My Genealogy Hound

JOHN GUFFEY, farmer, post office Elizabeth, a son of John and Isabella (Campbell) Guffey, was born in Westmoreland county, Jan. 18, 1825. He is a descendant of the Scottish family of Guffey occupying the shire of Lanark in the lowlands of Scotland. His great-great-grandfather, William Guffey, came to this country in the year 1738, and first settled near Lancaster, Pa. In 1758 he, with a few other hardy spirits, followed the Forbes expedition against Fort Duquesne, into the then unbroken forests of the west, until they reached the Loyalhanna creek, where they decided to locate, this being the first permanent English settlement in Westmoreland county, and the second west of the Alleghenies. About the year 1783 James, the son of William, bought a large tract of land near what is now West Newton, and the larger portion of his descendants are living in Westmoreland county at present. Quite a number of the ancestors of the Guffeys and Campbells were killed or taken captive by the Indians in their incursions on the settlements. They were among the pioneers of the present great Monongahela river coal trade, the manufacture of salt and distilling. On Sept. 16, 1886, at a reunion of the Guffey family, there were five generations present, aggregating 293 persons. John Guffey was married in 1857, to Catherine B. Stoner, daughter of Henry Stoner, of Forward town ship, and they began their married life on this farm. They have three children: Francis Henry, now an attorney in Pittsburgh; Edward and John, both at home. Mr. Guffey is a farmer and stock dealer and has surrounded himself with many of the luxuries which wealth purchases.