ROBERT W. HAGERTY. This gentleman, one of the leading agriculturists of the county, but now retired, having rented his farm in Buffalo township, is a grandson of Joseph Hagerty, who came from Ireland to this country in an early day, and had married, in his native land, Mrs. Hannah Fleming, a widow; they both died in Washington county, Penn., whither they had come in 1812. They had a family of thirteen children, of whom there is record of the following: John, Joseph, Robert, Blair and William are all deceased; Joseph and David were twins, of whom Joseph lives in Kansas and David in Washington, Penn.; Nancy is the deceased wife of Joseph Van Kirk; Mary is the deceased wife of Samuel Wilkey; Betsy died unmarried; and one died at the age of three years. The father of this family passed from earth in 1825, at the age of one hundred and ten years; the mother at the home of her son William, in 1850 when aged ninety-three years. William Hagerty, father of Robert W., was born in 1813, in this county, near Canonsburg, and was reared to agricultural pursuits. In 1838 he married Miss Emily, daughter of Robert Wilson, of Franklin township, and they then settled on a farm in Buffalo township. The children born to this union were as follows: John, in Buffalo township; Elizabeth, wife of William Moore, also in Buffalo township; Hannah, wife of William Hepler, in Washington; Robert W.; and Martha, married to Richard Mounts, of Buffalo township. In February, 1884, the mother was taken away by death, and the father then came into the borough of Washington, where he passed the remainder of his days, dying in 1886 at the age of seventy-three years. Politically he was a Democrat, and held various township offices. He was a thoroughly representative go-ahead American, climbing from the bottom of the ladder of success to the top, rung by rung, entirely by his own individual efforts, beginning life a poor boy, and dying the owner of two fine farms in Buffalo township, which are still in the family's possession. He and his wife were members of the United Presbyterian Church. Robert W. Hagerty, the chief subject of these lines, is a native of the county, born in Buffalo township, May 24, 1851. His education was secured during the winter months at the common schools of the district, while the remainder of the year was passed in laboring on the home farm, learning the many important and arduous duties incident to agricultural pursuits. In January, 1887, Mr. Hagerty married Miss Frances, daughter of Robert and Eliza A. (Lafferty) Hagerty (the latter of whom was a sister of Dr. Lafferty, of Brownsville), of Pittsburgh, and they had one child that died in infancy. In 1889 Mr. and Mrs. Hagerty came to Washington, he having rented his farm, which has fourteen producing oil wells on it, one of them the largest in the township, yielding 115 barrels per hour. This farm is in Buffalo township, some five and a half miles from Washington, on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. Politically, our subject is a Democrat, and in religion he and his wife are members of the Christian Church. Their home in the borough is situated on a high piece of ground commanding a fine view, on the corner of Main street and Prospect avenue.

Text taken from page 1404 of: Beers, J. H. and Co., Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1893). Transcribed January 1997 by Neil and Marilyn Morton of Oswego, IL as part of the Beers Project. Published January 1997 on the Washington County, PA USGenWeb pages at http://www.chartiers.com/.

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