Dear Cousins -- As I promised, here is more of what I've gathered on the history of the Westmoreland County Alwines. I am sending it in two parts. As always, if you use this information please cite this posting as the source. I hope it helps. I am related to Jacob and Samuel Alwine in the following way: Jacob Alwine is my four-greats uncle, as he was a brother to Conrad Alwine II from Adams County, who was my three-greats grandfather. Samuel was, thus, a first cousin to my two-greats grandfather, John Alwine, and therefore Samuel is my first cousin, four generations removed. Not that any of this matters but I thought you might be interested. Duane Jacob Alwine (1771-1854) and his Descendants Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania Duane F. Alwin Ann Arbor MI 48103 Part III Nestled in the foothills to the west of Laurel Highlands of southwest Pennsylvania, the town of Greensburg has been the center of government in the area since its origins. Until the borough was created in 1799, Greensburg was part of Hempfield Township, one of six oldest local municipalities in western Pennsylvania. Greensburg is the oldest county seat west of the Allegheny mountains, and the setting for much of the county's governmental and judicial activities. Much of this takes place at the center of the old town in the environs of its extraordinary courthouse. Samuel Alwine was a longtime resident and a prominent member of the Greensburg community. He first appears in the tax rolls for the borough of Greensburg in 1841 listed as a "single man" -- he would have been about 21 years of age at that time. He was a blacksmith. As noted earlier, over time he would acquire a considerable amount of property. Some 35 years later, an 1876 map of the Borough of Greensburg shows that Samuel Alwine owned a substantial amount of land situated south of East Pittsburgh Street and east of Alwine Avenue. This can be verified in the patent records for the County. In a biographical sketch appearing in Old and New Westmoreland, published in 1918, some 17 years after his death, it is said of Samuel Alwine that "he is regarded as one of the most substantial and influential citizens of the region and is venerated as a man who is not only successful, but who has won every bit of his success through hard work and his own personal exertions." [Endnote #10] The 1870 Census enumeration -- when he was 50 years of age -- gives a value of $15,000 for his real estate holdings, and $5,000 as the value of his personal estate. The people in western Pennsylvania often named their streets after the people who lived there, and "Alwine Avenue" still runs today for a few blocks between East Pittsburgh and Laird streets. Samuel Alwine's home was located on the southeast corner of the intersection of East Pittsburgh Street and Alwine Avenue. Adjacent to this was the site of his black smithing and wagon making enterprise. Up the hill to the west at the southwest corner of the intersection of 2nd and Main Streets was located the hotel property he would acquire some time later. One History of Greensburg from 1899 contains photographs of the hotel (at the time known as the Zimmerman House) and the home of Samuel Alwine, Sr. [Endnote #11]. Both were located within just a few city blocks of the courthouse. The house remains on the corner of East Pittsburgh and Alwine Avenue and appears to be used as a apartment house. The site of the old Alwine Hotel and Zimmerman House is now occupied by the Troutman Building, which among other things houses a senior center. Jacob and Samuel Alwine were both members of the Roman Catholic faith community of Greensburg. They are buried along with their wives and many of Samuel's descendants in the Greensburg Catholic Cemetery. Their graves are located at the very top of the hill in what were perhaps some of the earliest plots of the cemetery. There is a tall monument under the trees on the hill commemorating Samuel Alwine and Bela Zimmerman (his son-in-law) and their wives. Perhaps the highest-reaching monument in the entire cemetery, it sits at the end of one of two rows of gravestones devoted to the Alwine family. There are five Alwine graves that were moved from the old Catholic cemetery to this site when the new cemetery was consecrated, those of Jacob (who died in 1854), his first wife Catherine (who died in 1836), and three of the children of Samuel and Elizabeth Alwine. It is impossible now to make out the inscriptions on the headstones for the graves of the three children, although one can still see the tops are marked "Lizzie," "Frank," and "Katie" -- for Elizabeth Esther, Francis Jacob, and Catharine Josephine. [Endnote #12] In addition to Jacob (1771-1854), his wife Catherine (1783-1836), Samuel (1820-1901), his wife Elisabeth (1821-1907), and the three Alwine children who died in childhood, the Catholic cemetery holds the remains of two of Samuel and Elisabeth's children, Cordelia (1846-1941) who married Bela Zimmerman (1846-1881), and the youngest child Harry (Henry) Foster Alwine (1862-1937). [Endnote #13] Four of Harry's five children are buried there as well: Henry F. (1902-1958), Mary Elizabeth (1900-1963), John C. (1904-1996), and George V. Alwine (1909-1998). Finally, Sister Zita (1875-1901) a nun believed to be a granddaughter of Samuel Alwine, is also buried with the Alwine family there. To date I have not been able to locate the burial places of Samuel A. Alwine, Jr., eldest son of Samuel Alwine, Sr. and brother to Cordelia and Harry (Henry) Foster Alwine, and his family. He married Jessie B. Null and they reportedly had seven children: Eleanor, Jessie, George, Zita, Samuel V., Henry H., and Cyril. [see Endnote #14] Samuel and Jessie N. Alwine are listed in a 1929 city directory of Greensburg, living at 215 South Pennsylvania street. Samuel Jr.'s brother Harry and Harry's four sons (John, George, Edward, and Harry, Jr.) are also listed in the 1929 city directory, most of whom were living at 537 Fulton Street. Endnotes 10. See Capt. Fenwick Y. Hedley, "Samuel Alwine" in Old and New Westmoreland, published by the American Historical Society, Inc., New York, 1918, vol. IV (pp. 1248-1249). This source draws heavily on previously published biographies for Samuel Alwine (see Endnote #3). 11. See History of Greensburg and Greensburg Schools, printed and published by Vogle & Winsheimer, Greensburg, Pa., 1899. 12. I found an entry in the September 10, 1862 issue of the Pennsylvania Argus and Westmoreland Democrat that gives notice of the deaths of these three children, but it does not indicate what they died of. There are a number of possibilities, for example, during the late 1800s, diphtheria epidemics swept the United States. This is a contagious respiratory disease, whose victims at that time were mainly children under the age of ten. 13. The gravestone for him reads "Harry F. Alwine," whereas he is also referred to as "Henry F. Alwine." In those days the names Harry and Henry were often used interchangeably. What makes it even more confusing is that he named his son Henry F. Alwine as well, and one of his first cousins (the son of John Alwine, older brother of Samuel) was also Henry Alwine. In any event, Harry F. Alwine married Sarah Crock, but she must not have converted to Catholicism. She died in 1932 and is buried in the Brush Creek cemetery in Adamsburg. 14. The source of this information is Jerome Allwein's Genealogy of the Allwein-Arnold Families, Philadelphia, 1902 (p. 55). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Duane F. Alwin Professor, Department of Sociology Senior Research Scientist & Program Director Survey Research Center Office: 4067 Institute for Social Research Phone: 734-764-6597 Fax: 734-647-4575 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~