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Childs Asa [Male] b. 19 JUN 1767 Upton, MA - d. 9 JAN 1850
ASA6 CHILDS (JOSIAH5 CHILD, JONATHAN4, JOHN3, JOHN2, WILLIAM1) was born June 19, 1767 in Upton, Massachusetts, and died January 09, 1850. He married (1) REBEKAH TAFT October 21, 1784 in 1st Marriage, daughter of ESQUIRE JOHN TAFT. She was born Abt. 1765, and died 1798. He married (2) CLARRISA PARTRIDGE June 01, 1799 in 2nd Marriage. She died November 04, 1849.
Notes for ASA CHILDS:
Col. Asa CHILDS, third son and fifth child of Josiah and Elizabeth Ball Child, b. in Upton, Mass., June 19, 1767, m. 1st, Oct. 21, 1784, Rebekah Taft; m. 2d, June 1, 1799, Mrs. Clarissa Partridge Ide. Mrs. R T. Childs was the dau of John Taft, Esq., town treasurer of Upton, and a niece of Capt. Robt. Taft of the army of the Revolution. At the time of IDs first marriage Col. Childs was about seventeen years of age, his bride not fifteen. Mrs. R. T. Childs d. in 1798. A touch of romance attended the acquaintance with the second wife. Some time before meeting her Col. Childs dreamed one night that he was riding, and came in view of a house which he felt impelled to enter, upon doing so he was captivated by the sight of the woman he was to marry, and then awoke. The vividness of the dream, which abode with him some time, was fading, when renewed by a curious experience. Business called him to Norfolk Co.; he was riding upon a road new to him, but was impressed by its strange familiarity, for which he could not account until he saw before him the house of his dream, which he determined at once to verify. Dismounting he made easy pretext for entering, and actually met with the fair lady of the vision, who was none other than Mrs. Clarissa P. Ide. The attraction was mutual. Mrs. Ide was the widow of Gregory Ide, and a descendant in the fifth generation from William Partridge, one of the proprietors of Medway, Mass., in 1650. Mrs. C. P. I. Childs was b. June 14, 1775.
Col. Childs' boyhood was ennobled and enriched by the thrilling events of the War of the Revolution. A lad of eight years, mounted upon a horse in his father's field, he was start1ed by the firing in the memorable Concord fight of April 19, 1775. Sept. 4, 1792, we find he was commissioned Ensign of the 2d Mass. Inf.; on Sept. 10, 1780, made Lieut.; and Captain Sept. 29.1801. April 22, 1805, made Major, and further promoted Lieut. Co1 and Commandant of the Regiment in 1809. His military service extending through the administrations of Governors Hancock, Adams, Sumner, Gill, Strong, Sullivan, Lincoln and Gore. A commission in the regular army, tendered him in recognition of his military ability, he was compelled to decline.
Col. Childs was a man of superior personal appearance, six feet one inch in height, finely proportioned, and of erect carriage. Social, affectionate, full of humor, and affable in manner, he readily made and retained friends. He was fond of fine horses, and appeared at his best when mounted; even in his eighty-first year he used to ride a spirited Grey, and contests between rider and steed were said to have been exhibitions of rare horsemanship.
Col. Childs was early a successful business man, and before 1808 possessed a comfortable fortune; at that time he became security for a friend who was engaged in the manufacture of arms, under a government contract. The embargo of 1807 so raised the price of materials as to embarrass the friend, and lead to his failure. Co1 Childs assumed the contract and completed it, though at the loss of almost his entire fortune. This unsettled him in home and business relations. For three years we find him seeking opportunity to retrieve his losses. For brief periods he was in Pawtucket and Providence. R I, and in New York City. Unsatisfied with the openings for business, Co1. Childs determined, in 1817, to go to the far West. In the summer of that year he went with his family to Buffalo, and thence to the upper waters of the Allegheny River. Here a flat boat was procured, laden with his household effects; and with his family he embarked, intending, if necessary, to go to the Mississippi to secure a home. Upon reaching Pittsburgh, Pa., the illness of one of the children compelled them to stop for medical aid The boat was anchored opposite the Allegheny arsenal, whose commandant: Major Abram R. Wooley, proved a very true friend. Stone buildings were in process of erection at the arsenal, and Major Wooley offered Col. Childs the superintendency of the government quarries. This position was gladly accepted, and proved the turning of the tide of misfortunes. For two years Col. Childs retained this post under Major Wooley. Subsequently he leased a large farm in the suburbs of Birmingham, but left it for more lucrative business in Pittsburgh in 1822. Here, through the success of his sons, he was again in the enjoyment of an easy competence, and his later years were passed in the love and honor of his posterity, and the respect of his fellow-citizens.
