HISTORY
OF
FAYETTE COUNTY,
PENNSYLVANIA,
WITH
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
OF MANY OF ITS
PIONEERS AND PROMINENT MEN.
EDITED BY
FRANKLIN ELLIS
ILLUSTRATED
PHILADELPHIA:
L. H. EVERTS  Co.
1882.
PRESS OF J. B. LIPPINCOTT  CO., PHILADELPHIA.OlITTJ4JNE MAP
Of
IF-A-YETTE CO0
e7gi'aved eipre~ss1y f10or
thviso Wr kHISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
and his companions. Food was given him, and after
eating he moved on with the party.
About the middle of the afternoon they struck the
route of the army's outward march, at a bend in the
Sandusky, less than two miles distant from the place
where Williamson's force had bivouacked the night
before, and where, in the morning of the same day,
the pursuing Indians had made their last attack on
the retreating column. They were still nearer to the
camping-place occupied by the Indians during the
previous night, and it is difficult to understand how
the practiced eye of Col. Crawford could have failed
to discover the proximity of Indians, but it is certain that such was the case, for when Dr. Knight and
Capt. Biggs advised him to avoid following the trail,
for fear of encountering the enemy, he replied with
confidence that there was little danger of it, for the
savages would not follow the retreating column after
it reached the timbered country, but would abandon the pursuit as soon as they reached the eastern
verge of the Plains.
From the point where they struck the trail at the
bend of the river, then, they moved on over the route
which had been passed by the troops in their outward march. Col. Crawford and Dr. Knight, both
on foot, led the way; Capt. Biggs (now riding the
dqctor's horse) followed some fifteen or twenty rods
behind, and in the rear marched the boy and the
killer of the deer, both dismounted. In this manner
they proceeded along the south side of the river until
they came very near the place where Williamson had
made his camp of the previous evening. It does not
appear that they had yet detected the proximity of an
enemy, or that they were using more than ordinary
precaution as they traveled. Suddenly, directly in
front of Crawford and Knight, and not more than fifty
feet from them, three Indians started up in full view.
Crawford stood his ground, not attempting to gain
cover, but the surgeon instantly took to a tree and
raised his piece to fire, but desisted from doing so at
the peremptory command of the colonel. Immediately afterwards, however, Capt. Biggs saw the savages and fired, but without effect. One of the Indians
came up to Crawford and took him by the hand, while
another in like manner advanced and took the hand
of the surgeon, at the same time calling him "doctor," for they had previously been acquainted with
each other at Fort Pitt.
The Indians told Crawford to order Biggs and Ashley, with the two other men in the rear, to come up
and surrender, otherwise they would go and kill them.
The colonel complied, calling out to them to advance,
but this was disregarded, and all four of them escaped, though Biggs and Ashley were afterwards
taken and killed by the savages.
It was a party of the Delawares who captured Col.
Crawford and Dr. Knight, and they immediately
took their captives to the camp of their chief, Wingenund. The time this occurred was in the afternoon
of the 7th of June (Friday), only five days after the
army had passed by the same place in its outward
march in the highest spirits, and with the brave
Crawford riding at its head, happily unconscious of
the awful doom which awaited him.
Crawvford and Knight remained at the camp of the
Delawares for three days. During their stay there
(in the evening of Sunday, the 9th) a party of outlying scouts came in, bringing the scalps of Lieut.
Ashley and Capt. Biggs, as also the horses which had
been ridden by those unfortunate officers.  Besides
Crawford and Knight, there were nine other white
prisoners at the Delaware camp, all half-starved and
guarded with the utmost vigilance by the seventeen
warriors who composed the war-party at the camp.
Several of these savages were personally known to
Crawfbord and Knight.
On the morning of the 10th the camp was broken
up, an(l the warriors set out with their prisoners for
the Sandusky towns. All of them except Crawford
were taken to the old town at Upper Sandusky; but
the colonel was taken by a different route to the headquarters of Pomoacan, the great sachem of the Wyandots. There were two reasons for his being sent to
that village, one of them being to have him guide his
captors over the route by which he and Knight had
come, so that they miglit possibly find the horses
which had been left behind, and the other reason
being to allow the colonel to see Siinon Girty, who
was known to be at the Half-Kiing's town. Girty was
an old acquaintance of Crawford's, as has been seen,
and the latter had a faint hope that by a personal interview with the renegade he might be induced to
use his influence witli the Indians to save the prisoner's life, or at least to save him from the torture by
fire. The hope was a vain and delusive one, as the
event proved, but the doomed man in his extremity
cluing to it as drowvning men catch at straws. His
savage custodians well knew that he would gain
nothing by the interview with Girty, but they granted
his request, apparently for the demoniac satisfaction
of witnessing the despair and agony of his certain
disappointnment.
The prisoners bound for the old town arrived there
the same evening. Later in the night Crawford and
his guards reached Pomoacan's village, where he had
the desired interview with Girty, during which he
offered the wretch one thousand dollars to interfere
and save his life. Girty promised to do what he
could, though he hlad not the slightest intention of
keeping his word. He also told the colonel that his
nephew, William Crawford, and his son-in-law, William  Harrison, had been captured by Shawanese
scouts, but that the chiefs of that tribe had decided
to spare their lives, the latter portion of his statement
being false, as he well knew. But the story, with
the promise to intercede in his behalf, had the effect
to allay for the time the colonel's worst fears.
I 0.2HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
for which she promised two bushels of rye, to be delivered in two weeks." The grain was delivered at
the proper time, as is indicated by a credit to that
eflect. "Black Benjamin," owned by the Bucher
family, had many debits for whisky, which were paid
by working on the mill-race. In 1802, George Poe,
Jr., was mrade debtor "By balance on the digging of
twenty rods of my'dale' race, ~1 16s. lid." In 1802,
George Burkholder was debited "To cash lent to pay
the lawer, 15s.," and in 1804, "for marrying his son William, 15s." John Woodruff, in 1802, "To horse feed
and victuals, 3s. 6d. For solemnizing him with the
bonds of matrimony to his present wife, 7s. 6d. To
my trouble in going thither, 7s. 6d." David Barnes,
1802, "To one pint of salt, 5d."  Frederick Dumbauld, 1804, "By fifteen pounds of'Hetzeled Flax."'
Melchor Entling, 1807, "By balance he overpaid on
a letter, 2s. 3d."  "To one barrel of boiled cider, ~1
10s." Benjamin Harris, 1802, "To one order for a
wolf's head, ls. 6d." John Wibel, the teacher,
July, 1807, "By two days' raking hay by wife and
Betsey, 3s."  George Wolf is mentioned in 1805 as
the shoemaker, Jacob Barned as the blacksmith, and
John Holliday as the wagon-maker.
Upon the death of Andrew Trapp, in 1824, the business passed into the hands of his son Andrew, who
carried it on eight or ten years longer, when Gabriel
and John Christner engaged in the mercantile trade
at that stand a few years longer. About 1827, Robert
Moorehead had a store in the same neighborhood,
but at a different stand. Thenceforth a store was
kept at Davistown by the Davis family, which wvas
discontinued in 1873.
For ten or twelve years prior to 1868 a store was
carried on in the Gallentine House, in the southern
part of the township. The first in trade were John
Gallentine and John F. Murray, and after a few years
the latter conducted the store until it was discontinued,
when H. L. Sparks opened his store at the tannery,
and where he has been engaged in merchandising the
last twelve years.
In 1871, John Miller opened a store at his residence,
a mile east of Sparks', and later a business house
was erected for their increasing trade near by, where
J. H. and P. H. Miller were profitably engaged in
business until April, 1881, when the latter retired, his
place in the firm being taken by James Worrick.
The third of the business places at present continued was established in 1873, on the farm of D. W. C.
Dumbauld, by H. L. Sparks, and two years later became the property of Judge Dumbauld, who is carrying on a general store, stocked with a full line of
goods. At this place is kept the Champion postoffice, which was established in September, 1875,
D. W. C. Dumbauld as postmaster. He held that
position until February, 1877, when Mary E. Dumbauld was appointed postmaster, and still has charge
of the office. It is on the Jones' Mill route, and has
two mails per day.
At Sparks' store is kept the Indian Head post-office,
the oldest office in the township. It was established
with the name of Dawson, but later took the name
of Indian Creek, and in October, 1875, was given its
present appellation, the other names causing confusion on account of titles nearly similar which are
borne by other offices in the State. In 1873 the office
was removed from Davistown to the present place,
H. L. Sparks being appointed postmaster vice John
Davis, deceased. He has since continued to serve in
that capacity. The office has two mails per day, the
service being by the route from Stewarton Station, in
Springfield, to Jones' Mill, in Westmoreland County.
There is properly no hamlet in Salt Lick, the only
approach to one being Davistown, where are a few
houses and a church clustered around the mills at
that point. Whatever other interests were here have
been diverted to the places named above as being
more suitable trading points.
RELIGIOUS AND EDUCATIONAL.
The first denominational services in the township
were maintained by the Lutheran and German Reformed settlers, who belonged to those churches in
the eastern part of the State. These meetings, held
first at the house of Peter Bucher and other places,
resulted in a purpose to have a house of worship
where both sects might hold their meetings, and the
increasing congregations might be better accommodated than in the limited rooms theretofore available.
To this end Peter Bucher and Andrew Trapp deeded
a tract of land on a gentle hill-slope near the west
bank of Back Run, where the present
GUTE HOFFNUNG KIRCHE
was erected about 1800. It is of logs, but has been
weather-boarded, and in general appearance resembles
a frame house. Originally it was provided with side
and end galleries and a high pulpit; but these have
been removed and the internal arrangements made to
conform to modern architecture. The house was remodeled in the summer of 1851, and on the 29th of
November of that year the "Lutheran Congregation
of Good Hope" was organized. At this time there
were ninety-one members, and the church council
was composed of Rev. J. R. Focht, pastor; John
Snyder and Peter Snyder, elders; A. C. Dumbauld
and Frederick Miller, deacons.
The time when the congregation was first organized
is involved in obscurity. In the first church-book
appear the names of children baptized as early as
1788; but it is possible that some of them may have
been transcribed from the record of other churches,
since no other idea but that of baptism is conveyed.
The first date of any authentic moment is Aug. 23,
1795, when a list of comnmunicants is given, which
embraces the names of Mathias Kern, Peter Bucher,
Sr., Frederick Herman, Ludwig Banse, Anna Maria
Banse, Catherine Senif, Christopher Loser, Christian
Senfd, Frederick Meator, Peter Strayer, Catherine
748SALT LICK TOWNSHIP.
Strayer, Abraham Craft, Jacob Stauch, Catherine
Stauch, George Rees, Jacob Morrix, George Wolf,
Anna Maria Wolf, Conrad Roeshenberger, Anna Maria Roeshenberger, Dorothea Shaefer, Catherine Herman, Philip Brickman, Elizabeth Brickman, Catherine Rees, Christian Ausman, Abraham Hay, Christi-:na Dumbauld, Simon Schneider, Ludwig Hay,
Jacob Hentz, Eva Elizabeth Loser, Sally Ehrenfried,
Anna Barbara Loser, Elizabeth Hay, Anna Margaret
Ehrenfried, Barbara Herman, Susanna Senff, G. Van
Cassell, John Crist, Barbara Harbaugh, Henry Harbaugh, and Conrad Lutz.
In February, 1796, the names of the Reformed
members of the "Good Hope" are given as follows:
Frederick Smith, George Hoffhance, Andrew Weil,
Adam Shafer, John Robison, Christian Perkey, Henry
Schlater, Barabara Schneider, Elizabeth Weil, Barbara Robison, Catherine Meator, Elizabeth Mackendorfer, Frederick Dumbauld, Adam Hoff hance, William Smnith, Frederick Crist, James Mitchel, Anna
Maria Dumbauld, Betsey Robison, Elizabeth Crist,
Catherine Crist, Elizabeth Smith, Elizabeth Weil,
Elizabeth Hoffhance, and Julia Ann Meator.'
The members of the two congregations were first
under the ministerial care of the Revs. Long and
All, but some time prior to 1822 the Lutherans had
as their pastor the Rev. Smucker, and the German
Reformed minister was Rev. Kieffer. The latter was
succeeded by the Rev. Voigt, whose connection with
the congregation was not terminated until 1856. He
appears to have been the last regular minister, for the
congregation became too feeble to maintain its organization, which was suffered to go down about that
period.
In 1827 the Rev. Jonas Mackling succeeded the.
Rev. Smucker as the pastor of the Lutheran congregation, and ministered to them in holy things until
1849, when the Rev. J. J. Suttre entered upon a short
pastorate. In 1851 he was succeeded by the Rev. J.
R. Focht, who was the spiritual teacher until 1856,
when the Rev. J. Gaumer entered upon a pastorate
which was terminated in 1868. In connection with
the Donegal and Fratklin congregations, the Rev.
John Welfley assumed the pastoral relation in 1869,
which continued until 1875. The following year the
Rev. D. Erhard became the pastor, and yet fills that
office.
The congregation had in 1880 about fifty communicants, and fhe following church officers: Elder, A.
C. Dumbauld; Deacon, Ludwig C. Miller; Trustees,
Jacob Styer, Henry Bungard, and John H. Snyder.
Among the elders and deacons since the organization
of the church have been Frederick Miller, John
Snyder, Peter Snyder, Ludwig Hort, Henry Kemp,
Jacob Imel, Ludwig C. Miller, and Abraham C. Dumbauld. The latter was for many years at the head of
a Sunday-school which was maintained in the church,
but which has not been kept up the past ten years.
On the 13th of Decemnber, 1879, the Lutheran con48
I gregation of Good Hope appointed Ludwig C. Miller,
Jacob Imel, and George A. Dumbauld a building
committee for the purpose of erecting a new church
edifice, but no material progress to this end has yet
been made. In connection with the old church is a
graveyard, where lie interred many of the old citizens
of Salt Lick and the surrounding country who were
formerly members of either the Lutheran or Reformed
congregations worshiping in the modest old building, which is now one of the oldest landmarks in
Northeastern Fayette.
The Evangelical Association was the next denomination to maintain regular preaching. Their missionaries, entering the township fifty years ago, found
willing hearers and hearts that quickly responded to
the gospel call as proclaimed by these plain but earnest men. Among those who accepted their doctrines
were Jacob Barned and his son-in-law, Abraham Davis,
whose homes thereafter became the places of worship
until a church building could be provided. Barned
died in the faith, while attending a pioneer campmeeting, many years ago, but he had lived long
enough to see the church of his adoption flourish
and become firmly established in Salt,Lick. Others
who shared the burdens of pioneer membership were
the younger Davises, several person's by the name of
Resler, Kesslar, and the Senff family.
In 1846 the meminbership had become strong enough
to assume the building of a church edifice, and that
year was erected at Davistown the Bethlehem Evan-  
gelical Church, which is yet used as a place of worship. It is a frame of modest proportions, but the
society whose spiritual home it is has been parent to
a number of other flourishing classes in Salt Lick and
Bullskin. The trustees in 1881 were William Moody,
Samuel Eicher, and George W. Kern, and the twenty
members constituting the class here were under the
leadership of George W. Kern. Jacob M. Davis is
the superintendent of a Sunday-school which has
about forty attendants.
The Mount Olivet Evangelical Church edifice was
built in 1872, in the northern part of the township, on
land donated for church and cenetery purposes by
Elijah Lyons. The building committee was composed
of Jacob Davis and George W. Gloss, and the church
was consecrated in the early part of the winter of
1872 by the Rev. William Houpt. The house is a
plain but neatly painted frame, thirty by forty feet,
and in 1881 was under the trusteeship of Jacob Davis,
George W. Gloss, and D. W. C. Dumbauld. The
class which has this house as its place of worship
sprung from the Bethlehem Church, and numbers at
present about seventy members, who are under the
leadership of D. W. C. Dumbauld. The Sundayschool, which is maintained here in the summer season, has an enrollment of seventy-ive members, and
William Bundorf for superintendent.
Both the foregoing churches belong to the Indian
Creek Circuit of the Somerset District of the PittsI
6
I
I
749HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
burgh Conference of the Evangelical Association.
The circuit embraces also, as other appointments, the
McClellan school-house class; Poplar Run, in Springfield; Mount Pisgah and Stauffer, ill Bullskin, the
stewards of the several appointments being Jacob M.
Davis, George W. Gloss, John Mull, Daniel Stauffer,
and Levi M. White. The preacher in charge in 1881
was the Rev. George W. White; Rev. William
Moodey was a local preacher.
It is impossible to give a complete list of the ministers who served what is now Indian Creek Circuit,
as no records of such appointments, made very often
as frequently as once a year, have been preserved.
But among others who were itinerants in Salt Lick
were the Revs. Abraham Dreisbach, Henry Niebel,
John De Hoff, Moses De Hoff,      Walter, -- Riddle,    Wilt,     Barber,    Stambaugh, George
Brickley, Daniel Brickley, Samuel Mottinger, Henry
Rohland, Henry Bucks, Thomas Buck, Abrahamn
Baker, M. J. Carothers, J. M. W. Seibert, George
Kopp, John Lutz, A. Frey, Uriah Everhart, Levi
Everhart, S. W. McKesson,    Craig,    Einsel,
Daniel Long, Samuel Kring, Conrad Kring,
Anstein,     Hempie,       Miller,     Strayer,
Poling,'  Boyer, -   Ross, James Dunlap,
L. H. Hettrick, D. K. Levan, William Reininger, and
G. W. White. In addition to the foregoing, the now
eminent Chicago divine, Dr. Thomas, began his ministerial career as a youthful preacher in the Evangelical Association, serving as an itinerant in Salt Lick.
Some of the older members recollect that he even
then was remarkable for his profound discourses,-a
bent of mind which has given him a national reputation as a preacher in the Methodist Episcopal
Church.
The Hopewell Methodist Protestant Church is a
small frame house of worship northwest of Davistown, which was built about the same time as the
Bethlehem Church. One of the chief promoters of
the enterprise was Abraham Gallentine, who was also
one of the first members. Others associated with him
were William Moodey, Joseph Gallentine, Harriet
Kesslar, Mary Bundorf, and a few others. For a
time the church flourished under the preaching of
the Revs. Francis, Betts, Bolton, Stillings, and Scott;
but the removal of some of the members so weakened
the body that after a time no regular services were
maintained, and the remaining members connected
themselves with other religious bodies.  The last
preacher was a man named Colelough. The Baptists
and other denominations sometimes preached in the
old Hopewell Church, but as far as has been ascertained no organization was attempted. The house
has been little used lately for religious meetings, and
is in a somewihat dilapidated condition.
In the northeastern part of the township is a small
church, in which Winebrennarian meetings were
formerly held, but which is now seldom used for any
purpose. The house was built largely through the
effiorts of Johnl Foust, one of the leading Winebrennarians. Others of that faith in that neighborhood
were David A. C. S. Hostetler, Gideon Hostetler, and
their families.
The Union Church house of worship is in the
Miller neighborhood, in the southeast part of the
township. It is a log building of fair size, erected by
the united efforts of the community soon after 1850.
The lot on which it stands was set aside for church
and cemetery purposes by Jacob H. and Peter H. Miller. The graveyard is one of the finest in Salt Lick, and
is the general place of interment for the people of southeast Salt Lick and northeast Springfield. The title to
the property has been vested in the Church of God, the
present local controlling committeemen being Jacob
H. Miller, Jr., and James H. Miller. Although open
for the use of other denominations, the Church of
God (Winebrenntarian) has been the principal body
to occupy the building with any regularity for the
purposes of stated worship, and at present their organization numnbers about fifty members. Among the
early Winebrennarian members were the Pritts, Worrick, Gallentine, Ridenour, and a few other families,
the first meetings being held at the house of the former by the Rev. John Dobson. Other ministers were
the Revs. Hickernell, Plowman, Wurtz, Stevens,
Bloyd, Lucas, Gallentine, and the present, George A.
Barkiebaugh.
The Dunkard meeting-house, in the northern part
of Salt Lick, near the Westmoreland County line, was
built in 1852, on a lot of land donated for this purpose
by John Fleck. It is a large and substantial frame,
built after the manner of the plain people who worship in it, and has accommodations for about six
"hundred people. The Fleck and Hess families were
among the first Dunkards in Salt Lick; but the present
large membership is almost entirely from Westmoreland County, and the history of the church consequently has but little interest for the people of Fayette County.
Schools were taught in the township as early as
1803, John Wibel, a German, being the teacher. It
is probable that most of the instruction was in the
German language, although it is said that Wibel was
also an English teacher. In the winter of 1802-3 he
taught a three-months' term near Trapp's Mill, his
charges for instruction being ten shillings per pupil.
As teachers became more numerous the rate of instruction was reduced to nine shillings per quarter.
Wibel removed from the township some time about
1808. Some of his schools were taught in a log building erected for school purposes in the spring of 1804
by the Lutheran and German Reformed congregations, and which stood near their meeting-house.
Andrew Trapp seems to have had the building in
charge, furnishing what lumber and nails were used,
the latter being brought from Connellsville by Peter
Strayer. George Poe laid the floor, and Jacob Grindle
750SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP.
made thle door, the liiiges ansd bolt for the saime
having been made by Jacob Barned. These also sent
their children to the school, while other pupils came
from the Bruner, Wolf, Norrix, Bungard, and Dumbauld families.
At this period Christian Mensersmith and Henry
Rush were also teachers in the township, their schools
being taught in houses occupied in part by families.
About 1807 another school-house was built on the old
Ludwig Miller farm, where Peter Frick taught the
first school. Later William Arthur and James McCloy taught in that house. The latter was an Irishman, a good teacher, but thoroughly detested the custom of barring out at Christmas, a custom to which
the German teachers graciously conformed. This
school-house and the one near the "Good Hope"
Church were abandoned about the same time, but
when cannot be positively determined. On the Jacob
Lohr farm George Bucher, Jr., taught an early school,
which was attended by Abraham C. Dumbauld, John
and Adam Kalp, Mary Tederow, and the Schlaters,
of Mount Hope Furnace.
In due time the township accepted the provisions
of the common school law, but the records pertaining
to the organization of the schools, as well as the records
for many subsequent years, have not been preserved,
so that no authentic account of them can be given.
In 1881 the township was divided into districts, which
bore the names of Kesslar, Washington, Black Creek,
Trout Run, Longwood, Franklin, McClellan, Centre,
Clinton, and Buchanan, in most of which good
schools were maintained.
The school directors of Salt Lick since 1840 have
been as named below:
1840.-Daniel White, Peter Duinbatuld, William Kesslar.
1841.-Jacob H. Miller, Robert Workman.
1842.-Jacob Kern, Robert Bigam, John Brooks.
1843.-Sylvester Skinner, Daniel Livingood.
1844.-Samuel Scrichfield, Samuel Murray, Jacob H. Miller,
1845.-Gabriel Christner, Josiah C. Moore, Adam Deitz.
1846.-Jacob H. Miller, David Rugg, Peter Meater.
1847.-Peter Meater, Samuel Murray.
1848.-John B. Miller, Frederick Miller, Jacob Robison.
1849.-William Stoll, James White, Jacob H. Miller, Gideon
Ilostetler.
1850.-John Echard, Abraham Gallentine.
1851.-D. W. C. Dumbauld, John Shultz.
1852.-Jacob H. Miller, Joseph Gallentine.
1853.-Abram Gallentine, Peter Dumbauld.
1854.-John Shultz, A. C. Dumbauld.
1855.-John Lohr, William Robison.
1856.-A. Gallentine, Frederick Miller.
1857.-Jacob L. Snyder, John Foust.
1858.-Henry I. Bitner, William Senff.
1859.-Jacob H. Miller, Daniel Kesslar.
1860.-Jacob Bungard, D. W. S. Cavenlaugh.
1861.-D. W. C. Dumbauld, D. M. Foust.
1862.-Jacob H. Miller, George Kalp.
1863-Daniel Kramer, John Davis.
1864.-Philip Fleck, Jesse L. Beal, D. W. C. Dumbauld.
1865.-H. L. Sparks, G. W. Kern.
1866.-Jacob H. Miller, James White.
1867.-D. W. C. Dumbauld, Solomon Kennell, Jeremiah Miller.
1868.-Henry Adams, Samuel Kesslar.
1869.-Fred. H. Medler, George L. Snyder, Henry Pletcher,
John Echard, Jacob Lohr.
1870.-David Ayres, A. C. Dumbauld.
1872.-David K. Cramer, William L. Beal.
1873.-John B. Lyons, Adam M. Bungard.
1874.-Isaac White, D. A. C. Hostetler.
1876.-John B. Lyons, George M. Yothers, William Newill.
1877.-Jacob Kennell, G. M. Yothers.
1878.-DLavid Ayres, Isaac White.
1879.-E. Matthews, William Nickel, Joseph Berg.
1880.-Jacob Kennell, George M. Yothers, Daniel Pletcher.
1881.-P. H. Miller, M. Berger.
SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP.
ALONG the Somerset County line, between the townships of Salt Lick on the north and Stewart on the
south, is Springfield township. From  the former it
was set off in 1847, and to constitute the latter it contributed of its territory in 1855. The Youghiogheny
River forms the southwestern bounds, and on the
west are the townships of Connellsville and Bullskin.
Springfield is traversed by the Chestnut Ridge and
the Laurel Hills, which give its surface an elevated
and mountainous appearance, and cause a large portion of it to be unfit for cultivation.
In many places along the streams the hills are
almost precipitous, while in other localities they slope
gently to the water's side. Originally they weye
I covered with fine forest growths, of the hard woods
chiefly. On the tops of the smaller hills the lands
appear level, and have generally teen reduced to cultivation. The hills themselves are the depositories
of great mineral wealth, coal and iron being most
abundant, although fire-clay and limestone have been
profitably developed in several localities. The drainage of the township is good, there being numerous
springs, brooks, and creeks. Indian Creek, the principal stream, flows almost centrally through the township from the northeast, emptying into the Youghiogheny about a mile above the Connellsville line. Its
751HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
northern and western affluents are Poplar, Stony, and
Resler's Runs. The opposite tributaries are the North
Fork, Buck and Mill Runs, the latter in point of size
being the second stream in the township. It is sometimes called Skinner's Mill Run, after one of the
early settlers on its waters. Above its mouth, along
the Indian Creek, were natural meadows of considerable size, where were the celebrated " Bullock Pens,"
which have caused a historical interest to attach to
that locality.
These pens were used by Capt. Harris to confine a
herd of cattle which were destined for the troops
under Gen. Forbes. It is said that Capt. Harris with
a small detachment of men left Fort Cumberland
with a herd of cattle in 1758, intending to reach the
line of march of Gen. Forbes by Braddock's road.
At Turkey Foot he was met by Oliver Drake and
other frontiersmen, who warned him of the Indians
lying in ambush on the Laurel Hills, and offered to
conduct him to a place of safety until he could communicate with the commanding officer of the British
forces. Their services being accepted, Drake and
Rush led the way over the Laurel Hills, east of the
Youghiogheny, down the waters of Mill Run to the
above meadows, where the cattle might be pastured
and the soldiers enjoy the desired seclusion. In the
daytime the cattle were allowed to graze, but at night
they were confined in pens made of rails, which remained until the township was settled, when the
pioneers applied the name of "Bullock Pens" to the
locality, and when the land was surveyed the name
was employed to designate that tract, thus perpetuating it. After remaining at the. "Pens" about a
month, Capt. Harris was ordered to drive the cattle
up Indian Creek to Fort Ligonier, where Gen. Forbes'
forces were stationed.
On their march up the stream they passed through
a deserted Indian village, and saw so many evidences
to indicate that the red men frequented the waters of
this stream for the purpose of hunting and fishing
that they called it the Indians' Creek, from which
the name was derived. In early times the presence of
many salt licks was noted along this stream, which
led to operations for discovering the source of these
saline supplies.
In 1836, Christian Painter began boring for salt
near Rogers' Mills, and after attaining a depth of
three hundred feet the drill stuck fast, causing the
abandonment of the enterprise.  But while there
was a failure to find a stream of salt water, he struck
a heavy vein of water strongly charged with sulphur,
which overflowed the well and rose several feet above
the surface, formning a large and superior sulphur
spring. An analysis of the water shows the presence
of many medicinal qualities, which place this spring
upon the same plane as some of the most noted sulphur springs of the country. Mineral springs are
found in other parts of Springfield, making the selection of that name for the township very appropriate.
Since Springfield has been so recently organized,
its pioneer history is to a large extent inseparable
from  the histories of Bullskin and Salt Lick, in
which lists of surveys and settlements covering what
is now Springfield are given. In a general sense this
township was not settled near as early as other parts
of Fayette County, very probably not until the close
of the Revolution, although a few may have lived
here prior to that event; but as they removed so
mnany years ago, the traditionary accounts pertaining
thereto are vague and conflicting.
Reuben Skinner, a native of New Jersey, after
living in the Turkey Foot settlement a few years,
located on Mill Run, on the Elijah Kooser place,
where he built mills and made other substantial improvements. After his death, about 1821, his family
emigrated farther west, the mills becoming the property of Jacob Ketchum, and subsequently of the
Kooser family. It was from Reuben Skinner that
Mill Run took its additional name.
Several other Skinners were pioneers in Springfield.
James B. Leonard's place was the former home of
James Skinner, a Baptist clergyman, who removed to
Perry County, Ohio. Willits Skinner came at a later
day and remained until his death, living on the farm
now occupied by his son, A. Skinner. The latter,
now an aged man, has resided there since he was six
years of age. The farm was first occupied by men
named Packer, Williams, and Rush, although the
land was warranted to Isaac Meason. Richard Skinner, of another family, settled on the Silas Prinkey
farm, where he reared a large family, which removed
from the township half a century ago. Moses Collins
was the pioneer on the Jacob Saylor place. After his
death his son Henry owned the farm, and afterwards the latter's son Htnry, who was the last remaining member of the family, which has become extinct in Springfield.
Another well-known pioneer was Alexander Cunimings, a Scotchman, who lived on the George Kern
farm, on the old Turkey Foot road. His settlement
was one of the first in the township. Cummings was
a man of considerable ability, and possessed many
fine traits of character, which gave him prominence
among the early settlers. He died about 1842, and
was interred on his old farm. The Collins family
also were all interred in a burial-plat on their old
farm.  Another of that class of settlers was the
McCune family. James MlcCune (in early times
McKeown), the grandfather of the James McCune
yet a resident of the township, was the first of that
name in Springfield. He was the father of Samuel
McCune, who lost his life in a coal-bank about thirtyfive years ago.
Maj. Abraham Workman came to the township
about the same period. He rendered military service
under Col. Morgan, who owned several tracts of land
in the township, three hundred acres of which became
the property of Maj. Workman. This he improved,
752SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP.
and lived upon the farm until his death, about 1836.
His wife and son Smith moved to Perry County,
Ohio, several years later, the former dying in that
county at the age of one hundred and two years. The
homestead passed into the hands of Robert Workman,
who was born on it in 1799, and lived there until his
death in 1878, since when his son, Robert W., is the
occupant of the farm, which is on the river hills in
the southwestern part of the township.
Henry Trump came from Germany and settled in
what is now Springfield township, on Indian Creek,
near its mouth, about 1780. He patented a tract of
about four hundred acres, now owned by the heirs of
Henry Walters. He erected a saw-mill some distance
up the creek, and the lumber sawed in it he, with the
aid of his sons, John and Michael, floated down the
Youghiogheny to the Pittsburgh market. The sawmill was said to be the first erected in that part of
the county. He had also a small grist-mill on the
creek, propelled by a "tub" water-wheel. Henry
Trump, however, was less famous as a sawyer and
mill-owner than as a hunter. For many years his
chief employment was hunting deer and bears, and
he derived considerable profit from the sale of the
skins of these animals and bear's oil. At his home
on Indian Creek he had several deer and bears which
he tamed and kept as pets. He lived to a great age,
said to be over one hundred years. His son John
settled in what is now Connellsville township, near
the line of Springfield.  Michael Trump, son of
Henry, settled in Connellsville borough.
Daniel Resler, a native of Berks County, Pa., settled on the stream of water which bears his name
about 1787, and died in that locality before 1817.
He had three sons and three daughters, the latter
becoming the wives of Solomon Kern, Christian
Senif, and John Murphy. Daniel and David Resler,
two of the sons, moved to Ohio many years ago.
John, the other son, married a daughter of Peter
Bruner, and lived on Resler's Run until his death in
1856. His widow yet lives in the t6wnship at the age
of eighty-four years. She was born in Stewart, but
since she has been three years of age has been a resident of Springfield. The children of John Resler
were Daniel, deceased; David and Jacob, removed to
the West; Mary, the wife of David Barned; Elizabeth, of John Brooks; and Susan, of Samuel Scott.
Peter Bruner settled in what is now Stewart township some time during the Revolution, but in 1798
settled on the Rogers farm, on Indian Creek. His
son Daniel moved fromi the township. At that time
Indians yet roved along the stream, but did not disturb the family.
Conrad Senf, a German, was one of the earliest
settlers in Eastern Fayette, living in what is now the
township of Salt Lick, on the Shaeffer farm. After
the marriage of his son Christian the latter becanme
a resident of Springfield. He lived on the old Resler
farm a number of years, then moved to Ohio. One
of his sons, eighty-one years of age, yet resides in the
eastern part of Springfield. He was the only son
who remained in the county. His sons are Jacob,
yet living in Springfield; Henry, in Westmoreland
County; Wesley and Daniel, in Illinois.
Melchior Entling was a pioneer in the northwestern
part of the township, on the old State road, where he
kept a public-house as early as 1796. The farm at
present belongs to John Ifurt. Joseph Brooks was
a mnember of Entling's family, coming with them
from the East. After attaining manhood he married
a daughter of Michael Beasinger, a pioneer on the
present Daniel Brooks farm. All the members of the
Beasinger family moved to the West, except Jacob,
who died in Springfield about 1865. Joseph Brooks
died about 1863. He had reared a large family, his
sons being John, Henry, Jacob, William, George,
Erwin, and Daniel, whose descendants are very numerous in Springfield.
On the Fulton farm Jacob Minerd settled about
1791. He was a native of Washington County, Md.
Twenty years after his settlement he died, and was
buried in what is now the Baptist graveyard at Mill
Run. Of his twelve children, nearly all removed
from the township, Jacob settling in Somerset
County, and Henry in Dunbar township. One of the
daughters married Leonard Harbaugh, father of the
Leonard Harbaugh at present living in Springfield.
The former became a resident of the township about
1825, but before his death returned to Somerset
County.  Another of Minerd's daughters married
John Ream, the founder of Ursina village, in the
latter c6unty. Among Minerd's early neighbors were
William Jones, living on the Dickey farm, and a
man named Clipliner, on the Imel farm. Where
Henry Imel now lives, at the age of eighty-five years,
first lived his father, Henry. The former is yet hale
and able to do manual labor on the farm. In the
harvest of 1880 he and his son John, a man sixtyfour years of age, cradled, bound, and shocked up
forty dozen bundles of heavy rye in a single day,
working from sunrise to sunset, a heavy job even for
men in the prime of life.
On the Elm farm, now the site of Springfield village, Daniel Eicher, a native of Lancaster County,
settled about 1790. Joseph Eicher, his last remaining
son, died Aug. 4, 1876, aged ninety-two years. Other
sons were Peter, Henry, and Daniel. His daughters
married Jacob Long, John Harbaugh, and John
Rowan. The sons of Joseph Eicher were Samuel,
William, John, Daniel, Joseph, Henry, Abraham, and
Isaac. His daughters married Thomas McCloy, William Justice, and Leonard Harbaugh. The descendants of this family have become very numerous in the
eastern part of the county.
The Kern family emigrated from Holland to Eastern
Pennsylvania about 1700. From thence some of the
family moved to Westmoreland County, settling in the
neighborhood of Jones' Mills. There one of the
753HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
family was killed by the Indians, while returning
home from a visit to a neighbor, several of those who
had accompanied him escaping. Among the sons of
the above family were Michael, William, George,, and
Peter. The latter died in Westmoreland County,
George becoming a resident of Washington County.
William Kern served ill the Revolution, and after the
wvar married Catherine Hoover. He moved to Springfield, buying out the claim of a man who held a tomahawk right to a tract of land in the present Murray
district. On this land he died about 1837, at the age
of ninety-one years. He reared sons named Solomon,
Abraham, William, Jacob, Jonathan, and Joshua, and
daughters who married Joseph Eicher and George
Nicholson.
Solomon Kern was born in the township, and died
in 1862, at the age of eighty-one years, his father
being probably one of the very first settlers, and he
one of the first born in Springfield. Solomon Kern
was a carpenter by trade, and made many of the early
carding-machines. He also had in operation woodcarding machinery in different parts of the State. For
a time he was engaged in the Baldwin machine-shops
at Connellsville, but finally settled on a farm west of
Springfield village, which is at present the home of
his son, Judge John Kern. Other sons were Josiah,
Solomon, and Simon. His daughters married Samuel
Davis, Henry Gebhart, Henry Griffin, and Aaron
Hart.
Abrahamn, the second son of William Kern, removed to Ohio; William, the third son, married
Nancy White, and lived and died on the Kooser
place. Jacob lived a little south of Springfield village, where he died about twenty-eight years ago.
He was the father of George Kern and William Kern,
both of the township. His sons, Abraham and David,
died in the RIebellion. Jonathan, the fifth son of
William Kern, became a resident of Greene County,
and Joshua, the youngest and the only survivor, lives
on Indian Creek, more than eighty years old. He
has sons nramed William M. and George yet living in
the township; and John and James died in the war
for the Union. The Kerns have become one of the
largest and best-known families in Springfield.
Abraham Gallentine, a German, who had served in
the Revolution, came from Chambersburg in 1801,
settling in the northern part of the township, near the
Salt Lick line, but subsequently lived at the Fayette
Furnace. He was by trade a cooper, and died about
1830, upwards of eighty years of age. He had sons
named Daniel, Jacob, Abraham, and Joseph. The
former was married to a daughter of Christian Senff,
and died in Salt Lick. Jacob removed to McKeesport. Abraham lived near the central part of Salt
Lick. He served in the Legislature, and subsequently
removed to Ohio. Joseph married Sophia Worrick,
and also lived in Salt Lick, where he died in 1875, at
the age of eighty-five years. He was the father of
Joseph W. Gallentine, living on the old Benjamin
Davis farm, in Salt Lick, and of other sons living at
Scottdale.
John Bailey, a native of Bedford County, Pa., settled on the present Bailey farm, south of Mill Run,
some time after 1800, and died there in 1828. He
reared sons named William, Reiley, and Michael,
and four daughters, who married Henry Hess, James
Imel, Henry Friend, and William M. Kern.
Jacob Murray moved from the eastern country in
1816, and settled on the old Elder farm, but later
made a home on Mill Run, where he died many years
ago. He had a number of sons, viz.: John M., deceased a few years ago; Samuel, also deceased in the
township; and Jacob, yet living on Mill Run. Three
of his daughters married Peter Ullrey, Henry
Pletcher, and Reuben Eicher.
Robert Bigam was another of the early settlers on
lower Mill Run, although his permanent settlement
was not made until 1828. He cleared up a great deal
of thlle flats, and still, at the age of eighty-seven
years, resides on one of the farms he opened. He is
thle father of David and John Bigam, residing onI
parts of the homestead at Mill Run, and of George
M. Bigam, a teacher of note at Mount Pleasant,
Westmoreland Co.  The Bigams moved from  the
Jersey settlement in Somerset County, where their
ancestors were among the earliest settlers.
Peter Kooser moved from the same county in 1832,
buying the Ketchum mills, which had been built by
Reuben Skinner, on Mill Run. Afterwards he lived
on the Henry Phillippi farm, where he died June 25,
1866, aged seventy-two years. He reared sons named
Elijah, Samuel, John, William, and Alexander, the
latter dying in the United States' service in the Rebellion. In 1838, George Dull moved from Somerset
County and settled on the John Harbaugh place at
Mill Run. He was a blacksmith by trade, and served
many years as a justice of the peace. He died Nov.
1, 1880, at the age of seventy-two years. His sons
living in Springfield are Daniel W., Uriah, Jacob,
William, and John. Romanus died in the army while
a prisoner at Salisbury, N. C., and four of the above
also served their country in the Rebellion. The
daughters of George Dull married David L. Colburn,
Solomon Davis, Hiramn C. Sipe, and Alexander
Brooke. The Daniel W. Dull farm was improved by
Martin Williams, who afterwards occupied the Abraham Williams farm, where he died. The William
Dull place was long knowm  as the Peter Sipe farm,
but was first improved by John McCune. Sipe removed to Indiana a few years ago, where he died.
A portion of the old Sipe place is now occupied by
Cyrus B. Sipe, a grandson of Peter, and son of Jacob,
wvho moved to Somerset County. The Sipes made
some of the finest farm improvements in the township.
The Elder family was in early times largely interested in real estate in Springfield, owning about two
thousand acres of land, a portion of which yet re754SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP.
mains in their possession. Clifford Elder, the head
of the family, resided in Somerset County. William
G., the eldest son, was a well-known citizen of Washington. Other sons were Clifford, Henderson, Samuel, and Robinson. The latter was the only one to
reside permanently in the township. He was a man
of fine ability, and became celebrated as a lecturer on
temperance. He died in the service of the Union in
the late civil war. One of the daughters of Clifford
Elder was the wife of Dr. Phythian, the first practitioner in the township, and a maiden lady, Eliza, was
a resident of Springfield until 1873.
In the early history of the county three brothers,
Thomas, John, and James Rogers, came from Frederick, Md., and settled at New Haven. Their sister
was married to Col. James Paull, at that time one of
the leading mnen of Fayette. Thomas and John
Rogers remained citizens of Dunbar, but Maj. James
Rogers, after living some time at the Findley Furnace, settled on Inldian Creek, in Springfield, about
1828, and resided there until his death, about 1842.
He superintended the building of the Fayette Furnace for the mining company, which also controlled
about three thousand acres of land, which Maj. Rogers,sold to the settlers. He had nine sons,- John, William, Phineas, Joseph, James, Thomas, George, Daniel, and Erwin. Of these William served in the war
of 1812, and died of disease contracted in the service;.George is yet living at Ironton, Ohio; and Dr. Joseph
Rogers, after living in Springfield more than twoscore years, actively engaged as a practitioner and
a manufacturer, died March 20, 1876, at the age of
seventy-nine years. In 1831 he was married to Elizabeth Johnston, of Connellsville, who yet resides in
that city. They reared sons,- Dr. James K., who
died after the late war; Dr. Alexander, residing at
Scottdale; John, at the same place; and William D.,
yet residing on the homestead.
George Campbell, a Scotch-Irishman, settled in
Dunbar some time about 1800. His only son, James,
after living in that township a number of years, became a citizen of Springfield, and yet resides there
at the age of seventy years. In 1841 he was associated
with the Messrs. McCormick, Taylor, and Turner in
manufacturing the first coke by the improved system
of burning. At that time two ovens were built on
the site of the old salt-works on the Youghiogheny,
in which coke was successfully burned, and shipped
to Cincinnati by means of fiat-boats. The enterprise
proved a failure, so far as these parties were concerned, but was afterwards prosecuted with parfial
success by the Cochrans, of Tyrone.
The Pritts family has lived in the township the past
fifty years, and one of its members, Samuel, is upwards of eighty-six years of age. Another of the old
citizens of Springfield is Jacob Lichleiter, who came
trom Somerset County about thirty years ago. He
has attained the unusual age of ninety-three years.
The population of the township in 1880 was 1714.
TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION AND LIST OF OFFICERS.
Springfield was organized as a separate township
by the Court of Quarter Sessions in December, 1848,
but was not constituted with its present bounds until
November, 1855, when it absorbed what remained of
Youghiogheny township after Stewart was erected.
The orders of the court by which this was effected
appear in the history of the latter township, and in
the history of Salt Lick, of which Springfield was
originally a part, the same being here omitted to avoid
repetition.
The list of towniship officers, including those of
Youghiogheny from 1848 till 1855, is as follows:
1848.-Justices, John Williams, John Harbaugh, and Sylvester
Skinner; Assessor, Samnuel Murray; Auditor, John B. Tederow.
1849.-Justice, Robert Wortman; Assessor, Absalom Stryers;
Auditors, Samuel Liston, James Leonard.
1850.-Assessor, Josephus Woodmansee; Auditor, William
Stull.
1851.-Assessor, Josephus Woodmansee; Auditor, James Kemp.
1852.-Assessor, George Harbaugh; Auditor, Jacob Tutton.
1853.-Justice, Sylvester Skinner; Assessor, Abraham Skinner; Auditor, J. S. Woodmansee.
1854.-Assessor, David Ogg; Auditor, James Morrison.
1 855.-Assessor, Robert WVortman.
1856.-Justices, John Brooks, Daniel Dull; Assessor, Simon
M. Kern; Auditor, John Senff.
1857.-Assessor, John M. Murray; Auditor, William H. Murphy.
1858.-Justice, John W. Sherbondy; Assessor, Leonard Harbaugh; Auditor, Joseph Colestock.
1859.-Assessor, Joseph W. Ritenour; Auditor, R. Elder.
1860.-Justice, John Clark; Assessor, Daniel W. Dull; Auditor, James B. Morris.
1861.-Assessor, Robert Wortman; Auditor, Reason Iiher.
1852.-Assessor, Henry King; Auditor, Emanuel Hlensil.
186(3.-Justice, John W. Sherbondy; Assessor, J. H. Miller;
Auditor, James F. Imel.
186 1.-Assessor, George K. Murray; Auditor, John Brooks.
1865.-Justice, J. W. C. Brooks; Assessor, Solomon Davis:
Auditor, J. A. C. Murray.
1866.--Assessor, David B. Morris; Auditor, J. W. Morris.
1867.-Justice, Christopher Smultz; Assessor, A. S. Skinner;
Auditor, Henry Crichfield.
1868.-Justice, Josiah H. Miller; Assessor, J. C. Gorlet; Auditor, A. H. McCoy.
1S69.--Assessor, Daniel W. Dull; Auditor, John Kern.
1869, October.--Justice, George Dull; Auditor, Jacob M. Murray.
1870.--Assessor, Jacob M. Murray; Auditor, J. B. Morris.
1872.--Assessor, J. B. Morris; Audit r, John Kern.
1873.-Justice, Josiah H. Miller; Assessor, M. H. King; Auditor, Jacob M. Murray.
1874.--Assessor, J. W. K. Solomon; Auditor, S. W. Bailey.
1S75.--Justice, Lcwis Hunter; Assessor, Martin Hope.
1S76.--Assessor, H. H. Livingston; Auditor, B. A. Lanehill.
1877.--Assessor, Abraham Friend; Auditor, Jacob M. Murray.
1878.--Justice, Henry Crichfield; Assessor, John Imel; Auditor, J. B. Morris.
1879.-Assessor, Emanuel Hensil; Auditor, John Kern.
I S0.--Justice, George Deed; Assessor, Emanuel Hensil; Auditor, J. IH. Miller.
755HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
ROADS.
One of the oldest roads in Springfield is popularly
known as the "Turkey Foot" road, from the fact that
it led through that important settlement in Somerset
County on its route to Pittsburgh. It is also kiown
as Smith's road, from one of the commissioners who
located it. The road followed in a general way the
blazed path of Oliver Drake and William Rush, along
which Capt. Harris drove his cattle to the mouth of
Mill Rurn, thence across the hills to the clay pike,
near Springfield village, from which it bore to the
northwest across Chestnut Ridge to Mounts' Creek,
which was crossed at Andrews' (now Long's) Mill;
then northwest across Bullskin to Jacob's Creek, in
Tyrone, intersecting Braddock's road near the old
chain bridge.'It was several miles shorter than Braddock's road, and was by some preferred on that account when the other road was rough, not naturally
being as good a road as the former. After the National road was located it was of little importance,
and much of its course has long since been effaced,
retaining only from Mill Run northward much semblance of its original courses. The most imnportant
highway in the township is the "clay pike," so called
because it has been graded but never piked with
stones. Its course through Springfield is nearly east
and west north of the centre of the township, varying
only to get an easier ascent of Laurel Hill. It was
surveyed in 1810, but was not completed until about
1820. The survey divided the road into quarter-mile
sections, a post being set up at such intervals. These
sections were in charge of different contractors, among
the builders being Dr. Joseph Rogers, Solomon Kern,
and John Williams. The road became the great
thoroughfare for the passage of live-stock from Ohio
and Kentucky to the East, and immense droves of
horses, mules, cattle, sheep, and hogs were almost
constantly trudging along its course, often more than
a hundred per week passing through Springfield.
Consequently many stock-taverns sprung up along
the road, some of them having large barns, having
stabling capacity for fifty horses, at which the farmers
found a ready market for their products. Among the
chief drovers' inns were those kept by John Resler,
Peter Eicher, Solomon Kern, Samuel Long, Charles
King, Mary Taylor, James Crichfield, Henry Garlets,
John Prinkey, Thaddeus Aughenbach, and Adam
Dietz. After the Pennsylvania Railroad was completed the droves diminished in number, but the road
was considerably used for this purpose until the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was built along the Youghiogheny in 1871. This railway has stations at Stewarton
and Hampton, in Springfield townshllip.
GENERAL INDUSTRIES.
It is stated on good authority that Reuben Skinner  
was the first person in the township to employ water-  
power to operate machinery for milling purposes.  
Some time after the Revolution he built a small grist-  
mill on Mill Run, on the present Elijah Kooser place,
which had one run of stones and rude machinery. A
saw-mill was put in operation at a later day. From
Skinner the mill passed to Jacob Ketchum, thence to
Peter Kooser, thence to L. D. Wilgus, and fromn him
to Elijah Kooser. The reconstructed grist-mill had
two runs of stones and a fair grinding capacity, and
although the mill remains, it has not been running
the past few years. The saw-mill is yet kept in motion.
The second mill in the township was built by a.
man named Van Trice, on Resler's Run, and was a
very small affair, the capacity being only seven
bushlels per day. Daniel Resler subsequently owned
the mill, and at later periods the waters of that streamn
operated saw-mills for John Resler, Josiah Miller, and
Maxwell Clark.
On Mill Run, below the old Skinner mill, John
Harbaugh built a saw-mill thirty years ago, which is
at present owned and operated by James Russell.
Yet farther below, George Dull put in operation a
saw-mill in 1841, which has had as subsequent owners
Daniel Shearer, John A. McBeth and Daniel Dearborn, Bradford  Co., and the present Dr. Gallagher.
The capacity is small. Near the mouth of this stream
Wm. R. Turner had a saw-mill some time about 1830,
to which was added a run of stones for grinding purposes. The latter were soon removed, but the sawmill was kept in operation a number of years longer,.
when it was allowed to go down. Turner also had a
saw-mill on Indian Creek, near the site of Hampden
Forge, which was discontinued after that enterprise
was abandoned. Several miles from the mouth of
Mill Run, John and Elijah Kooser erected a gristmill in 1851, which is yet operated by John Kooser.
The mill-house is a four-story frame, thirty-six by
forty-eight feet, and is supplied with three runs of
stones. The power was secured by digging a race
sixty rods long, whereby a fall of twenty-five feet was
secured. The motor is an eighteen-footovershot wheel.
The mill has a large patronage.
In the northern part of the township, on Indian
Creek, the Rogers family has had in operation a small
grist-mill since 1832, which has been repaired several
times and is now accounted a good mill. The sawmill at this place was built about 1866 by Wm. D..
Rogers, and is yet carried on by him. It has a good
cutting capacity..
On Stony Run a water-pow r was improved about
1820 to operate a carding-machine for Solomon Kern.
It was continued about ten years, when the machinerywas removed, but the saw-mill which had been built
here meantime was operated a few years longer. In
1837, James Campbell built another saw-mill on that
site, which he carried on about five years, when, after
having many owners, it was allowed to go down..
Near the same time the Brooks family had a mill on
the same stream, three-quarters of a mile above,.
which was carried on about ten years. Other mills
756SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP.
have been operated on Poplar Run and on the Middle Fork, all of them having a limnlited capacity;
while a number of portable steam saw-mills have
been operated for short periods in various localities,
of which no account is made here. The shipment of
native lumber. has been carried on quite extensively
the past few years by John J. McFarland, much of
the timber shipped being destined for European markets for use in ship-building and fine cooper-work.
Locust and oak constitute the bulk of the shipments
from the several stations on the Baltimore and Ohio
Railroad in Springfield.
The mountain forests furnish a good supply of
bark for tanning purposes, and that industry has for
many years held a leading place in the township.
At Springfield village, John Crossland began tanning
leather in a small way, having half a dozen vats,
about 1839, and carrying on the business seven or
eight years. He was followed by Alexander Jbhnston, who enlarged the tannery and made other
changes.  About 1850, Alfred Cooper became the
owner of the property, and while belonging to him
the tannery was rebuilt, the number of vats being
increased to thirty. He sold it to Schallenbarger 
McBeth, and subsequently it was owned by John A.
McBeth alone. He still further enlarged the tannery,
and was the last to operate it, about 1875. It is a
large and well-appointed building, with an engineroom attached, and spacious bark shed adjacent. The
capacity was 3000 hides per year, tanned into sole
and harness leather, which had a most excellent
reputation in the markets of the East.
When the tannery was first carried on horse-power
was employed, but under the ownership of John A.
McBeth steam was supplied, the boiler having a
very much larger capacity than the engine.  In
1863 an explosion occurred which wrecked the building, and which would undoubtedly have resulted disastrously to the lives of the workmen but for the
fortunate fact that they had left the tannery to eat
their dinners just a short time before. The ends of
the boiler were blown through the smoke-stack, carrying with them heavy timbers in their course. The
engine was taken up bodily and hurled more than
one hundred and fifty yards from its bed, half burying itself in the earth in a semi-upright position in a
garden near the tannery. The shock was felt in the
entire neighborhood, and the accident was the theme
of conversation for many days.
At Mill Run a tannery was built in 1861 by Daniel
Shearer, which is yet in successful operation under
the management of Lewis Marietta, as lessee for the
proprietor, Dr. Gallagher. There are about thirty
vats, capacitating the tannery to handle two thousand
five hundred hides per year. The product is harnessand belting-leather, tanned with rock and chestnutoak bark. About ten -years ago steam was introduced,
and is used in connection with water-power. Employment is given to from six to ten men. The sawmill at this point belongs to the tannery property,
and both have had the same ownership.
The distillation of liquor was engaged in by many
persons in the early days of the township, among
the c1lief distilleries being those carried on by Willits
Skinner, John Prinkey, and on the Nutt farm by a
man named Davis. But the manufacture of iron was
a pioneer interest, compared with which all others
were of secondary importance. The ores of Springfield are very rich, yielding a large percentage of excellent iron, with sufficient limestone therein to flux
the metal. They are usually found in beds of shale,
holding the place of the upper Kittanning limestone
of the Johnstown cement-beds. The metal has been
found superior for foundry purposes, and only the inaccessibility of the mines has prevented the general
development of this great mineral wealth. Years
ago, when the Youghiogheny River was regarded as
a possible channel for the shipment of the products,
a forge was built on Indian Creek about half a mile
above its mouth, the waters of that stream being used
to operate it. It was generally known as Hampden
Forge, and the owners, when it was first operated,
about 1810, were Reuben Mockabee and Samuel
Wurtz. The latter subsequently was the sole owner.
It was kept in operation until some time after 1830.
Considerable bar and other iron was wrought, which
was carried down the river by means of flat-boats.
The raw material was brought from the Laurel Furnace, in Dunbar, and the St. John Furnace, on Indian Creek, several miles above the forge. The latter
was built on the eastern base of the Chestnut Ridge,
and apparently in an almost inaccessible place. But
the ore could be easily procured, and it was believed
that flat-boats might descend Indian Creek many
months of the year, a calculation which was soon
demonstrated to be erroneous, and which ultimately
caused the enterprise to be abandoned.  St. John
Furnace was built about 1807, by Jackson  Gibson,
but in a few years became the property of Col. James
Paull. It was operated by different parties as lessees,
the last by Dougherty  Steele, who blew it out of
blast in 1828. While it was in operation that locality
was the scene of bustling activity, a large number of
men being employed, and a public-house was maintained by the McCune family. The masonry of St.
John Furnace was done by Jesse Taylor, and was
so substantial that it remained long after everything
else had passed away.        /
A number of miles above, on the same stream, a
mining company, composed of Freeman, Miller, and
Linton, secured a large tract of mineral lands, which
were placed in charge of Maj. James Rogers, under
whose direction as superintendent the Fayette Furnace was erected in 1827-28. In 1831, Joseph and
George Rogers became the owners of the furnace, and
several years later Dr. Joseph Rogers alone, who
*kept it in blast until 1841. Its capacity was from two
to three tons per day, and much of the metal was cast
757THE REVOLUTION.
On the following morning (June llth) Crawford
was informed that he must go to the old town, to
join the other prisoners, so that all couild be marched
in a body to the v-illage of the Half-King. Under
this order he was taken to the upper village, wlhere he
arrived about the middle of the forenoon, and there
found the main body of the white prisoners, includingr
Dr. Knight, and the Delaware chiefs, Pipe and Whingenund, who had come there at an earlier hour ill
the morrning. Here the hopes wbhich had been raised
in Crawford's mind by the promise of Girty were suddenly extinguished when Wingenund approached him
and painted his face black. The hypocritical chiefl
wvhile he was performing the ominous operation, professed to be extremely glad to see the colonel, and
assured him that he was to be adopted as an Indian;
but Crawford was not deceived by this dissimulation,
for he well knew that when the Indians painted the
face of a prisoner black it meant but one thing,-that
the person so marked had been doomied to death.
All the other prisoners, including Dr. Knight, had
previously been painted black by the implacable
Delaware, Capt. Pipe.
A little later in the day the whole party of prisoners, under their Indian guards, moved out from the
old town and took the trail down the river. Col.
Crawford and Dr. Knight (who were regarded by the
Indians as their principal prizes) were marched sonme
distance in the rear of the others, and were kept in
charge by no less personages than the chiefs Wingenund and Pipe. They had not proceeded far from
the village before they passed the corpse of one of
the prisoners who preceded them. A little farther on
they saw another, then another and another, four in
all, killed by their guards only a few minutes before,
and all bearing the bloody marks made by the scalping-knife.
They had supposed that their destination was the
town of the Wyandot sachem, Pomoacan, but their
hearts sank within them2 when, at the Big Springs,
on the present site of Upper Sandusky, the Indians
1 The treaclherous Wingenund was vell acquainted with Col. Crawford,
lhad alwavys professed great friendship for hiim, and had more thani onice
been entertained by the coloniel at his lhouse oni tlle Youghiogheny.
Capt. Pipe was also acqulainted wlth Crawfor(d.
2 The Wyandots had advanced mulch farther on the road towards
civilization tlhati had the Delawares or Shawanese. and not only had
tlhey, long before that tine, wulolly abandonied the practice of buruiinthleir prisoners, but they discountenanced the horrid clistoni anmong the
otler tribes. The prisoners, kiouvin- this, had consequently regarded
it as a sign in their favor that they were to be takeni to the hoiuse of the
Wyandot sachens, but wlheii they founld that they had beeis deceived,
atlnd that theit real destiniation was tile towns of the cruiel Delawares,
tiley knewv too well that Inercy wvas not to be expected.  Tlle fact was
that Pipe and Wingenan(l, being folly determinied  to inflict the fire
tortuire on Crawford atid Knight, lhad recoitrse to stratagemn and deceit
to obtain fromii the Half-King, Pomoacan, his consent to the conmnission
of the barbarity, for, as thue Wyandots were nmore powverful tliati they,
and in fact nmasters of that section of the Indian country, they dared not
do the dreadftil deed without the consenit of the Wyandot sagamnore,
and tllat consent tiley knew coiild never be obtained if their irequest
was accompanied by a straightforward statemeilt of thseir real intentions.
left the trail leading to the Wyandot headquarters
and took that leading to the villages of the Delawares.
On this trail they proceeded in a northwesterly course
until they reaclhed Little Tymochtee Creek, where
Crawford and Knight, with their guiards, overtook the
other surviving prisoners, only five in numnber. Here
several squaws and young Indians were met, and all
the prisoners were halted and made to sit on the
grounid. The object of this movement became apparent when, a few mpinutes later, the fiv-e prisoners were
set upon by the squaws and boys, who tomahawked and
scalped them all. Some of the boys took the warm
and bloody scalps and repeatedly dashed them inlto
the faces of Crawford and Knight, who had also beeni
seated on the grounid a short distance away from but
in full view of the butchery.
Of the prisoners who had set out from the old
town only Crawford and Knight now remained. The
march was resumed on the trail to Pipe's town, the
two prisoners being now separated and made to walk
a hundred yards or more apart. On their way they
were mnet by Simon Girty on horseback aind accompanied by several Indians. Girty spoke to Crawford
and also to Knight, heaping upon the latter the vilest
epithets and abuse. As the party mioved on thev
were met by manly Indians, all of whom maltreated
the prisoners, striking them with clubs and beating
thenii with their fists. About the middle of the afternoon the party with their dejected captives arrived
at a piece of bottom-land on the east bank of Tymochtee Creek, where a halt was made, and it became
at once apparent that vith this halt the journeying
of one at least of the prisoners was ended.  Crawford and Knight were still separated, aind were not
again allowed to hold any conversation together.
Knight was in charge of a peculiarly villanous-looking Indian namned Tutelu, who had been nmade his
special guard, and who was to take him on the followinlg day to the Shawanese towns, which had been decided on as the place wlhere he was to be put to deathL.
The spot where the party halted on the banks of
the Tymochtee was the place3 where Col. Crawford
was to die. It lhad been fully and finally decided by
the chiefs that hle should suffer death by the torture
of fire, and as all the barbarous preparations had
been made there was but little delay before the commencement of the infernal orgie.  The fatal stake
had already been set, and fires of hickory sticks were
burning in a circle around it. About forty Indianl
men and twice that number of squaws and young
Indians were waiting to take part in the torturing of
the unforttunate prisonier.
Immediately on his arrival the colonel was stripped
naked and made to sit on the ground, with his hands
firmly bound together and tied behind him. Then
the yelling, screeching crowd fell upon him and beat
3 The spot where Col. Crawford iimet his liorrible death is on a piece of
sligbtly risin- ground in the creek bottoI,i, as tabove menltionied, a short
distance northeast of the village of Crawfordsville, Wyandot Co., Ohio.
103IIISTORY' OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
into kettles, cooking utensils, etc., which were sold at
the furnace, or conveyed to Connellsville on wagons
and sleds, and thence shipped to Pittsburgh. When
the furnace was carried on at its best many men were
employed, who lived in small houses in that locality,
forming a hamlet, which contained twenty-six buildings, most of which have been removed.
Almost the entire Indian Creek Valley, with its
adjacent hills, is underlaid with fine coal possessing
many of the qualities of the celebrated Connellsville
coal. It is found in three distinct veins, at different
elevations from the bed of the creek, varying from
three to six feet in thickness. Coal was first used in
the township for blacksmithing purposes about 1835,
being taken from a bank on the clay pike, east of
Springfield village, in such small quantities that it
was carried away in a bag. Soon its value for fuel
was found out, and mining at that place and other
points was begun, and has been continued to the presenit. In 1881 the following mines were in working
condition: Jacob Minor's, east of the village of
Springfield, the place where coal was first mined;
David Shank's, south of the village; the old Solomon
Kern bank; John Shultz's and James Gallentine's, on
Stony Run; Jacob Murry's, near Poplar RunI; Jackson Rose's, on Indian Creek; George Showman's, on
the lower part of that stream, the bank being three
hundred feet above the level of the creek, and the
coal appearing in a five-foot vein; Garrett Hall's; the
Eicher and Solomon Davis' banks, farther up on the
same stream; the John Miller bank, on the old Shumax farm, has a six-foot vein; and the John F.
Campbell bank has been opened to the extent of fifty
yards; the Rogers mine, on Buck Run and Middle
Fork, has a working passage the distance of one hundred yards, and the coal appears in a vein six feet in
thickness. South of Indian Creek, on Mill Run and
affluent streams, are coal-banks owned by John
Bigam, Eli Grall, John Dull, George Dull, R. W.
Workman, Samuel Nickerson, Abraham Williams,
and others, which serve only to supply the demand
for home use.
VILLAGES AND BUSINESS INTERESTS.
After the completion of the Baltimore and Ohio
Railroad, in 1871, a station was located at the mouth
of Indian Creek, which bears the name of the stream,
and a post-office established with the name of Hampton. The station is a store, and the post-office was
kept by W. F. Walter, but the wild nature of the
country in that locality made it advisable to continue
the latter two but a short time. The railroad company still maintains a flag-station for the accommnodation of the farmers of that neighborhood. The
history of the post-office at Stewarton Station is given
in the township of Stewart, from which the office was
removed but a short time ago.
The hamlet of Mill Run is along the old Turkey
Foot road, where it crosses that stream, and consists
of a tannery, mills, several stores, and a dozen houses,
built without thought of forming a village and on
unplatted ground. The first improvement was the
Kooser grist-mill, built in 1851, although the old
Bigam meeting-house had before directed attention to
this locality as a central point for the people of Springfield south of Indian Creek. In 1851 was also opened
the store of Weller  Dull, in a building erected for
that purpose, and which yet remains. Daniel W.
Dull became the sole owner of the store in a few years,
and sold out to John W. Sherbondy, who removed
the stock of goods to Springfield. For a timnle the
place was without a store, but in 1863 Jonathan and
Hiram C. Sipe engaged in a trade which passed into
the hands of the latter, and was continued by him
until his death in 1878. He was a very successful
merchant, and in the later years of his career also here
carried on a banking business, a small house being
erected for this purpose especially. It was supplied
wvith a large safe, which a party of burglars vainly
attempted to move, in an attempt to despoil Mr. Sipe
of his wealth, having been led to believe, doubtlessly,
that if the bank were small the safe must necessarily
I)e diminutive. The morning following the fuitile attempt revealed the work of the miscreants, who in
their disgust had left their tools and tackle behind
themn, scattered on the floor of thle bank. The goods
of the Sipe store were sold to Augustus Stickle, who
had opened a store near the tannery in 1877. This
was destroyed by fire in June, 1880, but a new building was erected in its place, where Mr. Stickle carries
on a growing trade. Meantime, Evans Bigam opened
a store near the mill, which he yet carries on, and
lately the old Sipe stand has been filled with a stock
of goods by C. K. Brooks and Martin H. King.
The Mill Run post-office was established in 1866,
wvith Hiram C. Sipe as postmaster. He was succeeded by Levi Bradford, and he in turn, in 1876, by
John A. Kooser, who keeps the office at his mill. The
mail service is daily fronm Stewarton to Jones' Mill.
Prior to 1871 it was from Farmnington to the latter
place, several times per week.
Springfield, a hamlet approximating a village in
size, is on the clay pike, northwest of the centre of
the township. Originally the land belonged to the
Eicher family, and later to Samuel Long, who sold
three hundred acres to Jonathan Miller, of Somerset
County. On the lower part of this tract Levi and J.
H. Miller erected a large byick house in 1847, which
is the oldest house in that part of the hamlet. This
house and a number of acres of land became the
property of Charles King, who in 1852 laid out thirtysix quarter-acre lots for village purposes, which constitutes the plat of the lower part of Springfield. In
1853 King erected his present residence on one of the
lots, and the same year James Gallentine built a house
opposite the Campbell store, whichl is yet standing.
Passing over an unoccupied space one-fourth of a
mile westwvard, the upper end of the hamlet contains
758SPUNFELJTONSI.                            5
a house which was built about 1835, by Joseph Scott,
and around which a dozen more buildings were erected
in subsequent years. Some of these are rather dilapidated, and the hamlet throughout, after the importance of the clay pike declined, gave little promise of
continued or future prosperity.  The population
diminished until the number maintaining their permanent homines in 1880 was only about one-half of
what it was several decades earlier. Lately, however,
there have been signs of renewed life, and the former
activity may again be restored. Springfield contains
two churches, a school-house, a large tannery (not in
operation), two good stores, a number of mechanicshops, and one hundred and twenty-five inhabitants.
The first goods were sold by Josephl Scott, about
1836, his trade being continued a few years. Henry
and John Brooks opened the next store in the building now occupied by Capt. James B. Morris, merchandising from 1839 to 1847. Next came Levi and J. H.
Miller, who, in 1853, established their place of business in the lower part of the village, where they continued until 1861. The present Campbell store room
was occupied in 1873 by J. F. Campbell; but the
business is at present carried on by George W. Campbell, who has a large room well stocked with assorted
goods for a general trade. On the opposite corner a
new store has just been opened by Benton L. Miller.
Among other merchants in the hamlet have been
Lohr  Detweiler, John Brooks, J. W. Sherbondy,
Rogers  Campbell, John F. Murray, McBeth 
Morris, Reisinger  Cole, and William Aughenbaugh.
Samuel Long was the first to open a public-house
in the lower part -f the village. This house has been
used for the entertainment of the public almost ever
since, among the keepers of the inn being Moses
Coughenour, Eli Gallentine, Samuel Kooser, Martin
Kring, and William H. Brooks. At the upper end of
the village J. W. C. Brooks kept an inn from 1871-72,
which was known as the "Utah House." J. H. Miller also entertained the public, and lately Benton L.
Miller has accommodated the traveling public, the
Brooks house also being continued.
A post-office was here established about 1851, with
the name of Springfield, Alfred Cooper being the
postmaster. In 1853 the name of the office was
changed to "Elm," which it yet bears, and J. H.
Miller appointed postmaster. In 1862 he was succeeded by Nathan B. Long, and he in turn by John
W. Sherbondy, J. T. Coughenour, William Brooks, J.
F. Campbell, and since the spring of 1881 the present,
George W. Campbell. Two mails per day are supplied by the route from Stewarton to Jones' Mill,
John Brooks, of Springfield, being the carrier. The
first mail service was from Connellsville to Berlin, in
Somerset County, once a week; thereafter from Farmington, on the National road, three times a week.
The first physician in the township was Dr. J. B.
Phythian, a son-in-law of Clifford Elder. He was a
native of Gloucestershire, England, but became a
resident of Pittsburgh in 1825. Several years later
he settled in Springfield, and remained until his death,
not many years thereafter. His remains were taken
to Somerset County. The niext physician was Dr.
Joseph Rogers, son of Maj. James Rogers, the builder
of the mills, where Dr. Rogers had his home, and
where he died, March 20, 1876, at the age of seventynine years. After graduating at the University of
Pennsylvania, he engaged in the practice of medicine at Ligonier. In 1828 he became interested in
the Fayette Furnace, but did not wholly relinquish
his practice.  In 1841 he settled permanently in
Springfield, and was for many years the sole physician of the township, practicing the healing art until
within a year of his death. His son, James K., after
graduating at Jefferson College, studied medicine,
and served in the Rebellion as a surgeon. For sonme
years he was connected with the hospital at St. Louis,
and contracted a disease which proved fatal to his life
a few years after the war. Another son, Alexander,
graduated from the same institution, and is now a
physician at Scottdale, Westmoreland Co.
The resident physicians of the township are Dr. A.
G. Grubb, at Mill Run, since 1877, and Dr. A. H.
McCoy, at Springfield, since 1861. The latter is a
well-known practitioner, having a ride which extends
many miles around, where he enjoys the reputation
of being a successful physician.
There have been a few others as physicians in the
townlship, whose residence did not have sufficient
duration to secure them a practice.
EDUCATIONAL AND RELIGIOUS.
Among the early schools in Springfield was one
taught in a small house which stood where is now the
principal place of business in the hamlet of Springfield. It was kept up a few years, probably from 1810
to 1813. As this was an English school, many of the
children of the early settlers continued to attend the
schools in Salt Lick, where instruction was given in
the German language also. On the present McMillan
farm was a pioneer school-house, in which Daniel
Turner, a Revolutionary soldier, taught several years
more than half a century ago. While a good teacher,
his age caused him to be petulant and hard to please.
Other early teachers there were George Gregg, David
Barnes, Eli Smith, and Frederick Berg. The house
was destroyed by fire while occupied as a residence
by Jacob Ritenour.
On the old Sipe place was a very primitive school
building, in which Jacob H. Rush taught one of the
early schools. Another pioneer school-house stood
on the Silas Prinkey farm. And near the Collins'
graveyard was what was called the Temnperance
School-house, in whichl Martha MeCune taught fifty
years ago. Later Jol'n Dixon, A. J. Mitchell, and
George M. Bigam were teachers there. The old Bigam
or Presbyterian meeting-house was also used for school
I
759
SPRI'INGFIELD   TOWNSHIP.HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
purposes, Peter Lohr being one of the first teachers.
Other pioneer teachers were Jacob and Henry Ullrey,
Clark''ubbs, Leonard Harbaugh, Elizabeth Murray,
Catharine Ullrey, Sarah Bigam, Mary and David
Rowan.
Since the organization of the township the directors
of the public schools have been as follows:
1848.-James Morrison, John Hall, Jacob Kern.
1849.-Robert Workman, Jamnes Morris, Sylvester Skinner.
1850.-Abraham Skinner, Jacob Sipe, Jonathan Sipe, and Sylvester Skinner.
1851.-James Morrison, George Harbaugh, Everhart Liston,
and David Ogg.
1852.-James Burd, Henry Collins.
1853.-Robert Workman, Abraham Skinner.
1854.-James Morrison, David Ogg.
1856.-.John McBeth, Henry Grim, Coulson Coughenour.
1857.-John Kern, John Sherbondy, Aaron Hart.
1858.-John Kern, Henry Grim.
1859.-William Collins, J. A. H. Miller.
1860.-John R. Elder, John W. Sherbondy.
1861.-Robert Workmnan, James Smear.
1862.-William Collins, J. A. McBeth.
1863.-J. W. Sherbondy, H. J. Cougohenour.
1864.-Daniel Shearer, Henry King, Robert Workman.
1865.-A. Dull, Samuel Murray, Abraham Gallentine.
1866.--John A. MeBeth, Josiah H. Miller, James B. Morris.
1867.-Henry Bungard, L. E. Miller, J. W. C. Brooks.
1868.-D. Kesslar, D. W. Dull, G. A. Yonkin.
1869.-Solomon Davis, Frederick C. Miller, Joseph K. Eicher,
William Rogers.
1870.-S. B. Tederow, J. F. Campbell.
1872.-A. H. McCoy, William Ott, J. G. Phillippi.
1873.-C. B. Sipe, Messmore Carmer.
1874.-R. W. Workman, A. J. Case.
1875.-Joseph L. Baker, T. J. Burchinal.
1876.-Henry Bungard, Eli K. Harbaugh.
1877.-R. W. Workman, J. W. Lichleiter, E. S. Harbiugh.
1878.-S. P. Eicher, John Davis, George Yonkin.
1879.-J. W. Lichleiter, Ross Marietta.
1880.-George Kern, Ross Marietta.
In 1880 the number of schools maintained in the
township was twelve, nine of which had male teachers and three female teachers. The average wages of
the former were $24.50 per month, and of the latter
$22 per month. The total amount raised for school
purposes was $1669.21; and the value of the school
buildings aggregated only $3000.
SPRINGFIELD METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
As early as 1825 the Rev. James G. Sansom occasionally preached at the house of Solomon Kern,
while on his way from Bedford to Connellsville; and
other Methodist ministers in the years that followed
preached to those who gave their adherence to that
church, among the number being Michael B. Lohr,
David Resler, and the Elder family. After a space
of time a class was formed and regular worship maintained, the preaching services being held in schoolhouses. About 1844 the members formed themselves
into a society to build a house ~f worship. This was
built near the homne of M. B. Lohr, the first classleader, on a lot of land deeded for this purpose by
Eliza Elder; and there the meetings were statedly held
until the fall of 1863, when it was consumed by a fire
lit by the hands of an incendiary, who thought in this
way he might reek his spite against the church which
refused to longer extend him the hand of fellowship,
owing to his failure to observe its ordinances. From
this blow the church slowly recovered, again being
dependent upon the school-houses for a place of worship, where, and in the United Brethren Church, the
meetings continued to be held until the summer of
1881, when the new church edifice at Springfield was
completed. It has an eligible location on half an
acre of ground donated by Abraham Miller, and is a
Gothic frame, thirty-two by forty-twvo feet, surmounted
by a neat belfry. The movement to build this house
was begun in the spring of 1879, when the Rev. Zenas
M. Sillbaugh was the preacher in charge of the circuit of which Springfield is a part. A building committee was appointed, composed of Solomon Davis,
George Kern, N. B. Tannehill, George W. Campbell,
and Benton L. Miller, who, in spite of many difficulties, carried the work to successful completion.  The
church presents a fine appearance, and is a credit to
the society and the community.  The Methodists
worshiping here form a class of forty-five members,
who have as a leader N. B. Tannehill. ln 1876 the
society organized a Sabbath-school which had as its
superintendent John Kern, and which is continued
under the superintendency of Solomon Davis. It
has from forty to seventy memnbers. Methodism in
Springfield township embraces a small class at Mill
Run, whose preaching services are held at the schoolhouse; and both the above appointments are a part of
Springfield Circuit, of the McKeesport District of
the Pittsburgh Conference. The preacher in charge
in 1881 was Rev. John J. Davis, and among the clergymen preceding him were the Revs. Z. M. Sillbaugh,
M. D. Lichleiter, Sylvanus Lane, James E. Williams,
George A. Sheetz, J. R. Mills, E. H. Baird, J. W.
Kesslar, James Hollingshead, and J. F. Hill.
UNITED BRETHREN CIhURCH.
Half a century ago this denomination maintained
preaching at the homes of its adherents in the township, among them being Daniel Resler, Solomon Kern,
Christian Senf, Joseph Gallentine, and George Dull.
The pioneer preachers were the Revs. Worman, Stake,
Pershing, Troxel, Berger, Butsfield, and others. After
a lapse of time the membership became so large that
a larger place for worship was demanded, and in 1849
the brick meeting-house at Springfield was erected to
meet this want. It stands on a fine lot, used for
church and cemetery purposes, which was donated
by Solomon Kern, and although bearing the marks
of age, is yet a comfortable place for religious assemblage. When the house was consecrated it was stipulated that the use of it might be enjoyed by other
bodies under proper restrictions; or in the words of
I   _               _                             ~             ~                             _
------. --
i
I
T760OSPIRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP.
the compact, "The power is in the trustees to grant but in 1844 a stone building took its place and served
liberty to other societies to preach in the church, if for many years as the place of worship, being in turn
not occupied by the society."  In compliance with  displaced by the present frame building, which stands
these terms various denominations have used the  on the same foundations. It was erected ill 1871, and
brick meeting-house as their place of worship. In  consecrated April 28, 1872, the sermnon of consecra1881 the trustees were John Brooks, J. W. C. Lich-  tioii being preached by the Rev. William S. Wood,
leiter, and Samuel Scott.                          his remarks being based on the third verse of the
The members of the United Brethren Church numn- twelfth chapter of Isaiah. He was assisted by the
ber at present about sixty, forming a class, of which  Revs. Z. C. Rush, B. F. Woodburn, J. R. Brown, and
John B. Tederow is the leader. The Sunday-school N. B. Crichfield. The house has a seating capacity
here maintained was organized about thirty years ago, for three hundred and fifty persons, and stands on a
and has for its present superintendent Winfield Tan- very fine lot, a portion of which is used for cemetery
nehill. Others who have served in that capacity were  purposes. Here are the graves of some of the oldest
John B. Tederow and J. W. Libchleiter. The school settlers of the township. The lot was set aside for
wasattended in 1880 by about one hundred persons.  its present uses by Willits Skinner. The church ediAt Mill Run a class of those giving their adherence  fice is thirty-six by forty-six feet, and cost $2500.
to the United Brethren was formed in 1840, George  The work was done under the direction of William
Dull being the leader and serving until his death in  M. Kern, who,, with J. R. Bailey and Johln Har1880. Among those who belonged at that early pe- baugh, now deceased, has been one of the most active
riod were Robert Bigam, Nicholas Romesburghl, Dan-  members; but the church has had many who were
iel Harbaugh, David Bigam, John Bigam, George  faithful to its ordinances.
Bigam, and in most instances their wives. The class   Among those who have ministered to the church,
has at present twenty-five members, and John Dull either as pastors or supplies, have been the Revs.
is the leader. Their regular meetings are held in the  Levi Griffith, Caleb Roswell, John Rockefeller, MilMill Run school-house. In that building a Union  ton Sutton (minister when the church was formed),
Sabbath-school has been maintained the past fifteen  W. W. Hockman, in 1846; J. A. Pool, in 1851; G.
years, George Dull being long the superintendent,  Lanham, in 1853; John Williams, in 1855; Courtland
but Dr. A. G. Grubbs serving at present in that ca- Skinner, in 1860; S. C. Skinner, in 1861; J. R.
pacity. There are fif'ty-four members.          Brown, in 1867; N. B. Crichfield, F. M. CunningThe minister in charge of the above classes in 1881  ham, Z. C. Rush, J. E. Walter, and since June 19,
was the Rev. John Buel, and others who have minis-  1877, the Rev. J. R. Brown.
tered to them in holy things were the Revs. William   Of the deacons of the church, John Williams and
Beichtel, William K. Shimp, William Dick, Martin  S. C. Skinner were both ordained to the pastoral
Spangler, William Ragg, Jacob Resler, Benjamin  office, John Harbaugh died while filling that posiNoon, J. Medsgar, H. O. Lane, John Briggs, John L. tion, and William R. Mountain, William M. Kern,
Baker, and John Wert.                              and E. S. Jackson yet hold the office of deacon. The
church clerks have been John Harbaugh, Abraham
INDIAN CREEK BAPTIST CHURCH.          Skinner, Samuel W. Bailey, Allen E. Harbaugh, WilThis body was constituted June 24, 1843, in a log  liam M. Kern, and George W. Bailey.
building used for general meeting purposes, which    The Sabbath-school had its beginning nearly as
stood on the site of the present church edifice, three- long ago as the church, having since been kept up
fourths of a mile from Mill Run post-office. The Coun- with varying interest.  It usually has seventy-five
cil called for recognizing the church was composed of members, and its last superintendent was E. S. JackRevs. Milton Sutton, R. E. F. Browning, B. Gault, son, John Harbaugh being one-of the first.
Hiram Hartzell, and John Patton.  The members
consisted of John Williams, Sylvester C. Skinner,      INDIAN CREEK PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
Huldah Skinner, John Harbaugh, Rebecca Har-   At Mill Run, in what was known as the Bigam
baugh, Henry Collins, Elizabeth Collins, J. R. Bai- meeting-house, a small log building near the house
ley, Mary Bailey, Martin Williams, Michael Bailey, of Robert Bigam, erected for the use of those who
Frances Bailey, Mary Bailey, Margaret Bailey, Sarah  chose to occupy it, the Rev. John Hawkins, of the
Spangler, Martha Rowan, Thankful Stull, Rebecca  Connellsville Presbyterian Church, preached as early
Hess, Keziah Eicher, and Mary J. Williams,-twenty-  as 1833. These services were held once a month for
one in all. The church has had an aggregate mem-  the space of a few years by the Revs. Hawkins, Gray,
bership of 162, and the present enrollment numbers  Stevenson, and others, sent to Springfield under the
116. John Harbaugh was chosen church clerk, and  direction of the Presbytery.  These meetings were
John Williams and Sylvester C. Skinner deacons, not held in vain.  About 1846 a congregation was
the latter being ordained the following day, June 25, formed, which had as its ruling elder Dr. Joseph
1843.                                              Rogers, and among its memnbers persons belonging to
For a time the meetings were held in thelog house,  the Cummings, McCune, Crichfield, Kern, Brooks,
0      1n  
761HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
and other families. Others were added in the course
of years, but Presbyterianism was never warmly accepted by the people of the township, and a few years
ago the congregation, which never had its own house
of worship, became disorganized. The Rev. Joseph
McKee preached for the members about twenty years,
and the last to hold meetings was the Rev. William
Bergen, of the Somerset Church, who preached inll
1877. Dr. Rogers served as elder many years, aind
for about six years Levi Bradford filled the sarime
position.
In the southwestern part of the township was
formerly a Dunkard Church, which has been sold and
is now used as a school-house, having been purchased
for that purpose in 1872. Its use as a place of worship by the Dunkards-was discontinued three or four
years earlier. The house was built more than twenty -
five years ago, mainly by the Sipe family, who coinstituted the chief membership of the Dunkards in the
township. At the house of Peter Sipe, Sr., the first
meetings were held, and the church occupied a corner
of his former farm. Among those who occasionally
preached there were Jacob Murry, James Quinler,
and Martin Meyers. Many persons from Somerset
County attended the meetings, which were discontinued after the death or removal of the Sipe and
Smith families.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.
GEORGE W. CAMPBELL.
George W. Campbell, of Springfield, is the son of'
James Campbell, of the same place, and Rebecca Kilpatrick, daughter of Esquire Thomas Kilpatrick, who
were married in 1840. George W., our subject, the
sixth son of James, was born May 18, 1853.  His
grandparents on his paternal side came to America
from near Belfast, Ireland. Mr. Campbell attended
the common schools of his village until fourteen
years of age, when he entered as clerk the general
merchandise store of his brother, John F., where he
became a proficient book-keeper and developed a fine
business character, continuing a clerk until 1876,
when he became a partner with his brother, remaining such till 1880, and then bought out his brother's
interest, and has since carried on the business very
successfully.
GEORGE W. CAMPBELL.
He became assistant postmaster of Elm, in the
township of Springfield  in September,. 1869, and
acted as such till March 21, 1881, when he was commissioned postmaster by Postmaster-General James.
He is a stalwart Republican, and has been frequently
sent by his party as a delegate to county conventions.
On the 1st of January, 1882, Mr. Campbell established
a small monthly paper called The Mountaineer, he
being editor thereof as well as proprietor, and which
has attained a profitable circulation.
On the 11th of August, 1880, Mr. Campbell married
Miss Ida May Sparks, daughter of Horatio L. Sparks.SPRINGHILL TOWNSHIP.
THIS is the extreme southwest township of the
county. It has Nicholson on the north, Georges
and Wharton east and northeast, West Virginia on
the south, and the Monongahela River on the west.
The surface is greatly diversified. In the east Laurel Hill, with all the characteristics of a mountain.
From the foot of the mountain westward, as far as
Morris Cross-Roads, the land rises, attaining its
greatest height just before reaching the Uniontown
and Morgantown road; thence still westward there
is a general decline in elevation until the river
bluffs are reached. The river hills are of considerable height, and in general crowd close upon the
stream. Some very fertile bottom land is found both
along the Cheat and Monongahela Rivers, but in general they are narrow. The most important streamn
next to the Monongahela is Cheat River, which flows
through the southwest corner of the township for a
distance of six or seven miles, entirely severing a
part of the township several miles in length at its'base, and two or more from base to apex. This is
called the "Forks of Cheat," or the "Neck."  The
other streams are Grassy Run, Hardin's Run, McCollick's Run, McFarland's Run. These with their
tributaries reach almost every part of the township.
The soil is not remarkably fertile except in a very
few localities, and is better adapted to grazing than
to tillage. Fruits of all kinds flourish, but grapes
especially. Large vineyards are planted from  the
cross-roads towards the river. Iron and coal are
the chief minerals. Potters' clay and glass-sand
abound.
o
Springhill is one of the original townships of Fayette County, having been erected as such by the Court
of Quarter Sessions of the county at the first term,
held in December, 1783. The name "Springhill"
was given by Col. George Wilson, the earliest settler
on Georges Creek (at its mouth, in what is now Nicholson township), who had come here from Springhill, in
Augusta, Va., and had given that'name to the new
region in which he settled. That was while all the
Monongahela country was included in Cumberland
County; and the old Springhill township of that
county embraced an immense territory, covering all
the southern part of what is now Fayette, all of
Greene, and the south part of the'lresent county of
1 By James Ross.
Washington. The township as erected by the Fayette County Court, in December, 1783, was embraced
in the following description of boundaries, viz.:
"A township beginning at the mouth of Jacob's
Creek; thence up the Monongahela River to Mason
and Dixon's line; thence by the same to the line of
Wharton township on the top of Laurel Hill; thence
by the same to the line of Georges township; thence
by the same to the place of beginning. To be hereafter known by the name of Springhill township."
The surveyor has never yet (in accordance with
this description) reached "the place of beginning;"
and Springhill is really only bounded on three sides
and a part of the fourth, according to the act of the
court. Sixty-two years after the erection into a township, Springhill lost the Egypt of her territory by the
formation of Nicholson township, losing all that rich
farming land lying between Jacob's Creek on the
north and Georges Creek on the south, including New
Geneva with all its historical associations. In New
Geneva was one of the four post-offices of Fayette
County in 1805, the other three being Uniontown,
Brownsville, and Connellsville.
Prominent among the early settlers of Springhill
township was Col. Theophilus Phillips. In May,
1767, he, in company with his brother-in-law, the
Rev. James Dunlap, emigrated to Fayette County
from New Jersey, and settled, or rather squatted, on
a stream which has been called Dunlap's Creek for
more than a century. After clearing a piece of land
and farming it jointly for a time, they dissolved partnership and cast lots for the land, which fell to Dunlap. Phillips then purchased a large tract of land in
Springhill township, called "Phillips' Choice," containing 453i acres and allowance. The patent is dated
Dec. 12, 1786. Mr. Phillips enjoyed the respect and
confidence of all who knew him, and was often called
to fill public positions. It was near his residence that
the courts of Monongalia County, Va., were held in
the last half of the eighteenth century. The buildings have long been demolished, and nothing but the
foundations of them remain to mark the site. To
the left of the New Geneva and Springhill Furnace
roads, via Morris' Cross-Roads and about two hundred yards from the same, on a long knoll, with a direction northeast, stood the Phillips residence, with
many outbuildings, including shop, negro quarters,
still-house, and stables. Among his grandchildren
763HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
are Theophilus P. Kramer, Theophilus Williams, and
Adolph Eberhart, whose ages are eighty-one, seventyeight, and sixty-four years respectively. They recollect hearing their parents say that the Monongalia
court was held in the shop which stood near the old
Phillips dwelling-house.
Col. Phillips was ordained an elder of the Mount
Moriah Church, in Springhill township, in 1774. He
was among the first to ship flour and whisky to New
Orleans from Wilson Port, as the mouth of Georges
Creek was then called. In 1789 he was elected to the
State Legislature, which at that time met in the city
of Philadelphia. His boats were ready laden for New
Orleans, and he resolved to go with them, and instead
of crossing the mountains, sail round by the Gulf
and the Atlantic to Philadelphia. Before starting
he willed his estate, giving to each of his children
their portion, in case he should never return. This
proved to have been the act of a sensible man, for not
long after leaving the port of New Orleans, en route
for Philadelphia, he fell a victim to ship-fever, and
was buried at sea. He left a numerous famnily. Capt.
John Phillips, of the war of 1812, was his son. He
died of cholera near Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1832. Of
the Williams family, many of whom have been elected
justices, are John P., Thomas, Joseph G., and Thomas,
Jr., grandsons, and great- grandson of Col. Theophilus.
Dr. William Wilson, of Indiana, brother of Mrs. Eliezer Robinson, of Uniontown, married a granddaughter, Miss Elizabeth Kramer. Theophilus Phillips
married a Miss Joanna Prater. It is said that on
several occasions Washington visited the Monongalia
court-house, near Col. Phillips' place. It is, however,
doubtful whether he was ever in that vicinity more
than once,-in the year 1784.
Though Theophilus Phillips was among the earliest,
if not the very first, of the actual settlers within the
territory now Springhill township (Col. George Wilson, however, being considerably earlier on the other
side of Georges Creek), yet there were a considerable
number of warrants taken by others for lands ill
Springhill antedating the warrant to Phillips of the
tract, "Phillips' Choice," on which he settled. Among
these early locations of lands in Springhill were the
following, viz.: Andrew Contral, a tract containing
347 acres and allowance, warrant dated July 3, 1769,
surveyed 2d of July, 1770; Joseph Cox, 302 acres, warranted July 3, 1769, surveyed Nov. 17, 1770; Hugh
Evans, 181 acres, surveyed 1785, warrant dated March
23, 1785; Thomas Ashby, 307 acres, warrant dated
July 3, 1769. There were a great many others whose
warrants and patents are one hundred years old and
upwards. Settlements increased very slowly for some
years, but much more. rapidly after the close of the
Revolution, so that in the year 1785 the number of
taxable persons, including "single men," in Springhill was over two hundred, and the total assessed
valuation of property ~12,532 5s. 6d. This, however,
included in addition to the territory that is now
Springhill a considerable additional territory that
is now in the township of Nicholson.'
John Swearingen and Van Swearingen, father and
son, were among the earliest settlers in Springhill,
being here as early as 1770, and possibly in 1769, Van
Swearingen being in the latter year twenty-six years
of age. Thomas Swearingen, Sr., and his son Thomas
camne to Western Pennsylvania about the same time,
and settled west of the Monongahela. The ancestors
of all the Swearingens in this region were Garrett
Van Swearingen and Barbara De Barrette, his wife,
who came from Holland to Anierica, settled in Maryland, and were, with their children, Garrett and Barbara, naturalized in that province in April, 1669, as
is shown by the records in Baltimore. Two other
children of theirs, Elizabeth and Zachariah, were
born in the Delaware counties, and so needed no
naturaliza4tion. The prefix "Van" was afterwards
dropped from the surname of the family, but was
used, as we see, as the Christian name of the son of
John Swearingen.
Of this John Swearingen who settled in Springhill
township very little is known beyond the fact of his
settlement here, and that hle was a resident of the
township in 1785. His son, Van Swearingen, did not
remain long ill Springhill,' but removed to a new
location on the east side of the Monongahela, near
the mouth of Redstone, but retaining the ownership
of his lands in Springhill at least until 1785. Before
that time, however, he had left his second location'
near Redstone and removed to Washington County,
of which he was elected sheriff upon its organization
in 1781. After a few years spent by him in Washington County he removed to land which he had
located as early as 1772 in Ohio County, Va., and
died there Dec. 2, 1793. During all the period of his
residence west of the Alleghenies he was a prominent
man both in civil and military life.
The Crow family were very early settlers of this
section of country. Michael Crow was born in Maryland, near Williamsport, and was the first of the
name to settle in Springhill. After a short residence
in his new home he married Hannah Huhn. (The
Huhns owned the property where Crow's mill now
stands, but the number of acres is not known.) At
the death of Huhn, the father of his wife, Michael
Crow, inherited the farm.  Here he continued to reside until his death in 1858, at the age of ninety-eight
years. His descendants are perhaps more numerous
than those of any-of the first settlers of this region.
Several of them have filled important county offices.
Jacob Crow was at one time treasurer of Fayette
1 Van Swearingen and four other persons were the builders of the
old log fort built as a place of refuge during the Indian troubles of 1774,
niear Morris Cross-Roads, on lands now owned by Mr. Crow. The Indians captured a son of his named Duke, whom they never restored.
Cato Hardin, a soldier of the war of 1812, after his return from service
told several that he believed lie saw Duke Swearingen among the Indians during his stay in Ohio, near Sandusky.
I
I
I
764SPRINGHILL TOWNSHIP.
County. Hon. Alexander Crow, of New Geneva, was
associate judge. The family is noted for its firm adherence to the principles of the Democratic party.  
Mary Duvall's name should not be omitted from
the list of early settlers of Springhill, though it does
not appear that she ever reflected mnuch credit on the
township. Free from fear, she came from the East
with the first settlers more than one hundred years
ago, and located on a small stream, a tributary of
Grassy Run, in an unbroken forest, inhabited only by
Indians and wild animals. But the Indians had no
terrors for her. "Logan was the friend of the white
man," and it does not appear that he regarded this
white woman as an enemy. When the Indians visited
Springhill they always encamped at her spring and
enjoyed her hospitality. If the community feared.an
Indian raid, and fled to the fort for protection, Mary
Duvall remained at home in quiet and peace. Several years before her death she toId many of her
friends that the Indians knew of lead-mines not far
away from her house, because they were never gone
long when they needed a supply of lead, and that
thlley always ran their bullets at her house. She was,
it was said, a Romnan Catholic, and hated most devoutly all Protestants, particularly the Methodists.
For them, in particular, her hatred was sleepless and
unrtiring. She left a family, mostly boys, who were
said to have exhibited strong Indian peculiarities,
both physical and mental. They were very quarrelsome, and exceedingly expert in the use of the rifle.
Daniel married in Springhill, and emigrated to Kentucky, selling his land here to George Hardin. Lewis
also emigrated with his brother Daniel. All traces of
the other members of the family are lost.
Jacob Gans was an early settler of Springhill, emigrating hither from Virginia with a large number of
other hardy adventurers more than a century ago.
Little is to be said of him except that he lived and
died in Springhill, and left an untarnished character,
as well as a numerous progeny in this part of Fayette
County. To sketch all of his descendants would be
to write the biography of a large portion of the citizens of the township. Ann Gans, a granddaughter
of his, married a Mr. Arnold, and lives or did live on
Ten-Mile Creek, in Greene County. Susanna, another
granddaughter, married Jeremiah Burchinal, one of
the most respected citizens of Springhill, and is now
living, at a very advanced age, on Grassy Run, west
of the old Springhill Furnace property.
John McFarland was one of the early adventurers
who dared the dangers of the Indian country west of
the mountains. His settlement was made in Springhill, near Cheat River, where he had also a mill and
still-house. He left several children, among the number being John McFarland, who married Nelly Morris, daughter of Absalom Morris, after whom Morris
Cross-Roads was named. Morris was the tavernkeeper who resided between the cross-roads and
Geneva. From the McFarland and Morris union
49
have sprung many prominent families of Springhill.
The Weltners of Cheat Forks are also connections of
the famnily.
Robert Jones and Benjamin Jones, brothers and
natives of Wales, came to Fayette County in 1792,
and located in Springhill township. In 1793, Robert
Jones entered a large tract of land in this township,
and on that tract he, with his brother Benjamin,
erected in 1794 the Springhill Furnace,' and commenced the manufacture of iron, Robert being the
principal man in the concern. After a few years the
f'urnace was leased (and afterwards sold) to Jesse
Evans (a son-in-law of Robert Jones), who carried it
on with success. Benjamin Jones was little of a
business mail, but of fine scholarly attainments and
an ardent promoter of education. While living with
his brother Robert, and to some extent concerned with
him in the furnace, Benjamin Jones opened a select
school in Smithfield-sometimes called Brownfieldtown. How long he taught this school is not known,
but it is certain that by his example and efforts the
people of the township became greatly favorable to
select schools, and the establishment of the Springhill
Academy was the result. Benjamin Jones was an
ardent Baptist, and a substantial supporter of the
worship of that denomination in his vicinity. From
Springhill township he removed to Greene County,
where he died, and was buried in the ground of the
Baptist Church near Garrard's Fort, on Big Whitely
Creek.   
Robert Jones was born in Wales, March 20, 1743,
and died April 16, 1809. His executors were his
brother Benjamin and his only son, John, but before
the estate was settled John died at his residence on
Whitely Creek, Greene Co. The furnace and other
property of Robert Jones passed to his daughter
Mary, the wife of Jesse Evans, who had leased the old
furnace in 1797. A son of Jesse and Mary Evans is
Col. Samuel Evans, who is now living, at more than
eighty years of age, in North Union township, about
two miles from Uniontown. He has filled many
offices of honor and trust, and has for more than half
a century enjoyed the esteem and friendship of many
of the most notable men of the State and nation. His
sister Eliza-daughter of Jesse Evans-married Mr.
Wilson, of Morgantown, Va., who lost his life by
drowning in the Monongahela River below Brownsville. They were the parents of the Hon. Alpheus
E. Willson, now president judge of the courts of
Fayette and Greene Counties. His sister is the wife
of the Hon. J. K. Ewing, of Uniontown. Rachel
Jones married Lewis Evans. They resided and died
in Greene County. Lieut. Lewis K. Evans, of
Waynesburg, is their son.
John Jones left a large family of sons and daughters. The eldest, RQbert, married Ann Eberhart and
emigrated to Cincinnati, Ohio.  His son, Adolph
1 A full account of this old furnace is given in the general chapter
devoted to iron-works in the county.
765HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Jones, A.M., M.D., is a prominent politician as well
as physician. A younger son, Frederick, was killed
Dec. 31, 1862, at Stone River, Tenn. The celebrated
Robert Jones Burdette is a son of Frederick Burdette
and Sophia Jones. He was born in Greensboro',
Greene Co., in 1838.
The brothers John and Andrew Oliphant were
among the most enterprising men of South Fayette,
living on or near Georges Creek. Andrew Oliphant
was.commissioned a justice of the peace for Springhill township Jan. 2, 1804. He married Mary Grif
fin, a daughter of Hon. Isaac Griffin; only two of
their children lived to maturity, Mary Ann and
James M. Mary A. Oliphant married Edgar C.
Wilson, of Morgantown, Va., but died not long after
her marriage. Mr. Wilson married as his second
wife her cousin, a daughter of John Oliphant. She
is still living at Morgantown, W. Va. James M.
Oliphant, son of Andrew, was married three times,
but left only two heirs. The property once owned by
the Oliphants is now in the possession of Samuel H.
Hunter, Esq. Just above the residence was "Sylvan
Forge," established by John and Andrew Oliphant in
1808.
Hon. Joseph Eneix was born June 16, 1788. He
married Hester Oliphant, Sept. 20,1807. His education was much neglected, and he began life but halifarmed, yet by industry and application he became a
prominent man. By trade he was a blacksmith and
scythe-maker. About 1823 he was elected to the State
Legislature from his native county, Fayette.  His
course in the Legislature meeting the approbation of
his constituents, he was returned, serving in all three
terms down to 1835. During President Jackson's
second term, in 1834, he received the appointment of
receiver of public moneys at Mineral Point, Wis.
In 1839 he resigned on account of ill health. He
gradually failed in health, and died in 1858. He was
a large land-owner at one time, but died comparatively
poor. James Eneix is a son of Joseph. A daughter
married Samuel Dilliner, Esq., of New Geneva.
Nicholas Blake, an Englishman, was once the owner
of "Friendship Hill," which he sold to Albert Gallatin, and which became the statesman's residence.
Blake, before his death, became almost penniless.
He left a son, James, who followed butchering. In
disposition he was very peaceable and of few words;
he managed to make a living by hard work and rigid
economy. Thus he passed his life until about thirty
years of age. The surprise of the Springhill people
was very great when, in 1808, an attorney from England arrived at New Geneva and made inquiry for
Nicholas Blake or his heirs. James Blake was the
heir he found. A large landed estate in England
had fallen to him by the death of a relative. The
law of England prohibits the sale of certain estates,
and this entailed fortune of Blake must remain, and
to enjoy his good luck he must become a British subject or lose it. Without money he was unable to
take possession. In this extremity he applied to Jas.
W. Nicholson, Esq., who generously furnished the
necessary amount of funds. His correspondence with
Nicholson is lost, and with it all trace of the subsequent career of James Blake in his father's native
land.
The celebrated estate called "Friendship Hill,"
once the home of Albert Gallatin, is situated southeast of New Geneva, in Springhill township. It consisted originally of three hundred and seventy acres
and allowance, and belonged to Nicholas Blake, as
already noticed. Gallatin, after purchasing Blake's
warrant for the tract, had it patented in his own
name Jan. 26, 1788. By later purchases the number
of acres was raised to five hundred. In 1823 the
main building of Gallatin's residence was built, during his absence in Europe. His son James had the
management of affairs during this period, but spent
most of hlis time in New Geneva at his uncle Nicholson's. He, however, found leisure to change his
father's plan of the building, changing the front from
east to south, and thereby greatly injuring it and necessitating the later addition of a wing and verandas
to cover the defects. The elder Gallatin was greatly
out of humor when he saw it on his return, and did
not fail to express himself in forcible language to that
effect.
It was in this house that the Marquis de Lafayette
visited Gallatin when he passed through this section
in 1825.
Gallatin sold the estate to Albin Mellier, May 26,
1832, nearly fifty years after having purchased it of
Blake. Mellier was a kinsman of Gallatin, but lacked
essential financial abilities. He had "too many irons
in the fire," and so divided his forces that he became
the prey of his creditors. To escape their importunities he built two steamboats, in one of which he went
down the Mississippi, where he died between 1839
and 1843. The principal creditors were Charles and
Frederick Tennig. Upon their claims Sheriff Morris
sold the estate, the creditors becoming purchasers.
For many years the property was without proper
care. In 1858 it was sold to the Hon. John L. Dawson, who greatly improved it. For several years he
resided here, enjoying the quiet of domestic life.
Many visitors have expressed their surprise upon
visiting this historic mansion, wondering how it ever
came that Gallatin or Dawson should choose a place
so isolated for a residence. Among these visitors was
Mrs. Henry Adams, who accompanied her husband
when visiting the place in 1879, just before completing
his life of Gallatin. Of the historical interest which
clings to this venerable mansion of "Friendship
Hill," the greater part is due to the fact that it was
for many years the estate and home of Albert Gallatin, the great financier and Secretary of the Treasury;
but only second to this is the fact that in after-years
it was the favorite seat of the Hon. John L. Dawson,
who here ended his brilliant and useful life.
766SPRINGH~ILTONHP77
It has already been mentioned that Gallatin's son
James superintended the erection of the "Friendship Hill" mansion, during his father's absence in
Europe in 1822-23, and that the elder Gallatin, returning in 1823, was disappointed, if not disgusted,
at the changes which had been made in the original
plan of the building. On his return from Paris, in
May of that year, he remained for some time in
Washington, then went to New Geneva to inspect his
new house, and (presumably) with every hope of
finding a commodious mansion suited to his taste.
Unquestionably he was disappointed. - Meeting his
son at New Geneva, they, in company with Ed
Brawley, drove out to see the house. On coming
within sight of it he turned to his son and made the
inquiry, "Which  is the front?"  He was told it
fronted south-nearly opposite the direction from
which it was approached! Upon this (as is narrated)
he used language as forcible and nearly as reprehensible as that which Washington used at the battle of
Monmouth when he met Lee in full retreat over the
causeway. But it was an accomplished fact, and vigorous language could not change it. He recovered
his equanimity, made the best of what was then past
help, inspected the mansion, liked it as well as he
could, and two or three months later wrote to his
daughter a letter somewhat humorous, giving his
ideas with regard to the Monongahela country and
the new mansion on "Friendship Hill," as follows: 1
"NEW GENEVA, 17th September, 1823.
"Notwithstanding all my exertions you will find it hard
enough when you come next spring to accommodate yourself
to the privations and wildness of the country. Our house has
been built by a new Irish carpenter, who was always head over
heels, and added much to the disorder inseparable fromt building. Being unacquainted with the Grecian architecture, he
adopted an Hiberno-Teutonic style, so that the outside of the
house, with its port-hole-looking windows, has the appearance
of Irish barracks, whilst the inside ornaments are similar to
those of a Dutch tavern, and I must acknowledge that these
form a singular contrast with the French marble chimney-pieces,
paper, and mirrors. On one side of that mass of stones which
Lucien calls'Le Chateau,' and in full view as you approach
it, is a wing, consisting of the gable end of a log house, with
its chimney in front, and I could not pull it down, as it is the
kitchen and dining-room, where are daily fed two masons and
plasterers, two attendants, two stone quarriers, two painters, a
carpenter, Lucien, Albert's black Peter, and Mr., Made, Mesdlles,
et les petits Buffle. The grounds are overgrown with elders,
iron-weeds, stinking-weeds, laurel, several varieties of briers,
impenetrable thickets of brush, vines, and underwood, amongst
which are discovered vestiges of old asparagus-beds and new
artichoke-beds, and now and then a spontaneous apple- or peachtree. As to Albert, he has four guns, a pointer, three boats,
two riding-horses, and a pet colt, smaller than a jackass, who
feeds on the fragments of my old lilacs and altheafrutex. His
own clothes adorn our parlor and only sitting-room in the old
brick house, for the frame house is partly occupied by the Buffle
family, and partly encumbered by various boxes and Albert's
billiard-table, the pockets of which are made with his stockings."
1 Adams' Life of Gallatin, page 589.
MEDICAL MEN.
The first physician in Springhill township was Dr.
Jacob Green. Nothing, however, is known of him,
except that his name appears on the assessment-roll
of the township in the year 1786. Of those who followed him in practice in this township were Dr.
Samuel Sacket, Dr. Seely, of Greene County, Dr.
Todd, Dr. James C. Ramsey, and several others. But
a great portion of Nicholson originally belonged to
Springhill, including the town of New Geneva, where
the greater number of physicians resided.
EARLY ROADS.
The first road laid out by the Fayette County Court
to pass through this township was one petitioned for
at the December session of 1783, viz.: "A public road
from Uniontown to the southern boundary of this
county, or Mason and Dixon's line, to meet a road that
is laid out and cleared by order of the court of Monongalia County, Va., to the said line near John McFarland's ford on Cheat River." This road is the one
now passing through Morris' Cross-Roads, and is the
direct Uniontown and Morgantown road. Another
road ordered by the court at the same session was "a
road from Miller's ferry, on the Monongahela River,
across the Laurel Hill, by the way of George Williams', Jr., thence to the Widow Moore's, on Sandy
Creek, to join the Pennsylvania or Maryland road."
This road connected with the Washington, Ten-Mile,
and Muddy Creek road at the Monongahela River, or
Miller's ferry, now the New Geneva and Greensboro'
ferry. The map of Pennsylvania published in London
August, 1792, has this road marked upon it. Starting
at Washington, it has a course southeast, passing near
or through Carmichael's, Greene Co.; from thence to
Minor's Mill, now Mapletown, Greene Co.; thence
east-southeast to Greensboro', same county; then by
the route prayed for as above to the Widow Moore's,
on Sandy Creek, and thence across Laurel Hill.
Many of the so-called roads were nothing itilore
than paths through the woods, for at this period
Western Pennsylvania was almost an unbroken iorost,
no fencing having as yet been introduced to bar the
traveler's way, which was'generally a direct course.
A century has wrought many changes in Springhill
in regard to highways. From one or two, aggregating
some twenty miles in length, many cross her territory in all directions, affording easy access to and
from every part of the township.
EARLY MANUFACTURES.
Quite a number of individuals had engaged in the
manufacture of flour and whisky as early as 1786 in
Springhill township. At that period John Hardin,
Sr., had a grist-mill assessed at ~100, located near
Lewis Hunter's present residence; Richard Robins a
grist-mill taxed at ~120, and James Gray a gristmill assessed at ~150; one saw-mill on Georges Creek,
owned by John Hune (or Hoon), valued at ~50.
767
SPRINGHTLL TOWNSHIP.HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
him without mercy until he was exhausted and covered with blood. When they had tired of this the
victim was dragged to the centre of the fiery circle
preparatory to the last act in the hellish drama. A
rope had previously been tied around the stake near
its foot, and now the other end of it was mnade fast to
the cord with which his vrists were bound together.
The rope was some six or eight feet in length, allowing him to pass two or three times around the stake.
He could also sit or lie down at will.
The infamous Simon Girty was present, and remained there during all the dreadfuil proceeding,s
which followed. Whein Crawford was led to the
stake he called out to the renegade (who stood amnong
the foremost in the ring of savage spectators), asking
him if they had determined to burn Dim to death,
and upon Girty's unfeeling replv in the affirmative lhe
replied that if so he would try to endure it with
patience and die like a soldier and Christian. Then
the vindictive Capt. Pipe addressed the savages with
violent gesticulations, and at the close of his speech
the assembled barbarians applauded with wild delig,ht, vhilst some of the crowd rushed in upon the
prisoner and cut off both his ears.'
As a prelude to the still more terrible tortures that
were to follow, the Indians closed in on the iniserable
man and fired charges of powder into his unprotected
body. More than fifty timnes was this repeated, and
the pain thus inflicted could scarcely have been less
than that produced by the flames. After this satanic
procedure wvas concluded the fires (which up to this
time lhad been burning but slowly) were replenished
with fresh fuel, and as the lheat grew more intense,
and the sufferings of the victim became more and
more excruciating, the joy and slhouting of the red
devils rose higrher anid higher.
Burning at the staLe is universally regarded as
among the most terrible tortures that human cruelty
can inflict. But the Delaware chiefs had prepared for
the brave Crawford an agoony mnore intense and protracted than that of the licking flames,-they roasted
him alive! The fires were placed at a distance of
some fifteen feet from  the stake, and within that
dreadful circle for three and a half hours he suffered
an almost inconceivable physical torment, which death
would have terminated in one-tenth part the time if
the fagots had been piled close around him.
As the fires burned down the Indians seized burning brands and threw them at the victim, until all the
space which his tether allowed hiiim was thickly strewn
with coals and buirning embers, on which his naked
feet must tread as he constantly moved around the
stake and back in the delirium of his pain. To in1 This statement is made in the narrative of Dr. Knight, who, after
w-itnessing the dreadftul scenes of Col. Crawford's inurders, nmade his escape (asv will be nmentioned its succeeding- pages) atid wrote an accoiint
of the events of thie expedition.  That narrative and the repor t of Maj.
Rose, the aide-de-camp, furnish the facts on which this anid other reliable
accoutsts of Crawford's campaign are based.
tensify anid prolong the torture the savages applied
every means that their infernal ingenuity could suggest, and which to describe or even to think of fills
the mind with sickening horror.
To Simon Girty, who was in prominent view among
the savage tlhrong,2 Crawford called out in the extremity of his agony, begging the wretch to end his
misery by sendinig a ball through his heart. To this
appeal Girty replied, sneeringly, that he had no gun,
at the same time utttering a brutal lauoh of derision
and pleasure at the hideous spectacle. If, as tradition
has it,he had once been repelled in his attempted addresses to the coloniel's beautiful daughter, Sally Crawford, he wvas now enjoying the satisfaction of a terrible revenge on her miserable father for the indignity.
Through it all the brave man bore up with as mucl
fortitude as is possible to weak human nature, frequently praying to his Heavenly Father for the mercy
which was denlied hiim on earth. Towards the last,
being evidently exhausted, he ceased to move around
the stake and lay down, face downwards, upon the
grounid. The fires being nowv well burned down the
savages rushed in on him, beat him with the glowing
brands, heaped coals upon hiis body, and scalped hiim.
Once more he arose, bloody, blinded, and crisped,
and tottered once or twice around the stake, then fell
to rise no more. Again the barbarians applied burning brands, and heaped live coals on his scalped head,
but he was fast becoming insensible to pain, his end
was near, and after a few miiore vain attempts by the
savages to inflict further torments death came to the
rescue and the spirit of'William Crawford was free.
It was on the 11th of June, at about four o'clock
in the afternoon, that the torture commenced. The
end caine just as the sun wvas sinking3 behind the
tops of the trees that bordered the bottom-lands of
the Tymochtee. Then the savages heaped the brands
together on the charred and swollen body and buirnled
it to a cinder, dancing around the spot for hours,
yelling and wvhooping in a wild frenzy of demoniac
exultation.
It will be recollected that Dr. Knight was brouglht
from the Indian old town to the place of torture on
the Tymochtee with Col. Crawford, though the two
were kept apart and not allowed to converse together.
The doctor remained a horrified spectator of the
burning of hiis superior officer until near the time of
his death. On his arrival at the place, Knight was
fallen upon by the Indians and cruelly beaten.
While Crawford wvas in the midst of his greatest suffering Simon Girty came to where Knight was sitting
2 It has been stated in some accouints of the death of Col. Crawford
that the Britisis captain, Matthew Elliott, was also present during the
dreadful scenies of the torture. It may hatve beeii so, but the statement
lhas never been fully suibstantiated, and there are serious doubts of its
aulthenticity.
3 "It was a tradition long after repeated by the Delawares and Wyandots that Cr-awford breathed hiis last just at the goinlg down of the suIn."
-Butterfield's Expedition against Sandusky.
i
104HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Three years later (1789) two saw-mills were returned
by the assessor, owned by John Hune and George
and John Wilson. The saw-mill belonging to IHIune
stood near the site of Crow's mill. George and John
Wilson's was farther down Georges Creek. John
Hardin's mill, in this assessment, passed to Henry
Hardin. The Willson grist-mill was on Georges
Creek, upon a tract of land called "Appendix," now
the property of Robert H. Ross. The James Gray
mill was the "River Mill," the remains of which
may still be seen on the Monongahela River, in New
Geneva. In 1786 eighteen stills were assessed, and
three years afterwards twenty-two. The distillers
were Joseph Caldwell, Nicholas Crowshore, Richard
Evans, Hugh Evans, David Frame, Charles Griffin,
Jacob Gaunts, Albert Gallatin, Ezekiel MIoore, Hugh
Marshal, John McFarland, Paul Larsh, John Linch,
Philip Pierce, Theophilus Phillips, Nicholas Pock,
James Robinson, Thomas Tobin, William Wells.
These wvere all returned as distillers in 1789.
The distillers were divided into three classes, and
each class taxed at a different rate per gallon made.
The tax rate on first class was 5s. per gallon; second
class, 3s. 9d. per gallon; third class, 2s. 6d. per gallon.
Those rated as first class were Thomas Ramsey, 100
gallons; Jacob Ghance, 70 gallons; Robert Hardin,
66 gallons; John Linch, 70 gallons; Abraham Hardin, 74 gallons; Joseph Caldwell, 75 gallons; David
Frame, 35 gallons; John McFarland, 66 gallons;
Charles Griffin, 105 gallons; and his partner, James
Neally, 49 gallons; Philip Pierce, 96 gallons; and
his partner, John Wade, 49 gallons. Second class:
Ezekiel Moore, 50 gallons; James Gray, 65 gallons;
John Hoon, 32 gallons. Third class: Dennis Nevil,
80 gallons; Nicholas Pock, 40 gallons; William
Wells, 80 gallons. Aggregating a daily yield of one
thousand two hundred and two gallons. To transport
this large amount of whisky to market induced several enterprising individuals to engage in boat-building at the mouth of Georges Creek, which had received the name of Wilson Port, in honor of Col.
Geqrge Wilson, whose sons, William, George, and
John, were citizens of Springfield for many years after
his death. The Port, as it was called, soon became
a noted shipping-point, not only of merchandise,
but also of emigrants for Kentucky and Ohio. The
boats were called keel-boats, fiat-boats, and Kentucky
boats. This industry flourished until the advent of
steamboats, and for many years afterwards upon a
smaller scale. In addition to flour and whisky, iron
and glass were added in 1795 to the list. Hon. Andrew Stewart, in his early life, shipped from this port.
The whisky business was the most general business
until after 1800. The next class of boats built at
Wilson Port were steamboats by Albin Mellier, in
1837. Of these there were two named "Albert Gallatin" and "Napoleon Bonaparte."
In 1794 glass and iron were manufactured, the first
by Albert Gallatin  Co., the latter by Robert Jones.
The establishment of the glass-factory, near where
New Geneva was soon after built, was due to Albert
Gallatin. Two stories are related concerning its establishment, one by grandchildren of the founders,
the other by neighbors. The first, being the most
credible, is as follows: Christian Kramer, Adolph
Eberhart, Lewis Reitz, John George Reppert, Baltzer Kramer, and John Christian Gabler, German
glass-blowers from Frederick Town, Frederick Co.,
Md., had left their home for the purpose of establishing a glass-factory in Kentucky, near where Louisville now stands. Having reached the Ohio River,
they embarked in a canoe, and had arrived near
Wheeling, when, stopping for the night, they were
joined by a stranger, who, speaking their language,
was soon on the best of terms with them. The stranger was Albert Gallatin. Having been informed of
their journey and its object, he succeeded in persuading them to return to his farm on Georges Creek,
where the necessary facilities for manufacturing glassware were to be had almost for nothing. After some
little talk he finally agreed to furnish everything and
they do the blowing. The terms were accepted, and
in 1794 the company began the manufacture of glass.
The other account is that the same Germans were
crossing the mountains in wagons, having their provisions with them, and that they would stop at some
public-house and borrow cooking utensils to cook
their food.  Having reached Tomlinson's stand,
they put up for the night. After supper they amused
themselves with music, several being excellent performers. Being a great lover of music, Mr. Gallatin
(who was there) inquired of the landlord who they
were. Being informed, he introduced himself, and
the whole company spent the evening in drink and
music. Having discussed the glass question in all its
phases, he gave them a letter to his manager at Friendship Hill, urging him to offer better terms than he
himself had to induce them to stay. Three accepted
at once, but the others continued theirjourney. Upon
their arrival at Louisville they found the location
unfit, and returned and joined their companions.
The building erected for the glass-works was a
frame, forty by forty feet dimensions, three sides frame
and one stone. This interesting establishment was
situated a little over a mile above New Geneva, on
the south bank of Georges Creek, on land purchased
by Albert Gallatin of John Calhoun. It was an eightpot factory, used wood for melting, and ashes instead
of soda. The potash was manufactured by Patrick
Brawley. The clerk of the works was Andrew Hoover; book-keeper, James W. Nicholson. There was
a difference of opinion in regard to the price at which
the glass was to be sold, Gallatin advocating a fair
price, fearing that a high one would bring a great
competition. The price agreed upon was fourteen
dollars per box. The style of the company was Gallatin  Co. In a few years it was changed to "New
Geneva Glass-Works." In 1807 the company erected
768SPRINGHILL TOWNSHIP.
new and more comminodious works in Greene County,
where success continued to reward their efforts. They
still retained the name "New Geneva Glass."  In
1858, Christian Kramer died, at the age of eighty-five
years. He was the last survivor of the original members of the glass-works company, and was the father
of Allen Kramer, banker, of Pittsburgh.
The old glass-factory in Springhill has been demolished, but all the houses built by the company as
dwellings are still standing.
Not long after having established the glass-factory,
Albert Gallatin offered inducements to any one who
would engage in carding, spinning, and weaving.
The saw-mill he had built a short distance from the
glass-factory was fitted up in a suitable manner for
the intended indutstry, and the necessary machinery
bought. When all was completed a Mr. Collins was
employed, who for many years continued the business.
Several years afterwards, Ellis Stephenson erected
works higher up Georges Creek, and carried on the
manufacture of wool in all its branches, but the
business finally languished and was abandoned.
The old Springhill Furnace was built by Robert
Jones, who became a settler in Springhill in 1792, as
already mentioned. In 1794 he and his brother Benjamin commenced iron-making at this furnace. It was
afterwards sold to Jesse Evans (father of Col. Samuel
Evans, of North Union township), who ran it for more
than thirty years. This old furnace has been mentioned at length in the article on iron-works in the
general history of the county. The location is at the
f6ot of the mountain, some four miles eastward from
the cross-roads. Besides the furnace buildings, there
is a Presbyterian Church, post-office, and store.
Northwest of the Springhill Furnace site, on
Georges Creek, was the "Sylvan Forge," built in
17961 by John and Andrew Oliphant. In connection with their iron-works, they built a large stone
grist-mill, now the property of Samuel Hunter, Esq.
The only manufacturing done in Springhill outside
of the iron business is the making of stoneware. Mr.
James Eneix has a small establishment south of
Friendship Hill, where a good article is made, but
little capital is invested. All the turning is done
by himself. The number of kilns burnt is eight annually, yielding twelve thousand gallons of ware.
SPRINGHILL CIVIL LIST.
JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.
1794. Isaac Griffin.    1807. Jesse Evans.
1802. James Robinson.        Thomas Williams.2
1804. Andrew Oliphant.     1823. Peter Stentz.
1 In the September term of court of Fayette County, 1797, a committee which had been appointed in June previous made this report, that
"the committee met on Tuesday, the 12th ilnst., and having viewed the
ground from Springhill Furntace, by way of Sylvan Forge, to the Frame
meeting-house, are of opinion that a public road is necessary," etc.,
which shows that the Sylvan Forge was then in existence.
2 It is stated that Thomas Williams, Esq., held the office of justice of
the peace from 1797 to the time of his death in 1837, a period of forty
years.
1825. Thomas Beatty.
1837. James C. Ramsey.
Henry W. Core.
Philip Reitz.
1840-41.3 George Poundstone.
1842. Meredith Mallory.
1845. Thomas Morris.
James Mustard.
1850. James Mustard.
John Holmes.
1854. Jonathan Monroe..
Lewis Hunter.
1855. Jeremiah Burchinal.
John Stentz.
1859. Jonathan Monroe.
James Mustard.
1860. Lewis Hunter.
1864. William McCleary.
1865. Thomas Morris.
1869. Jonathan Monroe.
1874. Jonathan Monroe.' Lewis F. Stentz.
1875. Lewis Hunter.
Samuel H. Hunter.
1879. Jacob Conn.
Andrew Hertzog.
1880. Jacob Conn.
AUDITORS..
1841. William Newman.
1842. John Holms.
1843. --.
1844. Richard Poundstone.
William F. Nicholson.
1845. -  
1846. Thomas Morris.
John Keiser.
Jacob Gans.
1847. Abraham B. Hall.
1848. Thomas Morris.
1849. George W. Litman.
1850. Abraham B. Hall.
1851. William Hardin.
1852. George W. Litman.
1853. John L. Gans.
1854. James Brooks.
1855. David Evans.
1856. James Mustard.
1857. Thomas Morris.
1858, David Evans.
1859. Lawrence L. Crawford.
1860. George G. Hertzog.
1861. Jasper N. Gans.
1862. John S. Baker.
1863. B. F. Morgan.
1864. James Mustard.
1865. George Baker.
1866. C. S. Emery.
1867. Jacob Bowers.
1868. James Brooks.
George Baker.
1869. A. D. Frankinbery.
1870. Michael D. Baker.
1871. --.
1873. G. D. Bowers.
1874. Joseph Burchinal.
1875. John A. Clark.
1876. G. D. Bowers.
1877. Sylvester Hertzog.
1878. John A. Clark.
1879. D. M. Baker.
1880. A. J. Gans.
1881. Joseph L. Baker.
ASSESSORS.
1841. George Neal.
1842. Thomas Board.
1843. John Keyser.
1844. Warwick Ross.
1845. Richard Poundstone.
1846. James Brooks.
1847. John Sergent.
1848. William Scott.
1849. John Keiser.
1850. Lewis Hunter.
1851. Samuel Frankinberry.
1852. Conrad S. Emery.
1853. Samuel M. Cagey.
1854. Michael Crow, Jr.
1855. Allen Neal.
1856. Joseph Neal.
1857. Henry O'Neil.
1858. Samuel Frankinberry.
1859. Conrad S. Emery.
1860. James McCloy.
1861. John A. Lyons.
1862. William Baker.
1863. James Mustard.
1864. James Brooks.
1865. Daniel O. Mustard.
1866. David Bowers.
1867. Thomas Batton.
1868. David Morgan.
1869. David Rutrick.
1870. Thomas C. Dunham.
1871. Constitution changed.
1873. George Board.
1874. John T. Stewart.
1875. George J. Bowers.
1876. A. J. Gans.
1877. A. J. Emery.
1878. G. W. Ross.
1879. George Campbell.
1880. L. B. Clemmer.
1881. William P. Stewart.
Springhill has no towns or villages, Point Marion,
Morris' Cross-Roads, and Springhill Furnace are the
chief centres. Point Marion (named in honor of Gen.
3 Prior to this date the office had been held by appoinitment; after
1840 the justices were elected by the people.
7690I1STORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Francis Marion) is located ill the "Forks of Cheat,"
-that is, on the south side of that stream, at its junction with the Monongahela River. It dates back to
February, 1843. It contains forty-three dwellings, a
Methodist Episcopal Church (a branch of the Greensboro', Greene Co., Methodist Church), with a considerable membership; *a town hall, school-house, two
stores, shoe-shop, two blacksmith-shops, cabinet-shop,
post-office, two planing-mills, two saw-mills, two sash
and building-furnishing firms. The first manufacturing company, Frankinberry  Co., was organized
in 1867. The most important now is Keiser, Frankinberry  Co., organized 1880; capital, twelve thousand dollars.
The other company is John A. Clark and Ira N.
Burchinal, established July 31, 1875, planing- and
saw-mill, and sash and door manufacturers.
Morris' Cross-Roads was named for Absalom Morris,
who was an inn-keeper here for many years. It is
located where the New Geneva and Springhill Furnace road intersects the Uniontown and Morgantown
roads. It is the polling-place of the township, and
has been since the year 1816. Prior to that time
Springhill, Georges, and German voted at the house
of Nicholas Riffle, but the inconvenience was so great
that the polling-places were changed. The last joint
election was at the time of the first election of James
Monroe as President, in the year named. Morris'
Cross-Roads contains a post-office, store, public-house,
and blacksmith-shop.
SCHOOLS.
The first house built for school purposes in Springhill was the one near Morris' Cross-Roads, erected near
the close of the eighteenth century. The Mount
Moriah church building, built in 1773, was also used
for school purposes. There were also school-houses
at Bear Wallow and Forks of Cheat. Another, near
the "old glass-works" on Georges Creek, was built at.
a very early day. To give the names of all the teachers
who taught in these old houses is now impossible.
Only a few have been ascertained, viz.: Alexander
Clare, Thomas Clare, Jeptha Curtis, John Lynch,
Samuel Kinkaid,    McCarty, Salva Crosby, Esther
Gans, John Knox McGee, Thomas Couser, Henry
O'Neal, - Coburn, and Singleton.
Since the introduction of the free school system the
following school buildings have been erected, nunmbered and named in the following order: Ross', Fallen Timber, Forks of Cheat, Lutheran, Sheets', Morgan's, Bunker Hill, and Mountain. The school property (houses, furniture, and sites) is valued at eight
thousand dollars. Following are the school statistics
of Springhill for the school year ending June, 1881,
viz.: Number of children on school-roll, 374; daily
attendance, 237; tax levied in 1880, $1198.06; State
appropriation, $369.60; balance fromn 1879, $8.83.
On the 2d of January, 1835, the court of Fayette
County appointed Robert Brown and James W.
Nicholson school directors. On the 7th of June,
1837, they reported to the county treasurer as being
ready to comply with the requirements of the free
school law of 1834. May 22, 1835, they received
$123.65, and from the county $276.10, the first sum
being the State appropriation. From this period the
free school system has had but little opposition in
Springhill. Following is a list of school directors
elected in Springhill from the time when the school
law went into full operation in the township until the
present time, viz.:
1841.-Samuel Roderick, Jonathan Monroe, Adam Stum.
1842.-James Brooks, Jacob Gans, William P. Griffin.
1843.-James Thompson, George Beatty.
1844.-John Schnatterly, Vincent Gray.
1845.-Lewis Hunter, John D. Scott.
1846.-John Sergent, Jasper Clemmer.
1847.-JohA Sowers, R. D. Merryman.
1848.-Samuel IHall, James Mustard, John Stentz.
1849.-John Stentz, John Morris, Thomas Morris, Allen Dunham, Luther Burchinal.
1850.-John Keiser, Jacob Gans.
1851.-Lewis Hun'er, James Reynolds, John Lyons.
1852.-Adam Sturn, John Morris, John Baker.
1853.-Lee Tate, John Baker, Adam Stumm, John Morgan,
Washington Brown, Michael Crow, Meredith  Mallory,
Hiram Jones.
1854.-John A. Lyons, Henry Rutrick, J. M. Oliphant, Meredith Mallory.
1855.-David Morgan, Samuel Hall, David Bowan.
1856.-John Cagey, John Hertzog.
1857.-Henry Brownfield, Samuel Frankinberry.
1858.-John J. Morris, James M. Oliphant.
1859.-John Conn, Altha Gans.
1860.-C. S. Emery, S. W. Cagy, Jesse E. Stentz.
1861.-Alexander Ross, Conrad S. Emery.
1862.-Lewis Hunter, Joseph Bowers, Thomas W. Lyons.
1863.-Joseph Gans, Jr., M. D. Baker.
1864.-Lewis Hunter, Adolph Eberhart.
1865.-Alexander Ross, Jesse B. Dunham, William McCleary.
1866.-Joseph Gans, Joseph Bowers.
1867.-William L. Morgan, George Bierer, Samuel Frankinberry, John A. Lyons.
1868.-David Bowers, Michael Conn.
1869.-John H. Gans, M. D. Baker.
1870.-Jonathan Monroe, W. B. Scott, George Baker.
1873.-John A. Lyons, Phineas West.
1874.-J. L. Baker, George Hertzog, Ira Keiser.
1875.-John L. Baker, Thomas J. Burchinal.
1876.-William L. Morris, William B. Scott.
1877.-Joseph Lyons, John Davis, Ira Keiser.
1878.-Michael D. Baker, A. G. Hall.
1879.-Joseph Bowers, Joseph Burchinal.
1880.-Calvin Hussart, Noah Darbey.
1881.-O0. J. Stewart, Elmer Casey.
CHURCHES.
The Mount Moriah church edifice in Springhill
belongs to the Presbyterians, who purchased four acres
of ground upon which it stands of Joseph Caldwell.
According to the court records it was in process of
erection in July, 1793. The church was dedicated by
Rev. James Power, of New Castle Presbytery, in 1774.
770e /4,00,-    "/Ioll--SPRINGHILL TOWNSHIP.
In 1776 he brought his family and lived upon Georges
Creek for two years. The elders were McLain, Pollock, Frame, Abrams, Hill, Crow, Dils, Phillips, and
Ramsey. In 1778 James Dunlap preached for this
church.
This continued to be the chief Presbyterian Church
until the organization of the "Old Frame," as it is
generally called, in 1788. Its history from that time
is so completely blended with that of the younger
church that the reader is referred to the history of the
churches in Nicholson township.
The St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church, located near Morris' Cross-Roads, is a branch of the
" Old Dutch Church" of German township, organized by the Rev. John Stough, a Reformed Lutheran,
in the latter part of 1793. The mother-church made
arrangements in 1854-55 to provide a house of worship nearer the residences of certain members in
Springhill. The building was ready to be occupied
Jan. 4, 1856, and was then dedicated. Rev. J. K.
Melhorn was in. charge of these congregations for
several years (before and after the building of the
new house), and to his efforts Springhill is largely indebted for the continuance and prosperity of this
church. The elders are Conrad Emery and Michael
Baker.
In the Forks of Cheat the Methodists have a neat
frame church. The congregation is under the charge
of Rev. McCurdy, of the Greensboro', Greene Co.,
Methodist Church, of which it is a branch.
The old "Free Church," near where the Church of
the Disciples now stands, was built about the year
1825 by a union of professed Christians. Freeman
Lewis, on his (1832) map of Fayette County, has it
nanied the "New Lights' Church." The history of
this church has been given by A. W. Scott, from
which the following is taken. In 1820 a stranger registered himself at a tavernl in Uniontown as Peter T.
Lashley, Christian minister. As soon as it was discovered that he was a preacher he was intvited to
preach in the court-house, which he did to the great,edification of the people. He next preached in Smithfield, where his sermons created considerable excitement. His doctrine took hold, and members from
nearly all denominations professed it. The Ganses,
who were Dunkards, with many others, joined and
built the Free Church.  The elders were William
Gans, William Saddler, and Joseph Bowers. The
house burnt down in 1853. Near it the Disciples
have erected a frame house of worship. The only
surviving elder is A. W. Gans. The chlurch was
erected in 1861.
SPRINGHILL SOLDIERS.
In the war of 1812-15, Springhill sent a considerable number of soldiers to the army. Among these
were men who enlisted in Capt. John Phillips' company, which numbered one hundred and twenty-five
men when he marched them across the Monongahela
River on their way to Pittsburgh. Capt. Peter Hertzog was from Springhill. His company was styled a
"rifle company," and served in the Northwest under
Gen. Harrison. The names of the men who went from
Springhill in these companies have not been found.
In the war of the Rebellion a great number of men
from Springhill entered the army of the United
States, serving in various regiments of Pennsylvania
and West Virginia. Among them were those named
below,. viz.: Ashbel G. Duncan, in Capt. George W.
Gilmore's company, mustered into the service of West
Virginia; afterwards raised a company, and became
its captain, in a cavalry regiment, Fourteenth Pennsylvania. In the Eighty-fifth Pennsylvania Regiment, Robert H. Ross, Martin Eberhart, William
Eberhart, Charles B. Eneix, David R. Sturgis,
Phineas Sturgis, George A. Burchinal, Thomas Moser,
Jesse Jones. In the One Hundred and Sixty-first
Pentnsylvania Regiment, Richard Stephenson, Samuel
Le Clare, Jackson Dougherty. In the One Hundred
and Sixty-eighth Pennsylvania Regiment, John
Thompson. In regiments not known, Michael Clemmer, George Ganoe, John Ganoe, Alexander Dougherty, Ephraim Provance, Adolph Provance, Abner
McLain, Alfred Swearingin, Charles O'Neil, Calvin
Ruble, Willey Burchinal, James T. Dougherty, Allen
Frankinberry.
Capt. George W. Gilmore's cavalry company was
raised in Fayette County. The company was ac
cepted ill July, 1861. They were denominated the
"Pennsylvania Dragoons," and attached to the First
Virginia Cavalry. Capt. Gilmore is a son of Hon.
David Gilmore, and well known in Fayette County.
He was born June 7, 1832, near McClellandtown.
He at present resides in Dade County, Mo.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
HON. ALBERT GALLATIN.
Albert Gallatin, who was nominally a resident of
Fayette County for fully forty years in the last part
of the eighteenth and the first quarter of the nineteenth century, and who actutally lived here during
a considerable portion of that period, might, perhaps,
in view of the high offices he held and the distinguished public services he performed, be regarded as
the most illustrious citizen of Fayette during the
almost century of its existence as a county. He was
a native of Switzerland, born at Geneva, Jan. 29,1761.
His ancestor, John Gallatin, secretary to the Duke of
Savoy, emigrated to Geneva early in the sixteenth
century, and, having embraced the Reformation, was
one of the city magistrates when Switzerland became
I
I
771HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
a republic. The family was one of no little note,
embracing among those allied to it the celebrated
Madame de Stael and her distinguished father, Necker,
the famous French minister of finance.
Albert Gallatin graduated at Geneva in 1779, and
in 1780, when in his twentieth year, he emigrated to
America, being attracted here by the great struggle
for liberty that was then in progress.  Landing at
Boston, one of his first acts after his arrival was to
offer his services to the American Congress, which
were accepted, and he was assigned to duty in the
defense of Passamaquoddy, where, as well as at Machias, he served under Col. John Allen. He did not,
however, long remain in the military service. In
1782 he came into possession of a moderate patrimony
in Switzerland, and immediately after the close of the
Revolution he was located in Richmond, Va., as the
agent of a European commercial house. While there
he became acquainted with a number of prominent
men, and among these was Patrick Henry, Governor of
the State; and it was in accordance with the advice of
Governor Henry that he purchased lands in the West,
in the valleys of the Ohio and Monongahela, which
resulted in his becoming a resident in the south part
of Fayette County. While in Richmond he became
acquainted with an Italian lady, Madame Allegre,
and her daughter Sophia, who was the acknowledged
belle of the city. The young people became mutually
attached to each other, and this resulted (May 14,
1789) in the marriage of Gallatin to Sophia Allegre,
though it was done against the violent and determined opposition of her mother. The young couple
removed to the valley of the Monongahela, and occupied a log house in Springhill township. Three weeks
later the bride died, and her remains were interred at
"Friendship Hill," where they still repose, in a grave
unmarked by any memorial stone (in accordance with
her dying request to Gallatin), but which in later
years was inclosed by a neat fence, by direction of the
then proprietor of the estate, the Hon. John L. Dawson. On the 11th of November, 1793, Gallatin married Hannah Nicholson, daughter of Commodore
James Nicholson, U.S.N.
Five years prior to his first marriage he had visited
the West to purchase lands, and in 1787 his name appears for the first time onthe assessment-rolls of Springhill township, he being assessed on the "Friendship
Hill" lands, purchased from Nicholas Blake in the
previous year. For a few years after his first coming
here his residence was somewhat migratory, being a
part of the time in Springhill, and sometimes at Morgantown, Va. Upon his marriage he made his home
(intended to be permanent) at "Friendship Hill."
In October, 1789, he was chosen a delegate, with
John Smilie, of Fayette, to the convention which
framed the constitution of 1790.  It was in that
body that he was first brought to public notice as a
talented debater, though then but twenty-nine years
of age. In 1790 he was elected, with Judge James
Finley, to the Pennsylvania Assembly, where he
served in 1791,'92, and'93. The high qualities he
there displayed caused his election by the Legislature, at the session of 1792-93, to the Senate of the
United States, though a majority of the members
were opposed to him in politics, he being a member of
the Republican-soon afterwards known as the Democratic-party. He took his seat in the Senate in December, 1793, but a question was raised as to his eligibility to the office, as he had not been for a sufficient
length of time a citizen of the United States. The
question was referred to a committee, who reported adversely, and in February, 1794, he was unseated by a.
strict party vote of fourteen to twelve. It was during
this visit to the East in his senatorial capacity that he
was married to Hannah Nicholson, as before mrentioned. In May, 1794, he returned to Springhill, and
purchased, fromn John and William George Wilson
the site of the village of New Geneva, and started
the enterprise of the old glass-works, as elsewhere
noticed. It was also at this time that he became
unfortunately identified with the insurgent party in
the "Whiskey Insurrection," but he afterwards
deeply regretted the course he had at first taken,.
and did all in his power to quench the flame he had
to some extent been instrumental in kindling.
At the close of the Whiskey Insurrection (in October, 1794), Mr. Gallatin was again elected to the Assembly of Pennsylvania, and was also at the same
time elected a member of Congress. The Congress
to which he was thus elected did not meet till December, 1795, and he served through that session, and
was re-elected in 1796, 1798, and 1800 from the same
district, composed of the counties of Allegheny,
Washington, and Greene, the latter county having
been erected in 1796. His service in Congress embraced the last two years of Washington's administration and the whole of the administration of President John Adams. It was during this period that
Mr. Gallatin, with others, established the old gunfactory near New Geneva.
When Thomas Jefferson became President, in
March, 1801, he indicated to Mr. Gallatin his wish
to appoint him Secretary of the Treasury. There
existed, however, an obstacle in Mr. Gallatin's connection with the Fayette gun-factory, which held
contracts to furnish arms to the government. Mr.
Gallatin thereupon returned to New Geneva, sold out
all his interest in the factory and the contracts to Mr..
Baker, and was appointed to the Secretaryship May
14, 1801. He remained at the head of the Treasury
Department through both of Mr. Jefferson's Presidential terms, through Mr. Madison's first, and in his
second term until February, 1814, thoutgh in the mean,
time (April, 1813) the President had appointed him
a plenipotentiary, jointly with John Quincy Adams,
of Massachusetts, and James A. Bayard, of Delaware,
to sign a treaty of peace with Great Britain, which
it was then hoped would be effected through the
I
772),/            "/             j,                                             -qTIHE REVOLUTION.
and told him that he too must prepare for the same
ordeal, and he need have no hope of escaping death
by torture, though he would not suffer at the same
place, but would be removed to the Shawanese towns
to be burned. Soon after an Indian came to him and
struck him repeatedly in the face with the bloody
scalp which had just been torn from Crawford's head.
Towards the end of the diabolical scene, but while
Crawford was yet living, Knight was taken away and
marched to Capt. Pipe's house, some three-fourths of
a mile distant, where he remained during the night,
securely bound, and closely guarded by the Indian
Tutelu, who had him in his especial charge.
In the morning (June 12th) his guard unbound
him, and having again painted him with black, started
out on horseback, driving Knight before him on foot,
bound for the Shawanese towns, where the doctor was
to suffer the torture. Passing by the spot where
Crawford had suffered on the previous day, they saw
all that remained of the colonel, a few burned bones,
when the Indian told his horrified prisoner that
this was his " big captain." They moved on towards
the southwest, on the trail to the Shawanese town of
Wapatomica, nearly forty miles away.
Knight had not wholly abandoned the hope of escaping the torture, though his case looked wellnigh
hopeless. He carried as cheerful a countenance as
he could, concealed from his guard his knowledge of
the import of the black paint on his face, and conversed with him as well as he could, pretending that
he expected to be adopted into the Shawanese tribe
on arrival at their destination. Tutelu asked him if
he knew how to btild a wigwamj and Knight assured
him that he was excellent at that business. All this
pleased the Indian, and to some extent threw him off
his guard. The journey of the first day was about
twenty-five miles. At the night-camp Tutelu again
bound his captive, and watched him closely through
the night, so that the doctor, although he tried hard
to free himself, did not succeed.
At daybreak Tutelu rose, stretched his limbs, unbound his captive, and renewed the fire, but did not
immediately prepare to resume the journey. They
had been greatly tormented by gnats during the night,
and the doctor asked him if he should make a smudge
in their rear to drive the pests away. Tutelu told him
to do so, whereupon Knight took two sticks (one of
them about a foot and a half in length, which was the
largest he could find), and holding a coal between
them carried it behind the Indian as if to start the
smudge, but as soon as he had got the right position
suddenly turned and dealt the savage a blow over
the head with all his strength, partially stunning him
and knocking him forward head first into the fire.
His hands were badly burned, but he immediately
recovered himself, rose, and ran away, uttering a
hideous yell.'  The doctor seized theIndian's gun
1 Tuteli fled to the village of the Delawares, aindi was seen on his arrival by John Slover, who was then a capltive there. lIe (Tutelli) reand followed him, determined to kill him; but in his
eagerness he broke or disarranged the lock of the
piece, so that he could not fire. This being the case
he followed only a short distance, and then returned
to the place where they had passed the night.
Here the surgeon lost no time in making preparations for a desperate attemnpt to effect his escape from
the Indian country. He possessed himself of Tutelu's
amnlunition, his blanket, and an extra pair of moccasins, and without delay commenced his long journey,
taking a course about east by north. All day he
traveled without molestation or notable incident, and
at night had emerged from the timbered country and
entered the Plains, where he made his lonely bivouac.
But he was too uneasy and anxious to remain long,
and so after two or three hours' rest resumed his way,
and traveling all night, guided by the stars, had crossed
the open country and entered the forest to the east
before daylight appeared. During this day (June
14th) he struck the track of the troops on their outward march, but having already received a severe
lesson on the danger of following this he avoided it
and took a north course, which he kept during the
rest of the day. That night he camped in the forest
and slept on undisturbed.
The next morning he shaped his course due cast,
and moved on with greatly lightened spirits but exceedingly weak from lack of food. He could shoot
no game, for his utmost endeavors failed to put the
lock of his gun into working condition, and finding
at last that it was useless to make further attempts,
and that the piece could be only an encumbrance to
him, he threw it away. He caught a small turtle,
and occasionally succeeded in taking young birds, all
of which he ate raw. In this way, and by making
use of nourishing roots and herbs, he succeeded in
sustaining life through all the weary days of his journey to civilization. As he traveled eastward he found
heavier timber, and saw everywhere great quantities
of game, which was very tantalizing, as he could not
kill or catch any, although nearly famished.
For twenty days from the time of his escape from
his guard Tutelu, Dr. Knight traveled on through the
wilderness, unmolested by savages, but suffering terribly of hunger and cold,-for he had not the means
of making a fire,-and on the evening of July 3d
struck the Ohio River about five miles below the
mouth of Beaver. On the 5th he arrived safely at
Fort Pitt,2 where le remained as'surgeon of the
ported the loss of his prisoner, with whom he said he had a lhard battle,
and had given the doctor fearfl'and probable fittal knife-wounds in the
hack and stomiach, althoughl (as he said) Knight was a man of immense
proportions and physical power. Slover told the Delawares that this
was fitlse, and that the doctor was a weak, puny man, whereat the Indians ridiculed Tttellu without mnercy.
2 In a letter from Geli. Irvi,ne to President Moore, dated Fort Pitt,
July 5, 1782, he says, "This moment Doctor Knight has arrived, the
surgeon I sent with the volunteers to Sandusky; he was several days in.
the hands of the Indians, blut fortunately made his escape from hiis
keeper, who Nwas coinducting him  to another settlemeint to be Lonnd
[biirned]. He brings the dcisagreeable account that Col. Crawford and
C
I
7
105SPRINGHILL TOWNSHIP.
friendly mediation offered by the Emperor of Russia.
On this mission the President had sent him to Europe,
but without allowing him to relinquish the Secretaryship of the Treasury. The Senate refused to confirm his appointment, on the ground that the two
offices of Secretary of the Treasury and peace commissioner or minister were incompatible. He was
not, however, recalled. England rejected the czar's
mediation, but offered to treat untrammeled. Thereupon Mr. Gallatin, having been relieved of the Secretaryship, was appointed, Feb. 9, 1814, one of the
commissioners in the treaty negotiations, which resulted in the conclusion of a treaty of peace, signed
at Ghent, in Belgium, Dec. 24, 1814. In 1815, Mr.
Gallatin was appointed minister to France, where he
remained from 1816 to 1823, during which time he
was intrusted with special and important missions to
England and to the Netherlands. On his return to
the United States, in 1824, he declined a seat in the
Cabinet, also the candidacy of his party for VicePresident. The new mansion at Friendship Hill had
been provided for his reception, and there he took up
his abode soon after his return from Europe, and
there in 1825 he received the memorable visit of his
illustrious friend, the Marquis de Lafayette, "the
like of which old Springhill had never seen, may
never see again."
In 1826, Mr. Gallatin was sent as minister plenipotentiary to the court of St. James, where he remained
over a year, and successfully accomplished all the
objects of his mission. He returned to the United
States in December, 1827, but never again resided in
Fayette County. He lived a short time in Baltimore'
(which was the place of residence of two of Mrs.
Gallatin's sisters), but soon removed to the city of
New York, where he spent the remainder of his long
and brilliant life, devoting himself chiefly to literature, science, historical and ethnological researches.
He was mainly instrumental in founding and became the first president of the Ethnological Society,
and he was from 1843 until his death president of the
New York Historical Society, He was perhaps the
best talker of the century, at home on all topics, with
a wonderful memory for facts and dates. He died at
the residence of his son-in-law, at Astoria, L. I., on
Sunday, Aug. 12, 1849, in the eighty-ninth year of his
age.
COL. JOHN MORGAN.
The late Col. John Morgan, of Springhill, was of
Welsh parentage. His father and mother married in
Wales, and had two or three children before they migrated to America, and here they had more, to the
number of ten in all, of whom Col. John, born in
Springhill township, Aug. 8, 1790, was the seventh.
Col. Morgan's father, David Morgan, was one of the
first settlers of the southwestern part of Fayette
County. At the time of his arrival in the county it
was inhabited by the Indians, with whom he had many
encounters. He was one of the founders of Mount
Moriah Baptist Church at Smithfield, and was noted
for his piety. He died in 1798, aged fifty-four years.
When a young man Col. Morgan learned blacksmithing, and was an apprentice in the same shop
with the late Hon. Andrew Stewart. He worked at
his trade for a few years, and then engaged in fiatboating down the Monongahela and Ohio Rivers,
which he followed for three years or more, and then
settled upon the old homestead, where he spent the
remaimder of his long life, except while occupied with
public business. He was a soldier of the war of 1812,
but obtained the title of colonel in the State militia,
being commissioned as such by Governor Simon Snyder. He was a member of the State Legislature for
Fayette County in 1843, and was re-elected in 1844
and 1845. Col. Morgan was an earnest advocate of
the public schobl system of the State, and was one of
the first school directors of his township, and held
other township offices. He died Jan. 5, 1880.
March 12, 1817, Col. Morgan married Elizabeth
Lyons, of Springhill township, and by her had seven
children,-four sons and three daughters. The sons
all became farmers, and the daughters married
farmers. At the time of his death Col. Morgan's
possessions consisted chiefly in lands. He was strong
of body, possessing wonderful powers of endurance,
and had an abundance of good hard sense. He was
not a church-member. He was always a sound Democrat, and was highly esteemed by all who knew him.
In short, his was a rare character, and he filled up the
measure of his years ably and honorably.
LEBBEUS BIGLOW GANS.
Lebbeus Biglow Gans was born in Springhill township, Fayette Co., Pa., March 31, 1825. He is the fifth
son of William and Magdalene Gans, whose parents
were among the. early settlers of Southern Fayette
County. William Gans' parents emigrated from Germany on account of religious persecution, and settled
near Antietam, Md., and in the year 1785 came to
Springhill township and pre-empted the beautiful
tract of land near Morris' Cross-Roads on which they
lived and died, and now owned by L. B. Gans. Magdalene, wife of William Gans, was the daughter of
George Custer. who was a first cousin of Gen. George
Washington, they being sisters' children. He was
the fourth son of Paul Custer, and his mother was
Sarah Ball, the daughter of Col. Ball, of Lancaster
County, Pa. Her sister, Mary Ball, was married to
Mr. Augustine Washington, by whom she had six
children, the eldest being the renowned commanderin-chief of the Revolutionary army and the first President of the United States. George Custer was born
in Philadelphia, Pa., Dec. 3, 1774, and died on his
farm in Georges township, Fayette Co., Pa., in 1829,
aged eighty-five years and two days. He was a large,
healthy man, with abundant means, and was the
77311ISTORY OF' FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
father. of fifteen children. L. B. Gans received a
common-school education, and is a farmer by profession. He has been twice married. His first wife,
Elizabeth J. Ramsay, was the daughter of James C.
Ramsay, Esq., whom he married Jan. 6, 1848, and by
whom he had three children,-one son, who died in
infancy; and two daughters, both living. The elder,
Dorcas Anna, is married to T F. Protzman, a merchant at Morris' Cross-Roads, Pa. The younger, Elizabeth J., is married to W. Morgan Smith, of Mount
Pleasant, Westmoreland Co., Pa. His first wife, Elizabeth J., died March 25, 1857. He married his second
wife, Emily S. Goe, daughter of Henry B. Goe, of'
Allegheny City, Oct. 15, 1868, by whom he has three
sons and one daughter. Mr. Gans is an active, thrifty
business man. In addition to the homestead, which
has always been considered the standard in making
real estate assessments in the township, hlie owns one
hundred and thirty-four acres immediately adjoining
it on the east, making in all three hundred acres,
which is the best farm in Southern Fayette County.
The farm is well improved and in an excellent state
of cultivation. This farm is noted for its extensive
maple-sugar orchard, containing about two thousand
trees, which yields an average annual income of eight
hundred dollars. In late years Mr. Gans has not
made a specialty of agriculture, but is engaged in
grazing stock. Mr. Gans is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and is held in high esteem by his
neighbors and fellow-citizens. In all his business relations he is remarkable for candor and integrity.
His domestic and social relations are of the most
pleasant and agreeable character. He lives in good
style, enjoys life, the society of home and friends, and
the fellowship of the community.
ALPHEUS WILLSON SCOTT.
Alpheus W. Scott, of Springhill township, is of
Scotch-Irishl and Welsh descent, and was born at
Morris' Cross-Roads, Sept. 30, 1822. Having received
a good common-school education he commenced
teaching in 1843, and continued in the profession the
greater part of the time until 1867. On the 6th of
March, 1846, he was married to Miss Martha E. Gans.
In 1861 he enitered the military service-of the United
States in the war of the Rebellion, and was commissioned captain of Company I, Seventy-seventh Pennsylvania Volunteers, March 3, 1862, and stationed at
Chambersburg, Pa., in the recruiting service. He resigned Oct. 1, 1862, but was afterwards in the service
in the One Hundred and Sixty-eighth Pennsylvania
Regiment, where he held the rank of quartermastersergeant, but performed all the duties of quartermaster, on account of the sickness of that officer,
durinig his nine months' term of service. On the
12th of March, 1864, he re-enlisted at Greensburg,
WAVestmoreland Co., and was assigned to the One Hundred and Twenty-first Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, yet he never did any duty with the regiment.
In the fall of 1864, at City Point, Va., he was, by
special order from army headquarters, assigned to duty
on the commission of exchange of prisoners under
Gen. John E. Mulford. On the occupation of Richmond by the Union forces in April, 1865, he went to
that city, and remained there in the office of Gen.
Mulford until the following August, when he was
hlonorably discharged and mustered out of the service.
For the past fifteen years hlie has been chiefly employed as a newspaper correspondent, in which vocation he displays marked ability.
STEWART TOWNSHIP.
THIS township is on the eastern border of the
county, the second from the south line, and on both
sides of the Youghiogheny River. On the north are
the townships of Dunbar and Springfield; east is
Somerset County; south is Henry Clay; and south
and west is Wharton. The township has within its
limits the Laurel Hills and Chestnut Ridge, and its
general surface presents a mountainous aspect.  In
the southeastern part is Sugar-Loaf Mountain, with
an altitude several hundred feet greater than the surrounding hills; and in other localities are well-defined peaks. The sides of the hills are usually broken
and covered with large rocks, but the summits are
mainly level, somewhlat of the nature of a plateau,
and containing some fine farming lands. The soil is
good but not strong or enduring, and but a small proportion has been brought to cultivation, the greater
part of. the country being yet covered with timber.
The Youghiogheny River has a tortuous course
thlrough the township, and is a rapid, turbulent stream,
affording a magnificent water-power at Falls City,
where are a series of falls or rapids, aggregating about
thirty-six feet of descent. It includes a distinct fall
of sixteen feet, to which the name of" Ohio Pile" has
been given.' The valley of the river is narrow, and
1 No satisfactory reason can be given why this ternl has been selected.
Tile m,,ost plausible appears to be that it is an Indial niame signifying
the  bI)eautifull falls."
U   ~~~~~~~I              I~~~~~
774ST'ENVA1tT TWVNSIJI I.                               1
is closely environed by high hills. Its affluents from
the north are Drake's, Sherman's, Bear, and Laurel
Runs, all small but unfailing streams, heading in the
mountains. On the opposite side the tributaries are
Jonathan's Run, Great Meadow Run, with its branches,
Laurel and Beaver Runs, and Cucumber Run. The
latter makes a precipitous fall near its mouth, forming a beautiful cascade nearly forty feet high. These
streams yield limited water-power, which has been
utilized. Most of them have deep, narrow valleys,
but the lower hillsides are usually quite fertile. Along
these streams are many signs of prehistoric occupation, a line of earthworks being traceable all through
the township. One of the largest of these forts was
on Bear Run, several miles below the Ohio Pile Falls.
It was circular in form, inclosed about ten acres, and
was surrounded by a trench. In it, many years ago,
was found, under a heap of stones, a neatly-constructed grave. It was nearly square, and about four
feet in depth. The sides and bottom were lined with
flag-stones, forming a box-like cavity; a large skull
was found inclosed, and other evidences indicated
that it was the sepulchre of some mighty man among
this little-known people. On Harris' Hill was another
fort of large proportions, and along Meadow Run
were, in the early settlement of the township, a series
of earthworks so arranged that communication by
signals was possible among them, plainly indicating
that among these rough hills once dwelt a people of
greater intelligence than that of the American Indian.
But little of the large area of Stewart was purchased
for actual settlement when other parts of the county
became the homes of the hardy pioneers. The lands
in many instances were warranted, but were held by
non-residents.  These afterwards passed into other
hands, a very large proportion of themn becoming
the property of the Hon. Andrew Stewart, who at
one time owned more than half the township, and
whose family yet maintains possession of many thousands of acres. These circumstances and the uninviting appearance of the country deterred a general
settlement at an early period, and many of the beginnings in the township have a recent origin.
PIONEER SETTLERS.
It is hard to determine who was the first permanent
settler. John Stewart, a Scotch-Irishman, lived on
the Elijah Mitchell place as early as 1772, and set out
an orchard which bore signs of age in 1800. He was
buried on his farm, and his family removed, leaving
no descendants in the township. He had sons named
James, Andrew, John, and Thomas. It was at the
house of the latter that the old soldier, Tom Fossitt
(who was said by some to have killed Gen. Braddock),
died, and {vas buried on the present Jacob H. Rush
farm, which was settled by a mnan namred Taylor.
Many years after Fossitt's death a rude headstone was
erected to his memory reciting the time of his death
and age.
In the same locality Paul Stull and Peter Bruner
settled soon after the Revolution. The latter moved
to Springfield township, where he is more fully noted.
In the southern part of the township, on the present Harvey Morris farm, David Askins settled after
the close of the Revolution. There is a tradition that
he came from the eastern part of the State, and was
on his way to the Kentucky country, which was at
that time regarded as the land of promise, when he
was persuaded to cast his lot among the pioneers of
Fayette County. He made a tomahawk claim of ten
square miles of land, and jestingly said that it was'his "Little Kentucky." This, it is said, was the origin of the term as used in the township and applied to
churches and schools. Askins finally limited his land
claims to the Morris, Thorpe, and Mitchell farms,
and on the former farm he was buried at his death.
He had sons named Thomas, David, and Samuel,
all of whom removed to the West soon after 1800.
Reuben Thorpe purchased one hundred and fifty
acres of the Askins tract for ~100. He was born in
New Jersey in 1755, and became a weaver by trade.
In the Revolution he served under the immediate
command of Washington, and in 1792 caine to Fayette County. He had seven sons and two daughters,
namely, David, Reuben, Job, Wallace, who moved
to Perry County, Ohio; James, who opened a farm on
the north side of the Youghio,heny, wvhere he yet resides at an advanced age; Asa, lived on the William
Taylor farm, and was the father of Andrew Thorpe,
yet living in the township. Several of his sons died
in the Rebellion. William, the youngest of Reuben
Thorpe's sons, lived on the homestead until his death.
The farm is now owned by his son, Thomas Thorpe,
Esq., of Falls City. Other sons are Reuben, living
west of Falls City; David, in Dakota; W. Brown, the
cashier of the Butler County (Nebraska) Bank; and
Elisha, who died in the army in 1863. On the old
Thorpe farm was an orchard of early bearing, which
was almost wholly destroyed by a storm in July, 1851.
Some of the trees were taken up and carried a distance of half a mile, and nearly everything in the
line of the storm was destroyed. Reuben Thorpe
formerly had a public-house, and carried on a distillery in the days when the old Turkey Foot road was
one of the lines of travel from Somerset to Uniontown.
The Mitchells were among the earliest settlers of
Stewart. James Mitchell lived in the Kentucky district, on the farm which is now occupied by-his grandson, Elijah M. His sons were Benjamin, James J.,
Abner, John A., and Ralph, the youngest, who left
no family at his death. The first three named opened
farms near the homestead, and the two first died
there. Abner moved to Wisconsin about 1846. He
was a Baptist minister; and James J. also served in
that calling. John A., the other son, made his home
in Somerset County. Thomas Mitchell, a brother of
James, purchased a part of the Askins tract, whichl
pl r         HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
had been owned before by Moses Mercer. He had
served in the Revolution, and was under Daniel
Boone in Kentucky. He died about 1824. His sons
were Josiah, who lost his life at the old Laurel Furnace while attempting to rescue a furnace-man who
was overcome by the fire in the stack; Thomas, who
removed to Illinois; John, who lived in Greene
County, Pa., and who was one of the greatest athletes in that part of the State; Lewis, who removed
to Illinois; James H., born in 1798, and yet a citizen
of the township; Elijah and Elisha, removed to Illinois. Some of these were great hunters, and had
many stirring adventures with wild animals. The
three daughters of Thomas Mitchell married James
Spencer, William Thorpe, and Isaac Haney. The
latter remnoved to the West; he was an early settler.
Not long after the Revolution, in which he served,
John Potter, a native of New Jersey, moved to Henry
Clay township, where he lived until his death in the
fall of 1826. Eleven of his children grew to mature
years, but all of his sons except Amos and Samuel
removed to the West. The former resides in Wharton,
and the latter is a well-known citizen of Stewart, and
is the father of John B., George B., Charles, Amos,
and Thomas T. Potter, all but Amos residing in the
township. Samuel Potter was born in 1805, and as a
young man was active in building mills and making
other improvements, some of which are yet owned by
the family.
Benjamin Leonard was reared in the family of
Reuben Thorpe, and after attaining manhood made
an improvement on the bottoms below the mill owned
by Potter. He afterwards cleared up the farm which
is now owned by his youngest son, Robert. Other
sons were Eli, Amos P. (a minister of the Methodist
Episcopal Church), Reuben, Christmas, and Robert.
Nearly all of these continue to reside in the township.
On what is well known as the Joseph Price place,
Peter Briner, a German, settled about 1800, and
reared a family, but removed to the West more than
fifty years ago. Among his sons was Andrew, who
also cleared a farm on Cucumber Run, and lived there
until his death in 1861. One of his sons, Samuel,
yet resides near Falls City. Joshua Briner, the oldest of Andrew's sons, resided at Uniontown at the
age of eighty years. John Briner, another son, resides in Dunbar. The deep place in the Youghiogheny River near Cucumber Run, noted as abounding
with fish, took its name from this family.
William Williams came from Bedford County to
Connellsville in 1803, but in 1830 settled in Stewart,
locating on Meadow Run, where he died in 1848. IHIe
reared sons named John, Isaac, James, Samuel, William D., and Joseph, the latter two being the only
ones living in the township, Joseph for the past
twenty-four years being a merchant in Stewart. William Williams was one of the parties who had a contract to open the clay pike in 1810.
In the Sugar-Loaf District among the early settlers
were the Shipley family, Henry McClatchey, and
Henry Gilmore, all of whom removed early. Guyson
Morrison came at a later day and settled on the Hall
farm on the Turkey Foot road, and a mile south William Morrison made some improvements about 1830.
David Woodmansee has lived in that locality since
1850, and is now one of the oldest settlers there.
Garrett Hall was a settler earlier on the place yet
occupied by his family. Abram Tumbly lived on the
Thomas Mitchell place as early as 1790. He removed
to Confluence.
North of the Yough, David Thorpe improved the
James Thorpe farm as early as 1805. The Peter
Tissue farm was commenced by Jacob Streight, and
farther east were James Fulton, the Marietta, Zarley,
and Minor families as pioneers.
CIVIL ORGANIZATION.
At the October term of Court of Quarter Sessions
in 1854 a petition for a new township was presented,
to be composed of parts of Wharton, Henry Clay,
and Youghiogheny townships, with bounds as set
forth in the petition. The court appointed Thomas
R. Davidson, Alexander McClean, and Daniel Downer viewers, the order for their appointment bearing
date Nov. 10, 1854. The order was renewed at the
June session in 1855, and continued in August of the
same year.  At the September court in 1855 the
commissioners reported:
"That having gone upon the premises and made an examination of the same, according to law, we are of the opinion that
a new township should be made within the following described
boundaries, viz.: Beginning at a point where the Somerset
County line strikes the Youghiogheny River, thence to Garrett
Hall's, at the Cold Glade Ridge; thence to Z. Luddington's tanyard, by Henry Morris' to Joseph Bodkin's; thence to the Dunbar line, near Centre Furnace; thence by the said Dunbar line
to the Youghiogheny River; thence to the Springfield line, near
the stone meeting-house, and thence by the Springfield line to
the Somerset line, and thence by the said line to the Youghiogheny River, the place of beginning. And that the lower end
of Youghiogheny struck off be added to Springfield township."
Nov. 17, 1855, the view and report were confirmed,
and the new township ordered to be called Stewart,
the name being given it in compliment to the Hon.
Andrew Stewart. The first election after the organization of Stewart as a separate township was held at
the house of Theophilus Keller, March 21, 1856, and
the following officers elected: Justice of the Peace,
Thomas Burgess; Constable, James Leonard; Assessor, James Morrison; Auditor, John B. Potter. The
officers elected in succeeding years are named below,
viz.:
1857.-Assessor, Thomas Thorpe; Auditor, John Holland.
1858.-Justice of the Peace, Elijah S. Harbaugbi; Assessor,
Sylvester C. Skinner; Auditor, Harvey Morris.
1859.-Assessor, Samuel C. Price; Auditor, Elijah Harbaugh.
1860.-Assessor, David Ogg; Auditor, Samuel Potter.
1861.-Justice of the Peace, James M. Dixon; Assessor, John
W. Holland..1
7*'6STEWART TOWNSHIP.
1862.-Assessor, George 11arbautgh; Auditor, Elijah lltalbaugh.
1863.-Justice of the Peace, Elijah S. Harbaugh; Assessor,
Ilenry C. Price; Auditor, James H. Mitchell.
1864.-Assessor, David Fulton; Auditor, James M. Dixon.
1865.-Justice of the Peace, Joseph Williams; Assessor, Thomas
Thorpe; Auditor, Samuel Potter.
1866.-Assesso', Sylvester C. Skinner; Auditor, Emanuel Bissell.
1867.--Justice of the Peace, Sylvester C. Skinner; Assessor,
Joseph Williams; Auditor, R. J. Sprowl.
1868.-Justice of the Peace, Sylvester C. Skinner; Assessor,
Robert Turney; Auditor, Samuel Potter.
1869.-Assessor, Jesse Shaw; Auditor, Robert Turney.
1869.-Auditor, Sylvester Skinner.
1870.-Justice of the Peace, John Ferrin; Assessor, Francis
Morrison; Auditor, Henry Morris. -
1872, March.-Justice of the Peace, George W. Folke; Assessor, Isaac Hutchinson.
1873.-Assessor, William Griffith; Auditor, R. J. Sprowl.
1874.-Assessor, George Ilarbaugh; Auditor, Joseph Leonard.
1875.-Justice of the Peace, Thomas Thorpe; Assessor, Joseph
Kinnear; Auditor, S. C. Price.
1876.-Assessor, Thomas L. Butler; Auditor, Ilugh Nicolay.
1877.-Justice of the Peace, Francis D. Morrison; Auditor,
John B. Potter.
1878.-Assessor, F. M. Cunningham; Auditor, R. V. Ritenour.
1879.-Assessor, J. V. Rush; Auditor, Samuel Potter.
1880.-Justice of the Peace, Thomas Thorpe; Assessor, F. M.
Cunningham; Auditor, J. T. Lamba.
1881.-Justice of the Peace, Robert S. McCrum; Assessor, F.
M. Cunningham; Auditor, G. W. Moon; Supervisors of
Roads, Thomas Thorpe, George Harbaugh, David Woodmansee, and S. D. Hall.
The Turkey Foot road, the oldest thoroughfare in
the township, was opened about 1803 as a highway
between Uniontown and Somerset.  All the other
roads have a recent origin. The Stewarton post-office
was established in August, 1871, with John W. Moon
as postmaster. He was succeeded in the fall of 1873
by Andrew Stewart, Jr., and the office was kept in a
store which Moon had opened, and which was destroyed by fire in 1874. It was removed about this
time to a station farther down the road in Springfield
township, known before that time as Yough, retaining the name it bore when established. Peter B.
Halfhill was appointed postmaster, and his successors
have been E. A. Harbaugh and the present, Joseph
Herwick. The office has daily mails, and is the terminus of the Springfield mail-route.   The former
station of Stewarton received the name of Yough,
but since the removal of the saw-mill and the destruction of the store the place has been forsaken,
and the station has passed into disuse.
FALLS CITY.
This is the only village in Stewart, and is situated
near the centre of the township, on both sides of the
Youghiogheny, and at the noted Ohio'Pile Falls.  It
is a station on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, midway between Pittsburgh and Cumnberland, being about
seventy-five miles from either city. There are several
hundred inhabitants, four hlotels, stores, etc., as detailed in the following pages.
Although Falls City has a pleasant location, and
the romantic surroundings have given it a favorable
reputation among pleasure-seekers as a summer resort, its chief claim to distinction lies in its possession
of the Ohio Pile Falls, a water-power of the first
rank. Concerning these falls a commission of military engineers, consisting of Col. W. McKee, Col.
Roswell Lee, and Maj. George Talcott, who were appointed in 1825 to select a "site for a national armory
on the Western waters," reported:
"The Youghiogheny River at this place makes a circuit of
nearly two miles around a neck or tongue of land about threefourths of a mile in length that projects from the foot of a
miountain in its rear. At the upper side of this tongue, and
near the extreme point of the mountain, is the commencement
of the Ohio Pile rapids and falls, which terminate at the lower
side opposite the point at which they begin, and six hundred
yards distant from it in a straight line. The whole descent is
eighty-seven and a half feet. The ground on the lower side,
next the foot of the rapids, is advantageously disposed in steps
or benches of sufficient width and at convenient distances below
each other for the erection of buildings, and the successive application of the water to machinery in any manner that may
be desired. Forty feet of the whole fall may thus be employed
at a trifling expense. The bank then becomes steep and perpendicular, and the remaining part of the fall could not be
conveniently used without extensive rock excavation. To convey the water to this site from above the falls will require a
canal of seven hundred feet in length. The first four hundred
feet will pass through a strip of river bottom. The deepest cutting along the whole route is thirty feet, and occurs in passing
a narrow ridge near the middle of the neck, consisting principally,:as is supposed, of rock. A dam four feet high across
the river will be necessary to procure a depth of water at the
head of the canal sufficient to prevent it from being choked
with ice, or obstructed by drift of any kind. The quantity of
water which the river furnishes at this place during an extreme
dry season perhaps exceeded one hundred cubic feet per second
during the uncommon drought of 1823.
"If we regard the site of these falls, in reference to the security of the works that might be erected upon it, from freshets,
the perfect command of its water-power, and the cheapness
with which it may be employed, it surpasses any that has ever
come under our observation. An additional excavation of ten
thousand five hundred cubic feet of earth and nine hundred feet
of rock would enlarge the canal sufficiently to convey the whole
volume of the river to the works at low water, which would furnish three times the power requisite for the armory, and still
leave unemployed a fall of more than forty feet. This estimate
is for three breast and two overshot wheels.
"To these advantages is opposed its want of convenient communication, surrounded on all sides by mountains, the adjacent
country but sparsely settled, and, with the exception of fuel,
including stone-coal, few or no resources for an armory; it is
without the means of water conveyance, and, as yet, without
roads. How far the weight of this objection ought to be lessened by the probability of any future canal across the mountains, passing down the valley of the Youghiogheny River, is
a consideration that does not properly come within the province
assigned us."
The objection to the inaccessibility to the falls has
beenl removed by the opening of the Pittsburgh,
777
6HISTORPY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Washington and Baltimore Railroad, which has here
established an important station, with extensive
sidings; while the idea of water communication has
not been wholly abandoned, an appropriation for the
survey of a canal route having recently been made.
The power of the Ohio Pile Falls has been utilized to
~ a limited extent. A further improvement for manufacturing purposes will probably be made at an early
day. The falls and nearly all the adjacent lands are
the property of the heirs of the Hon. Andrew Stewart, and Falls City was laid out for the Stewart estate in 1868 by Albert Stewart. The plat embraces
about two hundred acres of land, a considerable portion of which is on the south side of the Youghiogheny, connection being made with the northern part
by means of a substantial wooden bridge. In the
latter part much of the village survey is included
within the peninsula formed by the river, which is
about three-fourths of a mile in length and elevated
a hundred feet above the level of the stream. It is
bordered by cliffs, on which grow ferns in the greatest
profusion, and this beautiful tract of land has not
been inappropriately named Fern Cliff Park. Occupying a commanding position in the park is the fine
hotel which was erected by the Stewart estate in the
summer of 1879, and which was opened for the accommodation of summer visitors in May, 1880, under
the management of M. W. Lambert. Fern Cliff.Park
Hotel is a stately-looking frame, thirty-three by one
hundred and one feet, four stories high, and surmounted by a mansard roof. There are fifty rooms for
guests, supplied with gas, water, and electric annunciators, and the hotel throughout contains the most
approved modern appliances.  In the grounds are
shady rambles, pleasant walks, and several fountains,
which are fed by a reservoir on a hill eighty feet
above the hotel. This is filled from the Youghiogheny by means of a large water-power force-pump.
The encouraging patronage given the hotel has induced the proprietors to entertain a proposition to
enlarge the house to thrice its present capacity,
making it one of the foremost summer resorts in the
western part of the State.
The first public-house in the place was kept opposite the grist-mill, in the south part of the village, by Elijah Mitchell, about 1858. Subsequent
landlords were Theophilus Keller, J. H. Mitchell,
Moses Ferrin, Nathan Joliffe, Jesse Hardin, and
Redmond Bunton, during whose occupancy the house
was destroyed by fire.
The completion of the railroad in 1871, and the
urgent demand for hotel accommodations, caused
Andrew Stewart to transform a large farm building
into a public-house. It received the name of the
"Ohio Pile House," and was opened by W. Brown
and John Shepard. It is at present kept by Kimmel
Hardin. Daniel Coughenour has been the keeper of
a public-house for the past four years, and others
have entertained the putblic for shorter periods.
The first goods at Falls City were sold by Thomas
Jackson, for Andrew Stewart, in the old hotel building some time about 1856. A. E. Meason  Co. next
had a store at the tannery, where they were succeeded
by Samuel Price, Moses Freeman, Potter  Browning.
In 1871, F. T. Browning built his present store-house,
which he has since occupied for mercantile purposes.
The same year Joseph Williams began trading at the
Falls, moving here from Meadow Run, where he had
kept a store for fifteen years, being the first in the
township. Since 1878 hlie has occupied his present
building. George D. Livingston has also been in
trade since 1872, and George W. Anderson since 1875,
each having a respectable trade.
The railroad station at Falls City, called Ohio Pile,
wvas opened in March, 1871, by Samuel Potter, Jr., as
agent, with Thomas Armstrong as telegrapher. The
latter was appointed to both offices in 1872, and was
relieved in 1873 by Lewis Johnson. In April, 1875,
B. R. Field becamne the agent, but was relieved July,
1877, by E. A. Jordan. He served until June 22,
1879, whlen the present agent, C. L. Harrington, was
appointed. Soon after the railroad was opened the
Adams Express Company established an office at
Ohio Pile, with Thomas Thorpe as agent. Since 1875
the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad has carried on the
express business in connection with its railroad interests. The shipments at Ohio Pile are chiefly lumber and other wood exports. The entire business
aggregates fifteen hundred dollars per month.
For many years the settlers of Stewart received
their mail matter from Bryant's, on the National
road, and later from Farmington, on the same road.
The post-office at Falls City was established about
1856, with the name of Pile Falls, and Samuel Price
as postmaster, who kept it at the store of Meason 
Co. He was succeeded by Samuel Potter, Jr., who in
1871 removed the office to the railroad station. About
this time the name of the office was changed to Falls
City. Potter was succeeded, in May, 1878, by the
present postmaster, Thomas Thorpe. The mail service is by railroad twice per day. Previously the
mails were carried on horseback from Farmington to
Donegal several times per week.
The first physician regularly located in Stewart was
Dr. H. Y. Brady, who came to Falls City in the fall
of 1869, and has since been a practitioner there. He
graduated at the Jefferson Medical College in 1865,
and practiced, previous to locating here, at YounIgstown and Latrobe. For two years from 1874, Dr.
Hugh Nicolay was in practice at the Falls, and for a
few months in 1879, Dr. D. O. Bassett. For the past
year Dr. S. D. Woods has practiced dentistry at Falls
City.
VARIOUS INDUSTRIES OF THE TOWNSHIP.
Agriculture and lumbering are the chief pursuits
of the people of Stewart, many of the citizens being
engaged in carrying on both. The mountain streams
778STEWART TOWNSHIP.
afford many water-powers, which were early sought out
and improved to meet the wants of the pioneers.
Nearly every neighborhood had its saw- and grist-, or
rather corn-mills, which have gone to decay so long
since that in many instances no authentic account of
them can be given. The latter were generally "tub"
mills, a simple arrangement whereby the stone was
caused to revolve as often as the wheel, and the grinding capacity was consequently small. To this class
belonged the mills of Aman Shipley, on Laurel Run;
David Askins, on Meadow Run; and the McGrew
mill, on Jonathan's Run, all built some time about
1790. With the increase of population came better
facilities, and soon good mills were built on the sites
of the old ones, or on other seats on the same streams.
On Laurel Run were the mills of Henry Gilmore and
Isaac Hutchinson, both of small capacity. In 1832
Samuel Potter built a grist-mill on Meadow Run,
which was supplied with two sets of stones, and was
in every respect an improvement on the mills previously in the township. A saw-mill was also built
by Potter, and both were operated by him until 1852,
when they became the property of John B. Potter,
his son, who yet carries them on, although both mills
have been much improved, the former having now
three runs of stones, and being reputed a first-class
mill.
On the same stream the manufacture of splint
chairs is carried on by George P. Potter. The factory has been in successful operation since 1860, and
several hundred fine chairs are made annually. Below that point, also on Meadow Run, Reuben and
Christmas Leonard carry on a splint-chair factory;
and more than sixty years ago their father, Benjamin
Leonard, carried on this industry in the township,
some of the chairs he then made being yet in use.
On Beaver Run, a branch of Meadow, James Dean
had a saw-mill at an early day, to which Samuel Potter ingeniously added a grist-mill about 1828, the
stones being taken from a neighboring hillside.
On Cucumber Run, Andrew Briner had saw- and
grist-mills of small capacity forty years ago, which
have not been operated for the past twenty-five years.
At the forks of the same stream Joseph Price had a
mill, which has not been used for a score of years;
and above the Andrew Briner mill Joshua Briner
had a saw-mill, which was discontinued about 1865.
On Jonathan's Run, among the mills of a later
period, were those of B. Rush, built about 1868, and
which are now operated by Patton Rush. On the
upper waters of that stream are the mills of Matthew
McMillan.
A number of portable steam saw-mills have been
erected at various points in Stewart, and have been
very useful in working up the heavy timber in the
localities where they were located. Several of these
were at the "low place" on Meadow Run. In 1874,
for a few years, Samuel Halderbrant had a good mill
in operation there, when he removed it to Bear Run,
where it was operated a few years longer.  The
Browning mill was at the "low place" next, and was
removed from there to Falls City. Its cutting capacity was five thousand feet per day. A year later
John Wesley Moon erected the third mill at the
"low place" and engaged largely in the manufacture
of all kinds of lumber, staves, and headings. He
constructed a tramway to the "long hollow," two and
a half miles distant, for the purpose of conveying
logs to his mill, and cut up an immense amount of
timber. The tramway yet remains, but the mill has
been removed to Somerset County. At Stewarton,
four miles below  Falls City, Andrew Stewart, Jr.,
had a large and well appointed saw-mill in operation
several years after 1871, the logs being conveyed
thither by a long tramway; but the mill has been
removed and the interest there abandoned.
Henry Fry attempted the first improvement of the
water-power at the Ohio Pile Falls on the Youghiogheny, now the site of Falls City. Forty years ago
he built a hewed-log dam nearly across the stream a
short distance above the falls and put up the frame of
a saw-mill, but before he got it in operation a freshet
swept away his dam, causing him to abandon his
project. Hon. Andrew Stewart made the next improveminent, putting up saw- and grist-mills. A dam was
built four hundred feet above the falls, and a wooden
trunk laid to convey the water to the mills, which
were destroyed by fire before being set in motion.
The buildings were immediately restored, and the
grist-mill yet remains, the saw-mill above it having
been removed. The formner had first an overshot and
the latter a flutter wheel, but in 1865 Albert Stewart
supplied their places with three Rainey turbinewheels, increasing the power to one hundred and
thirty horses. The grist-mill was also supplied with
more machinery, and is now adapted to the niew
process of grinding. It is operated by Albert Stewart, and the planing-mill, which he built in 1865, has
also since been kept in operation by him. The latter
is supplied with good machinery, but has a limited
capacity. Both mills are well patronized.
The Falls City Pulp-Mill was put in operation in
September, 1879, by the present proprietor of the
works, Wilson W. Hartzell. Having secured a lease of
a large water-power from the Stewart estate, on the
site of an old saw-mill above the falls, he increased the
already large power by building a dam across the
river four hundred feet in length. A building thirty
by eighty feet was erected and supplied with two
American turbine-wheels of three hundred horsepower to operate machinery to reduce spruce and
poplar wood to pulp for paper-making by the Otterson  Taylor process. From three to four cords of
wood are consumed each day, and the capacity of
the works enable the production of three car-loads of
pulp per week, aggregating about ninety thousand
pounds. Employment is given to twelve men when
the works are run day and night, and a good market
779HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
is afforded for an abundance of wood which was heretotore comparatively worthless. The raw material is
brought to the works in cord-wood size, freed from
bark, the heart, and black knots, and is then reduced
to two-foot lengths. It is next sawed into blocks
half an inch in thickness, when it is ready for the
crusher. Atter crushing, the material is by successive processes reduced to a smooth pulp, so finely
worked as to be almost impalpable. From the last
of these processes it comes out in even sheets like
thick paper and of a whitish color. These sheets are
put up in sixty-pound bales and shipped to market.
The pulp is used in the manufacture of paper, by
mixing with other materials, as straw and rag pulp,
producing a good quality of printing-paper at a
smaller cost than paper made wholly of rags or straw.
The superintendent of the works is William V. G.
White.
The Falls City Shook-Factory is owned and carried
on by M. Weakland, of Confluence. At the latter
place the manufacture of shooks for the West India
trade was begun about ten years ago, and has since
been carried on at other points at Falls City since
1875. That year Matthias Smith opened a shop in
which five men were employed, and which, after a
few years' operation, became the property of M. Weakland. Shooks have also been made on Jonathan's
Run by Matthias Smith and Beniah Guptell, and the
yearly product in the township has been about 2000
shooks, made chiefly out of the best oak. It may here
be explained that the term " shook" is applied to an
unfinished or skeleton barrel or hogshead. The staves,
after being riven froni the log, about thirty-six inches
long, ana duly seasoned, are shaved into the desired
size, then bent into shape and regularly set up, as for
a barrel; but instead of being headed up they are
knocked down, the staves, being numbered, are baled
together, tie bundle forming a "shook," which, with
the addition of heads and hoops, are quickly transformed into barrels or hogsheads in a country where
stave materials do not abound. In other words, the
skeleton barrel is shipped to the West Indies from
the United States, and is retutrned filled with rum or
molasses.
The Falls City Spoke- and Hub-Works, Brison
Rush and John Meeks proprietors, occupy a building thirty by thirty-six feet and two stories high.
The factory was erected in the summer of 1875, work
being commenced August 8th of that year. Sixteen
days later the establishment was burned to the ground,
but was rebuilt so that work was resumed in October,
1875, and the factory has since been successfully carried on. The building is supplied with a sixteen
horse-power engine, which operates a spoke-lathe,
hub-machine, mortising-machines, etc., which enable
the production of 225 sets of spokes and 200 sets of
hubs per month. The firm also manufactures incline rollers for coal roads, and gives employment to
five men.
The Fayette Tannery, at Falls City, was built in
1853 by the firm of Fuller, Breading  Meason, the
latter being the only resident partner. The buildings
were put up by Samuel Potter, and the tannery placed
in charge of Aaron Walter, as foreman of the twelve
or fifteen hands employed. In time Alfred Meason
bought Breading's interest, and the business was carried on by him, with Charles Stone as foreman. Next
came the firm of Meason, Wade  Co., who carried
on the tannery until 1873, Harlan Hickland being the
foreman. For a period the tannery was idle, but in
April, 1877, the firm of James Callary  Co. succeeded to the business, but were followed, in June,
1879, by the present manufacturer, Owen Sheekley,
as lessee from the Wade estate. Originally the tannery was operated by the waters of Meadow Run, but
its diminishing volume caused the substitution of
steam in 1869, and the motive-power is at present furnished by'a sixteen horse-power engine. The building remains much the same as when erected, the
tannery proper being one hundred feet square and
three stories high. The bark-house is fifty by one
hundred feet. In all there are seventy vats for tanning belting-, hose-, and sole-leather with oak bark
one hundred heavy hides per week being tanned. In
connection with the tannery is a convenient office,
half a dozen dwellings, and a business house, in which
the proprietors of the tannery had stores years ago,
when this place was the centre of business at the Falls.
Potter's coal-mine, opened in 1877, and operated
by Thomas Potter, is about one mile southwest from
Falls City, and on the mountain-side, four hundred
feet above the level of the Youghiogheny. The vein
is about five feet in thickness, and the main entry has
been driven to the length of five hundred feet. The
mine has ten sideways, each about one hundred feet
long, and the yearly product is about thirty thousand
bushels of good mountain coal, free from sulphur and
burning freely. The mine is underlaid with a stratum
of fine limestone, which is rarely found in the township, and the presence of fire-clay and iron is also
noted. Although the Potter mine is the only one in
Stewart which has been developed to any extent, coal
is found in many localities, and small banks have
been opened on the south and the west of the Youghiogheny by Martin Mitchell, Reuben Thorpe, Hugh
Corriston, Summers McCrumb, John Pqtter, George
B. Potter, and others. On the north side of the river,
Harrison Weaver, Emanuel Bisel, and others have
coal-banks, but in most instances the demand for their
products is very limited.
Within the past few years considerable attention
has been directed'to fruit culture, and orcharding
promises to become an important industry. The orchard of Francis M. Cunningham, two miles southwest from Falls City, is the largest in the township.
He began fruit culture in 1874 with an orchard of
twenty apple-trees, to which he has added from year
to year until his orchard at present embraces 1200
780STEWART TOWNSHIP.
apple-, 650 quince-, 350 pear-, and 200 peach-trees, all,
thrifty and vigorous. These orchards will be enlarged
to double the present size, and will then be one of the
largest interests of this nature in the county. The
cultivation of the small fruits is also here carried on,
and a vineyard containing 3000 vines of the Concord
variety has been planted.
The manufacture of salt was an industry which
once held an important place in the township more
than half a century ago. On the north side of the
Youghiogheny, three miles above the falls, were several acres of low ground, called by the pioneers "the
meadows," where were salt licks, which were much
frequented by wild animals. When the water was
low the incrustations of salt on the flat stones along
the river's edge were so marked that the place presented a whitish appearance. Before 1800 some of
the settlers gathered up the waters which oozed forth
and made small quantities of salt, and later a man
by the name of Rhodes dug a well some twenty feet
deep, which gave him a greater supply of water, and
enabled him to make salt in a small way. When he
suspended work he allowed his kettles to remain, and
some of the pioneers would occasionally go there to
make a little salt for their own use. As the place was
rather inaccessible from the east, on account of the
steep hills, the river was usually forded by the people
living on the south and the west at a point near the
springs. This was always attended by danger, as the
current is swift and strong, and when increased by
heavy rains is especially treacherous. On one occasion, while a man named James Downard attemnpted
to cross to make some salt, he was swept away and
his lifeless body carried below the falls to the "Briner
fishing-hole," four miles from where he met his sudden
death.' Thence but little was done at the salt springs
until about 1812, when Thomas Meason conceived the
idea of here making salt on a large scale. He secured
a tax title for the land, which had been forfeited by
Wilcox and Chew, of Philadelphia, and began operations on his works. The news coming to the ears of
Mr. Wilcox, he came on from Philadelphia to redeem
the land; but instead of doing so entered into a copartnership with Meason to carry on the salt-works.
Later he sold his interests' to William Pennock, of
Uniontown and by him and Meason the works were
operated until their discontinuance, about 1819.
They caused a well to be sunk several hundred feet
deep, by means of a spring-pole operated by several
men, which afforded them an abundant supply of
water, yielding ten pounds of salt to the barrel.
This was pumped to the surface by means of horsepower, and carried to the works, half a mile below,
1 At "Briner's fishing-hole" Abraham Stewart, of Wharton, and James
Bunner were drowned in August, 1841, while here engaged with a large
party in fishing. Their bodies were found at the bottom of the hole by
Samuel Hough Both were well-known citizens, and the event cast a
gloom over the entire country.
50
through wooden pipes, where it was evaporated in
sixty-two kettles, arranged in pairs. These kettles
were of heavy iron and were cast at the Dunbar Furnace, each holding about fifty gallons. Their transportation to the works, owing to the roughness of the
country, was regarded as a hazardous undertaking,
and was accomplished with great difficulty. Some
three thousand bushels of salt were made, which
sold readily at three dollars per bushel. When the
price was reduced it was not found profitable to carry
on the works, and they were abandoned at the time
named. The kettles were sold to the farmers around
the "works," and some of them are yet in use for
boiling maple-sugar. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad built its track over the furnace of the works, obliterating what few traces of it remained. But few
people can be found who have even a recollection of
the enterprise. James Thorpe and J. H. Mitchell,
both among the oldest men of the township, were engaged at the works, and from them the writer gleaned
the above account.
RELIGIOUS AND EDUCATIONAL.
THE LITTLE KENTUCKY BAPTIST CHURCH.
The first regular religious organization effected in
Stewart township was that of the Baptists, the prelimininary meetings which led to the formation of the
society being held chiefly by the Rev. John Thomas,
at the houses of some of the early members or in the
rude school-houses, mainly in the Kentucky District. From this circumstance the society took its
name. It was organized May 22, 1834, by the Revs.
Benoni Allen, William Hall, and John Rockafeller,
with the following members: James J. Mitchell)
Abner Mitchell, Elijah Mitchell, Abel Hillborn,
Jesse Mitchell, Hannah Mitchell, Maria Hillborn,
Hannah Stull, Cynthia Mitchell, Reuben Thorpe,
James Dean, Sarah Briner, Emeline Price, Nancy
Mitchell, Charlotte Mitchell, Andrew Briner, William Thorpe, Sarah Mitchell, John Harbaugh,
Huldah Thorpe, Fanny Bailey, James Thorpe,
James K. Bailey, Jacob H. Rush, Benjamin Listor,
Franklin Mitchell, Mary Briner, Margaret Birch,
Mary Pearce, Sabina Mitchell, John Hyatt, Mary
Hyatt, David Mitchell, and Reuben Rush. James
J. Mitchell and James Thorpe were ordained as
the first deacons, and Abner Mitc4~ell was the first
clerk. In 1881 the clerk of the church was Patton
Rush, and the deacons were Jesse Rush and Jacob H.
Rush. Other ordained deacons of the church were
James R. Mitchell, Salathiel Mitchell, Benjamin
Mitchell, and Joshua Briner.
The Rev. John Thomas became the first pastor of
the church, his connection dating from May 16, 1835.
About a year afterwards he was succeeded by the Rev.
James J. Mitchell, one of the first deacons of the
church, who served until July 18, 1840, when the
Rev. Isaac Wynn became the pastor. The Rev. John
Williams succeeded Mr. Wynn, his appointment
781  HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Seventh Virginia Regiment until after the declaration of peace.
James Paull was but a private soldier in the forces
of Col. Crawford, but as he afterwards became an
officer of some distinction, and was for many years a
very prominent citizen of Fayette County, it is proper
to make special mention of his adventures, escape,
and return front the disastrous expedition.
Whein, on the evening of the 5th of June, the forces
of Col. Crawford commenced their retreat from Battle
Island, and the cornbined Delawares and Shawanese
attacked the advance battalion under Maj. McClelland, it will be recollected that the three other divisions precipitately abandoned the line of march and
moved away on a route diverging to the west, and
that soon afterwards the head of the column marched
by mistake into a bog or swamp, where a number of
the volunteers lost their horses by reason of their
becoming mired in the soft muddy soil. Among
those who were thus dismounted were James PaullL
and the guide, John Slover, who was also a Fayette
County man (or rather a resident of that part of Westmoreland which afterwards became Fayette).  Of
course they could not keep up with the mounted men
of the column, and as the Indians were tlhen attacking the rear, their situation was a very critical one.
Under these circumstances instant flight was necessary, and accordingly Paull and Slover, with five
other dismounted men, struck into the woods in a
northerly direction, thinking it most prudent to keep
at a distance from the route of the column. They
continued on their course till the latter part of the
night, when they suddenly found themselves floundering in the mud of a bog, and were then compelled to
remain stationary until daylight enabled them  to
move with more certainty and safety. They then
clhanged their course towards the west, but as they
progressed gradually wore round more to the south,
skirting the edge of the Plains, u ntil they found themselves headed nearly southeast. During the day two
or three small parties of Indians were seen to pass
them, but by hiding in the long grass the party renmained undiscovered. At about three o'clock they
were overtaken by the furious rain-storm which (as
before noticed) came down just at the close of Wilall the rest (about twelve, to the doctor's knowvledge) who fell into his
[their] hands were bfirned to death in a most shliocking manner; the
un1fortunate colonel in particular was upwards of four houirs burning.
The reason they assign fir this uncomlmon barbarlity is retaliation for
the iMoravian affair. The doctor adds th;tt lie understood those people
had laid aside their religions principles and hlave gone to war; that lhe
saw two of them bring in scalps who lie formerly k;ew."-Peala. Arch7ives, 1781-83, p. 576.
1 John Sherrard, whose home was with the widowed mother of James
Panll, and who was his particular friend, said that when the forces
comnleced smoving on the retreat he found young Paull fast asleep,
and shook him, telling him that the troops were moving off, and that he
wvas in danger of being left behind. Upon that Paull started to his feet,
but disappeared at once in the darkness, and he (Sherrard) then lost
sight of himl, and saw  him no more during the retreat.
liamson's battle with the Indians and Rangers. Paull
and his companions, being drenched and chilled
through, made a halt, and remained stationary until
evening. Then they again moved on to the eastern
edge of the Plains, and thence into the forest. Their
route since the morning had been the arc of a circle,
heading successively west, southwest, south, southeast, east, and northeast, the latter being the direction of their course when they entered the woods.
A few miles farther on they turned nearly due east,
thinking that they were far enough north of Williamson's track to be comparatively free from danger
of the pursuing savages. They had made rather slow
progress, for one of the men was suffering from rheumatism in one of his knbes, and one of Paull's feet
was quite as much disabled by his accidentally stepping on a hot spade which some of the men were
using (in the afternoon of the 5th) for baking bread
in preparation for the retreat of that evening.
On the following day (June 7th) the party continued on the same course, crossed the waters of the
tributaries of the Muskingum about noon, and at their
camp of the same night cooking the flesh of a fawn
which they had been fortunate enough to catch during the day, this being the second meal that they had
eaten since leaving Battle Island. On their march of
this day the man afflicted with rheumatism had fallen
out, and the party now numbered but six.
Danger was now before them. They started on
their way at daybreak in the morning of the 8th, and
had Inade some nine or ten miles' progress, when, at
about nine o'clock in the forenoon, they fell into an
ambuscade of Shawanese Indians, who had followed
their trail from the Plains. The savages fired on them
and two of the men fell. Paull ran for his life and
made his escape, notwithstanding his burned foot, but
Slover and the other two men were taken prisoners
and conducted back to the Shawanese towns.
Paull in his flight was followed by two Indians, but
he felt that his life was at stake, and strained his
limbs to their utmost speed, regardless of the pain to
his disabled foot. His pursuers found that he was
gaining on them and fired after him, but their shots
passed harmlessly by. He soon came to the bluff
bank of a small stream, and unhesitatingly leaped
down. The savages came up to the bank, but there
gave up the pursulit. He soon discovered that he was
no longer followed, but he was still very cautious in
his movements, using every precaution to cover his
trail. That night he slept in the hollow trunk of a
fallen tree.
From this time he pursued his way unmolested.
Passing down Sugar Creek, a tributary of the Muskingum, he came to the main stream at a place where
it was too deep to ford, which compelled him to
change his course up the river to a shallow place,
where he crossed in safety and with ease. Near
by this crossing was an old Indian camp, "where
there were a large number of empty kegs and barrels
106HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY. PENNSYLVANIA.
dating March 31, 1860. Next in the pastoral office
was the Rev. William P. Fortney, who assumed that
relation March 19, 1876, and was succeeded, April 8,
1877, by the Rev. John Williams, who was the pastor
for upwards of three years. The present pastor, the
Rev. Jaines K. Brown, has served since July 17, 1880.
The church has a membership of nearly one hundred, and notwithstanding the many removals is in a
fairly flourishing condition. It has contributed some
useful members to the ministry, and has within its
bounds the Revs. Francis M. Cunningham and John
Williams, pastors of neighboring churches. The
house of worship is at Falls City, and was built in
1837, through the efforts of Abner Mitchell, David
Briner, and David Mitchell as a committee. It is a
plain frame, and having recently been repaired, well
serves the purpose for which it was erected.
MOUNT HOPE CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
Upwards of thirty years ago meetinigs of this religious sect were held at the stone school-house In the
Kentucky District by the Rev. A. G. Osborne and
others, and from a series of services held there by
the former sprang the congregation which now bears
the name of Mount Hope. The early membership
embraced the names of Joseph Price, Cuthbert Wiggins, Greenbury Bosley, Harvey Morris, and most of
the members of their families. Later the number
was augmented by the addition of William Stull aind
wife, William D. Williams, his wife and several
children, J. H. Wiggins and family, the total membership being about twenty. For a number of years
meetings were held in school-houses, under the ministerial direction of the Revs. A. J. Swayne, J. S. Gibson, J. P. Beard, and other clergymen, sent hither by
the Presbytery, who served this field. in connection
with other appointments, and for the past four years
the pulpit has been supplied by the Revs. Coulter,
Gibson, Bailey, Howard, Melville, and at preseht by
Rev. James P. Beard. The growth of the village of
Falls City caused the congregation to look to that
place as the point where should be erected their house
of worship. Accordingly, about 1873, meetings were
held in the Baptist Church of that place, and soon
thereafter a board of trustees was selected, composed
of C. W. Saylor, Morris Morris, and D. W. Williams,
who purchased a fine lot near the centre of the village, on which the building was to be erected. In
about a year more the house was completed, and was
formally dedicated by the Rev. J. H. Coulter, of
Brownsville. It is a frame building of respectable
proportions, and has an inviting appearance. The
congregation has not largely increased in membership, but has generally maintained regular services.
The ruling elders of the church have been Harvey
Morris, Jonathan Bisel, and C. W. Saylor. In the
summer a Sabbath-school, supported by the community at large, is maintained in this hlouse, and had
for its last superintendent George W. Moon.
MEADOW RUN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
Soon after 1800 the Methodist itinerants sought to
establish a church in the township, holding meetinigs
at the house of Moses Mercer, and at other hospitable mountain homes, and these efforts were rewarded
by the accession of a few members to the faith, although not of sufficient number to form a class.
Hence but occasional services were held until about
1830, when Mr. Elizabeth Potter, a member of the
Methodist Church, moved to the Belle Grove neighborhood, and at her house preaching was again established. The class formed about this time had
among its members Mrs. Potter and daughters, Westell Holland, and a few others, who soon joined as
the fruits of a revival, among them being Reuben
Leonard and wife. After 1840 the meetings were
held at school-houses about once every three weeks,
and generally on week-days. Among the preachers
of this period were the Revs. McGowan, Sharp, Swazie, Tipton, White, and many others whose names
have passed out of the recollection of the present generation, and no church records are accessible.
In 1860, while the Rev. Joseph Hill was the
preacher in charge, the Meadow Run meeting-house
was erected, largely through the efforts of Joseph
Williams, at that time a resident of this locality, three
miles south from Falls City, and in 1880 it was under
the trusteeship of George Potter. The members of
the church are about twenty in number. The church
at present belongs to the Springfield Circuit, of which
the Rev. J. J. Davis is the preacher in charge, and
which embraces also the churches at Springfield,
Mill Run, Sansom Chapel, Sandy Creek, and Tinker's
Ridge. It previously belonged to Smithfield, Addison, Uniontown, and other circuits. The Rev. A. P.
Leonard, of the Pittsburgh Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, originated from this society,
which, though weak in numbers, has some active,
faithful workers. Benjamin Leonard was for many
years the superintendent of a Sunday-school which is
at present in charge of Arthur Potter, and which is
usually attended by about sixty scholars.
THE SUGAR-LOAF CHRISTIAN CHURCH.
In the early part of the present century this denomination (New Lights.) held meetings in the township at the house of Thomas Mitchell, who was one
of their chief members; but after his removal to the
West the feeble interest manifested in maintaining
these meetings was allowed wholly to decline, and
years elapsed before mneetings were again held. Some
time about 1850 this faith was again proclaimed in
the southeastern part of the township with so much
success that a promising congregation was formed
under the preaching of the Rev. Mr. Four. It embraced members from the Gilmore, Morrison, Jones,
Lytle, and Hall families, with others, to the number
of thirty or more. A house of worship being now
needed, the citizens of that part of Stewart united to
P-8c)TYrONE'-- TPPER AND LOWER TOWNSIHIPS.
build one, which was completed in the fall of 18556.
Although occupied by this and other denominations
for religious purposes it has never been fully finished,
and at present is somewhat out of repair. The
preachers of this church who followed the Rev. Four
were the Revs. Barney, Jennings, Kibler, Swaynse,
and several others, but lately the denomination has
not maintained regular services, and consequently
the work has much declined. Noting this condition,
the Church of God (Winebrennarians) began preaching here, and have succeeded in gathering a considerable membership. Among their ministers were
the Revs. Long, Craft, and Bardlebaugh. The members at present adhering number fourteen.
Lately the Rev. C. E. Simmons, of the Methodist
Church South, began preaching at this place and organized a small class, while ministers of other denominations also occasionally hold services here, but
without gaining a numerous following.
SCHOOLS.
The recent formation of thetownship precludes the
giving of any early statistics pertaining to the public
schools, and the mountainous condition of the country has somewhat retarded the cause of education.
Since the organization of Stewart the following-named
persons have been elected school directors of the
township:
1857.-David Fulton, A. E. Mason.
1858.-Samuel Potter, James M. Dixon.
1859.-Edward Liston, James H. Mitchell, Stephen K. Brown.
1860.-David Woodmansee, Robert Cunningham.
1861.-Reuben Thorpe, David Fulton.
1862.-S. C. Skinner, Eli Tannehill.
1863.-H. M. Corriston, Cyrus Edmundson, David Woodmansee.
1864.-James Morrison, Elijah Harbaugh, John Wiggins.
1865.-Samuel C. Price, Joseph Leonard, A. R. Boyd.
1866.-Oliver Sprowl, David F. Pickard, William D. Williams.
1867.-David Morrison, Cyrus Edmundson, W. H. Carrolton.
1868.-William S. Griffith, Ross Morrison, Leonard Shipley.
1869.- George P. Potter, Paul Stull, Thomas Dalzell, Charles
Miner, Leonard Shipley.
1870.-Milton Shaw, Elisha Taylor, Emanuel Bisel.
1872.-Robert Hagan, Porter Craig, Basil Brownfield, Christopher Riffle.
1873.-F. M. Morrison, F. M. Cunningham.
1874.-D. K. Wade, Patton Rush.
1875.-Joseph Williams, George Smith, Henry Collins.
1876.-Isaiah Collins, Harrison H. Hall.
1877.-Reuben H. Leonard, G. N. Anderson, F. T. Browning.
1878.-Paul Stull, E. D. Shipley.
1879.-Jehu Bowen, D. Morrison, T. L. Butler.
1880.--J. H. Shaefer, C. W. Saylor, G. D. Livingston.
1881.--D. B. Brady, Francis Morrison, David Woodmansee.
In 1881 the township embraced the districts
locally named Whig Corner, Mountain, Egypt, SugarLoaf, Belle Grove, Briner's, Kentucky, Green Brier,
and Falls City. Some of them were provided with
comfortable school-houses years ago, while others will
doubtless soon be supplied in this respect. One of
the oldest and best schools was taught in the Belle
Grove District soon after the passage of the common
school law. The first house was near the present
building, and was of logs, rather rudely finished.
Amos Potter was an early teacher in a cabin below
Potter's mill. In the regular school building, Oliver
Sprowl was one of the first teachers. The school has
produced a number of teachers, among whom are remembered Oliver Gunnells, Browne Hayden, Thomas
Hart, and Samuel Price. The next good school was
opened in the Kentucky District, which had one of
the best school buildings of that period.
TYRONE-UPPER AND LOWER TOWNSHIPS.
As Upper and Lower Tyrone have existed as separate townships for less than five years, while the territory composing both had previously remuained undivided in old Tyrone for considerably more than a
century,' it is evidently the most proper, as well as
the most convenient, way to write the history of the
two as that of Tyrone township-with reference to
early settlements and some other matters-down to
the time of their separate organization. This course
will therefore be pursued in the following pages.
Tyrone township at the time of its division (in 1877)
was bounded on the north by Jacob's Creek, separating it from Westmoreland County; on the east by
Bullskin and Connellsville townships; on the south
by the Youghiogheny River, and on the west by that
river and the township of Perry. The eastern part
of the old township is now Upper Tyrone, and the
western part Lower Tyrone. The division line between the two new townships starts fromn the Youghiogheny River, a short distance below Broad Ford,
and runrs in a northwardly direction, with one angle,
to Jacob's Creek. This line will be found more fully
described in the order of court (hereafter quoted)
erecting the two townships.
1 Before the erection of Fayette County, Tyrone was one of the townships of Westmoreland, and prior to the erection of that county it existed under the same name as one of the townships of Bedford.
-   0       PI~a   -   --
783HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
The principal streams are the Youghiogheny River
and Jacob's Creek, forming respectively the southern
and northern boundaries of the townships; Broad
Ford Run, which flows in a southerly direction through
Upper Tyrone, and enters the Youghiogheny at Broad
Ford; and Hickman's Run, which flows nearly in the
same direction through Lower Tyrone, and enters the
river a short distance above Dawson village. Several
smaller streams enter the river at points below in
Lower Tyrone. Along the margins of the river and
Jacob's Creek are narrow bottoms, from which the
land rises in both directions to a high ridge which
extends in an eastward and westward direction
through the central portions of both townships.
Upper Tyrone is entirely underlaid with coal, which
is mined in immense quantities, and largely used in
the manufacture of coke, as will be noticed hereafter.
The same is the case in the eastern part of Lower
Tyrone, but the greater portion of that township lies
upon the "barren measures," the outcrop ceasing at
the mouth of Hickman's Run, and only reappearing
several miles farther down the river, and beyond the
limits of the township. Both townships have excellent railway facilities, as will be noticed elsewhere.
By the census of 1880 the population of Upper Tyrone was 3306 (largely made up of miners), and of
Lower Tyrone 1976, including Jimtown.
EARLY SETTLEMENTS.
In the surveys of land located in 1769 in the territory now known as Tyrone township there are but
four entries. One of the first was made by Alexander
Vance, who took up three hundred acres, upon which
a warrant was issued April 3, 1769, but which was
not surveyed until April 11, 1788, nearly twenty years
later.
John Vance, the father of Moses Vance, settled
upon a tract of land here in 1766, still his name does
not appear among these first surveys, and the land
which he then occupied was first warranted Sept. 4,
1790, to Benjamin Whalley, and surveyed November
18th of the same year. At that time the property was
named "Federal Hill." John Vance, whose ancestors came from Scotland and Ireland, was himnself a
native of Virginia, from whence he came in the year
mentioned in company with Col. William Crawford,
his sister's husband. His wife was Margaret White,
whom he married in Virginia, and with whom he
lived until 1772, when he died, and was buried in the
Vance cemetery.
The family of John and Margaret Vance numbered
six children-David, William, Moses, Jane, Elizabeth, and Maria. After her husband's death, Margaret Vance kept the original property for many
years, in the mean time caring for and bringing up
her family of little children. Among the records of
property is one where, under date of Jan. 10, 1781,
Margaret Vance, widow of John Vance, reported the
list of her registered slaves,-"one female, named
Priscilla, aged twenty-seven years, and two males,
Harry and Daniel, aged respectively seven and three
years." Priscilla and Harry afterwards became the
property of the daughter, Jane Vance, who was married to Benjamin Whalley. The son David settled in
Kentucky, and William remained on the old place
until middle life, when he died, never having married. Moses Vance also stayed upon the homestead,
and when, in 1790, the land upon which his father's
family had lived so long was warranted to Benjamin
Whalley, two hundred and fifty acres of it was transferred to him, and upon that he resided until his
death.
Moses Vance's wife Was Elizabeth, a daughter of
Jacob Strickler, and they reared a family of seven
sons and two daughters,-John, Jacob, Samuel,
Francis, William, Crawford, George, Margaret, and
Eliza. John still lives on the old Gainer place,
Jacob is in Lower Tyrone, and William's home is in
Connellsville. Before leaving his native town, Tyrone, William held the office of justice of the peace
for some years. George Vance removed to I!linois,
and Samuel, Francis, Crawford, and Margaret are
dead.
April 3, 1769, Absalom Kent took up, by warrant
No. 1179, a piece of land in this section comprising
791 acres, which was surveyed April 11, 1788. In the
year 1800 he owned the John Stewart tract, called
"Pleasant Garden." The township records show Mr.
Kent to have been auditor during the years 1793-96
and 1800.  He and his descendants have now all
passed away, and the family has become extinct in
this section.
Benjamin Whalley, who warranted the tract of
land called "Federal Hill," settled in this section at
a very early date, and was among the number that
ownled slaves. He was an officer in the Revolutionary war. His son, Capt. James Whalley, one of his
large family of six sons and six daughters, was born
at "Federal Hill," March 20, 1788. In the war of
1812, Capt. James Whalley took out a company of
soldiers from Connellsville in Col. Robert Patterson's
regiment, and later went out in the Northwestern expedition on the Indian frontier. After his return
home he removed to Uniontown, living there until
his death, May 22, 1869.
In 1770, Moses Smith warranted two tracts of
land, containing respectively 178 and 164 acres, in
Tyrone. It was about this time that the Cunningham,
Torrance, and other families came here, and the
Smiths were classed with the settlers of that day.
They continued to live upon the farms they had
located, and in 1774 became connected with the Tyrone Church, which was situated very near their property. In 1800, William Smith was chosen one of the
trustees of the church. At the present time none of
the family remain in the township, and the land has
passed into other hands.
Like very many other of the pioneers of this town
I
I  
784TYRONE-UPPER AND LOWER TOWNSHIPS.
ship, Barnett Cunningham came here and settled on
land by tomahawk improvemnent. His advent was in
1770, and he held his land for the first seventeen
years of his residence under that right. A part of
the land is now in the possession of his descendants.
In 1787 he took a warrant for three hundred and
sixteen acres, with allowance, paying for it twelve
pounds six shillings, and received a patent therefor
in 1795. In 1794, Mr. Cunningham was superintendent of highways, and in 1808 he died, in the seventythird year of his age. His children and grandchildren all settled near his early home. April 18, 1829,
Barnett Cunningham's daughter Mary received a
warrant for one hundred and eighty-three and threequarters acres of land, and Feb. 1, 1831, his son Joseph received a warrant for one hundred and fifty
and three-quarters acres, both tracts being surveyed
March 22, 1831. Joseph's wife was Agnes Huston.
His land was at the head-waters of Smilie's Run, and
there he spent his life, leaving two sons, Joseph and
William. Joseph, Jr., settled upon his father's farm,
and married a daughter of Matthew Gaut. He (Joseph Cunningham) was justice of the peace for many
years, and also county commissioner. His children
were two sons also, Matthew and William, the former
succeeding his father upon the old farm. Matthew
Cunningham's children are Ezekiel, Sample, and
Jennings, and a daughter who married James Warden. William Cunningham, son of Joseph, and
grandson of Barnett Cupningham, sold his portion
of the old farm, and entered business at Connellsville. Afterwards he returned to his home in Tyrone
and died here, leaving a large family, most of them
still residing in Fayette County.
James Torrance was a half- brother of Barnett
Cunningham. They were both natives of Ireland,
emnigrating from that country to Peach Bottom Valley, on the Susquehanna River, and from there to
Tyrone township. Torrance came about 1772, making a tomahawk improvement, as did Cunningham,
for which he received a patent in 1795. During the
years of 1789-97 and 1800, James Torrance officiated as township auditor, and his name appears upon
the books as late as 1808. His family was quite
large, and when he died, in 1826, he was eighty-three
years old. Of his children, Hugh, the eldest, settled
on a part of the old farm; Cunningham, a halfbrother of Hugh, took another portion; and Joseph
Huston Torrance, another half-brother, took the remainder of the hominestead, and the part upon which
stood the old log house. This he soon replaced with
a handsome frame building. Hugh Torrance married
a Miss McKee, of McKeesport, and together they
reared a family 6f twelve children. Of these, Hugh,
Jr., lived in his native town until he reached manhood, when he removed West. Robert engaged in
mercantile business at Connellsville, and David settled on his father's farm. He is the only son left in
the township. Cunningham Torrance's family all
emigrated to the West, settling in Iowa, and his land,
which was first sold to William Homer, has passed
to strangers. The children of Joseph Huston Torrance were twelve, but only four are left,-Joshua,
Samuel, Carrie, and James. They all live within or
near Tyrone, Joshua occupying the homestead.
John Stephenson and Mary Stephenson came to
Tyrone about the time the families of Vance, Cunningham, and Torrance did, and settled on land very
near theirs, John receiving a warrant for seventysix and one-quarter acres, and Mary for three hundred
acres.
One of the earliest of the pioneers of this section
was Valentine Crawford, a brother of Col. William
Crawford. He was in correspondence with Gen.
Washington during the time from 1773 to 1776 in
reference to the Washington Bottom lands. As nearly
all his letters were dated at Jacob's Creek, they
show his residence to have been in this county at that
time, still it is known that for a while at least he
lived on the Westmoreland County side.
Near the year 1772, Capt. Joseph Huston, with his
family, came from Peach Bottom, Va., to this vicinity,
and settled upon a tract of land containing two hundred and seventy-seven acres, for which he took out a
warrant in 1786. His wife was Margery Cunningham, the eldest sister of Barnett Cunningham, who
followed them thither within a year or two. Upon
the land which he located Capt. Huston built a cabin
for his family, wherein they lived prosperous and
contented.  In 1782 the father accompanied Col.
Crawford upon his expedition which proved so disastrous. Before leaving home he gave to the township a piece of land which has always been known as
the Cochran graveyard. Soon after returning from
the Crawford expedition Capt. Huston died, and his
remains were the first to be carried to the cemetery
for which he had made provision, and where so many
of those ancient families now lie.
William  Huston, the oldest son of Capt. Joseph
Huston, was born east of the mountains in 1754. He
was but a boy of eighteen when his father crossed the
range to make his home upon the western side. April
14,1791, he warranted twenty-seven acres of land adjoining that of his father, the survey being made
April 30th of the same year. William Huston had
two sons, William, Jr., and Joseph, who both lived
and died upon the old place. William Huston, Jr.,
had three sons,-Lewis, Eli, and Boyd. The first two
are still living in Tyrone township. Joseph Hu
the second son of William, Sr., had a daughter ers
who became the wife of James Cochran, usually calle
"Little Jim," and their home is upon the old Huston
homestead. John'Huston, a son of old Capt. Joseph,
was born in 1757, while the family still lived upon the
east side of the mountains. He was at one time a
resident of Dunbar township, afterwards he kept a
tavern in Uniontown, and later went to Kentucky,
where he died. His son, John, Jr., or Judge Huston,
s785I  IST rORlY OF FAYETTE COUNT'Y, 1'ENNSYLVANIA.
was born in Dunbar, and went to Kentucky with his
father. When nineteen years old he returned to Tyrone, his father's home, and entered the employ of
his uncle Joseph, as clerk in the Huston Forge and
Old Redstone Furnace. He afterwards became possessor of the property, and conducted it until his death.
Agnes, a daughter of Capt. Huston, was born in 1760,
and was the wife of Joseph Cunningham. They lived
and died in the town of Tyrone, leaving many descendants. Sarah, another daughter, married Mr.
Nesbitt, and with him removed to Kentucky. Joseph
Huston, son of Capt. Joseph Huston, was born in
1763. During his younger years he led a roving life,
but after reaching maturity settled in Uniontown,
where he built the first brick house the place boasted,
and where he was elected sheriff of Fayette County
in 1790. Later he purchased land on Redstone Creek,
in North Union, and built a forge. In 1804 he became proprietor of the Redstone Furnace, which he
operated until his death in 1824. His wife was a
daughter of John Smilie.
William Chain was an early resident in Tyrone,
settling here at the time the families of Vance, Cunningham, and Torrance did, and living two miles
west of them. He had three sons,-Robert, John,
and William. Robert lived on the homestead, John
very near him, and William went into Westmoreland
County. Hugh Chain, a son of one of these brothers,
built the Chain mills, situated on Jacob's Creek.
William Chain, Sr., was auditor in Tyrone in 1789,'94,'96,'98.
The land on which John Torrance located in 1780
was a tract of 193 acres, which is now the farm of
David Galley. The warrant for it was made Feb. 11,
1790, and the survey but thirteen days later. John
Torrance's sons were James, Barnett, and Joseph,
the last named having served three years (1787,'88,
and'89) as sheriff of Fayette County.
James Blackstone was a native of Maryland, and
must have located in Fayette County prior to 1784,
as in that year he is recorded as "appraiser of damages." He located upon the land called "The Summit," in Tyrone township, which now belongs to
William and Presley Moore. April 18, 1798, James
Blackstone was appointed a justice of the peace. His
family consisted of one son and three daughters. Two
of the daughters married James and Thomas Hurst,
leaving near Mount Pleasant, and the other became
the wife of Judge Boyd Mercer, of Washington
County. The son, James, Jr., removed to Connellsville in the year 1803, building for his home a brick
house on Water Street, which is now known as the
Dean House. He also carried on a general store in
this building. Of his two children, both sons,
Henry, the oldest, is a civil engineer, now in the employ of the government. James, the younger, has
lived upon a farm near Connellsville for the last forty
years. The land which was originally taken up by
the elder Blackstone, spoken of as the property of
I
William and Presley Moore, came to these gentlemen through their grandmother, Mrs. James Hurst,
the daughter to whom Blackstone gave it by will.
The 208 acres of land adjoining the Blackstone property was taken up by Joseph Copper before 1786. He
afterwards sold the property and emigrated West.
The Stewart family are found by the records to
have been connected with the history of the Tyrone
Church some ten years prior to the date of theirland
patents. A deed is upon record reciting that on Nov.
19, 1785, Edward Rice, of Tyrone, sold to Jacob
Stewart, of the county of York, Pa., three hundred
and fifty-three acres of land,-consideration five hundred pounds. On May 12, 1787, Jacob Stewart received a patent for three hundred and ninety-four
acres. The tract of three hundred and fifty-three
acres was purchased by Edward Rice of John Stephens, April 23, 1773, and Dec. 22, 1791, Jacob Stewart sold the entire three hundred and ninety-four
acres to Jacob Strickler. Jacob Stewart was a brother
of Abraham Stewart, the father of Andrew Stewart,
who was generally known as "Tariff Andy."
The ancestors of the Stewarts of Fayette County
lived among the Grampian Hills of Scotland, whence
the grandfather of Jacob and Abraham Stewart emigrated to America, and settled first in New Jersey,
removing afterwards to York County, Pa. In that
county the father of Jacob Stewart married a German woman named Snyder. They had four sonsJacob, John, Abraham, and David-and three daughters. They were all educated in German schools.
All settled in Fayette County except John, who settled on the Muskingum, in Ohio, and Barbara, who
married William Morris, and remained at York, Pa.
In 1791, when Judge Nathaniel Breading contracted with the government to survey the "depreciated lands" up the Alleghany River, he employed
Jacob and Abraham Stewart to make the survey.
They were occupied on the work all the summer of
that year, and in the following winter Jacob completed the calculations and plans. In 1797 he, with
a man named Mowry, established the first newspaper
in Fayette County, the Fayette Gazette and Union Advertiser, published at Uniontown. Jacob Stewart was
never married. He was a justice of the peace for
many years, being first appointed to that office March
31, 1787. The people of Tyrone township and the
vicinity considered him an excellent adviser, and
many disputes which would otherwise have gone into
the courts were adjusted amicably through his influence and arbitration. David Stewart, brother of
Jacob and Abraham, also lived for some years in Tyrone, but removed to Connellsville, where he followed
the trade of cabinet-maker, and where he resided
until the time of his death. He. left two sons, Abraham and Hamilton. Two of the sisters of David and
Jacob Stewart married John and Jacob Strickler.
They both lived in Tyrone and reared large families.
Philip Meason received (Oct. 3,1785) a warrant for
786'I'YRONE-UPPER AND LOWER Tg)WNSHIPS.
two hundred and seventy-two acres of land lying in
Tyrone township. It was surveyed Jan. 14, 1786, by
the name of "Union' and a patent granted upon it
March 17, 1786. Mr. Meason disposed of this property Oct. 14, 1797, to Abraham Newcomer and Andrew Schallenberger. May 4,1799, these men divided
the tract, and Schallenberger conveyed one hundred
and a half acres to Philip Galley.
John Smilie took up, by warrant dated in 1786, a
tract of land, which was surveyed to him in the same
year under the name of" Prospect." This tract con-tained three hundred and sixty-eight acres, and in-.cluded the site of the present borough of Dawson.
This land, which he left by will to his son, was sold in
December, 1852, by Robert P. Smilie, trustee of John
Smilie. It was divided into three parcels, of which
one was purchased by Stewart Strickler, and the
-others by George Dawson, of Brownsville, father of
the Hon. John L. Dawson. Through this tract the
route of the Pittsburgh and Connellsville Railroad
was located, and on it was established "Dawson's.Station," around which there grew up a village, which
was afterwards incorporated as the borough of Dawson, an account of which will be found farther on in
this history of the township.
The dwelling of John Smilie was on the hill back
of the site of the present town. One of his daughters
became the wife of Joseph Huston, a well-known
ironmaster. Another married Mr. Bryson, and, as
his widow, was again married, becoming the wife of
George Dawson. John Smilie was one of the most
prominent men of Fayette County in public life, and
a more extended sketch of his career will be found
on another page of this work.
Abraham Strickler was one of the early settlers in
Tyrone, taking up by warrant 2041 acres of land.
On the 22d of December, 1791, Jacob Strickler bought.of Jacob Stewart, his brother-in-law, a tract of land
containing 394 acres, whereon he lived and brought
up his large family of children. His daughter Elizabeth married Moses Vance, and his daughter Mary
became the wife of Alexander Long. Jacob, his son,
after his marriage settled on Redstone Creek, near
the Sharpless paper-mills, but afterwards came to'Tyrone, and settled upon the farm now owned by the
Hickman Coke-Works. His son Stewart lived upon
-the place many years after his father's death, and
first established the coke-works there. Stewart Strickler married a daughter of John Newcomer, Sr., and
is now in Tennessee, where he removed some twelve
years ago. David Strickler, another soil of Jacob,
was a cabinet-maker.
Valentine Secrist, Oct. 5,1790, took up by warrant
198 acres of land, which was surveyed to him Feb. 11,
11791. This tract was in what is now Lower Tyrone,
and is situated on Jacob's Creek, adjoining the Perry
line. About the same time he took up other lands in
Perry township. He had lived upon them for years,
and they are still in possession of his descendants.
Matthew Gaut must have located near Jacob's
Creek, in what is now Lower Tyrone, some time before 1793, as we find him mentioned as auditor of
accounts in that year. His sons were James, John,
M%tthew, Joseph, and Samuel. The daughters after
marriage were Mrs. Love, Mrs. Espey, and Mrs. Cunningham. All the sons save Joseph early emigrated
to the West. Joseph remained all his life upon the
homestea#, and died there. He had a family of seven
children, viz.: Matthew, a physician in New York;
Robert, a physician in Westmoreland Cojinty; and
Williamn, who kept the home-farm. The daughters,
four in number, married George and Henry Newmeyer, John Gallatin, and David Sherbondy. They
all lived in Tyrone township, where their children
and grandchildren now reside.
John W., Christopher, and Martin Stauffer were
natives of Tyrone, their father having settled here
early in life. John W. owned for a time a grist-mill
at Scottdale, on the Westmoreland side of Jacob's
Creek, but returned again to this township. Christopher lived in Upper Tyrone, between Jacob's Creek
and Bullskin. Martin also settled in Tyrone, near
the Valley Works, where he passed his whole life.
Martin Stauffer's sons were John G., of Mount Pleasant, and Abraham, who settled near his father, about
a mile below the iron bridge, where he lived and died,
and where his son Joseph now lives. John W. Stauffer's daughter married Solomon Keister, who owns a
grist-mill on Jacob's Creek, and is also interested
with James Cochran in the coke-worts.
James Sterrit was early in the township, and in
1797 was township auditor, still the name of Sterrit does not appear upon the books after 1801. He
lived upon the land now owned by the heirs of Alexander Boyd. The daughter of James Sterrit became
the wife of James Power, of the family of Rev. James
Power.  
Oct. 14, 1797, Abraham Newcomer and Andrew
Schallenberger together purchased a tract of land in
this section. Newcomer, who was a native of Germany, lived and died upon his portion of the farm,
as did his son Uriah, and their descendants still own
it. John, another son of Abraham, purchased the
property known as the Smith place, but later sold it
to Mr. Overholt and moved West.
Christian and John Newcomer came to Tyrone be,fore 1800 with their father, who was also born in
Germany. Christian bought the property formerly
known as "Poverty Neck," which was the bottomland on the north bank of Youghiogheny River.
Christian's son Jonathan now lives at Connellsville,
and his daughter lives in the West. David Newcoiner, Christian's son by a second marriage, lives on
a part of the Jacob Newcomer tract. John Newcomer, the brother of Christian, purchased a farm of
200 acres near Hickman's Run, and quite near the
Tyrone Church. This tract was originally patented
by John Stewart, Oct. 3, 1787, under the title of
787HISTORY OF JFAYETTE COTJNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
"Pleasant Garden," and in 1800 was. the property of
Absalom Kent. John Newcomer's children were
nine,-four boys and five girls. Jacob, the oldest,
lived until his death upon the homestead, which was
then sold, and is now owned by E. H. Reid. )r.
George Newcomer, of Connellsville, is a son of Jacob
Newcomer. Of the other sons of John Newcomer,
John, Jr., also lives at Connellsville; Joseph is a
resident of Dayton, Ohio; and Samuel iAin Westmoreland County.  Polly, one of the daughters,
married Stewart Strickler, and lives in Tennessee;
Barbara married Joseph Strickler, and resides in
South Union; Catharine, who was the wife of John
Newcomer, and Sarah, who married Thomas Boyd,
are both dead.
Philip Galley was a native of Lancaster County,
Pa., and went from there to Frederick County, Md.
In 1799 he purchased one hundred and a half acres
of land of Andrew Schallenberger, in this township,
a portion of the original Meason warrant, and immediately after his marriage in Lancaster County came
here to reside. His family of eight sons and three
daughters all reached maturity, married, and reared
families of their own in and near Tyrone. The
daughters were Catherine, who married Jacob Smnith,
of Connellsville; Elizabeth, who became Mrs. Jesse
Oglevee; and Barbara, the youngest, who married
Henry Snyder, of Westmoreland County. Philip
Galley first lived on the land now belonging to
the Morgan Coal- and Coke-Works. He was the
first fruit-raiser in this region, and continued to be
largely engaged in the cultivation of fruit-trees until
1835. In 1820 he sold his farm to his eldest son,
Peter, and purchased that of Joseph Huston, in'the
township of Franklin, living there until his death,
which occurred in 1852. This farm, lying on the
river, and on the line between the townships of Franklin and Dunbar, is now owned by his son Henry.
John Galley, another son of Philip, lives on Dickinson Ran, in Dunbar township, his property joining
that of his brother Henry. Peter lived and died upon
a part of the old homestead in Tyrone. Jacob, a
fourth son, had the other portion, upon which he
lived and followed the business of a weaver. Below
is a notice of that business, which appeared in the
Genius of Liberty Oct. 9, 1827, which is of interest in
this connection:
"Jacob Galley informs his friends that he has commenced the business of coverlet-weaving at his residence in Tyrone township, one mile from the Youghiogheny River, near the road leading from the Broad
Ford to Hurst's mill on Jacob's Creek, where he is
prepared to weave all kinds of coverlets, carpeting,
and table linen, according to the most fashionable
patterns."
In 1829, Jacob Galley was killed at Broad Ford by
the overturning of a boat. Of his family, his daughter
married Henry Newcomer, of Tyrone township, and
moved to Missouri, where she now lives; David lived
and died upon a portion of the old Matthew Gaut
tract, in Lower Tyrone; Samuel settled near Uniontown, where he lived for twentysyears, and then went
West and now resides in Nebraska; Jonathan lives
in German township, in this county; Abram, the
youngest of the family, lives on a farm adjoining
Henry Galley, in Franklin township.
Alexander Long and his wife, as early as 1800,.
lived on the land first patented by the Stevensons,
and now owned by the Tinstmans. Of their large
family of children only one, the daughter Mary, is
living at this time. She married James B. Hurst,
and after his death became the wife of James Cun--
ningham, a grandson of Barnett Cunningham. Jacob, one of the sons, lived on Redstone Creek, near
Brownsville, but afterwards returned to his father's
place. David, another son, went to Clarion County
and died there.
Samuel Cochran was born in Chester County, Pa.,.
and lived until manhood in the eastern part of the
State. His profession was that of a surveyor, and he
served in the war of the Revolution. At the close of
the war he removed to Chambersburg, Pa., where he
married Esther, a daughter of Daniel Johns.' When
Samuel Cochran came to this section he lived for a.
time on the Washington Bottoms, in Perry township.
After a while he purchased in Tyrone township, of
Capt. Joseph Huston, three hundred acres of land,.
on which he built a log cabin, the usual style of a
home at that day. In 1811 he built the large stone
house still standing upon the old place, where he
dwelt the remainder of his days. By will the property
of Samuel Cochran passed to two of his sons, Mordecai
and James, the homestead part falling to Mordecai..
Upon it he built a large brick house, and was one of
the first to engage in the manufacture of coke, which
business has since increased to such magnitude. He,
died Dec. 29, 1880, aged eighty-three years. The
other children of Samuel Cochran were James,
Samuel, Jr., John, Thomas, Isaac, and a daughter,.
Esther, who married John Strickler. James was a
bachelor, who lived in Tyrone all his life, dying ir
August, 1875, at the great age of ninety-four years.
Samuel, Jr., went to Beaver County, in this State,,
where his family are now numerous. John settled
on Jacob's Creek, in Westmoreland County, at Chain's.
Mills, and many of his family are still there. Thomas
married and remained in Tyrone, dying when about
forty years old. His immediate family have all
moved West. Isaac was a farmer in Tyrone, and his.
sons were Samuel, Isaac, Jr., Sample, James, and
John M.
Mordecai Cochran, Jr., a son of Mordecai, Sr., and
grandson of old Samuel Cochran, is a lawyer in
Uniontown. James W., called "'Big Jim," is another son, who lives in Tyrone and is quite exten1 A brother of Mordecai Johns, who settled in South Union township..
Gideon, a son of Mordecai, was sheriff of Fayette in 1832.
I
1.188TYRONE-UPPER AND LOWER TOWNSHIPS.
sively engaged in the manufacture of brick. James
Cochran, a son of Isaac, and familiarly termed "Little
Jim," married Kersey, a daughter of Joseph Huston.
He owns eleven hundred acres of valuable coal lands
on the west side of the Youghiogheny River, and for
seventeen years has been largely engaged in the development of the coal and coke interests of this vicinity. John M., his brother, made his home in
Mount Pleasant, where he died in May, 1880, leaving
a valuable coke property.
Joseph Martin, now eighty-foUr years old, lives in
Tyrone, about half a mile from the mouth of Laurel
Run. He came to this county when a young man,
locating for a time near East Liberty, and at that
time worked with Joseph McCoy in a sickle-factory.
In 1840 he purchased a farm in this town, where he
has since lived, and his family of children have all
settled near him.
Daniel McDonald was not one of the earliest settlers
in this township. His land was located on Smilie
Run, adjoining the farm of Squire Joseph Cunninghamn on the south. His children were Daniel, Margaret, and James. The latter lived upon the farm of
his father, and held the office of justice of the peace
for twenty-five years. In 1873 he was elected county
treasurer, but died during the first year of his incumbency. Daniel died young, and Margaret became
the wife of A. J. McGill, who owns a farm adjoining
the homestead. Malcolm McDonald, of Franklin
township, is a brother of Daniel McDonald, and
Mordecai and John K. McDonald, of Dawson, are
sons of Malcolm. In 1869, and again in 1872, John
K. McDonald was elected prothonotary of Fayette
County, serving both terms with credit and satisfaction to the people.
The f9llowihg list, taken from the assessment-rolls
of Tyrone for several years,-from  1787 to 1799, in..
clusive,-gives some idea of the business enterprises
of the township in that period, viz.:
1787.-J. Eager, grist-mill; Rebekah Hutchinson, distillery;
William Huston, distillery; Thomas Mounts, distillery;
Alexander McClintock, grist- and saw-mill; J. Strickler,
distillery.
1788.--Willliam Chain, Samuel Breden, Jasper Bredkour,
John Eager, David Mitchell, and J. Strickler were all
assessed on distilleries.
1789.--J. Eager, distillery, grist- and saw-mill; James Whitesides, William Gaut, James B. Coxton, distilleries.
1791.--Jacob Snider and David Mitchell, distilleries; Robert
Smith, grist- and saw-mill.
1799.--John Holker, furnace; Andrew Fernier, mill; Oliver
Montgomery, two mills; George Ruse, mill; Jacob Bowman, two mills; Jacob Strickler, mill (now Keister mill).
ERECTION OF TYRONE AS A TOWNSHIP OF FAYETTE COUNTY, CHANGES OF TERRITORY, AND
LIST OF OFFICERS.
Immediately after the annexation of territory
northeast of the Youghiogheny to Fayette County,
in 1784, the Court of Quarter Sessions at the March
term of that year took the following action in reference to the erection of Tyrone as a township of Fayette, viz.:
"In consequence of the late addition to this County
the Court divide the Township of Tyrone and part
of the Township of Donegal, annexed by that addition, into two Townships, as follows: A Township
to begin at the Broad ford on Youghiogeni river, and
by the new road from thence to Hannastown, to the
crossing of Jacob's Creek; thence by the said Creek
to the mouth thereof; thence by the River Youghiogeni to the beginning. To be hereafter known by
the name of Tyrone Township."
In 1839 a part of the territory of Tyrone was taken
off and given to Perry in the formation of the latter
township (see particulars in history of Perry). Subsequently (in 1845) a change was made in the boundary line between Tyrone and Perry. At the September term of court in 1842 there was presented "a
petition of sundry inhabitants of Perry township for
an alteration of the line between said township and
the township of Tyrone." On this petition an order
was issued appointing "viewers," who made their
final report to the court at the June term in 1845.
The cause of so long a delay does not appear on the
record, but the report is as follows:
"We, the undersigned viewers, aplpointed according to the
above order, met on the 8th day of January, 1845, and after
being duly qualified according to law, proceeded to view the
line proposed for an alteration in the above-named line between
the townships of Perry and Tyrone as near as possible so as
to embrace the whole of the school district specified in the
above order, viz.: Beginning at a point in Jacob's Creek, about
four rods above Turnbull's old mill,?on the land of Henry Sweitzer, running thence south five degrees east one hundred and
ninety perches to a point where the road from Robinrson's old
mill intersects thbe road from Perryopolis to Connellsville; thence
south twenty-five degrees west three hundred and twenty
perches to the margin of the Youghiogheny River at the Great
Falls of said river, near the foot of said falls, on the land of
Abraham Layton; thence up the said river to the mouth of
Virgin's Run, said run being the present dividing line between
the townships of Perry and Franklin. In testimony whereof
we have hereunto set our hands the date above written.
" WILLIAM DAVIDSON.
" WILLIAM ABRAHAM.
"JOHN H. TARR."
The record shows the following as the action of the court
upon the report: "And now, to wit, June 6, 1845, the above
report having been read at the times and in the manner prescribed by law, the court approve and confirm the same. and
order it to be entered of record."
The list of township officers of Tyrone for 1784 embraces the following: John Stewart, constable; Bernard Cunningham and Moses Smith, supervisors of
highways; Samuel Glasgow and William Huston,
overseers of the poor.
The list of 1785 shlows the following officers for
Tyrone and Bullskin, viz.: John White, constable;
Zachariah Connell and James Torrance, overseers of
789HISTORY OF FAYEITTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
the poor; Henry White and David Lindsey, supervisors of roads; Benjamin Wells and James Blackstone, appraisers of damages.
For several years after 1785 the jurisdiction of the
justices of the peace was Tyrbne and Bullskin. The
earliest justices for Tyrone of whom any record is
found were Jacob Stewart (term commenced March
3i, 1787) and James Blackstone, April 18, 1798.
After Blackstone's, the following names of justices
having jurisdiction in Tyrone prior to 1840 are gathered from records in the recorder's office, viz.:
Stewart H. Whitehill, Bullskin and Tyrone, Aug.
12, 1823; Hugh Torrance, Bullskin, Tyrone, and Connellsville, March 17, 1824; Herman Gebhart, Bullskin, Tyrone, and Connellsville, April 20, 1829;
Henry W. Lewis, Bullskin, Tyrone, and Connellsville, Aug. 16, 1831; Matthew Wray, Bullskin, Tyrone,
and Connellsville, May 4, 1837.
From the year 1840 the list is much more nearly
complete, but by Ino means entirely so, on account of
the obscurity of records and election returns. It is
as follows:
JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.
1840. Matthew Wray.
IHugh Chain.
1845. Matthew Wray.
Joseph Cunningham.
1850. James McDonald.
Matthew Wray.
1855. James McDonald.
John F. Hunt.
1856. John N. Strickler.
1857. William Vance.
1861. Isaac Covert.
Joshua Meredith.
1862. A. T. Hardy.
1865. James N. McDonald.
1866. George S. Griscom.
1867. John N. Stillwagon.
1872. W. H. Cotton.
1874. F. H. Miller.
1877. District No. 1, James
Wiley.
District No. 2, Lentellus
Cochran.
1878. District No. 1, Milton
Vance.
District No. 2, Thomas
H. Squibb.
ASSESSORS.
1840. Cunningham Torrance.
1841. John Strickler.
1842. James N. McDonald.
1843. Hugh Torrance.
1844. Ashford T. Hardy.
1845. W. W. Beam.
1846. Samuel Heath.
1847. Silas G. White.
1848. Elias Applebaugh.
1849. A. H. Stewart.
1850. David Golley.
1851. Robert P. Smiley.
1852. Joseph Strickler.
1853. Peter Newmyer.
1854. Ezekiel Sempler.
1855. John H. Wade.
1856. Arba Shallenberger.
1857. Samuel Gallatin.
]858. Samuel Porter.
1859. John Bassler.
1860. Matthew Cooley.
1861. William Vance.
1862. Robert F. Gaut.
1863. G. W. Sherrick.
1864. Walker Laughey.
1865. W. H. Cotton.
1866. William Huston.
1867. William Jones.
1868. Jacob McChain.
1869. Thomas Knight.
1870. Peter Newmyer.
1873. Irwin Cotton.
1874. P. F. Hough.
1875. District No. 1, William
Jones.
District No. 2, John
Laughey.
1876. District No. 1, G. W.
Strickler.
District No. 2, Samuel
Torrence.
1877. District No. 1, George
W. Strickler.
District No. 2, George
W. Strickler.
1878. District No. 1, John C.
Brownfield.
District No. 2, Lyman
Strickler.
FREEHOLDERS TO SETTLE PUBLIC ACCOUNTS.1
1789.-Benjamin Wells, Benjamin Whaley, James Torrance,
William Chain.
1792.-Samuel Glasgow, Absalom Kent, Williamn Huston, William Espy.
1793.-Absalom Kent, Samuel Glasgow, Matthew Gaut, Joseph
Trimble.
1794.-Matthew Gaut, Philip Lucas, William  Chain, James
Torrance.
1795.-Matthew Gaut, James L. Trimble, Basil Bowell, Thomas
Bowell.
1796.-William Chain, Samuel Cochran, Absalom Kent, James
Torrance.
1797.-Samuel Glasgow, James Torrance, James Sterrit, William Huston.
1798.-James L. Trimble, William  Chain, James Sterrit, Hesry
Strickler.
1800.-James L. Trimble, Absalom Kent, James Torrance,
James Blackstone.
1801. James Torrance.
James Sterrit.
James Gondie.
Jacob Strickler.
1802. Robert Reyburn.
Matthew Gaut.
Alexander Long.
Jacob Strickler.
1803-4. Moses Vance.
James Torrance.
Matthew Gaut.
Samuel Glasgow.
Henry Strickler.
James Torrance.
1805 James Cunninghan
Oliver Montgomery
John Reist.
William Espy.
1806. James Torrance.
John Reist.
William Espy.
Joseph Cunninghah
1807. Jamnes Torrance.
James Cunningham
William Espy.
Thomas Young.
Moses Vance.
1821. John Newcomer.
Matthew Gaut.
Henry Strickler.
Thomas Young.
Jacob Newmeyer.
1822. Matthew Gaut.
Matthew Wray.
Moses Vance.
Henry Strickler.
1823. Matthew Gaut.
Matthew Wray.
J. Newmeyer.
AUDITORS.
1823. H. Torrance.
1832. Matthew Wray.
Samuel Hubbs.
H. Torrance.
J. Newcomer.
1835. James B. Hurst.
John Newcomer.
H. Torrance.
1840. Peter Galley.
Joseph Cunningham.
Hugh Torrance.
Abraham D. Stauffer.
1841. James B. Hurst.
1842. Jacob Newtneyer, Sr.
U.    1843. Martin Sherrick.
1844. John F. IHurst.
1845. James Wade.
1846. Ira Hutchinson.
1847. William Vance.
1848. Moses Porter.
1849. Jacob Vance.
n.    1850. John Newcomer.
1851. Moses Porter..  1852. Hugh Chain.
1853. Joseph Gaut.
1854. A. T. Hardy.
1855. Jacob Vance.
1856. Alexander Boyd.
1857. E. Moore.
1858. John Reist.
1859. S. P. L. Franks.
1860. Joseph Cunningham.
1861. John Reist.
1862. Samuel Sinea(ld.
1863. Samuel Smouse.
1864. John Reist.
1865. J. W. Stellwagon.
J. C. Stauffer.
1866. G. W. Anderson.
1 The duties of these officers were identical with those of the " Auditoi-s of Accounts," which were elected after 1800. Until that time they
acted jointly for Tyrone and Bullskin. This list, which has been gathered from the election returns in the prothonotary's office and from the
court records, is inuch nearer complete for the early years than those
of the other township officers.
I
I
I
790TYRONE-UPPER AND LOWER TOWNSIIIPS.
1867. Joseph C. Stauffer.  1873. Noah M. Anderson.
1868-69. J. N. McDonald.   1874. Alexander Morehead.
1870. Matthew Wray.
District No. 1.-1875. Rice G. Strickler.
"    "    1876. James Wiley.
"    "    1877. P. G. Cochran.
"    "    1878. Robert W. McGregor, Eustace L. Robinson.
"    "    1879. Harrison Cox, Lavain Aspinwall, William Ellis.
District No. 2.-1875. Rice G. Strickler.
"    "    1876. David P. Husband.
"    "    1877. P. G. Cochran.
"    "    1878. Albert Emerson.
ERECTION OF UPPER AND LOWER TYRONE.
The division of old Tyrone into the townships of
Upper and Lower Tyrone was effected in 1877 in the
manner detailed below.
At the September term of the court of Quarter
Sessions in 1876 the following petition was presented
to the court, viz.:
"The inhabitants of Tyrone township plead to have
the said township of Tyrone divided by a line commencing at a point onI the Youghiogheny River at
the mouth of a small stream at the upper end of Brown
 Cochran's coke-ovens; thence north 11~ west 718
perches to a point on the top of a hill in Joseph
Strickler's field, northwest of his house; thence north
13~ west 194 perches to a point on Jacob's Creek.
And therefore praying the court to appoint proper
persons to view the same, etc."
On the 16th of September, 1876, the court appointed
A. G. Gilmore, Blair Francis, and Thomas J. Buttermore commissioners to inquire into the propriety of
granting the prayer of the petitioners. An order was
issued to the commissioners Nov. 14, 1876, and returned
December 16th the same year with their report and
plat attached marking the proposed division of the
township as prayed for. On the 13th of March, 1877,
remnonstrances were filed and continued until June
session of court 1877. At this session the commissioners made a return of their proceedings to December session, 1876, at which time they were continued
to March session, 1877, and again continued to June
session, 1877. The return was favorable to the division of the township of Tyrone, and the commissioners reported that in their opinion it would be an
advantage and convenience to the inhabitants of the
township to divide it by the following lines, viz.:
"Beginning at a point on the Youghiogheny River at the
mouth of a small stream at the upper end of Brown  Cochran's coke-works; thence north 111 west 732 perches to a locusttree on the top of a hill in Joseph Strickler's field, north of his
house; thence north 13~ west 205 perches to a point on Jacob's
Creek, the last line running north 13~ west, if continued into
Westmoreland County would run into a frame house owned and
occupied by John Cottem. The court orders a vote of the
qualified electors of said Tyrone township on the question of
the division of said township according to said line; and the
court further orders that the election officers of said township
shall hold an election for that purpose at the place fixed by law
for holding township elections in said township on the 17th day
of August, 1877, between the hours of 7 o'clock A.M. and 7
o'clock P.M., and make return of said election according to law."*
In accordance with this order of the court an election was held with the following result, viz.: For a
division of the township, two hundred and eighty-one
votes; against a division thereof, one hundred and
seventy-eight votes. Thereupon, on the 5th of September, 1877, the court ordered and decreed that said
township be divided agreeably to the line marked
and returned by the commissioners, and, further, "that
the name of the township lying in the east of said
division line shall be Upper Tyrone, and that the
name of the township lying in the west of said division line shall be Lower Tyrone."
The following-named persons were and have been
elected to the offices indicated in the two townships
from their organization to the present time:
Upper Tyrone.-1879. Assessor, Jesse Herbert;
Auditor, J. S. Newcomer. 1880. Assessor, Samuel
Eicher; Auditor, J. C. Brownfield. 1881. Justice,
John W. Stillwagon; Judge, J. C. Marshall; Inspectors, H. R. Francis, C. Keiffer; School Directors,
J. D. Porter, D. L. Sherrick; Assessor, A. S. Ritenour; Supervisors, J. King, R. Wilson; Constable,
E. M. Hadsworth; Auditor, P. G. Cochran; Township Clerk, Scott Hill.
Lower 7Tjrone.-1879. Assessor, Peter Newmyer;
Auditor, Hiram Cottom. 1880. Assessor, M. Cunningham; Auditor, W. H. Morrow. 1881. Justice,
Hugh Best; Judge, N. A. Rist; Inspectors, H. Cottom, T. J. Cunningham; Constable, James Moody;
School Directors, P. Hough, W. Galley, A. Shallenberger; Supervisors, I. Cottom, T. Sprout, H. Cunningham; Assessor, M. G. Cunningham; Auditor, J.
H. Wurtz; Town Clerk, John Burns.
RELIGIOUS WORSHIP.
TYRONE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.1
Among the early settlers in this part of Western
Pennsylvania were many of the Scotch-Irish, a brave,
hardy, industrious, thrifty, independent people, with
strong Presbyterian attachments. When Rev. James
Power first visited this region on his missionary tour
in 1774 he found the Smiths, the Vances, the Chains,
the Stewarts, and others. Among them were three
sons and two daughters of one godly womian who was
married twice in Cumberland County, Pa., where she
died. Her oldest son, Barnett Cunningham, came
from Peach Bottom Valley, A.D. 1770, with his wife,
Anna Wilson, to wvhom he had then been married
ten years. He had been preceded a short time by his
eldest sister, Margery, wife of Col. Joseph Huston,
and the mother of a niumerous family. About 1770
to 1772 their half-brother, James Torrance, followed
IThis history of the Tyrone Presbyterian Church is taken mainly
from a historical sermon delivered by its pastor, the Rev. J. H. Stevenson, Sept. 8,1876.
791THE REVOLUTION.
lying scattered around. It was now nearly dark; so
he built a fire-the first he had ventured to kindle
since his escape fromn the ambuscade-and cooked
some of his venison (he had shot a deer in this day's
journey, it being the first time he had dared to discharge his gun, for fear it might bring Indians upon
him); the smoke, as he lay down to rest for the
night, protecting him from the gnats and mosquitoes,
which were very troublesome."
Two days after he made this night-camp on the
Muskingum, James Paull reached the west bank of
the Ohio River at a point a short distance above the
present site of Bridgeport. A little higher up the
river he found a favorable place for crossing, and
building a rude raft he ferried himself to the Virginia
side without much difficulty, and for the first time
since the evening of the disastrous 5th of June felt
himself absolutely secure against capture.
Near the place where he landed on Virginia soil
he found a nuinber of lhorses ruinning loose. Improvising a halter of twisted strips of elm bark, he commenced operations, having for their object the catching of one of the animals. For a long time his efforts
were unavailing, but nece,sity compelled him to persevere, and at last he succeeded in placing his rude
halter-bridle on the head of a rather debilitated old
mare, on whose back he then mounted and started on
his homeward journey. At Short Creek he procured
another horse and proceeded to Catfish (now Washington, Pa.), wlhere he stopped for some time on
account of his foot being badly inflamed and very
painful. This soon became better under proper treatment, and he returned home to hiis overjoyed mother,
who had been apprised of his arrival at Catfish, but
who had previously almost abandoned all hope of
ever again seeing her son.
John Slover and the two other men who had been
mnade prisoners by tlle Shawanese party at the time
when Paull made his escape from them were taken
by their captors back to the Indian main body on the
Plains, and thence to the Shawanese towns on Mad
River, which they reached on the llth of June. On
their arrival they were received by an Indian crowd
such as always collected on such an occasion, and
were made to " run the gauntlet" between two files
of squaws and boys for a distance of some three
hundred yards to the council-house. One of the men
had been painted black (thouigh why the Indians had
thus discriminated against this man does not appear),
and he was made a special target for the abuse and
blows of the barbarous gang. He reached the door
of the council-house barely alive, but was then pulled
back and beaten and mangled to deatb, his body cut
in pieces, and these stuck on poles about the village.
Slover and the other man ran the gauntlet without
fatal or very serious injury, but the latter was sent
away the same eveniing to another village, and nio
more was heard of him. As to Slover, lhe was kept
at tlle village for two weeks, during which time councils were held daily and war-dances every night, to all
of which he was invited and most of which he attended.' The Indians also assigned to him a squaw
as a companion, with whom he lived in comparative
freedom during his stay at the village.' Finally, a
council was held, at which it was decided that he
should be put to death by torture.
The niext day " about forty warriors, accompanied
by George Girty, an adopted Delaware, a brother of
Simon and James Girty,3 came early in the miorning
round the house where Slover was. He was sitting,
before the door. The squaw gave him up. They
put a rope around his neck. tied his arnis behind his
back, stripped him naked, and blacked him in the
usual manner. Girty, as soon as he was tied, cursed
him, telling him he would get what he had many years
deserved. Slover was led to a town about five miles
away, to whicli a messenger had been dispatched to
desire them to prepare to receive him. Arriving at
the town, he was beaten with clubs and the pipe-ends
of their tomahawks, and was kept for some time tied
to a tree before a house-door. In the mean time the
inhabitants set out for another tLown about two miles
distant, wlhere Slover was to be burnt, and where he
arrived about three o'clock in the afternoon. They
were now at Mac-a-chack, not far from tlhe present site
of West Liberty, in Logan County. Here there was
a council-house also, as at Wapatomica,4 but only a
part of it was covered. In the part vithout a roof was
a post about sixteen feet in height. Around this, at a
distance of about four feet, were three piles of wood
about three feet high. Slover was brought to the post,
his arms again tied behind Iiim, and the thong or cord
with which they were bound was fastened to it. A rope
was also put about his neck and tied to the post about
four feet above his head. Whlile they were tying him
thle wood was kindled and began to flame. Just theil
the wind began to blowv, and in a very short time the
rain fell violently. The fire, which by this time had
begun to blaze considerably, was instantly extinguished.  The rain lasted about a quarter of an
hour." 5
The savages were amazed at this result, and perlhaps regarded it as an interposition of the Great
Spirit on belhalf of the prisoner. They finally decided to alloNv him to remain alive until morning,
1 Having previouisly lived niuch amonL, the Indiains, Slover was wvell
acquainted with their language, and spoke it, particularly the Miarii
anid Shawanese dialects, witlh-great fluenicy.
2 "Tlher'e ws one counril at whicl Slover was not present. The warriors lhad senit for htinm as uisuial, bnt tie squaw witlh whlonli hie lived would
Inot suiffer himts to go. but hid Ihim  under a large quiantity of skins. It
iay liave beeni dorne that Slover might niot hear the determination slie
feared wouild  be arrived at,-to  burn hfiin."-Butte,field's Expcedition
again1st Sandu.slZy.
s Janies anid George Girty, as well as Capt. Mattbew Elliott, of the Biritish service, were pr esent at the Shawanese town, and took part in the
Inidian couincils before menitioned.
4 The Inidian village to wlichl lie liad first been taken.
G Butterfield's " Expedition against Sandusky."
I
I
107HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
with his wife and one small child. Of the family,
William Cunningham and Ann, wife of Robert
Clark, probably came about the same time. The
farms of a number of these were contiguous to each
other, and near wheye the church now stands, and
perhaps this fact, as much as any other, determined
the site of the first house of worship, if not the very
existence of Tyrone Church.
That Dr. Power preached here on his missionary
tour there is little doubt, but the statement published
in the Presbyterian Advocate in October, 1854, that he
"then organized Tyrone Church, baptized Barnett
Cunningham's child, and ordained him and his halfbrother, James Torrance, elders," must be incorrect,
for Dr. Power himself was not ordained until August,
1776.
When Dr. Power removed his family "to the
western part of the province," 1 in October, 1776, he
fixed his residence for some time at Dunlap's Creek.
He occupied himself chiefly in missionary labors
among the sparse settlements, organizing a number
of churches, to all of which he was "a sort of missionary pastor." 2 Among these were Dunlap's Creek,
Laurel Hill, Mount Pleasant, Unity, Sewickly, and
Tyrone. "The extent and variety of his labors may
be inferred from one incident connected with the
Cross Creek Church, in the northwestern part of
Washington County, Pa. On his first visit there, on
the 14th of November, 1778, Dr. Power preached the
first gospel sermon ever heard there under an oaktree, just outside the gate at Vance's Fort, in the
presence of a military company about to go forth on
an expedition against the Indians. After the sermon
he baptized twenty-one children, among whom was
Sarah, eldest daughter of Mr. Thomas Marquis, who
was afterwards called to a ministry of holy baptism
in the same place. This child lived to become the
wife of Rev. Joseph Stevenson, and mother of Rev.
John McMillan Stevenson, D.D., now senior secretary of the American Tract Society," and grandmother of the present pastor of Tyrone Church.
This incident, related by Dr. Brownson in his address at the Mount Pleasant centennial reunion,
gives a key to the origin of a number of the oldest
Presbyterian Churches in Western Pennsylvania. Dr.
Power was accustomed during the three years he
lived and preached at Dunlap's Creek to visit frequently the "settlements," preaching, "catechising,"
baptizing the children of such as were church-members in the East, and (we may well suppose) administering the Lord's Supper to his people in the wilderness, admitting many to sealing ordinances upon
their profession of their faith in Jesus Christ and
ordaining elders in many places.
As Tyrone lies directly on the road from DIunlap's
Creek by Laurel Hill to Mount Pleasant and Sewickly, where it is known he was at this time estab1  Reston, pae 2S.'idd. pae 22.                            cet.  ern. p. 2~)
lishing congregations, it is believed that he preached
here often, visiting and catechising as was his manner, and thus gathered and established his congregation.
It is not probable that this church was ever formally
organized according to the present mode of proceeding. Indeed it was not possible that it should be, for,
like "many of the oldest churches, it enjoyed the
pastoral labors and care of a minister years before
the erection of the mother Presbytery."
Tyrone was the first of all the churches to be
recognized ill Presbytery under the dignity of a
"congregation."  In the records of the second meeting of the Presbytery of Redstone, at "Delap's
Creek," Oct. 23, 1782, is the following minute: "A
supplication for supplies from Tyrone congregation
was brought in and read. Request was granted, and
Mr. Power was appointed to supply the second Sabbath in December, and Mr. Dunlap the third Sabbath
in March."
In February, 1784, according to the statement of a
woman in the congregration who was then married
by him, Mr. Power was preaching one-fourth of his
time at Tyrone. How long this continued cannot
now be ascertained, but in October, 1793, Tyrone appears again in Presbytery asking for supplies. A
Rev. Moore and Rev. Samuel Porter were each appointed one Sabbath. During the next eleven years
Tyrone appears in Presbytery, not regularly, but
frequently.
Upon the organization of the Synod of Pittsburgh,
in the year 1802, Tyrone was reported in the list of
churches "vacant and unable to support a pastor."3
The only additional evidence found of stated services in Tyrone at any time during eighteen years
preceding the above date was in a paper until very
recently in the possession of the family of Elder
James Torrance. It contained a subscription for the
purpose of securing a portion of the services of Dr.
Dunlap, who was for twenty years previous to 1803
pastor of Laurel Hill Church. Neither the date of
that paper, the portion of service it secured, nor the
time the arrangement continued is now known, but
it must have been near the close of his pastorate at
Laurel Hill, for Mr. J. Huston Torrance (son of
James), born in the year 1795, distinctly remembers
hearing Dr. Dunlap at the "tent" under that large
hickory-tree on the spot where tradition says the
church was organized.
Without doubt Dr. Power in the year 1774 preached
the first sermon ever heard here, and there is no evidence that any but he preached here during the eight
years that intervened before the first meeting of the
Presbytery of Redstone, when Tyrone was recognized
as an established "congregation."  Nor can there be
any doubt that to his abundant labors more than of
all others is Tyrone indebted for whatever pastoral
792
1 Old Redstone, page 228.
2 Ibid., page 229.
3 Cent. Mell., 1p. 229.TY IONE--UPPER AND LOWER TOWNSHIPS.
care it enjoyed during the twenty-eight or thlirty
years it had no pastor. In the grateful acknowledgments of these years of unchronicled privations and
hardships and perils, next to Dr. Power, comes Dr.
Dunlap. Before reviewing the unbroken pastorate
of fifty-seven years which followed it is proper to
mention the successive houses in which this congregation has worshiped.
Tyrone congregation has erected four churches on
the parcel of ground now occutpied by the church and
graveyard. The lot, containing two acres, is part of
a tract for which John Stewart took out a patent,
dated Oct. 3, 1787, under the significant title of
"Pleasant Garden." This interesting and suggestive
document is now in the possession of Mr. E. H. Reid,
to whom that portion of the original tract which surrounds the church ground now belongs. The title
by which the congregation held this lot having been
lost through the vicissitudes incident to frontier life,
in 1800, Abraham Kent and Tabitha, his wife, then
possessed of the original tract, executed a new deed,
securing to "Matthew Gaut, William Chain, and
William Smith, trustees, and to their successors in
office forever, said lot for the use of Tyrone Church."  
The first house built by Tyrone congregation 2 was
a fair specimen of the primitive "meeting-houses" in
Western Pennsylvania, and corresponded with the
cabins of the pioneers.  "It was simply a cabin of a
larger size." Dr. Eaton's description of "an early
church"3 is probably almost literally true of the first
meeting-house at Tyrone.  "Trees were felled of the
proper size, cut to the desired length, notched at the
corners, and laid up, log upon log, to the desired
height. For the gable ends the ends of the logs were
chopped off to give the proper inclination to the roof,
and logs placed across to receive the clapboards.
These clapboards were split out of straight oak,
placed in order on these logs, and kept in place by
weight-poles.  The doors and windows were then cut
out, the floor was laid with puncheons split from
straight logs, the door made from the same, with pins
and wooden hinges, and the windows filled with oiled
linen or paper. In some cases neither nail nor bit of
sawed lumber were employed. Instances are recorded
where churches were built in a single day, and without the outlay of a single dollar."
This house had no floor but the earth. "The seats
were logs split and elevated on wooden logs." The
pulpit was arranged with two upright puncheons, and
a third across to hold the books. Aniother puncheon,
1 Recorded Oct. 11, 1800, in Book C, page 339, in recorder's office,
Fayette County.
2 It is stated in the "History of Centre Church [Ohio], With an Introduction, Giving the Rise of Other Churches, by Robert A. Sherrard, 1860,"
that the Tyrone Presbyterian Church was organized in 1774 by the Rev.
James Power; that its first meeting-house was built in 1778, and was
used by the congregation for about seventy years. It is evident that
the last part of Mr. Sherrard's statement is incorrect, and that he includes in his period of seventy years the time that the first two houses
were in use.
3 Centenary Memorial, p. 225.
supported by two stout pins in the wall, served for the
minister's seat. Thirteen years ago the remains of
this first house, which stood on the highest spot between the present church building and the burialground, were little more than a heap of rubbish,
which gradually disappeared.
The second house of worship was built between
1800 and 1805, probably about the time when Rev.
James Guthrie became pastor. It stood just between
the present house and the lower corner of the lot,
with a gable towards the spring. It was of hewn logs,
with a clapboard roof, and about thirty feet square
at first. The pulpit was in the lower side of the
house. Two aisles, terminating in a door at either
end, save where the pulpit stood, crossed each other
at right angles near the middle of the house. The
seats (there were no pews) in the half of the house
inl which the pulpit was located were placed parallel
with the one aisle, so that those sitting to the right
and left of the pulpit faced each other and the minister; while in the other half of the house the seats
ran parallel with the cross aisle. At length the
house was enlarged by a "lean-to" addition at the
side opposite to the pulpit, and the roof, which was
extended with diminished pitch, shed-like, to cover it,
came down almost to the lintel of the door that
opened under its eaves, giving to the structure a peculiar and very unchurchlike appearance.
After serving for more than half a century this
house was superseded by one built of brick upon the
same site. The first sermon in this, the third house
of worship, was preached by Rev. Ross Stevenson on
Friday, June 4, 1852. After a while the foundation
gave way, and the wall scracked, so that it became
necessary to repair or rebuild. A meeting of the
congregation was called. Rev. John MVeMillan, D.D.,
preached from Neh. ii. 17: "Then said I unto them,
Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth
waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire:
come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that
we be no more a reproach." Thus exhorted they resolved to build. A subscription was begun at once,
and after four months the contract for building the
fourth church edifice was awarded to Mr. J. L. White
for $3500 and the old house, valued at $500. Then
the first brick house, after only nineteen years' service, was demolished.
During the next eighteen months the homeless
congregation worshiped in school-houses, occasionally
accepting the kindly proffered hospitality of their
Methodist Episcopal neighbors, and holding communion services in.their churches until they occupied their present sanctuary, which is a model of
rural simplicity and taste, and which fully maintains
the ratio of excellence by which each of the former
ones surpassed its predecessor. On Sabbath, May 4,
1873, under these grand old oaks, in whose shade the
fathers, generation after generation, for a hundred years
had worshiped Jehovah, this beautiful house was
_  ~ _
793HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
solemnly dedicated to the worship of the true and  ceptor the same year. In October, 1782, he received
living God.                                          the first call which passed through the hands of RedTurning to the pastors and stated supplies who have  stone Presbytery.  This call, which was from  the
served this church, we find for the first thirty years  churches of" Delap's Creek" and Laurel Hill, he acno pastor, and but two who for any time administered  cepted, but was never installed, this formality being of
statedly the ordinances, namely, Drs. Power and  more recentdate. Dr. Dunlap remainedpastor of both
Dunlap. A history of Tyrone Church would be in-  churches for seven years, and of Laurel Hill for fourcomplete without at least a brief sketch of Rev.  teen years more, and near the close of this period was
James Power, D.D. He was born in Chester County,  stated supply at Tyrone for some part of his time.
Pa., educated at Princeton, and licensed by the Pres-  From  1803 till 1811 he was piesident of Jefferson
bytery of New Castle in the year 1772. The follow-  College, and died in Abingdon, Pa., Nov. 11, 1818, in
ing year he received a call from the united congrega-  the seventy-fifth year of his age.
tions of Highbridge, Cambridge, and Oxford, in    He was no doubt the finest scholar in the PresbyBotetourt County, Va. Perhaps the fact that many  tery. It is an interesting fact that the two men who
of Mrs. Power's acquaintances and friends (among  nursed this little church in the wilderness were the
them her father, Philip Tanner, one of Rev. James  first of the pioneer ministers whose talents and scholFinley's elders) had recently emigrated west of the  arship were recognized by academic honors. In 1807
mountains determined Mr. Power to decline that call  Mr. Dunlap received from Jefferson College its first
and visit the new settlements. Accordingly, in the  honorary degree of "Divinitatis Doctor," and the
summer of 1774, he crossed the Allegheny Mountains,  next year Mr. Power's name was placed second on
and spent three months in itinerant labors "in what  the list now grown so long.
are now Westmoreland, Allegheny, Washington, and     The Rev. Jalnes Guthrie, the first pastor of Tyrone
Fayette Counties, Pa."  Late in the fall of 1776 he  congregation, was born in Westmoreland County, Pa.
again crossed the mountains, this time bringing his  He was a child of the covenant, and his Scotch-Irish
family with him, consisting of his wife and four  parents carefully instructed him  in the duties and
daughters. "They were mounted on horses, his wife  doctrines of religion. Their faithfulness was rewarded
on one, he on another, his oldest daughter behind  by the early conversion of their son, whose mind was
him, his youngest, almost a babe, seated on a pillow  soon turned to the gospel ministry. With this in
in front of hinm, the other two comfortably and cozily  view he entered Dickinson College. Upon his gradseated in a sort of hamper-baskets, one on each side  uation he commenced the study of theology with one
of a led horse."' An explanation of hlis fixing his  of the pastors of the Presbytery. In October, 1801,
first residence on Dunlap's Creek is found in the fact  he appears in Presbytery, and the following minute
that there Mrs. Power would be among friends and  was made in the record: "Mr. James Guthrie offered
near her father during the frequent and long absences  himself to be taken on trial as a candidate for the
of her husband.                                      gospel ministry. Presbytery having received testiAfter three years of a "sort of missionary pastorate"  monials of his good moral character, of his being in
throughout the settlements, Dr. Power removed his  full communion of the church, and having taken a
family to Mount Pleasant, in 1779, and became pastor  regular course of literature, proceeded to converse
of Mount Pleasant and Sewickly Churches, and for a  with him on his experimental acquaintance with rewhile Unity and Tyrone shared in his regular labors.  ligion and the motives which induced him to desire
Although never regularly installed, he fulfilled with  the office, and, having received satisfaction, agreed to
marked fidelity the office of pastor in Sewickly until  take him on further trial, and assigned him an exer1777, and in Mount Pleasant thirty years longer, when  cise on the following theme:' Quomodo miraculse proage and infirmity compelled him to cease. "Thirteen  bant Scripturas Sacras esse Divinas,' and an homily
years more he lingered, profoundly revered by his  on 1 John iv. 9:'In this was manifested the love of
descendants and the people of his charge, until Aug.  God towards us, because that God sent his only begot5, 1830, when, in the eighty-fifth year of his age, his  ten Son into the world that we might live through
released spirit joined the redeemed company of his  him.' Both to be delivered at the next meeting of
fellow-laborers, and his body was laid quietly down  Presbytery."
in a hallowed grave to await the resurrection of the   These duties were satisfactorily performed, as were
just."                                               all others that were assigned, until, "having passed
The Rev. James Dunlap, D.D:, was born in Chester  through all the parts of trial required by the book,
County, Pa., in 1774. He was graduated at Prince-  Mr. Guthrie was, on the 19th of March, 1803, at Lauton, studied theology with Rev. James Finley, was  rel Hill, licensed in regular form as a probationer for
licensed by the Presbytery of Donegal, 1776 to 1781. the gospel ministry," and opportunity was given him
He was ordained "sine titulo" by the Presbytery of  to make full proof of his ministry in the following
New Castle, and camie West with his theological pre-  list of appointments: "The first Sabbath in May, at
Pitt township [Beulah]; the second, Salem; third, at
Old Redstone, p.225.               Wheatfield; fourthl, Quenialioning; fiftilh, Somerset.
794TYRONE-UPPER AND LOWER TOWNSHIPS.
First Sabbath in June, Turkey Foot [Confluence].
First Sabbath in July, Uniontown; second, Morgantown, Va.; third, Middletown, Va.; fourth, Clarksburg, Va. First Sabbath in August, Tygart's Valley, Va.; second, Morgantown; third, Monongahela
Glades, Va.; fourth, Sandy Creek, Pa.; fifth, Turkey
Foot. First Sabbath in September, Turkey Foot;
second, Quemahoning; third, Wheatfield; fourth,
Salem; and first Sabbath in October, Pitt township."
This formidable list of appointments kept the
young licentiate the greater part of the summer in
the saddle. For weeks together zigzaging in and out
among the mountains, climbing perilous steeps, fording unbridged rivers, often threading his way through
dense forests along lonely bridle-paths, we have displayed some of those elements of character which
marked and made successful the long pastorate of
Mr. Guthrie. At the "fall meeting" of Presbytery
he was appointed to supply as missionary for the
space of two months in the southern departments of
Presbytery,-in January, 1804, at discretion; at Laurel
Hill the second Sabbath in February, and at Tyrone
the third. This was Mr. Guthrie's first Sabbath at
Tyrone. These appointments, like the former ones,
were all fulfilled, and Presbytery recorded their approbation of his fidelity and ability, and judged "his
mission very successful."
In April, 1804, a call from the congregations of
Laurel Hill and Tyrone was presented to Mr. Guthrie.
He requested "permission to hold the call under consideration, and leave to itinerate without the bounds
of Presbytery for three months."  In October, 1804,
Mr. Guthrie signified his acceptance of the call, and
arrangements were made for his installation the next
April. As no more appointments were made for him
than for the pastors in the Presbytery, it is probable
that Mr. Guthrie at-once entered upon his labors here.According to the above arrangement, Presbytery met
at Laurel Hill, April 17, 1805, proceeded to ordain
Mr. Guthrie, "and did, by prayer and the imposition
of hands, solemnly set himn apart to the holy office of
the gospel ministry, and install him in the united congregations of Laurel Hill and Tyrone," and for the
first time in its history this church had a pastor. On
this interesting occasion the Rev. George Hill, father,
or perhaps grandfather, of Rev. George Hill, D.D.,
preached "the ordination sermon," and the Rev. Joseph Henderson presided. There is no record of any
charge to pastor or people, and the installation was
not repeated here.
This relation continued almost forty-six years, until
the death of Mr. Guthrie, Aug. 24, 1850, in the
seventy-fourth year of his age. The oldest members
of this congregation remember and venerate Mr.
Guthrie as a father. He baptized them in their infancy, catechised them in their youth, received them
into the church in maturer years, married them, baptized their children, and buried their parents. He is
remembered as a sinall man of ruddy complexion and
nervous temperament; kind, genial, benevolent; a
devoted pastor and a warm friend. The Rev. Joel
Stoneroad, his colleague and successor, says, "The
general traits of the Scotch-Irish marked the character of Mr. Guthrie." He was four timrnes married.
His first wife was the daughter of Joseph Torrance,
Esq., a member of Laurel Hill Session. His second
wife was Miss Gallaher, of Dunlap's Creek. His
third wife was a Widow Hunter, daughter of William
Smith, an elder at Tyrone. His fourth wife was Mrs.
Beeson, of Uniontown, who, after the death of Mr.
Guthrie, married Mr. Johnston Van Kirk, of Dunlap's
Creek. All Mr. Guthrie's wives had the reputation
of being truly excellent women, being well suited to
their place and station.
"Mr. Guthrie's mental character, though not extraordinary, was quite respectable. His talents partook
chiefly of the practical rather than the speculative,
which made him all the more useful as a preacher
and pastor. As to his ministerial character, it was
perfectly stainless through his long pastorate of fortysix years.  The integrity of his religious character
was never questioned, even by his enemies. He was
truly a whole-souled man, generous to a fault. Frequently when his people had fallen into arrears he
would cancel his claim rather than report them in
Presbytery as delinquents, and this when his salary
from both congregations never exceeded four hundred
dollars."
The Rev. Joel Stoneroad, the second pastor of Tyrone, was born in Mifflin County, Pa., in the year
1806; graduated at Jefferson College in 1827, and at
Princeton Theological Seminary in 1830. He labored
one year as a domestic missionary at Morgantowin,
Va., and vicinity; was pastor of Uniontown Presbyterian Church from 1832 to 1842, then pastor of CrossRoads Church, Presbytery of Washington, for eight
years. In the spring of 1850 he removed to Laurel
Hill, and on the 5th of June was installed collegiate
pastor with Rev. James Guthrie in the united congregations of Laurel Hill and Tyrone. Under the able
and energetic labors of the junior pastor, who brought
to the field the rich experience of nineteen years in
the work of the ministry, the congregation prospered.
Two elders were added to the session the first year.
Just two years, lacking a day, from the installation
of the second pastor the congregation entered their
first brick house of worship, and the regular additions
to its membership witnessed a healthy spiritual life.
In April, 1861, Laurel Hill asked and obtained the
whole of Mr. Stoneroad's time, and Tyrone became
vacant for the first time in fifty-seven years.
Father Stoneroad still lives at Laurel Hill, where,
abundant in labors, he has proclaimed the gospel of
salvation for twenty-six years, though not now so
much a "Boanerges" as a " Barnabas."  The oldest
of her living pastors, Tyrone affectionately greets him
to-day, and thanks God for his presence.
A vacancy occurs from April, 1861, to 1864, dmring
795HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
the greater part of which time the pulpit was irregularly supplied. The principal exception was in the
summer of 1862, when the talented, consecrated, but
now lamented George Paul, then a licentiate, under
appointment as a foreign missionary, labored here
for some months, and his name is still "as ointment
poured forth." In April, 1864, a call for part of the
pastoral services of Rev. William Logan Boyd, then
pastor of Sewickly Church, promising two hundred
dollars a year for one-third of his time, was presented
in Presbytery. The call was accepted, and on the
first Monday in June following the first installation
services ever witnessed in Tyrone were performed. The
Rev. Joel Stoneroad preached the sermon, the Rev.
W. F. Hamilton, D.D., presided, proposed the constitutional questions, and charged the pastor, and Rev.
N. H. G. Fife delivered the charge to the people.
This pastorate lasted just three years, and was
marked by a healthy growth in the church, although
the distance at which Mr. Boyd resided in Sewickly
greatly increased his labors, and at the same time diminished their apparent results, and perhaps largely
influenced him to seek a release. Then occurred another vacancy, extending from 1867 to 1871. For the
first eighteen months the pulpit was supplied occasionally by different ministers. In. November, 1868,
Rev. Morehead Edgar was elected "stated supply till
the ensuing spring," at which time he was again
elected stated supply for two-thirds of his time. Early
in the summer, however, he ceased to serve.
Another season of occasional supplies followed until
December, 1870, when the Rev. Thomas S. Parke
preached as a candidate. He continued to supply
most of the time until April 2, 1871, when he was
elected pastor. This call, which was presented in
Presbytery at its spring meeting, was accepted, and on
the 27th of July following he was installed at Tyrone
pastor of the united churches of Tyrone and Harmony.
The Rev. Joel Stoneroad again preached the sermon.
On this occasion he also presided and proposed the
"constitutional questions."   Rev. Henry Fulton
charged the pastor, and A. Bronson, D.D., the people.
Mr. Parke married, built a house in Dawson, and
fixed, his residence there. Then, for the first time in
ninety-four years, Tyrone congregation had their
pastor and his family living among them.
During this pastorate two additional elders were ordained and installed, the present beautiful house of
worship was built and dedicated, and forty-one members were received and thirty-one dismissed to form the
church at Dawson. This relation continued with
Harmony for two years, and with Tyrone about fbur,
terminating May 28, 1875.
The old church, weakened by the organization at
Dawson, now entered into an alliance with Sewickly,
each agreeing to pay half the salary of a minister.
On the 17th of the ensuing October the Rev. J. H.
Stevenson, by invitation of the session, preached his
first sermon here, and afterwards regularly served the
church, dividing the time equally between Tyrone
and Sewickly. In October of the following year
Tyrone and Scottdale were formed into a pastoral
charge and placed under him, and he has remained
in charge as pastor to the present time (1881).
Of the elders of the old Tyrone Church, the first
bench consisted of Barnett Cunningham, born June
29, 1736, and his half-brother, James Torrance, born
Feb. 15, 1744. They emigrated from Peach Bottom
Valley, on the Susquehanna, the former in the spring
of 1770, the latter within two years of that date. They
secured for seventeen years, by what was known as a
"tomahawk right," and then for eiglht years more by
a surveyor's warrant, and afterwards, in 1795, by
patent, lands, part of which have been in possession
of their families ever since. The price paid by Mr.
Cunningham for three hundred and sixteen acres,
with "an allowance of one-sixteenth for roads," was
twelve pounds six shillings,-nearly seventeen cents
per acre. "They left the old settlements for the new,"
says one who wrote of it twenty years ago, "in full
membership in the Presbyterian Church, but had no
opportunity of hearing the gospel preached or its ordinances dispensed until Dr. Power visited them in
1774."
The same author, the late Robert A. Sherrard, of
Steubenville, Ohio, fixed this as the date of their
ordination, but unless Dr. Power, while yet a licentiate, exercised all the functions of an ordained minister, this could not be. It is probable that on his
first visit here after his ordination, say in the fall of
1776, he ordained these noble men to their holy office.
Of their efforts to gather a congregation, and secure
the services of a minister, though it might be but for
a single sermon, and that on a week-day or evening,
in some cabin, or oftener in the woods, of the re-ligious meetings they themselves held, of their trials
and discouragements, their self-denial and sacrifices
to secure a house of worship, their "faith and patience," the only record is on high. For more than
thirty years these noble brothers, to whom perhaps
this church owes its existence, carried the responsibilities their office involved without any addition to
the session, without a pastor, and for the greater part
of the time without even. a stated supply to assist
them. But they both lived to see the old cabin
church, with its earthen floor, split-log benches, and
unglazed windows, give way to the comparatively
comfortable "meeting-house," with floor and glass
windows and a pulpit, and at length even the luxury
of a fire. Each of them was permitted to see his sons
sitting in the seat of the elders, and the flock they had
tended so long and so anxiously fed and cared for by
a faithful under-shepherd.
Barnett Cunningham  departed this life Sept. 13,
1808, in the seventy-third year of his age. Four of
his sons and three of his grandsons have been called
to the same office, and the session has never been
without one or more of his family on their roll.
796TYRONE-UPPER AND LOWER TOWNSHIPS.
James Torrance died May 12, 1826, at the age of
eighty-three years, having served this church as an
elder fifty years. Three of his sons and three of his
grandsons have been ordained to the office, and the
husband of a great-granddaughter is now in the
session. Of Robert Smith, James Goudy, John Cummings, and John Cooly little is known, save that,
having served in the office of ruling elder for a
longer or shorter period, they all removed out of the
church bounds, and that Mr. Smith has also this
enviable distinction, that he and William Smith educated each a son for the ministry.
William Huston, eldest son of Margery Cunningham, and nephew of the two senior elders, was born
east of the mountains, A.D. 1751, and died Sept. 6,
1827, aged seventy-six years. He came to the West
before he was sixteen years old, and with his rifle by
his side for protection against the Indians, cultivated
the hills around what is now known as "Cochran's
graveyard." His father, Capt. Joseph Huston, gave
the land for it just before starting with Col. Crawford
on his disastrous expedition against the Indians.
Capt. Huston soon returned to die, and was the first
to claim a resting-place within its sacred ground.
Frank Vance was born in Ireland about 1766, and
died aged about eighty years.
William Smith (Rev. James Guthrie's third fatherin-law) died Feb. 2, 1832, in the seventy-fifth year of
his age.
Joseph Huston Cunningham, son of Barnett, was
ordained in Tyrone in 1818. He served in Connellsville for a few years prior to 1851, when he returned
to Tyrone, and was the same day unanimously reelected and reinstalled. Having borne the office for
forty years, on the 18th of April, 1858, "he slept with
his fathers," and Barnett, his son, ruled in his stead.
Hugh Torrance,-eldest son of James, was born in
Cumberland County, Pa., June 29, 1770, and carried
over the mountains on horseback while an infant.
He was the father of Robert, who was ordained an
elder at Connellsville, and of David, who served the
church of Altona, Ill., in the same office. Having
attained the age of seventy-three years, he died Sept.
7, 1843.
Alexander Johnston came fromIreland about 1807.
His first connection with the church was at Cross
Creek, Pa., under the ministry of Rev. Thomas Marquis. He came to Connellsville about the year 1811,
and became a member of Tyrone Church, which then
included Connellsville in its bounds. How long he
was an elder here prior to 1831 there is no record to
show, but at that time he was "set off" to the new
organization. Of this he was the only elder for one
year, and continued a "pillar" in the church until
age and infirmity laid him aside. He died Sept. 3,.
1864, aged about eighty-three years.
Cunningham Torrance, also son of James, was born
June 7, 1789, ordained in Tyrone, 1833, removed to
Missouri, 1847, and died soon after.
51
Nathaniel Hurst was a nephew of Dr. Power's sonin-law, and elder of that name, whose piety, intelligence, and practical wisdom adorned the office he so
ably filled at Mount Pleasant. Mr. Hurst was ordained in Tyrone in 1833, and served until Feb. 29,
1860, when, having lived upon earth fifty-nine years,
he was transferred from the church militant to the
church triumphant.
John Stauffer was "selected" from the original
members of Harmony Church by the committee of
Presbytery appointed to complete that organization,
and on the 27th day of June, 1849, was ordained and
installed the only elder in that church. Two years
later he remnoved to Tyrone, where he was elected
and installed, and where he continued an elder until
he departed this life, May 7, 1857, in the forty-seventh
year of his age.
Joseph Gaut was ordained with Cunningham Torrance and Nathaniel Hurst, in 1833, by the first
pastor of this church. For forty-three years he ruled
in Tyrone without reproach, by the purity of his life
commanding the respect of all, by the gentleness of
his spirit securing the affection of his brethren, and
most loved by those who knew him best. He was
permitted to see two of his sons ordained and installed
elders in this congregation. He died July 17, 1877,
aged seventy-five years.
Barnett Cunningham, son of Joseph H., and grandson of Barnett, was ordained in 1843, and served the
church with fidelity and acceptance until a few years
since, when, in the providence of God, through bodily
and mental affliction, he became unable to fulfill the
duties of his office. He died July 3, 1877, in his seventy-second year.
Joseph Cunningham, descended by both father and
mother from the old pioneer Cunningham-Torrance
family, was a nephew of William Huston the elder.
He was ordained with his cousin Barnett in 1843,
and, like him, served in the church faithfully and
long. He died April 8, 1877, in his seventy-seventh
year.
William V. Hurst (nephew of Nathaniel) and Robert F. Gaut (son of Joseph) were ordained and installed Dec. 6, 1871. Mr. Gaut soon removed of this
congregation without serving in the office.
Henry C. Boyd, Jonathan Merritt, and William
Gaut were elected Dec. 4, 1875, and on the 19th of
the same month Mr. Boyd and Mr. Gaut were ordained, and, with Mr. Merritt, who had been ordained
in the Dawson Presbyterian Church at its organization in 1874, were installed ruling elders in Tyrone
congregation.
T. Robb Deyarmon was elected elder, and installed
in June, 1881. The present (1881) session is composed of William V. Hurst, Jonathan Merritt, William F. Gaut, and T. Robb Deyarmon.
The original territory of Tyrone congregation was
large. Extending to Laurel Hill, Rehoboth, Sewickly,'191HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
and Mount Pleasant, it embraced Connellsville and the
"regions beyond," and at one time included several
families on Indian Creek, fifteen miles away. Its first
house of worship was for a long time the only meetinghouse of any denomination within its wide bounds,
where now stand nineteen Protestant Churches, not
counting those in Connellsville or across the Youghiogheny River.  Notwithstanding its wide territory,
the membership of the church in its early years was
not large. But when we know that the pioneers had
no carriages, almost no wagons, and very few horses
that the young people of many families, male and
female, habitually walked four, five, even six miles,
generally barefoot in the summer, carrying their shoes
and stockings in their hands till they camine near the
church, that Jacob's Creek had no bridges, and that
pedestrians from the neighborhood of Ragantown
were accustomed to come together to the creek and
wait for those who rode to "ferry" them over; when
we know that some of the families lived so remote
that they could attend the few meetings at the church
but irregularly, that the Cummings, the McCunes,
and others on Indian Creek often started (as has been
related by old Mr. Fleming, who remembers seeing
them) before daylight in order to reach the church in
time for the service, and remember that for so many
years they had no pastor, and when they had a stated
supply it was only for a brief period, and he always
resided at a distance, it is a wonder that at the first
call of the Presbytery of Redstone for statistics in
1808, Tyrone reported ninety members, and three
years later one hundred and eight,-below very few
churches in the Presbytery.
From this time no record is found of the membership, but the growth seems to have been steady. The
pastor preached at Connellsville occasionally until
the year 1831; when, at the request of the members
residing in the village and vicinity, the Presbytery of
Redstone authorized the organization of the Connellsville Church, and Alexander Johnston (elder), Margaret and N. C. Johnston, William and Mary Little
(or Lytle), Isaac and Mary Taylor, Sarah Turner,
Joseph and Elizabeth Rogers, Mary and Louisa Norton, Margaret Francis, Harriet Fuller, Mary Barnett,
Samuel and Mary Finley, with Samuel and Elizabeth
McCormick, were dismissed for that purpose.
After Mr. Johnson had served alone one year, Isaac
Taylor, Joseph Rogers, and William Lytle, formerly
members at Tyrone, with Joseph Paull and Samuel
Russell, members at Laurel Hill, were added to the
session. Thus Tyrone furnished nineteen of the
twenty-two original members of the church at Connellsville, and four of the six elders whlo composed
its first session. The vigor of this offshot from Tyrone
may be inferred from its subsequent history. After
only fourteen years, in 1845, Indian Creek Church was
organized, embracing some of the original members
of the Connellsville Church, who came from Tyrone.
Dr. Joseph Rogers was long its principal, perhaps its
only, elder. Nineteen years later, in 1874, eighty-six
members of Connellsville Church were included in a
new organization at Dunbar. In its first session we
find Tyrone represented by Isaac Taylor's eldest SOi.
Indian Creek reports fifteen members, Dunbar one
hundred and fifty, and Connellsville three hundred
and sixty-three.
Perhaps the parent organization has never entirely
overcome the withdrawal of so important a part of
her life and strength, and the cession of so much of
her most populous territory; but her order and vigor
are manifested in the significant fact that in the last
seventy-two years she has been only six without a
pastor or stated supply.
In the year 1849, Tyrone furnished just one-half
of the original members of Harmony Church, namely,
Nathan, Marjory, Henry, and Margaret Smith, Eli
and Susan Hendricks, and John Stauffer, who was
for some time the only elder.
The youngest offspring of the parent congregation
of Tyrone was the church at Dawson, which was organized in 1874, embracing in its membership twentyfour persons who had received certificates from Tyrone
for the purpose. After about three years, however,
the congregation disintegrated, and the members returned to the mother-church of Tyrone, which now
(1881) numbers one hundred and sixty members.
THE GERMAN BAPTIST OR DUNKARD CHURCH OF TYRONE.
About the year 1799, Martin Stuckman and Ludwick Snyder came from Hagerstown, Md., to Fayette
County, Pa., and settled in what was then, and is now,
the township of Bullskin, where for more than ten
years they held meetings for religious worship in private dwellings. About the year 1812 they removed
to a new location in the present township of Lower
Tyrone. There they held religious meetings in private houses for about five years; but after 1817 they
were held in a stone school-house which was built in
that year on land of Philip Lucas, the people living
in that vicinity being principally of the German Baptist or Dunkard denomination. A church was soon
after organized with Martin Stuckman as chief bishop,
Ludwick Snyder as under-bishop.  The first elder
of the congregation was Frederick Blocher, whose
son Samuel, and also his son-in-law, Isaac Shoemaker,
were also elected elders. George Shoemaker,' a brother
of Isaac, was also a bishop or preacher. Following is
a list of the elders of this church (all elders being
also preachers) from that time to the present, viz.:
Michael Myers, Jacob Murray, Eli Horner, Martiii
Coder, John Nicholson, John Murray, David Ober,
Jacob Freed, Samuel Gallatin, Joseph Freed, Jacob
1 George Shoemaker, after preaching a numnber of years, became dissatisfied with the manner of worship in the Dunkard Church, and
thereupon broke off his connection aiid started a new sect, which (for
lack of a better name) were called "Shoemakerites." He had a son
named Jacob, who became quite distinguished as an elocutionist. He
lived in Philadelphia, anid died there in 1879.
798TYRONE-UPPER AND LOWER TOWNSHIPS.
Snyder, and John Gallatin. The present preacher
to this congregation is Frederick Winner.
About the year 1840 the edifice known as the German Baptist meeting-house (a stone structure, plastered outside as well as inside) was built, and from
that time became the house of worship of the Dunkard congregation, which had previously met in the
stone school-house on the farm of Philip Lucas.
The congregation at one time numbered over one
hundred members, but on account of divisions, deaths,
and removals the number has become reduced to a
total of from twenty to twenty-five members.
BETHEL CONGREGATION OF THE DISCIPLES.
This was organized in May, 1845, with thirty members. Jacob Newmyer, Peter Galley, and John Taylor were elected elders, and Nathan Reece and Jacob
Newcomer deacons. A lot was donated by Jacob
Newmyer from his farm, and on this lot the congregation erected a church edifice of stone, thirty by
forty-five feet in dimensions. This was replaced in
August, 1880, by a frame church, thirty-six by fifty
feet, built on the same site, but an addition was made
to the grounds for church and cemetery purposes.
Among those who have ministered to this congregation may be mentioned the Revs. James Dorsey,
A. S. Hale, L. M. Streeter, H. B. Carleton, M. L.
Streeter, J. D. Benedict, J. W. Kemp, Charles C.
Berry, J. Grigsby, and L. C. McClane, the present
pastor. The congregation now numbers one hundred and twenty. A Sabbath-school in connection
with it contains thirty-five scholars, under William
B. Chain as superintendent.
BRYAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
This church was organized in 1856 with about
eighty members. A house of worship was erected, at
a cost of about nine hundred dollars, on the property
of James Bryan. The first pastor was the Rev. Sylvester Burt. Among his successors in the pulpit of
this church there have been the Revs.    McAlier,
W. A. Steward,      Moffatt,    Appleton, J. Mansell,    Taylor,    Eaton, and S. Lane, the present
pastor. The church is now in a flourishing condition,
with about forty members. It is out of debt, and its
house of worship is in good repair. It has a Sabbathschool of seventy-five scholars, with Irvin Cottom as
superintendent.
SCHOOLS.
It is not known precisely when or where the first
school was taught in Tyrone. One of the earliest
school-houses was a log building erected more than
seventy-five years ago in the present township of
Lower Tyrone, on a site embraced in the farm of
Samuel Cochran. Among those who attended the
schools in that house were the children of the families of Cunningham, Torrance, Newcomer, Cochran,
Ross, Galley, Lyttle, Gallatin, and McDonald. The
first teacher was an Irishman named Craig. His ordinary modes of punishment were by the "dunceblock," fool's cap, and leather spectacles, but in many
cases he used the heavy ruler with great severity, if
not brutality. So say some of his yet surviving pupils. Besides this school there were others taught
near Jacob's Creek, at Overholt's, and on the Quay
farm, near the bottoms on the Youghiogheny. Mr.
Henry Galley recollects that the stone school-house
on land of Philip Lucas was built in or about 1817.
Under the operation of the public school law of
1834, the first school directors (appointed by the
court in January, 1835) for Tyrone were Jacob Newmyer and William Espey. The township was reported to the county treasurer as having accepted the
provisions of the law Jan. 3, 1838. The first apportionment of money to the township under that law
was from the State, $64.721; from the county, $129.57.
Prior to the, division of old Tyrone, the township
contained nine districts (which have been very little
changed since), as follows:
In the extreme western end, the Quay District extends entirely across the township from the Youghiogheny to Jacob's Creek. The school-house is near
the centre of it.
East of and adjoining the Quay District are the
Cunningham and Gaut Districts, which join near the
centre of the township. The former lies on the
Youghiogheny River, and extends up that stream
nearly to the borough of Dawson. The Gaut District
lies on Jacob's Creek.
The Cochran District borders on the river for a
short distance, embracing the borough of Dawson,
and extends northeasterly to include a part of Hickman's Run. Its northern boundary is nearly all on
the Gaut District.
The Taylor District lies in the bend of the river
above the Cochran District, and embraces the mouth
of Hickman's Run. All the districts above named
lie wholly in the present township of Lower Tyrone,
as do also a part of each of the three next iiientioned.
The Strickler District lies on the river next above
the Taylor District, and extends eastward to the east
line of Upper Tyrone.
The Ridge District lies north of the Strickler, and
extends from the east line of Upper Tyrone westward
to the Cochran District.
The Washington District lies along Jacob's Creek,
and extends south to the Ridge District, east to the
east line of Upper Tyrone, and west to the Gaut District.
The Walnut Hill District embraces the northeastern corner of Upper Tyrone, extending from the
township line on the east to Jacob's Creek on the
northwest, and joining Washington District on the
south.
The report for the school year of 1880-81 shows
in Upper Tyrone seven hundred and sixty pupils
and seven teachers. Total expenditure for schools,
799HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
$2452.99; valuation of school property, $6000. The
same report gives for Lower Tyrone four hundred
and ten pupils and seven teachers. Total expenditure for school purposes, $1425.44; valuation of
school property, $9000.
The following is a list (as nearly complete and
accurate as can be obtained from the defective records) of school directors elected from 1840 to the
present time:
1840.-James Wade, Joseph Cunningham.
1841.-Jacob Newcomer.
1842.-David Galley.
1843.-Joseph Cunningham, John Smilie, Hugh Torrance.
1844.-Joseph H. Torrance, William Vance, John Taylor.
1845.-Martin Sherrick.
1846.-William Huston, James Darsie.
1847.-Peter Galley, John T. Stauffer.
1848.-Jacob Newmyer, Robert Laughrie.
1849.-Joseph Cunningham, Joseph Gaut.
1850.-Joseph Gwinn, Stewart Strickler.
1851.-Jacob Newmyer, Alexander Boyd, John T. Stauffer.
1852.-Samuel Gallatin, Eli Homer, Hugh Chain.
1853.-Tilghman H. Strickler, Joseph Gwinn, Ebenezer Moore.
1854.-Samuel Heath, Solomon Keister, Ebenezer Moore.
1855.-Hugh Chain, George Strickler.
1856.-David M. Frame.
1857.-Solomon Keister, Jacob Sherrick.
1858.-William Washington, Joseph Newmyer.
1859.-Joseph Cunningham, David Galley.
1860.--Solomon Keister, Jacob Sherrick, Moses Porter.
1861.-Jacob Newmyer, John Keith, Wesley Collins.
1862.-Alexander Boyd, John L. Hutchinson.
1863.-Jacob Sherrick, Samuel Gaddis, William Strickler, Amos
Miller.
1864.-Samuel Smouse, George Strickler, J. R. Stauffer, George
Youns.
1865.-Joseph Newmyer, Daniel Strickler, C. S. Sherrick.
1866.-James Cochran, Jacob Sherrick, Solomon Hunter, Jacob
Newmyer.
1867.-George W. Anderson, Wesley H. Cottom, William L.
Yard.
1868.-Solomon Keister, S. Cottom.
1869.-J. W. Stillwagon, Isaac Cochran.
1870.-George W. Anderson, Jacob Sherrick, J. M. Cochran.
1873.-J. D. Porter, William Landenberger, J. W. Sherbondy.
1874.-N. M. Anderson, Jacob Sherrick, H. J. Molliston.
1875.-J. W. Stillwagon, J. G. White, W. B. Chain, John
Keyser.
1876.-W. Landenberger, Jacob Sherrick, Joseph Strickler.
1877.-James W. Cochran, J. D. Porter.
1878.-W. T. Kinney, Samuel Barnum.
1879.-Upper Tyrone, J. R. Stauffer; Lower Tyrone, Hugh
Ryan, W. M. Anderson.
1880.-Upper Tyrone, Benj. Newcomer, John Beatty; Lower
Tyrone, P. Snyder, B. F. Oglevee, D. M. Newcomer.
1881.-Upper Tyrone, James D. Porter, David L. Sherrick;
Lower Tyrone, Paul Hough, Wesley Galley, A. Shallenberger.
DAWSON BOROUGH.
The land forming the site of the borough of Dawson was included in the original tract, called "Prospect," which was warranted to John Smilie in 1786,
but for eighty years after that time no attempt was
made to centralize business and settlements at this
place other than the erection of a steam saw-mill by
two sons of John Smilie, Robert and John, who
did something of a business there in sawing lumber
for the construction of keel- and flat-boats for the
transportation of iron, coal, and sand.
The Smilie farm, except the river bottom, was sold
to Stewart Strickler. The bottom land was sold to
George Dawson, who used it for purposes of cultivation. The Pittsburgh and Connellsville Railroad
was located through the tract, and upon the opening
of the line Dawson's Station was established at this
point. A post-office was established at the same time.
The property passed, in the division of the Dawson estate, to Mrs. Alfred Howell, and in 1866 a town
plat was laid out and surveyed by Martin Dickson
for Mr. Howell. The brick building now known as
the Ebbert House was built by Henry H. Galley in
1868. The first store was opened by Samuel Smouse.
For some reason the new town received the name
of "Bloomington," and held it, without entirely superseding the railroad designation of Dawson's Station, until the incorporation of the borough, which
was effected in 1872, upon a petition of certain freeholders presented to the court of Fayette County at
the March term of that year. The court ordered the
petition to be laid before the grand jury, which body
reported the next day (March 7th) that after a full
investigation of the case a majority of the said jury
"do find that the conditions prescribed by the acts
of the Assembly relating thereto have been complied
with, and believe that it is expedient to grant the
prayer of the petitioners."
The report of the grand jury was confirmed on the
8th of June, 1872, and the court decreed "that the
said town at Dawson's Station be incorporated into a
borough in conformity with the prayer of the petitioners; that the corporate style and title thereof
shall be the borough of Dawson," giving the boundaries in detail. It was further provided that the first
election should be held at the school-house in the
said borough on the 31st day of August, 1872. At
the time designated the following-named officers were
elected, viz.: Justices of the Peace, William Lent,
M. McDonald; Burgess, Alexander B. Luce; Assessor, W. W. Luce; School Directors, Joseph Newmyer, James Mosser, William Luce, Jacob Oglevee,
Frank Snyder, Henry Newmyer; Council, Joseph
Newmyer, Frank Snyder, Daniel Wurtz, James
Fairchild, John McGill, Isaac Cochran; Auditor,
John Orbin.
The list of succeeding borough officers to the year
1881 is as follows:
1873.-Justice of the Peace, A. J. Anderson; Assessor, Henry
Newmyer; Auditor, J. F. Oglevee.
1874.-Justice of the Peace, T. Robb Deyarmon; School Directors, William Lent, William Ebbert; Auditor, George Newmyer; Assessor, David Forsyth.
1875.-Justice of the Peace, John W. Sherbondy; Assessor,
o800TYRONE-UPPER AND LOWER TOWNSHIPS.
Eli Galley; Auditor, John Arnold; School Directors, J. C.
Henry, James Fairchild.
1876.-Justice of the Peace, Mordecai McDonald; Burgess,
John H. Sherbondy; Council, John Corder, James Stauffer; Assessor, J. R. Laughrey; Auditor, A. C. McCune.
1877.-Burgess, James Newmyer; Justice of the Peace, James
Newmyer; Council, W. B. Frier, George Newmyer; School
Directors, Isaac Cochran, J. R. Laughrey, John Orbin;
Auditor, E. Galley.
1878.-Burgess, Joseph Newmyer; Council, Eli Galley, William
H. Rush: School Directors, William Johns, William Fairchild; Assessor, Edward Loverns; Auditor, Henry Newmyer.
1879.-Burgess, Joseph Newmyer; Assessor, W. H. Rush;
Auditor, J. R. Laughrey; School Directors, S. S. Stahl,
M. B. Fryer.
1880.-Justice of the Peace, J. K. McDonald; Auditor, Eli
Galley; Assessor, Jackson Anderson; School Directors,
William Lint, John Coder.
1881.-School Directors, Eli Huston, David Forsythe; Assessor,
Eli Galley; Auditor, J. A. Kittell.
CHURCHES.
THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH AT DAWSON.
The organization of this church was effected about
1870, and in 1872 the present church edifice of the
congregation was erected and dedicated, the dedication sermon being preached by the Rev. Charles
Smith.
From  the organization of the church to the present time it has been served by the following-named
preachers, viz.: the Revs. Garrett Wakefield, Mitchell, Stewart, Taylor, Emerson, Reynolds, Appleton,
Moffatt, Eaton, Stafford, Storr, and S. Lane, the present pastor.
The church has now (1881) a membership of sixtyfive, and is one of four charges under the pastor.
Bryan Church is in the connection, and Pleasant
Grove, near Layton Station, which has a membership
of thirty, is also within this charge.
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH AT DAWSON.
In 1874 a Presbyterian Church was formed and organized in the borough of Dawson, with forty-two
members, amnong whom were the following-named
persons, who joined on certificates from the old Tyrone Church, viz.: Solomon Baker, M. E. Baker,
Lewis Huston, Rebecca Huston, Rachel Suverin,
Milton Jenkins, Susan Jenkins, Margaret Newmyer,
Kate Newmyer, Mary Stauffer, Jonathan Merritt,
Mary M. Merritt, William Lint, Mary J. Lint, Andrew McElhaney, Anna McElhaney, Emma McElhaney, Mary Shoffer, A. C. McCune, Nora McCune,
Mordecai McDonald, Jane McDonald, Parthenia Patterson, and Ellen Kepple. Jonathan Merrit, William
Lint, and Solomon Baker were elected ruling elders.
The Rev. Thomas S. Park became their pastor, and
remained as long as the church was continued. No
church edifice was erected, and after about three
years the church organization was dissolved, and the
congregation returned to the mother-church of Tyrone, under the pastoral care of the Rev. J. H. Stevenson.
THE BAPTIST CHURCH AT DAWSON.
This church was organized in 1874, under charge of
the Rev. William Ellis. Services were at first held
in the school-house. A church edifice was commenced in June of the same year, but was not completed till November, 1878. At the dedication, delegates were present from the Baptist Churches of
Flatwood, Connellsville, Pennsville, Scottdale, and
Uniontown. The dedication sermon was preached
by the Rev. R. C. Morgan.
Prior to the dedication of the church the pulpit was
supplied, in 1875, by the Rev. W. R. Patton, and in
1876 by the Rev. Robert Miller. The Rev. O. B.
Stanger was called to the pastorate for one year,
beginning Oct. 13, 1878, but resigned April 6, 1879.
From that time the pulpit was occasionally supplied
by the Rev. R. C. Morgan and others for about two
years, until May, 1881, when the Rev. Amos Hutton
was called to the pastoral charge. The church now
contains about fifty members, and has in connecton
with it a Sabbath-school of seventy pupils.
SOCIETIES AND ORDERS.
Bloomington Lodge, No. 728, I. 0. of 0. F., was
chartered Sept. 3, 1870, with John Coder as N. G.;
H. E. Koser, V. G.; J. F. McGill, Sec.; W. H. Cottom, Asst. Sec.; and J. C. Knight, Treas.
It has at present sixty-five members. The officers
for 1881 are as follows: T. Robb Deyarmon, P. G.;
Henry Newmyer, N. G.; Henry Thrasher, V. G.;
Henry Molliston, Sec.; John Coder, Treas.
Tyrone Lodge, No. 310, K. of P., was chartered
Aug. 10, 1871, with George Strickler, Charles Cherrey,
M. L. Moore, R. Strickler, J. Coder, N. C. Cochran,
L. Cochran, John M. Burney, and John McCracken
charter members. The present membership is sixtyfive, and the officers for 1881 are H. E. Mornyer, C. C.;
Isaac Colbert, V. C.; C. O. Schroyer, P.; Solomon
Baker, K. R. S.; Charles Cherrey, M. F.; H. J. Molliston, M. E.; Isaac Shepard, M. A.; Jackson Anderson, P. C.
Hodenausonee Tribe, No. 164, I. O. of R. M., was organized in the 17th Sun of the Cold Moon, G. S. D. 381,
to bear date 29th Sun of the Hunting Moon, G. D.,
380. The charter members of this tribe were John
Coder, Solomon Baker, John C. Knight, John R.
Dunham, Jesse A. Oglev e, Charles Cherrey, William
Harberger, Frank Sny4ler, Alexander Davenport,
William Randolph, Jasper N. Colbert, George McBurney, David Randolph, Isaac Colbert, Daniel Wirt,
John Hartwick, Lutellus Cochran, William W. Luce,
and Edward E. Strickler. Meetings are held in OddFellows' Hall.
"Brotherhood of the Union, encircled in the H. F.,"
No. 90, was chartered Aug. 2, 1876. The charter
members were William L. Shaw, John McCracken,
I Frank Richie, Martin Johnson, Daniel Jones, P.
801HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
when, as they said, they would recommence the torture, and devote the whole day to it. He was then
unbound and made to sit on the ground, where he
was beaten, kicked, and otherwise maltreated by the
Indians, who continued dancing round him and yelling till nearly midnight. Three guards were then detailed to watch him during the rest of the night; he
was again bound and taken to a house, where a rope
was fastened about his neck and tied to a beam of the
house. His guards kept awake taunting hin about
the torture he was to endure until towards morning,
when two of them fell asleep, and not long afterwards
the other followed their example. Soon they were
all asleep, and when he was entirely sure that they
were so Slover commenced attempts to unbind himself. He had comparatively little difficulty in slipping
the cords from  one of his wrists, which left him at
liberty to work at the rope around his neck. This he
found much more securely tied, and he began to despair of loosening it, as the daylight had begun to
appear and the Indians would soon be on the alert.
At last, however, he succeeded in untying the knots,
and rose from his painful position, free, but still in
the greatest danger of discovery.
Stepping softly over the sleeping warriors, he quickly
left the house, and ran through the village into a cornfield. Near by he saw several Indian horses grazing,
and having with no little difficulty caught one of these,
using the rope with which he had been bound as a
halter, he mounted and rode away, first slowly, then
more rapidly, and finally witli all the speed of which
the animal was capable. No alarm had been given
in the village, and he had therefore reason to believe
that the Indians were still ignorant of his escape.
Slover forced the horse to his utmost speed for a
long time, but gradually his pace slackened and grew
slower and slower until about two o'clock in the afternoon, when, finding it impossible to urge him beyond
a walking gait, he dismounted, left the animal, and
pushed on on foot. He had heard the distant hallooing of Indians behind him, showing him that he was
pursued, but he kept on, using every precaution to
cover his trail as he proceeded. No Indians appeared,
and he traveled on without a moment's stop until ten
o'clock at night, when, being very sick and vomiting,
he halted to rest for two hours. At midnight the
moon rose, and he procee(led on, striking a trail,
which -he kept till daylight, and then, as a measure
of precaution, left it, and struck through the woods
along a ridge at a right angle from his previous course.
This he continued for about fifteen miles, and then
changed to what he judged to be his true course.
From this point he met with no specially notable adventure. On the third day he reached the Muskingum, on the next he reached and crossed the Stillwater, and in the evening of the fifth day of his flight
he camped within five miles of Wheeling. Up to this
time he had not closed his eyes in sleep since he left
his cabin and squaw companion at Wapatomica.
Early on the following morning he came to the
Olhio River opposite the island at Wheeling, and seeing a man on the other side, called to him, and finally
induced him to come across and take him over in his
canoe, though at first he was very suspicious and unwilling to cross to the west shore. On the 10th of
July Slover reached Fort Pitt.
Col. Crawford's nephew, William Crawford,l the
colonel's son-in-law, William Harrison,2 and John
McClelland, of Fayette County, the third major of
the expeditionary force, all lost their lives at the
hands of the Indian barbarians. It has already been
noticed that when the unfortunate colonel was at
Pomoacan's headquarters, on the night before he
suffered the torture, he was told by Simon Girty that
his nephew and son-in-law had been taken prisoners
but pardoned by the chiefs. This false story of their
escape from death reached the settlements by some
means, and the hearts of their relatives and friends
were thus cheered by hopes of their ultimate return.
No particulars of the time or manner of the deaths
of Harrison, McClelland, or young Crawford are
known, except that McClelland was shot from his
horse in the first attack by the Delawares and Shliawanese on the night of the 5th, but the fact of their
killing by the savages was established by John Slover,
who, on coining to the upper Shawanese town on the
evening of the llth of June, saw there the mangled
bodies of three men bloody, powder-burned, and
mutilated, who, the Indians assured himin, had been
killed just before his arrival; and two of these he at
once recognized as the bodies of Harrison and young
Crawford. The other he was not entirely sure of, but
had no doubt that it was the corpse of Maj. McClelland. At the same time the Indians pointed out two
horses, and asked him if he recognized them, to which
he answered that he did, and that they were the ones
which had been ridden by Harrison and Crawford, to
which the Indians replied that he was correct.
John Crawford, the colonel's son, kept with Williamson's forces on their retreat to the Ohio, and
reached his home on the Youghiogheny in safety.
He afterwards removed to Kentucky, and died in that
State soon after his settlement there.
Philip Smith3 was, as we have seen, an active participant in the battle of June 4th, in which he received
a wound in the elbow. When the retreat commenced
on the night of the 5th, he and a companion named
1 Son of Valentine Crawford, of Fayette County.
2 Husband of the beautiful Sarah Crawford, the colonel's daughter.
3 At thle time when he volunteered for Crawford's expedition, Philip
Snith was a resident of that part of Westmoreland County which sooIn
after became Fayette, his home being on a sniall tributary of Georges
Creek. Soon after returning from the expedition (in 1784) he removed
to Ohio, and retmained in that State during the remainder of his life.
He was born in Frederick Coiunty, Id., in 1761, and died in East Union
towinslip, Wayne Co., Olhio, March 27, 1838. Several of his children are
yet living ill Oliio and Indiana.
i
I
I
108HISTOlRY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Mulligan, Harry Johnson, William Highberger, F.
C. Reed, and Martin Layton.
Star of Hope Lodge, No. 196, I. O. of G. T., was
organized in 1878, the charter being without date.
The following-named persons were the charter members: Franklin Snyder, John W. Sherbondy, Daniel
P. Whitsett, John H. Stranck, Nelson Newmyer,
Jonathan Hewitt, William Herbert, Lewis L. Huston,
J. K. McDonald, Jr., David Orbin, Thomas B. Mure,
L. H. Eaton, William Lint, Mrs. C. L. Whitsett,
Mrs. Clara Eaton, Miss C. Sherbondy, Miss Gertie
Sherbondy, Miss Barbara Orbin, Miss Hannah Mure,
Miss Mary Orbin, Miss Dora Martin, Miss Flora
Stickle, Miss Lizzie Smith. The lodge has at present
seventy-eight members.
The public hall in Dawson was erected by the OddFellows. In this hall the meetings of the several
societies are held.
The borough now contains two churches (Methodist
and Baptist), a post-office, railroad depot, expressand telegraph-offices, school-house, Odd-Fellows'
Hall, steam grist-mill, spoke-factory, saddler-shop,
shoe-shop, tin-shop, a silversmith-shop, three hotels,
five stores, a drug-store, and three physicians, viz.: Dr.
J. C. Henry, Dr. G. M. Campbell, and Dr. H. Dravo.
The population of the borough by the United States
census of 1880 was four hundred and fifty-three.
JIMTOWN.
This mining settlement has grown up from the very
extensive coke-works in the vicinity, and is entirely made up of the homes of miners. It is reported
in the census of 1880 as having a population of six
hundred and fifty-three.
COKE MANUFACTURE.
From Broad Ford north to the county line is an
almost continuous succession of coke-works, extending along the Mount Pleasant Branch Railroad, half
of which in number (and more than half in number
of ovens) are owned by the H. C. Frick Coke Company. The Henry Clay Works, at Broad Ford, were
commenced by the H. C. Frick Company about 1872,
and have been in operation since that time. At this
place the company has one hundred ovens in blast,
and eighteen new tenements have been recently
erected for occupation by the laborers employed
about the works. The coal taken from this mine is
hauled up a slope; all the others farther up the road
are worked in drifts. The H. C. Frick mines are
next north from the Henry Clay. They were started
about 1870, and have now one hundred and!six ovens,
employing eighty-five men.
The Morgan Coke-Works were commenced about
1866 by Sidney and James Morgan and A. J. Crossland, and about 1878 were sold to the H. C. Frick
Coke Company, who now have in use at this place
one hundred and sixty-four ovens and employ one
hundred and twenty men. They have here ten blocks
of tenement-houses and shops, in which they build
all the cars, wagons, and wheelbarrows used in the
extensive operations carried on along this line of railway.
The " White" mines, late the "Hutchinson Globe,"
were started by A. C. Hutchinson  Brother, and
came into possession of the H. C. Frick Coke Company in January, 1881. They have one hundred and
forty-eight ovens now in operation at this place.
The Foundry Mines and Coke-Works were put in
operation about 1869 by Strickler  Lane, conmmencing with a few ovens and gradually increasing
the number. They now comprise seventy-four ovens,
owned and operated by the H. C. Frick Coke Company, who employ here a force of fifty men.
The Eagle Mines were put in operation by Markle,
Sherrick  Co., about 1868. A few years later they
sold to the H. C. Frick Coke Company, who have
now in operation eighty ovens and employ fifty-five
men.
The Summit Mines were opened by Cochran 
Keister, in 1873. In February, 1880, they were sold
to the H. C. Frick Coke Company. There are now
here in operation one hundred and forty-two ovens,
and ninety men are employed. Forty-four tenements
are near the mines. The company own one thousand
acres of land on the south side of the Mount Pleasant
Branch, and four hundred acres on the north side.
The Franklin Mines, owned by B. F. Keister  Co.,
are next above the "Summit." Here are in operation
one hundred and thirty ovens.
The Tip-Top Coke-Works were started by Charles
Armstrong about eight years ago. In 1879 they were
sold to the H. C. Frick Coke Company, the present
owners. Fifty-six ovens are in operation at the TipTop.
The Clinton Mines are next above the Tip-Top, and
are owned by James Cochran  Co. Forty-four ovens
are in active operation at these mines, and five cars
are daily loaded with coke from them.
The Valley Mines were started by Wilson, Boyle 
Playford, about 1870. At the time of sale to the H.
C. Frick Coke Company, in April, 1880, they had one
hundred ovens in operation. They have since been
increased to one hundred and fifty-two, the number in
operation at the present time.
The Hope Mines and Coke-Works, called until recently the Sherrick Mines, are situated about half a
mile east of Everson Station, and also east of both
the Southwest Pennsylvania and Mount Pleasant
Branch Railroads. They were put in operation about
ten years ago by Jacob Sherrick, and were sold by
him in March, 1881, to the present proprietor, Joseph
R. Stauffer, for about eighteen thousand dollars. The
property embraces about thirty-one and a half acres
of coal as yet untouched (as shown by a survey made
ill the spring of 1881). The proprietor has in operation at this place twenty ovens, with a daily capacity
of thirty tons of coke. He has here all the necessary
1
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buildings and appliances for the business,-tank, office, and dwellings for the employes. The works are
so favorably situated with regard to drainage that no
pumping is required. The number of persons employed by the works is fifteen.
The Charlotte Furnace Company's Coke-Works
embrace sixty ovens, located on the Fayette County
side of Jacob's Creek, directly opposite their furnace
and rolling-mill at Scottdale, Westmoreland County.
The Keifer Coke-Works were started by W. A.
Keifer, who built five ovens here in 1871, and shipped
the first coke over the Mount Pleasant Branch Railroad. He subsequently built a large number of ovens
additional to the first "plant," but all of them were
afterwards demolished and about forty new ones
erected, which are now in operation, producing coke
for thile use of the Charlotte Furnace Company, and
operated by W. A. Keifer. The coal is mined by
drift, and about sixty tons of coke produced per day.
The works give employment to thirty men. They are
located on a line with those of the Charlotte Furnace
Company, and are in fact a part of those works.
The Fountain Coke-Works are located next above
the Keifer Works. They have fifty ovens, producing
about seventy tons of coke per day, and are owned
and operated by J. D. Boyle.
The Dexter Mines and Coke-Works, owned and
operated by J. R. Stauffer  Co., are located on the
Stauffer farm, and are the next coke-works above
the "Fountain," on the Mount Pleasant Railroad.
The property connected with the works embraces
one hundred acres, of which about thirty acres has
been exhausted, leaving about seventy acres of coal
untouched. The works were built in 1873 by the
brothers Stauffer. The coal is taken out by drifting.
Forty ovens are in operation here, producing sixtyfive tons of coke daily. They are well equipped,
having a store-house twenty by thirty-six feet in
dimensions, two tanks, the necessary sidings, and
eight dwelling-houses for operatives.  The works
have $25,000 invested in them, exclusive of the land,
for which no outlay was required, as it belonged to
the Stauffer homestead property. A view of the
Dexter Coke-Works, as also of the fiouring-mills of
J. R.  A. Stauffer, is given herewith.
The Painter Coke-Works are next above the Dexter,
on the Mount Pleasant Railroad. These works were
put in operation in 1873 by Col. Israel Painter, the
location being upon land which he had owned for
some time previously. Col. Painter built seventy
ovens, and carried on the works till 1878, when he
sold the work to McClure  Co., of Pittsburgh, the
present proprietors, who added one hundred and fiftyeight ovens, making a total of two hundred and
twenty-eight, the number now in operation at these
works. The coal is mined by drift, and is of excellent
quality for coking.
The Diamond Coke-Works, the most northerly of
the works in Fayette County, on the line of the Mount
Pleasant Railroad, were started in 1874 by Lomison
 Stauft, who then erected twenty-five ovens, and
manufactured coke here until 1879, when they sold
the works to the Diamond Coke Company. That
company built twenty additional ovens, and carried
on the works until 1880, when they sold the property
to McClure  Co., who built additional ovens, bringing the whole number to sixty-six, as at present.
About eight car-loads of coke are produced here
daily. Both the "Diamond" and the "Painter's"
Works (owned by the same proprietors) are under the
superintendence of J. H. Culler.
The mites and coke-works above mentioned are all
located in Upper Tyrone township, except the "Henry
Clay" Mines, which are in Connellsville.
The H. C. Frick Coke Company own eleven miles
of railroad and twenty-nine miles of pit-track, and
keep in operation two hundred and nineteen cars,
owned by themselves. The company have in their
possession about twelve square miles of coal lands
and surface in this section, and operate several hundred more, besides buying the coke produced by about
two hundred and fifty other ovens. They have stores
for supplying their miners at Broad Ford, Morgan,
and the Summit, and blocks of tenement-houses for
miners' occupancy at all their mines. They are now
(June, 1881) laying water-pipes for the purpose of
furnishing their works with an unlimited supply of
water.
The Spurgeon (formerly Spring Grove) Mines and
coke-ovens in connection, are located on Hickman
Run, near its mouth. They were commenced in 1864
by Cochran  Keister, their present owners, who
have one hundred ovens in operation, and ship ten
car-loads of coke daily. They have a store and tenements for their workmen and laborers at the mines.
The Jimtown Coke-Works (next above the Spurgeon) are owned by J. M. Schoonmaker. Three
hundred and three ovens are now in operation here,
and thirty car-loads of coke are shipped daily. A
store and tenement-houses for the operatives are owned
by the proprietors of these works. J. R. Laughrey
is superintendent of these, as well as of the Sterling
Mines and Coke-Works, located on the Youghiogheny
River.
Next above Jimtown are the "Cora Coke-Works,"
erected in 1880 by Jacob Newmyer  Sons, comprising forty-two ovens in active operation.
For the accommodation of the above-mentioned
works on Hickman Run there has been built a railroad, called the Hickman Run Branch, connecting
with the main track of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad near the mouth of the run.
Along the Youghiogheny River above Dawson, on
the line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, are a
number of mines and coke-works. The first of these
(passing from Dawson towards Broad Ford) is the
Fayette Coke-Works, now owned by James Cochran,
I
803HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Graff, Bennett  Co., and the Manchester Iron and
Steel Company. A few ovens were built and put in
operation here as early as 1842 by Campbell  McCormick. The present works were commenced in
1866. They now number one hundred and twentyfive ovens, and are under the superintendency of
James Cochran, a principal owner.
The Jackson Mines are situated on the main line
of the railroad east of the Fayette Works. They
are owned by J. K. Ewing, James Cochran, Sample
Cochran, and J. T. Cochran, under style of "Jackson Mines Company." Sixty-four ovens are in operation, producing an average of seven car-loads of
coke daily.
Next east are the Sterling Mines, owned by J. M.
Schoonmaker, and under the superintendency of J.
R. Laughrey. One hundred and fifty-nine ovens are
in operation here, producing seventeen car-loads of
coke daily.
The Tyrone Coke-Works of Laughlin  Co., next
east of the Sterling Mines, have one hundred and
thirty ovens. Next above these are the Washington
Mines, the last of those located between Dawson and
Broad Ford. They are owned by Sample Cochran
 Co. The number of ovens now in operation is
thirty-two.
The manufacture of fire-brick in Fayette County
was begun as early as the year 1830 by Jacob Anderson, who is now living at Rochester, Pa. He commenced the business about one mile from Connellsville. The brick he made were loaded upon flat-boats
and floated down the Youghiogheny River to Pittsburgh; there they were used in furnaces, mills, etc.
The business was continued for many years by different persons, among whom were Thomas Ewing, Clement Smith, Henry Wather, William Graham, John
Kilpatrick, John T. Hurst, Jackson Sprigs, and
several others. But it was not until the business of
coke manufacture becamne the leading business of the
county that the real value of the fire-brick made here
was recognized. When the fact became known by
practical tests that as the Connellsville coal makes
the best coke now known in this country, so the nearer
to the town of Connellsville the fire-brick are made
the better they are adapted to the use of coke-ovens,
and the interest has been carried to such a degree of
perfection by some of the operators that they make
as many as six different compositions in making the
brick for one oven. There are two different kinds of
fire-clay used in these brick,-plastic or soft clay, and
flinty or quartz clay. These are put in in such quantities, as experiment has demonstrated in their use in
the brick, as are best suited to the place the brick are
to occupy in the oven. The flint clay is about as hard
as limestone, and is of close, fine grain, taking a polish like marble. It is placed in a large metal pan, a
stream of water is turned upon it, and two large rollers revolve around in the pan, causing the clay to grain
the size required, when the proper quantity of plastic clay is added, making the whole mass into a pasty
substance. It is taken out of the pan and moulded
and dried on a hot floor made for that purpose, then
the brick are set in kilns and burned about five days
and nights. They are then ready for the market. It
is also necessary in mnaking some of these brick to
calcine a part of the clay before using it. The business is carried on extensively by Joseph Soisson and
Worth Kilpatrick, a view of whose works is shown
in this book. They are located about two miles from
Connellsville, at Moyer Station, on the Southwestern Pennsylvania Railroad. These gentlemen are
thoroughly posted in their business, and have been
obliged to increase the capacity of their works several times during the last three years. They send
some of their bricks six and seven hundred miles
from the place of manufacture, which is an indication
that they are becoming widely known as thorough,
progressive, and responsible business men.
The fire-brick works of J. M.  L. Cochran are on
the line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, between
Dawson and Layton Station. They have a capacity
for manufacturing ten thousand bricks per day. They
are used chiefly in the construction of coke-ovens.
RAILROADS.
The main line of the Pittsburgh and Connellsville
Railroad (now under lease to the Baltimore and Ohio
Railroad Company) runs the entire length of the
south boundary line of the two townships on the north
bank of the Youghiogheny River. It has stations at
Broad Ford, Dawson, Laurel Run, and Miltenberger.
Branches connect with this main line; one, the Hickman Run, connects at a short distance above Dawson,
anid is entirely used for the transportation of coke from
the coke-works in that region. The other is the
Mount Pleasant Branch, which connects at Broad
Ford and extends to Mount Pleasant. This branch
is used largely for coke, but also has a heavy passenger traffic. Along the entire line of this road are
located coke-ovens, and the amount of coke shipped
daily is immense. The stations in Upper Tyrone are
Broad Ford, Morgan, Tinstman's, Fountain, Overton,
and Everson, at the iron bridge.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
JAMES COCHRAN.
James Cochran, of Dawson Station, is one of the
most remarkable of the self-made men of Fayette
County, a man of clear understanding, of great energy and indomitable will, but of a generous nature,
tender-hearted withal, and, in short, a fine example of
robust, hearty manhood. He is in both lines of
Scotch-Irish extraction. Both his paternal grandfather, Samuel Cochran, and his mnaternal one, EzeI
I
8041--7,,         /I                    7                           --l" I
I ITHE REVOLUTION.
Rankin became separated from their company, and
found themselves under the necessity of shifting for
themselves. Both had lost their horses, and they
were without provisions, but had their guns and ammunition. They struck off from the track of the
troops, and for two days were successful in evading
the savages. Most of their traveling was done by
night. They suffered greatly for food, for, though
there was plenty of game, they were afraid to shoot
it, for fear that the noise of their pieces would bring
Indians upon them. They ate berries and roots, and
once or twice were fortunate enough to catch young
birds. Afterwards they found an Indian pony, which
(not daring to shoot) Smith killed with his tomahawk
after repeated ineffectual strokes at it. The liver of
the animal was then taken out and broiled, and it
made what seemed to them a delicious meal.
On the night of the 7th, as they were moving along,
they were overtaken by two other fugitives, mounted.
The four now traveled on together for a time, when,
on a sudden, as they had stopped at a stream, a party
of Indians fired on them from the high bank, and the
two mounted men tumbled from their horses, dead.
Smith had just stooped to drink at the stream, and a
ball whizzed over his head; but he was unhurt, and
seizing the gun of one of the dead horsemen, he
leaped up the opposite bank and fled, but soon threw.
away his gun. His companion, Rankin, had also
escaped injury from the fire of the savages, and was
running for life ahead of Smith. As the latter pressed
on towards him, Rankin, thinking that it was an
enemy who was pursuing, turned to shoot him, but
Smith saved himself by taking to a tree. This was
repeated three times, but finally Rankin discovered
that he was being pursued, not by an enemy, but by
his companion, Smith. The latter then joined him,
and the two ran on together and made their escape,
traveling all night, and making no halt until the
middle of the next forenoon, when they suddenly
came upon an Indian camp, which appeared to have
been very recently left by the party who had occupied it, as the fires were still burning, and a kettle of
homniny was on one of them cooking. The fugitives
were half famished, but dared not eat the inviting
mess, fearing that it might have been poisoned. But
there was another object lying near the fire which
sent the blood curdling to their hearts. It was the
still warm dead body of a man who had been murdered by the Indians and scalped, evidently while
alive, as the marks showed that he had drawn his
hand across the scalp-wound several times and
smieared his face with blood from it. It was a sickening spectacle, and they were glad to'fly from it
and from the dangerous proximity of the camp-fire,
where they were liable at any moment to be surprised by the return of the savages.
They moved on in haste, and from that time saw
no Indians, nor any sign of any, though during the
succeeding night they heard whoopings, apparently a
8
long distance from them. At this warniing they put
out their fire and moved away, traveling the rest of
the night. During the remainder of their flight no
incident of an exciting nature occurred, and on the
ninth day of their journey they reached the left bank
of the Ohio, foot-sore, famished, and emaciated, but
safe beyond reach of their savage enemies.
Nicholas Dawson (whose home was in what is now
North Union township, Fayette Co.) was one of the
volunteers under Crawford. In the disorder of the
night of the 5th of June he became separated from
his command and -wandered away, with nothing to
guide him in the right direction. While attempting
thus to make his way alone he was met by James
Workman and another straggler, who saw that he
was heading towards Sandusky, and consequently
running directly into danger instead of escaping
from it. They tried to convince him that he was
wrong, but he obstinately insisted that he was not.
Finding it impossible to persuade him to change his
course, they at last told him that as he would certainly be taken by the Indians if he kept on, and as
it was better for him to die by the hands of white
men than to be tortured by savages, they were determined to shoot him then and there unless he consented to turn his course and go with them. This
was an unanswerable argument, and Dawson finally
yielded to it, though with a very bad grace. He
changed his route, joined company with the two men,
and so succeeded in making his escape, and arrived
in safety at his home beyond the Monongahela.
John Sherrard, a private in the Sandusky expedition, was a man well and favorably known among the
early residents of Fayette County, and as he was also
one of Col. Crawford's most valuable men, it is not
improper to make special mention of his services and
adventures in the campaign. He does not come into
particular notice until the afternoon of June 4th,
when the northern and western borders of the grove
known as Battle Island were fringed with the fire of
the Pennsylvanians' rifles. In that conflict he held
his own with the best among the volunteers, until in
the excitement of the fight he drove a ball into the
barrel of his rifle without any powder behind it, and
by this means disarmed himself by rendering his
piece useless.
From this time he employed himself in bringfng
water to his comrades in the grove from a stagnant
pool which he discovered beneath the roots of an upturned tree. This employment lacked the pleasurable excitement which was with the marksmen on the
battle-line, but it was quite as dangerous, for the balls
whistled past him continually as he passed to and
fro; and it was also a service which could not be
dispensed with, for the battle-ground was entirely
without water (the river being more than a mile
away), and the terrible heat of the afternoon brought
109'LTYRONE-UPPER AND LOWER TOWNSHIPS.
kiel Sample, came to America from the north of Ireland. The latter settled in Westmoreland County,
and died there. The former settled near Lancaster,
Pa., and moved into Fayette County when Isaac, the
father of our James, was quite young. About 1815
Isaac Cochran married, in Westmoreland County, Rosanna, daughter of Ezekiel Sample, before namned,
and took her to his home in Tyrone township, where
he led the life of a farmer, and where his family of
five sons, of whom James was the fourth in number,
and four daughters were all born, James being born
Jan. 15, 1823.
James attended in childhood the subscription
schools till he was about thirteen years of age, when
his mother died, and he then left home and went out
to shift for himself, to try "the battle of life" in the
school of experience, which Mr. Cochran emphatically declares to be " the best school that anybody ever
attended." At the outset he engaged himself to a
farmer to help him "put in seeding,"-that is, to sow
his fields; and for pay the farmer gave him "an old,
worn-out, long-tailed blue coat," which the boy's
pride would not allow him to wear. So he went
home across the fields in shame and anger. He
would work for that farmer Ino more. He next
bought, on credit, some red flannel for a "wa'mus,"i.e., a sort of buttonless wrapper,-and got, also on
credit, from Sample Cochran, his brother, lumber for
a fiat-bottomed boat large enough to carry a hundred
tons of sand, built the boat, and sold one-half of it
to Sample to pay the lumber bill, and then went into
partnership with him in washing sand at their uncle's
bank near the present village of Dawson, preparatory to carrying it to the glass-makers at Pittsburgh.
For this load they got two dollars a ton; and they
sold the boat, and had as the result about a hundred
dollars apiece in pocket, which sum, Mr. Cochran
says, was more of a fortune in his young mind then
than are now to him  all his present possessions.
