William Malcolm Dinsmore, p. 50

WILLIAM MALCOLM DINSMORE. The family of which this gentleman is a worthy representative is one of the oldest in Canton township, and comes of pure Scotch-Irish stock. The remote ancestor was the Laird Achenmede, on the river Tweed, in Scotland, one of whose sons emigrated to Ireland about 1690, and settled at Ballywattick, near Ballymoney, County Antrim. The first in America came from there in 1719, and settled near Londonderry, N. H. His name was John Dinsmore, and he became the ancestor of a numerous and respectably posterity, several of whom attained eminence in public and business life. Two of his descendants have been governors of New Hampshire; W. B. Dinsmore (lately deceased), president of Adams Express, and a great railroad magnate: Col. Silas Dinsmore, of whom so much is said in Parton's "Life of Jackson," and who beat him at his own game, and others, were members of this family.

The direct ancestor of the Washington county branch was James Dinsmore, who was born at Ballywattick, Ireland, April 24, 1742. He emigrated to America in 1761, and settled in York county, Penn. There he married, had three daughters, and buried his wife. In 1774-75 he removed to Miller's Run, in what is now the edge of Allegheny county. There he married again, and had two sons and two daughters. At that time Pittsburgh was but a straggling hamlet, the country was a wilderness, swarming with savage beasts and wild men. That land is still owned by his descendants in the direct line, and it is situated not far from Venice. In 1794 he bought, and in 1796, removed to a large tract of land in what is now Canton township, Washington county, and on that estate the fifth generation of his name and blood are living to-day; this land is situated six miles a little north of west from Washington. This James Dinsmore was a very bulky man, weighing above three hundred pounds; he died in 1817. He was eminent for saintliness, and was an elder in the Presbyterian Church for a great many years. He had two sons, John and James, between whom his landed estate was divided.

John Dinsmore, the grandfather of subject, was born at Miller's Run, in Pennsylvania, July 14, 1779. When a boy he removed with his father to Washington county, as above stated, and there spent his life, dying July 12, 1858. He was a man of great force of character, an elder in the Upper Buffalo Presbyterian congregation for nearly fifty years, distinguished for piety and greatly respected. He was a thrifty man, and became a large land holder. In 1808-10 he built the large, solid, old-fashioned house which has been the nest of the family for more than eighty years, and the children of its present owner are the fifth generation to live in it. John Dinsmore had four sons William, James, John and Robert and one daughter Mary. They all settled at their birthplace (William inheriting the old homestead), and are all gone out of this world.

William Dinsmore, father of subject, was born October 14, 1801, and died March 31, 1883, on the spot on which he was born. He was an intelligent, upright, God-fearing man, very industrious, affectionate and greatly beloved by his neighbors, and especially by his family. He was the liberal friend of every good cause. He was married March 12, 1838, to Rebecca Anderson, daughter of Capt. James Anderson, of the army of the Revolution. Capt. Anderson was also an early settler in the same neighborhood, and the farm on which he lived and died afterward became part of the Dinsmore estate. William and Rebecca (Anderson) Dinsmore had four children who lived to maturity, and one, James Anderson, who died when quite young; John Walker, the eldest in the family, was born March 13, 1839, and will have special mention further on in this sketch; Jane Melissa and Mary Virginia (twins), born May 1, 1841 (Jane Melissa married M. Wilson McClane, and lives near Washington; she has seven children. Mary Virginia married J. Hamilton M'Carrell, and resides in Lawrence, Kans.), and William Malcolm, the subject proper of this memoir.

John Walker Dinsmore, eldest in the family of William and Rebecca Dinsmore, was educated at Washington College, and the Theological Seminary, Allegheny, and entered the ministry of the Presbyterian Church. He spent seven years in Wisconsin, six of them as pastor of a church at Prairie du Sac, and then accepted a call to the Second Presbyterian Church of Bloomington, Ill. He continued the beloved pastor of that congregation (one of the largest and strongest in the State) for twenty-one years, up to September, 1891, when, owing to the ill health of his family, he was compelled to seek a milder climate. He accepted a call to the First Presbyterian Church of San Jose, Cal., one of the strongest congregations on the Pacific coast, and now lives there. On December 23, 1862, he married Miss Ada Vance, daughter of Isaac Vance, Esq., of Allegheny county, and a graduate of Washington Female Seminary, and they have four living children: William Vance, born March 30, 1868, who graduated with distinction at Princeton College, class of 1891, and who is now in business in Des Moines, Iowa; Dudley Fitz- John, born May 16, 1873, educated at Lake Forest, III., and now with his parents; Paul Anderson, born August 24, 1877, and now a student in the University of the Pacific, and Marguerita Adeline, born February 9, 1882, at present in the Normal School, San Jose, Cal.

William Malcolm Dinsmore was born January 25, 1848, on the ancestral estate in Canton township where he now resides. On November 10, 1875, he was united in marriage with Maggie J. Dinsmore, daughter of W. W. Dinsmore, of near West Middletown, and they have four children: John A., Mary D., Adeline and Helen. Mr. Dinsmore is a stanch Republican in his political views, and is a member of the school board. Following in the footsteps of his ancestry he is a consistent member of the Presbyterian Church. Well-known in the community in which he resides, he is highly respected as a substantial and wealthy agriculturist, owning farms in both Hopewell and Canton townships in all 435 acres.

Text taken from page 50 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 USGenWeb pages at http://www.chartiers.com/.

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