On Nov. 4, 1849, his cherished, wife was called suddenly to the heavenly home, after a loving companionship of half a century. So great was the bereavement Col. Childs could not support it, and about two months later, Jan. 9, 1850, they were reunited.
The losses sustained by Col. Asa Childs from 1808 to 1814, made it possible for him to furnish his sons, Harvey and Asa P., with but little pecuniary capital for their start in life; this proved but a temporary disadvantage. Possessed of win-winning social qualities, and trained to regard honor and honesty first, and success as secondary in the life race, these young men were not long in gaining friends and the confidence of the growing community which had become their home. Devoted-Devotedly attached to each other, their intercourse was ever characterized by a courtesy which was the rivet in the loving kindness of their daily lives, as charming to witness as it was rare; in-deed this harmony and trust contributed in no small degree to the success attending the various enterprises in which they were interested.
The brothers began business in Pittsburgh as boot and shoe merchants, in 1826. Their near neighbor, Mr. John Albree of Boston, (who married a daughter of Stephen Child, Esq. of Boston) came to Pittsburgh in 1817, and established the first wholesale boot and shoe house west of the Allegheny Mountains. In 1830, Mr. Albree, who had closely observed the young Childs' firm, extended the compliment of an offer of partnership to the elder brother, Mr. Harvey Childs. In 1831, Mr. Childs, with Mr. Albree, began a. business career noted for sterling integrity and prosperous development. This was before the days of railways, and transfers of commodities from the east were made by "Conestoga wagons," over the now almost forgotten national road. The firm enjoyed for several years the monopoly of their specialty, and did a large and profitable-table business. Mr. Childs made frequent trips by stage to Boston, to purchase goods and frequently obliged the Pittsburgh banks by carrying their eastern remittances, concealed within his personal baggage. In 1841, Mr. Albree, having amassed a fortune, returned to Boston. Mr. Harvey and Mr. Asa P. Childs formed a new partnership, which continued until the failing health of Mr. A. P. Childs, in 1860, led to his withdrawal from business. Mr. Harvey Childs remained at the head of the house sixteen years longer, leaving then his son, Harvey Childs, Jr., to continue the then established house. Fifty years of active business life, in which Mr. Childs held many positions of honor and trust, closely identified with many of the prominent industries, which have developed the resources of western Pennsylvania. In 1836, the Exchange Bank was founded (now the wealthiest corporation of its kind in the city). Mr. Childs was elected a director. In 1847, he was elected trustee of the Western Theological Seminary, and in 1863, to the same office in the Western University. He was a director of the Allegheny Insurance Co., at its organization in 1859, an incorporator of the Real Estate Savings Bank; holding all of these positions until his death, in some cases forty years. He was a founder and manager of the Penn. Cotton Mill, Pearl Flouring Mill, Wampum Iron Furnace, Hope Cotton Mills and Union Woolen Mills, all large manufactories-factories. With all these enterprises, demanding each more or less of personal attention, it will be seen that Mr. Childs was both a man of business and a busy man. Yet there was no fact regarding his character more striking than that he never allowed business to become the master. He was never too busy to be polite, though the interruption came from a beggar. His reputation as a benevolent and public-spirited man, arose from a truer source than mere external generosity of purse and time; only those conversant with his daily life can estimate the amount of self-sacrifice cheerfully rendered to all who were un-fortunate. His ready sympathy and geniality endeared him especially to young men and enabled him to exercise over them a. most beneficent influence. He regarded a thorough education, combined with honorable principles, the noblest and surest endowment, and to his children secured the choicest ad-vantages. Mr. Harvey Childs died at "Shadyside," Pittsburgh, Pa., May 17, 1876. Expressions, both public and private, of regret and respect, were numerous in the city where he was so much beloved, and "with whose interests he had been identified for half a century; during which time he never failed to meet an obligation, nor abused a trust reposed in him. A prominent-prominent Pittsburgh journal briefly expressed the general sentiment:
"In all his personal intercourse, a charming amenity was ever observed. Millions of values have passed through his hands, and his name has never been tarnished by a doubt of his high-toned, sterling integrity. No man of his day was more truthful and conscientious in every word and deed."
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