They continued boatinig, carrying sand, glass-stone,
cinders, etc., mostly to Pittsburgh, for several years.
Thereafter he and his brother and uncle, in the summer of 1842, feeling quite rich, leased two cokeovens at what is now styled Fayette Works, and
made two boat-loads of twenty-four-hour coke, having
themselves previously made two boats, which they
loaded.  A boat held 6000 bushels   With their
loaded craft they left for Cincinnati, Ohio, April 1,
1843, without money, and with no shelter over their
heads, and with Ino place to lie for rest except on the
coke. At Pittsburgh they bought, on credit, provisions, for which they paid on their return. Below
Pittsburgh the coke got on fire (from a fire built for
cooking purposes upon a quantity of sand laid over
the coke), and they found that the more water they
poured upon it the lower the fire went, and they
were obliged to dig down and get out the embers. At'
this period little was known about the "character"
of coke and how best to handle it. Having gathered
lumber along down the river, when they arrived at
Wheeling they made a shanty over the coke and so
secured shelter. Arrived at Cincinnati, they were
obliged to lie there for several days before they could
dispose of the coke, and allow Miles Greenwood, a
foundryman, to try it. He used the same quantity
which he had before used of the Monongahela coke,
and finding theirs much better than the latter kind,
bought both loads, paying seven cents a bushel, half
down, and giving for the other half his notes, which
he paid before maturity. This was the first of the
Connellsville coke ever sold for money.
Mr. Cochran has ever since been engaged in manufacturing coke. He is the principal of the firm of
Cochran  Keister, owning the Spring Grove Works,
of one hundred ovens, on the old Huston farm, at
Dawson. He is also owner of a large interest in the
Fayette Works (one hundred ovens), which he has
conducted since 1866, and is interested in the Jackson Mines, in Tyrone township, his son, John T.,
being in charge of the same. He is concerned in two
works in Upper Tyrone, the Franklin Mines and the
Clinton Mines, both of coking coal. In company
with John H. and George R. Shoenberger, Solomon
Keister, N. A. Rist, and his three sons, John, Philip
G., and H. T. Cochran, he owns in Dunbar township
over twelve hundred acres of bituminous coal lands,
lying mainly on the line of the new Pittsburgh and
Lake Erie Railroad, now in process of building.
As an item of interest in the history of navigation
on the Youghiogheny River, it should not be overlooked that during a portion of his life, extending
from about 1846 forward for twenty-five years or so, or
as long as boating was done on that stream, Mr.
Cochran safely piloted boats down its dangerous
channel, on occasion, three or four times a year.
This was a work which but very few men had sufficient skill to do.
Feb. 24, 1848, Mr. Cochran married Miss Clarissa
Huston, daughter of Joseph and Mary Ann Hazen
Huston, of Tyrone township, by whom he has had
eleven children, seven of whom, six sons and one
daughter, are living.
STEWART STRICKLER.
Stewart Strickler, the only son of Jacob Strickler,
a farmer of Fayette County, was born at New Salem,
near Uniontown, Feb. 17, 1812, and received a common-school education. When he was sixteen years
old his mother died, and his father breaking up housekeeping, Stewart and his eight sisters, all younger
than himself, were scattered among their relatives.
In the spring of 1830, Stewart hired out to John
Smiley, a farmer, at six dollars per month, and stayed
with him till Christmas, after which he began peddling chickens and eggs, which he carried down
along the Youghiogheny River in a very simply-constructed boat made by himself of boards, giving away
805HISTORY. OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
the boat when he had sold his merchandise, and
walking back, making such a trip every few weeks
during the year 1831. Early in 1832 he began working about for different persons at making rails and
washing sand (which was taken to Pittsburgh to the
glass-makers).
In the latter part of 1832 Mr. Jacob Strickler got
his children together again, Stewart with the rest
joining him on the old place, known as the Jimtown
farm, where he (Stewart) remained till 1835, when
he married Mary Newcomer, of Tyrone township, and
bought a piece of land from his father at Jimtown,
and built thereon a house and barn and commenced
farming. In 1837 the great financial panic came, and
found Stewart badly in debt for his farm (he says
times were then so hard that he had to pay fifty cents
in "shinplasters" to see a quarter in silver). He
struggled on till about 1840, when times began to
improve, but farming being poor business, he found
it necessary to exercise his brain-power, and began to
conjure up ways to enable him to pull through and get
out of debt. Here let us remark that in an early day
there had been an iron furnace at the mouth of
Jacobs' Creek, known as Turnbull Furnace, but then
long abandoned and in ruin. Near it was a huge
pile of cinders, containing a great amount of iron
unextracted from the ore. Mr. Strickler conceived
the notion of taking the cinder to iron-works in
Pittsburgh, bought it for fifty cents a ton, built a
large fiat-boat, on which he carried the cinder to the
city, and there sold it for four dollars and a half a
ton, and afterwards sold his boat, making something
on it. This enterprise stimulated him to plot and
plan still further, and early in 1842 he bought ten
acres of coal land on the Youghiogheny River, at the
point now called Sterling Coal-Works, built six ovens,
and began making coke, which he shipped by fiatboats to Cincinnati, Ohio. He carried on this business successfully for several years. About the same
time there were others engaged in the business, but
they were not successful, and became discouraged
and gave it up. About 1855 Mr. Strickler bought
eighty acres of coal land, known as the John Taylor
farm, and began improving it with the intent to carry
on the coal business as before, but on a larger scale.
In 1857 the Pittsburgh and Connellsville Railroad
was completed, and Mr. Strickler put into operation
on his place eighty coke-ovens. At this time he built
a side-track from his works to the main line of the
railroad, for the purpose of shipping coke and coal to
Graff, Bennett  Co., of Pittsburgh, keeping their
furnace going from 1860 to 1864, with two thousand
bushels per day. He then sold a third-interest in
his business to the above-named firm for $35,000, a
few months afterwards selling the balance to Shoenberger  Co. for $45,000.
Somewhere between 1835 and 1840 Mr. Strickler
bought all of his father's old farm, paying $30 per
acre. In the spring of 1864 he sold it to J. K. Ewing
for $200 per acre, the latter afterwards selling it for
over $400 an acre.
In 1867, Mr. Strickler removed with a portion of
his family to Middle Tennessee, near the Cumnberland
Mountains. He is the father of eight children, two
sons and six daughters, the eldest of whom, Mrs.
Caroline Hill, died in March, 1879. His wife and the
rest of his children are living. Three of the daughters reside in Tennessee. Two sons and two daughters live on the farm formerly owned by John Smiley,
for Whom and where Mr. Strickler worked in 1830,
as above related. The children living in Fayette
County are Mrs. Maria Boyd, Lyman, Dempsey, and
Mrs. Martha Herbert. Those in Tennessee are Mrs.
Harriet Ramsey, Mrs. Kate Thompson, whose husband is a physician, and Miss Deccie F. Strickler, the
latter residing with her parents.
Mr. Strickler is now over seventy years of age, and
notwithstanding his serious labors in life and many
dangers encountered, from some of which he barely
escaped with his life, he is in good health and in full
possession of intellectual vigor. He is respected by
his wide circle of acquaintances as a man of strict
integrity and of nobility of heart. Not only can he
look back upon a life well spent, triumphant over
early and great difficulties, but he is also entitled to
enjoy the reflection that through his excellent judgment, advice, and influence not a few persons in the
region where he spent his most active days are also
successful, enjoying, many of them, the blessings of
wealth.
806WASIINGTON TOWNSHIP.
WASHINGTON, occupying the northwestern corner
of the county, is, with regard to territorial area, one
of the smallest of Fayette's townships; but it is one
of the largest with regard to population, if we include
with it the boroughs of Belle Vernon and Fayette
City, both of which lie within its boundaries. The
population of the township proper, however, was but
twelve hundred and fifty-seven by the census of 1880,
while that of the two boroughs was by the same census
two thousand and thirty-one, Belle Vernon having
eleven hundred and sixty-four, and Fayette City eight
hundred and sixty-seven inhabitants.
The boundaries of Washington township are the
Westmoreland County line on the north, Jefferson
township on the south, Jefferson and Perry on the
east, and the Monongahela River on the west. The
assessed valuation of the township in 1881 was $413,460, or a gain of $15,000 over the valuation of 1880.
Rich in agriculture, Washington has also valuable
coal deposits, that await only the creation of railway
transportation within the township borders to be made
available. At present coal-mining is confined to the
river district, where the miniiig and shipment of coal
has been a profitable business for upwards of forty
years. The only noticeable mill-stream in Washington is the Little Redstone, which empties into the
Monongahela just above Fayette City.
Important by reason of his connection with the history of Washington township and Fayette County,
and also with that of the nation, Col. Edward Cook
deserves first mention in the chronicle of Washington's early settlement. He was born in Chambersburg in 1741, and in 1770 made his first journey west
of the mountains in search of lands, for he was at that
time the possessor of considerable means. He brought
with him also a stock of goods. When he made his
location, near the present line between Fayette and
Westmoreland Counties, he built a log cabin niear the
present home of his grandson, John Cook, and in
one corner of it opened a small store. The country
was new then and stores were not easy to reach, so
that when the opening of Cook's store became known
among settlers within a radius of many miles they
gladly gave to him their patronage. Cook kept also
a house of entertainment, where such few travelers as
happened that way might find rest and refreshment.  
Under the law he charged six and a half cents for a
horse's feed, and twelve and a half cents for feeding
a man. In 1772 he began the erection of a pretentious mansion, constructing it entirely of the limestone that was found in abundance on his land. In
1776 he moved his family into it, and there it still
stands a substantial edifice. After Col. Cook's death,
his son James occupied the mansion as his home, and
now James' son, William E., lives in it.
Edward Cook was one of the most extensive of
land-owners in Southwestern Pennsylvania. He
had altogether about three thousand acres, located
in Washington, Westmoreland, and Fayette Counties, and occupied now in part by the farms of Joseph
Brown, John B. Cook, William E. Cook, Mrs. John
Brown, Mr. Montgomery, the site of Fayette City,
and numerous other tracts. The patent for the tract
called "Mansion" was issued to Col. Cook, and described the tract as four hundred and two acres, situated in Fayette and Westmoreland Counties, surveyed
in pursuance of a warrant issued to Col. Cook, Dec.
17, 1784. A patent for "Mill Site," on the forks of
William Lynn's run, was issued in 1796. Col. Cook
was a resident of the county from 1771 until his death,
in 1812, and during that time achieved considerable
public distinction. He was a member of the Provincial Congress convened in Carpenter's Hall, Philadelphia, June 18, 1776, that drafted the first declaration of independence presented to Congress, June 25,
1776 (see "Journal of Congress," vol. ii. p. 230); was
a member of the State Constitutional Convention that
convened Sept. 28, 1776; was the first commissioner
of exchange, and appointed sub-lieutenant of Westmoreland County March 21, 1777. He was one of
the founders of Rehoboth Church, a member of its
first session, its first representative to the Redstone
Presbytery, and the Presbytery's first representative
to the General Assembly. Jan. 5, 1782, he was appointed lieutenanti of Westmoreland County, to succeed Col. Archibald Lochry (who had been captured
and killed while on an Indian expedition). It was
from this appointment that Col. Cook received his
military title. He aided in fixing the boundaries of
Fayette County, and was a member of the commission
that located the county-seat. Nov. 21, 1786, he was
appointed justice of the peace, with a jurisdiction that
reached into Washington County. April 8, 1789, he
1 This office gave him command of the militia of the county and the
management of its military fiscal affairs.
807HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
was appointed president of the Court of Common
Pleas and Quarter Sessions; was associate judge of
Fayette County in 1791, and from 1796 to 1798 treasurer of Westmoreland County.
It will be seen that Col. Cook's public record was a
remarkable one for that or any day, and in its brief
chronicle tells in unmistakable terms that he mnust
have been very high indeed in public esteem to have
won such distinction. He was one of the foremost
men of his time in Southwestern Pennsylvania. His
landed and other interests were extensive, and these
he looked after closely despite the pressure upon his
time by his official cares. He built a saw-mill and
grist-mill on Cook's Run, laid out Freeport (afterwards Cookstown, and now Fayette City), and was
largely engaged at his home-farm in distilling. He
was conspicuous in the Whiskey Insurrection, and
having been prominent in some of the meetings of
the insurgents, his arrest was ordered, but in the
mean time, before any action could be taken, he appeared (Nov. 6, 1794) before Thomas McKean, chief
justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, and
in presence of William Bradford, Attorney-General of the United States, voluntarily entered into
recognizance to the United States for his appearance
before the justices of the Supreme Court of the
United States at the next special session of the Circuit Court held for the district of Pennsylvania, "then
and there to answer to such charges of treasonable and
seditious practices and such other matters of misdemeanor as shali be alleged against him in behalf of
the United States, and that he will not depart that
court without license." Having taken this bold and
honorable course, he quietly awaited the result, which
was simply that nothing was found against him, and
he was not molested in person, but some cavalrymen
belonging to the army that came out to quell the insurrection visited his home, and did considerable
damage, nearly demolishing his distillery, knocking
in the heads of the liquor casks, and spilling a vast
amount of whisky.
Col. Cook was one among Gen. Washington's personal friends, and on two occasions at least entertained
Washington in the old stone mansion now the home
of William E. Cook. On one of the occasions named
Washington was journeying that way to visit his lands
in Washington County, and stopped at Col. Cook's
for a brief rest. Cook was at that time engaged in
reviewing a body of militia near by, and knew nothing
of the arrival of his distinguished guest. Word of
the arrival was whispered to the men before it reached
the colonel, and when he, observing the commotion,
learned what was in the wind, he relaxed all discipline
and set off unceremoniously for tne house.  The
militiamen followed at the double-quick, and hurrahing enthusiastically for Gen. Washington, brought
him to the porch, and evoked from him in reply a goodnatured, fatherly speech, which the soldiers cheered to
the echo.
Col. Cook had but one son, James, who married
Mary Bell. The colonel's yearning ambition was to
become a grandfather, and when the news came to
him that he had a grandson his joy knew no bounds.
In the exuberance of his delight he waited upon his
old friend, Joseph Downer, and insisted upon his
drafting a will, in which all the Cook estate should( be
left to the grandson Edward, and it was only by persistent effort that Downer persuaded him from the
project, and convinced him that as there might be
more grandchildren such an act would be one of injustice.
Col. Cook died in the old stone mansion, Nov. 6,
1812, and his remains rest in Rehoboth churchyard.
His widow survived him twenty-five years. She died
in 1837, aged upwards of ninety. Col. Cook's son
James had a family of six sons and one daughter.
The daughter, Martha, lives now in West Newton.
Of the sons, Edward, James, Joseph, and Michael are
dead. John B. and William E. occupy portions of
the homestead farm.
One of Col. Cook's early friends and neighbors was
Andrew Lynn, who made his first settlement in Southwestern Pennsylvania, on the Redstone, about 1761.
He was driven away by the Indians, but returned not
long afterwards to remain permanently. He bought
land not only on the Redstone, but a tract below
there, in what is now Washington township, and lived
a while upon the last-mentioned tract. The Washington land, now owned and occupied by Denton
Lynn, was sold to old Andrew by Thomas Pearce,
and conveyed to him by deed dated Aug. 20, 1769.
Thomas Pearce entered an application for the tract
April 3, 1769. A warrant was issued to Pearce. An
order of survey was issued to Andrew Lynn June 3,
1788, and a patent for one hundred and thirty acres
granted March 1, 1790. The tract was called Sedgy
Fort, from an Indian or prehistoric fort that stood
on it.
This fort was located upon an elevation close to the
present site of Denton Lynn's barn. There was a
large space inclosed, having within it a spring and
some Indian graves. Near at hand was a fine sugarbush, whose near presence may have accounted for
the location of the fort upon that site. The field was
called, and is yet called, "Old Fort Field."  Indian
relics and skeletons have been frequently turned up
from that field by Mr. Denton Lynn. In 1859 he
came upon several skeletons, and upon investigation
concluded that the bodies must have been buried two
deep. Each body appeared to have been surrounded
with earthenware dishes, composed of baked musselshells and clay. One of the skeletons proved to be
that of a man fully eight feet in height. Some of the
skeletons were so placed as to give the impression
that the bodies had been interred in a sitting position.
When Andrew Lynn came to the place (in 1774) the
line of the old fort was marked by a growth of thick
bushes and straggling stone hleaps. Andrew Lynn,
808WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP.
Jr., son of thle Aidrev Lyniii first named, ilnherited
the lands to which he came with his father in his
eighth year, or in 1774. He told the present Denton
Lynn, his grandson, there was then no clearing on
the tract. Being out in a field with Denton one day,
Andrew, Jr., said to him, "Denton, in this field was
built the first cabin put up on the Lynn farm." Denton replied, "Well, grandfather, it seems queer to me
that, whoever the man was, he should have put up
his house here upon low ground, while he could have
chosen a dozen higher and better spots." "The reason was," remarked old Andrew, "that the man had
only his wife to assist him in putting up the cabin,
and his chief desire, therefore, was to get where trees
were handy. That's why he selected a low spot."
The first Andrew Lynn increased his original lands
by the purchase of an adjoining tract that had been
tomnahawked by William Lynn,--not related to Andrew. The entire farm of four hundred and fifty
acres came into the possession of Andrew Lynn, Jr.,
who lived upon it from 1774 until his death in 1855,
at the age of eighty-nine. Three hundred and twenty
of the four hundred and fifty acres are now owned
by Denton Lynn.
Andrew Lynn, Jr., was a man of local note, and
among other things was distinguished for having
served as justice of the peace forty years. He built
in 1790 a stone mansion, fashioned after the one
built by Col. Edward Cook in 1772, but it did not
turn out to be as durable an edifice as Cook's. The
latter stands yet and serves its original purpose, while
Lynn's, abandoned as a human habitation in 1866, is
fast falling to ruin. Near the Lynn mansion stands
a famous locust-tree, under whose wide-spreading
branches Gen. Washington, Andrew Lynn, and Col.
Edward Cook are said to have met and tarried for
somne time in social intercourse. The tree is reckoned to be at least one hundred and sixty years old.
Its circumference near the ground is nearly twenty
feet. Its lower branches, blown down some years
ago, measured fully one hundred feet from tip to tip.
About 1783, Joseph Downer, a resident of Boston,
Mass., moved westward in search of a location for
trade, and finding it on the Monongahela River at
Elizabethtown, opened a store there and sold goods
until 1794, when he came to Washington township and bought a tract of land of Col. Edward
Cook, situated on a fork of the stream now called
Downer's Run. Here he set up a store near Col.
Cook's. In 1799 he built a mill and began to make
flour on the present Cooper mill-site, about a mile
below the Col. Cook mansion. When the mill was
fairly in operation he gave up his store business and
devoted himself exclusively to milling. He had not
been on the spot long before he concluded to move
farther down the streamn to Col. Cook's newly laidout village of Freeport, and on the present Hamer
mill-site erected a second grist-mill, and still below
there put up a saw-mill, of which the ruins may yet
be seen. The grist-mill he equipped with the machinery of the first mill, and moved his family into a
house that he built in Freeport, on the site now occupied by the Roscoe Thirkield mansion. About 1820,
Downer sold the abandoned mill on the Cooper place
to John Roe, an Englishman, who agreed to fit it up
as a cotton-factory, and upon his part Downer agreed
to take an interest in the enterprise through his son.
Samuel Roe made the start as agreed, but failing to
make the payments to Downer as contracted was
obliged to relinquish the property to the latter.
Samuel Downer thereupon conducted the business
for his father, but the work proving unprofitable was
given up after a few years. Mr. Downer died in
Cookstown in 1838. Further notice of Mr. Downer
will be found in the history of Fayette City borough.
Mention of the Downer organ is called for, however, here. Mr. Downer possessed all his life a strong
musical taste, as well as much mechanical genius.
When he left Boston for the West he carried with
hini a crude impression of the mechanism of a pipe
organi, intending when he reached his new home to
construct one for his own use.  Upon settling at
Elizabethtown he selected a lot of black walnut timber and seasoned it thoroughly. During such odd
hours as he could snatch from his business duties he
spent his time in the construction of the organ, and
at the end of about a year finished it. It measured
ten feet in height and five feet across each side.
Every part of it was composed of black walnut, even
to the keys and pipes, of which latter there were
three hundred and sixty-five. The face of it was
handsomely ornamented with scroll-work, the which
he fashioned with a pocket-knife. To all the country
round about it was an object of curious interest, and
from far and near people frequently came to see it
and to hear Mr. Downer play upon it. It possessed
an excellent tone and volume, and to play it was one
of Downer's greatest delights.
The organ is still in the possession of Mr. Downer's
daughter, Mrs. Thompson, of Fayette City, and although nearly a hundred years old is not only an
ornament, but yet makes very good music.  Mr.
Downer constructed also for Col. Cook a small pipeorgan containing a chime of bells, now in the possession of Eliphalet Downer, of Monongahela City.
His art ran also to painting, and as achievements in
that direction he painted his own portrait from a
looking-glass reflection, and executed also what were
called most excellent portraits of Col. Cook and his
wife.
Adjoining Andrew Lynn, Jr., on the river lived a
colored man known as London Derry, who in company with Andrew Lynn and about sixty others went
on a land-looking expedition to Marshall County,
Va. They were attacked en route by a body of Indians, and compelled to seek safety in a flight which
included the swimming of the Ohio. Lynn's escape
was so narrow that he lost a portion of his scalp,
8(9IIiSTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
while Derry saved himself by burrowing beneath the
roots of a tree.
Michael Springer, likewise one of Andrew Lynn's
near neighbors, was a German. He bought his land
from the man who had tomahawked it, and gave in
exchange a shot-gun and a hog.
Levi Stephens, of Bucks County, was a government surveyor, who in 1769 assisted in surveying,
Southwestern Pennsylvania. He was so well pleased
with the land lying along the southern border of what
is now Washington township that he made a purchase
there of a large land tract, and there concluded to
make his home. Although after that busily engaged
on his land, he found opportunities to do considerable
surveying from time to time as his services were
called for. The compass used by Mr. Stephens is
still in the possession of his descendants. His sons
were four in number, and named Nathaniel, John,
Levi, Jr., and Thomas. Of Nathaniel's sons Nathaniel, Jr., Levi, and Joshua are living. Of Levi, Jr.'s,
sons the living are Jehu, Israel, Johnson, and James.
David is the only living son of Thomas. The widow
of Levi Stephens, Jr., now resides in Washington
township, aged eighty-five years.  Nathaniel, the
eldest son of Levi Stephens, the surveyor, was a noted
river trader. The Stephens were long-lived. Levi,
the surveyor, died in 1808, aged sixty-four, two years
after the death of his father, John, who lived to be
ninety-one; Levi Stephens, Jr., was eighty-seven at
his death in 1878; and Nathaniel eighty-seven when
he died in 1869. All those named were buried in the
cemetery at Little Redstone Methodist Episcopal
Church.
Contemporaneous with Levi Stephens in Washington was John Reeves, who served as a colonel in the
Revolution, as did also his father. John lived on the
farm now occupied by Jehu Stevens, upon which
once stood a famous red oak that measured eleven
feet in diameter.
John Brightwell, a Marylander, lived where J. B.
Stephens now resides. Brightwell's wife was a bravehearted woman, and although ninety-nine years old
at her death was active and hearty to the last. During
her early life in Washington she not only crossed the
mountains once or twice to visit Eastern friends, but
made a memorable horseback-trip to Cincinnati alone,
and brought her niece with her on the return journey.
Such an undertaking, involving a ride of about six
hundred miles through a wild and unsettled country
for a great part of the way, was no trifling task. Its
accomplishment was something unusual for.even a
pioneer's wife. Along with the Stewarts, the early
settlers in the Stephens neighborhood included the
Piersols (one of whom captured the last bear seen in
this section), William Nutt, Thomas Coon, Thomas
Taggart, the Jeffries, Parkers, Peter Marston, and
Jacob Harris. Robert Galloway, one of the early
settlers on Dunlap's Creek, was also an early comer
to Washington. He bought the mill-site originally
owned by Col. Cook, and later by Mr. Kyle and Andrew Brown, and for years was known as the proprietor of Galloway's Mills. The Houseman place,
adjoining Galloway's, was the home of John Patterson
some little time before 1800. Just when he became a
resident is not known, but it is remembered that Patterson was fond of telling how there was not,.when
he came, a clearing "big enough to lay the broad of
his back on." Patterson built the stone house now
on the Joseph Houseman place, and inscribed over
the door "J. P. 1800," yet to be seen. He was a
blacksmith by trade, and had a shop on his farm.
For strength, endurance, and rapid work in the harvest-field he was noted. He worked hard and saved
his money until he was looked upon as a wealthy
man. In an evil hour he joined others in the glassmanufacturing business at Perryopolis, and lost all
he had. In his old age he was very poor. Not only
he but other well-to-do farmers in Washington were
ruined by the disastrous results attendant upon the
Perryopolis glass-works enterprise. William Nichols
lived near Patterson, but nothing has been preserved
to show who he was or what he did.
Joseph Patton was the owner of a large land tract
over towards the Perry line, where his grandchildren
now live. In 1780 Andrew Brown bought of Col.
Edward Cook the place upon which his grandson,
Andrew Brown, now lives. Brown bought also the
adjoining mill-site, and carried on the mill some years,
as well as a distillery near by. Mr. Brown's children
were seven daughters and three sons. Of the latter
only John lived to grow to manhood. He died on
the old farm April 15, 1872, and there his widow still
lives with her son Andrew.
In 1771, John Willson landed in Virginia from
Ireland, and from Virginia in 1788 he removed to
Washington township, Fayette Co., to occupy a twohundred-acre tract bought for him by his sons Hugh
and John, living respectively in Allegheny County
and Perry township, where they had then -been residing some time. The two hundred acres, lying on
the line between Westmoreland and Fayette Counties,
were bought for Willson from one Jones, and into the
house Jones had put up Willson moved with his family. In 1804, Mr. Willson replaced the Jones cabin
with the log house now standing on the place. Three
sons came with him in 1788. They were James,
Robert, and David. James died in Washington in
1827, Robert moved to Ohio, and David, inheriting
the homestead, died there in 1863, at the age of ninety
years, after a residence of seventy-fiv6 years on the
farm. John, the father, died in 1807, aged eightytwo years. It is worthy of mention that three of his
sons-Hugh, John, and Robert-saw service in the
Revolution. Of the children of David, the living
ones are John R., Mary J., and James M.
Allen Farquhar (a Quaker) came from Maryland
about 1790, and located upon a farm of which his
grandson, Robert Farquhar, now owns a portion.
sioWASHINGTON TOWNSHIP.
With Allen Farquhar came his three married sons,
Robert, William, and Samuel.  Allen, the father,
bought two hundred and nineteen acres of Levi
Stephens, and divided the tract between his three
sons. Robert, the only one to remain permanently
in Washington, died in 1823. His brothers William
and Samuel moved to Ohio, and died there. Robert
had nine children, of whom three were sons,-Joseph,
Robert, and William. Joseph died in his youth,
Robert and William settled and died in Washington.
David Hough, one of the early millers in Fayette
County, built a mill on the Little Redstone, but
moved, after a brief time, to Jefferson, where he
died. In 1801, John Hough bought one hundred
and-eight acres of Hieronimus Eckman for ~220 18s.
9d. Two years before that Eckman bought the land
for $100. The patent for the tract was granted in
1788 by the State to Jpsiah Kerr, who had previously
built a saw-mill upon it and called it "Minoria."
Martin Lutz settled about 1800 on Lutz's Run, near
the Westmoreland County line. There he died. His
six sons were named George, Martin, David, Henry,
Barnet, and William. All but George and William
are still living. John McKee, traveling westward in
1809, stopped on one of Col. Cook's farms, and remainied there as a renter. McKee was an ex-Revolutionary soldier, and boasted an honorable record of
service. His son John, aged nearly ninety, is still a
resident of Washington township. On the place occupied by J. B. Gould, near Belle Vernon, the Wiley
family lived as early as 1800, and after them George
Haselbaker, who lived in a log house on the bank of the
river. Farther up was his brother Jacob, a shoemaker,
and beyond Jacob was John Dinsmore. J. B. Gould,
who was teaching school at Cookstown in 1828, bought
the Wiley place that year, and since then has made it
his home. Mr. Gould is now in his eighty-sixth year.
In 1810 he came to Fayette County with his father,
who settled then near the Red Lion, in Jefferson
township, a noted tavern in its day, the fame of which
penetrated even into far-off New England.
TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION AND CIVIL LIST.
Upon the division of the county into townships, at
the December session of the Court of Quarter Sessions in 1783, the court ordered the laying out of "A
township beginning at the mouth of Spear's Run;
thence by the line dividing the counties of Westmorelaud and Fayette to the mouth of Jacob's Creek;
thence by the river Youghiogini to the mouth of
Washington Mill Run; thence up the same to the
head of the south fork; thence by a line to be drawn
to the head of a small branch of Crab-Apple Run,
known by the name of Hardistus branch; thence
down the same to Crab-Apple Run; thence down
Crab-Apple Run to Redstone Creek; thence down
said creek and Monongahela River to the place of
beginning; to be known hereafter by the name of
Washington township."  March, 1839, the court
created the township of Perry from portions of Tyrone, Franklin, and Washington. In June, 1840,
Jefferson township and Cookstown borough were
erected from Washington, and Belle Vernon in 1863,
leaving to Washington the territory it now contains.
Imperfect records forbid the presentation of a complete civil list for Washington. Such as could be obtained are here given, viz.:
JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.
1840. Harvey Barker.
James Cunninghar
1845. Harvey Barker.
John B. Gould.
1847. Samuel Griffith.
1850. John B. Gould.
1852. Samuel C. Griffith.
1855. James Springer.
John B. Gould.
1857. Samuel C. Gtiffith.
1860. James M. Springer
1862. Samuel C. Griffith.
1840. John B. Gould.
1841. Robert Baldwin.
1842. Samnuel Galloway.
1843. William B. Nutt.
1844. James C. Cook.
1845. John Thompson.
1846. Thompson Turner.
1847. John R. Willson.
1848. John B. Cook.
1849. George Lutz.
1850. Levi Stephens.
1851. John B. Gould.
1852. Samuel C. Griffith.
1853. Joseph Galloway.
1854. John B. Gould.
1855. Joseph A. Ebert.
1856. Johnson R. Stephe
1857. Robert Farquhar.
1858. Jacob Houseman.
1859. Joshua N, Stephens
1860. E. C. Griffith.
1840. Levi Stephens.
1841. Samuel C. Griffith.
1842. Joseph Krepps.
1843. Abram P. Fry.
1844. William D. Mullin.
1845. Joseph Houseman.
1846. William E. Frazer.
1847. John B. Cook.
1848. Brazilla Newbold.
1849. Roger Jordan.
1850. George Lutz.
1851. Levi Stephens.
1852. Roger Jordan.
1853. George Lutz.
1854. Joseph Houseman.
1855. Solomon Speers.
1856. John R. Willson.
1857. Thomas Stephens.
1858. John B. Gould.
1865. John R. Willson.
m.     1867. Samuel C. Griffith.
1868. Samuel C. Griffith.
John R. Willson.
1869. J. N. Dixon.
F. C. Herron.
1873. John R. Willson.
Levi J. Jeffries.
1874. J. S. Moss.
1878. James Galloway..     Joseph Brown.
ASSESSORS.
1861. Samuel C. Griffith.
1862. John B. Gould.
1863. Thomas Patton.
1864. Samuel Galloway.
1865. John B. Gould.
1866. John McClain.
1867. John Brown.
1868. John B. Gould.
1869. B. M. Chalfant.
1871. Joseph Galloway.
1872. William Patton.
1873. Euclid S. Griffith.
1874. C. P. Powers.
1875. Levi J. Jeffries.
1876. J. B. Houseman.
John Stephens.
ns.    1877. Robert G. Patton.
1879. Samuel Galloway.
1880. Alexander Luce.
s.    1881. J. Whetzel.
AUDITORS.
1859. John Lutz.
1860. Robert Boyle.
1861. James M. Springer.
1862. John R. Willson.
1863. John B. Gould.
1864. Levi J. Jeffries.
1865. William G. Huggins.
1866. John B. Gould.
1867. John McClain.
1868. William G. Huggins.
1869. William Elliott.
1870. Hiram Patton.
1871. William Patton.
1872. John R. Willson.
Samuel Galloway.
1873. John R. Willson.
Samuel Galloway.
Nathan B. Brightwell.
1874. Levi J. Jeffries.
811HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
1875. Johnson Dinsmore.
1876. John R. Willson.
John Q. Adams.
1877. L. P. Stephens.
1878. Taylor Taggart.
SCHOOL
1841. William Everhart.
William Krepps.
1842. Joseph Houseman.
Samuel Larimore.
1843. Edward Mansfield.
Philip Lenhart.
1844. John V. Layton.
Isaac Banks.
1845. IHarvey Barker.
James Hamer.
1846. William D. Mullin.
David Shearer.
1847. Thomas Stephens.
John B. Cook.
1848. Thomas Patton.
Johnson Cunningham.
1849. John B. Gould.
Robert Farquhar.
1850. Joseph Houseman.
Johnson Dinsmore.
1851. Jesse Coldren.
John R. Willson.
1852. Joshua G. Newbold.
Robert Patterson.
1853. Johnson R. Stephens.
Roger Jordan.
1854. Samuel C. Griffith.
John S. Van Voorhis.
1855. James Davidson.
Jacob Houseman.
1856. Philip Linhart.
Daniel Forney.
1857. Levi Stephens.
William B. Nutt.
1858. Thomas Patton.
James Davidson.
John Reeves.
1859. Thomas Stephens.
John Dinsmore.
1860. Joshua N. Stephens.
James Davidson.
Abraham Hough.
1861. John R. Willson.
James Davidson.
Joshua N. Stephens.
1862. Levi J. Jeffries.
John Bevans.
1878. John Whetzel.
1879. Jasper Coldren.
1880. J. Q. Adams.
1881. J. Shook.
DIRECTORS.
1863. John R. Willson.
Samuel L. Smock.
1864. David P. Stephens.
John Coldren.
1865. Levi J. Jeffries.
A. B. Brightwell.
J. K. Willson.
1866. William G. Huggins.
John R. Willson.
1867. John Coldren.
James McCrory.
1868. John Annell.
Johnson Dinsmore.
Denton Lynn.
1869. E. D. Stewart.
D. M. Shearer.
1870. Jehu Stephens.
John Kennedy.
1871. Levi J. Jeffries.
William Huggins.
James Montgomery.
Samuel Galloway.
1872. Israel Stephens.
William E. Cook.
Nathaniel S. Houseman.
1873. John A. Bevans.
Johnson S. Moss.
William M. Lenhart.
1874. Joseph Brown.
1875. Jasper Coldren.
N. S. Houseman.
1876. David Jones.
John P. Blythe.
1877. James Montgomery.
Frank Fields.
1878. Denton Lynn.
L. P. Stephens.
Frank Fields.
John Armell.
1879. Andrew Brown.
E. C. Griffith.
L. C. Dinsmore.
1880. William  Leonard.
William Cook.
1881. M. Miller.
Joseph McKee.
EARLY ROADS.
At the September sessions in 1785 a petition for a
road from Col. Cook's mill to his landing, and to the
road to Cherry's Mills, was granted, as was the petition for a road from Col. Cook's to Thomas Fossett's.
A report of a road from the mouth of Little Redstone
to James Rankin's farm was made at the September
sessions in 1795 by Thomas Patterson, James Finney,
Francis Lewis, Chads Chalfant, and Samuel Davis.
The road began at the Monongahela River, a little
below the mouth of the Little Redstone Creek, crossed
the road leading from Col. Cook's to Uniontown and
the road from Col. Cook's to Fossett's, and at James
Rankin's intersected the road from Brownsville to the
Broad Ford. September, 1796, a road from Barzillai
Newbold's to the forks of the Little Redstone was reported as viewed by William Goe, George Espy, William Elliott, Michael Shilling, and Moses Davison.
In June, 1797, a road frornm the mouth of the Little
Redstone to the mouth of Spear's Run was viewed by
William Cunningham, George Espy, Samuel Becket,
Michael Shilling, John Seward, and Andrew Brown.
The distance was reckoned at three miles and one
quarter and sixty-nine perches.
LITTLE REDSTONE METHODIST EPISCOPAL
CHURCH.
The only house of public worship in Washington
township is the Little Redstone Methodist Episcopal
Church, located at the forks of the road, just west of
Jehu Stevens' residence. The neat and substantial
brick edifice rears its modest front within a small but
well-kept churchyard, where many of Washington's
pioneers have slept for many years. The Baptists
built a log church at that point forty years or more
ago, and maintained an organization and periodical
worship for some time. The Methodists held occasional meetings in the Baptist meeting-house, as well
as at the neighboring school-house and houses of
members. The first Methodist meetings were held
at the houses of Nathaniel Stephens, Robert Stephens, and Hugh Ford. The brick church was built
in 1857. and dedicated by Rev. J. G. Sanson, presiding elder of the Redstone Circuit. At that time
the preachers in charge were Revs. Griffin and McIntyre. Some of the earliest preachers after 1857 were
Revs. Wakefield, Mansell, Johnson, Kendall, and
Stewart. The present pastor is Rev. Josiah Mansell,
who preaches at Little Redstone every Sunday. The
membership is now (May, 1881) sixty-five. The classleader is Albert Gaddis. The trustees are David
Stephens, Jehu Luce, John Smith, and John Taggart.
The superintendent of the Sunday-school is Jehu
Luce.
COAL AND COAL-MINING.
The coal deposits in Washington are extensive and
valuable, but lack of railway facilities forbids the development of the interest except along the river-front,
where mining has been going forward for upwards of
forty years.
In 1840, John Garr and Richard Knight opened a
mine on the London Derry tract, above the Fremont
Works, owned by the Clarks. The Clarks (Samuel
being the first) began to mine at the latter place as
early as 1847, and have mined there more or less ever
since, although just now the works are idle.
Frazer  Frye, the largest operators on the river
in Washington, have been engaged in mining at their
present location since 1873, where coal was taken out
812BELLE VERNON BOROUGH.
for shipment down the river in flat-boats as early as
1834. Frazer  Frye bought, in 1873, a tract of two
hundred and twenty-three acres of coal, of which
there are yet about one hundred and sixty acres
undeveloped. They employ eighty-five men, pay
out seven thousand dollars monthly for wages, etc.,
and take out seven thousand five hundred bushels
of coal daily. They have on the river a front of onethird of a mile, running up from the mouth of the
Little Redstone Creek. On their property they have
a store and fourteen tenements.
J. H. Rutherford has been mining on the river
since 1866.  He is now operating in Washington
township near Fayette City. He has forty acres of
coal and a river-front of two hundred and fifty yards.
Twenty-five to thirty men are employed, and three
thousand bushels of coal mined daily.
The Connecticut Coal-Works, adjoining Rutherford's mines, have been idle since 1871. There are
there about two hundred acres of coal, belonging to
the Wheeler  Wilson Sewing-Machine Company.
They came into possession in 1870, and after working
there about a year abandoned the mines, and have
suffered them to lie idle ever since. The property is
as valuable as ever, but the company seems but little
concerned about it.
BELLE VERNON BOROUGH.
On the east bank of the Monongahela, about forty
miles above Pittsburgh, lies Belle Vernon borough,
of which the population in June, 1881, was eleven
hundred and sixty-four, its chief claim to distinction
being the presence within its limits of the largest
window-glass manufactory in America. The borough
proper reaches to the Westmoreland County line,
where it is joined by the borough of North Belle
Vernon, located in the county last named, and possessing lumber-manufacturing and boat-building
interests that contribute materially to the business
prosperity of Belle Vernon. The business part of
the town lies along the river bottom, at the foot of a
stretch of hilly country, upon which many'of the
townspeople dwell, and from which may be obtained
a fire prospect of river, hills, and plains. River
packets plying between Pittsburgh and Geneva touch
at Belle Vernon four times daily, and there is, moreover, railway communication with all points via the
Pittsburgh, Virginia and Charleston Railroad passing
along the western shore of the Monongahela. The
town is an active business centre aside from its manufacturing enterprises, and maintains a private banking institution, founded by its present owners, S. F.
Jones  Co., in 1872.
Belle Vernon was laid out by Noah Speer in 1813
upon a portion of a tract of land located by his father,
Henry, in 1772, who with his wife came to the Monongahela in thatyear and bought considerable land,
of which the greater portion, and his own home, were
52
in what is now Westmoreland County. Henry Speer
was killed by the kick of a horse in 1774. As originally platted the town contained three hundred and
sixty lots, and covered a considerable area in Westmoreland County. The streets were Water, Main,
Solomon, Wood, Market, First, Second, Third, and
Fourth. The alleys were Long, Pleasant, Locust,
Strawberry, and Flint.
The following advertisement appeared in the columns of the Reporter, published at Washington, Pa.,
of July 12, 1812:
"TOWN LOTS.
"For Sale in the Town of Bellevernon.-They are laid out
in Fayette and Westmoreland Counties; each lot is 75 feet in
front and 100 feet back. The streets are 2300 feet in length
and 40 in breadth, cross streets 40 and one 50 feet in breadth.
Bellevernon is situated on that beautiful river bottomt on the
east side of the Monongahela River, two miles below Freeport.
The bank is high, and water sufficiently deep for loaded boats at
low-water mark. Outlots on a level soil will shortly he prepared for sale. Ground will be given gratis for a school-house;
also it is nearly centrable to the four counties, and the most
agreeable situation near the centre. If a new county should
be struck off and laid thereon, ground will be given gratis for
a court- and market-house, and the sum of 2000 dollars for the
purpose of erecting public buildings, besides a generous subscription is expected from the neighboring citizens. There is
also for sale 100,000 elegant brick of the best quality.... It
is expected a steam-mill will be built on one of said lots, and
the foundation to be raised this fall above common high-water
mark, so that the work may go on early next spring. Those
who wish to have a share in said mill are desired to meet at
James Hazlip's, in Freeport, on Saturday, the 25th of July.
"NOAH SPEERS.
"June 22, 1812."
The first sale of lots was held April 18, 1814, and a
premium of ten dollars was offered to the purchaser
who should build the first house. Thomas Ward, a
carpenter, of Westmoreland County, clainmed the
prize, having put up his house at the corner of Main
and Second Streets. That, the first house erected in
Belle Vernon, is now occupied by James Lewis. The
second house was built by William Hornbeck at the
corner of Main Street and Cherry Alley, and opened
by him as a tavern. In the spring of 1816, Morris
Corwin, a cooper, came from Westmoreland County,
and built upon Main Street the third house in Belle
Vernon.  He constructed it of the lumber contained
in the house that had been his home in Westmorelatind
County. Corwin set up a cooper's shop in a part of
the house, and worked at his trade more or less until
his death in 1835. His widow, hearty and active at
the age of ninety-one, still lives in the old home.
When the Corwins became residents of Belle Vernon, the present business portion of the town was a
fine sugar-camp. The village grew slowly, and during
1816 there were added but three families,-those of
Nathaniel Everson, a cooper, Bud Gaskill, a gunsmith,
and Joseph Billeter, a boat-builder. Before the year
1816, Billeter was living along the river below the
town and building fiat-boats. In 1816, Noah Speer
I
813ItISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
extreme thirst to the brave men who held the flaming
line on the edge of the timber. Sherrard performed
this service well, and was uninjured by the bullets
which flew so thickly about him.
Again, on the 5th (his rifle being still unserviceable
for the reason before noticed), he was employed as a
water-carrier to the skirmishers. Years afterwards
he spoke of his experience on that day as follows:
" After searching the grove around I was fortunate
enough to find another supply, and again busied myself rqlieving the men of my company. At length,
overcomne with heat and fatigue, I sat down at the
foot of a large oak-tree, and in a short time fell asleep.
How long I slept I cannot say. I was aroused by
some bark falling upon my head from above, which
had been knocked off the tree by the enemy. I then
resumed my task of carrying water."
In the disorder of the retreat on the night of the
5th, Sherrard, like many others, became separated
from his command, and being left in the extreme
rear, followed as well as he was able the trail of the
three divisions which took the route to the southwest
of the prescribed line of march. With him  was
Daniel Harbaugh, also from Fayette County, and together these two moved on in the darkness, expecting
every moment to be confronted by Indians, but in
some unaccountable way they escaped discovery by
the savages during the night. Early in the following
morning, as they were riding through the woods, an
Indian was seen skulking in the undergrowth to their
left. Sherrard, who was first to see the savage, instantly dismounted and took cover behind a tree, at
the same time warning Harbaugh to take a like precaution. The latter not seeing the Indian and misapprehending the direction of the danger took the
wvrong side of his tree, and being thus fully exposed
was immediately shot, receiving the fatal bullet in his
right breast. He sunk to the earth, moaning, " Lord
have mercy on me! I am a dead nian," and died in a
few moments. Sherrard, with his gun at his shoulder,
watched closely for the Indian, intending to send a'bullet through him, but the smoke of the savage's
rifle hid him for a few seconds, and when this cleared
away Sherrard saw him running for his life and
beyond the range of his piece.
Sherrard examined the body of his fallen companion and found that life was extinct. The ghastly features of thle dead man and the suddenness of the event
horrified and almost unmanned him, but, collecting
his thoughts, in a moment he took the saddle and bridle from the riderless horse and turned him loose.
Then he took from his own horse the rude and uncomfortable saddle on which he had been riding, and
substituting for it the good one which he had taken
from Harbaugh's horse, he mounted and rode on.
He had not gone far, however, before he recollected
that in his excitement he had left behind his blanket
and provisions strapped to the abandoned saddle.
In his present situation he could not think of losing
these, so he returned to secure them. On reaching
the spot he found that the savage had returned,
stripped the scalp from Harbaughl's lead, and captured the dead man's horse, bridle, and gun. But he
had not discovered the abandoned saddle, and Sherrard found it with the blanket and provisions undisturbed. These he at once secured, and having done
so left the spot and rode swiftly away. No more Indiails were encountered by him, and two or three
hours later he lhad the good fortune to come up with
the retreating force under Maj. Williamson. Soon
after he rejoined his company, the battle of the 6th
of June (at Olentangy Creek) occurred, as has been
related.
From this place Sherrard marched with the column
on its retreat to Mingo Bottom, and arrived in safety
at his home, wbhich at that time was at the house of
Mrs. Paull, the mother of James. To her he brought
the sad intelligence that her son was missing, and had
not been seen nor heard of since the night of the 5th,
when the troops left Battle Island. This ominous report nearly crushed the widowed mother, but she was
afterwards made happy by the return of her son in
safety, as we have seen.
Some of the stragglers from the retreating column
under Williamson had reached the Ohio considerably
in advance of the main body. These stragglers immediately returned to their homes, and spread through
the frontier settlements the most alarming and exaggerated reportsl of the disaster which had befallen
the expedition. These reports not only caused great
grief and extreme anxiety for the fate of r'elatives
and friends who were with the forces of Col. Crawford, but the wildest consternation also, for it was
feared and believed that the victorious savages-red
and white--vould soon be across the Ohio, and would
carry devastation and butchery to the valleys of the
Monongahela and Youghiogheny. When the grief
and anxiety of the people was to a great extent allayed by the return of the volunteers, and the consequent discovery that the disaster was by no means as
overwhelming as had at first been reported, the dread
of Indian invasion still remained, and the bold frontiersmen, discarding the idea of waiting for the coming
of the foe and then nlerely standing on the defensive,
began at once to urge the forming of a new expedition to carry the war into the heart of the Indian
country, and to prosecute it to.the point of extermination, or at least to the destruction of the Wyandot,
Delaware, and Shawanese towns, for they believed that
in no other way could security be had for the settlements along the border. It was the wish of the lead1 The earliest reports which obtained currency were to the effect that
the army of Crawford was almost annihilated, and that the Indians were
pursuing thenm to the Ohio, and would doubtless cross the river and carry
rapine and desolation throtugh  the border settlements. The fact Awas
that, including all those killed in battle, those who afterwards died of
wounds, those wlho suffered death at the hands of their savage captors
and those who were missing and never heard from, the total loss sustailled by Crawford's forces was less than seventy-five men.
110HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
built the present Brightwell House, and started his the "Swan." The second horse-boat was called the
son Solomon there as a store-keeper. Solomon was  "Belle Vernon," and received its motive-power from
the village trader for many years, until his removal the chestnut horse Barney and the mouse-colored
to the far West. Belle Vernon was for a long time a  I)avey. They grew old in the service, and became
dreary village, and did not rise above the dignity of well-known animals in that part of the country.
a backwoods settlement. The sugar-camp was not The "Belle Vernon" was succeeded by the steam
cleared until some time after 1813, and theii in its  ferry-boat "Polly South," built and run by Capt.
place Noah Speer planted the town to corn, so that James French, now a resident of Belle Vernon. The
Main Street was that season nothing but a path  traffic was too small to make a steam ferry profitable,
through a corn-field, with other thoroughfares equally  and as a consequence the present rope-ferry was put
primeval and contracted. The next season rye and  on. The ferry privilege at Belle Vernon has always
timothy covered the town-site, and made the place  been owned by a Speer, and is now in the hands of
look like a farm with a half-dozen or more houses  Noah Speer.
dotting it here and there. The inhabitants told Noah    Belle Vernon languished until the founding of the
Speer that it was all very well for him to mnake a  glass-manufacturingindustryinthevillagebyWilliam
grain-field of the village, but they must have a few  Eberhard in 1836. At that time Solomon Speer and
streets, and threatened to throw down fences so that William Reeves were the village store-keepers, and
there might be free communication at least from one  John Wright the tavern-keeper. Solomon Speer was
part of the town to another. Speer heeded not their  the first postmaster at Belle Vernon, butwhen the office
complaints, but when be found his fences pulled down  was established cannot now be told, probably not
again and again, he made up his mind that it would  before 1830. In 1836, Speer was succeeded by Uriah
be perhaps well enough to open a few streets.   Ward; to him succeeded William Eberhard, Robert
Mr. Hornbeck, who kept a poor sort of tavern and  Boyle, L. R. Boyle, and James Davidson, the present
dealt largely in whisky, set up a carding-machine, incumbent, who was commissioned in 1869. Since
but gave it up after a brief experiment.  Thomas  1875 Belle Vernon has been a money-order office.
Ward, the pioneer settler in Belle Vernon, moved to  Three mails are received and the same number disthe far West eventually.  Rebecca Lenhart, his  patched daily.
daughter, living now in the village, is Belle Vernon's   The town enjoyed the luxury of a village newsoldest inhabitant,-that is, she has lived longest of paper for a brief season from April, 1874, to the
any in the place. Next comes the widow of Morris  spring of 1878, but the enterprise was at no time a
Corwin, whose residence in the town covers a period  profitable one. E. A. Hastings, who started the
of sixty-five years, or two years less than that of Mrs. Belle Vernon Patriot in April, 1874, published it as
Lenhart.                                           an independent journal two years, and then gave up
There was no store but Solomon Speer's for a long  the undertaking as a losing one. J. T. McAlpin,
time. The second store was opened on Water Street thinking there might be profit in a local newspaper
by William Reeves. In 1816 the shoemaker for the  notwithstanding Hastings' experience, started the
village was Jacob Hazelbaker, who lived near J. B. Belle Vernon Courier. Its fate was about the same
Gould's present residence. His brother George, the  as that of the Patriot, and when it terminated its
hatter, lived in the house now the home of Rebecca  career, in 1878, then terminated also the newspaper
Lenhart. William Rees established in 1830 the only  history of Belle Vernon.
tannery Belle Vernon ever had. It was owned suc-   Belle Vernon's first resident physician was Dr.
cessively by Alexander and John Bingham, John  Horner, the date of whose coming cannot be fixed.
Nichols, J. P. Fry, J. W. Wright, and W. C. Drum. Succeeding him as village physicians were Drs. Kirk,
Mr. Drum sold it to George Lang, who uses it now as  Hubbs, Johnson, Eagan, and Roberts. Dr. John S.
a storage-house.                                   Van Voorhis came to the town to practice in L147,
In 1833, Solomnon Speer and Morgan Gaskill built and found here Dr. James Eagan and Dr. H. F.
the first steamboat constructed at Belle Vernon. Roberts. After 1847 the list of physicians in Belle
They were sub-contractors under Capt. Samuel Vernon included W. L. Creigh, Charles B. Chalfant,
Walker, of Elizabeth, who received the contract David Fetz, H. B. Rupp, S. A. Conklin, J. A. Hazlitt,
from Capt. James May. Gen. Isaac Hammet drafted  and J. B. Enos. With the exception of a three-years'
the plan of the boat at Elizabeth, and" laid it down"  absence, Dr. Van Voorhis has been in the constant
on the floor of a stable in Belle Vernon, in the rear practice of his profession at Belle Vernon from 1847
of where Alexander Brown now lives.                to the present time (1881). Besides him the borough
A ferry was established by Henry Speer at the  physicians are J. A. Hazlitt and J. B. Enos.
Belle Vernon crossing as early as 1772. The first   The oldest merchant in Belle Vernon is Amon
ferryman of whom there is any knowledge was An- Bronson. Among other prominent village traders
drew Bryce, the shoemaker.  The first ferryman  may be mentioned Schmertz  Co., J. L. Courtney,
after the town was laid out was Joseph Billeter. The  C. Reppert  Sons, J. B. Zeh, W. H. Brightwell, W.
firsthorse-boat was built atFredericktown and named  C. Kittle, J. C. Cunningham, C. A. Patterson, H.
814BELLE VERNON BOROUGH.
Husher, A. Graham, L. M. Kyle, J. A. Piersol, J. B.
Fournier, O. R. Springer, E. W. Kyle, S. M. Graham,
L. Z. Birmingham, and J. A. Hazlitt.
BOROUGH INCORPORATION AND LIST OF OFFICERS.
Belle Vernon was incorporated a borough by an
act of Assembly approved April 15, 1863, which after
reciting in its preamble that, "Whereas the borough
hereby incorporated is situated partly within the
county of Fayette and partly within the county of
Westmoreland, and therefore the courts of said counties have not the power to incorporate the same, therefore" proceeds to enact "that the town of Belle Vernon, partly in Fayette and partly in Westmoreland
County, shall be and the same is hereby erected into
a borough, which shall be called the borough of Belle
Vernon, bounded and limited as follows: Beginning
at a low-water mark on the Monongahela River at the
mouth of Speer's Run; thence up said run to the stone
bridge; thence in a direct line to the north corner of
the public school-house lot; thence along the east line
of said lot to the alley; thence along said alley to
Gould's Run; thence down said run to the Monongahela River, and down said river at low-water mark to
the place of beginning, and shall enjoy all the privileges and be subject to the limitations and restrictions of the general laws of this commonwealth relating to boroughs."
Following is a list of the principal borough officers
of Belle Vernon from its erection to the present time,
viz.:
1863.-Burgess, Amon Bronson; Council, Brazil Brightwell,
William Sutton, Samuel Smock, Edward Martin, John R.
Powell; School Directors, John S. Van Voorhis, James Davidson, James French, John W. Wright, Robert Boyle,
Noah Q. Speer; Justices of the Peace, John Watson, Robert
Patterson, John R. Powell; Auditors, Robert Boyle, James
M. Springer. 0. D. Johnston; Assessor, John W. Lindsey.
1864.-Burgess, Aiuon Bronson; Council, Allison Piersol, Edward Jordan, Jasper Haught, William Mackey, Curtis
Reppert; Justice of the Peace, AMnon Bronson; School
Directors, Noah Q. Speer, James M. Springer; Auditor,
James Corwin, Jr.
1865.-Burgess, John Watson; Council, David Springer, John
R. Powell, John Reeves, Thomas Lowry, John S. Van
Voorhis; School Directors, Robert Boyle, James A. Piersol;
Auditor, Harvey B. Fry; Assessor, John W. Lindsey.
1866.-Burgess, John W. Lindsey; Council, James French,
Robert Patterson, John Hixenbaugh, Peter Leyhew, W. F.
Speer; Assessor, James N. McDivitt; School Directors,
John S. Van Voorhis, John Watson, James Davidson,
Curtis Rephart; Auditor, Robert Patterson; Justice of the
Peace, John W. Lindsey.
1867.-Burgess, John W. Lindsey; Council, J. S. Van Voorhis,
W. H. Jones, Peter Leyhew, J. A. Singley, James French,
and C. Rephart; Assessor, George Amalong; School Directors, James M. Springer, O. D. Johnson, John S. Van
Voorhis; Auditor, Alexander Brown.
1868.-Burgess, John W. Lindsey; Council, James Corwin,
Williamu Bronson; Assessor, George Amalong; Auditor, J.
W. Corwin; School Directors, John Power, Jesse P. Sill.
1869.--Burgess, Arthur P. Lewis; Council, John W. Dean,
Henry Haler; Assessor, Andrew Johnston; School Directors, James A. Pearsol, James French; Auditor, William.
Kyle.
1870.-Burgess, James French; Council, William P. Mackey,
W. H. Jones; Auditor, Anson Bronson; School Directors,
John Reeves, Henry Haler, William F. Speer; Justice of
the Peace, J. F. Roley.
1871.-Burgess, John Reeves: Council, Peter Leyhew, Lewis
Krepps, Robert Patterson; School Directors, Noah Q.
Speer, Daniel Springer; Auditor, J. S. Van Voorhis; Assessor, George Amalong.
1872.-Burgess, J. W. Lindsey; Council, Joseph Reeves, J.
A. Singley; Assessor, William H. Jones; School Directors,
Alexander Brown, Amon Bronson, J. M. Springer, John
W. Corwin; Auditor, J. B. Foulke.
1873.-Burgess (not recorded); Council, W. F. Speer, Amon
Bronson; Assessor, W. H. Jones; School Directors, W. F.
Speer, S. F. Jones; Auditor, A. S. Woodrow.
1874.-Burgess (not recorded); Council, A. P. Lewis, A. A.
Taggart; Assessor, J. S. Clegg; Auditor, J. C. Cunningham; School Directors, Alexander Brown, C. T. Porter,
R. J. Linton; Justice of the Peace, 0. D. Johnson.
1875.-Burgess (not recorded); Council, John Call, J. H. Robbins; Treasurer, S. F. Jones; Justice of the Peace, Charles
M. Call; School Directors, James Davidson, Amon Bronson, John S. Van Voorhis, Noah Q. Speer; Auditor, William J. Anderson.  
1876.-Burgess, A. L. Brown; Council, W. J. Anderson, A. S.
Woodrow; Treasurer, A. A. Taggart; Assessor, J. S.
Clegg; School Directors, A. P. Lewis, W. H. Hoil; Auditor,
A. S. Woodrow.
1877.-Burgess, L. Z. Birmingham; Council, J. W. Krepps,
Jacob Hasson; School Directors, A. A. Taggart, Jas. M.
Springer, Amos Bronson, James Davidson; Assessor, W.
B. Roley; Treasurer, J. C. Cunningham; Auditor, William
Kettle.
1878.-Burgess, J. T. Roley; Council, William Houseman, J. B.
Courtney, J. C. Cunningham; Treasurer, J. S. Van Voorhis; School Directors, Win. E. McCrory, J. S. Van Voorhis; Assessor, W. B. Roley; Auditor, W. J. Anderson.
1879.-Burgess, William Leyhew; Council, J. M. Bowell, Jacob
Singley; Justice of the Peace, Jacob Hassan; School Directors, W. P. Mackey, E. W. Martin, S. F. Jones, L. Z.
Birmingham; Assessor, Wm. B. Roley; Auditor, (. W.
Brown.
1880.-Burgess, Amon Bronson; Council, Win. Leyhew, S. F.
Jones; Assessor, George Patton; School Directors, R J.
Linton, Jas. Donnason, L. Z. Birmingham; Auditor,
Matthew Arters.
1881.-Burgess, J. S. Van Voorhis; Council, John H. Robbins,
J. B. Courtney; Auditor, W. H. Beazill; School Directors,
J. B. Enos, Samuel Graham, Ephraim  Lewis; Assc,,sor,
George W. Patton.
SCHOOLS.
For somne time after Belle Vernon received its first
inhabitants the village children were obliged to go a
long distance to attend school. Morris Corwin thought
something should be done to establish a school in the
village, and announced that his wife would give up
her kitchen to school uses if a teacher were provided.
The proposition met with general favor, and in Mrs.
Corwin's kitchen Belle Vernon's first school was
started. The teacher was John Haselbaker, of Wash815HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
ington Counity. While teaching in Belle Vernon he
lived in the village with his brother George (a hatter),
whose house was the one now occupied by the Widow
Lenhart. School was taught in the Corwin kitchen
about three months. The next school was kept in a
house on Main Street, built by Joseph Springer, and
now occupied by William Mackey. The first teacher
of that school was J. B. Gould, still living near Belle
Vernon.
The first house built for school purposes was erected
upon the lot adjoining Peter Leyhew's present residence. It was built of brick taken from old Rehoboth
Church, that had been standing since 1803. Some of
the brick are now in the sidewalk in front of William
-P. Mackey's residence. Solomon Speer and A. P.
Fry raised the money for building by subscription.
The second village school-house was the building now
occupied as a residence by J. B. Gould, Jr. The
brick in it came from the old Firney mill. In 1857
a third village school-house was built on a lot now
occupied by R. J. Linton, at the corner of Speer
Avenue and Short Street. It was a two-story brick,
with two rooms on the first floor and one large room
on the second. The building committee was composed of Revs. J. M. Springer and James Davidson.
The brick-work was done by Solon Meredith, and the
carpenter-work by Peter Snyder. The building was
first occupied January, 1858, and cost, completed, sixteen hundred and twenty-seven dollars and eighteen
cents. The first teachers were John Wright and Miss
Tower. Upon the incorporation of the borough the
school directors ehosen were James Davidson, Robert
Boyle, J. W. Wright, James French, N. Q. Speer,
J. S. Van Voorhis. The first teachers in the borough
were C. C. Douglass, Miss Hess, and Miss Allie D.
Main.
The present school building was completed in 1873,
and opened Jan. 12, 1874. The cost of the edifice
was thirty thousand dollars. Coulter  Taggart were
the contractors. It has two stories, with four rooms
in the first and three in the second. In January,
1874, Professor J. W. Gibbons was the principal, and
H. F. Bailey, Theodore J. Allen, and Miss Hattie
Davidson, assistants. In April, 1881, Thomas S.
Lackey was the principal, and C. E. Peck, Miss Sallie
Williams, and Miss Kate Veech assistants.
The annual report for the school year ending June
7, 1880, furnishes details as follows touching the
Belle Vernon schools:
Whole number of schools.....................................  4
Number of male teachers......................................  2
"     female "....................            2
Average salaries of males per month......................  $45.00
"      "     females   "........................  $30.00
Number of male scholars.......................................  134
"     female    "......................................  ]138
Average number attending school............................ 214
Total tax levied for building and school purposes...... $3119.64
State appropriation..........................................  468.10
Receipts from taxes and all other sources except State
aprpition............................................  5864.34
appropriatio56....34
Total receipts............................6332.44
Cost of school-houses-purchasing, building, renting,
etc................................................................
Paid  for teachers' wages.......................................
Paid for fuel and contingencies, fees of collectors, etc.,
and  all other expenses.......................................
Total expenditures.......................................................
$750.00
5311.00
6061.00
CHURCHES.. BELLE VERNON METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
Although it is not known who preached the first
Methodist sermon in Belle Vernon, it is known that
in 1830 Rev. J. G. Sanson, attached to the Redstone
Methodist Episcopal Circuit, held chureh services in
the village in the house now owned by W. P. Mackey,
on Main Street. In 1834, on the 15th of October,
Rev. J. H. Ebert, of the Redstone Circuit, organized
a Methodist class in a house on Main Street, then belonging to Samuel Reeves, and now owned by James
Davidson. The Redstone Circuit extended then from
Elizabeth to Upper Middletown. Rev. Robert Hopkins (now of Pittsburgh) was the presiding elder, and
Revs. J. H. Ebert, Warner Long, and Isaac N. Maccabee the preachers in charge. The organizing members of the first class were Barnet Corwin, John Corwin, Eleanor Corwin, Sabina Gaskill, Morgan Gaskill, Catharine Ward, Jane Corwin, Rebecca Jacobs,
and Grace McFall. The first and last named are
still living in the vicinity of Belle Vernon. Rev.
Mr. Ebert was the leader at first, and after him
Robert Demain. Nov. 14, 1834, William Hutchinson joined the class and brought the aggregate membership up to ten. For the first Conference year the
missionary contributions of the class amounted to
seventy-three cents. In a little while the Belle Vernon class was joined by a class from the country, and
both met in the village school-house. Jesse Fell was
the leader for many years.
In 1841 a brick church was built at the lower end
of Main Street, but the building proving short of the
requirements as stipulated in the contract for its
erection, the congregationi gave it up to the contractor after meeting in it but a few times. In 1843 purchase was made of William Eberhard's warehouse on
Water Street, and in that building, remodeled, worship was held until 1850, when a framed edifice was
built on Water Street, above the old site, at a cost of
$1050. The church built in 1850 is now occupied by
the Disciples.
In 1866, the congregation having grown in strength
and wealth, measures were inaugurated looking to the
erection of a costlier and more commodious house of
worship. The result was the erection of the fine brick
edifice now occupied. It cost $15,000, and will seat
five hundred people. June 10, 1867, the corner-stone
was laid in the presence of a numerous assemblage by
Mrs. Emma Weaver and the Misses Maggie, Emma,
and Lydia Davidson. In that year the church society
was first incorporated. The church property includes
the church building and.a parsonage. The entire indebtedness is but $1200. In 1850, Belle Vernon and
Cookstown were made a separate circuit. In 1870,
I
816BELLE VERNON BOROUGH.
Belle Vernon was constituted a charge by itself.
From 1850 to 1860 the preachers in charge were Revs.
J. F. Nesley, P. F. Jones, J. Burbidge, D. H. Rhodes,
John Williams, J. Horner, J. C. Brown, George Crook.
Belle Vernon Church has now a membership of two
hunidred and forty, and four classes. The leaders are
James Davidson, Amon Bronson (two classes), and
C. Reppert. The pastor is Rev. A. P. Leonard, and
the Sunday-school superintendent J. B. Zeh. The
trustees are William Jones, James Davidson, Amon
Bronson, N. Q. Speers, W. H. Brightwell, J. B. Zeh,
John Reeves, D. P. Houseman, and Samuel Sutton.
FREE-WILL BAPTIST CHURCH.
April 22, 1843, a Free-Will Baptist Church was
organized in the village school-house by Elders
Joshua Newbold, S. G. Smlutz, and David Smutz.
The organizing members were Roger Jordan and
wife, Isaac Free and wife, Mrs. Hannah Jordan,
Eliza Baldwin, Daniel Springer, Rachel Springer,
William Jacobs and wife, Lydia Springer, and Eliza
Jordan. The first deacons were Isaac Free and Daniel Springer, and Daniel Springer the first superintendent of the Sunday-school. In September, 1844,
a house of worship was built, and was dedicated by
Rev. Mr. Newbold. It was used until 1872, and is
now the residence of Mr. Morrison. In 1872 the
house now in use was completed, and in April of that
year was dedicated by Rev. James Coulter. Its cost
was about $5000. Rev. Joshua Newbold, the first
pastor, has had as successors in the pastorate Revs.
Edward Jordan, David Smutz, Mr. Winton, J. W.
Planet, Patrick Reardon, Henry Cook, Mr. Blakely,
James Springer, J. C. Nye, Wellington Joy, John
Rogers, and B. H. Fish. Mr. Fish, the present pastor, returned in October, 1880, for his second term of
service. The church membership was seventy in
May, 1881. The deacons are John Hixenbaugh, J.
W. Corwin, Christopher Amalong, James McCoy.
The trustees are J. WV. Corwin, Denton Lynn, and
John Fell.
CHURCH OF CHRIST.
The Disciples at Belle Vernon met occasionally for
worship as early as 1840, and engaging a preacher in
conjunction with the brethren of Cookstown, had services once a fortnight. Of both churches the prominent members were J. B. Gould, of Belle Vernon, and
James Hamer, of Cookstown. Hamer was about the
only one who came regularly every other Sunday
from Cookstown to church at Belle Vernon, and
Gould the only one who attended regularly from the
latter at the former place. In 1844 the Belle Vernon
Disciples built a church, and in 1869 exchanged it to
R. C. Sehmertz  Co. for the old Methodist Episcopal
Church building on Water Street, then owned by
Schmertz  Co. The church built by the Discipies
is now used by Schmertz  Co. as an office. Mr.
Pool was the first preacher, and J. B. Gould, James
Hamer, and James Ferry the first elders. Mr. Pool
is said to have been an eloquent man in the pulpit,
but in ordinary life and conversation a far from impressive person. Asking a lady once what she thought
of him, he received as a reply, "Well, when you are
in the pulpit I often think you ought never to leave
it, but when you are out I feel sure you ought never
to enter it." There has been no regular preacher
since 1876, the last one being Lyman Streator. The
membership is now about forty. J. B. Gould, James
Morgan, and Andrew Graham are the elders, and
Charles Corwin, Thomas Fawcett, and James Hagerty the deacons.
BELLE VERNON PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
About 1836, or before, Rehoboth Church appointed
Michael Finley and William Bigham to visit Belle
Vernon and inquire into the propriety of erecting a
church in that village. They reported adversely, but
recommended occasional preaching in the town and
neighborhood. Rev. Robert Johnson preached at
long intervals at the house of Abner Reeves, whose
wife was a member of the Presbyterian Church.
Later, Rev. N. H. Gillett held occasional services in
the old Eberhard warehouse on Water Street.
For some years the only member of the Presbyterian Church in Belle Vernon was William Hasson.
In April, 1848, Dr. Van Voorhis and wife were received into the church, and then Belle Vernon held
three members of that faith.  Revs. James R.
Hughes and L. Y. Graham preached successively in
the house now used by the Disciples and then by the
Methodists, but no further effort was made to organize a church until the summer of 1868, when Rehoboth appointed J. B. Cook, E. F. Houseman, and L.
M. Speer to "go on and inquire into the expediency
of building a house in Belle Vernon." The committee made a report favoring the project, but to this
day no action has been taken by Rehoboth upon the
report, nor has the committee yet been discharged.
In 1869 members of Rehoboth living in Belle Vernon
and vicinity took steps towards building a church,
and August 7th of that year laid the first stone upon
a lot donated by L. M. Speer, who gave also liberally toward the work of building, and himself provided for the completion of the spire. Dec. 19,1869,
the church was dedicated free of debt. Jan. 2, 1870,
a Sabbath-school was organized with Dr. J. S. Van
Voorhis as superintendent. It was not, however,
until 1873 that a church organization was formed.
In December of that year the Redstone Presbytery
appointed Revs. G. M. Hair and Gailey and Elder
Rankin to act as a committee to organize a church
at Belle Vernon. The organization was accordingly
effected December 11th, when the following were received on certificates from Rehoboth, to wit: D. B.
Johnson, Sarah Johnson, James French and wife,
Dr. J. S. Van Voorhis, E. S. Van Voorhis, L. M.
Speer, F. L. Speer, C. G. Speer, S. F. Jones, S. E.
Jones, R. J. Linton, C. S. Linton, Nancy Smock,
817HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Ellen McFall, Margaret Garrison, Harriet Patterson,
L. V. Cunningham, J. C. Hazlett, Samuel Clark,
Anna Clark, Maria E. Hughes, Jennie French, W.
F. Speer, M. T. Speer, W. P. Mackey, Samuel McKean, S. McKean, Aggie McAlpine, Mary Smock,
Elizabeth Lucas, Nancy Sheats, Maggie McFall,
Jane Hopkins, Alvira M. Furnier, Mary E. Cook,
Susan C. Wise, James McAlpin, Mrs. McAlpin, John
McAlpin, W. B. McAlpin, Jennie Jones, Sarah
Barkman, Philip Smock, Olive Barkman, Laurena
Smock, William McFall, Robert McFall, and Charlotte Hammett. From other churches, William F.
Morgan and wife and Mary C. Alter. S. F. Jones,
Samuel McKean, J. C. Hazlett, and R. J. Trinton
were chosen elders, of whom Samuel McKean declined to serve. Rev. G. M. Hair, of Rehoboth,
preached at Belle Vernon until April, 1874. In
July, 1874, Rev. A. B. Lowes entered upon the pastorate, and still remains. The membership in 1881
was eighty-three. The elders first chosen are still in
office. The trustees are William P. Mackey, Joseph
Nutt, and W. F. Morgan. S. F. Jones is superintendent of the Sunday-school.
BELLE VERNON GLASS-FACTORY.
The interest of glass-manufacture is a very important one at Belle Vernon. It was founded in 1834,
and has continued since 1836 to be a conspicuous
element in the industries of the town. R. C. Schmertz
 Co. have been the manufacturers at this point since
1865, and have there to-day the largest window-glass
manufactory in the world. In 1834, George Kendall,
of Cookstown, and Thomas Patton, of Perryopolis,
began the erection of glass-works upon the site of
Schmertz  Co.'s factory, but before they reached the
point of manufacture failed and abandoned the enterprise. The buildings remained in an unfinished
condition until 1836, when William Eberhard came
into possession of the property, and promptly conimpleting an eight-pot furnace engaged at once in the
production of glass. At the first the largest rollers
hlie made would flatten out a sheet measuring twentyone by twenty-five. He made ninety-five rollers to a
blower. His first glass-cutter was Griffith Wells,
now residing at Fayette City. During Mr. Eberhard's possession he brought the works up to a capacity of sixteen pots. He appeared to be driving a
flourishing business, and did doubtless for some
years, but while pushing matters at what seemed a
remarkably brisk rate, in 1853, he suddenly failed, to
the great consternation of the community, and the
loss of many who had looked upon the glass-works
as upon a secure foundation. The failure was most
disastrous, and from its effects the town was slow to
recover. The property was not, however, suffered to
remain idle very long. George A. Berry  Co. soon
became the owners and speedily revived the old-time
activity. In 1860 Berry bought out his partner, and
having an immense stock of glass on hand at the outbreak of the rebellion, made his fortune.
In 1865, Berry disposed of his interests to the
present owners, R. C. Schmertz  Co., who remodeled
the works and added a ten-pot furnace. Their factory
covers now about two acres, and has in connection
with it a fine store and thirty-six tenements. Lime
and sand were formerly obtained at Belle Vernon,
but these materials are now brought from Layton
and Mapleton. Coke is burned near the works. Two
hundred and thirty hands are ordinarily employed,
and upwards of $15,000 paid out monthly as wages.
They have an aggregate of twenty-six pots, consume
annually 300,000 bushels of'coal, 80,000 bushels of
coke, 2200 tons of sand, 650 tons of lime, 850 tons of
soda, and 500 tons of other materials. One million
feet of lumber are used yearly for the manufacture
of boxes. Their freight tonnage each year is 1200
tons. The annual production of glass reaches about
80,000 boxes. Mr. Schmertz, the senior member of
the firm, resides at Pittsburgh, but exercises a general
supervision over the works at Belle Vernon, as well
as over the firm's works at Columbus, Ohio. The
managing and resident partner at Belle Vernon is
Mr. R. J. Linton, who entered Mr. Schmertz's employ in 1855, and in a few years was admitted as a
partner.
BELLE VERNON SAW- AND  PLANING-MILL COMPANY (LIMITED).
Just over the borough line in Westmoreland County
this company represents a valuable industry. The
officers are Amon Bronson, president; William Jones,
vice-president; A. A. Taggart, manager; S. F. Jones,
treasurer; J. S. Jones, secretary. The main building
is one hundred by forty feet. It contains a 66-inch
circular saw, capable of sawing 30,000 feet of lumber
in ten hours. Adjoining the mill is the boat-yard of
William McFall, who turns out yearly a good many
river craft of various kinds.
SOCIETIES AND ORDERS.
Belle Vernon Lodge, No. 656, I. 0. O.F. This lodge
was organized March 26, 1869, with seventeen members. The charter officers were John Wilkinson,
N. G.; Noah Speer, V. G.; S. McKean, Sec.; John
H. Weaver, Asst. Sec.; A. P. Lewis, Treas. Other
charter members were R. C. Byers, J. S. Van Voorhis, J. M. Springer, J. B. Thompson, Michael Alters,
G. V. Abel, John Caull, T. F. Lewis, and J. H.
Lewis. In May, 1881, the membership was one
hundred and three. The officers were William
Vaughn, N. G.; L. R. Boyle, V. G.; S. McKean,
Sec.; James Frost, Asst. Sec.; John Hackett, Treas.
Maple Grove Encampment, No. 243, I. O. O. F.,
was chartered Feb. 13, 1875. The first officers were
John Wilkinson, C. P.; Samuel McKean, H. P.;
John B. Thompson, S. W.; George Treasure, J. W.;
A. P. Lewis, Sec.; J. H. Weaver, Treas.; John S.
818,FAYETTE CITY BOROUGH.
Clegg, I. S.; J. C. Hixenbaugh, O. S. The members
numbered thirty-five in May, 1881. The officers were
W. A. McKean, C. P.; Ephraim Lewis, H. P.; G.
Amalong, S. W.; W. H. Neil, J. W.; Samuel McKean, S.; John Hackett, Treas.
Accomac Tribe, No. 142, I. O. R. M., was organized
on the 17th Cold Moon, 380. The charter members
were J. F. Hixenbaugh, John Hutchinson, Dennis
Riley, W. H. Hailor, Charles Dean, Abel Fewster,
John Stewart, Thomas Hardwick, J. H. Robbins, H.
M. Clegg, W. G. Kittle, Samuel Hilton, John Friser,
Matthew Clegg, and W. H. Jones. The membership
in May, 1881, was 100. The officers were John
Evans, S.; William Fleming, S. S.; P. Rider, J. S.;
William Wise, Sec.; A. Rupert, K. of W.; J. Stillwagon, P.
Bayard Post, No. 178, G. A. R., was organized
June 24, 1880, with twenty-six members. The membership is now thirty-one. Meetings are held twice
each month in Odd-Fellows' Hall. The officers are
W. S. Harvey, P. C.; L. R. Boyle, S. V. P. C.; William Booth, J. V. P. C.; William Noble, Q. M.; J.
W. Morgan, Adjt.; Rev. A. B. Lowes, C.; John
Thompson, O. of D.; Joseph Bell, O. of G.; John
Reeves, S.
Belle Vernon Council, No. 531, Royal Arcanum,
was organized in October, 1880. The officers in May,
1880, were John Haskett, R.; W. P. Mackey, V. R.;
T. L. Daly, P. R.; J. E. Nutt, Sec.; J. S. Jones, Col.;
J. L. Courtney, Treas.; James McAlpin, C.; W. B.
McAlpin, G.; James Huttenover, W.; E. F. Springer,
S. The members number nineteen.
FAYETTE CITY BOROUGH.
Fayette City, a thriving borough of about nine hundred inhabitants, located upon the Monongahela,
twelve miles below Brownsville, ranks among the old
towns of Fayette County. Founded about 1800 by
Col. Edward Cook as Freeport, it was known as
Cookstown from 1825 to 1854, when its name was
changed by legislative act to Fayette City. It is a
point of considerable shipment, via the Monongahela River, of apples, wool, grain, etc., and derives a
brisk mercantile trade from the surrounding agricultural community and adjoining coal-mining districts.
Manufacturers are confined to the product of windowglass and woolen goods. There is communication
with all points via river packets that touch at the
wharf four times daily, and by railway on the Washington side of the river.
The bottom lands upon which the chief portion of
Fayette City lies were once the site of an Indian village. Col. Edward Cook, who in 1768 came to the
neighborhood and bought a large tract of about three
thousand acres, lying now in Washington, Westmoreland, and Fayette Counties, then became the owner
of the site of Fayette City and the country about it
for some distance. The first improvement of conse-  
quence upon the present site of Fayette City was
made by Joseph Downer, shortly after 1800. Mr.
Downer, who had from 1794 been living near Col.
Cook's, in Washington township, moved first to the
present Cooper mill-site, and later to where James
Hamer's woolen-factory now stands. At the latter
point he built a flouring-mill, and lower down on the
run a saw-mill, of which the ruins may still be seen.
At the saw-mill he built a framed dwelling-house, on
the site of the Thirkield mansion. The grist-mill
Mr. Downer himself managed, while the saw-mill
interest was in charge of his father-in-law, Stephen
Hall.
At the time of Mr. Downer's location upon the village site, about 1806, there was upon the tract but one
house, which stood on the river-bank, the log cabin
of one Pankus, a boat-builder, who soon afterwards
went to New Orleans, and was never heard of. Previous to 1807, Col. Cook had laid out a town where
Fayette City now is and named it Freeport. Tradition has it that he and Mr. Downer surveyed the
streets and marked off the lots with a clothes-line.
The original plat of the town shows that fifty-one
lots were set off, that the streets were named Fording,
Market, Cook, Union, Front, Second, Third, and
Fourth, and that the triangular piece of land upon
which the school-house now stands was donated for
public use. Upon the plat is written the following:
"Plan of the town of Freeport,' on the Monongahela River, in Washington township, Fayette County,
State of Pennsylvania. Laid out by Edward Cook,
Esq." The lots were made sixty feet by one hundred
and twenty, but in order to prevent disputes in the
measurement six inches were allowed by Mr. Cook in
each line on the ground, so that the lots were actually
sixty-six feet six inches by one hundred and twenty
feet six inches. Market Street is forty-five feet wide;
the other streets thirty feet wide. The first trader at
Freeport was Andrew Hunter, who, not far from
1805, came to the place with his daughters, Jane and
Margaret, and erected at the corner of Market and
Front Streets a framed building, in which he opened
a small store and made his residence. His daughter
Jane was a woman of great force of character and
good business talent. She soon became the owner of
the store, and, with her sister Margaret, carried it on
for many years. Before the advent of the Hunters,
William D. Mullin (who in 1786, at the age of four
years, had come with his adopted father, William
Patterson, to Washington township) located in Freeport upon his marriage, in 1806, and set up a hatter's
shop (his trade he had learned with Jones, of Bridgeport) on a lot he had bought of Morris Dunlevy.
The deed for the property, now in the possession of
R. G. Mullin, recites that for the consideration of
twenty dollars Edward and Martha Cook conveyed to
Morris Dunlevy lot No. 4 in Freeport, situated in the
tract known as Whisky Mount, patented to Edward
1 Name of the town changed to Cookstown abont 1825.
819HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Cook by the State in 1796. The deed bears date Nov.
12, 1802. William D. Mullin carried on the hatmaking business until 1857. He died in Fayette City
in 1876, aged ninety-one years. The house he lived
in is now the residence of John Kennedy. The hatshop that stood close to it long since disappeared.
In 1806, Alexander Crane kept on Water Street the
principal store in Freeport. Aaron Bugher, who went
to the Legislature afterwards, was a boat-builder,
and in his yard built quite a lot of flat- and keel-boats.
The first steamboat built at Freeport was launched
about 1820 by James Woods. After an extended
business career at Freeport, Bugher removed to Cincinnati, where he died. William Larimer, who succeeded him as a boat-builder at Cookstown, remained
until about 1860. Since his departure but little in
the way of boat-building has been done at this place.
Thomas Beard (an Irish refugee), one of the pioneer traders, kept a dry-goods store on Second Street
near Union (where J. C. King's furniture-shop is),
and Daniel Ferry kept a general store on Second
Street. At the corner of Market and Second, James
P. Stewart was an early trader, as was Job Kitts at
the corner of Union and Water. U. C. Ford had a
tannery at the corner of Market and Main Streets, on
the site of McEwan's drug-store. About 1820, John
Baldwin, a miller on the opposite side of the river,
put on a ferry, much to the convenience of the people,
for fording had previous to that been the common
means of crossing. One Romans was Freeport's pioneer blacksmith. His shop was on Main near Market Street. James McCrory was one of the village
blacksmiths about that time, and since then a McCrory has always been one of the blacksmiths of the
place. Adam Weamer (with whom Samuel Larimer was an apprentice) was a cabinet-maker in a
shop on the present Baldwin House lot. James
Enos, living on the hill, was the first wheelwright as
well as the first postmaster. William McBain was
a shoemaker on Second Street, between Union and
Market. James Hezlip kept the first tavern near the
corner of Market and Second Streets.' The second
tavern was opened by Henry Calver on Second
Street. He was succeeded in that establishment by
a Mr. McNab, Beriel Taylor, and Thomas McCrory.
McCrory was its last landlord, and kept it for some
years as McCrory's Inn, by which name it was widely
and favorably known. In 1845, William Evans built
the tavern now known as the Baldwin House. Justus
Blaney had a pottery in the upper portion of the village now called Sisleytown. He made common
ware and shipped it down the river to market. John
Britson, another ancient worker in clay, made clay
pipes in Cookstown as early as 1821.
In 1827, William E. Frazer (chosen to the State
Senate in 1855 and canal commissioner in 1859) came
to Cookstown from Luzerne township for the purpose
1 Hezlip was licensed in 1797.
of following his trade as turner and wheelwright.
Mr. Frazer says Cookstown had in 1827 three stores,
of which the principal one was kept by Thomas
Beard, near the corner of Second and Union Streets.
Alexander Crane had a store on Water (or Front)
Street, and the Hunters had one at the corner of
Market and Water Streets. Daniel Ferry was a
wagon- and plow-maker, and William Baldwin was
the village tailor. Mr. Frazer opened a wheelwright's
shop near to where he now lives, and remained seven
years. He retired for a while to a farm, but soon
returned, and still resides in Fayette City, a highly
honored and worthy citizen.
R. G. Mullin, now the oldest of Fayette City's
merchants, embarked in trade in 1837 upon the lot
where he was born and where he has continued to
live to this day. Next in rank as to date of establishment in the village comes William Troth, who
came to Cookstown in June, 1847, and opened a saddler's shop. In 1849 he purchased William E. Frazer's hardware business, and in that trade has continued uninterruptedly ever since.  The third oldest
merchant, John Mullin, has sold goods in this town
continuously since 1852.
Cookstown's first resident physician was Dr.
David Porter, who lived when a lad with the family
of Capt. Woolsey, of Westmoreland County. Dr.
Porter practiced for a year or two in Freeport about
1815, and then retiring to the country, did not return
until about 1836, when he opened an office on Water
Street. After a stay of a few years he retired once
more to a farm, and removing subsequently to Uniontown, remained there until his death in 1875. Dr.
Joseph Thoburn, who succeeded Dr. Porter at Freeport, moved eventually to Wheeling. Dr. Nathan
Hubbs was a practitioner in Freeport in 1822, and
after a service of twenty-six years, died in the village
in 1848. During Dr. Hubbs' time Dr. Thornton
Fleming was one of the village doctors. He is especially remembered because of his sudden departure
from the place. He is supposed to be living now at
Galesburg, Ill. Dr. James Eagan came to the town
in 1830, and in 1847 appeared Drs. Charles Conley
and O. D. Todd. Dr. Todd, who lived opposite
Cookstown, in Washington County, had an office in
the village from 1847 until his death in 1880. Dr. J.
M. H. Gordon, who located in Cookstown in 1849,
has been in village practice continuously ever since.
Dr. H. F. Roberts came as early as 1847, and practiced at irregular periods as a local physician until
1876. He lives now in Uniontown. Dr. F. M. Yost
was in the field from 1852 to 1854. Drs. Reisinger
and Penny were but briefly village practitioners. Dr.
Conkling came in 1870, and died here in 1873. Besides Dr. J. M. H. Gordon, the borough physicians
are John W. Gordon (here since 1877) and J. V.
Porter (since 1880).
A post-office appears to have been established at
Freeport as early as 1812. The first postmaster was
I
I
820FAYETTE CITY BOROUGH.
James Enos, the wheelwright, who lived on the hill.
In 1820 he was succeeded by William D. Mullin, and
Mullin by Samuel Larimer in 1829. Larimer served
until 1840, whenii Job Kitts was appointed, and in 1840
gave place to Edward Martin. Following Martin, lo
1860, the incumbents were R. G. Mullin, William R.
Campbell, and John Stofft. Hugh Connelly had the
office from 1860 to 1870, and Lewis K. Hamilton from
1870 to 1880. S. B. Hamilton, the present incumbent,
was commissioned in 1880, although he has been the
acting postmaster since ] 870. Fayette City post-office
was made a money-order office in July, 1875. Four
mails are received and four forwarded daily.
Joseph Downer, already noticed as Freeport's first
inhabitant, was a man of great business enterprise
and much respected. Reference to his early settlement in Fayette County, and to some of his manufacturing enterprises on Downer's Run, will be found
elsewhere in the history of Washington township, as
also a notice of the somewhat famous Downer organ.
After his removal to Freeport he lived on the lot now
occupied by the residence of Mrs. Roscoe Thirkield,
his granddaughter. There he lived until his death,
Feb. 14, 1838. His children numbered thirteen, of
whom six were sons. The last of the sons was James
C. Downer, who died in Louisiana. Three of the
daughters are yet living. They are Louisa Roberts,
in Michigan; Mrs. Thompson and Mrs. Thirkield,
in Fayette City. Samuel Larimore, known prominently in connection with Cookstown's history, was an
apprentice to Adam Weamer, the cabinet-maker, and
all his life afterwards a carpenter in the town. He
died in 1878, aged eighty years. His father, James,
was one of Freeport's early boat-builders, and according to an old record still in the possession of Samuel
Larimer's widow, was, on the 25th of July, 1798, "a
member of the eighth class of the fifth company of
Col. Thomas Johnson's battalion."
The manufacture of glass has been an important
feature of Fayette City's industries since 1831. There
were at one period no less than three glass-works
within the limnits of the town, but for many years the
manufacture of glass at this point has been confined
to one establishment. The business was founded here
in 1831 by John Martin and John Baker, who in that
year erected what were long known as the "upper
works," containing an eight-pot furnace. Moderate
success attended the enterprise from the first, but a
change in proprietorship brought a change in fortune,
and through various proprietary changes there were
several failures until 1846, when the works were
abandoned permanently. The buildings lay idle for
years, until they were demolished to make room for
the erection of dwelling-houses upon the. site. In
1833 George Whiting built an eight-pot furnace on
the "Point," and with William Eberhart, Sr., conducted the business for a short time. They were,
however, compelled by financial reverses to abandon
the works to others. In 1850, Whiting again obtained
control, and, in company with John Emery, carried
on the business until 1850, when they failed. William Eberhard, Jr., succeeded them and continued
until 1857, when he too failed. After that no one
ventured to take hold of the enterprise, and its history ended with the close of the year last named.
The glass-works now owned and operated by George
Wanhoff  Co., of Pittsburgh, were built by John
Bezill and Samuel Kyle in 1844, the building contractor
being Edward Mansfield. The furnace was supplied
with eight pots, and, all told, about fifty hands were
employed. Bezill sold his interest to Kyle, who in
turn disposed of the works to William Eberhard, Jr.
William Eberhard, Sr., succeeded in 1852, and continued until 1857. Adam Blair, previously an employ6 at the works, became proprietor, and after a
three years' experience failed in 1860. After lying
idle a time the factory was bought and revived by D.
Harmany  Co., of Brownsville. In 1865 they were
succeeded by Zimmerman  Co., who in 1872 sold out
to Joseph Torrance  Co. In 1872, Torrance  Co.
suspended work. John King  Co. were their successors, but stopped work in 1873. The Iron City
Company were the next in possession, and in 1877
the present proprietors took the property. In 1879
they revived the works, and since that time have
operated them with profitable success. Their employes number about sixty. Their weekly product
of manufactured glass aggregates three hundred and
fifty boxes, or nearly twenty thousand boxes annually.
Their sand is obtained from Belle Vernon, and their
lime from Tyrone. The annual consumption of materials in the manufacture is about one hundred thousand bushels of coal, twenty-five thousand bushels of
coke, seven hundred tons of sand, two hundred tons
of lime, two hundred and sixty tons of soda.
BOROUGH 0RGANIATION AND OFFICERS.
A petition for the erection of Cookstown into a
boroughl was presented Dec. 5, 1839, and laid over
until the March session of court. The report was
then made by the grand jury favorable to the erection of the borough, and at the term held in March,
1840, the court confirmed the report of the grand jury
and decreed that Cookstown should be erected into a
borough or body corporate by the name and style of
the borough of Cookstown, agreeably to the boundaries
and draft annexed to the petition. September, 1847,
a petition was presented to the court for an extension
of the line of the said borough agreeably to certain
designated courses and distances, and to change the
day for the election of borough officers to the day prescribed by law for choosing township officers. A
favorable report being mnade upon the petition the
court confirmed the report, December, 1847.
Although the borough was organized in 1840, no
mention can be found in either county or borough
821HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
records of the names of borough officials elected prior
to 1847. From that period to 1854, when an act of
Legislature changed the name of the borough from
Cookstown to Fayette City, the following named have
been chosen among the borough officials, the incomplete records giving, however, no mention of either
burgess or councilmen except in 1848:
1847.-Justice of the Peace, William D. Mullin; Assessor,
William Valentine; Constable, Alexander Fleming; Judge
of Election, Aaron Bugher.
1848.-Burgess, Milton G. Ebert; Council, Alexander Fleming, Philip S. Kuhns, Bazil Brightwell, John S. Wilgus,
Zibat Whiting; Justice of the Peace, Justus L. Blaney; Auditor, Samuel Larimer; School Directors, William Krepps,
Isaac Banks, Michael Slotterbeck; Assessor, J. V. Layton.
1849.-School Directors, John Cunnard, Philip S. Kuhns, William McFee; Assessor, Samuel Larimer; Constable, Alexander Fleming; Judge, John Tiernan.
1850.-Justice of the Peace, Isaac Banks, William T. Bealle;
School Directors, John Tiernan, Francis McKee; Assessor,
John G. Thompson; Judge, William E. Fraser.
1851.--School Directors, John V. Layton, Noah Jewell, John
Long; Assessor, John V. Layton; Constable, Henry Hardesty; Judge, John Thirkiel.
1852.-School Directors, John Cunnard, Philip S. Kuhns; Assessor, John G. Thompson; Constable, John Wright;
Judge, David P. Lutz.
1853.-Justices of the Peace, William R. Campbell, Francis
McKee; School Directors, Samuel Larimer, Michael Slotterbeck; Auditor, Harvey Barker, Seneca McCrory; Assessor, George Whiting; Judge, John V. Layton.
1854.-School Directors, John Long, John V. Layton; Assessor,
John Cunnard; Judge, John Tiernan; Constable, Samuel
B. Hamilton.
An act approved April 11, 1854, and entitled "An
Act to change the name of the borough of Cookstown,
in Fayette County, etc.," provides that "the borough
of Cookstown, in the county of Fayette, shall be
hereatter known by the name of Fayette City, and
under that name shall have all the rights and privileges to which said borough is now entitled by law, and
shall be subject to all the restrictions and liabilities
to which said borough is now by law subjected to."
The civil list for Fayette City from 1855 to 1881 is
given below:
1855.1-School Directors, William Banks, Lewis Krepps, Philip
S. Kuhns, John Cunnard; Assessors, Philip S. Kuhns, Joseph Evans; Judge, John Cunnard; Constable, Samuel B.
Hamiilton.
1856.-Burgess, William R. Campbell; Councilmen, Job Kitts,
Ziba Whiting, Samuel Mansfield, William Krepps, Robert
G. Mullin; School Directors, Edward Mansfield, Samuel
Larimer; Assessor, George Whiting.
1857.-Burgess, R. G. Mullin; Council, Lewis Krepps, Sr.,
James Hutton, James Jacobs, Michael Alter, Samuel Mansfield; School Directors, James Daugherty, Michael Slotterbeck; Assessor, George Whiting.
1858.-Burgess, Griffith Wells; Council, William Haney, Williaim Athey, W. E. Fraser, Jr., P. McPhelin, Wesley Larimer; Justice of the Peace, George Whiting; School Di1 No record of the election of burgess or councilmen.
rectors, Wesley Larimner, John Cunnard; Assessors, Samuel B. Hamilton, James Daugherty.
1859.-Burgess, James Johnson; Council, Wesley Larimer, Ziba
Whiting, W. E. Fraser, Jr., David MeBain, George P. Fulton; Justice of the Peace, Robert G. Mullin; School Directors, John Long, Harvey Barker; Assessor, John V. Layton.
1860.-Burgess, John Cunnard; Council, William Krepps, Edward Mansfield, William Troth, G. B. Cook, George P.
Fulton; School Directors, William Krepps, James H. Gordon, R. G. Mullin; Justice of the Peace, John Branthaffer;
Assessor, William Evans.
1861.-Burgess, John P. Tiernan; Council, William Krepps,
William Troth, Lewis Krepps, Joseph C. King, George P.
Fulton; School Directors, Ilenry F. Roberts, Lewis Krepps;
Assessor, L. Baldwin.
1862.-Burgess, Harvey B. Fleming; Council, William E. McCrory, James Hutton, Edward Mansfield, John Stofft, J. C.
King; Justices of the Peace, Robert L. Baldwin, Samuel
B. Hamilton; Assessor, Ziba Whiting; School Directors,
Samuel' Mansfield, Wesley Larimer, Harvey Barker.
1863.-Burgess, John Cunnard; Council, James Johnston, R.
G. Mullin, James Houseman, L. L. Whiting, Joseph A.
McKee; Justice of the Peace, Wesley Larimer; School
Directors, Van Buren Barker, George M. Geho; Assessor,
Samuel Larimer.
1864.-Burgess, P. McPhelin; Council, J. H. Bugher, Edward Mansfield, John Pfieghardt, William E. McCrory, R.
G. Mullin; Justice of the Peace, William Eberhart; School
Directors, Joseph King, R. G. Mullin; Assessor, Daniel
McDonald.
1865.-Burgess, George Whiting; Council, H. B. Fleming,
Samuel Campbell, John Pfieghardt, Thomias Maude, Ziba
Whiting; School Directors, James H. Gordon, William
Campbell, Wesley Larimer, Charles Wilson; Assessor, William Eberhart; Justice of the Peace, George W. Geho.
1866.-Burgess, Thomas Jacobs; Council, John Pfieghardt, J. C.
King, William Haney, Van B. Barker, Lewis Krepps;
School Directors, John Stofft, Lewis Krepps, Van B. Barker;
Assessor, William Eberhart; Justice of the Peace, George
Whiting.
1867.--Burgess, Williamn E. McCrory; Council, James H. Gor
(ion, Samuel Campbell, William Williams, George Markle,.James Reese; School Directors, William Campbell, R. G.
Mullin, Joseph A. McKee, Michael Alter; Assessor, Daniel
McDonald; Auditors, Samuel Mansfield, William Campbell, Calvin Mansfield.
1868.--Burgess, William McFee; Council, John Pfieghardt,
William Lenhart, Thornton F. Baldwin, Isaac Sickman,
Daniel.Harmany, Ziba Whiting; Justice of the Peace,
Samuel B. Hamilton; Assessor, R. L. Baldwin; School Directors, William E. Fraser, William E. McCrory; Auditors,
James Todd, Peter McFeeland, M. Slotterbeck.
1869.-Burgess, Joseph A. McKee; Council, L. L. Whiting, F.
F. Baldwin, Otho Furlong, Chas. Wilson; School Directors, James M. Gordon, Jamnes Measters, William Troth;
Assessor, Samuel Larimer; Auditor, R. L. Baldwin.
1870 -Burgess, Louis Krepps; Council, Michael Slotterbeck,
J. C. King, Joseph L. Cooper, George Geho, Robert Wilson; School Directors, R. G. Mullin, Michael Alter; Auditor, Samuel Mansfield, John B. Quay.
1871.-Burgess, R. B. Brown; Council, Otho Furlong, Chas.
Wilson, Samnuel Means, John Mullin, S. B. Hamilton; Assessor, H. P. Flemning; Justice of the Peace, William Campbell; School Directors, W. E. Fraser, Wm. E. McClory;
Auditor, Thomas Brown.
1872.- Burgess, Joseph A. McKee; Council, R. W. Wilson, W.
822FAYETTE CITY BOROUGH.
C. Athey, John Pfieghardt, J. P. Krepps, Allen Mansfield;
School Directors, John Baldwin, I. Y. Sloan, H. B. Frye,
L. L. Whiting; Assessor, William Troth; Auditor, William Troth.
1873.-Griffith Wells; Council, R. G. Mullin, W. A. McCune,
J. I. McKenna, A. D. Bruce, J. C. King; Justice of the
Peace, Samuel B. Hamilton; Assessor, H. H. Connelly.
1874.-Burgess, J. C. King; Council, H. B. Frye, James I.
McKenna, J. L. Cooper, Edward Mansfield, William Troth,
and Wesley Mullin; Justice of the Peace, Joseph A.
McKee; School Directors, H. B. Fry, Allen S. Mansfield;
Assessor, Samuel Larimer.
1875.-Burgess, William Beatty; Council, H. B. Frye, James
Hamer, John Pfieghardt, Samuel Mansfield, A. D. Barker,
J. M. H. Gordon; School Directors, Joseph C. King, Isaac
N. Cooper, Henry Barker, G. R. Thirkield.; Auditor, William McKee; Assessor, Samuel B. Hamilton.
1876.-Burgess, William Reeves; Council, John Pfieghardt,
James Krepps, Thomas Maude, Charles Wilson, George W.
Patton, William Barker; Justice of the Peace, Harvey
Barker; School Directors, James Campbell, A. D. Barker,
R. G. Mullin; Assessor, R. W. Wilson; Auditor, R. Lincoln.
1877.-Burgess, John H. Baldwin; Council, James Mc(rory,
Leroy Fleming, Jos. L. Cooper, William Troth, H. B. Frye,
I. N. Mullin; School Directors, H. B. Fleming, Daniel
Pfieghardt, John Barker, L. L. Whiting; Justice of the
Peace, Juseph A. McKee; Auditor, S. B. hIamilton.
1878.-Burgess, Charles Wilson; Council, J. Q. McKenna; W.
W. Whitsett, Thomas Maude, Lewis Billeter, William
Reeves, Jacob Showerman; School Directors, J. L. Cooper,
I. N. Mullin, John D. Carr, J. N. Cooper; Assessor, R. W.
Wilson; Auditors, George Masters, George R. Wilson:
Justice of the Peace, S. B. Hamilton.
1879.-Burgess, J. L. Cooper; Council, J. W. Gordon, Chas.
Wilson, John Mullin, Samuel Mansfield, John H. Baldwin,
James Q. McKenna; School Directors, John N. Barker,
Thomas Maude; Assessor, L. L. Whiting; Auditor, L. K.
Hamilton; Justices, G. M. Geho, L. J. Jeffries.
1880.-Burgess, J. L. Cooper; Council, R. G. Mullin, John
Pfieghardt, N. B. Brightwell, W. H. Patton, E. W. White,
James Leonard; School Directors, S. Mansfield, J. M. H.
Gordon, A. D. Barker, H. B. Frye; Assessor, A. S. Mansfield; Auditor, A. D. Geho.
1881.-Burgess, Chas. Wilson; Council, W. H. Binns, L. L.
Whiting, Datniel Pfieghardt, Isaac N. Cooper, Wm. Geho,
J. C. King; Justice of the Peace, T. Mansfield; Assessor,
G. W. Geho; Auditor, J. M. Briner; School Directors, H.
B. Frye, J. D. Carr, Thomas Maude, J. M. H. Gordon.
SCHOOLS.
The children of Cookstowni were taught in 1812,
and before, in a stone school-house that occupied a
spot upon the present site of Mount Auburn Cemetery, where at that time there was a graveyard. Three
teachers now remembered to have presided there were
De Wolf, Hazlip, and Bosely. In 1816 a school was
established in the village in a building on Water
Street near Union. The structure is now the residence
of Mr. Ziba Whiting. Among those who taught
there were Isaiah Alden, a Presbyterian' preacher,
and Maria Dinsmore. In 1818 the people of the
town built upon the site of the present school-house a
framed edifice, to be free for the holding of a school and
for the use of all religious denominations choosing to
worship therein. Jacob Woods was the builder; William D. Mullin and TI. C. Ford were the trustees. Some
of the earliest teachers in that building were Mr.
McCormick, Mr. Bosely, Thomas Tomnlinson, Samuel
Griffith, Francis McKee, John Wilson, and John B.
Gould. Mr. Gould gave up teaching there in 1828,
and removed to Belle Vernon, where he still. lives at
the age of eighty-six years. The house was used for
school purposes until 1839, when a brick building was
put up and used chiefly for a public school. The
basement was used as a public hall. School was held
in the brick house until 1870, when the present fine
building was completed. It was commenced in 1869,
and first occupied in the fall of 1870. Wesley Larimer was the contractor for the mason-work. The
edifice is two stories in height, measures fifty by sixty
feet, and is surmounted with a substantial bell-tower,
whose top is seventy-four feet from the ground. The
entire cost of the building was fifteen thousand dol-'
lars. There are six rooms and four school departments. In charge of these are Elisha Porter (principal), Miss Maria Larimer, Miss Mary Malone, and
MAiss Hattie Harmany. The school directors for 1881
are J. D. Carr, H. B. Frye, Samuel Mansfield, A. D.
Barker, Thomas Maude, J. M. H. Gordon.
CHURCHES.
Cookstown had no regularly appointed place of
worship until 1818, when the citizens built a framed
house and set it apart to the free use of schools and
churches, or members of any religious denomination
desirous of having public devotional exercises.
THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH
was doubtless the first religious organization effected
in the town. A class was formed as early as 1815,
and attached to the Redstone Circuit, and until 1820
meetings were held in the stone school-house on the
hill, in Crane's old store-house on the river's bank,
and in the houses of members. Among the most
prominent of the latter were W. B. Mullin and wife,
Adam Weamer, U. C. Ford, and Margaret and Jane
Hunter. Mr. Mullin was one of the first class-leaders, and probably the first. In that capacity he officiated at times until his death. In 1820 the Union
church building was occupied by the Methodists in
common with other denominations, and until 1842 it
was the place of meeting. In that year a brick
Methodist Episcopal Church was built. Its dimensions are forty by sixty feet, and its seating capacity
about six hundred. Amnong the early pastors of the
church may be named Revs. James Sansom, Fleming,
Slicer, and Brockcooner. The present pastor is Rev.
Mr. Mansell; the class-leader, John Mullin; the
Sunday-school superintendent, J. D. Carr; and the
trustees, R. G. Mullin, Johni Mullin, J. D. Carr, Samuel Brown, and William  Beatty. The membership
is sixty-five.
8'23TIIE 11EVOLUTION.
ing spirits-such men as Maj. Gaddis, Williamson,
lMarshal, and Edward Cook--that the proposed expedition should be made as strong, numerically, as possible, tlhat it should include, besides volunteers from
the mnilitia of Westmoreland and Washington Counties and the Pan Handle of Virginia, as many regula:r Continental troops as could be spared from Fort
Pitt, and tllat it should be commanded by Gen. Irvine
in person.
Capts. Robert Beall and Thomas Moore, of the
AWestmoreland County militia, wrote from near Stewart's Crossings, under date of June 23d, to Gen. Irvine,
informing of the sentiment of the people in favor of
a new expedition. "The unfortunate miscarriage of
the late expedition," they said, " the common interest
of our country, and the loss of our friends induce
us to be thus forward in proposing another..... We
do not wish to be understood as giving our own private sentiments, but of those of the people generally
in our quarter; for which purpose we are authorized
to address you, and from accounts well authenticated
we assure you it is the wish of the people on this side
the Monongahela River without a dissenting voice."
From the west side of the Monongahela, John Evans,
lieutenant of Monongalia County, Va., wrote Irvine
a week later (June 30th), informing him that Indians
had made their appearance in that quarter, and that
great alarm was felt in consequence, adding, " Without your assistance I much fear our settlements will
break. The defeat of Col. Crawford occasions much
dread."
In his reply to Beall and Moore (dated June 26th)
Gen. Irvine said, "Inclination as well as duty is a
continual spur to me, not only to acquiesce in, but to
encourage every measure adopted for the public good.
Your proposals on this occasion are so truly patriotic
and spirited that I should look on myself unpardonable were I to pass them  unnoticed."  In a letter
of the same date, addressed to Col. Edward Cook,
lieutenant of Westmoreland County,' Irvine said,
"Your people seem so much in earnest that I am led
to'think, if other parts of the country are so spirited
and patriotic, something may probably be done, but
as it will take some time to come to a proper knowledge of this matter, and that must be accurately done,
there can be no harm in making the experiment....
I have no intimation of any plan being on foot in
Washington County for this purpose, though it is said
the people wish another expedition."
The project of raising another force for the invasion
of the Indian country seems to have originated with
the people of that part of Westmoreland which is now
Fayette County. The manner in which it was proposed to form it and carry it through to a successful
issue is indicated in a letter written by Gen. Irvine
to the Secretary of War, Gen. Lincoln, on the 1st of
1 Residing on the Mionongallela, at the place now Fayette City, in
Fayette Counlty.
July, from which the following extracts are made:
" The disaster has not abated the ardor or desire for
revenge (as they term it) of these people. A number
of the most respectable are urging me strenuously to
take command of them, and add as many Continental
officers and soldiers as can be spared, particularly officers, as they. attribute the defeat to the want of experience in their officers. They cannot nor will not rest
under any plan on the defensive, however well executed, and think their only safety depends on the total
destruction of all the Indian settlements within two
hundred miles; this, it is true, they are taught by
dear-bought experience.
" They propose to raise by subscription six or seven
hundred men, provisions for them for forty days, and
horses to carry it, clear of expense to the public, unless government at its own time shall think proper to
reimburse them. The 1st of August they talk of assemblingr, if I think proper to encourage them. I am
by no means fond of such commands, nor am I sanguine in my expectations, but rather doubtful of the
consequences; and yet absolutely to refuse having
anything to do with them, when their proposals are
so generous and seemingly spirited, I conceive would
not do well either, especially as people too generally,
particularly in this quarter, are subject to be clamorous
and to charge Continental officers with want of zeal,
activity, and inclination of doing the needful for their
protection. I have declined giving them an immediate, direct answer, and have informed them that my
going depends on circumstances, and in the mean time
I have called for retturns of the men who may be depended on to go, and the subscriptions of provisions
and horses. The distance to headquarters is so great
that it is uncertain whether an express could return,
in tiine with the commander-in-chief's instructions.
"As you must know whether any movements will
take place in this quarter, or if you are of the opinion
it would on any account be improper for me to leave
the post, I request you would  please to write me by
express. But if no answer arrives before or about
the 1st of August, I shall take for granted you have
no objections, and that I may act discretionally.
Should it be judged expedient for me to go the
greatest number of troops fit to march will not exceed
one hundred. The militia are pressing that I shall
take all the Continentals along, and leave the defense
of the fort to them; but this I shall by no means do.
If circumstances should seem to require it, I shall
throw in a few militia with those regulars left, but
under Continental officers."
There were good grounds for the alarm felt by the
people between the Ohio and the mountains, for a
few days after the return of Williamnson's forces the
Indians appeared in large numbers along the west
bank of the Ohio, their main force being concentrated
at Mingo Bottom, with smaller parties at various
points on both sides of the river, and these were
closely and constantly watched by several detachments
111HTSTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
FREE-WILL BAPTIST CHURCH.
About 1820, Elder John Williams, who had before
that been preaching to the Fiee-Will Baptists of
Cookstown, organized them into a church, and after
that preached to them in the Union church building.
Under Elder Williams' ministrations the organization flourished apace, and in 1845 had grown so strong
that upwards of a hundred people were regularly
present in the congregation each Sabbath. In that
year a house of worship was built, and matters went
on prosperously. By and by Elder Williams found
some disfavor among his people, who considered he
was growing somewhat dictatorial and aggressive in
some respects.  Construing their expressions into
signs of unwarranted interference with him and his
methods, he exhibited a decided independence that
eventually led to his retirement from the charge. In
1853 he resigned, after a service of upwards of thirty
years. That Elder Williams was the mainstay of the
organization after all, is proved by the fact that after
his departure the church slowly but surely saw its
strength and influence waning.  Dissensions and
differences multiplied, and as a result a final dissolution took place in 1860. The meeting-house was sold
to the Presbyterians, and the Free-Will Baptist
Church of this place became extinct.
THE CHURCH OF CHRIST
was organized Oct. 9, 1836, by Rev. Jaines Dorsey, in
the village school-house. Who the organizing members were cannot now be told, but among the names
appearing earliest uponl the records may be given
those of Ralph Whitsett, Abbia Allell, William
Sowers, Daniel Torry, Nathan G. Hubbs, Edmund
and Samuel Hubbs, Daniel Springer, Robert Stogdall, Sarah Sowers, Mary Hubbs, Sarah Stam, Polly
Allen, Deborah Stogdall, Sister Whitsett, Sarah
Springer, Rachel Hubbs, James Dorsey, William
Munnell, Charlotte Allen, Maria Allen, Barbara
Allen, and Elizabeth Hubbs. The records of the
church history are vague and imperfect, and afford
but little information. It is known that the Union
church building was used as a meeting-house to 1869,
and that in that year the present church edifice on
Second Street was erected. The membership now
aggregates about one hundred and twenty-five.
The elders are Wesley Larimer, Edward W. White,
Thomas Maude, Samuel Mansfield, and James Hamer; the deacons, George Whiting, John Coldren,
James L. Krepps, and William W. Whitsett. Samuel Mansfield is superintendent of the Sunday-school.
FAYETTE CITY PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
The Presbyterian Church of Fayette City was organized about 1870 by members of Rehoboth Church, and
purchase made of the house of worship built by the
Free-Will Baptists and abandoned by them about 1860.
Rev. Mr. Gailey was the first regular pastor. The subscribers to the fund for the support of the pastor in
1872 are named herewith, and in that list, it is fair to
assume, appear the names of all or nearly all of the
church-rmembers at that period. They were William
Bank, Nancy J. Sisley, Mary Conrad, Mrs. Sisley,
Dit Church, Dr. Stone, J. C. King, Celia McKee, M.
Slotterbeck, Mrs. McKee, D. H. Hough, W. A. McCune, Daniel Pfleghardt, Mrs. Fulton, Mrs. Stone, Dr.
Conklin, Samuel Galloway, Samuel Clark, J. R. Wilson, George Clark, Nancy Wilson, Mr. Dunlevy, John
Brown, A. Dunlevy, H. F. Blythe, H. Patton, Sarah
Patton, S. Downs, K. B. Brown, Mrs. Torrence, Mrs.
M. A. Kuntz, J. L. McFeter, Sallie Hunter, Eli Allen,
L. J. Jeffries, R. C. Santee, William McCrory, R. G.
Mullin, William Lenhart, Mrs. Mullin, J. Dinsmore,
Cyrus Hough, W. McCrory, Hugh McKee, Joseph
Brown, Mr. Powers, J. Wykoff. The pastor now in
charge is Rev. A. B. Lowes, also in charge of the
church at Belle Vernon. The elders are M. Slotterbeck and'J. C. King. J. C. King is superintendent
of the Sabbath-school. The church membership is
thirty-two.
FAYETTE CITY WOOLEN-FACTORY.
This manufacturing enterprise, located on Downer's
Run, near the borough limits, was founded in 1840 by
its present owner, James Hamer. In 1830, Mr. Hamer
and James Pilling manufactured woolen goods at
Cook's Mills, and in 1835, the firm dissolving, Hamer
moved to the Little Redstone, and in 1840 to Cookstown. His manufactured product embraces chiefly
woolen goods and yarns for local supply and country
trade. The factory is supplied with three cardingmachines, one spinning-jack, and one hundred and
fifty spindles. Five hands are usually employed.
BANK.
The only banking-house ever possessed by Fayette
City was founded by Binns, Cope  Brown in 1875,
who are still the owners of the institution. It is a
private enterprise, but transacts a general banking
business upon an ample capital.
SOCIETIES AND ORDERS.
GUMERT LODGE, No. 252, F. A. M., was chartered Dec. 27, 1850, to Charles H. Conley, W. M.;
Adam Shunk, S. W.; John Swearet, J. W. In 1856
the officers were George Whiting, W. M.; J. T. C.
Ford, S. W.; Ziba Whiting, J. W.'; Louis Krepps,
S. D.; H. Westcott, J. D.; William Troth, Treas.;
John Mullin, Sec.; M. Slotterbeck, M. C.; William
Gaskill, Tiler. The membership May 1, 1881, was
forty-four, when the officers were A. B. Troth, W. M.;
J. D. Barnum, S. W.; George Treasure, J. W.; L. J.
Jeffries, Treas.; Louis Krepps, Sec.; William Furlong, S. D.; M. Alter, J. D.; Henry Pendleton, Tiler;
John Pfleghardt, M. C.; A. S. Blair, H.
FAYETTE CITY LODGE, NO. 511, I. O. O. F., was
chartered Nov. 20, 1854.  The first officers were
Michael Alter, N. G.; James Houseman, V. G.; F.
M. Yost, Sec.; E. D. McClellan, A. S.; John G.
Martin, Treas. Although the lodge has contributed
824WASHINGTON TOWVNS111'.
materially to the organi.zation of lodges at Greenfield
and Belle Vernoni, it has still (May 1, 1881) a membership of ninety-six. It is remarkably prosperous
in every way, and boasts a fund of about six thousand
dollars, represented by real estate and bonded investments. The officers now are Allen Byles, N. G.;
Euclid C. Griffith, V. G.; William Beatty, Sec.; J.
C. King, Treas.
JOPPA LODGE, No. 396, K. OF P., was chartered
March 25, 1873, to John A. Bivins, George Treasure,
Albert Downer, M. Alters, S. R. Walters, T. F. Baldwin, William Vaughn, R. Jones, and T. V. Vaughn.
The members numbered fifty in May, 1881. Then
the officers were William Lindey, C.; Frank Bell,
V. C.; Charles H. Mott, P.; John Pfleghardt, M. of
E.; George Krepps, K. of R. and S.; W. P. Vaughn,
M. of F.; John Pascoe, M. at A.
AGAPA LODGE, No. 63, A. O. U. W., was organized
in 1873. In May, 1881, the meminbership was twenty.
The officers were then as follows: Ralph Gray, M. W.;
Lewis Kendall, P. M. WV.; Charles Farquhar, Foreman; Frank Rutherford, O.; F. T. Baldwin, R.;
J. T. Brightwell, Financier; H. B. Fleming, Guide;
Henry Belter, O. W.
MOUNT AUBURN CEMETERY.
This handsomely adorned home of the dead, located
upon a commanding eminence that overlooks the
town, is owned by Samuel Mansfield. It fronts the
State road, and contains four acres, apportioned into
three hundred and thirty-five burial-lots in the form
of a parallelogram.  The entrance is through an
arched gateway surmounted with the figure of Hope.
There are neatly-kept paths, bright-looking lawns,
and many tasteful monuments.
BIOGRAPIlCAL SKETCHES.
JOHN BELL COOK.
John Bell Cook, of Washington township, is of the
third generation of that name in this locality. He
was born Aug. 26, 1808, upon the old Cook homestead in that township. His early education was received in the common schools. He learned the business of farming, and resided with his father until his
marriage with Matilda Cunningham, of Washington
township, Fayette Co., Oct. 18, 1837, and then moved
to a farm on the Monongahela River near Fayette
City, where he resided sixteen years. Here all of
his children, below named; were born: James was
born May 14, 1840, and followed farming until September, 1862, when he entered the army. He died at
City Point, Aug. 16, 1864, from injuries received in
the service. His remains were remnoved in Novemnber
of that year to Rehoboth Presbyterian Cemnetery.
Sarah A. was born Aug. 23, 1842. She was educated
ill the cormmon schools and Blairsville Female Seminary, married Andrew M. Fulton, Esq., of Greensburg,
Jan. 14, 1874, and died December 12th of the same
year. William Johnson, the third child, was born
July 4, 1844, and died in infancy. Joseph A. was
born Dec. 11, 1846. He is a farmer, and resides with
his father. He married Violette H. Elliott, of Jefferson township, Sept. 20, 1876; they have two children, Ada and Sallie. The youngest child, Robert
Johnson, was born March 21, 1849. He received his
early education in the common schools, entered Yale
College in 1872, and graduated in 1876. He began
the study of law in Greensburg with A. M. Fulton,
Esq., in 1877, and completed his course in the office
of Hon. John H. Baily, of Pittsburgh. He was admitted to the bar in 1878, and was married April 26,
1881, to Annie Wells, of Pittsburgh, and sailed for
Europe. He is now in Leipsic, Germany, studying.
They have one child, born in Germany. He was captain of the Yale boat crew from 1873 until 1876. He
was sent by Yale to England in 1873 to learn the
English stroke.
Mr. Cook has never held a political office outside
of the township, and never sought one. le has been
a member of the Presbyterian Church for many years.
His father, James Cook, was born Aug. 13, 1772,
upon the Cook homestead, and was a farmer. May
6, 1806, he married Mary Bell, who was born in Ireland, and emigrated to this country when eleven
years old. They had six children,-five sons and one
daughter. John was the second. The sons were all
farmers.  The daughter married a farm er.  Only
three of the children are living,-John B., William
E., and Martha Hough.
Mr. Cook's grandfather, Col. Edward Cook, was the
pioneer of civilization in this region. He moved
here in 1770 from Conococheague, Franklin Co.,
where he married Martha Crawford. They had but
one child, James Cook. To his character the legends
of the times say that the inscription upon his tombstone (coinposed by the Rev. William Wylie, pastor
of the Rehoboth Church of  Rostraver township,
Westmoreland Co., from 1803 to 1815), is a fitting
tribute. It is, "In memory of Col. Edward Cook.
He died on the 27th of November, 1808, in the seventy year of his age. Few men have deserved and
possessed more eminently than Col. Cook the consideration and esteem of the people in the Western
country. In public spirit, disinterestedness, and zeal
for the general welfare he was excelled by none. In
private life, his unsullied integrity, his liberality, and
the amiable benevolence of his temper endeared him
to his friends, and marked him as a sanctuary to
which the poor might confidently resort for relief.
Through a long life of piety and active exertion to
promote the interests of the Christian religion he had
learned to set his heart upon a nobler inheritance
than that of this world. He therefore received the
approach of his dissolution with resignation and com825HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Mr. Griffith was a member of the Quaker meeting
till the time of his marriage. He was turned out for
marrying out of the Society.
He was a justice of the peace for many years, and
was a general business man, wrote and acknowledged
many deeds, married people, wrote articles of agreement, etc.
His widow thinks his father's people came from
Wales. His moral status, like that of all Quakers,
was good. He was a jovial man, and a valuable and
respected citizen. He was industrious, always engaged in some useful work. He was much above the
average in intelligence, a great student of mathematics and history. He was a careful workman. His
penmanship was elegant. All of his work was done
well. He died July 11, 1873, mourned by the entire
community. His remains rest in Little Redstone
iMethodist Cemetery.
LEVI B. STEPIIENS.
Levi B. Stephens was born Oct. 28, 1821, on the old
Stephens homestead, in Washington township, Fayette Co., Pa., where he grew to manhood. His education was limited to the district schools of his native
township, where he laid the foundations for an active
and successful business life. On the 10th day of
April, 1845, he was joined in marriage to Miss Mary
Griffith, daughter of Samuel C. and Esther (Farquhar) Griffith. She was born in Washington township, Fayette Co., Pa., Jan. 25, 1824. Their union
has been blessed with three children, as follows:
Elmira, born Jan. 26, 1846, married Jehu Luce,
Oct. 19, 1865; Esther J., born Oct. 1, 1848, married
June 29, 1870, to John WV. Smith (Esther died Sept.
17, 1878); and A4eline, born March 14, 1851, married
Dec. 6, 1877, to James H. McKnight. Arrived at
man's estate, Mr. Stephens first bought the farm now
owned by John Patterson, in Perry township. This
he sold, and in 1850 moved upon the farm in Washington township, still belonging to his estate. He
afterSwards purchased another farm, which he owned
at his death, which occurred Dec. 29, 1874. He is
spoken of by his neighbors as a man of sterling qualities, one whose word was as good as a bond, and one
who, in his dealing with his fellow-men, always remembered the golden rule, " Do unto others as you would
have them do unto you."  Mr. and Mrs. Stephens
were for many years members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
LEVI STEPHENS.
The Stephens family is one of the oldest and largest
in Fayette County. The first of whom the family
here have any account was one John Stephens, who
emigrated from Wales when seventeen years of age,
and settled in Eastern Pennsylvania, probably in
Bucks County. He had a son Levi, who came to
Fayette County when iabout eighteen years of age,
COL. EDWARD COOK.
posure, under a lively hope that the end of life here
would be to him but the beginning of infinite happiness."
Col. Edward's wife was born Dec. 25, 1743, and
died April 20, 1837.
John B. Cook possesses many of the virtues of his
grandsire.
SAMUEL C. GRIFFITH.
Samuel C. Griffith was born in Westmoreland
County, Pa., Nov. 28, 1795. When young his father
moved to Washington township, Fayette Co., and
located upon the farm which his son afterwards
owned, and upon which his widow now resides. Mr.
Griffith's early years were spent in farm-work, factorywork, and attending the district schools.
When seventeen years of age he engaged in schoolteaching. For forty years he continued in this work
during the winter season, only missing one winter.
He was one of the best and most widely-known surveyors in the county, and spent much of his time, when
not engaged in teaching, in surveying. His father,
William Griffith, becoming involved by indorsing for
some of his neighbors, the farm was sold by the
sheriff, and Samuel bought it; that was in 1822. He
was married March 27, 1823, to Esther Farquhar, of
Washington township, Fayette Co., Pa. They had
seven children, six of whom are living,--Mary, married to Levi B. Stephens; Elmira, married to David
P. Stephens; Emlen B., married to Margaret A. Guffey, and again to Elizabeth Crouch; Euclid C., married to Martha Stephens; Sarah, married to Thomas
Watson; and Esther F., married to Thomas C. Griffith.I       0
vy--HISTORY
OF
FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
CI-,APTER  I.
HISTORIC GROUND OF FAYETTE--LOCATION, BOUNDARIES, AND TOPOGRAPHY.
THERE are within the State of Pennsylvania very
few counties whose boundaries include ground more
historic than that which is comprehended in the domain of the county of Fayette. A century and a
quarter ago, when the two great European rivals,
England and France, contended for dominion over
the vast region watered by the head-streams of the
Ohio, the latter nation claimed the summit of Laurel
Hill as her eastern boundary; and in the strife which
followed-the contest by the issue of which that claim
was extinguished forever-it was in the ravines and
on the hillsides and meadows lying between the
Youghiogheny and Monongahela Rivers that the
forces marching respectively under the Bourbon lilies
and the cross of St. George first met in actual shock
of arms; it was the soil now of Fayette County
which drank the first blood spilled in that memorable
conflict. Years afterwards, when a scarcely less fierce
controversy sprang up between the States of Pennsylvania and Virginia, the Old Dominion insisted on
extending her limits eastward to that same Laurel
Hill summit, while Pennsylvania, willing at one time
to recognize the Monongahela as the division line,
peremptorily refused to yield an inch east of that
stream; and so Fayette County, with contiguous
country lying to the west and north of it, became the
theatre of a conflict of jurisdiction which almost
reached the extremity of open war.
It was here, within what is now Fayette County, that
GEORGE WASHINGTON fought his first battle, and here
he made his first-and last-surrender to an enemy.
Across these hills and valleys and streams the army of
the brave Braddock marched in pride and confidence
to assault the French stronghold at the head of the
Ohio; and when the survivors of that- proud host returned by the same route, flying in disorder and panic
from the bloody field of the Monongahela, it was here
2
that their dauntless leader died of his wounds, and
here, in the soil of Fayette County, they buried him.
On the shore of the Monongahela River, in this
county, was held the first, as also the last, public
meeting convened by the insurgent leaders in the
famous insurrection of 1791-94; and when at last
the government sent an army to enforce the laws, the
military column marched through Fayette, and the
commanding general established his headquarters at
the county-seat, where he received assurances of submission from the disaffected leaders. Detailed -mention will be made of all these historical facts, with
numberless others relating to this county, including the
construction of the great National road; the building,
in Fayette, of the first steamboat that ever descended
the Monongahela, the Ohio, and the Mississippi
Rivers; the erection here of the first iron-furnace
west of the Allegheny Mountains; the first recorded
instance of the use of the bituminous coal of Western
Pennsylvania as fuel;L its first application to the manufacture of coke, and the subsequent development of
that industry to an extent which seems destined, in the
near future, to place this county among the most prosperous and wealthy of the State.
In regard to its location and boundaries, Fayette
may properly be described as one of the southern
tier of counties in Pennsylvania, and the second one
from the western line of the State. It is joined on
the west by the counties of Greene and Washington;
on the north by Westmoreland, of which it once formed
a part; and on the east by Somerset. Its southern
boundary is formed by the north line of the States of
West Virginia and Maryland. This is identical with
the famed "Mason and Dixon's line," and thus for
many years the southern border of Fayette County
formed a part of the free-State frontier against the
dominion of African slavery.
The two principal streams of the county are the
Monongahela and the Youghiogheny Rivers. The
1 By Col. Burd, near Redstone Creek, in 179.
18
IHISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
of the militia of Washington County. The settlers
west of the Monongahela were almost in a state of
panic. Col. Marshal, of Washington County, wrote
Gen. Irvine on the 4th of July, informing him that
the people of that section were determined to abandon
their settlements if a force was not sent to protect
them. A great number of the inhabitants moved
from their homes to the shelter of the forts and blockhouses. Nearly as much consternation prevailed in
the settlements east of the Monongahela, and the
general alarm was greatly increased by the sudden
appearance of the enemy in Westmoreland County,
where, on the 11th of July, they killed and scalped
three sons of Mr. Chambers, and two days later, attacked and burned the old county seat of Westmoreland, Hannastown. This event was narrated in a
letter' written by Ephraim Douglass to Gen. James
Irvine, dated July 26, 1782, as follows:
"My last contained some account of the destruction
of Ilanna's Town, but it was an imperfect one; the
damage was greater than we then knew, and attended
with circumstances different from my representation
of them. There were nine killed and twelve carried
off prisoners, and instead of some of the houses without
the fort being defended by our people, they all retired
within the miserable stockade, and the enemy possessed themselves of the forsaken houses, from whence
they kept up a continual fire upon the fort from about
twelve o'clock till night without doing any other
damage than wounding one little girl within the
walls. They carried away a great number of horses
and everything of value in the deserted houses, destroyed all the cattle, hogs, and poultry within their
reach, and burned all the houses in the village except two; these they also set fire to, but fortunately
it did not extend itself so far as to consume them;
several houses round the country were destroyed in
the same manner, and a number of unhappy families
either murdered or carried off captives; some have
since suffered a similar fate in different parts; hardly
a day but they have been discovered in some quarter
of the country, and the poor inhabitants struck with
terror through the whole extent of our frontier.
Where this party set out from is not certainly known;
several circumstances induce the belief of their
coming from the head of the Allegheny, or towards
Niagara, rather than from Sandusky or the neighborhood of Lake Erie. The great number of whites,
known by their language to have been in the party,
the direction of their retreat when they left the
country, which was towards the Kittanning, and no
appearance of their tracks either coming or going
having been discovered by the officer and party which
the general2 ordered on that service beyond the river,
all conspire to support this belief, and I think it is
sincerely to be wished, on account of the unfortunate
captives who have fallen into their hands, that it may
be true, for the enraged Delawares renounce the idea
of taking any prisoners but for cruel purposes of
torture."
Intelligence of the attack on and destruction of
Hannastown did not reach Gen. Irvine, at Fort Pitt,
until three days after the occurrence, and of course
it was then too late for the commandant to send a
force in pursuit of the savages with any hope of success. The Indians who made the foray were from the
north, mostly Mingoes. The surviving prisoners captured at Hannastown and Miller's were taken to
Niagara and delivered to the British military authorities there. At the close of the war they were delivered
up and returned to their homes.
Before the events above narrated, Gen. Irvine wrote
(July llth) to Gen. Washington, saying that the
people were constantly growing more determined in
their efforts to raise a new force to operate against the
Sandusky towns, that solicitations to him to assist in
it and to assume the command were increasing daily,
and that the militia officers had actually commenced
preparations for the expedition. The news of the
descent of the savages on Hannastown caused these
preparations to be urged with greater energy by the
bolder and more determined men, while it increased
the general alarm and apprehension in a great degree.
Gen. Irvine, in a letter witten to President Moore, of
the Executive Council, on the 16th of July, said, in
reference to the probable results of this affair, " I fear
this stroke will intimidate the inhabitants so much
that it will not be possible to rally them or persuade
them to make a stand. Nothing in my power shall
be left tundone to countenance and encourage them."
Notwithstanding Gen. Irvine's fears to the contrary,
the raising of the new expedition was strenuously
urged, and pushed forward with all possible vigor by
the principal officers of the militia in this region.
The commanding officers of companies at that time
in what is now Fayette County were:
Capt. John Beeson.        Capt. Moses Sutton.
"  Theophilus Phillips.    "  Michael Catts.
"  Ichabod Ashcraft.      "  John Hardin.
"  James Dougherty.       "  John Powers.
"  Armstrong Porter.      "  Daniel Canon.
"  Cornelius Lynch.       "  Robert Beall.
"  William Hayney.     "   -  McFarlin.
"  --  Nichols.             "        Ryan.
Capt. Thos. Moore.
Every person liable to do military duty was required
to report to the commanding officer of the company
in vhich he was enrolled. Other than clearly established physical disability, or having served in the
then recent campaign under Col. Crawford, very few
pleas for exemption from service were deemed valid.
Men were required to perform regular tours of duty
at the several "stations" in anticipation of.Indian at-. 1 Now in existence, with the "Irvine Papers," in possession of the
Pennsylvania Historical Society.
2 Gen. Irvine.
1 1,1)ENTON LYNN.I/WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP.
as a government surveyor. He took land for his
services, and owned all the lands now in possession of his progeny. He married Elizabeth Brown,
of Chester County, Pa. They had seven children,Nathaniel, Sarah, John, Levi, Nancy, Elizabeth, and
Thomas,-who grew to manhood and womanhood and
married. Two of their children died in infancy.
Levi, the last surviving member of this family,
was born Sept. 10, 1790. He spent his early life
tilling his father's farm and attending the district
school of the neighborhood. In 1813 he was married
to Mary Farquhar, of Washington township, Fayette Co. They located upon the farm where his
widow now resides, and his entire life was spent here
as a farmer. He died Jan. 13, 1878. His widow
survives him, aged eighty-six. They have had nine
children. Six are now living. Robert, Esther, and
Aaron are dead.  Jehu, Israel, Johnson, Rachel,
James, and Mary are living, married, and have
families.  
Levi Stephens never had time to hold an office.
He was a busy farmer, and gave all his children a pecuniary start in life. He was an amiable, benevolent
gentleman. He was not a member of the church, but
his moral standing was excellent, according to the
testimony of his discreetest neighbors.
JOHN BROWN.
The first of the family of the late Mr. John Brown,
of Washington township, and who died April 15, 1872,
of whom there is any special record at hand was Andrew Brown, who was born in Ireland in 1759. He
emigrated to America in 1779, and settled on West
Conococheague Creek, in Franklin County, Pa. His
wealth at that time consisted of one shilling. He
remained there just long enough to make the money
to bring him to Fayette County. When he came here
he settled on Mill Run, one and a half miles east of
Fayette City, where he bought a farm from Col. Edward Cook. He engaged in farming, and continued
in that occupation all his life. April 24, 1788, he
married Jane Bigham, of Westmoreland County, Pa.
They had seven daughters and three sons. Of the
children, Hester and Andrew died young; Elizabeth
married Hugh C. Ford; Nancy died single; Polly
married Capt. Duncan Campbell; Jane married John
Moore; Martha C. died single; Margaret married
James Torrance.
John was the seventh child, and the only one of the
sons who grew to manhood. He was born April 1,
1805. His early life was passed upon his father's farm.
His opportunities for early education were limited,
being confined to the common schools. The little
learning he gathered there was supplemnented by extensive reading in after-years. His father died in
1823, and the management of the farm devolved upon
him. He proved himnself a successful manager, and
although a liberal giver to all benevolent causes, he
added largely to what he inherited from his father.
He was married Dec. 12, 1844, to Sarah H. Power, of
Allegheny County, Pa. They had five children. Ada
and Anna died at two years of age; Nannie J. died
at the age of twenty; Mary Emma, married to M. M.
Willson, of Westmoreland County. They have one
child living, Andrew Brown Willson.
Andrew Brown, the only son, resides with his mother
upon the old homestead. John Brown held the office
of justice of the peace for a number of years. He
was a man of peace. He rarely charged anything for
his services, and always counseled an amicable settlement of difficulties between neighbors. He was for
many years an active member and liberal supporter
of the Rehoboth Presbyterian Church. His family
are all members of the same communion. He left
his family valuable possessions, a good name, lands,
etc.
His family and friends bless his memory, and love
to tell of his charities, gentleness, lowliness of heart,
and many other Christian graces. HEis virtues were
many.
Andrew Brown, Sr., was for fifty years an elder in
the Presbyterian Church of Rehoboth.  He died
March 27, 1823. Jane, his wife, departed this life
April 7, 1833, aged sixty-nine years.
DENTON LYNN.
Denton Lynn, of Washington township, is of Irish
descent, and was born upon the farm whlere he now resides fifty-one years ago. His education was received
in the common schools. He early learned the business
of farming, and has been engaged in it ever since.
He was married Feb. 8, 1857, to Margaret A. Corwin,
of Belle Vernon. She died May 22, 1881. There
were born to them eleven children, all of whom are
living,-Sylvania, married to Johnson Hough, Joanna, Olive R., John C., Charles Sumner, Joseph
Denton, Robert Finley, Martha D., George E.,
Nellie, and Mary Emma.
Mr. Lynn has held the usual township offices. His
father was John Lynn, who was born in 1794, and
lived and died upon this farm. He married Drusilla
Curry, of Fayette City. They had eight children.
Denton is the youngest. His grandfather's name was
Andrew Lynn. He was born on Town Creek, Allegany Co., Md., Sept. 23, 1766. When very young
his father, whose name was Andrew, settled upon
Big Redstone, in Redstone township, upon the farm
which James M. Lynn now owns. Soon after settling
there Andrew (1st) purchased the land owned now
by Denton Lynn from the Indians. He added to his
first purchase a farm of 130 acres, owned by one
Pearce. The deed was made in 1790, and bears the
name of Thomas Mifflin, first Governor of Pennsyl827HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
vania. Upon this tract are some of the largest locusttrees in the State, one, measuring twenty feet in circuniference, and known to be nearly two centuries
old, is probably the progenitor of all the living locusts
of this region. It also contains the remains of "Fort
Sedgy." The tract was known by that name. The fort
consisted of a strong stone wall about four feet high,
built in the shape of a horseshoe. Many relics have
been found here, such as tomahawks, skeletons, etc.
One human skeleton here found measured eight feet
in length.
Mr. Lynn's possessions are chiefly lands, and he
has added considerably to what he inherited. He is
a prudent business man, and has a comfortable home.
He is noted for his sobriety, industry, and honesty.
Mr. Lynn's great-grandfather, Andrew Lynn, was
a colonel in the Revolutionary war, and served during
the entire struggle.
WHARTON  TOWNSHIP.1
Bou ndaries and General Description-Indian Trails and Graves-BattleGrounds of 1754-Roads-The Old Braddock Road-The National
Road-Braddock's Grave-Fayette Springs-Pioneers and Settlement
-Township Organization and Officers-Villages-Cemeteries-Mail
Service-Wharton Farnace-Religious Denominations-Schools.
WHARTON is one of the nine townships into which
Fayette County was originally divided by the first
court for the county, at December sessions, 1783. After
naining eight of the townships the record mentions
Wharton, the ninth, in the following language: "The
residue of the county, being chiefly mountainous, is
included in one township, known as Wharton township." Wharton, in order of size, is first; in order
of age is the fifth, and in order of designation is the
ninth of the twenty-three townships into which the
county is now divided. It is bounded on the north
by Dunbar, on the east by Stewart and Henry Clay,
on the south by Mason and Dixon's line, on the
west by Springhill, Georges, South Union, and North
Union. It is the southwestern of the five mountain
townships of the county. Its greatest length from
north to south is eleven and one-half miles, and its
greatest width from east to west is thirteen and onequarter miles.
Wharton lies in the southern part of the Ligonier
Valley, between two ranges of the Allegheny Mountains, but in reality presents very little appearance
of a valley. Its surface is broken, and high hills
with abrupt slopes extend through the centre. On
the west the deep cut made by the waters of Big
Sandy only prevents Laurel Hill Ridge fromn uniting
with the high hills of the centre. In the southeast a
small portion of the township is an elevated plain
known as the Glades. Wharton is from 1800 to 2000
feet above the level of the sea.
The township at the time of its settlement was
heavily timbered, lacking the heavy undergrowth
now so abundant,-on the hills, oak; on the mountain
ridges, oak and chestnut; on the creek bottoms, oak,
1 By Samuel T. Wiley.
pine, poplar, sugar, and cherry. The timber has been
greatly, and in many cases needlessly, cut off to supply furnaces and tanneries, yet the township is well
timbered to-day.
The soil is clay loam on the hills, and sand loam
on the chestnut ridges, streams, and glades, and the
surtface in some places rough and rocky. The township is admirably adapted to stock- and sheep-raising,
the only bar to agriculture being the length of the
winter season. Over 2000 feet above the level of the
sea, the climate is healthy, with pure air and excellent
water, with short summer and long winter seasons.
In 1840 coal was hardly known here; now ten
different coal-beds have been opened, varying from
one and a half to nine feet in thickness, on Big
Sandy, Little Sandy, Stony Fork, and Great Meadow
Run.
Limestone was thought twenty-five years ago only
to exist in mountain ridges, but now has been discovered in many places in the township. On Big
Sandy Creek a vein of ten feet has been found, and a
vein twenty feet thick one mile from Wharton Furnace. The Morgantown sandstone shows twenty feet
thick near Wharton Furnace, and is a splendid building stone. It weathers dull gray, splits well, and is
abundant. Fire-clay exists in several places, but
contains lump iron ore.
Iron ore is abundant and of excellent quality.
There are many legends of zinc, lead, and silvermines, and traces of these metals have actually been
found, but upon examination proved not to be in
paying quantities,-lead above Elliottsville, silver in
Little Sandy, near Gibbons' Glade, zinc on Mill Run,
near Victor's old mill. Water-power is abundant.
Big Sandy and its branches, Little Sandy, and Great
Meadow Run afford many locations for saw-mills,
flouring-mills, and factories. Mineral springs of reported curative properties exist in several places,
-a large red sulphur spring at Baumgardner's,
near Gibbons' Glade, chalybeate springs at William
828WHI-ARTON TOWNSHIP.
Smith's, on the turnpike, a very strong sulphur spring
near Farmington, and the celebrated Fayette Springs,
near Chalk Hill, on the National road, where some
summer seasons from two hundred to three hundred
persons have been boarders to try its virtues.
In July, 1783, Wharton was erected a township of
Westrnoreland County, comprising all of Springhill
township east of the top of Laurel Hill to the
Youghiogheny River. It included all of what is now
Henrv Clay, and all of that part of Stewart west of
the Youghiogheny River, with all of Dunbar south
of Laurel Hill. The first court of Fayette County,
December sessions, 1783, laid it out as a township of
Fayette.  In 1793 that part of Dunbar south of
Laurel Hill was taken from Whartonl and added to
Franklin. In January, 1823, Henry Clay was erected
from Wharton. In November, 1855, Stewart, west of
thle Youghiogheny, was erected, including that part
of Wharton. Afterwards ai small pbortion of Henry
Clay was added to Wharton on the east side.
The township contains three villages,-Farmington, Gibbons' Glade, and Elliottsville. Farmington is
in the northeastern part on the National road. Gibbons' Glade, six miles from Farmington, is in the.southern part on Little Sandy, and on a weekly mailrotite from Farmiiington to Brandonville, W. Va. Elliottsville is in the western part on Big Sandy, at the
junction of the Haydentown and Uniontown roads, i
and is four miles northwest of Gibbons' Glade, and
five miles southwest of Farmington.
In 1796 Wharton contained 34,319 acres; its valuation was $41,567. In 1870 its population was 1478. l!
In 1880, as shown by the census of that year, its e
population was 1704, with over 400 farms.
The Indians, it seems, never had any villages in l
Wharton, and only came into the township to hunt.
At Dennis Holland's, on the Old Braddock road, in a
deep hollow head, some years ago the marks of wigwains were to be seen near a spring. It was supposed
to have been a hunting-camp. Some stone piles on
Sandy and back of Sebastian Rush's on the pike, mark
Indian graves, while flint arrow-heads and spear-points
are found all over the township. Nemacolin's path or
trail, running east and west, passed through Wharton,
leading from the "Forks of the Ohio" (Pittsburgh)
to Wills' Creek (Cumberland). Its route afterwards
became the Braddock road. Another Indian trail
(running north and south) came past Delaney's Cave
and down Big Sandy into West Virginia. Just beyond
the Wharton line (below Mason and Dixon's line cemetery) was a camp, and a short distance west of the
trail, where the Tuttle school-house stands, was supposed to be an Indian burying-place. The remainder
of the township was used only for hunting purposes,
and no trails were made through any portion of it.
HISTORIC SPOTS.
Jumonville's camp is nearly half a mile south of
Dunbar's Camp, and five hundred yards east of the
53
Old Braddock road. One-quarter of a mile south of
Dunbar's Camp is Dunbar's Spring, and nearly onequarter of a mile down the run from the spring, about
ten feet from the right bank, is the spot supposed to
be Jumonville's grave; then west about twenty yards
JUMONVILLE S GRAVE.
in a straight line is the camp, half-way along and directly under a ledge of rocks twenty feet high and
covered with laurel, extending in the shape of a halfmoon half a mile in length in the hill and sinking
as it approaches, and dipping into the earth just before it reaches Dunbar's Spring. Thus situated in the
head of a deep hollow, the camp was almost entirely
concealed from observation. Here in the dawn of
morning light Washington fired the first gun of a
great war that swept New France from the map of
the New World and established the supremacy of the
English-speaking race in North America.
Fort Necessity.-Authorities differ on the shape of
the fort. Col. Burd says in his journal in 1759 the
fort was round, with a house in it. In 1816, Freeman
Lewis made a survey of it, and says the embankments
were then near three feet high, and the shape and
dimensions as follows: An obtuse-angled triangle of
105 degrees, base on the run eleven perches long.
About the middle of the base it was broken, and two
perches thrown across the run.  One line of theHISTORY OF FAYFETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
angle was six and the other seven perches long, embracing near one-third of an acre. Outside the fort
the trenches were filled up; inside ditches about two
feet deep still remained.  Sparks, who saw it in
1830, makes the fort to have been a diamond shape.
At the present time it presents the shape of a rightangled triangle. It was a stockade fort or inclosure,
hastily constructed under Washington's direction by
Capt. Stobo, engineer. The French demolished it,
and five years elapsed before Col. Burd visited it,
and some of its outlines may have been indistinct by
that time, and seeing ruins on both sides of the run,
may have concluded the fort was round. Mr. Facenbaker, the present occupant, came to the property in
1856, and cut a ditch, straightening the windings of
the run, and consequently destroying the outline.
The ditch is outside the base-line, through the outthrown two perches. A lane runs through the southeast angle.  The ruins of the fort or embanked
stockade, which it really was, is three hundred yards
south of Facenbaker's residence, or the Mount Washington stand, in a meadow, on waters of Great
Meadow Run, a tributary of the Youghiogheny. On
the north, 200 yards distant from  the work, was
wooded upland; on the northwest a regular slope to
high ground about 400 yards away, now cleared, then
woods; on the south, about 250 yards to the top
of a hill, now cleared, then woods, divided by a
small spring run breaking from a hill on the southeast 80 yards away, then heavily, and still partially,
wooded. A cherry-tree stands on one line and two
crab-apples on the other. The base is scarcely visible, with all trace gone of line across the run. Mr.
Geoffrey Facenbaker says he cleared up a locust
thicket here, and left a few trees standing, and that
it was the richest spot on his farm.  About 400
yards below, in a thicket close to his lower barn,
several ridges of stone were thrown up, and here he
thinks the Indians buried their dead. He found in
the lane in ditching logs five feet under ground in
good preservation.
In 1854, W. H. N. Patrick, editor of the Democratic
Sentinel, urged a celebration on the 4th of July, 1854,
and a monument at the site of the old stockade. A
celebration was held by Fayette Lodge, No. 228,
A. Y. M., of Uniontown, and citizens. Col. D. S.
Stewart laid the corner-stone of a monument, but
nothing more has ever been done since towards its
erection. Mr. Facenbaker says no plow shall ever
turn a sod on the site of the old stockade while he
owns the land, and he would give an acre of land and
the right of way to it if any parties would erect the
monument and fence the ground.
Braddock's Grave. A few yards west of the Braddock Run stand, on the north side of the road, is the
grave of Gen. Braddock. When the road was being
repaired in 1812 human bones were dug up a few
yards from the road on Braddock's Run; some military trappings found with them indicated an officer
of rank, and as Gen. Braddock was known to have
been buried on this run, the bones were supposed to
be his. Some of them were sent to Peale's Museum
in Philadelphia. Abraham Stewart gathered thenm
BRADDOCK'S GRAVE.
up as well as he could secure them, and placed them
under a tree, and a board with "Braddock's Grave"
marked on it. In 1872, J. King, editor of the Pittsburgh Gazette, came ou't to Chalk Hill, cut down the
old tree, inclosed the spot with the neat fence now
standing, and planted the pine-trees now standing
round the grave. He procured from Murdock's nursery a willow, whose parent stem drooped over the
grave of Napoleon at St. Helena, and planted it over
the supposed remains of Braddock, but it withered
and died over the grave of England's brave but illfated general.
PIONEERS AND EARLY SETTLEMENTS.
In September and November, 1766, the Penns
granted patents for tracts of lands in what is now
Wharton township to B. Chew and a man by the
name of Wilcocks. These tracts were north of Braddock's road, and along the Henry Clay line, now
owned by Joseph Stark and others. In 1767, Gen.
Washington acquired a claim to a tract of two hundred and thirty-four acres called " Mount Washington," and situated on Big Meadow Run, inclu(lingMAP. OF "THE
B AT TY,EF
Ofe
GR'-%EAT MEAD)OWS
Ju,ly,-I' 175'ITHE REVOLUTION.
tack, but were excused from this duty if disposed to
volunteer for the new expedition.'
1 Many of these facts are obtained from the old manuscript book which
is still in existence in the court-houise at Uniontown, and conitairis the
minuttes of the several nmilitary " Couirts of Appeal" held in the spr-ing
auid summer of 1782, as before neentioned. Some extracts from these
minutes are here givetn, viz.:
"At a Court of Appeal held at Beeson's Town the 5th day of August, 1782.
" Present
Alexander M'Clean           Members  Lieut. Robert Richey, Esqr
Sub. Lieut. for Westd County          Ensign William McCoy.
"Captain Ichabod Ashcraft's Return.
"John Griffith.-Excuised on Oath of inability of Body.
"Alexander Buchanan.-Adam McCafferty appears a Substitute for
the Station, but chlooses rather to go on the Expedition. He is therefore
excused for that purpose.
"Joshua Robinson.-Substitute, Daniel Barton, for the Station.
" Thomas Bowel.-Excused on the Credit of hiis brotlher, Bazil Bowel,
who is Enirolled under Capt. Ashcraft for the Expedition.
"Capt. Daniel Cannon's Return-7th Class.
"Matthey Willey.-Clerk to the Company, to turn out on duty with
tile Capt.
"James Robeson.-His son a Volunteer for the Expedition-Enrolled.
"Burditt Clifton.-Itendezvoused agreeable to order the 30th July at
Robt Rogers.
"James Burns.-A Voluinteer for the Expedition.
"James Finley, Junior.-Excused oie acct of a Tour on the Relief of
Tuscarawa, provid. by Mr. John Kidd.'"Abraham McDonald.-Fineed.
" Michael Daley.-Excuised one Oatle of present inability of Body.
"Philip Records.-Exculsed on acct of Services perfornid on Mackintosh's Camipaigtn by Alexander M'Clean.
" Captain Sutton's Return-5th Class.
"James Donaldson.-Excusdd on account of Services performed oii
Mackintosh's Camnpaligns, niot before credited for.
"Obadiah Stillwell.-Levi Bridgewater excuses him by a tour on the
Sandusky.
"John Hawthorn.-David Brooks, a Substituite, appears for the Station.
Webb Hayden.-Appears for Station; excused by William Jolliff, on
Expedition.
"John Scott.-Bit by a Snake,  not able to perform the next, Tour.
"Capt. Beeson's Return-6th Class.
"Thomas Brownfield.-To be determined by the Court of Common
Pleas.
" Samuel Rich.-John Beeson answers a Tour of Duty by the Relief
of Tuscarawas.
"Christian Countryman.-Excused on Conditions He perform the next
Tour of Duty yet to be Ordered.
"Ben Carter.-John, Orr, of Capt. Suttoni's Company, answers a Tour
on Saiidtisky Exn.
" John Stitt.-Produced a Certificate of his having produced a Substitute during the War.
"Samuel Boyd-Excused on account of Two Tours of duty allowed
by Capt. Anderson for bringing ill prisoners from Carolina takese by
Collo Morgan.
"John M'Clean, Junior.-Performed on the Line [meaning a tour of
duty as omee of the guards to the suirveyors runniii- the line between
Pennisylvania aild Virgiecia].
"At a Court of Appeal held at Union Town the 13th day sf August, 1782.
"Alexander M'Clean, Sub. Lt. Esqr
Daniel Culp.          i Present.
"1Return, of Capt. Beall.
"James Stephenson.-At the Station.
"John Love.-An apprentice to Mr. Craftcort,  was at his father's
when Hannahs Town w:s destroyed, and continued there to assist his
father.
"Moses White.-At the Station.
"Thomas Stasey.-Enrolled for the Expedition.
*      *     5     *      *     *      *     *      *
The destruction of Hannastown was quickly followed by other Indian forays at various points alon,g
the border, and as the continual alarms caused by
these attacks rendered it necessary to keep large numbers of the militiamen constantly on duty at the stations, it soon became apparent that the requisite number of volunteers could not be raised and equipped
for the new expedition by the time originally designated, which was the 1st of August.2  "The incursions of the Indians on the frontier of this country,"
said Gen. Irvine, in a letter written on the 25th of
July to the Secretary of War, " will unavoidably prevent the militia from assembling as soon as the lst of
August. Indeed, I begin to entertain doubts of their
being able to raise and equip the proposed number
this season." Under these circumstances the general
thought it proper, to extend the time of preparation
for the expedition, and accordingly be directed that
the forces should assemble on September 20th (instead of August lst), at Fort McIntosh, as a general
rendezvous, and march thence to the inlvasion of the
Indian country.3
In the mean time the Indians continued to grow
bolder and more aggressive in their attacks along the
border. On the night of the 11th of September an
Indian force of two hundred and sixty warriors, under
the renegade George Girty (brother of the infamous
Simon), accompanied by a detachment of abouit forty
British Rangers from Detroit, under Capt. Pratt, of the
royal service, attacked the fort at Wheeling,4 but were
repulsed. Other attempts were made by them during
the day and night of the 12th, but with no better success. In the morning of the 1.3th the besiegers withdrew from Wheeling, but proceeded to attack Rice's
fort, some fourteen miles distant. There also they
were repulsed, their loss being four warriors killed.
These and other attacks at various points on the
frontier materially dampened the ardor of the people
The book containis a great number of entries similar to those given
albove. It closes witle minuites of btisiness done " At a Court of Appeal
lield at Riffles Fort, the tliird day of September, 1782.
" Present.-Alexander M'Clean, Suib Lieut. Presd
Andrew Rabb, Esqr Members."
John P. Duvall.  I
2 The volunteers for tIe expedition in that part of Westmoreland
Coucety wlhich is now Fayette were ordered to rendezvous at Beesonstown (Uniontown) on the 3Otli of July, to proceed thence to the general
renidezvous at the mouth of Beaver.
3 Both the State and general government had approved the plan of the
expedition, and Gen. Irvine lead beern appointed to tie command of it.
4 John Slover, the guiide in Crawford's expedlition, who made his escape from the Inidians after havieig been tied to the stake for torture, as
before narrated, had givene warneing that the savages were meditating
ani extenided series of operations a-ainst the frontier settlements, anid
that among these projected operations was an attack In force on the
post at Wheeling. This information he said he gained by being present
at their coiincils for several days while in captivity, and fully understandineg every word that was uittered by the chiefs on those occasiolns,
as lee was entirely fainiliar with the Delaware, Wyandot, and Shawanese
languages. Tie tale wlvich he brought of these intended expeditiouis by
the Indians against tiee wleite settlements was no,t believed by Cook'
Marshal, Gaddis, and Gen. Irvine, but the result proved that Slover had
neither misunderstood nor falsifled the intentions of the savages as
expressed by ticeir chiefs in council.
113WHARTON TOWNSHIP.
Fort Necessity. It was confirmed to him by Pennsylvania, and surveyed on warrant No. 3383 for Lawrence Harrison, in right of William Brooks, and was
patented to Gen. Washington, and devised by his
will to be sold by his executors, who sold it to Andrew Parks, of Baltimore, who sold it to Gen. Thomas
Meason, whose administrators sold it to Joseph Huston in 1816. Col. Samuel Evans bought it for taxes
in 1823, and in 1824 Judge N. Ewing bought it at
sheriff's sale as Huston's property, and sold it to
James Sampey, whose heirs sold it to Geoffrey Facenbaker in 1856. In 1769," Prosperity," a tract of land,
was taken up, running from the Old Braddock road to
the pike. G. W. Hansel owns and resides on it.
About 1778, Jacob Downer and his wife, whose
maiden name was Elizabeth Starner, or Stiner, was
moving from Lancaster County to Kentucky, and
winter coming on, they stopped near the Old Orchard
and near Braddock's Run, and occupied a log cabin
by a spring. They came from Germany to Lancaster
County. They stayed here about two years and raised
grain. Elizabeth, their oldest daughter, had married
a man by name of Brubaker in Philadelphia, and
they had their other five children with them, -Katy,
Susan, Daniel, John, and Jonathan. Jacob Downer
left his family here and went on a fiat-boat to Kentucky to look out a place, but he was never again heard
from. His wife and children then moved to Uniontown. Elizabeth Downer lived to be one hundred
and five years old. Of her children, Katy married
Cornelius Lynch; Susan married one Harbaugh, and
after his death married Squire Jonathan Rowland;
Daniel was drowned in trying to cross the Yough at
the Ohio Pile Falls; John was a surveyor. He purchased land in Uniontown in 1780, on which he built
a tannery. He went to Morgantown, W. Va., and
finally to Kentucky. Jonathan married Drusilla
Springer, and lived in Uniontown from 1785 till 1813,
and came back and built his tavern stand. He kept
on the Old Braddock, and afterwards moved to the
National road and built the Chalk Hill stand. He
was born in 1754 and died at seventy-nine years of
age, a highly-respected citizen. His wife died in
1843. They had thirteen children,-Levi, William,
Ann (who married H. N. Beeson), Jacob (who was
in the war of 1812), Elizabeth (who married Jonathan
Allen, and is still living), Daniel, David, Drusilla
(who married Jonathan West), Hiram (who was in
the Mexican war and died on the Ohio River on his
way home), Sarah, Rachel, Springer, and Ruth, who
is still living at Chalk Hill, an amiable, pleasant,
and intelligent old lady.
The Revolutionary war stopped settlements. At
its close emigration pushed westward, and the Old
Braddock road was naturally one of its great routes
across the mountains, and men adventurous and daring located along the road in the wilderness. Thomas
Inks came out and built a tavern-house where Eli
Leonard now lives about 1780. He camne from England. His wife's name was Nancy Leasure. They
raised a large family. Thomas, one of his sons, born
in 1784, here lived ninety-two years, married Susan
Flannegan, from Bedford, raised a family, and lived on
the old road as a tavern-keeper. George, another son"
married Elizabeth Jonas, and followed tavern-keeping
on the old road and on the pike. John, another son,
was in the war of 1812. He had five daughters,Rachel, who married Samuel Spau, and mother of
Thomas Spau, near Farmington; Elizabeth, who married John Carrol and went West; Nancy, who married James Hayhurst, a son of Hayhurst, the old
tavern-keeper, and went West; Mary, who married
James Wares and went West; and Rachel, who
married Peter Hager.
In 1780, Daniel McPeck was living near Gibbons'
Glades. In 1783 Tom Fossit was on the old road at
the junction of Dunlap's road and Braddock's, close
to the Great Rock, a few feet west of Fred Hamerer's
house. He kept a house for travel. He was a tall,
large, grim, savage-looking man. He died in 1818, at
one hundred and six years of age. He came from
the South Branch, in Hardy County, W. Va. Next
came Isaac Cushman, and kept the Cushman stand,
one mile south of Fossit's. On the 14th of November, 1787, we find him near Gibbons' Glade, taking out a patent for four hundred and twenty-three
acres, where George H. Thomas now lives. He was
a great hunter, and one winter when a hard crust
froze on the snow and the deer broke through and
could not run, Cushman and others killed them
nearly all off. Cushman had two sons, Thomas and
Isaac.
About 1783 the Moores came from Ireland and settled' west of McPeck's. Robert was at Jacob Prinkey's, and patented land in 1786. Thomas Moore, another brother, was on Sandy Creek, on the State line,
at the old James place, noW. owned by D. Thoraton.
John, another brother, was where Squire Isaac Armstrong resides. He had five sons,-Col. A(ndrew,
Robert, Archibald, Thomas, and William, who went
West; and one daughter, Sarah, who died ill the
township.
John Moore built a one and a half story log house
near where the log tenant house of I. Armstrong
stands, and there kept tavern. He died and his
widow kept it a while, but went West in 1812. Col.
Andrew Moore served in the war of 1812. He kept
tavern and a small stock of goods in one room of the
house. He married Nancy Williams, anl th
Samuel Moore was one of their sons.    /
In January, 1786, John Cross patented erc
dred acres on Mill Run near R. Kinghailis, and a.
wards built a tub-mill near it. In 17S7, Henry Fern
patented land by name of Cherry V%lley, where Alexander Rush now lives.
In 1788, John Inks received a patent for a tract of
land where J. i. Wiggins lives, and sold it to a
man by name of Newbern. David Young came

I
831-4
HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
832
about this time, and built two cabins and a house a
mile or so back from William Smith. The two cabins
were burned. Also about this time came Alexander
McDowell into Wharton near Tom Fossit's; he was
an old Indian-hunter, and was captured once after
being shot through, and sold to British traders for a
gallon of rum and a silver half-dollar. He got well
and came to Wharton, where he was a great hunter.
He came from Ireland, and was the ancestor of the
McDowells in Wharton; he was a large, muscular,
fearless man, kind and generous. His sons used to
get out millstones near Meadow Run and take them
to Brownsville, where they were shipped to Kentucky.
Capt. Levi Griffith came to this county soon after
the Revolution, took up a tract of mountain land of
about four hundred acres in Wharton township, where
he lived till his death. He was a lieutenant in Wayne's
Indian expedition, but acted as captain. He was the
only man in this county who was a member of the
Society of the Cincinnati,' a society of Revolutionary
officers. He held the badge and star. He received
a pension from the government, and every six months
went to Uniontown for his pension. Then he would
invite his old friends to dinner, generally at Dr.
McClure's tavern; among these were Col. James
Paull, Maj. Uriah Springer, Col. Thomas Collins, and
William McClelland.
About 1788 the Deans came to Wharton. Thomas
Dean started, but died on the way with smallpox. He
was from Germany, and had served through the Revolutionary war. Samuel, his soil, had served two years
in that war. He and his mother kept on into Wharton, settling close to William Smith's. Samuel F.
married a New Jersey lady of the name of Camp,
and raised a large family. Thomas and Edward, his
sons, were on the pike. Thomas is stili living, nearly
eighty years old, and a lively, pleasant old gentleman, with a good recollection of events of sixty years
ago. Samuel's mother went to Ohio, and died there
at over one hundred years of age. Charles, another
son, lives near Elliottsville. Samuel died at an old
age. He was the ancestor of the Deans in Wharton.
About 1789, James Hayhurst was at Braddock's
Run keeping tavern. Abraham Stewart was in
Wharton in 1790, and kept tavern afterwards. He
raised Peter HIagar, who married Rachel Inks and
settled the Hagar farms, now owned by his descendants.
- 1790, Daniel and William Carrol came from
William settled on Old Braddock road, on
k Braddock's Runr, and kept tavern. Daniel
ol, whent twenty-five years old, settled the glade.iamed after him. He married a widow, Barbara
2 "A little while before the disbanding of the Continental army the
officers formed an association fer mutual friendship and assistance whichl
they called the' Society of the Cincinnati.' They adopted an order or
badge of gold and enamel, which with membership was to descend to
the nearest male representative for all time."-Lossing.
Cogswell, and by her had four sons and one daughter,
-Daniel, who married a sister of James Sampey and
went West; James, who went West; William, who
mnarried a Miss Conaway and went West; Joseph,
who married Nancy Scott, and remains, an old and
intelligent man, in possession of the glade; and Margaret, who married a man named Casteel and went
West.
In 1797, James Hayhurst came from Braddock's
road and settled near Potter's school-house, and
bought from William McClelland, who had patented
under name of "Bellevue" and "Land of Cakes."
In 1800, David Flaugh settled near Elliottsville,,and
Enos and Eber West, half-brothers, came from Maryland and settled near the junction of Mill Run and
Sandy Creek, on the Rowland tract, patented in 1785.
Eber West kept a tavern on the Moore road for
many years near the mouth of Mill Run, and then
moved up the hill and built a tavern stand where A.
Crutchman now lives. He raised a large family, and
they all went to Ohio.
Enos West, half-brother of Eber, settled where
Jacob Sumey lives. His wife was the Widow Black,
previously a Rowland. He raised a large family.
One daughter, Mrs. Rachel Fields, is still living
near Smithfield. Jonathan, one of his sons, went
to Uniontown, and his son, Enos West, came back to
Wharton in 1835, and built a saw-mill near Wharton Furnace, where he now lives. Old Enos West
emigrated to the Western country, came back on a
visit and died, and was buried at Smithfield. His
wife had one daughter, Sarah Black, who married
the Rev. William Brownfield.
About 1800, John Slack was on the Braddock road,
and in 1810, Benjamin Elliott, from Greene County,
bought out David Flaugh, who lived near Brown's
Church. He raised a family of four daughters and
two sons,-Solomon, who emigrated, and S. D. Elliott, the present owner of his farm. He built a sawmill and the fiouring-mill at Elliottsville in 1817 and
1818. Benjamin Elliott was born in 1781, and died
in 1863.
In 1814, John Tuttle came from German township
to Wharton, where his son, Eli Tuttle, now lives.
Squire Benjamin Price and James Snyder came
about 1815. After the pike was built James McCartney, from Maryland, lived in a log house just
back of the Presbyterian Church at Farmington.
He married John Marker's widow, whose daughter,
Sarah Marker, married Charles Rush. James McCartney's son Nicholas was well known as a tavernkeeper, a good talker, and a leading Democrat. His
daughter Mary Ann married Squire Burke; another
daughter was Mrs. Ellen Brown; and Diana, another daughter, married Atwell HIolland, who was
killed by a negro. She is now Mrs. Thomas, living
in Greene County.
Col. John McCullough came shortly after McCartney. His sons Nicholas and James are well knownWHARTON TOWNSHIP.
along the road. Squire James Bryant, or, as some
called him, Bryan, also Sebastian, John, Charles, and
Levi Rush, Jr., sons of Levi Rush, of Henry Clay,
came and located in Wharton. John, Charles, Samuel, and Sebastian Rush (called "Boss" Rush) were
on the road as tavern-keepers. Charles Rush was on
the pike at Searight's in 1856. Samuel Rush keeps
the Rush House, opposite the Union Depot, Pittsburgh. Sebastian Rush married Margaret, a daughter
of James Beard. Thomas, one of his sons, is a merchant at Farmington, and C. H. Rush, another, is a
merchant at Uniontown. Sebastian Rush for years
was the leading Republican of Wharton township,
while Col. John McCullough and Nick McCartney
were the leading Democrats.
In 1822 Col. Cuthbert Wiggins came to Wharton
from Uniontown. His son, Joseph H. Wiggins, has
the finest house in Wharton, one-half mile from Chalk
Hill, and it is called by sportsmen the "fox-hunter's
paradise."
The Moyers about 1820 were clearing farms in the
western part of the township. Their ancestors, Samuel and Jacob, came from Hagerstown. Philip Moyer,
who lives near Elliottsville, and Barbara, widow of
Samuel Moore, are children of Jacob Moyer, whose
wife was Catherine Maust. Nancy, one of his daughters, married Samuel Morton, of West Virginia, who
built a saw-mill at Gibbons' Glade.
Peter Kime came to Potter's place in Wharton
about 1825. In 1833 G. W. Hansel came from Maryland, and the Crutchmans came to West place. In
1836 Jacob Workman and his brother came from
Maryland and settled near Peter Hager. In 1840
Amos Potter came from Henry Clay, and bought the
Kime property, and still resides on it. He is over
seventy years old, a kind, affable, inrtelligent old man,
who has held many offices in the township, and for
years has been one of its leading and most useful
citizens.
About 1840, Isaac Armstrong came from West Virginia, and bought the old Moore property, on which
he now resides. He has been justice of the peace
heretofore, and holds this office at the present time.
In the western part of the township we find, about
1850, Jonas Haines and John Wirsing, from Somerset County, Pa., and John Myers, from West Virginia.
ROADS AND TAVERNS.
The Braddock road is the oldest road in the township. The Sandy Creek road is the next, and was the,second or third road laid out in Fayette County, in
1783, running from Ten-Mile Creek past Haydentown
to Sandy Creek settlement, past Daniel McPeck's,
who lived near Gibbons' Glade. It is not known
whether it came by Gibbons' Glade from Haydentown,
or by the Bear Wallow to Brucetown, W. Va.; it is
supposed to have come by Three-Mile Spring from
Haydentown past to Gibbons' Glade. The next road
was from Selbysport to the Moore settlement, and
branching to Braddock's road. The next was the Turkey Foot road, coming past where Robert Dalzell
(the father of Private Dalzell, of political fame) lives,
and intersecting Braddock's road at Dunbar's Camp.
Next was the National road. Next, in 1823, was a
road from Downer's tavern (Chalk Hill) to Jonathan's
Run (near Stewart), and Samuel Little, Col. Andrew
Moore, John Griffin, and Jacob Downard, viewers.
Next was a road from Snyder's, on the pike, past Elliott's Mill to West Virginia, and then a road from
Farmington to Falls City. The Sandy Creek road
was afterwards known as the Moore or Cumberland
road.
The Old Braddock road entered Wharton from
Henry Clay, on the farm now owned by McCarion,
then by Eli Leonard's to the Widow Dean's, back of
Farmington, then to Dennis Holland's, then by Fort
Necessity through the Facenbaker farm, crossing
the National road at Braddock's Run, near the house
of James Dickson's heirs, then along a ridge back of
Chalk Hill, through the Johnson farm to the top of
the mountain, to Frederick Hamerer's place, then by
Washington's Spring through the Kenedy farm, and
two miles beyond crossing the township line to Dunbar's Camp. On this old road there were a number
of tavern stands within the boundaries of Wharton
township, and a brief mention is here made of them.
The Burnt Cabin stand, just west of the Henry
Clay line, was a cabin, where about 1790 a man by
name of Clark lived. The cabin was afterward
burnt, hence the name. David Young kept tavern in
it in 1796. A few old apple-trees mark its site on
McCarion's farm.
The old Inks tavern was about one mile west of
the Burnt Cabin, where Eli Leonard now lives.
Thomas Inks built the first part of the house now
standing, and in 1783 kept tavern in it. George
Inks, his son, followed him in keeping the house till
the road was shut up. Near is Dead Man's Run, so
named from two brothers-in-law quarreling at Inks',
and having left together, young Thomas Inks soon
after started to mill, and driving across the run
found one of them lying dead in the run.
Old Graveyard tavern, a large log house, stood two
miles west of Inks', on the Widow Dean's place, just
back of Farmington. It was supposed to have been
built about 1783 for a tavern. Afterward Henry
Beall and Plummer kept it, then Abraham Stewart,
father of Hon. Andrew Stewart, next Clemmens. It
was so called from a graveyard but a fewn yards away.
The house has long been gone. The old trees and
graveyard remain.
The Rue England tavern was about onie mile we.t
of the Old Graveyard tavern, where Dennis Holland
now lives, on land owned by G. W. Hansel. It
was a log house, supposed to have been built about
1796, and was kept awhile by young Thomas Inks.
The Freeman tavern stood a short distance west of
833834         HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
the Rue England. It was a log tavern, built about
1800, and kept by Benjamin Freeland and. young
Thomas Inks. Jackson Facenbaker lives at the place.
Benjamin Freeland had five children, - Mahala,
Phoebe, John, Isaac, and Mary. The father died in
Uniontown. John and Phoebe went to New Orleans,
where she taught school, married, and died.
The Old Orchard tavern, near where the Braddock's
road crosses the National road, was a log house kept
by Hayhurst in the Old Orchard. It was supposed
to have been built about 1786, and was kept by William Carrol after 1790.
The Downer tavern was about one mile back of
Chalk Hill, and was kept by Jonathan Downer, who
came to it in 1813. Thomas Inks, Jr., kept here at
one time.
The Cushman tavern stood one mile north of
Downer's. It was a log tavern, kept about 1784 by
Cushman. About 1787, Tom Fossit (the old soldier
who, as some said, killed Gen. Braddock) kept here.
The house has long been gone. The Johnsons now
own the property.
About half a mile north from Cushman's is a ledge
of rocks where a peddler was said to have been killed
in early days for his money and wagon-load of goods.
The place is called "Peddler's Rocks."
Slack's tavern was one mile north of Cushmnan's.
Tom Fossit built a log house and kept tavern in
1783 on the top of the mountain at the Great Rock,
close to the junction of the Burd and Braddock roads.
Fossit soon left, and John Slack built a large log house;
it was called Slack's tavern. The old Slack tavern is
gone, but about ten feet from it stands the house of
Fred Hamerer, who owns the place. The Great Rock
is about twenty-five feet from his house, but a quarry
being worked in it some years ago has greatly changed
its appearance. About two hundred and fifty yards
from it, just below the Old Braddock road, on the
Kennedy farm, where Allen Humphreys lives, is
Washington's Spring, at which he once mnade his
night camp. North of the Great Rock fifty rods is a
high, projecting point on a hillside where the HalfKing had his camp.
About a mile and a half east of the Great Rock are
the Three Springs, within a circle of two hundred
yards, on Trout Run, a head of Great Meadow Run.
On the right of the run is the Sand Spring, twentyfive feet in diameter, water boiling up from clear
white sand. A rail twelve feet long has been pushed
down and no bottom reached. Next, a few yards
lower on the same side, is Blue Spring, about twentyfive feet in diameter and ten feet deep, with a beautiful rock bottom. Then on the left, higher up, and
really the head of the run, is Trout Spring, about
twenty-five feet in diameter and about four feet deep,
the water clear and cold and containing trout.
The National road was built through Wharton
township in 1817-18. In February, 1817, the part of
the road from the Henry Clay line to Braddock's
grave was included in a contract from David Shriver,
superintendent of the eastern division, to Ramsey 
McGravey, one section; John Boyle, one section;
Daniel McGravey and Bradley, one section; and
Charles McKinney, one section; and in May of the
same year it was let to the Wharton line, and from
Braddock's grave to Uniontown. Hagan  McCann
and Mordecai Cochran were contractors on the road
to the summnit of Laurel Hill, the township line.
They had many sub-contractors under them. From
Chalk Hill the road was to follow the Old Braddock
road to the top of Laurel Hill and then to Uniontown, but the superintendent changed it to the present route.
The first tavern stand on the National road was
near Fielding Montague's. This stand is a matter
of dispute. Old Thomas Dean has no recollection of
Leonard Clark having three cabins here that were
burnt, and thinks, as Leonard Clark kept at the Burnt
Cabin, on the old Braddock road, and David Young
had two cabins burnt back of William Smith's, on the
road, hence this mistake of making them Clark's, and
locating them on the road as the Bush tavern. All
old people agree in making this first stand to have
been the Noe's Glade stand, a story and a half log
house, west of Fielding Montague's some three hundred yards, kept by Flannigan and John Collier and
George Bryant. Some of these parties were not licensed. James Beard afterwards bought the house
and lived in it a while, and it was then torn down.
McCullough stand, a two-story stone building and
a stage-house, was built and kept by   Bryant,
somewhere about 1823, and Bryant's post-office was
kept here about 1824. Next Henry Vanpelt, a sonin-law of Bryant, kept the house. After him came
John Risler, James Sampey, Adam Yeast, William
Shaw, Alexander Holmes, and Nicholas McCartney
in 1845, then Col. John McCullough bought the
property and kept till his death in 1855. His widow
then kept a while and married Squire I. N. Burk, who
now occupies the property. Col. John McCullough
was a stock-drover from Ohio, and liking the country
as a business place, settled here. He was a man of staIwart proportions, a good talker, and a great champion
of Democracy. At this house, when Nick McCartney
kept, Atwell Holland was killed on the 4th of July,
1845, by a negro escaping from slavery. The negro
passing over the road was stopped by McCartney as
a runaway at the suggestion of some wagoners. McCartney took the negro to the house, gave him something to eat, and leaving the house for a time left the
negro under the care of Atwell Holland, who had
married his sister Diana a month previously. The
negro watching a favorable opportunity, sprang out
the open door and ran. Several of the wagoners and
Holland, against the entreaties of his wife, pursued
him. The negro soon distanced them all, but Holland,
who was a very fleet runner, overtook him. The negro turned and stabbed him three times and then conAWIARTON TOWNSHIP.  
tinued his flight. The knife was a long dirk. Holland fell, and his companions came up and bore him
back to the house. The impulsive and eccentric
Lewis Mitchel, a preacher, knelt by his side, and
while stanching his wounds with grape-leaves offered
a prayer for the dying man. He expired in a few
moments inr the arms of his young wife. It was said
that when Holland breathed his last a party formed,
went to the Turkey's Nest, and laying in wait that
night, intercepted the negro on his way to Uniontown and shot him and concealed the body.
The third stand on the road was a two-story frame
house, about a quarter of a mile east of McCullough's,
and built by Bryant, who lived in it after keeping at
McCullough's. Col. John McCullough built an addition to it, and kept it. He was sucteeded by Morris
--Mauler, William Shaw, and Adam Yeast. A few
years ago Nicholas McCullough repaired the buildings, and kept a year. The property is now occupied
by a Mr. Glover.
The Rush stand was a large two-story frame house,
built by       Bryant for his son. Charles Rush
bought it in 1838, and building to it, opened a house
for the traveling public. He kept till his death in
1846. He was a genial and generous landlord, bestowing many a free meal on hungry and penniless
applicants. His widow kept for a time, and afterwards married William Smith. Mr. Smith kept
Adams  Green's express line wagons and other
travel until the road went down, and he still occupies
the property.
The "Bull's Head" was at the foot of the hill west
of the Rush stand, a frame building built by Thomas
Dean in 1824. Selling liquor and feed to drovers
was its principal business, and at night from the old
stands near a jolly crowd would gather to pass an
hour or so with song and drink and the music of the
violin. Stephen Dean continued a while after Thomas.
The house has been enlarged and improved into a fine
residence, and is now occupied by John Stark.
The "Sheep's Ear," next west, is a frame building,
which was kept by Edward Dean in the same manner as the "Bull's Head." It was built about 1824
by Samuel Dean for a shop, and enlarged by his son
Edward for the accommodation of the public with
liquor and feed, and was resorted to for amusement
as the "Bull's Head." It was kept by Dean  Bogle.
F. H. Oliphant, the great ironmaster, put a line of
teams on the road, and they made a stopping-point at
Edward Dean's. There is no account of how or why
these two Dean houses received their peculiar names.
The property is now occupied by Akerman.
The Old Inks stand was next west from the Sheep's
Ear, and within one mile of Farmington. It was a
frame two-story building, built by George Inks about
1820, if not earlier, and kept by George Inks, Heckrote,
John Risler, Samuel Clemmens, and Nick McCartney.
The property is now occupied by the Widow McCartney.
The Farmington stand was a log house, built here
by Squire James Bryant. It was kept by Bryant,
Connor, Tantlinger, and his widow until 1837, when
Judge Nathaniel Ewing bought the property and
built the present large and commodious stone and
brick structure. A man by the name of Amos first
kept it, and then Sebastian Rush, Sr., bought and
kept it until the time of his death, in 1878. The
property is now occupied by his widow. The old log
tavern stood on the site of the present building, and
was supposed to have been built about 1818. The
present building was a stage stand, and was the stopping-place of the Stockton mail line when kept by
"Boss Rush." Mr. Rush once pointed out to the
writer, when stopping with him, a room in which
Gens. Jackson, Harrison, Taylor, and Scott had slept,
and told him that Sam Houston, Henry Clay, Tom
Corwin, and Jenny Lind had lodged under his roof.
The Frazer stand was west of Farmington onequarter of a mile. It was a two-story frame building,
supposed to have been built by Samuel Spau, kept by
his widow, and then by Samuel Frazer. It was a
wagon stand. The property is now owned and occupied by G. W. Hansel, who came from Maryland to it
in 1833.
The John Rush stand is a two-story frame building,
about one-quarter of a mile west of the Frazer stand,
built by John Rush in 1845, when the pike was beginning to decline; kept by John Rush and H. Clay
Rush. He sold the property to his brother, "Boss
Rush," whose son, Sebastian Rush, Jr., now occupies it.
The first building of the Mount Washington stand
was an old log house, kept by Edward Jones and
Mitchel. The present large brick house was built by
Judge Ewing about 1825, who sold the property to
Henry Sampey. Kept by Henry Sampey, and after
his death by his widow, then by his sons-in-law, Foster and Moore. It was a stage stand. The Good
Intent stage line stopped here. The property is now
owned and occupied by Geoffrey Facenbaker, who
came to it in 1856. It is about half a mile west of the
Johnl Rush stand.
The toll-house, next west, is an angular stone
structure, built in 1829. Hiram Seaton was the first
keeper. He was elected county treasurer twice, and
died in Missouri. One of his sons, Charles S. Seaton,
was elected to the Legislature, and resides in Uniontown, a prominent merchant. Robert McDowell was
the next. He was commonly called "Gate Bob," as
there were several Robert McDowells. Although
crippled by rheumatism, hlie was considered a rough
customer in a fight, tall, angular, and severe in appearance. He ran for county commnissioner in 1854,
but was defeated. The old toll-house has a keeper
no more, and no tolls to collect. The property is
owned by Dr. R. M. Hill, and is occupied by a family
as a residence.
The Monroe Spring stand is next west of the toll835HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
house, and was built by W. S. Gaither for McKinney,
a contractor on the road, in 1821. It is a two-story log
house, weather-boarded, kept by W. S. Gaither, James
Frost, Samuel Frazer, Germain D. Hair, John Shuff,
John Longanecker, Sebastian Rush (who went from
here to Chalk Hill), William McClean, John Rush,
Morris Mauler, John Dillon, P. Ogg, Peter Turney,
and John Foster. The old house still stands, but has
gone to wreck. The property is now owned by Dr.
R. M. Hill. At the spring close to the house John
Hagan, a contractor on the road, gave President
Monroe a dinner. The President, throwing wine in
the water, christened it Monroe Spring, from which
the house soon built derived its name. W. S. Gaither,
who built the house, had a contract on the road. He
came from Baltimore.
The Braddock Run stand is next west of Monroe
Spring House. A two-story stone house, built about
1820 by Charles MeKinney, a contractor on the road,
who afterwards went to Ohio. It was a wagon stand,
and derived its name fromn being near Braddock's
Run. It was kept by Charles McKinney, James
Sampey, Samuel Frazer, John Risler,    Springer,
William Shaw, and Noble McCormick. Squire James
Dixon bought the property of Henry Gaddis, a sonin-law of Springer, and Dixon's heirs now occupy
the propertvy.
Fayette Springs Hotel is next west of Braddock Run
stand. It is a large two-story stone house, which was
built under direction of Hon. Andrew Stewart for a
fashionable summer resort, and not for a regular
stand. Col. Cuthbert Wiggins built the hotel in 1822.
It was kept by Col. Wiggins (who came from Uniontown), William McMillen, John McMullen, John
Risler, John Rush, Earl Johnson, Brown Snyder,
Samuel Lewis, Darlington Shaw, J. H. Wiggins (son
of Col. Wiggins), Redding Bunting, C. W. Downard,
and Capt. John Messmore, and is now occupied and
kept by A. G. 1essmore.
The Chalk Hill stand is a large two-story frame
building, with commodious stabling attached, bespeaking ample comfort to man and beast. It is next
west of Fayette Springs Hotel. The oldest part of
the building was erected by Jonathan Downer in
1818, when he moved from his stand on the Old
Braddock road. It was a wagon stand, and was kept
by Jonathan Downer, Springer Downard, William
Neal, Sebastian Rush (1840), Judge Samuel Shipley
(who went to Monroe in 1847), William Shipley, and
Milford Shipley. John Olwine bought the property
in 1869, and kept until 1875. Marion Arnett kept in
1875, and from 1876 until the present William J.
Olwine, son of John Olwine, has had charge and accommodated the traveling public. When the road
was built the workmen shoveled up here a white-looking earth and called it chalk; hence the name of
Chalk Hill. Gen. Jackson and his nieces stopped
here overnight, and the general returning home from
his second term, stopped to see David Downard, who
was sick. Gen. Harrison stopped hliere, also Black
Hawk when going to Washington. Two of Chalk
Hill's landlords ran for associate judge,-Samuel
Shipley onI the Democratic, and Sebastian Rush on
the Republican, ticket. The county being Democratic,
Shipley was elected.
Snyder's stand is next west of Chalk Hill, at the
eastern foot of Laurel Hill. It is a two-story frame
building, the first part of which was built by David
Jones in 1820, who kept and rented to James Snyder.
Jones had taken up the land as vacant on which the
buildings stood, but a man by name of McGrath in
Philadelphia and Snyder bought from him and built
an addition and kept it. He rented it two years,
then taking charge himself again. He is the last of
the pike landlords in Wharton. He is now over
ninety years of age, and the oldest man in the township. He, was elected county commissioner almost
without oppositionI, and was a surveyor for many
years, and has been a very prominent citizedn of
Wharton. He came from Brown's Run, in Georges
township, near Uniontown, where he married Mary
Brown, his wife. They had four children,-Simon,
Stephen, Lewis, and Margaret.
Squire Benjamin Price's cake- and beer-shop was
next west of Snyder's stand, on the side of Laurel
Hill. Price built a stone and frame house, its chimneys being but little above the bed of the pike; on
the hillside below the pike he planted an orchard, and
kept cakes for sale. The house has gone to ruin.
The squire was a tall, heavy-set, broad-faced man,
light complexioned, with blue eyes and light hair.
As justice of the peace, he fined the wagoners and
drovers when they swore in passing his place, and
they in return annoyed him by throwing clubs and
stones on his roof, and, it is said, oncee on a time a
couple of drovers threw a crippled swine down his
chimney, for which they received a sound beating at
the squire's hands.
The Summit House is at the summiit of Laurel Hill,
almost on the western boundary of Wharton. Col.
Samuel Evans built a two-story frame building and
several outbuildings, intended for a summer resort.
It was kept by Ephraim MeClean, who went to Illiiiois, by Henry Clay Rush in 1855, Brown Hadden, S.
W. Snyder, John Snyder, William Boyd, ana Nicholas McCullough, the present occupant. Mollie Calhoun's cake-shop stood close to the Summit House.
It was a rude cabin or shanty, in which the old
woman sold cakes and beer. When the Summit
House was built Old Mollie was dispossessed of her
cabin, which was then torn down, and she disappeared from the great thoroughfare.
Fayette Springs.-About a quarter of a mile south
of Chalk Hill is the celebrated Fayette Springs,
whose chalybeate waters have cured many sick and
afflicted. Dr. Daniel Marchant, of Uniontown, came
up to Downard's about 1814, examined the spring,
and reported it valuable.  A man of the name of
836WHARTON TOWNSHIP.
Marsh built a log house to accommnodate visitors.
The Hon. Andrew Stewart built a large building here,
which burned down a few years ago. Brown Hadden
at present is keeping a summer resort in the house that
was built in place of the building burned down.
VILLAGES-MAIL SERVICE-BUSINESS ENTERPRISES.
Farmington.-A log tavern was the first house here,
and Mr. Connor kept a few goods in it. A. L Crane
kept store next, and two houses were built. Peter
T. Laishley kept goods, and Mrs. Andrew L. Crane;
then Mr. Sterling kept a store, and the place was
called Sterling's Cross-Roads. Morgan Jones came
next, and the village was given its present name.
Sebastian Rush came in charge of the Farmington
stand aind built up the place. In the mercantile business Daniel Witherow succeeded Jones, and was followed by S. Rush, James Dixon, C. H. Rush, Hatfield, and Thomas Rush. Farmington consists of ten
houses,-T. Crutchman, farmer; Dr. S. W. Newman;
John Taylor, farmer; Alfred Fisher, laborer; Thomas
Rush, merchant; Mrs. S. Rush, hotel; J. Turney,
laborer; Adam Spau, farmer; G. Cunningham; blacksmith; and James McCartney, farmer. A new store
is being fitted up by Camp  McCann. From Farmington Morgan A. Jones removed to Philadelphia,
where he became a broker. His brother David removed to Wisconsin, and became Lieutenant-Governor of that State; S. E. Jones wenrt to Colorado,
where he was elected probate judge; John Jones removed hence to Kentucky, where he became an extensive ironmaster. Thomas Rush, the postmaster,
served creditably in the war of 1861-65.
The village of Farmington is located at the intersection of the old National road and the Falls City
road. It is surrounded by a good farmning country,
and is regarded as a pleasant summer resort.
Gibbons' Glade.-At this place about 1847, Samuel
Morton, from Virginia, built a saw-mill and log house.
Christian Harader bought of him, and in 1849 built
the flouring-mill and three dwelling-houses. A man
named Sanborn lived here, and people called the
place Sanborntown, and from that nicknamed it
"Shinbone," and the post-office was at first so called.
On the'waters of Gibbons' Run, the post-office was
changed to Gibbons' Glade in 1875, and the village
was named the same. Its location is at the junction
of two roads, and on the run. It has five dwellings,--
S. Thomas, mill-owner; J. Fike, farmer; John Cooling, blacksmith; Daniel Johnson, distiller; Joseph
Guiler, clerk. The mill was built by C. Harader,
and sold to Jacob Fike, by him to John Harader,
by him to Abraham Thomnas in 1855, by him to John
Umble in 1860, by him to Thomas Frederick, and
by him to Sylvanus and William Thomas in 1869.
The store was first kept by Jacob Zimmerman; he
was succeeded by S. Griffith, P. McClellan, H. Harnet (who built present store-house), Carrol  Harader, JohLn XV. Carrol, J. Hardin, J. Campbell, Inks
 Umble, Inks, Inks  Prinkey, Chidester, Daniel
Johnson, and John O'Neil.
Elliottsville.-Benjamin Elliott in 1817-18 built the
saw- and flouring-mill here. His son, S. D. Elliott,
succeeded him and made improvements. In 1845 he
opened a stock of goods. He was succeeded by Meyers  Kennedy, Hagar  Dice, J. E. Patton, S; D.
Elliott, Benjamini Elliott (who built the present storehouse), S. D. Richey, and Dr. R. M. Hill, at present,
with a stock of dry-goods and drugs. Situated at the
junction of two roads, the village has two streets,
Water and Farmington, with nine dwellings. It is
favorably located for a business place, and is the centre and voting-place of the Wharton Independent
School District, formed by decree of court Dec. 9,
1864, on report of Adam Canan, Robert McDowell,
Jr., and John Snyder.
Dr. R. M. Hill, of Elliottsville, was born in Washington County, Pa., in 1842; attended Hoge's and
Georges Creek Academies; entered the service in the
war of the Rebellion under Col. M. S. Quay, Co. C,
134th Penn. Vols.; fought at Second Bull Run, South
Mountain, and Shepherdstown, and was wounded in
the left side and right arm at Chancellorsville. After
the war he read medicine with Dr. Chalfant. He
attended the Western Reserve Medical College, and
received his diploma from Jefferson College. He
located at Farmington with a good practice, and at
present is located at Elliottsville. In 1876 he was
elected to the Legislature by a large majority, running in advance of his ticket, and serving meritoriously in the Legislature of 1877-78.
S. D. Elliott, the founder of the village (born in
1809), has long been identified with the interests of
Wharton, holding at different times nearly every
elective office in the township.
Mail Service.-At the opening of the National road,
in 1818, Bryant post-office was established, with James
Bryant as postmaster. Bryant moved to Squire Burk's,
and removed the office with him. It was moved back
to Farmington, and in 1838 Morgan Jones named the
place Farmington, and the post-office was changed
from Bryant to Farmington. The successors in the
post-office have been Andrew L. Crane, Joseph Sterling, Morgan Jones, Daniel Witherow, Hair, S. Rush,
C. H. Rush, James Nixon, and the present postmaster,
Thomas Rush, and until 1860 it was the only office
in the township. In 1860, Chalk Hill post-office was
established, William  McMillen, postmaster. After
him were John McMillen, John Rishler, Robert
Sproul, William Sproul, and Margaret Downer. It
was changed to Fayette Springs post-office, and
moved to Fayette Springs Hotel; postmasters, Alice
Bunting, C. W. Downer, Capt. John Messmore, and
A. G. Messmore, present postmaster. In 1870, Shinbone post-office was established through the instrumentality of Hon. John Covode, and Sylvanus
Thomas was appointed postmaster.  In 1875 the
837HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
name of the office was changed to Gibbons'. In
1881, Thomas resigned, and Joseph Guiler was appointed postmaster.
Mail Routes.-The Farmington route from Uniontown to Farmington was established after the pike
went down, instead of the old through route from
Wheeling to Washington. S. Rush for many years
was contractor, then McCullough a year, and Calvin
Dean at present is contractor.
Farmington and Brandonville (W. Va.) route,
No. 8615, was established 1870, with Fielding Montague contractor, who has had the'route ever since.
Distilleries.-In early days a man by the name of
Miller had a distillery in Wharton. There was no
market for grain, and people took grain to this distillery, and got their whisky in kegs, and carried it on
pack-horses east, and traded for iron, salt, and storegoods.
After Miller's still-house went down Jacob Sailor
built one near it. John Rutter passed it on his way
to the McCollum place in West Virginia, lost his
way in a snow-storm, and was frozen to death. In
1861, Zar Hart built a distillery, then in Henry Clay,
but now in Wharton. In 1872, Daniel Carnes came
in possession, and ran it until 1876, with C. W. Downer gauger, and John Farmer, of Nicholson, storekeeper. From 1876 to 1878, Capt. John Bierer ran it,
with Robert McCracken gauger and store-keeper.
From 1878 to 1881, Philip Dennis ran it, with McCracken as gauger and store-keeper. Daniel Johnson
has bought the machinery, and will move it to Gibbons' Glade, to be placed in a distillery to be erected
there.
Mills.-A Mr. Cross had a tub-mill near Kingham's,
on Mill Run, in an early day, about 1790. Jacob
Beeson built a tub-mill for Richard Cheney (near
Simon Hager's place) about 1795. But the oldest
mill in the township seems to be Cross' tub-mill,
near the Stewart line, on Bissel's place, formerly
owned by Harvey Morris. Thomas Dean recollects
it in 1814, and it then was called "the old mill," and
was the great mill for corn, while they went for wheat
to Selbysport. The Carrol mill was an old muill.
Benjamin Elliott built his mill on Sandy in 1818,
and Joseph Victor built a mill in 1830 on Mill Run,
which burned down. The mill was built with the
intention of starting a furnace.  The property is
now owned by Beeson  Snyder.
The Gibbons' Glade mill was built in 1849 by C.
Harader, this and Elliott's being the only two mills
(now) in the township. Peter Kime had a mill and
carding-machine where Asbury Carrol lives, but it
went down about 1830.
Tanneries.-There was a small tannery at John
Moore's about 1800. The next tannery was Beaver
Creek tannery, started in 1840 by Z. Ludington, next
run by Kane  Cope, then William Armstrong, and
now by Levi Byerly. It is in Tinker Ridge settlement, close to the Stewart line.  Syler's tannery,
on Mill Run, was started about 1860, and is still
running.
Wharton Furnace.-In 1839, Hon. Andrew Stewart
completed Wharton Furnace, and put it into blast
and ran it several years; he then rented to John D.
Crea, of Brownsville, then to Kenedy Duncan, who
employed Alexander Clair as his manager. Col. D. S.
Stewart then ran a short time. After him came a
succession of proprietors, by whomn it was run till
about 1873, when it was finally abandoned. Hon.
Andrew Stewart's heirs still own the property. Ore
and coal are plenty, but the distance, over bad roads,
to haul the metal is the great trouble in running the
Wharton Furnace.
Stores.-John More kept a few goods near Squire
Isaac Armstrong's, and this was the first store in the
township. Andrew L. Crane kept goods at Mount
Washington about 1820, and moved his store next
Washington Hansel's house, where a thief came down
the chimney and robbed him. About the same time
one Conner kept a few goods at Farinington, in the
old log tavern. Crane next kept at Farmington, about
1835. Squire S. D. Elliott opened out a stock of
goods at his mill in 1845, and Jacob Zimmerman,
about 1856, put a stock of goods at Gibbons' Glade.
Physicians.-Dr. Hasson was at the Inks stand
about 1860, and Dr. Dunham at Gibbons' Glade about
the same time. Dr. Lewis came next to Farmington,
followed by Dr. R. M. Hill, and Dr. S. W. Newman
in 1880, while Dr. L. W. Pool was at Elliottsville
from 1874 to 1876, and then removed to Grant County,
W. Va.
SCHOOLS.
There is no account of who taught the first schools
in Wharton, which were private, or pay-schools by
the quarter. An old log school-house stood on the
pike near Farmington, and another on the Lake farm
beyond Elliottsville. Aug. 19,1837, is the first record
of a school board under the free school system. A
meeting was then held to locate school-houses.
They located ten school districts, and ordered that
Miss M.,A. Reynolds teach at Elliott's, Joseph Conner at Moore's, James McCartney at Dean's, and
Benjamin Payton at Carrol's. The sum of $110 was
appropriated to build one school-house, and $116 to
build another. Teachers' wages were, for females,
$10; males, $15 per month; and three months' terms
were taught. In 1841 the school tax was $293. From
1840 to 1860 the leading teachers of the township were
William  Smith, Amos Potter,       Stuller, George
Matthews, and John E. Patton. The school-tax is
heavier than in most townships of the county, showing a deep interest by the citizens in their schools.
During the winter of 1875-76 the teachers of the
township met at Farmington and organized a literary
society, whose debates of more than ordinary interest
drew crowded houses. A. C. Holbert and J. M. Harbaugh, on the part of the teachers, and Dr. J. T. Bea838WHARTON TOWNSHIP.
zel and Dr. R. M. Hill were the leading spirits, whose
ingenious arguments will long be remembered.
The following statistics are from the school report
made in 1880:
Number of districts (running, 12; vacant, 2; ind., 1).. 15
Number of school-houses, frame............................... 15
Number of teachers employed.................................. 13
Amount paid teachers, $1538, Wharton ind., $150.
The teachers for 1880 were Miss Jennie Sproul,
John Rush, J. C. W. McCann, John Hansel, C. L.
Smith, John Carrol, E. Carrol, J. C. Berg, C. Woodfil,
P. C. Brooks, L. Workman, E. Augustine, and R. McClellan.
Following is a list, nearly perfect, of those who
have been elected school directors in Wharton from
the time the township conformed to the requirements
of the public school law (in 1837) to 1881, viz.:
1837.-Joseph Price, Joseph Henry, James Sampey, Daniel
Carrol, Charles Griffin, Alex. Harvey.
1838.-Jaues Sampey, Samuel Potter, J. M. Sterling, Charles
Griffin, Alex. Harvey.
1839.-S. Potter, M. A. Jones, Charles Griffin, Alex. Harvey,
W. Holland, James Harvey.
1840.-S. Potter, Morgan A. Jones, Hiram Seaton, William
Gaddis, W. Holland, Alex. Harvey.
1841.-Simon P. Snyder, Morgan A. Jones, John J. Hair, Hiram Seaton, W. Gaddis.
1842.-S. P. Snyder, J. J. Hair, W. Robinson, W. Thorp, James
Snyder.
1843.-S. P. Snyder, J. J. Hair, E. Mitchel, James Snyder.
1844.-A. Harvey, Samuel Potter.
1845.-E. Mitchel, S. Potter, James Goodwin, Robert Sproul,
J. Bryner, William Richards.
1846.-No record.
1847.-James Goodwin, W. Thorp, Amos Potter.
1848.-Amos Potter, G. Hair, Robert McDowell, Hlarvey Morris, S. Rush.
1848 to 1868.-No school record.
1868.-C. W. Downer, A. Hayden, Joseph Stark, Jacob Prinkey,
W. A. Carrol, George M. Thomas, S. Rush.
1869.-G. W. Griffith, A. Hayden, N. McCartney, W. A. Carrol,
S. Rush.
1870.-G. W. Griffith, A. Hayden, L. W. Fike, N. McCartney.
1871.-G. W. (Griffith, A. Hayden, L. W. Fike, John Wirsing,
J. M. Dixon, W. A. Carrol, S. Rush.
1872.-J. M. Dixon, A. Potter, A. W. Carrol, John Wirsing,
C. McQuillen, L. W. Fike, S. Rush.
1873.-G. W. Hansel, Amos Potter, W. A. Carrol, John Wirsing, N. McCartney, C. McQuillen, S. Rush.
1874.-No record.
1875.--James M. Dixon, A. Potter, L. W. Fike, John Wirsing,
G. W. Hansel, N. McCartney.
1876.-G. W. Hansel, A. Potter, L. W. Fike, N. McCartney,
S. Thomas, J. N. Wiggins.
1877.-R. P. McClelland, A. Porter, Samuel Hager, J. Prinkey,
J. N. Wiggins, John Wirsing.
1878.-E. L. Facenbaker, S. Hager, R. P. McClelland, John
McCullough, J. Prinkey, Thomas McCartney.
1879.-E. L. Facenbaker, S. Hager, John Dice, John Hershberger, Thomas McCartney, Jacob Prinkey.
1880.-E. L. Facenbaker, S. IIager, John Dice, John Hershberger, Thomas McCarty, John Wirsing.
1881.-S. Hager, John Dice, John Hershberger, John Wirsing, Alex. Rush, Robert Dalzell.
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
For years after the settlement of the township religious services were conducted at private houses by
ministers of different denominations.
Presbyterian.-The first denomination to effect an
organization was the Presbyterian. The Presbytery
of Redstone, on March 24, 1842, organized the church
of Mount Washington, electing Seth Hyatt and Simon Snyder ruling elders. The following thirty-two
persons constituted the organization: Benjamin Elliott, Solomon Elliott, S. D. Elliott, Mrs. Mary Elliott,
Miss Mary Elliott, Eunice Elliott, John Robison and
wife, Seth Hyatt and wife, Mrs. Susan Crutchman,
Miss Ester Conaway, Mrs. Lizzie Long, Mrs. Sophia
Tuttle, Mrs..Shafer, Mrs. Reynolds, Miss Belinda
Reynolds, Mrs. James McCarty, Mrs. James Matthews,
Mrs. John Risler, Mrs. W. A. Gaither, Miss Elizabeth
Gaither, William Gaither, Mrs. Hill, Christina, Jane,
Nancy, Robert, and John Hill, Simon Snyder, Miss
Sarah Stewart, and Morgan H. Jones.
In May, 1842, the first fifteen named persons organized Brown's Church near Elliottsville. Both
churches were log buildings, but in 1857 at Mount
Washington a neat frame church was erected. Rev.
J. Stoneroad was instrumental in founding the
churches and was their minister, succeeded by Rev.
Rosborough and other occasional supplies until 1850;
from 1850 to 1870, Rev. J. Stoneroad; from 1876 to
1878, Rev. R. T. Price; from 1878 to 1881, Rev. S. S.
Bergen. Elders: in 1846, S. D. Elliott was elected;
1861, John Snyder; 1866, G. W. Hansel, Robert O.
Jones, and James McCann. Brown's Church is now
unfit for holding services in, and the members attend
when practicable at Mount Washington.
Methodist Episcopal.-In 1841, Amos Potter, Mr.
and Mrs. Harned, Mr. and Mrs. Hair, Mr. and Mrs.
Carl formned a class at Potter's school-house. Rev.
David Hess was one of the first ministers. Services
were held at several places in the township, and in
fall of 1855, Rev. Eaton, from Petersburg, held a
meeting near William Smith's, on the National
road, and formed a class.  Nicholas McCartney,
Mary A. McCullough, John, Thomas, Samuel, Stephen, Jane, Sally, and Catherine Dean, John, Joseph, Sarah, and Lavina Stark, and twenty-seven
others (forty in all) formed this class. It organized
itself as the Sansom Chapel (Methodist Episcopal)
Church, and built in 1857 the Sansom chapel building
on the National road. Tin ker's Ridge class was organized in 1860 (with Stephen Dean class-leader); Chalk
Hill in September, 1859, but went down; Fairview
class at Haines' school-house in 1863, with John Wirsing as class-leader, members from West Virginia
belonging, but they withdrawing in 1873 the class
went down. Rev. Cooper was the first minister after
Sansom Chapel was built, followed by Rev. James
Hill, Thomas Storer, James Hollingshead, John
Robinson, Z. Silbaugh, P. Burnworth, and others.
The Rev. Daniel J. Davis is at present in charge.
839IIISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
with regard to the expedition, though the government had ordered that a considerable body of regular
Continental troops should accompany it, in accordance with the requests of Col. Cook, Col. Marshal, and
several of the more prominent among the officers of
the militia between the Monongahela and Youghiogheny Rivers. The minutes of the " Courts of Appeal," before referred to, indicate that in what is now
Fayette County the men liable to military duty were,
after the 1st of August, 1782, much less disposed than
before to volunteer for the expedition in preference
to doing duty on the stations in the vicinity of their
homes.
On the 18th of September, two days before the
time which he had appointed for the rendezvous at
Fort McIntosh, Gen. Irvine addressed communications to Col. Edward Cook (of Cookstown, now Fayette City) and Col. Marshal, respectively county lieu.
tenants of Westmoreland and Washington, saying,
"I have this moment received dispatches from the
Secretary of War informing me that some regular
troops are ordered from below to assist us in our
intended expedition.  I am therefore to beg you
will immediately countermand the march of the volunteers and others of your counties until further
orders. As soon as I am positively assured of the
time the troops will be here I shall give you the
earliest notice."  But the notification was never
given, for the war between England and the United
States was virtually closed, and with the approach of
peace the Secretary of War countermanded the order
for the regulars to join in the expedition.
A letter from Gen. Lincoln to Gen. Irvine, dated
September 27th, notified the latter that information
had been received from Gen. Washingtonll to the effect
that "the Indians are all called in" (by the British
government). It is evident that on the receipt of this
communication, a few days later, Irvine abandoned all
idea of prosecuting the expedition, and on the 18th
of October, in a letter to Col. Cook, he said, " I received your letter bv Sergt. Porter, and one last night
from  Col. Marshal, which is full of despondency.
Indeed, by all accounts I can collect, it would be
vain to insist on bringing the few willing people to
the general rendezvous, as there is not the most distant prospect that half sufficient would assemble.
Under the circumstances I think it will be most advisable to give up the matter at once, and direct the
provisions and other articles be restored to the
owners."
About two weeks after Gen. Irvine wrote this letter
he received official notification from the Secretary of
War (dated October 30th) that the Indian expedition
had been abandoned, and thereupon the fact was officially communicated to the lieutenants of Westmoreland and Washington Counties. This ended all
thoughts of raising a force to invade the Indian
country, and it also closed the military history of
this section of country for the period of the war of
the Revolution. After the official proclamation of
peace, however, and as late as the end of the spring
of 1783, Indian depredations were continued to some
extent along the Western Pennsylvania and Virginia
border, though none of these are found reported as
having been committed within the territory which
now forms the county of Fayette.
CHAPTER XII.
PENNSYLVANIA AND VIRGINTA TERRITORIAL CONTROVERSY - ESTABLISIIMENT OF BOUNDARIES -
SLAVERY AND SERVITTDE.
THROUGH a period of about thirty years from the
time when the first white settlements were made between the Monongahela and Youghiogheny Rivers
there existed a controversy (which more than once
threatened to break out into open hostility) between
Pennsylvania and Virginia as to the ownership of
the country lying to the westward of the Laurel Hill,
both governments at the same time vigorously asserting their respective rights to jurisdiction over the territory in question. This dispute was partly in regard
to the location of the east-and-west line forming the
boundary between the two provinces (afterwards
States), but chiefly in reference to the establishment
of the western boundary of Pennsylvania, which would
also be the eastern boundary of Virginia in that latitude.
The royal grant of Pennsylvania to the first proprietary authorized the extension of its western limits
a distance of five degrees of longitude west from
the Delaware River, and the question of where the
end of those five degrees would fall was the principal
one at issue in the long and bitter controversy which
followed. By the government and partisans of Virginia it was confidently believed that under that grant
Pennsvlvania's western boundary must be as far east
as the Laurel Hill, which would give to their province
(or State) all the territory between that mountain
range and the Ohio River; while, on the contrary,
Pennsylvania insisted that the measurement of the
five degrees would extend her limits to a point several miles west of the confluence of the Allegheny
and Monongahela Rivers. And it was the realization
of the prospective importance of that point, the site
of the present city of Pittsburgh, which first opened
the contest between the rival claimants of the coveted
territory, which embraced this " key to the Ohio
Valley," and to the inviting regions of the West.
In the formation, plans, and brief operations of the
Ohio Company, which have already been noticed, it
is evident that the persons composing that company
(most of whom were Virginians) believed that the
country about the "forks of the Ohio," and, in fact,
all to the westward of the Laurel Hill, was within the
I
114HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Baptist. On Dec. 3,1846, at Potter's school-house,
Nathaniel West, Eli Tuttle, John Detwiler, James
Williams, M. Fry, Gabriel Cook and wife, and others
organized Bellevue (Baptist) Church; they removed to
near Elliottsville, and held services in Brown's Church
and the school-house. John Detwiler and Nathaniel West were elected deacons. Rev. Lewis Sammons
was their pastor from June 21, 1851, to April, 1854;
Rev. John Williams from 1854 to 1865. In 1858 they
built a small neat church near Elliottsville, which
was destroyed by fire in 1874. The Rev. W. P.
Fortney was pastor in 1874 and 1875.
German Baptist, or Brethren.-About 1850 the
Brethren held services at Canan school-house, near
Gibbons' Glade, and at Workman school-house, under
Elder Jacob Thomas. In 1871, Solomon Workman,
one of the members, objected to using the (Workman) school-house as a place of worship because the
polling-place had been removed from Sickles' to the
school-house, and though not a wealthy nian, rather
than violate his conscience by worshiping in a house
where elections were held he built out of his own
means a neat frame church near the school-house and
called it Bethel, though some of the young men called
it Solomon's Temple. The arched ceiling of the
building renders it the best building in thb township
for public speaking. The Revs. Jacob Beeghley,
James A. Ridenhour, and J. C. Meyers have since
held services, and at this time (1881) Elder Solomon
Bucklew has charge of Bethel and Canan. Canan
still uses the school-house at Gibbons' Glade, and
both are in Sandy Creek District.
Cumberland Presbyterian.-In 1845 the Rev. Andrew Osborn formed a branch of this church at Potter's, Mrs. Amos Potter, Daniel Carrol and wife,
Mr. Sampey, John Patterson, and others constituting
the organization. Rev. Osborn held services till 1860,
Rev. J. P. Baird afterwards for a few years, and he
then removing to a distance, the organization being
feeble and without a pastor became scattered.
Catholic.-For many years members of this church
have been residents of the township, and the Rev.
Fathers Develin, Gallagher, and Duffee have held
services at different points in the township, and the
members at one time prepared to erect a church on
the National road.
Evangelical Association, or Albright Methodist. In
1850 this denomination organized at Potter's schoolhouse, the Cupps and Haugers being among the first
members. Revs. Doll, Rishman, and Hyde were the
early ministers. They hold service at the Armstrong
and Independent school-houses. The preacher from
1878 to 1880 was the Rev. Joseph White; 1881, the
Rev. Dalzell.
Methodist Protestant. Dr. Rutledge and Rev. J. G.
McCarty held services at Wharton Furnace, but there
is no organization. Rev. D. H. Myers, of this church,
resides in the western part of the township.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
SEBASTIAN RUSH.  
The late Sebastian Rush, known far and wide as
"Boss" Rush, and also popularly designated as the
"King of the Mountains," filled a large place in his
locality, Farmington, Wharton township, as farmer,
business man, and friendly adviser of a wide circle of
acquaintances who sought his counsel, and particularly as the genial host of "Boss Rush's hotel" on
the line of the National pike, and over which he presided from 1840, when he bought the hotel, until he
died, Feb. 9, 1878. This hotel was a favorite stoppingplace of many of the great men of other days.
Henry Clay, Tom Ewing, President Polk, etc., when
journeying over the National road, and Jenny Lind,
in her famous tour through the country with the
great showman, Barnum, tarried overnight at "Boss's
hotel," and Mr. Rush while living, as does Mrs.
Rush, who now conducts the house, made his more
distinguished guests "twice happy" by honoring
them with lodgings in Jenny Lind's room (a species
of sagacity as well as gallantry worthy of imitation
by publicans in general).
Mr. Rush was an ardent politician, early in life an
old-line Whig, afterwards a Republican, and wielded a
great influence in his region, putting into local office
whom he would when his party was in power, and
was a Presbyterian in religion, which fact doubtless
added to his success as a politician. He amassed a
large property, owning at the time of his death about
twelve hundred acres of good land adjacent to his
house, as well as several outlying farms of considerable size, besides the country "store" opposite the
hotel, and which he for a long time conducted in
connection with his other business and other property. He was also an extensive stock-raiser. Though
noted for his unusually good sense and "clear head"
in mature life, Mr. Rush enjoyed but meagre advantages of study in his childhood, but in after-life was
notable as a reader.
He was a man of great physical strength, and
during the latter portion of his life of ponderous
size, weighing sometimes two hundred and fifty
pounds.  When he arrived at about twenty-two
years of age he was made a constable, and for years
filled his office with more than usual ability, but for
the first year or so he was obliged to execute its duties
on foot, lacking a horse to ride through pecuniary
inability to buy one. From such a beginning his
great energy and sound sense built up for him the
fortune he afterwards enjoyed.
He was the son of Levi Rush (born 1783), who
came to Fayette County from Somerset County late
in the eighteenth century. His mother was Mary
Kemp, a native of New Jersey, but living in Henry
Clay township when she married. "Boss" Rush was
born in the same township, Nov. 20, 1808, and in No040~SEBASTIAN RUSH.GEORGE W. HANSEL.WHARTON TOWNSHIP.
vember, 1829, married Margaret Baird, a girl of fifteen years of age (born 1814), a daughter of James
Baird, a native of County Derry, Ireland. This was
a "runaway match," and though it proved a happy
one, Mrs. Rush, a vigorous and intelligent lady, now
conducting the hotel, as she and her husband so long
and successfully carried on the business, is emphatic
in pronouncing against "runaway matches," among
children especially.  Mr. Rush died leaving seven
children, four sons and three daughters, three other
children having died before him, two in childhood.
GEORGE W. HANSEL, ESQ.
George W. Hansel, a prosperous farmer and stockraiser, and since 1877 the principal trying justice of
the peace in this section of Fayette County, is a
highly-esteemed citizen of Farmington, Wharton
township, where he resides. He was born in Allegany County, Md., of German stock. His father,
George, came with his family, among whom was
George W., in 1833 to Farmington, when the latter
was about seven years old, he having been borin July
4,1826. George Hansel, the father, died in 1844, at
the age of forty-two, leaving six children, and was
buried on the old farm, where George W. has resided
since his father's death, and which about 1850 he
bought,-a valuable farm of about four hundred acres,
lying along the line of the old National road. Mr.
Hansel has since made considerable additions to the
old homestead.
Mr. Hansel is in religion a Presbyterian, an elder
of Mount Washington Presbyterian Church of Farmington, and though not ardent in politics, belongs to
the Republican party, and was formerly an old-line
Whig. He has always taken deep and intelligent
interest in the common schools of his town, having
belonged to the board of school directors since he
arrived at his majority.
Mr. Hansel married in 1852 Miss Mary Romesburgh, daughter of Mr. John Romesburgh, of Farmington, by whom he has had thirteen children, all
living,-eight boys and five girls.
~ 
841206 A    P 40 1 v'
64PENNSYLVANIA AND VIRGINIA TERRITORIAL CONTROVERSY.
jurisdiction of Virginia, or at least beyond that of
Pennsylvania. The first attempt to build a fort where
Pittsburgh now stands was made by a company of
Virginians, under the Virginian captain, Trent. It
was the Virginia Governor, Dinwiddie, who sent
Washington on his mission in 1753 to the French
posts on the Allegheny, and who sent him again in
1754 to endeavor to take and keep possession of
this region by military force; and Virginians, more
largely than troops of any of the other provinces,
marched with Braddock in 1755 in the unsuccessful
attempt to wrest this territory from the power of the
French.  Thus the Virginians, believing that the
trans-Allegheny country belonged to their province,
lihad been forward in all the measures taken for its occupation and defense, while Pennsylvania had, up to
that time, done little or nothing in that direction.
But as early as the beginning of the year 1754,
Pennsylvania, though making no active effort to hold
and defend the bordering country Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers, began to see the value and importance of the point at the head of the Ohio, where Capt.
Trent had commenced the erection of a fort for the
Ohio Company (afterwads Fort Du Quesne, and later
Fort Pitt). The first entry which has been found in
the official records of Pennsylvania concerning the
matter is as follows: "March 12, 1754, evidence sent
to the House that Venango and Logstown, where the
French forts are built, are in the province of Pennsylvania." And a little later came Virginia's rejoinder, in a letter written by Governor Dinwiddie to
Governor Hamilton, of Pennsylvania, dated March
21, 1754, in which the forimer said, " I am much misled by our surveyors if the forks of the Monon,gahela
be within the bounds of the province of Pennsylvania." This may be regarded as the beginiiing of
the controversy, but the defeat of Washington'and
Braddock, which followed soon after, caused the
matter to be held in abeyance for a number of years;
for neither Pennsylvania nor Virginia thought it
worth while to quarrel over their respective claims to
a country which was in the full and absolute possession of the French.
After the expulsion of the French power by the
military forces under Forbes in 1758, and the consequent occupation of the country by the English, the
rival claims of Pennsylvania and Virginia were again
revived; but no collisions occurred nor was any very
general dissatisfaction apparent until after the formation of the Pennsylvania county of Bedford, to extend
across the mountains to the western limit of the province, covering the disputed territory west of Laurel
Hill, claimed by Virginia to be within her county of
Augusta, which had been laid out thirty-three years
earlier. Upon the erection of Bedford (March 9,
1771), the officers of that county were directed to
collect taxes from the inhabitants west of the mountains for the establishment of courts and the erection
of county buildings at Bedford; and this created a
wide-spread feeling of dissatisfaction, and a deterrmination to resist the collection, which state of affairs
is noticed in a letter written by Robert Lettis Hooper,
Jr., to his Excellency Governor William Franklin,
of New Jersey. The following is an extract from the
letter in question, viz.:
"FORT PITT, Sept. 15, 1772.
" SIR,--A few Days ago I was at Redstone, when I
had an opportunity of knoving the sentiments of the
People of that Part of the Country with Respect to
the Western Boundary of Pennsylvania, and find a
great Number of them  are determined to pay no
respect to the Institution of the Court at Bedford.
They believe the Western Boundary of Pennsylvania
will not extend so far a, Redstone Settlement, and say
it is an imposition to oblige them to pay taxes for
Building Court Houses, c., in Bedford County when
there is the greatest probability of their being out of
Pennsylvania, and that they shall be obliged to contribute to publick Uses in the New Colony. These
sentiments do not proceed from Licentiousness in the
People, nor from a desire to screen themselves from
Law as some would represent, but from believing
themselves out of Pennsylvania and being burthened
with exorbitant Taxes and Jllileage, which they are
unwilling to pay till it is absolutely determined
whether they are in Pennsylvania or not.
"The Sheriff' of Bedford County told me he had
Governor Penn's orders to execute his office as far as
the Settlemnents did extend on the Ohio, and even to
the Kenhaways, which the Governor must know is
far below the Western Boundary of Pennsylvania;
and though he dare not attempt it, yet I think it my
Duty to inform your Excellency that the settling of
this Country is much hindered by these Disputes, and
that many respectable and substantial settlers are
prevented from coming into it by these Disputes, and
to the great injury of the Gentlemen who have obtained a Grant on the Ohio....."
After the erection of Westmoreland County from
the western part of Bedford in 1773, the popular dissatisfaction was less, but by no means wholly allayed;
and a considerable portion of the people still remained favorable to the claims of Virginia.
About the beginning of the year 1774, Lord Dunmore, Governor of Virginia, developed his determination to use strong measures for the assertion of the
claims of his province to jurisdiction over the disputed territory. To this, it was said, he was incited
by Col. George Croghan and his nephew, Dr. John
Connolly, an intriguing and ambitious partisan residing at Fort Pitt. Connolly had visited the Governor
at Williamsburg, and now returned with a captain's
commission, and power and directions from the Governor to take possession of the Monongahela country
and the region around Fort Pitt, in the name of the
king. Upon this he issued his proclamation to the
people in the vicinity of Redstone and Fort Pitt to
I
115HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
meet on the 25th of January in the year named, to be
embodied as Virginia militia. Many assembled in
accordance witli the proclamation; but in the mean
time Connolly was arrested by Capt. Arthur St. Clair,
as an officer of Westmoreland County, and the militia
were for the time dispersed; but after Connolly's release he, with the aid of the militia, took possession
of Fort Pitt, which he pretended to name, in honor of
his patron, Fort Dunmore. Some of the means which
he took to enforce the authority are set forth in the
letter addressed to Governor Penn by William Crawford, who was thei presiding justice of the courts of
Westmoreland, and a resident in that part of the
county which afterwards became Fayette.  It is
proper to state here that he soon afterwards turned
Iagainst the Pennsylvania interest, and became one of
the most active partisans of Virginia, and a civil
officer under that government. The letter in question
was as follows:
"WESTMORELAND COUNTY, April 18, 1774.
"SIR,-As some very extraordinary occurrences
have lately happened in this county, it is necessary
to write an account of them to you. That which I
now give is at the request and with the approbation
of the magistrates that are at present attending the
court. A few weeks ago Mr. Connolly went to
Staunton [Va.], and was sworn in as a Justice of the
peace for Augusta County, in which it is pretended
that the country around Pittsburgh is included. He
had before this brought from  Williamsburg comrmissions of the peace for several gentlemen in this
part of the province, but none of them, I believe,
have been accepted of. A number of new militia
officers have been lately appointed by Lord Dunmore.
Several musters of the militia have been held, and
mnuch confusion has been occasioned by them. I am
informed that the militia is composed of men without
character and without fortune, and who would be
equally averse to the regular administration of justice
under the colony of Virginia as they are to that
under the province of Pennsylvania. The disturbances which they have produced at Pittsburgh have
been particularly alarming to the inhabitants. Mr.
Connolly is constantly surrounded with a body of
armed men. He boasts of the couhtenance of the
Governor of Virginia, and forcibly obstructs the execution of legal process, whether from the court or
single magistrates. A deputy sheriff has comne from
Augusta County, and I am told he has writs in his
hands against Capt. St. Clair' and the sheriff for
the arrest and confinement of Mr. Connolly. The
sheriff was last week arrested at Pittsburgh for serving
a writ on one of the inhabitants tllere, but was, after
some time, discharged. On Monday last one of Connolly's people grossly insulted Mr. Mackay, amld was
confined by him, in order to be sent to jail. The
rest of the party hearing it, immediately came to
1 Afterwards Maj.-Gen. Arthur St. Clair, of R.evolutionary fame.
Mr. Mackay's house and proceeded to the most violent outrages. Mrs. Mackay was wounded in the arm
with a cutlass. The magistrates and those who came
to their assistance were treated with much abuse, and
the prisoner was rescued.
"Some days before the meeting of the court a report was spread that the militia officers, at the head
of their several companies, would come to Mr. Hanna's, use the court ill, and interrupt the administration of justice. On Wednesday, while the court was
adjourned, they came to the court-house [at Hannastown, Westmoreland County] and paraded before it.
Sentinels were placed at the door. and Mr. Connolly
went into the house. One of the magistrates was
hindered by the militia from going into it till permission was first obtained from their commander. Mr.
Connolly sent a message to the magistrates informing
them that he wanted to communicate something to
them, and would wait on them for that purpose.
They received him in a private room. He read to
thern the inclosed paper,2 together with a copy of a
letter to you, which Lord Dunmore had transmitted
to him, inclosed in a letter to himself, which wa.s
written in the same angry and undignified style.
The magistrates gave the inclosed answer to what he
read, and he soon afterwards departed with his men.
Their number was about one hundred and eighty
or two hundred. On their return to Pittsburgh some
of them seized Mr. Elliott, of the Bullock Pens, and
threatened to put him in the stocks for something
which they deemed an affiront offered to their commander. Since their return a certain Edward Thompson and a young man who keeps store for Mr. Spear
have been arrested by them, and Mr. Connolly, who
in person seized the young man, would not allow him
time even to lock up the store. In other parts of the
country, particularly those adjoining the river Monongahela, the magistrates have been frequently insulted in the most indecent and violent manner, and
are apprehensive that unless they are speedily and
vigorously supported by government it will become
both fruitless and dangerous for them to proceed to
the execution of their offices. They presume not to
point out the measures proper for settling the present
disturbances, but beg leave to recommend the fixing
of a temporary line with the utmost expedition as
one step which in all probability will contribute very
much towards producing that effect. For further
particulars concerning the situation of the country
I refer you to Colonel WVilson, who is kind enough to
go on the present occasion to Philadelphia. I am,
sir, your very humble servant,
" W. CRAWFORD.
"To THE HONORABLE JOHN PENN, ESQUIRE."
While at Fort Dunmore (Pitt), in the following
September, the Governor of Virginia issued and
caused to be published the following:
2 An address by Dr. Connolly to the magistrates of Westmiorelhtn
County.
i
I
116GPENNSYLVANIA AND VIRGINIA TERRITORIAL CONTROVERSY.
"By his Excellency John, Earl of Dunmore, Lieutenant and
Governor-General in and over his Majesty's Colony and Dominion of Virginia, and Vice-Admiral of the same.
"A PROCLAMATION.
W Whereas, the rapid settlement made on the west side of the
Allegheny Mountains by his Majesty's subjects within the course
of these few years has becomiie an object of real concern to his
Majesty's interest in this quarter; And whereas the Province
of Pennsylvania have unduly laid claim to a very valuable and
extensive quantity of his Majesty's territory, and the executive part of that government, in consequence ther-eof, has imiost
arbitrarily and unwarrantably procceded to abuse the laudable
advancements in this part of his Majesty's dominions by iiany
oppressive and illegal methods in the discharge of this imaginary
authority; And whereas the ancient claim  laid to this country
by the colony of Virginia, founded in reason, upon pre-occupancy and the general acquiescence of all persons, together with
the instructions I have lately received from his Majesty's servants, ordering me to take this country under my adininistrtation, and as tihe evident injustice inanifestly offered to his
Majesty by the iminmediate strides taken by the proprietors of
Pennsylvania in prosecution of their wild claiimi to this country demnand an immediate remedy, I do hereby in his Majesty's name require and command all his Majesty's sulbjects
west of the Laurel Hill to pay a due respect to this my proclamation. strictly proliibitin0 the execution of any act of authority on behalf of the province of Pennsylvania at their
peril in this country; but, on the contrary, that a due regard and
entire obedience to the laws of hiis M11ajesty's colony of Virginia
under my admuinistration be observe(l, to the end that regularity
may ensue, and a just regard to the interest of his Majesty in
this quariter, as well as to the subjects in -eneral, may be the
consequence. Given under my hand and seal at Fort Dunmore,
Sept. 17, 1774.
"DuN.MfORE.
"By his Excellency's command,
"God save the King."
The publication of this proclamation by DuLnmore
brought out the following from the Governor of Pennsylvania, viz.:
"By the Honorable John Penn, Esquire, Governor and Commander-in Chief of the province of l'ennsylvania and counties
of New Castle, Kent, and Sussex, on Delaware.
"A PROCLAMATION.
"Whereas, I have received information that his Excellency,
the Earl of Dunmore, governor general in and over his
Majesty's colony of Virginia, hath lately issued a very extraordinary proclamation, setting forth [here is recited the substance
of Governor Dunmore's proclamation of the 17th of Septenmber];
And whereas, although the western linmits of the province of
Pennsylvania have not been settled by any authority from the
Crown, yet it has been sufficiently demiionstrated by lines accurately run by the miiost skillful artists th-at not only a great
tract of country west of the Laurel Hill, but Fort Pitt also are
comprelhended within the charter bounds of this province, a
great part of which country has been actiually settled, and is
now held under grants from the proprietaries of Pennsylvania,
ind the jurisdiction of this governtnent has been peaceably exercised in that quarter of the country till the late strange claim
set up by the Earl of Dunmore in behalf of his Majesty's colony
of Virginia, founded, as his Lordship is above pleased to say,
in reason, pre-occupancy, and the general acquiescence of all
persons;'... In justice, therefore, to the proprietaries of the
province of Pennsylvania, who arc only desirous to secure their
own undoubted property from the encroachment of others, I
have thought fit, with the advice of the council, to issue this,
my proclamation, hereby requiring all persons west of Laurel
lill to retain their settlements as aforesaid made under this
province, and to pay due obedience to the laws of this governmient; and all magistrates and other officers who hold cominissions or offices under this government to proceed as usual in
the adiministration of justice, without paying the least regardl
to the said r-ecited proclamation, until his Majesty's pleasur e
shall be known in the lpremises, at the same time strictly
charging and enjoining the said inhabitants and mnagistrates to
use their utmost endeavors to preserve peace and good order.
Given under mDy hand and the great sCal of the said province,
at Philadelphia, the twelfth day of October, in the year of ouir
Loid one thousand seven hundred and seventy-four, and in
the fourteenth year of tho reign of our sovereign Lord George
the Third, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and
Ireland, kinm, defender of the faith, and so forth.
"By his Ilonor's coimmand.
" JOHN PENN.
"EDWARD SHIPPEN, Jr., Secretary.
"God save the King."
When Lord Dunmore lhad finished his campaign
against the Indians in 1774, he returned to Virginia by
way of Redstone, and made a short stay at Fort Burd
(Brownsville). While lie was there (November 24th)
Connolly sent an officer with a summons to Thomas
Scott (who then lived on Dunlap's Creek) to appear
before the Governor to answer for several offenses alleged to have been committed while acting under authority from Pennsylvania. Mr. Scott refused to pay
any attention to the suilmmons, and on the same day
a number of armed men appeared at his house and
forcibly carried him  to Fort Burd, where he was required either to give bail with two sureties to appear
at the next court to be held for the county of Augusta,
at Pittsburgh, December 20th next following, or at
any future day wlhen the court should be held there,
or to be committed to prison. He chose the former
and entered into a recognizance for his appearance.
The records of the Augusta court,1 under date of May
18, 1775, show that Mr. Scott, " being bound over to
this court for his acting and doing business as a justice under Pennsylvania, ip Contempt of the Earl of
Dunmore's late Proclamation,"  was on hearing adjudged guilty, and committed to prison in default of
~500 bail. There is nothing found showing how long
he remained incarcerated, but Judge Veech says "he
was not released until accumulated resentment and
the beginning of the war for liberty had burst his
prison bonds and set many of Connolly's captives
1 In the records of the same court unjder date of Sept. 20,1775, is found
this entry: " George Wilson, geiit., beiing boun1d over to this court for
being confederate with, aiding, advising, aid abetting certain disorderly
persotis, wlio on the niorning of the 22d of June last violeiitly seized
aiid carried away Maj. John Connolly from this place, and also advising
others to not aid officers of juistice wheni called upon to apprehend the
aforesaid distuirbers of the peace, being called, and tiot appearing, it is
ordered that he be prosecuted oti liis recognizance." This has refer etice
to Col. George Wilson, who lived tiear New Genoa, Fayette Co., atid wiho
died ili New Jersey, while in the Continental service, in the spring of
1777.
117IIISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
-
free." In December following Connolly issued a
proclamation, with the object of preventing the collection of taxes by Westmoreland County officers, as
follows:
"Whereas I am informed that certain persons, by
written instructions directed to different people
through this country, under the denomination of
collectors, are apparently authorized to break open
doors, cupboards, etc., and to commit summary acts
of violence in order to extort money from the inhabitants under the appellation of taxes, these are therefore to acquaint all his Majesty's subjects that as there
can be no authority legally vested in any persons for
any such acts at this juncture, that such attempts to
abuse public liberty are unwarrantable, and that all
persons have an undoubted natural as well as lavful
right to repel such violence; and all his Majesty's
subjects are hereby required to apprehend any person
whatever who may attempt a seizure of their effects
in consequence of such imaginary authority, to be
dealt with as the law directs. Given under my hand
at Fort Dunmore, this 30th day of December, 1774.
"JOHN CONNOLLY."
A copy of this "proclamation" was laid before the
Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania by Capt.
Arthur St. Clair on the 25tlh of Janualry, 1775, and
in the minutes of the proceedings of the Council on
the same day appears the following: "Captain St.
Clair appearing at the Board, and representing that
William Crawford, Esquire, President of the Court
in Westmoreland County, hatli lately joined with the
government of Virginia in opposing the jurisdiction
of Pennsylvania in that county, the board advised the
Governor to supersede him in his office as Justice of
the Peace and Common Pleas. A supersedeas was
accordingly issued."  And Edward Cook was appointed his successor.
That Crawford became a pronounced and aggressive partisan of Virginia immediately after his supersedure as presiding justice is shown by the record of
the Council on February 25th next following. At the
meeting of the Council on that day the Governor laid
before them several letters he had received by express
from the magistrates of Westmoi/elaud County, complaining of violence committed there in the " breaking open of the jail of that county and discharging
the prisoners, and other outrages lately conmmitted
by the militia and people of Virginia," and inclosing
sundry depositiois supporting these complaints. The
outrages, as it appeared, had been committed by a
party under the leadership of Benjamin Harrison (a
resident of that part of Westmoreland which became
Fayette), who acted, as he said, under authority of
Capt. William Crawford, president of the court.
Among the depositions mentioned was that of Charles
Foreman, which details the circumstances of the outrage, and is as follows:
"Westmoreland County, ss88.:
"Personally appeared before us the subscribers,
three of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace for the
county aforesaid, Charles Foreman, who being duly
sworn upon the Holy Evangelists of Almighty God,
doth depose and say that this morning, between
twilight, being the 7th day of February, he heard a
noise at the jail, and getting out of his bed he saw
a number of armed men breaking the door, and
charging the prisoners then in jail to go about their
business; and he heard John Carnaghan, Esquire,
high sheriff of the county aforesaid, ask one Benjamin
Harrison, who appeared to be their head man, whether
they had any orders for their so doing, upon which he
read a paper, and said it was Capt. William Crawford's orders so to do; and the said Charles Foreman
further saith that he saw one Samuel Wilson make a
push at'one Robert Hanna, Esquire, with a gun, and
told him not to be so saucy, and a great deal of ill
tongue; and further this deponent saith not.
"CHARLES FOREMAN.
"Sworn and subscribed before us this 7th day of
February, 1775.
"ROBERT HANNA,
"WILLIAM LOCHRY,
" WILLIAM  BRACKEN."
The opening of the Revolution soon after the events
last mentioned drove Dunmore from power in Virginia, and this of course overthrew his friend Connolly,
who fled from the scene of his exploits and took refuge
with the British. Virginia, however, did not relinquish her claims in the disputed territory, but, on the
contrary, erected new counties upon it, established
courts, built court-houses, appointed civil and militia
officers, and kept up a show of jurisdiction for many
years.
The Virginia county of Augusta was erected in
November, 1738, to embrace all the western and northwestern parts of that colony, including (as was then
supposed by her legislators) an immense territory that
is now in Pennsylvania west of the meridian of the
western boundary of Maryland. According to the
Virginia claim, then, the jurisdiction of Augusta
County for about thirty-eight years after its formation extended over all the present county of Fayette,
except a strip on its eastern side, and over all the territory between the Monongahela and Ohio Rivers.
In October, 1776, the General Assembly of Virginia
enacted 1 that a certain part of the territory of Augusta County, viz.: "Beginning on the Allegheny
Mountain, between the heads of Potowmack, Cheat,
and Greenbrier Rivers; thence along the ridge of
mountains which divides the waters of Cheat River
from those of Greenbrier, and that branch of the Mo1 Henning's Statutes at Large, vol. ix. p. 262.
I  
118PENNSYLVANIA AND VIRGINIA TERRITORIAL CONTROVERSY.
nongahela River called the Tyger's [Tygart's] Valley
River to Monongahela River; thence up the said
river and the West Fork thereof to Bingerman's
Creek, on the northwest side of said fork; thence up
the said creek to the head thereof; thence in a direct
line to the head of Middle Island Creek, a branch of
the Ohio, and thence to the Ohio, including all the
waters of said creek in the aforesaid district of West
Augusta, all that territory lying to the northward of
said boundary, and to the westward of the States of
Pennsylvania and Maryland, shall be deemed, and is
hereby declared to be, within the district of West
Augusta."
The district so defined was divided into'three
counties by the same act, which declared " That all
that part of said district lying within the following
lines, to wit: beginning at the mouth of Cross Creek,
thence up the same to the head thereof, thence
eastwardly to the nearest part of the ridge which
divides the -waters of the Ohio from those of the
Monongahela, thence along the said ridge to the line
which divides the county of Augusta from the said
district, thence with the said boundary to the Ohio,
thence up the same to the beginning, shall be one
district county, and be called and known by the
name of Ohio; and all that part of the said district
lying to the northward of the following lines, viz.:
beginning at the mouth of Cross Creek, and running
up its several courses to the head thereof, thence
southeastwardly to the nearest part of the aforesaid
dividing ridge between the waters of the Monongahela and the Ohio, thence along the said ridge to the
head of Ten-Mile Creek, thence east to the road
leading from Catfish Camp to Redstone Old Fort,
thence along the said road to the Monongahela River,
thence, crossing the said river, to the said fort, thence
along Dunlap's old road to Braddock's road, and with
the same to the meridian 1 of the head fountain of the
Potowmack, shall be one other distinct county, and
be called and known by the name of Yohogania
County; and all that part of the said district lying
to the northward of the county of Augusta, to the
westward of the meridian of the head fountain of the
Potowmack, to the southward of the county of Yohogania, and to the eastward of the county of Ohio,
shall be one other distinct county, and shall be called
and known by the name of the county of Monongalia."
From the description of the boundaries of the new
counties, as recited in the act, it will be seen that
Monongalia County embraced the southern and
southwestern portion of the present county of Fayette; that the northern and northeastern part was
covered by Yohogania County, and that the division
line between these two was marked by Braddock's
road from the eastern limit as far northwest as the
Big Rock on the summit of Laurel Hill, and thence
1 Mean n- the western boundary of the State of Maryland.
by " Dunlap's path," or road, passing a little south
of Uniontown, to the mouth of Dunlap's Creek.
From there the boundary between Yohogania and
Monongalia continued westward, nearly along the
line of the later National road, about two-thirds the
distance across the present county of Washington, to
the east boundary of Ohio County. This county extended from the said eastern limits westward to the
Ohio River.
Prior to the erection of the new counties, courts
had been held at Fort Dunmore for the old county of
Augusta, and the records of those courts are still in
existence. The first record is of a court held at the
place named on the 21st of February, 1775, and the
last Nov. 20, 1776. In the mean time a primitive
court-house had been built for Augusta County at
"Augusta Town," a prospective village about two
miles west of the site of the present town of Washington, Pa.
Upon the formation of the three new counties
courts were immediately established for them. Of
the three Virginia counties, only one-Monongalia---
held its courts within the present limits of Fayette.
its court-house was located on land of Theophilus
Phillips, near New Geneva. How long the courts
were held there is not known, as no records of them
can now be found. The court-house of Ohio County
was at Black's Cabin, near West Liberty. The records of Yohogania County have been preserved, and
are now in possession of a gentleman of Washington,
Pa. They show that the first court of that county
was held at Fort Dunmore (Pitt) Dec. 23, 1776,2 and
that the courts continued to be held there until Aug.
25, 1777. They were then held at the house of Andrew Heath for about two months, and after that
(until 1781) at the new court-house " on the plantation of Andrew Heath." This was on the west side
of the Monongahela, a short distance above, and in
2 The following-named "gentlemen justices" were sworn in by the
court on their commissions, viz.:
Joseph Beelor, Joseph Becket, John Campbell, John Canon, Isaac
Cox, William  Crawford, Zachariah Councell, John Decamp, Thonlas
Freeman, Benjamin Frye, Jolln Gibson, William Goe, William Harrison,
Benjamin Kirkendall, John McDowell, John McDonald, George McCorliick, Oliver Miller, Samuel Newell, Dorsey Pentecost, MatthewRitcllie, James Rogers, Thomas Smallmnan, Andrew Swearingen, John
Stevenson, George Vallanldigliam, Edward Ward, Joshua Wright, and
Richard Yeates. The following named held commnissions but were not
sworn in: Thonmas Brown, James Blackiston, John Carmichael, Benjanliil Harrison, Jacob Hayinaker, Isaac Leet, Sr., James McLean, Isaac
Meason, Johni Neville, Pllilip Ross, and Joseph Vance.
And the following-named persons were also sworn in as civil and
military officers of the county:
Clerk, Dorsey Pentecost; deputy, Rllph Bowker.
Sherifii, William Harrison (deputy, Isaac Leet), George McCormick
(deputies, IItghl Sterling, Joseph Beelor, Benjamin Vanmeter, and John
Lemon), Matthew Ritchie (deputy, John Sutherland).
Colunty Liettenant, Dorsey Pentecost.
Colonels, Johl Canon, Isaac Cox, John Stephenson.
Lieutenant-Colonels, Isaac Cox, Joseph Beelor, George Vallanldigham.
Maljors, Gabriel Cox, Henry Taylor, William Harrison.
Attorneys, George Brent, William  Harrison, Samuel Irvin, Philip
Pendleton.
Legislators, John Campbell, William Harrison, Matthew Ritchie.
1
I
119IIISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
sight of, the present town of Elizabeth. The statement has frequently been made that the Yohogania
court was at one time held at Redstone Old Fort, but
this is a mistake, doubtless growing out of the fact
that a board of Virginia commissioners sat at that
place in the winter of 1779-80 for the purpose of deciding on land claims and issuing certificates to settlers.
Finally, when the long controversy between the
two States was settled by the assignment of the disputed territory to Pennsylvania, the counties of Monongalia and Ohio, though greatly reduced in area,
still retained their names as counties of Virginia (as
they are of West Virginia at the present time); but
Yohogania, whose limits were wholly within the
territory yielded to Pennsylvania, ceased to exist,
and was thenceforward mentioned as Virginia's " lost
county."
ESTABLISHMENT OF BOUNDARIES.
In the royal grant to William Penn, in 1681, the
territory embraced in it was described as "all that
tract or part of land in America, with all the islands
therein contained, as the same is bounded on the
east by Delaware River, from twelve miles northward
of New Castletown unto the three and fortieth degree of northern latitude, if the said river doth extend so far northwards; but if the said river shall not
extend so far northwards, then by the said river so
far as it does extend; and from the head of said river
the eastern bounds are to be determined by a meridian line to be drawn from the head of said river
unto the said three and fortieth degree; the said lands
to extend westward five degres in longitude, to be
computed from the said eastern bounds; alld the said
land to be bounded north b)y the beginning of the
three and fortieth degree of northern latitude, and
then by a straight line westward to the limits of longitude above mentioned."  On the south the boundary was to be by the circular line from the river,
twelve miles distant from New Castle, "unto the beginning of the fortieth degree of north latitude," and
then by a due west line to the extent of five degrees
of longitude from the river Delaware.
It was found to be a very difficult task to establish
the southern line of Penn's grant against Maryland,
which latter province had been granted to Cecelius
Calvert, Lord Baltimnore, in 1632. A series of bitter
disputes and collisions ensued, which during a period
of fifty years brought about no progress towards the
desired settlement. In 1732 the successors of Penn
and Calvert entered into articles of agreement for
fixing the boundary, and under this agreement a
temporary line was run in 1739 as far west as " the
most western of the Kittochtinny Hills" (on the
south line of the present county of Franklin, Pa.),
and there the matter rested until 1760, when a new
agreement was made, and seven commissioners appointed for each proprietary to establish the line.
These commissioners chose four surveyors to execute
the work, viz.: John Lukens and Archibald McClean
for Pennsylvania, and John F. A. Priggs and John
Hall for Maryland. They immediately commenced
operations, but by reason of the great natural difficulties to be overcome and the imperfection of their
instruments and appliances, their progress was so
slow that in 1763 the proprietaries residing in London
became impatient, and in August of that year employed Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, "London astronomers and surveyors," to complete the
work.
These surveyors calne to America at once and
commenced operations, but it was nearly two years
before they had finished the preliminary work at the
eastern end and fairly started oin the due east-andwest line which has been since known by their
names, Mason and Dixon's line. By the end of that
year they had advanced as far west as the end of the
temporary line of 1739. In the spring of 1766 they
again commenced work, and on the 4th of June had
reached the top of Little Allegheny Mountain, but
dared not proceed farther for fear of the Indians.
After that no progress was made until June, 1767,
when the surveying-party again took up the work,
being then escorted by.a party of warriors of the Six
Nations to hold the threatening Shawanese and Delawares in check. The point where Braddock's road
crosses from Maryland into Somerset County, Pa.,
was reached on the 24th of August, and there the Iroquois escort left them; but they pushed on, crossing the
Youghiogheny and Monongahela Rivers, and in October came to the Indian trail known as the Warrior
Branch, near the second crossing of Dunkard Creek.
The Delawares and Shawanese had been growing
more and more threatening since the departure of
the Six Nations warriors, and they now positively
forbade any advance by the surveyors west of the
crossing of the trail. The party could not proceed in
defiance of this prohibition, and consequently the
line stopped at this point, beyond which it was not
extended until about fifteen years later.
The running of Mason and Dixon's line was the
final establishment of the boundary between Pennsylvania and Maryland, but it established nothing with regard to the line between the former
State and Virginia. The latitude of Mason and
Dixon's line is 39~ 43' 26" north, and neither contestant was willing to accept it as the correct boundary. The proprietaries of Pennsylvania claimed
under the royal grant a territory three degrees of latitude in width,-that is, from "the beginning of the
fortieth degree of north latitude" to "the beginning
of the three and fortieth degree of north latitude."
Thev contended that the beginning of the first degree
of north latitude is the equator, and the beginning of
the second degree is at the end of the first degree, or
latitude 1~ north, therefore that the " beginning of the
fortieth degree is at the ending of the thirty-ninth
I
I
1.9.1ESTABLISHMENT OF BOUNDARIES.
degree, or latitude 39~ north. They therefore claimed
as their boundary against Virginia the parallel of 39~
north, which would have given to Pennsylvania a
strip 43' 26" in width south of Mason and Dixon's
line, in that part west of the western boundary of
Maryland. But, on the contrary, Virginia claimed
(as will hereafter be more fully mentioned) that the
boundary between the two States should be the parallel of 40~ north latitude. This would have given
to Virginia a strip 16/ 34" wide north of the present
State boundary, along the southern borders of Greene
and Fayette Counties, as far east as the west line of
Maryland.
But it was the establishment of the west line of
Pennsylvania that was regarded by each party as of
the greatest importance, for each was anxious-to secure Pittsburgh and the Monongahela country. On
the 21st of April, 1774, the Pennsylvania Council
appointed James Tilghman and Andrew Allen commissioners to confer with the Governor of Virginia
with a view to promote a settlement of the boundary. The Governor asked them to submit a proposition in writing, which they did, viz., that surveyors be appointed by the two States, and that
they proceed to survey the courses of the Delaware
from the intersection of Mason and Dixon's line
northward " to that part of the river that lies in the
latitude of Fort Pitt, and as much farther as may be
needful for the present purpose;" then that Mason
and Dixon's line be extended to five degrees of longitude from the Delaware, and that from the termination of the said five degrees a line or lines corresponding to the courses of the Delawvare be run to the
Ohio, " as nearly as may be at the distance of five degrees from said river in every part," and that the lines
so run be the boundary and line of jurisdiction until
the boundary could be run by royal authority. Dunmore objected to so inconvenient a line for the west
(east) boundary, and he recommended a meridian line
to be run fromn Mason and Dixon's at the distance of
five degrees of longitude, but he said that unless the
commissioners would agree to a plan as favorable to
Virginia as to Pennsylvania there could be nothing
agreed on prior to the king's decision. The commissioners replied that for the purpose of producing harmony and peace " we shall be willing to recede from
our charter bounds so far as to make the river Monongahela from the line of Mason and Dixon the western
boundary of jurisdiction, which would at once settle
our present dispute without the great trouble and expense of running lines, or the inconvenience of keeping the jurisdiction in suspense." But Dunmore made
final reply that under no circumstances would he consent to yield Fort Pitt; and this the commissioners
regarded as a close of the negotiations.
The plan submitted by the commissioners at the
above-mentioned conference was based on a proposition contained in a letter previously written by Governor Penn to Dunmore, viz.: that from the northwestern extremity of Maryland the boundary of
Pennsylvania should run due south to the 39th parallel (this being " the beginning of the 40th degree of
northern latitude"), and from there run due west
along that parallel to the end of five degrees of longitude from.the Delaware, and that from that point
the western boundary should be run north in a serpentine course, corresponding with the meanders of
the Delaware, and so as to be five degrees of longitude distant from that river at every point.
Dunmore, in reply, ridiculed the idea of the serpentine line, but proposed that the west line of
Pennsylvania should be run due south from the
north boundary of Penn's grant, at a point five
degrees of longitude vest from the Delaware on that
parallel, and he gave a rather plausible reason for
the proposition, viz.: "Because the grant directs that
the survey shall begin at a point on the south part of
the boundary and proceed northward;... it being
usual always in like cases to proceed and extend the
five degrees of longitude, and not to return to the
south point, and draw it from thence." He thought
this would be much more favorable for Virginia, for
he said, "If my construction be the true one, then
Fort Pitt (by reason of the Delaware River running
very much eastwardly towards your northern bounds)
will probably be at least fifty miles without your
limits." His idea (which was not very clearly expressed) was that the Delaware River is many miles
farther east at the forty-third than at the fortieth degree of latitude, and that a corresponding gain to
Virginia would be made by extending the five degrees of longitude from the former latitude instead
of from the latter.
The propositions above mentioned were about the
last of the negotiations between Penn and Dunmore,
for both were soon after driven fronm power by the
Revolution. The next proposition for a settlement
of the boundary is found in certain resolutions passed
by the Virginia Legislature on the 18th of December,
1776, one of wvhich authorized the Virginia delegates
in the Continental Congress to propose the following
plan:
"That the meridian line drawn from the head of
the Potomac to the northwest angle of Maryland be
extended due north until it intersects the latitude of
forty degrees, and from thence the southern boundary
shall be extended on the said fortieth degree of latitude until the distance of five degrees of longitude
from the Delaware shall be accomplished thereon,
and from the said point five degrees, either in every
point, according to the meanderings of the Delaware,
or (which is perhaps easier and better for both) from
proper points or angles on the Delaware, with intermediate straight lines." This was identical with the
plan before mentioned, by which Pennsylvania would
lose a strip of considerable width north of Mason and
Dixon's line, aloiig the southern borders of the present counties of Greene and Fayette, and it embraced
I 1).  HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
former (and the larger) stream takes its rise in We
Virginia, crosses the State line into Pennsylvania,
the extreme southwest corner of Fayette County, an
flowing thence in a meandering but generally norti
ward course, marks the entire western boundary (
Fayette against the counties of Greene and Washing
ton, for a distance of nearly forty-seven and a ha]
miles. After leaving the northwestern limit of Fay
ette, the river continues in nearly the same genera
course between Westmoreland and Washington an
through Allegheny County to its confluence with th
Allegheny River at Pittsburgh.
The Youghiogheny-a mountain stream of cleare
and purer water than that of the Monongahela--run
from Maryland into lennsylvania, crossing the lini
into this State at the extreme southeast corner of Fay
ette County. Flowing in a generally northward cours,
from this point, it marks for a distance of fifteen and
one-half miles the boundary between Fayette and
Somerset Counties. From there, turning somewhal
abruptly towards the west, it leaves Somerset, and
with the highlands of Fayette on either side, passes
through this county for a distanceof more than fortyfour miles to the north line. Its general direction
through Fayette is nearly northwest; its current rapid,
rushing and tumbling over a rocky bed in many places,
and broken at one point (Ohio Pile) by falls of considerable height. From the north boundary of this
county it enters Westmoreland, and flows on in nearly
the same course to its junction with the Monongahela
at McKeesport.
Besides these two rivers, Fayette County has a
great number of smaller streams, but among these
there are few that are of sufficient size and importance to deserve separate mention.  Cheat River,
which has its sources in West Virginia, enters Pennsylvania, and flowing a short distance across the extreme southwest corner of this county, joins its waters
with those of the Monongahela. Nearly five miles
farther down the river is the mouth of Georges Creek,
which stream is entirely within this county. Dunlap's Creek and Redstone Creek are both also wholly
within the county, from mouth to head-springs. The
former enters the Monongahela between the boroughs
of Brownsville and Bridgeport, and the latter about
one and a quarter miles farther north.  Jacob's
Creek, flowing in a westward direction, forms the
northern boundary of Fayette County for a little
more than twenty miles (by its meandering course)
eastward from the point where it enters the Youghiogheny River.  The other principal tributaries of
that river within the territory of Fayette are Mounts'
Creek, which rises in the mountainous region in the
northeast part of the county, and enters the Youghiogheny just below the borough of Connellsville; Indian
Creek, which also takes its rise in the northeastern
highlands, and flows into the river from that direction,
about eight miles above Mounts' Creek; and Great
Meadow Run, which flows from its sources in the Laurel
st Hill range, first southeasterly, and then towards the
at northeast, entering the river through its left bank near
id  Ohio Pile Falls. Big Sandy Creek and Little Sandy
h-  Creek rise in the southern part of Fayette, and thence
of take a southerly course into WVest Virginia, where
o- their waters join those of the Cheat River, and
lf through it find their way into the Monongahela.
v-   In that part of the county which lies northeast of
i1 the Youghiogheny are two mountain ranges, extendd ing from Westmoreland County in a direction nearly
e  south-southwest and parallel with each other to the
river. The more western of the two is called Chestr nut Ridge, and the other Laurel Hill, the crest of
s which latter forms a part of the county boundary
e between Fayette and Somerset, the remainder of that
line, about fifteen miles, being marked by the Youghioe gheny River, as before noticed. The valley between
1 these ranges, broken somewhat by detached hills, is
i drained by Indian Creek and its small tributaries.
t Its soil is better adapted for grazing purposes than
for the production of grain. West of the Chestnut
3Ridge is a valley drained by Mount's Creek and its
branches. Beyond this the land rises into hills, of
which a long and high range lies between the Youghiogheny and Jacob's Creek, sloping away towards both
streams, along the margins of which are narrow bottom-lands.
On the southwest side of the Youghiogheny the
name of Laurel Hill is applied to the mountain range,
which is in fact the prolongation of that known on
the other side as Chestnut Ridge. This Laurel Hill
range extends from the Youglliogheny southwestwardly nearly by the geographical centre of the county,
and about two miles east of Uniontown, the countyseat; its summits being more than two thousand five
hundred feet above sea-level, and one thousand feet
above neighboring valleys.  Across the southeast
corner of the county, extending southward from the
Youghiogheny to and across the State line, is a ridge
of rugged hills, which may properly be termed the
prolongation of the Laurel Hill range on the other
side of the river. These hills are, however, in general
much lower and more flattened, there being among
them but one summit (Sugar-Loaf) which in height
approximates to those on the northeast side of the
river.
West of the Laurel Hill range, and extending in a
direction nearly parallel to it across this part of the
county, is a beautiful valley several miles in width,
drained on the south by York's Run and Georges
Creek, and on the northwest and north by Redstone
Creek and several small tributaries of the Youghiogheny River.  This valley is the "Connellsville
Coal Basin," extending west to the "barren measures," about four miles west of the county-seat.
West of this valley are elevated uplands, undulating,
and in many places hilly, particularly as they approach the Monongahela, where they terminate somewhat abruptly in what are termed the "river-hills,"
114
I                                          ------HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
also nearly the same proposition as that which had
been made by Governor Penn for a serpentine line,
corresponding to the courses of the Delaware, as a
western boundary.
The first practical official action towards a definite
and final settlement was taken in 1779 by the appointmnent of George Bryan, John Ewing, and David Rittenhouse, on the part of Pennsylvania, and Dr. James
Madison and Robert Andrews, on the part of Virginia,
as commissioners to meet in conference and determine
the boundary. These commissioners met Aug. 31,
1779, at Baltimore, Md., where they made and subscribed to the following agreement:
" We, [naming the commissioners] do hereby mutually, in behalf of our respective States, ratify and
confirm the following agreement, viz.: To extend
Mason and Dixon's line due west five degrees of
longitude, to be computed from the river Delaware,
for the southern boundary of Pennsylvania, and that
a meridian drawn from the western extremity thereof
to the northern limit of said State be the western
boundary of said State forever."
This agreement of the commissioners was confirmed
(upon certain conditions as to land titles) by the Virginia Legislature June 23, 1780, and by the General
Assembly of Pennsylvania on the 23d of September
in the same year. This ended the long controversy
so far as agreement on the location of the boundary
was concerned, but the wvork of running the line
still remained, and this was found to be a task much
more difficult and troublesome than had been expected.
In running their line Mason and Dixon had computed a degree of longitude on that parallel to be 53
miles 167-k- perches, and consequently that the line,
from where it was left at the Warrior Branch trail,
would have to be extended about twenty-three miles
westward to complete the five degrees of longitude
from the Delaware. But as some doubts had arisen
as to the accuracy of this computation, it was determined to establish the western limit by astronomical
observations, and, as considerable preparation was
necessary for the execution of the work by this
method, it was thought necessary in the mean time to
run a temporary line, and in the spring of 1781 the
President and Council of Pennsylvania, under authority from the Assembly, appointed Alexander McClean (the renowned surveyor, who lived in Fayette
County for many years) to meet one to be appointed
by Virginia and execute the work. Reference to this
matter is found in a letter dated July 23, 1781, addressed by President Reed to Col. James Marshal,
lieutenant of Washington County, from which the
following is an extract:
"... It was mnuch our Wish and equally our Intention to run the Line this Spring, but the State of
1 Pa. Archives, ix. 304.
Virginia being invaded and the Affairs of the Government in great Confusion there has not been the time
or Opp'y for that Purpose which was necessary. Besides that, upon Inquiry we found the Season was too far
advanced for those astronomical Observations which
were necessary to run the Line with Exactness. We
have therefore postponed the grand Operation to
next Spring. But, as we know it was highly necessary
to have a Partition of Territory and Jurisdiction, we
proposed to Virginia to run a temporary Line, beginning at the End of Masons  Dixons, and measuring
23 miles, what is by Computation the five Degrees of
Longitude called for in the Charter of King Charles
the 2d. This has been agreed to,  the State of Virginia has sent Orders to the Surveyor of Yeoghegany
County to join with one to be appointed by us to
that Service.  We have appointed Alexander McClean, Esq.,  this Express carries up his Commission and Instructions for this Purpose. Should he
have Occasion for a Guard, or any other Assistance
from you, we make no Doubt he will receive it. As
soon as they have run the Line  reported their Proceedings we shall send up Proclamations calling upon
all those who shall fall into this State to conform to
its Laws and Government, and hope you will soon
be relieved from the Anarchy and Confusion which
has reigned so long in your Country fromu this unhappy Dispute."
On the 27th of August President Reed addressed
Thomas Scott on the same subject, as follows:
"... We regret as much as any of the inhabitants
of the County can do the Delay of running the Line,
but the season was too far advanced before we got the
Answer from Virginia to admit of the astronomical
Observations which are necessary for an exact  accurate Performance of this important Post.  The
Month of May is agreed by our Men of Science to be
the only proper Period, and there are divers Instruments necessary which it will take some Time to prepare. However, being sensible of the Importance 
Necessity of some Boundary, as soon as we found it
impracticable to execute the Business this Spring we
proposed to the State of Virginia a temporary Line,
extending Mason  Dixon's to the Ohio, or 23 miles.
They accepted the latter,  about a Month ago we
sent off a Commission to Alexr McClean, Esqr, appointing him our Agent for this Purpose. We hope
that by this Time he has engaged in the Service, as we
learn from Col. Marshal that the Gov. of Virginia
had appointed their Agent. I have been thus particular as well to obviate any Mistakes on this
Subject as to show you how anxious we have been to
run thb Line, and that the Delays have been unavoidable."
In a letter dated Sept. 13, 1781, addressed to President Reed by Alexander McClean, he mentions that
Mr. Madison (the commissioner appointed by Virginia to act with him in running the temporary line)
I
1922ESTABLISHMIENT OF BOUNDARIES.
had only arrived on the last of August from the Kanawha, and proceeds:
"I have since conferred with him, and he appears
outwardly willingly to Co-operate with me in -the
performance of th3 trust, yet appears warmly attached
to the other State, Inasmuch as I am yet doubtful
whether the matter will be ended this Season. However it may be, I am determined this day to wrisk it,
this being the day appointed for Rendezvouz. We
have been much distressed in our preparations by
Reason of sudden Excursions of the Enemy; Washington County being more immediately invested with
the external as well as Internal Eneimies of this State.
Your Excellency's Instructions Requiring the Lieuts.
of that County to furnish the Guard prevented me
from making application elsewhere, which has occasioned at least a disappointment of ten days, as I
have attended the appointments already twice,  the
Guard or Madison not in Readiness."
So many delays occurred (intentional as was believed on the part of Virginia) that nothing was accoinplished in 1781 towards running the temporary
line. On the 2d of March,. 1782, Council received
and adopted the following report from a committee
appointed to consider the question of running the
line, viz.:
"That Council and your Committee are unanimous
in Opinion, from the great expences necessarily attending the compleating the Line between this State
and Virginia, it would be most prudent to defer it for
the present, and that a temporary Line during the
Continuance of the present War, or till times are
more settled on the Frontiers, may be made and agreed
on at a small expence, which will answer every purpose expected, and to effect which Council will take
the necessary measures."
The work was ordered to proceed, and the first part
of June set for the commencement. At the time named
Col. McClean repaired to the rendezvous, but neither
Cominissioi,er Madison nor the Virginia surveyor,
Joseph Neville, appeared, and an armed party of
Virginians who had collected there prevented him
from proceeding with the work. The circumstances
attending this occurrence, with some other matters
pertaining to the boundary, are set forth in the following letter' from McClean to President Moore, of the
Council, viz.:
"COLLo COOK'S, ON MY WAY FROM PITTSBURGH, 27th Junle, 1782.
"SIR,--To my great Mortification, I am lead to inform you that after every effort which prudence
mnight dictate, I am again prevented from Running
the Line. The Circumstances I presume you will be
anxious to know,--they are as follows, Viz.: Shortly
after my Return from Philadelphia, an expedition
was formed against Sandusky by the Volunteers of
both Counties, which drew off a great Number of the
Militia and Arms. The Situation of Washiington
1 Pa. Arch., ix. 564.
County was very distressing to appearance. I thought
it not prudent to call any part of the Guard from
thence altho' Impowered so to do. The Lieut. of the
County of Westmoreland furnished me with a guard
of one hundred and upward, but had not Arms sufficient to supply them; about Seventy were armed.
W\e proceeded to the Mouth of Dunkard Creek, where
our Stores were laid in, on the tenth day of June, and
were preparing to Cross the River that Night, when a
party of about thirty horsemen, Armed, appeared on
the opposite side of the River, Damning us to come
over, and threatening us to a great Degree; and several more were seen by our Bullock Guard, which we
had sent over the river, one of which asked them if
they would Surrender to be taken as prisoners, with
other Language of menacing; and hearing of a great
Number more who were on their way to their assistance, We held a Council, the Result of which was to
appoint a Committee to confer with them on the
Causes of their opposition; the result of said Conference you will see enclosed. This Mob or Banditti of
Villains are greatly increased since the supply Bill
has been published amongst them..... In short the
Cry against Taxes in Specie is general, and in any
Mode, by a Number of those who formerly adhered to
Virginia, and they think the Running of the Line
will be a prelude to and increase the power of Collecting them; Together with the Idea of a New State,
which is artfully and industriously conveyed (under
Coverture) by some of the Friends of that State, as
the only expedient to prevent the Running of the
Line. I have also to inform you tllat I have the most
finished assurance that they have not the least Desire
to Settle the Line in any equitable manner, for the
Instructions of their Commissioners (if they have appointed any) will doubtless direct them to begin at
the end of Maryland, which is not yet ascertained,
neither can it be without the concurrence of that
State, which I am fully persuaded was thrown in as a
barrier to keep the Evil day the further off, as I fell
into Company with a person of great Consequence in
that State on my Way from Philadelphia, who was
big with the propriety of it, and Quoted a Gentleman
of this Country as the Author of it. Yet it would be
out of Character to say that the Executive of Virginia, who are so tender of Duplicity on any occasion, should Wrap their Councils in Darkened Language. I think it would be much to their honour
and the Interest of this State, as well as those United,
if their Actions could be brought to Correspond with
their Declarations.
"Coll~ Hayes, who was present on Committee, was
Zealous to proceed against all opposition, but all to
no purpose, other than to enrage the Mob Still more;
they proceeded to dare us to trial of their Resolution
and intention. I have just now been with General
Irwin, who is well disposed to render every Service in
his power, but as a Continental Officer he cannot interfere without instructions for that purpose. In
I  
I
I
123HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
short., every measure has been takeen that might be                         "IN COUNCIL, PHILADELPHIA, July 20, 1782.
thought prudent, but to no purpose; their obstinacy        "Enclosed you have a copy of a resolution of the Legislais such that they never will Submit until destruction   ture of Virginia respecting the line between that State and
overtakes them.                                          ours, dated June 1, and copy of Governor Harrison's letter ac"I have therefore to request you will devise some  companying it, dated June 29, and also the order of Council
of the 19th inst., directing, you to attend at the west end of
mlodze that it may be. accomplished speedily, as the | Mason and Dixon's line on Monday, the 4th of November next.
Enemies of this State are daily encreasing, and I find   You arc then, in conjunction with the Surveyor to be appointed
it is out of my power, unless a Commissioner from   on the part of Virginia, to proceed in running the line agreeaVirginia should appear, to proceed without open War,  ble to your former direction. It will be advisable to call out
which, if you are determined upon, you'll please to  the militia for guards froln among those who live at somne disgive me instructions agreeably, together with thle Ne.  tance frollm the line, and we hope Virginia will take the same
cessary Powers. I am just noW informed that a meet-  precautions, to prevent heats and needless controversy.
ing of some of the formner Subjects of Virginia has  Colonel Hayes will continue his assistance under the former
been lately Requested to choose Officers to Resume  instructions.
tre Giovernnment in this place, the Result of which I
am not able to inform you."
With the above letter was transmitted to President
Moore the following minutes' of a conference between
the boundary commissioners of Pennsylvania and a
comnmittee appointed for the purpose by the partisanis
of Virginia, viz.:
"MOUTH OF DuNKARD CREEK, JulIe 10th, 1782.
"At a meeting of the Commissioners on the Part of Pennsylvania, the 10th Day of June, one Thousand Seven hundred
and Eighty-Two.
"Present Alexander McClean, Esqr        Commissioners
 Samuel McClean Assist Surveyor I for Running the Line.
"; With the Several Drafts of the Militia of the 3d  4th Battalions of Westmoreland County, under the Command of Col.
Benjamin Davis, c.
"lVhen a number of the Inhabitants of Washington County,
holding themselves yet under the Jurisdiction of the State of
Virginia, appeared in Opposition to us, under Arms. And as
the meeting of Parties in such cases Inraged with Passion are
frequently attended [with?] Evil Consequences, it was thought
Proper to appoint a Committee to Confer on the Causes or
Reasons of said Opposition; on which Henry Vanmeter, Jesse
Pigman, andl George Newland, of the Opposite Partie, were appointed a Colnlnittee to Confer with us; and Christopher Hayes,
henry Beason, and Alexander McClean a Cosniiiittee on behalf
of Pennsylvania: After Producing the Several Papers and Instructions, Together with Correspondinc, Letters of the Council
of Virginia, Tlec said Cotwumittee on the Part of Vir-inia Refuise to Concur with the Coilnnittee of Pennsylvania in the
Mleasure, untill finally Determined or Proclaimned to be agreeab!e to the State of Virginia, other than through forceable or
Dangerous Measures, Wlhich might be attended with Consequences trmily Evil.
"In Witness that it is the full Intention of the Party we
represent, We, as a Commiiittee, do Sign our Names for them
the Day and year aforesaid.
" HENRY VANMETER,
"JESSE PIGcMAN,
" GEORE NEWLAND.
In the mean time, however, the Legislature of Virginia had given its formal assenit to the running of
the line, and thereupon President Moore sent to Col.
McClean his instructions to proceed, viz.:
1 Pa. Arell., vol. ix. p. 100.
Under this arrangement and these instructions,
Col. McClean, with Joseph Neville on the part of
Virginia, ran the temporary line in the fall of 1782.
The boundary thus run was an extension of Mason
and Dixon's line froln the point where it was left in
1767 twenty-three miles, and from that point (which
was afterwards proved to be about one and a half
miles too far west) due north to the Ohio River. On
the 23d of February, 1.783, McClean reported the
coiapletion of the work to the Council of Pennsylvania.
The permanent boundary line was run and established from the Maryland line westward to the southwest corner of the State of Pennsylvania in 1784,
under the direction of James Madison, Robert Andrews, John Page, Andrew Ellicott, John Ewing,
David Rittenhouse, Thomas Hutchins, and John
Lukens; the first four of whom were appointed by
Virginia, and the others by Pennsylvania, commissioners "to determine by astronomical observations
the extent of five degrees of longitude-west from the
river Delaware, in the latitude of Mason and Dixon's
line, and to run and mark the boundaries which are
common to both States, according to an agreement
entered into by commnissioners from the said twvo
States at Baltimore in 1779, and afterwards ratified
by their respective Assemblies." About the beginning
of June Comrnissioners Ewing and Hutchins set out
for the southwest corner of the State, as marked by
the temtporary line of 1782, where they met Madison
and Ellicott. Rittenhouse and Lukens proceeded to
Wilinington, Del., where they were afterwards joined
by Page and Andrews. At each of these points an
observatory was erected, where the respective parties,
by many weeks of careful astronotnical observations,
carefully adjusted their chronometers to the true time.
"The astronomical observations being completed,
on the 20th of September the Eastern Astronomers
set out to meet the other commissioners in the west
in order to compare them together. Messrs. Ritten
house and Andrews carried. with them the observations made at Wilmington, while Messrs. Lukens and
Page returned home, not being able to endure the
fatigues of so long a journey, nor the subsequent
labor of runniing and marking the Boundary line.
" True Coppy,
" E. COOK."
I
124SLAVERY AND SERVITUDE.
Mr. Madison continued with the Western Astronomers till the arrival of Messrs. Rittenhouse and Andrews, when the affairs of his fanlily and publick
station obliged him to relinquish the business at this
stage and return home, after concurring with the
other commissioners as to the principles on which the
matter was finally determined."  
The difference in time between points five degrees
of longitude distant from each other is twenty minutes, but on comparing chronomneters it was found
that the two observatories were twenty minutes one
and one-eighth seconds apart. The observatory at
Wilmington was also 114 chains 13 links west of the
intersection of Mason and Dixon's line with the Delaware River. This showed that the western observatory was 134 chains 9 links west of the end of the five
degrees of longitude. That distance was thereupon
measured back eastward on the line, the line corrected, and the permanent southwest corner of the
State marked by a substantial post.  In the joint
report of the commissioners, dated Nov. 18, 1784,
they say, " The underwritten commissioners have
continued Mason and Dixon's line to the termination
of the said five degrees of longitude, by which work
the southern boundary of Pennsylvania is completed.
The continuation we have marked by opening vistas
over the most remarkable heights which lie in its
course, and by planting on many of these heights, in
the parallel of latitude, the true boundary, posts
marked with the letters P and V, each letter facing
the State of which it is the initial. At the extremity
of this line, which is the southwest corner of Pennsylvania, we have planted a squared, unlettered whiteoak post, around whose base wve have raised a pile of
stones. The corner is in the last vista we cut, on the
east side of an hill-, one hundred and thirty-four
chains and nine links east of the meridian of the
Western Observatory, and two chains and fifty-four
links west of a deep narrow valley through which the
said last vista is cut..... The advanced season of
the year and the inclemeAcy of the weather have
obliged us to suspend our operations, but we have
agreed to meet again at the southwest corner of Pennsylvania on the 16th day of next May to complete
the object of our commission."  In accordance with
this agreement they met in the following year, ran
and established the west line of Pennsylvania due
north from the southwest corner of the Ohio River,
and made a report of the same on the 23d of August.
In 1786, Col. Alexander McClean and Col. Porter ran
and completed the State line northwvard from the
Ohio River to the lake.
SLAVERY AND -SERVITUDE.
Of the people who emigrated from  the east to
settle west of the Laurel Hill prior to 1780, a large
proportion were from Virginia and Maryland, and
R1 eport of the Pennsylvania Commiss'oners.
9
many of them who had held slaves east of the mountains brought those slaves with. them to their new
homes in the West, for at that time the laws of Pennsylvania recognized and tolerated the " peculiar institution" as fully as did those of Virginia. Among
these were the Crawfords, Stevensons, Harrisons, McCormicks, Vance, Wilson, and others. A most distinguished (though non-resident) holder of bondmen
in Fayette County was George Washington, whose
improvements on his large tract of land in the present
township of Perry were made principally by their
labor. Frequent allusions to these "servants" are
found in letters addressed to Col. Washington ill 1774
and 1775 by Valentine Crawford, who resided on
Jacob's Creek, and acted as general agent in charge
of Washington's lands and affairs of improvement in
this region. A few extracts from those letters are
given below, viz.:
"JACOB'S CREEK, May 7, 1774.
"..  Your servants are all in very good health,
and if you should incline selling them, I believe I
could sell them for cash out here to different people.
My brother, William Crawford, wants two of them,
and I would take two myself..."
"GIST'S, 3Iay 13, 1774.
"I write to let you know that all your servants are
well, and that none have run away.2.."
"JACOB'S CREEK, Junie 8, 1774.
"... I will go to Simpson's [Washington's estate
in the present township of Perry] to-morrow morning
and consult him farther on the affair, and do everything in my power for your interest. The thoughts
of selling your servants alarmed them very much, for
they do not warmt to be sold. The whole of them
have had some short spells of sickness, and some of
them cut themselves with an axe, causing them to lay
by for some time.  One'of the best of Stephens'
[Washington's millwright] men cut himself with
an adze the worst I ever saw anybody cut in my
life. He has not been able to do one stroke for
near a month. This happened in digging out the
canoes....
"JACOB'S CREEK, July 27, 1774.
"DEAR COLONEL,-On Sunday evening or Monday
morning, William  Orr, one of the most orderly men
I thought I had, ran away, and has taken a horse and
other things. I have sent you an advertisement 3 of
2 At the tinme when these letters were written there was a general
panic among the servants as well as the settlers on account ot the commencement of the Iiidian lhostilities known as " Dunniore's war."  This
panic cauised a suspension of work on Washington's improvements on
his tracts in the neighborhood of the present village of Perryopolis,
and tlhis, together withl the fact that the servants through dread of Indian incursions and massacre were inclined to run away, was the cause
of the proposition to sell them.
3 Following is a copy of the advertisement referred to:
" FiVE  POUNDS REWARD.
" Run away from the subscriber, living on Jacob's Creek, near Stewart's Crossing, in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, on Sunday nilght,
the 24th instant, a convict servant man nanmed William Orr, the prloperty of Col. G.orge Waslington. IIe is a well-made man, about five feet
I
195HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
him. I am convinced he wvill make for some ship in
Potomac River. I have sent two men after him, and
furnished them with horses and inoney. I have also
written to my brother, Richard Stevenson [a halfbrother of Crawford's], in Berkeley, and James McCormick to escort the men I sent, and to forward this
letter and advertisement to you.... I have sold all
the men but two, and I believe I should have sold
them but the man who is run away had a very sore
foot, which was cut with an axe and was not
long well, and John Smnith was not well of the old
disorder he had when he left your house. I sold
Peter Miller and John Wood to one Mr. Edward
Cook for ~45, the money to be applied to the use
of building your mill. I sold Thomas McPherson
and his wife and James Lowe to Maj. John McCulloch and Jones Ennis for ~65, payable in six months
from the date of sale. To my brother I sold William
Luke, Thomas White, and the boy, John Knight. He
is either to pay you for them or he loses them in case
you can prosecute your designs down the river [the
opening of a plantation on the Virginia side of the
Ohio, between Wheeling and the Little Kanawha].
I took John Smith and William Orr on the same
terms; so that, in justice, I am accountable to you
for the man if he is never got. I should have sold
the whole of the servants, agreeable to your letter,
if I could have got cash or good pay, but the confusion of the times put it out of my power.... I only
went down to Fort Pitt a day or two, and two of my
own servants and two militiamen ran away. I followved them and caught them all down at Bedford,
and brought them back. While I was gone two of
your men, John Wood and Peter mller, stole a quantity of bacon and bread, and were to have started
that very night I got home, but a man of mine discovered their design. I sold theni immediately, and
would hlave sold the whole if I could, or delivered
them to Mr. Simpson, but he would not be concerned
with them at any rate."
ten inclhes hight, and about tweinty-foiir years of age. He was born in
Scotland, anid speaks htlat dialect pretty  mullch. Ile is of a red coIniplexion anid very full-faced, with short, sanidy-colored hair, anid very remarkable thuimbs, they botlh being crooked. He had on anid took lwitlh
hjim anl old felt lhat bound witlh black bindiiig, one white cottoni coat and
jacket with black lhorn buttons, one old brrown jacket, onie pair of snuftf
colored breeches, onie pair of' trowsers made in sailor's fiaslion, anid they
are miade of saii-lldck, aiid have not been washed, a pair of rel leggins#
antd slioes tied with strinigs, two Osnaber- shirts atnd onie Ifolla.nd sljirt
marked'V. C,' wuhich lie stole, anid a blaniket.
"He stole likewise a black lhorse, abotut foutrteen hands high, branded
on the inear slhoulder atnd buttock'R. W.', aid slhod before. He lhad
neitlher bridle iior saddle that we know of. I expect lie will make to
some seaport towii, as he has been niucli used to tChe seas. Wnoever
takes up said servant and secuires hiim, so that lie aiid lhorse may be had
again, shall receive thie above reward, or three pounids for the man alone
and reasonable charges if brought home paid by nie.
"VAL. CRAWFORD,
"For COL. GEORGE WASHINGTON.
"July 25, 1774.
"N. B.-All masters of vessels are forbid takinig hiim out of the country on their peril.
" V. C."1
"JACOB'S CREEK, June 24, 1775.
"I am very sorry to inform you I received a letter
from  Mr. Cleveland of the 7th June, wherein he
seems to be in a good deal of distress.  Five of the
servants have run away and plagued him muclh.
They got to the Indian towns, but by the exertions of
one Mr. Duncan, a trader, he has got them again.
He has sent three of them up by a man he had hired
with a letter to my brother William or myself to sell
them for you, but the man sold them  himself somewhere about Wheeling on his way up, and never
brought them to us. He got ~20 Pennsylvania currency for them, and gave one year's credit. This was
very low, and he did not receive one shilling. This
was contrary to Cleveland's orders, as the latter wanted
to raise some cash by the sale to purchase provisions."
It is noticeable that Crawford, in the correspondence
above qtioted, never uses the word " slave," but always
" servant." Among the people employed on Washington's improvements in Fayette County there,were
a few African slaves (some of whom lived until within
the memory of people now living), but they were
principally white bondmen, such as, until the opening of the Revolution, were continually sent to
America from Great Britain for crime or other causes
and sold into servitude on their arrival by the masters of the vessels which brought them  over.  The
following advertisernent of such a sale is from  the
Virginia Gazette of March 3, 1768:
"Just arrived, The Neptune, Capt. Arbuckle, with one hundred and ten healthy servants, men, womuen, and boys; amongwhom are many valuable tradesmiien, viz.: tailors, weavers,
barbers, blacksmiths, carpenters and joiners, shoemakers, a
stay-maker, cooper, cabinet-maker, bakers, silversmiths, a gold
and silver refiner, and many others. The sale will commence
at Leedstown, on the Rappahannoc, on Wedniesday, the 9th of
this (March). A reasonable credit will be allowed on giving
approved security to
"THOMAS HODGE."
On the 1st of March, 1780, the General Assembly
of Pennsylvania passed-"An Act for the gradual
Abolition of Slavery," which provided and declared
"That all persons, as well Negroes and Mulattoes as
others, who shall be born within this State from and
after the passing of this act shall not be deemed anid
considered as servants for life or slaves; and that all
servitude for life or slavery of children in consequence of the slavery of their mothers, in the case of
all children born within this state from and after the
passing of this act as aforesaid, shall be and hereby
is utterly taken away, extinguished, and forever
abolished. Provided always, and be it further enacted,
That every Negro and Mulatto child born within this
State after the passinig of this act as aforesaid (who
would in case this act had not been- made have been
born. a servant for years, or life, or a slave) shall be
deemed to be, and shall be by virtue of this act, the
servant of such person, or his or her assigns, who
would in such case have been entitled to the service
jI                                                                                       -:ISLAVERY AND SEtRVITUDE.
of such child, until such child shall attain unto the
age of twenty-eiglit years, in the manner and on the
coiiditions whereon servants bound by indenture for
four years are or may be retained and holden..."
The law required that, in order to distinguish slaves
from all other persons, each and every owner of slaves
at the passage of the act should, on or before the 1st
of November, 1780, register in the office of the court
of the county his or her name and surname and occupation or profession, with the name, age, and sex
of his or her slaves or " servants for life or till the age
of thirty-one years;" and it further enacted, "That
no man or woman of any nation or colour, except the
Negroes or Mulattoes who shall be registered as aforesaid, shall at any time hereafter be deemed adjudged
or hlolden within the territories of this commonwealth
as slaves or servants for life, but as free men and free
women," except in the cases of slaves attending on
delegates in Congress from other States, foreign mministers and consuls, or non-resident travelers in or
through this State, and also in the cases of slaves employed as seamen on vessels owned by persons not
residents in this State. In October, 1781, was passed
" An Act to give relief to certain persons taking refuge
in this State with respect to their slaves," which provided that such refugees might hold their slaves notwvithstanding the act of March 1, 1780, but the operation of the law of 1781 was to cease at the end of six
months after the termination of the war of the Revolution.
On the 13th of April, 1782, the General Assembly
passed " An Act to redress certain Grievances within
the counties of Westmoreland and Washington."
This act was designed for the relief of certain persons living within the so-called counties of Yohogania, Monongalia, and Ohio, who had taken the
oath of allegiance to Virginia, and had, at the time
of the passage of the act for the gradual abolition of
slavery in this State, and for a considerable time
thereafter, supposed that their places of residence
were outside the limits of the State of Pennsylvania,
and had on that account neglected or been prevented
from registering their slaves within the time required
by the provisions of the act. All such persons, inlhabitants of the counties of Westmoreland and Washington, who could produce proof of their having
taken the oath of allegiance to Virginia before the
establishment of the boundary line between the two
States was agreed to, and whose names should be
found in the records of the above-mentioned Virginia
counties, were, by the act of 1782, "declared to be to
all intents and purposes free citizens of this State;"
and it was filrther enacted,"That it shall and may be lawful for all such inhabitants of the said counties who were on the 23d day
of September, 1780, possessed of negro or mulatto
slaves or servants until the age of thirty-one years to
register such slaves or servants, agreeable to the directions of the act aforesaid for the gradual abolition
of slavery, on or before the 1st day of January next,
and the said master or masters, owner or owners of
such slaves or servants shlall be entitled to his or their
service as by the said act is directed, and the said
slaves and servants shall be entitled to all benefits
and immunities in the said act contained and expressed."  And the clerks of the Orphans' Courts,
registers of the probate of wills, and recorders of
deeds for Westmoreland and Washington Counties
were empowered to call on the late clerks of the Virginia counties of Yohogania, Monongalia, and Ohio
for the papers and records in their custody relating to
the taking of oaths of allegiance, probates of wills,
granting of letters of admlinistration, and recording
of deeds; and the said ex-clerks of the Virginia
counties were required to deliver up such records and
documents entire and undefaced, under penalty of a
fine of five hundred pounds for refusal or neglect to
do so, and such records and documents were then to
become a part of the records of Westmoreland and
Washington Counties.
The passage of the law for the gradual abolition
of slavery in Pennsylvania was very offensive to most
of those who had come into this region with their
servants from the other side of Mason and Dixon's
line. It has been said (but with how much of truth
is not known) that Gen. Washington was greatly displeased by the enactment, and the story even goes so
far as to assert that he regarded it as a personal affront, and that this was the cause of his disposing of
his real and personal property in Fayette County.
However this may have been, it is certain that a
large proportion of the Virginians and Marylanders
who had settled with their slaves west of the Laurel
Hill became so incensed at the adoption of this measure, and the establishment at about the same time of
the boundary line, by which, to their surprise, they
found themselves in Pennsylvania and not within the
bounds of Virginia, as they had supposed, that they
sold out their possessions in the Monongahela country
and removed with their slaves to the Southwest. This
was one of the principal causes for the commencement
of the very extensive emigration from this section of
country to Kentucky,' which set in about 1780, and
1 Judge Veech says, concerning this matter, " The passage of this law
and its becoming a' fixed fact' about the same time that this was Efound
to be] Pennisylvanlia  teriitory combined to induce many of our early
settlers to sell out anId migrate to Kentucky, which about this date had
opened her charms to adventure, settlement, and slavery. Fayette gave
to that glorious State nlany of her best pioneer settlers, among whom
were her Popes, her Rowans, her Metcalfes, her Hardins, and others.
The flighlt to Kentucky started from the mouth of Redstone, in Kentucky
boats, which landed at Limestone (Maysville). The current was kept
up durilig the decade of 1780-90, and to some extent afterwards, but
now it began to blend with another current which ran into the cheap
and tempting plains of Ohio.... These early removals to Kentucky
brought to our county overpowering numbers of settlers from Easternl
Pennsylvania and New Jersey, who availed themselves of the opportiunity to buy out the imlprovements of the settlers upon easy terms. Of
this class of new settlers were the Friends, who settled about BrownsI
127HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
continued during a succeeding period of ten or fifteen
years.
Among the number of residents of Fayette County
who registered slaves under the requirement of the
law of 1780 are found the following-named persons:
Edward Cook, registered Oct. 12, 1780, seven slaves,
viz.: James, aged 45; Sall, 35; Davy, 24; Joshua,
22; Esther, 17; Nelly, 16; and Sue, 1 year.
Zachariah Connell, Oct: 28, 1780, two slaves, viz.:
Tom, aged 32, and Luce, 40.
Thomas Brown, Dec. 27, 1782, six slaves.
William McCormick, Dec. 30, 1782, five slaves.
James Finley, 1781 and 1782, eight slaves.
Van Swearingen, 1780, nine slaves, and in 1781
four more.
William Goee, 1782, ten slaves.
Robert Beall, 18 slaves; Walter Brisco, 9; Margaret Hutton, 9; Isaac Meason, 8; James Cross, 8;
Andrew Linn, 7; Sarah Hardin, 7; Nancy Brashears,
12; Richard Noble, 7; Benjamin Stevens, 6; James
Dearth, 6; John Stevenson, 5.; Samuel Kincaid, 5;
Peter Laughlin, 5; John McKibben, 5; Edmund
Freeman, 4; James Blackiston, 4; Isaac Pierce, 4;
Augustine Moore, 4; Hugh Laughlin, 4; Benjamin
Davis, 4; James Hammond, 4. Each of the following-named registered three slaves, viz.: Providence
Mounts, John Minter, Margaret Vance, William Harrison, Dennis Springer, Thomas Moore, Joseph Grable,
Robert Harrison, Isaac Newman, John Wells. Among
those registering two slaves each were Richard Stevenson, John iIardin, Mark Hardin, Robert Ross, Philip
Shute, John Mason, John Laughlin, Otho Brashears,
Jonathan Arnold, and Rezin Virgin.
An act supplementary and amendatory to the act
for the gradual abolition of slavery in Pennsylvania
was passed on the 29th of March, 1788. Among the
several provisions of this act was one declaring that
all persons owners of children born after March 1,
1780, who would, under the act of that date, be liable
to serve till twenty-eight years of age, miust, in order
to hold such children to servitude, cause, them to be
registered on or before April 1, 1789, or within six
months after their birth.
In addition to the owndrs of slaves already mentioned, there are found the following names of persons registering slaves in Fayette County in and prior
to the year 1803, viz.:
Menallen Township.
JohnMoore, wheelwright. Sarah Brown, single woAnn Brown, widow.         man.
Bazil Brown, farmer.    Nancy Workman, widow.
Bullskin Township.
Betsey Beall, widow.    William Boyd, Esq.
Elizabeth Stephenson, sin- Presley Carr Lane, Esq.
gle woman.
Spring Hill Township.
Mary Moore, widow.      Thomas Tobin, farmer.
John Wilson, farmer.    Thomas Clare,   "
Catharine Swearingen.    Joshua Brown,   "
John McFarland, major
militia.
Georges Township.
George Tobin, farmer.    Hugh Cunningham, farmer.
Brownsville.
John  McCluer Hazlip, William  Crawford, merfarmer.                    chant.
Joseph Thornton, merchant.
German Township.
John Huston, hatter and Andrew Rabb, miller.
merchant.                Thomas Graham, merEphraim Walter, farmer.   chant, Geneva.
Robert McLean,    "
Dunbar Township.
John Canon, farmer.     John Rogers, farmer and
James Paull,  "           inn-keeper.
Joseph Torrance, farmer. Jacob Murphy, farmer.
Washington Township.
Hezekiah McGruder, farmer.
Daniel Canon, farmer.
Samuel Burns, farmer.
John Goe, farmer.
John Patterson, Esq.
James Lynch, farmer.
Heirs of Samuel Culbertson.
Franklin Township.
Benjamin Stephens, fariner.
Hannah Crawford, widow.
John McClelland, farmer.
Benoni Dawson, farmer.
James Paull, Esq.
Jolln Patterson, farmer.
Samuel Work, farmer.
Agnes Canon, widow.
John Byers, farmer.
Union Township.
Ephraim Douglass, Esq.
Alexander McClean, surveyor.
John Jackson, niiller.
Ann Murphy, widow.
John Wood, saddler and
merchant.
Joseph Huston, iron-master.
ville, and the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians generally."--3Inongahela of
Old.                                                                   Luzerne Township.
Col. Israel Shreve, the purclhaser of Gen. Washington's lands in Perry
township, Fayette Co., in a letter dated Dec. 26, 1789, and addressed to   Nathaniel Breading, Esq.  James Hammond, farmer.
his brother in New Jersey, said,--                                  Andrew  Frazer, farmer.    John Hyatt, farmer.
"Land does not rise much in this place, owing to the great emigration
dowrn the river. It seems as if people were crazy to get afloat on tle Ollio.
Many leave very good livings, set out for they know not N-where, but too
fAten find their mistake.".                                        Alexander Long, farmer.  
128ERECTION OF FAYETTE COUNTY.
Under the law of March 29, 1788, registries of clil-  planting of the earlier settlements in the valleys of
dren liable to servitude continued in Fayette for more  the Youghiogheny and Monongahela, Cumberland
than half a century, and three hundred and fifty-four  continued to include the region west of the Laurel
such registries were made in the county during the  Hill range. On the 9th of March, 1771, that region
period from Feb. 5, 1789, to Jan. 12, 1839, after which  (embracing the present counties of Fayette, Westlatter date none have been found in the records.     moreland, Washington, Allegheny, and contiguous
country) passed to the jurisdiction of Bedford County,
which was erected by an act of that date, to include
" all and singular the lanids lying and being within
CHAPTER  X III.  the boundaries following, that is to say, beginning
where the province line crosses the Tuscarora mounERECTION O1F FAYETTE COUTNTY-ESTAB.LISHMENT  tain, and running along the summit of that mountain
OF COURTS-COUNTY BUILDINGS.                  to the Gap near the head of the Path Valley; thence
with a north line to the Juniata; thence with the
THE original counties of Pennsylvania were Phil-  Juniata to the mouth of Shaver's Creek; thence northadelphia, Chester, and Bucks, of which the western  east to the line of Berks County; thence along the
boundaries were indefinite.  On the 10th of May,  Berks County line northwestward to the western
1729, an act was passed erecting the county of Lan-  bounds of the province; thence southward, according
caster, to embrace "all and singular the lands within  to the several courses of the western boundary of the
the province of Pennsylvania lying to the northward  province, to the southwest corner of the province,
of Octoraro Creek, and to the westward of a line of  and from thence eastward with the southern line of
marked trees running from the north branch of the  the province to the place of beginning."
said Octoraro Creek northeasterly to the river Schuyl-    The territory of Bedford County west of the Laurel
kill;... and the said Octoraro Creek, the line of  Hill became Westmoreland by the passage (Feb. 26,
marked trees, and the river Schuylkill aforesaid shall  1773) of an act erecting the last-named county, to embe the boundary line or division between said county  brace "All and singular the lands lying within the
and the counties of Chester and Philadelphia." Thus  province of Pennsylvania, and being within the boun-.he nominal jurisdiction of Lancaster County ex-  daries following, that is to say, beginning in the
tended westward to the western limits of the pro-  province line, where the most westerly branch, comvince, including the territory which now forms the  monly called the South, or Great Branch of Youcounty of Fayette.                                    ghiogheny River crosses the same; then down the
In 1749 the inhabitants of the western parts of Lan-  easterly side of the said branch and river to the
caster County represented to the Governor and As-  Laurel Hill; thence along the ridge of the said hill,
sembly of the province that they were suffering great  northeastward, so far as it can be traced, or till it runs
hardships by reason of remoteness from the county-  into the Allegheny Hill; thence along the ridge diseat, the courts of justice, and the public offices, and  viding the waters of the Susquehanna and the Alleprayed for the formation of a new county from that  gheny Rivers to the purchase line at the head of
part of Lancaster; whereupon, on the 27th of Jan-  Susquehanna; thence due west to the limits of the
uary, 1750, it was by the General Assembly enacted  province, and by the same to the place of beginning."
"That all and singular the lands lying within the    Westmoreland County was divided into townships
province of Pennsylvania aforesaid to the westward  by the Court of Quarter Sessions, held at Robert
of Susquehanna, and northward and westward of the  Hanna's house, April 6, 1773.  "Before William
county of York,' be and are hereby erected into a  Crawford, Esq., and his associates, justices of the same
county named and hereafter to be called Cumber-  court, the court proceeded to divide the said county
land, bounded northward and westward with the line  into the following townships, by the limits and deof the province, eastward partly with the river Sus-  scriptions hereafter following, viz."  Then follows a
quehanna and partly with the said county of York,  description of the boundary lines of the several townand southward in part by the said county of York  ships, viz.: Fairfield, Donegal, Huntington, Mount
and part by the line dividing the said province from  Pleasant, Hempfield, Pitt, Tyrone, Springhill, Menthat of Maryland."                                    allen, Rostraver, and Armstrong, the descriptions of
For more than twenty years, a period covering the  the five townships embracing the present county of.campaigns of Washington and Braddock and the  Fayette being as follows:
Tyrone. "Beginning at the mouth of Jacob's Creek,
1York County had been erected a short time previously (Aug. 19, and running  up that creek to the line of Fairfield;
1749), to embrace " all and singular the lands lying within the province
of Pennsylvania to the westward of the river Susquehanna and southward and eastward of the South Mountain,... bounded northward  along to the foot of Laurel Hill, to Gist's; thence by
alid westward by a line to be run from the said river Susquehanna along  Burd's road to where it crosses Redstone Creek;
the ridge of the said South Mountain until it shall intersect the Maryland line, southward by the said Maryland. line, and esptward by the;
said river Susquehanna."                              straight line to the beginning."
129HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Springhill.  "Beginning at the mouth of Redstone Creek, and running thence a due west course
to the western boundary of the province; thence with
the province line to the southern boundary of the
province; then east with that line to where it crosses
the Youghiogheny; then with the Youghiogheny to
Laurel Hill; then with the line of Tyrone to Gist's,
and thence with that line to the beginning."
Menallen. "Beginning' at the mouth of Brown's
Run, thence due east to the top of Laurel Hill, and...westward to the limits of the province."
Rostraver. "Beginning at the mouth of Jacob's
Creek, and running down the Youghiogheny to where
it joins the Monongahela, then up the Monongahela
to the mouth of the Redstoie Creek, and thence with
a straight line to the beginning."
Donegal. "To begin where the line of Fairfield
township intersects the county line, and to run along
that line to where the Youghiogheny crosses the same;
thence down the north side of the Youghiogheny to
the top of Chestnut Ridge; thence along the top of
Chestnut Ridge to the line of Armstrong; thence up
the Loyal Hanna to the mouth of the Big Roaring
Run, and thence up said run to the beginning."
The project to form the county of Fayette from the
southern part of Westmoreland was agitated as early
as 1781. The old county had in that year been shorn
of its territory west oif the Monongahela by the erection of Washington County, and now the project to
reduce its limits still farther by the formation of
Fayette met with strong opposition in the other parts.
Among the many remonstrances against it was the
following, a letter from Christopher Hays to President Moore,l dated Sept. 20, 1782:
"....I Have been Informed By Bill Printed for
Public Consideration that the County of Westmoreland will or is to be Divided into Two Counties
Unless Opposed by the Public. If the New County
should take Place Westmoreland County will be Totally Ruined, and in a short Time will Become an
Easy Pray to the Enemy,2 as the Major Part of what
will be Left to this County are at Present in Forts
and Blockhouses, scarcely able of supporting themselves, and of Consequence will Readyly be Ruined
if we rely on the Protection of the Lieutenants of the
other County, I Therefore would Beg the Favour of
you, to use your Influence  Interest with the Principle Members of the Assembly of this State to have
said Bill made Void  of None Effect, and to Move
the seat of justice of this County Into some Interior
Part of the County,  in so Doing you will Much
oblige the Distressed of Westmoreland and your
"Most Obedient Humble servant
" CHRISTO. HAYS."
But the remonstrances failed to effect the purpose
for which they were intended, and on the 26th of September, 1783, the General Assembly passed an act,
which, after reciting in its preamble that "a great
number of the inhabitants of that part of Westmoreland County circumscribed by the rivers Monongahela.
and Youghiogeny and Mason and Dixon's line have by
their petition humbly represented to the Assembly of
this State the great inconvenience they labor under
by reason of their distance from the seat of judicature in said county," proceeded to enact and declare
"That all and singular the lands lying within that
part of Westmoreland County _ounded as hereinafter described: beginning at Monongahela River
where Mason and Dixon's line intersects the same;
thence down said river to the mouth of Speir's Run.
thence by a straight line to the mouth of Jacob's
Creek; thence by the Youghiogeny River to the
forks of the same; thence up the southwest branch of
the said river, by a part of Bedford County, to Mason
and Dixon's line; thence by said line to the Mnono
gahela River aforesaid, be and hereby are erected into~
a county named and hereafter to be called Fayette0  
County."
The county of Fayette, as formed and erected by
the act of 1783, embraced all that is within the present limits of the county west of the Youghiogheny,
but nothing on the other side of the river. On the
17th of February, 1784, an act was passed annexing
to Fayette the territory which it now embraces east
and northeast of the Youghiogheny, viz.: "All that
part of Westmoreland County beginning at the mouth
of Jacob's Creek, thence up the main branch of the
said creek to Cherry's mill, thence along the road
leading to Jones's mill until the same shall intersect
the line of Bedford County,4 thence southwesterly by
the line of Bedford County aforesaid until the same
intersects the Youghiogeny River, thence down the
said river to the place of beginning."
The act erecting the county provided, in one of its
sections, "That all taxes already laid within the
bounds of the county of Fayette by virtue of any act
of the General Assembly of this State which are not
already paid shall be collected by the respective collectors within the bounds aforesaid and paid into the
hands of the treasurer of Westmoreland County...
But it appears that this matter of the collection of
taxes at that time in Fayette County was a very embarrassing one, that the attempt to make such col3 So named in honor of the Marquis de La Fayette, the friend of
Washington, and a general in the Continentatl army during the Revolution.
4 The part of the line from Cherry's Mill east to the line of Somerset
County being found to be obscure and not well defined, was run oult and
established by commissioners appointed by the Governor for the purpose,
under authority of an act passed March 1, 1806.
The line along the crest of Laurel Hill, between Fayette and Somerset Coulnties, being indefinite, was established under authority of an act
of Assembly passed April 17, 1844, by John Hanna, of Somerset, and
John R. Love, of Fayette, commissioners, under whose direction the
work was done by H. S. Holbrook, Esq., surveyor.
1 Pa. Archives, ix. 637.
2 The Indians, incited by the British, were at that time constantly
threatening the northern settlements in Westmoreland, and only a few
weeks before llhad burned and destroyed Ilannastown, the old county-seat.
I
130ERECTION OF FAYETTE COUNTY.
lection met with resistance, and that in various parts
of the county, as well as in Washington and Westmoreland,I outrages and violence w,ere not uncommon. That the new county (particularly Menallen
township and the country on Georges Creek) was
then in a state of almost anarchy is shown by the
tenor of various letters and documents found in the
archives of the State, though the occurrences and
circumstances to which they refer cannot at the
present time be fully understood. Copies of some of
the papers mentioned are here given, viz.:
Letter of Secretary Armstrong. to Michael Huffnagle, of
Westmoreland County.
"PHILADELPHIA, N. 15, 1783.
"DEAR SIR,-Your letter of the 16th Ult. has been
received. The licentious disposition discovered in
Menallen township is not a little alarming,  in the
Opinion of Council requires ain earlv and vigorous
correction.
" Upon the receipt of this you will therefore assemble the Magistracy of that part of the County, 
with them adopt the most efficient measures to investigate the business and enforce the laws.
"J. ARMSTRONG, JR.,
" Secry."
Ephraim Douglass to President Dickinson.
"UNIONTOWN, 2d February, 1784.
"The instructions of Council respecting the opposition to assessment in Menallen township I laid before the Justices as directed, but they lhave not yet
come to any resolution thereon; some of thein I find
are of opinion that the reviving it at this distant time
minight be attended with more vexatious consequences
than the suLfering it to be forgotten will probably
produce. For this reason, and iu consideration of
their since peaceable demeanor, I should incline to
agree with them that for the present, until the authority of the Court becomes by degrees and habitude of
obedience more firmly e.stablished in the general acquiescence of all descriptions of people within the
County, and a Goal and other objects of popular terror be ereeted to impress on their minds an idea of
the punishment annexed to a breach of the laws,
1 The following letter from Christopher hays to President Moore,
dated "Westmorelaind County, Sept. 20, 1782," shows that the assessmenit and collection of taxes was forcibly resisted before the erection of
Fayette, viz.:
As our Assessors wafs takinig their Retuirns Accor(ling to Law,
the Opposers Assembled under arns, Drove tlienl off from their Deauity,
Fired Guns at them, and say they will not Pay any Taxes, nor be Obelienit to our Laws, being they never took the oath of Fidelity to this
State, Buit ineans to support a New State. I should think it would not
be amiss if tlIe Hotiourable Comincil would send a niumiber of Proclamations a,-ainst all those that is or will be in Opposition of all Laws anid
Lawfull Proceedinlg in this State, as there is a Nimlber such in ouir
Territories,  will of Coniseqtuence encoiira-e a Nunuber More'Unless
sometlhing Done to Oppose them; the Citizens of these Two Couinties
[Westmnoreland an.d Washingtoni] Tlhink it Extremely Heard to pay Taxes
 be nearle all sumuter under arrms  Receive Neitlher Pay inor Provisions, as Eachl Man has to Find mostly their own Provisions while on
Deauty."
lenient measures might produce as good effects as
the most rigorous ones that justice could adopt, were
not the wvisdom and directions of Council opposed to
this opinion.  To these reasons for declining the
prosecution of offenders if their identity could be
made to appear (which I thinik very doubtful) mighit
be added otlhers that I am distressed to be obliged to
take notice of. The Tax not having been assessed till
after the division of the County, the authoritv of the
Commissioners of Westrnoreland then became justly
questionable, and the total want of Commissioners in
this County to levy a Tax of any kind, either for the
State or to answer tile exigencies of the Couinty, and
the conseqent inlability of the Trustees to perforin tile
duties assigned them by the Legislature, may all be
subjects of consideration in this case. For, from an
unhappy misconception of the law for dividing Westmoreland, this county has not an officer of any kind,
except suclh as were created or continued by the Act
or appointed by Council. Denied a separate election of
a member in Council and representative in Assembly
till the general election of the present year,2 they unfortunately concluded that this inability extended to
all the other elective officers of the County, and in
consequence of this belief voted for them in conjunction with Westmoreland.... The Trustees lhave
appointed next Monday to meet on and begin the
partition line betwveen this county and Westmoreland
on this condition, which Col. MacLean, who is to be
executive person, lhas generously agreed to-to pay
all the expence at some future time, when it shall be
in their power to call upon the County Commissioners
for the money. Anid necessity has suggested to us the
expedient of building a temporary Goal by subscription, which is nlow on foot."
ephraim Douglass to Seeretary Armstrong.3
"UNIONTOWN, May 29, 1784.
"The County Commissioners are so much couniteracted by the rabble of this country that it appears
hardly probable the Taxes will ever be collected oni
the present mo.de. In the township of Menallen in
particular, which includes this place, agreeable to its
limnits in the Duplicate, the terror of undertaking the
duty of Collector has determinedl several to refuse it
undler the high penalty annexed. Two only have accepted it, and these have both been robbed by somrie
ruffians unknowni, and in the night, of their Duplicates. The inhabitants of the other townships have
2 The act erecting the couinty provided, Sectioms 20, " That this act shaIt
not take effect unrltil the first day of September, wbhicl will be in the year
of ouir Lord 1784, so far as the same respects the election of Censors,
a Counsellor [Counicillor], and itepresentative for the General Assenlbly;
but the inhabitanits of the CouInty of Fayette aforesaid shall, at the ensuiing election, elect Censors, a Counsellor, and Representatives in Assemiibly in conjuniiction with the inhabitants of Westmnoreland County,
agreeable to the directions of the constituitioni amld time lawvs now in.
force."  Anid from Mr. Douiglass' letter it appear s that time people of Fayette had suipposed that the same provision applied to the clectioms of
all county officers.
P Pa. Arch., x. 582.
I
131LOCATION, BOUNDARIES, AND TOPOGRAPHY.
which descend to the rich bottom-lands, rarely exceeding one-fourth of a mile in width, which lie along
the margin of the river.
In all this part of the county west of the Laurel
Hill, including the broad valley, the rolling upland,
the hilly lands (often tillable to the summits), and the
river bottoms, the soil is excellent for the production
of grain and fruits, and the country in general well
adapted to the various requirements of agriculture.
Delaney's Cave, situated in Fayette County, is a
wonderful natural curiosity, which appears, from the
descriptions of many who have visited it, to be scarcely
inferior to the celebrated Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. Its location is about nine miles in a southeasterly direction from Uniontown. A great number
of descriptions of the cave have been given by persons who have visited it from time to time, but most
of these accounts bear the appearance of too great
embellishment. The description which is given below was written by Mr. John A. Paxton, who visited
the cave in 1816, and published his account of it immediately afterwards in the American Telegraph of
Brownsville. Mr. Paxton was a Philadelphia gentleman, who being in this section of country in the year
named, engaged in the collection of material for a
gazetteer of the United States, was detained by an
accident to his horse, and obliged to remain two or
three days at Uniontown. While there he heard of
the great cave, and determined to see and explore it.
A party was accordingly made up, consisting of Mr.
Paxton, William Gregg, John Owens, James M. Johnston, John Gallagher, and Ephraimn Douglass. These
having provided themselves with refreshments, candles, tinder-box, brimstone matches, lanterns, compass, chalk, and a line for measuring, set out on
Wednesday, Sept. 11, 1816, and proceeded southeastwardly to Laurel Hill, and ascended the mountain
towards the cave. They left their horses at the farmhouse of Mr. Delaney (from whom the cave was afterwards named), and requested him, in case they should
fail to return from their exploration the following
morning, to have the people of the vicinity aroused
to search for them, as they had heard the story of two
voung men-Crain and Merrifield-who had been'lost
in the cave for nearly two days, and were found at the
end of that time locked in each other's arms and despairingly waiting for death. It was about the middle
of the afternoon when the party, fully equipped, set
out on foot for the entrance of the cave, and the story
of their exploration was narrated by Paxton, as follos:
" Laurel Hill Cave, which I have taken the liberty to
name, it being in want of one, is situated in Pennsylvania,-Fayette County, Georges township,--on the
top of Laurel Hill Mountain, nine miles southeasterly
of Uniontown, three miles easterly of Delaney's farmhouse. At four o'clock P.M. we commenced our
operaticns. We first descended into a small pit, on
the side of which we fotlnd the mouth, about three
feet by four, which we entered, and immediately
found ourselves in a passage about twenty feet wide,
and descending about fifty degrees for forty feet in a
northwest course, when we found a less declivity and
smoother floor; here we left our great-coats and things
we had no immediate use for, and proceeded in the
same course a short distance, when we found that the
passage forked into two avenues more contracted,
both leading, by a considerable descent, into the first
room; this is about twenty-four feet in diameter, with
a roof of rock about twenty feet high. A large descending passage leads from this room the same
course, with a very high roof, and is about twelve
feet wide for sOme distance, when it becomes more
contracted and leads into the second room, which is
fifty feet by one hundred, with a large body of rocks
on the floor that have fallen from the roof, which is
not very high. At the end of the passage is a running
spring of excellent water. In this room the persoin
who had the tinder-box unfortunately let it fall
among the rocks, which opened it, and by this accident we lost nearly all our tinder. A very narrow,
uneven, and descending passage leads from the second
room, in a northeast direction, 0o the narrows,--a passage two and a half feet hidl and about fifty feet
broad, leading horizontally between rocks, with a
small descent for about one hundred and fifty feet to
a perpendicular descent over rocks; through this
small passage we had in many places to drag ourselves along on our bellies, and the buttons on my
coat were torn off by the rocks above. This passage
evidently was formed by the foundation of the nether
rock being washed by the veins of water, which
caused it to separate from the upper rock and formed
the route to the perpendicular descent, which we
found to be twenty-two feet. I descended by a rope;
but my companions found their way down by clinging to the rocks. We now found ourselves in a very
uneven rocky passage, which ascended about twenty
degrees for two hundred and thirty-four feet; but as
we could not find an outlet from this, after the most
particular search, we returned and ascended the perpendicular precipice, and to the right of it discovered
a passage which had a great descent, was very rocky,
uneven, and so contracted for about eighty feet that
it was with the greatest difficulty we made our way
through it; this led to a second perpendicular descent of thirty feet over rocks, which we with great
difficulty got down. We now found ourselves in a
large avenue, or Little Mill-Stream Hall (as I called
it), with a very high roof and about twenty-five feet
wide; it had a sandy floor, with a stream of water
running through it sufficiently rapid and large to
turn a grist-mill. On the sides of this stream were
some large rocks which had fallen from the roof. This
avenue is about six hundred feet in length, with a
considerable descent to where the water loses itself
through a small aperture in the rocks.
15HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
not gone such lengths, but complain so much of the
lhardships and want of money that I fear very little
is to be hloped from them. On the other hand, the
banditti from Bucks County, or some others equally
bad, or, more probably, both, have establislhed themselves in some part of this counitry not certainlv
known, but thought to be in the deserted part of
Washington County, whence they make frequenit incursions into the settlements under cover of the
night, terrify the inhabitants, sometimes beat them
unmercifully, and always rob them of such of their
property as they thiink proper, and then retire to their
lurking-places.... This county, however, and even
this town, has suffered by them, though they came in
the character of thieves anid not of robbers here [that
is, to Uniontown]. And yet nothinlg has been attempted hitherto to punish or bring them  to juistice,
partly, perhaps, because there are not yet -a sufficient
uinber provoked by their losses, but priincipally from
the improbability of succeeding in the attempt."
Deposition of James Bell.'
"Fayette County, 88.:
"The examina.tion of James Bell, of George Township and
County aforesaid, taken on oath before ire, the subscriber, a
Justice of the peace in the forsd County the 5th day of June,
1784: who saith that in the nihlit between the 2d and 3d days
of this Inst. he being, in the Dwelling House of Philip Jenikins,
Collector of the Towniship of Springhillin sl County and about
nine o'Clock of the sanme night, Caine in three imen with )istoles Cocked in their hands, who did violently assault  Beat
mini tle Sd Jenkins, and Deemanded his Dublicate and money
with their Cocked pistols at his Breast, and he got up  went to
the Room where his Dublicate was, while one stay,yed and kept
said Deponent on his sent, but he understood They Robbed 5d
Jenkins of his Dublicate warrant a,nd money  threatening if
Ever he hadl any Concern with the Business tlhey would burn
hiin  all he ha-d, or if any other persons had any Concern with
it they would do so to there; one of a theur was a Tall man with
a,lunttinD shirt on, another was of a middle size, had on a lunting, shirt and trowsers, the other was a less sized mian with a
lhuntino shirt  Trowsers on, and all their faces were streaked
with Black.
"JAmes BELL.
"Taken made  signed the Day  yeare above written, before
me,
"ROBERT RICHEY."
Christopher Hays to President Dickinson.2
"WESTMOREIAND COUNTY, 14th June, 1754.
"DEAR. SIR.
"My best compliments wait on your Excellency
and Family. I take this opportunity to inform ypur
Excellency that a considerable number of Inhabitants (formerly Virginians, and in opposition to the
Laws and Government of this State) have now turned
out open Robbers, and so notorious that scarce two
days pass that some outrage is not committed in
one part or other of this Country, tllo' Fayette and
Washington Counties seenm, at present, to be the prin1   Pn.  Ar. l     x v          2   1;, TIAA
cipal seat of Depredation.  Last Wednesday the Collector was robbed  near Besin's Town, in  Fayette
County, of about twenty-two  pounds in  Cash, his
Warrant and Duplicate taken from him, and his person grossly abused. Sundry other robberies have
been committed lately in Washington and Fayette
Counties, mostly on the Property of the most noted
defenders of the Country during the late conflict....
I would beg the favor of your Excellency to send me
the late acts of Assembly by my son-in-law, Captn.
Henderson, and the favor shall be gratefully ackinowledged by
"Sir, with the highest respect,
"Your Excellenicy's mnost obedient
"Htimble Servant,
"CHRISTOPHER HAYS,
"His Excellency John Dickinson, Esq."
Memorialfrom  Fayette Cotunty, 1784.3
"FAYETTE COTTNTY, June 15, 1784.
"To his Excellency John Dickinson, Esquire, President of
ye Supremoe Executive Council.
"lionrd Sr.-The Inhabitants of Stewart's Crossings beg leave
to represent your Excellency; That we were much surpris'd on
being presented with ye Copy of a Letter by one of your worthy
members, which was sent to your Excellency, informing you
that a considerable number of ye Inhabitants (formerly V'irginians), in opposition to the Laws and Government of tlis
State, have now turned out open Robbers. We are happy that
we have it in our power to present this to your Excellency by
the hands of a Gentleman, whorII we hope will do us the Ihonr
to state us impartially in our fair character witliout respect of
parties, as this Gentleman is well acquainted with ye circumstance of ye wvhole matter in doing, us the Ilonour of accompanying us in going in search of those llobbers and suppressing
sucir Burglars. WVe acknowledge we were brought up under ye
Government of Viroinia, and were ruled by that Government
while the Territorial Disputes subsisted between the two States,
But when they thought proper to adjust ye Boundaries, we were
willing to submit to ye Laws of Pennsylvania, and hope your
Excellency will find us as true Citizens ais any belonging to ye
State, as we have made it evident on every occasion. We irave
always been willing to risque our a,ll in the glorious cause we
have been so long contending for, winch we can make manife.t
by Sundry Gentlemen who are as fully acquainted with us as
the author of that Letter which was sent to your Excellency.
And amongst others, Col. McClene wlro has suffered on fatiguc,
with those who seem  art present to be the objects of such
malevolent ridicule without tirc least reason. We were haplpy
in believing th-at all paity rul:tters were buried in oblivion,
but are greatly concerned to find the contrary.  Col. hays
has related in another Letter to your Excellency, that those
who bore the Burden of ye War must now he ruled over by
those who are Enemies in their Hearts to ye State.  We
would appeal to ye knowledge and Candour of the several
officers who have coinmanded in this Department, whether the
people thus stigmatized have been iuore backward in defense
of our coimmon rights than any of our neighbours. We must
beg your Excellency's pardon, for making so free, from ye most
intolerable character your E.xcellency had of us, but we shbll
refer you to that worthy Gentleman Major Douglass, who is
u5 Ibid., x. 280.
I
I
321
-ra. arca., x. Du-t.
z Ibidu., X. 279t.ESTABLISHMENT OF COURTS.
ralther bettcr acquainted with us than Col. hays. So makes
bold to subscribe ourselves your Excellency's most obedient and
bumble ser vants.
" ROBERT BEALL,           MARCUS STEVENSON,
" ZACH'S. CONNELL,      MOSES SMITh,
"Was. MCCORMICK,       JAS. DAVIS,
"JOHN STEVENSON,        WILLIAM CONNELL."
ESTABLIShMENT OF COURTS.
The act by which Fayette County was erected provided and declared " That the Justices of the Peace
commissioned at the time of passing this act, and residing within the county of Fayette, or any three of
them, shall and may hold courts of General Quarter
Sessions of the peace, and General Gaol Delivery, and
counlty courts for holding of Pleas; and shall have all
and singular the powers, rights, jurisdictions, and
authorities, to all intents and purposes, as other the
Justices of Courts of General Quarter Sessions, and
Justices of the county courts for holding of Pleas in
the otlher counties, may, can, or ought to have in their
respective counties; which said courts shall sit and be
held for the county' of Fayette on the Tuesday preceding the courts of Quarter Sessions and Common
Pleas in Washington County in every year, at the
school-house or some fit place in the towvn of Union,
in the said county, until a court-house be built; and
when the same is built and erected in the county
aforesaid, the said several courts shall then be holden
and kept at the said court-house on the days before
mentioned."
Under this provision and authority, the first term
of the Court of Quarter Sessions and Common Pleas
for Fayette County was hield in the school-house at
Uniontown on the fourth Tuesday in December,
1783, before Philip Rogers, Esq., and his associates,
Alexander McClean, Robert Adamns, John Allen,
Robert Ritchie, and Andrew Rabb, all justices in and
for the county of Westmoreland. The Grand Inquest
was coinposed as followvs: John Powers, Ebenezer
Finley, Henry Swindler, John Beeson, James Ritter,
Nathan Springler, Thomas Kendall, David Hogg,
William  McFarlane, Samuel Lyon, John Patrick,'
Thomas Gaddis, Jacob Rich, Edward Hatfield, Dennis Springer, Charles Hickman, Nathaniel Breading,
Reuben Camp, and Hugh McCreary.
The first business of the court was the adinission of
attorneys, viz.: Thomas Scott, Hugh M. Brackenridge,
David Bradford, Michael Huffnagle, George Thompson, Robert Galbraith, Samuel Irwin, and David Redick. There were brought before the court five cases
of assault and batterv, one of assault, and two of bastardy. The court proceeded to fix " tavern rates," to
license tavern-keepers, and to subdivide the county
into nine townships,' viz.: Wasliington, Franklin, Luzerne, Menallen, Union, German, Georges, Spring
Hill, and Wharton. The holding of this first court
for Fayette was mentioned. by Ephraim Douglass, in
a letter to President Dickinson, dated "Uniontown,
2d February, 1784," -viz.: "The courts were opened
for this County o01 tlhe 23d of December last; the
gathering of people was pretty numerous, and I was
not alone in fearing that we should have had frequent,.proofs of that turbulence of spirit with which they
have been so generally, perhiaps so justly, stigmatized,
but I nriow tak-e great satisfaction in doing them the
justice to sav that they behaved to a man with good
order and decency; our grand jury vas really respectable, equal at least to many I have seen in courts
of long standing. Little business was done, other
than dividing the County into Townships." 2
At the June session of 1784, Richard Merryfield
was brought before the court "for prophane swearing
and for contemptuous behaviour to John Allen, Esquire, onie of the Justices of tlhis Court, now attending
Court. And it being, proved to the Court that the
Deft. swore one propliane oath in these words,'By
G-d,' the Court fine him  10s. therefor, and order
that he find surety for his good behaviour till niext
Court in the sum of ~50, and that he. be committed
till this Judgeonent be comnplied wvith."
The first juidge " learned in the law" who presided
in the Fayette County courts was the Hon. Alexander Addison, who held his first term at Uniontown
on the third Monday in September, 1791, Fayette
Countv then forming part of the Fifth Judicial District. Judge Addison's successor was Samuel Roberts, wlho first presided in March, 1803, and was commissioned April 30tll in the same year.
The Fourteenth Judicial District, including Fayette County, was established by act of Assembly in
1818, and in July of the same year Thomas H. Baird was
commissioned president judge of said district. His
successor was the Hon. Nathaniel Ewing, appointed
Feb. 15, 1838, to fill a vacancy, and continued in the
office for ten years.
Samuel A. Gilmore was appointed and comrnissioned president judge of the Fourteenth District
Feb. 25, 1848. In October, 1851, he was elected,
under the constitutional amendment making the
office elective. He was commissioned Nov. 6,1851,
and served more than ten years. James Lindsey was
elected in October, 1861, and held his first term as
president judge in December of that year. He died
Sept. 1, 1864. His successor was John K. Ewing,
appointed and commissioned president judge in November, 1864. He presided at the terms of Decemhenry Clay, Juine 9, 1824; Perry, June 7,1839; Jefferson, June, 1840;
Nichlolson, Dec. 19, 1845; Youghiogheny, Dec. 11, 1847; Springfield,
March 10, 1849; North Union and South Union, larclh 11, 1851; Stewart,
March, 1855, at wlichl tiimie tlle townshlip of Youghiogheny ceased to
exist, a part of its territory bleilng incllided in Stewart, alid thle remainder
annexed to Springfield. In Septenmber, 1877, Tyrone township was divi(led alid form-led iiito the towlislhips of Upper and Lower Tyrone.
2 Penina. Arcll., x. 553.
1 Additional townships of Fayette Couinty have been erected as folloows:
Tyrone, March, 1784; Bullskin, March, 1784, Redstone, Decenmber, 1797;
Salt Lick, December, 1797; Dunbar, December, 1798; Bridgeport, Novemlbere, 1815; Brownsville, November, 1817; Connellsville, Oct. 31, 1822;
1331IISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
ber, 1864, and March, June, and September, 1865.
Samuel A. Gilmore was elected in the fall of 1865,
and served on the bench till his death, which occurred
in May, 1873.
Judge Edward Campbell was appointed to fill the
vacancy occasioned by the death of Gilmore, and
presided at the terms of June and September, 1873.
The Hon. Alpheus E. Willson was elected in October, 1873, held his first term at Uniontown in December of that year, and is still president judge of
the Fourteenth Judicial District, comprising the
counties of Fayette and Greene.
Orphans' Courts were established in Pennsylvania
by an act passed in 1713, which provided and declared "that the justices of the Court of General
Quarter Sessions of the Peace in each county of this
province, or so many of them as are or shall be from
time to time enabled to hold thlese courts, shall have
full power and are hereby empowered, in the same
week that they are or shall be by law directed to
hold the same courts, or at such other times as they
shall see occasion, to hold and keep a court of record
in each -of the said counties, which shall be styled'The Orphans' Court.'"
By act of the 13th of April, 1791, for establishing
courts of justice in conformity to the constitution,
provision was made for the hlolding of Orphans'
Courts "at such stated times as the judges of said
courts in their respective counties shall for each year
ordain and establish.?'
The first record of the Orphans' Court of Fayette
o-iltty is dated Dec. 24, 1783, at which time a term
of the court was held by Justices Alexander bcClean, Philip Rogers, Robert Adams, John Allen,
Robert Ritchie, and Andrew Rabb. The business
done was the appointment of guardians over the
three minor children of John Moore, deceased, viz.:
George Cott for Philip Moore, Thomas Kendall for
Henry Moore, and Michael Moore, Jr., for George
Moore.
The old constitution of Pennsylvania provided that
Orphans' Courts should be held quarterly in each
city and county of the State. The present constitution declares that "judges of the Courts of Common
Pleas, learned in the law, shall be judges of the
Courts of Oyer and Terminer, Quarter Sessions of
the Peace and General Jail Delivery, and of the
Orphans' Court:"
COUNTY BUILDINGS.
The courts of Fayette County were first held in the
school-house in Uniontown, as provided and directed
in the act erecting the county. In February, 178-1,
Ephraim Douglass, the first prothonotary of Fayette,
who had then recently removed to Uniontown to ass:ime the duties of his office, wrote a letter to Gen.
Irvine, in which he described the appearance of the
new county-seat, and said, " We have a court-house
and school-house in one." How long the schoolhouse continued to serve the double purpose is not
known, for nothing is found in the records lhaving
reference to the erection of the first court-house.
The act erecting the county declared, "That it
shall and may be lawful to and for Edward Cook,
Robert Adams, Theophilus Phillips, James Dougherty, and Thomas Rodgers, all of the aforesaid county,
or any three of them, to purchase and take assurance
to them and their heirs of a piece of land situated in
Uniontown in trust, and for the use of the inhabitants
of said county, and thereon to erect and build a courthouse and prison sufficient to accommodate the public
service of said county." The cost of the land and
buildings was restricted by the act to one thousand
pounds current money of the State;' and the commissioners and assessors of the county were authorized
and required to assess and levy taxes to that amount
(or such less amount as the trustees might deem sufficient), "for purchasing the said land and finishing
the said court-house and prison."
Under the authority so conferred on them, the trustees purchased a site for the public buildings from
Henry Beeson, proprietor of Uniontown, who on the
16th day of March, 1784, "for and in consideration
of the love which he bears to the inhabitants of the
county of Fayette, and for the further consideration
of sixpence to him in hand well and truly paid," conveyed by deed to the said trustees for the county the
following described lot of ground, situate in the town
of Union, and at that part thereof known in the general plan of thle town by the name of the Centre Public Ground, containing in breadth eastward and westward on the street called Elbow Street ninety-nine
feet, bounded westward by lott No. 36, one hundred
and fifty feet, thence in the same direction forty feet
across Peters Street; thence by the school-house lott
north sixty-four degrees and three-quarters, east two
hundred feet to Redstone Creek; thence' by the said
creek seventy-seven feet, then by lott No. 20, two
hundred and forty-two feet, to the place of beginning,
containing one hundred and forty-six perches."
The ground then conveyed to the trustees was the
lot on wlich stand the present public buildings (courthouse, jail, and sheriff's residence) of the county.
On this lot was built the first court-house of the
county, but (as before stated) nothing is known of
the date of its erection, its size or style of construction. The only reference to this old building is found
in an entry in the commissioners' records, dated Jan.
7, 1796, which shows that on that day the board resolved to sell the old court-house; and it was accordingly advertised to be sold at public auction on Tuesday, the 26th of that month. The sale took place accordingly, and the building was purchased by Dennis
Springer for ~15 12s. 6d., to be removed from the public grounds.
On the same day on which the commissioners resolved to sell the old building (Jan. 7, 1796) they
I
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I
I
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134(K)URT-m)uagq
Umwj-T(Z)WHq FL%WETTL9 (K-9 M.COUNTY BUILDINGS.
contracted with Dennis Springer "to procure two
stoves for the use of the New Court House, and to
set them up in complete order." This shows that a
new court-house was then in process of construction
and well advanced towards completion. On the 30th
of March, 1796, a bill of ten dollars was allowed "for
Sconces for the use of Court House."
June 28, 1796, John Smilie and Ephraim Douglass,
Esq., were appointed by the board of commissioners
to proceed, with Dennis Springer, contractor for the
new court-house building, " to judge the extra work
of said building and determine the value thereof, and
the sum said Springer shall receive over the sum contracted for." On the 14th of December following,
Messrs. Smilie and Douglass reported " that the work
done by Den. Springer more than his agreement is
worth ~121 17s. 9d., equal to $325.03," for which sum
he then obtained an order on the treasurer. He had
previously received an order on the treasurer for
$1037.50; total, $1362.53.
Ephraim Douglass, Alexander McClean, and Joseplh Huston having been selected by the trustees
and Springer, the contractor for the new court-house
"to view the said building and Judge of its Sufficiency," reported, Jan. 16, 1797, to the commissioners
" that the w-ork is sufficiently donle according to Contract, as per report filed." On the 25th of April,
1801, Col. Alexander McClean was instructed and
empowered by the commissioners " to level the Court
House yard, and wall the same at the south Extremity of the Offices, and erect stone steps to ascend
from the street, or rather the public ground upon the
walk or yard, and to gravel the said Court House
yard to the door of the Court House and each of the
office doors, erect stone steps, prepare and set up the
necessary gates on the Avenues, c., and to be allowed a reasonable compensation tllerefor."  On the
17th of September, 1802, John Miller rendered a bill
" for a Bell for the use of the Court House, with the
necessary Smith and carpenter work, $219.03."  Feb.
1, 1812, the commissioners contracted with John
Miller, of Uniontown, "for roofing the Court House
and public building, at $7 per square."
March 27, 1838, " Commissioners, ivith Carpenter,
engaged in adopting a plan for improvement of Court
House." WVhether the contemplated improvement
was carried out or not does not appear from the
records.
On the 4th of February, 1845, the court-house was
destroyed by fire, which broke out while the court
was in session. The circumstances of the occurrence
are narrated in the commissioners' records as follows:
"COMMISSIONERS OFFICE, Feby. 4, 1845.
"Board met. ( Thomas Duncan,
p  Robert Bleakley,.s   P. F. Gibbons.
"The Commissioners are in session on account of
the Special Court. The court having met this day at
nine o'clock, was not in session more than an hour
when the court house was discovered to be on fire,
supposed to have caught from one of the stove pipes
or chimneys, and notwithstanding the exertions of a
great number of people, together with the aid of the
two fire companies of the borough of Uniontown with
their engines, the progress of the flames was not arrested until the roof and second story were entirely
destroyed. The offices at the east and west ends of
the Court House were saved from the fire, though the
roof over the Commissioners', Sheriffs and Treasurer's Offices was considerably injured by the falling
of the gable end of the Court House. The fire having been arrested and the fire companies dispersed,
the Commissioners employed John Mustard to procure hands and clear off the ashes and rubbish which
had fallen on the 2nd floor, when it was discovered
necessary to take'up considerable part of the floor,
on account of fire between the floor and ceiling. Mr.
Patrick McDonald was employed to keep watch from
11 o'clock at night until daylight.
" Adjourned."
Feb. 5, 1845.-" The special court is sitting in
the upper roomr of John Dawson's Brick Building."
On the 25th of February "the Commissioners agreed
with the trustees of the Presbyterian Church in Uniontown for the use of said church to hold the courts of
the County in, at the rate of $40 per quarter."
Sept. 22, 1845.-" Commissioners in session to answer to a writ of Mandamus issued by the court against
them on the 13th inst., commanding them to erect a
new court-house where the old one stands, on as economical a plan as possible, or shew cause, etc. The
commissioners, with their counsel, T. R. Davidson
and R. P. Flenikin, appeared before the court at the
commencement of the afternoon session, and the case
being brought up by Mr. Flenikin, the Court stated
that they were mistaken in the law,--a mandamus
would not lie against the county commissioners, and
ordered the mandamus and rule discharged, which
was done accordingly."
June 25, 1846.-" Commnissioners engaged in preparing the warrants and duplicates for militia fines;
also examining the specifications for the new CourtHouse preparatory to having them printed for general circulation."
Aug. 4, 1846.-" Commissioners in session for the
purpose of receiving plans and proposals for the
construction and erection of a new Court-House and
county offices on the site where the old ones now
stand, public notice having been given four times or
more in the Genius of Liberty, Brownsville Free Press,
and Washington Examiner." On the 12th of August
the commissioners agreed to contract with Samuel
Bryan, Jr., of Harrisburg, for the erection of a new
court-house, to be eighty-five by fifty-eight feet in dimensions, two stories high, with county offices in the
first story, and court- and jury-rooms on the second
135HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
floor, agreeably to plans and specifications. Contract
price, $16,000. The articles of agreement and specifications were signed and filed on the 2d of September
following, and the site fixed for the new court-house,
which, by the terms of the contract, was to be completed on or before the 1st of December, 1847. The
old court-house and offices were purchased by the
contractor, Bryan, at $400.
