Joseph Q. Darling   

When Beaver Falls began to grow rapidly in the late sixties, he envisaged more reward for his efforts across the river than was afforded by New Brighton and became a resident of that place. It was a wise forethought for in the early seventies he was proprietor of a livery stable on the east side of Seventh Avenue between Fifth and Sixth Streets, and at the same time was doing a generous hauling business, mostly heavy drayage. Three factories in Beaver Falls, the cutlery, file factory and axe works used grindstones. Transportation of the huge thick stones, about six feet in diameter from the Fort Wayne freight station to the three shops required extra heavy equipment and powerful draft horses. He had a derrick erected at the station, wagons built suited to the purpose, and did nearly all of the grindstone hauling in town, which was a ponderous and a continuous task, for the great sandstones wore out very rapidly. He employed numerous men, and used many animals and wagons as the business was large and profitable for several years. During the epidemic of epizootic among horses throughout the country in the winter of 1872-73 he was obliged to substitute teams of slow moving oxen to haul the stone wagons, which was a novel sight upon the streets even at that time.

Retiring from this occupation, possibly as a result of the panic of 1873, he was again a resident of New Brighton in 1875, where his home was along the river just south of what is now Seventeenth Street. At this time he was town constable. He again left New Brighton, lived on a farm on Brady’s run for a period, and later once more came back to the east side of the Beaver, making his last home near the foot of Fifth Street, for he died there in 1896.

On Christmas Eve, 1867, his daughter Merran F. became the wife of Francis S. Reader, who from 1874 to 1928 was the editor of the Beaver Valley News and Daily News, and except for a short term, the sole owner thereof. He also was the accredited historian of New Brighton. He died in December of that year, and Mrs. Reader died in the preceding April. Their descendants are Frank E. Reader, President Judge of Beaver County, and Willard S. Reader, newspaper man. A wellknown and popular son of Joseph Q. was Freeman Darling, who in the late eighties managed the Sourbeck Hotel for Mager Scott, proprietor, and some years later was proprietor himself of the Darlington Hotel at the village of that name.

History of New Brighton 1838-1939, published by the Historical Committee of the Centennial, Butler, PA, pages 27-28. More Beaver County History Books  Search Hundreds of 1880s-1890s Pennsylvania County History Books for biographies and historical information on your ancestors.  View the book page images on line and print them out for your genealogy file!  Free Access to the old history books - plus birth & death records, census images and ALL other records at ancestry.com.