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The North Sewickley Academy building was erected around 1850 under the Rev. James S. Henderson, who was pastor of the Slippery Rock Presbyterian Church and the North Sewickley Presbyterian Church. The Rev. Henry Webber succeeded Henderson as principal of the academy.
The academy buildings were later used to house the Soldiers Orphan School of North Sewickley under the supervision of the Rev. Henry Webber, who built an addition of 40 feet to his house for the accommodation of the pupils, who at one time numbered 300. Those children who could not be housed with Webber were boarded out with families in the neighborhood. Later, James Jackson was in charge of the school, assisted by Robert Brown and Kate McBeth followed by the Rev. James Mann, Kate McBeth and a Miss Smith. The school was soon disbanded and the children sent to the State Soldiers Orphan School at Phillipsburg, (Monaca).
Several large buildings which had been built by the Philadelphia Society were used for various purposes. In 1865 they were bought by the Rev. William Taylor, D.D. to house the Soldiers Orphan School which he was establishing at Phillipsburg.
This school was the first of the kind under state appointment in western Pennsylvania, and was organized by the Rev. William G. Taylor, D.D., under the appointment of Governor Andrew G. Curtin. The school opened in March of 1866 and continued until 1876, new buildings being added and more land purchased. In August, 1876 the main building was destroyed by fire, and it was never rebuilt. The students were transferred to other institutions.
Following is a list of some of the students who were educated at the Phillipsburg School and who stayed until they were sixteen years old. The list is dated January 15, 1873:
George M. Gould, brickmaker in Pittsburgh; Laura A. Bennett, married and lived in Enon Valley; John Cook, in rolling mill at Etna; Marion Holder, miner in West Elizabeth; Emma L. Purvis, married; Isabella S. Ault, with mother in Temperanceville; Willard W. M'Cune, deputy sheriff in Butler Co.
William Craig, nail cutter in Bennett; Mark M'Cas-lin, law student in Erie; Samuel Murphy, supt. packing room in cutlery mfg. in Beaver Falls; Mary H. Delo, married in McKeesport; Hannah E. Preston, married in Sharpsburg; Lucinda Maxwell, married in McKeesport.
Emma Aughinbaugh, married in Allegheny City; Johnston D. White, teaching in Pittsburgh; Elizabeth Dawson, domestic service in Allegheny City; John F. Cumming, artist; Alice Wray, mantuarnaker in Beaver Falls; Sarah M. Sample, millner in Allegheny City.
Charles Glatzen, framing in Harthegig; Samuel J. Watson, framing in Industry; Samuel E. Hoyt, framing in Liverpool; John W. Wyke, collecting clerk in Pittsburgh; Julia A. Bennett, domestic service in Enon Valley; Albertina Blair, at home with her mother in Clinton.
Ariada Grandy, tailoress in Sharon; William J.A. Leith, steam boatman in Holt; James B. Moore, hotel clerk in Pittsburgh; John 1. Mallon, painter in Meadville; Anna W. Reynolds, clerking in Pittsburgh; Martha Burgess, teaching in Jefferson Co.; Marietta Dougherty, domestic service in Clinton; Priscilla Eckless, married in Georgetown.
George W. Cook, nailcutter in Etna; Mary E. Grabaugh, married in Wilkins; Cornelia W. Young, clerking in Pittsburgh; Mary W. Murphy, at home with her mother in Beaver Falls; Sarah R. Morris, at home in Cincinnati; Rose E. Cole, married and lives in Wheeling, W.Va.; Wilheimina Laufer, married and lives in Philadelphia; Aseneth J. Prentice, mantuamaker in New Brighton.
Robert Donaldson, miner in West Elizabeth; George A. McCaslin, clerk in Wheatland; Paulina Speiss, married; Ellen Craig, married in Bennett; Joseph F.P. Baker, telegraph operator in Pittsburgh.
William R. Hall, miner in Beaver; James Kennedy, working in glass house in Allegheny Co.; Elizabeth Carson, married in New Castle; Elizabeth Rollings, teaching in Shady Side; Jacob Peters, railroad employee in New Castle; John N. Patterson, clerk in Rochester; Mary Brown, attending State Normal School in Edinboro; Theodore Davidson in foundry in Pittsburgh.
William Glatzen, farming in Harthegig; Mary J. Cumming, teaching in Allegheny; Eleanor Wray, working in brush factory in Beaver Falls; James R. Olcott, at home with mother in Rochester; Isabelia Reed, living with brother in Bridgeville; Evangeline Hutchinson, living with mother in Butler.
Abby E. Hoyt, married and living in Liverpool; Thomas H. Johnson, farming; Lydia F. Nelson, married and lives in New Castle; Henrietta S. Young, clerking in Pittsburgh; Lydia Marquis, in cutlery store in Beaver Falls; George L. Laufer, blacksmith in Pittsburgh.
Jane C. Burgess, mantuarnaker in Allegheny; Thomas J. Soulsby, gunsmith in Allegheny; Harriet A. Dawson, domestic service in Allegheny; Albert Jenkins, carriage maker in Minersville; William M. Bail, carpenter in Manchester; Frances L. Grandy, domestic service in Plain Grove.
Mary A. Howells, domestic service in Clinton; Loretto Reynolds, teaching Soldiers Orphan School in Phillipsburg; Abraham T. Johnson, brakeman on the Pennsylvania Railroad out of Latrobe.
William J. Murphy, cutlery store in Beaver Falls; John Harkins, railroad in Blairsville; Sarah C. Fulcomer, at home with her mother in Glade Mills; William A. Crum, farming in Wilmorem; Mary E. Purvis, at home with her mother in Rochester; Arminia V. Cole, assistant matron in the Phillipsburg Soldiers Orphan School; John Reynolds, farming, Armagh.
Frances L. Heasley, teaching in Lebanon, Pa.; Eunice Brown, supt. of dining room at the Penna. Soldiers Orphan School; Henrietta Evans, at home with mother in Philadelphia; James C. Donaldson, at home with mother in West Elizabeth; Kate Jones, at home with mother in Brady's Bend; Lewis Gratzen, farming in Harthegig.
Sidman A. Mickey, wagonmaker in Ligonier; Melissa J. Delo, at home with mother in Rochester; Augustus A. Bouch, at home with mother in Boston; James Craig, Nailcutter in Bennett; Anna Cook, at home with mother in Atna; Lila Reynolds, mantuamaker in Pittsburgh.
Drusilla Mallon, at home with mother in Meadville; Margaret McGinnis, attending Penna. Soldiers Orphan School; Jesse Hannon, soda works in Natrona; Elizabeth Meekins, attending Penna. Soldiers Orphan School.
Rebecca Reed, at home with mother in Rock Point; Margaret E. Magee, at home with mother in Rouseville; George W. Lowers, miner at Ironton, Ohio; Laura Shaffer, at home with mother in Beaver Falls.