My Genealogy Hound

JOSEPH TRUMAN COLVIN, president of the National Bank of Commerce, Pittsburgh was born near Brownsville, Fayette county, Pa., Feb. 27, 1838. His great-grandfather Levi Colvin, of Scotch ancestry, was among the earliest settlers of that county and his grandfather, William, and father, Levi, were both born there. Eliza McDonald, wife of the latter, and mother of Joseph T. is a granddaughter of Christian Tarr, one of the first members of Congress from Pennsylvania. Levi Colvin built and operated one of the first paper-mills in Western Pennsylvania, and afterward engaged in mercantile business at Brownsville, where he died in 1868. His widow yet resides there.

J. T. Colvin, who is the eldest of her four children, attended Dunlap’s Academy, and took a scientific course in Jefferson College at Cannonsburg. On reaching his majority he became a partner in his father’s store continuing three years. In 1862 he came to Pittsburgh and became head of the grain and wool firm of Colvin & Mason. Four years later, he left this, and entered the wholesale grocery firm of Smith, Johnson & Colvin. In 1869, the senior partner retired, and the firm became Johnson & Colvin. In 1876 Mr. Colvin withdrew from this firm, and became head of the firm of Colvin, Atwell & Co., retiring in 1884. In the meantime Mr. Colvin became a director in the New York and Cleveland Gas Coal company, Union Insurance company (of which he was president from 1881 to 1884), and the National Bank of Commerce, being elected to his present position in 1884. He is interested in the Newsboys’ Home, is a member of the Americus club, and of the Baptist Church. His, wife, Elizabeth, is a daughter of the late William Searight, and a sister of Col. T. B. Searight, both prominent democrats of Fayette county.