My Genealogy Hound

COL. BRISBEN WALL was born March 23, 1819, on the old homestead, and entered the schools of the neighborhood at an early age. The death of his mother while he was scarcely two years old deprived him of the influences which a mother alone possesses and can impart. She was a lady of much taste and refinement, and was highly respected and esteemed by all her neighbors and acquaintances. His father possessed many commendable traits of character which the youthful Brisben inherited in a very large degree and retained through life. The boy made excellent progress in all his studies at school, especially in the natural sciences and mathematics, and was considered one of the best mathematicians in his part of the country. He commenced land surveying, civil and mining engineering in 1850, which he continued to practice in connection with the management of his farm almost to the close of his life. In politics he was a whig until the formation of the republican party, to which he firmly adhered through life. When the war of the rebellion broke out Mr. Wall entered the Union service, Sept. 21, 1861, as first lieutenant of Co. D, 79th P. V. I., Col. H. A. Hambright, Seventh brigade, commanded by Brig.-Gen. S. Negley. Lieut. Wall remained with his company on the march of the army from Louisville to Mumfordsville, and at the last-named place he was prostrated with fever, from which he never fully recovered. While convalescing at Mumfordsville he was detailed to act as chief of a corps of pioneers and sappers under command of Col. Innes, 1st regiment Michigan Engineers. Ill health, however, compelled him to resign his commission April 25, 1862, at Nashville, and return home. He still retained an active interest in the success of the Union arms, and during the Confederate raid into Pennsylvania, which brought about the battle of Gettysburg, he accompanied Rev. Capt. J. C. Brown’s company of Home Guards to Harrisburg. Col. Wall married, May 27, 1847, Hannah Sutton, daughter of the late John Button, of Elizabeth (now Forward) township, Allegheny county, Pa., and sister of Dr. Lewis Sutton, of West Newton, and resided on the homestead farm, to which he succeeded after the death of his father, until 1873, at which time he purchased a portion of the farm owned by the late Squire Jesse Applegate, including the mansion-house thereon, which he moved into with his family and occupied until his decease. His widow and four sons remain to mourn his early departure from life. His eldest son, John Sutton, is married and resides in Monongahela City; George W., Jesse S. and Lewis Brisben, together with their widowed mother, remain on the farm where he died. Col. Brisben Wall was conscientious, truthful and honest in business, and took an active interest in all public enterprises and improvements. He was a genial friend, an honorable gentleman, a useful citizen, and a loyal soldier descended from patriotic blood.