Minerd.com Biography of John Wiley and Mary Olive (Sprowls) Birch of Washington, PA

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John Wiley Birch
(1881-1935)

John Wiley Birch was born on March 8, 1881 at Burnsville near West Finley, Greene County, PA, the son of Samuel and Susan (Miner) Birch. He was an entrepreneur who owned his own grocery and wholesale candy business for many years in Washington, PA, and is featured with a biography in a History of Washington County.

On June 8, 1905, at the age of 24, John entered into marriage with 18-year-old Mary Olive Sprowls (1886-1969), daughter of Milton Riley and Hannah (Cook) Sprowls. The ceremony was held in Washington, Washington County, and conducted by Rev. Joseph G. Patton.

They produced one son, John "Russell" Birch.

As a young man, John helped his father on the family farm in Prosperity, Greene County. At age 21, in about 1902, he moved to Washington and began working for the retail grocery firm of G.W. Warrick & Sons. He later joined G.W. Driver & Son and then was a traveling salesman for the New York Produce Co. After gaining substantial experience, he worked for 12 years as in a traveling sales capacity for Peerless Biscuit Company of Pittsburgh, selling cakes and crackers.

The federal census of 1910 shows the young family living in Washington on Burton Avenue. By 1920, they had moved to East Hallam in Washington, and Olive's 24-year-old brother J. Leigh Sprowls, a "garage clerk," resided under their roof.

Busy Chestnut Street in downtown Washington

In 1921, desiring independence, John purchased the C.A. Prigg wholesale candy company, and renamed it "J.W. Birch Co." Later, when his son entered the business, it was renamed "J.W. Birch & Son Co." He was considered "one of the influential members" of the old Washington Board of Commerce and to have been “possessed of more than ordinary ability [and had] won the full measure of success.”

He was sufficiently successful that in 1926, John was profiled in Volume II of the book History of Washington County, Pennsylvania, by Earle Robert Forrest (Chicago: S.J. Clark Publishing Company). It's possible that he paid for the biographical entry.

Of his company, said the History of Washington County:

He has greatly enlarged its scope and the house is represented by three traveling salesmen, also enjoying an extensive local trade. [He] also employs a deliveryman and a stenographer and is ably assisted by his son … who has charge of the stockroom. The firm has placed on the market a high quality of confectionary products and lists as its most valuable asset a well deserved reputation for thorough reliability and honesty.

John's profile in the 1926 book History of Washington County, Volume II

Obituary, 1935

John also was a trustee of the Central Presbyterian Church in Washington and was a member of the local lodge of the Elks and the United Commercial Travelers.

Mary was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) and the YWCA. Said the Washington Observer-Reporter, she "served several years as secretary of the Foreign and Home Missionary of the [Central Presbyterian] Church and had been a teacher in the primary department."

Circa 1935, their home was on Wilmont Avenue in East Washington.

John was afflicted with diabetes and suffered a heart attack ("coronary thrombosis"). He passed away the same day, on Sept. 22, 1935, at the age of 54.

Mary outlived him by more than three decades, and died in 1969. They're buried at Washington Cemetery.

Russell Birch
Courtesy Google Books

~ Son John " Russell" Birch ~

Son John "Russell" Birch (1905-1972) was born on Dec. 29, 1905 in Washington, Washington County.

Russsell was a 1924 graduate of Washington High School and an alumnus of the DeMolay training organization.

On June 27, 1931, when he was 25 years of age, Russell was united in the bonds of holy matrimony with 21-year-old Elizabeth "Betty" Shadel (May 19, 1910- ? ), daughter of C.W. and Estella (Sprowls) Birch of Orville, Wayne County, OH. The ceremony was held in Orrville, OH, with Rev. Walter P. McConkey of Washington officiating. In announcing the marriage, the Washington Reporter said the ceremony was "beautiful in its simplicity ... in the presence of the immediate families and several guests. The service was read in the large living room, before the fireplace which was transformed into a bower with palms, ferns and pink roses... The bride, who was given by her father, was beautiful in a gown of white satinwith accessories to match. She wore the bridegroom's gift, a platinum necklace and bracelet set with diamonds, and carried a shower bouquet of brides roses an swansonia..."

At the time of marriage, Elizabeth made a living as a bookkeeper.

The couple produced two children -- Dr. James "Randolph" Birch and Elizabeth Sandra White.

Russell worked with his father in the family wholesale confectionary business, joining the firm in about 1921, when he was 16 years old. He was a junior partner by 1931. As of 1954, the company was located at 28 Jefferson Avenue with a staff of five and two delivery trucks, dealing in candies, tobacco, groceries and sundries. It was featured nearly every year in the annual progress edition of the Reporter.

A 1926 profile of his father in the History of Washington County said that Russell "is a consistent member of the Central Presbyterian church, with which his wife is also affiliated, and in politics he is a republican but has never sought office as a reward for party fealty. He is connected with the Knights of Malta and the United Commrcial Travelers of America. He is one of the influential members of the Washington Board of Commerce and for diversion turns to hunting and motoring. Mr. Birch is recognized as a good citizen and a far-sighted, discriminating business man, fully alive to conditions in the modern commercial world and possessing the enterprise and resourcefulness necessary to cope with them."