The court-house (the same which is still occupied
by the courts of Fayette County) was not completed
at the time specified in the contract, but was finished
during the succeeding winter, and the court occupied
the new building at the March term of 1847. The
bell and fixtures were purchased on the 12th of July
following, for the sum of $373.60. On the 14th of
October in the same year the commissioners contracted with Samuel Bryan, Jr., for casing four fireproof vaults in the newv court-house, for building a
wall on the south and west sides of the grounds, grading, paving, and erecting outbuildings, at $2700 for
the entire work.
COUNTY PRISONS.
The erection of the first prison for the use of Fayette County was referred to in a letter of Ephraiin
Douglass to President Dickinson, dated Feb. 2, 1784.
" Necessity," he says, " has suggested to us the expedient of building a temporary Gaol by subscription,
which is now on foot." The temporary prison (a log
building) was erected soon afterwards, on the lot now
occupied by the residence of the Hon. Daniel Kaine,
at Uniontown. This continued in use until 1787, when
a stone jail was built on the court-house ground. The
following reference to it is found in the minutes of
the Court of Quarter Sessions:
"June 26, 1787.-The Grand Inquest for the body
of the County of Fayette upon their oaths respectively present that the new Stone Gaol by them tllis
day examined at the request of the Court is sufficient.
"June 29, 1787.-On representation of the prisoners in the new Gaol complaining that their healtli is
injured by the dampness of it, the Court, upon consideration thereof, order that they be removed back
to the old gaol for fourteen days."
On the 26th of June, 1799, the county commissioners requested the opinion of the court "with respects
to the building an addition to the Gaol." Upon
which the court recommended postponement of the
matter, which the commissioners concurred in.
The proposal to build an addition to the jail was
again brought up in the fall of 1801, and e,arly in the
following January the plan was prepared and the necessary estimates made. On the 6th of February the
contract for building the addition was awarded to
John Fally, of Union township, at $1149.
In April, 1812, the commissioners decided to collect
and prepare materials during the succeeding suminer
for the erection of a new jail. On the 2d of May the
board "received proposals for furnishing stone for
building a new jail on the public ground near the old
jail," but nothing was done until June 18th, when the
board contracted with James Campbell for stone,
at $4.50 per perch, " delivered on the public ground
near the old jail."  A contract for lime was made with
William Jeffries, of Union township, and on the 26th
of October, 1813, the bIoard "contracted with Morris
Morris, late commissioner, to superintend the building
of the new Jail this fall."
Jan. 7, 1814, " a bill of work done at the new jail
to the amount of $2400.75- being settled for with
Thomas Hadden, late treasurer, but not entered in
minutes, no order has been issued until the settlement."  It appears evident that up to this time the
wvork had been done by the day, but on the 22d of
March following the'board received proposals "for
completing the new jail, etc."
On thle 30tli of July, 1814, the commissioners held
a meeting, "occasioned by the burning of the jail,
and to provide for materials to repair the same," and
an order was issued to Robert McLean for $2.25
"for whiskey furnished the men while extinguishing
the fire in the jail."
In 1820 (September 21) " the Commissioners agreed
with Edward Jones to raise the jail wall for $3 per
perch, as follows, to wit: On the South side to be
raised up even with the eaves of the roof of the Jail,
to be dressed inside and outside in the same nianner
that the front of the Jail is, and to extend about six
feet beyond the southwest corner; the East Side to
be raised as above, in the same manner that the underpart of the same has been built."
At the March term in 1827 the grand jury recommellded " that the Western and Northern walls of the
Jalil be raised on a level with the southern and Eastern walls, and that they be covered with shingles,
the roof to project about three feet over the yard,
supported by braces, and that the whole inner surface be plastered."  The work was accordingly done
as recommended.
March 10, 1845, Absalom  White and William
Doran, of Union township, contracted with the commissioniers "to repair the upper floor and put on a
new roof on tlle County Jail, which was damaged by
fire on the 4th inst., for the sum of $135." The fire
referred to as hlaving damaged the jail was the same
that broke out in the court-house, and so nearly destroyed it that the present court-house was built in
its place. Less than a month after that fire (viz.,'April lst) " the stable on the public ground, occupied
by the Sheriff, was destroyed by fire about one o'clock
A.M., supposed to be the work of an incendiary,
with the intention of destroying the county buildings
by fire."
The building and construction of the present jail
was awarded by contract on the 10th of April, 1854,
to John P. Huskins for $15,973, "for building county
jail as per plans and specifications."  The building,
comnprising jail and sheriff's residence, was completed
-136COUNTY BUILDINGS.
in 1855. On the 13th of July, 1870, the construction
of the iron cells in the jail was let by contract to
R. C. Chapman for $6900.26, and other work to be
done on the building was awarded bycontract to D.
S. Walker.
COUNTY OFFICES.
In March, 1796, the Court of Quarter Sessions of
Fayette County approved a plan submitted by the
commissioners for the building of offices for the use
of county officers and the safe-keeping of the county
records. The work was advertised to be let by contractto the lowest bidder at Uniontown on the 16th
of AMay following, but at that time the best bid received was from Dennis Springer, at $2475, wrhich
the commissioners regarded as too high, and the
"sale" was postponed to the following day, when no
bids were offered, and another postponement was
made to the 24th. Again there was an absence of
bids and an adjournment to the 25th, when the commissioners were compelled to accept the first bid of
Dennis Springer, to whom the contract was accordingly awarded. In the following March the comnlissioners " enlarged the plan of offices, the former
one not allowed large enough;" and on the 21st of
June, 1797, the commissioners "met at the Courthouse to agree on the place for building the offices
and lay off the ground for the foundation, which was
done agreeably to the enlarged plan."
The records do not show when the offices were
completed, but it appears that on the 16th of November, 1798, the conmmissioners " proceeded to business,
removed the chest of papers from Jonathan Miller's
4o the new public offices, and'filed the papers that
lay promiscuously in it in the respective boxes, agreeable to their dates." And Dec. 26, 1798, the board
"issued an order in favor of Dennis Springer for
$362.50, being the last payment in full for building
the public offices." On the 27th, by recommendation
of the court, the board issued another order in favor
of Springer for $267.67, in addition to the original
contract.
In 1834 the offices were repaired and enlarged.
They were located at the east and west ends of the
court-house, and were badly damaged, though not
destroyed, in the fire of Feb. 4,1845. In the erection
of the new court-house after that event, the offices
(which had been kept at various places' after the
fire) were provided for in tlle lower story of the main
building. They were removed to the court-house in
February, 1848, and have since remained there to the
present time.
In connection with the history of the public buildings at Uniontown, it would be hardly proper to omit
a mnention of William Stamford, familiarly known as
"Crazy Billy," who is now between eighty-five and
ninety years of age, aind has passed full half a century
of his life in and about the jail and court-house of
Fayette County. He is a native of Warwickshire,
England, and in 1826 or 1827 sailed from London for
America in the ship "Superior," Capt. Nesbit, landing in New York. He says he drove coach in that
city, in Philadelphia, and in Baltimore. Afterwards
he went to Cumberland, Md., and worked on the
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. From there he made
his way to Wheeling, Va., and, as he says, "took to
the hills."  The next known of him is that in 1831
he broke into the house of Alexander Crow, in Spring
Hill township, Fayette County, while the family were
at church. On their return he held the house against
their entrance, but aid was obtainied, and he was captured and lodged in the jail at Uniontown. He was
taken before Judge Baird, who adjudged him insane
and remanded him to jail. While he was there John
Updegraff was brought to the prison in a state of intoxication. Stamford was clhained to the floor, but
his irons allowed him considerable liberty to move,
and in a fit of unaccountable and uncontrollable
frenzy seized a billet of wood, rushed upon Updegraff,
and gave him repeated blows over the head which
caused his death. After that time for eighteen years
lie was kept in confinement, but during Sheriff Snyder's term lhe was allowed Ihis liberty and put to work
in the stable and about the court-house and jail.
Since that tiine lie has suffered no confinement, and
is allowed to move about Uniontown at will, but
passes nearly all his time in and about the court-house
grounds, having becomre greatly attached to the public
buildings whichl have sheltered him for so many years.
He says he was thirty-two years of age wlhenl he came
to this country, and now in his lucid moments he relates many things whllich show a clear recollection of
the land of Ihis birth, the rites and ceremonies of the
Episcopal Church, and the olden time poetry which
wvas popular in the days of his youth.
POOR-IIOUSE AND FARM.
The earliest reference to a county poor-house found
in the records of Fayette is in a notice by the coinmissioners, dated Oct. 14, 1822, of  which the following
is a copy, viz.:
"To Daniel Lynch, Esqr., High Sheriff of the
County of Fayette: Sir,-Agreeably to the provisions
of an Act of Assembly to provide for the erection of
a house for the employment and support of the Poor
in tlle C aunty of Fayette, we hereby notify you that
the returns of the Judges of the Election held in the
several districts of the County of Fayette, on the 8th
inst. [it being the second Tuesday in October, A.D.
1822] have certified to us that at the said election
there was given for a Poor-House one thousand and
twenty-five votes, whereby it appears that there is a
majority in favour of the establishment of a poorhouse of four hundred and eleven votes. You will
therefore take such order therein as is provided by
1 The register's and recorder's offices were temporarily removed to
John Keffer's building, and afterwar(ls to " Dr. Hugh Campbell's shop."
The slieriff's and protllonotary's offices were kept in the Ludington
house, and the commlissioners' office in John Dawson's building.
137HISTORY OF FAYETTE, COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
the law aforesaid." Nothing is found showing the
action taken by the sheriff in pu rsuance of the notification.
On the 12th of December, 1823, "The Poor-House
Directors met to estimate the expense of erecting the
Poor-House, and of keeping the Poor for one year,"
and on the 7th of January next foll-owing, the directors
purchased from Peter McCann a tract of land for a
poor-farm.  The tract contained one hundred and
thirteen acres and ninety-nine perches, situated on
the National road, northwest of Uniontown, in Union
towniship, near its western boundary. On the 26th of
April following, an order for oine thousand dollars was
issued in favor of William Livingston, Frederick
Shearer, and Isaac Core, directors of the poor, to be
by them applied to the erection of a house upon the
poor-farm. August 14th in the same year aiiother
order of the same amount was issued by the commissioners to the directors of the poor, " to be appropriated
in paying for the poor-house tract and building the
poor-house thereon." A further sum of six hundred
dollars was appropriated for the same purpose in
1825, anid three thousand five hundred dollars was
appropriated in 1826 " for repairs and additions."
On the 2d of June, 1834, the poor-farm  was enlarged by the purchase from Alexander Turner for
eight hundred and eighteen dollars of sixteeni acres
and sixty perches of lanid adjoining the originial tract.
The following exhibit of the expenses of the poorhouse anid farm for the first two years is from the
auditor's book of minutes, viz.:
"A statement of the accounts of the poor-house from its
commencement in 1823 until Dec. 31, 1825, inclusive:
"Dr.
To cash received out of county treasury in the year
1824.......................................... $2761.21
To cash received out of county treasury in the year
1825.......................................... 4103.45;
$6S67.664
"Cr.
By cash paid Jno. C. Marsh for building poor-house. $1942.90
"   I" for carpenter-work........................... 1101.51~
for rebuilding, etc., in part.............. 1580.284'* first payment on poor-house farm, etc.  934.63
keeping paupers from April 12th to
Dec. 15, 1825.357.791
provisions.165.19
"..........." directors for services.147.921
purchasers of poor-house farm.    131.00
" stock on farm.i.162.124
" furniture.                         99.844
" labor on farm, coal-bank, etc.77.0(0
"............" treasurer's salairy in 1824.56.25
"s     "...................4 "   "    " 1825.40.00
"............" taxes.21.43
stationery..75
removing paupers to farm.10.37+
"............" directors' services in 1825.38.644
$6867.66;4
"E. DOUGLAS, JR.,
" SAMUEL CLEAVINGER, Auditors."
The total expenditure for the poor of the county
for the year 1872 was $7597.14; for 1873, $15,739.25;
for 1874, $19,260.10; for 1876, $21,338.11; for 1877,
$19,487.69; for 1878, $29,854.35; for 1879, $25,164.74;
an(d for 1880, $16,484; viz.: for almshouse, $13,722.90,
and for poor outside the alinshouse, $2761.10. The
productions of the poor-farm and garden for the same
year were 624 bushels wheat, 85 bushels onions,
2500 bushels corn (ears), 4500 heads of cabbage, 1400
bushels potatoes, 25 bushels beets, 100 bushels turnips,
20 bushels beans and peas, 300 bushels apples, 8 barrels sauer-kraut, 10 barrels apple butter, 21 barrels
cider, 10,000 pounds pork, 5000 pounds beef, 16 tons
hay.
CHAPTER XIV.
ThE BAR OF FAYETTE COUNTY-FAYETTE CIVIL
LIST-COUNTY SOCIETIES.
THE first business done by the Court of Quarter
Sessions of Fayette County at its first tertm (December, 1783) was the admission of attorneys, of which
the followinig is the record: " Thomas Scott, Hugh
M. Brackenridge, David Bradford, Michael Huffnagle,
George Thompson, Robert Galbraith, Samuel Irwin,
and David Redick, Esquires, were admitted attorneys in the Courts of Quarter Sessions and Common
Pleas in this County, and took the oath accordingly."
The attorney's roll shows the subsequeilt admissions
to have been as follows, viz.:
1784.
Thomas Smith, March.
John Woods, March.
David Semple, March.
James Ross, December.
1786.
James Carson, Junie.
1787.
Alex. Addison, March 20.
1789.
David St. Clair, Sept.
John Young, Deceinber.
1790.
H. Purviance, Sept. 22.
1792.
Hugh Ross, December.
1793.
Jos. Pentecost, Dec. 18.
1794.
Arthur St. Clair, June.
George Armstrong, June.
1795.
Parker Campbell, March.
Geo. Henry Keppel, SeptJames Morrison, Sept.
Thomas Hadden, Sept.
Paul Morrow, Sept.
1796.
Abram Morrisoin, March.
John Simonson, March.
James Allison, June.
Samuel Selley, Sept.
1797.
David McKeehan, March.
Thomas Collins, March.
Thomas Bailey, June 20.
J. Montgomery, June 20.
John Lyon, June 20.
Thomas Nesbitt, Sept.
Samuel Meghan, Sept.
1798.
Joseph Wrigley, June.
John Kennedy, Sept.
Thomas Meason, Sept.
James Ashbrook, Sept.
William Ayres, Sept.
138THE BAR OF FAYETTE COUNTY.
1799.                     1816.
George Heyl, June.        Richard Beeson, Nov.
James B. Bowman.
1800.           Nath'l Ewing, Nov. 19.
Robert Callender, June.
1817.
1801.            W. M. Denny, April 17.
Sam'l S. Harrison, June.
Rizen Davidge, Sept.                1818.
Daniel Duncan, Dec.       John Bouvier, Dec. 11.
John H. Ewing, Aug. 21.
1802.           James Hall, April 13.
James Mountain, Sept.   Wm. S. Harvey, April 13.
Jacob Fisher, Aug. 17.1
1803.
Isaac Meason, Jr., Sept.            1819.
1804V Wm. Kennedy, March 5.
0  1804.        James Piper.
M. Sexton, June.
wm. A. Thompson, Sept.            1820
1805  James Herron, March.
1805.           Hiram Heaton, March 7.
Elias E. Ellmaker, June.
William Ward, Dec.                  1821.
1806.           Samuel Evans, Sept.
John H. Hopkins, Oct. 16.
Geo. P. Torrence, April.  W. G. Hawkins, March 6.
1808.           Jacob B. Miller, Nov. 5.
1808.       Thoma G. Morgan, Sept.
John B. Alexander, Aug.  Joshua Seuey, June 5.
John B. Torr, November.
1822.
1809.           J. D. Creigh, June 6.
John Marshall, Sept.
1823.
1810.           Thos. L. Rogers, Jan. 11.
John M. Austin, Aug. 10. James Todd, Oct. 30.
Thos. H. Baird, Aug. 21.
John H. Chapin, Aug. 21.         1824.
Richard Coulter.          A. Brackenridge, June 17.
Thomas McGibben, Nov.  Rich. W. Lane, April 1.
1811.           J. C. Simonson, Oct. 28.
Frederick Beers, Aug.               1825.
Thomas Irwin, April.     Richard Bard, Nov. 1.
1813.           Sam'l Cleavinger, Jan. 4.
Joseph Becket, April.               1897.
John Dawson, Aug. 17.   Alex. Wilson, June 13.
1814.                     1828.
T. M. T. McKennan, Nov. E. P. Oliphant, March.
1815.
Andrew Stewart, Jan. 9.
Charles Wilkins, April.
1829.
Joshua B. Howell, Jan. 5.
Moses Hampton, March 3.
Rice G. Hopwood.
Daniel C. Morris, Oct. 29.
John H. Wells, Oct. 29.
1831.
Alex. W. Acheson, Oct.
Robert P. Flenniken, Oct.
C. Forward.
Alfred Patterson, Oct.
William P. Wells.
James Veech, October.
1835.
John H. Deford, Sept. 9.
John L. Dawson, Sept. 9.
D. S. Todd, June.
James Wilson.
1838.
Wm. E. Austin, Jan. 4.
Samuel B. Austin, June 7.
Thos. R. Davidson, Jan. 4.
1839.
Hiram Blackledge, June.
James A. Morris, Sept. 5.
James J. Moore.
1840.
Robert D. Clark, March 4.
R. T. Galloway, March 4.
N. B. Hogg, Sept. 18.
1841.
M. W. Irwin, Dec. 15.
1842.
Geo. W. Bowie, March 18.
Daniel Kaine, March 18.
Amzi McClean, June 10.
1843.
Edward Byerly, Sept. 5.
Ellis B. Dawson, June 6.
J. C. Flenniken, Sept. 5.
Michael B. King, Sept. 5.
1845.
wm. Bayley, March 4.
R. D. Burd, March 5.
John Bierer, Sept. 2.
Daniel Downer, Sept. 2.
A. S. Hayden, Sept. 2.
S. Addison IrWin, June.
Job Johnston, Sept. 7.
A. M. Lynn, March 4.
J. A. Stevenson, March 4.
1846.
Frederick Bierer, March.
Charles H. Beeson, Dec.
William Beeson, Dec.
Edgar Cowan, Sept.
John K. Ewing, March.
Amzi Fuller, March.
John Sturgeon, March 6.
1847.
A. w. Barclay, Sept. 7.
G. T. Greenland, Mar. 9.
Samuel Gaither, June 8.
Alfred howell, March 9.
A. D. McDougall, Mar. 9.
Wm. Parshall, Sept. 7.
S. D. Oliphant, Sept. 7.
1848.
Everard Brierer, March 8.
John Fuller, March 8.
John B. Krepps, Dec. 12.
A. 0. Patterson, March 8.
1849.
Thos. W. Porter, Mar. 5.
1850.
John McNeal, June.
J. N. H. Patrick, Dec. 2.
Thos. B. Searight, June.
Alpheus E. Willson.
William McDonald.
1852.
Wm. L. Bowman, Dec. 7.
A. H. Coffroth, Sept. 6.
W. W. Patrick, June 7.
John D. Roddy, Sept. 6.
1853.
Seth T. Hurd, Oct. 24.
1855.
J. Walker Flennikin, Mar.
Eugene Ferrero, March.
Jetsan Jett, June 6.
1856.
Rich'd H. Austin, Jan. 8.
Cyrus Myers, Jan. 15.
1857.
A. J. Colbourn, Sept. 7.
Henry C. Dawson, June 2.
Peter A. Johns, Dec. 7.
G. W. K. Minor, Dec. 18.
H. W. Patterson, Mar. 2
1 Ntme ordered by the court to be struck from the roll of attorneys
March 2, 1819.
139HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
"On returning from the lbottom of the avenue we
discovered a passage leading horizontally and at right
angles from the side of this avenue, the entrance of
which is elevated about eight feet above the floor.
We found this a very pleasant passage in comparison
to the rest; the roof, sides, and floor were quite smooth,
and we could walk upright. It is one hundred and
twenty feet long, and leads into the last and largest
avenue, or Great Mill-Stream Hall.' This we found
to be very spacious, being about from twenty to thirty
feet wide, from thirty to eighty feet from the floor to
the roof, and twelve hundred feet in length, with a
stream sufficient to turn a grist-mill running its whole
length. From the source of this stream, where there
is a considerable collection of white spar, formed in
flat cakes and cones, caused evidently by the constant
dripping of water, the avenue has a descent of about
thirty degrees to where the stream disembogues itself
through a snlall aperture in the rocks. Before we
arrived at this aperture the avenue became so contracted that Mr. Gregg and myself had to creep on
our hands and knees through the water for about fifty
feet. Here in the sand we found the name of'Crain'
written, which we considered a mortifying discovery,
as we thought we w re the first persons wllo had
penetrated so far in his direction. We wrote our
names likewise in the sand and then joined the rest
of the party.
"In our search through this great avenue we had to
climb over or creep under a thousand craggy rocks
that lay scattered on the floor, and which had fallen
from the sides and ceiling. I have every reason to
believe that no person except us ever visited the
source of the stream and head of the avenue, as we
found no sign of human inventioii within many hundred feet of the spot, and which was very common in
every other part of the cave, as the sides of every
place that had been previously visited were covered
with names and marks made with coal, and if any  i
person had penetrated this far they certainly would
hlave left some token of their perseverance. We now
found ourselves at the end of our exploring expedition, and as we had plenty of candles left and had
taken the precaution to mark with chalk an arrow on  t
the rocks at every turn, we were confident of being  c
able to retrace our steps to the entrance.         1
" Returning, we measured with a line the extreme  I
distance we had been in, and found it to be three  t
thousand six hundred feet, but we must have trav-  C
elled altogether upwards of two miles. Our retjrn
was found to be much more tiresome, as it was an ascending route nearly the whole distance. We arrived,
in safety at the mouth at ten o'clock at night, after  al
having traveled incessantly for six hours. We were  "h
about sixteen hundred feet perpendicularly below the  k
entrance. We heard the water running beneath the  bi
rocks in every part of the cave. The temperature we  cl
found agreeable, but owing to our great exertions we  V
were kept in a profuse perspiration during the whole  st
time we were in. In different parts we saw a few
bats, but a gentleman from Uniontown inlformed me
that the roofs of the two first rooms were covered
with millions of bats hanging in large bunches in a
torpid state and clinging to each other.
"This cave is composed of soft sandstone rocks,
and has every appearance of having been formed by
the veins of water washing them and their foundations away, which caused by their weight to separate
from the standing rocks above.  There is not the
smallest doubt in my mind but this cave is considerably enlarged by the friction of the water each year,
for all the rocks on the floors of the different apartments would exactly fit the parts of the ceiling immediately above tlhem. The rocks that now form
this cave will certainly fall by degrees as their foundations are washed away, therefore it is impossible to
form an idea of the very great spaciousness that it
may arrive to. The knowledge that the rocks above
are subject to fall is calculated to create the most inexpressible horror in the minds of persons who visit
this subterranean wonder. The arches of all the
avenues are formed by rocks meeting in the middle of
the roofs, with a crack extending in each the whole
length."
CHAPTER II.
TIHE WORKS AND RELICS OF AN EXTINCT PEOPLE.
IN Fayette County, as in many other parts of Western Pennsylvania, and in a great number of localities farther towards the southwest, there exist evidences of a very ancient occupation of these valleys
and hills by a people other than the native Indians
who held possession at the time when the first white
settlers came here. These evidences are found chiefly
in curious mounds and other forms of earthwork,
some apparently having been devoted to purposes of
sepulture alone, and others having the form and appearance of defenses against hostile attack.' The
great age of these structures was proved, not only by;heir general appearance of antiquity, but more decidedly by the fact that in many instances trees of the
argest size were found growing on the embankments.
In reference to these works and the evidence which
hey furnish that this region, in common with others,:overing the entire Mississippi and Ohio River valeys, had been anciently occupied by a people su1 The Moravian writer, Zeisberger, says, in reference to this subject,
In war they [the builders of these earthen works] used some ramparts
bout their towns, and round hillocks, in the top of which they made a
ollow place to shelter their women and children in; they placed themelves around and upon it to fight; in such battles were commonly maniy
illed, whom they buried all in a heap, covering the corpses with the
ark of trees, stones, earth, etc. On the place where Schoenbrunn, the
hrlistian Indian town, was built [in Ohio], one can plainly see sulch a
all or rampart of considerable extent, and not a great way off, il thle
lain, is such a burial-place, or made hillock, on which large oaks now
and."
16HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
1869.
Albert D. Boyd, March 1.
James K. Kerr, March 2.
1870.
G. R. Cochran, June 30.
John Lyon, June 30.
Wim. B. Pusey, Dec. 10.
1871.
N. Ewing, Jr., Sept. 4.
Wm. Snyder, June 6.
1872.
J. J. Hazlitt, June 5.
S. L. Mestrezat, Dec. 7.
1873.
Eli Hewitt, Dec. 1.
Isaac Bailey, Dec. 3.               1874.
Charles E. Boyd, Dec. 2.  Wm. H. Coldren, Sept. 9.
J. Mundey Clark, Dec. 3.
Sam'l A. Gilmore, Dec. 2.           1875.
Peter T. Hunt, June 5.   Lucius H. Ruby, July 2.
Julius Shipley, Dec. 9.   J. Rogers Paull, Sept. 9.
T. B. Schnatterly, Dec. 9. N. Lyman Dukes, Sept. 9.
And. B. Gonder, Sept. 6.
1863.
Herman S. Baer, Sept. 18.
H. Clay Dean, Sept. 11.
James Darby.
T. B. Graham, Sept. 11.
Jos. M. Ogilvee, Dec. 7.
Henry T. Schell, Sept. 17.
1865.
W. H. Hope, Dec. 5.
1866.
Harry Black, Sept. 4.
Jas. D. Ramsey, March 6.
1867.
William Baer, June 6.
A. M. Gibson, Dec. 2.
A. C. Nutt, Dec. 2.
1868.
C. P. Dunnoway, Mar. 2.
W. G. Guiler, Sept. 7.
Geo. W. Miller, Mar. 17.
W. A. McDowell, Mar. 17.
E. C. Pechin, Dec. 10.
M. Hamp. Todd, Sept. 7.
1876.
W. A. Davidson, Sept. 4.
I. Lee Johnson, June 7.
S. Evans Ewing, Sept. 4.
1877.
Alonzo C. Hagan, Mar. 5.
M. M. Cochran, June 5.
AV. E. Dunaway, Mar. 12.
H. F. Detwiler, Mar. 8.
James P. Grove, Mar. 24.
1878.
Paoli S. Morrow, Sept. 2.
David MI. Hertzog, Sept. 2.
G. B. Hutchinson, Sept. 4.
1879.
F. M. Fuller, June 2.
R. P. Kennedy, Aug. 26.
1880.
L. H. Thrasher, March 1.
A. H. Wycoff, Aug. 31.
Ash. T. Downs, Aug. 31.
Geo. B. Kaine, Dec. 6.
William  McGeorge, Jr.
Feb. 19.
Among the earliest lawyers practicing at the Fayette bar and resident within the county were Thomas
Tfeason and John Lyon, whose names have come
down to the present generation in traditions of kindest
recollection. Both of them seemed to have military
tastes, and the ardor of Gen. Meason to serve his
country in the field led to his death at the comparatively early age of forty years. In the winter of
1812-13 he left his extensive practice to offer Ihis services to the government in the war against Great
Britain, and traveling from Uniontown to Washington City on horseback, the exposure of the journey
brought on an attack of fever which resulted fatally
soon after he reached the capital.
Thomas Meason was born on the extensive estate
of his father, Col. Isaac Meason, at Mount Braddock.
He read law in the office of James Ross, Esq., at
Pittsburgh; was admitted to the bar of Fayette County,
Sept. 25, 1798, and very soon acquired a practice
equal to that of any lawyer in the county. In 1802
he was married to Nancy Kennedy, a sister of the
Hon. John Kennedy. Personally he was a man of
fine presence, and his popularity was such that it very
nearly secured him an election as member of Congress, though he ran on the Federalist ticket against
Isaac Griffin, in a district (embracing Fayette County)
which was strongly Democratic.
John Lyon was born in Carlisle, Cumberland Co.,
Pa., Oct. 13, 1771, and graduated at Dickinson College. He came to Fayette County for the first time,
with a musket on his shoulder, as a private soldier in
the army that was sent to suppress the "Whiskey
Insurrection" in 1794, and returned east with the
troops when the " war" was over.  But he was
strongly attracted by the beauty and prospects of the
country which he had seen west of the mountains,
and it was not long before he came back to Fayette
County and located in Uniontown, where he was admitted to the bar, June 26, 1797. He married Priscilla Coulter, of Greensburg (sister of the Hon. Richard Coulter), and resided in Uniontown in the practice
of his profession during the remainder of his life.
His residence was a house on Main Street (adjoining
the office of Gen. Meason), which is still standing.
His extensive learning and amiable manners secured
for him the confidence and good will of all who knew
him. No lawyer stood higher in his profession, and
his tomllbstone, erected by the bar of the county, bears
testimony to the high character he ever sustained
among his professional brethren. He died Aug. 27,
1837.
Another of the prominent early lawyers of Fayette
County was John Kennedy, afterwards a j.udge of the
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. He was born in
Cumberland County, near Shippensburg, and was a
son of Thomas Kennedy, a prominent public man in
that section of the State. Graduating at Dickinson
College, in the same class with Roger B. Taney (afterwards chief justice of the Supreme Court of the
United States), he studied law under Judge Hamilton, and after completing his course married a daughter of Judge Creigh, of Carlisle, and removed to
Win. H. Playford, Sept.
J. H. Sewell, March 4.
1858.
John Collins, June 7.
1859.
Edward Campbell, Sept. 5.
Geo. F. Dawson, Sept. 5.
John Gallagher, Dec. 5.
Jos. C. Thorntor, Dec. 17.
David H. Veech, Mar. 7.
1860.
John W. Deford, Sept. 3.
Jas. G. Johnston, Mar. 5.
Geo. S. Ramsey, Mar. 5.
1861.
140TIHE BAR OF FAYETTE COUNTY.
Uniontown, where he was admitted to the Fayette
County bar in 1798, and soon became one of the most
prominent lawyers of this section of country. On
the 23d of November, 1830, he was appointed associate justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania,
which high office he held until his death in 1846.
At a meeting of the Philadelphia bar on the 28th of
August in that year, the following resolutions were
adopted on motion of John M. Read, attorney-general of the State:
" Resolved, That the members of the bar of Philadelphia have heard with feelings of deep sorrow of
the decease of the Hon. John Kennedy, one of the
associate justices of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.
"Resolved, That by indefatigable industry, unremitting devotion to the study of law, united with a
sound judgment, a calm temper, and uniform courtesy of manner, this able judge has left behind him
a reputation which will long live in the recollections
of the bench, the bar, and the community."
Upon the passage of these resolutions on the death
of Judge Kennedy, Chief Justice Gibson said,"As the presiding officer of the court, it is my
business as it is my pleasure to express its satisfaction at the tribute of respect paid by the bar to the
memory of our lamented brotlher. It was my good
fortune to know him from boyhood, and we all knew
him long enough at the bar or on the bench to appreciate his value as a lawyer and as a man. My
blrother Rogers and myself sat with hlim in this court
between fifteen and sixteen years, arid we had ample
reason to admire his industry, learning, and judgment.
Iandeed, his judicial labors were his recreations. He
clung to the common law as a child to its nurse, and
how much he drew from it may be seen in his opinions, which by their elaborate minuteness reminds
us of the over-fullness of Lord Coke. Patient in investigation and slow in judgment, he seldom changed
his opinion. A cooler head and a warmer heart never
met together in the same person, and it is barely just
to say that he has not left behind him a more learned
lawyer or a more upright man."
Jolin M. Austin was a native of Hartford, Conn.,
born in 1784. He studied law with Judge Baldwin,
of Pittsburgh, and practiced his profession in that city
for some time. He was admitted to the Fayette
County bar in August, 1810, from which time for
many, years he was ranked with the prominent lawyers of the county. He was the leading one among
the attorneys whose names were stricken from the roll
by Judge Baird in 1834, as hereafter noticed. His
death occurred in April, 1864.
Thomas Irwin was born in Philadelphia, Feb. 22,
1784. He studied law in that city, and removed to
Fayette County in 1811, and settled in Uniontown,
where he was admitted to the bar in April of that
year. In 1812 he was appointed district attorney.
Soon afterwards he was elec6td to the Legislature
10
from Fayette County, and served in that body with
fidelity to his constituents and honor to himself. He
represented tllis district in the Twenty-first Congress
of the United States, and in 1831 was appointed by
President Jackson judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania,
a position which le held for nearly thirty years, resigning it during the administration of President Buchanan, and being succeeded by Judge McCandless.
Judge Irwin was a man of noble impulses and unswerving honesty, and was always greatly admired
and beloved by his friends and acquaintances in Fayette County. He was a steadfast Democrat, but took
little part in politics in his later years. He'was a
zealous member of the Episcopal Church, " and through
his long life his Christian virtues shone conspicuously
in all his various callings."  He was an able and fearless lawyer, always true to his client and as just to his
opponent. He was an honest legislator and a faithf ul
and impartial judge. He died in Pittsburgh on the
14th of May, 1870, at the age of eighty-six years.
John Dawson was one of the most prominent lawyers of Uniontown, where and in its vicinity he passed
almost seventy years of his long and useful life. He
was born in orie of the nortLhwestern counties of Virginia, July 13, 1788, and when about twenty years of
age removed to IJniontown, Pa., where in 1810 lie
commenced the study of law with Gen. Thomas Meason. After the death of Gen. Measkon he finished his
studies with Judge John Kennedy, and was admitted
to the bar as a practicing attorney of the courts of
Fayette County in August, 1813. He practiced his
profession successfully for more than thirty years, and
was considered a sound lawyer and safe counselor,
standing in the front rank among the mnembers of the
Fayette County bar. He was an agreeable companion,
and possessed a fund of pleasing anecdotes, with which
he frequently entertained his friends. He was remarkably kind in disposition and liberal in his benefactions, ever ready to assist others.
In 1820 he was married to Miss Ann Baily (only
daughter of Mr. Ellis Baily, of Uniontown), by whom
he had thirteen children.
In 1851 he was appointed associate judge of Fayette County by Governor William F. Johnston, and
served in that capacity with honor and distinction,
and to the entire satisfaction of the members of the
bar and the people of the county. His term of office
continued until the constitution of Pennsylvania was
changed, making the office of associate judge elective.
After lie retired from the bench his principal business was farming, which lie superintended until about
1865, after which time he resided with his children in
Uniontown. His sight for several years was so defective that at times it amounted to total blindness. He
died in Uniontown on the 16th of January, 1875, in
the eighty-seventh year of his age.
On the 19th, at a meeting of members. of the Fayette County bar, convened in the court-house, it was
I
141HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
"Resolved, That in the death of the Hon. John
Dawson the bar has lost a member whose ability,
learning, and integrity adorned the profession; the
community an upright and intelligent citizen, who
ever executed with fidelity and zeal the many honorable trusts confided to him; the church a friend, who
propagated faith by example, and proved it by works;
and his family a fond and devoted father, whose practice of the domestic virtues illustrated a character as
noble as it is rare. No tribute to his meinory can
speak too warmly of the manner in which lie discharged the duties of every relation in life."
Andrew Stewart, a prominent member of the Fayette County bar, and the most distinguished man in
political public life that the county ever produced,
was born in German township in 1791, and passed the
early years of his life on the farm of his father (Abraham Stewart) and as a school-teacher and clerk in an
iron furnace. He received his education at Washington College, and immediately after his graduation at
that institution, studied law, and was admitted to the
bar at Uniontown in January, 1815, soon after which
he was elected to the General Assembly of Pennsylvania, and served in that body for three years. He
was appointed United States District Attorney by
President Monroe, but resigned the position in 1820,
on his election to Congress from this district. During the period extending from that time to 1850 he
served in Congtess for eighteen years, and by his
constant and stanch advocacy of the system of pro-'tection to American industry received, in political
circles throughout the United States, the sobriquet of
"Tariff Andy" Stewart. At the age of thirty-four
years he married a daughter of David Shriver, of
Cumberland, Md., and they became the parents of six
children. He died in Uniontown on the 16th of July,
1872, in his eighty-second year. More extended mention of the events in the life of the Hon. Andrew
Stewart will be- found in the history of Uniontown.
Nathaniel Ewing, son of William Ewing, one of
the early settlers in Luzerne township, Fayette Co.,
was born in that township, near Merrittstown, in
1796, he being the second in age of a family of ten
children, all of whom were born in this county. His
early years were passed on the farm of his father
until he entered Jefferson College, at which institution he graduated with the highest honors of his
class. After leaving college he spent a year teaching
school in Newark, Del. He studied law in Washington, Pa., with Thomas McGiffin, and was admitted to
the bar at Uniontown in November, 1816.
The next year he began practice permanently in
Uniontown, where his commanding talents and superior legal attainments soon secured him an extensive
and lucrative practice, and before many years he became the acknowledged leader of the bar in this
place. In several instances he succeeded in obtaining from the Supreme Court of this State a reversal
of their previous decisions.
In February, 1822, he was married to Jane, daughter of Judge John Kennedy. She died in 1825,
and in 1830 he married Anne, daughter of David
Denny, of. Chambersburg. On the 15th of February,
1838, he was appointed by Governor Joseph Ritner
president judge of the Fourteenth Judicial District,
to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Judge
Thomas Baird. He served the constitutional term of
ten years, and left the bench with the increased confidence of the people in his integrity and legal qualifications, and without a stain on his judicial ermine.
He never again returned to the practice of law, except in occasional cases in the interest of old friends,
but such was the confidence of his legal brethren in
his ability and sound judgment that his advice was
often sought in important cases. As a citizen, Judge
Ewing was ever ready and anxious to promote the
interests of the community in which he lived. An
evidence of this is found in the early history of the
Fayette County Railroad. At a time when none could
be induced to join him in the enterprise, he gave his
time, his talents, and pecuniary and personal aid to
carry it through, and it is quite certain that it could
not have been built at that time but for his energy
and influence. He died on the 8th of February,
1874.
John Bouvier was a resident of Fayette County for
about nine years, duri-ng a part of which time he.practiced as an attorney in Uniontown. He was a
native of the department of Du Gard, in the south of
France, and born in the year 1787. At the age of
fifteen he emigrhted with his parents to Philadelphia,
where in 1812 he became a naturalized citizo'of th-e
United States, and about that time erected a-building
in West Philadelphia, which he used as a printingoffice, and which is still standing. Two years later he
removed to Fayette County, and located in Brownsville, where he established the American Telegraph, a
weekly newspaper. While publishing this paper he
was also engaged in the study of law, and in December, 1818, he was admitted to the Fayette County bar
at Uniontown, to which borough he had removed in
the same year, and united his Telegraph newspaper
with the Genius of Liberty, being associated in the
editorship with John M. Austin. Bouvier, after his
admission to the bar, gave his attention principally.
to the law, and in July, 1820, sold his interest in the
paper. At the September term of 1822 he was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, and in the following year removed to Philadelphia. He was appointed recorder of that city in
1836, and in 1838 was commissioned associate justice
of the Criminal Court. He continued to reside in
Philadelphia until his death, which occurred in 1851.
During the period of his residence in Uniontown,
Mr. Bouvier conceived the idea of compiling a law
dictionary for the use of his brethren of the American bar. He labored assiduously and constantly to
accomplish the work, and in 1839 published two ocI
142.TIlE BAR OF FAYETTE COUNTY.
tavo volumes, which he presented "to his brethren
and the world at large" for approval, and whlich received commendation in the highest terms from Chief
Justice Story and Chancellor Kent. From  1842 to
1846 he produced a revised edition of the work, comprising ten royal octavo volumes. In 1848 he published tile third edition, in which many of the articles
were carefully revised and remodeled, and more than
twelve hundred others added. After his death it was
found that he had partially prepared a large amount
of additional and valuable material, and this was put
in the proper form by competent persons, and incorporated in the fourth edition, which was published in
1852, At the same time that he was engaged on the
"Dictionary," Mr. Bouvier commenced the preparation of another work, entitled "Institutes of American Law," which was completed in 1851. Both these
works have received the highest encomiums from the
bench and bar for the extensive research and legal
knowledge exhibited in their pages, and it is acknowledged that they rank among the best contributions to the legal literature of the country.
Jacob B. Miller was the son of John Miller, a tanner, and an early settler in Uniontown, where Jacob
was born on the 21st of February, 1799. He studied
law with Parker Campbell, in Washington, Pa., and
was admitted to the Fayette County bar in November, 1821. He was the founder of the Pennsylvania
Democrat (now the Standard), at Uniontown. He
served in the Legislature of Pennsylvania in the
years 1832 and 1833. A just estimate of the character and standing which he sustained as a lawyer and
a man during the many years of his life is summed
up in a resolution adopted by the Fayette County bar
at his death, viz.: " That we regarded Mr. Miller as
a man of ripe scholarship and character, of earnest
convictions, and of rare independence. What he believed to be the right he upheld, and what he believed to be wrong he opposed, regardless of consequences. Although a lifelong and active party man,
when his party's action did not coincide with his own
views it found in him a determined and able foe."
Mr. Miller died Dec. 6, 1878, in the eightieth year of
his age.
James Todd, who was for almost half a century a
resident of Fayette County, and an able member of
its bar for many years during that period, was of
Scotch descent, and born in York County, Pa., Dec.
25, 1786. In the early part of 1787 his parents removed to Fayette County, where his mother died
during the same summer. His father survived her
only a few months, but previous to his death intrusted his infant child to the care of Duncan McLean, a Scotchman and an elder in the Presbyterian
Church. In this family he was reared, and became
an indentured apprentice. Until after the expiration
of his apprenticeship his education had been of the
most limited character, such only as could be afforded
by a year and a half of attendance at the common
schools in a neighborhood recently settled. Being
very desirous, however, of improving his education,
he availed hilnself of every opportunity that presented itself, reading such books as were to be found
in a new settlement, and studying late at night after
the completion of his day's labor. He joined a debating society, and was so successfill in their contests
and developed such ready powers in debate that his
attention was directed to local politics and (eventually) to the study of law. In the fall of 1815 he was
appointed one of the county commissioners (to fill a
vacancy by death) of Fayette County, and was in
1816 elected for three years. While commissioner he
began the study of law with Judge John Bouvier.
Upon the expiration of his term as commissioner (in
1819) he was elected to the State Legislaturo, and
was afterwards re-elected for four additional successive terms, taking an active and leading part in its
proceedings.  Having continued his studies with
Judge Bouvier four years, he. was admitted to the bar
in Fayette County, Oct. 30, 1823. He met with immediate success, which continued through his whole
professional career. In September, 1825, he was appointed by Governor Shultze prothonotary and clerk
of Fayette County, but having been an active Adams
man in 1828, and a zealous advocate of the election
of Governor Ritner in 1829, he was in February, 1830,
removed by Governor Wolf.
During his tenure of these offices his practice as a
lawyer was necessarily restricted to the adjoining counties of Somerset, Greene, and Washington. In December, 1835, he was appointed attorney-general of
the State by the late Governor Ritner, and thereupon
removed to Philadelphia. This position he held until
early in 1838. The same Governor appointed him
president judge of the Court of Criminal Sessions of
the city and county of Philadelphia, in which position
he remained until 1840, when the court was-abolished
by the Legislature. He then resumed the practice of
the law in Philadelphia, and at once took a front
rank among the leaders of the bar.
He continued there until 1852, when failing health
and the death of a son (David) induced him to remove to Westmoreland County, where he continued
to reside, in the quiet and easy pursuit of his profession and of agriculture, until his death, which occurred on the 3d of September, 1863, in the seventyseventh year of his age. No better summary of the
life and character of Judge Todd can be given than
that embodied in the resolution offered by the Hon.
Edgar Cowan, and adopted at a meeting of the
Greensburg bar, on the occasion of his death, viz.:
"Resolved, That while we lament the death and do
honor to the memory of Judge Todd, the example of
his life, so eminent for ability, integrity, and patriotism, ought not to be lost to the young, but be held
up for encouragement and imitation. He was the
architect of his own fortunes, and, subsisting by his
labor, without the aid of schools or masters, he won
143HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
his way to the Legislature, to the bar, to the cabinet,
and to the bench, acquitting himself in all with distinction. He was also an ardent lover of his country,
a temperate and just man, and a sincere Christian.
His years were as full as his honors, and extended
almost to fourscore years."
Joshua B. Howell was a native of New Jersey, and
pursued the study of the law in Philadelphia, where
he was admitted to the bar. In the latter part of
1827 he removed to Fayette County, and made his
residence in Uniontown, where he was admitted to the
bar Jan. 5, 1828. In 1831 he was appointed district
attorney by Attorney-General Samuel Douglass, and
served to and including the year 1833. He formed a
law partnership with Judge Thomas Irwin, and later
with. Judge Nathaniel Ewing.  Mr. Howell was a
careful and able lawyer, a man of fine address, a good
speaker, and. very successful in his pleadings before
juries. In 1861 he raised a regiment (mustered as the
Eig,hty-fifth Pennsylvania), and entered the service
as its colonel in the war of the Rebellion. He served
in command of the regiment until the 14th of September, 1864, when he was killed bv a fall from his
horse, on the lines in front of Petersburg, Va.
Moses Hampton was an eminent lawyer, but only
a few years a resident of Fayette County. He was a
native of Beaver Countv, Pa., born Oct. 28, 1803. He
graduated at Washington College, and soon after removed to Uniontown to accept a professorship in
Madison College at that place. He continued in that
position for about two years, during which time he
commenced the study of law in the office of John M.
Austin. In 1827 he married a daughter of John Miller, and sister of Jacob B. Miller, of Uniontown. He
was admitted to the Fayette County bar in March,
1828, and in 1829 removed to Somerset County, where
he became associated in business with the Hon. Jeremiah S. Dlack and Charles Ogle. In 1838 he removed
to Pittsburgh, which was his- place of residence during
the remainder of his life. He was a member of the
Congress of the United States in 1847-49. In 1853 he
was elected president judge of the court of Common
Pleas of Allegheny County. He died June 24, 1878.
James Veech was one of the most widely-known
and able lawyers of Fayette County or of Western
Pennsylvania.  He was a native of this county,
born near New Salem, Sept. 18, 1808. After graduating with the highest honors at Jefferson College lie
came to Uniontown, and became a law-student in the.office of Judge Todd.  He was admitted to the bar in
October, 1831, and commenced practice in the Fayette County courts, where by unswerving integrity
and close application to the business of his profession
lie soon took rank among the leading practitioners of
that day. A just tribute to the admirable qualities of
Judge Veech, together with a brief sketch of some of
the leading events of his life, is found in the record
of the proceedings of a meeting of members of the
Pittsburgh bar, convened upon the occasion of his
death, which occurred Dec. 10, 1879.  From  that
record is taken the following, viz.:
"The departing year takes with it James Veech,
whose threescore years and ten are now closed, years
of labor, honor, and professional excellence. Before
he is committed to that narrow house appointed for
all living men let us pause and estimate his worth
and character, and make an enduring record of the
virtues that adorned his long life and gave him that
high place in' the profession and the State to which
his ripe learning and unvarying integrity entitled
him.
" In stature, mental and physical, nature had marked
him as one born to brave the battle of life with unflagging courage and tireless industry, and to secure
a triumph not more honorable to himself than useful
in good deeds to his fellow-men. HIe graduated at
Jefferson College, being the youngest member of his
class, and acquired an education which in subsequent
years he greatly improved, keeping up his study -of
the classics during his professional labors and becoming familiar with the standard Greek and Latin
authors. There were with him at college many who
have risen to places of honor and usefulness, and, like
him, added to its long roll of distinguished men.
" After leaving college he went to Uniontown, Pa.,
and in 1829 began reading law under the direction of
the late Judge Todd, who was then one of the prominent lawyers of the western part of tle State. In
October, 1831, he was admitted to the bar, and began
a career which has shed lustre on his name and his
profession. There were then in full practice Andrew
Stewart, John M. Austin, John Dawson, of Fayette
County, now all gone. Thomas M. T. McKennan and
Thomas McGuffie appeared among its members at
times,-men whose reputations are yet fresh in the
recollection of many persons now living. Surrounded
by such men, and inspired by their influence, Mr. Veech
became an ardent student in the true meaning of the
term, and read and loved the comlmon law, because it
laid open to his view the foundations of those great
principles upon which the most sacred rights of persons and property rest.
"After some years of constant and continued application to his professional duties, he was appointed
deputy district attorney of Allegheny County bv
James Todd, tlle attorney-general, and removed
to Pittsburgh.  In this new sphere he faithfully
and creditably discharged all its duties, and by his
leirning and honorable deportment advanced still
higher his professional reputation.  He resided in
Pittsburgh for several years, but was compelled by
failing health to remove to Uniontown. There he remained until 1862, becoming the leader of the bar,
enjoying the fruits of a lucrative practice, and rising
to a degree of excellence in his profession which the
ambition of any man might prompt him to attain.
He prepared his cases with great care, and tried them
with a degree of power which few men possess.
144THE BARt OF FAYETTE COUNTY.4
"His manner before a jury was not engaging, nor
his voice pleasant, but the strength and directness of
his logic and the cogent earnestness with which he
made his pleas covered all such defects. His strong
common sense and good judgment carried his case, if
it could be won, and Fayette County juries attested
his abilities by not often going against him. His
arguments in the Supreme Court were clear, well digested, and forcibly presented.
" He trusted to decided cases, and was not inclined
to leave the well-worn ways of the law, or distrust
the security of those principles upon which are based
its most sacred rights. He looked upon a reformer as
a trifler with long settled questions, battering down,
without the ability to erect, a portion of the temple
of justice itself.'In 1862 he returned to Pittsburgh, and again commenced to practice, and continued an arduous and
able following of his profession until 1872. His success at the bar was rapid, and his business of a character that required great care and constant labor. He
took ranlk as an able, reliable, and formidable lawyer,
and found his reward in the confidence bestowed by a
large circle of leading business men in the managenient of their important cases. As a counselor, he
was cautious and safe, and he so thoroughly studied
the facts upon which an opinion was to be given that
he reached his conclusions slowly, but with a degree of
mature thought that made them valuable. Although
pressed with business, he found leisure, however, to indulge a taste he acquired early in life for studying the
history of the first settlement of this country around
us. No man in Western Pennsylvania has more patiently and accurately collected the names of the
hardy pioneers who came to the western slope of the
Alleghenies, and with rifle and axe penetrated the
dense forests that then lay along the Monongahela
and its tributaries.  Every spot memorable in the
French and Indian war was known to him. He collected many valuable manuscripts of men like Albert
Gallatin on subjects of State and national importance,
gathered information from all quarters of historical
value, and intended to publish them, but the work was
never done.
" His contributions in pamphlet form on many subjects of local interest were read with great interest,
and will be useful to the historian who may seek to
place in durable shape what occurred at an early day
in the settlement of Western Pennsylvania.
" In 1872 he retired from practice after a life spent
in- exacting labor, to find relief from the cares of professional duties in the happiness of a home to which
he was deeply attached. In it he enjoyed the companionship of his friends, to whom he was warmly
attached, and dispensed his hospitality with a genial
nature, which made intercourse with him both pleasant and instructive. Up to the very hour of his death
his mental faculties were unimpaired, and.his spirits
full of almost the fervor of his youth. He died at
his home on the Ohio below Pittsburgh, surrounded
by all that was dear to him on earth."
Robert P. Flennikin was a law-student in the office
of Andrew Stewart, at Uniontown, and admitted to the
bar in October, 1831. He practiced his profession for
a number of years in Fayette County, of which bar.
he became a leading member. He was also an influential citizen and a prominent politician. He served
three terms in the Pennsylvania Legislature, commencing in 1841. In 1845 he was appointed minister
to Denmark by President Polk, and he was made
Governor of the Territory of Utah by President Buchanan. In 1872 he retired from active pursuits, and
removed to San Francisco,. Cal., where his son Robert
was a successful merchant. Another son of his is
J. W. Flennikin, and Mrs. Thomas B. Searight, of
Uniontown, was his only daughter. He was an uncle
by marriage to the late Col. Samuel W. Black, and
brother-in-law of Judge Thomas Irwin. Mr. Flennikin was born in Greene County, Pa., and died in
San Francisco in October, 1879, aged seventy-five
years.
Alfred Patterson, at one time a school-teacher in
Uniontown, was admitted a member of the Fayette
County bar in October, 1831, and soon secured a large
and lucrative practice. Close, knotty points in law
and intricate matters pertaining to land titles were his
specialties. He was an easy, plausible speaker and
a good and successful lawyer. About 1870 he removed from UniontoNvn to Pittsburgh, where he devoted his time to the care of his property, and to the
duties of his position as president of the Bank of Commerce. He died in December, 1878, while on a visit
to his daughter in Louisiana.
John L. Dawson was born Feb. 7, 1813, in Uniontown, but removed very early in life to Brownsville,
which was his place of residence during the greater
part of his subsequent life. He received his education at Washington College, and soon after his graduation at that institution entered the office of his
uncle, John Dawson, at Uniontown, as a law-student.
He was admitted to the bar of Fayette in September,
1835, and at once commenced practice. He was a
good attorney, but soon entered political life, and became much more prominent in that field than in the
practice of his profession. In 1838 he was appointed
deputy attorney-general of Fayette County, and in
1845 United States District Attorney for Western
Pennsylvania, under President Polk. He was elected
to Congress in 1850, re-elected in 1852, again elected
in 1862, and re-elected in 1864. At the close of the
latter term (1867) he left public life and retired to
the estate known as Friendship Hill (the former residence of Albert Gallatin), where he passed the remainder of his life, and died Sept. 18, 1870. A more
extended biographical notice of Mr. Dawson will be
given in the history of Brownsville.
Thomas R. Davidson was a son of William Davidson, of Connellsville. He was educated at Kenyon
145HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
College, Ohio, and soon after graduation became a
law-student in the office of Robert P. Flennikin, of
Uniontown. He was admitted to the bar in January,
1838. He located in Connellsville, and continued in
the practice of his profession until his death, though
he was also engaged extensively in other business.
He was one of the prominent members of the Fayette
bar, and was regarded as one of the best counselors
in Western Pennsylvania. He was also an active
and energetic politician, but would never accept a
public appointment, nor consent to become a candidate for office. The date of his death has not been
ascertained.
Samuel A. Gilmore was born in 1806 in Butler
County, Pa., where he was admitted to the bar, and
continued as a practicing lawyer until his appointment as president judge of the Fourteenth Judicial
District, in February, 1848, when he removed to
Uniontown. Under the change of constitution he
was elected to the same office in 1851, and served on
the bench until the December term of 1861. He was
again elected in October, 1865, and continued in office
until his death, May 15, 1873. On that occasion a
meeting of members of the Fayette County bar was
held, at which the following resolutions were unaninously adopted, viz.:
" 1st. That after more than twenty years' service on
the bench, Judge Gilmore lays down his important
trust unsuspected that it has on any occasion been
violated, and leaving an excellent reputation for legal
and general learning, for sterling integrity as man
and judge, for strict impartiality in the discharge of
his official duties, for patriotism  as a citizen, as a
hater of wrong and sympathizer with the weak, and
as a firm believer in and an earnest promoter of the
Christian religion.
"2d. That as a judge' it was always his prime
object to ascertain the right of any matter tried before him, and having learned this, it was an inflexible
rule of law indeed which could prevent him from
seeing that justice and equity was done."
An event which occurred in the year 1835, the
striking of the names of a number of prominent
members of the bar of Fayette County from the roll
of attorneys, should not be omitted in this connection.
There had been for a long time frequent and everrecurring disagreements and misunderstandings between the attorneys in question and the Hon. Thomas
H. Baird, then president judge of the district. This
state of affairs finally culminated in an open rupture,
the first act in which was Judge Baird's addressing to
the recusant lawyers the following communication:
"Friday, Sept. 12, 1834.
"GENTLEMIEN,-YOU have, no doubt, long been
aware that the occurrence of a variety of disagreeable circumstances in the conduct of our business in
court has rendered my situation often exceedingly
painful and perplexing. It is possible I have had my
full share in the causes which have led to this state of
things. I think, however, upon reflection, you will
be satisfied that in a great degree it has been owing
to the irregular manner of the bar in the trial of
causes. It is unnecessary to go into particulars. It
has been the subject of complaint and of conflict, distressing to me and unpleasant to you. Finding a
remedy hopeless without your aid, I have frequently
brought my mind to the conclusion that perhaps I
ought to withdraw and give you the opportunity of
getting in my room some other gentleman who would
have your confidence and co-operation. This determination has heretofore been yielded to the advice of
friends, upon whose judgment I have relied.
"Early in the present week I requested an interview with you, that we might talk these matters over,
and perhaps agree to a united effort for reform. You
were prevented from meeting as proposed. In the
nmean time the occurrence of a brutal attack upon me
by a ruffian, growing out of a trial in court, has more
and more convinced me of the necessity of coming to
some conclusion that may prevent the repetition of
such outrages. On this subject I wish not to be misunderstood. The act of a brute or bully can never
drive me from the post of duty or of honor. I thank
God that in the performance of my official functions
I have been preserved from the operation of fear, as
I hope I have been from the influence of favor or
affection. I never, I repeat, have beenr deterred bv
any apprehension of personal danger, although I
have often been aware of peril. I have known that
there was cause for it. The inadvertent, but as I
think indiscreet, indulgence of side-bar remarks, indicative of dissatisfactioin with the decisions of the
court, and perhaps sometimes of contempt, has been
calculated to make a lodgment in the public mind injurious to the authority and respectability of the court,
and particularly of myself as its organ, and has had a
direct tendency to rouse the malignant passions of a
disappointed or defeated party. I have often observed or been informed of these things, and have
thought they might lead to disastrous consequences.
A correct, judicious man, if he thinks his case has
not been correctly decided, will seek redress in the
legitimate mode only, or, if that is not accessible
(which seldom happens), will submit to it, as we all
do to unavoidable misfortunes. A ruffian, however,
if told by his counsel that injustice has been done
him in the admini3tration of the law, may feel disposed to seek vengeance on the judge. In the case referred to I think the cause and effect can be distinctly
traced. The earnestness and positiveness of the counsel on the trial, and expressions thoughtlessly dropped
afterwards, perhaps inflamed an unprincipled fellow
to make an attack.
"It may be, however, that it would not have occasioned it had he not been encouraged by other persons. I have only my suspicions, and make no
charge against any one. I exculpate the counsel in
146THE BAR OF FAYETTE COUNTY
that case, and I exculpate the whole bar from the
most distant idea of producing such a catastrophe.
All that I mean to say is that the practice I have
mentioned has a direct tendency to incite to such outrages, and that in the particular case (in connection
with other causes) it did lead to the violence.
"The same cause may produce the same effect. I
must be always exposed to such consequences if matter of excitement continues to be furnished to wrongheaded brutal suitors. If I could have the confidence and support of the bar, and the assurance of a
change in their manner towards each other and towards the court in the public conduct of business,
the office I hold would be rendered dignified, honorable, and pleasant, but otherwise it must become altogether intolerable. On my part there is no want of
good feeling, and I take this occasion to declare that
there is not one of you for whom I entertain unkind
sentiments. On the contrary, there is no one whose
interests I would not advance, or whose honour I
would not maintain so far as in my power. As to
myself, I have no right to claim your friendship,
th1ough I should be glad to have it; but I think, in
tile discharge of my official duties, I ought to have
your courtesy and respect, and when I err, forbearance in manner and recourse discreetly to the proper
remedy (wvhich I am always disposed to facilitate),
and not to inflammatory expressions of disapprobation or contempt addressed to the public or the party.
" I have thus disclosed to you frankly my feelings
and views. In reply I wish your sentiments and determination as to the future in relation to the grievances
I have presented, and propose, therefore, that you
should take a few minutes to confer together, and inform me of the conclusion to which you may arrive.
"I am truly yours,
"THOS. H. BAIRD.
" MESSRS. EWING, TODD, DAWSON, AND THE OTHER
GENTLEMEN OF THE BAR OF FAYETTE COUNTY
PRESENT."
To this communication the gentlemen addressed
made the following reply:
"UNIoNTOWN, PA., Oct. 3, 1834.
"DEAR SIR,-We have delayed replying to your
letter under date of the 12th of September, 1834, addressed to the members of the bar of Fayette County,
until the present time, to afford an opportunity for consulting together, and also for mature reflection upon
the.matters to which you refer. We regret, in common with your Honour, that we have not been able, in
harmony and with satisfaction to ourselves and the
people of the county, to transact the business of our
courts. The public confidence seems to be withdrawn
alike from the bar and the court.  Perhaps your
Honour's retiring from the bench, as you have intimated a willingness so to do, and giving the people
the power to select another would be the means of
producing a better state of things and a more cordial
co-operation from all sides in the dispatch of the
business of the county. This expression of our views
is made in candour and sincerity, without a wish to
inspire one unpleasant thought or unkind feeling, but
under a sense of duty to the county in which we live,
to your Honour and to ourselves.
"Very respectfully yours, etc.,
"JOHN M. AUSTIN,            A. PATTERSON,
"JOHN DAWSON,               R. P. FLENNIKEN,
"JOSHITA B. HOWELL,       R. G. HoPwooD,
"J. H. DEFORD,              WM. MCDONALD,
"J. WILLIAMS,               W. P. WELLS.
"To  THOMAS H. BAIRD, ESQ., WILLIAMSPORT,.
W- ASHINGTON CO."
At the next succeeding term of the Court of Common Pleas, held Jan. 6, 1835, before Judge Baird and
his associates, Charles Porter and Samuel Nixon, the
following action was taken, as is shown by the record,
viz.:
" The Court grant a rule upon John M. Austin, John Dawson,
Joshua B. Ilowell, John II. Deford, Joseph Willianis, Alfred Patterson, Robert P. Flenniken, Rice G. Ilopwood, William McDonald, and William P. Wells, Esquires, to show cause why they
should not be stricken from the list of Attorneys of this court."
To this rule the respondents made answer as follows:
"The undersigned, who are required by a rule of
court, entered this day, to show cause why they should
not be stricken from the list of attorneys, present this
their answer to that rule. We earnestly but respectfully protest against the legal power and authority of
the court to enter and enforce such a rule for the cause
alleged. The rule appears to be founded and predicated on the letter of the undersigned, addressed to
Judge Baird, dated Oct. 3, 1834. To enable a full
understanding of the whole matter a letter of Judge
Baird, dated Sept. 12, 1834, is herewith presented. It
is evident that the letter of the undersigned which
contains the offensive matter is a reply and response
to the letter of Judge Baird to them addressed. It is
certainly respectful in its terms, and, as is sincerely
believed and positively asserted, contains neither in
words, meaning, nor intention the slightest contempt
or the least disrespect to the court or any of its members.
"The respondents would be entirely at a loss to
comprehend how it could be possible to give their letter, from  its terms, an offensive interpretation were
they not informed from another source that the following paragraph is conlsidered objectionable:'The
public confidence seems to be withdrawn alike from the
bar and the Court.' We by this paragraph expressed
our honest conviction, and intended no contempt to the
Court. It is a response in some measure to that part
of Judge Baird's letter in which he himself says that
the circumstances to which he refers were calculated
to make a lodgment in the public mind injurious to
I
1-i7HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
the authority and respectability of the Court, and particularly of himself, its organ.
" It wvill also be perceived from the two letters referred to that the correspondence did not take place
between the bar and the court; it was between the
respondents and Judge Baird, at his instance and request. The occurrence asserted as constituting some
undefined offense did not take place in presence of
the Court; it took place out of Court and in pais.
"Far, very far, therefore, are we from being guilty
of any offense against the Court. As to Judge Baird
personally, the letter distinctly and unequivocally
states that our views were'made in candour and sincerity, withouLt a wish to inspireone unpleasant thought
or unkind feeling.'
"JOHN M. AUSTIN,          J. H. DEFORD,
" JOHN DAWSON,            WM. MCDONALD,
" JOSHuA B. HOWELL,      J. WILLIAMS,
" WM. B. WELLS,           R. P. FLENNIKIN,
" ALFRED PATTERSON,    RICE G. HOPWOOD."
The above answer was supplemented by the following, dated Jan. 7, 1835, and signed by the same attorneys, except McDonald and Hopwood, viz.:
" The undersigned, after reiterating the protest containied in a former answer, make this further reply to
the rule entered yesterday against them. When the
former answer was prepared it was not known that
the publicationi of the correspondence between the
bar and Judge Baird in the newspapers constituted a
portion of the suLpposed offense against the court, the
reword not presenting that aspect of the case.
"They now reply to this matter, and to cause a
more perfect understanding thereof they present herewith a letter from Judge Baird to the undersigned,
dated Dec. 15, 1834.1 We now ask that the three letters on record may be carefully examined in connection witli our former answer to the rule to show cause.
AVe cannot but think that the court will then be satisfied that the last letter of Judge Baird contains imputations and strictures not warranted by anything
said in our communication to him when properly
understood.
"In some way the existence of the controversy
The letter of Judge Baird, here referred to, conieluded as follows:
"In conclusion, I will onily say that upoii'mnature reflectioni' it is mily
determination  not to resign at present, and that it is also iny abidinig
leterminiationi never to resi-n upon the grouind stated in your letter.  I
liope to be able to take my seat on the benich in Fayette Counity on the
fiStt Moniday of January next. If I Stave lost any degree of public confidlence it sliall be my endeavor to regain it by a f;aitiftfl performance of
ay judicial functionis.  Witlh the aidl of my brotlier judges, I will try to
preserve the order and discipline of the coiurt by a (liscreet but energetic
exercise of tlhe power which the law gives us; anid peritaps you utay be
satisfied that the laxity which has, no doubt, beeni a consider able cause of
complaint, was more owiilg to. ny kitid feelings towttrd youi thiani to any
want of moral coura-e to enconititer the comisequences that niay result
from  tle honest dischlarge of public duity.  I shall perform  nty official
funcietions with  a sincere desire to do righlt, and sliall expect fioimi the
mttemttbers of the bar that they beltave tlietiiselves'witlh all good fidelity
to the couirt as wvell as to tite client.'                I amai, etc.,
Th. h. bAIRD."
reached the public ear. It immediately assumed a
false shape in connection with an assault committedupon the judge by a suitor in court. Misapprehension about the nature of the correspondeniee was produced. For want of correct information false assertions wvere made and  false inferences drawn.  It
became a piublie matter, involving seriously public
interests.   The  correspondence related  to  public
affairs. The letters by no means being private and
confidential, we considered it our imperative duty, inl
justice to ourselves and in justice to the public, to
lay the wvhole correspondence as it really was belore
the whole community. It was accordingly done, and
for the purposes intimated.  The court wvill clearly
perceive that in this act there was no offense committed agaiinst the court, but it wvas a proceeding rendered every way necessary, as it gave the true state"
of the 6ontroversy and supplied the place of false
rumors in relationi both to Judge Baird and ourselves."
William McDonald made a separate answer to the
court January 7th.  On the next day Judge Baird
delivered the opinion of the court (Judge Samuel
Nixon dissenting), the material part of which is here
given:
"Jan. 8, 13'.'The court has given to the papers presented by the respondents inthis case the most careful consideration and the most
favorable construction their imnport would at all admiiit. It is
with the deepest regret, we are constrained to say, that they
are by no imeans satisfactory. We cannot regard them as removing the offensive anrd injurious operation of the matter
which has been published to the world in relation to this court,
and which formns the goravamen of the rule. All that we hlave
required is that the gentlemen would distinctly place in their
answer a disavowal of any intention to impute to the court, or
its members, anything which would lower them (in their official
chalracter) in the esteem and confidence of the people. This
has been and is still refuised. No alternative therefore remains.
We must abandon our judicial honor, respectability, and authority, or endeavor to sustain them in what we conceive to bo
the le-itimate inode.... It is or-dered that the names of John
M. Austin, John Dawson, Joshua B. howell, Wm. P. Wells,
Alfred Patterson, John h. Deford, J. Williams, and R. P'.
Flenniken be struck from thc list of attorneys of this court.
"In the case of William  McDonald the rule i-s discharged.
In the case of Rice G. hopwood the rule is conltinued."
The next day (January 9th) Rice G. Hopwood
made a separate answer, and the court discharged the
rule in this case.
Eight memnbers of the bar of Fayette County then
stood suspended fronm court. These gentlemen presented their case to the Legislature of the State, and
on the 14th of March, 1835, an act was passed, by the
provisions of which the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania was " autlhorized and required to take jurisdiction of a certain record and proceedings in the Court
of Common Pleas of the county of Fayette, of the
term of January, 1835, whereby the names of eiglht
attorneys were, on the 8th day of January, 1835, or'
I
I
If 4 8FAYETTE CIVIL LIST.
dered to be struck from  the list of attorneys of the
s.iid court; and durinig their session commencing at
the city of Philadelphia on Monday, the 16th of
March, 1835, proceed to hear and  determine the
questions arising upon the said record and proceedings in any shape which may be approved or prescribed by the court; and shall cause the decision of
the said Supreme Court to be duly certified to the
Court of Common Pleas in the county of Fayette,
and make all orders and direct all measures which
may be necessary and proper and which shall be
effectual in the premises."'
The rule of the court, answers of respondents, and
letters of Judge Baird were presented to the Supremne
Court, in session at Philadelphia, March 31, 1835.
The eight gentlemen whose names had been stricken
froni the. roll appeared by their attorneys, who presented the following bill of exceptions:
"First. The Court of Common Pleas of Fayette County erred
in considering the said attorneys as the authors of a letter to the
Hon. T. h. Baird, under date of 3d October, 1834, liable to the
penalty of being struck from the roll for an alleged libel upon
the court.
"Seconid. The court below erred in considering that by the
writing or publishing of the said letter the said attorneys did'mniisbehave themselves in their offices of attorneys' respectively.
"Third. The court below erred in considering that by the
writing or publishing of said letter the attorneys had departed
from their obligation to behave themselves in the office of attorney within the court according to the best of their learning
or ability, and with all good fidelity as well to the court as to
their clients.
"Fontsth. The order of the courthbelow that the names of
the said attorneys be struck from the list is unconstitutional,
ille(gal, and oppressive, and the same should be forthw^ith reversed and annulled."
Messrs. Dallas and Ingersoll were the attorneys for
the genitlemen of the bar, and J. Sergeant for the
proceedings of the Court of Common Pleas of Fayette County. Lengthy arguments were made. After
due deliberation the opinion of the court was delivered by Chief Justice C. J. Gibson, who thus announced its decision:
"In conclusion it appears that a case to justify the removal
of the respondents has not been made out, and it is therefore
considered that the order which made the rule absolute be
vaeated and the rule discharged, that the respondents be restored to the bar, and that this decree bh certified to the Common Pleas of Fayette County."
"Decreed according,ly."
FAYETTE CIVIL LIST.
In this list the naiimes are given of persons who
have held county offices, and also of those, resident
in Fayette County, who have held important offices
in or under the State or inational government.
1  Rawhle's Reports, vol. v. page 191. Case of Austin and others.
SHERIFFS.2
Robert Orr,3 appointed 17 84.
James Hammond, appointed Nov. 21, 17S6.
Joseph Torrence, appointed Oct. 25, 1787;
30, 1789.
Joseph huston, appointed Nov. 14, 17'J0.
James Paull, appointed 1793.
Thomas Collins, appointed Nov. 1, 1796.
Abraham Stewart, appointed Oct. 26, 1799.
James Allen, appointed Oct. 28, 1802.
Pierson Sayres, appointed 1 805.
Jacob harbaugh, appointed 1808.
Andrew Byers, appointed Nov. 7, 1811.
Morris Morris, appointed Nov. 17, 1814.
John Withrow, appointed Oct. 29, 1817.
Daniel P. Lynch, appointed 1820.
George Croft, appointed 1823.
William Salters, appointed Oct. 30, IS26.
John A. Sangston, aippoinited Oct. 22, 1829.
Gideon Johns, appointed Oct. 22, 1832.
Matthew Allen, appointed Nov. 11, 1835.
George Meason, appointed Oct. 20. 1S38.
William Morris, elected Oct. 11, 1S41.
Wesley Frost, elected Oct. 8, 1844.
William Snyder, elected Oct. 12, 1847.
Matthew Allen, elected Oct. 8, 1850.
James McBride, elected Oct. 1I, 1853.
Samuel W. Boyd, elected Oct. 14, 1856.
Eli Cope, elected Oct. 11, 1859.
Thomas Brownfield, elected Oct. 14, 1862.
Samuel. W. Boyd, elected Oct. 10, 1865.
David L. Walker, elected Oct. 13, 1808.
Isaac Messmore, elected Oct. 10, 1S71.
Calvin Springer, elected Nov. 3, 1S74.
Edward Dean, elected Nov. 6, 1877.
James h. hoover, elected Nov. 2, 1880.
Nov. 5, 1788; Oct.
2 Tho office of slheriff nas held by appointmient until 1839, wlen it
became elective.
3 For more than tlhree years after Fayette becanme a separate couinty
it remainedl under the jltrisdiction of the sheriff of Westmoreland.  Reference to tlhis, as well as to the fact that the other county offices weri-e at.
first lheld in coimmon witlh  Westmoreland, is fouind in thIe followitlg
extracts fiom  letters written by Ephraim Douglass to President John
Dickinison, of tte Supreme Executive Council, viz.:
"UNcONTOWN, February 2, 1784.
Fronm an  iltmthppy misconception of tle law for dividin, Westmoreland, tIlis couinty lutes not an officer of anly kin(d except sucli as were
created or continued by the act or appointed bty the Council.  Deniied a
sep,arate election of a membtt)er in Cotincil and repr-esentative in Assemiibly
till the gener.al electionl of the present year, they unforttiitately conlcluded tli;tt tIlis inability extended to all the otlier elective officers of
the cotinty, atld its consequetice of tlisi belief voted for tliem  in cotijutictioil witlh Westmorelamnd."
"UJLNtoN TowM, 11th Jtlty, 1784.
"SI,-In obedienice to tle commands of your lIonorable Board of ttte
Sts of Jentie last, I take tIlis opporttunity of intforminig Couticil t'at tlhere
hlts yet tesen iso slheriff for tite cotinty of Fayette separate fronm that of
Westmoreland, the sheriff of tliat cosinty continuitng  to do the dutty of
that office its tlis ats before tlie divisioiI, and no bond has beemn takceim for
Iiis perforniance of it in this coumity distinct front the otlier.
At thse time of tle erection of Fayette Cottnty, Matthew  Jack  was
slheriff of Westtmoreland. Ott the 28th of October, 175:8, Robert Orr was
appointed by tse Court depuity slheriff of  WVestittoreland, to act ass slteriff
of Fayette. He conitiniued to act in tttat capaicity till the appointnieist of
James Hammond as sherliff of F;tyette.
14917
THE WORKS AND RELICS OF AN EXTINCT PEOPLE.
perior in skill and intelligence to the Indian tribes  ]
whom  the first white visitors found in possession, t
Judge Veech says,-                                    c
" That these [the native Indians] were the successors of a race more intelligent, or of a people of different habits of life, seems clearly deducible from the  ]
remains of fortifications scattered all over the territory, and which are very distinct from those known  i
to have been constructed by the tribes of Indians
named or any of their modern compeers.
"These remains of embankments or'old forts' are
numerous in Fayette County. That they are very
ancient is shown by many facts. The Indians known
to us could give no satisfactory account of when, how,
or by whom they were erected, or for what purpose, except for defense. While the trees of the surrounding
forests were chiefly oak, the growths upon and within
the lines of the'old forts' were generally of large blackwalnut, wild-cherry, and sometimes locust. We have
examined some which indicated an age of from three
to five hundred years, and they evidently of a second
or third generatiol, as they were standing amid the
decayed remains of their ancestors. How they got
there, whether by transplanting, by deposits of floods
or of birds, or otherwise, is a speculation into which
we will not go.
"These embankments may have been originally
composed of wood, as their debris is generally a vegetable mould. No stones were used in their construction, and among their ruins are alwvays found some
remains of old pottery, composed of clay mixed with
crushed mussel-shells, even when far off from a river.
This composite was not burnt, but only balked in
the sun. These vessels were generally circular, and,
judging from those we have seen, they were made to
hold from one to three quarts.
"These'old forts' were of various forms,-square,
oblong, triangular, circular, and semicircular. Their
superficial areas ranged from one-fourth of an acre to
ten acres. Their sites were generally well chosen in
reference to defense and observation, and, what is a
very singular fact, they were very often, generally in
Fayette County, located on the highest and richest
hills, and at a distance from any spring or stream of
water. In a few illstances this was otherwise, water
being inclosed or contiguous, as they are generally in
Ohio and other more western parts of the Mississippi Valley.
"Having seen and examined many of these'old
forts' in Fayette County, and also those at Marietta,
Newark, and elsewhere in Ohio, we believe they are
all the works of the same race of people, as are also
the famous Grave Creek mounds, near Elizabethtown,
Va., and if this belief be correct, then the conclusion
follows irresistibly that the race of people was much
superior and existed long anterior to the modern Indian. But who they were, and what became of them,
must perhaps forever be unknown. We will briefly
indicate the localities of some of these'old forts' in
Fayette County. To enumerate all, or to describe;hem separately, would weary the reader. The curious in such nlatters may yet trace their remains.
"A very noted one, and of most commanding location, was at Brownsville, on the site of'Fort
Burd,' but covering a much larger area. Even after
Col. Burd built his fort there, in 1759, it retained' the
names of'the old fort,''Redstone Old Fort,' or' Fort
Redstone.'
"There was one on land formerly of William Gee,
near the Monongahela River, and just above the
mouth of Little Redstone, where afterwards was a
settler's fort, called Cassel's or Castle Fort; and an
old map which we have seen has another of these old
forts noted at the mouth of Speers' Run, where Belle
Vernon now is.
" Two or three are found on a high ridge southwardly of Perrydpolis, on the State road, and on land
late of Jolln F. Martin.  Another noted one is on the
western bank of the Youghiogheny River, nearly opposite. the Broad Ford, on land lately held by James
Collins.
"There are several on the high ridge of land leading from  the Collins' fort, above referred to, southwestwardly towards Plumsock, on lands of James
Paull, John M. Austin, John Bute, and others; a remarkable one being on land lately owned by James
Gilchrist and the Byers, where some very large human
bones have been found. There is one on the north
side of Mounts' Creek, above Irishman's Run.
" A very large one, containing six or eight acres,
is on the summit of Laurel Hill, where the Mud
pike crosses it, covered with a large growth of blackwalnut.
"One specially noted as containing a great quantity of broken shells and pottery existed on the high
land between Laurel Run and the Youghiogheny
River, on a tract formerly owned by Judge Young.
"There are yet distinct traces of one on land of
Gen. Henry W. Beeson, formerly of Col. McClean,
about two miles east of Uniontown.
"There was one northeast of New Geneva, at the
locality known as the'Flint Hill,' on land now of
John Franks.
"About two miles northeast of New Geneva, on
the road to Uniontown, and on land late of William
Morris, now Nicholas B. Johnson, was one celebrated
for its great abundance of mussel-shells.
" On the high ridge southwardly of the head-waters
of Middle Run several existed, of which may be
named one on the Bixler land, one on the high
knob eastwardly from  Clark Breading's, one on the
1 Mr. Veech did not (as some of his critics have appeared to stppose)
intend to say that Burd's fort occupied the site and took the nlame of
Redstone Old Fort. It was built a short distatlce from the site of the old
earthwork, and was always called Fort Bnrd.  But the locality-a prominent point on the Monon gahela-did retain the appellation of" Redstone
Old Fort" for a great nlany years;'and even at the present day no
reader of hiitory is at a loss to understand that the name designates the
site of the prlesent borough of Brownsville.HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
PROTHONOTAR.IES.
Ephraim  Douglass,1 appointed Oct. 6, 17S3; resigned December, 1S08.
Richard William Lane, appointed Jan. 1, 1809.
John St. Clair, appointed April 6, 1818; Feb. 12, 1821.
John B. Trevor, appointed January, 1822.
Thomas McKibben, appointed May 12, 1824.
James Todd, appointed Sept. 30, 1825; Dec. 2, 1826.
henry W. Beeson, appointed Feb. 4, 1830; Jan. 23, 1833.
Richard Beeson, appointed July 11, 1833.
Thomas Sloan, appointed Jan. 13, 1836; Jan. 3, 1839.
Richlard Beeson, appointed Feb. 6, 1839; elected Oct. 8, 1839.
Daniel Kaine, elected Oct. 11, 1842; Oct. 14, 1845.
Richard huskins, elected Oct. 10, 1848; Oct. 14, 1851.
Robert T. Galloway, elected Oct. 10, 1854.
Thomas B. Searight, elected Oct. 13, 1857; Oct. 9, 1860.
George W. Litman, elected Oct. 1O, 1S63; Oct. 9, 1866.
John K. McDonald, elected Oct. 13, IS69; Oct. 8, 1872.
Joseph M. Oglevee, elected Nov. 2, 1875; Nov. 5, 1878.
Thomas B. Searight, elected November, 1SS1.
COUNTY COMMatISSIONERS.
1787.-Zachariah Connell, Joseph Caldwell, Thomas Gaddis.
1789.-James Finley, James Hammond, Thomas Gaddis.
1790.-James hammond, Joseph Torrence.
1792.-James Patterson, Uriah Springer.
I 7.93.-Matthew Gilchrist, John Oliphant, Nathaniel Ewing.
1795.-Nathaniel Ewing, William Lynn, Thomas Collins.
1796.-Nathaniel Ewing, William Roberts, Caleb Mount.
] 797.-Nathaniel Ewing, Caleb Mount, James Allen.
1798.-John Fulton, James Allen, Caleb Mount.
17'99.-John Fulton, Jesse Beeson, James Wilson.
1S00.-Jesse Beeson, John Fulton, Andrew Oliphant.
1801.-Jesse Beeson, Andrew Oliphant, Morris Morris.
1802.-Morris Morris, William Downard, George Dearth.
1S03.-William Downard, Morris Morris, David Howard.
1804.-William Downard, David Howard, John  Miller.
1 805.-David Howard, John Miller, James Campbell.
1806.-John Miller, James Campbell, John Shreve.
1807.-James Campbell, John Shreve, Jasper Whetstone.
1808.-John Shreve, Jasper Whetstone, John Roberts.
1809.-Jasper Whetstone, John Roberts, Abel Campbell.
1810.-John Roberts, Abel Campbell, William Cunningham.
181.1.-Abel Campbell, William Cunningham, John Clark.
The following memorial of Ephraim Douglass, making appplication
for the appoininieit, is found in Pennsylvania Archlives, x. 118:
"To tIhe Honorable the Supremne Executive Council of the Commonwealtlh of Penuisylvani.a:
"The memorial of Ephraim  Douglas humbly slieweth thlat hIaving,
truie to his priniciples, ma(le ain early sacrifice of Ihis initerest, he elntered
into anid continued in the service of his couinltry3' till the loss of health,
conspiring with other misfortuniies, obliged hliiii to retuirnl at a tile wlhen
ihis return to civil life offered hiim  nio pro-pect of a retire to his fornmer
pursuiits in it. That he lhas since ear ned a precarious stibsistence by tlle
accidental services lhe lhas been occasionally employed to pelform; bult
being now altogethier wvitltout businiess, and strorngly desir-ouis of obtaining some permanent independent employment, lhe looks up to your
lhonorable body for thie accomplishment of that desite withl all tlle coInfidence whichi a ktowledge of your justice anid r.eadiness in rewarding
your faithful servants can inspire.
" That yotur memorialist lhavinig lheard of a new couinty being created
from a lart of Westmoreland, begs leave humbly to offer himself a candidate for the office of prothonotary in tlle couinty of Fayette, and prays
your acceptance of liis services.
"Your niemorialist, as ini duty bound, will ever pray.
"EphRAIM DOUGLASS.
"PIIILADELPHIAs, 2d October, 1783."
Mr. Douglass received the appointnment a-aiinst William McCleery,
wlio was also an applicanit for the office.
1812.-William Cunningham, John Clark, Thomas Boyd.
1S83.-John Clark, Thomas Boyd, Morris Morris.
1814.-Thomas Boyd, George Craft, Harris W. Colton.
1815.-harris W. Colton, John Sparks, Amos Cooper.
1816-17.-Amos Cooper, William  hart, James Todd.
1S18.-William Hart, James Todd, Griffith Roberts.
1819.-James Todd, Griffith Roberts, Moses Vance.
1820.-Griffith Roberts, Moses Vance, Isaac Core.
1821.-Moses Vance, Isaac Core, Andrew Moore.
1S22.-Isaac Core, Andrew Moore, Abner Greenland.
1823.-Andrew Moore, Abner Greenland, Robert Boyd.
1824.-Abner Greenland, Robert Boyd, Nathaniel Mitchell.
1825.-Robert Boyd, Nathaniel Mitchell, Jesse Taylor.
1826.-Nathaniel Mitchell, Jesse Taylor, Abner Greenland.
1S27.-Jesse Taylor, Abner Greenland, Hugh Espey, Jr.
1828.-Abner Greenland, Hugh Espey, Jr., Robert Patterson.
1829-30.-hugh Espey, Jr., Robert Patterson, James Adair.
1831.-Hugh Espey, Jr., James Adair, Andrew hertzog.
1832.-Andrew Hertzog, Hugh Espey, Jr., James h. Patterson.
1833.-James h. Patterson, Andrew Hertzog, James Adair.
1834.-James Adair, James h. Patterson, Peter Stentz.
1835.-Peter Stentz, James Adair. Joseph Gadd.
1836.-Joseph Gadd, Isaac L. Hunt, Robert Long.
1837.-Isaac L. Hunt, Robert Long, E. P. Oliphant.
1838.-Robert Long, E. P. Oliphant, John W. Phillips.
1839.-John W. Phillips, Squire Ayres, Jesse Antrim.
1840.-Squire Ayres, Jesse Antrim, James Allison.
1S41.-Jesse Antrim, James Allison, Thomas McMillan.
1842.-James Allison, Thomas McMillan, Hugh Espey.
1S43.-Thomas McMillan, Hugh Espey, Thomas Duncan.
1844.-Hugh Espey, Thomas Duncan, Robert Bleakley.
1845.-Thomas Duncan, Robert Bleakley, P. F. Gibbons.
1846.-Robert Bleakley, P. F. Gibbons, Lee Tate.
1847.-P. F. Gibbons, Lee Tate, h. D. Overholt.
1848.-Lee Tatey, II. D. Oerholt, William Crawford.
1S49.-h. D. 0verholt, William Crawford, John Beatty.
1850.-William Crawford, John Beatty, Jacob haldeman.
1851.-John Beatty, Jacob haldeman, Jacob Wolf.
1852.-Jacob haldeman, Jacob Wolf, Joseph Cunningham.
1853.-Jacob wolf, Joseph Cunningham, Mark r. Moore.
1854.-Joseph Cunningham, Mark R. Moore, David Deyarmon.
1855.-Mark R. Moore, David Deyarmon, Jacob F. Longa.
nacker.
1856.-David Deyarmon, Jacob F. Longanacker, Thomas
Brownfield.
1857.-Jacob F. Longanacker, Thomas Brownfield, John V.
Reese.
1858.-Thomas Brownfield, John V. Reese, W. k. Gallaher.
1859.-John V. Reese, W. K. Gallaher, Robert McDowell.
1860.-W. K. Gallaher, Robert McDowell, John Schnatterly.
1861.-Robert McDowell, John Schnatterly, George A. Nolan.
1862.-John Schnatterly, George A. Nolan, Samuel Shipley.
1S63.-George A. Nolan, Samuel Shipley, William Jones.
1864.-Samuel Shipley, William Jones, h. humphreys.
1865.-William Jones, h. humphreys, Wm. L. Smith.
1866.-H. humphreys, Wm. L. Smith, G. Roberts.
1867.-Wm. L. Smith, G. Roberts, John Brooks.
1868.-G. Roberts, John Brooks, David H. Wakefield.
1S69.-John Brooks, David h. Wakefield, James Snyder.
1870.-David H. Wakefield, James Snyder, C. S. Sherrick.
1871.-James Snyder, C. S. Sherrick, David Newcomer.
1872.-C. S. Sherrick, David Newcomer, Robert Hagen.
1873.-David Newcomer, Robert hagen, Isaac Hurst.
1874.-Robert hagen, Isaac hurst, Jesse Reed.
1875.-Isaac Hurst, Jesse Reed, James Cunningham.
1878.-George W. Shaw, Thomas Hazen, Hugh L. Rankin.
150
IFAYETTE CIVIL LIST.
CLERKS OF THE BOARD OF COMMISSIOsNERS.
Andrew Oliphant, 1796.         Joseph Trevor, Jan. 6, 1821.
John Ward, April 21, 1797.   hIenry W. Beeson, Jan. 19,
Morris Morris, Jan. 12, 1798.   1821.
Samuel Milhous, Jr., Jan. 23, Richard Beeson, Jan. 20, 1823.
1799.                        J. B. Miller, Oct. 23, 1826.
Charles Porter, Jr., Jan. 20, William  Gregg, Nov. 4, 1827.
1800.                        James Piper, March 4, 1828.
Thos. Meason, Nov. 25, 1801. Joseph Gadd, Oct. 23, 1838.
A. Oliphant, March 15, 1802. Rich. Huskins, Nov. 16, 1842.
Thos. Meason, April 30, 1802. Alex. McClean, Dec. 1, 1848.
Jesse Beeson, Nov. 23, 1S02. Joseph Gadd, Jan. 1, 1856.
Morris Morris, April 25, 1808. Geo. Morrison, Aug. 27, 1858.
John Roberts, Oct. 23, 1811.   F. Reynolds, Nov. 16, 1863.
Joshua Hart, Oct. 18, 1816.    L. P. Norton, April 3, 1S66.
Isaac Core, Dec. 23, 1816.    Geo. Morrison, Jan. 1, 1874.
Benj. Barton, Oct. 18, 1819.
COUNTY TREASURERS.1
Ephraim Douglas, appointed Oct. 13, 1784.
James Allen, appointed 1800; Jan. 22, 1801; 18.02.
Christian Tarr, appointed Feb. 3, 1803; 1804.
Dennis Springer, appointed Nov. 26, 1804.
William Brownfield, appointed Jan. 9, 1808.
Morris Morris, appointed Jan. 6, 1S14.
Jesse Beeson, appointed Dec. 29, 1814.
Thomas haddon, appointed Jan. 2, 1S18.
Dennis Springer, appointed Jan. 1, 1821.
Joshua Hart, appointed Dec. 22, 1822.
James Boyle, appointed Jan. 2, 1826.
Alfred Meason, appointed January 1, 1829.
George Meason, appointed Aug. 24, 1831.
William Crawford, appointed Jan. 2, 1835.
James F. Cannon, appointed Jan. 1, 1838.
John F. Foster, appointed Jan. 1, 1839.
William B. Roberts, elected Oct. 8, 1S39.
hiram Seaton, elected Oct. 10, 1843; re-elected Oct. 14, 1845.
Nathaniel Mitchell, elected Oct. 12, 1847; re-elected Oct. 9,
1849.
Hugh Espey, appointed Nov. 5, 1850; elected Oct. 14, 1S51.
Dennis Sutton, appointed Feb. 28, 1852.
Joseph L. Wylie, elected Oct. 11, 1853.
William Bradman, elected Oct. 9, 1855.
Jacob Crow, elected Oct. 13, 1857.
Isaac Hurst, elected Oct. 11, 1859.
John Tiernan, elected Oct. 8, 1861; re-elected Oct. 13, 1863.
William Darlington, elected Oct. 10, 1865.
William S. Strickler, elected Oct. 8, 1867.
Richard Campbell, elected Oct. 12, 1869.
John S. Roberts, elected Oct. 10, 1871.
James McDonald, elected Oct. 14, 1873.
Justus Dean, appointed to fill vacancy.
Christian Artes, elected Nov. 4, 1875.
Michael W. Franks, elected Nov. 5, 1878.
REGISTERS OF DEEDS, RECORDERS OF WILLS, AND CLERKS OF
THE ORPHANS' COURT.2
Alexander McClean, appointed Dec. 6, 17S3; Jan. 30, 1800;
April 6, 1S18; Feb. 12, 1821; May 12, 1824; Dec. 22,
1826; Feb. 4, 1830; Jan. 23, 1833.
John Keffer, appointed Jan. 30, 1834.
Robert Barton, appointed Jan. 13, 1836.
James Piper, appointed Feb. 6, 1839; elected Oct. 8, 1839.
1 Appointed bv the commissioners until 1834, when the office became
elective.
2 Thlis office was held by appointment till 1839, when it became elective.
Joseph Gadd, elected Oct. 11, 1-842; Oct. 14, 1845; Oct. 10,
1848.
Peter A. Johns, elected Oct. 14, 1851.
John Collins, elected Oct. 10, 1854.
James Darby, elected Oct. 13, 1857; Oct. 9, 1860.
George Morrison, elected Oct. 13, 1863; Oct. 9, 1866.
Joseph Beatty, elected Oct. 12, 1869; Oct. 8, 1872.
John W. Darby, elected Nov. 2, 1875; Nov. 5, 1878.
Charles D. Conner, elected November, 1881.
COIRONERS.
Henry Beeson, appointed Nov. 21, 1786; Oct. 25, 1787; Nov.
5, 1788; Oct. 30, 1789.
Jesse Beeson, appointed Jan. 24, 1812; April 15, 1815; Oct.
29, 1817.
Robert D. Moore, appointed Dec. 14, 1820; March 12, 1824;
Jan. 22, 1827.
James C. Cummings, appointed Nov. 5, 1829; March 12, 1833.
John Townsend, appointed Nov. 3, 1835.
H. C. Matthews, appointed March 12, 1836.
James C. Cummings, elected Oct. 12, 1841.
Robert M. Walker, elected Oct. 8, 1844.
Upton L. Clemmer, elected Oct. 12, 1847; Oct. 10, 1848.
James Brownfield, elected Oct. 14, 1851.
Andrew Patrick, elected Oct. 12, 1852.
James Fuller, elected Oct. 12, 1858; Oct. 8, 1861.
William h. Sturgeon, elected Oct. 11, 1864.
William R. Seman, elected Oct. 8, 1867.
John Finley, elected Oct. 12, 1869.
James C. Henry, elected Oct. 11, 1870.
James L. Trader, elected Oct. 10, 1871.
B. F. Brownfield, elected Nov. 5, 1S74.
Joseph T. Shepler, elected Nov. 8, 1877.
J. D. Sturgeon, elected Nov. 2, 1SS0.
SURVEYoRS.3
1769-72.-Archibald McClean, A. Lane, Alexander McClean,
Moses McClean.
1772-1828.-Alexander McClean.
IS28 to August, 1836.-Freeman Lewis.
August, 1836, to March, 1837.-William Griffith.
June, 1837, to November, 1839.-William  Calvin.
1.839 to March, 1843.-John I. Dorsey.
March, 184.3, to 1850.-James Snyder.
James Snyder, elected Oct. 2, 1850; Oct. 11, 1853.
Martin Dickinson, elected Oct. 14,1856; Oct. 11, 1859; Oct. 14,
1862; Oct. 10, 1865.
Andrew J. Gilmore, elected Oct. 13, 1868; Oct. 10, 1871; Nov.
3, 1874.
Julius Shipley, elected Nor. 8, 1877.
John D. Boyd, elected Nov. 2, 1880.
AUDITORS.
The earliest official record having reference to the
auditors of Fayette County is an entry found in an
old book in the commissioners' office, which appears
to be the first book of their minutes, viz.:
" Whereas at a Court of Conmmon Pleas, held at
Union Town for the County of Fayette, the fourth
3 This list,embraces deputy surveyors-general (appoinited by the Supreme Executive Coilscil (luring the time that body existed, and afterwards by the surveyor-geueral) until 1850, and county surveyors elected
by the people after that tihuse. From the conmmencement uintil 1828 the
list is made sp of such names of suirveyors as are founid in the suirvey
books anid otlher records, atnid is therefore probably not conmplete, though
as niearly so as hias been found practicable to make it for that period.
151HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. -
Monday in June, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and niniety-one, Before Edward
Cook, Esquire, President of said Court and Associate
Justices of the same.
" Pursuant to the Act of Assembly entitled An Act
to provide a more effectual method of settling the
public accounts of the Commissioners and Treasutrers
of the respective counties, the court appointed Alexander McClean and Nathaniel Breading, Esquire, and
Presley Carr Lane, Gentleman, Auditors for the following year."
The following list embraces the names of auditors
of Favette County and the years in which they served
as fully as can be ascertained:
1792 (,appointed in June).-Alexander McClean, Presley Carr
Lane, John Wilson.
1793-95 (appointed June IS).-Samuel King, Alexander McClean, Presley Carr Lane.
179S.--John Lyon, Alexander McClean, Jacob Bowman.
1799-IS01.-Jacob Bowman, A. McClean, Matthew Gilchrist.
1809-10 (elected October).-Joseph Torrence, William Lynn,
Thomas Collins.
1815.-Matthew Gilchrist, John Roberts, Thomas Hadden.
1816.-William Nutt, John Roberts, Matthew Gilchrist.
1817.-William Nutt, John Bouvier, Matthew Gilchrist.
ISIS-19.-henry  V. Beeson, John Bouvier, Williaim Ewing.
I820.-Ihenry W. Beeson, Andrew Oliphant, William Ewing.
lS21.-Hcnry W. Beeson, Abel Campbell, William Ewing.
1S22.-William Ewing, Abel Campbell, Samuel Cleavinger.
1823.-Abel Campbell, Samuel Cleavinger, Ellis Bailey.
1824-25.-Samuel Cleavinger, Ellis Bailey, John Fuller.
1826.-Ellis Bayley, John Fuller, E. Douglas, Jr.
1827.-E. Douglas, Jr., Alexander Clear, Joshua Wood.
1828.-Alexander Clear, Joshua Wood, James Adair.
1829.-Joshua Wood, Squire Ayres, Amos Cooper.
1830.-Squire Ayres, Amos Cooper, John Atkinson.
1831.-John Atkinson, henry Ebert, Richard Taylor.
1832.-Richard Taylor, Andrew Moore, William Snyder.
1833.-Andrew Moore, William. Snyder, Clement Wood.
1834.-William Snyder, Clement Wood, Willilam Bryson.
1835.-Clement Wood, William Bryson, N. McCormick.
1836.-William Bryson, N. McCormick, John Buffington.
1837.-N. McCormick, John Buffington, John Morrison.
1838.-John Buffington, John Morrison, William Bryson.
1839.-John Morrison, William  Bryson, Benjamin hayden.
1840.-John Morrison, Benjamin Hayden, P. W. Morgan.
1841. *Benjamin Hayden, P. W. Morgan, W. D. Mullin.
1842.-P. W. Morgan, W. D. Mullin, John Gadd.
1843.-W. D. Mullin, John Gadd, Joseph Krepps.
1844.-John Gadd, Joseph Krepps, S. P. Chalfant.
1845.-David Deyarmon, S. P. Chalfant, Edward hyde.
1846.-S. P. Chalfant, Edward hyde, P. A. Johns.
1847.-Edward Hyde, P. A. Johns, Jacob Wolf.
1848.-P. A. Johns, Jacob Wolf, William Elliot.
1849.-Jacob Wolf, William Elliot, A. h. Patterson.
1850.-William Elliot, A.h. Patterson, David Deyarmon.
1851.-A. H. Patterson, David Doyarmon, John G. hertig.
1852.-David Deyarmon, John G. Hertig, John W. Skiles.
1853.-John G. Hertig, John W. Skiles, George W. Litman.
1854.-John W. Skiles, George WV. Litman, Jacob Newmyer, Jr.
1855.-George W. Litman, Jacob Newmyer, Jr*., David P.
Lutz.
1856.-Jacob Newmyer, Jr., David P. Lutz, John Brooks.
1857.-David P. Lutz, John Brooks, Moses hazen.
1858.-John Brooks, Moses Hazen, Charles G. Turner.
1859.-William hazen, Charles G. Turner, Andrew Fairchild.
1860.-Charles G. Turner, Andrew Fairchild, Peter Cunningham.
1861.-William hazen, William J. Stewart, Peter Cunningham.
1862.-John r. Bunker, Peter Cunningham, William J. Stewart.
16S3.-John R. Bunker, Peter Cunningham, Andrew Stewart,
Jr.
1864.-John R. Bunker, Andrew Stewart, Jr., Job Strawn.
1865.-Andrew Stewart, Jr., Job Strawn, H. L. Hatfield.
1866.-Job Strawn, William B. Barris, D. W. C. Dumbauld.
1]867.-William  B. Barris, D. W. C. Dumbauld, Thomas J.
Burton.
1868.-D. W. C. Dumbauld, Thomas J. Burton, Finley Chalfant.
S808.--Thomas J. Burton, Finley Chalfant, Josiah h. Miller.
1870.'-Finley Chalfant, Josiah h. Miller, George B. Clemmer.
1871.--Josiah H. Miller, George B. Clemmer, Matthew M. Patterson.
1872.--George B. Clemmer, Matthew M. Patterson, Stephen
Hawkins.
1873.--Matthew M. Patterson, Stephen Hawkins, James W.
Porter.
1874.--Stephen hawkins, Abel Colley, Nicholas McCullough.
1875.--Samuel B. Rothermel, William  G. Yard, George W.
hess.
187S.--George W. McCray, George W. Kern, Joseph M. Campbell.
JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.
The first two justices of the peace in the territory
now embraced in what is nlow Fayette County were
Capt. william Crawford and Thomas Gist, appoinited
May 23, 1770, for Cumberland County. Crawford
was reappointed for Bedford by Governor Penn in
1771, and again upon the erection of Westmoreland
in 1773, when he was made presiding justice, but his
commission was revoked in 1775, on account of his
having sided with the partisans of Virginia in the
controversy betweeni the States. Upon the erection
of Yohogania County (Va.), in 1776, he was appointed
presiding justice in the courts of that county.
The following is a list of the justices of the peace
of Fayette County from its erection till 1790, with the
dates of tlleir commissions:
John Gaddis, March 19, 1784.
Alex. McClean,   "      "
James Finley,    "      "
John Meason, June 1, 1784.
Robt. Richey, Sept. 1.4, 1784.
Andrew Rabb, Jan. 24, 1785.
James Neal, Feb. 5, 1785.
H. McLaughlin, Feb. 18, 1785.
Nath. Breading,  "      "
W. McClelland, Aug. 27, 1785.
Edward Cook, Nov. 21, 1786.
Eph. Walters,    "      "
James Coyle, March 31, 1787.
Jacob Stewart,   "      "
W. G. Wilson, Aug. 25, 17S9.
Thomas Gregg, Julv 22, 1790.
Abr'm Stewart, Aug. 18, 1790.
Upon the division of the county into justices'
districts in 1803, the followving named were elected
justices:
District No. 1.-Jonathan Rowland.
"    2.-Robert Richey, Zadok Springor.
i;   3.-James Robinson.
"    4.-Jeremiah Kendall.
5.-Thomas Gregg, Isaac Rogers, W m. Ewing.
1 5 2FAYETTE CIVIL LIST.
District No. 6.-Hugh Loughlan.
"    7.-John Patterson.
S.-Joseph Morrison.
"    9.-Matthew Gilchrist.
"   10.-William  Boyd, John Meason, George Mathias, Mathew Gaut.
" 11.-Andrew Trapp.
"   12.-John Potter.
The followving-named persons were justices of the
peace in Fayette County in the year 1808:
William  Boyd, John Patterson, Hugh Laughlin, Thomas Gregg,
Robert Richie, Jonathan Rowland, Matthew Gilchrist, Andrew Trapp, Jacob Bowman, Joseph Morrison, Isaac Rogers, William  Ewing, Jeremiah Kendalll, George Mathiot,
Matthew Gaut, Zadock Springer, James Robinson, Robert
Smith, Andrew Oliphant, John Wood, Isaac hastings,
Abraham Trembley, William Roberts, Joseph Lyon, James
Wilson, hugh Shotwell, James Catheart, James Francis,
Elias Baylis, Thomas Williams, James Allen, David howard, Jesse Evans.
The names of justices lholding office after this time
are given in the hlistories of the several townships.
JUSTICES OF THE PEACE AND OF THE COURT OF COaMMsON PLEAS.
At the organization of the county the justices of
the peace and of the Court of Commnon Pleas resident
in the county and appointed under the jurisdiction of
Westnioreland County were Philip Rogers, Robert
Adams, John Allen, Robert Ritchie, and Andrew
Rabb. Appointments made from Oct. 9, 1783, to
1791 (at which  latter date "judges learned in the
lav"  were made presidents of the court) were as
follows:
Eph. Douglass, Oct. 9, 1783.   Wm. MeClellalnd, Nov. 6,'85.
Alex. McClean, Oct. 31, 17S3.  Edward Cook, Nov. 21, 1786.
John Meason, June 1, 1784.    Eph. Walter,    "      "
Robt. Ritchie, Sept. 14, 1784.  Jacob Stewart, March 31,'87.
Andrew Rabb, Jaln. 24, 185.  W.g. Wilson, Aug. 25, 1789.
Jas. Neal, Feb. 5, 1785.      Thomas Gregg, July 22, 1 790.
hugh Laughlin, Nov. 6, 1785. Abrm Stewart, Aug. 18, 1790.
Nath'l Breading,"
PItESIDING JUSTICES OF THE COUTRT OF COMMON PLEAS AND
QUARTER SESSIONS.1
Philip Rogers, December terin, 1 83.
Philip Rogers, March term, 1784.
Alexander McClean, June tertmi, 1784, to June, 1785.
John Allen, June term, 1785.
Robert Ritchie, September, 17S5, to December, 186.
Alexander McClean, December, 1786, to June, 1787.
Edward Cook, June, 1787, to June, 1791.
ASSOCIATE JUSTICES.
1790.-Nathaniel Breading (died 1821).
179I.-Isaac Meason (died 1818), James Finley (died 182S).
17929.-Edward Cook (died 1808).
1821.-Charles Porter (lheld till 1841, when constitution of
18382 went into effect).
i The senior juistice of the Cosmnon Pleas Ld Quiarter Ses-ions acted
as pi-esidelit of the courts till the year 1791, froiii wiluicli timoe that position wt-s filled by "judges learmied in the law," of wlhom  tlle  lon. Alexander Addison tsas the first  slio presided iii the courts of Fayette Coiitity.
2 Utnmdter the constituticii of 1790, associate judges were  mipponted for
life or duritng good belhavior.  The law  of March 21,18(), provided that
1828.-Samuel Nixon (held till 1S41, when constitution of 1838
went into effect).
1841.-Robert Boyd, Eli Abrams.
1845.-James Fuller, John Huston.
1850.-George Meason, John Dawson.
lS51.-Thomas Duncan, John Brownfield.
1861.-William hatfield, Alexander Crow.
1866.-Provance McCormick, Alexander Crow.
1871.-D. W. C. Dumbauld, Samuel Shipley.
1876.-D. W. C. Dumbauld, Griffith Roberts.3
PRESIDENT JUDGES.
The office of president judge of the courts of this
judicial district has been held by the following residents of Fayette County, viz.:
Nathaniel Ewing, 1838 to 1848.
Samuel A. Gilmore, Feb. 25, 1848, to October, 1861, and Noveinber, 1 865, to May, 1 873.
John K. Ewing, Novtemnber, 1864, to September, 1865.
Edward Campbell, 1873.
Alpheus E. Willson, October, 1S73 (still in office)
DISTRICT ATTORNEYS.4
1792.-R. Galbraith, deputy attorney-general under William
Bradford.
1794.-J. Young, deputy attorney-general under Jared Ingersoll.
1795.-R. Galbraith, deputy attorney-general under Jared
Ingersoll.
1801-4.-Thomas hadden, deputy attorney-general under
Joseph McKean.
1S09-1I.-J. S. Tarr (appointed Feb. 16, 1S09), deputy attorneygeneral under Walter Franklin.
1812-19.-Thomas Irwin, deputy attorney-cgeneral under Jared
Ingersoll.
no vacancy in the office of associate jimdge sliouild be supplied in any
county  " utiless the nuimber of associates selil be reduced to l(ss thani
two, when that iiumbere shall lie completed."  By the constitution of
1838 the life temiure was abolished, and associate jtid-es were afterwards
elected for a termin if five yeals.
By an act of As'emnlsly tassed April 9, 1874, Fayette Couinty was
designated as the Foui'teenthi Juid(ictial District, Gmeene Counity beimig
attached, apd Fayette Coulity thlell containing mom e than the forty thlousanid inhlabitbats reqtired for mt separ ate judicial i strict.  Thle associate
jii(lges in office at tle adoption of the niew constitution lheld until the
exlpiration of their respective teirmis, afti-r hlich associate judges were
again elected in Fayette, uinder tIme b-elief that the coutity was entitled
to tlieni by reason of the attachmenit of Greeiie.
This action caused the miatter tos be brouiglht by the attorney-general
befor e the Sipre-nile Court (ttieii in session at Pit sisurgli) on aim applicatioii fir a vrit of qIiio warrauto.  A ilecisiomi faevorable to tile tenuire of
the associate judges svas (leliveled by Jedge mercur (Clhief Justice Sharswood tiein- absent), to whlichl Juistices Trunkey anid Sterrett dissented.
An application for a rearguinent of the case before a fuull bench was
made by Attorney-General Palmer, at the inistance of other similarlysituated cou-nties in the State. Tlis application wa; granted. The Comnionswealtli alone appeaied, represenited by the attorney-general ansi time
Hon. C. R. Buckalew.  Ini March, 1881, the cotirt renidered its decision
(Judge mercur dissenting) that Fayette Couniity was not entitled to associate ju(lges.  Uii(ler this decision Messrs. Griffith Roberts and D. W.
C. Dumbauld, theii associate jud-es of Fs3-ette County, ceased to exercise the f'unctions of that office, swliicl thereuition ceased to exist iii this
couinty.
4 For several years after the tinse of thme organizatiori of ilie county
the r, cordls of the courits bear only thie mianie of thle attortey-general.
The filst ilepuity attorniey-genieral (corresponding to the office of district
attorney) weliose namle appears is R. Galbraith 1792. Time names given
in this list have beeti gathieresh from  the couirt recorils only, and the
y-ears set against their narnes are not iidicatttive of thie date of coiiimencenient or close of their re-pective ternis.
I
153HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
1820-21.-John M. Austin, deputy attorney-gencral under
Thomas Elder.
1822.-John Dawson, deputy attorney-general under Thomas
Elder.
1824.-James Piper, deputy attorney-general under Frederick
Smith.
1826-29.-Richard Beeson, deputy attorney-general under
Frederick Smith.
1830.-Ethelbert P. Oliphant, deputy attorney-general under
Samuel Douglas.
1831-32.-Joshua B. howell, deputy attorney-general under
Samuel Douglas.
J.833.-Robert P. Flennikin, deputy attorney-general under
Ellis Lewis.
1836.-Rice G. Hopwood, deputy attorney-general under James
Todd.
1838-40.-John L. Dawson, deputy attorney-general under
William. B. Reed.
James A. Morris.
A. M. Linn.
A. W. Barclay.
Elected.
Everard Bierer, Oct. 8, 1850.  Jos. M. Oglevee, Oct. 13, 1868.
J. N. 11. Patrick, Oct. 11, 1853. Albert D. Boyd, Oct. 10, 1871.
J. W. Flenniken, Oct. 14, 1856.  R. H. Lindsey, Nov. 3, 1874.
W. H. Playford, Oct. 11, 1859.   S. Leslie Mestrezat, Nov. 6,
Chas. E. Boyle, Oct. 14, 1862.   1877.
T. B. Schnatterly, Oct. 10,'65.  Isaac L. Johnson, Nov. 2, 1880.
SECRETARY OF TIlE TREASURY (UNITED STATES).
Albert Gallatin, 1802-14.
UNITED STATES SENATORS.
Albert Gallatin, 1 793-94.
Daniel Sturgeon, 1840-51.
DIRECTOR OF UNITED STATES MINT.
Daniel Sturgeon, 1853-58.
UNITED STATES MINISTER TO DENMARK.
Robert P. Flennikin, appointed by President Polk, 1845.
GOVERNOR OF UTAH TERRITORIY.
Robert P. Flennikin, appointed by President Buchanan, 1857.
MEIMBERS OF CONGRESS.
John Smilie, 179'3-95, 1799-1812.
Albert Gallatin, 1795-97, 1799-1801.
Isaac Griffin, 1813-17.
Christian Tarr, 1817-21.
Andrew Stewart, 1821-23, 1827-29, 1831-35, 1839-49.
Thomas Irwin, 1829-31.
Henry W. Beeson, 1841-43.
John L. Dawson, 1851-55,1863-67.
ATTORNEY-GENERAL OF PENNSYLVANIA.
James Todd, Dec. 18, 1835, to March, 1838.
STATE TREASURERS.
John B. Trevor, 1820-21.
Daniel Sturgeon, 1836-40.
AUDITOR-GENERAL OF PENNSYLVANIA.
Daniel Sturgeon, appointed May 3, 1830; held till May, 1836.
STATE SENATORS.1
John Smilie, elected 1790. In 1792 he resigned on account of
his election to Congress in that year.
James Finley, elected to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of John Smilie.
Presley Carr Lane (Speaker), 1807-15.
William. Davidson, date of election not ascertained.
Daniel Sturgeon, elected in 1825, and re-elected for next sueceeding three terms. Speaker in 1828.
Solomon G. Krepps, 1831-33.
John A. Sangston, 1834-37.
William F. Coplan, 183S-42.
W. E. Frazer, 1855-57.
Smith Fuller, 1861-63.
Thomas B. Searight, 1867-69.
William H. Playford, 1873-75.
T. B. Schnatterly, 1879-82.
MEMBERS OF THE IIOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
17 76, 1782-83.-Alexander McClean, for Westmoreland County.
1784-85, 1786-87.-John Smilie.
1 789-90:-Theophilus Phillips, John Gilchrist.
1790-91.-James Finley, Albert Gallatin.
1791-93.-Joseph Torrence. Albert Gallatin.
1793.-Joseph Torrence, John Cunningham.
1794.-Albert Gallatin, John Cunningham.
1795-97.-John Smilie, John Cunningham.
1797-98.-Joseph huston, John Cunningham.
1799.-Presley Carr Lane, John Cunningham.
1800-2.-Charles Porter, John Cunningham.
1803.-Charles Porter, John Cunningham, Samuel Trevor.
1804.-Charles Porter, John Cunningham, Christian Tarr.
1805.-Charles Porter, William Boyd (Speaker), Christian Tarr.
1806.-Joseph huston, John Cunningham, Christian Tarr.
1807.-Charles Porter, Christian Tarr, Isaac Griffin.
l808-10.-Samuel Trevor, Christian Tarr, Isaac Griffin.
1814.-John St. Clair (Speaker).
1818.-William Davidson (Speaker).
1839.2-Robert P. Flenniken, William Andrews.
1840.-Robert P. Flenniken, John Fuller.
1841.-Aaron Bucher, John h. Deford.
1842.-John Morgan, John H. Deford.
1843-44.-John Morgan, James C. Cummings.
1845.-Robert T. Galloway, Alexander M. Hill.
1846.-John W. Philips, William Colvin.
1847-48.-William Redick, William Y. Roberts.
1849-50.-James P. Downer, Joseph E. Griffin.
1851.-Peter U. hook, Alexander M. Hill.
1853.-William Y. Roberts, Abraham Gallantine.
1855.-S. B. Page.
1856.-Peter A. Johns.
1857.-John Bierer.
1858.-henry Galley.
1859-60.-John Collins.
1861-62.-Daniel Kaine.
1863-64.-Thomnas B. Searight.
1865-66.-Charles E. Boyle.
1867-68. - William H. Playford.
1869-70.-Thomas B. Schnatterly.
1871-72.-Samuel H. Smith.
1873.-Jasper M.'Thompson.
1874.-Robert T. Deyarmon, James Darby.
1876.-Robert M. Hill.
1878.-Jacob Provins, Charles S. Seaton.
1880.--Jacob Provins, Smith Buttermore.
1 No comiplete list can be given for the years prior to 1829, because no       2 For about tlhirty years prior to this date no election records are in
election records covering that period are in existence.                        existence, therefore the lint cannot be giveen for tlhose yeears.
154COUNTY SOCIETIES.
MEMBERS OF THE SUPREME EXECUTIVE COUSNCIL.
Isaac Meason, 1783.
John Woods, Nov. 6, 1784.
John Smilie, Nov. 2, 1786.
Nathaniel Breading, Nov. 19, 1789.
MEMBERS OF CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTIONS.
1776.-Edward Cook, John Carmichael.
1789-90.-John Smilie, Albert Gallatin.
1838.-John Fuller, David Gilmore, William L. Miller.
MEMBER OF THE COUNCIL OF CENSORS.1
John Smilie, elected 1783.
MEMBER OF THE BOARD OF PROPERTY.
Nathaniel Breading, appointed Nov. 1, 1790.
COMMISSIONER OF EXCHANGE.
Edward Cook, appointed April 5, 1779.
COUJNTY LIEUTENANTS.2
Edward Cook, Jan. 5, 1782.
Robert Beall, Feb. 19, 1784.
Joseph Torrence, Sept. 3, 1789.
SUB-LIEUTENANTS.
Edward Cook, March 21, 1777, Westmoreland.
Edward Cook, June 2, 1780, Westmoreland.
Alexander McClean, Jan. 5, 1782, Westmoreland.
AGENT FOR FORFEITED ESTATES.
Ephraim Douglass, March 14, 189.
COLLECTORS OF EXCISE.
Joseph Douglass,3 Dec. 12, 1786.
Benjamin Wells, 1792-94.
COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETIES.
In the Genius of Liberty of Oct. 18, 1809, occurs
the earliest mention of a medical society in Fayette
County. It is an article addressed to physicians, and
closes as follows: "And for that purpose the members
of the Union Medical Society and other practitioners who as yet have not had an opportuinity of becoming members are requested to attend at the house
of Mr. James Gregg, in Uniontown, on Tuesday, the
7th day of November, at 11 o'clock A.M.;" dated Oct.
5, 1809.  No account is found of the meeting, nor
any further knowledge of the societv obtained, except
that in the following year there was published in the
same newspaper "A schedule of compensations adjudged by the committee, members of the Union
Medical Society, which may be due for medical service, etc., followed by the prices as established by
1 The duty of the Council of Censors was to itiquiie and ascertain
whether the conistitutionl had "been preserved inviolate in every part;"
wlhether it was perfect in all its parts, or requiring amendiimenit; also to
review the decisionis of the judges of the courts.
2 The office of county lieutenant existed in Pennsylvaiia fromn 1776
to 1790. It carried with it the title of coloniel, and gave to the person
holding it the comiimand of the militia and the management of the miltary fiscal atffairs of thie couinty.
3 On the 7tlh of Apiil, 1785, William Graham was appointed collector
of excise for Westniorelauid, WashinlgtoD, and Fayette Comiiities. His
conimission was revoked Dec. 12, 1785. Ilis appointment of deputies
was one of the first causes out of which grew the Whiskey Inisurrection.
John Craig succeeded  hiim, and lis conimissioii was revoked Dec. 12,
1786.
the fee bill, and signed by Robert D. Moore, Lewis
Sweitzer, and Lewis Marchand, committee, with date
of Sept. 1, 1810.
The Fayette County Medical Association was
formed at a meeting of physicians of the county,
held for that purpose at the Town Hall in Uniontown, June 25, 1844. The physicians present were
Drs. Campbell, Stanley, Johnston, Thompson, Roberts, Worrak, Miller, Fleming, Jones, Lindley, Robinson, Post, Fuller, Neff, Penny, Marchand, Lafferty,
Fitter, Mathiot, and Shugart. Dr. Abraham Stanley
was made chairman, assisted by Drs. Lindley and
Campbell, which last-named gentleman delivered
the address. Dr. Smith Fuller and Dr. H. F. Roberts reported a constitution and by-laws, which were
adopted by the meeting and subscribed by the following-inamed physicians, viz.: Hugh Campbell, A.
H. Campbell, Smith Fuller, H. F. Roberts, and D. H.
Johnston, of Uniontown; Lutellus Lindley, Connellsville; Abraham Stanley, Bridgeport; James Thompson, New Geneva; W. L. Lafferty, Brownsville;
Lewis Marchand, near Brownsville; T. A. Shugart
and James Robinson, Perryopolis; C. B. Fitter and
H. B. Mathiot, Smithfield; Jacob Post, New Salem;
F. H. Fleming, Cookstown; G. W. Neff; Masontown;
J. Penny, McClellandtown; and J. R. Worrak and
J. H. Miller, of Washington County.
The association was organized with the followiingnamed officers:
President, Dr. Hugh Campbell.
Treasurer, Dr. Smith Fuller.
Corresponding Secretary, Dr. A. H. Campbell.
Recording Secretary, Dr. H. F. Roberts.
Meetings were held in August and November of
that year, but the association appears to have been
short-lived, for the last record of it is dated Dec. 19,
1844.
The present medical society of the county was
formed at a meeting of physicians held for the purpose at Brownsville, May 18, 1869. There were present Drs. J. S. Van Voorhees, W. H. Sturgeon, H. F.
Roberts, w. P. Duncan, S. A. Conklin, J. B. Ewing,
Knox, and Hazlett. A committee, composed of Drs.
Duncan, Ewing, Conklin, and Sturgeon, reported a
constitution (based on that of the Allegheny County
Medical Society), and signed by the physicians above
named, with the addition of F. C. Robinson and B.
F. Conklin. The first officers of the society were W.
P. Duncan, presidenit; J. S. Van Voorhees, -vicepresident; J. B. Ewing, recording secretary; H. F.
Roberts, corresponding secretary; and W. H. Sturgeon, treasurer.
At the meeting held in July following the constitution was signed by Drs. Lindley, Fuller, Groonet,
Phillips, Rogers, Patten, Mathiot, Carey, Finley, and
Eastman. Additions to the roll of the society were
made at subsequent times as follows:
155HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
October, 1870.-Drs. George W. Neff, James Sloan,
S. B. Chalfant, John Davidson.
Jan. 3, 1871.-Drs. Sangston and Porter.
April 4, 1871.-Dr. Smith Buttermore.
Jan. 2, 1872.-Dr. J. J. Singer, Connellsville.
April 2, 1872.-Dr. -W. C. Byers, Belle Vernon.
Oct. 1, 1872.-Drs. Isaac Jackson and B. Shoemaker, of Brownsville.
April 1, 1873.-Dr. Strickler.
Oct. 8, 1873.-Dr. L. Lindley, Connellsville.
Jan. 2, 1877.-Dr. John Hankins, Uniontown.
July 3, 1877.-Drs. Richard Shipler and Johnston.
Oct. 2, 1877.-Dr. J. R. Nelin, Brownsville.
Jan. 8, 1878.-Dr. Nelson Green, New Geneva, and
Dr. L. S. Gaddis, Uniontown.
April 1, 1879.-Drs. J. M. Gordon, J. M. Gordon,
Jr., and Smith Fuller, Jr.
June 4, 1881.-Dr. J. V. Porter.
The officers of the society for 1881 are:
President, Dr. J. B. Ewing; Vice-President, Dr.
John D. Sturgeon, Jr.; Recording Secretary, Dr.
John Hankins; Assistant Secretary, Dr. W. S. Duncan; Treasurer, Dr. L. S. Gaddis; Censor, Dr. F. C.
Robinson; Delegates to State Medical ConveDtion,
Drs. Robinson, Green, Duncan, Clark, and Sturgeon,
Jr.; Delegates to National Medical Association, Drs.
Van Voorhees, Robinson, and Duncan.
COUNTY AGRICIULTURAL SOCIETIES.
The existence of a society for the promotion of
agriculture in Fayette County sixty years ago is
proved by an entry in the records of the commissioners of date Sept. 2, 1822, at which timre the board
"issued $150 to Hugh Thompson, treasurer of the
Society for the Promotion of Agriculture and Domestic
Manufactures in Fayette Countv, lwhich sunl the said
society are entitled to receive out of the county treasury agreeably to an act of the General Assembly
passed March 6, 1820."
The Brownsville Western Register of March 10,
1823, contains an advertisement by the secretary of
the agricultural society, Col. Samuel Evans, announcing the premiums to be awarded at the exhibition of
t'iat year. It was required that "articles must have
been manufactured in Fayette County, otherwise
they are not entitled to premiums." This is the latest
notice of or reference to this old society which has
been found.
In 1852 an agricultural association was formed in
Jefferson townsllip, and a fair wvas held on the farin of
Robert Elliott. Afterwards Mr. William Colvin, of
Redstone, and citizens of Brownsville and Luzerne
township became interested, and formed the project
to organize a county association, which was accomplished, and its first exhibition was held on the farm
of Eli Cope, Esq., near Brownsville. Associations
were soon after formed at Fayette City and Connellsville. The people of Uniontown became awakened,
and the project was conceived to form a society, with
headquarters and grounds at the county-seat. The
proposition was made to the Brownsville society, and
was concurred in by a number of its officers and members. In 1857 or'58 a lot of about twenty acres of
land was secured in a favorable location, suitable
buildings and a large number of stalls for stock were
erected, and a half-mile track graded. Here several
exhibitions were held, but the breaking out of the
war of the Rebellion overshadowed everything not
pertaining to its prosecution, and led to the abandonment of this enterprise.
About 1869 a society known as the Fayette County
Agricultural and Mechanical Association was formed,
which located its grounds above Brownsville, on the
farm of William Britton, where the necessary buildings were erected, fences built, and a track graded,
involving an expenditure of some thousands of dollars. The first exhibition of the association was held
here in 1869, and several were held afterwards, but
no permanent success resulted, and the enterprise
languished and finally failed.
The Fayette County Agricultural Association was
chartered July 21, 1879, with E. B. Dawson, Robert
Hogsett, William  Beeson, Joseph M. Hadden, and
John Snider, charter members. In the spring of the
samne year an arrangement was made with Monroe
Beeson, administrator of the estate of Rachel Skiles,
deceased, for a tract of about twenty-nine and a half
acres of land, which was deeded to the association in
November of the same year. An additional lot of
land adjoining the first named, and containing two
and three-fourths acres, was purchased of William
H. Sembower, and conveyed to the association by
deed dated Oct. 5, 1879.
The fair-grounds, embracing these two tracts, are
located on the west side of the track of the Southwest
Pennsylvania Railroad, about five-eighths of a mile
north of Uniontown.  On these grounds suitable
buildings and stalls were erected, a tract graded in the
best manner, and the whole well inclosed by a substantial fence, the total cost being about $10,000.
Within this inclosure the first fair of the association
was held in the fall of 1879, with favorable financial
result. At the fair of 1880 there were five hundred
and sixty entries in the agricultural department alone,
and tlle aggregate receipts of the exhibition were
about $2600. If the interest which has already been
awakened among the people continues to increase in
the same ratio as hitherto, the prospects of the association are excellent for the future. Further improvements in the grounds are in contemplation, and when
these are completed as proposed, they will hardly be
inferior to the grounds of any similar association in
the State of Pennsylvania.
The present (1881) officers of the association are
Jasper M. Thompson, president; A. C. Nutt, treasurer; and John K. Ewing, secretary.
156TIIE WHISKEY INSURRECTION.
CHAPTER XV.
THE WIIISKEY INSURRECTION.
"THE Whiskey Insurrection" is a term whicll has
been usually applied to a series of unlawful and violent acts committed  (principally in 1794, but to
some extent in previous years) by inhabitants of the
counties of Washington, Allegheny, Westmnoreland,
and Fayette. These illegal and insurrectionary acts
embraced an armed resistance on several occasions to
the execution of certain State and national laws imposing an excise tax on distilled spirits and stills
used for the manufacture of such spirits, a measure
-which was generally and peculiarly obnoxious to the
people of these counties, particularly because they
regarded it as calculated to bear with especial and
discriminating severity on the industries of this section as compared with other parts of the country.
The first excise tax imposed in the province of
Pennsylvania was that authorized in an act of Assembly passed March 16, 1684, entitled " Bill of Aid
and Assistance of the Government."  As it was found
to be objectionable to the sense of the people, that
part of the bill relating to the collection of excise
duties was repealed soon afterwards, and no similar
legislation was had for more than half a century. In
1738 the provincial Assemnbly passed "An act for
laying an excise on wine, rum, brandy, and other
spirits,"2 but this, like its predecessor of 1684, was
received with such unmistakable disfavor that it remained in force only a few months from the commencement of its operation. Again, in May, 1744,
the Assembly renewed the measure, "for the purpose of providing money witliout a general tax, not
only to purchase arms and ammunition for defense,
but to answer such demands as might be made upon
the inhabitants of the province by his Majesty for
distressing the public enemy in America." 3 This
enactment remained in operation but a short time.,
Another excise law was passed in 1756, but failed of
execution; then for nearly sixteen years the people
of Pennsylvania were undisturbed by governmental
attempts to collect impost duties on spirits.
In 1772 the subject came again before the Assembly, and as a measure of revenue a new act was
passed4 levying a duty on domestic and foreign distilled spirits. At first this law was not executed in
reference to domestic liquors, nor was there any energetic attempt made for that purpose, particularly in
the old counties of the province; but after Pennsylvania became a State, and her necessities were greatly
increased by the Revolutionary war, then in progress,
the law was put in execution, and a very considerable revenue obtained in that way, the measure being
at that time the less obnoxious because patriotic men
were opposed to the consumption of grain in distilla1 Votes of Assembly, i. 29.
3 Ibid, i. 2993.
11
2 Dallas, i. 293.
4 Iliti., i. 6:34.
tion at a time when every bushel was needed for the
subsistence of the troops in the field, fighting for liberty. A large part of the proceeds collected at that
time was appropriated to the "depreciation fund,"
created in this State (as in others, in pursuance of a
resolution passed by Congress in 1780) for the purpose of giving to officers and soldiers of the Revolutionary army an additional compensation, a measure
which was manifestly just and necessary, because the
value of their pay had been greatly lessened by the
depreciation of the Continental currency.
After the close of the Revolution, laws imposing
excise duties on distilled spirits remained on the
Pennsylvania statute-books until 1791, but they were
not generally enforced, and wvere exceedingly unpopular, especially iii the western and southwestern portions of the State. During the period mentioned
(some seven or eight years prior to their repeal in
1791), though the excise laws of the State were by
no means generally enforced, the collection of the
revenue tax on spirits was several times attempted,
but never successfully executed in the southwestern
counties.  Such an attempt was made in Fayette,
AVestinoreland, and Washington Counties in the year
1786, and the consequences resulting to an excise
officer in the last-named county are shown in a letter
written by Dorsey Pentecost5 to the Executive Council of Pennsylvania, as follows:
"WASHINGTON Cou.TY, 16th April, 1736.
" GENTLEMEN:
" About ten days ago a Mr. Grahamn, Excise officer
for the three western Counties, was, in the exercise of
his office in this County, seized by a number of People
and Treated in the following manner, viz.: His Pistols, which he carried before him, taken and broke to
pieces in his presence, his Commission and all his
papers relating to his Office tore and thrown in the
mud, and he forced or made to stamp on them, and
Imprecate curses on himself, the Commission, and the
Authority that gave it to him; they then cut off onehalf his hair, cued the other half on one side of Ihis
Head, cut off the Cock of his Hat, and made him wear
it in a form to render Ihis Cue the most Conspicuous;
this with many other marks of Ignominy they Impos'd on him, and to which he was obliged to submit;
and in the above pliglht they marched him amidst a
Crowd from the frontiers of this County to Westmoreland County, calling at all the Still Houses in their
way, where they wvere Treated Gratis, and expos'd
him to every Insult and mockery that their Inlvention
could contrive. They set him at Liberty at the entrance of Westmoreland, but with Threats of utter
Desolution should he dare to return to our County.
"This Bandittie I am told denounces distruction,
vengeance against all manner of People who dare to
oppose or even ganesay this their unparrelled beha6 Pa. Arc!iives, x. 757.
157HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
vior, and that they will support every person concerned against every opposition. I suippose they depend on their numbers, for I am told the Coinbination
is large.
" 1 have thought it my duty as a good citizen to
give your Honorable Board information of this matchless and daring Insult offered to Government, and the
necessity there is for a speedy and Exemplary punishing being inflicted on those atrocious offenders, for
if this piece of conduct is lightly looked over, no Civil
officer will be safe in the Exercise of his duty, thouglh
some Gentlemen with whom I have conversed think
it would be best, and wish a mild prosecution; for my
part I am of a different opinion, for it certainly is the
most audacious and accomplished piece of outragious
and unprovoked Insult that was ever offered to a
Government and the Liberties of a free People, and
what in my opinion greatly agrivates their Guilt is
that it was not done in a Gust of Passion, but cooly,
deliberately, and Prosecuted from day to day, and
there appears such a desolute-and refractory spirit to
pervade a Certain class of People here, particularly
those concerned in the above Job, that demands the
attention of Government, and the most severe punishment.
" I am not able to give the names of all concerned,
nor have I had an opportunity of making perticular
enquiry, but have received the aforegoing information from different people on whom I can rely, neither
do I think they have as many friends as they suppose,
or would wish to make the public believe. I have it
not in my Power at this time to be as full and explicit as I could wish on this subject, as I have but
Just time to hurry up this scrawvl while the carrier is
waiting.
"I am, Gentlemen,
with the highest Esteem and Respect,
your most obdt. very Humble Servt.
"DORSEY PENTECOST."
"His Excellency The President
and Members of the Supreme
Executive Council of Pennsylvania.
"P.S.-I have just snatched as much time as to
write a short note to the Chief Justice on the above
subject."
The Mr. Graham referred to in the above letter was
the excise officer for the district comprising Washington, Westmoreland, and Fayette. Nothing appears to show that he was similarly inaltreated in the
two latter counties, but the public feeling in them, if
less aggressive, was equally determined against the
excise, and no collections were made by the officers
in this district under.the State law durin, its co1-.
tinuance.'
Upon the adoption of the Federal Constitution, it
became necessary to provide ways and means to support the government, to pay just and pressing Revolutionary claims, and sustain the army, which was
still necessary for the protection of the frontier against
Inidian attack. " The duties on goods imported were
very far from adequate to the wants of the new government. Taxes were laid on articles supposed to be
the least necessary, and, among other things, oIn distilled liquors, or on the stills with which they were
manufactured."  At the suggestion of Alexander
Hamilton, then Secretary of the Treasury, a bill was
framed, among the provisions of which was the imposition of an excise duty of four pence per gallon on
all distilled spirits. This bill was passed by Congress,
March 3, 1791, against the strong opposition of many
members, among the m-ost determined and energetic
of. whom was the representative of this district, William Findley, of Westmoreland. Albert Gallatin and
John Smilie, both mien of the highest prominence and
residents of Fayette County, were among the stroingest
opponents of the measure, though not advocates of
forcible resistance to its execution.
It was argued that the law of 1791 bore more
heavily and unjustly on the interests of the region
west of the Alleghenies than on those of any other
part of the Union. Here a principal product of the
farmers was rye. For this there was little home demand, and it could not be transported across the
nountains at a profit, except in the form of whiskey.
" A horse could carry but four bushels, but he could
take the product of twenty-four bushels in the shape
of alcohol. Whiskey, therefore, was the most important item  of remittance to pay for their salt, sugar,
and iron."2 As a result of these peculiar circum"Sectioni 2. Pr-ovided always,... That nothing herein] contained sball
be dleemed or constrniedI to prevent the recovery of all such duities iuponl.the said articles as are niow duie to tbe Comnmoniwealtlh, nor to release or
take away any forfeitture or penalty whichl aliy person or persons may
have incurred by reason of the swid acts of Assembly; bitt that all pl-osecuitions commenced, or wlhichl may be commenced in consequence thereof, may be prosecuited to as full effect as if suichl acts or parts tlhereof
had not been repealed."
This repealing act was approved Sept. 21, 1791, six months after the
passage by Conigress of the excise law wlhich brouglht abouit the iDsurr ection in the western counties of Pennsylvania.
2 As lbte as the year of the insurrection, freight in wagotns to Philadelphia cost front five to teni dollars per httndred pounids. Salt sold at
five dollars a bushel, wlhile ironi attd steel cost front fifteen to twenty
cents per pottnd. In that fettile region grain was abundlattly p-oduced,
but there was no nmarlket, wlhile farmiers east of the mountains were
growing r-ich by means of the general war in Euirope. Trade down the
Ohio, despite its danger, had then no outlet, the lower Mississippi being
in possession of the Spanish. The freight on a barrel of flour to Philadelphia was as much as it would bring in that market. "IWheat,' says
the Rev. Dr. Carnahan,' was so plentiftul and of so little value that it
was a conumon practice to grind that of the best quiality and feed it to
the cattle; while rye, corn, and barley would bring no price as food for
man or beast.' Tie only way left for the inhabitants to obtain a little
money to purchase salt, iron, and other articles necessary in carryitng
on their farming operations was by distilling their grain and reducing
it to a more portable form, and senditug the whiskey over the mountaiuis
or down the Ohio to Kentucky, then rapidly filling up and afforditng a
niarket for that article."-1apers Relating to the Whiskey Insurrection, Pa.
Archires, vol. iv., 6.
1 "Au Act to repeat so inuchl of e-very act or acts of Assembly of this
State as relates to the collection of excise duties," provided, "Section
1.... That so nuch of every act ur acts of Assembly as auithorize tho
collectioii of any duty or duties uipon wine, ruinii, brandy, or other spi"ituous liquors shall be, and the same are, lhereby repealed.
158ThE WhiSKEY  INSURRECTION.
stanices, there was in this sectioni a greater number of
stills and a larger amount of whiskey manufactured
than in any other region of the same population in
-anv part of the country. "There were very few or
no large manufactories where grain was bought anid
cash paid. There. was not capital in the country for
that purpose. In some neighborlhoods every fif'th or
sixtlh farmner was a distiller, who during the winter
season manufactured his own grain and that of his
neighbors into a-portable and saleable article."  And
thus the people thought " they foresav that whlat
little money was brought into the country by the
sale of whiskey would be carried away in the form of
excise duties." 1
In these western counties a large proportioni of the
inhabitants were Scotch-Irish, or of that descent, a
people whose earlier home, or that of their fathers,
lhad been beyond the sea, in a land where whiskey
was the national beverage, and where excise laws and
excise officers were regarded as the most odious of all
the measures and minions of tyranny. " They also
remembered that resistance to the Stamp Act and
duty on tea at the commencement of the Revolution
began by the destruction of the tea and a refusal to
--use the roval stamps; that the design was not to break
allegiance to the British throne, but to force a repeal
of these odious laws. They were, almost to a man,
enemies to the British government, and had contributed their fill proportion in service in establishing
the independence of America. To them no other tax
of equal amount would have been half so odious."
It can scarcely be wondered at then that among a
people holdinig such opinions the measure was regarded as a most unjust and oppressive one, nor that
the more hot-headed and turbulent ones freely and
fiercely announced their determination to oppose its
execution e-en to the extremity of armed resistance
to the government.
This rebellious sentimepit was so wide-spread, so
unmistakable in its character, and indicated by such
open threats of violence to any officers who might be
hardy enough to attempt the collection of the excise
duty, that it became difficult to find any proper person
willing to take the risk of accepting the office of chief
inispector of the Western District. The position was
finally accepted by Gen. John Neville,2 of Allegheny
I Address of Rev. Dr. Carnahan.
3 "In order to allay opposition as far as possible," says Judge Wilkeson, "Gen. John  Neville, a mani of the injost deserved popuilarity, was
appointed to the -Yispectorship for Western Pennsylvania. He accepted
the appointment from a sense of duty to his country. He was one of the
few men of great wealth who had put his all at lhazard for in dependence.
At bis own expense he raised and equiipped a coMpany of soldiers, marched
thlem to Boston, and placed them, with his son, ulider the comimand of
Gen. Washington. He was brotlier-in-law to the distinguished Gen.
Morgan, and father-ini-law to Majs. Craig and Kirkpatrick, officers
highly respected in the western country. Besides Gen. Neville's claims
as a soldier and a patriot, le had contributed greattly to, relieve the sufferings of the settlers in his vicinity. He divided his last loaf with the
needy; and-in a season of more than oldina:-y scarcity, as soon as hiis
wlheat was sufficiently matured to be converted into food, he opened hiis
County, a man whio above nearly all others was, on
account of his great personal popularity and unquestioned honesty and patriotism, the proper man for the
place. But the confidence and respect of his fellowcitizens proved inisufficient to screen hinm from their
insults and violence when against these was weighed
the fact that he lhad accepted an office the duties of
which obliged him to attempt the execution of a lav
which they detested.
The popular excitement increased rapidly, the spirit.of resistance became more determined, and soon found
expression in a public act wlhich nay be said to have
miarked the cominenceTnenit of the famous" "Whiskey
Insurrection." This was a prelitniniary meeting held
in Fayette County, at Redstone, Old Fort (Brownsville), on the 27tlh of Julv, 1791, composed of people
opposed to the execution of the law. At this mneeting
it was concerted that county committees should be
formed in each of the four counties of Fayette, Westmoreland, Washington, and Allegheny, to meet at the
respective county-seat s and take measures looking to
a common end,-successful resistanice to the operation
of the law. These committees were formed accordingly, and the temper atid ideas of the men composing
them may be judged from the proceedinigs had at a
meeting of the Washington County Committee, held
at the county-seat oni the 23d of August, on whicl
occasion resolutions were passed to the effect that any
person who had accepted or might accept ani office
under Congress in order to carry the excise law into
effect should be considered inimical to the interests
of the country, and recommiiending to the people of
their county to treat every person who had accepted,
or might thereafter accept, any such office with contempt, and absolutely to refuse all kind of communication or intercourse with him, and to withhold from
him all aid, support, or comfort. These resolutions
were printed in the Pittsburgh Gazette, the proprietor
of which paper would doubtless have feared the consequences of a refusal to publish them if he had been
so disposed.
Each of the four county committees deputed three
of its members to meet at Pittsburgh on the first Tuesday of September following, for the purpose of expressing the sense of the people of the four counties in
an address to Congress " upon the subject of the excise
law, and other grievance8." The meeting of delegates
was held at Pittsburgh, as appointed, on the 7th of
September, 1791, on which occasion (according to the
minutes of the meeting) "the following gentlemen
appeared from the counties of Westmoreland, Washington, Fayette, anid Allegheny, to take into consideration an act of Congress laying duties upon spirits
-fields to those who were suffering witl hunger. If any man could have
executed this odious law Gen. Neville was that man. He entered upon
the duties of his office anid appointed his deputies from aniong thie niost
popular citizens. The first attempts, lhowever, to enforce the law were
resisted.".....
^153HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Alexander Wilson tract, and one on the land of Dennis Riley, deceased, formerly of Andrew C. Johnson.
" These comprise the most prominent of the'old
forts' in Fayette. Of their cognates, mounds erected
as monuments of conquests, or, like the Pyramids of
Egypt, as the tombs of kings, we have none. Those
that we have seen are of diminutive size, and may
have been thrown up to commemorate some minor
events, or to cover the remains of a warrior.
" Piles of stones called Indian graves were numerous in many places in Fayette, generally near the
sites of Indian villages. They were generally on
stony ridges, often twenty or thirty of them in a row.
In many of them have been found human bones indicating a stature of from six to seven feet. They
also contained arrow-heads, spear-points, and hatchets
of stone and flint, nicely and regularly shaped, but
how done is the wonder. On a commanding eninence
overlooking the Youghiogheny River, upon land now
(1869) of Col. A. M. Hill, formerly William Dickerson, there are great numbers of these Indian graves,
among which, underneath a large stone, Mr. John
Cottom a few years ago found a very curious chain,
consisting of a central ring and five chains of about
two feet in length, each branching off from it, having
at their end clamps, somewhat after the manner of
handcuffs, large enough to inclose a man's neck, indicating that its use was to confine prisoners, perhaps
to fasten them to the burning stake.  The chains
were of an antique character but well made, and
seenled to have gone through fire."
Of all the prehistoric works noticed in the above
account by Mr. Veech, none was so famed, none so
widely known as the first one he mentions,-Redstone
Old Fort. In the early years it was frequently visited
and examined by antiquarians, and many descriptions
of it (all of them, however, apparently exaggerated
and embellished) were written.  One of these accounts is found on page 84 of "American Antiquities," by Josiah Priest, 1834, being taken from an
earlier account in the "Travels of Thomas Ashe,"  (
who claimed to have visited the old fort and made
some excavations there in the year 1806. The account is as follows:                                  t
"The neighborhood of Brownsville, or Redstone,; in
Pennsylvania, abounds with monuments of antiquity.
A fortified canlp of a very complete and curious kind,  E
on the ramparts of which is timber of five feet in
diameter, stands near the town of Brownsville. This
camp contains thirteen acres inclosed in a circle, the  t
elevation of which is seven feet above the adjoining
ground. This was a herculean work. Within the
circle a pentagon is accurately described, having its  t(
sides four feet high, and its angles uniformly three  w
feet from the outside of the circle, thus leaving an  a,
unbroken communication all around. A pentagon is  it
a figure having five angles or sides. Each side of the  F
pentagon has a postern or small gateway, opening
into a passage between it aind the circle, but the circle  a!
itself has only one grand gateway outward. Exactly
in the centre stands a mound thirty feet high, supposed to have been a place of lookout. At a small
distance from this place was found a stone measuring
eight feet by five, on which was accurately engraved
a representation of the whole work, with the mound
in the centre, whereon was the likeness of a human
head, which signified that the chief who presided
there lay buried beneath it.
"The engraving on this stone is evidence of the
knowledge of stone-cutting, as it was executed with
a considerable degree of accuracy. On comparing
the description of this circular monument with a description of works of a similar character found in
Denmark, Sweden, and Ireland, the conclusion is
drawn that at some era of time the authors of this
kind of monumental works in either of those countries
have been the same."
Having given the above account, as written by
Ashe, it is proper to remark that he did, without
doubt, enlarge upon the plain facts,-in some particulars, at least. Old residents of this locality-among
them Mr. Nelson B. Bowman, who was born in 1807,
within rifle-shot of the place indicated-say that the
account is unsupported by anything they have ever
seen or heard narrated by their fathers.  Still, the
fact remains unquestioned that the first white explorers found here, within the present limits of
Brownsville, and occupying an elevated site which
commands the Monongahela River above and below,
an inclosure of several acres, surrounded by an earthen
embankment, evidently centuries old, antedating even
the most ancient traditions of the Indians, and this
nlysterious work they christened Redstone Old Fort.
But the hand of Time has obliterated all traces of it,
and neither parapet nor central mound have been
visible for many years. So it is with the mounds
which have been mentioned as having existed in
other parts of Fayette County. By the processes of
agriculture, continued for generations, and by various
other means, they have become so far leveled that in
many cases not a trace remains, and in others the
outline is barely discernible of works which a century ago stood out bold and clearly defined.
With regard to the origin of these ancient works
and relics many theories have been advanced, some
apparently reasonable and others wholly absurd.
Some writers on the subject have believed that thlev
vere built by the French, while some have attributed;heir construction to the Spanish.1 Others, with more
1 De Witt Clinton, in an address delivered before the New York Iisor1ical.Society in 1811, in alluding to the various improbable theories'hich ascribed the buildingf of these works to Europeans, said, "An
tmerican writer of no inconsiderable repute plronounced some years
go that the two forts at the confluence of the 3Muskingmni and Ohio
livers, one covering forty and the other twenty acres, were erected by
ernaindo De Soto, who lanldedl with one thousand men in Florida in.539, and penetrated a considerable distanco into the interior of t1he
ountry. He allotted the large fort for the use of the Spanish armly,.Id after beinlg extremely puzzled how to dispose of the small one in
18hSTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
distilled within the United States, passed the 3d of
March, 1791.
"For Westmoreland County: Nehemiah Stokely
and John Young, Esqs.
"For Washington County: Col. James Marshal,
Rev. David Phillips, and David Bradford, Esq.
"For Favette County: Edward Cook, Nathaniel
Bradley [Breading], and John Oliphant, Esqs.
"For Allegheny County: Col. Thomas Morton,
John Woods, Esq., and William Plumer, Esq.
" Edward Cook, Esq., was voted in the chair, and
John Young appointed secretary."
The meeting then proceeded to pass a series of
resolutions, censuring the legislation of the late Congress, especially the obnioxious excise law, which they
characterized as "a base offspring of the funding
system,... being attended with infringements on
liberty, partial in its operations, attended with great
expense in the collection, and liable to much abuse,"
aild declaring that " it is insulting to the feelings of the
people to have their vessels marked, houses painted
and ransacked, to be stubject to infornmers, gaining by
the occasional delinquenicy of others. It is a bad precedent, tending to introduce the excise laws of Great
Britain, and of countries vhere the liberty, property,
and even the morals of the people are sported with, to
gratify particular mnen in their ambitious and interested measures." The mseeting also adopted a remonstrance to " be presented to the. Legislature of Pennsylvania," and further " Resolved, That the foregoing
representations [the series of resolutions adopted] be
presented to the Legislature of the United States."
An address was also adopted, whlich, together with
the proceedings of the day, was ordered to be printed
in the Pittsburgh Gazette, and the meeting then adj ourned.
In reference to this meeting at Pittsburgh, and
others of similar character, Mr. Hamilton, Secretary
of the Treasurv, said that, being " composed of very'influential individuals, and conducted without moderation or -prudence;" they were justly clhargeable
with the excesses which were afterwards committed,
serving to give consisten'c'y'to an opposition which at
-length matured to a degree that threatene~d the foundations of..the governmeint.
On the 6th of September, the day before the meeting of the committees' delegates at Pittsburgh, the'opposition to the la'v broke out'in an act of open. violence, said -to have been the first of the k 1-ind committed in' the western counties. At a  place near
Pigeon Creek;'in Washington County, a party of men,
-armed and disguised, waylaid Robert Johnson (collector of revenue for Allegheny and washington.), cut
off his hair, stripped him of Iiis clothing, tarred and
feathered-him, and took away his horse, " obliging him
to travel on -foot a considerable distance in that mortifying and painful situation."  The case was brought
before the District Court, out of which processes issued
against John Robertson, John Hamilton, and Thomas
McComb, three of the persons concerned in the outrage. The serving of these processes was confided by
the then marshal, Clement Biddle, to his deputy, Joseph Fox, who in the month of October went into Allegheny County for the purpose of serving them; but
he was terrified by the " appearances and circumstances
which he observed in the course of his jourtney," and
therefore, instead of serving them himself, sent them
forward under cover by a private messenger. The
marshal (Mr. Biddle), in his report of this transaction
to the district attorney, said, " I am sorry to add that
he [the deputy, Fox] found the people in general in
the western part of the State, particularly beyond the
Allegheniy Mountains, in suclh a ferment on account
of the act'of Congress for laying a duty on distilled
spirits, and so much opposed to the execution of said
act, and,from a variety of threats to himself personally
(although- he took the utmost precautions to conceal
his errand), that he was not only convinced of the impossibility of serving the process, but that any attempt
to effect it would have occasioned the most violent
opposition from the greater part of the inhabitants,
and he declares that if he had attempted it he believes he would niot have returned alive. I spared no
expense or pains to have the process of the court exceuted, and have not the least doubt that my deputy
would have accomplished it if it could have been
done."
TIn Fayette County the collector of revenue, Benjamin Wells, was subjected to ill treatment on account
of his official position. That Mr. Wells was peculiarly unpopular among the people of his district ap-pears from the letters of Judge Alexander Addison,'
and from other sources. and he was afterwards several
times inaltreated, and his lhouse sacked and burned.
These acts were done in. 1793 and 1794, but the first
instance of abuse to hiim appears to have occurred in
the fall of 1791, as the Secretary of the Treasury in
his report to the President, after narrating the circumstances of the attack on Robert Johnson, in
Washinigton County, on the 6th of September, continues: "'Mr. Johnson was not the only officer who,
about the same p)eriod, experienced outrage.  Mr.
Wells, collector of the revenue for Westmoreland and
Fayette, was also ill treated at Greensburg and Union-'town.  Nor were the outrages perpetrated confined to
the officers, they extended to private citizens who
- 1 Judge Addison,'il a letter addressed to Governor Mifflin (Pa. Arclhives, 2d Series, vol. iv. p. G-2), said, " Benjamin Wells, ~o far as I have
ever heard' lini spoken of, is a conitenmptible and une orthy iioan, whom,
I lelieve, tine people of this comrtry,would niever w islh to see in aniy office
or truist witlh an o1ject of ally imiportance."  But it should be reniarked
iu this conniection that tine j nudge's opinjion, as abou e expressed, may have
been strongly biased. by his own well-knowis personal dislike to Wells.
InI at comninirnication by Alexanider hamilton to President Waslington,
tire former related tlhat oi1 onie occasioni whlen Judge Addison was stopping, durinig a termn of court, at a ptiblic-lnouse ill Uniontown, " Wells
*went to the sannie tavern, but was informed by the tavern-keeper aild  ris
wife that lie' could not be received.thnere, assigniing for reason that Judge
Addison lhad declared that.if they took hiin iln again lie would leave the
house."  Pa. Arceliveu, 2d Series, vol. iv. p. 292.
160THE WVHISKEY INSURRECTION.
only dared to show their respect for the laws of their
country." 1
Another outrage was committed in Washington
County, in the month of October bf the same year,
on the person of Robert WVilson, who was not an excise officer, but a young schoolmaster who was looking for employment, and carried with him very
reputable testimonials of his character." 2 It was
supposed that he was a little disordered in his inltellect, and having, unfortunately for himself, made
some inquiries concerning stills and distillers, and
acted in a mysterious mannir otherwise, he was suspected of being in the service of the government.
On this account he " was pursued by a party of men
in disguise, taken out of his bed, carried about five
miles back to a smith's shop, stripped of his clothes,
which were afterwards burnt, and having been inhumanly burnt in several places with a heated iron, was
tarred and feathered, and about daylight dismissed,
naked, wounded, and in a very pitiable and suffering
condition. These particulars were communicated in
a letter from the inspector of the revenue of the 17th
of November, who declared that he had then himself
seen the unfortunate maniac, the abuse of whom, as
he expressed it, exceeded description, and was suffic'eit to make human nature shudder.... The
symptoms of insanity were during the whole time of
inflicting the punishment apparent, the unhappy
sufferer displaying the heroic fortitude of a nian who
conceived himself to be a martyr to the discharge of
some important duty."3  For participation in this
outrage Col. Samuel Wilson, Samuel Johnson, James
Wright, William Tucker, and John Moffit were indicted at the December Sessions, 1791; but before the
offenders were taken upon the process of the court,4
the victim, Wilson (probably through fear of further
outrage), left that part of the country,5 and at the
June Sessions, 1792, the indicted persons were discharged.
The demonstrations above mentioned comprise all
of the more notable acts of violence which were done
in these counties by the opponents of the law during
the first year of its existence. On the 8th of May,
1792, Congress passed an act making material changes
in the excise law, among these being a reduction of
about one-fourtlh in the duty on whiskey, and giving
the distiller the alternative of paying a monthly instead of a yearly rate, according to the capacity of
his still, with liberty to take a license for the precise
1 Pa. Archives, 2d Series, vol. iv. p. 88.
2 Letter of James Brison, of Allegheny, to Governor Mifflin, dated
Nov. 9, 1792.-Pa. Archives, 2d Series, vol. iv. pp. 44, 45.
3 Report of the Secletary of the Treasury; Pa. Archives, 2d Serlies, vol.
iv. p. 88.
4 Pa. Archives, Brison's letter, before quoted.
5," The audacity of the perpetrators of these excesses was so great that
an arme(l banditti venturetd to seize and carry off two persons whllo were
witnesses against the rioters in the case of Wilson, in order to prevent
their giving,testimony of the riot to a, court then sitting or abotut to
sit."-Alex,snder Hamilton to Presidtent TWashington; Pa. Arch, iv., p. 89.
term which he should intend to work it, and to renew
that license for a further term or terms. This provision was regarded as peculiarly favorable to the
western section of the State, where very few of the
distillers wished to prosecute their business during
the summer. "The effect has in a great measure,"
said Hamilton, in 1794,j' corresponded with the views
of the Legislature. Opposition has subsided in several districts where it before prevailed,6 and it was
natural to entertain, and not easy to abandon, a hope
that the same thing would, by degrees, have taken
place in the four western counties of the State."
But this hope was not realized. The modifications
made in the law, favorable as they had been thought
to be to the western counties, did not produce acquiescence and submission among the people of this section. On the 21st and 22d days of August next following the passage of the modified law there was
held at Pittsburgh "a Meeting of sundry Inhabitants
of the Western Counties of Pennsylvania," the proceedings of which plainly indicated that the feeling
of opposition had not been lessened, but rather intensified. At that meeting there were present the following-named delegates from the western counties,
viz.: Edward Cook, Albert Gallatin, John Smilie,
Bazil Bowel, Thomas Gaddis, John McClellan, Jolln
Canon, William Wallace, Shesbazer Bentley, Benjamin Parkinson, John Huey, John Badollet, John
Hamilton, Neal Gillespie, David Bradford, Rev.
David Phillips, Matthew Jamnison, James Marshlall,
James Robinson, James Stewart, Robert McClure,
Peter Lyle, Alexander Long, and Samuel Wilson.
The persons composing this meeting were, in general,
men of ability and influence, and in this particular
the Fayette delegation (comprising the first six named
in the above list) surpassed those from  the other
counties.
The meeting was organized by the choice of Col.
John Canon as chairtnan, and Albert Gallatin, of
Fayette County, as clerk. The subject of the excise
law was then "taken under consideration and freely
debated; a committee of five members was appointed
to prepare a draft of Resolutions expressing the sense
of the Meeting on the subject of said Law;" and on
the second day the resolutions were reported, debated, and adopted unanimously. After a preamble
denouncing the excise law as unjust in itself, oppressive upon the poor, and tending to bring immediate
distress and ruin on the western country, and declaring it to be their duty to persist in remonstrances to
Congress, and every other legal measure to obstruct
the operation of the law, the resolutions proceeded,
first, to appoint a committee to prepare and cause to
be presented to Congress an address, stating objections to the law, and praying for its repeal; secondly,
6 Opposition to tile law of 1791 was violent, not only in the "four
western cournties" of Fayette, Westmoreland, Washington, and Alleglleny, but also in severlal other cournties of the State, notably Chester,
Bedford, Bucks, and Northumberland.
I
II
1611HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENiNSYLVANIA.
to appoint committees of correspondence for Washington, Fayette, and Allegheny, charged with the
duty of corresponding together, and with such committee as slhould be appointed for the same purpose
in Westmoreland, or with any committees of a similar nature from other parts of the Union. The committees appointed for this purpose for the tlhree counties named were composed of the following-named
persons, viz.: Thomas Gaddis, Andrew Rabb, John
Oliphant, Robert McClure, James Stewart, William
Wallace, John Hamilton, Shesbazer Bentley, Isaac
Weaver, Benjamin Parkinson, David Redick, Thomas
Stokely, Stephen Gapen, Joseph Vanmeter, Alexander Long, William Whiteside, James Long, Benjamin
Patterson, Samuel Johnston, William Plummer, and
Matthew Jameson.
The final declaration of the meeting was to the
effect that, " Whereas, some men may be found
amongst us so far lost to every sense of virtue and
feeling for the distresses of this country as to accept
offices for the collection of the duty, Resolved, therefore, that in future wve will consider such persons as
unworthy of our friendship; have no intercourse or
dealings with them; withdraw fromn themn every assistantce, and withhold all the comforts of life which depend
upon those duties that as men and fellow-citizens we owe
to each other; and upon all occasions treat them with
thalt contempt they deserve; and that it be and it is hereby
most earnzestly recommended to the people at large to follow the.same line of conduct towards them."
It is difficult to understand how men of character
and good standing, such as were a majority of those
comiposing the Pittsburgh meeting, could have given
their assent to the passage of these extreme resolutions. They were aimed in a general way (as appears
on their face) at all who might be even remotely concerned on the side of the government in the collection
of the revenue, but in particular, and more than all,
at Gen. John Neville, against whom no charge could
be brought, except that he liad dared to accept inspectorship of the Western Revenue District.
A few days before the holdin, of the Pittsburgh
meeting, an outrage had been committed upon Capt.
William Faulkner, of the United States army, who
lhad permitted his house in Washington County to be
used as an inspection-office. Being out in pursuit of
deserters in the same neighborhood where Johnson
was maltreated in the previous autumn, he was encountered by a number of disguised men, who reproached him with having let his house to the government officers, drew a knife on him, threatened to scalp
lhim, tar and feather him, and burn his house if he
did not solemnly promise to prevent all fuirther use
of it as an inspection-office. He was induced by
their threats to make the promise demanded, and on
the 21st of August gave public notice in the Pittsburgh
Gazette that the office of the inspector should no
longer be kept at his house.
On receiving intelligence of this occurrence, as also
of the proceedings of the Pittsburgh meeting,;the Secretary of the Treasury reported the facts to President
Washington, who thereupon, on the 15th of September, 1792, issued a proclamation admonishing all persons to refrain and desist from all unlawful combinations and proceedings whatsoever having for their
object, or tending, to obstruct the operationi of the
laws, declaring it to be the determination of the
government to bring to justice all infractors of the
law, to prosecute delinquents, to seize all unexcised
spirits on their way to market, and to make no purchases of spirits for the army except of such as had
paid the duty.
A supervisor of the revenue was sent into the
western counties immediately afterva.rds to gain accurate information of and report on the true state of
affairs; but his mission " had no other fruit than that
of obtaining evidence of the persons who comiposed
the meeting at Pittsburgh, and two of those who were
understood to be concerned in the riot [against Capt.
Faulkner], and a confirmation of the enmitv which
certain active and designing leaders had industriously
infused into a large proportion of the inhabitants,
not against the particular laws in question only, but of a
more ancient date against the government of the United
States itself." 1
In the following April (1793) a party of men, armed
and disguised, made an attack upon the house of Benjamin Wells, who was then collector of revenue for
Fayette and Westmoreland Counties.  His house,
which stood on the west side of the Youghiogheny
River, opposite the present borough of Connellsville,
was visited in the night by these rioters, who, having
forced an entrance, finding that Wells was absent,
contented themselves withi threatening, terrifying,
and abusing his family, without proceeding to any
further outrage. Warrants for the apprehension of
several of these rioters' were issued by Justices Isaac
Meason and James Finley, and placed in the lhands
of the sheriff of Fayette, Joseph Huston, who, however, refused or neglected to serve them, and was
therefore indicted in the Circuit Court.
A second attack was made on the house of Wells,
the collector, in the night of the 22d of November by
a body of men all armed and in.disguise.3 They broke
and entered the house, and demanded a surrender of
the officer's commission and official books, and upon
Report of Secretary Hamilton; Pa. Arclhives, 2d Series, vol. iv. p. 9:1.
2 "Caleb  Mount, then a Captain, sinice a MIajor of Militia, stands
charged before Isaac Meason anid James Finley, Assistant Judges, by
inifornmation upon oath of Benjamin Wells, Collector of the Revenuie,
and his wife, with being of a party that broke inito the House of the
Said Collector some time in April, 1793."-Report of the Secretary of the
Treasury to President Washington; Pa. Archives, 2d Series, vol. iv. p. 288.
3 " Indictments having been found at a circuit couirt holdeni at Philadelphia in Juily last, against Robert Smilie anid John McCulloch, two of
the rioters in the'attack which, in- Novenibeer precedinlg, had, been nmade
upon the houise of a collector of the revenue in Fayette Couinty; processes issued againist thiemn also to brinig them to trial, and if guiilty, to
punisliment.'"-Hamilton to President Washington, Aug. 5, 1794; Pa. Aichives, iv., p. 100.,
I
I
1 62THE WHISKEY INSURRECTION.
his refusal to deliver them up they threatened him,
with pistols presented at his head, and swore that if he
did not comply they would instantly put hiii to
deatl. By this means they forced him to surrender
his books and coml mission, and not content with tlhis,
the rioters, before they left the premises, compelled
Wells to promise that he would, within two weeks,
publish his resignation. It does not appear, however,
that Wells did resign his office at that time, for lie
certainly held it in the following year, and was thbn
an object of peculiar hatred to the opponents of the
law.'
"At last March [1794] Court, in Fayette County,"
said Judge Addison, " in a publick company at dinnier in the tavern where I lodged, some of the most
respectable gentlemen of that county. and most strenuously opposed to the Excise law, proposed that a
meeting of the inhabitants of that county should be
called, in which it should be agreed that they would
all enter their stills, priovided Benjamin Wells was
removed from office, and some honest and reputable
mnan appointed in his stead. I will not say that these
are the words, but I knowv it is the amount of the
conversation." This was written by the judge in a
letter addressed to Governor Mifflin, dated Washington, May 12, 1794.2  In a reply to that letter, written by
Secretary Dallas,3 on behalf of the Governor, he says,
" The truth is that such geineral dissatisfaction lhas
been expressed witlh respect to Wells tlhat, for the sake
of the western couniities, as well as for the sake of the
General Government, it was tlhought advisable to
transmit all the iniformation that could be collected
on the subject to the President, and the extract from
your letter... made a part of the documents."
Finally, about the 1st of July, 1794, the rioters destroyed Wells' house and forced him to vacate his
office, the circumstances being as follows: The excise-office for Westmoreland County had been opened
in the house of Philip Reagan, whereupon an attack
was soon after made upon it by the insurgents. This
attack had been expected bv the owner of the house
(Reagan), who had accordingly prepared for it with
a gutard of two or three armed men. When the assailing-party approached they were fired on by Reagan's party, among whom was John Wells,4 son of
1 " Andrew Robb [Rabb], a Justice of the peace, stand(1s charged by informationi uponi oath before Jacob Beason, another Justice of the peace,
with having offered a rewvard of Tell pouinds for killing the Excise man.
meaning, as was understood, Wells, tle Collector. Thnisfact is stated on
the infornmation of the said Collector."-Pa. Arch., 2d Series, rol. iv. p.
288; Letter of Alexander Hamilton to Pr-esident Washington.
2 Pit. Arch., iv., p. 63.
3 Ibid, p. 64.
4 In the accounts which have be-en nusally given of tlsii affair, John
Wells has beenr nlentione(l as the collector for Westnsort lanid, and the
time of the final abandonment of Reagan's house as all excise-office as
being in the month of Junrle; but both these statements ai-e disproved
by the report of the Secretary of the Treasur-y to President Washington,
dated Aug. 5, 179- (Pa. Archives, 2d series, iv., 98), inl wlhich he says,
"June being the month for receiving annual entries of stills, endeavors
vere used to open offices in Westmoreland and Washington, wher e it
had hiitherto been found impracticable. With muclh painis and difficulty
Benjamin Wells, of Fayette, and deputy collector
under him.  The fire was returned, but without
effect on either side. Then the party set fire to
Reagan's barn, and lhaving burned it to the ground,
moved off without making further depredation. In
a day or two a much larger party of assailants
(numbering about one hundred and fifty men) appeared at Reagan's, and he, knowing the folly of
attenmpting to resist so large a force, and wishing
to avoid the shedding of blood, consented to capitulate, pfovi(led they would give himii assurances
that they would not destroy his property nor abuse
him or his family. This was agreed to, with the condition that his house should no more be used as anl
excise-office, and that John Wells should agree and
promise never again to act as an officer for the collection of the excise duty. The stipulations were reduced
to writing and signed by the )arties. The house was
theni thrown open, and Reagan produced a keg of
whiskey, from which he " treated" the assailants.
But after thev had drank the whiskey they began to
grow more belligerent, and some of them said that
Reagan had been let offi altogether too easily, and
that he ou(glht to be set up as a target to be shot at.
Some of them proposed that he be tarred and feathered, but others strongly opposed this, and took Reagan's part, saying th-at lie had acted in a fair and
mianly way, anid that they were bound in honior to
treat him well after lhaving agreed to do so as a condition to the surrender. Then they drank more
whiskey and fell to quarreling among themselves, and
the proposition was made to " court-martial" Reagan,
and to mlarch him to the house of Benjamin Wells,
in Fayette County, and try them both together. This
suggestion was immediately acted on, and the party
moved towards Stewart's Crossings, taking Reagan
with themn. Arriving at Wells' house they found that
he was absent, and in their disappointment and anger
they set fire to his dwvelling, and entirely destroyed it,
with all its contents. Several of them remained hidden inear the ruins for the purpose of capturing Wells
on his return,-a design which they effected in the
following morning. On making him prisoner they
demanded of him that he resign his commlission as
collector, and promise to accept no office under the
excise law in the future. These demands were made
as the conditions on which his life and safety depended.  He accepted them  and submitted to all
their requirements, upon which they desisted from
all further ill treatment and liberated him. This
was the end of his career as an excise-officer. He
afterwardls removed to the other side of the river (at
Connellsville) and made his residence there.
places were procured for tlhe purpose. That in Westmoreland Counity
was repeatedly attacked in the niglht by armiied men, who frequently
fired upon it; but, according to a report wlhich lIas been made to tinis
Departmyient, it was defended with so much courage and perseverance
by John Wells, an auxiliary officer, and Philip Reagan, tine owner of the
house, as to 7hare been maintained during the remnainder of the montth."
I
I
1631HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Soon after the destruction of Wells' house by the
insurgents, a United States officer came into Fayette
County to serve processes against a number of noncomplying distillers, and also against Robert Smilie
and John McCulloch, two persons charged with participation in the riotous attack on the house of Collector Wells in the previous Novemiiber.  " The marshal of the district," said Secretary Hamilton,' "went
in person to serve these processes. He executed his
trust without interruption, tlhough under many discouraginig circumstances, in Fayette County 2 but
while he was in the execution of it in Allegheny
County, being then accompanied by the inspector of
the revenue (Gen. Neville), to wit, on the 15th of July
last (1794), he was beset on the road by a party of from
thirty to forty armed men, who after inuch irregularity
of conduct finally fired on him, but, as it happened,
without injury either to hiim or to the inspector."
The attack on the marshal and Gen. Neville, however, proved to be hut the prelude to one of the most
daring outrages that were committed during the continuance of the insurrection.  The disaffected people
wvere greatly incensed against Gen. Neville for accomphnying the nmarshal to assist in serving the processes,
piloting him to the homes of his victims, as they
said. On this account the feelinig against him becaine
very intense and bitter.
On the day next following the attack on the marslhal and inspector (July 16th), at daybreaik, " in conformity with a plan which seems to have been for
soine titne entertained, and whicll was probably only
accelerated by the coming of the inarshal into the
suirvey, an attack by abQut one hundred persons armed
wvith guns and other weapons was made upon the house
of the inspector (Neville), in the vicinity of Pittsburgh. The inspector, though alone, vigorously de-'fended himself against the assailants, and obliged
them to retreat without accomplishing their purpose."3
They lhadl only postponed, and nlot abandoned, the
execution of their plans. On the following dav they
reassembled in augmented numbers, amounting, as
it was said, to fully five hunldred, and on the 17th of
July renewed their attack on Gen. Neville's lhouse,
which was then defenided by a detachment of eleven
men from the garrison of Fort Pitt. The result was
that after a fight of about an hlour's duration, in which
one of the insurgents was killed and several-wounded,
wlhile three of the persons in the house were also
wounded, the defending party surrendered, and the insurgents then burned the house to the ground, together
with all the outbuildings, occasioninig a loss of more
than twelve thousand dollars. Gen. Neville lad left the
1 Pa. Arch., 2d Series, vol. iv. p. 100.
TA meeting had been held at Uniontown, in piursuiance of the suggestions made in March, 1794, at the liotel, as milenxtioned by Judge Addison),
anid at this imieeting it was agreed by those present that no opposition
would be made to the law in. this county, provided Benjamin Wells was
displaced as collector.
3  Hamilton......
house before the commencement of the firing, and had
sought a place of concealment at a distance, wisely
concluding that this was the only way to save his life.
On the nighlt of the 19tlh of July he with the marshal
who had come to serve the processes (having been repeatedlv threatened witlh dleath at the hands of the
insurgents, and finding that Ino protection was to be
expected from the nmagistrates or inhabitants of Pittsburgh) made their escape from the place, fled downl
the Ohio, and proceeded to the East by a circuiitous
way, the usual rouites over the mountains being known
to be beset by their enemies.
On the 25th of July the United States mail, near
Greensburg, on the road from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia, was stopped by two armed inen, who cut open
the poucli and abstracted all the letters except those
contained in one package. In connection with this
circumstance, it is proper to notice a circular addressed
by Col. John Canon, David Bradford, Benjamin Parkinson, and others to the militia officers of the couuities,
dated July 28, 1794, as foll ows:
"SIR,-Having had suspicions that the Pittsburgh
post would carry with hjim the sentiments of some of
the people in the country respecting our present situation, and the letters by the post being now in our possession, by wbhich certain secrets are discovered hostile
to our interest, it is therefore niow come to that crisis
that every citizen must express his sentiments, not by
his vords, but by hiis actions. You are then called
upoIn as a citizen of the westerni country to render
your personal service, with as many volunteers as you
can raise, to rendezvous at your'usual place of meeting on AVedlnesday next, and thence you will march
to the usual place of rendezvous at Braddock's Field,4
oni the Monongahela, oni Friday, the first day of August next, to be there at two-o'clock in the afternoon,
with arms and accoutrements in good order. If any
volunteers slhall want arms anid ammunition, bring'
them forward, and they shall be supplied as well as
possible. Here, sir, is an expedition proposed in
which you will have ani opportunity of displaying
your nmilitary talents, and of rendering service to your
country. Four days' provisions will be wanted; let
the meil be thus supplied."
Many of the militia officers obeyed the directions
contained in the eircular, and marched their men to the
appoinited rendezvous. With reference to the readiness displayed by officers and soldiers to obey tllese
orders, enanatinig as they did from no responsible authority, Judge Addison said that in consequence of
the danger of Indian incursions having often rehdered it necessary in this region to assenmble the military force without waiting for orders from the govern
ment, " it had become habitual with the militia of
these counties to assemble at the call of their officers,
without iniquiring into the authority or object of the
4 Braddock's Field was the place wihere tile annual brigade miusters
were held.
164THE WhISKEY INSURRECTION.
call."  This habit, well known to the contrivers of
the rendezvous at Braddock's Field, rendered the execution of their plan an easy matter. They issued
their orders to the officers of the militia, who assembled their men, accustomed to obey orders of this
kind given on the sudden and without authority.
The militia came together without knowing from
whom the orders originated, or for what pturpose they
met. And when met it was easy to communicate
from breast to breast inore or less of the popular
frenzy, till all felt it or found it prudent to dissemble
and feign that they felt it."
At Braddock's Field, on the appointed day, there
gathered a vast and wildly excited assemblage, of
which a good proportion was composed of militiamen
and volutnteers under armns. Fayette County was
sufficiently represented on the field,' though the nuinber from this waas less thanl from either Washington,
Allegheny, or Westmoreland.  Ainong the great
throng of persons assembled there, very few were favorable to the government and to the execution of the
law. Such as were there of this class had come to
the rendezvous lest their absence miglht be made a
cause for proscription.2  But they were compelled,
out of reg,ard for their personal safety, to conceal their
real sentiments; and some of them had even assumed
the role of leaders, for the purpose (as they said afterwards when the insurrection had been crushed) of
gaining the confidence of the disaffected multitude,
anid then by organization and judicious management
to restrain them from proceeding to outrage and rebellion. The Hon. Hugh H. Brackenridge was one
of these, and there were some among the Fayette
County leaders, whose course with regard to the insurrection has beeni similarly explained. There wvere
also present at Braddock's Field on the occasion referred to some who wvent there merely as spectators,
without any strong feeling on either side; but by far
the greater part were in full sympathy with the insurgent cause, thougoh probably few of them had any
very definite idea of the object of the meeting other
than to denounce excise-officers and the governmnent,
and to shout in wild acclaim, huzzahs for Tom the
Tinker.3
1 Findley il iliis  history of the insuirrection  says there were iiot more
thani twelve meni fouiii Fayette County at Braddock's Field out that day,
bitt this statement seemils very improbable whieni it is remembered  that
Cook, Gaddis, amid several othiers of the piominieuit leaders of iiisuriectiotnists were resideiits of tIlis county.
2 Mr. Brackenridge, in desecibiiigthie  generalfeelingp,ervaiC iigatthiat
ithie  thirou-mhomit the westet-n couinities, says, " A  breatlh  ii favor of the
law  was stufficienit to  riniii  an.y iiian.  It was contsideTed  its a badge of
Toryism.  A  clergynialn was  niot thought ortihodox in tihe puilpit unless
agaiuist the law.  A  phlysiciain was itot capable of admninistering  nmedicinie unless his priiiciples were riltit in tIlis respect. A lawyer cotil(l
have got i3o practice wvitliout at least concealing  tlis seritiiiteDts if for thle
lIaV, nor could a merchianit at a counitry store get ciustona.  Oii the contrary, to tatli agaitist tise law  was the way to office anid enioliumnent.  To
go to the Legislature or to Congress you niust malke a noise against it.
It was the Shilbboleth of safety, ant  thie ladder of aml)ition.", 3 TOM  THE TINKER  wvas 7t ianame which  the law-breakers  miot oilhy tised
iuidividnially for purposes of disguise, but also applied to thle iutsurgeiit
As the rendezvous was but a few miles from Pittsburgh, the people of that place were greatly alarmecl
lest the company assembled at Braddock's Field
should, at the instigation of their leaders, march oil
the town and destroy it, in a spirit of revenge against
a number of officers and frien(ds of the governmnent
who lived there. A meetin(r of the inhabitants of tlle
towvn had been held' on the eveninc before the day of
tlle rendezvous, at wlhlieh "a great majority-almost
the whole of tile inhabitnlnts of the town-assembled."
It was announce(l to this meeting that a committee
from Washington was preseint, bearing a message to
the meetin.g. A committee of three was appointed to
conafer witlh the conmmittee from Washington, and
after their coInference they reported "that in conisequence of certain- letters senit by the last mail, certain
persons were discovered as advocates of the excise
law and eneinies fo the interest of the country, and
that Edward Day, James Brison, and Abraham Kirkpatrick are particularly obnoxious, and that it is expected by the country that they should be dismissed
witlhout delay; Whereupon it was resolved it should
be so done, and a committee of twenty-one was appointed to see this resolution carried into effect. Also
that, whereas it is a part of the message from the genitlemen from Washington that a great body of tile
people of the counity will meet to-morrow at Braddock's Field, in order to carry into effect measures
that may seem to them advisable with respect to the
excise law and the advocates of it, Resolved, Thiat
the above committee shall at an early hour wvait lluOp
the people on the grouild, and assure the people that
the above resolution, with respect to the proscribed
bod]y collectively, and to the  secret and dreaded power of the organizatioII, if orgaunNation it couild  be called.   As to  the origin of tlle nanme,
Brackenridge says, " A  certain John  Holcroft was thouglitto  liave  miotde
the first application of it at the  timie of the masked attack on William
Coughran, whiose still  vas cuit to  p eces.  This was lhumiloroulsly  called
meeidiig heis still.   The inieuiders of course nmust be tinkers, anid the  niamile
collectively becanio  Tom the Tinker."   Advertisements were piut  upj) onl
trees  andl  in otlier conspicuious  places withi the  signattire  of ToiI the
Tiiiker, adlioiiistinig or comiiantiding,!  individuals to do or  n)ot to do certaill thliiigs liluler tCie peiialty  of retribuition  at the  liands of the niysteriouis Toni in case of inoit-comiuptliance.  Menaciig letterswiti the siiiie
signature  vere senit to the Pittosbrit#h Gazette writls orders to puilblib  tieni,
mnd the editor dared  niot refiuse to conmply, thoughi lie did so  uuiw^ illiuigly.
Ofteni the  personus to   whom   these  tliieateuilllg  notices were atI(ressed
were  comnmandted  to  see  that tihey  werei  published  in  the  Gazette, andI
tiey always  coiutild; for tiey kiiew   that refusal or lie-lect to (tlo  so
wouild br ing upout tlienl the destr uictiout of thieir property  nlid etidauiger
their lives.
"Tlhis Toii tie Tiiiker,"s.s ys.Jiidge Lobengier, "wvas a lew ,od added to
thie niytiologytt tlits  itmne,ain(l vassill)posed t(o.reside over  tuiliskey-stills
aiidl still-lhouises.   WVitoever stoutly  tliiiradied for Tonm tlie Tinker was of
u qiionestioiabtle  loyalty w1-ith  the  wlisley boys; while  those who coIIld
iiot  wer-e l,r.aiideda t rs tiito sto tlii snuw deity aiid ttieircountry."  Jui(lge
veech says of thle miiysterioi s god that it svas stipposed "ilis Olyiiipis
was Oii some of the lills of Mingo, or Peter's Creek.  But tr'uly lie  wvas
at m11ultiform,1   deity, or  at least lie   tas Briarean ii his functions.   Ilis
mundane recr-eatio'ns we ie to  de.str(oy the stills  andl mills aiid burni the
biarbils of c011 J iiig  distillers, and  tenrify others  iitto  norin.compliatiice.
He sometimles warned liefore stuiking,,but the'wariings and blowvs  were
always iii thie  datrlc alid  of difficult  dletectioi."   Findley says  it afterwards alipeared  that the termii Touir the  Tiniker d:d  niot ori-iELte  with
John holcroft as wvas first supiposed.
1 6.
IIIISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
persons, has been carried inlto effect. Resolved also,
That the inhabitants of the town shall march out and
join the people on Braddock's Field, as brethren, to
carry into effect with them any measures that may
seem advisable for the common cause."
The Pittsburgh committee appointed at the meeting
above mentioned reported to the leaders at Braddock's Field the resolutions which had been adopted,
and that in pursuance of those resolutions some of
the men most objectionable to the insurgents, viz.:
Edward Day, James Brison, Abraham Kirkpatrick,
and Col. Presley Neville, had been driven from the
town and had fled down the Ohio. This had been
done in deference to the demands of "Tom the
Tinker," and the committee's announcement was
made to the assemblage in the hope of dissuading the
leaders frorn moving the forces into the town; but it
failed to have the desired effect, though it probably
curbed their excesses to a great extent.
One of the most prominent of the leaders of the
insurgents was Col. David Bradford, of Washington,
wlho at the meeting (or more properly muster) at
Braddock's Field made the proposition to mnarchl to
Pittsburgh and attack the garrison stationed there.
This proposition was warmly entertained by the more
hot-lheaded, but was finally abandonied.  Bradford,
however, insisted that the militia and volunteers
should be inarched to the town, and in this lhe was
seconded by Brackenridge, who, despairing of success
in opposition to the project, conceived the idea of
guiding and controlling the lawless inovement by apparent acquiescence. " Yes," said he, "by all means
let us go, if for Ino other reason than to give a proof
to our opponents that we are capable of maintaining
the strictest order, and of refraining from all excesses.
Let us march through the town, muster on-the banks
of the Monongahela, take a little whiskey with the
people, and then move the troops across the river."
The plan was adopted. Officers were appointed,David Bradford and Edward Cook, generals, and Col.
Gabriel Blakeney, officer of the day,-and under their
command the entire body myoved over the Monongahela road to Pittsburgh. On their arrival there, they
were received as the guests of the town, or rather as
the guests of the principal citizens, whlo by a little
finesse, after treating, them freely to liquor, succeeded
in inducing. the mnain body to cross tlle Monongahela
without doing any damage. On reaching the south
side of the river, however, they set fire to the buildings of
Maj. Kirkpatrick, on the bluff.opposite Pittsburgh, and
succeeded in d2Vroving his bairn at that place, though
the dwelling was saved. Meanwliile a part of the
men not included in the body which had been enticed
across the Monongallela had become somewhat riotous
in Pittsburgh, and set fire to the town residence of
Maj. Kirkpatrick. It had been their intention to destroy his house, as wvell as tllose of Neville, Gibson,
and others, but the consutmmation of this design had
been prevented largely by the interference of Col.
Edward Cook, of Fayette County,' and Bradford, of
Washington, two of the principal leaders.  If they
had succeeded in doing this, there is little doubt that
the principal part of the town would have been burned.
An account of the turbuilent proceedings at Braddock's Field ahd Pittsburgh was forwvarded without
delay to the State and national authorities, and oIn the
7th of August the President of the United States issued
a proclamationi, reciting in its preamble that " combinations to defeat the execution of. the laws laying
duties uiponi spirits distilled within the United States,
and upon stills, have from the timne of the comnmencemeat of those laws existed in some of the western
parts of Pennsylvania,... that many persons in the
said western parts of Pennsylvania have at length
been hardy enough to perpetrate acts which I am advised amount to treason, beinig overt acts of levying
war against the United States;" and commanding "all
persons being insurgents, as aforesaid, and all others
whom it may concern," to disperse and retire peaceably to their respective abodes on or before the 1st of
September following; moreover, warning all persons
" against aiding, abetting, or comforting the perpetrators of the aforesaid treasonable acts, and requiring
all officers and othier citizens, according to their
respective duties and the laws of the land, to exert
their utmost endeavors to prevent and suppress such
dangerous proceedings." At the samne time the President called for troops to be raised anid equipped in
the States of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and
New Jersey, anid to be held in readiness to marchl at
slhortest notice, for the purpose of suppressing- the
insurrection and eniforcing the law. The quotas of
tlle States were assigned as follows:
Itifanltry.
Pennsylvanial..............   4,500
New.Jcrsey................   1,50(
Marlylhan d.................   2,(00
Virginia.................    3,000
1 1,000
Caval ry.
500
5(0
200:300
1500
Artillery.    Total.
20)0)       5,200
](t      2,10(I)
150      2,350:3,. I       300
450     12,950
On the same dav Governor Mifflin, of Pennsylvania,
issued hiis proclamation directing that the State's quota
of men be armed and equipped as speedily as possible, "and to be h-eld in. readiness to march at a moment's w arningr," and a second proclamation was
1 Concerning this affaiir, the following card was publislhed in tlhe Pittsburgh Gazette: "W We, tlie undersigned, on behalf of ourselves and tlhe
great body of the columiiin that marched from Braddock's Field oni the
2d of Anzgolst, 1791, thliink it niecessary to express oiir disapprobationi of
tlie dlisorderly proceeding of those of thie troops who were coinceriied in
settiiig fire to tlie hotnse of Abraham Kirkpatrick, on the lill opposite
tlie townv of Pittsbuirgll also of the attempt made by others of btnrntiiig
hiis house iti t(le towii, as these acts were not within the seiitenlce of t(le
coniimittee of voltuniteers in Braddock's Field, and tlherefore tllere couild
be no authority for calryiiig tlieni illto effect. We conisider it as a
bleinisli on tlie good order of the march of the columni tlhrouigh t(le towii
of Pittsburgh and their canton-ment in the nei-hborhood of it. It lias
been eiideavored to be removed as much as possible by repayinig tlie
tenant of Kirkpatrick's his damages."  The si-tiatures to this card of
explAnation anid diselaimer were lheaded by tliat of Edward Cook, of
Fayette County, which was followed by those of fourteeni otlhers, all
pronmineiit leaders in the iiisurrectionary movement.
I C) 6THE WHISKEY INSURRECTION.
issued, calling together the Assembly of the State in
special session. Previously (on the 6th of August)
the Governor had appointed Chief Justice McKean
and Gen. William Irvine to proceed immediately td
the disaffected counties, to ascertain the facts in reference to the recent acts of violence and lawless gatherings, and,'if practicable, to induce the people to submit to the law.
The President, on the day next following the
issuance of his proclamation, appointed James Ross,
United States senator, Jasper Yeates, associate
judge Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, and William
Bradford, Attorney-General of the United States,
commissioners on the part of the United States, with
full instructions and ample powers, to repair forthwith to the western counties, for the purpose of conferring, at their discretion, with individuals or bodies
of men, " in order to quiet and extinguish the insurrection."
Before the great demonstration at Braddock's Field,
the anti-excise leaders issued a call (in the latter part
of July') for a meeting of delegates from the western
counties, to meet at Parkinson's Ferry, on the Monongahela (now Monongahela City), " to take into consideration the situation of the western country." And
from the muster-place at Braddock's Field, Col.
(Maj.-Gen.) David Bradford issued the following circular:
"To the I5lhabitants of ][onongahela, Virginia:
"GENTLEMEN,--I presume you have heard of the
spirited opposition given to the excise law in this
State. Matters have been so brought to pass here
that all are under the necessity of bringing their
minds to a final conclusion. This has been the question amongst us some days,'Shall we disapprove
of the conduct of those engaged against Neville, the
excise-officer, or approve?' Or, in other words,'Shall
we suffer them to fall a sacrifice to Federal persecution,
or shall we support them?' On the result of this
business we have fully deliberated, and have determined, with head, heart, hand, and voice, that we
will support the opposition to the excise law. The
crisis is now come, submission or opposition: we are
determnined in the opposition. We are determined
in future to act agreeably to system; to form arrangements guided by reason, prudence, fortitude,
and spirited conduct. We have proposed a general
meeting of the four counties of Pennsylvania, and
have invited our brethren in the neighboring counties
in Virginia to come forward aid join us in council
and deliberation in this important crisis, and conclude
upon measures interesting to the western counties of
Pennsylvania and Virginia. A notification of this
1 At the meeting of the inhabitants of Pittsburgh, lheld July 31st, it
was resolved that whlereas a general meeting of delegates from the townslhips of the country west of the mountains will be held at I'arkinson's
Ferry on the l4th  of August next, thlerefore delegates shall be appointed to that meetiug, and that the 9th of August be appoilited for a
town-meectrug to elect such delegates.
kind may be seen in the Pittsburgh paper. Parkinson's Ferry is the place proposed as the most central,
and the 14th of August the time. We solicit you by
all the ties that an union of interests can suggest to
come forward and join us in our deliberations. The
cause is common to us all. WVe invite you to come,
even should you differ with us in opinion. We wish
you to hear our reasons influencing our conduct."
The events of the first two days of August at Braddock's Field and Pittsburgh and of the two or three succeeding weeks, seemed to mark the culmination of the
popular frenzy on the subject of the excise law, and
from the 15th of July to the last of August was the
period of the greatest excitement that exhibited itself
during the insurrection. During the interval of time
between the great muster at Braddock's and the day
appointed for the meeting at Parkinson's Ferry, great
numbers of "liberty-poles" were erected by the insurgents in various parts of the four counties, and
upon these were hoisted flags, bearing such inscriptions as "DEATH TO TRAITORS," "LIBERTY AND
NTO ExCISE." Few persons were found hardy enough
to refuse assistance inl the erection of these poles, for
to do so was to be branded as an enemy to the cause,
and a fit subject for the vengeance of Tom the Tinker.
A number of these "liberty-poles" were raised in
Fayette County. One was at New Salem, one at
New Geneva, one at Masontown, on which a very
beautif'ul silk flag was raised. One was at the old
Union Furnace, in Dunbar township, and one at the
market-liouse, in Uniontown. At the raising of this
pole, about one hundred men under command of Capt.
Robert Ross came in from German (now Nicholson)
township to assist. Another pole was raised on the
Morgantown road south of Uniontown, on the farm
of Thomas Gaddis, who was of the principal leaders
of the whiskey boys in this county. The pole at this
place and the one in Uniontown were cut down by
Gen. Ephraim Douglass in defiance of all threats and
intimidation. That which had been erected at New
Geneva met the same fate at the hands of Mrs. Elizabeth Everhart (wife of Adolph Everhart) and two or
three other women of equal determination.  The
others named stood bearing their threatening flags
and inscriptions until the tide of insurrection began
to turn before the nienace of military force, and then
those who had raised them were glad enough to see
them fall, and to deny all agency in their erection.
On the 14th of August, according to appointment,
the meeting of the delegates was opened at Parkinson's Ferry. The proclamations of the President and
of Governor Mifflin had not been received. Neither
the comniissioners for the State nor those for the
United States had made their appearance, but intelligence came during the progress of the meeting, that
the two delegations were on their way from Philadel167'hSTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
phia, and that two of the United States commissioners
had just arrived at Greensburg.1
The first ceremony performed at Parkinson's was
the erecting of a tall "liberty-pole," and the hoisting
of a flag bearing the inscription, "Equal Taxation and
no Excise.-No Asylum  for Traitors and Cowards."
Two hundred and.tweenty-six delegates weere present
from townships in Fayette, Westmorelaind, Allegheny,
Washington, and that part of Bedford lying wvest of the
Allegheny Mountains, with a few from Ohio County,
Va. The miieeting was organized by the appointrmienit
of Col. Edward Cook,and the Hon. Albert Gallatin,
both of Fayette County, respectively as chairman and
secretary. It soon became apparent that a reaction
had commenced, and that the tide of opinion had,
with a number of the leaders, begun to set against tile
adoption of violent measures. It was claimed for
some of those who at this meeting developed a strong
opposition to the plans of Bradford and other extremists, that their course was prompted by the satme
desire which had at first induced tlhemii to range theinselves vmong the disaffected,-tlhat of appearing to assume leadership for the purpose of curbinig the lawless element and diverting its energies fromn the track
leaditig to open violence and rebellion. But there is
little doubt that their action at this timne was in IlO
small degree due to their late realizationi of the fact
that the United States government had resolved to
put down lawlessness at wvhatever cost, that it would
exert all its powers, if necessary, to enforce obedience,
and that as against that po3ver the cause of the insurrectionists was hopeless.
A series of strong, resolutions was introduced by
Col. James Marshal, of Washington, and supported
in an inte-Mperate speech by Bradford, wvlo was replied to in opposition by Albert Gallatin, Judge
Brackenridge, Judge Edgar, of Washington, and
otlhers. The resolutions were finally adopted, but in
a greatly modified form. The secoid of the series
provided for tlle appointment of a standing committee,
to consist of one member from each towvnship, clharged
with various duties, amnong which was the drafting of
a renmonstrance to Cong,ress, praying for a repeal of
the excise law. They wvere also "to have power to
call together a meeting, either of a new representation of the people or of the deputies here convened,
for the purpose of taking such further measuires as
the future situation of affairs may require; and in
case of any sudden emergency, to take such tempo1 In a letter written by William  Findley to Secretary Dallas, dated
Aug.23, 1794, he mentions that he was pre-ent at tlie neetiiig at Parkinson's, and says, " Messrs. Yates and Bradford canie to Greeinsbur-g tlie
morninjg of the meetiing, aiid wrote by express to me of their pacific intentions anid autlhority, wliich being coniunnicated to the meetiiig had
a salutary effect, and a coininiittee of discreet iiieii were appointed to
confer with ttie commiiissioners at Pittsburlgh, btit unfortunately tle newspaper s came  niext morning witlh tie Ilresideiit's proclamlnationi aild tlle
orders for- an arnied force as a sibstt4ute fir juidicial prvoceedilngs, this
irritated and infl;iied those even w'lio lhad been foriniely nmoderate aind
regular-, an1d   realC,ttly increased the difficuilty of accommodation.'
rary measures as they may tlhink necessary." The
closing resolution was to this effect, " That a comnmittee, to consist of three members from eaclh county,
be appointed to meet anly commissioners that have
been or may be appointed by the government, and
report the result of this conference to the standinig
clmmittec." The standing committee (consisting of
sixty persons) met, and appointed the committee to
meet the cominissioners of the United States and
those of Pennsylvania, as provided by the final resolution. This committee of conference was composed
as follows:
For Fayette County: Albert Gallatin, Edward Cook,
and James Lang.
For Westmoreland County: John Kirkpatrick,
George Smith, and John Powers.
For Allegheny County: Hugh H. Brackenridge,
Thomas Moreton, and John B. C. Lucas.
For Washington County: David Bradford, James
Marshal, and James Edgar.
For Bedford County: Herman Husbands.
For Ohio Counity, Va., William Sutherland.
The Comnniittee of Sixty, after having appointed
and instructed the committee of conference, adjournjed
to mneet at Redstone Old Fort (Brownsville) on the
2d of September..
The commissioners for the State arrived at Pittsburgh on the 17th of Augrust, and those appointed by
tlle President caine iilmmediately afterwards. On the
20th the two bodies miet the conlmittee of conference
which wvas appointed at Parkinson's Ferry. At this
meetinng preliminary proceedings were taken, which
resulted in propositions by both bodies of comninission2rs;' who declared explicitly that the exercise of
the powers vested in themii to suspend prosecutions,
and to promise a general amnesty and pardon for past
offenses, "must be preceded by full and satisfactory
assurances of a sincere determination in the people
to obey the laws of the United States."  The members
of the committee who took the most prominient part
in the pr6ceedings were Gallatin and Cook, of Fayette; Bradford and Marshal, of Washington; and
Brackenridge, of Allegheny County. All these, witlh
the exceptioni of Bradford, were in favor of acceding
to the propositionis of the commissioners, and this
was found to be the sense of the committee; but they
had no power to act, further than to report the result
of the conferenice to the standing Committee of Sixty.
That committee had adjourned to meet at Redstone Old
Fort on the 2d of September, as before mentioned, but
upon the conclusion of the conference with the commissioniers at Pittsburgh the time of their meeting wvas
changed and made five days earlier,2 though this change
2 Following atre extracts from a communiication addressed by the coniiittee of coufereDce to the Uniited States commissioners:
"PITTSBURGHf, An1g. 22, 1794.
"GENTLEMEN,-HIaving in our conference at conisiderable length stated
to yoil tle grounids of that discorntenit wlicil exists in the tlminds of the
people of this country, anid which has lately shown itself ini acts of opposition to the excise law, you vill consider ns as wativinlg any question
168THE WHISKEY INSURRECTION.
of time gave great offense to Bradford and other extremists. The change of time was made in deference
to one of the conditions imposed by the commissioners,
viz.: " It is expected and required by the said commissioners that the citizens composing the said standing committee do, on or before the firet day of September
next, explicitly declare their determination to submit
to the laws of the United States, and that they will
not, directly or inidirectly, oppose the execution of the
acts for raising a revenue oIn distilled spirits and
stills."
Accordingly, on the 28th of August, the standing
committee (the committee of sixty) met at Brownsville, to receive and act upon the report of the committee of conference. Of the sixty members of the
committee, fifty-seven were in attendance, of whomn
twenty-three were from Washington County. Judge
Alexander Addison said1 " that the minds of all men
appeared to be strongly impressed with a sense of the
critical situation of the country, and the minds of almost all with a fear of opposing the current of the
popular opinion," and that " these imipressions were
greatly increased by the appearance of a body of
armed inen assemiibled there from. Muddy Creek, in
of the conistitutionial power of tlhe President to call upon the force of
the Uniion to suppress tlieni.  It i's ouir olbject, as it is youri's, to compose
the disturbance.... We have already stated to you in coisferenice that
we are emiipowered to give you iso definiite answer with regard to the
senlse of the people on the great quiestioii of acceding- to tise latw, but
tisat in ouir opiinon it is tise iiiterest of the counttry to accede, asnsd that
we sliall make thsis report to the committee to wlsom we are to report,
asd state to tlhem the reasons of our opinion, that so far as they hnave
weiglit they in:sy be regarded by tlhem.  It will be ou!' endeavor to conciliate not oiily tlseni, btst tise psiblic iiiid ini geisertal to ouir views on
this sub1ject.  We hope to be assisted by you in givisig all thsat extenit
asid precioiOss, cleairnsess aind certaiiity to youir prol)ositiols that nsay be
isecessary to satisfy the susnderstaridisigs and ensgasge tlle sicqliescensce of
tise peotile.       e s we are disposed, witlh youi, to havoe the selise of tlse
people takei oni tire sutbject of our coinfereisce as speedily as niay be,
with that view, we hIave resolved to catll tise comnuittee to whousir ossr reourt is to be nsade sit ais earlierl day than liad beers appoisited, to wit, on
Tlshussdssy, tse 28th insstassut, but hsve isot thought oturselves alstilorized
iu chsaisgisng tise place at Redstone Old Fort, oni the  Monogahela.
"By order of the Coiiimittee,
"EDWARd COOK, Chairman."
-Pipers Reluting/ to the Whiskey Isissfrrection; Pennsylvauia Archives, 2d
Seties, vol. iv. ppl 190, 191.
Less conuciliastory bist siiore curious w8vas the reply of the Olsio County
(VXa.) consisiittee to tlse Uisited States cosiimissioIsers, viz.:
"PITTSBurGH, Assg. 23, 1704.
"GENTL.-llavinsg Cooicislered your Letter of this Deate since the
Departur of the slpeaclhel Comatie delegated froni Westmoreland, Washington, Featt  Aleganie cousitis, is Penssilveiseus,  Cosisideriisg our
Selves a Justifyabte repsentation of those iishiabtents of Ohio Cossnty by
w% lsomiie we wvere Deli ated,  a pa rt of tisat speacliell Comitie to wlsoin
your psroposals wear mead and Accepted yesterday, assd the dasy posdilsg
siu1d relying oni tise fairh alt'dy pledged  ty yotu asrd Acepted by tise
Speaclhell Comatee, we d'cliir enterinsg assy furtlser oni tllis Busserss, untell we Consslit ousr Cosistaitisents  the Conisetee of Safety.
" AVe are, Gentl., wish esteessi,
"Your islost Obed. lhumbtle Serv't,
"RoBERT STEpheNSON,
"WILLiAM SUTHERLAND,
"Wm. McKINLEY.
-Ibid., p. 203.
1 Iss a deposition before Richard Peters, judge of tlse United Stlates
District Cosrrt.-See Pennsylvaunsi Archires, 2d Series, vol. iv. p. 390.
Washington County,' to punish Samuel Jackson as an
enemy to what they ealled their cause."
The business of the meeting was opened by the
submission of the conference committee's report and
a speech upon it by Mr. Gallatin, who urged the
adoption of a resolution in acceptance of the terms
offered by the commissioners, and set forth the danger of using force in resistance to the law, the impossibility of these western counties conteneding successfully against the force of the United States, and
the evident necessity of stubmission. " Mr. Gallatin,
although a foreigner who could with difficulty make
hiimself understood in English, yet presented with
great force the folly of past resistance, and the ruinous consequences to the country of the continuance
of the insurrection. He urged that the government
was bound to vindicate the laws, and that it would
surely send an overwhelming force against them. He
placed the subject in a new light, and showed the
insurrection to be a much more serious affair than it
had before appeared."3  Mr. Brackenridge followed
Gallatin in an argument to the same end, though
urged in a different mianner. Then Col. Bradford
delivered a speech in opposition to the various arguments of Gallatin and Brackenridge, alludinig to the
revolutions in America and -in France as models for
imitation, and as inducements to hope for the success
of these counties against the government, vhiclh lhe
said was rendered reasonably certain on account of
their peculiar situation, as separated from the eastern
country by almost insurmountable natural barriers.
His whole speech was manifestly initended to keep up
the opposition to government, and to prevent the
adoption of the resolutions proposed by Mr. Gallatin.
The leaders, wvith the exception of Bradford and a
few others of less prominenice, had fLully made up their
minds to abandon the wreck of the insurrection, but
the followers had apparently at that timne little thought
of submission, and were as violent and determined an
2 Samuel Jackson wras a Qistrker of great respectability, a uian of some
wealtls, arid its paurt owner of a paper-sisill oss Redstose Creelk.  Ite was
coissciesitiotusly orptosed to tise uise ssssd niasnufaettire of wliiskey, and
ilat(ir,i11ysid(d as,giisst tlseiDSuigellts.  Tls setsisedthei i to le, ardllinI
as a foe, sisi( tuse eisnsity veas iluc eased 1)y ra rensrlrtc wlicsl lie Isard made
conscerssisg the nseetisug rst I'slsriisos's Fer-ry, calling it a " scrstb confpress.'  It wos for this offenise tlhast tlse Muddy Creek  niels now visited
lsins, toolk hsimis psuisosser, irsarclied  inti to Brownsville, and sarraigned bilns
beefore tise Couislittee of Sixty.  Violelice nsiglit arnd  prolbably  wousd
lhave been dloire timu bLst for tlse irsterpositions of Judge Brackenridge,.
mesinber of tIre coniniittee, bust ass acqsa,Uitastisce aisd personasl fiielid ol
Mr. Jackson.  Ois the apliiearsa5nce of tlse latter ttse jutdge took tle mMattes
iisto lhis owvi lhands.  Ite a(ddresed. tie nieeting., sayitsg ttsat Samuel waw
ceitailily very, culpable for hiaIvisig asplied so disrespectful ais elnithet tc
sielud  assn a-ursst aind legitimate aussenisblusge of the sovereign people, bus
that it was probabtly fr-omn ltacl of thiotighit arid refle: tion niore thl-ins from
sinister desig-s, assd tlsat on this accoussttlhe proper pusssislsniesst to applj
to lsiss wouil(d be tio pay Isins iii Isis'own coils lbi stigm.atizis- 10ts1 us e
" scrub-Qsraker."  The effect wvs just wislhat the jsidgte hauid iiitelsdedl. Tomn
thse Tisikelrs boys yelled witlh delight, atid aifter admuioisihino, thie scrssbQisaker to be isore carefils of Isis latngusage in tlhe ftiture, allowed Intin to
depaert witlt no otlher nsaltreatmsrrt than the jeers of thie Muddy Creekers
assil thseir cosispastriots.
3 Judge  Wilkeson.
lc9THE INDIAN OCCUPATION.
apparent show of reason, have endeavored to prove
that the builders were the ancient Aztecs, and finally
some have adVanced the opinion that they were erected
by descendants of the lost tribes of Israel. Whatever may be said of these latter theories, the idea of
their construction by the French or Spanish seems
wholly inadmissible, on account of the number and
extent of the works west of the Alleghanies; again,
on account of their evident antiquity, many of them
having from every appearance been erected long before
the discovery of America, and finally by their form,
which is entirely different from any system of European fortification, ancient or modern.
This much and no more may be set down as
reasonably certain, that these works were reared by a
people who preceded those found here by the first European visitors, but whether they were Aztecs, Toltecs,
or of Jewish origin, as some have supposed, is a question which will probably never be solved. The imagination, unrestrained by facts, may roam at will in the
realm of ingenious speculation, but the subject is one
of pure conjecture which it is not profitable to pursue.
CHAPTER III.
THE INDIAN OCCUPATION.
THERE is nothing found either in written hiistory
or in tradition to show that the section of country
which now forms the county of Fayette was ever the
permanent home. of anly considerable number of the
aboriginal people whom we know as Indians, the successors of the mysterious mound-builders.
When the fipt white traders (who preceded the
earliest actual settlers by several years) came into tllis
region, they found it partially occupied by roving
Indian bands, who had here a few temporary villages,
or more properly camps, but whose principal permianent settlements were within a few miles of the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers,
its vicinity, lie at last assigned it to the swine that generally. as lie said,
attended the Spanish in those days, it being, in his opinion, very necessary
in order to prevent them  from becoming estrays and to Irotect themn
from the depredations of the Indians.
"Lewis Dennie, a Frenchman, aged upwards of seventy, and wlho had
been settled and married among the Confederates (Six Nations) for more
than half a century, told me inl 1810 tlhat, according to the traditions of
time ancient Indians, these forts were erected by an army of Spaniards,
who were the first Europeans ever seen by them (the French next, then
the Dutch, and finally the English); that this army first appeared at
Oswego in great force, and penetrated thirough the interior of time country searclhing for the preciouis metals; that they cotntinued there two
years and tlen went down the Ohio."  After giving several reasoams why
this account was to be conisidered unwortly of telief, Mr. Clinton continiued: " It is equally clear that they were not the work of the Indians.
Until the Senecas, who are renowned for their national vanity, had seen
the attention of the Americans attracted to these erections, and had invented the fabulous account of which I lhave spoken, the Indians of the
present day did not pretend to know anything about the origin of these
works. They were beyond the reach of all their traditions, and were
lost in the abyss of unexplored antiquity."
both  above and  below  that point.  These were composed of the Delaware and Shawanese tribes and
some colonized bands of Iroquois, or "Mingoes," as
they  were  commonly  called, who  represented  the
powerful Six Nations of New York. These last named
were  recognized  as the real owners of the lands on
the upper Ohio, the Allegheny, and the Monongahela
Rivers, and it was only by their permission2 that the
Delawares and Shawanese were allowed to occupy the
1 Zeisberger, the Moravian, says, "The Shawanos, a warlike people,
lived in Florida, but having beeni subdued in war by the Moshkos, they
left their lannd anid moved to Susquehanna, and firom one place to another.
Meetinig a strong party of Delawares, and relating to them their forlornl
conidition, they took them  mitO their protection as grandchildren; the
Shawanos called the Delaware nation their grand(7father. They lived
thereupon in the Forks of the Delaware, and settled for a time in Wyoming. Wlhen they had increased againi they renmoved by degrees to the
Allegheny."  Wlhen they canic from the East to the Ohlio, they located
at and near Montour's Island, below the confluence of the Allegheny
anid Monongahela. The Delawares came withl tlhenii to the Wvest, botl
triLbes lhavinig beeii ordered away froiim the valleys of the Delaware and
Susquehanna by the Iroquois, wheus they were compelled by conquest
to recogniize as their imiasters.
2 The fact that the Six Nations were the acknowledged owners of this
region of country, and that the Shawanese alnd Delawares wore here
onily on sufferance, seems clear. At the treaty held with tlhe Inldialls
at Fort Pitt, in May, 1768, a Shawanese clhief complainied bitterly to
the English of their encroachments, ammd said, " We desired you to destroy your forts.... We also desired you not to go down time river."
In the next day's counlcil, Guyasutha, a clhief of tIme Six Nations, rose,
witll a copy of the treaty of 1764, and said, " By tllis treaty you had a
riglht to build forts aind trading-houses wlhere you pleased, and to travel
the road of peace fronsi the suill rising to the seimo setting. At that treaty
the Delawares anid Shawanese were witlh nsec anid they know all this well;
anid they should never lhave spoken to you as they did yesterday." Soon
after, the Shawanese chief, Kissinaughta, rose and said, apologetically,
to the English, " Youi desired 11s to speak from our hearts and tell youi
what gave us unieasiness of mliind, anid we did so. We are very sor ry
we shotuld lhave said anything to give offense, and we acknuwledge we
were in, the wr-ong."
In the same year (1768), when time Pennsylvania commissioners,
Allen and Shippen, proposed to the Indians to send a deputatloii of
clhiefs with tlhe white messengers, Frazer and Thompson, to waril off tlle
wlhite settler-s who hlad located witlhout authority on thle Monongahela
River anid Redstone Creek, in wlhat is IIow Fayette County, the " White
Mingo" (wlhose " Castle" was on tlho west side of the Allegheny, a few
miles above its mouth) anid thlee other chiefs of the Six Nations weie
selected to go on that missioni, hut no niotice was takeni of the Delaware
or Shawanese chiefs in the matter, wlicis shows clearly enough that
these two tribes wer e niot regarded as having any ownersliip its the lands.
Anid it is related by George Croghan, inl his account of a treaty counicil
held with the Six Nations at Logstown, oni the Ohio, below Pittsburgh,
in 1751, that " A Dunkard fronm virgiinia came to town and requested
leave to settle on the Yo-yo-gaine [Youghiogheny] River, a branch of
the Ohio. He was told that lie must apply to the Onondaga Council
aiid be recommended by the Governor of Pennsylvania." Time Onondaga
Council was lheld on a lbill near the pr-esent site of Syracuse, N. Y., and
the central headquarters of tIme Six Nations.
Aniother fact tlaat shows the Six Nations to have been the recognized
owners of this region of country is that whlen the surveyors wero abolut
to extend the Mason anld Dixon line westward, in 1707, the propr ietaries.
asked, not of the Delawares and Shawanese but of the Iroquiois (Six Nations) permission to do so. This periimission was given by their chiefs,
who also sent several of their warriors to acconipany tle surveying
party. Their presence affor ded to the wlhite men the desired protection,
and the Shawanese and Delawares dared not offer ainy niolestation.
But after the Iroquois escort left (as they did at a point on the Maryland
line) the other Indians became, lii the absence of their masters, so defianlt and threateniing that time surveyers were compelled to abandon the
running of time linie west of Dunkard Creek.
Finally, it was not from the Delawares and Shawanese bnt from the
Six Nations that the Penns purchased this territory by the treaty of
Fort Stanwix in 1768.
19
-HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
opposition as ever, and so strong an influence did this
exert, even on the leaders who knew that the cause
was hopeless, that they dared not openly and fully
avow their sentiments and place themselves on record.
"Such was the fear of the popular frenzy that it was
with difficulty that a vote could be had at this meeting. No one would vote by standing, up. None
would write a yea or nay, lest his handwriting should
be recognized. At last it was determined that yea
and nay should be written by the secretary on the
same pieces of paper, and be distributed, leaving each
member to chew up or destroy one of the words wliile
he put the other in the box," thus giving each member an opportunity of concealing his opinion, and of
sheltering himself from the resentment of those from
whoin violence was to be apprehended, or whom  he
wished to avoid offending. In this way a balloting
was had, and in the adoption of the resolutions by a
vote of thirty-four to twenty-five. When thlis vote
was declared, so strongly in opposition to his views,
Col. Bradford withdrew from  the meeting in anger
and disgust.
It was by the meeting "Resolved, That in the
opinion of this Committee it is the interest of the
people of this Country to accede to the proposals
made by the Commissioners on the part of the United
States. Resolved, that a Copy of the foregoing resolution be transmitted to the said Commissioners."
But instea.d of giving the assurances required by
the commissioners, the Committee of Sixty showed a
disposition to temporize, and in the hope of obtainining
better terms they further "Resolved, That a Committee be appointed l to confer with the Commissioners on the part of the United States and of the State
of Pennsylvania, with instructions to the said Committee to try to obtain from the said Commissioners
such further modification in their proposals as they
think will render them more agreeable to the people
at large, and also to represent the necessity of granting further time to the people before their final determination is required... That the said Committee
shall publish and communicate throughout the several counties the day at which the sense of the people
is expected to be taken. That on the day thus published the following question be submitted to the citizens duly qualified to vote, according to the election
law of the State, of the Counties of Westmoreland,
Washington, Fayette, Allegheny, and that part of
Bedford which lies west of the Allegheny mountains,
in Pennsylvania, and of Ohio County, Virginia,Will the people submit to the laws of the United States
1 The following letter from the chairman of the meeting was addressed
to the United States committee:
"BROWNSVILLE, 29th August, 1794.
"GErNTLEMEN,-Difficulties having arisen with us, we have thought it
necessary to appoint a committee to confer with you in order to procure,
if possible, some farther time, in order that the people may have leisure
to,reflect upon their true,situation.
"I am, Gentlemen, your moot obt. Humble Servt,
E" 1DWARD COOK."
upon the terms proposed by the Commissioners of the
United States 2"
The persons appointed to form the committee under
these resolutions were John Probst, Robert Dickey,
John Nesbitt, Herman Husband, John Corbly, John
Marshal, David Phillips, John Heaton, John McClelland, William Ewing, George Wallace, Samuel Wilson, and Richard Brown.
The meeting continued in session at Brownsville
for two days, and adjourned on the 29th of August.
It was the last meeting of the kind held during the
insurrection, and virtually marked its close, as tle
meeting held at the same place three years before
(July 27, 1791) had marked its opening, that being
the first public ineeting held in opposition to the excise law. Tlius it may be said that the famous insurrection was born and died at Redstone Old Fort, in
Fayette County.
The committee appointed at the Brownsville meeting met the commissioners of the United States and
those of Pennsylvania in conference at Pittsburgh
on the 1st of September, at which Ineeting "it was
agreed that the assurances required from the citizens
of the Fourth Survey of Pennsylvania [the four western counties] should be given in writing, and their
sense ascertained in the following manner:
"That the citizens of the said survey (Allegheny
County excepted2) of the age of eighteen years and
upwards, be required to assemble on Thursday, the
11th instant, in their respective townships, at the
usual place for holding township meetings, and that
between tihe hours of twelve and seven, in the afternoon of the same day, any two or more of the members of the meeting who assembled at Parkinson's
Ferry on the 14th ultimo, resident in the township,
or a justice of the peace of said township, do openly
propose to the people assembled the following questions: Do you now engage to submit to the laws of
the United States, and that you will not hereafter,
directly or indirectly, oppose the execution of the
acts for raising the revenue upon distilled spirits and
stills? And do you also undertake to support, as far
as the laws require, the civil authority in affording
the protection due to all officers and other citizens?
Yea or nay?... That a minute of the number of
yeas and nays be made immediately after ascertaining
the same. That a written or printed declaration of
such engagement be signed by all those who vote in
the affirmative, of tile following tenor, to wit:'I do
solemnly promise henceforth to submit to the laws of
the United States; that I will not, directly or indi*
rectly, oppose the execution of the acts for raising a
revenue on distilled spirits and stills; and that I will
support, so far as the law requires, the civil authority
in affording the protection due to all officers and other
2 The citizens of Allegheny County were required to "mee t in tlheir
respective election districts on the said day, in thle same mlanner as if
they were asseml,led in townships."
I
I
I
170TIIE'WHISKEY INSURRECTION.
citizens.' This shall be signed in the presence of the
said members or justices of the peace, attested by him
or them, and lodged in his or their hands.
"That the said persons so proposing the questions
stated as aforesaid do assemble at the respective
county court-houses on the 13th inst., and do ascertain and make report of the numbers of those who
voted in the affirmative in the respective townships
or districts, and of the number of those who voted in
the negative, together with their opinion whether
there be such a general submission of the people in
their respective counties that an office of inspection
may be immediately and safely established therein;
that the said report, opinion, and written or printed
declarations be transmitted to the commissioners or
any one of them at Uniontown on or before the 16th
instant."
On the part of the United States, the commissioners
agreed that if the assurances' should be given in good
faith, as prescribed, no prosecution for treason or any
other indictable offense against the United States committed in this survey before the 22d of August, 1794,
should be commenced before the 10th of July, 1795,
against any person who should, within the time limited, subscribe such assurance and engagement, and
perform the same, and that on the 10th of July, 1795,
there should be granted "a general pardon and oblivion of all the said offenses;" but excluding therefrom every person refusing or neglecting to subscribe
the assurances and engagement, or who having so subscribed, should violate the same, or wilfully obstruct
the execution of the excise laws. On behalf of the
State of Pennsylvania, the commissioners, McKean
and Irvine, promised that if the proposed assurances
should be given and performed until July 10, 1795,
there should then be granted (so far as the State was
concerned) "an act of free and general pardon and
oblivion of all treasons, insurrections, arsons, riots, and
other offenses inferior to riots committed, counseled,
or suffered by any person or persons within the four
western counties of Pennsylvania" subsequent to the
14th of July, 1794, but excluding from  its operation
every person refusing or neglecting to subscribe to
such agreement, or violating it after subscribing.
The Pennsylvania commissioners left Pittsburgh on
the 3d of September, and Messts. Yeates and Bradford, United States commissioners, proceeded east
soon afterwards. Both bodies were requested by the
Governor and the President respectively to rem-ain
until after the announcement of the result of the
popular vote;l but for some reason they did not
comply, and only James Ross remained to carry the
signatures to Philadelphia.
On the day appointed, September 11th, elections
were held in (nearly) all the townships or election
districts of the four counties. The result in Fayette
was announced as follows:
1 See Pa. Archives, 2d Series, vol. iv. pp. 260, 201.
" UITloToWx, Septembler 16, 1794.
"We, the subscribers, having, according to resolutions of the committee of townships for the county of
Fayette, acted as judges on the 11th instant at the
meetings of the people of said county, respectively
convened at the places in the first, second, and third
election districts where the general elections are
usually held (no judge or member of the committee
attending from the fourth and last district, which
consists of the townships of Tyrone and Bullskin),
do hereby certify that five hundred and sixty of the
people thus convened on the day aforesaid did then
and there declare their determination to submit to the
laws of the United States in the manner expressed by
the commissioners on the part of the Union in their
letter dated the 22d day of August last; the total
number of those who attended on that occasion being
only seven hundred and twenty-one,-that is to say,
something less than one-third of the number of citizens of the said three districts. And we do furthler
certify that from  our previous knowledge of the
disposition of the general body of the people, and
from  the anxiety since discovered by many (who
either from not having had notice, or from not having understood the importance of the question, did
not attend) to give siniilar assurances of submission, we are of opinion that the great majority of
those citizens who did not attend are disposed to behave peaceably and with due submission to the laws.
"ALBERT GALLATIN. JOHN JACKSON.
"WILLIAM ROBERTS. ANDREW RABB.
"JAMES WHITE.           THOMAS PATTERSON.
"GEORGE DIEUTH [DEARTH?]."
But notwithstanding the favorable report of the
judges of election, it appears that the United States
commissioners regarded the proceedings in Fayette
County as being peculiarly unsatisfactory. In their
report to the President2 they said, " The county of
Fayette rejected the mode of ascertaining the sense
of the people which had been settled between the
undersigned and the last committee of conference at
Pittsburgh (September lst). The standing committee
of that county directed those qualified by the laws of
the State3 for voting at elections to assemble in their
election districts4 and vote by ballot whether they
would accede to the proposals niade by the commissioners of the United States on the 22d of August
or not. The superintendents of these election districts
report that five hundred and sixty of the people thus
convened had voted for submission, and that one hundred and sixty-one had voted against it; that no judge
2 Papers Relating to the Whiskey Insurrection; Pa. Archives, Series
2, vol. iv. pp. 257, 258.
3 The agreement of the committee with the commissioners was, not
that qlaltfied voters by the law of Pennsylvania alone should vote on the
proposition, but that the qulestion should be submitted to " the citizeins of
the naid surCey of the age of eighteen years and upwards."
4 It was inl Alleghlleny County alonle that the agreement with the commissioners contempla:tefl votinlg by election districts. In Fayette, Waalhington, and Westnmoreland   they were required to vote by townships.
I
ild"i1-HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
or member of their comuiittee had attended from the
Fourth District of the county to report the state of the
votes there, and that they are of opinion that a great
majority of the citize'ns Who did not attend are disposed to live peaceably and with due submission to
the laws. But it is proper to mention that credible
and certain information has been received tllat in the
Fourth District of that county (co'mposed of thle townships- of Tyrone and Bullskin ),of which the standing
committee have given no account, six-sevenths of
those who voted were for resistance.... The written
assurances of submission which have been received
by the commissioners are not numerous, nor were they
given by all those'who expressed a willingness to obey
the laws. In Fayette County, a different plan being
pulrsued, no written assurances were given in the manner
required."
In regard to the non-compliance with the mnethods
prescribed by the commissioners, the failure in Fayette County to signify the submissioln of the people
by individual subscription to the terms, and the very
light vote cast here, Mr. Gallatin, in a letter to Governor Mifflin,l dated Uniontown, September 17th, said,
" It was an effort too great, perhaps, to be expected
from human nature that a people should at once pass
f'rom an avowed intention of resistinlg to the signing
a test of absolute submission, and to a promise of
giving active support to the laws. The change would
be operated only by degrees; and after lhaving coInvinced the understanding of the more enlightened, it
was not so easy a task to persuade those wlose prejudices were more deeply rooted and means of informa-,
tion less extensive. The great body of the people,
lvhich consists-of moderate men, wvere also for a time,
from a want of knowledge of their own strength, afraid
to discover their sentiments, and were -in fact kept in
awe by a few violent men. This was one of the principal reasouhs which prevented so many froin attendingr the geheral nmeeting on the day on which the sense,or the-people was taken, to which may be added, in
this county, the unconcern of a great number of mod-'erate men; who, liaving followed peaceably their occupations during the whole time of the disturbances,'did not tlhink themselves interested in the event, and
wvere not sufficiently aware of the importance of the
question to the whole county. Although, however,'all the wvarmest persons attended, we had a very
large and decided majority amongst the voters, and a
great many of tllose who had come with an intention'of testifying their intention to resist, were convinced
by the''arguments made use of, thouglh their pride
would not suffer them to make a public retraction on;the mo'ment, and they went off without giving aniy,vote.
"A very favorable and decisive change has taken
place since, and has indeed been the result of the
event of that dav. The general disposition now seems
I PnnsyivaxAia Archives, iv. 316.
to be to submit, and a great many are now signing the
proposals of the commissioners, not only in the
neighboring counties, but even in this, where we had
not thought it necessary. We have therefore thought
the moment was come for the people to act with more
vigor, and to show something more than mere passive
obedience to the laws, and we have in consequence
(by the resolutions of this day herein inclosed, and
wvlich, we hope, will be attended with saluitary effects)
recomnmnended associations for the purpose of preserving order, and of supporting the civil authority, as
whatever heat existed in this county was chiefly
owing to wvhat had passed in the neighboring counties."
The resolutions referred to in the letter were those
passed at a meeting of the township committees of
Fayette County, held on the 17th of Septeinber, at
Uniontown, and of Nvhich Edward Cook was chairman. As stated by Mr. Gallatin, they recommended
township associations in this and adjoining counties
to' promote submission to the law, and in their preamble recited that " It is necessary to shew our fellow-citizens throughout the United States that the
character of the inlhabitants of the western country
is not such as may lhave been represented to them,
but that on the contrary they are disposed to live ina peaceable manner, and can preserve good order
among themselves without the assistance of a military
force."  Evidently the opponents of the law had at
last begun to realize that successful resistance to the
government was hopeless,'and that voluntary submission was better than that enforced by infantry, cavalry, and artillery. But the knowledge came too late
to prevent the exercise, or at least the menace, of the
mnilitary power. UpoIn a full knowledge of the result
of the meetings held on the 11th of Septeinber in the
townships and election districts of the disaffected
counities, the United States commissione'rs reported to
the President, narratinig the events connected with
their mission, and concluded by saying that although
they firmly believed that a considerable majority of
the inhabitants of the four counties were disposed to
submit to the execution of the laws, "at the same time
they [the coimlissioners] conceive it their duty explicitly to declare their opinion that such is the state
of things in that smrvey that there is nio probability
that the act for raising a revenue on distilled spirits
and stills cani at present be enforced by the usual
course of civil authority, and that somne more competent force is necessary to cause the laws to be duly
executed, and to insure to the officers and well-disposed citizens that protection which it is the duty of
government to afford. This opinion is founded on the
facts already stated [the accounits of the unsatisfactory
result of the township and district meetings], and it
is confirmed by that which is entertained by many
intelligent and influential- persons, officers of justice
and others, resident in the western counties, who have
lately informed one of the commissioners that whatITHE WHISKEY INSURRECTION
ever assurances might be given, it was in their judgment absolutely necessary that the civil authority
should be aided by a military force in order to secure
a due execution of the laws."
The commissioners' report caused the President
to decide, unhesitatingly, to use the military power,
and to extinguish the last vestige of insurrection at
whatever cost. In taking this course he had (as he
afterwards said to a committee from these counties)
two great objects in view: first, to. show, not only to the
inhabitants of the western country, but to the entire
Union and to foreign nations, that a republican government could and would exert its physical power to
enforce the execution of the laws where opposed, and
also that American citizens were ready to make every
sacrifice and encounter every difficulty and danger for
the sake of supporting that fundamental principle of
government; and, second, to effect a full and complete restoration of order and submission to the laws
in the insurrectionary district. In pursuance of this
determination the forces were promptly put in motion,
and on the 25th of September the President issued a
proclamation, which, after a preamble, setting forth
that the measures taken by government to suppress
the lawless combinations in the western counties had
failed to have full effect; that "the moment is now
come where the overtures of forgiveness, with no
other condition than a submission to law, have been
only partially accepted; when every form of conciliation not inconsistent with the well-being of government has been adopted without effect," proceeds,"Now, therefore, I, George Washington, President
of the United States, in obedience to that high and
irresistible duty consigned to me by the Constitution,'to take care that the laws be faithfully executed,' deploring that the American name should be sullied by
the outrages of citizens on their own government,
commiserating such as remain obstinate from delusion, but resolved, in perfect reliance on that gracious
Providence which so signally displays its goodness
towards this country, to reduce the refractory to a
due subordination to the law: Do hereby declare and
make known that, with a satisfaction which can be
equaled only by the merits of the militia summoned
into service from the States of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, I have received intelligence of their patriotic alacrity in obeying the
call of the present though painful yet commanding
necessity; that a force which, according to every reasonable expectation, is adequate to the exigency is
already in motion to the scene of disaffection; that
those who have confided or shall confide in the protection of government shall meet full succor under
the standard and from the arms of the United States;
that those who, having offended against the laws,
have since entitled themselves to indemnity, will be
treated with the most liberal good faith, if they shall
not have forfeited their claim by any subsequent conduct, and that instructions are given accordingly...."
12
The forces called out for the exigency amounted to
about fifteen thousand men, in four divisions, one
division from each of the States of Virginia, Maryland,
Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, as before mentioned.
The Virginia and Maryland troops (commanded
respectively by Gen. Daniel Morgan, of the former
State, and Brig.-Gen. Samuel Smith, of Baltimore)
formed the left wing, which rendezvoused at Cumberland, Md. The right wing (which was rendezvoused
at Carlisle, Pa.) was composed of the Pennsylvania
troops, commanded by Governor Mifflin, and those of
New Jersey, under Governor Richard Howell, of that
State. The commander-in-chief of the whole army
was Gen. Henry Lee, Governor of Virginia, the
"Light-Horse Harry" of Revolutionary fame, and
father of Gen. Robert E. Lee, the Confederate commander in the war of 1861-65.
In his instructions from the President, the commander-in-chief was directed to "proceed as speedily
as may be with the army under your command into
the insurgent counties, to attack and as far as shall be
in your power to subdue all persons whom you may
find in arms in opposition to the laws. You will
march your army in two columns from the places
where they are now assembled, by the most convenient
routes, having regard to the nature of the roads, the
convenience of supply, and the facility of co-operation and union, and bearing in mind that you ought
to act, until the contrary shall be fully developed, on
the general principle of having to contend with the
whole force of the counties of Fayette, Westmoreland,
Washington, and Allegheny, and of that part of Bedford which lies westward of the town of Bedford, and
that you are to put as little as possible to hazard.
The approximation, therefore, of your columns is to
be sought, and the subdivision of them so as to place
the parts out of mutual supporting distance to be
avoided as far as local circumstances will permit.
Parkinson's Ferry appears to be a proper point
towards which to direct the march of the columns for
the purpose of ulterior measures.
"When arrived within the insur,gent country, if an
armed opposition appear, it may be proper to publish
a proclanmation inviting all good citizens, friends to
the constitution and laws, to join the standard of the
United States. If no armed opposition exist it may
still be proper to publish a proclamation exhorting to
a peaceful and dutiful demeanor, and giving assurances of performing with good faith and liberality
whatsoever may have been promised by the commissioners to those who have complied with the conditions prescribed by them, and who have not forfeited
their title by subsequent misdemeanor. Of those
persons in arms, if any, whom you may make prisoners,
leaders, including all persons in command, are to be
delivered to the civil magistrates, the rest to be disarmed, admonished, and sent home (except such as
may have been particularly violent and also influential), causing their own recognizances for their good,173HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
behaviour to be taken in the cases which it may be
deemed expedient.... When the insurrection is
subdued, and the requisite mieans have been put in
execution to secure obedience to the laws, so as to
render it proper for the army to retire (an event which
you will accelerate as much as shall be consistent with
the object), you will endeavor to make an arrangement
for attaching such a force as you may deem adequate,
to be stationed within the disaffected counties in such
a manner as best to afford protection to well-disposed
citizens and the officers of the revenue, and to suppress, by their presence, the spirit of riot and opposition to the laws. But before you withdraw the army
you shall promise, on behalf of the President, a general pardon to all such as shall not have been arrested,
with such exceptions as you shall deem proper.....
You are to exert yourself by all possible means to
preserve discipline among the troops, particularly a
scrupulous regard to the rights of persons and property, and a respect for the authority of the civil magistrates, taking especial care to inculcate and cause
to be observed this principle,-that the duties of the
army are confined to attacking and subduing of armed
opponents of the laws, and to the supporting and aiding of the civil officers in the execution of their functions.
" It has been settled that the Governor of Pennsylvania will be second, and the Governor of New Jersey
third in command, and that the troops of the several
States in line on the march and upon detacliment are
to be posted according to the rule which prevailed in
the army during the late war, namely, in moving
towards the seaboard, the most southern troops will
take the right, in moving towards the north the most
northern troops will take the right....."
In addition to his military duties as commanding
officer of the expeditionary forces, Gen. Lee was also
charged to give countenance and support to the civil
officers in the execution of the law, in bringing
offenders to justice, and enforcing penalties on delinquent distillers, and "'the better to effect these
purposes" the judge of the United States District
Court, Richard Peters, Esq., and the attorney of the
district, William Rawle, Esq., accompanying the
army.
President Washington, with Gen. Henry Knox, Secretary of War, and Gen. Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury, left Philadelphia on the 1st of
October, and proceeded by way of Harrisburg to the
hleadquarters of the right wing of the army at Carlisle. From that place, on the llth he went to Chambersburg, and thence by way of Williamsport to Fort
Cumberland, where he arrived on the 14th, and where
he reviewed the Maryland and Virginia troops, coinposing the left wing; after which he proceeded to
Bedford, Pa. (which was then Gen. Lee's headquarters), reaching it on the 19th, and remaining there
two or three days, then returning east, and arriving
at Philadelphia on the 28th.
In the mean time, after the departure of the Hon.
James Ross, United States commissioner, from Pittsburgh and Uniontown, carrying with him to Philadelphia the reports of the elections of the 11th of
September, the people of the four counties began to
realize that the results of those elections might very
probably be regarded as unsatisfactory by the government, and that very unpleasant consequences might
ensue by the ordering of the military forces into this
region. Upon this a general feeling of alarm became
apparent, and spread rapidly. A meeting of the Committee of Sixty (otherwise termed the Committee of
Safety) was called and held at Parkinson's Ferry on the
2d of October, Judge Alexander Addison being their
secretary. At this meeting William Findley, of Westmoreland, and David Redick, of Washington County,
were appointed a committee to wait on the President of
the United States and to assure him that submission
and order could be restored without the aid of military
force. They found the President on the 10th of October at Carlisle, where he had come to review the
troops of the right wing of the army, as before mentioned. They there had several interviews with him,
in which they informed him of the great change that
had taken place; "that the great body of the people
who had no concern in the disorders but remained
quietly at home and attended to their business had
become convinced that the violence used would ruin
the country; that they had formed themselves into
associations to suppress disorder, and to promote submission to the laws."  In reply to this, the President
said that as the army was already on its way to the
western counties, the orders could not be countermanded, yet he assured the delegates that no violence would be used, and that all that was desired
was to have the inhabitants of the disaffected region
come back to their allegiance.
This reply was final and ended the mission of the
committee. They returned and made their report at
another meeting of the Committee of Safety, which
was held at Parkinson's on the 24th of October, and
of which Judge James Edgar was chairman. At this
"meeting of the committees of townships of the four
western counties of Pennsylvania and of sundry other
citizens" it was resolved, "First,-That in our opinion
the civil authority is now fully competent to enforce
the laws and punish both past and future offenses, inasmuch as the people at large are determined to support every description of civil officers in the legal discharge of their duty.
"Second,-That in our opinion all persons who
may be charged or suspected of having committed any
offense against the United States or the State during
the late disturbances, and who have not entitled
themselves to the benefits of the act of oblivion, ought
immediately to surrender themselves to the civil authority, in order to stand their trial; that if there
be any such persons among. us they are ready to
surrender themselves to the civil authority accord174THE WIITSKEY INSURRECTION.
ingly, and that we will unite in giving our assistance
to bring to justice such offenders as shall not surrender.
" Third,-That in our opinion offices of inspection
may be immediately opened in the respective counties of this survey, without any danger of violence
being offered to any of the officers, and that the distillers are willing and ready to enter their stills.
"Fourtll,-That William Findley, David Redick,
Ephraim Douglass, and Thomas Morton do wait on
the President with the foregoing resolutions."
The four committee-men appointed by the meeting
to carry the renewed assurances to the President met
at Greensburg pieparatory to setting out on their
mission, but at that place they received intelligence
that the President had already left Bedford for Philadelphia, and that the army was moving towards the
Monongahela, and thereupon they decided to await
the arrival of the forces, and to report the action of
the meeting to the commlander-in-chief, as the President's representative.
There was no delay in the movement of the army.
The New Jersey and Pennsylvania troops, composing
the right wing, marched from Carlisle on the 22d of
October, and proceeded by way of Bedford, across that
county and Somerset, and along the road skirting the
northeastern part of Fayette, to what is now Mount
Pleasant, in Westmoreland, at which place the advance brigade arrived and encamped on the 29th. The
centre corps (of this wing) encamped on the farm of
Col. Bonnett, in Westmoreland, near the line of
Fayette County, and the rear went into camp at Lobengier's Mills on the 30th. At these places they remained encamped about one week. Following is an
extract from a letter'written from the rear brigade,
dated Jones' Mill (in Westmoreland, near the northeast line of Fayette County), Oct. 29, 1784: "I am
distressed at the ridiculous accounts sometimes published in our papers. I assure you that there has not
been a single shot fired at our troops to my knowledge. The whole country trembles. The most turbulent characters, as we advance, turn out to assist us,
supply forage, cattle, etc. From Washington we hear
of little but fear and flight; a contrary account as to
one neighborhood (Pidgeon Creek) has been sent
down, but no appearance of an armed opposition, and
this the only part of the country where the friends of
government are not triumphant. Our army is healthy
and happy; the men exhibit unexpected fortitude in
supporting the continued fatigues of bad roads and
bad weather."
The left wing of the army moved from Fort Cumberland on the 22d of October, and took the route
marched over by Gen. Braddock thirty-nine years before, to the Great Meadows, and from there to Union1 Papers Relating to the Whiskey Insurrection; Pennsylvania Archives,
2d Series, vol. iv. p. 433.
town, at which place Gen. Lee arrived on the last
day of October, and the main body of the left wing
camie up and encamped there the same evening.
The committee-men, Findley, Redick, Douglass,
and Morton, who, as before mentioned, had been met
at Greensburg with the intelligence of the departure
of the President from Bedford, which decided them
to wait the arrival of the army, went to the headquarters of the right wing at Bonnett's farm on the
30th of October, and presented the resolutions of assurance to Secretary Hamilton, who accompanied the
division of Governor Mifflin. The secretary examined
them and returned them to the committee, with the re-.
mark that, " for the sake of decorum, it would be best to
present them to the commander-in-chief."  This was
what the committee had intended to do, and learning
that Gen. Lee was then at or near Uniontown they
immediately left for that place, and arriving there on
the 31st of October, laid the business of their mission
before him, he having full power to act in the name
of the President. Secretary Hamilton also came over
from the right wing, and arrived at Uniontown on
the same evening.
Gen. Lee received the committee with great politeness,2 and requested them to call on him on the following morning. At the appointed time he gave them
his reply, which they embodied in their. report, dated
Uniontown, Nov. 1, 1794.7 It was as follows:
"GENTLEMEN,-The resolutions entered into at
the late meeting of the people at Parkinson's Ferry,
with the various papers declaratory of the determination of the numerous subscribers to maintain the
civil authority, manifest strongly a change of sentiment in the inhabitants of this district. To what
cause may truly be ascribed this favorable turn in
the public niind it is of my province to determine.
Yourselves, in the conversation last evening, imputed
it to the universal panic which the approach of the
army of the United States had excited in the lower
orders of the people. If this be the ground of the
late change,-and my respect for your opinions will
not permit me to doubt it,-the moment the cause is
removed the reign of violence and anarchy will return.
"Whatever, therefore, may be the sentiments of
the people respecting the present competency of the
civil authority to enforce the laws, I feel myself obligated by the trust reposed in me by the President
of the United States to hold the army in this country
until daily practice shall convince all that the sovereignty of the Constitution and laws is unalterably established. In executing this resolution I do not only
o The committee, however, were not very well pleased with their reception by Geri. Lee. One of their uumber, Mr. Findley, said (in his
"History of the Insurrection," p. 199), " Indeed, though we were treated
politely in other respects and employed to assist in the fixing of necessaries for the army, and consulted about the ground on which it should
encamp when it advanced fairther into the country, yet we did not meet
with that candour and frankness with which we had been treated by the
President at Carlisle."
3 Pa. Archives, 2d Series, vol. iv. p. 437.
jI
i
I
1 i-5HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
consult the dignity and interest of the United States,
which will always command my decided respect and
preferential attention, but I also promote the good
of this particular district.
"I shall, therefore, as soon as the troops are refreshed, proceed to some central and convenient
station, where I shall patiently wait until the competency of the civil authority is experimentally and
unequivocally proved. No individual can be more
solicitous than I am for this happy event, and you
may assure the good people whom you represent that
every aid will be cheerfully contributed by me to
hasten the delightful epoch.
"On the part of all good citizens I confidently
expect the most active and faithful co-operation,
which in my judgment cannot be inore effectually
given than by circulating in the most public manner
the truth among the people, and by inducing the
various clubs which have so successfully poisoned the
minds of the inhabitants to continue their usual meetings for the pious purpose of contradicting, with their
customary formalities, their past pernicious doctrines.
A conduct so candid should partially atone for the
injuries which in a geat degree may be attributed to
their instrumentality, and must have a propitious
influence in administering a radical cure to the existing disorders.
" On my part, and on the part of the patriotic army
I have the honor to command, assure your fellow-citizens that we come to protect and not to destroy, and
that our respect for our common government, and
respect to our own honor, are ample pledges for the propriety of our demeanor. Quiet, therefore, the apprehensions of all on this score, and recommend universally to the people to prepare for the use of the army
whatever they can spare from their farms necessary
to its subsistence, for which they shall be paid in cash
at the present market price; discourage exaction of
every sort, not only because it would testify a disposition very unfriendly, but because it would probably
produce very disagreeable scenes. It is my duty to
take care that the troops are comfortably subsisted,
and I cannot but obey it with the highest pleasure,
because I intimately know their worth and excellence.
"I have the honor to be, gentlemen,
"Your most obedient servant,
"With due consideration,
" HENRY LEE."
This reply, or address to the people, was printed
and circulated extensively in every part of the four
counties.
After a stay of a few days at Uniontown and Mount
Pleasant respectively, the two columns of the army
moved on in obedience to the general orders of the
commander-in-chief, as follows:
" HEADQUARTERS,
"UNION (BEESON'S) TOWN, Nov. 2, 1794.
"The army will resume its march on the morning of the 4th,
at the hour of eight, when a signal-gun will be fired. They
will advance in two columns, composed of the respective wings.
The right column will take the route by Lodge's to Budd's
Ferry, under the comimand of his Excellency Governor Mifflin,
who will please to take the most convenient situation in the
vicinity of that place for the accommodation of the troops and
wait further orders. The left column will proceed on the route
to Peterson's, on the east side of Parkinson's Ferry, under the
orders of Major-General Morgan; they will march by the left
in the following manner: Light corps, cavalry, artillery, Virginia brigade, Maryland brigade, the baggage to follow each
corps, and the public stores of every kind in the rear of the
Virginia brigade. On the first day the light corps and artillery
will march to Washington Bottom, fourteen miles; the Virginia brigade to Peterson's farm, twelve miles; the cavalry
under Major Lewis will move with the commander-in-chief;
the bullocks to precede the army at daylight. On the second
day the column will proceed to the camp directed to be marked
out between Parkinson's and Budd's Ferries.
"Should Brigadier-General Smith find the second day's
march rather too much, he will be pleased to divide the same
into two days.  The quartermaster-general will immediately
take measures for the full supply of forage and straw at the
different stages. The commissary will place the necessary
supply of provisions at particular intermediate stages where
issues will be necessary; guards over the straw as soon as the
van reaches the ground, and to see the same fairly divided
amongst the troops. [Here follows the assignment of straw to
each brig,ade, to the cavalry and artillery, and directions for
making out the pay-rolls for one month's pay from the commencement of service.] The inspector and muster-master-generals of the respective line will also make pay-rolls for the
general staff, to be countersigned by the commander-in-chief
previous to payment.                    IIENRY' LEE."
"By the Commander-in-Chief.
"G. H. TAYLOR, Aidc-de- Can7p."
Under these orders the left wing marched from
Uniontown, and the right wing from  its camps at
Mount Pleasant, Bonnett's, and Lobengier's, at the
appointed time, and moving to the vicinity of the
Monongahela and Youghiogh eny Rivers, inWestmoreland County, went into camp at the place designated,
between Parkinson's and Budd's ferries. From his
headquarters, " near Parkinson's Ferry," on the 8th of:Iovember, the commander-in-chief issued an address
or proclamation to the inhabitants of certain counties
lying west of the Laurel Hill, in the State of Pennsylvania," the tone of which was a little after the
manner of a conquering chieftain addressing the people of a subjugated province. "You see," he said,
" encamped in the bosom of your district a numerous
and well-appointed army, formed of citizens of every
description from this and the neighboring States of
New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia, whom the violated laws of our common country have called from
their homes to vindicate and restore their authority.
The scene before your eyes ought to be an instructive one; it ought to teach many useful truths,
which should, for your own happiness, make a deep
and lasting impression on your minds.... Those
who have been perverted from their duty may now
perceive the dangerous tendency of the doctrines by
which they have been misled, and, how unworthy of
t
176THE WHISKEY INSURRECTION.
their confidence are the men by whom, for personal
and sinister purposes, they have been brought step by
step to the precipice from which they have no escape
but in the moderation and benignity of that very government which they have vilified, insulted, and opposed. The friends of order may also perceive in the
perils and evils that have for some time surrounded
themi how unwise and even culpable is that carelessness and apathy with which they have permitted the
gradual approaches of disorder and anarchy."
The general then proceeded to recommend to the
people to manifest their good intentions by taking and
subscribing an oath (the form of which he prescribed)
to support the constitution and obey the laws, and
by enterilng into associations to protect and aid
all government officers in the execution of their
duties. He further recommended to all men able
and willing to do military duty, and truly attached
to their governmenit and country, "to array themselves into regiments, one for each county, and to
place themselves under such officers as may be
selected by the Governor of the State, known to be
firm friends to order and right, upon the express conditions of holding themselves in constant readiness to
act in defense of the civil authority whenever called
upon, receiving for their services the same pay and
subsistence as is allowed to the militia of the Uniited
States when in actual service." He then concluded
his proclamation as follows: "In pursuance of the
authority vested in me by the President of the
United States, and in obedience to his instructions, I do
moreover assure all who may have entitled themselves
to the benefit of the amnesty proffered by the commissioners heretofore sent by him to this district, and
who may not have forfeited their title by subsequent
misconduct, that the promise will be faithfully and
liberally observed, and that all possible endeavors
will be used to prevent injury to the persons or property of peaceable citizens by the troops, whose sole
province it is to subdue those, if any there should be,
hardy enough to attempt an armed resistance, and to
support and aid the civil authority as far as may be
required. To the promulgation of these, my orders, I
with pleasure add my assurances that every exertion
will be made by me and, from my knowledge of the
officers and soldiers of the army, I am persuaded with
full success-to carry these wise and benevolent views
of the President into complete effect."
The entire army remained in the neighborhood of
Parkinson's Ferry for several days, after which the
main part of the troops moved down the Monongahela River, and on the 15th of November a detachment was marched from the vicinity of Parkinson's
to the town of Washington, accompanied by Secretary
Hamilton and Judge Peters, and taking with them a
large number of prisouers1 which had been taken in
the eastern part of Washington County.  All the
prisoners taken by the army excepting three -were
taken in that county and Allegheny, under Geni.
Lee's special orders,2 issued for that purpose to Gen.
Irvine and other officers in command of cavalry.
The time indicated in this order (Thursday morning, November 13th) was the time when most of the
arrests were made by the military.
The commander-in-chief, at Uniontown, on the 1st of
November, had announced his intention "to hold the
army in this country until daily practice shall convince
all that the sovereignty of the Constitution and laws is
unalterably establislhed." In a few days after his forces
marched northward from Uniontown he became so
convinced, and at once began to make arrangements
for the return of the army. The notification of the
reopening of the inspection-offices was made on the
10th,3 and they'were accordingly reopened ten days
put the damned rascals in the cellar, to tie them L)ack to back, to niake
a fire for the guard, but to put the prisoners back to the farther enid of
the cellar, and to give them neither victuials iior diirik. The cellar was
wet and muiddlv, and the niiglit cold; the cellar extended the whlole
lerngth under a large nlew log house, wlhich was neither floored inor the
openings between the logs daubed. They were kept there until Saturday morninig, and then marchedl to the town of Washington. On the
march one of the prisoners, wlho was subject to convulsions, fell inlto a
fit, but wlhen some of the troops told Gels. White of Isis situation lie orderedl thenm to tie the danuned rascal to a horse's tail and drag him along
with them, for he had only feigned lhaving the fits. Some of his fellowpirisoners, however, w ho had a horse, dismnouinted and let the poor maln
ride. He lhad another fit before he reached Washington. This marcl
was about twelve miles. The poor manw ho had the fits had been in
the American service during almost the whole of the war with Great
Britain." Finidley relates many other instances of barl)arous treatmenit
inflicted on prisoniers by the soldiery, but it is not improper to say that
hlis statemenits may have been a good deal exaggerated, as there is to be
seen throu-}i all his narrative an unimistakable disposition to place in
the worst possible light every occurrence or.act done by the army, particularly all which could by atiy assumption be suipposed to have beess
authorized, encouraged, or counitenanced by Secretary Hamilton or ex.
ecuted by Brig.-Gen. White.
2 The followiing are extracts from Gen. Lee's orders to Gen. William
Irvine:
"HEAD QUARTERS NEAR PARKINsoN's FERRY,
" November 9th, 1794.
"SIR,-From the delays and danger of escapes wlich attend the present situation of judiciary investigations to establislh preliminary processes againist offenders, it is deeinsed advisable to proceed in a stumnmary
nianner in time most disaffected scen es agairnst those who have notoriously committed treasoiiable acts; that Is, to employ the inilitary for tlse
pur-pose of apprehending and br-inging such persons before the juidge of
tlse district [Judge Peters], to be by Isini examnined and dealt with according to law; to you Is committed the executioni of this object within
that part of Allegheny Couinty to which you are advancing...  Tho
persons apprehended ouight to be leading or influential characters or
particularly violesst. You wvill flnd a list (No. 3); tllis paper conmprelmelids
witnesses. The individuals are to be brought forward atid treated as
suich. Direct all who may be apprelhended by you to be conveyed to
your caiip until further orders. Send off your parties of horse witl good
guides, and at suIcIC a period as to malie tlie surprises, however distant or
near, at the same moment, or intelligence will precede them and some
of the cilprits will escape. I presume the proper hour will be at daybreak on Thursday morning, aisd have therefore desired the operation
to be then performiied in every quarter.
"I have the lhonor to be, sir,
"With gr eat respect,
"Your most obedient servant,
" HENRY LEE."
3 "The announcement by Inspector Neville was as follows:
"C Notice is hereby given that on Thsursday, the 20th instant, an office
of inspection will be opened at Pittsburgh for the county of Allegheny, at
1 " On Thursday. the 13tlh of Novenmber," says Findley, in his " History
of the Insurrection," "there were abotut forty persons brought to Parkinson's house, by order of Gen. White [of New Jersey]. He directed to
I
177HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
later without opposition at the principal towns of the
four counties. The withdrawal of the army was announced, and the order of its return march directed,
in orders by Gen. Lee, dated "Headquarters, Pittsburgh, Nov. 17, 1794," viz.:
"The complete fulfillment of every object dependent on the
efforts of the army makes it the duty of the commander-inchief to take measures for the immediate return of his faithful
fellow-soldiers to their respective homes, in execution of which
no delay will be permitted but that which results from the consultation of their comfort.
"On Tuesday morning, at the hour of eight, the Pennsylvania Cavalry will be ready to accompany his Excellency Governor Mifflin, whose official duties renders his presence necessary at the seat of government.
"On the next day the first division of the right column,
consisting of the Artillery and Proctor's Brigade, under the
orders of Maj.-Gen. Irvine, will commence their march to Bedford, on the route commonly called the Old Pennsylvania road.
" The following day at the same hour the New Jersey Line
will move under the command of his Excellency Governor
]lowell, who will be pleased to pursue from Bedford such routes
as he imay find convenient.
"On the subsequent day at the same hour the residue of the
Pennsylvania Line now on this ground will march under the
command of Brig.-Gen. Chambers, taking the route heretofore
mentioned, and making the same stages as shall have been
mlade by the leading division. Maj.-Gen. Frelinghuysen, with
the Elite Corps of the right column, will follow the next day
and pursue the same route.
a           "Brig.-Gen. Smith, with the Maryland Line, will move to
Uniontown, agreeably to orders heretofore communicated to
him, and from thence to proceed on Braddock's road to Fort
Cumnberland, where he will adopt the inost convenient measures
in his power for the return of his troops to their respective
counties.
"Brig.-Gen. Matthews will move on Wednesday next to
Morgan Town, from thence to Winchester by way of Frankfort. From Winchester the troops will be marched to their respective brigades under the commanding officers from  each
brigade.
"As soon as the public service will permit afterwards, the
Elite Corps of the left coluln, under Gen. Darke, will follow
on the route prescribed for Brig. Matthews, and be disbanded
as they reach their respective brigades.
"i.    The corps destined for the winter defense will move
without delay to Bentley's Farm, on the west side of the Monongahela, near Perry's Ferry, where they will receive orders from
Maj.-Gen. Morgan.
the town of Washin,ton for the county of Washington, at Greensburg
for the county of WVestmoreland, and at Union Town for the county of
Fayette. All distillers are required forthwith to enter their stills at the
office of the county in which they respectively reside, and to do further
what the laws prescribe concerining the same, of which they may receive
more particular information from the officer of inspection with whom
entry is made.
"JOHN NEVILLE,
"Inispector of the Revenue, District of Pennsylvatnia, Fourth Survey.
"Nov. 10, 1794."
On the 27th of November the inspector announced that lihe was " directed to notify all persons in the counties of Allegheny, Fayette, and
Bedford against whom suits have been commenced in the court of thle
United States for neglecting to enter their stills that upon their coming
forward immediately to the collectors of each county and paying one
year's arrearages upon the capacity of the still an(d the costs of suit, a
bill of which will be furnished, the actions will be discontinued."Pennsylvania Archives, iv., pp. 449, 481.
"The Virginia Cavalry will take the route by Morgan Town,
from thence to Winchester by Romney's; the commandant will
receive particular instructions as to their time and manner of
march.
"The right column will receive their pay (still due) at Bedford, the Maryland Line at Fort Cumberland, and the Virginia
Line at Winchester...."
The army moved on its return in accordance with
these orders. The right column marched from Pittsburgh, by way of Greensburg, Ligonier, and Stony
Creek, to Bedford, and thence by way of Fort Lyttleton, Strasburg, and Shippensburg to Carlisle. The
troops of the left column returned by different routes,
the Virginians marching up the Monongahela Valley
into their own State, and passing on by way of Morgantown to Winchester; and the Maryland brigade
starting from its camp at Pierce's Ferry, thence moving southeastwardly through Fayette County and its
county town, to the Great Crossings of the Youghiogheny, and from there to Fort Cumberland by the
same route over which it had advanced.
The corps left, under command of Gen. Morgan, to
remain in this region through thle winter for the preservation of order, and to assist, if necessary, in the
execution of the laws, was placed in camp at Bentley's,
on the southwest side of the Monongahela. This force
was composed in part of troops who had come from
the East under Gen. Lee, and partly of men enlisted
in the western counties, as advised in the proclamation
of the commander-in-chief of November 8th, and
authorized to the number of two thousand five hundred men by an act of Assembly of the 29th of the
same month. Of those who were thus enlisted, Findley, in his "History of the Insurrection," i says that
many of them were reported to have been among the
most troublesome of the insurgents; that the people
in the neighborhood complained " that many of them,
for some time at first, demanded free quarters and
such things as they stood in need of without pay, and
that some of the officers committed indictable offenses;
but when the persons against whom the offenses were
committed commenced prosecutions they settled the
disputes amicably and behaved well for the future.
And when the people took courage to refuse to submit to impositions, the soldiers ceased to demand free
quarters, or to be otherwise troublesome." But the
tenor of the orders issued by Gen. Morgan2 to the
1 Appendix, p. 321.
2 They were as follows:
"General Orders.
"CAMP, BENTLEY'S FARM, Nov. 30, 1794.
"The General anticipates the hlappiest issue that the army lie has the
honor to command will afford to the laws and friends of good order and
government in the four western counties of Pennsylvania. The willingness with which the citizens have enrolled themselves to co-operate
with the army in the restoration of obedience to the laws are pleasing
evidences that the unhappy delusion whic)l lately pervaded this country,
under the auspices of the friends to anarchy, are at an end.
"The General hopes that the army now hutting for winter-qtlarters
will consider themselves as in the bosom of their friends,  that they
will vie with each other in promoting the love and esteem of their felI
I
I
178THIE WHISKEY INSURRECTION.
troops under his command, and the well-known character of that genleral in the matter of the enforcement
of discipline, render it probable that the above statements of Mr. Findley, like many others made by him
in disparagement of the army and its officers, ought
to be received with some degree of incredulity.
Gen. Morgan's forces continued in their cantonments at Bentley's Farm (with small detachments at
Pittsburgh and Washington) until the following spring,
when, order being fully restored and established, the
last of the troops marched eastward across the Alleghenies, and the western counties were left in full possession and exercise of their former rights and powers.
Gen. Lee remained in the WVest'for a considerable
time after the departure of the main body of the army,
and on the 29th of November, in pursuance of authority delegated to him by the President, he issued a
"proclamation of pardon" as follows:
"By HENRY LEE, Governor of the Commonwealth
of Virginia, Major-General therein, and Commanderin-Chief of the Militia Army in the Service of the
United States.
"A PROCLAMATION.
"By virtue of the powers and authority in me vested
by the President of the United States, and in obedience to his benign intentions, therewith communicated, I do by this, my proclamation, declare and
make known to all concerned that a fuill, free, and
entire pardon (excepting and providing as hereafter
mentioned) is hereby granted to all persons residing
within the counties of Washington, Allegheny, Westmoreland, and Fayette, in the State of Pennsylvania,
and in the county of Ohio, in the State of Virginia,
guilty of treason or misprisionl of treason against the
United States, or otherwise directly or indirectly engaged in the wicked and unhappy tumults and disturbances lately existing in those counties, excepting
nevertheless from the benefit and effect of this pardon
all persons charged with the commission of offenses
against the United States, and now actually in custody or held by recognizance to appear and answer
for all such offenses at any judicial court or courts,
excepting also all persons avoiding fair trial by abandonment of their homes, and excepting, moreover, the
following persons, the atrocity of whose conduct renders it proper to mark them by name, for the purpose
of subjecting them with all possible certainty to the
regular course of judicial proceedings, and whom all
officers, civil and military, are required to endeavor to
low-citizens, and pointedly avoid every species of spoliation on the
property of the inhabitants.
"The officers comemnading fatigue parties are particularly directed
not to suffer the sugar or other trees producing fruit or conlfort to the
farmer to be cut down for building, or any other purpose whatever.
The burning of fencing, where there is such an abundance of fuel so
easily procured, is strictly forbid, and a violence offered to the person or
depredation on the property of any individual by the soldiery will be
punished in the most exemplary and summary manner.
" DANIEL MORGAN."
apprehend and bring to justice, to wit: [Here follows
the list of excepted persons, given below.]
"Pr6vided,--That no person who shall hereafter
wilfuilly obstruct the execution of any of the laws of
the United States, or be in anywise aiding or abetting
therein, shall be entitled to any benefit or advantage
of the pardon hereinbefore granted; and provided,
also, that nothing herein contained shall extend or
be construed to extend to the remission or mitigation
of any forfeiture of any penalty incurred by reason
of infractions of, or obstructions to, the laws of the
United States for collecting a revenue upon distilled
spirits and stills.
" Given under my hand, at Head Quarters in Elizabeth Town, this twenty-ninth day of November,
1794.                               HENRY LEE.
"By order of the commander-in-chief.
"G. K. TAYLOR, Aid-de- Camp."
The names of the persons excepted by the terms of
this proclamation were
Benjamin Parkinson,     George Parker,
Arthur Gardner,        William Hanna,
John Holcroft,         Edward Magner, Jr.,
Daniel Hamilton,       Thomas Hughes,
Thomas Lapsley,        David Lock,
William Miller,         Ebenezer Gallagher,
Edward Cook,           Peter Lyle,
Edward Wright,         John Shields,
Richard. Holcroft,     William Hay,
David Bradford,        William McIlhenny,
John Mitchell,         Thomas Patton,
Alexander Fulton,      Stephenson Jack,
Thomas Spiers,         Patrick Jack, and
William Bradford,      Andrew Highlands,
of the State of Pennsylania.
William Sutherland,    John Moore, and
Robert Stephenson,     John McCormick,
Williamrn McKinley,
of Ohio County, Va.
With reference to the cases of those who were made
prisoners by the cavalry, as well as of many proscribed but not captured, formal investigations were
mnade under the direction of Judge Peters, in the
course of which it was made apparent that information had been made against many who had really
been guilty of no offense against the government.
Many of those arrested were taken to Pittsburgh. Some
were released through the interposition of influential
friends, while others less fortunate were sent to Philadelphia, where they were imprisoned for some
months.
Of those who were arrested while the army was in
this region, one, and only one, was of Fayette County.
This was Caleb Mounts. He was taken East with the
forces of the right wing, but it was afterwards found
that he was innocent, having been in Kentucky at the
time when the riotous proceedings occurred. In regard to the takinlg of this person, Findley says,
"Isaac Meason, a judge of Fayette County, followed
I
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I
I
I
17920               HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
hunting,-grounds extending from the head of the Ohio    There was also an Indian village oni the Monongaeastwvard to the Alleghenies. Still they always boldly  hela, at the mouth of Catt's Run, and it is said that
claimed these lands as their own, except when they  this village was at one time the home of the chief
were confronted and rebuked by the chiefs of the Six  Cornstalk, who commanded the Indian forces at th
Nations. At a conference held with the Indians at  battle of Point Pleasant, Va., in 1774.
Fort Pitt in 1768, "the Beaver," a chief speaking in     On the Monongahela, at the mouth of Dunlap's
behalf of the Delawares and Mohicans, said, " Breth-  Creek, where the town of Brownsville now stands,
ren, the country lying between this river and the Al-  was the residence of old Nemacolin, who, as it aplegheny Mountain lhas always been  our hunting-  pears, was a chief, but with very few, if any, warriors
ground, and the white people who have scattered  under him, though it is not unlikely that he had had
themselves over it haive by their hunting, deprived  a respectable following in the earlier years, before the
us of the game which wve look upon ourselves to have  whites found him here. It was this Indian who guided
the only right to...." And it is certain tlhat, though  Col. Thomas Cresap across the Alleghenies, in the first
the Iroquois were the owners of these hunting-grounds,  journey wlhich he made to the West from Old Town,
they were occupied almost exclusively by the Dela-  Md., for the Ohio Company in 1749. The route which
wares and Shawanese. Washington, in his journal  they then pursued was known for many years as
of a trip which he made down the Ohio from the  "Nemacolin's path."  Later in his life this Indian
mouth of the Allegheny in 1770, says, "The In-  remnoved from the Monongahela and located on the
dians who reside upon the Ohio, the upper part of it  Ohio River. It is believed that the place to which
at least, are composed of Shawanese, Delawares, and  he removed was the island now known as Blennersome of the Mingoes...." And in the journal of  hassett's Island, in the Ohio, below Parkersburg, W.
his mission to the French posts on the Allegheny,  Va.; the reason for this belief being that there is
seventeen years before, he said, "About twvo miles  found, in Gen. Richard Butler's journal of a trip
from  this (he then being at the mouth of the Alle-  down that river in 1785, with Col. James Monroe
gheny), on the south side of the river (Ohio), at the  (afterwards President of the United States), to treat
place where the Ohio Company intended to lay off  with the Miami Indians, mention of their passing, in
their fort, lives Shingiss, king of the Delawares."'  the river between the mouths of the Little Kanawha
The exact point where this "king" was located is  and Hocking, an island called "Nemacolin's Island."
said to have been at the mouth of Chartiers Creek,  This was, without much doubt, the later residence of
and the principal settlements of his people were clus-  the old chief of that name.
tered around the head of the Ohio. From  here and    An old Indian named Bald Eagle, who had been a
from the neighboring settlements of the Shawanese  somewhat noted warrior (but not a chief) of the Delawent forth from  time to time the hunting-parties of  ware tribe, had his home somewhere on the Upper
these tribes, which formed the principal part of the  Monongahela, probably at the village at the mouth
Indian population of the territory of the present  of Catt's Run, but whether there or higher up the
county of Fayette.                                     river near Morgantown is not certainly known. He
These Indians had, as has already been remarked,  was a very harmless and peaceable man and friendly
but very few settlements east of the Monongahela,  to the settlers, yet he was killed without cause about
a-nd most of those they had were more of the nature  1765, and the cold-blooded murder was charged by
of temporary camps than of permanent villages.  the Indians upon white men. Of the Bald Eagle and
Judge Veech, in his "Monongahela of Old," men-  the circumstances of his death, Mr. Veech says, " He
tions those which he knewv of as existinig within the  was on intimate terms with the early settlers, with
limits of Fayette County, as follows: "Our territory  whom he hunted, fished, and visited. He was well
(Fayette County) having been an Indian hunting-  known along our Monongahela border, up and down
ground, had within it but few Indian towns or vil-  which he frequently passed in his canoe. Somewhere
lages, and these of no great magnitude or celebrity.  up the river, probably about the mouth of Cheat, hle
There was one on the farm of James Ewing, near the  was killed, by whom or on what pretense is unknown.2
southern corner of Redstone and the line between  His dead body, placed upriglht in his canoe, with a,
German and Luzerne townships, close to a fine lime-  piece of corn-bread in his clinched teeth, was set
stone spring. Near it, on a ridge, were many Indian  adrift in the river. The canoe came ashore at Provgraves. Another was near wvhere Abram Brow n
graves.   A n oth er   w as   n ear   w here   A bra m   B ro w n   2    W ithers,   in     his,"   Chronicles    of'Border     Warfare,"    states    the     case    diflived, about four miles west of Uniontown. There  ferently, and gives the names of the inurderers. He says, "The Bald
was also one on the land of John M. Austin, fornmerly  Eagle was an Indian of notoriety, not only among his own nation, but
Samuel Stevens', near Sock. The only one we know   also with the inhabitants of the Northwestern frontier, with whom he
y        _          rwas in the habit of associating and hunting. In one of his visits among
of north of the Youghiogheny was oni the Strickler  them he was discovered alone by Jacob Scott, William Hacker, and
land, eastward of the Broad Ford."                     Elijah Runner, who, reckless of the consequences, murdered him, solely
to gratify a most wanton tlhirst for Indian blood. After the commission
1 King Shingiss, however, was inferior in ranik anid power to Tanach-  of this most outrageous enormity, they seated himii in the stern of a
arison, the Half-King, wlho was a sachem of the Six Nations, residing  canoe, with a piece of journey-cake thrust into ihis mouth, and set him
near the head of the Ohio.                             afloat iu the Monongahela."
20HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Judge Peters near forty miles into Bedford County,
and offered himself and Judge Wells, of Bedford,
both of them acknowledged friends of the government,
as bail for the prisoner, but was absolutely refused.
As Mr. Meason knew that the prisoner was guilty of
no crime, which evidently appeared to be the case by
no bill being found against him on his trial, he and
Mr. Wells complain of the judge for not admitting
him to bail on their application. Judge Peters being
well known to be a man of feeling and humanity, his
conduct in this and several other instances can only
be accounted for from his apprehension that it was
necessary that a considerable number of prisoners
should be brought down in order to prevent the inflammatorv part of the army from committing outrages at leaving the country." This last remark of
Findley seems too clearly absurd to require contradiction. Only two prisoners were taken by the army
in Westmoreland County. One of these was afterwards discharged for the reason that no bill was found
against him. The other, a very ignorant man of most
violent temper, and said to be subject to fits of temporary insanity, was found guilty of setting fire to the
house of the Fayette County collector, Benjamin
Wells, and was sentenced to death, but was reprieved,
and finally pardoned by the President of the United
States. The principal witness against this man on
his trial was said to have been a chief leader of the
rioters who attacked Wells' house, but one of those
included in the pardon of the commander-in-chief.
In August, 1795, general pardons to those who had
been inmplicated in the insurrection and who had not
subsequently been indicted or convicted were proclaimed by President Washington and Governor
Mifflin, in pursuance of the agreement made in the
previous year at Pittsburgh by the United States and
Pennsylvania commissioners.
CHAPTER XVI.
FAYETTE COUNTY IN THE WAR OF 1812-15 AND
MEXICAN WAR.
IMMEDIATELY after the declaration of war by the
United States against England, in 1812, recruiting
was commenced in Fayette County for the formation
of companies to take the field in the government service. The first company completed was that of
Thomas Collins, of Uniontown, which marched from
the county-seat in August of that year. The service
of this company was performed at Oswego, Sackett's
Harbor, and other points along the lake frontier in
Northern New York, under Maj. John Herkimer.
A company raised and commanded by Capt. John
Phillips was completed, and left the county at about
the same time as Capt. Collins', and served in the
same command under Maj. Herkimer.
Capt. James Whaley, of Connellsville, raised and
commanded a company which left the county in September of the same year. Onl the day of their departure from Connellsville they were entertained at
the public-house of David Barnes (afterwards the
Page House), where they were addressed in a patriotic
strain by Father Connelly, and after the conclusion
of these ceremonies moved across the river to a camp
in the limits of the present borough of New Haven.
Thence they marched to Pittsburgh, where they were
mustered into the service Oct. 2, 1812. The company
being assigned to duty under Col. Robert Patterson,
moved from Pittsburgh to Fort Meigs, and was incorporated with the forces that fought in the campaign
under Gen. William H. Harrison, afterwards President of the United States.
Capt. Andrew Moore, of Wharton township, raised
and commaiided a company, which was mustered on
the 2d of October, 1812, and served under command
of Brig.-Gen. Richard Crooks.
Capt. Joseph Wadsworth's company was raised in
Fayette County, and mustered into service at the
same time as Moore's and Whaley's companies, and
served with the latter under Col. Robert Patterson.
Capt. Peter Hertzog, of Spring Hill township, commanded a company recruited by him in Fayette
County. It was mustered into service Oct. 2, 1812,
and was assigned to duty with the forces- of Gen.
Richard Crooks.
A company of light dragoons was raised by Capt.
James McClelland, and mustered into service for one
year on the 5th of October, 1812. This company
formed part of a squadron under command of Lieut.Col. James V. Ball.
Capt. John McClean commanded a company of iiifantry raised in Fayette County and vicinity in 1812.
Its principal service was at Erie, Pa.
The companies of Capt. William Craig and Isaac
Linn went from Fayette County in the early part of
1813. These companies, with that of Capt. McClean,
were in the force of one thousand militia commanded
by Col. Rees Hill, and stationed at Erie, Pa. Volunteers from this command were engaged on Commodore
Perry's squadron at the time of the battle of Lake
Erie and capture of the British fleet, in consideration
of which service the Legislature passed a resolution
directing the Governor to present a silver medal, engraved with such emblematic devices as he might
think proper, to each man (if a citizen of Pennsylvania) who so volunteered.
Capt. James Piper, of Uniontown, raised and commanded a company of Fayette County volunteers,
who served with the Fifth Detachment Pennsylvania
Militia, under Col. James Fenton, at Buffalo, N. Y.,
in 1814.
Capt. Valentine Giesey, of Brownsville (who had
been first a sergeant, and afterwards a second lieutenant in Capt. Joseph Wadsworth's company), raised
a company numbering one hundred and eighteen
isoFAYETTE COUNTY IN THE WAR OF 1812-15 AND MEXICAN WAR.
mein and officers, who left this county in November,
1814. Just before their departure the Rev. William
Johnson, pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Brownsville, preached a patriotic sermon from the text,
"Cursed be he that doeth the vork of the Lord deceitfuLlly; and cursed be he that keepeth back his
sword from blood."' The company marched hence
to Baltimore, Md., but while on their way there they
were met by a messenger bearing orders for their return. The eagerness of officers and men for active
service was so great, however, that while the company halted anid remained at Hagerstown, Capt.
Giesey pushed on to Washington City, whlere by
his iinportunity he prevailed on the Secretary of
War to accept the services of the company, and order
thein forward to report to Gen. Scott, at Baltimore.
On arriving there, Capt. Giesey, accoinpanied bv his
second lieutenant, Shuman, repaired to the headquarters, where he reported to Scott in person. The
general examined the captain's order, and remnarked,
in some surprise, " What! from Western Pennsylvania?"  " Yes, sir, from  Western Pennsylvania,"
answered Giesey. " Well, Capt. Giesey," said the
general, "you must have a very patriotic company of
men."  "I hope I have, sir," replied the captain.
Gen. Scott continued the conversation for a short
time, expressing the hope that the men of the company might have an opportunity to show their soldierly qualities, and finished by ordering themn to
duty vith the Second Regiment of Maryland Militia.
Three davs later the company left Baltimore for
Annapolis, where they remained until after the
declaration of peace, when they were mustered out
of service and returned to their homes.
The rolls of the above-mentioned companies (except Capt. Giesey's) are here given as copied froml the
"Muster-Rolls of the'War of 1812-14," published
under authority of the State.
CAPT. THOMAS COLLINS' COMPANY.
Pay-roll of Capt. Thomas Collins' company of United
States volulnteers, late]y under the commanld of
Maj. Johni Herkimer, in the service of the United
States, discharged at Oswego. Commencement
of service, 27th August, 1812; expiration of
service, August 26th, 1813.
Captain.
Collins, Thomas.
Lieutenant.
Marshall, J. H.
Ensign.
Fell, Mahlon, dead.
Sergeants.
Price, Benjamin, promoted to the rank of ensign,
April 1, 1813.
McFarland, William.
Beeson, Henry, Jr.
Craig, James.
Corporals.
Colhoun, James.
Trusedale, Allen.
Tibbs, John.
Gard, Moses.
Updegraff, William.
Cuntzman, John.
Musicians.
Privates.
Wood, Seth, appointed second sergeant.
Woods, Clement.
Hibben, Thomas, appointed quartermaster-sergeant.
Springer, Job.
Taylor, John.
Price, Simon, employed by Quartermaster Thomas,
Buffalo, extra duty.
Lynch, Daniel.
Turner, Hanson.
Pryor, Joseph.
Gilman, Samuel.
Knapp, Jacob.
Farr, William.
Reyner, John.
Stewart, James.
Bleeks, William.
Beeson, Henry W.
Henthorn, Noah.
McGuire, Michael.
Butler, Orrick.
Salter, Samuel, dischargred for inability.
Springer, David.
Yates, Samuel, furloughed and unable to return.
Bayles, Henry.
Ebbert, William.
Butler, Comfort, furloughed and never returned.
Hoover, Phillip.
Goslin, Richard, employed by Quartermaster Thomas,
Buffalo, extra duty.
Gaddis, Rice.
Shiles, Isaac.
Stoops, George.
Askerns, Thomas.
Dixon, William.
Hart, William.
Hunsaker, Henry.
Barnes, Daniel, employed by Quartermaster Thomas,
Buffalo, extra duty.
Meason, George, died at Sackett's Harbor.
Gaddis, Abner.
Matt, James.
McCoy,William, employed by Quartermaster Thomas,
Buffalo, extra duty.
1 This incident, as also the accouint of the comnpany wlhiclh follows it,
is fountid in the Brownsville Times of Auig. 30, 1861, as related by Capt.
George Shuman, whio was seconid lieutenianit of the company, John
Sowers, of Unioiiitowii, beinig the i-st.
i
181HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
McClean, Moses, discllarged for inability.
Flick, Gersham.
Miller, Richard.
Moore, Samuel.
Firestone, Daniel, died at Buffalo.
Barnes, Otho.
Hyshoe, Adam.
Morris, William.
Orange, Thomas.
Stilwell, James.
Stilwell, Joseph.
Whlite, James.
CAPT. JOHN PHILLIPS' COMPANY.
Pay-roll of Capt. John Phillips' company of United
States volunteers, lately under the command of
Maj. John Herkimer, in the service of the United
States; discharged at Oswego, Aug. 26, 1813;
commencement of service, Aug. 28, 1812.
Phillips, John.
Wood, Joseph.
Kalor, Frederick.
Kramer, Balthaser.
Kelley, Matthew.
Daugerty, Zadoc.
Shaw, James.
Phillips, Peter.
Lieutenant.
Sergeants.
Corpora.s.
FpvT."
Nailor, John.
Daugherty, William.
Tipton, Thomas.
Dorif, Richard.
Cassady, Edward.
Caseman, John.
Black, James.
Ramage, James.
hannahs, John.
Iliff, Stephen.
Smith, Thomas.
Bear, David.
Morgan, David.
havel, Philip.
More, Samuel L.
Hardin, Cato, dischlarged December 9th.
Parke, John, furlough to April 1st, not returned.
Denney, Miller, furlouogh to March 1st, not returned.
Darling,, James, discharged December 9th.
O'Nail, Charles.
Clovous, Matthias, discharged December 9th.
Bothwell, Johl.
Ogle, Lewis.
Parke. Andrew.
I certify that the witlhin exhibits a true statement
of Capt. John Phillips' company.
JOSEPH WOOD,
Lieutenant United States Voluintecrs.
CAPT. JAMES WHALEY'S COMPANY.
List of members of Capt. James Whaley's company,'
which nmarched frorn Connellsville, Fayette Co.,
Pa., to Pittsbuirgh, where it was mustered into the
United States service under Col. Robert Patterson Oct. 2,1812; afterwards moved to Fort Meigs,
and served with -the forces uinder Gen. William
H. Harrison.
Captain.
James Whaley.
First Lieutenant.
George Huey.
Second Lieutenant.
Hugh Ray.
Andrew Reece.
Patrick Adair.
Crawford Springer
Abram Kilpatrick
Henry Jones.
Aaron Agen.
Henry Haselton.
John Marple.
John Robbins.
George Biddle.
Charles Long.
Nicholas Wallace
Joseph walker.
Andrew Walker.
Robert Stewart.
Levi Ebert.
Jacob Stimrel.
Robert Smilie.
James Quigley.
John Martin.
Josiah Martin.
Lewis Ruffcorn.
First Sergeant.
Sot ei'ydrecxtnt
Thtird Sergeant. -
er.
Fourth Sergeant.
First Corporal.
Second Corporal.
Third Corporal.
Fourth Corporal.
Drum-Major.
Drummer.
Fife-i[/Iajor.
Privates.
Simon Ruffcorn.
Abram Freed.
William Fisher.
John Ashbill.
Thomas McCullough.
John Artist.
William Highger.
Robert McGlaughlin.
Welden Ragan.
John Hessen.
John Hodge.
1 Tlis is copied fromii the originial roll, now in possess.On of James C.
Whaley, of UlniionJtowli.
I
182FAYETTE COUNTY IN THE WAR OF 1812-15 AND MEXICAN WAR.
Amos Coughanour.
Martin Beatill.
Benjamin Atkins.
Adam Kirkwood.
Daniel O'Bryan.
Thomas Matthews.
John Miller.
Thomas Durbin.
George Oldshue.
Henry Wentling.
John Blake.
David Thompson.
James Ragars.
CAPT. ANDREW MOORE'S COMPANY.
Pay-roll of a company of infantry commanded by
Capt. Andrew Moore, in the service of the United
States from Oct. 2, 1812, until April 2, 1813,
Second Regiment, Second Brigade, Pennsylvania Militia, commanded by Brig.-Gen. Richard
Crooks.
Moore, Andrew.
Flanigin, Andrew.
Allen, Elisha.
Captain.
Lieutenant.
Ensign.
Sergeants.
Bailey, Andrew.
Gallagher, John.
Marrow, John, left sick at Canton, October 30th, and
returned home.
Swain, Hiram.
Corporals.
Hughs, Reef.
Brewin, Elias.
McClelland, william.
Dunn, John, discliarg,ed December 20th.
Privates.
Allen, David, discharged October 20th.
Brown, Solomon.
Brown, Christopher.
Burt, Daniel, left sick at Canton, October 30th.
Bright, David, died since the time expired.
Bardlow, Daniel, dischlarged December 19th.
McDole, Alexander.
Uptecraft, Jacob.
Jewell, William.
Conquers, Samuel.
Mitchel, John.
Mitchel, Lewis.
Tissue, Sebastian.
Sills, John.
Steel, Isaac.
Lappin, Robert.
Gilliland, William.
Gilliland, Adam.
Fuller, James.
Shanks, Mathew.
Neighbours, William.
Miller, John.
Russell, James.
Low, Daniel, died since the time expired.
Evins, John.
Tissue, Edward, volunteered for fifteen days.
Vanhauten, Cornelius, voltunteered for fifteen days.
Emberson, John, volunteered for fifteen days.
Campbell, Jonathan, volunteered for fifteen days.
Wood, Lewis.
Wood, William.
Lewis. John.
Freeman, Edward.
Kemp, Solomon.
Kemp, William.
Heaney, Isaac.
Reynolds, William.
Swick, Martin.
Thompson, Aaron.
Mackelfresh, Eli.
Harris, Joseph.
Robbins, John.
Whetzell, Andrew.
Fisher, Michael.
McKee, John.
McCauce, James.
Daugherty, Patrick.
Yauger, Henry.
Miller, Pressley, disclharged December 14tlh.
Tharp, Job, left sick at Mansfield, December 23d.
Wilson, William, discharged December 14th.
Inks, John, discharged December 14th.
Tharp, David, dischiarged October 19th.
Weer, James, discharged October 19th.
Coflier, James, discharged October 19th.
McKearns, Charles, left sick at Canton, October 30th.
Flick, Jacob, left sick at Canton, October 30th.
Mareland, Robert.
Marble, Daniel.
Canon, Daniel.
McClean, Alexander.
Jackson, Robert.
Elliot, Benjamin, discharged October 19th.
Leynard, Stephen.
CAPT. JOSEPH WADSWORTH'S COMPANY.
Pay-roll of a company of infantry, commanded by
Capt. Joseph Wadsworth, of the Second Regiment, Second Detachment, Pennsylvania Militia,
commanded by Lieut.-Col. Robert Patterson, in
the service of the United States. Commencement
of service, Oct. 2, 1812; expiration of service,
April 2, 1813.
Captain.
Wadsworth, Joseph, died at Fort Mieigs after the ex'piratioin of the tour.
Michael Spencer.
George Ulery.
Conrad Bowers.
Peter Keffer.
Daniel Midder.
William Baysinger.
Silas Moody.
Reuben Kinner.
Christian Murphy.
Jacob Hophouse.
Jacob Somers.
David Buck.
Aaron Thorp.
1 8 -3IIISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Lieutenant.
Conrad, Jacob, died on hiis return home after the expiration of the tour.
Ensign.
Craft, George, resigned oIn the 22d of January, 1813.
Sergeants.
Giesey, Valentine.
Wherley, Daniel, appointed clerk to the district paymaster.
Gallaher, Thomas, promoted to first sergeant.
Stickle, Henry, promoted to second sergeant.
Corporals.
Shaw, John, promoted to tllird sergeant and elected
ensigni; volunteered fifteen days.
Moore, Alexander, promoted to fourth serg,eant.
Jackson, John.
Coulter, Samuel.
Privates.
Allison, William, discharged on the 22d of December;
allowed fourteen days to go home.
Barton, Roberts, promoted fourth sergeant.
Crosier, Kenada, promoted first corporail.
Hill, Joseph, promoted second corporal.
Armstrong, John C., promoted third corporal.
Sayres, Reuben, promloted fourth corporal.
Tobs, Samnuel.
Marthers, Robert.
McLain, John.
Frazier, Even, discharged December 16th; allowved
sixteen days to go home.
Blana, Thomas.
McCrorey, William.
Monteeth, James, discharged December 15tlh; allowed
sixteen days to go lhome.
Kelley, James.
Phillips, John.
Nahlon, Jonathan.
Homan, Ucal, discharged Oct. 26, 1812.
Miller, Ephraim.
Ammons, George.
Chandler, Isaac H.
Ammons, Jacob.
Miller, Eli.
Harford, Charles, discharged Oct. 17, 1812.
Shion, Jones.
Doney, Isaac.
Langley, Jonathan, discharged Oct. 19, 1812.
Luce, Henry.
Hutchinson, James.
Hutchinson, Henry.
Hartman, Daniel, volunteered at Fort Meigs, fifteen
days.
Pierson, Thomas.
Knap, Daniel.
Joyce, William.
West, William.
Kimber, Predy, volunteered at FortMeigs, fifteen days.
Miller, Robert.
Stewart, Charles.
Walker, Francis, discharged Nov. 23, 1812.
Rails, William.
Winder, John, died at Fort Meigs, after expiration of
tour.
Misser, Job.
Parker. John L.
Misser, Joshua, dischlarged December 22d; allowed
fourteen days home.
Moss, John.
Laughlin, Hugh, volunteered at Fort Meigs, fifteen
days.
Nose, Robertson, volunteered at Fort Meigs, fifteen
days.
Higinbothom, George.
Burnet, Edward.
Donilson, James.
Bivins, Robert, volunteered at Fort Meigs, fifteenl days.
Anderson, Richard.
Coon, John.
Rodgers, John.
Lewis, David, discharged Decemnber 15th; allowed
fourteen davs lhome.
Doyle, John.
Whipple, Joseph.
Reese, Philip.
Peters, David.
Moore, Anthony.
Walters, Peter.
Rodgers, Jesse.
Irons, John.
Vickers, Able.
Clerk, James.
Crider, John.
Fogle, Peter.
Carson, Thomas, discharged previous to first muster.
Cook, John.
Murdock, Thomas, discharged previous to first muster.
Rees, James.
CAPT. PETER HERTZOG'S COMiPANY.
Pay-roll of Capt. Peter Hertzog's company of drafted
nmilitia, attache(d to tlhe Second Regiment, comnanded by Col. Patterson, in the service of the
United States, from Pennsylvania, Brig.-Gen.
Richard Crooks commandilng. Commencing of
service, Oct. 2, 1812; end of service, April 2,
1815 (3?).
Captain.
Hertzog, Peter.
Bowers, Joseph.
Overturf, J.
Coombs, Edward.
Sangston, William.
Lieutenant.
Ensign.
Sergeants.
184185
FAYETTE COuNTY IN THE WAR OF 1812-15 AND MEXICAN WAR.
Hamilton, James.
Yander, Daniel.
Corporals.
Houpt, Jacob.
Freeman, Alexander R.
Hanna, Robert.
Rogers, Stacy.
Privates.
Black, Henry.
Harshberger, Daniel, volunteered fifteen days.
Gono, John.
Brin, William.
Debolt, Rezon, volunteered fifteen days.
Debolt, Tegarden S., volunteered fifteen days.
Danold, Jonah M., volunteered fifteen days.
Blaney, William.
Rifle, Jacob.
Cronton, Abram.
Hafhill, Abram.
Antle, James.
Reed, Jacob.
Robertson, Robert.
Care, John.
Koupt, Tobias.
Smith, Samuel, died March 22, 1813.
White, John, volunteered fifteeni days; died April
7tih.
Rees, James, voluniteered fifteen days; died April 9th.
Wilson, Thomas.
Numbers, James.
Getzendaner, John, volunteered fifteen days.
Criss, Miceal.
Stuart, James.
Getty, Solomon, volunteered fifteen days.
Getty, Joseph, volunteered fifteen days.
Holmes, John.
Defenbough, Daniel.
Proctor, William.
willey, Richard.
Rumble, Henry.
Wynn, Jonathan.
Hartmann, Melehi.
Parson, John.
Wilson, Hugh, volunteered.
Price, William.
Coombs, John.
Logan, James.
McDougal, Levi.
Thompson, Thomas.
willark, David.
Watson, Joseph.
McCarty, Joel.
McCarty, Hiram.
Tipit, william.
McCann, Hugh.
Hardman, Philip.
Rickets, Philoman.
Owl, Jacob.
Feirst, George.
Crowsore, Christian.
Hall, Ephraim.
Lawriner, Philip.
Vance, Hugh.
Patterson, Jesey.
CAPT. JAMES A. MCCLELLAND'S COMPANY.
Pay-roll of a company of twvelve month volunteers,
liglht dragoons, commanded by Capt. James A.
McClelland, in a squadron coinmanded by Lieut.Col. James V. Ball, late in the service of the
United States.
Captain.
McClelland, James A.
First Lieutenant.
Gilmore, Hugh, Oct. 5, 1812; discharged April 2,
1813.
Second Lieutenant.
Ramsay, Thomas, died March 25, 1813.
Sergeants.
Porter, Thomas W., Oct. 5, 1812; discharged Oct. 21,
1813; made first sergeant after death of F. Hertzog.
Hertzog, Frederick, Oct. 5, 1812; diedl July 11, 1813.
Messmore, George.
Balsinger, Christopher.
Pollock, Stephen
Lawrence, George
Keckler, Jacob.
Axton, Jeremial
Morgan, Morris.
Corporals.
n.
ge.
Drummer.
B lacksmith.
Privates.
Messmore, Solomon.
Parshall, Nathaniel.
Hare, James, killed Jtune 30, 1813.
Ackle, Jacob, killed May 1, 1813.
Tucker, Jacob.
Thompson, John.
Abrams, James.
Bowel, Bazael.
Balsinger, John.
Hannah, Ephraim.
Province, Benjamin.
Gilmore, David.
Christopher, Gideon.
wheaton, Benjamin, died May 30, 1813.
Breading, James.
Grahaham,.John.
Smith, John, died Oct, 15, 1813.
Williams, william.
McClean, Thomas.
Bowde, Thomas.
Vaughan, Thomas..
Martin, Scott.
I
i
i
I
I16HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Brown, Caleb.
Harrison, Isaac, died Aug. 13, 1813.
Harrison, Jacob.
Dougherty, Samuel, discharged from
service,
not known.
Herrod, George.
Griffin, James M., killed Dec. 18, 1812.
Smith, Jeremiah, August, 1813.
Brown, Samuel R., August, 1813; promoted A1
1814.
I do certify, on honor, that the within exhi
true roll of the men's nam-les belonging to my trc
twelve montlh volunteer light dragoons, late i
service of the United States.
JAMES A. MCCLELLAND
Captain United States V. L.
CAPT. JOHN MCCLEAN'S COMPANY.
Pay-roll of Capt. John McClean's company, be
ing to a regiment of Pennsylvania militia i
service of the United States, commanded by
Rees Hill, from the date of entering into se
to Nov. 5, 1813, inclusive.
McClean, John.
Captain.
Lieutenants.
Taylor,. Beriah, resigned Aug. 17, 1813.
Gance, Jacob.
Tillard, Robert.
Ensign.
Smith, Samuel, appointed adjutant Aug. 10, 181
Sergeants.
Boyd, William.
Taylor, Joseph.
Barton, Joseph.
Death, John.
Routzenger, Adam, appointed sergeant Julv 14, 1
Corporals.
Foly, David, discharged July 27, 1813.
McFall, William, discharged July 14, 1813.
Cox, Levi, appointed corporal July 1, 1813.
Lewis, Thomas, appointed corporal July 1, 1813.
Gue, Joseph, appointed corporal July 15, 1813.
Byers, Andrew, appointed corporal July 1, 1813.
Roberts, William.
Fifer.
Privates.
Donald, William.
Sample, Samuel.
Shaw, William.
Murphey, Barrich, discharged Aug. 14, 1813.
Edwards, John.
McLaughlin, William, dischlarged Aug. 15, 1813.
Rankin, Robert.
Downer, Jacob, appointed surgeon's mate May
1813.
Sharp, Levi.
Show, Eli.
Patrick, James.,time  Matthias, Joseph.
Hamilton, Hance.
Campbell, Hugh.
Fuller, Thomas, enlisted July 13, 1813.
Hopkins, Josiah.
pril 2, Phillips, Evan.
Mulvine, Edward.
bits a  Williams, William.
)op of Golden, James.
in the Martin, illiam.
Allison, Major.
Lewis, Robert.
D.   Law, John.
Simpkins, Amos.
Homan, Michael.'long-  Hunt, Daniel.
n the Shepperd, Fermand.
Col. King, Joseph.
Lrvice  Cummins, James.
Summions, or Timmons, Peter.
Fulton, Thomas.
Smith, Nicholas.
Riddle, Michael.
Stewart, Daniel.
Bear, John.
Kempson, John, discharged Aug. 3,1813.
Thomas, Benjamin, discharged Aug. 14, 1813.
Dann, John.
3.    Campble, Stephen, discharged Aug. 19, 1813.
McLaughlin, James.
Coffman, Jacob.
McConnel, William, discharged July 7, 1813.
Helmick, John.
Bice, Thomas.
Booker, Henry.
[813.  Woodruff, Corinelius.
McCormack, Moses.
Morgan, James.
Black, John.
Shields, Roger.
Wilkins, Thomas.
Gibney, David.
Roach, Thomas.
Badger, Jeremiah.
Johnston, Elijah, discharged June 22, 1813.
Farquer, Chads.
Wood, Joseph.
Singleton, Jacob.
White, David, discharged July 18, 1813.
Swink, Jacob, discharged July 18, 1813.
Goodwin, Joseph.
Davis, James.
Seals, Isaac.
Morce, Alven.
12, Bunton, Edmund.
Robinson, James.
1S6OF 1812-15 AND MEXICAN WAR.
Thompson, William.
McClean, William, appointed forage-master May 12,
1813.
Gray, John.
Price, Jacob.
CAPT. WILLIAM CRAIG'S COMPANY.
Pay-roll of a company of infantry, commanded by
Capt. William Craig, in the regiment of Pennsylvania militia commanded by Col. Rees Hill, in
the service of the United States, commencing on
the 23d day of April, until Nov. 8, 1813, both
days inclusive.
Harvey, Isaac, May 5, 1813; died Aug. 6, 1813.
White, James.
Trimble, Alexander.
Robinson, Hugh, promoted to sergeant July 8, 1813.
Haggerman, Samuel, discharged July 8, 1813, invalid.
Robinson, James.
Cassaday, William.
Fenil, Thomas.
Keister, Michael.
Mitchel, Jesse.
Gray, Israel.
McLaughlin, Michael.
Irwin, Thomas.
Johnston, Uriah.
McVey, Patrick.
Grove, Jacob.
Carney, George.
weaver, Daniel.
Brown, Peter.
McClean, Thomas.
Brown, George, sick, and discharged by doctor, Au(.
13, 1813.
Sherbondy, George.
Mahan, Robert.
Berry, John.
Irwin, William, discharged June 13, 1813, casualty.
Carson, James.
Kirkpatrick, Henry.
wade, George.
McGuire, Daniel.
Russell, John, discharged Aug. 17, 1813, sickness.
Kanaan, Jonathan, discharged Sept. 20, 1813, to take
care of a sick man.
Walker, John.
McCormick, James.
Aron, Conrad.
Clark, James.
Black, James.
Serenna, Joseph.
Murphy, James, discharged Aug. 17, 1813, on account
of sickness.
McHenry, William.
McCormick, John.
Speese, George, discharged Aug. 18, 1813, over age.
Dougal, Henry.
McClean, Robert.,
Shaffer, George, discharged Aug. 19, 1813, on account
of sickness.
Young, John, discharged Aug. 17, 1813; cut in the
foot.
Geiger, Benjamin.
McClean, John.
McKeever, Matthew, discharged Aug. 19, 1813.
Cochran, William.
Murphy, Jeremiah.
Wadle, James, discharged Aug. 19, 1813.
McKee, John.
Williard, Frederick.
Gray, John.
Amilong, Daniel.
Berlin, John.
Wilty, Philip.
Fox, Jacob.
Gibson, Gedion.
Dixon, Samuel.
Gaut, William.
Dillinger, George.
Campbell, Thomas.
Holder, James.
Taylor, John.
Cimmel, John.
Hunter, Thomas.
McQuade, James.
Cassidy, William, Jr.
Morrow, James.
Cole, David.
Leightly, George.
Boyd, John, discharged Aug. 23, 1813.
CAPT. ISAAC LINN'S COMPANY.
Pay-roll of Capt. Isaac Linn's company, belonging
to a regiment of Pennsylvania militia commanded by Col. Rees Hill, commencing 18th
May, 1813, and ending the 5th November.
Captain.
Linn, Isaac.
Lieutenants.
Oldshue, John.
Meriman, John.
Kendall, Jeremiah.
Ensign.
Lowns, John.
Sergeants.
Shryock, Daniel, appointed wagon-master Aug. 19,
1813.
Andrews, Thomas, discharged October 24th.
Allen, Jonathan, discharged October 24th.
Lewis, John, discharged October 24th.
Reed,' John, discharged November 5th.
I Died in Jefferson townelsi), Fayette County, In 1881, aged ninetytlhree years.
I
I
I
I
187
FAYETTE COUNTY IN TIIE lVAR8  HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
corporals.
Davis, Joseph, discharged October 26th.
Greenlee, Jacob, discharged October 24th.
Drummer.
Shoultz, George, discharged October 24th.
Privates.
Anderson, William, disclharged November 5th.
Crooks, William, discharged October 24th.
Fagan, John, disclharged November 5th.
Martin, George, discharg,ed October 24th.
Helmick, Joseph, discharged October 24th.
Laylander, James, discharged October 24tlh.
Caufman, Abraham, discharged November 5th.
Greenland, John, discharged October 24th.
Hilands, John, dischlarged July 9th.
Latta, Ephraim, discharged November 5th.
Robbison, Robert, discharged October 26th.
Currant, Joel, discharged October 24th.
updegraff, Jacob, discharged August 21st.
Davis, William, discharged Auigust 22d.
Law, Thomas. discharged October 24th.
Laughlin, Andrew, died October 18th.
Mendingall, John, discharged October 24th.
Bell, Samuel, discharged October 24th.
Price, James, discharged October 24th.
Hartman, Frederick, dischlarged July 26th.
Briant, James, discharged November 5th.
Lynch, William, died July 9th.
Beeler, John, discharged November 5th.
Cumberland, Thomas, discharged October 24th.
Alloways, Joseph, enlisted June 23d.
Ebbert, Levi, discharged November 5tlh.
Stewart, Robert, enlisted June 27tlh.
Thompson, Thomas, discharged October 24th.
Tegret, Hugh, discharged October 26th.
Gage, John R., discharged Novenmber 5th.
Brown, Samuel, discharged November 5th.
Brooks, James, discharged November 5th.
Ruvendale, Isaac, discharged Novemnber 5th.
Beehly, Martin, discharged October 26th.
Chain, James, discharged November 5th.
River, John, died October 18th.
Reed, Charles, discharged November 5th.
Reed, Thomas, discharged July 1st.
Malaby, James, discharged October 24th.
McGwiggen, Alexander, discharged October 24th.
Johnston, Nicholas, discharged October 24th.
Drinen, David, discharged November 5tl.
Badger, Giles, discharged November 5th.
Baner, Daniel, enlisted June 27th.
Foredice, William, enlisted June 13th.
Vicars, Abel, enlisted June 13th.
Rupely, John, on board fleet, August 9tlh.
Craig, William, discharged November 5th.
McGinnis, Daniel, discharged November 5th.
Clark, John, discharged November 5th.
Drenen, John, dischar,ed November 5th.
Davis, John, discharged October 24th.
Miller, Benjamin, enlisted June 18th.
Loey, Stephen, discharged November 5th.
Croxton, Abram, discharged October 24th.
King, Robert, enilisted June 29th.
Litman, John, discharged October 24th.
Cole, Daniel, discharged August 28th.
McFarland, Joseph, discharged October 24th.
Dunnom, William, discharged October 24th.
Dickerson, James, discharged October 24th.
Beel, Amos.
Beeson, John, diseharged November 5th.
Badger, Weyman, discharged November 5th.
Evy, Benjamin, discharged August 22d.
McClelland, William, enlisted June 1st.
Taylor, Jesse, discharged November 5th.
I certify, on honor, the above pay-roll to be a true
statemnelnt of the companjy under my command up to
the time of dischlarge.
ISAAC LINN, Captain.
REES HILL, Colonel Commanding.
CAPT. JAMES PIPER'S COMPANY.
Muster-roll of Capt. Piper's company of volunteers,
beloniginig to Fifth Detachment, Pennsylvania
Militia inow in the service of the United States,
at Buffalo, State of Newv York.
Piper, James.
Woodburn, James.
Huston, Andrew.
Weakley, William L.
Weakley, James.
Smith, James.
James, Henry.
captain.
Lieutenant.
Ensign.
Sergeants.
Corporals.
Kable, Daniel.
McCulloch, William, Sr.
McCulloch, William, Jr.
Prim
Morrison, Ezra.
Orr, Samuel.
Stitt, James.
McIntire, James.
Collins, Valentine.
Turner, Joseph.
Casner, Jacob.
Spangler, Peter.
McGaw, Thomas.
McGlaughlin, Samuel.
Jones, William, deceased
Aug. 5, 1814.
Bull, John.
Thomas, Enoch.
vates.
Williamson, David.
McWilliams, John.
Kelly, John.
Patterson, Hugh.
Walker, John.
Marlin, Thomas.
Thompson, William.
Sowers, Samuel.
Ingram, Samuel.
Wacob, William.
McGlaughlin, Robert.
Donley, Michael.
Harper, Samuel.
Carothers, Andrew.
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I 88
IFAYETTE COUNTY IN THE WAR OF 1812-15 AND MEXICAN WAR.
Brown, Alexander.       Woodburn, Robert.
Buchanan, Robert.       Davidson, Andrew.
Trago, Joseph. -        Gamble, Benjamin.
McKinney, John.           Lindsay, William.
Brown, Williamn.        Oliver, John.
Graham, James.            Boner, John.
Watts, James.             Miller, Jacob.
Ramsay, James.            Brown, William, Jr.
Kinkaid, William.       Burk, William.
Jones, Joshua.          Felker, William.
Huston, John.           Garrad, John.
Miller, Robert.
I do certifv that the above is a correct muster-roll
of my company. Given under my hand-this 23d day
of August, A.D. 1814.
JAMES PIPER, Captain.
JAMES FENTON, Colonel.
THE MEXICAN WAR.
The county of Fayette furnished to the United
States service in the Mexican war one full company
of volunteers, raised and commanded by Capt. (afterwards colonel) William B. Roberts, and a large number of men who enlisted in the company of Capt. P.'
N. Guthrie, both of which commands performed good
service on several of the battle-fields of that war.
The company first mentioned was formed and organized in the fall of 1846, and named the " Fayette
County Volunteers." It left the county on the 2d of
January, 1847, for Pittsburgh, where it was mustered
into service on the 4th of the samne month, and designated as Company " H" of the Second Regiment of
Pennsylvania Volunteers. The first commander of
the company was, as has been stated, Capt. Roberts,
with William Quail as first lieutenant; but Capt.
Roberts was soon after promoted to the colonelcy of
the regiment, and Lieut. Quail became captain of
" H" Company. The roll of the companyl as mustered is given below, viz.:
Captain, William B. Roberts.
First Lieutenant, William Quail.
Second Lieutenant, John Sturgeon.
Second Lieutenant, Stewart Speer.
First Sergeant, David Forrey.
Second Sergeant, Absalom Guiler.
Third Sergeant, Edmund Rine.
Fourth Sergeant, Richard Irwin.
First Corporal, Henry N. Stillwagen.
Second Corporal, Peter A. Johns.
Third Corporal, John Crawford.
Fourth Corporal, James P. Downer.
Drummer, Daniel Jarrett.
Fifer, Caleb Crossland.
Privates.
Matthew Allen.
Ephraim Abercrombie.
Zephaniah E. Barnes.
John Bishop.
Noah Bird.
Alexander Baine.
William C. Bayes.
Edmund Beeson.
David Bedker.
Henry Bradford.
Henry Bryan.
Cyrus L. Conner.
Harvey Chipps.
Samuel Coinworthv.
Hiram Downer.
George Ducket.
John Davis (1).
John Davis.
Henry Fowg.
Benjamin F. Frey.
William Freeman.
John W. B. Fetter.
Andrew Ferguson.
Wilson Fee.
Beeson Gardner.
John H. Gibson.
James Gordon.
Eli M. Gregg.
John Gillis.
Elijah Gadd.
Daniel Hardesty.
Jamnes Hutchinson.
Henderson Harvey.
John Hutchinson (1).
Sanmuel Hyde.
Daniel Hazard.
Alexander Hood.
Hezekiah Inks.
Oliver E. Jones.
Jackson Kilpatrick.
John P. Kilpatrick.
John King.
Samuel Morgan.
William Moore.
John Mitz.
Thomas McBride.
John Mustard.
Cornelius McMichael.
William Mendenhall.
Thomas Motes.
William F. Nicholson.
Albert G. Nicholson.
Jacob Orwin.
Samuel Page.
John Pollock.
Andrew Pritchard.
Joseph Roody.
Henry Rist.
William Shaw.
Jesse Smith.
Vincent Seals.
Evans Shriver.
Martin S. Stanly.
Benjamin Stevens.
John Sutton.
Solomon Shaw.
David Silvey.
John W. Skiles.
John Stillwell.
David R. Shaw.
James Shaw.
James Turner (1).
William Turner.
Isaac Woolverton.
James F. Ward.
Josiah W. Winders.
Joseph Widdoes.
Hugh Walker.
Charles Yeaman.
William West.
The Second Regiment, of which the Fayette Volunteers formed a part, proceeded by way of New Orleans
to Mexico, and landed at Lobos Island, near Vera
Cruz, which was invested by the American forces and
fleet. The regiment entered the city after its surrender, and moved thence to the interior by way of
Puebla and Perote, being assigned to Quitman's
division. During its term of service it took part in
the engagements at Tobasco, Cerro Gordo, Contreras,
Cheruibusco, San Pascual, and at the storming of the
Belen Gate,2 and it was the first regiment to enter
2 In the assault on the Belen Gate, Sept. 10, 1847, Josiah W. Winders,
of the Fayette company, was mortally wounded. He was attended in
his last moments by Cyrus L. Conner, who promised him that his body
should be sent home, and afterwards faithfully kept the promise. The
names of others who fell in that a-sault have not been ascertained.
1 Copied from the original roll of the company, now in possession of
William Guiler, son of Absalom Guiler, who was a member of the Fayette County Voluniteers, and served with the company in 3Lexico.
13
18921
THE INDIAN OCCUPATION.
ance's Bottom, where the familiar old Indian was at
once recognized by the wife of William  Yard Provance, who wondered he did not leave his canoe. On'4ose observation she found he was dead. She had
im decently buried on the Fayette shore, near the
early residence of Robert McClean, at what was
known as McClean's Ford.  This murder was regarded by both whites and Indians as a great outrage, and the latter made it a prominent item in their
list of grievances."
A number of Indian paths or trails traversed this
county in various directions. The principal one of
these- was the great war-path over which the Senecas
and other tribes of the Six Nations traveled from their
homes in the State of New York on their forays against
Cherokees and other Southern tribes in the Carolinas,
Georgia, and Tennessee. This was known as the
Cherokee or Catawba Trail. Passing from the " Genesee country" of Western New York, down the valley
of the Allegheny, it left that river in the present
county of Armstrong, Pa., and traversing Westmnoreland, entered the territory of Fayette near its northeastern extremity, crossing Jacob's Creek at the mouth
of Bushy Run. From there its route was southwestwardly, passing near the present village of Pennsville
to the Youghiogheny River, which it crossed just
below the mouth of Opossum  Run;  thence up that
small stream for some distance, and then on, by way
of Mount Braddock, to Redstone Creek, at the point
where Uniontown now stands.  From there it passed
in a general southwesterly direction, through the present townships of South Union, Georges, and Spring
Hill; and crossing Cheat River at the mouth of Grassy
Run, passed out of the county southward into Virginia, on its route to-the Holston River and the Carolinas.  From this main trail, at a point a little south
of Georges Creek, in Fayette County, there struck off
a tributary path known as the Warrior Branch,2 which
passed thence across the Cheat and Monongahela
Rivers, and up the valley of Dunkard Creek into Virginia. It was at this trail, near the second crossing
of Dunkard Creek, that the surveyors who were running the extension of the Mason and Dixon line, in
October, 1767, were compelled to stop their work, on
account of the threats of the Delaware and Shawanese
warriors, and their positive refusal to allow the party
1 The place where tliis trail crossed the Youghiogheny was identica
with that where Gen. Braddock crossed his armny, on his march towardE
Fort Du Quesne, ill 1755.
2 Judge Veech describes the route of this trail (proceeding northlward
as follows: " A tributary trail called the Warrior Branch, coming fron
Tennessee, through Kentucky and Southern Ohio, caine up Fish Creel
and down Dunkard, crossing Cheat River at McFarland's. It ran out;
junction with the chief trail, intersecting it at William Gans' sugar
camp (between Morris' Cross-Roads and Georges Creek, in Spring Hil
township), but it kept on by Crow's Mill, James Robinson's, and the ol
gun factory (in Nicholson township) and thence towards the mouth o
Redstone; intersecting the old Redstone'trail from the top of Laurel Hill
near Jackson's, or Grace Church, on the National road."
to proceed farther west; and it was not until fifteen
years later that the line'was run beyond this trail.
An Indian path much used by the natives was one
which led from the " Forks of the Ohio" (now Pittsburgh) to the Potomac River at the mouth of Wills'
Creek (where Cumberland, Md., now  stands).  This
was known as "Nemacolin's Path" or trail, though
it was doubtless traveled by Indian parties many
years, and perhaps ages, before the birth of the old
Delaware whose name it bore.3 This trail, starting
from the head of the Ohio, joined the Cherokee trail
in Westmoreland County, and from the point of junction the two trails were nearly identical as far south
as Mount Braddock, at which point Nemacolin's trail
left the other, and took a southeasterly course, by way
of the Great Meadows, in the present township of
Wharton, the Great Crossings of the Youghiogheny,
near the southeast corner of Fayette County; thence
it crossed the southwestern corner of Somerset County
into Maryland.  There were numerous other trails
traversing the county of Fayette, but none of them
as important or as much traveled as those above mentioned.
These trails were the highways of the Indians,the thoroulghfares over which they journeyed on their
business of the chase or of war, just as white people
pursue their travel and traffic over their graded roads.
" An erroneous impression obtains among many at
the present day," says Judge Veech, " that the Indian, in traveling the interminable forests which once,covered our towns and fields, roamed at random, like
a modern afternoon hunter, by no fixed paths, or that
he iwas guided in his long journeyings solely by the
sun and stars, or by the courses of the streams and
mountains.  And true it is that these untutored sons
of the woods were considerable astronomers and geographers, and relied much upon these unerring guidemarks of nature.  Even in the most starless night
they could determine their course by feeling the bark
of the oak-trees, which is always smoothest on the
south side, and roughest on the north. But still they
had their trails or paths, as distinctly marked as are
our county and State roads, and often better located.
The white traders adopted them, and often stole their
lnames, to be in turn surrendered to the leader of some
Anglo-Saxon army, and finally obliterated by some
costly highway of travel and commerce.  They are
3 It received this name from the fact that when the old " Ohio Company"
1  was preparing to go into the Indian trade at the head of the Ohio, in the
s  year 1749, onle of the principal agents of that company-Col. Thomas
Cresap, of Old Town, Md.-employed the Indian Nemacolin (who lived,
), as before mentioned, at the mouth of Dunlap's Creek. on the Monongahela)
a  to guide him over the best route for a pack-horse path from the Potomac
k  to the Indian villages on the Ohio, a short distance below the confluence
a  of the Allegheny and Monongahela. The old Indian pointed out the
r-  path in question as being the most feasible route, and it was adopted.
11  In 1754, Washington followed its line with his troops as far north and
d west as Gist's plantation, in Fayette County; and in 1755, Gen. Braddock
Af  made it, with few variations, his route of march from Fort Cumberland
1,  to Gist's, and thence northwardly to near the point in Westmoreland
County where he first crossed the MIonongahela.HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
within the walls of the capital. Afterwards it was
moved to San Angel.
Col. Roberts died of disease in the city of Mexico,
on the 3d of October, 1847, and the command of
the regiment was assumed by Lieut.-Col. John W.
Geary, afterwards Governor of Pennsylvania.  The
body of the dead colonel was embalmed, and with
that of Lieut. John Sturgeon, of the Fayette County
company, was sent back to Uniontown, where the
remains were received with every demonstration of
sorrow and respect. The funeral procession was escorted by the " Union Volunteers" and the " Fayette
Cavalry," Capt. James Gilmore. The committee of
arrangements (chosen at a public meeting held for
that purpose at Uniontown on the 8th of December)
was composed of Gen. H. W. Beeson (cliairman),
John Irons, John M. Austin, Dr. J. Patrick, Armstrong Hadden, E. P. Oliphant, Dr. Smith Fuller,
Daniel Kaine, and William Wells. The gentlemen
forming the committee of escort were Everhart Bierer
(chairman), Col. Robert Patterson, Amzi Fuller,
Robert S. Henderson, M. W. Irwin, William T. Roberts, John Huston, Hugh Graham, John L. Dawson,
William C. Stevens, W. R. Turner, S. D. Oliphant,
John D. Scott, Dr. R. M. WValker, Henry Barkman,
William Bailey, D. H. Phillips, E. B. Dawson, William Redick, and John Bierer. The remains of Col.
Roberts were interred in the Methodist gravevard in
the borough of Uniontown, and a neat marble monument has since been erected over his grave.
The "Fayette County Volunteers" having served
with the Second Regiment in Mexico until the close
of the war, returned with that command, and on the
13th of July, 1848, arrived at Uniontown, where they
received an enthusiastic welcome fromn the people of
the town and surrounding country.
The company of Capt. P. N. Guthrie, in which
were many men from Fayette County, was mustered
into the serVice at Pittsburgh in May, 1847, and was
assigned to duty in the Eleventh Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers, which fought under Gen. Scott
in most of the engagements that occurred on the
march from Vera Cruz to the Mexican capital. A
letter written by Capt. Guthrie at the city of Mexico,
mentioning the gallantry of his company in the battle
of Molino del Rey and other engagements, is here
given:
" My men all behaved in very gallant style through
the actions of the 18th and 20th of August and on
the 8th of September, also in several skirmishes with
the Lancers on the 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, and 14th of
September, and I am very proud of them. The action
on the 8th of September at Molino del Rey was the
hardest and most severely contested battle that has
been fought in this country. Sergeant Lenox Rea
distinguished himself very much by his acts of heroism; he had five as brave spirits as his own with him,
-Corporals William M. Smith, John M. Crammer,
Thomas Neil, and Privates Asbury Harvey [of Uniontown] and A. Cook. He penetrated the fort, and fbllowed the enemy right up to one of their batteries,
situated immediately under the guns of Chapultepec,
and in the very midst of the Mexican army took prisoners three officers and fifty-three men, bringing them
back along the very front of the Mexican line, deceiving them by his boldness into the belief that the
situation of affairs was vice versa. He reported himself and prisoners safely to a lieutenant of the Fiftli
Infantry, and in a few minutes afterwards had his leg
completely torn to atoms by a shell. He is now doing
~well, and will in all probability be sent home by the
first traiii. The other men wlho were wounded are all
doing well."
No roll of the members of this company has been
found, nor any further particulars ascertained ill
reference to their engagdements, the duration of their
term of service, or their return to Pennsylvania.
CHAPTER XVII.
WAR OF TIIE REBELLION-FAYETTE'S FIRST COMPANIES-EIGE1TII AND ELEVENTHI RESERVES.
IN the great conflict of 1861-65, known as the war
of the Rebellion, the people of Fayette County exhibited the greatest patriotisml and promptness in furnishing and forwarding men for service in the Union
armies. On receipt of the proclamation of the President of the United States announcing the opening of
war by the assault and capture of Fort Sumter, and
calling for seventy-five thousand men to suppress the
Rebellion, preparations were at once commenced to
form companies to enter the service, and so ready and
enthusiastic was the response that on the 21st of April,
1861, only six days fromn the date of the President's
call, the first company,' then known as the " Fayette
Guards," ninety-eight strong, including officers, left
Uniontown for Pittsburgh, where they were soon after
mustered into the service for three months,--a terni
which at that time was considered ample for the
closing of the war.
The commissioned and non-commissioned officers
of the " Fayette Guards" were Capt. S. Duncan Oliphant, First Lieut. Jesse B. Gardner, Second Lieut.
J. B. Ramsey, Third Lieut. Henry W'. Patterson;
Sergeants: First, John Bierer; Second, Henry C.
Dawson; Third, James H. Springer; Fourth, Peter
1 It is stated, upon authority which seenis entirely reliabl], that tlhe
first man who left Ftayette County to enlter the seivice of the government as a soldier in the war of 18;61-6.5 was Thomas Porter, now of Colinellsville. Onl the morning of Tuesday, April 16, 1861, the day following the issuance of President's Lincolu's call for seventy-five tllousand
men, lie wenit to Pittsburghl, and there enlisted in a conmpany then commencing to be recruited by Capt. Jolln Poland, and which afterwards
became Company K of the (Tllirteenth Pellnsylvania) regiment conlmanded by Col. Thomas A. Rowley.
190WAR OF TIlE REBELLION.
Heck; Corporals: First, B. L. Hunt; Second, O. P.
AWells; Third, J. O. Stewart; Fourth, Joseph White.
The colnpany was afterwards reorganized, and mustered in for three years as " G" company of the
Eighthl Reserve Regiment, as will be noticed in
another part of this chapter.
WVhen the President's call was made there were in
existence in Fayette County several militia organizations, armed and'equipped, viz.: the Union Volunteers, Dunlap's Creek Cavalry, Georges Creek Cavalry, Springfield Blues, Youghiogheny Blues, and
Falls City Guards. A meeting of the officers of these
companies was held at the court-house in Uniontown,
where it was voted unanimously to tender their services to the Governor. This was done, but the offer
was declined, for the reason that the quota of the
State had already been filled.
During the six or seven weeks next following the
President's call a company of cavalry was raised by
Capt. William A. West, of this county, a veteran of
the Mlexican war. Of this company sixty-seven were
Fayette County men, and the remainder were raised
principally in Morgantown and Clarksburg, W. Va.
As the Pennsylvania quota was filled, the company
could not secure acceptance in this State, and was
therefore joined to the First Cavalry Regiment of
West Virginia, Col. Sansel, afterwards commanded
by Col. Richmond. The officers of this company
were Capt. West, First Lieut. H. N. Mackey, Second
Lieut.. Isaac Brownfield, Ord. Sergt. Dennis Delaney.
In May and June a company of infantry was recruited in Fayette County, principally in Wharton,
Henry Clay, and Stewart townships, and was for the
same reason as mentioned above, incorporated with
the Third Regiment of West Virginia. The officers
of this company were Capt. C. E. Swearingen, First
Lieut. H. C. Hagan, Second Lieut. C. B. Hadden.
On the organization of the regiment at Clarksburg,
W. Va., July 4, 1861, Capt. Swearingen was elected
major, and Lieut. Hagan promoted to the captaincy,
-  Gibson, of West Virginia, being elected first
lieutenant. This company served creditably during
the war, but no roll of its members has been obtained.
Fayette County furnished during the war large
numbers of troops for the armies of the United States.
They served in various commands, but were most nunerous in the Eighth and Eleventh Reserves, the
Eighty-fifth, One Hundred and Sixteenth, and One
Hundred and Forty-second Infantry Regimnents, the
Fourteenth and Sixteenth Cavalry, and the Second
Heavy Artillery of Pennsylvania. Of the movements
and services of these regiments separate historical
sketches will be given, with lists of their Fayette
County members.
Besides the soldiers serving in the organizations
above mentioned, there was also raised principally
in Fayette County a company of men who joined
the Sixth Artillery (Two Hundred and Twelfth Pennsylvania Regiment). Of this company the captain
was Joseph Keeper, and the first lieutenant Thomas
M. Fee, of Connellsville, at wllich place thirty-four
men of the company were enlisted.
The fact that Pennsylvania, by reason of her extended
southern frontier bordering on Mason and Dixon's line,
was peculiarly exposed to the danger of invasion by
the forces of the Confederacy. was at once recognized
by Governor Curtin, who on the 20th of April, just
one week after the fall of Fort Sumter, called an
extra session of the Legislature, which convened on
the 30th. In his message to that body he said, " To
furnish ready support to those who have gone out
and to protect our borders we should have a wellregulated military force. I therefore recommend the
immediate organization, disciplining, and arming of
at least fifteen regiments of cavalry and infantry, exclusive of those'called into the service of the United
States. As we have already ample warning of the necessity of being prepared for any sudden exigency that
may arise, I cannot too much impress this upon you."
In pursuance of this recommendation of the Governor a bill was introduced on the 2d of May, and
became a law on the 15th, having among its provisions one authorizing and directing the commanderin-chief to raise and organize a military force, to be
called the "Reserve Volunteer Corps of the Conmmonwealth," to be composed of thirteen regiments
of infantry, one of cavalry, and one of light artillery,
to be enlisted in the service of the State for the term
of three years, or during the continuance of the war
unless sooner discharged, and to be liable to be called
into service at the discretion of the commander-inchief for the purpose of suppressing insurrection or
repelling invasion, and, further, to be liable to be
mustered into the service of the United States under
requisition made by the President on the State of Pennsylvania. The regiments and companies composing
the corps so authorized were entitled to elect, and the
Governor was directed to commission, officers similar
in rank and equal in number to those allowed to
troops in the United States army.
The corps formed under the provisions of this act
was quickly and easily recruited, for the enthusiasm
and desire to enlist in its railks was general in every
part of the State. The camps of instruction were four
in number,-one at Easton, one at West Chester, one
at Pittsburgh, and one at Harrisburg. The exigency
foreseen by Governor Curtin having arisen, orders
were received (July 19th) from the Secretary of War
directing all the regiments, excepting the Fifth and
Thirteenth,1 of the Reserves to be assembled at Harrisburg, and there, immediately after the disastrous
battle of Bull Run, they were mustered into the
United States service. From Harrisburg, "moving
rapidly to the points designated by the commander of
1 These two regiments were already in the field in the vicinity of
Cumberland, lid.
191HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
the national army, the several regiments remained on
duty until all danger fronm a sudden incursion of the
enemy was passed," when all of them were rendezvoused at Tenallytown, Md., in the immediate vicinity of the District of Columbia. There they were
formed into three brigades, composing one division,
under command of Maj.-Gen. George A. McCall. This
was the far-famed division of the Pennsylvania Reserves, which, after the requisite tour of drill and
di:scipline at Tenallytown, moved into Virginia with
the forces of Gen. McClellan, and afterwards won imperishable renown on nearly all the principal battlefields of the Army of the Potomac.
EIGIITH RESERVE REGIMIENT.
The Eighth Reserve, or Thirty-seventh Regiment
of Pennsylvania (enlisted for three years' service),
was raised in the counties of Fayette, Washington,
Allegheny, Greene, Armstrong, Butler, and Clarion,
all or nearly all of which had been raised for the
three months' service, but had failed to secure acceptance by the government for that term. Two of its
companies (" D," Capt. C. L. Conner, and " G," Capt.
S. D. Oliphant) were recruited in Fayette County,
the former at Brownsville and the latter at Uniontown. being previously known as the Fayette Guards.
The rendezvous of the Eighth was. at "Camp Wilkins," Pittsburgh, to which camp the companies were
ordered early in June, 1861, and on the 28th of the
same month the regiment was formally organized,
under the following-named field-officers, viz.: Colonel,
George S. Hays, M.D., of Allegheny County; Lieutenant-Colonel, S. Duncan Oliphant (original captain
of " G" company), of Fayette; Major, John W. Duncan; Adjutant, Henry W. Patterson, promoted from
second lieutenant of " G" company.
On the 20th of July the regiment left for Washington, D. C., by way of Harrisburg and Baltimore. Receiving equipments at the former place, and tents at
the latter, it arrived at Washington on the 23d, and
encamped at Meridian Hill. On the 2d of August it
moved thence to Tenallytown, Md., where it encamped with other regiments of the Reserve Division
under Maj.-Gen. George A. McCall. The Eighth, together with the First Reserve, Col. R. Biddle Roberts;
the Second, Col. William B. Mann; and the Fifth,
Col. Seneca G. Simmons, formed the First Brigade,
under command of Brig.-Gen. John F. Reynolds.
The regiment remained at Tenallytown about two
months, a period which was passed in camp routine,
picket duty, and frequent alarms along the line of the
Potomac, and on the 9th of October moved with its
brigade and division across that historic stream, and
took position in the line of the Army of the Potomac
at Langley, Va., at which place the Reserve Corps
made its winter-quarters. In the battle of Dranesville, which was fought on the 20th of December by
the Third Brigade (Gen. Ord's) of the Reserves,
neither the Eighth Regiment nor any part of Reynolds' brigade took part, being absent on a reconnoissance to Difficult Creek. On the 7th of December,
while the division lay at Langley, Capt. Jesse B.
Gardner, of "G" company, was promoted to major of
the regiment, in place of Duncan, resigned.
On the 10th of March, 1862, the Eighth, with the
entire division, moved from the winter-quarters at
Camp Pierpont (Langley) to Hunter's Mills, Va., with
the expectation of joining in a general advance of
the army on the Confederate position at Manassas.
But it was found that the enemy had evacuated his
line of defenses and retired towards Gordonsville,
and thereupon the plan of the campaign was changed
by the commanding general, McClellan, and the Reserve regiments were ordered back to the Potomac.
On the 12th, the retrograde march was commenced,
and continued through mud, darkness, and a deluge
of rain t6 Alexandria, where it was expected that
the division would embark with the rest of thle Army
of the Potomac for the Peninsula; but this was not the
case. The division of McCall was assigned to duty
with the First Corps, under Gen. McDowell, which,
with the exception of Franklin's division, was held
between the Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers for
the protection of the city of Washington.
From  Alexandria the Eighth with its brigade
marched back to Manassas, thence to Warrenton
Junction, to Falmouth, and (May 24th) across the Rappahannock to Fredericksburg, of which place Gen.
Reynolds was appointed military governor. An advance from Fredericksburg along the line of the railroad towards Richmond was intended, but this was
found to be inexpedient, and as Gen. McClellan was
calling urgently for reinforcements in the Peninsula,
Reynolds' brigade was recalled from its advanced position on the railroad; the entire division was marched
to Gray's Landing, and there embarked for White
House, on the Pamunkey River, where it arrived on
the 11th of June. There had been a vast quantity of
stores collected at White House for the use of the
army on the Chickahominy, and the timely arrival of
the Reserves prevented the destruction of these stores
by a strong detachment of Confederate cavalry under
Fitzhugh Lee, who was then on his way towards the
Pamunkey for that purpose.
From White House, the Eighth marched with the
division by way of Baltimore Cross-Roads to join the
Army of the Potoinac in the vicinity of Gaines' MIill.
Thence the division was moved to the extreme right,
where it took position at Mechanicsville and along
the line of Beaver Dam Creek.
On Thursday, the 26th of June, wasfought the battle of Mechanicsville, the first of that series of bloody
engagements known collectively as the Seven Days'
Fight, and also (with the exception of the severe
skirmish at Dranesville in the previous December)
the first engagement in which the Pennsylvania Reserves took part. In this battle the Eighth (having
in the morning of that day relieved the Second) occuI
192WAR OF THE REBELLION.  
pied the left of its brigade line, and about the centre
of the line holding thle bank of Beaver Dam Creek.
The First Reserve Regiment was on its right. On a
crest of ground northeast of the creek was posted
Easton's Battery. At the margin of the swamp which
skirts the creek the Eighth was deployed, Companies
A, D), F, and I being thrown forward as skirmishers
under command of Lieut.-Col. Olipliant. The battle
commenced at about three o'clock in the afternoon,
the Georgia and Louisiana troops of the enemy wading the stream and rushing forward to the attack.
"A brief artillery contest, in which the shells burst
in rapid succession in the very midst of the infantry,
was -followed by the advance of the rebel columns, and
the battle became general. A charge of the enemy
below the swamp, with the design of capturing
Easton's Battery, caused the skirmishers to be recalled, and the regiment moved to its support. But
the enemy being repulsed by other troops it returned
to its former position. Three times the close columns
of the enemy charged down the opposite slope with
determined valor, but were as often repulsed and
driven back. At night the men rested upon the
grounld where they had fought. The dead were collected, wrapped in their blankets, and consigned to
the earth, and the wounded were sent to the rear.
The loss of the regiment in killed, wounded, and missing was nearly one hundred. Company F being
upon the skirmish line, and not comprehending the
order to withdraw, remained at its post, and fell into
the hands of the enemy."
At daylight in the morning of the 27th of June the
Eighth, with its companion regiments of the Reserve
Corps, was withdrawn from the battle-ground of the previous day, and moved down, parallel witlh the Chickahominy, some two -or three miles, to Gaines' Mill,
where Gen. Fitz-John Porter's corps (of which the
Reserves formed a part) was placed in line of battle for
the renewed conflict which was inevitable. Butterfield's brigade occupied the extreme left, Sykes' division of regulars the right, and McCall's Pennsylvanians were placed in the second line. Approaching
them were the Confederate commands of Gens. A. P.
Hill, Longstreet, D. H. Hill, and the redoubtable
"Stonewall" Jackson, in all more than fifty thousand
men, against half that number on the Union side.
The battle opened by a furious attack on the regulars
composing Porter's right. These, after having repulsed the enemy in his first attack, finally gave way
before a renewed assault. The Eighth Reserve, in the
second line, was posted where a road was cut through
rising ground, and the excavation afforded some shelter, but the regiment suffered quite severely from the
shells of the enemy, which were directed at a battery
which it was posted to support. The battle raged furiously during all the afternoon. At about five o'clock the
enemy advanced in heavy masses from the woods, and
the Eighth Reserve, with the Second Regulars, were advanced to meet the assault in their front. The hostile
line recoiled before them, and was swept back to the
woods, but they rallied in superior numbers, and the
two regiments w-ere in turn driven back, with a loss
to the Eighth of twenty-four in killed and wounded.
During the battle the heroic Reynolds, the brigade
commander, was taken prisoner by the enemy.
The day of Gaines' Mill closed in blood and defeat
to the Union forces, and during the night the shattered Pennsylvania Reserves, with the other troops,
succeeded in crossing the Chickahoininy and destroying the bridges behind them, though two bridges
farther down the stream (Bottom's and Long Bridges)
still remained, and it was not long after sunrise on
Saturday morning when the Confederate force under
the indomitable Jackson was massed at the upper
one of these and making preparations to cross to the
south side. Other hostile forces were also advancing
directly on McClellan's left wing, and in view of this
rather alarming situation of affairs, the general had,
as early as Friday evening, decided on a retreat by
the whole army to James River, where a base of supplies could be held, and communication on the river
kept open by the co-operation of the Union gunboats.
The troops were informed of the proposed change by
an apparently triumphant annouilcement (intended
merely to encourage the soldiers and lighten in some
degree the gloom of the great disaster) that a new and
mysterious flank movement was about to be executed
which would surely and swiftly result in the capture
of Richmond.  No such assurance, however, could
conceal from the intelligent men who formed the
Army of the Potomac that their backs and not their
faces were now turned towards the rebel capital, and
that the much-vaunted "change of base" was made
from necessity rather than choice.
During all the day succeeding the battle (Saturday,
June 28th) the Eighth lay at Savage Station, on the
York Ri,er Railroad. On Sunday it moved with the
other regiments to and across White Oak Swamp,
and at about sunset came to the vicinity of Charles
City Cross-Roads, where on the following day a fierce
battle was fought, in which the Eighth took gallant
part. The first assault of the enemy was received at
about one o'clock in the afternoon. "In the formation of the line the First Brigade was held in reserve, but as the struggle became desperate the
Eighth was ordered in. Its position fell opposite the
Sixth Georgia, which was upon the point of charging,
when Gen. McCall gave the order for the Eighth to
charge upon it, and Col. Hays leading the way with
a shout that rang out above the deafening roar of the
conflict, it dashed forward, scattering the Georgians
and driving them beyond the marsh in front. A few
prisoners were taken. Later the enemy pressed
heavily upon that part of the field, and the line was
forced back, the Eighth gradually retiring until it
reached a new line which had been established, where
it remained till darkness put an end to the conflict."
The loss to the regiment at Charles City Cross-Roads
1 9 -3HI-ISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
A.
wvas sixteen killed and fourteen severely and many
others slightly wounded.
In the terrific battle of Malvern Hill, which was
fought in the afternoon of the following day, the
Eighth, being held with the division in reserve, did
not become engaged. The battle was opened at
about four o'clock P.m., and from that time until
darkness closed in, the roar of musketry, the crash of
artillery, and the howling of canister was unintermitting. Finally the carnage ceased, and the men of
the North lay down on the field (as they supposed)
of victory. But at about midnight orders were received to fall in for a march, and the Pennsylvania
Reserves, with other commands of the Army of the
Potomac, moved silently down the hill and away on
the road to Berkeley (or Harrison's Landing), where
they arrived and encamped on July 2d. The loss of
the Eighth Reserve Regiment in killed, wounded,
and missing during the Seven Days' battles was two
hundred and thirty.
After a dreary stay of more than a month at Harrison's Landing, the Eighth was embarked on the
11th of August, and with the other Reserve regiments
proceeded to Acquia Creek, on the Potomac, under
orders to reinforce Gen. Pope. The division (except
the Second Regiment) was moved to the vicinity of
Kelly's Ford, and there joined to the Third Corps,
under Gen. McDowell. In the engagements of the
29th and 30th of August the regiment took gallant
part, losing five killed, seventeen wounded, and about
thirty missing, out of a total strength of about one
hundred effective men with which it entered the
campaign. At this time the command of the regiment was held by Capt. C. L. Conner, of "' D" company, from Fayette County.
Immediately after the close of Pope's disastrous
campaign the Reserve division moved with the army
into Maryland and fought at South Mountain and
Antietam.  In the former battle the Eighth lost
seventeen killed and thirty-seven wounded, and in
the latter twelve killed and forty-three wounded. In
this battle (Antietam) the Reserves, being in the corps
of Hooker, moved across the creek with that fighting
general in the afternoon of September 16th and
opened the fight, the position of that corps being on
the right of the army. On the following morning
the battle opened early, and the First Brigade moved
forward, passed through a small wood, and formed
line in a large cornfield beyond. The Eighth was
ordered into a grove to the left to dislodge a body of
the enemy who had sheltered themselves there and
were engaged in picking off the Union artillerymen.
