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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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ROBERT P. NEVIN, writer, Sewickley, be longs to a family whose ancestors were Scotch. Grandfather Daniel Nevin was born August 28, 1744, in Cumberland county, Pa. In 1770 he married Margaret Williamson, a sister of John Williamson, LL. D., of Pennsylvania, a prominent member of the constitutional (federal) convention, and, with other works, author of the well-known history of South Carolina. The parents of our subject were John and Martha Nevin, by occupation farmers, but the father had a classical education, and the mother was talented, and assisted in the education of her children. Robert P. was educated in Chillicothe, Ohio, Sewickley Academy, and Jefferson College, where he graduated in the class of 1842. He then came to Pittsburgh, Pa., where he, in partnership with his brother, Theodore H., conducted a drug business till 1870, when he sold his interest to his brother. In the meantime, having a taste for literary pursuits, he wrote for his personal friend, Robert M. Riddle, editor of the Pittsburgh Commercial Journal, and others. Also wrote for the Knickerbocker, Atlantic and Lippincott magazines. He bought the Sunday Leader, and established in connection with it the Evening Leader (daily), which has been a very successful paper. In 1880 he started the Pittsburgh Times, which he sold out after conducting it successfully for four years. While traveling in Europe he wrote for his paper “Tracks of a Traveler,” a series of letters which were read and copied far and wide. In 1872 his “Black-Robes” appeared, and pronounced a success. In February, 1888, his “Les Trois Rois” appeared, creating surprise and pleasure in the literary world. Mr. Nevin is a slow but painstaking writer, and every page of his manuscript gives the reader a glimpse of the author’s unselfish soul.

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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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