Free Genealogy Biography
of Alexander Chisolm
Pennsylvania Volunteer of the Civil War
Alexander Chisolm
Alexander, second son of Alexander and Mary Ann (Williams) Chisholm, was born August 26, 1846, about one-half mile from Uniontown on the New Salem road. He was educated in the public school, leaving at the age of sixteen years.
He enlisted in the Fifty-eighth Regiment State Troops for the repulse of the Morgan Raiders, when they invaded Ohio. On February 29, 1864, he enlisted for three years in Company K, One Hundred and Sixteenth Regiment, 116th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, and between the date of muster and the close of the war between the states was engaged in twenty-two battles and skirmishes. His was a fighting regiment and in all the severe battles they passed through Mr. Chisholm escaped without a serious wound. He was honorably discharged and mustered out near Washington, D. C., July 14, 1865.
After the war he located in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, where he worked at the carpenter's trade, and since 1870 has been one of the leading contractors and builders of Uniontown and Fayette county. In 1867 he went west with a cousin, Wallace Chisholm, going as far west as St. Louis, Missouri, working at his trade there and at Quincy, Illinois, Chicago, and then back to Pittsburgh, consuming a year on his trip. In 1868 he again went west, stopping six months at Ottumwa, Iowa, thence to Omaha, Nebraska, where he entered the employ of the Union Pacific Railway Company, working at carpentering on their lines as far west as Ogden, Utah, While at the latter city he witnessed the departure of the first train from Ogden for Salt Lake City. He returned to Uniontown, where he has since continuously resided. He was one of the first uniformed police officers of Uniontown, and in the early days was kept busy preventing street fights and rioting. He also served as a township constable. In early life he was a Republican, but is now a supporter of Socialistic principles. He was baptized in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. During the civil war the Chisholms of Maryland divided and were found in both the armies of the north and south. The Chisholm brothers of Uniontown, Daniel and Alexander, served in the same company and regiment, Company K, One Hundred and Sixteenth Pennsylvania.
He married, October 20, 1870, Eliza Jane, born in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, daughter of Andrew and Eliza Dutton, and granddaughter of Jacob Dutton, a skilled millwright and early settler of Fayette county. Her mother, Eliza Dutton, died three days after the birth of her daughter. Children of Mr. and Mrs. Chisholm: 1. Nora, born June 14, 1871, died November 17, 1902; married Thomas Longnecker, who died August 26, 1897; their only child died in infancy. 2. Helen, born February 16, 1873; married John Z. Smail, one of the high class engineers used by the New York Central in the operation of their eighteen-hour train between New York and Chicago, the Twentieth Century Limited; five children: Hazel; Irene, married Charles Cope and has one child, Charles A.; Miland; Carl; Nora Grace; Charles A. 3. Charles, born November 3, 1875; a carpenter of Uniontown; married Helen Litman. 4. Kate R., born January 30, 1890; married Carl Keek, of Connellsville, a bookkeeper at Leisening, Pennsylvania; child, Virginia Mae.
Source: Genealogical and Personal History of Fayette County, John W. Jordan, Lewis Historical Publishing Co., 1912.
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