David
M. Locke
REV.
DAVID M. LOCKE, a representative citizen of Union
Township, and a local minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church, was
born April 5, 1844, in Scott Township, Lawrence County, Pennsylvania,
and is a son of John W. and Sarah D. (Patterson) Locke. His paternal
grandfather, David Locke, was a pioneer settler in Lawrence County. The
Locke family is of Scotch-Irish extraction, and has numbered many
illustrious men, one of whom was the distinguished philosopher, Sir John
Locke. David Locke married Elizabeth Nelson, who traced her ancestral
line to the same Nelson family which produced Admiral Lord Nelson. The
great-grandfather of Rev. Locke, in direct line, was William Locke, who,
with Thomas Patterson, on the maternal side, served in the Revolutionary
War. John W. Locke, father of Rev. David M. Locke, was born in Lawrence
County. He died in 1859. His father was a miller and he became a
millwright and cabinetmaker. He was a natural mechanical genius, and was
at home with almost any kind of tools. Mrs. Sarah D. (Patterson) Locke,
mother of the subject of this sketch, was a native of Westmoreland
County.
David M. Locke was reared in Scott Township, and obtained his
education in the district schools. In April, 1861, he enlisted for
service in the Civil War, becoming a member of Company E, One Hundredth
Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, and before his honorable
discharge on July 24, 1865, he had participated in twenty-six of the
memorable battles of that great struggle, besides innumerable minor
engagements, in which his life and liberty had been endangered. Although
Mr. Locke is now a man of peace, he fought with the best at Port Royal,
James Island, Cedar Mountain, White Sulphur Springs, Second Bull Run,
Chantilly, South Mountain, Vicksburg, Jackson, Blue Springs, Campbell
Station,, Knoxville, Wilderness, Spottsylvania, North Anna River,
Bethsada Church, before Petersburg, Weldon Railroad, Squirrel Level,
South Side Railroad, and Fort Steadman. He was wounded at South Mountain
and was confined for several months in the military hospital at
Frederick City, Md., and subsequently received other injuries at
Spottsylvania and at the battle on the Weldon Railroad. Formerly Mr.
Locke was a member of Grand Army Post No. 100, at New Castle, and of the
Union Veteran Legion, No. 9.
After his return from the army Mr. Locke lived for a time in Lawrence
County, and then removed to Greeley County, Kansas, where he resided for
fourteen years, subsequently returning to Lawrence County, and since the
fall of 1905, he has been a resident of Union Township. For many years
he has been engaged in evangelistic work, as an accredited minister of
the Methodist Episcopal Church. He has met with much encouragement in
his labors, and enjoys, in high degree, the esteem of those who have
come within his influence.
Mr. Locke married Eunice C. Irvine, who was born in Westmoreland
County, Pennsylvania, and who had three sons—Charles S., residing in
Union Township, and John C. and Earl L., who are both deceased. The
former has one son, David Ray, and one daughter, Eva O. Mr. Locke has
ever taken an interest in good government, and from principle is an
ardent supporter of the Prohibition party. Formerly he was identified
with the order of Odd Fellows.
20th Century History of New Castle and Lawrence
County PA, 1908, page 747