This duty was well and gallantly performed. "The
grove was soon cleared, and froIn it a steady and
effective fire at close range was delivered upon the
rebel line concealed in the cornfield. For four hours
the battle raged with unabated fury and with varying
success when the Reserves were relieved by fresh
troops." On the following day the enemy commenced
his retreat to the Potomac, covering his design by the
feint of bringing in fresh troops from the direction of
Harper's Ferry.
At the battle of Fredericksburg, Va., on the 13th
of December, 1862, the Eighth again fought with the
greatest gallantry, and experienced a heavier loss
than oneany previous field. In the crossing of the
Rappahannock the Reserves covered the laying of
the pontoons for the passage of Gen. Franklin's
grand division, and after the crossing they were
selected to make the first attack on that part of the
field. "In the heroic advance of this small division
in the face of the concentrated fire of the enemy's
intrenched line, in scaling the heights, and in breaking and scattering his well-posted force the Eighth
bore a conspicuous and most gallant part. Never
before had it been subjected to so terrible an ordeal,
and when after being repulsed and driven back by
overwhelming numbers it again stood in rank beyond
the reach of the enemy's guns scarcely half its numbers were there. Twenty-eight lay dead upon that
devoted field, eighty-six were wounded, and twentytwo were captured."
Early in February, 1863, the Reserve regiments
were ordered to the defense3 of Washington to rest
and to receive recruits, which were being sent
forward from Pennsylvania to fill their decimated
ranks. There the Eighth remained until the opening of the spring campaign of 1864, when it was
again ordered to the front, and rejoining the Army of
the Potomac nioved forward with Gen. Grant into the
Wilderness. It left Alexandria on the 19th of April,
proceeded to Bristow Station, and thence on the 29th
marchled to Culpeper Court-House. On the 4th of
May it crossed the Rapidan, and on the 5th was once
more engaged with the enemy, losing six killed and
twenty-seven wounded.  On the 8th it moved to
Spottsylvania, and in the series of conflicts which
continued until the 15th it was almost constantly
under fire, and behaved with its accustomed steadiness, though its loss during that time was but three
killed and sixteen wounded. Its three years' term of
service having now expired, an order of the War
Department was received on the 17th of May relieving it from duty at the front, directing the transfer of
its recruits and re-enlisted veterans to the One Hundred and Ninety-first Regiment, and the mustering
out of its other men and officers. Under this order
those whose terms had expired proceeded to Washington, and thence to Pittsburgh, where the remnant
of the regiment was mustered out of service.
Gen. S. Duncan Oliphant,' the subject of this
sketch, is the second son of a family of eleven children-six sons and five daughters-of F. H. and Jane
C. Oliphant; was born at Franklin Forge, at the
"Little Falls" of the Youghiogheny River, Franklin
township, Fayette Co., Pa., Aug. 1, 1826.
1 By Gen. Joshua T. Owen.
-I
I
191I"?
/,    ,--,,AWAR OF TIl
His experience of school commenced when quite a
child, rhile his father lived in Pittsburgh,-the iastruction of a private tutor in the family at Franklin
Forge, and subsequently at different schools from time
to time in Uniontown, mostly in the old Madison
College building; and his preparation for college at
Bethel Academv, near Pittsburgh, and the Grove
Academy, at Steubenville, Ohio.
In the fall of 1840 he entered the freshman class
of Jefferson College, Cannonsburg, Washington Co.,
Pa., where his older brother John, Gen. J. B. Sweitzer, Rev. Johnson Elliot, John Sturgeon, Daniel
Downer, William Parshal, and Thomas Lyons, of
Fayette County, were among his college-mates. He
was one of the four orators representing the Philo
Literary Society, along with Gen. Joshua T. Owen,
of Philadelphia, Gen. James S. Jackson, of Kentucky,
and Col. Rodney Mason, of Ohio, on the annual exhibition in the spring of 1844, graduating in September following. In October of the same year he entered Harvard Law School; graduated from it in
June of 1846; entered the law-office of Gen. J. B.
Howell and Hon. E. P. Oliphant, his uncle, and was
admitted to practice in the several courts of Fayette
County in September, 1847.
Having some passion and taste for the military
life he joined the old Union Volunteers in the fall of
1847, and in January, 1848, he was elected and commissioned captain; appointed aide-de-camp on the
staff of Maj.-Gen. Cyrus P. Markle. In 1849 he was
elected and commissioned lieutenant-colonel, commanding the battalion of uniformed militia of Fayette County.  Taking an active part in anything
useful to the town and county, he commanded the
Union Fire-Engine Company for many years, and
was for three terms-president of the Fayette County
Agricultural Society, holding its annual fairs at
Brownsville. He was fond of horses, the chase, the
rifle, and the shot-gun, and was something of an
expert in all manly exercises.
Acquiring some experience at the bar of Fayette
County, he mroved to Pittsburgh in the fall of 1850,
and entered into partnership with Hon. Thomas Williams; but the atmosphere of the " Smoky City" proving uncongenial to his wife's taste and health, he returned to Uniontown in the fall of 1852, and resumed
the practice of law there.
About this time the building of a branch railroad
from Uniontown to Connellsville began to be seriously
agitated. Col. Oliphant took an active interest in the
enterprise, calling meetings and soliciting subscriptions for stock, working on when others had abandoned hope. The Fayette County Railroad was due
chiefly to his-in conjunction with the Hon. Nathaniel Ewing's-constant and persevering energy.
He was secretary and treasurer of the company from
the commencement of the enterprise until after the
road was finished.
On the 12th of April, 1861, Fort Sumter was fired
upon. Col. Oliphant at once commenced to raise a
company of volunteers for the defense of the Union.
In this he had the active co-operation of Capt. J. B.
Ramsey, Maj. J. B. Gardner, Henry W. Patterson,
Henry C. Danson, William  H. McQuilkin, Martin
Hazen, aiid others.  On the 15th the company was
full and off to the rendezvous in Pittsburgh, where
the company was organized, electing S. D. Oliphrtnt
captain; J. B. Gardner, first; J. B. Ramsey, second;
and Henry W. Patterson, third lieutenant. The company then went into Camp Wilkins witll the name of
"Fayette Guard," and was cast in the organization of
the Eighth Regiment, Company G, Pennsylvania Reserve Corps, at Camp Wright, on the Allegheny Valley Railroad, of which Capt. Oliphant was elected
lieutenant-colonel. On the 16th of June, 1861, he
was presented with a beautiful sword by his friends
in Pittsburgh, of which the Daily Post of the 17th
says,"SWORD PRESENTATION-AN INTERESTING CEREMONIAL.
"Last evening one of the large parlors of the Monongahela
IIouse was filled by a party of ladies and gentlemen to witness
a pleasing and touching ceremony, not an uncommon one
amid the incidents of these times of war, but in this instance
a peculiarly gra,ceful and a.ppropriate one. A beautiful sword
was presented to Lieutenant-Colonel S. D. Oliphant by his
friends as a token of their love for the man and their esteem
for the virtues peculiar to the soldier which he so eminently
possesses.
"In a speech conceived in most excellent taste, and delivered
with true manly feeling, the sword was presented to Col. Oliphant by Algernon S. Bell, Esq., of this city. It was received
by Col. Oliphant with deep feeling, and his reply was a model
of calnm eloquence, such. as only comes when the heart speaks
out.
"The gentlemen were college-mates together, are both members of the legal profession, and the friendship of their early
days has been refreshed and strengthened by the growing esteem of more mature years.  The occasion was one which
called forth feeling allusions to bygone days and classic remembrhnces. The generous impulses of both hearts poured out
in simple, touching words. There was no effort at display, no
high-flown effort at big, round words, but the men spoke to
each other as brother might speak to brother.
"We never recollect to ha.e witnessed a similar ceremony
more happily consulmmated. The audience sympathized heartily
with the sentiments expressed by the speaker, and at the close
of the ceremony gave their hearty congratulations to the officer
whom they had assembled to hlonor."
On the 20th of July, 1861, the regiment received
marching orders for Harrisburg; took- cars at Pittsburgh on Sunday morning, the 21st, arriving at Harrisburg on MBonday morning.  "Bull Run" had been
heard from, and the regiment was hurried on through
Baltimore to the defenise of Washington; went into
camp at Meridian Hill, moved thence to Tenallytown, where the Pennsylvania Reserves were assembled and organized into brigades under Gen. George
A. McCall.  The Eighth Regiment was brigaded with
the First, Second, and Fifth Regiments, under command of Brig.-Gen. John F. Reynolds.
1 91
AVAR OF TIIE REBELLION.HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Late in October, 1861, the Pennsylvania Reserves  not broken. On the crest of the hill, where the line
were ordered to the south side of the Potomac, to the  of battle was formed, Col. Simmons, of the Fifth
extreme right of McClellan's line, Camp Pierpont,  Reserve, opened his ranks to let the Eighth pass
with division headquarters at Langley, on the Dranes-  through.
ville turnpike.                                        The whole line cheered the Eighth, and Col. SimThe monotony of the winter of 1861-62 was only  mons, grasping Col. Oliphant's hand, said, "I never
broken by the little battle of Dranesville, eight or ten  expected to see you alive again, or to bring a corpomiles south of Camp Pierpont, the first success of the  ral's guard up out of that rebel hell."
Union arms on the soil of Virginia, fought princi-    At the White Oak Swamp Col. Oliphant received
pally by the Third Brigade of the Reserves, under  a severe contusion from a spent round-shot, which inGen. Ord; the First Brigade, in which was the Eighth  volved the right knee-joint. Stunned by theblow he fell
Regiment, under Gen. Reynolds, being in reserve, unconscious to the ground, when Surgeon Alleman
and coming up near the close of the battle. About bandaged his knee whilst under fire, and having
the 1st of April the Reserves took up the line of march  administered some restoratives, in a few minutes he
for Fredericksburg, on the Rappahannock River, remounted, and by leave of Gen. Seymour continued
halting some days at Alexandria, Manassas Junction,  on duty on horseback. [Officers below the rank of
and Catlett's Station, arriving at Falmouth, and shell-  brigadier-general are required to go into battle on
ing a detachment of rebels out of the town, but not foot.] He continued on duty throughout the day and
in time to prevent them from firing and burning a  night, and the next day at the battle of Malvern
span of the bridge on the Fredericksburg side of the  Hill.
river. The Reserves went into camp on the hill above   On the 6th of July, at Harrison's Landing, he was
the town, were incorporated with the army of Gen. stricken down with partial paralysis of the right side,
McDowell, and remained on duty at Falmouth and  and with entire loss of hearing, and was sent to WashFredericksburg until the 8th of June, 1861, when the  ington and thence home for treatlnent. He suffered
divisionwas ordered to the Peninsula, and again as- great pain in his leg and ears, and onr the 29th of
signed to the right of McClellan's line, on the Chick-  December, 1862, on surgeon's recommendation, he
ahominy, near Mechanicsville.                        was honorably discharged on account of physical
On the 26th of June, 1862, Col. Oliphant was on  disability incurred in service.
grand guard and picket duty with his regiment at    Col. Oliphant's hearing improving, along with imthe village of Mechanicsville, and during the after-  provement of his general health, when, in February
noon of that day was driven in by the advance of of 1863, a shock from the discharge of an overloaded
Lee's army. Retiring slowly he fell back to Beaver  musket kicked hiln over, causing a severe contusion
Dam, where the regiment was formed in line of battle  of the shoulder-blade and joint, which hastened the
with the rest of the Reserves. " Col. Oliphant rode  restoration of his hearing to a normal condition; but
along, the front of his line, addressing each company  it is yet dull, and at times inconveniently so, and the
in turn with words of inspiring eloquence. When he  injury to the knee-joint is without'much relief.
came to his own old company, under the influence of   Having thus in a measure recovered from his disadeep feeling and strong emotion, he exclaimed,'Fay-  bility, in June of 1863, Col. Oliphant was appointed
ette Guard, remember Pine Knob is looking. down  and commissioned in the United States Veteran Reupon you, and Lafayette is watching you from the  serve Corps with the rank of major, ordered on duty
dome of the court-house! You will not go back on ine  at Pittsburgh, then at Harrisburg, and in July was asto-day?' 1 The first of the Seven Days' battles was  signed to the command of a detacllment at Pottsville,
fought, and the'Old Guard' did not go back upon  in Schuylkill County. Promoted in August to the
him."                                                rank of lieutenant-colonel, and in October to the
Next morning the Reserves fell back to Gaines' Mill, rank of colonel, and assigned to the command of the
where the second of the Seven Days' battles was fought. second sub-district of the Lehigh, with headquarters
Col. Hayes having lost his voice, not strong at best,  at Pottsville, his duty there was to enforce the
and although he participated in the battle, he turned  draft, and give protection to the coal operators w-ho
the command,over to Lieut.-Col. Oliphant. The regi-  had large contracts with the government.
ment was sent forward some distance in advance of   This was to him the most delicate and anxious
the line to develop the position and force of the  period of his military service, to obey and follow out
enemy; it suffered severely.  Every commissioned  his orders and instructions fully and firmly without
officer in the left wing excepting Capt. Danson was  coming in conflict with the civil authorities.
killed or wounded; among the wounded were Capt.   Says The MAiners Journal' of April 2, 1864, "Col].
Baily and Lieut. McQuilkin, of Fayette County. Hav-  Oliphant, of the 14th Veteran Reserve Corps, recently
ing spent all its ammunition, the regiment retired by  detached from this post with his command, carries
the rear rank in good order, mangled and bloody, but with himn the good wishes and kind regards of all wlho
had the pleasure of enjoying his acquaintance; as an
1 Amer'can Standclar, July, 1862.    officer he was firm anld faitihful in the discharge of
196WAR OF THE REBELLION.                      197
his duty, and the good order that prevailed here may
in a great measure be attributed to his excellent judgment. We part with him with sincere regret."
Arriving at Washington City, he was detached
from the active cotnmand of his regiment and ordered
on duty as the presiding officer of a board for the examination of officers recommended for promotion,
and wvhen this board was discontinued he was detailed as the senior officer of a general court-martial
in Washington.
In July of 1864, Gen. Jubal Early invaded Maryland and threatened Washington. Col. Oliphant was
sent to Plmiladelphia to bring down all the convalescents from the hospitals fit for service in the defenses
of the city. While mustering and equipping the men
land communication between Plhiladelplhia and Washington was cut off by the rebels, but lie took 1200 men
by sea and the Potomac River into the defenises
around Washington.
After Gen. Early's repulse he resumed court-martial
duty, and so continued until earlv fall, when he was
sent as senior officer of a board of inspection of men
in hospitals. This duty brought hitn to Nashville in
December, and he volunteered on the staff of Gen.
Thomas for the battles of the 15th and 16th instant,
itl which the rebel army under Gen. Hood was destroyed.
Returning to Washington after these battles, he was
again appointed presiding officer of a board of examination, and continued on this, court-martial and special
inspection duty until June 23, 1865, when he was promoted to tlle rank of brigadier-general by brevet, and
assigned to the command of the Second Brigade of
the garrison of Washimngton, with headquarters at
East Capital Barracks.
While exercising this command the State trials for
the murder of President Lincoln were cotiducted at
the arsenal in Washington; the guards were furnished
from his brigade, and by special order from Gen.
Augur to that effect, he largely increased the force
and took command of the guard himself on the day
of execution.
From this tilne he was actively though unconmgenially employed on provost duty, while Grant's and
Sherman's armies were being passed through Waslhington and disbanded, until late in November, 1865,
when he was relieved and ordered home to await the
further order of the War Department.
Gen. Oliphant spent the winter of 1865-66 in Harrisburg, in the service of the Pittsburgh and Connellsville Railroad Company, and on the 1st of July,
1866, was honorably discharged and mustered out of
the military service of the United States.
In the spring of 1867 he moved to Princeton, N. J.,
for its educational advantages, having, a large family
of small boys; was admitted to the bar of that State,
and resumed the practice of law.
His imperfect hearing and some impediment of
speech, resultinig from the paralysis, embarrassing
him  in trials at the bar, and his old friend, Hon. William McKennan, having been appointed judge of the
United States Circuit Court for the Third Circuit'
including the district of New Jersey, he saw in this
the probability of an appointment to office in the line
of his  profession  more  congenial to  his  tastes  and
physical condition;  applied  for  and  was appointed
clerk of the court for the district of New Jersey in
September, 1870.  He is so employed at this writing.
In the spring of 1874 lhe moved from Princeton to
Trenton, where he noNv resides.
In March, 1847, Gen. Oliphant married Mary C.,
only child of John Campbell, of Uniontown, and has
bv her ten sons, all living.   His wife Mary dying  in.
October, 1875, some time thereafter he married a Nev
Jersey lady, Miss Beulah A. Oliphant.   Althouglh  of
the same name, there is no consanguinity of blood
betweenl thenm.
Gen. Oliphant is a  genial man, polite  and  even
courtly  in  manners, and  foind  of society.   His  intimates are few, but they are stanch and true friends.
He is a Republican in politics, and though  not at all
bitter in his advocacy of political doctrines, he is an
effective public speaker.
OFFICEISS AND MEN IN  THE EIGTITH  RESERVE FROM  FAYETTE COUNTY.
COMPANY D.
Cyrus L. Couner, captain, mnst. in June 21, 1861; captuired at Gaines'
Mill, Juine 27, 1862; returlned to company Aug. 19, 1862; res. Dec.
25, 1862.
S. B. Bennington, captain, miust. in Juine 21, 1861; pro. from sergeant to
second lieutenant Aug. 1, 1862; to captaini May 1, 1863; wounided at
Fredericklsburg, Va.; iimust. ouit with company May 26, 1865.
Adam Jacobs, Jr., first lieutenianit, inmust. in June 21, 1861; res. Jan. 7,
1862.
George W. Miller, first lieuttenaijt, must. in June 21,1861; pro. fr om sergeatit to first sergeant; to fi-st lieutenan-t Feb. 1, 1862; captured at
Charles City Cross-l,oads; killed at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862.
Thomas McGee, fiist lieutenianit, muist. in June 21, 1861; pro. fronm corporal to sergeant Ot. 1, 1861; to quartermaster-sergeant Nov. 1,
1861; to first lieutenant March 1, 1863; app.A. R. Q. M. April 1, 1863;
to A. C. S. 2d Brignade Oct. 8, 1863; to A. D. C. Jan. 26,1864; to A. D. C.
to Col. Fisher, 3d Brigade, April 20, 1864; 111ust, out witll company
BMay 26, 1864.
Robert Clark, second lieuiteniant, minst. in June 21,1861; tranls. as second
lieutentlant to U. S. A. Sept. 28, 1861.
Solomon G. Krepps, second lieuiteeiaiit,nmtist. in June 21,1861; pro. front
first sergeant tosecotid lieuteniant Oct. 1, 1861; tosecond lieuteniant
4th Re-t. U. S. Infantry April 18, 1862.
Joseph.J. Bail, secolnd lieuitenanit, nitist. in Jutte 21, 1861; pro. froiti sergeanit to first sergeant; to seconid lieuten)ant May 1, 1862; res. July
18, 1862.
J. M. Annawalt,second lieutenant,mttst. in Jutir e 21,1861; pro. tosecond
lieutenant May 1, 1863; killed at Itobiisoms's Farm, May 10, 1864.
J. L. Slaw, first sergeanit, mullst. its Jitite 21, 1861; pro. to sergeanlt May
1, 1862; to first sergeant July 1, 1862; nitast. ouit with company May
2(6, 1864.
William R. Wilkinson, sergeant, muist. in June 21, 1861; pro. from corporal July 1, 1861; k;illed at Chlarles City Cross-Roads, June 30, 162.
Archibald F. Hill, sergeant, muist. in J,tite 21,1861; pro. to corpolral Jully
1, 1861; to sergeanit May 1,1862; wvo,tnded at Antietam, Sept. 17,
1862; disch. on surgeon's ceTtificate Decemiiber, 1862.
William Fullerton, scrgeanit, must. in Juniie 21, 1861; pro. to corporal
Juily 1, 1861; to sergeant Aili. 5,18622; woundled at Gainies' Mill;
must. ouit witlh company MIay 26, 1864.
James B. Evans, sergeant, mitst. itin July 8,1861; pro. to corporal May 1,
1862; to sergeant Nov. 1, 1862; must. out with conapany May 26,
1864.
197
WAR OF THE REBELLION.2                             HSTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
now almost wholly effaced and forgotten. Hundreds
travel along or plow across them, unconscious that              C H A P T E R  I V.
they are in the footsteps of the red man,"
THE FRENCH AND ENGLISH CLAIMS TO THE
The Indian history connected with the annals of    TRANS-ALLEGHENY REGION-GEORGE WASHING
TON'S VISIT TO THE FRENCH  FORTS IN  1753.
Fayette County is very meagre. During the military
operations of the years 1754 and 1755, whlen the op-       THE written history of the section of country em
posing forces of England and France marched to and   braced in and between the valleys of the Mononga
fro  over the hills and  through  the vales of this  hela and Youghiogheny Rivers, like that of all thi
county, they were accompanied on both sides by In-  part of the State of Pennsylvania, commences a
dian  allies, who did their share  of the work of  about the middle of the eighteenth century.  At tha
slaughter, as will be narrated in the history of those  time both France and England were asserting thei
campaigns, given in succeeding  pages.  After the   respective claims to the dominion of this wildernes
French and their Indian allies had expelled the Eng-  region west of the mountains; and it was in the con
lish power fron the region west of the Alleghenies, in flict which resulted from the attempts of each o
1755, nearly all the Indians of the Allegheny and   these rivals to expel the other, and to enforce thel:
Monongahela  Valleys  sided  with  the  victorious  own alleged rights by the fat of atual possession
French; but many years elapsed from that time be- j that the events occurred that are here to be narrated
fore there were any white settlers here to be molested,  and which mark the beginning of the history of the
and when they did come to make their homes here  southwestern counties of Pennsvlvania.
they suffered very little from  such outrages as were      The claim whlieh France made to the ownership oi
constantly commlitted bv the savages upon the inihabit-  this territory was based on the fact that the adventuants west of the Monongahela.  This was doubtless |rous  explorer La Salle descended  the Mississippi
largely due to the fact that the red men regarded the  River in 1682, and at its mouth, on the 9th of April
people east of that river as Pennsylvanians, with  in that year, took formal possession, in the name of
whom  they were on comparatively friendly terms;  the French sovereign, of all the valley of the mighty
while those west of the same stream  were considered   stream, and of all the regions, discovered and to be
by them  to be Virginians, against whom  they held   discovered, Contiguous to it, or to any and all of its
feelings of especial hatred and malignity. With the | tributaries. Sixty-seven years later (1749), Captain
exception of the murder of two men on Burnt Cabin   Celeron, an officer in the service of the king of
Run,tm and the taking of some prisoners south of, France, and having under his command a force of
Georges Creek, the inhabitants of the territory that is  about three hundred men, penetrated southward to
vow Fayette County were entirely exempt from  the   the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela
savage incursions and barbarities with  whiicl  the   Rivers, where he took and confirmed the French pospeople living between them  and the Ohio River were | session of the valleys of these tributaries, burying
so often visited during the thirty years of Indian   metallic plates, duly inscribed with a record of the
varfare and raidings which preceded Gen. Anthony   event, as evidenices of actual occupation.
Wayne's decisive victory on the Maumee, in August,         England, on the other hand, claimed the  country
by virtue of a treaty made with the Six Nations at
Lancaster in June, 1744, when the Indians ceded to
I The circumstances attending this Indian outrage are thus niarr ated I the British king an immense scope of territory'vest
by Judge Veech:' This case, as related by Joseph Mendenball, an old
soldier anid settler at the place known as Mendenhall's Dam, in Menallen  ti  of the royal grant to Penn,1 co-extensive, with the
township, was thuis: About tlree and a half miles west of Uniontown, on  limits of Virginia, which at that time were of indefithe south side of the State or Heaton road, wlich leads from the poor-  nite extent. At a subsequent treaty held (in 1752) at
house through New Salem, etc., and within five or six rods of the road
on land now (1869) of Joshua woodward, are the remains of an old clear:  Logstown, on the Ohio,below Pittsburgh, one of the
ilug of about one-fourth of an acre, and within it the rensains of an old  Iroquois chiefs, who had also taken part in the Lanchiimney. Two or tlisee rods souitlheastward is a small spring, the dratini  caster treaty, declared that it had not been the inten..
of which leads off westward ibito the' Burnt Cabin fork' of Dunlap's or  tion of his people to convey to the English any lands
Nemacolin's Creek; and still farther south, some four or five rods, is the                    n
old trail or path called Dunlap's road. The story is that in very early  west of the Alleghenies, but that, neverthieless, they
times-perhaps about 1767-two men camei over the mountains by this  would not oppose the white man's definition of the
path to huint, etc., and began an improvement at this clearing, and put  boundaries.
up a small cabin upon it. While asleep in their cabin, some Inidians
came to it and shot them, and then set fire to the cabin. Their nanies    The Six Nations in councl had also decided that,
are unknown. So far as known, this is the oily case of thie kind thait  notwithstanding  their friendship  for the English,
ever occurred within our county limits."1                they would remain neutral in the contest which they
saw was imminent between that nation and the
French, both of which were now using every effort
2 It was supposed at that time that Penn's  Western Boundar-y would
not fall to the westward of the Laurel Hill.IIISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
David C. Hughes, sergeant, muist. in Junie 21,1861; pro. to corporal Nov.
1, 1862; to sergt. Atsg. 1, 1863; musst. out witll comrpaniy Mssy 26, 1864.
Abram  S. Haddock, sergeasst, mutst. in June 21, 1861; pro. to corporal
Nov. 1, 1862; to sergeaiit Sept. 1,1863; naust. out with conspany May
26, 1864.
John H. Gue, corporal, must. in Junre 21, 1861; pro. to corporal Jtsly 1,
1861; wouinded at Charles City Cross-Roads; disch. oni stirgeon's
certificate Jan. 26, 1863.
Elias h. Dawson, corporal, mutst. in Oct. 14, 1861; trans. to 191st Regt.
P. V. May 15, 1864.
Edward Morgan, Jr., cor poral, must. in Jtily 8,1861; pro. to corporal Nov.
1, 1862; niust. out witll compatny May 26, 1864.
hamon Jeffries, corporal, mtust. its Juine 21, 1861; pro. to corporal Nov.
1, 1862; wounded at Spottsylvania Court-House May 11, 1864; must.
olit with company May 26, 1864.
John Young, corporal, must. in June 21, 1861; pro. to corporal June 5,
1863; must. out wvith company May 26, 1864.
Estep Williams, corporal, must. itn July 8, 1861; pro. to corporal Auig. 1,
1863; woiunded at Robinson's Farm, Va., May 8, 1864; absesit at
muster out.
E. F. Whitmer, corporal, must. in. June 21, 1861; pro. to corporal Auig.
1, 1863; inust. out with company May 26, 1864.
henry C. Gapin, mussician, natist. in June 21, 1861; pro. to first lietlenatst U. S. A. June 20, 1862.
Pr ivates.
David Adams, must. in June 21, 1861.
Jacob Archibald, must. its July 8, 1861.
John Burke, mist. in June 21,1861.
Williams Bane, must. in July 8, 1861.
James S. Binch, must. in June 21, 1861.
John F. Booth, mtist, its June 21, 1861.
Eugene L. Beckley, must. its Junse 21, 1861.
John C. Bailey, must. in July 8, 1861.
William N. Baker, must. its Jtssse 21, 18G1.
Charles E. Brawley, niust. in Jssly 8, 1861.
John D. Brawley, niust. in Jtssse 21, 1861.
James M. barber, must. its Sept. 2, 1861.
Daniel Campbell, must. ins Jtily 8, 1861.
William F. Chess, msust. in Jusse 21, 1861.
David L. Croft, nsulst. in June 21, 1861.
William Clarke, mslt. its Sept. 2,1861.
Jacob Clarke, miist. its Sept. 2,,1861.
Enoch Calvert, mtust. in June 21, 1861.
Peter Connolly, nuust. its June 21, 1861.
Benjamin Clarke, niust. its Sept. 2, 1861.
Robert Campbell, mtist. in Jiiiie 21, 18G6.
W. P. Dean, must. itn Juine 21, 1861.
James Devlin, mulst. its Jtine 21, 1861.
Frederick Daubert, must. in Jstsie 21, 1861.
John H. Ebbert, must. in July 8, 1861.
Fleming Evans, must. its Juily 8, 1861.
Thomas Fewster, must. its Jistie 21, 1861.
James E. Gaskill, niust. in Juise 21,181.
William K. Gregg, ualt. its.Jsiie 21, 1861.
Henry J. Gormley, istist. isa.Junie 21, 1861.
Thomas Grace, muist. in Jusly 8, 1861.
Samuel D. Gaskell, must. in Feb. 19, 1864.
William h. hoffman, naust. in July 8,1861.
Jamses Hassan, must. in Jusly 8, 1861.
Benjamin A. hoffman, usult. in July 8,1861.
Worcester haddock, inust. its Jusie 21, 1861.
James Hare, nusiat. its J site 21, 1861.
John C. hughes, nsl,st. in Sept. 2,1861.
J. hoxenbaugh, Jr., mutlt. in Feb. 19, 1864.
David Hazen, must. its Juise 21,1861.
Robert Haught,Bt. ts -. t its Jutie 21, 1861.
James Jacobs, must. in Sept. 2,1862.
Benjamin Jeffries, Jr., must. its Feb. 231, 1864.
Victor Jones, miist. ila Jsisie 21, 1861.
John W. Kissinger, mnust. its July 8,1861.
Joseph Kennedy, nust. in Feb. 23,1861.
George W. Levitre, uIisst its Juine 21, 1861.
James Lucas, mutst. in Juily 8, 1861.
Edwin H. Layton, ssltist. in Marelh 24, 1864.
William Lucas, must. its Sept. 21, 18611.
Mahlon Lynch, must. in Feb. 29, 1864.
Daniel McWilliams, muist. in Junie 21, 1861.
D. McWilliams, must. in June 21, 1861.
William Montonia, must. in June 21,1861.
Isaac Mayhorn, nmuist. ini June 21,1861.
David Malone, mIust. in Juine 21, 1861.
William C. Mitchell, muist. in June 21,1861.
William McWilliams, must. in Jaine 21, 1861.
George Ort, IilllSt. in Juily 8, 1861.
N. H. Patterson, must. in Feb. 19,1864.
Charles w. Page, mulst. in July 8, 1861.
James S. Rohrer, nmuist. in Juine 21, 1861.
James Ryan, nmust. iii June 21, 1861.
George Raum, niust. in June 21, 1861.
Rudolph Rhyn, nmust. in Juily 8,1861.
henry Rhyn, nuust. ins July 29,1861.
James Roland, mIust. in July 8, 1861.
William  h. Ritchie, mtust. in. June 21, 1861.
Nicholas C. Rhyn, must. ins June 21, 1861.
William F. Stewart, must. in. June 21, 1861.
David Seese, nmust. in June 21, 1861.
James Smith, muist. in Juily 8,1861.
George W. Scott, must. ins June 21, 1861.
John Simmons,  ul,st. its Jsine 21, 1861.
Thomas Simpson, muist. in June 21, 1861.
Nicholas C. Swearer, must. in. June 21, 1861.
John Swearer, must. in June 21, 1861.
Enos K. Straun, must. in Juily 8, 1861.
William Sprowles, muist. in Jusne 21, 1861.
William Smith, insst. in Junse 21, 1861.
John L. Taylor, must. in Junse 21, 1861.
James Troth, must. in Jusse 21,1861.
William P. Trump, must. in June 21, 1861.
W. H. Underwood, must. in Jusse 21, 1861.
George Waggoner, niuist. its Jtine 21, 1861.
0. A. Waggoner, maust iis Juise 21, 1861.
John W. Watkins, must. in Juniie 21, 1861.
Simeon B. Wigle, mtust. in June 21, 1861.
George V. Winders, nmust. its Marcis 24, 1864.
John Woodward, niust. ius Jusie 21, 1861.
David C. Winder, issuist. in June 21,1861.
Robert Young, Illust. its Jtusue 21, 1861.
COMPANY G.
S. Duncan Oliphant, captain, must. in April 24,1861; pro. to lieuitenantculouel Jussie 28, 1861.
Jesse B. Gardner, captain, mulst. in April 24,1861; pro. from  first liesstenanst to capstain June 28, 1861; to mtajor Dec. 7, 1861.
Williasss Searight, captain, iussst. ill April 24, 1861; pro. from  sergeaist
Dec. 30, 1861; res. May 21, 1862.
Henry C. Dawson, captaits, maust. in April 24, 1861; pso. from  sergeasst
to first sergeant Juise 28, 1861; to second ILeultenant Nov. 15, 1861;
to captains May 22, 1862; must. ouit with company May 24, 1864.
Jesse B. Ramsey, first lieslteisasst, inust. in April 24, 1861; pro. fiom
secosud lieutenaist Ju. ste 28, 1861; must. out with conspaniy May 24,1864.
henry W. Patterson, second lieustenant, must. in April 24, 1861; pro,
frons first sergeaut to secossd lieutessaist June 28, 1861; to adjutant
July, 1861.
H. h. Maguilken, second lieuteniant, must. in April 24, 1861; pro. from
corporal to sergeaut Jan. 28, 1861; to first sergeant Jass. 1, 1862; to
second lieutessaint June 16, 1862; naust. out with company May 24,
1864.
John 0. Stewart, first sergeanit, must. in April 21, 1861; pro. fiom sergeanst to first sergeasut; killed at Biill Run, Aug. 30,1862.
Martin V. B. hazen, first sergeant; must. in April 24, 1861; prb. from
cos'poial to sergeatit Jass. 1, 1862; to first sergeant; trans. to Co. G,
191st IRegt. P. V., May 15,1864; vet.
William Leithead, sergeant, must. in April 24,1861; pro. from private
Jan. 1, 1862; killed at Gainesville, Aug. 28, 1862.
Albert Rohland, sergeanst, must. in May 29, 1861; pro. to corpor~ll Jan.
1, 1862; to sergeant; disch. Marchl 26, 1863, for wounds received, in
actiols.
Thomas W. Springer, sergeant, must. in April 24, 1861; pro. to corporal;
to s0rgeant; traiis. to Co. G, 191st Rlegt. P. V., May 15, 1864; Yet.
Isaac A. Moore, sergeant, niust. in April 24, 1861; pro. to corporsul; to
sergeant; trans. to Go. G, 191st Regt. P. V., lay 15, 1864; vet.
198
I1
I
IWAR OF THE REBELLION.
James W. Eberhart, sergeant, must. in July 12, 1861; pro. to sergeant;
trans. to Co. G, 191st Regt. P. V., May 15, 1864; vet.
Joseph W. Sturgis, sergeant, must. in April 24, 1861; pro. to corporal;
to sergeant; trans. to Co. G, 191st Regt. P. V., May 15, 1864; vet.
George B. Rutter, cor-poral, roust. iln April 24, 1861; pro. to corporal Jan.
1, 1862; moist. out with company May 24, 1864.
William D. Nesmith, corporal, must. in April 24*,1861; died Oct. 15, 1862;
buried at Alexandria, Va., grave 1787.
Thomas H. White, corporal, nmust. in May 24, 1861; died at Camp Pierpont, Va., Dec. 9,1861.
William Mitchell, corporal, must. in May 23,1861; killed at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862.
Henry Larke, corporal, must. in April 24, 1861; disch. Mlay 30, 1863, for
wounds received at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13,1862.
Rawley H. Jolliff, corporal, must. in April 24.1861; trans. to Co. G, 191st
Regt. P. V., May 15, 1864; vet.
James C. Darnell, corporal, must. in April 24, 1861; trans. to Co. G, 191st
Regt. P. V., May 15,1864; vet.
John L. Francis, corporal, muist. in July 20, 1861; trans. to Co. G, 191st
Regt. P. V., May 15, 1864; vet.
henry C. Bunting, musician, must. in April 22, 1861; trans. to Co. G,
191st Regt. P. V., May 15, 1864; vet.
John Collins, musician, nmust. in April 24, 1861; trans. to Co. G, 191st
Regt. P. V., May 15, 1864; vet.
Privates.
George h. Ashcroft, moist. in July 20,1861.
James P. Ashcroft, must. in July 18, 1861.
James Axton, nmuist. in July 20,1861.
John Bierer, must. in April 24, 1861.
Morgan Barclay, inust. in May 24,1861.
William Burnham, mnust. in Juily 12, 1861.
John Ballringer. nmuist. in Feb. 21, 1864.
Jared Beach, Imotst. in May 24, 1861.
Jacob Bowers, must. in MIay 30, 1861.
Thomas Brown, must. irn May 15,1861.
Ephraim D. Baer, muiist. in May 24,1861.
John T. Booth, mIIust. in May 24, 1861.
F. O'Brien.
James C. Clark, must. in May 24, 1861.
H. Cunningham, miult. irn April 24,1861.
James D. Cope, moust. in Juily 20,1861.
Daniel F. Darr, molst. in May 24,1861.
George W. Darby, nmoist. iti April 24,1861.
henry C. de Wolfe, must. iN Juntie 15, 1861.
henry D. Doud, ioust. in June 3, 18G1.
Samuel Drum, muiiist. in May 20, 1861.
Cyrus Eislie, miust in May 27,1861.
Amos Fry, nmoist. in Fel,. 21, 1864.
John Grimes, roiuist. in April 24, 1861.
James Gamble, mtist. iti Feb. 21, 1864.
James Hoover, must. in May 24,1861.
Samuel Hixson, inust. in Juine 19,186f1.
Daniel Householder, must. in Jutne 18,1861.
Charles herse, muist. in April 2, 1864.
Isaac Jaquette, inust. ill Apr-il 24, 1861.
Jeremiah B. Jones, must. in Maly 1:1, 1861; re-enl. 5Iarcli 30, 1864.
William Z. Kendall, must. in May 31, 1861.
Job King, must. in Juniie 19,.1861.
Nicholas Kissinger, msust. in May 23, 1861.
Alfred Kerr, must. in April 24,1861.
Joseph D. Long, must. in April 24, 1861.
James C. McNamee, miirst. in May 24, 1861.
Isaac N. Mitchell, rnoust. in Jtune 23,1863.
Michael P. Miller, must. in Juniie 19, 1861.
James Marshall, roust. in May 24, 1861.
John McClean, miiust. in April 24,1861.
Gottlieb Myers, m1ust. in March 1, 1862.
John Malone, must. in Feb. 21, 1864.
James C. Malone, rnust. in Feb. 21,1864.
John h. Nesmith, must. in. May 24,1861.
Jordan, M. Nesmith, miiust. in May 23, 1861.
Andrew F. Neff; must. in May 24, 1861.
William V. Nesmith.
Levi Ogle, muist. ill May 14,1861.
William Peters, oituist. in May 30,1861.
George Proud, nmust. in June 19, 1861.
Thomas J. Parker, must. in July 9,1861.
William Philip, must. in June 10, 1861.
Reuben Reed, must. in May 24,1861.
Adoniram J. Reid, must. in April 24,1861.
David Richie, must. in May 24, 1861.
James D. Ramsey, mtist. in April 24, 1861.
William Rohland, must. in July 20, 1861.
Thomas Rhodebach, nmust. in Feb. 21, 1864.
John R. Rutter, must. in April 24,1861.
Isaac Sampul, inust. in April 24,1861.
John Sisler, nmulst. in April 24, 186'1.
Samuel Sager, nmust. in May 23, 1861.
James Smith, must. in July 18, 1861.
Patrick Toohey, mtist. in April 24, 1861.
Joseph C. Thornton, must. in April 24,1861.
Llewellyn Vaughan, moist. in May 24,1861.
Joseph Widdup, miist. in May 24,1861.
Henry G. Whaley, must. in Nov. 20, 1863.
Joseph L. Warrick, nmust. in June 12, 1861.
George Walker, must. in May 30,1861.
James m. Wells, nmust. in April 24, 1861.
Bartholomew Warman, must. in Jtune 19, 1861.
Wilson S. Work, must. in May 26, 1861; re-enl. Jan. 15, 1863.
Samuel Wilcox, must. in June 19, 1861.
ELEVENTH RESERVE REGIMENT.
The Eleventh Reserve, or Fortieth Pennsylvania
Regiment (three years' service), was made up of one
conmpany from  Fayette County, two from  Westmoreland, two from Indiaina, two from Butler, and one from
each of the counties of Cambria, Armstrong, and Jefferson. Most of these companies had been raised for
the three months' service, but had failed of acceptance
for the short term. The Fayette County company
("F," recruited at Uniontown) had for its original
officers Capt. Everard Bierer, First Lieut. Peter A.
Johns, Second Lieut. John W. De Ford.
The companies were rendezvoused at Camp Wright,
on the Allegheny River, twelve miles above Pittsburgh,
and there nlustered into the State service. Early in
July, 1861, the Eleventh Reserve Regiment was organized under the following-named officers: Colonel,
Thomas F. Gallagher; Lieutenant-Colonel, James
R. Porter; Major, Samuel M. Jackson; Adjutant,
Peter A. Johns, of Uniontown, a soldier of the Mexican war. On the 24th of the same month the regiment moved by way of Harrisburg and Baltimore to
Washington, D. C., where it arrived on the 26th,
and wvhere, on the 29th and 30th, it was mustered
into the United States service, about nine hundred
strong. Soon afterwards the regiment marched' to
Tenallytown, Md., where it encamped with the other
regiments of the Reserve division, under Maj.-Gen.
McCall. The Eleventh was assigned to duty in the
Second Brigade, under command of Brig.-Gen. George
G. Meade. The other reginlents composing that
brigade were the Third Reserve (Col. H. G. Sickel),
the Fourth (Col. Robert G. March), the Seventh
(Col. E. B. Harvey), and the Thirteenth (" Bucktails"), under Col. Charles J. Biddle.
After a stav of about two months at Tenallytown
and vicinity the regiment moved with the division
(October 9th) across the Potomac, and took position
in the line of the Army of the Potomac between
199
IIIISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Langley and Lewinsville, Va., a location on which
was made its winter-quarters. On the 10th of March,
1862, it moved from its winter camp, and with the
division made the marches (before mentioned in connection with the Eighth Reserve Regiment) to Hunter's Mills, on the advance towards Manassas, and
thence back towards the Potomac on the Alexandria
road, through almost bottomless Inud and drenching
rain. Arriving at Fairfaix Seminary, south of Alexandria, it went into camp, and remained on duty in
that vicinity for more than three weeks. During
that time the division was assignred to the First Army
Corps under Gen. Irwin MCDowell, and on the 9th of
April it moved from Fairfax to Catlett's Station,
where it encamped for a short time, and then marched
to Falmouth, on the Rappahannock. WVhile there
(May 17th) Adjt. Peter A. Johns, of Fayette County,
was promoted to major, vice Litzinger, resigned.
On the 9th of June the regiment with its brigade
was embarked for transportation to the Peninsula to
join the Army of the Potomac. It arrived at White
House, on the Pamunkey River, Va., on the 11th, and
was immediately moved to the front on the Chickahominy, taking position on the riglit of the army line
at Mechanicsville. In the severe battle at that place
on the 26th of June the Eleventh did not take active
part, though it lay for a long time under a heavy fire.
On the following day (June 27th) in the terrific.battle of Gaines' Mill the Eleventh fought with the most
determined bravery and suffered a great disaster.
From its position in the second line it was ordered
forward late in the afternoon to relieve the Fourtlh
New Jersey, which had been closely engaged in the
front line until its ammunition was almost exhausted.
The Eleventh took its place unfalteringly, and delivered a fire that sent the enemy staggering back from
its front. But while in this advanced position the
troops on its right and left were driven back by overpowering numbers, and the enemy, advancing, poured
in a destructive fire on both flanks of the exposed
regiment. Maj. Johns rode quickly to the left to stop
the firing (supposing it to come from some of the
Union troops under a mistake), and in a few moments
was a prisoner in the hands of the enemy. Nearly
the entire regiment soon afterwards met the same
fate, as is recounted in the following extract from
Gen. McCall's official report of the operations of the
day, viz.: "The only occurrence of this day's battle
that I have cause to regret (except the loss of many
brave officers and men, whose fall I sincerely mourn)
is the capture by the enemy of a large portion of the
Eleventh Regiment of the Reserves, Colonel Gallagher commanding. Thls regiment of Meade's brigade had, in the course of the afternoon, relieved the
Fourth New Jersey Regiment, Colonel Simpson (major United States Topographical Engineers), the latter
promising to support the former in case of being hard
pressed. In the heat of the action, the Eleventh
Regiment beconing enveloped in the smoke of battle,
continued the fight after the rest of the line had retired, having been closely engaged with a rebel regi..
ment in front, and before the colonel was aware that
lie had been left alone on the field, he found himself
under the fire of two regiments, one on either flank,
besides the one in front. Notwithstanding the peril
of his position, he gallantly kept up a galling fire on
the advancing foe as he himself retired in good order
on the Fourth New Jersey. Here, to crown his ill
fortune, he found that he, as well as Colonel Simpson,
was completely surrounded, a strong force having already taken position in his immediate rear. The situation of these two brave regiments, which had so
nobly maintained their ground after all had retired,
was nowv hopeless; their retreat was entirely cut off
by the increasing force of the enemy, who were still
advancing, and they were compelled to surrender.
No censure can possibly attach to either Colonel Gallagher or Colonel Simpson or the brave men of their
respective regiments on account of this ill turn of fortune; but, on the contrary, they are entitled to the
credit of having held their ground until it was tenable
no longer."  The loss of the Eleventh in the bloody
encounter of the afternoon was forty-six killed and
one hundred and nine wounded.
The regiment surrendered just as the shadows of
night had begun to close over the crimsoned slopes
that stretched away northward from  the swampy
banks of the Chickahominy. The officers and men
were worn out and exhausted by the picketing and
mnarching and fighting of the previous forty-eight
hours, but their captors hurried thlm to the rear,
and without allowing any delay for rest or refreshment, marched them  by a circuitous route (around
the right of McClellan's army) to Richmond, where
they arrived at about sunrise in the morning of the
28tlh, and after havinig been paraded through the city
as a spectacle to the exulting inhabitants, were placed
in Libby Prison and the adjacent tobacco-ivarehouses.
A few days later the enlisted men of the regiment
were transferred to the bare and cheerless prison-camp
on Belle Isle, in theJarnes River. There they remained until the 5th of August, when they were exchanged, march'ed to Aiken's Landing on the James,
and there placed on board United States transports.
The officers of the regiment, who had remained at
Libby, were exchanged about a week later and sent
to the Union lines.
After the return of the officers and men from captivity, the regiment, in a very reduced condition, was
transferred to the Rappahannock, to rejoin McDowell's corps and take part in the operations of Gen.
Pope's Army of-Virginia.  It was engaged in the
actions of the 29th and 30th of August (second Bull
Run), losing fourteen killed and forty-four wounded.
In the Maryland campaign, which followed immediately after the defeats in Virginia, the Eleventh
fought well at South Mountain, losing fifteen killed
and twenty-eight wounded, and at Antietam  (SepI                                                                                                                                                                                                             -                                  -
I
i
200WAR OF THE REBELLION.
tember 16th and 17th), where it lost seven killed and
seventeen wounded.
At Fredericksburg, where Burnside hurled the Army
of the Potomac against the impregnable works of the
enemy, the Eleventh was, with other regiments of the
Reserves, assigned to the duity of clearincg and holdiing
the banks of the Rappahannock during the laying of
the pontoons on which the army was to cross. It was
a perilous duty, but bravely performed. In the conflict which followed this regirment moved forward over
level and unsheltered ground to assault the enemy's
works, a part of which it carried, but was finally forced
back with heavy loss, the killed, wounded, and captured amounting to one hundred and twelve out of
the total of three hundred and ninety-four officers
and men who went into the fight.
After the battle of Fredericksburg the regiment was
moved to the defenses of Washington, an4--remained
there in quiet until the opening of the campaign of
Gettysburg, when it marclled to the field of the great
battle, arriving there on the 2d of July (1863). In
that engagement the Eleventh charged, leading the
brigade, and sustaining a loss of three killed and
thirty-eigilt wounded. During the remainder of the
year the regimnernt saw but little fighting, being engaged only at Bristow Station, Va., October 14th, and
in a light action at New Hope Church, on the movement to Mine Run, in December. Its losses in these
were but slight.
The Wilderness campaign of 1864 was the last in
the experience of the Eleventh Reserve. Leaving its
winter encampment at Bristow Station on the 29th of
April, it marched with the other regiments of the
co,mmand to the vicinity of Culpeper Court-House,
and thence with Warren's (Fifth) corps, of which it
formed a part, to the Germania Ford of the Rapidan,
and crossing at about one o'clock in the morning of
the 4th of May, and in the afternoon of the same
day became engaged with the enemy. Through the
next two days in the Wilderness, and during twentythree succeeding days, it was almost constantly under
fire, in the engag,ements at Spottsylvania Court-House,
at the North Anna River, and at Bethesda Church.
On the morning after the last-named battle (May
30th) orders were received from the War DepartInent transferring the veteratns and recruits of the
Eleventh to the One Hundred and Ninetieth Regiment, and withdrawing the Eleventh from tile front as
its term of service had expired. Under these orders
whlat remained of the regiment was mnoved by way of
White House to Washington; hence it was transported to Harrisburg, and from there to Pittsburgh,
wliere it was mustered out of service June 13, 1864.
OFFICERS AND IEN FROM FAYETT1E COUNTY IN THE
ELEVENTH RESERVE.
COMPANY F.
Everard Bierer, captain, must. in June 20,1861; res. Nov. 17, 1862, for
pro. to colonel 171st Regt. P. V.
John  W. De Ford, captain, must. in June 20,1861; pro. from second lientenant; res. Nov. 10, 1862, to enter Signal Corps.
James A. hayden, catptain, must. in June 20, 1861; pro. to sergeant Oct.
1, 1861; to captaini April 10, 1863; to brevet major Marchl 13, 1863;
prisoner May 5, 1864; disch. March 12, 1865.
Peter A. Johns, first lieutenlanit, must. in May 23, 1861; pro. to adjutant
Juily 2, 1861; to mnajor May 17, 1862; res. March 30, 1863.
Thomas A. Hopwood, first lieutenant, miist. in Jlne 20, 1861; pro. from
first sergeant Sept. 22, 1861; res. Dec. 25, 1862.
William R. K. Hook, first lieuitenant, muist. in Juine 20, 1861; pro. to
corporal; to sergeant Dec. 10, 1862; to first lieuitenaint April 10, 1863;
nmuist. out witlh companiy June 13, 1864.
William  F. Springer, secon(i lieuitenanit, must. in June 20,1861; pro. to
corporal; to sergeatrt Dec. 10, 18620; to second lieutenanit Se pt. 22,
1863; mulst. ouit vitli comllpanly J,une 13,1864.
George w. Kremer, first sergeant, muist. itn JuLnie 20, 1861; pro. to first
ser geanit; nsist. out with comlpany Jutie 13, 1864.
Ephraim W. Robbins, sergeant, must. in June 20,18bl; died at Camp
Pierpont, Va., Dec. 20, 18' 1.
George Downer, sergeant, nmust in June 20, 1861; disch. to accept promotioni as second lieutenanit Co. E, 178tlh Regt. P. V., Dec. 6, 1862.
Daniel T. Smouse, sergeanlt, nisiust. in June 20, 1861; pro. fiomn corporal;
disch. to accelt promnotion as first lieutenanlt Co. F, 177th Regt.
P. V., Dec 6, 1862.
Samuel D. Sturgis, sergeant, must. in June 20, 1861; pro. fi om  corporal;
dischl. to accept promotion as adjutant 171st Regt. P. V. Dec. 5, 1862.
Philip Sutton, sergeant, must. in June 20, 1861; pro. to corporal; to sergeaiit; dischl. to accept pronlotion as second lieuteniant Co. H, 179th
Regt. P. Y., date unknown.
John McCloy, sergeailt, mu-t. in July 22,1861; pro. to sergeant; trans.
to 190th Regt. P. V. Janiie 1, 1864; veteran.
Thomas B. Whaley, sergeant,  mullst. in Jtuly 22,1861; pro. to sergeant;
miust. out with comlpany Juine 1:i, 1864.
Egenius Tibbs, sergeant, iiiist. in May 231,1861; absent in Insane AsyluInn, Washington, at muiiister ouit.
Daniel L. Claggett, ser-eaint, must. in June 20,1861(; must. oult with
company June 13, 1864.
Alfred  m. Gorley, corp)ral, must. in Jurne 20, 1861; disch. on surgeon's
certificate Jan. 2, 1862.
Daniel De Ford, corporal, must. in Juine 20, 1861; trans. to Signal Corps,
U. S. A., Aug. 1, 186;.
Jeremiah Youler, corporal, inmist. in June 20, 1861; diedl July 1, 1862;
bur ied inl Mil. Asy. Ceni., D. C.
Robert G. Dunn, corl)oral, imuiist. in Junie 20, 1861; died Juniie 14, 1862;
burlied at Alexandria, grave 39.
John F. Freeman, corporatl, must. ill June 20, 1861; died at Richmond,
Va., Jan. 7, 1863, of vouiisbs received in action.
James M. Bute, corporatl,  uiust. in Juine 20, 1861; trans. to Vet. Res.
Corps, date tuniknownvi.
Elijah W. Philips, corporail, mnust. in Juine 20, 1861; tranis. to 190th llegt.
P. V. June 1, 1864; veteran.
James H. Yates, corporal, miiust. in Juniie 20, 1861; must. out with companiy June 13, 1864.
John  V. Farr, mutsiciani, nmust. in Juine 20, 1861; died at Canmp Pierpont,
Va., Dec. 9, 1861.
G. W. Coughanour, muisician, nmuist. in June 20, 1861; dischl. on surgeon's
certificate Nov. 24, 1862.
Privates.
William H. Austin, mul.st. in Junie 20, 1861.
E. h. Abraham, uslst. in Oct. 1, 1861.
William  h. Abraham, muist. il Jiune 20, 1861.
George Anderson, nmolst. in June 20, 1861.
Gaylord Bell, Imltist. ililJmmnie 20, 1861.
William Berry, nmtust. in Janie 20, 186i1.
Thomas byerly, nmuist. il Jtunie 20, 1861.
John h. Beatty, niust. irs July 20, 1861.
robert Bell, nmust. in J-inne 20), 1861.
Theodore Bixler', nIltSt. in June-20, 1861.
Franklin Byerly, muiiist. in Oct. 1, 1861.
Samuel Childs, mlust. in June 20,1861.
John W. Crusen, muiiist. in July 16, 1861.
Henry  N. Craner, roullst. inl April 5, 1862.
Arthur Core, nmuist. in Jfuly 22,1862.
Patrick Dooyar, iunsst. ins Jisne 20, 1862.
George Delph, isnust. in Oct. 1, 1861.
Balser h. Deenan, must. iln June 2), 1861.
Joseph H. Fisher, must. in Juine 20, 1861.
William, Frasier, must. in June 20, 1861.
o01HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Asa Firestone, must. in June 20, 1861.
John Graham, niust. in Jtily 16, 1861.
Robert M. harvey, must. in Juine 20,1861.
William Hiles, must. in Juine 20,1861.
Robert Holliday, miust. in July 29, 1861.
Andrew Hiles, niust in June 20, 1861.
Aaron Hostetter, must. in Oct. 31, 1863.
Lawrence Halfin, Iniust. in June 20,1861.
Simpson W. Hackett, muist. in Jtine 20, 1861.
Thomas Jackson, nimust. in Jtine 20), 1961.
John M. Kefover, must. in Junie 20,1861.
Andrew N. Lowry, miust. in Jtune 2), 18G1.
Albert Miller, must. irn June 20,1861.
Isaac F. Miller, nmu]st. in Juily 16, 1861.
Barney Martin, nmiust. in Juinie 20,1861.
Joseph C. Marshall, must. in Juine 20 1861.
John F. McKerns, muiiist. in July 22, 1861.
John W. McGinnis, nmiust. in Junie 20, 1861.
Thomas F. Miller, mnust. in Junte 20,1861.
Patrick Morgan, muist. in June 20, 1861.
Timothy McNerney, nmust. in July 6, 1861.
James K. P. McKerns, must. ini June 20, 1861.
William F. McGee, must. in June 20,1861.
Lacy H. Nicholson, niust. in June 20, 1861.
Andrew Nicholson, niust. in July 22,1861.
John Nicholson, muist. in July 22, 1861.
John Reilly, miust. in June 20, 1861.
Jacob Prettyman, must. in June 20, 1861.
William Quay, niust. in Oct. 31, 1863.
Madison Robbins, miust. in June 20, 1861.
Alexander J. Rogers, nmust. in Junie 20, 1861.
Joseph rossell, must. in Junie 20, 1861.
Henry F. Rossell, must. in Junle 20,1861.
William A. Roney, nmiust. in Jaune 20,1861.
John F. rockwell, muist. in Jtiune 20,1861.
Hiram Ritchie, must. in June 20, 1861.
Malachi Ritchie, mlUSt. in Jtily 22, 1861.
Daniel F. Smith, iusat. in Jtine (0, 1861.
J. H. Shallenberger, must. in Juine 20, 1861.
John W. Strickler, must. in July 9-2 lSGl.
Elter B. Sharpneck, must. ill Julne 20,1861.
John Shoup, must. in Junie'20, 1861.
David Senneff, must. in Jiunle 20, 1861.
Daniel F. Shoup, miust. ii Jutine 20,1861.
George H. Sickles, must. in Jtune 20, 1861.
Joseph Swank, muilst. in Jmiaue 20,1861.
Thomas J. Suttle, niust. in Oct. 31, 1863.
Reuben A. Sutton, muist. in Oct. 31, 1863.
Carey Stuch, must. in Jumie 20, 1861.
Jacob Suttle, must. in June 20, 1861.
Joseph Shaw, must. in Junie 20, 1861.
George W. Samprell, must. in July 22,1861.
Frederick Victor, muist in Juine 20,1861.
Henry Vamdell, must. in Junfe 20,1861.
Henry G. Whaley, nmust. in July 29,1861.
John Wilson, imust. in. Juine 20,1861.
Benjamin F. Wimer, must. in June 20,1861.
William Yates, must, in Sept. 30,1861.
B. Franklin Youler, muust. in June 20,1861.
CHAPTER XVIII.
WAR OF THE REBELLION-( Contilued).
Eighty-fifth Regiment and Second Artillery.
THE Eighty-fifth, a three years' infantry regiment,
was raised in the summer and fall of 1861, under an
order from the War Department, dated August 1st,
and directed to Joshua B. Howell, of Uniontown,
Fayette Co. The regimental rendezvous was established at "Camp La Fayette," at Uniontown. Recruiting was commenced immediately, and completed
in less than three months. The companies composing
the regiment were recruited as follows: Three companies (" C," "I," and "K") in Fayette County;
three companies in Washington Countv; one comnpany in Greene County; one company in Somerset;
one company (" E') in Fayette and Washington, and
one company (" G") in Fayette and Greene.
The regiment was organized at Camp La Fayette
on the 12th of November, under the following-named
field-officers, viz.: Joshua B. Howell, colonel; Norton McGiffin, lieutenant-colonel; Absalom Guiler
(of Uniontown, and a Mexican war veteran), major.
The adjutant was Andrew Stewart, of Fayette County,
son of the distinguished " Tariff Andy" Stewart, long
a member of Congress from this district.
While in camp at the rendezvous, the Eighty-fifth
received tJe gift of a national color, presented wvith
the usual ceremonies by the ladies of Uniontown.
About the 25th of November the regiment broke
camp, and proceeded unider orders to Washington by
way of Harrisburg, where it received the State colors,
presented by Governor Curtin. Soon after its arrival
at the national capital it was moved across the Anacostia Bridge, and encamped at "-Camp Good Hope,"
where it remained during the succeeding winter, engaged in the construction of earthworks for the defense of Washington.
In March, 1862, the Eighty-fifth was brigaded with
the One Hundred and First and One Hundred and
Third Pennsylvania and the Ninety-sixth New York
Regiments, forming the Second Brigade (Gen. Keim's)
of Casey's (Third) division of the Fourth Army Corps,
under command of Maj.-Gen. Erasmus D. Keyes.
With that corps the regiment embarked at Alexandria on the 29th of March, and proceeded down the
Potomac and Chesapeake Bay to Fortress Monroe,
arriving there on the lst of April, and joiiiing the
Army of the Potomac, which then lay encamped on
a line extending from the Fortress to Newport News,
preparatory to the march up the Peninsula. The
movement commenced on the morning of the 4th, and
in the evening of the following day Keyes' corps confronted the enemy's lines at and in the vicinity of
Warwick Court-House. There it remained until the
morning of Sunday, the 4th of May, wvhen it was
found that the enemy had during the previous night
evacuated his works at Yorktown, and along the line
of Warwick River, and the Union army at once moved
on in pursuit.
On the morning of Monday, May 5th, the Confederate forces were found strongly intrenched at
Williamsburg. They were attacked soon after daylight, and the battle raged through the entire day,
resulting in victory to the Union arms, the enemy
retreating during the night, leaving his wounded oni
the field. In this, its first battle, the Eighty-fifth was
out slightly engaged, and suffered a loss of only two
wounded.
I
i
I
i
20WAR OF THE REBELLION.
Moving up from Williamsburg towards Richmond
in pursuit of the retreating enemy, the regiment
with its brigade crossed the Chickahominy at Bottom's Bridge on the 20th of May, and marched
thence to a position in the army line at Fair Oaks,
within about five miles of Richmond. There at a
little past noon on Saturday, the 31st of May, Casey's
division was suddenly attacked by an overwhelming
force of the enemy, and though fighting most stubbornly was forced back with great loss and in some
disorder. The battle continued through the afternoon of the 31st, and the attack was renewed by the
enemy on Sunday morning, but resulted in less success to him than that of the previous day. In the
battle of Saturday the Eighty-fifth occupied rifle-pits
and held them bravely, but was driven from thein by
assaults from superior numbers. "To be brief," said
Gen. Casey, in his report, " the rifle-pits wjere retained
until they were almost enveloped by the enemy, the
troops with some exceptions fighting with spirit and
gallantry."
In the series of engagements known as the Seven
Days' battles, commencing at Mechanicsville, on
the Chickahominy, on Thursday, the 26th of June,
and ending at Harrison's Landing, on the James, on
Wednesday, the 2d of July, the Eighty-fifth was not
actively engaged and suffered but little.  Its total
loss during the Peninsula campaign was eighty-seven
killed and wounded, the principal part of this loss
being sustained in the battle of Fair Oaks.
When the Army of the Potomac evacuated the
Peninsula in August, 1862, the corps of Gen. Keyes
was left stationed at Fortress Monroe.  From that
place the Eighty-fifth with other troops was moved to
Suffolk, Va., and remained there until the commencement of winter. At this time its brigade (to which
the Eighty-fifth and Ninety-second Regiments had
been added) was under command of Gein. Wessells.
On the 5th of Decbmber this brigade left Suffolk
under orders to move to Newbern, N. C., to reinforce
Gen. Foster's Eighteenth Corps. It was embarked
on transports on the Chowan River, and reached its
destination on the 9th. It remained in North Carolina about seven weeks, during which time it was
several times engaged,-at West Creek, Kinston,
White Hall, and Goldsboro',--the Eighty-fifth sustaining slight loss.
In the last part of January, 1863, the regiment with
its brigade and others of Foster's command was
transported from Newbern to Hilton Head, S. C.,
where it arrived on the 1st of February. The brigade
was then under command of Col. Howell. Early in
April it was moved to Cole's Island, tand thence across
Folly River to Folly Island. There the men witnessed
the bombardment of Fort Sumter by Admiral Dupont,
and after its unsuccessful close the brigade of Col.
Howell was left to garrison the works on the island,
the other troops as well as the fleet, being withdrawn.
It remained on duty on Folly and Morris Islands
through the remainder of the spring and the entire
summer and fall. During this time the Eighty-fifth
Regiment suffered very severely, both from the missiles of the enemy and the excessive heAt of the
weather. From the 20th of August, when it was
placed in the advanced trenches in front of the rebel
Fort Wagner (which Gen. Gillmore was attempting to
take by regular approaches), until the 2d of September its losses were fifty-six killed and wounded
by the enemy's shells, and the losses by sickness were
still greater. It went on the outer works (August 20th)
with an aggregate strength of four hundred and fiftyone, and when relieved (September 2d) it could muster but two hundred and seventy fit for duty. Immediately after this, Fort Wagner was subjected to a
bombardment of forty hours' duration, which compelled its evacuation by the enemy and the abandonment of the entire island, which was then at once occupied by the Union troops. There the Eighty-fifth
remained until about the 5th of December, when it
was transported to Hilton Head, and went into camp
near Port Royal, S. C. During its stay of more than
four months at that place and its vicinity the healtll
of the men was greatly improved, and the effective
strength of the regiment largely increased. It was
not called on to take part in any engagement, but sustained a loss of two wounded and one made prisoner
in a skirmish at White Marsh, near Savannah, in
February, 1864.
In April following, three divisions of Gen. Gillmore's
troops were ordered to the James River, Va., to reinforce the army under Gen. Butler. The divisions
designated were Ames', Turner's, and Terry's, in which
last namned was Howell's brigade, containing the
Eighty-fifth Pennsylvania. On its arrival in Virginia its strength was increased by the return of the
veterans of the regiment, who had been home on furlough, also by the accession of a considerable number
of conscripts. It was removed to Bermuda Hundred,
and there wvent into position in the army line. Its
first engagement with the Army of the James was on
the 20th of May, when in an assault on the enemy's
rifle-pits in its front, it sustained a loss of twenty-three
killed and wounded.
On the 14th of June the Army of the Potomac,
under Gen. Grant, began crossing the James from the
Peninsula. Two days later the Confederate Army of
Northern Virginia, under Lee, crossed the same river
above Drury's Bluff, and the opposing forces at once
commenced the long and deadly struggle in front of
Petersburg. On the 17th the enemy assaulted a part
of the works held by the Eighty-fifth, and the regiment was compelled to retire with a loss of seventeen
killed and wounded. On the 9th of July it lost one
killed and three wounded by the accidental explosion
of a shell. Again, on the 14th and 15th of August,
at Deep Bottom and Strawberry Plains, the regiment
was engaged, charging with Terry's division, capturing
the enemy's works, and sustaining a loss of twenty203HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
one  killed  and  wounded.   On  the  following  day    John W. Acheson, first lieutenant, nmust. in Nov. 14,1861; pro. from sec(August 16th) it lost nine killed and fifty-four wounded                   ond lieutenant CO. C Aug. 2, 1862; to captain and A A G Feb  9
1864.
in  a charge  upon another part of the hostile works,   William H. Davis, first lieutenant, must. in Oct. 31,1861; pro. fromli first
the regiment capturing  three  stands of colors and  a                     sereant to second lieuteniant March 6, 1863; to first lietutenant May
number of prisoners.   The  troops  recrossed  to  the                     21, 1864; miiust. out with company Nov. 22,1864.
geo. J. Van Gilder, second lieutenant, must. in Oct. 31, 1861; res. July
right  hank  of the  James on  the  20th, and four days                    31, 1862.
later the Eighty-fifth, with its corps (the Tenth), was   David H. Lancaster, second lieutenant, must. in Oct. 31, 1861; pro. to
moved to the south side of the Appomattox, where it                        second lieutenant July 19, 1862; res. March 6, 1863.
mocupied at lineo ofworks. On the            13uthsathtof, S tember   James A. Swearer, first ser geant, must. in Oct. 31, 1861; niust. out with
occupied a line of works.  On the 13th of September                        comjipany Nov. 22, 1864.
it was ordered to occupy Fort Morton, a work mount-   Michael Drumm, first sergeant, nmust. in Oct. 31, 1861; killed in action
ing fourteen heavy guns.                                                   Aug. 16, 1864.
A  short time previous to this last-named movemenit   Wm. A. Fortner, sergeant, must. in Oct. 31, 1861; must. ouit witlh company Nov. 22, 1864.
Col. Howell had been assigned  to the command of a   James B. Collins, sergeant, must. in Oct. 31, 1861; wounded Aug. 16,
division  of colored  troops.   On the 12th  of Septem-                    1864; must. out with company Nov. 22, 1864.
her, while  returning  at night from   the  corps head-   George W. Smith, sergeant, must. in Oct. 31, 1861; disch. on surgeon's
certificate M1aIrch 26, 1863.
quarters, he was thrown from  his horse and so severely    Franklin D. Condon, sergeant, must. in Oct. 31, 1861; wouinded Aug. 16,
injured that he died soon after.   He was a brave and                      186G; transferred to Co. D, 188th Regt. P. V., June 28,1865; veteran.
faithful officer, and  his loss was keeinly felt, not only    Walter C. Cravin, sergeant, muilst. in Oct. 31, 1861; tranis. to Co. D, 188tlh
I                  Regt. P. V., Juie 28, 1865; veterani.
by his own regiment, but by the officers and  men  of   John T. Norris, sergeant, munst. in Oct. 31, 1861; trans. to Co. D, 188tl
the entire brigade which he so long conmmanded.                            Regt. P. V., Jtune 28, 1865; veteran.
On the 27th of September the regfliment was relieved    John G. Woodward, sergeanit, must. in Oct. 31, 1861; died Jtune 22d, of
from  duty at Fort Morton anid returned to its division,                   wounds received near Petershurg, Va., June 17, 1864; buIiried in
fNtional Cemetery at City Point, Va., Sec. A, Div. 4, Grave 179.
with which it took part in the movement of the Tenth    Robert F. Holmes, sergeant, must. in Oct. 31, 1861; killed at Deep Botand  Eighteenth  Corps  across the  James which  re-                       tom, Va., Aug. 16, 1864.
sulted  in  the  capture  of Fort Harrison  and  a long    George S. Groff, corporal, must. in Oct. 31, 1861; must. out with company
Nov. 22, 1864.
line of other  wvorks of the  enemy.  --In  this series of   Lewis Reimel, corporal, must. in Oct. 31, 1861; must. ouit with companiy
operations it was engaged with the enemy on the 1st,                       Nov. 22, 1864.
7th, and  12th  of October, anid  twice  advanced  to    Benj. F. Durbin, corporal, must. in Oct. 31, 1861; disch. on surgeon's
certificate Sept. 13, 1862.
within  three  miles of Richmond, but sustained  no   John B. Groff, corporal, must. in Oct. 31, 1861; disch. on surgeon's cerheavy loss.                                                                tificate, date unknowvn.
The  term   of service of the  Eighty-fifth  was now    George W. Sherwan, corporal, must. in Oct. 31, 1861; disch. on surgeon's
drawing to its close.  On  the 14th  of October it was                     certificate Jan. 5, 1863.
Robert M. Fields, corpor al, must. in Oct. 31, 1861; tranis. to Co. D, 188th
relieved from  duty in front of Petersburg, its veterans                   Re-t. P. V., June 28, 1865; veterain.
and  recruits  were  transferred  to  the  One  Hundred    James R. Cook, corporal, must. in Oct. 31, 1861; trans. to Co. D, 188th
and Eighty-eighth  Pennsylvania, and the remainder,                        Regt. P. V., Juine 28, 186.5; veterani.
John Wood, corporal, must, in Oct. 31, 1861; died at Hampton, Va., May
wIhose time was soon to expire, were moved to Ports-                       25tlh, of wouinds received May 20, 1864.
mouth, Va., and there encamped.   About the middle   John MaUn, corporal, must. in Oct.31, 1861; killed at Deep Bottom, Va.,
of November the remnlant of the regiment was ordered                       Auig. 16, 1864.
Richard Coates, corporal, must. in Oct. 31, 61; icilled at Deep Bottom
lhome, and on the 22d of that monith it was mustered                       Ya., Anig. 16, 1864.
out of service at Pittsburgh.                                          Lemuel Thomas, musician, must. in Oct. 31, 1861; died at Ihamptoni, Va.,
Aug. 16tlh, of wounids received at Deep Bottonm, Aug. 15,1864.
MEMBERS 01F THE  EIGIITY-FIFTH  REGIMIENT  FROM   FAYETTE COUNTY.
FIELD AND STAFF.
Joshua B. Howell, colonel, mu111st. in Nov. 12, 1861; pro. to brevet brigadier-general Sept. 12, 1864; died near Petersburg, Va., Sept. 14, 1864.
Edward Campbell, lieutenanit-colonel, nmust. in Nov. 12, 1861; pro. fromii
captain Co' E to major Sept. 6; 1862; to lieutenant-colonel Oct. 16,
1863; mutst. out witlh reinmenit Nov. 22, 1864.
Absalom Guiler, majur, must. in Nov. 4, 1861; disclh. on surgeon's certificate May 31, 1862.
Isaac M. Abraham, major, must. iln Nov. 4, 1861; pro. from  captain Co.
G April 28, 1864; wouinded near Deep Bottonm, Va., Aug. 15, 1864;
must. out witll re-iiment Nov. 22,1864.
Andrew Stewart, adjutant, must. in Nov. 11, 1861; pro. from first lienstenant Co. I to captain and A. A. G. Sept. 1, 1862.
COMPANY C.
John C. Williamson, captain, insst. in Oct. 31,1861; res. July 5,1862.
Rohert P. Hughes, captain, must. in Nov. 12, 1861; pro. fr om first lielutenant Co. B Atig. 21, 1862; to lienitenant-coloinel 199tlh Reg,t. P. V.
Nov. 28, 1864.
Isaac R. Beazell, first lieuteniant, must. in Oct. 31, 1861; res. Ju1ne 24,
1862.
Prii
James W. Axton.
John F. Alters, mullst. in Sept. 18,
1862.
Joseph Banks.
William W. Balsley.
John Braithwaite.
William beatty.
Thomas Bale.
hugh Baldlwin.
James Beatty.
Henry Bettler.
Israel W. Brashear.
D. V. B. Carlisle.
G. H. Crawford.
Thomas H. Cline.
James Cearney.
William Campbell.
Thomas W. Cox.
Robert Campbell, must. in March
28, 1862.
ivate.s.1
James Day..
James A. Dowler.
Charles h. Elliott.
Franklin Fear.
George Fear.
Walton J. Field.
Andrew J. Frakis.
William Gould.
William A. Getty.
James Gaines.
Ashbald F. Gabler.
Isaac Gilmore.
William Harvey.
Thomas J. Holmes.'
John F. Hewet.
Lewis Hager.
T. H. Lancaster.
Lewis L. Leyton.
John Lopp.
William Leighty.
Mustered in Oct. 31, 1861, except wlhere other,dates are given.
204
I
IWAR OF TIlE REBELLION.
Mahlon Lynch.                        Francis Ryan.
Lewis p. Leclerc.                     Albert D. Ross.
Wm. h.  Mahoney.                      Peter V. Row.
Alex. J. Maxwell.                     C. F. Shallenberger.
john T. Macher.                 Solomon Smith.
William Mann.                             William Sullivan.
hugh   McGinty, must. in Nov. 6,         Andrew J. Scott.
1861.                             Robert D. Shaw.
Cyrus McMillen.                       Lafayette Short.
George W. McBride.                    John B. Thomipson.
Wilson S. Nutt.                       John S. Wagoner, nmust. in Marclt
George Orbin.                             28, 1861.
John B. Richards.                     William  Whetzel.
George Rodabach.                      Joseph Woods.
Thomas Ryan.
COMPANY E.
Harry -A. Purviance, captain, must. in No'v. 12, 1861; pro. to lieutenantcoloiiel  MIay 15, 1862.
Edward Campbell, captain, must. in Nov. 12, 1861I  pro. front second
lieutenant  MIay i5, 1862; to muijor Sept 6, 1862.
Lewis Watkins, captain, nmuist. in Oct. 15, 1861; 1ro. from  first lieuitenanit Sept. 6, 1862; died Sept. 28thl, of wounids received at Deep Bottoll,
Va., Aug. 16,1864.
Jacob Davis, first lieutenant, must. in Oct. 15, 1861; pro. fromn first sergeatnt to second lieutenianit 3May 1, 1863; to first lieuteinant May 5,
1864; coit. captain Sept. 28, 1864; not  miiustered; must. out with
conmptany Nov. 22,1864.
T. S. Purviance, seconjd lieutenant, muist. in Nov. 12, 1861; pro. from
ser-eaiit Mlay 15, 1862; lkilled at Fair Oatlks, Va., May 31, 1862.
Robert G. Taylor, secoiid lieutenant, must. its Nov. 12, 1861; res. Nov.
22, 1862.
Samuel  Marshall, first sergeant, m-ust. in Nov. 15, 1861; disch. Oct. 31,
1864.
Oliver P. Henderson, first sergearnt, nmust. in Nov. 12, 1864; died at Baltiiinore, MIl., May 25, 1863.
William J. Graham, first sergeant, muist. in Nov. 12, 1861; died at Beaufort, A.t,,list 3Jtli, of woun1ds received at Morris Islalnd, S. C., Aug.
21, 1863.
William M. Linn, sergeant, muist. in Nov. 12, 1861; pro. from  privats
Ang. 18,1862; itist. oitt with cotmpany Nov. 22, 1864.
John D. heckard, sergealnt, ittust. in Nov. 12, 1861; discli. oti surgeon's
certificate Aug. 18, 1862.
Moses McKeag, sprgeant, nusast. in Nov. 12, 1861; dischl. for wounds received! at Fair Oatks, Va., May:31, 1862.
Jacob D. Moore, sergeant, miiust. in Nov. 12, 1861; discharged on  surgeon's certificate Aug. 18, 1862.
Charles E. Eckles, sergeant, mslst. in Nov. 12, 1861; wounided Oct. 13,
1864; trans. to 199tlh Ite-t. P. V. Oct. 14, 1864; veteraii.
Henry  M. Hand, sergealnt, miiust. in -Nov. 12, 1861; absent (wounded) at
imuiister oit.
William  G. Miller, sergeanit, nmust. its Nov. 12, 1861; trans. to Co. E,
188tlt llegt. P. V., Junte 28, 1865; vet.
James r. Peters, sergeant, mttst. in Nov. 12, 1861; killed at Deep Bottotii, Va., Aug. 16, 1864; vet.
George Fisher, corpord, iniust. itt Nov. 12, 1861; wounded Aug. 27,1863;
pto. to corporal Sept. 1, 1861; must. otit witll cotttpany Nov. 22,
1864.
Jacob Hand, corporal, must. in Nov. 12, 1861; disch. on surgeon's certificate April 18 1862.
Hugh B. McNeil, corporal, must. in Nov. 12, 1861; pro. to corporal June,
1862; disclt. ott surgeon's certificate July 4, 1863.
James Watkins, corporal, situst. iLt Nov. 12, 1861; disclt. on surgeon's
certificate Dec. 19, 1862.
Adolphus J. Inks, corporal, mtsst. in Nov. 12, 1861; trans. to 199tl
etegt. P. V. Oct. 14, 1864; vet.
Jeremiah Dorson, cor-poral, niust. in Nov. 12, 1861; absent (sick) at muster out; vet.
George W. Downer, corporal, mitst. in Nov. 12, 1861; trans. to 19Stlt
Regt. P. V. Oct. 14, 1864; vet.
Robert M. Mitchell, corporal, nitist. in Nov. 12, 1861; trans. to 199thl
Regt. P. V. Oct. 14, 1864; vet.
H. J. McCallister, corporal, must. in Nov. 12, 1861; trans. to 199th Regt.
P. V. Oct. 14, 1864; vet.
Martin Pope. corporal, nitist. in Nov. 12, 1861; tranis. to 199th Regt. P.
V., Oct. 14, 1864; vet.
14
Davis himmegar, corporal, miist. in Nov. 12, 1861; died at Baltimore,
MI,l., May 26, 1862.
henry m. Taylor, corporal, muist. in Nov. 12,1861; died at Hilton Head,
S. C., February 5th.
William Remmell, musician, Tyitist. in Nov. 12, 1861; traDs. to 199tlh
Reogt. P. V. Oct. 14, 1861; vet.
Prialaes.
Matthew C. Axton, mntist. its Nov. 12, 1861.
Joseph Andrews, mnuist. in Nov. 12,1861.
John Adams, musst. itt Nov. 12, 1861.
James Byers, muist. in Nov. 12, 1861.
Thomas Byers, nmust. in Nov. 12, 1861.
John Clark, myuist. in Nov. 12, 1861.
Clark Chew, tiiStst. in Nov. 12,1861.
Elbridge Collins, nItist. in Nov. 12, 1861.
Josiah W. Crawford, miust. its Nov. 12, 1861.
Joseph C. Chase, must. in Nov. 12, 1861.
Newton W. Chase, must. in Nov. 12,1861.
Sherman Chase, miust. its Oct. 17,1862.
Milton B. Chase, Imust. in Oct. 17,1862.
Greensbury Crossland, Iltttst. in Oct. 17,1862.
William J. Crow, muist: in Oct. 17,1862.
Simeon D. Cliase, inust. in Oct. 17,1862.
Joln Dean, mssist. in Oct. 17, 1862.
James C. Davis, must. in Oct. 17,1862.
Andrew Devore, nmuwt. in Nov. 12, 1861.
Jacob Deselms, ittust. in Nov. 12,1861.
John Dongan, muist. itt Nov. 12, 1861.
James M. Edingfield, rnsist. itt Nov. 12,1861.
John Flinder-, must. in Nov. 12. 1861.
John Finnegan, mstst. itt Nov. 12,1861.
Isaac Fisher, ntust. in Nov. 12, 1861.
John Fordyce, must. in Nov. 11, 1861.
Benjamin Gill.
Jacob Grover, must. itt Nov. 12,1861.
Eli F. Huston, niust. in Nov. 12, 1861.
Thomas hennessy, mtsst. itt Nov. 12, 1861.
Edward M. hall,nsiust. itt Nov. 12, 1861.
William hand, muist. its Nov. 12, 1861.
William Hays, ittust. itt Nov. 12, 1861.
Jeremiah Hartzell, ttllst. in Nov. 12, 1861.
James h. huff, nttsst.itt Nov. 12, 1861.
William Hartman, must, in Nov. 11, 1861.
William Hill, M.D., tinist. in Nov. 12,1861.
Andrew J. hoff, nsitst. in Nov. 12, 1861.
Lindsey Hartman, must. its Nov. 12, 1861.
Milton D. Hall, niuist. its Nov. 12,1861.
Thomas D. Jenkins, must. in Nov. 1l, 1861.
James Jordan, must. its Oct. 17, 1862.
Michael Keenan, must. itt Nov. 12, 1861.
Gideon Knight, nutust. in Nov. 11, 1861.
Frederick Lowry, inust. its Nov. 12,1861.
Mordecai S. Lincoln, must. itt Nov. 12, 1861.
Jefferson Lowe, msust. its Nov. 12, 1861.
John P. Lucas, muist. itt Aug. 19,1864.
John h. Linn, must. in Nov. 12,1861.
John r. means, must. in Nov. 12, 1861.
Thomas Malone, muist. in March 2, 186)2.
henry Marrett, iitust. in Nov. 12, 1861.
James N. Mayhorn, muist. itt Nov. 12, 1861.
William Mahoffey, mlust. its Nov. 12, 1861.
William h. Marquis, must. in March 25, 1862.
John McLean, must. in Nov. 12,1861.
David C. MeKeag, nsust. itt Nov.12,1861.
William McConn, miust. int Nov. 12, 1861.
John F. McCoy, must. in Nov. 12, 1861.
Benjamin McCallister, Itlust. in June 20,1864.
S. W. McDowell, must. in Nov. 12, 1861.
Robert Neely, must. in Jusly 23, 1862.
Joseph Neely, muist. in Nov. 12, 1861.
David r. Parker, must. in Nov. 12, 1861.
George C. Rockey, must. in Nov. 12, 1861.
henry J. Rigdon, must. itt Dec. 31, 1861.
Wesley Rolston, must. in Aug. 9,1864.
Jacob Rockwell, mtmst. in Nov. 11. 1861.
Elijah Rockwell, must. in Nov. 12, 1861.
205HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Cyrus Sproul, must. in Nov. 12,1861.
Henry Smith, nmust. in Nov. 12, 1861.
Rudolph Smith, must. in Nov. 12,1861.
Charles Vorndal, mtust. in Nov. 12,1861.
John Woodward, muist. in Nov. 12, 1861.
Christy Welsh, must. in Nov. 12,1861.
John J. White, must. in Nov. 12,1861.
COMPANY G.
Isaac M. Abraham, captain, must. in Nov. 6, 1861: pro. to major April
28, 1864.
John A. Gordon, first lieutenant, muist. in Nov. 6, 1861; com. captain
Sept. 8, 1863; must. otit witlh conmpany Nov. 22, 1864.
John F. Crawford, second lieuteniant. must. in Nov. 6, 1861; res'd Mlarch
10, 1864.
Benorie S. Gilmore, fiust sergeant, mulist. in Oct. 15,1861: pro. to sergeant
March 1, 1863; to first sergeanit; must. out with company Nov. 22,
1864.
David R. Graham, first sergeant, must. in Nov. 6, 1861; disch. on surgeon's certificate Nov. 22, 1862.
Marquiis L. Gordon, sergeanit, must. in Nov. 6, 1861; pro. to corporal
Marchl 1, 1863; to sergeant Nov. 1, 1864; mlust. out with companly
Nov. 22, 1864.
Hiram Gordon, sergeant, muist. in Nov. 6,18GI; pro. to sergeant Nov. 1,
18(;4; absent on detached service wlleul miustered out.
Jesse E. Jones, sergeant, mulst. in Oct. 20, 1861; wouinded Auig. 14, 1864;
pro. to ser-geant, 1864; nmust. out withi company Nov. 22, 1864.
Robert h. Ross, sergeant, muist. i n Oct. 20,1861; wounded Aug. 30,1863;
discll. on sutrgeon's cer tificate May 11, 1864.
James R. Core, sergeant, must. in Oct. 15, 1861; disch. on surgeon's certificate Feb. 6, 1863.
Benjamin F. Campbell, sergeant, must. in March 17, 1862; pro. to corporal Nov. 1, 1863; to sergeanit Sept. 1, 1864; absent on detached
service at muster out.
Francis m. Rush, sergeant, must. in Nov. 6,1861; died at Hampton, Va.,
Aug. 19tlh, of wouiids received Aug. 16,1864.
Myers P. Titus, sergeant, mutst. in Oct. 15, 1861; died at Hampton, Va.,
October, 1864, of wounds received in action.
William Pitcock, corporal, mtust. in Nov.6,1861; disch. on surgeon's certificate Nov. 21, 1862.                                      1
George A. Burchinal, corporal, nmust. in Oct. 15, 18G1; died at Yorktown,
Va., Jun 1e 10, 1862.
James Sturgis, cor-poral, must. in Oct. 15, 1861; died at Beverly, N. J.,
Nov. 6tlh, of wounid3s received Aug. 16, 1864.
Harrison H. Hoge, cor-poral, mxiust. in Nov. 6,1861;-'died Aug. 2,1862;
bur ied at Cypress lill Cemetery, L. I., grave 437; burial record Sept
2, 1862.
Thomas S. Knisely, corporal, must. in Nov. 6, 1861; died at Suffolk, Va.,
Nov. 4, 1862.
George W. Kenny, corporal, muist. in Nov. 6, 1861; pro. to corporal Nov.
1, 186:3; killed at Bermuitida  Huindreed, Va., May 20, 1864; buiried in
Nationial Cenmetery, City Poinit, Sec. A, Div. 1; vet.
Adam McGill, musiciani, must. in Oct. 15, 1861; nmust. out with company
Nov. 22, 1864.
Hiram heckman, musician, must. in Oct. 15, 1861; died at Crany Island,
Va., Sept. 13, 1862.
Privates.
Henry K. Atchison, muist. in Oct. 15, 1861.
Baker Bare, must. i n Nov. 6, 1861.
Lindsey Black, must. in.Jan. 5,1864.
William  Bovid, must. in Feb. 12, 1862.
William h. Bowers, muist. in Oct. 15, 1861.
Jesse Barnes, muist. in Oct. 15, 1861.
George C. Beard, must. in Oct. 24, 1861.
John L. Cline, must. in Oct. 15,1861.
John G. Clumley, must. in Oct. 16 1861.
Alexander Conrad, must. ini Oct. 15, 1861.
Jacob Cole, muist. in Nov. 6, 1861.
William Dean, nmust. in Oct. 24, 1861.
Welles E. David, must. in Oct. 15, 1861.
Philaus E: Dickson, must. in Oct. 25,1861.
Martin L. Eberhart, must. in Nov. 4, 1861.
Charles M. B. Enrix, must. in Oct. 15, 1861.
William Eberhart, must. in Feb. 11, 1862.
Isaac French, must. in Oct. 15, 1861.
William P. Greene, must. in Oct. 15, 1861.
William A. Graham, must. ini Nov. 6, 1861.
Daniel S. Goodwin, muist. in Oct. 15, 1861.
James Gray, must. ini Oct. 15, 1861.
Philarus E. Gabler, muiiist. ill Oct. 15,1861.
John Graham, must. in Nov. 6, 1861.
Charles A. Griffin, must. in Oct. 15, 1861.
David Gooden, must. in Feb. 12,1864.
Benjamin Gehoe, must. in Nov. 6, 1861.
John Gregg, nmust. in Nov. 6, 1861.
David L. Grove, must. in Oct. 25,1861.
Caleb F. Hayden, unust. in Nov. 1, 1861.
Nicholas honsaker, muist. ini Oct. 15,1861.
John P. harden, miuist. iti Nov. 6, 1801.
Isaac hunter, must. in Oct. 15, 1861.
Henry m. Hayden, must. in Oct. 15,1861.
William  M. Haney, must. in March 6, 1862.
Frederick Hask, muist. in Oct. 15,1861.
James Hask, must. in Oct. 15, 1861.
George Hoffman, must. ini Nov. 6, 1861.
Josephus Jacobs, muist. ini Nov. 9, 1861.
Andrew J. Jenkins, must. in Oct. 22,1861.
John R. Kent, nmust. in Nov. 6, 1861.
George W. Knisely, mtust. in Nov. 7, 1861.
Van B. Kennedy, must. in Oct. 15, 1801.
George Lloyd, must. in Oct. 15,1861.
James F. Lynn, must. in Oct. 15,1861.
Rolandus Little, niust. in Oct. 15, 1861.
David W. Martin, miust. in Nov. 6, 1861.
Enrix Meredith, mtist. in Oct. 15, 1861.
Allen W. Mitchell, IIIust. in Oct. 24,1861.
John P. Moser, must. in Nov. 6, 1861.
J. H. L. Murdock, mtust. in Nov. 6;, 1861.
John Moore, nmuist. in Nov. 6,1861.
Silas L. Moser, must. in Nov. 6, 1861.
John McDonald, muist. in Oct. 10, 1861.
William McGill, mulst. in Oct. 10, 1861.
James McMasters, muist. in Nov. 6, 1861.
J. W. Nicholson, muist. itn JuJy 10, 1862.
henry 0. Neal, nsulst. ini Oct. 15, 18(11.
Joseph S. Pratt, nmuist. in Oct. 15, 18G1.
Henry B. Patton,mllust. ill Oct. 15, 18(1,
W. h. Patterson, nmust. in Oct. 15, 18(;1.
Ashbel F. Pratt, muist. in Oct. 15, 1861.
Owen Pitcock, nmtust. in Nov. 1, 1861.
Caleb A. Patton, nmiist. in Oct. 15, 18861.
Abberry Phillips, Joiust. iii Nov. 6,1861.
John W. Rush, nmust. in Nov. 6, 1861.
Minor A. Ramon, miust. in Oct. 15, 1861.
John D. Rush, must. in Nov. 6, 1861.
Joel Reid, must. im Oct.15, 1861.
William A. Sutton, nmust. iti Oct. 213,1861.
John Strickler, nimist. ini Oct. 1;5,18t;h.
Israel Shultz, m,mst. in Nov. 6,1861.
Reason Strosnider, muJst. in Nov. 6, 1861.
John Spicer, muist. in Nov. 7, 1861.
Phineas W. Sturgis, miust. in Oct. 15, 1861.
David R. Sturgis, nimust in Oct. 15, 1861.
Benjamin Titus, must. in Oct. 15, 1861.
Joshua R. Thomas, nmust. in Nov. 7,1861.
William  Tell, muist. in. July,ltt, 1861.
Joseph Tannehill, niust. in Oct. 15, 1861.
William h. Utt, nmust. in Oct. 15, 1861.
Moses wilcox, must. ill Oct. 15, 1861.
COMPANY 1.1
John B. Weltner, captain, res'd Juily 20, 1862.
Richard W. Dawson, cap)tain, meust. in Nov. 12, 1861; pro froin first lieutenianit Co. B Aug. 12, 1862; died Feb. I 1865, of wounids received
at Fort Fislher, N. C.
Andrew Stewart, first lieutenant, pro. to adjutant.
E. H. Oliphant, first lieutenant, died att Yorktowtn, Vat., Mray 13, 1862.
John w. Brown, first lieutenant, muist. in Nov. 21, 1861; pro. to second
lieuiteniant June 9, 1862; to first lieuitenant June 16, 1862; must. out
witlh compatTy Nov. 22,1864.
1 Mtstered il Nov. 11, 18G1, except as noted.
20)JO6
I-WAR OF THE REBELLION.
huston Devan, second lieutenant, died at Washington, D. C., June 2,
1862.
W. h. Hackney, second lieutenantt, pro. to corporal Nov. 18, 1861; to
second lieuitenant Juine 16, 1862; res'd M1arch 3, 1863.
Joseph M. Johnson, second lieutenant, pro. ftoin first sergeant Marcll 6,
1863; wounded at Morris Island, S. C., Aug. 30, 1863; mulst. out with
company Nov. 22,1864.
John G. Stevens, first sergeant, wounded Aug. 16, 1864; absent on detached service at muister out.
Ellis B. Johnson, first sergeanit, discli. on surgeon's certificate May 23,
1862.
George W. Ramage, sergeant, wounided Sept. 10, 1864; must. out with
company Nov. 22, 1864.
Thomas M. Harford, sergeant, must. out with company Nov. 22, 1864.
Edward D. Clear, serneiluit, nitst. out with company Nov. 22, 1864.
Lucius Bunting, sergeant, disch., n suirgeoni's certificate Selpt. 15,1862.
heniry J. Mollister, sergeant, disch. on sur-eoni's certificate Janl. 8, 1864.
Thomas J. Black, sergeant, pro. to sergeant-major Oct. 29,1863.
William E. Brown, sergeant, wounided Sept. 22, 186C:; trans. to Co. I,
188th Regt. P. V., Juine 28, 1865; vet.
Crawford 11. Scott, corporal, absent woun-ded at muster ouit.
William E. Finnely, corporal, absenit on iletaclied service at muster out.
William J. Crawford, corporal, discli., date uikliIIowii.
William E. Chick, corporal, trans. to Co. I, 188tlh Regt. P. V., Juine 28,
1865; vet.
James Hackney, corporal, killed at Fair Oaks, Va., Maly 31, 1862.
Moses H. Hayes, corporal, died at New York, Jtunie 19, 1862; burial
r-ecord July 23, 1862.
George W. Grover, corporal, killed at Morr-is slanid, S. C., Auig. 30,1863.
Geoge W. Devan, corporatl, killed ini action May 20, 1864; butried in.
Nationial Cemetery, City Poinjt, Va., Sec. A, Div. 1, Grave 10.
Richard S. Lincoln, corpor'al.
John Bunting, musician, must. out mith company Nov. 22,1864.
John Stuck, musician, must. otut w.th company Nov. 22, 1864.
Ewing D. Hook, mutsician, dischl. oni surgeotn's certificate June 17, 1862.
Pr ivates.
William. Adams.
George W. Bolsinger.
James Beeson.
Albert W. Bolen.
henry J. Bell.
William A. Brownfield, must. in
Oct. 22, 1861.
Thomas Beatty.
Levering Bittle.
Milton F. Bradley, nust. in Feb.
29, 1864.
Andrew J. Bell.
George W. Chick.
George Cunningham.
Issac Campbell.
Henry C. Crago.
Jacob Deffenbaugh.
Joseph Dull, umust. in Feb. 10, 1864.
John Darby.
Moses Freeman.
Johnson Mayhorn.
George W. Miller.
Isaac Minerd, muist. in Oct. 18,
1862.
William  McClellan.
John McKnight.
Michael O'Conner.
Elias Ogle.
Andrew Ogle.
Levi Ogle, muist. in Feb. 11, 1862.
William  A. Pratt, miust. in Ma.rcl
1, 1-62.
William B. Perry, must. in March
20, 1864.
Samuel b. Ramage.
Benjamin Rager.
Thomas Rager.
Albert D. Ross, must. in Oct. 31,
1861.
Edward D. Rolland.
Joseph A. Fisher.
William Grouver.
Greenbury Ginnis.
Cornelius Henesy.
Patrick henesy.
robert holston.
William N. harris.
Samuel E. Johnson.
William H. Jones.
Charles E. Keremer.
Warren S. Kilgore.
Thaddeus Langman.
Thomas P. Lilly.
John W. Lynn.
John Louis.
Andrew C. Lynn.
John Letter, must. in Oct. 27,1861.
James G. Lenhard, nitist. in Feb.
29, 186-4.
Milton F. Lenhard, must. in Feb.
24, 1864.
William Minerd.
James Minerd.
Nathan Morgan.
Emanuel Martin.
Joseph Sechrist, inust. in Oct. 14,
1861.
Samuel Smiley.
Jonathan Sheets, mutst. in Oct. 1,
1861.
Stephen Sanders.
John A. Sangston.
Jordan Strosnider, mttst. in Oct.
14, 1861.
Wilson Scott.
John Thompson.
Benjamin Taylor.
William Vansickel, must. in Sept.
6 6, 1861.
Charles A. Weltner.
George Wymer.
Abner Woods.
William  Wolf, nmust.
1861.
John Williams.
James h. Wynn.
John Wallery.
in Feb. 11, James Wilson.
Charles Yunger.
COMPANY K.
H. Q. Luidington, captain, mtist. in Nov. 6, 1861; dischl. on sturgeon's certificate Feb. 8, 1863.
Reason Smurr, first lieuitenant, must. in Oct. 12, 1861; disch. on surgeon's certificate Feb. 4, 1862.
Andrew J. Gilmore, first lietitenaiut, must. in Nov. 6, 1861; pro. to first
lieuteniatut Feb. 10, 1862; dlisch. on surgeon's certificate July 21,
1862.
Samuel L. McHenry, first lieuiteniant, must. in Oct. 16, 1861; pro. from
se a geaut-njor Jtuly 21, 1862; to adjutanlt Sept. 1, 1862.
John T. Campbell, first lieutenant, must. in Nov. 6,1861; pro. to second
lietutenanit Juily 21, 1862; to first lieutenanit Sept. 1, 1862; disch. on
sutrgeon s certificate Fel. 23, 1863.
William F. Campbell, first lieutetnanit, mulst. in Oct. 12, 1861; pro. from
sergeanit to first lieutenant Jutne 5, 1864; killed near Deep Bottomii,
Va., Auig. 14, 1864.
Stephen K. Brown, second lieutenant, must. its Nov. 6, 1861; dischi. on
sttirieon's certificate Juily 21, 1862.
John Colestock, second lieutenant, must. in Nov. 6, 1861; pro. fronm first
sergeatnt Aug. 1, 1862; muist. ouit with company Nov. 22, 1S64.
James H. Immel, first sergeant, must. in Nov. 6, 1861; disch. on surgeoin's certificate April 7, 18S62.
Oliver Sproul. first sergeanit, niust. in Nov. 6, 1861; wounded Aug. 14,
1864; absent on detaclhed service at muster out.
Sylvanus Heasson, sergeant, mulst. in Oct. 12, 1861; pro. from  corporal
July 19, 1864; tiust. out with comipany Nov. 22,1864.
William H. Showman, sergeant, must.' in Oct. 25, 1861; pro. from  corporal Juily 19, 1864; absent on detacliedl service at muster out.
John M. Moore, sergeant, must. in Oct. 16, 1861; pro. from  corporal
Oct. 1, 1863; nuust. out with company Nov. 22, 1864.
Jacob F. Miller, sergeant, moist. in Nov. 12, 1861; pro. from corporal
July 19, 1864, niust. ottt witlh company Nov. 22, 1864.
Zachariah Snyder, sergeant, nmust. in Nov. 6, 1861; disch. on surgeon's
certificate Jlunie 7, 1862.
Samuel Grim, sergeant, tunust. in Nov. 6,1861; disch. on surgeonl's certificatte Jan. 8, 1863.
Colson Caughanour, sergeant, imust. itn Nov. 6, 1861; dischl. oni surgeon's
certificate Sept. 20, 1863.
Daniel Miller, ser,reant, nmuist. in Nov. 6, 1861; died at Philadelplhia Juine
10, 1862, of wounds received in action.
William H. Murphy, sergeant, tnust. in Nov. G, 1861; detailed on recruiiting ser vice; never retutrned.
Louis P. Gibson, corporal, muist. in Oct. 12, 1861; pro. to corporal July
19,1864; nmust. ouit vitlh company Nov. 22, 1864.
James h. Miller, corporal, nmust. in Oct. 12,1861; wounded Sept. 5, 18G3;
pro. to cor poral July 19, 1864; absent on detached service at muster
out.
Samuel Lister, corporal, muist. in Oct. 12, 1861; pro to. corp. May 25,
1862; must. out swith company Nov. 22, 1864.
James C. Bailey, corporal, mulst. in Oct. 12, 1861; captured Feb. 22,1864;
died oni transport " Nor tlhern Light" Dec. 12, 1864.
Sykes Barnes, corporal, must. in Nov. 6, 1861; disch. on surgeon's certificate Nov. 11, 1862.
John C. Brown, corporal, mtust. in Apr il 1, 1862; absent on detached service at muster out.
Henry C. Dean, corporal, must. in Nov. G, 1861; died at Beaufort, S. C.,
Nov. 22,1863.
Francis D. Morrison, corporal, muist. in Nov. 6, 1861; received furlough
and never returned to coMpany.
Isaac  Cossell, corporal, must. in, Nov. 6, 1861; received furlough and
never returned to company.
Privates.
David S. Bailey, niust. in Oct. 12, 1861.
william H. Brown, must. in Oct. 12, 1861.
Archibald Boyd, must. in Oct. 12, 1861.
Lorenzo D. Boyd, must. in Oct. 7,1861.
John Boyd, niust. in Oct. 6, 1861.
Andrew Boyd, must. in Oct. 6, 1861.
Matthew Campbell, must. in Oct. 6, 1861.
Henry F. Collins, miust. in Ap il 1:3, 1864.
20723
GEORGE WASHINGTON'S VISIT TO THE FRENCH FORTS IN 1753.
to  strengthen  themselves in  the  occupation  of the   one years,2 but one of the adjutants-general of the
territory bordering the head-waters of the Ohio.               military forces of Virginia, as bearer of dispatchles to
In  the  year 1750  the "Ohio  Company"  (acting   the commanding officer of the intruding  French  on
under an English charter and royal grant, the opera-   the Ohio,3l_charged, also, with the duty of aseertaintion  of which  will be  noticed  elsewhere) sent its   ing the numbers and equipment of the French forces
agent, Christopher Gist, to the Ohio River, to explore   there, wlhat forts, if any, they had  erected, and varithe country along that stream, with a view to its occu- ous other items of military intelligence, which are
pation and settlement.  Under these instructions he   made clear in his letter of instructions, of which the
viewed the country along the wvest bank of the river,  following is a copy:
from  the mouth of the Allegheny southwestwardly to              " Whereas, I have received informatA   of a body
the Falls of the Ohio (opposite  the present city of  of French forces being assembled in a hostile manner
Louisville, Ky.), and in the following year (1751) he   on the river Ohio, intending by force of arms to erect
explored  the other side of tlle  stream  down to the   certain  forts on the said river within this territory,
mouth of the Great Kanawha.  In 1752 he was pres-   and  contrary  to the dignity  and  peace of our sovent, as agent of the " Ohio Company," at the Logs-   ereign, the king of Great Britain.
town treaty, already mentioned, and took part, with              "These are therefore to require and direct you, the
Col. Joshua Fry and the two other commissioners of  said George Washington, forthwith to repair to LogsVirginia, in the proceedings with  the chiefs of the   town, on the said river Ohio, and, having there inSix Nations.                                                   formed yourself where the said French  forces have
These and other movements on the part of those   posted  themselves, thereupon  to  proceed  to  such
acting under authority of the British king, caused the   place, and, being there arrived, to present your creFrench to bestir themselves, and move more energeti-   dentialb, together with  my letter to  the  chief comcally towards the occupation of the country west of  manding officer, and  in  the name of his Britannic
the Alleghenies.  Early in 1753 they began to move   Majesty to demaiud an answer thereto.
southward  from  Lake  Ontario  through  the wilder-             "On your arrival at Logstown you are to  address
ness towards the Allegheny River, and on the 21st of  yourself to the Half-King, to Monacatoocha, and the
May in  that year intelligence was received that a   otlher sachems of the Six  Nations, acquainting them
party of one hundred  and fifty French and Indians   with your orders to visit and deliver my letter to the
"had  arrived  at a camping-place leading  from  the
1  Again.,........... 2 Following is a copy of the commission:
Niagara to the head of the Ohio."'  Again  on the
on        "To GEORGE WASHING-oTN, EsQUIRE, ONE OF THE ADJUTANTS-GENERAL
7th of August, a report was received " of the passage               OF THE TROOPS AND ForCEs IN THE COLONY OF VIRGINIA.
of a large number of canoes, wvith French troops by             "I, lreposiiig especial tr ust and confidenice in the ability, coniduct, and
Oswego, on their way to the Ohio."                            fidelity of yoiu, the mid GEORGE WASHINGTON, lhave appointed you illy
This intelligence of the aggressive movements of  express messeilger; aid you are liereby autborized and empowered
to proceed lienice witli all coiveniietit anid possible dispatelh to the parit
the French caused the English  home governnment to   or lplace oni tlhe river Ohio, whiere the French liave lately erected a fort
adopt more elnergetic measures than had previously   or forts, or wlhere the coniiiiaidant of the French forces resides, its
been employed to meet and resist the.r advance into   order to deliver my letter and nmessage to him; and after waiting not exceeding one week for an aniswer, you are to take your leave and retiiris.
the Ohio River country. Among the official commu- imiuiitediately back.
nications addressed by the Earl of Holderness, see-  "1 To this comnmission I liave set my liand and caused the great seal of
retary of state, to the governors of the several Ameri-  tils domiinion to be affixed, at the city of Williamsburg, the seat of miiy
goveriliniet, this 30th day of October, in the twenty-seventh year of the
can  provinces, was one to  Governor Dinwiddie  Of  reign of his Majesty George the Second, king of Great Britain, c., c.,
Virginia, containing directions concerning the French   aniioque Doutiini 1753.
encroachments.  The letter of the secretary was sent                                                   ROBERT DINWIDDIE."
by a government ship, and rcaclled Dinwiddie in Oc-    And the following was the tenor of the Governor's passport:
tober, 1753.  In  pursuance  of the instructions con-  |            "ToaII to cha theselrests tnay cotne or concein, greetiig:
the  g nors a              oithe and            com io          "Whereas, I hlave a1)poilnted George Washington, Esquire, ly comtamned, tplissioii uitder the great seat, my express miiessetiger to the commandant
GEORGE WASHINGTON, then a youth of only twenty-   of the French forces on the river Ohio, and as lie is charged with busiiess of great importance to his Majesty an(I this doinitlion,'I do heteby coitiiiiatid all his Majesty's subjects, and particularly re1 Meaning the lhead of the river since known as the Alleglheny, whiell  quiire all in alliance atid amity witls the crovti of Great Britain, and all
lhFviljg beeni discovered by the French explorer-s niaiiy yeat s before atlly-  others to vlionm this passport nmay come, agreeably to the law of inations,
thing was knowti of the Monongahela, was in tthose eariy timiies regarded   to be aiding anid assistilngas a safegulard to the said George Washington
as the main streani. The Iroquois natinie of the Alleghany was 0-hee-go,  and his attendants itl Iis present passage to and from the river Ohio, as
atid the French advetiturers whlo passed dowti its currenit to the presetit  aforesaid.                      "ROBERT DINwIDDiE."
city of Pittsburgh rendered tile iianae Ohio in cotiforility with the
orthography of their language. In the English the pronuiisciation ottly  3 He had previously sent a messenger on a similar errand. In a letter
is changed. It was not the French alone whlo regarded the Allegheny  to the Lords of Trade lie said, "M Dy last to you was on the 16th of June,
as the main Ohio, for we find that Washington in lis journal and dis-  to wlich I beg you to be referred.  The person sent as a comiimispatches mentioned Venango as being situated " on the Ohio." Aniother  sioner to the commandant of the French forces neglected Iis duty, anid
namile which the French gave to the Ohio, and applied to the stream   went no farther tlhan Logstown on thie Ohio. lie reports the French
e eil tothle lhead of tlse Allegheny, wvas " La Belle Riviere,"-The Beauti-  were then one hlundred atid fifty miles farther up the river, atld I belie ve
ful River.                                                     was afraid to go to them."IIISTOIRY OF FAY"ETTE
COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
James R. Campbell, mnst. in Jan. 5, 1864.
John Devan, miuilst. in Oct. 12,1864.
David Daniels, mluist. in Nov. 6, 1861.
Jonas Dick, nmust in Feb. 14,1862.
harrison Dean, nmulst. in Nov. 6, 1861.
John Dare, miist. in Nov. G, 1861.
James Edwards, muist. i n'Nov. 6, 1861.
Thomas J. Edwards, nmust. in Nov. 7, 1861.
Isaac Eichor, must. in Jan. 5, 1864.
Julius R. Elder, mutist. in Jan. 5,1864.
John B. Eichor, nmuist, in Feb. 14, 1869
Robinson Elder, mu1\st. in Nov. 6, 1861.
Louis Geireke, iniist. in, Nov. o, 1861.
Jacob w. Grim, niust. in Nov. 6 1861.
John C. Grim, nmust. in Nov. 6, 1861.
Jeremiah Groff, nmust. in Nov. 6  1861.
Simon Grim isilst. in Nov. 6, 1861.
paul Grim, nisist. im Nov. 6, 1861.
Jonathan Grim, nmust. in[ Nov  6, 1861.
George Grim, n ust. in. Nov. 6, 1861.
Levi hauger, mumtst. in, Oct. 12 1861.
Isaac L. hall, muiist. ill. Oct. 1, 1861.
George H. Hart, ii1ust. ii Nov. 1, 1861.
Jeremiah hann, must. ill Oct. 18, 1861
George  hiles, mitist. in Oct. 185 1861.
John N. hough, salt. ii Oct. 18J 1861.
Elijah Harbaugh, iust. in Ot. 185 1861.
richard Hopkins, nmust. in Oct. 18,1861.
John Inks, mBust. in Oct. 18, 1861.
Samuel H. Immel, must. iii Jass ns, 186-I.
Samuel k. Johnson, luIst. in Nov. 6, 1861.
Charles Johnson, lUtISt. iil Jan.  5, 1864.
Ludwig A. Kimmel, nsiust. in Oct. 12, 1861.
Henry Keefer, muSt. in Oct. 1, 1  2.
David Kerns, muist. in Nov. G, 1861.
Abraham  Kerns,  tsist. iii Oct. 26,1861.
Benjamin Keefer, must. in Nov. 6, 1861.
James Kerns, im1ust. in Nov. G, 1861.
Charles Lytle, msist. in Oct. 12, 1861.
Isaac 0. Lowes, ma11st. in Nov. 6, 18G1.
James Leonard, ini1ist. in NoV. 6, 1861.
Isaiah D. Lowrie, must. in Ap1ril 1t, 1861.
Perry Morrison, must. ii Oct. 12, 1861.
Isaih  MOrrison, matist. ini Nov. 6  1SG61.
Thomas Morrison, insiist. in Nov. 6, 18G1.
Amzi Miller-, mulLst. in  Momaelm 23,18G4.
harrison Mountain', must. in NoV. 6, 1861.
Jacob McMillen, m-ust. in Oct. 12, 1861.
Samuel Nicholson, mnust. in Nov. 6, 1861.
David Nicholson, assit. in Nov. 6, 1861.
Barthel New, m1{ust. in MarCli 21, 1864.
Josiah Phillipi, niust. in Oct. 1, 1861.
Jacob phillipi, mist. in Oct. 12 1861.
James, Reynolds, must. in Nov. 1, 1861.
William  rittenour, n111st. in Nov. 6, 1861.
John repport, isi1St in t its Mch 1, 1864.
Paul rankin, must. iii Nov. 6 1861.
h. Romesburgh, u-Itst. in Nov. 6, 1861.
Leonard Rowan, inist. in NoY. 6 1861.
Alexander Rankin, must. ii Marchi 293, 1864.
James Rowan, sisUSt. iI Nov. 6,1861.
Henry L. ragger, iinsist. in Nov. 6, 1861.
Thomas Stuch, nitist. in Oct. 12,1861.
William  S. Shaw, nuiiist. irn Nov. 6, 1861.
George Sees, nuist. iin Nov. 6, 1861.
Joseph Stull, In1sit. iin Matclh 22, 1864.
Enoch Solomon, ii1sist. in Nov. 6, 1861.
Charles Stull, insist. in Nov. 6,1861.
Isaiah P. Stull, niust. in Feb. 1, 1864.
Benjamin Taylor, must. in Nov. 9,1861.
Jeremiah TAylor, niust. in Nov. 6, 1861.
Isaiah Tower, miust. ini April 11, 1864.
Harrison Trump, intsist. in Nov. 6, 1861.
Levi Vanticue, uiiiist. iii Nov. 6 1861.
Ephraim Vanticu, must. iii Nov. 6,1861.
John Vaux, nisist. in Nov. 6, 1861.
Williami Whipkey, must. in Nov. 6,1801.
Perry B. Wilson, liulst. in Nov. 6, 1861.
Samuel Whipkey, mulst. in Nov. 6, 1861.
Thomas Zebley, must. itl Nov. 6, lOl.
Perry C. Zebley, muiist. in Nov. 6 1861.
Unassigsed MlBen.
Isaac Adams, muist. in Jain. 20,1864.
Nelson E. Cady, imust. in Fel. 20, 1864.
John Earnest, insist. in Jant. 20,1864.
Henry Garrett, must. in Fel). 1, 1864.
Ebi Garrison, muiiist. in Feb. 6, 1864.
SECOND  REGIMENT  IIEAVY  ARTILLERY.
The One Hundred and Twelfth Regiment of the
Pennsylvania Line, designated as the Second Artillery, was raised under authority granted in October,
1861, by the War Department to Charles Angeroth, of
Plhiladelphia, to recruit a battalion (afterwards extended to a regimenit) of hleavy artillery. Recruiting
was commenced at once, and proeeeded rapidly.  One
of the batteries (" K") was made up originally of
men from  Fayette, and its ranks were afterwards very
largely recruited from  this collnty.
The regiment was organized in the early part of
January, 1862, with Col. Charles Angeroth, Lieut.+
Col. John H. Oberteuffer, anid Maj. William Candidus
as its field-officers.
On the 25tlh of February the regiment (excepting
Companies D, G, and H, which lhad previously been
placed on duty at Fort Delaware, below Philadelphia)
was ordered to Waslhingtoin, and upon its arrival was
reported to Gen. Abner Doubleday, by whom it was
assigned to duty in the fortificatioins north of the city.
The three companiies from Fort Delaware rejoinied tile
others on the 19th of March, and for more than two
years from that time tile regiment remained in the
Washin,ton defenses north of tile Potomac.  On tile
26th of Marcl, 1864, it was transferred to the Virginia side, and placed to garrison Forts Marcy and
Ethan Allen, near tile Chain Bridge.'
On the opening of the spriing campaign of 1864
the regiment was ordered to the front, and accordinigly
emnbarked at WVashington on tile 27th of May, and
proceeded to Port Roya], on the Rappalhannock Riv-er,
where it arrived on the 28th.  Fromii tlat. place it
marched across the country, and joinied the Eighteenth
Army Corps, under Gen. W. F. Smith, at Cold Harbor
on the 4tlh of June. There it was formed into three
battalions in order to secure greater facility in maioeuvring. These battalions witli the Eighty-ninth
New York Reginment forimed tlle Second Brigade in
the Second Division of the corps.
Moving. with the armiy across the Jaines River, the
regiment took its position in the lines investing the
city of Petersburg, and during the months of June,
July, and August performed constant and severe duty.~~~~~~~~~~~
5 At that time the regiment lhad increase(d by recruiting to about 3300
men, and a new regiment, designated as the Stecond Provisional Artillery,
was fonmed froni its surplus b) order of tle War Department. Tlhe sew
regiment wvas organized April 20, 1864, and was senit into time field as a
part of the Nintlh C.rps.
208
IWAR OF TIIE REBELLION.
ill the trenchies from the,Appomnattox River to the Jerusalemn plank-road, being in that time reduced fromn
lan effective strengmth of eighteen hlundred and thiirtysix to less than ninie hundred. This ntumber was increased early in Septemnber by an accession to its ranks
of about four hundred  mnen, the'remnant of the,Second Provisional Artillery Regfiment, whichl had originally been formed from its surplus strength.
On the 20th of Septemnber the regiment moved with
the Army of tile Jam-es across the river, and took part
ill the operations whichi resulted in the capture of
Fort Harrison, and i-n whiceh the First and Seconid
Battalions sustained a loss of over two hundred in
killed, wounided, and prisoners. Amnong- these was
Lieut. John B. Krepps, of Company K, wounded,
and Lieut Presley Cannon, of the same company,
killed, September,#9tb.
Thle regiment remnained in its position near Fort
Harrison until the 2d of December, when'it was
ordered to Bermuda Hundred, its term, of service
being  then within  abouit a  monith  of it s close.  At
tilat pl ace a large  numnber of the  men  re-enlisted  as
veterans; these, with the recru'its, whio joined, aliioulitinig to over twvo thousand inen. The regimnent, however, was not called on to'- do much more fighiting'.
After. the evacuation of Petersburg by the enemy it
wvas ordered to duty in that city, anid after the surrender of Lee's army; the sev eral comipanies of thec Seconid
were distributed throuoh the lower counties of Virginia to  mainitain  orde.r, and  remained'on  this duty
till tile beg inning, of 1866. On the 29thi of January
ill tilat year it was nmustered out of service at City
Point, Va., and was'soon after, transported to Pilifladelphia, where its men were dischiarged -on tIme 16t-h
of Februiary.
MEMBERS Or TILE SECOND ARTILLERY FROM3 FA YETTE
COU.NTY.
BATlTERY K.
Amzi S. Fuller, captain, must. its Feb. 11, 1862; com. lieiuteaiu.-t.tcololitel
189thi Rent. P. V. Apr-il 30, 1864; not niuster-ed; diseli. Feb. 2:3, 1865,
at expirationi of term.
John B. Krepps. captlit, titiust. int Feb. 11, 1862; wounided at Cluapiti's
Faitnt, Ya., Sept. 29, 1864; pro. froisa first lietiteitanit May 3, 1865;
iittist. out witit batter-y Jaii. 29, 1866.
Presley Cannon, fir-st lieuttenaiit, muist, in Jant. 29, 1862; com. usajor
189ti R1e-t. P. V. April 30, 1864; not miusteredl; killed att Chiapiis's
Fatrm, Va., Sept. 29, 1864.
James h. Springer, first lieuitenant, must. in Jan. 29, 1862; ditcli. Jan.
28, 3865, at expiratiots of termi.
Louis Fisher, first lietitetiant, pro. from fir-st ser-geant to secoitul lietitenant Jaut. 24, 18G5; to first lietutentant Mlay 3, 1865;: died at Peterfsbur-g, Va., Sept. 6, 186-5.
Peter Heck, flirst lietutemtaitt, i-iust. in Jan. 29, 1862; pro. front first sergeant to second lietitettaut July 11, 1864; to first lieutetiatit May 3,
1865; discli. July 24, 1865.
John h. Guisinger, secotid lieutettant, miust. itt Feb. IL, 1862; pro. to
first lietitetiant Batt. B Oct. 5, 1862.
Joseph L. Iredell, second lieutentant, muiist, in Dec. 30,13862; cons. captitinl
Bait. H1, 189thi Itegt. P. V., Apr-il.30, 1864; iuot wtuistered; pro, -to
fir-st leutitenanst Bait. L Oct. 6, 1864.
George W. Webb, second lieutentant, miust, in Dec. 18, 1861; pr-o. from
purivaite Bitt. F to second temuitemmamit Dec. 9, 1863:5 comis. captain Batt.
K, 189th Itegt. P. V., April'30, 1864; pro. to capttaint Batt. F Mtay 6,
1865.
Charles W. Rush, second lieuiteniant, miust, in Jan. 30,1862; pro. to corporal Jani. 1, 1863; to sergeant Apr-il 10, 1864; to first seirgeait Mlay
1, 1865; to seconid lieuitenant May 3, 1865.
James B. Darrell, seconid lieuteniant, niuist. in Jan. 30, 1862; pro. to curioral  Mlay 22,1862; to sergeanit Apr-il 10, 1864; to flirst sergeant Jun le
1, 1.865; to second lieuitenlanit Juily 1, 1863; mutst. ouit withi battery
Jan. 29, 1n66; veteran.
Rezin L. De Bolt, flirst sergeant, muist. in Jan. 6, 1862; coin,. first lieuiteniatit Batt C. 189thi Rel-t. P1. V., April 30, 1864; niot mustered; pro.
f'roiti pr-ivate  Aug. 1, 1865; must, ouit witlh  battery  Jan. 29, 1866;
veteran.
Mesbacht Hyatt, sergeant, must. in Jan. 6, 1862; pro. to corporal Jani.
26, 1862' to sergeanit Jani. 1, 1863; nisust. ouit withi battery Jan. 29,
18C-3; veteran.
Jacob G. Draher, ser-geant, muist. in Feb. 29, 1864; pro. fromi private Oct.
11, 1863; mutst. out with battery Jani. 29, 1866.
George N. Provence, sergeanit, iiuist, in Jan. 6, 1862; pro, to corpor-al
Apr3i 10, 1864; to sergeant Feb. 1, 1865; muist. out wvithi battery Jan.
29, 1866; Yeteran.
William K. Cooper, ser-eant, mutst. in M1arch 9, 1864; pro. from private
June 1, 1865; muiist. out withi battery Jaii. 29', 1866).
Thomas W. L.  Miller, sergeant, miust, in Feb. 20, 1864; pro. to corporul
Feb.]1, 1865;- to sdrgeant Oct. 1, 1865; nitst, out with batter-y Jatit.
29, 1866'.
Samuel Wilson, ser-geant, muist, lit Feb..9, 1864;. pro. to corporal May I,
18645; to sergeant Oct. 1, 1865; muiist. out wvithi battery Jan. 29, 1866.
William harmony,sergeant, imnust. in Jani. 29, 1862; dlischi. on surgeolus
-certificate Dec. 30, 1862.
Miles hand, ser,geant, mutst, in -Nov. 19, 1861; disclh. on surgeon's ccitifi.cate M1ay 2, 1862.
h. T. Davenport, ser-geanit, must, in Jan. 29, 1862; dischi. oil suirgeon's
certificate Jan. 30, 1864.
Thomas Williams, sergeant, nust. in Feb. 8, 1862; diselb. Feb. 7, 1865, at
expiration of term.
John W. Gue, sereattt, miust, in Jan. 29, 1862; discli Jani. 28, 1865, attt
expira-ttoni of tertiit.
Rezin McBride, sergeattt, must. in Auig. 27, 1862; pro. to corporal Junie
19, 1S,64; to sergetnt May 1, 1865; ctaptured at Chapitt's Farm, Va.,
Sept. 29, 1864; disclt. by G. 0. July 5, 1865.
William h. Martin, sergeantt, iiust, in Auig. 27, 1862; pro. to ser-geanlt
Decc. 1, 1864; dlisch. by G. 0. June 28, 186-5.
John h. Smith, sergetant, mtist, in Nov. Ii, 1862; pro, to sergeamit Oct.
1, 1865; diescli. Nov. 10, 1865, at expiration of ter-m.
William h. Cox, sergeant, nitist. its Felt. 16, 1861; pr-isoner fromi June 2,
1864, to April 2, 18615; disch,. by G. 0. Auug. 8, 1865.
Levi B. Pearcell, sergeant, muist. iti. Jait. 29, 1862; killed at Petersburg,
Va., Jutie 18, 1861; veteran.
Peter Matson, sergeaitt, must, in Jan. 29,1862; dlied at For-tress Mionroe,
Va., Nov. 24, 1864; buirtedi itn Ntational Cemetery, Hlampton.
John Rissell, corporal, muist, in Feb. 16, 1861; pro. to cor,porttl Dec. 1,
1861; tttust. out witlls bttttery Jtan. 29, 1866.
Harvey Groff, corp(oral, miist, in Feb). 26, 1864; pro. to corporal Feb. 1,
1865; nutist. out with buattery Jan. 29, 18616; veteran.
Robert Agey, corportal, titnst. in Sept. 9, 1863; piro. to corporal Feb). 1,
1865; miust. out with battery Jan. 29, 1866.
John T. Sangston, corporal, must. in Jars. 18, 1862; pro, to corp. Feb. 1,
1865; tisttst. out withi batter-y Jats. 29, 1866; veteritit.
John T. Johnson, corporal, ntttst. in Feb. 2.t, 1864; pro, to Corporal Mlay
1, 5865; ttstist. out witlh battery.Jats. 29, 1866; veteratt.
henry b. Wilcox, Corporal, must. it Feb. 29, 1864; pro. to corp. Jutie 1,
1865; must. otit withi buittery Jaut. 29, 1866.
William Haney, corporal, muist, its Dec. 15, 1861; pro. to corporal Oct. 1,
1865; nitittt. out withi battery Jan. 29, 1866; veterani.
James E. Alton, corporatl, itt;st. its Jant. 26, 1864; pro, to corp). Oct. 1,
1865; muist. out with battery Jatt. 29, 1866; veteran.
J. B. Everingham, corporal, nusut. its Feb. 29, 1864; pro. to corporal Oct.
1, 1865; must. out with batter-y Jati. 29, 1866.
Charles A Palmer, corporal, must, in Jani. 30, 1864; pro. to corp. Oct. 1,
1865; itiiist. ottt witis btatter'y Jan. 29, 1866.
Eugene D. Sperry, cor-poral, must. in Feti. 25, 1865; pro. to corporat Oct.
24, 1,E65; miust. oat with battery Jan. 29, 1866.
Nicholas Miller, cor-poral, mitst. its Jait. 29, 1862; diseli. on surgeon's certificate May 22, 1862.
W. h. Poundstone, corporal, miust. iii Jan. 29, 1862; dischs. Jan. 28, 1865,,
titt expiration of term.
Morris Morris, corporal, must. in Jan. 29, 1862; discls. Jan. 28, 1865, at
expinatioti of ternt.
209- (
IIHISTORY OF, FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Oliver Tate, corporal, muttst, in Feb. 4, 1862; disolt. Jan. 28,1805, at expiration of termi.
Andrew J. Hacket, corporal, siiiast, in Feb. 13, 1862; disch. Jan. 28, 1865,
at expirationi of term.
Cyrus Smith, corporal, nuttst. in Jani. 29o, 1862; disali. Jan. 28, 1805, at exliralkan of leritii.
Daniel Gibson. corporal, moist, in  Sept. 20, 182; pro.' to  cor-P. Dcec  1,
1864; disch. b;y G. 0. Juine 28," 1s65.
William Funk-, corporal, miust. in  Oct. 2, I8624 diaSch1. Oct. 2, 1865, at expiration of ternml.
Benj. F. Davis, corporal, muist, in  Feb. I1, 1882    m -issed  in  action  at
Ch api is. Farmi, Va., Se-pt., 25, 18G5.
James R. A. Altman, bw,gler, muist. in. Feb 20~, 1864; must, out witlh batter-y Jan, 29, 1866.
David L. Provence,'buigler, must, in Dec. 18.1861; must, -out withi batter-y Jan. 29, 1866; veteran.
Andrew  J. Todd, artificei, imust, in Jani. 7, 1862; muist. out withi battery
Jan. 29, 1866; Yetevan.
John Mortimer, artificer, miust. in Jan. 15,1,862; miust. out withi battery
Jan. 296,1866; veterani.
Walter Burch, artificei-, muist. in               arch-el 10, 1864; captured; died at Andersouvi)ll, Ga., Nov. 7, 1864; gratve 11,894.
Samuel Tresle, artiificer, iiiiist. in Jan. 29,1862; died at Fortress Moion1roe, Va., Sept. 4, 1864, of wounds r-eceived at Petersburg.
John Rathbone, artificer, niust.. in Feb.. 27. 1804; tirans. to Batt. F, 2d
Pryv. Artillery, April 20, 1864; captured; died at Aindersoniville,
G a. d ale Tit,uk itwn
Privates..
Win. Amesburg, niusat. in Dec. 21, 1861.
jaes B. Abraham, mutst., in. Dec. 18S, 1881.
William B. Alton, titust.. in Jan. 26, 1864.
James Andrews, muitst, in Feb. 27, 18641.
Joseph Ashbaugh, taoist. in Jan. 30'), 1861.
benj. P. Anderson, meutal its Feb. 1, 1864.
Thomas B. Abraham iutust. itt Jatii. 29, 1864.
robert Anderson,  mutst, its. Jan. 29, 1864.
John P. Altman, maust, in Nov. 6, 1862,
Jacob Albright.
Thomas, aflick-, must, its Feb. 2~9, 1864.
Joseph Albright, ttittist. in Feb. 19, 1864.
S. Achenbach, Jr., usitst. itt Feb. 27, 1884.
Geo. W. Anderson ststtist. itt Jan. 28, 18622.
Robert B. Austin, Bmust. itt Jani. 29, 1864.
thos. J. Abraham, mutst, in Jatt. 12, 1864.
Ephraim barber, nisst. in Dee.0 31, 1861.
James T. Black, nttist. in) Jati 27, 1862.
Charles Bloh, miita. in FtA.  12, 1864.
William H. Beddoes, nsttst. in Sept. 29, 1863.
Jeremiah Bruner, nuitt. itt Feb. 6, 1864.
Andrew S. Barnes, nittst. its Marchi 14, 1864.
Martin M. Barney, nissat. itn Feh). 16, 1864.
Seth C. Bowers, issust. ini Feb. 163, 1864.
John E. Brenberger. mutst. itt Feb. 29, 1864.
James D. Burman, miust. itt Felt. 16, 1864.
William H. Brock, mitait. in Feb. 12, 1864.
William h. Barker-, asust. itt Feb. 26, 1864.
Jackson Brown, ntust. in Jats. 29, 1862.
John Boyd, nutstt. in Jtsn. 25, 1862.
James C. Brown, must. itt Feb. 27, 1864.
Allen Briner, tnttst. itt Jan. 29), 1862.
David Baker-, nuasit. in Feb. 16, 1862.
Thomas Buffington, tisust. itn Nov. 11, 1862.
henry Black, mntsts. itt Nov. 11, 1862.
Jesse D. Bumworth, munst, in Mitrcli 15, 180.
J. L. Breckenridge, tiisust. itn Nov. 16, 1862.
Otho Bayne, ittiist. its Feb). 19, 1864.
George E. Bridger, titust. its Feb. 26, 18641
John W. Blowser-, ititist. in March 213, 1864.
Levi Brenberger, must, in Feb. 29, 1864.
Zaddock Brownfield, ititait. itt Sept. 3, 1863.
Aaron Backman.
henry Brewer, must. iti Feb. 28, 1864.
Johnson L. Bartley, nintst. itt Feb. 11, 1861.
George Bird, muiist, in Feb. 2~9, 1864.
James G. Bradley, niiust. its Feb. 10, 1864.
Joseph J.. Bale, istust. itt Feb. 22, 1864.
John Bird, muist in Mfat cli 7, 1864.
James P. Brock, muist. in Feb. 12, 1864.
Sebastian Crago, must. it Jtsne 26, 1864.
Joseph L. Caldwell ussist. in. Jnite 30,1864.
Henry C. Conner, must. in Feb. 271, 1864.
Charles  W. Coates, niisst. ji  FIt1. 5, 1864.
John core, nitist set Jitmt 19, 1864.
Patrick Conway, muist. iii Feb. 22, 1864.'
robert N. Chew, isitist. in Feb. 8, 186-1.
Peter  Cruse, istuist   sit'iJai. 291, 1862.
Andrew   W. Crwford.  m-ust, in  Jain. 29, 1864.
W.V H. Cunningham tits, miust. in Jin. 29, 1.ti2.
Samuel Chester, sutst  sit Felb. 13, 1802.
Benjamin F. Conley, muist. its isis. 29,1862.,
H. h. Cunningham, inu-t. it Atig. 27, 1862~.
John W. Conley, jmit-I li Aug. 27, 1862.
Abner Conn, matst. in Sept. 2,1862.
Harvey  Coburn   ititist   itt  Fel., 1864.
Peter Clements inutot itt Feb. 16, 1864.
Clark Chew, titiist. ink Feb. 12,1864A.
Isaac N. Croft, suttast. in Dlec. 8, 186:1.
Owen D. Cruise-, isust. in Juti. 29), 162.
Goerge- W. clabaugh    t   22,  1864..
Abraham  Cross,imtist. iii   M:tre-h-13(5  1864i.
John Campbell, mistist. iii Nov,. 6, 1862.
Josiah Carter, mtnat. in Ja-it. 29., 186G2.
I I.   CiL        i i t s   s
John W. Chilson, ma.. it March) 29,1884.
Christopher Coxe,  sttttst. ini Jams.30, 1864.
benjamin F. Crusan, titnst. in Au l, I-11864.
Harmer Denny, mustt. its Felt. 2,, 1862..
henry Drake, muist, in Felt. 24, 1861.
William drake, m-it. its Feb. 26, 1861.
David d. Drake, tittist. itt Felt. 28, 1864.
John Dean, asstist. in Jani. 219, 186~.
Alexander t Dougherty, sstist. ini isis 23), 1862.
Thomas, Dougherty, snsat. its Jati. 25, 1862.
James B. Dunn atuit in Felt. 8, 1864.
Simon dunmire stitist sit Feb. 28, 1864,
Jacob Daniels, itisist. in M,arch 247, 1864.
Jacob m. dean     utn te iiiis.n  Nov.1I1,  1862.
Andrew Donaldson iusitt. let March 41, 1864.
David T. Ebbert, matst. in Feb. 12, 1864.
Francis J. Engle, tttu-t, in Felt). 27, 1864.
William h. Everett, iutistl. ini Felt. 1(1, 11 64.
Thomas, Everett, umisat. its Felt. 16, 18th.
John H. Easton, ttutmt. lit Felt, lIt, 1864.
John Evans, must, in Feb.t 28, 1864.
Thomas Ellsworth, ustist. itsJan. 19, 1864.
William D. Eckert, muitst, itn Feb. 16, 18ti4.
Israel P. Fallwood, mtist, its Felt, 6, 1864.
Francis Forepaugh, asstist. itt April 14, 1864.
George, F. Funk, attist. itt Felt. 1, 18f;4.
Frederick Friend, maist. iii Felt. 4, 1864.
Andrew J. Farrier-, tiiisst. jet NovY. 6, 182.
William Gray, 3atist. in March 5, 1868.
George W. Giles, mnutst. iii Feb. 16, 1864.
William   h. Gormley,   misit.t its March   2,  1864.
John Galvin, niust. ini Marchi 10, IsS4.
Brice Gasnel, insiist.. iii. Jast. 29, 1 812.
Alfred m. Gooley, ittitAt. its tiss. 2.3, 1862.
Isaac Griffin, istust. iii Jait. 29, 18ii2.
Thomas Gist, asist. itt Felt. 19, 1864.
James Gray, suust. in Aitg. 29, 1862.
Alanson Gregory, sistist. itt Felt. 23, 11868.
Benjamin Groff, staist in Feb. 25,1 MAs.
Norman Green assist sit Felt. 29, 1864.
robert Gardner sisusth in Filt. 17, 1864,
Isaac Groff statst sit Felt. 2., 18#4.
Getson haney, uititsi ini 1Dc. 15, 1861.
Ebenezer Huff mus~t sit Feb. 29, 1864.
John hunter mist set Jait. 1, 186i2.
Elijah Hawk, mittist it Jai). 31,1862.
Henry hiles ustist sit) Jut. 29, 1862.
Samuel hickle, uistal its Jan. 13. 186~,
Churtean hang,ittust. in  Feb. 22, 18G4.
John Hilbert, itiust. Wi Feb. 12, 1864.
210WAR OF THE REBELLION.
Jacob haas, must. in March 12, 1804.
Thomas Handsforth, mlust. in March 16, 1864.
D. J. Hemsicker, muist. in Feb. 24,1864.
Henry Harrison, must. in Feb. 13, 1864.
George Humbertson, mist. in Feb. 3, 1864.
George R. held, muist. in Sept. 8, 1863.
George W. Hall, muist. in Nov. 10, 1862.
Samuel A. Hall, must. in Aug. 27, 1862.
William W. Hartzell, must. in Feb. 27, 1864.
Samuel W. Hall, mitist. in Jan. 29,1862.
Andrew Hopkins, must. ini Jati. 29,1862.
William W. Hoover, mu)st. its Feb. 8, 1864.
John W. Holland, must. in Nov. 11, 1862.
James J. hook, must. in Feb. 8, 1862.
Pardon C. hewitt.
William Hathcock, mIust. ia Feb. 26, 1864.
Joshua A. hart, nmust. itn Feb. 16, 18(i4.
John Hiles, must. in Jani. 5, 1864.
George D. hazen, must. in Feb. 13, 1864.
James h. House, must. in Feb. 16, 1864.
William hockenbrock, inuist. in Feb. 27, 186G.
Archibald Hyatt, must. in Jan. 29, 1862.
J. B. Hockenbrock, must. in Feb. 27,1864.
Daniel hannen, Imlust. in Jani. 11, 1864.
Samuel Heffley, iiust. in Jan. 25, 1862.
James Harvey, mtist. in Feb. 4,1862.
Williamn harvey, muiiist. its Jan. 12,1862.
John G. Hommell, msust. in Felb. 1, 1862.
S. J. Helms.
william hughes.
Samuel Isler, Imulst. in Feb. 16, 1861.
m. m. ingraham, iust. itl Feb. 10, 1864.
Elijah johnson. Imiust. in Jatu. 18, 1'62.
William h..Johnson, uiitist. in Janii. 26, 1862.
SamUel Johnson, iiiust. its Jams. 22, 1862.
James Jordan, iIIIist. ill Sept. 1, 1863.
Joseph Johnson, milust. in Feb. 13, 1864.
Benjamin Jones, nmust. its March 28, 1864.
Abraham Jacoby, imust. in March 25,1864.
James M. Johnson, tsnus in Matrch 29, 1864.
Chester Jacoby, uistist. its March:7,1864.
John Jackson, nmust. its March 17, 1864.
Joseph L. JackSOn, must. ill Feb. 18, 1861.
benjamin F. James, nmust. its Aug. 11, 1862.
James Johns, tittst. in Feb. 11, 1864.
Wesley Johnston, titust. its Feb. 23, 1864.
Richard Johnson, iniust. it -Feb. 27, 1864.
Frederick Jenny, mttst. in Feb.'29, 1864.
JohnW. Jewell, miiust. its Jatn. 30, 1864.
Jacob Kinley, 11ttust. in Feb. 6, 1864.
ChIristiani Kinly, istust. it Fe'o. G, 1864.
Charles Kleharley, nmust. is itFeb. 17, 1864.
William Keener, ittust. its Oct. 2, 1862.
John kirk;,  tibst. ina Feb. 22, 1861.
Samuel Kirk, mIust. itt Feb. 1J, 1864.
Samuel M. Kealer, tiiust. its Feb. 10, 1864.
Monroe Kuntz, msust. its Marclh 28, 1864.
Johs Keener, must. its Nov. 11, 1862.
John Kauf, musst. itt March 27, 1864.
George Kline, niust. in Marell 29, 1864.
David Kiffer, illlist. iU Feb. 14, 1862.
Alexander Kankin, niust. in March 22, 1864.
James Love, itStst. in Feb. 10, 1864.
Christia Lucius, ttiust. in Feb. 19, 1864.
Joes Lins, must. its MarlcI  29, 1864.
L. Z. L. Linten, inust. its Feb. 4,1862.
Charles Linck, nmust. itt Aug. 27, 1862.
John Lobach, titust. its Feb. 26, 1864.
William S. Leonard, Ilust. in March 25,1864.
Josiah Luckey, nuust. in Jams. 29,1862.
Henry Leader, niust. its Feb. 29, 1864.
Robert Leonard, mtust. its Nov. 11, 1862.
George Laybranch, mtlst. its Feb. 2!9, 1864..
James D. Lawrence, niust. it Feb. 16, 1864.
George Muir, niust. itl Jatn. 12,1862.
Alex. B. Mahan, miust. itt Feb. 9, 1864.
Joseph Malone, Ulust. in Feb. 11, 1S64.
Thomas W. Malone, iuiust. in Feb. 12,1864.
Jonathan Moon, mttst. in Marcls 25, 1864.
John meekins, must. in Jan. 30, 1864.
Elisha C. Mitchell, must. in Feb. 22, 1864.
David Miller, niust. in Jan. 29, 1862.
Christopher Merner, miust. in Sept. 23, 18C4.
John H. Marshall, niust. in Jatt. 29,1862.
Stephen Meredith, miiiist. itt Jatt. 29, 1862.
William Melson, intist. in Jttn. 29, 1862.
Benjamin F. Mackey, must. itt Feb. 4, 1862.
David Muir, must. itt Jan. 30, 1864.
Beltzer meese, must. itt Feb. 22, 1864.
George Miller, mtust. in Feb. 26, 1864.
henry Menden, must. in Jatt. 29,,1862.
David G. Morris, must. is Auig. 27, 1862.
Alex. Millener, utust. in Sept. 9,186:3.
George N. Meekins, must itt Jan. 30, 1864.
Newton Mortland, ntust. in M1arclh29, 1864.
Charles mcCarroll, mnist. in Mlar-ch 14,1864.
John m McDaniels, niust. itt. Feb. 16, 1864.
Daniel McPeck, iilust. itt Jan. 2:3, 1864.
Thomas K. McClane, must. in Feb. 23,1864.
Wesley V. Mckelvey,'must. its Feb. 23, 1814.
William McKinney, must. itn Sept. 27, 1862.
A. McGlaughlin, ntust. in Nov. 11, 1862.
John McCann, mIust. itt Dec. 9,1862.
James T. McClane, miist its Aug. 20,1862.
Richard McMillen, muist. its Sept. 7,1863.
Charles McCames, mutst. in Jan. 25, 186.
T. H. McCormick, InltlSt. in Nov. U, 1862.
John McDaniels, must. itt Feb. 20,1864.
Thomas McRoberts, IIIItst. itt Marclt 8, 1864.
Henry  McMillen, mttst. itt Feb. 11, 1864.
Daniel McDaniels, iiust. in Feb. 28,1864.
Jacob Norigong, sttitst. in Feb. 16, 1864.
Timothy Nichols, tilust. in Jan. 29, 1862.
David Numan, mtust. in Feb. 6, 1864.
George Neff, iitust. in Feb. 11. 1864.
Adam C. Nutt, tiiust. itt Nov. 11, 1862.
George W. Nelson, ntust. itD Jatt. 27, 1862.
John Neal, i-nst. in Aug. 27, 1862.
John M. Osterly, must. itt Feb. 13, 1864.
Joshua Oyster, nitust. in Feb. 29, 1864.
John G. Oakes, nititst. in Jan. 30, 1864.
James Oliphant, mntst. itt Nov. 26, 1862.
Caleb O'Brien, must. in Jhaicli 30, 1864.
James Powell, ustust. itt Maelh 28, 1864.
Augustus A. Palmer, nutust. in Feb. 3, 1864.
George W. Piffer, must. its Feb. 16, 1864.
Merrill G. Pingree, must. itt Feb. 26, 1864.
Jacob H. Peterson, must. in Sept. 26, 1862.
James H. Porter, mntst. in Sept. 10, 1862.
Peter M. Poling, mttst. in Feb. 8, 1862.
William Pearce, must. in Jatn. 12, 1864.
Lorenzo Pierce, mcst. itt Jams. 26, 1864.
William M. Peeler, must. itt Feb. 16, 1864.
Wellington Peeler, ntust. itt Feb. 1d, 1864.
George Pegg, mtust. in Jan. 18, 1864.
Josiah h. Passmore, must. its Feb. 25, 1864.
H. W. Patton, must. itt March 2, 1864.
J. W. Pike.
A. F. Peterman.
David D. Porter, must. its Jan. 19, 1864.
William D. Richardson, mnust. in Feb. 9, 1864.
henry Rodney, niust. in Feb. 23, 1864.
Aaron Rugg, must. itt Mssrcll 23, 1864.
Alex. rankin, must. in March 31, 1864.
And. J. Reed, must. in Feb. 9, 1864.
John Ristine, must. in Feb. 19, 1864.
William J. Redman, must. in Feb. 24,1864.
David Riggin, must. in Jan. 20,1862.
Warwick H. Ross, must. itt Jais. 20, 1862.
Robert Rankin, inust. itt Sept. 10, 1864.
John H. Richards, miist. in Astg. 22, 1862.
William Reedinger, IltltSt. in Febt. 16, 1864.
hamblin C. rankin, nmust. in Atug. 27, 1862.
Jacob Rathbone, itiust. in Feb. 27, 1864.
2112HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
William Reed, mu1st. in Nov. 11, 1862.
Jeremiah B. Rodgers, must. in Feb. 29, 18C4.
Francis Richley.
Thomas Stanton, mostt in Jan. 21, 1862.
james E. Gedebottom, miust. in March 15, 1862.
John r.. Stuart, miiust. in Feb. 24, 1861.
Joseph W. Swartz, miulst. in Febl. 27, 1864.
William H. Showers, nmust. iii Feb. 27, 1864.
Jacob S. Shaffer, must. in Feb. 27, 1864.
William h. Starner, nmu1st. in Feb. 25, 1864.
Elijah L. Shipley, must. in M1arcl 25, 1864.
Robert Beaunell, Inust. in Marclh 17, 1864.
James R. Sloan, mu1lst. in Feb. 25, 1864.
William II. Scott, must. in Feb. 9, 1864.
Samuel Sidell, must. in April 1, 1864.
George Shiver, nmust. in Feb. 29,1864.
William Stevenson, nmtust. in Feb. 16, 1864.
William  Spotts, nmust. in Feb. 16, 1864.
Henry C. Shannon, muTlist. in Feb. 16, 1864.
Westall P. Shaffer, iuiist. ini June 30, 1864..James Scannell, nist. in Marci 19, 1864.
S. F. Sidebottom, must. in Aplpjl 30, 1862.
Samuel W. Shaffer, must. in April 3(t, 1862.
George W. Sampsell, nust. in Ja). 29, 1862.
Joseph Strider, must. in March 8, 186t2.
James M. Scott, must, in March 30, 1862.
William Stroud, niust. in Aug. 27, 1862.
john Shepherd, mu1tst. in Auig. 27, 1862.
Thomas Saunders, nust. in Sept. 1, 1861.
James F. Suter, nmust. in Feb. 10, 1864.
Andrew J Stanton, must. in Sept. 10, 1862.
John S. Showers, muist. in Marchi 25, 1864.
John Stevens, must. in Feb. 23, 1864.
James M. Smith, must. in Aul-. 30, 1862.
robinison Secrist, must. in Feb. 11, 1864.
George W. Smithley, must. in Nov. 11, 1852.
Ellis B. Sharpneck, must. in Feb. 26, 1864.
Erasmus Salyards, nmust. in Marchi 11, 1862.
William S. Show, miiust. in Jan. 13, 1864.
Everhart Shipley, miust. in Mamrch 25, 1864.
William Snyder, niast. in Feb. 29 1864.
John Shroder, m1ust. in Feb. 7, 1864.
William B. Stewart, must. in Jan. 13, 1864.
Oliver Troup, must. in Feb. 8,1864.
William Till, mutst. in Feb. 26 1864.
Samuel Thomas, must. in Feb. io, 1864.
George W. Topley, nust. iii Feb. 17, 1864.
Eli Tannyhill, niust. in Nov. 11, 1862.
James Tate, mutst. in Feb. 16, 1864.
James Vare, iliust. itl Fel. 6,1864
John Vamdell, niuist. in Jan. 30, 1864.
richard Vamdell, must in Jan. 30,1864.
Jacob Whoolery, nmust. in Feb. 2, 15862.
William Wier, iiiiist. in Jan. 18, 182.
Jacob Winter, must. in Feb. i2 1864.
William Woodfall, mutst. in Feb. 11, 1864.
Francis Wood, must. in Feb. 5, 18G4.
Joseph B. White, must. in Jaii. 12 1864.
David Williams, inust. in March 31, 1864.
F. W. Whaley, must. in Feb. 8, 1862.
David Washabaugh, must. in Nov. 11, 1862.
henry H. Wiggins, muiist. in Sept. 5,1862.
Michael Wirt, mnust, in Feb. 27, 1864.
Israel Wright, muilst. in Feb. 19, 1864.
John Wilson, must. in Sept. 10, 1864.
Theodore Wendell.
Henry H. Wilson.
Alfred Wolf, must. in Feb. 20, 18o4.
David White, must. ini March 29, 1864.
Samuel J. Walker, must. ini Marchl 31, 1864.
S. A. Warburton, niiUst. in Fel. 29, 1864.
Samuel Williams, must. in Jaii. 29, 1862.
M. B. Westley.
James M. Wood, must. in Feb. 8, 1864.
William Young, must. in Feb. 20,1864.
CHAPTER XIX.
WAR OF THE REBELLION-(Contiaued).
One Huindred and Sixteenitlh and One Ihunidred and Forty-second Regimenits.
THE One Hundred and Sixteentli Regimeint was
formed in the summer of 1862, its rendezvous being
at Jones' Woods, near the city of Philadelphia. One
distinctively Fayette County company ("CK"') was
embraced in its organiization.  The original fieldofficers of the regirne.t were Col. Dennis Heenan,
Lieut.-Col. St. Clair A. Mulholland, and Maj. George
H. Bardwell.
Before the ranks of the regilnent had been filled
(" A," " F," and "II" cornpanies being still but partially recruited), on the 31st of August, it was ordered
to itiove'forward at once to the fronit. Under this
order it moved (about'seven hundred'strong) to Washington, D. C., where it received arms and camp equipage, and marched thence to Rockville, Md., where
it was reported to Maj.-Gen. D. N. Couch.  It had
been hastened to the field on account of the forced
retreat of Gen. N. P. Banks down the Shenandoah
Valley, and the consequent advance of the enemy in
that direction, but before it arrived at Rockville the
immediate danger had passed, and Gen. Couch thereupon ordered it back to Washington, whence, on the
21st of September, it moved across the Potomac and
to Fairfax Court-House, where it came under command of Gen. Sigel.
On the 6th of October it marched from Fairfax and
proceeded to Harper's Ferry, where it was incorporated with Gen. T. F. Meagher's " Irish Brigade," of
which the other regiments were the Twenty-nintlh,
Sixty-third, Sixty-ninth, and Eighty-eighth New
York Volunteers.  This brilade was thle Second
of Gen. W. S. Hancock's (First) division of the
Second Corps, commanded by Gen. Couch.
The regiment, after lhavitrg had a little experience
under a rather sharp artillery fire for about an hour,
entered Charlestown, Va., and camped there. About
the end of October it moved across the Shenandoah,
crossed the ridge, and entered the Loudon Valley.
Thence it marched by way of Warrenton, Va., to a
position near Falmouth, on the Rappahannock.
The regiment, with its brig,ade, took a prominent
part in the terrible battle of Fredericksburg on the
13th of December, charging bravely up to the enemy's
impregnable position behind the stone wall which
stretched along the front of the bristling heights,
and losing in the assault eighty-eight in killed and'
wounded, this being over two-fifths of its entire
strength. After this battle the regiment, being so
greatly reduced in numbers, was consolidated into a
battalion of four companies, under command of
Lieut.-Col. Mulholland. The battalion was enlgaged,
and fouglht well, at the battle of Chancellorsville, on
the 2d of MIay, 1863, savinig the guns of the Fifth
I
I
212WAR OF THE REBELLION.
Maine Battery from capture after its horses were
niearly all killed or wounded, its caissons blown up,
its gunners fallen, and the enemy within a fewv huindred yards, rushing forward to take it. After the
fight the battalion recrossed the Rappahannock, and
again encamped near Falmouth, where it remained
about six weeks, and then marched northward to the
field of Gettysburg, where it was again engaged, but
without very heavy loss. In the later operatiolhs of
the year the battalion participated, and after the close
of the Mine Run campaign it retired across the Rapidan, on the 2d of December, and went into winiterquarters at Stevensburg.  Early in the spring of 1864
the regimental organization of the One Hundred and
Sixteenth was resumed, it having been raised by recruitment to a strength of eight hundred men.
In the Wilderness campaign tlle regiment fought in
most of the  battles wbhicl took place, from  the Rapidan to Cold Harbor, losillg one liundred aind sixtynine killed and wounded and forty missing.
MOvitig with the armiy fromn Cold Harbor, it crossed
the James River on the 14th of June, and arrived in
front of Petersburg on the 15th. On tile following day
it became engaged, losing thirtv killed and wounded
and sixteen inissing. Daring the retnainder of the
year it took part in many of the engagements foug,ht
9,   m o n   w h c   w r
by the army it1vestino Petersburg, among which were'
those of  Williams' Farm,- Strawberry  Plains, Deep
Bottom  (where it lost vcry heavily), Ream's Station
(two engagements), Boydton plank-road, and Hatcher's Run. In the final campaign of tile spring of
1865 it fought at Dabney's Mills, and at Five Forks
on the 31st of March. After the surrenider of the
Confederate army undler Lee, tile regiment moved to
Alexandria, Va., wlhere four of its cotnpanies (A, B,
C, and D) were mustered out on the 3d of Jtlne. Tlile
other cotnpanies were mustered out of the service at
AVashington on the 14th of July.
FAYETTE COUNTY  OFFICEIRS AND  MEN  IN  TIIE ONE IIUNDRIED  AND SIXTE:ENTII REGIMENT.
COMePANY K.
John O. O'Neill, captain, mulst. in Sept. 1, 1862; wouniided at Fredericksburg, Va., Dec. 13, 1862; tranls. to 22d Regt., Veteran Reserve Corps,
Apr il 1s, 18i3.
John R. Weltner, cal)tain, miust. itn April 7,1864; disch. by general
ordler Junie 22, 1863.
Patrick Casey, first lietuteniant, muist. in Sept. 1, 1862; (lied at Philadelhliia, PIa., Novemiber 9tli, of svouilds received Oct. 7, 1,162.
James D. Cope, first lieutenatit, nmuist. in Marcci 17, 1864; capttur ed at
Williamns' Farnm, Va., JunIC 22, 1864; cons. captain Jtusse 22,1865;
nusst. ouit witll conspaiy July 14,1865:.
Bernard Loughery, secoit lieittenIant, must. its Sept. 3,1862;discl. May
12tlh, to dalte Jan. 27,1861.
Zadoch B. Springer, secotid liesiteinant, must. in April 7, 1864; captuired
at Reamii's Station, Va., Aug. 25, 1864; costs. quatrterusiaster Junie 3,
1865; miust. olut withi coumpally July 14, 1865.
James E. Joliff, first sergeaitt, naist. in Marchl 31, 1864; wouinde(l  at
Five Forks, Va., Marclh 31, 1865; abscent in hospital at muister ollt.
E H. Crathamel, fir'st sergeant, must. in July 31, 1862; woumided at
F}r(lericksbusrg, Va., Dec. 13, 1862; nOt Oll muster-out roll.
Samuel A. Clear, sergeant, must. it Fel). 29, 1864; pro. fions corporal
Nlay 29, 1864; nusast. out witll companty Jtuly 14, 1865.
Wm. h. Semboner, sergeant, nmuist. in, Feb. 29, 1864: pro. to sergeant'April 16, 1864; must. out with company July 14, 1865.
James Collins, sergeant, must, in Feb. 29, 1864; pro. from corporal Dec.
26, 18(64; must. out witlh conmpany July 14, 1865.
Alex. Chisholm, sergeant, must. in Feb. 29, 1864; pro. from  corporal
June 1, 1864; muist. out with company Juily 14,1865.
Edward Pence, sergeant, must. in Feb.'9, 18C4; died at Annapolis, Md.,
Joiiie 24th, of wounds received at Petersbuirg, Va., June 16, 1864.
Thomas P. Crown, sergeanit, must. in Aug. 4, 1862; trans. to Co. A
Jani. 26, 1863.
Joseph Slinker, sergeant, must. in Aug. 1, 1862; trans. to Co. A Jin. 26,
1863..Daniel Root, sergeant, Imiust. in Auig. 12,1862; killed at Fredericksburg,
Va., Dec. 13,1862.
William H. Tyrrell, sergeant, Imulst. in Auig. 12, 1862; wouinded at Fredericksburg, Va., Dec. 13, 1862; pro. to second lieuteniant Co. C May
1, 1863.
Stephen B. Becket, corporal, must. in March 7, 1864; pro. to corporal
April 16, 1864; wounijded at Petersburg, Va., Junie 16, 1864; must.
out witlh company Juily 14, 1865.
Lloyd Patterson, corporal, muist. in  March 30, 1864; pro. to corporal
Juine 4, 1864; muist. ouit wA ith company, Juily 14, 1865.
Andrew  J. Seese, corpoial, miii-t. in March  3, 1864;- pro. to corporal
MIarch 16, 186;: ninst. oult wvill companiy July 14, 1865.
George W. Ganoe, corpoi;al, nmuist. iit April 1, 1864; pro. to corporal June
2, 1865; mIiust. out wihti companyn July 14, 1865.
Wm. h. Nycum, corporal, iismist. ii Fel). 29, 1864; captiured; pro. to
corporal Jaine 2, 1863; miuist. ouit witlh company Juily 14, 1865.
Ephraim Keim, corporal, IIIIst. in Fet). 24, 1864; pro. to corporal June 2,
1865; Inxist. ouit with companiy JuIly 14, 1865.
George J. Cruise, corporal, IlIIst. in Mtrci 30, 1864; wouinded at Tolopotomoy, Va., May.11, 1864; and at Five Forks, Mlarch 31,1865; tranls.
to Co. G, IStlh Regt., Veterais Reserve Corps; discil. by geileral order
Auig. 14, 1865.
Timothy M. Inerney, corporal, lilust. in March 13,1864; wolunded at
Five Foirks, Va., Marclh:1, 1863: atbsent ill hospital at mulster out.
Robert J. Brownsfield, corporal, mu tist. in Feb. 29, 1864; died June 12tfl,
of wouinds receive(d at Spottesylvania Court House, Va., May 1-',1864;
buried in National Cemetery, Ar lisgtoi.
Thomas Wallace, corporal, mul1st. in Aug. 7, 1862; tranis. to Co. D Jail.
26, 186:13.
Eugene Brady, corporal, muist. iri Auig. 15, 1862; trans. to Co. D Jan. 26,
186:1.
Michael J. McKenna, corporal, imiust. in. Aug. 11, 1862; trans. to Co. D
Ja n. 26, 1863.
George P. Snyder, corporal, miust. in Aug. 6, 1862; trans. to Co. D Jan.
26, 1863:.
Charles McLaughlin, corporatl, must. in Juily 29, 1862; trans. to Co. b
Jttn. 26, 186:3.
George Mahoffey, corporal, niust. in Aug. 5, 1862; disch. oni siurgeon's
certificate.
John Remanter, cor-por-al, muist. in Aug. 6,1862?; not on muister roll.
Joseph  hudson, corporal, muiiist. in. Aug. 8, 1862; killed at Fredericksburg, Va., Dec. 13,1862.
Daniel Rodgers, musician, must. in Auig. 16, 1862; trans. to Co. D Jan.
26, 1863.
George Allen, musician, mnust. in Auig. 22, 1862; trans. to Co. D Jan. 26,
1863.
Privates.
Jacob Allaman, must. in Feb. 21),1864.
Robert Allingham, mnast. in Jan. 28, 1862.
Albert w. Bolen, ntsst. in Mttlch 23,1864.
John  h. Bagshaw, nuust. ins Feb.- 15, 18654.
Andrew.j. Bailes, iiiust. in Feb. 29, 18614.
Wm. P. Bricker, nsiit. in. Marcch 31, 1864.
Parkes A. Boyd, nsust. in March 31, 1864.
C. Burkholder, inust. i uMarcli 31, 1864.
Henry J. Bell, muist. in March 2:3, 1864.
John C. Boylan, niust. in Aug. 28, 1862.
Thomas Barker, iliust. in Aug. 28, 18G2.
Albert S. Bishop, must. in Aug. 19, 1862.
John Burns. must. iis Ang. 13,1862.
Charles Berrell, mtist. its Aug. 11, 1862.
Morris Bibbs, muist. in March 7,1864.
Oliver Brooks, nmust. in Feb. 29, 1864.
Alfred Blair, Jr., must. in Feb. 29, 18G4.
John Campbell, must. lit March 31, 1864.
Daniel Chisholm, muiist. in Feb. 29, 1864.,.213IIISTORtY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
John W. Chalfant, miust. in Maicr 22,1864.
William  A. Conn, nmiust. in  Feb. 29,1864.
Michael Clemmer, m -ust, in Marcls 31,1864.
James Cavanaugh,  mliust. in March  31, 18G4.
Bernard Coffey, oiiist, in Auig. 20, 1862.
Hezekiah  Dean, uisust. in Aug  2, 1862.
Wm. H. Ditmore, miust. in Feb. 29, 186.
Stephen  H. Dears, mntist. in   Iarch 3, 1864.
Edward Dougherty,  hioist. in March  30,1864.
hugh Duming, mnust. irs Auig. 19, 1862.
John Davis, muist. in Aug. 29, 1862.
Thomas Edwards, must. in Ang. 29, 1862.
Emanuel Elsinger, must. ins Feb. 20,1864.
Michael Fisher, rioust. in Aurg. 4,1862.
Albert Frazier, nirist. is March 2:3, 1864.
Peter Finegran, nmiust. in  Aug. 29, 1862.
John Farrell, niust. ill Sept. 2, 1869.
Levi Gilmore, miist. in Ma cid  30,1864.
Robert Glendenning, nmiast. in March 21, 1864.
Martin Gallagher, irrust. irs Aug. 14.186;2.
Thomas Garoh, must. i n Auig. 1;, 18  2.
Charles Green, murust.ir Feb. 29,1864.
John Hart, nusurt. irs Feb. 28, 1864.
henry   hall, irrust. ir Maichi 23, 1864.
William hagar.  miust. in Marcel:10,1864.
John  R. hayden, m rtst. in Marcl 2:1. 1864.
George W. Hayan, IruJst. in Feb. 29, 1864.
Wm. Hall, murrst. in Malch 2:, 18 4.
Joseph J. Haynan, aiulst. in Feb. 29, 1864.
John Haus. niusLr. irs March  30, 1864.
Scott hutchinson, niust. ins Fets. zJ, 1564.
Abraham Hall, roiust. irs Mrarchl  23, 1864.
John  J.  Hall, muist. in March 23, 1804.
William  hanlon, miust. in, Auig. 19, 1562.
Michael Hukey, ritist. irs Arig. 2, 1862!.
Wm. Horner i, rust. ir Arrg. 11, 1862.
James  harr, Isrirst. irs Ausg. 2.9, 182.
James hughes, hrtist. in Sept. 1, 1862.
John H. Inks, rssrrst. ill Feb. 24, 1864.
Joseph A. Jordan, IIIUst. ir Feb. 29, 1864.
Francis James, nirist. ir, Arrg. 1:1, 1862.
John  Kearns, asrist. in Feb.  24, 18-64.
W. S. Killgore,  srrst. irr Marels 1, 1864.
George  Kunkle, iIsist. in Aug. 4, 1869.
James L. King. muirst. in  Jrsly  2., 186i.
Daniel King, ssrurst. ir A rg. 23, 1862.
Elias Lehman, uimsrt. irr March 21, 1866.
john W. Luckey, nirist. ii Fv1) 29, 18)14.
Joshua Luckey, rrsrist. in  Feb. 29, 1864.
Chatles Long, riusrst. in Auig. 22,1862.
James Long, ririrst. in  Aug. 23,1862.
James Logue, iirrst. in Anng. 19, 1862.
Daniel Logue, rirsrst. irs Sept. 1, 1862.
William  Leister, rruiist. in Arig. 28, 1862.
James Murray, irsust. irs Maielh 1, 1864.
John D. Mallory, nIrist. irs Mitarclh 31, 1804.
Joh  Moore, insust. irr Macr'29,1864.
Ross Morrison, nmirst. in   March 30, 1864.
Jacob  Maust, riiSrst. iln  Maccrs 3, 1864.
John  Martin; nirust. irs Aug. 28,1862.
Joseph  Merrick, rsisrSt. irs Arrg. 7, 1862.
John H. Munson, must. irs July 28,1862.
Henry Mahaffey, nrirst. in Asig. 8,1862.
George H. Miles, must. irs Aurg. 12, 1862.
John McDonold, must. irs Mareli 1, 1864.
John  McCuen, roust. in  Feb. 29,1864.
Richard S. McClean, mirst. irs Feb. 29, 1864.
Andrew McDowell, must. ins Arig. 6, 18;2.
John McIlhenny, must. in Arrg. 12, 1862.
Thomas McFadden. Irlust. in  Asig. 13, 1862.
Wm. McGiveney, must. in Aug. 23, 1862.
hugh McVey, minst. irs Aung. 13,1862.
hugh McGinty, insrrst. in  Airg. 19, 18621.
Henry  O'Neal, mrrst. irn March  31, 1864.
Thomas O'Brien, riirrst. irs Aug. 29, 1862.
William  O'Brien, rirsrst. irs Sept. 2,1s62.
John O'Brien, iinust, irs Arrg. 13,1862.
John T. Ottara, riissrt. irs Asrg. 28, 1862.
James Oliver-, riusst. irs Marchi 9,1864.
Jacob Prettyman, niust. irs Feb. 29, 1864.
John Powers, must. in Aug. 29,1862.
Edward Price, roust. in Feb. 29, 1864.
James Quinn, nirist. irs Aug. 12, 1862.
Isaac L. Ryan, niust. irs Feb. 12, 1864.
John  Ryan, niuist. irs Marclh  8,1864.
David J. Rifle, nisrst. its Fel. 21), 1864.
Milton Rathbun,   itist. in  Feb. 29, 1864.
Robert Roe, uslst. irn Sept 2, 18G2.
Simeon Samprell, niust. irs Ma.rchl 28, 1864.
Edmund Savage, nsust. in  Mrarchl  23,1864.
William D. Shipley, niiist. in Maidl:31, 1864.
James Smith, sssusst. irs  Mrsrcis 31, 1864.
Joseph J Smith, mirst. in  Feb. 29, 1864.
John  W. Smith, rsirsst. in  Fel. 29, 1864.
Daniel Sickles, nrtist. in  Feb. 299,1864.
John Sweeney, nrirst. in Aug. 19, 1862.
Michael Sweeney, muist. in Ang. 23, 1862.
John Sheean, nmust. in Arsg. 15, 1862.
Jonathan Sheets, ntist. irs Feb. 29, 1864.
John Toner, inust. irs Feb. 17,1864.
Benjaamin  taylor-, rlurst. in  iMarrch s21, 1864.
John Tiernan, Jr., nsiist. in  Felb. 2~), 1864.
Thomas Thorndell, ruslrt. in Marlchl 7, 1864.
Patrick  Tulley, nisrst. in  Aur. 14, 18(1.
Egbert Townsend,  osurit. in  Arg. 11, 1862.
Edward Tracy, niirst. in Sept. 1, 1862.
Edward W. Torbert, niust. irs Sept. 2, 1862.
Newton Umble,risrrst. in April 1, 1864.
Warren Whitaker, niust. in Feb. 8, 1864.
William  Whoolery, niust. irs Feb. 29, 1864.
Thomas B. Williams,rarurst. irs Feb. 29, 1864.
Aaron S. Wastson, risrrst. in Feb. 29, 1864.
John Wilson,  iiisst. irs Sept. 1, 1862.
William A. Wallace, rinurst. in  Arig. 5,1862.
Thomas Wilsn, iisust. ils Sept. 1, 1862.
John Williams, ririrst. irs Juily 23, 1862.
Thomas Wilkinson, nsirat. ins Sept. 2, 1862.
John  W.  Wood, milst. in   Feb. 29,1864.
Charles Yauger,  riisrst. ip  Marels 2:1, 1864.
Unasssignsed Men.
Thomas Agan, roust. in  Marcch  3(, 1864.
John   W. Ankins, irsuist. in  Marchl  1(, 1864.
John, Bronson. irs Marchl:30,1864.
John Brown, rilssst. irs Fels. 29, 1864.
Michael Dugman,  issust. is.Jan. 19, 1865.
Lewis  Geggus,  ilSrrst. irs Mlarclh  21, 1864.
Simon Gallagher, niust. iis Fels. 8, 1864.
Henry Hammer, iiiust. irs Masrclh  11, 1864.
Zach. McCormick, IrrUSt. irn Flb. 24,1864.
Benjamin Wandel, rssust. in  Feb. 10, 1864.
ONE IIUNDRED AND FORTY-SECOND REGIMENT.
This regiment was made up of three companies from
Somerset CouIty, anid one from each of the counties
of Westmoreland, Mercer, Union, Monroe, Venango,
Luzerne, and Fayette, the last named being "II"
company, comlnailded by Capt. Joshua M. Dushane,
of Connellsville.
The regimnental rendezvous was at Camp Curtin,
Harrisburg, where the companies were mustered
into the service as they arrived during the montlh of
August, 1862. On the 1st of September the organization of the regiment was effected, under the following-nared field-officers: Coloniel, Robert P. Cummins, of Soinerset County; Lieutenant-Colonel, Alfred
B. McCalmont, of Vefiango; Major, John Bradley, of
Luzerne County. Within two days from the time its
organization was completed the regiment moved to
214
I
II      I WAR OF THE: REBELLION.               2
Wasllington, D.., where it was first employed in
the constrtiction of fortifications for the defense
of the city. In tile latter part of September it was
moved to Frederick, Md., wvhere it remained a fewv
weeks, and early in October marched to Warrenton,
Va., it having been assigned to duty in tile Second
Brigade, Third Division (tlie Pennsylvania Reserves)
of the First Corps. From Warrenton it moved to
Brooks' Station, on the Richmond, Fredericksburg
and Potomac Railroad.
Tile men of the regiment first smnelt the smolke of
battle at Fredericksburg, on the 13th of -Decemiber.
The Reserve division formed a part of Gen. Franklin's
granld. division, and at noon oln the 12th crossed the
Rappahannock, and took up a pOsition for the niglht
along the riv'er-bank. E'arly on the following morning tile division crossed the rav-ine wliicl cuts tile
plain nearly parallel with the river and formed in
litne of battle. The One Hundred and Forty-seconld
Ptegiment was deployed on the left of the division,
supporting a battery. Finally the order was given
to charge, anid the reginment went forward with a
cheer, but was met by a ffusilade so deadly that its
advance. was checked.  "Exposed to a destructive
fire, from which tile rest of the brigade was shielded,
it could only await destruction, without the privilege
of returning it, and with nio prospect of gainiilg an advantage; but wvith a nerve wliclh veteralls nmight envy
it heroicallv maintained its position till ordered to
retire. Out of five lhundred anid fifty men wlho stood
in well-ordered;ranks in the morninlg, twvo hundred
and fifty in one brief hour vere stricken down. After
this disastrous charge _the division fell back to the
positionl west of the ravine which it had occupied on
the previous day, where it remained until vitli thie
army it re0rossed the. river oil tle iliglit of the 15th,
a'id two days after weint into winter-quarters near
Belle Plain Landing."'
In February, 1853, the regiment, with the Reserves,
was sent to the defenses of Washliington, and remailIed
thlere there till late in April, when it again moved to
the Rappahannock. During the progress of the great
battle of Chancellorsville, whlich occurred a few days
later, it was held in readiness for service, and remnained
for many hours under a heavy artillery fire, but did
not become actually engaged. After the battle it recrossed the river with tile arny, alld reaccutpied its old
camp near tile Rappalhannock unitil the advance of
tile army to Gettysburg. In that great coinflict the
regiment fought with coinspicuous bravery on the 1st
and 3d of July, not being called inlto action but held
in reserve during the struggle of the 2d. Its losses
in the entire battle were one lhundred anld forty-one
killed and wounded and eiglhty-four missing (most of
whom were made prisoiners), a total of two hundred
and twentv-five. Among the wvounded were Col.
Cummins (mortallv) and Capt. Dushane, of the Fayette County companv.
1 Bates.
During the remainder of the year 1863 the regiment took- part in the general movements of the army
(including the advance against the enemy's strongr
position at Mine Run), but was not actively engaged
in battle. Its winter-quarters were made near Culpeper, Va.
On the 4tll of May, 1864, it left its winter-quarters
and moved a-cross tile Rapidan on tile campaign of
tile \wilderness. At nioon on Ithe 5th it became lhotly
engaged, and fought witlh determination, holding its
ground stubbornly until near night, when it Nvas
forced to retire. Its losses were lieavv. Among thie
killed was Lieut. George H. Collins, of" K" company.
On the 6th it again sawv heavy fighting alonig tie line
of the Gordonsville road. On tile 7th it moved to
Laurel Hill, and held position there until the 13th,
when it moved to Spottsylvania Court-House. There
it remained a veek throwing up defenses, and a great
part of the tiiie under hea-y artillery fire. On the
21st it again movcd on, and in its advance southwvard
fought at North Anna, Bethesda Church, and Tolopotomoy, arriving at Cold Harbor on the 6th of Jutie.
Movin, thence across tile Chickahominy to the James,
it crossed that river on the 16th, and took position in
front of Petersburg. Its first fight there- was on the
18tlh, on wlich occasioni it succeeded in dislodging the
Cneney in its front, and held tlhe ground thus gained.
It took part in two actions on tile line of the Weldon
Railroad, also in that at Peebles' Farm (Septemlber
30th), anid others during the operations of tile summer and fall. On the 6th of Februarv, 1865, it fougllt
and sufferedl conlsiderable loss in. the actionl at Dabney's Mills.
Breaking its willter camnp on tIle 3kOtlh of MarcI, it
participated in'the assault on the enemmv's work9s Oll
tile Boydton plank-road, and again foughit at Five
Forks on the 1st of A pril, suffering severe loss. Eiglht
days after Gen. Lee surrendered at Appomattox, anld
the brigade of which the One Hundred and Fortysecond formed a part moved to Burkesville Staltioni as
a guard to stores and other property captured from
the enemny. After a stay of tvo weeks at Burkesville
the reg,imeit was ordered to Petersburg, alid moving
thence by way of Richmond to Washington, D. C.,
was thlere mustered out of service on' tle 29th of May,
1865.
FAYETTE COUNTY SOLDIERS IN TIlE ONE IIUNDIIDED AND
FORTY-SECONID  REGIMIENT.
COMPANY LI.
Joshua M. Dushane, captaini, ImIust. in Aug. 18, [862; discl-. by G. 0.
Mlay 15, 1865.
Daniel W. Dull, first lieuitenant, must. in Aug. 30,1862; discli. on surgeon s ceitificate May 26, 186:..
George h. Collins, first lieniteniant, miust. in Aig. 19,1862; pro, from first
sergeait to seconid lieuitelinnit AI)ril 10, 186;3; to first lieuteniant Julie
28, 18cr., killedl at WVililerinessi Va., May 5, 1864.
Isaac Francis,.Jr., first lieutenant, niuist. its Auig. 19, 1862; pro. from first
sergeant to secontl lieutenaint July 1, 186:3; to first lietitenanit -litnne
26, 1861; died at City Point, Va., Feb. 15, 1865, of wounids receivedl
in actioni.
Hugh Cameron, seconid lieuten.ant, mnust. in Aug. 18, 1862; disch. oni surgeoni's certificate Marcih 7, 183.. t
I
-9d 15,II [STORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Joseph F. Forrey, first sergeesut. miust. its Aug. 19, 1862, pro. to cor-poral
Junie 1, 1863; to sergeant March 1. 1804. to fir-st sergeaist Apr-il 1,
1864; must. ouit withi company Mlay 29, 1865.
William F. Kurtz, firsf sergeant, niuist. in Atug. 19, 1802; killed at Frederickisburg, Va., Dec. H3, 18621:
Samuel Wilson, sergeant, uiust. ina Aug. 19, 1862; wouinded at Petersbnir,
Va., Aptiil 1, 1865; discli. by G. 0. Juine 3, 1865.
John V. Stouffer, sergeant, mutst. its Aug. 19, 1862; disch. by G. 0. Mlay
17, 1803.
James X. Walter, sergeant, nuis t. i n  Ane. 19, 1862; pro. to corporal Sept.
1, 1864; to ser-geant Feb. 0, 1805; usust. out wills conipanjy May;29,
1863.
David B. Hood, sergeant, muiist. in Aug. 19,1802; disclh. oni surgeonis cerlificate M1arch 16, 18613.
Samuel H. Dull, ser-geant,  miust, in Aug.19, 1862; pro. to sergeant-intijor,
date uiiukuowis.
Robinson Balsley, sergeant, mnust, in Auig. 19, 1802); traits, to Vet. Res.
Corps May 1, 1804.
Joseph R. Brown, sergeant, must, in Auig. 19, 1862; traits, to 2d Battery,
Vet. lIes. Cor-ps, Feb. 1, 1803; dischm. Auig. 19, 1805.
Joseph Balsley, sergeait, muiist. isi Aug. 19,1862; died December 24t1s, of
wvounids r-eceived at Fredericksburg, Va., Dec. 13, 1862.
William Whaley, sergeant, insist. iii Auig. 19, 1802; died Jsily 27tlh, of
woundi(s received at Getty-sburg, Psa., July 1, 1803.
Rhomanus Dull, sergeanit, must. its Aug. 19, 1802; captured; died at Iliclsuiitioid, Va., Masrsli 4, 1803.
Frederick Shearer, corpioral, nitiist. in Aiieg. 19, 1802; wounided. at Petersburg, Va., April 1, 1865; discls. by G. 0. Jsisse 3, 1805.
James D. Connell, sorlsorial,'inus't. its Auig. 19, 1802; wvounided at Peterstuurg, Va., Msarchs 29, 1863; diselb. by G. 0. Junie 3, 1865.
James Mills, coirporal,nusust. in Aug. 19, 1802; pro. to corporasi Marclh
14, 1864; must. ouit withs conspaisy Mlay 29, 1805.
Levi Firestone, cusrpoisal, usuast. its Au,, 19, 180'.wounded at Petersburg,
Va., April 1, 1865; disels. by G. 0) Jiisie 27  1863.
Strickler  Demuth, corporal,  miust. si   Aim"  19, 1802;  pro. to  corporal
March 1, 1865; uisist. nuit wiutli coitpssiy May 29, 1805.
Richard Evans, corpor-al, isitst. its Ang. 1.), 1862 discli. Feb. 20, 1803.
William Helms, cotrpursl, mnrst. its Asi.19t 1862; dischi. Marcls 10, 1803.
Edward  T. White, corporal,  uisutl sitl Aug  19, 1862; discis. by  G. U. May
13,.1803.
William h. Shaw, corporal, muist. lin Auig. 19, 1862; trans. to Co. E, 9tls
lte-gt., Vet. lRes. Corps,'Oct. 310, 1863; lshals, by G. 0. Juiie 29, 1863.
Abraham Eicher, corporial, imssst. its Aug. 19, 1802; trosis. to Co. D, I tits
ltegt., Vet. 1I's. Corps, Oct. 3d, 1103; discls. by G. 0. Jtily 7, 1353.
henry Kurtz, cor-pora), ussst. its Auge. 19,1862; traits, to Vet. lies. Corps
Oct. 17, 161
Winfield S. hood, corpi)rat, muiist. its Aug. 19, 1802; trans. to 2d Bait.,
Vet. Res. Cor-ps, Feb. 2,18035; discls. by G. 0. July 20, 1865.
Josiah R Balsley, corporal, isisist. its Aug. 19, 1862; killed at Fredericksburg, Va., Dec. 13, 1802.
David R. Gallatin, corpor-al, miust its Aug. 19, 1862.
Pr-ivates.
Jacob Artis, niust. in Auig. 20, 1802.
William A. Artis, muist. its Atig. 19, 1862.
William Artis, sitsist. in Sept. 10, 1802.
David Balsley, isiiist. its Aug. 19, 1862.
David Bingham, musit. its Sept. 10, 1862.
husing Cooper, must. in Auig. 19, 1802.
Alex. Collins, susist. is Sept. 2 1802.
Jacob Clark, niut. us Au'. 19, 1862.
Joseph Coughman usmtist.siti Aiug. 19, 1862.
Thaddeus Cunningham   -hssiss iisust its Auig. 19, 1802.
James Cooley, titust. in Au'. 19, 1802.
Walter Dull, iniist. in Atiie.261802.,
Stewart Durbin its Auig 19, 1802.
John W. Eaglen nsn1Li its Auig. 19, 1802.
John C. Francis, niust. in Au e. 191862.
Hawkins Firestone.,it Aug-. 19, 1802.
Leroy W. Freeman, nusList. in A tig. 19, 1862.
Gibson Helms, miust. ini Aug. 19, 1802.
Garrett hall, muitst. fits Sept. 20, 1802.
Samuel heffley, miust, in Aujg. 10, 1862.
Josiah  Hodge, ninist. its Aug. 19, 1862.
William H. Harvey, nusua. its Aiig 19, 1802.
Joshua M. Hart, isitist. in Ane. 19, 1862.
Jesse Ingraham, usust. in Aug,. 19, 1802.
Lloyd Johnson, must,.iii M.srcls 30,1804.
Joseph N. Johnston, mnust, in Aug. 1:3,1804.
John h. Kern, muiist, in Auig. 19, 1802.
Singleton Kimmel, must, in Aug. 26,1862.
Alexander Koorer, niuist. in Sept. 23, 1862.
Isaac Kerr, usuist. in Auig. it), 1862.
henry Loughrey, nmust, in Anu-. 19, 1862.
John Loughrey,  muiist. its Aug,. 26, 1862.
Leonard May ayu in t ini Aug. 20, 1802.
John Milts, miit. ini Sept. 2, 1862.
William  Miller  must  inl Sept. 10, 1862.
Frederick  Martin    imust, in  Auig. 19, 1862.
Nathan w. Morris, mutst. its Aug. 19, 1862.
Robert McLaughlin isuist. in Aug. 19, 1862.
Henry Nicholson,  muist, in Aug. 19, 1802.
Jacob  Ober,  miu  t  in  Aui-  26;, 1862.
William h. Potter, miust. iii Aug. 20), 1862.
John Rowen, munist. ini Auig. 26, 1862.
William Ritenour i, mutst. iniAn e. 26, 1862.
Conrad F. rist, mu-iist. ii, Aug. 19, 1862.
Jeremiah Ritenour, muset. ini Auig. 26, 1862.
Matthew  Robbins,  muitst, iii Sept. 2, 1862.
Gabriel Rugg, innis). iti Auig. 19, 1862.
Levi Stoner, ouist, in Auig. 19, 1802.
William h. Sheppard, nusust. in Aug. 19, 1862.'
William  Shirley,  muitst. hin Auig. 19, 1862.
Jacob Saylor, m,iist. iii Sept. 20, 1802.
John B. Stouffer, niuist. its Aug. 19, 1862.
L. W. Shalleberger, muiist. in Aug. 19, 1862.
Clayton Vance, iiiinst. in Au-. 19, 1862.
William Williams, mist. iii Sept. 20, 1862.
Charles h. Whitley, mist. in Aug. I9, 1862.
Jacob 0. Walker, must. its Aug-. 19, 1802.
william  h.  Whipkey,  muiist. ili  Sept. 20, 1862.
CH-APTER XX.
WAR   OF  TIIE  RLEBE LLION-(C6oistinuted).
TIme Fouiteetitlls Cavalry..
THE Fourteenth Cavalry,- or One Huindred and:
Fif'ty-ninth Regiment of the Peninsylvania Line, wt-as
raised in the summer anid fail of 1862, under authority
giveti by the War Departmetit to James M. Schoonmaker, of Pittsburgh, who was at that timne Ia lineofficer in the First MarylanidCavalry. Th'eregimient'
Witas prinlcipally made up of meni recrutited in the~
coulities of Fayette, Washiing-ton, Allegheny,-Arm-,
srn, Lawvrence, Warren,,. E:rie, Bald Philadelphiat.i
Fayette Counity contributed three companies, viz..
"B" company, Capt. Zadock Walker; " E" Comnpany,"
Capt. Ashbel F. Duncan; and " F" coimpany, Capt..
Calvin Springer.
The regimental rendezvous was first at Camp Home,,
and aftersvards at Camp Montgomery, n'ear thiecity.
of Pittsburgh. Tliere, on the 24th of Noveilnber, tue
Fourteenth completed its organization under the
followingr-named field-officers: Colonel,' James M.
Schoonmaker; Lieutenant-Colonel, William Blake~ley: Majors, Thomas Gibson, Shadrach Foley, aind,
John  M. Daily.  On the same day the regiment left
its camnp' and proceeded- to -Hagerstown;- Md., where
the imen wer-e mounted,- armed, accoittred,-and drilled.4
On ttile 28thl of De~cember it moved to Harper's, Ferry,'
and encamiped on the -road,leading thence to Charles-I
*1~ 0
I
I
IWAR OF THE RE'BELLIO.N.                   2
town. In that vicinity it -passed the winter, engaged
in picketing, scouting, and occasionally skirmishing
with the eniemy's guerrilla bands which infested the
Shenandoah Valley and the passes of the Blue Ridge.
In May, 1863, the Fourteenth moved to Grafton,
W. Va., where it was attached to Gen. Averill's
cavalry division, and for two months succeeding was
engaged in constant marchles and skirmishiings vith
the forces of the enemy under "Mudwall" Jackson,
Jenkins, and other Confederate leaders, but without
incurring nmuch loss. On the evening of the 4th of
July information of the great battle of Gettysburg
was received, and the regiment tlhereupon was mnoved
at once to Webster, WV. Va., thence to Cumberland,
Md., and fromrr there, after two or three days' delay, to
Williamsport, Md., where it joined the Army of the
Potomac. Advancing on the track of Gen. Lee's
retreating columns, on the 15th of July it skirmished
with the rear-guard of the enemy near Martinsburg,
and a few days later marchled to Winchester. On the
4th of Augyust it moved with Averill on hiis raid to
Rocky Gap. It was slightly engaged at Moorfield,
AV. Va., again more heavily at Warm Springs, and
on the 26th and 27th of August took gallant part in
an action witlh the cavalry and infantry'forces under
the Confederate Gen. Jones, near Greenbrier, White
Sulphur Springs, holding its ground most obstinately,
but at last compelled to retreat witlh a loss of eighty
in killed, wounded, and missin(. On tlhe 31st the
command reached Beverly, having been on the inarch
or engaged with the enemny constantly for twentyseven days, traveling during that time more than six
hundred miles.
After some weeks of comparative rest, the regimeint again moved (November lst). with Gen. Averill
on. another loiig raid to the soutllhard.  Passing
tlirouglh Huntersville, Pocahontas Co., on the 4th,
it proceeded to Droop Mountain, where the enemy
was found intrenched and prepared to fight, but was
driven from his position with considerable loss and
pursued to Lewisburg, but not overtaken. The regiment, with the rest of Averill's command, returned
to New Creek, onl the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.
Again, on the 8th of December, the Fourteenth was
fasced southward, bound for Salem, on the Virginia
and Tennessee Railroad, which point was reached on
the 16th. There the troops destroyed railroad track,
bridges, and an immense quantity of armiy,, stores
gathered there for the use of the Confederate army,
in all mnore than three million dollars in value.
Having thus accomplished the object of the expedition, and knowing that the enemy would concenttrate
in force for his destruction, Averill at once commenced
his retreat northward, but this was onily accomnplislhed
with the greatest difficulty. " On the 20th, at Jackson's River, the Fourteenth; while in the rear struggling with the trains, which could witlh difficulty be
moved, the lhorses being worn out with incessant
marching, was eut off from.the  Qolumin by the destruction of the bridge, and was supposed at bead.l
quarters to lhave been captured. Gen. Early [Confederate] had demanded its surrender under a fJag of
truce, but setting fire to the train, which-was completely destroyed, it forded the stream and made good
its escape, rejoiniing the main column betweeni Callahan's and White Sulphur Springs.' That night the
command swain the Greenbrier, now swollen to a,
perfect torrent, and crossing the Allegheny Mountains
by an old bridle-path, and moving the artillery by
lhand, it finally reached Hillsboro', at the foot of
Droop Mountain, at midniglht and encamiped."' 1 The
regiment reached Beverly on the 25th. The regimemlt
lost in the expedition about fifty men killed, woun-ded,
and missing. From Beverly it mov'ed to Webster,
and thence by railroad to Martinsburg, where it went
into winter-quarteys. During the winter, however,
its duties were ne6rly as arduous as ever, being employed on picket, guard, and in scouting'almost incessantly. It was now a part of the First (Col. Schoonmaker's) Brigade of Averill's division.
Moving from winter-quarters on the 12th of April,
1864, the.coinmand was transported to Parkersburg,
on the Ohio, and thence set out on a raid soutlw-lard
throughi West Virginia to the Virginia anid Tennessee
Railroad, and having also in view the destruction of
the Confederate salt-works at Saltville. The latter
was not accomplished, but a great ainount of danigc
vas done to the railroad in tlhe vicinity of Blacksville.
At Cove Gap, onl the 10th of May, the column wasattacked by the enemy, and a battle of four hours'
duration ensued, in wlhich the Fourteenth lost twelve
killed and thirty-seven wounded.  Joining Gen.
Crook the combined forces of the command moved to
Lewisburg. Oni the 3d'of June thev were ordered to
move thence to Staunton, Va., to join Gen. Hunter
inl his campatign against Lynchburg.
At Staunton the regiiment was rejoined by a detachinent wlhich (being then dismounted) was'left belhind
at Martinsburg when the cornmand moved from its
winter-quarters in April. Tlhis detachlment was Under
command of Capt. Ashbel F. Duncan, of;E" company. The men wvere soon afterwards armed and
mounted, and assigned, by order of Gen. Sigel, to
Stahl's brigade. At New Market, May 15th, this detachmenit was engaged, and sustained considerable loss.
Soon afterwards it moved vith Gen. Hunter on his campaign. At Piedmont, on the 5th of June, Capt. Duncan's detachment, being in the advanice, suddenly encountered the enemny. In the battle which followed
it advaniced, dismounted, and carried an eartlhwork
taking a number of prisoners, and afterwards receiv-.
ing hill comnmentlation from the superior officers for
its gallantry in action.
Marching from Staunton on the 9th of June, the
forces reaclhed L2xington on the 11th, and Buchanan,
on the 13th. On the 15th the column moved to New
I Bates.                                        -          -
-                                                                                                                            -~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~24                   HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
French commanding officer, and desiring the said  snow wvhicll had fallen prevented our reaching Mr.
chiefs to appoint you a sufficient number of their. Frazier's, an Indian trader, at the mouth of Turtle
warriors to be your safeguard as near the French as  Creek, on Monongahela River, till Thursday the 22d.
you may desire, and to wait your further directioni.    We were informed here that expresses had been sent
"You are diligently to inquire into the numbers  a few days before to the traders down the river, to
and force of the French on the Ohio and the adjacent  acquaint them with tlle French general's death, and
countrv; how they are likely to be assisted from Can-  the return of the major part of the French army inlto
ada; and what are the difficulties and conveniences  winter quarters.'The waters were quite impassable
of that communication, and the time required for it.  without swimming our horses, which obliged us to
"You are to take care to be. truly informed what  get the loan of a canoe from Frazier, and to send Barforts the French have erected, and where; holw they  naby Currin and Henry Steward down the Monongaare garrisoned and appointed, and what is their dis-  hela with our baggage to meet us at the forks of the
tance from each other, and from Logstown; and from   Ohio."
the best intelligence you can procure, you are to learn    Crossing the Allegheny, Washington found Shinwhat gave occasion to this expedition of the French;  giss, the Delaware king, who accompanied the party
how they are likely to be supported, and what their  to Logstown, which they reached in twenty-five days
pretensions are.                                      from Williamsburg. On their arrival they found the
"WVhen theFrench commandant las gi y   the  Indian Monakatoocha, but the Half-King was absent,
required and necessary dispatches, you are to desire  lhunting.  Washington told the former, througlh his
of him a proper guard to protect you as far on your  Indian interpreter, John Davidson, that he had comie
returnl as you may judge for your safety, against any  as a messenger to the French general, and was ordered
straggling Indians or hlunters that may be ignorant  to call and inform the sachems of the Six Nations of
of your character, and molest You. Wishing you  the fact. The Half-King was sent for by runners
good success in your negotiation, and safe and speedy  anid at about three o'clock in the afternoon of the
return, I amn, c.,                                   25th lie camle in, and visited Washington in his tent,
"ROBERT DINWIDDIE.    whlere, througlh the interpreter, Davidson, he told himr
WNILLAMsBuRG, 30 October, 1753."                    that it was a loing way to the headquarters of the
On the day of his appointment Washington left  French commandant on the Allegheny.  "He told
Williamsburg, and on the 31st reached Fredericks-  me," says the journal, " that the nearest and levelest
burg, Va., where he employed Jacob Van Braam as a  way was now  impassable by  reason  of many large
French interpreter.  The twlo then went to Alexan-  miry savannahs; that we must be obliged to go by
dria, where some necessary purchases were made. Venango, and should not get to the near fort in less
Thence theyproceeded to Winchester, where pack-  thani five or six nights' sleep, good traveling."  He
horses were purchased; after wllich they rode to  told Washington that he must wait until a proper
Wills' Creek (Cumberland, Md.), arriving there on  guard of Indians could be furnished him.  "The
the 14th of NovTember.  "Here," said  WVashlingtonl | people whom  I have ordered in," said he, "are not
in his journal of the tour, " I engaged Mr. Gist' to  yet come, and cannot, until the third night fror this;
pilot us out, and also hired four otlers as servitors,-   until which time, brother, I m
Barnaby Currin and John McQuire, Indian traders      inten                            ust be you toay.
Henry Steward, and William Jenkins;* and in com-  and Delawvares, that our brothers may see the love and
pany with these persons left the inhabitants the next loyalty we bear them."
day."                                                    Washington was anxious to reach his destination at
The party, now  including seven persons, moved  the earliest possible time, but, in deference to the
fromn Wills' Creek in a northwesterly direction, and  wislhes of the friendly Tanacharison, he remainied
crossing the Youghioghenv River into what is now   until the 30th of November, when, as it is recorded
Fayette County, proceeded by way of Gist's place' 2in the journal, "  We set out about nine o'clock witil
to Frazier's, on the Monongahela, ten miles above its  the Half-King, Jeskakake, White Thunder, and the
junction with the Allegheny. They had found the  Hunter, and traveled on the road to Venango, where
traveling througli the wilderness so difficult that the  we arrived the fourth of December, without anything
journey to this point from Wills' Creek occupied a remarkable happening but a continued series of bad
week. Referring to this part of the route, the jour-  weather. This is an old Indian town, situated at the
nal says, "The excessive rains and vast quantities of  mouth of French Creek, on the Ohio, and lies near
north about sixty miles from  Logstown, but more
I Christopl.er Gist, agent of the 1' Ohio Company," who, a few months  than seventy the way we were obliged to go."
previously-in 1753-had located and built a cabin s'ear the centre of    On the 7th tlle party set out from Venango for the
the territory of the present county of Fayette, at the place IIow knlown
as Mount Braddock.                                      3 Tanacharison, the Half-King, was and always continued to be a firni
2 " According to the best observation I could make," said Waslhington  and steadfast friend of the English, but lie lived less than a year from
in hiis journal, "Mr. Gist's newt settlement (wlicih we pissed by) bears  the timle when  Washington met lifix at Logstown. Ilis death occurred
about wvest-northwest, seventy miles from Wills' Creeks."  at Harrisburg, Pa. (then Harris' Ferry), in October, 1754.HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
London, on the Virginia-and Tennessee Railroad,
and thence towards the objectii-e-point of the expedition, Lynchburg. But the enemy was encoutitered
near the city, and during the succeeding night an entire Confederate corps arrived from  the Army of
Northern Virginia, wlhich inade it inmpracticable to
capture the place. Gen. Hunter then ordered a retreat, in wihich Schoonmaker's briga(le, being then the
rear-guard, was attacked by the enenmy at Libertv,
and sustained the assault alone for four hours, the
Fourteenth Regiment losing twenty-four killed and
wouinded.  It was again engaged north of Salem
Withl Rosser's cavalry, losing, eight killed and wounded.
Finally, after an excessively toilsome nmarch, and
l)eingf at one -time five days without food, it reached
Parker3burg, and from there moved* by rail to Martinsburg.
The enemy's force3 under Early were now marching
down the valley to tlle. invasion of Maryland. Averill's troops were again put in motion, and a battle took
place between them and the rebel force at Winchester
on the 20th of July, the Fourteenth being engaged
with some loss. On the 24th, Early's coinbined forces
aittacked Averill and Crook, and drove them to the
Potomac, which they crossed and retired to Hagerstown. Whlen the enemv, under Gen. McCausland,
was retiring from the destruction of Chambersburg,
Pa., he was overtaken by Averill's forces at Moorfield,
W. Va., and a severe battle ensued, resulting in the
defeat of the enemy and the - capture of several cannon and a large number of prisoniers. In this actibOa
the Fourteenth, which had the right of.the first line,I
lost thirty-five killed. and wounded. After this fight
tile command returned to Martinsburg, and thence to
and across the Potomac, guarding the fords.
During Sheridan's brillianit campaign in the Shenandoahi Valley in the fall of 1864 the Fourteenth
was active alid frequently engaged. In the action of
September 14tll it fought well, capturing an earthwork
an(l losing heavily. At Fishier's Hill it was again engaged, but with light loss. On the 27th of September
it fought with a spirit and bravery which caused an
order to be issued that the name of the battle (Weyer's
Cave) be inscribed on its flag. It was again engaged
at Cedar Creek, October 19th, and did excellent service on that field. On the 24th, in the Luray Valley,
it fouglht in a brisk encouniter, taking some prisoners,
and was again eDtgaged  with tile forces of McCausland at Front Royal on the 12th of November, losing
fifteen killed and wounded. Soon after this it went
into winter-quarters, but was employed in constant
and arduous duty through the wititer. The spring
campaign was opened on the 4th of April, 1865, when
the regiment with its brigade moved up the valley,
but met no enemy and returned to Berryville oni the
6th. Gen. Lee's surrender immediately after, virtually ended the war, and o01 the 20th of April the regiment was ordered to Washington, and remained there
for about six weeks, taking part in the grand reviews
of the  armies of Grant, Sherman, and  Sheridan  in
Mlay. On the 1lth of June it was ordered West, and
proceeded to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, vhere it-was
consolidated  into six  companies, the surplus officers
being  mustered  out.  The men  were  mustered  out
of the service at Fort Leavenworth on the-24th. of
August, 1865, and  returned'in a body to Pittsbu'rgh,
where they were discharged.
OFFICERS AND M1EN IN THE FOURTEENTH CAVALRY FROMI
FAYETTE COUNTY.
COMPANY B.
Zadock. Walker, captain, muist. in Nov. 23, 1862; disclarged June 5;
1865.
James L. Kelly, captatin, must. in Nov. 18; 1862; must. ouit with corpany Aulg. 24,1865.
Thomas R. Torrence, first lieutenant, must. in Nov. 28; 1862; disch. Feb.
10, 1865.
John H. Byers, first lieuteniant, must. in Nov. 23,1862; pro. from second
lieuteitlan t Feb 14, 1865; disclhar ged June 5, 18651.
J. B. McLaughlin, first lieutenanit, msust. in Nov. 23, 1862; must. out
Aug. 24, 1865.
Thomas P. Walker, seconid lieutenant, must. in Sept. 6, 1862; pro. from
quartermiaster-sergeant Feb.. 14, 1865; must. out withl conilpaiy Aug.
94, 1865.
William M. McNutt. first sergeant, muLst. in Feb. 25, 1864; muist. out
witlh company Aug. 24, 1865; veteran..
William  Parkhill, first sergeaint, muiist. in Nov. 23, 1802; discli. by G.oMaty 28, 1865.
Joseph A. Ripple, first sergeant, muist. in Nov. 23, 1862; pro. to corporal
April 1, 1864; to first sergeant May 28, 185; com. first lieutenant
Jun11e 6,, 1865; disclc. by G. 0. Juily 31, 1865.
Benjamin F. Townsend, qesartermaster-sergeant, must. in MlarchI 31,
1864; con,. seconid lieutetiant Juntie 6, 1865; must. out with compaIny
Aug. 24, 1865.
Henry Page, qu artermaster-sergeanit, must, in Nov. 2.3, 1862; disch. by
G. 0. May 28, 1865.
John D. Felmly, com.-sergeant, must. in Feb. 23, 1864; must. out with
coml)any Aug. c4, 1865.
D. B. Gillchist, con.-sergeant, must. in Nov. 23, 1862; discli. by G. O0
May 28, 1865.
D. J. Armstrong, sergeant, must. in1 Nov. 23, 1862; nmust. out with compaily Aug. 24, 1865.
John McNary, sergeanit, must. in Nov. 22, 1862; must, out with companiy
Aug. 24, 1865.
James J. Rankin, sergeant, nmust. in MIatrch 15, 1864; must. out with
companiy Aug. 24, 1865;'Veteran.
Joseph Houk, sergeant, nmust. inI Nov. 25, 1862; nsust. out witll compan1y Aug. 24,1865.
Joseph Hughes, Sergeant, nmust. in Nov. 22, 1862; must. out withI c011pany A ug. 24, 1865.
Benjamin F. Hoopes, sergeanit, must. in Nov. 23, 1862; disch. on stirgeoii's certificate Auig. 20, 1863.
Charles Townsend, sergetant, must. in Nov. 23, 1862; discls. by G. 0. MAy
28, 1865.
H. R. Brenneman, sergeant, mtust. in Nov. 23, 1862; pro. to adjutant
Jani. 27,1865.
Jonathan C. Knight, sergeanit. mtust. ill Nov. 23, 1862; disch. by 0. 0O
MaLy 2, 1865.
William H. Strickley, sergeanit, must. in Nov. 23,1862; disch. by G. O'
May 28, 18C56.
James A. Wilson, sergeant, must. in Nov. 23, 18622; discl. by 0G. 0. Mily
28, 1865.
Joseph Herwick, sergeant, mutst, in Nov. 23, 1862; disclh. by G. 0.' May
28, 1865.
James N. Tatem, sergeantt, timust, in Nov. 23, 1862; discls. by G. 0. May
28, 1865.
John R. Fisher, ser,!geant, must. in Nov. 2:3,18;2; not on muster-roll.
Jesse H. McElhore, corporal, must,-in Feb. 20, 1864; must. out- with
company Atig. 24, 1865; vetemn.
Alex P. Wilson, corportal, must. it March 23, 1P64; must. olut with company Aug. 24,1805.
Robert Johnston, corporal, mtst. in Feb. 23, 1804; mast. out with company Aug. 24,186W5,; veteruso.
21 8
I
I.WAR OF THE REBELLION.
James WV. Shaffer, corporal, muist, in Feb. 26,13864; miust, ouit witlls companv Aug. 24, 1863; veterani.
Henry F Russell, cor-poral, insist, in MIarch 3,.1864; must, out with' company Au_g. 24, 1865.
Samuel M. Kennedy, corporal, must, in Feb. 27, 1864; must. oust with
company A tg. 24, 1865.
Benjamin F. McCreight, corporal, muist, in Feb. 4, 1864; must. out with
conspany Aug-. 24, 1865.
Joseph S. Fry, corporal, minist. in Feb. 23, 1864; must, out witlh company
Auig. 24, 1865; veteran.
Marcus M. Darr, corpor-al, misst, in Nov. 23, 1861; discb, by G. 0. May
26, 18635.
William Smith, corponral, miust, in Nov. 23, 1864; discla. lay G. 0. May
26, 1865.
John C. Dewoody, corporasl, muist, in Nov. 23, 1864; dliscla. lay G. 0. May
26, 1865.
Jonas C. Gilmore, corporal, muist. in Nov. 23, 1864; discla, by G. 0. M5ay
26, 1865.
George Hensell, corporaul, inuLst, in Nov. 23, 1864; discia. by G. 0. May
26, 1865.
Josiah C. Strickler, corporal, muist, in Nov. 23, 1864; died at Gallipolis,
Olhio, July 5, 1.86 t; burieal i n N:a tionasl Cemeteay, gr-ave 133.
John Craig, coarpoiral, nmsas. in Noav. 2.1, 1864; caiptured asad died at Richmoaad, Vat., Maitch 8, 1864.
William H. White, corporaul, minist. ita Nov. 2:3,1864; killed at Aslhby's Gap,
V~a., Feb. 19, 1865.
John F. Gruber, bugler, must, in Feda. 24, 1864; must, out witlls comipany
Auag. 24, 1865.
Hugh R. Morrison, lalacksmith, misist, in Feb. 11, 1864; muist. osst wi-th
compilany Aug. 24, 1865.
John Walker, blfiscksmitli, must, in Mlarch 28, 186'4; muist. osat with
compansy Asig. 24, 18113.
Robert M. Smith, f'arijier, inust. in Nov. 23, 1862; discli. tay G. 0. Msy
28, 1865.
Andrew B. Davis, saddler-, ussist. in Nov. 2:1, 1862; discis, by G. 0. Mlay
28, 186-5.
PrIratcs.
Daniel J. Allen, muist, in Feb). 26, 1864.
George Allshouse, insiist. isa Nov. 23, 1863.
William Allshouse, iaisast, ias Marcla 28, 1864.
James Allison, iaisat. in Dec. 21, 1863.
Daniel B. Alles, aaaaust. isa Dec. 21 1863.
John Aul, insist san Feb. 29 1864.
John S. Aultman, maist. ia Fib. 24,1864.
George Bothell  ian Flel. 231, 1864.
David C. Bothell    miot. sia Feb). 2:3, 1864.
Alex. Ballentine, iiust. ini F a. 2:1, 1864.
Orlando B. Bardick  mi sth lii Feb. 29, 3864.
John Byers, insist. in F ta1 293, 1864.
Elijah Bailey, masaist. haaFeb. 2:1, 1864.
Hermann Buhl, niist. ini Itsrch 28, 1864.
Samuel Bostick. isa Nov. 23, 1862.
Adam Blinn  nast. iii Hlarch 28, 1864.
Aaron Broad nisit. in Marchi 29, 1864.
wm. Balsinger, asaust. isi Feb. 24, 1864.
Frainklin Bigham muist ina Feb. 22, 1864.
David A. Byers, utsutl isa Nov. 2:1, 1862.
Abraham H. Bute, niuiast isa Nov. 2:3, 1862.
John F. Bowser  a uaiast. in Feb. 29, [864.
Andrew Berry, inist, us Nov. 23, 1862.
Christian Blinn nisist. in MarcIa 29, 1861.
Andrew Barnhart usust. iii Nov. 23, 186;2.
Joseph Barnhart  must. in Nov. 2:3, 1862.
George C. Bidwell insist. in May 4, 186:1.
George W. Betts, must. in Nov. 2:1, 1862.
John Brown, isaust. an Sept. 25, 1862.
David Bowman, iuust. si Oct. 2:3, 1862.
Eli Brooks, must. iii Sept. 14, 1862.
William Barnhart, must. an Miarals 23, 1862.
Frederick Byers, nusual isa Fela. 21,1862.
John Bauer, maids. isa Nov. 2:1, 1862.
James Boyce, isiust. in Aiig. 23, 1864.
Peter Crouse, nissst. iii Feb. 24, 1864.
James Cain, muist. in Feb. 21, 1864.
John A. Caldwell, muist, in Masrih 29, 1861.
George W. Critzer, niust. in Feb. 17, 1864..
Peter S. Carothers, musust. in Jan. 15, 1864.
Joseph H. Cox, muist. in Nov. 23,186-2.
Andrew Crise, mnist. in March 8, 1804.
Jasper B. Comstock-, miust. Is n 1ov. 23, 1862.
James Conroy, ni,ast. in Nov. 23, 1862.
John Conn, must, in Nov. 23, 1862.
Eli Crawford, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
T. S. Cumberland, muist, in Nov. 23, 1862.
James Cook, rasuist. in Dec. 24, 1803..James Campbell,  mutst, ini Atig. 23),1862..John Cougherty, mutst. ini Nov. 23, 1802.
Wm. F. Dexter, mu.-t. in Feb. 24, 1864.
Ebenezer Daniels, nimst. in Nov. 23, 1862.
James Dugan,  must. In  Nov. 2:1, 18,62.
Jeremiah  Dillen,  muist, in  Oct. 10, 1862.
Christian  Emmel,  muist, in  Mariaei  25, 1864.
James A. Edmondson, maist, in Nov. 23, 1862.
William Fussell, miust. In Nov. 23, 1862.
Reuben Farren, muiist. ini Feb.' 25, 1864.
Samuel C. Fosten, muitst, in. Nov. 23, 1862.
Solomon W. Flowers, muiist, in Auig. 6, 1864.
Perry  Graham, MUSt. Inl  Marchi 28; 1864.
George W. Geary, iiiist. int Mkarchi 7, 1864.
William Golden, miust. ih Nov. 23, 1862.
Frederick Grupp, muist. in Auig. 29, 1804.
B. Gallagher, muist, In Fela). 23, 1S64.
Joseph  B. Gibson,  mnu st. I n  No v. 23, 1862.
William Gilliland, muist, in Nov. 23, 1862.
Sarax Gibson, muist. In Auig. 20, 1864.
Edward Gunion, misst. ini May 5, 1864.
Anthony haney, muist. in Nov.- 2:1, 1862.
Patrick hogan, muitst, ini Dec. 27, 186:3.
Milton hepler, muiist, in Fel, 23, 1864.
W. G. Heffelfinger, muiist. in Feb. 231, 38,64.
Lamont D. B. Hill, iiinist. in Nov. 2:3, 1862.
Michael havill, muasst. ini Nov. 23, 1862.
John  Hazen, nauist. in Nov. 2:1,1862.
Socrates Hill, niutl-. i1n Feb. 27, 1864.
David Houk muiist, in Auig. 17, 1864.
Henry Hart, muist, in Fela. 24, 1864.
Stephen A. Hunter, iiiiust. in March 30, 18C4.
Solomon W. Hayes, imuist. in. Feb). 18, 1864.
David Hartz, must. In Nov. 2:1,1862.
John Irwin, mutst. iii March 29, 1864.
Samuel H. Imel, muist, in Nov. 23, 1862.
Samuel Johnston, isiuist. in Fela. 26), 1804.
Simeon Johnston, muiist, in Nov. 2:3, 1862.
William Johnston, muiist. iLi Feb). 26, 1864..John Kerr, muiist. in No)v. 23, 1862.
John Keener, imust. in Feb. 23, 1864.
Andrew Kidd., muist, in N(v. 2:1, 1862.
William Kelly, intact,. in Nov. 23, 180i2.
Jacob Klink,  must, in  Nov. 23, 1862.
Richard A. King, mounit, in Nov. 2 1, 1862.
Elias S. Lavan, mu tst,  ini Feb. 29, 1864.
George F. Luther, iiast. iLi  MaricIa 29, 1864.
Lewis Lowry, muist, In Mlarch 1U, 180f4.
Gann Linton, muist. in Fel,. 2f;, 1864.
Thomas Lowe, miust, in Marc-ia 13, 1854.
Reuben Lane, nmiat, in Nv. 2:1, 1862.
William m. Lewis, niuist. in Nav~.2 1, 1802.'
Philip Landis, iiiaist. in NNov, 23, 1862.
Jacob Lantz, munst. iua Selt. 3, 181-62.
Daniel Laughery, inuait. ini Nov. 23, 1862-.
John A. Lee, muitst, in Oct. 23, 1862.
David Lafellet, Tauast. in Marcia 235, 1864.
Thomas J. Miguels, muist. in Daw. 28, 1863.
Sylvester Morton, muist. its Fea. 23,13864.'
Jacob K. Mitchell, lmust. in March 9, 1864.
Daniel Murray. muist. ini Nov. 23, 1862.
Frederick C. Muller, iaaiast. hii Nov. 231, 1862.
William Michacels, muist. ini Nov. 2:1, 1862.
John L. Merrills, mutst. inl Nov.2'3, 1062.
Samuel Maxwell, muist, in M1arch 31, 1864.
James Miller, muist. in Nov, 2:1,1862.
Emanuel Martin, muist. in Oct. 22, 1862.
John Moore, munist, in Sept. 23, 1862.
Richard Morrison, must. in Nov. 1,1862.'
219HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Leander Miller, muiist, in Sept. 2, 1864.
Lewis A. Metts, muiist. iin Nov. 2:1, 1862.
James McCauslen, muimt. in April 13, 1864.
Wm. h. McIntyre, moist, in Feb. 231, 1864.
Joseph McGregor, nuist. in Feb. 29, 1864.
James McCorkle,  muist, in  Jan. Ily 18(Z
Joseph  McDaniels,  muist. hi  Nov. 231, 1862.
Robert L. McGinnis, muist, in Aug. 26, 1862.
Daniel Neil, muist, in Feb). 29), 1861.
Andrew L. Nutts, mutst. in Nov. 2:3, 1862.
Benjamin  Nuzum,  mutst, in Nov. 2:1, 1862.
Wm. R. Patterson,  miist, in Sept. 3, 1864.
John Powell, mutst, inl Nov. 1, 18C-2.
James Ritchie, muist. in  Feb. 257, 1864.
Jacob Riggle, muiist, in March 9, 1864.
Samuel Riggle,  muitst. in  Mlar-ch 15, 1864.
Augustus Raul, jUst. in  March  5, 1864.
William H. Repine, imust, ini Feb). 29, 1864.
William Robinson, nmst. in Dec. 2-9, 1863.
Joseph Robinson, mustt. inl Dec. 29., 1863.
John Robinson, imust, in Nov. 2:1, 1862.
Seth Rigby must. ini Nov. 23, 1862.
John S. Reagan, miust. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Harrison Ringer,  anist. in  Mariich  8, IsGI.
John J. Rayrer, muist, in Feb. 27, 1864.
George Rohlar, must. ill S9Ipt. 9,1864.
William Reedy, muist. iI) S-it. 5,1804.
Allen Stewart, muist, in Mar-ch 21, 1864.
Abraham Shaffer, muiist. in Dec. 2:5, 186:1.
George W. Shaffer, miust, init Dec. 14, 1863.
Franklin Shaffer usujist ill Dec. 11, 1863.
David  S. Sherrard,  muist. in  Dec. 28, 186:1.
Henry  Smail,  muist.  n  Apuinil 1.3,18).
William B. Shaum, monit. in Feb. 23, 1864.
James h. Steffey, mnw-I in Fle). 18, 1864.
Martin T. Smith, i))mat. in Fels 2:1, 1864.
Augustus Spence, must. in Flet' 2:1, 1864.
Uriah Shefler, u mm:.in leb) 291 1864.
Fred. N. Speelman  muiskt  in Nov. 23, 13162.
Isaac Stewart,  muiist. i   Nov   "3, 1862.
Daniel J. Speelman, ninist. in Nov. 23, 1862.Jacob D. Stickle, mush. in, Nov. 23,18,"
William H. Shaffer, imust, in Dec. It), 1863'.
Abraham P. Shaffer, miust, fin Feb. 27, 1861.
Hugh H. Smiley, nmut. in Anil. 17, 1864.
Adam Swagger,  muiist. in  Feb. 1, 1864.
Richard Swagger  -, miush. lin Feb). 1., 1864.
Samuel Shook, must, in March 31, 1864.
Richard Stapleton, muiist. iii Nov. 23, 1862.
Henry C. SCOtt, muilst, ill OLet. 16, 1862.
Joseph T. Shrum, miust. in March 31, 1862.
C. A. Templeton,  muist, in  Mar-ch 5, 186)2.
John S. Thompson,  mutst. it) March  29, 1862.
Hugh  Townsend.  muiist, in  Marchi 23, 1862.
George Thompson, muiist. irn Sept. 28, 1862.
Allen Tatem, must. in Nov. 29, 1862.
James Tingley, miust, in Nov. 2:1,1862.
Samuel Tingley, miust, in Feb. 24, 1864.
Thomas Turner, muiist. in Sept. 3)5, 1862.
Andrew Wissinger, miust. in Feb. 23, 1861.
Isaac W. Woods, moiist, itn Feb. 18, 1864.
Peter Whitemire, muiist. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Stephen Whetzel, must, in Nov. 2:1, 18621.
David Wilson, must,bt ill March 8, 1864.
Henry Winters, mnust. ini Marchi 22, 1864.
Ansell G. West, miust, in Marchi 31, 1864.
David Welch, miust. int Marchi 3, 1864.
Samuel White, must, in Marchl 9, 1864.
Solomon Whipkey, muist. in Oct. 22, 1862.
James Wallace, muist, in Oct. 16, 1862.
Abraham Walker, must, in March 29, 1864.
Christopher Tockey, miust, ini Feb. 18, 1864.
Samuel Zebley, niust. in Nov. 23, 1862.
COsIPAN-Y E.
Ashbel F. Duncan, captain, miust. in Nov. 21, 1862; died September 25tlh,
of wounids received at WVinchi.ster, Va., Sept. 19, 1864.
George 11. North, captain, muist, in Nov. 3, 1862; pro. from quartermastbr March 3, 1865; dischi. by G. 0. Jimly'31, 1865.
Samuel D. Hazlett, captaini, niuist. in -Nov. 14, 1862; must, out withi cornpany Aug. 24, 1865.
James Hamilton, first lieut., nnuist. in Nov. 21, 1862; res.~ Feb. 22, 1864.
James M. Hustead, flirst lieuitenanit; muist. ini Nov. 21, 1862; pro. from
seconid lieuitenant.July 6, 1864; res. March:11, 1865.
Albert G. Hague, fir-st lieutenant, muist. in Nov. 21, 1862; pro. froin first
ser-geanit to second lieuitenant July 7, 1864; to first lieuitenant May211,
1865; ices. Junie 9, 1865.
Henry B. hagy first lieuitenant, m-ust. in Nov. 18, 1862; miust, out witlls
conlipany Auig. 21, 1865.
John W. Barclay, seconid lieuiteniant, mutst, in Sept. 30, 1862; must, out
withi company Aueg. 24, 1865.
Evan R. Davis, first sergeant, muiist, in Jan. 25, 1864; must, out withi
comipany Auig. 24, 1865.
George J.  Miller, flist sergeant,  mutst, in  Nov. 23, 1862; disch. by G. 0.
May 30, 18635.
George J. Keener, first sergeant, must. ini Nov. 23, 1862; pro. to corpor-al
Aug. 26, 1864; to  fitst sergeant May  2 0, 1863; discli. by G. 0. July
31, 1865l.
John W. Shryock, quartermaster-sergeant, miust. in Feb. 29, 1864; pro.
fr-omi corporal Aug. 15, 1865a; mOust. ouit withi comipaniy Aug. 24, 1865;
veter'an.
Benjamin H Robinson, -quartermaster-sergeant, miust, in Nov. 23, 1862;
dischi. by C. 0. May 30), 1865.
Eli H. Titus, quartermaster-sergeant, must. in. Marchi 30, 1864; ditch. by
G. 0. J u.ne 1:3, 1865.
Alpheus W. Swaney, quartermaster-sergeant, nitust, in Nov. 23, 1862;
distch, by G. 0. Juily 3t, 1865.
Robert L. Galbreith, quarterm!ister-sergeant, umust. in Feb. 15, 1864;
discli. by G. 0. Aug 8, 1865.
Alexander English, comimissary-sergeant,  mius;t, in Nov. 14, 1862; must.
ouit withi company AtU.  4,185
James M. Nobers, cummnissary-sergeant, miust, in Nov. 23, 1862; ditch.
by G. 0. Ma1;y 30, 1865.
William T. Edward, ser-geant, muist, in Jami. 2.5, 1864; must, out witlt
compainty Auig. 24, 18635;'eteiraii.
Peter B. Brown, sergeant, muiist, in Feb. 28, 1864; muist. out with comnlsany Aug. 24, 1865; veteran.
Thomas 11. Banks, sergeant,  muitst, in Feb. 21, 1864;  muist, out withi comnpsany Auig. 24, 1863; veter'an.
Lewis Hazlett, sergeant, muitst, in Feb. 24, 1864; miust. ouit within conipliny Aug, 24, 1865.
S. M. Thompson, sergeant, must, in Marcht 5, 1864; pro. to corporald Jutie
6, 1865; to sergeanit July 23, 1863; miust, out wills comipaniy Aug(,.
24, 1865.
Wartman Davis, sergreanit, niust. in Nov. 21,1862; cons, second lieutenanit
May 20, 1865; niot miustered; di:~cli. by G. 0. lBay 3(1, BO6.
Otho W. Core, sergeant, usust, in Nov. 23, 1862; ditchi. b)y G. 0. May 30,
1865a.
Anderson  L. Osborri, sergeanit,  must, in  Nov. 23, 1862; disch, by G. 0.
Mlay 30, 1865..
Andrew Core, ser-geanit, must, in Nov. 23, 1862; discls. by G. 0. May 30,
1 865.
William Robinson, ser-eaint, ninust. in Nov. 23, 1862; dischi. by G. 0. May
30, 1865-.
Jabez W. McCloy sergeant, miust. in Nov. 23, 1862; trans. to Co. D
July ii, 1865.
Frederick Elseulager, sergeant, must. in Nov. 2:3, 1862; trans. to Co. D
Jutly 11, 1865.
William Abraham; sergeant, niust, in Nov. 23, 1862; died at Baltimnore,
MId., Auig. 6, 1864.
Johnston Matthews, corporal, muiist, in Feb. 25, 1864; mutst, out witlls
companiy Auig. 2-4, 1865; veteran.
Levi Campbell, corporal, miust. ini Feb. 21, 1864; must, ouit withi company Auig. 24, 186.5; veterani.
William V. Beaman, corporal, miust. in Feb. 2, 1864; mnust. ouit with conmpany Auig. 24, 1865.
Amos Pfabe, corporal, must, in Feb. 2, 1864; must. out witlls compaisy
Aug. 24, 1865.
William B. Matthews, cor-poral, must, in Feb. 25, 1864;' must, out with
coisipainy Auig. 24, 1865; veteran.
Henry Skyles, corporal, muist, in Nov. 14, 1862; pro. to corporal Aug. 15,
1865; inutst, out withi conspaisiy Auig. 24, 1865.
Joseph W. Linton, corporal, usuiist. in Feb. 25, 1864; pro. to corporatl Aug.
1F), 1865; miust, out witlli comspansy Aug(. 24, 1865.
22 0WAR OF THE REBELLION.
David L. Wilson, corporal, must. in Feb. 27, 1864; pro, to corporal Aug.
15, 1865; must. out with company Aug. 24, 1865.
Robert E. Pastorius, corporal, must. in Nov. 23, 1862; disch. by G. 0.
May 30, 1865.
William J. Stewart, corporal, must. in Nov. 23, 1862; disch. by G. 0.
May 30, 1865.
James M. Neil, corporal, must. in Nov. 23, 1862; disch. by G. 0. May 30,
1865.
Ilenry M. Hayden, corporal, must. in Nov. 23, 1862; disch. by G. 0. May
30, 1865.
John C. Pastorius, corporal, must. in Nov. 23, 1865; disch. by G. 0. May
30, 1865.
Benjamin Launtz, corporal, must. in Nov. 23, 1862; disch. by G. 0. May
30, 1865.
Barton S. Robinson, corporal, must. in Feb. 25, 1864; diach. by G. O. Aug.
8, 1865.
Samuel H. Brown, corporal, must. in Nov. 23, 1862; trans. to Co. D July
11, 1865.
-George W. Arrison, corporal, must. in Nov. 23, 1862; trans. to Co. D July
11, 1865.
James J. Gruver, corporal, must. in Nov. 23, 1862; trans. to Co. D July
11, 1865.
Joseph C. Curry, corporal, must. in March 29, 1864.
Isaac H. Hall, bugler, must. irn March 29,1864; must. out with company Aug. 24, 1864.
Frank M. Smith, corporal, must. in Feb. 27, 1864; must. out with company Aug. 24,1865.
Robert Porter, blacksmith, must. in Nov. 14, 1862; must. out with company Aug. 24, 1865.
John M. Brown, farrier, must. in Nov. 14,1862; must. out with company
Aug. 24, 1865.
Nathan L. Walters, farrier, must. in Nov. 14, 1862; must. out with companly Aug. 24, 1865.
James A. Pratt, farrier, must. in Nov. 23, 1862; disch. by G. O. May 30,
1865.
Jonathan Grinder, saddler, must. in June 23, 1864; must. out with company Aug. 24,1865.
Albert Sheets, saddler, must. in June. 23, 1864; disch. by G.-O. June 9,
1865.
Privates.
Samuel Aitist, must. in Feb. 26, 1864.
Geor!ge W. Artist, must. in Feb. 26, 1864.
James H. Acklin, nlust. in Feb. 27, 1864.
Charles Allen, must. in Aug. 31, 1864.
Joseph Aston, mist. in Sept. 22, 1864.
Elijah Artist, must. in Sept. 16, 1864.
Oliver Abel, must. in April 13, 1864.
John H. Allison, must. in Jan. 30, 1864.
Robert Atchison, must. in Nov. 13, 1862.
Harvey C. Boyd, must. in Feb. 29, 1864.
Eli Black, must. in Feb. 26, 1864.
Corby Barrackman, must. in March 24,1864.
George W. Brooks, must. in March 9, 1864.
John W. Beatty, must. in April 7,1864.
John C. Brown, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
John Butler, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Caldwell G. Byers, must. iu Nov. 23,1862.
Milton Barmore, nlust. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Samuel Bliss, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
John Bell, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
A. D. Brownfield, must. in Nov.'23, 1862.
James W. Bunner, must. in Sept. 12, 1864.
John A. Brown, must. in March 10, 1864.
Isaac Bouch, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Luther Bromfield, must. in Sept. 14, 1864.
John C. Brown, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
George W. Bowers, must. in Nov. 23,1862.
Thomas H. Bower, must. in March 30,1864.
Henry C. Blaney, must. in March 9, 1864.
Joseph Biglow, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Samuel Baker, must. in Oct. 5, 1864.
William C. Blaney, must. in March 9, 1864.
William F. Baulton, must, in Nov. 23, 1862.
George Bowman, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Daniel Crise, must. in Dec. 14, 1863.
Edward Canlp, nimst. in Feb. 1, 1864.
15
John J. Conn, nmust. in Feb. 29, 1864.
George W. Cover, must. in Nov. 23,1862.
George W. Crooks, must. in Sept. 13, 1864.
Samuel A. Coun, must. in Sept. 14, 1864.
Jacob Conn, must. in Sept. 19, 1864.
Elias Carey, must. in Sept. 13,1864.
Conrad Cramer, must. in Sept. 2,1864.
John Cain, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Charles H. Comer, must. in Nov. 23,1862.
Johlln W. Crotts, must. in Sept. 8, 1864.
Elijah Coleman, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Daniel Casey, must. in April 7,1864.
Archibald Clarke, must. in Jan. 14, 1864.
Robert R. Creeks, must. in Feb. 5, 1864.
John Deets, must. in March 28, 1864.
Henry Dean, must. in March 24, 1864.
Jonathan Dunlap, must. in March 24, 1864.
Otho Darr, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Joseph E. Delliner, must. in Nov. 23,1862.
John F. Darrell, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
James W. Dougherty, must. in Nov. 23,1862.
W. C. Degmond, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Samuel E. Davis, must. in Sept. 12,1862.
Lewis Davis, must. in Sept. 13, 1864.
Samuel C. Dunbar, must. in Sept. 13, 1864.
Robert Dinsmore, must. in Sept. 3, 1864.
John A. Dehaven, must. in March 25, 1864.
F. H. Duncan, must. in March 31, 1864.
David Dore, must. in Jan. 18, 1864.
Alonzo A. Everly, must. in Nov. 23,1862.
Michael Emerie, must. in Sept. 19, 1864.
William Epley, must. in April 6, 1864.
William Erley, nmust. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Benjamin Fogg, must. in March 25, 1864.
He,ary C. Fowler, must. in Sept. 19, 1864.
Jasper C. Fox, must. in March 25, 1864.
Amos M. Frock, must. in March 16,1864.
Jacob Farr, must. in Nov. 23, 1864.
John W. Gillen, must. in Feb. 25, 1864.
John C. Green, must. in Feb. 29, 1864.
Ashbel F. Green, must. in March 9, 1864.
Lewis Gaskell, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
David Garrison, must. in Nov. 23, 1862,
George Garrison, must in April 27, 1864.
Charles Galbraith, must. in March 24, 1864.
Matthew N. Greer, must. in Feb. 26, 1864.
Joseph W. Green, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Moreland Gribble, must. in Feb. 29, 1864.
Micllael Howton, must. in Feb. 27, 1864.
James M. Harrison, must. in March 16, 1864.
David Heisner, must. in Jan. 15, 1864.
George Hays, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
William Hankton, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Ethelbert 0. Hickle, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Aaron B. Hickle, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Thomas H. Hill, must. in Sept. 13, 1864.
William Hopton, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Richard Hill, must. in Sept. 13, 1864,
Jacob Hull, must. in March 9, 1864.
James C. Huhm, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
John Harvey, must. in April 13, 1864.
Levi Hays, must. in Nov.'23, 1862.
Philip G. Hughes, must. in March 12, 1864.
William Hiles, must. in Sept. 1, 1864.
John M. Hartman, must. in Sept. 2, 1864.
Andrew Humbert, must. in Feb. 26, 1864.
Robert M. Harvey, must. in Aug. 5, 1864.
William Irwin, must. in March 16,1864.
Nicholas Iseman, must. in Feb. 15, 1864.
James S. Jack, must. in Feb. 25, 1864.
Thomas Johnston, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.,
William J. Janes, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
James W. Janes, must. in Oct. 23, 1864.
William Jaco, must. in Feb. 28, 1864.
Adrian Johnston, must. in Nov 23, 1862.
Daniel D. Kepple, must. in Feb. 20,1864.
Josiahll Kiskaden, must. in Feb. 20, 1864.
11iHISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Joseph Kennison, must. in Feb. 20, 1864.
Robert L. Keener, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Henry C. Keys, must. in March 28,1864.
William Lago, must. in Jan. 4, 1864.
James Lockwood, must. in March 29, 1864.
John H. Lynch, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Charles Ludwig, must. in Sept. 8, 1864.
Noah Lape, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
James W. D. Lowe, must. in Feb. 26, 1864.
Andrew P. Loughry, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Andrew J. Malarky, must. in Feb. 3, 1864.
James W. Malone, must. in Feb. 8, 1864.
Abraham B. Maurt, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
M. D. Mercer, must. in Oct. 22, 1863.
Alpheus Maple, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Street F. Marsteller, must. in Aug. 27, 1864.
William Mallaby, must. in Sept. 14, 1864.
Harvey Monteith, must. in Sept. 14, 1864.
Elijah Myers, must. in March 10, 1864.
Thomas Martin, must. in Dec. 9,1863.
Lewis R. Mechling, must. in Feb. 2,1864.
Reason Moore, must. in Feb. 29, 1864.
William Mauler, must. in Nov. 18, 1864.
Josiah Mitchell, must. in March 10, 1864.
William V. Mayfield, must. in April 8,1864.
Reese J. Mosier, must. in March 9, 1864.
Andrew J. Martin, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Charles A. Mesterget, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
David R. Means, must. in March 25, 1864.
Joseph Miller, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Samuel McCarty, must. in Nov. 23,  1862.
John F. McCarty, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Joseph McCormick, must. in Sept. 7, 1864.
Alexander McLain, must. in Feb. 13,1864.
James McDonald, must. in Feb. 26,1864.
Isaac H. Neff, must. in Nov. 14, 1862.
William T. Neal, must. in March 29, 1864.
Isaiah H. Ollinger, must. in Sept. 3, 1861.
Hugh O'Neil, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Wilkins W. Osborn, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Henry M. Osborn, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Charles O'Neil, must. in Oct. 26, 1864.
John W. O'Neil, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Isaac B. Osborn, must. in Aug. 24, 1864.
Adolph Provance, must. in Feb. 28, 1864.
Oliver Parker, must. in March 28, 1864.
Henry H. Poundstone, mtlst. in April 7,1864.
Thomas H. Pearson, must. in Nov. 23,1862.
Edward F. Pugh, must. in Nov. 23,1862.
Ashbel F. Pratt, must. in Sept. 20, 1864.
James K. Provance, must. in March 6,1864.
John Pastorious, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Isaac Pratt, must. in Sept. 26, 1864.
James W. Pastorius, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
John Recht, must. in Nov. 14, 1862.
George W. Beep, must. in Feb. 22, 1864.
David Rumbaugh, must. in Feb. 26, 1864.
George W. Rogers, must. in March 25, 1864.
Perry Robins, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Thomas S. Rector, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Alexander Rush, must. in Sept. 21, 1864.
John C. Ruble, must. in Sept. 12, 1864.
John Rodgers, must. in Sept. 19, 1864.
Albert H. Rea, must. in Feb. 15, 1864.
John Rumble, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Franklin Richard, must. in Nov. 23,1862.
Wilbur F. Ritchie, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
John Robinson, must. in Jan. 9, 1864.
Otho M. Rhodes, must. in Sept. 7,1864.
Elmer Snyder, must. in March 24, 1864.
H. Schiveiertering, must. in Feb. 24, 1864.
Adam W. Snyder, must. in Feb. 2, 1864.
Isaac D. Seese, must. in March 10, 1864.
Henry Sherer, must. in March 9. 1864.
William Sturgeon, must. in March 24, 1864.
Wm. M. C. K. Smith, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
George W. Shuff, must. in Nov. 23,1862.
i
Jeremiah Stewart, mlust. in Nov. 23,1862.
Samuel M. Simonton, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Clark R. Stoner, must. in Sept. 14, 1864.
Gottlieb Sterner, must. in Sept. 24, 1864.
John H. Simpson, must. in Sept. 14, 1864.
Matthew Sheridan, must. in Sept. 19, 1864.
John Sutton, must. in Sept. 5, 1864.
Estep Smith, must. in Sept. 22, 1864.
Joseph M. Sangston, must. in Sept. 24, 1864.
James S. Saunders, must. in Feb. 27, 1864.
Winfield S. Shepard, must. in Feb. 27, 1864.
William Snow, must. in March 24, 1864.
George W. Stewart, must. in Nov. 18, 1864.
Alpheus Swearingen, must. in Oct. 28, 1864.
Edward Seiberts, must. in Nov. 23, 1864.
William M. Stone, must. in Feb. 28, 1864.
Woodbury Smith, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Arthur Stevens, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Martin Stoner, must. in Sept. 14, 1864.
Philip Troutman, must. in Feb. 24, 1864.
John Thompson, must. in Sept. 14, 1864.
Bernjamin F. Tobin, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
And. J. Thompson, must. in Sept. 14, 1864.
Robert Thompson, nlust. in Feb. 26, 1864.
Thomas M. Williamson, must. in March 31, 1864.
Alpheus Woody, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Henry K. Ward, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Thomas Williams, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
John Williams, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Morgan B. Wilcox, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Daniel Walters, must. in July 27, 1864.
John M. Weltner, must. in July 26, 1864.
Samuel Whetsler, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
John Weaver, must. in March 29, 1864.
Thomas B. Walker, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Benjamin Woody, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
William H. Younkers, must. in Aug. 2, 1864.
William F. Young, must. in Sept. 1, 1864.
James W. Yager, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Uriah T. Young, must. in Sept. 1, 1864.
COMPANY F.
Calvin Springer, captain, must. in Nov. 29, 1862; disch. Jan. 18,1864.
James J. Jackson, captain, must. in Nov. 29, 1862; wounded at White
Sulphur Springs, Va., Aug. 26,1863; pro. from first lieutenant Jan.
14, 1864; disch. Dec. 6, 1864.
J. S. Schoonmaker, captain, must. in Nov. 29, 1862; pro. from second to
first lieutenant Jan. 14, 1864; to captain Jan. 28, 1865; disch. by
general order July 31, 1865.
Charles W. E. Welty, captain, must. in Nov. 23, 1862; must. out with
company Aug. 24, 1865.
John H. Nesmith, first lieutenant, must. in Oct. 21, 1862; pro. from first
sergeant to second lieutenant May 15, 1864; to first lieutenant Jan.
28, 1865; wounded;at Ashby's Gap, Va., Feb. 19,1865; disch. by general order July 31, 1865.
Wm. H. Coiling, first lieutenant, must. in Sept. 11, 1862; must. out with
company Aug. 24, 1865.
N. E. Huntsman, second lieutenant, must. in Nov. 23, 1862; pro. from
first sergeant Co. D Jan. 27, 1865; trans. to Co. D July 31, 1865.
Milton H. McCormick, second lieutenant, must. in Nov. 23, 1862; must.
out with company Aug. 24, 1865.
Jordan M. Nesmith, first sergeant, must. in Nov. 23, 1862; must. out
with company Aug. 24, 1865.
James H. Nesmith, first sergeant, must. in Nov. 23,1862; must. out with
company Aug. 24,1865.
Jesse F. Core, quartermaster-sergeant, must. in Jan. 7, 1864; must. out
with company Aug. 24, 1865.
John J. Hertzog, quartermaster-sergeant, must. in Nov. 23, 1862; pro.
from sergeant Jan. 14, 1864; disch. by general order May 30, 1865.
Clark McLaughlin, commissary-sergeant, must. in Nov. 23, 1862; must.
out with company Aug. 24, 1865.
Daniel W. Dull, sergeant, must. in Feb. 23, 1864; must. out with company Aug. 24, 1865.
Benjamin F. Siple, sergeant, mtst. in Nov. 23, 1862; must. out with company Aug. 24, 1865.
Samuel M. Kerr, sergeant, must. in Feb. 14, 1864; must. out with company Atlg. 24, 1865.
222WAR OF THE REBELLION.
Aaron T. Crow, sergeant, Ilillst. ill Nov. 2:, 182(i; pr. flomn c,rporal July
31, 1865; must. out with comnpany Auig. 24, 1865.
William Liston, sergeant, must. in Nov. 23, ] 862; pro. from private May
1, 1865; disch. by G. O. May 30, 1865.
John M. Holmes, sergeant, must. in Nov. 23, 1862; absent in hospital at
must. out.
Jonathan Boyd, corporal, must. in Nov. 23,1862; must. out with company
Aug. 24, 1865.
William Dull, corporal, must. in Nov. 23, 1862; must. out with company
Aug. 24, 1865.
John A. Mikesell, corporal, must. in Feb. 4, 1864; must. out with company Aug. 24, 1865.
William Still, corporal, must. in Feb. 28, 1864; must. out with company
Aug. 24,1865.
Joseph E. Richey, corporal, must. in Feb. 8, 1864; must. out with company Aug. 24, 1865.
John Fleming, corporal, must. in Feb. 1, 1864; must. out with company
Aug. 24, 1865.
Samuel A. Bryson, must. in Feb. 6, 1864; must. out with company Aug.
24, 1865.
Robert Hazlett, corporal, must. in Jan. 5, 1864; must. out with company
Aug. 24, 1865.
Hamilton C. Inglis, corporal, must. in Nov. 23, 1862; pro. to corporal
March 1, 1864; disch. by G. O. May 30, 1865.
Harry Prophet, corporal, must. in Nov. 23, 1862; disch. by G. O. May 30,
1865.
Sampson B. Hart, corporal, must. in Nov. 23, 1865; disch. by G. O. May
30, 1865.
Herman Detrick, corporal, must. in Sept. 6, 1864; disch. by G. O. M2[ay
30, 1865.
Theodore Mondolle, corporal, must. in Sept. 6, 1864; disch. by G. O. May
30, 1865.
David McKinney, corporal, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Jacob Aurell, bugler, must. in Nov. 23, 1862; disch. by G. O. May 30, 1865.
John G. Hart, bugler, must. in Nov. 23, 1862; pro. to chief bugler June
1, 1865.
Abner S. Roberts, blacksmith, must. in Nov. 23, 1862; disch. by G. 0.
May 30, 1865.
Michael Frick, farrier, must. in March 31,1864; must. out with company Aug. 24, 1865.
Anderson Minerd, farrier, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Hugh C. Brown, saddler, must. in Nov. 23, 1862; disch. by G. 0. May 30,
1865.
Privates.
Francis S. Altman, must. in Feb. 29, 1864.
Frank Abel, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
David Brooks. must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Daniel Brooks, must. in Feb. 28, 1864.
Lewis D. Buzzard, mulst. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Samuel R. Banks, must. in Feb. 22, 1864.
George W. Bowie, must. in Dec. 2, 1863.
Henry Burns, must. in Dec. 2, 1863.
John Baker, must. in Oct. 7, 1864.
John Ball, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Edward M. Brynon, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Isaac Balsinger, must. in Nov. 23,1862.
Allen Bryner, must. in Feb. 23, 1864.
Andrew Brobst, must. in Aug. 24,1864.
John Bierworth, must. in Aug. 24, 1864.
Wm. Brownfield, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
George W. Burner, must. in Sept. 16, 1864.
Joseph C. Brady, must. in Sept. 7, 1864.
T. J. Buner, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Judson Bodkins, must. in Aug. 1, 1862.
W. M. Burchinal, must. in April 14, 1864.
John C. Bumer, must. in Nov. 23,1862.
Wm. T. Bunmer, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Samuel Bumsworth, must. in Feb. 28, 1862.
James K. Burgess, must. in March 9, 1862.
James Braddie, must. in Sept. 7, 1862.
T. M. Clelland, must. in Feb. 16, 1862.
G. W. Campbell, must. in Feb. 25, 1862.
John Cain, must. in Dec. 2,1863.
Ewing Christopher, must. in Nov. 23,1862.
John C. Core, must. in Dec. 25, 1863.
John C. Cartin, must. in Sept. 5, 1864.
Francis Carney, must. in March 31, 1864.
Andrew Cooper, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Patrick B. Cooley, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
John Collins, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Andrew E. Collins, must. in Feb. 28, 1864.
Andrew Dodson, must. in Feb. 26, 1864.
Stewart Durban, must. in Aug. 1, 1863.
Thomas Dougherty, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Abraham Evans, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
John. A. Early, must. in July 12, 1864.
A. H. Eshenbaugh, must. in March 24, 1864.
Thonlas W. Elliott, must. in March 20, 1864.
David Emerson, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
David T. Fry, must. in Feb. 25, 1864.
Wm. A. Fleming, must. in Feb. 4, 1864.
James Frazier, must. in Jan. 20, 1864.
Wm. H. Fry, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Nicholas Frishcom, must. in Aug. 24, 1864.
F. M. Fleming, must. in Jan. 4, 1864.
James Doughelty, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
William A. Evans, must. in Feb. 24, 1864.
Philip Frederick, must. in Nov. 23,1862.
Allison Freeman, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Edmund Federer, must..in Aug. 26, 1862.
James A. George, must. in March 27, 1864.
Richard German, must. in Jan. 20, 1864.
Henry D. Gilmore, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Leopold Gross, must. in Aug. 12, 1864.
George P. Green, must. in Sept. 3, 1864.
Levi Goodwin, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Wm. B. Gowl, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
John Gardner, must. in Sept. 6, 1862.
Eckhart Houk, must. inl Feb. 22, 1864.
Jacob Houk, must. in Feb. 25, 1864.
Willis B. Harbaugh, must. in Feb. 28,1864.
Isaac R. Houk, must. in Feb. 22, 1864.
Henry Hair, must. in Feb. 4, 1864.
John Hand, must. in Jan. 20, 1864.
Miles Hand, niust. in Aug. 1, 1863.
Edward S. Hayden, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Reuben liouk, must. in Jan. 4, 1864.
Alaulson Hudson, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
David L. Hall: must. in Nov. 23,1862.
Abraham Hill, must. in Feb. 25, 1864.
Jacob Hill, must. in Nov. 25,1864.
Alexander Hager, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Fred. M. Hicks, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
John M. Hackett, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Mitchell Hamil, ilmuist. in Feb. 29, 1864.
James Hagan, must. ill Feb. 26,1864.
Andrew Hall, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Robert Hamilton, must. ill Nov. 23, 1862.
Jesse Hall, must. in Feb. 27, 1862.
Thomas Hughes, must. in March 29, 1862.
Peter Ingles, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Samuel Ingles, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Peter K. Johnson, must. in Feb. 25, 1862.
John Johnson, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
William James, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Joseph Johnson, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Wm. Kirkwood, must. in Feb. 23,1864.
Butler Kissinger, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
James W. Kenan, must. in Sept. 15, 1864.
John Keiser, must. in Aug. 24, 1864.
W. H. Kent, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Jacob Leonard, must. in Feb. 27, 1864.
Valorius Lilly, nlust. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Abraham Liston, must. in Nov. 23,1862.
David Lafferty, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Matthias Lilly, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
James W. Luellan, must. in Sept. 8, 1862.
Wm. F. Leech, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Wmin. C. Leasty, must. in Feb. 12, 1864.
Andrew Lancaster, umust. in Nov. 23, 1862.
David Leech, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
John Lowrie, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Jacob Lowrie, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
223COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Noah Lape, nmust. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Lucius S. Marten, must. in Feb. 23, 1864.
Wm. B. Mitchell, must. in March 12,1864.
Peter Mitchell, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
James H, Morrison, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Frederick R. Martin, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Michael C. Monroe, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Conrad Myers, must. in Sept. 5, 1864.
John Morrow, must. in Aug. 29, 1864.
George Miller, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Zachariah Moon, must. in March 15, 1864.
Joseph Miller, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
IIarry L. Maple, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Everett Meyers, must. in Feb. 2, 1864.
Curtis McQuillian, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Wm. A. McDowell, must. in Sept. 15, 1864.
Matthew S. McGarvey, must. in Feb. 25, 1864.
Francis McHenry, must. in Feb. 25, 1864.
John B McMullen, must. in Nov. 23,1862.
Robert P. McClellan, must. in Sept. 17, 1864.
Wm. McCloskey, must. in Aug. 26, 1862.
Johll Neeman, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Joseph M. Olinger. must. in Feb. 22, 1864.
James W. Orr, must. in Feb. 1, 1864.
Andrew Ochnes, must. in Jan. 4, 1864.
George D. Peterman, must. in Feb. 29, 1864.
Martin Peterman, must. in Feb. 13, 1864.
J. W. Poundstone, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Wm. H. Parker, must. in Feb. 23, 1864.
Bliss Palmer, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
John H. Preston, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Jimp S. Patterson, must. in Dec. 24, 1863.
Joseph Rowen, must. in Feb. 27, 1864.
David Rowen, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
John Rutlege, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
John Richards, must. in Dec. 28, 1863.
George Reshel, must. in Aug. 30,1864.
John Rhoe, must. in Aug. 24, 1864.
Absalom Riggle, must. in Sept. 15, 1364.
David J. Roberts, must. in Nov. 23,1862.
Joseph Randolph, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Newton D. Shannon, must. in April 26,1864.
William Snyder, must. in March 28, 1864.
Henry Shaffer, must. in Feb. 20, 1864.
Jacob Siple, Jr., must. in March 23, 1864.
Amos Sybert, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Sylvester C. Skinner, must. in Feb. 27, 1864.
James Staunlton, mlust. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Philip Smalley, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Wm. W. Shimp, must. in Feb. 22,1864.
Samuel Sidebottom, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Cyrus B. Sargent, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
John Skelly, must. in Nov. 23,1862.
Matthew Silks, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
George Smith, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Archibald Skyles, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Adam Speiker, niust. in Nov. 23, 1862.
James Sherry, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
H. F. Smallwood, must. in Dec. 24,1863.
Lafayette Salisbury, must. in Feb. 26, 1864.
Jonathan Sheetz, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Daniel Soverns, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
John C. Stares, must. in Aug. 20, 1864.
John Shepler, must. in Feb. 24,1864.
James Stockdill, must. in March 18, 1864.
John Seybold, must. in Oct. 27, 1862.
Scott Sprague, must. in Oct. 27, 1862.
John Seip, must. in Aug. 26, 1864.
Alexander Tarr, must. in March 17, 1864.
Joseph Toy, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Henry Turney, must. in Feb. 15, 1864.
Job Thorp, must. in Nov. 24, 1862.
George W. Taylor, must. in Nov. 23,1862.
Andrew Thorp, must. in Nov. 23,1862.
Jacob Tressler, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Wm. Tibbs, must. in April 14, 1862.
Wm. Vansickle, nlust. in Sept. 17, 1862.
Joseph A. Wott, must. in Feb. 23, 1864.
Wallace Watterson, must. in July 12, 1864.
Charles Wamer, must. in Nov. 22,1862.
William Warrick, must. in Jan. 7, 1864.
Matthew Wilson, must. in Dec. 14, 1863.
Alphens Wilson, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
John Wannan, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
David C. Winders, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
George Wygold, must, in Aug. 24, 1864.
Martin Wygold, must. in Aug. 24, 1864.
Frank Woodsides, must. in Nov. 23,1862.
Isaiah Wilson, niuust. in Nov. 23, 1862.
S. P. Waltonbaugh, must. in Feb. 23, 1864.
James Williams, must. in Nov. 23,1862.
William Willy, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
William Woods, must. in Nov. 23, 1862.
Joel T. Woods, must. in Aug. 18, 1864.
George W. Zinn, must. in Sept. 7, 1864.
CHAPTER XXI.
WAR OF THE REBELLION-( Continued).
The Sixteenth Cavalry.
THE Sixteenth Cavalry, numbered the One Hundred and Sixty-first of the Pennsylvania Line, and
one of the most renowned cavalry regiments in the
service of the United States in the war of the Rebellion, was raised in the fall of 1862, and composed of
men from twenty counties of the State of Pennsylvania. The rendezvous was first established at Camp
Simmons, near Harrisburg, but was afterwards removed to Camp McClellan, where the regimental
organization was completed about the middle of
November. The field-officers of the Sixteenth at its
organization were: Colonel, John Irvin Gregg, a veteran of the Mexican war and a line-officer in the regular army; Lieutenant-Colonel, Lorenzo D. Rodgers,
of Venango County; Majors, William A. West, of Fayette County, William  H. Fry, of Philadelphia, and
John Stroup, of Mifflin. Two companies of the regiment were composed of men recruited in Fayette
County, viz.: Company B, Capt. John T. Hurst, and
Company G, Capt. John K. Fisher.
On the 30th of November the regiment proceeded
to Washington, D. C., and was moved thence to a
camp near Bladensburg, Md. On the 3d of January,
1863, it moved to the Rappahannock, and went into
winter-quarters near the railroad bridge over Potomac
Creek, being assigned to duty with Averill's brigade,
which was then attached to the Army of the Potomac.
Its winter duty was severe, it being almost continually
on picket duty on a line nearly eight miles from the
regimental camp. On the 17th of March, 1863, the
Sixteenth fought its first battle at Kelly's Ford, on
which occasion it occupied the right of the line and
did its duty well, though with slight loss.
In the spring campaign of 1863, which culminated
in the battle of Chancellorsville, the Sixteenth was
constantly active, the men being almost continually.
in the saddle from the 13th of April, when they left
224
HISTORY OF FAYETTEWAR OF THE REBELLION.
their winter-quarters, until the 5th of May, when the  of the Army of the Potomac. It became engaged on
Army of the Potomac recrossed the Rappahannock  the 6th of May, and again on the 7th, when the Sixafter the disaster of Chancellorsville. During this  teenth fought dismounted, and bravely held its potime the regiment skirmished with the enemy's cav- sition against determined attacks of the enemy. On
alry at Brandy Station (April 29th) and at Ely's Ford  the 8th eight companies of the regiment, mounted,
(May 2d), but in these affairs lost only one man killed. charged with the sabre, suffering considerable loss.
On the 25th of May the cavalry of the two armies  On the 9th the cavalry, under Gen. P. H. Sheridan,
were hotly engaged at Brandy Station, but the Six- moved around the right flank of Lee's army, destined
teenth, being without saddles, did not take an active  for a raid against Richmond. A large number of
partinthefight. OnthellthofJuneitwas brigaded  Union prisoners on their way from the Wilderness
with the Fourth Pennsylvania, Tenth New York, and  battle-grounds to the Southern prisons were released,
First Maine Regiments of cavalry, forming the Sec- and the cavalry column destroyed immense quantities
ond Brigade (under Col. J. I. Gregg) of the Second  of stores at the Beaver Dam Station of the Richmond
Division of the cavalry corps under Gen. Pleasonton. and Potomac Railroad. On the morning of the 11th,
The Confederate army under Gen. Lee was moving  at Hanover Church, the enemy attacked furiously,
to the invasion of Pennsylvania, and on the 13th of but was repulsed. In the fighting of that day the
June the cavalry corps commenced the northward  Confederate cavalry general J. E. B. Stuart was killed.
march which led to the battle-field of Gettysburg.  On the 12th, at daybreak, the Union cavalry entered
On the 18th the Sixteenth took the advance, and was  the outer works of Richmond, but the position could
compelled to fight its way through nearly the entire  not be held.  The enemy closed in overwhelming
day. On the following day it was the same, the Six-  numbers on three sides of the Union force, whose
teenth fighting dismounted and taking the enemy's  situation became hourly more critical, but Sheridan
positions one after another, but only losing eleven  released himself by desperate fighting, and crossing
killed and wounded. On the 21st the enemy again  the Chickahominy, rejoined the main army on the
disputed the way, and were driven in some disorder  25th of May.
through Ashby's Gap.                                  A movement by Gregg and Merritt down the PaIn the conflict at Gettysburg the regiment with its  munkey, on the 26th, resulted in the heavy engagebrizade was partially engaged on the 2d of July, but ment at Hawes' Shop in the afternoon of the 28th,
suffered very slight loss. On the 3d it was in line  in which action the Sixteenth lost twenty-four killed
and under artillery fire, but not actively engaged. and wounded. A few days later the regiment with
In the pursuit of Lee's retreating army, after the  its brigade accompanied Sheridan in his expedition
battle, it took active part, and on the 16th of July, towards Lynchburg, and in a sharp fight which rebeyond Shepherdstown, Va., it stood in line for eight sulted at Trevillian Station the Sixteenth lost sixteen
hours, during a part of which time it bore the weight killed and wounded. Unable to reach Lynchburg,
of a fierce attack of the Confederate cavalry, losing  Sheridan turned back and made his way to White
twenty-one killed and wounded. Among the latter House, on the Pamunkey, from which place with his
was Capt. John K. Fisher, of "G" company, who  own train and eight hundred additional wagons bereceived wounds by which he was disabled for ser- longing to the Army of the Potomac he marched on
vice.                                               the 25th of June for the James River. The enemy
After the escape of Gen. Lee and the crossing of was determined to capture the trains if possible, and
the Army of the Potomac into Virginia, the Sixteenth  for that purpose made a most desperate assault in
took part in nearly all the marches, countermarches, greatly superior numbers at St. Mary's Church, but
skirmishes, and fights of the cavalry corps during the  were repelled and finally driven back by Gregg's
remainder of the year down to the movement against command, which covered the right on the roads leadthe enemy's strong works at Mine Run, its aggregate  ing from Richmond. In this engagement the Sixlosses in these operations being quite large. After teenth took prominent part, and fought with its custhe abandonment of the Mine Run campaign it re-  tomary stubbornness and gallantry, repelling repeated
crossed the Rapidan and encamped near Bealton  charges of the enemy. Crossing the James, the comStation. From the 21st to the 31st of December it mand was sent on the 1st of July to the relief of Gen.
was employed with the brigade in an expedition to  Wilson, who was in a critical situation on the Weldon
Luray, where some factories and a large amount of Railroad, but he escaped from his perilous position
Confederate stores were destroyed.  Immediately  without assistance.
after this it took part in a raid to Front Royal, from    Late in July the regiment with its division and a
which it returned by way of Manassas Gap, and  column of infantry recrossed the James on a reconabout the middle of January, 1864, went into winter-. noissance in force, in which the Sixteenth became
quarters at Turkey Run, near Warrenton.         engaged near Malvern Hill, charging, mounted, and
In the spring campaign of 1864 the brigade of lost nine killed and wounded. The expedition rewhich the Sixteenth was a part, crossed the Rapidan  turned on the 30th. About the middle of August the
and entered the Wilderness with the Second Corps  division again crossed to the north side of the James,
225HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
and fought at Deep Run and White's Tavern. In
the latter fight the Sixteenth lost thirty-one killed
and wounded out of a total of less than two hundred
men which it took in. Again, on an expedition to
the Weldon Railroad, it was engaged on the 23d, 24th,
and 25th of August, losing in the three days' skirmish
twelve killed and wounded.  On the 15th and 16th
of September it was again  skirmishing with the
enemy's cavalry near Poplar Spring Church. About
this time the regiment was armed with the Spencer
repeater in place of the Sharp's carbine previously
used. On the 27th of October it was heavily engaged
at Boydton plank-road, losing thirty-one killed and
wounded.  From  the 1st to the 7th of December it
was engaged in raiding along the Weldon Railroad,
but suffered no loss. On the 12th it returned to camp,
and soon after went into winter-quarters at Hancock's
Station. During the winter (February 6th) it fought
in the battle of Hatcher's Run, dismounted, and sustained a loss of fifteen killed and wounded, among
the latter being Lieut. George W. Brooks, of "B"
company.
In the closing campaign of 1865, the Sixteenth, like
the rest of the cavalry, was in constant activity. On
the 31st of March, in an engagement at Dinwiddie
Court-House, it lost eighteen killed and wounded,
Capt. Frederick W. Heslop, of "G" company, being
among the latter. In the fight at Five Forks, April
2d, it lost seven killed and wounded. On the 5th, at
Amelia Springs, and on the 6th, at Sailor's Creek, its
loss was eighteen killed and wounded, the list of the
latter including Capt. H. H. Oliphant, of " G," and
Lieut. William  M. Everhart, of "B"  company.
Lieut. Norman J. Ball, of " G" company, was among
tie wounded in the engagement at Farmville, on
the 7th.
After the surrender of Lee (April 9th) the regiment
was moved to Petersburg, and thence to North Carolina, to support the advancing columns of Sherman,
but soon returned, and was sent to Lynchburg to
guard the captured stores and preserve order. It remained there till the beginning of August, when it
was moved to Richmond, and there mustered out of
service on the 7th of that month.
FAYETTE COUNTY MEMBERS OF THE SIXTEENTH CAVALRY.
COMPANY B.
John T. Hurst, captain, must. in Nov. 7, 1862; disch. on surgeon's certificate March 30, 1863.
Robert W. McDowell, captain, must. in Sept. 26, 1862; pro. from first
lieutenant March 30,1863; brevet major March 13,1865; conm. major
May 18, 1865; not must.; trans. to Co. A July 24, 1865.
Henry H. Oliphant, captain, trans. from Co. G July 24, 1865; mmust. out
with company Aug. 11, 1865.
George W. Brooks, first lieutenant, must. in Nov. 8, 1862; pro. from
second lieutenant March 30, 1863; brevet captain March 13, 1865;
com. captain May 18, 1865; wounded at Hatcher's Run, Va., Feb. 6,
1865; disch. by G. O. July 24, 1865.
Michael Cannon, first lieutenant, must. in Sept. 5, 1862; must. out with
company Aug. 11, 1865.
Samuel Thompson, second lieutenant, must. in Sept. 24, 1862; pro. from
first sergeant March 30, 1863; woullded at Ely's Ford, Va., May 2,
1863; disch. on surgeon's certificate Nov. 24, 1863.
William M. Everhart, second lieutenant, must. in Aug. 28, 1864; pro.
from sergeant Co. L July 24, 1864; brevet captain March 3, 1865;
com. first lieutenant May 18, 1865; wounded at Sailor's Creek, Va.,
April 6, 1865; disch. by G. 0. July 24, 1865.
Henry Schively, second lieutenant, must. in Oct. 13, 1862; must. out
with company Aug. 11, 1865.
James Rawl, first sergeant, must. in Feb. 16, 1865; pro. from private
June 15, 1865; must. out with company Aug. 11, 1865.
William A. McDowell, first sergeant, must. in Sept. 6, 1862; pro. to
commissary subsistence Nov. 16, 1862.
William H. Hagans, first sergeant, must. in Sept. 6, 1862; disch. on
surgeon's certificate March 6, 1863.
Isaac P. Eberhart, first sergeant, must. in Sept. 6, 1862; disch. by G. 0.
May 13,1865.
William F. Walter, first sergeant, must. in Sept. 24, 1862; pro. from sergeant to quartermaster-sergeant Nov. 16, 1863; first sergeant Sept.
1, 1864; com. second lieutenant May 18, 1865; disch. by G. 0. June
16, 1865.
James E. Easton, quarternlaster-sergeant, must. in Feb. 14, 1865; pro.
from private Co. M June 15, 1865; must. out with company Aug.
11, 1865.
William Wood, quartermaster-sergeant, must. in Oct. 1, 1862; trans. to
Vet. Res. Corps March 16, 1864; disch. by G. 0. June 28, 1865.
Abraham F. Foutch, quartermaster-sergeant, must. in Sept. 24, 1862;
pro. from corporal to sergeant Nov. 16, 1863; quartermaster-sergeant
Sept. 1, 1864; disch. by G. 0. June 16, 1865.
John Dlugan, commissary-sergeant, must. in Oct. 29, 1862; pro. from
private June 15, 1865; must. out with company Aug. 11, 1865.
Jonathan Cable, commissary-sergeant, must. in Sept. 24, 1862; wounded
at Malvern Hill, Va., July 28, 1864; disch. by G. 0. June 16, 1865.
Henry F. Blair, sergeant, must. in Oct. 29, 1862; pro. from bugler to
corporal May 1, 1865; sergeant June 15, 1865; must. out with company Aug. 11, 1865.
Ezekiel Thomas, sergeant, must. in Oct. 25, 1862; must. out with company Aug. 11, 1865.
Andrew Brink, sergeant, must. in Oct. 28,1862; must. out with company
Aug. 11, 1865.
Henry A. Fisher, sergeant, must. in Oct. 22, 1862; must. out with company Aug. 11, 1865.
Alonzo Crippin, sergeant, must. in Oct. 25,1862; must. out with company
Aug. 11, 1865.
Jeremiah B. Foulke, sergeant, must. in Sept. 6, 1862; disch. on surgeon's certificate April 9, 1863.
Bernjamin F. Harris, sergeant, must. in Sept. 6, 1862; disch. by G. 0.
June 24, 1865.
Thomas Etling, sergeant, must. in Sept. 24, 1862; disch. by G. 0. June
16, 1865.
Nathan Smith, sergeant, must. in Sept. 24, 1862; disch. by G. 0. June
16, 1865.
William Colvin, sergeant, must. in Sept. 24, 1862; disch. by G. 0. June
16, 1865.
SaLmuel L. Brown, sergeant, must. in Oct. 7, 1862; trans. to Co. A.
Joseph R. Brooks, sergeant, must. in Sept. 24, 1862; trans. to Co. A.
Jonas Edinfield, corporal, mulst. in Oct. 24, 1862; pro. to corporal Jiune
15, 1865; must. out with company Aug. 11, 1865.
Jacob Wynn, corporal, must. in Oct. 16, 1862; pro. to corporal June 15,
1865; must. out with company Aug. 11, 1865.
George Lupfer, corporal, must. in March 3, 1865; pro. to corporal June
15, 1865; must. out with company Aug. 11, 1865.
Lewis O'Connell, corporal, must, in Oct. 9,1862; pro. to corporal June
15, 1865; must. out with company Aug. 11, 1865.
John M. Q. Smith, corporal, must. in Jan. 1, 1865; must. out with company Aug. 11, 1865.
James A. McCormick, corporal, must. in Feb. 29, 1864; must. out with
company Aug. 11, 1865.
Charles A. Bailey, corporal, must. in Aug. 29,1864; must. out with company Aug. 11, 1865.
Edgar A. Dunham, corporal, must. in Feb. 8, 1865: must. out with company Aug. 11, 1865.
Joseph R. Norris, corporal, must. in Sept. 6, 1862; disch. on surgeon's
certificate March 16, 1863.
Joseph N. Lewis, corporal, must. in Sept. 6, 1862; disch. on surgeon's
certificate March 16, 1863.
George W. Palmer, corporal, must. in Sept. 19,1862; disch. on surgeon's
certificate Feb. 19, 1865.
Albert G. Dougherty, corporal. must. in Sept. 6, 1862; disch. by G. 0.
June 9, 1865.
226WAR OF THE REBELLION.
Tobias J. Coil, corporal, must. in Sept. 6, 1862; died at Washington,
D. C., Dec. 15, 1862.
Allen Barriclow, corporal, must. in Sept. 6, 1862; died at Washington,
D. C., Aug. 7, 1863.
Nathan Perden, corporal, must. in Sept. 6, 1862; died at Stony Creek,
Dec. 1, 1864.
Alexander Brown, corporal, must. in Sept. 30, 1864; died at Dinwiddie
Court-House, Va., March 31, 1865.
Andrew J. Purdy, corporal, must. in Oct. 19, 1862.
George W. Gilmore, corporal, must. in Sept. 18, 1862; disch. by G. 0.
June 15, 1865.
John B. Mayhorn, corporal, must. in Sept. 24,1862; disch. by G. 0. June
15, 1865.
James D. Dixon, corporal, must. in Sept. 24, 1862; pro. to corporal Nov.
16, 1863; disch. by G. 0. June 16, 1865.
Jacob F. Mauk, corporal, must. in Nov. 5, 1862; trans. to Co. A.
John W. Lewis, corporal, must. in Sept. 24, 1862; trans. to Co. A.
Nicholas Dick, corporal, must. in Sept. 24,1862; trans. to Co. A.
John Colvin, corporal, must. in Sept. 24, 1862; trans. to Co. A.
Robert Foster, corporal, must. in Oct. 7, 1862; trans. to Co. A.
Jonathan D. Moyer, bugler, must. in March 7, 1865; must. out with
company Aug. 11, 1865.
William Stapleton, bugler, must. in March 1, 1865; pro. to bugler July
24,1865; must. out Aug. 11, 1865.
Robert H. Haines, blacksmith, must. in Oct. 2,1862; must. out with
company Aug. 11, 1865.
Harrison Cox, blacksmith, must. in Sept. 24, 1864; disch. by G. 0. June
16, 1865.
John Kell, blacksmith, must. in Sept. 24, 1864; disch. by G. 0. June 16,
1865.
John M. Glotfelty, farrier, must. in March 1, 1865; pro. to farrier July
24, 1865; must. out with company Aug. 11, 1865.
Samuel Betts, farrier, nmust. in Sept. 6, 1862; disch. by G. 0. April 9,
1863.
George W. Hagan, saddler, must. in Oct. 2, 1862; pro. from bugler July
1, 1865; must. out with company Aug. 11, 1865.
Daniel E. Whetsel, saddler, must. in Sept. 24, 1862; disch. by G. 0. June
16, 1865.
Privateq.
Alfred T. Augustine, must. in March 1, 1865.
Reuben G. Altman, must. in March 3,1865.
James Anderson, must. in March 3, 1865.
Amos Abby, must. in Oct. 28,1862.
Thomas J. Archer, must. in Oct. 28, 1862.
Lewis Andrews, must. in Nov. 5, 1862.
George Butler, must, in Oct. 19, 1862.
Archibald Bird, must. in March 1, 1865.
Edward Barr, must. in Feb. 16, 1865.
Ambrose J. Binacle, must. in Sept. 19, 1861.
Henry Baylor, mu-t. in Feb. 16, 1865.
James Barneard, must. in Jan. 1, 1865.
John Balky, nmust. in Jan. 14, 1864.
John Beans, must. in Jan. 22, 1865.
Zephaniah B. Bane, must. in Dec. 19, 1863.
Henry W. Beeson, must. in Sept. 6, 1862.
George Browneller, must. in Sept. 6, 1862.
Albert W. Bohlen, must. in Sept. 6, 1862.
George Barricklow, must. in Sept. 6, 1862.
George Brooks, must. in Sept. 19, 1862.
Henry H. Beeson, niust. in Sept. 6, 1862.
William Brooks, must. in Sept. 24, 1862.
Leander Btttermore, must. in Sept. 24,1862.
John Bundorf, must. in Oct. 7, 1862.
Russell Bush, must. in Oct. 27, 1862.
Thomas Bowel, must. in Oct. 28, 1862.
James Brown, must. in Oct. 30, 1862.
George W. Campbell, must. in March 1, 1865.
James Casey, must. in March 1, 1863.
Thomas Canfield, must. in March 6, 1865.
Wmn. J. Confer, must in MIarch 22, 1864.
Simon T. Culver, must. in Jan. 26, 1865.
Stewart Christopher, must. in Sept. 6, 1862.
George B. Craft, must. in Sept. 24, 1862.
James L. Cook, must. in Oct. 26, 1862.
Charles G. Campbell, must. in Oct. 27, 1862.
George B. Canfield, must. ill Felb. G., 1864.
David Carver, must. in Feb. 26, 1864.
John Deter, must. in Feb. 4, 1865.
George Deter, must; in Feb. 4, 1865.
Gabriel Derr, must. in March 6, 1865.
George S. Dart, must. in Feb. 8, 1865.
Peter Drew, must. ill March 6, 1865.
Abraham Dunham, must. in Sept. 6, 1862.
Edward Delaney, must. in Feb. 16, 1865.
Henry Dick, must. in Sept. 21, 1862
Benjamin Dick, must. in Sept. 24,1862.
Jeremiah Duff, must. in Sept. 24, 1862.
William H. Deibert, must. in Feb. 27, 1865.
George Eckuard, must. in Jan. 1, 1865.
Elijah Ellenberger, must. in Oct. 15, 1862.
John S. Etling, must. in Sept. 24, 1862.
James Flannary, must. in March 3, 1865.
John Fields, must. in March 3,'1865.
Edward Fox, must. in Feb. 3, 1865.
George Featners, must. in Jan. 1, 1865.
David Fetz, must. in Sept. 6, 1862.
Levi Francis, must. in Sept. 6, 18e2.
Lazarus K. Foulke, must. in Oct. 22, 1862.
James Fleming, must.' in Oct. 17, 1862.
John Fulton, must. in Sept. 24, 1862.
Isaac P. Foster, must. in Oct. 27. 1862.
Samuel G. Fulmer, must. in Oct. 7,1862.
Peter J. Gallagher, must. in March 3, 1865.
Henry Garrett, must. in March 7, 1865.
Andrew J. Gordon, must. in Sept. 6,1862.
Jonathan Gans, must. in Sept. 19, 1862.
James Gaddis, must. in Sept. 6, 1862.
Cookson D. Green, must. in Aug. 12, 1862.
Joseph Glassburn, must. in Sept. 24, 1862.
Peter C. Grimm, must. in Sept. 24, 1862.
Joseph Grimm, must. in Sept. 10, 1864.
Henry Grimm, must. in Oct. 17,1862.
Valentine Hecknor, must. in March 8, 1865.
John Hall, must. in Feb. 16, 1865.
David M. Hand, must. in March 6,1865.
Henry P. Horn, must. in Jan. 25, 1865.
Irvin S. Harkness, must. in Feb. 14,1865.
William Hall, must. in Sept. 6,1862.
Jacob Helsel, must. in Oct. 1, 1862.
Hatfield Hayden, must. in Oct. 20, 1862,
John Herberger, must. in Sept. 19, 1862.
S. Higginbotham, must. in Sept. 24, 1862.
Daniel Ives, must. in Oct. 25, 1862.
William G. Jenkins, must. in March 1, 1865.
William H. Jordan, must. in Sept. 19, 1862.
Frederick Johnston, must. in Sept. 24, 1862.
Benj. F. Johnston, must. in Oct. 27, 1862.
Alfred M. Kincell, must. in Feb. 16, 1865.
Hiram Kimmell, must. in Feb. 16, 1865.
David J. Karchner, must. in Sept. 6,1862.
Jacob Kessler, must. in Feb. 15, 1865.
Charles Katz, must. in Aug. 15,1862.
Henry King, must. in Sept. 24,1862.
George W. Kelly, must. in Sept. 24, 1862.
David P. Kelly, must. in Sept. 24,1862.
Victor L. Keltz, must. in Oct. 28,1862.
John Lent, must. in Feb. 25, 1864.
Geo. L. Levengood, must. in March 7, 1865.
Samuel Lindsay, must. in March 4,1864.
Isaac Levett, must. in Sept. 6, 1862.
Cyrus Laughrey, must. in Oct. 19, 1862.
Edward Laughrey, must. in Oct. 21, 1862.
David Levy, must. in Feb. 13,1865.
J. D. Lancaster, must. in Sept. 24, 1862.
Robert Lytle, must. in Sept. 24, 1862.
Joseph Laughrey, must. in Sept. 24, 1862.
Joseph P. Love, must. in Nov. 4, 1862.
Samuel Lindermuth, must. in Feb. 20, 1865.
George W. Morris, must. in March 1, 1864.
Daniel Moul, must. in Feb. 16, 1865.
Reuben Mabus, must. in March 7, 1865.
William Moser, must. in March 6, 1865.
Nath:ln Moyer, mlust in March 7, 1865.
227
I
II
GEORGE WASHINGTON'S VISIT TO THE FRENCH FORTS IN 1753.
French fort, and reached it on the 11th, having been
greatly impeded "by excessive rains, snows, and bad
traveling through many mires and swamps." On
the 12th, Washington waited on the commander, acquainted him with the business on which he came,
and in the afternoon exhibited his commission, and
delivered the letter from Governor Dinwiddie. While
it was being translated he employed his time in taking the dimensions of the fort and making other
observations with which he was charged. In the
evening of the 14th he received the answer of the
commandant to the Governor; but although he was
now readv to set ouit on his return, lhe could not get
away until the second day after that, as the French,
although treating him with the greatest outward show
of politeness, were using every artifice wvith his Indians to seduce them from their allegiance and friendship to the English, and were constantly plying them
with brandy, which made the Indians loth to leave
the place. Washington could not well go without
them, anid even if he could have done so, he would
haive been very unwilling to leave them behind him,
subject to the dangerous influence of the French officers and French brandy.
Finally, on the 16th, he induced the Half-King and
other Indians to leave, and set out fromn the fort for
Venango, which was reaclhed on the 22d. There the
chiefs were determined to remain for a time, and therefore Washingtoln's party was compelled to proceed
without them, accompanied only by tile Indian, Young
Hunter, whom the Half-King had ordered to go with
them as a guide. The journal of Washington narrates
the events of this stage of the journey as follows: " Our
horses were now so weak and feeble, and the baggage
so heavy (as we were obliged to provide all the necessaries which the jouriiey would require), that we
doubted inuch their performing it. Therefore, myself
and the others, except the drivers, who were obliged
to ride, gave up our horses for packs to assist along
with the baggage. I put myself in an Indian walking-dress, and continued with them three days, until
I found there was no probability of their getting
home in reasonable time. The horses became less
able to travel every day, the cold increased very fast,
and the roads were becoming much worse by a deep
snow, continually freezing; therefore, as I was uneasy
to get back to make report of my proceedings to his
Honior, the Governor, -I determined to prosecute my
journey the nearest way througlh the woods on foot.
Accordingly, I left Mr. Van Braam in charg,e of our
baggage, with money and directions to provide necessaries from place to place for themselves and horses,
and to make the most convenient dispatch in traveling. I took my necessary papers, pulled off my
clothes, and tied myself up in a watch-coat. Then
with gun in hand and pack on my back, in which were
my papers and provisions, I set out with Mr. Gist
fitted ill the same manner, on Wednesday the 26th."
On the following day the tvo travelers fell in wit}
a )arty of French Indians,1 one of whom fired on
them, but fortunately missed. They took the fellow
in custody, and lkept him  with them  till nine o'clock
at night, when they let him go, and they continued  on  their way, walking  all night, to be out of
reach of pursuit. On the next evening at dark
they reached the Allegheny just above Slhannapin's
towvn. In crossinig the river on an improvised craft,
Washington was thrown off into the icy current,
where the water was ten feet deep, but saved hiimself
by catching at the logs of the raft.  They were then
obliged to land  on an island, and to pass the night
there, but in the morning found the river sufficiently
frozen to enable them to cross in safety on the ice to
the left bank of the river. They suflered severely
from cold and exposure, and Gist had his fingers
and toes frozen, lbut they succeeded in reaching Frazier's, at the mouth of Turtle Creek, on the Monongahela, in the evening of the 30th of December.
Tlle journal proceeds: "As we intended to take
horses here [at Frazier's], and it required some time
to find them, I went up about tlhree miles, to the
moutlh of the Youghiogheny, to visit Queen Alliquiippa, who  had, expressed  great concern  that we
passed  her in  going  to  the  fort.  I  made  her a
present of a watch-coat and a bottle of rum, whiclh
latter was thought much the better present of the
two. Tuesday, the M1st of January, we left Mr.
Frazier's house, and arrived at Mr. Gist's, at Monongahela,2 the 2d, wlhere I bought a horse and saddle."
From   Gist's Washington  proceeded  on  his  return
journey, and, without experiencinig any notable incident or adventure (except meeting a party bound for
the forks of the Ohio for the pujpose of building a
fort there, as will hereafter be noticed), reached Williamsburg on the 16tll of January, 1754, and delivered theletter of the French commandant to Governor
Dinwiddie.
The preceding narrative of the journeying of Governor Dinwiddie's  young  envoy  to  and  from   the
1 Gist, bowever, iln tils diary, does not mentioni any party of Indians,
but onily the one whlo fired ont tlheni. He says, " Ve rose early in the
morning anid set out albout two o'clock, anid got to tlte Murderingtown,
on the southieast fork of Beaver Creek. Ilere we niet tan IIndiani whone
I thought I lhad seen at Joncaire's, at Venango, when on our journey up
to the Frenclh fort. This fellow called ne by my Indian naitmie, and pretenided to be glad to see inie. I tlhouglht very ill of the fellow, bIut did
not care to let the Major (Washington) knowv 1 mistrusted lhint. But lhe
soon mistrtusted hiim as netuch as I d;d... It was very light and snow
was on the ground. The Indian nitile a stop aiid turn-ieed about. Tlle
M1ajor saw tiiii poinit tlis guin at us, and lie fired. Said the Major,'Are
yoiu shot?' sNo,' said I, upon wvhiclh the Itidiani ran forward to a big
standing wlite-oak, and began loa(ling lies gun; beut we were soon with
limi. I would iave killed him, bitt the  I 1jor wottldl seot suffer me. We let
hIlim clsar-e his gun. We funiid lee put inl a ball, thenv we took care of
hIsn."'
r I2 "Monongahela" was a niame at that time applied not only to the
point on the river at tlee liosethi of Redstone Creek, but also, indefinitely,
to a large scope of counitry adljacent to it, comprising a considerable
portion of the presenit couinty of Fayette, between the rivers Monongaliela asid Youghiogheny. As Gist's was then almost the only settlemelit in all that region, it was a prinicipal point, and known as Monon
gahela. Gist hinself had so named it, as is shown by sonie of his
I  letters.
I
IHISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Isaac Moyer, must, in Feb. 16, 1865.
Andrew Miller, must. in Jan. 1, 1865.
Alexander C. Mains, must. in Marc4 1, 1865.
Calvin Miller, must. in Sept. 19,1862.
Calvin B. Miller, must. in Sept. 6, 1862.
Joseph Means, must. in Sept. 19, 1862.
James Mitchell, must. in Sept. 6, 1862.
Emergence Marguese, must. in Feb. 16,1865.
Peter H. Miller, must. in Aug. 31, 1864.
Philip L. Miller, must. in Aug. 29, 1864.
Frederick Martin, must. in Sept. 24, 1862.
John Martin, must. in Sept. 24, 1862.
James May, must. in Oct. 17, 1862.
Wm. H. Merkle, must. in Oct. 18, 1862.
Henry Munsloe, must. in Sept. 24, 1862.
James McClintock, must. in March 1, 1865.
John V. McLane, must. in Sept. 6, 1862.
Joseph A. McCoy, must. in Sept. 6, 1862.
Daniel McKinzie, must. in Feb. 16, 1865.
Joseph McMannis. must. in Oct. 17, 1862.
John S. Nelson, must. in Feb. 26, 1864.
Samuel E. Noble, must. in March 3,1865.
Simon Narrass, must. in Sept. 19, 1862.
John Nickler, muist. in Sept. 24, 1862.
Benjamin Nickleson, must. in Sept. 24, 1862.
Daniel Oswald, must. in March 7, 1865.
Perry Ogden, must. in Feb. 15,1865.
John Pringle, must. in Feb. 19, 1865.
John Propper, must. in Sept. 19, 1862.
John F. Phillips, must. in Sept. 24,1862.
Samuel S. Porter, must. in Sept. -4, 1862.
Alfred N. Patterson, must. in Sept. 24, 1862.
Jacob B. Plumley, must. in Oct. 18,1862.
Eli Randall, must. in March 24, 1864.
Aaron Riley, must. in March 4,1865.
Michael Roach, must. in March 7, 1865.
William Rine, must. in Sept. 6,1862.
Jacob Richter, must. in Feb. 25, 1864.
Jacob W. Reese, must. in Sept. 24,1862.
Henry Richter, mlust. in Sept. 24, 1862.
Martin Rutter, must. in Sept. 24, 1862.
Robert C. Riggin, must. in Sept. 24,1862.
Henry D. Reese, must. in Sept. 24,1862.
Daniel Riser, must. in Oct. 27, 1862.
Horace Sias, must. in Oct. 21, 1862.
Edward Smith, must. in Feb. 14,1865.
Allen Shephard, must. in Sept. 29,1862.
John Sagar, must. in Feb. 16, 1865.
Frederick Steckley, must. in March 6, 1865.
Adam Shewy, must. in March 6,1865.
John D. Sutliff, must. in Jan. 26, 1865.
Daniel E. Sickles, must. in Sept. 6, 1862.
W. H. Sisler, must. in Feb. 16, 1865.
Amos Sullivan, must. in Sept. 16,1862.
John Sigler, must. in Oct. 18, 1862.
Lemuel Sutton, must. in Sept. 19, 1862.
John Smith, must. in Sept. 18, 1862.
Paul Shefez, must. in Aug. 19, 1862.
Robert D. Smith, must. in Sept. 24,1862.
Jacob Shelkey, must. in Sept. 24, 1862.
William R. Strawn, must. in Sept. 24,1862.
Abraham E. Stoner, must. in Sept. 24, 1862.
George Shriver, must. in Sept. 24, 1862.
Abraham Snyder, must. in Sept. 24,1862.
Jacob Senniff, must. in Sept. 24, 1862.
Jacob C. Smith, must. in Sept. 24, 1862.
Ashbel Smith, must. in Sept. 24,1862.
George Seighman, must. in Sept. 24,1862.
Christian Swartz, must. in Sept. 24, 1862.
John Shoup, must. in Sept. 24, 1862.
Samuel Shoup, must. in Sept. 24,1862.
Smith Stauffer, must. in Sept. 24, 1862.
Daniel Stauffer, must. in Sept. 24, 1862.
John W. Stauffer, must. in Sept. 24, 1862.
Nelson Shufelt, must. in Sept. 24,1862.
Thomas Sullivan, must. in Sept. 24,1862.
Samuel W. Schwartz, must. in Feb. 25, 1864.
Ephraim B. Schrope, must. in Feb. 10, 1864.
William V. Thompson, must. in March 3,1864.
William H. Thompson, must. in Feb. 4,1865.
John Thomas, must. in Jan. 25,1865.
George W. Turner, must. in Sept. 6, 1862.
John Trader, must. in Sept. 24, 1862.
Henry W. Templin, must. in Oct. 27, 1862.
Joseph B. Taylor, must. in Feb. 23,1865.
William Vought, nmust. in Sept. 24,1862.
Samuel Wood, must. in Oct. 23,1862.
Daniel West, muist. in Feb. 6,1865.
Julius Werdeman, must. in Jan. 24,1865.
Joseph Will, must. in Aug. 23,1864.
James Walters, muist. in Oct. 28, 1862.
James Wilson, must. in Sept. 29,1862.
John K. Weiondt, must, in March 6, 1865.
James Wilson, must. in Sept. 6,1862.
John Wood, must. in Sept. 6,1862.
William Whetstone, must. ill Sept. 19, 1862.
John Way, must. in Sept. 18, 1862.
James M. Wilson, must. in Sept. 24, 1862.
David S. White, must. in Sept. 24,1862.
Isaac Wimer; must. in Sept. 24, 1862.
William H. Weir, must. in Sept. 24,1862.
William M. Wood, must. in Oct. 28, 1862.
Joseph Wallace, must. in Sept. 18,1862.
Jacob J. Yarger, must. in March 6, 1862.
Henry Yehert, must. in March 7, 1862.
Frederick Zech, miust. in Feb. 16,1862.
COMPANY G.
William A. West, captain, must. in Oct. 29, 1862; pro. to major Nov..5,
1862.
John K. Fisher, captaini, must. in Sept. 10, 1862; pro. from first lieutenant Nov. 19,1862; disch. December 1st, for wounds received at Shepardstown, W. Va., July 16,1863.
Henry H. Oliphant, captain, must. in Sept. 10, 1862; pro. from regimental commissary-sergeant to seconid lieutenant April 1, 1863; to
captain March 28, 1864; brevet major March 13, 1865; wounded at
Sailor's Creek, Va., April 6, 1865; trans. to Co. B July 24, 1865.
Frederick W. Heslop, captain, muist. In March 1, 1862; wounded at Dinwiddie Court-House Mlarch 31, 1865; disch. April 9,1866; veteran.
George W. Brown, first lieutenant, muist. in Oct. 29, 1862; pro. from
second lieutenant Nov. 20, 1862; disch. March 25, 1863.
John R. West, first lieuternant, must. in Sept. 6, 1862; pro. from quartermaster-sergeauit to second lieutenant Nov. 17, 1862; to first lieuteniant April 1, 1863; disch. by G. 0. July 24, 1865.
Norman J. Ball, first lieuteniant, must. in Oct. 29, 1862; must. out with
company Aug. 11, 1865.
Henry Schively, second lieutenant, mnst. in Oct. 13, 1862; pro. from
sergeant-major May 3, 1865; disch. by G. 0. Juily 24, 1865.
Thomas J. Alexander, first sergeant, must. in Oct. 19, 1862; pro. from
sergeant Aug. 1, 1865; muist. out with company Aug. 11, 1865.
David Sample, first sergeant, muist. in Sept. 23, 1862; disch. on surgeon's
certificate Nov. 13, 1862.
Michael M. Logan, first sergeant, must. in Sept. 23, 1862.
Joseph Neil, first sergeant, must. in Sept. 6, 1862; pro. to commissary.
sergeant March 7,1863; to first sergeant May 13, 1865; disch. by
G. 0. June 15,1865.
William A. McDowell, first sergeant, must. in Sept. 6, 1862; pro. to commissary of subsistence Nov. 16, 1862.
William A. Kann, quartermaster-sergeant, must. in Feb. 27, 1864; pro.
from private June 27, 1865; must. out with company Aug. 11, 1865.
Thomas J. Reed, commissary-sergeant; must. in Oct. 7, 1862; pro. to
corporal Nov. 1, 1864; to commiissary-sergeant June 17, 1865; must.
out with company Aug. 11, 1865.
William Wood, commissary-sergeant, must. in Oct. 1, 1862; trans. to
Co. B.
Monroe Beeson, sergeant, muist. in Sept. 6,1862; must. out under G. 0.
at Satterlee Hospital, West Philadelphia, May 22,1865.
Martin L. Hutchins, sergeant, must. in Oct. 29, 1862; pro. to corporal
April 1, 1863; to sergeant Jan. 5, 1865; must. out with company
Aug. 11, 1865.
William H. Taylor, sergeant, must. in Oct. 7, 1862; pro. to corp. Jan. 1,
1865; to sergeant June 17, 1865; nmust. out with company Aug. 11,
1865.
228WAR OF THE REBELLION.
Albert H. Shields, sergeant, must. ill Oct. 25i, 1862; pro. from private
June 27, 1865; must. out with company Aug. 11, 1865.
Lewis Dunbaugll, sergeant, must. in Feb. 1, 1864; pro. from private June
27, 1865; must. out with company Aug. 11, 1865.
Charles Stetler, sergeant, must. in March 6,1865; pro. from private June
27, 1865; must. out with company Aug. 11, 1865.
Jesse Steely, sergeant, must. in Oct. 19, 1862; died at Potomac Creek,
Va., Feb. 22, 1863.
Jesse Tweed, sergeant, must. in Sept. 23, 1862; captured at Parker's
Store, Va., Nov. 29, 1863;; died at Richmond, Feb. 12, 1864.
John R. Dunham, sergeant, must. in Sept. 6, 1862; disch. by G. 0. June
24, 1835.
William Hagan, sergeant, must. in Sept. 6, 1862; pro. to corporal Oct.
29, 1862; to sergeant Dec 1, 1863; disch. by G. 0. June 15, 1865.
Herrman H. Kregor, sergeant, must. in Sept. 6, 1862; pro. to corporal
Oct. 29, 1862; to sergeant March 1, 1865; disch. by G. 0. June 15,
1865.
Aaron H. Gadd, sergeant, must. in Sept. 6, 1862; pro. to corporal Jan. 1,
1865; to sergeant March 1, 1865; disch. by G. 0. June 15, 1865.
William H. Hagans, sergeant, must. in Sept. 6, 1862; trans. to Co. B.
Joseph W. Lehr, corporal, must. in Oct. 19, 1862; pro. to corporal June
27, 1865; must. out with company Aug. 11, 1865.
W. H. Greenland, corporal, must. in Oct. 19, 1862; pro. to corporal June
27, 1865; must. out with company Aug. 11, 1865.
James L. Trutton, corporal, must. in Dec. 31, 1863; pro. to corporal June
17, 1865; must. out with company Aug. 11, 1865; veteran.
B. D. Hotclikiss, corporal, must. in March 1, 1864; pro. to corporal June
17, 1865; must. out with company Aug. 11, 1865.
William H. Peck, corporal, must. in March 6, 1865; pro. to corporal June
27, 1865; nlust. out with company Aug. 11, 1865.
Hezekiah King, corporal, must. in Feb. 16, 1865; pro. to corporal June
27, 1865; must. out with company Aug. 11, 1865.
William P. Kirk, corporal, must. in March 8,1865; pro. to corporal June
27, 1865; must. out with company Aug. 11, 1865.
Edward Stewart, corporal, must. in 31arch 7,1865; pro. to corporal June
27. 1865; must. out with company Aug. 11, 1865.
Henry C. Neil, corporal, must. in Sept. 6, 1862; disch. by G. O. May 29,
1865.
Stewart Starus, corporal, must. in Sept. 6, 1862; pro. to corporal Dec. 1,
1864; disch. by G. O. June 15,1865.
Robert H. Strong, corporal, must. in Sept. 6, 1862; pro. to corporal
March 1, 1865; disch. by G. O. June 15,1865.
Joseph N. Piersel, corporal, must. in Sept.'19, 1862; pro. to corporal May
1, 1865; disch. by G. O. June 15, 1865.
Sebastian Rush, corporal, must. in Sept. 6,1862; pro. to corporal June
1, 1865; disch. by G. O. June 15, 1865.
William Dutton, corporal, must. in Sept. 6, 1862; pro. to corporal June
1, 1865; disch. by G. 0. June 15, 1865.
George Kise, corporal, must. in Oct. 1, 1862; pro. to corporal June 1,
1865; disch. by G. 0. June 15, 1865.
Jeremiah B. Foulke, corporal, must. in Sept. 6, 1862; trans. to Co. B.
Benjamin F. Harris, corporal, must. in Sept. 6. 1862; trans. to Co. B.
Tobias J. Coil, corporal, must. in Sept. 6, 1862; trans. to Co. B.
Joseph N. Lewis, corporal, must. in Sept. 6, 1862; trans. to Co. B.
Joseph R. Norris, corporal, must. in Sept. 6, 1862; trans. to Co. B.
Jamles Harrison, bugler, must. in Feb. 27,1865; must. out with company
Aug. 11, 1865.
John S. Hunt, bugler, must. in Oct. 19, 1862; must. out with company
Aug. 11, 1865.
Jorldan Wintersteen, bugler, must. in Oct. 25, 1862; disch. May 8, 1863.
Isaac C. Clare, artificer, -must. in Oct. 4, 1864; must. out with company
Aug. 11, 1865.
John Lynn, blacksmith, must. in Sept. 6, 1862; disch. by general order
Jan. 15, 1865.
David F. Olinger, farrier, must. in Oct. 19,1862; must. out with company
Aug. 11, 1865.
William Gay, farrier, must. in Oct. 7, 1862; must. out with company
Aug. 11, 1865.
Joseph Marr, farrier, must. in Oct. 30, 1862; disch. on surgeon's certificate April 5, 1865.
John H. Lomas, saddler, must. in Sept. 6, 1862; disch. by general order
June 15, 1865.
Privates.
Jacob A. Anderson, must. in Feb. 28, 1864.
George E. Alexander, must. in Feb. 24,1865.
Daniel Aley, must. in Sept. 23, 1862.
John Adare, must. in Sept. 28, 1862.
Isaac Arnold, must. in Oct. 19, 1862.
Gabriel Betligate, must. in Feb. 24, 1864.
Charles Bower, must. in Oct. 7, 1862.
Stephen P. Bancroft, must. in Feb. 23, 1865.
John Bowner, must. in Feb. 25,1865.
Francis Boyd, must. in Feb. 27, 1865.
Joseph Bayer, must. in Feb. 28, 1865.
Riley Bressler, must. in March 1, 1865.
G. H. Baughman, must. in March 7,1865.
Jacob Briner, must. in Sept. 23, 1862.
Joseph Bennett, must. in Oct. 19, 1862.
Henry F. Bastruff, must. in March 6, 1865.
Henry R. Black, must. in Sept. 25, 1862.
Curry Brantly, must. in Feb. 24, 1862.
John Batton, must. in Oct. 3, 1862.
Jacob A. Bowman, must. in March 1, 1865.
G. W. Brown, must. in Sept. 30, 1864.
Samuel Betts, must. in Sept. 6, 1862.
Henry W. Beeson, must. in Sept. 6, 1862.
Henry H. Beeson, must. in Sept. 6, 1862.
Allen Barricklow, must. in Sept. 6, 1862.
George Barricklow, mfist. in Sept. 6, 1862.
Albert W. Bohlen, must. in Sept. 6, 1862.
George Brooks, must. in Sept. 19, 1862.
George Browneller, must. in Sept. 6, 1862.
John Bice, must. in Sept. 20, 1862.
Robert T. Blair, must. in Sept. 28, 1862.
Thomas H. Cupples, nmust. in Oct. 19,1862.
Oliver Cummings, must. in Feb. 28, 1865.
John H. Casner, must. In Oct. 9, 1862.
Cloyd R. Collier, must. in Feb. 25, 1864.
William Clinger, must. in July 25, 1864.
Christopher C. Clute, must. in April 4, 1864.
Martin Cupples, must. in Oct. 19, 1864.
Thomas A. Collins, must. in Feb. 27, 1865.
James E. Conoway, must. in Sept. 6, 1862.
Stewart Christopher, must. in Sept. 6, 1862.
Cornelius Dempster, must. in Dec. 24, 1863.
William H. H. Dreese, must. in Oct. 19,1862.
John Davenport, must. in Oct. 19, 1862.
Michael Dunn, must. in March 7, 1865.
George L. Dill, must. in Feb. 28, 1865.
Joseph W. Dill, must. in Feb. 24, 1864.
John Dockman, must. in March 6, 1865.
Samuel Dugan, must. in Sept. 6, 1862.
A. G. Dougherty, must. in Sept. 6, 1862.
John Dugan, must. in Oct. 29,1862.
Abraham Dunham, must. in Sept. 19, 1862.
Charles E. Dorcy, must. in Feb. 17,1865.
John A. Evans, must. in Sept. 23, 1862.
Henry W. Earley, must. in Oct. 25, 1862.
Levi Ebersole, must. in Sept. 28, 1862.
Isaac P. Eberhart, must. in Jan. 4, 1864.
Adolph A. Eberhart, must. in Sept. 6, 1862.
Abraham Francis, must. in Oct. 3, 1862.
Michael H. Foore, must. in Oct. 19,1862.
Daniel Fry, must. in Oct. 29, 1862.
J6hn Ferry, must. in Feb. 14, 1865.
William A. Fuller, must. in Sept. 23, 1862.
Herman Firesbrink, must. in Sept. 6, 1862.
Levi Francis, must. in Sept. 6, 1862.
David Fetz, must. in Sept. 6, 1862.
Ebenezer T. Giles, must. in March 8, 1864.
Michael Garver, must. in Jan. 30, 1864.
Henry Y. Gable, must. in Oct. 7, 1862.
John Gray, must. in Feb. 17, 1865.
Janmes Georges, must. in Sept. 23, 1862.
James Gaddis, must. in Sept. 6, 1862.
Andrew J. Gordon, must. in Sept. 6, 1862.
Jonathan Gans, mullst. in Sept. 19, 1862.
Philip Hauk, must. in March 1, 1865.
Henry Hofier, must. in Feb. 27, 1865.
S. Harshbarger, must. in March 3, 1865.
Thomas H. Hunting, must. in Oct. 18, 1864.
John B. Hopple, must. in Sept. 18, 1862.
John Harrison, must. in Feb. 21, 1865.
229
IHISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Samuel Harter, must. in Oct. 25, 1862.
John Hickson, must, in Oct. 29, 1862.
John Horn, must. in Feb. 27, 1865.
George A.-Harrington, must. in Feb. 20, 1865.
Abraham P. Haines, must. in Sept. 23,1862.
Daniel Hollabaugh, must. in Sept. 23, 1862.
Isaac Hockenberry, must. in Oct. 19, 1862.
Benjamin Hockenberry, must. in Oct. 19, 1862.
James Hasson, must. in Sept. 15, 1864.
Williani Hall, must. in Sept. 6, 1862.
John H. Hone, must. in Sept. 6, 1862.
George W. Hagan, must. in Oct. 22,1862.
Hatfield Hoden, must. in Sept. 6, 1862.
Jacob Helsel, must. in Oct. 1, 1862.
John Herberger, must. in Sept. 19, 1862.
James D. Irwin, must. in Dec. 1, 1863.
William J. Johnson, must. in Oct. 7, 1862.
Thomas Jobes, must. in Sept. 6, 1862.
William H. Jordon, must. in Sept. 19, 1862.
Jeremiah D. Kepner, must. in Feb. 24,1864.
Jacob T. Ketring, must. in Feb. 18, 1865.
David Killey, must. in Feb. 24, 1865.
John W. Knight, must. in Sept. 6, 1862.
Jacob L. W. Kolp, must. in Sept. 19, 1862.
David J. Karchner, must. in Oct. 20, 1862.
William H. Leas, must. in Jan. 21, 1864.
William Lebo, must. in Oct. 30, 1862.
G. H. Longnecker, must. in Feb. 17,1865.
J. S. Longnecker, must. in Feb. 17, 1865.
John W. Lancaster, must. in Feb. 23, 1865.
Patrick Lenahan, must. in Feb. 27, 1865.
William H. Lansing, must. in Sept. 23, 1862.
James Leonard, must. in Oct. 19, 1862.
George W. Lewis, must. in Sept. 6, 1862.
John T. Lilly, must. in Sept. 6, 1862.
John Lockwood, must. in Sept. 19, 1862.
James Lewis, must. in Sept. 30, 1864.
William H. Lynn, must. in Sept. 6, 1862.
Isaac Lerett, must. in Sept. 6, 1862.
Cyrus Laughrey, must. in Sept. 19,1862.
Edwara Laughrey, must. in Oct. 21, 1862.
Thomas Martin, must. in March 14, 1864.
Joseph Morrison, must. in Feb. 21, 1865.
James M. Martin, must. in Aug. 19, 1862.
Peter Meshey, must. in March 7, 1865.
Alonzo R. Martz, must. in Sept. 23, 1862.
Henry Miner, must. in Sept. 6, 1862.
William Mitchell, must. in Sept. 6, 1862.
John May, Jr., must. in Sept. 30, 1864.
Calvin B. Martin, must. in Sept. 6, 1862.
James Mitchell, must. in Sept. 6, 1862.
Joseph Means, must. in Sept. 19, 1862.
Calvin Miller, must. in Sept. 19, 1862.
Robert McCracken, must. in Oct. 7, 1862.
B. C. McWilliams, must. in July 27, 1863.
James McDonald, must. in Feb. 16,1865.
William S. McClary, must. in Feb. 23, 1865.
Joseph A. McArthur, must. in Oct. 1, 1862.
John V. McLane, must. in Sept. 6, 1862.
Joseph A. McCoy, must. in Sept. 6, 1862.
Simon Norris, must. in Sept. 19, 1862.
Joseph Nickle, must. in Sept. 19,1862.
Samuel Narrass, must. in Sept. 19, 1862.
Lewis O'Connell, must. in Oct. 18, 1862.
James J. Pelter, must. in Oct. 19,1862.
James H. Porter, must. in March 8, 1865.
Andrew J. Purdy, must. in Oct. 18, 1862.
Nathan Perdew, must. in Sept. 6, 1862.
John Propper, must. in Sept. 19, 1862.
George W. Palmller, must. in Sept. 19, 1862.
John J. Quay, must. in Feb. 19, 1864.
John Rosenberger, must. in Feb. 24, 1864.
Daniel Rogers, must. in March 3, 1865.
John Redmond, must. in Feb. 16,1865.
Frederick Rentz, must. in March 8, 1865.
Charles Rhoads, must. in March 4, 1865.
John S. Robinson, must. ill Sept. 2:3, 18l;2.
David Rose, must. in Sept. 28, 1862.
William Rice, must. in Oct. 29, 1862.
Allen Rearich, must. in Sept. 23, 1862.
Simon Rondall, must. in Sept. 23. 1862.
James Rossell, must. in Sept. 19, 1862.
Silas Rossell, must. in Sept. 30, 1864.
James F. Reed, must. in Sept. 30,1864.
Daniel Reynolds, must. in Sept. 19, 1862.
Edgar F. Reynolds, must. in Sept. 19, 1862.
William Rine, must. in Sept. 6, 1862.
Jacob Switzer, must. in Feb. 8, 1865.
Henry Simpson, miust. in Feb. 14, 1865.
Charles Shoffer, must., in Feb. 25, 1865.
William Shoff, must. in Oct. 3,1862.
David A. Snyder, must. in Oct. 3, 1862.
Lawrence Shepherd, must. in Feb. 23,1864.
Alexander Sutherland, must. in Feb. 23, 1865.
John H. Sickles, must. in Feb. 23, 1865.
Robert Sankey, must. in Sept. 23, 1862.
Peter Saylor, must. in Oct. 25, 1862.
Robert A. Sayers, must. in Sept. 23, 1862.
John Smith, imust. in Sept. 28, 1862.
Robert Saly*ards, must. in Sept. 23, 1862.
Oliver P. Snook, must. in Oct. 19,1862.
Janmes Shean, must. in June 8, 1864.
Charles Sterling, must. in March 23, 1864.
Henry Shak, must. in Feb. 16, 1865.
Nathan Shenefelt, must. in Sept. 6, 1862.
Beeson Shaffer, must. in Sept. 6, 1862.
Perry Swartztrover, must. in Sept. 2,1864.
Daniel E. Sickles, must. in Sept. 6, 1862.
Lemuel Sutton, must. in Sept. 19, 1862.
Amos Sullivan, must. in Sept. 19, 1862.
John Sighen, must. in Oct. 18, 1862.
Horace Sias, must. in Oct. 21, 1862.
Hezekiah B. Thomas, must. in Feb. 20, 1864.
George W. Turner, must. in Sept. 6, 1862.
Jacob Vanasdale, must. in Sept. 28, 1862.
Jacob Walker, must. in Oct. 19, 1862.
Daniel P. Weeters, must. in Feb. 17, 1865.
John Williams, must. in Feb. 28, 1865.
Edmund Wimer, must. in Feb. 25, 1865.
Edmund W. Westoott, niust. in Feb. 18, 1865.
Robert F. Watt, must. in March 30, 1864.
Joseph Wilson, Inust. in Sept. 23, 1862.
Charles Wilson, must. in Feb. 21, 1865.
Jacob Walters, must. in Sept. 6, 1862.
David Whitsett, must. in Sept. 15, 1864.
John Wood, must. in Sept. 6, 1862.
William Whetstone, must. in Sept. 6, 1862.
James Wilson, must. in Sept 19, 1862.
Jacob Wynn, must. in Oct. 16, 1862.
CHAPTER XXII.
ECONOMIC GEOLOGY-IRON, COAL, AND COKE.
THE MINERAL RESOURCES OF FAYETTE COUNTY.
FAYETTE COUNTY embraces a portion of the great
Appalachian coal-field. It is rich in coal, iron, limestone, and fire-clay.
Coal occurs abundantly. The great Pittsburgh bed
in the Connellsville basin  yields a coal which makes
the typical coke; while the same bed in the basin
followed by the Monongahela River yields a coal
hard enough to bear shipment, and admirably adapted
to the manufacture of illuminating gas. Numerous
other beds are present, most of which afford good
coal for fuel, and_are.mined to a greater or less extent
to supply local needs.
230
I
I
IUpper Barren Measures.
Pittsburgh Bed and Upper Coal Measures.
Lower Barren Measures.
Upper Freeport Bed and Lower Coal
Measures. Conglomerate XII.
Mauch Chunk Red Shale XI.
Pocono Sandstone X.
Catskill IX.
GEOLOGICAL
1OUJTIJINE MAIP'
of
IFAYETTE C0
ellgrt-Ve(1 erpressly 14)?
Ihis Wvork.   
J. P. LESLEY,
State Geologist.ECONOMIC GEOLOGY.
In the broad valley occupying the eastern part of
the county, and lying between Laurel and Chestnut
Ridges, the beds of the lower coal groups are exposed.
The upper Freeport coal-bed, the highest of the lower
productive coal group, is accessible along Indian
Creek from the county line southward to near the
Youghiogheny River, while the same bed is found in
patches on the. hills along that river. South from
the Youghiogheny it is accessible at many places
along the larger streams. This bed varies in thickness from two to nearly ten feet, and the coal shows
equal variations in quality. It is opened at many
places within this valley, and the coal is good for fuel;
but the volatile matter is too low for the manufacture
of gas, and the ash is too high to permit excellence in
the coke.
Other and lower beds of coal are exposed in the
deep trough excavated by the Youghiogheny River in
crossing this valley, as well as on several of the larger streams emptying into the river; but the coal
from these, though useful for fuel, contains so much
ash and sulphur as to be useless for either gas or
coke. These beds are shown on both sides of Chestnut Ridge, and the upper Freeport is mined to a
slight extent on the eastern slope to supply fuel. But
the proximity of the large Pittsburgh bed in the
Connellsville basin has prevented any full development of the bed or a thorough determination of its
value. The lower beds are not reached westward
from Chestnut Ridge in such quantity as to be
economically available.
Beds lying above the Pittsburgh coal-bed in the
Connellsville basin are rarely mined. They are irregular both in thickness and quality. The coal from the
Pittsburgh as found here is soft and ill fitted to bear
handling. The volatile matter is much lower than
in the next basin towards the west, and the sulphur
rarely exceeds one per cent. Comparatively little of
this coal is shipped, and with the exception of the small
quantity needed to supply villages, the whole amount
mined is converted into coke. This coke, known in
the markets as Connellsville coke, is hard, silvery,
and retains its lustre for an indefinite period when
exposed to the air. It is prepared by burning the
coal in beehive ovens for froIn forty-eight to seventytwo hours.
The greater part of the coking area has been purchased by corporations, and the eastern outcrop of
the bed is now lined with coke-works. The western
outcrop is not yet open to market, but the coal on
that side of the basin is inferior to that obtained
from the other side only in this, that it contains a
slightly greater proportion of volatile matter. The
coke appears to be equally good.
Near the State line the coal from the Pittsburgh
bed along the Monongahela is comparatively low in
volatile matter and yields a very fair coke; but the
presence of some slates detracts -from the appearance
of the product.
Lack of railroad facilities has prevented a full
development of the Pittsburgh coal-bed along the
Monongahela River, but slack-water navigation has
rendered possible some extensive workings at and
below Brownsville. The coal obtained in this basin
shows from thirty-four to somewhat more than thirtysix per cent. of volatile matter, is comparatively free
from sulphur, and bears handling well. It is shipped
down the Monongahela River to the Ohio, and is sold
in the markets of Cincinnati and other cities farther
south.
The thickness of the Pittsburgh bed is usually
somewhat less along the river than it is in the Connellsville basin, frequently being almost ten feet in
the latter basin, but rarely exceeding eight feet along
the river.
The iron ores of Fayette County attracted attention
at a very early day, and the first iron produced west
of the Allegheny Mountains was made in Fayette
County from Fayette County ore.
The Blue Lump ore, which immediately underlies
the Pittsburgh coal-bed in the Connellsville basin, was
the first ore-bed discovered, but other beds were found
not long after, and furnaces were erected to utilize
them. All of the early furnaces were small and used
charcoal as the fuel, though Col. Isaac Meason used
coke in a small way at his Plumsock Furnace in 1817,
and in 1836 Mr. F. H. Oliphant ran Fairchance Furnace with coke for several weeks, making an iron of
excellent quality.
The important horizons of iron ore are two, the
upper being almost directly under the Pittsburgh coalbed, and the lower in the shales underlying the great
conglomerate which marks the base of the coal-bearing series within this region.
The ore immediately below the Pittsburgh bed,
known usually as the coal ore, is confined for the
most part to the Connellsville basin, but it crosses to
the river basin in Spring Hill township, and is present
along the river certainly as far north as Catt's Run;
beyond that, northward, it seems to be wanting.
This ore shows serious variation in the Connellsville basin, there being a marked difference between
the ores found from the Youghiogheny River to a
little way north from the National road, and those
found still farther south. In the southern part of
this basin the group consists of four beds, known as
the Blue Lump, the Big Bottom, the Red Flag, and the
Yellow Flag, the order being descending. The whole
thickness of ore is not less than two feet, and is included within a vertical distance of not more than
twelve feet. The Blue Lump contains from thirty-nine
to forty-two per cent. of metallic iron, with.07 to.08 per
cent. of phosphorus and.01 to.04 per cent. of sulphur.
In the Big Bottom the iron is thirty-five per cent. and
the phosphorus only.04 per cent. The ores from the
other beds have about the samepercentage of iron
as that fromn the Big Bottom, but the percentage of
231HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
phosphorus is somewhat greater. The change northward seems to be abrupt, and it certainly occurs within
a distance of not more than one mile. At Lemont and
Dunbar only a single or sometimes a double layer is
mined, which varies from ten to twenty-two inches
in thickness. The ore shows material variations in
quality, but for the most part it is good. It has from
thirty to thirty-three per cent. of iron, and the phosphorus varies from.13 to.20.
This ore is persistent, unlike most of the carbonate
ores of the carboniferous groups. The area underlaid
by it and actually proved up is estimated to contain
not less than two hundred millions of tons, and this
does not include any part of the western side of the
basin.
The beds of the lower group are known as the
mountain ores. They are four in number,-the Little
Honeycomb, the Big Honeycomb, the Kidney, and
the Big Bottom. The Little Honeycomb is within
twenty feet of the great conglomerate, and is seldom
more than four inches thick. It is not available except where it can be mined by stripping. The ore is
very good. The Big Honeycomb is usually a compact flag ten to twelve inches thick, but occasionally
swelling to more than two feet. It is persistent to
very near the northern limit of the county. The ore
is fine-grained, smooth, and it is regarded as excellent. The metallic iron varies from thirty-five to
forty-one per cent., the phosphorus from.03 to.22,
and the sulphur from it varies little from.15. The
Kidney ore is persistent, and is usually a plate from
four to eight inches thick. According to analysis,
the percentage of iron varies from thirty-one to
forty-one per cent., the phosphrus from.10 to.19,
and the sulphur from.08 to.40. The Big Bottom is
present at all localities examined along Chestnut
Ridge. It consists of one, two, or three flags, with a
total thickness of from ten inches to three feet. The
percentage of iron varies from thirty-two to thirtyseven, of phosphorus from a mere trace to.25.
Unlike the ores underlying the Pittsburgh coalbed, these lower ores are not wholly to be depended
on; the Kidney and Big Bottom show serious " wants"
at several localities, and the Big Honeycomb occasionally fails for considerable distances. These irregularities render extraction of the ore expensive and the
supply somewhat uncertain. The amount of ore,
however, is enormous, and the beds, notwithstanding
the numerous gaps, are practically persistent. Drifts
nearly one-half mile long have been run on the Big
Bottom at the Dunbar mines, while drifts two-thirds
as long have been run in on the Honeycomb and
Kidney at Lernont. But in the present condition of
knowledge the available amount of ore in these
mountain beds can hardly be determined, for erosion
has torn away much of the mountain-side.
Four furnaces are now in operation along the west
foot of Chestnut Ridge, all of which depend chiefly on
the coal ores, but they use more or less of the mountain ores. No furnace is in blast on the east side of
Chestnut Ridge. The mountain ores are good on that
side, and are present in large quantity, but no way of
reaching market exists, and iron cannot be made except at a loss.
The Fayette County iron early attained celebrity,
owing to the numerous improvements introduced into
the manufacture by Mr. F. H. Oliphant. The Oliphant iron was made at Fairchance Furnace, fronm a
mixture of Blue Lump and mountain ore, the former.predominating. This iron was neutral and had extraordinary strength. Cable tried at the Washington
navy-yard, it proved to be more than twice as strong
as the standard, and the links stretched eighteen
inches before breaking.  Excellent pig-metal was
pKoduced by the furnaces working on the mountain
ores exclusively, and it always found a ready market.
The iron ore made by Dunbar, Lemnont, Oliphant,
and Fairchance Furnaces is a good neutral iron, carrying from one-half of one per cent. to one per cent.
of phosphorus. Its quality would be improved by the
omission of mill-cinder from the charge. The large
amount of uncombined carbon in these irons renders
them excellent for foundry purposes.
The proximity of coal, ore, and limestone gives the
Connellsville basin of Fayette Cotnty great advantages over many other iron-producing localities. Iron
can be made here profitably when selling at a price
which would bring bankruptcy to the great majority
of furnaces elsewhere. During 1877 good iron was
made by Lemont Furnace at a cost of about eleven
dollars per ton.
Limestone is abundant, though there are narrow
strips running longitudinally through the country
where no limestone is exposed. Thin beds only exist
in the valley between Chestnut and Laurel Ridges,
but an ample supply for all purposes can be obtained
from the great mountain limestone which is exposed
in deep hollows in the sides of both ridges. This
great limestone is exposed also in the hollows along
the western side of Chestnut Ridge, and it has been
quarried at many localities, especially in the northern
part of the county. Some of its beds yield lime as
white as the celebrated Louisville brand.
Good lime is found nearly everywhere within the
Connellsville basin, in the hills covering the Pittsburgh coal-bed. This rock is in great part clean enough
to be used as a flux in the iron furnaces, but contains
more or less oxide of iron, and therefore the lime is
not of pure white. The limestones exposed along
the river and lying above the Pittsburgh coal-bed are
thick, and some of them are very pure. They are
quarried at more than one locality for shipment to
Pittsburgh, where they are used in manufacture of
glass and iron.
Fire-clays are abundant in different parts of the
county. An excellent plastic clay occurs at Greensboro' and New Geneva, on the Monongahela River. It
I
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232IRON AND IRON-WORKS.
is employed largely in the manufacture of pottery,
which has a high reputation, and can be found almost
everywhere in the Southeastern States. Good brick
clay is abundant everywhere in the subsoil. An excellent non-plastic clay exists along the east slope of
Chestnut Ridge, and lies not far above the great conglomerate. It is manufactured into brick at Lemont,
Mount Braddock, Dunbar, and on the Youghiogheny
River above Connellsville. The bricks are decidedly
good, and but little, if at all, inferior to the bricks
made at Mount Savage. Another non-plastic clay
occurs in Henry Clay and Stewart townships, and is
the same with the celebrated Bolivar fire-clay of Westmoreland County. No attempts have been made to
utilize this clay here, but in chemical composition it
approaches closely to the Mount Savage clay.'
IRON AND IRON-WORKS.
There is a tradition that the first discovery of iron
ore west of the Allegheny Mountains was made by
John Hayden in the winter of 1789-90. This statement has been so often mlade in the writings of
Judge Veech and others without contradiction that
it has come to be almost universally regarded as
entirely authentic. That such is not the case, however, and that iron ore was known to exist in the
valley of the Youghiogheny at least nine years before
the alleged first discovery by Hayden, is proved by
an entry found in the First Survey Book of Yohogania County, Va.,2 and made a century ago by Col.
William Crawford, then surveyor of the said county.
Th'e following is a copy of the entry:
"July 11, 1780.
"No. 32-State Warrant.-Benjamin Johnston produced a State Warrant from the Land Office for five
hundred acres of land, dated the 12th day of May,
1780-No. 4926. Sixty acres thereof he locates on a
big spring in the Allegany and Laurel Hills, on the
waters of the Monongalia-and one hundred and fifty
acres of sd Warrant he locates on lands of sd Hills,
where an old deadening and Sugar Camp was made
by Mr. Chr. Harrison, situate on the waters of Yohogania, to include a Bank of Iron Ore."
The precise location of the tract referred to as including the ore-bank is not known, nor is it material.
The quotation is given above merely to disprove the
long-accepted statement that the existence of iron ore
west of the Alleghenies was unknown prior to 1789.
FIRST IRON FURNACE IN FAYETTE COUNTY.
The earliest reference to the existence of an iron
furnace in Fayette County which has been found in
any deed, record, or other document is in the min1 The above article on the mineral resources of Fayette Counlty is furnished by Prof. J. J. Stevenson.
2 Yohogania County, as established by the Virginia Legislature in
1776, included all the northern and northeastern part of the present
county of Fayette, as has been before explainetl. The Survey Book referred to is still in existence i l at good stlate of preservation, and in possession of Boyd Crumrine, Esq., of Washington, Pa.
utes of the June Term, 1789, of the Court of Quarter
Sessions of the county, as follows: "A view of a
Road, from the furnace on Jacob's Creek, to Thomas
Kyle's mill." And the minutes of the March Session of 1791 mention " The petition for a road from
Jacob's Creek Iron Works, to intersect the road leading to Mr. Thomas Kyle's mill-granted."
The furnace referred to in these minutes was the
"Alliance Iron-Works" of Turnbull, Marmie  Co.
The tract on which the furnace was erected was one
of three hundred and one acres, named " Rocksbury."
It is described as "situate on Jacob's Creek, in the
county of Fayette," and was patented to William
Turnbull, of Pittsburgh, July 13, 1789.3 Two other
tracts, adjoining this, but situated on both sides of
Jacob's Creek, in Fayette and Westlnoreland Counties, were patented to Turnbull at the same time.
These tracts were named " Frankford" and " Springsbury," and contained respectively three hundred and
one and two hundred and nineteen acres. A tract of
two hundred and twenty-three acres called " Luton,"
situated in Tyrone township, which had been patented
to Jacob Laurie, Jan. 9, 1789, was sold by the said
Laurie to William Turnbull and Peter Marmie, Oct.
9, 1791.
Turnbull had been a purchasing agent and commissary for the Pennsylvania troops during the Revolution. After the war he became associated in
partnership with Col. John Holker and Peter Marmie. They claimed to have purchased the site of
Fort Pitt, and started a mercantile establishment on
the " Point" at Pittsburgh. Marmie managed the business in the West, and Turnbull remained most of the
time in Philadelphia. The extract from the court
records, as given above, shows that the furnace on
Jacob's Creek was built or in process of erection before Turnbull received the patent for the land on
which it stood.
The Alliance Furnace was blown in in November,
1789, but nothing is known of the business done at
that time. On the 6th of January, 1792, Gen. Knox,
Secretary of War, wrote to Maj. Isaac Craig, commandant of the post at Pittsburgh, making this inquiry: "Is it not possible that you could obtain shot
for the six-pounders from Turnbull  Marmie's furnace?"  In another letter, addressed to the same
officer fifteen days later, he says, " Although I have
forwarded the shot for the six-pounders (from Carlisle), I am not sorry that you ordered those from
Turnbull  Marmie. Let them send their proposals at what rates they will cast shot, shell, cannon,
and howitzers, etc." And it is stated on good authority that shot and shell for Gen. Anthony Wayne's
expedition against the Indianls were furnished by
Turnbull, Marmie  Co. from their works on Jacob's
Creek.
In December, 1797, certain viewers appointed by
3 Record in the Roll's Office Patent Book No. 15, p. 97.
I
233'234                 HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
the court reported on a road " from Turnbull's Iron-    It will be noticed that the establishment was variWorks by the Little Falls."  In March, 1799, a re-  ously designated as "Jacob's Creek Furnace," "Alliport was made to the court by viewers as follows:  ance Furnace," "Alliance Iron-Works," "Turnbull's
"Pursuant to an order of the Quarter Sessions for  Iron-Works," and "Col. Holker's Iron-Works." The
September, 1797, for Fayette County, we, the sub-  last name was used when the works were carried on
scribers therein named, met and viewed the ground  by Holker (as principal partner) with Marmie, after
between Jacob's Creek furnace and the road leading  the retirement of Turnbull.
RUINS OF OLD ALLIANCE FURNACE.
to Peterstown; and we do agree to return a public    The title to the real estate was in Turnbull, who
road two perches wide, beginning at the county line, on the 10th of February, 1797, conveyed to John
on the bridge across Jacob's Creek at Alliance Fur-  Holker, in consideration of ~2000, "all that mesnace," etc. In September, 1799, there was presented  suage, forge, furnace, and tract of land called Roxto the court "a petition for vacating a road from Col. bury," and also the other tracts designated as
Holker's Iron-Works to near Laurel Hill meeting-  "Frankford" and "'Springsbury."  The works were
house."                                            carried on by Holker  Marinie until 1802, whenIRON AND IRON-WORKS.
their operations ceased, and the fires of the old furnace were finally extinguished.'
The Alliance Iron-Works with contiguous lands
were offered for sale by Samuel Hughes in an advertisement dated March 27, 1807, but it does not appear that any purchaser was found, and the property
was afterwards assigned by Col. Holker in trust to
Paca Smith, who conveyed it to Henry Sweitzer, in
pursuance of an agreement made Jan. 20, 1817.
The cut correctly represents the appearance of
the ruins of the old Jacob's Creek furnace-stack
at the present time. Parts of the ancient walls of the
furnace are still standing, though greatly dilapidated,
and the walls of the charcoal-house in the rear of the
furnace remain nearly entire, but gray and mosscovered. The site of the old iron-works is on low
ground, on the south side of Jacob's Creek, in the
present township of Perry. The land is now owned
by the Jacob's Creek Oil Company.
UNION FURNACE.
The old Union Furnace in Dunbar township was
built by Isaac Meason at about the same time that
Turnbull  Marmie erected their furnace on Jacob's
Creek, but it is conceded by all who have any knowledge of the facts that the last named was first blown
in. Mr. Edmund C. Pechin, who has carefully
gathered all obtainable information in reference to
the old Union Furnace, says it was first blown in
in March, 1791, which gives a precedence of about
sixteen months to the furnace of Turnbull  Marmie.
The first mention which has been found of the Union
Furnace is in the records of the court of Fayette
County for the June term of 1791, when there was
presented "a petition for a road from Union Furnace
to Dickinson's Mill."
The original furnace was a small establishment, but
in 1793 Mr. Meason associated with him John Gibson
and Moses Dillon, and this firm (styled Meason, Dillon  Co.) erected a much larger furnace and foundry
on the site of the first one. On the formation of the
partnership, July 16, 1793, Meason transferred to
Dillon and Gibson one-sixth of six hundred acres of
land on both sides of Dunbar Creek, "which includes
the furnace which is now erecting," with the houses
and appurtenances, and also one-half of two thousand
seven hundred acres adjoining, and between it and
the Youghiogheny River.
The establishment of Meason, Dillon  Co. produced large quantities of castings, stoves, pots, dogirons, sugar-kettles, salt-kettles, and other articles.
The following advertisement of their business appears
in the Pittsburgh Gazette of 1794:
"MEASON, DILLON  CO.
" Have for Sale at their furnace on Dunbar's Run,
Fayette county, three miles from Stewart's Crossings,
on Youghiogheny river, a supply of well assorted
castings, which they will sell for cash at the reduced
price of ~35 per ton ($93.33).
"UNION FURNACE, April 10, 1794."
In 1804 an extensive order was filled at the Union
Furnace for large sugar-kettles, to be used on the
plantations of Louisiana. After that time the works
were continued by different parties for more than
fifty years, and finally suspended operations. About
the year 1868 the property passed into possession of
the Youghiogheny Iron and Coal Company, of which
Edmund C. Pechin was president. Under his management extensive improvements were made, and the
subsequent success of the works has been largely due
to his energy. In 1871 the company was reorganized
as the Dunbar Iron Company, and later as the Dunbar Furnace Company, which now owns and operates
the works.
SPRING HILL FURNACE.'
This old furnace, situated in Spring Hill township,
was built by Robert and Benjamin Jones, who were
Welshmen by birth, and had been interested in the
development of mineral lands in their native country.
Emigrating to America, they became owners of the
lands on which they built this furnace, as stated.
The precise date of its erection is not known, but its
commencement is placed in 1794 with a good deal of
certainty, for the reason that the assessment-roll of
Spring Hill township for 1793 shows that Robert
Jones was then assessed on four hundred acres of
"unseated lands," and that the roll of the same township for 1795 shows, under the head of " Fulling Mills
and Furnaces," the name of Robert Jones assessed
on " One Furnace, valued at $300." That the works
were in operation at least as early as the autumn of
the latter year is proved by the following advertisement, found in the WVfestern Telegraphe (then published
at Washington, Pa.), bearing date Oct. 13, 1795, viz.:
" Springhill Furnace, Ruble's Run, Fayette County,
Pennsylvania, within three miles of the river Cheat,
near Its confluence with the Monongahela.
" For Sale, at said Furnace, a good assortment of
beautiful Castings, allowed by real judges to be some
of the very best ever cast in America, amongst which
are Stoves and Salt kettles of the finest quality.
"By R.  B. Jones, Wells  Co."
James Tucker, of Washington County, had a oneeighth interest in the firm, and assumed the management of the works, being a practical iron-worker.
On the 8th of November, 1799, the firm leased the
property to Jesse Evans (a son-in-law of Robert
Jones) for three years, for the consideration of
twenty tons of assorted iron castings.
In 1803 (March 29th), Robert and Benjamin Jones,
"of Whitely Creek, Greene Co.," entered into an
agreement with Jesse Evans to convey to him, for
the consideration of ~4000, "the seven-eighths part
of Springhill furnace and everything thereunto be1 An interesting account of some of the operations at the old furnace
on Jacob's Creek will be foulnd embodied in a letter written by Peter
Marmie, which is given in the history of Perry township.
235HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
French fort "Le Bceuf," is. given in these pages at
considerable length, less on account of the importance of the events and incidents related, than because it has reference to the first and second appearance of George Washington in the territory of Fayette
County, which he afterwards frequently visited, and
became largely interested in as a property owner.
Within this territory is the spot which has become
historic as his first battle-ground, and here were first
disclosed his highest military abilities, in the wild
and disordered retreat of Braddock's army from the
field of disaster on the Monongahela.
CHAPTER V.
FRENCII OCCUPATION AT TIIE IIEAD OF TIIE OHIO
--WASHINGTON'S CAMPAIGN OF 1754 IN THE
YOUGHIOGHENY VALLEY.
THE result of Washington's expedition was to show
beyond all doubt that the design of the French was
to occupy, in force, all the country bordering the headwaters of the Ohio River.  Thereupon, Governor
Dinwiddie transmitted Washington's statement to
England, and meanwhile, without waiting for instructions from the home government, commenced preparations for raising a force to be sent to the "Forks of
the Ohio" (Pittsburgh), to take possession of that point,
and to construct a defensive work to enable them to
hold the position against the French. A party had
already gone forward from Virginia across the mountains for the same purpose, it being the one alluded
to in Washington's journal of the trip to Le Bceuf,
where he says, " The 6th (of January, on his return
from Gist's to Wills' Creek) we met seventeen horses
loaded with materials and stores for a fort at the fork
of the Ohio, and the day after some families going
out to settle." But these were not troops sent by
Dinwiddie, or under provincial authority; they were
merely employes and colonists going out under the
auspices of the "Ohio Company," to locate and to
build a fort or block-house for the protection of themselves and the company's interests on the frontier.
The first military force that moved westward having the Ohio River for its objective point was a com- 1
pany under Captain William Trent, which marched
from Virginia in January, 1754. From Wills' Creek
Captain Trent moved his force of about thirty-three
men1 over the same route which Washington had
1 That the strength of Trent's company did not exceed thirty-tllree
men is stated in the deposition (elsewhere given in this work) of Ensign
(afterwards Major) Ward, the officer in comnmand wlen the company
and the fort which they were building at the head of the Ohio were strrendered to the French about two months later. There appears no
reason to doubt Ward's statement, as he was certainly in a position to
know the facts; yet it is difficult to reconcile it with what is found in a
letter addressed by Governor Disiwiddie, of Virginiia, to Governor IIamilton, of Pennsylvania, dated Willianisburg, March 21, 1754, and also in
traversed to the Great Crossings of the Youghiogheny
(at the present village of Somerfield), and thence to
Gist's settlement.  From Gist's he marched to the
Monongahela, at the mouth of Redstone Creek, where
his men were for a time employed in erecting a storehouse (called the "Hangard") for the Ohio Company.
After completing it they continued their march to
the present site of the city of Pittsburgh, which place
they reached on the 17th of February, and there met
Christopher Gist and several others. They immediately commenced work in the construction of the
fort, preparation for which had been begun by the
party which Washington met on his way to Wills'
Creek.
Not long after the commencement of the work,
Captain Trent returned by way of the Hangard and
Gist's to Wills' Creek, and Lieut. Frazier went to
his home on the Monongahela, at the mouth of Turtle
Creek, leaving the other commissioned officer, Ensign Ward, in charge of the men engaged in the construction of the fort.
The work progressed slowly (on account of the
severity of the weather) for about two months, when
suddenly, on the 17th of April, Ensign Ward found
himself confronted by a hostile force of about seven
hundred French and Indians. having with them eighteen pieces of light artillery. This force, which had
come down the Allegheny River in sixty bateaux
and a great number of canoes, was under command
of Captain Contrecceur, who at once demanded a surrender of the work and position. The responsibility
lay wholly with Ward, as he was the only commissioned officer with the force; but the Half-King, Tanacharison, who was present, and firm as ever in his
loyalty to the English, advised the ensign to reply to
Contrecceur, that as he was not an officer of rank, and
had no authority to answer the demand, he hoped
that the French commander would wait until the arrival of his superior officer, whom he would at once
send for. But Contrecceur refused to accede to this,
and demanded immediate surrender, saying that, in
case of non-compliance, he would immediately take
possession by force of arms.
It was of course impracticable for this ensign's command of about thirty-three men to hold the position
against a force of more than twenty times their number, with artillery; and, therefore, the unfinished fort
was surrendered without further parley. The French
I
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a letter from George Croghan to Governor Hamilton, dated March 23,
1754. In the letter first referred to, Dinuiddie says,.... In January
I commissioned William Trent to raise one hundred men; lie lad got
eventy arnd has begun a fort at the folrks of the Monongalio." And
Croghan (who had thenjust returned east from the Ohio) said in his letter,'Mr. Trent had received a commission from the Governor of Virginia,
nd had enlisted about seventy nlei before I left Ohio. I left him and
his men at the mouth of Monongalio building a fort, which seenled to
rive the Indians great pleasure and put theni in high spirits." (Colotzinl
tecords, vi., page 21.) Perhlaps Croghan iicluded soldiers and laborers,,hiile Ward liad reference only to the former. There seems to be no
ther explanation of the discrepanrcy in the statements.
I
I
96HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
longing, flasks, teams, patterns, and land, containing
eight hundred acres; also a piece of land joining,
formerly part of Isaac Beal's plantation, containing
seven acres, with the remainder of the pigs and stock
now on the premises; also three hundred acres formerly belonging to William Wells." On the 9th of
August of the following year Evans purchased the
one-eighth interest owned by James Tucker, of Washington County, for six tons of assorted castings and
two hundred dollars' worth of bar iron, at six cents
per pound.
Jesse Evans operated the iron-works until April,
1831, when he removed to Spring Grove farm, where
his son, Col. Samuel Evans, now resides. He died
in Uniontown, Aug. 15, 1842.
When Mr. Evans retired from the business of the
furnace, in 1831, it was sold to J. Kennedy Duncan,
and two years later, after'several changes, it was purchased by F. H. Oliphant, who kept it in successful
operation till 1870, when it was sold to the Fairchance
Company, the present owners.
During Mr. Oliphant's occupancy he carried into
effect the idea (which had been conceived by him in
1825) of utilizing the furnace gases. He had imparted his discovery to an Alabama conlpany, who used
the hint received from him to some advantage in the
construction of their furnace. When he reconstructed
the Spring Hill Furnace, he made practical his idea by
placing the boiler-house upon the top of the stack; this
in a crude manner carried out his idea with considerable advantage.
