Taken from the New Castle News Online (note there is a photo of this family in the article online.) Tools of the Trade: Family hardware store founded on dedication, generosity Jan 20 2001 12:00AM By Judy Hruska: New Castle News Wampum Hardware has been in business for nearly 100 years and has provided for five generations of the Davis family. In 1905, Dr. Charles Davis and his brother Francis purchased the business, which sold a large stock of general hardware and explosives. The store was eventually handed down to his children and, in turn, to his grandson, Lynn. After Lynn's death at age 49 in 1964, his son Gerry Davis became manager. At the time, Gerry was 23 years old and had five employees working for him. Today, Wampum Hardware has grown to 10 locations across Pennsylvania and into Ohio. The company has a total of 160 employees who service coal, limestone and rock mining, as well as construction in the development of land, roads and sewers. Gerry's sons, Patrick and Daniel, have also joined in running the business. The first of the Davis family to settle in Lawrence County was Joseph and Katherine Van Horne Davis. They had come from the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. Joseph and Katherine had 13 children: Joe, Matilda, Martha, Hannah, Mathias, Wesley, James, Amanda, Levi, Joanna, Amelia, Sara and Katherine. Their son, James, born Feb. 22, 1830, in Union Township, became a teacher after graduating from a log schoolhouse. He married the former Lavinah Iddings on Nov. 1, 1855. Buying a 100-acre farm in Shenango Township, James farmed and hauled coal mined there to trade in New Castle. In 1881, he was run down by a train at the railroad crossing while hauling coal. James and Lavinah had the following children: Francis Marion, Ezra Hoopes, Catherine Sage, James, Mary Brown, Charles W., Robert, Harry and Carrie Ailey. Their son, Francis, born Oct. 5, 1856, in Mullentown, later the 6th Ward of New Castle, was about 1 year old when his parents moved to the farm in Union Township. During his childhood, they relocated to Shenango Township. He attended public schools abut four months each year and worked on the farm until he was 17, when he learned to be a plasterer. During the next 27 years, he became known throughout the county for his trade. Francis married the former Alice A. Matheney on March 22, 1883. In 1905, he went into the hardware business with his brother, Charles, and was assisted by his daughter, Nancy "Dimple." In 1924, Francis was elected county commissioner. In addition to Dimple, Francis and Alice had the following children: Olive, Anna "Nell," Charles, Elijah and Alma. William J. McChesney, 57, of New Galilee has recorded some of his grandmother, Nell's memories. She recalled that her grandmother, Lavinah, finished paying off the mortgage on the farm and raised her children alone after she was widowed. Living until the age of 96, she became blind during her last years. Her son, Francis, bought her a clay pipe and tobacco in order to help her pass the time. He smoked a pipe himself until he decided it was a bad example to set for his first-born child, Charles, and quit cold turkey. Francis often lent money to others and occasionally they did not pay him back. One day he planned to stop and ask a coal miner to make a payment on the debt. When Francis arrived at home that evening, one of his daughters asked if he'd collected any of the money and he explained he hadn't. Nellie recalled that his explanation went something like this, "I was there when he got home from work. I saw him coming up the street and he looked so tired and so, dirty, I didn't have the heart to ask him. We talked a few minutes and I left." At Francis' funeral, Nell again remembered that a widow wept at the coffin and told what a wonderful man he was. Her deceased husband had also owed Francis money, but after the man's death, Francis sent the widow a note saying "paid in full." Francis was also generous to his family. During the early 1930s, at the height of the Depression, he hid checks for $1,000 each under his grown children's plates at dinner one night. William shared another story he had heard about Francis. Once while visiting his daughter, Olive, and her husband, Harry, Francis noticed an apple tree in need of a trim. He was up in the tree and sawing away before Harry had a chance to pull out a ladder. "He was like 85 years old at the time," William said. Nell married Chester McChesney on June 18, 1913, and they had six children: Robert, Francis, James, Alice, Chester, Catherine and Thomas. According to William, his