Anthony Beelen, Major Denny’s partner, was a native of the Austrian Netherlands, now Belgium, and was the son of Francis, Baron de Belen Bartholf, Minister of the King of Austria, Joseph II., to the United States, who, upon the death of the King in 1790, continued a resident of the United States. The Baron seems to have soon discarded his title of nobility, as he was engaged in business in Pittsburgh at an early date, going by the name of Francis Beelen, being a partner in the firm of Amberson, Beelen, & Anshutz which was dissolved in 1794.[247] Anthony Beelen made the acquaintance of Denny in Philadelphia, and became associated with him, and in 1794 settled the affairs of Ashton & Denny.[248] In 1803 he was one of the Pittsburgh assessors.[249] In later years he conducted an air furnace and other enterprises. Beelen afterward lost his property, but the family fortunes rose again when Mrs. Mary Murphy died. In her will she left all her valuable estate, the principal part of which consisted of the block on Market Street in which “Clapboard Row” was located, to Beelen in trust for his daughter and granddaughter. On Third Street a short distance west of Market Street, Andrew Willock, Jr., conducted a baking business, at the “Sign of the Sheaf of Wheat.” He also kept a tavern,[250] taverns and bakeries being frequently carried on together. Alexander McLaughlin, an oldtime merchant, was located at the southwesterly corner of Market and Fourth streets in the same block with Denny & Beelen. He had formerly been on Second Street.[251] In 1800 he was a candidate for county commissioner, but was defeated by Nathaniel Irish.[252] James Wills, who dealt in “boot and bootee legs,” adjoined McLaughlin on the south.[253] Next to Wills’s house was that occupied by John Wrenshall. Wrenshall was a man of culture and, in addition to keeping store and preaching the Gospel when the opportunity was presented, was a writer of ability. His _Farewell to Pittsburgh and the Mountains_, published in Philadelphia in 1818, was a poem of some merit, and of considerable local interest. He was the grandfather of Julia Dent, the wife of General U. S. Grant, eighteenth President of the United States. Joseph Davis was located between Wrenshall and Denny & Beelen. He was assessor in 1802.[254]