HAYDEN'S FORGE AND FAIRFIELD FURNACE.
On the 6th of March, 1792, Robert Peoples, of
Georges township, a miller by trade, conveyed to John
Hayden, iron-master, in partnership with John Nicholson, of Philadelphia, a tract of land in the said
township of Georges, containing fifty-one acres and
twenty-four perches, with all buildings, iron-works,
houses, cabins, etc., the consideration being ~119.
The tract was the same which Peoples had purchased
a few days before from Jonathan Reese, who had purchased it Feb. 5, 1790, from Philip Jenkins, who patented it from the State May 31, 1787.
As to the "iron-works" which were mentioned as
being then located on the land conveyed by Reese to
Hayden, it cannot be stated with any certainty by
whom they were built. It is not probable they were
built by Reese, for he had owned the property only a
few days. The previous owner of the land, Philip
Jenkins, might have erected them, but the probability
is that they were commenced by John Hayden before
the property came into possession of himself and
Nicholson, and that Reese had been employed to purchase the land from Jenkins, and then convey it to
them, as he did.
In the assessment-rolls of Georges township for
that year (1792) John Hayden was assessed on fiftyone acres of land (evidently the same purchased from
Reese) and a "bloomery" or forge. No assessment
on any such establishment is found in the rolls of
that township in any preceding year.
On the 31st of March, 1792, John Nicholson, of
Philadelphia (State comptroller), and John Hayden,
of Fayette County, entered into articles of agreement,
from which the following is an extract: "Whereas
the said Hayden represents that there is on the headwaters of Georges Creek, within said county, a valuable iron-mine of sufficient quantity, that there are
also streams and seats suitable for a forge and furnace, and whereas it is agreed to have erected for
their joint benefit, a forge and furnace on a tract of
land which contains four hundred and thirty-six
acres, having from seventy to eighty acres cleared,
and about four hundred fruit-trees," etc. It appears
that this tract had already been bargained for with
its owner, Joseph Huston (then sheriff of Fayette
County), at three hundred pounds, and by the terms
of the agreement between Hayden and Nicholson
the latter was to send that amount of money by hand
of Albert Gallatin to Huston to pay for the land.
On the same day Hayden and Nicholson entered
into a further agreement, by the terms of which Hayden was to finish the forge or bloomery (which, as it
thus appears, was not then completed) on the Reese
land, and to build a furnace at such place as might
be thought best for the purpose on the larger (Huston)
tract, and to complete the same on or before Sept. 1,
1794. And Nicholson, on his part, agreed to lease
and did lease to Hayden his interest in the forge and
furnace at eight hundred pounds per year for the
term of seven years, commencing April 1, 1792, the
payments to be made semi-annually, and not to begin
until Sept. 1, 1794, and if the furnace and forge were
completed sooner than that time, then John Hayden
was to have the use thereof until Sept. 1, 1794, gratuitously, as well as all the timber and ore he could
use up to that date.  On the 16th day of March,
1793, they entered into another agreement, in which
it is stated that owing to a want of funds the work
was lagging, and in order that the work might be
prosecuted "with newness of vigor," and that a forge
might be built, Nicholson agreed to advance to Hayden twelve hundred pounds, Pennsylvania money, in
addition to what had already been advanced and expended, and Nicholson's agent, Jesse Evans, was to
take this sum of money to Hayden. But their financial difficulties still continued, the work was not
prosecuted, Nicholson became a defaulter, and the
partnership between him and Hayden failed. On
the 30th of May, 1796, John Hayden, " iron-master,"
conveyed to Jonathan Hayden, of Georges township,
the fifty-one-acre tract purchased from  Robert Peoples in the spring of 1793, including the bloomery,
cabins, and other buildings.
The agreement between Nicholson and Hayden,
made March 31, 1792, was not carried out as to the
building of the furnace at the time specified, and in236IRON AND IRON-WORKS.
deed none was built at any time under this partnlership. In 1795, Hayden was still assessed on the
bloomery. On the 18th of March, 1797, William
Nixon and wife conveyed to John Hayden for the
consideration of ~118 8s. 9d. thirty-eight and onefourth acres of land in Georges township, " for the purpose and convenience of erecting a furnace thereon,"
this land being a part of a tract named " Fairfield,"
which was patented to Nixon Sept. 7, 1790.
On the land which he purchased of Nixon, Hayden
built the Fairfield Furnace. The date of its erection
is placed at 1797, because in that year he was assessed
for " Rearly place Forge," "Old Place," " mountain
land,"' and "furnace land," but no furnace; but in
the following year " Fairfield Furnace" was included
in his assessment at $4000. At the same time the old
forge was assessed to him at $250.
Hayden conveyed an iundivided one-fourth part of
the Furnace tract, " with an equal part of the furnace
and all other buildings thereon erected," to Stephen
Hayden, Jr., by deed dated Dec. 25, 1797, and on the
16th of January following he conveyed another undivided one-fourth part of the same property to John
Oliphant, Andrew Oliphant, and Nathaniel Breading
for ~2000. These three gentlemen, on the 8th of
March, 1805, purchased another one-fourth interest
in the property from Neil Gillespie, and at the same
time purchased still another one-fourth from John Gillespie, who had bought it at sherifl's sale in 1803, at
which time it was sold by Sheriff Alleq on a judgment against John Hayden. Finally, John and Andrew Oliphant came into possession of the entire
property, and the furnace was operated by them until
January, 1817, when their partnership was dissolved
by mutual consent, John Oliphant purchasing the interest of Andrew in th-e Fairfield and Fairchance Furnaces and Sylvan Forge at $4000. The Fairfield
Furnace was rented by him to John St. Clair and
Isaiah Marshall, who were succeeded by William
Paull, Sr., and he in turn by John Martin, whose occupancy continued until the furnace was finally blown
out and abandoned.
It is said by old people that during the Oliphants'
operation of Fairfield Furnace they furnished from it
a quantity of solid shot, which were shipped on small
craft down the Monongahela, Ohio, and Mississippi
Rivers, and were used by Gen. Jackson's artillery in
the battle of New Orleans. Some of the ruins of old
Fairfield are still visible.
REDSTONE FURNACE.
The builder and first proprietor of this old ironworks was Jeremiah Pears, who purchased the parcel
of land including its site from Moses Hopwood. It
was a tract containing twenty acres and thirteen
perches, situated on the waters of Redstone Creek,
in Union (now South Union) township, and a part of
the original survey named "Suttonia." The consideration paid was ~276 10s., and the date of the convey16
ance April 5, 1797. Soon after the purchase Pears
erected upon it the furnace known as Old Redstone,
which was operated by him for a year or two after its
starting, and then rented by Mayberry  Stevens.
On the 26th of December, 1803, Pears sold the land
and furnace for $3000 to Joseph Huston, who operated
it for some years, but he was finally overtaken by financial difficulties, and then the furnace passed to the
possession of his nephew and clerk, John Huston, who
continued to operate it formany years. After 1856 it was
carried on by John Snyder and John Worthington for
a period of about fifteen years, since which time it has
been out of blast. The stack remains standing, but
much dilapidated.
FAIRCHANCE.
In 1803, Thomas Wynn disposed of his property,
near where Fairchance Furnace now stands, to John
Hayden for ~3000, payable in three years, ~1000 annually. This tract consisted of two hundred and
eighty acres of mineral lands, and on this tract there
was then a flax-seed oil-mill. The payments as they
became due were payable in castings at $100 per ton,
delivered either at Fairfield Furnace or at Richard
Lewis', "Mary Ann Furnace," near Haydentown.
On the property sold by Wynn to Havden was erected
the "Fairchance" Furnace.
On the 1st of January, 1805, John Hayden, Sr.,
sold to James Gillespie one-half of his real and personal estate, consisting in furnaces, forges, bloomery,
mills, lands, and tenements, together with all their
appurtenances, for the sum of $7000; one-half of all
metal then made and at Fairchance Furnace to be
taken at $25 per ton. Not long afterwards Fairchance was purchased by John and Andrew Oliphant, who carried on the furnace in connection with
the Sylvan Forge, under the firm-name of John  A.
Oliphant, until about 1817. From that time it was
operated for some time by John Oliphant, and passed
to F. H. Oliphant. It was rented for a few years to
J. K. Duncan, and after 1826 was operated by F. H.
Oliphant for more than forty years. Soon after his
commencement at Fairchance, F. H. Oliphant began
using the " Flag" and " Big Bottom" ores in place of
the " Blue Lump," which had been previously used.
In 1836 he used coke as fuel in the Fairchance Furnace, and a sample of the iron so produced is on
exhibition at the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia.
During the same year he introduced the warm blast,
which had previously been used in Europe, but Mr.
Oliphant knew nothing of its having been used anywhere previous to his introducing it. It requires
from 700~ to 9000 of heat for the blast, and his furnace was not arranged so as to generate such a great
heat, consequently his efforts were not entirely satisfactory. The hot air for his blast was driven
through about one hundred and fifty feet of pipe,
leading from the rolling-mill to the stack. In 1826,
F. H. Oliphant bought Fairchance Furnace from
his father, who was compelled to sell it on account
237HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
of his indebtedness. About 1834, F. H. Oliphant
had erected a rolling-mill at Fairchance.  This
mill had three puddling-furnaces and complete machinery for making bar and boiler iron. It remained
in operation until about 1870, at which time Mr. Oliphant sold out to a New York company, under the
style and title of Fairchance Iron Company, who own
it at the present time. The capacity of the furnace
had been increased to ten tons per day by Oliphant,
and that capacity has been doubled by the Fairchance
Company.
COOL SPRING FURNACE.
The land embracing the site of this furnace, located
on Shute's Run, in North Union township, was patented to Thompson McKean, John Smart, and William Paull, Jan. 13, 1816. The ftrnace was built soon
afterwards by Mr. McKean, and by him kept in operation for many years. About 1842 it passed into possession of Joseph Wiley. Some three years later, Eleazer
Robinson became a partner in the business. In 1854,
Mr. Wiley removed to the West, and the business of
the iron-works was continued by Robinson for a year
or two and then closed. The property afterwards
passed to the possession of Levi Springer, and is now
owned by his heirs. The furnace was a small one,
with a blast driven by water-power. The ores used
were of the Umbral group, and obtained by benching.
Excavations from which the ore was obtained are
found, extending along the outcrop for miles from the
furnace. The procuring of ore in this manner was
necessarily expensive, and the cost of its reduction
must have been correspondingly light to justify it.
OLD LAUREL FURNACE.
The location of this old furnace was on Laurel Run,
in Dunbar township, nearly opposite the eastern base
of the Chestnut Ridge. It was built by Joshua Gibson and Samuel Paxson, about 1797, and two or three
years later (before 1800) it passed to the possession
of Reuben Mochabee and Samuel Wurtz. In 1800,
John Ferrel, the manager of the furnace under these
proprietors, advertised for sale "assorted castings,
neat, light, and tough," at $100 per ton, also bar iron.
The "Hampton Forge" was built by Mochabee 
Wurtz, for the purpose of working the product of the
furnace.
NEW LAUREL FURNACE.
Col. James Paull and his sons erected the New
Laurel Furnace, a short distance below the site of the
Old Laurel, on the same run. It was kept in blast by
them until 1834, when it passed to Kaine, Vance 
Miller, under whom it was operated till 1838, when it
was finally blown out.
FINLEY, OR BREAK-NECK FURNACE.
The site of this furnace was on Break-Neck Run,
in Bullskin township. It was built in 1818, by Messrs.
Miller, James Rogers, and James Paull, and was
managed by Miller. David Barnes afterwards became a partner. About 1824 it passed to Boyd 
Davidson, who operated it until 1831, after which
Miller ran it for a year or two. It was then carried
on by David B. Long  Co. until 1838, when its
operation was abandoned.
WHARTON FURNACE.
In the records of the Court of Quarter Sessions for
June term, 1837, mention is made of a petition for a
road in Wharton township, to pass " where A. Stewart
is building a furnace." The person referred to was
the Hon. Andrew Stewart, who built this furnace in
the year named. Its site was a short distance from
the National road. The furnace was managed by
Alfred Stewart for a number of years from its completion. Afterwards it was suiccessively operated by
Edward Hughes and J. Kennedy Duncan. In 1852,
D. S. Stewart assumed the management, and ran it
about four years. It was blown out in 1856, and remained in disuse until 1858, when it was leased by
Worthington  Snyder, who were succeeded by D.
W. Woods  Lukens, of McKeesport. After a few
years it was blown out, and remained idle till 1870,
when it was leased by E. C. Pechin, C. E. Swearingen, Maurice Healey, and others. After being in
blast for about one year under this proprietorship it
was leased to George W. Paull. Two years later it
was blown out and dismantled.
MARY ANN FURNACE.
This furnace, located near Haydentown, was built
about the year 1800, by AMartin  Lewis. In 1810 the
property was owned by Capt. James Robinson. In
1818 it was purchased by Joseph Victor, who rebuilt
it and changed its name to Fairview. It was blown
out and abandoned about 1840.
MOUNT VERNON FURNACE.
The Mount Vernon Furnace, situated on the headwaters of Mounts' Creek, in Bullskin township, on
the road to Lobengier's Mills, was built by Isaac
Meason. The date of its erection is not ascertained,
but an advertisement in one of the papers of that
time shows that it was in operation in July, 1800. An
inscription on a stone in the furnace-stack shows that
it was rebuilt in 1801. It was sold by Meason to
David Barnes and D. B. Long, by whom it was operated for about two years. Its final blowing out was
in 1824. The property now belongs to George E.
Hogg.
LITTLE FALLS FURNACE.
On Arnold's Run (later called Furnace Run), near
its mouth, in Franklin township, was the site of this
old iron-works. A forge was built at this place as
early as 1800, by Nathaniel Gibson, who not long
afterwards built the furnace. It was a small affair,
and did not prove financially successful. The property passed to F. H. Oliphant, who repaired and
somewhat enlarged it, and named it the Franklin
Iron-Works, which were operated by him for a few
years and then abandoned.
238IRON AND IRON-WORKS.
ST. JOllN FULINACE.
This furnace was located on Salt Lick Creek (now
Indian Creek), in the present township of Springfield. It was built in 1807 by Jackson  Gibson, the
masonry-work being done by James Taylor. In 1810
it was owned and operated by Trevor  Slater. Afterwards it became the property of Col. James Paull,
and still later was in the possession of Steele and
Doughty, who were the last to operate it. It was
blown out and discontinued in 1828.
ETNA FURNACE,
Thomas and Joseph Gibson erected the Etna Furnace in 1815, on Trump's Run, about one mile above
the borough of Connellsville, and one-third of a mile
from the Youghiogheny River. It remained in blast
for a quarter of a century, and was finally blown out
in 1840.
FAYETTE FURNACE.
Near the western base of the Laurel Ridge, in the
present township of Springfield, on the north fork of
Indian Creek, was the site on which James Rogers,
Linton, and Miller built the Fayette Furnace in 1827.
Joseph and George Rogers were its later owners, and
it was kept in blast till 1840 or 1841, when it was
abandoned.
THE OLIPHANT FURNACE.
The last furnace that Fidelio H. Oliphant was ever
connected with was the one that is known as the
Oliphant Furnace, situated about four miles south of
Uniontown, on the Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad.
This was built by him after he had disposed of his
Fairchance and Spring Hill Furnaces to Eastern purchasers. He operated the new furnace for a number
of years, but the enterprise proved disastrous, and his
son, Duncan Oliphant, together with his sons, took
the furnace and managed it until recently, when it
was sold to James Husted, A. B. De Saulles, Robert
Hogsett, William  Beeson, A. W. Bliss, and George
C. Marshall, who are at present carrying on the business.
PINE GROVE FORGE.
The old forge to which this name was given, was
built prior to 1798 by Thomas Lewis, on land purchased or contracted from Philip Jenkins, located in
a mountain gorge on Pine Grove Run, about four
miles from Smithfield and two miles from Woodbridge town, in Georges township. On the 7th of
April, 1798, Lewis mortgaged to Meshack Davis that
part of his property on which a forge had been erected.
The various business operations of Thomas Lewis
led him into serious financial embarrassments, which
resulted in his failure in 1799, and on the 29th of
November, 1800, the forge property, with six hundred
acres of land, was sold by the sheriff to Isaac Sutton.
The forge was at that timne regarded as of very little
value, and its fires were not rekindled.
Mr. Joseph Hickle, of Georges township, was told
by old Mr. Jacob Searing many years ago that he
(Searing) had been employed in digging ore for
Lewis' forge during the time of its operation, and
that the ore was carried in sacks on the backs of
horses from the places where it was dug to the forge.
It was, he said, of the kind known as "Red Short,"
and especially well adapted to the making of bar iron.
A white sandstone was used for lining the furnace.
He also related that when Lewis failed, there was on
hand at the forge about twenty tons of bar (?) iron,
worth at that time fully $100 per ton, and that during
the night before the day on which the sheriff caine to
levy on the property this iron was carried away from
the forge and secretly buried in the sand at the head
of a little hollow not far distant to save it from
seizure. The story, whether true or not, began to
be circulated a few years later, and was so much
credited by many that search has frequently been
made to find the hidden iron, but without success.
At the site of the old forge there are still standing
the ruins of three stacks, but it is not probable that
all of them were ever in use. Mr. Lewis at the time
of his failure had commenced the erection of a furnace near the forge, and there is little doubt that one
or more of the three stacks belonged to the projected
furnace.
LEMONT FURNACE.
This furnace, which commenced operations in 1875,
is located in North Union, and is more fully mentioned in the history. of that township.
YOUGH FORGE.
John Gibson, of Fayette County, and Thomas
Astley, of Philadelphia, were the original proprietors
of this forge. The year in which they erected it
cannot be given with certainty, but there appears
in the Pittsburgh Gazette of 1817 an advertisement,
dated June 17th in that year, of "the Yough Forge,
situate near Connellsville, Fayette Co."  It was run
for many years by the original owners, and afterwards
by Thomas, Joseph, Joshua, and James Gibson (sons
of John), who operated it until 1825, when they ceased
work, and the forge was dismantled. Its site is occupied by a mill built by Boyd  Davidson in 1831.
EARLY' ROLLING-MILLS.
There is little if any doubt that the first rollingmill in Fayette County was the one erected and put
in operation by Jeremiah Pears at Plumsock, in
Menallen township. Its location was on a tract of
land surveyed to him by Levi Stephens (an assistant
of the surveyor, Alexander McClean), May 29, 1786.
The name given to the tract by Pears was " Maiden's
Fishery,". but this was changed at the Land Office
to the name "Prophetic," and the patent was issued
under that name to Pears on the 28th of November,
1789. On this tract Mr. Pears had erected a forge
prior to 1794, as is shown by the fact that the court
record of June in that year mentions the presentation
of a petition for the laying out of a road " by way of
Pears' Forge to Redstone Ford."
239HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Besides the forge, Mr. Pears had erected on his tract
a saw-mill and grist-mill, and afterwards built a slitting-mill and the rolling-mill above referred to. The
latter was erected in or immediately after the year
1800. By his operations here and at the Redstone
Furnace (of which latter he was the builder and
first owner, as has been mentioned) Pears became
involved in pecuniary difficulties, and in September,
1804, a judgment was obtained against him, to satisfy
which James Allen, sheriff of Fayette County, sold,
on the 9th of December, 1805, Pears' "Prophetic"
tract to George Dorsey, of Monongalia County, Va.,
for the sum  of $3015, the tract being described in
the sheriff's deed as being in the townships of Menallen and Franklin, in Fayette County, and containing one hundred and twelve acres, "whereon are
erected a forge, slitting- and rolling-mill, grist-mill,
saw-mill, and sundry buildings."
On the 9th of April, 1807, George Dorsey (the purchaser of the Pears land and " Rawlling Mill" at
sheriff's sale) conveyed the same property to Benjamin Stevens, "Practitioner of Physick," for $3015,
the deed descritbng the land, forge, slitting- and rolling-mills as before. Two years later (Feb. 1, 1809)
the same property was conveyed, with other lands
adjoining, to Thomas Meason and Daniel Keller, for
the consideration of $5800, "embracing the Forge,
Slitting- and Rolling-Mill, and Grist- and Saw-Mills
erected on'Prophetic.'"
At the April term of court in 1815, Isaac Meason 
Co. obtained a judgment for $3499.63 against Daniel Keller, and Morris Morris, then sheriff of Fayette County, being directed to recover on the judgment, made this return: " I seized and took in execution a certain tract or parcel of land, situate,
lying, and being in Menallen and Franklin townships,
in the County of Fayette aforesaid, containing one
hundred and twelve acres and allowance for roads,
etc., for which a patent was granted to Jeremiah
Pearse,.dated 28th November, 1789, and therein called'Prophetic,' on which is erected a Forge, Rollingand Slitting-Mills, Grist-Mills, Saw-Mills, and other
valuable buildings...." The property so seized was
sold by the sheriff for $7100 to Col. Isaac Meason,
Nov. 25, 1815.
It is stated' that at this establishment, under the
proprietorship of Col. Meason, was done the first puddling and rolling of bar iron west of the Alleghenies;
and the circumstances which brought about that result are related by Samuel C. Lewis,2 of Rochester,
Pa., as follows: Thomas C. Lewis (father of the narrator), a Welshman, who had worked in rolling-mills
in Wales and was familiar with the processes of puddling and rolling bars, left his native country in July,
1815, and came to America, landing in New York.
He visited several iron-manufacturers in the East, and
made strong efforts to induce them to erect mills for
rolling bar iron. This he urged with many leading
iron men in New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania,
but his propositions were everywhere opposed, and
rejected as visionary and impracticable, if not impossible. The narration proceeds:
"He then traveled westward until he got to Connellsville, Fayette Co.; there he met Mr. Isaac Meason, Sr., of Dunbar Furnace, to whom he made
known his object and business. Mr. Meason immediately saw the feasibility of the enterprise, and entered into an agreement with him at a certain salary
for three years, and if the mill was a success, he was
then to be taken into partnership and have one-third
of the profits. The place selected for the mill was at
Upper Middletown,' then better known as Plumsock,
on Redstone Creek, about midway between Brownsville and Connellsville, as Mr. Meason already had
some forges there. The erecting of that mill was attended with a great deal of difficulty, as patternmakers and moulders were not very plenty, so that a
great deal of this work fell on Mr. Lewis, who made
nearly all the patterns. Taking everything into consideration, the mill was completed in a very short
time, having been commenced some time in 1816, and
started about September, 1817. His brother came
over when the work was pretty well on, and as he
was also a first-rate mechanic, helped the work on
very much. An incident is given here, as showing
the opposition he met with in the erection of this
mnill. Two iron-masters from Lancaster County, by
the names of Hughes and Boyer, rode all the way on
horseback, nearly two hundred miles, went to Mr.
Meason, and tried to convince him that it was impossible to roll iron into bars. Mr. Meason told them
to go and talk to Mr. Lewis about it, which they did,
and told him it was a shame for him to impose on
Mr. Meason, as it might ruin the old gentleman. Mr.
Lewis replied to Mr. Hughes,'You know you can
eat?''Why, yes,' he knew that.'Well, how do you
know it?' He could not give a reason why, but he
knew he could eat.'Well,' says Mr. Lewis,'I will
tell you how you know it,-you have done it before;
and that is why I know I can roll bar iron. I have
done it before!''Very well,' said Mr. Hughes,'go
ahead, and when you are ready to start let us know,
and we will come and see the failure.' According to
promise they did come on, but left perfectly satisfied
of its success..... The persons engaged in starting
the works were Thomas C. Lewis, engineer; George
Lewis, roller and turner; Sam. Lewis, heater; James
Lewis, catcher. Henry Lewis was clerk in the office.
They were all brothers..... James Pratt worked the
refinery, and David Adams worked the puddlingfurnace."
It is not ascertained how long this first puddling3 Upper Middletown was laid out by Jeremiah Pears, and there was
the location of the rolling-mill property owned by him, and which came
into possession of Isaac Meason at sheriff's sale, as before mentioned.
1 In Swank's;Iron-Making and Coal-lMining in Pennsylvania."
2 In an article contributed to the Brownsville Clipper, and published in
that journal June 3, 1880.
I
240241
COAL-MINING AND COKE MANUFACTURE.
and rolling-mill continued in operation, nor when its
fires were finally extinguished. No vestiges of it are
now remaining.
A rolling-mill (but not including a puddling-furnace, as in the case of Col. Meason's establishment)
was built and put in operation by John Gibson about
the year 1805, on the right bank of the Youghiogheny
below Connellsville. Provance McCormick, Esq., of
Connellsville, recollects this old mill as early as 1806.
Upon the death of John Gibson it passed to his heirs,
and was operated by Thomas Gibson for several years,
after which it went into disuse. The tract of land on
which this mill stood was sold by Daniel Rogers as
administrator, and is now owned by the Pittsburgh
and Connellsville Railroad Company, the Building
and Loan Association of Connellsville, and the Johnston heirs.
COAL-MINING AND COKE MANUFACTURE.
The earliest recorded mention of the use of coal in
the region west of the Allegheny Mountains is found
in the journal kept by Col. James Burd, when, in the
fall of 1759, he was in command of a detachment of
two hundred of the king's troops, engaged in opening
a road from Braddock's old road at Gist's plantation
(now Mount Braddock) to the Monongahela River at
the mouth of Dunlap's Creek, where it was proposed
to erect a fort, and where he did erect such a work
immediately afterwards. Having proceeded from
Gist's towards the Monongahela to a point about four
and a half miles from the river, he encamped there
on the evening of the 21st of September, and on the
following day moved on westward, and made in his
journal this entry, viz.:
"SATURDAY, Sept. 22, 1759.
"The camp moved two miles to Coal Run. This
run is entirely paved in the bottom with fine stone
coal, and the hill on the south of it is a rock of the
fiinest coal I ever saw. I burned about a bushel of it
on my fire."
The language of the journal shows clearly that he
was not unacquainted with the use of coal, and it is
an accepted fact that coal was mined east of the Alleghenies, in Virginia, as early as the year 1750. But
there was no mining of coal west of the mountains
until 1784, when the Penns, who had been permitted
under the Divesting Act of 17791 to retain their proprietary interest in certain large tracts of land in the
State, sold rights to mine coal in the vicinity of Pittsburgh. This was the first coal-mining done on the
waters of the Ohio. Since that time the business has
I On the 27th of November, 1779, the Legislature of Pennsylvania
passed "An Act for vesting the estates of the late proprietaries in this
commonwealth."  By the terms of this act the State paid the Penls
~130,000 in annual payments of from ~15,000 to ~20,000, without interest, beginning at the close of the Revolutionary war, reserving to the
proprietaries their private and manor property, which was in itself a
princely fortune.
increased steadily and rapidly, and untold millions
of tons of coal, mined along the Monongahela and
Youghiogheny, have been boated down the great rivers
of the Southwest to supply the country from Ohio to
Louisiana; but by far the greater part of this vast
amount has been mined at points north of the northern
limits of Fayette County, operations being of course
commenced along the lower and more accessible portions of the rivers, and working slowly up the streams
as the navigation is improved or the lower supplies
become exhausted, which latter condition is very far
from being brought about yet, and will remain so for
years to come.
The coal operations on the Monongahela will be
found mentioned in the account of the slack-water
improvements on that river and elsewhere in this
work. On the Youghiogheny a vast amount of coalmining has been done, and Youghiogheny coal has
been well known and highly prized in the towns and
cities on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers for many
years; but an exceedingly small proportion of the
coal sent from this river to the Southern and Western
markets has been mined in Fayette County. The
Youghiogheny Valley is barren of coal from a point
in Rostraver township, in Westmoreland County, up
the river to about the mouth of Hickman Run, in
Fayette, where commences the " Connellsville basin,"
one of the richest coal-fields in the world. But there
has never been much inducement to mine coal here
for shipment down the river, because, in the first
place, the Youghiogheny in all that part which passes
through Fayette County, and in the greater portion
of its course through Westmoreland, is not and never
has been a navigable or boatable stream, except for a
very small portion of the year, the season of freshets
and high water, and even then its navigation is difficult, not to say dangerous, for the passage of coalboats. This fact alone gives to the coal operators on
the lower Youghiogheny, advantages for shipment
which cannot be had in the Connellsville regi6n, and
the absence of which has caused the mining of coal
for that purpose to be neglected here. Another cause
which has helped to produce the same result is that
the Connellsville coal is too soft for advantageous
transportation, while that of the lower river is harder,
and in that respect better adapted for shipment.
But all the disadvantages of the Connellsville region, as above enunierated, are counterbalanced tenfold in another direction; for the coal which cannot
be profitably shipped to the lower river markets is
found to be greatly superior to any other which has
yet been discovered in its adaptability to the manufacture of coke, and to this manufacture it has been
and is now being devoted on a scale and to an extent
that is amazing to the uninitiated, and with pecuniary
results that are surprising. It was said by Judge
Veech that " Coal, if not king, was becoming one of
the princes of the land, and its seat of empire was
the Monongahela Valley."  But if coal is mightyHISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
like Philip of Macedon, its offspring, coke, is like the
mightier Alexander, and the seat of its empire is the
Connellsville coal basin.
In all the numerous accounts that have been written
and published in recent years having general referellce to the manufacture of coke in Western Pennsylvania, very little notice has been taken of its origin
and early history. What little has been said concernillg these particulars, though to a great extent uinautthentic and inaccurate, is generally received as
correct, and little or no effort is made to investigate
and search out the facts. It is but natural that a
business so exceedingly remunerative as is the manufacture of coke at the present time should engross all
the thoughts and energies of those who are engaged
in it; that their chief attention should be given to
secure the largest possible yield of coke, making and
transporting it at the lowest possible cost, and selling
it at the highest obtainable price, without pausing to
inquire where and by whom was first produced the
article which brings them their wealth. Yet it cannot fail to be a matter of interest to note the humble
beginnings of the business which has since grown to
such gigantic proportions. In the preparation of the
following account, which is based mainly on facts
sought out and ascertained by one who is himself interested in coke manufacture,l the object in view has
been less to enter into details of the immense operations of the present time than to notice the earliest
known coke-making, the persons who were pioneers
in it, and the subsequent attempts at its successful
application and use up to the time of the firm establishment of the business, which is now by far the
most important and valuable industrial interest of
Fayette County and a large contiguous region. It
has been stated (but not clearly proved) that coke
was made and used in the manufacture or refining of
iron in America before the war of the Revolution.
If such was the case, the credit of its first manufacture
was certainly due to Virginia, as that colony (having
commenced mining in or about 1750, as has been
noticed) was the only one which produced any coal
at that time. Therefore, if coke was actually made
in America before the Revolution, it must have been
manufactured in Virginia, or, at least, from Virginia
coal.
The earliest authenticated account of the manufacture and use of coke places it at Allegheny Furnace,
in Blair County, in the year 1811. The reasons for
the failure of that attempt will be referred to hereafter. It is a fact undenied that the first use of coke
in Fayette County was made in the refining of iron at
1 Most of the facts given in this narrative in reference to the earliest
production of coke, and the attempts made through many succeeding
years to use it successfullv and profitably in iron manulfacture, were furnished by Mr. George C. Marshall, of Uniontown, who has made the
matter the subject of patient and persistent research, in which he has
brought to light a great number of facts before unknown, but unquestionably authentic and reliable.
the Plumsock (Upper Middletown) Iron-Works by Col.
Isaac Meason in 1817. It has been stated by an old
resident of the county that he has an indistinct recollection of the making of the coke at the place and
time named, and that it was made in ovens similar to
the "bee-hive" oven now in general use. But there
must be grave doubts as to the accuracy of this statement, though it is, beyond all question, honestly
made. He has most probably in mind the old Dutch
baking-oven, but has, after the lapse of more than
sixty years, come to the belief that it was done in
ovens similar to the modern bee-hive. Coke-making
in ovens was certainly unknown (or at least unpracticed) at that time and for years afterwards.
In Armstrong County there was a furnace built for
coke in 1819, called the "Bear Creek Furnace," believed to be then the largest furnace in the United
States. It was blown in on coke, but after a few casts
the operators found that the (cold) blast of five
pounds to the inch was insufficient for the successful
use of coke, and thereupon the original purpose was
abandoned and the furnace changed for the use of
charcoal.
The Howard Furnace, put in operation in the year
1830, in Blair County, and the Elizabeth Furnace,
built in the same county in 1832, were both constructed with a view to the use of coke, and furnaces
in Clearfield, Clinton, Lycoming, and Armstrong
Counties, Pa., erected between 1835 and 1838, made
repeated attempts at the manufacture of coke iron,
all of which resulted in failure, from the fact that
the cold blast was used and at a very low pressure.
The iron-masters of the present time, with all their
modern appliances, immense heating surfaces, and
powerful blowers, and yet still continually striving
for " more heat and more blast," can well appreciate
the difficulties encountered in the making of iron in
former days and by the old-time methods.
At the "Mary Ann Furnace," in Huntingdon
County, Pa., in 1835, William Firmstone made good
gray forge iron on coke made from Broad Top coal,
but continued it for only about one month. The
Georges Creek Iron Company, of Allegheny County,
Md., built the "Lonaconing Furnace" in 1837, and
made good foundry iron to the amount of about
seventy tons per week on coke. The Mount Savage
Company also built two blast-furnaces in 1840, and
made successful runs on coke, but up to that time
most of the attempts to use coke in iron-making had
resulted in failure and heavy pecuniary loss.
In 1836, F. H. Oliphant, of Fayette County, used
coke at the Fairchance Furnace in the manufacture
of iron from Blue Lump ore, and samples of the product were sent to the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia; but the claim which has frequently been made
that this was the first coke iron made as a regular
product in the United States is inadmissible, as will
be seen by reference to the facts and dates given
above, coke iron of good quality having been made,
I
949243
COAL-MINING AND COKE MANUFACTURE.
as shown, several years before Mr. Oliphant ever
claimed its first production, and even then his claim
was merely to have made a few tons.
The Great Western Iron Company built four cokefurnaces between the years 1840 and 1844 at Brady's
Bend, Pa., and to that company belongs the credit of
making coke iron as a regular product. Their furnaces were built especially for the use of coke, and
they never used any other fuel.
The credit of having been the first to make successful use of coke in the manufacture of iron has
been given in some accounts to Graff, Bennett  Co.,
of Pittsburgh, but it will be shown hereafter that they
did not enter the field until several years after it had
been used with success at Brady's Bend.
The Cambria Iron Company built four coke-furnaces in 1853. These furnaces were blown in on
coke, and have continued to use it until the present
time.
The coke used in the furnaces of Western Pennsylvania up to and after the commencement of operations by the Great Western Iron Company at
Brady's Bend was made by a process called " ground
ricking," the coal being placed on the ground in
long or conical ricks, and then covered (except the
spaces necessary for ventilation) with earth, to smother
and prevent it from burning up. This process, though
it answered the purpose very well, was slovenly, and
much less rapid and economical than the present
method, and the coke produced was less uniform in
quality.
The earliest date which has been given and perfectly authenticated of the use of ovens for the
making of coke, is the year 1841, the facts and account of which will be given hereafter. But in this
connection it is proper to give (and it would be unfair and improper to omit) statements which are made
by men of unquestioned and unquestionable veracity
which indicate an earlier date. Mr. David Trimble,
living at Little Falls, on the Youghiogheny, says
that at a date which cannot be fixed nearer than that
it was not earlier than 1830, and not later than 1836,
he helped build one or more coke-ovens at or near
the mouth of Furnace Run, and the assumption is
that the coke produced was used at the Franklin IronWorks, which were located there and run by F. H.
Oliphant. Mr. Trimble savs the idea of building
ovens at that place was suggested by an Englishman
named John Coates, who had seen them in operation
in England. He also says that the coal for these
ovens was brought from mines above East Liberty,
that the coke made from it was used for the " let-out"
fire at the iron-works, and that the supposition then
was that these were the first coke-ovens built in Pennsylvania, if not in the United States. Corroborative
(to some extent at least) of this statement is that of
James Cochran (" Little Jim"), who has an indistinct recollection of seeing, before the year 1840,
several coke-ovens standing on the south bank of the
Youghiogheny River, just below the mouth of Furnace Run, and that coal was boated down the river to
them from Col. Hill's lands. This concurrent testimony establishes beyond a doubt the fact that a few
ovens were built and put in use on the south bank of
the Youghiogheny, near the mouth of Furnace Run,
and that they were among the earliest, if not the first,
ever built for that purpose, not only in Fayette County,
but in Pennsylvania. It is true that both gentlemen
named may be mistaken in their recollection of the
date, but as their statements agree (and for other
reasons) this is hardly probable.  Accepting then
the fact that there were ovens at that point at about
the time indicated, and that (as both statements
agree) the coal was brought to them from the Connellsville region, some miles above, on the river, it
is difficult to explain why the ovens were ever built
at that place, unless for the purpose of supplying the
furnace near which they were located. If the object
of their construction had been to produce coke for a
down-river market, or for any other purpose than to
be used in their immediate vicinity, they would never
have been built at the mouth of Furnace Run, but in
the coal-producing region, several miles above, on the
river. And yet it can hardly be regarded as probable
that Mr. Oliphant was the builder of those ovens, or
that the coke made in them was used by him while he
was proprietor of the Franklin Iron-Works. Those
who had conversations with him on the subject of the
use of coke in the manufacture and refining of iron
all agree that he never made claim to having used it
at the Franklin Works, but only to having made
coke iron for a brief period at the Fairchance. If he
had built those pioneer ovens at Furnace Run, and
used their product at the Franklin Iron-Works, he
would certainly have asserted the fact and claimed
the priority. It is, then, and for these reasons, most
probable that the product of those old ovens was used
by Nathaniel Gibson in his Furnace Run Works before they passed to the proprietorship of Mr. Oliphant. Whatever may be the fact (which will probably never be known with absolute certainty), the
above statements are given here, not only because the
sources from which they come are (the treachery of
man's memory as to remote events and circumstances
only excepted) perfectly and entirely reliable, but
because each seems to support and confirm the other.
They are therefore submitted without any attempt to
explain the slight, discrepancies contained in them,
with regard to other matters accepted as facts.
In the year 1841, Provance McCormick and James
Campbell started the project of manufacturing coke
on the Youghiogheny, and succeeded in making some
two thousand bushels, which they boated down the
river. It is stated that the idea was suggested to them
by an Englishman who was then stopping for a time
in Connellsville, and who told them that in his native
country, coal was made into coke for the use of foundries and furnaces. Such rich deposits of superior
HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
coal as were found in abundance in the vicinity of
Connellsville would soon be utilized in that way, he
said, if there were Englishmen there to do it. Campbell and McCormick became interested in the story
he told, and having gained from him what information he possessed as to the method of making coke,
they resolved to try the experiment, and if successful
in producing the article, to boat the product to Cincinnati, in the expectation of selling it for the use of
the foundries in that city.
Associating with them John Taylor, who was a
stone-mason, and the owner of a farm on the Youghiogheny, including a coal-mine, which he operated in
a small way, they commenced operations.  Taylor
constructed two ovens on his farm (near what has
been known in later years as Sedgwick Station) and
superintended the coking, the coal being taken from
his mine. Campbell and McCormick, both carpenters
by trade, built the two boats on which the coke was
to be floated down the river. Their operations were
continued during the fall of 1841 and the succeeding
winter, and in the spring of 1842, a sufficient quantity of coke having been produced to load the two
boats, they were started down the river on a high stage
of water, and under pilotage of William Turner made
their way in safety to Cincinnati. On reaching the
city they found that the demand was not as brisk as
they had hoped to find it. The new fuel was unknown
there, and foundrymen regarded it with suspicion,
calling it cinders. After a time, however, the owners
of the coke succeeded in disposing of about one-half
their stock, taking in payment coffee and some other
goods,' and then, to close out, bartered the remainder
for a patent iron grist-mill which was highly recommended. The mill was brought to Connellsville, and
soon after placed in the steam-flouring establishment
of Strickler  Nickel, in New Haven, where it was
put in operation, and found to be, if not wholly, at
least so nearly worthless that it was sold for thirty
dollars, and so ended the coke operations of McCormick and Campbell, though it need not have been so.
The part of their- cargoes which had been traded in
Cincinnati for the patent mill was afterwards boated
up on the canal to Dayton, Ohio, and there sold to
Judge Gebhart, who had previously been a resident
of Fayette County, but then had a foundry in operation in Dayton. There he used the coke in his establishment, and found it so well adapted for his purpose
that he soon after came to Connellsville and proposed to McCormick and Campbell to make more, and
furnish him with all he needed, and at a good price;
but the result of their previous venture in the coke
trade disinclined them to repeat the experiment.2 In
1 It is proper to state here that another account of Campbell and McCormick's coke operation in Cincinnati says that about half their stoclk
was peddled out and sold for money att an average prlice of eight cents
per bushel, and the reniaiiider traded for the patent mill.
2 It is related that not very long after Campbell anid McCormick boated
their coke to Cincinnati, William Turner (tlle pilot who took their boats
1843 the ovens built by Taylor on the Youghiogheny
were rented to Mordecai, James (" Little Jim") and
Sample Cochran, who put them to use in making
twenty-four-hour coke. When they had coked about
thirteen thousand bushels, it was boated to Cincinnati and sold for seven cents per bushel cash to Miles
Greenwood,3 who in the mean time had become fully
informed of the value of coke as a fuel. This is said
to have been the first coke ever taken from Fayette
County and sold for money, and in this view of the
matter the Cochrans and Greenwood must be considered as the pioneers of the coke business in the Connellsville region.
After this time, and before the year 1850, three or
four ovens were built and put in operation by Stewart
Strickler, the product being sold by him to the Cochrans, by whom it was boated down the river and sold
in Cincinnati. About 1860 thirty ovens were built
and put in operation at Sedgwick, called the Fayette
Works. Shoenberger  Co. purchased a. one-third
interest in them in 1865. Forty ovens were built on
Hickman Run in 1864 by Cochran  Keister, who
transported their coke on a tramway to the Pittsburgh
and Connellsville Railroad until 1871. Some time
after the building of these works by Cochran  Kiester, the Laughlin ovens were built, also the ovens at
the Jackson Works, above Sedgwick.
The Pittsburgh and Connellsville Gas-Coal and
Coke Company organized about 1860, and built forty
ovens near Connellsville. The number was increased
by John F. Dravo, who took charge in 1868. The
down the river) and Richard Bookens bought coal of Thomas Gregg, on
the Youghiogheny, near the site of the present Fort Hill Works, and
manufactured coke from it, first by rickillg, and afterwards in two or
three ovens which they built near that place. They boated their coke
down the river to Cincinnati, where they found the same trouble that
McCormick and Campbell had exlterienced: no one knew the value of
coke, and no one wanted it. At last a fonndryman agreed to try a load
of it if they would haul it to his foundry. He tried it, liked it, and
purchased the entire lot. The narrative proceeds that Col. Hill soon
afterwards built four ovens near the place where Turner and Bookens
had made their coke, and later increased the nunlber to twelve. The
statement is given for what it is worth.
3 Miles Greenwood was borin March 19, 1807, in New Jersey, to which
State his father (Miles Greenwood) hlad removed from Salem, Mass. He
was of English extraction on his father's side, and of Huguenot French
and German on his mother's. The family removed to New York in
1808, and to Cincinnati in 1817. Miles in 1825. worked in the New Harmony Community, and two years later went to Pittsburgh and learned
iron-working. In 1828 he opened an iron-foundry, and later returned
to Cincinnati, working for T.  J. Bevin. After three years he commenced on his own account, employing ten hands. By 1850 he had
three hundred hands under him. In 1861 his entire establishment was
turned into a Uniited States arsenal for the manufacture of arms and
implements of war, seven hundred men being employed. He turned
forty thousand Springfield muskets, over two hundred bronze cannon,
hunldreds of caissons and gun-carriages, and also a sea-going monitor.
He constructed the Olio Mechanics' Institute building, and to him the
Cincinnati Fire Department is indebted for its efficient organization.
For twenty years he was president of the Cincinnati Fuel Company. In
1s59 he was chosen president of the Cincinnati and Covington Brlidge
Company, and was also a director of the House of Reftge. In 1869 lie
was appointed a director of the Cincinnati Southern Railway. In 1832
he nlarried a Miss Hills. Two children of this marriage died in infancy,
anld their mother also died soon after. In 1836 he married Miss Phioebe
J. Hopson, by whom he had ten children, seven of whom are living.
24-1COAL.MINING AND COKE MANUFACTURE.
Connellsville Gas-Coal Company built their ovens in
1866. Watt, Taylor  Co. built forty ovens just below Watt's Station in 1869. In the coke-works above
named were nearly all the ovens in the Connellsville
coke region up to 1871, the last two named being all
that were on the Fayette Branch until 1872, when
Paull, Brown  Co. built one hundred ovens on
James Paull's place.
There are some facts connected with the history of
coal and coke production in Pennsylvania that are
curious as well as startling. Virginia produced coal
years before it was mined in Pennsylvania, and the
latter State received coal from Virginia for manufacturing gas, and even for domestic use, as late as the
year 1850. Yet now, in regard to coal production,
Virginia, as compared with Pennsylvania, sinks into
utter insignificance, and Virginia, though older in
coal-mining by many years than Pennsylvania, produced no coke until within recent years, while the
making of coke in Pennsylvania dates back almost
three-fourths of a century.
It will be a matter of surprise to many, to.learn the
fact that Allegheny County never had a furnace within
its limits from the time when the old Shady Side Furnace was abandoned, in 1794, until the year 1859, when
Graff, Bennett  Co. built the Clinton Furnace, which
was blown in on coke on the last Monday in October
of that year. The next two were the Etna, built by
Laughlin  Co. in 1861, and the Superior (two
stacks), erected a year or two later. The Soho, the
Isabella (two stacks), and the Lucy Furnaces were
built in 1872. All these furnaces were constructed
for coke, its superiority as a fuel having already been
fully demonstrated when the Clinton Furnace was
built in 1859.
The business of coke manufacture has been chiefly
built up in the last eight years. In 1876 the number
of ovens in operation in the Connellsville region was
a little more than three thousand, producing nine
hundred thousand tons of coke. In 1879 the number
of ovens had increased to niore than four thousand.
For the present time (April 1, 1882) the accompanying map of the Connellsville coke region shows
within that territory the location of about eight thousand four hundred ovens now in operation, and there
are several hundred more scattered along the outskirts of the region proper, but not strictly within it
and not indicated by the map and references, bringing the whole number in operation considerably
above nine thousand, having an aggregate capacity
of more than three hundred and fifty thousand tons
per month. This capacity will be fully worked up to,
and, in fact, exceeded in the present year, by reasgn
of a large number of additional ovens now in contemplation and to be immediately constructed, making
the coke product for 1882 more than four million two
hundred thousand tons.
The immense proportions of the coke business can
hardly be comprehended from a mere examination of
these figures, startling as they are, and it is only by
another process of thought that it is possible to realize
the vast amount of coke produced in the Connellsville
region. Let us suppose that the entire product of the
region for 1882 could be gathered together and loaded
on railroad cars, all joined together in one immense
train, so that there should be no break in its continuity; that this train should be put in motion on the
morning of a given day, and should move at the rate
of fourteen miles per hour (which is above the average
speed of freight trains), day and night, without a moment's stop or the least slacking of speed. A person
living upon the line of the road would see, hour after
hour and day by day, the interminable line of cokeladen cars rattling past his door in endless procession;
night after night, through all the hours of darkness,
he would hear the ceaseless clank and thunder of the
rushing train, and each morning, on awakening from
his disturbed slumbers, he would look out as before
upon the steel-gray car-loads pursuing each other with
undiminished speed along the railway track; and not
until after nightfall of the ninth day would he see the
signal-light marking the rear of the train, whose head
would then be more than two thousand eight hundred
miles away! Through all those days, each hour of
the twenty-four would have seen the passage by a
given point of more than twenty thousand tons of
coke, all produced in the Connellsville region, and
the greater part of it in Fayette County.
Though the manufacture of coke has already become an industry so gigantic in its proportions, and
has grown with such remarkable rapidity from 1872
(and more especially from 1879) until the present
time, there seems to be little reason to doubt that the
same or perhaps an even greater ratio of increase will
be sustained in the future for some years, and this is
the view entertained by a majority of operators and
others whose opinions on the subject are entitled to
much weight. A principal object of manufacturing
coke from coal is to furnish a fuel free from sulphur
for use in the reduction of ores and the refining of
iron. The demand from this source tmust of course
increase with the increase of iron-furnaces and the
growth of iron-making. In the eastern part of Pennsylvania, and in other localities east of the mountains,
coke is used in blast-furnaces in connection with anthracite, and the proportion of coke to that of anthracite used in this way is being constantly augmented
in favor of the former fuel, which has also almost entirely superseded charcoal for use in the manufacture
of pig iron. Large quantities of coke are sent to the
far West to be used in smelting the ores of the precious
metals, regular shipments for this purpose being made
to San Francisco and other points in the gold and
silver States. Another and still weightier reason for
expecting a very large increase in the demand for
coke is that within the past two years H. C. Frick 
Co. have introduced machinery for crushing, screening, and sizing coke for domestic purposes in compe24527
FRENCH OCCUPATION AT THE HEAD OF TIIE OHIO.
commander received Ensign Ward with great polite- t
ness, invited him  to supper that evening, and enter-   t
tained him  for the night.  On the morning of the 18th,   X
Ward took his departure, marched his men up the   t
valley of the Monongahela, and  on the 19th  arrived
at the mouth of Redstone Creek.  From  that point   I
he pushed on across the territory of the present county
of Fayette, by way of Gist's, and thence to the Great
Crossings of the Youghiogheny, and arrived at Wills'  l
Creek on the 22d of April.  The fort which Ward   I
had been compelled to surrender to Contrecoeur was.
completed by the French force with all practicable
dispatch, and named " Fort du Quesne" in honor of
the Marquis du Quesne, the French Governor-General of Canada.'
While the events already related were in progress,
1 The following from the " Calendlar of Virginia State Patpers and other
Manuscripts, 1652 to 17181, preserved in the capitol at Richmond; arranged and (dited by William Palmer, M.D., unider auithority of the
Legislatuire of virginiia, vol. i., 1876," gives autlienitic iniformationi as to
Captain Trent's operations at the head of the Ohlio, and the surrlieinder of
the partially constructed fort by Esign Ward to the French commander, viz.:
"1 Deposition taken March 10, 1777, at the houise of Mr. John Ormsby,
in Pittsburgh, c. Agreeable to Notice giveni to Col. George Morgan,
Agrent for the Indiana. Companiy, before James Wood and Charles Simms,
putrstuanit to a r esolution of the Holnble thle Conivention of Virginia appointing them Comnmissioners for Collectinig Evidence on belhalf of the
Commonwealth of Virginia against the several Persons pretenlding to
claim Lanids with in the Territor y anid Limits thereof, under Deeds of
Purchases from Indians.
"Major Edward Ward Deposeth asid saith that in the beginning of
the year 1754, William Trent Esquiire was appointed by Governour Din
-widdie of Virginia, Captain of a Company to be raised, of whiclh tllis Deponenit vas appoinited Ensign, by tle said Trent. Who assenibled tle Chiefs
and Deptities of the Six Nations, aud reqttested of them pernuissioii to
Elect a Trading lhouse at the Jutictioti of the Allegheny anid Monongahela Rivers. to carry on a Free anid open Trade witlh the Six Nations,
atid their dependants; wliiclh was gr anted by the said deptities, witlh thlis
r'estriction, that lie was to forni Iio Settlements or itnprovemiieilts otl the
said Landtl, but on the Conitrary to Evacuate the satne whlen required by
t ie Six Nattions.
"After whichl the said Capt. Trent itilisted a number of nmen not exceedinig tliirty-three,and proceeded to erect a Fort at the place before
mettioned. That ott the 17thi of April following; and before the Fort
was neairly conml)heted, this Deponent, wlho comniatided in the absence
of Capt. Trent, was put to tlte necessity of surrendering the possession
to a Superior inumber of Troops, Comtmuded by a French Officer, wlho
demianded it in the iiante of the King of France; at wlichl tinte the halfKing-, and a iiuniber of the Six Nations in the English Initerests were
preseint. This depoetieit fturther saitlh that in the year 1752, anid before
hiis surrender to the French, tliers wvas a small Village, Inhiabited by the
Delawares, ott the Soutlh East side of the Allegheny River, in the ilei-hbotlhood of that place, and that old Kittanning, on the sante side of the
gaid River, was thets Inhabited t)y thie Delawares; that about one-third
of the Shawanese Inhabitedl Loggs Town on the West Side of the Olhio,
anid tended Corn on the East Side of the River-anid the otlher part of
the n-ation lived on the Scioto River. That the Deputies of the Six Nations after the surrender Joined the Virginia Forces, Commanded by
Colonel George Waslhington, wvlo was then on his march at the Little
Meadovs, and continiued witlh him in the service of Virginiia tillt after
the defeat of Monsieur La Force anid a party of French Troops under IIis
Command. And the deponent furtlher saith that subsequent to the defeat of Colo. Washington at the great Meadows, the Shawanese, Delawares, atid matuy of the Westerni Tribes of Indians, amid an iticonsiderable itumber of Renegades of the Seneca Tribe, one of the Six Nations,
joitied the French, and Prosecuted a War against thse Frontiers of the
States of Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, till the coticlusion of
the Peace with the Inidittns in the year 1759, bttt that lie ever uniderstood that the Body of the Six Natitns gontiniued the firm Friends of
the English.
troops, intended for the occupation of the " Forks of
the Ohio," were being raised and organized under the
authority of Governor Dinwiddie, in Virginia, and
the first detachment of these was sent forward under
command of Lieut.-Col. George Washington, who, on
the 31st of March, had received from the Governor a
commission (dated March 15th) of that grade in the
Virginia regiment, of which Col. Joshua Fry was the
commanding officer, with others to take the troops
then quartered in Alexandria, and to march them to
the Ohio, "there to help Capt. Trent to build forts,
and to defend the possessions of his Majesty against
the attempts and hostilities of the French."
The detachment thus ordered forward under Washington, consisted of two companies of infanitry, commanded respectively by Capt. Peter Hogg and Lieut.
Jacob Van Braam.2 Besides the commanding officer
and the two company commandants, the force consisted of " five subalterns, two sergeants, six corporals,
one drummer, and one hundred and twenty soldiers;
one surgeon,3 and one Swedish gentleman, who was a
volunteer."
On Tuesday, the 2d of April, at noon, the force
marched out of Alexandria with two wagons, and
camped that night six miles from the town. From
that time nothing of note occurred in fifteen days'
marching, except that the detaclhment was joined by
a small company under Capt. Stephen,4 bringinig the
total strength of the command up to about one hundred and fifty mien.
Washington kept no regular journal on the expedition, but he made hasty notes of many occurrences;
which notes were captured by the French at the battle of the Monongahela in 1755, anld were by them
preserved and published, though Washington said
afterwards that they had distorted parts of them.
One memorandum, dated April 19th, is to this effect:
"Met an express who had letters frotn Capt. Trent, at
the Ohio,5 demanding a reinforcement with all speed,
as he hourly expected a body of eight hundred French.
I tarried at Job Pearsall's for the arrival of the troops,
where they came the next day. When I received the
above express, I dispatched a courier to Col. Fry; to
give him notice of it.
"The 20th.-Came down to Col. Cresap's [Old Town,
Md.] to order the detachment, and on my route had
notice that the fort was taken by the French. That
inews was confirmed by Mr. Ward, the ensign of Capt.
Trent, who had been obliged to surrender to a body
2 The sanae personi who, in the preceding autttmn, had accompanied
Washinton to Fort Le Boeuf as French interpreter.
a Dr. James Craik, afterwards thse fatmily physician of Washington,
and hiis intinitte atid life-lotig friend.
4 Afterwvards Gen. Stephen, of the Revolutionary army, under Wash.
ington.
5 Capt. Trent appears to have attempted to concetlt the fact that he  had
absented hiimself from his command at the Forks of the Ohio, leaving
Ensign Ward in clharge, an offense for which lie vas severely censured
by Gov. Dinwiddie, who, on discovering it, proposed to have hiim courtnaartialed for it.
I
I4HISTOR{Y OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
tition with anthracite coal, and that this process,
which was at first but an experiment, having already
become a successful enterprise, can hardly fail to
cause coke in this form to be extensively used as fuel
in tens of thousands of households which now know
no other than anthracite.
For coking purposes no coal has as yet been discovered which is equal in all respects (and indeed it
mav be reasonably claimed in any respect) to that of
the Connellsville basin. Being a soft and porous coal,
which crumbles ifn handling, it is therefore not so well
adapted for economical transportation as the harder
gas-coal which is found west of the "barren ineasures," and for this reason the Connellsville coal was,
until the development of coke production, regarded
as of little value compared with the other, though its
location, which is more remote from navigable waters,
had its effect as a partial cause of this disparaging
estimate.
But when it became the object of operators to manufacture their coal into coke, then the conditions were
reversed, and the hitherto neglected soft coal became
the more highly valued of the two, because of its
superior adaptability for coke-making. Its advantages over other coals in this manufacture are many.
While the cost of mining the gas-coal of the Pittsburgh bed is seventy-five to ninety cents per ton, the
softer Connellsville coal is mined at about one-third
that expense per ton. When the Connellsville cokingcoal is taken from the mine it is fit for immediate use
in the ovens, and is placed in themn without any irntermediate process of preparation, while with the gascoal from the Pittsburgh vein an extra expense of
about fifty cents per ton is necessary to crush it by
mechanical means, and to free it from sulphur as far
as practicable by washing before charging the ovens
with it. And finally, when the coking is finished, the
" desulphuriid coke" (as it is termed) produced from
the gas-coal is rated in the market as inferior to coke
made from the soft coal of the Connellsville basin.
Therefore, while the latter offers such great advantages in mining and coking, as well as in the superior
quality of its product, it is not probable that attempts
will be inade to any great extent to utilize gas-coal
for coking purposes; and so long as the coal deposits
of this basin remain unexhausted (which niust be the
case for manv years to come) and no new discoveries
are made of pure coking-coal in other localities, it
seems a reasonable prediction that the Connellsville
region must continue to hold a practical monopoly
of the manufacture of coke. Reports are frequently
circulated from time to time of new " finds" of cokingcoal, represented to be equal, if not superior, to that
of the Connellsville bed; but no instance has yet been
reported (and auithenticated) of any iron nmanufacturer or other consumer who did not in his purchases
give preference to coke made from the Connellsville
vein over that produced in any other district; and it
is a fact that the coke made in Fayette County and a
comparatively small contiguous region is recognized
anid acknowledged, wherever used in any part of the
United States, as superior to any other for smelting,
and for all the processes of iron-making in which
coke is used as a fuel.
In view of the great and ever-increasing magnitude
of the coke traffic of Fayette County, several of the
principal railway lines are making vigorous efforts to
secuire as large a share of it as possible. The Baltiinore and Ohio and Pennsylvania Companies are as
yet in possession of a monopoly of this traffic, the
Southwest Pennsylvania division of the latter road
being, on account of its immense coke freights,
more profitable in proportion to its length than any
other part of the company's lines. A new road in the
interest of William H. Vanderbilt's lines is now being
very rapidly constructed along the south bank of the
Youghiogheny, and thence (leaving that river below
New Haven) through the central and southwestern
parts of this county, a principal object being to tap
the rich basin of coking-coal over which its route
passes. This, as also the extension of the Pittsburgh,
Virginia and Charleston road from  the mouth of
Redstone Creek to the Southwest Pennsylvania road
a little north of Uniontown, and the Brownsville and
New Haven Railroad, soon to be built between those
boroughs, will open a new and extensive territory in
the richest part of the coking-coal region. The opening of the first two ilamed roads (which will be earlier
completed than the other) will be immediately followed by establishment of additional coke-works
along their lines, and the erection of a very large
numnber of ovens, the construction of which has already been provided for and planned.
Following is a list of the several coke-works in the
Connellsville region of Fayette and Westmoreland
Counties (the greater part, however, being in Fayette),
on the lines of the Baltimore and Ohio, Southwest
Pennsylvania, and Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroads,
with the number of ovens now in operation at each of
the works. The numbers set against each, indicate
their respective locations by reference to corresponding numbers on the accompanying map of the coke
region. The lines of railway shown upon the map
in red are those of the Baltimore and Ohio, those in
black the Southwest Pennsylvania, and in green the
Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad:
COKE-WORKS LOCATED ON BALTIMORE AND OIIIO ROAD
AND BRANCHES.
No.        Name of Works.                      Owners.             No. of
Ovens.
1 *.. Percy Mining Company.....................l
2... Mount Braddock..:3... Henry Clay..........     H. C. Frick Coke Company....
4...  Washington........... Sample Cochran Sons  Co.....5... Tyrone..........        Laughlin  Co.
f. Sterling................ J. M. Schoonmaker............. l
7... Jackson....................   Jackson Mines Company.
8... Fayette....   James Cochran.....
9).. Spurgeor................   Cochran  Keister.       l
10... Jimtown...... J.M. Schoonmaker.
69
124
100
32
130
159
64
100
I 00
303
246INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.
No.      Name of Works.              Owners.
11... Cora'........................   John Newmeyer...................
12... Frick......................... C. Frick Coke Company....
13...Morgan........................          C.
14...White....-.........
15... Foundry........................
16... Eagle................................
17... Summit...............................
18... Franklin......             B. F. Keister  Co................
19...Tip Top.........          H. C. Frick Coke Company..
20... Cliton.........            James Cochran  Co.
21... Valley......... H. C. Frick Coke Company.
22-...Charlotte Furnace Company.
2:1, W. A. Keifer........................
24... Fountain........J.D. Boyle
25' Dexter......... Joseph R. Stauffer  Co..
26...Painter's...........       McClure  Co.
27... Diamond......... McClure  Co.
28I.. Mullen..........           Mullen, Strickler  Co.
291. Standard.......................   A. A. Hutchinson  Bro.:30   Stewart Iron Company....................................................
No. of
Ovens.
42
106
164
148
74
80
142
130
56
44
152
60
40
50
40
228
66
360
120
ON SOUTHWEST PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD AND BRANCHES.
No.;  Name of Work}.              Owners.         No. of
No. I    Name of Works.              Owners.         Ovens.
1... Bliss and Marshall.........................................................
F... Fairchance Iron Company..........................................
3... Fayette Coke and Furnace
Company............................................
4...' Redstone Coke Company....... J. W. Moore  Co.
5... Chicago  and  Connellsville
6    Coke Company........................................................
L3 Lemont Furnace Company.... Hogsett, Hanna  Co.
7... Youngstown Coke Company............................................
8... Furgeson.......................     Dunbar Furnace Company.
9... Hill Farm.......................;   I 6
10... Mahoning.......................  Mahoning  Coke  Company
(Limited).
11... Colvin  Co.......................  Colvin  Co.
12.Anchor.......................   Morgan, Layng  Co.
13. Uniondale........................ Reid Brothers.
14... Morrell.......       Cambria Iron Company.........
15... Wheeler..............................
16... Pittsburgh and Connellsville
Gas-Coal and Coke Com
pany.    I
17 Johnson Farm Coke-Works......
18'. Eldorado.........        -W. J. Rainey  Co.
19.. Pennsville...............  A. 0. Tinstman  Co.
20... Horne.Joseph R. Stauffer.
212.Enterprise................ Dellinger, Rafferty  Co.
22... Union.......         Hurst, Stoner  Co.
23... Excelsior.........       Warden  Co.
24... Southwest Coal and  Coke
company...................................................
25... Dellinger, Tarr  Co......................................................
211..:Boyle's..........         Boyle  Rafferty.
27. Star.......        J. M. Cochran's Est.
28... Buckeye.......... " "  "
29... Morewood......        Morewood  Coke  Company
(Limited).
30... Alice......           J. M. Schoonmaker.
31... Bessemer...... C.P. Markle  Sons.
32... Rising Sun......          Markle  Son.
33... Emma... J. W. Overholt (agent)
34... West Overton......        A. C. Overholt  Co.
6... Trotter......              Connellsville Gas-Coal Com-:
pany.;
36... Connellsville Coke and Iron
Company...............................................
60
36
130
170
284
150
24(0
70
89
100
s8(
109
76
4010
100
295
225
70
20
50
70
70)
138
66
262
20
116
470
20()
170
103
36
110
200
200
ON PITTSBURGH AND LAKE ERIE RAILROAD.
N                                                INo.
No. l    Name of Work.               OwDer.         I veNT. o
I
I.Fort Hill......         w. J. Rainey  Co.
88
CHAPTER XXIII.
INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS-POPULATION.
Roads and Bridges-National Road-Navigation-Population of the
County by Decades.
ROADS.
IN all new and undeveloped sections of country
the first step in the direction of public internal improvements is the opening of roads. The first attempt
by white men to open or mark the route of a road
within the territory now embraced in the county of
Fayette was made by Col. Thomas Cresap, of Oldtown,
Md., in the year 1750. He was employed by the Ohio
Company to select and mark a route for their proposed
traffic between their base of operations at'Wills' Creek
(Cumberland), Md., and their objective point at the
site of the present city of Pittsburgh; and so, in execution of this mission, he set out from Wills' Creek
in tile year mentioned, with the old chief Nemacolin
as a principal guide, and assisted by several other Indians, and proceeded northwestwardlv over a route
not materially different from that afterwards traversed
by Washington and Braddock in their respective campaigns until he reached the west base of the Laurel
Hill, in what is now Fayette County (at or near the
place now known as Mount Braddock), from which
point, instead of turning northeast towards the present site of Connellsville, as the later military road
did, he proceeded on, to and down the valley of Redstone Creek to its mouth, where his work ended, for
it was proposed at that point to abandon land carriage
and take transportation down the Monongahela to its
confluence with the Allegheny.
Col. Cresap, however, neither built nor opened any
part of the proposed road, but merely selected its
route, and indicated the same by blazing and marking trees, and occasionally rearing piles of stones as
landmarks at prominent points. But in 1753 the Ohio
Company sent out a party of pioneers, who " opened
the road,"3 though they made it little miore than a
bridle-path for the passage of pack-horses. A few
nlotiths later (in January, 1754) Capt. William Trent,
with a small company of men in the employ of the
Ohio Company, marched over the road, and further
improved it as they passed. At its western terminus,
the mouth of Redstone Creek, they built the " Hangard" store-house for the company (as before noticed),
and then passed on down the river to coinmence building a fort for the company at the Forks of the Ohio.
In 1754, Washington with his little army, on the
campaign which ended in the surrender of Fort Necessity on the 4th of July in that year, passed over
the same road, and improved it so that it was passable
for wagons and light pieces of artillery to the wvest
3 Washington, in a(lvocating this route in preference to the more northerly one tlhrough Bedford for the passage of Forbes' troops in 1758, said,
"The Ohio Company in 1753, at a considerable erpense, opened the road,"
etc.
247
1.In Westmoreland County; all others on this road as indicated are in
Fayette.
2 Numbers 21 to 34, inclusive, are ill Westmoreland County, all others
on this line are in Fayette.HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
side of Laurel Hill. " In 1754," he says, " the troops
whom I had the honor to command greatly repaired
it as far as Gist's plantation, and in 1755 it was
widened and completed by Gen. Braddock to within
six miles of Fort Du Quesne."  The road, as " completed" by Braddock, extended from Gist's (Mount
Braddock) northeastwardly to and across tlie Youghiogheny at Stewart's Crossings, a little below the present borough of New Haven; thence in the same general direction to Jacob's Creek, the northern boundary
of this county, and on through Westmoreland to the
Monongahela. Gen. Braddock made it in its entire
length, practicable (though barely so) for the passage
of his heavy wagons and artillery, and it was for
more than four years afterwards the only road which
could be called such within the territory now Fayette
County.
In the fall of 1759 Col. James Burd erected the fort
which bore his name, where the borough of Brownsville now is, and opened a good military road to it,
commencing at Gist's plantation on Braddock's road,
and thence running on the old route opened by the
Ohio Company (and partly improved by Washington
a few miles west of Gist's in 1754) four-fifths of the
distance to the mouth of Redstone, after which it left
the pld route and bore more westwardly to the mouth
of /Dunlap's Creek. This road was for a number of
years the main thoroughfare to the Monongahela
River, though some travel came over "Dunlap's
road," which was much inferior to the military road
built by Burd, and, in fact, hardly more than a packhorse path. It left Braddock's road at the summit of
Laurel Hill, near the Big Rock, and extended to the
Monongahela at the mouth of Dunlap's Creek.
A road which was of considerable importance in
early years was that known as the "Turkey Foot
road," or "' Smith's' road," running from Shippensburg
to Uniontown. The east part of this road was being
constructed by Col. James Burd during Gen. Braddock's march to the Monongahela in 1755. It passed
from Shippensburg through Raytown (Bedford) west,
and was intended to pass by Turkey Foot and join
Braddock's road in what is now Fayette County, for
the purpose of facilitating the transportation of supplies to the army. It had been opened at great labor
and expense to the top of the Allegheny Mountains,
eighteen miles east of Turkey Foot, when the cowardly Pennsylvania Dutch wagoners canfe flying back
from Braddock's field with the fearful tidings of the
great disaster, and thereupon the construction parties engaged in building the road joined in the flight,
and the work was abandoned. Nothing more was
1 It received the name of " Smith's road" from the fact that James
Smith, a lad of about sixteen years, while employed with the party that
were building it on the Alleghenies in 1755, was captured by the Indians
and carried a prisoner to Fort Du Quesne, where he saw the departure
of the French and Indian for ce that defeated Braddock at Turtle Creek,
and also witnessed the horrid scenes that were enacted on their return
from the fatal field.
done upon it until after 1760, when its construction
was resumed and the road completed to Turkey Foot,
and was afterwards extended by a route passing a
little south of Sugar-Loaf Mountain and by Dunbar's
camp to Uniontown. From there it was opened to
Jackson's or Grace Church, from which place it was
identical with the old Brownsville road.
One of the earliest roads in this region (other than
those already mentioned) was one prayed for in a petition presented to the court of Westmoreland County
at the April term of 1773, viz.: " A publick road to
begin at or near the mouth of Fish-Pot run, about
five miles below the mouth of Ten-Mile Creek, on the
west side of the Monongahela River (it being a convenient place for a ferry, as also a good direction for
a road leading to the most western part of the settlement), thence the nearest and best way to the forks
of Dunlap's path and Gen. Braddock's road on
the top of Laurel Hill."
The viewers appointed on this road were John
Moore, Thomas Scott, Henry Beeson, Thomas Brownfield, James McClean, and Philip Shute. This was
the first petition for a road presented to the court of
Westmoreland after the erection of that county. At
the same time a petition was presented for a road from
Washington's Spring to Sewickley.
" A Road from near Redstone Old Fort to Henry
Beeson's Mill, and thence to intersect Braddock's
Road near the forks of Dunlap's road and said road
on the top of Laurel Hill," was petitioned for by inhabitants of Tyrone and Menallen townships at the
April sessions of 1774. Richard Waller, Andrew Linn,
Jr., William Calvin, Thomas Crooks, Henry Hart,
and Joseph Grayble were appointed viewers. One
reason given by the petitioners for desiring this road
was that some of them were frequently obliged to
carry their corn twenty miles to the mill of Henry
Beeson at Union Town, "and in all probability, at
some seasons of the year, will ever have to do so."
"A road from Thomas Gist's to Paul Froman's
mill, near the Monongahela, and thence to his other
mill on Chartiers' Creek," was petitioned for at the
January sessions of 1774 of Westmoreland County
Court, and was ordered laid out. This road led from
Mount Braddock, northwest, by.way of where Perryopolis and Fayette City now stand, to Froman's Mill,
on Mingo Creek, Washington County. It was called
"Froman's road."
A road " from Beeson's Town [Uniontown], in the
Forks of Youghiogheny, to the Salt-Works [on Jacob's
Creek], and then eastward to Bedford Town," and a
road from Beeson's Town to Col. Cook's [Fayette
City], were petitioned for in the sessions of January,
1783 and 1784, respectively.
At the first session of Lord Dunmore's (Augusta
County, Va.) court, held at Pittsburgh, Feb. 22, 1775,
a number of viewers were appointed, among whom
were Capt. William Crawford and Van Swearingen,
residents within the Dresent territory of Favette
248INTERNAL IMPROVEIMENTS.
County, to view a road petitioned for, " to run from
Providence Mounce's [Mounts'] Mill, by Ausberger's
Ferry, to Catfish Camp." Mounts' Mill was in what
is now Connellsville township, and Catfish Camp was
thlle same as the present town of Washington, Pa.
A road from the foot of Laurel Hill, by William
Teagarden's ferry (on the Monongahela), fo the mouth
of Wheeling Creek (Virginia), was ordered by the
same Virginia court, on the 17th of May, 1775. The
starting-point of this road, at the foot of Laurel Hill,
is not designated, but it was of course in what is now
Fayette County, as the place where it was to cross the
Monongahela was not far above Brownsville. The
first- road viewed and laid out by order of the court
of Fayette County; in December, 1783, was that from
Uniontown to the mouth of Grassy Run, on Cheat
River, this being part of a road which had been
petitioned for to the Westmoreland County Court
(before the erection of Fayette), to run from Stewart's
Crossings (Connellsville), through Uniontown, to the
Cheat. It was ordered to be opened, cut, cleared, and
bridged, thirty-three feet wide.
A petition was presented to the same court for " a
road from Union Town to the Broadford on the River
Youghiogeni," and another "for a Road from the
mouth of Whitely's Creek, on the River Monongahela, to David Johns' Mill, and thence to Daniel
McPeck's." The court at the June sessions of 1784
ordered this road to be opened, cut, cleared, and
bridged; thirty-three feet wide.  This was known as
the Sandy Creek Road.
At the September sessions of 1784 there was presented to the court:
"The Petition of Sundry of the Inhabitants of Fayette
County and others, showing to the Court that as the intercourse
from Redstone Old Fort along the River side is now very considerable upon account of the number of Boats for Passengers
which are almost continually building in different parts along
the river side, and as there is now a very good grist- and sawmill at the mouth of big Redstone, and no Waggon road as yet
laid off from Redstone Old Fort to the Mill, nor firom thence
to the mouth of little Redstone and to Colonel Edward Cook's.
As the Petitioners conceive that a goo(d road in that direction
would be of general public utility to inhabitants, and likewise
of great convenience to Strangers, the Petitioners therefore
pray the Court to appoint six men to view the said Road, and
if necessary to lay out the same from Redstone Old Fort to the
mouth of big Redstone, from thence to the mouth or near the
mouth of little Redstone, and from thence to Colonel Edward
Cook's. Whereupon it is considered by the Court, and ordered,
that Bazil Brown, Senior, Samuel Jackson, William Forsythe,
William Goe, John Stephens, and Andrew Linn, Junior, do view
the ground over which, by the prayer of the Petitioners, the
said Road is desired to pass, and if they or any of them see it
necessary, that they lay out a road according to the prayer of
the said Petition, the nearest and best way the ground will
admit of, and with the least injury to the settlements thereabouts, and make report of their proceedings therein by courses
and Distances to the next Court."
At the next following December sessions the viewers
made their report on this road, and it was ordered laid
out. Among the numerous other roads petitioned for
in the early years (many of which, however, were
never opened) the court records show the following:
1784.-Road from Miller's Ferry, on the Monongahela River, to the Widow Moore's, on Sandy Creek,
to join the Maryland road.
" Road from Josiah Crawford's Ferry, on the Monongahela River, to Uniontown." This road ran to
Sarnuel Douglass' mill and to Dunlap's Creek at Amos
Hough's mill, intersecting the road from James Crawford's Ferry to Uniontown.
1787.-" Road from Moorecraft's Ferry, on the river
Youghioganie, to Cornelius Woodruff's on Chestnut
Ridge-granted."
"Road from the Monongahela River, opposite to
the mouth of Pike's Run, to join the road from
Swearingen's Ferry to Uniontown.?'
"Road from Redstone Old Fort to the southern
line of the State."
1788.--"Road from Friends' Meeting-House to
Redstone."
"Road from Zachariah Connell's [Connellsville) to
Isaac Meason's, on Jacob's Creek."
1789.-" Road from Isaac Jackson's to Stewart's
Crossing and Connell's Ferry."
"Road from Union Town to' Robert McClean's
Ferry on Monongahela River."
" Road from the ferry of Thomas McGibbins, just
below the old Redstone Fort on the Monongahela
River, to Septimus Cadwallader's Grist- and SawMill, and from there to intersect the road from the
Friends' Meeting-House to the ferry aforesaid, near
the mouth of Joseph Graybill's Lane."
"Road from Brownsville, by Samuel Jackson's
Mill, in a direction to Gebhart's Mill on Jacob's
Creek."
1790.-"Petition for a private road from Griffin's
Mill to the great road from Jonathan Rees' Mill to
Hyde's Ferry, at or near the house of Enoch Abrahams."
1791.-" Road from Jacob's Creek Iron-Works to
John Van Meter's Ferry."
1793.-" Road from the ferry on the Monongahela
River, at Frederick Town, to the road from James
Crawford's Ferry to Uniontown."
1794.-" Road from Kinsey Virgin's Ferry towards
Brownsville."
"Road from Davidson's Ferry, on the Monongahela River, to the Union Town Road."
"Road from the County line to Alliance Furnace."
"Road fromn Meason's Iron-Works to the mouth of
Big Redstone."
"Road from Krepps' Ferry to the bridge at the
mouth of Dunlap's Creek."
"Road from Joseph Neal's Ferry, on the Monongahela River, to the Sandy Creek road-granted."
" Road from Jasper Elting's, at the foot of Chestnut Ridge, to Mr. Smilie's fording."
I
T'249HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
1796.-" Road from Redstone Old Fort, by McFarland's Ford, on Cheat River, to Morgantown."
It would of course be impracticable, if not wellnigh impossible, to give an account of the multitude
of roads which have been opened from time to time
in later years, but mention of some of the most important ones will be found in the histories of the several townships.
BRIDGES.
In the records of the county commissioners, entries
are found at various times having reference to the
building of bridges over the different streams in the
county as follows:
Jan. 7, 1796.-Samuel Jackson received ~50, being
the last payment on a bridge constructed by him over
Redstone Creek.
March 12, 1801.-The commissioners addressed a
letter to the commissioners of Westmoreland County
on the subject of a proposed iron bridge across Jacob's
Creek.
April 9, 1801.-Letter received from the commissioners of Westmoreland, requesting a meeting of the
two boards, with Col. Isaac Meason, on the bank of
Jacob's Creek, on the next following Tuesday, "to
consult and complete contract relative to James Finley, Esq., undertaking to erect an Iron Bridge over
Jacob's Creek, and it is agreed that John Fulton and
Andrew Oliphant proceed to business."
April 14, 1801.-The commissioners of Fayette and
Westmoreland Counties met and completed contract
with James Finley to build a bridge supported with
iron at or near Isaac Meason's, over Jacob's Creek,
for the sum of six hundred dollars, one-half to be
paid out of the treasury of Fayette, and one-half out
of the treasury of Westmoreland. The bridge to be
" a patent Iron chain suspension" structure of seventy
feet span, and to be completed ready for use on or before Dec. 15, 1801. This bridge over Jacob's Creek,
on the turnpike road between Connellsville and
Mount Pleasant, was the first iron suspension bridge
erected in the State of Pennsylvania. The plan on
which it was built was invented and patented by
Judge James Finley, of Fayette County. Another
bridge of this kind was built a few years later over
Dunlap's Creek, at Bridgeport. The plan, however,
proved defective and the bridges unsafe, the one last
named falling under the weight of a team and ordinary wagon-load, after having been in use less than
ten years.
Oct. 9, 1801.-The commissioners made a contract
with David Barnes, of Connellsville, "to build a
frame bridge over Indian Creek, to be completed
against the first of July next, he to receive $324.99, in
three equal payments." This bridge was completed
and accepted by the commissioners July 5, 1802.
Oct. 27, 1801.-Commissioners met at Bridgeport
to view the bridge over Dunlap's Creek at that place,
and having done so, authorized Isaac Rogers, Septimus Cadwallader, and Andrew Porter to repair the
bridge at a cost not exceeding $300. An account of
the several bridges over Dunlap's Creek between
Brownsville and Bridgeport will be given in the history of the former borough.
July 3, 1802.-Cornmissioners contracted with Timothy Smith' to build a bridge over Dunlap's Creek,
near the house of Nathaniel Breading, for $123.50.
Feb. 3, 1803.-"Agreeable to an Order from the
Court of Quarter Sessions, the commissioners proceeded to Sandy Creek to sell and contract for the
building of a bridge over the said creek, agreeable to
notice given in the Newspaper of the County."  The
sale was made to Enos West, the lowest bidder, at
$249. The bridge was accepted by the commissioners
Jan. 5, 1804.
Nov. 11, 1808.-Completed bridge over Georges
Creek, near New Geneva, accepted by commissioners.
Dec. 8, 1808.-Commissioners contracted with Jesse
Forsythe for building a bridge over Redstone Creek at
$1200. Completed in August, 1809.
Aug. 6, 1833.-Commissioners agreed with George
Marietta to build a new wooden bridge over Jacob's
Creek, in place of the old Finley chain suspension
bridge, for $267. The iron of the old bridge sold to
Nathaniel Mitchell for $90.
April 3, 1834.--Commissioners contracted with
George Marietta for building a bridge over Redstone
Creek, at the crossing of the State road leading to
Pittsburgh. Contract price, $375.
1838.1-Bridge over Mounts' Creek, on road leading
from Connellsville to Pittsburgh.
1839.-Bridge over Dunbar Creek, on road from
Connellsville to Laurel Furnace.
1839.-Bridge over Big Redstone Creek, on road
from Brownsville to Cookstown.
1839.--Bridge over Big Redstone, at Sharpless'
Paper-Mill.
1840.-Over Downer's Creek, at or near Cookstown.
1840.-Over Dunlap's Creek, at Merrittstown (rebuilding).
1841.-Over Dunlap's Creek, on road leading from
Brownsville to Morgantown road.
1842.-Over branch of Redstone Creek, "where
the great road leading from Uniontown to Pittsburgh
crosses, at Mitchell's Tilt-Hammer."
1846.-Over Jacob's Creek, road from Uniontown
to Greensburg.
1848.-Over Jacob's Creek, on road from Detwiler's
Mill to Mount Pleasant.
1850.-Over Jennings' Run, on Pittsburgh State
road (Union and Menallen townships).
1850.-Over Redstone Creek, near James M. Lynn's
mill (Redstone and Jefferson townships).
1850.-Over Jacob's Creek; at Tyrone Mills.
1 The list of bridges built in Fayette County in the different years
from 1838 to 1881 has been gatliered from the commissioners' records
by Thomas Hazen, Esq., a meiiber of the present (1881) board.
i
250INTE}RNAL IMPROVEMENTS.
1850.-Over Mounts' Creek, on Connellsville and
Pittsburgh road.
1851.-Over Georges Creek, at Crow's Mill.
1851.-Over Jacob's Creek, near Stouffer's Mill (in
conjunction with Westnmoreland County).
1851.-Over Brown's Run, at Cookstown.
1851.-Over York's Run, on road from Geneva to
Uniontown (Nicholson township).
1851.-Over Redstone Creek, at Cook's Mill, lower
ford (Redstone and Franklin townships).
1851.-Over Indian Creek, road from Connellsville
to Somerset (in Springfield township).
1852.-Over Dickerson's Creek (Dunbar and Franklin townships), road leading to Connellsville.
1852.-Over Georges Creek, at Long's FullingMill, on Morgantown road.
1852.-Over Dunlap's Creek, near Finley's Mill
(Luzerne and Menallen townships), road from Davidson's Ferry to National road.
1852.-Over Georges Creek (Nicholson and Spring
Hill townships), road from Virginia line to Brownsville.
1852.-Over Redstone Creek, near Clement's Mill
(North Union).
1852.-Over Dunbar Creek, near Spear's Mill (Dunbar township).
1852.-Over Redstone Creek, lower ford, Jonathan Sharpless' mill.
1852.-Over Brown's Run, at James Williams'
(German township).
1852.-Over Robinson's Run (Dunbar), one-half
mile west of New Haven.
~ 1852.-Over Indian Creek (Springfield township),
where Clay pike crosses.
1852.-Over Georges Creek (Georges township),
road leading from Smithfield to Morgantown.
1853.-Over Sandy Creek, at Elliott's Mills.
1853.-Over Dunlap's Creek, "at Young's SawMill or one mile up" (Redstone and Luzerne).
1853.-Over Little Redstone (Fayette City), " near
saw-mill dam of William E. Frazier."
1854.-Over Youghiogheny River, at Ohio Pile
(Stewart township).
1855.-Over Meadow  Run, "where Turkeyfoot
road crosses said road, in township of Wharton."
1855.--Over Little Redstone Creek, on State road,
near line between Jefferson and Washington townships.
1856.-Over Rowe's Run, near Redstone Creek
(Redstone township).
1857.-Over Georges Creek (Georges township),
on road from Smithfield by way of Spring Hill to
Morgantown.
1858.-Over Dunlap's Creek, near Elijah Van
Kirk's (Redstone and Luzerne).
1859.--Over Crabapple Run, at Redstone Creek
(Franklin and Jefferson townships).
1859.-Over Trump's Run, on road from Connellsville to Indian Cireek (Connellsville township).
1861.-Over Rush's Run (Luzerne township), on
road from Brownsville to Fredericktown.
1861.-Over Jacob's Creek, near John M. Stouffer's,
on road from Broad Ford into Westmoreland County.
1862.-Over Youghiogheny River, at Ohio Pile
(bridge of 1854 rebuilt).
1863.-Over Indian Creek, on road from Springfield
to Somerset.
1863.-Over Jacob's Creek, on public highway leading to Mount Pleasant.
1864.--Over Redstone Creek, at Work's Mill'
(Menallen and Franklin).
1868.-Over Redstone Creek, at Cook's Mill,2 upper ford (Franklin and Redstone townships).
1869.-Over Little Sandy Creek (Wharton township), road from Haydentown to Somerfield, on farm
of R. P. McClellan.
1869.--Over Perkins' Run (Springfield township),
on road from Springfield to Petersburg.
1871.-Over Redstone Creek, Fayette Street, in
borough of Uniontown.
1871.--Over Big Meadow Run, on road from Ohio
Pile to Farmington (Stewart and Wharton townships).
1871.--Over Cisely's Run, Fayette City Borough,
south of town.
1871.-Over Dunlap's Creek, one-half mile below
Merrittstown (Redstone and Luzerne).
1871.-Over Meadow Run, near S. Rush's (Wharton township).
1874.-Over Jacob's Creek, between Ray's Ford
and Cunningham's Ford (by Tyrone township and
Westmoreland County jointly).
1874.-Over Jacob's Creek (Bullskin township),
where the road to Mount Pleasant crosses, at Walker's Ford 4one-half expense agreed to be paid by citizens of Westmoreland County).
1875.-Over Redstone Creek, at Cook's Mill (lower
ford). A rebuilding of the bridge of 1851, which
had been carried away by flood.
1875.-Over Redstone Creek, upper ford.  Rebuilding of the bridge built in 1868, and carried away
by flood.
1875.-Over Cook's Run (Washington township),
between mill-dam and stable of N. Brightwell.
1875.-Over Galley's Run, at Broadford (Connellsville and Tyrone).
1875.-Over Little Sandy Creek, east of Shinbone
(Wharton township).
1875.-Over Cox's Run (Luzerne township).
1875.-Over Little Redstone Creek, at Armell's
Mill, one mile south of Fayette City.
1876.-Over Redstone Creek, at Linn's Mill (Redstone and Jefferson).
1877.--Over Redstone Creek, at Parkhill's Mill
(bridge rebuilt).
1 Calried away by flood in 1876.
2 Carrie( away by flood, and rebuilt in 1875.
I
251HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
1877.-Over Jacob's Creek, above Everson to Scottdale.
1877.-Over Redstone Creek, in Uniontown Borough, on "read leading to Hogsett's."
1877.-Over Redstone Creek, at Vance's Mill (rebuilding).
1879.-Over Mounts' Creek, at steel-works, Connellsville Borough, bridge rebuilt.
1880.-Over Redstone Creek, near residence of
Isaac Lynn.
1880.-Over Mounts' Creek, at brick-works (Bullskin township).
1881.-Over Brown's Run, on line of Georges and
German townships.
THE NATIONAL, OR CUMBERLAND ROAD.
The. first and the most earnest, as he was also the
most illustrious of all the advocates of a great national
highway to cross the Alleghenies and connect the remlote settlements of the Ohio Valley with the country
east of the mountains, was Gen. George Washington.
One of the first objects to which he gave his attention
after his retirement from the command of the Revolutionary armies was a careful examination of the country
between the Potomac and the Monongahela, to note the
advantages offered and the obstacles to be surmounted
in the great public enterprise which he had in view.
Even at that early time he had in contemplation the
possibility of a canal, to form a water-carriage between the Potomac and Youghiogheny Rivers, but as
such an enterprise would involve a heavy expense
(the extent of which he probably but faintly realized)
a good substitute would be a substantially built road,
the opening of which he believed to be necessary to
bind together the eastern and western sections of the
States which his sword had made free andaindependent.'
It was in the year 1784 that Washington made his
exploring-trip from the Potomac to the Ohio. From
Cumberland to the Laurel Hill, he passed through a
region with which he had been made familiar thirty
years before, by marching through it in his own campaign of 1754, and with Gen. Braddock in 1755. Arriving at the Youghiogheny, he embarked in a canoe
with an Indian pilot, and passed down that river to Ohio
Pile Falls, where he landed, and thence rode across
the country to the Monongahela, and up the valley of
1 The Hon. Andrew Stewart, of Fayette County, in a speecll delivered
by him at the village of Confluence, Somerset Co., on the occasion of
the opening of the railroad from Pittsburgh to Cumberland in 1871, said
that there had come into his hands a box of papers, among which were
many original reports, letters, and other manuscript in the handwriting
of Washington, who had himself given the box referred to to Gen. John
Mason, of Georgetown, D. C., and that he (Mr. Stewart) had found upon
examination of these letters and communications--many of them addressed to the Legislatures of Maryland and Virginia, as well as to
members of Congress and others-that Washington had constantly advocated the building of substantial roads across the mountains to the
Ohio Valley as the only means of keepiny the East and the West united, and
that without them, in the opinion of the writer, for many reasons, separation was inevitable.
that stream into Virginia. It is related of him that
in September of the year named he was on one occasion seated in a hunter's cabin near the Virginia line,
examining maps and asking questions of a number of
frontiersmen who stood around him, relative to the
passes of the mountains and the adaptability of the
country for the construction of the road which he had
in mind, when a young man of foreign appearance,
who was among the bystanders, volunteered an
opinion indicating a certain route which he believed
to be the best for the purpose. At this interruption
Washington regarded the speaker with surprise, and
with something of the imperious look of the commander-in-chief, but made no reply, and continued
his examination. Upon its completion the general
saw that the opinion expressed by the unknown
speaker was undoubtedly well founded, and turning to
him said, in a polite but decided way, "You are
right, young man; the route you have indicated is the
correct one." The young stranger proved to be Albert Gallatin, afterwards Secretary of the Treasury of
the United States, and one of the principal promoters
of the construction of the great National road to the
Ohio. It was here that Washington first formed his
acquaintance, and the friendship thus begun continued uninterrupted during the lifetime of the chief.
From the upper Monongahela, Washington passed
through the county of Washington to the Ohio River.  
Four years later he was elected President of the
United States, and during the eight years of his administration he continued a steadfast and earnest
advocate of the project of a great highway, to be constructed by the government, across the Alleghenids,
for the purpose of binding more firmly together the
eastern and western sections of the United States.
During the administration of President Adams (in
1797) the proposition for a road across the Alleghenies, to be built by the government, was brought up
in Congress, but no action was taken. Again, in 1801,
the subject was brought to the attention of Congress
in President Jefferson's first message to that body.
Some discussion ensued, but without result at that
time. On the 30th of April, 1802, an act of Congress was passed admitting Ohio into the Union as
a sovereign State, and by the provisions of that act
a one-twentieth part of the net proceeds of sales of
public lands in the new State, was set apart to be applied to the construction of roads from the Atlantic
sea-board over the Alleghenies to and across the Ohio.
This was the beginning of the legislation which resulted in the construction of the National road west
from Cumberland.2
2 Oil the 5th of March, 1804, the General Assembly of Pennsylvania
passed an act providing for the incorporation of the " Union and Cumberlalld Turnpike Road Company," appointing Ephraim Douglass, Alexander McClean, Nathaniel Breading, Isaac Meason, Jacob Beeson,
Jacob Bowman, Samuel Jackson, James W. Nicholson, Joseph Torrence,
Charles Porter, John Cunningham, Samuel Trevor, and John Gibson, of
Fayette County; John Heaton, John Minor, Hugh Barclay, and John
Badolet, of Greene County; Neal Gillespie, Zephaniah Bell, Thomas
I
I
I
I
2 --  INTERNAL IMPROVE.MIENTS.
OnI the 30thi of I)ceinber, 1805, tile Setlate of thle
United States passed a bill entitled " An Act to regulate the laying out and making a Road from Cumberland, in the State of Maryland, to the State of Ohio."
It was then debated and passed in the House of Representatives, and became a law March 29, 1806. The commissioners appointed by the President under this act to
lay outthe proposed road from Cumberland to the Ohio
River were Col. Eli Williams and Thomas Moore, of
Maryland, and Joseph Kerr, of Ohio, who proceeded
to examine the country through which it was to pass,
and without having fixed upon that part of the route
west of the Monongahela, made their first report,
which was presented to Congress, with the message of
President Jefferson, Jan. 31, 1807. In a special message to Congress, Feb. 19, 1808, referring to the report
of the commissioners, he said, "I have approved of
the route therein proposed for the said road as far as
Brownsville, with a single deviation, since located,
which carries it through Uniontown. From thence,
the course to the Ohio and the point within the legal
limits at which it shall strike that river is still to be
decided."
In 1811, Congress passed "An Act in addition to
the act to regulate the laying out and making a
road from Cumberland, in the State of Maryland,
to the State of Ohio," by which it was provided,
"That the sum of fifty thousand dollars be, and is
hereby, appropriated in making said road between
Cumberland, in the State of Maryland, and Brownsville, in the State of Pennsylvania, commencing at
Cumberland, which sum of fifty thousand dollars shall
Acheson, James Kerr, and Joseph Pentecost, of Washington County,
and Thomas Spencer, Abraham  Morrison, James Mitchell, and John
McClean, of Somerset County, commissionetrs to receive subscriptions
to the capital stock of the said company, which was to be incorporated
under the act for the purpose of "making an artificial road from the
western side of Laurel Hill, nlear Union-town, to the State line, in a
direction towards Cumberland, in the State of Maryland."
It was provided and declared by the act, "That the President, Managers, and Company shall have a right to cause a road to be laid out [on
the route indicated] sixty feet wide, and at least twenty feet thereof to
be made an artificial road bedded with wood, stone, gravel, or any other
hard substance well compacted together, and of sufficient depth to secu re
a solid foundation to the same, in such manner as to secure, as near as
the materials will admit of, a firm and even surface, risirng towards the
middle by a gradual arch, and so nearly level in its progress that it
shall in no place rise or fall more than will formn an angle of five and a
half degrees with a horizontal litre, and shtlll forever hereafter maintain
and keep the same in good and perfect order and repair firom thle town
of Union to the State line aforesaid."
The comrpany was empowered to erect toll-gates and collect toll on the
road, the work to be commenced within six years, and completed withinl
ten years frormr the date of the act, under penalty of forfeiture of its
franchises, and the State to have ttle right of taking the road at any
time after 1830 by reimbursing to the company the cost of its constrllction.
It is apparent that the projected turnpike was to be an eastern thoroughfare, not only for the people of Fayette and Somerset Counties,
through which it was to pass, but also for the inhabitants of Washington and Greene Counties, arnd was eventually to be extended west of
the Monongahela. Butt the act of Congress passed soon afterwards
providing for the construction of the National road caused the abandonment of the project for constructing the Union and Cumberland turnpike.
17
be replaced out of the fund reserved for laying out
and making roads to the State of Ohio, by virtue of
the seventh section of an act passed on the 30th of
April, 1802."
The first contracts, in sections, for the first ten miles
from Cumberland bear date April 16th and May 8,
1811. These were finished in the fall of 1812. The
next letting was of eleven miles more, to Tomlinson's,
in August, 1812, which were Ilearly completed in
1814. From Tomlinson's to Smithfield, eighteen
miles were let in August, 1813, but not finished until
1817, owing to the scarcity of laborers during the
war, war prices, and the fear of failure of some of the
contractors. The next letting was of about six and
a half miles west of Smithfield, in September, 1815,
in sections, to John Hagan, Doherty, McGlaughlin
and Bradley, William Aull, and Evans and Ramsay.
In February, 1817, about five miles more were let
[carrying the road to Braddock's Grave] to Ramsay
and McGravey, John Boyle, D. McGlaughlin and
Bradley, and Charles McKinney. And in May, 1817,
it was let about nine miles farther, to Uniontown, to
Hagan and McCann, Mordecai and James Cochran
(large and popular contractors), Thompson McKean,
and Thomas and Matthew Blakeley.
It has already been noticed in President Jefferson's
special message to Congress on the 19th of February, 1808, that he had approved and adopted the
route recommended by the. commissioners from Cumberland to Brownsville, on the Monongahela, with the
exception of a part of it in Fayette County, which the
commissioners had laid out in such a manner as to
leave Uniontown in an isolated position away from
the line of the road. This action of the commissioners caused no little consternation at the county-seat,
for it was believed that the town would be ruined if
the great Cumberland road should be laid out to pass
at a distance from  it.  But the matter was taken in
hand by Gen. Ephraim  Douglass and others of the
most influential citizens of the place, who represented
the case to President Jefferson so effectively that he
changed the route to pass through Uniontown, as
indicated in his message. Thus the route was established as far west as Brownsville, but westward from
that point to the Ohio it was left undetermined.
There was great rivalry and jealousy existing between the several eligible points on the Ohio, for it
was believed that wherever the road should strike
the eastern shore of that river there would spring up
a flourishing city. The people of the inland towns
lying between Brownsville and the Ohio (especially
those of the towIl of Washington 1) were exceedingly
1 When it became known by the publication of President Jefferson's
message (above referred to) that the route of the National road had been
fixed between Cumberland and Brownsville, but not west of the latter
point, the people of Washington took measures (as those of Unjiontown
had previously done) to secure the location of the route of the road
through their town. David Acheson, Esq., who had bleen elected to the
State Legislature in 1795 on the Republican ticket with Albert Gallatin
to Congress, and who in that capacity represented Washington County
253HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
of one thousand French and upwards,' under cor
mand of Capt. Contrecceur, who was come down fro
Venango with sixty bateaux and three hundred canoe
and who, having planted eighteen pieces of cannc
against the fort, afterwards had sent him a summoi
to depart."
Ensign Ward, as before mentioned, arrived at Will
Creek on the 22d.  Washington, on receiving Ward
account of the surrender of the fort to the Frencl
convened a council of war.at Wills' Creek to dete:
mine on the proper course to be pursued in this ex
gency. The council was held on the 23d, aiid decide
"that it would be proper to advance as far as Re(
stone Creek, on Monongahela, about thirty-seve
miles on this side of the fort, and there to raise a foI
tification, clearing a road broad enough to pass wit
all our artillery and baggage, and there to wait fo
fresh orders." The reasons for this decision werE
" First, That the mouth of Redstone is the first con
venient place on the river Monongahela. Second, Tha
stores are already built at that place for the provision
of the company, wherein our ammunition may b
laid up; our great guns may be also sent by wate,whenever we should think it convenient to attack th
fort.  Third, We may easily (having all these con
veniences) preserve our people from  the ill conse
quences of inaction, and encourage the Indians, ou]
allies, to remain in our interests." When the counci
had arrived at this decision, Ensign WVard was sen!
forward to acquaint Governor Dinwiddie with thl
facts as well as to make his own report, taking iith
him  an interpreter, and one of the young Indians
while another Indian runner was sent to the Half:
King, at the Ohio, to notify him of the projected advance of the Virginians.2  " I thought it proper also,"
said Washington," to acquaint the Governors of Maryland and Pennsylvania of the news."
After a few brief preparations Washington's forces
moved out on the path leading to the Great Crossings
of the Youghiogheny, cutting out the road as they
proceeded; so that it was not until the 9th of May
that they reached the Little Crossings (Castleman's
River).  While they were at this place (May  lth)
Washington sent out a reconnoitring party-of twentyfive men under command of Capt. Stephen and Ensign Peyronie, with orders to scout along the line of
advance, as far as Gist's place, " to inquire where La
Force3 and his party were,-and in case they were in
1 Ward overestimated the numbers of Contrecoeur's force, as it was
very natural that he should do, under the circumstances.
2 The Half-King had sent by some of his Indians to Washington, at
Wills' Creek, an address or speech with belts of wampum. To that
speech Wasllington now sent back by the runner a written reply, assuring him of the friendship and gratitude of the English, and that they
were moving towards the Ohio in force, and clearing a road for a much
larger army, with great guns. He also requested the Half-King to come
up apd meet him on the way, to assist him by his wise counsel. To this
request Tanacharison responded by meeting Washington between the
Toughiogheny and Gist's, as will be seen.
3 La Force was a Frenchman, who had been sent out from Fort du
Quesne about the first of May with a small party of French aad Indians'
n-  the neighborhood, to cease pursuing, and take care of
m   themselves;" and, also, "to examine closely all the
es, woods round about," and if any straggling Frenchman
)n  should be found away from the others, to capture, and
ns  bring him in to be examined for information. " We
were exceedingly desirous," said Washington, "to
Is' know if there was any possibility of sending down
I's  anything by water, as also to find out some convenient
h, place about the mouth of Red Stone Creek, where we
r-  could build a fort."
i-  ]Washington's forces remained three days at the
d  Little Crossings. Some accounts have it that they
d- made the long halt at this place for the purpose of
n  building a bridge over the river, but this is rendered
r-  improbable by the following entry, having reference to
h  the.day on which they moved on from their three days'
)r  encampment, viz.: "May the 12th.--Marched away,
e, and went on a rising ground, where we halted to dry
i-  ourselves, for we had been obliged to ford a deep river,
it  where our shortest men had water up to tbeir arm-pits."
s On the same day Washington received, by courier,
e  letters informing him that Col. Fry was at Winchester
r  with upwards 6f one hundred men, and would start in
e  a few. days to join the advance detachment; also that
Colonel Innis was on the way with three hundred and
fifty Carolinians. On the 16th the column met two
r  traders, who said they were fleeing for fear of the
1  French,-parties of whom had been seen near Gist's.
t  These traders told Washington that they believed it
e  to be impossible to clear a road over which wagons or
1 artillery-pieces could be taken to the mouth of Redstone Creek. On the 17th, Ensign VWard rejoined
Washington, having come from Williamsburg, with
a letter from the Governor, notifying him that Captain
Mackay, with an independent company of one hundred men, exclusive of officers, was on the way, and
that he might expect them at any day. Two Indians
came in from  "the Ohio" the same evening, and
reported that the French at Fort du Quesne were expecting reinforcements sufficient to nlake their total
force sixteen hundred men.
On the 18th the column reached the Great Crossings
of the Youghiogheny (Somerfield), where the companies encamped, and remained several days.  The
halt at this place was necessary to wait for lower water
in the river, which had been swollen by recent rains;
but besides this, the young commander wished to examine the stream below, hoping to find that it was
navigable for bateaux, or canoes of sufficient size to
carry cannon and stores. It is not improbable that
the opinions so confidently expressed by the two fugitive traders, who came in on the 16th, and others, as'
to the impossibility of opening a practicable road for
gulns and heavy material to the mouth of Redstone
Creek, had impressed him so strongly as to cause him
ostensibly for the purpose of capturing deserters; but Washitngton, who
had received information from an Indian runner sent by the Half-King,
believed they lhad other purposes in view, and therefore ordered tlhe
reconnoissance.
28254         HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
anxious lest the road should be finally located at a
distance from them. The question of the location
of the road between the Monongahela and the Ohio
was a very delicate and difficult one for the commissioners to decide, and in their report to President
Jefferson they left it open, with the remark that " in
this is to be consulted the wishes of that populous
section of Ohio and the connections with roads leaditig to St. Louis under the act of 1806." Afterwards
(in the same year) they made, by direction of the
President, an examination of the route from Brownsville by way of the town of Washington to Wheeling;
but no final location of that part of the route was made
then, nor until several years later. When James
Madison became President of the United States he
confirmed the action of his predecessor, Jefferson, in
reference to the location of the road from Cumberland
to Brownsville, and in 1815, soon after the declaration
of peace with Great Britain, he directed the commissioners, Williams, Moore, and Kerr, to proceed with
the examination and survey of the route between the
Monongahela and Ohio Rivers. This was done under
their direction in the fall of that year and in the
winter of 1815-16, by their engineer, Caspar Wever,
of Weverton, Md. Two principal routes were surveyed, one through the borough of Washington,
at different times dur'ing the administrations of Washington and Jefferson, wrote to Gallatin (who was then Secretary of the Treasury, and
always onl terms of intimate friendship witlh Mr. Acheson), soliciting
his influence and co-operation in favor of the location of the road through
the town of Washingtoll to Wheeling. To this letter and request of MIr.
Acheson, Gallatin replied as follows:
" NEW YORK, Septer. 1st, 1808
"DAVID ACHESON, ESQ.,
" WASHINGTON, PA.
"DEAR SIR: On receipt of yr letter respecting the western road, I immediately transmitted it to the President at Monticello. I was under
the impression that he had previously directed the Commissioners to
examine both routes,  to report to him.-It seems however that it had
not then been yet done. But on the 6th ult. lie wrote to them'to make
an examination of the l,est rolite through Washington to Wheeling 
also to Short Creek or any other poinlt on the river offering a more advantageous route towards Chilicothe  Cincintnati,  to report to him
the material facts with their opinions for consideration.'
"That it is the sincere wish of the President to obtain all the necessary
illformation in order that the road should pursue the route which will
be of the greatest public utility no doubt can exist. So far as relates
to myself, after having with much difficulty obtained the creation of a
fund for opening a great western road  the act pointing out its general
direction, it is sufficiently evident from the spot on the Monongahela
which the road strikes that if there was any subsequenlt interference on
my part it was not of a selfish nature. Buit the fact is that in the execution of the law I thought myself an improperi person, from the situation of my property, to take the direction which would naturally have
been placed in my hands,  requested the Presidelnt to undertake the
general superintendence himself.
"Accept the assuranice of friendly remembrance  of my sincere wishes
for your welfare  happiness.
"Your obedt. servt.,
" ALBERT GALLATIN."
From this letter it appears that the action of the commissioners, prior
to the correspondence between Mr. Acheson and Mr. Gallatin, was unfavorable to the clainis of Washington, and that President Jefferson on
receipt of Mr. Acheson's letter hlad promptly interfered in order to have
the route surveyed which was finally adopted, his specific instructions to
the commissioners favoring Washington as an intermediate point, and
Wheeling thus became the point of inltersection witlh thle Ohio River.
and the other through the south part of Washington
County, leaving the town of Washington several miles
to the northward. The topography of the country
rendered the last-named route the more favorable of
the two, and it was so regarded by the engineer and
the commissioners; but the influence of Washington
Borough again prevailed (as it had done seven years
before in causing President Jefferson to order an
examination of the route by way of the town), and
President Madison, after carefully considering the
commissioners' report on the survey, decided in favor
of the northern route by way of Washington. His
decision was communicated to the commissioners in a
letter written by Mr. Dallas, under direction of the
Secretary of the Treasury, as follows:
" TREASURY DEPARTMENT, June 2, 1816.
"GENTLEMEN,-The President has confirmed the
road surVeyed and returned by you,-lst, so far as
it runs from Cumberland through Uniontown to
Brownsville, in Pennsylvania, with certain deviations which have been made by Mr. Shriver, the
superintendent, and approved by the President; and
2d, so far as it runs from the 113th mile on your
survey to Wheeling, on the river Ohio. - He has also
determined that the route of the road shall run from
Brownsville through Washington and Alexandria to
intersect the course of your survey at the 113th mile,
continuing thence to Wheeling. I am therefore instructed by the President to request that you will
proceed, as soon as you conveniently can, with the
assistance authorized by law, to explore, lay out, and
report for his consideration, upon the principles of
the act of the 29th of March, 1806, the course for the
road from Brownsville to the 113th mile, as above
stated, and also the course of the deviations from the
original route proposed by the commissioners which
have been made or are contemplated to be made between Cumberland and Uniontown. It is the President's object to obtain a return of the entire course
of the road to constitute a record, and to perpetuate
the claim of the United States to the ground over
which it runs. To avoid delay the attendance of any
two or more of you is deemed sufficient for the present object. You will be so good as to give notice to
Mr. Shriver, the superintendent, of the time of your
entering upon the survey, and he will be instructed
to give you all the information and assistance in his
power. As Mr. Parker Campbell and Mr. [Thomas
H.] Baird, of Washington, have made proposals to
construct the road from Brownsville to Washington,
I wish you also to notify them of your commencement and progress in the survey.
"I am, very respectfully,
" Gentlemen,
" Your obedient servant,
" A. J. DALLAS.
"To Messrs. Eli Williams, )
Thomas Moore,  Commissioners."
Joseph Kerr,INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.
The one hundred and thirteenth mile of the coininissioners' survey (meaning the route laid through
the southern part of Washington County, and not
that passing by Washington Borough) was near the
Virginia line, west of the village of West Alexanderl (mentioned in the above letter as " Alexandria").
Thus, by the decision of President Madison, as cominunicated by Mr. Dallas to the commissioners, the
entire route of the road from Cumberland to the Ohio
was fixed as to prominent points, and only lacked the
final survey of that part lying between Brownsville
and the point indicated west of West Alexander.
This final survey was made under direction of the
commissioners, immediately after receipt of their instructions to that effect, and being returned to the
President, was by him approved and adopted.
The route of the road was divided for construction
into an eastern and a western division, the former
(which was to be first completed) extending from
Cumberland through Uniontown to a point about
one mile east of Brownsville, and the western division
extending from  that point through the town of
Washington to the Ohio at Wheeling. The superintendent appointed for the eastern division was
David Shriver, of Cumberland, Md. The western
division was in June, 1816, placed in charge of Col.
Eli Williams, one of the commissioners, who acted as
" agent of the United States" for that division until
the appointment of Josias Thompson'(previously engineer of the division) as superintendent, in May, 1817.
The contract for building the road from Cumberland to Uniontown was awarded, as has been mentioned, to a number of contractors, by whom the work
was prosecuted with extraordinary energy. With regard to the rapid building of the road by these contractors, A. L. Littell, Esq., a former resident of Fayette County, but now of Cleveland, Ohio, writes: "I
was there to see it located, and the stakes stuck down
the mountain, across the old commons south of Woodstock [afterwards Monroe], and so on west, before
there was a shovelf'ul of earth displaced, and also to
see that great contractor, Mordecai Cochran, its
builder, with his immortal Irish brigade, a thousand
strong, with their carts, wheel-barrows, picks, shovels,
and blasting-tools, grading those commons and climbing the long mountain-side up to Point Lookout, like
a well-trained army, and leaving behind thein as
they went a roadway good enough for an emperor to
travel over." The firm of Kincaid  Co. (composed
of James Kincaid, James Beck, Gabriel Evans, John
Kennedy, and John Miller, the last two named being
residents of Uniontown) afterwards contracted with
Superintendent Shriver for the construction of the
road from Uniontown to the western end of the eastern division, and also for masonry at the Monongahela (which was sub-let to George Dawson), and between that river and the town of Washington.
Through Washington County, from a point two
miles west of the Monongahela and extending thence
to the Virginia line, the construction of the roadway
was contracted to Messrs. Thomas McGiffin, Thomas
H. Baird, and Parker Campbell, of the borough of
Washington; the contract for that part extending
from a point two miles east- of Washington westward
to the State line being awarded to them in March,
1817, by Col. Williams, as agent for the United States,
and the part extending eastward from the eastern end
of their first contract to within two miles of the Monongahela being let to them in 1819, by David Shriver,
who had superseded Josias Thompson as superintendent of the western division. A part of McGiffin, Baird,
and Campbell's contract, viz., all that part east of the
town of Hillsborough, in Washington County, was
turned over by them to William and John H. Ewing,
who were thereupon considered as distinct, original
contractors with the government.
The eastern portion of the road, on which work
was first commenced, was pushed so vigorously that it
was open for travel, with scarcely a break, westward to
the Youghiogheny River in the summer of 1817.
On the 1st of August in 1818 the first stage-coach
from Cumberland, carrying the United States mail for
the West, left that place by the National road, and
passing over the completed part of the eastern division to Fayette County, Pa., and also over other
completed parts of the western division, between the
town of Washington and the Virginia line, arrived
in due time at Wheeling, on the Ohio. In the Uniontown newspaper, the Genius of Liberty, of August 8,
1818, it' was announced that "the stages have commenced running from Frederick Town, Md., to Wheeling, in Virginia, following the course of the National
road westward of Cumberland.  This great road,
truly an honor to the United States, will be finished
from Cumberland to this place in a few months, and
from Brownsville to Wheeling, it is expected, in the
course of next summer, leaving only a distance of
twelve miles between Uniontown and Brownsville;"
In the fall of the same year the road was announced
as completed to Uniontown, though some of the
heavy masonry east of the town was not at that time
finished. For some reason which is not wholly apparent, the work had not been contracted for from Uniontown to the west end of the eastern division (a point
one mile and ninety-six rods east from the Mononga-  
hela at Brownsville), though the section extending from
this latter point to another point about two miles west of
the Monongahela (including a large amount of heavy
work on the approaches to the river,' particularly on
2 The government did not bridge the Monongahela for the passage of
the National road. The bridge which was built across that river, years
after the completion of the road, for the accommodation of the immense
travel which it brougllt, was built by an incorporated company, mention
of which will be found in the history of the borough of Bridgeport.
1 The one hundred and thirteenth mile of the route, which was afterwards surveyed, and over which the National road was actually bulilt,
is about two miles east of West Alexander, tlhe route through Washinlgton Borough being considerably longer tllan the othlier.
255HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
the east side of it) had been let by Col. Eli Williams,
as agent for the United States, in March, 1817, the
same time when he contracted with McGiffin, Baird,
and Campbell for the work west from Washington.
On the 15th of May, 1819, David Shriver, superintendent, advertised for proposals to build the road
West from Uniontown to the vicinity of Washington,
excepting the short section on both sides of the Monongahela. The work from Uniontown to the west
end of the eastern division was let by him to Kincaid
 Co., while McGiffin, Baird, and Campbell, as before
mentioned, took the work in Washington County, extending from the river section westward to their previous contract.
These contracts were the last to be let on the road
between Cumberland and the Ohio. The work was
commenced without delay, and vigorously prosecuted during the remainder of 1819 and the spring
and summer of 1820, the road being finished and made
ready for use in its entire length in the fall of the
latter year.  An announcement of the fact, dated
Dec. 19, 1820, is found in the Uniontown Genius of
Liberty of that time, as follows: "The commissioner
appointed by the government of the United States,
Thomas McGiffin, Esq., has been engaged for a week
or two past in examining the United States turnpike,
made under contract with. government by James Kincaid  Co., between this place and Washington, who
has approved of it, and ordered the same to be given
up by the contractors for public use. The National
turnpike is now completed and in the use of the public
from Cumberland, in the State of Maryland, to Wheeling, in the State of Virginia, a distance of about one
hundred and thirty miles."
The National road to the Ohio, when comipleted,
had cost the -United States government nearly one
million seven hundred thousand dollars, and it was
one of the best and most substantial turnpike roads
ever built in this country. Its width, grades, and the
manner of its construction are shown by the specifications of the work required from the contractors,
among which were included the following, viz.: "The
natural surface of the ground to be cleared of trees
and other wooden growth, and also of logs and brush,
the whole width of sixty-six feet, the bed of the road
to be made even thirty-two feet in width, the trees and
stumps to be grubbed out, the graduation not to exceed five degrees in elevation and depression, and to
be straight from point to point, as laid off and directed
by the superintendent of the work. Twenty feet in
width of the graduated part to be covered with stone,
eighteen inches in depth at the centre, tapering to
twelve iniches at the edges, which are to be supported
by good and solid shoulders of earth or curbstone, the
upper six inches of stone to be broken so as to pass
through a ring of three inches in diameter, and the
lower stratum of stone to be broken so as to pass
through a seven-inch ring. The stone part to be
well covered with gravel, and rolled with an ironfaced roller four feet in length and made to bear
three tons' weight. The acclivity and declivity of
the banks at the side of the road not to exceed
thirty degrees."
It was to be expected that the opening of such an
excellent road-a main thoroughfare between the East
and the West, easy, direct, and free to the use of any
and all, without cost or charge-would attract to it an
immense amount of travel; but all the expectations
which could have been previously entertained of the
vast volume of travel and traffic which would pass
over the National road between the Ohio and the Potomac were trebly verified by the result. There were
the stage-coaches, carrying the mail and passengers,
loaded to their utmost capacity from the first, and constantly increasing in number from that time until the
opening Qf the railroads banished them forever. By
these conveyances, all the prominent public men of
the West, and many of those from the South,-Presidents-elect from Tennessee, Ohio, and Louisiana, on
their way to inauguration; Presidents in office, passing to and fro between the city of Washington and
their Southwestern homes; ex-Presidents, on their
way to the shades of private life; Senators, members
of Congress, and numberless officials of lesser grade,
all ihaking the National road their highway to and
from the national capital. Then there were the
long, almost interminable lines of Conestoga wagons,
laden on their eastward trips with flour, whisky,
bacon, and other produce, and returning west with
loads of iron, salt, and every kind of merchandise,
their numbers being swelled on the return to the West
by the addition of equally numerous trains of the same
kind of wagons, freighted with the families and household effects of emigrants from the East, bound to new
homes beyond the Ohio. Besides these, the road was
crowded with various other descriptions and kinds of
wagons, laden and unladen, with horsemen and private carriages innumerable. " But the passengers on
foot outnumbered and out-ate them all. The long
lines of hogs, cattle, sheep, and horses working their
way on the hoof by the month to an Eastern market
was almost endless and countless. They were gathered in from the Wabash, the Scioto, the Muskingum,
and the Ohio Valleys, and the men, all tired and dry
and hungry, had to be cared for at a great cost, for it
was like feeding an army every day and night."
To furnish food and other accommodations for all
this vast throng of travelers, brute and human, a
great number of public-houses were needed, and these
sprang up immediately along the road. The stagehouses, for the entertainment of passengers by the
coaches, were located in Washington, Uniontown,
Brownsville, and other towns on the route, and at
stated points between the villages where these were
distant from each other. Then there were houses
which did scarcely any business other than the selling of whisky to thirsty wayfarers. And there were
along the route numerous taverns which made no
256INTERnAL                                         andRteEprncipe25o
specialty, other than to give fair and decent enter-  President of the United States, and the principles of
tainment for man and beast. These had no patronage  the Democratic party became the rule of public policy.
*either from the stage passengers or wagoners upon the  The States Riglhts doctrine of that party demanded
road. The latter with the drovers always clustered  the transfer of the National road from the general govtogether at houses having capacious wagon-yards,  ernment to the States through which its route was laid.
and kept especially for that class of customers. The  It was proposed that the road from Cumberland to
number of public-houses of all kinds which the  Wheeling be surrendered to the States of Pennsylvania,
National road brought into existence was fully equal  Maryland, and Virginia. The people of the sections
to one for each two miles of its entire length from   contiguous to the road were in dread that the United
Cumberland to the Ohio. It was said that in the  States would abandon the making of repairs and
mountain portion of the route the average was one to  suffer the road to fall into disuse, but if turned over
every mile, but in the part west of the Laurel Hill  to the States its continuance and preservation would
they were less frequent. The keepers of these houses,  be assured, because, while the United States could not
like the wagoners and the drivers of stages, and, in  erect toll-gates and collect tolls upon the road, the
fact, like the greater part of the people living along  States would have the power to do so, and thus secure
the route, looked upon the Cumberland Road as being  a revenue from the road, to keep it in preservation
among the chiefest of earthly blessings, and would  and repair. Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia
have regarded with aifright the idea that it would  would accept the road from the United States on cerever be abandoned or superseded by other avenues  tain conditions, among which was this, that Congress
and modes of travel.                                   should first make an appropriation sufficient in amount
It was a general belief that the substantially built  to puit it in good condition by macadamizing the roadNational road, with its firmn founidation of packed  way in nearly its entire length, from Cumberland to
*stone, would remaiii smooth and serviceable for at  the Ohio.
least a quarter of a century, while some thought it    In 1831 the Assembly of Pennsylvania passed " an
would last for double that length of time, but the re-  act for the preservation and repair of the Cumberland
sult proved the fallacy of this belief.  In five years  road," approved April 4th in that year, reciting in its
from the time of its opening the ceaseless beating of  preamble that " Whereas, that part of the Cumberhoofs and the never-ending roll and crunch of heavy  land road lying within the State of Pennsylvania is
wheels had worn out its solid bed, so that in many  in many parts in bad condition for want of repairs,
places it was almost impassable. This was particu-  and as doubts have been entertained whether the
larly the case in the vicinity of the Monongahela  United States have authority to erect toll-gates on
River, and also in the mountain region of the route,  said road and collect toll, and as a large proportion
where much of the roadbed had been formed of soft  of the people of this commonwealth are interested in
sandstone. An appropriation was made by Congress,  said road and its constant continuance and preservaand extensive repairs were made on the road, putting  tion; Therefore" Lit proceeded to declare and enact]
the worst parts of it in good condition.  But it was  "that as soon as the consent of the government of
of short duration.l From  that time frequent appro-  the United States shall have been obtained, as herepriations were called for, and continually repairs on  inafter provided, William F. Coplan, David Downer,
the road were necessary.                                of Fayette County, Stephen Hill, Benjamin AnderIt became evident that the road would be a per-  son, of Washington County, and Thomas Endsley,
petual and ever-increasing expense to the United  of Smithfield, Somerset Co., shall be and they are
States, without producing any income to pay for re-  hereby appointed commissioners... to build tollpairs. It had been built for the purpose of satisfying  houses and erect toll-gates at suitable distances on so
Ohio and the West generally, and thus preventing  much of the Cumberland road as lies within the State
that section from fostering projects of secession from  of Pennsylvania.... That this act shall not have
the Union.  But that danger was now past, and the  any force or effect until the Congress of the United
National road had become a heavy burden upon the  States shall assent to the same, and until so much of
government. In 1829, Gen. Jackson was inaugurated  the said road as passes through the State of Pennsyl______________________________________ vania  be  first  put  in   a  good  state  of repair, and  ap"In Februiary of 1826 it was estimated that the sum of $278,988  propriation made by Congress for erecting toll-houses
would be sufficient to repair the whole road on the McAdam plan, and  and toll-gates thereon, to he expended under the auin May, 1827, a period of sixteen months, the superstratuim or cover of
reduced stone had been woIrII and washed away to an extent almost in-  thority of the commissioneri; appointed by this act."
credible, and proved that too great a relianice was placed upon the layer  Acts similar to this in effect, with regard to.the acceptof large stone, as there were not many of them of as good a quiality as ance of the National road were passed by the Legiswas first supposed. To have effected the repair in 1827, as was contem-,
plated in 1826, wouldliave required an additionial sum of $50,001), makitig  latures of Maryland and Virginia, respectively on the
$328,988 necessary to repAir the road upon the best informattion to be  23d of January aiid 7th of February, 1832.
vobtained at that period. Thte utter destruiction of the road was foieseen    These acts of Per.nsylvania, Maryland, and Virakt that tinie unless measures were taken tb repair it thloroughly, it
being then in a most wretelted condition."-Report of Richard Delafield, ginia caused a decision by the government in July,
captain U. S. Engin-ers, laid bef(nre C6sngress in December, 183s.  1832, to repair the road effeectually from  end to end,
257.INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
and then to cede it to the three States, after which the  general repairs of the Cumberland road, comnmenced
repairs were to be met by the tolls collected upon it.  in 1832, and continued, under his stupervision (assisted
"The system adopted," said Capt. Richard Delafield,  by Capt.-afterwards General-George W. Cass), to
the engineer who had charge of the work of repair,  the 30th of September, 1833. The further appropria" was that extensively used in England, and known  tion which lhe recommends " for the service of the
by the name of its inventor, McAdam.  The condi-  year" has reference to 1834. Congress took favortion of the road at this period made very exten-  able action on the recommendation of the engineer,
sive repairs necessary, commencing from the grade,  and made the required appropriation by an act passed
there being neither side drains, ditches, nor culverts  in June of that year. The parts of that act relative
for draining the water, presenting no better condition  to the appropriation for repairs on the National road
for the basis of repairs on the McAdam system than  in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, and to the
what is called a'rough grade,' with the large bridges.  cession of the road to those States when the proposed
Rather than make a partial repair by distributing the  repairs should be completed, are here given, viz.:
sum appropriated over the whole line of one hundred
and thirty-two miles, the parts through the mountaiins,    SECTION 3. That for the entire completion of repairs of the
being in the worst condition, and from  the face of  Cumberland road east of the Ohio River, and other nee(dful imthe country most difficult to travel, were first com-  provements on said road, to ca.rry into effect the provisions of
an act of the General Assembly of Pennsylvania, entitled' An
menced. T he supposition of finding good stone in the  act for the preservation of the Cumberland road,' passed the
bed -of the road wherewith to make macadamized  fourth day of April, 1831, and of an act of the General Assemmetal proved fallacious: not a perch was found  bly of the State of Maryland, entitled' An act for the preservathrough the whole mountain district, the bed being  tion and repair of that part of the United States road within
composed of soft sandstone.  This when broken to  the limits of the State of Maryland,' passed the 23d day of Janfour-ounce pieces and used foir a covering is in the  uary, 1832, also an act of the General Assembly of Virginia,
course of three months reduced to sand and washed  entitled' An aet concerniDg the Cumberland road,' passed Febaway by the heavy rains from  the road into the  ruary the 7th, 1832, the sum of three hundred thousand dollars
ditches and drains making it worse than useless to  be and the same is hereby appropriated, to be paid out of any
I.'.                           money, in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, to be exdepend upon any of the varieties of sandstone.  UnI  pended under the direction of the Secretary of War, the money
der these circumstances but one course was left, and  to be drawn out of the treasury in such sumns and at such times
that was to procure the only suitable material the  as may be required for the performance of the work.
country produced,-limestone.  The natural position    "SECTION 4. That as soon as the sum by this act appropriof this stone is under the sandstone, and  found  ated, or so much thereof as is necessary, shall be expended in
only in the lowest valleys, often in the beds of creeks  the repair of said road, agreeably to the provisions of this act,
covered with several feet of earth  and distant from   the same shall be surrendered to the States respectively through
the line of the road. Through                       is  which said road passes, and the United States shall not theret   m          it ^.............after be subject to any expense for repairing said road."
found in few positions.  The expense of repairing the
road with a good material, and the only one of this    Capt. Delafield, in his report,-or, as it is termed"
character found in the country, is far greater than an-  "Memoir on the Progress of the Repairs of the Cumticipated before these facts were known.  Another  berland Road East of the Ohio to the 30th of Sepheavy item  in the expense of repair is the condi-  tember, 1834,"7-says that the "nature and progress of
tion of the masonry; this having been exposed for  the operations,' of 1833 were continued to December
a long time to the weather without coping to throw   of that year, " wlhen, the available means being aboff the rain and snow, is in a dilapidated condi-  sorbed, a cessation was put to the work, and all the
tion, requiring a considerable portion to be renewed.  stock and tools collected at points on the road favorUnder these circumstances the cost of putting the  able for renewing the work in the spring" of 1834.
road in such a condition as will justify toll being  He continues that the spring proved very unfavorable,
exacted is so far beyond that at first anticipated as  that the road was found to have been badly washed
to make it proper to draw the particular attention of  and dainaged during the winter, that it had been
Congress to the estimate for the year, based upon  hoped means would have been available to recomthe facts herein stated. It will be perceived that the  mence work with the opening of the season, but that,
sum  asked for the service of the year is to finish all  " beinig disappointed in this particular, it became inthat part lying between Cumberland and the Monon-  dispensable to dispose of all the stock and every artigahela River and the Virginia line, and to finish the  cle of property that would command cash or materials,
sixteen miles in Virginia, making the sum  required  and apply the limited means thus raised to the drainto repair the whole road on the McAdam  plan not  age of the road;" that "it was not unitil July of 1834
less than $645,000, of which the resources of that re-  that funds were made available for continuing the region of country will advantageously admit of $300,000  pairs," but that " by abouit the middle of August most
being expended durinig the year."                       of the contractors had commenced their operations,"
The above is from  Capt. Delafield's report, sub-  and that at the date of the report " the repair on the
mitted in December, 1833, having reference to the  whole line of the road was in active progress," that
258
I
IINTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.
quarries of good limestone, before unknown, had been
discovered, that " the crops of the farmer were above
mediocrity, laborers were more numerous than usual,
owing to completion of parts of the Chesapeake and
Ohio Canal and Baltimore and Ohio Railroad," and,
finally, that " with the means now available the work
on the road will in all probability be brought to a
close (the bridges on the new location excepted) by
the date fixed in the contracts, the 31st of December."
The work, however, was not completed at the specified time. The division extending from a point five
miles east of the borough of Washington westward
to the Virginia line still lacked its macadamized
covering, and was not finished until late in the following year; but as all the work east of this division
had been done, and as this western part was then
under contract for completion without delay, it was
considered that the United States government, by
the passage of the act of Congress of June, 1834, and
by providing for the thorough repair of the Cumberland road in its entire length east of the Ohio River,
nearly all of which had already been actually accomplished, had complied with all the conditions imposed
by the States of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia in their acts of 1831 and 1832. All that remained then to be done to complete the transfer of
the road by the general government was its formal
acceptance by the States, and this was done on the
part of Pennsylvania by the passage by the General
Assembly of " An Act for the preservation and repair of the Cumberland Road," approved April 1,
1835, the third section of which act provided and declared that " The surrender by the United States of
so much of the Cumberland Road as lies within the
State of Pennsylvania is hereby accepted by this
State, and the commissioners to be appointed under
this act are authorized to erect toll-gates on the whole
or any part of said road, at such time as they may
deem it expedient and proper to do so."
The two commissioners appointed by the Governor
under this act proceeded, in 1835, to erect toll-gates,1
as provided, and the collection of toll on the great
road was commenced immediately. This had the effect to clear the road almost entirely (except in the
mountain districts of the route) of the immense droves
of horses, cattle, sheep, and hogs which had passed
over it while it was a free thoroughfare. But througb
the mountains there was no. other route, and so thE
drovers were compelled to use that part of the roac
and pay the tolls. The new system also brought int(
use upon this road very heavily built wagons, witl
wheels nine inches broad, drawn by six, and some
times by eight, horses. Wagons having wheels o
this breadth of rim, and carrying loads not exceedinl
five tons' weight each, were allowed to pass on a mudc
less (proportionate) rate of toll than was charged for
narrow-wheeled wagons, which were far more destructive to the road-bed. It was this discrimination
which brought the broad wheels into extensive use on
the Cumberland road. "I have frequently seen,"
says a former resident2 on the line of the Cumberland
road, " from forty to fifty great Conestoga six-horse
teams, carrying from five to six tons each, picketed
around over-night [at one of the roadside taverns] in
the yards and on the commons, and all the other taverns about equally full at the same time. There were
often two men with a team, who carried their own
bedding, but all these men and horses had to be fed
and cared for." Scarcely a day passed that did not
see the main streets of the principal towns on the
route crowded from end to end with these immense
wagons, each of which had about one-half the carrying capacity of a modern railway-car. On the road
between the towns they passed in almost continuous
procession.3
There was, as early as 1835, an "Adams Express"
running over the line of the Cumberland road, being
started in the fall of that year by Alvin Adams
(founder of the now omnipresent "Adams Express
Company"),  -  Green, of Baltimore, and Maltby 
Holt, oyster dealers of the same city. It was first
known along the road as the " Oyster Line," being
started with a main purpose of supplying the West
with fresh oysters fromn Baltimore during the fall and
winter of 1835-36. Soon afterwards it became a regular express, not only continuing the oyster traffic,
but carrying packages, and prosecuting a business
similar to that of the express lines of the present day.
They ran express-wagons, each drawn by four horses,
and having relays of teams at stations ten or twelve
miles apart, and the business was continued in this
way on the road until the opening of the Pennsylvania Railroad.
" In 1837 a war with France was imminent, and the
government at Washington, remembering the sympai thy of Louisiana and New Orleans with France as
t the mother-country, with a lingering dread of a Western and alien combination, resolved to quicken the
mail service in that direction. Proposals were advers  tised for to carry a light express mail-pouch, carrying
1 short printed slips like telegrams, drafts, and paper
i  money, on horseback through daily each way on the
e  National -road from  Washington to St. Louis, and
I  also from Dayton, Ohio, to New Orleans, at the net
o speed of ten miles an hour, and stopping only at principal offices. It was laid off in sections, and all the
sections were taken for a term of three years. The
f  section over the mountain from Cumberland to Uniong  town, Pa., was awarded to me4 at five thousand dol2 A. L. Littell, Esq., now of Cleveland, Ohio.
3 " Robert S. MicDowell, of Dunbar, counted 133 six-horse teams passy  ing along the National road in one day in 1848, and took no notice of as
Ld  many more teams of one, two, three, four, atld five horses."
4 A. L. Littell, formerly of Uniiontown.
1 Iron gates were first erected, but most of these were displaced matl
years ago by wooden ones. The mile-posts alonlg the line of the roa
were also of iron, and many of these are still stanlding.
259HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
lars a year. I associated with me my father-in-law,
William Morris, of Monroe, and we performed the
work very successfully in 1837 and 1838, when the
war emergency was passed, and the service was discontinued, the government paying us eight hundred:lld thirty-three dollars extra for leave to quit. It requlired a relay of nine horses on the road at once, and
tlhree boy riders. One boy left Cumberland at two
o'clock in the morning, winter and summer, who rode
three successive horses seven iniles each, and so with
the other two boys, performing the sixty-three miles
in six hours and eighteen minutes. Going east they
left Uniontown daily at one d'clock P.M., and rode the
same horses back, and there was no office on this
route where the mail was opened. At that time this
express was the fastest overland mail in America, and
it excited as much public interest as the arrival of a
railroad train does now in a new town."
After the withdrawal of this express mail line of
mounted messengers there were put upon the road a
number of light mail-carriages to carry a through
mail on fast time, making as few stops as possible.
These fdrmed what was known along the road as the
" Monkey Box Line." Each carriage was furnished
with a secure box for the mail, sometimes in the
front and sometimes in the rear end, which was balanced by the weight of three passengers (none beyond
that number being allowed to be taken), who paid an
extra rate of fare in consideration of the faster time
made, and the more comfortable accommodations
afforded by the "Monkey Box" than by the regular
niail-coach lines.
The passenger traffic over the route was immense
and constantly on the increase until the business of
the road received the death-blow by the opening of
railroads across the Alleghenies.  The stage-lines
running when the road was surrendered to the States
were those of Stockton  Co. (Lucius W. Stockton,
of Uniontown, Daniel Moore, of Washington, Pa.,
and others) and J. E. Reeside,l of Lancaster. The
mails were carried by Stockton  Co., who in 1836
secured the contract for four years to carry the great
Western mail over this road to Wheeling, at the speed
of four miiles per hour, receiving for the service
$63,000 per year. There was for a time intense rivalry
between Reeside's " June Bug Line" and the "People's Line" of Stockton  Co. The competition became so spirited that passengers were carried by both
lines at rates that were merely nominal. This was
1 "Gen." Reeside, as he was often called, was in his day probably
the most extensive stage-owner in the United States, having lines in
operation in all parts of the country, both east and west of the Mississippi. It was he who originated the phrase " chalk your hat," which in
time came to be generally understood as mealling the giving of a free
pass over a stage, steamboat, or railway line. Reeside gave no written
passes, but instead would take the hat of the person on whom he wished
to confer the favor, and niark upon it with chalk a cabalistic character
which no one could counterfeit, and which would carry the wearer of
the hat, free of expense, over any of Reeside's lines; such, at least, is the
story which is told of him.
continued for a considerable time, and until both
parties became nearly exhausted, when there came a
cessation of hostilities, a return to the old prices, and
a reorganization of the stage-lines, the Reeside line
becoming the " Good Intent" (in the proprietorship
of William Wurt, William Still, Alpheus Shriver,
and others), and the other the "National Road" Line,
by Daniel Moore, L. W. Stockton, J. C. Acheson, and
Howard Kennedy. The former prices were re-established and amity restored, as far as the proprietors of
the two lines were concerned, both occupying the
same offices at the two ends of the route. But at the
towns and stations along the road the passengers by
the two lines still dined and supped at different and
rival hotels, and the old feeling of animosity was kept
alive between the drivers and other subordinate adherents of the " Good Intent" and "National Road"
companies.
Upon the completion of the Baltimore and Ohio
Railroad as far west as Cumberland in 1844, the business of the National road, great as it had previously
been, was very largely increased on account of the
easy eastern connection thus formed.  During the
succeeding period of eight years it was frequently the
case that twenty-five stages, each containing its full
complement of nine inside and a number of outside
passengers, "pulled out" at the same time from
Wheeling, and the same was true of the eastern terminus at Cumberland. As many as sixteen coaches,
fully laden with passengers, were sometimes seen in
close and continuous procession crossing the Monongahela bridge between West Brownsville and Bridgeport. The lines ran daily each way, and it was
sometimes the case that thirty stages, all fully loaded
with passengers, stopped at one hotel in a single day.
The Monongahela Navigation Company completed
its slack-water improvements to Brownsville in 1844,
and from that time, during the season of navigation in
each year, a large proportion of the passengers coming
by stage westward from Cumberland left the road at
the Monongahela and took passage by steamboat
(lown the river from Brownsville. In the year 1850
the stage-lines on the National road carried over
eighteen thousand passengers to and from the Monongahela River steamboats, and the number so carried
had been considerably larger than this in each of the
three preceding years. But the glory of the great
thoroughfare was then nearing its final eclipse. Another year of prosperity succeeded, but from the
opening of the Pennsylvania Railroad to Pittsburgh
in 1852, and the completion of the Baltimore and
Ohio line to Wheeling in December of the same year,
the business of the Cumberland road suddenly and
rapidly declined; travelers to and from the West were
diverted to the new routes and easier mode of conveyance, and extra passenger-coaches were no longer
needed; finally, the Western mails were sent by the
other routes, and the stages were withdrawn from this,
the rumble of the broad-wheeled freight-wagons was
I?
I
260INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.
gradually silenced along the rock-laid road-bed, and
by rapid degrees the famous National highway lost
its importance and became, as it is to-day, merely an
avenue of local travel.
NAVIGATION.
-The only navigable waters of Fayette County are
the Monongahela and Youghiogheny Rivers, and,
in fact, the latter stream can hardly be regarded as
navigable, or capable of being made so to any useful
extent. Both these streams were made highways on
the 15th of April, 1782, at which date the Assembly
of Pennsylvania enacted "That the said rivers, so
far up as they or either of them have been or can be
made navigable for rafts, boats, and canoes, and
within the bounds and limits of this State, shall be,
and they are hereby declared to be, public highways."
At the time when this was done there was in progress
an immense emigration to Kentucky and other Southwestern regions bordering the Ohio, and as a consequence the channel of the Monongahela might almost
have been said to be crowded with Kentucky boats,
keel-boats, flat-boats, and a multitude of every species
of river-craft, laden with the families, household
effects, and merchandise of the emigrants (who embarked principally at Brownsville), and with produce
from various points, all bound for the lower river.
This kind of travel and transportation was kept up
and increased for many years, until the days of steamboating commenced, but it, was constantly liable to
interruption and total suspension for months at a
time in the summer and autumn seasons when the
river was low and without the artificial means of
raising the water to a navigable stage by locks and
dams.
In 1814 the Assembly passed an act (approved
March 28th) which provided "That the Governor
be and he is hereby authorized to appoint three competert and disinterested persons, citizens of this
commonwealth, one of whomn shall be a practical surveyor, to view and examine the river Monongahela
from the junction of said river with the Allegheny
River to the point where the southern boundary of
this State crosses said river; whose duty it shall be to
repair to the borough of Pittsburgh, and to view and
examine the aforesaid river from the point herein-,before designated at the borough of Pittsburgh to the
point in the southern boundary aforesaid, and take the
courses and distances of the several meanders of the
said river between the points aforesaid, and also an accurate observation and admeasurement of the distances
between the different ripples, and the elevation in feet
and parts of a foot of the said ripples progressively
above the horizon of Pittsburgh," and "That the
commissioners shall, as soon as may be, after they
shall have made the view and examination as aforesaid, present to the Governor at the next sitting of
the Legislature an accurate plan of the same, with
its several courses and distances, accompanied with
a written report of their proceedings, describing the
distances between and elevations of the different ripples; also the number of dams' already made, and
the most suitable places for constructing other dams,
locks, works, or devices necessary to be made to render
said river navigable through the whole distance; 2 and
shall make, according to the best of their knowledge
and judgment, an estimate of the probable expense
necessary for the purposes aforesaid."
The survey and examination of the river was not
made as contemplated by this act, and on the 11th of
March, 1815, another act was passed reviving that of
1814, and continuing it, with all its provisions, in
force for the term of three years from the passage of
the last act. Under this authority commissioners
were appointed, who made an examination of the
Monongahela, but nothing resulted from it in the
way of improvement of the navigation of the river
by the State.
In 1817 the Assembly passed an act (approved
March 24th of that year) " to authorize the Governor
to incorporate a company to make a lock navigation
on the river Monongahela," to bear the name and
style of "The President, Managers, and Company of
the Monongahela Navigation Company." The act
appointed Andrew Linn, Esq., and Hugh Ford, of
Freeport; James Tomlinson, Elisha Hunt, George
Dawson, William Hogg, Jacob Bowman, Basil Brashear, Joseph Thornton, and Israel Miller, of Brownsville; James W. Nicholson and Thomas Williams,
Esq., of N'ew Geneva (all the above of Fayette
County); Charles Bollman, Joel Butler, and James
P. Stewart, of Williamsport (now Monongahela City);
Henry P. Pearson and Joseph Alexander, of Fredericktown, in the county of Washington, with seven
gentlemen of Allegheny County and two of Greene
County, to be commissioners to open books for subscriptions to the stock of the company at Pittsburgh and
other points along the river. The capital stock of the
company was to be seventy-eight thousand dollars, in
two thousand six hundred shares of thirty dollars each.
As soon as five hundred shares should be subscribed
the Governor was directed to issue the charter of the
company, and it was enacted " that as soon as a company shall have been incorporated by the Governor
to make a lock navigation on the Monongahela River,
he is hereby authorized and required to subscribe in
1 Meaning dams erected by individuals for mill purposes.
2 In "A History of the Molon,galiela Navigation Company," prepared
by Hon. James Veech in 1873, he says, " The earliest known suggestion
of an improvement of the navigation of the Monongahela by locks and
dams was in a report of a survey made for the State by E. F. Gay, civil
engineer, in 1828." It seems remarkable that Judge Veech (who was
an original stockholder in the presenit Monongallela Navigation Company) should have been unaware of the fact that an act of Assembly,
passed in 1817, authorized the incorporation of a company of precisely
the samnie nanme and style of the present one, and having the same object,-tlhe improvement of the river by locks and damn; and also of the
fact that as early as 1814 an act was passed (anld another in 1815) providing for a survey of the Monongahela with a view to its improvement
by the constructionl of locks and dams..9; 6  HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
behalf of this commonwealth for one thousand shares
of the stock of said company at thirty dollars for each
share, to be paid upon warrants drawn by the Governor on the State Treasurer in favor of the President
and Managers of said company."
By the terms of the act of incorporation, the company was required, in making their improvements on
the river, "to erect at Bogg's ripple a dam of the
height of three feet six inches; at Braddock's lower
ripple, a dam of the height of three feet six inches;
at Braddock's upper ripple, a dam of the height of
three feet six inches; at Peter's Creek ripple, a damn
of the height of four feet two inches; at Baldwin's
ripple, a dam of the height of four feet three inches;
at Frye's ripple, a dam of the height of three feet ten
inches; at Forsyth's ripple, a dam of the height of
three feet eight inches; at Brownsville ripple, a dam
of the height of four feet six inches; at Smith's ripple, a dam of the height of four feet eight and a half
inches; at Heaton's ripple, a dam of the height of
four feet five inches; at Muddy Creek ripple, a dam
of the height of four feet five inches; at Gilmore's
ripple, a dam of the height of three feet ten inches;
at Little Whitely ripple, a dam of the height of four
feet four inches; at Geneva ripple, a dam of the
height of three feet four inches; at Dunkard ripple,
a dam of the height of three feet six inches; and at
Cheat River ripple, a dam of the height of three feet
three inches," with the privilege of raising any or
all the dams not to exceed six inches above the specified height, if it should be found necessary to do so.
The company were empowered " to form, make, erect,
and set up any dams, locks, or any other device whatsoever which they shall think most fit and convenient
to make a complete slack-water navigation between
the points aforesaid (Pittsburgh and tIhe State line),
so as to admit a safe and easy passage for loaded
barges, boats, and other crafts up, as well as down,
said river;" and to use the water-power created by
their dams for the'propulsion of machinery, or to sell
or lease such water-power, but not so as to injure, impede, or interrupt navigation on the river. It was
provided by the act "that as soon as the eight firstnamed dams and locks shall be erected and completed," and the Governor should have proper evidence
that they had been so completed in a workmanlike
manner, he should thereupon issue his license or permit to the company to collect tolls fromn boats passing
that part of the river. Owners of dams which had
been erected at certain points on the river for mill
purposes prior to the passage of the act were required
to raise such dams to the specified height (if they
were not already up to it), and to keep them in repair; and for so doing they were empowered to collect tolls from boats and other craft passing them.
The company was required, under penalty of a forfeiture of their charter, to " proceed to carry on the
said work" within five years from the date of the act,
and to complete the slack-water navigation of the
first section-from Pittsbturgh to the mouth of Dunlap's Creek-in seven years thereafter, and to complete the second section-from Dunlap's Creek to the
mouth of Cheat River-in twenty-five years from the
passage of the act. These conditions were not complied with, and forfeiture resulted in 1822. Beyond
this fact, nothing has been found to show what was
the extent of the operations of the old Monongahela
Navigation Company during its existence, except that
the books were opened in August, 1817; that the Governor of Pennsylvania subscribed on behalf of the
Commonwealth for one thousand shares of the stock
as required, subscriptions having previously been received from individuals sufficient in amount to authorize the chartering and organization of the conipany
under the act. It is evident that the amount of its
capital stock, if fully subscribed and paid in, was insufficiert for the purposes intended, and that even if
the projected improvements had been completed, as
specified in the act, they would have been wholly inadequate to the requirements of navigation on the
Monongahela.
In the spring of 1822, a few days after the expiration of five years from the passage of the act authorizing the Monongahela Navigation Company, an act
was passed by the Assembly (approved April 2d of the
year named) taking the improvement of the Monongahela into the hands of the State, and providing
"' That Solomon Krepps and Joseph Enochs, of Fayette County, and William Leckey, of Pittsburgh, be
and they are hereby appointed commissioners, who
shall have power, and it shall be their duty, to cause
to be removed all obstructions which impede or injure
the navigation of said river Monongahela, by making
a slope or inclined navigation from the Virginia State
line to its junction with the Allegheny River, and
said improvement to commence at the mouth of Dunlap's Creek, in Fayette County, and for that purpose
to employ suitable persons to perform said work;"
and " That ten thousand dollars of the stock subscribed
by the Governor on behalf of this Commonwealth in
the stock of the Monongahela Navigation Company
be and is hereby appropriated to defray the expenses
of removing the said obstructions...."
By another section of the act it was provided and
declared " That this act shall not go into operation
until the Monongahela Navigation Company shall
have first settled all accounts of said company, and
have paid into the treasury of Fayette County all the
unexpended balance of money in their hands, if any
be due, for the purpose of being applied agreeably
to the provisions of this act,... and until the Monongahela Navigation Company shall also have relinquished their shares in the stock of said company,
as well those held by individuals as those held by
companies, which relinquishment shall have been certified and transmitted under the hand and seal of
the presi'dent and managers of said company, or a
majority of them, to the Governor, stating that they
262INTERNAL IMPROVEMIENTS.
relinquish all the rights, powers, and privileges in
and to the navigation of the river Monongahela vested
in them by an act passed the 24th of March, 1817,
entitled,'An act to authorize the Governor to incorporate a company to make a lock navigation on the
river Monongahela,' and from thenceforth said company shall cease and determine as if the said act had
not been passed."
The persons appointed as viewers and commissioners to examine the work done on the river by
the first-named commissioners, and to report to the
Governor whether or not, in their opinion, the
money granted by the State had been judiciously
expended, were Henry Heaton, of Fayette, John
Brownlee, of Washington, and John Walker, of Allegheny County.  Nothing has been found showing the nature and extent of the improvements
made by the commrissioners under this act, or how
much the navigation of the Monongahela was benefited by them, but it is evident that the expenditure
of the small sum of ten tbousand dollars on more
than ninety miles of river channel could not have
produced any very great results.
A supplement to the act of April 2, 1822, for the
improvement of the Monongahela by the State, was
passed and approved March 29, 1823. One of the
sections of this supplementary act provided that all
persons owning dams and locks on the Monongahela,
which were built or begun to be built, or raised to the
required height, in pursuance of the provisions (before
mentioned) of the act of 1817, authorizing the incorporation of the Navigation Company, might petition
the Governor, setting forth the facts, whereupon the
Governor was required to appoint three commissioners
to view such locks and dams, and upon their report
to the Governor that the improvements had been
constructed agreeably to the terms of the act, he was
required to grant to the owners of such improvements
authority to collect tolls from all boats passing such
locks and dams.
In 1828 a report was made to the Assembly of Pennsylvania, giving the result of a survey of the river by
E. F. Gay, and favoring its improvement by the State,
but nothing was done. In 1832 the late Hon. Andrew SteWart, of Fayette County, made an effort in
the Congress of the United States to have the work
done by the National government, as an extension,
under the act of 1824, of the improvement of the navigation of the Ohio to the National road at Brownsville. Congress provided for a survey of the river to
Brownsville, which was made in 1833 by Dr. William
Howard, United States civil engineer. His plan was
to build locks and low dams, eight in number, of four
and a half feet lift, except that No. 1 would be six
feet, the object being to use them only when the river
was low. Congress having declined to authorize the
work, a public meeting held at Waynesburg, Greene
Co., Nov. 18, 1835, recommended and urged' the improvement by the State. The movement was at once
seconded by the citizens of Pittsburgh, Brownsville,
and intermediate places, and legislation was sought
and obtained.
The actual improvement of the Monongahela by
the formation of a practicable slack-water navigation
was finally accomplished by the Monongahela Navigation Company (second of that name and style),
which was incorporated under an act of Assembly
approved March 31, 1836, with an authorized capital
of $300,000, in six thousand shares of $50 each, with
power "to increase the number of shares to such extent as shall be deemed sufficient to accomplish the
work."
The persons appointed as commissioners to receive
subscriptions to the stock were Thomas H. Baird,
Aaron Kerr, Ephraim L. Blaine, William Briant,
Sheshbazzer Bentley, Andrew Gregg, John Bowers,
William Vankirk, Samuel Beatty, William Hopkins,
and James Gordon, of Washington County; George
Dawson, Benedict Kimber, George Hogg, James L.
Bowman, Israel Miller, David Gilmore, E. P. Oliphant, Jeremiah Davison, Thomas Wilson, Tazewell
P. Martin, George Cramer, Yates S. Conwell, Thomas
Beatty, Aaron Bucher, John Harshe, Andrew Stewart, Samuel Evans, Isaac Crow, George Vance, James
C. Etington, Robert Brown, James C. Ramsey, David
B. Rhoads, William Everhart, Westley Frost, and
Samuel J. Krepps, of Fayette County; and a number
of gentlemen of Greene and Allegheny Counties.
When two thousand shares were subscribed the company was entitled to a charter, and might organize in
not less than twenty days. Upon organization the
company was empowered " to form and make, erect
and set up any dams, locks, or any other device whatsoever which they shall think most fit and convenient to make a complete slack-water navigation between the points herein mentioned, to wit: the city
of Pittsburgh and the Virginia State line; and that
the dams which they shall so construct for the purpose of slack-water navigation shall not exceed in
height four feet six inches; and that the locks for the
purposes of passing steamboats, barges, and other
craft up and down said river shall be of sufficient
width and length to admit a safe and easy passage for
steamboats, barges, and other craft, up as well as
down said river." This act, like that which was
passed for the creation of the old company in 1817,
authorized the company to use, lease, or sell the
water-power from the dams, and conferred onI the individual owners of dams previously built (if by them
raised to the required height) the right to collect toll
from boats passing down or up the river. By the
terms of the act the company was required to commence work within five years, and to complete the
improvement to the Virginia line within twelve years
from its passage, under penalty of forfeiture of
charter.
During the year 1836 sufficient stock was subscribed
263WASHINGTON'S CAMPAIGN OF 1754 IN THE YOUGHIOGHENY VALLEY.  29
to entertain the idea of making his military base on  w
the Youghiogheny instead of on the Monongahela as  ti
first intended.                                         t.
Whatever may have been hiis reasons, it is certain  2
that Washington decided on, and made, the explora-  n
tion, commenciing the voyage oIn the 20th, in a canoe,  c
"with Lieut. West, three soldiers, and one Indian."  c
Following "the river along about half a mile," they  a
were obliged to go ashore, where they met Peter Suver, i
a trader, who spoke discouragingly of their chances  t
of finding a passage by water, " which," says Washington, "caused me to alter my mind of causing  c
canoes to be made; I ordered my people to wade, as  r
the waters were shallow enough, and continued myself e
going down the river in the canoe.... We gained  t
Turkey Foot by the beginning of the night."
On the morning of the 21st they remained some  E
time at Turkey Foot, " to examine the lplace, which
we found very convenient to build a fort.1 From
there they passed down the river, finding nearly every
variety of channel, sometimes rocky and rapid, and
then still and deep, until at last, at a computed distance of about ten miles below Turkey Foot, "it  I
became so rapid as to oblige us to come ashore."  i
Thus ended Washington's exploration of the Youghiogheny, and then the party returned to the camp at l
the Great Crossings.
Upon the return of Col. Washington from his exploring trip the troops were put in motion, and crossing
the Youghiogheny without bridging (the high vater
having then in a great measure subsided), marched
on northwestwardly towards the Great Meadows,
at which place they arrived on the 24th, at two o'clock
in the afternoon. In the morning of that day, when
the column was a few miles southeast of the Meadows,
two Indian runners came in from the Ohio with a
nmessage from the Half-King saying that " the French
army" was already on the march from Fort du Quesne
to meet the advancing force of Washington, and also
notifying him that Tanacharison and the other chiefs
would soon be with him to hold council, as Washington had requested in the dispatch sent to him from
Wills' Creek.
On the same afternoon that the troops arrived at the
Great Meadows, a trader came in saying that he had
come from Gist's, where the evening before he had
seen two Frenchmen; he also knewv that a strong
French force was in the vicinity of Stewart's Crossings on the Youghiogheny. This report confirmed
the news received from the Half-King, and thereupon
Washington decided to remain for a time at the
Meadows, and avail himself of the advanitage offered
by the position. There were here, as he said in his
notes, " two natural intrenchments," which he caused
to be strengthened to some extent artificially, and
I This seems to show that he then had in contemplation a change in
the original plan of oper ations by making his base on the Youghiogheny
im4ti+ad of the  Monongahela.
vithin these slight defenses he placed a part of the
Iroops with the wvagons. The troops worked tvo or;hree days in strengtheninig the position, and on the
27th of May Washington wrote: "We have, with,ature's assistaice, made a good entrenchment, and by
learing the bushes out of the meadows, prepared a!harming field for an encounter."  Probably he never
3fterwards used so unmilitary an adjective in describing the construction and surroundings of a fortification.
On tile 2.5th several small detachments were sent
out from  the camp with orders to  reconnoitre the
road2 and the Indian trails, to examine the woods and
every part of the country thoroughly, " and endeavor
to get some newvs of the French, of their forces, and
of their motions." But these parties returned in the
evening of the same day without having made any
discoveries. On the 26th a messenger (Mr. William
Jenkins) arrived, bringing dispatches-thougli of no
great importance-from  Col. Fairfax, who, witlh Governor Dinwiddie, was then at Winchester.
Early on the morninog of the 27th, Christopher Gist
arrived from his plantation, and reported that at about
noon on the preceding day a French detachment of
about fifty men had visited his house and committed
considerable depredation there. He also said he had
seen tlleir tracks within five miles of the Virginians' camp. On receipt of this information, Washington sent out a detachment of seventy-five men
under Capt. Hogg, Lieut. Mercer, and Ensign Peyronie, in search of the French  force.  Information
had already been received that a party of Indians,
under the friendly Half-King, had come up the Monongahela, and was probably not very far from the
Great Meadows. Oni the evening of the 27th, an Indian messenger from Tanacharison came to Washington with the informnation that the Half-Kingwhose camp, he said, was only six miles away-had
seen the tracks of two Frenchmen, which he followed
stealthily, and had thereby discovered the French
party encamped in a rocky ravine, secluded, and difficutlt of access, and situated about half a mile from the
trail.3
On receiving this intelligence, Washington was
2 That ii, the path which had been slightly cleared by Capt. Trent,
and the Ohio Company's party which had preceded him in the previous
winter.
3 " O the 27th of May the Half-King sent Col. Washington Notice that
a Patty from the Frenlch Armny was hanlkerinig about his Canip, if he
would march some of his People to join them, he did not douibt of cuttinlg
them off. Col.Washington rtarched that Night and cane np to the Indians; one of tlle Indian Runners tracked the French Men's Feet and
came up to their Lodgnient; they discovered our People about one hundred yards distant, flew to their Arms, anid a small Engagement ensued.
We lost one Matt and another wounded; tite French had Twelve killed
and Twenty-one taken Prisoners, who are now in our Prisoni; the Indians scalped many of the dead French, took up the Hatchet against
tliem, sent their Scalps and a String of black Wampum to seveial otlher
Triibes of Indians, with a desire that they should also take up the
Ihatchet against the French, vhich I hope thtey have done."-Letter of
Gov. Dinwiddie to Geo. Hamilton, of Pennsylvania,. doatec Jtone 21, 1il4.
Colonial Records,vi., p. 15.HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
to authorize the issue of a charter early in 1837, and
on the 10th of February in that year the company
was organized by the election of officers, as follows:
President, James Clarke.
Treasurer, John D. Davis.
Secretary, Jesse H. Duncan.
Managers.
Thomas Bakewell.
James L. Bowman.
John H. Ewing.
John Freeman.
Cephas Gregg.
George Hogg.
John Lyon.
John Tassey.
William Wade.
Samuel Walker.
By the sixth section of the State act of Feb. 18, 1836,
chartering the United States Bank, it was required,
among other burdens imposed, to subscribe to the
stock of this company, then in prospect, $50,000 at
the opening of its books, and $50,000 more when
$100,000 of stock from other sources should have been
expended on the work.
The State, by act of April 14, 1838, subscribed
$25,000 in stock, and by act of June 11, 1840, $100,000 more.
The company started in 1837, upon the following
subscriptions of stock:
Shares.
Citizens of Allegheny County....................  948
t"    Fayette         ".....................   508
"     Washington   "....................   20
t"    other counties.........................   86
Monongahela, Bank of Brownsville.............  100
Bank of the United States........................ 1000
2662
To which the State added, in 1838.......  500
"   "    "   "    "   in 1840.............. 2000
5162
$47,400
25,400
1,000
4,300
5,000
50,000
$133,100
25,000
100,000
$258,100
This, until after the completion of the improvement to Brownsville, was the company's entire capital basis, and much of this was never realized.
In the summer of 1838 a careful survey of the river
was made by an engineer corps, at the head of which
was W. Milnor Roberts (afterwards engineer of the
Northern Pacific Railroad, and now or recently engaged in the service of the Brazilian government),
with Nathan McDowell and Robert W. Clarke, assistants.
From Pittsburgh to Brownsville was found to be
about 551 miles, and the ascent a little over 331 feet;
from Brownsville to the Virginia line, a little over 35
miles, ascent 41 feet; totals, 901- miles, and 741 feet.
This would have required seventeen dams of four and
one-half feet lift,-one on an average for every five
miles,--thereby causing delays and tolls which would
have been unendurably vexatious, and an expenditure
in construction and attendance which would have
made the work wholly unremunerative. Besides, on
some of the ripples the fall was three and four feet,
and one, at the mouth of Cheat River, six feet. It
was soon seen that this plan must be abandoned.
Accordingly the Legislature, by a supplemental act,
approved June 24, 1839, authorized the company to
construct the dams eight feet in height from pool to
pool. 1
At first it was thought that ten dams of eight feet
in height would be required to carry the work to the
State line (five below and five above the mouth of
Dunlap's Creek), but by an authorized increase of
dam No. 4 to ten feet, and those above Brownsville
(three in number) to whatever height the banks would
allow, it was found that seven would be sufficient.
Dam and lock No. 1, a mile above Smithfield Street
bridge, Pittsburgh, was let by contract, Dec. 17, 1838,
to J. K. and J. B. Moorhead. No. 2, at Braddock's
Upper ripple, was contracted (re-let), May 17, 1839, to
Coreys and Adams. Both these dams were put in
use Oct. 18, 1841, though neither was entirely completed at the time.
On the 15th of July, 1840, lock and dam No. 3, at
Watson's Run, two miles above Elizabeth, was let to
Bills  Foreman; and No. 4, at Frey's Shoals, fifteen
and a half miles below Brownsville, to Fenlon 
Patton (changed in construction to Fenlon  Lonergan). The work was under the general direction of
Chief Engineer Roberts. The construction of Nos. 3
and 4, froin the commencement of work until May,
1841, was under the personal supervision of George
W. Cass. In the contract for No. 4, the company, to
provide against a (not improbable) lack of funds, reserved the right to stop the work at any time, paying
for what had been done. In May, 1841, for the cause
which had been foreseen, they were obliged to avail
themselves of this right, and for the same reason work
on No. 3 was suspended at the same time.
The year 1842 brought great discouragement to the
company. The United States Bank broke, and failed
to subscribe and pay its second $50,000. Of the second ($100,000) subscription of the State, the company
was compelled to receive a large portion in State
bonds, and having received them were compelled to
sell theni at a loss of fifty per cent. Many of the individual subscribers for stock resisted payment, while
some were unable to pay. The company owed $40,000,
and had no money to pay with., Everything seizable
was taken and sold on execution. In 1841 an effort
was made to secure further aid from the State, but
this was unsuccessful, for the condition of the State
1 The fourth section of the act is as follows: The said company shall
h,e permitted to erect such dams as may be necessary for the constructioll of the said navigation below Brown sville, to a he.ght not exceeding
eight feet fromn pool to pool. In selectinlg persons to assess damages occasioned by the construction of said navigation, no person shall be chosen
who is a resident of any county through which the saitl improvement
slhall pass. Provided, That all the locks below the town of Elizabeth, in
Allegheny County, on said river be made one hundred and ninety feet
long anld fifty feet wide, and that all the iocks below the town of Brownsville shall be of like dimensions."  The supplemental act also repealed
tlhat section of the original act lwhich gave to individual ownersof dams
oni the river the iight to collect tolls from boats, in consideration of constiriicting or raisinlg their dams to the required height and keeping tllem
il repair, the adoption of the later plan of higher lifts renderinii these
datnis useless to the navigation.
264INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.
treasury would not permit the investment. In 1842
a very strong effort was made to interest certain Baltimore capitalists and persuade them to replenish the
company's treasury, so as to complete the slack-water
improvement to Brownsville, and thereby make it a
feeder to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, which
about that time was nearing Cumberland, where it
was thought it would be obliged to make a long halt.
But the Marylanders were too intent on pushing their
great work to the Ohio to engage in any side enterprise, especially one which they could not control.
To all these reverses was added, in July, 1843, a
breach of one hundred feet in dam No. 1, which before it could be stopped, in 1844, washed a hole forty
feet deep. On May 4, 1841, the Legislature had given
the company power to borrow and mortgage its works
and tolls, and more extended power to the same effect
was given by act of April 5, 1842. But the company's credit was gone, and these powers were of no
avail. For two years the work made no progress, except to decay. The whole project became a " mortification to its friends and projectors, and a nuisance to
the navigation." Its friends were almost ready to
abandon it to the mercies of the floods and of an indignant public, when aid came from an unexpected
source. The State's financial condition had become
so depressed that the Legislature, by act of July 27,
1842, and again by act of April 8, 1843, directed sales
of all its corporation stocks, among them its $125,000
in this company. This induced a number of men of
capital, enterprise, and of unfaltering faith in the
ultimate success of the improvement to buy this
stock,-of course at a low figure,-and thereupon to
engage to repair and complete the work to Brownsville, upon ten-year coupon bonds, secured by a mortgage of the improvement and its revenues, to be
applied first to old debts, second to interest, and then
to reimburse to themselves the principal of their actual expenditure. These men were James K. Moorhead, Morgan Robertson, George Schnable, Charles
Avery, Thomas M. Howe, John Graham, Thomas
Bakewell, J. B. Moorhead, and John Freeman. They
did the work, chiefly through sub-contractors,l under
the name of Moorhead, Robertson  Co. Their contract with the company was made Nov. 9, 1843. It
was July, 1844, before they could get effectively at
work, but they went at it with such energy and skill,
with Sylvanus Lothrop for engineer, and J. B. Moorhead for superintendent, that on the 13th of November, 1844,-dams Nos. 3 and 4 being completed, and
the breach in No. 1 thoroughly repaired,-the lower
division of the Monongahela improvement was formally opened from Pittsburgh to Brownsville and
Bridgeport.
* At the time of the opening there had been expended
on the improvement (exclusive of engineering and
1 The lock at No. 3 was built by Alston  Hannay, and the dam by
John Lindsay. Lock and dam No. 4 were built by Lockhart  Thomas.
salaries of officers) the sum of $418,000, viz.: construction of dams and locks Nos. 1 and 2, $160,500;
repairing of damages on same, $35,000; construction
of Nos. 3 and 4, $222,500. Of the sum thus far expended, less than one-half had been paid out of the
stock.
Before the work was opened to Brownsville in 1844,
the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad had been completed
to Cumberland. The route of travel and traffic from
that place to Brownsville was over seventy-five miles
of the hard, smooth National road, which then more
than ever before was crowded with stage-coaches laden
to the full with passengers to and from the railroad terminus at Cumberland, and the greater part of these passengers were now delivered to or received from the Monongahela River steamboats at Brownsville, and this
continued during the navigation season in each year
until the opening of the Pennsylvania Railroad to
Pittsburgh in 1852. Here were eight years of a rich
harvest for the slack-water and the eastern division of
the National road. During that time the Navigation
carried between Brownsville and Pittsburgh more than
two hundred and eighty thousand through passengers,2
a large proportion of whom passed by stage over the
great road. In the same time more than four hundred
and sixty-two thousand way passengers were carried
between the same points; and the total passenger tolls
for that period aniounted to $126,100.23.
From 1845 to 1847 the revenues had almost doubled,
thereby enabling the company in 1847 to nearly extinguish its old floating debt, keep down the interest,
and pay $13,500 of the principal of the $231,500 of
bonds which had been issued to Moorhead, Robertson  Co. In the report of Sylvanus Lothrop, the
company's enginieer, made to the president and managers in January of that year, he said, in reference to
the slack-water improvement, " Although but two
years old, and just beginning to struggle into notoriety
as an avenue for the trade and travel betweenl the
East and the West, it has already yielded a revenue
which, after paying expenses, ordinary repairs, and
initerest upon its large debt, exhibits a surplus equivalent to about eight per cent. upon its whole capital
stock. This, I am inclined to think, is without an
example in the history of our public works, and may,
perhaps, be nmentioned without offense as a most striking commentary upon the supineness and indifference
and apparent want of sagacity which, a few years ago,
while runining after chimeras, would, but for the en2 The number of through passengers carried in those years between
the termini of the Navigationi, Brownsville and Pittsburgh, was for
each year as follows:
1845...........................................    22,727
1846..........................................                           34 984
1847..........................................                            45,826
1848..........................................                            47,619
1849...........................................   3V,58
185.............................................    38.988
1851.                                                                     32.115
1852.........................................                             25,613
Total...283,030
I
i
i
265HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
terprise of a few public-spirited individuals, have
suffered this great work, the most important to this
city which has ever been constructed [Pittsburgh had
iio railroad then], to perish for the want of a few thousand dollars. It is a remarkable fact that with so
many unanswerable arguments to recommend it to
and enforce it upon the public attention, no work in
the country has ever encountered greater obstacles
than this. Instead of being, as it ought to have been,
fostered by our citizens and hailed by the inhabitants
of the Monongahela Valley as a blessing to themselves, it met with nothing but the most chilling regards from the one, and with either the most violent
prejudices or the most determined hostility from the
other. And yet it has already lived to subdue and
triumph over both.... It is now, I am happy to
say, among the most popular of all our public improvements. Its present advantages are already universally felt, while its future is rapidly unfolding in
prospects as flattering to the landholder of the Monongahela as to the owners of the improvement
themselves."
The toll on coal over the entire length of the slackwater navigation was $2.91 per thousand bushels,
which is said to have been less than one-fourth part
of the rates charged for the same distance over the
Schuylkill Navigation, which had been made the
standard for this company by the act of 1836. Yet
the rate produced much dissatisfaction among coal
shippers on the upper pools (Nos. 3 and 4), who contended that the river ought to be free; that the State
had no power to authorize dams and locks and the
collection of tolls; or if that was to be done, there
should at least be a sufficient number of dams to allow
them to be made low enough to be "jumped" at high
water. These arguments were urged in articles written
for the newspapers, and at town-meetings held for the
purpose of expressing indignation at the "legalized
obstruction of the river." They demanded that the
dams be cut down to four and a half feet, as required
by the act of 1836, and they bitterly denounced the
company and the Legislature of 1839, which passed
the supplemental act authorizing the raising of the
dams to eight feet. It was foretold, with a great deal
of gravity and apparent wisdom, that "if the high
dams are suffered to remain as they are, the coal lands
up the river will always be worthless!" Candidates for
office vehemently urged these arguments on the stump
for the purpose of securing votes and popularity.
The Legislature of 1849 was appealed to in printed
pamphlets for redress. The result was that the Navigation Company consented, in consideration that no
further reduction of tolls should be asked for until
its existing debts were paid, nor so as to disable dividends of eight per cent. per annum from being made
to the stockholders, to reduce the tolls upon the pools
Nos. 3 and 4 on coal in flat-boats intended to go down
the Ohio, so that such lading could pass from Brownsville to Pittsburgh for $2.461 per thousand bushels,
instead of $2.91 as before, and the Assembly so enacted by act of March 21, 1849.
The agitation failed to accomplish the lowering of
the dams, but a calm succeeded the lowering of the
tolls on pools 3 and 4, and the people were satisfied.
The relations between the company and the coalowners became harmonious, and have ever since remained so. The latter found that their predictions of
the utter worthlessness of coal lands in case the high
dams were allowed to remain were baseless, but that,
on the contrary, those lands were rising rapidly in
value from year to year. This appreciation has been
continual and rapid, especially in the later years,
until the present time, when coal lands along every
part of the slack-water navigation are eagerly sought
for, as a certain source of wealth.
Notwithstanding that the tolls from freights and
passengers continued about the same for many years,
such was the rapid increase of the coal trade that at
the end of 1853 the entire indebtedness to Moorhead,
Robertson  Co. was paid; and, but for new debts incurred in 1850 for some additional rights ($2000),
and a second lock at dam No. 1 ($56,800), and in 1853
-54 another lock at dam No. 2, costing about $50,000,'
rendered necessary to accommodate the increased
coal trade, and the extension above Brownsville, the
company would have been free of debt. The contractors for the lock at No. 1 took bonds for their work,
and by a new issue of mortgage bonds in 1853 ($125,000) the company was enabled to pay for the lock at
No. 2, carry on the extension, and thus to pay out of
the earnings its first cash dividend of four per cent.
in July, 1853.
The extension of the work above Brownsville had
been postponed from time to time on account of the
low condition of the company's finances. In 1848 it
was thought that the interests of Greene County and
the upper part of Fayette demanded the extension,
and on the 9th of February in that year the Legislature passed an act authorizing a new opening of books
in the five counties bordering on the river for subscriptions to the stock to the amount of $200,000, to be
expended on the erection of locks and dams above
Brownsville. The books were accordingly opened
but no subscriptions secured. By the same act the
opening of books in Pittsburgh was authorized for
subscriptions to the stock to pay the debt incurred on
the work below Brownsville, in excess of what preexisting stock had paid; and in the event of failure
to secure such subscriptions, the company was authorized to double the existing stock and credit to each
share its proportion of earnings used and to be used in
paying that indebtedness. Accordingly, the books
having been opened in Pittsburgh without results,
the stock was doubled in 1848, bringing the whole
amount up to $521,000. This, however, gave no actual
1 Alstons  Hannay were the contractors for the new lock at No. 1;
Ersman  Hardy for that at No. 2.
-    -~~~~~~~~~~~
c),G6..j
IINTERNAL IM1PROVEMENTS.
increase to the company's available means.  In the
fall of 1853 a renewed effort to obtain stock in Fayette and Greene to extend the work was determined
upon, and some additional stock was subscribed in
Pittsburgh. The effort was earnestly pressed, but
with no better success than before.
Notwithstanding these failures, the Legislature, by
act of Jan. 25, 1854, made it imperative upon the
company to put locks and dams Nos. 5 and 6 under
contract, and have them completed, No. 5 before
June 1, 1855, and No. 6 before Dec. 1, 1855.. The
im,provement to the State line was required to be
completed before Dec. 1, 1857, but this requirement
was relaxed.by act of April 8, 1857, so as not to require No. 7 to be begun until locks and dams to carry
the work from the State line to Morgantown should
be put under contract, and with the completion of
which No. 7 was to be contemporaneous.
In compliance with the act of Jan. 25, 1854, the
company promptly put Nos. 5 and 6 under contract,
No. 5, just above Watkins' Bar, two miles above
Brownsville, to Burns  Ross; and No. 6, at Rice's
Landing, ten miles farther up, to Messrs. Dull. They
were constructed at a cost (including the raising of
dam  No. 4 and some dredging) of about $200,000,
and were completed and ready for use in November,
1856, thus opening the slack-water navigation to
Geneva.
The dams are constructed of logs, squaring at least
a foot, built up perpendicularly from the bed of the
river to near the water-level, when they begin to slope
on both sides to the comb, after the manner of an oldtilne log cabin. They are tied. together by cross-timbers parallel with the line of the river, bolted to the
longitudinal timbers so as to form a net-work, with
interstices of seven by nine feet filled with stone.
Their breadth at the base is about sixty-five feet;
their depth below the slopes as originally built is
from three to six feet, though by reason of breaches
they are now much deeper in places.' Dams 1 and 2
run straight across the river. No. 3 is in three straight
lines of unequal length (the middle one two hundred
and eighty feet, the other two aggregating about four
hundred and twenty feet), the middle one being at
right angles with the channel, the other sloping from
it downwards to the shores, about twenty-two feet from
the line of the middle part. Dam No. 4 is a segment
of a circle, about six hundred and five feet in length,
curves up stream, having a versed sine of fifteen feet.
Dams 5 and 6 are also segments of a circle, with the
convex sides upwards, and are each about six hundred feet long. These, by reason of their increased
1 It required more stone (14,297 cubic yards) and timber to repair the
great breach of May, 1868, in dam No. 2, than were used in its original
construction, by reason of the washing out of the bed of the river, wllich
is generally an incompact conglomerate of sand and rounded gravel.
The breach of 1843 in No. 1 required to fill it, in the language of Mr.
Lothrop, the engineer, "an immense nmass of timber and stone tllhat no
power can remove." And geinerally, if not uniformly, such repairs have
never had to be repeated.
height,-thirteen and a half and fourteen feet,-have
the l.ongest slopes on the lower sides. The others slope
about equally above and below, from three to four
feet of slope to one foot of rise. They are sheathed
above with double courses of oak plank closely laid,
five inches thick, spiked to the timbers and covered
with gravel. The sheathing below is of heavy oak
timbers or spars flattened to eight inches and spiked
to the crib timbers. The dams are further secured at
their ends by high strong cribs filled with stone, and
above by double courses of heavy sheet piles, driven
vertically into the bed of the river to such depth as to
be secure anchorage to the entire structure. In some
cases, since their original construction, piles have been
driven in below vertically and above slopingly. Dam
No. 7 will be on rock, and will be otherwise fastened.
All the original locks are one hundred and ninety
by fifty feet in the chambers between the points or
mitres of the gates and the side-walls. The entire
length of the walls is two hundred and fifty-two feet,
and their height about twenty-five feet. They are
ten and twelve feet thick, built of heavy blocks of
dressed stone, laid in hydraulic cement and securely
clamped. Except those at Nos. 1 and 6, which
have rock bases, they are built upon heavy oak timber deeply laid and covered with heavy oak plank.
Each of the old locks contains over five thousand
three hundred perches of stone. The new ones (put
in in addition to the original ones in locks Nos. 1 and
2) are larger and contain proportionately more. These
are two hundred and fifty by fifty-six feet in the chambers, but built in other respects as were the old ones.
To show the facilitv with which boats are passed
through these locks, the following quotation is given
from the report of the board of managers to the stockholders, presented January 12th of the present year
(1882), viz.: " In twenty hours between midnight of
the 17th December last and the same hour of the ensuing night there were passed through lock No. 1
forty-two coal-boats, forty-six barges, ten flats, and
two fuel-boats, containing together an aggregate of
1,661,000 bushels, or about 63,118 tons of coal. A
correspondingly increased amount could have been
passed during the twenty-four hours had not the passage of boats been suspended during four hours of
that day by the refusal of the pilots of some tow-boats
to pass down below out of the way of the boats seeking to leave the lock."
"The coal business on the Monongahela," says the
above-quoted report, " has increased so largely in recent years that the pressure for the passage of coalboats in time of a rise of the river has become very
great at dam No. 3, where there is only a single lock.
As the necessity arose, a similar difficulty at locks
Nos. 1 and 2 was relieved by the construction of a
second and enlarged lock at each of those points.
The company has, therefore, in order to meet promptly
the demands of the coal trade and afford every facility for rapid navigation, ordered a new lock, of larger
I.'26  HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
dimensions than any heretofore constructed on their
improvement, to be built alongside of the present
lock No. 3. This work will be put under contract
and completed as speedily as possible; and they have
it also in contemplation to duplicate the lock at No.
4, also on an enlarged scale. These improvements
will fully accommodate, for many years to come, the
still rapidly increasing coal trade out of pools Nos. 3
and 4, especially when the formation of a pool below
dam No. 1 shall have been effected.
"The United States government, having completed
lock and dam No. 9, at Hoard's Rock, in West Virginia, are now proceeding with the construction of
lock and dam No. 8, near Dunkard's Creek. If this
work were completed it would only require the erection of lock and dam No. 7 by this company to furnish a slack-water navigation between Pittsburgh and
Morgantown, in West Virginia, a total distance of
one hundred and two miles.
" This company has accordingly entered into a contract with Messrs. Harrold  McDonald for the immediate erection of lock and dam No. 7, which, unless
the season should prove so unfavorable as to prevent
it, will be completed during the present year. We
are able, therefore, to congratulate our stockholders
and the public on the near prospect of the completion of this important work, which will prove of great
value to the inhabitants of the Monongahela Valley,
and will, we doubt not, open a market for the iroi
ores, coal, and lumber of that region of country, and
afford an avenue of trade and commerce of incalculable importance. It will, moreover, remove the obstruction to the navigation of the upper Monongahela
which has existed ever since the erection of lock and
dam No. 9 by the government.
"The erection of lock and dam No. 7, which, as
before stated, is expected to be completed during the
present year, by connecting with the government work
now partly in process of construction and partly conmpleted, will fulfili the obligation of the company under
its charter, and furnish a complete slack-water navigation not only up to but beyond the limit of the
Virginia State line. This work, when completed, will
furnish on the Monongahela River the longest reach
of slack-water steamboat navigation in the IUnited
States, if not in the world....
" It is estimated that the cost of the proposed new
work, lock and dam No. 7, together with the new locks
at dams Nos. 3 and 4, will require an expenditure of
over four hundred thousand dollars, which must be
provided for, either by ain increase of the bonded debt
or of the capital stock of the company....
"The amount heretofore charged on the books of
the company to the account of construction is..... $1,120,100.20
While the total capital stock is only. 1,004,650.00
Leaving the sum of.
which is not represented by stock.. $115,450.20
" The receipts of the company frorn tolls during the
past year [1881] is as follows:
From coal and slack.
"   coke.
"   steamboats, freight, etc.
"   passengers. $148,952.82
5,212.57
60,366.26
2,406.45
$216,938.10"
Following is a statement of the number of bushels
of coal and slack shipped from the several pools of
the Monongahela slack-water during each mionth of
the year 1881, viz.:
Months.
January.............
February............
March................
April.................
May...................
June..................
July...................
August...............
September.........
October..............
November..........
December...........
Total............
Pool    Pool     Pool     Pool
No. 1.   No. 2.    No. 3.    No. 4.
611,000 2,426,500   395.800   233,600
214,500 3,429,000   650,000   708,200
73,200 7,319.500 2,123,700 2,922,1500
1,656,000  6,211,500 2,490,900 2,511,900
1,079,500 4,825,000   494,500 1,048,000
1,828,460 7,072,500 1,429,000 1,708,400
430,000 4,045,000   972,000 1,075,900
16,000   766,500   396,800   559,000
126,000    77,100    57,900
13.000   201,000   305,100    28,400
1,077,000 5,073,000 2,214,600 2,068,800
1,714,600 6,449,000 2,599,300 2,525,500
8,713,260 47,944,500 14,148,800 15,448,100
Total.
3,666,900
5,001,700
12,418,900
12,870.300
7, 4-7,000
12,038,360
6,522,900
1,738,300
261,000
547,500
10,433,400
13,288,400
86,254,660
The coke shipments by the slack-water in 1881
have been as follows:
Bushels-from Pool No. I..................................................  134,500
"  "        " 2................................................... 3,330,000
"    cc    "   "   4...................................................  87,200
cc  "          6...................................................  229,000
Total numiber bushels coke.......................................... 3,780,700
This gives a total of ninety million thirty-five
thousand three hundred and sixty bushels of coal,
coke, and slack shipped from the several pools of the
Monongahela Navigation Company in the year 1881,
which is a total increase of a little more than six hundred and fifty thousand bushels over the business of
1880. The passenger business of 1881 was but little
more than one-third that of the preceding year, this
being due to the opening of the railroad from West
Brownsville to Pittsburgh in the spring of 1881. The
decrease will of course continue, and grow more marked
as the railroads now in process of construction penetrate southward to West Virginia. But the passenger trade is an item of small and ever-lessening comparative importance to the navigation of the river.
The natural resources of the country furnish its main
business, and this will be the case in the future even
more than it is at present.
The works of the Navigation Company, when completed to the State line, will extend upon less than
half of the improvable length of the Monongahela
River. It rises in the western slopes of that high
cluster of moutntains which now form the border
lands of Virginia and West Virginia, and in which
the James, the Kanawha, the Shenandoah, and the
Cheat have their sources. Its longest branch is the
Tygart's Valley River, which rises in Randolph
County, on which are Beverly, Philippi, and Grafton, and an important affluent of which is the Buckhannon River, which rises in Upshur County, and on
268INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.
which is the thriviing town of B1uckhanou, whllich aspired to be the capital of the new State. Its other
chief branch, and that which is considered the Monongahela proper, is the West Fork, which rises also
in Upshur County, and on which are Weston, in
Lewis County, and Clarksburg, in Harrison County.
These two great branches unite near Fairmount, in
Marion County, some thirty miles above Morgantown.
At present the effort in West Virginia is to carry the
improvements to that place, where it will intersect
the Wheeling branch of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Ultimately it may be extended to Clarksburg,
some ninety miles from the State line, and -even to
Weston, some forty or fifty miles farther. All of
these branches drain a fertile but hilly country, and
are without any great falls to break the continuity
of their navigation. Their borders are rich in ores
and minerals, and in forests of somue of the finest timber in the nation.
The mineral treasures lying hidden beneath the
everlasting hills of the Monongahela, and as yet
hardly beginning to be developed, will sustain and
swell the navigation of the river, and bring surpassing prosperity to its valley. The Monongahela improvement, which, as its opponents forty years ago
prophesied, was to render the coal lands of the upper
river worthless, has, instead, been largely, if not principally, instrumental in making them accessible, enhancing their value far beyond the wildest dreams of
that day, and making their owners wealthy. While
accomplishing this, after years of disaster and discouragement, the Navigation Company has also
achieved success for itself, and its present prosperity
is certainly well merited.
This gratifying result is due in a very great degree
to the energy, vigilance, and wise management of the
president of the company, the Hon. James K. Moorhead. " It is no detraction," says Judge Veech, " from
the fortitude and faith of his departed predecessors,
who led it through the perils of its early history, to
say that he had much to do in the inauguration of the
plan which extricated it from those perils. Intimately and practically acquainted with the construction, preservation, and management of its works from
the beginning, it is not enough to say of him that his
large interests in it have been the motive of his care,
for he has ever shown a generous regard for the interests of all who have rights in its uses and revenues.
Is a defect in its laws to be remediel, or a wrong to be
redressed requiring legislation? He procures it to be
done. Is a repair needed? He goes right to it, leading his efficient corps of subordinates, into whom he
transfuses his spirit. Are tolls to be modified and increased facilities for the safe and steady use of the
navigation to be made? He invokes the counsel and
co-operation of the managers, and they are made accordingly. Indeed, so completely has he become
identified with the'slack-water' that it has given to
him his most familiar sobriquet." His predecessors
18
in the presidency of the company were James Clarke,
elected at the organization, in February, 1837, and
held till October, 1840; Thomas Bakewell, pro tempore, from October, 1840, to January, 1841, then elected and held till the following October; William Eichbaum, pro tempore, from October, 1841, to January,
1842, then elected and held till January, 1844; Samuel R. Johnston, January, 1844, to January, 1846;
John B. Butler, January, 1845, to July, 1846, when
he entered the army as paymaster in the Mexican
war. Mr. Moorhead succeeded him as president pro
tempore, holding till January, 1847, when he was elected, and has held the office of president of the companly from that time continuously for more than
thirty-five years. The present officers of the Monongahela Navigation Company are:
President, J. K. Moorhead.
Secretary and Treasurer, Wm. Bakewell.
Managers, John Harper, Felix R. Brunot, M. K.
Moorhead, N. B. Hogg, Wm. Morrison, J. B. Murdoch, Alexander Bradley, J. B. Sweitzer, Joseph Albree, A. C. Bakewell.
Steamboat navigation on the Monongahela was
commenced in the year 1814, when the "Enterprise,"
which had been built at Bridgeport by Daniel French
and others, left that place under command of Henry
M. Shreve, and passed down the Monongahela, Ohio,
and Mississippi Rivers to New Orleans, being the first
boat that ever made the trip from Pittsburgh to that
city and return. The " Dispatch" was also built at
Bridgeport by the samle parties, and went down the
Monongahela and Ohio not long after the "Enterprise." During the thirty years that succeeded the
building of these two boats, before the opening of the
slack-water from Pittsburgh to Brownsville, the Monongahela was navigated in the times of high water
by a multitude of steamboats, of which it is impracticable to give the names, or any connected account.
The first regular line boat that ran upon the Monongahela slack-water after its completion between
Brownsville and Pittsburgh, was the side-wheeler
"Louis McLane," so named for the first president of
the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. With her, on alternate days, ran the "Consul," also a side-wheeler.
Both these boats were regarded as fast, the " McLane"
being the more so of the two. After about four years'
service she was dismantled at Brownsville, and parts
of her used in the building of the Pittsburgh and
Wheeling packet " Diurnal."
The two line boats above mentioned were succeeded
by the "Atlantic" and "Baltic," which were both
very fast boats. They came, out in 1849. After three
or four years' service the " Baltic" was dismantled at
Bridgeport, and the other was put in use as a towboat. After a time she too was demolished, and her material used in building the stern-wheeler " Hercules."
The " Baltic" and " Atlantic" were succeeded in the
line by the "Luzerne" and "Jefferson."  While the
269HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
former was building, in 1852, the flood carried the
hull off the ways and over the dams. It was caught
at McKeesport, and towed into the Youghiogheny,
where it was completed. The " Jefferson" was built
at McKeesport, and after her tour of duty on the
slack-water was dismantled at Brownsville. The
"Luzerne" was taken to the Mississippi, where she
ran between Rock Island and Galena, Ill., and was
finally snagged near the Iowa shore, above Lyons.
About 1854 the "Redstone" was built by John S.
Pringle, now of West Brownsville. She was put on
the line, but ran only a few months, when she was
sold to go in the lower Ohio River trade; but her
career was ended soon afterwards by the explosion of
her boilers near Carrollton, Ky.
The "Telegraph," built at California by McFall,
ran on the line for about twelve years, and was accounted a "lucky" boat. After her long career on
the slack-water she was dismantled at Brownsville.
Some of her machinery was put in the " Scotia," recently built for the Ohio. The "Geneva," sternwheeler, ran on the line for a short time about 1855.
The " Dunbar" was built by John S. Pringle about
1859 for the Monongahela trade, but being a little
too large to pass the locks conveniently, was sold to
run on the lower Ohio and Tennessee Rivers. At
the commencement of the war of 1861-65 she fell
into the hands of the Confederates. After the fall
of Fort Henry she with several other boats was
chased up the Tennessee by the United States gunboats "Lexington,"': Conestoga," and "Tyler." She
passed Pittsburg Landing and Eastport, and a short
distance above the latter, escaped her pursuers by running up a creek which was too shoal for the Federal
gunboats to follow. But she left her bones there, for
the water falling she was unable to get back to the
river, and was dismantled by the Confederates, who
took her machinery overland to the Chattahoochie
River, where it was used in another boat.
Among the later boats running on the line between
Pittsburgh and New Geneva there have been the
"Franklin," the. "Gallatin," the "Fayette," the
" Elisha Bennett," " Chieftain," " Elector," and the
present boats of the Geneva line,-the "John Snowdon," "Geneva," and "Germania." The "Franklin"
and' G"allatin" ran together on the line for a few
years, after which service the " Gallatin" was sold to
run as a ferry-boat between Memphis, Tenn., and the
Arkansas shore of the Mississippi, and the " Franklin" was taken to pieces at Brownsville, lier machinery
being placed in the "Geneva," which is still on the
line. The "Fayette," which was built at Brownsville, was one of the finest boats ever running on the
Monongahela, as well as one of the most successful.
She was sold to go in the lower Ohio River trade,
between Cairo, Ill., and Evansville, Ind. The career
of the "Elisha Bennett" was disastrous, ending in
her total loss in 1878. She was carried away from
her wharf at Brownsville, in the night, by flood and
ice, and crushed at dam No. 4. The "Chieftain"
met the same fate at the same time. This last-named
boat and the " Elector" were not put on the river to
run in the regular Geneva line, but in the " People's
Line," an opposition which was put on about 1867.
This line was discontinued by their boats being purchased by the other company and run as boats of the
regular line.
The " Pittsburgh, Brownsville and Geneva Packet
Company" was incorporated under an act of Assembly passed Feb. 21, 1868, with a capital of $150,000,
and authority to increase to $300,000. The corporators named in the act were " Benjamin Coursin, John
J. House, Mark Boreland, William  Britten, Clark
Breading, Samuel H. Sulith, Joseph G. Ritchie, and
their associates," the object for which the company
was incorporated being to run steamers for the carrying of passengers and freight on the Monongahela
River, which, however, they had been doing for years
before the incorporation, this being the legalization,
but not the commencement, of the enterprise. The
first president of the company was J. K. Moorhead,
who was succeeded by George W. Cass, and he by
Adam Jacobs. Nearly all the steamers already mentioned as having run oni the Monongahela were of this
line. The present boats of the company making daily
trips each way between Pittsburgh and New Geneva
are the "John Snowdon," "Geneva," and " Germania." The "Snowdon," an old boat, is soon to be
displaced by the new and splendid steamer "James
G. Blaine," recently built by Capt. Adam  Jacobs,
whose boat-yard and residence is on his estate of " East
Riverside," in Luzerne township, Fayette County.
The present (1881) officers of the packet company
are: Managers, Adam  Jacobs, president; Isaac C.
Woodward, Charles E. Spear, Benjamin F. Coursin,
H. B. Cock, William Parkhill, George E. Hogg; Secretary and Treasurer, H. W. Robinson.
For the Youghiogheny River during the past halfcentury, various projects of improvement have been
conceived, and some attempts made to put them in
execution, with partial though temporary success as
to the lower end of the river, but with no results of
actual improvement within the county of Fayette.
The schemes of Youghiogheny improvement were
started in the times when people knew little or nothing of the advantages of railroad communication, and
believed, or tried to believe, that every mill-stream in
the country could be made a navigable water-way to
bring wealth to the inhabitants, and importance to
the towns in its valley.
That the idea of making the Youghiogheny a navigable stream was entertained at least as early as 1816
is shown by the fact that in that year an act of Assembly
was passed incorporating "The Youghiogheny Navigation Company."  It afterwards appeared that the
promoters of this company had no intention of making
improvements on the river, but merely used the name
270INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.
to secure a charter (which could not otherwise have
been obtained) in which was skillfully incorporated a
section giving them power and authority to carry on a
banking business in Connellsville. The fact that the
name of " Navigation Company" was used for the purpose shows the idea of river improvement was popular among the people at that time. In 1821 " an act
for the imnprovement of the State" was passed (approved March 26th), by a section of which the sum
of $5000 was appropriated, to be expended, under
the direction of William L. Miller, Samuel Rankin,
and Alexander Plummer, for the improvement of the
Youghiogheny. This sum was expended by the
commissioners for the purposes indicated, and work
was done as far up the river as Connellsville, but with
little benefit to the navigation of the stream.
In 1841 the Connellsville and West Newton Navigation Company was incorporated under an act approved April 30th of that year, which provided and
declared that "the said company shall have power to
make and complete a lock navigation from the town
of West Newton, in the county of Westmoreland, to
the west end of Main or Spring Street, in the borough
of Conneilsville, in the county of Fayette, and on the
Youglhiogheny River."  The capital stock was placed
at six hundred shares of fifty dollars each, with power
to increase to four thousand shares. The commissioners appointed to receive subscriptions to the stock
were Thomas R. Davidson, George J. Ashman, John
McBurney, William R. Turner, John Smilie, Robert
Bleakley, Daniel Kaine, Noble C. McCormick, and
James Francis, of Fayette County; John C. Pluiminer, J. B. Oliver, Joseph Budd, Bela Smith, Elias
Porter, Daniel Hoge, John Boyd,. John Frick, and
Shellenberger, of Westmoreland, and William
L. Miller, of Allegheny County. The company was
required to commence the work withiii two years and
complete it within five years from the passage of the
act.
The Youghiogheny Navigation Company was incorporated in 1843, under an act passed for that purpose, approved April 18th in that year. The commissioners appointed by the act to receive subscriptions to the stock of the company were James Bell,
Alexander Plummer, Adam  Coon, Moses Robins,
Joseph Markle, John Klingensnmith, Jr., Joseph Lippincott, Joseph Guffy, Henry Null, John D. Davis,
and James May. The capital stock of the company
was thirty thousand dollars in six hundred shares of
fifty dollars each; the power and authority granted
being the construction of a lock navigation from the
mouth of the river to the borough of West Newton.
Nothing of importance or permanent value to the
navigation of the Youghiogheny was done by either
of the above-mentioned companies, though the lastnamed company did complete their improvement from
the mouth to West Newton, eighteen miles. Two
dams were built, under supervision of their engineer,
James E. Day, and the slack-water navigation was
fornnally opened to West Newton by a celebration on
the 7th of November, 1850. The result, however,
showed that the engineer had miscalculated the
miglhty power of the floods and ice in that river, or
that the dams were too high or defectively constructed.
They lasted only a little over fourteen years, with
long intervals of uselessness for lack of repair, and
the great ice flood of January, 1865, put an end to
them. They are now in ruin, and the charter of the
company extinct.
In recent years (1874 and 1875) surveys of the river
were made by parties under charge of Maj. W. E.
Merrill, who, in his report, January, 1881, said, "The
wlhole of this distance has already been covered by
surveys made under my direction in past years. The
survey from McKeesport to West Newton, nineteen
miles, was made by Lieut. F. A. Maham's corps of
engineers in 1874. The survey from West Newton to
Connellsville, a distance of twenty-five and a half
miles, was made in 1875 by my assistant, Capt. T. S.
Sedgwick, as a part of the survey for the extension of
the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal from Cumberland to
Pittsburgh." The report gives the total fall of the
river from Connellsville to McKeesport (forty-four
and one-third miles) as one hundred and forty-eight
feet, requiring fifteen dams of tell feet lift each.
The proposition to extend the Chesapeake and
Ohio Canal from Cumberland to Pittsburgh, as noticed in the extract given above from Maj. Merrill's
report, has been under consideration from the time
when the first surveys were made for that work. Indeed, it appears that the idea was first entertained by
Gen. Washington, who, immediately after the close
of the Revolutionary war, made extended journeys
on hqrseback, examining the routes which were afterwards taken by the Erie Canal of New York, by the
Pennsylvania canals along the Conemaugh and Juniata, and by the James River Canal in Virginia, also
examining the country from the Potomac near Cumberland, across the summit, by way of Castleman's
River, to the Youghiogheny at Turkey Foot, and
pronouncing the last-named route to be the best of all.
Forty-five years later (about 1830) the same route was
surveyed for the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal by Gen.
Bernard, assisted by Lieut.-Col. Totten, of the United
States Topographical Engineers, and John L. Sulli-'
van, a distinguished civil engineer of Massachusetts.
Gen. Bernard had been an aide-de-camp to the Emnperor Napoleon, and afterwards Minister of War to
Louis Philippe, King of the French. He had sur-,
veyed the route of the canal from George'town, D. C.,
to Cumberland, and estimated the cost at $8,177,081.
The actual cost was $11,071,176. His survey of the
proposed extension from Cumberland to the Ohio at
Pittsburgh showed in the seventy miles from Cumberland over the summit, and by Castleman's River
to the Youghiogheny, an ascent and descent of 1961
feet, to be overcome by two hundred and forty-six
271HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
locks, the entire cost of this section of the work being
estimated at $10,028,122. From the mouth of Castleman's River, by way of the Youghiogheny and Monongahela Rivers, to Pittsburgh, the fall was found to
be six hundred and nineteen feet, necessitating the
construction of seventy-eight locks. The estimated
cost of this division of the work was $4,170,223.
Total estimated cost of canal and slack-water between Cumberland and Pittsburgh, $14,198,345. Total length of way, about one hundred and fifty-five
miles, and whole number of locks, three hundred
and twenty-four. Gen. Bernard estimated that the
opening of this canal between Cumnberland and
Pittsburgh would, within six years from the time of
its completion, enhance the value of lands along its
route to the amount of eighty-two millions of dollars.
But the estimated cost of the work was too appalling,
and the enterprise was abandoned, though some other
surveys were made after that time, including those
made under direction of Maj. Merrill, as already noticed. The old canal and slack-water project has even
yet some adherents; but this is an age of railways,
and the opening of the well-equipped and substantial
line between Pittsburgh and Cumberland in 1871 extinguished forever all hope for the construction of a
canal to connect the waters of the Potomac and
Youghiogheny.
RAILROADS.
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company was the
first corporation which made any actual movement
towards the construction of a railway line through
the valleys of the Youghiogheny and Monongahela
Rivers. That company having been incorporated by
the Legislature of Maryland at their December session in the year 1826, applied to the General Assembly of Pennsylvania for authority to construct their
road through this State to or towards a termin'us on
the Ohio. To this petition the Assembly responded
by the passage of " An Act to authorize the Baltimore
and Ohio Railroad Company to construct a railroad
through Pennsylvania, in a direction from Baltimore
to the Ohio River." The act recited in its preamble, that "it is in accordance with that liberal
course of policy which has ever been pursued by this
Commonwealth to promote the facility of trade and
intercourse between the citizens of Pennsylvani-a and
the citizens of her sister States, and no doubt is entertained but the same motives of policy will govern
the State of Maryland, should an application at any
time hereafter be made by the government of this
State for leave to intersect the said railroad in the
State of Maryland by the constructioni of a railroad
by the State of Pennsylvania, or any company which
mav by law be incorporated for such purpose." The
company was required to complete its road in Pennsylvania within fifteen years from the passage of the
act, otherwise the act to be void and of no effect.
The time when the company commenced making
surveys in Pennsylvania under authority of this act
is not known, but the fact that the engineers of the
Baltimore and Ohio Company were engaged in preliminary surveys in this region as early as 1835, for
the purpose of securing a line of communication
through to Pittsburgh or other point on the Ohio, is
noticed in the report (found in the newspapers of that
time) of a " Great Railroad Meeting," held at Brownsville on the 3d of November in the year named, "to
promote the immediate construction of a railroad between Cumberland and Brownsville, and thence to
Wheeling and Pittsburgh," at which it was announced
that the chief engineer of the Baltimore and Ohio
Company had made an examination of this section
of country, and had made his report to the effect that
a railroad could be constructed between the places
mentioned " without the use of any inclined plane."
The chairman of the meeting referred to, was George
Hogg; Vi'ce-Presidents, David Binns and Michael
Lewis; Secretaries, G. H. Bowman and John L. Dawson; Committee to Draft Resolutions, James L. Bowman, George Dawson, Robert Clarke, Jonathan Binns,
Jr., and John Snowdort, Jr. The meeting resolved
that it was expedient to hold a railroad convention at
Brownsville on Thursday, the 25th of the same month,
to be composed of delegates fromn the District of Columbia, and from towns, cities, and counties feeling
an interest in the enterprise. No report of such a
convention has been found, nor does'it appear that
any further public action was taken in the premises.
It is evident that the Brownsville meeting of November 3d did not convene for the purpose of adopting or
considering any definite plan of action, but merely to
express in general termns approval of the project of a
railroad line from the Potomac to the Ohio by way of
Brownsville.
The examination of this section of country by the
chief engineer of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
Company (Jonathan Knight, Esq., of Washington
County, Pa.) was quickly followed by preliminary
surveys, made with a view to find and determinle on
a practicable route for a railroad from Cumberland to
the Ohio. These surveys were made in 1836 to 1838,
and in that part of the projected route passing through
Fayette County were located on the southwest side
of the Youghiogheny River, the route along the opposite side, where the present railroad runs, apparently being at that time regarded as impracticable.
Crossing Fayette County and the Monongahela River
at Brownsville, the route was surveyed thence into the
valley of Ten-Mile Creek, and up that valley to its
head; from that point, crossing the dividing ridge to
Templeton Run, it passed down the valleys of that
stream and Wheeling Creek to the Ohio at Wheeling.'
Leaving the proposed main line near the crossing of
the Monongahela, a branch road was surveyed to Pittsburgh, in accordance with the requirement of the
1 Several other surveys were mrade, but this was the one which was
considered the most practicable, and which was adopted by Chief Engineer Knight.
272INTERNAL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~IPRVENS27
ninth section of the act of Feb. 27, 1828, viz.: " That,
as a condition on which this act is granted, it shall be
the duty of the said company, ill case the railroad
aforesaid, made in this commonwealth in pursuance
of this act, shall not termiinate at the Ohio River in
the vicinity of Pittsburgh, to construct a lateral railroad simultaneously, on the same principles and plans
of the main railroad, and which shall connect the city
of Pittsburgh with the main railroad."
The preparations of the Baltimore and Ohio Company for the construction of a railroad through Somerset, Fayette, and Washington Counties embraced
not only the making of elaborate surveys, but also
the purchase of-the right of way from a great number
of land-owners, no less than one hundred and nineteen such deeds being recorded by them in Fayette
County in the year 1838. But at that time the attention of the company was engrossed and their funds
absorbed in the construction of their road between
Baltimore and Cumberland, and as it had become apparent that they could not complete the Pennsylvania
part of the road within the required time of fifteen
years from the passage of the act of 1828, they asked
an extension, which was granted by the General Assembly of Pennsylvania in a supplemental act, approved June 20, 1839, by the provisions of which
the time in which the company were required to
finish their road or roads in Pennsylvania was extended four years, or to the 27th of February, 1847.
When the company had completed their road westward from Baltimore to Cumberland (in 1844) there
remained less than three years in which to construct the part lying in Pennsylvania, under the requirement of the supplemental act of 1839. A further extension of time was necessary, and was applied
for to the Pennsylvania Assembly; but in the mean
time the Pennsylvania Railroad was being pushed
westward to cross the Alleghenies and make Pittsburgh its western terminus, and now the business men,
manufacturers, and people of influence in that city,.
who in 1828 and 1839 were ready to do all in their
power to secure a railroad, even if it were but a branch
from a main line, from the seaboard to Wheeling,
were now, in view of tlAe prospective direct connection
with Philadelphia by the main line of the Pennsylvania Railroad (in which many of them were also
stockholders), entirely favorable to that road, and as
wholly opposed to the support of a competing line
commencing at the Maryland metropolis, and to have
its western terminus not at Pittsburgh but at the
rival city of Wheeling.
Besides the opposition of the people of Pittsburgh,
the Baltimore and Ohio Company had to encounter
the determined opposition of the inhabitants of the
country through which their railroad was to pass.
This strong opposition arose principally from  the
belief that the proposed railway would supersede and
ruin the National road, and consequently ruin thernselves and the country. Among those who took this
superficial view of the matter was Gen. Henry W.
Beeson, of Uniontown. He stoutly opposed the extension of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad west of
CumberlaIld through Pennsylvania, and was thoroughly sustained by nearly all his neighbors.  On
one occasion he made a public speech, in which he
furnished a careful calculation of the number of
horseshoes made by the blacksmiths, the number of
nails required to fasten them to the feet of the
horses used on the road, besides a great amount of
other statistical information, intended to show that
the National road was better adapted to promote
the public welfare than railroads. Such arguments
and others equally short-sighted and ridiculous, had
the effect to create and keep alive a determined and
almost universal opposition to the railroad among the
inhabitants of the section through which it was proposed to be built. This opposition, added to the
combined influence of the city of Pittsburgh and of
the Pennsylvania Railroad, proved too powerful for
the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company to overcome in the Assembly of this State; and so that company, after repeated ineffectual attempts to obtain a
further extension of time for building their road
through the State of Pennsylvania, found themselves
compelled to abandon the enterprise and complete
their road from Cumberland to Wheeling through
the State of Virginia.  Years afterwards, however,
they accomplished one of the principal objects they
then had in view (the extension of their line to the
city of Pittsburgh) by leasing roads already built by
companies holding charters from Pennsylvania.
The Pittsburgh and Connellsville Railroad Company
was the first to open a line of railway within any
part of the county of Fayette. This company was
incorporated by an act of the General Assembly, approved April 3, 1837, which conferred on the company authority " to construct a railroad of single or
double tracks from the city of Pittsburgh, by the
course of the Monongahela and Youghiogheny Rivers,
to some suitable point at or near Connellsville." By
the provisions of the act, a large number of commissioners were appointed to receive subscriptions to the
stock of the company, those belonging to Fayette
County being the following-named gentlemen, viz.:
John Fuller, James C. Cummings, Samuel Marshall,
Joseph Torrance, William L. Miller, Thomas G. Ewing, John Doogan, Thomas Foster, Daniel Rogers,
Joseph Rogers, Alexander Johnston, Samuel Evans,
William Davidson, Henry Blackston, Henry Gebhart, William Espy, William Andrews, David B.
Long, John M. Burney, Robert Smilie, Robert Bleakley, Robert Long, John W. Phillips, John P. Gibson,
Jacob Weaver, James Paull, Jr., David A. C. Sherrard, Col. John Bute, John M. Austin, Nathaniel
Ewing, Henry W. Beeson, William B. Roberts, John
Dawson, Joseph Paull, James Piper, UJriah Springer,
Isaac Wood,  William  Crawford, Andrew Stewart,
273
INTERNAL IMPROVEMIENTS.HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
suspicious that the secret movements of the French
wvere part of a stratageni to draw some of his forces
away from the camp and then attack it. He therefore ordered the ammunition to be placed in a safe
position, under a guard strong enough to prevent it
from capture in case of attack, and then set out immediately, with the rest of his men,' for the camp of
the Half-King. The night was rainy and very dark;
the path over which they traveled was narrow, rough,
and hard to distinguish; but they persevered, and in
the morning at a little before sunrise reached the HalfKing's camp,' where, at a council, held with the old
sachem, it was determined to proceed at once to attack
the French camp.
The partv whose movements had been reported by
Gist and others was the " French army," of whose
departure  from   Fort Du Quesne Washington  had
been apprised. In some historical accounts of the
campaign  it has been  stated that it was under comnmand of M. La Force, but this was not the case; it
was commanded by M. de Jumonville,' a French ensigin, wlho was accompanied by La Force, but the latter was simply a volunteer, and held no military
command in the expedition. Afterwards the French
authorities and writers claimed that Jumonville himself was not engaged in a military enterprise, but that
he  was  merely  an  envoy  or bearer of  dispatches'1 Mlost accounts have it that the force whichl Washington took with him
oa that night consisted of only forty men; buit the language of his inotes
-though not entirely clear-indicates that the numnber left to guard the
aniniminition was abouit forty, and that the renaiader of his force accomp:nied him on the expedition.
2 Mr. Veech places the site of the half-King's canip on tlhat night,
"n iear a finie spring, since called Washington's Spring, about fifty rods
niorthlward of the Great Rock," in the nor thlwest part of the present townlship of Wharton. and very near the ol0( National road.
3 FolloWinD is a tranislation of the orders givell by M. de Contrecoeur
to Jumonville for this expedition:
"Be it known that the captaiis of a company belongiDg to the detachmenlt of niarilies, comnniader-in-clhief at the Ohio Fort du Quesne,
Presqu' Isle and Riviere aux Boeufs, liath given orders to M. de Jumonville, an elnsi- n of the troops, to depart imnmediately, with onie officer,
three cadets, one voluinteer La Force], onie English isiterpreter, anld
twenty-eight meii, to go upi as fStr as the High Lands, anid to make what
discovery he can; he shall keep along the river Monongahela in Periaglias, as far as the Hangard, after whicl lie shall msarcls along ulntil lie
finlds the road wlhicil leads to that said to lhave beeii cleared by the English. As the Indianis give out that the English are oii their march to
attack us (wVliich we ctannot believe, sitnce we are at peace), should M.
de Jumonville, contrary to ouir expectationis, hear of any attempt intended to be made by the English oni the lands beloiiginig to the French
King, lie shall ininiediately go to them auid deliver tliemii the stumlollnlis
wve have giveni him. We furtlher clharge him to dispatclh a speedy miessenger to us before the summonis be read, to acquiainit us of all tIhe discoveries lie hatli made; of the day lie iiiteiids to read them  the suns-   I
iiions, and also to bring us anl answer frojii tlhems, with all possible diligence, after it is read.
" If M de Jumonville should hear that the English intend to go on   t
the other side of the Great Mountain [the Alleghenies] te shall not pass   I
the High Lands, for we would not disturb them in thie least, beiiig de-  I
siroiis to keep uip that miniion which exists between the two growns.
"We charge M. de Jumonville to staiid upon his guard agaiiist every   a
attempt, eitlher from the English or the Indians. If lie should meet any   8
Indians, lie shall tell them he is traveling about to see wliat is transict-   t
ing on the King's territories, and to take notice of every road, and shall  b
slhow them fiiendship. Done at tle camp at Fort Du Quesne, tie 23d of  t
May, 1754.                         (Sigmied)  CONTRECOEUR."     O
charged by the commandant at Fort du Quesne with
the duty of delivering a communication to the commanding officer of the English force; and that the
military party which accompanied him was acting
simply as his guard while performing this service.
But if it was simply a guard to a peaceful envoy, thea
certainly its leader adopted a very strange cour e in
lurking near Washington's encampment for two days,
and hiding his men in an obscure and gloomy glen
among rocks and brushwood.
It having been determined to attack Jumonville's
partv, Washington's men and Tanacharison's Indians
left the headquarters of the latter, and marched " Indian-file" to near the French camp,4 where a line was
formed, with the English on the right and the Indians
on the left, and in this order the combined forces
moved to the attack. It was not a complete surprise,
for the French discovered their assailants before they
were within rifle-range. The right, under Washington, opened fire, aind received that of the French.
The coinflict lasted only about a quarter of an hour,
when the French surrendered. Their loss was ten
killed and one wounded. Among the killed was M.
de Jumonville.5 All the dead men were scalped by
Tanacharison's Indians. Washington's loss was one
man killed and two wounded.
The prisoners, twenty-one in number (among whom
were La Force, M. Drouillard, and two cadets), were
marched to the Half-King's camp, and thence to the
Great Meadows. Two davs later, they were sent to
Winchester, Va., with a guard of twenty men, under
command of Lieutenant West, who was also accompanied by Mr. Spindorph.
On the 30th, Washington "began to raise a fort
witlh small palisadoes, fearing that when the French
should hear the news of that defeat we might be attacked by considerable forces."  The defenses whicl
his men had constructed at the Great Meadows' camp
prior to this, probably consisted of parapets, formed
of logs (laid horizontally) and earth, along the crests
of the "two natural intrenchments," which have already been mentioned, and the discovery of which
at the Great Meadows, together with the advantage
of a small stream that flowed near them, seems to
have been a principal reason for his selecting that
4 " Jumonville's Camp," says Mr. Veech, " is at place well known in our
mountains. It is near half a minile southiward of Dunbar's Camp, aiid
about five hundred yards eastward of Braddock's road,-the same which
Washington was then imiaking.... There is not above grounid in Fayette County a place so well calculated for concealment, and for secretly
watchiing and counting Washington's little arniy 1s it would pass along
the road, as this same Jumonville's Camp." The spot is now well
kliown by residents in that part of the county, and is frequently visited
)y strangers from motives of curiosity.
5The killing of Jumonville w*as stigmatized by the French as thie
assassination of a peacefuil envoy, and their writers bave covered tlhousands of pages with accusations against Washington as commander of
tie attackinig force. Evemi a greater anmount of writing has been doiie
by American historians to refute tlose false allegations. But the cliaracter of WASHINGTON needs no vindication, and certainly none will be
Dffered in these pages.
30
fHISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
James Fuller, Pierson Cope, Daniel Gallantine,
Philip Lucas, Joseph H. Cunningham, Joseph Pennock, William  Murphy, George McCray, Henry
Smith, William Bryson, and Thomas Rankin.
~ The charter of the company provided and declared
that "If the said company shall not commence the
construction of the said railroad within the term of
five years from the passing of this act, or if after the
completion of the said railroad the said corporation
shall suffer the same to go to decay and be impass:tble for the term of two years, then this charter shall
become null and void, except so far as compels said
company to make reparation for damages."
The company was duly organized, but did not comply with the above-named requirement by commencing the construction of the road at the specified time,
and their franchises were therefore forfeited; but on
the 18th of March, 1843, an act was passed renewing,
extending, and continuing in force the charter of
1837 upon the same terms, conditions, and limitations
as were embraced in the original act, and also making
the additional provision "that the said company shall
have power and discretion to select any route from
Pittsburgh to Turtle Creek which may be deemed
most eligible and advantageous, and may extend said
road beyond Connellsville to Smithfield, or any other
point on the waters of the Youghiogheny and within
the limits of this Commonwealth." The clause authorizing the extension of the road from Connellsville
to the Maryland line was repealed the next day after
its passage, but was re-enacted on the 3d of April,
1846.
By an act of the Legislature of Maryland, passed
April 21, 1853, that State granted to the Pittsburgh
and Connellsville Company authority to extend their
road from the State line to Cumberland. In 1854
(April 6th) an act was passed authorizing the Uniontown and Waynesburg Railroad Company (chartered
April 18, 1853) to transfer all its rights and franchises
to this company, and they were accordingly so transferred.
On the 22d of February, 1854, the chief engineer
of the road, Oliver W. Barnes, submitted to the president and directors a report on the several proposed
routes, whereupon the board "adopted the line occupying the north bank of the Youghiogheny River,
fromn a point at or near the borough of West Newton,
in Westmoreland County, to a point at or near the
borough of Connellsville, in Fayette County, as the
final location for the construction of that portion of
the road." Southward from Connellsville the route
adopted was on the same side of the Youghiogheny
to Turkey Foot, and thence through Somerset County
(embracing a tunnel at Sand Patch) to the Maryland
line.
The line of road wvas divided for purposes of construction into five divisions, Viz.:
No. l.-Pittsburgh to West Newton.. 32 miles.
" 2.-West Newton to Connellsville. 25  "
No. 3.-Connellsville to Turkey Foot. 30 miles.
" 4.-Turkey Foot to Summit.. 29
" 5.--Summit to Cumberland.. 31  "
From the report of the board of directors to the
stockholders for 1854, the following information is
gained in reference to the construction of the road.
Contracts for construction were first let on division
No. 2, West Newton to Connellsville, and on that
division the work was begun.
This portion of the line was selected for the commencement "as presenting the advantage of a locality which could most economically be brought into
earliest profitable use, and when finished greatly
promote the convenience of the company in the further prosecution of the work both eastwardly and
westwardly. As a starting-point, it was easy of access by river in furnishing men and material, provisions, etc., from this city [Pittsburgh], and when completed it was believed would materially accelerate
the extension of the work to its western terminus,
thus promising earlier communication between the
markets of Pittsburgh and the rich mineral and agricultural valleys of the Youghiogheny and Monongahela than could have been accomplished by a commencement at this city. The heavy character of the
work on the sections embracing the Sand Patch tunnel demanded that it should be put under contract
simultaneously with the first work, as it was the
opinion of the chief engineer that its vigorous prosecution would be required contemporaneously with the
remainder to secure its completion within the period
of his estimate for the entire line."
With reference to the progress which had been
made on the road up to the 1st of December, 1854,
the date of the directors' report, that document says,
"On the division between West Newton and Connellsville the graduation, masonry, and ballasting of
about twenty sections [of one mile each] are fully
completed, and the remainder will be ready to receive the superstructure in the course of the present
winter. The track-laying has been commenced, and
will be vigorously pressed forward. The first locomotive, the'Georlge Washington,' will be immediately
placed upon the road, and will greatly promote the
progress of the work on theWsuperstructure in the
transportation of the heavy material required."
Contracts had previously been made for 2600 tons
of rails, to be paid for in Allegheny County bonds,
and to be delivered by boats at West Newton. Some
of the iron had arrived at that point, and large
quantities of ties were already delivered along the
line.  A contract had been made, several months
before, with Messrs. Baldwin, of Philadelphia, for
two first class coal-burning locomotives, one of which
had already been received (the "George Washington" above mentioned), and the other would be ready
for shipment during the month (December, 1854).
Arrangements had been made for a moderate equipment of passenger, freight, and construction cars.
I
274
IINTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.
Depot grounds had been secured at West Newton   
and Connellsville, and thirteen acres of coal lands  t
had been purchased contiguous to the line at the l
latter borough. Amicable settlements for the right 4
of way had been made in all cases but two within  t
the limits of Fayette County, and land for stations
(usually two acres at each place) had been tendered
to the company at Port Royal, Smith's Mill, Jacob's
Creek, Layton (foot of Big Falls), Old Franklin IronWorks, Samilie's Run (Dawson), and at Rist's Run,
below Connellsville. The total expenditure on division No. 2 (Connellsville to West Newton) up to
Dec. 1, 1854. had been $318,663.18.
The road was opened to Connellsville in 1855.
Beyond that place the amount of work done was small,
only $9674.22 having been expended on the division
extending from Connellsville to Turkey Foot prior
to Dec. 1, 1854, and for a number of years after the
opening of the road to Connellsville very little was
done on the line southward and eastward from that
point. A very strong opposition to the road was
developed among the people living along that part of
the route, their principal argument against it being
that the opening of a railroad through that section
would ruin the traffic on the old National road,
which latter appeared to be regarded by them as
paramount in importance to the securing of railroad
facilities.                                         I
Finally, on the 29th of April, 1864, the General
Assembly of Pennsylvania passed an act, which provided and declared "That all the rights, powers,
privileges, and franchises of every nature and kind
whatsoever authorized or created by the act of Assemubly approved April 3, 1837, authorizing the incorporation of the Pittsburgh and Connellsville Railroad Company, and all supplements thereto, so far as
the same or any of them authorize the construction
of any line or lines of railway southwardly or eastwardly from Connellsville, be and they are hereby
revoked and resumed by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; and all the rights, powers, franchises, and.
privileges by the said act and its supplements conferred upon the said corporation, for and. in respect
to all that portion of the lines southwardly and eastwardly from Connellsville, be and the same are, by
all and every authority in the Legislature for that
purpose vested, resumed, revoked, repealed, and put
an end to;" but it was also provided that all the outlay and expenditure already made by the company
on the line south and east of Connellsville should
be reimbursed by any other company which might
be empowered to complete the construction of that
portion of the line.
Among the reasons for this repeal of the charter,
as set forth in the preamble of the act by which it
was accomplished, were that " The company, by said
act [of 1837] and suppletments created, have failed to
complete the road therein provided for, and have so
long delayed the construction of said road that now,
after the lapse of years from the granting of full authority by the State, less than one-half of said line of
railroad has been constructed, and the line or lines
east of Connellsville authorized by the supplements
to said act not having been completed or prepared
for public use," and that " In the opinion of the Legislature said corporation, by the delay referred to and
by the embarrassments, financial and otherwise, in
which said corporation has come to be involved,
have misused and abused the powers by said act conferred," and that " In the opinion of the legislature
it is injurious to the citizens of this Commonwealth
that the said company should any longer have or enjoy any right, franchise, or privilege to build or construct any railroad, branch, or extension of their
existing railroad southwardly or eastwardly from
Connellsville."
On the same day on which this repeal was passed, the
General Assembly also passed an act incorporating the
"Connellsville and Southern Pennsylvania Railway
Company," with power and authority " to construct a
railroad from Connellsville to the Maryland State
line, at such point and by such route as to the directors may seem advisable, and to connect the same with
any road or roads authorized by the State of Maryland, and to connect the same with the Pittsburgh
and Connellsville Railroad, or any other road at or
near Connellsville now constructed or that may hereafter be constructed;" also to construct a road or roads
from any point on the line named to the Susquehanna
Valley. In the list of corporators there were named
a large number of gentlemen of Pennsylvania, and
William B. Ogden, J. D. T. Lanier, L. H. Meyer,
and Samuel J. Tilden of New York. The capital
stock authorized was ten millions of dollars, and the
company was required to perfect its organization
within three months from the passage of the act, and
to " proceed immediately to locate and construct said
road, and to complete their main line within three
years."
But the company thus incorporated did not comply
with the requirements of the act as to the commencement and completion of the line. Meanwhile, legal
measures were taken on behalf of the Pittsburgh and
Connellsville Railroad Company to secure a restoration of their charter for the line south and east of
Connellsville, and this was finally accomplished by
the passage (Jan. 31, 1868) of an act repealing the
act of April 29, 1864, and thus reinstating the company in the possession of their original powers and
franchises as to the line between Connellsville and
the Maryland boundary, but requiring them to commence the construction of the road within six months,
and to complete it within three years from the passage of the act. Another act was passed April 1st in
the same year, authorizing the Pittsburgh and Connellsville Railroad Company to construct branch roads,
for the development of contiguous regions of country,
from any point or points on their main line.
M7HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Operations were now resumed, and the construction
of the road was pushed vigorously to completion. In
February, 1871, the road from Connellsville to Falls
City was finished, and trains ran regularly between
h lose points on and after the 20th of that month. As
ea.rly as the 23d of the same month trains were anJiounced to be running on schedule time from Sand
l'atch to Cumberland. At about three o'clock in the.'ternoon of Mohday, the 10th of April, 1871, the
track was finished between Pittsburgh and Cumberland, by the laying of the last rail, at a point where
the track-layers from both directions met, near Forge
Bridge, three miles west of Mineral Point. "Immediately upon completion of the track a passenger
train from Pittsburgh (the first one passing over the
road east of Confluence) took aboard all present,
-Messrs. Latrobe and Blanchard, of the Baltimnore
and Ohio Railroad, and Messrs. Hughart, Page, Pendleton, Stout, and Turner, of the Pittsburgh and Connellsville road, and others,-and started directly to
Cumberland, which was reached about dusk."' When
this first train left Connellsville to proceed to the
point where the track-laying parties were approaching
each other to complete the connection, nine car-loads
of rails were taken with it, drawn by locomotive No.
7, in charge of Mr. Sampsel. At Confluence these
iron-laden cars were detached, and taken thence to a
point near Brooke tunnel by locomotive No. 719; of
the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, while Mr. Sampsel,
the engineer of No. 7, who had previously declared
he would run the first engine over the completed
road, made good his promise on this occasion by taking
the excursion train through to Cumberland, passing
by a zig-zag track around the Brooke tunnel, which
was not then entirely completed. Among the speeches
made in the opening ceremonies by men prominent
in the affairs of the Pittsburgh and Connellsville and
Baltimore and Ohio roads was that of B. H. Latrobe,
Esq., who said that the road which he (Latrobe) had
commenced in 1837 was now completed by the president, that the road had now allied itself with the Baliimnore and Ohio, and that he predicted a brilliant
future for the line and the connection,-a prediction
which has been completely verified during the ten
years which have succeeded it. The road is now
operated as a part of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, having been leased by that company in December, 1875.
The Fayette County Railroad Company was incorporated by act of General Assembly, passed May 1,
1857, "with power and authority to construct a single
or double railroad track from any point at or near the
borough of Uniontown to any point at or near the
borough of Connellsville, in Fayette County, and
across the Youghiogheny River, with the right to
1 Accounts of the opening, published in Genius of Liberty, April 13,
1871.
connect with the Pittsburgh and Connellsville Railroad at or near the borough of Connellsville." The
persons invested by the act with authority to open
books for subscriptions to the stock of'the company
were Samuel A. Gilmore, Nathaniel Ewing, John
Huston, Andrew Stewart, Joshua B. Howell, Alfred
Patterson, Daniel Kaine, Henry Yeagley, John Dawson, H. W. Beeson, Isaac Beeson, Smith Fuller, Ewing Brownsfield, James Veech, William Thorndell,
Eleazer Robinson, Alpheus E. Willson, William Beeson, Jacob Murphy, William Bryson, John K. Ewing,
Samuel W. Boyd, William C. McKean, John Chaney,
John Freeman, George Paull, Samuel Nixon, Thomas
B. Searight, Samuel D. Oliphant, Edmund Beeson,
John Bierer, Ellis B. Dawson, Armstrong Hadden,
George McClean, Isaac Winn, Robert Patterson,
Thomas Sturgis, Jesse B. Gardner, and Alfred McClelland.
The authorized capital of the company was $750,000
in shares of $100 each. The first president of the
company was Hon. Nathaniel Ewing, to whom more
than to any other person was due the credit of completing the road and putting it in operation. It was
finished in its entire length in the last part of the
year 1859, and was formally opened for travel and
traffic between Uniontown and Connellsville on the
1st of January, 1860.
After the completion and opening of the line, the
company met with- financial embarrassments, which
resulted in the sale of the road and equipment by the
sheriff on the 2d of September, 1862, it being then
purchased by the stockholders, and the company reorganized. On the 1st of November, 1864, the road
was leased by the company to the Pittsburgh and
Connellsville Company for ninety-nine years. In
December, 1875, it was leased by the latter company
(together with the main line from Pittsburgh to Cumberland) to the Baltimore and Ohio Company, by
which corporation it is at present operated.
The Southwest Pennsylvania Railway Company
was incorporated March 16, 1871. The corporators
named were Israel Painter, Alpheus E. Willson,
James E. Logan, Samuel Dellinger, and Christopher
Sherrick. The company were authorized to construct
a railroad, with one or more tracks, from the Pennsylvania Railroad at or near Greensburg, Westmoreland
Co., Pa., by way of Connellsville, to Uniontown, Fayette Co., and thence to the boundary line of West
Virginia. The capital stock was $500,000. An organization of the company was effected at Greensburg, and Thomas A. Scott elected president. The
route was located, and work on the line commenced
without unnecessary delay. In' 1875 the completed
road extended from Connellsville as far south as
Mount Braddock, and in the fall of 1876 was opened
to Uniontown.
In August, 1877, the company purchased the rights
and franchises of the Uniontown and West Virginia
I
I
276INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.
Railroad Company, and the road was continued about
seven miles southward from Uniontown to Fairchance.
The line is now operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company.
The Pittsburgh, Virginia and Charleston Railway
was first projected by a company which was incorporated by an act of Asseinbly approved April 8, 1867,
as the Monongahela Valley Railroad Company. By
a supplemental act, approved March 31, 1868, the
company was "authorized to construct its railroad
with single or double tracks from a point at or near
the city of Pittsburgh, by such route as the board of
directors may determine, to a point at or near Monongahela City, in Washington County, and thence up
either bank of the Monongahela River to a point at
or near Rice's Landing, with power to construct such
branches as the directors may deem necessary." Febiruary 4, 1870, an act was passed changing the corporate name of the company to that of Pittsburgh, Virgiriia and Charleston Railway Company.
The delays which are usual in the building of railways, except such as are undertaken by old and powerful companies, were encountered in the construction
of this, and it was not until the spring of 1881 that
the line was completed and opened from Pittsburgh
to West Brownsville, thus giving to the boroughs of
Bridgeport and Brownsville the first railroad communication they ever enjoyed, though no part of the
road in operation is within the county of Fayette.
A railroad to run fromn Brownsville to Uniontown
was projected by the "Brownsville Railway Company." Work on the line was commenced by this
company, and some grading was done between the
two termini; but financial difficulties intervened, and
the road was sold at sheriff's sale, Feb. 5, 1878, to
Charles E. Spear, and was afterwards merged with the
Pittsburgh, Virginia and Charleston Railroad. The
last-named road and its franchises passed in May,
1879, to the control and management of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, by which it is now operated as the " Monongahela Division" of its lines.
The Redstone extension or branch of the Pittsburgh, Virginia and Charleston Railroad is now in
process of construction, having been commenced by
the Pennsylvania Railroad Company in January,
1881. Starting from the completed road west of the
Monongahela, it crosses that river by a bridge at the
mouth of Redstone Creek, below Brownsville, and
runs from that point to Hogsett's Cut, about one mile
north of Uniontown, where it joins the Southwest
Pennsylvania Railroad. It is now being pushed
rapidly to completion, and is expected to be opened
about the 1st of June, 1882, thus giving a third line
of railway communication between Uniontown and
Pittsburgh, and from both these places to Brownsville by a short branch extending to that borough
from the main line near Redstone Creek. As this
Redstone branch road has an easy and unbroken
descending grade in its entire length, it is expected
that it will take all the immense amount of coke and
other freight which now finds an outlet over the
Southwest Pennsylvania road from stations south and
west of Mount Braddock. It will also open in the
Redstone Valley an immense area of coal lands which
are now inaccessible.
The Mount Pleasant and Broad Ford Railroad
Company was incorporated April 6, 1870,. with a
capital stock of $200,000, the corporators named
being Daniel Shupe, C. S. Overholt, J. B. Jordan,
William J. Hitchman, Joseph R. Stouffer, A. O.
Tinstman, Israel Painter, C. P. Markle, and James
Neel. The road was commenced immediately after
the organization of the company, and was pushed
with so much energy that the line was completed
and opened on Saturday, Feb. 18, 1871. On the 2d
of January next preceding the opening of the road
it was leased to the Pittsburgh and Connellsville
Railroad Company, and afterwards by that lessee to
the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, by which
latter corporation it is now operated in conjunction
with the main line of road from Pittsburgh to Cumberland.
The Uniontown and West Virginia Railroad Company was incorporated April 2, 1868, with an authorized capital of $250,000, and with power to construct
a railroad from Uniontown to West Virginia State
line. The persons designated to open books, receive subscriptions to the capital stock, and organize
the company were John K. Ewing, Armstrong Hadden, Andrew Stewart, A. E. Willson, Smith Fuller,
E. B. Dawson, Robert Hogsett, Daniel Kaine, Samuel
A. Gilmore, Charles E. Boyle, F. H. Oliphant, William  James, Ayres Nixon, James Hughes, John
Brownfield, Robert Britt, Jacob Kyle, William A.
Custer, James Robinson, Thomas Seman, Samuel
Shipley, Tobias Sutton, Samuel Hatfield, William
H. Bailey, William S. Morgan, A. B. Hall, Jacob
Crow, l)r. James Thompson, J. G. Williams, John L.
Dawson, John Schnatterly, Martin Dickson, Michael
W. Franks, John Morgan, Lewis Hunter, John Oliphant, and William Sweeny.
Surveys for the location of the route of the road were
made by N. Bailie, engineer. A considerable amount
of work was done in the construction of culverts, building of bridges, and completion of most of the grading between Uniontown and Fairchance. But the
financial difficulties and embarrassments usually encountered in the construction of new lines of railway
were experienced by this company, and finally, in
March, 1874, the road was sold by the sheriff on three
judgments, which had been obtained against the conmpany by John Snider, the contractor. Snider became
the purchaser, and on the 28th of August, 1877, he
sold the property to the Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad Company, who completed the road from UnionI
277HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
town to Fairchance. This part of the line, as well
as tile Southwest Company's road from Uniontown to
Greensburg, is now operated by the Pennsylvania
Railroad Company.
The Uniontown and Dunkard Creek Railroad
Company was incorporated March 23, 1865, with a
capital of $500,000. Corporators, Edward G. Roddy,
John K. Ewing, Charles S. Seaton, Thomas B. Searight, William  James, Daniel Kaine, Alpheus E.
Willson, Charles E. Boyle, Isaac P. Kendall, John
Brownfield, William McCleary, Ewing Brownfield,
Jacob Crow, William Parshall, and Michael W.
Franks, of Fayette County, and John P. Williams,
Cephas Wylie, and Freeman Lucas, of Greene
County. The road has not been built, and the early
completion of the line between the terminii is not yet
assured.
The Brownsville and New Haven Railroad Company was chartered Feb. 23, 1876, under the general
law. This company had authority to construct a
road from a point at or near New Haven to a point
at or near Vance's Mill, on Redstone Creek; also to
connect with any other railroad. The company organized and prosecuted the work of construction
until the grading was nearly comnpleted over the entire length. The usual result followed, -financial
difficulties and the sale of the road by the sheriff
(Aug. 30, 1877). Abraham 0. Tinstman and A. L.
McFarland became the purehasers, and it was afterwards sold by them to the Pittsburgh and Connells- l
ville Railroad Company. The road will undoubtedly I
be comnpleted in the near future.
Several other railroads are in contemplation to run
through this county, one of which, known as the
"Vanderbilt Road," is now being, constructed with
remarkable rapidity. Its route is up the Youghiogheny, along the left bank of the river, to the vicinity
of Connellsville and New Haven, and thence southward through the rich coal-fields of the central part
of Fayette County to the West Virginia line. Neither
its route south of the State line nor its contemplated
southern terminus have been ascertained. Its northwestern connection is to be with the Pittsburgh and
Lake Erie Railroad.
POPULATION.
In the year 1768 the Rev. John Steele, who had
been sent out with tvo other commissioners to visit
the settlements along the Monongahela and Youghiogheny Rivers, said, in his report to the Governor,
"I am of opinion, from the appearance the people
made. and the best intelligence we could obtain,
that there are about one hundred and fifty families
in the differenit settlemnents of Redstone, Youghiogheny, and Cheat." A few of those included in
this estimate were located at Turkey Foot, in what is
now Somerset County, a few oni the Cheat southi of
the State line, and two or three families on the west
side of the Monongahela. The whole one hundred
and fifty -families must have aggregated more than
seveen hundred persons, of whomn less than fifty were
living at Turkey Foot, and if there were an equal
number of Steele's estimate settled in what is now
Washington Cournty and West Virginia (which is not
probable), then there nmust have been at that time
within the territory that is now Fayette County a
population of fully six hundred, though statements
have been made giving it a much less population than
that in 1770, two years later. In 1790 Fayette County
had   13,325  inhabitants,  and  in   1800, 20,159.   The
population of the county at the end of each decade
from 1810 to 1880, inclusive, is given below, by townships and boroughs, as shown by the reports of the
several United States censuses taken within the period
indicated:
1810  1820  1830   1840   1850   1860   1870   1880
Belle Vernon...,,............ 906 1,164
Bridgeport...    280    624    737    788' 1,292  1,276  1,1'99 31,134
Brownsville....   698'   976  1,2:33  1,362  2,369  1,934  1,749  1,489
Browinsville......  2344  286  246
Bullskin....    1,439  1,484  1,231  1,'75  1,428  1,523  1,657, 2,732
Connellsville..   498   6000' 1205  1,4360  1,553   g99   1,291j1 4;3,615
Connellsville...............................................    489  1,163  1,366
Dawson.....................................................................  45:3
Dunbar....     2,066  1,895  1,722  2,070  2,156, 2,2241 2,972  6,327
Fayette City'....................................   972    820    889'   867
Franklin.       1,623  1,749  1,464  1,396  1,4:12  1,418  1,29.'  1,173
Georges.          2,086  2,031  2,416  2,371  2,536) 2,656       44  3,:332
German.::::::I  2,:079  2,379  2,393  2,830 1,894  2,04f;   l,9ll1  1,8:14
Henry Clay..805..................   891  1,117  1,077    9.51.1,232
Jefferson.......1.....................   1,43j5  1,510' 1,381  1.(;13
Lower Tyrone..............   *..........   1......-...  1,976
Luzerne....     1,588  1,610l 1,6251  1,715  1,869; 1,896  1,807  1,744
Masontown.............................................. 376
Menallen.....    12    1,3761  1,083  1,377  1,411 1,412  1,376  1,461
New   Haven...........................................1...............  333  442
Nicholson.................                    1354  1,313  1,3511   514
North Union........ I.....--..........  1,749  1,68:3  3,170
Perry..........--.. I...............  1,3501  1,272  1,414  1,4-15  1,476
Redstone.....    1,224' 1,207  1,209  1,159: 1,287  1,155  1,152  1,01(16
Salt Lick.        994  1,17-2  1,499  1,911    879    9)89  1,209  1,372
South Union.....                    I  978  860 1,177
Springfield....   1,180  1,37(1  1,629  1,713
Spring Hill....   1,837  2,086  1,934  2,385  1,685  1,687  1,644  1,558
Stewart......        I... j 338    99.5  1.2616  1,498................. I................ 14:8|9.n  2,9
Tyrone...        989; 1,058  1,139  1,189  1,419  1,485  2,276
Union....  1,8211 1,947  2,475 2.7231..................7.
Uniontown....  999  1 0,58  1,341  1,710  2,333  2,007, 62,503 73,265
Upper Tyrone..............    |..........I                          3,106...  3,6
Washington....  2,160  2,7491 2.926  1,5151 1,'76  1 56(  1,0)615  1.257
Wharton.......    922  1,206    809  1,32b  1,853  1623.  1,478  1,704
24,714 27,285 29,248 33,574 39,112 39,909 43,284 58,852
____ _ _   _  ___   I     _  _  _ _ _  _ ___   _         -__ _ _ _ _ _ _
1 Boronighs. All others townships.
2 Population of Brownsville township included with Brownsville Borough from 1820 to 1850, incl,isive.'From 1830 to 1850, inclusive, the figoures for Connellsville Borolngh
include also the population of Connellsville township.
4 East Ward, 19 6; West Ward, 1689; total, 3615.
5 Iticludiing New Geneva, 286.
6 East Ward, 1169; West Ward, 1334; total, 2503.
7 East Ward, 1582; West Ward, 1683; total, 3265.
278HISTORY  OF BOROUGHS AND TOWNGSHIPS.
UNIONTOWN BOROUGH.
THE history of Uniontown properly begins with
the year 1767, when Thomas Douthet and Henry
Beeson (the latter a Quaker) came from Virginia to
this section of country and selected lands within the
limits of the present borough.  It is evident that
Douthet settled or "squatted" on his land immediately after selecting it,l for his name is mentioned in
the report of the Rev. John Steele, among those of
the settlers whom he and the other Pennsylvania commissioners found living on Redstone Creek and in its
vicinity in March, 1768. This makes it reasonably
certain that he had located here in the previous
autumn, as it is very improbable that he wvould have
moved to his new home so early in the spring. He
did not become a permanent settler here. His land
was purchased by Henry Beeson prior to 1774 (as will
be seen hereafter), but the precise date of the sale
has not been ascertained. The log cabin in which he
lived was located on what is now the rear of E. Bailey Dawson's land, south of the court-house. It was
occupied by him when William Campbell first visited
the vicinity in 1770, but no later account of his residence in the place or his removal from it has been
found.
Henry Beeson, although he selected his land at
about the samne time as Douthet, did not settle or
make improvement on it until 1768. The fact that
his name does not appear in Commissioner Steele's list
of settlers here in March of that year is not positive
proof that he did not locate in 1767, as has been stated
1 Probably he had at first but a "tomahawk right." The order issued
to Thomas Douthet for a warrant of survey was dated June 14, 1769, and
the land was surveyed to him by Alexander McClean on the 27th of
Septemiber in the same year. A plat of this tract, called "Mill Seat,"
contailiing three hundred and fourteen and one-qularter of acres, situated
on Redstone Creek, is found on page 71, " Book of Surveys of Fayette
County." This tract embraced the part of Uniontown lying east of
what is now Morgantown Street. The patent for the " Mill Seat" tract
was issued Aug. 11, 1786, to Henry Beeson, who had purchllased it more
thati twelve years previously, from Douthet. In a later deed from Mr.
Beeson to Jacob Johnston, of a lot in the Douthet tract, is found the
following preamble: "Whereas the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,
by patent dated the 11th daty of Auguist, in the year 1786, did grant unto
Henry Beeson a certain tract of land situate on Redstone Creek in the
county of Fayette, oji which the town of Union had been previously
erected," etc.
by some; but evidence which appears conclusive is
found in a deed dated Feb. 13, 1788, from Henry Beeson to Jacob Beeson, of certain land, " including my
improvement made in 1768, near Thomas Douthet.
" The improvement here mentioned included the
log house which he first occupied here, situated west
of Campbell's Run, and near the site of the present
residence of Clark Breading, in the western part of
the borough. The tract on which it was located was
named by Beeson "Stone Coal Run," which was surveyed to him by Alexander McClean on the 27th of
September, 1769, on warrant No. 3455. It contained
three hundred and fifty-five acres, lying west of the
present Morgantown Street, the line of which formed
its eastern boundary.
It is evident that Henry Beeson was a man of very
considerable enterprise, and it is not improbable that
from the time of his selection of these lands he entertained the idea of laying out a village upon them.
It is said that Alexander McClean (who came into
this region as deputy surveyor in 1769) advised him
to do so, in view of the natural advantages of his location and of the probabilitv that his settlement might
very likely in the not-distant future become the seat
of justice of a new county. It is difficult to understand why McClean, far-seeing as he was, should at
that early time see a reason for his prediction, but it
is certain that the suggestion of laying out a village
was favorably received and acted on by Beeson.
Within the three years next succeeding 1770, he had
purchased Douthet's "Mill Seat" tract and erected a
mill,2 which was generally in rural districts, and be2 At the April session of Westmoreland County Court, in 1774, a petition for a road was presented, in which it was set forth by the petitioners
that " we who at present live oni the west side of the Monongahela River
are obliged frequetitly to carry our corn twenty nmiles to the mill of
Henry Beeson, near Lauirel Hill; and in all probability, at some seasons
of the year, will ever lhave to do so; anid we tllereforle pray for a road
from near Redstone Oldl Fort to Henry Beesoi's Mill, and thence to intersect liraddock's road. inear the folks of Dunlap's road and said road,
on the top of Laurel Hill."  This is clear proof that in the beginning
of tihe year 1774 Beeson's mill, on Redstone Creek, had been long enough
established to hIe knowni and depeinded on by the people beyond the
Monlonigahela twenty miles away. There is little reason to doulbt that
Henry Beeson had hlis mill in operation at least as early as 1772.
279I8ISTOR'Y 01; FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
fore the days of steam-travel and transportation, considered the first step towards the successful laying out
of a village.
The site of Beeson's mill was between Douthet's
log house and the creek, a short distance northwest
of the former and near the foot of the hill. The raceway which supplied the mill was long, and a work of
no small magnitude for that early day and for the
means which Mr. Beeson had at his command for
constructing it.1  It was an artificial canal about
three-fifths of a mile in length, which took the water
fromn Redstone Creek at a place known as the Beaver
Dam, on land now belonging to heirs of Isaac Beeson,
near the southern boundary of the present borough.
The first dam which turned the water from the creek
into the canal soon afterwards gave place to a more
substantial one thrown across the creek at a point a
little distance east of the present track of the Southwest Railroad. Frotn the dam the raceway led northwardly across what are now Fayette and Church
Streets, through the present school-house grounds
and the lots of Mr. Dicus, on Main, and Samuel
Stearns, on Peter Street, to the mill, from which the
tail-race led into the creek above the Gallatin Avenue
bridge, at a point about one mile, by the course of
the stream, below the dam, where the water was
taken into the raceway.
The mill remained in operation at this place between twelve and fifteen years, and after that time
was abandoned, when of course the old raceway was
discontinued. During the century which has passed
since then it has become entirely filled up, and all
traces of it obliterated except a slight depression
which is still visible on the east side of Gallatin
Avenue. But while the old mill remained, and particularly during the earlier years of its existence, it
was a place of no small note and importance to the
settlers between the Youghiogheny and the Monongahela.  The locality was known far and wide as
"Beeson's Mill," and here in 1774 was built a strong
block-house of logs as a place of refuge for the few
inhabitants of the surrounding country during the universal panic which, in the spring and summer of that
year, attended the opening of the hostilities known
as Dunmnore's war. When this primitive defensive
work was built, there were few, if any, inhabitants
other than Henry Beeson's family within the limnits
of the present borough to avail themselves of its
protection; but there were many other settlers located
within a few miles of it, and its site was probably
chosen because of its proximity to the mill, which
was the most public place in'1ll the region,-the
place to which the earliest intelligence of Indian incursions would naturally come, and where, moreover,
there was usually to be found a considerable supply
of grain and meal for the subsistence of families who
were suddenly driven from their homes and obliged
to seek its shelter against the savages. The site of
this old block-house was on the brow of the bluff, and
very nearly identical with the spot where the sheriff's
residence now stands.
Henry Beeson's original plat of' the village was surveyed and laid out in the year 1776, on the land which
he had purchased of Thomas Douthet.' It had one
lrincipal street, running in an eastward and westward direction, named by him Elbow Street (on account of an angle in it which was rendered necessary
by the natural conformation of the ground), being the
same which is now the Main Street of Uniontown.
The map here given of the village of Beeson's Mill,
as laid out in 1776 by Henry Beeson, with numbers
of lots and the names of persons to whom they were
sold or allotted, is copied from one purporting to be
a correct copy of the original plat. The copy in
question was made by Jacob Miller in 1846. The
whole number of lots laid out was fifty-four, embracing one tier on each side of Elbow Street, and
one tier (of seven lots) on the north side of a short
thoroughfare which was laid out north of and parallel to Elbow, and which he named Peter Street. The
south side of this street, of course, bordered the rear
of the Elbow Street lots, which lay opposite to it.
The numbering of the lots commenced at the east end
of Elbow Street, on its south side, and continued up
to Meadow Alley (the lane between the Fulton House
and the residence of the late Judge Ewing), there
reaching No. 10. The next number (11) was on the
north side of Elbow Street, at its east end, opposite
No. 1. Thence they numbered again westward to
No. 20 (where the Clinton House now stands), which
was joined on the west by the "Central Public
Ground," or " Public Alley."  Lot No. 21 was that
on which the old Ewitg niansion now stands, and
the lots numbered thence west on the south side of
Elbow (Main) Street to No. 34, which was on the
line of the present Morgantown Street, then the
western limit of the village plat. Then the numbers
recommenced on the north side of Elbow Street, at
the angle, No. 35 being a part of what is now the
court-house ground. Thence the lots continued to
number westward on the north side of Elbow Street.
to No. 47, at the western bound of the plat. Recommencing, No. 48 was on the north side of Peter Street,
just west of the old mill (where now is Gallatin Avelue), and extending westward from this, on the same
side of the street, were six other lots, enrding in No.
54, the last one, and marking the northwest corner of
the plat.
Tradition says that the fifty-four lots laid out in
the plat of the village of Beeson's Mill (for it had
not then received the name of Beeson's Town, which
antedated that of Uniontown by several years) were
disposed of by lottery, the drawing of which is said
to have taken place in the old mill on the day when
1 Henry Beeson was a blacksmith by trade, and opened a shop at his
new town. Veech says of hlim tllmt he " made his customers dig his
mill race, while he made or sharpenled their plow-irons, etc."
I
I                                                            -
i
280BEE,ON$ r7OWN
1776.
2.       3Beeson.          20. John McClean.'          38. Mary Beeson, Jr.
3.        Hatfield.        21. Charles Brownfield.     39. James Kendall.
4. William Jotleff.        22. Joseph MoClean.         40. Mary Beeson, Jr.
5. John Waller.            23. Henry Dawson.           41. Edward Brownfield.
6. Benjamin Brownfield.    24.                         42. John Kidd.
T. Augustin Moore.         25. John MoIntire.          43.,amuel McClean.
8. Thomas Wilson.          26. Dennis Springer.        44. Aaron Robinson.
9. James MoClean.          27. Richard Parr.           45. John Kid4.
10. Josiah Springtr.        28. George Fordyce.         46. Peter Patriok.
11. Alexander MoClean.      29. Samuel Stillwell.      47. E. Brownfield.
12. James Glallaher.        30. Conrad Walter.          48. Spring Lott.
13. Elizabeth Brownfield.   31. John Patten.            49. Andrew Hoover.
14. Nathan Springer.        32. Alexander MaClean.      50. Mercer Beeson.
15. John Collins.           33. John Beeson.            51. Thomas Gadd.
16. John Hansuoker.         34. Jesse Beeson.           52. Thomas MeFortine.
17. John Beeson.            35. Jacob Springer.         53. Dennis Stephens.
18. Adam McCarty.           36. Dennis Springer.        54. John MoTortin.
19. Augustin Moore.          37. Obadiah Stillwell.UNIONTOWN BOROUGH.
the Declaration of Independence was signed, July 4,
1776. This is not improbable as to the drawing, and
it may be true as to the date. The names set against
the members of the several lots on the map are those
of persons who were settlers in the surrounding country (but not in the village of Beeson's Mill) in that
year, and there is no especial reason to doubt that
they had taken chances in such a lottery scheme as
that mentioned. No deeds were given by Henry Beeson to those names appearing on the plat as the owners
of the lots, and none were given (at least no record of
any is found) to any person for lots prior to March 7,.
1780. And it is probable that many of the lots were
never taken, as it is found that a number of them
were afterwards sold by Henry Beeson to other parties. Alexander McClean and several other allottees
did eventually receive deeds for the lots set against
their names on the plat, and Col. McClean afterwards
became owner of other lots, among them being No. 20,
on which he built his residence.
The terms and conditions on which the lots were
purchased are recited in many of the old deeds given
by Henry Beeson, as follows: " Whereas at the laying
out of the Original Town of Union the purchasers of
Lots were obliged to build on the lots so purchased a
good substantial dwelling House of the dimension of
at least Twenty feet square, with a good chimney of
Brick or Stone well laid in with Slime and Sand, and
always keep the Same in good repair from time to
time, and moreover pay or cause to be paid to the said
Henry Beeson, his Heirs Executors Administrators
or Assigns the Sum of one half of a Spanish Milled
Dollar or the value thereof in Current money of the
Commonwealth aforesaid for each and every Lot of
ground sold or purchased as aforesaid at the Town
of Union aforesaid in each and every year forever."
The purchasers also were required, and they agreed,
to observe "such Rules and Regulations as may at
any time hereafter be directed by Law or introduced
by Lawful or Approved Custom for the Cleansing Repairing and Improving the Streets Alleys and Walks
in said Town for the health and convenience of the
inhabitants of said Town. And if at any time it shall
so happen that any part of the rents aforesaid shall be
behind and unpaid for the space of ninety days next
after any of the Days aforesaid appointed for payment
thereof, or any failure shall happen on the part of the
purchaser in any of the Covenants aforesaid: It shall
and may be lawful for the said Henry Beeson and his
wife, their Heirs Executors Administrators or Assigns
of the Rents aforesaid into and upon the said Lot of
Ground and Premises or any part thereof in the name
of the whole to enter and distrain for the Rent or
Arrearages if any then due thereon and for want of
sufficient distress to satisfy for the said rent or arrearages and the cost of distress the same to hold and
enjoy as fully and effectually as if these presents had
not been executed or any matter or thing relative
thereto had been done until said Rent and Arrearages
and Costs accrued by Reason of the distress be paid."
With regard to most of the lots the ground-rents were
afterwards commuted 1 by the payment of a certain
fixed sum, eight dollars per lot; but in some cases
the commutation was not paid, and ground-rents were
continued on a few lots as late as 1850.
The new "towIn" was very sparsely settled, and
remained in a very languishing condition for several
years, until about the close of the Revolution. Its
original name, " Beeson's Mill," was soon supplanted
by that of "Beeson's Town," by which it continued
to be known to some extent till about 1800. The
name Union Town, however, begani to be used as
early as 1780, as is proved by its occurrence in descriptions of land in deeds of that year.
The earliest deeds found recorded of lots in the
town of Union were made March 7, 1780, to John
Collins and Empson Brownfield. Collins' purchase
at that time embraced lots Nos. 23 and 40, at forty
shillings each. The former was on the south side of
Elbow Street, where J. K. Ewing's residence now
stands. He sold it, September 2d of the same year, to
Michael Whitlock, blacksmith. Lot 40 was described
in Collins' deed,as " being the same lott of ground
now occupied by the said John Collins." The adjoining lot (No. 41) was conveyed to him by deed dated
the following day, March 8th. On the last-named
day he also purchased of Beeson, for ~50, a tract of
five acres, with the privilege of access to the millrace "for watering Cattle or other Creatures."  Mr.
Jesse Beeson says he recollects when John Collins
lived in a log house south of the race, at the place
where Church and Morgantown Streets now join.
An old orchard stood in the rear of his house, not
far from the Presbyterian Church.  This was, of
course, after Collins had retired from tavern-keeping,
and the place on which he then lived, as recollected
by Mr. Beeson, was without doubt the five-acre tract
above mentioned as purchased in March, 1780.
Empson Brownfield's purchase, made on the same
day with Collins', as mentioned above, was of lot No.
39, adjoining Collins' lot on the east, and the same
now occupied by Mrs. Dr. David Porter. Brownfield
1 In the Western Telegraph [then pulblished at Washington, Pa.] of
May 17, 1796, is found the following advertisement of Mr. Beeson, announcing his proposed abolition of the ground-rents, and the terms on
which it would be done, viz.:
"The Subscriber, considering the inconsistency under our equal and
republican government of disposing of lands on which an annual ground
rent is reserved, hath determined to abolish the rents on all Lots in the
Town of Union, Fayette County, of which he is proprietor, on the following terms, viz.: Owners of Lots on Payment of Eight Dollars per
Lot shall have a ielease and quit claim from all ground rent or restriction forever. The Sul,scriber pledges himself to the Public, that if the
owners of Lots comply withll the above proposal he will appropriate onefourth of all the money thus received for the Lots to the improvement
of the Streets, ways and other public uses of said Town, which fourth
part he will deposit in the hands of such persons for the said uses as a
majority of the inhabitants shall appoint.
" HENRY BEESON,
"Proprietor of Union Town.
M' ay 10, 1796."
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28131
WVASEIINGTON'S CAMIPAIGN OF 1754 IN TIIE YOUGIIIOGHENY VALLEY.
place as a site for his fortified camp and temporary
base of operations.
The little stockade, which Washington built after
the fight at Jumonville's camp, was evidently a very
slight and primitive affair, for on the 2d of June it was
completed, and religious services were held in it. In
the previous evening the Half-King had arrived, bringing with him some twenty-five or thirty families of Indians, who had fled from the lower Monongahela and
the neighborhood of Logstown for fear of the vengeance
of the French. The fugitive party numbered betwveen
eighty and one hundred persons, including women
and children. Among them was " Queen" Alliquippa
and her son. Her heart had evidently been touched
in its tenderest chord by Washington's present of a
bottle of rum to her in the preceding December, and
now she came to place herself under his protection,
she doubtless had visions of future favors from him.
But the presence of these refugees was very embarrassing to the young commander on account of prospective scarcity of provisions, and for many other
reasons; and the inconvenience was afterwards increased by the arrival of other parties of non-combatant Indians. One of these was a party of Shawanese, who came to the fort on the 2d of June, and
others came in on the 5th and 6th. Washington
wished to be disencumbered of these hangers-on, and
tried to have a rendezvous of friendly Indians established at the mouth of the Redstone Creek, but did
not succeed in effecting his purpose.
On the 6th of June, Christopher Gist arrived from
Wills' Creek, with information that Col. Fry, commanding officer of the Virginia regiment, had died at
that place on the 30th of May while on his way to the
Great Meadows with troops. By his death Washing*ton succeeded to the- command of the regiment. On
the 9th, Major Muse arrived from Wills' Creek with
the remainder of the regiment, and nine small swivelguns, with ammunition for them. But although the
last of the regiment had now arrived, the total force
under Washington was but little more than three
hundred men, in six companies, commanded respectively by Captains Stephen, Jacob Van Braam, Robert
Stobo, Peter Hogg, Andrew Lewis,l PoIson, and
George Mercer. Among the subalterns were Lieutenants John Mercer and Waggoner, and Ensigns Peyronie and Tower. Major Muse, as a man of some
military experience, was detailed as quartermaster,
and Captain Stephen was made acting major.
Major Muse, on his arrival, reported that Captain
Mackay, of the South Carolina Royal Independent
Company, had arrived with his command at Wills'
Creek, and was not far behind him on the march to
Great Meadows. He (Mackay) arrived on the following day (June 10th), having with him a force of about
one hundred men, five days' rations of flour, sixty
cattle on the hoof, and a considerable supply of ammunition. As Capt. Mackay was a regular officer in
the royal service, lie displayed from the first a disinclination to act under the orders of a "buckskin
colonel" of Virginia provincial troops. This feeling
extended to the private soldiers of the Carolina company, but no act of pronounced insubordination
resulted from it.
Two days after the arrival of Capt. MIackay, some
of Washington's scouts brought in word that they had
discovered a French party, numbering, br estimate,
about ninety men, between Gist's and Stewart's Crossings of the Youghiogheny. This intelligence caused
the colonel to start out with about one hundred and
thirty men and thirty Indians to find them; but
before leaving thie meadows, he took the same precaution that he observed when he went out to attack
the party under Jumonville,-that is, he directed all
his ammunition and stores to be placed in the safest
possible position within the palisade, and set a strong
guard over it, with orders to keep the strictest watch
until his return; for he still feared that the reported
movement by the French was part of a stratagem by
which they hoped to capture the work in the absence
of a large part of its defenders. On moving out with
his party, however, he soon met an Indian party, who
informed him that the alarm was unfounded, for, that
instead of the reported party of ninety, there were but
nine Frenchmen, and these were deserters. Thereupon he returned to the camp, leaving a small party
to take the deserters and bring them in, which they
accomplished soon afterwards.
Finding that there was as yet no French force in
his vicinity, Washington now resolved to advance
towards Redstone, and accordingly, on the 16th, moved
out on the Nemacolin path towards Gist's, taking with
him his artillery pieces, some of the wagons, and all
his men, except the Carolinians, under Mackay, who
were left behind at the fort to guard the stores. This
was done to avoid a possible conflict of authority
with Mackay, who was indisposed to have his company perform its share of labor in clearing the way
for the passage of the train.
This labor was found to be so great that the force
under Washington was employed thirteen days in
making the road passable from the fort to Gist's,
though the distance was only thirteen miles. Before
reaching Gist's (on the 27th) Capt. Lewis was sent
ahead with Lieut. Waggoner, Ensign Mercer, and a
detachment of seventy men, to attempt the opening
of a practicable road beyond Gist's, towards Redstone.
Another detachment, under Capt. Polson, was sent
out in advanice to reconnoitre.
On the 29th of June Washington arrived at Gist's,
and there received information that a strong French
force was advancing up the Monongahela. Thereupon,
he at once called a council of war, at which it was re1 Afterwards General Lewis, who fought the battle of Point Pleasant
in Dunmore's war of 1774. He was a relative of Washington, and it is
said that in 1775 the latter recommended him for the appointment which
he himself soon after received, that of commander-in-chief of the American armies.
I   -                                                                I
IHISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNISYLVANIA.
opened a tavern and store upon it, and continued
both as late as 1790. Afterwards a (log) schoolhouse was built on the lot, and was occupied as such
for many years.
Deeds bearing even date with those to Collins and
Brownfield (March 7, 1780) were made.by Henry Beeson to John Kidd and Alexander McClean (jointly),
and to John Downer, of lands outside of but contiguous to the village plat. Kidd and McClean's purchase was of a small tract "adjoining the Town of
Union."  The consideration was forty shillings, but
the land was "subject to an annual rent of one shilling per acre forever, with the privilege of such a
quantity of water as tllev may s.and in need of for
carrying on their distillery and imalting business, with
access to and from the channel which is now made...." The distillery erected on this land stood east
of the old raceway, in what is now the roadway of
Penn Street.
John Downer's purchase, referred to above, was of
"a tract of land adjoining the Town of Union," beginning in the middle of the north end of lot No. 50,
"and having for its south line the east half of the
north line of lot No. 50, and all of the line of lots 48
and 49, extending northward, embracing one and onequarter acres and fifteen perches." The consideration
was ~5. On this land Mr. Downer had previously
built a tannery. Three and a half years later (Oct.
2, 1783) he sold to Capt. James Neal, for the consideration of ~300, "one lot and a half, with all the
buildings, houses, outhouses, stables, and fences,
where the said John Downer now resides in Union
Town; also one acre and a quarter and fifteen perches
of land, with a Tan Yard, which the said Downer
hath occupied a number of years."  This. last was
the lot of land which he had bought of Henry Beeson in March, 1780, and the tannery upon it was
evidently the first one erected in Uniontown. Near
to its site, on the south and east, have been tanneries
from that time to the present. John Downer was a
surveyor who came to Uniontown from Wharton,
where his father had settled. After his sale to Capt.
James Neal he removed to Kentucky.
John Kidd purchased lot No. 35 on the 8th of
March, 1780. This lot now forms the west part of
the court-house grounds and the alley on the west of
them, it being sold for that purpose by Henry Beeson
in 1783, when the public grounds were purchased.
From this it appears that Kidd had, after his purchase, reconveyed or in some way relinquished it to
Mr. Beeson.
In the same year of the purchases above mentioned,
John Collins bought of Beeson, a tract of about eight
acres ot land " on Redstone Creek, nearly adjacent to
the town of Union, beginning on the east of the millrace...." The price paid was ~15, and the land was
also subject to an annual payment of one shilling for
every acre thereof, ground-rent, to commence the first
day of November, in the year of our Lord 1776;
which last clause is an indication that Collins had
really purchased the land in the year of the laying
out of the village, but had not secured his deed until
four years later. The tract was situated south of the
village plat and east of the old race, as mentioned in
the deed.
James McCullough, a blacksmith, purchased from
Henryv. Beeson, Sept. 2, 1780, lot No. 28, situated on
the south side of Elbow Street, and in November of
the next year he purchased No. 27, joining his former
purchase on the east. For many years he had his
~blacksmith-shop in operation on these lots. Afterwar(ds the old Union Bank purchased the property,
and erected upon it the building which is now the
depot of the Southwest Railroad.
Jonathan Rowland, a saddler by trade, was located
in Uniontown before 1783, and in that year commenced business as an inn-keeper. His later residence
was in the brick house erected by Joseph Huston,
the first brick dwelling built in Uniontown. It is
still standing, a little east of Dr. J. B. Ewing's residence, on the north side of Main Street. Rowland
was a justice of the peace in 1803, and held the office
for many years.
In or about 1783, Jonathan Downer built a large
double log house on the north side of Peter Street.
In this house Gen. Ephraim Douglass became a boarder
with Mr. Downer in 1784. At a later date a school
was taught in this house.
A deed' to " Matthew Campbell, Inn-keeper," dated
Jan. 7, 1784, conveyed to him lot No. 10, on which
he had previously erected a log house for a tavern.
This lot is the one on which the Fulton House now
stands.
Aaron Sackett, "taylor," located himself on lot
No. 7, and received a deed for it on the 17th of March,
1784. His lot was on the south side of Elbow Street,
nearly opposite the present residence of the Hon.
Daniel Kaine. In the spring of the same year John
Stitt, "breeches maker of Uniontown," sold nine
acres of land outside the village plat to Jaines Buchanan, of Lancaster County, Pa., for sixteen pounds
fifteen shillings. It is certain that Stitt was pursuing
his vocation in Uniontown in 1783, as in that year
a complaint was made against him to the court by
Alexander Morrison, his apprentice, for violation of
the terms of his indenture.
On the 23d of July, 1784, Arthur McDonald sold
to Samuel Pounds and Jonathan Downer " my Tan
-Yard, adjoining the mill of Henry Beeson, with all
the appurtenances thereunto belonging; also all the
Tan Bark now procured by me for the use of the
yard." On the 5thl of September in the next year
Jonathan Downer purchased of Henry Beeson a lot
of land "situate near and adjacent to the town of
Union, beginning at the northwest corner of the
Mill House, northward and eastward to the verge of
the tale race; then up the west side of the tale race to
the place of beginning." On this land a tannery was
282UNIONTOWN BOROUGH.                 283
erected and vats were sunk, the beds of which can
still be located by depressions in the ground at that
place. The tannery was afterwards removed to the
opposite side of the street, where it is yet owned and
operated by the sons of Levi, a son of Jonathan
Downer.'
Peter Hook, some of whose descendants are still
living in Uniontown, was a hatter, and located here
in that business at least as early as 1781, as in that
year there is found a record of Thomas McKinley
being bound " an apprentice to Peter Hooke to learn
the trade and mystery of latting."  On the 31st of
August, 1783, he (Hook) purchased, for the consideration of twelve pounds, Pennsylvania money, lot No.
22 of the original plat (a part of the property on
which was built the residence of Judge Nathaniel
Ewing). He owned the property as late as the year
1813, and there is found in the Genius of Liberty of
January 28th in that year his advertisement,-" To
let, the house and lot now occupied as a tavern by
Jacob Harbaugh, situate in the borough of Union,
nearly opposite the Court House." He also at the
same time advertised for sale "a Set of Hatter's
Tools."
Colin Campbell, mentioned as a "teacher," purchased lot No. 43 on the 15th of March, 1784. He
occupied and kept tavern on that lot five years later.
He sold it to Samuel Salter.
In or about the year 1784, Henry Beeson's old mill
was abandoned, and its machinery removed-to a new
building which had been erected for it, and which is
still standing, on the north side of Main Street, a
short distance east of where that street crosses Campbell's (or Beeson's) Run. A principal reason for this
removal is said to have been that the loose and porous
nature of the soil through which the old canal was
cut, near the brow of the slope south of the mill,
caused a great leakage of water, which it was found
impossible to remedy. It is probable, however, that
there were also other reasons for the change which are
not understood at the present day. The removal of
the mill of course caused the abandonment of the old
raceway, and a new one was constructed, starting from
Redstone Creek at the mouth of Spring Run (which
flows from the old mansion house of Henry Beeson,
now  occupied by Andrew  Dutton), and running
northwestwardly to an alley in the rear of the present
residence of Dr. Smith Fuller; thence a little more
northwardly across the line of Fayette Street, and by
the lot of the Presbyterian Church, to and across
Church Street, then more westwardly along the north
1 The tatlnery property sold (as before mentioned) by John Downer
to Capt. James Neal in October, 1783, was evidently purchased afterwards by Heiiry Beeson, for he, on the 30th of May, 1787, conveyed the
same property (one and one-fourth acres and fifteen perches, the same
amount sold by John Downer to Neal) to Jonatlhan Downer. On the 8th
of June, 1793. a new deed was made by Beeson to Downer, correcting an
error in the deed of 1783, and conveying to Downer an ad(litional piece
of land on the west side of the forilier purchase.
side of that street to and across Morgantown Street
at the intersection of South Street, and from that
point, in nearly the same course, across Arch and Main
Streets to the mill, the tail-race discharging the
water into Campbell's Run. which joins the main
stream of the Redstone a short distance below. This
raceway, now arched for a considerable distance betwween Main and Morgantown Streets, is still in use,
after nearly a century of service.
A description of Uniontown as it was in the beginning of 1784 (a short time after the organization of
the county of Fayette) is found in the following
letter, written by Ephraim Douglass to Gen. James
Irvine, viz.:
"MY DEAR GENERAL:
"If my promise were not engaged to write to you,
my inclinations are sufficiently so to embrace with
alacrity any opportunity of expressing the gratitude
so justly due to your valuable friendship, of declaring
the sincerity of mine.
" This Uniontown is the most obscure spot on the
face of the globe. I have been here seven or eight
weeks without one opportunity of writing to the land
of the living, and, though considerably south of you,
so cold that a person not knowing the latitude would
conclude we were placed near one of the poles.
Pray, have you had a severe winter below? We have
been frozen up here for more than a month past, but
a great many of us having been bred in another State,
the eating of Homany is as natural to us as the drinking of whisky in the morning.
" The town and its appurtenances consist of our
president and a lovely little family, a court-house and
school-honse in one, a mill, and consequently a miller,
four taverns, three smith-shops, five retail shops, two
tan-yards,2 one of them only occupied, one saddler's
shop, two hatters' shops, one mason, one cake-woman
(we had two, but one of them having committed a petit
larceny is upon banishment), two widows, and some
reputed maids, to which may be added a distillery.
The upper part of this edifice is the habitation at will
of your humble servant, who, beside the smoke of his
own chimney, which is intolerable enough, is fumigated by that of two stills below, exclusive of the other
effluvia that arises from the dirty vessels in which
they prepare the materials for the stills. The upper
floor of my parlour, which is also my chamber and:
office, is laid with loose clapboards or puncheons, and
both the gable ends entirely open; and yet this is
the best place in my power to procure till the weather
will permit me to build, and even this I am subject to
be turned out of the moment the owner, who is at
Kentuck, and hourly expected, returns.
2 The two tanneries referred to 4vere those of Capt. James Neal (purchased by him from John Downer in 1783) and of Arthur McDonald,
which latter was sold to Samuel Pounlds and Jonathan Downer in 1784.
The distillery mentioneld by Douglass was thatt of John Kidd, with
whom Alexander McClean was a partner in the business.HISTOR1Y OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
" I can say little of the country in general but that
it is very poor in everything but its soil, which is excellent, and that part contiguous to the town is really
beautiful, being level and prettily situate, accommodated with good water and excellent meadow-ground.
But money we have not, nor any practicable way of
imaking it; how taxes will be collected, debts paid, or
fees discharged I know not; and yet the good people
appear willing enough to run in debt and go to law.
I shall be able to give you a better account of this
hereafter.
"Col. Maclean received me with a degree of generous friendship that does honor to the goodness of
his heart, and continues to show every mark of satisfaction at my appointment.1  He is determined to act
under the commission sent him by Council,2 and
though the fees would, had he declined it, have been
a considerable addition to my profits, I cannot say
that I regret his keeping them. He has a numerous
small family, and though of an ample fortune in
lands, has not cash at command....
"The general curse of the country, disunion, rages
in this little mud-hole with as if they had each
pursuits of the utmost importance, and the most opposed to each other, when in truth they have no pursuits at all that deserve the name, except that of obtaining food and whisky, for raiment they scarcely
use any..... The commissioners-trustees, I should
say-having fixed on a spot in one end of the towii
for the public buildings, which was by far the most
proper in every point of view, exclusive of the saving
expense, the other end took the alarm and charged
them with partiality, and have been ever since uttering their complaints. And at the late election for
justices, two having been carried in this end of the
town and none in the other, has made them quite
outrageous. This trash is not worth troubling you
with, therefore I beg your pardon, and am, with unfeigned esteem, dear general,
"Your very humble servant,
"EPHRAIM  DOUGLASS."
This letter was written between the 6th and the 11th
of February, 1784, a few months after the erection of
the county and before it was fully organized. Gen.
Douglass mentions the temporary court-house (which
had then been used but once for that purpose, viz.:
at the session of the previous December), but he says
nothing about a jail. Soon after that time, however,
and during the spring or summer of the same year, a
log building that stood on the rear of the lot now occupied by the residence of the Hon. Daniel Kaine
was made into a temporary prison, and was occupied
as such for three years, and until the erection of a
stone jail on the site of the present one.
Alexander McClean, the veteran surveyor, and the
man who was probably the most widely known of any
in Fayette County for a period of more than fifty
years, moved into Uniontown in 1783, and soon afterwards became possessor of lot No. 20 on the original
plat, the same on which the Clinton House now
stands. On this lot he built a two-story log house,
which was by far the most pretentious dwelling in
the village. It had a covered balcony at the upper
wvindows on the west end, and the interior was
finished with paneled work, carved cornices, and
some other ornamentation unusual in houses of that
day west of the Alleghenies. In this house he lived
until his death in 1834, about half a century after
its erection. The property was then purchased by
the Hon. Andrew Stewart, who built on it the brick
residence in which he lived for many years, and
which is now the Clinton House.
On the east of Mr. McClean's residence, and on the
same side of Elbow Street, he purchased (Dec. 31,1798)
lots Nos. 17, 18, and 19. On the last named, adjoining his homestead lot, he built the log house which is
still standing on its original site. This house and lot
he gave to his daughter Elizabeth at the time of her
marriage to Thomas Hadden, who made this his residence during the remainder of his life. He (Hadden) built, next east of his log house, the brick building which he used as an office, and which is now the
residence of his two daughters, Sally and Elizabeth.
In 1809 (November 16th), Mr. McClean sold parts
of lots 18 and 193 to John Withrow, a wagon-maker,
who had his shop on the front of the lots and his
dwelling farther in the rear. He was elected sheriff
of the county in 1817. In 1813 he sold his lots to
Ann Stevens. She, on the 25th of December, 1820,
sold them to John M. Austin, who erected the brick
house which is now the residence of the Hon. Daniel
Kaine. East of Withrow's wagon-shop, on the same
side of the street, was Lewis Williams' wagon-shop,
standing on the lot where Mrs. E. D. Roddy now
lives. Still farther east was another blacksmith-shop,
owned and carried on by John P. Sturgis.
On the south side of Elbow Street, eastward from
Piper's " Jolly Irishman" tavern (which was nearly
opposite where Mr. Kaine now lives), Gen. Ephraim
Douglass owned the lots as far as Redstone Creek.
On the site where Mr. Cochran's residence now stands
he built a brick house, in which he dispensed a generous hospitality that made it a favorite visiting-place
for young and old. This house, in which he lived
during nearly all the remainder of his life, was destroyed by fire about fifteen years ago. After the
3 In the sale of the lots east of his residence, Mr. McClean provided
for an alley twelve feet wide, running from Elbow Street, on the east
side of lot No. 17, north:lone hundred and fifty feet from the Main
Street, and thence extending westward, parallel with Elbow Street, in
the rear of his four lots. This is the alley which is still kept open as a
thoroughfare in the rear of Mr. Kaine's residence and the Clinton
House, and between the court-house and jail.
1 The appointment of prothonotary of Fayette Counity, which he received in October, 1783.
2 Col. Alexander McClean was appointed recorder of deeds Dec. 6, 1783.
He received the appointment of justice of the peace for Fayette County,
March 19, 1784.
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284UNIONTOWN BOROUGH.
death of Gen. Douglass, Mary Lyon, whose history
is well known to many of the older citizens of Uniontown, lived in a log house east of the Cumberland
Presbyterian Church. It is supposed that one (and
perhaps the principal one) of the " five retail shops"
mentioned in Gen. Douglass' letter was that of Jacob
Beeson, who, as tradition says, established himself as
a merchant in Uniontown in 1783. His ledger marked
" J" (which leads to the supposition that it was the
ninth or tenth book used by him in his business) is
still in existence, and commences in the year 1808,
containing accounts of two years' transactions. He
was succeeded in business by his son William, whose
brother Isaac became first his clerk and afterwards
his successor. His (Isaac's) sons, William and J. K.
Beeson, still continue the business. The store which
they occupy was built by their father, but the precise
date of its erection is not known.
Very few settlements (if any besides that of Henry
Beeson, where he built his first house in 1768) had
been made within the. limits of the present borough,
west of Morgantown Street, prior to 1784. On the
12th of March in that year, Henry Beeson sold to
Jacob Beeson, for the consideration of ~100, Pennsylvania money, all his title and interest to and in
the "Stone Coal Run" tract, which had been surveyed to him on warrant No. 3455, on the 27th of
September, 1769, as before noticed. But it is evident
that this sale by Henry to Jacob Beeson was soon
afterwards modified (though no record to that effect
is found until four years later), so that instead of the
whole of the Stone Coal tract, Jacob Beeson purchased
only a part of it (about two hundred and thirty-six
acres), and the remainder (about one hundred acres)
was sold by Henry Beeson to William  Campbell.
For some cause which does not appear, Henry Beeson had never received a patent for the " Stone Coal
Run" tract, surveyed to him fifteen years before, and
now that the tract was sold in parcels to Campbell
and Jacob Beeson, these purchasers naturally preferred that the patents should issue directly to them,1
which was done in Marcli of the following year.
1 In the return of a survey of a tract of 217 acres, made to William
Canmpbell in 1789, the survey( r (Alexander McClean) makes the followv
ing description and remarks: " Situate on a branch of Redstone Creek,
about one mile from Union Town, in Union township, Fayette Counity,
and contains a part of a survey made for Henry Beeson by order of survey No. 3455, which survey was formerly returned into the surveyorgeneral's office; but the said Henry Beeson having sold the part described to William Campbell, and the residule to Jacob Beeson, and they
desiring to have separate patents, I resurveyed the same agreeable to
their purchase."
The patents were issued to Campbell and Jacob Beeson in March,
1785, as above mentioned, and about three years later (Feb. 13, 1788)
they received deeds from Heniy Beeson of all his right, under warrant
No. 3455, to and in the tracts in question, viz.: that sold to Jacob Beeson,
containing 2363/ acres, with an allowance of six per cen,t. for roads, and
" including my improvement made in 1768, near Thomas Douthet and
Johni Henthorlne." and that sold to William Campbell, contaning " one
hundred and four acres, strict measure." The consideration paid by
Campbell was ~40, and by Jacob Beeson, for the " Mount Vernon" tract,
~85.
19
The part which was purchased by Jacob Beeson
was named by him "Mount Vernon," and on a part
of this tract he platted and laid out two additions to
Uniontown, which are referred to in the following recitation found in a deed in the register's office, viz.:
"Whereas the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, by
patent dated March 28, 1785, did grant unto Jacob
Beeson a tract of land called Mount Vernon, and
whereas Jacob Beeson did lay out a tract of land adjoining the town of Union, and called the same'Jacob's Addition,' and did afterwards lay out another
tract called'Jacob's Second Addition,'" etc. By this
the fact is shown that two additions were laid out by
Jacob Beeson on the Mount Vernon tract west of
Morgantown Street, though no plats of them are
known to be in existence, nor has the date of their
laying out been ascertained.
Another addition to the town was laid out at about
the same time by Henry Beeson, on the southwest
part of the Mill Seat tract, and called "Henry's Addition." Reference to this addition is found in a deed
from Henry Beeson to Jacob Johnson, dated Feb. 27,
1802, as follows: "Whereas the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania, by patent dated 11th day of August in
the year 1786, did grant unto Henry Beeson a certain
tract of land called Mill Seat, situate on Redstone
Creek, in the county of Fayette, on which the town
of Union had been previously erected, and whereas
the increase of inhabitants made it necessary to enlarge the original town for accommodating of applicants, the said Henry Beeson for that purpose laid
out sundry lots of ground on both sides of the road
leading from Uniontown to Cheat River, within the
limits of Mill Seat aforesaid, and called Henry's Addition." No map or plat of this addition has been
found, and it is believed that none is now in existence.
All lots in Henry's, as also in Jacob's First and
Second Additions, were sold subject to the same conditions as those in the original plat of the town, and
in the cases of all lots through which Beeson's raceway ran, the privilege was reserved to maintain and
repair it when necessary, and to enter upon the lots
for that purpose.
The first conveyance which has been found of lots
in Jacob's Addition is that of lots Nos. 9 and 10, to
Mary Beeson, April 12, 1785. At later dates are
found deeds of various lots, among which were No. 6
to George Mitchell, Nos. 3, 13, and 14 to Jesse Graves,
No. 3 to Joseph Huston, and No. 5 to Dr. Henry
Chapese. Lot No. 19 was sold in 1794 to Joseph
Hedges. Afterwards it passed to Jacob Medtart, and
in 1811 was purchased by Thomas Brownfield, who
also, Oct. 5, 1807, bought lot No. 20, lying between
where his son Nathaniel now lives and Campbell's
Run, described as " situate on the north side of Fell's
Alley, along the west side of Mill Street seventy-two
and a half feet to the southeast corner of lot 19, thence
285HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
westward one hundred and fifty feet to Jacob Beeson's
mill-yard." The property, including the "White
Swan" tavern, was bought by him in 1805. In the
conveyances of these lots, "Fell's Alley," as mentioned in these deeds, was afterwards widened, and
formed the part of Fayette Street which is west of
Morgantown Street.
One of the settlers on the original plat prior to
1786 was Samuel Salter, who in that year purchased
of Colin Campbell lot No. 43, west of John Collins'
tavern. On this lot Salter opened a public-house.
Later he kept where J. K. Ewing's residence now is.
His sons William and Samuel afterwards carried on
the foundry business on the site of the present schoolhouse. William became sheriff of Fayette County.
He removed to Hanging Rock, Ohio, where he died.
Samuel Salter, Sr., died in Connellsville.
Samuel M. King, a merchant from Adams Co., Pa.,
came to Uniontown as early as 1789, and on the 14thl
of November in that year purchased of Aaron Booth
three lots, viz.: " Lot No. 25, lying on Elbow Street, on
the west side of the. old mill-race in said town, and
the other two lots lying opposite to and south of lots
27 and 28." The first mentioned was adjoining the
lot of Ellis and Reuben Bailey. Mr. King kept a
store at this place till his death in 1803. His daughter Anna was married in 1817 to Dr. Robert McCall,
and after his death became the wife of Judge John
Huston. She is still living in the old stone house at
Redstone Furnace.
Benjamin Campbell was a silversmith who removed
from Lancaster, Pa., to Hagerstown, Md., in 1774,
and from the latter place came about 1790 to Uniontown at the solicitation of Samuel Salter, Samuel
King, Clement Brooks, Dr. Henry Chapese, and
Henry Purviance, each of whom advanced a small
sum as an inducement for him to come to and locate
in Uniontown to carry on his trade. He moved into
Alexander McClean's log house (the same which he
afterwards gave to his daughter, Mrs. Hadden), in
which he, Mr. Campbell, lived until the year 1800,
and in which his son, Dr. Hugh Campbell, was born
in May, 1795. On leaving this house Benjamin Campbell removed to a dwelling where the First National Bank building now stands. He died Sept. 24,
1843. His son John learned the saddler's trade with
John Woods, and was postmaster of Uniontown and
a justice of the peace for many years. Hugh, another
son, studied medicine with Dr. Daniel Marchand, became a prominent physician in Uniontown, and died
Feb. 21, 1876. His sons, Judge Edward Campbell,
and Benjamin Campbell, are now living in Uniontown.
Christian Tarr was a potter who carried on that
business on lot No. 29 of the original plat, a place
that may be designated as just west of Bank Alley
on the south side of Main Street. " Joseph Huston,
Iron Master," purchased lot No. 3 of Jacob's Addition
for ~5 on the 29th of December, 1791, and sold it to
Christian Tarr for ~75, April 27, 1795. From this lot
Mr. Tarr procured the clay for use in his pottery.
Its location was on the south side of Elbow Street,
adjoining Jacob's Alley (now Arch Street), and is the
site of the present Eagle Hotel. Christian Tarr afterwards removed to Jefferson township. He was elected
a member of Congress, serving from the year 1817 to.
1821.
Another pottery in Uniontowp was that of Abner
Greenland, who prosecuted his trade in a small log
building standing on the north bank of the raceway
just east of Morgantown Street. Cornelius Lynch,.
father of Daniel P. Lynch (ex-sheriff), was a brewer,
who before the year 1800 was carrying on that business on the west side of Morgantown Street between
South and Main Streets.
As early as 1793 a distillery had been erected, and
was operated by John Porter on a little run on the
east side of Redstone Creek southeast of the old graveyard.
The assessment lists of Uniontown for 1796 show
the names of William Little, John Kinglin, and William G. Turner, "schoolmasters;" those of 1798 mention John Lyon and James Morrison as attorneys;
and in 1799, Isaac Wood appears as a schoolmaster,
- Mowry and William S. Fry as printers, A. Simonson and Solomon Drown as physicians, and John
Canady (Kennedy), Thomas Hadden, and Thomas
Meason as lawyers.
Ellis Bailey and Reuben Bailey, brothers, located
in Uniontown as merchants about the year 1800.
The earliest mention that has been found of them is
in a deed dated Aug. 14, 1801, by which George
Ebbert conveyed to "Ellis and Reuben Bailey, merchants," lot No. 26, in Henry Beeson's original plat.
The lot in question had been sold, April 13, 1790, by
Mr. Beeson to William and John Lee, together with
an out-lot lying south of the town plat. They sold
the property to George Ebbert, in May, 1801, and he
to E. and R. Bailey, as mentioned. Upon this lotwhich is the same now occupied by Dr. SturgeonEllis and Reuben Bailey carried on their business as.
merchants for many years.
In the early years of Uniontown's history, Peter
Street was fully equal, if not superior in importance
to, Elbow, or Main Street, and the former was much
the most traveled highway, both because it was a.
better road, and because it led to the mill, the distillery, the tannery, and other places of traffic. What
is now the rear of the Main Street lots was then occupied by business places and residences fronting on
Peter Street.
The dwelling of Jacob Beeson stood on the site of
Mr. S. A. Gilmore's present residence, of which the
old house forms a part. This place was long the home
of Lucius W. Stockton, who was mail contractor on
the National road for many years. A grist-mill was
built by Jacob Beeson on the east side of Campbell's.
(or Beeson's) Run, south of Elbow Street. Later'it
I
I  i
--
286UNIONTOWN BOROUGH.
was converted into a sawv-mill by David Veechl. Mr.
Beeson also built a tannery, and carried on that
business near the foot of the hill, below the present
residence of Clark Breading.
John Miller, a tanner by trade, came to Uniontown
from Washington, Pa. He worked in the tannery of
Jacob Beeson, and became the husband of his daughter Rebecca. He afterwards built for himself a tannery at the place where the old woolen factory stood,
and there carried on the business for many years.
He built the brick residence, which is still standing,
known as the Miller house. About 1835 he removed
to Illinois, and became one of the pioneer settlers at
Rockford, in that State. His oldest son, Jacob, was
born on Veech's Lane, Uniontown, and became prominent here as a lawyer and editor. Other children of
John Miller are Mrs. Dr. David Porter and William
H. Miller, of Uniontown, and Alexander Miller, of
Pittsburgh.
EARLY TAVERNS, AND LATER PUBLIC-HOUSES.
The first public-house in Beeson's Town was that of
John Collins, who, in the year 1780, purchased the
village lots Nos. 401 and 41 (where Commercial Row
was afterwards erected), and built thereon a log tavern, which he kept until 1799. The earliest mention
of this tavern that is found in any record or other
document appears in the minutes of a "Court of
Appeal," 2 held by Alexander McClean, sub-lieutenant
of the county of Westmoreland, " at the inn of John
Collins, in Union Town, on the 8th day of May,
1782." Similar mention of Collins' tavern at later
dates is found in other parts of the same minutebook.
At the first session of the court of Fayette County,
in December, 1783, John Collins, Jonathan Rowland,
Daniel Culp, Matthew Campbell, and John Huston,
all of Union, and Thomas Brown, of Redstone Old
Fort, were recommended as suitable persons to keep
taverns.3 The place where Jonathan Rowland kept
1 The deed of lot 40 was made March 7, 1780, to "John  Collins, Innkeeper," and the lot was mentioned as "being the same lott of ground
now occupied by the said John Collins," which makes it probable that
he had opened his tavern upon it in the previous year, 1779.
2 A sort of military court, which was convened from time to time to
hear the reports of the several militia captains, and to decide the cases
of men who had refused, or failed from  whatever cause, to perform  the
tours of military duty to which they had been assigned.
3 At the same session the court fixed tavern-rates as follows:
~  s. d.
"A  bowl of Spirit Toddy....................................... 0  1  6
A bowl of Rum  Toddy........................................   1  3
A bowl of Whiskey Toddy...................................    1
A bowl of Peach braiidy toddy.............................    1  4
A bowl of Apple brandy toddy............................    1  2
Peach brandy by the half-pint..............................    0  8
Apple brandy by            ditto..............................   0  7
Whiskey          "           "..............................   0  6
Diet per meal.....................................................    1  3
Hay per night...................................           1  3
Pasture for 24 hours...........................................    0  6
Oats by the Quart...............................................    0  2
Beer p. ditto...........................................      0  6
Cyder p. ditto...................................      1    "
The following extract from the American Pioneer (vol. ii. p. 378) is
given as showing the extravagant prices of tavern accommodation three
his tavern is not known. There is no record of a later
application by him for license.
Daniel Culp had purchased lot No. 25 (near where
Dr. Roberts now lives), on which he had erected a
log tavern, which he sold in July, 1784. The purchaser was John Huston, who had been licensed in
December, 1783, but where the house was, which he
occupied prior to this purchase from Culp, does not
appear. The court records show that he was licensed
as an inn-keeper for two or three years after the purchase.
Matthew Campbell bought, in 1784, lot No. 10, at
the west end of the present Fulton House, and erected
a log tavern upon it; but in 1785 and for several years
after that he was licensed in Menallen township.
In September, 1784, the names of William Patton
and William Brinton appear as inn-keepers. Two
indictments were brought against the latter for keeping a tippling-house. The last indictment (in 1787)
seems to have driven him out, fbr his name does not
appear among the licensed tavern-keepers after that
time.
Empson Brownfield opened a tavern in 1785. He
had purchased, March 7, 1780, lot 39, lying between
John Collins' house and the old mill-race, but had
not occupied it, and it does not appear that he was a
resident in the village, for his name is found as a supervisor of highways in Georges township in.1784.
But in 1785, having asked and received license to
keep a public-house, he openled tavern on his lot adjoining Collins' and continued to keep it until 1790.
Colin Campbell (whose name first appears in 1784,
in a leed conveying to him lot No. 43, on Elbow Street,
near where the 4Standard office is) was licensed as an
inn-keeper in December, 1785. In 1786 he sold his
property to Sarnuel Salter, for ~140, but continued as
landlord of the house until 1789, when it was taken
by Salter, who kept it till 1810, when he removed to
Dunbar township, and opened a public-house there.
Before coming to Uniontown in 1789 he had been
for at least two years a tavern-keeper in Wharton
township.
Margaret Allen was licensed as a tavern-keeper at
the June session in 1788. Her stand was on the east
side of the creek, where is now the residence of William Shipley. The locality was for many years known
as "Granny Allen's Hill." She died in 1810, at the
age of ninety-one years.
Patrick Logan and Jacob Knapp were licenlsed in
years earlier, owing to the great depreciation of Continental money at
that time:
"The order book of Ollio County [Va.] Court contains the following
entry under date of June 6, 1780:' Ordered, that the ordinary keepers in
this County sell at the following rates: For half-pint of whiskey, $6;
breakfast or supper, $4; dinner, $6; lodging, with clean sheets, $3; one
horse to lay over night, $3; one gallon of corn, $5; one gallon of oats,
$4; half-pint of whiskey, with sugar, $8; a quart of beer, $4.'
"Oct. 2, 1780, the court increased the price of strong beer to $6 per
quart. March 6, 1781, dinners rated at $20, and breakfast and supper at
$15. June 4, 1781, whiskey was ordered to be sold at $8.50 per pint.
All this was, of course, in Continental money."
287HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENiNSYLVANIA.
1788. Logan's name does not appear afterwards, but
Knapp was licensed in succeeding years to 1792.
Dr. Robert McClure opened a tavern in December,
1792, on the west part of the ground now occupied by
the residence of Alexander Ewing. He kept the
house until 1813, and was owner of it as late as 1819.
In April of that year he advertised it for sale, mentioning it as "the house nearly opposite the courthouse, which has been occupied as a tavern, and is
one of the best stands in town."
Thomas Collins (son of John Collins, the pioneer
inn-keeper of Uniontown) received a tavern license
in 1794, and opened a house where the Tremont
building now stands, on the southeast corner of Main
and Morgantown Streets. This became one of the
leading public-houses of the town.l An open grassplat adjoining the house on the east was a favorite
resort for lawyers and clients during the terms of
court. South of and adjoining the tavern lot was the
market lot, on which stood the old wooden markethouse, though the date of its erection is not known.
Thomas Collins kept this tavern until 1811. In the
war of 1812 he was in command of a company locally
known as the " Madison Rowdies." When the major of
the regiment to which it was attached was wounded,
Capt. Collins, as senior line-officer, became major.
The one act of his life which (though not entirely
unjustifiable) he regretted more than any other, was
the giving of an unlucky blow to Patrick McDonald,
a hatter, who kept a shop west of Gregg's hotel, and
was a son-in-law of Christian Tarr. This man, when
under the influence of liquor, having applied opprobrious epithets to his wife, Capt. Collins promptly
knocked him down, and he died almost instantly
from the effects of the blow. Collins was arrested,
tried; anld honorably acquitted, but the affair was always afterwards a source of great distress to hinm, for
1 Capt. John F. Gray, the veteran conductor on the Pittsburgh and Connellsville Railroad, and granldson of Capt. Thomas Collins, has, or recently
had, in hlis possession an ancienlt and time-yellowed card, printed on the
ace of hearts, being an invitation to a young lady of Fayette County to
attend a merry-making at Collins' Hotel eighty years ago. The following is nearly afac-simtile of the card:
**** UVNION: November gth, I80o2.****
he had no brutal instinct in his nature, but was one
of the most amiable and kind-hearted of men.
Cornelius Lynch was licensed as an inn-keeper in
March, 1795. He owned and carried on a brewery on
the west side of Morgantown Street near Main, and
his tavern-house was doubtless at the same place.
After his death his widow kept a baker-shop there for.
many years.
Richard Weaver, who first received license in June,
1795, kept a log tavern on Elbow (Main) Street, at or
near the present site of the McClelland Hoiise. Later
the property passed to William McClelland, who was
licensed as an inn-keeper in December, 1802. Alfred
McClelland, the son of William, built the McClelland
House, which is still owned by the McClelland family
and carried on as a hotel.
At the September session of 1796 there were before
the court forty-eight applications for tavern licenses
in the county, of which twelve were by parties in
Uniontown, among whom-besides such as have already been mentioned-were Joseph Baker, Anthony
Swaine, Ellis Bailey,2 John Slack, John Tarr, David
Morris, and James Langsley. John Slack's tavern
was on the corner of Meadow Alley and Main Street,
on the Judge Nathaniel Ewing property. In the
Fayette Gazette and Union Advertiser of Aug. 23,
1799,3 he made the following announcement:
"To THE PUBLIC.-The subscriber respectfully informs the Public that he continues to keep a House
of Entertainment at the sign of the Spread Eagle,
near the centre of Uniontown. He flatters himself
he will be able to entertain gentlemen to their satisfaction that may be pleased to favor him with their
custom.                               JOHN SLACK.
"July 24, 1799."
Slack closed his business at the Spread Eagle in
1800, and in the same year received license to keep a
tavern in Wharton township. He remained there till
1810, when he was again licensed for Uniontown. He
was foreman of the jury in the trial of Philip Rogers
for the murder of Polly Williams. Three years later
he was again established in Wharton, and remained
there till his death.
At the September term of court in 1797 the followMeason is Requesfed at a Dance
Meason Thursday evening the, inst.                  2 It appears probable, however, that Ellis Bailey was keeping a publicat the House of Col. lhomas Col- i                  house in Uniontown before that time, from a mention of "Bayley's Tavlins in Union- Town.                         ern," found in a notice of a celebration held here on "Independence
{.    ThonmaSs Hadden, - l                Day" of that year. The notice referred to was printed in the Western
James Morrison,  M,3vanagegrs. i                 Telegraphe, of Washington, Pa., of date July 19th, in the year indicated,
i     William Lyon.  )                         and is as follows:
"UNION, July 4, 1796.
The Miss Molly Meason mentioned in the card became the wife of    "This being an anniversary of the Era so important to Americans, the
Daniel Rogers, of New Haven, Fayette Co. She was a daughter of Col.  independent Compainies of Cavalry and Infantry of this Town and
Isaac Meason, the first proprietor of Mount Braddock, who built the   County assembled on this occasion, and after a display of military pamansion now occupied by William Beeson. She was a sister of Gen.  rade in honor of the Day, marched to the Court-House, where they were
Thomas Meason, the eminent lawyer of Uniointown, with whom the  joined by a number of Citizens from the Town and its vicinity, when the
Hon. Jolhn Dawson, the father of E. B. and John N. Dawson, studied law.  following Oration was delivered by Doctor Solomon Drown. [Here folShe was likewise the sister-in-law of Mrs. Mary Meason, who died quite  lows a report of the oration.] The Cavalry then repaired to Mr. Bayrecently in Uniontown.                                     ley's Tavern and partook of an elegant Repast..."
Thomas Hadden, James Morrison, and William Lyon, the managers      In the salme paper William Tingle informed the public that he was
mentioned in the card, were members of the Fayette County bar, and   keeping a house of entertainment at the sign of " Commerce of Freethe former was the grandfather of the Messrs. ladden, of Uniontown.   dom," in Morgantown, Va.
The Comnpany of MiZs Molly
288UNIONTOWN BOROUGH.
ing names appeared for the first time as receiving
tavern licenses: Jacob Hagen, John McCormick, Simeon Hendrickson, Rue England, Matthew Knapp, and
Uriah Martin.
James Gregg received his first license in Uniontown
in June, 1798. His stand was on lot 37 of the original plat (which was purchased by him Feb. 2, 1792),
being the site of the present residence of Dr. J. B.
Ewing. The tavern was kept by him until his death,
about 1809. In 1810 his widow, Nancy Gregg, was
licensed, and continued for some years to keep the
house, which, under her management, is still recollected by some of the older citizens.
Ebenezer Bebout, Jesse Barnes, James Allen, John
Rackstraw, and James Medtart were licensed tavernkeepers in Uniontown in 1798. Medtart's stand was
a log house that stood where Mrs. William Wood now
lives, onil Main Street. He, as well as Allen and Bebout, closed about 1803.
Pierson Sayres kept a public-house in 1799, on Elbow Street, where E. B. Dawson now lives. Daniel
Miracle and Lydia Hoffman also had tavern licenses
in the same year. Mrs. Hoffman's place was in
Henry's Addition, on Morgantown Street, south of
Fayette Street.
In 1801, William Downard opened business in a
log tavern, opposite Gregg's, on Main Street, where
now are the law offices of Judge Ewing and Judge
Campbell. He continued there until about 1808. He
afterwards kept at the " watering trough" on the side
of Laurel Hill, five miles east of Uniontown.
James Piper received a license in 1801, and commenced keeping tavern on the south side of Main
Street, opposite the present residence of the Hon.
Daniel Kaine. There he swung the sign of "The
Jolly Irishman."  He was a large, burly man, while
his wife, Isabel, was small of stature. It was her
custom to sit in the bar-room and spin, while she
chatted pleasantly with the patrons of the house.
At night she would frequently ask her husband,
"Weel, Jimmy, how much money have ye made the
day?" His usual answer was, "None o' yer bizness,
Bell." But as he was generally pretty well intoxicated at that time in the evening, she often managed
to secure a share of the proceeds, and lay it by "for
a rainy day." James Piper, the son of this couple,
was their pride. They gave him fair educational
advantages, by which he was enabled to fill with
credit several county offices. Mrs. Piper continued
the tavern after her husband's death, in 1819.
William Merryman was the keeper of a tavern
near Margaret Allen's, east of the creek. His first
license for a house at that place was received by him
in 1802.
Jacob Harbaugh, ex-sheriff of the county, opened
a tavern in 1811 in a log house owned by Peter Hook,
which stood on the west part of the site of the late
Judge Nathaniel Ewing's residence. The stand was
kept by Harbaugh until 1813.
George Manypenny, first licensed in August, 1814,
was for a time the keeper of a public-house on the
south side of Main Street, near where is now Judge
Campbell's office. The time of his continuance there
is not known.
It would be hardly practicable to make mention of
all the ephemeral taverns which have existed in
Uniontown during the century which has passed
since John Collins opened the pioneer hostelry in the
incipient village. It was only intended to notice a
few of the most ancient ones, but enough have already
been mentioned to show that more than fifty years
ago the Main Street of the town had been thickly
studded with public-houses on both sides, and from
end to end.
At the extreme western end of the town, on "Jacob's Second Addition," is located the oldest publichouse now in existence in the borough,-the " White
Swan," kept by Nathaniel Brownfield. The original
building is a long two-story log structure, the front of
which has in later years been covered with weatherboarding. It was erected before the year 1800. In
1805 the property was purchased by Thomas Brownfield, a native of Frederick County, Va., who emigrated thence to Uniontown in that year. A tavern
license granted to him in 1806 for this house is now
in possession of his son Nathaniel.
A few years after he purchased the original log
building, Thomas Brownfield built upon the rear of
it a brick addition, which was used as a dining-room,
and in 1818 a larger addition (also of brick) was
built. Mr. Brownfield kept the house until his death,
when his widow and son, Nathaniel, assumed charge.
Later,-about 1834,-Nathaniel came into possession,
and has since been its landlord. The rooms in the
old house are not all on a common level, and access
from one to another is had by short flights of stairs.
The walls are formed by the hewed logs of the building, the interstices filled with clay or mortar, and the
whole covered with many coatings of whitewash.
The floors are of oak, but have several times been renewed. A commodious yard in the rear of the house
made it, in the palmy days of the old National road, a
convenient and popular stopping-place for wagoners.
In front there is an ancient sign-board, on the weatherbeaten surface of which is still visible the figure of a
swan, indicating the old-time name of the venerable
tavern, which has been tile home of its proprietor,
Nathaniel Brownfield, from earliest infancy to the
age of threescore and ten years.
The Eagle Hotel, on Main Street, west of Morgantown Street, was built about 1818, by Ewing McCleary,
on the lot which had previously been owned by Christian Tarr. McCleary was first licensed in 1819, and
kept it as a hotel until his death. It is still kept as a
public-house, and bears the original name of the
Eagle, but is also well known as the Wyatt House.
The National Hotel, at the corner of Morgantown
289HISTORY OF BERGEN AND PASSAIC COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.
and Fayette Streets, was built in 1817 by Judge
Thomas Irwin as a pivate residence, but was afterwards adapted and opened as a hotel. It became famlous as a stage-house in the days when the wellequipped lines ran over the National road. It was
pulrchased by the notorious Dr. Braddee, and was the
place where he planned and executed the mail robbery which is mentioned more fully elsewhere in this
hlistory. In February, 1845, when James K. Polk,
then President-elect of the United States, was traveling by stage over the National road to Washington,
D. C., accompanied by his wife, they stopped a night
at the National, where they held a reception in the
evening for the people of Uniontown. The landlord
of the house at that time was Joshua Marsh.
The hotel now known as the " Spottsylvania" was
first opened as a tavern in 1816 by Zadoc Walker,
who had been a resident of Uniontown for twenty
years, having settled here in 1796. It was in this
house that the Marquis de Lafayette was entertained
on the occasion of his memorable visit here in 1825.
Under different names the house has been constantly
kept as a hotel from its first opening to the present
tirme.
The Jennings House, on the northwest corner of
Main and Arch Streets, was first opened as a hotel,
though not under its present name, by James C. Seaton, who purchased the property nearly sixty years
ago. Prior to the purchase Thomas Kibben had his
residence on the lot. Since its opening by Seaton the
house has been kept as a hotel constantly till the
the present time.
The Clinton House, on Main Street next east of
the court-house grounds, was built as a private residence by the Hon. Andrew Stewart in 1835, as has
been mentioned. After Mr. Stewart renloved from it
it was opened as a hotel by Andrew Byers, after whom
came successively as proprietors, Stephen Snyder,
- Craycroft, Isaac Kerr, Jesse B. Gardner, Springer
 Renshaw, Calvin Springer, Bernard Winslow, William Springer, and Joseph Wright.
The Fulton House, on Main Street opposite the
Clinton, was built by Seth Howe, who owned and
kept it. He was succeeded by William Thorndell,
Calvin Springer, David Mahaney, Michael Carter,
and James Moran.
INCORPORATION OF THE BOROUGH.
Uniontown was incorporated as a borough by an
act of the Legislature of Pennsylvania, approved
April 4, 1796, which provided and declared "That
Uniontown, in the county of Fayette, shall be, and
the same is hereby, erected into a borough which
shall be called the borough of Uniontown,..." proceeding to define the boundaries. By the second section of the same act it was provided," That the freemen of the said borough, who shall have resided within the same for the space of one whole year, and
shall in other respects be entitled to vote for Members of the General Assembly of this Commonwealth, shall on the first Monday
of May, in the year one thousand seven hundred and ninetyseven, and upon the same day yearly thereafter, meet together
at some convenient place within the said borough, to be appointed
as hereinafter directed, and shall then and there choose by ballot two reputable inhabitants of the said borough to be Burgesses; one to be High Constable; one to be Town Clerk; and
two to advise, aid, and assist the said Burgesses in executing
the duties and authorities enjoined on and vested in them by
this act, all of which persons shall be duly qualified to elect as
aforesaid; that the Burgess who shall have the greatest number
of votes shall be called the Chief Burgess; and that until the
said first Monday of May in the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety-seven, Ephraim Douglass and Alexander McMcClean be the Burgesses of the said borough, of whom Ephraim Douglass shall be called Chief Burgess: that Jacob Knap
shall be High Constable; Samuel King, Town Clerk; and Joseph Huston and Thomas Collins, Assistants to the said Burgesses."
It is rendered impossible to make the early history of
the borough conmplete, by the unfortunate destruction
by fire, in 1851,' of the Council rooms, with the records
of that body from 1796 to 1842. The action of Council in reference to the laying out of streets; the erection and regulation of the old market-house; the
first movement and subsequent action towards the organization of a fire department; the list of borough
officers for nearly fifty years, and many other matters
of interest were thus lost beyond recovery.
A reincorporation of the borough was effected in
1805 by an act, passed on the 2d of March in that
year, which after reciting that "Whereas the inhabitants of the borough of Uniontown, in the county of
Fayette, have petitioned for an alteration in the law
incorporating said borough, stating that the existing
law has been found upon experiment not so conducive
to the good order, conveniency, and public utility of the
borough as was expected," proceeded to enact " That
Uniontown aforesaid shall still continue and forever
remain a borough under the name and title of'The
Borough of Union Town'; the extent and bounds of
which shall continue as heretofore," and provided that
in the future the qualified voters should elect as officers of the borough " One reputable citizen residing
therein, who shall be styled the burgess of the said borough; and nine reputable citizens, to be a town Coun1 On the 2d of July, 1851, between one and two o'clock P.M., a fire broke
out in some of the rear buildings of the Eagle Hotel, which consumed
a warehouse, the upper story of the market-house, and several buildings
on Morgantown Street. The following is from the minutes of the Council in reference to the action of that body, at a meetiig held on the day
following that of the fire:
" Special Meeting, -, July 3, 1851.
" A special meeting of the Council was called at nine o'clock, July 3d,
by the President, to take into consideration the state of affairs in reference to the fire yesterday afternoon, which consulmed the Town Hall,
Council Chamber, and all Records of the Borough on file," etc. The
clerk reported " that minutes of the Council from May 16th, 1842, to the
present have been saved from the fire." A committee was appointed to
examine and report what was necessary to be done to repair the damage
done to the building by the fire. Their report was adopted, and the repairs recommended were ordered. A contract for the same was awarded
on the 8th of July following to Matthew Clark at $356.
I
I
290cil; and shall also elect, as aforesaid, one reputable  the last-named place, at or near the intersection of
citizen as high constable."  Further, the act granted  Church and Morgantqwn Streets.
a general extension of the powers and privileges of   On the 31st of August, 1814, an advertisement in
the borough, and repealed the original act of incor-  the local newspaper announced that " Mr. Manisca,
poration. The powers and limits of the borough have  late of Philadelphia, respectfully informs the ladies
since been extended at different times by act of As- and gentlemen of Uniontown and its vicinity that he
sembly, the last of which having reference to Union-  proposes teaching dancing and the French language
town was passed in February, 1873.                  on the following terms: Dancing, $10 per quarter, $5
entrance; French language, $15 per quarter. School
UNIONTOWN FROM 1806 TO 1825.               commences as soon as a sufficient number of Scholars
Some matters relative to the business and other  can be obtained."
history of Uniontown from 1806 to 1819 are given    The following items have been gathered from the
below, as found in the columns of the Genius of Lib-  recollections of Mr. Ewing Brownfield concerning
erty; which was established in the borough in 1805. the business and appearance of Uniontown from 1815
Its issue of Dec. 3, 1806, contains the following no-  to 1818:
tice:                                                 East of Brownfield's " White Swan" tavern was the
blacksmith-shop and scythe-manufactory of Nathaniel
" The Debating Society meets next Saturday even-  Mitchell. Later he moved to where Beeson's flouring at Mr. John Stidger's. The question then to be  ing-mill now stands, at the confluence of Redstone
discussed is,'Would it be good policy for the United  Creek and Campbell's Run, and there he erected a
States at the present time to enter into an alliance, tilt-hammer, and continued in business for many
offensive and defensive, with Great Britain.'
[Signed]   " ONE OF T1HE MEMBERS."       Next east of the blacksmith-shop above mentioned
In the Genius of Oct. 7, 1809, appears the advertise-  was a shoe-shop belonging to Christian Keffer (father
ment of James Hutchinson, announcing that he kept of John Keffer, now living in Uniontown).  Next
for sale "a general assortment of boots and shoes two  was the residence of Nathaniel Mitchell, afterwards
doors east of Dr. Robert McClure's Inn, opposite the  the residence of Dr. Lewis Marchand, and now owned
court-house."                                       by Mrs. E. B. Wood.
In April, 1812, Presley Miller advertised his busi-   Maj. George Bentley carried on the saddlery business as a tailor, " at the corner house on Elbow Street, ness at the place where Mrs. William Wood now lives.
near the court-house, belonging to Gen. Meason." In  John Stidgers carried on the hatting business in a
the same year John Haynes advertised as a "cabinet house which is still standing, and occupied by Mrs.
and chair maker," and Moses Allen as a "Windsor  George Rutter. Stidgers was succeeded by John
chair" maker.                                       Hendricks. East of Stidgers was David Moreland's
In January, 1813, Roberts  Co. advertised as blacksmith-shop. Thomas McKibben lived next east.
tailors. Philip Creekbaum was a stone-cutter. Ben-  His property was soon after purchased by James C.
jamin Hellen was carrying on the hatting business, Seaton, who opened the house as a tavern. It is now
"opposite the [old] market-house."  In September the Jennings House. On the opposite side of the
of the next year he advertised that he kept a stock of alley from the tavern, and cast of it, was a large yard
dry-goods and groceries; and at the same time Ow-  used by wagoners. On the present site of the People's
ings  Ebert announced that they had commenced  Bank, Daniel B. McCarty had a shoe-shop, with his
the hatting business "in the shop lately occupied by  dwelling in the rear. For many years he was the
Benjamin Hellen, opposite the market-house in Union-  leading shoemaker of the town. John Cupp, a bartown, Pa." The dwelling of Benjamin Hellen was  ber, was located where Mr. Ewing Brownfield now
opposite the old Baptist Church. Peter Hook lived  lives. The lot where the Eagle Hotel now stands was
on the Morgantown road, farther south. He had pre-  then owned by Christian Tarr, who dug clay upon it
viously lived opposite the court-house. He gave a  for use in his pottery business. He soon after sold to
dinner at his residence to Capt. Thomas Collins' Ewing McClary, who built the "Eagle" upon it. A
company on the eve of their departure for the war log house standing on the lot next east was occupied
in 1812. A drummer in that company was Feltie  by a Mr. Harrison as a bake-house and cake-shop.
Souders, who lived in the log house where Mr. Clif- Passing on still eastward, the next establishment was
ford now lives. Abner Greenland, the potter, lived  Benjamin Hellen's dry-goods store. Next was Bennear the mill-race. Previously he had lived on the jamin Campbell's silversmith-shop, and on the corner
hill. Gilbert Stites, a shoemaker, lived on the corner, (where now is Moser's drug-store) was John Campsouth of the present residence of E. Robinson. Next bell's place of business.
north was the dwelling of Lewis Lewis, a Revolution-    On the north side of the street, where now is John
ary soldier, whose wife kept a small bakery. His  Wood's saddlery-shop, was a private residence. Next
daughter, Mrs. Mary Clemmer, still lives on the  was the dwelling of Milly Fossett. On the southproperty. John Hibben, Jr., a hatter, lived north of  west corner of Main and Morgantown Streets lived
BOROUGH.
UNIONTOWN
291
4
4PREFACE.
THIS preface is not written for the purpose of offering (as writers too frequently do) in
advance, an apology for errors and imperfections in the historical work which follows. To
make such an apology is to admit a knowledge of inaccuracy and imperfection, which in this
case the editor does not know, and does not believe to exist to an extent worthy of notice in this
history of Fayette County. It has been prepared with the object and determination to make it
as complete and accurate as possible; to produce an exhaustive and truthful narrative of events
of importance or general interest which have occurred within the territory now embraced in the
county of Fayette from the period of its occupation by the aborigines down to the present
time; to embody all obtainable facts whiclt are worthy of mention in such a work, but to exclude
everything of doubtful authenticity from the narrative, and to confine it as closely as possible to
the limits of Fayette County; referring to no outside matters except such as could not properly
be omitted because of their close connection witlh the history of the region which is especially
referred to. Under this plan, and with this determination, the patient and persevering labor of
many months (equivalent to more than two years' work of one person) has been given to the
preparation of this history, and it is now presenlte(l with full confidence that the verdict of its
patrons will be one of approval.
The work embraces a general history of the county, followed by separate histories of the
several boroughs an(l townships. It is unnecessary lhere to give a further outline, or to recite
the authorities on which tile general history is based. The township histories are largely made
up of accounts of pioneer settlers and the families (lescended from them. In this connection it
is proper to remark that the family names of many of the pioneers anlld later residents of Fayette
County have been found spelled differently (and sometimes in as many as four or five differenlt
ways) in the county, township, and church records, and for that reason it has often been found
impossible to decide with any degree of certainty on the correct orthography,.if, indeed, there is
any choice as to correctness, where, as is not infrequently the case in this county, different members of the same family spell their surname variously, eachl in his own way. The writer has
before him four autographls, written by three men now living in Fayette County, and all descended
from the same grandfather, in which the family name is spelled four different ways, each one
being different from either of the three others; and two of the signatures are by one and the
same person. Under such circumstances it cannot be regarded as a matter of surprise if the
writers of the county and township histories, often finding themselves wholly at a loss to know
which manner of spelling to adopt, have sometimes chosen one which may be regarded as incorrect by some who bear the name.
Some of the material for the work has been gleaned from the very few reliable publications
3HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
solved to concentrate all the forces at that point, and
there await the French attack. Intrenchments were
immediately commenced and pushed with all possible
vigor; a messenger was sent towards Redstone, to
call in Lewis's and Polson's detachments, and another to the Great Meadows, with a request to Capt.
Mackay to march his force without delay to Gist's.
He promptly responded; and Lewis and Polson also
came in the next morning, having cut through nearly
eight miles of road from Gist's towards Redstone. On
their arrival Washington called a second council of
war, which reversed the decision of the first, and resolved, without a dissenting voice, to abandon the
work at Gist's and retreat to Wills' Creek, over the
route by which they had advanced.  This decision
was at once acted on.
In the retreat, the means of transportation being very
deficient,l it is said that " Colonel Washington set a
noble example to the officers by leading his own horse
with ammunition and other public stores, leaving his
baggage behind, and giving the soldiers four pistoles
to carry it forward. The other officers followed this
example. There were nine swivels, which were drawn
by the soldiers of the Virginia regiment, over a very
broken road, unassisted by the men belonging to the
Independent Company [Mackay's], who refused to
perform any service of the kind. Neither would they
act as pioneers, nor aid in transporting the public
stores, considering this a duty not incumbent on them
as King's soldiers. This conduct had a discouraging
effect upon the soldiers of the Virginia regiment, by
dampening their ardor and making them more dissatisfied with their extreme fatigue." 2
The journey between Gist's and the Great Meadows,
which Washington, on his outward march, had been
unable to perform in less than thirteen days, was now
made in less than two days, notwithstanding the insuffi ciency of transportation and the severe labor which
the men were obliged to perform in hauling the artillery pieces and military stores; and the retreating column reached the fortified camp at Great Meadows on
the 1st of July.
It had been the intention, as before noticed, to continue the retreat to Wills' Creek, but on the arrival
at the Meadows, Washington found that it was impracticable to go on, for, says Sparks, "His men had
become so much fatigued from great labor and a deficiency of provisions, that they could draw the swivels
no farther, nor carry the baggage on their backs.
They had been eight days without bread, and at the
Great Meadows they found only a few bags of flour.
It was thought advisable to wait here, therefore, and
fortify themselves in thb best manner they could till
1 Sargent says, " Two miserable teams, and a few pack hlorses being
all their means of transporting their ammunition, the officers at once
ad(led their own steeds to the train; and, leaving hlalf his baggage behlind, Washington, for four pistoles, hired some of the soldiers to carry
tlhe remainder."
2 Sparks.
they should receive supplies and reinforcements.
They had heard of the arrival, at Alexandria, of two
independent companies from New York, twenty days
before, and it was presumed they must, by this time,
have reached Wills' Creek. An express was sent to
hasten them on with as much dispatch as possible."
When it had been decided to make a stand at the
fortified camp at Great iMeadows, Washington gave
orders for the men to commence, without delay, to
strengthen the rude defenses which had already been
erected. More palisades were added; the stockade
was extended, and salient angles formed, and a broad
but shallow ditch was made outside the fort, materially adding to the strength of the work. Outside this
ditch there was constructed a line of defense, similar
in character to the modern rifle-pits,--but all joined
in one extended trench,-further protected in front
by a low parapet of logs, embanked with the earth
thrown from the trench. The work was done under the
supervision of Capt. Robert Stobo, who had had some
experience in military engineering. When completed,
Washington named it " Fort Necessity," as expressive
of the necessity lie was under to stand there and fight,
because of his inability to continue the retreat to
Wills' Creek, as he had intended. The extreme scarcity of provisions, and other supplies too, made the
name appropriate.
Washington's selection of a site for his fortification
has been often and severely criticised by military
meii as being badly calculated for defense, and commanded on three sides by high ground and closely
approaching woods. The location was undoubtedly
chosen partly on account of the peculiar conformation of the ground, which Washington called " natural
intrenchments," and which materially lightened the
labor of construction, and still more on account of
the small stream (a tributary of Great Meadows Run)
which flowed by the spot, and across wvhich, at one
point, the palisade was extended, so as to bring it
within the work, and furnish the defenders with an
abundant supply of water, a consideration of vital
importance if the fort was to be besieged.
The size and shape of Fort Necessity have often
been described by writers, but the different accounts
vary in a remarkable manner. Col. Burd, who visited the ruin of the work in 1759, five years after its
erection, says, under date of September 10th, in that
year, " Saw Col. Washington's fort, which was called
Fort Necessity. It is a small, circular, stockade, with
a small house in the centre. On the outside there is
a small ditch goes round it, about eight yards from
the stockade. It is situated in a narrow part of the
meadows, commanded by three points of woods.
There is a small run of water just by it. We saw two
iron swivels."
Sparks, in describing the fort and its location, says,
"The space of ground called the Great Meadows is a
level bottom, through which passes a small creek,
and is surrounded by hills of moderate and gradual
I
32
IHISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Mrs. Lynch, widow of Cornelius Lynch, and mother
of Daniel P. Lynch. She kept a cake and beer-shop
on the same spot where, prior to 1800, her husband
had a brewery.
Mr. Thomas Nesmith gives the following among his
recollections of Uniontown at about the period before
referred to:
The Genius of Liberty office at that time was in a
frame building on the south side of Main Street, east
of the Collins tavern stand. Gen. Henry Beeson was
keeping a store where Isaac Beeson afterwards kept
for many years. East of it lived Benjamin Miller,
who afterwards kept a tavern in the east end of the
town. Robert Skiles lived where now is Calvin
Springer's store. Skiles' store was at the place now
occupied by Hunt's jewelry-store.
At the time referred to (1815) Zadoc Walker's
tavern (now the Spottsylvania House) was in process
of erection. His son-in-law, Matthew Irwin, lived
west of the tavern stand, where he kept a store. He
was afterwards postmaster of Uniontown. Where the
Jacob Miller property now is, there was then a brick
house owned by the Springers. In that house a store
was kept by Richard Berry. The old Jonathan
Downer house stood on the corner, where in more
recent years Thomas Skiles erected the Concert Hall
Block. On the south side of the street, nearly midway between Morgantown Street and Broadway, was
the saddlery-shop of John Lewis. Dr. Hugh Campbell kept a drug-store in the house built by himself,
and afterwards occupied by Robert Modisett.
In 1815 there were two, watch-houses in the borough,
--one in the vicinity of the court-house, and one near
the Thomas Collins tavern stand, at Main and Morgantown Streets.
A store was kept by Crane  Withrow on Main
Street, very near what is now the northeast corner of
that street and Broadway,-property later owned by
Samuel Harah. John Barr, confectioner, and John
Strayer, saddler, carried on their business at the old
John Collins tavern stand (now the site of Commercial Block). Andrew Byers kept a public-house and
James Lindsey a store in part of this same building.
Lindsey's store was afterwards kept by his son-in-law,
Samuel Clevinger.
Near where Mrs. Dr. Porter now lives, there was
then a silversmith-shop, carried on by Hardesty
Walker, a son-in-law of Silas Bailey. Jonathan
Rowland, justice of the peace, occupied the brick
house east of Dr. Ewing's present residence. Facing
the court-house was a small shop kept by Nancy and
Mary McCaccan, and well patronized by the children
of the borough at that time.
On the south side of the main street above the
bank building (now the Southwest Railroad depot)
were the stores of George Ebbert, Hugh Thompson,
Jacob Beeson, and Reuben and Ellis Bailey, the
law-office of John Lyon, a succession of publichouses, kept respectively by Mrs. Crawford, George
Manypenny, and Samuel Salter, and a store kept by
one "Doctor" Lickey. On the present Ewing property stood a number of dilapidated buildings occupied
for various uses.
A number of items having reference to the business
of the borough during the five or six years succeeding
the close of the war of 1812-15 are given below, as
gleaned from newspapers of that period:
In September, 1816, Thomas Young announced to
the public that he "continues to carry on the fulling
and dyeing and dressing of cloth at his former stand
in Uniontown, and having employed an assistant in
the business, who for the space of fifteen years past
has been employed in the different factories in Wales,"
believed that he could give good satisfaction to customers.
In 1819 is found the announcement that " Charles
Thirwell (recently from England) begs leave respectfully to inform the inhabitants of Uniontown that
he has commenced the business of joiner, house-carpenter, house-painter, and cabinet-maker."
May 15, 1819, David Shriver gives notice that he
will attend at his office in Brownsville to receive proposals in writing for constructing the whole or any
part of the road from Uniontown to Washington, Pa.
In the same year (June 1, 1819) Samuel Wolverton
advertised that he had erected a carding-machine in
the Uniontown mill, and would card all kinds of wool
in the best manner and at short notice. On the same
date Morgan A. Miller announced that he was carrying on the tailoring business " two doors west of Mr.
McClelland's tavern," and George Manypenny advertised for " a steady boy to ride post two days of every
week."
The following list of tradesmen and those following
other occupations in Uniontown in 1819 is taken
from the county commissioners' records for that year:
Merchants, J. and S. Y. Campbell.
Tanner, Jacob Miller.
Blacksmith, N. Mitchell.
Wagon-maker, H. Kerns.
Hatter, Samuel Brown.
Cabinet-maker, J. Philips.
Shoemaker, D. B. McCarty.
Saddler, George Bently.
Carpenter, Enos West.
Chair-maker, J. Vankirk.
Inn-keeper, C. Wiggins.
Attorney, Andrew Stewart.
Printers, Bouvier  Co.
Justice of the Peace, T. Hadden.
Prothonotary, J. St. Clair.
Register, Alexander McClean.
Sheriff, J. Withrow.
Constable, James Winders.
Silversmiths, Walker  Wilson.
Nailer, Campbell Johnson.
292UNIONTOWN BOROUGH.
Physicians, Campbell  Marchand.
Schoolmaster, John A. Doune.
Minister, William Wylie.
Stone-masons, Bugle  Ferner.
Iron-master, John Oliphant.
Manager, A. Dempsey.
Tailors, Manship  Black.
Tinner, Joseph Kibbler (Kibbler's place of business was advertised as "opposite William  McClelland's tavern." Another in the same business soon
afterwards was James A. Yerk, whose shop was "one
door east of Brownfield's tavern."
An advertisement, dated Oct. 2, 1821, is found in
the Genius of Liberty of that year, as follows:
"I Public notice hereby give,
In Union town where I do live,
I Grindstones keep, and them do sell;
The grit is good, I make them well.
With Whet Stones, also, I'll supply
All those that wish for to buy;
Good money I will take in pay,
But paper trash, keep that away.
Good bargains I will let you have
If you good money to me give;
I'll make them honest, good, and just,
But do not like too long to trust.
Old debts are often in dispute,
And likely to bring on lawsuits,
Therefore'tis best take care in time,
The Grind Stone yours, the money mine.
The weather now gets very cold,
Bad fires make the women scold;
Therefore buy grindstones, and keep peace,
The women then will give you ease.
The time is now drawn very near
When you must kill your Hogs and Steers;
Therefore, buy whetstones right away,
Then you can butcher any day.
Take my advice, come on right quick,
And of my stones have the first pick,
For I the money want right bad,
So fare you well, my honest lads.
"Oct. 2, 1821.
PHILIP CREEKBAUM, JR.
" N.B.-AIl persons indebted to me are requested to make payment before the next FROST, and save costs.    P. C."
Creekbaum's grindstone-quarry was seven miles
from Uniontown, on John Graham's plantation, two
miles from Laurel Hill meeting-house. Office in
Uniontown.
In an old list of taxables of Union Borough township for the year 1824, now in possession of George
W. Rutter, are found these names of residents of
Uniontown at that time, with amount of tax, valuation, and remarks:
John M. Austin, attorney; valuation, $3770; tax, $56.50.
Henry H. Beeson, gentleman; valuation, $2500; 1 dog.
Richard Barry, merchant; valuation, $500; tax, $5.10; 1
dog.
Milton Baily, tax, $1.50.
James Boyle, bricklayer; valuation, $500; do. out-lot, 2 acres;
1 dog.
Barney Boyle, single; valuation, $120; tax, $1.20.
Jesse Beeson, farmer; valuation, $800; tax, $9.20.
Ellis Baily, gentleman; $4450, and dog, horse, and cow; tax,
$51.50.
Bank of Union, valuation $2500.
Thomas Brownfield, inn-keeper; valuation, $3000; 9 cattle,
1 dog; 1~ acres outlot. at $150; tax, $39.20.
Everhart Bierer, valuation, $700; 1 cow and two dogs; tax,
$11.90.
James Brinton, hatter; $60.
Henry Beeson, miller, grain- and fulling-mill; valuation,
$7800.
Isaac Beeson, merchant; valuation, $5780; tax, $55.70.
Richard Bierer, clerk, $300; tax, $3.
Hugh Campbell, doctor; $1740.
Thomas Collins, $2500, and 2 out-lots.
Samuel Y. Campbell, merchant; $2500.
Elijah Crossland, butcher.
William Crawford, saddler.
Philip S. Crickbaum, hatter.
Samuel Carroll, nig.; laborer; $60.
Ephraim Douglass, N. R.; valuation, $4150.
John Dawson, attorney; tax, $35.10.
Jonathan Downer, N. R.; tax, $20.
Ephraim Douglass, student; $120; tax, $3.
Nathaniel Ewing, attorney; valuation, $200.
George Ebbert, merchant.
William Ebbert, hatter.
Thornton Flemming, minister; $500.
Frederick, nig.
Robert Kinkead.
David Moorland, blacksmith.
John Miller, tanner; valuation, $7500.
David Lewis, barber.
Thomas Lewis, tailor.
William McClelland, inn-keeper.
Lewis Marchand, doctor.
Benjamin Miller, inn-keeper.
Ewing McCleary, inn-keeper.
Jacob B. Miller, attorney.
Nathaniel Mitchell, commissioner.
Jacob Ott, hatter.
Thomas Prentice, laborer.
James Piper, attorney.
Widow Price.
John Rutter, gentleman.
James C. Seaton, inn-keeper.
Zadoc Springer, N. R.
Andrew Stewart, attorney.
Robert Skiles, merchant.
Dennis Springer's heirs.
James Shriver, gentleman.
Daniel Sturgeon, doctor.
Hugh Thompson, merchant.
Cornelius Vanderhoof, laborer.
Thomas Wharton, shoemaker.
Zadoc Walker, inn-keeper.
James Winders, constable.
John Wood, horse-doctor.
Enos West, carpenter.
William Wood, saddler.
Jacob Wood, nig.
James A. Yerk, tinner.
The following notes appear on the last page of the
transcript:
293
IHiSTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Stephen Becket, come in, valuation, $120.
William Carroll, b. maker, valuation, $160; come in.
Jonathan Binns, s. master, valuation, $10.
Thomas Ewing, gentleman, come of age, $120.
Henry Haws, miller, come in, $120.
Ewing Brownfield, clerk, come of age, $120.
Samuel Winder, inn-keeper, come in, $210.
Thomas McKibbin, prothonotary, come in, $20.15.
Moses Shaw, laborer, come in, $60.
Matty tIall, woman from J. Beeson, $100.
David Mathas, laborer, single man, come in, $120.
William Brown, laborer, single, come in, $120.
Robert Hemphill, saddler, single, come in, $120.
Joseph McGee, blacksmith, single, come in, $60.
James Shay, tailor, come in, $120.
John Lewis, one lot, valuation, $500.
Wilson Patrick, single, come of age, $120.
Edward Gavin, baker, come in, $200.
Thomas Haymaker, blacksmith, $210.
James Cannon, hatter, come in, $200.
John Wesley Philips, single, come of age, $120.
Mike, a colored man, come in, laborer, $60.
Isaac Skiles, 1 dog, $10.
James Morrow, tailor, single, come in, $120.
John Sankston, clerk, single, come in, $120.
Thomas McDonald, c. maker, come of age, $120.
John McCleary, s. smith, come in, 150.
Josh McClelland, farmer, $120, S. M., come of age.
Samuel Starns, farmer, $120, come of age.
United States [?], the bank house, $2500; do. Mrs. Lyons'
house, $1200, and orchard of D., $250.
Bank of ITnited States [?], 1 house and lot, $1200:; 1 out-lot,
$200.
THE VISIT OF LA FAYETTE IN 1825.
A notable event in the history of Uniontown, and
one which is still fresh in the memory of some of
the older citizens of the borough, was the visit, in
May, 1825, of the Marquis de La Fayette, who had
landed in America in the previous year, and having
extended his tour from the seaboard to the Ohio, proceeded thence eastward, across Washington County,
to the Monongahela, and to the county-seat of Fayette.  In anticipation of his coming to UniontoWn, a
committee of correspondence and reception was appointed, composed of Col. Samuel Evans, Thomas
Irwin, Andrew Stewart, John Dawson, and Robert
Skiles. This committee addressed a letter of invitation to the nation's distinguished guest, in which
they said:
"GENERAL LA FAYETTE:
" The citizens of Fayette County, participating in
the universal joy diffused by your visit to the United
States, have appointed the undersigned to congratulate you upon your safe arrival, to express the grateful sense they entertain for the brilliant services you
have rendered to this country, and respectfully to say
that, if convenience and inclination would permit
the extension of your tour to this part of the Union,
they would delight to manifest that respect and veneration for your person which they have always entertained for your character.
" When the tie which bound us to Great Britain
was dissolved, this western country presented to the
eye of the observer a vast wilderness inhabited by
savages. It would not but be gratifying to your feelings now to observe the astonishing change, the wonderful contrast; and be assured, sir, it would be
highly gratifying to our feelings to do honor to him
who so essentially contributed to produce our present
happy condition, to display our attachment to the
principles of the Revolution by evincing gratitude to
the one who, surrounded by the splendors of nobility
and comforts of wealth at home, risked his life and
his fortune in defense of a destitute and an oppressed
people abroad, and to express our regard for the
rights of mailkind by greeting with a hearty welcome
the man who has been the uniform friend of liberty
and the determined enemy of tyranny both in Europe
and America."