grandmother Nell inherited her father's generosity. "She was the life of the party," he said. "She always carried a wicker basket nearly everywhere she went and always had something in it to give somebody. If you went to visit her or she came to visit you, she always gave you something." William added that those gifts were often the African violets she grew. Once his father, James, asked how many she had in the house and she said she didn't know. "He said, 'I counted 230-some.' She asked, 'Did you get the ones in the hall and in this other room?' He said he hadn't. So she must have had 400 or 500 of them," he said. Nell and Chester's son, James, married the former Lois Alexander and William was their only child. Born May 31, 1943, William married the former Vernice Jones on May 9, 1969. They had four children: William W., Eleanor "Nellie," Lydia and Rose. William W. married the former Sarah Brown and they live in Beaver Falls with their two children, Cheri and Judi. Nellie is married to Blake McMahan and they live in Enon Valley, while Lydia and Rose live in New Galilee. Francis and Alice's son, Charles, born June 16, 1887, married the former Ethel Guy on Oct. 30, 1912. They had seven children, Guy M., Olive, Glenn, Harry, Wayne, Ann and Jane. Ann married Harry Vitril on Oct. 10, 1956, and they live in Wampum. According to an newspaper article featuring Charles' 90th birthday celebration, he was recognized as one of the first clients of Ellwood City area Meals on Wheels. Charles was described as "very active, enjoys life, never complains." A member of the Wampum United Methodist Church, he served as Sunday school superintendent for many years. The first Boy Scout leader in Wampum, Charles organized Troop 2 in 1912. He joined the Wampum band around 1920 and served for 10 years on the Wampum School Board. Charles retired in 1953 from the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad after 44 years of service. Later he worked as a custodian for six years at the Wampum High School. He continued his hobbies of reading, gardening and canning well into his 90s and died on April 20, 1984, at the age of 96. Nancy "Dimple," the daughter of Francis and Alice, began working at Wampum Hardware at the age of 14. She was the mother of Hazel and Eleanor Wilson, 78 and 73, respectively, both of Wampum. In July 1910, Dimple became a local heroine when she saved Wampum from destruction by fire. An account published in The Newsy Newspaper and dated July 11, 1910, reported that a fire started in a home when a young girl was attempting to light a leaky gasoline stove. The gasoline tank of the stove exploded and flames engulfed the home. The fire, which was called the worst in Wampum history at the time, threatened to spread through the village. Alone and unaided, Dimple hitched a team of horses to her father's wagon and loaded up the hardware store's stock of dynamite, on which the flames were quickly advancing. She unloaded the explosives on the bank of the Beaver River and returned to the village of Wampum. Half an hour later it was agreed by the townspeople that a row of sheds and wooden buildings, directly in the path of the flames, needed to be removed in order to stop the flames from spreading further. Dimple drove the team of horses back to the river bank to load the dynamite to be used to blow up the sheds. Once the fire was checked, the town was saved and Dimple was hailed for her courage. Although the fire consumed six homes, several barns, a vacant storeroom and a blacksmith shop, no lives were lost. Years later, Dimple married Joseph Wilson and they had seven children: Bertha Beatty, Alice Miller, Esther McMichael, Thomas (deceased), Hazel Wilson, Helen Zeh and Eleanor Wilson. Francis and Alice's son, Elijah, married the former Bertha Pitts on Sept. 30, 1914. They had a daughter, Ruth Freitag, and a son, Lynn. Lynn married the former Dorothy Johnson on Aug. 15, 1940, and they had three children, Gerry, Judy and Paul. Gerry, 59, of New Galilee married the former Mary Jane Baldauf on May 31, 1963. They have four children: Robin, Penny, Patrick and Daniel. Robin is married to Alvin Williams and they live in St. Mary's, Pa. Penny is married to Lenny Vaccariello and they live in Long Island, N.Y., with their children, Cara and Connor. Pat and Daniel live in New Galilee and help their father run Wampum Hardware. Francis and Alice's youngest child, Alma, was born July 8, 1895. She married Arthur James on Sept. 5, 1922, and they lived in West Chester, Pa. until their deaths. They had a daughter, Barbara, and a son, Arthur. ©New Castle News 2001