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Below is a family biography included in the History of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania published in 1889 by A. Warner & Co.   These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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CHARLES ATWELL, railroad president Sewickley, was born February 8, 1821, in County Fermanagh, Ireland. His ancestors were English people who moved to Ireland during the revolution of 1690, when they were soldiers in the Protestant army. They received land-grants as bounties for their services, some of which yet remain with the family. Charles Atwell, accompanied by his parents, John and Jane (Fawcett) Atwell came to America in 1837, and settled in Carroll county, Ohio, where the parents died. On his arrival in Ohio, Charles became a clerk in a mercantile establishment in Columbiana county, where he secured many friends. Beginning in 1841, he carried on business for himself until 1855, when he came to Pittsburgh, where he established a wholesale grocery-house, which he conducted successfully until his son, Charles A., took charge in 1878. He was from its inception interested in the Pittsburgh, Allegheny & Manchester Passenger railway, of which he has been president the past five years. Mr. Atwell has filled other positions of trust, and has always merited the confidence reposed in him. For ten years he was president of the People’s Savings bank of Allegheny, and has also been and still remains a director of the Union National Bank of Pittsburgh, and connected with the management of other institutions. In 1865 he made his permanent family home in the beautiful suburban village of Sewickley, Pa. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church of this place, and president of its board of trustees. Politically he is a republican.

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This family biography is one of 2,156 biographies included in the History of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania published in 1889 by A. Warner & Co.

View additional Allegheny County, Pennsylvania family biographies here: Allegheny County, Pennsylvania Biographies

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