court. He retires from the office of High Sheriff of Washington county with an honorable record for purity and integrity, and with the best wishes of all who have had official and personal intercourse with him.

Text taken from page 131 of:
Beers, J. H. and Co., Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1893).

Transcribed April 1997 by Neil and Marilyn Morton of Oswego, IL as part of the Beers Project.
Published April 1997 on the Washington County, PA pages at http://www.chartiers.com/.

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