THOMAS LAWRENCE DISQUE, M.D.,
a bright, intelligent young physician ofPittsburg, was born in
Allegheny, June 17, 1870, son of Henry Disque. Henry Disque, Sr., his paternal
grandfather, born in Bavaria,
Germany, January 2, 1817, was
a descendant of a French family, presumably of Normandy, that, with thousands of other
Huguenots, fled from their native land to German soil at the time of the
revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Having acquired a practical education in the
schools of Germany, the
grandfather emigrated to America in 1837, and afterward for a time worked
in New York
City. Removing from there to Belmont
County, Ohio, he there purchased a tract of unimproved
land, and carried on general farming most successfully until his retirement from
active pursuits. He is now spending the closing years of his life in comfort and
contentment, being a hale and hearty man for one of his years, and in the full
possession of his faculties. His wife, whose maiden name was Mary Pfeffer, bore
him eight children, of whom six attained maturity.
Henry Disque, Jr., who was born in New York City and lived there for a few years, went with
his parents to Belmont County, Ohio, where he
was afterward reared on a farm. After receiving his education in an academy, he
came in 1860 to this county, locating in Allegheny. For twelve years there-after
he was in the store of the late J. P. Fleming, of whom he learned the drug
business. He was next employed in the capacity of travelling salesman for a
wholesale drug house in Pittsburg, and later became manager of the
wholesale drug trade now carried on by the Walther, Robertson Drug Company, of
this city. He is a stanch Republican in politics, but takes no active part in
local or national affairs. On June 15, 1869, he married Miss Jean, daughter of
John Lawrence, formerly of Glasgow, Scotland, but later of Allegheny.
They have two children — Thomas Lawrence and Mary
M.
Thomas Lawrence Disque received his early education in
the public schools of Allegheny and under the instruction of private tutors. He
then began the study of medicine in the same place, reading in the office of
Walter Ure, M.D. Subsequently he entered the Western Pennsylvania Medical College, from which he was graduated in
1892. For the remainder of that year and a part of the following year he was
house physician at the college. In 1894 he took a thorough course at the
New York
Post-graduate Medical School, afterward spending a year or more
as assistant physician at the Pittsburg City Home and Hospitals at Marshalsea,
gaining an experience that has proved of inestimable value to him in his
professional career. In 1895 Dr. Disque opened an office in Pittsburg, where he is rapidly building up a
splendid practice, his professional knowledge and ability being recognized by
his medical brethren as well as by the community. He is specially interested in
clinical, microscopy, and chemistry, and does considerable work in that line for
other physicians. He is demonstrator of pathology in his Alma Mater. Dr. Disque
is a member of the Allegheny County Medical Society and of the Western
Pennsylvania Alumni Club, a scientific association. In politics he is an
adherent of the Republican party.
JOHN DUNLAP
was for many years a
well-known business man of Pittsburg. Born in the north of
Ireland in 1818, he came of Scotch
ancestry. In 1826 he was brought by his widowed mother to Paterson, N.J., where he received his schooling, and
served a regular apprenticeship to the tinning trade. While an apprentice he
kept the books of the firm for which he worked. Having finished his
apprenticeship, he came to Pittsburg in 1837, where he worked for a time
for old Mr. Scaife. Later he began business for himself on a small scale at the
corner of Market
Street and Second Avenue, where his sons still carry
on the business. After the great fire of 1845, in which he was burned out, he
bought the land, and made a new start, after which business gradually increased
until he became one of the largest importers of block tin and plate tin in
Pittsburg, and
the leading man in the city in the tinning business. After a time he built the
large building now occupied by his sons. At the time of his death, which
occurred June 6, 1893, he was a director of the Tradesmen's National Bank and of
the Artisans' Insurance Company. At one time he was a partner of William P.
Townsend in the wire works at New
Brighton. He left a large amount of real estate. This
included over twenty acres in the Fourteenth Ward on Robinson Street, on
which, after buying, he erected a fine brick residence about thirty years ago;
also some twenty acres in Allegheny, which has not been subdivided. In politics
he was a Republican. He was a generous supporter of the Presbyterian church and
of various philanthropic institutions. Fond of literature, he acquired in the
course of his life a large and well-selected library.
On August 15, 1850, Mr. Dunlap was united
in marriage with Miss Mary Duncan, daughter of Hugh and Rachel (Glass) Duncan.
Mr. Duncan, who was born in this country of Scotch-Irish parentage, died in
1870, aged seventy years. His wife, who still survives, possesses all her mental
faculties at the age of almost eighty-nine years. Mrs. Dunlap, who resides in
the house built by her husband, was born at Poland, the
former home of President McKinley. Her brother married a sister of the
President. She has five children living, namely: Emma D., who is now Mrs. N. P.
Reed; Ella, who is the wife of James B. Stevenson; William A. and John H., who
are continuing the business begun by their father; and Anna, who resides with
her mother. Mrs. Dunlap is a devoted member of the Presbyterian
church.
