My Genealogy Hound

JAMES J. EAST, merchant, Bellevue, was born in Birmingham, England, in 1826. His father was a glass-manufacturer in Birmingham, owning, with a partner, three furnaces, twenty-seven pots, known as the Phoenix Glass-works. His mother was a niece of Dr. Davenport, rector of Stratford-on-Avon. His paternal ancestors left France with a party of Huguenots about the middle of the seventeenth century, and on their settlement in England affiliated with the Puritans; his maternal ancestors belonged to the tory or high-church party. During the latter part of his ninth year, after passing a successful examination, he was admitted a student of the Latin and commercial departments in King Edward VI Collegiate Institution in Birmingham, England. Here he remained until Mr. R. Cooper, his brother in-law, opened an academy or high-school in a village named Smethwick, near Birmingham, and was a diligent student for two years. At the end of that time, however, circumstances required that his scholastic career should close, and that he should mingle in the “battle of life.” In the fall of 1848 he came to this country, locating in Allegheny, where for several years he contributed under the nom de plume of “Excelsior” to Mrs. Swisshelm’s Weekly Visitor, Purviand’s News and the Allegheny Enterprise. In 1852 he opened with a small capital a book and wallpaper store in Allegheny. By close application to business and by strict integrity the venture was made an eminently successful one, and his career as a tradesman was pleasant and profitable. At the commencement of his business enterprise he married Miss Rose T. Hughes, daughter of Mr. Hughes, a confectioner of Pittsburgh. The happiness which this marriage brought was, however, of short duration. The young and lovely wife was soon to pass away. The grim destroyer, consumption, had early marked her for one of his victims, and within two years from the wedding-day the gentle mother with her two babes was borne in solemn sadness to the cold embrace of the tomb.

In 1855 the young merchant was again married, this time to Miss Annie Hunnings, sister of Marsh Hunnings, now cashier of the Pittsburgh Central Bank, and Frank Hunnings, of the firm of Hunnings & Wilson, surveyors, Pittsburgh. Toward the close of the war, business continuing to prosper and his health declining, he removed his residence from Allegheny City to the southern part of Ross township. Being near to the city and a very healthy locality, there were many citizens from Pittsburgh and Allegheny in the settlement, who, finding the local government was crude and inefficient, desired that a borough be organized. A meeting of the leading taxpayers, among whom was Hon. T. M. Bayne, W. Roseburgh, cashier of the Bank of Pittsburgh, Hugh and Samuel Clancy and many others, was held in the parlors of J. J. East, a committee was appointed and the necessary measures were adopted, and as a result the organization of a borough named Bellevue was effected, and a large and handsome school-building was erected. Since that period, as his health would permit, for five terms (fifteen years) he has been elected a school director; has also served as secretary of the board and treasurer of the borough and school district. The surviving children (two having died in their infancy) of J. J. East and Annie East are Fred A. East, bookkeeper and organist; George G. and James M., partners in the store in Allegheny; Will J., architect with J. Anglin, Esq.; Frank T., engraver at the jewelry establishment of Roberts & Sons, and Florence C., the only daughter, who is now and for several years has been a student at the Pittsburgh School of Design.

During the agitation on the slavery question J. J. East published two pamphlets, “The Signs of the Times” and “Shall Kansas be a Free or a Slave State?” both of which, in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, had a large circulation. At the formation of the republican party he gave it his endorsement, and has ever since been one of its most ardent adherents. At the recent election connected with “constitutional prohibition,” his vote was given against the influence of the saloon. His religious proclivities may be inferred from the fact that since its organization, twenty-odd years ago, he has been a member and trustee of the M. P. Church of Bellevue. He believes that God is not only the author but that he is also the ruler of the universe, and that “in him we live and move and have our being.”