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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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JOHN MUSE, farmer, P. O. McKeesport, was born in Wilkins township, Allegheny county, Pa., March 9, 1827, a son of John J. and Rebecca (Edmundson) Muse. His paternal grandfather, Fauntley Muse, a native of Virginia, came in 1766 with his mother and stepfather (whose name was Elrod) to Elizabeth township, this county, where he was reared from eleven years of age. He was a farmer all his life, and died at the residence of his son, Fauntley, in Versailles township, in 1839. Fauntley, Sr., was a soldier of the Revolution, and his son, Fauntley, Jr., of the war of 1812. John J. Muse was a farmer, and purchased the property now occupied by the subject of our sketch, in Versailles township, in 1832. He was a prominent citizen, and represented Allegheny county in the legislature in 1854-55, and was county treasurer in 1858-59.

John Muse was reared in Versailles township from five years of age, and educated in the common schools. He has been a farmer all his life, and owns and occupies the old homestead of his father, known as the Galilee farm, which was patented in 1783 by a man named Rayburn, and who erected a blockhouse thereon for protection from the Indians. In 1792 his (Rayburn’s) hired man, Robert Cousins, was shot dead by the Indians while cultivating corn, and his two daughters reached the blockhouse barely in time to escape the same fate. Rayburn sold the farm to Anthony Rollins, grand-uncle of James Rollins, of Missouri (deceased), who deeded it to Dr. Rollins, from whom it was purchased by John J. Muse, in 1832. Mr. Muse occupies one of the best farms in the township, comprising 156 acres. He is a director of the People’s Bank of McKeesport; politically he is a stanch 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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