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The Lieutenant Tingle Woods Culbertson Collection

Signals, October 2011

The Sewickley Valley Historical Society was recently presented with a series of items concerning Tingle Woods Culbertson by Culbertson’s great-niece and namesake, Tingle Culbertson Barnes of Allison Park, Pennsylvania. The Culbertsons are an old Sewickley Valley family. Mr. and Mrs. John D. Culbertson lived in “Seven Gables,” at the corner of Academy Avenue and Creek Drive.

The photo below shows Lt. Tingle Woods Culbertson, left, and nephew John Dickey Culbertson III, father of the donor, right.

Tingle Culbertson served in France in 1916 as a volunteer driver for the American Field Service with the American Ambulance Corps. He was on board the Sussex, a French cross-channel ferry, when it was torpedoed in error by the German submarine U-29 on March 24, 1916. The damaged vessel was able to proceed to the French port of Boulogne, but there were 80 casualties, including 25 Americans. The United States protested the slaughter of innocents, and the Germans for a time scaled back submarine operations in the English Channel and the Mediterranean.

Culbertson later enlisted in the U. S. Army. He was killed by a shell on October 4, 1918, as he was leading the first platoon of Company H of the 318th Regiment up a hill called 274 in the Bois des Ogeons region near Verdun, France. He is buried in the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery in Romagne, France.

The heart of the collection consists of two leather-bound albums, composed by the family at home, which include letters from the field, many photographs (among which are several of the Sussex incident), Tingle’s AFS passport, his orders, clippings and maps.


The B. F. Wilson Family of Glen Osborne & Their Famous Dogs

Wednesday, October 12, Held at 7:30 p.m. Old Sewickley Post Office

An illustrated presentation & book signing by Richard LeBeau, with comments by Heather Semple on The Duquesne Club’s painting of Count Noble


Richard LeBeau’s recent book, Count Noble: The Greatest Dog That Ever Lived, published in cooperation with the Sewickley Valley Historical Society, concerns a famous Llewellin Setter owned by Glen Osborne resident B. F. Wilson and an English Toy Spaniel, the first registered by the American Kennel Club, owned by Wilson’s wife, Susannah. The book received the following praise from Joseph W. Kormuth, Count Noble historian, in his foreword: “...The author presents history with a perceptive view of Pittsburgh and of interesting current events during the life and times of B. F. Wilson and Count Noble. This combination of historical data succeeds in making the book an engaging study for anyone interested in Count Noble, B. F. Wilson, the famous painter of bird dogs Edmund Osthaus, the sport of purebred dogs, and olden days in Pittsburgh. There are interesting topics in [this] history for everyone....”

Originally from Louisville, Kentucky, American Kennel Club Judge Richard LeBeau has lived in Pittsburgh since 1987. He earned a B.A. in German from Eastern Kentucky University in 1983. An avid historian, his articles have been internationally published.


Richard has raised and exhibited English Toy Spaniels for 24 years under the Beauprix prefix. He has judged in Great Britain as well as the United States. He has owned or bred eleven champions of record and three multiple Toy Group winning English Toy Spaniels.

A member of the American Guild of Musical Artists, Richard has performed as a bass-baritone in over 75 productions with the Pittsburgh Opera. He is a substitute teacher in three Beaver County school districts and occasionally performs as a free-lance harpist for private and public events. He is a member of the Sewickley Valley Historical Society and of the Senator John Heinz History Center.

Heather H. Semple received a degree in Fine Art Appraisal from New York University in 2001 and is, at present, Director of Art Programs at The Duquesne Club. Heather is a certified member of the Appraisers Association of America (AAA) and is licensed in Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practices (USPAP). She will discuss The Duquesne Club’s extensive art collection, which includes a painting of Count Noble by Edmund Henry Osthaus.



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