My Genealogy Hound

WILLIAM JOHN BARTLEY, brick-manufacturer, Verona, was born Nov. 27, 1835, in that part of Butler township now called Jefferson. His grandfather, James Bartley, came from Ireland and settled on a farm in Butler county, and his parents, Thomas and Margaret (Welsh) Bartley, were born in Pennsylvania. In 1846 Thomas Bartley moved to Allegheny City, and engaged in the manufacture of brick in and about Pittsburgh. During part of that time he lived on the farm. In 1871 he was struck by a locomotive on a crossing, and died from the effects of his injuries, aged sixty-two. His wife had died a year previously, at the same age. Four of their five children now reside near Pittsburgh, as follows: James C., W. J., Margaret A. (Hays) and Sarah J. (Wylie). Bethiah, the eldest, died when seventeen. W. J. Bartley received a fair education, and when out of school, at eleven years of age, began helping in his father’s brickyard. In 1862 he joined Co. F, 139th P. V., and served with the Army of the Potomac from the battle of Antietam to the close of the war, including the Shenandoah campaign. He remained with his father until his death, and came to Verona in 1873, taking charge of his present yard, which he bought after the death of the owner, in 1874. He makes nearly a million of brick per year. Mr. Bartley is associated with the U. P. Church, G. A. R. and R. A., and is a republican; is at present a member of the borough school board. In 1869 he married Lida J., daughter of Thomas and Mary Hilliard, of Irish descent. She died in 1881, leaving three children: William M., Charles Edwin and Jennie Cochran. His present wife, Mollie Yarnell, is the mother of an infant daughter - Blanche E.