There is an interesting connection between Covington County and Scotland

The writer of the story below, Charles Colvin, states that “this connection between Covington County and Scotland is still very obvious and apparent today!” Charles, a longtime resident of Huntsville, Ala., is a native of Andalusia.

He enjoys writing and penned this story a few years ago when he researched this topic. Charles is the son of Glover and Jean (Powell) Colvin who resided in the Andalusia area.

Appreciation is expressed to him for sharing this trace of Covington County history.

His story is presented as written and is followed by additional family history and genealogy.

“During the late 1820s a Scottish family (including a girl and two young boys) immigrates to the USA and settles in the Pittsburg, Pa. area.

At the age of 15 or 16 one of the boys (our mystery person) obtains a job in a local mercantile store.

One of the profit making items in the mercantile store is salt.

Seems there is a salt producer up the Allegheny River who has some “salt wells” that produces a lot of salt.

One day the salt producer comes in and approaches the mercantile store owner about buying a “petroleum by-product” of his salt wells.

He says this product is so pure that you can simply pour it in a lamp and use it as a lamp oil. He wants the mercantile store owner to pledge to buy 400-500 barrels of this product per year at an agreed upon price.

The mercantile store owner is not interested.

Our mystery person and another young employee get together and say “why don’t we try marketing this oil.”

These two young fellows form a company to market this petroleum product.

Our mystery person gets several barrels of this oil, gets on a ship and goes to England.

Within a very short while he has a market for all of their oil.

“Several years pass, the oil industry is beginning to grow by leaps-and-bounds in the east with price wars even developing. Owners of several oil companies, including our mystery person, and a person called John D. Rockefeller, agree to a meeting to be held in Ohio to try and iron out this price war thing. Out of that meeting comes a “new” oil company which they call Standard Oil of Ohio and the owners elect our mystery person as its first president.

“Times passes on, our mystery person is beginning to become a very wealthy man, when he hears about an investment opportunity in South Alabama pertaining to virgin pine timberlands. He invests money in this activity. This activity has to do with Governor E. E. Jackson of Maryland and The Jackson Lumber Company (JLC).

The JLC owns 144,000 acres of virgin yellow pine timber in Covington County, Alabama. The JLC plans are to build a state-of-the-art sawmill within their vast timber holdings and market their lumber worldwide. The JLC owners realize that a sawmilling community will develop around their saw mill.

They decide to build the saw mill a little north of Florala, Alabama.

Next, they “toy” around with what name can they give this sawmilling community.

Should they name it Florala North, Andalusia South, Opp South, Ridertown, Jacksonville, etc?

They decide to name the new sawmilling community in honor of one of their investors, our mystery person,–CHARLES LOCKHART.”

Now, it is appropriate to follow that with a little genealogy of this exceptionally successful gentleman,

Charles Lockhart.

Charles was born in 1818 in Cairns Head, Wigtonshire, Scotland.

He was the son of John Lockhart and Sarah (Walker) of the same shire.

Sarah was the daughter of James Walker, and their family as well as the Lockharts had lived in the same shire for many generations. James was a manufacturer of damask or linen and was described as a “man of rare business and intellectual qualities.”

John Lockhart was the son of Charles Lockhart and Janet (Mannoch), who lived near Cairn Head or Ersock where Charles was a successful farmer.

John was born in 1777 and later married Sarah Walker who was born in 1793.

After several years and when they had six children, the family immigrated to America.

They eventually settled in the Allegheny area where John became engaged in the grocery business.

They became members of the Second United Presbyterian Church of Allegheny.

John died there in 1861, and Sarah, in 1876.

The oldest son, Charles Lockhart, received his education in Scotland before immigrating to this country.

He gained his early ideas of business transactions from his uncle with whom he lived from an early age.

After he settled in Pittsburg, he worked as a clerk for John McCully, a wholesale grocer and dealer in produce and flour on Wood Street.

In 1855 a co-worker and he were taken into partnership by the proprietor, James McCully.

The name was changed to James McCully and Company, and it became an extensive business, especially during the war years. However, it only lasted until 1865.

For 19 years after he arrived in Pittsburgh Charles worked as a clerk for John McCully.

During that tenure he was married in 1862 to Jane Walker who was also a native of Scotland.

Jane was born in 1839 in Low Blair, Scotland, and lived until 1900 when she died in Pittsburgh, Penn.

Charles became a giant in the oil producing business.

He was the first to buy and sale oil ahead of it actual production, and he was the first to take oil to England in 1860. In 1859 he was involved in setting up the first oil producing plant in the Pittsburg area.

During the early 1860s he experienced great success and struck some very productive wells.

He was one of the founders of the Standard Oil Company and was President of the Atlantic Refinery when he merged with the Standard Oil Company. Naturally, he was a member of the first board of directors and the first president.

He became the largest Pennsylvania share holder in the Atlantic Refinery of Philadelphia.

His interests and holdings in manufacturing companies were widespread throughout the country.

Of course, his interest and being a major stockholder in the Jackson Lumber Company in Lockhart, Ala., are of particular significance in today’s story.

Charles and Jane resided in the Pittsburg area and reared the following five children: James Henry, b. 1863, d. 1938, m. Florence Dilworth (1872-1936), daughter of George Washington Dilworth and Mary Louise (Berry); John Marshall, b. 1865, d. 1939; Janet Walker, b. 1856, d. 1956, m. John Robeson McCune III (1869-1923); Martha Frew, b. 1870, d. 1944, m. James Lee Mason (1868-1950); and Sarah Eleanor, b. 1877, d. 1960, m. William S. Flower, b. 1871. Sarah and William Flower had a daughter, Sarah Flower (1906-1982) who married Herbert Lewis Sander (1908-1946).

Charles Lockhart’s influence and investment on the economic success in Lockhart’s establishment and development was tremendous, and as Charles Colvin said, “It is still obvious and apparent today!”

The quoted portion of this writing was the story written by Charles Colvin.

He also shared an informative story found on pghbridges.com titled “Charles Lockhart and the Brilliant Refinery” and also under the broad topic of “Bridges and Tunnels of Allegheny County and Pittsburg, Pa.”

The family history and genealogy were gleaned from these stories as well as Ancestry.com.

Anyone who might discover an error in the above or who has additional information related to the Lockhart family or the history of Lockhart is requested to contact this writer, Curtis Thomasson, at 20357 Blake Pruitt Road, Andalusia, AL 36420; 334-804-1442; or Email: cthomasson@centurytel.net.