La Fayette having signified his acceptance of the
invitation, was met on Iiis arrival at Washington,
Pa., by Col. Evans and other members of the Uniontown committee, who then at once sent back a communication to their borough authorities as follows:
"WASHINGTON, PA., Wednesday,
May 25, 1825, 6 o'cl'k P.M.
"General La Fayette arrived at 5 P.M. He will
leave this place to-morrow morning early, will breakfast at Hillsborough, dine at Brownsville, and sup
and lodge at Uniontown. This arrangement is fixed;
you may act with certainty."
In accordance with the arrangements above indicated, the Marquis, with his son, George Washington
La Fayette, and his private secretary, Monsieur Le
Vasseur, left Washington on the morning of the 26th,
escorted by the Fayette County committee, and proceeded by way of Brownsville to Uniontown, where
the greatest enthusiasm prevailed in view of the expected arrival of the honored -guest, and where very
extensive preparations had been made to receive him.
The borough, particularly its main street and the approaches to the court-house, had been gayly decorated for the occasion with arches and evergreens;
military companies, both infantry and artillery, were
rendezvoused there to march in column as a guard of
honor, and all the people of the town, with great crowds
from the surrounding country, were waiting in anxiety and excitement to join in the acclamation which
was to greet the hero of the day.
The following account of the arrival of La Fayette
at Uniontown and the succeeding ceremonies is from
an issue of the Genius of Liberty, published a few
days after the great event:
" On Thursday, about eleven o'clock A.M., the Honorable Albert Gallatin arrived, escorted by a detachment of the Fayette Guards, commanded by Capt.
Wood. He was met in the vicinity of the town by
Capt. Beeson, at the head of the Union Volunteers,
and by them conducted to Mr. Walker's Hotel. The
Youghiogheny Blues, commanded by Capt. Smith,
294UNJONOWN OROUG. 2and the Pennsylvania Blues, commanded by Capt.
McClelland, arrived also early in the day, and the
citizens in great numbers began to throng the streets.
The artillery, under the command of Capt. Gorley,
was posted on an eminence at the west end of the
town, with orders to give notice of the approach of
General La Fayette.
"The day was uncommonly fine and pleasant.
About half-past five o'clock P.M. the General's proximity to town was announced by a discharge of thirteen guns.  The Volunteer Companies, under the
command of Major Lynch, were stationed on the
hill near the residence of the late J. Beeson. At six
the General arrived at that point, and the procession
was formed agreeably to the order previously arranged
by the marshals of the day. General La Fayette was
drawn by four elegant bays in a neat barouche; on
each horse was a postillion dressed in white with a
blue sash. George Washington La Fayette was driven
tandem by Mr. Stockton in his elegant barouche,
and Mr. Le Vasseur rode with John M. Austin, Esq.,
in a gig. The procession passed along the main street,
under the two triumphal arches, to the court-house;
here the General left his carriage and entered the pavilion prepared for his reception, where he was met
by the Hon. Albert Gallatin and Gen. E. Douglass."
[Here follows a report of the address of welcome
delivered by the Hon. Albert Gallatin, the reply of
La Fayette, and the adjournment of the company to
Walker's Hotel (now the " Spottsylvania House") for
the evening's entertainment.] La Fayette and Mr.
Gallatin had been warm personal friends many years
previously, and now, after a long separation, they met
and embraced each other with an emotion and fervor
which was extremely affecting to those who witnessed
it.
"At an early hour an elegant supper was served, of
which the General and suite and a large company of
gentlemen partook. On the right of Gen. La Fayette
was placed Gen. Douglass, on his left the Hon. Albert
Gallatin, and to the right of Gen. Douglass, Governor
Morrow (of Ohio) and his aides, and to the left of Mr.
Gallatin Judge Baird and the Revolutionary soldiers.
After supper toasts were drank and the company retired.
"In the evening the whole town was illuminated.
On the following morning, at six o'clock A.M., the
General set out, in company with Mr. Gallatin, for the
residence of the latter, escorted by a number of the
Union Volunteers, mounted, the marshals, the committee of escort, and many citizens. They stopped a
few minutes at Brownfieldtown; at Geneva the escort
was joined by the Fayette Guards, and after passing
through the town amidst a numerous assemblage of
citizens, they proceeded to the farm of Mr. Gallatin;
here a multitude had assembled to greet the distinguished benefactor of the human race. Mr. Gallatin's
house was thrown open, and the great concourse which
thronged about it received from him the most affectionate welcome. His best liquors were spread in
profusion on the tables, and great pains were taken
to give the crowd of anxious visitors an introduction
to the General. The next day, as the General returned
from Mr. Gallatin's, he was received in Geneva with
great enthusiasm, especially by the ladies, with the
lady of Capt. Wood at their head. They were ranged
on the sidewalk with garlands of flowers in their
hands, which they gracefully waved and strewed before him. On his arrival in Union he was again met
by a crowd of citizens. The ladies of Uniontown had
assembled en masse, dressed in white, and most beautifully bedecked with wreaths of roses and bunches of
flowers in their hands, which they waved as he passed,
in token of the grateful feeling with which they were
affected. After the General alighted from his carriage
he was introduced to them in the piazza of Mrs.
Walker's house,'to which they had repaired for that
purpose, and he was pleased to express much satisfaction at this flattering testimony of respect. The arches
were again most splendidly illuminated throughout
the evening.....  
The following account, written by William Thompson, at that time a teacher in Madison College, was
published in the National Journal of June 7, 1825:
"General La Fayette has paid us his promised visit;
and truly the reception which he has had from the
people of Uniontown and his exalted countryman,
Mr. Gallatin, has been worthy of the great occasion
which called forth such extraordinary honors.
" For several days previous to the General's arrival
at this'place, our citizens were actively engaged in
making sulitable preparations. Two beautiful and
well-constructed arches were thrown across the main
street. A platform, elegantly decorated, was put up
near the court-house, on which it was determined to
receive and address the General. The ladies of the
place seemed to vie with each other in decorating the
arches and the platform. When completed, the arch
displayed a good share of taste and beauty. We noticed on the one at the east end of the town the following inscription:'Lessons to Tyrants!''York
and Brandywine!' On the opposite side:'Friends of
Freedom!''Washington and La Fayette.' This arch
was surmounted with an eagle bearing the American
flag. We also noticed on the arch at the west end of
the town the following sentiment:
"'La Fayette, I'Ami de l'Ilomme!'
This was so placed as to take the General's eye at his
entrance into the town. On the reverse we observed
the following lines under the memorable date 1776:
"'Our choicest welcomne hereby is exprcst
In heartfelt homage to the Nation's Guest.'
"It was understood the General would arrive at
Uniontown on the evening of Thursday, the 26th inst.
The Hon. Albert Gallatin, who had been invited to
address the General on his arrival, reached town
about twelve o'clock. He was met by the Union VolUNIONTOWN BOROUGH.
295HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
unteers, under the command of Capt. Beeson, and entered the town under a discharge of artillery. Soon
after this two other companies of volunteers arrived
from Connellsville and the vicinity. Much company
continued to arrive until five o'clock. About this time
General La Fayette, in an open carriage drawn by
four horses, with four drivers suitably attired, entered
the town. He was followed by his son, Col. George
Washingtoil La Fayette, and Mr. Le Vasseur, private
secretary to the General, in anlother carriage. Afterwards followed a great number of our most respectable
citizens, in gigs and on horseback, the marshals, committee of arrangements, etc., etc. We noticed Gen.
Markle, Gen. Beesoln, and several other Field Officers
in full uniform. As the cavalcade approached the
town thirteen rounds were fired from the Artillery.
The three companies of Volunteers also kept up a
feu de joie.
"In passing through the main street the General
bowed repeatedly to the ladies, who were ranged at
the different windows. The townspeople and other
spectators on each side of the street remained uncovered as the General passed on to the platform, near
the Court-House. There he alighted, and after remaining a short time, rose to receive the address of
Mr. Gallatin... After the delivery of the address
and the reply the spectators joined in three hearty
cheers to the General and the orator, who then retired
to Mr. Walker's Hotel. The evening-was spent in
gaiety and hilarity. Every one who requested it had
the honor of an introduction, and the conduct of the
General was universally pleasing. After daylight the
town was illuminated.in honor of its distinguished
visitors.."
On the morning of the 29th of May, 1825, Gen. La
Fayette, accompanied by Col. Samuel Evans and several other members of the reception committee, with
a large cavalcade of citizens, left Uniontown and proceeded on his way to Pittsburgh. The committee accompanied him as far as Elizabethtown, Allegheny
Co., where the final parting took place, and he was
received by a similar committee from Pittsburgh, escorted by Maj.-Gen. Markle and Maj. Alexander, with
two companies of artillery.
UNION VOLUNTEERS.
The uniformed company of "Union Volunteers"
which took so prominent a part in the ceremonies attendant on the reception to Gen. La Fayette in 1825
was formed in 1823. The first meeting for organization was held on the 23d of August in that year, on
which occasion articles of association were adopted
and signed by the following-named persons:
John B. Trevor.            William Gregg.
Samuel Evans.           James Shriver.
Robert Skiles.          Wilson Swain.
James A. Yerk.             Daniel Black.
Thomas Patton.             John Lewis.
Richard Beeson.         Isaac Wood.
John Milson.
William Crawford.
George Rine.
Daniel P. Lynch.
Joseph Akens.
James Piper.
James Ebert.
Joseph Faucett. v
Henry Ebert.
N. G. Stmith.
A. Madison.
Morgan A. Miller.
David Victor.
Thomas J. Miller.
Joseph P. McClelland.
Edward Hooper.
Andrew Stewart.
Edward Hyde.
Alexander Turner.
William Walker.
Samuel M. Clement.
William Bryson.
John M. Hadden.
Thomas Greenland.
Ewing Brownfield.
Samuel Yeakle.
John Dawson.
John W. Beck.
William Ebert.
Henry H. Griffith.
Jesse Covert.
Caleb Chevorent.
James Hibben, Jr.
Jacob Poundstone.
Thomas Simons.
Andrew McMaster.
Abrahamn Beagle.
B. R. Merchand.
Isaac Beeson.
Hugh Campbell.
Seth Wood.
Thomas Irwin.
Andrew Craig.
Hardesty Walker.
William Hamilton.
John Rutter.
John WVinder.
Jacob B. Miller.
R. C. Wood.
Benjamin Clark.
Matthew Clark.
Eli M. Gregg.
Thomas J. Miller.
The by-laws designated the association as the
"Union Volunteers," and it was provided by Section
3 that " the members of the company shall meet for
parade at the court-house in Union town at 10 o'clock
A.M., on the fourth Saturday of August, September,
and October, the 22d of February, and 1st of May."
In October, 1823, the officers of the " Volunteers"
(as shown by the company roll, which is still in existence) were: Captain, John B. Trevor; First Lieutenant, Seth Wood; Second Lieutenant, John Lewis;
First Sergeant, James Hibben; Second Sergeant,
Alexander Turner; Third Sergeant, Joseph Akens;
Fourth Sergeant,. Daniel Black.
And the following named were designated as the
musicians of the company: J. B. Miller, John Beck,
William Morris, Alfred Meason, clarionet; Wm. Lee,
George Meason, John Rini, Benjamin Miller, flute;
Edward Hoff, fifer; William M. Mutton, side drum;
Thomas Bryant, bass drum.
At a meeting of the company held May 3, 1824,
"A motion was made by Capt. John B. Trevor to
form a battalion by joining with the Fayette Blues of
Brownsville and the Youghiogheny Blues of Connellsville, if the two said companies should agree to
the same. The voice of the company being called
for, it was agreed to by a large majority of the company."
On the 2d of May, 1825, at a meeting of the company, it was
"Resolved, That a committee, to consist of five persons, be
appointed to co-operate with any committee that may be appointed by the Town Council to ascertain the precise time when
Gen. La Fayette will visit this place and to make suitable arrangements for his reception, and that they appoint some person to deli%ver an adlress to him accordingly. Maj. Evans,
I
296UNIONTOWN BOROUGII.
Hugh Campbeil, John Dawson, Jaiiies Piper, and Jacob B.
Miller were the members fixed on to compose this cominittee.
"Resolved, That so soon as the time of his arrival shall have
been ascertained the committee shall make it known by publicaltioh in the Genius of Liberty and American Observer, and
shall invite the several volunteer corps of this county and the
adjoining counties to join us in welcoming the Nation's Guest."
The prominent part taken by the Volunteers (then
under command of Capt. Beeson) in the reception of
La Fayette at Uniontown has already been noticed in
the account of that event.
The company participated in an unusually grand
military display at a Fourth of July celebration held
in the year 1826 at Uniontown, on which occasion
Col. Samuel Evans was president of the day; Daniel
P. Lynch, vice-president; and the Hon. Thomas Irwin, orator of the day. It was one of the largest and
most enthusiastic celebrations ever held in Fayette
County.
A general muster of the military of this section
was held near Uniontown on the 8th and 9th of September, 1831.  The event was mentioned as follows in
the minute-book of the Union Volunteers:
"The companies present were the Fayette Cavalry, Capt.
William Walker; Lafayette Artillerists, Capt. Thomas Patton;
Youghiogheny Blues (infantry from Connellsville), Capt. Joseph Rogers; Addison Blues (infantry from Smithfield, Sornerset Co.), Capt. Endsley; Pennsylvania Blues (inf.antry), Capt.
Allen; Youghiogheny Greens (rifles from New Haven), Capt.
H. Blackstone; Youghiogheny Sharpshooters (rifles from
Smithfield, Somerset Co.), Capt. Ewing; Union Volunteers
(infantry), Capt. Beeson.
"The field-officers were Col. Samuel Evans, colonel commandant of the First Regiment Fayette Volunteers; Maj. Ewing
Brownfield and Maj. Jacob Murphy, of the regiment; Joshua
B. Howell, adjutant; Maj. Piper, from Smithfield; Maj.-Gen.
Henry W. Beeson, with his aides, Joseph Torrence and R. P.
Flennikin; Brig.-Gen. Solomon G. Krepps and aides, WVilliam
Murphy and James H. Patterson.
- The field of parade was that owned by Lucius W. Stockton,
Esq., west of his residence, adjacent to the National road, which
he generously threw open for the purpose. Comfortable quarters were furnished for the visiting troops by the committee.
"The troops exhibited a fine appearance and correct movements. Harmony and good order prevailed during the parade.
The visiting troops were escorted into and out of town by the'Union Volunteers' and' Lafayette Artillerists,' and on their
departure expressed their high gratification with their visit.
Sic transit gloria mundi."
On the 17th of August, 1835, Joshua B. Howell was
elected captain, William B. Roberts, first lieutenant,
and William McDonald, second lieutenant of the
Union Volunteers. A grand field-parade was held at
Uniontown on the 29th and 30th of Septenlber and
1st of October in that year, of which the following
account is taken from the company record:
"The companies assembled at the grand parade were the
Union Volunteers, Capt. Howell; Bel!sville Artillerists, Capt.
Gregg; Brownsville Artillerists, Capt. More; Mount Pleasant
Blues, under the command of its first lieuten ant; Youghiogheny
Blues, Capt. White; Fayette Cavalry, Capt. Oliphant; Monongahela Cavalry, Capt. Simonson.
"The companies assembled in parade order on Tuesday, at
10 A.M., when Col. W. Redick assumed the command, assisted
by Lieut.-Col. Phillips, Majs. Morly and Francis, and by Adjt.
Brownfield.  The troops were marched out of town to the
metldow near the bridge, at the west end of the borough, the
property of James Todd, politely offered to the military by the
proprietor, where the usual military evolutions were performed,
when the corps was received by Maj.-Gen. Johns, with his aides,
Majs. Flennikin, Jackson, and Gardner. On the last day of
the parade (Thursda.y) the visiting troops were escorted out of
town by the Union Volunteers; great good will and harmony
characterized the' three great days.'"
The officers of the company elected Aug. 15, 1842,
were: Captain, William McCleary; First Lieutenant,
Francis L. Wilkinson; Second Lieutenant, John
Knight.
The following'transcript from the company record
shows the action taken by the Volunteers at a meeting
held at Uniontown, Tuesday, Nov. 24, 1846, viz.:
" Whereas a call has been made by the President of the United
States for one infantry regiment of volunteers to serve in the
Mexican war, and the Union Volunteers being called out to know
if they will offer their services,
" We, the subscribers, members of the Union Volunteers and
others, hereby agree and do offer our services to the President
of the United States to serve as members of the Union Volunteer Company, if it shall raise the requisite number, and under
its present officers, to serve to the end of the Mexican war
unless sooner discharged.
"Witness our hands this 24th day of November, 1846: Capt.
Samnuel S. Austin, M. S. Stanley, Edmund Beeson, John B.
Gorley, Robert W. Jones, R. Skiles Austin, Richard Irwin,
Aminzi S. Fuller, Thomas R. Davidson, George D. Swearingen,
Eli M. Gregg, Absalom Guiler, Edmund Rine, W. B. West, John
McCuen, Alfred Hlowell, John Sturgeon, J. R. Crawford, Joshua
B. Howell, John Sutton, C. H. Beeson, R. M. Walker, W. P.
Wells, W. W. Samith, R. T. Galloway, Benjamin Desilems, Evan
Shriver, Elijah Sader, A. M. Gorley, William Freeman, Abraham
Johnson."
The Union Volunteers did not, as a company, enter
the United States service, but many of its members
went to Mexico in Capt. Quail's company of Col.
William B. Roberts' regiment, as noticed in the general military history of the county.
In 1855 the company took the name of " Cameron
Union Volunteers," in compliment to the Hon. Simon
Camneron, from whom, in consequence, it received the
gift of a beautiful silk flag, with a fine sword to each
of the commissioned officers. The presentation speech
was made by Alfred Patterson, in behalf of Mr. Cameron, and was responded to by Capt. C. E. Swearingen
for the company.
In December, 1857, the Volunteers passed a resolution tendering their services to the President of the
United States to serve in Utah against the Mormons.
The tender was signed by Capt. C. E. Swearingen and
twenty-three other members of the company; but
their services were not required.
On the 11th of December, 1858, Andrew Stewart,
297
IHISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Jr., was elected' captain of the company, and Peter
Heck first lieutenant.
The last record of any business connected with the
company, is a return roll dated June 6, 1859. This
roll contains the names of fifty-six members, including Capt. Andrew Stewart, Jr., Peter Heck, first
lieutenant, Thomas Brownfield, second lieutenant,
Thomas M. Fee, orderly sergeant.
On the back of the last entry (June 6, 1859) in the
record-book of the Union Volunteers is written,
without date or signature, the following remark:
" Thus ends the career of one of the oldest and best
companies ever organized under the militia ordinance.
Many of the members have awakened the patriotism
of senators and representatives of their country, and
left names which gild the history of their country,
and some have left their bones to bleach on the battle-grounds of Mexico."
FACTS FROM THE -BOROUGH RECORDS.
The oldest volume of borough records now in existence commences with the date Monday, May 16,
1842. It appears that before this time (1842) the
borough authorities had decided to build a new market-house on a site other than that occupied by the
old one, which had been in use for many years. It
stood on a lot south of and adjoining Thomas Collins'
hotel property. It was a frame building, about twentvyfive by fifty feet in dimensions, not divided into stalls,
but rented by the borough to four occupants. Everard Bierer, Elijah Crossman, Lewis Mabley, and
others rented it in this way. When the Council resolved to build a new market-house in place of this
old one the heirs of Thomas Collins regarded this action as a vacation of the old premises, and accordingly claimed the property. In relation to this question the Council resolved, on the 6th of June, 1842,
",That the burgess and Joseph Riley be appointed to
wait on A. Stewart, Esq., to see what are his views
with respect to the ground on which the markethouse now stands, and report at the next meeting."
No report of this committee is found, and on the 2d
of January, 1843, Messrs. Crawford and Bierer were
appointed a committee "to wait on A. Stewart  Co.
relative to the market-house, to ascertain what he
will give to [have the borough?] abandon the present
location of the market-house."
The controversy as to the old market-house site
appears to have continued for some years, for in
1 The last entry in the company book shows that Andrew Stewart, Jr.,
was elected captain of the Cameron Union Volunteers Dec. 11, 1858.
There seems, however, to be an unexplained discrepancy between this
record and the fact that Capt. Thomas M. Fee holds a commission signed
by Governor William F. Packer, and dated June 6, 1859, reciting that
"Thomas M. Fee, being duly elected and returned, is hereby commissioned Captain of the Cameron Union Volunteers of the Uniformed
Militia of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in the Second Brigade
of the 17th Division, composed of the uniformed militia of the counties
of Westmoreland, Fayette, Washington, and Greene." At the same
time C. E. Swearingen was commissioned brigadier-genleral.
April, 1844, F. Bierer was appointed by the Council
"to investigate the facts in reference to the suit expected with A. Stewart for the old market-house
property.'"  And again, in the records of the Council,
Jan. 28, 1851, is found that, in reference to " Andrew
Stewart vs. the Burgess and Town Council of Union
Borough in case of the Old Market-House," it was
ordered that James Veech be paid $15 for services as
attorney for the borough. Finally the land in question became the property of Mr. Stewart.
The matter of the erection of a new market-house
came up at a meeting of the Council on the 14th of
March, 1843, when, on motion of William B. Roberts,
the following preamble and resolution were adopted,
viz.: " Whereas, owing to the rapid increase of our
Borough, it is believed to be necessary, for the convenience' of our Citizens, that there should be Two
Market-houses, and resolved, therefore, that we erect
an additional Market-House on the Public Ground
deeded to the Citizens of Jacob's First and Second
Additions by Jacob Beeson (deceased). Passes unaniinously." It was also " Resolved, that a committee of
three be appointed to draft plans for the New MarketHouse." At a meeting of the Council on the 23d of
March it was resolved "That the Draft handed in by
W. B. Roberts for a Market-House, to be Sixty feet
long and twenty-four feet wide, be adopted."  W. B.
Roberts, John Bradbury, and James Veech were. appointed a committee " to perfect the plan, and with
power to contract for building a market-house."
Oh the 24th of April, the same year, the Council
resolved " That the petition of sundry citizens for a
delay of confirming and accepting the proposals for
building the market-house be laid on the table." At
the same meeting it was resolved " that the building
committee enter into an agreement with Barry at
once to build the market-house." On the 2d of May
following, the Council "adjourned to view the public
ground where the mnarket-house is to be built, and resolved that the house be built so as to run from east
to west."  On a review of the ground "Took a reconsideration of the resolution, and resolved That it
be built so as that the northeast corner be six feet
from Arch Street and eighteen feet from Market or
South Street."
A contract was made by this committee with Robert L. Barry to build the new house at $1350, and on
the 7th of August, 1843, it was ordered by the Council
" That Robert L. Barry be paid $350, first payment
on the New Market-House," the building being then
under roof, according to contract. Later payments
were made to him as follows, viz.: Oct. 2, 1843, second
payment, $350; Nov. 10, 1843, $650, in full of the
contract. On the 1st of January, 1844, a bill of
$138.60 was allowed to him for extra work. August
7, 1843, it was ordered that A. G. Crusen be paid $40
for materials and work done in repairing the old
market-house.
I
I
298R ESIDENCE OF A. C. NU TT, UVNIONTOWN, PA.UNIONTOWN BOROUGH.
On the 16th of November (1843) the Council invited proposals " for plastering the whole of the upstairs of the Market-House."  It was ordered that
two chimneys be built and two stoves procured.
When finished, the upper part of the new house was
used for a Council room. In December of the same
year William Ebbert was appointed "to take charge
of the Town Hall and Market-House." In 1844 he
was appointed market-master at a salary of $65 per
annum.
The market stalls were in the south end of the
present building. They were eight in number, opening from the main passages by arches about six feet
wide, and were rented by the year at $15 per year.
Jacob Ott was market-master from 1845 to 1847, inclusive; John Rutter, weigh-master and market-master in 1848; and G. D. McClellan in 1849-51. Rutter
received for his services as market-master $25, and as
weigh-master, two-fifths of the fees of the hay-scales
and coal sufficient for his own use."
The old hay-scales were erected in 1835, as appears
from the following action taken by the Council March
13, 1844, viz.: "The Committee on Hay Scales reported that he could not find that there had been any
order issued to L. W. Stockton on account of payments made by him for erecting the same; Therefore
Resolved, that whereas the Council having agreed to
appropriate the sum of twenty-five dollars in the year
1835 towards erecting the Hay Scales, and no evidence appearing that it had been paid over to said
Stockton, it was therefore Ordered, that L. W. Stockton shall be entitled to a credit of twenty-five dollars, with nine years' interest on same up to this date,
amounting in all to $38.50."
On the 27th of May, 1842, the Council awarded to
David Veech one hundred and fifty dollars, and to C.
B. Snyder two hundred and fifty dollars, for damages
sustained by the opening of Fayette Street. In 1843
an election was held to ascertain the minds of the
voters on the proposed opening of certain thoroughfares, viz.: Union Street, Brant's Alley, and Turner's
Alley. A majority was found to be against such
opening.
The placing of the town clock in the court-house
tower resulted from the following action of the Council, July 26, 1847:
" The petition of two hundred and upwards of the Citizens of
the Borough of Uniontown, praying that Council purchase a
Town Clock for the Borough, to be placed in the cupola of the
Court-House, with other papers relating to the same, was presented. On motion, Resolved, That the sum of five hundred
dollars be and same is hereby appropriated to purchase a Town
Clock with three faces and hands, to be placed in the new CourtHouse for the use of the Borough, which resolution was carried
unanimously.
" On motion, a comlnmittee of three, consisting of Bailey, Beeson, and Barton, were appointed to carry into effect the above
resolution by making all necessary inquiries, purchasing clock,
etc."
The clock was accordingly purchased, and soon
afterwards placed in its present position in the courthouse tower.
In 1859 the Council ordered the widening of a narrow lane known as Middle Alley to a breadth of forty
feet from Main to Penn Street, to form the thoroughfare now known as Broadway. The opening, however,
was not then accomplished, and the matter rested
until January, 1867, when it was revived. The new
plan was to open the street to the width of the Harah
lot. In the summer of that year an agreement was
made with Mrs. Harah for the purchase of the lot at
$1800, and with Jonathan G. Allen for his lot at
$200. On the 10th of September, 1867, the committee on streets were authorized " to notify Mrs. Harah
to vacate the premises now occupied by her, and to
remove the materials on the same by the 20th of October, 1867, and that said committee take out an order
from court for opening the new street over the same;"
but this order was not carried into effect. In the
spring of 1868, Dr. Smith Fuller purchased the lot,
the old buildings of Mrs. Harah were demolished,
and Broadway was laid out as it exists at the present
time.
LIST OF BOROUGH OFFICERS.
The first officers of the borough of Uniontown at its
incorporation (1796) were Ephraim Douglass, burgess; Joseph Huston, Thomas Collins, assistants;
Jacob Knapp, high constable. For a period of fortyfive years succeeding that time no list can be given,
for the reason that all the borough records prior to
the year 1842 were destroyed by fire. The following
list of borough officers includes those who have been
elected and served from that year until the present
time, viz.:
BURGESSES.
1842. P. N. Hook.
1843. Samuel McDonald.
1844. John H. Deford.
1845. William Bailey.
1846. Jonathan D. Springer.
1847. Daniel Smith.
1848. William Stumph.
1849-50. M. W. Irwin.
1851. William P. Wells.
1852. S. Duncan Oliphant.
1853. Daniel Smith.
1854. B. F. Hellen.
1855. Ethelbert P. Oliphant.
1856. Benjamin F. Hellen.
1857. C. E. Swearingen.
1858-59. Jesse B. Ramsey.
1860. Jesse B. Ranisey.
1861. James G. Johnson.
1862. Armstrong Hadden.
1863. T. A. Haldeman.
1864. G. W. K. Minor.
1865. G. W. K. Minor.
1866. James D. Ramsey.
1867-69. Marshall N. Lewis.
1870-72. Marshall N. Lewis.
1873. John Holmes.
1874. Marshall N. Lewis.
1875-76. E. M. Hewitt.
1877. George W. Foulkes.
1878. George W. Foulkes.
1879. George W. Foulkes.
1880-81. Alexander McClean.
COUNCIL.
1842. W. B. Roberts.
Joseph Wiley.
Frederick Bierer.
William Crawford.
D. H. Phillips.
John Bradbury.
Tsaac Wood.
Daniel Huston.
C. G. Page.
1843. James Piper.
Alfred McClelland.
John Mustard.
1844. Armstrong Hadden.
William Reddick.
Smith Fuller.
1845. Isaac Beeson.
Samuel T. Lewis.
William Wilson.
29933
WASHINGTON'S CAMPAIGN OF 1754 IN TIlE YOUGHIOGHENY VALLEY.
descent. This bottom, or glade, is entirely level, a
covered with long grass and small bushes [Wash-  v
ington mentioned the clearing away of the bushes  e
which covered the ground when the work was com-  t
menced], and varies in width. At the point where  t
the fort stood it is about two hundred and fifty yards j
wide from the base of one hill to that of the opposite. v
The position of the fort was well chosen, being about a
one hundred yards from the upland or wooded ground  y
on the one side, and one hundred and fifty on the  5
other, and so situated on the margin of the creek as
to afford easy access to the water. At one point the  l
high ground comes within sixty yards of the fort, and
this was the nearest distance to which an enemy
could approach under shelter of trees. The outlines
of the fort were still visible when the spot was visited  I
by the writer in 1830, occupying an irregular square,
the dimensions of which were about one hundred
feet on each side. One of the angles was prolonged
farther than the others, for the purpose of reaching  
the water in the creek. On the west side, next to the
nearest wood, were three entrances, protected by stout
breastworks or bastions. The remains of a ditch,
stretching round the south and west sides, were also
distinctly seen. The site of this fort, named Fort
Necessity from the circumstances attending its erection and original use, is three or four hundred yards
south of what is called the National road, four miles
from the foot of Laurel Hill, and fifty miles from
Cumberlanld, at Wills' Creek."  If Sparks had been
in the least acquainted with military matters, he
probably would not have spoken of a fortified position as being "well chosen" when it was commanded
on three sides by higher ground, in no place more
than one hundred and fifty yards distant, with the
opportunity for an enemy to approach on one side
within sixty yards under cover of woods.
The best, and it is believed the only reliable description of the form and dimension of the fort, is
found in Veech's " Monongahela of Old," as follo\ws:
"The engraving and description of Fort Necessity
given in Sparks' Washington are inaccurate.  It
may have presented that diamond shape in 1830, but
in 1816 the senior authorl of these sketches made a
regular survey of it with compass and chain. It was
in the form of an obtuse-angled triangle of one hundred and five degrees, having its base or hypothenuse
upon the run. The line of the base was about midway
sected or broken, and about two perches of it thrown
across the run, connecting with the base by lines of
about the same length, nearly perpendicular to the
opposite lines of the triangle. One line of the angle
was six, the other seven perches; the base line eleven
perches long, including the section thrown across the
run. The lines embraced in all about fifty square
perches of land, or nearly one-third of an acre. The
embankments then  (1816) were nearly three feet
Te __:_
Lbove the level of the meadow. The outside" trenches"
vere filled up. But inside the lines were ditches or
2xcavations about two feet deep, formed by throwing
he earth up against the palisades. There were no
traces of'bastions' at the angles or entrances. The
unctions of the meadow or glade with the wooded
ipland were distant from the fort on the southeast
about eighty yards, on the north about two hundred
yards, and on the south about two hundred and fifty
yards. Northwestward, in the direction of the Turnpike road, the slope was a very regular and gradual
rise to the high ground, which is about four hundred
yards distant."
Leaving Washington and his little army in occupation of their frail defenses at the Great Meadows,
let us take a brief glance at the enemy which was
approaching them from Fort du Quesne by way of
the Monongahela Valley.
The French force, which was marching in pursuit
of Washington, was commanded by M. Coulon de
Villiers, from whose journal of the campaign a few
extracts are here given: "June the 26th.-Arrived at
Fort du Quesne about eight in the morning, with the
several [Indian] nations, the command of which the
General had given me. At my arrival, was informed
that M. de Contrecceur had made a detachment of
five hundred French, and eleven Indians of different
nations on the Ohio, the command of which he had
given to Chevalier le Mercier, who was to depart the
next day. As I was the oldest officer, and commanded the Indian nations, and as my brother2 had
been assassinated, M. de Contrecoeur honored me
with that command, and M. le Mercier, though deprived of the command, seemed very well pleased to
make the campaign under my orders....
" The 28th.-M. de Contrecceur gave me my orders,
the provisions were distributed, and we left the fort
at about ten o'clock in the morning. I began from that
instant to send out some Indians to range about by
land to prevent being surprised. I posted myself at
a short distance above the first fork of the river Monongahela, though I had no thought of taking that
route. I called the Indians together and demanded
their opinion. It was decided that it was suitable to
take the river Monongahela, though the route was
longer.
" The 29th.--Mass was said in the camp, after which
we marched with the usual precaution.
"30th.-Came to the Hangard, which was a sort of
fort built with logs, one upon another, well notched
in, about thirty feet in length and twenty in breadth;
and as it was late, and would not do anything without
consulting the Indians, I encamped about two musket-shots from that place. At night I called the sachems together, and we consulted upon what was best
to be done for the safety of our periaguas (large ca2 Moaning M. de Jumonville, who was Villliers' half-brother.
I Freeman Lew-is.HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
1846. Jesse King.
W. D. Barclay.
George Meason.
1847. Ellis Bailey.
Zalmon Luddington.
William Ebbert.
1848. William Maquilkin.
Levi Downer.
William Stone.
1849. J. L. Wylie.
E. B. Dawson.
John Keffer.
1850. Eleazer Robinson.
E. D. Oliphant.
Robert Boyle.
1851. Alfred McClelland.
John W. Phillips.
John Cannon.
Daniel Downer.
1852. W. W. Stumph.
Charles King.
Clement Wood.
E. Baily Dawson.
1853. F. C. Robinson.
Ellis B. Dawson.
John W. Barr.
1854. J. K. Ewing.
Ewing Brownfield.
D. M. Springer.
1855. Benjamin F. Hellen.
William Doran.
J. A. Downer.
1856. Charles H. Beeson.
F. C. Robinson.
R. G. Hopwood.
William Maquilkin.
1857. Daniel Smith.
R. Miller.
R. Bunting.
J. C. Redburn.
J. Skiles, Jr.
1858. J. Skiles, Jr.
F. C. Robinson.
John Collins.
C. E. Swearingen.
1859. Frederick Bierer.
J. L. Redburn.
John S. Harah.
J. H. Springer.
1860. Daniel Smith.
Ellis Bailey.
N. Brownfield.
1861. L. D. Beall.
M. N. Lewis.
J. K. Ewing.
1862. William Beeson.
Andrew B. Bryson.
D. Downer.
1863. E. B. Wood.
Ellis Bailey.
William Doran.
1864. Charles S. Seaton.
E. G. Roddy.
1864. William A. Donaldson.
1865. William D. Barclay.
James T. Gorley.
Eleazer Robinson.
1866. Thomas H. Lewis.
Hugh L. Rankin.
Thomas King.
1867. Ellis B. Dawson.
G. W. K. Minor.
Charles H. Beeson.
1868. William A. Donaldson.
Thomas King.
Charles H. Rush.
1869. William Doran.
Daniel Downer.
Ellis Bailey.
G. W. K. Minor.
Thomas G. King.
J. I. Gorley.
1870. John H. McClelland.
John Jones.
1872. G. W. K. Minor.
Smith Fuller.
Flavius D. Titlo.
Thomas Prentice.
1873. Smith Fuller.
A. E. Willson.
C. H. Livingston.
S. M. Baily.
J. M. Hadden.
William Thorndell.
1874. Smith Fuller.
William Beeson.
R. Knight.
William Thorndell.
J. M. Oglevee.
J. V. A. Donaldson.
Daniel Kane.l
1875. Smith Fuller.
Isaac Messmore.
Ellis Bailey.
W. H. Wilhelm.
James T. Gorley.
Daniel Kaine.
1876. Henry Delany.
William Hunt.
John N. Dawson.
John K. Beeson.
Ellis Bailey.
P. McClure.
1877. Alpheus Beall.
William Hunt.
William A. Donaldson.
Thomas Iladden.
W. H. Rutter.
Thomas Jaquett.
1878. William Hunt.
Thomas Hadden.
B. M. Bailey.
Joseph White.
Frank Stevens.
Addison R. Palmer.
1879. Joseph White.
1879. William B. McCormick. I
George L. West.
Addison R. Palmer.
Edward Cronin.
1880. Smith Fuller.
William B. McCormick.
Ellis Bailey.
Thomas Hadden.
1880. Edward Cronin.
Ellis B. Snyder.
1881. William  B. McCormick.
Albert G. Beeson.
Henry Nabors.
Alonzo P. Bowie.
J. W. Miller.
John Manaway.
CLERKS OF COUNCIL.
1796. Samuel King.
1842-45. George W. Rutter.
1845. C. B. Snyder.
1846-47. James Piper.
1848-49. A. O. Patterson.
1850-52. G. T. Greenland.
1853-77. George W. Rutter.
I 1877-81.-Thomas Fenn.
JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.
1840. James Lindsey.
Clement Wood.
1845. Daniel Smith.
William W. Stumph.
1850. James A. Morris.
Daniel Smith.
1855. John L. Means.
1860. Daniel Smith.
1861. Jonathan D. Springer.2
1862. T. A. Haldeman.
1865. Marshall N. Lewis.s
1867. T. A. Haldeman.
1869. John Holmes.3
FIRE DEPARTMENT.
The borough of Uniontown has had fire apparatus
and companies for the extinguishment of fires4 for
nearly eighty years. The earliest record showing this
fact is found in the minutes of the commissioners of
Fayette County, under date of Jan. 28, 1802, viz.:
"A committee, Jonathan Rowland, James Allen, and
John Stigers, appointed by the Burgesses of Union
Town to ascertain what sum the commissioners of the
county will contribute for the purchase of a fireengine for the use of the town, this day made application to the commissioners."
The commissioners agreed to report their views to
the committee at the next meeting of the board, and
on the 5th of February they "agreed to contribute
for the purchase of a fire-engine for the use of the
borough of Union Town one hundred dollars, if a
sum sufficient (with the said sum of one hundred dollars) is raised from the borough to purchase an engine.
The contribution is made expressly upon the condition that if an engine is not purchased and procured
for the use of the borough that the burgesses and
inhabitants of the borough will be responsible to the
county commissioners for that sum."
On the 17th of September, 1802, the record shows:
"Order issued in favor of burgesses of the borough of
Union Town for one hundred dollars for engine," by
which it appears that the engine was purchased. No
other official record dating between that time and the
year 1842, touching fire department matters, is known
to exist, but in the Genius of Liberty of Aug. 15,
1828, is found this notice: "The Union Fire Company
will meet at the court-house, in the borough of Union
2 Not acting.
3 Holmes and Lewis still in office todate (1881).
4 It is said that a fire company existed in Uniontown as early as 1798,
but it had no apparatus other than buckets for several years after that
time.
1 Appointed Nov. 24, 1874, to fill vacancy caused by death of William
Thorndell.
I
I
I
II
i
II
i
i
I
300UNIONTOWN BOROUGH.
Town, on the last Saturday of August, at two o'clock
P.M.," the object of the meeting not being stated. It
is recollected by old citizens that at about the time
referred to, William Salter was captain of the Union
Fire Company.
The " Madison" engine was purchased about 1841,
and a company organized for it, mainly by the efforts
of Dr. Hamilton Campbell, Alfred McClellan, Ewing
Brownfield, and Amos Frisbee. A house was erected
for it soon afterwards. The borough records show
that on June 11, 1842, the Council "Resolved, that
the Madison Engine and Hose, with apparatus, be
placed under the control and entire direction of the
company;" and "Resolved, that D. H. Phillips be
added to the committee already appointed for the
purpose of ascertaining a location for building an
engine-house for Madison Engine and Hose Company;" and also " Resolved, that this committee wait
on the school directors and ascertain whether an
engine-house of frame can be built on the public
ground belonging to the school directors; and if it
can, go on and receive proposals for building the
same; and if it cannot, then ascertain where a proper
location can be obtained, and report at next meeting
of Council." On the 4th of July the committee reported that a meeting of the school directors had been
held, at which they approved the erection of the
engine-house on their grounds. On the 8th of October
in the same year the Council resolved "that a committee be appointed to select a site for the erection of
an engine-house," and that F. Bierer, P. N. Hook,
A. McClellan, and W. Ebbert be added to the building committee. And on the 5th of December it was
" Ordered, that the committee appointed to build the
engine-house for the Madison Engine have an order
for ninety-one dollars and twenty-eight cents, being
the amount in full for building the same."
An old engine-house whicli had been used by the
Union Company stood on a lot now belonging to the
Downer heirs. This building was sold and removed
in 1844 by order of the borough Council.
In 1845, March 20th, it was resolved by the Council
"That the sum of' $500 be and is hereby appropriated
for the purpose of purchasing a suction-engine and
seven hundred feet of hose, and if the said sum is not
sufficient, that such further sum as may be necessary
be and is hereby appropriated."  Alfred McClellan,
James Piper, and William B. Roberts were appointed
a committee " to procure a loan and purchase suctionengine, hose, etc." They reported, April 28th, to the
Council, exhibiting a list of prices of engines in Philadelphia, which prices being much higher than was
anticipated, the committee was discharged from further duty in the matter.
In this year (March 31st) a night-watchman was
appointed for the borough. Numerous fires occurred
about this time, and rewards were offered by the
Council for the apprehension of incendiaries.
The available supply of water being insufficient in
20
case of fire, it was proposed to construct a reservoir
of sufficient capacity for that purpose, and on the 17th
of May (1.845) a committee of the Council was appointed " to ascertain the cost of a cistern of brick to
hold seven thousand gallons, and the feasibility of
filling it from Beeson's race."  In October this com
mittee was discharged and another appointed to ascertain the cost of constructing a cistern of fifteen thousand gallons' capacity, to be built of brick laid in hydraulic cement. Since that time cisterns have been
constructed at the court-house, and at Morgantown
and Foundry Streets. These and the old mill-race
which runs through the town furnish the principal
water supply for the engines in case of fire.
In 1851 the Council appointed a committee to confer with the school directors, and to build another
engine-house. On the 5th of April that committee
made a partial report to the effect that they had selected a site for the building " on the public ground
on which the market-house is situated." The report
was accepted, and the committee directed to proceed
to build it. On the 25th of the same month a petition
of citizens of Uniontown was presented, asking the
Council "to change the plan for building the enginehouse from one story to two stories, so as to enlarge
the town hall."  This petition was laid on the table,
and the committee "directed to go on under the original plan."
In June, 1850, a "crab-carriage" was ordered purchased for the Madison Engine. On the 27th of
June, 1857, the " old crab force-pump" was ordered
to be sent to Mr. Herbertson for repairs. On the 31st
of May, 1859, the fire companies petitioned the Council "to purchase another crab for the use of the companies." Nothing appears of record to show whether
the purchase was made or not.
On the 7th of June, 1859, the following-named citizens were appointed by the Council to form "bucket
lines" at fires: Everard Bierer, Jr., Eleazer Robinson, A. Hadden, J. K. Ewing, J. B. Howell, and
Alfred Howell. May 4, 1867, the Council ordered
that two hundred and fifty feet of hose, with fifty
blue and fifty red buckets, be purchased for the engine
companies.
In 1875 the borough authorities ordered the purchase of a steam fire-engine. It was purchased at
$4400 from C. Ahrens  Co., and is the "Keystone"
steamer which is still in use. The company to work
and have charge of this steamer was organized in
1877, with the following-named charter members:
C. H. Rush, S. M. Bailey, Joseph M. Hadden, W.
H. Wilhelm, Samuel Cooper, Jr., George B. Rutter,
C. H. Seaton, J. W. Jones, J. M. Messmnore, Joseph
Keffer, J. K. Beeson, W. M. Brownfield, A. G. Beeson,
John G. Stevens, W. M. Hunt, Ed. Cronin, John H.
Delaney, John Batton, K. B. Moore. The present
officers of the company are:
S. M. Bailey, captain.
Alpheus Beall, president.
301HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
A. G. Beeson, chief engineer.
I. J. Manning, assistant engineer.
POST-OFFICE.
The exact date of the first establishment of a postoffice at Uniontown is not known. Tradition places
it at 1795,1 with Benjamin Campbell as the first postmaster. Gen. Ephraim Douglass, in a letter written
from Uniontown in February, 1784, said, "I have
been here seven or eight weeks without one opportunity of writing to the land of the living."
Judge Veech, in his " Monongahela of Old,"
says there was no post-office in Fayette County till
after the close of the Whiskey Insurrection (1794).
In 1805 there were but four offices in the county,
viz.: at Uniontown, Brownsville, Connellsville, and
New Geneva. This is learned from Postmaster-General Granger's instructions to postmasters in that year.
At that time Thomas Collins was postmaster in Uniontown, having the office at his hotel, corner of Main
and Morgantown Streets, where it was kept till 1807.
Whether he remained postmaster after the removal
of the office from that place is not known. He was
succeeded by John Campbell,2 who held the office
till about 1836. Of his successors the following. names
have been obtained from  newspapers of different
dates, viz.: Matthew Irwin (1836-40), William McDonald (1841-45), Daniel Smith (1845-46), Armstrong
Hadden (1846-49), J. W. Beazel, H. L. Rankin, J.
H. Springer, P. Heck, Peter A. Johns (1870-76),
Marietta Johns, 1876 to the present time.
THE MAIL ROBBERY BY DR. BRADDEE.
One of the most remarkable mail robberies-or
rather series of mail robberies-ever committed in
1 It is made certain that there was a post-office at Uniontown in that
year by the following notice, found in the Western Telegraphe, of Wasihington, Pa., of date Nov. 3, 1795, viz.:
"LIST OF LETTERS
"Remaining in the Post-Office, Union Town:
"Hugh Brown, Silas Bingam, Jacob Bennet, Alexander Colwell,
Richard Carroll, Dennis Carrol, Alexander Duncan, Jacob Eckman,
Mrs. Fontaine, Henry Goebrianet, James Gibson, Hugh Hamilton,
Thomas Hooks, John Hyde, James Lang, Philip Maguire, John McMullen, Richard McCown, William  Morrow, Williaimi McFarland,
Francis MoEsman, John Maloan, Richard Melvill, Pott McKee, Alexander McWilliam, James Nicholl, James Nicholson, Jon., James Patterson, Jacob Razor, Nathaniel Ross, Adam Sholly, Charles Scott, William
Ross, Rev. Robert Warwick."  No postmaster's name is attached to the
list.
2 A letter found in the letter-book of the old Union Bank of Pennsylvania is copied and given below as showing the infrequency of the mail
service in this section of country even as late as the date indicated:
" UNION BANK OF PENNSYLVANIA, Dec. 17, 1818.
" DEAR SIR,-Your letter is dated and bears the postnmark of the 7th
inst. As the post arrives in this place but once a week, it was lnot rec'd
until the evening of Monday, the 14th inst.; it returns but once a week,
viz., on Friday morning; therefore, it was impossible you could get an
answer to your letter by the 20th inst., or earlier than this. I now inclose you a ten-dollar note of the Farmers' Bank of Reading, No. 2392,
date 1 March, 1815.
"I am, etc.,
"J. SIMS, Cashier.
"W. W. SPANGLER."
the United States was perpetrated in the year 1840
in the borough of Uniontown by a notorious quack
physician of the place, Dr. John F. Braddee.
This Braddee was said to have been a native of the
central part of Kentucky, and to have been in his
youth employed as a stable-boy in Paris, in that State.
Later (about 1830) he accompanied this employer, or
some other horse-dealer as assistant in a trip from
Kentucky with a large number of horses for sale in
an Eastern market. The horses were driven along
what was known as the Northwestern turnpike in
Virginia, and at some point on this road between the
Ohio River and Morgantown, Braddee being suddenly
taken sick was necessarily left behind. Upon his recovery, finding himself nearly or quite penniless, he
continued his journey on foot to Morgantown, whence
after a short stay he proceeded to Uniontown, Pa.,
where he' made a permanent location, and where not
long afterwards, through the operation of circumstances which are now unknown, he announced himself a physician and commenced a practice in which,
though uneducated and wholly without training or
knowledge in the line of his pretended profession, he
achieved very remarkable success pecuniarily, if not
otherwise.
He was a man of commanding personal appearance
and fine address; and these qualities, joined with almost unparalleled effrontery and consummate tact,
enabled him in a very short time to establish himself
in the confidence of the people, and to gain a wider
popularity as a physician than has ever been enjoyed
by any medical practitioner in the county of Fayette.
Patients flocked to him in great numbers; the fees
which he received amounted in the aggregate to a
large revenue, and placed him apparently on a short
and easy road to wealth.
After a few years of his exceedingly profitable
practice he purchased from the Hon. Thomas Irwin
the valuable "National Hotel" property, on the corner of Fayette and Morgantown Streets. Upon the
property at the time of the purchase, stood a goodsized brick building, on the southern side. To this
he added a wing extending northwardly, and in this
wing established his professional headquarters. Here
his success continued unabated. It is related that
patients came to him from a distance of nearly one
hundred miles, and that their horses to the number
of more than fifty were seen hitched at one time in
the vicinity of his office. He was himself the owner
of several blooded race-horses, which he kept in constant training for the course, and on which he won
and lost large sums of money, after the manner of
many Kentuckians as well as Pennsylvanians at the
present day. Whether in the purchase of the National Hotel property and the erection of the north
wing to the building he had in view from the first
the project of mail robbery or not is not known, but
it is certain that the place was admirably adapted to
the purpose which he soon set about systematically
I
I
302UNIONTOWN BOROUGH.
to accomplish.  The old National road was then in
full tide of business, as many as thirty stage-coaches
passing over it each way through Uniontown daily,
and some of them carrying the United States mail.
Lucius W. Stockton was the mail contractor, and he
had a stage-yard and coach-factory in the rear of and
adjoining Dr. Braddee's rooms in the north wing of
the National Hotel. Into this yard, stages carrying
the mails were driven every day.
One of the drivers of the mail-coaches was William
Corman, and this man was selected by Braddee as
the principal tool to be used in the nefarious business
he had in view. He first cultivated Corman's acquaintance and secured his confidence, then finally
boldly announced his object. He told his dupe that
the robbery of the mails could be easily and safely
accomplished, and that it would yield very large
profits, which they would divide between them, without the least fear of detection. Corman, allured by
Braddee's wily representations and the prospect of
rich plunder, finally assented to the proposition. The
plan of robbery which they adopted and afterwards
carried into effect was for Corman to pass one of the
most promising-looking mail-pouches from the yard
into Braddee's rooms, or when changing the pouches
from one coach to another in Stockton's yard to leave
one pouch behind in the coach, to be taken out and
rifled by Braddee, then to be buried or destroyed.
The way in which they carried out the plan is more
fully shown in Corman's affidavit, taken after his
arrest, as given below. Braddee had, besides Corman, two other accomplices, though whether he took
them  into his confidence from  the first or not till
some time afterwards, does not appear. They were
Peter M. Strayer, a saddler of Uniontown, and
"Dr." William  Purnell, a native of Culpeper, Va.,
and a sort of body-servant to Braddee.
The depredations on the mail commenced about
Jan. 25, 1840, and continued at intervals through the
year. The losses of the mails were soon discovered,
and George Plitt and Dr. Howard Kennedy, special
agents of the Post-Office Department, were detailed to
detect the robbers and bring them tojustice. Finally
the robberies from the 14th of November to the 19th
of December, 1840, were traced to Corman, who was
then arrested on Plitt's information, as follows:
"PENNSYLVANIA, FAYETTE COIJNTY, 88:
"George Plitt, agent of the P. O. Department, being duly
sworn, says that the United States mail from Wheeling, Va., to
New York, traveling on the National Road, has been stolen, to
wit: The mails made up at Wheeling on the 13th, 19th, 23d
and 29th of November, 1840, and on the 5th, 12th, and 18th of
December, 1840, and that he has reason to suspect, and does suspect and believe, that William Corman, who on those days drove
the Mail stage containing said Mail from Washington to Uniontown, Pa., is guilty with others of stealing said mails.
"GEO. PLITT, Agt. P. O. Dept.
"Sworn and subscribed this 6th day of January, A.D. 1841,
before me.                          N. EwING,
" bPrest. Jiud.qe 14th Juddicial Dist., Pa."
Upon his arrest, Corman at once divulged the
names of his confederates, and Braddee, Strayer, and
Purnell were immediately arrested. Corman's affidavit 4h the matter was as follows:
"The United States of America vs. John F. Braddee, William
Purnell.
" William Corman, being duly sworn, says that more than one
year ago John F. Braddee repeatedly urged him to let him, the
said Braddee, have some of the mail bags from the mail coach,
and that he would divide the money taken from them with said
Corman.  Said Braddee said he had frequently known such
things done, and that lots of money had thus been made, and it
had never been detected. While said Corman was driving the
mail coach between Smithfield and Uniontown last winter the
said Braddee sent Peter Mills Strayer frequently in a sleigh
after him to get a mail-bag containing a mail; that at length
he said Strayer took one from the coach, which was then on
runners, while he the said Corman was watering at Snyder's,
east of the Laurel Hill. That Braddee afterwards told him
that there was nothing in it. That he knows of no other mail
being taken until within about two months past, when he the
said Corman was driving between Uniontown and Washington,
and when, at the instance and after repeated and urgent requests
of said Braddee, he commenced leaving a mail pouch or bag in
the stage coach when the coaches were changed at *Uniontown,
and continued to do so at intervals of (say) a week, ten days, or
two weeks until within a week or ten days before Christmas.
That the said inail bags were taken from the coach by said Braddee or by some one under his direction. That Braddee after the
taking of said mails would sometimes say there was nothing in
them, and again that others had but little money in them; one
he said had but fifteen dollars. The last but one gotten, as before stated, he said had a large amount of money in it, but he
was going to keep it secretly, bury it until the fuss was over.
That said Braddee said he had a secret place out of doors where
he could hide the mail bags so that they could not be found.
That said Braddee from time to time gave him three dollars or
five dollars as he asked for it, and once ten dollars, and loaned
him forty dollars when his (Corman's) wife was going away.
That William Purnell several times after a mail bag had been
taken would take him said Corman aside and whisper to him
that the bag had nothing in it. That on the day before yesterday he was several times at said Braddee's house, and Braddee
wished him to leave a mail bag in the coach for him when he
said Corman should return from Washington last night. That
said Braddee very often wished him to leave a mail bag when
he did not. That he, Braddee, requested him to leave the large
mail bag in the coach for him, but he never did do it.
"WILLIAM CORMAN.
"Sworn and subscribed this 8th day of January, A.D. 1841,
before me,
"N. EWING,
" Piest. Judge of the 14th Jud. Dist., Pa."
Braddee, Strayer, and Purnell were immediately
arrested by George Meason, sheriff of Fayette County,
and their examination was had before Judge Nathaniel Ewing on the 8th day of January, 1841.
The following extract from the record appears to
show  that Braddee, notwithstanding his high pretensions and remarkable professional success, was so
completely deficient in education as to be unable to
write his own name, viz.:
303HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
" PENNSYLVANIA, FAYETTE CO1UNTY, 88:
"The examination of Dr. John F. Braddee, of the borough
of Uniontown, Fayette county, Pa., taken before me, N. Ewing,
President Judge of the Fourteenth Judicial District of Pennsylvania, the 8th day of January, A.D. 1841.
"The said John F. Braddee being brought before me by
virtue of a warrant issued by me, on suspicion of stealing the
United States Mails from Wheeling, Va., to New York, made up
at Wheeling on the 13th, 19th, 23d, and 29th days of November,
1840, and on the 5th, 12th, and 18th days of December, 1840,
says,-I know nothing about the alleged stealing of the mails.
his
"JOHN F. X BRADDEE.
mark.
"Taken and subscribed before me,
"iN. EWING,
"Pres. Judge 14th Judicial District of Pelina.
"JANUARY 8, 1841."
The disposition made of the prisoners on their preliminary examination by Judge Ewing is shown by
the extracts given below from the minutes of the
court, viz.:
"THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, 88:
"The United States of America vs. John F. Braddee, January
8, 1841. Ordered that John F. Braddee enter into security himself in fifty thousand dollars, and two sufficient sureties in
$25,000 each.' Prisoner remanded until Monday, the 11th
instant, at 10 o'clock A.M., to afford time to procure bail.
"The same vs. Peter Mills Strayer, January 8th, 1841. Ordered
that Peter Mills Strayer enter into security himself in $15,000,
and two sufficient sureties in $7500 each. Prisoner remanded
until Monday, the 11th instant, at 10 o'clock, to afford time to
procure bail.
"The same us. William  Purnell, January 8, 1841. Ordered
that William Purnell enter into security himself in $10,000,
and two sufficient sureties in $5000 each. Prisoner remanded
as above, etc.
" January ll, 1841, Monday, 10 o'clock A.M. Prisoner ordered before the Judge. Prisoners say they are not provided
with bail, and ask further time, until say three o'clock P.M.
Three o'clock P.M., no bail being offered, the defendants are
committed to the custody of the Marshal of the Western District of Pennsylvania.
~' N. EWING,
" Pes. Judge, 14th J. D. Pa."
1 The following depositions of Special Agent Howard Kennedy were
taken for the purpose of determining the proper amount of bail to be required, and showing also the approximate amount of Braddee's last
series of robberies (in November and December, 1840):
"PENNSYLVANIA, FAYETTE COUNTY, 8:
"The testimony of Dr. Howard Kennedy, taken before N. Ewing,
President Judge of the 14th Judicial District of Pennsylvania, the eighth
day of January, 1841, in reference to the amount of bail to be required
of John F. Braddee, Peter Mills Strayer, and Wm. Purruell. The said
Dr. Howard Kennedy being first by me duly sworn according to law,
deposeth and saith: There will be difficulty in ascertaining the amount
of money stolen from the mails. There have been six mail-pouches or
bags stolen, which would average twenty to thirty thousand dollars each.
The whole would, I am satisfied, amount to one hundred thlousand dollars. I saw the money alleged to have been found in the stable of John
F. Braddee. The amount thus found was ten thousand three hundred
and ninety-eight dollars and sixty cents. The amount of cash stolen is
probably about fifty thousand dollars.  t HOWARD KENNEDY.
"Taken and subscribed before me,
" N. EWINa,'Prest. Judge 14th Judicial Dist.
"JANUARY 8, 1841."
-I
Whereupon the Hon. Thomas Irwin, United States
District Judge of the Western District of Pennsylvania, ordered the prisoners into custody of the jailer of
Allegheny County as follows:
" UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, WESTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA, 88:
" The United States of America to the Marshal of the Western District of Pennsylvania and his Deputies, to any constable
of the County of Allegheny, and to the Jailer of said County
of Allegheny, Greeting.
"WHEREAS, John F. Braddee, William Purnell, and Peter
Mills Strayer are now brought before me, the Hon. Thomas Irwin, Esquire, Judge of the District Court of the United States
for the Western District of Pennsylvania, charged, on the oath
of George Plitt, William Corman, and others, with stealing the
United States mail made up at Wheeling on the 13th, 19th, 23d,
and 29th days of November, A.D. 1840, and on the 5th, 12th,
and 18th days of December, 1840. These are therefore to command you the said Marshal, Constable, or Jailer, or either of
you, to convey the said John F. Braddee, William Purnell, and
Peter Mills Strayer to the said jailer of Allegheny county, and
you the said jailer are hereby commanded to receive and keep
safely the said John F. Braddee, Wlilliam  Purnell, and Peter
Mills Strayer in your jail until they thence be discharged by
due course of law; for so doing this shall be your warrant.
" In testimony whereof the said Hon. Thomas Irwin, Esq., has
hereunto set his hand and seal this 13th day of January, A.D.
1841.
(Signed)
"TH. IRWIN, [SEAL.]
" District Judge, U. S."
Braddee was indicted by " the Grand Inquest of the
United States of America, inquiring for the Western
District of Pennsylvania," and his trial proceeded at
the May sessions (1841) of the United States Circuit
Court at Pittsburgh, Corman and Strayer becoming
witnesses for the government; and on the 4th day of
June following the jury rendered a verdict of guilty
on the first, second, and fourth counts of the indictment, and not guilty on the third count. Exceptions
were taken and a motion niade for a new trial by the
prisoner's counsel, John M. Austin, Esq., but these,
as also a motion for postponement of sentence, were
overruled, and on the 7th of June the court pronounced on Braddee the sentence
"PITTSBURG, PENNA., 25th of Jany., 1841.
"Howard Kennedy, special agent of tihe Post-Office Department, in
addition to the testimony given by hiim before His Honor Juldge Ewing
in the case of the IUnited States against Braddee, Purnell, Strayer, and
Corman, relative to the probable loss of money, drafts, c., in the stolen
mails, further deposes that since that tinme he has received reports from
various persons and places in the West of letters mailed at dates which
would have, by due course of mail, been in the bags stolen, containing
banlc-notes, scIrip, certificates, drafts, and checks, amoullting to one
hundred and two'thousand dollars and upwards; that every mail brings
him additional reports of losses, and that he believes the amounts reported will not constitute more than one-half of what has been lost in
the mails between the 16th of Nov. and the 18th of Dec., 1840, on the
rolute from Wheeling to New York.
"HOWARD KENNEDY,
"Speciadl Agent P. O. Dept.
"Sworn and subscribed before me the 25th January, 1841.
"T. IRWIN, Digtrict Judge."
304
I
I
I
iUNIONTOWN BOROUGH.
"That you be imprisoned in the Western Penitentiary of
Pennsylvania, at hard labor, for and during the term of ten
years, and in all respects be subject to the same discipline and
treatment as convicts sentenced by the Courts of the State, and
that you pay the costs of this prosecution and stand committed
until this sentence be complied with. And while so confined
therein you shall be exclusively under the constraint of the officers having charge of said Penitentiary."
In accordance with this sentence, Braddee was imprisoned in the penitentiary, and died there after having served out nearly the full term for which he was
incarcerated. Corman and Purnell were pardoned
by the President. Purnell lived many years afterwards, and is still well remembered by citizens of
Fayette and adjoining counties as a dilapidated traveling peddler of Dr. Braddee's medicines.
THE PRESS OF UNIONTOWN.
The Fayette Gazette and Union Advertiser, an ultraFederalist journal, printed in Uniontown, was the
first paper ever published in Fayette County. The
editors and proprietors were Jacob Stewart and
Mowry; the office was in a building near where the
court-house in Uniontown now stands, and the paper
was a four-column folio, 102  by 16- in size. But
a very few copies of this literary curiosity are now
in existence. The earliest, No. 33, Vol. II. (whole
number 85), is dated Friday, Aug. 23, 1799, which
shows the first paper to have been issued Dec. 5,
1797. A copy of Sept. 4, 1799, contains an order
granted by the commissioners of the county to Messrs.
Stewart  Mowry, publishers, for one hundred and
fifty dollars for publishing the list of unseated lands
in Fayette County. Another copy of Sept. 14, 1803,
contains a commissioners' order for one hundred and
four dollars and twenty cents, issued to them for publishing the unseated lands for the years 1800, 1801,
and 1802.  The Gazette and Advertiser of Jan. 22, 1804,
contained an account of the receipts and expenses of
the county for 1803. This account was published four
times in the month of February following, and the
bill, which was thirty-nine dollars, was paid March
8, 1804. Soon after this Stewart  Mowry sold the
office and business to other parties, and the paper was
merged with The Genius of Liberty.
The Genius of Liberty, which absorbed the Gazette
and Advertiser, has experienced more changes in editorial and business management than any other paper
ever published in Fayette County. It was the second
paper established in the county, was published in
Uniontown, and was first issued as The Genius of Liberty and Fayette Advertiser, Feb. 22, 1805, bearing for
its motto those words of Governor McKean, " The
charms of novelty should not be perniitted so to fascinate as to give to mere innovation the semblance of
reform." The founders of The Genius of Liberty were
Allen  Springer, who issued it in a four-column folio,
eleven by seventeen inches in size. It must have been
cut down later, as a copy of the paper dated Dec. 3,
1806, was only a three-column folio, eight by twelve
inches, but the next year, 1807, it was again published
in the original size. The office of the paper was in a
building that stood upon the lot now occupied by the
residence of John Harah. From the hands of Allen
 Springer the paper passed to the proprietorship of
Jesse Beeson, on May 5, 1812. It was issued by him
every Tuesday, having as its motto,"Here shall the press the people's rights proclaim,
With truth its guide, the public good its aim."
The paper continued under this management for
some years, and the next record of a change was in
1818, when it was published by John Bouvier and
John M. Austin, in an office next door above the
court-house. At this tinie we find it issued under a
partially new name, and in a new series. It was then
called The Genius of Liberty and American Telegraph,
and the earliest copy in preservation bears date Aug.
29, 1818, No. 21, Vol. I. This shows the first issue
under the new departure to have been on April 13,
1818. The name American Telegraph was dropped
the following year, and the paper was again known
as The Genius of Liberty. The political opinions of
the two publishers being at variance, Bouvier used one
side of the paper to sustain his views as a Federalist,
while Austin proclaimed his Democratic principles
upon the other side. In this manner they continued the
publication of the paper until July, 1821, when they
sold the entire business to Thomas Patton, who published the paper in a five-column folio, twenty by
forty-two inches in size, until 1824.
In the ensuing five or six years frequent changes
occurred in the management of this journal. In the
year 1825 the old files show Jackman  Brown to have
been proprietors, and the American Observer was a
part of the name. Again, Vol. I., No. 40, of a new
series (Vol. IX., old series), bearing date Feb. 4, 1829,
Whitton  Redick were editors and publishers. And
on Feb. 10, 1830, the size of the paper was changed
to that of a five-column folio, fifteen by twenty-one
inches, and the name Fayette and Greene Advertiser was
added to the previous one. In August, 1831, William
H. Whitton was sole proprietor and publisher. In
the fall of that same year Alonzo L. Littell became a
half-owner of the paper, Thomas Patton purchasing
the other half. This partnership lasted but a few
months, however, Littell buying Patton's share, which
he held until 1838, when Justin B. Morris, a brotherin-law, became his partner. In 1831, at the time of
Littell's purchase, the material and conveniences for
publishing a paper were of the most primitive and
crude kind. The office was in the corner of a carpenter-shop on the back street up Bank Alley, the place
affording only the most meagre accommodations. The
type was worn out, and the printing was done on
an old Ramage press. The ink was stamped upon
the forms with two black balls, made of tanned sheepskin, and with these appliances a good pressman
could throw off three sheets, twenty-eight inches
~~i~ ~
I
I
i
305HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
square, in two minutes. This slow method did not
suit Mr. Littell, and he at once began to make improvements. He moved all the office fixtures to the
new brick block built by Ephraim Douglass on the
public square, and afterwards to that built by John
D.lwson. He purchased new presses, type, and other
necessary printing material in Cincinnati, Ohio, and
soon had the business in a prosperous and flourishing
condition. He continued in connection with the paper
until the year 1840, having, some time between March,
1836, and March, 1837, absorbed a paper called The
Democratic Shield. The latter name was dropped in
October, 1839. In April, 1840, John W. Irons purchased the paper and held it until 1846, when he sold
it to John W. Shugart. The last-named proprietor
only kept it a year or two, when John W. Irons repurchased and retained it until his death, which occurred in 1850 from cholera. John W. Skiles, a sonin-law of Mr. Irons, then conducted it for a short
time, when it was sold to R. T. Galloway, now of Connellsville. About two months after this change another took place, Armstrong Hadden and Col. T. B.
Searight being the purchasers. Hadden  Searight
controlled and published the paper until April 15,1852,
when Hadden retired and George W. K. Minor became associated with Searight. On Jan. 6, 1853,
Minor assumed entire control, which he continued
until Dec. 28, 1854, when he sold to John Bierer. This
disposal of the property was followed by another, in
February, 1856, when Col. Searight became a second
time the proprietor, and soon associated with him C.
E. Boyle. This partnership was severed in the fall
of 1860, Col. Searight retiring.  In February, 1861,
Boyle sold to Col. E. G. Roddy. He in turn, in February, 1863, made arrangements to sell to R. B.
Brown, of Brownsville, who was to begin a new series
with his publication of the paper. Mr. Brown issued
one number, dated Feb. 19, 1863, Vol. I., No. 1, and
then the business returned to the hands of Mr. Roddy,
by whom it was continued until his death, June 11,
1867. Mr. Boyle, administrator of the Roddy estate,
then assumed the management of the paper; but it
was soon purchased by Frederick Rock and James F.
Campbell. The last-named gentleman was soon succeeded by A. M. Gibson, who also bought Rock's
share, and who remained in possession until April,
1871, when W. A. McDowell and George W. Litman
purchased the property, and in 1875 sold to Albert
Marshall a third interest.
The Genius of Liberty has been nearly all of the
time, from first to last, an exponent of Democratic
principles, and is still published by McDowell, Litman  Marshall, at their office on Broadway, UniontowIn.
The Fayette and Greene Spectator, established by
William Campbell, was published in Uniontown, and
the first issue of the paper appeared Jan. 1, 1811.
The only copy known to be in existence belongs to
Mr. Frank Stephens, and is No. 2, Vol. III., dated
Thursday, Jan. 7, 1813. It is a four-column folio,
twelve by eighteen inches in size. The first page
contains news from London, England, New York,
and Philadelphia, and the leading editorial is upon
the invasion of Canada, the article occupying two
and one-half columns space. In local matters are
two wedding notices, one announcing the marriage of
Mr. George Adams, of Virginia, to Anna Maria,
eldest daughter of Presley Carr Lane, Esq., and the
second, the marriage of Mr. William Campbell, the
former editor of the Spectator, to Miss Priscilla Porter, daughter of John Porter, of Washington township, Fayette Co. There is also a notice of the death
of Dr. Benjamin Stephens, which occurred January
3d, four days previous to the issue of that paper, at his
residence near Uniontown. At the date of the paper
just mentioned, Jan. 7, 1813, it was published by
James Lodge, at two dollars per annum. It is not
known who edited it at that time, nor how much
longer it was continued.
The American Telegraph was first published in
Brownsville, in 1814, by John Bouvier, who then first
settled in that place. In April, 1818, he removed
this paper to Uniontown, and united it with The
Genius of Liberty, publishing the paper for a while
under the combined names, but eventually dropping
that of American Telegraph.
The Western Register was first published by Robert
Fee, in Washington, Pa., in 1816. A year or two
later he removed to Fayette County, and commenced
the publication of the paper in Uniontown. One
number is yet in preservation, and is dated March 10,
1823, No. 49, Vol. VI. This copy is a four-column
folio, and has for its motto " Virtuous Liberty."
The Pennsylvania Democrat, now the Republican
Standard, was established in Uniontown in the month
of August, 1827, by Jacob B. Miller. The first number was issued from, a building on Main Street, the
site of which is now occupied by the residence and
hardware-store of Zadoc B. Springer.  The Democrat was founded as the advocate of the re-election of
John Quincy Adams, of whose administration it was
an ardent supporter. It was also outspoken against
Masonry. The foreman of the paper was David S.
Knox, a gentleman of education and culture, who
subsequently became cashier of the Monongahela
Bank of Brownsville, a trust which he worthily discharged for many years and until his death.  In
1829, Mr. Miller desired to go West, and he prevailed
upon J. C. S. Goff and Samuel L. Yarrell, printers in
his employ, to assume charge of the paper and conduct
it on their own responsibility during his absence, the
profits resulting therefrom to inure to their own benefit. They did so, but they never owned the Democrat,
only managed and edited it during the absence of Mr.
Miller. Mr. Goff writes that the venture did not prove
lucrative, as there was atthatperiod very littlejob-work
or advertising. Of all the business houses in Uniontown not one out of five was represented in the col306307
UNIONTOWN BOROUGH.
umns of the Democrat, while most of the advertising
patronage consisted of legal notices, the publication
of which was required by law. The subscription
list numbered about five hundred, many of whom regarded lightly their financial obligations to the printer.
At the time of its establishmnent, and for a number of
years thereafter, the Demnocrat was a six-column folio,
price $2.50 per year. In the spring of 1830, Yarrell
 Goff were succeeded by Jacob B. Miller and John
F. Beazell.
Job S. Goff was born in Harrison County, Va.,
April 12, 1807. He came of the family of Goffs who
emigrated to that State from Massachusetts in 1790.
Both his grandfathers served in the Revolutionary
war. His father was an officer of note in the war of
1812, and subsequently served several terms in both
branches of the Virginia Legislature, being a member
of the Senate at the time of his death. Job S. Goff
served his apprenticeship as a printer in the office of
the Clarksburg, Va., Intelligencer. After his retirement from the Democrat he dealt ill live-stock for a
year or two, when he went to Waynesburg, Greene Co.,
Pa., and established the Greene County Republican,
which flourished during the anti-Masonic excitement.
He supported Ritner for Governor, and Solomon G.
Krepps, of Brownsville, for member of the State
Senate. After the election the paper failed through
want of patronage. During the period in which he
was editor and publisher, Mr. Goff succeeded, after
considerable expense and trouble, in getting up a
river improvement convention, the object being to
adopt measures looking toward the improvement, by
locks and dams, of the navigation of the Monongahela River from Pittsburgh to Morgantown. Mr.
Goff's large acquaintance with many prominent citizens of Virginia and Pennsylvania enabled him to
obtain a generous response in delegates. The convention was held at Greensboro', Greene Co., and was
an emphatic success. At this writing Mr. Goff is
living at Bellefontaine, Ohio. In 1861 he and two
sons enlisted from Ohio in the Union army. After
two years' service Mr. Goff was wounded and sent
home, since when he has been a partial cripple and
unable to work.
Samuel L. Yarrell was born in M-enallen township,
Fayette Co., Jan. 14, 1809. He learned printing in
the office of the Democrat. In 1820 he removed to
Highland County, Ohio, and died Sept. 6, 1855, near
Morris, Grundy Co., Ill.
The Democrat remained in the possession of Miller
 Beazell until about 1834, when it was sold to
Samuel and William McDonald, brothers, who either
jointly or singly retained ownership until 1844. Stray
copies of the paper, of different dates within this
period, show that during a part of the time it was
published by S.  W. McDonald, and during the remainder of the time, apparently from 1838 down, by
S. McDonald alone. While the latter was editor and
publisher, and towards the close of his administration, he changed the name of the paper to the Uniontown Weekly Democrat and Fayette County Advertiser.
When this change was made and how long the name
was retained it is impossible to accurately determine,
because of the absence of files of the paper and inability to obtain reliable data bearing on this point.
That the name existed, however, is shown by a copy
of the paper now before the writer, dated April 23,
1844, Vol. XVII., No. 36. The general impression is
that the name was not long retained.
In the summer of 1844, Thomas Foster came from
Harrisburg and bought the Democrat from Samuel
McDonald, and it may have been that he restored the
original name. When John F. Beazell retired from
the paper in 1834 he went to Cookstown. In the great
conflagration of 1845 in Pittsburgh he lost most of
his property, which consisted principally of a stock
of glass. Returhing to Uniontown in the spring of
1846, he bought from Thomas Foster a half-interest
in the Democrat. It was not a great while afterward
that Mr. Foster disposed of the remaining half to a
company, and eventually Mr. Beazell became sole
owner of the entire paper, at the head of which he
remained until March 1, 1866. The Democrat under
Mr. Beazell became the advocate of the principles of
the American or Know-Nothing party, and as evidence of its sympathy with and advocacy of them
the name of the paper was changed on Nov. 18, 1854,
to the American Standard. When a couple of years
later the Republican party was born the Standard
became a supporter of its principles, to which it has
ever since remained true, with the exception of a few
months in 1878, when Jacob B. Miller carried it temporarily into the Greenback camp. Throughout the
Rebellion it never swerved in its fealty to the Union
or its support of the men and measures of the Republican party. On March 1, 1866, Mr. Beazell sold the
Standard to A. W. Boyd and James G. Johnston.
John F. Beazell was born in Allegheny County, Pa.,
Jan. 1, 1805. He graduated at Madison College,
Uniontown, with honor and distinction. He died in
Uniontown, Aug. 31, 1876. During a considerable
part of his ownership of the Standard he was ably
assisted in both the mechanical and editorial departments by his son, Col. John W. Beazell.
Boyd  Johnson controlled the paper jointly until
Dec. 12, 1866, when Mr. Johnson bought the interest
of his partner. About May 1, 1867, Mr. Johnson sold
a half-interest to Jacob B. Miller, who passed its control and profits over to his half-brother, William H.
Miller. In the spring of 1868, Jacob B. Miller bought
the remaining half, and William H. Miller became
the nominal proprietor and joint editor with the
former. The Standard remained under their control
until March 21, 1879, when, Jacob B. Miller having
died, and William  H. Miller having become sole
editor and proprietor, it was consolidated with the
Fayette County Republican, under the name of the
Republican Standard.
__
I
I
IHISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
The Fayette County Republican was founded June 6
1878, by John S. Ritenour and William J. Rush, il
the interests of themselves and the Republican party
the Standard being at that time published in the in
terest of Greenbackism. After the death of Jacol
B. Miller, which occurred in Uniontown, Dec. 6
1878, the Slandard returned to Republican princi
ples. The consolidation spoken of followed, and thb
new firm was known as Miller, Rush  Ritenour, the
latter becoming writing editor, which position he fillec
until his retirement from the paper. On June 21, 1879
G. C. McKnight bought the half-interest of William
H. Miller, whose place in the firm-name he also took
June 11, 1881, Rush  Ritenour disposed of thei]
half to John K. Ewing, Jr., and Orrin J. Sturgis, and
a few days later Mr. McKnight sold to them his interest.
From the inception of the Pennsylvania Dernocral
until his death Jacob B. Miller was, during almost
all the administrations, a contributor to the editorial
columnsofthe paper. He was an independent thinker,
and a strong, forcible, and fearless writer. The freedom with which he expressed his opinions got him
into trouble more than once. He was noted for his
rare power of invective, a faculty which he handled
when occasion seemed to demand it unhesitatingly
and with great effect. Mr. Miller was born in Uniontown, Feb. 21, 1799. Graduating at the Washington,
Pa., College, he adopted law as his profession, but
confirmed dyspepsia compelled him to forego the sedentary life of a lawyer, and prevented him from reaching any degree of eminence in the pursuit for which
he was by inclination and education peculiarly adapted and upon which he entered with brilliant prospects. In the session of 1832-33 he represented Fayette County in the Legislature. This much space is
devoted to and is due Mr. Miller for the reason that
without it a history of the leading men of Fayette
County and the Standard's most brilliant and most
merciless editor would be incomplete. James G.
Johnson probably imparted more of literary grace,
culture, and refinement. to the editorial columns of
the paper than any other writer.
The American Banner and Literary and Temperance
Journal was established in the month of April, 1832,
in Uniontown, the first number appearing April 16th.
It was a five-column folio, edited by Alfred Patterson, and printed by William H. Whitton, at a subscription price of two dollars per year. There is
nothing on record to show the length of time the
paper was published.
The Democratic Shield made its first msppearance in
May, 1834. It was edited and published by James
Piper. T. Patton and J. G. Morris were the printers,
and the office was a few doors east of the court-house
in Uniontown. A copy of the paper, dated Wednesday, Nov. 4, 1835, is a five-column folio, fifteen by
twenty-two inches in size, with the motto: " A support to the expressed will of the people is the great
I
test of Democracy. Education is the shield and buln  wark of a free constitution."  In 1836, J. G. Morris,,  one of the printers, had become the editor, and before
the year 1837 had closed, the paper had been bought
b  by and become a part of The Genius of Liberty.,    The Harrisonian and Weekly Conservative was established in Uniontown early in the year 1840. It was
e  edited by George W. Sullivan and B. F. Lincoln, and
e  published at the Clinton House by N. Byers. Only
I  one number of the paper can now be found, which is, dated Sept. 15, 1840, No. 26, Vol. I., and gives the
price as one dollar for a volume of twenty-six numbers. As the name indicates, this journal was merely
r  a campaign paper, and its publication ceased in NoI vember, 1840.
The Cumberland Presbyterian was established in
Uniontown, in 1847, by Robert W. Jones, of Athens,
t Ohio. He continued its publication here but a short
t time when he removed the paper and office material
to Brownsville, after that.to Waynesburg, Greene Co.,
and finally to Pittsburgh, at which place it was published in the interest of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church at large. In 1865, Mr. Jones discontinued the publication of Thze Presbyterian, and in 1873
assumed the ownership and management of The
Journal, published at Athens, Ohio, whither he had
removed. He continued in this place and business
until his death, which occurred Jan. 29, 1881, at the
age of fifty-five years. Mr. Jones acquired his knowledge of printing in the office of The Genius of Liberty
during the editorship of John W. Irons.
The Fayette Whfig was started in 1849 by John Bosler, of Pittsburgh, the first number appearing June
2d of that year. It did not survive long, owing to
some trouble between Bosler and John F. Beazell,
editor of the Pennsylvania Democrat, also published in
Uniontown at that time. There are no copies of The
Whig from which to gain information of its labors
and success, even for the short time the paper existed.
The Democratic Sentinel was first published in 1850,
by J. Nelson H. Patrick, then district attorney of
Fayette County. In 1855 he had taken a partner,
and the firm-name reads Patrick  Reilly. In June
of the same year the proprietors removed The Sentinel
from Uniontown to Connellsville, and not long after
Patrick sold his share of the office to a man named
Wallington. The firm of Wallington  Reilly did
not long continue, and in a few months the paper
and printing material, except the hand-press, was
purchased by the publishers of The Genius of Liberty.
Capt. James Downer, of Uniontown, bought the
hand-press and shipped it to Kansas. The Sentinel
was a six-column folio, issued weekly for one dollar
per year. Patrick is now living at Omaha, Neb., practicinig law. In the fall and winter following the election of R. B. Hayes to the Presidency he was connected with Cronin, of Oregon, in the trouble with
the electoral vote of that State.
308UNIONTOWN BOROUGH.
The American Citizen, a seven-column folio, published in the interest of the Know-Nothing party in
Uniontown and vicinity, was started in 1855 by William H. Murphy and Jesse B. Ramsay. Its publication lasted but little more than two years, and but
slight information can be gained of it except of its
founders personally. Mr. Ramsay now lives in Pittsburgh. Mr. Murphy died in Galveston, Texas, in
1866, of fever. He served in the Union army during
the whole of the Rebellion. He was a first-class practical printer, and excelled as an editor and publisher.
He never wrote out editorials or locals for his paper,
but went to the case and set the type as he shaped
the article in his mind.
The Baptist Journal, established Dec. 20, 1855, had
for its founder, editor, and proprietor James C.
Whaley. The Journal was a four-column folio, 16
by 21 inches in size, was issued monthly at fifty cents
per year, and devoted to the dissemination of religious knowledge and news, and the promotion of
Christian interests generally. It was conducted but
one year, when its existence ceased, and Mr. Whaley
removed from Uniontown to Kentucky, to publish
the Kentucky intelligencer. At the breaking out of
the late civil war he abandoned his paper and entered
the Union army, where he served through all the
grades up to major by brevet.  He was wounded
eight diff'erent times during his years of service, had
his clothes riddled by rifle-balls fromn sharpshooters,
and his command had the honor of capturing the
Washington Light Artillery of New Orleans at the
battle of Mission Ridge, taking men, horses, and
guns complete. Mr. Whaley is now working on The
Genius of Liberty, in Uniontown, and is at present
the only living representative printer of the days
frorn 1850 to 1858 now working in Fayette County.
Our Paper was a monthly journal, which was published for about a year in Uniontown, beginning in
October, 1872. It was a paper having eight pages of
four columns each, issued at a subscription price of
fifty cents per year, and was edited by a committee
from the Young Men's Christian Association.
The Uniontown Enterprise was a free advertising
sheet, which was first published in 1876 by J. Austin
Modisette. It was a four-column folio, 16 by 20
inches in size, and only existed for one year.
The Temperance Radical was established in 1878,
and was another of the several papers that have had
a brief existence in Uniontown. Its first number appeared Mav 23, 1878, and the last one ten months
later. It was a four-column folio, edited by W. J.
McDowell.
- The Uniontown Democrat is an advocate of the principles of the Democratic party, the first number of
which appeared on Aug. 13, 1878, edited and published by Joseph Beatty and Charles B. Conner. It
was first issued as a six-column folio, twenty-two by
thirty inches in size. On April 1,1879, it was changed
from that to a seven-column folio, twenty-six by thirtysix inches, and again on May 20, 1879, it was enlarged
to eight columns, twenty-six by forty inches in size.
This enlargement of The Democrat has been necessitated by the constantly increasing patronage, the circulation having now reached fifteen hundred. The
office is in the Tremont building, corner of Main and
Morgantown Streets, Uniontown.
Thze National, edited and published by W. L. Perry
in the interests of the Greenback party, was first issued
July 31, 1879, at one dollar and fifty cents per annum.
It was a seven-colum folio. For lack of support it
died Nov. 1, 1879, having existed but four months.
The Amateur was another free advertising sheet,
started in Uniontown in 1879 by George Irwin. It
was a monthly paper, four pages of ten by twelve
inches, but did not last any length of time.
PHYSICIANS OF UNIONTOWN.
Dr. Samuel Sackett, who had been a surgeon in
the Revolutionary war, removed from Connecticut
in September, 1781, to Uniontown, where he resided
till Nov. 10, 1788, when he removed to his farm on
Georges Creek, one mile south of Smithfield, where
William Sackett now lives. He practiced his profession in Uniontown and on Georges Creek for
about forty years, and died at his farm in 1833. He
had ten children,-four sons and six daughters. His
son Samuel, who is well remembered by many of the
older citizens, was the father of William Sackett, who
still lives on the homestead. One of the daughters
(Sally) became the wife of Dr. Lewis Marchand.
Dr. Henry Chapese was a physician and druggist
of Uniontown between 1.790 and 1800, but neither the
date of his coming nor the length of time that he remained is known. The county records show that on
the 13th of August, 1791, he purchased of Jacob Beeson lots 4 and 5, on the north side of Elbow Street,
west of Morgantown Street. In an old account-book
of Benjamin Campbell, under date of May, 1792, Dr.
Chapese is credited with a small amount for medicines
of various kinds, and other entries are found in the
same book until November 19th of that year. The
lots which he purchased of Jacob Beeson in 1791 he
sold to John Savary, March 25, 1793; but this sale
did not mark the date of his removal from Uniontown, as is shown by the following advertisement,
found in the Pittsburgh Gazette of July, 1793, viz.:
" The subscriber informs the public in general that he has
just received a new recruit of Patent and other medicines,
which he will sell at the most reduced prices for cash. Any
person taking a quantity, as a practitioner, may rely on getting
them nearly as low as they can be purchased in Philadelphia.
He has also an infallible remedy against snake bites in small
vials. By wetting with said substance and drinking about 15
drops of it, diluted in a gill of water, an immediate cure is
obtained. Price 3s 9d each.
" He has also for sale a general assortment of paint, flax-seed
oil, and an assortment of English vials and pencils.
" HENRY CHAPESE.
"UNIONTOWN, July 6, 1793."
I
------
i
309HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
noes), and of the provisions we left in reserve, as als(
-what guard should be left to keep it.
" July the lst.-Put our periaguas in a safe place
Our effects, and everything we could do without, wE
took into the Hangard, where I left one good sergeant
with tlventy men and some sick Indians. Ammunitior
was afterwards distributed, and we began our march."
The force of De Villiers consisted of five hundred
Frenchmen, and about four hundred Indians.1 Marching from the Hangard in the morning of the 1st oi
July (at which time Washington's force was approaching the Great Meadows on its retreat from Gist's plantation) the French and Indian column moved up the
valley of Redstone Creek (over nearly the same route
which was afterwards traversed by Col. Burd's road)
towards Gist's, where De Villiers expected to find
Washington, his Indian scouts having reported the
English force to be at that place.
"At about eleven o'clock," continues the journal,
"we discovered some tracks, which made us suspect
we were discovered.  At three in the afternoon, having no news of our rangers, I sent others, who met
those sent before, and not knowing each other, were
near upon exchanging shots, but happily found their
mistake; they returned to us and declared to have
been at the road which the English were clearing;2
that they were of opinion no body had been that way
for three days.  We were no longer in doubt of our
proceedings being known to the English."
At daybreak in the morning of the 2d the French
force left its bivouac of the previous night and
marched  towards Gist's.  "After having marched
some time we stopped, for I was resolved to proceed
no farther until I had positive news; wherefore I sent
scouts upon the road. In the meanwhile came some
of the Indians to me whom we had left at the Hangard; they had taken a prisoner, who called himself
a deserter. I examined him, and threatened him
with the rope if he offered to impose on me. I learned
that the English had left their post [at Gist's] in
order to rejoin their fort, and that they had taken
back their cannon. Some of our people, finding that
the English  had  abandoned  the camp, we went
thereto, and I sent some men to search it throughout. They found several tools and other utensils
hidden in many places, which I ordered theim  to
carry away. As it was late, I ordered the detachment to encamp there.3... We had rain all night."
1 The force of "five hundred French and eleven Indians," which De
Villiers mentions in his journal as having been detaclhed under command of Mercier for this expedition, had been augmented by the large
Indian force which De Villiers brought with him down the Allegheny to
Fort du Quesne.
2 It will be recollected that Capt. Lewis, with about seventy men, had
been sent forward on the 27th of Jtne to attempt the opening of a road
from Gist's to Redstone, and that they were recalled on the 29th. It is
probable that the French scotts had come upon some part of the work
done by Lewis's party, northwest of Gist's, but not the track between
Gist's and the Gireat Meadows.
8 De Villiers' narrative of his march to Gist's is very different ftrom
the account given by Veech, who says, "Hearing that the objects of
o     When day broke on the morning of the 3d of July
the weather was still wet a:nd gloomy, but De Villiers
moved forward at once with the main body, scouting
parties having  been  sent in  advance  the  previous
evening.  The rain  continued, and increased during
1  the long hours of the march towards Fort Necessity,
but the French  column pressed on with energy, and
I with all possible speed, for, said De Villiers, "I foresaw  the necessity of preventing the enemy in their
f  works."  It also appears that he took the pains to
ride away from  the road into the woods, to make a
flying visit to the rocky defile where Jumonville had
lost his life five weeks before.  "I stopped," he says,
"at the place where my brother had been assassinated, and saw there yet some dead bodies," and then
proceeds: "' When I came within three-quarters of a
league from the English fort I ordered my men to
march in  columns, every officer to his division, that
I might the better dispose of them as necessity would
require." His column was now within striking distance of the fort, after a drenching and dreary march
of seven hours from Gist's.
Meanwhile, at Fort Necessity, Washington  had
been apprised of the arrival of the French at Gist's
on the 2d, and had been constantly on the alert during
the night. Not long after sunrise on the 3d, some of
the  advance  scouts of the French  were  seen, and
one of Washington's men on picket was brought in
wounded, but after this three or four hours passed
without further demonstrations. In the middle of
the forenoon word caine by scouts that the enemy in
strong force was within two hours' march, and afterwards reports of their progress were brought in from
time to time. Washington formed his forces in line
of battle outside the defenses, awaiting the enemy's
appearance, and hoping to induce him  to attack in
the open field.  Finally, at a little before noon the
French  appeared in the edge of the woods towards
his pursuit were intrenching tllerlselves at Gist's, 31. de Villiers disencumbered himself of all his heavy stores at the Hangard, and leaving
a sergeant and a few men to guard them and tlle peliaunas, rushed on in
the night, cheered by the hlope thalt he was about to achieve a brilliant
coup de main upon the young' buckskin colonel.' Coming to the'plantation' [Gist's] on the morning of Jtly 2d, the gray dawn revealed the
rude, half-finished fort, which Washington had there begun to. erect.
This the French at once invested, and gave a general fire. There was
no response; the prey had escaped! Foiled and chagrined, De Villiers
was about to retrace lis steps, when up conmes a half-starved deserter
from the Great Meadows, and discloses to him the whereabouts and destitute condition of Wasllington's forces."
But De Villiers says the deserter was brought to him while he was on
the march to Gist's, and from him he learned that the camp at that place
had been abandoned by Washington, who had taken his cannon with
him; that, having learned this, they went to the place and" searched it
throughout," finding tools and utensils concealed there; and finally that,
instead of reaching Gist's place in "the gray dawn" of the second of
July, they arrived there so late in the day that the commander decided
to go no farther, and made his camp there for the night. As to the
statement that the French, on coining to the stockade at Gist's, "at once
invested it and gave a general fire," it is hardly to be supposed that an
officer of De Villiers' experience would have shown such headlong impulsiveness as to pour a volley of musketry against the inanimate logs
when no living thing was in sight.
I
34HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Dr. Robert McClure came from York County, Pa.,
and was in Uniontown as early as 1792, as appears
from  an entry in the  account-book of Benjamin
Campbell, dated November 22d in that year, crediting Dr. McClure " By sundry medicines to this date."
This is the only fact which has been found tending to,show that he practiced his profession here. In 1795
he purchased a village lot on Elbow Street.  In 1798
he opened a public-house nearly opposite the courthouse. He kept it as a tavern till about 1812, when
he removed to the West.
There was a Dr. Youig located in Uniontown as
physician and druggist in the year 1796. No information has been gained concerning him, except what
appears in the following advertisement, which is found
in the Western Telegraphe of Washington, Pa., of May
17th in the year named, viz.:
"DR. YOUNG
Respectfully informs the Public that he has lately received
from New York and Philadelphia a neat and general assortment of Drugs and Medicines, Patent Medicines, c., which he
is now selling at his shop near the New Market House in Union
Town, on as moderate terms as can be afforded. He likewise
continues to practice in the different branches of his profession;
and hopes to merit the approbation of those who may please to
employ him.
"UNION TOWN, FAYETTE COUNTY,
"May 6, 1796."
Dr. Solomon Drown, a native of Rhode Island, came
to Uniontown in, or prior to, 1796,1 and on the 4th of
January in that year purchased from Henry Beeson
thirteen acres, and two lots (similar to village lots) of
land on the east side of Redstone Creek, and including the site of the Madison College buildings, That
he practiced medicine here is shown by a minute in
the commissioners' records of the allowance of his
account for attending prisoners in the jail in the year
1801. He is also remembered by Col. Samuel Evans,
though not very distinctly. How long he remained
a resident in Uniontown is not known. The property
which he purchased of Henry Beeson was sold April
29, 1833, by William Drown, his attorney, to Charles
Elliott.
Dr. Adam Simonson came from the East, and settled in Uniontown prior to 1795. In that year he
became purchaser of a village lot in "Jacob's Addition." He married a daughter of the Rev. Obadiah
Jennings, of Dunlap's Creek Church, and remained
a practicing physician in Uniontown till his death in
1808.
Dr. Daniel Marchand and his brother, Dr. Lewis
Marchand (sons of Dr. David Marchand, a physician
of long standing and good repute in Westmoreland
County), came to Fayette, and first established in
practice in Washington township, whence Dr. Daniel
Marchand removed to Uniontown as early as 1803,
1 It will be noticed, in the account given on a preceding page of the
Fourth of July celebration in Uniontown in 1796, Dr. Drown is mentioned as the orator of the day on that occasion.
and remained until about 1820, when he was succeeded by his brother Lewis, who increased the practice largely. He married a daughter of Dr. Samuel
Sackett, and continued in practice in Uniontown
about twenty years, highly respected as a man and a
physician. He removed from this place to Washington township, where he died in 1864.
Dr. Benjamin Stevens (born Feb. 20, 1737) was a
relative of Jeremiah Pears, who came to Fayette
County in 1789 and settled at Plumsock. Dr. Stevens settled on a farm in North Union township, and
practiced medicine in that vicinity. About 1811 he
removed to Uniontown. His office and residence was
in a building that stood on the site of the present Concert Hall. He died on the 3d of January, 1813, and
was buried with Masonic honors by lodge No. 92 of
Uniontown. During the long period of his practice
in the old township of Union and the borough of
Uniontown he stood high in public estimation as a
good physician and citizen. Some of his descendants
are now living in Uniontown.
Dr. Benjamin Dorsey, Dr. Daniel Sturgeon, Dr.
Wilson, of German township, and Dr. Wright were
students with Dr. Stevens while he lived on his farm
(where Robert Gaddis now lives in North Union).
Dr. Wright married a daughter of Andrew Byers, and
lived on Redstone Creek, near where the Chicago
Coke-Works now are. He practiced but little.
Dr. Daniel Sturgeon was a native of Adams County,
Pa., born Oct. 27, 1789. He attended Jefferson College at Canonsburg, Pa., after which (about 1810)
he came to Fayette County and commenced the
study of medicine with Dr. Benjamin Stevens, who
was then on his farm in Union township, where Robert
Gaddis now lives. He continued his studies with Dr.
Stevens for more than a year after the removal of the
latter to Uniontown. He then went to Greensboro',
Greene Co., and commenced practice, but had been
there less than a year when he was invited by his
friend, Dr. Stevens (who was then suffering from the
illness which soon after proved fatal), to return and
assist him in his practice in Uniontown. Dr. Sturgeon accepted the invitation, but before he had completed his arrangements Dr. Stevens died. His library was then purchased, and his practice assumed
by Dr. Sturgeon, who from that time became a resident of Uniontown. He married Nancy, daughter of
Mrs. Nancy Gregg.
Dr. Sturgeon early entered political life, and filled
many offices, both State and national, among which
was that of United States senator from Pennsylvania,
which he held from 1840 to 1851.
As a physician he was trusted, respected, and deservedly popular. He died July 2, 1878, in the
eighty-ninth year of his age. His son James was a
printer, but later received the appointment of paymaster in the army. He died about 1847. Another
son, John, studied law at Uniontown. He went into
the Mexican war in Capt. Quail's company of Roberts'
I
I
I
310UNIONTOWN BOROUGIH.
regiment, but died before reaching the city of Mexico.
Dr. William H. Sturgeon, another son of Dr. Daniel
Sturgeon, studied medicine with Dr. Alexander H.
Campbell, in Uniontown, in 1847-48. He attended
Jefferson Medical College in 1848-49, after which he
returned to Unioitown and commenced practice,
which he has continued till the present time, with the
exception of a few years spent in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.
Dr. Robert McCall was a native of Shippensburg,
Cumberland Co., Pa., where he studied medicine with
Dr. Simpson. He was an army surgeon in the war of
1812-15, and soon after its close moved to Uniontown, and opened his office in a building that stood
where the law-office of Daniel Downer now is. In
1819 he married Anna, daughter of Samuel King, and
practiced in Uniontown till his death in 1823.
Dr. Hugh Campbell was born in Uniontown, May
1, 1795. In 1812 he entered Jefferson College, at Canonsburg, Washington Co., but after a year of study
came back to Uniontown, and entered the office of
Dr. Daniel Marchand as a student of medicine. After
two years' study with Dr. Marchand, he attended a
course of lectures at the University of Pennsylvania,
and graduated in 1818. He returned to Uniontown,
and soon afterwards became associated in business
with Dr. Lewis Marchand. From that time he was
in practice during the remainder of his life, except
from 1864 to 1869, when he was warden of the penitentiary at Allegheny City. He died Feb. 27, 1876,
aged eighty-one years.
Dr. C. N. J. Magill was in practice in Uniontown
in 1835. On the 23d of September in that year he
advertised that he had " opened an office for surgery
and the practice of medicine next door to E. Bailey's
watchmaker shop, on Main Street. Dwelling, No. 3
Stewart's Row, Morgantown Street." He afterwards
removed to Salt Lick township, and died there.
Dr. H. C. Martherns was an early practitioner in
Smithfield, and removed thence to Uniontown. In
April, 1836, he announced that he " has removed his
office to the brick dwelling formerly occupied by Mrs.
Gregg, four doors east of the court-house, where he
will attend to all calls." How long he continued in
practice in Uniontown has not been ascertained.
Dr. Alexander Hamilton Campbell was a son of
Samuel Y. Campbell, and a native of Uniontown.
He studied medicine with his uncle, Dr. Hugh
Campbell, about 1840, then attended lectures at Jefferson Medical College, in Philadelphia, and after
graduating returned to Uniontown, where he practiced till his death in 1859.
Dr. David Porter was a native of Virginia. His
father, William Porter, was a teacher in Washington
County, Pa., where he lived until March, 1794. He
then moved to Wheeling, Va., where his son David
was born. After the death of his father, about 1798,
he was adopted by William Woolsey, a retired seacaptain, then living on a farm in Rostravor township,
Westmoreland Co., near the Fayette County line. It
was on this farm (which he afterwards owned) that
he was reared.  He received a liberal education
under the tutorship of Gad Tower, a noted classical
teacher of that time. At the age of about twenty
years he commenced the study of medicine with Dr.
Lewis Marchand, who was then living on his farm
below Brownsville; Dr. Leatherman, of Canonsburg,
Washington Co., being a fellow-student with him
under Dr. Marchand. He attended a course of lectures at Philadelphia by the celebrated Dr. Benjamin
Rush, and practiced about two years, then attended
lectures at Baltimore.
After graduating he returned to Rostravor township, and practiced there for several years. From
there he removed to Cookstown (now Fayette City),
and remained two years, then located in Brownsville,
whence after a few years he removed to Pittsburgh.
There he obtained an extensive practice, but after
about two years returned to his farm in Rostravor,
where he remained for thirty years, but was only a
part of this time in active practice there. In January, 1869, he removed to Uniontown, where he lived
until his death, which occurred Sept. 22, 1875, at the
age of eighty-three years.
Dr. Porter was recognized as standing in the highest rank of his profession, and consultations with him
were constantly sought by the best practitioners in
his section of country, including the city of Pittsburgh. He said of himself, " My mind was always
slow." But if slow, there were none more sure. " He
was fifty years in advance of his age," was the opinion expressed by Dr. John Dixon, an eminent physician of Pittsburgh, on Dr. David Porter.
Dr. John F. Braddee (who has already been noticed in the account of the great Uniontown.mail
robbery) was a man concerning whom there is a doubt
whether his name ought to be mentioned with those
of respectable members of the medical fraternity of
Uniontown, but the question has been decided in
the affirmative by some of the present leading physicians of the borough. He was a charlatan, a man
of little or no education, but fertile in resources. He
was said to have come into this section of country
about the year 1830 as an assistant to a party of
horse-dealers from' Kentucky, and having for some
cause severed his connection with them, and finding
himself in a very low financial condition, he came
to Uniontown and boldly announced himself as a
physician. Being a man of fine personal appearance, of pleasing address, great tact and unbounded
assurance, he became at once successful, and secured a more extensive practice than was ever
enjoyed by any regular physician of the town or
county. It is said that in a single day nearly one
hundred patients from the surrounding country came
into Uniontown for treatment by Dr. Braddee, and
waited for long weary hours to see him in their turn.
He was soon enabled to purchase the National Hotel
_______    
I
I
311HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
property, at the corner of Morgantown and Fayette
Streets, and in that house he made his professional
headquarters. His remarkable success, however, did
not deter but rather seemed to incite him to illegitimate projects for money-making, and in 1840 he,
with the aid of confederates, execute(d a cunningly
devised plan for robbing the United States mail while
in transit through Uniontown. For this offense he
was arrested, tried, and convicted, and in 1841 his
professional career in Uniontown was closed by a sentence of ten years at hard labor in the penitentiary.
Dr. H. T. Roberts is a native of Allegheny County,
and a son of Judge Roberts, late of Pittsburgh.
Having studied medicine in that city, he located in
Uniontown in 1841 and practiced a few years, after
which he removed. Some two or three years since
he returned to Uniontown, but is not in practice.
Dr. Frederick C. Robinson, a native of Saratoga
County, N. Y., removed thence to Erie, Pa., when
quite young. In 1841 he came to Uniontown, and
commenced the study of medicine with Dr. H. F.
Roberts.  In 1844 he removed to Ohio, where he  i
completed his studies, and remained in practice till  1
1850, when he entered the Jefferson Medical College.
He graduated in the winter of 1850-51, and returned
to Uniontown, where he has followed his profession
until the present time. He was examining surgeon
of this district during the war of the Rebellion, and
examining physician for the United States Pension  t
Office for thirteen years.                          c
Dr. Robert M. Walker is a native of Franklin  r
County, Pa. He was educated in Ohio at Franklin  1
College. He studied medicine with Dr. Joseph Mc-  I
Closkey, of Perryopolis, and Dr. John Hassan, of j
West Newton. In the spring of 1843 he commenced  J
practice in Uniontown. In the winter of 1844-45 he  j
attended lectures at Jefferson Medical College, and at  J
the close of his course in Philadelphia returned to  (
Uniontown, where he is still in practice.        I
Dr. Smith Fuller, born in Connellsville, Pa.,  i
studied medicine with Dr. John Hassan from  the  V
spring of 1838 till 1840, when he went to Philadel-  C
phia and attended lectures at Jefferson College. He  I
then practiced medicine in Uniontown until 1846, T
when he resumed his course at Jefferson College. In  A
1847 he returned to Uniontown, where he has since  E
been constantly in active practice, except when serving  N
in the State Senate from 1861 to 1863. His sons, John  5
M., Smith Jr., and William B., are physicians, the
first two now (June, 1881) practicing in Uniontown,
and the last named attending lectures in Philadelphia.
The present physicians of Uniontown are:        d
Dr. Smith Fuller.          Dr. J. B. Ewing.         ii
" R. M. Walker.            " John Hankins.         E
" H. F. Roberts.           " Smith Fuller, Jr.    c(
" F. C. Robinson.        " John Sturgeon.        P
" William H. Sturgeon.   " A. P. Bowie.            ir
" John M. Fuller.          " S. W. Hickman.    la
" John Boyd.               " L. S. Gaddis.       tt
IiOT1(EOPATIIY.
Years ago several attempts were made to introduce
homceopathy in Fayette County. Dr. C. Bael and
Dr. Ridley practiced in Brownsville, but the exact
date of their commencing practice is unknown. B.
F. Connell, M.D., a convert from the old school,
practiced a few years in Uniontown, but subsequently
moved to Ohio, and from thence to Connellsville,
where he practiced several years.
Dr. J. G. Heaton practiced for a short time at Fairchance Furnace. None of the above practitioners
remained long enough to establish the practice, and
for a long titne after the above practitioners left for
other fields homweopathy was without a representative.
According to the " History of Homceopathy," published by the World's Homceopathic Convention,
which met in Philadelphia in 1876, " To A. P. Bowie,
M.D., belongs the credit of the successful establishment of homceopathy in Fayette County." Dr.
Bowie commenced in Uniontown in 1869, and is still
in active practice in the borough. The other practitioners in this county are S. W. Hickman, M.D.,
Uniontown; W. J. Hamilton, M.D., Dunbar; and S.
C. Bosley, M.D., Connellsville.
LAWYERS.
The early attorneys of Uniontown have been mentioned in preceding pages, in connection with the bar
of Fayette County. The list of lawyers now (1881)
residing in and practicing in the borough is as follows:
Daniel Kaine.
Alfred Howell.
John K. Ewing.
X. E. Willson,Pres.Judge.
John Collins.,. W.,K. Minor.
rhomas B. Searight.
William H. Playford.
William Parshall.
Jharles E. Boyle.
)aniel Downer.
P. B. Schnatterly.
k. D. Boyd.,dward Campbell.
{athaniel Ewing.
)amuel E. Ewing.
S. L. Mestrezat.
J. L. Johnson.
J. M. Ogelvee.
A. H. Wyckoff.
L. H. Frasher.
Daniel M. Hertzog.
P. S. Morrow.
H. Detwiler.
George Hutchinson.
William Guiler.
M. M. Cochran.
George B. Kaine.
Robert Hopwood.
Alonzo Hagan.
F. M. Fuller.
Robert Kennedy.
SCHOOLS.
The earliest reference found in any record or other
ocument to schools or to places where they were taught
n Uniontown is in the act erecting the county of'ayette, passed Sept. 26, 1783, which directs that the
ourt shall be held "at the school-house, or some fit
lace in the town of Union, in the said county," and
n the letter (before quoted) written a few months
ater by Ephraim Douglass to Gen. Irvine, describing
he new county-seat, he says it contains "a court312UNIONTOWN BOROUG H.
house and school-house in one," etc. Several deeds of
about that date mention in their description of boundaries, a school-house lot evidently near the present
court-house grounds. In a deed of lot No. 43, executed in 1783, Colin Campbell is given the title
"teacher," which probably, but not as a matter of
course, had reference to his occupation in Uniontown.
A school was organized in Uniontown before the
year 1800 under the auspices of the Methodist Church.
That school will be found more fully mentioned in
the history of that church.
Miss Sally Hadden, who was born in Uniontown
in the year 1800, and has always lived on the spot of
her nativity, says the first school she remembers, was
taught by an Irishman named Burns in a log house
which stood on the north end of lot No. 39, now the
property of Mrs. David Porter. Afterwards she attended the Methodist school on Peter Street, taught
by a Mr. Cole..Tesse Beeson, grandson of the original proprietor
of the town, was born in 1806. He first attended
school in a log house where the Methodist Episcopal
house of worship now stands. The school was taught
by a Mrs. Dougherty. He afterwards attended at the
school-house on Peter Street mentioned by Miss
Hadden. A teacher in the Peter Street school about
that time was Silas Bailey, father of William and
Ellis Bailey.
The following notice, which appeared in the Genius
of Liberty in April, 1817, is given here as indicating
the progress which had then begun to be made towards
the free school system,1 which was adopted in the
State some years later:
1 At that time, and for more than twenty years afterwards, Uniontown
(like nmost other villages of its size and importance, particularly countyseats) was prolific of private schools, "select schools," and so-called
"academies," some of them  having merit, but the greater part being
poor and of short duiration. Generally they were quite pretentious in
their announcements, and nearly every scholar whose parents were able
to incur the expense (which was not heavy) attended some one of them,
for a " term" of three months if no mnore.
In the Genius of Liberty of June 6, 1820, are found the advertisements
of two of these schools. One is to the effect that "Mr. and Mrs. Baker
present their respectful compliments to the people of Union Town,
soliciting their support of a School for the instruction of Young Ladies
in all the usual branches of an English education. Also plain sewing,
marking cotton-work of all kinds, Embroidery, Tambour, Filagree,
Fringe, Netting, Drawing, Painting, and Music, vocal and instrumental."
The other, in the same column, is that of John A. Donnse, who ainlinonces that " Persons desirous of placing pupils under the care of the
subscriber may be accommodated by making early application at his
residence, two doors east of Mrs. Gregg's. His room is spacious and cotnvenient, and his prices accommodated to the tinmes, and proportioined to
the different branches taught. An enumeration of the branches is
thought unnecessary.
"Without arrogating to himself any superior pretesntions, the sub
scriber respectfiilly suggests that he has had some years' experience in
teaching, has made it a profession, and not emnbraced it merely as a
temporary expedient. Grateful for past patronage, he respectfully solicits
a continuance of it, and without promise to perform miracles, pledges
himself that his exertions to merit it shall be sunremitted.
"JOHN A. DONNE.
"UNiON, March 1, 1820."
"March 25, 1817.
" To the Assessors of the County of Fayette:
" You are hereby authorized and required to notify
the parents of the children hereinafter named that
they are at liberty to send their children to the most
convenient school free of expense, and also transmit
a list of the names of the children as aforesaid to the
teachers of schools within your township, agreeably
to the eleventh section of an act of General Assembly passed April 4, 1809."
The act of the Pennsylvania Legislature "to establish a general system  of Education by Common
Schools," approved April 1, 1834, declares that,"WHEREAS, It is enjoined by the constitution as
a solehmn duty which cannot be neglected without a
disregard of the moral and political safety of the
people; And whereas the fund for common-school
purposes, under the act of the Second of April, one
thousand eight hundred and thirty-one, will on the
fourth of April next amount to the sum of five hundred and forty-six thousand five hundred and sixtythree dollars and seventy-two cents, and will soon
reach the sum of two million dollars, when it will
produce at five per cent. an interest of one hundred
thousand dollars, which by said act is to be paid for
the support of common schools; And whereas provisions should be made by law for the distribution of
the benefits of this fund to the people of the respective counties of the commonwealth; Therefore [it
was enacted] That the city and county of Philadelphia, and every other county in this Commonwealth,
shall each form a school division, and that every
ward, township, and borough within the several school
divisions shall each form a school district; Provided,
That any borough which is or may be connected with
a township in the assessment and collection of county
rates and levies shall with the said township, so long
as it remains so connected, form a district, and each
of said districts shall contain a competent number of
common schools for the education of every child
within the limits thereof who shall apply, either in
person or by his or her parents, guardian, or next
friend, for admission and instruction.... All moneys
that may come into the possession of the county
treasurers for the use of any school district or districts
within their respective divisions shall be paid over
by the said treasurers to the treasurer of the said district respectively at such times as the commissioners
of the respective counties shall order and direct."
"    Since handing the above for publication it has been suggested
that I should decline taking youssg ladies in favor of a certain Mr. Baker
 Co., who propose establishing a school here, and conlfine myself to the
instrtction of boys, and lest, as it frequently happens, conjecture should
in the course of circulatioin be given for fact, I deem it proper to state
that I shall not agree to any such arrangement, but shall continue to
admit into my school all the yosung ladies as'Well as all the boys that
may offer."
At about the same time Patrick Talbot modestly advertised that he
was about to open a school in Uniontown for teaching the English
branches.

i
iI
I
I
313HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Under this law the county commissioners of Fayette
at their December session in that year ordered the
levying of a tax  of double the  amount of school
money received from the State. The court of Fayette
County at the January term, 1835, appointed school
directors for the townships and boroughs of the
county, those appointed for Uniontown being Richard
Beeson and James Piper. On the 1st of December,
1835, the borough complied with the terms of the law,
and the directors reported to the county treasurer.
The amount of State money apportioned to the
borough in that year was $73.66; from the county,
$147.32; total, $220.98.
Free common schools were first opened in Uniontown in 1836,1 the following being the first official
action of the board of directors in the matter, viz.:
"At a meeting of the school directors for Union Borough on
the 19th day of March, 1836, it was resolved to open four free
schools in said borough, to commence about the 15th day of
April next and continue for six months, which period will be
divided into two sessions of three months each. There wiAl
be a vacation or recess between the sessions of one montl,
which will happen in August. It was also resolved that the
directors will receive proposals until the 8th day of April next
from persons wishing to become teachers in any one of said
schools. The proposals will set forth the price per month for
the whole term of six months (excluding the vacation), or the
sum for whiclh the teacher will take charge of a school for the
whole time it is proposed to keep the schools open the present
year. One of the schools at least will be put under the charge
of a female instructor. Proposals from females wishing to engage in the business are respectfully invited.
" JOHN DAWSON,      A. L. LITTELL,
" WILLIAMI REDDICK, JAMES BOYLES,
" HUGH ESPY,        WILLIAM WILSON,
" Directors.
"March 19, 1836."
The east part of the lot of land on which the present school-house stands was purchased of William
Salter in 1838, the deed bearing date September 6th
of that year. On the lot stood a foundry, which had
been occupied by Salter for several years. It was remodeled and fitted up with four rooms for school
purposes. This alone was used until about 1850,
when another building, also containing four rooms,
1 At the time of the opening of the free schools in Umniontown there
was in the borough an institution known as the "Union High School,"
of which Mr. J. M. Smith was principal. In the Genius of Liberty of
May 25, 1836, he announced that " Miss Pears, a graduate of Mr. Beatty's female seminary, will be in town in the course of a few days to aid
in this [the young ladies'].department," etc. The period of the continuation of this high school has not been ascertained.
Under date of July 26, 1837, is found the advertisement of the " Fayette Seminary." Located at Uniontown. Open for Imale and female
students on the first Monday in September. Embracing two departments, "one principal, the other preparatory." The year divided into
two sessions of twenty-two weeks each, quarters of fourteen weeks.
Charge for tiuition in principal department, $12.50; in preparatory (epartment, $7.00 per session. Samuel Wilson, principal. Mr. Wilson
was succeeded by Smith.F. Grier, who was principal of the seminary in
1839-40.
In 1839-November 19th-a select school was opened "in Mr. E.
West's school-room" by George W. Brown, of Monongalia Couuity, Va.,
but no later notice of it is found.
was erected on the same lot, at the corner of the alley
and Church Street. These two buildings were found
sufficient until the present school-house was erected.
In 1857 an addition was made to the school lot onI
the west by a purchase from Moses Sheahan, on the
l!)th of August in that year; and on the 6th of
June, 1860, the lot known as the Molly Lyon lot was
purchased at sheriff's sale.  The three purchases
above named form the school-house lot as it is at
present.
The law creating the office of county superintendent
of schools was passed in 1854. Joshua Gibbons, of
BrQwnsville, held the office for twelve years. The
first report which has been found (that of the year
1857) shows that there were then in the borough of
Uniontown four hundred and one scholars, with seven
teachers employed in the schools. The sum of $156.80
was received from the State, and $344.41 from the
collector.
The schools of Uniontown were graded in 1855,
under James H. Springer, who was then the principal.
The present brick school-house was erected in 1868,
the commencement being made by breaking ground
on the 15th of April in that year, and the building
being completed and ready for occupancy in the succeeding fall. It was planned by J. W. Kerr, an architect of Pittsburgh; the contractors were R. and H.
Fulton, of Sewickley, Westmoreland Co. The stonework was done by John Wilhelm, of Connellsville;
brick-work by Alfred Dearth, of New Salem, Fayette
Co. The contract price was $30,644; cost of furniture, $2800. The building stands on the corner of
Barclay's Alley and Church Street. It is ninety feet
in length by sixty-five feet in width, and three stories
high. The first floor contains four school-rooms, each
forty-two feet eleven inches by twenty-four feet eleven
inches in dimensions. The second floor is also divided
into four rooms, similar to those below. The third
floor has two rooms and an exhibition hall, eightyseven by thirty-six feet.
In 1870 a school-house for colored children was
erected at a cost of $1500. The lot on which it stands
was purchased of William Baldwin, who donated onehalf the price. It is situated in the settlement known
as " Hayti," on the east side of Redstone Creek.
The following statistics have reference to the schools
of Uniontown Borough for the year 1880:
Number of pupils...........................  536
Number of teachers........................  10
Total expenditures for the year......... $6,771.69
Valuation of school property............ $50,000.00
Indebtedness............................... $15,065.61
The school board of the borough for 1881 is composed of Daniel Kaine, G. W. K. Minor, J. N. Daw..
son, Joseph White, Alfred Howell, and Joseph Beatty.
President, Daniel Kaine; Secretary, Joseph Beatty;
Treasurer, A. C. Nutt.
The following is an imperfect list of the school
directors of Uniontown from 1835 to the present time:
314UNIONTOWN BOROUGH.
1835.-Richard Beeson, James Piper, appointed by the court,
January, 1835.
1836.-John Dawson, A. L. Littell, William Reddick, James
Baylis, Hugh Espey, William Wilson.
1837-42.-No return.
1843.-James F. Cannon, Wilson Swain.
1844.-E. Brownfield, R. G. Hopwood.
1845.-William Gaddis, H. F. Roberts.
1846-48.-No return.
1849.-R. T. Galloway, A. Hadden.
1850.-William  Gaddis, Daniel Kaine.
1851.-James F. Cannon, William Thorndell.
1853.-William Gaddis, Daniel Kaine.
1854.-Joshua B. Houcell, Ellis Bailey.
1855.-Eleazer Robinson, William A. Donaldson.
1856.--William Gaddis, E. W. Power.
1857.-Ellis Bailey, James McKean.
1858.-Eleazer Robinson, Everard Bierer.
1859.-Smith Fuller, E. W. Power.
1861.-Everard Bierer, Amos Jolliff.
1862.-Edward G. Roddy, Benjamin Courtney.
1863.-Henry White, C. S. Seaton.
1864.-James Darby, Anderson Jolliff.
1865.-William Doran, Alexander Chisholm.
1867.-James H. Springer, Frederick C. Robinson.
1872.-Adam C. Nutt, Alfred Howell.
1875.-Adam C. Nutt, Ilenry M. Clay.
1876.-Joseph Beatty, William H. Bailey.
1877.-Smith Fuller, Daniel Kaine.
1878.-William H. Bowman, Jacob D. Moore.
1880.-Daniel Kaine, George W. K. Minor.
1881.-Alfred Howell, Joseph White.
UNION ACADEMY AND MADISON COLLEGE.
The Union Academy was incorporated by an act
of the Legislature passed Feb. 4, 1808,1 which provided " That there shall be, and hereby is, established
in the borough of Uniontown, in the county of Fayette, an academy or public school for the education of
youth in the useful arts, sciences, and literature, by
the name and style of'The Union Academy."' The
trustees appointed by the act of incorporation were
James Guthrie, Thomas Hadden, Presley Carr Lane,
James W. Nicholson, Christian Tarr, Charles Porter,
Thomas Mason, John Kennedy, Zadoc Walker, James
Allen, Maurice Freeman, Jesse Pennell, and James
Findley.
The sum  of two thousand dollars was granted by
the act, out of any unappropriated money in the
State treasury, in aid of the academy, to be applied
under the direction of the trustees; and it was further provided by the act that "there shall be admitted into the academy any number of poor children
who may at any time be offered, in order to be taught
gratis; provided the number so admitted shall at no
time be greater than four, and that none of said poor
1 The academy, however, was in operation some time before its incorporation. In an advertisement dated in March, 1807, the name of John
St. Clair, "teacher of the Langlsages and Mathematics in the Union
Academy" at Uniontown, is given in recommendation of the superior
quality of the surveying instruiments manufactured bv Alexander Simpson, of Brownsville; and in the act of incorporation it is directed that
the trustees appointed by it should hold their first meeting in the academy, showing that it existed prior to the passage of the act.
children shall continue to be taught gratis in said
academy longer than two years."
The academy was continued with varying success
for many years. Finally it was taken under charge
of the Pittsburgh Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and under these auspices was incorporated March 2, 1827, as Madison College. By the act
of incorporation thirty-eight trustees were appointed,
of whom  the following named were residents of
Uniontown, viz.: Thomas Irwin, John Kennedy,
Thornton Fleming, John M. Austin, H. B. Bascorn,
Samuel Evans, Henry Ebbert, Nathaniel Ewing,
Robert Skiles, and Isaac Beeson.
H. B. Bascom was appointed president and Professor of Moral Science; Charles Elliot, Professor of
Languages; and J. H. Fielding, Professor of Mathematics. One of the professors had pastoral charge of
the Methodist Episcopal Church in Uniontown. In
1829, Dr. Bascorn resigned the presidency to become
agent for the American Colonization Society. In
1831, J. H. Fielding was appointed president, and
Homer J. Clark professor. In 1832 the institution
suspended, as propositions had been made to the Conference to accept Allegheny College, at Meadville, in
its stead, the buildings, library, and apparatus of
which were greatly preferable. During the few years
of its existence, however, a number of promising
young men were educated, and a great impulse was
given to ministerial study throughout Western Pennsylvania.
After the college passed from the charge of the
Methodist Conference it was continued under the
auspices of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church,
and in charge of Dr. J. P. Wethee. He was succeeded about 1841 by Dr. Andrew Ferrier, who was
in turn succeeded by Dr. Cox. In May, 1852, the
college was mentioned in the Genius of Liberty as
being then " in a very flourishing condition." About
1854 it passed under the charge of the Methodist Protestant Church, and was at different times under the
principalship of Drs. Cox, Ball, and Brown. About
1858 the property was sold at sheriff's sale, after
which the building was used for a private school, of
which the first principal was William McDowell. He
remained two or three years, and was succeeded by
Levi S. Lewis, who became principal in September,
1861, and continued in charge till February, 1864,
when the school was taken by two young men named
Reed, who taught one season, and then the school
passed to the charge of S. B. Mercer, who continued
it till 1866, when the buildings were taken for the use
of the Soldiers' Orphans' School, which continued to
be taught there until 1875, when it was removed to
the new buildings erected for its use at "Dunbar's
Camp."
The old Madison College buildings, now in disuse,
are located on the north side of Main Street (or the
National road), on the high land just east of the eastern bridge over Redstone Creek.
315HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
CHURCHES.
GREAT BETHEL REGULAR BAPTIST CHURCH.1
This organization was formed in the year 1770, and
is evidently one of the first religious societies established within the boundaries of Fayette County, and
as it can be traced by its own records as a distinct organization down to the present time, it becomes one
of the important parts of our present history.
In the oldest book of records now in the possession
of the church the following entry is made on the first
page: "The Regular Baptist Church of Jesus Christ
at Uniontown, Pa., unwilling that their origin should
be lost in obscurity, and apprehending, from the decayed state of the annals respecting the institution
and progress thereof, that they will shortly become
unintelligible, have by an unanimous resolution
passed on this 12th day of November, 1822, ordered
that the first book of said church should be transcribed
in line in the same words and the same manner in
which it was written, and that our brother, Samuel
King, be appointed for this service." From the
transcript made by Mr. King, in pursuance of that
resolution, the following letter is copied verbatim,
viz.:
" The Church of Jesus Christ at Great Bethel, Constituted as is supposed in Province of Pennsylvania,
holding Believers, Baptism, c., c., sindeth greeting.
"To all Christian People to whom these may Concern, Know ye that Isaac Sutton is in full Communion
with us, and is of a Regular and of a Christian Conversation, and for aught we know is approved of by
us in general as a gifted Brother, and we do unitedly
agree that he should Improve his Gifts as a Candidate
for the ministery where Ever god in his Providence
shall Call him. sign'd by us this Eigth day of November, in the year of our lord Christ-1770.
"Witness our hands,
"N.B.
"That this Church was
Constituted by me, Nova
7th, 1770, and that the
Bearer was licensed to
Preach before me, or in
my Presence, as witness
my hand this 8th day of
Novr, 1770.
"HENRY CROSBYE."
JACOB VANMETRE.
RICHARD HALL.
ZEPHENIAH BLACKFORD.
Because we are few in
number our Sisters are
allowed to sign.
RACHEL SUTTON.
LETTICE VANMETRE.
SARAH HALL."
From the latter part of this letter it appears that
the church was constituted by Henry Crosby, but
nothing further is said of him in the minutes which
follow, and we have been unable to ascertain anything
further with regard to his personal history or his subsequent connection with the church. In Benedict's
" History of the Baptists," page 614, it is stated that
this church "was gathered in 1770, under the ministry
of elder John Sutton," but as we do not find the name
1 By D. M. Hertzog.
of John Sutton mentioned anywhere in connection
with the church records, while that of Isaac is frequently referred to, we are disposed to think that he
was the successor of Henry Crosby, and although not
the founder of the church, the first pastor after its
organization. The oldest book of record has the following title-page:
"Isaac Sutton,
Great Bethel
Church Book,
for the use of Inserting Minutes of Business transacted by the Church."
This certainly is evidence that Sutton was pastor
when that book was procured, and it contains minutes
beginning with 1773. This church has frequently
been called "The Uniontown Church," "Uniontown
Baptist Church," etc., owing to its location. But
there was a church, known as the Uniontown Church,
organized some time previous to the year 1790, the
exact date of which we are unable to ascertain. On
the 6th of November of that year is the following entry in Great Bethel church-book: "The Church of
Christ called Great Bethel met the Church of Christ
of Union Town according to appointment. After
prayer proceeded to business. 1st, Appointed Deacon Gaddis^ to receive them. 2d, The Church of
Union dissolved their constitution and were received
into fellowship with us." Then follows a series of
rules adopted for the government of the church.
This was the only Uniontown Baptist Church properly called by that name until the division in 1867,
when one portion of the church took upon itself the
name and was chartered as the Uniontown Regular Baptist Church. The other branch still retained
the name and kept up the organization as Great Bethel,
more reference to which will hereafter be made.
BUILDINGS.-There is as much uncertainty with
regard to the site of the first house of worship as to
the name of the first pastor. The earliest reference
to this subject in the records of the church is found
in the minutes of the monthly meeting held March
18, 1780, as follows: " Resolved, that a meeting-house
be built for public worship by the church. Resolved,
that brethren Jas. McCoy, Owen Davis, Moses Carr
view the ground and pitch upon the place for building, the dimensions of the house to be thirty feet and
twenty-five." In July following we find this entry:
"Resolved, that two meeting-houses be built, that
Owen Davis, Philip Pierce, Joseph Thomas, Jos.
Boutenhouse, and Philip Jenkins, to meet on Tuesday, eighth day of August, to council what is needful
to carry on the building and what place." On May
19, 1781, " In order to carry on the building of the
meeting-house, Bros. Owen Davis and Philip Jenkins
are appointed overseers of the work; Bro. Boltenhouse, collector of the subscription."  June 19, 1784,
" Resolved, that the members shall work at the meeting-house every day that is appointed by Richard
Reed, Thomas Bowel, and Philip Jenkins, under
I

I
I
316UNIONTOWN BOROUGH.
penalty of five shillings for neglect." On Sept. 15,
1787, a resolution was passed " that a meeting-house
be built on the Great Road, about a quarter of a mile
from Uniontown, and Thomas Gaddis and Moses
Carr and James Little trustees to carry it on." We
have been unable to reconcile these different resolutions so as to either fix the time when the first house
was erected or ascertain the place wvhere it was
located.  The first reference to a house as having
been built is in September, 1789, as follows: "The
whole of the land where the meeting-house stands
belongs to the church for four pounds. Thomas Gaddis appointed to receive the Deed in the name of the
church of Great Bethel against our meeting of business, etc." And again, June 18, 1790: " The church
acknowledges that when Thos. Gaddis makes them a
Deed for the acre of land that the meeting-house
stands on, that they stand indebted to him nineteen
pounds one shilling and ten pence, all errors excepted." This would indicate that the land was purchased from Thomas Gaddis, but immediately following it was resolved " that the trustees, Thomas Gaddis
and Moses Carr, get the deed in their names in behalf
of the church of Great Bethel." It was just at this
tinle that the contention arose among the members
elsewhere referred to, and as Thomas Gaddis appears
to have been a leading member of the Loofborrow
party, it was decided by the other party that he was
not a proper person to receive the deed, and from
this time there is nothing further said about a deed
until the year 1804, when one acre of land was conveyed to the Great Bethel Church by Henry Beeson
and wife. This lot of ground was located on the
"Great Road" leading from  Uniontown to Cheat
River, and though it is now within the borough
limits, it doubtless w-ould at that early day have been
very properly described as " about a quarter of a mile
from Uniontown."  In the old burying-ground on a
part of this lot are found tombstones dating back to
1796, and some whose dates are no longer legible.
Many of our citizens still living distinctly remember
when an old house stood on this lot, previous to the
building of the brick structure which still occupies
it. And as no further reference is made to building
until the year 1831, when this house was begun, we
may conclude almost, if not to an entire certainty,
that the house directed to be built in 1787 was located
upon the same site where the old brick church now
stands, and that it was occupied by the congregation
up to the completion of that church, about the year
1833. This is a large building, with ample room below and gallery above. It was occupied by the Great
Bethel Church until the division in 1867, when proceedings were begun for the erection of a new building, which was located on Fayette Street, in the
borough of Uniontown. It was begun in the year
1868, but owing to the financial difficulties in which
they were then placed was not finally completed
until 1879, it being dedicated in August of that year.
21
This is a fine two-story brick building, forty-two bysixty-five feet in dimensions, with spire about one
hundred and ten feet high. It is provided with lecture-room below, in which is a baptistery and wellfurnished room, with frescoed walls for the main
chapel above. The whole building was completed,
owing to the high prices of all material when it was
begun, at a total cost of about $11,000.
BRANCHES.-From Great Bethel Regular Baptist
Church there were established from time to time
numerous branches, all of which were afterwards
formed into distinct organizations, and most of them
still exist as flourishing churches. As those of them
which are situated within the boundaries of this
county will each be more particularly described in
their proper places, it is only necessary here to briefly
nlention the time at which they were separated from
the mother-church. On March 19, 1773, the members convenient to Muddy Creek were dismissed by
letter to that church, which is situated in Greene
County, Pa., and is still in a flourishing condition.
On Sept. 21, 1775, the brethren in the Forks of Cheat
were granted a constitution. This church now has
its place of worship near Stewarttown, W. Va., and
has quite a large membership. A branch church was
organized in " the Glades" on the 15th of November,
1778. It is still kept up as an independent organization, known as Big Crossings. At the same meeting a constitution was granted to the branch on Redstone, situated in Fayette County, and Isaac Sutton
appointed " to constitute them." Also James Sutton,
James McCoy, Charles McDonald, and Philip Jenkins were appointed a committee to meet them on the
third Saturday of December following, " in order to
see that they be an unanimous body fit for a constitution, and to settle matters of difficulty if there is
any.'"
The members belonging to Great Bethel Church
living near and beyond the Youghiogheny were permitted to organize as a branch of the church on the
20th of September, 1783, but the history of this organization cannot be traced further.
Oct. 16, 1784, the church at Georges Creek was
dismissed by request, and Isaac and James Sutton
appointed to constitute them on the 30th of the same
month. This church has since become one of the
leading members of the Monongahela Association,
and its history will appear as that of Mount Moriah
Regular Baptist Church.
In the year 1830 a branch was organized at or near
McClellantown, Fayette Co., but has since become
extinct.
Thus it is seen that either directly or indirectly
many of the churches of this county and adjoining
counties have sprung from the Great Bethel Church,
and truly she may be termed the mother of Baptist
churches in this section of Pennsylvania.
MEMBERsHIP.-Beginning as this church did, when
the inhabitants of the county were settled here and
317HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
there in little groups, its membership must have been
small. From the oldest list of members on record we
find from September, 1770, to November of the same
year, when the church was formally organized, there
were received by baptism eight members; these, in addition to the six whose signatures are affixed to the
letter already quoted, quite probably constituted the
full membership at the time of its organization. The
names of the members received by baptism during
the time mentioned were John Carr, Elizabeth Carr,
Sarah Baccus, David Morgan, Wm. Murphy,
Van Meter, James McCloy, and Mary Anderson. The
list of membership which follows is so incomplete
with regard to dates that it is impossible to follow the
progress of the church in this respect as closely as we
should like to do. It appears that up to July, 1773,
there had been received by baptism thirty-two members, and up to 1780 twenty-two by letter. Considering, therefore, the sparsely-settled condition of the
country, their increase of membership was very fair.
During this time, however, there had been a number
dismissed by letter, and also a few excommunicated,
but as the dates of their dismission are not recorded
we are unable to ascertain the exact membership of
the church at either of the dates mentioned. Sept.
24, 1791, the report of membership to the Association
shows a total of 40; in 1795, 42; 1800, 26; 1812, 45
(during this year nineteen were received by baptism
and eleven by letter). In 1817 the membership had
again decreased to 30. Although other lists of members are given at different times they are without
dates, and we have therefore been unable to ascertain
the exact number of enrolled names until what was
known as the great revival in 1855. On Nov. 24,
1855, a series of meetings was begun by Rev. William
Wood, assisted by Rev. Israel D. King, which resulted in upwards of ninety additions by baptism.
The following postscript, added to the minutes of Jan.
26, 1856, by R. H. Austin, church clerk pro tem., explains the condition at that time: "The church is
certainly in a better state of health than it has been
since its infancy, our membership larger, our purses
heavier, and our hearts lighter. God be praised for
His much mercy in dispelling the winter of our
church and spreading before us prospects so flattering."  A few pages farther on, under date of May 24,
1856, he makes the following entry: "Our church is
fast increasing in members, Christian zeal, and, we
trust, holiness, our membership now being 229. May
God continue to build us up until called to join the
church triumphant is our prayer." From this time
until 1867 the church continued in a more or less
prosperous condition, holding, as nearly as we can
ascertain, about the same total membership from year
to year. At the beginning of that year, however,
opened the darkest hour of her history. Difficulties
with the pastor had occurred, which will be more
fully stated elsewhere, until they resulted in an open
disruption of the church, and compelled a large portion of the members to leave the building in which
they worshiped and erect a new house in a different
locality. The portion of members thus going off were
recognized, upon a full explanation of the difficulty
to the Association at their next meeting, as the Regular
Baptist Church, and began at once to carry on the
work of its original organization. The membership,
however, by this disruption had been greatly reduced,
and the bitter feelings engendered were slow to wear
away. But gradually many of those who at first adhered to their former pastor, and even formed a distinct organization under his control, began one by
one to return to the church; -baptisms also became
more numerous, until from a report of eighty-two
members at the Association in the autumn of 1867
there are now enrolled on the church record one hundred and ninety-three members, there having been an
increase by letter and baptism of twenty-four during
the present year. The greatest harmony now prevails, both among the members themselves and between them and their pastor. The great burden of
debt which since the erection of their new building
had been weighing them down has within the past
two years been almost removed, and once more may
her members truly exclaim, "Our membership is
larger, our purses heavier, and our hearts lighter.
God be praised for His much mercy!"
SUNSHINE AND SHADOWS.-It is the duty of the
historian to represent truly the subject which he attempts to describe. We shall not therefore presume
to present the bright side of this church and leave concealed from view the dark, for Great Bethel, like almost
all other churches, has had her shadows as well as
sunshine, and while it may not be so pleasant a duty
to write that which now lies before us, yet in doing
so we hope that by thus showing the comparatively
insignificant causes, for such most of them were which
led to these difficulties, the present membership may
be warned by the past to avoid similar disasters in
the future.
The first of these difficulties occurred about the
beginning of the year 1790. Some time previous the
church had called Rev. Isaac Sutton as regular minister and Rev. David Loofborrow as an assistant. Soon
afterwards we find frequent accusations brought first
against one member and then another until a complete separation occurred, one part of the church
meeting at the house of Rev. Sutton and transacting
business there as Great Bethel Cburch, the other
holding their sessions on the same day at the church
building. This unhappy state of affairs continued
until Oct. 4, 1791, when a special meeting was called,
"in order to form a plan by which our aggrieved
brethren might be again united with us in the bonds of
love and Christian fellowship." This result appeared
to have been accomplished by passing a resolution to
permit both preachers to officiate in their ministerial
capacity in the church, for we find no further difficulty recorded in connection with this matter. From
318UNIONTOWN BOROUGH.
that time forward harmony appears to have prevailed
until during the pastorate of Rev. William Brownfield. About the year 1832 there arose a difficulty between Rev. Brownfield and other ministers of the Baptist denomination. Rev. Brownfield adhered strictly
to the " Old School" or Anti-Mission Baptists, while
Rev. John Thomas, Rev. Dr. James Estep, Rev.
William Penny, and others who were occasionally
invited to preach for the Great Bethel Church, were
more liberal in their views and favored missionary
and other benevolent societies. This soon caused a
contention among the preachers themselves, and the
members naturally fell in with one side or the other,
until again a separation was brought about.
This contention continued and grew more serious
until April, 1836, when the, party favoring the New
School ministers purchased a new book for keeping
their records, and though they still permitted Rev.
Brownfield to preach in the church one-half the time,
and also allowed his adherents to hold business meetings there, nevertheless kept the minutes of their
meetings entirely distinct. Contentions then began
to arise as to whom the church property belonged. A
petition by the Brownfield party and remonstrance
against it by the others were sent to the Legislature of
the State; the matter was also referred to the Redstone Association. But nothing satisfactory could be
done, the breach was only widened, until in 1837 an attempt was made by the Brownfield party to prevent th e
others from using the house by fastening the doors
and windows with iron bars, and posting a notice on
the door to the effect that should any one remove
these fastenings and enter he would be liable to a suit
at law for trespass. Nothing daunted, the new party
at once removed the bars and entered. This entry,
in accordance with the notice given, resulted in a suit,
which was tried before Judge Grler in a special court
held in the year 1843, and was terminated by a verdict in favor of the defendants or New School party.
From that time there seems to have been but little
contention between them, though the Old School
party still continued to keep a separate record and
retained Rev. Brownfield to preach for them until
Oct. 31, 1846, when no further record is found of their
deliberations, and they appear to have gradually fallen
in with the other branch until they became entirely
absorbed by it, and from  that time on the New
School party continued as the only organization and
the Great Bethel Church. This split, while it hindered greatly the spiritual progress of the church
during its continuance, resulted in an entire change
of the working of the body, and evidently opened
for them many new fields of usefulness. From this
time there are frequent collections for mission-work
of various kinds, the church-doors were thrown open
for the privileges of Sabbath-school, and a new era of
progress dawned upon the whole society. Happier
would it have been had this result been brought about
without the contention and bitter feelings connected
with it. At last the storm was over, and though it had
dashed the waves of contention fiercely about her,
serenely from  amidst the roar and tumult the old
ship of the church sailed out upon the placid waters;
and but a few years later it is with pleasure we quote
from the record at the time of the famous meeting
elsewhere referred to. During its progress reference
is made to the preaching of Revs. Wood and King,
and as a result "fifty-six eternity-bound souls followed the example of their master and elder brother,
buried with him in Christian baptism, and raised, we
trust, to newness of life. Fifty-four were received
into full fellowship with the church, and the work still
going on."  Alas, that we must turn from this bright
part of the record to note another time of gloom.
Dr. John Boyd was called as pastor of the church
March 21, 1864. For some time afterward the usual
harmony continued, but about the close of the year
1866 disputes arose from various causes between the
pastor and part of the members. Though the writer
was not in any way connected with the church at that
time, having since become a member, it may be possible we are not sufficiently free from prejudice to impartially state these causes; and as the parties connected with the church at that time are almost all still
living, lest we should do injustice to some of them we
will leave that part of the church history for some one
who can look back with an impartial eye, and from
written records recount the true cause of this trouble
when those who participated in it shall all have passed
away. This dispute continued and grew so warm that
it became impossible for both factions to remain together, and those who adhered to the pastor still continuing in the church building, the other party were
obliged to seek a place of worship elsewhere. For a
short time they obtained leave from the county officers to use the court-house, afterward they resorted
to what was formerly known as the town hall, in the
borough of Uniontown, and there remained until
their new house of worship, erected on Fayette Street,
was sufficiently completed to afford them a place for
assembling. This part of the members made application to the Monongahela Association in the fall of
1867, the same year of the separation, and were recognized as the regular church, as appears by the minutes of the Association for that year. They at once
upon leaving the old house discharged Dr. Boyd as
their pastor, and soon afterward called another. They
have since regularly continued the organization as
the Great Bethel Regular Baptist Church, and on the
17th day of March, 1881, procured by application to
the court a charter under that name. Almost all the
members who at first remained with the Boyd party
have since left them and returned to this church, so
that the only visible part of the trouble that for a
time threatened to destroy the prosperity of the
church is a disagreement between the church at
present and Dr. Boyd as to the right of property in
the old church building. In order to test this matter
319WASHINGTON'S CAMPAIGN OF 1754 IN THE YOUGHIOGHENY VALLEY.  35
the northwest and began firing at long range, but did
no execution. After a time, finding that the enemy
manifested no disposition to make a general attack,
Col. Washington withdrew  his men within the
defenses, the Carolinians occupying the rifle-pit
trenches behind the low log parapet which formed
the outer line (though they were afterwards driven
out, not by the enemy's fire, but the torrents of rain
that inundated the trenches in which they were
posted). The French, finding their fire ineffectual
from their distant position in the woods to the northwest,l moved to the left, where, on the eastern and
southeastern side of the fort, the forest-line was within
fair musket-range of the work. From this new position they opened fire with more effect; the battle became general, and continued through the remainder
of the day. An account of the conflict at Fort Necessity is thus given by Sparks:
"At eleven o'clock they [the French] approached
the fort and began to fire, at the distance of six hundred yards, but without effect. Col. Washington had
drawn up his men on the open and level ground outside of the trenches, waiting for the attack, which he
presumed would be made as soon as the enemy's
forces emerged from the woods, and he ordered his
men to reserve their fire till they should be near
enough' to do execution. The distant firing was supposed to be a stratagem to draw Washington's men
into the woods, and thus take them at a disadvantage.
He suspected the design, and maintained his post till
he found the French did not incline to leave the
woods and attack the fort by an assault, as he supposed they would, considerinlg their superiority of
numbers. He then drew his men back within the
trenches, and gave them orders to fire according to
their discretion, as suitable opportunities might present themselves. The French and Indians remained
on the side of the rising ground which was nearest to
the fort, and, sheltered by the trees, kept up a brisk
fire of masketry, but never appeared in the open plain
below.
"The rain fell heavily through the day, the trenches
1 De Villiers' account of the opening of the fight was as follows: " As
we had no knowledge of the place, we presented our flank to the fort
when they began to fire upon us, and almost at the same time I perceived
the English on the right, in order of battle, and coming towards us. The
Indians, as well as ourselves, set up a great cry, and advanced towardh
them, but they did not give us time to fire upon them before they shel
tered themselves in an intrenchment which was adjoining to their fort
after which we aimed to invest the fort, which was advanitageousle
enough situated in a meadow within a musket-shot from the woods. W(
drew as near to them as possible that we might not expose his Majesty'l
subjects to no purpose. The fire was very brisk on both sides, and  
chose that place which seemed to me the most proper in case we shonul
be exposed to a sally. We fired so briskly as to put out (if I may us(
the expression) the fire of their cannon with our miisket-shot." But
concerning the first part of the above account by De Villiers, Washingtol
afterwards wrote: " I cannot help remarking on Villiers' account of th
battle of and transaction at the Meadows, as it is very extraordinary
and not less erroneous than inconsistent. IIe says the French receive
the first fire. It is well known that we received it at six hundred pace
distance."
were filled with water, and many of the arms of Col.
WaVashington's men were out of order and used with
difficulty. In this way the battle continued from
eleven o'clock in the morning till eight at night,
when the French called and requested a parley.2
Suspecting this to be a feint to procure the admission
of an officer into the fort, that he might discover their
condition, Col. Washington at first declined listening
to the proposal; but when the call was repeated, with
the additional request that an officer might be sent to
them, engaging at the same time their parole for his
safety, he sent out Capt. Van Braam, the only person
under his command that could speak French  except
the Chevalier de Peyronie, an ensign in the Virginia
regiment, who was dangerously wounded and disabled
from  rendering  any  service on the ocrasion.  Van
Braam returned, and brought with him from M. de
Villiers, the French commander, proposed articles of
capitulation. These he read and pretended to interpret, and some changes having been made by mutual
agreement, both  parties  signed  them   about midnight."
It was a mortifying close to Washington's first campaign, and the scene must have been a most dismal
one when he signed the capitulation at dead of night,
amid torrents of rain, by the light of a solitary spluttering candle,3 and with his dead and wounded men
around him; but there was no alternative, and he
had the satisfaction at least of knowing that he had
done his best, and that all his officers, with a single
exception,4 had behaved with  the greatest coolness
and bravery.
The articles of capitulation were of course written
in French.  The following translation of them  shows
the terms granted to Washington, viz.:
"ARTICLE 1.--We grant leave to the English commander to
retire with all his garrison, and to return peaceably into his
2 The account given by De Villiers of the closing scenes of the battle,
and of the call for a parley, is as follows: " Towards six at night the fire
of the enemy increased with more vigor than ever, and lasted until
light. We briskly returned their fire. We took particular care to secure
our posts to keep the English fast up in their fort all night; and after havillg fixed ourselves in the best position we could w- let the English know
that if they woulld speak to us we would stop firing. They accepted the
3  proposal; there came a captain to the place where I was. I sent M. le
t  Mercier to receive him, and I went to the Meadow, where I told him that
1  as we were not at war we were very willing to save them from the cruele  ties to which they exposed themselves on account of the Indians; but
8  if they were stubborn we would take away from them all hopes of escaping; that we consented to be favorable to them at present, as we were
t,  come only to revenge my brother's assassination, and to oblige them to
y  quit the lands of the kilng my master..."
e    s An officer who was present at the capitulation wrote: " When Mr.'s  Van Braam returned with the French proposals we were obliged to take
I  the sense of them from his mouth; it rained so hard that he could not
d   give us a written translation of them, and we could scarcely keep the
e  candle lighted to read them by."
t,   4 When, in the following August, the Virginia House of Burgesses
n   passed a vote of thanks to Washington and his officers." for their bravery
Le  and gallant defense of their country" at Fort Necessity, the names of all
Y,  the officers were mentioned except that of the major of the regiment,
d   wl-lo was charged with cowardice in the battle, and Capt. Van Braam,
es  who was believed to have acted a treacherous part in interpreting the.
articles of capitulation.HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
a suit was brought a short time since by the trustees
of this church against Dr. Boyd, and when this suit
shall have been determined the last great disturbance
will be ended. May it be the last, with reference to
the future as well as the past. In standing off thus
at a distance and recounting the causes that have led
to all the dark days of this old pioneer church, how
simple they seem and how seemingly easy might they
have been averted. A learned judge once said in delivering the opinion of the court in a church case
where the dispute arose about two ministers, "In
this case some appear to be for Paul and some for
Apollos, but none for Christ." With all due respect
to those members who through all these difficulties
still clung to the good work, and labored and nobly
succeeded for the cause of the Master, a review of
this history shows that it was only when the church
began to approach that condition referred to by the
learned judge, and in their zeal for their own choice
of men forgot the great object of the church, that all
this contention arose.
PASTORS.-The first reference in any way to a pastor
of the church other than the letter previously referred
to is in the minutes of March 14, 1778, as follows:
" Had under consideration whether Br. Jas. Sutton
shall take the care of this church in place of Isaac
Sutton, to remain under consideration till another opportunity." Although this is nearly eight years after
the organization of the church, the records seem to
indicate that Isaac Sutton was the successor of Henry
Crosby, but at what time the pastorate of the latter
closed and that of the former began we are unable to
ascertain. May 16, 1778, a reference is made to Jas.
Sutton again as follows: "That Bro. Jas. Sutton take
the oversight of this church-a full conclusion referred till our next meeting." Nothing more is said
of a pastor in any way until Sept. 18, 1784, when it
was " Resolved that Bro. Jas Sutton shall act in every
respect as an assistant to Bro. Isaac Sutton." Dec.
18, 1784, James Sutton and wife were dismissed by
letter from the church, and the next reference to the
pastor is in the minutes of June 20, 1789, when a
resolution was passed that "Isaac Sutton, Sen.,
should stand minister in this church as usual," and
also called Wm. Loveberry as an assistant, to preach
once a month for one year.  It appears also that
David Loofborrow had been called as an assistant
near the same time. Some months after this occurred
the difficulty previously mentioned, when Isaac Sutton
resigned, March 21, 1790, but was recalled by one
branch of the church on the 18th of September following, and continued with this part of the church,
while Rev. Loofborrow remained with the other
branch, until Oct. 5, 1793, when the two branches
were united, and both called to officiate as ministers.
Sutton, however, was granted a letter of dismission
on the 21st of the same month, and left the sole control to Loofborrow, who continued as pastor until
Oct. 5, 1793, when he too was granted a letter of dismission. From this time until May 26, 1794, the
church was without a pastor, when Rev. Benjamin
Stone was called, first as a supply and afterwards as
pastor, and continued as such up to Sept. 7, 1805,
when he was granted a letter of dismission, but was
recalled on June 11, 1806, to preach once a month,
and continued as pastor until 1812. In the mean
time that remarkable man, William Brownfield, had
been licensed to preach, and Feb. 6, 1802, received a
call to preach the second and fourth Sundays in each
month. He thus continued until June 9, 1804, when
he was dismissed by letter, and we hear no more of
him until Feb. 12, 1812, when he received a call as
pastor of the church. This position he held uninterruptedly and alone until April 6, 1833, when Rev.
Milton Sutton was invited to preach once a month.
On June 1st of the same year Wm. Wood was also
invited to preach once a month for six months. May
3, 1834, Isaac Wynn was procured to preach once a
month, and May 2, 1835, Milton Sutton was requested to continue his services. During all this
time, however, Rev. Brownfield was still retained as
the pastor of the church. Soon afterwards occurred
the second division, before referred to, and although
Rev. Brownfield was then, on April 30, 1836, dismissed by " a majority of the members present" from
the pastorate of the church, he was still allowed to
preach on his usual days, the first and third Sabbaths
of each month. This he continued to do until 1846,
except such times as his place was supplied by other
ministers, whom he frequently invited to assist him.
Among these were Revs. Frey, Avery, McClelland,
Whitlock, and others. On the 24th of December,
1836, the other branch of the church called Elder
James Seymour to preach once a month, and from
this time until the end of Rev. Brownfield's labors, if
the church did not succeed it certainly was not from
lack of preachers. June 24, 1837, Elder Milton Sutton called once a month for one year, in connection
with Rev. Seymour. Feb. 24, 1836, Rev. John
Thomas called to preach once a month. June, 1838,
Elder Wm. Wood called oince a month, and continued as pastor until April, 1841. Dec. 22, 1838,
Rev. Isaac Wynn was called to supply the place of
Rev. Thomas, who had been employed by the Pennsylvania Missionary Society. Rev. Wynn continued
in connection with Rev. Wood until 1841, when Elder
E. M. Miles was called as pastor, to preach twice a
month, and who continued his labors with the church
until September, 1842. October 29th of the same year
Rev. Isaac Wynn was again called as a supply, but
afterwards retained as pastor, preaching one-half his
time until April 1, 1854, with the following exceptions: Dr. James Estep, pastor for six months from
April, 1844; Dr. William Penny, from Dec. 26, 1846,
to April 1, 1848; S. H. Ruple, one year from April'
26, 1851; and Rev. Milton Sutton, for one year from
April 24, 1852. From the time of his resignation as
pastor, Rev. Wynn was kept as a supply until June
i
I
320UNIONTOWN BOROUGH.
24, 1855, when Rev. Wm. Wood was called as a supply, to preach once a month. On Jan. 24, 1855, Rev.
Israel D. King was called as pastor of the church, and
continued as such until March 1, 1860. On the 8th
of December following, Rev. B. P. Ferguson was
called to the pastorate of the church, which place he
retained until Sept. 12, 1863. Dr. John Boyd was
called as pastor March 21, 1864, and continued until
March 2, 1867. Rev. C. E. Barto was next called,
Jan. 19, 1868, and continued until April 1, 1872.
Rev. W. W. Hickman entered as pastor in May, 1872,
and remained until April 1, 1878. From that time
until June 6, 1879, the church was without a pastor,
when Rev. F. B. La Barrer assumed the duties as
such, and still continues in that position, July 1, 1881.
PREACHERS LICENSED.-The following list shows
the licenses granted to young men by this church,
permitting them to enter the ministry:
Isaac Sutton, Nov. 8, 1770.
Joseph Barnet, March 19, 1773; ordained June,
1775.
Isaac Morris, May 21, 1775.
John Wade Lovebery, Sept. 20, 1783.
John Hopwood, Aug. 20, 1791.
- Sreve, Nov. 19, 1792.
William Brownfield, April 6, 1799; ordained Dec.
19, 1800.
Milton Sutton, July 6, 1833; ordained May 4, 1834.
Isaac Wynn, July 6, 1833.
Richard H. Austin, June 28, 1856; ordained Sept.
27, 1857.
Joseph Collins, Feb. 26, 1859.
John Batt, Jan. 19, 1868.
LIST OF CLERKS.--Isaac Morris, appointed July
15, 1775.
Philip Jenkins, appointed Nov. 19, 1776.
Moses Sutton, appointed Oct. 16, 1784.
Isaac Sutton, Jr., appointed Sept. 15, 1787.
John Hopwood, appointed Feb. 19, 1791.
Anthony Swain, appointed Oct. 18, 1794.
John Ayers, appointed Sept. 8, 1804.
Simon Gard, appointed Aug. 12, 1809.
Charles King, appointed March 28, 1812.
Samuel Little, appointed Aug. 1, 1818.
William Bryson, appointed May, 1830.
Hamilton Abraham (O. S.), appointed Jan. 2, 1836.
William Bryson (N. S.), appointed April 30, 1836.
George A. Shallenberger, appointed May 21, 1853.
F. L. Hatfield, appointed March 22, 1856.
Isaac W. Bryson, appointed Aug. 22, 1856.
Samuel Hatfield, Jr., appointed Sept. 26, 1857.
C. G. Turner, appointed Jan. 22, 1859.
R. Porter Craig, appointed Dec. 8, 1860.
Joseph Hayden, appointed Dec. 24, 1865.
Amos Bowlby, appointed Jan. 25, 1873.
S. W. Carter, appointed May 24; 1873.
D. M. Hertzog, appointed Sept. 27, 1879.
LIST OF DEAcONS.-Elijah Barclay, June 8, 1776,
on trial; ordained May 19, 1781.
Philip Pierce, May 17, 1779, on trial; ordained
May 19, 1781.
William Wells, Jan. 20, 1782.
Thomas Gaddis, Feb. 14, 1784.
Moses Carr, Jan. 19, 1790.
Robert Jackway, Jan. 15, 1791.
-   Ker, Oct. 18, 1794.
David Conger, April 5, 1800.
John Gaddis, March 9, 1805.
Simon Gard, March 9, 1805.
Isaac Minor, May 1, 1812.
William Vance, Nov. 4, 1815.
Moses Nixon, May 4, 1822.
John Troutman, May 4, 1822.
William Bryson, July 6, 1833.
Isaac Hutchinson, April 1, 1837.
Squire Ayers, Dec. 24, 1842.
A. B. Bryson, March, 1851.
Elijah Jennings, March, 1851.
George A. Shallenberger, Jan. 27, 1855.
George W. Foulk, Jan. 19, 1868.
William Swearingen, Jan. 19, 1868.
Crawford Vance, Aug. 22, 1868.
Porter Craig.
John Collins.
James Nabor, April 24, 1875.
H. C. Diffenderffer, Feb. 22, 1879.
Robert Bryner.
AssoCIATIONS.-The Redstone Association, according to Benedict's " History of the Baptists," was organized in 1776. In 1777 Great Bethel Church sent
the following messengers to that body, viz.: Isaac
Sutton, James Sutton, and Philip Jenkins. Owing
" to the difficulty of the times," it did not suit to hold
the Association that year at Muddy Creek, and it was
agreed that it should be held at the house of Isaac
Sutton. It is obvious from this that Great Bethel was
one of the original members of the Redstone Association, with which it continued until 1836, and the
branch which still clung to Rev. Wm. Brownfield
continued to send delegates until 1846, when Wm.
Brownfield, I. Hutchinson, and S. Davis were sent to
Indian Creek Church, where it met that year. The
other branch of the church soon after their separation
sent messengers to the Pittsburgh Association, and
were admitted to that body, of which the church remained a member until 1856. On the 26th of April,
1856, a letter was sent to the Pittsburgh Association
requesting dismission from them, with a view of uniting with the Monongahela Association. Their request
was granted, and the same year, on applying to the
Monongahela Association for admission, they were
received into that body, with which they still continue.
SABBATH-SCHOOL.-The first Sunday-school in connection with this church was organized in July, 1845,
on motion of Rev. Isaac Wynn. It has been maintained as an organization ever since. At first, for a
few years, it was conducted only during the winter
321HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
season, but since then it has been maintained regularly throughout the year. At present it is under the
superintendency of D. M. Hertzog, and numbers in
full nearly one hundred and fifty members, with nine
teachers.
CONCLUSION.-We have now attempted to record
briefly the principal events in the history of this remarkable church. Much that is interesting has no
d,ubt been omitted, but enough is given to mark the
course along which she has passed. Dating her existence back to a time when the great Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania was a feeble province of the mothercountry, she has witnessed the birth, growth, and unprecedented prosperity of a mighty nation. Sometimes disturbed by national or State convulsions from
without, and occasional contentions within, her course
has not always been smooth as that of church brotherhood should be, yet upon the whole her members
have reason to rejoice that they belong to a body
which, by the grace of God, has been permitted to do
so much for the cause of the Master, and especially
to see the harmony that now prevails in all her parts,
and the glorious opportunity at present offered for the
successful advancement of that great work.  May
peace continue within her walls and prosperity within
her palaces!
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN UNIONTOWN.1
At the session of Conference held in Baltimore May
28, 1784, Redstone Circuit was formed, which included
all of Pennsylvania west of the Allegheny Mountains.
John Cooper and Samuel Breeze were appointed to
this circuit. They came to Uniontown, probably in
June, as Bishop Asbury preached in Uniontown July
7, 1784, to a congregation of seven hundred persons,
and it is probable that Cooper and Breeze came with
him. But the peculiar polity of Methodism in working
the laymen as local preachers and exhorters had forestalled the appearance of the regular circuit preachers, who found in the vicinity of Uniontown Robert
Wooster, a local preacher from England. Wooster,
according to the best authority attainable, came to
America about the year 1771, and commenced preaching in the neighborhood of Uniontown about 1780.
Many traditions have been handed down in Methodist families concerning Wooster and his work, from
which it is thought to be more than probable that
he organized classes at several points in and around
Uniontown. The early records of the society at Uniontown were not preserved, so that a correct list of the
persons forming the first class or society cannot be
furnished, although many of them are known. The
oldest record now in the possession of the church is a
treasurer's book opened in 1807.
Cooper and Breeze remained on Redstone Circuit
but one year, under the custom of annual changes
which was then the rule. They were followed in 1785
by Peter Moriarity, John Fittler, and Wilson Lee. It
1 By Dr. J. E. Moffitt, of Uniontown.
is probable that Bishop Asbury came to Uniontown
with the new preachers, as he writes that he exhorted
in Beesontown July 19, 1785. He also preached, July
1 and 2, 1786, in the new meeting-house in Beesontown. He says, "We had a feeling, gracious season;
the Sacrament was, I trust, attended with a blessing."
On July 20th, same year, he writes that he preached
to a congregation of six hundred persons in Beesontown during court. July 30th he writes that he was
at the Widow Murphy's.  It is not known exactly
when the first meeting-house was erected, but as Asbury preached in it July 1, 1786, it is probable that it
was built in 1785. The deed for the lots on which it
was built on Peter Street was not made, however,
until Aug. 6, 1791, and was made in the names of David
Jennings, Jacob Murphy, Samuel Stephens, Jonathan
Rowland, and Peter Hook, trustees of the Methodist
Episcopal Church in Uniontown.
The first church or meeting-house was built of logs,
thirty-five by seventy feet, including the school-room
at the west end. It stood on what is now the graveyard, near the line of the Second Church lot, fronting
on Peter Street and flush with the street. There was
a hall separating the school-room and the meetinghouse, and a stairway in the hall leading to a room
over the school-room. There were doors in the hall
leading to the school-room on the left and into the
meeting-house on the right.
Bishop Asbury commenced the annual session of
Conference at Uniontown, in the meeting-house, Aug.
22, 1788. There were in attendance seven regular
preachers and five others " on trial." Owing to some
inconvenience and at the invitation of Mrs. Ann
Murphy, Bishop Asbury changed the place of meeting to her house, which stood opposite the present
residence of Henry Gaddis. Mrs. Murphy not only
furnished a place for the meetings of Conference but
entertained the whole body, including the bishop.
During the session of this Conference Michael Leard
was ordained. He was the first Methodist preacher
ordained west of the mountains. Mrs. Ann Murphy
was one of the original members of the church in
Uniontown, and often entertained Asbury and his
traveling companions, who always made it a point to
stop with "Mother Murphy" when their journeys
west and south brought them into the neighborhood.
She came from Maryland during the Revolutionary
war (the exact date is not known), and bought what
is now the county farm and the Gaddis place, where
she lived at the time of Conference in 1788. In Maryland she owned a tobacco plantation between Baltimore and Harper's Ferry, and having several children, she (at their solicitation) sold out and moved
west to Uniontown. The year before her son, Eli
Murphy, made a preliminary visit to the neighborhood
of Uniontown. He was murdered, it was supposed, for
his money. His traveling companion charged his
death to the Indians, while the settlers, although not
entertaining a very high opinion of the red men,
I
329UNIONTOWN  BOROIJGH.                                            323
seemed inclined to exonerate them from the charge.   The lot on which the school-house stood (joining
Mrs. Murphy was accompanied by all her children, the graveyard lots on the west) was transferred to the
except a married daughter, who remained in Mary-  trustees of the church in 1794; from this fact, and
land. She brought a considerable sum of money with  also that the school was established in 1792, it is conher, and after buying the home-farm and the farm at cluded that the school-room was added to the church
Mount Braddock for Jacob, she had for those days a  building several years after the latter was built, problarge surplus, but as
it was in Continental
notes it became worthless at the close of the
war.  Jacob Murphy
married a daughter of
Col, Meason, and in
1791 his name appears
as one of the original
trustees. Ann Murphy
(the daughter) married
Samuel Stephens, who
was also one of the
original trustees. They
were the parents of
Mrs. Priscilla Austin,
and lived on their farm
near Upper Middle-                    FIRST METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, UNIONTOWN.
town. Sallie Murphy
married a Mr. Banning, and moved to Ohio. Rachel  ably in 1791.1  Rev. C. Conway remained on the disMurphy married Rev. Roberts, a minister in the  trict until 1796, and probably continued as manager
Methodist Episcopal Church, and also moved to Ohio.  of the school to that date, but in 1795 Conference
Nacca Murphy, the youngest, married James Gregg.  appointed John K. Reynolds, a traveling preacher,
They were the grandparents of Dr. William and Miss  classical teacher. Rev. Wm. Wilson taught the EngM. E. Sturgeon. Mrs. Murphy brought a number of  lish branches. The sessions of Conference of 1794
her slaves with her, and among them a Guinea negro  and 1796 were held in Uniontown.  In 1808 the
named Nero, of whom many laughable anecdotes are  meeting-house was weatherboarded  and otherwise
related. Nero conceived a great dislike to the raw  improved. In 1809, Thomas Daughaday was preacher
edges of pioneer life in the West, and mourned over  in charge of the circuit. He died at his residence on
the flesh-pots of Maryland, refusing in the bitterness  Morgantown Street, where the third church now
of his anguish to attend family worship. Bishop As-  stands, on the 12th of October, 1810. He was but
bury on one occasion persuaded Nero to attend family  thirty-three years of age. His wife was a daughter
worship. He reluctantly consented, but during the  of Peter Hook, one of the original trustees.  She
singing, reading, and praying he became so demon-  died in Westmoreland County.
strative in his happiness as to break down his chair and    Mrs. Ann Murphy died Sept. 10, 1814, in the log
fall to the floor shouting,-a little too happy for the  house on South Street where Mr. N. Greenland now
occasion,-so that the good bishop never again asked  lives. Her descendants in Fayette County are quite
Nero to attend family worship. Bishop Asbury and  numerous, but few of them remain in the Methodist
Richard Whatcoat preached a sermon each during the  Church. Peter Hook, one of the original trustees,
session of the Conference of 1788, and Conference ad-  died March 12, 1818, aged sixty-five years. He was
journed on the 25th of August. Asbury was again in  the grandfather of Mr. P. H. Hellen. In 1820 the
Uniontown July 25, 1789. Conference held its annual  society at Uniontown was separated from the circuit,
session in Uniontown in 1790, commencing July 28th,  and with Brownsville formed a station under the pasWednesday, and continued over Sunday. Three elders  torate of Dennis H. Battie. The school established
and four deacons were ordained by Asbury at this Con-  by Conference in 1792 must have closed its history
ference. In 1792, June 2d, Conference again met in  somewhere about 1800. It was followed by select
Uniontown, and Asbury writes in hisjournal, date June  schools down to 1819, Patrick Talbot being the last
10th:  "We have founded a seminary of learning,
1ith: "We have founded a seminary of learning,   1 On the 6th of August, 1791, Jacob Beeson sold to David Jennings,
called Union School. Brother C. Conway is manager,  Jacob Murphy, Samuel Stephens, Jonathan Rowland, and Peter Hook,
who also has charge of the District. The Establishment  trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church, lots Nos. 27 and 28, in conis designed for instruction in Grammar, Sciences and  sideration of five shillings. These lots were located in Jacob's Addition, on the north side of Peter Street. The Methodist Church was
the languages." This school was located in the school- I built up,on tlhem, and the old burial-ground was in use from an earlier
room in the west end of the church on Peter Street."  day. as is slhown by the fact that one stone in it bears the date of 1790.HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
teacher. In 1820 the partitions between the meetinghouse and the school-room were taken out and the
whole thrown into one room, and the gallery extended
around the west end. After this the old hall entrance
was used exclusively by the females, who were still
further separated from the male portion of the congregation by a balustrade something higher than the
backs of the seats, running from the south side forward to the aisle in front of the altar. The pulpit
was in the centre of the north side, and had over it
a sounding-board about five feet in diameter. The
choir, usually very large, occupied the south gallery,
the colored people the east, and the whites the west
gallery. Uniontown continued with Brownsville as a
half-station until 1824, when the appointment was
made a station, and James G. Sansom appointed the
first station preacher.  From  1784 to 1824, when
Uniontown was made a station, fifty-eight preachers
were appointed to this charge. Never less than two,
and sometimes three preachers were on the circuit
at one time. James G. Sansom remained but one
year, and was followed in 1825 by David Sharp, who
in turn was followed by Henry B. Bascom in 1826.
Bascom was a preacherof national reputation. Many
of the older citizens remember his eloquent and stirring sermons. He was a man of fine personal appearance, with a brilliant mind of poetical rather than logical cast. Bascom remained but one year, and in 1827
was appointed president of Madison College. The history of Madison College while under the patronage of
the Methodist Episcopal Church is rather obscure. After the formation of the Pittsburgh Conference, and at
its first session, a resolution was presented by Asa Shinn
and seconded by Thornton Fleming and adopted,
viz.: "That the Conference establish a seminary of
learning within its bounds, and a missionary be appointed to ascertain the probable amount of money
needed." Henry B. Bascom reported at the session
of 1826, and the Conference accepted the report, and
"Resolved, 1st, That the institution be located at
Uniontown, Pa.; 2d, That a superintending committee of nine be appointed, five of whom shall be traveling preachers, to determine where to ereGt buildings
and to employ teachers if practicable."  The committee was appointed as follows: Revs. H. B. Bascom,
John Waterman, Asa Shinn, Charles Cooke, and
Thornton Fleming, and Messrs. Charles Avery, of
Pittsburgh, John M. Austin, Thomas Erwin, and
Henry Ebbert, of Uniontown. There had been an
academy in Uniontown, established in 1808, the trustees of which gave the buildings for college purposes,
and the college was opened under the presidency of
H. B. Bascom in 1827. J. H. Fielding was Professor
of Mathematics, and Charles Elliott Professor of
Languages. Bascom resigned in 1829, and J. H. Fielding was appointed president, and H. J. Clark professor. In 1832 Madison College closed on account of
the Conference accepting Allegheny College, at Meadville, Pa. Bascom in after-years became president of
Kentucky State College, and died in 1850 a bishop
of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. In 1827,
Dr. Charles Elliott followed Bascom as preacher in
charge, and also taught the languages in lMadison
College. He remained two years, and was followed
in 1829 by Thornton Fleming, who remained one
year.
In 1830 Conference held its session in Uniontown,
and Charles Cooke was appointed to the station.
Jonathan Rowland, one of the original trustees, died
Sept. 22, 1830, in the seventy-seventh year of his age.
In 1832, under the pastorate of Charles Cooke, the
Second Methodist Episcopal Church was commenced,
and finished in 1833, under the pastorate of George
S. Holmes. It was built of brick on a triangular lot
adjoining the graveyard on the west. Daniel B. McCarty, George W. Rutter, and Benjamin Hellen composed the building committee. Under the direction
of this committee Edward Hyde, bricklayer, Edward
Jones, stone-mason, and Gabriel Getzindiner, carpenter, built the church. The church was dedicated by
Charles Cooke (former pastor), and cost about $3500.
In 1837, March 28th, Daniel Limerick, preacher in
charge, died, and was buried in the graveyard. From
February, 1837, until Conference met in July the
pulpit was filled by John White, preacher in charge
of Redstone Circuit, under the direction of the presiding elder. From this date to the present time the
records of the church are well preserved, and as full
and complete as could be expected under the circumstances.
-' The usual fluctuations incident to the history of all
congregations have had their place in the Methodist
Church in Uniontown, but nothing transpired deserving special mention in a sketch like this excepting the revival of 1847-48, under the pastorate of S. E.
Babcock, when one hundred and eighty-seven persons
joined the church, and the building of the Third
Methodist Episcopal Church on Morgantown Street.
The contract for building the Third Church was
signed by Messrs. Fuller, Laughead, Bailey  Co.,
July 24, 1877, and the church was dedicated by Bishop
Simpson June 2, 1878. The lots on which the church
stands cost $2500. The building and furnishing complete cost $12,800. The last payment on the debt was
paid Feb. 7, 1880.
Ninety-two preachers have served the Methodist
Episcopal Church in Uniontown since 1784, the date
of the organization of the church, down to the present
year (1881).  Thirty-four of these were stationed
preachers since 1824, when the appointment first became a station. The names of the stationed preachers and dates of service are as follows:
James G. Sansom, 1824.  H. J. Clark, 1831.
David Sharp, 1825.      Geo. S. Holmes, 1833-34.
H. B. Bascom, 1826.     T. M. Hudson, 1835.
Charles Elliott, 1827-28.  Daniel Limerick, 1836.
Thornton Fleming, 1829.  I. N. McAbee, 1837.
Charles Cooke, 1830-32.   W. Smith, 1838-39.
-                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        -~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
324UNIONTOWN BOROUGH.
B. F. Sawhill, 1840.    E. B. Griffin, 1859-60.
C. D. Battell, 1841-42.    A. L. Petty, 1861.
A. Young, 1843.           H. Sinsebaugh, 1862.
William Cox, 1844-45.    H. L. Chapman, 1863-65.
E. Birkett, 1846.       J. Mancell, 1866.
S. E. Babcock, 1847-48.   C. W. Smith, 1867-69.
Frank Moore, 1849-50.   A. B. Castle, 1870-72.
Jos. Montgomery, 1851.  John J. Moffitt, 1873-75.
I. C. Pershing, 1852-53.  S. W. Davis, 1876 (two
A. G. Williams, 1854.     Conference years in this
John Grant, 1855-56.      year) to 1877.
John Williams, 1857-58.  R. T. Miller, 1878-80.
A long list of excellent men have served the church
as local preachers, trustees, stewards, leaders, and Sunday-school superintendents. Among them may be
mentioned (as space precludes mention of all) John
Phillips, John Hibben, William McClelland, Morris
Covert, John M. Austin, George Griffith, Henry Ebbert, Robert Kincaid, Noble McCormick, Rice G.
Hopwood, James Ebbert, Gabriel Getzendiner, A. L.
Little, R. L. Barry, Robert Boyle, Richard Miller, P.
H. Hellen, Z. Ludington, Daniel Sturgeon, D. Hess,
John F. Beazel, E. G. Roddy, James T. Redburn,
John W. Barr, W. A. Donaldson, Henry Wilson, G.
W. Rutter, etc. The present official board is composed
of the following: Alfred Newlon, local elder and
trustee; T. F. Farmer, local deacon; William Wilson,
G. Crossland, John Sembower, William Craig, and
Henry McClay, trustees and stewards; Thomas Jaquett, Lewis Dawson, and William B. McCormick,
trustees; A. S. Craig, William Sembower, and J. E.
Moffitt, stewards, the last named being recording
steward. As far back as the records of the church
are preserved there are accounts of the Sunday-school,
but nothing is known of the date of original organization. The whole number enrolled in the Sundayschool is about two hundred, the average attendance one hundred and forty-seven. There are twenty
teachers, including those of the boys' and the girls' infant classes. J. E. Moffitt is superintendent; H. McClay, assistant superintendent; H. F. Detwiler, secretary; and Juliet Wilson, treasurer. There is another
organization connected with the church that deserves
special mention: the Ladies' and Pastor's Christian
Union, organized by the pastor, Rev. S. W. Davis, in
1877. The society is designed to aid the pastor in his
work, and to assist the trustees in providing for the
ordinary and extra expenses of the church and its
furniture. The society paid over fifteen hundred
dollars on the cost of building and furnishing the new
church, and is still actively engaged in providing for
the incidental expenses. The pastor is president;
Miss Juliet Wilson, vice-president; Mrs. Neil Claggett, treasurer; and Miss Lou Reynolds, secretary.
Regular weekly meetings are held on Tuesday
evenings.
The Methodist Episcopal Church in Uniontown has
furnished quite a number of ministers for the active
work of the church. Among others may be mentioned
David Hess (deceased), L. R. Beacom, and G. T. Reynolds, of the Pittsburgh Conference, Henry Wilson,
of the Illinois Conference, and C. M. Coburn, of the
Erie Conference. The number of members now connected with the church is two hundred and twentysix, which is about the average number for the past
fifty years.
Perhaps there is no other point west of the mountains where the associations and memories of Methodism concentrate as at Uniontown. The early planting of Methodism, its well-sustained efforts in behalf
of liberal education, the prominent position held by
the denomination in its earlier days, and the great and
good men who have been connected with the appointment have conspired to make Uniontown an historical centre in Western Methodism. Viewed from the
era of the sturdy and heroic itinerant, who, clad in
homespun and equipped with saddle-bags, battled for
the gospel of peace, or contemplated in the mellow
light radiating from the memories of the mothers in
Methodism, the promise of the present and the future
of Methodism in Uniontown is not so bright as that
of the past.
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF UNIONTOWN.1
It is quite certain that Uniontown was occupied by
Presbyterian ministers as a place for preaching the
gospel a century ago. This is inferred because there
were Presbyterian churches in this county with the
regular ministrations of the Word as early as 1774.
We have authority for the statement that in 1776
Uniontown was included in the bounds of the Dunlap's
Creek Church. When ministers were so near they
would not neglect this point. But we have no recorded nor verbal information in regard to the formative period of our history until near the beginning
of the present century. The first statement to be
found anywhere is in the minutes of the Redstone
Presbytery. The following extract gives the first
reference in these minutes to this church:
"At the meeting of the Presbytery at Georges
Creek, Oct. 11, 1799, application for supplies was
made by the vacant congregation of Uniontown.
Rev. James Powers was appointed for one Sabbath,
and Rev. Samuel Porter for another," both eminent
ministers.
During the following twelve years, application was
made at irregular intervals for supplies, which were
appointed. About 1812, Dr. James Dunlap, a man of
considerable ability, ex-president of Jefferson College,
came here and remained about two years. He lived in
a small log house on the lot immediately to the east
of the court-house. He was principal of an academy
which was conducted in the Madison College building. The only person now (1876) living who was a
pupil of Dr. Dunlap at that time is Mr. Jacob B.
Miller, a citizen of this town. During his residence
1 Chiefly obtained from a history of the church prepared by the Rev.
S. S. Gilson in 1876, and published by request of the congregation.
I
325HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
here Dr. Dunlap preached occasionally in the old
court-house. In 1816 he went to reside with his son,
Rev. William Dunlap, in Abingdon, near Philadelphia, where he remained until his death, which occurred Nov. 22, 1818. in the seventy-fifth year of his
age. Up to 1817 the preaching was very irregular.
The Rev. William T. Wylie, a native of Washington County, came here in 1817, from the churches of
Rehoboth and Round Hill, and began preaching to
this church, to its great satisfaction. He is properly
regarded as the first pastor. He came upon the
special invitation of John Lyon, an eminent lawyer,
John Kennedy, afterwards judge, and John Miller, a
citizen of influence. Mr. Wylie labored here as stated
supply two years, and was then formally called by the
congregation.
From the records of the meeting of the Presbytery
held at Long Rufi, April 21, 1819, this extract is
made: " A call was presented from the congregation of
Uniontown for the ministerial labors of the Rev. William Wylie, in which they promise him the sum of
$1000 in regular quarterly payments during the continuance of his pastoral relation with them. This call
was put into his hands and he declared his acceptance, and the Rev. Messrs. Francis Herron, Robert
Johnson, James Guthrie, and William Johnson were
appointed to meet in Uniontown on the first Tuesday
of May, 1819, at two o'clock P.M., to install the Rev.
William Wylie in the said congregation." The unusually large salary is worthy of note. It is believed
to have been one of the largest paid to a minister of
the gospel anywhere in the United States at that time,
and it is explained by the fact that then many men
of wealth resided here, who identified themselves
with this congregation. The explicit instruction of
the Presbytery was carried out, for at the meeting at
Mount Pleasant "The committee appointed to install
Rev. William Wylie in the congregation of Uniontown reported they had done their duty."
Mr. Wylie continued his ministerial labors in this
church until October, 1823, with varied experience.
At Long Run, where the call had been presented, in
1822, "Mr. Wylie presented a request from the trustees of the Uniontown congregation, stating that in  1
consequence of the peculiar embarrassments of the  t
times, and the removal and contemplated removal of a  I
number of th6ir most efficient subscribers, the congregation were unable to engage to Mr. Wylie more than  c
$300 a year for one-half of his ministerial services, and r
that they were reluctantly constrained to desire the
Presbytery to release them from their former engage-  l
ments to Mr. Wylie, and the Rev. William Wylie  c
agreeing with the request, it was granted." From   d
this time until his resignation he also preached occa- c
sionally at Wheeling. Mr. Wylie resigned his charge  t
here in October, 1823, and was dismissed to the Presbytery of Washington.                                c
Mr. Wylie's pastoral services here seem to have been  g
quite efficient. The growth of the church was steady  t]
until near the close of his pastorate. His physical
appearance was imposing, He Wvas a tall and slender
man, over six feet high. He was pleasant in conversation. He entered the pulpit with great solemnity,
and was regarded in his day as a very popular and
powerful preacher. He was searching and faithful in
his style, bold and pointed in the denunciation of sin.
He spoke without notes. He preached in the old
court-house.
In 1827 a call was again made out for his pastoral
services, a very unusual thing in the history of any
congregation, and the only case of the kind in the
history of this, but Mr. Wylie declined.
In 1820-21 he erected the house now occupied by
Dr. Daniel Sturgeon, at the northeast corner of Main
Street and Mill Alley. The following information in
regard to the subsequent history of Mr. Wylie is furnished by James Veech, Esq.
From Uniontown Mr. Wylie went to Wheeling,
thence in 1832 to Newark, Ohio, in 1854 to Port Gibson, Miss., where he married his second wife. He
returned to Wheeling in 1855, and died there May
9, 1858, nearly eighty-two years of age. His first wife
was a daughter of Rev. David Smith, his predecessor
at Rehoboth and Round Hill. She was a sister of
Rev. Joseph Smith, author of "Old Redstone," and
was the chilt born under the circumstances related
on page 57 of that book. She was a good womah,
and deserves to be remembered as the mother of the
Sabbath-school of this church. The only person now
living who united with the church under Mr. Wylie
is Mrs. Sarah Dawson, of Brownsville, then Mrs.
Sarah Bryson, nee Miss Sarah Huston.
For a period of five years after the departure of
Mr. Wylie this church was supplied by the Presbytery. It was during this interval that Dr. A. G. Fairchild seems to have preached here very frequently.
In 1827 the Rev. John Holmes Agnew was called
to take charge of this church, and was installed Jan.
26, 1828, by the Presbytery, which met here for that
purpose. His salary was $400 per annum. Mr. Agnew was the son of a prominent physician in Harrisburg, a graduate of Dickinson College, and a licentiate'of the Presbytery of Carlisle. He was a small
man with a weak voice, a fine scholar and writer,
and read his discourses. He was a good pastor, according to the testimony of those now living who
remnember him, and as the sessional records indicate.
Towards the close of his labors here he hardly came
up to the standard of orthodoxy of that day, especially because he was thought to make salvation
depend too largely on the human will. At the time
of the disruption, in 1838, Mr. Agnew united with
hle New School branch of the church.
Mr. Agnew resigned here in 1831, chiefly on account
f ill health, and at once accepted the chair of Lan-;uages in WVashington College, and was dismissed to
he Presbytery of Washington. Subsequently he was
326327
UNIONTOWN BOROUGH.
a professor for a short time in Michigan University;
conducted a Ladies' Seminary at Pittsfield, Mass.;
became editor of the Eclectic Magazine in New York;
also taught in a female seminary near Cincinnati,
and died several years since at his home on the Hudson River. During his residence in Uniontown he
married Miss Taylor, of Brooklyn. She was an
estimable lady, earnestly desiring to aid her husband
in his work.
In 1831 began the longest pastorate of this history,
that of Rev. Joel Stoneroad. Another peculiarity of
his pastorate is that it followed immediately upon
that of Mr. Agnew, without the intermission of a
single Sabbath. Mr. Stoneroad was ordained and
installed here Dec. 14, 1831, by the Presbytery, on a
salary of $500, in regard to which sum he says, " Although it now appears small, it is to be remembered
all other things were in proportion."
Mr. Stoneroad was born Jan. 2, 1806, in Mifflin
County; graduated at Jefferson College in 1827, and
at Princeton Seminary in 1830. He labored as a
domestic missionary for some months at Morgantown, and without his own solicitation or expectation
was invited to preach as a candidate here. Unwilling
to violate his engagements with the board, the proposition was made and accepted to preach here every
alternate Sabbath. After being substantially on trial
for six months, a unanimous call was made out for
his entire time here.
Mr. Stoneroad's labors within these bounds were
singularly blessed, and his pastorate of ten and a half
years was marked by an average admission, on examination, of twelve persons a year. He resigned this
charge April 14, 1842, because of the impression that
he could be more useful elsewhere. He went from
here to the Cross-Roads Church in Washington
County, and after a sojourn of eight years there was
called to the churches of Laurel Hill and Tyrone. In
1861 this charge was divided, and Mr. Stoneroad took
the church of Laurel Hill alone, where he still labors
with a zeal and energy beyond his strength. While
in Uniontown he was regarded as an orthodox
preacher, and was a diligent pastor, and he deserves,
as we believe he has, the esteem of this church "for
his work's sake."  Revs. Wylie, Agnew, and Stoneroad all went from here to Washington Presbytery.
The Rev. Andrew Ferrier, D.D., the only doctor of
divinity who has ever labored in this church, came
here as supply by the appointment of Presbytery in
1842. He was a minister of the United Secession
Church, Scotland, a member of the Presbytery of
Glasgow, but came here more directly from the Presbytery of New York. On the 29th of November,
1842, Dr. Ferrier was installed as pastor here on a
salary of $500.
He was a man of decided ability, and preached fine
old orthodox sermons; but his Scotch brogue made it
difficult for many of the people to understand him.
He read his sermons from phonographic notes. Dr.
Ferrier resigned his charge here Aug. 6, 1844, and
crossed to the Scotch Church in Canada, and of his
subsequent history we have no information.
In 1845, on the 26th of June, the Rev. Griffith
Owen was installed here on a salary of $500. He
was a zealous, whole-souled, off-hand Welshman, a
good pastor, and a very good preacher whenever he
applied himself: He was noted for his itinerancy,
both in preaching and visiting from house to house.
He resigned here Nov. 11, 1847, being called to the
Third Presbyterian Church of Baltimore, thence removing to Philadelphia, where, after laboring a few
years, he died.
The Rev. Moses Allen Williams was installed pastor of this church Nov. 20, 1849, on a salary of $500.
He labored here as stated supply from February until
this date.
He was the son of a ruling elder in the Mingo congregation, and was born Sept. 20, 1811. He was partly
educated for the ministry by the donation of a sum of
money for this purpose by the great-grandmother of
one of the present members of this church. He is
the brother of Dr. Aaron Williams, a well-known
minister, now living near the city of Pittsburgh. He
resigned his charge here in 1852.
Mr. Williams was a godly man and an excellent
pastor, but only a moderate preacher. He wrote all
his sermons out at length and read closely, claiming
it was impossible for him to speak without notes, or
even commit his discourses. The following information is condensed from a letter received in October,
1876, from Mr. Williams, who was then preaching at
Jacksonville, Oregon:
"After leaving Uniontown I went to South America, and lived three years in Valparaiso, Chili. I left
Valparaiso in the fall of 1856, arriving in San Francisco after a delightful voyage of forty-two days. In
December I crossed Washington Territory by a trail
through dense forests until I arrived at Cowlitz
Landing, at the head of navigation on the Cowlitz
River. In the spring of 1857 I was engaged by the
secretaries of the board to explore for the cause of
home missions.  I preached in Sacramento awhile,
organized a Presbyterian Church in Napa City, and
made my way north through California to Red Bluffs
and Shasta, thence by mule-back over high ranges
of mountains, almost buried sometimes in the deep,
melting snows, and brought up at Yreka, in Shasta
Valley, and explored and. preached all over Scott's
and Shasta Valleys.
"I organized a Presbyterian Church in Jacksonville, returned in the fall over the mountain ranges,
through deep snows, to San Francisco, revisited Sacramento and Napa City, and near the latter place
married one of the best and handsomest women the
IHISTORY OF FAYETTE COTJNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Lord ever made. In the fall of 1858 I returned to
Roger's River Valley, where I have been laboring
ever since. I scarcely ever see the face of a Presbyterian minister. This valley is surrounded with high,
grand mountains, and possesses the finest climate in
the world. I am sixty-five years of age, and can ride
all day almost as well as ever. Uniontown was technically my first and last pastoral charge."
In 1853, April 27th, the Rev. James H. Callen was
installed as pastor, on a salary of $500. He was an
Irishman, with a pleasant manner in conversation.
His discourses were brief, finished in a bright style,
and were always read with a fair delivery. As a pastor he was ordinary. He was a man of medium
height, with a good appearance in the pulpit. He
gave fair satisfaction during his pastorate, and resigned April 10, 1855, because he received a call to a
church in the East, which region seemed to be more
congenial to himself and family. A note received
from Mr. Callen, now (1876) an evangelist in Brooklyn, having received the title of D.D. since leaving
here, says, "I cannot recall any facts now which
would be worthy of note."
The Rev. William Furguson Hamilton was installed
pastor May 13, 1856, having served the church, under
call, from October, 1855, to that time. His pastorate
was the second in length of any in the history of this
church.
Mr. Hamilton was born in Washington County,
graduated at Washington College in 1844, at the age
of twenty, studied theology at the Western Theological Seminary, was licensed by the Presbytery of Ohio
in 1849, and ordained and installed, in 1850, pastor of
Centre Church, near Canonsburg, where he labored a
little over two years.
Mr. Hamilton was a man of far more than average
talents and ability. He was a fine writer, with a
keen, pointed style. He usually wrote and read his
discourses. He had a hesitancy in his delivery somewhat unpleasant to the ear, and which slightly diminished the effect of his sermons. He was regarded as
a better preacher than pastor.  Mr. Hamilton resigned his work here May 31, 1866, after a pastorate
of ten years. In 1868 he took charge of the churches
of Salem  and Livermore. in the Blairsville Presbytery, and labored there with acceptance for seven
years. He then resigned, resided in Blairsville a
short time, and thence removed to Washington, acting as stated supply to the Mount Pleasant Church,
and also as Professor of Intellectual Philosophy and
Ethics in the college.
From  the time of Mr. Agnew until that of Mr.
Hamilton the minister's salary was $500 per annum. 1
Mr. Hamilton was called upon a salary of $600, which
was subsequently raised to $800, owing to the increased price of living during the war.              r
The Rev. Walter W. Ralston was installed pastor
of this church April 28, 1867, on a salary of $1200,
in quarterly payments in advance. The congregation also paid his house-rent during his residence
here. He was a native of Ohio, a graduate of Jefferson College and Princeton Theological Seminary, and
was called here from his first charge at Churchville,
Md. He was a good preacher, with an excellent,
melodious voice, and fine appearance and manner in
the pulpit. He usually read his discourses. He was
a fair pastor. He resigned his charge here Oct. 1,
1873, on account of a call to the church of Xenia,
Ohio, which gave him a larger support than he was
receiving here, and which he believed would furnish
him a little relief in ministerial labor. He left Xenia
in 1875, for a short time acted as financial agent for
Washington and Jefferson College, and in 1876 accepted a call to the church of Bridgewater.
The Rev. Samuel S. Gilson was born Oct. 28, 1843,
in Westmoreland County, graduated at Washington
and Jefferson College in 1866, at the Allegheny Theological Seminary in 1869, and took a fourth year's
course at Union Theological Seminary, New York.
He preached two summers at Garrison's, on the Hud-.
son. He was called to Bowling Green, Ky., April 1,
1871, and after laboring there precisely three years,
was called to Uniontown and installed pastor May 1,
1874. Rev. J. P. Fulton presided and preached the
sermon, Rev. J. M. Barnett delivered the charge to
the pastor, and, by special invitation, Dr. George
Hill, of Blairsville, the charge to the people. Mr.
Gilson resigned his work here in June, 1879. The
Rev. A. S. Milholland, the next and present pastor,
was installed June 15, 1880.
There have been few elders in this church, but, with
two or three exceptions, they were able and excellent
men, devoted to the solemn duties of their office.
That they were efficient and useful, especially in giving advice and administering discipline, is the testimony of former pastors and of the records of the
church. In discipline their patience and wisdom
were wonderful.
At the first meeting of the session of which there is
any iecord the only business attended to was a case
of discipline, the charge being improper conduct and
the use of profane language towards a citizen of this
town. There is no record of any other meeting of the
session during the year 1826. In 1829 a serious case
of discipline came up, when a member of the church
was tried for inhumanity to a negro. This case was
promptly and prayerfully prosecuted, and the long
and full record assures us of the wisdom and piety of
the first session of this church.
From this time on, for a quarter of a century, a case
or more of discipline was under consideration at almost every meeting of the session. Some of these
vere exceedingly difficult to manage, and two or
three are as complicated and mysterious as ever come
I
328
---------
v
tUNIONTOWN BOROUGH.       329~_
before the civil courts. The charges are for all kinds
of offenses: for profanity, drunkenness, improper
conduct, unbecoming language, slander, imposing a
wrong ticket on a voter, neglecting the ordinances of
religion, and for other sins. In those early days the
elders frequently brought about reconciliations and
adjusted differences which in modern times are more
apt to find their way into the civil courts. A remarkable thing is that in almost every instance the accused
was found either wholly or partially guilty. Very.
many members of this church became subject at some
timne or other to discipline.
It is quite certain that at least some of the offenses
committed in the earlier history of this church by the
professed followers of Christ are not committed now.
Still, in those days there were many godly men and
women who walked spiritually minded, in an orderly
way, and brought no reproach upon the cause of
Christ.
The session of this church has always been prompt,
when occasion required, to express its judgment on
doctrinal and moral subjects. In 1834 the following
resolution, appropriate to an agitation then in progress, was adopted:
"Unanimously Resolved, That this session believes
that genuine revivals of religion are not the results
of human devices, but of the plain, practical, and
zealous preaching of gospel truth, of which truth we
believe our standards contain an admirable summary.
" Resolved, That common honesty, to say nothing of
Christian sincerity, requires that those who do not believe the Confession of Faith in the plain, obvious,
and common-sense construction of its doctrines
should at once candidly declare their opinions and
withdraw from the communion of the Presbyterian
Church."
The session, by its declarations and discipline, has
uniformly lifted up its voice against intemperance and
its causes. In 1833 this resolution was adopted,
"That this session is fully persuaded that the use of
ardent spirits as a drink is a great evil and crying
sin, and we are convinced that every pursuit which
tends directly to perpetuate the evil or throw obstacles
in the way of its suppression is immoral, and we believe it to be the duty of the Church at large to avoid
all participation in the guilt of its continuance."
Forty-three years afterwards, in 1876, the session expressed the meaning of this resolution in more explicit terms, and " Affirm their conviction of the censurable complicity in the guilt of the traffic in intoxicating liquors on the part of those who knowingly
rent their property for such purpose or indorse licenses
that legalize it, and we affectionately admonish the
members of this church to commit no offense of this
kind." In 1868 the session unanimously adopted a
long and able paper on the subject of worldly amusements, admonishing the people against dancing, cardplaying, and theatre-going.
Up to 1830 only those were admitted to the comnunion-table who had tokens, but in that year the
custom was unanimously abolished. In the same year
it was resolved, " That those persons who move within
our bounds from other churches and fail to obtain
their letters of dismission within six months should
be refused the privileges of the church." The pastor
was frequently requested by the session to preach
upon particular subjects, especially Sabbath observance and family worship.  During the pastorate
of Mr. Agnew the congregation was districted for
quarterly visits, "The whole care of the country
members to be left to the pastor." It is not stated
whether he chose this portion of the field because it
was most pleasant, or because it needed especial oversight. Until 1837 the session is said to meet in the
" meeting-house," about which time there is a gradual
transition to the' use of the word "church." The
meetings of the session, however, have been usually
held in private houses, and almost always at the home
of Mr. Espy during his residence in town.
In the old session-book of this church the first record, made in 1825, is signed by Joseph Kibler, Thomas
Lewis, and S. Y. Campbell. These men were the first
elders of this church. Before this date, when the
communion was admninistered here, assistance was
rendered by elders from adjoining churches,-for instance, Benjamin Laughead, of the Tent, and Judge
Finley, of Laurel Hill.
Joseph Kibler is spoken of as a godly and active
man. He was diligent in tract distribution and Sabbath-school work, and was the first agent of the first
Bible Society of this county. He was exceedingly
regular in his duties as an elder, and according to the
record was only absent from two or three meetings of
the session until his departure to Ohio, Oct. 8, 1832,
where, in the church at Hillsboro', he was a ruling
elder until the time of his death.
Thomas Lewis was regular in his attendance upon
the services of religion in public and private, and also
upon the meetings of the session, and was the stated
clerk from the beginning of the records until March
27, 1832. In 1839 he removed within the bounds ot
the Tent Church, still retaining his membership here
until 1841, until he was dismissed to the Tent congregation, within whose bounds he died, Dec. 21, 1849,
aged sixty-one years. S. Y. Campbell appears to have
acted as elder about two years, until 1827.
In 1829) September 28th, John Kennedy Duncan
and Dr. Hugh Campbell were ordained to the sacred
office. Mr. Duncan was born and raised in Carlisle,
admitted to this church upon certificate, and at once
elected elder, and served faithfully for one year, and
was dismissed in 1830 to the Tent Church. Thence
he removed to Springhill, thence to Iowa City, thence
to Dubuque, where he died in 1869.
October the 9th, 1825, is a date long to be remembered by this congregation. It was then that the two
UNIONTOWN BOROUGH.
329HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
own country, and promise to hinder his receiving any insult  Mackay's company numbered about one hundred,
from us French, and to restrain, as much as shall be in our  but its losses in killed and wounded, were not ofpower, the Indians that are with us.                    ficially stated.  On the French side, according to the
"ARTICLE 2.-It shall bc permitted him to go out and carry  s         o D
3           ~~~statement of De Villiers, the losses were two Frenchwith him all that belongs to them  except the artillery, which
man and one Indian  killed, fifteen Frenchmen and
we reserve.
"A11rTICLE 3.-That we will allow them thc honors of war,-  two Indians seriously and a number of others slightly
that they march out with drums beating and one swivel gun;   wounded.
being willing thereby to convince them that we treat them as    On the 4th of July, at break of day, the troops of
friends.                                                Washington filed out of the fort with drums beating
"ARTICLE 4.-That as soon as the articles are signed by  and colors flying, and (without any transportation for
both parties the English colors shall be struck.        their effects other than was afforded by the backs alnd
"ARTICLE 5.-That to-milorrow, at break of day, a detachnent  shoulders of the men, and having no meanis of carryof French shall go and make the garrison file off, and take pos-  ing teir badly wounded except on improvised stretchsession of the fort.
"ARTICLE 6.-As the English hlave but few oxen or horses  ers) moved sadly away to commence their weary jourleft, they are at liberty to hide their effects and to come again  ney of seventy nmiles over hills and streams to Wills'.and search for them when they have a number of horses suf-  Creek.
ficient to carry them off, and that for this end they may hav-e
what guards they please, on condition that they give their word  Upon the evacuation of the fort by Washington the
of honor to work no more on any buildings in this place, or any  French took possession, and immediately proceeded to
part on this side of the mountains.                     demolish the wpork, while "M. le Mercier ordered the
"ARTICLE 7.-And as the English have in their power one                  v
D                           cannon of the English to be broken, as also the one
officer, two cadets, and most of the prisoners made at the assassination of   M. de Jumonville, and promise to send them granted by capitulation, they not being able to carry
sassination Of M. de Jumonville, and prom-lse to send thleml  v.
back with a safe guard to Fort du Quesne, situate on the Ohio,  it away."  The French commander very prudently
for surety of their performing this article, as well as this treaty,  ordered the destruction of some barrels of rum which
MM. Jacob Van Braam. and Robert Stobo, both captains, shall  were in the fort, to guard agaiiist the disorder and
be delivered as hostages till the arrival of our French and Cana-  perhaps bloodslhed which woulld probably have endians above muentioned. We oblioe ourselves, on our side. to  sued if the liquior had been allowed to fall into the
give an escort to return these two officers in safety, and expect hands of the Indians.
to hav e our French in twvo montbs and a b:alf at I'ai-thest.'' inso   teIdas
De Villiers felt no little anxiety lest the expected
The capitulation was signed by Washington, Mac-  reinforcements to Washington should arrive, which
kay, and Villiers.  The latter had cunningly caused   might place him  in an unpleasant position and rethe articles to be so worded that the English officers  verse the fortunes of the day.  He therefore lost no
(who knew  nothing of the French language) were  time, and took his departure from the Great Meadows
made to sign an apparent acknowledgment that the   at as early an hiour as possible, and marched about
killing of Jumonvillel was an act of assassination. It  two leagues before lie encamped for the night.  On
was suspected that Van Braam, the so-called inter-  the 5th, at about nine o'clock in the forenoon, he
preter, knowingly connived at the deception, and this  arrived at Gist's, where lie demolished the stockade
opiiiion was firmly held by Washington, who after-  which Washington had partially erected there, "and
wards wrote in reference to it as follows: "That we. after having detached M. de la Chauvignerie to burn
were willfully or ignorantly deceived by our iiiter-  the houses round about," continued on the route topreter in regard to the word assassination I do aver,  wards Redstone, to a point about three leagues northand will to my dying moment, so will every officer west of Gist's, where his forces made their night
that was presenlj, The interpreter was a Dutchman, bivouac. In the morining of the 6th they moved at
little acquainted with the English tongue, therefore  an early hour, and reached the mouth of Redstone at
might not advert to the tone and meaning of the  ten o'clock. There they "put tleir periaguas in order,
word in English; but whatever his motives were for  victualed the detachment, carried away the reserve of
so doing, certain it is he called it the deathi or the  provisions which they had left there, found several
loss of the Sieur Jumonville.  So we received and so  things wbich the English had hidden," and then,
we understood it, until, to our great surprise and after burning the " Hangard " store-house, embarked,
mortification, we found it otherwise in a literal trans-  and went down the Monongahela.  In the passage
lation."                                                down the river, says De Villiers, "w we burned downi
The numbers of the English forces engaged in the  all the settlements wve found," and about four o'clock
battle at the Great Meadows are not precisely known.  in the afternoon of the 7th of July they arrived at
The Virginia regiment went in three hundred strong,  Fort du Quesne.
including officers, and their loss in the engagement
was twelve killed and forty-three wounded.2  Capt.    As to the manner of the departure of Washington's
troops from  the surrendered fort De Villiers- said
I  "; We  made tlle English," said Villiers,;'consent to sign tllat theys
saidss  villiers,   signrin  they  "The number of their dead and woounded moved me
lud assassinated  n  hiseam..'                                                                      for, their.
2 By Washington's own official state-menjt..         to pity, notwithstanding  my resentment  fr           hi
26HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
young men, Dr. Hugh Campbell and Nathaniel Ewing, terian Church of this country in the Scotch Assembly
Esq., came for the first time tc the Lord's table. To-  at Edinburgh in 1869, passing that year traveling in
gether they followed Christ with reverence and godly  Great Britain and Ireland.
fear for almost half a century. These men were prop-   He was ain excellent and impressive speaker, deerly regarded as the pillars of the church in their day, bater, and orator. In the judgment of one well qualiand it is hardly possible now to unduly exalt their in-  fled to give testimony on this point, " He was one of
fluence as Christian citizens. They were also exceed-  the smoothest and most pleasant speakers, in his best
ingly useful in the higher courts of the church, to  days, I have ever heard. The words fell from his lips
which they were so frequently delegates. Indeed, it like oil." His addresses on the subject of temperance
came to be said in the Presbytery, in regard to the  were very eloquent. Dr. Campbell was a mall of great
commissioners to the General Assembly, "It was Dr.  will power, and it was not safe to come in his way
Campbell one year and Judge Ewing the next."      where right and morality were involved.
Dr. Campbell was stated clerk of the session from    In 1868 he again took up his residence in Union1851 to 1864. He was a member of a large family of town, although he never again resumed his duties as
Scotch descent, and all Presbyterians. His father was  elder here. He died in this place Feb. 27, 1876, cona member of this church, and died at the advanced  tinuing to the close of his life to take a deep interest
age of ninety-five. Dr. Campbell was born in Union-  in the prosperity of the church and in the public wortown, May 1, 1795. In September, 1823, he married  ship of'God. He was rarely absent from the sanctuMiss Susan Baird, of Washington, who died in 1824. ary or the prayer-meeting, and was a man of remarkHe married the second time in 1828, Miss Rachel  able felicity in prayer. He was a close student of the
Lyon, of Carlisle.                                   Bible all his life, and a few days before his death he
Dr. Campbell was ordained an elder in this church  incidentally told his pastor that he had recently comSept. 28, 1829. In 1865 he was appointed warden of' pleted reading the Bible through for the sixth time.
the Western Penitentiary. The following tribute was  His faith was strong to the end, and he died triumphprepared by his lifelong friend, Nathaniel Ewing,  ant in Christ. Among his last words were, "I feel it
and offered and adopted in the session: "For more  is by the Grace of God I am what I am." Almost
than thirty-five years Dr. Campbell has exercised con-  the last words he wrote are worthy of record, not only
tinuously the office of ruling elder in this church  because of their intrinsic excellence, but because they
with uniform  acceptance and eminent ability and  manifest the character of the man. "I have always
faithfulness. During this long period his exemplary  disapproved of the display and extravagance of modwalk, the abundance of his benefactions, exertions,  ern funerals as being useless for the dead, and in many
and prayers, and his diligent and scrupulous discharge  instances excessively burdensome to the living, and
of official duty contributed largely to the maintenance,  tempting such as cannot afford it to follow the example
growth, and establisliment of the church.  By the  of those who can. It looks to me like aping those
eminence of his gifts, also, he was enabled to perform   who occupy high places in the world. As a matter
effective service for the general interests of the Mas-  of wordly policy, it may be well for kings and others,
ter's cause by sitting on frequent occasions as a mem-  but it is very unbecoming for the humble Christian.
ber in each of the superior judicatories."        Possibly my example may have a good influence on
Dr. Campbell was a commissioner to several General  others. Let it be tried."
Assemblies. He was chosen principal delegate from
the Redstone Presbytery in the years 1833, 1834, 1835,    On Christmas-day, 1831, Mr. Hugh Espey was
1836, and again in 1847, 1854, 1858, and was an alter-  elected elder in this church, and received by the sesnate nine times, and probably attended occasionally  sion as one of its members. He was stated clerk from
under this appointment. He was a member of the  March, 1832, until 1851. Mr. Espey was born Sepfamous General Assemby which met in Pittsburgh  tember, 1792, within the bounds of Tyrone Church,
in 1838, at the time of the disruption. A man of far  where he made a profession of religion at an early
more than ordinary ability, he made his influence felt age. About 1812 he removed to Rising Sun, Ind.,
in that body. During a discussion he arose and made  and at the organization of the church there in 1816
a remark or two which attracted attention.  Some  was ordained a ruling elder. On account of poor
Doctor of Divinity combed him a little, and wanted  health he returned to Pennsylvania in 1822, and died
to know who is "This young David?"  The doc-  at his home here on Christmas-day, 1852. He was a
tor arose and said, " I am a very hunmble Elder from   most excellent man, and is remembered with great
a very humble church and a very humble Presbytery,  affection by many persons still living. For twenty
but I thank God I have the same rights on this floor  years he served the Master here faithfully as a Chrisas the most learned Doctor of Divinity or the greatest tian and an office-bearer in the church of God, and
lawyer here." He then proceeded to score his unfor-  as stated clerk of the session.
tunate antagonist in a speech of wonderful keenness,
which electrified the Assembly. By the appointment   In 1833, February 3d, Nathaniel Ewing, Esq., was
of the General Assembly, he represented the Presby-  ordained to the office of elder in this church by the
330UNIONTOWN BOROUGH.
pastor, Rev. Joel Stoneroad. Feb. 8, 1833, he first ]
acted as a member of the session, and continued to
exercise the functions of the sacred office until removed by death, Feb. 8, 1874, in the eightieth year
of his age, and precisely the forty-first of his service
as elder. Judge Ewing, in 1822, married Jane Kennedy, the second daughter of the late Judge Kennedy, a most estimable lady, who died in 1825. She
was the mother of John Kennedy Ewing, one of the
present elders of this church. In 1830 he married
Ann Lyon, daughter of the late Rev. David Denny,
of Chambersburg.
When a young man Mr. Ewing cordially embraced the doctrines and order of the Presbyterian
Church. He was baptized in June, and communed
in October, 1825. In a few years he was elected and
ordained elder, and the period of his service in this
office was longer than that of any other man who
has been an elder here. He received an unusual compliment in the meetings of the session at his house
when, by reason of sickness, he was confined to his
home, and the remainder of the session felt the great
importance of his counsel.
He was frequently a member of the General Assembly, being elected principal delegate from the Presbytery of Redstone in 1836, 1837, 1839, and 1850, and
alternate six times.  In the higher courts of the
church, his legal attainments enabled him to expound
ecclesiastical law satisfactorily, and he acquired great
influence over the Assembly. Perhaps the most important service of this kind ever rendered was a report which he made on the decision of Judge Rodgers,
of the Nisi Prius Court at Philadelphia, against the
Presbyterian Church. This report is recorded in full
in the large minute-book of the Presbytery, covering
six pages.
Judge Ewing acquired large wealth, and gave liberally to the Lord, without letting his right hand
know what the left did.  As an illustration of his
quiet way of contributing to the Lord's cause, in
1866 he gave $1000 to the Board of Education, and
his contribution was not known even by the members
of his own family until some years afterwards. He
gave his benefactions while he lived, and was personally attentive to the wants of the poor of this community who were brought to his notice. To the very
close of his life there was no apparent weakening of his
powerful intellect. Up to within ten days of his death
his opinion on a principle of civil or ecclesiastical law
might have been relied upon. In the last hour of his
life he seemed to realize that God was the strength of
his heart and his eternal portion. On a Sabbath
morning he quietly breathed his last on earth and
began his eternal Sabbath in heaven.
William Redick and Charles Brown were ordained
elders Feb. 3, 1833, by the Rev. Joel Stoneroad. Mr.
Redick served as elder until 1856, when he removed
to the State of Illinois. He was born in Venango
County in 1799. He was a good man, and served
here with acceptance to the people.  Mr. Brown
ceased to act aselder by his own desire and the will
of the congregation and session. He left here in
1848.
In 1845, on the 13th of January, David Veech was
elected elder here. He was of Scotch-Irish descent,
born in this county June 6, 1781. He removed to
Greene County in 1812, and was ordained elder in
the New Providence Church. In 1832 he settled
within the bounds of the Dunlap's Creek Church, and
served as elder there. In 1839 he came to Uniontown. He served faithfully and acceptably here from
1845 until 1861, when, because of old age, he was no
longer able to attend the meetings of the session. He
held the office, however, until his death on the 14th
of February, 1866. Part of a long resolution adopted
by the session at that time states, " We hereby testify
our sense of his Christian character and fidelity as a
ruling elder in the Church of God." Mr. Veech was
a good man, and the memory of his influence and
works is still fragrant. He was the father of James
Veech, Esq., who was long a resident of this community.  
On the 15th of April, 1866, Simon B. Mercer was
installed, and Benjamin Campbell installed and ordained, elders in this church. Mr. Mercer was formerly an elder in the church of Bridgewater. He
served here about one year, and then removed to
Saltsburg. Mr. Campbell acted as stated clerk from
June, 1866, until June, 1873. Mr. Campbell was the
son of Dr. Hugh Campbell, and still resides in Uniontown.
That this church has informally existed for a century is highly probable for reasons already assigned.
The following is the first notice made of this church
in the records of the Presbytery: "At the meeting
at Georges Creek, Oct. 11, 1799, application was made
for supplies by the vacant congregation of Uniontown, and the Rev. Janies Powers was appointed for
one Sabbath and Rev. Samuel Porter for another."
In the old session book of this church the first
record is made in 1825, and states, over the signatures
of the first three elders: "In making out the report
of the Uniontown congregation, we have given it
according to the most correct information we could
collect, as the congregation was never organized until
the 24th of February last." One item of the report
referred to is, " Total in communion before the organization of the congregation, unknown." Dr. Fairchild preached here frequently about 1825, and held
the first election of elders and organized the church.
The growth of the church from the earliest time
of which we have any statistics has varied, and yet
in the main been steadily onward. In 1825 the membership was fifty-three persons, of whom only one is
now (1876) living,-Mrs. Sarah Dawson, of Brownsville. Of these members, forty-two were women.
There were about one-fourth as many men as women.
Beginning with the year 1826, the roll of members
331HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
runs as follows; 60, 61, 69, 77, 81, 86. Beginning
with 1832, the first year of Mr. Stoneroad's pastorate,
during the ten years of his labors here, the membership is as follows: 103, 133, 170, 186, 215, 217, 240,
201, 206, 209, 157.
In regard to this period it should be observed that
the large increase was reached by the reception of
many who lived at Mount Washington and Petersburgh and Sandy Creek, and indeed but few were received from the congregation here. The largest addition the church has ever received in one year was at
the beginning of Mr. Stoneroad's labors, when there
were forty-eight added. The annual additions during
the history of the church vary from this number down
to one, which was the report for the year immediately
preceding Mr. Agnew's ministry. The rapid decrease
in the membership of this church towards the close
of Mr. Stoneroad's pastorate was owing chiefly to the
organization of the churches at Mount Washington
and Petersburg, and also somewhat to the severe discipline of the session. About this period some cases
of discipline were up at almost every me. ing, the
offenders being chiefly in the mountain regions. Discipline seems to have been eventually the death-blow
of the Petersburg Church, for it soon became extinct.
Beginning with the year 1843, the roll of the church
runs as follows: 157, 150, 141, 149, 154, 155, 151, 135,
120, 121, 131, 127, 127, which brings the report to the
close of Mr. Callen's pastorate. In 1856, Mr. Hamilton took charge of the church, and, beginning with
this year, the report runs as follows during the ten
years of his labors here: 121, 107, 108, 124, 114, 109,
112, 113, 118, 117, 130. The largest addition to the
church during this pastorate was in the last year,
when there were twenty-nine received.
Beginning with 1867, the report is: 134, 137, 138,
149, 157, 156,154, 148. It will be noticed that during
two periods of four years each in the history of the
church the decrease was regular. The membership
reported in 1874 was 148, in 1875 it was 181, and in
1876, 195. The present membership of the church is
203.
The five oldest nmembers of this church whose
names are now upon the roll are the following, given
in the order in which they united with the church:
Mrs. Elizabeth Lewis, received by baptism  and
confession, June 26, 1825.
Mrs. Ann L. Ewing, widow of Hon. Nathaniel
Ewing, united by certificate, Nov. 13, 1830.
Mrs. Eliza Wilson, united by certificate, Oct. 6,
1833.
Mrs. Catharine Dicus, united by examination, Oct.
6, 1833.
Miss Agnes Dutton, united by examination, Aug.
12, 1836.
Of the benevolent work of the church in the earliest
times we have no statistics. The first record of a contribution is that in 1829,-three dollars were given
for the commissioners' fund. In 1838, $325 were contributed to the general work of the church; in 1842,
$160; in 1843, $66; and in 1845, $440, and in 1849,
$102. These are the only statistics recorded in the
session-book up to 1850. For the last quarter of a
century the statistics are quite full, being given annually. The figures just cited furnish a very good
idea how the benevolence of the church varies with
the most astonishing and unaccountable irregularity
until near the present time.
The five years in our history that are marked by
the highest contributions to the general work of the
church are the following: 1866, $1132, of which was
the special contribution of $1000 by Judge Ewing;
1867, $1291. These two years were during the pastorate of Mr. Hamilton. In the year 1872, of Mr. Ralston's pastorate, $1066 were contributed; in 1875,
$1203, and in 1876 $1129 were given to the boards
of the church. From 1876 to the 1st of May, 1881,
$13,464 has been contributed.
During the period covered by the statistics that are
quite full this church has contributed as follows to
the various causes which have been presented: Home
missions, $3240; foreign missions, $2942; church
erection, $1380; relief fund, $660; publication, $549;
freedmen, $247; sustentation, $187; miscellaneous,
$3951; congregation, $41,000, or more than two-thirds
of the whole. In all, over $50,000 have been given
according to the statistics, and much has been contributed of which there is no record.
In February, 1875, a missionary society on a somewhat extended scale. including the foreign work, was
organized, and in the course of the year attained a
membership of one hundred, and gave a contribution
of $100 to the foreign missionary cause.
The following were the officers for the first year;
President, Mrs. Eleazer Robinson.
Vice-Presidents, Mrs. S. S. Gilson, Mrs. Dr. Fuller,
Mrs. Ewing Brownfield, Mrs. M. M. Browning, Mrs.
William Carothers, Mrs. C. M. Livingston.
Secretaries, Miss Mary B. Campbell, Mrs. Susan
Allison.
Managers, Mrs. Daniel Kaine, Mrs. J. K. Beeson,
Misses Lizzie Reynolds, Sadie Cope, Lizzie Moreland,
Annie Williams, Maggie Francis, Lida Harah, Laura
Beeson, Lou Hatfield, Sallie Gaddis, and Sarah McDowell.
Treasurer, Mrs. W. H. Baily.
The germ of the Sabbath-school of this church, the
first Sabbath-school of Uniontown, was a class taught
by the wife of the Rev. William Wvylie in her own
home. A school was formally organized about 1820.
Dr. Hugh Campbell, who was then present, is the
chief authority in regard to the earliest history of the
Sabbath-school. The following statements are from
a written document prepared by himself:
One of the teachers at the time of the organizaI~
IUNIONTOWN BOROUGH.
tion was Miss Elizabeth Hadden, " Betsy" Hadden,
as she was called, who gave her time incessantly
to the interest of the school, sometimes conducting.
it for long periods entirely alone, never giving up
the school in its darkest days. Two others of the
early teachers deserve especial notice,-Mr. John
Lyon and Mr. John St. Clair. Mr. Lyon was a
lawyer of unusual ability, an orthodox Presbyterian,
and no ordinary theologian. He was fond of children,
and apt to teach. He died a member of the State
Senate of Pennsylvania. Mr. St. Clair was the prothonotary of the county. Few men excelled him in
the imparting of knowledge.
Rev. William Wylie superintended the school until
his removal to Wheeling. Col. Ewing Brownfield
still has in his possession a reward-of-merit card,
signed in their own handwriting by William Wylie,
superintendent, and Andrew Stewart, secretary.
After Miss Hadden's death the school was superintended successively by Nathaniel Ewing, Joseph
Kibler, Ethelbert P. Oliphant, Dr. Hugh Campbell,
WV. H. Baily, and A. W. Boyd. Mr. Oliphant was
elected superintendent in January, 1847, and J. K.
Ewing, Esq., assistant.
In 1848, Dr. Campbell was elected superintendent,
and held the office until 1865, the longest period of
service- ever given by one man. Up to 1848 the average annual attendance of scholars was about eighty.
During the period of Dr. Campbell's superintendency
the contributions to the cause of missions were about
one hundred and twenty-one dollars. The school has
always been supported by the church, and the contributions of the children have gone to the general
work.
The present superintendent of the Sunday-school
is Nathaniel Ewing;. average attendance of scholars,
one hundred and twenty; nlumber of' volumes, one
hundred and seventy-five.
William and Samuel Campbell, sons of Dr. Hugh,Campbell, are the only ones who have entered the
gospel ministry from this church.
HousEs OF WoRsHIP.-Before the erection of a
church building the congregation worshiped in the
old court-house, which stood on the site of the present one. About the year 1824 a church edifice was
begun, which after various difficulties was finally completed and dedicated in January, 1827. It stood on
the public ground, near the southwest corner of Morgantown and South Streets, a little south of the site
of the present town hall. It was a plain, neat onestory brick, about thirty by fifty feet in size, without
steeple or ornament, with the gable end fronting
Morgantown Street, and standing a little back from
the street. There was but one room, which was substantially pewed in the ordinary manner, each slip
having the high, old-fashioned back and rectangular
end. The building cost about three thousand dollars.
On account of objections which were subsequently
22
raised to this occupancy of public ground, the lot
upon which the present church stands, on the south
side of Church Street, just at the point of the angle
made by its deflection northward, was purchased in
the year 1836, and a second building, considerably
larger and more pretentious than the first, was
erected thereon. This building, of which Elder
William Redick was the architect, contractor, and
builder, stood a few feet back from the street, though
not as far as the present building. It was a two-story
brick, with high windows answering for both stories,
with vestibule, steeple, and bell; open on the front,
with large wooden columns extending as high as the
square and supporting the gable. The lecture-room
on the first floor was occupied in the fall of 1837, and
the audience-room above in the following spring.
This building cost about five thousand five hundred
dollars. This structure, though sufficiently large and
intended to be imposing, failed to satisfy the taste of
the congregation, and after an occupancy of only
some nineteen years, in April, 1857, a fire, originating
from a stove-pipe, somewhat damaged the interior.
This was generally hailed as a pretext for erecting a
new church, and the enterprise was at once set on
foot and generously and heartily carried out. Thus
the present church edifice came to be constructed.
It was dedicated to God April 10, 1860. It occupies
nearly the identical spot covered by the previous
building. It is forty-seven by seventy-five feet in
size, of brick, two stories, semi-gothic in style, with
a belfry surmounted with a spire. The walls and
ceiling of the lecture-room are neatly painted. The
audience-room is handsomely frescoed. The windows
are of stained glass. The whole house is lighted with
gas. The entire cost, exclusive of the value of the
lot, was about ten thousand dollars, a sum much less
than it would have cost at any time since, and the
economy of its construction is largely because of the
excellent financial management and close attention
of the building committee, especially of J. K. Ewing,
chairman. The handsome and substantial iron fence
along the front of the lot was erected about 1865.
The material of each of the old buildings, as far as
suitable, was used in the construction of the subsequent one, so that at least some of the bricks of the
first edifice form a part of the present church building.
The memorial fund raised by the congregation was
set apart for the construction of a parsonage. This
work was undertaken in September, 1875, and com~pleted in September, 1876, and stands as a monument
of the centennial year. The erection of the parsonage at a very reasonable cost is due chiefly to the
building c6mmittee, which consisted of Messrs. Jasper
M. Thompson, Wm. H. Baily, and Daniel F. Cooper.
It is a handsome, commodious, and convenient twostory brick house, located north of the town, a few
feet outside the borough line. It is situated on about
half an acre of ground, on the west side of Gallatin
Avenue, with a fine view of landscape and mountain
333HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
scenery, and also a good view of the town. The cost
of the house alone was four thousand two hundred
dollars.
CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF UNIONTOWN.
"A brief narrative! of the rise and organization
of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church at Union
Town, Penna.:
"In that vast series of events arising in the administration of Divine Providence, such events occurred as directed the labors of the Cumberland
Presbyterian missionaries to this place. In the month
of December, 1831, a protracted meeting was held by
the Rev. A. M. Brien and Milton Bird, which continued five days.  Although it commenced under
very inauspicious circumstances, yet it closed with
quite favorable auspices. Owing to the numerous
and imperious calls elsewhere, another was not held
until the latter part of January, 1832. A third was
held during the month of February, both by the
above-named ministers.  Those two last occasions
were increasingly signalized with displays of Divine
influence in the conviction and conversion of sinners,
and in exciting the attention of many who had hitherto been thoughtless to serious reflection and decision
on the subject of Christianity.
"A desire having been and still being expressed
by sundry individuals for the formation of a Cumberland Presbyterian congregation, and God in his
providence having opened an effectual door in this
borough and adjacent neighborhood, the above desire was complied with in the formation of a Cumberland Presbyterian congregation in 1832. It having
been manifest that such an event would meet the
Divine approbation, additions were made from time
to time, and on the -   day of --, 1832, this congregation was regularly organized, and its narrative
proceeds from this date in the records of the session."
The names of the original members are not given
in the record. The first names that appear with dates
are Sabina Campbell, Lewis Marchand, Sarah Marchand, and Ann Maria McCall, who appear to have
been admitted as members on the 23d of December,
1832. The first pastor of the church was the Rev.
Milton Bird. The following names are those of persons admitted to membership in the church during
the year 1833:
Jan. 20, 1833:
Eliza Minor.
William Wood.
George Meason.
Mary Meason.
James Piper.
Mary Lewis.
Margaret Boyle.
Nancy Cannon.
Matilda Aldridge.
David Campbell.
William S. Cannon.
Isaac Beeson.
Louisa C. Beeson.
Van Rensselaer Taylor.
Ann Morris.
John Miller.
Mary McClean.
James Gaddis.
Ann M. Wood.
Priscilla Springer.
Nancy Taylor.
Ann Dawson.
Jane Todd.
Samuel Yarnell.
Ausley Gaddis.
John McDowell.
John Minor.
Louis F. Wells.
Caleb Woodward.
Phebe Woodward.
Hannah Johns.
Perry Tautlinger.
Henry H'. Beeson.
Adaline Shelcart.
April 21, 1833:
Nancy Abrams.
David Hess.
Catharine A. Balsinger.
Hannah Downard.
Isaac Vance.
Mary Vance.
Ruth Downard.
Rachel Downard.
Charlotte McClelland.
Mary Hess.
Priscilla Shotwell.
Mirah Whitmire.
Malinda Hall.
William Scott.
Juliet Seaton.
Elizabeth Beeson.
Sabina Malaby.
John Whitmore.
Conrad Ritchard.
Ann Scott.
Mary Scott.
Elizabeth Young.
Mary Derolff.
Mary Sullivan.
Aug. 4, 1833:
Henry Dougherty.
Eleanor Kaine.
Sept. 15, 1833:
Mary Scott.
Elizabeth McCormick.
John Beatty.
Ann Mariah Beatty.
Hannah Wolten.
Elihu Gregg.
Sarah Law.
Joseph Price.
George Wiggins.
John Jackson.
Joseph Rockwell.'Samuel Hudson.
Christian Lechrone.
Catharine Lechrone.
Daniel Brubaker.
Ephraim D. Kellan.
Lucinda Payne.
Jane Osborn.
Mary Dougherty.
Mary Snelling.
John King.
James Collins.
Jesse Payne.
Thomas Stewart,
Rebecca Rager.
Catharine Cornell.
Catharine Payne.
Priscilla Wiggins.
Elizabeth Yarnell.
Nancy Kean.
Mordecai Yarnell.
Margaret Bowers.
Eliza Dougherty.
Susan Roderick.
Nancy Carrol.
Elizabeth Desmond.
Sarah McCubbins.
Johni L. Dicus.
John Lazure.
Nancy Holley.
Sept. 16, 1833:
Samuel Swearingen.
Sarah Williams.
Sept. 17, 1833:
Hannah Stewart.
Mary Fulton.
John Blackford.
Mary Walker.
Edward Richards.
Susan Sharrar.
Mary McCormick.
Nancy Deselms.
Dec. 21, 1833:
Elizabeth Boyle.
Elizabeth Richart.
Mary Springer.
Susan Bright.
Dec. 29, 1833:
Margerr Vanhook.
Rebecca Dixon.
Mary Collins.
Jane McCleary.
Hannah Turner.
Elizabeth Clark.
Ann Carson.
Elizabeth Kurtz.
Thomas D. Miller.
Barbara Bevier.
Feb. 23, 1834:
Jacob Beeson.
rThese extracts are from a narrative written by Isaac Beeson at the
commencement of the church record.
334UN.IONTOWN BOROUG II.
The first report to tl:e Presbytery, in April, 1833,
gave the membership as two hundred and sixteen.
From  Dec. 23, 1832, to April 1, 1833, thirty-eight
were admitted, leaving one hundred and seventyeight who had been admitted prior to the former date.
A list of ruling elders is given in the record of the
church without date. The names of William Nixon,
James Boyle, and Joseph Pennock appear before the
names of Isaac Beeson and William McQuilken, who
were chosen June 8, 1833. At the same time James
Piper was chosen clerk. As'trustees the names of
Robert C. Wood, Daniel Kellar, Isaac P. Minor, and
Dr. Lewis Marchand appear before'those of H. H.
Beeson and George Meason, who were elected Sept.
30, 1833.
On the l'lth of July, 1833, at a meeting of the male
members of the congregation, " it was agreed that the
congregation hold a protracted camp-meeting on the
farm of Brother William Nixon, in George township,
to commence on the second Tuesday of September
next."
On Monday evening, Aug. 5, 1833, the record says,
"The congregation this evening held their first meeting of monthly concert of prayer."
"Tuesday, Aug. 6, 1833.-The corner-stone of our
church edifice in Uniontown was this day laid, in
which was deposited a copy of the Old and New
Testaments, a copy of the Confession of Faith, an
enrollment of the members' names in communion with
the church, together with a brief narrative of the
rise and organization of the church in this place.
The ceremonies were closed with a few pertinent remarks suited to the occasion and prayer by the Rev.
Brother Bird."  And under date of Sept. 13, 1834, is
recorded, " The new church was this day dedicated to
the use of Almighty God, an appropriate address
being delivered by the Rev. John Morgan."
The camp-meeting proposed at the meeting on the
11th of July, as before noticed, was held at the place
designated, beginning on Sunday, the 15th of September. The ministers present were the Revs. Milton
Bird, John Morgan, Aston, Sparks, and Wood, and a
licentiate named Robinson. On the first day of the
meeting twenty-five persons were added to the church,
of whom fourteen were baptized. On the second day
seventeen were examined and admitted, and on the
third day eight more were added.  The meeting
closed on the 17th, having resulted in the conversion.of fifty persons.
On the 18th of September, 1833, a report of the
condition of the church was made to the Presbytery
at Washington, Pa., showing that the number of persons added to the church since the 1st of April of the
same year was seventy-eight.
" Nov. 4, 1833.-The congregation, in pursuance of
the request of the Pennsylvania Presbytery of the
Cumberland Presbyterian Church, this evening formed
a society auxiliary to the Presbyterian Society, for
the more effectually extending the bounds of the
church by building up and supplying new and vacant
congregations and sending out missionaries, to be
known by the name of the Union Town Congregation
Auxiliary Missionary Society. Officers, George Meason, president; James Piper, secretary; Richard Beeson, treasurer."  On the 7th of the same month:
"This day the church formed a Sabbath-school, the
following officers being duly elected: Isaac Beeson,
Dr. Lewis Marchand, and Robert C. Wood, superintendents; Archibald Coulter, secretary; William
McQuilken, treasurer."
The Rev. Milton Bird served this church as missionary till September, 1834, when the Rev. John
Morgan became its pastor. On the 15th of that
month, " In pursuance of a public notice, the congregation met in the church. Brother R. Beeson appointed moderator. Rev. Brother Morgan stated the
object of the mneeting, the destitute condition of a
number of the brethren in the region and neighborhood of Connellsville, they having no ruling elder
among them. Lutellus Lindley was nominated and
elected. It was resolved that this congregation give
their consent that the Rev. Brother Morgan labor
one-fourth of his time in Connellsville and vicinity,
and that one-fourth of his salary be secured to him by
that people."
The Rev. Mr. Morgan continued as pastor until
1841, when he was compelled by disease (of which he
died in Uniontown on the 15th of October in that
year) to send in his resignation. On the 22d of June
in that year, " By reason of the ill health of the'pastor,
the Rev. John Morgan, the session was directed to
wait upon the Rev. James Smith, and inform him
that it is the desire of the church that he should assume the pastoral charge, and promise him a salary
of five hundred dollars." Mr. Smith's answer was'avorable, and on the 27th of July following a formal
call was extended to him, but for some reason which
does not appear the matter fell through, and on the
21st of November a letter was addressed to the Rev.
Isaac Shook, inviting him to the pastorate. He accepted the call, and assumed the charge Jan. 1, 1843,
but resigned soon after. In March, 1843, a call was
extended to the Rev. J. T. A. Henderson, who accepted, and became pastor of this church May 15,
1843.
The increase of membership from 1834 to 1842 is
shown by the reports made to Presbytery from time
to time, giving the number of members at different
dates as follows: April, 1834, 318; September, 1834,
342;' March, 1835, 391; October, 1835, 425; April,
1836, 432; August, 1837, 442; August, 1838, 494;
March, 1840, 504; April, 1842, 520.
The Rev. Mr. Henderson remained pastor of the
church until 1847, then the Rev. Milton Bird served
for a time as a supply. The Rev. L. H. Lowry succeeded as pastor on the second Sabbath of April,
1847, and held the pastorate at a salary of four hundred dollars a year until the spring of 1849. About
335HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
this time the Rev. A. D. Bryce frequently occupied
the pulpit as a supply. On the 1st of July, 1849, the
Rev. Hiram A. Hunter became pastor, and remained
till Nov. 1, 1852, then came Rev. S. E. Hudson,
whose term of service dates from April 1, 1853, to
April 1, 1854. He was succeeded without an intermission by Rev. John Cary, who preached until Jan.
17, 1857.
Aug. 30, 1858, a call was extended to the Rev. Isaac
N. Biddle, who became the pastor in November of
that year at a salary of $400 per year (afterwards increased to $600), and remained till Aug. 1, 1866,
when he resigned. He was immediately followed by
Rev. A. D. Hail, who served until May 26, 1869. A
year later, in the spring of 1870, Rev. George A.
Flower accepted the pastorate, whose functions he
discharged until his resignation in May, 1872. Rev.
J. H. Coulter acted as supply until February, 1873,
when Rev. Henry Melville was permanently installed.
Mr. Melville resigned April 1, 1879, since when the
church has been without a regular pastor.  Rev.
Walter Baugh is now acting as supply. The membership of the church is now one hundred and seventy.
On the 26th of February, 1873, to consider the propriety of erecting a parsonage a building committee
was appointed to select a location and superintend
the work of building. A site was selected on Redstone Street, and a parsonage erected on it at a cost
of $2500.
The Sabbath-school in connection with this church
numbers one hundred and thirty scholars and fifteen
teachers, with James Hadden as superintendent.
Recently the congregation have decided to build a
new house of worship. The following article, from
the Republican Standard of May 26, 1881, is of interest
in its reference to the demolition of the old edifice
and its history:
"The Cumberland Presbyterian Church, now undergoing demolition -on Church Street, was built in
1833 and dedicated Sept. 13, 1834. At that time the
Cumberland Presbyterian denomination was one of
the most flourishing in this section of country. Last
week there was found under the pulpit a box containing bids, contracts, receipts, memoranda, reports,
etc., written at the time the church was building.
They give the price of labor and material then, and
show exactly what the church cost, which was, including the lot, $3190.79. These papers were wrapped
up in a copy of the Genius of 1835.  The committee appointed by the congregation to supervise
the building of the edifice consisted of Isaac Beeson, George Meason, Dr. Louis Marchand, James
Boyle, and John Dawson. Among the bids was the
following from George D. Stevenson:'I propose to
find all materials and plaster your house in a good
and workmanlike manner (with a vestibule) *for
$208.50}; without vestibule or lobby, for $187.50.'
John Harvey offered to build the foundation wall,
40 by 60 feet, the committee to find the materials, for
53 cents a perch; or find the materials himself and
do the work for $1.561 a perch. David Jories' bid
for the stone-work was $1.871 per perch and find the
materials himself. Thomas Prentice offered to furnish'good stone for the foundation at 75 cents a
perch, or stone raised at the quarry at 48 cents a
perch, the committee to haul the same.'
" Hague  Meredith offered to lay 85,950 bricks for
$287.781. Reuben Hague's bid for the same work
was to find the lime, sand, scaffolding, tenders and
boarding, and lay the bricks for $2.80 a thousand.
Joseph Brashear, of Franklin township, proposed
under the conditions laid down by Hague to do the
work for $2.75 a thousand. Edward Hyde wanted
$3.75 a thousand. John P. Sturgis and Benjamin
Riddle proposed to furnish and deliver 100,000 bricks
at $5.50 a thousand.  James McCoy underbid them
50 cents a thousand and got the contract. William
Maquilken offered to do the painting for $37.94.
Ephraim McLean proposed to furnish 42 locust posts,
4 by 5, good butts, 8~ feet long, at 311 cents each,
delivered. Absalom White offered to find all the
materials and do all the carpenter-work for $1240; or
find no materials and do the work for $650. On his
consenting also to furnish the glass and do the necessary priming his bid was accepted. Following is a
copy of the report of the committee appointed to
audit and close the accounts of the building committee:
"The committee appointed by the congregational
meeting held in November last, for the purpose of
closing the accounts of the building committee, met
at the house of Isaac Beeson on the 25th of November, 1835, and proceeded to an examination of the
accounts of said committee, as per documents herewith inclosed:
We find that Isaac Beeson has paid out................... $3061.09
And has received and assumed............................... 2702.78
Leaving a balance due to Isaac Beeson, for which we
gave him a certificate for.............................. 358.31
Also a certificate to Hague  Meredith for.............   25.00
"     "     William McQuilken for.............   18.94
"     "     James Boyle for......................   85.76
Making the cost of said building, including lot........ 3190.79
Leaving a balance due from congregation to individuals...........................................................  488.01
"There remains uncollected subscriptions to the
amount of $127.29k, which in all probability cannot
be collected.
" DEc. 28, 1835.
"HENRY H. BEESON,
"JOHN CANON,
" CHARLES PEACH,
" Committee.
"A gentleman who has a retentive memory recently remarked to the writer that to the older residents of the town a considerable degree of interest
attaches to the old church. John Quincy Adams
spoke there once.  He-was on his way back from
Cincinnati, where he had attended the laying of the
corner-stone of an observatory, and the people of
I  
336UNIONTOWN BOROUGH.
Uniontown of course gave the distinguished traveler
a reception. The address of welcome was delivered
by Dr. Hugh Campbell, and according to our informant, brevity was not one of its merits. Famous discussions on temperance and baptism also took place
in the church. On the former question there was a
division' of opinion between the advocates of total
abstinence and teetotal abstinence, and the wordy
warfare was waged night after night with great vigor
and intensity. One of the speakers is remembered
as having declared, in the warmth of debate and as a
presumptuous advertisement of his own acquirements
and habits, that he knew more law than Blackstone,
more medicine than Dr. Blank, and was more temperate than Christ himself. One of the principal participants in the discussion of baptism was the wellknown Rev. Dr. Fairchild. The debates on this
subject were not confined to the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, but were held alternately in all the
churches in town. When the body of Col. Roberts
was brought home from Mexico, where he was killed
in battle, the funeral services were held in the Cumberland Church."
METHODIST PROTESTANT CHURCH.
In the fall of 1830 several members of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Uniontown withdrew from
it, and at a meeting held by them at the court-house
were organized into a class of the Methodist Protestant
denomination by the Rev. Zachariah Hagan. The
class was composed of the following-named members,
viz.: John Phillips and Polly, his wife; Joseph Phillips, Rebecca Phillips, his wife, and Mary Ann Phillips,
their daughter; Mary Lewis (now Mrs. Mary Clemmer), William Ebbert, Walter Ebbert, Howell Phillips, and his wife, Eliza Phillips.
In March, 1840, a lot was purchased of John Phillips, -located on the corner of Bank Alley and Church
Street, and on this the present brick edifice of the society was erected soon afterwards. The first preacher
was Moses Scott. He was succeeded by James Robinson, William Marshall, Joseph Burns, and others,
while the society was yet served by circuit preachers.
The Rev. John Scott was appointed to the charge
when it was first made a station. Among others who
became pastors were George McElroy, George Brown,
-  Ball, George Conaway, William Wallace,
Brinnell. The church is at present without a pastor.
Its membership is one hundred and ten.
ST. PETER'S PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
St. Peter's Church edifice at Uniontown was built
in 1842, and being furnished with temporary seats
and benches (the legs of which were made of spokes
from old stage-wheels), was opened and consecrated in
October of the same year by Bisliop Onderdonk. Before that time services were held periodically, first in
the (old) court-house, and next in the Reformed
Methodist Church, the walls of which the Episcopalians plastered, and furnished in part with the aforesaid temporary seats, the Rev. W. W. Arnett officiating for the Episcopalians, and continuing rector of
the parish till December, 1844, when he resigned.
Capt. John Sowers and Hon. R. P. Flenniken were
at a vestry-meeting held March 21, 1842, appointed
wardens of said St. Peter's Church, then building,
and L. W. Stockton, Daniel Smith, Daniel Huston,
Dr. A. H. Campbell, and William P. Wells were the
other vestrymen. On Mr. Arnett'a resignation Rev.
S. W. Crampton accepted a call, but resigned in May,
1845, after which Mr. James McIlvaine (then a vestryman) held services as lay reader once every Lord's Day
till March, 1846, when Rev. Norris M. Jones took
charge of the parish, and resigned in October, 1848,
and in November of the same year Rev. Mr. Lawson
was appointed to the parish by the bishop (Potter).
Rev. Mr. Lawson resigned in 1849, and Rev. Dr.
Rawson had charge of the parish till 1851, when Rev.
Theodore S. Rumney succeeded him, and resigned the
charge in the fall of 1855, when Rev. Hanson T. Wilcoxson took charge of the parish, but was compelled to
resign on account of impaired health in November,
1856, and in July, 1857, Rev. Faber Byllesby (then a
deacon) took charge of the parish, which he resigned
in October, 1859, after which occasional services were
held by Revs. John Seithead, Jubal Hodges, and
others till April, 1862, when Rev. R. S. Smith took
charge of the parish, of which he is still (March,
1881) the rector.
The present vestry are Messrs. Alfred Howell,
Judge Wilson, James A. Searight, Dr. A. P. Bowie,
John N. Dawson, George Morrison, William H. Playford, Charles E. Boyle, John Thorndell, and Thomas
H. Fenn, of which number Mr. Alfred Howell and
Thomas H. Fenn are the wardens.
There are eighty-seven communicants, eleven Sunday-school teachers, and eighty Sunday-school scholars.
For a period of nearly thirty-five years from the
erection of the edifice of St. Peter's Church, in Uniontown, there hung in its tower an ancient bell, bearing
the device of a crown and the date 1711, it having
been cast in England in that year, during the reign
of Queen Anne, and by her presented to Christ
Church of Philadelphia. It was used by that church
for almost fifty years, and in 1760 was transferred to
St. Peter's Church of that city, where it remained
more than eighty years, being displaced in 1842 by a
chime of bells which had been presented to that
church. At that time St. Peter's Church building in
Uniontown was about being completed, and as the
congregation had no bell, it was proposed by the secretary of this church, Daniel Smith (who had lived in
Philadelphia, and was acquainted with the fact that
St. Peter's' of that city had a bell not in use) that this
church should make application for the loan of it, to
be returned when wanted. The suggestion was acted
337HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
on, the application made, and favorably considered by
the Philadelphia church, and the bell given in charge
of the Uniontown church, under the following agreement, viz.:
"November 28, 1842.-We, the undersigned, composing the Wardens and Vestry of St. Peter's Church,
Fayette County, Pa., hereby covenant, agree, and bind
ourselves and members of said vestry hereafter to return to the vestry of St. Peter's Church, Philadelphia,
at any time they may demand it a bell which we have
asked of them the favor of borrowing until such time
as they ask the return of it. [Signed] John Sowers,
H. V. Roberts, M.D., Wardens; W. P. Wells, John
Dawson, L. W. Stockton, Daniel Huston. Daniel
Smith, Sec'y."
The bell was accordingly taken to Uniontown and
used by St. Peter's Church for almost thirty-five years
as above stated. In 1877 the owners requested its return, and on Monday, May 21st of that year, it was
taken down and shipped to Philadelphia.
ST. JOHN'S CHURCH (ROMAN CATHOLIC).
About the year 1850 a Roman Catholic houseof worship was erected on Morgantown Street, in
Uniontown. The first mention which is found of its
congregation is in the communication of the Rev.
Malachi Garvey in 1856, when he reported sixteen
families and forty-two communicants at the Easter
Communion in that year. On the 5th of September
in the same year Bishop O'Connor, of this diocese,
administered confirmation to fifteen persons.
In June, 1881, the Uniontown Mission and adjacent districts were set Off as the Uniontown District,
with the Rev. C. T. McDermott as pastor. At the
present time about sixty families are in connection
with the church.
AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
In the year 1822 a class of colored Methodists was
formed at Uniontown, under charge of the Rev.
George Bollar, a regular minister, sent out by the
Annual Conference of the African M. E. Church. The
iliembers of that class were Mrs. Hannah Burgess,
John Woods, Henrietta McGill, John Webster, Sarah
Woods, Sarah Griffin, David Lewis, Betsey Pritcllard, Hannah Webster, and Barney Griffin. Meetings
were held in the house of Mary Harman for two
years, when they moved to Joseph Allen's house, ou
the same street.
A lot was bought for $75, June 10, 1835, of Zadoc
Springer, and on this lot a log building was erected
as a place of worship. In 1855 the old building was
demolished, and their present brick edifice was erected
on the same site.
Their preachers have been the following: Rev. -
Boggs, 1825; Noah Cameron, 1826; Charles Gray,
1827; Paul Gwin, 1829; Samuel Clingman, 1832;
Thomas Lawrence, 1835; A. R. Green, 1838; Charles
Peters, 1841; S. H. Thompson, 1843; --Coleman;
Hargraves; Fayette Davis; J. Bowman; William Muman, 1855; S. H. Thompson, 1857; N. H.
Turpin, 1859; William Ralph, 1861; Severn Grace,
1864; R. A. Johnson, 1866; C. R. Green, 1867;
Daniel Cooper, 1868; J. W. Asbury, 1869; W. C.
West, 1871; W. J. Phillips, 1872; S. T. Jones, 1874;
W. S. Lowry, 1880, to the present time.
The church has now 133 members.
ZION CHAPEL OF THE AFRICAN HI. E. CHURCH.
A colored class of this denomination, composed of
five persons, was organized by the Rev. Isaac Coleman in the fall of 1848. The class was under a mission charge, and for several years was supplied by the
Rev. Isaac Coleman, J. B. Trusty, and T. S. Jones.
It became a separate charge under Rev. Charles
Clingman. His successors have been J. P. Harner,
William Burley, Charles Wright, William Johnson,
N. H. Williams, D. B. Matthews, William J. McDade, H. H. Blackstone, W. A. McClure, and J. W.
Tirey, the present pastor. The church has at present
fifty-five members.
In February, 1857, a lot was purchased of Joseph
Benson, on the National Road, east of Redstone
Creek, and an old building standing on it was fitted
up as a house of worship during the following summer. This was done while the church was under
charge of the Rev. Charles Wright. On the 27th of
April, 1869, additional land was purchased and added
to the lot, and the present brick church edifice of the
society was erected on it soon afterwards.
A branch of this church was organized at Georges
Creek, and a church building was erected for its use
on the Baxter farm. It is still under charge of the
Zion Chapel.
BURIAL-GROUNDS.
In the old Methodist churchyard on Peter Street
(the most ancien.t burial-place in Uniontown) the
oldest slab which bears a legible inscription is that
which stands " Sacred to the memory of Suky Young,
who departed this life the 20th of Sept., A.D. 1790,
aged 2 yrs., 1 mo., 17 days." It has been stated, however, that a son of Jacob Murphy was buried here
some years earlier. In this ground was buried John
Wood, who was for many years a justice of the peace,
and who died Nov. 12, 1813. Among other inscriptions are found those of the following-named persons:
Rev. Thornton Fleming, an itinerant preacher in
the M. E. Church for sixty-one years, died Nov. 20,
1846, aged 82 years.
Hannah, wife of the Rev. Mr. Blackford, died Oct.
16, 1845.
Daniel Limerick, for eighteen years in the ministry
of the Methodist Episcopal Church, died April 28,
1837.
Rev. Alfred Sturgis, died Nov. 4, 1845. He had
been for fourteen years an itinerant preacher of the
Methodist Church.
The "Oak Hill Cemetery';" is a burial-ground lying
on the northeast side of Redstone Creek, and formed
338339
UNIONTOWN BOROUGH.
of a graveyard fully ninety years old, with a later addition. The original ground was set apart for the
purpose of burials by Henry Beeson some time before
1793. An addition was afterwards made to it by Mr.
Gallagher. Many of the old citizens of Uniontown
were interred here, among whom were Henry Beeson,
the donor of the ground and proprietor of the town;
Jacob Beeson, his brother, who died Dec. 16, 1818, in
his seventy-seventh year; Jesse Beeson, son of Henry,
who died June 8, 1842, aged 73 years and 11 months;
John Collins, died Nov. 3, 1813, aged 72 years; Capt.
Thomas Collins, his son, died Nov. 1, 1827, aged 51
years; Joseph Huston, died March 5, 1824, aged 61
years; Dr. Adam Simonson, died Feb. 4, 1808, aged
49 years; Alexander McClean, the veteran surveyor,
who took the leading part in the extension of Mason
and Dixon's line and in the establishment of the disputed boundary between Pennsylvania and Virginia,
who was born Nov. 20, 1746, and died Dec. 7, 1834.'
On his headstone is inscribed, " He was a soldier in
the Revolution, a Representative from Westmoreland county in the Legislature of Pennsylvania at the
time Fayette county was established, and was Register and Recorder of this county from its organization
until his death. In his departure he exemplified the
virtues of his life, for he lived a patriot and died a
Christian."
OLD BAPTIST CHURCHYARD.
The ground on which the old Baptist Church and
graveyard are located was purchased in the year
1804, but it had been used as a burial-place several
years before that time, as is shown by some of its
headstones. The earliest of these which has been
found is that of Priscilla Gaddis, who died Feb. 17,
1796, aged 78 years. One, marking the grave of
Anna Gaddis, tells -that she died, aged 17 years, on
the 29th of March, 1796. Another, of Sarah Gaddis,
gives the date of death Jan. 7, 1802, age 50 years, and
that of James Allen records his death on the 8th of
April, 1808, at the age of 37 years. Among those
interred here in the earlier years of the borough were
Levi Springer, died March 26, 1823, aged 80 years;
Dennis Springer, died April 6, 1823, aged 75 years;
Morris Morris, died Feb. 1, 1825, aged 51 years; John
Gaddis, died April 12, 1827, aged 27 years; and
Jonathan Downer, died June 8, 1833, aged 79 years.
The location of this old burial-ground is on Morgantown Street, in the southwest part of the borough.
UNION CEMETERY.
In the year 1866 a number of gentlemen, whose
names are given below, associated themselves in the
purchase of a tract of nearly seven acres of land
lying south of the National road, and just touching
at one point the northwest corner of the borough
boundary, for the purpose of laying out a cemetery
1 The stone gives Jan. 7, 1834, as the date of his death, but this is a
mistake. The correct date of his death is December 7th of that year-, as
above stated.
upon it. The land was purchased of Daniel Sharpnack, the deed bearing date November 5th in the year
named.  A stock company was organized and incorporated Feb. 12, 1867, as the Union Cemetery Company of Fayette County, with the following-named
corporators: Smith Fuller, John K. Ewing, Eleazer
Robinson, F. C. Robinson, William H. Bailey, Hugh
L. Rankin, Alfred  Howell, E. B. Wood, Daniel
Sharpnack, R. M. Modisett, Eli Cope, John H. McClelland, Andrew Stewart, L. D. Beall, Daniel Kaine.
The company caused its grounds to be laid out in
burial lots, with walks and carriage-ways on the
modern plan, and handsomely embellished with trees
and shrubbery.
This cemetery is now the principal burial-ground
of Uniontown. Many tasteful and elegant memorial
stones are found within its inclosure, and near its
northwestern corner there has been erected an imposing and appropriate Soldiers' Monument.
FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS.
The first banking institution established in Uniontown was named " The Union Bank of Pennsylvania,"
which commenced operations (though then unchartered) in the autumn of 1812. The promoters of the
project were a number of gentlemen, whose names are
embraced in the following list, it being that of the
first directors of the bank, viz.: John Kennedy,
Nathaniel Breading, J. W. Nicholson, Jesse Evans,
Joseph Hustoi, Samuel Trevor, Thomas Meason,
Hugh Thompson, Ellis Bailey, Jacob Beason, Jr.,
John Campbell, Reuben Bailey, John Miller, David
Ewing, George Ebbert.
The articles of association were signed May 1, 1812,
and the bank (or rather the unchartered association
which so designated itself) commenced business in
October of that year, in an old frame building which
stood on the site of Mr. Z. B. Springer's present store.
By the tenor of the following letter (copied from the
old letter-book of the bank), it will be seen that the
amount paid in was less than one-eighth of the nominal capital:
"UNION BANK OF PENNSYLVANIA, 7th Dec., 1813.
"SIR,-The Directors of this institution have unanimously
agreed to accept the Composition mentioned in the Act of Congress'laying duties on notes of Banks, bankers, and certain
Companies, on Notes, Bonds, and Obligations discounted by
banks, bankers, and certain companies, and on bills of exchange
of certain descriptions, passed Aug. 2nd, 1813, and I have been
directed to write you on the Subject. As we have re2'd no letter from you we are at a loss to know precisely the information
that may be required.
"This Bank went into operation in October, 1812, on a Capital of only $60,000, and declared a dividend on the first day of
May last of five per cent. An additional sale of Stock was then
made of 4000 shares of $10 each, and on the first of November
last a Second Dividend was declared of five per cent. At presIent our capital is $100,000 actually paid in. According to the
Articles of association the directors may sell stock until the
Capital shall be $5.00,000, htt it is not contempl,lted bly them at3 7
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITION IN 1755.
having in  such a manner taken away my brother's
life. The savages, who in everything had adhered to
my wishes, claimed the right of plunder, but I restrained them; hiowever, the English being frightened fled, and left their tents and one of their colors."
But Washington, commenting on these statements of
De Villiers, said, in a letter written not long afterwrards, "That we left our baggage and horses at the
Meadows is certain; that there was not even a possibility to bring them away is equally certain, as we
had every horse belonging to the camnp killed or taken
away during the action, so that it was impracticable
to bring anything off that our shoulders were not able
to bear, and to wait there was impossible, for we had
scarce three days' provisions, and were seventv miles
from a supply, yet to say that we came off precipitately is absolutely false, notvithstanding they did,
contrary to the articles, suffer their Indians to pillagre
our baggage' and commit all kinds of irregularitv.
We were with them  until ten o'clock the next day;
we destroyed our powder and other stores, nay, even
our private baggage, to prevent its falling into their
hands, as we could not bring it off. When we had
got about a mile from the place of action we missed
two or three of the wounded, and sent a party back
to bring them up; this is the party he speaks of.
We brought them  all safe off, and encamped within
three  miles of the  Meadows.  These  are  circumstances, I thi-nk, that make it evidently clear that we
were not very apprehensive of danger.  The colors
lhe speaks of as left were a large flag of iinmense size
and weight; our regimental colors were brought off,
and are now in my possession."2
From his camping-grouind, three miles southeast
of the demolished fort, the Virginia regiment, with
Mackay's South  Carolinians, moved forward in the
morning of the 5th of July, and fording the Youghiogheny at the Great Crossings, retraced their steps
over the route previously traveled, and reached Wills'
Creek after a slow and very toilsome journey.  From
that place Washington went to Alexandria, and the
Virginia troops returned to their homes. Mackay's
1 "We all know that the French are a people that never pay any regard to treaties loniger than they fi nd them conisistent with their in]ter est,
anid this treaty [the Fort Necessity capittilationi articles] they broke finmediately, by letting the Indians dIexsiolisli anid dlestroy everythin- our
people had, especially the Doctor's Box, that ouir wounided shiould mi eet
with no relief."-Extractfrom a letter written by Col. James Innes to Gov.
Hamilton, dated Winchester, Ju7t! 12, 1754.
2 It appears that the Half King Tanacharison liad a poor opinion of
Washington's ability as a military coninDaiider, aii(I fieely expressed that
opiniion to the Indiani agenit and initerpreter, Conrad Weiser, who reported
it as follows:
" Tlue colonel [Washington] was a good-natured man, but haid no experientce. He took upoil him to commiiand the Indians as his slaves, and
would have them every day ipon the scout, and to attack the enemy by
themselves, but would bv no iiieanis take advice from the Indiaus. lIe
lay in one place from one fuill miioon to the other, without malking a,iy
fortifications except that; little thiing on the Meadow, wher eas had he
taken advice and built such fortifications as lie [Tanacharison] advised
Itim, lie might easily liave beat off the French. Buit the French in the
engagement," he said, "acted like cowards, and the Englishi like fools."
Carolina company remained at Wills' Creek, and together with two independent companies from New
York,-all under command of Col. James Innes,erected the fortification afterwards called " Fort Cumberland."  This was then the western outpost of English power, and in all the country west of the mountains there was left no bar to French occupaticn and
supremacy.
CHAPTER VI.
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITION IN 1755.
THE news of Washington's defeat, and the consequent domination of the French over the broad territory vest of the Alleghenies, was forwarded without
delay to England; where it produced a general alarm
and excitement, and roused the ministry to a determination to retrieve the disaster and expel the French,
at whatever cost, from the valleys of the Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers. In pursuance of this determination, it was decided to send out a military
force, to march from the Potomac to the " Forks of
the Ohio," there to wrest from the French, by force
of arms, their most menacing possession,-Fort du
Quesne.3
The expeditionary force, which was intended to be
a very formidable onie (for that early day), was to be
composed of the Forty-fourth and Forty-eighth Royal
Regiments of Foot,4 comnmanded respectively by Col.
Sir Peter Halket anid Col. Thomas Dunbar, with
some other troops to be raised in Virginia and other
American provinces. The command of the expedition was given to Major-General Edward Braddock,
of the regular British army, who was also made
commander-in-chief of all his Majesty's forces in
America.
Gen. Braddock sailed from Cork, Ireland,\on the
14th of January, with the two regular regimenits, on
board the fleet of Admiral Keppel, of the British
navy. The fleet arrived in Hampton Roads on the
20th of February, and the general, with the admiral,
disembarked there and proceeded to Williamsburg,
Va., for conference with Governor Dinwiddie. There,
also, the general met his quartermaster-general, Sir
John Sinclair, who had preceded him to America, and
lhad alreadv visited Fort Cumberland to make the
preliminary arrangements for the campaign. " Virf ginia levies" had already been raised for the purpose
of being incorporated with the Forty-fourth and
Forty-eighth Regiments, and these levies had been
ordered to Alexandria, whither, also, the fleet was
ordered for disembarkation of the troops.
e   3 There were, however, two other expeditions projected,-one against
Y Niagara anid Frontenac, uinder Gen. Shirley, and anotlher against Crown
e Point, uinder Gen. William Johnson; but the principal one was that inA tended for the reduction of Fort du Quesne.
e   4 These regiments, however, were far from being full, numbering only
about five hundred men each.HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
this time to make any addition to the present amount. Should
they do so, you shall be regularly advised. Any further inforumation you may wish, I will with pleasure communicate, and
"With much respect,
"Your Obt Servant,
"'JOHN SIMS, Cashier.
"HON. WM. JONES,
"Acting Sec'y of the Treasury, U. S."
The institution became a chartered bank in 1814,
under a legislative act of incorporation approved
March 21st in that year. On the 28th of May, 1814,
Cashier Sims wrote to a correspondent: "... We
expect in a few days to move into a new bankinghouse now finishing for our occupation." This is
found in the old letter-book of the bank. The new
building referred to in the letter is the depot of the
Southwest Railroad Company. It was afterwards
purchased by the Bank of Fayette County.
It has been often stated, and seems to be the general belief, that the Union Bank of Pennsylvania
failed and went out of business in 1817. That this
supposition is erroneous is shown by the matter of
the following extracts from the Genius of Liberty of
Uniontown:
"Notice:
"A meeting of the stockholders of the Union Bank
of Pennsylvania is requested at the borough of Uniontown on the 5th day of October next, at 10 o'clock
A.M., in order that they may be made acquainted with
the real state and responsibility of the institution.
"By order of the Board of Directors,
"JOHN SIMS, Cashier.
"Aug. 27, 1818."
"Ten Shares of Stock of the Union Bank of Pennsylvania for sale. Apply to the Printer.
"Aug. 29, 1818."
"UNION BANK OF PENNSYLVANIA,
"May 3, 1819.
"The Directors have this day declared a Dividend
of three per cent. on the capital stock for the last six
months, payable to the Stockholders or their legal
representatives at any time after the 13th inst.
" JOHN SIMS, Cashier."
"UNION BANK OF PENNSYLVANIA,
"Oct. 4, 1821.
"Notice is hereby given to the Stockholders of the
Union Bank of Pennsylvania to meet on the first
Monday of November next, at the banking-house in
the borough of Uniontown, at which time and place
a statement of the affairs of said bank will be laid before them, in conformity to the 10th article in the act
of incorporation, passed 21st March, 1814.
" BENJAMIN BARTON, Cashier."
The exact date of the final closing of the bank has
not been ascertained, but it is certain that it was not
long after the date of the above notice.
NATIONAL BANK OF FAYETTE COUNTY.
By an act of the Legislature of Pennsylvania, approved Dec. 5, 1857, the Bank of Fayette County was
incorporated. The corporators were Isaac Beeson,
John Huston, Henry W. Beeson, Armstrong Haddenl
Joshua B. Howell, Ewing Brownfield, Joseph Johnston, John K. Ewing, Alfred Patterson, William
Bryson, Asbury Struble, Everard Bierer, Sr., Josiah
S. Allebaugh, Henry Yeagley, Isaac Franks, Jacob
Overholt, Thomas B. Searight, Jacob Murphy, Joseph
Hare, Joseph Heaton, John Morgan, and Farrington
Oglevee. The charter was dated July 9, 1858.
The first board of directors was composed of John
Huston, Daniel Sturgeon, Isaac Beeson, Everard
Bierer, John Murphy, James Robinson, Robert Finley, Isaac Skiles, Jr., Henry W. Gaddis, J. Allen
Downer, Joshua B. Howell; Alfred Patterson, Daniel
R. Davidson. President, Alfred Patterson; Cashierr
W. Wilson.
The first meeting of the directors was held Aug.
16, 1858, and the bank commenced business on the
first day of September following. For about a year
after opening, the business of the bank was done in
the building now occupied by Z. B. Springer as a
hardware-store.  On the 19th of October, 1859, the
directors authorized a committee to purchase the old
Union Bank building on Main Street, at $1500. It,
was purchased of William Crawford for $1410. While
this building was in process of repair the business of
the bank was done in an office where Manaway's
saloon now is. In the spring of 1860 the bank occupied the Union Bank building, and its business continued to be done there for eighteen years. On the
29th of December, 1877, the directors were authorized
to sell the building, and it was accordingly sold, and
became the Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad station
as at present. After the sale, and while the bank's
new building was being erected and made ready for
occupancy, the business of the institution was done
in a building on Broadway now owned by Dr. Smith
Fuller. About the 1st of April, 1878, the bank removed to its present rooms in the fine brick building
on the south side of Main Street east of Broadway.
In January, 1865, the bank was reorganized under
the National Banking law, and became the National
Bank of Fayette County, the first election of directors
under the change being held on the 30th of that.
month. Authorized capital, $150,000.
Mr. Patterson, the first president of the institution,,
resigned Jan. 4, 1865, and was succeeded by John K.
Ewing. Mr. Wilson, the cashier, resigned Aug. 20,
1868, and A. C. Nutt became his successor. The
present (1881) officers of the bank are the following::
Directors, John K. Ewing, E. B. Dawson, John M.
Hadden, James T. Gorley, John H. McClelland,
James B. Wiggins, Henry W. Gaddis, Smith Fuller,
Daniel Downer, Alfred Howell; John K. Ewing,
president; A. C. Nutt, cashier.
340UNIONTOWN BOROUGH.
FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF UNIONTOWN.
In April, 1854, a private banking-office was opened
in Uniontown by Mr. John T. Hogg. Prior to that
time, and after the closing of the old Union Bank of
Pennsylvania, the *financial business of the borough
had been done principally with the Bank of Brownsville. Mr. Hogg's bank at Uniontown (he had also
banks at Brownsville, Connellsville, Mount Pleasant,
Bedford, Somerset, and other places) was opened at
the place where Mrs. Smith's millinery-store now is,
in the Tremont building. W. Wilson was its first
cashier. In August, 1858, he resigned to accept the
cashiership of the Bank of Fayette County, and
James T. Redburn succeeded him in Mr. Hogg's
bank. Soon afterwards the bank passed into possession of Isaac Skiles, Jr., by whom it was continued
as a private institution until 1864, when, in conformity with the provisions of the National Banking
law, it became the First National Bank of Uniontown, with a paid up capital of $60,000, increased
Jan. 1, 1872, to $100,000.
The corporators of the National Bank were Robert
Finley, C. S. Seaton, Jasper M. Thompson, Eleazer
Robinson, William Hurford, Isaac Skiles, Jr., James
T. Redburn, Hiram H. Hackney, and John Wilson;
articles of association dated Jan. 2, 1864. The bank
commenced business May 3, 1864, in the banking
rooms which it still occupies on Main Street, west of
Morgantown Street. The first board of directors was
composed of Messrs. Skiles, Robinson, Seaton, Thompson, Redburn, and Finley. President, Isaac Skiles,
Jr.; Cashier, James T. Redburn. In January, 1870,
Jasper M. Thompson was elected president, and in
the following May Josiah V. Thompson was elected
cashier on the death of Mr. Redburn.
The present officers of the bank are:
Directors, Jasper M. Thompson, president; George
W. Litman, Hiram H. Hackney, William Hopwood,
Charles E. Boyle, Joseph M. Campbell, Charles S.'Seaton, William H. Playford, John Wilson; cashier,
J. V. Thompson.
A new and commodious banking-house is to be
erected during the present summer (1882) for the use
of this bank, the property known as the "Round
Corner," on Main Street, having been purchased for
that purpose.
THE PEOPLE'S BANK OF FAYETTE COUNTY.
This bank was chartered March 21, 1873, the following-named gentlemen being the corporators: S.
A. Gilmore, Alfred Howell, C. E. Boyle, William
McCleary, Eli Cope, J. D. Roddy, Ewing Brownfield,
E. M. Ferguson, J. H. McClelland, J. A. Searight.
The board of directors was composed as follows:
Ewing Brownfield (president), Alfred Howell, James
Robinson, James A. Searight (cashier), John D.
Roddy, James Beatty.
The bank commenced business July 14, 1873. On
the 12th of August in that year the cashier, Mr. Searight, resigned, and was succeeded by M. H. Bowman.
The banking-rooms of the institution are on the
corner of Arch and Main Streets. The present officers of the bank are:
Directors, Ewing Brownfield, president; Thomas H.
Fenn, William McCleary, James Robinson, Daniel
Huston, James A. Searight.
Cashier, M. H. Bowman.
DOLLAR SAVINGS-BANK OF UNIONTOWN.
This bank commenced business Jan. 1, 1870, with
the Hon. A. E. Willson as president, and Armstrong
Hadden as cashier. Upon the election of Mr. Willson as judge of this district in 1873 he retired from
the presidency of the bank, and was succeeded by
Robert Hogsett, Esq. In October, 1872, C. S. Seaton
was appointed to the cashiership made vacant by the
death of Mr. Hadden. Mr. Seaton remained cashier
until April, 1878, when he retired, and was succeeded
by Henry McClay, who had previously been teller.
The business of the bank closed July 19, 1878.
FAYETTE COUNTY MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE
COMPANY.
This company was organized Sept. 2, 1844, the
corporators being Isaac Beeson, John Dawson, Alfred McClelland, Andrew Byers, William B. Roberts,
James T. Cannon, Ewing Brownfield, John Huston,
Robert T. Flenniken, Daniel Kaine, James Piper,
Samuel Y. Campbell, and Everard Bierer. Isaac
Beeson was chosen president, and Daniel Kaine secretary.
During the first year of the company's business
fifty-three policies were written, aggregating a risk of
$107,000. The total amount of risks from the organization of the company in 1844 to Jan. 1, 1881, was
$5,259,505. Total number of premium notes taken,
3317, aggregating $444,260.21.
The present board of managers is composed of E.
B. Dawson, Thomas Hadden, William Hunt, William Beeson, John K. Beeson, Ewing Brownfield,
John T. Harah, Adam C. Nutt, Edward Campbell,
James S. Watson.
UNIONTOWN BUILDING  AND LOAN ASSOCIATION.
On the 2d of April, 1870, a number of citizens convened at Skiles' Hall, in Uniontown, for the purpose
of organizing the above-named association. Officers
were elected as follows: President, Jasper M. Thompson; Secretary, A. C. Nutt; Treasurer, John H.
McClelland; Directors, John H. Miller, A. M. Gibson, J. A. Laughead, John K. Ewing, W. H. Bailey,
D. M. Springer, and Hugh L. Rankin.
On the 18th of April a constitution and by-laws
were adopted. Section 2 of the former declares that
"The object of this association shall be the accumulation of money to be loaned among its members for
the purchase of houses or lands, or for building or
repairing the same and acquiring homesteads."
There has been no change in president or treasurer
341HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
since the organization. A. C. Nutt, secretary, resigned
April 27, 1872, and was succeeded by William H.
Hope, who resigned March 31, 1877, when Benjamin
Campbell, the present secretary, was elected.
The association did not purchase any lands, but
loaned money exclusively to members and for building purposes until December, 1876, when provision
was made to make loans for other purposes, and to
parties not members of the association.
Below is given the amount of loans made by the
association in each of the seven years next following its formation, viz.:
From April, 1870, to April, 1871, $17,882.11.
-.. "1871,"   "   1872, 16,373.03.
("    "  1872,"   "   1873, 20,252.00.
"* "  1873,"'  1874, 35,051.29.
(("   "  1874,"   "   1875, 20,401.02.
t"    "  1875,"  "   1876, 37,144.31.
("    "  1876, "   "   1877, 48,018.88.
Two-thirds of the last amount was cash paid to stockholders in cancellation of shares, which from 1877 to the
present time have been gradually drawing to a close.
SOCIETIES AND ORDERS.
A  Masonic lodge was chartered in Uniontown
April 2, 1802, with the following-named officers:
Abraham Stewart, W. M.; George Manypenny, S.
W.; Christian Tarr, J. W.; John Van Houten, Tyler.
This lodge continued until 1817.
LAUREL LODGE, No. 215, F. AND A. M.1
This lodge was instituted June 30, 1828, under
charter granted by the. R. W. Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, June 2, 1828. Its first officers were Thomas
Irwin, W. M.; L. W. Stockton, S. W.; Gabriel Evans,
J. W.; William Salter, Treas.; M. Hampton, Sec.
The lodge existed for a short period only, closing its
work Feb. 11, 1831.:FAYETTE LODGE, No. 228, F. AND A. M.1
Upon the petition of John Irons, Zalmon Ludington, James Piper, John Keffer, P. U. Hook, John
McCuen, William Doran, Moses Shehan, Rev. S. E.
Babcock, and Samuel Bryan, the R. W. Grand Lodge
of Free and Accepted Masons of the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania granted a warrant or charter to open
a lodge in the borough of Uniontown, to be known as
Fayette Lodge, No. 228. John Irons to be first W.
M.; Zalmon Ludington to be first S. W.; James Piper
to be first J. W.
On the second Monday of April, 1848, the first regular meeting was held; nine petitions for degrees and
membership and two for membership were presented.
Of the eleven petitioners ten were admitted and one
withdrew his application. From April 10th until St.
John's day, Dec. 27, 1848, thirty-nine meetings were
held, and during that time the E. A. degree was conferred upon thirty-eight applicants; the F. C. degree
l Prepared l,y P. M. oIIclrlleinler.
was conferred upon twenty-nine applicants; the M.
M. degree was conferred upon twenty applicants; and
in addition to that four M. M.'s were admitted to
membership, so that at the end of the Masonic year
the lodge numbered fifty-two meribers. The first one
entered was William Thorndell; the last one entered
that year was Dr. Smith Fuller. An accession of
forty-two members during the first eight months was
surely encouraging to the brethren who labored earnestly for the success of the lodge.
On the 29th of July, 1850, John Irons, the W. M.,
died of cholera. On the afternoon of the 30th the
brethren assembled to pay the last "tribute of respect" to their much-beloved Master, and with the
honors of Freemasonry they consigned his body to
the earth.
The labors of the lodge were continued under the
control of the following brethren, who served as Masters: Robert Boyle, for the vear 1851-52; James L.
Bugh, 1853; Moses Shehan, 1854; Zalmon Ludington,
1855; George W. K. Minor, 1856; Thomas Semans,
1857-58; James H. Springer, 1859; Daniel Smith,
1860-62; Thomas Semans (re-elected), 1863-67;
George W. Litman, 1868; Thomas Semans, 1869;
Clharles E. Boyle, 1870; William Hunt; 1871; William C. Snydeir, 1872; P. M. Hochheimer, 1873-74;
S. M. Baily, 1875-76; D. J. Hopwood, 1877.
Since the organization of this lodge there have been
elected six members who served as treasurer of the
lodge: S. Bryan, for the years 1848-49; R. M. Modisett, 1850-51; William Thorndell, for ten successive
years, from 1852 to 1861, inclusive; John S. Harah,
fir the years 1862-66; Thomas Hadden, 1867; John
S. Harah, 1868-75; C. H. Rush, 1876; John S. Harah,
1877, and re-elected for 1878. Fourteen members
served this lodge as secretary during the period of
thirty years from  the organization -of the lodge:
John Keffer, for the year 1848; Robert Boyle, 1849;
Richard Huskins, 1850-51; R. M. Modisett, 1852;
AVilliam Seldon, 1853; James H. Springer, 1854-57;
William B. McCormick, 1858; Jesse B. Ramsey, 1859
-61; George W. Litman, 1862-63; Thomas A. Haldeman, 1864-65; William E. Beall, 1866; William
R. Senians, 1867; William E. Beall, 1868-72; William H. Hope, 1873-75; P. M. Hochheimer,. 187677. The fee for initiation and membership was $16
until April, 1852, when by instruction of the Grand
Lodge it was advanced to $19.25, which remained unchlanged until the year 1865, when $30 was made the
constitutional fee until the year 1870, when another
advance of $10 was made, making $40 the constitutional fee. The fee for the admission of a M. M. to
membership was $2 until.the adoption of the by-laws
of 1868, when it was changed to $5. The yearly dues
have been $3 until Jan. 8, 1877, when by the adoption of an amendment to the by-laws they were
changed to $4.
During a period of thirty years from the first organization there was paid into the treasury of this lodge
342UNIONTOWN BOROUGH.
From initiation fees........................ $5919.25
"    admission fees........................  107.00
"  dues....................................  6195.82
Total...........................$......... 12,222.07
Of this sum was paid out.
For Charter and Grand Lodge dues..... $2898.42
"    Charity,  etc..............................  1094.07
" Sundry expenses........................  6964.74
Total.................................... $10,957.23
and in addition to this sum there was expended the
sum of $800, of which no account can be given,
making the total expenditure $11,757.23, or $391.91
per year.
Past Master Zalmon Ludington was the only one
of the charter members whose name remained upon
the roll of members at the end of thirty years from
the establishment of the lodge. Redding Bunting,
Thomas Semans, Charles S. Seaton, George H. Thorndell, and Robert Britt became members of the lodge
in 1848.
During the Masonic year of 1858, Brother Thomas
Semans, W. M., the lodge seems to have been aroused
from its dormant state, and at the stated meeting
March 8th twenty-six members were suspended or
expelled for non-payment of dues. Since the organization of the lodge two members after due trial have
been suspended for unmasonic conduct.
Fayette Lodge has furnished members for the organization of King Solomon Lodge at Connellsville, and
Valley Lodge, Masontown. Kind and fraternal feelings have ever existed among the members of this
lodge toward the members of the several lodges in
this county.
From information gathered from the records of the
lodge and the correspondence of the different D. D.
G. M. of this Masonic district, we find a continuous
effort has been made on the part of these officers to
impart the work and ritual as taught in the Grand
Lodge of Pennsylvania, and their labors have not
been in vain; the work, ritual, and landmarks of Freemasonry as practiced in this lodge are strictly in accordance with the teachings of the Grand Lodge of
this great jurisdiction.
The officers of the lodge at present (1881) are: W.
M., John W. Wood; S. W., Calvin Springer; J. W.,
Armor S. Craig; Treas., William  B. McCormick;
Sec., P. M. Hochheimer. The number of members
is seventy-seven.
UNION R. A. CHAPTER, No. 165.
A petition was forwarded to the Grand Holy Royal
Arch Chapter of Pennsylvania, signed P. U. Hook,
John Irons, S. E. Babcock, William Searight, Daniel
Sturgeon, and John McCune, praying that a charter
be granted them to open and hold a chapter of Royal
Arch Masons at Uniontown.
The Grand Chapter, having taken favorable action
upon said petition, directed S. McKinley, Esq., D. D.
G. H. P. for the Western District of Pennsylvania, to
convene the petitioners and constitute them into a
chapter of R. A. Masons, which he did on the 15th
day of May, 1849, when Union R. A. Chapter, No.
165, was duly constituted and its officers elected, viz.:
P. U. Hook, H. P.; William Searight, K.; John
Irons, S.; William Thorndell, Treas.; Richard Huskins, Sec.
The work of this chapter was carried on until St.
John's day, Dec. 27, 1855, after which date the chapter remained in a dormant state until the 15th day of
April, 1872, when a sufficient number of members
convened, and by authority from the Grand H. R. A.
Chapter of Pennsylvania resuscitated Chapter No.
165, and elected officers who have successfully carried
on the work. The officers for the year 1881 are
Thomas Brownfield, H. P.; Andrew J. Gilmore, K.;
Max Baum, S.;' William B. McCormick, Treas.; P.
M. Hochheimer, Sec.
ST. OMER'S COMMANDERY, No. 3, KNIGHTS TEMPLAR.
Organized at Uniontown, Dec. 14, 1853, under charter granted by the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania.
The first officers were: Eminent Commander, John
Bierer; Generalissimo, Andrew Patrick; Captain-.General, William  Thorndell, Jr.; Prelate, James
Piper; Treasurer, William Thorndell, Jr.; Recording
Scribe, Richard Huskings. The commandery was
discontinued, Oct. 17, 1854, but was afterwards revived
and removed to Brownsville.
UNIONTOWN COMMANDERY, No. 49, KNIGHTS TEMPLAR.
This commandery was chartered May 13, 1874. Its
first officers were Nathaniel A. Baillie, Eminent Commander; Charles H. Rush, Generalissimo; William
Hunt, Captain-General; )Villiam C. Snyder, Prelate;
Clark Breading, Treasurer; William H. Hope, Recorder; Silas M. Bailey, Senior Warden; William T.
Moore, Junior Warden; John F. Gray, StandardBearer; J. Austin Modisett, Sword-Bearer; Thomas
Brownfield, Warden. The present officers are Philip
M. Hochheimer, Eminent Commander; Thomas
Brownfield, Generalissimo; Andrew J. Gilmore, Captain-General; William B. McCormick, Treasurer;
William Hunt, Recorder. The present number of
members is twenty-three.
FORT NECESSITY LODGE, No. 254, I. O. 0. F.
Instituted Aug. 6, 1847. The first officers of the
lodge were Samuel Bryan, N. G.; M. Keely, V. G.;
H. W. S. Rigdon, Sec.; M. Runion, Ass't Sec.; D.
Clark, Treas. The lodge first met in Madison College building, afterwards in Bryant's building, and
now holds its meetings at its rooms in Concert Hall
Block. The present membership is eighty. The officers of the lodge for 1881 are C. D. Conner, N. G.;
Martin L. Reis, V. G.; Joseph Beatty, Sec.; John S.
Harah, Treas.
I
I
I
343HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
FAYETTE ENCAMPMENT, No. 80, I. O. O. F.
Chartered July 31, 1848. The first officers of the
encampment were Daniel Bryan, C. P.; James Piper,
H. P.; H. W. S. Rigdon, S. W.; D. Marchand
Springer, J. W.; James A. Morris, Sec.; James McDermott, Treas.; David Clark, S. The present officers are Thomas Thorndell, C. P.; Alonzo Nabors,
S. W.; Peter Lape, J. W.; P. M. Hochheimer, Scribe;
W. H. Wilhelm, Treas. The membership now numbers thirty-five.
TONNALEUKA LODGE, No. 365, I. O. 0. F.
This lodge was chartered June 18, 1849, and organized on the 11th of July following, with the followingnamed officers: James Piper, N. G.; Daniel Smith,
V. G.; John K. Fisher, Sec.; William Barton, Jr.,
Ass't Sec.; Robert T. Galloway, Treas. The lodge
has now (1881) a membership of seventy-six, and its
officers are Levi S.,Gaddis, N. G.; John M. Cannan,
V. G.; Alfred Howell, Treas.; W. H. Wilhelm, Sec.
ROYAL ARCANUM COUNCIL, No. 388.
Organized in September, 1879; chartered May 3,
1880. The officers for 1881 are P. M. Hochheimer,
Regent; Stephen E. Wadsworth, V. R.; D. H.
Backus, Sec.; M. H. Bowman, Treas. The number
of its members is thirty-four.
MADISON LODGE, No. 419, K. or P.
The charter of this lodge dates Dec. 10, 1873. The
charter members were G. W. K. Minor, H. Delaney,
J. M. Hadden, J. W. Wood, J. S. Roberts, J. S. Breading, G. B. Rutter, L. Francis, J. D. Moore, and George
H. Thorndell, Sr. The present membership of the
lodge is forty-six. The officers for 1881 are Florence
Barnett, Chancellor Commander; vXilliamn Jeffries,
V. Chancellor; R. S. Reis, Prelate; Joseph M. Hadden, M. of Exchequer; Alfbert G. Beeson, Master of
Finance; George B. Rutter, Keeper of Records and
Seals; Levi Francis, Past Chancellor.
WILL F. STEWART POST, No. 180, G. A. R.
This post of the Grand Army of the Republic was
organized May 20, 1880, with twenty charter members. The membership at present numbers fortythree. The officers are Henry White, Past Commander; Albert G. Beeson, Post Commander; James
Collins, James C. Whalley, Vice Commanders; John
H. Marshall, Chaplain; A. M. Litman, Quartermaster; George B. Rutter, Adjutant; John Nicholson,
Quartermaster-Sergeant. The post meets in the hall
in Miller's building.
RISING STAR LODGE, No. 533, I. O. G. T.
This lodge was organized June 21, 1880, by George
Whitsett, and the following-named officers were then
elected and installed: W. C. T., P. C. Baxter; W. V. T.,
Miss M. V. Jackson; W. Secretary, Joseph B. Jackson; W. F. Secretary, Susan Moxley; W. Treasurer,
William Albert Henry; W. Chaplain, C. A. Jenkins;
W. Marshal, Eli Truly; Inner Guard, Samuel Miller;
Sentinel, James Carter.
The present (August, 1881) officers are: W. C. T.,
William A. Henry; W. V. T., Mary E. Truman; W.
Secretary, Joseph B. Jackson; W. F. Secretary, Mary
V. Baxter; W. Treasurer, James Carter; W. Chaplain, Eli M. Cury; W. Marshal, Thomas J. Brooks;
Inner Guard, D. F. Baxter; Sentinel, Dennis Carter.
MILLS AND MANUFACTORIES.
One of the oldest landmarks, as it is also the most
ancient of all the manufacturing establishments of
Uniontown, is the old mill building, still standing, in
the western part of the borough, near the Main Street
bridge over Beeson's Run. This building, known in
later years as the Phcenix Cement Mill, was built in
or about'the year 1784, and fitted up as a grist-mill
with the machinery and fixtures of the older mill of
Henry Beeson, which stood near the present Gallatin
Avenue bridge, and which was then discontinued.
The mill (built, as above mentioned, about 1784)
was continued as a grist- and flouring-mill for more
than eighty years, but finally, in 1868, was discontinued as such, and converted into a mill for the
manufacture of hydraulic cement. The old building
is in a much better state of preservation than could
be expected from its great age.
The flouring-mill of W.  J. K. Beeson, located
near the confluence of Campbell's or Beeson's Run
and Redstone Creek, is on the site of Nathaniel Mitchell's old tilt-hammer shop and scythe-factory, which
have been mentioned in preceding pages. The property came into possession of Isaac Beeson, who put
in machinery for the manufacture of cement from
material quarried on the north side of Campbell's
Run. It was operated for this purpose by him and
his son Charles until the death of the latter.  In
1867 it was sold to Henry R. Beeson, who changed
it to a fiouring-mill. Afterwards it passed to William
Beeson, the present owner.
A woolen-factory was erected on Campbell's Run,
on the site of the John Miller tannery, in the southwest part of the borough, and was in operation for
some years under the proprietorship of C. C. Hope
and others, but was never very successful financially,
and was finally destroyed by fire.
The Uniontown Flouring-Mill, now owned and
operated by L. W. Reynolds, is the successor of a mill
built about 1838 by Mr. Huston, from Maryland. It
was afterwards used for several years as a distillery,
and was finally destroyed by fire, being at that time
the property of Col. Israel Painter. The present
flouring-mill was erected by Jacob Murphy and William S. Barnes. In 1863 it was purchased by L. O.
Reynolds. After his death in 1879 it came into posI
3440)
r t-. i k,.,  L      (-(h.1UNIONTOWN BOROUGH.
session of his son, Lyman W. Reynolds, its present
owner.
The Union Foundry, located at the corner of Morgantown and Foundry Streets, was started in 1840 by
E. Robinson. In 1861 it passed to the proprietorship
of Jaquett  Keffer, by whom it was operated till
October, 1877, when the present proprietor, Mr.
Thomas Jaquett, assumed entire charge and management. The business of the establishment is the manufacture of stoves, plows, grates, and castings of
nearly every description. The store-room and office
of the foundry are located on Morgantown Street.
The Redstone Foundry and Machine-Shop, located
on Pittsburgh Street, was established by Richard Miller in the year 1846. Some time afterwards Mr. Miller admitted his son as a partner, and the firm of
Miller  Son carried on the business till 1875, when
it was succeeded by Henry Delaney. In 1879 the
establishment passed to the management of Frankenberry  Moore, the present proprietors. They
manufacture coke-oven fronts, car-wheels, stoves,
grates, hollow-ware, and all kinds of castings and
light machinery. Their foundery has a capacity of
melting and casting about twelve thousand pounds of
metal weekly. The building occupied is two stories
in height, having a depth of one hundred and ten
feet, and width of thirty-six feet. A twenty horsepower engine is used, and a number of skilled workmen are employed.
The planing-mill and wood-working factory of
Laughead, Hadden  Co. is the largest and most important of the manufacturing establishments of Uniontown. It was built and put in operation in October,
1867, by Fuller, Laughead  Baily. On the 28th of
June, 1870, the firm of Fuller, Laughead, Baily  Co.
succeeded to the business. In May, 1875, the firmname of Fuller, Laughead  Co. was adopted. The
present firm, composed of James A. Laughead,
Thomas Hadden, John W. Sembower, and Dr. Smith
Fuller, all members of the old firm with the exception
of Hadden, succeeded to the business, adopting the
style and title of Laughead, Hadien  Co.
The mill building, fitted up throughout with new
and improved machinery, is two stories in height,
and covers an area of ground forty by sixty feet. Attached to this is a wing twenty-two by forty feet. The
boiler-house and engine-house are each twenty-two by
twenty feet. A forty horse-power engine is used, and
from forty to eighty workmen are employed in the
manufacture of doors, sash, blinds, etc., and in the
erection of buildings, etc. During the past summer
this company erected sixty-one buildings. As both
the Southwest Pennsylvania and the Baltimore and
Ohio Railroads pass over the five acres of ground
owned by the company, they enjoy excellent shipping
facilities, and are constantly shipping lumber, etc., to
all sections of the country. In connection with their
mill, Messrs. Laughead, Hmadden  Co. conduct a
general store in a two-story building twenty by
seventy feet.
UNIONTOWN GAS-WORKS.
The Uniontown Gas and Water Company was incorporated by an act passed March 26, 1859. This
act was supplemented by one approved April 2, 1868,
and in June of the latter year the company was organizel, with Dr. Smith Fuller as its president, and T. B.
Searight, secretary and treasurer. Dr. Fuller, Col. T.
B. Searight, and E. B. Downer were constituted a
cominittee to open books and receive subscriptions.
The amount of fifteen thousand dollars was subscribed,
and at a meeting of stockholders held on the 10th of
July, T. B. Searight, Alfred Howell, J. H. McClellan,
E. B. Woods, and Ewing Brownfield were chosen
managers, and a constitution and by-laws adopted.
After organization, the subscriptions to the stock
not being p)aid in, John H. Miller, Jr., of Grafton,
W. Va., proposed to build gas-works at his own expense, provided the company would transfer its powers
and franchises to him. This offer was accepted, and
legislation was procured (March 26, 1869) authorizing
the transfer to Mr. Miller, with the proviso that he
should not charge for gas a price exceeding two dollars
and fifty cents per thousand feet, unless he was tompelled to purchase coal at a price above twelve dollars
per one hundred bushels. He soon after built the
works (located on the creek near the Broadway bridge)
as proposed, and operated them for the manufacture
of gas until May 8, 1872, when Eleazer Robiiison, of
Uniontown, purchased the works. He carried on the
business till 1875, when his son, William L. Robinson,
assumed charge and still continues to supply gas to
the people of Uniontown.
POPULATION.
The population of Uniontown borough by the
United States census of 1880 was:
East Ward....................................  1582
West     ".........................................  1683
Total........................................... 3265
Since the taking of that census, however, the remarkable business activity and prosperity of the town
and surrounding country has brought a corresponding
increase in the population of the borough, which at
the present time (January, 1882) is estimated to be
fully four thousand.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
HON. DANIEL STURGEON.
Hon. Daniel Sturgeon, "the Silent Senator," who
was born in Adams County, Pa., Oct. 27, 1779, and
died at Uniontown, Fayette Co., July 2, 1878, in the
eighty-ninth year of his age, was of Scotch-Irish
I
I
I
I
345HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Presbyterian stock, his grandfather having -come
from the north of Ireland and settled in Adams
County some time early in the eighteenth century.
He -graduated at Jefferson College, Washington
County, and moved to Uniontown in 1810 to study
medicine with Dr. Benjamin Stevens, a man of note in
his day. After finishing his studies in medicine he
commenced practicing his profession in Greensboro',
Greene Co., and remained there a year, after whiclh,
Dr. Stevens meanwhile dying, Dr. Sturgeon returned
to Uniontown to take his place, and went into practice there. He was chosen by his fellow-citizens to
represent them in the Legislature of the State in its
session of 1819, and was continued in his capacity of
representative for three terms.  In 1825 he was
elected a; member of the State Senate, and served in
the important position of Speaker during the years
1827-29. His manly bearing and strict integrity of
character secured him the post of auditor-general of'
the State under Governor Wolf in 1830, at which he
servedfor six years. He was State treasurer in the
years 1838-39, and was in 1840 elected United States
senator for the term commencing March 4, 1839 (the
Legislature having failed the session before to elect
in consequence of " the Buckshot war"). He was reelected in 1845, and served till 1851. In 1853 he was
appointed by President Pierce treasurer of the United
States Mint in Philadelphia, and held that responsible trust until 1858, when he retired from public
life. Among Dr. Sturgeon's contemporaries in the
United States Senate were Webster, Clay, Calhoun,
Benton, Wright, Buchanan, William  Allen, and
Simon Cameron.
Dr. Sturgeon was a man of commanding stature, of
majestic presence,"The combiination and the form indeed
Where every god did seem to set his seal
To give the world assurance of a man."
He was a sturdy actor rather than talker, and
though a fluent and graceful colloquist, made no pretense even, as a public speaker. In the Senate, where
he did good work on the committees, and commanded
high regard for sterling good sense and integrity, he
made no speeches, and received the sobriquet "the
Silent Senator." He was a man of great decision of
character, and in 1838, while State treasurer, broke
up "the Buckshot war" by stubbornly refusing to
honor Governor Ritner's order on the treasury for
$20,000 to pay the troops, setting guards about the
Treasury and personally overseeing them.
In 1814, Dr. Sturgeon married Miss Nancy Gregg, a
daughter of James Gregg, of Uniontown, a merchant,
and Nancy Gregg, who survived her husband about
fifty years, reaching the age of eighty-seven years.
Mrs. Dr. Sturgeon died in 1836, at the age of fortytwo, the senator never remarrying, leaving five children, four sons and a daughter, of whom three sons
are dead. Of these, one took part in the Mexican
war under Gen. Scott, being Lieut. John Sturgeon, of
Company H, Second Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, who died in Pueblo, Mexico, in the campaign,
on the 18th day of July, 1848.! COL. EWING BROWNFIELD.
Among the venerable men of Fayette County, identified particularly with Uniontown for a period extending from 1805, when, as a child of two years of
age, he was brought by his parents to Fayette County,
to the year of this writing (1882), a period no less
than seven years more than what is commonly counted
" the allotted age of iman," stands Col. Ewing Brownfield, in the vigor of well-preserved old age, and, if
his old-time neighbors are to be credited, without a
stain upon his character for general probity and
uprightn'ess in his business dealings through life. He
was born near Winchester, Va., Sept. 7, 1803, of
Quaker parentage. Thomas Brownfield, his father,
brought his family to Uniontown in the year 1805,
and at first rented and afterwards bought the White
Swan Tavern, which he conducted till he died in
1829. Ewing grew up in the old tavern, enjoyed the
qdvantages of the common schools of that day, and
when become of fitting years assisted his father as
clerk and overseer of the hotel until the father's
(leath, when, in 1830, he and his brother John, now
a. prominent citizen of South Bend, Ind., formed a
partnership in the dry-goods business, of which more
further on.
In early manhood Col. Brownfield conceived a great
love for military discipline and display,-" the pomp
and glory of the very name of war,"-and in a time of
profound peace, when he was about twenty years of
age, was one of the first to join a Urnion volunteer
company at that time organized. It is one of Col.
Brownfield's proud memories that upon the occasion
of Gen. Lafayette's visit to Albert Gallatin, at New
Geneva, in 1825, he, with several of his companions
in arms, went on horseback, as military escort, to the
residence of Mr. Gallatin, and were delightedly received by the latter gentleman and his renowned
guest. About thatlime there came into Uniontown
a certain Capt. Bolles, a graduate of West Point, who
formed a military drill squad, of which Brownfield
was a member. Under the tutelage of Capt. Bolles,
Brownfield became proficient in company drill, also in
battalion and field drill, etc. After the formation of
the First Regiment of Fayette County volunteers,
about 1828, Col. Brownfield, then a private, became
an independent candidate for major of the regiment,
and was elected over three strongly supported candidates. Holding the position for two years, he was
thereafter, on the resignation of Col. Evans, elected
colonel himself without opposition, and continued in
the colonelcy for five years, receiving from Maj.Gen. Henry W. Beeson, at that time a military
authority of high repute, the distinguished compli346ald-X-Z7-         fHISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA,.
Leaving Williamsburg, Gen. Braddock, Sir John
Sinclair, and the admiral arrived on the 26th at Alexandria, which place was the headquarters of the expedition for nearly. two months, during which time
(on the 14th of April) a council was held there, composed of the commander-in-chief, Admiral Keppel,
Gov. Dinwiddie, of Virginia, Gov. Shirley, of Massachusetts, Gov. Delancey, of New York, Gov. Morris,
of Pennsylvania, and Gov. Sharpe, of Maryland; at
which conference the plan of tlie campaign I was decided on, and arrangements made to facilitate the forwarding of the provincial troops destined for the expedition.
Sir John Sinclair was dispatched from Alexandria
soon after his arrival with orders to proceed to Winchester, Va., and thence to Fort Cuinberland, to complete all arrangements for the army's transportation.
By his advice Braddock adopted the plan of moving
his force from Alexandria in two divisions, viz.: one
regiment and a portion of the stores to proceed to
Winchester, whence a new road was nearly completed
to Fort Cumberland, and the other regiment, with the
remainder of the stores and the artillery, to move to
the fort {which had been designated as the general
rendezvous) by way of Frederick, Md.  Accordingly,  1
on the 9th of April, Sir Peter Halket left Alexandria
for the fort, by way of Winchester, with  six companies of the Forty-fourth  Regiment, leaving  the   (
other four companies  behind  under command  of  v
Lieut.-Col. Gage2 to escort the artillery. On the 18th   c
Col. Dunbar, with the Forty-eighth, marched for
Frederick, Mid., and  the  commander-in-chief left  c
Alexandria for the same place on the 20th, leaving
Gage to follow  with the artillery.  When Dunbar  c
arrived at Frederick he found that there was no road
to Cumberland through Maryland,3 and accordingly,
on the 1st of May, he recrossed the Potomac, struck
the Winchester route, and nine days later was iti the
neighborhood of the fort.   "At high noon on the   C
10th of May, while Halket's command was already
encamped at the comimon destination, the Fortyeighth was startled by the passage of Braddock and
his staff through their ranks, with a body of lighthorse galloping on each side of his traveling chariot,  b
in haste to reach Fort Cumberland. The troops
saluted, the drums rolled out the Grenadiers' March,
and the cortege passed by. An hour later they heard
1 The council, however, had really nothing to do with the adoption of  n(
the plan of operations, which was nmade entirely according to the martinet ideas and opinions of the commander-ini-chief.
2 The same Gag.u  hou as major-general commanded the British forces
in Boston in 1775.
3  Capt. Orme, in his journal of the expedition, says, "The general
ordered a bridge to be built over the Antietun, wllich being filrnished
and provision laid upon the road Col. Dunbar marched witll ihis regimenlt  PE
front Frederick on the 28th of April, and about this time the bridge over  pr
tlle Opeccon was finished for the passage of the artillery, anId floats were  Br
built on all the rivers and creeks." The " Antietuns" llere mentioned
is the same historic stream whose locust-fringed banks witnessed the terlific battle between the Union and Confederate hosts under McClellan    4
and Lee, on the 17th of September, 1862.               Sat
the booming of the artillery which welcomed the general's arrival, and a little later themselves encamped
on the hillsides about that post." The artillery escorted by Gage arrived at the fort on the 20th.
Arriving at the fort on the 10th, the general remained there about one month, during which time
his expeditionary force was completed and organized.
Two companies, Rutherford's and Clarke's, had been
stationed at the fort during tlle winter, and were still
there. The Forty-fourth and Forty-eighth regulars
had been augmented to a total of fourteen hundred
men by the addition of Virginia and Maryland levies
at Alexandria. A company of Virginia light-horse,
under command of Capt. Stewart, acted as the general's body-guard. A body of seventy provincials
was formed into two companies of pioneers, each
having a captain, two subalterns, and two sergeants,
and withl these was also a very small company of guides.
A lieutenant, Mr. Spendelow, and two midshipmel
from Admiral Keppel's fleet were present with about
thirty sailors to have charge of the cordage and
tackles, necessary for the building of bridges and the
hoisting of artillery pieces and other heavy material
over precipices. The other provincial troops brought
the total number up to about two thousand one hundred and fifty, including officers, but exclusive of wagoners and the usual complement of non-combatant
camp-followers, among whom were a number of
vomen. There. were eight friendly Indians who accompanied the expedition.
The forces of Gen. Braddock were brigaded by his
Drders as follows:
First Brigade, commanded by Sir Peter Halket,:omposed of
The Forty-fourth Regiment of Regulars.
Capt. John Rutherford's  I Independent Companies
Capt. Horatio Gates'4 4  of New York.
Capt. William Polson's Company of Pioneers and
Jarpenters.
Capt. William Peyronie's Virginia Rangers.
Capt. Thomas Waggoner's Virginia Rangers.
Capt. Eli Dagworthy's Maryland Rangers.
Second Brigade, commanded by Col. Thomas Dunar, composed of
The Forty-eighth Regiment of Regulars.
Capt. Paul Demerie's South Carolina detachment.
Capt. Dobbs' North Carolina Rangers.
Capt. Mercer's Company of Carpenters and Pioeers.
Capt. Adam Stephen's )
Capt. Peter Hogg's    Virginia Rangers.
Capt. Thomas Cocke's
Capt. Andrew Lewis had been sent with his comtny of Virginians to the Greenbrier River for the
rotection of settlers there; but he afterwards rejoined
raddock's column on its way to Fort du Quesne.
Afterwards Mnajor-General Gates, to whom Burgoyne surrendered at'
ratoga.
98I--,
k
I.347
UNIONTOWN BOROUGH.
ment implied in the following voluntary plaudit bestowed upon his' regiment, namely, "The First
Fayette County Regiment of volunteers is among the
very best field-drilled regiments in the State."
In 1832 he and his brother dissolved the partnership before referred to, Ewing continuing the business till 1836, when he " went West," and settled in
Mishawaka, Ind., again entering into the dry-goods
business. But owing to the' malarial character of the
locality in that day, he decided to leave the place
after a few months, and returned to Uniontown,
where, in 1837, he resumed the dry-goods business.
In the same year he bought a house and lot on the
corner of Main and Arch Streets, tore away the old
building, erected a new one, and there conducted his
favorite business, continuing in the same from that
date to 1862. In the latter year he disposed of his
dry-goods interests, and from that time to 1872 was
engaged, for the most part, in the wool business. In
1873 he was elected president of the People's Bank,
which position he now holds.
Col. Brownfield was married in 1842 to Miss Julia
A. Long, daughter of Capt. Robert Long, of Springfield township, Fayette Co.  They have had three
children,--Robert L., Anna E., and Virginia E.
Robert, a graduate of the Sheffield Scientific School
of Yale College, New Haven, Conn., is now a prosperous merchant of Philadelphia; Anna E. graduated at the Packer Institute, Brooklyn, N. Y., and
is the wife of William Huston, a wholesale merchant
of Pittsburgh;' Virginia died on the 14th of May,
1872.
SMITH FULLER, M.D.
Dr. Fuller, a gentleman of high repute in his profession, on all hands conceded to be the leading physician and surgeon of Uniontown and a wide district
thereabouts, as well.as a manly man among the manliest in the various walks of life, is the son of the late
John Fuller, of Connellsville, a tanner by trade, and
a leading politician of his locality. He was three
times a member of the Legislature of Pennsylvania,
and was a member of the Constitutional Convention
of the State in 1838, and died in 1865, at the age of
seventy-nine.
Dr. Fuller's mother was Harriet R. Smith, a daughter of the distinguished physician, Dr. Bela B. Smith,
a native of Hartford, Conn., and who practiced medicine at West Newton, Westmore]and Co., for fifty
years, and died about 1835, having accumulated a
large estate, principally landed property, through the
practice of his profession.
Dr. Fuller was born in Connellsville in 1818, and
in early childhood attended the common schools of
Connellsville (then a town of about 1000 inhabitants),
till about the age of fifteen, when he was sent to Washington College, an institution then embracing about
one hundred students, and the chief seat of learning
in Western Pennsylvania. He remained at college
three years, and leaving it went to West Newton to
study medicine with Dr. John Hasson, a leading
physician of Westmoreland County. He read medicine with Dr. Hasson for two years, and then took a
course of lectures at Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, concluding which he located in Uniontown
in the spring of 1840, and entered upon the practice
of medicine, which he pursued, developing great skill
and laying the foundation of his exceptionally enviable reputation as a physician until 1846, when he
returned to Jefferson Medical College, took further
courses of lectures, and graduated in 1847. The eminent Robley Dunglison and Prof. Pancoast were
prominent professors of the college at that time.
Dr. Fuller returned to his Uniontown home, where
he has ever since been located, enjoying an extensive
practice. In his' early practice physicians were few
in Fayette and adjoining counties, and he was often
called on to visit patients twenty-five miles distant
froln Uniontown.
In early life a Democrat, Dr. Fuller co-operated
actively with the National American party in 1856,
and on the organization of the Republican party
united with it. In 1860 he was a member of the National Convention at Chicago which nominated Abraham Lincoln for President. In the same year he was
elected to the State Senate from Fayette and Westmoreland Counties; and after the expiration of his
term as senator was nominated by the Republicans
as representative in Congress; ran against Hon. John
L. Dawson, then running for a second term, Dawson
being declared elected by a majority of sixteen (in a
strongly Democratic district). Dr. Fuller contested
the seat, but unsuccessfully.
Aside from his profession, he has been largely engaged in business, notably in tanning for the wholesale trade in Georges township, Fayette Co. He has
never united with any sectarian religious organization,
though looking with favor upon all practical means
of promoting good morals.
Dr. Fuller was twice married. His first wife was
Miss Elvina Markle, of West Newton, whom he married in 1839, and who died in the early part of 1848.
He nextmarried, in 1849, Miss Jane Beggs, of Uniontown, with whom he is now living. By his former
wife he had three children,--a son and two daughters,
-all of whom are now living. By his second wife
he has had five sons, three of whom are now living.
Three of his sons are practitioners of medicine and
one of law.
ROBERT IIOGSETT.
Robert Hogsett is the most remarkable man in
Fayette County in this, that he has wrought out by
his own unaided efforts a larger fortune than any
other citizen of the county.  Others may possess
more wealth, but cannot say as Hogsett can, " I made
it all myself."348                  HISTORY  OF FAYETTE  COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Robert Hogsett was born in Menallen township,  below Uniontown, which he refitted and operated.
March 2, 1820. His father, James Hogsett, was a  This mill is still standing and doing work. Robert
north of Ireland man, and emigrated to America some  Hogsett went with Strickler to Vance's mill. He
time during the early part of the present century. drove the team that hauled the machinery from the
There was nothing about him to distinguish him from  burnt mill to Vance's, a work that occupied him many
his fellow-men, and he died in North Union township, days. Joseph Strickler had the misfortune to lose
near Uniontown, about the year 1850, going out of his eyesight. After he became blind he removed to
the world as he had lived in it, a poor but honest the State of Missouri and died there. Mr. Hogsett
man. He did not live to see his son take as much as  always speaks in kind terms of Joseph Strickler, and
the initial step towards that distinguished rank in  says he was a good man.
business and financial affairs which he now admittedly    While engaged in the milling business, Mr. Hogholds, but he left the world peacefully for all that, sett, by reason of exposure to all kinds of weather,
confidently believing that all his children would be  contracted quinsy, a complaint that pains him with
able to hold their own in life's great battle. Robert periodically recurring attacks to this day. He reHogsett's mother was a daughter of Robert Jackson, mained with Strickler eight years, and until he
of the old Jackson family of Menallen township, reached the age of twenty-five. During this period
who organized Grace Church, near Searight's, the  his wages never exceeded one hundred and twenty
oldest Episcopal Church in the county. At the early  dollars per year, a rate, however, which at that
age of twelve years Robert was hired out to work for day was considered high for labor. After quitting
such persons as would employ him, and for such  the service of Strickler he went to work for Mrs.
wages as could be obtained for him. His first en- Sampey, the widow of James Sampey, of Mount
gagement was with Job Wheatley, a farmer, living  Washington.  His duties under this engagement
about one and a half miles northwardly from Sea-  were to manage the large mountain farm upon which
right's. He remained with Wheatley but a short old Fort Necessity is located; to make all he could
time, doing such work as.is within the scope and  out of it for his employer, and likewise to superinpower of a twelve years old boy.  Upon quitting  tenld the hotel at that place, over which Mrs. Sampey
Wheatley's service he went to breaking stones on the  presided as landlady and hostess. This hotel was a
old National road, a common thing with boys, and  stage-stand at which the " Good Intent" line of stagemen as well, at that day. There are many old men  coaches, running on the National road, kept relays
in Fayette County who when boys and young men  of teams, and passengers frequently stopped there for
broke stones on the old pike. Young Hogsett re- meals. There were nine stage-teams standing at the
mained on the road wielding the well-rememnbered  Mount Washington stables all the time. Mr. Hogsett
little round napping-hammer every day for five years, engaged but for a single year with Mrs. Sampey, and
and until he reached the age of seventeen, breaking  in the year cleared for her and paid over to her the
from two to five perches of stones a day, at twelve  handsome sum of four thousand dollars. Now Hogand a half cents (called a "levy") per perch. Be- sett had reached an age at which he was ambitious to
coming tired of the monotony of the napping-hammer,  own something himself. His first thought after rehe entered into an engagement with Joseph Strickler, solving to make a home for himself that he could
who was running "the old Evans mill" on the farm, call his own was to obtain a good wife. And here
or rather large plantation of Col. Samuel Evans, in  the genius of good luck first perched upon his banner,
North Union township.  Besides running the mill and led him to woo and wed a daughter of John
Strickler farmed a portion of the Evans land. Strick-  F. Foster, of North Union township.  Mr. Foster
ler was quite a prominent and active business man in  owned a small but productive farm near Uniontown,
his day, and was among the first men of Fayette  and Robert Hogsett, soon after his marriage, rented
County who gave attention to the feeding of cattle  this farm and set up for himself and his wife. He
for the Eastern markets. The Evans mill was de-  operated this farm as tenant of his father-in-law for
stroyed by fire while Robert Hogsett was serving for about two years, and then bought it. It contained
Strickler, but at the time of the burning Hogsett was  one hundred acres, and was the first real estate that
not working in the mill, but on the Evans farm at Robert Hogsett ever owned, and he owns it to this
farm-work. While in the mill, Hogsett for the most day, and lives within a few steps of its boundaries.
part had charge of the engine, but his duties were  This purchase was made about the year 1848.
multifarious, and he did many things in and about   It will be seen that at this date, while Mr. Hogsett
the mill, such as carrying bags of grain from wagons, had displayed indomitable energy and industry, as
placing grists on the backs of horses and tossing boys  well as close economy, his earnings were inadequate
upon them, and starting them home to gladden their  to the purchase of a farm even of small proportions
parents' hearts with fresh No. 1 flour and the usual and at a small price, the best average farm in Fayette
allowance of bran and shorts to make slop for the  County at that time rating only at about fifty dollars
cows. After the Evans mill burnt down Strickler  per acre; and that was the price he paid for the farm
bought Vance's mill, on Redstone Creek, three miles  of his father-in-law. But owing to the relationship;7
Z
6/;/tUNIONTOWN BOROUG H.
between the grantor and grantee, the latter, of course,
obtained favorable terms. His industrious and economical habits, however, soon enabled him to acquire
a sufficient sum of money to pay for this farm in full,
when he got his deed, and stood forth for the first
time a freeholder. When he commenced farming for
himself as lessee on his father-in-law's land, his whole
outfit consisted of two poor horses and one old sled.
As he pushed along he added to his stock, and soon
became the owner of an ordinary farm team. It was
his practice at this period to haul the grain he raised
into the mountains and sell it to the tavern-keepers
on the old National road, which was then a crowded
thoroughfare; and such indeed was the practice of
nearly all the farmers in the neighborhood of Uniontown and many portions of Fayette County.
The National road furnished a ready market for all
kinds offarm produce, and the mountains being remote
from the rich agricultural lands better prices were obtained there than "in the settlement," as the region
west of Laurel Hill was called. After disposing of a
load of grain the farmer proceeded with his team to
Cumberland, and returned with a load of merchandise
to Brownsville or Wheeling, for the transportation of
which he obtained remunerative prices, and thus was
enabled to make profitable trips. It was always considered an indispensable matter to secure what was
called a "back load."  Farmers thus employed were
called "sharpshooters;" a term used to distinguish
them from the " regulars," as those were called who
nmade transportation a regular business. Robert Hogsett was therefore called a "sharpshooter," but he
little heeded "nicknames" so long as he pursued an
honest, calling and obtained an honest living. He
was utterly oblivious to everything but the accomplishment of his aims and purposes, always pursuing them,
however, with the strictest regard for honesty and
propriety.
It may be said that the turning-point of Mr. Hogsett's wonderfully successful career was his marriage
with Miss Foster and the purchase of her father's
farm. After that he moved forward slowly and
cautiously at first, but always making his points with
certainty. Honesty, industry, and frugality were his
dominant characteristics, and these when combined,
rarely fail to bring success to any man who has the
good fortune to possess them.
For many years after he became settled on his own
homestead Robert Hogsett devoted himself exclusively
to legitimate farming and stock-raising pursuits, which
brought him large profits, owing mainly to his judicious management. In 1858-59, when the first railroad
was built to Uniontown, called the Fayette County
road, he took a contract for construction, and completed it with characteristic energy and promptitude;*
and upon the completion of the road, at the urgentsolicitation of the directors, he consented to serve as superintendent, a position he held but a short time, not
fancying the railroad business, and possessing too much
23
business talent to be wasted on a twelve-mile branch.
He is now, however, a director in the Southwest Railroad Company, a position he has held from the first
organization of that company. Soon after the construction of the Fayette County road, above mention( d,
he purchased the Isaac Wood tract of land, near
Mount Braddock, a large farm underlaid with the ninefoot vein of coking coal. He moved on to this farm
and lived on it a number of years, leaving the old
Foster farm in charge of one of his now grown-up sons.
He subsequently purchased the Jacob Murphy farm,
adjoining the Wood farm, and also underlaid with
the big vein of coking coal. Here he erected coke
ovens, and operated them a numnber of years with his
customary success. He recently sold these works
and the coal adjacent for a large sum of money, sufficient of itself to constitute an ordinary fortune.
He next bought' the Judge Nathaniel Ewing farm,
one mile north of IJniontown, on which he at present
resides. Altogether, he is at this time the owner of
four thousand eight hundred acres of land,. twelve
hundred of which lie in the county of Logan, Ohio, of
excellent quality for farming and grazing. He has
tlree thousand six hundred acres in Fayette County,
all of the best quality of farming land, and underlaid
with the celebrated Connellsville vein of coking coal,
except eight or nine hundred acres of mountain range.
He is also the owner of a one-half interest in the
Lemont Furnace, which has a daily capacity of forty
tons, and he personally manages the affairs of this furnace, in addition to bestowing careful attention upon
his extensive farming and stock-raising interests.
And this colossal fortune was made in a few years by
a man who started out in the world with nothing to
assist him but willing hands, a clear head, and an
honest heart. Robert Hogsett is small in stature, and
wears a full beard. While he is not a member of any
church, he is temperate and exemplary in his habits.
He never indulges in profanity, nor does he use
tobacco in ally form. All his life he has followed
the precept of the maxim, " Early to bed and early to
rise;" and if the practice of this precept has not made
him healthy, it has at least made him wealthy and
wise. Without opportunity of going to school in
early life, as has been seen, his education is limited
to the rudiments of book learning, and he has probably never seen the following lines, although his
career is a perfect illustration of the truthfulness of
the sentiment they contain, viz.:
"The heights by great men reached and kept
Were not attained by sudden flight,
But they, while their companions slept,
Were towering upwards in the night."
Robert Hogsett is utterly indifferent to the gilded
signs of fashion and fancy. A brass band on the
street makes no more impression upon him than the
murmurings of the rivulet that threads its course
through one of his rich meadows. He pays no attention to "side-shows," but never misses the "main
349IIISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
chance." It must not be inferred from t'his, however,
that he is lacking in hospitality or generosity. On
the contrary, he lives well, and no man greets or entertains his friends with warmer cordiality. When
at home, released from the anxious cares of business
engagemnents almost constantly pressing upon him,
he delights in receiving the calls of his neighbors and
friends, and derives pleasure in talking with them on
the common topics of the hour. With all his good
fortune he has suffered one sad misfortune, the death
a few years ago of his wife, Jane Foster. But Providence, as if unwilling that the even current of his
suiccessful life should seem to be broken or perturbed, sent him another wife in the person of Susan
Allen, one of the most excellent ladies of Fayette
County.
JASPER MARKLE TIIOMPSON.
The character and remarkable career of Jasper
Markle Thompson, now and since 1870 president of
the First National Bank of Uniontown, nmay, perhaps, be best illustrated by a brief recital of the history of his immediate progenitors, from whom he
evidently inherited the elenients of the vigorous but
modest character which he has manifested throughout his career in life. He comes of an ancestry on
both the paternal and maternal sides-the one ScotchIrish, the other Pennsylvania Dutch-who were driven
from the lands of their birth because of their religious convictions, and found a refuge in the colonies
of America, in the province of Penn, early in the
eighteenth century. His paternal grandfather, like
many other of the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians of the
Cumberland Valley, desiring to stand upon the frontiers of civilization, drifted westward to Westmoreland County prior to the Revolutionary war, and
took up a tract of land in the vicinity of Mount
Pleasant. His wife was Mary Jack, a daughter of
John Jack, a gentleman who was prominent, with
others of his family, in drafting and uttering the
Hannastown Declaration of Independence in 1775.
A new field of operations was about that time opened
to men of strong arms and unflinching courage, and
he determined to meet the red man on his own battlefield. Inclination, if not duty, pointed to the choice
soil of Kentucky, and Mr. Thompson's grandfather,
together with his wife, and about a half-dozen families, nearly all immediate relatives, pushed their way
through the wilderness, and joined Boone in his aggressive conflict, and continued companions in the
struggle till possession was established. There the
grandfather of Mr. Thompson passed the remainder
of his life, dying in Mason County, where his youngest son, Andrew Finly Thompson, father of Jasper
Markle, was born in 1791.. Andrew and his three
older brothers served through the war of 1812, Andrew being taken prisoner on the occasion of Hull's
surrender. Being released, near the present site of
Detroit, Mich., he traveled on foot to hlis relatives in
Westmoreland County, Pa. Here he married Leah
MIarkle, the youngest of the twenty-two children of
Gasper Markle, who settled in Westmoreland prior to
1760, coming from Berks County, Pa., where his father
had settled in 1703, having upon the revocation of
the Edict of Nantes fled from Alsace in 1686 to Amsterdain, where he engaged in business until he took
ship for America.
After his marriage A. F. Thompson returned with
his wife to his Kentucky home, where his youngest
son, Jasper Markle Thompson, was born, near Washington, Mason Co., Aug. 30, 1822. Mr. Thompson's
father and mother both dying before he was three
years old, he was taken to Mill Grove, Westmoreland
Co., Pa., and lived several years with his grandmother, Mary Markle (whose maiden name was Rotlihermel, of which family is P. F. Rothermel, who has
achieved a national reputation as an artist through
his great painting, the "Battle of Gettysburg"). After
her death, in 1832, he lived with his cousin, Gen.
Cyrus P. Markle, for eighteen years. While with
Gen. Markle he worked on the farm, at the papermill, in the store, sold goods, kept books, etc., till
April, 1850, when he moved to Redstone township,
Fayette Co., and purchased part of "the Walters
farm," two miles from New Salem, and lived there
until September of the same year. He then removed
to the farm on which he now lives, two miles and a
half from Uniontown, in Menallen township, and
farmed and dealt in live-stock until 1862, when lhe
was appointed collector of internal revenue for the
Twenty-first District of Pennsylvania, the largest district in the State except those of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. He was afterwards appointed receiver of
commutation money for the same district, and in this
capacity collected and paid over to the government
over $450,000, in addition to some $2,000,000 collected
as internal revenue, having collected over $100,000
tax on whisky in one day. He held two coinmissions
as collector from President Lincoln, and resigned his
post under the latter one after holding it for over
four years.
He was one of the origina.l stockholders (1863) of
the First National Bank of Uniontown, of which he
is now president, and has been a director since the
organization of that institution. He was nominated
as the Republican candidate for representative to the
Legislature in 1873, but hesitated to accept the nomination, as it was generally thought there was no chance
of electing a Republican candidate in a county which
usually gives one thousand Democratic majority, but
finally consenting, was elected by one thousand and
thirty-one majority, his opponent on the Democratic
ticket being Col. Alexander J. Hill. He was one of
the first directors of the Uniontown and West Virginia Railroad Company, and after the resignation of
G. A. Thomson was elected president. He has also
been president of the Uniontown Building and Loan
350i        I
239
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITION IN 1755.
l
The field-officers under Braddock were LieutenantColonels Burton and Gage; Majors Chapman and
Sparks; Brigade-Major Francis Halket; Major Sir
John Sinclair, deputy quartermaster-general; Matthew Leslie, assistant quartermaster-general. The
secretary to the commanding general was William
Shirley, and his aides-de-camp were Capt. Robert
Orme, George Washington,l and Roger Morris.
Christopher Gist and Nathaniel Gist, his son, accompanied the expedition as principal guides. George
Croghan and Andrew Montour were with the general
as Indian interpreters.
"The soldiers were ordered to be furnished with
one new spare shirt, one new pair of stockings, and
one new pair of shoes; and Osnabrig waistcoats and
breeches were provided for them, as the excessive
hleat would have made the others insupportable; and
the commanding officers of companies were desired
to provide leather or bladders for the men's hats." 2
The transportation which wvas collected at Fort
Cumberland for the use of Braddock's force consisted
of one hundred and ninety wagons and more than
fifteen hundred horses. When he landed in Virginia
he expected thalt " two hundred wagons and one hundred and fifty carrying-horses" would be furnished by
the provincial authorities, but when he arrived at
Frederick, Md., he found that not more than a tenth
part that number had been raised, and that some of
these even were in an unserviceable condition. Upon
learning this he burst out in fierce inivective against
the inefficiency, poverty, and lack of integrity among
the provincials, and declared that the expedition was
at an end, for that it was impracticable to proceed
without onie hundred and fifty wagons, and a corresponding number of horses at the very least. But Dr.
Benjamin Franklin, who was present at Frederick,
told the general that the Pennsylvania farmers were
able to furnish the necessary transportation, and that
he (Franklin) would contract for a specified sum to
1 After his return from the Fort Necessity campaign, Col. Washington's ranik, as well as that of other colonial officers, was reduced by
royal order, whichl caused him to resign his commission, and at the time
of Gen. Braddock's arrival in America lie was not in the military service. But Braddock, well aware of the importance of securing  htis
services, urrged Walshington to take the position of voluiiteer aide-decamp on his staff, and the offer, so earniestly pressed, was accepted.
Sparks, in his " Life of Washington" (page 58), in speaking of Waslhington's acceptance of Braddock's proposition to accompany hiimi on the
expedition as a member of his nmilitary family, says, " Ilis viewvs on the
subject were explained, with a becoluing flarakness and elevation of
mind, in a letter to a frieiid:'1  may be allowed,' said lie,'to claini
some merit if it is considered that the sole miiotive whiclh inivites me to
the field is the lauda'ble desire of serving my couiitry, riot the gritification of any amnbitious or lucrative plans. This, I flatter myself, will
manifestly appear by my going as a voluniteer, without expectation of
rew ard or prospect of obtaining a command, as I am confidently assured
it is not in General Braddock's power to give me a commission thcat I would
accept.... It is true I have been inmportuned to make this campaign
lby Gen. Braddock as a member of his family, lie conceiving, I suppose,
that the small knowledge I had an opportunity of acquiriiig of the
counitry and the Indians is worthy of hiis notice, anid may be useful to
hiim in the progress of the expedition."'
2 Capt. Orme's Journal.
deliver one hundred and fifty wagons and the necessary horses at Fort Cumberland within a given time,
whereupon Braddock proceeded on his march; and in
about two weeks Franklin had assembled-the specified
number of wagons, and animals at the fort. Gen.
Braddock was very grateful for this service, and he
warmly complimented Franklin in a letter which he
wrote to the Secretary of State, dated at Wills' Creek,
June 5th, as follows:
"Before I left Williamsburg the quartermaster-general told me that I might depend on twenty-five hundred horses and two hundred wagons from Virginia
aild Maryland; but I had great reason to doubt it,
having experienced the false dealings of all in this
country with whom I had been concerned. Hence,
before my departure froin Frederick, I agreed with
Mr. Benjamin Franklin, postmaster in Pennsylvania,
who has great credit in that province, to hire one
hundred and fifty wagons and the necessary number
of horses. This he accomplished with promptitude
and fidelity; and it is almost the only instance of
address and integrity which I have seen in all these
provinces."
It has been said that, in procuring the wagons and
horses from the Teutonic farmers in the Southern
Pennsylvania counties, he was materially aided by the
presence of Braddock's quartermaster-general. "Sir
John Sinclair' wore a Hussar's cap, and Franklin
made use of the circumstance to terrify the German
settlers with the belief that he was a Hussar, who
would administer to them the tyrannical treatment
3 This same Sir John Sinclair was a man of very rough speech and
imperious and domineering character, as is made apparent by the follOWing extract from a letter written by Messrs. George Croghan, James
Burd, John Armstrong, William Buchanan, and Adam Hoops to Governor Morris, of Pennsylvania, dated Fort Cumberland, April 16, 1755, at
which time some of the conmpanies, as well as Sir John himself, had
already reached the rendezvous. The writers of the letter had been
appointed to view and lay out a road over the mouintains, atnd had returned from their nmission to the fort. In the letter they say, " Last
eveniing we came to the camp, and were kindly received by the officers,
but particularly Capt. Rutherford. We waited for Sir John coming to
camp from the road towards Winchester, who came this day At tlhree
o'clock, but treated us in a very disagreeable manner. He is extremely
warm and angry at our proviiice; he would not look at our dratughts,
nor suffer any representations to be made to him in regard to the provinice, but stormed like a lion rampant. He said ouir commission to lay
ouit the road should have issued in January last, upon his first letter;
that doing it now is doing nothing; that the troops must march on the
first of May; that the want of this road and the provisions promised by
Pennsylvania has retarded the expedition, which may cost them their
lives, because of the kesh number of the Frenclh that are suddenly like
to be poured into the country; that instead of marching to the Ohio he
would in nine days nmarch his army into Cumberland County, to Cult the
roads, press wagons, etc.; that lie wouild not suffer a soldier to handle an
axe, but by fire and sword oblige the inhabitants to do it, and take every
man that r efused to the Ohio, as he had yesterday some of the virginians;
that lie would kill all kind of cattle, and carry away the horses, burn
lhouses, etc.; and that if the Fjrench defeated their. by the delays of this
province, that lie would with his sword drawii pass through the province and treat the iinhabitants as a parcel of traitors to his master; that
he woould to-morrow write to England by a man-of-war, shake Mr.
Penn's proprietaryship, and represent Pennsylvania as disaffected,..
and told uis to go to the general, if we pleased, who would give us ten
bad words for one he had given."?I,UNIONTOWN BOROUTGH.
Association from its organization to the present time,
it having a capital of two hundred thousand dollars;
also was one of the originators of the Fayette County
Agricultural Association, and has been president
thereof from its organization. He has been a member of the Presbyterian Church of Uniontown for
over thirty years, a ruling elder for about twenty
years; was commissioner from Redstone Presbytery
to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church
which met in Albany, N. Y., in 1868, and again at
Madison, Wis., in 1880, and is a director in the Western Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church
at Allegheny City, Pa.
Mr. Thompson was married in 1846 to Eliza Caruthers, youngest daughter of Samuel Caruthers, of
Sewickly township, Westmoreland Co., Pa., a ruling
elder in the Presbyterian Church of Sewickly, and
whose mother, Catharine Potter, was the daughter of
Lieut. John Potter, and sister of Gen. James Potter,
the intimate and trusted friend of Gen. Washington
in Pennsylvania during the Revolutionary war. Mr.
Thompson has two daughters, who received their education at the Female Seminary in Washington, Pa.
The oldest, Ruth A., was married in 1875 to Dr. J. T.
Shepler, now of Dunbar. The second, Lenora M.,
was married to John A. Niccolls, a merchant, in
1873, and resides at Irwin Station, Westmoreland Co.
He has also two sons,-William M. and Josiah V.,who graduated together from Washington and Jefferson College, at Washington, Pa., in 1871. Williaml
lives with his father, and manages his farm of over
six hundred and fifty acres. The younger, Josiah V.,
was chosen teller in the First National Bank of
Uniontown in April, 1872, and elected cashier in
1877, when twenty-two years of age, and now holds
this position, this bank doing the largest banking
business done in the county, and being one of the
most successfill.
Mr. Thompson was one of the successful presidential
electors (on the Republican ticket) in the campaign
of 1872, resulting in Gen. Grant's second election.
Mr. Thompson in his youth attended only the
common schools, but with a sagacity and foresight
commendable, as his success in life has demonstrated
to the consideration of the youth of the present day,
improved his spare hours of daylight, and occupied
most of his nights not devoted to sleep to acquiring
what knowledge he could through books.
ALFRED PATTERSON.
Among the now departed sons of Fayette County
the lives of whom shed upon her a special lustre, was
the eminent lawyer and cultivated gentleman, Alfred
Patterson, who died in Natchitoches, La., when on a
visit to his daughter there, Dec. 16, 1878, he having
reached her residence only three or four days before
his death.
Mr. Patterson was born in Menallen township, Dec.
24, 1807, and was of Scotch-Irish descent. His remote immigrant ancestor settled in Lancaster County,
Pa. His grandfather was John Patterson, who came
into Fayette County from  Dauphin County at an
early day and took up his abode in Menallen township. He had a large numnber of children, most of
whom eventually became scattered in the then far-off,
growing West. But John, the father of Alfred, remained upon the old homestead until Alfred was several years old, when he sold the farm and purchased
a plantation near Wellsburg, West Virginia, whereon
he lived until his death.
John Patterson, who married Rebecca Oliphant,
had four sons and four daughters. Of the sons, Andrew 0. Patterson became the once-noted Rev. Dr.
Patterson of the Presbyterian order; and Thomas M.
a physician, who settled in Louisiana and acquired
great wealth; John E. died young; and of Alfred
we are to speak more specially farther on.  The
daughters all married and died in middle life.
Alfred was brought up in boyhood on the farm in
Menallen and on the plantation near Wellsburg, and
was carefully instructed and finally sent to Jefferson
College, Washington County, and graduated from
that institution about 1828. He then studied law,
and was admitted to the bar in Westmoreland County,
and soon after moved to Uniontown, where he entered
upon the practice of his profession, which he pursued
with such zeal and marked ability that he rapidly rose
to the leadership of the bar of the county, which he continued to hold during his residence in Fayette County.
Having while residing in Uniontown acquired large
business interests in Pittsburgh, he removed to that
city about 1865 and organized the Pittsburgh National
Bank of Commerce, and was elected its first president,
and was chosen president at all its successive elections of officers while he lived.
Mr. Patterson was as distinguished as a business
man as he had been as a lawyer. No eulogy here could
add to the brightness of the fame he enjoyed when
living, or monody fitly sound the regret with which
all who knew him received the announcement of his
sudden death.
In 1834, Mr. Patterson married Miss Caroline Whiteley, daughter of Col. Henry Whiteley, of Delaware,
and who died May 7, 1869. They were the parents
of seven children,-Henrv W., who in 1866 married
Miss Louisa C. Dawson, daughter of Hon. John L,
Dawson, of Fayette County, and who died in 1875,
leaving a son, Henry W., and in January, 1880, married Miss, Anna T., daughter of George P. Hamilton,
Esq., of Pittsburgh; Mary C., wife of George Dawson,
a native of Fayette County, now residing in Louisiana;
Catharine W., who died in infancy; John Russell,
who was drowned in the Monongahela River while
skating about 1858, aged twenty-two years; Virginia,
wife of William H. Baily, residing in Minneapolis,
Minn.; Elizabeth, wife of Samuel H. Jacobus, of
Allegheny City; and Ella R., of the same city.
I
I
351HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
ALFRED HOWELL, ESQ.
Prominent among the lawyers of Fayette County
stands Alfred Howell, for a period of thirty-five years
identified with the interests and progress of Uniontown, where he resides. Mr. Howell is a native of
Philadelphia, and was born in the year 1825, of Quaker stock, both his paternal and maternal ancestry
tracing their lines through the time of William Penn
back for an indefinite period among the Quakers of
VWales. Benjamin B. Howell, his father, then a merchant, removed with his family to New York City in
the year 1830-31, where young Howell wa. sent to preparatory school, and eventually, at the age of fourteen,
entered Columbia College, and there continued until
well advanced in the sophomore class. Meanwhile
his father had quitted merchandise and entered upon
the development of iron and coal industries near Cumberland, Md., having enlisted with himself several
English capitalists. Having occasion to visit England on business, he took passage, in March, 1841,
on board the ill-fated ocean steamer "President,"
which foundered at sea, no tidings of her or any of
her human cargo having ever been had. The sudden
and great calamity of the loss of his father necessitated young Howell's withdrawal from college, after
which he soon entered as a student at law in the office
of Graham  Sandfords, counselors-at-law and solicitors in chancery, a distinguished firm, the Sandfords afterwards having been both elevated to the
bench. With these gentlemen, and their successors
in partnership with Mr. Graham, Messrs. Murray
Hoffm an and Joseph S. Bosworth (both subsequently
becoming judges), Mr. Howell remained till 1845,
enjoying the good fortune of the eminent tutelage of
this remarkable combination of legal talent, when he
migrated to Uniontown, and finished his legal studies
in the office of his uncle, Joshua B. Howell, then a
leading lawyer, and was admitted to the bar in 1847.
In 1851 he entered into partnership with Mr. Howell,
and continued with him until the fall of 1861, when
Mr. Howell, having raised the Eighty-fifth Regiment
Pennsylvania Volunteers, and being commissioned
its colonel, entered into the war of the Rebellion,
wherein he became exceptionally distinguished, and
was killed near Petersburg, in September, 1864, by
being thrown from his horse in the night-time.
After Col. Howell's entry into the army, Mr. Howell succeeded to the business of the partnership, and
has ever since continued the practice of the law,
conducting a large and laborious business with conscientious fidelity to his clients, earning honorable
distinction and a goodly fortune.
He has been more or less engaged in important
business enterprises, among which may be mentioned the projection, in 1866, about what was then
known as Dawson's Station, on the line of the Pittsburgh and Connellsville Railroad, of a village, now
incorporated as the borough of Dawson, on a tract of
land there lyiing, and of which he about that time
came into possession. He caused the tract to be duly
surveyed and laid out into building lots, and so conducted his enterprise as in the course of a few years
to erect a prosperous and desirable village, with
churches, public schools, etc., upon what was before,
and but for his business foresight and energy would
have remained, merely an uninhabitable portion of
an old farm. He has occasionally engaged in the
purchase and sale of real estate, particularly dealing
in coal lands, with profitable results, and taken active
part with others in supplying the county with local
railways, which have been the means of developing
the treasures of rich coal-mines and of otherwise enhancing the wealth of the county.
Mr. Howell became a communicant, in his early
manhood, of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and
has ever since continued active connection therewith, and occupies the position of senior warden.
