William B. HAGERTY & Kezia GEHO HAGERTY (Photos below)
[E. Bethlehem & Carroll Townships]William B. HAGERTY was born in Fayette County on April 10, 1828, the son of Samuel HAGERTY and his wife Elizabeth BLANEY/BLAYNEY HAGERTY [reportedly to have been from pioneer stock and early residents of the county]. Samuel HAGERTY came early to the United States, having emigrated from a port in Northern Ireland in 1801. He was later found living with his mother Mary HAGERTY in Washington Twp., Fayette Co. in 1808 when she purchases land there [this was for a part of an original land patent called “Punkin Patch.”] From census records and geographic proximity, it appears that the families of son William B(laney/Blayney) and his future wife Keziah GEHO (b. October 29, 1828 Fayette Co., PA) were neighborly acquaintances during their early years in Fayette County. The couple featured in this biography, married on March 21, 1850 at the home of the bride’s father, George GEHO, by the Rev. Mansel, Pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Parents of the bride were George GEHO and unknown mother. Mr. GEHO is found on Federal Census records for the years 1850-1870 as living in E. Bethlehem Township in Washington County where he pursued the shoemaking trade.
The young couple took up residence in Monongahela, Pennsylvania, and it was there that William B. built his homestead, high on the hill in "Monongahela City" when it was still called Parkinson's Ferry. He built ferryboats by trade, and this earned him the nickname of "Captain Billy". The couple welcomed the births of eight children:
1) Theodore J. HAGERTY, 1851-1900; married to Unknown
2) Sarah Elizabeth HAGERTY, 1852-1877
3) Mary Francis HAGERTY, 1856-1886; married to C. S. FOULKE 2)
4) Samuel Everett HAGERTY, 1859-1876
5 George L. HAGERTY, 1858-1858
6) William Mansfield HAGERTY, 1862-1935; married to Caroline “Callie Belle” CLENDANIEL, 1871-1957
7) Charles Leslie HAGERTY, 1864-1944; married to Margaret ROBSON, 1864-1923
8) Anna Kezia HAGERTY, 1868-?; married to Henry E. FLETCHERThe family story is that William B. decided to pursue a dream he had late in his life. At the age of 72 years he went to Seattle, Washington to build boats for the Yukon River and the Gold Rush. Two years later, in 1901, when he was 74, he passed away in Seattle and his body was shipped back home to Washington County, Pennsylvania. His wife Kezia must have remained in the home county while William was off chasing his dream out West, and she finally passes away after four years of being a widow, on May 23, 1905. From these two people, arose fourteen grandchildren and many more descendants in the ensuing years and generations. There are HAGERTY descendants alive today in the Washington County area. William B. and Kezia HAGERTY are found buried side by side in the Monongahela Cemetery, Washington County, Pennsylvania.
Pictures of this couple in their late middle-age were found July 1998 by descendant Joanne Leach at her Aunt Olive Hagerty's home in Monongahela, PA.
Submitted by descendant, Karen Souhrada
Researching:
Pennsylvania:..HAGERTY, ROBSON, ATCHESON,MC ALISTER, GEHO, WILLIAMS, BLANEY, MCCLUGAGE, HUDSON, JOBES
Illinois.......HAMMANG, KOUDELKA, LIDISKY, SORGMANN, SOUHRADA, VALTA,
VOPICKA