At the death of his father in 1935, Russell took over the business. He ran it for another 31 years. On Jan. 24, 1966, he sold the company to Atlas Merchandising Company of Charleroi, after a total of 5 years of operation. He told the Washington Reporter that "Loss of the Birch headquarters building at 28 Jefferson Avenue because of the city's redevelopment was given ... as one of the main reasons for selling." As well, no one within the family was in a position to operate it from a new location. He agreed to stay on with Atlas as its representative in the county seat. He was quoted saying "Selling out was a tough decision to make. I regretted the necessity of taking this action but it was the best available opportunity."

Washington Observer Reporter

Their home in the early 1970s was at 50 West Hallam Avenue.

Russell passed away at the age of 66 in Washington Hospital on Jan. 20, 1972. Burial was in Washington Cemetery.

Betty survived her husband by several decades. She suffered the death of her married daughter Sandra in September 1987. Then in November 1988, Betty graciously hosted a visit from Russell's second cousin, Edward John Miner, and Ed's grand nephew, the founder of this website, and she made a gift of the old Birch family Bible.

The Birches' wedding announcement
Courtesy Google Books

Son Dr. James "Randolph" Birch (1936-2023) was born in 1936 in Washington, PA. He received his bachelor's degree in 1958, cum laude, from Washington & Jefferson College and then his medical degree in 1962 at the University of Pennsylvania. On June 2, 1962, he was joined in wedlock with Suzette Elizabeth Morris ( ? - ? ), daughter of W. George Morris of 1120 Overlook Drive, Washington. Their nuptials were held in the Church of the Covenant, by the hand of Rev. Dr. William Rusch. Suzette was pictured in a wedding announcement in the Washington Reporter, which said she "wore a full-length gown of candlelight peau de faille which had been worn by her twin sister, Georgette, at her wedding. The fitted bodice was styled with elbow-length sleeves and a neckline trimmed with appliques of illusion rosebuds. Her headpiece was a peau de faille pillbox hat attached to bouffant veil. She carried an arm bouquet of calla lillies, stephanotis, edged with green fern and set off with a large white bow." The pair is said to have met at a party, dated, broke up and reunited. Suzette was an alumna of Muskingum College and, at the time of marriage, employed as a bacteriologist with the Department of Biological Standards of the National Institutes of Health. Their union endured for more than six decades. The newlyweds first resided in Bethesda, MD where Randolph served in an internship with the Washington Hospital Center. Then during the Vietnam War, he was posted to a hospital at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, OH. Specializing in urology, circa 1969, they moved to Tulsa, OK, where for decades he was a partner in the Springer Clinic and was affiliated with St. Francis Hospital. The Birches lived at the same Tulsa address on Utica Avenue for more than 50 years. Said the Tulsa World, "He enjoyed multi-specialty-clinic kind of practice where if a consultation about a patient was needed, it was available. Randy had a blood type, O-Neg and negative for all the minor antigens, that truly made him the universal donor and over the years he routinely donated blood to the Red Cross. This was before they started keeping track of those people whose donations could be measured in gallons, but he was sure that he would have qualified for that category." In his spare time, Randolph liked to fly-fish, do yardwork and read, especially American history and the Civil War. He and Suzette raised Dobermans, and he also kept a list of 55 species of birds he had seen over the years in their backyard. The couple moved to the retirement community Covenant at Inverness in about 2017, remaining there for the last five years of their lives together. He contracted the Covid-19 virus in January 2023 and received treatment at St. Francis Hospital and Heather Hall and passed away in a hospice environment on Feb. 15, 2023. No funeral service was held. The family asked that any memorial contributions be made to the Tulsa Chapter of the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Obituary, 1987

Daughter Elizabeth "Sandra" Birch (1938-1987) was born on June 27, 1938 in Washington, Washington County, PA. On Oct. 27, 1962, at the age of 24, she wedded Roy C. White ( ? - ? ), son of Roy and Elizabeth C. (McGuffie) White of Washington, PA and Largo, FL. The nuptials were held in the Birch home, and news of the wedding was published in the Pittsburgh Press and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Initially the newlyweds made their residence in Washington. They relocated by the early 1970s to Pittsburgh. The three offspring they produced together were Russell Roy White, Mary Elizabeth White and Grant David White. A graduate of Robert Morris College in Pittsburgh, she worked as a secretary at Washington & Jefferson College. The family were members of the First Christian Church of Washington. By 1987, the Whites had relocated to Minnesota to be near or with their son Grant and daughter Mary Elizabeth. They bought a home at 9872 Cloverleaf Parkway Northeast in the town of Blaine, with the purchase listed in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Sadly, ill at the age of 49, Sandra surrendered to the angel of death on Sept. 23, 1987 in Unity Medical Center in Fridley, MN. An obituary was published in her hometown newspaper, the Washington Observer-Reporter. Roy survived his wife by many years, and in 1998 remained in Minnesota.

Grandson Russell Roy White made his home in 1987 in Dayton, OH.

Grandson Grant David White resided in Blaine, MN in 1987.

Granddaughter Mary Elizabeth White dwelled in the 1980s in Blaine, MN.