The Bridgeville Area Historical Society presented the final program in its Winter schedule on the last Sunday of February. This month the program series will return to its traditional “last Tuesday evening of the month” schedule. The speaker for February was Tim Ragaller, representing the Woodville House Associates where he is a member of the Board of Directors and an extremely active volunteer. We know Tim as the son of Dolores DeBlander (Ragaller), Bridgeville High School (BHS) May Queen in 1947, and Dick Ragaller, BHS class of 1945. I had the privilege of working as a soda jerk at McMillen’s Drug Store in the summer of 1948; Dolores supervised me, Arlene Scola, and Bob Baldwin, and managed the non-pharmacy portion of the drug store.
Tim’s subject was the life of Christopher Cowan, a gentleman whose family owned and lovingly maintained the Presley Neville House from 1814 until it was acquired by the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation (PHLF) in 1973. In 2007 the Neville House Associates took over ownership of the House and the responsibility of maintaining it. Cowan was born in County Fermanagh, Ireland, in 1880 to a family with a successful flax growing/linen producing business. He migrated to the United States in 1800, following the upheaval of the Irish Rebellion in 1798. The handsome “grandfather’s clock” in the dining room of the Neville House is a valuable artifact that he brought from “the old country”. He also brought manufacturing technology to Pittsburgh and established a shop to mass produce cut nails.
His economic success in this venture was sufficient to introduce him to the highest level of society in Pittsburgh, “the Neville Connection”. At this point the speaker went off on an interesting tangent, explaining that subject in detail. John Neville was born in Virginia in 1731 to a prosperous family. In 1754 he married Winifred Oldham. Their first child, a son named Presley, was born a year later. A daughter, Amelia, was born in 1763. John and his family came here in 1774 during “Dunmore’s War” when he was placed in command of Fort Pitt. It is believed that construction of the Neville House began at that time. In 1776 John and his son Presley joined the Continental Army and participated in their campaigns through early 1780 when they were dispatched south with the Fourth Virginia regiment, arriving in Charleston, South Carolina, just in time to become part of General Benjamin Lincoln’s embarrassing surrender to the English army. Ironically, the main table in the Neville House dining room was once owned by General Lincoln.
In 1782 Presley Neville married Nancy Morgan, the daughter of Revolutionary War hero General Daniel Morgan. When the War ended, John and Presley returned to western Pennsylvania and found the Woodville house completed, and an even more impressive mansion at Bower Hill constructed as well. The Presley Neville family moved into Woodville; John and Winifred occupied Bower Hill. In 1785 Amelia Neville married Isaac Craig, bringing him into the Neville circle. Winifred Neville’s sister Mary Ann had married Abraham Kirkpatrick in 1786. By the 1790s the two Neville families, the Isaac Craig family, and the Abraham Kirkpatrick family were the undisputed social leaders of western Pennsylvania, “the Neville Connection”. Following the Whiskey Rebellion, John Neville acquired a large island in the middle of the Ohio River, named it for himself, and lived there until his death in 1803. The Presley Neville family retained Woodville until 1812 when they moved to Ohio and a new community they had developed (named Neville!).
Enter Christopher Cowan, now part of the Neville Connection as a result of his marriage to Eliza Kirkpatrick in 1810. By this time he had established a profitable rolling and slitting mill which produced sheets of iron that were ideal raw materials for fabricating shovels, firing pans, and iron fireplace inserts like the one in the Neville House dining room. In 1815 he decided to retire and become a “gentleman farmer”. He sold his mill, purchased Woodville for $14,000 (several million dollars in today’s currency), and moved his family there. He spent the rest of his life there as “Lord Cowan”, using hired hands to grow wheat, corn, and rye, and raise cattle, hogs, and horses. A water-powered mill on nearby Thoms Run provided power for grinding grain and sawing lumber.
In 1834 the Cowans’ daughter Mary Ann married John Fletcher Wrenshall; they inherited the Woodville plantation when Christopher died in 1835 (his wife had died in 1822). Mr. Wreshall was a successful businessman with significant interest in the Hope Cotton Mill in the city of Allegheny. His office was in the Burke Building on Fourth Avenue downtown, which is recognized as the oldest remaining commercial building in Pittsburgh. In 1862, when he died, his widow turned to their son, William Ebbs Wrenshall, for help running the farm. He inherited the property in 1896 when his mother died and lived there until his death in 1927. At that point his daughter, Mary Bennington Wrenshall, and her husband Joseph Fauset inherited Woodville. She occupied it until her passing in 1973. Mr. Fauset wanted to raze the house and replace it with a modern structure. Fortunately, she would have nothing of that idea and instead spent the rest of her life dedicated to preserving family documents and artifacts.
We are indeed fortunate that this succession of interlinked families preserved “the Neville House” so carefully for all those decades and that the Neville House Associates have continued that loving care. The facility provides all of us an outstanding opportunity to experience the way our forefathers lived two and a half centuries ago. In a few weeks it will be open for visitors every Sunday; we recommend you schedule a trip there.
The next program in this series will be at 7:30 pm, Tuesday, March 31, 2026, in the Chartiers Room of the Bridgeville Volunteer Fire Department. Todd DePastino will discuss “The Whiskey Rebellion”.