My Genealogy Hound

SIDNEY H. TOTTEN, accountant, Pittsburgh, was born in that city Sept. 8, 1843. John Totten, his grandfather, was born in Orange county, N. Y., Aug. 5, 1770, and removed to Westmoreland county, Pa., near Greensburg. His son, William J. Totten, father of Sidney H., was also a native of Orange county, N. Y., born March 15, 1804, and came to Western Pennsylvania with his father’s family in 1808. He afterward settled in Pittsburgh, and established the Fort Pitt foundry, under the firm name of Knapp & Totten. At about the time of the Mexican war they manufactured large quantities of shot, shell and cannon, some of them of large caliber, known as the “Rodman ordnance.” The subject of this sketch was educated in this city, and, like his father, was engaged in the manufacture of iron and steel till recently. He has always been a stanch republican. When the civil war broke out he was young and in delicate health, and was prevailed upon by his widowed mother and others not to enlist. He frequently visited the theater of hostilities, aided in raising men and money to resist the invasion of Pennsylvania by Gen. Lee. He was tendered a commission as captain by the late Hon. Thomas M. Howe, acting adjutant-general of volunteers under Gov. Curtin. Mr. Totten is now connected with the department of public safety in Pittsburgh.