Mr. Howell was, in the year 1853, united in marriage with Miss Elizabeth Jennings Dawson, daughter
of Mr. George Dawson, of Brownsville, Fayette Co.
Mrs. Howell died in 1869, leaving six children, one
of whom, a daughter, died in 1878. Of the five now
living, the elder son, George D., is at this time (1882)
a member of the senior class of Trinity College,
Hartford, Conn., intending, after his graduation
there, to study law with his father.
HON. CHARLES E. BOYLE.
Charles E. Boyle, one of the most prominent members of the Fayette County bar, was born in Uniontown,
Feb. 4, 1836, and is the son of Bernard Boyle, whose
father, also Bernard Boyle, emigrated from Ireland.
Mr. Boyle, the father of Charles E., died near New
Market, in Virginia, when Charles was only three
years old, leaving a family of four children, of whom
Charles E. was the youngest. In his boyhood he attended the common schools, and also for a time Madison College, and thereafter took a course of studies in
AVaynesburg College, Greene County.
While attending school Mr. Boyle spent somewhat
of his time in and about the printing-office of the
Cumberland Presbyterian, and picked up the art of
setting type at nine years of age, and thereafter followed the business of printing at times previous to
attending Waynesburg College, on his return froin
which he engaged in the same business in the office
of the Genius of Liberty. At twenty years of age he
became owner of a half-interest in that paper, and
three years later the sole owner, and alone conducted
it for a year, and sold it to E. G. Roddy in February,
1861. While proprietor of the paper Mr. Boyle was
entered as a student at law in the office of Hon. Daniel
Kaine, and was finally admitted to the bar in Decenlber, 1861, and immediately entered into partnership
with Mr. Kaine, continuing with him till the spring
of 1865. The firm enjoyed a practice second in importance to none in the county.
352"It, c"-/Ao
-- ----
- -- -------40                   IIISTORY  OF FAYETTE  COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
they had experienced in their own country if they  pendent companies and Rangers, on the 8th, and Coldid not comply with his wishes."                onel Dunbar, with the Forty-eighth Regiment, on the
At a council of war held at Fort Cumberland the  10th, with the proportions of baggage as was settled
order of march was determined on, viz.: the advance  by the council of war. The same day the general
was to be led by "a party of six hundred men, left Fort Curnberland, and joined the whole at Spenworkers and coverers, with a field-officer and the  delow Camp, about five miles from the fort." 3 The
quartermaster-general; that they should take with  name of this camp was given in honor of Lieutenant
them two six-pounders, with a full proportion of am-  Spendelow, the discoverer of the new route around
munition; that they should also take with them eight the foot of the mountain.
days' provisions for three thousand two hundred men;   At Spendelow Camp a reduction of baggage was
that they should make the road as good as possible, made, and the surplus sent back to the fort, together
and march five days towards the first crossing of the  with two six-pounders, four cohorns, and some powder
Yoxhio Geni,l which was about thirty miles from the  and stores, which cleared about twenty wagons of
camp, at which place they were to make a deposit of their loads, "and near a hurnlred able horses were
provisions, building proper sheds for its security, and  given to the public service.... All the king's
also a place of arms for the security of the men. If wagons were also sent back to the fort, they being
they could not in five days advance so far, they were  too heavy, and requiring large horses for the shafts,
at the expiration of that time to choose an advan-  which could not be procured, and country wagons
tageous spot, and to secure the provisions and men as  were fitted for powder in their stead."
before. When the wagons were unloaded the field-   On the 13th the column moved to Martin's planofficer with three hundred men was to return to camp, tation; on the 15th it "passed the Aligany Mounand Sir John St Clair with the first engineer was to  tain, which is a rocky ascent of more than two miles,
remain and carry on the works with the other three  in many places exceedingly steep; its descent is very
hundred." 2                                         rugged and almost perpendicular; in passing which
This advance detachment was to be followed by the  we entirely demolished three wagons and shattered
remainder of the forces in three divisions, in the fol- several." That night the First Brigade camped about
lowing order: First, Sir Peter Halket's command, three miles west of Savage River. On the 16th the
with " about one hundred wagons of provisions, stores, head of the column reached the Little Meadows, ten
and powder;" second, Lieutenant-Colonel Burton, miles from Martin's plantation; but the rear did not
"with the independent companies, Virginia, Mary- arrive there until the 18th. At this place they found
land, and Carolina Railgers," taking the artillery, am- Sir John Sinclair encamped with three hundred men,
munition, and some stores and provisions; third, this being the farthest point he could reach in the
Colonel Dunbar's brigade, "with the provision-  five days specified in the orders.
wagons from Winchester, the returned wagons from    At the Little Meadows the general adopted a new
the advanced party, and all the carrying-horses."  plan of campaign,-to move forward with a division
In accordance with this order, Major Chapman with  composed of some of his best troops, with a few guns
a body of six hundred men, and accompanied by Sir and but little baggage, leaving the remainder of his
John Sinclair, marched at daybreak on the 30th of force behind to bring up the heavy stores and artillery.
May, but " it was night before the whole baggage had    This decision was taken largely through the advice
got over a mountain about two miles from camp.... of Washington, who, although not of rank to sit in the
The general reconnoitred this mountain, and deter-  councils of war, possessed no small share of the genmined to set the engineers and three hundred more  eral's confidence, by reason of the experience he had
men at work on it, as he thought it impassable by  gained in the campaign of the preceding year. He
howitzers. He did not imagine any other road could  gave it as his opinion that the movement of the army
be made, as a reconnoitring-party had already been  was too slow, on account of the cumbrous wagonto explore the country; nevertheless, Mr. Spendelow, train, which on the march stretched out for a distance
lieutenant of the seamen, a young man of great of more than three miles, thus not only retarding the
discernlment and abilities, acquainted the general that progress of the forces, but affording an excellent opin passing that mountain he had discovered a valley  portunity for lurking parties of the enemy to attack
which led quite round the foot of it. A party of a  and destroy some lightly-defended part of it before
hundred men with an engineer was ordered to cut a  help could arrive from the main body. He had from
road there, and an extreme good one was made in  the first urged the use of pack-horses instead of wagons
two days, which fell into the other road about a mile  for the greater part of the transportation, and although
on the other side of the mountain."             his advice was ignored by the general, its wisdom now
"Everything being now settled, Sir Peter Halket, becanle apparent. Orme's Journal says that by the
with the Forty-fourth Regiment, marched on the 7th  experience of the four days' march from Spendelow
of June; Lieutenant-Colonel Burton, with the inde-  Camp to the Little Meadows, "it was found impos1 YoughioglIeny.        2 Ornle's Journal.                       3 Orme's Journal.0
/I -- x /. eUNIONTOWN BOROUGH.
In 1862, Mr. Boyle was elected district attornev for
Fayette County for the term of three years, before the
expiration of which he was elected by the Democratic
party a representative to the General Assembly of
Pennsylvania, and re-elected the following year, serving in the sessions of 1866-67. In the latter session
he was placed upon the Committees of Ways and
Means, the General Judiciary, and Federal Relations,
the leading committees, the House being then twothirds Republican. The session was a stormy one.
Legislation in Pennsylvania at that time, just after
the war, ran wild. Laws were enacted en masse. Mr.
Boyle strenuously opposed that kind of legislation,
and, at the close of the session his Democratic fellowmembers presented him with a complimentary service
of silver, a testimonial of his acknowledged political
leadership. For several years after the close of his
legislative services in 1867, Mr. Boyle suffered constant
ill health, but nevertheless paid diligent attention to
the practice of his profession, and was active in politics. He had been a member of several State Conventions of his party prior to that of 1867, of which latter
he was made president. This convention nominated
Judge Sharswood, now chief justice, for judge of the
Supreme Court. In 1868, Mr. Boyle was nominated
by his party as its candidate for auditor-general of
the State, the Republican party at that time having
put in nomination Gen. Hartranft. Hartranft was
declared elected by a majority of about nine thousand
in a vote of six hundred and fifty thousand. Mr.
Boyle was temporary chairman of the Democratic
State Convention in 1871. In 1872 he was a candidate for nolnination to Congress from the Twenty-first
District, composed of the counties of Westmoreland,
Fayette, and Indiana; and also in the years 1874-76,
and 1878-80, for the same numerical district, then
composed of Fayette, Westmoreland, and Greene
Counties, and on each occasion carried against earnest opposition his own county, Fayette, by majorities successively increasing, but failed to secure the
nomination of the district, it going to one or other of
the other counties. Mr. Boyle was a member of the
Democratic National Conventions at St. Louis in
1876, and at Cincinnati in 1880, in both of which he
supported the nomination of Gen. Hancock.
In avocations of life other than professional, Mr.
Boyle has also had his full share of duties to perform
and received his meed of honor. He is one of the State
managers of the West Pennsylvania State Hospital,
appointed by a Republican Governor; has for a number of years been a vestryman of St. Peter's Protestant Episcopal Church, and a director of the First National Bank.
In 1871, Judge A. E. Willson, Hon. W. H. Playford, and Mr. Boyle became the owners of a body of
valuable coal land in Tyrone township, where they
erected works and engaged in the manufacture of
coke until the spring of 1880, when they sold a part
of the property to H. C. Frick  Co., realizing by the
sale, as is generally understood, a considerable fortune each. Mr. Boyle is a solicitor of the Baltimore
and Ohio Railroad Company, and retained counsel of
nearly all the great coke and furnace companies of
Fayette County, which companies operate capital of
millions of dollars.
Mr. Boyle was married in 1858 to Miss Mary Hendrickson, of Uniontown, by whom  he has had seven
children, six of whom are living,-four sons and two
daughters.
WILLTAM II. PLAYFORD.
William H. Playford, who in addition to the rerlutation of being an excellent counselor and advocate,
enjoys popular distinction as the ablest criminal lawyer at the Fayette County bar, is the son of Dr. Robert W. Playford, who practiced medicine at Brownsville, Fayette Co., for a period of over forty years, being
very successful, particularly as a surgeon, his practice extending into adjoining counties. Dr. Playford
was a native of London, and a graduate of Eton
College, England. He died in 1867, at the age of
sixty-eight. About ten years after his arrival in this
country he married Margaret A. Shaw, of Fayette
County.
William H. Playford, who is one of three children,
-one of whom, Dr. R. W. Playford, is now practicing medicine in Venango County,-was born in
Brownsville, Aug. 31, 1834, attended the common
school of his town, and at about fifteen years of age
was sent to Dunlap's Creek Academy for two years,
where he made studies preparatory to entering the
sophomore class of Jefferson College, Canonsburg, in
1851, and graduated from that institution with honors in 1854. In the fall of the same year he went
South, and took charge of Waterproof Academy,
Tensas Parish, La., for one year, on conclusion of
which he returned home, and entered the office of
Judge Nathaniel Ewing, of Uniontown, under whose
direction he studied law until September, 1857, when
he was admitted to the bar, and began the practice of
the law. In 1859 he was elected by the Democratic
party district attorney of Fayette County for the
term of three years, wherein he distinguished himself. Including the war years 1861-62, as it did, the
term was an unusually laborious one.
Since 1862 he has been connected with nearly every
important criminal case in the county. His first important case after 1862 was the widely noted one of
Henry B. Mallaby, charged with murdering Joseph
Epply at a political meeting in Smithfield, Fayette
Co., in 1863, important on account of the political
partisanship evinced in the trial. Mr. Playford aided
the Commonwealth.
A remarkable case in which Mr. Playford was engaged for the defense was that of Mary Houseman,
charged with the murder of her husband in 1866, Mr.
Playford securing her acquittal after a confession in
353HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
open court by one of her accomplices, Richard Thairwell, who was convicted and hung.
Mr. Playford has taken an active part in politics,
and was elected in 1867 a representative to the General Assembly of Pennsylvania for Fayette County,
and re-elected in 1868. In 1872 he was elected to
the State Senate for the district coinposed of Fayette
and Greene Counties, and served the period of three
years, being placed on the General Judiciary Committee and the Comnrmittee on Finance. In 1874 he
was commissioned by the Governor of Pennsylvania,
in connection with Chief Justice Agnew, Hon. W. A.
Wallace, now  ex-United States senator, Benjamin
Harris Brewster, now Attorney-General of the United
States, and others, to consider and propose amendments to the present, then new, constitution of the
State. The commission reported to the Legislature a
number of amendments which ought, it is generally
admitted, to have been, but have not yet been, submitted to the people, it being then considered that
the constitution as it stands should be further tested.
He was a delegate in the National Democratic Convention at Baltimore in 1872, at which Horace Greeley was nominated for President, and opposed his
nomination throughout the session as bad policy for
the party. He has frequently been elected delegate
to State Conventions, and was chairman of the Democratic State Convention which met at Lancaster in
1876, and was a candidate for Presidential elector-atlarge for the State of Pennsylvania on the Democratic ticket in' 1880.
He was married in October, 1861, to Ellen C.
Krepps, daughter of Hon. Solomon G. Krepps, of
Brownsville, a leading citizen of that place.
HON. THOMAS BENTON SCHNATTERLY.
One of the most active public men of Fayette
County, and at present and for some years past a
successful leading politician, and now having perhaps more promise than any other man of his party
in his district, State, senatorial, or congressional, of
a sure and distinguished career in the future is Senator Thomas B. Schnatterly. Mr. Schnatterly as a
politician has the good sense to follow through opposition and over obloquy the dictates of his better manhood, and boldly and bravely place himself upon the
platform of the old-time genuine Democratic principles, and wage war for the laboring classes, and
consequently for the best interests of all classes at
last, against the great corporations, with their unlimited exchequers at ready command for any scheme of
remunerative corruption, and with their autocratic
aspirations, instead of following the course of too
many leading Democrats, as well as Republicans,
who either covertly, or openly and shamelessly, sell
their talents and consciences to capital in its cause
versus righteousness among men. His political foes
denounce his course as demagogism, That was to
be expected, but the more of that kind of "demagogism" Fayette County and Pennsylvania enjoy the
better; the sooner, therefore, will the hideous: wagesslavery, as base in many respects as was ever the
chattel slavery of the neighboring State of Virginia,
and which has made the system practiced by many of
the great Pennsylvania corporations objectionable to
all right-minded thinkers, be abolished, and true republican customs be substituted therefor.
Thomas B. Schnatterly comes of Dutch lineage on
his paternal side. His great-grandfather with a number of brothers came from Holland prior to the Revolutionary war. A part of them settled in Eastern
Pennsylvania, in Lebanon  County.  Two pushed
westward, with the purpose of nmaking homes near
the head-waters of the Ohio, but were lost sight of
and were perhaps slain by the Indians. Another,
the great-grandfather of Senator Schnatterly, eventually settled in Fayette County, in what is now Nicholson township, and there married and became the
father of a son named John, who was the grandfather
of Thomas B. Schnatterly. John had by his first
wife some eight children; by a second wife one
child, a son. Of the first family of children was
John Schnatterly, the father of Thomas B. He was
born near New Geneva in the year 1805, and at about
the age of twenty-two married Miss Malinda Kendall,
daughter of Thomas Kendall, then living near Uniontown. Mr. and Mrs. John Schnatterly, both dnjoying
the peace of ripe old age, are the parents of nine children, seven of whom-four sons and three daughters
-are living, and of whom Senator Schnatterly is the
sixth in number, and was born July 13, 1841. He
was brought up on the homestead farm, and was
educated at the common schools and Georges Creek
Academy (teaching school himself somewhat during
this period of his life), and at Madison Institute and
Waynesburg College.
After leaving college, at about the age of twentytwo, he entered the office of Col. T. B. Searight, at
Uniontown, as a student at law, and was admitted to
the bar in December, 1864. In October, 1865, he was
elected district attorney for Fayette County for the
term of three years, and entered upon official duty in
December of the same year, and went out of office in
December, 1868. The term was an arduous one, occurring just after the war, and comprising a reign of
crime. Special sessions of criminal courts were in
those days held to try offenses of high degree. After
the term was over he continued the practice of law
in Uniontown, and at the October election of 1869
was elected by the Democratic party a member of
the General Assembly of Pennsylvania for Fayette
County, and served in the session of 1870, and was
elected in that year to the General Assembly of 1871,
and served therein; and thereafter, while conducting
the practice of law, engaged (in October, 1871) as a
contractor in the construction of the Greensburg and
Connellsville Division of the Southwest Pennsylvania
354C11IUNIONTOWN BOROUGH.
Railroad, which division was completed in 1872, the
charter for wlich he had caused to be granted in the
session of 1871. In 1872 he was defeated as a candidate for the Senate at the Democratic primary elections by Hon. Wm. H. Playford.
He continued the practice of the law, and in 1876
was again elected to the General Assembly for the
session of 1877-78, and at the November election of
1878 was elected State senator for the Fortieth District, composed of the counties of Fayette and Greene,
for the period of four years.
In the House he served on general and local judiciary committees; in the Senate, on local, judiciary,
railroad, and corporation committees. In both House
and Senate, in all legislative controversies between
capital and labor, he was always on the side of the
oppressed, constantly looking out for the interests of
the laboring classes, and was not tenderly loved by
the grasping monopolists of Pennsylvania.
He originated the bill abolishing, under severe
penalties, the odious female-waiter system then in
vogue, with all its iniquities, in the cities of the State.
He was also the projector of.the Senate bill entitled
"An act to secure to operatives and laborers engaged
in and about coal-mines, manufactories of iron and
steel, and all other manufactories the payment of
their wages at regular intervals, and in lawful money
of the United States." In the session of 1880 this
bill was passed, but was vetoed by Governor Hoyt;
but it was iiitroduced by Senator Schnatterly in the
succeeding session of 1881, and again passed, and
then received the Governor's approval. and became
the law.
The struggle over this bill was a test fight between
capital and the interests of labor in the State. The
senator did brave work in pushing the bill on to
recognition in law, and by a powerful array of facts
convinced a Senate at first in active opposition to
the bill of the justice of his propositions and the
necessity for the act.
Another important fact in Senator Schnatterly's
career as a legislator should not fail of record here,
and it is this, that he has uniformly voted for the
largest appropriations for the public schools and the
public charities (a species of "demagogism" almost
as discreditable as his legislative warfare in favor of
the rights and interests of the laboring classes. He
can well afford to be criticised for voting decent appropriations for the blind and the maimed. The foes
who censure him for so doing are the men whlo also
look upon the working classes of the State as unworthy a better fate than that they suffer under.
The act above referred to, looking to the emancipation of labor, is now generally evaded by those whose
injustices it was intended to decrease and prevent,
but in time will compel itself to be respected, when
the senator, it is to be hoped, will be sustained by
popular approval in all parts of the State in his
efforts in the cause of humanity.
Senator Schnatterly has of late returned to railroading as a contractor in the construction of the
Pittsburgh, Virginia and Charleston road, and in that
of the Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad, and has just
completed (March, 1882) several sections of the Redstone Division of the Pittsburgh, Virginia and
-Charleston Road.
In 1867 he married Miss Mary Morrison, daughter
of George and Anna West Morrison, of Uniontowfn.
GEN. SILAS NEWTON BAILY.
The late war of the Rebellion opened a field for the
active exercise of talents and virtues that might otherwise have ever remained hidden in great part from the
knowledge of the public under the innate modesty
of men of the true heroic type. Of this type is Silas
Newton Baily, now (1882) treasurer of the State of
Pennsylvania, and who was born in Brownsville,
Fayette Co., in 1836, and is the son of William Baily,,
Esq., who migrated in childhood with his parents
to Fayette County from Maryland. The father of
Gen. Baily, growing up, at first entered upon and for
some years pursued the trade of jeweler, but turned
his attention to the study of the law, and was admitted to practice in 1845, and follows his profession in
Uniontown. Gen. Baily's mother's maiden name was
Dorcas Nixon. She was a farmer's daughter of Georges
township.
Gen. Baily was mainly reared in Uniontown; attended the common schools till about seventeen years
of age, and entered Madison College (now extinct),
and pursued his studies there for a while. Leaving
the college he entered as apprentice upon the jeweler's trade, which he practiced for about three years in
Uniontown, and finally opened business for himself
in Waynesburg, Greene Co., in 1858, and conducted
the same with success for some three years or more,
when, on the breaking out of the war of the Rebellion,
he "took fire," and, though without military experience, raised a company which was the first one organized in the county; but it failed to be mustered in under
the first call for three months' troops. But its organization was preserved, and it became the first company which was duly mustered into the three years'
service from the county of Greene. Of this company,
called " the Greene County Rangers," Baily was made
captain. This was Company I (" eye") of the Eighth
Regiment Pennsylvania Reserve Corps, and participated in all the battles of the war, from Dranesville
to Spottsylvania Court-House, inclusive, the period
of three years.
In May, 1862, Baily was elected to the post of
major of the Eighth Regiment, though not commissioned till June 4th. He took part in the fight at
Mechanicsville, the first of the Seven Days' battles,
and was on the seCond day, in the battle of Gaines'
Mill, seriously wounded in the head,- his wound at
35 -HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
first being thought mortal,-and carried off the field.
Eventually he returned home to recruit. and recovering after four months' nursing, resought his regiment,
which he met in Maryland on the, 13th of September, 1862, and took command, the colonel having
resigned, and the lieutenant-colonel having lost his
hearing during a battle. The next day was fought
the celebrated battle of South Mountain, into which
the major led his regiment with a gallantry and inspiring courage which the veterans love to " tell o'er"
in their days of peace. The Eighth held the extreme
left of the division. On Wednesday, the 17th of September, 1862, occurred the battle of Antietam, in which
Maj. Baily's horse was killed under him in the famous
" corn-field fight." The battle of Fredericksburg followed on the 13th of December. In this battle Maj.
Baily displayed his usual gallantry, fighting at the
head of his regiment; the division being almost torn to
pieces. He was carried wounded from the field. Imnmediately after Fredericksburg, Maj. Baily was promoted to the colonelcy, his commissior dating back to
South Mountain, the 16th of September, 1862. The
shattered division was relieved from active duty at
the front and sent to Alexandria, Va., to recruit and
perform provost duty. There it remained for nearly
a year, Col. Baily being almost continually employed
in court-martial.
With his division, Col. Baily was next called to
active duty with Gen. Grant in the Wilderness, and
had direct command of his regiment throughout, except for a day or two when called to command the
brigade. The term of service expiring at Spottsylvania Court-House, Col. Baily was ordered to take his
regiment home to be mustered out at Pittsburgh on
the 24th of May, 1861. On the 13th of May, 1865,
Col. Baily was breveted by President Johnson to be
a brigadier-general of volunteers forgallant and meritorious conduct during the war.
After the war Gen. Baily settled in Uniontown,
opened a store for the sale of jewelry, and resumed
his business as silversmith,-a military hero taking
on his duties as private citizen as quietly. as if he had
never heard the clarion of battle or even the name of
war, winning universal esteem for the exceptional
modesty of his every-day demeanor. Gen. Baily has
never solicited political preferment. He arrived at
his majority about the time the Republican party was
crystallizing into effective organization and entered it
upon principle, having always given it his unwavering allegiance. In 1878, without solicitation by himself, of course, or even by his special friends, the Republican Convention of the Twenty-first Congressional
District, Pennsylvania, unanimously selected him to
lead them against the ever-prevailing foe, the Democratic party of the Twenty-first. Knowing that the
contest was hopeless, he bent to his duty, made a
vigorous campaign, and led the Republican State
ticket by a considerable vote. In 1880, Gen. Baily
was elected to represent Fayette County in the Harrisburg Convention which chose delegates to represent Pennsylvania at Chicago. At Harrisburg he was
elected one of the delegates to Chicago, representing
the Grant wing of the party. But Garfield, instead
of Grant, was nominated at Chicago; and in the canvass which followed Gen. Baily gave the best of his
time, talents, and means to the support of the nominee.
Sept. 8, 1881, he was nominated by the Republican
Convention at Harrisburg for State treasurer for the
term of two years, and after a spirited campaign, in
which Charles S. Wolfe, an "Independent" Republican candidate, was run by the Blaine wing of the
party, diverting a portion of the Republican votes,
Gen. Baily was elected treasurer in November of that
year by a "plurality" vote, but a majority vote over
his chief competitor, the Democratic candidate, of six
thousand nine hundred and six.
GEN. JOSHUA BLACKWOOD HOWELL.
Gen. Joshua B. Howell, who was from the year
1828 to the time of his death on the field, during the
war of the Rebellion, identified as a lawyer and a
citizen, adorning the bar and distinguishedly exemplifying the amenities of social life, with the history
of Fayette County, and whose final consecration as
an adopted citizen of hers to service in the cause of
his country, sacrificing his life therefor, reflects honor
upon the county, was born at " Fancy Hill," the site
of the family mansion of the Howells, near Woodbury, N. J., Sept. 11, 1803. He was educated in the
academy of that place and in Philadelphia, where he
studied law under the direction of Richard C. Wood,
Esq., an able lawyer of that day, and after admission
to the bar, removed in the fall of 1828 to Uniontown,
where he commenced the practice of his profession,
and where he easily won eminence. But due reference having been made to his career as a lawyer in
the chapter of this work devoted to the history of the
bar, this brief biographical sketch will be mainly
confined to Gen. Howell's career as a soldier. Trained
in the Northern school, and having studied the national constitution with a lawvyer's understanding,
patriotic in instinct and education, and having some
years prior occupied the rank of brigadier-general in
the State militia, and withal having a more than
ordinary love of martial exercises and skill therein,
and knowledge of military tactics, as well as the history and plans of many of the great battles of the
world, Gen. Howell, though nearly fifty-five years of
age at the breaking out of the war of Rebellion, and
therefore unlikely to be called upon by his fellowcitizens to lead them, as a duty devolving upon him,
to the field of battle in the cause of the country, nevertheless promptly offered his services to the national
government, and was authorized to raise a regiment,
and soon presented himself at Washington at the
head of the Eighty-fifth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, of which he was commissioned colonel..356IBRADDOCK'S EXPEDITION  IN  1755.
sible to proceed with such a number of carriages. received from Gen. Br
The horses grew every day fainter, and many died;  should not be attacke
the men would not have been able to have undergone  rejoined the assaulting
the constant and necessary fatigue by remaining so  seem reasonable to sup
many hours under arms, and by the great extent of to jeopardize the succ4
the baggage the line vas extremely weakened. The  such an indefinite de
general was therefore determined to move forward  under any circumstan
with a detachment of the best men, and as little en-  a promise.
cumbrance as possible."                           In four days from
The selected force destined to move in the advance  Meadows, Gen. Bradd
consisted of between twelve and thirteen hundred  teen miles, and arrive
men. "A detachment of one field-officer with four Youghiogheny. The
hundred meni and the deputy quartermaster-general bridging,2 and on the
marched on the 18th to cut and make the road to the  their first camp withii
Little Crossing of the Yoxhio Geni, taking with them  ette County, near a
two six-pounders wvith their ammunition, three wagons  Springs, between Mou
of tools, and thirty-five days' provisions, all on carry-  of the National road.
ing-horses, and on the 19th the general marched with  only a distance of ab
a detachment of one colonel, one lieutenant-colonel,  their night camp. I
one major, the two eldest grenadier companies, and  Indian camp, recentl
five hundred rank and file, the party of seamnen, and  tions that it had been
eighteen light-horse, and four howitzers with fifty  and seventy persons.
rounds each, and four twelve-pounders with eighty  some trees, upon wl
rounds eaclh, and one hundred rounds of ammunition  written many threats
for each man, and one wagon of Indian presents; the  of scurrilous languag
whole number of carriages beiing about thirty. The  early information of I
lhowitzers had each nine horses, the twelve-pounders  them with their India
seven, and the wagons six. There was also thirty-  the Laurel Hill to i
five days' provisions carried on horses."  The troops  purpose of attacking
left behind with Col. Dunbar numbered about nine  front and flanks, to s
lhundred, including four artillery officers.  Eighty-  stragglers, and to ke
four wagons and all the ordnance stores and provis-  Quesne informed, fro
ions not immediately needed by the advance column  the English forces.
were also left in his charge.                   crossed the Youghiog
The advanleed force under Braddock reached the  near. them along th
Little Crossings (Castleman's River) on the evening  presence multiplied v
of the 19th, and camped on the west side of the    In fact, nearly allt
stream. At this camp Col. Washington was taken  were niow ranged on
seriously ill with a fever, and when the troops marched  only of the Indian al
the next morning he was left behind with a guard and  true to them after t
proper attendance' and comforts. As soon as able he  and among these wt
was to come on with the rear division under Col. the friendly Half-ki
Dunbar; but it has been stated that he asked and  acquainitance he had
tiltI pevinnr yea
1 In some accounits of this sickness of Washington, it lias been stated
that Dr. James Craik (who was with the expedition as a surgeon in
thie Virginia troops, and who was also thle lifelong friend and physician of Washington) was left behind at the Little Crossinigs to attend
Illi, but such does not appear to lhave t,een the case. Tlle Hon. James
Findley, in a letter written to the editor of Niles' Register, dated Youngstown, Pa., March 27,1818, relates some conversations wlich lie had with
Washington in reference to Braddock's cainipati-i, from wlhich letter the
following extracts are made: "On one occasioni, in a mixed compalty,
sonie question being askeed of me, theni sitting next the Presidenit (Washington), about the Big Meadows and Dunbar's Run, by Col. Sprigg, of
Maryland, wlhich I could not answer, the President, to whom I referred
tlhe question, in answering tlhem described Dunbar's camp, to which the
rentiains of Biraddock's army retired alter tle defeat.... Lookinig rounid
seriously to me, he said,' Braddock was both my general and my physician.
I was attacked wvith a darngerous fever on the march, and he left a sergeant [nlot a surgeon] to take care of nie, and James' ferer poicders, w?ith
directions how to give them, and a wagon to bring me on wlhen I would be
able, wlhich was only the day before the defeat."'
tne previous year.,
hundred and fifty Se
joined the Eng-lish
gheny, and propose
and guides. They
dered great service i
ings of their forest
might perhaps have
disaster wlich overt
and rejected their s
2 An entry in Oime's Jo,
of June we marched at i
branch of the Yoxhiio Get
_  lr rack ft1oA t. (Ippn {1N w itli
41
addock a promise that the fort
ed until he had recovered and
r column. It does not, however,
pose that he would have wished
ess of the expedition by asking,lay, nor that Braddock would,
ces, have bound himself by such
his departure from the Little
dock's column lhad made niineed at the Great Crossings of the
troops crossed the river without
night of the 24th of June made
n the present territory of FayL place kniown as the Twelve
nt Augusta and Marlow's, south
Their march of that day was
)out six miles, from the river to
During the day they passed an
ly vacated, which gave indicaL occupied by about one hundred
" They had stripped and painted
lich they and the French had
s and bravadoes, with all kinids
ge." The French had received
Braddock's coming, and parties of
n allies had advanced east beyond
meet the English; not for the
- them, but to hover along their;py out their movements, murder
eep the commandant at Fort du
m day to day, of the progress of
From the tinme when the troops,heny hostile Indians were always
Le route, and evidences of their
Ath each succeeding day's march.
the savages west of tlle mountains
l the side of the French. A few
Ilies of the English had remained
the surrender of Fort Necessity,
ere Scarooyada, the successor of
ing, and Monacatoocha, whose
i made on his trip to Le Boeuf in
These two chiefs, with nearly one
eneca and Delaware warriors, had
on their march to the Youghiod to accompany them as scouts
could without doubt have renan that capacity, and if the warnexperience had been listened to,
saved Braddock's army from the
took it. But the general despised,ervices, and treated them with so
irnal for this day is to this effect: " The 24th
five in the niorning, and passed the second
ni, wlhich is about one huiiidred yards wide,
I a verv strong cuirrent."
ab)out tiiree iect ueell, WI,LLI fL VUY 5;IJ  t ---,w...,..
3 The Half-King, Tanacharison, lhad died itt tho preceding October, at
i Harris' Ferry (niow Harrisburg), on the Susquehanna.
- IN
From November, 1861, until the spring of 1862 he
was stationed at Washington, and meanwhile diligently trained his men for the field. As a part of
Gen. Casey's division, his command was transferred to the Peninsula of Virginia, and participated
in the marches, hardships, and battles of the first
campaign against Richmond. His first battle was
fought at Williamsburg, during the early part of
which, in consequence of Gen. Keim's illness, Col.
Howell commanded the brigade. On this occasion
his services merited and received the distinction of
special notice in the report of Gen. Peck, who commanded the division.  At Fair Oaks the gallant
Eighty-fifth, under his command, sustained the conflict with an overwhelming force of the enemy. In
the subsequent retreat from the White Oak Swamp to
Harrison's Landing its post was for a considerable
part of the time in the rear of the retiring army
and facing the exultant and advancing foe.
Upon the close of the Peninsular campaign, Col.
Howell's health being seriously impaired, he was
urged by his medical advisers to obtain leave of absence, which was granted for twenty days, which time
he spent among the friends of his youth in New Jersey. Improved, but still unfit for duty, he hastened
back to his command, then in the vicinity of Fortress
Monroe, forming part of Gen. Peck's division. His
regiment occupied Suffolk, occasionally engaging the
enemy in that region, unltil the beginning of 1863,
when, under command of Gen. Foster, he was placed,
January 5th of that year, at the head of a brigade, a
position which he retained until the end of his career. He was attached to the expedition organized
under Gen. Hunter against Charleston, S. C. Here
Howell with his brigade was the first to seize upon
Folly Island, a foothold by means of which Gen. Gillmore, when placed in command, was enabled to capture Morris Island, the gateway to the harbor of
Charleston. Shortly before the fall of Fort Wagner
he suffered a concussion of the brain from the explosion of a ten-inch shell in a signal-station whence he
was watching the effect of the firing therefrom, and
which created an impediment in his speech with
other symptoms of illness, constraining him to seek
rest and recovery, which he did under a short furlough in New Jersey and at Uniontown.
He returned to his post greatly improved in health,
although there is cause for suspecting that the concussion referred to bore a potential relation to the
final catastrophe of his life. He was ordered with
his brigade to Hilton Head to relieve Gen. Seymour,
in command of that district, including Fort Pulaski
and Tybee and St. Helena Islands, the approaches to
Savannah. This command constituted in fact that of
a major-general. Gen. Seymour had been ordered to
Florida in command of that unfortunate expedition
which resulted in the disaster of Olustee, upon the
occasion of -which he publicly remarked, "This
would not have occurred if I had had Howell and his
gallant boys with me." Gen. Howell remained in
comnmand at Hilton Head until ordered to Fortress
Monroe to join the forces of Gen. Butler in the campaign against Richmond. There his name soon became a synonym for gallantry in our own army; and
his noble form and whitening head were familiarly
known and distinguished above all others by the foe,
by whom he was alike admired and feared. Some
time in August, 1864, he spent a short furlough in
New Jersey, during which he caused to be repaired
and adorned the graves of his kindred there. Anticipating that the war would soon end he returned
to the field, and found a part of the Tenth Corps,
including his brigade, with Hancock on the north
side of the James River, accomplishing that diversion which enabled Grant to seize the Weldon
Road. The very day after Gen. Howell's return the
rebels assailed his position with terrific fury, but
were driven back upon their own works in utter disorder. Upon the return of the expedition to the
south side of the James, Gen. Wm. Birney, -the
division commander, having obtained a temporary
leave of absence, Gen. Howell was assigned to the
command of the division,--the Third Division of the
Tenth Corps, a major-general's command,--which he
held at the time of his death.
Having occasion to visit the headquarters of the
corps during the night of Monday, the 12th of September, 1864, he mounted his horse between the hours
of twelve at midnight and one in the morning to
return to his own quarters. At starting the horse
turned into a divergent path, and being suddenly
checked reared and fell back upon his rider. The
general was immediately borne to the tent of the
medical director, by whom he was carefully examined
in search of external injuries, but none appeared.
At that time he was perfectly sensible, answering the
questions of the surgeon, declaring that he felt no
sense of pain, and freely moving his limbs as requested.
But in about fifteen minutes after his accident vomiting supervened, the blood thrown from his stomach
bearing testimony to internal injury. A state of
stupor immediately ensued, from which the general
was never aroused, and at seven o'clock in the evening of the 14th of September he breathed his last.
In closing this brief recital of Gen. Howell's military life, it is but fitting to append the following literal extract from a late letter of Maj.-Gen. Alfred H.
Terry, in reply to one which had been written him
inquiring his estimate of the late Gen. Howell as a
military man. Gen. Terry's letter is dated at Fort
Snelling, Minn., March 3, 1882:
"At this distance of time I cannot speak of particular incidents of Gen. Howell's military career;
but my recollections of him as a man and an officer
are as clear and distinct as they were eighteen years
ago. I have never known a more courteous gentleman; I never saw a more gallant and devoted officer.
The record of his service was without spot or blemish.
3537
UNIONTOWN BOROUGH.IIISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
I
" In the army corps in which he served he was
widely known and universally respected and admired.
" His untimely death was lamented by all his comrades as a loss wellnigh irreparable, not only to themselves, but to the country also."
Of Gen. Howell's personal attractions, his commanding carriage and graceful manners, and of the
excellencies of his character as a private citizen, they
of Uniontown and Fayette County who knew him
will preserve lively memory while they live, for he
was greatly admired and beloved by his friends, and
it is believed that he had no foes.
JAMES THOMIAS REDBURN.
James T. Redburn was born in Masontown, Fayette
Co., Pa., May 19, 1822, and was the son of James
Tully and Rebecca HArrison Redburn. He in early
life displayed an unusual aptitude for business, and
during several years of his minority was connected
with Zalmon Ludington in the leather trade at
Addison, Pa.  In 1848 he married Harriet Ann,
youngest daughter of Mr. Ludington, and shortly
after removed to Washington, Pa., where he embarked in the boot and shoe trade. In 1850 he came
to Uniontown and reassociated himself with Zalmon
Ludington in the boot, shoe, and tanning business,
which he carried on successfully for a number of
years. In 1858 he was chosen cashier and manager
of the Uniontown banking-house of John T. Hogg.
This soon after became the banking-house of Isaac
Skiles, Jr., Mr. Redburn continuing its cashier. In
1863 he became one of the incorporators of the First
National Bank of Uniontown, Pa. (which succeeded
I. Skiles, Jr.), which opened for business May 2,
1864. He was elected a director and cashier, to the
positions of which he was unanimously re-elected
year after year until his death. which occurred at his
residence in Uniontown, Wednesday evening, May
23, 1877. He was also one of the originators of the
Uniontown and West Virginia Railroad Company,
and was its treasurer. He was also instrumental in
starting the Uniontown Woolen Manufacturing'
Company, one of the few manufacturing establishments Uniontown could boast of and now unluckily
destroyed by fire, and was treasurer of the company.
It was, however, as a bank officer that James T.
Redburn was most widely known. To the position
of cashier and director he brought tact and wisdom
second to none in the county. He possessed in an
eminent degree those sterling qualities of truth and
justice, honor and teinperance which drew to him by
the most endearing ties of affection a large circle of
friends wherever l;e went and wherever he was known
throughout his entire life. Reserved, quiet, unostentatious, he was dearly loved and thoroughly relied
upon by the numerous friends and customers that
sought his advice. A statement from his lips needed
no investigation to test its accuracy.  Statenlents or
rumors that found credence through current gossip
he met with thorough but not effusive detestation,
and those most intimately associated with him bear
testimony to the silence with which he treated subjects regarding which he had only the information of
rumor. He preferred to leave the impression that he
had no knowledge of a subject rather than give
credence to a statement he did not know to be absolutely true. In this as well as in many other particulars Mr. Redburn exerted an influence that was
manly, noble, generous, and self-sacrificing, and that
bore most bountiful fruit through his many warm
friendships throughout Fayette and adjoining counties. In his private and home life he was ever kind
and watchful of the wants of others.  He let not
the cares' or the worriment of the day follow hiln
home to disturb the peace and quiet of his family.
Never of a very rugged constitution, he was from.
boyhood subject to occasional periods of physical
depression from  that dread disease, consumption,
which had carried away his four sisters and two
brothers; yet he had that tenacity and will power
which often held him to his desk when his strength
would scarcely keep him on his feet. He was an
earnest and consistent member and trustee of the
Methodist Episcopal Church in Uniontown, and in
life followed the Master with reverence and godly
fear. Possessed of a naturally kind anid sympathetic
heart, he was ever ready to assist the poor and destitute or impart consolation to a sorrowing soul. His
fiuneral took place Friday evening, May 25, 1877,
Rev. Dr. J. J. Moffitt and Rev. S. W. Davis, of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, conducting the services.
The pall-bearers were Eleaze'r' Robinson, Sebastian
Rush, Uriah Higinhotham, Jasper M. Thompson,
Charles S. Seaton, William McCleary, John Wilson,
and Alfred Howell.  Mr. Redburn having lost his
wife in December, 1860, did not marry again.  Of
his two children but one, Minnie L. Redburn, survives him.
CAPT. ADAM CLARKE NUTT.
Adam C. Nutt, present cashier of the National Bank
of Fayette County, is the son of Joseph Nutt, a farmer, and Anna Randolph, his wife, and was born on the
8th of January, 1839. Although the 8th was " New
Orleans day" and the elder Nutt a strong Democrat,
he was also an ardent Methodist, and his Methodisni
then getting the better of him, the boy was named
for the great commentator instead of Andrew Jackson. Both the families Nutt and Randolph migrated
into Western Pennsylvania from New Jersey, and
were of Quaker stock. Joseph Nutt, the father, died
in California in 1851, when Adam C. was twelve years
old. The boy was sent to the common schoois, and
for one term attended the graded school taught by L.
3'a'  -X/UNIONTOWN BOROUGH.
F. Parker, in Bridgeport, in the fall of 1855, walking
to and from school daily, a distance of three miles
each way. There he studied geometry and Latin.
After private studies conducted at home, he entered
the preparatory department of Allegheny College, in
Meadville, in 1856, and, supporting himself by teaching during the winter months, graduated from the
college in 1861 with the highest' honors of his class
as valedictorian. lWhile connected with the college
lie paid much attention to general literature, and received the Woodruff prize for the best essay in the
Philo-Franklin Literary Society on the subject propounded for competition; " The Western Continent
as a field of laudable ambition."
In the war of the Rebellion he was connected with
a three months' company in 1861. From October,
1862, to July 29, 1863, he served as a private soldier
in the One Hundred and Twelfth Pennsylvania Volunteers, and from the last-mentioned date to Oct. 31,
1865, he was captain of the Third United States Colored Troops under Col. B. C. Tilghman. He participated in the siege of Fort Wagner and in operations
orn Morris Island until Feb. 8, 1864. He went into
Florida under Gen. Truman Seymour in the Olustee
campaign, being for a time in the brigade commanded
by Gen. Joseph R. Hawley. After the disaster at
Olustee he was engaged in the fortifications around
Jacksonville, Fla., until April, 1865, arid subsequently
coimmanded the post at Lake City, Fla., until October
of that year. And here may be mentioned a matter
of national history with which he was connected
while at Lake City, and which may otherwise escape
record in connection with the history of Payne, who
attempted to kill Secretary Seward at the time of
the assassination of Present Lincoln. The government wishing to fix the identity of Payne, Gen.
Foster sent Capt. Nutt on the delicate mission of
visiting the alleged family of Payne and securing
the evidence; the result of his mission being the
determining of the fact that Payne's correct name
was Lewis Thornton Powell, and that he was the son
of a Baptist minister living about twelve miles from
Lake City. Capt. Nutt returned home in December,
1865, and in April, 1866, removed to Uniontown,
where he has since resided. He read law with Hon.
Daniel Kaine, and was admitted to the bar in December, 1868, practiced a while, and became connected
in 1871, as teller, with the National Bank of Fayette
County, where he has meanwhile served, having been
cashier since Aug. 20, 1878. He was Republican candidate for prothonotary of Fayette County in 1881,
and was beaten by only one hundred and eighty-seven
votes by Col. Thomas B. Searight, the Democratic candidate, in a proverbially Democratic County, many
leading Democrats openly votin, for Capt. Nutt in
honor of his talents and moral worth.
Capt. Nutt holds a high place among his neighbors
as a man of integrity; but, above all, he is esteemed
as a gentleman of large information and accurate
scholarship. He has contributed considerably to the
best literature of the day, and while enjoying enviable
repute as an incisive and effective off-hand and political stump-speaker, has occasionally delivered upoI
history, education, and kindred subjects, public lectures of a character, both as to their embodied
thoughts and rhetorical methods, which places him
in the front rank of thinkers and writers.
P.S.-Since the above went to press Capt. Nutt
has resigned his post as cashier of the Fayette County
Bank, and has been appointed cashier of the State
treasury under Gen. Baily, the State treasurer. Harrisburg will open to him a wider and more important
field than Uniontown, a field which he cannot but
ably fill.
JUIDGE JOIIN IIUSTON.
John Huston w'as the son of John Huston, Sr., formerly of Fayette County, but who removed in the
latter part of the eighteenth. century to Kentucky,
where the younger John was born, Jan. 2, 1793. At
the age of nineteen he came from his native State to
Fayette County on a visit to his uncle, Joseph Huston, residing in the neighborhood of Uniontown, and
concluded to settle down there, his uncle taking him
into business with himself as manager of a forge and
furnace, the uncle conducting at that time a comparatively large business. Mr. Huston remained with
his uncle a few years, until the death of the latter,
when he established himself in the like (iron) business, which he carried on till the year 1840, when he
turned his attention principally to farming, then owning several tracts of land. His farming was conducted
with a careful eye to all the essential requirements,
he being an excellent manager, yet so leisurely that
he was wont to call hlimselfjocularly " a lazy farmer."
He continued this style of farming with profitable results, however, until his death on May 19, 1872.
He was a Democrat in politics, and was elected by
his party as representative to the General Assembly
of Pennsylvania for the large district, as then constituted, in which he resided in 1835, and about 1844
was appointed by Governor Shunk an associate judge
of Fayette County for a term of five years, the duties
of which office he fulfilled. He took great interest in
the public schools'and all general matters of public
improvement, and was a member of the Presbyterian
Church of Uniontown, which he joined about 1831.
He was director in a bank at Connellsville for a great
number of years, and in the National Bank of Fayette County from its organization to the day of his
death. He was a large-hearted, generous man, and
liberally aided all who sought him and whom he
regarded worthy of assistance to the extent of his
ability, particularly energetic and honorable young
men starting out in life. Judge Huston died possessed of a large estate, which might have been much
larger but for his generous disposition of his money
from time to time in aid of others..HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
He married in 1826 Miss Susan Millhouse, who died
leaving one child, Mary Ann, who became, in June,
1849, the wife of Rev. Dr. Elliot Swift, of Allegheny,
Pa., and died on the 25th of July, 1850. As his second wife, who survives him, he married Mrs. Anna
M. McCall, whose maiden name was King, a daughter
of Samuel King, a merchant of Uniontown, by whom
he had three daughters, all of whom died before him.
GREENBURY CROSSLAND.
Greenbury Crossland, of Uniontown, must be
ranked markedly among those worthy men generally
known as "self-made," strong and individuate in
their characteristics, and who build their own monuments of fortune and reputation. Mr. Crossland, the
son of Elijah and Catharine Smith Crossland, was
born at Connellsville, June 16, 1813, and moved with
his parents to Uniontown in 1822, where he has ever
since resided, having occupied his present domicile
thirty-four years. At twelve years of age he went to
work at twelve and a half cents per day with George
W. Miller on a farm, where he remained a while.
His literary education was obtained from three or
four short terms of schooling under the tuition of
William Thompson and others long before the common schools of Pennsylvania were instituted; but
his father being a butcher and horse-dealer, young
Crossland got his principal training in the meat-shop
and by driving horses to the Eastern cities.
On the 1st day of January, 1833, he married Sarah
Stearns, with whom he has lived happily for near
half a century. In April, 1833, he commenced business as a butcher on a capital of twenty-three dollars,
ten of which were furnished by his wife, and has
never received a dollar by bequest, or in any way
save through his labor or business transactions. At
the time of his early operations as a butcher it was
his custom to take a wheelbarrow at one o'clock in
the morning, and wheel-his wife helping him by
pulling with a rope tied to the barrow-a side of beef
from the slaughter-house to the market-house, where
all meat was sold in those days. The first year he
made three hundred dollars, and bought a log house
and the lot on which it stood, the latter being the one
on which now stands the house occupied by T. J.
King.
He continued butchering, gradually increasing in
prosperity, until about 1841, when he commenced
buying cattle to sell in the Eastern market, a business
he has followed mainly ever since. For about fourteen years he was a partner in business with Charles
McLaughlin, late of Dunbar, but did not make the
business remunerative until he engaged in it alone,
about 1856, since which time his march has been
steadily onward in the line of fortune.
In 1847 he bought of Charles Brown a farm of one
hundred and four acres, whereon he has since lived,
the first purchase of the real estate which now constitutes him  an extensive land proprietor, his domains covering over seven hundred acres in the vicinity of Uniontown, all valuable alike for agriculture
and containing vast stores of mineral wealth.
Mr. Crossland's excellent judgment of weights and
measures is a matter of popular notoriety, and it is
said that he can guess at any time within five pounds
of the weight of a fat steer, which probably accounts
for much of his success in the cattle business. His
strength of purpose and moral firmness are remarkable, and he has never been led into the visionary
and impracticable. His knowledge of human nature
is good, he seldom erring in his judgments of men,
and, it is said, never making mistakes in his investments in property.
Mr. Crossland is in religion an ardent Methodist,
and it is due to him to add that his neighbors accord
to him the virtue of believing the faith he professes.
He and his wife joined the Methodist Church in
Uniontown Jan. 1, 1845, and have both continued to
this time active members thereof. He has been for
twenty-five years past a liberal contributor to the
support of the ministry and the benevolent enter'
prises of the church. Not only by his great liberality,
but through  his high character as a man of probity,
is he a very pillar in the church. Desiring reliable
information in regard to the chief characteristics of
Mr. Crossland, the writer, a stranger to Mr. Crossland, sought one of Mr. Crossland's long-time acquaintances, a man of high repute, and asked him
for an analysis of Mr. Crossland's character, as understood by him and the public, and received, after
some delay, indicative of deliberation, the following
written analysis: "Moral characteristics,-faithfulness, honor, honesty, benevolence, and regard for the
rights of others.  Business characteristics, -good
judgment, caution, energy, perseverance, watchfulness, combined with great shrewdness and knowledge
of market values. Religious characteristics,-enthusiasm, sincerity, simplicity in manners and dress,
charity, and single-mindedness."  This being accepted, particularly since it is the statement of a gentleman above suspicion on account of religious prejudice for, or fraternity with, Mr. Crossland, it is here
recorded as an evidence of the high honor which
simple straightforwardness, good sense, and energy
may win for a man, even though not a "prophet"
among his neighbors, in these days of irreverence and
carping criticism.
WILLIAM  HUNT.
William Hunt is the son of Isaac Lansing Hunt
and Hannah Lincoln, both of a direct English line of
ancestry, and both natives of Fayette County. Isaac
L. was the son of Jacob Hunt, who came from Elizabethtown, N. J., and settled in East Liberty, Dunbar
township, where the former was born, June 25, 1791,
and died in October, 1836. Isaac is represented to
f
3604                                       PREFACE.
which bear upon the subject, but much more has been obtained from the State archives, the
county, township, and society records, old newspaper files, and from conversations with the oldest
residents and best-informed people of the county, of whom a very large number have been called
on and consulted, and all, with hardly an exception, have fully and freely, to the extent of their
ability, imparted the information sought. The number of those who have thus furnished information is so great that it is impracticable to give them the separate individual mention to
which they are entitled, but grateful thanks are here tendered to each and all for the assistance
which they have so obligingly extended. The writer also desires especially to express his acknowledgments to the editors and proprietors of the several newspapers, the county and township officers, the pastors and leading members of the clurches, and the gentlemen of the legal
and iedical professions of the county for favors and courtesies received from them  in the preparation of the work.
F.E.
PHILADELPHIA, May 8, 1882.HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
mnuch of slight and contempt that they finally retire(
in disgust and left him to his fate.
On the 25th of June, "at daybreak, three men wh(
went without the sentinels were shot and scalped.'
Gen. Braddock was greatly incensed at these mur
ders, and issued an order directing that "every sol
dier or Indian shall receive five pounds for eacl
Indian scalp." On this day the column moved from
its first camp west of the Youghiogheny to anothei
about seven miles farther on, sometimes spoken of a,
the Old Orchard Camp, "near and northwest o:
Braddock's grave," mentioned in Orme's Journal as
" two miles on the other side" of the Great Meadows,]
the general riding in anticipated triumph over the
very spot which in twenty days was to be his last
resting-place.  On the following day the troops
marched only four miles (the route being exceedingly
rough and toilsome), and encamped for the night at
the Great Rock, near Washington's Spring, the same
place which had been the camp-ground of the HalfKing when he and Washington marched to attack
the camp of Jumonville. At'this halting-place they
found the marks of another French and Indian camp,
so lately vacated that the fires were yet burning. The
Indians who had occupied it, said Orme, "had marked
in triumph upon trees the scalpz~ they had taken two
days before, and many of the French had written on
them their names and sundry insolent expressions.
We picked up a commission on the march, which
mentioned the party being under the command of the
Sieur Normanville. This Indian camp was in a strong
situation, being upon a high rock, with a very narrow and steep ascent to the top. It had a spring in
the middle, and stood at the termination of the Indian path to the Monongahela, at the confluence of
Redstone Creek. By this pass the party came which
attacked Mr. Washington last year, and also this
which attended us. By their tracks they seemed to
have divided here, the one party going straight forward to Fort du Quesne, and the other returning by
Redstone Creek to the Monongahela. A captain,
four subalterns, and ninety volunteers marched from
the camp with proper guides to fall in the night upon
that party which we imagined had returned by the
Monongahela. They found a small quantity of provisions and a very large bateau, which they destroyed," but they saw nothing of the foe they were
sent to capture.
The march of the 27th of June was from the camp
1 "Although Washington had marched from Wills' Creek to the
Meadows in twenty-three days, mahing the road as he went, yet it took
Braddock eighteen days to'drag hiis slow length along' over the same
distance, and Col. Dunbar eight days longer. Truly did Washington say
that,'instead of pushing on with vigor, witllout regarding a little rough
road, they were halting to level every mole-hill and erect bridges over
every brook.' This needless delay, like everything else in this campaign,
contributed its share of adversity to the disastrous result, for while
Braddock was halting and bridging, the enemy was acquiring a force of
resistance and attack which three days' quicker movement would have
anticipated."- Veech.
d i at the Great Rock (called by Orme " Rock Fort") to
Gist's plantation, about six miles, over an extremely
o rough and mountainous road. At Gist's they found
Lieut.-Col. Burton and Sir John Sinclair, with a detachment of about four hundred men, who had been
sent forward to cut out the road in advance of the
h  main body.
a From Fort Cumnberland to Gist's plantation the
r  army marched over the road opened by Washington
s in the previous year, but beyond Gist's the route was
f  a new one, known only to the guides.2  On the 28th
s  of June the column moved from Gist's to the Youghioi gheny, near Stewart's Crossings, or, as Orme's Journal has it, " the troops marched about five miles to a
t  camp on the east side of the Yoxhio Geni." In menstioning, it as the east side the captain was wholly in
error, but the reason why he made such a mistake
was doubtless that, knowing the expeditionary force
to be moving towards an objective point far to the
westward of the place from  which it started, it seemed
natural that it should cross all streams from  their
eastern to their western banks; whereas, in making
this second crossing of the Youghiogheny, exactly the
reverse was the case, because Braddock on leaving
Gist's had deflected his column from its true course,
and was now marching in a direction nearly northeast.
The place where the troops encamped was a short
distance below the present borough of New Haven,
and there, for some cause which is not apparent,
they  lay all day on  the 29th.  On the 30th they
crossed the river to its right bank at a place since
known as Braddock's Ford,3 very near the later residence of Col. William Crawford, who died by torture
at the hands of the Indians in 1782, as narrated in
succeeding pages.
As to the crossing of the Youghiogheny at "Braddock's Ford,"  Captain  Orme's journal says, "We
crossed the main body of the Joxhio  Geni, which
was about two hundred yards broad, and about three
feet deep. The advanced guard passed and took post
on the other side till our artillery and baggage got
over, which was followed by four hundred men, who
remained on the east [west] side till all the baggage
2 It was on the "Nemacolin path," which from Gist's northward to a
point in Westmoreland County ran along the route of the Catawba trail
of the Six Nations.
8 " It hlas been commonly supposed," says Mr. V~ech, " that a division
of the almy took place here in the marcll, the English troops, etc., here
crossing tle river and bearing northward, while the Virgillia or colonial
forces went down the river and crossed at the Broad Ford; thence bearing more to the west, crossing JacoL's Creek at Stouffer's Mill, the two
divisions reuniting atSewickley, nearPainter's Salt-Works. There nay
be error in tlis idea. Orme's Journal has no notice of any such division.
The Broad Ford route may be that which was traversed by the detachments or convoys of provisions, etc., from Dunbar's division, which were
from time to time sent up to Lhe main arnmy; one of which, Orme says,
came up at Thlickety Run, a branch of Sewickley, on the 5th of July.
Another detachment of one hundred men, with pack-horse loads of flour
and some beeves, according to Washington's letters, left the camp west
of the Great Meadows on the 3d of July... This convoy took up the
one hundred beeves, which were among the losses in the defeat."
I
I
42I
Z,--/l-  UNIONTOWN BOROUGH.
have been a man of marked characteristics, strong  Washington.  Daniel Boone, the great Kentucky
common sense, and, though not tall or large in stature, hunter, was also of the same stock..
a man of great physical strength and courage, and,   Though he has led a busy life, Mr. Hunt has found
though of quiet temperament, admiringly known  time to secure, through the medium of books, a large
among his compeers as " plucky Ike Hunt." How he  amnount of practical, general information, and is frewas esteemed by his contemporaries may be under-  quently consulted by his fellow-citizens upon imporstood by the fact that he was twice selected by large  tant matters outside of his profession. His characmajorities, county commissioner at the time when the  ter for veracity and business integrity is probably not
caucus system was not so much in vogue and so dom- surpassed by that of any other citizen of his town.
inant as now and every one stood upon his merits.
William was born in Dunbar township, White
School District, Feb. 2,1836, some eight months before        ELEAZER ROBINSON.
his father's death, and is the youngest of eight chil-   Among the immigrants of Fayette County, bringdren.  His mother, with the children, moved to  ing and infusing into its social and business life a
Uniontown, April, 1845, where she still (1882) resides  then somewhat novel element, that of the "Yankee"
at the age of eighty-seven. William attended the  or New England spirit, came about 1837 Eleazer Robcommon school, and for a while Madison College, inson, an iron-founder. Mr. Robinson was born March
leaving which he entered upon learning the jewelers' 4, 1804, in Bethel, Windsor Co., Vt. His parents,
and watch-repairer's trade in 1850 as an apprentice of Eleazer Robinson and Experience Downer, were of
Henry W. S. Rigden, of Uniontown, noted for his great the old New England Puritan stock. In 1810 they remechanical abilities, and under whom he continued  moved to Saratoga County, N. Y., where he enjoyed the
for four and a half years.  From 1854 to 1858 he  advantages of the common schools of the times and
sought and procured engagement in one of the best made considerable progress in general studies. But
jewelry establishments in the country, severally dis-  in 1824, his parents then removing to Brooine County,
tinguished for excellence in the specialties of his  N. Y., young Robinson there availed himself of the
trade, completing a course of experimental education, opportunities offered by the academy in his neighborwhich has served, together with his fine natural hood. There he devoted himself mainly to matheability, to give him a more extensive and profitable  matics, in which he achieved marked success, leaving
repute as a skilled mechanic in his art, and, in fact, in  the academy well equipped as a civil engineer; and
general, than usually enjoyed by his fellow-trades-  though he did not enter upon the profession of engimen. Mr. Hunt has an inventive cast of mind, and  neering, his studies there made have served him on
readily masters whatever mechanical subtleties are  many an important occasion in the avocations of life,
presented him  for solution or difficulties to over-  especially in mechanical pursuits. On quitting the
come.                                               academy le took up the study of the law, under the
Mr. Hunt returned to Uniontown in 1858, and  direction of a leading lawyer of Binghamton, a Mr.
opened a shop for general repair-work pertaining to  Robinson,-not a relative, however,-and continued
his trade. His business has from the start " pushed"  his legal studies until interrupted by the death of his
him. In 1860 he commenced putting in stock, and  father (who left seven children, of whom Mr. Robinhas gradually increased the amount of his purchases  son was the eldest), which threw upon him the reand sales, year after year, until he now does the chief sponsible care of the family, obliging him to quit the
work of the locality, and enjoys the largest trade in  law-office for the practical duties of the farmer, he
his line in Fayette County.                         varying these during a course of years by more or less
Mr. Hunt early joined the order of Freemasons, school-teaching.
and is a member of the Independent Order of Odd-   Eventually he became largely interested in the
Fellows, and has filled nearly all the honorary official lumber business at Owego, N. Y. But there overpositions in the lodges of both orders with which he  borne by disaster, caused by a great freshet in the
has been connected. Mr. Hunt has always been  Upper Branch of the Susquehanna, which in a few
identified with the Democratic party, but he exercises  hours swept away a fortune in lumber, he with the
independence on occasion, voting for a good man of buoyant energy which has distinguished his whole
any party, as his judgment may dictate. He has  life moved at once to Erie, Pa., and there engaged in
served several terms in the Town Council, and been  the drug business. At this business he continued
efficient in carrying out policies at the time of their three years, within which time he made an acquaintprojection much objected to, but which after expe- anceship which gave direction to the course of his life
rience the people approved. He is decidedly a man  since then with a Mr. Jonathan Hathaway, the patof progress.                                        entee of a superior cooking-stove, well remembered
As recorded above, the maiden name of Mr. Hunt's  by the older inhabitants of Fayette County, and semother was Lincoln, and it should be noted here that cured control of the manufacture of the " Hathaway
it was a Lincoln of the same stock who received Lord  stoves," whereupon he moved to Pittsburgh and proCornwallis' sword at Yorktown and delivered it to  cured their casting there. After a'while, meeting with
361~HISTORIY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
much loss through the destruction by fire of the foundry wherein the stoves were cast, he went to Uniontown in 1837, and there established a foundry, and
eventually erected a branch foundry in Washington,
Pa., and opened agencies at Carlisle and elsewhere,
all of which were conducted very successfully for
some years. Finally Mr. Robinson concentrated his
business at Uniontown, there prosecuting it actively
till 1867, when, having amassed a goodly fortune, he
retired from business as a manufacturer, selling the
foundry to one of his earliest apprentices and faithful
co-workers, Mr. Thomas Jaquett.
Since then Mr. Robinson has been engaged in
various business pursuits. In 1872 he came into possession as sole owner under a private charter of the
gas-works by which Uniontown is lighted. He also
controls as principal owner the gas-works of Middletown, Dauphin County.
Mr. Robinson was one of the original board of directors of the First National Bank of Uniontown,
and remained a director till within a few years past.
He has ever generously contributed to the upbuilding
or support of such institutions in the places of his
residence as commanded his respect, taking no extreme partisan cause, however, either in politics or
religion, enjoying the esteem of his neighbors and the
business public as a man of sterling integrity as well
as clear judgment, genial sociability, and humane
sentiments.
July 12, 1837, Mr. Robinson united in marriage
with Miss Cornelia Wells, of York, N. Y., who died
in 1845, having borne him  four children, one only
of whom, Mrs. Emma R. King, now (1882) survives.
On Nov. 6, 1846, Mr. Robinson married again, being
then united to Miss Mary Ann McClelland, of Uniontown, who died in September, 1850, leaving no childrep. Mr. Robinson married as his third wife, Nov.
24, 1852, Mrs. Elizabeth J. Porter, daughter of James
Wilson, Esq., of German township, with whom he
lived twenty-nine years, she dying in May, 1881, at
the age of sixty-eight years, leaving two children,Mr. W. L. Robinson, who has mainly succeeded to
his father's business, managing the gas-works, etc.,
and Miss Mary E. Robinson.
COL. ALEXANDER McCLEAN.
Alexander McClean, the most famous land surveyor
of Southwestern Pennsylvania, who passed more than
fifty-five years of his life as a resident of Uniontown,
and who held the offices of register and recorder of
Fayette County for more than half a century, was
born in York County, Pa., Nov. 20, 1746, being the
youngest of seven brothers, the six others of whom
were Moses, Archibald, William, Samuel, John, and
James. All of them became surveyors, and Archibald (the eldest), Moses, Sanmuel, and Alexander were
employed with the celebrated "London artists," Mason and Dixon, in running the historic line between
Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, in 1766-67,
Alexander being then less than twenty-one years of
i age, and acting as an assistant to his elder brothers, of
whom Archibald was the chief in the business.
The opening of the Land Office, April 3, 1769, for
the locating of lands in the then "New Purchase,"
gave employment to a great number of surveyors,
and among them was Alexander McClean. It was
for the prosecution of this business that he first moved
across the mountains, making his location at the
Stony Creek Glades, in the present coulity of Somerset; but being then unmarried he changed his teinporary residence from time to time as required by
the location of the work on which he was engaged.
At first he was but an assistant to his brothers, who
were deputy surveyors, but after a time he was himself appointed to that office, the first survey found
recorded as executed by him in the capacity of
deputy surveyor within the present boundaries of
Fayette County being dated in the year 1772. In
1.775 he was married at the Stony Creek Glades, near
Stoystown, to Sarah Holmes, and in the following
spring he moved with his wife to what was then Westmoreland County (afterwards Fayette), and located at
or near where his brothers James and Samuel had
previously settled, in what is now North Union township, some three miles from where Henry Beeson was
then preparing to lay out the town which was the
nucleus of the present borough of Uniontown.  It
was doubtless the knowledge which he obtained of
this region while engaged in surveying that induced
him to'settle west of the Laurel Hill soon after his
marriage. He re'mained at his first location in the
present North Union townsllip for about three years,
and in 1779 removed to Uniontown, which from that
time was his place of residence till his death.
In the first Assembly of the State of Pennsylvania,
in 1776, Alexander McClean was oine of the members
from Westmoreland County. In September of the
same year he was one of the justices of the peace for
Westmoreland, appointed by the Revolutionary State
Convention. He was also a member of Assembly for
1782-83, being elected for the purpose of procuring
the passage of the act erecting Fayette County, which
was accomplished in the latter year. He had early
foreseen the probability of the erection of a new
county from this part of Westmoreland, and had (it
is said) urged Henrv Beeson to lay out his town (now
Uniontown), in the belief that it would be made the
seat of justice of the new county, the erection of
which he predicted.
In 1782 he was appointed sub-lieutenant of Westmoreland County, in place of Edward Cook, who had
been promoted to lieutenant to succeed Col. Archibald Lochry, who was murdered by the Indians on
the Ohio in the previous year. By his appointment
as sub-lieutenant of the county Mr. McClean obtained
the title of colonel, by which Vhe was ever afterwards known.
362?e,     -               alLk---,UNIONTOWN BOROUGH.6
During the Revolution, from 1776 to 1784, there
were no entries of land made at the Land Office, and
consequently there was no work for deputy surveyors.
But in 1781 Col. McClean was appointed by the
Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania chief
surveyor for this State (to act in conjunction with
a silnilar officer on behalf of Virginia) to run the
temporary line between the two States, as agreed
on in 1779. After many delays and vexatious disappointments in the execution of this work it was
finally completed by Col. McClean and Joseph Neville, of Virginia, in the winter of 1782-83. The pay
established by the Council at the commencement of
the work was twenty shillings ($2.66) per day and
expenses, but afterwards that body resolved that,
"taking into consideration the trouble Mr. McClean
has had in running said line, and the accuracy with
which the same hath been done, he be allowed thirtyfive shillings ($4.67) per day." This resolution of
Council established the price which Col. McClean
always afterwards charged for his services as surveyor.
Upon the erection of Fayette County in 1783, Col.
McClean made application for the appointinent of
prothonotary and clerk of the courts of the county,
but the office was secured by Ephraim  Douglass.
Col. McCleai was, however, appointed (Oct. 31,1783)
by the Council to be presiding justice of the Court of
Common Pleas and Orphans' Court. He filled that
office until April, 1789, when he was succeeded by
Col. Edward Cook. On the 6th of December, 1783,
he was appointed to the offices of register and recorder of Fayette County, and held those offices continuously through all the political changes and vicissitudes of a period of more than half a century until
his death in 1834.
Col. McClean was a quiet, unobtrusive man, devoted to the duties of his office, and caring for little
else than to discharge them with diligence, accuracy,
and fidelity. He held office longer-froin 1772 to
1834-than any other man who has ever resided in
Western Pennsylvania. He was an expert and elegant penman, as will readily be admitted by any person who examines the multitudinous pages of his
work, which may be seen in the court-house at
Uniontown, beautiful as copper-plate, and as clear
and distinct as when they were written, ninety years
ago. As register, recorder, and surveyor for more
than half a century he had been conversant with
all the estates,.titles,'and lands of the county, with
all their vacancies, defects, and modes of settlement;
yet with all these opportunities of acquiring wealth
he died in comparative poverty, a sad monument to
his integrity. He wrote more deeds and wills at
seven and sixpence each (one dollar) and dispensed
more gratuitous counsel in ordinary legal affairs than
at reasonable fees would enrich a modern scrivener
or counselor. He died in Uniontown, Jan. 7, 1834.
The date has usually been given as December 7th of
that year, but that this is a mistake is shown by an
entry on the court record as follows:
"Jan'y 8, 1834.-At the meeting of the court this morning
Mr. Austin rose and informed the court of the death of Col.
Alexander McClean, which took place last night. After a few
remarks, in which Mr. Austin alluded in terms of deserved
eulogy to the high character which the deceased sustained as
an officer and a man, and in general in all the social relations,
he moved the following resolution, viz.: That when the court
adjourns, it adjourns to meet at four o'clock P.M., in order to
give the court and bar, grand and traverse jurors, and others
attending on the court an opportunity of attending the funeral,
which was adopted and ordered accordingly."
Col. McClean had ten children, viz.: Ann, born
Sept. 7, 1776; Joseph, Nov. 17, 1777; Elizabeth,
March 27, 1779; William, March 14, 1780; Alexander, Sept. 17, 1782; Ephraim, July 23, 1784; Stephen, Sept. 23, 1786; John, Feb. 23, 1788; Richard,
May 17, 1790; Moses, July 25, 1793. All the sons
settled on lands owned by their father. The eldest
daughter, Ann, married John Ward, and settled in
Steubenville. Ohio. Elizabeth married Thomas Hadden, a well-remembered lawyer of Uniontown.
HON. ANDREW STEWART.
Andrew  Stewart, one of the most distinguished
public men of Fayette County (which was always his
home from birth to death), was the son of Abrahamn
Stewart and Mary Oliphaint, who were both natives
of the eastern part of Pennsylvania (he of York,
and she of Chester-County), ai(nd who both emigrated
while young to Fayette County, where they were
married in 1789. They raised a family of children,
of whom the eldest was Andrew, who- was born June
11, 1791, in German township. At an early age he
became self-dependent; till eighteen he worked on a
farm and taught a country school, afterwards, to
pay his way while going to school and reading law,
he acted as a scrivener and as clerk at a furnace. In
his twenty-fourth year he was admitted to the bar
(January, 1815), and in the same year was elected to
the Legislature; was re-elected for three years, and
when a candidate for the Senate, without opposition,
President Monroe tendered him the appointment of
district attorney for the United States,, which, preferring to a seat in the Senate, he accepted, but resigned it after his election to Congress in 1820, where
he served eighteen years out of a period of thirty. He
served in the 17th, 20th, 22d, 23d, 26th, 27th, 28th,
29th, and 30th Congresses, going in and going out
with the Hon. Thomas H. Benton.
In 1848, when Mr. Stewart was a candidate for the
Vice-Presidency, he declined a nomination for Congress, and in the convention in Philadelphia, after the
nomination of President Taylor, it was left to the
Pennsylvania delegation to nominate a candidate for
Vice-President, who, after having retired to agree
upon a nominee, upon the first ballot Mr. Stewart
-6343
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITION IN 1755.
had passed. We were obliged to encamp about a mile
on the west [meaning the east] side, where we halted  t
a day to cut a passage over a mountain. This day's  E
miarch did not exceed two miles."  On the 1st of  l
July the column moved on about five miles in a  ]
north-northeast direction, but could advance no farther by reason of a great swamp, which required much'
work to make it passable." In reference to this swamp,
Veech says, " It can be no other than that fine-looking
champaign land about the head-waters of Mounts'
Creek and Jacob's Creek, north and east of the old
chain bridge, embracing lands formerly of Col. Isaac
Meason, now George E. Hogg and others."
A march of six miles on the 2d of Jdtly brought the
army to "Jacob's Cabin," where its camp was made
for the night. On the 3d, " the sNwNamp beiilg repaired,"
says the journal, " we marched about six miles to the
Salt Lick Creek.'  Sir John St Clair proposed to the
General to halt at this Camp, and to send back all
our horses to bring up Colonel Dunbar's detachment,"
which was then encamped at Squaw's Fort, about
three miles east of the Great Crossings of the Youghiogheny, in the present county of Somerset.  Upon
this suggestion of Sir John, the general convened a
council of war, composed of Colonel Sir Peter Halket, Lieutenant-Colonels Gage and Burton, Major
Sparks, and Sir John Sinclair, D.Q.G. After due
consideration of the proposition, "the council were
unanimously of the opinion not to halt there for Colonel Dunbar, but to proceed the next morning."
The camp on Jacob's Creek, where this council
of war was held, was about one and one-half miles
below Mount Pleasant. From this place the colurmn
marched on through what is now  Westmoreland
County to the Great Sewickley, crossing that stream
near Painter's Salt-Works; thence south and west of
the post-office of Madison and Jacksonville to the
Brush Fork of Turtle Creek, where Braddock halted
in indecision, as the crossing of that stream and the
passage through the ravines appeared hazardous. He
finally decided to abandon the route originally proposed from this point along the ridges to Fort du
Quesne, and accordingly, turning sharply to the left,
he moved towards the Monongahela, encamping on
the night of the 8th of July about two miles east of
the river, below the mouths of the Youghiogheny.
It was at this camp that Washington (although not
yet fully recovered from his illness) rejoined the army,
having left Colonel Dunbar's force near the Great
Meadows,2 and come on "in a covered wagon," under
protection of a detachment sent on to guard a packhorse train laden with provisions for the advance
column.
1 Now known as JacoW's Creek.
2 "4 It is a noticeable fact," says veech, "that Washington, enfeebled
by a consuming fever, was so invigorated by the sight of the scene of lhis
discomfiture tile previous year as to seize the opporltunity of celebrating
its first anniversary by hastening on to partake in an achievement
wbhich, as he fondly hoped, would restore to his king and country all
that had been lost by his failure."
On the morning of the 9th of July the troops marched
to the Monongahela and crossed to.the southwest
shore, moving thence on the left bank for about three
miles; then recrossed the river at Frazier's, just below the mouth of Turtle Creek. The crossing was
completed at about one o'clock in the afternoon, and
when the column reformed on the right bank of the
Monongahela, it was within three-fourths of a mile of
the place where the French with their Indian allies
lay hidden along the slopes of the forest defile which,
ere the sun went down on that memorable day,
was to be reddened by the blood of the bravest, and
made historic for all time as "Braddock's field" of
disaster and defeat.
The bloody battle of the Monongahela has been too
often described to require repetition here. It resulted
in the utter defeat and rout of the English, and the
headlong flight of' the survivors to the south side of
the river at the point where they had crossed. The
force which entered the forest defile was fourteen
hundred and sixty strong,3 including officers and privates. Of this force four hundred and fifty-six were
killed and four hundred and twenty-one wounded,
making a total of eight hundred and seventy-seven;
while only five hundred and eighty-three escaped
unhurt. Of eighty-nine commissioned officers, sixtythree were killed or wounded, including every officer
above the rank of captain except Colonel Washington.
Of the captains, ten were killed and five wounded; of
the lietitenants, fifteen killed and twenty-two wounded.
General Braddock had four horses shot under him,
and while mounting the fifth received the wound
which proved mortal. Washington had two horses
shot under hiln. Sir Peter Halket (next in command
to Braddock) was killed instantly. Secretary Shirley
was killed. Colonel Burton, Sir John Sinclair, and
Lieutenant-Colonel Gage were among the wounded,
also Brigade-Major Halket, Dr. Hugh Mercer,4 Major
Sparks, and Captain Orme. Of the naval officers
present, Lieutenant Spendelow and Midshipman Talbot were killed. A number of women and officers'
servants were also killed and scalped, though every
wagoner escaped. One hundred beeves were captured
by the enemy, also the general's papers (orders, instructions, and correspondence), and the military
chest, containing ~25,000 in money, as well as all
3 The force had increased b,y nearly two hunIdred men between the
timle when Bradd,ck moved forward from the I,ittle Meadows with between twelve and thirteen hundred men and the time when they reached
the,Monongahela. This increase was nmade principally by small detachments wllicll wvre detailed from the rear-guard, under Dunlpar, as guards
to thle trains whicll wrele sent forward with supplies to the advance.
4 Afterwards Genr. 3Mercer, who was killed at the battle of Princeton,
Jan. 3, 1777. The wound which he received at the battle of the Mononlgahela was a very severe one. He was left on the field with the other
badly wounded, but nianaged to conceal himself bellind a fallen tree,
wllere he witnessed the atrocities committed by the savages on the other
wounded men and on the dead. His place of concealment was not discov-ered by the Indians, who soon left the field. When darkness came
on he crept fromn the woods, crossed the Monlongahela, and after wandering in the woods for many days with his wound undressed, and nearly
famished, he at last reached Fort Cunlberland in safety.HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
had fourteen out of twenty-six, the remaining twelve
voting for Mr. McKennan and several others, when,
without taking a second ballot to make it unanimous,
the chairman of the delegation hurried back into the
convention and reported that they had failed to agree,
whereupon Mr. Fillmore was nominated and confirmed, as was stated and published at the time without contradiction.
On the accession of Gen. Taylor to the Presidency, the Pennsylvania delegation in Congress recommended Mr. Stewart for Secretary of the Treasury; but being at the time confined to a sick-bed,
he declined the appointment; and it may be stated
as a remarkable fact, true of no other man living or
dead, that Mr. Stewart served in Congress with every
President before Gen. Grant, except the first five,
and Taylor, who was never in Congress.
While in Congress Mr. Stewart served on several
of the most important committees, among them as
chairman of the Committee on the Tariff and the
Committee of Internal Improvements, constituting
together, what was well called by Mr. Clay, "The
American System," in the advocacy of which Mr.
Stewart commenced and ended his political life.
This system, he always contended, lay at the foundation of the national prosperity, the one protecting the
national industry, and the other developing the national resources. He called it the "political thermometer," which always had and always would indicate the rise and fall of the national prosperity.
Mr. Stewart belonged to the Democratic party up
to 1828, when the party, at the dictation of the South,
under the lead of Van Buren, Buchanan, and others,
gave up the tariff and internal improvements for office;
here Mr. Stewart took an independent stand. He
said he would stand by his measures, going with those
who went for and against those who went against
them. He came home in the midst of the excited
contest between Jackson and Adams for the Presidency in 1828, when his constituents were known to
be more than two to one for Jackson, and in a public
speech declared his intention "to vote for Adams,
whose friends supported his measures, while the Democratic party, as such, opposed them. If for this they
clhose to turn him out, so be it, he would never surrender his principles for office. If he did he would
be a political hypocrite, unworthy the support of any
honest man; he would rather go out endeavoring to
support what, in his conscience, he believed to be the
true interests of his constituents and his country than
to go in by meanly betraying them."
The Democrats took up Mr. Hawkins, of Greene
County, then Speaker of the Senate, and used every
means to exasperate the Jackson men against Mr.
Stewart; yet, with all their efforts, although Jackson
had a majority of two thousand eight hundred-more
than two votes to one-in his district, Mr. Stewart was
elected over the Jackson candidate by a majority of
two hundred and thirty-five,--a result unprecedented,
showing a degree of personal popularity on the one
side, and of magnanimity and forbearance on the
other, without a parallel in the history of elections.
Mr. Stewart was afterwards re-elected for four terms,
when he peremptorily declined a renomination.
At the age of thirty-four Mr. Stewart married the
daughter of David Shriver, of Cumberland, Md., and
raised a family of six children, who are all living except Lieuitenant-Commander William F. Stewart,
U.S.N., who was lost on the U. S. S. " Oneida," on the
24th of January, 1870, being at the time executive
officer of the ship, and one of the most promising
officers of his age in the service, so pronounced in
letters of condolence after his death by all of the
officers under whom he had served. His last heroic
words on being urged to take the boat as the ship was
going down were, " No! let others take the boat, my
duty is on board my ship," and he went down with
her.
Mr. Stewart carried into private life the same devotion to these measures that distinguished him while
in the public service, and until the time of his death
he was found among the foremost in advocating railroad improvements which will in the near future
make his native county one of the richest and most
prosperous in the State. To show his constant zeal
and restless activity in the cause of domestic industry
and home manufactures, it may be stated that he
erected a blast-furnace, rebuilt a glass-works, built
eleven saw-mills, four flouring-mills, planing-mills,
etc., besides more than two hundred tenant and other
houses; he bought and sold over eighty thousand
acres of land, and had between thirty thousand and
forty thousand acres still left at his death, much of it
in the West; and yet twenty-one years of the prime
of his life were devoted to the services of his country
in her State and national Legislatures.
Mr. Stewart died in Uniontown, July 16, 1872,
in his eighty-second year. His sons, Col. Andrew
Stewart and D. Shriver Stewart, reside in Stewart
township, which was so named in honor of their illustrious father, and where they'have large landed interests which belonged to his estate.
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364CONNELLSVILLE BOROUGH AND TOWNSHIP.
THE borough of Connellsville, the largest town in
population in the county of Fayette, is situated opposite the borough of New Haven, on the right or
eastern bank of the Youghiogheny; its territory,
however, extending across the river to low-water mark
on the western side, which low-water mark forms its
western boundary. On the north, east, and south it
is bounded by Connellsville township. Connellsville
borough is not only the centre of the vast coke and
coal interests of this region, but is also the most important railway point in Fayette County, having
connection with Pittsburgh and Uniontown by two
lines, the Southwest Pennsylvania and the Baltimore
and Ohio, and eastward by the same lines, over the
Baltimore and Ohio to Cumberland and Baltimore,
and over the Southwest and Pennsylvania roads to
Greensburg, Altoona, Harrisburg, and Philadelphia.
Both the Southwest Pennsylvania and the Uniontown Branch of the Baltimore and Ohio road cross
the Youghiogheny at this point. The population of
the borough by the census of 1880 was: in the East
Ward, 1926; in the West Ward, 1689; total, 3615.
The first settler within the limits of the present
borough of Connellsville was William McCormick,
who caime here from near Winchester, Va., about the
year 1770. He had a number of pack-horses, and
with thein was engaged in the transportation of salt,
iron, and other goods from Cumberland, Md., to the
Youghiogheny and Monongahela Rivers. His wife
was Effie Crawford, a daughter of Col. William Crawford, who had settled on the left bank of the Youghiogheny near the northern boundary of the present
borough of New Haven. McCormick settled on the
other side of the river,l directly opposite the house of
his father-in-law. His first residence there was a log
house, which he built on the river-bank. It is still
standing on land owned by the Pittsburgh and Connellsville Railroad Company. In this he lived many
years, and then removed to a double cabin which he
built on the site below the stone house on the Davidson farm. Afterwards he built a large log house
1 Two tracts of land, one called " Stafford," and the other "Rich Plain,"
located where McCormick settled, were warranted to William Crawford,
but soon afterwards became the property of William McCormick, and
were patented to him May 28, 1795. A saw-mill was erected by hlim on
these premises. An agreement was made by McCormick (April 10,1794)
to sell a part of-these tracts to John Gibson for ~252, and on the 7th of
December, 1796, the property was deeded by McCormick to Gibson.
24
where is now the stone house built by John Boyd,
who purchased the McCormick property in 1831.
William McCormick died in 1816, aged about seventy-four years. He had eleven children, four of
whom removed to Adams County, Ohio, and two to
Indiana. Provance McCormick, a grandson of William, now the oldest living native of Connellsville,
was born in the above-mentioned double cabin of his
grandfather, July 29, 1799. He learned two trades,
shoemaker and carpenter. He married about 1818,
and for two years lived on his grandfather's place.
In 1825 he bought an acre of land, and built on it the
house now owned by William White. In this he lived
till 1853. He was elected justice of the peace, and
later associate judge of Fayette County for one term.
For the past ten years he has held the office of justice
of the peace in Connellsville. Two sons, George and
Joseph T., and two daughters are residents of Connellsville.
Zachariah Connell, the founder of the town of Connellsville, came here a few years later than the settlement of William McCormick, whose brother-in-law
he was, having married Mrs. McCormick's sister, Ann
Crawford. He came to this section of country soon
after 1770, and stopped at the house of his future
father-in-law, Capt. (afterwards Colonel) William
Crawford. After his marriage, which was probably
in 1773,2 he lived for some time on the west side of
the river, but afterwards, at a time which cannot be
exactly fixed (between 1773 and 1778), moved to the
east side of the stream and located on a tract of land
which was designated in his warrant of survey3 as
"Mud Island," which included the present site of the
borough of Connellsville. He built his log cabin
facing the river, on or very near the spot where the
Trans-Allegheny House now stands, on Water Street.
There he lived for many years, until he removed to the
stone house which he had built at the corner of Grave
Street and Hill Alley. After the deatlh of his wife,
Ann Crawfbrd, he married a Miss Wallace, a sister
of " Aunt Jenny" Wallace, who was long and well
2 In the assessment list for the year 1772 of Tyrone townsllip, Bedford
Co. (which county then included all of what is now Fayette County,
and Tyrone towllship comprehended all of the preseint townships of Tyrone, Conllellsville, and Dullbar, and a great extent of contiguous territory), tile name of Zacllariali Connell appears in the list of " Inmates,"
-that is," boarders, not heads of fanilies."
3 Mr. Connell did not receive the patent for this tract until June 2,
1795, two years after he had laid out the town of Connellsville upon it.
365HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
known in later years as the keeper of the toll-bridge
across the Youghiogheny River. The later years of
Mr. Connell's life were devoted to the care of his real
estate.' He became an ardent Methodist, and donated
the lot on which the church of that denomination was
built. He died in his stone house on Grave Street,
Aug. 26, 1813, aged seventy-two years, and was buried
near the residence of John Freeman, where his remains still rest near those of his two wives, and where
a broken slab marks the last resting-place of the
founder of Connellsville. By his first wife Mr. Connell was the father of four children, of whoim two
were sons,--Hiram and John. The former lived and
died in Connellsville, the latter removed to the West.
Of the two daughters, one married William Page,
who became a Methodist preacher, and removed with
his wife to Adams County, Ohio, about 1810. The
other married Greensbury Jones, an exhorter, and
emigrated with him to the West. The second wife of
Mr. Connell became the mother of two daughters,
who respectively became the wives of Joseph and
Wesley Phillips, sons of John Phillips, of Uniontown.
Nothing has been found tending to show that any
other settlers came to locate near Zachariah Connell
and William McCormick, or within the present territory of the borough of Connellsville, during the Revolutionary war or the five or six years that succeeded
the return of peace. The supposition that there were
no such settlements made during the time referred to
is strengthened by the fact that the tracts of Connell
and McCormick, which included all that is now Connellsville, remained intact in the hands of their respective owners, McCormick retaining all his land
until his sale of a part of it to John Gibson in 1796,
and the whole of Connell's tract (with the exception
of the Rogers mill site) being still in his possession
when he laid out the town in 1793, as will hereafter
be noticed.
The "Rogers Mill" referred to (which a few years
later became the property of Thomas Page) was built
1 From the columns of The Reporter (published at Washington, Pa.),
of date May 18, 1812, is extracted the followinlg notice by Mr. Connell of
a public sale of lots in Connellsville in the year preceding that of his
death, viz.:
"ADVERTISEMENT.
"There will be 70 or 80 lots in the flourishing and thriving borough
of Connellsville exposed to public sale on Thursday, the 4th day of June
next, in the said borough, and the sale to continue from day to day until
they are sold. I need not mention the situation of this growing place,
as it is well known for the many iron-works around and ilear the town,
the many boats that are built there, and which communicate a trade
with all the western country. There is a new State road laid out by an
act of Assembly through this town to intersect the Federal turnpike
road near Brownsville. Also about 50 or 60 acres of land will be laid
out in lots adjoining said town, to be sold at the sanle time, when due
attendance and reasonable credit will be given by me.
"ZACHARIAH CONNELL.
CONNELLSVILLE, April 6, 1812.
"N.B.-All persons claiming lots in said town are desired to come and
lay in their claims by the 1st day of May, and pay the purchase-money
and ground-rents if any due.
"Z. C."
before 1793, on the river-bank, where the present mill
stands, opposite Grave Street. Its owner was Daniel
Rogers, who came here from Dunbar township, and
became one of the most promninent citizens of Connellsville, and, with his brother Joseph and Zadoc
Walker, of Uniontown, was interested in the erection
of the paper-mill on the Youghiogheny above Connellsville in 1810. The old grist-mill which he built,
as above mentioned, became an establishment of no
little iniportance to Connellsville as the settlement
increased, and was largely patronized by people of
both Bullskin and Dunbar townships.
Dr. James Francis was one of the earliest settlers
in Connellsville. Evidence is found that he was practicing in the vicinity before 1790, but it is not certain
that he was at that time a resident in what is now
Connellsville, though it is known that he was located
there not long afterwards. Dr. Francis will be found
mentioned more fully in the account of the early
physicians of Connellsville.
Anthony Banning, an itinerant Methodist preacher,
came to Connellsville as early as 1789, but did not locate here until about two years later. He is mentioned
in the narrative of the Methodist Church, written in
1848 by the Rev. P. McGowan, as follows: "There is
reason to believe that there was a society at Connellsville at this time [1789]. Anthony Banning, who
resided at Connellsville, was received on trial in the
traveling connection this year, but located in 1791,
and afterwards resided in the same place." Here the
Rev. Mr. McGowan merely infers that there must
have been a society at Connellsville at the time mentioned. But it is not at all strange that he should be
mistaken in his inference, writing as he did at a time
fifty years later. It is in no way probable that there
was a Methodist Society at Connellsville at the time
named, for there were no inhabitants there at that
time except the families of Connell, McCormick, and
Gibson (if the latter had a family then), and Anthony
Banning (the last namned being only temporarily located there); but it is not unlikely that people from
Bullskin township and from the west side of the
Youghiogheny often met at Connell's, or in its vicinity
as a central point, to listen to Banning's exhortations.
Besides preaching, Banning appears to have had
other occupations, and to have been rather an enterprising man. Some years after his settlement he
started a tannery on the run, to the southward of Mr.
Connell's stone house, and later built the stone house
on the hill, afterwards known as the Page House, and
opened it as a tavern. He remained till 1810, when
he sold the tavern stand to David Barnes and removed to Mount Vernon, Ohio.
In 1793 the town of Connellsville was laid out and
chartered by Mr. Connell, who perceived that though
there were but very few inhabitants in the place, it
was destined to become a point of importance, because
it was here that emigrants and travelers to the West
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366CONNELLSVILLE BOROUGH AND TOWVNS1HIP.
(of whomi thlere were alrealdy great liubiiibers in transit,
coming over the road iroln Bedlford by way of Turkey
Foot) reached a boatable point on the Youghiogheny
River. Here, for several years, boats had been built
by emigrants and others to take their merchandise
and other movables down by water carriage, and here
he thought was a place where a thriving village would
naturally spring up. Succeeding years bore witness
to the soundness of his calculations, though for more
than a decade after the laying out of the town its
growth was but slow.
The charter, executed by Mr. Connell, March 21,
1793, and recorded with the town plotl in Book C,
page 329, of the Fayette County records, is as follows:
"Zachariah Connell, proprietor of the tract of land situate on
the East side of Youghiogheni River, where the State Road frotn
the north fork of Turkey foot intersects said river, To all to
whom these presents shall come sendeth Greeting, Whereas it
is necessary that some provision be made at the place aforesaid
for the reception and entertaiiiment of Travelers, and as well
to accommodate such Tradesmen and others inclining to settle
at or near said place, for their encouragement and better regulation, Has laid out a small Town at the aforesaid place by the
name of Connellsville, agreeably to the plan hereunto annexed.
And the said Zachariah Connell, for himself, his heirs, and assigns, doth grant that the streets and alleys of the said town
shall forever continue as they are now laid out and regulated by
the plan aforesaid, viz.: Spring Street or State Road, sixty feet
wide, and all the other streets forty feet wide, and Alleys twenty
feet wide, and that the space left opposite the ferry and fronting on said River, as represented in the plan, and distinguished
by Public Ground, and Water Street, shall be and continue free
for the use of the Inhabitants of said Town, and for Travelers
who may erect thereon temporary boat-yards, or may from time
to time occupy the same or any part thereof for making any
vessels or other Conveniences for the purpose of conveying
their property to or from said Town. And the said Zachariah
Connell doth further promise and Covenant with the Inhabitants of said Town and others who choose to frequent the same,
that all landings, harbours, or other conveniences and advantages of said River opposite said town or adjoining Water Street
aforesaid shall be free to them at all tiines for the purpose of
landing Timber, Stone, or other materials for building, or for
the use of lading Vessels for removal of their persons or property to any place whatever. But the said Zachariah Connell
reserves to himself, his hleirs, and Assigns all that piece of Land
situate between Water Street and the River, and extending
from Roger's Mill down to Spring Street or State Road, Provided always that none of said Town or others shall at any time
erect a ferryboat for public use, or keep and maintain a Canoe
or other Vessel for the purpose of conveying any person or
persons, thing or things, across said River other than their own
families or their own property. And providing also as the
1 Coughenour's addition to the town of Connellsville was made about
1836, by Valentine Coughenour, embracing about six acres, bounded
south by North Alley, east by lots of John Fuller and Alexander Johnston, north by property of Alexander Johnston, and west by Church
Street.
In February, 1871, a plot of fifty-one acres was added by the Connellsville Building and Loan Association. In October, 1873, James Johnston
platted an addition of twenty-seven acres, lying west of Church Street,
and in 1875 he platted forty-five acres lying east of Church Street as
an addition to the borough.
privilege is joint, that no person or persons, Company or Companies, shall at any time or times hereafter occupy more of the
margin of said River for the purpose aforesaid than is absolutely necessary, according to the various changes and circumstances of the case, to the end that all foreigners as well as
Citizens may be equally or proportionately advantaged thereby
as their necessity require. And, whereas, there is near said
Town, on the verge of said river, an excellent Stone Coal Bank
from which Coal may be conveniently conveyed by water along
all the front of said Town, and also a Stone-Quarry, where
stone may be got for building, and the said Zachariah Connell
being desirous of giving all the encouragement and advantages
that the nature of the case will admit of, consistent with his
own interest and safety, doth hereby grant unto the inhabitants
of said Town, their heirs, and assigns for ever, the free and full
privilege of digging and removing from said Stone Coal Bank
and Stone-Quarry to their habitation or place of abode within
said town only any quantity of Coal and Stone necessary for
their own particular use. And the.said Zachariah Connell doth
hereby grant to be'surveyed and laid out for the use of the Inhabitants of said Town the timber and stone on one hundred
acres of land adjacent thereto for building, c.... And
whereas there are sundry springs within the limits aforesaid,
and the said Zachariah Connell being desirous that as many of
the Inhabitants of said Town as possible may receive mutual
advantage therefrom, doth give and grant unto the inhabitants
of said town, and others traveling through said town, the common use and benefit of said springs, to be by them conveyed
or conducted through all and every part of said town at their
pleasure for their mutual convenience and advantage, reserving,.nevertheless, to the owner of Lots out of which the fountain
issues the full privilege of erecting any house or other convenience at the head of said spring, so as not to prevent the other
inhabitants from free access thereto at -all times. And provided
the said house or other convenience will and shall not have a
tendency to disturb or affect the water flowing from said spring
so as to render it disagreeable to the other inhabitants. And
provided also that by said building or other convenience the
Inhabitants shall not be prevented from having access to the
fountain for sinking Pipes or conduits for the conveying of the
water aforesaid and screening or securing the same from filth
or other injury, and Whereas it is the desire of the said Zachariah Connell that the inhabitants of said town should be accommodated with a coimmodious seat whereon to erect a house
or houses for public worship and school or schools, he for that
purpose alone appropriates the Lots Nos. 88 and 96 on said
plan for said purpose, free and clear of purchase money or
ground-rent, for ever to the inhabitants of said town, their
heirs, and successors, to be held in common for the purpose
aforesaid, or jointly, as the inhabitants may choose, and also a
sufficient quantity of suitable ground convenient thereto, and
not included in said Town or in the one hundred acres aforesaid,
not exceeding an acre, for the purpose of a Grave-Yard. And
to prevent a misunderstanding of the grant made of the timber
and stone on the hundred aceres aforesaid, the said Zachariah
Connell hereby declares that the said Timnber and Stone shall
be removed or prepared for removal before the sale of the land
whereon it may be. Provided always that the said Zachariah
Connell hereby reserves to himself, his heirs, or assigns, the
purchase money for each and every Lot so laid off for,ale, and
an annual ground-rent of half a dollar for each Lot, The groundrent to be paid to the said Zachariah Connell, his heirs, and assigns, at the town aforesaid, on the first day of May in each and
every year forever, a.nd the said Zachariah doth hereby covenant with the inhabita,nts of said town that all moneys that
shall become due and owing unto him for ground-rents for the
367HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
space of four years from the date hereof to be applied to raising a meeting-house or meeting-houses, and School or SchoolHouses on the aforesaid lots appropriated to that use. And
whereas in length of timle it may be convenient for some of the
inhabitants of said town to have outlots for pasture, and the
said Zachariah Connell dcth hereby grant to be surveyed and
laid out for the use of the inhabitants of said town the one
hundred acres of Land above mentioned adjacent to said town,
in Lots of not less than one acre nor exceeding four acres each,
subject to such purchase money as the parties may agree upon.
"In witness whereof the said Zachariah Connell has hereunto
set his hand an)d affixed his Seal, the twenty-first day of March,
in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and
ninety-three.           " ZACHARIAH CONNELL. [SEAL.]
"Sealed and delivered in the presence of
" JONATHAN ROWLAND,
" ALEXANDER MCCLEAN."
"Fayette County, 88.
"The 6th day of January, Anno Domino 1800, Before me
the subscriber, one of the Justices of the Peace in and for said
county, personally came Zachariah Connell and acknowledoed
the foregoing Instrument of writing to be his Act  deed.
" JONATHAN ROWLAND.
"Recorded and Compared in Register Office, Jany. 6th, 1800."
Among the earliest settlers in Connellsville after
the town was laid out and chartered by Mr. Connell
were Samuel and Caleb Trevor, brothers, who came
from the East to this place in 1794 or'95. In 1796
they were chiefly instrumental in forming the Baptist
Church of Connellsville. Whether they purchased lots
immediately after their arrival or not is not known,
btut no record of deeds to them lhas been found of earlier date thani 1802,1 when there is shown a purchase
by them of nine lots from Mr. Connell for a consideration of ~84. The lots in question contained onefourth of an acre each, and were numbers 6,59,100, 108,
109, 116, 117, 126, and 157. On the north part of lot
No. 100 the Baptist Church was built, the Trevors
donating the land for that purpose. On lot No. 157
(corner of Hill Alley and Spring Street) they built a
log house, that stood on the site of the house now
owned by Henry Wilkie. About 1808 they built the
brick house on the corner, now owned by James Wilkie. In this building they kept a store2 during the
I The earlivst sale of lots by Connell in his new town of which any
record is found (lates May 8, 1801, of two lots to Joshua Lobdell.  There
nimust lhave been a considerable number of lots sold before that time, hiit
wlhat was the cause of the delay in the execution of the deeds is inot
known.
2 That the Trevor brothers were engaged in merchandising in Connellsville at least as early as 1797 is shmown by an old hill of goods wlich
was fotimid amlowlg the papers of Thonmas Parkinson, who was ail early
residenit in " Parlkinson's Hlollow," Dunhar township.  Of this bill
(wliicli is inow ill possession of Dr. Parkinson, of Independence township, Washington Co., Pa.) time followinig is a copy:
"Mrs. Shiver, for Gaspar Hadling,
"Bo't of S.  C. Trevor.
"1797.                                ~    8.    d.
"3d July. 334 lb of nails....................  0    5     7 /s
11l of tea....................    0    2      9'
0   8    5
"Bycaslh................o;. 0 8o
"1 Db tea - 5s. 7,d.
"Cutis, Platts, Indigo, Pins, Teapot, Riblbon, Tape, Snuff.
"Am't ~1 les. 7y2d."
remainder of their lives, which terminated within
eight months of each other. Samuel died July 26,
1820, aged seventy-three years, and Caleb (who was a
bachelor) died March 22, 1821, at the age of seventy-.
two years. Sarah, wife of Samuel Trevor, died in
1824.
The children of Samuel Trevor were seven in number, four of whom were sons,-John B., Joseph, Caleb, and Samuel. The daughters were Sarah, Mary,
and Susan. John B. Trevor was, in 1816, elected
cashier of the Connellsville Navigation Company.
He renmained in that position till November, 1818,
and was succeeded by his brother Caleb. He was
postmaster of Connellsville fromi 1808 to 1820, when
he was elected State treasurer. In 1822 he was elected
prothonotary of Fayette County, and served one term,
at the expiration of which he removed to Philadelphia, where he became president of a bank. His son,
John B., is of the firm of Trevor  Colgate, of New
York. Joseph, the second son of Samuel Trevor,
studied medicine with Dr. Robert D. Moore, of Connellsville. He is now living at Lockport, N. Y., well
advanced in years. Caleb and Samuel Trevor were
both merchants in Connellsville for many years, after
which they removed to Cincinnati, Ohio. For nearly
a century the Trevor family have been earnest Baptists, and have contributed liberally to the support
and objects of that denomination. Large donations
have been made by the Trevors of New York to the
Rochester (N. Y.) University.
Benjamin Wells came to Connellsville in 1794, and
opened the first store in the town. He had held the
office of collector of excise for Fayette and Westmoreland Counties during the Whiskey Insurrection, and
at that time lived at Stewart's Crossings, in what is
now the borough of New Haven; but his house at
that place having been burned by a mob of the insurgents in the year named, he abandoned his original
location and moved across the river to Connellsville,
where he built a log house on Water Street, near the
eastern end of the Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad
bridge. Some fourteen or fifteen years later he built
the stone building on Water Street, to the southward
of his log house. In this he and his son Charles
carried on merchandising for some years. Besides
Charles, Mr. Wells had also a son, John, who held
the office of sub-collector under his father in 1793
and 1794. Both these sons emigrated to the western
country. The last appearance of Charles Wells in
Connellsville was when he left the town with a large
number of teakettles, which he took from the Francis
foundry, to be sold in the West. It appears that
Benjamin Wells was an unpopular mian (at least
during a few years following 1794), not only here
but throughout the county,-a fact which was probably, in a great degree, the result of his having held,
and attempted to execute the duties of, the governirment office above named. The date of his death is
not known, but that it was later than 1827 is shown
I
368CONNELLSVILLE BOROUGH AND TOWNSHIP.
by an entry in the borough records to the effect that
in that year "Benjamin Wells presented to the
council a fine piece of parchment, and it was ordered
that the clerk have a Plan of the Borough made upon
it, with the present owners' names."
In the year 1800, Zachariah Connell and Isaac
Meason were authorized by an act passed by the
Legislature to build a toll-bridge across the Youghiogheny. This was the first bridge across the river at
Connellsville, and it is more fully mentioned in succeeding pages of this history.
David Barnes came fi-om Strawbridge, in the spring
of 1803, to Bullskin township (which then comprised
all that is now Connellsville towiship), and located in
what was known at that time as " Irishtown," near
Breakneck Furnace. In 1802 he purchased land from
Zachariah Connell in the town of Connellsville, and
in 1803 moved there and opened a tavern. Afterwards he became prominent as a contractor in building mills, furnaces, forges, bridges, and buildings.
He built for Mr. Connell the first " go-back" saw-mill
in all this region, and received in payment for the
work several acres of land in the borough of Connellsville, upon which he carried on brick-making for
a number of years. He was also engaged in the iron
business, and was in many ways an active man in
promoting the interests of the town. He had six
solns. David, the eldest, still living in Connellsville,
has been, like his father, prominent in the advancement of the place. He spent a number of years at
Harrisburg in the various governmental departments, has been engaged in the employ of several
railroads, and is now the agent of the Southwest
Pennsylvania line at Connellsville. William, the
second son, became a preacher of the Baptist denomination. He visited Jerusalem, and after several
years' residence in Palestine returned to his native
country. Hamilton Barnes became prominent in politics, and represented Somerset, Bedford, and Fulton
Counties in the Senate of Pennsylvania in 1852-54.
Afterwards he became a teacher in the Disciples' or
Campbellite Church. Joseph Barnes removed to the
West, and was employed in a responsible position on
the Union Pacific Railroad during the time of its
construction. Z. E. Barnes, another son of David
Barnes, Sr., served in the Mexican war, and as quartermaster in the war of the Rebellion. He now resides at the homestead in Connellsville.
George Mathiot, William Page, and Timothy Hankins were purchasers of lots from Mr. Connell in
1802, and settled in the town about that time, probably in that year. Mr. Mathiot bought lot No. 150,
adjoining the Yough House property. He was a
scrivener, and a justice of the peace for many, years.
He was a prominent man in the Methodist Church.
His family was large. His son Jacob became a prominent business man in Westmoreland County and a
member of the Legislature. His son Joshua emigrated to one of the Western States, and was there
elected a member of Congress. Of his other sons,
John was largely engaged in the iron interests of this
section; George was a druggist in Connellsville; and
Henry is now  a physician in Smithfield, Georges
township, Fayette County.
Abraham Baldwin was a native of New England,
and came to Connellsville about 1806. He was prominent in politics, church matters, and business. He
manufactured the first carding-machines ever made
in this section of country. His shop was on Baldwin's Run, immediately south of the old burialground. The pond raised by his dam was the fishing
and skating place of the boys of Connellsville in
those days.  On the same stream, farther up, he, with
his son-in-law, Daniel S. Norton, built a four-story
stone building, wvhich they used as a cotton-factory.
It was put in operation about 1812,' and discontinued
about four years later, when Norton removed to Ohio.
John Stewart, Isaac Mears, and William Balsley were
employ6s of Baldwin  Norton. The cotton-factory
building passed into other hands, fell into disuse, and
is now a ruin.
Connellsville was made a borough in the year 1806.
The following account (in the original manuscript)
of a preliminary meeting of the inhabitants of the
proposed borough, in reference to the establishment
of its boundaries, was found among a number of old
papers and documents that were brought to light in
the demolition of the old house, the property of Joseph Herbert, that stood where Henry Goldsmith's
brick block has been erected the past (1881) season.
This paper, the original of which is in possession of
George W. Herbert, is as follows:
" At a mneeting of the Inhabitants of Connellsville pursuant
to notice, held at the House of John Barnhart on the 1st day
of January, 1806, It was agreed that the Lines to include the
contemplated corporation shall begin at the mouth of the Run,
where it empties into Joseph Page's Senrs Mill Race and the
further Bounds of the Corporation, to be run under the direction of the Seven following Persons: Anthony Banning, Samuel
Trevor, John Barnhart, George Mathiot, David Barnes, James
Blackstone,  Daniel Rogers.
"It is further agreed that the five following Persons shall be
a Committee to draft a petition to the Assembly, and the Bill
for the Incorporation of the Borough to be submitted to the
Inhabitants at a meeting to be held at this House on Tuesday
evening next, viz., Samuel Trevor, Daniel Rogers, Doct. James
Francis, Isaac Meason, Junr, Esqr., and Isaac Meares.
"Witness our Hands.
"JESSE TAYLOR,           JOSEPH PAGE, SEN'R,
"MICHAEL BRYAN,          DAVID BARNES,
"CHARLES WILLIAMS,       CHARLES WELLS,'BENJAMIN WELLS,         WILLIAM TIPTON."
By the act of incorporation (passed March 1, 1806)
it was provided and declared "that the town of Connellsville and its vicinity, in the county of Fayette,
shall be, and the same is hereby, erected into a bor1 April 14, 1812, Abraham Baldwin and Daniel S. Norton made an
agreement with John Feikh, of Allegheny Counrty, Md., "to build a
good carding-machine factory near this place" (Connellsville).
369HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
ough, which shall be called'The borough of Connellsville,' bounded and limited as follows, that is to
say: Beginning at a place known by the appellation
of' Gregg's Butment,' on the west side of the Youghiogheny River; thence in a direct line across said
river to a sycamore near the mouth of Connell's sawmnill run; thence, by a number of described courses
and distances, to the river; thence, following the last
said course, across the river to low-water mark; thence
up said river, following its different meanders, to the
place of beginning."
The second section of the act provided for the election of borough officers, as follows: "One reputable
citizen residing therein, who shall be styled the burgess of the said borough, and seven reputable citizens
residing therein, who shall be a town Council, and
shall also elect as aforesaid one reputable citizen as
high constable...."
There exists no record of the first election held in
the borough of Connellsvile, but a document which
was evidently the poll-list of the borough for 1806
was found among other papers in the old Herbert
House.  It was originally a sheet of foolscap, and
having been folded lengthwise, it had been torn apart
in the fold, and only one-half of it was found. On
this half remains the original heading, as follows:
"Names of the voters of the boirough of Coannellsville, 7th day
of April, 1806."
followed by thirty-two names, viz.:
1.-William Tipton.
2.-Daniel Mathias.
3.-David Barnes.
4.-Joseph Page.
5.-James Lofrarty.
6.-Thymrnothy Hankins.
7.-Anthony Banning.
8.-Charles Williams.
9.-Samuel Trevor.
10.-Isaac Mears.
l 1.-James Francis.
12.-Hiram Connell.
13.-William Davis.
14.-Abraham Snider.
15.-Joshua Hunt.
16.-William Mifford.
17.--George Mathiot.
18.-Jonas Colstock.
19.-John Barnhart.
20.-Andrew Ellison.
21.-Cornelius Woodruff.
22.-Daniel Rogers.
23.-William Morrow.
24.-Joseph Mahaffy.
25.-John Keepers.
26.-Jonathan Moody.
27.-Cornelius Woodruff, Jr.
28.-David Stuard.
29.-James Blackistone.
30.-Benjamin Evans.
31.-John Page.
32.-Caleb Trevor.
On the back of this mutilated paper the following
words are legible:
" Wee, Isaac Meare, do swear a.
that wee will true and g...
Names of each voter that....by the Inspector."
This shows the names of the voters of the borough
at that time, and renders it probable that the first
election was held on the 7th of April, 1806.
Provance McCormick, Esq., now one of the oldest
citizens of Connellsville, who was born within its
present limits, and has a personal knowledge of its
history farther back than any other person now living,
gives the following among his recollections of the
place at about the time of its incorporation as a borough.
On Water Street, fronting the river, was the dwelling of Zachariah Connell. It was a log house that
stood on the lot (171) adjoining the Public Ground
on the north. In this house Mr. Connell lived many
years, until he built the stone house at Hill Alley
and Grave Street, where he resided during the remainder of his tife. The property is now owned by
James Gray.
North of Mr. Connell's dwelling, on lot No. 170,
was a log house (which appeared to be an old building even at that early time) owned by John Gibson,
who was the first of that name in this vicinity. The
Gibsons were Quakers, and Friends' meetings were
frequently held in this old log house. Next below
Gibson's was a log house that stood on the corner of
Water and Apple Streets. The name of its occupant
at that time is forgotten, but it was afterwards owned
by Joseph Rodgers. Next to the northward of the
house last named was the log dwelling of Benjamin
Wells, the ex-collector of excise, and the first storekeeper of Connellsville. The stone house (south of
his log dwelling) in which he and his son Charles
opened a store was built some time later. It is now
the property of Mrs. Kelly, and kept as a hotel.
North of Wells', on lot No. 166, was the one and
a half story log residence of Jonathan Moody, who
was engaged in boat-building on the open space
between his house and the river. On the next lot
(165) lived David Stewart, on the site now occupied
by the Central Hotel. Next north was a swamp lot,
the same on which the Baltimore House now stands.
To the northward of this was the log house of Peter
Stillwagon, on the lot now to be described as the
corner of WVater and Peach Streets.
On Water Street next south of the Public Ground,
at the time referred to, were two vacant lots, 172 and
173 (the Dean house not being built until about
three years later). Next south, on lot 174, was the
house of Thomas Page, a miller, whose mill (the old
Rogers mill, built some fifteen years earlier, and
mentioned by Mr. Connell in his charter of the town)
was on the river-bank where the present grist-mill
stands. Page's residence was the last one (going
southward) on Water Street at that time. It was
purchased in 1812 by Dr. Robert D. Moore, who
occupied it during the remainder of his life.
On Meadow Alley, at or near McCoy's Run (outside the then borough limits), was the tannery of
Anthony Banning. Farther up South Alley, on a
part of the present public-school grounds, stood the
old log school-house, built by subscription. On
Meadow Alley (lot 135) was a Ismall stone house,
occupied by Jonathan Page, a shoemaker. He afterwards had a shop near where Joshua Gibson now
lives.
There were then no other inhabitants on the blocks
between Grave Street and Church Alley, except a
370CONNELLSVILLE BOROUGH AND TOWNSHIP.
family living in a log house on lot 95 (Church Street,
south of market-house), later occupied by Hiram
Herbert.  Between Church Alley and Spring (Main)
Street, on lot 150 (adjoining the Yough House property), was the log house and justice's office of Squire
George Mathiot, and adjoining it, on No. 142, lived
William Davis, who carried on the tailoring business.
Above, on the same block (lot 134), was a stone
house, occupied by Otho L. Williams, a hatter.
On the present site of Goldsmith's brick block (lot
126) was an old log house, occupied by Elijah Crossland, a butcher, and maker of wooden plows. It was
afterwards owned by Joseph  Herbert.  Farther up,
where Huston's drug-store stands, was a small frame
house.  On  the  same  lot, at a later time, Samuel
McCormick had a potter's kiln. In another small
frame house, that stood just above the site of the old
market-house, lived Adam Snider, who worked at
boat-building. The house here mentioned was his
residence until his death.
At the corner of Spring Street and Mountain Alley,
where Odd-Fellows' Hall now stands, was the log
dwelling and shop of Charles Williams, who was a
blacksmith and bell-maker. On lot 46 lived James
Nixon, who kept a small store. It is now owned by
Joshua Vance. On the lot east of where Dr. Lindley
now  lives, was a log  house  and  blacksmith-shop,
occupied by John Hinebaugh.
The Cornelius Woodruffl tavern stood on the lot
(No. 6) now known as the Asher Smith lot, it having
been sold, Sept. 17, 1817, by the Trevors (whose tenant
Woodruff was), to Smith. This lot was on the eastern
boundary of the original plat, but still farther east
there were three dwellings, one of which (a log
building) was occupied by an old lady, Mrs. Densmore, and another (a frame house that stood where
the Rev. Mr. Morgan now lives) by Jonas Coalstock.
The name of the occupant of the third house is not
known.
On the north side of Spring Street, commencing at
1 WOODRUFF'S PROPHECY.
On the fly-leaf of one of Cornelius Woodruff's books is found the following in his own hlandwriting:
" For those who will come after us we find vast and undeveloped
mines of mnaterial for men to work upon, treasures of untold wealth
that are now hid fi'om us. All must have observedl that the progress of
tlhe arts and( scienlces and the gospel, like the sun, is from the east to the
west. As the celestial light of the gospel was diirected here by the finger,of God, it will doubtless drive the heathenish darkness from our land,
anid marching through the vast deserts now westward will develop the
hidden genims and stores of gol(l and silver. Huge mountains and mines
of these ores will be discovered. It will give employnient to millions,
not only for war, but peaceful occupations and the wants of life. These
vast quarries will give work for the mechanic to build monuments for
the renownled of America,-those heroes who gave their warm blood to
save this land for the coming millions. Some great invention will be
malde to carry on conimerce and communication in this to be great
c,.,untry."
Thius, in that little tavern in Connellsville, three-fourths of a century
ago, Cornelius Woodruff foretold, with an accuracy that seemns almost
marvelous, the developnmeit of thle rich gold-nlines of tile Pacific States,
the richer coal-mines of Western Pennsylvania, and the railroads that
traverse the country from ocean to ocean.
the Public Ground and going east, the first lot (where
the Trevors soon afterwards built their brick building) was vacant. On the next lot (No. 149) was a
log house, which at that time was occupied by Samuel
and Caleb Trevor. Above the Trevors, on lot 141,
was Johnl Barnhart's tavern, the stable of which obtained a wide notoriety as being haunted by ghosts.
On the corner of Meadow Alley and Spring Street,
now occupied by J. D. Frisbie, David Barnes had a
log tavern, which he kept for a number of years.
The entire space from Meadow Alley to Church
Street (on the north side of Spring) was at that time
vacant, as were also several of the lots east of Church
Street. On the lot at the corner of Mountain Alley
and Spring Street was a log house, occupied by Jesse
Taylor. He was a stone-mason, and did the stonework for the Banning house. O1i lot No. 53 (between
Mountain Alley and Prospect Street) was the residence of Dr. James Francis (where John Newcomer
now lives), and also a log house occupied by " Honey"
Clayton, a trader. On the next lot (No. 45) was the
residence of Cornelius Woodruff, Jr., who was a shoemaker, and had his shop and dwelling under the
same'roof. On lot 13, between Prospect Street and
East Alley, was a weather-boarded log house, the occupant of which at that time, is not remembered. It
was later occupied by Philo Hall, and after that by
AIoses McCormick, who died there. On lot No. 5,
on the eastern boundary of the original plat, and
directly opposite Cornelius Woodruff's, was a tavern
kept by Thomas Keepers; and at the turn in the
road above, and outside the plat, was another tavern
kept by Nancy White.
In the foregoing mention are included nearly all
the dwellings and business-places of Connellsville at
about the time of its incorporation. In the northeast
quarter of the town, which was then almost entirely
vacant, there were, however, the residences of William Mefford, John K. Helm, and a few others (all
log houses), scattered through that part of the town
at various points. It is not itmprobable that Mr. McCormick, in the preceding recollections of what he
saw in Connellsville three-fourths of a century ago,
when he was a boy of but seven years of age, has
omitted some of the inhabitants, dwellings, and other
features of the town at that time; indeed, it would be
strange if such were not the case; but it is believed
that such omissions are very few, and that the account which he gives is accurate and very nearly
complete.
Jonas Coalstock, who is mentioned above as living
outside and east of the town limits at that time, was
a blacksmith and gunsmith. He had his shop on the
corner of Church Street and Church Alley,--the lot
now owned by Christian Balsley. When Abraham
Baldwin was engaged in the manufacture of cardingmachines the iron-work for them was furnished by
Coalstock. His son-in-law, William T. McCormick,
was a potter, and had his kiln on what is known as
371HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
the "Pinnacle." His brother Samuel afterwards had
a pottery, which he carried on for several years, directly opposite where the Smith House now stands.
William Davidson, a native of Carlisle, Pa., and a
clerk in the prothonotary's office at that place, left
there about 1807, in company with John B. Gibson
(afterwards of Beaver), to seek his fortune in what
was then known as the West. While on his way, at
Bedford, he fell in with Mr. Wurtz, of the firm of
Mochabee  Wurtz, proprietors of the Laurel Furnace. Davidson, being then a young man about
twenty-five years of age, and of prepossessing appearance, made a favorable impression on Mr. Wurtz,
who thereupon at once proposed to him to take charge
of the affairs of his furnace, which proposition Mr.
Davidson accepted. He, however, did not remain very
long in that business, and in 1808 removed to Connellsville, where (having married not long after his
arrival) he made his home during the remainder of
his long life, following the vocations of merchant,
farmer, and iron-master. He was connected with
the army in some capacity in the war of 1812, and
was made prisoner in Hull's surrender of Detroit.
He served several years in the Legislature of Pennsylvania, both in the House of Representatives (of
which he was chosen Speaker in 1818) and in the
Senate. He died in 1867, in the eighty-fifth year of
his age. Mr. Davidson had three sons,-Thomas R.,
Daniel R., and John,-the last named dying in early
youth.  Thomas R. Davidson became one of the
leading lawyers of Fayette County, and is more fully
mentioned elsewhere, in connection with the members of the Fayette bar. Daniel R. Davidson became a farmer, but also took very great interest in
the promotion of railroad enterprises in this section.
He used his influence and gave a great portion of his
time to the building of the Pittsburgh and Connellsville Railroad; and it is doubted by many whether
that road would have been completed to Connellsville (certainly not ht the time when it was completed) but for the energy which he displayed and the
influence which he brought to bear in its aid. Afterwards he was very influential in securing the right of
way for the Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad, thus
aiding to complete another line of railway communication for Connellsville. He now resides at Beaver,
Pa. (where he removed in 1868), and is largely interested in the manufacture of coke, and in other
industries, and is president of the Bank of Commerce in Pittsburgh.
John Fuller, the father of Dr. Smith Fuller, of
Uniontown, came to Connellsville, and built a house
on lot No. 153 of Connell's plat, where he also started
a small tannery. Later he purchased lots 75 and 83,
on Apple Street (now owned by the Youghiogheny
Bank), where he started another tannery. This was
on a spot opposite the present freight depot of the
Southwest Railroad. From him this tannery passed
successively to the ownerslhip of William Goe, Strawn,
Cooper, and others, and was discontinued about
1870.
Alexander Johnston, a native of Ireland, came to
America when about nineteen years of age, and not
long after his arrival emigrated to Western Pennsylvania. He located for a time on Chartiers Creek, in
Washington County, and engaged in the business of
peddling goods through the farming districts.  In
this he continued till 1808, when he came to Connellsville, purchased the property on Spring Street still
known as the Johnston homestead (now occupied by
J. D. Frisbie and Capt. J. NI. Morrow), and commenced the business of merchandising. In 1812 he
married Margaret Clark, of Dunbar township. He
remained in the mercantile business there till 1846,
when he was succeeded by his son Joseph, who was
there until 1849, when he built the house now occupied by J: D. Frisbie, and lived there and kept a store
until 1858, when he went out of business. The other
children of Alexander Johnston were William C.
Johnston, John R. Johnston (deceased), and three
daughters, who became respectively Mrs. Dr. Joseph
Rogers, Mrs. James Blackstone, and Mrs. Col. Daniel
R. Davidson, of Beaver, Pa.
James and Campbell Johnston, brothers of Alexander Johnston, camne to Western Pen nsylvania at his
solicitation, about the year 1816, and for a time carried on the Maria Forge. Then they came to Connellsville and started two nail-shops, one at Meadow
Alley and Spring Street, and the other on a private
alley below the former. They continued business
here till 1825, and then removed to Cincinnati,
Ohio.
Herman Gebhart and Asa Smith had a nail-factory
where the ticket office of the Pittsburgh and Connellsville Railroad now stands. It was discontinued when
John and Jacob Anderson purchased the property
(about 1830) and converted it into a foundry.  In
1823, Herman Gebhart erected on Spring Street a'
brick residence, which has since been transformed
into a hotel, and is now known as the Smith Ilouse.
Lester L. Norton, who was of New England origin,
came to Connellsville with his mother and brother,
Daniel S. Norton. At some tinie prior to the year
1823 he had built and put in operation a small fulling-nill on the south side of Baldwin's Run. He
was also a farmer. He became prominent in church
and school matters and in the affairs of the borough.
Near Norton's fulling-mill, in 1823, was the tan-yard
of Isaac Taylor. Five years later he was operating a
tannery on the north side of the town, about one
square from the present site of the Pittsburgh and
Connellsville depot. This old tannery was discontinued many years ago.
John Adams came to Connellsvi]le from New Jersey,
and took up his residence where John Shaw now lives.
Later he lived in the house of John Hinlebaugh, who
carried on the business of wheelwrighting. Adams
became constable and deputy sheriff while residing
372CONNELLSVILLE BOROUGH AND TOWNSHIP.
here. Afterwards he returned to -New Jersey, and
died there.
John Herbert was another Jerseyman who came to
Fayette County, but the date of his coming is not
known. The name of Alice Herbert is found on the
records of the Baptist Church in 1801, but whether
she was of the family of John Herbert is not known.
He, on the 24th of July, 1818, bought eleven acres of
land of John Strickler, in Dunbar township. He had
two sons, Joseph and Hiram. Joseph was a shoemaker. On the 5th of April, 1825, he bought of Mary
Long, of Tyrone, lot No. 126, in Connellsville,-the
same on which Goldsmith's new block has been erected
the present summer. This was one of the lots purchased Nov. 6, 1802, of Mr. Connell by the Trevors,
who sold it in 1814 to Joseph Barnett, who in turn
sold it (July 19, 1817) to Mary Long, by whom it was
sold, as above stated, to Joseph Herbert, who lived on
it until his death, in November, 1880. He was postmaster of Connellsville under President Jackson, and
held until the administration of Gen. Taylor. His
brother, Hiram Herbert, lived in the house still standing south of the market-house. His son, George W.
Herbert, is now a resident of Connellsville.
George Marietta was (in the years succeeding the
close of the last war with England) the leading carpenter of the town, and an excellent mechanic he
was. "He could," says Mr. David Barnes, "go to
the woods and take from the stump every timber
needed for a house, hew it out, mortise and tenon
every piece, and when hauled to the ground where it
was to be erected put it up without a failure in one
piece. He erected most of the buildings here in his
time."
Thomas Kilpatrick was one of the prominent men of
his day in Connellsville. He was a shoemaker, and
also a justice of the peace. He was highly and deservedly respected as a magistrate, causing a majority
of the cases brought before him to be settled amicably and without the unnecessary and foolish expense of continued litigation.
John Francis, a native of Ireland, was manager of
the Jacob's Creek Furnace about the years 1792-93.
Thence he went to Meason's Furnace in the same capacity, and remained there until 1800, when he removed to Virginia, and died there in 1805. His sons
were John, James, Robert W., Isaac, and Thomas.
He had one daughter, Margaret. In 1829, Robert
W. Francis, in partnership with J. J. Anderson,
started a foundry in Connellsville, at the place where
the Baltimore and Qhio Railroad depot stands. Anderson's interest was purchased in 1834 by James and
Isaac Francis, brothers of Robert W., and the business was continued until the sale of the property to
the railroad company, about 1869. Robert W. Francis died June 8, 1878. Walter E. Francis, of Connellsville, is his son.
Through a period of more than half a century, beginning many years before 1800, the building of boats
to be floated down the precarious water-way of the
Youghiogheny was a very noticeable industry of the
little town of Connellsville. It was commenced by
westward bound emigrants and traders, who coming
across the Alleghenies and over the State road,
striking the river at this point, took this means to
avail themselves of the cheaper and easier means
which it offered for the transportation of their household goods or merchandise, and in the succeeding years
it was prosecuted as a regular business by enterprising residents of the town. Of those who prosecuted
this industry, and of the way in which they did it,
Mr. David Barnes says, " Here were the Millers, the
Richeys, and the Whites building flat-bottom boats
to carry the pig iron that is stacked on the banks waiting a rise in the Yough. What bustle and hurry there
is from the timne. the axe-men go to the woods to cut
the large poplar-tree, split it, hew it, and with six
oxen, or Billy Russell's six-horse team, haul one of
them to the boat-yard. The other was brought, placed
upon the block, the saw, axe, chisel, and auger were
put to work, anld a dozen men with shaving-horses
and drawing-knives went to shaving pins that another
half-dozen men were riving out from blocks sawed
the proper length. Soon the frame was made, the
bottom put on and caulked, and then came the tug
to turn it, which was done with long levers, and
three sampsons were generally enough. The sampsons were made of heavy pieces about twenty feet
long, bored full of holes about four inches apart
alternately from side to side, and placed along the
boat at each end and in the middle. At each sampson a man was placed, and as the levers raised the
boat each would stick in a pin to sustain the weight
until the men would take another hold with the
levers. Thus, inch by inch, it went up, till coming
nearly perpendicular all would stop, and several men
would take pike-poles, distribute them equally along
the boat (for now came the critical time in turning),
and at a signal given by one man, all listening,-' He,
ho, he!'-away she would go, and as she struck, a cloud
of dust would rush out in front; then she was boarded
by all hands to see if there were any cracks or breaks.
None being discovered, augers and chisels were soon
at work again, the studding and siding put on, and
she was launched and ready with long oars, one at
each end, to start on her voyage'away down to
Pittsburgh.'"
EXTRACTS FROM THE EARLY BOROUGH RECORDS.1
"At a meeting of the Council of the Borough of
Connellsville, convened by mutual agreement on the
1 The first volume of borollgh records, with minutes of the Council
(covering the periorl from 1806 to 183:3), was found among the effects of
Natlihaniel Gibson, deceased, after having been lost for many years. It
fell into the lIhands of David Barnes by purlchase at a public sale, and it
is firom this book that mulch of the early history of the borough, its
schools, and the list of civil officers have been obtained.
373HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Washington's papers, including his notes referring to
the Fort Necessity campaign of the previous year.
The journal of Captain Orme alone of all the military
papers was saved. All the artillery, ammunition,
baggage, and stores fell into the hands of the French
and Indians, and the dead and badly wounded were
left on the field to be scalped and tortured by the
savages, who, however, strangely enough, made little
show of pursuit.
Braddock, when he received his fatal wound, expressed a wish to be left to die on the field, and this
wish came near being gratified. Nearly all his panicstricken followers deserted him, but his aide-de-camp,
Orme, and Caprt. Stewart, of the Virginia lighthorse, stood faithfully by him, and at the imminent
risk of their own lives succeeded in bearing him from
the woods and across the river. On reaching the
south side of the Monongahela the general, though
suffering intense pain from his wound, gave orders
that the troops should be rallied and a stand made
at that place, but this was found impossible. A few
subordinate officers and less than one hundred soldiers were all who remained around him. Of this
Capt. Orme's journal says, " We intended to have
kept possession of that ground till we could have
been reinforced. The general and some wounded
officers remained there about an hour, till most of
the men ran off: From that place the general sent
Mr. Washington to Colonel Dunbar with orders to
send wagoners for the wounded, some provisions and
hospital stores, to be escorted by the two youngest
grenadier companies, to meet him at Gist's plantation, or nearer if possible.  It was found impracticable to remain here, as the general and officers
were left almost alone; we therefbre retreated in the
best manner we were able. After we had passed the
Monongahela the second time, we were joined by
Lieutenant-Colonel Gage, who had rallied near eighty
men. We marched all night and the next day, and
about ten o'clock that night we got to Gist's plantation."
During the time when Gen. Braddock was advancing to the Monongahela, Col. Dunbar was toiling slowly along with the rear division, the artillery,
and heavy stores. Leaving the Little Crossings soon
after Braddock's departure, he came on by the same
route, passing the ruins of Fort Necessity on the 2d
of July, and a few days later reached the place which
has borne his name until the present time, and where
he then encamped his troops and trains. This historic spot, known to this day as " Dunbar's Camp,"
is described by Veech as " situated southeast of the
summit of WVolf Hill, one of the highest points of
Laurel Hill Mountain, and about three thousand feet c
above the ocean-level. It is in full view of Uniontown, to the eastward, about six miles distant, and is
visible from nearly all the high points in Fayette and
the adjacent parts of Greene and Washington Counties. The camp was about three hundred feet below
the summit, and at about half a mile distance, on the
southern slope. It was then cleared of its timber,
but is since much overgrown with bushes and small
trees. It is, however, easily found by the numerous
diggings in search of relics and treasure by the early
settlers, and others even in later times. Near it are
two fine sand springs, below which a dam of stones
and earth two or three feet high was made to afford
an abundant supply of water."  This camp 1 was the
end of Dunbar's outward march, for he there received
from the Monongahela battle-field the fearful tidings
wvhich forbade all thoughts of a farther advance.
It was to thi's camp that "Mr. Washington" (as he
was designated by Orme, his title of colonel being
then only honorary; he holding no military rank
under Braddock) was ordered from the Lower Crossing
of the Monongahela to proceed with all possible speed,
and with peremptory orders2 to Col. Dunbar to send
wagons with supplies and hospital stores without
delay, as has already been noticed.3 He set out with
two private soldiers as an escort, and traveling without halt through the long hours of the dark and rainy
night which succeeded the day of the battle (how or
where he crossed the Youghiogheny is not recorded),
came early in the morning of the 10th to the camp
of Col. Dunbar, ~who, as it appears, was greatly denioralized by the startling intellinence which he
brought. At about the middle of the forenoon several of Braddock's Pennsylvania Dutch wagoners
(from the eastern counties) arrived at the camp, bringing the dread news from the battle-field, and announcing themselves as the only survivors of the
bloody fight on the Monongahela. Nearly at the
same time arrived Sir John Sinclar and another
wounded officer, brought in by their men in blankets.
Dunbar's camp was then a scene of the wildest
panic, as the rattle of the " long roll," beaten by his
drummers, reverberated among the crags of the Laurel
Hill. Each one, from the commander to the lowest
1 Col. Burd, who visited this place in 1759, when on his way to erect a
fort on thle present site of Brownsville, said of Dunbar's camp that it
was "the worst chosen piece of ground for an encamp!nent I ever
saw."
2 It was known that there was ill feeling on the part of Duinbar towards the commander-in-chief, aind it was tlherefore thouglht necessary
to send the most positive orders inl Braddock's name to insure obedience.
3 At thle same tile Nalthlaniel Gist (son of Christopher) and " Gist's Indiais" were dispatched from the scene of disaster to carry the intelligence
of the defeat to Fort Cnlmberlanld, but with orders to avoid Col. Dunbar
tIld his camp, lest the alarming news should create a panic among tlhe
mllen of his command. " They traveled," says Judge leech, " on foot aind
through nutfrequented paths to avoid the Indians. While snatching sonle
repose during theidarkness of the first night of their journey, in a thicket
of buslihes and grapevines on Cove Run, a branch of Shute's Run, within
view of the camp-fires of Dunbar, they mistook the noise of the movement
of some bird or beast for Indians, and ran with the heedlessness of alarm.
Thley thus became separated, but each wended his way cautiously and
alonle. Wlhen nearing their destination, upon em,rging from the bushes
into the open road, Gist saw, a few rods alhead, his long-lost Indian, who
had also taken the highway." This narrative of the journey of Gist and
his Indian was obtained by Mr. Veech from hIenry Beeson, to whom it
was told' by Nathaniel Gist himself.
44HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
16th day of April, 1806," John B. Trevor was chosen
town clerk. The Council then proceeded to business,
and passed eighteen ordinances, one of which imnposed
"a fine of one dollar on any person who gallops a
horse within the limits of the Borouglh."  The only
instance of violating this ordinance on record is May
22, 1821, Samuel Johnston, a black boy, who was
fined, but the fine was renlitted. Repealed Oct. 10,
1821.
The following appointments were made at this
meeting: John Page, assessor; Caleb Trevor and
Benjamin Evans, assistant assessors; George Mathiot
and James Blackstone, street commissioners; Joseph
Rogers, treasurer; and David Barnes, inlspector of
luinber.
The next meeting of the Council was held on the
3d of June, when a time (June 12th) was appointed
for a Court of Appeal respecting the valuation of taxable property.
At a meeting of the same body on the 24th of June,
1806,
"The Council proceeded to fix upon a scite proper for a
market-house for the use and convenience of this Borough,
when, after some discussion as to the spot, Mr. Zachariah Connell, who was present, generously offered to make a present for
the aforesaid purpose of a part of lot No. [94], of the following
dimnensions, viz.: 40 ft. in lenogth on Church St. and fourteen in
breadth on Spring Street, which was thankfully accepted."
A resolution passed the Council on the 27th of August, 1806, instructing the clerk to " draw a deed for
the piece of ground intended as a spot for the erection
of a market-house, which was presented by Mr. Connell to the Council, vesting the property in the Burgess and Town Council and their successors in office
forever."  On the 5th of September in the same year
the Council authorized the purchase of " a seal and
screw."
In the month of October next following the Council took the first action in reference to schools. This
will be found inoticed on a subsequent page of this
history.
An ordinance, passed April 16, 1806,1 provided
"That a good foot-path of sand, gravel, brick, or
stone, not less than six feet wide, nor more than eight
feet, shall be built on Spring Street, as high up as the
east corner of the Michael Bryan lot;" also a similar
foot-path on Water Street.
April 11, 1807, the Council instructed A. Banning
to draw a plan for a market-house and present it at
the next meeting for consideration. The plan so prepared was presented by Banning on the 20th of April,
and, after debate, rejected.
At a meeting held Feb. 2, 1808, the Council examined and approved the following "List of Taxes for
the Borough of Connellsville for the Year ending the
first Monday in April, 1808," viz.:
ltepealed April 24, 1881.
Samuel  C. Trevor....$12.50
Anthony Banning...... 62 8.62
Daniel  Jos. Rogers... 7.50
Jas. Blackstone.......... 7.50
Joseph Page..............Pg  7.50
Zachariah Connell...... 6.25
David Barnes............6.00
Benjamin Wells.........  4.00
William. Melford........ 3.25
George Mathiot........... 3'. O 0
John Barnhart...........   3.00
James Francis........... 2.75
William Page.......... 2.50
Charles Williams........ 2.00
Isaac Meason, Sr........ 2.00
Thos. Gibson, Sr........ 1.75
Alex. Campbell......... 1.50
John Gibson, Sr........ 1.25
John Keepers.......... 1.25
Jonas Coldstock.......... 1.25
Samuel Page......     1.121
July Swain........... 1.0()
Isaac Mears............ 1.00
Cornelius Woodruff..... 1.00
Adam Snider.......... 1.0')
Jesse Taylor..............  1.0)
James Lafferty..   1.1)0
William Davies......... 1.00
Charles Wells.......... 1.00d
Wm. McCormick, Jr.... 1.00)
Jonathan Moody........   75
Estate of C. Wortz......   75
Hiram Connell...........   75
Joshua Hunt..............   75
Nathaniel Gibson.......   75
Richard McIlvain......   75
John Fell................. 6 21
Henry Fox................    60
Samuel Snowden..   75
John Fuller..........   624
Elisha Clayton..   50
C. Woodruff, Jr..   50
Thomas Stokely..   50
Rachel Bailey..    50  1
James Leonard..    6
Henry Kerrick...........  6
Samuel Herbert..      6
William  Kirk............ $0.50
Hessen  Barrett........   50
Ichabod Thorp...........  374
Connell  Banning......  374
Michael Bryan...........   371John Lamb......:.........3 ()
Martin Jamison.........   30
Peter Stillwagon.........    30
Daniel Rex...............   25
David Thompson........   25
Daniel Mathias...........   25
Benjamin Evans.........   25
Thomas Hartley........   25
Thomas Gibbs............   25
Caleb Squib...............   25
Joshua Gibson, Sr......   25
Jacob Jonas  5........   25
Adam Wilson............   121
John Page.................   121
Ephraim Robbins.......   184
Abraham Baldwin.......   124
David Stewart............  124
Baltzer Snider............  124
P. Cunningham..........   124
Solomon Kin............  121
Frederick Biddle........  124
Alex. McMaster..........    6
Gideon Parker............    6
Christian Ballsley.......    6
John Rex.................    6
James Robbins..........    6
Aaron Robbins...........    6
John King.................    6
Philip Baker..............    6
Henry Buchart...........    6
Richard Harden......... 6
Gasper Etling.............    6
Joseph Kitchart.........    6
David Smith..............    6
Nathan Rogers...........    6
George Matthews.......    6
Ezekiel Clayton.........    6
Hugh Corothers..........    6
John Hines...............  6
Cornelius Clayton......    6
John Robbins............    6
This was the second tax levy made by the borough,
and the list contains the names of many whose descendants are still citizens of Connellsville.
At a meeting of the Borough Council held April 4,
1808, it was resolved by that body "that Andrew
Banning, Daniel Rogers, and James Blackstone be a
commirnittee to draft a plan for a market-house and
lay it before the next meeting." On the 24th of
April, 1809, the Council passed "an ordinance respecting a scite for a market-house;" but no further
action in that matter is found recorded until October
2d, in the same year, when " A paper was presented
to the Council, signed by a number of the inhabitants
of thie borough, requesting thetn to lay a tax for the
current year sufficient to defray the expenses of the
borough, and if money enough cannot be raised by
the common rate of taxation to build a market-house,
then they, the said freeholders, authorize the Council
to raise as tnuch by an extra rate as will compleat it....After some debate as to the tax to be laid on the
valuiation of taxable property within the borough, it
was carried that it should be three-fourths of a cent
in the dollar. David Barnes, who was present, was
requested to draw a plan for a market-house, to be
presentedl to tlle Council at their next meeting."  At
I
374CONNELLSVILLE BORiOUGH AND TOWNSHIP.
the next meeting, on the 5th of October, 1809,
" David Barnes presented his plan for a market-house,
which was duly considered and agreed to, and ordered that the town clerk give public notice by advertisements that he will receive proposals for building the market-house until Wednesday morning, the
11th of October inst., when the Council will again
convene for the purpose of considering any proposals
that may be laid in."
At a meeting of the Council Oct. 11, 1809, "David
Barnes laid in a proposal for erecting the markethouse, agreeably to the plan and conditions laid down,
for ninety dollars, which proposal was considered and
accepted, and a bond taken from him for the faithful
performance."  Greensbury Jones appeared before
the Council on the 12th day of February, 1810, and
" agreed to sell to the Council for the use of the borough an additional part of lot No. 94 for the purpose
of erecting the market-house, andc it was agreed that
he should receive eight dollars and fifty-one and a
half cents for the same. An order was then drawn
on the treasurer for the amount, and a deed drawn by
the town clerk for the premises."
On the 5th of March, 1810, two orders (one for
eighty dollars, one for twenty dollars) were drawn on
the treasurer in favor of David Barnes for part payment of erecting the market-house. " David Barnes
then agreed to make two sufficient double gates for
the market-house and hang the same, inclose the
house with lath in such a manner as to prevent sheep
from entering the same,' and erect sufficient steps on
the front end of the same, for which he is to receive
the sum of eight dollars when the same is completed.
He is also to put a curb of timber along the whole
front of the ground appropriated, which is twentyfour feet, and also put in three sufficient posts along
said curb, for which he is to receive a further sum of
one dollar."  An ordinance was passed March 12,
1810, providing and fixing rules for the market.
On the 2d of April, 1810, an order was drawn on
the treasurer in favor of David Barnes for two dollars
and twenty-five cents, part pay for erecting the market-house, "after which the Council took into consideration the manner in which the work of the
market-house was executed, and were of the opinion
that the floor of the same was not executed in the
manner prescribed, and resolved that the undertaker
should amend the same so as to make it cornpleat, or
that he should be docked five dollars out of the specified price of erecting the house."
May 10, 1810, an order was given David Barnes for
the balance due him on the market-house. Otho G.
Williams was placed in charge of the house, but resigned the 26th of May, and Elijah Crossland was
appointed clerk of the house. They also rented to
him a stall in the northwest corner for the sum of
four dollars and thirty-three cents per year, and pro1 At that time everly family kept two or three sheep.
vided that no stall should be rented for less time
than a year. At this meeting an ordinance was passed
that " Any person or persons selling beef, porke, veal,
or mutton in the market-house by less pieces than the
quarter shall pay a fine of two dollars for each and
every offense in less they rent a stall."
Stated market-days were established by resolution
of the Council, viz.: Wednesdays and Saturdays. The
hours established were " from dawn of day until nine
o'clock" for the season beginning on the 1st of April
and ending on the 31st of August, and for the season
from September 1st to March 31st, inclusive, the hours
were extended from nine until eleven o'clock. By
the same ordinance it was provided that any person
exposing any commodity for sale out of the market
during the market hours should be liable to a fine
equal to the value of the commodity and cost of suit.
The list of commodities to be sold in the market embraced " Fresh meat of all kinds, bacon, dried beef,
hog's lard, sausages, poultry, butter, eggs, cheese,
candles, tallow, beeswax, country sugar, vegetables of
every sort, fresh fish, fruit, grain, flour and meal of
every sort and kind." Any person buying a commodity and selling it again on the same day at an
advanced price was made liable to a fine of one dollar. But this ordinance was not to affect'"storekeepers."
In March, 1817, the price fixed for front stalls in
the market-house was ten dollars; for middle and
back stalls, seven dollars per year.  On the 5th of
May, 1818, the Council " Resolved, That the markethouse be locked for the purpose of keeping out sheep,
etc.; that the renters of the market-stalls provide
locks for that purpose immediately, and charge the
expense of the locks to the borough, and at the expiration of their lease deliver said locks in good order
to the treasurer." After this time, except the appointment of clerks and the renting of stalls, very
little in reference to the old market-house is found in
the minutes of the Council.
At the same meeting (May 5th) the Council took
the following action, viz.:
"WHEREAS, There has of late been several riots and sanguinary affrays committed within this borough, to the grea.t annoyance of the citizens and the encourageiment of vice and immorality, it is therefore become,bsolutely necessary for the
preservation of good order that a society be formed for the
better guarding against disorderly behaviour and preventing
such riots within the borough in the future.  Therefore resolved that such society be called' THE MORALIZING SOCIETY.'
"The citizens of the borough and its vicinity are invited to
assemble themselves for the purpose of establishing such society
by such rules as shall be determined on at the next meeting of'
the Town Council, to be held at the dwelling-house of James
Francis, Esq., on Tuesday, the 12th day of this instant, May, at
2 o'clock in the afternoon."
The Council met on the day appointed, and Isaac
Meares and John B. Trevor were chosen " to draft an
address to the citizens of Connellsville and the vicin375HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
ity at large respecting the necessity of forming a
society for the more prompt and vigorous guarding
the public peace." Nothing further has been found
in reference to the formation of the "Moralizing Society" of Connellsville in 1818.
June 27, 1817, John B. Trevor petitioned the Council for permission to erect a warehouse on the Public
Ground, but withdrew it on the 30th. On the 22d
of September in the same year, "The Council agree
that it shall be incumbent on the street commissioner,
under the direction of the burgess, to notify John B.
Trevor imrmediately to desist in the prosecution of
building a warehouse on the public ground, and all
others who may build or attempt to erect any building on said public grounds other than the Council
shall allow."
On the 30th of June, 1817, permission was granted
by the Council to Joseph Keepers and George Sloan
"to build a small building for a ferry-house on the
public ground at or near the ferry."
In April, 1818, Elisha Clayton, borough treasurer,
presented his account for the preceding year to the
Council as follows:
"Amount of cash and notes rec'd from the 9th day of
May, 1817, up to the 3d day of April, 1818...... $204.941
Cash paid Sundry persons for orders.....................  41.351
Bal. in the Treasury 3d of April, 1818.................. $163.59"
Nov. 11, 1818, the Council "Resolved that the
Water Course on the south side of Main St. be conveyed by the dwelling-house of Mr. David Rogers, in
a Strait Line, across Water St. into the River by a
Sewer to be dug for that purpose, and lined throughout with Flag Stone, and of a sufficient depth across
Water St. to allow of its being cleaned out from time
to time."
The following from the minutes is found under
date of the 22d of May, 1821: "Mr. Benj. Wells laid
before the Council a subscription-paper signed by a
number of the inhabitants who resided here in the
year 1796, obligating themselves to pay Mr. C. Trevor
and the said B. Wells for taking measures to get the
charter of the town recorded. Mr. Wells wished the
Council to take measures to enforce the fulfillment of
the said obligation by the subscribers, he having fulfilled the trust reposed in him. The Council concluded to take time for holding said request."
"June 1, 1821, Council considered application of
Mr. Wells and concluded they had nothing to do with
it."
Oct. 7, 1822.-The Council resolved "that the burgess be authorized to give license to Mr. Todd to
exhibit his traveling museum, etc., as published in
his advertisement, until Thursday next, inclusive, in
this borough on paying five dollars for the use of the
borough and the usual fee."
April 1, 1823.-Council " agreed to take a Bark-Mill
at $44.00, and transfer of Judgment vs. George Marietta for $14.00, and an order on William L. Miller for
two hundred pounds castings, in lieu of judgment
Council held against E. Crossland." Nearly two
years later the bark-mill was sold to H. Gebhart for
$12.25.
April 14, 1824.-The Council granted a license for
the sum of five dollars " for the exhibition of a Lion,
Leopard, Cougar, and five other Animals" in the
borough.
Feb. 18, 1826.-Council received a petition to build
a public hall as a second story to the market-house.
This, however, was never accomplished.
April, 1827.-" Benjamin Wells presented to the
Council a fine piece of parchment, and it was ordered
that the Clerk have a plan of the Borough made upon
it with the present owners' names upon the margin."
This old plat has not been found, nor has any knowledge of it been obtained.
Dec. 27, 1832.-The Council resolved that Valentine Coughenour be appointe(l to superintend the
business of the Stone Coal Bank, and " that the price
of coal at the Bank should be 1~ cents per bushel
until the expense of opening shall be defrayed."
The coal-bank referred to was the one granted by the
original charter of the town to the citizens. From it
every original property-owner was entitled to dig his
own fuel at his own expense. The privilege, however, never proved to be of much real value, for coal
could be purchased at all times at but a trifle more
than the cost of mining it. The location of the public
coal-bank was on Mounts' Creek, on the upper end
of the Buttermore farm. The Pittsburgh and Connellsville Gas-Coal and Coke Company having purchased the coal-lands around it, it was absorbed by
that company, no one interested making any objection.
BOROUGH CURRENCY.
On the 11th of June, 1816, " a motion was presented
[to the Council] in order to have bills of Currency
struck for the Borough of Connellsville. The Council appointed Isaac Meares to inquire into the plan
and easiest mode of having them struck, and report."
On June 21st he reported "that the easiest way of
having Bills of Currency struck will be to have them
printed."  The " matter was brought to a vote, which
resulted in five yeas and two nays," and the following
is entered on the record immediately after: " So it appears that became an Ordinance by the majority of
three votes."
The fact that the proposed borough currency was
struck off and put in circulation is made apparent by
the following fronm the record:
"Resolved [April 4, 1817], by the Town Council of the Borough of Connellsville, that it is thought proper, and they do Resolve, to sell unto John Laimb all their interests into and of all
the Borough Tickets issued and to be issued of such as are now
printed to his own proper use; and the said John Lamb hath
agreed with said Council to give to the Borough aforesaid one
hundred dollars free and clear of all Expenses, Drawback, or
Damages that may hereafter accrue in consequences of the issuing, distributing, or redeeming the sanme, and also to keep the
borough aforesaid in(lernnified for or in consequence thereof."
--l
376CONNELLSVILLE BOROUGII AND TOWNS II IP.
On the 29th of May, 1817, the Council, " after having taken into consideration the propriety of taking
a bond of indemnitv and a bond for the payment of
a sum of money of John Lamb, to complete a contract respecting the issuing and payment of the borough tickets, agreeable to a resolution passed the 4th
day of April last, Resolved, that Isaac Meres, George
Mathiot, Esqr., and Caleb Trevor be and are appointed a Committee for the purpose above mentioned." In July of that year A. Baldwin was
added to the committee. This is the last reference
to the matter found in the records.
VOCATIONS FOLLOWED IN CONNELLSVILLE IN 1823.
The following list, from the assessment roll of Connellsville for the year 1823, shows the vocations then
pursued by the persons named. The list includes not
only the borough but the entire township, but the
names given are principally those of residents of the
borough at that time, viz.:
John Fuller, tan-yard.
Gebhard  Smith, nail-factory.
David Barnes, brick-yard.
Abraham Baldwin, carding-machine manufacturer and cottonfactory.
William Clements, schoolmaster.
John Eicher, tanner.
T.  J. Gibson (heirs), furnace.
John Gibson, ironmaster, forge, slitting-mill, grist-mill.
Samuel Gibson, miller.
William Lytle, postmaster.
William McCormick, potter.
Charles McClane, doctor.
Robert D. Moore, doctor.
Samuel Mitchell, miller.
John Simnon, founder.
George Mathiot, doctor.
Robert McGuire, silversmith.
Lester L. Norton, fulling-mill and carding-machine.
John Reist, oil-mill.
D.  J. Rogers  Walker, paper-mill.
John  Martin Stouffer, grist-mill.
John Slomaker, pottery.
James Shaw, lawyer.
William J. Turner, schoolmaster.
Isaac Ta.ylor, tan-yard.
John Trump, saw-mill.
Jacob  John Willard, distillery.
Steward H. \ hitehill, schoolmaster.
Samuel G. Wurts, ironmaster.
"INDEPENDENCE DAY," 1824.
The Fourth of July, 1824, was celebrated with great
enthusiasm by the people of Connellsville, and the
Mount Pleasant Volunteers and Youghiogheny Blues
(the latter under command of Capt. Sarnuel Trevor)
were present to add brilliancy to the occasion.
The day was ushered in by the usual artillery salute, and the forenoon was passed in displaying the
evolutions of the military. " About one o'clock P.M.
the Blues, the Volunteers, and the citizens repaired
to the bower which had been provided and partook
of a dinner, at which William  Davidson presided, assisted by Capt. J. B. Trevor, Capt. David Cummings,
and Mr. Daniel Rogers, acting vice-presidents. The
Declaration of Independence was read by Capt. Samuel Trevor. Volunteer toasts were given by Capt. J.
B. Trevor, Col. William L. Miller, Maj. Joseph Torrence, Stewart H. Whitehill, Capt. Samuel Trevor,
Lieut. Hubbs, of the Mount Pleasant Volunteers,
Capt. David Cummings, Eli M. Gregg, Abraham
Baldwin, Samuel Marshall, Daniel P. Lynch, and
Sergt. Smith." The day was in every respect a brilliant one for Connellsville, and there are many of her
citizens who still remember its festivities.
BRIDGES ACROSS THE YOUGHIOGHENY.'
The first bridge across the Youghiogheny River
from Connellsville to'the western side of the stream,
in what is now the borough of New Haven, was built
under authority conferred by an act of the Legislature, passed March 15, 1800, by which it was provided
and declared"That it shall and may be lawful for Isaac Meason and
Zachariah Connell, their heirs and assigns, to erect, build, support, and maintain a good and substantial bridge over and across
the Youghiogheny river at Connellsville, near where the great
road leading from Philadelphia to Uniontown crosses said river,
and that the property of said bridge, when built, shall be and
the same is hereby vested in the aforesaid Isaac Meason and
Zachariah Connell, their heirs and assigns forever, and that the
said Isaac Meason and Zachariah Connell, their heirs and assi,gns, may demand and receive toll from travelers and others
[here follows a specification of the rates of toll]; Provided
always and nevertheless that nothing in this act contained
shall extend to authorize the said Isaac Meason and Zachariah
Connell, their heirs and assigns, to erect a bridge in the manner
in this act before mentioned on any private property without
consent of the owner or owners thereof, or to erect the same in
such manner as in any way to interrupt or injure the navigation of said river or the passage over the ford across the same
near where the said bridge may be erected."  And it was further provided by the act "That all poor persons, or those who
may be exempted from payment of county rates and levies,
shall have liberty to pass and repass over and across said bridge
toll free."
The precise time of the opening of the bridge is
not known, but it was commenced soon after the passage of the act authorizing its erection, and completed
within the required time, three years.  Its location
was nearly one hundred feet up stream from the
present bridge. It was a wooden-bent structure, resting at the two ends on abutments, each formed of
a strong'crib-work of logs filled in with stones. The
bridge remained for nearly or quite fifteen years, and
was carried away by flood some time in the year 1816
or early in 1817, as a memorandum is found showing
that in the spring of that year a ferry was in operation, run by Joseph Keepers and George Sloan. The
abutment at the Connellsville end remained standing
1 The facts concerning the first three bridges over the Youghiogheny
were largely obtaimned from R. A. McIlvaine, of New Haven:
377HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
for a number of years after the bridge was gone. The
old toll-house which stood in front of the property of
Edward Dean, on Water Street, is still well remembered, having been demolished at a comparatively
recent time by the railroad company.
The second bridge across the river was built in the
year 1818. It was, like its predecessor, a woodenbent structure, supported above by four heavy arches
formed of two-inch oak planks bolted together, and
it rested between the abutments on three strong bents
of heavy timber, having breakers extending from their
bases up stream between thirty and forty feet, and
sloping at an angle of about forty-five degrees from
the bed of the river to the chords of the bridge. The
model of this bridge was furnished by Adam Wilson,'
an ingenious Scotchman.
This bridge stood intact until 1827, when the westernmost spall (next to the New Haven shore) fell,
while a heavily laden wagon, drawn by a team of six
horses, was upon it; but, strangely enough, though it
went down with a crash, yet it fell so squarely that
iieither the horses, driver, wagon, nor load sustained
any serious damage  The fallen span was rebuilt the
same year, and the wooden arches of the bridge replaced by a kind of truss-work. During the tinle of
the repairs a ferry was run across the river by Samuel
Downey. In February, 1831, by the breaking up of
the ice in the river, all of the bridge was carried away
except the new span on the New Haven side.
The third bridge was built in 1832, by the Meason
and Connell heirs. This was a great improvement on
the structures which had preceded it. It was built
with two spans, resting on stone abutments and a
stone pier in the river. The spans were supported by
solid wooden arches, and the superstructure was covered to protect it from the weather. This bridge did
duty for about twenty-eight years, until April, 1860,
when a great and sudden rise in the river carried it
away, the pier in the river being undermined. The
water rose at that time to within less than three feet
of the bridge, and within eigheen inches of the roadway of Front Street, New Haven. During the summer and fall succeeding the destruction of this bridge
James H. White made two or three unsuccessful attempts to build a bent bridge of short spans some forty
or fifty feet up the stream from where the present bridge
stands, but each attempt was frustrated by a rise in
the river, which carried away his bents, and finally
the plan was abandoned.
Inseparable from the history of the old bridges is
the memory of "Aunt Jenny" Wallace (sister of
Zachariah Connell's second wife), who held the posi1 This Adam Wilson was a bachelor and a general mechanical genius.
He built the Mount Braddock mansion for Mr. Meason, doing both the
carpenter-work and the stone-cutting, and that at a time when every
part of the work had to be done by hand, without the aid of mechanical
contrivances. He also built the Meason residence in New Haven, now
owned by Mrs. Giles. The model of the Connellsville brlidge was sold in
1825 by Wilson's executor.
tion of toll-taker at the bridge for many years. Mr.
David Barnes speaks of his recollection of her "with
that uninviting face and old black dress; we can see
her grab her dress on the right side with her left hand,
whilst the right would enter the pocket to make chanrge
from the old'fip.' We remember a little joke that
was played upon her. A stranger approached the
gate of the bridge and asked the charge for crossing.
He was told one cent.'Does it make any difference
wvhat you carry?'' No, it does not.' Giving her the
cent, he skipped back and shouldered his comrade
and started for the bridge. She tried to stop hinm,
but he went on, and the old lady stood wvith both
hands hanging straight down her sides, body bent
forward, face raised, and eyes strained, to see if he
would drop his load; but she saw him pass over with
it, then, straightening up, with a long sigh, exclaimed,' He will'never do that again.'"
After the destruction of the tliird bridge, other
parties made an arrangement with the owners of the
Meason-Connell franchise,2 under which a new bridge
company was formed, and was created a corporate
body under the name of " The Youghiogheny Bridge
Company" by an act-supplemental to that of March
15, 1800-passed April 17, 1861. The capital stock
was placed at $20,000, in eight hundred shares at $25
each.
A meeting of the stockholders was held at the office
of George J. Ashman, July 20, 1861, when George
Nickel was elected president, George J. Ashman, secretary and treasurer, and James Wilkie, Samuel Russell, Provance McCormick, James H. White, and John
K. Brown, managers. The managers appointed James
H. White, George Nickel, and Jonathan Hewitt a
building committee, and a contract was made with
Christian Snider, Aug. 24, 1861.
The present suspension bridge was commenced in
that year (1861), and completed in the summer of
1862, at a cost of $19,600. From an entry in the
books of the company, dated July 30th in that year,
is ext'acted as follows:... " Wherefore the president and managers of the Youghiogheny Bridge Company congratulate themselves and the stockholders
upon the completion of their bridge, which for some
time past has been open for public use." The first
toll-keeper under the company was Adaimi Byerly, who
continued in the position until June 30, 1871, when
he was succeeded by the present toll-keeper, Adam
Eckles.  The present officers of the company are
Daniel Kaine, president; A. C. Knox, secretary and
treasurer; J. T. McCormick, James McKearns, J. K.
Brown, H. L. Shepard, Ewing Brownfield, directors.
POST-OFFICE AND POSTMASTERS.
Concerning the date of the establishment of the
Connellsville post-office, the most that can be said is
2 Shares of stock in the new company were issued to Mrs. Mary Meason, George E. Hogg, and James H. White, for their property and interest
in the old charter.
378CONNELLSVILLE BOROUGH AND TOWNSHIP.
that it was in existence in 1805, when John B. Trevor
was postmaster. He continued in the office for several years, and his successors, so far as ascertained,
have been as follows: William Lytle (in office under
President J. Q. Adams), Joseph Herbert (from President Jackson to President Taylor), David Whalley,
John Collins, Provance McCormick (appointed 1852),
J. D. Stillwagon, Provance McCormick, Benjamin F.
Frankenberger, Joseph Keepers, A. S. Barnes, Mrs.
Moses Collins, Hampton  Collins, Henry  Porter,
present postmaster.
EXTINGUISHMENT OF FIRES.
The earliest mention found in the borough records
of any proposition to procure apparatus to aid in the
extinguishment of fires in Connellsville is the following:
"At a meeting of the Council, Feb. 16, 1811, A Resolution
was past that there should be procured for the use of the Bor()ugh two ladders of 28 feet long, 20 inches wide in the clear,
with good, sufficient, Iron Sockets at the bottom 9 inches long,
and two other Ladders 18 feet long, 12 inches wide in the clear,
with good sufficient hooks at the end of each to hold on the cornice of any house, the rounds as above-mentioned, the whole to
be made of good locust and the sides of good poplar, all of
which must be painted with two good coats of brown. And
that John Lamb be appointed to procure the same on as reasonable terms as he can."
The next reference to the subject is as follows: May
29, 1817, " Resolved, that it is necessary to appoint
some fit person to take charge of the ladders belonging to the borough, and it is enjoined on him to keep
them locked and not let any person have them or any
of them except in case of fire or some other extraordinary emergency. Elijah Crossland is appointed to
take charge as aforesaid for the present year." In the
next year (May 5th) James Francis, Esq., was appointed to take care of the town ladders, and charge six
and a quarter cents for each time they were unlocked
and locked. He was "authorized to loan all or any
of them to the citizens within the borough, who shall
make a return of such loan every evening and pay
six and a quarter cents for each ladder so borrowed,
and in case of neglect to return them as aforesaid
shall pay twenty-five cents for each ladder for every
evening they shall neglect to return them, and when
so returned shall be placed in the same position in
which they were so taken away or loaned, and pay
damages if any done to such ladders."
April 26, 1820, Adam Snider was appointed to take
charge of ladders. May 5, 1820, the Council resolved
"that a fire-engine be procured," and a committee
was appointed to hold consultation with Adam Wilson on the matter and report, but it appears that
nothing was done at that time, for the subject was
again brought before the Council May 2, 1822, when
certain inhabitants petitioned that body to hold consultation and take action as to the propriety of obtaining a fire-enginle." Thereupon the Council appointed a committee "to confer with A. Wilson on
the price and power of said engine."
Neither from the records of the Council (which are
extremely obscure and imperfect) nor from the recollections of old citizens can it be now ascertained
whetlier a fire-engine was purchased for the borough
at that time or not.  A few years ago there was a renewed agitation  on the question of increasing the
facilities for preventing and extinguishing fires in the
borough, and the appropriation of certain money for
that purpose.  The money was duly appropriated,
but "after due consideration" it was applied, not to
the procuring of fire apparatus, but to the purchasing and erection of hay-scales for the borough. At
a celebration of some kind held soon after, there
appeared in the procession a set of platform  scales,
mounted on a wagon and bearing the inscription
"Fire D)epartment of Connellsville."
The borough fire apparatus of fifty years ago is still
in existence, but it is a lamentable fact that to-day
Connellsville can hardly be said to be better defended
against conflagration than it was then.
FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS.
The first banking business in Connellsville was
done by the "Connellsville Navigation Company,"
which was forTned under articles of association dated
Oct. 8, 1816, as follows:
"We, the subscribers, believing that an association for the
purpose of r;:ising a fund to aid in the improvement of the
navigation of the Youghiogheny River, and in erecting a
Bridge across said river, is a measure of public utility, and will
especially advance the interests of this section of the commonwealth, have formed a comp1a.ny or limited partnership, and do
hereby associate and agree with each other to conduct business
in the manner hereinafter specified and described by and under
the name and title of' the President and Directors of the Connellsville Navigation Company, and we do hereby mutually
covenant, declare, and agree that the following are and shll1 be
the fundamental articles of this our association and agreernent
with each other, by which we and all persons who at any tine
may transact business with the said company shall be bound
and concluded."
Article 1 declares that "The capital stock of said company
shall consist of one hundred thousand dollars in money of the
United States, but may be increased hereafter at the discretion
of the directors to any amount not exceeding three hundred
thousand dollars, and shall be divided into shares of one hundred dollars each...."
Article 2 constituted the following-named persons
a board of directors, to hold as such until the first
Monday in April, 1817, viz.: Isaac Meason, Jr., Samuel Trevor, Daniel Rogers, Joseph Torrence, James
Blackiston, John Strickler, Abraham  Baldwin, Daniel S. Norton, Jacob Stewart, Andrew Dempsey, John
Lamb, Jacob Weaver, Stewart H. Whitehill, James
Rogers, and James Paull, Jr. Article 14 declares
that " the association shall continue until the first day
of April, 1825." The names of subscribers and number of shares set to each was as follows:
379HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Shares.
Abraham Baldwin......... 30
Samuel Trevor.............. 30
James Rogers............... 20
Isaac Meason, Jr........... 50
D.  I. Rogers.............. 50
John Lamb............... 20)
Andrew dempsey.......... 10
Jacob Weaver............... 20
Stewart H. Whitehill...... 20
Jacob Stewart............... 2)
William Lytle.........5.....5
James Blackiston.......... 50
James Framiss.............  4
John Boyd................  5
Joseph Torrence............ 10
James McKoun.............  3
John Stauffer............... 20
Samuel G. Wirts............ 20
George Kemp................2
Daniel Barnes.............. 20
Elijah Crossland............  5
Samuel S. Neale.............  2
George Oldshoe.............  2
Michael Gilmor.............  4
Phineas Rogers.,........... 20
Jacob Davis................5
James Paul, Jr............. 50
Jonathan Page.............  5
Jacob Warsing..............  5
E. Sallyards...............  10
Joseph Strickler............  5
Abraham Stauffer.......... 10
Nathaniel Gibson.......... 20
S. Stauffer...............  5
Andrew Byers.............. 5
James McMillan............  5
William  Davis.............. 2
John M. Burdett..   5
Caspar King.............. 4
Henry Etling.............. 2
Robt. Huey..............  1
Geo. Mathiot.............. 3
Cyrus I. Gibson............  5
George Ream...........  5
John Hinebaugh...........  5
Robt. Smith............     10
John Strickler..10
Moses Vance............ 10
Shares.
Thomas Atkinson.......... 5
Samuel Neel.............   15
Philo Hall............. 5
Thomas .Joseph Gibson. 10
William Moreland......... 5
John Miner.............. 1
Robert Boyd.............. 5
Joseph Culbertson......... 2
Wm. Kepner.............  30
James C. Seaton............ 34
Henry hartzol............. 20
Isaac Gilmer.............5
Peter Newmyer.......... 10
Jacob Newmyer............ 5
James Shean................5
Isaac Mears..................6
Martin Stephenson........  5
John Shaup................1
Samuel G. Wurts........... 30
Jacob Cosliman............ 3
Christian Stauffer.......... 10
John Tinstman............. 10
Thos. Bigham............... 10
Matthew Gaut.            5
Dr. L. Hendrickson....... 5
Rohert Philson.............. 10
John Rogers................. 20
Thomas Perkins............ 20
Christian Stauffer.......... 5
Mahlon Rogers............. 5
Mark Stackhouse.......... 5
George Evans...............5
Luther Stephens............ 5
John B. Trevor............. 20
Moses Mercer...............3
Ben. Kindrick................ 40
George Mathiot..............2
Wm. B. Foster.............. 15
John Tautlinger............ 20
John Jackson............  50
Robt. Hutchinson..........  2
Martin Glassburner........  I
Samuel Candan............. 3
William Patterson.........  5
Jamnes Ilertzell..............20
Philip Sullivan...........  20
William Paull...........   20
John Miner...........    10
It does not appear to have been any part of the
object of the company to improve the navigation of
the Youghiogheny River, as indicated by its title and
hinted at in the articles of association; but its plan
seems to have been copied from the scheme of the
Manhattan Conmpany of New York, originiated some
years earlier bv Aaron Burr, ostensibly for the purpose of furnishing that city with water, but having
for its real object the obtaining of a charter (which
could not otherwise be secured at that time) under
which it could transact a banking business, an object
which was successfully accomplished. The Connellsville Navigation Company attempted nothing, except
in the way of banking, and to that business it proceeded at once after organization.
On the 3d of November, 1816, a meeting of the
board of directors was held at the house of Andrew
Byers. Some business was transacted, and the board
adjourned to the 5th of Decetnber. The meeting was
held according to adjournmnent at Andrew Byers', on
Thursday, December 5th. Col. Joseph Torrance was
in the chair, and Stewart H. Whitehill, secretary of
the meeting. The board then proceeded to elect Isaac
Meason, Jr., president, and John B. Trevor, cashier
of the comnpany. The store-roonm of Samuel Trevor
(on Spring Street, opposite the present Yough House)
was rented for an office, at one hundred and fifty dollars per annum. Afterwards it was removed farther
up the street to the building now occupied by Dr.
George Johnson.
Business was commenced in the office or bankingroom above mentioned, and on the 21st of January,
1817, the coinpany issued its notes to the amount of
$24,400, in bills of $10, $5, $3, and $1 denomination.
Other issues were made soon after, as follows: February 7th, $800; February 10th, $800; March 5th,
$8100; April 1st, $12,500; making a total issue of
$46,600.
Of this issue, it appears from the books of the
company' that $36,197 was retired on the 21st of November, 1818, at which time the board of directors
voted "that Caleb Trevor, Jr., act as cashier until
April 1st next, at the rate of $400 per year, and he to
furnish room for books and desk after January lst."
And under date of April 19, 1819, is found the following entry:
" Received of Caleb Trevor, Jr., late cashier of the Connells.
ville Navigation Company, the books and papers of the company, and $640.50 in bank-notes, as per margin, being the
balance of the cash account.
Perryopolis........             $117.50
Saline (Va.)........  121.00
Stewart's........                111.00
New Salem........                286.00
New Ohio........                   5.00
Total........ $640.50
"JOHN BOYD, Cashier."
On the 18th of August, 1820, a new board of fifteen
directors was elected, of whom Isaac Meason was
inade president. John Boyd continued to be cashier
of the company until it went out of existence in 1831.
Of the balance of $10,403 of the company's notes
which renmained in circulation after the retirement of
$36,197 in November, 1818, before mentioned, $8891
was redeemed and cancelled at various times down to
By the following entry:
"OFFICE OF THE.CONNELLSVILLE NAVIGATION COMPANY,
" Nov. 21, 1818.
"We, the undersigned, appointed a committee to exanmine tlme affairs
of the connellsville Navigation Company, to coutnt the money, anid ascertaimi the balance in the hands of the caslhier, do find that the balanice of
time caslh taccount i8 thirty-seven tlhousand three lhun-idred and four dollars
anid fifty cenits, wlicil amounit J. B. Trevor has this day paid over to the
conmiiittce, consisting of thirty-six thousand one huntidred and ninietyseveni dollars in ouir own inotes, and eleven huindred and seven (dollars
and fifty cents in foreigtm notes.                       $37,304.50.
"We haA e cottiited our own notes and sealed themu up.
Tenis...                                $8,70o.00
Fi ves...                               11,970 90
Th rees.1-::..  12,54.00
Omies...                                 2,993.00
$:,6,197.00
Foreign.............................................. 1,107.50
$37,304.50
".JohN LAMB,
"ANDREw DEMPSEY,
"DANIEL ROGERS.':380,CONNELLSVILLE BOROUGH AND TOWNNSHIP.
Feb. 15, 1831, leavilng ~1512):lot presente(l for redemption.
The business of the company practicallv ceased
Oct. 5, 1830, but unimportant entries are found in the
books until Aug. 27, 1831, the last date recorded.
The private banking-office of George A. Torrance
was opened in Connellsville in 1868, the place of
business being in the Johnston house. In January,
1871, Joseph Johnston became a partner. The business of the bank closed on the 11th of October, 1875.
THE YOUGHIOGHENY BANK.
This bank was chartered May 9, 1871, with a capital stock of $25,000 (increased in July, 1872, to
$50,000).  The first officers (elected July 29, 1871)
were M. O. Tinstman (president), Daniel Kaine, Josiah Kurtz, James Allen, J. M. Dushane, J. W. Rutter, directors; A. C. Knox, cashier.
The first discount day was Sept. 4, 1871. The
banking-office was at first located in the Snyder building (now Central Hotel) on Water Street. From
there it was removed to the present banking-rooms,
on the south side of Spring Street, in the latter part
of November, 1874. Upon the death of M. O. Tinstman, Feb. 15, 1873, J. M. Dushane succeeded as president, and he continued in that office until Jan. 13,
1880, when he declined re-election and was succeeded
by John Newcomer, the present president of the
bank.
FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF CONNELLSVILLE.
This institution was organized under the National
Banking law, in March, 1876, with a capital stock of
$50,000, in five hundred shares of one hundred dollars
each. The directors were John D. Frisbie, president;
P. S. Newmyer, vice-president; William A. DavidsoIn, John K. Brown, James R. Stouffer, J. J. Singer,
John M. Cochran, J. T. McCormick, J. R. Laughrey,
Nathaniel Ewing, Edward Dean; Cashier, J. S. McCaleb; Teller, Joseph M. Kurtz.
The bank commenced business April 17th, in the
year named, in Mr. Frisbie's building. On the 10th
of May following it was removed to the present banking-rooms on the south side of Spring Street.
CONNELLSVILLE MUTUAL BITILDING AND LOAN ASSOCIATION.
At the December term, in 1869, the followingnamed persons, viz., P. McCormick, John D. Frisbee,
Christian Snyder, H. E. Sadler, Thomas M. Fee, E.
Dean, D. Welsh, J. M. Lytle, B. F. Baer, M. Goldsmith, J. Weibel, A. E. Claney, D. Blackburn, W. E.
Francis, and Joseph E. Forrey, petitioned the court
of Fayette County to grant to theni and their associates the powers and immunities of a body corporate
and politic in law, under the above title, and with an
authorized capital of $100,000, in one thousand shares
of $100 each, to have for its object "the granting of
loans to its members, to assist them in their business
25
and in the acquiring of homesteads." The incorporation was effected by order of the court, March 11, 1870.
On the 18th of October in that year a resolution was
passed that the association purchase from Dr. J. C.
Cumnmings a tract of fifty-one acres of land north of
Connellsville, and to donate a part of this tract
(bounded by the railway track, the Youghiogheny
River, and Mounts' Creek) to the railroad company,
on the condition that the said company would agree
to build their shops upon it. This was agreed to and
done; the land was purchased by members of the
board of directors, and transferred to the association
Nov. 9, 1871. The land had previously been laid out
in building lots. It was decided to reserve the three
blocks fronting the railroad, and offer for sale alternate lots of the remainder. Sales were made from
time to time, and now (June, 1881) all the lots of the
association have been sold, and the affairs of the association are drawing to a close. From the commencement of its business, loans have been made for
building and other purposes. The present officers
are J. M. Dushane, president; P. S. Newmyer, vicepresident; John Kurtz, treasurer; H. P. Snyder,
secretary. Board of Managers, William Weike, T.
M. Fee, J. T. McCormick, B. Welcher, William  P.
Clark, Stephen Rutherford, John Rutherford. Number of stockholders, 55.
SOCIETIES AND ORDERS.
YOUGHIGANIA LODGE, No. 110, F. AND A. M.
Of this old lodge no information has been obtained
beyond the fact that it existed in Connellsville under
a charter granted by the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, dated June 6, 1808, and surrendered Nov. 1,
1819.
KING SOLOMON LODGE, No. 346, F. AND A. M.
This lodge was chartered June 6, 1864, and has now
one hundred members. The officers of the lodge are
R. W. Barnes, W. M.; R. J. Fullerton, S. W.; J. J.
Thomas, J. W.; R. B. Cox, Sec.; Adam Armstrong,
Treas. Meetings are held in Odd-Fellows' Hall.
GENERAL WORTHI LODGE, No. 386, I. O. O. F.
The charter of this lodge dates Jan. 22, 1850. It
had previously worked for a short time under a dispensation to Christopher Walter, N. G.; David T.
Walker, V. G.; John Collins, Sec.; Joseph P. Blakney,
A. S.; John N. Brown, Treas. The lodge now contains 159 members, and the following named are its
officers: Jacob Stentz, N. G.; G. B. Brown, V. G.;
R. W. Barnes, Sec.; A. S. Camieron, Fin. Sec.; B.
Welker, Treas.
The early meetings of the lodge were held in private houses until the opening of the old Odd-Fellows,
Hall, on Mountain Alley, after which meetings were
held in it until the erection of the new Odd-Fellows'
Hall, corner of Mountain Allev and Spring Street, in
1872.
381HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
GENERAL WORTH GRAND ENCAMPMENT, No. 188, I. O. 0. F.
Chartered Oct. 23, 1869.  First officers: Joseph
Kurtz, C. P.; G. D. Stillwagon, H. P.; H. W. Dull,
S. W.; W. L. Robbins, J. W.; Lloyd Johnston, Sec.;
John Wilhelm, Treas. Present officers: S. S. Lane,
H. P.; Clark Collins, C. P.; J. W. Beatty, S. W.;
C. Van Arsdale, J. W.; Jacob Stentz, S.; B. Walker,
Treas. The lodge has thirty members.
LODGE No. 101, EDNA REBEKAH DEGREE, I. O. O. F.
Chartered March 30, 1875. Instituted by D. D. G.
M. Samuel McKean, assisted by P. G. John Weaver,
of Belle Vernon, the following named being the first
officers: Stephen F. McBride, N. G.; Marie Louise
Page, V. G.; Emma J. Coulter, Sec.; Mary E. Stillwagon, Asst. Sec.; Eliza Newcomer, Treas. Present
officers: Mrs. Fanny B. Vance, N. G.; Mrs. Belle
Barnes, V. G.; R. M. Vance, Sec.; W. Hunter; Fin.
Sec.; Eliza Newcomer, Treas. Membership, 30.
Meetings held in Odd-Fellows' Hall.
ROYAL ARCANUM, FAYETTE COUNCIL, No. 346.
Chartered May 3, 1880, with the following-named
members: Jesse M. Townsend, James R. Millard, C.
N. Stark, Goldsboro' M. Serpell, Byron Porter, Lewis
W. Wolfe, G. W. Newcomer, Jesse H. Purdy, Resin
W. Barnes, Josiah A. Strickler, James M. Snyder,
John B. Miller, Henry R. Dill, William M. Hawkins,
John Henry, William B. Cox, Robert C. Greenland,
Edgar C. Oliver, Lawrence Donegan, E. Y. White,
L  B. White, Edward K. Hyndman, Charles H.
Owens. The present officers are Jesse H. Purdy,
Regent; John Henry, Vice-Regent; J. M. Townsend,
Orator; A. C. Knox, Treas.; Lawrence Donegan,
Sec. Meetings are held in Odd-Fellows'. Hall.
I.0. OF G. T.
A lodge of this order was chartered in Connellsville, May 14, 1866, with thirty-four members. The
membership has now increased to seventy-four. The
present officers are: W. C. T., W. A. Eckel; W. V.
T., Mamie Bender; W. C., Eva Hertzog; W. S., John
H. Holt; W. F. S., Emma J. Holt; W. T., Martha
Eckel; W. M., Frank T. Shaw; W. G., Lizzie Clingem; Sentinel, Flora Francis; R. S., Nannie Lohr;
L. S., Laura Rogers; Dep. M., Lizzie Chain; Part.
C. T., J. L. Wilkey; Lodge Deputy, John H. Holt.
FAYETTE LODGE, No. 239, K. P.
Chartered March 2, 1870, with the following charter members: J. W. Stauffer, L. West, William L.
Robbins, R. M. Vance, Worth Kilpatrick, Lloyd
Johnston, E. A. Schoeller, E. B. Weller, John Morrison, J. E. Stillwagon, A. S. Barnes, A. C. Keepers,
Thomas Balsley, John N. Johnston. The present
officers are: Past Ch. Comn., R. Welsh; Ch. Com., R.
C. Greenland; V. C., J. D. Smullen; Prelate, S. A.
Bearl; M. at A., A. Buchanan; M. of Ex., W. T.
Morton; M. of F., H. Page; K. of R. and S., R. M.
Vance. The present membership is one hundred and
eleven. The lodge meets in Odd-Fellows' Hall.
CONNELLSVILLE POST, No. 104, G. A. R.
Chartered May 23, 1879, with the following-named
charter members: E. Durin, R. B. Cox, E. V. Goodchild, John A. Danks, J. M. Morrow, Thomas MFee, Henry Kurtz, Edward Y. White, J. S. Sanders,
W. R. Tintsman, M. Donnelly, George W. Newcomer, H. McCormick, R. P. Douglas, R. D. Duncan,
Lloyd Johnston, Irwin McCutcheon, J. M. Dushane,
Thomas Porter, James Cunningham. The present
officers are: Commander, Lloyd Johnston; Senior
Vice-Commander, Thomas M. Fee; Junior Vice-Commnander, John Neeb; Chaplain, Levi Stoner; Quartermaster, Harry Kurtz; Adjutant, M. Donnelly;
Surgeon, Dr. G. W. Newcomer; Officer of the Day,
E. Y. White; Officer of the Guard, Edmund Dunn.
The post has now eighty-one members, and holds its
meetings in Odd-Fellows' Hall.
WICHACOMA TRIBE, No. 242, IMPROVED ORDER OF RED MEN.
Instituted Jan. 17, 1881, with more than one hundred charter members. The following chiefs were
elected: Prophet, D. W. Walker; Sachem, George
Kelly; Senior Sagamnore, Isaac W. Newton; Junior
Sagamore, Nathan McPherson; Chief of Records, D.
Barnes; Assistant Chief of Records, William Rhodes;
Keeper of Wampum, Samuel Dinsmore. Meetings
held in Odd-Fellows' Hall.
BROTHERHOOD OF THE UNION.
Date of charter not ascertained. The present number of members is one hundred and twenty-five, and
the following are officers of the Brotherhood: Chief
Washington, John Chambers; Chief Jefferson, Andrew Buttermore; Chief Prophet, Daniel Mitz.
BROTHERHOOD OF LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEERS, CONNELLSVILLE DIVISION, No. 50.
Charter granted to Harvey B. Hunt, Feb. 27, 1881.
Meetings are held in Odd-Fellows' Hall.
NEWMYER'S OPERA-HOUSE.
This is a fine brick structure, standing at the corner
of Pittsburgh and Peach Streets. It is two stories
high, and forty by one hundred and forty feet in dimensiolls on the ground. The lower part is used for
business purposes, and the entire second story is occupied by the audience-hall and stage. The building
has been erected during the present season (1881) by
P. S. Newmyer, Esq. (a leading attorney of Connellsville), at a cost of about $25,000, and is the best
and most imposing structure in the borough.
PHYSICIANS.
Dr. James Francis was the first physician, not only
of Connellsville, but in all the northern section of
Fayette County. The earliest mention found of himn
is in the county commissioners' records of 1787, when
he presented a bill for professional attendance on
prisoners in the jail at Uniontown. In April, 1806,
his name is found in the list of voters in the borough
I
382HEWEIVERIZ OOP[Enm m6uggq
r,!,-HIMELLMLLIP-q PM.BRADDOCK'S EXPEDition in 1755
camp-follower, believed that the savages and the
scarcely less dreaded French were near at hand and
would soon surround the camp.
I True to their cowardly instincts, Dunbar's wagoners
and pack-horse drivers, like those who were with Braddock on the Monongahela, and like many others of
the same base brood on a hundred later battle-fields,
were the first to seek safety in flight, mounting the
best horses anid hurrying away with all speed towards
Fort Cumberland,' leaving their places on the wagons
and with the pack-horse trains to be filled by brave
soldiers from the ranks. Their base example infected
the numerous camp-followers, who, as well as many of
those from whom better things might have been expected, fled towards the Great Crossings of the YouA few days after their cowardly flight from Dunbar's camp, several
of these panic-stricken wagoniers appeared at Carlisle, bringinlg  with
themii the first news of the disaster to Braddock's Army. Theieuipon
they were examined by the Governor of Pennsylvania at that Ilace,
and tl,eir depositionls taken and subscriibed before Ihini are found in the
Pennsylvania Archives. Two of these depositions (sinmilar in tenior to
all the others) are here given, viz.:
Matthew Laird being duily sworn, deposed and said,"... That this exaaminant continuied Iwitlt Col. Dunbar. And on
the tentli of this instant the regimiienit being at about seven miles beyond a place called the Great Meadows at elevets o'clock of that day,
there was a rumor in the camp that there was bad news, and he was
sooni after informed by wagoniers and pack-horse drivers, who were then
returned to Col. Dunbar's camiip, but lhad gone out with the advanced
par-ty uon(ler Gen. Braddock, that the general with the advanced party
was defeated by the French on the  niinth instant abouit five miles
frona Fort Du Quesne, and about for-ty niiles fioai where Col. Dunbar
then was, at which enigagement the wagoners andt pack-horse drivers
said they were present; that the English were attacked as they were
going- up a hill t)y a numnerous body of French and Indians, whlo kept
a conitinual fire during the wlhole engagement whiclh lasted nigh
thlree htouirs; that imiost of the English were cuit off, anid the vhole train
of artillery taken; that General Braddock was killed, as also Sir Peter
Halket, Capt. Orme, anid most of tlle officers. This exanuiiiant furtlher
saith lie saw a wounded officer brolhilit through the camp oni a slheet;
that about nooii of the same day thiey beat to aros in Col. Dunbars
caiap, upon wbhirl the wsaoners as well as imianyv common soldiers and
others took to fliglht in spite of the opposition made by the centrys, who
forced some to returni but many got awvay, amaongst whom was thl.s exaininiant."
Following is the deposition of Jacob Huber:
"This examinaint saith that he was its Col. Dunbar's camp the tenth
of July instant, and was informed that two officers who had cotne from
Fort Cumberland, aind had proceeded early in the morning witli a party
of Indians to join General Braddock, returned to the canmp in about
tlhree hours after they set out, and a runmour spr-ead that there was bad
niews, and that the officers could not pass to the general by reason of the
Indians; that about nine or ten o'clock the sanme day this examinant
saw and spoke with several wagoners who were comiie into Col. Dunbar's
camp from Gen. Braddock's, and wlho inforimed this examinant that
Gen. Braddock witla his advanced party of fifteen humndred men had been
attacked on the ninth instant withliit five miles of Fort Du Quesne by a
great many French atad Itedians who surr ounded thent; tllat the action
lasted three hours; that the most part of the English were killed; tllat
Gen. Braddock was wounded and put into a wagon, and afterwards
killed by the Indians; that Sir Peter Halket and Capt. Orme were also
killed. And this examinant furtlher saitli that he saw some soldiers return into Col. Dunbar's camp, who he was informed had been of General
Braddock's advanced party, some of whom were wounded, somije not; also
saw two officers carried on slheets, otie of whom was said to be Sir John
St. Clair, whom the exatninant was informed had received tvo wounds;
that about noon of the same day Col. Dunbar's drumns beat to arms;
and both before anid after that many soldiers and wagoners with other
attendants upon the canap took to flight, and amongst others this examinaut. And further saith not."
4
ghiogheny, and it was with the greatest difficulty that
Dunbar prevented the desertion and flight from becoming general.
At ten o'clock in the evening of the samne day
(Thursday, July 10th), Gen. Braddock reached Gist's.
From the place where he fell he was brouglht away
on a tumbril. Afterwards the attempt was, made to
move him{ on horseback, but this he could endure only
for a short time, after whicli he was dismounted and
carried all the remaining distance by a few of his
men. The weary journey was cointinued with scarcely
a halt during all the night succeeding the battle and
all the following day. Through all the sad hours of
that long march the gallant Captain Orme (Ilimself
suffering from a painful wound) and the no less brave
and steadfast Virginia cavalry captain, Stewart, were
constantly by the side of their helpless commander,
never leaving himn a moment.
The mortally wounded general must have been sufferino, intense agony of mnind as well as of body, but
through it all, like the brave and faithful officer that
he was, he niever forgot that there were other maimed
and suffering ones who sorely needed aid. " Despite
the intensity of his agonies," says Sargent, " Braddock still persisted in the exercise of his authority
and the fulfillment of his duties." On reaching
Gist's he found that no provisions, stores, nor surgical
aid had arrived there in obedience to the command
sent by Washington to Col. Dunbar, and thereupon he
sent still more peremptory orders to that officer to
forward them instantly, with the two only remaiining companies of the Forty-fourth and Forty-eighth
Regiments, to assist in bringing off the wounded.
The wagolns arrived oin the miorning of Friday, the
11th, and a party was then immediately sent back
towards the Monongahela to rescue such of the
wounded as could be found, and with a supply of
provisions to be left along the road for the benefit of
those who miglht be missed and come up afterwards.
Of the movements of the general and his party on
that day, Capt. Orme's journal has the following
entry:
" Gist's plantation.
"July 11.-Somle wagons, provisions, and hospital
stores arrived. As soon as the wounded were dressed,
and the men had refreshed themselves, we retreated
to Col. Dunbar's camp, which was near Rock Fort.
The general sent a sergeant's party back with provisions to be left on the road, on the other side of the
Yoxhio Geni, for the refreshment of any men who
might have lost their way in the woods. Upon our
arrival at Colonel Dunbar's camp we found it in the
greatest confusion. Some of his men had gone off
upon hearing of our defeat, and the rest seemed to
have forgot all discipline. Several of our detachments had not stopped till they had reached the
camp. It was found necessary to clear some of the
wagons for the wounded, many of whom were in a
desperate situation; and as it was impossible to reCONNELLSVILLE BOROUGH AND TOWNSHIP.
of Connellsville, and on the 4tli of July, in the same
year, he was commissioned justice of the peace for
District No. 10 of Fayette County. In 1813 his residence was where John Newcomer now lives in Connellsville. Later he moved to a house that stood on
the site of Mrs. William Baldwin's present residence.
In that house he passed the remainder of his life, and
died there in 1840. He was uniformly successful as
a physician, widely and favorably known, and deservedly popular.
Dr. Robert D. Moore, a native of the State of New
Jersey, studied medicine in Philadelphia, and came
to settle in Connellsville as early as 1808. His residence was on Water Street, where Miss Susan Byerly
now lives. He was one of the physicians who formed
the old Union Medical Society in 1810. He lived to
a very advanced age, and always took high rank as a
physician, as he was also universally respected as a
citizen.
Drs. Joseph Trevor, James Cummings, Joseph Rogers, and Aaron Torrance were pupils of Dr. Robert
D. Moore, and all became practicing physicians in
Connellsville, though Trevor, Rogers, and Torrance
removed from the place after a time. The last named
settled in Mount Pleasant, and practiced there until
his death. Dr. Rogers located in what is now the
town,ship of Springfield, and became interested in the
business of Fayette Furnace, but continued his practice there until his death, in February, 1876.
Dr. Cummings remained in Connellsville, and became widely known as a leading and very skillful
physician, and as an honest and in every way most
estimable man. During the years of his greatest activity the practice in the town was divided between
him and Dr. Lindley, and the most cordial and
friendly relations always existed between these two
physicians. Dr. Cumminigs amnassed a large fortune.
It was he who built the hotel known as the Yough
House, which he owned, as also the property adjoining it on the east, on which latter was his residence.
Dr Charles McClane was located as a physician in
Connellsville at least as early as 1816, as his advertisement is found in the Genius of Liberty of August
4th of that year, notifying the public that William
McClane was then his partner in business in Connellsville. He lived in the old Dr. Francis house, and remained in practice in the town for about fifteen years.
He was the inventor and proprietor of his "Liver
Pills" and "Worm Specific," patent medicines that
are still in use. In 1833 (after the removal of Dr.
McClane), D. S. Knox, then a druggist in Connellsville, entered into a contract with the doctor, by which
he secured the right to manufacture and sell these
medicines. Dr. McClane left Connellsville about
1830, and went to Morgantown, Va., where he died
recently at an advanced age.
Dr. Samuel S. Neal, from Philadelphia, opened an
office in Connellsville in 1816, as is shown by his
advertisement in the Genius of Liberty in that year.
No further information has been gained concerning
him.
Dr. Lutellus Lindley, a native of the State of Ohio,
studied medicine for three years with Dr. H. W.
Blatchley, in Washington County, Pa., and in 1834
located in Connellsville, where he has remained in
practice until the present time. He is the leading
physician in Connellsville, and the senior medical
practitioner in the county of Fayette.'
Dr. Gibson Rogers studied medicine with his
brother-in-law, Dr. Aaron Torrance, at Mount Pleasant. He came to Connellsville in 1839, and practiced for about ten years, then removed to California.
After several years' absence he returned to Connellsville and resumed practice; afterwards he removed to
Duilbar, and finally to Florida, where he died.
Dr. James RQgers, son of Dr. Joseph Rogers, studied medicine with his father, and commenced practice in this borough in 1855. He was a skillful surgeon,
and served in the army in that capacity in the war of
the Rebellion. He died March 26, 1870.
Dr. James Johnston, son of Alexander Johnston,
studied medicine with Dr. James Cummings, and
graduated in Jefferson Medical College. He then
went to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he practiced a year
or two, and in 1858 came to Connellsville (his native
place), where he practiced till his death, June 14,
1871.
Dr. John R. Nickel, a native of Connellsville township, was an eclectic physician, and highly thought
of by the adherents of that school of medicine.
The present physicians of Connellsville hre:
Dr. Lutellus Lindley.    Dr. J. C. McClenathan.
" Smith Buttermore.      " A. C. Connelly.
" J. J. Singer.            " Rogers Torrance.
" G. W. Newcomer.        " T. R. Graham.
" S. Bosley.               " P. J. Stauffer.
NEWSPAPERS.
The pioneer newspaper of Connellsville was the
Connellsville Herald, published in the borough between
1815 and 1820. Neither the date of its first publication, the period of its continuance, nor the name of its
publisher has been ascertained, nor has any information of any kind been found concerning this old paper, excepting what is contained in the columns of
The Reporter, of Washington, Pa., in its issue of Feb.
9, 1818, viz., an extract from the Connellsville Herald,
noticing " the death of Isaac Meason, Esq., of Mount
Braddock," on the 23d of January, in that year.
The Connellsville Enterprise was first issued about
August 1st, in the year 1855, by Lafayette Markle,
from whom it afterwards passed into the hands of S.
S. White. In its issue of May 6, 1859, is an advertisement, offering the paper, press, and material for
sale. On Friday, June 17th, in the same year, the
1 Dr. Lindley died in Connellsville in the fall of 1881, since the above
was written.
I
383.IlHISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Fayette Patriot was first issued by R. Lyle White. The
time of its suspension has not been ascertained.
The Fayette 3Monitor and Youghioghenian was first
issued April 12, 1870, with D. P. Stentz as editor and
proprietor. It was a seven-column paper, nineteen
by twenty-five inches, Democratic in politics. In 1873
it was enlarged to eight columns. During the first
year of the paper's existence the office was in the lower
story of the building in which it is at present. It was
then removed to Odd-Fellows' Hall, and remained
there about one year. From there it was removed to
the present office on Spring Street. The circulation
of the paper is now eight hundred. Mr. Stentz has
been sole editor from the time of starting until the
present, except that C. L. Miller was associated with
him for a short time in the fall of 1874.
The Baptist Messenger, a three-column quarto, ten by
fourteen inches, issued its first number at Connellsville
in April, 1879. The editors were Rev. W. H. Cooper
and Rev. R. C. Morgan. Mr. Cooper retired after
about a year. T-he paper is now edited by Rev. Mr.
Morgan, and published at the office of the Monitor.
The Connellsville Tribune was commenced in the
early part of December, 1874, by R. M. Sibbett, under
whose editorship the paper was Republican.  Its
changes have been numerous. In 1878, S. J. Hayes
was editor, and the paper became "Greenback" in
politics. It was soon after sold to Tilghman Hawes,
who had edited a paper at Meyersdale, called the
Meyersdale Independent, which he sold, and then published a paper there, called the Connellsville. Chronicle,
which he moved to Connellsville and merged with
the Tribune, retaining the latter name. About the 1st
of May, 1879, the office was closed, and the press and
part of the material was purchased by the Keystone
Publishing Company. The paper was made Republican again under Mr. Hawes. When first published
the office of the paper was on Water Street, in the
building now the " Baltimore House." Later it was
removed to Greenland's building on Apple Street.
The Keystone Courier was first issued July 19, 1879,
by the Keystone Publishing Company, H. P. Snyder,
editor; E. V. Goodchild, manager. Democratic in
politics. The office was at first in the Reasinger building, on Main Street. On the 1st of April, 1880, it was
moved to its present location on Water Street. The
circulation of the paper is fifteen hundred.
SCHOOLS.
In the charter of the town of Connellsville, granted
by Mr. Connell in 1793, it was provided that " Whereas it is the desire of the said Zachariah Connell that
the inhabitants of said town should be accommodated
with a commodious seat whereon to erect a house or
houses for public worship, and school or schools, he
for that purpose alone appropriates the lots Nos. 88
and 96 on said plan for that purpose, free and clear
of purchase money or ground-rent forever to the inhabitants of said town, their heirs and successors, to
be held in  common  for the purpose aforesaid, or
jointly, as the inhabitants may choose." On the
ground so set apart for that purpose the first schoolhouse of Connellsville was erected by subscriptions
of the citizens.  It was a log building, and stood on
the site of the present Union school-house.   The
date of its erection is not known, but is probably
1806. That it was built prior to October of that year
is evident from the tenor of the following extract from
the minutes of the Town Council, viz.:
"At a meeting of the Council of the Borough of Connellsville, convened on the [illegible] day of October, 1806, agreeably to notice given by the Town Clerk, a paper was presented
to the Council, signed by a majority of the freeholders in the
Borough, requesting them to vest the School-house in the Burgess and Town Council and their successors in office forever.
The Council agreed accordingly. On motion, it was then resolved that' the school-house should be rented to a Teacher for
the sum of eighteen dollars per year, and that the money so
obtained should be applied to the discharge of the debt which
is owing to Messrs. S.  C. Trevor, and to repairs when they
must necessarily be made.
" On motion, Resolved that James Francis and Charles Williams be appointed as a Committee to repair the house and to
make an offer of the same to George Roules, provided he will
engage to pay the annual rent, but in case of his refusal they
are to make the same proposal to William  Powell, and then
mnake report to the Council.
"On motion, Resolved that George Mathiot, Caleb Trevor,
and James Blackstone be a Committee to collect the subscriptions made to the School-House which have not been already
paid, and that the Clerk notify them accordingly."
On the 2d of April, 1807, the Council passed an
ordinance " vesting the right, jurisdiction, etc., of the
school-house and lots thereto belonging in the burgess
and Town Council, and also for regulating the school."
This ordinance purported to empower the Council to
employ such teachers as they thought fit, and they
were required to attend at the school on the first Wednesday of the last month in each quarter, to examine
the school and note the improvement made by the
scholars. At the same meeting the Council passed
the following:
" Resolved, That the hours of tuition to be observed by the
present teacher, Mr. Donogh, shall be from eight o'clock till
twelve, and from one o'clock till half after five in summer, and
in winter from nine o'clock till twelve, and from one o'clock
till four.
"Resolved, That each scholar shall pay twelve cents and a
balf per quarter, or fifty cents per year, for the rent of the schoolhouse, and that Mr. Andrew Donogh, the present teacher, shall
collect the same when he receives his payment for his tuition."
In April, 1809, "The Council ordered the clerk to
notify Andrew Donogh that unless he proceeds immediately to collect the arrearages of rent due for
the school-house and pay the same over to the Council,
to be applied to repairs, they will hold him responsible for the same and act accordingly."
April 17, 1809, it was by the Council resolved
"that every Preceptor who shall be employed by the
Council shall be enjoined and required, as soon as he
384CONNELLSVILLE BOROUGH AND TOWNSHIP.
shall have his subscription compleated, to lodge an
accurate copy of the same with the Town Clerk."
After which Benjamin Evans offered himself as a
preceptor, and after some debate was accepted of on
condition that he should commence a school on or
before the first day of the next June, and continue
the same for three months without an intermission,
"at the end of which term he is to be allowed twenty
days, after which he is to continue six months longer
if agreeable to the Council."
At the next meeting of the Council (April 24,1809)
Caleb Trevor was appointed "to superintend and
cause to be done what repairs are necessary to the
school-house for the recption of the teacher and his
scholars, and that he be paid for the same out of the
borough treasury." On the 15th day of May, 1809,
it was resolved " that it shall be the duty of the Town
Clerk to inform Benjamin Evans that he must give
his Bond for the payment of twelve and one-half cents
per quarter for every scholar which may be sent to
school, and that unless he agrees to comply therewith
and make out a new article binding the subscriber to
make such payment they will discontinue him at the
end of the First Quarter." Two days later (May 17th)
a long discussion was held upon this subject, and " it
was concluded that B. Evans should go on to teach
school as was first contemplated, without endeavoring
to obtain a new subscription."
In September, 1809, the school-house again needed
repairs, and Caleb Trevor and Joshua Gibson were
appointed to see that necessary repairs were made.
The following extracts from the borough records
have reference to teachers and other school matters.
"Oliver Sproul, schoolmaster, ended his first quarter July 1, 1811; had 37~ scholars."
"April 8, 1812, Settled with Oliver Sproul at a
meeting of the Council this day, and took his note to
Treasurer for $22 in full of Arrearages until this day."
Settlement was again made Allgust 10th.
On the 17th of April, 1812, Council "resolved to
accept the two lots on the east of the former school
lots, it being the present from Alexander Addison for
the use of an English school or schools." The deed
for these lots was executed by Zachariah Coinell (a
present from Alexander Addison), May 30, 1812.
March 12, 1814, a meeting was held by the Council
"for the purpose of considering whether they will
continue to employ the present teacher of the school';
they agree to employ him for another half-year at
the same rates as heretofore."
July 13, 1814, " Council directed the clerk to call
on William Beaty, schoolmaster, for a copy of his
School Articles, and to give a Bond for Rent of 121
cents each scholar per quarter." Clerk reported at
next meeting that Mr. Beaty refused to give copy or
bond, and on the next meeting, July 30th of the same
year, the Council " took the matter into consideration,
and agreed to continue Mr. Beaty ih the School for
three Months longer, without conditions."
In November, 1814, " the Council considered whether
they will employ Seth Elias as schoolmaster. After
consideration, they agree to confer with him on Wednesday, the 9th inst." No further action in reference
to this man is found recorded.
Oct. 7, 1815, the Council ordered two writing-tables
made in the school-house, fifteen feet long and seventeen inches wide on each side; "also to have the
chinkilg made tight with sufficient mortar, and the
windows glazed and puttied."
Aug. 15,1816, Council resolved that Oliver Sproul be
" continued as School-Master at the Borough SchoolHouse another quarter." There is nothing found to
show whether or not Sproul had been teaching in the
borough school continuously from the date of the
previous reference to him.
Sept. 22, 1817, "Mr. A. Baldwin, Chairman of
the Council, suggested that the Sunday-school was
an infringement on the ordinance and supplements
thereto for the regulation of the Borough School. A
motion was made by Esq. George Mathiot, and seconded, to take the sense of the Council on the above
subject, which was done, and determined in the negative. Mr. Abraham Baldwin only in the affirmative."
In 1818 the name of Oliver Sproul again appears as
teacher of the borough school.
March 6, 1819, George Bell, schoolmaster, made
application to the Council " for the privilege of the
Borough School-House, to teach a school therein,
which was granted." Oliver Sproul's account was
approved, which was apparently the closing up of his
service as teacher in the Connellsville school. March
16th, repairs on the school-house were ordered, with
new benches, etc.
July 12, 1819, it was by the Council resolved " that
Mr. G. Bell be, and he is hereby, requested to continue
his school three months longer, under and subject to
the same rules which he has heretofore established."
And at the same time an ordinance was unanimously
passed "That the 3d sect. of the 23d ordinance, inflicting a fine of $20 on the Burgess or any member
of the Council who may directly or indirectly encourage any other teacher except the one who is employed by a majority of the Council, be, and it is
hereby, repealed."
On the 1st of October, 1819, "The Council being
informed that Mr. Bell, the present teacher in the
borough school-house, declines teaching after the expiration of the present quarter, and having an opportunity of supplying his place immediately by Mr.
James Killin, a young man of seventeen years of age,
have agreed to receive him on trial, they to be at
liberty to discharge him at the end of one month if
they do not approve of him as a teacher." It appears,
however, that James Killin did not then enter upon
duty as teacher, neither did Bell retire, for on the
19th of April, 1820, "George Bell's time as teacher
being expired, proposals were laid before the Council
by William Jessup. The question whether he be em385HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
ployed being put, was decided in the negative." On
the 29th of April in the same year Dennis O'Keefe proposed to the Council to engage as teacher of the borough school, and the Council accepted his proposition.
Among the papers brought to light in the demolition of the old Herbert house was an article of
agreement between the borough of Connellsville and
Dennis O'Keefe, teacher, dated Nov. 11, 1820, which
sets forth that the said O'Keefe " doth agree to teach
an English School in the Borough School-House;
that he shall teach Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, and
English Grammar; that when his School shall consist of over forty scholars he shall employ one of his
best scholars as an Assistant Teacher."
The school return of the teacher O'Keefe for the
quarter ending in February, 1821, embodies the subscription paper, by which certain subscribers agreed
to pay him "The sum of $2.50 each, together with
121 cents each, which is for the rent of the schoolhouse, and an equal portion of coal towards each
scholar we respectively subscribe or send for each
quarter." To this was appended the following names
and certification, viz.:
Scholars.l
"Jonathan Page......... 2~
H. Gebhart............  1
Adam  Snider..............  1
Sarah Keepers...........  1
Nancy White..............  1
Clement Smith...........  1
John Talbut............  1
James Johnston..........  l
Alexander Johnston..... 1~
George Marietta......... 1~
John Salyards............  
Daniel Itarshman.......   1
Hiram  Hierbert............  2
Scholars.
James Inglis............  1
S. G. Wurtz...............   2
SaimLuel Sharples.........  1
James Carr.................  2
James Noble............  1
Michael Gilmore.........    1
Daniel Coughenour......  1
Encal Clayton............  1
William   Little............
Esther Campbell.........   1
James McBride..........  1
Alfred  McCormick......   1
"Scholars, 30.
"LESTER L. NORTON,
" Treasurer of the Borough of Connellsville.'"The above is-a correct Return of the Borough School for
the third quarter, ending in February, 1821.
"Yours with respect,
" D. O'KEEFE."
In the minutes of Sept. 18, 1822, "Schoolmaster
Clemens" is nientioned. Under date of March 28,
1823, appears as follows: " William Clemens Dr. to
the Borough for School-House rents for the first quarter, $15.18-." It appears that Mr. Clemens neglected
the business of his school so much that the Council
ordered him to account to that body at its next meeting. This order brought from Mr. Clemens a statement, and action of the Council upon it as follows:
"William Clemens (Borough teacher) exhibited his account,
which was reduced. The account rendered by Mr. Clemens is
as follows, viz.:
Scholars. Days.
The number of scholars in his 5th quarter. 29  20,,"   "     "          "   6th    "     35..
"        "        "       "   7th   "   26   46
Ending the 28th May inst., 8th    "      26   51
Total................................ 117  45
"117 scholars and 45 days, at 12~ per scholar per quarter,
Amounts to........................  $14.69~
Released one 7c of J. Cushman.............    37~
$14.32
"Amount due for rent up to 2Sth inst., $14.32, due for schoolhouse rent. Mr. Clemens presented his account against the
borough, which was examined and adjusted and approved to
amount of $2.571. Bal. due to the Borough, $11.74~."2
Clemens was succeeded by a Mr. Fleming, who
taught the borough school in 1826.  A  school was
opened by D. S. Knox, on Peach Street,-the lot now
owned by Isaac Taylor, where Mrs. Russell lives.
After a time an arrangement was made to combine
the two schools, and some of the citizens of Connellsville still recollect the day when the pupils of the
Knox school were marched in a body from Peach
Street to the borough school-house.
July 16, 1827.--It was by the Council " Resolved
that Mr. Lewis be permitted to teach in the Borough
School-House for one year fronm date, without rent,
he to make all repairs, and the Borough to have the
use of the house for elections and other meetings."
July 31, 1828.-Mr. McGlaughlin was "permitted
to teach in the Borough School-House for one quarter, free of rent, except repairs."
On the 27th of October, 1829, the Council resolved
"That the wreck of the school-house be exposed to
public Sale on Thursday, the 8th instant." On the
8th of February following the Council
"Resolved, That Whereas a subscription has been got up by
the Citizens of the Borough for building a School-house on one
of the Lots owned by the Borough for such use. Resolved,
That the building committee who may be appointed by the
citizens be and they are hereby authorized to cause said schoolhouse to be erected on such part of said lot or lots as they may
think proper or the Citizens direct. Resolved, That the proceeds of the sale of the wreck of the old school-house be and
are hereby appropriated towards erecting -said school-house,
and that the Burgess draw his order in favor of the Building
Committee for the amount of said proceeds. Resolved, That
the said Building Committee, or any person they may contract
with, have liberty to make brick for said school-house on said
lot or lots, or the street adjoining the same, and to use the clay
thereon for the purpose, provided they fill up any holes they
may dig in the street in a reasonable time."
June 30, 1830, a special meeting of the Council was
held to receive a memorial of the citizens of the
borough and acting on it. It was presented, and after
deliberation the Council " Resolved that if a Majority
of the Taxable inhabitants sign a paper and present
the same to the Council in the following words, to
wit:'We, the undersigned, Taxable inhabitants of
the Borough of Connellsville, do object to the building of a borough School-House, or any other improvements within the Borough, by the collection of
a tax or otherwise the present year,' then the pres2 The settlenments of teachers with the borough authorities during the
continuance of that system almost invariably showed the teacher to be
in debt to the borough at tihe close of his term.
1 The one-half indicates that one scholar was to attend school half the
time in the quarter.
I
386CONNELLSVILLE BOROUGH AND TOWNSHIP.
ent Council do hereby Resolve to repeal the ordinance
regulating the Borough tax, passed June 3d instant."
With occasional resolutions by the Council to build
a new school-house, and remonstrances against the
same by the inhabitants of the borough, nothing was
accomplished, and Connellsville remained without a
borough school-house from the sale of the " wreck" of
the old building until several years after the passage
of the free public school law in 1834. By the provisions of that law, authority over the schools was
transferred from the borough to the board of school
directors. Such a board was constituted for Connellsville by the appointment of William Davidson and
Henry W. Lewis by the court at its January term
in 1835. They were succeeded by Valentine Coughenour and James G. Turner, who were elected in
March of the same year.
In 1838, John Fuller and Dr. L. Lindley were
elected school directors. At that time Connellsville
was still without a school-house, all schools having
been taught in rented rooms after the abandonment
of the old school-house in 1829. Prominent among
the schools so taught during the period referred to
was the school taught by Robert Torrance, at his
house on Church (Pittsburgh) Street, where he had
an attendance of about eighty scholars. But when
Messrs. Fuller and Lindley became the school directors they determined to erect school-houses, even if
on that account it should become necessary to close
the schools for the year for lack of money. It may
be questionable whether they kept entirely within the
requirements of the law in this regard; but however
this may have been, they succeeded in erecting three
buildings. One of these, located on Mount Puff
(present school-house grounds), was the brick building which is still standing there; another was the
Quaker graveyard school-house, built on a lot purchased of Henry Blackstone, and the third was the
school-house on the "Pinnacle." The first teacher
(or certainly one of the earliest) in the brick house
on Mount Puff was James McIlvaine, who had charge
of that school in the year 1840.
The school-houses erected by the efforts of Messrs.
Fuller and Lindley were continue'd in use for the
schools until the completion of the present fine and
commodious school-building. The "Pinnacle" lot
and school-house was then sold to John K. Brown.
The "Mount Puff" school-house is now the janitor's
house on the public school ground. The Quaker
graveyard school lot, which was purchased of Henry
Blackstone, is still owned by the borough school district.
The borough of Connellsville was erected into a
separate and independent school district by the Court
of Quarter Sessions of Fayette County at the March
term in 1852. Six directors were to be elected, and
on the 5th of April of the same year the followingnamed persons were so elected to form the first school
board of the district under the new organization, viz.:
Stephen Robbins, for one year.
Josiah Kurtz, for one year.
Abram Shellenberger, for two years.
John Taylor, for two years.
John Collins, for three years.
George White, for three years.
On the 14th of October following, the borough was
divided into five sub-districts.
The project to build a new and commodious schoolhouse of sufficient capacity to accommodate the
schools of the borough began to be agitated in 1865,
and on the 11th of March, 1866, it was resolved "to
build a three-story School-House, sixty by sixty-six
feet," and to borrow money on borough school bonds
for that purpose. No further action of importance
was taken in the premises during that year.
On the 6th of May, 1867, a plan for a school-house
was submitted by Barr  Mosier, architects, of Pittsburgh. The plan was adopted, and on the 14th of
the same month a contract for the building was
awarded to Christian Snider at $14,000.
May 21, 1867, a petition was presented signed by
thirty-eight citizens of the borough protesting against
the erection of the school-house, also a petition from
others praying that the contract be carried out.
On the 5th of August following the board of school
directors received a communication from the Town
Council of Connellsville as follows: "To the Board
of School Directors of Connellsville Borough: Gentlemen,-At a meeting of the Town Council of said
borough, held on Saturday, Aug. 3, 1867, the following proceedings were had:'Resolved that the School
Directors of Connellsville Borough be notified to stop
proceedings in regard to building a school-house until
said Directors shall have conference with said Council
in reference to the construction of said house.'"
In reply to this communication the school board
"Resolved that as the Charter of the Borough of
Connellsville, as well as the Deed from Connell, donates or conveys the public ground for school-houses
and churches, and as since the organization of the
public system the said ground has already been
granted by the Borough to the School Board, and one
School-House already erected thereon, therefore the
said Board have a right to continue to occupy said
ground for the purpose of erecting additional schoolhouses thereon without further permission from the
Town Council. We therefore respectfully ask said
Council to show cause, if any there be, why said
ground shall not now be used for the purpose of
erecting a school-house thereon."  No further collision occurred between the board and the Council in
reference to the matter.
In February, 1868, Christian Snider's contract for
building the school-house was cancelled, the board
paying him for expenses already incurred. The plans
of the building were then slightly changed, and on
the 4th of May following a new contract was made
387HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
with John Kilpatrick for a brick building, fifty-five
by seventy feet in dimensions and three stories high,
for eleven thousand two hundred dollars.
Work upon the new school-house was commenced
and continued through the summer and fall of 1868
and spring of 1869, and on the 11th of June in the
latter year the board accepted the building from the
contractor, who was paid in the settlement as follows:
Contract......................................  $11,200.00
Extra work..................................    2,229.59
Total...................................... $13,429.59
On Monday, June 14, 1869, the new house was first
occupied by the schools of Connellsville under S. P.
Espy as principal. He was succeeded by M. L. Baer,
the present principal.
There are now (June, 1881) seven hundred and
sixty-two scholars, under twelve teachers, in all the
departments. The total receipts from all sources for
the year ending June 1, 1881, were $8504.72; expenditures, $7097.28.  The directors for 1881 are
Stephen McBride, President; H. P. Snyder, Treasurer; L. P. Norton, Secretary; Dr. Smith Buttermore,
Dr. P. J. Stauffer, William B. Miner.
CHURCHES.
CONNELLSVILLE BAPTIST CHURCH.1
The Baptist Church in Connellsville was constituted
June 26, 1796, with the following-named constituent
members: David Lobdell, Samuel Trevor, Caleb Trevor, Joshua Lobdell, Michael Bryant, Sarah Muirs,
Sarah Trevor, Nancy Bryant, and Mary Lobdell,all being members of regular Baptist Churches in
Europe and America.
In the early days of the church the deacons were
Samuel Trevor and David Lobdell. Its records even
at this early p-eriod show that the church was purely
apostolic in doctrine, practice, and discipline. During
the first thirty years of its existence its members
were ministered to by evangelists and chosen ones of
their own number having ability to teach. The first
regularly installed pastor was Elder James Frey, who
served from 1804 to 1809, inclusive. In 1810 the Rev.
George Watkin became pastor, and served in that
office till 1815. From that time to 1830 the church
was served by James Estep, afterwards D.D., who
labored with this congregation in word and doctrine.
He was succeeded by the Rev. Lester Norton, who
served in the pastorate for two years.
In 1832 the pastoral charge of the church was assumed by the Rev. Benoni Allen, a popular preacher,
mighty in the Scriptures, and a giant in debate.
During this period the minutes of the church show
that there was rarely a meeting held in which there
were no converts seeking admission into the church.
It numbered at that time one hundred and fifty members. In 1835 the Rev. J. P. Rockafeller became
pastor and continued until 1837, when the Rev. Mil1 By Rev. R. C. Morgan.
ton Sutton was placed in charge, and served the
church in a very acceptable manner for four years.
Between the years 1835 and 1840 the teachings of
the Rev. Alexander Campbell (founder of the sect
known as Disciples) greatly afflicted this church,
almost rending it asunder by disunion and strife,
leaving it a shattered wreck and but a shadow of
what it had formerly been. From 1840 for ten years
the pastors of the church were the Revs. J. W. Tisdale, E. D. Brown, and John Parker. In 1851 the
Rev. W. W. Hickman was installed pastor, and continued in that capacity for two years. From 1854 to
1864 the church was served by supplies, except a part
of the time, when the Rev. John Scott was pastor.
From 1864 to 1875 the pastors were the Revs. W. W.
Hickman, N. B. Crutchfield, David Williams, and W.
H. Cooper. In 1875 the church was in a low and depressed condition, from various causes which contributed to this sad result.  It ha.d been retrograding
for many years, and some had almost abandoned the
hope of seeing better days; others continued firm in
the faith that the God of their fathers would yet visit
them in mercy. But the year 1876 was to their
sore hearts the dawn of a better time. God heard
their cries, and guided them to call to the pastorate
a young man then in charge of the Baptist Church in
Irwin, Westmoreland Co., the Rev. R. C. Morgan.
He took charge of the church in April, 1876, and has
continued with it to the present time, and the six
years of his pastorate have been wonderfully blessed.
The present number of members of this church is
four hundred and eighty.
In 1877 the old church building of this congregation was demolished, and a larger, more commodious,
and elegant structure reared in its place. The church's
property is free from debt, and its finances in a flourishing condition. There is a fine Sunday-school controlled by the church, with several mission schools in
fair condition located in the outlying suburbs of the
town.
The board of deacons is composed of P. McCormick, W. F. Holsing, Henry Shaffer, W. B. Minor,
J. L. Stentz, R. L. Boyd, J. W. Minor, D. Workman.
It is worthy of note that Deacon McCormick has
served as an efficient officer of the church since the
year 1831. a period of more than half a century.
Among the devoted and honorable women who
have sustained an important part in the history of
the church, and whose names should be handed down
to future generations, are Sisters Snyder, Wetherill,
Higgins, Dushane, Buttermore, Munson, McCormick,
Robinson, Minor, McBeth, Morgan, Risinger, Shaffer,
White, Barnes, Percy; and Shaw.
The Newmeyers became connected with the church
at a very early date, and are still represented in it by
their descendants. There are three clergymen who
hold their membership in the church besides the pastor, namely, Rev. W. A. Barnes, Rev. W. H. Cooper,
and Rev. A. Hutton.
388CONNELLSVILLE BOROUGH AND TOWNSHIP.
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
Much that pertains in general to the early history
of the Methodist Episcopal Churches of this section
of country, including that at Connellsville, will be
found in the history of the church of this denomination at Uniontown, to which reference may be
had. When Robert Ayres and John Smith were
appointed to this circuit by the Conference in
1786, there is little doubt that Connellsville was
one of their preaching-places.  In 1789 Ayres became a minister of the Protestant Episcopal Church
of Brownsville, where he resided many years. In
1848 the Rev. P. McGowan collected and recorded all
the information that could be found in reference to
the history of this church. He says of 1789," There is reason to believe that there was a society
at Connellsville at this time. Anthony Banning, who
resided at Connellsville, was received on trial in the
traveling connection this year, but located in 1791,
and afterwards resided in the same place." Of 1792
he says, " It is believed that about this time Connellsville was attached to the Pittsburgh Circuit." In
1802 Connellsville was in the Baltimore Conference,
Pittsburgh District. McGowan says of 1811,' This
year the circuit is named Connellsville, and the uncertainty under which we have labored, ceases as
it respects the circuit with which this appointment
has been connected. The writer is not at present able
to state with precision the date of the erection of the
stone meeting-house on the hill. It was previous,
however, to this year."
The preachers on the circuit in that and succeeding
years were:
1811.-John Meek, Jacob Gorwell.
1812.-Simon Lanch, Louis R. Fechtige.
1813.-Thornton Fleming.
1816.-John Macklefresh.
1817.-John West.
1818.-James Reily, Henry Baker, Peregrine Buckingham.
1819.-Samuel P. V. Gillespie, Bennet Douler.
1820.-John West, John Connelly.
1821.--John West, Norval Wilson.
1822.-.Henry Baker, William Barnes.
1823.-Henry Baker, William Morgan.
1824.-James Paynter, John Strickler.
1825.-Robert Boyd, Thomas Jamison.
1826.-George Waddle, John Connelly.
1827.-David Sharp, John Connelly.
1828.--Charles Thorn, Jacob K. Miller.
1829.-Charles Thorn, John West.
1830.-James G. Sansom, John Philips.
1831.-James G. Sansom, Moses Tichinell, William
A. Barton. (" Radical Secession at Connellsville" this year.)
1832.-John White, Weslev Kenney.
1833.-John White, Wesley Kenney, George L. Sisson.
1834.-David Sharp, Elias W. Worthington.
1835.-David Sharp, Jeremiah Knox.
1836.-John Spencer, John Murray.
1837.-Samuel Wakefield, George L. Bisson.
1838.-Samuel Wakefield, D. L. Dempsey.
1839.-Williamn Tipton, Hamilton Cree.
Uniontown District.
1840.-William Tipton, Hamilton Cree.
1841.-Warner Long, Heaton Hill.
1842.-Warner Long, M. A. Ruter.
1843.-John L. Irwin, Jeremniah Knox.
1844.-John L. Irwin, M. P. Jemison.
1845.-John 1B. West, M. P. Jemison.
1846.-John Coil, Joseph Ray.
1847.-P. M. McGowan, Joseph Ray.
1848.-P. M. McGowan, George B. Hudson.
1849.-James G. Sansom, John M. Rankin.
1850.-James G. Sansom, J. L. Deans, D. B. Campbell.
1851.-Circuit divided, J. J. Covert appointed to
Connellsville.
1852.-Connellsville made a station and thrown into
Uniontown District, J. J. Covert appointed
preacher; number of members, about one hundred
and forty.
1853.-Connellsville and Jacob's Creek thrown into
one charge. P. F. Jones, preacher.
1854.-In this year Jacob's Creek and Dunbar were
taken from the charge.
1855.-Wm. Stuart, John Wakefield. Connellsville
was connected with the Redstone Circuit.
1856.-J. P. Saddler, J. R. Cooper.
1857.--E. B. Griffin, J. McIntire.
1858.-Samrne.
1859.-James Hollingshead, M. McK. Garrett.
1860.-Samuel Wakefield, M. McK. Garrett.
1861.--Samuel Wakefield, W. K. Marshall.
1862.-Connellsville was stricken off from the circuit,
and with Springfield made a separate charge. J.
W. Kessler appointed pastor.
1863.-Connellsville made a station. J. W. Weaver,
pastor.
1864.-C. W. Smith, pastor.
1865-67.-J. J. Jones.
1868-70.-C. W. Scott.
1871.-S. W. Horner.
1872-74.-T. H. Wilkinson.
1875-77.-J. T. Jones.
1878-80.-J. A. Danks.
1881.-J. Hollingshead. On Mr. Hollingshead's removal to Providence, R. I., in April, 1881, the
Rev. M. L. Weekly was placed in charge, and is
the present pastor of this church.
The date of the erection of the old stone house of
worship on the hill has not been ascertained, beyond
the fact that it was prior to the year 1811. It has been
said that Zachariah Connell, the founder of the town,
and a member of the Methodist Church, donated
the lot and building to the society.  This state389HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
ment may be true, but it is not fully authenticated.
The old edifice was used for many years, but finally
abandoned as a place of worship, and was sold to
John Taylor, who sold it to Gebhart, Freeman  Co.
It was afterwards used as a foundry for about ten
years. In 1871 it was sold to the Roman Catholics,
and by themn demolished to make room for their nfew
house of worship.
In 1836 the society purchased by contract for one
hundred dollars a part of lot No. 132, situated on Apple Street and Meadow Alley, which property was
deeded on the 1st of March, 1837, by William Davidson, to the trustees, John Wilson, Philip Snyder,
Jacob Conrad, Levi B. Page, and Sarnuel Marshall.
Prior to the execution of the deed, however, the society had erected on the land a church building,
which was the house of worship until February, 1882,
when it was demolished to make room for the erection
of a new edifice commensurate with the growing requirements of the congregation.
The present membership of the church is about
three hundred.  There is in connection with the
church a Sabbath-school of about one hundred and
twenty scholars, under charge of twenty-four teachers
and the superintendence of Charles Whitely.
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF CONNELLSVILLE.1
"The first notice of Connellsville in the minutes
of Presbytery is the record of the presentation of
a memorial from the inhabitants oi Connellsville,
praying for leave from Presbytery to obtain occasional
supplies. This was laid on the table." (Min. Pres.,
vol. iv. p. 52. Saltsburg, Ind. Co., Oct. 5, 1830.)
"At this time there were but few members in
Connellsville, among them Alexander Johnston and
family, Wm. Little and family, and Isaac Taylor and
family. These were members at Tyrone, and Mr.
Johnston was an elder. The next mention occurs in
the minutes of the meeting of Presbytery at Rehoboth, Oct. 4, 1831. A memorial from the inhabitants of Connellsville was then presented to Presbytery, praying to be organized into a congregation,
also to obtain supplies, which was granted.  The
records of this church, which are preserved from the
beginning, state that application was made by the
members of the Presbyterian Church residing in
Connellsville and vicinity to the Presbytery of Redstone, and the application was granted, and all those
persons members of the churches at Tyrone and
Laurel Hill residing in Connellsville were set off
and authorized to organize a church at the latter
place. This seems to have been an organization, as
no further reference to it is made, and the church of
Connellsville appears in the spring of 1832 in a statistical report of Presbytery."
The names of the original members of this church
were as follows: Alexander Johnston (elder), Mar1 From a historical sermon by Rev. J. M. Barnett.
garet Johnston, Miss N. C. Johnston, William Little
and Mary Little, Isaac Taylor and Rachel Taylor,
Sarah Turner, Joseph Rogers and Elizabeth Rogers,
Elizabeth Carson, Nancy Norton, Louisa Norton,
Margaret Francis, Harriet Fuller, Margaret Little,
Caroline Trevor, Mary Barnet, Samuel Finlev and
Mary Finley, Samuel McCormick and Elizabeth
McCormick.
Besides these there were four communicants set off
at the same time who resided at Indian Creek, who
continued in connection till 1842 or 1843, when the
church at Indian Creek was organized.
The services of this church were first held in the
Baptist house of worship, and communions in the old
Methodist Church on the hill,-the site of the present
Catholic Church. In the church record bearing date
Jan. 6, 1839, occurs this passage: "On this day the
church erected for the use of the Presbyterian Church
of Connellsville was opened for the occupancy of the
congregation. The occasion was marked with appropriate religious services."
This building continued in use till March 29, 1863,
when it was destroyed by fire. The church record of
that date says, " Our church was destroyed this morningby fire." The walls of the building remained standing, and the church was soon rebuilt as at present.
In the summer of 1871 two lots were donated on
Peach Street (one by John Taylor, the other by J. R.
Johnston and T. W. Watt). A parsonage was erected
at a cost of $3116.
The first meeting for the election of elders was held
in the Baptist Church Aug. 2, 1832, at which time and
place William Lytle, Isaac Taylor, Joseph Paull, Joseph Rogers, and Samuel Russell were elected to that
office. On the 7th of March, 1844, Robert Trevor,
Noble C. McCormick, and Joseph H. Cunningham
were elected; in March, 1850, Mr. McCrea and John
Taylor; Sept. 27, 1851, Samuel A. Russell was elected
an elder, he having then recently been received from
the Laurel Hill Church. On the 26th of March, 1866,
Robert Beatty was elected elder; James Allen was
elected Feb. 24, 1868; John R. Johnston and James
L. Paull were elected Jan. 19, 1873; Henry C. McCormick and A. B. Hosack, in February, 1874; William Barnett and Adam Armstrong elected June 6,
1875, and ordained November 28th same year. Charles
N. Boyd and Jacob May were elected Feb. 1, 1878;
ordained April 28th same year. Mr. Boyd was dismissed to Somerset (where he is now ruling elder) May
18, 1879. James Calhoun and Hugh M. Kerr were
elected May 18, 1879, and ordained December 7th same
year. The present bench of elders consists of James
Allen, H. C. McCormick, William Barnett, A. Armstrong, Jacob May, James Calhoun, and H. M. Kerr.
On the 28th of April, 1874, the Presbyterian
Church of Dunbar was set off from this church by
the Presbytery, and Joseph Paull, John Taylor,
James L. Paull, and Thomas W. Watt were transferred as ruling elders.
390CONNELLSVILLE BOROUGH AND TOWNSHIP.
The first religious services regularly held by Presbyterians in Connellsville were conducted by the Rev.
T. M. Chestnut,l who was sent here by the Board of
Missions. This was before the organization of the
church had been effected. When the application for
organization was granted by the Presbytery, as before mentioned, the Rev. Robert Johnston and the
Rev. A. O. Patterson were appointed as supplies to
Connellsville. The church minutes (Dec. 15, 1831)
state that the Rev. J. L. Hawkins, of the Presbytery
of Washington, having been invited by the members
of the church, entered upon this field of labor as a
missionary, under direction of the General Assembly's Board of Missions, laboring alternately at Connellsville and Indian Creek. He remained in this
field till 1837. The church of Connellsville obtained
leave to present a call for him before the Presbytery
of Washington. On the 20th of June, 1837, he was
received into the Presbytery of Redstone on certificate. A call from this church was presented to him
and accepted. He was installed as pastor. The Rev.
N. H. Gillett preached the sermon, and Rev. Mr.
Johnston delivered the charge. This pastorate continued until April, 1843, when it was closed at Mr.
Hawkins' request. The church was supplied until
April, 1845, by the Revs. James Davis, N. H. Gillett,
W. W. McLane, J. B. McKee, A. G. Fairchild,Findley, -  Eaton,       Wilson,    Guthrie. In
1845, Mr. R. Stevenson became a stated supply here.
He was a licentiate under the care of an Ohio Presbytery, and in April, 1845, he was called by the congregation of this church to take its pastoral charge.
On the 13th of June, 1845, Presbytery met at Connellsville, on which occasion Mr. Stevenson was ordained to the work of the ministry, and was installed
as pastor of this church. This relation continued
until October, 1852, when, after a period of seven
years, he requested and was granted a dismissal.
In the spring of 1853 the Rev. James Black accepted a call, and was installed as pastor in April of
that year. He remained until April, 1860, when he
was called to a professorship in Washington College,
and resigned his charge in Connellsville. The church
was then variously supplied until March 29, 1863,
when a call was extended to Mr. N. H. G. Fife, which
he accepted, and on the 29th of April, 1863, was ordained and installed. He requested a dismissal Nov.
29, 1867, which was granted him, after a service of
four and a half years. The Rev. Mr. Fields preached
as an acceptable supply during the winter of 1867-68,
and was called to the pastorate Jan. 22, 1868, and
was installed on the second Tuesday of February,
the Rev. J. M. Barnett presiding. This relation was
dissolved June 1, 1869. In August or September of
that year a call was extended to the Rev. J. M. Barnett, which he accepted in April, 1870, and was installed on the third Monday in May of that year, the
Rev. N. H. G. Fife preaching the sermon, the Rev.
W. W. Ral'ston delivering the charge to the pastor,
and the Rev. D. W. Townsend the charge to the
people. Mr. Barnett still remains as pastor of the
church.
The original membership of this church (1831) was
twenty-two. A report of membership in 1843 showed
one hundred and eleven in communion (including
members at Indian Creek); in 1853 the membership
was one hundred and nine, in 1863 one hundred and
thirty-one, in 1.873 two hundred and thirty-seven,
and at present it is two hundred and sixty-seven.
Connected with this church is a Sabbath-school of
two hundred and fifty scholars, of which James Calhoun is superintendent.
METHODIST PROTESTANT CHURCII.
According to the best information that can be obtained, this church was organized in the Baptist house
of worship in Connellsville in November or December, 1830, by the Rev. George Brown; John Wesley
Phillips being class-leader.
Moses Scott, who was a weaver in the New Haven
factories, and a local preacher, labored long at this
place and through the neighboring section of country,
and succeeded in organizing several societies. His
labors resulted in the formation of the Union Circuit,
which was connected with the Ohio Conference. By
that Conference Moses Scott was ordained deacon in
1831, and appointed to this circuit, which at that time
was extensive, containing twelve appointments. In
1832 he was appointed elder and sent to Georgetown
Circuit. William Marshall became an assistant to
Scott, and left this circuit in 1832.
The Methodist Protestant church edifice on Apple
Street in Connellsville was erected in 1832, largely
through the earnest and indefatigable labors of J. W.
Phillips. The preachers here at that time were William College and James Porter. The first sermon
preached in the church building was by John B.
Lucas, from the text, "How shall we escape if we
neglect so great salvation?"
In 1833 the trustees of the church were Asher
Smith, John W. Phillips, Isaac W. Francis, Thomas
Kirkpatrick, Samuel Freeman, John Stillwagon, and
John Semple.
The following-named preachers have labored on
this circuit during the, past fifty years:
1831.-Moses Scott, William H. Marshall.
1832.-William College, James Porter.
1833.-William College, Thomas Stynchcomb.
1834.-Daniel Gibbons, F. McWilliams.
1835.-John Huntsman,-  Miller.
1836.-John Huntsman, Moses N. Warren.
1837.-Cornelius Woodruff, Fielding A. Davis.
1838.-James M. Piper, Gabriel Lanham.
1839.-James Robinson, John B. Shearer.
1840.-James Robinson, F. A. Davis.
1 Rev. Mr. Wylie, of Uniontown, had perhaps preached a few times
before Mr. Chestnut came.
391HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
move the stores, thehowitzer shells, some twelve-pound  terial and stores which had with such great expense
shot, powder, and provisions were destroyed or buried."  and labor been transported across the Alleghenies,
The terror and consternation at Dunbar's camp  and to the top of Laurel Hill, there was only saved
had been constantly on the increase from the time  the least amount that could possibly meet the neceswhen the first of the frightened wagoners had gal-  sities of the retreat to Cumberland.
loped in with the alarming news on the morning of   It has been generally believed that the artillery
the 10th. Through all that day and the following  pieces were not bursted, but buried at Dunbar's camp,
night terrified fugitives from the field, many of them   as well as a great deal of other property. Stories
wounded, were continually pouring in, each telling a  were told, too, that a large amount of money was buried
fearful tale of rout and massacre, and all uniting in  there by Dunbar on the eve of his retreat; and in
the assertion that the French and savages in over-  later years numerous diggings were made there in the
whelming force were following close in the rear.  hope of finding the treasure. Of course all such atThis latter statement was wholly false, for the enemy  tempts have proved as fruitless as they were foolish.
had made no attempt at pursuit from the shores of As to the statement concerning the burial of the canthe Monongahela; but the tale was believed, and its  non, it was indorsed by and perhaps originated with
effect was an uncontrollable panic at the camp.    Col. Burd; 2 but it was disproved by a letter dated
On the arrival of Capt. Stewart with his escort,  Aug. 21, 1755, addressed to Governor Shirley by Col.
bearing the wounded general, a decision was at once  Dunbar; and indorsed by his officers, in which they
arrived at to retreat without delay to Fort Cumber-  said, " We must beg leave to undeceive you in what
land, destroying everything which could not be carried. It was a strange proceeding, and one which
must now appear cowardly, for an army of fiilly a
thousand men, many of them veteran soldiers, with
sufficient artillery and an abundance of ammunition,
to abandon a mountain position which might soon
and easily have been rendered impregnable, and to
fly before the imaginary pursuit by an enemy which
was greatly inferior in numbers, and had already retired in the opposite direction. But if the retreat was
to be made, then it was necessary to destroy nearly
everything except a meagre supply of provisions, for
there was barely transportation enough for the sick
and wounded, who numbered more than three hundred. There were more than enough wagons to carry
everything, but the number of horses was small, many
of the best having been ridden away by the frightened
wagoners and other fugitives, and most of those sent
forward with the trains of the advance column having
been captured by the enemy on the day of the battle.
The work of destruction and preparation for retreat
were commenced immediately, and completed Qn the
12th. The howitzers and every other artillery piece
except two were bursted, as were also a great part of
the shell. Some of the shells and nearly all the solid
shot were buried. A great number of wagons (having
no horses to draw them) were burned. Only a small
part of the provisions was saved for the march, most
of them being destroyed by burning, or thrown into
the little pond of water that had been formed by damnming the spring a shor.t distance below the camp.
The powder-casks were opened, and their contentsstated at fifty thousand pounds of powder-thrown
into the pool.L Of all the immense quantity of ma1 " Old Henry Beeson, the proprietor of Uniontown, used to relate that
when he first visited these localities, in 1767, there were some six inches
of black nitrous matter visible all over this spring basin."--Veech.
The inference was that the "nitrous matter" referred to canme from
the great quantity of powder thrown into the water by Col. Dunbar's
iimen, wlhich may have been the fact.
you are pleased to mention of guns being buried at
the time Gen. Braddock ordered the stores to be destroyed, for there was not a gun of any kind buried."
The question, who was responsible for the disgraceful retreat from Dunbar's camp, and the destruction
of the stores and war material at that place, has generally received an answer laying the blame on Dunbar himself; and this appears to be just, though in
his letter, above quoted, he mentions the order for the
destruction as having been given by Braddock. It is
true that the orders were still issued in his name, but
the hand of death was already upon him, and he was
irresponsible.  The command really lay with Col.
Dunbar, had he been disposed to take it, as he undoubtedly would readily have done had it not happened that the so-called orders of Braddock were in
this instance (and for the first time in all the campaign) in accordance with his wishes.
In regard to the issuance of these orders by the
dying commander, and Dunbar's very ready and
willing obedience to them, Sargent-who, however,
almost contradicts himself in the first and last parts
of the extract given below --says, "Braddock's
strength was now fast ebbing away. Informed of the
disorganized condition of the remaining troops, he
abandoned all hope of a prosperous termination to the
expedition. He saw that not only death but utter
defeat was inevitable. But, conscious of the odium
the latter event would excite, he nobly resolved that
the sole responsibility of the measure should rest with
himself, and consulted with no one upon the steps he
pursued. He merely issued his orders, and insisted
that they were obeyed. Thus, after destroying the
2 On the 11th of September, 1759, Col. Burd visited Dlunbar's camp,
and concerning this visit his journal says, " From here we marched to
Dunbar's camp.... tIere we saw vast qulantities of cannon-ball, musket-bullets, broken shells, and an immense destruction of powder,
wagons, etc. Reconnoitered all the camp, and attempted to find the
cannon and mortars, but could not discover them, although we dug a
great many holes where stores had bcen buried, and concluded the
Frenchl had carrlied them off."
46HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
1841.-James Robinson, Joseph Burns.
1842.-James Hopwood, Joseph Burns.
1843.-James Hopwood, John Scott.
1844.-Peter T. Laishley.
1845.--James Robinson. Connellsville Circuit set off.
1846.-Henry Palmer, Thomas G. I. Sherwood.
1847.-Henry Palmer.
1848.-George Brown. Connellsville made a station.
1849.-George Brown. Made again a part of Union
Circuit.
1850.-James Hopwood.
1851.-William M. Betts.
1852.-William M. Betts.
1853-54.-Unsupplied.
1855.-D. D. Hughes.
1856.-J. R. Tygard.
1857.-J. M. Mason.
1858.-Henry Lucas, I. W. Francis.
1859.-Henry Lucas.
1860.-William Wragg, A. Hutton.
1861.-James B. Lucas, A. Hutton.
1862.-James B. Lucas.
1863-64.-Henry Palmer.
1865-66.-Henry Lucas.
1867.-Zachariah Ragan.
1868.-Peter T. Conway.
1869.-C. P. Jordan. Connellsville again made a station.
1870.-William Reeves.
1871-73.-William Collier.
1874-76.-John Gregory.
1877-81.-A. D. Brown.
The church has at present a membership of one
hundred and eighty.
DISCIPLES' CHURCH.
This church was organized in Connellsville about
the year 1830, under the leadership of Lester L.
Norton; Abranm Shellenberger, Joseph Herbert, and
others, its nucleus being formed by a few persons
previously Baptists, but who had become dissenters
from the doctrines of that church and adopted the
views and teachings of Alexander Campbell, who
often preached in Connellsville. Services were first
held in private houses, with preaching by James Dor.
sey, J. B. Pratt,  ~ Young, and others. A stone
church building was erected about 1840, on a lot on
South Alley donated by Joseph Herbert. It was sold
to the Lutherans in 1874, and the present church edifice of the Disciples was built on Pittsburgh (or
Church) Street, at a cost of $10,000. The dedication
sermon was preached by Prof. Charles L. Luce, of
Bethany College. The church was for several years
under the care of Elders Norton, Shellenberger, and
Davidson.
Among the preachers who have ministered for
the church have been Alexander Campbell) G. D.
Benedict, and others.  The present minister is the
Rev. Mr. Hyatt. Tile churchl now has fifty members,
and connected with it is a Sabbath-school of sixty-five
scholars, under the superintendency of M. L. Baer.
LUTHERAN CHURCH.
The organization of this church was effected in
1874, by John Hertzel, John Wilhelm, Jacob Siller,
Jacob Wenzler, and Christian Snyder. For a time
their services were held in Odd-Fellows' Hall, after
which the society purchased the building of the
Church of the Disciples, on South Alley, which has
since been its place of worship. This church, being
under the same charge as the church in West Newton, was first served by the Rev. H. J. H. Lempeke,
who remained its minister until the summer of 1876,
and was then succeeded by the Rev. P. Doerr, the
present pastor. The church is composed of Germans
and English. Preaching in the German language is
l-lad in the morning services of alternate Sabbaths.
The membership is now one hundred and fifty. A
Sabbath-school of fifty scholars is under charge of
Jacob Wenzler, superintendent.
UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
On the 30th of October, 1876, the Rev. T. P. Patterson, of Laurel Hill, Rev. A. E. Linn, of Freeport,
and Elders Wymer, of West Newton, and Walter T.
Brown, of Scottdale, organized the United Presbyterian Church in Connellsville, with eight constituent
members. Services were first held in Armory Hall,
Odd-Fellows' Building. In the fall of 1876 two lots
of ground on Pittsburgh Street were purchased of
Mrs. Dr. Joseph Rogers and Mrs. Henry Blackstone
for one thousand dollars, and on these a church
edifice of brick has been erected at a cost of about five
thousand dollars.
In the spring of 1877 the Rev. A. R. Rankin became pastor, and remained until April, 1878, since
which time the church has been without a pastor. It
is niow ministered to by the Rev. J. A. Brandon as
stated supply. The present number of members is
thirty-five.
IMMACULATE CONCEPTION CHURCH (ROMAN CATHOLIC).
The Catholic Church in Connellsville numbered in
1871 one hundred communicants, under the Rev.
Robert Waters, who is still the pastor. In that year
the Catholics purchased the old Methodist meetinghouse (which had been for some years used as a
foundry), demolished it, and built on its foundation
a new church, which was consecrated by Bishop
Dominick in July, 1873. The church has now about
eight hundred communicants.
BURIAL-GROUNDS.
The first written mention of a cemetery ground in
Connellsville (except that embodied in the charter
when Zachariah Connell donated one acre of land for
a public graveyard) is found in the. minutes of the
Town Council, where it is recorded that on the 17th
of April, 1812, it was by that body " Resolved, That
392CONNELLSVILLE BOROUGH AND TOWNSHIP.
the Grave-Yard be run out, and sufficiently rmark'd
out;" and on the 10th of July following, the Council
made settlement with James Shaw, and issued an
order on the treasurer in his favor for $72 "for
fencing the Grave-Yard," which shows that the work
had been done before that time. Interments had
been made there, however, several years before; and
it is recollected by Provance McCormick, Esq., that
as early as 1806 the old ground contained quite
a number of graves, some having headstones, and
others unmarked save by the mounds.
May 29, 1817, the Council " Resolved to appoint a
sexton (there having been none previously appointed)
for this borough, whose duty it shall be to take charge
of the graveyard, keep it in good order, and keep the
gate locked, and in case of deceases to dig graves and
inter all dead bodies, except those who have been
hanged or have committed suicide; such are not to
be buried in the graveyard."... And Peter Stillwagon, Sr., was appointed sexton.
The location of the old graveyard is between
Church Street and Mountain Alley, and adjoining the
south side of the public school grounds. Within it
are interred the remains of members of most of the
old Connellsville families, but it is now neglected and
overgrown with brushwood, and seldom used for
burials.
The Old Quaker graveyard, embracing about onefourth of an acre of ground, substantially inclosed by
a stone wall, is located on the high bank of the river,
in the northwest corner of the borough. It was donated by the Gibson family, Quakers, for the use of
that sect. Burials were commenced in it before the
year 1800, and nearly as early as those in the ground
donated by Mr. Connell. Members of the Gibson,
Rogers, and other early Quaker families have been
interred within its inclosure. The last burial in this
ground was Joseph Paull, son of Col. James Paull.
The Connellsville Hill Grove Cemetery was chartered Dec. 8, 1868, the charter members being John
K. Brown, John Johnston, William Cooley, William
C. Johnston, Stephen Robbins, John Taylor, Thomas
R. Davidson, James C. Cummings, Joseph Johnston,
and Thomas W. Watt. The following were elected
officers of the association: John K. Brown, president;
John Taylor, treasurer; John Johnston, secretary.
The cemetery grounds, comprising seventeen acres,
were purchased of John Taylor, at $150 per acre.
The location is outside the borough limits, on the
north side of the Springfield road leading from Connellsville. The ground was inclosed and laid out in
the summer of 1869. It has since been beautified and
embellished, and many handsome monuments have
been erected in it.
The present (1881) managers of the cemetery are
Stephen Robbins, president; John K. Brown, treasurer; Joseph Johnston, secretary; William C. Johnston, P. S. Newmyer, Thomas W. Watt.
The Chestnut Hill Cemetery Association was formed
in 1868. On the 9th of October in that year a number
of persons, subscribers to the project, met at Odd-Fellows' Hall, when the sum of $1225 was reported as
having been subscribed, and a committee was appointed to examine lands for the cemetery. Two
weeks later this committee reported, recommending a
lot of fourteen acres lying beyond Rogers' Run, belonging to Mr. S. Freeman, which could be had at
$100 per acre. This they were directed to purchase.
Organization was effected Oct. 30, 1868, by the electioii of Alfred Witter, president; J. T. McCormick,
secretary; Aaron Bishop, treasurer; and a board of
directors consisting of A. Witter, L. Lindley, J. Wilhelm, H. L. Shepherd, Thomas M. Fee, J. D. Stillwagon, and Peter Demult. At the same time the
name of " The Connellsville Cemetery Company" was
adopted, but a fevw weeks later it was changed to " The
Chestnut Hill Cemetery." The association was chartered by the court March 1, 1869. From the land purchased by the association a lot of two and a half acres
has since been sold to the Catholics for a cemetery, and
a larger lot to Mr. John T. Hogg. The grounds devoted
to the purposes of the cemetery have been handsomely
laid out and beautified in the modern style, and contain many beautiful and costly memorial stones. The
present officers (1881) of the Chestnut Hill Cemetery
are J. D. Stillwagon, president; Aaron Bishop, treasurer; J. T. Greenland, secretary; J. D. Stillwagon,
J. T. McCormick, Aaron Bishop, J. T. Greenland,
Henry Shaw, J. R. Balsley, A. B. Morton, directors.
RAILROADS.
The Pittsburgh and Connellsville Railroad was
chartered in 1837, but so many delays and obstacles
were encountered by the company in its construction
that it was not until the year 1855 that the line was
opened for travel from West Newton to Connellsville.
The Fayette County Railroad, connecting with the
Pittsburgh and Connellsville, and extending from
this borough to Uniontown, was opened for travel between these two points Jan. 1, 1860. The latter road
was afterwards leased to the Pittsburgh and Connellsville Company, and by them to the Baltimore and
Ohio, as is more fully mentioned in the general history of the county.
The borough of Connellsville voted the sum  of
$100,000 in aid of the Pittsburgh and Connellsville
Road, and bonds to that amount were accordingly
issued and delivered. Afterwards the railroad company made a proposition that the borough should
pay $15,000 in lieu of the bonds (which had been hypothecated for that amount), and receive back the entire issue for cancellation. Upon this proposition a
number of the wealthy citizens of Connellsville furnished the money, which was paid to the corporation,
and the bonds were thereupon returned and cancelled,
the citizens who had furnished the money being in
due time reimbursed by the borough.
393HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
On the 14th of July, 1857, permission was granted
by the borough to the railroad company to occupy
twelve and bne-half feet in width of Water Street
next the river, and "to occupy so much of the Public Ground between said Water Street and the river
as may be necessary for the laying of additional
tracks, and for their convenience in the general conduct of their business as a railroad company." The
railroad southeast of Connellsville was opened through
to Cumberland in 1871. The Pittsburgh and Connellsville and Fayette County Railroads were leased
in December, 1875, to the Baltimore and Ohio Company, by whom they are now run and operated. The
Connellsville depot of the Baltimore and Ohio line is
on the river front, nearly opposite the foot of North
Allev.
OPERATIONS OF THE BALTIMORE AND OHIO RAILROAD AT
CONNELLSVILLE.
Connellsville is the headquarters of repairs for the
Pittsburgh Division of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and all supplies for that division are kept at this
point. The repair- and car-shops (located just north
of the passenger depot) were built and put in operation by the Pittsburgh and Connellsville Company
before the lease of that road to the Baltimore and
Ohio, and these have been continued by the latter
company since the leasing. Passenger- and freightcars are built here, and locomotives are repaired and
rebuilt. Engine No. 1 of the Pittsburgh and Connellsville Road is still in service on the Pittsburgh
Division, being now numbered 702 of the Baltimore
and Ohio. The passenger-car shop is 75 by 120 feet
in dimensions, admitting the building of two cars at
the same time.- The round-house, has a capacity for
twenty-four locomotives.
About one-fourth of a mile lower down the river
and track is the freight-car shop, located on ground
donated for the purpose by the Connellsville Mutual
Building and Loan Association. The main shop is
about 50 by 250 feet in size, with a wing 50 by 125 feet.
In this establishment there is in operation a machine
for boring joint-blocks, which was invented here, and
is the only one of the kind in use in any of the railroad shops of the country. In the yard at this place
A the company has appliances for manufacturing all the
coke required in its operations on the Pittsburgh Division of the road. The number of men employed
here is something more than three hundred.
The general office of the division superintendent
is at McCoy's Run, on Water Street. The offices of
the machinery department and shops are located
west of the depot. The officers in charge are Thomas
M. King, general superintendent of the division; J.
E. Sampsel, master of Inachinery; G. M. Serpell,
master of roads.
The general freight agent at Connellsville.is T.
D. Turner. The amount of freight on shipments of
all kinds over this road, and billed at Connellsville in
each business day in the month of May, 1881, is as
follows:  $3815.83, $4676.23,  $4572.71, $4811.02,
$2715.51, $4330.51,  $4897.87, $2648.46, $3329.95,
$4462.43, $2609.94,  $2869.03, $2842.09, $2329.03,
$3372.10, $2402.85, $1935.48, $4529.42, $3699.56,
$3773.70, $4774.54, $2673.12, $4430.79, $4824.00,
$4162.73, $2766.82; total for the month, $94,566.72.
This amount includes freight on coke shipped on
the Fayette County branch between Uniontown and
Connellsville, and shipments of coal from the gas-coal
region. The freights in the month of June, 1881, were
less than one-half those of the preceding month, aggregating $42,963.09. The express business of that
month at the Connellsville office amounted to $1000.
The passenger agent at Connellsville is John A.
Armstrong.  The monthly receipts from passenger
traffic at this station, from  August, 1880, to June,
1881, inclusive, were as follows:
Aug., 1880... $2505.17 I Feb., 1881... $1771.65
Sept.,  "... 3237.24 I March,"... 2648.33
Oct.,   "... 2854.33 April, "... 2426.93
Nov.,  "... 2187.61  May,  "..  2901.35
Dec.,  "... 2880.92  June,  "..  2727.21
Jan., 1881... 1953.15
SOUTHWEST PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD.
This road was opened for travel through Connellsville and as far south as Mount Braddock in 1875, and
was completed to Uniontown late in the fall of the next
year. It is operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad
Company, and is more profitable than any other
division of equal length of that company's lines.
The following amounts were received at Connellsville from passenger traffic on this road during the
first half of the year 1881, viz.:
January..... $1053.15 April......  $1393.52
February.... 1125.81  May.......  1317.45
March.....  1251.66 June....... 1849.1.7
Total for six.months, $7990.76.
In the same month the freights at this station were
in amount as follows:
January....  $930.07 1 April......   $2417.81
February..... 1108.361 May...... 1791.68
March.....  2166.18  June....... 2831.89
Total for six months, $11,245.99.
Below is given the number of pounds of coke
shipped on this road and manifested at Connellsville
(being the coke from Pennsville and Davidson's, the
last including Moyer's) during the two months ending
July 2, 1881:
From May 2d to 7th:
Davidson.
Pennsville.
Total.
May 9th to 16th:
Davidson.
Pennsville.
Total.
6,153,200 lbs.
534,200 "
6,687,400 lbs.
6,577,100 lbs....... 869,200 "
7,446,300 lbs.
I
394CONNELLSVILLE BOROUGH AND) TOWNSHIP.
May 16th to 21st:
Davidson.
Pennsville
Total.
May 21st to 28th:
Davidson.
Pennsville
Total.
May 28th to June 4th:
Davidson.......
Pennsville
Total.
June'4th to June llth:
Davidson.
Pennsville
Total.
June 11th to 18th:
Davidson.
Pennsville
Total.
June 18th to 25th:
Davidson.
Pennsville
Total.
June 25th to July 2d:
Davidson.
Pennsville
Total.
Showing an aggregate of fifty-seven
5,568,000 lbs.
1,130,400 "
6,698,400 lbs.
5,991,500 lbs.
924,900 "
6,926,400 lbs.
6,045,300 lbs.
854,500 "
6,899,800 lbs.
4,761,800 lbs.
299,000 "
5,060,800 lbs.
5,183,400 lbs.
245,500 "
5,428,900 lbs.
5,799,100 lbs.
26,600 "
5,825,700 lbs.
6,130,600 lbs.
212,400 "
6,343,000 lbs.
million three
hundred and sixteen thousand seven hundred pounds
of coke manifested at Connellsville in two months
for shipment over one of its two railroads, and representing the shipments of that product from only
two out of the thirty-six stations from which coke is
shipped on the Southwest line between Fairchance
and Greensburg. From these figures and facts some
idea may be had of the magnitude of the coke production and traffic in the region of which Connells-,
ville is the most important centre.
MANUFACTORIES.
THE CONNELLSVILLE MACHINE- AND CAR-WORKS.
On the 9th of September, 1865, James McGrath,
then foreman of the smith-shops of the Pittsburgh
and Connellsville Railroad at Connellsville, leased
from Robert W. Francis for the term of ten years a
piece of ground fifty-five by ninety feet, located on
North Alley, near Water Street, for the purpose of
erecting thereon a machine- and smith-shop.  On
the 16th of the same month he entered into partnership with Bernard Winslow, and they erected a wooden
building thirty by fifty feet, and with three smithfires and one old lathe, commenced business under
the name of McGrath  Winslow. Their manufactures consisted mainly of railroad frogs and switches
and oil tools. On the 27th of February, 1866, Winslow sold out to George B. and J. T. McCormick, and
the firm-name changed to McGrath, McCormick 
Co. On September 1st same year William B. Stout
and James B. Caven were taken into the partnership,
the firm-name remaining unchanged.
The company now added some new machinery,
and began to extend their business. Machine-shops
of this kind were until then unknown in this region,
and people were slow to believe that machine-work
and heavy and difficult forgings could be done at
Connellsville, but the senior partner, Mr. McGrath,
having served his apprenticeship at the extensive
works of Charles C. Delaney, of Buffalo, N. Y., and
worked in some of the principal work-shops of the
country, soon gave evidence that intricate as well as
heavy work could' be done here as well as in the cities,
and soon the company had more orders than their
little shop could accommodate. About this time the
coke trade began to assume large proportions, and on
account of the scarcity of railroad cars several operators began to provide their own. As these cars, owing
to the bad condition of the new road, were being'continually wrecked and broken, it became necessary for
somebody to repair them, and the firm of McGrath,
McCormick  Co. undertook the business. Having
no suitable place to erect shops, they obtained privilege from the railroad company to lay a track along
the bank of the river, immediately south of the present
depot, and there, in the open air, for two years they
did all the car repairing for the local coal companies,
their carpenter-shop consisting of one end of the
body of an old passenger-car, the other end being occupied by the railroad company as a car inspector's
office and pattern-shop.
On the 13th of March, 1869, the company succeeded
in leasing from P. McCormick the lot adjoining their
smith-shop, and immediately erected thereon a small
car-shop twenty-five by eighty feet, and began the
erection of coke-cars, mine-wagons, and all the various tools used in the making of coke.
On the 1st of May following the remaining partners purchased the interest of George B. McCormick,
and changed the name of the company to " The Connellsville Machine and Car Company." Business now
increased rapidly, and it soon became necessary to
seek a better location and to erect works of much
larger capacity. Accordingly, on the 26th of March,
1872, the company purchased from the " Connellsville
Mutual Building and Loan Association" a tract of
land lying on the Pittsburgh and Connellsville Railroad at the mouth of Mounts' Creek, about one-quarter
of a mile north of their former location. Here, in
the year 1872, they erected a car-shop thirty by one
hundred and twenty feet, and on May 21, 1873, they
purchased additional ground adjoining, and erected a
machine- and forging-shop and foundry of the same
dimensions as the car-shop. Later other land was
I
I
395:HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
purchased, and the works extended and enlarged to
their present dimensions.
On the 1st of October, 1873, the old shops were
abandoned, and the machinery removed to the new.
At the expiration of the ground lease in 1875 the old
car-shop was removed to the adjoining lot, which had
then come into the possession of the company, and
remodeled into a hardware-store and office.
The larger shops required many new tools, and
lathes, planes, boring-mills, punches, drill-presses,
steam-hammers, etc., were gradually added, until the
works are now as well equipped as any in the country,
and give employment to from forty to fifty hands,
the products consisting of cars and railroad supplies,
and all the various wants of coal, coke, and fire-brick
works, mills, furnaces, etc. The partners are all, in
some capacity, directly interested in the running of
the works, and by careful attention to business have
secured the confidence and patronage of the coal and
iron operators of the entire Connellsville coke region.
FOUNDRY, MACHINE, AND FORGE-WORKS OF BOYTS,
PORTER  CO.
This, the first foundry establishment in Connellsville, was commenced in 1829 by Robert W. Francis
and J. J. Anderson, the former of whom continued
in the business for almost half a century. Francis 
Anderson continued as a firm until 1834, when James
and Isaac Francis bought Anderson's interest, and
the business was carried on without material change
until 1860, when a three-fourths interest was sold to
Stauffer  Co. In 1868, Porter Bros. purchased an
interest, and the firm became Stauffer, Porter  Co.,
and so continued till 1876, when Mr. Stauffer died,
and his interest was purchased by B. F. Boyts, and
the business was conducted under the firm-name of
Tennant, Porter, Boyts  Co. until June 8, 1878, when
R. W. Francis, the original owner, died, and his interest was purchased by J. M. Dushane, and Tennant
also sold his interest to J. M. Reid, and the firm
became, as at present, Boyts, Porter  Co.
On the 28th of January, 1877, the works were
destroyed by fire. A temporary building was at once
erected, and by the 12th of February following the
firm was prepared to fill all orders for castings and
machine and forge-work. New permanent buildings
were commenced in May of the same year.
It is believed that Boyts, Porter  Co. make a
greater variety of castings than any other firm in the
State, and the machine-shop and forge department
are completely equipped to do machine, forge, and
sheet-iron work of every description. In the present
year (1881) the manufacture of steam-pumps has been
added, and the firm has also given special attention
to the manufacture of ore-crushers for silver-mines
in Montana, for which large orders have been filled.
AMERICAN STEEL-WORKS.
These works were put in operation about 1866 by
J. M. Bailey, Meskimmens, and others, of Pittsburgh.
The company'purchased land of D. R. Davidson, adjoining the Pittsburgh and Connellsville Gas-Coal and
Coke Company, and erected thereon a frame building
about two hundred by seventy-five feet on the ground,
and one story (about thirty feet) high. The operations of the company were not successful, and the
business had continued less than a year when it was
abandoned. The place and the ruins of the building
are still known as the " steel-works," but these and
the name are all that remain of an enterprise which
was commenced with high hopes of success and the
prornise of permanent advantage to the growth and
prosperity of the borough of Connellsville.
CONNELLSVILLE GAS-WORKS.
The Connellsville and New Haven Gas and Water
Company was incorporated March 7, 1871. The corporators were Joseph Johnston, Christopher S. Sherrick, Edward Dean, David Welsh, and Dr. Ellis
Phillips. On the 23d of September, 1871, the stockholders met and elected the following-named directors: Joseph Johnston, Edward Dean, Ellis Phillips,
David Welsh, John D. Frisbee, J. T. McCormick.
The board elected Joseph Johnston, president; John
D. Frisbee, treasurer; J. T. McCormick, secretary.
On the 31st of July, 1872, a committee appointed for
that purpose reported that they had secured a lot of
land from the Connellsville Mutual Building and Loan
Association on which to erect gas-works. The location chlosen for the works is near Mounts' Creek and
the Youghiogheny River. A contract was made with
Connolly  Taylor to build the works complete and
lay all gas-mains ready for use on or before the 1st of
November following for $22,000, which was done, and
J. T. McCormick was appointed superintendent of
the works. At present (June, 1881) J. D. Frisbee is
president, and J. M. Kurtz, secretary, treasurer, and
superintendent. One of the objects. in view in the
formation of the company was to supply the borough
with water, which is authorized in the incorporation,
and which will doubtless be accomplished in the
near future.
CIVIL LIST OF THE BOROUGH OF CONNELLSVILLE.
No official account is found of the officers elected
on the 7th of April, 1806, the first election after the
incorporation of the borough. From careful examination of. the minutes it appears that the followingnamed persons composed the first Council, viz.: Geo.
Mathiot, Caleb'lrevor, James Blackstone, James
Francis, Charles Williams, David Barnes, Joseph
Rogers; Town Clerk, John B. Trevor; Treasurer,
Joseph Rogers. The following extracts and lists are
from the borough records:
"ANNO INCORPORATIONIS 2nd. CONCILIUM SECUNDUM, A.D.
1807."
Members elected on the 6th of April, 1807: James Blackstone, Samuel Trevor, Anthony Banning, James Francis, John
Barnhart, William Mifford, John Page; High Constable, An396CONNELLSVILLE BOROUGH AND TOWNSHIP.
drew Ellison; Samuel Trevor having an equal number of votes
for burgess and Council, declined serving in the former capacity;
of course no choice wias made for burgess on that day; 1 J. B.
Trevor, town clerk; Joseph Rogers, treasurer.
"CONCILcuM TERTIUM."
1808.-Burgess, James Blackstone; Town Council, Samuel
Trevor, Charles Williams, Anthony Banning, James Francis, John Page, Jonas Coalstock, and Daniel Rogers; Town
Clerk, John B. Trevor; Treasurer, Joseph Rogers.
1809.-Burgess, Abraham. Baldwin; Town Council, Joshua
Gibson, George Mathiot, Caleb Trevor, John Lamb, Isaac
Meares, Charles Wells, James Lafferty; Town Clerk, J. D.
Mathiot; Treasurer, John B. Trevor.
1810.-Burgess, Abraham Baldwin; Town Council, Dr. James
Estep, Dr. Robert D. Moore, John Fuller, David Barnes,
Daniel Coughenour, Jesse Taylor, Joseph Rogers; Town
Clerk, John Lamb; Treasurer, John Page.
1811.-Burgess, John Lamb; Town Council, Daniel Rogers,
Caleb Trevor, Elisha Clayton, Charles Williams, David
Stewart, James Francis, Richard Hardin; Town Clerk,
Joshua Gibson; Treasurer, John Page.
1812.-Burgess, John Lamb; Town Council, Abraham Baldwin, Caleb Trevor, Charles Williams, Otho L. Williams,
Daniel Coughenour, James Lafferty, Robert Long; Town
Clerk, Joshua Gibson; Treasurer, John Page.
1813.-Burgess, John Lamb; Town Council, Caleb Trevor,
Charles Williams, John M. Burdette, Jacob Kuhn, William
Kirk, Michael Gilmore, Daniel S. Norton; Town Clerk,
Otho L. Williams; Treasurer, Abraham Baldwin.
1814.-Burgess, Daniel S. Norton; Town Counicil, Joseph Barnet, William Kirk, James Francis, Isaac Meares, Charles
Williams, Robert Long, John Fuller; Town Clerk, Otho L.
Williams; Treasurer, Abraham Baldwin.
1815.-Burgess, Isaac Meares; Town Council, Elisha Clayton,
James Shaw, John M. Burdette, Elijah Crossland, Daniel
G. Norton, Hiram Herbert, Robert D. Moore; Town Clerk,
David Stewart; Treasurer, Abraham Baldwin.
1816.-Burgess, Isaac Meares; Town Council, William Davidson, George Mathiot, John Lamb, Robert Long, Charles
Williams, James Francis, John Heinbaugh; Town Clerk,
Jonathan Kurtz; Treasurer, Abraham Baldwin.
1817.-Burgess, Isaac Meares; Town Council, Abraham Baldwin, George Mathiot, Caleb Trevor, Charles  Williams,
Robert Long, Elijah Crossland, John Adams; Town Clerk,
John Boyd; Treasurer, Elisha Clayton.
1818.-Burgess,' John Boyd; Town Council, Isaac Meares,
Abraham  Baldwin, Caleb Trevor, Robert Long, James
Francis, Esq., Alexander Johnston, Henry Welty; Town
Clerk, William G. Turner; Treasurer, Elisha Clayton.
1819.-Burgess, John Boyd; Town Council, George Mathiot,
Henry Welty, Robert Long, John Lamb, Frederick Bierer,
Caleb Trevor, William Lytle; Town Clerk, Dr. Charles
McLane; Treasurer, Elisha Clayton; Sexton and Inspector
of Cordwood, Peter Stillwagon; Dog-killer, Adam Snider.
1820.-Burgess, John Lamb; Town Council, John Fuller,
Michael Trump, Richard Crossland, Daniel Coughenour,
Timothy Buell, Frederick Bierer, Jesse Taylor; Town
Clerk, Charles McLane; Treasurer, Robert D. Moore.
1821.-Burgess, Isaac Meares; Town Council, John Lamb,
Michael Gilmore, Robert Long, Samuel Page, Hiram Herbert, Asher Smith, Michael Trump; Town Clerk, Charles
McLane; Treasurer, Lester L. Norton.
1822.-Burgess, George Mathiot; Town Council, Abraham Baldwin, Michael Trumnp, Elisha Clayton, Hiram herbert, herman Gebhart, Caleb Trevor, Asher Smith; Town Clerk,
Caleb Trevor; Treasurer, Alexander Johnston.
1823.-Burgess, Carlos Alonzo Norton; Town Council, Isaac
Meares, Joseph Keepers, Moses McCormick, Theophilus
Shepherd, William Mifford, Josiah D. Stillwagon, Samuel
Page; Town Clerk, Isaac Meares; Treasurer, Alexander
Johnston.
1824.-Burgess, Abraham Baldwin;. Town Council, Robert D.
Moore, Daniel Rogers, George Mathiot, William Davidson,
Henry Welty, Michael Trump, hiram Herbert; Town
Clerk, Isaac Meares; Treasurer, Alexander Johnston.
1825.-Burgess, Abrtham  Baldwin; Town Council, William
Davidson, Asher Smith, William Balsley, Joseph Keepers,
George Marietta, Richard Crossland, William  Clemens;
Town Clerk, William Clemens; Treasurer, Lester L. Norton.
1826.-B3urgess, Caleb Trevor; Town Council, Robert Long,
Joseph herbert, Samuel Trevor, Thomas Keepers, James
Collins, John B. Stewart, Isaac Taylor; Town Clerk, William Davidson; Treasurer, Josiah Kurtz; Teachers in the
Borough School-House, John Fleming and David S. Knox.
1827.-Burgess, Herman Gebhart; Town Council, Andrew Stillwagon, Robert Long, Joseph Trevor, henry Welty, Michael
Trump, George Marietta, William R. Turner; Town Clerk,
Joseph Trevor; Treasurer, Josiah Kurtz.
1828.-Burgess, Lester L.- Norton; Town Council, Hiram  herbert, Samuel Page, Jonas Coalstock, Wm. Davidson, Herman Gebhart, Thomas Keepers, Richard Crossland; Town
Clerk, Joseph Barnett; Treasurer, Josiah Kurtz.
1829.-Burgess, Robert Long; Town Council, Abraham Baldwin, Samuel Page, John W. Philips, James Collins, Caleb
Trevor, William Ballsley,'William Davidson; Town Clerk,
Caleb Trevor; Treasurer, Josiah Kurtz.
1830.-Burgess, John Fuller; Town Council, Joseph Trevor,
Joseph Rogers, Valentine Coughenour, Alexander T. Keep.
ers, Henry W. Lewis, George Marietta, Herman Gebhart;
Town Clerk, Henry W. Lewis; Treasurer, Henry Blackstone.
1831.-Burgess, Josiah Kurtz; Town Council, Samuel Marshall,
Isaac Taylor, John Wilson, Samuel Page, Michael Trump,
John B. Boswell, Andrew J. Stillwagon; Town Clerk,
Michael B. Loore; Treasurer, Robert Long.
1832.-Burgess,              Town Council, John W. Philips,
David Shellenberger, Samuel Marshall, James Collins,
Jacob Conrad, Richard Crossland, Samuel McCormick
Town Clerk, Henry W. Lewis; Treasurer, Caleb Trevor.
1833.-Burgess, William  Davidson; Town  Council, Caleb
Trevor, Hiram Herbert, Lester L. Norton, James G. Turner, Josiah Kurtz, William Neal, Valentine Coughenour;
Town Clerk, Henry W. Lewis; Treasurer, Joseph Herbert.
1857.2-Burgess, Joseph Johnston; Town Council, Samuel
Crossland, John Fuller, Jonathan Enos, Joseph Trump, N.
C. McCormick, Bateman Goe; Town Clerk, R. M. Murphy.
1858.-Burgess, Joseph Johnston; Town Council, Joseph Trump,
Jonathan Enos, H. B. Goe, N. C. McCormick, John Fuller,
Stephen Robins; Town Clerk, R. M. Murphy.
1859.-Burgess, R. M. Murphy; Town Council, H. B. Goe, N.
C. McCormick, John Fuller, Stephen Robins, T. R. Davidson, Lutellus Lindley; Town Clerk, Joseph Johnston.
1860.-Burgess, John K. Brown; Town Council, John Fuller,
Stephen Robins, Lutellus Lindley, Joseph Herbert,'Jonathan Enos, Stephen McBride; Town Clerk, Joseph Johnston; Treasurer, H. B. Goe.'.a ci eectionl was u;Liieu ull tiie zatu1 ouly, allu james blackstone, Jr.,
Was elected burgess, and James Leonard high constable in place of ElIison, removed.                                                 2 No records can be found coveling the period from 1833 to 1857.
26
397
I
I An P.1petitin -.vn.q en.llpd nIn tho. 12.5th Jiilv- nnf] lamAia                        -T,-    IHISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
1861.-Burgess, Abraham  Gallantine; Councilmen, Lutellus
Lindley, Joseph Herbert, Jonathan Enos, Stephen McBride,
John Fuller, Samuel Freeman; Clerk, Joseph Johnston.
1862.-Burgess, Benjamin Pritchard; Councilmnen, Jonathan
Enos, Stephen McBride, John Fuller, Samuel Freeman,
Joseph Herbert, Lutellus Lindley; Clerk, Joseph Johnston.
1863.-Burgess, Benjamin Pritchard; Councilmen,John Fuller,
Samuel Freeman, Joseph Herbert, Lutellus Lindley, John
D. Frisbee, John Kilpatrick; Clerk, Joseph Johnston.
1864.-Burgess, James N. Walker; Councilmen, Joseph Herbert, L. Lindley, John D. Frisbee, John Kilpatrick, Joseph
Trump, Samuel. Page; Clerk, Joseph Johnston.
1865.-Burgess, James N. Walker; Council, John D. Frisbee,
John Kilpatrick, Joseph Trump, Samuel Page, Joseph
Herbert, John Crossland; Clerk, Joseph Johnston;.
1866.-Burgess, Thomas M. Fee; Council, Samuel Page, John
Cooley, Joseph herbert, John Greenland, David Connell,
Joseph Keepers; Clerk, Joseph T. McCormick.
*1867.-Burgess, R. T. Galloway; Council, James Herbert, John
Greenland, David Connell, Joseph Keepers, Josiah Kurtz,
J. W. Coulter; Clerk, J. T. McCormick.
1I68.1-Burgess, Samuel J. Cox.
1869.-Burgess, Samuel J. Cox; Council, Robert B. Cox, David
Welsh, Jonathan Enos, Henry N. Stillwagon. John Kilpatrick, James McGrath, Samuel Freeman: Clerk, J. T.
McCormick.
1870.-Burgess, Samuel J. Cox; Council, John Kilpatrick,
Jonathan Enos, William hannum, John Beatty, John R.
Murphy, John D. Frisbie, John McGrath; Clerk, Joseph
T. McCormick; Treasurer, John D. Frisbee.
1871.-Burgess, Benjamin Pritchard; Council, James Johnston, John D. Frisbee, Edward Dean, Joshua Vance,
Samuel Page, Peter Martin, Joseph Marietta; Town Clerk,
Joseph T. McCormick; Treasurer, John D. Frisbee.
1872.-Burgess, Benjamin Frankinberger; Council, Joshua
M. Duchaine, Christian Snider, John D. Frisbee, Benjamin
F. Baer, John Kilpatrick, George W. Foust; Town Clerk,
Joseph T. McCormick; Treasurer, Provance McCormick.
1873.-Burgess, Benjamin Frankinberger; Council, Dr. John
R. Nickel, Jonathan Enos, David Mahoney, Henry Shaw,
James Cunningham, S. P. S. Franks; Clerk, David Barnes;
Treasurer, Josiah Kurtz.
1874.-Burgess, Benjamin Frankinberger; Town Council, Dr.
John R. Nickel, James Cunningham, S. P. L. Franks,
George W. Stillwagon, Joseph Marietta, Jacob M. Llewellyn; Town Clerk, David Barnes; Treasurer, Josiah Kurtz.
1875.-Burgess, James E. Stillwagon; Town Council, James C.
Calhoun, David L. Walker, M. B. Stouffer, W. Kilpatrick,
Thomas Adams, Samuel Heffley; Town Clerk, Lee H.
Walker.
1876.-Burgess, Joseph F. Torry; Town Council, David Blackburn, Joseph T. McCormick, James Cunningham, Henry
Porter, John T. Hedrick, Joseph Johnston; Town Clerk,
Isaac M. Newcomer; Treasurer, Josiah Kurtz.
1877.-Burgess, J. Emmett Stillwagon; Town Council, Joseph
Johnston, Joseph T. McCormick, Thomas V. Edmonds,
Provance Buttermore, James McGrath, John T. Redrick;
Town Clerk, Henry Page; Treasurer, Lester P. Norton.
1878.-Burgess, Benjamin Pritchard; Town Council, Joseph
T. McCormick, Provance Buttermore, Thomas, V. Edmonds,
hugh Stillwagon, George Enos, Peter J. Stouffer; Town
Clerk, Henry Page; Treasurer, L. P. Norton; Attorney,
P. S. Newmeyer; Borough Engineer, Samuel M. Foust.
1879.-Burgess, Joseph Johnston; Town Council, Hugh Stillwagon, Rockwell Marietta, Chris. Balsley, William
Hannam, Joseph M. Kurtz, Lloyd Johnston; Clerk,
Henry Page; Treasurer, Lester P. Norton.
1880.-Burgess, Joseph Johnton; Council, J. T. McCormick,
James McGrath, H. B. Balsley, J. R. Balsley, J. W. Rutter,
William Hannam; Clerk, Samuel M. Foust; Treasurer,
Lester P. Norton.
1881.-Burgess, John Kurtz; Council, Lloyd Johnston, henry
Wickham, B. F. Boyts, E. Dunn, J. H. Purdy, W. S.
Hood; Clerk of Council, J. S. McCaleb; Treasurer, Lester
P. Norton.
THE TOWNSHIP.
Connellsville township lies on the east and northeast side of the Youghiogheny River, extending from
the stream back into the mountains. The river formis
its southern as also all of its western boundary, except where for a short distance at its northern end it
joins the township of Tyrone, and excepting also that
part where the borough lies between it and the river.
On the north and north-northeast it joins Bullskin
township, and on the east and southeast it is bounded
by Springfield. Next to the Youghiogheny, its largest
and most imnportant stream is Mounts' Creek, which
enters the river just below the borough. The population of the township by the census of 1880 was
thirteen hundred and sixty-six.
The earliest inhabitant of any part of the territory
now comprised in Connellsville township was Providence Mounts, who came before 1772,2 and settled on
a tract of four hundred acres of land lying on the
Youghiogheny River, and extending from Broad Ford
to, and a considerable distance up, -Mounts' Creek,
which stream received its name from him. On this
traet he built his log house and erected a mill, at
which he also carried on wool-carding. At the time
of his death, in or about 1782, he had received no
warrant for the tract on which he settled more than
ten years before. It was afterwards warranted and
surveyed to his son Abner, Sept. 7, 1786. Providence
Mounts left a will, devising property to his sons, Caleb, Joshua, Jesse, Asa, and Abner. These emigrated
to Kentucky, and the property passed into possession
of Stewart H. Whitehill, and in 1826 was purchased
by Alexander Johnston.
Next south of Mounts' tract, on the Youghiogheny,
was that of William McCormick, wlhose very early
settlement has been mentioned in the history of the
borough of Connellsville.
Above the borough and in the southeast part of the
township, at a place which afterwards became known
as "Trump's Hollow," settled John Trump, son of
Henry Trump, who located farther to the southeast,
2 His name is fouind in the assessment rolls for that year of Bedford
County (whiich then embraced all that is now Fayette), in the township
of Tyrone, which at that time comprehended all of the preseuit township
of ConnellSville amid a latge extetit of surrounidinig country.
Two elections were held this year uinder different authority; both
were declared  uill aind void. The court ordered a new election foir burgess i i Septeumber. In Marhli, 1869, by direction of court, election was
het-ld...........,... A..'
398CONNELLSVILLE BOROUGH AND TOWNSHIP.
near the mouth of Indian Creek, in what is now the
township of Springfield. John Trump, at his settlement in what is now Connellsville township, erected
a small saw-mill, but never gave much attention to
running it. He spent most of his time in hunting
deer, bears, and bees, having usually a large number
of swarms of bees, and selling a good deal of honey.
He lived a very secluded life, the greater part of
which was spent in hunting. Mr. Joshua Gibson
says he was personally acquainted with John Trump
for more than fifty years, and in all that time never
saw himn but twice in the borough of Connellsville.
He died since the year 1875, at his home in Trump's
Hollow, at the age of seventy-two years. Michael
Trump, a brother of John, settled in Connellsville
borough, where he lived for many years, and died
there. He was a good millwright and carpenter, and
a highly respected citizen.
John Gibson came from Chester.County, Pa., in
1793, and was concerned with Isaac Meason and Moses
Dillon in the erection of the old Union Furnace, in
Dunbar township. In 1795 he removed with his wife,
his sons, Thomas, Joseph, Joshua, and James, and
his daughter Elizabeth,' to the McCormick tract, a
portion of which (about ninety-two acres) he had
purchased, where now are the ruins of the stone mill
on the river. Here he built a stone house on the bank
of the river, also a grist-mill, saw-mill, rolling- and
slitting-mill, and nail-shop, having a tilt-hammer in
operation. All these buildings are now in ruins,.except the stone house, which is owned by the railroad
company.
Of the sons of John Gibson, James died while a
young man, at the old stone house; Thomas lived in
the south part of the townslhip, where Joshua Gibson
(Joseph's son) now lives. He was interested in the
Mount Etna Furnace, and had a saw-mill and large
landed property both in Connellsville and in the State
of Ohio. Joshua (son of John Gibson) was drowned
at the Yough Forge in 1808. Joseph was concerned
with his brothers in their various enterprises, and was
the owner of the land where is now Gibsonville.
Joseph Page, a native of New Jersey, emigrated to
Fayette County in 1801, and on the 26th of October
in that year purchased of Zachariah Connell the
tract of three hundred and two acres called "Confidence," which had been warranted to John Mugger
Dec. 20, 1773, and which passed from  Mugger
through the hands of John Vanderen to Connell.
On that tract, where Joshua Gibson now lives, stands
an old mill, built by the Pages. In the erection of
this old mill, Noah Miller was the millwright, and his
two sons were his assistants. The race, one-fourth of
a mile in length, was dug by James Rogers.
The sons of Joseph Page were Jonathan, John,
Samuel, Joseph, and William. Jonathan was a shoemaker, and lived in the house still standing near
Joshua Gibson's. He removed to the borough of
Connellsville, where he followed his occupation (shoemaker), and where he died. His daughter Rebecca
married D. S. Knox, well known to the citizens of
Connellsville and Brownsville. She is still living,
and resides at Brownsville, as does also her sister,
Miss Mary Page.
Samuel Page (son of Joseph) purchased his father's
property July 5, 1814, and in 1815 purchased the
tavern stand known as the Banning House, in Connellsville, and lived there many years. His son,
Henry Page, still lives in Connellsville. A daughter
of Samuel married William Templeton, of Brady's
Bend, Pa. Another daughter married John C. Beeson, of Uniontown. Joseph Page (son of Joseph)'
lived and: died in New Jersey. William married a
daughter of Zachariali Connell, and removed to the
West.
Jacob Buttermore, with his brothers, Peter and
George, were early settlers in Connellsville. The
two former lived on Mounts' Creek. George's location was on the Mount Pleasant road. They were
farmers and teamsters, in the latter capacity working
at the hauling of goods between Connellsville and
Pittsburgh.
William Glenn came from Ireland, and settled in
the vicinity of the old Etna Furnace. He was killed
at or near that place in 1830, by a fall from the frame
of a house. He had two sons, Nathaniel and William, the latter of whom emigrated to Kentucky.
Nathaniel lived at the furnace, and worked there
and at the other works in the vicinity nearly all his
life. He is still living, about two miles east of Connellsville, near McCoy's Spring, at about the age of
eighty-one years.
Azariah Davis lived in the mountains, about five
miles southeast of Connellsville borough. He was
employed at the salt-works that were built by Isaac
Meason in 1810-11. He lived to an advanced age,
but moved away from the place in -his later years.
He was a blacksmith by trade, and was celebrated in
all this section of country as a rapid and untiring
pedestrian.
John Lemon, from Cecil County, Md., settled here
at an early day. He worked as a foundryman nearly
all his life, and died on the furnace lands. He was
noted as a man of extraordinary memory.
James Carr, an Irishman, was an early settler. He
was an ore-digger. In his later years he moved to a
new location on the Allegheny River, where he lived
till his death, at the extraordinary age of one hundred and five years.
An early settler named Langebaugh lived in the
mountains, about two miles southeast of Connellsville borough, in a "Hollow" which still carries his
name. He was a mighty hunter. Little or nothing is
known of the time of his settlement or when he died.
1 IIis brother, Nathaniel Gibson, also came to Fayette Coutnty and
settled at Little Falls, where he built a fuillnace and forge. He afterv'ards moved into Connellsville borough, where he carried on a mill several years, and then iemloved to Ohio, where he died.
I
399IIISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
"Actora Tom," a man part niegro and part Indian,
was well known in Connellsville township in the
years that succeeded the close of the last war with
Britain. He was a worker in the forges, and had the
reputation of being the strongest man west of the
Alleghenies. It was said of him that he could carry
two forge-hammers at once, one under each arm,
each weighing fully six hundred pounds; run an arm
through the eye of each hammer; anid that he could,
and did, throw a fifty-six-pound weight over the
drum-beam of the forge (about fourteen feet high) by
the power of his little finger alone.
Amos Pritchard was a forge-man in Connellsville
township. Afterwards he removed across the Youghiogheny, and died in Dunbar, at the old forge on Dunbar Creek. Maj. Benjamin Pritchard, of Connells*ville, was his son.
John Reist was an early settler in the township.
He was a farmer, fisherman, and ferryman. He was
living at Broad Ford at about the beginning of the
present century, and remained there for many years.
He had a small plat of land cleared, and his log
dwelling stood on the baik where is now the p:umphouse of the railroad company. This was afterwards
replaced by a stone house. Below it lay the large
canoe, or "dug-out," orn which he ferried passengers
to and fro across the Youghiogheny. He also had an
oil-mill, which was in operation as late as 1823.
Mr. Joshua Gibson recollects the following-named
persons as having been among the early inlhabitants
of the township, viz.:
Robert Dunsmore, worked at the Yough Forge.
John Kirk, worked in the oil-nill.
Alexander McDowell, forge-man.
James St. John, forge-manl.
James Richie, forge-carpenter.
Thomas and William Baylis, forge-men.
George Speelman and Daniel Jones, forge-men.
John Shoup and John Shoup, Jr., millers at forgemill.
Jacob Summers, here about 1795, worked in Gibson's rolling- and slitting-mill.
John English and Aaron Merryman, worked in
rolling-mill.
Barney Call, rolling-mill man and blacksmith,
died in the army.
Levi McCormick, rough-carpenter.
Aaron Thorp, a very tall man, worked in rollingmill.
Moses Thorp, worked in rolling-mill.
William Waugh, here as early as 1800, worked at
making wrought nails many years.
Samuel Gibson, miller at John Gibson's mill, below
Connellsville borough.
John Barnhart, an old resident, lived near steelworks.
Samuel Alling, early settler, shoemaker.
James Robbins, stone-mason, a great hunter.
Aaron Robbins, bricklayer and fisherman.
Tillard, tavern-keeper on the mountain, three
miles east of Connellsvillet borough.
John and Martin Stouffer carried on a little gristmill on the Youghioghenv, a mile below the borough,
which in dry times did grinding for a large section of
country. It was in operation in 1823, but how long
it continued in use is not known. It fell into decay,
and was never rebuilt.
Following is a list of taxables in Connellsville
township (including the borough) in 1823, the year
in which the township was set off from Bullskin:
John Adams.
William Andrews.
Eli Abrahams.
Samuel Alling.
William Aling.
Thomas Asley.
Jacob Buttermore.
Peter Buttermore.
George Buttermore.
Francis Barclay.
Daniel Balsley.
John Barnhart.
William Balsley.
David Barnes.
Pennell Beale.
Thomas Beatty.
Timothy Buel.
Frederick Bierer.
Stephen Bishop.
Esther Balsley.
George Balsley.
James Bartholt.
Mahlon Broomhall.
Robert Bail.
Abraham Baldwin.
John Boyd.
William Brown.
John Cofman.
William Clemens.
Elisha Clayton.
Abraham Clayton.
Elijah Crossland.
Richard Crossland.
Valentine Coughenour.
Thomas Cumberland.
Henry Collins.
Zephaniah Carter.
William Clements.
Jonas Coalstock.
Hugh Cameron.
Elijah Correll.
Daniel Coughenour.
Rachel Clayton.
Margaret Connell.
Charles McClane.
Adms. of Zachariah Connell.
William Davidson.
Jonathan Dewet.
Dempsey  Work.
Robert Dougherty.
John Davis.
Ezra Davis.
John Eicher.
Joseph Freestone.
Ezekiel Foot.
John Fairchild.
John Fuller.
James Francis.
Azel Freeman.
Gebhart  Smith.
herman Gebhart.
Pennel Garret.
Michael Gilmore.
Thos. and-Jos.-Gibson's heirs.
John Gibson.
Samuel Gibson.
John Hinebaugh.
hiram Herbert.
William Hawk.
Stoddart huntley.
Daniel Harshman.
John Iliff.
John Imell.
William Jervis.
Stewart Johnston.
Alexander Johnston.
John Jones.
Thomas Jarrett.
Daniel Jones.
Baker Johnston's exr's.
Thomas Johnston.
Roger Johnston.
Joseph Keepers.
Alexander Keepers.
Sarah Keepers.
William Kirk.
Samuel Keepers.
Wm. Kiskader.
James Kerr.
Gustavus Kells.
Thomas Kilpatrick.
Cunningham Kithcart.
Michael Lore.
John Lamb.
Susan Lamb.
Joshua Lamb.
George Lane.
Mary Long.
William Lytle.
Adam Laws.
1 This man's name is found variously spelled in the records and elsewhere, viz.: Reist, Rist, Riste, Reis, Rise, Riset, amid Rice.
I
400CONNELLSVILLE BOROUGH AND TOWNSHIP.
William Larrimer.
Robert Long.
John Lemon.
Provance McCormick.
George Martin.
Andrew McCloy.
Samuel McMichael.
Robert D. Moore.
George Mathiot.
henry Marshall.
Wm. T. McCormick.
Charles McClane.
Isaac Mears.
George Marietta.
moses McCormick.
Robert McGuire.
James.McBride.
Alexander McDonald.
Edward McCormick.
William Mifford.
James Moody.
David Mitso.
Jacob Mitso.
Archibald McHenry.
Niel McHenry.
Isaac Meason.
William Noland.
James Noble.
Uriah Newcomer.
Lester L. Norton.
Ann Norton.
Peter Newmyer.
C. A. Norton.
Daniel T. Norton.
John Orbin.
William O'Neil.
Samuel Parker.
Clayton Passmore.
Samuel Page.
John Page.,
George Piper.
Jonathan Page.
Henry Peters.
Amos Pritchard.
John Reist.
Conrad Reist.
Jacob Reist.
John Reist, Jr.
John Reist.
Susan Rotruck.
Daniel Rogers.
Daniel  Joseph Rogers.
D.  J. Rogers  Walker.
David Reedy.
Joseph Rogers.
John Robins.
James Robins.
Aaron Robins.
James Richie.
Asher Smith.
David Smith.
Theophilus Shepherd.
James Stafford.
William Stafford.
Adam Snider.
Jacob Smith.
henry Smith.
Henry Smith, Jr.
Christian Shallenberger.
Isaac Shallenberger.
John and Martin Stauffer.
Peter Stillwagon, Jr.
John Shallenberger.
Peter Stillwagon.
Josiah D. Stillwagon.
John Stillwagon.
Andrew Stillwagon.
Asa Smith.
George Sloan.
Jacob Stewart, administrator
of Wm. McCormick.
Jacob Stewart.
John Stewart.
John Slonaker.
Conrad Scheges.
John Salyards.
Stephen Smith.
Stephen Smith, ex. of C. Woodruff.
Jacob Sipe.
Thomas Shields.
Henry Strickler.
James Shaw.
Clement Sawyer.
John M. Sims.
James Shaw, Jr.
Samuel Snowden.
William Stillwagon.
William Salyards.
Christopher Sleesman.
Jacob Sumers.
Michael Trump.
William R. Turner.
William G. Turner.
Samuel  Sarah Trevor.
Samuel Trevor.
Joseph Trevor.
Trevor  Clayton.
Isaac Taylor.
Joseph Torrence.
Thomas Taylor.
Jesse Taylor.
Caleb Trevor.
Sarah Tillard.
Blanche Tillard.
Roberts Tillard.
John Trump.
Jacob and John Wiland.
Peter White.
Henry White.
Stewart H. Whitehill.
Henry Welty.
David Weymer.
John Williams.
Benjamin Wells.
Otho L. Williams.
William William.
Samuel G. Wurts.
Adam Wilson.
ERECTION OF CONNELLSV"ILLE TOWNSHIP.
At the March term of the Court of Quarter Sessions
of Fayette County in 1822, Isaac Meason, Moses Vance,
and Thomas Boyd were appointed commissioners " to
enquire into the expediency of dividing Bullskin
township, and forming a ne1w township out of part
thereof, to be called Connellsville township." At the
October sessions in the same year this committee reported to the court " that in pursuance of said order
(made by the court at the March sessions), and approving of the propriety of dividing said township,
they have divided the same agreeably to the annexed
diagram of the courses and distances and natural
boundaries, viz.: Beginning on the bank of the Yough
River, below the Broad Ford, at the mouth of Reist's
Run; thence up Reist's Run to the mouth of Newcomer's Run; thence up Newcomer's Run to a perpendicular fall in said run at the mouth of Abraham
Newcomer's lane, whiclh said runs are the present division line between Bullskin and Tyrone townships;
thence south 440, east 366 perches to the middle of
Mounts' Creek in Whitehill's meadow; thence up
Mounts Creek to the mouth of White's mill-run, alias
Laurel Lick Run; thence up the last-named run to
the mouth of Yellow Spring Run at the Connellsville
and Berlin new State road; thence along the middle
of said road to Salt Lick township line; thence southwardly along the Salt Lick township line to the
Yough River; thence down said river to the place of
beginning; which said courses and distances and natural boundaries as above set forth will comprise
Connellsville township.". This report of the commissioners was approved and confirmed by the court,
which thereupon ordered the erectioni of Connellsville
township, to comprise the territory embraced within
the boundaries established by the commissioners and
described as above in their report
LIST OF TOWNSHIP OFFICERS.
The following is an incomplete list (but the best
that can be obtained) of the justices of the peace, assessors, and auditors of Connellsville township from
its erection to the present time.
JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.
Until 1840 this township with Bullskin and Tyrone
formed a district for the election of justices, and the
names here given down to and including 1837 are
those of residents of Connellsville township who were
elected to that office in the district above mentioned,
viz.:
1824, March 17. Hugh Torrence.
1829, April 20. Herman Gebhart.
1831, Aug. 16. Henry W.
Lewis.
1832, June 8. Abraham Pershing.
1835, Feb. 23. William S. Cannon.
1835, Dec. 9. Thomas S. Kilpatrick.
1837, May 4. Matthew Wray.
1840. Henry Detwiler.
Thomas S. Kilpatrick.
1845. Hiram herbert.
Isaac W. Francis.
1850. Joshua Gibson.
David Sherboudy.
1855. George Swank.
401BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITION IN 1755.
stores to prevent their falling into the h-ands of the
enemy (of whose pursuit he did not doubt), the march
was to be resumed on Saturday, the 12th of July, towards Wills' Creek. Ill judged as these orders were,
they met with too ready acquiescence at the hands of
Dunbar, whose advice was neither asked nor tendered
on the occasion.... For this service-the only instance of alacrity that he displayed in the camnpiignDunbar must not be forgiven. It is not perfectly clear
that Braddock intelligently ever gave the orders, but in
any case they were not fit for a British officer to give
or to obey. Dunbar's duty was to have maintainied
here his position, or at least not have contemplated
falling back beyond Wills' Creek. That he had not
lhorses to remove his stores was, however, his afterexcuse."
The destruction of the guns, ammunition, and
stores was finished at Dunbar's camp on the 12th of
July, and on the morning of Sunday, the 13th, the
retreating troops, composed of Dunbar's command
and the remnant of the force that fought on the
Monongahela, moved away on the road to the Great
Crossings of the Youghiogheny. They took +; ith
them the only artillery pieces that were left (two sixpounders), a small quantity of provisions and hospital stores, and the remaining wagons, nearly all of
which were laden with the sick and wounded. The
commander-in-chief, now rapidly approaching hiis
end, was borne along with the column. The entry
for this day in Capt. Orme's journal reads: "July
13th.-We marched hence to the camp near the Great
Meadows, where the general died."
The place where Dunbar's troops bivouacked after
this day's march was known as the Old Orchard
Camp, about tvo miles west of Fort Necessity, and
there, at eight o'clock on that midsummer Sunday
night, General Braddock breathed his last. He had
spoken very little after the time when he was brought
from the fatal field. It is related that on the first
niight he repeated, as if soliloquizing, "Who would
have thought it! who would have thought it!" and
after that was silent' until the fourth day, when he
said to Capt. Orme, " We shall better know how to
deal with them another time." He spoke no more,
and soon after expired, Captain Stewart, of the lighthorse, having never left himii from the time he received his wound until after his death. Washington
and Orme were also with him at the last moment, and
it is said (by Sargent) that shortly before his death
the general bequeathed to Washington2 his favorite
1 This conflicts strong-ly wvith Sargent's statement that at Dunbar's
camp lie " issued his orders aiid insisted that they were obeyed."
a Notvithstainding the maniy absurd accounts wvlicli have been given
of the disagreements which occuirred between Braddock aind Washington, and of the inisolent and coniteniptuous manner in which the latter
w as tr eated by his chief, all evidenice that is founid tends to show that
tlher e existed between the two a friendship such as is very rarely known
ais between a conimanding general and a mere youth serving under
him without military rank, for in this campaign Waslington held lione,
aiid was conisequently never admitted to Brttddock's councils of war.
He was by the British officers below Braddock conteniptuously styled
charger and his body-servant, Bishop, so well known
in after-years as the faithful attendant of the patriot
chief.
On the morning of the 14th of July the dead general was buried at the camp whlere he died, and the
artillery pieces, the wagon-traini, and the soldiers,
moving out to take the road to Wills' Creek, passed
over the spot, to obliterate all traces of the new grave,
and thus to save it from desecration by the savages,
who were expected soon to follow in pursuit. The
wagons containing the sick and wounded took the
lead, then came the others with the hospital stores
and the meagre stock of provisions, then the advance
of the infantry columnn, then the ammunition and
guns, and finally the two veteran companies of the
Forty-fourth and Forty-eighth British regular regiments, with Stewart's Virginia light-horse as a guard
to the rear and flanks. In the evening of the same
day the Youghiogheny River was crossed by the last
men of the force, and the rear-guard bivouacked for
the night on the eastern side of the stream.
It seems that the progress made on the retreat was
very rapid, for, although Braddock's road was rough
and in many places barely passable, the head of the
wagon-train bearing the wounded and sick arrived at
Cumberland on the 17th, and three days later the last
of Dunbar's soldiers reached the fort and lighted
their bivouac fires within the range of its guns.
The expedition of Braddock, from  which such
brilliant results had been expected, had proved a
dismal and bloody failure. The objective point (Fort
du Quesne) was still held by the French, who, with
their Indian allies, soon extenlded their domination
over the country lying to the southeast.  Gaining
courage from their victory, they came to Dunbar's
camp a week or two after his forces had left it, and
there completed the little work of destruction which
he had left undone. Within two months they had
"Mr. Washinsgton," for they disliked him, principally because of the
consideration showis lhimi  by Braddock, and partly because he was
merely a " Virginia bulckslin,i" whlich latter fact made Braddock's
frienidship for him  all the niore galliii- to them. In later years President Washington, in speaking- to the Hon. William Finley (see Niles'
Register, xiv., p. 179) of Braddock. said, "Ile was unfortunate, but his
character was mulch too severely treated. He was one of the honestest
and best men of the Britisli officers with whom I was acquainted; even
in the maiiimer of fightitig lie was not more to blame than others, for of
all that were constilted only one person objected to it.... Braddock
was botlh niiy general anid my physician," alluding in the latter remarlk
to the timie when he (Washintgtoni) had been talken sick near the Little
Meadows on the outward march, on wlhich occasion Braddock gave hiis
personal attention to the case, leaviag Washington with a sergeant to
take care of him, with medicinie and directions (given by himself) of
how to take it, also witll instructions to come on and rejoin him (the
genieral) whenever he should find himself able to do so.
As to the accounts, with whiclh all are familiar, of Washington assuming command after the fall of Braddock, and saving the remnant of
the force from destructioni, its utter absurdity is made apparenit by the
extracts which have been given from Capt. Orme's journal. Washington
exercised no command on that campaign, and the only circumstance
which can give any color to the story is that some of the Virginians,
knowing him as an officer in the militia of that colony, were disposed in
the confusion of the battle to follow lim  in preferenice to the British
officers, wvho despised their method of backwoods fighting.
I
47HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
1855. Robert Wilson.
1856. Isaac W. Francis.
1859. John Mills.
George Swank.
1860. Isaac Gilmore.
Samuel Shuman.
1861. George Swank.
1862. Samuel Long.
1832. George Buttermore.
1833. M. A. Ross.
1834. J. Conrad.
J. Anderson.
William Neal.
1835. Josiah Kurtz.
James G. Turner.
William S. Cannon.
1840. John Boyd.
1841. John L. Means.
1842-43. William Balsley
1844-16. Samuel Parker.
1847. Isaac Francis.
1848-50. John Greenland.
185 1-52. Henry Gibson.
1853. Isaac W. Francis.
1854. Philo Norton.
1855. Thomas Buttermore
1856. Philo Norton.
1832. George Buttermore.
1]833. M. A. Ross.
1834. J. Conrad.
J. Anderson,
William Neal.
1835. Josiah Kurtz.
James G. Turner.
William S. Cannon.
1840. Samuel Marshall.
Joseph Trump.
George White.
John Johnston.
1841. Noble C. McCormick.
1842. Robert Torrence..1843. Isaac Munson.
1844. John Greenland.
1845. Noble C. McCormick.
1846. Thomas S. Kilpatrick.
1848. Noble C. McCormick.
1849. William McCrary.
1850. Josiah Stillwagon.
1851. Daniel R. Davidson.
1852. Hiram Herbert.
1853. William L. Collins.
1863-64. George Swank.
1S67. Noble C. McCormick.
1872. S. C. Leighliter.
187:3. John Freeman.
187f. Jacob S. Heltebran.
1879. Herman P. Gray.
1880. Richard Campbell.
1881. John Freeman.
ASSESSORS.
1857-58. Jesse Smith.
1859-60. Philo Norton.
1861. Jesse Smiith.
1862-63. Hiram Herbert.
1864. Jesse Smith.
1865. Hiram Herbert.
1866. George Nicholson.1867. John Kurtz.
1868-69. George B. Shaffer.
15870. Jesse Smith.
James Stimmel.
1874. S. C. Leichliter.
1875. Strickler Stacy.
1876. Sinclair Stacy.
1877. Thomas Moreland.
1878. Jacob Pierce.
1879. Jacob Pierce.
1880. George Washabaugh.
1881. George W. Nicholson.
AUDITORS.
11854. John Boyd..1856. Michael Bramon.
1857. Clayton Herbert
1858. Hiram Herbert.
1859-60. George S. Buttermore.
1861. Hiram Herbert.
1862-63. Jesse Smith.
1864. Samuel Long.
1865. John R. Murphy.
1866: Hiram Herbert.
1867. George S. Buttermore.
1868. Jesse Smith.
1869. Stephen Robbins.
1870. Samuel Leighliter.
1873. Jesse Smith.
1874. William Boyd.
1875. Thomas Buttermore.
1876. James Campbell.
1877. John Freeman.
Samuel N. Long.
1879. Thomas Gregg.
1880. Michael D. Kerr.
1881. Strickler Stacy.
SChOOLS.
Until the year 1852 the township and borough of
Connellsville were districted in common, and prior to
1834 the schools at which the children of the township received the rudiments.of education were
chiefly taught in the borough. In that year the law
was passed establishing the system of free common
schools, and by the operatioin of that law, granting
public money for purposes of education, additional
schools were opened in Connellsville.as elsewhere in
other townships. In conformity to the requirements
of the law the Fayette Countv Court, at the January
term of 1835, appointed William Davidson and
Henry W. Lewis school directors of the towvnship.
In March of the same year a township election was
held, resulting in the choice of Valentine Coughenour
and James G. Turner as school directors. On the
14th of. September following these directors reported
to the treasurer of the county that they had complied
with the requirements of the law. The amount of
money then apportioned to the township from the
State funds was $88.171, and the amount from the
county for school purposes, $176.35; total, $264.521.
From  the records of the school directors of the
township of Connellsville, commencing in 1848 (none
earlier having been found), are given the following
extracts having reference to the schools of that time:
Oct. 2, 1848, the directors "Resolved to rent an
extra house for the use of the schools." Mlarch 30,
1849, a committee was appointed to make an estimate
of the cost of a brick school-house ~sixty feet long,
twenty-two feet wide, anid eight feet high, for the use
of two schools. The question of building the house
was submitted to the voters at a meeting held on the
12th of May following, and was decided in the negative, thirty-seven to thirteen.
Notwithstanding this negative vote the directors,
on the 30th of May, directed the secretary to give notice that a contract would be let June 30th for building a school-house. The contract was so let to John
Shellenberger for $556. On the 7th of July, 1849, a
protest by a large number of the inhabitants of the
township against building the school-house on the
public grounds adjoining the graveyard (in the
borough); " and," proceeds the record, " as the situation had been recommended by persons living in the
vacant districts, and as the people were for several
months fully aware of the designs of the board
to build upon the said ground, and no opposition
having been showin until after the sale for building
the said house, and as no suitable situation for building can be had in the vacant districts, Therefore be
it Resolved, That the present board have nothing to
do with the.matter. John Taylor, Secretary."
On the 30th of October, 1849, David Barnes, J. D.
Stillwagon, and James Mitchell were examnined arnd
passed as teachers. At that time, besides the tlhree
schools in the borough, two other schools were tauglht
in the township, viz., at the school-house near Bradford's and at the Narrows. Eight teachers were then
employed in the five schools of the township (iincluding those of the borough).
In September, 1850, David Barnes was in charge of
School No. 2, and Joseph Shoemaker of the Bradford
School. On the 5th of October following J. D. Stillwagon was appointed to School No. 1, Joseph T. McCormick to the North Bend School, and'Mrs. Margaret
Collins to the Clayton School. The wagesI then paid
402CONNELLSVILLE BOROUGH AND- TOWNSHIP. I
to male teachers were twenty dollars per month, and
to females twelve dollars and fifty cents.
In October, 1851, Jane Cramer was appointed teacher
in the Narrows school-house, and Margaret Collins was
given charge of the small school in the Ratcliff house.
In this year School No. 2 and the North Bend School
were graded. From the 5th of April following, the
schools of the township and those of the borough were
under separate directions, the borough being formed
into a separate and independent district.
After the separation of the borough from the township in school matters, the township contained four
school-houses and supported the salne number of
schools. In 1854, David Barnes taught in the North
Bend school-house, Joseph Hale in the Snyder house,
George Gregg in the Gibson house, and-  Halpin
in the school-house at the Narrows. In November,
1855, James Wha]ey was placed in charge of the
Gibson School, J. D. Stillwagon of the North Bend
School, and Joseph Cramer of the school at the Narrows. No school was taught in the Bradford schoolhouse during the succeeding winter season.
The Gibson school-house lot was sold in July, 1857.
In that year only two schools were taught in the township, viz., at the Narrows and at North Bend, Jesse
Smith teaching at the former place and W. McDowell
at the latter.
The township now comprises three school districts,
viz.: White Rock, the Narrows, and Rock Ridge.
Number of school-houses, schools, and teachers of
each, tliree; number of pupils, three hundred; value
of school property in township, three thousand dollars.
Following is a list, as nearly as can be ascertained,
of school directors elected in Connellsville township
since 1853, no names of school directors being found
in election returns of the township prior to that date:
1853. Henry Gibson.
Daniel R. Davidson.
1854. tliram Snyder.
William Dennison.
John Buttermore.
1855. A. Huntly.
John Buttermore.
1856. Thomas Buttermore.
John Grass.
George B. McCormick.
1857. Peter Stillwagon.
Samuel Long.
George Swank, Jr.
1858. John Taylor.
George B. McCormick.
1859. Asa Huntley.
William Eccles.
1860. Philo Norton.
Peter Stillwagon.
1862. Stephen Robbins.
Isaac Gilmore.
1863. Philo Norton.
George W. Stillwagon.
1864. John Taylor.
George B. McCormick.
1865. Stephen Robbins.
Jesse Smitlih.
Samuel Long.
George B. McCormick.
1866. Jesse Smith.
Robert Beatty.
1867. John Taylor.
Samuel Long.
1868. Stephen Rotbins.
George B. McCormick.
Peter De Muth.
1869. Jesse Smith.
John Covert.
1870. Stephen Robbins.
John Buttermore.
Boston Bowers.
1873. David Blackburn.
Joseph Sisson.
1874. Isaac French.
George B. McCormick.
Jesse Smith.
James S. Dravoo.
1875. Jacob S. Hilterbran.
Jacob May.
James Means.
1876. Samuel C. Leighter.
George W. Nicholson.
1877. Strickler Stacy.
George B. Shaffer.
1878. Jacob May.
George Swank.
1879. Albert Nicholson.
Stewart Durbin.
Jacob Wildey.
1880. Jeremiah Loomis.
Thomas Louden.
Nathan McPherson.
1881. Henry Blackstone.
MANUFACTURING ESTABLISHMENTS.
The old "Rogers Paper-Mill," the earliest manufacturing establishment:within the territory now comprised in the township of Connellsville, was erected
in 1810 by Daniel and Joseph Rogers, of Connellsville, and Zadoc Walker, of Uniontown. Its location
was on the right bank of the Youghiogheny River, a
short distance above the present village and railroad
station of Gibsonville. The "Pittsburgh Almanac"
for 1812 says, " I. and J. Rogers erected lately a PaperMill on the Youghiogheny River above Connellsville."
The Messrs. Rogers and Walker were succeeded in the
proprietorship of the mill by D. S. Knox, M. Lore,
and John Scott, who, as a firm, continued the manufacture of paper until March 21, 1836, when the business was closed and the firm dissolved, its affairs
being wound up by D. S. Knox.
The paper manufactured at this mill was of very
superior quality, caused, as it was said, by the clearness and purity of the water which was used, thlt
of the Youghiogheny River. The product of the
mill was shipped by the boat-load to New Orleans
and other points on the lower river. The business
done here, both by the original proprietors and by
Mr. Knox and his partners (but particularly by the
latter firm), was very large, and quite a little village
grew up in the vicinity of the mill. Only an old
stone house and a mass of ruins now remain to show
the location of the once prosperous manufactory and
the neighboring dwellings.
The Pittsburgh and Connellsville Gas-Coal and
Coke Company's Works are located on the railroad
at Davidson's Station, north of the borough limits, on
a tract of about four hundred acres of land purchased
of Daniel R. Davidson and Faber  Miskimmens, of
Pittsburgh.
About 1856, Norton, Faber  Miskimmens commenced operations at this place, and had sunk a shaft
about eighty feet in depth when circumstances compelled a suspension of the work. Norton sold out his
share to the two other partners, whose interest was
afterwards purchased by the company as above mentioned.
The company was organized about 1860, with a
capital of $300,000. Having purchased the Davidson lands and the Faber  Miskimmens interest, they
commenced work at once, sunk a shaft, and built and
put in operation forty coke-ovens, which number was
increased by John H. Dravo, who took charge in 1868.
The business has been successful from the beginning.
The shaft is 150 feet in depth, with drifts (one a mile
I
403HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
in length) tending towards the surface. Tenant-houses
and a store are connected with the works. The company has now 295 ovens, and the extent of its operations may be judged from tlle amount of coke shipped,
as shown in the railroad statistics embraced in the history of Connellsville borough. The works are under
charge of Charles Davidson, manager. The directors
of the company are James M. Bailey, president; John
F. Dravo, secretary and treasurer; Alexander Bradley, William Van Kirk, Richard Grey, and Daniel R.
Davidson, of Beaver, Pa.
The Overholt Distillery, located on the bank of
the Youghiogheny at Broad Ford, and widely known
and famed for the high grade of its product, was
erected and put in operation by Abraham Overholt in
the year 1853. At that time it had a capacity to distil
one hundred bushels of grain per day. Soon after the
starting of the establishment Mr. Overholt took in as
partners his two sons, Henry and Jacob. The latter
died while a member of the firm, and in 1865, Henry
Overholt sold out his interest, and A. O. Tinstman became a partner with Abraham Overholt. In 1867 the
present distillery b'uilding was erected. It is four fu 1
stories high, with attics, and sixty-six by one hundred
and twelve feet on the ground, with two wings twentyfive by twenty-five feet each, and three stories high.
Business was commenced in this building in 1868.
After the death of Abraham Overholt, in 1869, the
business was continued by the executor of his estate
and A. O. Tinstman till 1872, when Tinstman purchased the Overholt interest,-and carried on the business alone till the latter part of 1874, when C. S. 0.
Tinstman became associated with him. In 1876, C.
S. O. Tinstman and C. Fritchman became proprietors of the distillerv. In 1878, James G. Pontefract
was added to the firm, and soon after Tinstman 
Fritchman sold their interest to Henry C. Frick.
The establishment is now under the management of
J. G. Pontefract. The buildings contain an aggregate
of about one and a half acres of flooring, and the
works have a capacity for distilling four hundred
bushels of grain every twelve hours.
GIBSONVILLE.
The land on which Gibsonville is located was taken
up by John Mugger, Dec. 20, 1773, in the tract of 302
acres.called " Confidence." On the 12th of January,
1774, it was conveyed to John Vanderen, and in the
same year it catne into possession of Zachariah Connell. He, on the 26th of October, 1801, sold it to
Joseph Page, who conveyed it to Samuel Page, July
5, 1814. May 1, 1817, it was purchased bv Thomas
and Joseph Gibson.
In March, 1836, the property of Thomas and Joseph Gibson was divided under an order of the court,
and the site of Gibsonville fell to the heirs of Josepl
Gibson. On the 1st of April, 1844, Joshua Gibson
-I
(son of Joseph) purchased tlle interest of the other
heirs in the land.
In the spring of 1860 the only inhabitants of the
place which is now Gibsonville were Isaac Carr, Isaac
Hale, and Sarah and Elizabeth Hale. In the fall and
winter of 1863 the brick-works were constructed there
by Jackson Spriggs, of Washington Counrty. In the
winter of 1.867-68 the Lumber and Stave Company
erected here a steam saw-mill, dwelling-house, office,
and stables, under the management of Hugh Holmes.
In the spring of 1870 the first store in the place was
opened by Edward Collins. A second one was opened
soon after by A. B. Hosick, and two years later a
third was started by Joshua Gibson. In November,
1870, John Hilkey opened a shoe-shop in a building
near the railroad bridge.
Gibsonville was platted and laid out by Joshua
Gibson, on the 5th of December, 1870. The population of the place on the 13th of January, 1871, was
ninety-six persons. In March of the same year the
auger-works were built by Thomas St. John.
In May, 1879, Joshua Gibson donated a lot (No. 15)
in the town plat to the Presbyterian Church of Connellsville, on condition that they should erect a chapel
on it within two years. On the 1st of the same month
the name of the railroad station at this place was
changed back from  "White Rock" to "Gibson's."
On the 20th of January, 1880, Gibsonville contained
a population of 205. It now contains about three
hundred inhabitants.
BIOGRAPIIICAL SKETCHES.
JOSHUA GIBBS GIBSON.
Mr. Joshua G. Gibson is one of the most esteemed
citizens of Fayette County. He resides within the
limits of " Gibson's Station," on the line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, near Connellsville, where
he was born, March 15, 1811, in what has been since
the downfall of the celebrated Crawford's cabin the
oldest house ever built in the region by a white
man. The house is made of logs, and was erected
about 1776 by William McCormick, and was weatherboarded for the first time about 1840, and now has
the appearance of a modern wooden structure. In
this house Mr. Gibson spent the years of his early
boyhood.
He is of English Quaker stock on the paternal
side; on the maternal of New England extraction.
His great-grandfather, Thomas Gibson (whose father
was a Quaker preacher), came from England in 1728
and settled on Brandywine Creek, Chester Co., Pa.,
where Mr. Gibson's grandfather, John Gibson, was
born, and where he owned grist- and saw-mills on the
banks of the creek a mile below the celebrated
Brandywine battle-field.  He was wont to relate
404(X             t /
11 (CONNELLSVILLE BOROUGH AND TOWNSITIP.
seeing the blood-stained water course by his mills on
the day of the battle, which he with his neighbors
climbed the hills and witnessed.
In October, 1795, John Gibson removed with his
family from Chester County to Favette County, and
settled near what is now the " Union Furnace," and
there assisted Isaac Meason and Moses Dillon to erect
the second blast-furnace put up west of the Allegheny
Mountains. He had five sons and one daughter, of
whom Joseph Gibson, the father of Joshua G. Gibson, was the second child, and was born in Chester
County. He was reared mainly in Fayette County,
and became Ian iron-master, though considerably engaged in agriculture, owning with his brother a large
tract of land. In 1815 he erected the old JEtna Furnace in Connellsville, which was in active operation
for about thirty years. About it he put up many log
and frame houses, which years ago tumbled down in
decay. Joseph Gibson died in 1819, when only
thirty-nine years of age, but worn out by hard work
and exposure to the inclemencies of the climnate.
About 1810 he married Anna Gibbs, a native of
Connecticut, who had come from that St;ate into
Fayette County some years before with a relative.
She died about three years after the death of her husband, leaving four children, of whom Joshua was the
oldest.
Mr. Gibson received his education frorn an old
Englishman, a Revolutionary soldier, who fought on
the side of the rebels, and after the war pursued
teaching and clerking at the iron-works in Connellsville.  At about sixteen years of age Mr. Gibson
went into both the timber business and farming,
which he conducted as his chief business for about
fifty years. In January, 1824, he moved upon the
farm and into the stone house which he still occupies
on the bank of the Youghiogheny River. In 1870
he laid out a portion of this farm into village lots,
and has erected thereoil aboult eighteen houses himself, and sold several lots upon which others have
builded.
Mr. Gibson has always been an industrious man,
domestic in his tastes, temperate, and social in disposition, but never mingles intimately with his immediate social surroundings outside of his family,
tlhough noted for his jocularity and salient wit. But
withal he is, in some respects, a peculiar man, indulging idiosyncratic tastes at times; as is illustrated by
the fact that it has been his habit for a periodl of over
forty years to take annual excursions alone to the
Atlantic seaboard, or among the Indians of the lakes
or of Canada, among whom he usually spends two or
three months, by them being called "the Pennsvlvania Quaker," or " Wacco," which is understood to
be the Indian translation of the former designation.
Visiting with these people Mr. Gibson finds great
diversion, and thinks he thereby conserves his health.
He returns home invariably buoyant in spirits, findillg the old home with its comfortable surroundings a
new Eden, wherein he settles down again in quiet
and peace. Thus he renews his age and his home,
and escapes for a while each year the perplexities of
business and the corroding temptations of avarice,
and so will, doubtless, lengthen out his green old age
far beyond the Scriptural allotment of life to man.
Mr. Gibson was an Old-Line Whig in politics, and
is now a Republican, but " never bothered with partisan politics." In 1852 he married Mrs. Ellen Simnonson, of Connellsville, by whom he has two daughters
and a son.
THOMAS R. DAVIDSON.
Among the distinguished men of Fayette County
who have passed away, stood eminent in professional
and social life, Thomas R. Davidson, who was born
in Connellsville,' Oct. 6, 1814, the son of William
and Sarah Rogers Davidson, both of Scotch-Irish descent. William Davidson, the father, was an old ironmaster, State senator, and a man of great mental vigor.
Thomas R. Davidson received his education at home
and at Kenyon College, Ohio, and after being admitted to the bar, practiced law for some years in
Uniontown, where he married Isabella Austin, daughter of John M. Austin, then one of the leaders of the
bar in his section of the State. Of this union were
two children,--Mary D., now wife of P. S. Newmyer,
of Connellsville, and William A., at present practicing law in Cincinnati, Ohio. Shortly after his marriage he located in Connellsville, his old home, where
he continued during the remainder of his life in the
duties of his profession, and engaged in various enterprises for the advancement of the community in
which he was interested. He was very cautious and
reticent in business pursuits, but was quite successfiul
and accumulated a handsome estate. He had no desire for political advancement, preferring the more
congenial walks of private life, though he once accepted the honorary office of presidential elector.
Mr. Davidson died Nov. 3, 1875.
His appearance was very commanding, he being
in stature six and one-half feet, finely proportioned,
and weighing two hundred and forty-two pounds.
Perhaps a more correct estimate of his character-and
standing could not be given than that expressed in
the following extract from a tribute by James Darsie,
who knew him long and well:
" His departure from our midst has left an aching
void which cannot be filled. No other man can take
his place, do the work, and command the confidence
that was reposed in him by the entire community.
He was indeed the rich man's counselor and the
poor man's friend, and was universally esteemed, honored, and beloved as a man of lofty principle, generous and magnanimous impulses, and of spotless integrity. I have rarely met one who had so great an
abhorrence of a mean, dishonorable, or dishonest act
as he; indeed, the love of truth and justice was in him
405HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
innate. While in principle stern and unbending,
even to severity, in heart and sympathy he was tender as a child. He never disappointed the hopes and
expectations of his friends, or betrayed a trust committed to his hands. He practiced his profession not
so much for profit as to heal the animosities, adjust
the difficulties, and restore the peace and confidence
of neighbors. I presume I may safely say he settled
more disputes by his sagacity, wisdom, and moderation than he ever did by the hard process of law,
and oftentimes prevailed upon his clients to amicably
settle their disputes rather than risk the vexation and
uncertainty of an appeal to a legal tribunal. He was,
indeed, a peacemaker in the highest sense of that term,
and had a far more honest satisfaction in amicably
settling a difficulty than in gaining a suit before a
judge and jury. In one word, he filled the full outline of that sentiment happily expressed by one of
England's noblest bards,"' An honest man's the noblest work of God.'"
The following testimonial to his great worth is
quoted from resolutions by the bar of Fayette County:
"It is with heartfelt sorrow and unfeigned regret
that we are compelled to submit to the loss of one so
endeared to us all by long and pleasant associations.
His genial, warIn, and affectionate disposition, his
tender regard for the feelings of others, his uniform
courtesy and affability, and, above all, his high sense
of honor and strict integrity secured to him the love
and respect alike of bench and bar. This bar has
lost a sound lawyer, an able counselor and upright
man, whose honor and integrity were only equaled
by his unassuming miodesty and affability."
DR. LUTELLUS LINDLEY.
The Lindleys of America trace their English lineage through Francis Lindley, who came to this
country with his Puritan brethren from Holland in
the " Mayfl(,wer."  Demas Lindley, the grandfather
of the late Dr. Lutellus Lindley, migrated from New
Jersey, and settled oni Ten-Mile Creek, Washington
Co., Pa., about the middle of the eighteenth century.
There the Rev. Jacob Lindley, Dr. Lindley's father,
was born in a block-house, the resort for protection
against the Indians of the white settlers of the region. The Rev. Jacob was educated at Princeton
College, and early in his ministerial life removed to
Athens, Ohio, and took active part in the building
and establishment of the Ohio University at that
place, of which he held the presidency for over
twenty-five years. His oldest child was the Rev.
Daniel Lindley, the famous missionary, under the
American Board, to South Africa, where he remained
for some twenty-seven years. He died in New York
at the venerable age of eighty years.
Dr. Lindley, born Feb. 1, 1808, was educated at the
Ohio University, under his fatller's charge, and was
prepared for graduation at the early age of sixteen,
but on account of ill health deferred it for two years,
till 1826, when he went to Virginia, and there taught
a private school composed of the children of several
neighboring planters. In 1831 he betook himself to
Ten-Mile Creek, read medicine with Dr. Henry Blatellley, a daughter of whom, Maria, he married in 1833;
and in March, 1834, he removed to Connellsville,
where he practiced medicine with great success for
about forty-seven years, and died Oct. 25, 1881.
Dr. Lindley was singularly devoted to his profession, but enjoyed a great reputation, not only for
professional skill, but for urbanity, a generous hospitality, and scrupulous integrity, commanding the
affection as well as confidence of his neighbors and a
wide circle of acquaintances.
His first wife, Maria Blatchley, died in June, 1841,
leaving a son, Henrv Spencer Lindley, now a physician practicing in Perryville, Allegheny Co., Pa. In
July, 1842, Dr. Lindley married Mary A. Wade,
daughter of James Wade, of Fayette County, by
whom he had four sons and one daughter, all of
whom are now living save the first-born son, Clark,
who was accidentally killed while a member of the
junior class of Allegheny College, Meadville, in the
twenty-first year of his age. The daughter, Carrie
Lou, was graduated at Beaver Female College in
1863, and in 1864 became the wife of Rev. C. W.
Smith, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and attached to Pittsburgh Conference. Lutellus W., Lutellus' second living son, graduated at Jefferson Medical
College, and practices in partnership with his halfbrother, Dr. Henry Spencer Lindfty, before named.
Frank M., the third son, studied medicine at the same
college, and practices his profession in Connellsville.
Charles D., the youngest son, resides in Butler City,
Montana, engaged in mining.
DANIEL ROGERS DAVIDSON.
Somewhere in Beaver County, Pa., near Brighton,
we believe, now resides, and of Pittsburgh makes his
business centre, Col. Daniel R. Davidson, who belongs
rather to the State of Pennsylvania than to Fayette
County, in which he was born, and where he passed
perhaps fifty years of residence, and in which countyhe still holds large business and proprietary interests
and spends considerkble time, a sketch of whom it is
our lot to prepare for the history of Fayette County.
Mr. Davidson took great interest in the history of
his native county during its preparation for the press,
and rendered willing aid to those who were engaged in
it whenever he could, contributing to whatever department of the work he was requested to assist in until
a biography of himself was demanded, when the
proposing interviewer was met with the polite but
positive refusal of Mr. Davidson to furnish any item
whatever regarding himself, he easily baffling the
inquirer with the naive remark that he never knew
406r
4e -1.46CONNELLSVILLE BOROUGH AND TOWNSHIP.
anything about himself, never understood himself as
boy or man, and could not, therefore, say anything of
himself; in fact, he would prefer that notlling be said,
and he left no uncertainty about his quiet but firm
declaration that whatever might be written of him
for the history must be obtained from others. However, persistent inquiry evoked from him the statement that he believed himself to have been born at
Connellsville, Jan. 12, 1820; but subsequent inquiry
of others casts doubt upon this date, and leaves the
writer unable to say whether Mr. Davidson was born
a year or two before or a year or two after that time.
Mr. Davidsoil is so markedly sui generis in character, as everybody who has his acquaintance knows,
or should know, that it is quite unessential to mention herein, as in biographical sketches in general, the
mortal stock of which he is a derivative; and yet it
would seem that somewhat of his physical and spiritual nature is inherited; as his father, the late Hon.
William Davidson, of Connellsville, is represented
by old citizens who knew him well -as a man of large
mould and extraordinary mental powers, as well as of
a very sensitive and potent moral nature (mixed with
a degree of religious sentiment which in the last
years of his life made him an extreme though consistent zealot); while his mother, Sarah Rogers, some
years since deceased, is pictured as a lady of remarkable gifts, a woman of great energy and extreme perspicacity.
William Davidson was born in Carlisle, Cumberland Co., Pa., Feb. 14, 1783, and came into Fayette
County about 1808. He was at first manager of the
Laurel Furnace, and afterwards an iron-master at
Break Neck. He was several times a member of the
State Legislature, at one time president of the House,
and was also a member of the Senate. He was highly
esteemed as an active, intelligent, and honest legislator. It appears that the first or immigrant Davidson ancestor of William, came from the north of Ireland and lived in Londonderry during the famous
siege.
Mr. and Mrs. William Davidson were the parents
of three sons and two daughters. Daniel R. was
their fourth child. It is learned that he went to a
common school in his extreme young years; but he
was never known by his schoolmates to study anything. The every-day mystery to them was how, without study, "Dan" got to know more about everything than did they who studied hard. Of course
the boys he played with had no capacities to comprehend him. They knew nothing of him any more
than they did about the mysteries of the attraction
of gravitation when they fell off the dunce-block, or
why the water ran down the Youghiogheny, gliding
past their school-house.
Frank always, but not bold in utterance, Daniel
Davidson grew up to sixteen years of age, as little
understood by his father, it is evident (and perhaps
by his mlother too), as he understood himself; and the
fear being that this uncomprehended boy would never
amount to anything of himself, and would ever be " a
ne'er-do-well," he was at that age taken from the
school which he cannot be said to have " attended"
and banished " from Rome,"-that is, sent into quarters over which the central power or home government held empire, but of which the boy was given
experimental charge,-a sort of procuratorship. It was
an act of despair on the part of his father when he
made, as he thought, a fixture of Dan on the Davidson farm, north of the borough of Connellsville,
which farm it was supposed Dan would need all his
life to glean necessary food from. So little did the
paternal mind understand the boy. But, lo! Dan,
who now had a world of his own to move in, at once
began to exhibit extraordinary executive ability. He
greatly improved the farm, and reaped a revenue from
it which surprised everybody; and then it was that
his career commenced. The peculiar, great-souled
boy had with one stride stepped from youth to mature
manhood, and was already putting to himself large
problems of a practical character, and projecting in
his clear head how they should be solved,-problems
concerning the public weal and involving the elements of his own private fortune.
~ It was at this time of his life, when near twenty-one
years of age, that he became interested in the project
of a railroad from Pittsburgh to Connellsville (the
present Pittsburgh Division of the Batltimore and Ohio
Railroad). He threw his great energy into that matter, against the advice and solicitation of his hopeless
friends and even the demands of his father, the
people regarding him as little less than wild. But he
kept straight on courageously and with imlnense.
industry in his course. He foresaw what none others
perceived, the vast advantages to the county and to
himself of the project; and tirelessly he pursued his
path, securing rights of way from this and that one
through his earnest eloquence in picturing the bright
future, and from others by sagacious conditional
bargains; and got charters, too, by piecemeal, fighting and out-plotting all the old heads in opposition.
He, let it be remembered, was the only man (and
then an untried boy) who had the energy to do this
tremendous work. At this matter of the railroad he
spent some five years, not, however, neglecting his
farm improvement and culture, and attending meanwhile to other important things which had come to
his hands to do. At last the road was built and
equipped. Crowds gathered at Connellsville on the
day on which the first train ran into the borough,
bearing an illustrious Pennsylvania protectionist on
the running-board of the engine, and by his side
Daniel Davidson, who, as the train stopped in the
midst of the people, shouted, "'Here's the end of the
Pittsburgh Road, with'Tariff Andy' on its back!"
and the doubters, who of course jeered and condemned him years before, now also of course applauded him to the echo, and literally bared their
407HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
advanced eastward to the Alleghenies and made incursions beyond that range. There was not left west
of the mountains in this region a single settler or
trader other than those who were favorable to the
French and their interests. And this state of things
continued in the country west of the Alleghenies for
more than three years from the time of Braddock's
defeat on the Monongahela.
The precise spot where Gen. Braddock was buried
has never been certainly known. Col. Burd, who
visited it in 1759, when on his way to erect Fort Burd,
on the Monongahela, said it was about two miles
from Fort Necessity, and " about twenty yards from
a little hollow, in which there was a small stream of
water, and over it a bridge." Gen. Washington said
that it had been his purposa to return to the spot and
erect a monumient to his memory, but that he had no
opportunity to do so until after the Revolution, and
then, after the most diligent search, he found it impossible to recognize the spot where the general was
buried on account of the change in the road and the
extension of the clearing.
In 1812 a party of men who were engaged in preparing the road under direction of Abraham Stewart
(father of the Hon. Andrew Stewart), dug out, near
the bank of the small stream known as Braddock's
Run, the bones of a human skeleton, and with them
some military trappings; from which latter circumstance the bones were supposed to be those of Braddock,-and it is not improbable that they were so,
though there is no proof that such was the case.
Some of the larger bones were taken away by the
people of the vicinity as relies, but these were after-.wards collected by Mr. Stewart,' and they as well as
the others were reinterred about 1820, at the spot
wvhich has since been known as "Braddock's Grave,"
and which was so marl-ed by the words cut or painted
on a board which was nailed to a tree over the place
of reinterment. This tree has since been cut down,
the grave inclosed, and evergreen trees planted over
it. The spot is in Wharton township, a few rods
north of the National road, southeast of the Chalk
Hill hotel, and northwest of Fort Necessity.
