All Sorts of Pittsburgers, Allegheny Co., Pennsylvania, 1892



A. J. Barchfeld Biography

THE towering form of Dr. A. J. Barchfeld, of the South Side, is as well known in Pittsburg as is that of the "Tall Sycamore of the Wabash" in the State of Indiana. But the parallel ends there.

Dr. Barchfeld is just as uncompromising a Republican as Voorhees is an uncompromising Democrat. The Doctor is a Southsider "from the ground up." He was born in the Twenty-ninth Ward, then the borough of Birmingham, May 18, 1863. After passing through the common schools and the Central High School, he began the study of medicine in the office of Dr. E. A. Wood. In March, 1884, he graduated from Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, and entered at once upon the practice of his profession.

In 1886 he made his debut in politics by capturing a school directorship. In the following year he was elected to Councils, and was re-elected in 1888, but he declined to serve, having fixed his eye upon higher game in the shape of a seat in the State Senate. He made a sturdy fight against Steele, who had the Magee backing, but the odds were against him, and he was defeated. When the split occurred between Quay and Magee, Dr. Barchfeld declared for Quay, and he has since maintained his loyalty to the man from Beaver. In the Dalzell Robinson fight for the presidency of the State League, he was active as a Robinson organizer. He is now out a second time for Senator Steele's place, and promises to give his opponent a hard battle.

Dr. Barchfeld possesses phenomenal energy and firmness of purpose. He is big, brainy and whole-souled, and counts his friends and admirers by the thousand.


Source: All Sorts of Pittsburgers Sketched in Prose and Verse; Burgoyne, Arthur; Pittsburg, PA; The Leader; 1892.
Note: The correct spelling of Pittsburgh in 1892 was Pittsburg. The spelling Pittsburgh was officially restored in 1911.












Barchfeld Genealogy Resources



Barchfeld Ancestry Resources