For nearly a century it has been believed by many
that the shot which took the life of Gen. Braddock
was fired by one Thomas Fossit, who afterwards became a resident in Fayette County. This Fossit, it
appears, always wished to have people believe that it
was a bullet from his gun that gave the mortal wound
to the brave Braddock; and mnany-perhaps a majority-of the people of this section of country did
for many years believe that such was the case. The
writer of this believes that Fossit's story (whether by
this is meant that which he implied by significant
silence, or that which he at other times triumphantly
asserted) is false. He believes this case to be similar
to several of which he had personal knowl]edge in the
late civil war, where private soldiers (always of the
worthless class), bearing ill will against officers who
had administered deserved punishment to them, made
mysterious muttered threats of biding their time till
the n6xt engagement; and after the objects of their
*hatred had fallen in the front of battle, could not refrain from expressing satisfaction, and in a boasting
way saying enough to have hanged them, if it had not
been susceptible of proof that they themselves were,
during the battle, skulking so far in the rear of the
line of fire that they could not have reached their pretended victim with any weapon of less calibre than a
ten-pounder Parrott gun. This, however, is,but a mere
opinion, and therefore entitled to no weight on the
page of'history. Opposed to it-as has already been
said-are the opinions of a large proportion of the
people who have lived in Favette County during the
past ninety-eight years. Under these circumstances
the only course which can properly be pursued by
the'historian is to give, without comment, the several
principal statements which have been made in the
case. One of these 2 is as follows:
"There has long existed a tradition in this region
that Bradd(ack was killed by one of his own men, and
more recent developments leave little or no doubt of
the fact. A recent [1843] writer in the National  Iltelligencer, whose authority is good on such points, says,'When my father was removing with his family to
the West, one of the Fausetts kept a public-house to
the eastward from and near where Uniontown now
stands as the county-seat of Fayette County, Pa. This
man's house we lodged in about the 10th of October,
1781, twenty-six years and a few months after Braddock's defeat; and there it was made anything but a
secret that one of the family dealt the death-blow to
the British general. Thirteen years afterwards I met
Thomas Fausett in Fayette County, then, as he told
me, in his seventieth year. To him I put the plain
question, and received the plain reply, "I did shoot
him!" He then went on to insist that by doing so
he contributed to save what was left of the army. In
brief, in my youth I never heard the fact doubted or
blamed that Fausett shot Braddock.'
" The Hon. Andrew Stewart, of Uniontown, says
he knew and often conversed with Tom Fausett, who
did not hesitate to avow, in the presence of his friends,
that he shot General Braddock. Fausett was a man
of gigantic frame, of uncivilized, half-savage propensities, and spent most of his life among the mountains
as a hermit, living on the game which he killed. He
would occasionally come into town and get drunk.
Sometimes he would repel inquiries into the affair of
Braddock's death by putting his fingers to his lips
2 Made by Sherman Day, in his " Historical Sketches of the State of
Pennsylhvania."
1 It has been said in some accounts that the bones collected by Mr.
Stewart were sent to Peale's Museum, in Philadelphiia, but the statement
is not authenticated.
48HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
heads before him. Cannon were fired, and the great
uproar of praise shook the sky. William Davidson,
the father of Dan, the banished, "luckless wight,"
looked on in silence that day, and then turned away,
walking speechless into his house near by. Perhaps
he grieved over his wild boy's victory, perhaps he
was proud. Since that day sensible people have not
questioned Daniel Davidson's judgment, his prognostic powers, his great capacity and energy.
From this point on, we might proceed recounting
the struggles and conquests of this man, but our space
is too limited to permit much detail. Many have not
forgotten the time, not long after the railroad was
finished, when a mob of Connellsville people of "high
respectability" threatened dire things against Mr.
Davidson on account of sundry bonds connected
with the building of the road, and to pay money
loaned on which, to the matter of twenty thlousand dollars or so, it was feared they were to be heavily taxed.
How they raged and fumed is a matter of history, as
well as how Dan laid a plan by which they were lightly
taxed, and the bonds gotten back by him into their
hands in indemnity, they severally receiving bonds
in proportion to the amount of their taxes; and how
some tore theirs up or burned them in rage and contempt- and punished themselves, while others kept'
theirs and eventually profited by them some six
hundred per cent.
And while we are talking of railways, it must not
be forgotten that in later years it was this same Dan
who was a principal promoter of the Fayette County
Railroad, which took the county-seat and its adjuncts
out of the night of decay that was settling down upon
them and gave them new life, while many gave him
the encouragement of gibes and scoffs, sneeringly declaring that a four-horse coach could carry all the passengers the railroad would ever convey! The county
also owes to Mr. Davidson more than to any other
man the advantages which she has for years enjoyed
through the Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad. He
was the originator of the project of its building, rendered indispensable services in obtaining its charter
or charters, and gave his time and talents whenever
needed to the work.
Mr. Davidsonl resided for years on his farm near Connellsville, and became universally sought for counsel in
business, politics, and confidential affairs. It is probable that he settled more neighborhood and domestic
difficulties than did all other men during his time in
Connellsville. In politics he became a great diplomatist. In extensive and subtle combinations in political
fields, in making Inen see things as he saw them, and
in pointing out the way to easy, safe, and self-sustaining victories, he became recognized among leaders as
a power long before the gray hairs began to creep
into his locks.  He liked politics intensely for the
field it opened for the play of his forces, but he cared
not for office. Indeed, lie has been pressed to take
important offices, but has always refused.
Before Mr. Davidson left his farm as a place of
family residence, indeed early in life, he foresaw what
a mighty work would yet be done in the coking coal
fields of Fayette County. We cannot go into detail
here, but it is meet that we make note that he started
in the business (first helping others to enter upon it
before seeking to secure especial advantages to himself, however) when everybody said he was crazy for
so doing.. (He has always been "insane!") He was
one of the great prime movers in the vast enterprise
of developing on a huge scale the mineral resources
of the county; indeed, he was the one intellectual
power which moved it. Others filrnished brawn and
ignorant energy. In his time he has owned more extensive coking coal lands than any one else who can
be named. In the measure of upbuilding the business of Fayette County through her coal-beds, he ran
against the popular "judgment," as he had done in
many other matters, but, as in this case, he always carried his measures to final poptular approval and indorsement.
But we are giving this article the full length of a
preface to the book which might be written of the
man and the great part which Daniel Davidson has
played in the world, and when we took up our pen we
had no pturpose to do more than make a synopsis of a
preface; but the subject is an inspiring one, and the
material concerning it voluminous. The labor is not
in expanding but in coming to a halt; for every year
of Davidson's life for the last four decades would build
a volume of record. It is not easy to biographize the
living, since regarding them one may not be so direct
and personal as if talking of the dead. Too much
truth about either, a stupid public (general readers)
will not usually bear, but whoever shall live to write
of Davidson when he shall have gone will have a
subject full worthy of tlle greatest pen, and may write
the full truth about whatever may be his faults and
failings; but to the writer of this Mr. Davidson's faults
seein quite unworthy of notice, as really no part of
himn,-incidents of his life, not outgrowths of his
character, not of the man any more than his wornout and torn boots or old coat. There are some men
whom faults do not blemish more than do spots of
thin rust a tried Toledo blade. They are the current
records or telling symbols, not vital parts of a great
life of sturdy warfare. Indeed, there have been and
are men whomn crimes do not sully. Bacon was one
of them. But meannesses too low for the law to classify into misdemeanors even, these are the things which
stain the soul, or the rather, they are the exponents
of essential natures, proofs that the soul guilt,y of
enacting them is not great, whatever the nman's
frontispiece before the world. Of such the world
accuse,s not Davidson; and while the history of Fayette County will be searched in vain in the chapters
of her illustrious dead for one native born the superior of Davidson in all that goes to make great
manhood, so among the living of Fayette County
408,:v.10:CONNELLSVILLE BOROUGH AND TOWNSHIP.
and of Western Pennsylvania a similar search would
surely also be vain. He has once been aspersed and
thrust into the civil courts, and he came out thoroughly a victor, and justly and nobly triumphant
over the attempted wrong and persecution.
Mr. Davidson has a wide acquaintanceship among
the leading men of the country, especially those of
the South and West, and commands their esteem, as
he does that of the people of his own State. Where,
when, or how in his strong-willed, successful career he
has gathered to himself the funds of information
which he possesses upon many topics is unknown to
the writer, for he cannot learn that Mr. Davidson has
been a close student of books. But Carlyle, it is
said, could exhaust five octavo volumes a day. He
turned over the leaves of a book, read here and there
a page, caught the key-note, and saw the manner of
treatment of a subject, and could talk more wisely
then of the book than another man who had spent
three weeks in reading it. Mr. Davidson evidently
possesses some such power or art, and we are told
that his memory is prodigious. But over all his
powerful, logical brain reigns; and we are inclined to
think that out of the depths of his own being, by the
accretions of his own mind, more than from acquirements of any sort, is it that the successes of Daniel
Davidson have been builded. But however made, or
created, or modified, sure it is that no son of Fayette County was ever his superior in intellectual and
moral forces, in mental equipoise, in quiet but tremendous energy given to great works of a practical
character for the well-being of the county; in that
mental forecast which amounts to prophecy in the
power to move and persuade men by gentle means,
opening their eyes that they may see, and, seeing, believe the things in practical life hidden to them, but
clear to his keen vision. In these and many other
things Davidson stands unsurpassed, felt as to his
power in every part of the county, but yet "unknown," save only to the wise few, but by them understood but partially, and careless, we think, as to
whether or not he shall ever be understood by the
masses.
EDWARD K. IIYNDMAN.
Edward K. Hyndman, though a native of Carbon
Co., Pa., and present resident of Pittsburgh, resided
in Fayette County for a period of about eight years,
and holds large business interests therein.
Mr. Hyndman is of Scotch-Irish descent, being the
son of Hugh Hyndman, who was born in the north
of Ireland in 1800, and Catharine Huff, a native of
Danville, Pa., born in 1805, both still living in vigorous old age. He was born in Mauch Chunk, Pa., the
great anthracite coal region, in 1844, and growing up
there became a civil engineer at about eighteen years
of age, and was engaged more or less in the construction and operation of railroads in their various departments until at twenty-five years of age he
became the superintendent of the Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad, from Easton to Scranton (now a
part of the New Jersey Central Railroad system),
in the superintendency of which he continued till
1872, when he resigned his post to take the superintendency of the Pittsburgh and Connellsville Railroad (now the Pittsburgh Division of the Baltimore
and Ohio Railroad), in charge of which he remained,
residing at Connellsville, for the period of eighlt
years.
In his official position, while living there in charge
of the railroad, Mr. Hyndman enjoyed peculiar
opportunities for studying the Connellsville coke
business and the extent and position of the coking
coal field, anld was so impressed with the vast present and future importance of the business that he
took measures to secure some eight thousand acres of
the best of coal lands in one body, and organized a
company under the name of the Connellsville Coke
and Iron Company, with Ilon. John Leisenring as
president, and other of his old Eastern anthracite coal
friends as members, with a capital stock of one million
two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, for the purpose of developing the coal property.  He then resigned the superintendency of the railroad, and accepted the position of general manager of the abovenamed company. Mr. Hyndman remained in that
position until the company was thoroughly established and in working order, he finding meanwhile
that his early experience in the anthracite district
availed him much in the new field. He then riesigned the management of the company, though still
its consulting engineer, and removing to Pittsburgh,
accepted (in June, 1881) the office of general manager of the Pittsburgh and Western Railroad, which
office he now holds, together with that of president
of the Pittsburgh Junction Railroad.
Mr. Hyndman is also largely interested in various
enterprises in and out of the State.  Among these
may be mentioned that of the Virgrinia Coal and Iron
Company and the Holston Steel and Iron Company,
having their centre of operations in Southwestern
Virginia, and in which Mr. Leisenring and others of
the Connellsville Coke and Iron Conipany are also
interested.  The above-named Virginia Coal and
Iron Company possesses over 70,000 acres of coal and
iron lands, upon the development of which they have
already entered, having commenced the construction
of a railroad seventy miles in length in order to reach
their new fields from Bristol, Tenn. The coke to be
manufactured in this field will readily supply rnarkets not accessible from the Connellsville coke region.
Feb. 25, 1873, Mr. Hyndman married at Philadelphia, Miss Gulielma A. Brown, daughter of the
late William Brown, Esq., of Bethlehem, Pa., and
Mrs. Susan I. Brown, his widow, who now resides
in Philadelphia. Mr. and Mrs. Hyndman have two
sons
409IlISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
JOHN LEISENRING.
Among the many eminent business men and capitalists whom the treasures of the Connellsville coal
basin have attracted from other regions, to make large
investments in mineral lands, mining, and the manufacture of coke in Fayette County, one of the most
widely known and prominent is the president of
the Connellsville Coke and Iron Company, Hon.
John Leisenring, whose home is at Mauch Chunk,
Pa., but who is a native of Philadelphia. He was born
in 1819, his paternal ancestors being of Saxon descent,
and his maternal ancestors Scotch. His great-grandfather came to America and settled in Whitehall
township, Lehigh County, on the Lehigh River, in
A.D. 1765, on a farm bought from the original proprietors, while Indians still occupied that portion of the
State. This farm still remains in the possession of his
descendants. At the time of John Leisenring's birth
his father was a morocco-dresser in Philadelphia,
which business he left to engage in the war of 1812.
In 1828 he removed to Mauch Chunk, where the
family have since resided. John's education was directed with especial reference to the profession of
civil engineer, which he entered at an early age, under
the direction of E. A. Douglas,: principal engineer of
the L. C.  N. Co., then controlled by Josiah White
and Erskine Hazard, who were engaged in constructing a slack-water navigation of the Lehigh River from
AMauch Chunk to White Haven, and also building a
railroad from White Haven to Wilkesbarre.
Mr. Leisenring, at the age of seventeen years, had
full charge of a division of the canal and railroad,
while George Law and Asa Packer were contractors
on the same division, and remained in charge until
its completion. After completing this work, the Morris Canal Company, who were then enlarging their
canal from Easton to Jersey City, through their chief
engineer, Mr. E. A. Douglas, secured his services as
assistant, and he was placed in eharge of the division
between Dover, N. J., and Jersey City. He was also
engaged in locating and surveying the railroad now
known as the Belvidere Delaware Railroad, in which
work he was associated with E. A. Douglas and Gren.
H. M. Negley, who now lives in California. About
this time he engaged in the coal business, then in its
infancy, which he saw was to be the controlling business of the region. He also built the Sharp Mountain
planes, on the property of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, for conveying the coal which he and
others mined. From Ashton, Carbon Co., where he
had lived nine years, he removed in 1854 to Eckley,
Luzerne Co., where he opened the Council Ridge
mines, which are now operated by him, as well as
many others in the same locality, he being especially
identified with the coal from Buck Mountain vein,
producing together in 1881 about one million tons.
He organized and is still president of the Upper Lehigh Coal Company, known as one of the most successful anthracite mining companies in the country.
On the death of E. A. Douglas he was chosen as his
successor in charge of the works of the Lehigh Coal
and Navigation Company, during which the navigation from White Haven down was almost totally destroyed by the great freshet of June, 1862. The
works from Mauch Chunk to Easton were repaired
with wonderful rapidity, and Mr. Leisenring's energy
and efficiency in their reconstruction were on all
hands commended. The navigation from  Mauch
Chunk to White Haven was not restored, because in
the judgment of the subject of this article the destruction to life and property had been so great as to
be sufficient ground for declining to incur the risk of
a repetition, and in order to retain the business he
suggested and recommended the building of a railroad between the same points.
After completing this work, which gave the company a line of railroad from Wilkesbarre to Mauch
Chunk, Mr. Leisenring saw that to secure the full
benefit of this road it would be necessary to have a
railroad from Mauch Chunk to Easton, to connect
with roads in New Jersey, so that the operations of
the company need not be suspended during the winter
months, but that business could go on continuously.
In carrying out this plan, which was promptly adopted,
the road was laid out and completed with steel rails,
which were the first importation of any consequence,
and the whole fifty miles are still in use and doing
good service, showing the forecast and sound judgment
of its promoter. The iron bridges crossing the two
rivers, Lehigh and Delaware, at Easton have been
considered a masterly piece of engineering, both in
their location and construction. In view of the large
business which he expected from the Wyoming region,
he designed and built the three inclined planes which
were used to raise the coal from the Wyoming Valley,
a height of about 1000 feet, divided in planes of about
a mile in length each. These planes are constructed
with a capacity to raise 2000 cars, or 10,000 to 12,000
tons, daily, at a cost of but little nmore than the minimum cost per mile of transportation on a railroad of
ordinary grade, thus saving to the company over fourfifths of the cost of hauling the same coal in cars by
locomotives, as it would have required over thirteen
miles of railroad to overcome the same elevation.
These are thought to be the most effective planes in
the world.
Having brought to a successful issue all these plans
for the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company's canals
and roads, the increasing cares of his various enterprises made it necessary for him to resign the active
charge of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company's
extended business; and the company being loath to
lose his services, urged upon his acceptance the position of consulting engineer and member of the board
of managers, which latter position he still holds.
About this time there came a struggle among transporting companies to secure control of coal lands, in
which, owing to his well-known familiarity with the
410-6 -z-I
ICONNELLSVILLE BOROUGH AND TOWNSHIP.
geological formations in the coal regions, Mr. Leisenring was invited to join the Central Railroad Company
of New Jersey, of which he was elected a director,
and whose large terminal facilities were such as to
enable them to compete successfullv for a large business.  A lease was secured by the Central Railroad
Company of New Jersey of the canal and roads of
the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, securing
thereby the tonnage of the mines owned by that company and others, including those of the Wilkesbarre
Coal and Iron Company. The mines of the latter
company, together with other purchases, were merged
illto the property of the company now known as the
Lehigh and Wilkesbarre Coal and Iron Company.
In gathering these properties the advice and counsel
of Mr. Leisenring was sought, and he, together with
Charles Parrish, selected the lands, which are now
conceded to be as valuable as any, and to be the finest
body of connected coal land owned by any of the
corporations in the same neighborhood, and having
all of the best veins of coal in perfection.
The near approach of the time when the anthra
cite coal-fields would be unable to supply the increasing demands upon them, and the necessity of providing new avenues for business operations, led him
to the consideration of coke as a fuel for iron and
other manufactures.  With this end in view an examination was made of several tracts, from which he
and his associates selected the property which now
belongs to the Connellsville Coke and Iron Company.
The following extracts, taken from the first annual
report of the directors to the stockholders, dated Feb.
10, 1881, will show the operations of the company to
that date. Their property covers about 8500 acres of
land, every foot of which contains the celebrated
Connellsville seam of coking coal:
" The company was duly organized on the 31st of January,
1880. At a subsequent meeting of the stockholders, held March
13, 18S0 the charter granted by the authorities of the State of
Pennsylvania, dated March 5, 1880, was adopted and accepted
by the stockholders, together with a code of by-laws for the
management and government of the company.
" Operations for the development of the property, by sinking
a shaft, building ovens, and erecting tenement-houses, were
cc,nmenced March 27, 1880, and have been continued with but
slight interruption to the present time.
"The shaft has been sunk to the celebrated Connellsville
seami of coking coal, a distance of 375 feet fromn the surface.
"The vein was struck about the centre of the basin and
found to be 91 feet thick and of an excellent quality, surpassing in point of comparative freeness from sulphur, in density,
in richness in carbon and smaller quantity of ash the products
of the surrounding properties located upon the outcrops of the
ba.in.
"The fact of the shaft having been driven to the coal in the
centre of the basin and to the greatest depth yet attained in
that coa:l-field, with the results aforesaid, has very much enhanced the'value of the company's and surrounding property,
by the demonstrated fact that the deeper the coal is buried with
superincuimbent strata the purer and better it is found.
A'  pair of hoisting-engines workiing direct (without intermediate gearing), and capable of hoisting 1500 to 2000 tons of
coal per day, have been erected, put in operation, and work
admirably. They were furnished by the Dickson Manufacturing
Company, of Scranton, Pa., a corporation well known for the
excellence of its work.
"The second opening, for ventilating purposes and for the
escape of the miners in case of accident to the main shaft, has
been commenced. This opening is required by law, as well as
for the safe and economical working of the mines, and will be.
prosecuted to an early completion.
"Additional houses for the accommodation of the workmen,
also coke-ovens, tracks, etc., necessary for the prosecution of
the business will be commnenced early the coming spring.
"The present selling prices of coke at the ovens afford a
handsome profit to the producer, and the marketing of which
is limited only by the means of transportation, which it is reported are entirely inadequate to do the business that offers.
We are informed, however, that the carrying companies are
arranging to greatly augment their rolling-stock.
" Within the last three or four months an entirely new market has been found for coke by the introduction of machinery
for breaking. screening, and sizing it, to be used for domnestic
purposes in competition with anthracite coal. It is believed it
will hereafter become a very important factor in the net profit
account of coke producers; doubtless the company will find it
to be to its interest, in the near future, to combine with its
regular coke business this new industry.
"The branch railroad being constructed by the Pennsylvania
Railroad Coimpany to connect our works with their imain line
is progressing rapidly towards completion, and we are assured
that it will be connected with our tracks at the ovens by the
1st of May, and by the 1st of June fhe company will probably
be able to ship coke from their mines in a moderate way.
"The boa.rd desire to congratulate the stockholders on the
possession of so fine a property in Fayette County; doubtless
it is among the best tracts of coking coal land in the State, and
probably in the world. Its value has already appreciated to
nearly or quite double its original cost, when compared with
the prices at which coke lands have recently been sold in the
vicinity, and when the limnited amount of this kind of property
is considered, and the rapid increase in the consumption of
coke is taken into account, your property has the elements for
one of the best future paying enterprises in the country.
"The Conncllsville coking coal basin is aLbout thirty miles
long by an average of two and one-half miles wide. The company's property occupies about six miles in length of the heart
of this ba:sin, and lies as nearly as may be about midway in the
longitudinal axis of the same. The coal is very unlike that in
the adjticent basins, although geologically the same sheet of
coal, but thinning out as it rolls over the anticlinals into the
contiguous basins on either side, losing at the same time its
coking qualities and turning into a gas and steam coal, costing
to mine from seventy-five to eighty.five cents per ton, whilst
the Connellsville coal is readily produced at a co-t for mining of
only twenty-five to thirty cents per ton. Furthermore, the coal
produced outside of the Connellsville basi-n requires (owing to
the large percentage of sulphur with which it is charged) to be
crushed and washed to rid it of a portion of the sulphur before
subjecting it to the coking process, whilst the coal contained in
your property, owing to its moderate percentage of sulphur, it
taken directly from the mine and dumped into the ovens, without any desulphurizing process whatever. The cost of producing
Connellsville coke is therefore at least fifty cents per ton le#s
than that of the neighboring regions located as before stated.
These facts, together with the advantages before mentioned,
demonstrate the great value of the company'  estate."
411and uttering a sort of buzzing
would burst into tears, and appe
conflicting passions.
" In spite of Braddock's silly
should not protect themselves
Fausett had taken such a posi
rode up in a passion and struc
sword. Tomn Fausett, who was
from his brother, saw the whole
mediately drew up his rifle and s]
the lungs, partly in revenge for
brother, and partly, as he alwa
general out of the way, and thi
of the gallant band, who had
obstinacy and want of experienc
But among all the authoritie,
ably the one which is entitled I
tion is that of Veech's "Moln
which occurs the following in r
of Braddock:
"For at least three-quarters
rent belief has been that he wa
Fossit, an old resident of Fayel
is therefore entitled to our no
his interesting'History of B
devotes several pages to a colla
the question, and arrives very I
dence at the conclusion that th(
by Fossit and others to heroiz
it was popular to have killed a
"Il knew Thomas Fossit we]
letic man, indicating by his
meanor a susceptibility of ii
disregard of moral restraints.
in his later years somewhat int
yette County was erected in 17
on the top of Laurel Hill, at
dock's and Dunlap's roads, neai
claiming to have there by settl
of land, which by deed dated i
veyed to one Isaac Phillips.
kept a kind of tavern or resti
and pack-horsemen, and after
the place long known as Sla
Dowell's. His mental abilitie
his bodily powers; and, like a
he often wearied the traveler
deer, and rattlesnakes, lead-i
had many conversations with
tures. He said he saw Bradd
him, knew all about it; but
edge to nle that he aimed the
it is said, he did, and boaste
time I saw him was in Octob(
a pauper at Thomas Mitchell's
He said he was then one hund
and perhaps he was. He w
1 Freeman Lewis, the senior of the au
CAPTURE OF FORT DU  QUESNE.                                           49
sound; at others he  bacco. I stayed at Mitchell's two days, and Fossit
ar greatly agitated by  and I had much talk about old times, the battle, and
the route the army traveled. He stated the facts
order that the troops  generally as he had done before. He insisted that
behind trees, Joseph  the bones found by Abrahain Stewart, Esq., were not
ition, when Braddock  the bones of Braddock, but of a Colonel Jones; that
k him down with his  Braddock and Sir Peter Halket were both buried
but a short distance  in one grave in the camgp, and that if he could walk to
transaction, and im- the place he thought he could point it out so exactly
hot Braddock through  -near a forked apple-tree-that by digging the bones
the outrage upon his  could yet be found. There are parts of this story
Wys alleged, to get the  wholly irreconcilable with well-ascertained facts.
us save the remainder  There was no Col. Jones in Braddock's army. Sir
been sacrificed to his  Peter Halket and his son, Lieutenant Halket, were,e in frontier warfare."  killed and left on the field of battle. Braddock did
s on the subject, prob-  not die at Dunbar's camp, but at the first camp eastto the most considera-  ward of it, and it is nowhere said that Braddock was
longahela of Old," in  buried in the camp....
eference to the killing   "Nevertheless the fact maybe that Fossit shot him.
There is nothing in the facts of the case as they ocof a century the cur-  curred on the ground to contradict it; nay, they rather
is shot by one Thomas  corroborate it. Braddock was shot on the battle-field
tte County. The story  by somebody. Fossit was a provincial private in the
)tice. Mr. Sargent, in  action. There was generally a bad state of feeling
raddock's Campaign,' between the general and the provincial recruits, owing
ition of evidence upon  chiefly to his obstinate opposition to tree-fighting,
logically from the evi-  and to his infuriate resistance to the determined ine story is false; got up  clination of the backwoodsmen to fight in that way,
e him at a time when  to which they were countenanced by the opinion of
Britisher.             Washington and Sir Peter Halket. Another fact is
II. He was a tall, ath-  that much of the havoc of the English troops was caused
physiognomy and de- by the firing of their own men wherever they saw a
tmpetuous rage and a  smoke. But Braddock raised no smoke, and when he
He was, moreover, was shot a retreat had been sounded. If, therefore,
temperate. When Fa-  Fossit did shoot him he must have done it purposely.
83 he was found living  And it is said he did so in revenge for the killing of a
the junction of Brad- brother for persisting in firing from behind a tree.
r Washington's Spring, This is sustained by the fact that Tom had a brother
ement a lhundred acres  Joseph in the action who was killed. All these cirin April, 1788, he con-  cumstances, with many others, seem to sustain the
For many years he  allegation. Against it are the inconsistencies and
ing-place for emigrants  falsities of other parts of the testimony of the witrwards for teamsters, at nesses adduced, and even of Fossit's own narrations."
ck's, later Robert Mc-   Fossit died in 1818, a pauper in the township of
rs by no means equaled  Wharton. He was at the time of his death about one
true man of the woods, hundred and six years old, according to his own
with tales about bears, statement.
nines and Indians.  I
him about his advenock fall, knew who shot                CHAPTER  VII.
would never acknowldeadly shot. To others,   CAPTURE OF FORT DU QUESNE-ERECTION OF
-d of it... The last                       FORT BURD.
er, 1816. He was then
A, in WVharton township.   FRoM July, 1755, when the French succeeded in
ired and four years old, expelling the English forces from  the region of
as gathering in his to- country west of the Alleghenies, the former held absolute possession of that territory for more than three
thors of " Monongahela of Old." years, as has already been mentioned. Not long afterHISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Shaft No. 1, located at " Leisenring," near the eastern end of the property, is now in operation, furnishing coal for about 200 ovens. The construction of 200
additional ovens is now under way, and will be completed by June next, and 300 more will be added by
the close of this year.
Shaft No. 2, near the western line of the property,
has been sunk to the coal a distance of about 150 feet,
and houses and ovens are being built with the view of
a business of 1000 tons of coke daily. Locations have
been made for three additional plants, with a capacity
each of 1000 tonls per day, making in all five plants,
with a total capacity of producing 5000 tons of coke
daily, 1700 acres of land having been assigned to each
plant.
The following officers and board of directors are as
follows: John Leisenring, F. A. Potts, Samuel Dickson, John S. Wentz, E. B. Leisenring, M. S. Kemmerer, Henry McCormick, Daniel Bertsch, John
Fritz.
Officers elected by the board of directors: President, Hon. John Leisenring; Vice-President, E. B.
Leisenring; Superintendent and Engineer, J. K. Taggart; Consulting Engineer, E. K. Hyndman; Secretary and Treasurer, W. B. Whitney; Chief Clerk,
John A. Esser.
COL. JAMES M. SCHOONMAKER.
Col. James M. Schoonmaker, though a native and
resident of Pittsburgh, has large business interests in
Fayette County, in the development of coal-mines
and the manufacture of coke, and is therefore more
practically identified with the welfare of the county
than are many of her own children.
Col. Schoonmaker is of New York "Knickerbocker"
stock, his paternal ancestors subsequent to 1660 having
been born in Ulster and Orange Counties, N. Y.
Hendrick Jochem, one of his paternal ancestors, came
to America from Holland in 1660 and settled in Ulster
County.
James Schoonmaker, the father of Col. Schoonmaker, removed from Ulster County to Pittsburgh in
1836, at the age of twenty-three years, and embarked
in the drug business. In 1841 he married Mary Stockton, a daughter of Rev. Joseph Stockton, of Pittsburgh,
by whom he has had nine children,-five sons and four
daughters,-of whom James M. is the oldest. Both
parents, as well as all the children, are living.
James M. was born June 30, 1842, and was educated
in private schools and in the public schools of Pittsburgh, and attended the Western University of that
city, which institution he left at the age of nineteen
years, and entered the volunteer army in the war of
the Rebellion, being attached as a private at first to
the Union Cavalry of Pittsburgh, whichl joined the
Army of the Potomac. With this force he served a
year, being meanwhile made a lieutenant of Company
A of the First Maryland Cavalry Regiment, to whicl
the Union Cavalry was attached. In August, 1862,
he was ordered from the front to return home and
take command of the Fourteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry, which was then recruiting in Pittsburgh, being
partly made up of three companies from Fayette
Coulnty,--Company B, under Capt. Zadoc Walker;
Company E, under Capt. Ashbel F. Duncan; and
Company F, led by Capt. Calvin Springer, (late
sheriff of Fayette County). Many of the surviving
members of these companies are now living in Fayette County.
In November, 1862, Col. Schoonmaker received his
commission as colonel, and took his regiment into
the field. At that time Col. Schoonmaker, being a
little less than twenty years and five montlls of age,
was, it is believed, the youngest officer of his rank ill
the Federal army. He commanded the regiment till
Jan. 1, 1864, when he was assigned to the command
of the First Brigade, First Cavalry Division of the
Army of the Shenandoah, and remained in that command till the end of the war, after which, with his
brigade, still in service, he was sent by the War Department to guard the overland stage-route from the
Missouri River to the Rocky Mountains, serving in
that campaign till August, 1865, when the brigade
was mustered out of service at Fort Leavenworth,
Kansas.
During his military career Col. Schoonmraker was
constantly in the field, and participated in all the
battles of thie Army of the Shenandoah, under Gen.
Sheridan, the campaigns of which were especially
severe. At one time his brigade was for forty-two
consecutive days and nights in the saddle, engaging
the enemy daily, and took part in the three decisive
battles of the Shenanldoah Valley, which practically
ended the war by destroying the enemy's forces.
After the mustering out of his brigade at Fort
Leavenworth, Col. Schoon maker returned home and
entered into business with his father, remaining with
him until some time in 1872, when he went into business with his father-in-law, WVilliam H. Brown, in the
mining of coal and manufacture of coke.
In 1879, Mr. Brown having meanwhile died, and
his business being divided or assigned among the
members of his family, Col. Schoonmaker came into
possession of the Connellsville coke branch as his
interest in the partnership business, and has ever
since been exclusively engaged in prosecuting that.
A good portion of his works are located in Fayette
County, 463 coke-ovens being situated at Dawson's
Station, he being also chairman of the Redstone Coke
Company (Limited), which has 300 ovens near Uniontown, Col. Schoonmaker owning one-third of this
property. He also owns the Alice Mines, in Westmoreland County, comprising 200 ovens, and is chairman of the Morewood Coke Company (Limited), Softhe
same county, and ruaning 470 ovens, of. which propI
4 1.0.46--CtCONNELLSVILLE BOROUGH AND TOWNSHIP.
erty he is one-fourth owner. Col. Schoonmaker's
principal office is at 120 Water Street, Pittsburgh.
Feb. 22, 1872, Col. Schoonmaker married Miss
Alice W. Brown, daughter of William H. and Mary
Smith Brown, of Pittsburgh, and who died Oct. 7,
1881, leaving a son.
ABRAHAM OVERHOLT TINSTMAN.
Abraham O. Tinstman, now a resident of Turtle
Creek, Allegheny Co., Pa., resided in Fayette County
from 1859 to 1876, and there conducted enterprises
and aided in laying the foundations of important
works which are in active operation, developing the
wealth and forming an important part of the business
of the county to-day.
Mr. Tinstman is of German descent in both lines.
His paternal great-grandfather was born in one of the
German States, and came to the United States, locating in Bucks County, Pa., and from thence removed to Westmoreland County, Pa., residing near
Mount Pleasant, where he had his home until his
death; he was a farmer by occupation. A. O. Tinstman's paternal grandfather was Jacob Tinstman, who
was born in Bucks County, Pa., Jan. 13, 1773, and on
Dec. 11, 1798, was married to Miss Anna Fox, of
Westmoreland County, Pa., her birthplace having
been Chester County, Pa., Aug. 8, 1779.
Jacob Tinstman and Anna Tinstman had ten children, whose names were Mary, Henry, Adam, John,
Jacob, Anna, Christian, David, Sarah, and Catharine.
Jacob Tinstman was a farmer and a man of fine education.
John, the father of A. O. Tinstman, was the fourth
child and third son, and was born Jan. 29, 1807, in
East Huntingdon township, Westmoreland Co., Pa.
He was brought up on the farm, and attended subscription schools. He held important township offices, was an excellent citizen, an energetic and prudent man, and made a competence for himself and
family. He died at the age of seventy years.
A. O. Tinstman's maternal grandfather was Abraham Overholt, also of German descent, and who was
born in Bucks County, Pa., in 1774, and came to
East Huntingdon township, Westmoreland Co., Pa.,
about the year 1800, and settled on a farm on which
the village of West Overton now stands. He married
Miss Maria Stauffer, of Fayette County, Pa., and both
being of frugal, industrious, and economical dispositions, accumulated property rapidly, lived together
harmoniously, and left as monuments of skill and
judgment in building and improvements some of
the most substantial buildings of East Huntingdon
township, having built the entire village of West
Overton, iiicluding mill, distillery, etc.
A. O. Tinstman's mother's maiden name was Anna
Overholt, who was a daughter of the aforesaid Abra27
ham and Maria Overholt. She was a lady highly esteemed for her kindness and gentleness, traits of character for which her mother, Mirs. Abraham Overholt, was particularly distinguished. She was born
July 4, 1812, and was married to John Tinstman
about 1830, and died in the year 1866. The fruits of
their marriage were ten children, viz.: Maria, who
died at fifteen years of age; Jacob O.; Abraham O.;
Henry O.; Anna, widow of Rev. L. B. Leasure; John
O., who died when a soldier in the army during the
Rebellion; Elizabeth, who died at three years of age;
Abigail, who died at nineteen years of age; Emma,
wife of Dr. W. J. K. Kline, of Greensburg, Pa.; and
Christian S. O. Tinstman, who is now conducting
business in partnership with A. O. Tinstman, under
the firm-name of A. O. Tinstnman  Co. Abrahamn O.
Tinstman was born Sept. 13, 1834, in East Huntingdon township, Westmoreland Co., Pa., on the farm
upon which are now located the Emma Mine CokeWorks. He received his education in the common
schools, attending them during the winter season
until about twenty years of age, and continued laboring on the farm with his father until he became
twenty-five years old, when he went to Broad Ford,
Fayette Co., Pa., to take charge of his grandfather
Overholt's property at that place, the business consisting of the manufacture of the celebrated Overholt
whisky, the cutting of timber by steam saw-mill into
car and other lumber, and the farming of the lands
connected with the Broad Ford property. He thus
continued to manage and do business for his grandfather until 1864, when the two formed a partnership,
named A. Overholt  Co. He, however, continued to
conduct the business until the death of his grandfather,
A. Overholt, who died in 1870, in the eighty-sixth
year of his age.
During Mr. Tinstman's residence in the county and
his partnership with his grandfather he caused the
erection of the most important buildings in Broad
Ford, some of which are the large mill and distillery
now there, as well as many houses for the use of employ6s.
In 1865 he and Joseph Rist bought about six hundred acres of coking coal land adjoining the village
of Broad Ford. Mr. Tinstman thereafter (in 1868)
sold one-half of his interest in the same to Col. A. S.
M. Morgan, of Pittsburgh, Pa., and with him established the firm of Morgan  Co., who put up one
hundred and eleven coke-ovens at the point now
known as Morgan Mines, on the line of the Mount
Pleasant and Broad Ford Railroad, and built one mile
of railway from Broad Ford to said mines, at which
place the first coke was manufactured along what is
now the Mount Pleasant and Broad Ford Railroad.
Morgan  Co. at this time held almost entire control
of the coke business of the Connellsville region.
In 1870, A. O. Tinstman with others organized a
company, of which he was elected president, and built
the Mount Pleasant and Broad Ford Railroad, he
413HISTORY OF FAYETTERi COTJNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
holding the office of president until the sale of said
road to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company in
1876.
About 1871, Mr. Tinstman purchased a portion of
Mr. Rist's interest in the six hundred acres of coal
land previously mentioned. Mr. Tintsman was at
this time very desirous of starting in business. Mr.
H. C. Frick was at this time keeping books for A.
Overholt  Co., and aspired for something more
than book-keeping, he having shown through his
indomitable energy, skill, and judgment that he was
not only capable of keeping an accurate and beautiful set of books, but that he was able to conduct
business, manage employ6s, etc. So Mr. Tinstman
and Rist associated Mr. Frick with them, under the
firm-name of Frick  Co., and Mr. Frick was made
manager of the association, both financially and
otherwise, and for his services was allowed a salary
by the company out of the profits arising from the
manufacture and sale of coke in addition to his proportion of the dividends as partner in the company.
This company built at Broad Ford two hundred
coke-ovens. The first one hundred were built along
or facing the Mount Pleasant and Broad Ford Railroad, and were known as the Frick Works, or "Novelty Works." The otlier hundred were built in blocks
along the Pittsburgh Divisioin of the Baltimore and
Ohio Railroad, and facing the road and Youghiogheny
River, and were known as the Henry Clay Works.
In 1872, Col. Morgan and Mr. Tinstman (as Morgan  Co.) bought about four hundred acres of coking
coal at Latrobe, Westmoreland Co., Pa., and there
built fifty ovens. About this period and on continuously to 1876 (during the panic period) Mr. Tinstinan
bought large tracts of coal lands on the line of the
Mount Pleasant and Broad Ford Railroad, comprising
nearly all the best coal lands in that region; but the
pressure of the panic proved excessive for him, the coke
business, like everything else, becoming depressed,
and he failed, losing everything. But having great
confidence that the coke business would revive, and
foreseeing that it would be one of the earliest as well
as surest of manufacturing interests to recuperate, he
bought in 1878 and 1880 on option a large extent of
coal land in the Connellsville region, and then sold
in 1880 about 3500 acres to E. K. Hyndman, who
about that period organized the Connellsville Coal
and Iron Company, at a good advance over cost price.
This sale enabled him again to take a new start in
the world as a business man. He then, in 1880,
established the firm of A. O. Tinstman  Co., and
opened an office on the corner of Seventh Avenue
and Smithfield Street, Pittsburgh, Pa., and soon after
bought a half-interest in the Rising Sun Coke-Works,
on the June Bug Branch of the Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad. In 1881 he bought the Mount Braddock Coke-Works, located on the Fayette County
Branch of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and
Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad; and in the same
year he bought the Pennsville Coke-Works, on the
Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad, embracing in all
about three hundred ovens, all of which he still owns
and operates.
Thus we see again verified in Mr. Tinstman's life
that great truth, that those who " try again" earnestly
and energetically will succeed. He is to be congratulated in his again being established in business, and
being so pleasantly situated and surrounded by home
and famnily relations, as it is well known that while
in the county he labored diligently for its welfare;
and though he has not received the deserved abundant recompense in a pecuniary manner, yet the
people of the county appreciate his labors, especially
those who have been benefited directly by the development of the coal interests of the county, and of
whom there are not a few.
On July 1, 1875, Mr. Tinstman married Miss Harriet Cornelia Markle, youngest daugliter of Gen.
Cyrus P. Markle and Sarah Ann Markle (whose
maiden name was Sarah Ann Lippincott), of Mill
Grove, Westmoreland Co., Pa. He has one son, namned
Cyrus Painter Markle Tinstman.
HENRY CLAY FRICK.
Mr. Frick, of the celebrated firm of H. C. Frick 
Co., manufacturers and dealers in coke, and a third
owner of the business of said company, which is coiinstituted of himself and Messrs. Edmund and Walton
Ferguson, of Pittsburgh, was born in West Overton,
Westmoreland Co., Pa., Dec. 19, 1849.
Mr. Frick first engaged in active business life on
any considerable scale in 1871, when he entered upon
the coke business at Broad Ford, in Fayette Co., Pa.,
and has continued to prosecute the same there and in
that neighborhood to this time.
The business at Broad Ford was started with fifty
ovens, and has gradually increased till it comprises in
that district over one thousand ovens.
The firm also owns coke interests in other parts of
Fayette County and in Westmoreland County.
EDMUND MOREWOOD FERGUSON.
Edmund M. Ferguson, a gentleman who, though
now a resident of Shady Side, Pittsburgh, Pa., is
identified with the leading business interest of Fayette County, was born in New York City in 1838,
and located in Fayette County in 1871, wherein, at
Ferguson Station, on the Fayette County Railroad,
near Dunbar, he was engaged for three years in the
manufacture of coke. In the fall of 1874 he left the
county as a place of residence, but continued his
business therein, and settled in Pittsburgh.
In March, 1878, Mr. Ferguson entered into partner414I           I     r,I -to - 4LJ 7XO,HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
their victory on the Monongahela they reduced their  Virginia companies, was Capt. William Crawford, afforce at Fort du Quesne, sending a part of it to Ve-  terwards for many years a resident of Fayette County,
nango and other northern posts, and their Indian   at Stewart's Crossings.  Gen. Forbes arrived at Raysallies, or a great part of them, scattered and returned   town about the middle of Septemnber, but Col. Henry
to their homes, being in a state of discontent and in-  Bouquet had previously (in August) been ordered forcipient disaffection, though  still holding to their  ward with an advainced column of two thousand men
French allegiance.                                      to the Loyalhanna to cut out roads. The main body,
At Fort du Quesne the French captaini, Contre-  with Washington in advance, moved forward from
coeur, remained in command till the early part of  Raystown in October.  In  the mean time Bouquet
1757.  In that year, and not long after Contrecoeur's  (perhaps tlhinking he could capture the fort with his
supersedure, the commandant at Fort Cumberland   advance division, before the arrival of the main body,
sent out a small party (probably the first which crossed   and thus secure the principal honPor) sent forward a
the mountains from the east after Braddock's defeat)  reconnoissance in force, consisting of eight hundred
to penetrate as nearly as practicable to the Forks of  men (mostly Highlanders) under Maj. William Grant.
the Ohio, and reconnoitre the country in the vicinity   This force reached a point in the viciniity of the fort,'
of the French fort.' It was composed of five soldiers  where, on the 14th of September, it was attacked by
from Fort Cumberland and fifteen Cherokee Indians,  a body of about sevenl hundred French and a large
all under command of Lieutenant Baker.  They ad-  number of savages, under command of a French offivanced to a point on the head-waters of Turtle Creek,  cer iiamed Aubry.  Here Grant was defeated with
about twenty miles from  the fort, where they fell in   much  slaughter, the  Indians  committing  terrible
with a French party of three officers and seven men.  atrocities on the dead and wounded Highlanders.
In the fight which followed they killed five of the  The French aiid Indians then advanced against BouFrench and took one (an officer) prisoner. They then   quet, and attacked his intrenched position at Fort
made their way back through what is now  Fayette   Ligonier, but were finally (though with great diffiCounty, and arrived in safety at Fort Cumberland  culty) repulsed on the 12th of October, and forced to
with their prisoner and with the information that the  retreat to their fort.
French fort was in command of Capt. de Ligneris,    Gen. Forbes witli the main body of his army arwho had under him at that place a force of about six  rived at Loyalhanna early ill November.  A council
hunidred French troops and two hundred Indians.         of war was held, at wvhich it was decided that on account of the lateness of the season and approach of
In 1758 the English ministry planned and sent for-  winter (the ground being already covered with snow)
wvard an expedition much more formidable than that  it was "unadvisable, if not impracticable, to prosecute
placed uinder Braddock, three years before, fo'r the   the campaign any further till the next season, and
capture of Fort du Quesne.  The command of this  that a winter encampment among the mountains or
new  expedition was given to General John Forbes.  a retreat to the frontier settlements was the only alHis force (of which the rendezvous was appointed at  ternative that remained."  But immediately  afterRaystown, now Bedford, Pa.) was composed of three wards a scouting-party brought in some prisoners,
hundred  and fifty Royal American  troops, twelve  from whom it was learned that the garrison of Fort
hundredc Scotch Highlanders, sixteen hundred Vir-  du Quesne was weak, and the Indian allies of the
ginians, and twvo thlou.sand sevenl hundred Pennsyl- French considerably disaffected. Thereupon the devania provincials,-a total of five thousand eight hun-  cision of the council of war was reversed, and orders
dred and fifty effective men, besides one thousand   at once issued to niove on to the assault of the fort.
wagoners.  The Virginia troops were comprised in          The march was commenced immiediately, the troops
two  regiments, comnmanded  respectively  by  Col.  takinigwith them no tents or heavy baggage, and only
George Washington and Col. James Burd, but both   a few pieces of light artillery.  Washington with his
under the superior command of Washington as acting   cominand led the advance. When within about twelve
brigadier.  Under him, in command of oWn e of the   miles of the fort word was brought to Forbes that it
was being evacuated by the French, but he rememiI An anecdote of anotlher small reconnoitringDpartyti1at was sent to-  bered the lesson taught by Braddock's rashness, and
wards Fort du Quesne a short time afterwvards is founAd in Sparks (ii. 283),  treated the report with suspicion contin ui ng the march
in one of Washington's letters, dated May, 1758, as follows: " Aii Inidian   w           i
named Ucahula was sent from Fort Loudon [Va.] with a paity of six  with the greatest cautioii, and  withholding  from  the
soldiers and thirty Indians, under comniand of LieutenanRt Gist. After  troops the intelligence he had received.  On the 25th
great fatigues and suffering, occasioned by tile snoWs on tlhe Allegheny  of November, when they were inarching with tlhe
Mountains, they reached tlhe Monongahela River [att the moutli of Redstone], where Lieutenant Gist, by a fall fiom a precipice, was rendered  provincials In front, they drew near the fort and came
unable to proceed, and the party separated. Ucahula, with two other  to a place where a great number of stakes had been
Indians, descended tlhe Monongahela in a bark canoe till they canle
near Fort du Quesne. Here they left their canoe, anid conicealed theln-   2 This filit took place at "Grant's Hill," in the present city of Pittsselves on the margin of tile river till they hlad all opportullity of attack-  burgh. The total loss of tile English was 273 killed slId 43 MolInded
iiig two Frenchmen, wliom tiley killed aud scttlped. Tllese scalps were  more than one-thlird of Grant's entire force. Tile colllmander aild Major
brought to Fort Loudon by Ucahula."                     Lewis were taken prisoniers by the Frencl altd Indians.
50.10                                   -!-;PI' oll,a:CONNELLSVILLE BOROUGH AND TOWNSHIP.
ship with Henry Clay Frick, under the style of H. C.
Frick  Co., for the manufacture and sale of Connellsville coke, their works being almost wholly situated in Fayette County. In this firm he continues in
active business.
In 1872 he married Miss Josephine E., daughter of
W. S. Mackintosh, of Pittsburgh, by whom he has
three children,-John M., William S., and Martha R.
WALTON FERGUSON, ESQ.
Walton Ferguson, of Shady Side, Pittsburgh, now
and for several years past largely interested in connection with his brother, Edmund M., and Mr. H. C.
Frick in the coke business of Fayette County, was
born at Stamford, Conn., in 1842, and there resided
till the fall of 1879, when he moved to Pittsburgh and
entered as a partner the firm of H. C. Frick  Co.
In the year 1865 he became a member -of the firm
of J.  S. Ferguson, of New York, in which he is
still interested.
CAPT. JOHN F. DRAVO.
Capt. John F. Dravo, the present custom-house
surveyor of the port of Pittsburgh, is largely identified with the business of Fayette County, particularly
in the coal and coke interests thereof, and began his
operations in the coke trade at Connellsville in 1868.
Mr. Dravo is of French extraction. His grandfather, Anthony Dravo, a native of France, settled in
Pittsburgh at an early day in the history of that city,
and resided there the remainder of his life. Mr.
Dravo was born in West Newton, Westmoreland Co.,
Pa., Oct. 29, 1819, but spent most of his youthful
days about six miles from Elizabeth, Allegheny Co.
He was educated in the common schools, and at
Allegheny College, Meadville, where he remained
three years, and withdrew from the college on account
of ill health. From 1840 to 1880 he was engaged
continuously in the coal business, though meanwhile
connected with the coke trade, to which he now devotes his time almost exclusively. Mr. Dravo took
up his residence in Pittsburgh about 1836, and in
1840 removed to McKeesport, Allegheny Co., and
there entered into the coal business, and subsequently
built up Dravosburg, opposite that place. In 1868
he sold out his coal business, and, as noted above,
went into the coke trade in Connellsville. Mr. Dravo
has held many positions of trust in business and
official circles, having been director of the Allegheny
House eight years; director and vice-president of the
Pennsylvania Reform School four years; first vicepresident for several years of the Chamber of Commerce, of which he was one of the first members;
director of the Tradesmen's National Bank and People's Insurance Company; vice-president of the
Beaver Female College; and general manager of the
Pittsburgh and Connellsville Gas-Coal and Coke
Company. He was appointed to his present position
as surveyor of the port of Pittsburgh May 23, 1881.
His long identification with coal interests in and
about Pittsburgh has made him a general favorite
among the river-men, while in the business community no one stands higher than he in reputation for
integrity or for urbanity of nianner.
Mr. Dravo is in politics an ardent Republican, of
anti-slavery or " abolition" antecedents, and has taken
active part in the campaigns of his party, having
been much upon the "stump." He is a voluble and
forcible public speaker, and one of the most effective
political debaters in the State. He was a delegate to
the Chicago Convention which nominated Abraham
Lincoln for President. Among party factions he is a
"peacemaker," a character which in Pennsylvania
politics is occasionally in very urgent demand.
DAVID BARNES.
Every town or borough has its distinctive " characters," among whom are men who seem to have been
born to be publicly useful, and who could not well
have gone into strictly private life if they had tried.
Aside from their regular business they fill numerous
offices, are known by everybody, consulted more or less
by everybody about everything, are alert, smart, found
apt at any business upon which they may be called
to enter, wide awake,-in short, universally useful, ever
willing and competent. Of this class of men is David
Barnes, of Connellsville. His family hlas been identified with Fayette County for over eighty years. Mr.
Barnes is the grandson of Zephaniah Ellis Barnes,
who came to America from England and settled in
Woodstown, N. J., several generations ago. There,
in 1765, was born David Barnes (Sr.), father of our
David, and who came to Connellsville in 1801 and
built there (the first of its kind ever seen west of the
mountains), what was then known as a "go-back sawmill." He took great interest in the organization of
the borough, and was a member of its first Council.
He built the market-house which now stands on the
corner of Spring and Church Streets, and, under Governor Simon Snyder, was appointed flour inspector for
the county of Fayette. During the war of 1812 he,
in company with Joseph McClurg, of Pittsburgh, ran
Mount Pleasant Furnace, where were made cannon,
cannon-balls, and grape-shot for the government.
After the war he was engaged in the iron business in
company with Isaac Meason and James Paull. He
was a man of excellent ability to plan and execute.
He died in 1832, and was buried in the Quaker graveyard in Connellsville. His wife was Sarah Proctor,
a native of Old Town, Md., and born in 1785. She
was a relative of the Ogles, Camerons, and Clintons
of that State, and came with her parents to Perryopolis, Fayette Co., in 1812. In 1818 she and David
Barnes were married. At hlis death she was left with
413416          HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
six children, one having previously died. Her whole
time and energy were devoted to rearing and educating her children, particularly in morals and religion. She never, when in health, let an evening
pass without assembling her young family and reading to them a chapter from the Scriptures. Of course
she was particular to avoid such chapters as are not
considered delicate and proper to be read by youthful
and unformed minds. Her selections were always judicious. After the reading she always uttered a prayer
for the protection of her children, mingled with earnest hopes for their future usefulness. Her family consisted of David, William, Hamilton, Joseph, Z. Ellis,
Emily, and Mary Bell. William was educated at Lewisburg University, and was ordained as a Baptist minister at the First Baptist Church of Pittsburgh. He
visited the Holy Land with the view of thereby the better enabling himself to fulfill the responsible duties of
his calling. He wished to see the places where Christ
preached, feeling that he might gather inspiration
therefrom. At the breaking out of the late war he
was commissioned as chaplain of the Fifth New York
Volunteer Artillery, and served until the close of the
war. Hamilton lhas served a term in the State Senate
from Somerset County. He is a fluent and impressive
speaker, and a leader in the Republican party. Joseph
became a carpenter, and, as a foreman of his department, helped build the Union Pacific Railroad. Ellis,
being a great lover of horses, has dealt extensively in
them, and during the late war was quartermaster under Gen. Samuel B. Holabird. He resides at Connellsville, and carries on the livery and sale business.
Emily died quite young. Mary Bell married Thomas
Evans, and is the mother of a large family, all industrious and good citizens.
David Barnes was born in Perryopolis, Feb. 5,
1819, and attended the common schools, but regards
his mother as his only real teacher and only friend in
youth. At sixteen years of age he commenced teaching school, and followed the business until (he having meanwhile incurred the responsibilities of marriage) his wages would not support him, when he
turned his attention to politics. In 1853 he was appointed a clerk in the State Department at Harrisburg, where he remained some sixteen years. About
1869 he resigned his office at the capital and accepted
the position of paymaster of the Pittsburgh and Connellsville Railroad, and thereafter resigned that to
accept position as book-keeper of the National Locomotive-Works at New Haven; and on the completion
of the Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad, from Greensburg to Connellsville, was appointed station agent at
the latter place, which position he still holds.
Mr. Barnes is a stanch Republican, and exerted
considerable influence during the late war. He was
the true friend of the soldiers, helping and aiding
them wherever he could, visiting them in hospitals
and administering to their wants. Great numbers of
them  lnadce him their banker, and he judiciously invested their funds for them, often profitably, refusing
all fees for his services; and he still helps them in
their celebrations, especially to "fight their battles
o'er," he being a fluent and stirring speaker. Mr.
Barnes is charitable to a fault, but of great determination of character, and not lacking in fiery spirit
makes enemies; but feeling that he is right he cares
not for foes, declaring that he would "rather have
one influential friend than the whole rabble of the
town" at his back.
Mr. Barnes was a popular officer at the State capital, was respected by all with whom  he did business,
and in war times was the confidential and trusted
friend of Governor Curtin, rendering him special services, at one time carrying messages fromi him to all
the Governors of the New England States. Mr. Barnes
has been somewhat of a traveler, having climbed to
the top of Mount Washington, in the White Mountains, and visited the battle-fields around Richmond,
Va., and seen "considerable of the country besides."
In 1848, Mr. Barnes married Mary Jane Shernman,
a daughter of Samuel Shernman, of Connellsville, a
native of Connecticut, and related to the family of
Roger Sherman. Mr. and Mrs. Barnes have had nine
children,-four sons and five daughters. Two of the
daughters are dead. His eldest son, Andrew Stewart
Barnes, served during the late war as a soldier in the
Fifth Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery. After the war
he learned the ma-,hinist trade in the Baltimore and
Ohio Railroad shops. Thereafter he was appointed
postmaster at Connellsville, and afterwards route agent
between Washington City and Pittsburgh, which position he still holds. Mr. Barnes thinks that boys
should learn trades, and his son Samuel is a machinist,
and William a carpenter. Irwin, another son, quite
young, is devoted to music. Mary Elizabeth is married, and lives in Cuba, N. Y. Jennie and Hally,
his other children, are very intelligent, and likely to
grow up to be excellent citizens.
Mr. Barnes lost the use of one of his legs when he
was but ten years old, and says that his misfortune was
"a godsend," as with his vitality and energy and
two good legs he "might have become a brigand!"
What is worse, he might have, and likely would have,
gone into the late war, and would probably have been
killed on the field. With the aid of his crutch he
moves about as lively as most men on two good legs,
and at the age of sixty-three is as active as ever, and
looks younger than most men at fifty. His " nerve"
will probably carry him on into extreme old age, and
keep him useful all the while.
JOHN D. FRISBEE.
John D. Frisbee, Esq., president of the First National Bank of Connellsville, and the leading merchant of that borough, is of New Enlgland stock on
his paternal side; in his maternal line Scotch-Irish.
His father, Samuel Frisbee, was born in Connecticut,
If
t51
ERECTION OF FORT BURD.
planted, and on these were hanging the kilts of High-  another work was constructed-a weak and hastilylanders slain on that spot in Grant's defeat two months  built stockade with a shallow ditch-and named
before. When Forbes' Highlanders saw this they be-  " Fort Pitt," in honor of William Pitt, Earl Chatham.
came infuriated with rage and rushed on, reckless of Two hundred men of Washington's command were
consequences and regardless of discipline in their  left to garrison it, and the main army marched east.
eagerness to take bloody vengeance on the slayers of Gen. Forbes returned to Philadelphia, and died there
their countrymen. They were bent on the extermina-  in March, 1759.
tion of their foes and swore to give no quarter, but soon    The new Fort Pitt was commenced in August,
after, on arriving within sight of the fort, it was found  1759, and completed during the fall of that year by a
to be indeed evacuated and in flames, and the last of force under command of Gen. Stanwix.
the boats in which its garrison had embarked were    When the English had finally expelled the French,
seen in the distance passing Smoky Island on their  and obtained possession of the country at the head
way down the Ohio.                                  i of the Ohio, in 1758, and had built and garrisoned the
The fort was found to have been mined, but either first Fort Pitt at that place, one of the first objects to
the enemy had left in too much haste to fire the train  be accomplished was the establishment of a route for
or the fuse had become extinguished. The troops at transportation from the East, with defensive works
once marched. up to take possession, Washington  and bases of supply at intermediate points. Under
with his command being the first on the ground. On  this necessity the route was adopted from Fort Cumthe following day he wrote to the Governor of Vir-  berland to the Monongahela at or near the mouth of
ginia a report of the evacuation and capture of the  Redstolhe Creek, anld thence down the river by waterpost as follows:                  -                  carriage to Fort Pitt, this being identical with the
route contemplated by the Ohio Company nearly five
" CAMP AT FORT DU QUESNE,
"2Sth NiovenbeI', 1758.    years earlier, when Capt. William Trent had been
"To Gov. FAIQUIER:                                   sent to build a fort for them at the forks of the Ohio.
"SIR,-I have the pleasure to inform you that Fort   In pursuance of this military plan, in the latter
Du Quesne, or the ground rather on which it stood, part of the summer of 1759, Col. Henry Bouquet, milwas possessed by his Majesty's troops on the 25tll in-  itary commandant at Carlisle, Pa., ordered Col. James
stant. The enemy, after letting us get within a day's  Burd to inspect the defenses and stores at Fort Cummarch of the place, burned the fort and ran away by the  berland; thence to march to the Monongahela, there
light of it, at night going down the Ohio by water to  to erect a fort and base of supply at a point proper
the number of about five hundred men, according to  and convenient for embarkation on the river. The
our best information. This possession of the fort has  substance of Col. Burd's orders, and his procedure
been matter of surprise to the whole army, and we  under them, are explained in a journal kept by him at
cannot attribute it to more probable causes than the  the time, which is found in the Pennsylvania Archives,
weakness of the enemy, want of provisions, and the  and from which the following entries are extracted,
defection of the Indians. Of these circumstances we  viz.:
were luckily informed by three prisoners who provi-    "Ordered in August, 1759, to march with two hundentially fell into our hands at Loyal Hanna, when  dred men of my battalion to the mouth of Redstone
we despaired of proceeding farther. A council of Creek, where it empties itself into the river Mononwar had determined that it was not advisable to ad- gahela, to cut a road somewhere from Gen. Braddock's
vance this season beyond that place; but the above  road to that place, as I shall judge best, and on
information caused us to march on without tents or my arrival there to erect a fort in order to open a
baggage, and with only a light train of artillery. communication by the river Monongahela to PittsWe have thus happily succeeded. It would be tedious  burgh, for the more easy transportation of provisions,
and I think unnecessary to relate every trivial cir-  etc., from the provinces of Virginia and Marylafnd.
cumstance that has happened since my last...   Sent forward the detachment under the command-of
This fortunate and indeed unexpected success of our Lieut.-Col. Shippen, leaving one officer and thirty
arms'Will be attended witlh happy effects. The Dela-  men to bring our five wagons.... When I have cut
wares are sueing for peace, and I doubt not that other the road and finished the fort I am to leave one offitribes on the Ohio are following their example. A  cer and twenty-five men as a garrison, and march
trade free, open, and on equitable terms is what they  with the remainder of my battalion to Pittsburgh...
seem much to desire, and I do not know so effectual   " 10th Sept.-Saw Col. Washington's fort, which
a way of riveting them to our interest as by send- was called Fort Necessity. It is a small circular
ing out goods immediately to this place for that pur-  stockade, with a small house in the centre; on the
pose....."                                        outside there is a small ditch goes round it about eight
Thus, after repeated attempts, each ending in blood  yards from the stockade. It is situate in a narrow
and disaster, the English standard was firmly planted  part of the meadows, commanded by three points of
at the head of the Ohio, and the French power here  woods. There is a small run of water just by it. We
overthrown forever. On the ruins of Fort du Quesne  saw two iron swivels.7CONNELLSVILLE BOROUGH AND TOWNSHIP.
I
and became a ship-builder, and in 1813 moved to
Pittsburgh, Pa., on the solicitation of Robert Fulton,
of steamboat fame, and was for a time in his employ.
He afterwards built a large number of boats, mostly
steam-packets, which ran on the Ohio and Mississippi
Rivers. About 1816 he married Miss Jane Davis,
then of Allegheny County, but a native of the north
of Ireland, and who came to America when about
thirteen years of age. They had nine children, of
whoIn Mr. Frisbee was the seventh, born Oct. 14,
1829.
Samuel Frisbee moved from Pittsburgh about 1838
to that part of the then Beaver County which is now
included in Lawrence County, near the town of New
Castle, and settled upon a farm, and remained there,
leading the life of a farmer, though diverting himself
meanwhile with more or less boat-building, until 1852,
when he removed to Davisville (a village named in
honor of the maternal grandfather of Mr. J. D. Frisbee) in Allegheny County, and then in his old age
rested from his labors, and died in 1854, at about
eighty-four years of age, his wife surviving him. She
remained at Davisville till about 1866, and moved to
Mahoningtown, Lawrence Co., where she resided until
her death in December, 1881, reaching upwards of
ninety years of age.
Mr. John D. Frisbee attended in youth the common
schools of Beaver and Lawrence Counties, and lived
at home assisting his father on the farm till about
1853, when, having caught the "California fever,"
he left home for the new Ophir, and sailing from
New York by the Nicarauga route duly arrived in San
Francisco, at a time when it was only a small though
intensely bustling city. Mr. Frisbee soon took up his
residence in Placer County, where he embarked in
merchandising, and uninterruptedly continued the
business with satisfactory results until 1856, and then,
leaving his business in the hands of others, returned to
Davisville, Pa., his old home; remained there till the
spring of 1857, and went back to California, and there
prosecuted his business till 1860. He then gave up his
residence in California and came back to Pennsylvania, and in 1861 took up his abode in Connellsville,
where he has since resided, and where he at once entered into partnership with Wm. Cooper  Co., then
late of Pittsburgh, upon general merchandising, under
the firm-name of John D. Frisbee  Co., in the store
which he still occupies. This partnership continued
under the same firm-name till 1865, when Joseph Johnston became a member of the firm, and the name was
changed to Frisbee, Johnston  Co., and so continued
till 1870, Mr. Johnston then retiring, and the firmname becoming F-risbee, Cooper  Co. This firm carried on the business until 1880, when Messrs. Cooper
and the other members withdrew, leaving Mr. Frisbee
in exclusive ownership. The business of the house
under the several firm-names above noted llas been
for several years larger than that of any other store
in Fayette County. Mr. Frisbee's business is constantly increasing in importance. He aims to keep
in stock everything in the mercantile line that is
demanded by the county.
Mr. Frisbee took active part in the organization of
the First National Bank of Connellsville, which was
opened for business April 17, 1876, and was elected
its first president, and has since been re-elected as
such at each of the successive annual meetings of
the bank's directors. The capital stock of the bank is
$50,000.
Aside from his special business, Mr. Frisbee has
interested himself more or less in farming, and particularly in the breeding of imported Jersey cattle,
which he raises upon his Cedar Grove farm, a mile
east of Connellsville,.which farm was in part formerly
the property of the- late Mr. Hiram Herbert, the
grandfather of Mrs. Frisbee, and upon which lihe
erected a house, in which he resided for a long period.
In politics Mr. Frisbee is an old-time Democrat.
He enjoys a high reputation for business integrity,
and contributes liberally to the support of all such
public measures and such works of charity, etc., as
he regards with favor.
Dec. 22, 1863, Mr. Frisbee married Miss Catherine
L. Herbert, daughter of George W. Herbert, of Connellsville, by whom he has five children,-Emma H.,
Jennie D., Herbert, Katie, and an infant son, at this
writing unnamed.
GEORGE W. NEWCOMER, M.D.
The medical profession, like every other profession
or vocation in life, comprises men of various mental
calibres, various degrees of natural adaptability and
acquired equipment for its pursuit. While every
practicing physician may justly, perhaps, be accorded
some special merit, however slight, some valuable
peculiarity which determined him in the choice of
his profession, the history of medical practitioners
as a craft goes to show that only now and then one
is possessed of that enthusiastic love of medical science and that certain intellectual capacity to wisely
apply in practice what he ihas learned by study
which win for him the popular confidence, and not
only achieve for him an extended practice, but enable
him to keep it and to add to it year by year. Two
things especially seem to conspire to such success, to
be necessary to it in fact, namely, keen insight into
the nature or cause of disease, or what medical men
term scientific "diagnosis," and the profound forecasting of the course and event of a disease by particular symptoms (enabling the true physician to
effectively apply and vary remedies from time to
time as the need of them is indicated), and which
they call " prognosis." The skillful diagnostician and
the like excellent prognoser, or "prognostician,"
must unite in the one physician if he be really able,
and his success for a given period of years is the best
possible assurance that the two do unite in his pro417  THISTORY OF. FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
fessional character and determine his career, whoever he may be. Such a physician is Dr. George W.
Newcomer, of Connellsville, who, though comparatively a young man, enjoys a very extensive practice,
and stands correspondingly high in the confidence of
the community, as is made evident by the fact that
his "office hours" are crowded with patients, and his
town visitations and country ride out of office hours
constant and laborious. Success like his is practical
testimony of worth which cannot be gainsaid,-the
visible crown of merit.
Dr. George W. Newcomer is on his paternal side
of German descent; on his maternal of Scotch-Irish
stock. His great-grandfather, John Newcomer, was
born in Germany, and emigrating to America, settled
in Maryland, where the doctor's grandfather, John
Newcomer (Jr.), was born. The latter came to Fayette County about 1790, and settled in Tyrone township, on a farm on which the doctor's father, Jacob
Newcomer, was born in 1809, and which he finally
purchased, living upon it all his life, and on which
the doctor himself was born.
Jacob Newcomer, who died March 8, 1871, was the
second of a family of eight children, and the oldest
son. On the 21st of September, 1830, he married
Elizabeth Hershey, of Allegheny County, who was
born April 22, 1812. Of this marriage were ten children, of whom George W. is the seventh, and was
born May 27, 1845. He was brought up on the farm
till about thirteen years of age, working in summers
after he became old enough to work, and attending
school in the winter seasons, and devouring at home
what books he could fget to read. When arrived at the
age above mentioned he was placed as a clerk in the
store of his uncles, John and Joseph Newcomer, in
Connellsville, where he remained till seventeen years
of age, attending school winters. He then entered
Pleasant Valley Academy, Washington County,
where he passed two years, taking a partial course of
classical studies.
At nineteen years of age he commenced the study
of medicine with Dr. John R. Nickel, of Connellsville, one of the most eminent physicians of the region, and at one time Professor of Anatomy and Surgery in the Physio-Medical College (now Institute)
of Cincinnati. He continued with Dr. Nickel during
the usual period of medical office study, and in due
time took the regular course of medical lectures at
the Phvsio-Medical Institute of Cincinnati, from
which institution he received his diploma, graduating
Feb. 7, 1867. He then returned to Connellsville and
opened an office for the practice of medicine, which
he there pursued for about five years, and then, upon
the call of friends, he removed to Mount Vernon,
Ohio, to take the practice of Dr. James Loar, who
was about to remove farther West. Dr. Newcomer
remained in practice at Mount Vernon till the spring
of 1874, when, at the urgent request of his old preceptor, Dr. Nickel (who in a few weeks thereafter
died), he returned to Connellsville, where he has ever
since remained.
Aside from the practice of medicine, the doctor has
engaged more or less in real estate speculations with
excellent results.
Dr. Newcomer is in politics an ardent Republican,
and though be does not claim to have done his country great service during the war of the Rebellion, it
may be mentioned here that he studied Republicanism in the field for about three months in war times,
being then a member of Company B of the Fiftyfourth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, a
three months' regiment, organized about the time of
the battle of Gettysburg, but in which battle it did
not participate, the company at that time being mustered in at Pittsburgh and awaiting equipments.
But shortly afterwards it was sent with other companies to attempt the capture of the " Morgan raiders"
in Ohio, and succeeded in cutting off Morgan at Salinesville, in that State,-a good lesson in politics, the
doctor thinks.
SMITH BUTTERMORE, M.D.
Dr. Smnith Buttermore, of Connellsville, an excellent gentleman, courteous, intelligent, and companionable, and a leading physician in his part of the
county, is on his father's side of German stock. His
grandfather, Jacob Buttermore, came to America
when a boy, and settled in the eastern part of Pennsylvania. In the war of the Revolution he served as
a soldier in Gen. Wayne's division, and after the war
resided in Westmoreland County, near Ligonier, and
eventually moved to Connellsville, where George
Buttermore, the father of Dr. Buttermore, was born
in 1798 and died in 1868. George B. married, about
1822, Barbara Smith, daughter of Henry Smith, of
Connellsville.
Dr. Buttermore was born in February, 1830, and
received his education other than professional in the
common schools and at Jefferson Academy. When
eighteen years of age he entered the office of Dr.
Lutellus Lindley, of Connellsville, and read medicine during the required period, and attended regular courses of lectures at Cleveland (Ohio) Medical
College, from which institution he graduated in 1854.
Immediately after graduation he went to the State of
California, wherein he practiced medicine for five
years, and then returned home to Connellsville.
Spending a summer there, he removed to Harrison
County, Va., and entered into the practice of his
profession there. When the war broke out all business, on the border especially, was thrown into confusion, and he, being unable therefore to prosecute
his profession in the old way, accepted a commission
in the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia under
Gens. Lee and Jackson, where he became noted as
a surgeon, and held his commission through the war.
After the war he resumed practice in Harrison
418DAVID CUMMINGS.CONNELLSVILLE BOROUGIH AND TOWNSHIP.
County, and continued it till the death of his falther,
in 1868, when he returned to Connellsville to settle
the estate. He has since resided in that borough,
and enjoys a fine practice, having in fact all the
practice which he is able to attend to.
In politics Dr. Buttermore is a Democrat, and represented Fayette County in the State Legislature in
the session of 1881.
In 1857 he married Miss Mary Lamb, a native of
Washington County, Pa., by whom he has two children,-Nevada, born in Virginia, and Virginia, born
in Connellsville.
MAJ. DAVID CUMMINGS.
Maj. David Cummings, who became a citizen of
Connellsville about 1820, and lived there for several
years, where four of his children now reside, was born
in Cecil County, Md., April 23, 1777, and was the son
of James Cummings, by birth a Scotchmrnan of distinguished family, who coming to America became
an officer in the war of the Revolution. David Cummings was a gentleman of classical education, and in
early life taught select schools. He was an officer in
the army during the war of 1812, and was wounded
and taken prisoner at the battle of Beaver Dam, in
Canada, and with other captive American officers
carried to England, where he was held for six months,
until exchanged, suffering great hardships. After the
war he became a mail contractor under the government, and as such first found his way into Western
Pennsylvania, and eventually settled at Connellsville,
where he soon became a man of note. He represented
Fayette County in the Legislature at the sessions of
1823 and 1824, and was the first mall in the legislative
body who made an effort to establish a general system
of education by common schools. That system being
a matter of contest, he was at the next election defeated.
Some years thereafter, leaving Connellsville, he removed to Mifflin County, where he was at first engaged in the building of the Pennsylvania Canal,
from Huntingdon to Lewistown, he afterwards becoming superintendent of the canal, as also collector
of the port of Harrisburg. He died at Lewistown,
Feb. 5, 1848, and his remains were brought to Connellsville and interred in the family burying-ground
beside those of his wife, who had died some. years before him.
Maj. Cummings was married June 30, 1801, to
Elizabeth Cathers, of Cecil County, Md., by whom
he had six sons and six daughters, of whom five
daughters and two sons are living,--Hannah M., who
married the late Thomas R. McKee; Margaret Eliza,
widow of Thomas McLaughlin; Sophia, widow of
Josiah Simmons, who died about 1863; Mary Ann,
who first married Dr. Bresee, of New York, now dead,
and as her second husband, Andrew Patterson, of Juniata County; Ellen, wife of Robert T. Galloway, of
Fayette County; and Jonathan W., once a government surveyor, now of Uvalde County, Texas; and
John A., who resides in Connellsville with his oldest
sister, Mrs. McKee. Of the sons deceased was the
late Dr. James C. Cummings, who died in Connellsville, July 28, 1872. He was born in Maryland in
1802, and moved with his parents to Fayette County
about 1820, and was educated at Jefferson College,
and studied medicine under Dr. Robert D. Moore,
then a distinguished physician of Connellsville, where
he himself afterwards became equally distinguished
in his profession. He was coroner of Fayette County
for several terms, and a member of the Legislature
during the sessions of 1843 and 1844. He was never
married.
JAMES K. ROGERS, M.D.
Dr. James K. Rogers was the son of Dr. Joseph
Rogers, deceased, and Elizabeth Johnstone Rogers,
still living, and of Connellsville. ~ He was born Feb.
5, 1832, and was educated at the common schools and
at the academy of Dr. McCluskey, at West Alexander,
Washington Co., Pa. At about seventeen years of
age he commenced the study of medicine with Dr.
James Cummings, of Connellsville, eventually matriculating in Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia,
from which institution he graduated in March, 1852,
a month: after arriving at the age of twenty years.
Immediately after graduation he commenced practice
in Connellsville, and there followed his profession with
signal success until the breaking out of the war of the
Rebellion, soonr after which he took his departure from
home without apprising his friends of his intention
and offered his services to the government. Being
accepted he received appointment as surgeon and at
once entered upon duty, and not long after wrote an
affectionate letter to his parents, informing them of
his new field of duty. During the war he held regular correspondence with his mother. His official positions in the service were those of assistant surgeon
and surgeon under appointment by President Lincoln
and confirmation by the Senate; and lieutenant-colonel by brevet under commission of Andrew Johnson,
countersigned by Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War,
ranking him as such from the 1st day of November,
1865. During a portion of his career he was corps
surgeon under Gen. Heintzelman. He at one time had
charge of the hospitals at Chambersburg and Hagerstown, and was the chief commissioned officer present
upon the capture and burning of the former town by'
McCausland's cavalry, July, 1864. He also held
the post of assistant medical director of the Department of Missouri. Dr. Rogers visited various parts
of the theatre of war, inspecting hospitals, etc. During his life in the army and elsewhere he performed
over a thousand amputations of limbs, besides a large
number of other surgical operations. He prepared
some time before his death a manuscript work on
419HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
surgery intended for publication, but which was unfortunately lost.
After the surrender and the war was practically
over Dr. Rogers was stationed in the government hospital at St. Louis, Mo., for about a year; but suffering
under malarial fever contracted while on duty in
South Carolina and Florida, he returned to Connellsville, and entered upon practice there, at once securing
his old clientage. But he was ever a'great sufferer, and
on March 18, 1870, died from the effects of the fever
which he had so long undergone. Dr. Rogers was
not only a man of excellent intellect, but of great
generosity and kindness of heart. He habitually
gave away with free hand the money lie earned in his
practice. There was no avarice in his composition.
His devotion to his profession as a whole was remarkable, but his chief love was surgery, in which his
natural ability, disciplined by his experience in the
army, made him eminently accomplished.
P. S. NEWMYER.
One of the most enterprising gentlemen of Connellsville, or whom sbe has numbered among her inhabitants for many years past, the common declaration
of her citizens names Porter S. Newmyer, Esq., lawyer
and business man, and still young. His ancestors
were German, he being the great-grandson of Peter
Newmyer, who came to America from Germany about
the middle of the eighteenth century, and eventually settled near Pennsville, Fayette Co. His grandfather's name was Jacob. Mr. Newmyer is the son
of Joseph (born about 1820) and Elizabeth Strickler
Newmyer, now residing at Dawson, and was born in
Tyrone township, Oct. 8, 1847.
He was educated at home and at the Southwest
Normnal College, in California, Washington Co., Pa.,
and at Alliance College, Stark County, Ohio, which
latter college he left in the spring of 1868, and entered upon the study of the law under the direction
of Hon. W. H. Playford, of Uniontown, with whom
he remained until admitted to the bar at the March
term of court, Fayette County, 1871. May 5th of
the same year he located in Connellsville and commenced the practice of his profession, at which place
he has continued to this time, enjoying an extensive
and lucrative business. In politics Mr. Newmyer is
a Democrat, and has several times been elected representative delegate for Fayette County, and once senatorial delegate from Fayette and Greene Counties to
State Coiiventions.
While prosecuting his professional business he has
also been largely and profitablv engaged in the real
estate business and other important affairs. He organized the gas company of his borough, and originated the First National Bank of Connellsville; was
its vice-president from 1876 to January, 1882, and
one of its heaviest stockholders until the last-mentioned date, when he sold out his stock. Mr. Newmyer was one of the projectors of the Keystone Courier,
one of the best county papers of Western Pennsylvania, and was one of the organizers of the Dawson
Bridge Company across the Youghiogheny River. He
recently erected the extensive and theretofore muchneeded structure known as " Newmyer's Opera-House
Block," on Pittsburgh Street, and is connected with
Hood Brothers  Co. in the dry-goods business, and
lends his assistance to various measures for the advanceinent of the interests of Connellsville. He is
one of the trustees of Bethany College, West Virginia, elected in May, 1880.
On the 10th of April, 1873, Mr. Newmyer married
Miss Mary A. Davidson, daughter of Thomas R. and
Isabella Davidson, of Connellsville, by whom he has
a son, Thomas D., and a daughter, Isabella D.
JOSEPH SOISSON.
Of those of our fellow-citizens of foreign birtli
whose energy and ambition demand a less cramped
field of action than Europe generally affords her most
enterprising children, is Mr. Joseph Soisson, of Connellsville. Mr. Soisson was born in 1827 in Alsace,
then a province of France, but since 1872 under the
dominion of Germany, where he was educated in both
the German and French tongue, and when about
eighteen years of age came to America, at that time
unable to speak English. Finding employment in
New York he in a few months acquired a competent
knowledge of our language and moved to Philadelphia, where he remained about eighteen months, and
thence went to Hollidaysburg, Blair Co., Pa., in the
employ of Charles Hughes, a brick-maker, continuing
with him about a year and a half, whereafter he visited
New Orleans, La., tarrying there a few months, and
returning to Mr. Hughes, who finally went into business with Dr. Rodrick, of which firm Mr. Soisson soon
took contracts for making brick. This business he
prosecuted for about two years, and then went into
partnership with Hughes, Rodrick retiring, on the
Allegheny Mountain, Plane No. 8, the firm-name
being Hughes  Soissoi. The bulsiness continued at
No. 8 till about 1860, when Hughes  Soisson instituted another brick-making partnership at Miltenberger, Fayette Co., which lasted about nine years,
the firm dissolving about 1869. Mr. Soisson then
carried on the business alone for about six years, and
next entered iilto partnership with Spriggs  Wilhelm, brick-makers at White Rock, Connellsville,
under the style of Soisson, Spriggs  Co., which after
sundry changes in copartners became Soisson  Co.,
Mr. Soisson buying out some of his partners, and
his young son, John F., purchasing the interests of
others in 1876 (with capital which he had the business
energy and courage to borrow), the firm continuing
under the name of Soisson  Co. till December, 1879,
4 "'  CONTENTS
CHAPTER I.
HISTORIC GROUND OF FAYETTE-LOCATION, BOUNDARIES, AND
TOPOGRAPHY...............................................  13
CHAPTER II.
THE WORKS AND RELICS OF AN EXTINCT PEOPLE.............. 16
CHAPTER III.
THE INDIAN OCCUPATION...............................................   191
CHAPTER IV.
THE FRENCH AND INDIAN CLAIMS TO THE TRANS-ALLEGHENY
REGION-GEORGE WASHINGTON'S VISIT  TO THE FRENCH
FORTS IN 1753.........................................  22
CHAPTER  V.
FRENCH OCCUPATION AT THE HEAD OF THE OHIO-WASHINGTON'S
CAMPAIGN OF 1754 IN THE YOUGHIOGHENY VALLEY....... 26
CHAPTER VI.
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITION IN 1755........................................... 37
CHAPTER VII.
CAPTURE OF FORT DUQUESNE-ERECTION OF FORT BURD.. 49
CHAPTER VIII.
SETTLEMENT OF THE COUNTY...........................................    53
CHAPTER IX.
DUNMORE'S WAR...............                             66
CHAPTER X.
THE REVOLUTION.
Troops Raised for the Field-Subsequent Disaffection-Lochry's Expedition..............................................  70
CHAPTER XI.
THE REVOLUTION (Continued).
Williamson's Expedition-Crawford's Sandusky Expedition............ 90
CHAPTER XII.
PENNSYLVANIA AND VIRGINIA TERRITORIAL CONTROVERSYESTABLISHMENT OF BOUNDARIES - SLAVERY AND SERVITUDE.......................................           114
CHAPTER XIII.
ERECTION OF FAYETTE COUNTY-ESTABLISHMENT OF COURTS--
COUNTY BUILDINGS.............                        129
CHAPTER XIV.
THE BAR  OF FAYETTE  COUNTY--FAYETTE  CIVIL LISTSCOUNTY SOCIETIES.............                         138
CHAPTER XV.
THE WHISKEY INSURRECTION..............................................  157
CHAPTER XVI.
FAYETTE COUNTY IN THE WAR OF 1812-15 AND MEXICAN
WAR............................................    180
CHAPTER XVII.
WAR OF THE REBELLION-FAYETTE'S FIRST COMPANIES, EIGHTH
AND ELEVENTH RESERVES............................................    190
CHAPTER XVIII.
WAR OF THE REBELLION (Continued).
Eighty-fifth Regiment and Second Artillery.................................. 202
CEIAPTER XIX.
WAR OF THE REBELLION (COntinue.d).
One Hundred and Sixteenth and One Hundred and Forty-second Regiments....................................................  212
CHAPTER XX.
WAR OF THE REBELLION (Continued).
The Fourteenth Cavalry....................................................   216
CHAPTER XXI.
WAR OF THE REBELLION (Continued).
The Sixteenth Cavalry....................................................   224
CHAPTER XXII.
ECONOMIC GEOLOGY--IRON, COAL, AND COKE.
The Mineral Resources of Fayette County.................................... 230
CHAPTER XXIII.
INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS--POPULATION.
Roads and Bridges-National Road-Navigation-Population of the
County by Decades..................................................   247
HISTORIES OF BOROUGHS AND TOWNSHIPS.
UNIONTOWN BOROUGH.
Early Taverns and Later Public-Houses-IncoRporation of the Borough
-Uniontown from 1806 to 1825-Visit of Lafatyette, 1825-Union Volunteers-Facts from the Borough Records-List of Borough OfficersFire Department-Post-Office-Mail Robbery by Dr. Braddee-Press
of Uniontown-Physicians of Uniontown-Lawyers-SchoolsChurches-Burial-Grounds-Financial Institutions-Fayette County
Mutual Fire Insurance Company-Building and Loan AssociationSocieties and Orders-Mills and Manufactories-Gas-Works-Population-Biographical Sketches.....................        279
CONNELLSVILLE BOROUGH AND TOWNSHIP.
Borough Currency-Vocations followed in Connellsville in 1823-Independence Day, 1824-Bridges Across the Youghiogheny-Extinguishment of Fires-Post-Offices and Postmasters-Financial InstitutionsSocieties and Orders-Physicians-Newspapers-Schools-ChurchesBurial-Grounds-Railroads-Manufactories. THE TOWNSHIP.-List of
Township Officers-Manufacturing Establishments-Gibsonville-Biographical Sketches.....................               365
BROWNSVILLE BOROUGH AND TOWNSHIP.
Incorporation of the Borough and Erection of the Township-Public
Ground, Market-House, and other matters from the Borough Records
-Lafayette's Visit to Brownsville-Ferries-Bridges over Dunlalp's
Creek, etc.-Early Taverns and Later Hotels-Newspapers-The Medical Profession-BrownSVille  Schools-Religious  History-BurialGrounds-Extinguishment of Fires-Post-Office-Financial Instituitions-Manufacturing Establishments-Coal Mines and Coke-WorksBrownsville Gas Company-Societies and Orders-Brownsville Civil
List-Biographical Sketches.....................        421
BRIDGEPORT BOROUGH AND TOWNSHIP.
Incorporation of the Borough-Erection of the Township-Officers of the
Township and Borough-Market-House-Public Warehouse and Wharf
-Ferries and Bridges over the Monongahela-Steamboat and KeelBoat Building-Manufacturing Establishments-Medical ProfessionPublic-Houses-Fire Apparatus-National Bank-Schools-Religious
History.....,465.5HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
"11th Sept.-Marched this morning; two miles i ing his little wagon-train to follow) and passed over
from  hence we found Gen. Braddock's grave, about  the same route taken by Braddock three years before,
twenty yards from a little hollow, in which there was  to and across the Youghiogheny at the Great Crossa small stream of water, and over it a bridge. We soon  ings; thence to Fort Necessity, to Braddock's grave,
got to Laurel Hill; it had an easy ascent on this side,  to Dunbar's camp, and to Gist's, now Mount Bradbut on the other very steep.  At the foot of the hill  dock.  This was the end of his travel over the route
we found the path that went to Dunlap's place, that  pursued bv the ill-fated expeditiorn of 1755. At Gist's
Col. Shippen and Capt. Gordon traveled last winter,  he ordered his men to commence work in opening a
and about a quarter of a mile from  this we saw the  road thence northwestwardly towards the Monongabig rock, so called.  From hence we marched to Dun-  hela, followving the route which Captains Polson and
bar's canmp,   miles, which is situated in a stony hol-  Lewis had partially cuit through for about eight miles
low  [here follows the description of the camp, and  from  Gist's at the time when Washington was intheir search for buried guns, etc., as before quoted].  trenchiing at that place in June, 1754.
We continued our march, and got to Guest's place;    Having thus set his men at work on the road from
here are found a fine country.                         Gist's to the Redstone, Col. Burd, with Col. Thomas
"13th Sept.-Determined, if the hunters should   Cresap (who was with him as a guide, having previInot return before noon, to begiin to open the road along  ously explored this region to some extent), Col. Shipsome old blazes, which we take to be Col. Washing-  pen, and probably Lieut. Grayson, of his command,
ton's.1  At noon began to cut the road to Redstone;  rode forward through the woods to the Monongahela,
began a quarter of a mile from  camp; the course  striking the valley of Redstone Creek, and following
N. N. W.  The course of Gen. Braddock's road  it down to where it enters the river. It seems to have
N. N. E., and turns much to ye eastward.  Opened  been in contemplation to build the lort at the mouth
this afternoon about half a mile.  Marked two trees  of this stream, where Capt. Trent's men had conat the place of beginning thus:                        structed the old "Hangard" store-house four years
"' The road to Redstone, col. J. Burd, 1759.         before, but the orders of Col. Burd left it in his dis"'The road to Pittsburg, 1759.'                      cretion to select the site which he might regard as the
"22d Oct. This morning I went to the river Mo-  most'eligible.  So, after viewing the grounid at the
nongahela, reconnoitred Redstone, etc., and concluded  mouth of the Redstone, and not finding it to suit his
upon the place for the post, being a hill in the fork of  ideas as the site of a fortification, he proceeded up the
the river Monongahela and Nemocalling's Creek,2  river until he came to the mouth of Nemacolin's or
the best situation I could find, and returned in the  Dunlap's Creek, about one and one-fourth  miles
evening to camp.  The camp moved two miles, to  farther up, and determined to erect his fort just below
Coal Run.  This ruin is, entirely paved in the bottom  the mouth of that stream, on the high ground (now in
with fine stone-coal, and the hill on the south of it is  the borough of Brownsville) commanding the Monona rock of the finest coal I ever saw. I burned about  gahela, the valley of the creek, and the country for
a bushel of it oi my fire.                             some distance to the rear; this being, as he said in
"23d Oct.-Continued working on the road.  Had  the journal, " the best situation I could find."
sermon to-day at 10 A.Ml.  At noon moved the camp        Having thus determined the site, he returned to his
two and a half miles to the river Monongahela.  No  working-parties, who were progressing down the valley
bateaux arrived.                                       of the Redstone, and ordered the road which they
" 28th Oct.-Sunday.  Continued on the works;  were cutting to be defleeted southward from the trail
had sermon in the fort."                               leading to the mouth of the Redstone.  The point
Thle last entrv in the journal is the following:     where the new road wvas made to diverge from the trail
"4th Nov.-Sunday.  Snowed to-day.  No work.  is described by Judge Veech as "a little northwest
Sermon in the fort. Doctor Allison sets out for Phila-  of where the Johnson or Hatfield stone tavern-house
delphia."                                              now (1869) stands."  From  that point the road was
From the extracts given above from Burd's journal  laid along the ridges to the mouth of Dunlap's Creek.
we gain a tolerably clearidea of the manner in which      On the 23d of October, Col. Burd removed his camp
he conducted the expedition and built the fort at the  to the river, and the building of the fort was consmouth of Dunlap's Creek on the Monongahela, viz.:  menced immediately afterwards.  It was completed
After coneluding his inspection at Fort Cumberland,  during the following month, but the precise time is
and having previously sent forward a small detach-  not stated.3  It was still in process of constructioni at
ment under his chief engineer officer, Lieut.-Col. Ship-                 _            _
pen, he set out with the remainder of his force (leav-  of The constructions of the fort seems to hae been del.ayed on accoint
scarcity of provisions. On the Ma3th of October, Col. Burd said in his
joturnal, "I have kept the people constantly employed on the works
1 Meaning the track wliich was partially cut out by Capts. Lewis and  since my arrival, althouigh we have been for eighlt days past upon the
Polson for a distailce of about eight miles',orthwest of Gist's, just before  small allowanice of one pounld of beef and half a pound of flour per man
Washington's retreat frnm that place to Fort Necessity, in Juine, 1754.   a day, and this day we begin upon one pound of beef, not having an
2 The creek at the mouth of wlliclh lived the Indian Nemacolin, the  ounice of flour left, and only three bullocks. I am therefore obliged to
same afterwards known as Dunlap's Creek.,              give over working until I receive some supplies."
52I /,---BROWNSVILLE BOROUGH AND TOWNSHIP.
when Soisson  Son came into full possession of the
business, which they have since conducted with great
success. The company manufactures all kinds of
brick on order, but coke-oven brick are their specialty, of which their works produce about 1,300,000
per year. They also make a fine article of pavement
tile.
In 1872, Mr. Soisson, John Kilpatrick, and John
WVilhelm, as Kilpatrick, Soisson  Co., established a
fire-brick works at Moyer's, near Connellsville, which
is now owned by Soisson  Kilpatrick (son of John
Kilpatrick), Willielm having withdrawn, and at which
about eight thousand coke-oven and other bricks are
made per day.
Mr. Soisson has ever maintained an excellent reputation for moral character as well as business enterprise.
In March, 1853, he married, at Hollidaysburg,
Miss Caroline Filcer, daughter of Michael Filcer, of
Centre County, who was born and married in Germany, some of his children being born there, Caroline, however, being a native of Centre County. Of
this union are four daughters and seven sons. Three
of the daughters are married.
BROWNSVILLE BOROUGH AND TOWNSHIP.
THE borough of Brownsville is situated on the right
bank of the Monongahela River, at and extending
below the mouth of Dunlap's Creek. Within its
boundaries was the residence of the old Indian chief,
Nemacolin, and the site of the pre-historic earthwork,
known for a century and a quarter as "Redstone Old
Fort," as also the site of "Fort Burd," which was the
earliest defensive work reared by English-speaking
people in the Ohio River valley, except that which
was partially constructed by Englishmen (but completed by the French) where Pittsburgh now stands.
The building of Fort Burd and the opening of a road
to it from the East by Col. Burd, in 1759, gave to this
place a great comparative importance, which it sustained in succeeding years, through the periods'of
Western emigration, of fiat-boat and keel-boat building, of successful steamboat navigation of the Monongahela and Ohio Rivers, and of travel and traffic over
the old National road, embracing a total of more than
three-fourths of a century, until, by the completion of
the Pennsylvania and Baltimnore and Ohio Railroads,
in 1852, and the consequent diversion of trade and
travel, the old town was shorn of much of its former
importance, and from that time, for almost thirty
years, it has remained in a comparatively obscure and
isolated situation until the spring of.1881, when, by
the opening of the Pittsburgh, Virginia and Charleston RailroadsLine, from Pittsburgh to West Brownsville, the boroughs on the Monongahela at the mouth
of Dunlap's Creek were for the first time placed in
possession of railroad connection with Pittsburgh
and the marts and markets of the Atlantic and the
lakes.
The borough is almost encircled by the township of
Browvnsville, which extends around it from the Monoingahela River and Redstone Creek, on the north
and northeast, to Dunlap's Creek on tlle south, its
longest boundary line, on the southeast, being against
the township of Redstone, of which it originally
formed a part. The township, by the census of 1880,
contained a population of 246; that of the borough
of Brownsville being returned in the same census at
1489.
With the possible exception of a few transient
squatters' who clustered around Fort Burd for a few
years just after its erection, there is little doubt that
Michael Cresap was the earliest white settler within
the territory now embraced in the limits of the borough of Brownsville.  He has been mentioned as
such in all published accounts of the settlement, and
it admits of no doubt that he was the first who came
here with the intention of making the place his permanent home, though permanent settlers preceded
him on the opposite side of Dunlap's Creek, and
also at several points not far to the eastward and
southeastward of the present borough. One of these
was Thomas Brown (afterwards founder of the town),
whose settlement in this section antedated that of
Cresap a few years..
Michael Cresap was the son of Col. Thomas Cresap,
of Oldtown, Md., who had been connected with the
operations of the Ohio Company as its agent, and
who had been one of the earliest travelers to the Monongahela country over the old Nemacolin path, as
also one of those who accompanied Col. Burd to Fort
Redstone in 1759. Whether the knowledge which lie
thus gained of this place had any influence in caus1 Sich were probably John and Samuel EcCulloch, trladers, who made
claim to a large tract of land, incltuding all tllhat is now the borolugh of
Brownsville. It is not certainly known whetlier they ever lived here
or not, but it is probable thley were located here for a time tenlporarily
in their tralillg operations. They claiimied un(ler an alleged military
permit, granlted by Col. Bouquet. Wet. Wlether valid or inot, thleir claimil was
afterwards purchased by Thoulas Brownl to imake Ihis title complete.
491HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
ing his son to settle here is not known. He (Michael) first came as a trader about the year 1769
(though the exact date of his first visit is not known)
to the mouth of Dunlap's Creek.  " This post,'
known in border history as Redstone Old Fort, became the rallying-point of the pioneers, and was familiar to many an early settler as his place of embarkation for the'dark and bloody ground.' In the
legenids of the West, Michael Cresap is connected with
this Indian stronghold. In those narratives Cresap
is spoken of as remarkable for his brave, adventurous
disposition, and awarded credit for often rescuing the
whites bv a timely notice of the savages' approach, a
knowledge of which he obtained by unceasing vigilance over their movements. This fort was frequently
Cresap's rendezvous as a trader, and thither he resorted with his people, either to interchange views
and adopt plans for future actioni, or for repose in
quieter times when the red men were lulled into inaction and the tomahawk was temporarily buried.
These were periods of great conviviality. The days
were spent in athletic exercises, and in the evening
the sturdy foresters bivouacked around a fire of huge
logs, recounted their hairbreadth adventures, or if,
perchance, a violin or jews-harp was possessed by the
foresters, it was certainly introduced, and the monotony
of the camp was broken by a boisterous'stag dance." 2
"Michael Cresap discovered at that early day that
this location would become exceedingly valu-able as
emig'rants flowed in and the country was gradually
opened. Accordingly he took measures to secure a
Virginia title to several hundred acres, embracing the
fortification, by vhat at that timne was called a' tomahawk improvement.' Not content, however, with
girdling a few trees and blazing others, he determnined
to inisure his purpose, and in order that his act and
intention might not be miscoiistrued, lhe built a house
of hewed logs with a shingle roof nailed on, which is
believed to have been the first edifice of this kind in
that part of our great domain west of the mountains.
We are not possessed of data to fix the precise year
of this erection, but it is supposed to have occurred
about 1770."
For about five years after that time Capt. Cresap
made the mouth of Dunlap's Creek the base of.his
trading operations, but still having his family and
home in Marylanid. " Early in tlle year 1774 he engaged six or seven active young men, at the rate of
~2 10s. per month, and repairing to the wilderness of
the Ohio, commtlenced the business of building houses
and clearing lands, and being among the first adventurers into this exposed and dangerous region, he was
enabled to select some of the best and richest of the
Ohio levels."'   It appears that he had considerable
means at his command, for in addition to the business of his store which he kept in operation at Redstone Old Fort, he purchased various tracts of land
in the surrounding country,4 as well as at several
points on the Ohio River, and he was also, apparently, a loaner of money to some extent on landed
security.
After the close of " Dunmore's war," in the coinmencement of which Capt. Cresap took part as a subordinate officer (for which his name and character
were afterwards severelv but unjustly assailed), he
" returned to Maryland, and spent the latter part of
the autumn of 1774 and the succeeding winter in the
repose of a domestic circle fromii which he had been
so long estranged, buit in the early spring of 1775 he
hired another band of young men and repaired again
to the Ohio to finish the work he commenced the year
before. He did not stop at his old haunts, but descended to Kentucky, where he inade some improvements. Being ill, however, he soon left his workmen
and departed for his home over the mountains, in
order to rest and recover his health. On his way
4 The followin.g facts in reference to some of Cresap's land transactions
in the viciniity of Dunlap's Creek are gathered from the old Augusta
County, Va., coul't records, which are still icl existence in Washington,
Pa:
On the 28th of Septemnber, 1773, Robert Denbow deeded to Michael
Cresap, "for the consideration of fifteen pollnlds, Penntisylvallia money, a
tract of land in Westmoreland Couinty, adjoining lands of David Rodgers anid Joseph Branton [Brinton?], on Montongahela, beinlg part of a
larger tract of land I [Denbow] purchlased of James Branton, and containinlg ly estimationi two lhunldred and fifty acres."  The deed of conveyancs was execuited in presenice of George Brant, Joseph Dorsey, anid
Henry Branton, anti "att a coutt conit,inued anid lheld for Augulsta Coutity
[Virigi;n] at Pittsburg, Septeniber the 21st, 1775, this deed of Bargain
anid Sale was proved by two of' the suibscribinig witniesses, anid ordered
to be recordedl."
On the lst of Septemtber, 1775, " John Corey, of Dunlap's Creek Settlement, for the cotnsideration of Fifty Pouinds, Petinsylvlniia Clirrency, to
hiii in lhand paid by Michael Cresap, Senr,"* mortgaged to tlle said Cresap
"all the parcel of land contained in the witlitiu [not founid] Bill of Sale
front Josias Little to me [Corey], dated Marcit 18, 1774."  Titis ntortgage
was given to secuire the payntenit of a certaiti sum of money namiied in a
bond given by Corey to Cresup, dated Dec. 19, 1772. The mor tgage was
witnessed by John Jeremiah Jacob, attd " by his oatth proved att a coutr't,
coittiintied and held for Auigusta Couiiity, Va., at Pittslburg, Sept.21,1775,
anid ordered to be Recorded."
On the 5th of September, 1775, " James Brinton, of Augusta County,
Virginii, Monongahela Settlement," in coutsideration of fifty pounds,
Pectnsylvatia cuirrenicy, "in haiid paid by Michael Cresap, Sell.," collveyed to Itini by deed "a certainl tract or parcel of laitd lyiiug abouit onie
mile distant from  the Monongahela River, and bounded by the followiitg persons: John Adams on tie North East, Edward Dorsey on the
East, Thomas Brown, west, attd Edward White on tite North; with till
atid Siutgular the Appurtenances tltereuinto Beloiiginig or in an y ways
appuirtaittiiig; containitg by Estimation about two hindred and fifty
Acres, be tlle sante more or less,"-thte grantor guaranteeing the same
aga,itst tite lawful claimiis and demaatds of " all iicanner of Person or Persons, tite Lord of the Soile excepted only."  Thce deed wts witnessed by
Robert Denbow [Itis mark] and John Jeremiah Jacob, and " At a Cotl t
Contiutuued acid held for Auiguista County at Pittsbuirg, Septenmber 21st,
1775, this Deed of Bargaiii and Sale was proved by tthe oatlt of John
Jeremiah Jacob, one of the witiiesses thereto, and ordered to be Recorded.
Test: John Madison.'
The itistruiment was irndorsed, " Examined and delivered, John Jeremiah Jacob, October 8th, 1775."
* There wuis a yocnger Michael Cresap, the son of Daniel Cresap,
brother of Michael Cresap, Sr.
422J
I Extract from " Logan and Cresap," by Brantz Mayer.
2 These festivities were doubtless joined in by the few soldielrs of Fort
Burd, for at that tinie, and for somiie years after wards, that wor k %N as occutpied  by a small garrison.
3 Jacob's " Life of Cresap."BROWNSVILLE BOROUGH AND TOWNSHIP.
across the Allegheny Mountains he was met by a
faithful friend with a message stating that he had
been appointed by the Committee of Safety at Frederick a captain to command one of the rifle companies required from Maryland by a resolution of
Congress. Experienced officers and the very best
men that could be procured were demanded."'
This occurred in June, 1775, and onl the 18th of
the following month Capt. Cresap, at the head of his
company (of whom twenty-two men were volunteers
from west of the mountains, doubtless mostly from
the Monongahela settlements), set out from Frederick,
Md., and after a march of twenty-two days joined
Washington's army iqvesting Boston. But his military career in the Revolutionary army was short.
"Admonished by continued illness, and feeling, perhaps, some foreboding of his fate, he endeavored once
more, after about three months' service, to reach his
home among the mountains, but finding himself too
sick to proceed he stopped in New York, wliere he
died of fever on the 18th of October, 1775, at the
early age of thirty-three. On the following day his
remains, attended by a vast concourse of people, were
buried with military honors in Trinity churchyard."'
In that burial-ground they still rest, and the headstone of his grave may be found much dilapidated,
but with the yet legible inscription,
"IN MEMORY OF
MICIIAEL CRESAP, FIRST CAPT.
OF THEE RIFLE BATTALIONS,
AND SON TO COL. TIIOMAS
CRESAP, WHO DEPARTED THIS
LIFE OCTOBER THE 18, 1775."
Michael Cresap left a widow and four children.
His widow, in 1781, married her first husband's friend
and employ6, John Jeremiah Jacob, who, at the age
of about fifteen years, had commenced as a clerk for
Cresap in his store at Redstone Old Fort, and who,
on his einployer's departure for the army in 1775, was
left in charge of the business, and so remained for
several months after Cresap's deatih, closing up the
affairs. In July, 1776, he entered the army as ensign,
and served nearly five years, rising to the grade of
captain. Later in life he became a clergyman of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, and died highly esteemed in Hampshire County, Va. He was the author of the " Life of Capt. Michael Cresap," and by
the facts which he gathered and gave to the public
in that work successfully vindicated the character
and cleared the memory of his dead friend from the
terrible charges which were made, and for years generally believed, against him in reference to the murder of the relatives of the Indian chief Logan in the
iwar of 1774.
Thomas Brown, who laid out the town which then
took, and still bears, his name, was one of the earliest
1 Mayer's' Logan and Cresap."
settlers who came to the vicinity of Redstone and
Dunlap's Creeks, his name being found in the list of
"The names of the Inhabitants near Redstone" reported by the Rev. John Steele as living in this region in the spring of 1768. He was not then a resident in what is now the borough of Brownsville, but
came here a few years later, and having purchased
the right which Michael Cresap had acquired to the
land afterwards the site of the town, and having also
bought out whatever interest the McCulloughs had
in the same, he settled here and commenced improveinent in 1776. The correctness of this date is
made certain by the certificate which was given him
for the tract by the Virginia commissioners at Redstone Old Fort, Dec. 16, 1779. In that certificate
there is added to the description of the tract granted
to Thomas Brown the words, "to include his settlement made in the year 1776."  The tract was surveyed to him March 21, 1785. It is described in the
survey as being "situate on the dividing ridge between Redstone and Dunlap's Creeks;" the name
by which the tract was designated was "Whisky
Path."
Basil Brown, Sr., brother of Thomas Brown, did
not become a resident of Brownsville, but lived on a
tract " near Redstone Old Fort," in the present township of Luzerne. On this tract he settled in 1770,
and remained there during the remainder of his life.
His son, Basil Brown, Jr., however, removed to
Brownsville, where he lived at or near the corner of
Morgan and Market Streets. His sister, Sally Brown,
who was a cripple, lived with him, both remaining
unmarried. He died in Brownsville many years ago,
at seventy-five years of age. Sally, who survived him
a number of years, is still remembered by many of
the older citizens of the town.
From the time of the opening of Burd's road, in
1759, the point of its western terminus on the Monongahela became a place of considerable importance,
and this was more especially the case after the time
when westward bound emigrants began to pass
through this region, making this the end of their land
travel and the point of their embarkation in flatboats for their passage- down the river. A very heavy
and constantly increasing emigration was setting towards the Southwest, particularly Kentucky, and to
all emigrants traveling to that region the smoothlyflowing currents of the Monongahela and Ohio Rivers
offered the easiest, cheapest, and in every sense the
mnost eligible highway, a route by which, with very
little labor to themselves, the rude craft on which
they embarked at the mouth of Dunlap's Creek
would land them without change almost on the spot
of their destination.
These were the considerations which induced multitudes of western bound travelers to lay their route
over the road which brought them to the Monongahela at Redstone Old Fort. Such as could conveniently make the arrangement usually chose the
423HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
latter part of the winter for their exodus, because at
that season the friendly snow still lingered upon the
roads, and mitigated in some degree the horrors of
the passage from the mountains to the river. If they
had rightly timed their journey, and the inelting time
came soon after their arrival at the place of embarkation, then all was well with them, but if the spring
thaws delayed their coming, and the shivering, homesick wayfarers were compelled to rernain for weeks
(as was sometimes the case) in their comfortless shelters, awaiting an opportunity to proceed on their
way, then their condition was pitiable indeed. " John
Moore, a very early settler, used to relate" (says Judge
Veech) " that in the long, cold winter of 1780, a prototype of those of 1856-57. the snow being three or four
feet deep and crusted, he said the road from Sandy
Hollow (Brubaker's) to the verge of Brownsville,
where William Hogg lived, was lined oni both sides
with wagons and famnilies, camped out, waiting for
the loosing of the icy bonds from the waters and the
preparation of boats to embark for the West, the
men dragging in old logs and stumps for fuel tQ save
their wives and children from freezing."
The great amount of emigration and other western
travel centring at the mouth of Dunlap's Creek as
a point of embarkation rendered necessary the building of a large number of flat-boats and other primitive river-craft; I and the construction of these. as
well as the furnishing of supplies to the voyagers for
their long trips down the river (for by the timne of
their arrival here many of them had exhauisted the
supplies with which thev had set out on the journey),
produced business activity, and gave to the place the
promise of ftiture prosperity and importance.
These facts and considerations caused Thomas
Brown to conceive the project of establishing a town
upon that part of his "  hisky Path" tract lying
adjacent to the Monongahela and Dunlap's Creek.
Accordingly, in 1785 he platted and laid out thie towvn
of Brownsville with streets and alleys nearly the same
as they now exist in that part of the present borough
which was ernbraced in the original plat. A " public
square" (which still remains as such) was laid out on
the southwest side of Front Street, and adjoining it
was the early burial-place of the towi, in which the
Browns, the Washingtons, and many others were interred as elsewhere mentioned. It has been said that
this spot was donated and set apart by Thomas Brown
1 These boats were most generally (in the earlier times) constriuicted
by the emigrants themselves, at the mnouth of time creek and below that
point on the river, buit were sometimes puirchased (thy sIclh as had tIme
mieans) from pioneer boat-builders, wlho had come to the place for the
especial puirpose of supplying tlis demand. Some idea of the number of
boats timims built here, even as early as 1784, immay bse lad from a petition
presented at the September term of the Fayette County Court in that
year "for a road from Redstone Old Fort along the river-side to the
grist- and saw-mill at the mouth of Little Redstone atmd to Collo. Edw'd
Cook's," it beiin- represenited in this petition tmiat the road was necessary
because "the initercouirse along the river is so conisiderable, by reason of
the nuniber of Boats for passengers wlich are almust conistantly buildiug in different parts aluong the River-side."
as a public burial-ground, but of this there is no
proof. An addition to the town was afterwards made
by Chads Chalfant, and another by Samuel Jackson,
who purchased from Thomas Brown certain lands adjoining the original plat and laid them out with streets
and alleys; Church and Spring Streets were included
in this addition to the town.
The proprietor of Brownsville offered his lots for
sale, subject to conditions nearly identical with those
imposed by Henry Beeson in sales of his lots at Uniontown. All dwellings erected on them were required
to be equal to twventy by twenty-five feet in dimensions, substantially built, and in all cases to have a
chimney or chimneys of brick, or stone. Quit-rents
were required in nearly all cases, but these were sometimnes waived, for reasons which are not made apparent.
Thomas Brown occupied (so says that dubious authority, tradition) the shingle-roofed house built by
Michael Cresap from the titne of his purchase froin
the latter until his death, which occurred in 1797, at
the age of fifty-nine vears. He left two sons-Thomas
Brown, Jr., and Levi Brown-and three daughters,Mrs. Elizabeth Cox, Mrs. William Crawford, and
Mrs. Ewing. There are no descenidants of his now
living in Brownsville or vicinity.
The following-named persons were purchasers of
town lots in Brownsville froIn the original proprietor.
Many others purclhased fromn his estate after his death.
The years inidicated are those of the record, not the
execution of the respective deeds:
Robert Elliott............. 1786
Matthew Campbell......... 1788
Robert Clark..............
John Rhoads.............."
Stephen Duluth..............
Jacob Bowman..............
Andrew Bogg-............."
Charles Ford..........   1791
Jacob Bowman..........   1792
Ignatius Brown..........   "
Samuel Workman...........
Basil Brown, Sr............. 1793
Charles Armstrong.........
Mahlon Schooley............ 1788
Thomas Newport............ "
John McCadden............. "
George F. Hawkins.........
Amos Townsend.............
John Wildman...............
Arthur Dempsey............
Gideon Walker...............
John Restine.............."
Charles Sumption........
Thomas McKibben........."
John Yateman............. 1789
Matthew Van Lear........."
Isaiah Ratcliff...............
-James Long.............  1790
Josiah Tannehill............ "
Elijah Fredway............. 1791
Basil Brown.............    "
Andrew Scott............. 1793
Nathan Chalfant............ 179.3
James Higginson........... "
Alexander Nelan............ 1794
John Ayers..............   "
Basil Brashear.............. 1795
John Fry..............."
William Cox..................
John Blackford.............. 1796
Edward Hale...............'
William Hogg,...............
George Kinnear.............
John Ekin..............."
John Yateman.............. 1793
Patrick Tiernan.............
Jonathan Hickman.........
Samuel Jackson.............1 794
Robert Ayres..............."
Chads Chalfant...
Christian Yost.............. 1795
Henry Biteman............. "
Amos Townsend............ 1706
John Christmas.............. "
James Hawkins.............
John Jaques............... "
Thomas Greg.............. 1797
Andrew Brown....   "
Amos Wilson.............. "
John Bowman.............. 1796
Andrew Sinn.           1799
Ayers Sinn.............. "
Isaac Sinn..............   "
John McClure.............. 1802
Basil Brown, who was the purchaser of a large
number of lots from his brother, Thomas Brown,
made sales of them from time to time to the followingnamed personis, viz.:
424BROWNSVILLE BOROUG II AND TOWNSHIP.
Thomas Brown, Jr..........1 788 William Hogg.............7  X 99
Otho Brashear.............. 1791  Adam Jacobs.............  1800
Thomas Brown.............. "   John Laughlin............. 1799
Thomas Newport........... 1792  Basil Brashear............. 1800
William Goe.............. 1794- John Hagan................
Chads Chalfant.............. 1796 Jonathan Miller............ 180~
Samuel Bell..............."..  Barrack Brashear........... 1805
John Wildman.............."   Jacob Bowman.............. 1809
William Price.............. 1797
Robert Elliott, the earliest purchaser whose name
appears in the above list, came fromn Washington
County, Md., to Brownsville, and purchased (April
28, 1786) a town lot for the consideration of ~10.
The lot was No. 17, adjoining lot of Robert Taylor.
Col. Elliott was engaged here in the purchase of supplies for the United States government, in which
business he was associated with Col. Eli Williams
and Jacob Bowman.
Jacob Bowman, whose father emigrated from Germany to America about the time of the " Old French
war," was born at Hagerstown, Md., June 17, 1763,
and when twenty-four years of age came to Brownsville, and commenced the business of merchandising,
he and William Hogg being the first two permianentlylocated merchants in the town. He was also engaged
in partnership with Col. Elliott and Eli Williams, as
before mentioned, in purchasing supplies for the
Western army under Gen. Anthony Wayne, and he
was nmade commissary to the government troops which
were sent across the mnountains to suppress the Whiskey
Insurrection in 1794.
At the time when Mr. Bowman started business in
Brownsville all goods were brought over the mountain roads from Cumberland to the Monongahela onl
pack-horses, of which large nuinbers, loaded with his
goods, were frequently seen standing together in the
public square opposite his residence, waiting their
turn to be relieved of their burdens. The first load
of mnerchlandise brouglit over the miountains by wagon
caine here in 1789 to Jacob Bowman. The wagoner
who drove the team was John Hayden, afterwards a
well-known iron-master in Fayette County. The load,
which was abouit two thousand pounds in weight, was
drawn by four horses, and the freight charged on it
was three dollars per one hundred pounds. Hayden
was about a month in making the trip from Hagerstown, Md., to Brownsville and back.
In consideration of his services to the government,
Jacob Bowman was appointed under the administration of President Washington (in 1795) postmaster of
Brownsville, and held the office until the incoming of
Gen. Jackson's administration, a period of thirtyfour years. He was prominent in the organization of
the old Monongahela Bank, and was its president from
its organization under the charter in 1814 till Sept.
26, 1843, when he retired, and was succeeded by his
Son], James L. Bowman.
The residence of Jacob Bowman was where his
son, N. B. Bowman, now lives, on the property called
" Nemacolin," for the old Indian chief whose wigwam
or cabin (tradition says) was once located on it.
This property he purchased of Thomas Brown soon
after his settlement in Brownsville. Until the time
of his emigration from Hagerstown to Brownsville
Mr. Bowman was a member of the Lutheran Church,
but not long afterwards he united with the Protestant
Episcopal Church, anid remained one of its most influential, liberal, and respected members until his
death, which occurred March 2, 1847, at the age of
eighty-four years. His wife died two years earlier,
March 11, 1845.
The children of Jacob Bowman were the following
named: Mary, born in 1788; married Henry Sterling,
a planter of St. Francisville, La., and died in 1852.
Annie E. Bowman, born May 8, 1790, and married
March 12, 1818, to Henry Sweitzer, of Hagerstown,
Md. Harriet E. Bowman, born June 16, 1792; niarried John Thompson McKennan; died March 8,1832.
James L. Bowman, born June 23, 1794; graduated at
Washington College in 1813; studied lawv with John
Kennedy; admitted to the bar in 1817; president of
the Monongahela Bank fromn 1843 until his death in
1857. Matilda L. Bowman, born Aug. 13, 1796; married Thomas M. T. McKennan (member of Congress
and Secretary of the Initerior under President Fillmore); she died March 3, 1858. Louisa Bowman,
born in 1798; married Samuel Bell, of Reading, Pa.,
in 1830; she died in Januarv, 1880. William Robert
Bowman, born 1801; graduated at Washington College, Pa., in 1822; graduated at theological semninary,
Princeton, N. J., 1825; made deacon in Episcopal
Church MIay 11, 1826; remnoved in 1827 to St. Franicisville, West Feliciana Parish, La., where he organized Grace Church, Feb. 7, 1829; remained at St.
Francisville till his death in 1835. Goodloe Harper
Bowman, born April 3, 1803; entered trade with his
father under the firm-name of Jacob Bowman Sons;
was subsequently in partnership with his brother, N. B.
Bowman; was cashier of the Monongahela Bank from
1830 to 1841; elected president of that institution in
1857, and held the position till his death in February,
1874. Nelson Blair Bowmnan, born July 8, 1807; enitered mercantile pursuits with his father anid brother;
retired from active trade in 1858, but is still a director
in the Mononigahela National Bank and in the Mlonongahela Bridge Conmpanv.'He is living in retireme~nt and elegance at " Nemacolin," ani eminence
which commands a fine view of the Mohongahela
River and suirrotunding country,-the same property
which his father, Jacob Bowman, bought of Thomas
Brown in 1788.'
William Hogg was contemporary with Jacob Bowrman as an early merchant in Brownsville. He was
an Eniglishman who lhad been impressed as a sailor on
1 The earliest date uinder which Jacob Bowman's nanie is found in the
Fayette Coiuiity records is Juine 23,1788. at whiclh time he purchased four
and at half acres and four andat lialf perches of lauid in Brownsville from
Thomas Brown for the consideratio,, of ~23. This was undouibtedly the
homestead property "Nemacolin," now occulpied by Nelson B. Bowman,
tlhough the descriptioni does not absolutely prove it to be the same.
I
I
I
425HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
board one of His Majesty's ships, and deserted at
Charleston, S. C., whence he traveled to Philadelphia. There he made the acquaintance of an English
gentleman named Stokes, who furnished him with a
smallistock of light hardware, with which he started
out as a traveling peddler. He continued in this business for two or three trips, and finally, about 1787,
came to Brownsville, where he opened a store in the
upper story of a building on Water Street, where the
rolling-mill now stands. He bought his goods in
Baltimore, making his earliest trips to and from that
city on foot, generally starting from Brownsville on
Sunday morning, and closing his store during his
absence. The first mention found of him in the records is his purchase of three lots in Brownsville,
Jan. 28, 1796, after he had been here in business for
nearly ten years. The lots which he purchased at
that time were Nos. 3, 4, and 5 of the original plat,
for the consideration of ~15. Mr. Hogg was a bachelor, and by his industry and perseverance during a
long period of merchandising in Brownsville accumulated a large fortune.
George Hogg, a nephew of William, was an ironworker in Northumberland, England. About the
year 1800 his uncle brought him to Brownsville and
formed a business partnership with him, which continued till his death. George Hogg matrried a daughter of Nathaniel Breading, and they became the parents of four sons and two daughters, viz.: George E.
Hogg, now living in Brownsville; Nathaniel B. Hogg,
now a resident of Allegheny City, Pa.; John T. Hogg,
living in Connellsville; James Hogg, lost at sea on
board the steamer "Arctic;" *a daughter, now Mrs.
Felix R. Brunot, living in Pittsburgh; the other
daughter, who became the wife of William Bissell,
died many years ago.
In a deed executed in 17'87 by Thomas Brown, conveying a town lot to Matthew Camnpbell, the property
is described as "situate in Brownsville, alias Washington," by which it is made apparent that an attempt
was made about that time to have the latter name
adopted for the town in place of Brownsville. No
allusion to the name (as applied to this town) has
been found in any other place. The lot above referred
to as having been sold to Campbell was No. 1, on
Front Street, bounded on the northwest by Trader's
Lane. The price paid was ~5. The purchaser of
this lot was doubtless the same Matthew Campbell
who, in December, 1783, was licensed by the court of
Fayette County to keep a tavern in Uniontown, and
who in 1784 purchased a lot (where the Fulton House
now stands) in that town, from Henry Beeson. In
1785 he was licensed to keep a public-house in Menallen township. Little beyond this is known of
him.
Andrew Boggs was the purchaser from  Thomas
Brown (in June, 1788) of a lot on Second Street, extending through to Market Street, adjoining a lot
owned by Nathan Chalfant. The consideration named
in the deed to Boggs is ~7 10s.
Nathan Chalfant purchased the lot (referred to in
the deed to Boggs) on the 23d of June, 1788. It was
sixty by one hundred and eighty feet in size, extending from Second to Market Street. He sold it on the
19th of March, 1798, to Andrew Lynn, who, in June,
1815, conveyed it to the trustees of the Presbyterian
congregation, and it is the same on which the church
edifice of that congregation now stands.
At the same time that Chalfant purchased the lot
above named he also bought lot No. 4, on Water
Street, adjoining Thomas McKibben and Holborn
Hill. On this lot he lived for many years, and carried on an extensive business in boat-building.
Chads Chalfant lived on a farm about one mile out
of town, but was the owner of several town lots. In
1804 he,donated to the Methodist Episcopal Church
the lot on which the present house of worship stands.
He also sold the lot which is now occupied by the
Masonic Hall.
Robert Clarke came here from Greene County as
early as 1788, at which time he was the purchaser of
a lot in this town. He built the house which is now
owned by the heirs of George Shuman and occupied
as a telegraph-office. Its original site was where the
Snowdon House now is, but it was removed about
1823 to its present location by Clarke, who then built
the Snowdon House on the spot thus vacated, and
lived in it until his death, about 1840. He was concerned with Neal Gillespie in the grist-mill and savmill on the river, as hereafter mentioned. A daughter
of Robert Clarke married John L. Dawson, and
another daughter became the wife of Gen. Henry W.
Beeson, of Uniontown.
Neal Gillespie was not a settler in Brownsville, yet
it seems proper to mention him in this connection, as
he was closely identified with the business interests
of the place. He was an Irishman who came to the
west bank of the Monongahela, and settled upon the
"Indian Hill" tract, which had previously been the
property of "Indian Peter," opposite Brownsville.
He became the owner of the ferry across the river at
this point, and operated it for many years. He purchased land in Brownsville, on the "Neck," where
his landing-place was located, as also the grist-mill
and saw-mill (elsewhere mentioned) which he built
in partnership with Robert Clarke. A part of his
land on the "Neck" was sold March 19, 1829, to
Samuel J. Krepps.
Gillespie's daughter, Nellie, married a man named
Boyle. They lived in Brownsville in a log house that
stood on Second Street in the rear of the Ceiitral
Hotel. In that house was born their daughter, Maria,
who became the wife of the Hon. Thomas Ewing, of
Ohio, anid mother of the wife of Gen. W. T. Sherman,
of the United States army.
George Kinnear, a Scotchman, came to Brownsville
before 1788, and purchased several lots located on the
426BROWNSVILLE BOROUGII AND TOWNSHIP.
east, south, and west of the Public Ground. This
property passed to Polly Kinnear, and later to William Cock, who sold to J. W. Jeffries. Kinnear was
associated in business with James Lang (the auctioneer), who came here in 1790.
Thomas McKibben was in Brownsville as early as
1788, in which year there was recorded a deed to him
from Thomas Brown, conveying certain property in
the town. He was a merchant on Market Street, and
a justice of the peace, also prothonotary of Fayette
County in 1821. No descendants of his are now in
Brownsville.
Samuel Workman came here as early as 1790, and
started a tannery where now stands the residence of
Samuel Steele. James Workman, a son, afterwards
built the present Steele tannery. He also kept the
tavern, now the Girard House, at the head of Market
Street.
The Brownsville post-office was established Jan. 1,
1795, with Jacob Bowman as postmaster.  Basil
Brashear was here in the same year, and soon after
built the stone house now occupied by Mrs. Wesley
Frost, opening it as a tavern. This was for years the
leading public-house of Brownsville.
Adam Jacobs came in about 1795. He was a merchant, and kept a store on Water Street, next below
where the rolling-mill stands. A daughter of his
married her father's clerk, a Mr. Beggs, with whom
she removed to New Lisbon, Ohio. Adam Jacobs,
Jr., became a merchant in the town, and father of the
third Adam, now known as Capt. Adam Jacobs, who
was born in Brownsville, Jan. 7, 1817. He learned
the trade of coppersmith and tinner, but commenced
steamboating early in life, taking command of the
steamer "Exchange" in 1840, when he was only
twenty-three years of age. Afterwards he commanded several boats, the last of which was the " Niagara," in 1847. Since that time he has been engaged
in the building of steamboats, of which about one
hundred anid twenty have been built for him. He
has always been an active business man, and by his
industry and remarkable business tact has accumulated a handsome fortune. There are few, if any,
who have done more than he to advance the business
interests of Brownsville, and to-day he is accounted
one of the most enterprising as well as substantial
men of the Monongahela Valley. He has a residence in Brownsville, and another upon his fine estate of "East Riverside," on the Monongahela, in
the township of Luzerne.
In 1796, Elijah Clark was engaged in boat-building in Brownsville. His yard was on Water Street,
north of the site of the United States Hotel. At the
same time Capt. T. Shane advertised boat-sheds and
boat-yards for sale or to let.
A coppersmith and tin-working shop was carried
on here in 1797 by Anthony  Bowman.
William Crawford was a merchant in Brownsville
in (and probably before) the year 1800. His store
was on Market Street, where Jacob Sawyer now lives.
His wife was a daughter of Thomas Brown.
Valentine Giesey, the son of a Lutheran clergyman
who emigrated to America in 1776, and settled at
Berlin, Somerset Co., Pa., where this son was born,
came to Brownsville about the year 1800, and went
into trade here. On the breaking out of the war of
1812 he entered the service as a sergeant in Capt.
Joseph Wadsworth's company, of which he afterwards
became captain. After his return from the war he reopened the mercantile business, and also became very
popular as a military man and a politician. He died
in 1835, and was buried in the Episcopal churchyard.
He had two sons and two daughters, but none are
now living.
James Blaine was a man who traveled quite extensively in Europe and South America, and afterwards,
in 1804, settled in Brownsville, where he opened a
store, and where he was also for many years a justice
of the peace. He was a man of dignified bearing,
and held in Ihigh esteem by his fellow-townsmen. In
1818 he removed to Washington County, where lie
lived during the remainder of his life.
George Graff, a carpenter and cabinet-maker, came'
from Allentown, Pa., to Brownsville in 1806. He
lived on Front Street, where his son Joseph now
lives.
George Johnston, a native of Monaghan County,
Ireland, landed in Philadelphia with his wife in
August, 1805, and thence moved to Hickory, Washington Co., Pa., where his uncle resided. There he
remained until the following spring, his son John
having been born in the mean time. Mr. Johnston
then removed to Brownsville, where he commenced
business as a weaver in a house that stood where Dr.
J. R. Patton now lives. He had a family of eight
children, of whom John was the eldest. He (John)
learned the trade of carpenter with George Graff. He
has since been prominent in the affairs of Brownsville,
and has often been elected to offices in the borough.
He is still living here, on the corner of Morgan and
Front Streets. Two other sons (William and James)
and a daughter of George Johnston are also living in
Brownsville.
In 1807, Alexander Simpson was established in
Brownsville as a manufacturer of surveyors' instruments and other fine work of similar character.
Abraham Underwood, a Quaker, left Baltimore in
1808, with his wife and three children, bound for Cincinnati, over the then usual route by way of Brownsville. Arriving at this point, and finding something of
a Quaker settlement here and in the vicinity, they
abandoned their original intention and remained in
Brownsville. Mr. Underwood -was by trade a tailor,
and he soon opened a shop on Front Street, west of
Jacob's Alley. The family remained in Brownsville
from 1808 until 1834, when he removed to Monongahela City, Pa.
Philip Worley came from Virginia to Brownsville
42753
SETTLEMENT OF THE COUNTY.
the date of the last entry in the journal, November 4th.
The "Doctor Allison" referred to in that entry as
being about to set out for Philadelphia, and who had
preached the sermons previously mentioned in the
journal, was the Rev. Francis Allison, the chaplain
of the expedition.
The fort when completed was named, in honor of
the commander of the expedition, "Fort Burd." As
a military work, it was far from being strong or formidable, though bastioned. It was built in the form
of a square, except for the bastions at the four angles.
The curtains were formed. of palisades, set firmly in
the earth and embanked. The bastions were constructe-d of hewed logs, laid horizontally one above
another. In the centre of the fort was a large house
also of hewed logs, and near this, within the inclosure, a well. The whole was surrounded by a broad
ditch, crossed by a draw-bridge, communicating with
a gateway in the centre of the curtain in the rear of
the work.t The location of the fort, with reference
to present landmarks in Brownsville, may be described as west of the property of N. B. Bowman, and
nearly on the spot now occupied by the residence of
J. W. Jeffries. South of the fort was the bullockpen; and a short distance, in a direction a little south
of east, from the centre of Fort Burd was the central
mound of the prehistoric work once known as Redstone Old Fort.
Upon the departure of Col. Burd with his command,
after the completion of the fort, he left in it a garrison of twenty-five men, under command of a commissioned officer. Some accounts have it that this officer
was Capt. Paull,2 father of Col. James Paull, who
lived for many years, and died in Fayette County. It
is certain that Capt. Paull was afterwards in command at the fort for a -long time. Nothing has been
found showing how long Fort Burd continued to be
held as a military post. "But it seems," says Judge
Veech, "to have been under some kind of military possession in 1774. During Dunmore's war, and during
the Revolution and contemporary Indian troubles, it
was used as a store-house and a rallying-point for defense, supply, and observation by the early settlers
and adventurers. It was never rendered famous by
a siege or a sally. We know that the late Col. James
Paull served a month's duty in a drafted militia com1 In the Pennsylvania Archives (xii. 347) is a plan of the fort, made
by Col. Shippen, the engineer. On this plan are given the dimensions
of the work, as follows: "The curtain, 97Y feet; the flanks, 16 feet;
the faces of the bastions, 30 feet; a ditch between the bastions, 24 feet
wide; and opposite the faces, 12 feet. The log-house for a magazine, and
to contain the women and children, 39 feet square. A gate 6 feet wide
and 8 feet high, aIld a drawbridge [illegible, but apparently 10] feet
wide." In Judge Veech's " Monongahela of Old" is given a didgram of
Fort Burd, but it is not drawn in accordance with these dimensions, the
curtains being madle too short as compared with the size of the bastions.
2 James L. Bowman, in a historical sketch furnished by him to the
American Pioneer, and published in 1843, said with regard to this filrst
garrisotning of Fort Burd, "The probability is that after tile accomplisllhlent of the object for which the commanding officer was sent he
placed Capt. Paull in command and returned to report."
panly in guarding Continental stores here in 1778."
It was doubtless discontinued as a military post soon
after the close of the Revolution, and all traces of it
were obliterated by the building of the town of
Browvnsville.
CHAPTER VIII.
SETTLEMENT OF THE COUNTY.
THE first white explorers of the vast country
drained by the two principal tributaries of the Ohio
River were Indian traders, French and English.
The date of their first appearance here is not known,
but it was certainly as early as 1732, when the attention of the Executive Council of Pennsylvania was
called to the fact that Frenchmen were known to be
among the Indians within the supposed western limits
of the territory claimed by the proprietaries under the
royal grant. This announcement caused considerable
discussion and some vague action on the part of the
Council, and there is no doubt that the fact, which
then became publicly known, had the effect to bring
in the English-speaking traders (if they were not already here) to gather their share of profit from the
lucrative Indian barter.
The French traders came into this region from the
north, down the valley of the Allegheny. Tradition
says they penetrated from the mouth of that river
southeastward into the country of the Monongahela
(which there is no reason to doubt), and that some of
them came many years before the campaigns of
Washington and Braddock, and intermarrying with
the Indians, settled and formed a village on the
waters of Georges Creek, in what is now Georges
township, Fayette County.
Of the English-speaking traders some were Pennsylvanians, who came in by way of the Juniata, but
more were from Virginia and Maryland, who came
west over the Indian trail leading from Old Town,
Md., to the Youghiogheny, guided and perhaps induced to come to the Western wilds by Indians, 3 who
from the earliest times were accustomed to visit the
frontier trading-stations on the Potomac and at other
points east of the mountains. These traders, both
English and French, were adventurous men, ever
ready and willing to brave the perils of the wilderness and risk their lives among the savages for the
purpose of gain, but they were in no sense settlers,
only wanderers from point to point, according to the
requirements or inducements of their vocation. Who
3 Judge Veech says (" Monongahela of Old," p. 26), " When the Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania traders with the Indians on the
Ohio begian their operations, perhaps as early as 1740, they procured Indians to show them the best and easiest route, and this [the Nemacolin
path to the Youghiogheny and Ohio] was the one they adopted."  And
he adds, "' There is some evidenlce that Indian traders, both English and
French, were in this country much earlier" than 1740.
~

I
IHISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
about 1808, and took up the business of boat-building.
His mother kept a cake-shop in the " Neck," where
the vacant lot is, just below the hardware-store of
James Slocum. Worley died a few years later, and
his widow married Thomas Brown, son of Basil
Brown, Sr. Daniel Worley, a son of Philip, was a
clerk in Robert Clarke's store. He married a daughter
of James Tomlinson, and in 1815 was employed as
niaster of one of the river-boats owned by his fatherin-law. In 1823 he and Tomlinson, with their families, moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where they settled,
and where their descendants are still living.
Eli Abrams settled here about 1812. His grandfather, Henry Abrams, was a settler at Turkey Foot
as early. as 1768, being mentioned as such in the report of the Rev. John Steele, made in that year. Eli,
on his arrival at Brownsville, was employed in the
nail-factory of Jacob Bowman, on Front Street.
Afterwards'he married a daughter of Martin Tiernan,
and kept a store on the " Neck." He became a justice of the peace, and filled that office with honor for
many years. Two of his sons (Dr. James Abrams,
dentist, and Decatur Abrams) are now living in
Brownsville. Another son, Lewis Abrams, lives
ab9ut a mile outside the borough.
George Dawson was a son of Nicholas, and grandson of George and Elenor Dawson, who were settlers
in the township of Union (now North Union). Their
son Nicholas removed to Kentucky, where his son
George was reared to manhood. About 1813 he
(George) returned to Fayette County, Pa., and settled
in Brownsville with his wife and two children (John
L. Dawson, who afterwards became a prominent public man, and a daughter, who married George Ashman), occupying a house on Front Street, now owned
by Mrs. Sweitzer. He was the Brownsville agent for
a salt company, and became interested in the construction of the National road, being the contractor
for the building of the heavy stone-work on the riverside of that road in its approaches to the Monongahela. He was also the owner of large tract~ of land
in Ohio. His children, besides the two before mentioned, were as follows: Louisa, who married Gen.
George W. Cass; Ellen, who after her sister's death
became the second wife of Gen. Cass; Samuel Kennedy Dawson, who became an officer in the United
States army, and is now on the retired list, living at
Eastport, Me.; Mary, who died at the age of about
twenty years; Elizabeth, married Alfred Howell, of
Uniontown; Catharine, married Alpheus E. Willson,
of Uniontown, president judge of Fayette County
court; and George, the youngest, who married a
daughter of Alfred Patterson, of Pittsburgh, and is
now residing in Louisiana. George Dawson, the
father of this numerous family, died in Brownsville a
few years ago. None of his descendants are Inow
living in the borough.
John Snowdon, a young Englishman, came to
Brownsville about 1820, with a wife and two children. He was a blacksmith by trade, and commenced
work here with John Weaver, who, however, was a
man of very little account, and the work of the shop
was chiefly done by Snowdon. His industry soon attracted the attention of George Hogg (himself also
an Englishman), who asked young Snowdon if he
could make an English oven. His reply was that he
could if he had the necessary iron, which was thereupon procured for him by Mr. Hogg, and the oven
was produced as desired. At that time stoves were
nearly or wholly unknown in this section, and Mr.
Snowdon was called on to make several of them,
which he did. After a time Mr. Hogg asked him
why he did not start a shop of his own, and received
the very natural reply that it was because he had not
the capital. Mr. Hogg then furnished him with an
anvil, bellows, and all other needed articles which he
could not make, and he opened a blacksmith-shop
where John R. Dutton's store and residence now is.
The new shop received an unexpectedly large patronage, and many articles in the machinery line were required, whereupon, after a short time, a miachine-shop
was added. At first the necessary castings were procured from William Cock, at Bridgeport, but it was not
long before Snowdon added a foundry and pattern-shop
to his other works. In 1827 he built at these works the
engines for the steamner " Monongahela." In 1831 he
built larger shops where the rolling-mill now stands.
These shops were burned and rebuilt below the site of
the rolling-mills. In theni the engines of the ironclad "Manayunk" were built. The building of the
rolling-mill and its subsequent history will be found
in another place in the history of the borough.
Mr. Snowdon, who was for a period of more than
fifty years a resident of Brownsville, and in the active part of his life one of the most enterprising men
of the borough, was born at Martin, near Scarborough,
in Yorkshire, England, March 2, 1796, and died in
Brownsville on the 25th of January, 1875. His son,
J. N. Snowdon, is the present postmaster of Brownsville.
Henry J. Rigden, a " watchmaker," came from
Georgetown, D. C., in September, 1817, and opened
a shop on Front Street, Brownsville. He was afterwards elected justice of the peace, and filled the office for fifteen years. For several years he was in the
State service as clerk for the superintendent of canals
at Erie, Pa., but had his home at Brownsville during
that term. He also held the office of postinaster at
Brownsville during the administration of President
Polk. He still resides in Brownsville, which has been
his home for sixty-four years.
Henry Sweitzer, long a prominent citizen of Brownsville, was a native of Doylestown, Pa., and at the age
of sixteen years removed to Washington County, Md.,
where he remained for many years, during which time
he was elected sheriff of that county and member of
the Legislature. In 1818 he married Ann E. Bowman,
daughter of Jacob Bowman, and removed to Browns4'.'a  BROWNSVILLE BOROUGH AND TOWNSHIP.
ville, entering at once into mercantile business and
real estate transactions. He built the stone house on
AVater Street (now the United States Hotel), which
was his residence for many years, and in which all
his children were born. One of his sons, Gen. J. B.
Sweitzer, of Pittsburgh, is now prothonotary of the
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, Western District. In
the war of the Rebellion he entered the service in July,
1861, and became colonel of the Sixty-second Pennsylvania Regiment, succeeding Col. Samuel W. Black.
As senior colonel he commanded the Second Brigade,
First Division, Fifth Army Corps, Army of Potomac,
and served through the campaigns of McClellan,
Burnside, Hooker, Meade, and Grant to the close of
the conflict. Nelson B. Sweitzer, also a son of Henry,
graduated at West Point in 1853, and entered the regular army. He served in McClellan's campaigns as
personal aide on the staff of that general, and was
afterwards placed in command of cavalry by Gen. P.
H. Sheridan. He is now (June, 1881) in command
of Fort Clarke, on the Rio Grande, in Texas. William, another son of Henry Sweitzer, and a native of
Brownsville, is living in Washington, Pa.
INCORPORATION OF THE BOROUGH, AND ERECTION
OF THE TOWNSHIP, OF BROWNSVILLE.
Brownsville was erected a borough by an act of
Assembly passed Dec. 14, 1814, and approved Jan. 9,
1815, by which act it was provided and declared"That the town of Brownsville, in the county of
Fayette, shall be, and the same is hereby, erected into
a borough, which shall be called'the Borough of
Brownsville,' bounded and limited as follows: Beginning at the east abutment of Jonah Cadwallader's milldam,"... and running thence by various courses
and distances to low-water mark on the Monongahela
River at the lower end of the town; thence up the
river to the mouth of Dunlap's Creek, and up the
Creek to Cadwallader's mill-dam, the place of beginning."
The act provided that the electors of the borough
should meet at the house of Jacob Copland, and there
elect one chief burgess, one assistant burgess, seven reputable citizens to form a Town Council, and one high
constable. Accordingly, "at an election held at the
house of Jacob Coplan, in the Borough of Brownsville,
on the first Tuesday of April, A.D. 1815, agreeably to
an act of the General Assembly of the Comimonwealth
of Pennsylvania, passed the 14th day of December,
1814, for incorporating said Borough," the followingnamed persons were elected: Chief Burgess, Thomas
McKibben; Assistant Burgess, Philip Shaffner; Councilmen, William Hogg, Basil Brashear, John S. Dugan, John McCadden, George Hogg, Jr., Israel Miller, George Dawson; High Constable, John Jacques.
These were the first officers of the borough of Brownsville.
"April 8, 1815.-The Burgess and Town Council
met at the 6ffice of Michael Sowers, Esq., and took
28
the oaths of office, and proceeded to the Council Room
in Basil Brashear's tavern, where William Hogg was
elected president of the Council, and John McC.
Hazlip, clerk."
At the April term of the Court of Quarter Sessions
of Fayette County in 1817 a petition of a number of
inhabitants was presented, praying for the erection of
a township to be called Brownsville from a part of
Redstone township, to include the borough of Brownsville and a small territory beyond the limits of the
borough and east of it, and to extend from Dunlap's
Creek to Redstone Creek. Upon this petition the
court appointed Jacob Bowman, Esq., John Fulton,
and Griffith Roberts viewers to examine into the
matter and report. In August of the same year this
committee reported to the court that they had performed the duty assigned them, and agreed on the
boundaries of the proposed township of Brownsville,
to be erected from the territory of Redstone, viz.:
" Beginning at the mouth of Dunlap's Creek; thence
up the same with the,meanders thereof to the west
end of Miller's mill-dam;" thence by a great number
of recited courses and distances from Dunlap's Creek
to Redstone Creek; "thence dowi said Creek to the
Monongahela River, and up the said River with the
meanders thereof to the place of beginning." This
report was accepted and confirmed, and at the November sessions of the same year the court ordered the
erection of the new township, with bounds as reported,
"to be called Brownsville Township."
PUBLIC GROUND, MARKET-HOUSE, AND OTHER
MATTERS FROM THE BOROUGII RECORDS.
The plat known as the Public Ground in Brownsville borough appears to have been a matter of dispute in early years. In the year 1807, Jonathan
Miller, John Sheldon, and Henry Wise gave notice
that they had been "authorized to erect a MarketHouse on a certain piece of ground in the town of
Brownsville known as the Public Ground," whereupon they were notified and warned not to erect any
building on that ground until an investigation should
be had, and a decision rendered by the proper tribunal. The protest came from Basil and Wilkes Brown,
executors of Thomas Brown, deceased. A public
notice by these executors to the effect that " they hold
an entrust on that piece of ground" is found in the
Genius of Liberty of May 4th in that year.
Nothing is found in reference to any official action
being taken in consequence of the protest of Thomas
Brown's executors, but it is certain that a markethouse was built on the ground in question, and that
it was used as the public market-house of the town
until 1815, when a new one was erected, but the old
one was soon after repaired, and continued in use for
about twelve years longer.
The first action taken concerning the erection of
the second market-house in 1815 has not been found.
49HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
but that the erection had been decided on, and a site
fixed for it, is shown by a resolution of the Council
on the 15th of April in that year, "That the centre
of the Market-House be in the centre of Market
Street, opposite the division line between Jacob Bowman's two lots, which lie on the southwest side of
said street;" and also by the tenor of a petition to
the Council signed by thirty-eight freeholders, dated
May 5, 1815, praying for a change of the site of the
proposed market-house "as formerly fixed by the
Council." A vote of the Council on the question of
removal of site resulted in the decision that it should
remain as previously fixed upon.
On the 2d of June following, "It was agreed that a
Market-House be built on the Scite last agreed on, of
the following dimensions, viz.: fifty feet long and
eighteen feet wide from out to out of the pillars.
The roof to be supported by ten pillars, five at each
side. The Roof to project four feet on each side outside of the pillars; the bottoms or bases of the pillars
to be built with stone and lime-mortar, sunk two feet
in the ground, and to rise one foot above the surface,
twenty-two inches square, and to be raised six feet six
inches above the stone, with brick and lime-mortar,
twenty-two inches square."  It was also "Agreed
that an advertisement be put in the American Telegraph for mechanicks to hand in proposals for doing
the work to the Council at Basil Brashear's [tavern],
on the 16th inst., betwixt the hours of 2 and 4 o'cl'k
P.M."  On the 4th of August, 1815, "A Contract was
made with John M. Hazlip for Compleating the
Market-House, for which he is to receive Three hundred and fifty dollars, the work to be done, in a substantial, workmanlike manner, against the first of
October next."
Dec. 26, 1815, "The Market-House being Compleated, the Council appointed George Graff, John
Laybourn, Griffith Roberts, and Ephraim Butcher
Referees to view the work and report to the Council."  Part of this committee reported, Jan. 5, 1816,
"that the work throughout the whole is done in a
substantial and workmanlike manner." This report
was signed by John Laybourn, George Graff, and
Griffith Roberts. But the other member of the viewing committee, Ephraim Butcher, certified only that
" I, as one of the referees chosen to examine the work
of the new Market-House, have done so, and do certify that in my opinion the mason-work is sufficiently
substantial," thereby inviting the inference that, in
his opinion, the other parts of the work were not
done according to the requirements of the contract.
It was accepted, however, and on that day (January
5th) a committee was appointed "to level the market-house floor, fix chains across the ends," and attend
to certain other small matters.
Feb. 23, 1816, the Council passed an ordinance
"That from and after the 15th of March Market shall
be held in the Market House on Market Street of
said borough on Wednesday and Saturday of each
week;. the Market hours shall be from daylight until
nine o'clock A.M. onI each of said days in the months
of March, October, November, December, January,
and February, and from daylight until eight o'clock
A.M. on each of the aforesaid days in the months of
April, May, June, July, August, and September."'
The commodities to be deemed articles of marketing
were meats, salted or fresh, eggs, butter, poultry,
cheese, lard, tallow, candles, fruit, and all kinds of
vegetables, but not grain. A fine of one dollar was
imposed on each and every person buying or selling marketable articles at any other place than the
market-house during market hours. The stalls on
the southwest side of the building were to be occupied
by the butchers and fishmongers at a reasonable rate,
fixed at $5 each per annum.
James Workman and Nathan Smith were empowered " to enclose the Market House with a pale fence
and a gate at each end, and to have the sides so secured as to prevent sheep, hogs, and geese from entering the same."
In August, 1817, the superintendent of the work on
the National road (then in process of construction)
requested the removal of the market-house in Market
Street, it being in the location of the road, and so situated as to impede the progress of the workmen. On
the 9th of that month the Council "Resolved that the
materials of the Market House be offered at public
sale on Wednesday next, 2 the Council reserving the
Stone, Brick, and Gates for the use of the Market
House in Front Street," meaning the old building
erected for that purpose on the Public Ground in 1807.
This old market-house was then repaired, and used
by the people of the borough until the erection of the
present market-house. Quit-rents were paid on it to
Sally Brown as late as the year 1844, when a bill of
six years' rent was presented to the Council and ordered
paid. The present brick market-house was built in
1829. An addition to it was projected in 1853, and
the Council passed a resolution to that effect, but it
was not done, and the building as it stands to-day (at
the corner of Market Street and Bank Alley) is the
same as when erected fifty-two years ago.
The grading of the National road, in 1817-18, rendered Front Street almost impassable, by reason of
the filling at the upper end and the excavation at
the lower. The borough board ordered that street
graded to the National road, to make it passable. At
a Council meeting held June 17, 1818, it was resolved,
on motion of George Dawson and Valentine Geisey,
that the sum of $4000 be obtained as a loan from
bank, and that the same be equally expended on
Front, Market, and Water Streets,-Front Street to
be graded forty-five feet wide. On the 21st of September in the same year the Council considered an
offer from John Bogle to contract "To pave Front
Street for $25 per perch, running measure."
1 Repealed May 11, 1820.
2 The timber anld roof were sold to Elijah Clarke for $46.
I
430,BROWNSVILLE BOROUGH AND TOWNSHIP.
Sept. 23, 1819, James L. Bowman and D. B. Bayliss
were authorized to employ Freeman Lewis " to make
a survey and draft of the borough." The work was
accordingly done by Mr. Lewis, and on the 20th of
October the Council "Ordered that survey monuments be erected in the centre of Market Street and
elsewhere, under the direction of Freeman Lewis,"
which was also done.
LIST OF TAXABLES IN BROWNSVILLE IN 1818.
Robert Ayres.
John Allender.
David Auld.
David Aviel.
James Allison.
Thoimas Auberry.
David Allen.
David Anderson.
J. Auld.
Ephraimn Butcher.
D. Bayliss  Co.
John Biddle.
Peter Beaker.
John Bowman.
Basil Brown.
Basil Brashear.
John Beckley, Admin.
Edward Burns.
Henry liarkeman.
James Boner.
James Blaine.
George Boyd.
Bank of Brownsville.
Nathan Briggs.
James Breading.
James S. Bowlin.
Ezekiel Baldwin.
Jacob Bowman  Son.
Thomas Berry.
Charles Brown.
Simeon Bowlnan.
Joseph Baldwin.
Sarah Brown.
Randle Black.
Benjamin Berry.
James Butterfield.
James Boyle.
Nancy Beckley.
Bonnell, Gregg  Carruthers.
Chads Chalfant.
John Connelly.
James Chalfant.
Joseph Craig.
John Christmas.
Robert Clark.
Jonah Cadwallader.
William Craig.
Jacob Conrad.
Joseph Copley.
Matthew Coffin.
Elijah Clarke.
John Collins.
George Craft.
Jacob Coplan.
Charles Chadwick.
Nathan Chalfant.
John Chenney.
Church Cashing.
James Carter.
Charles Campbell.
Jacob Crawl.
Landon Crocker.
William Crawford.
Emmanuel Crossin.
Thomas Carter.
Thomas Downey.
John Dixon.
IHenry G. Dales.
George Dawson.
John Duvale.
William  Drake.
John Davis.
Neal Duffee.
Bartholomew Depsey.
Peter Elston.
John Everhart.
Charles Ford.
John Fletcher.
John Foster.
Robert Fordis.
Jacob Fouch.
John Frew.
Henry B. Goe.
Robert Graham.
George Graff.
Patrick Gormley.
Valentine Giesey.
Neal Gillespie.
John Gribble.
Henry Graham.
John Gordan.
John Givin.
Robert Hamilton.
Peter Humerickhouse.
John Hazlip.
George Ianes.
Matthew Hutchinson.
William Hogg.
E.  C. Hunt.
Caleb Hunt.
George Hogg  Co.
William lHoward.
William Hanes.
Robert Henderson.
Henry Hull.
Thomas Headon.
James Hutchinson.
John Harris.
Michael Harris.
Henry Holman.
James Harkness.
Henry Irwin.
Adam Jacobs.
John Jaquis.
John Johnston.
James Johnston.
Samuel Jackson.
John Johnson.
James Jones.
Job Jones.
John Juil.
Jacob Kennear.
Mary Kennear.
George Kennear.
Basil King's heirs.
Michael Kelly.
Mary Kennedy.
John McCartney, Jr.
Edward Maloine.
William Miniken.
John McMordee.
George McMichael.
John Marsh.
Ready McSherry.
WilliLam Moffit.
Israel Miller.
John McCartney, Sr.
William McFall.
Charles Michael.
John McCadden.
Thomas McKibben.
John McKennon.
John McCadden, Sr.
Robert McClane.
John McCormick.
William McMullen.
Allen McCurdy.
George Murre.
Henry Morrison.
Hugh McDonald.
John Murry.
Yardner McGuire.
David McGraw.
James Morrison.
William Morgan.
Joseph Noble.
Solomon Norris.
Joseph Novis.
Daniel Osten.
William Ogle.
Patrick O'Hair.
Charles O'Donnold.
John Pattinger.
Robert Philson.
John Peters.
Thomas Pierson.
Ruel Perry.
William H. Parks.
Jacob Reucheneker.
Thomas Rhoads.
William Rhoads.
Samuel Rogers.
John Rogers.
John Richards.
John Rape.
James Reynolds.
John Robinson.
Samuel Rose.
Samuel Richards.
Robert Ritchie.
Henry Rigden.
Michael Rusler.
Levi Springer.
William Stephenson.
Patricli Sullivan.
Michael Sowers.
Henry Stoy.
Lewis Switzer.
Charles Sheets.
Philip Shafner.
George Shuman.
Nathan Smith.
Isaac Saffel.
James Spencer.
Thomas Stephenson.
Henry Shreve.
John Smith.
Philip Smith.
Robert Scott.
Andrew Stark.
William Seale.
Jacob Sheffner.
Samuel Shuman.
Thomas Sloane.
Henry Sweitzer  Co.
Joseph Thornton.
Martin Tiernan.
George Trucks' heirs.
Aaron Townsend.
James Thomspon.
Ebenezer Taylor.
Eli Tascour.
Matthew Thona.
Abram Underwood.
David Victor.
Thomas Wells.
Henry Wise.
John Wise.
James Workman.
Mary Workley.
David Wilson.
H. H. Wadsworth.
Frederick Weigle.
William Willis.
Henry Wilson.
Simon Watson.
John Weaver.
Robert Whele.
William Walker.
Benjamin Whitehouse.
Jonathan Worrell.
James Watters.
Travers Worcester.
John Wright.
BUSINESS OF BROWNSVILLE IN 1818.
The following list of persons, following the several
occupations indicated in 1818, is from the assessment
roll of that year:
I
I
I
431
IHISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Merchants.
Jacob Bowman (P.M.).
D. B. Bayliss  Co.
James E. Breading.
Robert Clarke.
Wilson Drake.
John Everhart.
Valentine Geisey.
Matthew Hutchinson.
E.  C. Hunt.
Caleb Hunt.
George Hogg  Co.
Robert Henderson.
Adam Jacobs.
John Johnston.
William Moffit.
Israel Miller.
Thomas McKibben.
Samuel Rogers.
John Rogers.
William Stephenson.
Philip Shaffner.
H. H. Wadsworth.
"Dealers."
Edward Burns.
George Boyd.
"Doctors."
Lewis Sweitzer.
Samuel Shuman.
Henry W. Stoy.
"Schoolmasters."
Robert Ayres.
David Taylor.
Inn-keepers.
Basil Brashear.
Nancy Beckley.
John Connelly.
William McMullen.
Joseph T. Noble.
James Reynolds.
Coppersmith and tinworker.
George Shuman.
Tailors.
Abraham Underwood.
John Robinson.
Allen McCurdy.
Ready McSherry.
John Johnston.
David Allen.
Hatters.
John Bowman.
Charles Campbell.
Robert Ritchie.
Tanners.
John McCaddu, Sr.
John McCaddu, Jr.
Robert McClane.
William Ogle.
Shoemakers.
Andrew Stark.
James Thompson.
Ebe. Taylor.
William Walker.
John Wright.
Blacksmiths.
John Beadle.
Nathan Briggs.
Isaac Saffell.
John Weaver.
Saddler.
Ephraim Baldwin.
Cabinet-maker.
John Allenden.
Chair-maker.
Thomas Rhoads.
Watch-makers.
Henry J. Rigden.
James Spencer.
Justice.
James Blaine.
Gunsmith.
Landon Crocker.
Nailers.
Henry Irwin.
George Michael.
Charles Michael.
The following additional names appear on the roll
of 1819, viz.:,
Printer.
Robert Fee.
Tanner.
James Workman.
Boat-builders.
Nathan Chalfant.
James Carter.
Thomas Carter.
John McCartney.
James McCartney.
Brick-maker.
Joseph Thornton.
Bakers.
Henry Dales, Jr.
John Williams.
Schoolmasters.
Edward Byrne.
James Johnston.
Inn-keepers.
James Auld (and shoemaker).
Evan Cadwallader.
John McCartney.
Merchants.
James L. Bowman.
Jacob Bowman  Son.
Simeon Bowman.
Peter Humrickhouse.
Nathan Smith.
Henry Sweitzer.
" Quit-rents."
Sally Brown (daughter
of the original proprietor).
Many of the locations occupied by the business
men mentionied in the above lists have passed from
the memory of those who were livinig in Brownsville
at that timne, but some of them have been ascertained
and are given below.
The store of Jacob Bowman  Son was on the lot
where J. N. Snowdon and John Anderson now reside.
Hogg  Bowman (George Hogg and Simeon Bowman) did business on Water Street, two lots south of
the site of the United States Hotel. Where the hotel
stands was the store of Henry Sweitzer.
James L. Bowman kept a store in the "Neck,"
where now is Armstrong's drug-store, but whether he
was located there at the time referred to (1818-19) has
not been definitely ascertained.
The store of D. B. Bayliss  Co. was on Front
Street, where S. P. Knox now lives. James E. Breading's store was in the Central Hotel building on Mar.
ket Street. Thomas McKibben's store was on Front
Street, adjoining or near that of Bayliss  Co.
Peter Humrickhouse kept his store on Front Street,
now the residence of George E. Hogg. Humrickhouse came from Hagerstown, Md., to Brownsville
about 1814, and removed to Coshocton, Ohio, about
1830.
John and Samuel Rogers (twin brothers) were located in trade on Front Street. They had been in
busiiness there at least four years before 1818.
Elisha Hunt and Caleb Hunt kept a store in the
Neek, where now is Keiser's jewelry-store. The Hunts
were members of the Society of Friends.
Matthew Hutchinson (an Irishman) did a small
mercantile business on Front Street, on a lot adjoining the Black Horse tavern.
The store of Adam Jacobs, Jr. (father of the present
Capt. Adam Jacobs), was in Market Street, where
Charles Johnson's grocery-store now is. His father,
Adam Jacobs, Sr., had commenced business as early
as 1800 in a store located on Water Street, next below
the site of the rolling-mill.
Israel Miller's store was on Front Street, opposite
the old Monongahela Bank building (now Dr. Richard's residence). Miller afterwards moved his business to a store where Joseph Sanforth's cabinet-shop
now is on Market Street. Later still he removed to
where Samuel Graham resides.
The store of Valentine Giesey was opposite the
Black Horse tavern on Front Street.
Philip Shaffner's location was on Water Street.
Besides the business of his store he also carried on a
coppersmith and tin-working shop.
Robert Clarke's store was in a building that stood
I
439BROWNSVILLE BOROUGH AND TOWNSHIP.
on the site of the Snowdon House, and upon the erection of the latter the store was kept in it.
Henry J. Rigden's watchmaker-shop was on Front
Street, though he afterwards had other locations in
different parts of the town. An earlier watch-maker
than he in Brownsville was Isaac Goodlander. Mr.
Rigden first started business here in 1817.
Dr. Lewis Sweitzer's office was in the three-story
stone house now owned by Ayres Lynch, on Front
Street.
The boat-yards of Nathan Chalfant and James and
Thomas Carter were on the river-bank, below and near
the site of the United States Hotel. Chalfant was
one of the earliest boat-builders in Brownsville.
Jacob Bowman's nail-factory (built before 1800, but
not in operation at the time to which the preceding
business list has reference) was located on the sloping
ground on Front Street, below the present residence
of N. B. Bowman. Eli Abrams, George Michael, and
Henry Irwin were workmen in this establishment,
which (as tradition has it) produced the first nails
made west of the mountains.
The old grist-mill and saw-mill owned by Robert
Clarke and Neal Gillespie is not mentioned in the
business list referred to, but was built at about that
time. In the Navigator,l published at Pittsburgh in
1821, is found the following mention of this old mill:
"' There has been built lately on the town side a valuable grist- and saw-mill, turned by the water of the
river, in which are wool and cotton carding machines.
The mills are owned by Messrs. Gillespie  Clark, who
got an act of Assembly passed to throw a dam across the
river by engaging to make a safe way for the passing
and repassing of boats up and down the river. This
was at first done by a chute in the dam, and since by
a lock canal." The old mill building, a long, low,
gambrel-roofed structure, is still standing on the
bank of the river north of Britton's distillery. It is
used as a store and warehouse by S. S. Graham.
In the publication above referred to (the Navigator)
the following account is given of the condition of
Brownsville in 1821:
"Brownsville (or Redstone) lies immediately below Dunlap's
Creek, on the east side of the river, finely situated on a first
and high second bank. It contains (18102) about one hundred
and twenty houses, principally of wood, some handsomely built
with stone and brick, a market-house, an Episcopal Church,
eighteen mercantile stores, two tan-yards, a rope-walk, two boatyards, two tin and copper manufactories, two factories of nails,
one printing-office, which issues a weekly paper, a post-office,
a warehouse, one scythe- and sickle-maker, blacksmiths, silversmiths (one of whom makes survbyors' compasses), tailors,
shoemakers, saddlers, etc. Within a few miles of the town are
four Friends' meeting-houses, twenty-six grist-, saw-, oil-, and
fulling-mills, and within four miles, up Redstone Creek, a valuable paper-mill.
" Burd's fort formerly stood here. In addition to the above,
a manufactory of steel, established by Morris Truman  Co.,
was in full operation in 1811. Mr. John Gregg, near Brownsville, has contrived a machine for planking hats, either by
horse or water. It is calculated to save much labor in the
hatting business. Cotton and wool cards are also made. A
large cotton manufactory is erecting, in which the steam-power
will be used; and a foundry on an extensive scale has been
erected, as also a manufactory for making mill-saws. A steamboat was commenced in 1813, and has now made several trips;
the engines constructed by Mr. French. The Monongahela
Bank was established here in 1813, with a capital of $300,000.
[Here follows the mention of Gillespie  Clark's old mill, as
before quoted.]
" The inhabitants of Brownsville are remarkably industrious,
and the settlement around the town is the oldest and richest in
the western country, and is principally settled by Quakers.
This being a place of considerable embarkation, individuals
make it their business to supply travelers with boats and all
other necessaries for descending the river."
LA FAYETTE'S VISIT TO BROWNSVILLE.
The visit of the Marquis de La Fayette to Brownsville in May, 1825, was a memorable event in the annals of the borough. Having started in 1824 fronm
the Eastern cities on an extended tour of the United
States, he was at the time mentioned moving eastward
from the Ohio on his return. On the evening of the
25th of May he arrived at Washington, Pa., where he
was to pass the night, and in the morning proceed to
Brownsville and Uniontown. The reception committee of the last-named place were at Washington -to
meet him, and it appears that he considered himself
as in their charge from the time of his leaving Washington. The message sent forward from that place in
the evening of the 25th was, " He will leave here tomorrow morning early, will breakfast at Hillsborough,
dine at Brownsville, and sup and lodge at Uniontown."
In accordance with this arrangement, Gen. La Fayette, accompanied by his son, George Washington La
Fayette, and his private secretary, set out from Washington at a very early hour in the morning of the 26th,
and took the road to the Monongahela River, escorted
by the reception committee and others from Fayette
County.  The scenes attending the arrival of the
party at Brownsville were described in an account
written a few years later by one who witnessed them,
as follows:
" The citizens of Brownsville had also made preparations to give the general a very warm  reception.
At that time there was no bridge over the Monongahela at that place, and communication was kept up
between the two counties of Fayette and Waslhington
by means of a flat-boat ferry. This ferry-boat was
magnificently fitted up by the citizens of Brownsville
for this grand occasion, being nicely carpeted and
decorated with beautiful arches. A company of volunteers, commanded by Capt. Valentine Giesey, was
present, each member of the company having the
following appropriate motto printed and attached to
his cap,'Welcome General La Fayette!' About the
1 A book "Containing directions for Navigating the Mononlgahela,
Alleogeny, Oliio, and Mississippi Rivers, with descriptions of Towns,
Villages, Harbours, c."
2 Meaning by the census of 1810.
I
433HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
time of La Fayette's arrival on the opposite side of
the river, the Volunteers, accompanied by twenty-four
ladies dressed in white, representing the then twentyfour States in the Union, entered the ferry-boat, and
were soon landed on the opposite side of the river,
where the first general reception given to La Fayette
by the citizens of Fayette County took place, on the
ferry-boat on the west side of the Monongahela
River.
"After a general welcome was extended to General
La Fayette by the large concourse of people assembled on the shore, the ferry-boat returned to the
Brownsville side of the river, and the distinguished
patriot was escorted, amidst the most unbounded enthusiasm, to what was then called the Brashear's
Hotel, kept by Colonel Brashear, where a most sumptuous dinner had been prepared for the occasion. La
Fayette's reception at Brownsville, in the language of
one of the survivors of that memorable occasion, was
affectionate and touching. So urgent were the citizens of that place for the General to remain that the
committee from Uniontown, of whom George Crafts,
then sheriff of Fayette County, was one, were compelled to remind him that a very large concourse of
the citizens of the county was awaiting his arrival at
Uniontown. Upon being thus reminded, the General
very pleasantly remarked to the citizens by whom he
was surrounded' That he was now in the custody of
the sheriff, and they must excuse him.' "
The reception at Brownsville was much briefer and
less elaborate than that which was given to the hero
at Uniontown, but it was an occasion which will never
fade from the memories of those who witnessed it.
FERRIES.
The first ferry across the Monongahela River at
Brownsville was established by Capt. Mlichael Cresap
in 1775, under authority granted by "a Court held
for Augusta County [Va.] at Fort Dunmore" on the
23d of February in that year, which action is recorded'
as follows: " On the motion of Michael Cresap, license
is granted him to keep a ferry on Monongahela River
at Redstone Fort to the land of Indian Peter, and
that he provide a Boat."
Capt. Cresap died in the fall of the same year, and
it is not known by whomn the ferry was continued,
but in about 1784 it passed into the hands of Neal
Gillespie, who had purchased the land of Indian
Peter on the west side of the river. In the minutes
of the December session of Fayette County court for
1 In the ori,inal record of that court, which (as also the minutes of
the Yoliogania, Va., County court) is still in existence in Washington,
Pa., the "'Indian Peter" mentioned is the same old friendly savage
whlo first settled near Philip Shulte's place, in what is now North Union
township. It appears that Shute was a qiuarrelsomie man, and made it
so unconifortable for the peaceable Peter that the latter was compelled
to abandon his land (which had been granted to him by the Penns), and
having represented the case to the proprietaries and asked for anotller
piece of land one was given hini located on the Monoligahela opposite
Brownsville.
1788 is found the report of certain persons appointed
to view " the road from Friends' Meeting-House to
the ferry at the Fort," meaning Gillespie's ferry at
Redstone Old Fort, or Brownsville.
The landing-place of Gillespie's ferry in Brownsville was opposite the old residence of Henry Sweitzer,
now the United States Hotel. Gillespie continued
the ferry, making his landing at this point, until 1820,
when the National road was opened to the Monongahela, and the ferry landing was moved up to the
point where the great highway struck the river in
Bridgeport.
BRIDGES OVER DUNLAP'S CREEK.
Concerning the first bridge across Dunlap's Creek,
between Brownsville and Bridgeport, very little is now
known. No record is found showing the names of
its projectors, of the artisans who executed the work, or
of the time of its erection, beyond the fact that it was in
existence prior to June, 1794, at which time a petition
was presented to the Court of Quarter Sessions of
Fayette County for the laying out of "a road from
Krepps' Ferry to the bridge at the mouth of Dunlap's
Creek." That it had been long enough in use before
the commencement of the present century to be at
that time considerably dilapidated and out of repair
is made evident by an entry in the records of the
county commissioners, to the effect that a meeting of
that board, held on the 22d of October, 1801, was
adjourned " to meet at Bridgeport, Monday, October
27th, to view the bridge over the mouth of Dunlap's
Creek, and contract with or appoint some persons to
repair the same." At the meeting held according to
adjournment at Bridgeport, the commissioners decided upon the necessary work to be done on the
bridge, and " appointed and by writing authorized
John Rogers, Septimus Cadwallader, and Andrew
Porter to repair said bridge, at an expense not exceeding three hundred dollars." No further information has been obtained concerning this old bridge,
except what is contained in the following extract
from the old diary of Mr. Robert Rogers, one of the
early residents of Brownsville and Bridgeport, viz.:
"Early in the spring of 1808 there was a heavy
freshet in the Monongahela and Dunlap's Creek,
which floated off the wooden bridge that connected
Brownsville to Bridgeport, and they were without
until the chain-bridge was built in 1809 by James
Finley."
After the destruction of the bridge, as told by Mr.
Rogers, nearly a year elapsed before any action was
taken towards the erection of another in its place.
On the 13th and 14th of February, 1809, the commissioners were in session at the mouth of Dunlap's
Creek for the purpose of viewing the bridge location
and deciding what was to be done. Plans, specifications, and estimated expense were ordered made out,
and a copy sent to the President of the United States,
with the request for an appropriation in aid of build434BROWNSVILLE BOROUGH AND TOW7NSIIP.
ing the bridge. On the 20th of April following proposals were advertised for, and on the 26th of May,
in the same year, a contract was made with Isaac
Rogers for building the abutments, "and also one
thousand perches of stone wall along the creek by
the bridge."  On the 28th of June the commissioners met at the bridge site "on account of an
unusual flood of water washing away the banks of
Dunlap's Creek in such a manner that it was thought
necessary to alter the plan for building the bridge."
No further definite information can be gleaned
from the commissioners' minutes with regard to the
building of this bridge, except that it was completed
(apparently after considerable delay), and the last
payment for its construction was made Nov. 9, 1811.
It was a bridge suspended from  chains, as patented
by Judge James Finley, and similar in construction
to the one built across Jacob's Creek, on the north
line of the county.
The floor of this bridge was about thirty feet above
low water, and it was very long, not only spanning
the creek, but a considerable width of the banks on
either side. In March, 1820, it gave way and fell with
a crash under the combined weight of a deep snow
wllich lay upon it and that of a team and heavy-loaded
wagon which was crossing at the time. The occurrence is found mentioned in the Brownsville Register
of March 13, 1820, as follows:
"AccIDENT.-On Thursday last the chain bridge over Dunlap's
Creek, between Brownsville and Bridgeport, broke down with a
w.aggon and six horses upon it. The waggon fell on the bank,
this side of the stream, the horses in the water. The driver,
who was on the saddle-horse, was pitched between the two middle
horses, where he was held entangled in the gears until relieved
by the citizens. He received no material injury, but two of the
horses were killed. The team, we understand, was the property
of a person named HadkIney, near Winchester (Va.). The disttnce from the floor of the bridge to the surface of the water
must have been at least thirty feet."
In June next following Joseph Torrence, Isaac
Meason, Jesse Evans, James W. Nicholson, John
Oliphant, and William Swearingen were appointed to
view the site of the bridge and report what was expedient to be done. - They reported " that a bridge at
the proposed place is wanting, and they recommend
that one be there erected, and that the county defray
$900 of the expenses, the iron and other materials
of the old chain-bridge belonging to the countyto be
taken by the contractor at $400 in part of said $900."
Brownsville was to pay $380, and Bridgeport the same
amount,' to make up the cost of the bridge (sixteen
hundred and sixty dollars).
On the 28th of December, 1820, the Council of
Bridgeport appointed Solomon G. Krepps to present a
plan for a bridge to the commissioners of Uniontown,
and to urge its adoption. On the 4th of January, 1821,
he reported that the commissioners had adopted the
plan, and subscriptions were then commenced among
the citizens to aid in building the bridge.
Jan. 20, 1821, the commissioners, in session at the
house of James Reynolds, in Bridgeport, "received
proposals for building a bridge over the mouth of
Dunlap's Creek, and after having considered the various proposals laid before them, entered into an
agreement with Samuel Story, of Bridgeport, in the
county of Fayette. It was ordered that Isaac Core
proceed early next week to said place to take boild
and security of said Story." The contractor to take
the pier then standing, and to build " two other piers
with large stones well laid in lime-mortar, which said
piers shall be founded on a rock," the timbers of the
bridge to be solid oak, and the hand-railing to be
painted with thiree coats of white lead.
March 21, 1821, Isaac Core reported that the bridge
contractor had made considerable progress in the
work. On the 9th of May, the commissioners " having been informed that Samuel Story was to lay the
foundation of one of the piers of the bridge over the
mouth of Dunlap's Creek on that day, met at that
place, and saw the pier founded on a rock agreeably
to contract." And Isaac Core was appointed by the
commissioners to see the foundation of the second
pier laid in the same manner.
Aug. 18, 1821, " Samuel Story having notified Isaac
Core that the bridge he contracted to build was finished and ready for examination, said Core, with a
view to that object, forwarded the letter to Messrs.
Vance and Andrew Moore, to meet at their office."
The viewers, Messrs. Adam Wilson, William Ewing,
James Beck, and Joseph Thornton, met Aug. 27,
1821, examined the bridge, and reported that, having
viewed the bridge agreeably to the order, "we are
of opinion that it ought to be received off the contractor's hands."' The bridge was thereupon accepted
from the contractor, who received his final payment
upon it Sept. 5, 1821. The total amount paid him
was $2050, a supplemental article having been added
to the original contract giving him an additional
sum for extra work done on it.
In 1835, when the present iron bridge over Dunlap's Creek was projected as a permanent crossing
for the National road, Capt. Richard Delafield, then
government engineer on the work, decided, and so
reported to the Treasury Department, that the best
crossing-place for the bridge was at a point below
where the road struck the creek. In consequence of
this report the Borough Council forwarded a memorial to the department, protesting against the change
of location, setting forth that in case the proposed
site was adopted the bridge must be longer and would
cost twenty-five per cent. more than if erected on the
old site; also that the change would'work great injury to property on the line of the then existing road,
1 This amount was increased (on account of the cost of the bridge exceeding the estimate) to four hundred and ten dollars as the borough
qllota, and this was paid in conformity to an order of the commissioners
dated Sept. 5, 1821.
435HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
which would necessarily be discontinued and rendered
useless for a'onsiderable distance where it approached
the bridge. The result was that the views of Capt.
Delafield were modified, and he then proposed to
bumld on the upper (present) site, provided the
Council would throw open a triangle on the line of
the road opposite the borough market. This was acceded to, the bridge site was adopted in conformity
to the wishes of the Council and people of the borough, and a slight temporary bridge was thrown
across the creek to accommodate travel during the
construction of the permanent structure.
It was decided that the material of the bridge
should be cast iron. The contract for casting the
pieces was awarded John Snowdon, the metal being
furnished by the government. Mr. Snowdon rented
the old Cock foundry for the purpose, and duly furnished the castings according to contract. The construction of the bridge proceeded successfully, and
was in due time coinpleted under the superintendency
of George W. Cass, who had come to this section
years before as one of the engineers of the National
road.
This bridge across Dunlap's Creek was the first castiron structure built across any stream west of the Alleghenies. It still stands, solid, and in excellent condition, the only highway between the boroughs of
Brownsville and Bridgeport.
EARLY TAVERNS AND LATER HOTELS.
The name of the first public-house in Brownsville
is not known, but it appears likely that it was kept
by Thomas Brown, as there is found in the records of
the West Augusta (Va.) court, held at Fort Dunmore
in April, 1776, an entry, dated the 16th of that month,
as follows: " License to keep an Ordinary is granted
to Thomas Brown, at his house at Redstone Fort.
Bazel Brown, on his behalf, entered into bond according to law." Nothing further is found of the
"ordinary" of Thomas Brown.
The earliest inn of Brownsville of which anything
definite is known as to its location and landlords was
the "Black Horse Tavern," a stone building, a part
of which is still standing in the more-recently erected
stone building located between the residences of N.
B. Bowman and Jalnes Slocum. The date of the
opening of the old tavern cannot be accurately fixed,
but it is known that the public meeting at Redstone
Old Fort July 27, 1791, usually referred to as the
first public act in the Whiskey Insurrection, was held
at the Black Horse tavern. The last meeting of the
insurgents was also held at the same place, Aug. 28
and 29, 1794. In the JVestern Telegraphe (published
at Washington, Pa.) of March 29, 1796, is found the
following advertisement, viz.:
"Amos Wilson begs leave to inform his friends and the
public that he has purchased the house formerly occupied by
Mr. Patrick Tiernan, the sign of the Black Ilorse, on Front
Street, Brownsville, well known by the naume of Redstone Old
Fort, where has opened a Tavern," eto.
The tavern property, together with four other lots
in Brownsville, "belonging to Charles Armstrong,
Elijah Clark, boat-builder, and Capt. T. Shane," were
sold at public auction on the 31st of December, 1796,
by James Long, auctioneer; but it seems probable
that, notwithstanding the sale, Wilson still continued
as landlord of the Black Horse tavern, and was keeping it in 1799, from an account of the celebration of
St. John's day (June 24th) in that year by Brownsville Lodge, No. 60, of Free Masons, viz.: "In the
evening repaired to Brother Wilson's, at the Black
Horse Tavern, and spent the evening in festivity."
Later it was kept successively by John Sheldon,
Josiah Tannehill, Joseph Noble, Mrs. Dr. Lewis
Sweitzer, and others. It was discontinued as a
public-house many years ago.
Basil Brashear was in Brownsville as early as 1795,
and soon'afterwvards built the stone house now occupied by Mrs. Wesley Frost and Mrs. Couldren. At
that place he kept tavern for many years. The first
meeting of the Borough Council was held at "the
Council room in Basil Brashear's tavern." This was
one of the most famed of the early public-houses of
Brownsville. It was kept by Brashear, and was the
principal hotel of the town when Lafayette made his
visit here in 1825.
John McClure Hezlop was in Brownsville in 1797,
and three years later he built the stone house at the
head of Market Street. It was afterwards kept as a
tavern by John Beckley. The house was continued
by his widow, Nancy Beckley, for some time after his
death. In 1843, Jacob Workman was its landlord.
It is now the Girard House.
James Auld, "Inn-keeper and Shoemaker," kept a
tavern at the head of Front Street in 1819. Afterwards Jaines C. Beckley kept at the same place. In
1820 public-houses were kept in Brownsville by John
Conolly, William McMullen, and James Reynolds.
The building on Market Street, in which the Central
Hotel was afterwards kept, was built in 1816.
The Snowdon House building was erected about
1823 by Robert Clarke, who lived in it until his
death, about 1840. It was first kept as a hotel by
Andrew Byers, who was also a landlord at Uniontown, Connellsville, and several other places. The
house is still a hotel.
The Monongahela House, located in the " Neck,"
was built as a private residence by Samuel J. Krepps
in 1832. About twelve years later it was purchased
by -- McCurdy, who opened it as a hotel, and kept
it for a time, but failed to make the payments on the
property, and was obliged to give it up. It was then
leased to  -  Ganz, --    Vance, and others successively, and was finally (in 1870) taken by John B.
Krepps (son of Samuel), who kept it until his death,
in January, 1881, and it is still kept as a public-house
by his widow. The other hotels of Brownsville at the
present time are the United States, on Water Street,
by George W. Poundstone; the Snowdon House, on
436BROWNSVILLE BOROUGH AND TOWNSHIP.
Market Street, by Harvey Sawyer; and the Girard
House, at the head of Market Street, by Jacob Marks.
NEWSPAPERS.
The earliest Brownsville newspaper of which any
information has been found is The Brownsville Gazette. The only copy of it known to be now in existence bears date Jan. 14, 1809, from which it is learned
that the paper was " published every Tuesday by John
Berry, Printer, on Market Street, opposite Col. Brashear's Inn." When it was first issued or how long
it continued is not known.
The Western Repository was published at Brownsville in 1810. One-half of a copy of this paper, bearing date Wednesday, June 13th of that year, is now in
possession of Mrs. Samuel B. Page, of Brownsville.
It contains the advertisements of Dr. Edward Scull
and Dr. James Roberts (then physicians of Brownsville), and also an obituary notice of Isaac Rogers,
who died Saturday, June 9, 1810, aged forty-two years.
The Repository was a four-column paper, published
at $2 per annum. No other facts can be given concerning it.
The Western Palladium of Brownsville was in existence in 1812, but probably not later, as is indicated
by an advertisement found in The Reporter of Washington, Pa., dated May 4th in that year, being as follows:
" PRINTING OFFICE FOR SALE.
"The Establishment of the Western Palladium, at Brownsville, Pa., is offered for Sale with the Press."
The American Telegraph was established at Brownsville in 1814, by John Bouvier, who continued its
publication here for about four years, and then removed it to Uniontown, where it was united with the
Genius of Liberty.
The Western Register was commenced in the summer of 1817, by Robert Fee, who continued to publish it in Brownsville until 1823, but nothing of a
later date has been found in reference to it. A copy
the paper (Vol. VI. No. 49), dated March 29th-in that
year, is in possession of J. A. Scott, of Bridgeport. It
is a folio, four columns, about one-fourth the size of
the Clipper, and bears the motto "Virtuous Liberty."
The American Observer was started in Brownsville,
in September, 1825, by Jackman  Coplan, the office
of publication being on Market Street. A copy of
the paper (Vol. II. No. 17), dated Jan. 13, 1826, is in
possession of Mrs. Samuel B. Page, of Brownsville.
It contains an address delivered by Thomas Rodgers
on the anniversary of the battle of New Orleans.
The Observer was afterward removed to Uniontown
and merged with the Genius of Liberty.
The Western Spy of Brownsville is found mentioned in a Pittsburgh paper of Jan. 5, 1824. The
fact that such a paper existed at that time is all that
is known of it.
The Brownsville Galaxy, edited and published by
William J. Copeland, was in existence in 1829, but the
dates of its birth and death have not been ascertained.
In an old number of the Casket, published by Atkinson in Philadelphia, is found the following notice,
copied in that paper as a curiosity from the Brownsville Galaxy of Aug. 7, 1829, viz.:
" Whereas, Fanny Morton, alias Kerr, has without
cause left my habitation, and is floating on the ocean
of tyrannical extravagance, prone to prodigality,
taking a wild goose chase and kindling her pipe with
the coal of curiosity, to abscond and abolish such insidious, clandestine, noxious, pernicious, diabolical,
and notorious deportment, I therefore caution all
persons from hlarboring or trusting her on my account,
as I will pay ino debts of her contracting from this
date unless compelled by law.
" JAMES KERR."
The Brownsville Intelligencer was a paper of which
no information has been obtained, extcept the fact of
its existence in July, 1830, which is shown by a reference to it in a Pittsburgh journal of that time.
The Brownsville Free Press was established in September, 1843, by A. H. Shaw. It was a five-column
folio, and devoted to the interests of the old Whig
party.
The Brownsville Times was first issued in the fall of
1857. It was a seven-column paper, eighteen by
thirty-six inches, Democratic in politics. Its publication office was on the Neck, near the east end of the
bridge. In February, 1861, it was edited and published by R. B. Brown. The date of its suspension
has not been found.
The Brownsville Clipper was established by the late
Hon. Seth T. Hurd, at Brownsville, on the 1st day of
June, 1853, Wednesday being the publication day.
The Clipper was started in the interests of the old
Whig party, and continued to advocate its cause until
the organization of the Republican party, when it
espoused those principles, and has so continued to
the present day. On the 20th of September, 1875,
the Hon. Seth T. Hurd, after about twenty-two years
of continuous editorial management, sold the Clipper
and the printing establishment to Mr. A. R. Hastings. On the 22d of November, 1878, Mr. Hastings
sold the paper to Mr. W. F. Applegate, the present
proprietor, who was then connected with The AIonmouth (N. J.) Inquirer. Thus it will be seen the
Clipper has had but three proprietors in its existence
of twenty-seven years. The Clipper was in reality
the ontcomne of the Free Press and other old newspapers
previously published in Brownsville during the past
seventy years, consequently it is the oldest paper now
published in Brownsville. When it was started in
1853 by Mr. Hurd it was the same size as now, thirtytwo columns, twenty-six by forty. The paper is all
printed at home, and devotes most of its space to the
local news of the community.
The Labor Advocate,l as its name imports, is the
1 Sketch fuinished by Dr. U. I. Clemmer.
437HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
they were is no more known than is the time when
they first came, for few, if any, of their names have
been preserved, other than those of Dunlap and Hugh
Crawford, and they were of the class of later traders,
who gave up their calling on the approach of permanent settlers.
Nor is it certainly known vlio was the first white
man who made a settlement intended to be permanent within the territory that is niow Fayette County.
Veech believed that the first actual settlers here were
Wendell Brown and his two sons, Maunus and Adam,
with perhaps a third son, Thomas. "They camie,"
he says, "in 1751 or 1752. Their first location was on
Provance's Bottom, a short distance below little Jacob's Creek [in the present township of Nicholson].
But soon after some Indians enticed them away from
that choice alluvial reach by promises to show them
better land, and where they would enjoy greater security. They were led to the lands on which, in part,
the descendants of Maunus now reside.'... They
came as hunters, but soon became herdsmen and tillers of the soil.... When Washington's little army
was at the Great Meadows, or Fort Necessity, the
Browns packed provisions to him,-corn and beef."
This last statement, however, seems very much like one
of those doubtful traditions that are found clinging to
all accounts of Washington's movements from Fort
Necessity to Yorktown. It seems improbable, to say
the least, that Wendell Brown would in that early
time, and at his remote home in the wilderness, have
had sufficient store of corn and beef to spare it fron
the necessities of his numerous family, and "pack"
it several miles across the mountain and through the
woods to help feed an army. Yet it may have been
true. As to the date (1751-52) given by Mr. Veech
as the time of Brown's first settlement on the Monongahela, it appears too early, and there is a doubt
whether Wendell Brown shouild be named as the first
settler in this county, though no doubt exists that lie
was here among the earliest.
Of settlements made within the limits of the present
county of Fayette, the earliest which have been anything like definitely fixed and well authenticated were
those which resulted from the operations of the Ohio
Conipany, an organization or corporation to which
reference has already been mnade in preceding chapters. The project of the formation of this company was originated in the year 1748 by Thomas
Lee, a member of the Royal Council in Virginia;
his object being to form an association of gentlemen
for the purpose of promoting the settlement of the
wild lands west of the Allegheny Mountains, within
what was then supposed to be the territory of the
colony of Virginia, and also to secure the Indian
trade. For this purpose he associated with himself
Mr. Hanbury, a London mierchant, Lawrence Washington, and John Augustine Washington, of Virginia
(brothers of Gen. George Washington), and ten otlher
persons, residents of that colony aind Maryland, and in
March, 1749, this association was chartered as the
Ohio Company by George the Second of England.
The royal grant to the company embraced five hundred thousand acres of land on the Ohio, and between
the Monongahela and Kanawha Rivers, [his being
given on the express condition that it should be
improved and settled (to a certain specified extent)
witllin ten years2 from the date of the charter.
" The object of the company," says Sparks, "was
to settle the lanlds and to carry on the Indian trade
upon a large scale. IHitherto the trade wvith the
Western Indians had been mostly in the hands of the
Pennsylvanians. The company conceived that they
might derive an important advantage over their competitors in this trade from the wvater cominunication
of the Potomac and the eastern branclhes of the Ohio
[the Monongahela and Youghiogheny], whose headwaters approximated each other. The lanids were
to be chiefly taken on the south side of the Ohio, betweenl the Monongahela and Kanawha Rivers, and
west of the Alleghenies. The privilege was reserved,
however, by the company of embracinog a portion of
the lainds on the north side of the river, if it should
be deemed expedient. Twvo hundred thousand acres
were to be selected imrnediately, and to be held for
ten years free from quit-rent or any tax to the king,
on coniditioni that the company should, at their owni
expense, seat one hundred families oIn the lands within
seven years, and build a fort and maintain a garrison
sufficient to protect the settlement.
"The first steps taken by the company were to order
Mr. Hamburg, their agent in London, to send over
for their use two cargoes of goods suited to the Indiani trade, amounting in the whole to four thousand
pounds sterling, one cargo to arrive in November,
1749, the other in March following.3 They resolved
2 Sparks, in his " Life and Writings of Washington," says of this compa2y that vlien it was first inistituted Mr. Lee, its projector, was its
prirncipal organ and most efficient membjer.  le died soon afterwards,
aiid tlhenl the cliief managemient fell osa Lawrence Washington, who hadl
eingaged in the enterprise witll an enthusiasna and energy peculiar to
Iise character. Ilis agency was short, however, as his rapidly declining
healtlh sooii ter minated in hiis death. Several of the eomrpany's slhares
changed hands. Governor Dinwiddie [of Virginia] and George Mason
became proprietors. Tliei e were originally twenty slhares, and the companjy niever coiisisted of snore than that number of members."
2 Thto defeat of Wastiiigtori and Braddock by the French in tlle years
1754 anid 1755, as already narrated, anid the consequent expiilsion of the
English fronm the country west of the Alleghenies, virtually closed the
operations of the Ohio Company. Of this Sparks says, " The goods [desi-,,ed for the company's prospective Inidian trade oni the Ohio] had come
over fromin England, but had niever been taken fartlher into the interior
thian Wills' Creek [Cumberland], where they were sold to traders andtl
Indians, who received them at that post. Some progress had been made
in constructing a road to the Monongahela, hut the temper of the Indians
was sucll as to discourage any attempt to send thie goods at the companiy's
risk to a more remote point."  This was the end of the company's operations, at least as far as this region was concernied. About 1760 anl attempt was made to revive the project, and Col. George Mercer w as sent
2 Southtl of Uniontown, near the, tine between South Union and Georges
townships, ini the hlistories of Nyhiich townslhips furtlher mention of the
settlements of the Browns will be given.
51HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
professed champion of the labor and producing classes
of the county. It is the offspring of the Greenback
Banner, which was first issued on the 23d of August,
1877, with Dr. U. L. Clemmer as publisher and business manager, and Dr. N. W. Truxal as editor. The
Banner was the second Greenback newspaper publisled in Pennsylvania, and it acquired quite a celebrity as a wide-awake political journal, but at the
expiration of six months Dr. Truxal withdrew from
the editorial management, and Dr. Clemmer sold the
office to two gentlemen, who continued the publication of the paper until shortly before the election in
the fall of 1878, when they abandoned it and surrendered the material to the doctor. Then, in the early
spring of 1879, a stranger, whose name is not material, tried an experiment in the shape of a newspaper
called The Better Times, which existed three weeks
and then expired. After that occurrence the prospect
of establishing a newspaper in the interest of the
Greenback-Labor party seemed to be gloomy enough,
but Dr. Clemmnier was determined to try it once more,
and, without a single subscriber, he commenced the
issue of the Labor Advocate about the middle of February, in the year 1880. The paper has now been
permanently establislled, and on the 18th of April,
1881, it passed into the hands of Prof. Phillips and
Mr. J. T. Wells, both of whom are scholarly gentlemen, and both excellent writers.
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION IN BROWNSVILLE.'
The earliest data to whicli the writer lhas been able
to obtain access show that Dr. Mitchell and Dr.
Chesteter were both practicing medicine in Brownsville in the year 1806.
In the Western, epository newspaper (of Brownsville), dated June 13, 1810, are found the advertisements of Dr. Edward Scull and Dr. James Roberts as
physicians in the town at that time. The last named
is still remembered by Mr. Nelson B. Bowman. Dr.
Edward Scull was the son of John Scull, the founder
of the Pittsburgh Gazette. Nothing has been learned
of these twvo early physicians except the fact above
shown that they were practicing in Brownsville at the
time mentioned.
Dr. Thomas Blodgett was in practice in Brownsville
from 1812 to 1815, when he removed to Dayton, Ohio.
Dr. Pifer practiced here about 1831 to 1833.
Dr. John J. Steele was born in Lancaster, Pa.,
about 1795, removed from tllere to Canonsburg,
Washington Co., Pa., and was married to Mrs. Mary
Clemmens. He afterwards lived in Masontown, in
this county, and came to Brownsville about 1836.
He died in indigent circumstances near Uniontown
about 1839. The doctor left five children, one of
whom, Clemmens Steele, was engaged in business
pursuits in South America for several years, but returning to the United States shortly before the at1 By W. S. Duncan, DI.D.
tempt to establish the Confederate government, served
with credit as colonel of the Sixty-sixth Ohio Volunteers during the civil war.
Dr. Lewis Sweitzer was born in Doylestown, Bucks
Co., Pa., in1 4774. He attended a medical college in
Philadelphia, and afterwards pursued his medical
studies in Paris, France. He practiced medicine a
short time at Springtown, Bucks Co., was married
to Eliza F. Bell, Dec. 10, 1807, and moved to Brownsville in 1808, entering immediately upon the practice
of his profession, in which he maintained an honorable position up to the time of his death, in 1837.
Dr. Sweitzer was interested in the organization of the
Union Medical Society of Fayette County in 1810.
He was a brother of Henry Sweitzer, who came to
Brownsville a few years later.
Drs. Samuel Shuman and Henry W. Stoy were in
Brownsville in 1818, as shown by the assessment roll
of that year.
Dr. Robert W. Playford was born in London, England, on the 12th day of March, 1799, and educated
at Eton College, the celebrated English public school,
founded by King Henry VI. in 1440. In this school
he was what is known as a "king's scholar." His
position in his classes on leaving the college entitled
him to a scholarship at Oxford, but he preferred to
enter at once upon the study of medicine in the office
of his father, a reputable London physician. With
his father he came to this country, locating in Brownsville in 1820. Dr. Playford, Sr., remained here about
two years, in that short time establishing, in connection with his son, a large and lucrative business. He
returnied to London, where he died in 1826. Dr. R.
W. Playford remained in Brownsville, continuing in
active practice until 1861, when he was stricken with
hemiplegia, which unfitted him  for further active
practice. He enjoyed the reputation of having the
largest business of any physician in the county. In
all his practice he was singularly successful, his acute
perception, clear judgment, and rapid decision fittingc
him peculiarly for emergencies, and seemed to render
his knowledge of his duties almost intuitive. During
the whole period of his business life he was once
away from town five days at one time, being the only
instance of absence from his professional cares for
more than one day during the forty-one years of his
life that were devoted to active professional pursuits.
He frequently wrote for the local press on sanitary
affairs and nlatters of home interest. He died at his
home in Brownsville, March 24, 1867. His surviving
children are Mrs. Sophia Parkinson, of Monongahela
City, Pa.; Miss Harriet Playford, of Brownsville;
Dr. Robert Playford, of Petroleum Centre, Pa.; Hon.
Winm. H. Playford, of Uniontown; and Mrs. Amanda
Kennedy, of Philadelphia, Pa.
William L. Lafferty, M.D., was born in Kent County,
Del., on the 18th day of May, 1807, and removed to
Allegheny County, Pa., when five years of age. He
received his literary education in Washington College,
I
I
438BROWNSVILLE BOROUGH AND TOWNSIIIP.
at Washington, Pa., and served some time as a civil
engineer on the Pennsylvania Canal, afterwards studying medicine in the office of F. J. Le Moyne, M.D.,
of Washington, Pa., completing his medical studies
in the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania, from which institution he received the degree of M.D. in March, 1836. He began the practice
of his profession in Brownsville one month after graduating, and remained continuouslv in business for
thirty years, returning to his native county in Delaware in 1866. The doctor soon acquired an extensive
practice, and retained it during the whole time of his
residence in Brownsville, in addition to being the
owner of the largest drug-store in the place nearly
the whole of that time. He was industrious and enterprising in business, took an active part in educational affairs, being an early and sturdy supporter of
the public school system; was one of the originators
and principal stockholders of the Brownsville Gas
Company, and interested in all that pertained to the
sanitary and general welfare of the community. In
politics he was an Old-Line Whig, afterwards a Republican, and at one time a candidate for Congress in
the latter party. He was a prominent Freemason,
and a zealous member of the Protestant Episcopal
Church. He still resides in Delaware, where he has
been engaged in fruit-growing since 1866, though still
from force of long habit giving part of his time to
the practice of the profession to which the best part
of his life has been devoted. Iii a recent letter he
say3, "I am now an old man, but still visit the sick
when requested so to do, having never learned to refuse assistance to a suffering fellow-being."
Isaac Jackson, M.D., was born in Menallen township, Fayette Co., on the 13th day of March, 1821.
He i;as educated'at Madison College, Uniontown;
studied medicine under the direction of Dr. Smith
Fuller, of Uniontown, attended lectures in Jefferson
Medical College, at Philadelphia, receiving the degree
of M.D. from that institution in March, 1847, and
located in Brownsville the same year, continuing in
active practice up to the present time. He has also
been engaged for several years in the drug business,
having been at different times a member of the drug
firmns of W. F. Simpson  Co., Jackson  Armstrong,
and J. Jackson. He held for several years the office
of examining surgeon for pensions under the United
States government. In politics he has always been a
Denlocrat, taking an active part in the affairs of that
party, and was once a candidate for the State Legislature. He is a member of the order of Freemasons,
also a member of the Presbyterian Church and of the
Fayette County Medical Society. He has been twice
married. One of his sons, Duncan C. Jackson, Esq.,
is a member of the Allegheny County bar; another
son, Dr. John Jackson, is practicing medicine in West
Virginia.
Benjamin Shoemaker, M.D., was born Aug. 9, 1827,
in the city of Philadelphia, and educated at Shade
Gap Academy, Huntingdon Co., Pa. Having qualified himself to practice dentistry, he came to Brownsville aiid opened an office for that business in 1856;
afterwards studying medicine, he received the degree
of M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1869,
since which he has been engaged jointly in the two
professions. He has been a United States examining
surgeon for pensions for twelve years last past, has
been a school director and member of the Town Council
for the last six years, is a Freemason, a member of
the Presbyterian Church, and a Republican in politics; he is a member of the Fayette County Medical
Society, and of the American Medical Association.
Samuel B. P. Knox, A.M., M.D., son of the late
David S. Knox, Esq., for many years cashier of the
Monongahela Bank of Brownsville, was born in
Brownsville, Feb. 11, 1839, and educated in Allegheny
College, at Meadville, Pa., from which institution he
graduated in June, 1860. He attended first course of
medical lectures in the Medical Department of the
University of Pennsylvania during the winter of
1861-62, and while attending second course, in 186263, was, in January of the latter year, commissioned
and mustered into the United States service as assistant surgeon of Forty-ninth Regiment Pennsylvania
Volunteers. In January, 1865, he was promoted to be
surgeon -of the same regiment, in which capacity he
served until the end of the war, after which he returned to the University of Pennsylvania, receiving
the degree of M.D. in March, 1866. He began the
practice of his profession in Brownsville a few months
after graduating, remaining in business here until
1875, when he removed to Santa Barbara, Cal.,
where he now resides. In 1869 he took an effective
part in the reorganization of the Fayette County
Medical Society, and was an active member of the
society during the remainder of the time he resided
here. Before leaving this State he became a member
of the State Medical Society and of the American
Medical Association. He is a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church.
Dr. N. W. Truxall was born in Greensburg, Westmoreland Co., Pa., in 1822. He received an academic
education at the Westmoreland Academy, learned the
printing business in the office of the Westmoreland
Republican, and during his apprenticeship studied the
classics under the tuition of the professors in the
academy.  He commenced the study of law, but
abandoned it and began the study of medicine in
1845. He commenced practice in Pittsburgh in 1848,
and since that time has practiced his profession in
Masontown, Millsboro', and California, Pa., and since
1870 in Brownsville. He went into the army in 1861,
and served three years as an officer of the line. He
has acquired some reputation as a literary writer, and
is now preparing an extensive work, entitled "An
Epic on the Battles of America."
C. C. Reichard, M.D., was born Nov. 6, 1844, in
Maryland. He studied medicine and received the
I
439HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
degree of M.D. from Chicago Medical College in the
spring of 1870. He practiced medicine in Mitchellville, Iowa, and Monongahela City, Pa., and came to
Brownsville in 1875, where he has since been engaged
in the practice of his profession. He is a Freemason
and a Republican.
Dr. Oliver P. Brashear was born in Redstone
township, Fayette Co., educated at Dunlap's Creek
Academy, attended medical lectures in the University
of Pennsylvania, and began practice at East Liberty,
Pa., in 1864. He served one year, part of 1874-75,
as physician to Pittsburgh City Almshouse, and came
to Brownsville in 1876, where he has since been engaged in practice.
U. L. Clemmer, M.D., was born in Allegheny
County, Md., Nov. 16, 1816. He commenced the
study of medicine with Dr. John J. Steele, at New
Geneva, Fayette Co., in 1832, and graduated at
the Reformed Medical College, at New York, in 1846,
having practiced medicine in Monongalia County,
W. Va., for four years previously. He removed to
Smithfield, Fayette Co., where he remained eighteen  years, and then removed to Brownsville in
1859, where he has since remained. During the late
war he was employed as assistant surgeon in the hospital at Parkersburg, W. Va.
The establishment of a medical school at Brownsville in 1831 was announced in the Washington Exanminer and other newspapers in August of that year
by the following advertisement:
"RIEFOR-MED MEDICAL COLLEGE.
"Established in Brownsville, Fayette Co., Pa., and will go
into full operation on the 1st of Novemnber next. This Medical Society is to be under the care of the Reformed Society of
the United States, and to be conducted by the Vice-President
and Secretary of that body. The plan of Medical instruction
will be the saimie as adopted in the Botanical Schools of New
York and Worthington, embracing all the branches taught in
the Medical Schools, as well as the Reformed or Botanical
System. Nine students have already entered and conimmenced
their studies, and several others aie daily expected. A Dispensary, Infirmary, Botanical Garden, Library, and Medical Museum will be attached to the College during the ensuing summer.
Terms, $150, in advance, and $10 as a graduation fee.
"J. J. STEELE,
"President of Worthington College, Ohio."
Nothing beyond this concerning the operations of
the "Reformed Medical College of Brownsville" has
been ascertained.
BROWNSVILLE  SCHOOLS.
On the spot which is now occupied by the rectory
of Christ Church there stood, three-fourths of a century ago, a small frame building, erected by subscription as early as 1805 (and perhaps a year or two
earlier), which was the first house built especially for
school purposes in Brownsville, though schools of a
few pupils had previously been taught in private
dwellings. The earliest teacher now recollected by
he oldest citizens of Brownsville was Mr. De Wolf,
whose successor was the Rev. Mr. Wheeler, a Baptist
minister. A Mr. Scott was also an early teacher.
In 1808-9, Robert Ayres taught a private school in
a house that stood where Joseph Sanforth now lives,
at the upper end of Church Street. As late as 1819
Ayres' name appears on the assessment roll as a
teacher.
A flourishing school was taught by James Johnston
for some years prior to 1819. Pupils from a distance
came to attend his school, and boarded in his family.
His school-room was in a house where Hayden W.
Robinson's drug-store now is. He was succeeded in
1819 by a Mr. McConnell, who continued the school
but a short tinle.
From about 1817 to 1820, Edward Byrne, an Irishman, taught a subscription school of a few scholars at
the upper end of Market Street, in the house now occupied'by Henry J. Rigden. Many small private
schools and subscription schools were taught in the
borough from that time until thle passage of the
public school act of 1834. Under the operation of
that law the court, at the January term of 1835, appointed James L. Bowman and Israel Miller school
directors of Brownsville. They made report to the
county treasurer August 13th in the same year. The
apportionment of State money to the borough for that
year was $83.07; amount from county tax, $166.14;
total, $249.21 for 1835.
The first school-house erected for the use of the
public schools esta'blished under the law of 1834 was
built in 1836. Its location was on Church Street,
near the present Union school building. Another
was built in 1838, on the Public Ground on Front
Street, opposite the residence of N. B. Bowman.
These were the only public school-houses of the
borough (though other rooms were rented from time
to time to accommodate the overflow of scholars) until
the erection of the present Union school building.
Among the teachers who had charge of the schools
in these old houses were Dr. Samuel Chalfant, Joshua
Gibbons, William Y. Roberts, and many others who
are yet well remembered.
On the 20th of May, 1842 (as appears in the borough records), the school directors made application
to the Council for the use of the Town Hall for a
school-room, which was granted at two dollars per
month. Dec. 28, 1843, Miss Crawford applied for the
use of the hall for the same purpose, and it was granted
on the same terms for the time of the vacation of the
public school.
April 26, 1850, the Council rented the Town Hall
to the school directors for the use of the High School
at four dollars per month. In the records covering
the succeeding ten years various entries are found,
showing that the hall was rented fromn tilne to time
for the use of the schools until the building of the
present school-house rendered it unnecessary.
The question of the erection of a new school-house
of sufficient capacity to accommodate all the schools
440BROWNSVILLE BOROUGH AND TOWNSHEIP.P
having been for some time informally discussed, the
following official action in the matter was taken by
the school directors at a meeting held on the 7th of
May, 1859, viz.:
" WHEREAS, We believe the time has now come in the history
of the common schools of Brownsville that an effort should be
made by the directors to lbuild a Union school-house, therefore
"Resolsed, That we, the said directors, proceed as soon as
time for proper deliberation and consultation will admit of to
adopt a proper plan of said house, and make a contract for
making the brick, and make such other arrangement for the
erection of said school-house as may be necessary, so as at least
to have the stone-work completed, ready to commence laying
the brick, early in the spring of 1860, so as to have the same
completed in time to hold the session of 1860-61 in the said
house. On motion, it was resolved that Mr. Joseph C. Graff be
requested to make an estimate of the cost of erecting said house,
say sixty by seventy feet, three stories, four rooms on a floor,
a ten-feet entry to run through the centre, so as to make the
school-room square."
Lots Nos. 115 and 180, on Redstone and Church
Streets, were purchased of J. B. McKennan  Brother.
This purchase embraced the present school grounds of
the borough, on which the Union school-house stands.
On the 6th of July, 1859, a contract was made with
Roger Chew for the manufacture of 350,000 bricks
for the new building, at $4.25 per thousand. Feb.
4, 1860, James Grist contracted to lay the brick in
the building at $3.00 per thousand. The carpenterwork was let to John Lilly (May 9, 1860), for $3285,
not to include the portico.
Joseph C. Graff was appointed by the directors (in
1859, and reappointed Jan. 14, 1860) to superintend
the stone-, brick-, and carpenter-work in the erection
of the new building. The brick-work was completed
Oct. 11, 1860. On the 8th of December following the
plaster-work was let by contract to Alvah Allen.
On the 23d of April, 1862, the school directors resolved that the new school-house should be occupied
by the schools on the first Monday in June following.
The work on the building had been delayed by the
breaking out of the war of the Rebellion, so that it was
not completed ready for occupancy until the spring of
that year. On the 20th of May the secretary was directed to advertise for sale the Church Street lot and
old school-houses.
The cost of the new building (the present Union
school-house) was about $10,000, and it was occupied
by the schools under G. L. Osborne, principal, at the
time designated in the above-mentioned resolution of
the directors.
The teachers appointed by the board in May, 1859
(while the schools were still taught in the old houses),
were William B. McCormick, principal; Julia Brashear, for school No. 1; Kate Allison, No. 2; Belle
Graham, No. 3; Sally Druit, No. 4; Mary Campbell,
No. 5; Mrs. Ellen E. Wishart, No. 6; the principal to
be in immediate charge of No. 7. On the 27th of April,
1861, Hamilton C. Homer was appointed principal.
He was succeeded by G. L. Osborne, appointed May
17, 1862; A. C. Nutt, Aug. 25, 1862; J. V. Gibbons,
May 23, 1863; 0. R. Griffith, May 31, 1864; G. L.
Osborne, June 17, 1865; R. H. Fulton, Sept. 28,
1868; J. S. Hughes, Sept. 30, 1869; J. V. Gibbons,
March 3, 1870; H. S. Phillips, Aug. 25, 1870; Van
B. Baker, June 13, 1871; H. S. Phillips, June 26,
1872; Thomas S. Axtell, Aug. 5, 1873; T. B. Johnston, July 1, 1876; George W. May, June, 1879; E.
W. Dolby, June 28, 1881.
In July, 1871, the board of directors took action to
the effect that " Whereas the colored school has for
some years past been held in the Town Hall, but that
the board has been notified that it would not again be
granted f6r that purpose, and whereas the Town
Council have voted to lease the School Board a site
on what is called the'Old Common' for a SchoolHouse for the colored school, it was therefore unanimously Resolved, that the School Board proceed
forthwith to erect a suitable school-house for the
colored school on said ground, and that the Board
meet to-morrow morning at eight o'clock to lay off
the building." The site selected was that on which
the old school-house stood on the Public Ground, and
on that site a brick house was erected which is yet
standing, and has been used for the colored school
until 1880.
The number of pupils reported enrolled in Brownsville in July, 1860, was three hundred and ninetyone. In July, 1870, the number reported enrolled
was four hundred and forty-seven. By the report for
the school year of 1880-81 the schools of Brownsville
were under charge of eight teachers, and attended by
two hundred and eighty-two scholars. Total receipts,
$3564.56; total expenditures, $2632.57; valuation
of school buildings, $15,000. The present (1881)
board of school directors is composed of Dr. Benjamin
Shoemaker (president), James Hutchinson, Jason
Baker, Samuel Steele, William B. McCormlick, and J.
K. Shupe.
Following is a list (approximately correct and complete) of the school directors elected in the borough
since the reorganization in 1850, viz.:
1850.. William T. Coplan.
Wesley Frost.
1851. William Coplan.
J. C. Price.
1852. James Martin.
Henry Barkman.
1853. John Wallace.
William L. Wilkinson.
1855. John Johnston.
Eli Abramis.
Thomas C. Furman.
1856. D. Knox.
William L Wilkinson.
1857. William M. Ledwith.
John B. Krepps.
1858. Joseph C. Price.
1859. Wesley Frost.
William L. Lafferty.
1860. William L. WVilkinson.
J. W. Jeffries.
1861. J. N. Snowdon.
William Parkhill.
1862. Wesley Frost.
W. L. Lafferty.
1863. Isaac Jackson.
William M. Ledwith.
1864. William Parkhill.
John R. Dutton.
John Johnston.
1866. William M. Ledwith.
Samuel H. Smith.
Isaac Jackson.
1870. James HI. Smith.
James A. Swearer.
1873. Samuel Stulz.
J. B. McKennon.
441HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
1875. A. F. Gabler.        1878. Erasmus Kaiser.
James A. Swearer.     1879. Dr. Benjamin ShoeWilliam H. Johnston.         maker.
A. J. Smith.               Jason Baker.
1876. E. D. Abrams.              James Hutchinson.
H. B. McCormick.      1880. James Hutchinson.
1877. Janles H. Blair.           Samuel Steele.
George Amson.         1881. William B. McCormick.
1878. Jacob Sawyer.              J. K. Shupe.
A young ladies' seminary or boarding-school was
commenced in 1866 by Mrs. Charlotte Smyth. It
was taught in the old stone house formerly occupied
by George Boyd. The period of its continuance was
about five years.
Within the limits of the township of Brownsville,
outside the borough, there is one school and schoolhouse, located on the National road. The list which
is given below is of persons who have been elected to
the office of school director for the borough and township of Brownsville from 1840 to 1849, inclusive, and
for the township of Brownsville since the last-named
year. It is not claimed for it, however, that it is
either comlplete or entirely correct, but it is as nearly
so as it is possible to make it from the obscure and
badly-kept records which are the only data of information. The list is as follows:
1840. Israel Miller.
G. W. Bowman.
Jesse H. Duncan.
John Johnson.
1841. Isaac Miller.
1842. Jonathan Binns.
J. L. Bowman (tie vote).
1843. Samuel J. Krepps.
Edward IIughes.
1844. Joseph C. Graff.
1845. James L. Bowman.
Edward L. Lines.
Edward Moorhouse.
William Sloan.
1846. C. P. Gummert.
James S. Miller.
1847. Joseph C. Price.
James N. Coulter.
1848. William L. Lafferty.
Jesse H. Duncan.
1849. William H. Johnston.
WVilliam Sloan.
1850. William F. Coplan.
H. J. Rigden.
R. T. Christy.
1851-52. William B. Coats.
1853. Williaam Sloan.
Martin Claybaugh.
1854. Madison Daniels.
Martin Claybaugh.
Solomon Bird.
Edward Todd.
Christopher Stitzel.
Jacob Redler.
1855. Isaac Lynn.
James Dunn.
1855. H. J. Rittenhour.
1856. Martin Claybaugh.
Christopher Stitzel.
1857. Samuel Smouse.
Solomon Burd.
1858. Daniel Brubaker.
John Daniels.
1859. Martin Claybaugh.
W. S. J. Hatfield.
Ewing Todd.
Solomon Burd.
N. A. Williams.
1860. Ewing Todd.
W. A. Williams.
1862. Solomon Burd.
Martin Claybaugh.
1863. W. S. J. Hatfield.
Ewing Todd.
1864. Martin Massey.
Frederick Stitzel.
1865. Charles Boucher.
Solomon Burd.
Martin Claybaugh.
1866. Charles Boucher.
Jacob Graser.
1867. Martin Massey.
Ewing Todd.
1868. Martin Claybaugh.
Solomon Burd.
1869. Jacob Graser.
Charles Boucher.
1870. Martin Claybaugh.
Solomon Burd.
1873. Ewing Todd.
Martin Massey.
1874. Martin Claybaugh.
1874. Solomon Burd.
1875. Jacob Graser.
Thomas Cline.
1876. Ewing Todd.
Charles Boucher.
1877. S. Steele.
0. K. Taylor.
George Camnpbell.
1878. William Stitzel.
1878. William Gaskell.
1879. Ewing Todd.
Charles Boucher.
Solomon Burd.
1880. Jacob Graser.
Solomon Burd.
1881. B. F. Durbin.
S. W. Claybaugh.
RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
METHODIST EPISCOPAL nIIURCH OF BROWNSVILLE.
No person at the present day knows the date of
the formation of the first Methodist class at Brownsville. A small society was in existence there (being
within the Redstone Circuit) at about the commencement of the present century, and a meeting-house
for its use was built in 1804, on land of Chads Chalfant, a local exhorter and citizen of Brownsville.
Afterwards (March 24, 1806) he conveyed the land
(one-half acre, comprising lots Nos. 7 and 8, on the
north side of Church Street) to Alexander McCracken,
Abraham Miley, Stephen Randolph, Richard Randolph, and Pratt Collins, "in trust for the use of the
Methodist Episcopal Church," the consideration
named being one hundred dollars.
The church erected on this land in 1804 was a
stone edifice, thirty-six by thirty feet in dimensions.
In 1821 the building was enlarged to double its
original size, making it thirty-six by sixty feet. This
remained as the society's house of worship for nearly
forty years, but finally, having become much dilapidated, and wholly inadequate to the wants of the
congregation, the erection of a new church building
was decided on, and the demolition of the old one
was commenced on Thursday, April 26, 1859. The
present brick church, which was then erected at a
cost of about seven thousand dollars, is forty-five by
eighty feet in size, has an audience-room twenty-two
feet high, with a basement containing a Sabbathschool room and two class-rooms. It was dedicated
June 16, 1861.
Among the preachers who have served this church
since 1826 have been the following: James G. Sansom, Thomas Jamison, Robert Boyd, John Waterman, Edward B. Bascom, Andrew B. Coleman,' Samuel Babcock, John J. Swazey, J. N. Mochabee, Hamilton Creigh, Thomas Baker, Christopher Hodgson,
Josiah Adams, A. J. Ensley, Moses P. Jamison, Joseph Homer, Sheridan Baker, Hiram Miller, Ezra B.
Hingsley, J. Minor, L. R. Beacon, James Deems, S.
Lauk, William Stewart, Josiah Mansell, R. B. Mansell, and S. T. Mitchell, the present pastor.
The present membership of the church is one hundred and fifty. In connection with it is a Sabbathschool of one hundred and fifty scholars, under James
R. Swearer, superintendent.
1 While Mr. Coleman was in cllarge (in 183:3) Brownsville becatme a
station.
442BROWNSVILLE BOROUGIH AND TOWNSHIP.
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF BROWNSVILLE.
In the minutes of the Redstone Presbytery, under
date Oct. 15, 1811, is the earliest mention which has
been found of Presbyterian wvorship at Brownsville.
At that time the Rev. Boyd Mercer, of the Presbytery
of Ohio, applied for permnission to preach to the people at Uniontown and Brownsville. On the next day,
October 16th, the Presbytery declined to sanction the
existing engagements between the Rev. Boyd Mercer
and the people of Uniontown and Brownsville, because not made agreeably to the regulations of the
Presbytery.
On the 20th of April, 1813, the Rev. William Johnston, a licentiate under the care of the Presbytery of
Ohio, applied to the Redstone Presbytery for admission. He was admitted on the 21st, and on the same
day received a call from the congregation of Brownsville and Dunlap's Creek. On the 20th of October
in the same year he was installed as pastor over the
united congregations. In reference to his assumption
of the charge, the Rev. Samuel Wilson says,1 "The
next pastor was the Rev. William Johnston, whose
charge embraced also (besides Dunlap's Creek Church)
the Presbyterian Church of Brownsville. He was of
portly presence, an able preacher and defender of the
faith; as a friend and companion, highly esteemed for
intelligence and urbanity. His pastorate continued
(at Duinlap's Creek) till Dec. 3, 1839,2 and at Brownsville and Little Redstone till his death, Dec. 31, 1841."
His successor was the Rev. Thomas Mather, whose
pastorate continued till 1848. He was succeeded by
the Rev. Robert M. Wallace, who remained until
1860, and was followed in 1864 by the Rev. Joseph
H. Stevenson as pastor of the churches at Brownsville and Little Redstone.  On the 24th of April,
1866, Mr. Stevenson presented to the Presbytery a request from those two churches to be recognized as
separate and distinct organizations. The Presbytery
acceded to the request, and constituted the elders residing in the bounds of Brownsville, together with
the pastor, as the session of the Brownsville Church.
The Rev. J. H. Stevenson resigned in April, 1868,
after a four years' pastorate. The Brownsville Church
was then served for two or three years by the Rev. E.
P. Lewis as a stated supply. In April, 1874, the Rev.
W. W. McLane was called to this charge, and was
installed on the 13th of May following. He continued
as pastor until June, 1878, when he resigned. He was
succeeded by the Rev. A. S. Milholland, who came to
the pastorate Sept. 18, 1878. He remained till the
spring of 1880, since which time the church has been
without a regular pastor. The Rev. A. B. Fields is
now (1881) acting as stated supply for one year, commencing March 9, 1881.
I
Until after 1815 the Presbyterians of Brownsville
had no regular house of worship. On the 14th of
June in that year Joseph Thornton, John Steel, and
John Johnston, trustees of the Presbyterian congregation of Brownsville, purchased for two hundred dollars,
and five shillings' annual ground-rent, lot No. 3, on
Second Street, being sixty feet front on that street,
and one hundred and eighty feet deep to Market
Street. It was conveyed to them "in trust for the
use of the Presbyterian congregation of Brownsville,
for the purpose of erecting a meeting-house thereon,
for the benefit of the congregation aforesaid." Soon
afterwards there was built on the Second Street front
a brick edifice, which was used as a house of worship
until the present church was completed on the same
lot but fronting on Market Street.
On the 4th of May, 1822, William Steele, William
Forsyth, and Jesge H. Duncan, trustees of the Presbyterian congregation, purchased a lot northeast of
and adjoining the Episcopal Church lot for burial
purposes.
Of the elders, William Parkhill was the only one
living within the bounds of Brownsville Church at
the time of its separation from Little Redstone
Church, in April, 1866. A. J. Isler and Josiah Reed
were the next elders elected, Aug. 27, 1873. On the
13th of September, 1876, J. R. Patterson was elected
elder.
The church now (July, 1881) numbers one hundred
and twenty-one members.  A Sabbath-school connected with the church has an attendance of about
one hundred, including teachers, and is under the
superintendency of William Parkhill.
CHRIST CHURCH3 (PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL).
The district and country about Brownsville was
settled originally by ernigrants principally from
Maryland and Virginia, many of whom had been
reared in the principles and forms of the Episcopal
Church, and hence brought with them their predilections for the same. This is evident from the fact that
several log churches were built by the early settlers in
this section for the purpose of retaining the services
of the church among them, and transmitting the same
to their descendants. As these buildings, however,
were never occupied except by itinerating clergymen,
and rarely at that, the interests of the people gradually declined, the buildings decayed, and the families
whose preference had once been given to the Protestant Episcopal Church sought elsewhere for the
word of life.
One of these early churches was situated, about
five miles east of Brownsville, on the land formerly of
a man by the name of Clark. The grounds around this
building contained about an acre, and they still belong
to the church. The building is, however, in a dilapi3 This history of the church down to 1852 is from a sketch by thle
Rev. Samuel Cowell. The latter part is furlished by the Rev. S. D.
Day.
In a centennial address, delivered Sept. 17, 1874.
2 Brownsville and Little Redstone beinlg at that time separated from
the Dunllap's Creek Church.
443HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
dated condition, and the families who once worshiped
there either removed or are scattered, so that scarcely
a vestige of the congregation remains. A second log
church was erected twelve miles west of Brownsville,
on the main road leading to Washington. The lot,
containing about an acre, was given originally by a
Col. Crooks, and belonged to the church as late as
1848. The building, like the former, has nearly gone
to decay, and the families who once worshiped in it
have either removed or lost their attachment to the
church.
Another church was built at Carmichaeltown,
twelve miles south of Brownsville. The grounds,
however, have been taken possession of and held for
many years by the county (probably with the consent
of the owners) and an academy built thereon. The
building was erected mnainly by Col. Ricard and
Charles Swan. These individuals have long since
died, and their families have become diverted to other
forms of worship. A fourth church building of the
same material as the others was erected about halfway between Uniontown and Brownsville, on the
farm of Robert Jackson. The old building was removed, however, a few years since, and a small
though comfortable brick church erected in its place.
This church, known by the name of Grace Church,
in Menallen township, has long been recognized by
the convention as a missionary station, and services
have been held in it with considerable regularity by
clergymen officiating at Brownsville and Uniontown.
About eight miles north of Brownsville, on the
road to Pittsburgh, there was erected still another log
building, known by the name of " St. Peter's Church,
Pike Run." At the first settlement of this neighborhlood there were here many Episcopalians from Ireland, and among them several families by the name
of West, Gregg, and Hopkins. Their descendants
lhave manifested, however, in later years but feeble
interest in the church of their fathers. Considerable
exertions were made by the Rev. L. N. Freeman,
formerly rector of Christ Church, Brownsville, in behalf of the station. The building was repaired and
religious services frequently held, but without much
permanent utility, as there seemed to be a lack of cooperation on the part of the people. The Rt. Rev.
Bishop Onderdonk made the first visit to this station
in 1838, confirming the following persons: Mrs.
Murdy, Mrs. Nixon, and Miss Mary West.  The
failure in the establishment of the church at these
several stations is mainly to be attributed to the want
of missionary services among them. Years would
pass during which no Episcopal services were held
and no minister appeared to call the people together.
Could the ground have been occupied by some regular itinerating missionary no doubt influential parishes might have been formed.
With regard to the church in Brownsville the case
appears to have been rather more favorable. Services
were held from time to time with more frequency, and
the temporal interests of the church especially sustained with more ability and zeal, though many iintoward circunlstances have in time past retarded materially the progress of the church. Among these the
resemblances of her f6rms and ceremonies to those
of the Church of England excited great prejudice
against her in Revolutionary times, a prejudice which
the lapse of years could not wholly eradicate.
The first episcopally ordained clergyman we have
any notice of as officiating in what is now Brownsville was a certain Mr. Allison, who, in 1759, came as
chaplain to the soldiers under the command of Capt.
James Burd, who came to erect the fort of that name.
Brownsville was at that period but a frontier post,
and known by the name of "Redstone Old Fort."
Of the itinerating ministers who officiated in Brownsville and parts adjacent prior to any important movement in' the parish were the Rev. Mr. Mitchell, the
Rev. Robert Davis, the Rev. Robert Ayres, and
the Rev. Jackson Kemper, afterwards Bishop of Indiana. The first of these officiated in Brownsville in
the year 1785. Little else is known respecting him.
The second officiated in this place immediately preceding and after the commencement of the present
century, viz., from 1795 to 1805. He was an Irishman
by birth, and originally a Methodist minister by profession. His ministry, however, was far from being
useful or profitable to the people.  So inconsistent
was his life and conduct with the words which fell
from his lips that religion was thrown into reproach
and the principles of the church into abandonment.
The next was as unworthy of the sacre(d ministry
as his predecessor. Whimsical in character and vacillating in principle, he proved himself untrue to
the church, as the subsequent and final preference
which he gave for the delusions of Swedenborg will
abundantly testify. This gentleman was ordained by
Bishop White for Brownsville, and officiated about
the same time with Mr. Davis; but so feeble was his
character, and so blameworthy were his principles,
that the people would not attend on his ministry.
Jackson Kemper officiated in the parish of Brownsville in the fall of 1811. He was the first missionary
of the Advancement Society to this part of the country, having voluntarily assumed the responsibility of
the office. His stay in Brownsville was short, as
there were several other places to be visited in his
itineracy; but although short, it was no doubt fruitful of good. He made a subsequent visit in the
year 1814, baptizing sundry individuals, as follows:
William Hogg, Ann Bowman, Harriet E. Bowman,
Louisa Bowman, Matilda Bowman, William Bowman,
Goodloe H. Bowman, and Nelson B. Bowman.
The above-named gentlemen, acting as itinerant
missionaries, preceded any attempt towards the organization of the parish or the erection of a church
edifice. A successful effort, however, had been made
as early as 1796 towards the securing of a church lot
in Brownsville. Many of the original settlers of
444BROWNSVILLE -BOROUGH AND TOWNSHIP.
Brownsville, as we have intimated, were Episcopalians. But in the laying out of the town they neglected to set apart a suitable spot for a church edifice and grounds. This negligence was, however,
abundantly compensated by the judgment and foresigllt of three gentlemen, who volunteered to purchase
a lot of. ground at their own expense for the benefit
of the church. The lot, being the eligible and beautiful'site upon which the present edifice now stands,
was bought from Samuel Jackson for the sum of
twenty pounds. A copy of the receipt for the purchase-money is herewith given:
"BROWNSVILLE, the 27th August, 1796.
"Then received of Charles Wheeler the sum of
twenty pounds, seven shillings, and sixpence, being
in full of the consideration money for a certain lot of
ground sold for the use of the Protestant Episcopal
Church by me.
"SAMUTEL JACKSON."
This receipt for the purchase-money was considered
by the purchasers as a sufficient bill of sale. The
three purchasers of the ground were Dr. Charles
Wheeler, William Hogg, and Jacob Bowman. Dr.
Wheeler was an Englishman and a surgeon by profession, who, after serving in Dunmore's war, settled
on a farm about four miles west of Brownsville. He
was warmly attached to the church, and when disposing of his worldly effects bequeathed to the same
one hundred pounds, to be paid at the death of his
wife. Mrs. Wheeler lived many years after her husband's death, having reached the advanced age of
ninety-four years, a fact which seems t*o have been
much to the advantage of the church, inasmuch as
his landed estate had greatly increased in value during
her life, so that the church at the time of her death
received as a residuary legatee about six hundred
dollars.
William Hogg was also an Englishman by birth,
and warmly attached to the church of his fathers.
During his residence in Brownsville he acquired a
large property, but as he contributed largely to the
church during his lifetime, and especially towards the
erection of the edifice and the subsequent improvement of it, and also towards the preached gospel, he
left no final bequest to the parish.  His nephew,
hlowever, George Hogg, formerly a communicant of
Christ Church, subsequently gave out of his uncle's
estate five hundred dollars towards the erection of the
parsonage, additional to five hundred dollars of his
own. Williaml Hogg died in 1840, and was buried in
the churchyard.
Jacob Bowman was born in the State of Maryland,
and was raised a menmber of the Lutheran Church.
Upon his settlement in Brownsville, however, he gave
his preferences to the Episcopal Church, and connected himself therewith. For thirty years he was
the senior warden, and in this, his official capacity,
his conduct was ever marked by an undeviating at29
tachment to the church. and also uniform and consistent piety. He accumulated a large estate during
his life, out of which he was very liberal in the bestowal of his charities. Both the church edifice and
the parsonage received a very liberal subscription at
his hands. Moreover, at his death he bequeathed two
thousand dollars to the parish, appropriating the same
towards the support of public worship. Long will
the church have occasion to remember with gratitude
this its munificent patron. He died in 1847, and lies
buried in the churchyard.
Such and so praiseworthy were these three genltlemen, who originally purchased the church property,
and who, from their individual ability no less than
from their attachment to the church, were mainly
instrumental, under the wise providence of God, in
its preservation in early years, mainly instrumental
in the transmission of the same, a precious heritage
to posterity.
In the year 1814 the Rev. Mr. Clay succeeded Mr.
Kemper as missionary of the Advancement Society in
Western Pennsylvania. He arrived in Brownsville
the 20th of July, and shortly after urged the people
to build a church upon the lot of ground which already they had in possession. They received the suggestion most favorably, and on the 27th met to arrange
measures to accomplish the object, At this meeting
seven trustees were appointed, viz.: Jacob Bowman,
Charles Wheeler, William  Hogg, Michael Sowers,
Robert Clarke, John Nin, and George Hogg. The
sum of $500 was subscribed upon the spot, and a committee of two appointed for the purpose of procuring
the names of others. Before Mr. Clay left Brownsville the sum of twelve hundred dollars had been subscribed, and the promise given on the part of some to
add fifty per cent. to their subscriptions should it be
necessary.
Among the most active were the three trustees first
named, still it is to the Rev. Dr. Clay, of Gloria
Dei Church, Philadelphia, that we are to accord the
principal merit. It was through his missionary zeal
and pious exertions that dormant energies were
aroused into action among the people, and a right
spirit awakened in behalf of the church. Of course
there was material in the parish on which to act, but
years had already passed and no progress had been
made, and time was fast obliterating the sympathies
of former years. It was through his missionary exertions, therefore, that the right spirit was awakened,among the people, as the subsequent movements of
the parish abundantly testify.
On the 26th of August, 1814, the first vestry was
duly organized, the following gentlemen consenting
to act as its constituent members: Jacob Bowman,
William Hogg, Robert Clarke, Charles Wheeler, John
Nin, Basil Brashear, Basil Brown, Charles Ford,
Geoge Hogg, Henry Stump, Thomas Brown, and
Henry B. Goe. At a subsequent meeting of the vestry,
held upon the 15th of April, 1815, William Hogg and
445IIISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Robert Clarke were appointed a committee to make
an estimate as to the expense of a church building,
and to give out proposals for the erection of the same.
They did so, both publishing their advertisement in
the Fayette and Greenze Spectator, then published at
Uniontown, and also posting it up in the public
places of the neighborhood. Proposals being handed
in, there was a meeting of the vestry upon the 6th of
June following, whereon a contract was duly made
with Isaac Linn for the erection of the church. This
contract was in substance as follows: The church was
to be built of stone, fifty-five feet long by thirtyeight feet wide. It was to have a substantial roof, but
no joiner-work in the interior. The cost of the same
to be $1700.
The work on the part of the buil('er was duly performed, and paid for by the vestry. But after the
walls were raised the condition of things appears to
have been at a stand for many years. No further
efforts appear to have been made towards the completion of the building, and no important movemlent was
undertaken by the church and people. Undoubtedly
this period of lethargy originated in the fact'that the
parish was destitute of the ministrations of a settled
clergyman.  Few  episcopally ordained clergymen
came at that time west of the mountains, unless it
was to some important parishes, or for the purpose of
itinerating for a while on missionary ground. And
with respect to those who might be termed " sons of
the soil," they were so few in number and so far between as to be altogether inadequate to meet the missionary demand. It is a matter of notice, indeed, that
between the erection of the church and the settlement of the first minister occasional visits were made
by certain clergymen, as is evident from the entries
of baptisms made upon the records of private families
and transferred to the church records. But beyond
these occasional visits on the part of the above clergymen, no opportunities were afforded the parish either
of enjoying the services of the church or being instructed in her principles.
During this period it appears that Samuel Jackson,
the original grantor of the land, died, and hence it
became necessary for the vestry to petition the court
at Uniontown, held on the first Monday in March,
1819, to authorize the executors of Samuel Jackson to
make a deed in conformity with the contract made in
his lifetime. The evidence of the existing contract
being considered sufficient by the court, the executors
were accordingly authorized to comply with the petition of the vestry, and on the 22d day of May, 1820,
a deed in proper form was executed and delivered to
the vestry. On the 20th of March, 1821, an arrangement was made between the vestry and Henry Barknlan for the completion of the church edifice. Accordingly the building was finished, and was used
for public services immediately upon its completion.
Upon the 24th of September, 1822, the vestry invited the Rev. Mr. Phiffer, of Baltimore, to become
their niinister. The terms of the invitation were,
however, somewhat conditional, the parish proposing
to occupy his services for one-half of the time, in the
expectation that the neighboring stations at Connellsville and Union would employ the remainder. But
it appears the Rev. Mr. Phiffer declined the invitation, recommending, however, the Rev. John Bausman, his brother-in-law, to supply his place. The
vestry accordingly invited the Rev. Mr. Bausman
upon the same terms as the other. He accepted the
invitation, and commenced his labors in the parish
upon the 22d of March, 1823. As the church edifice
was not completed at this time, divine services were
held at the Presbyterian meeting-house of the place.
By the 30th of November of the same year the building was conlpleted and ready to be opened. It was
occupied from that day forth by the Rev. Mr. Bausman for the public worship of the congregation. But
although it was thus used for the first time, it was not
duly consecrated until the 22d of June, 1825. It was
then that the Right Rev. Bishop White, the first
bishop of the diocese, made his first visit to the West,
and several persons were confirmed according to the
rites and institutions of the church, and the church
building consecrated to the worship and service of
Almighty God.
The Rev. Mr. Bausman continued his labors in the
parish for the space of about four years, then handing
in his resignation, which was accepted upon the 8th
of March, 1827. The church was greatly strengthened by his faithful and efficient ministry. Upon the
8th of March, 1827, the same day of Mr. Bausman's
resignation,'the Rev. Mr. Phiffer was elected in his
stead. His resignation was accepted by the vestry
on the 1st of August, 1829. The parish continued
without a rector until the following spring, when,
upon the 4th of April, 1830, the Rev. L. N. Freeman
was duly elected rector. He commenced his labors
in July of the same year, and labored with diligence
in his vocation and ministry. During the rectorship
of Mr. Freeman (April 19, 1841) it was resolved by
the vestry to take measures for the erection of a suitable parsonage. Contract was made with John Johnston and Thomas Butcher for the sum of $2200. At
the same time a part of the land belonging to the
church was exchanged for a certain piece of land belonging to George Hogg, in order that the lot might
have a rectangular shape. Upon it the parsonage
now stands.
On the 20th of September, 1841, the Rev. L. N.
Freeman tendered his resignation to the vestry, which
was accepted. Upon the 11th of December of the same
year the Rev. Enos Woodward was invited to become
the rector of the church. The invitation was accepted,
and he shortly after entered upon his duties. During
his rectorship, as appears from the minutes of the
vestry, the church was, for the first time, regularly
incorporated by the name and style of " The Rector,
Church Wardens, and Vestrymen of Christ Church,
446BROWNSVILLE BOROUGII' AND TOWNSHIP.
447
of Brownsville." The Rev. Mr. Woodward remained
in the parish for about three years. He tendered his
resignation March 24, 1845, which was accepted by
the vestry. Upon the 6th of June following, the Rev.
Samuel Cowell took charge of the parish.
The church was thoroughly repaired during the
months of June and July, 1845, through the exertions chiefly of the ladies of the parish. About the
same time a vestry-rooin was also erected on the rear of
the church. At this time the congregation numbered
forty-eight families. Adults, 125; children, 58; total,
183.
The Rev. Samuel Cowell, who was called to the
rectorship of the parish in June, 1845, and took
charge in the following July, resigned on the 6th of
October, 1852, his resignation taking effect the 1st
of November of the same year. During the years
1851 and 1852 an effort was made to build a house
for the sexton, which effort was successful, the
Messrs. J. L. Bowman and William Dean being the
committee to raise funds, and the Messrs. G. H. and
N. B. Bowman being the building committee. The
house cost about twelve hundred dollars, which
amount was in part raised by the ladies of the parish,
and the balance by subscription.
In November, 1853, the Rev. J. A. Jerome was
called to the rectorship of the parish, which call,
after some delay, was declined. In February, 1853,
the Rev. James Lee Maxwell was called, which call
was also declined.
In April, 1853, the Rev. Richard Temple was invited to be rector of the parish.  The call was accepted, Mr. Temple taking charge April 29, 1853.
On July 12, 1854, Mr. Temple offered his resignation
on account of ill health. The resignation was accepted by the vestry, and the parish was again declared vacant. On the 9th of December of the same
year a unanimous call was extended to the Rev.
James J. Page of Virginia. After some deliberation
Mr. Page accepted the call, and took charge the 19th
of January, 1855.
The winter of 1855 and 1856 was a very cold one, l
and the church bLdilding then occupied being very:
open, many of the people suffered severely from the  
cold. It seemed impossible to get the church warmn  
enough for comfort. Much complaint was made, and  t
the parish was greatly disturbed by the matter. One
evening during the winter two ladies of the congregation, Mrs. Adam Jacobs and Mrs. Mary M. Gummert, were visiting the family of Mr. James L. Bow- I
man. The subject of a new church was introduced.
Mrs. Jacobs asked Mr. Bowman how much he would  t
give towards it?  He replied immediately three  1
thousand dollars for myself and one thousand dollars  r
for Mrs. Bowman. The two ladies above mentioned s
procured a subscription paper at once and secured  a
five thousand dollars in a few hours, and in a few  t
days had upon their paper about eight thousand  a
dollars.                                            J
At a meeting of the vestry held on April 11, 1856,
the Messrs. N. B. Bowman, G. H. Bowman, and John
Johnston were appointed a building committee to act
as an executive body for the vestry in the matter of
the new church, and Mr. J. L. Bowman was appointed
treasurer. The contract for the newv building was
awarded to Messrs. William H. Johnston and Jonathan Wilson. The church as it now stands cost
about twenty thousand dollars.  It was consecrated
by the Rt. Rev. Alonzo Potter, D.D., LL.D.
The Rev. Mr. Page resigned the charge of the
parish in the winter of 1861 and 1862, after a rectorship of six years.
On May 19, 1862, a unanimous call was by the vestry
extended to the Rev. J. F. Ohl, of New Castle, Pa.,
who accepted the call and took charge of the parisl
Jan. 1, 1863. On Feb. 5, 1866, Mr. Ohl tendered
his resignation, to take effect the second Sunday in
April of same year. The resignation was accepted,
and at the specified time the parish was again vacant
after a rectorship of over three years.
On the 3d day of May, 1866, a call was extended
by the vestry to the Rev. S. E. Arnold, who declined
the invitation. Then the Rev. O. Permchief was
called, and also declined.
In June of the same year the Rev. H. H. Loring,
of Olean, N. Y., was called to the rectorship of the
parish, which call was accepted, the rector taking
charge shortly after.
On the 29th day of January, 1872, Mr. Loring tendered his resignation to the vestry, to take effect
at Easter of same year, viz., March 31st. The vestry
accepted the resignation, to take effect at the time
specified, and on the 1st day of April of the same
year the parish was again declared vacant after a
rectorship of nearly six years.
On the 14th of May of the same year the vestry
tendered to the Rev. J. F. Ohl an invitation to again
become their rector. The call was declined. In June
of the same year a call was extended to the Rev. S.
D. Day, of Rockford, Ill. The call was declined at
this time. It was renewed in September of the same
year, and then accepted, the rector taking charge
Jan. 16, 1873, and is now in charge. At the present
time there is a chapel in the course of erection. It is
to be built of stone with open timbered roof. The
walls are completed, and the contract for the woodwork has been awarded to. Messrs. Gibbons, Wood 
Cromlow. The cost of building when completed will
be about three thousand dollars.
The statistics of the parish, according to the rector's report, are as follows for the year ending June
1, 1881: Families, 50; present number of confirmed
nembers, 105; contributions for parish purposes,;2783.06; for diocesani work, $261.50; for missions
and other charitable work outside the diocese, $400;
total, $3444.56. The present members of the vestry
ire Messrs. Nelson Blair Bowman, John Wallace,
John Johnson, James Witherington Jeffries, JohnSETTLEMENT OF THE COUNTY.
also that such roads should be made and houses built
as would facilitate the communication from the head
of navigation on the Potomac River across the inountains to some point on the Monongahela. [This route
would, almost of necessity, cross the territory of the
present county of Fayette.] Aiid as no attempt at
establishing settlements could safely be made without
some previous arrangements with the Indians, the
company petitioned the government of Virginia to
invite them to a treaty. As a preliminary to other
proceedings, the company also sent out Mr. Christopher Gist, with instructions to explore the country,
examine the quality of the lands, keep a journal of
his adventures, draw as accurate a plan of the country
as his observations would permit, and report the same
to the board."
Gist performed his journey of exploration for the
company in the summer and fall of the year 1750. In
this trip he ascended the Juniata River, crossed the
mountain, and went down the Kiskiminetas to the
Allegheny, crossed that river, and proceeded down
the Ohio to the Great Falls at Louisville, Ky. On
this journey lie did not enter the Monongahela Valley, but in November of the next year (1751) he traversed this region, coming up from Wills' Creek,
crossing the Youghiogheny, descending the valley of
that stream and the IMonongahela, and passing down
on the south and east side of the Ohio to the Great Kanawha, making a thorough inspection of the country,
in which the principal part of the company's lands
were to be located, and spending the whole of the
winter of 1751-52 on the trip, and returning east by
a more southern route.
In 1752 a treaty council (invited by the government
of Virginia at the request of the Ohio Company, as
before alluded to) was held with the Six Nations at
Logstown, on the Ohio, a few miles below the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela; the object
being to obtain the consent of the Indians to the
locating of white settlements on the lands which the
company should select,-the Six Nations being recognized as the aboriginal owners of this region, and the
company ignoring all proprietorship by Penn in the
lands west of the Laurel Hill range.
At this treaty there were present on the part of
Virginia three commissioners, viz.: Col. Joshua Fry,
Lunsford Lomax, and James Patton. and the company was represented by its agent, Christopher Gist.
Every possible effort had been made by the French
Governor of Canada to excite the hostility of the Six
Nations towards the objects of the company, and
the same had also been done by the Pennsylvania
traders, who were alarmed at the prospect of compeout as an agent to England for this pulpose. At times it seemed as if
Ihis efforts would be successful, but obstacles interposed, years of delay
succeeded, and firnally the breaking out of the Revolution caused all
hopes of resuscitatinug the Ohlio Conlpany to be abandoned, aiind closed ite
existenlce.
tition in their lucrative trade with the natives. These
efforts had had some effect in creating dissatisfaction
and distrust among the savages, but this feeling was
to a great extent removed by the arguments and persuasions of the commissioners and the company's
agent, and the treaty resulted in a rather reluctant
promise from the chiefs of the Six Nations not to
molest any settlements which might be made under
the auspices of the company in the region southeast
of the Ohio and west of Laurel Hill.
Immediately after the conclusion of the treaty at
Logstown, Mr. Gist was appointed surveyor for the
Ohio Company, and was instructed to lay off a town
and fort at Chartiers Creek, " a little below the present
site of Pittsburgh, on the east side of the Ohio." The
sum of ~400 was set apart by the company for this
purpose. For some cause which is not clear the site
was not located according to these instructions, but
in the forks of the Allegheny and Monongahela
Rivers, and there in February, 1754, Capt. Trent with
his company of men commenced the erection of a fort
for the Ohio Company, which fort was captured by
the French in the following April, and became the
famed Fort du Quesne, as has already been mentioned.
The grant of lands to the Ohio Company, even
vaguely described as those lands were, could not be said
to embrace any of the territory which is now Fayette
County; but the company assumed the right to make
their own interpretation, and as they ignored all the
rights of the Penns in this region, and, moreover, as
they hlad no doubt that it was wholly to the westward
of the western limits of Pennsylvania, they professed
to regard this territory as within their scope, and
made grants from it to various persons on condition
of settlement. These grants from the company gave
to those who received them no title (except the claim
conferred by actual occupation, temporary as it
proved), but they had the effect to bring immigrants
here, and to locate upon the lands of this county the
first settlements which were made in Pennsylvania
west of the mountains.
Early in the period of their brief operations the
company made propositions to the East Pennsylvania
Dutch people to come here and settle, and this offer
was accepted to the amount of fifty thousand acres,
to be taken by about two hundred families, on the
condition that they be exempted from paying taxes
to support English religious worship, which very few
of them could understand and none wished to attend.
The company were willing enough to accede to this,
but it required the sanction of government, to obtain
lwhich was a slow process, and before it could be accomplished the proposed settlers became indifferent or
averse to the project, which thus finally fell through
f and was abandoned.
The first person who actually located a settlement
on lands presumed to be of the Ohio Company was
55HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Nelson Snowdon, James Lowrv Bowman, William
Chatland, Charles Leida Snowden, Samuel Page
Knox; Church Wardens, Messrs. N. B. Bowman,
John Wallace. The building committee on the chapel
are Messrs. N. B. Bowman, J. W. Jeffries, J. L.
Bowman, and the rector, Mr. C. L. Snowdon, being
treasurer of the chapel fund.
The parish has suffered much during the past eight
years by removals, and especially by death. Two of
the most valuable and liberal supporters of the church
hlave gone to rest,-Mr. and Mrs. G. H. Bowman.
These were untiring in their good work for the church,
and their places cannot be filled.
CATIIOLICITY IN BROWNSVILLE AND MISSIONS DEPENDENT
THERtEON.
The history of Catholicity in this mission prior to
the year 1800 is involved in obscurity. After this
date we find that the Rev. F. X. O'Brien had this
town as the centre of his mission, which comprised
the southwestern counties of the State, viz.: Greene,
Washington, Fayette, Allegheny, Westmoreland,
Beaver, Butler, Lawrence, Mercer, Armstrong, and
part of Somerset. In 1807 he fixed his residence at
Pittsburgh, visiting Brownsville occasionally until
his retirement in 1810. His successor, the Rev.
Charles B. Maguire, either by himself or his assistants, attended to the necessities of the few Catholics
here until his demise in 1834. One of his assistants,
the Rev. P. Rafferty, the present pastor of St. Francis
Xavier's, Philadelphia, built old St. Peter's, a neat
brick edifice, said at that time to be one of the best
churches in America. From  1833 until 1837 they
were visited only four times a year from Blairsville
by the Rev. J. A. Stillinger, the present pastor of that
place. In the baptismal registry (the first kept here)
we find that in July, 1837, the Rev. Michael Gallagher had charge of the district then comprising
the counties of Fayette, Greene, and Washington,
and part of Somerset and Allegheny Counties.
Old St. Peter's was destroyed by fire on the 25th of
March, 1842, when the Rev. Mr. Gallagher commenced building the present church, which was dedicated to the service of Almighty God on the 6th of
April, 1845.
In 1848, Mr. Gallagher retired from the mission,
and associated himself with the hermits of St. Augustine, at Philadelphia. From 1848 until May,
1851, there seems to have been no permanent pastor.
The names of Rev. Messrs. Reynolds, Kearney,
Kenny, and McGowen appear on the registry.
In 1851, Rev. Wm. Lambert was again appointed
to the charge of the eastern portion of the district,
viz.: Fayette County, eastern part of Greene and
Washington; the remainder of Greene and Washington being formed into a separate mission. Rev. John
Larkin succeeded Mr. Lambert until Aug. 14, A.D.
1855, when Rev. Peter'Malachy Garvey entered upon
the duties of this charge.
In January, 1856, Father Garvey drew up the following, which shows the state of the Catholics scattered over the mission:
"There are at present in the Brownsville district
190 souls which can be called a permanent population, and about 80 of a floating population. In the
Uniontown or mountain district the permanent population is eighty, with a floating or unsettled population of twenty-five.
"Number of families in the Brownsville district,
38; Uniontown district, 16; total, 54..
"Number of Easter commlunions in Brownsville,
108; in Uniontown, 42; total, 150."
The Right Rev. Dr. O'Connor, bishop of the diocese, made his visitation of this mission as follows at
Brownsville, Sept. 4, A.D. 1856, when twenty-seven
received the sacrament of confirmation, as will appear by the registry, and at Uniontown on the 5th,
when fifteen were confirmed. Total communions in
1856: permanent, 345; floating, 60; total, 405.
The following is found in the church records: "I
find at present date, 1859, in the county of Fayette
and that part of Washington and Greene attached to
the Brownsville mission, viz.: from Monongahela City
to Rice's Landing, a population of 430, of which 280,
I believe, are permanent or will remain at least a few
years, and 150 who are not likely to remain over a
few months. The latter may be found scattered along
to Youghiogheny from West Newton to Connellsville,
and at Belle Vernon and other places along the Monongahela."
The following pastors have been in charge from
1859 to the present time: Revs. F. Morgan, 1859;
Henry Haney, 1869; Henry McCue, 1870; P. Herman, 1874; Martin Ryan, 1877; Arthur Devlin, in
the same year; H. Connery, 1879; C. A. McDermott,
May, 1880; H. Connery, June, 1881.
Uniontown and its adjacent stations were formed
into a separate and independent district the 1st of
June, 1881. The present number of communicants
in the Brownsville mission is sixty.
BAPTIST CHURCH OF BROWNSVILLE.
A small Baptist society existed in Brownsville for
many years prior to 1842, but the precise date of its
formnation cannot be given. At that time the Rev.
Mr. Wood was their pastor, and their meetings for
worship were held in the basement of the Masonic
Hall building. On the 15th of April, in the year
named, George Hogg sold to Evan Evans, Morgan
Mason, and Tilson Fuller, trustees of the Baptist
Church, a lot of land on Church Street below the
Methodist Church lot, and on this land they shortly
afterwards built a brick building, 40 by 60 feet in size,
which became the society's house of worship.
The successors of the Rev. Mr. Wood in the pastoral office have been the Revs. William Barnes, Richard Austin, -, Hughes, and, William Barnes (second pastorate), who ceased his connection with this
418I BROWNSVILLE BOROUGH AND TOWNSHIP.
church in 1880. The congregation is now without a
pastor and feeble in numbers. The present membership is chiefly outside the borough of Brownsville.
BURIAL-GROUNDS.
On the hill adjoining the " public square" on Front
Street is Brownsville's oldest burial-place, but now,
nd for some years past, inclosed with the grounds of. W. Jeffries. Within the inclosure may be seen the
lead-stone which once marked the grave of Thomas
Brown, the founder of the town. Upon it is the fol]owing inscription, still legible: "Here lies the body
of Thomas Brown, who once was owner of this town.'Departed this life March, 1797, aged 59 years." There
is also a stone sacred to the memory of Basil King,
who died in 1805, and three others, which were respectively erected over the graves of John H. and
Archibald Washington and Edward B. Machen, all
of whom died in 1818. These three men (of whom
the latter was a native of South Carolina, and the
other two of Southampton, Va.) were members of a
party who came through from Baltimore, Md., having
with themn a gang of negro slaves, manacled and
chained together, and bound for Kentucky, which
they expected to reach by flat-boat from Brownsville,
down the Monongahela and Ohio.  Arriving at
Brownsville they were compelled to wait there for
some time for the means of transportation down the
river, and during the period of this delay the "jail
fever" broke out alnong the negroes, several of whom
died and were buried in the south part of the public
ground. The disease was communicated to the white
nlen; the two Washingtons took it, and both died on
the 10th of April in the year named. Machen was
also a victim, and died three days later, April 13th.
All three were interred in the old burial-ground, and
stones erected over their graves, as before mentioned.
These stones, as well as all others in this old ground,
have been removed from their places at the graves
which they once marked, and none are now left standing, though these and a number of others still remain
within the inclosure. Many years have passed since
any interments were made here, and, save the loose
stones which still remain, there is nothing seen upon
the spot to indicate that it was ever used as a burialplace.
Connected with the churchyards of the Episcopal
and Methodist Churches are grounds set apart many
years ago for burial purposes, and containing a great
number of graves. These were in general use as
places of interment until the opening of the cemetery outside the borough limits, about twenty years
ago. The Catholics have a cemetery connected with
the arounds of their church.
The "Redstone Cemetery," situated on the high
land on the south side of the Nation'al road, about
three-fourths of a mile southeastwardly from Brownsville, was laid out and established as a burial-ground
by an association formed in 1860, and composed of
William L. Lafferty, Rev. R. Wallace, William H.
Clarke, James Slocum, William M. Ledwith, William
Parkhill, Thomas C. Tiernan, John R. Dutton, David
Knox, and Capt. Adam Jacobs. They purchased the
cemetery tract (about nine acres) of Daniel Brubaker for $1600. The soil is underlaid, at a depth of
about two feet, with a bed of soft sandstone, and this,
in the case of each interment, is cut through to the
required size of the grave, thus forming a sort of
vault, which in making the burial is covered by a
flag-stone, of which a large supply is constantly kept
onl hand by the association.
The cemetery is located on a spot which was made
attractive by nature, and its beauty has been greatly
enhanced by the laying out, which was done in the
modern style of cemeteries, with winding paths and
graded carriage-ways, and all embellished by the
planting of ornamental trees, with an abundance of
evergreens. There have been many handsome and
expensive monuments and memorial stones erected
in this ground, and in regard to these and other particulars, few cemeteries can be found more beautiful
than this.
The cemetery association, formed in 1860, was not
chartered until Feb. 24, 1877. The first president
was Dr. William L. Lafferty; secretary and treasurer, William M. Ledwith. In 1865, Dr. Lafferty
was succeeded by John R. Dutton, the present president.
POST-OFFICE.
The Brownsville post-office was established Jan. 1,
1795. Following is the list of postmasters from its
establishment to the present time:
Jacob Bowman, Jan. 1, 1795.
Martin Tiernan, April 29, 1829.
Margaret Tiernan, Dec. 6, 1834.
William G. Roberts, Dec. 12, 1838.
William Sloan, July 10, 1841.
Henry J. Rigden, June 4, 1845.
William Sloan, May 11, 1849.
Isaac Bailey, May 18, 1853.
Samuel S. Snowdon, March 13, 1861.
Oliver P. Baldwin, March 7, 1865.
Henry Bulger, April 9, 1869.
John S. Wilgus, April 9, 1873.
J. Nelson Snowdon, Jan. 23, 1878.
EXTINGUISHMENT OF FIRES.
Brownsville has never had a fire department, nor
has there ever been in the borough any efficient organization furnished with adequate apparatus and
appliances for the extinguishment of fires, though at
least three of the old style hand fire-engines have
been purchased. The date of the. purchase of the
first of these has not been ascertained, for the reason
that no borough records can be found covering the

I
4-19I0HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
period from March, 1821, to August, 1840,1 as before
mentioned. That the borough was in possession of
an engine-house, and therefore, presumably, an engine, prior to the latter date, is shown by the fact
that at that time a bill was, presented aid allowed by
the board " for painting the Engine-House."
On the 12th of October, 1842, the petition of about
fifty citizens was presented " praying the Council to
provide suitably to guard against the accident of fire,
and to take a loan for the purpose of defraying the
necessary expenses thereof."  At the same tinme a
committee was appointed to examine the three
springs2 at the head of the town with a view to the
construction and supply of a reservoir, and to. report
on the same. On the 17th of the same month the
committee reported that to " construct a reservoir at
the spring above Workman's, thirty feet square and
twelve feet deep, and to cover the same, and to bring
the water through iron pipes to Brashear's Alley, will
cost about one thousand dollars; and for each additional foot of pipe, and laying the same, one dollar
thirty-seven and a half cents." Also that fire-plugs
should be put in at each square, costing, by estimation, forty dollars. George Dawson was instructed
by the Council to confer with the heirs of Neal Gillespie to ascertain what thev would charge for land
for the reservoir. On the 24th of October, Mr. Dawson reported that permission to build the reservoir
could not be obtained.
Oct. 17, 1842, the Council resolved " that Robert
Rogers and Edward Hughes be and they are hereby
appointed a committee to contract for a Fire Eniginie."
1 In the records of some years following this period are found several
disconnected matters of somtie interest, whiclt are here given, viz.:
Oct. 26, 1840, ait or diniance was passed requiring the cler k of thle market
to ring the towrn bell for tlle space of five miniutes every inight at ten
o'clock.        4
March 5, 1841, the bell on the town hall was purchased of the vestry
of t}e Episcopal Chuirch for $83.62Y.
March 15, 1841, an ordiniance was passed regulating wharfage and
establishing clharges, viz.: 25 cents for each steamboat making the
landinig, aitd 12Y cenits for each twenty-fouir houirs lying at the dock or
wliarf. For each flat-boat or keel-boat, 12Y2 cents whar fage.
In 1842 considerable difficulty was experienced in finding any suitable person wlio wouild accept tle office of collector. Sebastian Brant,
James C. Graff, G. H. Bowman, Adam Jacobs, Daniel Barnhart, James
Workman, ad Paul Jones were successively appointed and refused to
serve. At last Edward Morehouse was appointed, and liaving accepted
tite office atid qualified, was auitliorized and directed Sty the Council to
collect, by suit or otherwise, tle fitse of $10 imposed upon each of those
who had refiused to serve as collector.
July 31, 1845, "a reservoir or wateriiig trough" was ordere(d to be
coiistruicted above Workman's Hotel, to be supplied from a never-failing
spritig above Workman's.
In 1852 a " lock-up" was btuilt of brick near the market-house, and is
still in use as a place of detention.
In February, 1859, anad again in February, 1860, a project wasagitated
for qhanging the nattie of the borou-it of Brownsville to Redstone Old
Fort. A petition to that effect, drawn up by James Veech, Esq., and
ititended for presentation to the Legislature, was read at the latter time
before the Council, but did not finid much favor with that body, and the
project failed,-a result which was doubtless pleasing to miost of Ithe
people of Brownsville.
2 In August, 1818, by a resolution of the Council, all springs and wells
in the streets of Brownsville were declared to be public property.
October 20thl, Robert Rogers was appointed to contract for four ladders-two of twenity feet and two of'
sixteen feet in length-and for six fire-nooks.
Jan. 12, 1843, " the President, Mr. Robert Rogers,
was appointed to contract witlh somne one to build aa
Engine-House at the west end of the Alarket-House.'*
On the 17th of the same month, "Robert Rogers,
President, reported that he had articled with Faull 
Herbertson for a Fire-Engine for three hundred and
fifty dollars," and two days later he reported that he
"had contracted wvith John Johnston to build the
Engi ne-House."
The Mechanics' Fire Compamy, of Brownsville, petitioned the Council, Nov. 7, 1843, to furnish them
with one hundred feet of rope and two axes, which
was done.
June 27, 1851, " the large fire-engine" was placed
under control and in charge of a- company who had
recently organized and petitioined the Council for that
purpose.
Subsequently, at different times, when, by the occurrence of fires, the attention of the citizens had been
called to the necessity of taking measures to prevent
wide-spread disaster from that cause, new fire companies have often been formed and organized, but as
often have become disorganized and disbanded after
a brief period of activity and enthusiasm. The old
fire-engines are still in existence and in possession of
the borbugh; but at the present time the people of
Brownsville have no adequate means of preventing
anl accidental fire from becoming a general conflagration if it should occur at a time when all the conditions are favorable to cause such a catastrophe.
FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS.
THE MONONGAHELA NATIONAL BANK OF BROWNSVILLE.
This institution was identical with the old Monongahela Bank of Brownsville, which went into operation (though then unchartered) in 1812 uilder the
following
"Articles of Aesociation of the Mlfonongahela Bank of Brownsville.
"To all persons to whom these presents may come or in any
wa,y concern: Be it known that we, the subscribers, believing
th.at the establishmuent of an association in the town of Brownisville for the purpose of raising a fund in order to assist the
Farmer, Manufacturer, Mechanic, Trader, and Exporter in the
purchase of such articles as they respectively raise, manufacture, deal in, or export will more effectually tend to bring into
active operation the resources of the western country, will matetially assist the Fpirit of enterprise and improvements in
conumerce, manufactures, aind the mechaanic arts by affording
to all facility in the prosecution of their business, have associated and do hereby associate and forin ourselves into a comIpany to be called the Monongahela Bank of Brownsville.
"The following persons are hereby constituted and appointed
Directors of the said Bank, and shall continue to hold their respective offices until the first Monda.y of April, 1S13:
450BROWNSVILLE BOROUGH AND TOWNSIIIP.
DI RECTORS.
"William Hogg.'          Joseph Thornton.
Ch.arles Shaffner.     Jonathan Miller.
Robert Clarke.         Thomas McKibben.
Israel Gregg.          William Ewing.
Jonah Cadwalader.      Samuel Jackson.
Elisha Hunt.           Jacob Bowman.
Zephaniah Beall, Esq., of Washington County."
These articles were adopted May 12, 1812, and
signed by one hundred and fifty-six stockholders,
including the directors above named. The capital
stock was $500,000, in 10,000 shares of $50 each, "of
which 4000 shares were immediately offered, and the
remaining 6000 shares were reserved for future disposition, whereof 2500 shares were apportioned for
the use of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania."
Under these articles a limited business was done
until 1814, when a charter was obtained. The following notice appeared in the Genius of Liberty of September 14th of that year:
" MONONGAHELA BANK OF BROWNSVILLE.
"The subscribers, being authorized by Letters Patent from
the Government of this Commonwealth incorporating said
Bank, do hereby give notice to all persons who have subscribed
for stock therein to attend at the Banking-House in Brownsville on Thursday, the sixth day of October next, at ten o'clock
A.M., for the purpose of electing thirteen directors and fixing
upon the Scite of said Bank.
"NATHANIEL BREADING, WILLIAM LYNN,
" MICHAEL SOWERS,    ISRAEL MILLER,
" WILLIAM TROTH,      GEORGE DAWSON,
" LEWIS SWEITZER."
The first election under the charter was held on the
6th of October, 1814. Jacob Bowman was elected
president, William Troth cashier, and William Blair
clerk. On the 8th of December, in the same year,
the directors of the old association voted to discontinue operations and transfer its effects and business
to the chartered institution.
On the next day (December 9th) the bank commenced business under the charter.l The office was
on Front Street, in the building now occupied by Dr.
C. C. Richard. In that building the business of the
bank was transacted for nearly sixty years, until the
renioval to the present banking-house in 1873.
Jacob Bowman continued as president of the bank
from its incorporation until Sept. 26, 1843, when, on
account of his advanced age and infirmities, he resigned, and was succeeded by his son, James L. Bowman, who held the position until his death, March 21,
1857. Goodloe H. Bowman was then elected president, and remained in that office until February,
1874, when he died. He was succeeded (February
24th) by George E. Hogg, who is the present president.
William Troth, the first cashier, died in July, 1816,
and on the 23d of that month John T. McKennan
was elected. He held the position until his death,
Sept. 18, 1830, and on the 28th of the same month
Goodloe H. Bowman was elected cashier. He resigned March 29, 1842, and David S. Knox (who had
for some years acted as teller) was elected cashier.
Upon his death, in Novemnber, 1872, William Parkhill
was elected cashier, and filled the position till February, 1880, when he resigned, and on the 2d of March
following William M. Ledwith (who had been teller
since 1854) was elected cashier, and still holds the
position.
In January, 1864, the institution, having conformed
to the requirements of the National Banking law, was
reorganized as the Monongahela National Bank of
Brownsville, with an authorized capital of $500,000,
and a paid in capital of $200,000. The bank, from
the time of its chartering in 1814 until the present
(with the exception of about three months in the
year 1837) has redeemed its notes in coin.
The present bank building, located on the corner of
Market Street and Bowman's Alley, was built and
occupied in the fall of 1873. It is an exceedingly
finle brick structure, about forty-four by sixty feet in
size, and two stories high.  The banking-room  is
twenty feet in height, finely decorated and furnished.
The cost of the building was $36,000, including the
lot.
The present officers of the bank are the following:
George E. Hogg, president; William M. Ledwith,
cashier; Samuel P. Knox, teller; Directors, George
E. Hogg, John R. Dutton, Jacob Sawyer, John Johnston, N. B. Bowman, W. P. Searight, W. K. Gallaher,
Isaac C. Woodward, Eli J. Bailey, James L. Bowman,
H. B. Cook, W..S. Craft, William M. Ledwith.
THIE FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF BROWNSVILLE.
This bank was organized Aug. 18, 1863, under the
National Banking law, which was passed for the purpose of establishing a uniform currency throughout
the whole country, and to aid the government in its
great struggle against the Rebellion. It was among
the earliest of the banks which went into operation
under that law, as is shown by its charter-number,
135. The gentleman to whom the bank owes its existence more than to any other is its present president, Mr. J. T. Rogers.
The Monongahela Bank, from a very early period
in the history of banking in Western Pennsylvania
down to the present time, enljoyed the patronage of
all this end of Fayette County and that part of Washington County adjoining Brownsville on the west and
north, so that when Mr. Rogers projected his plan of
forming a new bank under the national law it encountered obstacles and opposition. But Mr. Rogers,
who is a gentleman of resolute purpose, was undeterred by obstacles, and the First National Bank became a fixed fact. After getting enlisted in his project all the men of means he could, all the stock he
1 The first issue of notes of this bank (ordered filled and signed Oct.
21, 1814) was in amount $89,415, viz.: 1986 tells, 1986 twenties, and 5967
fives.
I
I
I
451HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
could raise after a thorough canvass of the moneved
men of the place was about forty thousand dollars,
ten thousand less than was necessary to organize
under the law. But Mr. Rogers was not to be foiled
in his undertaking, and he, with two others, Robert
Rogers and William H. Clarke, promptly subscribed
what was lacking, and the bank was organized as
above stated.
The first board of directors was composed of Robert
Rogers, better known as Squire Rogers, J. T. Rogers,
William H. Clarke, Capt. I. C. Woodward, Samuel
Thompson, Elijah Craft, Capt. Adamn Jacobs, Albert
G. Mason, and William Elliott. The board was organized by electing Robert Rogers president, and J.
T. Rogers vice-president.  William  Parkhill was
elected cashier, and discharged the duties of that office
down to 1872, when he resigned to accept the position
of cashier in the Monongahela National Bank. At
the election for directors in January, 1864, the old
board was re-elected with the exception of Elijah
Craft, who was not elected, probably because living so
far in the country it was not convenient for him to attend regularly the meetings of the board. Thomas
Duncan, the present vice-president, was chosen in his
place. The board was organized the same as before. At
this time, to facilitate the business of the bank and to
accommodate the public, an exchange committee was
appointed. The duty of this committee was to pass
on paper when the board was not in session (it only
meeting weekly), and at the next meeting of the board
the business done by this committee is passed upon.
This important business was intrusted to J. T. Rogers,
W. H. Clarke, and Thomas Duncan.
During the year 1865, Robert Rogers, president,
died, and J. T. Rogers was chosen president, a position in which he has done honor both to himself and
the bank..Thomas Duncan was elected vice-president, to fill the place made vacant by the promotion
of Mr. Rogers to the presidency. On the resignation
of William Parkhill as cashier, Mr. Eli Crumlrine was
chosen to fill his place.
The present officers of the bank are J. T. Rogers,
president;  Thomas  Duncan, vice-president; E.
Crumrine, cashier. The directors are J. T. Rogers,
Thomas Duncan, J. W. Jefferies, James Slocum, John
Springer, L. H. Abrams, and S. S. Graham.
The bank first commenced doing business in a small
room at the lower end of Front Street, but the business increased so rapidly that more commodious quarters became necessary. Accordingly a lot was purchased and a new building was put up for its especial
accommodation. The bank building is on Market
Street near the Neck. It is a two-story brick building,
containing a banking-room, directors' room, and a
dwelling for the cashier. The erection of the building was superintended by Mr. J. T. Rogers.
The success of the bank has been remarkable. It
has averaged a setni-annual dividend to the stockholders of five per cent., besides laying by a surplus
fund of $48,000. When it is taken into consideration
that at first its capital was only $50,000, and afterwards $75,000, this result shows the great popularity
of the bank and the sound principles on which its
affairs have been conducted.
MANUFACTIJRING ESTABLISHMENTS.
THE BROWNSVILLE GLASS-FACTORY.
This was built by George Hogg  Co., in the year
1828, was run one year successftilly, then changed to
John Taylor  Co., and became a decided success.
The firm of Taylor  Co. consisted of John Taylor and
Edward Campbell. After two years, Taylor selling his
interest to William R. Campbell, the style of the
firm became and remained for several years E. Campbell  Co. Their reputation was very high as glassmakers. E. Campbell selling his interest to Robert
Forsyth, the firm again changed to Campbell  Forsyth, who continued some two years, then sold to Edward Campbell, who ran part of the year and sold to
Gue  Gabler, who ran several years without success.
The property was sold by the sheriff, and fell into the
hands of the original owners, George Hogg  Co. It
was then started again by a co-operative firm styled
Burk, Sedgwick  Co., and run for several years, but
finally failed. Carter, Hogg  Co. started it again,
but were not successful, and the works lay idle for
some time. Benedict Kimber then started it and
made some money the first year. He purchased a
steamboat and took command of her, leaving the
glass business in the hands of other parties to manage for him. He took the cholera and died on the
Illinois River. This brought the factory tona standstill. The property was then purchased by a cooperative company, under the style of Haughlt,
Swearer  Co., who erected a new factory with eight
pots and failed the second or third year, and the property fell into the hands of Robert Rogers. He leased
it to P.  I. Swearer, who ran it successfully for a few
years and finally failed. They made a second start
and were successftil, doing a good business, when
George W. Wells purchased the property in the year
1864, took possession and started with an eight-pot
furnace and did a successful business, increasing his
furnace to ten pots, still doing well. The expensive
improvements with perhaps the panic of 1873 caused
him to lose money. The property was then purchased
by Schmertz  Quinby, who are now running it with
success.
BROWNSVILLE ROLLING-MDILL.
The rolling-mill now operated in Brownsville by
Magee  Anderson, was built by John Snowdon
about 1853, and operated by him for several years.
Later his sons became interested in the business, and
it was then carried on under the firm-name of John
Snowdon  Sons. In March, 1872, Capt. Adam
Jacobs purchased the property and ran the mill for
two or three years, during which time it was improved-  
and brought to its present capacity.
452BROWNSVILLE BOROUGH AND TOWNSHIP.
In January, 1881, the works were leased from Capt.
Jacobs by Magee  Anderson, who repaired the mill,
placed it again at work, and are now operating it
successfully.
STEELE  SON'S TANNERY.
Samuel Steele commenced learning the trade of
tanner with his brother-in-law, Jesse Cunningham,
at the old tannery on Hogg's Alley, in 1833. He
worked with Mr. Cunningham till his death, which
occurred in 1843, when he bought a half-interest,
Mrs. Cunningham  retaining the other half.  This
firIn was known as Samuel Steele  Co. till 1860,
when they dissolved, and Samuel Steele then built
the tannery at the present site. He carried it on in
the old style way of tanning, grinding bark by horsepower and pumping by hand till 1867, when he purchased a boiler and engine of forty horse-power to
grind bark, pump, syphon, etc., enabling him to tan
in less time and thus increasing his facilities. In
April, 1879, he admitted his son, William C. Steele,
under the present firm-name of Samnuel Steele  Son.
They are now; tanning about one thousand hides per
year, employing five experienced workmen, and using
one hundred and twenty-five to one hundred and fifty
cords of rock oak bark, making two thousand sides of
harness leather, which is sold to saddlers and dealers
in Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota,
Nebraska, and Colorado. The hides are furnished
by butchers in neighboring towns and the surrounding coutntry, the supply from this source being more
than can be used in the tannery, three hundred having
been sold in the past year to other parties.
COAL-MINES AND COKE-WORKS.
The Ethel Coke-Works, located in Brownsville
township, outside the borough, are furnished with
coal from a mine opened in 1872 by George E. Hogg,
who then built four ovens, anrd in 1875 constructed
sixteen more. These coke-works are now (1881)
operated by Snowdon  McCormick, by whom the
slack of the mine only is used for coke. The capacity
of the works is one thousand bushels per day.
The Umpire Mine, also outside the borough limits
in Brownsville township, was opened by George E.
H-ogg in 1872. The main entry extends about two
thousand yards through the hill, and four side entries
extend from the main one fromn two hundred to five
hundred yards. The mine is now operated by J. S.
Cunningham  Co., who ship the coal to Southern
and Western markets. The slack is manufactured
into coke by Snowdon  MIcCormick.
BROWNSVILLE GAS COMPANY.
By the provisions of an act of the Legislature of
Pennsylvania, approved March 31, 1857,1 William
Lafferty, John L. Dawson, Westley Frost, James L.
Bowman, D. S. Knox, Adam Jacobs, G. H. Bowman,
J. C. Woodward, W. H. Clark, John R. Dutton, and
J. W. Jeffries, of the borough of Brownsville, and
Samuel B. Page, Elisha Bennett, and J. T. Rogers, of
the borough of Bridgeport, were appointed commissioners to effect the organization of a gas company,
with a capital of thirty thousand dollars, to be located
in Brownsville, and to supply gas to the boroughs of
Brownsville and Bridgeport. The organization was
effected with Dr. William L. Lafferty as president,
and in 1860 the company purchased a lot of ground
on Water Street, below Market Street, of John N.
Snowdon, and contracted with John Snowdon to erect
on it for sixteen thousand dollars the necessary buildings and works for the manufacture of gas. The
works were accordingly erected and put in operation,
and have so coiitinued successfully to the present
time.
The present officers of the company are John R.
Dutton, president; William Parkhill, secretary and
treasurer; Capt. Adam Jacobs, George E. Hogg, J.
G. Rogers, J. W. Jeffries, J. L. Bowman, and John
R. Dutton, directors.
SOCIETIES AND ORDERS.
BROWNSVILLE LODGE, No. 60, F. AND A. M.
The record of this lodge begins with an entry dated
Jan. 22, 1794, at which time John Bowles, John McDowell, Joseph Asheton (of Pittsburgh Lodge, No.
45), James Chambers, Jr., William Arbutton, John
Farcker, James Chambers, Sr., and Jonathan Morris,
of Washington Lodge, No. 54, James Long, of No. 3,
Philadelphia, and Ready McSherry, of No. 660, Ireland, opened the new lodge, No. 60, in due form,
John Bowles being appointed secretary. Applications
were received from James Elliott, Jonathan Hickman, and Charles Ford for initiation. John Christmas, Michael Sowers, Ready McSherry were appointed
a committee to inquire and to report to the lodge the
next evening.
Jan. 23, 1794, the lodge commenced work under a
dispensation of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania,
dated Dec. 9, 1793, Chads Chalfant, W. M.; John
Chambers, S. W.; Michael Sowers, J. W.
Twenty-seven members were added to the lodge in
1794. St. John's day in that year was celebrated by
a procession to the church, where a sermon was
preached by the Rev. John H. Reynolds. Similar
exercises were observed on St. John's day, 1797,
when the sermon was preached by the Rev. Mr.
Davis. On St. John's day (June 24), 1799, after the
ceremonies of the day, the members of the lodge and
visitors " in the evening repaired to Bro. Wilson's, at
the Black Horse Tavern, and spent the evening in
festivity."
should charge the borough not to exceed two dollars, and the citizens
not to exceed three dollars per thollusand feet of gas. The project never
went farther, being superseded by the Brownsville Gas Company.
1 In the sa.me year the Borough Council of Brownsville granted to
William Stevenson and associates (who were projecting the erection of
gas-works) the righlt for ten years to use the streets and alleys of the
borough for the la3ying down of their mainlls, on the conditioll that they
45"11IIISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
In 1799 the first building owned by the lodge was
erected for its use. On the 6th of May in that year
" Bros. Rogers and Miner agreed to furnish 700 plank
at the Lodge for use; Bro. Gregg, Lime; B. Hezlip
to have Doors and Windows." June 14. 1811, Chads
Chalfant sold for fifty dollars the lot of ground on
the southwest side of Church Street, on which the
present Masonic Hall building was erected in 1834.
On the 2d of February, 1829, Andrew Jackson,
President-elect of the United States, arrived at
Brownsville by stage over the National road from the
West, and stopped at George Gibson's inn. There
he was waited on by Henry Pieffer, Valentine Giesey,
Robert Patterson, John Blythe, and N. Isler, who
had been appointed a committee to invite him to
visit the lodge. He accepted the invitation, and
was introduced by Brother John Davis.
Brownsville Lodge, No. 60, and Pittsburgh, No. 45,
were the only lodges west of the mountains which
did not surrender their charters during the antiMIasonic excitement a little over half a century ago.
From the Brownsville Lodge have sprung the following-named lodges, viz.: Fayette City, Uniontown,
California, Greensborough, Connellsville, Carmichael,
and Clarksville.
The present officers of the Brownsville Lodge, No.
60, are: W. M., William Chatland; S. W., Matthew
Story; J. W.. Jesse M. Bowel; Sec., Dr. C. C. Richard; Treas., Thomas Duncan; Tiler, James A. Hill.
BROWNSVILLE CHAPTER, No. 164, R. A. M,
Chartered in June, 1849. The following were the
first officers: M. E. H. Priest, W. L. Lafferty; King,
C. P. Guminert; Scribe, Thomas Duncan. The officers for 1881 are: M. E. H. P., William Chatland;
King, Michael A. Cox; Scribe, Jesse M. Bowel;
Treasurer, Thomas Duncan; Secretary, George W.
Lenhart. The present number of members is thirtyfour.
ST. OMER'S COMMANDERY, No. 7, K. T.
Application was made June 10, 1862, to the Grand
Commandery of Pennsylvania to revive St. Omer's
Commandery, which had been organized at Uniontown in 1853, and suspended work in the following
year. The application was granted. E. Sir William
Chatland was installed E. Comminander, and has held
that position in the comnmandery until the present
time. The commandery was ordered removed from
Uniontown to Brownsville, where the first meeting
was held Oct. 22, 1862. The number of charter
members was twelve. The present membership of
the commandery is twenty-two, and its officers are:
Sir William Chatland, E. Commander; Sir M. A.
Cox, Generalissimo; Sir John  S. Marsh, CaptainGeneral; Sir Thomas Duncan, Treasurer; Sir George
Campbell, Recorder.
WESTERN STAR LODGE, No. 36, F. AND A. M.
Chartered Dec. 27, 1866. The Fairfax (Washington), Ecolite (Uniontown), an d Golden Rule
(Waynesburg) Lodges were taken at different times
from this lodge, and it numbers now but twenty
members. The present officers are: W. M., John
Peyton; S. W., Charles Peyton; J. W., Jackson
Cheek; Sec., John Hilton; Treas., Samuel Robinson; Tiler, Alfred Hamilton; D. D. G. M., J. L.
Bolden.
BROWNSVILLE LODGE, No. 51, I. O. OF O. F.
Original charterl Aug. 20, 1832. N. G., William
Corwin; V. G., John Garwood; Sec., Thomas S.
Wright; A. S., Daniel Delaney, Jr.; Treas., Thomas
Duncan. The present officers are: N. G., Henry
Drake; V. G., George Herbertson; Sec., Daniel Delaney; Treas., Thomas Duncan. Meetings are held
in Templars' Hall.
REDSTONE OLD FORT ENCAMPMENT, No. 70, I. O. O. F.
Original charter granted2 Dec. 29, 1847. First officers: John J. Rathiiiill, C. P.; Jacob Grazier, H. P.;
James Storer, S. W.; Thomas Shuman, J. W.; Daniel Delaney, Sec.; Thomas Duncan, Treas. Present
officers: J. W. Byland, C. P.; Michael Allen, H. P.;
Thomas Woods, S. W.;'Harrison Woods, J. XV.;
Daniel Delaney, Sec.; Thomas Duncan, Treas.
Lodge meets in Templars' Hall. Present number
of members, 46.
TRIUMPH LODGE, No. 613, I. O. O. F.
Chartered Nov. 19, 1867. First officers: U. L.
Clemmer, N. G.; Florence Bernhart, V. G.; J. R.
Thornton, Sec.; John R. McCune, A. S.; Charles T.
Hurd, Treas. Present officers: T. S. Wood, N. G.;
Charles Gabler, V. G.; G. B. Clemmer, Sec.; H. H.
Hawley, Asst. Sec.; C. T. Hurd, Treas.
The lodge has 74 members. Meetings are held in
Shupe's Hall.
NEMACOLIN TRIBE, No. 112, IMPROVED ORDER OF RED
MEN.
Twentieth Sun of the Buck Moon, G. H. D. 379.
Charter members: J. M. Hutchinson, D. P. Swearer,
E. N. Coon, James B. Vandyke, A. V. Smith, R. I.
Patton.
This organization is now defunct.
MONONGAHELA VALLEY LODGE, No. 1305, G. U. O. OF O. F.
Chartered June, 1867, with twenty-five charter
members.
The lodge at present contains sixty members. The
present officers are William Florence, N. G.; David
Freeman, V. G.; Isaac Alexander, Sec.; Thornton
Baker, Treas.; Samuel Honesty, P. G. M.
The lodge meets in Shupe's Hall.
BROWNSVILLE LODGE, No. 357, K. OF P.
Chartered May 28, 1872. S. B. P. Knox, James
M. Hutchinson, James B. Vandyke, Thomas Duncan,
1 The originlal charter was destroyed by fire in Pittsburgh; another
w;ts talken out anld destroyed by fire in the lodge room. It was regranted Feb. 28, 1872.
2 Original charter destroyed by fire in room, and regranted Feb. 28,
1872.
454BROWNSVILLE BOROUGH AND TOWNSHIP.
Nathan Crawford, Van B. Baker, John L. Wise,
Samuel A. Clear, James A. Hill, charter members.
Present officers: P. C., W. K. Gregg; C. C., J. W.
Harrison; V. C., George S. Herbertson; P., James
A. Hill; M. of E., Thornas Duncan; M. of F., S. A.
Clear; K. of R. and S., J. M. Hutchinson; M. at A.,
E. B. Wells; I. G., Seaburn Crawford; O. G., J. D.
G. Pringle.
Present membership, 62. Lodge meets in Templars'
Hall.
KEYSTONE TEMPLE OF HONOR, No. 4.
Chartered May 9, 1850. Charter members: John S.
Pringle, Oliver C. Cromlow, Robert K. Coulter, Hugh
Kennedy, Henry C. Drum, George C. Isherwood,
Freeman Wise, D. W. C. Harvey, William Enigland,
John H. Lindsey, James M. Hutchinson, Samuel
Voorhis, Charles T. Hurd, James Corwin, Morris
Moorehouse, Thomas B. Murphy, William L. Faull,
A. G. Minehart, Thomas Craven, Thomas Danks.
Present officers: W. C. T., J. E. Adams; W. V. T.,
Joseph McIntyre; W. Rec., G. W. Wilkinson; F.
Rec., J. M. Hutchinson; W. Usher, J. T. Worcester.
Present membership, 24.Templars' Hall was bought by the Keystone Temple
of Honor in 1857, and destroyed by fire in 1861.
Present building erected the same season.
KEYSTONE TEMPLE OF ITONOR, No. 4, UNION SOCIAL DEGREE.
Chartered Dec. 13, 1850. Charter members as follows: C. Harvey, Emma Minehart, D. Cromlow,
Lydia Voorhis, John S. Pringle, F. Wise, G. C. Isherwood, Martin H. Kennedy, R. K. Coulter, J. Corwin,
M. Moorehouse, C. Drum, W. L. Faull, J. C. Lindsey, C. F. Hurd, A. G. Minehart, O. C. Cromlow.
Present officers: Sister Presiding, Jenny Hartranft;
Brother Presiding, Joshua Haddock; Worthy Vice,
James McIntyre; Usher, George Gaskill; Guardian,
Jesse Fitzgerald. Present membership, 60.
TEMPLE OF HONOR, No. 4, COUNCIL.
Original charter Dec. 15, 1851; re-chartered May
19, 1853: John S. Pringle, Freeman Wise, G. C.
Isherwood, John H. Lindsey.
Present officers: Chief of Council, George W. Wilkinson; S. C., James McIntyre; J. C., J. E. Adams;
R. of C., J. M. Hutchinson; M., Joshua Haddock;
W., Jesse Fitzgerald. Twenty-three members.
JOHN E. MIlCHENER POST, No. 173, DEPT. OF PA., G. A. R.
This post was chartered May 13, 1880, with the following-named charter members: B. F. Campbell,
William A. Barnes, N. W. Truxall, William McCoy,
Samuel B. Blair, Samuel A. Clear, T. V. Dwyer,
Daniel Campbell, Samuel Wright, William H. Shaffer,
James Smith, George W. Jenkins, John G. Jackson,
Charles E. Eccles, Thomas Feuster, N. P. Hermel,
William Wright, Henry Minks, George W. Arrison,
J. W. McIntyre, R. N. Chew, Henry Drake, S. Williams, F. T. Chalfant, Hugh McGinty, W. A. Haught,
J. H. Gibson, J. T. Wells, J. D. S. Pringle, John D.
Hart, Enoch Calvert.
The post now numbers 54 members. The present
officers are: Post Commander, Samuel A. Clear; Senior Vice-Commander, N. E. Rice; Junior ViceCommander, William A. Haught; Adjutant, J. T.
Welles; Officer of the Day, T. V. Dwyer; Officer of
the Guard, James Smith; Chaplain, Rev. William A.
Barnes. Meetings of the post are held in Templars'
Hall.
BROWNSVILLE  CIVIL LIST.
JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.1
Jacob Bowman, 1803-8.
Isaac Rogers, ] 803-8.
James Blaine, 1806-16.
Michael Sowers, Brownsville and Redstone, Feb. 16, 1811.2
Thomas McIKibben, Brownsville and Redstone, July 13, 1819.
N. Isler, Brownsville and Redstone, May 5, 1824.
John Freeman, Brownsville and Redstone, Jan. 9, 1826.
Williamn F. Coplan, Brownsville and Redstone, Dec. 5, 1828.
Eli Abrams, Brownsville and Redstone, March 5, 1830.
George McCormick, Brownsville and Redstone, March 28,
1831.
William Jackman, Brownsville and Redstone, Dec. 13, 1831.
Robert Rogers, Brownsville and Redstone, June 19, 1835.
Ephraim Butcher, Brownsville and Redstone, March 30, 1836.
James Spicer, Brownsville and Redstone, May 14, 1839.
Elected.
1840.-Ephraim Butcher, William L. Wilkinson.
1845.-William L. Wilkinson, James Martin, Clark Ely, William Sloan.
1850.--William L. Wilkinson, James Martin, Solomon Burd.
1851.-Isaac Bailey.
1855.-William L. Wilkinson, George Morrison, James Martin,
John Jackson, Daniel Brubaker.
1856.-Jacob Bedlow, Ewing Todd.
1858.-Samnuel Smouse, Madison Daniels.
1859.-H-enry J. Rigden.
1860.--William  L. Wilkinson, Peter Griffin, Solomon Burd,
George W. Frazer.
1864.-Henry J. Rigden, Robert McKean, Joseph Woods.
1865.-William L. Wilkinson, Daniel Brubaker, William Gaskell.
1866.-F. C. Gummert, Isaac Burd.
1867.-William P. Clifton.
1869.-Henry J. Rigden.
1870.-William L. Wilkinson.
1872.-Ewing   Todd, William P. Clifton.
1874.-A. H. Shaw, Jacob Graser, S. W. Claybaugh.
1875.-William L. Wilkinson.
1877.-Thomnas C. Guminert.
1878.-John B. Patterson.
1879.-S. W. Claybaugh.
1880.-William  L. Wilkinson, William  Garwood, Charles
Boucher.
BOROUG H OFFICERS.
1815.-Chief Burgess, Thomas McKibben; Assistant Burgess,
Philip Shaffner: Town Council, William lIogg, Balsil Brashear, John S. Dugan, John McCadden, George Hogg, Jr.,
1 The list of jllstices of the peace includes those of both the borough
and the township, the looseness of the records rendering it almost impossible to give separate lists.
2 Date of appointment.
I
455HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Israel Miller, George Dawson; Town Clerk, John McC.
Hazlip.
1816.-Chief Burgess, Michael Sowers; Assistant Burgess, John
Johnston; Town Council, Henry Wise,1 Elisha Hunt,
James Workman, James Breading,' Nathan Smith, William Stephenson, Thomas McKibben; Town Clerk, Thomas
McKibben.
lS 17.-Chief Burgess, Joseph Thornton; Assistant Burgess,
Thomas McKibben; Town Council, Jacob Bowman, Robert
Clarke, Elisha Hunt, James Blaine, George Dawson, Valentine Giesey, John Johnston; Town Clerk, Robert Clarke.
1818.-Chief Burgess, Joseph Thornton; Assistant Burgess,
Thomas McKibben; Town Council. George Dawson, James
Blaine, Valentine Giesey, John Johnston, Jacob Bowman,
Elisha Hunt, Robert Clarke; Town Clerk, Thomas Mckibben.
1819.-Chief Burgess, Jacob Bowman; Assistant Burgess,
Henry G. Dales; Town Council, Joseph Thornton, Henry
Wise, Peter Humrickhouse, William Minnikin, James L.
Bowman, John 0. Marsh, George Graff; Town Clerk, D. R.
Baylis.
1820.-Chief Burgess, Michael Sowers; Assistant Burgess,
Adam Jacobs; Town Council, Basil Brashear, Matthew
Coffin, George hogg, James E. Breading, Robert Clarke,
John Johnston, Thomas Sloan; Town Clerk, J. McC. Hazlip.
1841.2-Chief Burgess, Henry Sweitzer; Assistant Burgess, William L. Lafferty; Town Council, Israel Miller, James L.
Bowman, James Martin, Jesse Cunningham, John Johnston; Town Clerk, William L. Wilkinson.
1842.-Chief Burgess, John Snowdon, Jr.; Assistant Burgess,
John Gere; Town Council, Robert Rogers, William  Y.
Roberts, William Barkman, Edward Hughes, James C.
Beckley; Town Clerk, William L. Wilkinson.
1843.-Chief Burgess, Thomas G. Evans; Assistant Burgess,
John Johnston; Town Council, Edward Hughes, Robert
Rogers, Henry J. Rigden, David Anderson, James Martin;
Town CWerk, Reuben C. Bailey.
1844.-Chief Burgess, George Dawson; Assistant Burgess, John
T. Hogg; Town Council, John Johnston. William Johnston, David Anderson, Edward Hughes, Henry J. Rigden;
Town Clerk, J. C. Price.
1845.-Chief Burgess, - -; Town Council, David Anderson, Edward hughes, Thomas Butcher, R. W. Playford,
Edward Campbell; Town Clerk, W. L. Wilkinson.
1846.-Chief Burgess, George Dawson; Assistant Burgess,
Christopher Stitzel; Town Council, Edward Hughes, David
Anderson, Thomas Butcher, Robert W. Playford, Edward
Campbell.
1847.-Chief Burgess, John Snowdon; Assistant Burgess, Daniel
Barnhart; Town Council, R. W. Playford, Thomas Butcher,
David Anderson, Edward Hughes, Dorsey Overturf; Town
Clerk, N. B. Rigden.
1848.-Chief Burgess, Henry J. Rigden; Assistant Burgess,
Henry Barkman; Town Council, John Snowden, Jr., Edward Moorehouse, R. W. Playford, Edward Hughes, Dorsey Overturf, William Barkman, Daniel Barnhart, David
Anderson, Wesley Frost; Town Clerk, N. B. Rigden.
1849.-Chief Burgess, --;  Town Council, Edward
Hughes, C. P. Gummert, Adam Jacobs, James Martin,
1 Henry Wise and James Breading lhaving declined to ser ve, a special
election was called, amid William Ogle and George Dawson were elected
to fill the vamcancies.
2 A gap in the borough records froin March 26,1821, to Auig. 31, 1840,
remiders it inipracticable to give the list of borough offtcers elected duriiig that period.
Dorsey Overturf, William Barkman, Edward Moorehouse,
Dr. R. W. Playford, John Snowdon; Town Clerk, Simon
Meredith.
1850.-Chief Burgess, ---; Town Council, C. P. Gummert, Adam Jacobs, James Martin, Eli Abrams, Nelson
Goslin, John Snowdon, Wesley Frost, John Johnston, R.
W. Playford; Town Clerk, S. Meredith.
1851.-Chief Burgess,   ---; Town Council, James Martin, Nelson Goslin, C. P. Gummert, Adam Jacobs, James
Todd, George Dawson, Thomas Butcher; Town Clerk, S.
Meredith.
1852.-Town Council, Wesley Frost, Thomas Butcher, George
Dawson, Eli Abrams, James Todd, Osmond M. Johnston,
Henry Barkman, Daniel Rhodes; Town Clerk, W. L. Wilkinson.
1853.-Chief Burgess, Isaac Bailey; Assistant Burgess, Daniel
K. Mochabee; Town Council, Henry Barkman, 0. M. Johnston, Daniel Rhodes, James Todd, William H. Johnston,
James Martin, John R. Dutton; Town Clerk, William L.
Wilkinson.
1854.-Chief Burgess, Isaac Bailey; Assistant Burgess, Robert
Rogers; Town Council, David Anderson, Samuel Steele,
Adam Jacobs, Peter Swearer, R. W. Playford; Town Clerk,
William L. Wilkinson.
1855.-Chief Buroess, Isaac Bailey; Assistant Burgess, William
Barkman; Town Council, Robert W. Playford, Peter
Swearer, Adam Jacobs, David Anderson, Samuel Steele;
Town Clerk, William L. Wilkinson.
1856.-Chief Burgess, Robert Rogers; Assistant Burgess, Isaac
Bailey; Town Council, G. H. Bowman  j. B. Krepps,.Ayres
Lynch, John Lilly, Levi Colvin, William  Searight, Henry
Patton, Samuel Snowdon, Andrew J. Smith; Town Clerk,
William L. Wilkinson.
1857.-Chief Burgess, Seth T. Hurd; Assistant Burgess, George
Shuman; Town Council, Samuel S. Snowdon, William  B.
Linsey, William Parkhill, Levi Colvin, William R. Searight, Ayres Lynch, J. B. Krepps; Town Clerk, William
L. Wilkinison.
18 8.-Chief Burgess, J. B. Barclay; Assistant Burgess, Nelson Goslin; Town Council, John H. Gummert, William T.
Isler, Isaac Reed, William Parkhill, Ayres Lynch, William
B. Lindsey, Samuel S. Snowdon; Town Clerk, George Morrison.
1859.-Chief Burgess, Seth T. Hurd; Assistant Burgess, Thos.
B. Murphy; Town Council, William  Campbell, William
H. Johnston, G. h. Bowman, William T. Isler, Isaac Reed,
William Parkhill, William B. Lindsey; Town Clerk, William L. Wilkinson.
1860.-Chief Burgess, Jason Baker; Assistant Burgess, Edward L. Moorehouse; Town Council, Adam Jacobs, Thomas
C. Tiernan, Edward Toynbee, Wm. T. Isler, Isaac Reed,
Austin Livingston, G. H. Bowman, William H. Johnston,.
William  Campbell; Town Clerk, William L. Wilkinson.
1861.-Chief Burgess, Jason Baker; Assistant Burgess, Edward L. Moorhouse; Town Council, William T. Isler, S. S.
Snowden, John R. Dutton, William H. Johnston, Edward
Toynbee,Thomas C. Tiernan, G. H. Bowman, Adam Jacobs;
Town Clerk, William L. Wilkinson.
1862.-Chief Burgess, N. S. Potts; Assistant Burgess, E. Keiser;
Town Council, Samuel Steele, William H. Johnston, 0. M.
Johnston, J. W. Jeffries, Thomas C. Tiernan, William T.
Isler, Edward Toynbee, John R. Dutton, S. S. Snowdon;
Town Clerk, William L. Wilkinson.
1863.-Chief Burgess, John Fear; Assistant Burgess, Isaac
Reed; Town Council, John R. Dutton, William T. Isler,
0. M. Johnston, Samuel Steele, William h. Johnston,
456HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
their agent, Christopher Gist,' whose name frequently
occurs in all accounts of the military and other
operations in this region during the decade succeeding  the year 1750.  He had  doubtless  selected  his
location  here when  going  out on the trip down the
Ohio, on which he was engaged from  the fall of 1751
to the spring of 1752. He took possession in the latter year, but probably did not make any improvements till the spring of 1753. He had certaiinly done
so prior to November in that year, when Washington
passed his "plantation" on his way to Le Boeuf, and
said of it in his journial, "According to the best observation I could make, Mr. Gist's new settlement (which
we passed  by) bears almost wvest northwest seventy
miles from  Wills' Creek."
The place where Christopher Gist made his settlement, and which is so frequently mentioned in accounts of Washington's and Braddock's campaigns as
"Gist's  plantation,"  was the sarne which  has been
known for more than a century as "Mount Braddock,"  almost exactly  in  the  territorial  centre  of
Fayette County, the site of his pioneer residence
I Christopher Gist was of English descent. IIis grandfatlher was Christopher Gist, who died in Baltimore County in 1691. His gransimother
wits Edith Cromwell, who died in 1694. They had one clhild, Richard,
who was suirveyor of tle Western Shore, and was one of the conusmiissioners, in 1729, for layinig off tse town of Baltimore, and presiding
magistrate in 1736. In 1705 he married Zipporah Murray, anld Christopher was one of the tllree sons. lie was a resident of North Carolina
before lhe came to Western Pennsylvania for the Ohio Company. Ile
married Sarah Howard; his br)other Nathaniel married Mary Howard;
and Thomas, the thiird brother, married Violetta Howard, aunits of Gen.
John Eager Howard. From  either Nathaniel or Thomas descenided
General Gist, wlho was killed at the battle of Franklin, Tenn., near the
close of the late civil war. Christopher had three sons-Nathaniel,
Richard, and Thomas-and two (ldaughters,-Anne an(l Violette. None
of the sons except Nathaniel were married. Violette married William
Cromwell. Becalise of hi8s knowledge of the couinltry3 on the Olhio, and
his skill in dealinig witll the In(lians, Christopher Gist was clhosen to
accompany Washington oss hiis nmission in 1753, anid it was from  hiis
journal that Sparks and Irving derived tlieir account of that expedition.
With his sons, Nathaniel anid Thomas, he wvas witli Braddock on the
fatal field of Monongahela, and for hiis services received a granit of
twelve thousand acres of land fronm the kinig of England. After Braddock's defeat he raised a conmpaniy of scouts in Virginia and Maryland,
and did service on the frontier, being thlen known as Captain Gist. In
1756 he went to tlle Carolinas to enslit Cherokee Indians in the Eniglish (
service, anid was sticcessful in accomplishinog hiis purpose. For a time   a
lie served as Indian agent in the Soutli. Finally he remiioved from the   t
Monongahela country back to North Carolina anid died there.
Richlard Gist was killed in the battle of Kisig's Moutntain. Thomas   C
lived on the plantation, anid was a man of note till hiis death abouit 1786.  t
Anne lived with him until hlis death, wlhen she jAined her brother   a
Nathaniel, and removed witlh hin to the grant in Kentucky about the
beginnin- of this cenittury. Nathaniel Gist, the granidfather of Hon.
Montgomery Blair, of Maryland, married Judith Carey Bell, of Buck-   b
ingham Counity, Va., a grandniece of Archibald Carey, the mover of the   d
Bill of Riglhts in the House of Burgesses. Nathaniel was a colonel in
the Virginia linie dring thle Revolutionary war, and afterwards removed   C
to Kentulcky, where he died early in the piesent century at an old age.  f
Ile left two sons,-Henry Carey aiidl Thomas Cecil. His eldest dauighlter,  C
Sarah Howard, married the Hon. Jesse Bledlsoe, Uniited States seniator   G
from Kenltiscky and a distinguislhed juirist; Iiis granidson, B. Gratz
Brown, wvas thee Democratic candidate for Vice-Presilent in 1872. The   n
seconid dauiglhter of Col. Gist, Anne, married Col. Nathaniel Hart, a   S.
brother of Mrs. Henry Clay. The third daughter marred Dr. Boswell,
of Lexington, Ky. The four-th dauiglhter married Francis P. Blasir, and   F
they were the parents of Hon. Montgonsiery Blair and Francis P. Blair,   [
Jr. The fifth daughter married Benjamin Gratz, of Lexington, Ky.      d
being within the present township of Dunbar, but
very near the line of the northeast extremity of North
Union. His location was called by hitn " Monongahela," though many miles from that river. Washington, in the journial of his return fromn Le Boeuf,
mentions it by this name, as follows: "Tuesday, the
1st of Janiuary, we left Mr. Frazier's house, and arrived at Mr. Gist's, at Monongahela, on the 2d;" and
a letter written by Gist to Washington about eight
weeks later is dated " Monongohella, February 23d,
1754."
Mr. Gist brought with him to his new settlement
his sons, Richard and Thomas, and his son-in-law,
William Cromwell. Soon after his arrival with his
family there came eleven other families fromi across
the mountains, under the auspices of the Ohio Companv, and settled oni lands in his vicinity, but the
sites of their locations as well as their names are now
unknown. Washington, when on his way from Gist's
back to Virginia, in January, 1754, wrote in his
journal, under date of the 6th of that month, "We
met seventeen horses, loaded with materials and
stores for a fort at the fork of the Ohio, and the day
after some families going out to settle." And it is
altogether probable that these were the families who
settled in Gist's neighborhood. Sparks says, "In the
mean time [that is, between the appointment of Gist
as the company's agent and the building of the fort
by Trent] Mr. Gist had fixed his residence on the
other side of the Alleghenies, in the valley of the
Monongahela, atild iniduced eleven families to settle
around him, on lands which it-was presumed would
be on the Ohio Company's grant."
Judge Veech expresses some doubt as to the settlement of the eleven families near Gist., He says,
" We have seen it stated somewhere that Gist induced eleven families to settle around him, on lands
presumed to be within the Ohio Company's grant.
This may be so. But the late Col. James Paull,
whose father, George Paull, was an early settler in
that vicinity, and intimately acquainted with the
Gists, said he never heard of these settlers." But in
addition to the reasons already given for believing
that the families did settle there, as stated, is this
)ther, that the French commander, De Villiers, mentions in his journal that when returning to the Monongahela after his capture of Fort Necessity, on
the 5th of July, 1754 (the day after the surrender),
he arrived at Gist's, "aid after having detached M.
de la Chauvignerie to burn the houses routnd about, I
ontinued my route and encamped three leagues
rom thence," which indicates that there was then a
onsiderable settlement at that time in the vicinity of
Grist's. In regard to the fact that Col. James Paull
lever heard of the settlement, there need only be,aid that as he was born about six years after those
eople had been burned ouit and driven away by the
French, and as even his father, Capt. George Paull,
did not come to this country before the fall of 1759,
56BROWNSVILLE BOROUGHE AND TOWNSHIP.
Samuel S. Snowdon, Peter Swearer, Peter S. Griffin; Town
Clerk, William L. Wilkinson.
1864.-Chief Burgess, 0. P. Baldwin; Assistant Burgess, Thos.
B. Murphy; Town Couneil, William H. Johnston, Samnuel
Steele, Peter Swearer, G. H. Bowman, A. J. Smith, O. M.
Johnston, W. B. Skinner, Wm. T. Isler; Town Clerk, Williaim L. Wilkinson.
1865.-Chief Burgess, Jason Baker; Assistant Burgess, A. J.
Isler; Town Council, John R. Dutton, Williamn T. Isler, E.
Keiser, R. J. Patton, P. S. Griffin, Peter Swearer, William
B. Sliinter, G. H. Bowman, A. J. Smith; Town Clerk, W.
L. Wilkinson.
1866.-Chief Burgess, Peter S. Griffin; Assistant Burgess, William  Chatland; Town Council, William T. Isler, A. J.
Smith, W. B. Skinner, R. J. Patton, Erasmus Keiser,
David P. Swearer, B. B. Brashear, G. H. Bowman, J. M.
Abrams; Town Clerk, W. L. Wilkinson.
1867.-Chief Burgess, Peter S. Griffin; Assistant Burgess,
Jason Baker; Town Council, Erasmus Keiser, R. J. Patton, B. B. Brashear, Andrew J. Smwith, Isaac Jackson,
George W. Wells, D. P. Swearer, J. M. Abrams; Town
Clerk, W. L. Wilkinson.
1868.-Chief Burgess, Peter S. Griffin; Assistant Burgess, William T. Isler; Town Council, Erasmus Keiser, Robert J.
Patton, Thomlas C. Gumimert, Andrew J. Smith, David P.
Swearer, Isaac Jackson, B. B. Brashear, James M. Abralns;
Town Clerk, W. L. Wilkinson.
1869.-Chief Burgess, Peter S. Griffin; Assistant Burgess,
Pulaski F. Swearer; Town Council, Francis Lee, Geo. F.
Dawson, Samuel II. Smith, Erasmus Keiser, Thomas C.
Gummtnert, A. J. Smith, R. J. Patton, Isaac Jackson, G. W.
Wells; Town Clerk, W. L. Wilkinson.
1870.-Town Council, Erasmus Keiser, Samuel H. Smith, Francis Lee, Osmond M. Johnston, Hunter S. Beall, John G.
Fear, R. J. Patton, George F. Dawson, Thomas C. Gummert; Town Clerk, WVilliam L. Wilkinson.
18871.-Chief Bur,ess,. Francis MoKernan; Town  Council,
Francis Lee, John G. Fear, O. M. Johnston, R. J. Patton,
Thomas C. Gummert, William M. Ledwith, E. D. Abrams,
Hunter S. Beall, Samuel tI. Smith; Town Clerk, William
L. Wilkinson.
1872.-Chief Burgess, William L. Wilkinson; Assistant Burgess, N. S. Potts; Town Council, N. S. Potts, A. J. Isler,
John S. Cunningham, Thomas C. Gummert, Hunter S.
Beall, William M.Ledwith, O. M. Johnston, E. D. Abrams;
Town Clerk, WVilliam L. Wilkinson.
1873.-Chief Burgess, William  L. Wilkinson; Assistant Burgess, William Burd; Town Council, J. D. Armstrong, Eli
Hyatt, John Acklin, E. D. Abrams, John S. Cunningrham,
N. S. Potts, W. M. Ledwith, A. J. Isler; Town Clerk, William L. Wilkinson.
1874.-Chief Burgess, Francis McKernan; Assistant Burgess,
Peter M. Hunt; Town Council, John R. Dutton, William
11. Johnston, James W. Jeffries, Jolin Acklin, N. S. Potts,
A. J. Isler, John J. Rothmill, J. D. Armstrong, Eli Hyatt;
Town Clerk, William L. Wilkinson.
1875--- Chief Burgess, NimrodS. Potts; Town Council, E. Kciser,
J. D. Armstrong, John Acklin, lW. H. Johnston, George
Calnpbell, John Johnston, Eli D. Abrams, John R. Dutton;
Secretary of Council, William L. Wilkinson.
1876.-Town Council, John R. Dutton, E. D. Abrams, George
Campbell, John Johnston, William  H. Johnston, Adam
Jacobs, Jr., Robert Johnston, Kenney J. Shupe; Secretary
of Council, William L. Wilkinson.
1877.-Town Council, George Campbell, John Johnston, Robert
Johnston, Kinney J. Shupe, E. D. Abrams, James L. Bowman, W. II. Johnston, Adam Jacobs, Jr.; Secretary of
Council, Austin Livingston.
1878.-Chief Burgess, William L. Wilkinson; Town Council,
K. J. Shupe, J. L. Bowman, Robert Johnston, Dr. Benjamin Shoemaker, William H. Johnston, Fred. S. Chalfant,
George Lenhart, Samuel Steele; Secretary of Council,
Austin Livingston.
1879.--Chief Burgess, William L. Wilkinson; Assistant Burgess, Samuel Honesty; Town Council, B. Shoemaker,
Samuel Steele, J. R. Dutton, E. D. Abrams, H. W. Robinson, Moses Wright, F. S. Chalfant, William II. Johnston;
Secretary of Council, J. B. Patterson.
1880.-Chief Burgess, W. L. Wilkinson; Assistant Burgess,
Samuel IIonesty; Town Council, II. W. Robinson, B. Shoemaker, F. S. Chalfant, J. R. Dutton, W. H. Johnston, E.
D. Abrams, John Johnston, Moses Wright, J. W. Jeffries;,
Secretary of Council, J. B. Patterson.
1881.-Chief Burgess, W. L. Wilkinson; Assistant Burgess,
Isaac Alexander; Town Council, John R. Dutton, J. W.
Jeffries, John Johnston, Moses Wright, H. W. Robinson,
E. D. Abrams, Samuel Steele, B. Shoenmaker, F. S. Chalfant; Secretary of Council, J. B. Patterson.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
GOODLOE IIARPER BOWMAN.
The late Mr. Goodloe H. Bowman, of Brownsville,
who died Jan. 30, 1876, was of German and ScotchIrish extraction. His father, Jacob Bowman, v'as
born in Washington County, then Frederick County,
Md., near Hagerstown, June, 1763. In 1787 he married Isabella Lowry, who was of Scotch descent, and
was born in County Donegal, Ireland, and came to
America when seventeen years of age. Goodloe
Harper Bowman was the seventh child and third son
of this union, and was born April 20, 1803. He
was reared and educated in Brownsville, and entered
upon active business life as a merchant at about the
age of twenty years, and continued  merchandising, in partnership with his brothers, until 1855,
when he relinquishod the business, and gave his attention principally to the affairs of the Monongahela
Bank of Brownsville, of which bank he was elected
president in 1857, and continued such to the time of
his death, immediately succeeding his elder brother,
James L. Bowman, in the presidency thereof, as the
latter had succeeded his father, Jacob Bowman, who
was the first president of the bank.
Jan. 9, 1840, Mr. Bowman married Miss Jane Correy Smith, of Reading, Berks Co., Pa., by whom he
had five children,-Isabella Lowry, James Lowry,
John Howard, Ann Sweitzer, and William Robert.
Mr. Bowman, like his father, was an active member
and supporter of the Protestant Episcopal Church,
and for many years senior warden of Christ Church,
Brownsville. He was in politics a Whig in early life,
and became an ardent Republican, and contributed
liberally to the support of the Union cause during
the late Rebellion.
457HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
ADAM JACOBS.
Capt. Adam Jacobs, of Brownsville, is of German
extraction. His grandfather, Adam  Jacobs, einigrated from Lancaster County, Pa., at an early day
into Allegheny County, and there carried on farming
on Turtle Creek, near "Bradldock's Field," eleven
miles east of Pittsburgh, for several years, and then
moved to Brownsville, where he entered into merchandising, which he conducted until his death,
which occurred in 1818.
He had but one son who lived to maturity, named
after himself, Adam Jacobs, and who was born in
Brownsville, Dec. 3, 1794, and was educated at the
subscription schools and at Washington College, and
became a merchant, and on the 16th of January,
1816, married Eliza Reiley, daughter of Martin Reiley,
of Bedford, Bedford Co., Pa. He died June 29, 1822,
leaving two children, Adam and Ann Elizabeth, long
since deceased.
Adam, the last referred to, is the subject of our
sketch, and was born Jan. 7, 1817. He received his
early education in the pay schools, and at about sixteen years of age was apprenticed to G. W. Bowman
to learn coppersmithing, and remained with him four
years. He then went into the business for himself,
and in a year or two afterwards took to steamboating
on the Western rivers, and continued steamboating
until 1847. He was at this time, and had been for
years before, engaged also in building steamboats,
and from 1847 forward prosecuted steamboat-building
vigorously, at times having as many as eight boats in
a year under contract. He built over a hundred and
twenty steamboats before practically retiring from the
business about 1872, since which time he has, however, built about five boats for the Pittsburgh, Brownsville and Geneva Packet Company, and other contracts. Capt. Jacobs was also engaged in merchandising, with all the rest of his active business, from
1843 to 1865, and may be said to be still merchandising, for he has a store at East Riverside.
Since about 1872 he has spent his time mostly in
Brownsville in the winters and at his country residence, "East Riverside," Luzerne township, on the
Monongahela River, during the summer seasons.
On the 22d of February, 1838, Mr. Jacobs married
Miss Ann Snowdon (born in England in 1816), a
daughter of John and Mary Smith Snowdon, who came
from England and settled in Brownsville in 1818,
where Mr. Snowdon soon after started the business of
engine-building, and carried it on till disabled by old
age. Mr. and Mrs. Snowdon both died in advanced
years, and were buried in the Brownsville Cemetery,
where a fine monument marks the place of their repose.
Mr. and Mrs. Jacobs have had ten children, eight
of whom are living,-Mary, wife of William Parkhill; Adam, Jr., married to Laura Myers, of Canton,
Ohio; Catharine, wife of S. S. Graham; John N.,
married to Sarah Colvin; Caroline S., wife of John
H. Bowman; Anna, wife of Joseph L. McBirney, of
Chicago, 111.; Martin Reiley, now residing in Colorado; and George D.
GEORGE HOGG.
George Hogg, only son of John and Mary Crisp
Hogg, was born in Cramlington, in the county of
Northumberland, England, on the 22d day of June,
1784. When about twenty years of age he came to
Brownsville, in 1804, where he established his home,
and as a merchant created a very large and lucrative
business.
On March 7, 1811, he married Mary A., oldest
daughter of Judge Nathaniel Breading, of Tower
Hill Farm, Luzerne township, Fayette Co. Of the
marriage were born the following-named children:
George E., Nathaniel B., John T., Marv A. (who
married Felix R. Brunot); Elizabeth E. (who married William S. Bissell); and James B., lost on the
ocean.
By the integrity of his character and strict attention to business, George Hogg was eminently successful, and secured the esteem of the communities in
which he lived. Though a great lover of his adopted
country, he did not cease to be an Englishman, and
always looked back with pleasure to the good old
laws and institutions of his native land.
In May, 1843, he removed to Allegheny City, and
died there Dec. 5, 1849, in the sixty-sixth year of his
age, in the house which he bought in an unfinished
state on removing to that place, and which he completed, and wherein he spent the remainder of his
years.
During his business career he, with his uncle, William Hogg, established large business houses in Pittsburgh, Pa., and about fifteen different establishments
of merchandise and commission-houses in Ohio, together with a forwarding-house at Sandusky City, in
that State, and to which were attached a number of
vessels running on Lake Erie, and a line of boats on
the Ohio Canal.
Mr. Hogg, with the co-operation of others, built
the bridge at Brownsville over the Monongahela
River, and was also one of the original stockholders
of the Monongahela Navigation Improvement Company, through whose enterprise the great body of the
coal which is mined along the Monongahela River,
and exported, finds its way to New Orleans. He also
erected, in 1828, the Brownsville Glass-Works, and
supervised their operations till 1847, when he disposed of themn.
Mr. Hogg was confirmed in his youth according'to
the usages of the Established Church of England,
and through life was a consistent, devoted, and liberal
member of that communion.
A monument to his memory, execuited jointly by
the sculptor, Henry K. Brown, of New York, and the
458/I, z, "?                                        -,-;4-,, 
-
rvo,,           kl
/I lh - -, -  lC,c - /
4SETTLEMIENT OF TIIE COUNTY.
it is by no means strange that the former should have
known nothing about their settlement.
Another settler who came at about the same time
with Gist was William  Stewart, said to be the same
Stewart who was employed by Washington in some
capacity in his expedition to the French forts on the
Allegheny in 1753. He made his settlement on the
west shore of the Youghiogheny, near where is the
present borough of New Haven. From the fact of
his location there the place became known as "Stewart's Crossings," and retained the name for many
years.  That Stewart came here early  in  1753 is
shown by an affidavit made by his son many years
afterwards, of which the following is a copy:
" FAYETTE COUNTY, 88.
"Before the subscriber, one of the commonwealth's justices of
the peace for said county, personally appeared William Stewart, who beirg of lawful age and duly sworn on the Holy
Evangelists of Almighty God, saith, That he was living in this
county, near Stewart's Crossings, in the year 1753, and part
of the year 1754, until he was obliged to remove hence on
account of the French taking possession of this country; that
he was well acquainted with Captain Christopher Gist and
family, and also with Mr. William Cromwell, Capt. Gist's son-inlaw. lie further saith that the land where Jonathan IIill now
lives and the land where John Murphy now lives was settled
by William  Cromwell, as this deponent believes and always
understood, as tenant to the said Christopher Gist. The said
Cromwell claimed a place called the'IBeaver Dam,' which is
the place now owned by Philip Shute, and where he now livecs;
and this deponent further saLith that lie always understood that
the reason of said Cromwell's not settling on his own land (the
Beaver Dam) was that the Indians in this country at that tiime
were vercy plenty, and the said Cromwell's wife was afraid or
did not choose to live so far froml her father and mother, there
being at that time but a very few famlilies of white people settled in this country.... When this deponent's ftbther, himself,
and brothers first came into this country, it the l,eginning of the
year 1753. they attemplted to take possession of the said Beaver
Dam, and were warned off by some of said Christopher Gist's
family, who informed them that the same belonged to William
Cromwell, the said Gist's son-in-law. And further deponent
saith not.
" WILLIAM  STEWART.
"Sworn and subscribed before me this 20th of April, 1786.
"JAMIES FINLEY."
The vict6ry of the French and their Indian allies
over Washington at Fort Necessity in 1754 effected the
expulsion of every English-speaking settler from this
section of the country. There is nothing to show that
at that time there were any others located in what is
now Fayette County than Christopher Gist, his fatmily, William  Cromwell, the eleven unnamed families
living near them, Stewart and family at the " Crossings," the Browns, Dunlap,' the trader on Dunlap's
Creek, and possibly Hugh Crawford, though it is not
likely that he was then here as a settler, and if he
1 Dunlap had certainly been located here before 1759, as his place is
mentioned in Burd's journal in that year. And it is hardly likely that
lie would hlave come here after 1754 and before 1759, as the Frellnch were
then in undisputed possession of the country, and used it wholly foi
their own purposes.
was his location at that time is unknown. There
were some settlements then on the Monongahela, as
is shown by De Villiers' journal of his march back
from Fort Necessity to Fort du Quesne. An entry,
dated July 6, 1754, reads, " I burned down the Hanguard. We then embarked (on the Monongahela);
passing along, we burnt down all the settlements we
found, and about four o'clock I delivered my detachment to M. de Contrecceur."  But there is nothing to
show that any of the settlements so destroyed by
him were within the limits of the present county of
Fayette.
After the French had been driven from the head
of the Ohio by Forbes, and the English forts, Pitt
and Burd, had been erected in 1759, the country became comparatively safe for settlers, but some time
elapsed before the fugitives of 1754 began to return.
A few "military permits" were issued by the commandant at Fort Pitt, and under this authority two
or three (and perhaps more) temporary settlers were
clustered in the vicinity of Fort Burd within about
three years after its erection. One of these was
William Colvin, who located near the fort in 1761,
and received a settlement permit not long afterwards.
William Jacobs settled at the mouth of Redstone
Creek in 1761. He was -driven away by fear of the
Indians about two years later, but afterwards returned,
and received a warrant for his claim soon after the
opening of the Land Office.
Upon the conclusion of peace between France and
England, by the treaty of Paris (Feb. 10, 1763), the
king of Great Britain, desiring to appear to have
the well-being of the Indians much at heart, issued a
proclamation (in October of that year) declaring that
they must not, and should not, be molested in their
hunting-grounds by the encroachments of settlers,
and forbidding any Governor of a colony or any
military commander to issue any patents, warrants
of survey, or settlement permits for lands to the westward of the head-streams of rivers flowing into the
Atlantic,-this, of course, being an interdiction of all
settlements west of the Alleghenies. But the effect
was bad, for while the prohibition was disregarded by
settlers and by the colonial authorities (particularly
of Virginia), it caused the savages to be still more
jealous of their rights, and to regard incoming settlers
with increased distrust and dislike. This state of affairs was rendered still more alarming by the Indian
troubles in the WVest, known as the Pontiac war,
wvhich occurred in that year, and by which the passions of the savages (particularly those west of the
Alleghenies) were inflamed to such a degree that the
few settlers in the valleys of the Monongahela and
Youghiogheny Rivers, as well as those in other parts
of the trans-Allegheny region, became terrified at the
8 prospect and fled from the country.
But the thorough and decisive chastisement administered to the savages by Gen. Bouquet on the Muskingum in the fall of 1764 brought them to their
I
57C. 64f"PBROWNSVILLE BOROUIGH AND TOWNSIHIP.
sculptor Piatti,--a lofty plinth surmounted by a lifesize figure of the Angel of the Resurrection,-was
erected in Allegheny Cemetery, near Pittsburgh, Pa.,
in 1851, and located near an elegant cenotaph, by
Piatti, memorial of James B. Hogg, above referred
to, the son of Mr. George Hogg, and who went down
with the ocean steamer " Arctic," which foundered at
sea near Cape Race, Sept. 27, 1854.
WILLIAM  IIOGG.
William Hogg was born June 17, 1755, in the
county of Northumberland, England. While quite
young he entered the marine service, from which he
soon retired, and was soon thereafter drafted into the
British- military service, but deserted at Charleston,
S. C. Working his way to Philadelphia, he found
employment for about a year, when he concluded to
seek his fortune in the great unknown West. In
1786 he first visited Brownsville, at that time the
point where the military road reached the first navigable stream of the West, whereby the emigrants of
the East and the traders could by boats reach the fardistant West. Here they encamped until they could
build their boats and procure supplies of ironware
and provisions sufficient to start them in their Western homes. Mr. Hogg was pleased with the prospects
of Brownsville as a place of business. He returned
to Philadelphia to lay in a small stock of merchandise,
which was the beginning of his eminently successful
career as a merchant. During the following year he
again visited Brownsville, intending to go to Kentucky, whither the tide of emigration was moving.
He concluded, however, to make this place his home,
and here, during the eleven years he was in business,
he acquired what was then thought to be a very large
fortune. He retired from active business in 1798, and
thereafter in partnership with George Hogg, who came
from England in 1804, planted many branches of
business throughout Ohio, and purchased large bodies
of government lands.
While thus fortunate in business he established for
himself a high character for integrity over a large
region of country. He was singularly modest and
unobtrusive in all his ways, so much so that he attracted attention rather than escaped it by the simplicity of his life and manners.
Mr. Hogg, in connection with others, organized the
Monongahela Bank of Brownsville, as early as 1812,
under articles of association, which in 1814 were exchanged for a charter under the Commonwealth.
Under the State charter and the National Banking
laws this bank still has a vigorous existence, and is
probably the oldest institution west of the Allegheny
Mountains, and was for very many years the only institution of the kind over a very large region of
country.
Mr. Hogg, Mr. Jacob Bowman, Dr. Wheeler, and
George Hogg were equally efficient at a very early
-i
day in organizing at Brownsville an Episcopal Church
and erecting a large and substantial building for its
use.
William Hogg took great interest in the cause of
education at all times, but an incident exemplifying
this fact, and of historical interest as well, may here
be cited. Somewhere about 1828 or 1830, when Kenyon College, now at Gambier, Knox Co., Ohio, had
been projected, but yet lacked a site, Hon. Henry
Clay, of Kentucky, and Bishop Chase, of Ohio, visited
Brownsville and negotiated with Mr. Hogg for eight
thousand acres of land belonging to him, and which
he, in consideration that an institution of learning
was to be erected thereon, deeded to them as trustees
for $2.25 per acre, though it was held in the market
at a much higher price, and then presented them besides, for use of the college, with $6000 of the purchase-money.
At the age of about forty he married Mary Stevens,
a native of Bucks County, Pa. They both died in the
eighty-sixth year of their age, she on Nov. 11, 1840,
he on the 27th of January, 1841, and their remains
were interred in the cemetery of the Episcopal
Church. Over their remains their nephew, George
Hogg, erected a monument of native sandstone, a
noble structure for the times.
JUDGE TIIOMAS DUNCAN.
Among the venerable men of Bridgeport, highly
esteemed by all who know him, and identified with the
interests of that borough and its twin-sister, Brownsville, by over halfa century's residence and active business life within their limits, and participating in the
best measures, well performing the duties and dignifiedly bearing the responsibilities of good citizenship
therein, watchftll ever for the weal and social good order of the place where has so long been his home, is
Judge Thomas Duncan. He is of Scotch-Irish extraction. His father, Arthur Duncan, emigrated from
County Donegal, Ireland, about 1793, to America, and
found his way into Fayette County as a soldier in the
service of the United States among the troops sent
hither by the government to suppress the Whiskey Insurrection. After the troops were disbanded he settled
in Franklin township, near Upper Middletown (then
known as " Plumsock"), Menallen township, and married Sophia Wharton, daughter of Arthur Wharton, of
Franklin township, but a native of England, who held
a large tract of land in that township, and was a man
of strong individuality. Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Duncan
passed the greater portion of their lives in Upper
Middletown, but Mrs. Duncan died about 1845, in
Pittsburgh, to which place the family had removed,
and Mr. Duncan, about 1850, in Moundsville, Va., at
the residence of one of his daughters, Mrs. Nancy
Rosell.
Mr. and Mrs. Duncanr were the parents of ten
45D~!  4IISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
children, the second in number of whom is Judge
Thomas Duncan, who was born in Franklin township, Aug. 22, 1807. He received his early education
in the Thorn Bottom school-house, in those days
often pompously or ironically dubbed "The Thorn
Bottom Seminary," on Buck Run, in his native township. During his boyhood he wrought more or less
in the Plumsock Rolling-Mill, and at eighteen years
of age was apprenticed to a cabinet-maker, Thomas
Hatfield, an expert mechanic, with whom he remained three years as an apprentice and three more
as a partner. He then removed to Bridgeport, where
he has ever since resided, carrying on as his principal
business that in which he first engaged.
Judge Duncan has always taken an active part in
public affairs. He was a member of the first board
of school directors in Bridgeport chosen under the
present law organizing the common schools, and
earnestly advocated the enactment of the law long
before it was made. He has frequently been a member of the Common Council, and several times burgess
of Bridgeport. He has also taken a prominent part
as a Democrat in the politics of the county, was
county commissioner from 1841 to 1843, both inclusive, and was elected in 1851 associate judge of
Fayette County for a period of five years, and reelected in the fall of 1856 for a like term, and fulfilled
the duties of his office throughout both terms.
In 1837, Judge Duncan joined the Masonic order,
uniting with Brownsville Lodge, No. 60, and has
filled all the offices of the lodge, and is a member of
Brownsville Chapter. He is also a member of St.
Omer's Commandery, No. 7, of Brownsville, and has
been a member of Brownsville Lodge, No. 51, of the
Order of Odd-Fellows, since 1834. Judge Duncan
has also been a member of the Methodist Episcopal
Church since the last-named year.
In May, 1829, he married Priscilla Stevens, daughter
of Dr. Benjamin Stevens of Uniontown, whose father,
Benjamin Stevens, who came to Fayette County from
Maryland, was also a physician. Mrs. Duncan died
in February, 1873, at the age of sixty-six years.
Judge and Mrs. Duncan became the parents of five
children, three of whom are living,-Mrs. Elizabeth
Worrell, Dr. W. S. Duncan, both of Bridgeport, and
Thomas J. Duncan, a lawyer practicing his profession
in Washington, Pa.
WILLIAM STEVENS DUNCAN, M.D.
Dr. WV. S. Duncan, of Bridgeport, is the son
of Judge Thomas Duncan, of the same borough, a
biographical sketch of whom immediately precedes
this sketch. Dr. Duncan was born May 24, 1834;
and here the writer may quite as properly as anywhere else note the fact that the date of his birth is
the only fact or item of the following biographical
sketch which the doctor has independently furnished,
he being decidedly averse, as he expresses it, to countenancing any "representation of himself in such
manner as shall seem to have been suggested in whole
or in part by myself" (himself), or "through favorable facts which, it will be obvious, were furnished by
myself."  So the interviewer was advised to refer to
others, and if there are found any errors of opinion
or statement in this sketch they must be attributed to
the writer's sources of information.
Dr. Duncan merits more emphatic notice in awork
of this kind than is usually accorded to the living of
any profession or vocation, for he occupies a place
not only in the front rank of the physicians of Fayette County. He is a very careful and comprehensive investigator, and a progressive man, keeping
pace with the advance in medicine and its allied
sciences by the only means feasible and practicable, especially to a country physician at a distance from the colleges, lecture-rooms, and hospitals,
namely, books. The caller-in at Dr. Duncan's office,
though he come from the city, where the best private medical libraries exist, is surprised at the extent of the doctor's library, which contains the most
valuable standard medical works of the past, and is
richly supplied with the most approved works newly
issued in this country and Europe. Probably not a
score of physicians in such cities as New York or
Philadelphia individually possess libraries comparable
in value to that of Dr. Duncan, and it is probable
that out of all the other medical libraries in Fayette
County not one-half as many separate works, or
works by different authors, could be gleaned as are
contained in his. Medical books are just as much a
positive necessity for the integral understanding and
scientific practice of medicine as are good sound
" horse sense," an excellent-fundamental education in
nmedical science, prudence, etc., which are too apt to
be supposed all that a physician needs. He must
keep up with the advancement of medical science
if he would be truly successful and great, and he
should be unwilling to be less. Books are practically
his only source of information. No one physician's
"experience," though it cover a half-century of
practice, and countless cases of experiment and speculation, can afford any considerable information or
"scientific facts" in comparison with what books
supply, made up as they are out of the experiences
and studies of armies of doctors and professors of
medical science. The sick evervywhere should consider these things, and the physician of large practice,
it may be, but who is too indolent to read, or too
penurious to provide himself with books, or he who
is too poor, it may be, to be well equipped with books,
should be shunned; the former as a dangerous. speculative empiric who indolently "sets himself up"
above the ripest books and the best philosophers, and
so deliberately defrauds his patients by failing to furnish what they have a right to expect; the latter a-s
a subject of pity, of too weak parts to know his duty
to himself and the public, and so iwilling to trifle with
I
I
460(, ,'s-4                           Al-
ILNe.:/          er jszBROWNSVILLE BOROUGH AND TOWNSHIP.
human life and subject it to risks rather than undertake to borrow what he cannot do without, and be
what he pretends to be, a "doctor," or learned man
in medicine. It is no more than honorably due to Dr.
Duncan to say that he has done loyal and royal honor
to the profession by honoring himself in an unstinted
manner with the proper appointments and equipments
for practice, and the universal credit which is accorded
him as a strong man in his profession implies the
fact; for such a man as he is ever ready to acknowledge that much of wh-atever he is he owes to his
silent, richly-endowed friends, able books.
For what follows we are indebted to two books in
which professional notice of Dr. Duncan is made,
one of which is entitled "Physicians and Surgeons
of the United States," edited by William B. Atkinson, M.D., 1878; the other a record of the " Transactions of the Rocky Mountain Medical Association,"
with biographies of the members, by J. M. Toner,
M.D., a leading physician of Washington, D. C.
(1877).
Dr. Duncan was liberally educated at Mount Union
College, Stark Co., Ohio. His medical studies were
commenced in 1855 with Dr. M. O. Jones, then of
Bridgeport.  Matriculating in the University of
Pennsylvania, he took full courses of lectures, and
received his degree of M.D. therefrom in March,
1858. During the last year of his medical course
he was a member of the private class of Dr. J. J.
Woodward (one of the medical attendants of President Garfield in his last illness), in the special study
of pathology, anatomy, and microscopy. In June,
1858, he formed a partnership with his preceptor
in Bridgeport and commenced practice. The partnership continued for about two and a half years,
when the doctor entered upon business alone, and he
has since remained by himself. He still occupies the
office in which he wrote his first prescription. Dr.
Duncan served as a volunteer surgeon at Gettysburg,
was captured by the Confederate troops, but succeeded in escaping. Latterly his labors have been
occasionally interrupted by excursions, the winter
months being spent in Florida or other parts of the
South, and part of the summers in New England and
Canada. Like most country practitioners, he engages
in general practice, including surgery, and has perforined a number of important operations,-for hernia
nine times, and tracheotomy seven times, and has successfully performed the operation of excision of the
head of the humerus, and of the lower part of the
radius. Dr. Duncan is a member of the Favette
County Medical Society, and has held in turn all its
offices; also a member of the Pennsylvania State
Medical Society, and is at present one of its censors.
He is a member of the American Medical Association, and of the Rocky Mountain Medical Association, and is an honorary member of the California
State Medical Society.
Dr. Duncan is a close student, and has contributed
30
quite extensively to medical literature. Among his
numerous and able papers those entitle; as follows
merit special menltion: " Malformation of the GenitoUrinary Organs" (American Journal of Medical
Science, 1859); "Belladonna as an Antidote for Opium-Poisoning" (ibid., 1862); "Medical Delusions"
(a pamphlet published at Pittsburgh, 1869); "Reports of Cases to Pennsylvania Medical Society"
(1870-72); "Iliac Aneurism Cured by Electrolysis"
(Transactions of the same society, 1875); a paper on
"The Physiology of Death" (1876).
Dr. Duncan was married March 21, 1861, to Miss
Amanda Leonard, daughter of Benjamin and Mary
Berry Leonard, of Brownsville. They have one
child, a daughter.,SAMUEL STEELE.
Mr. Samuel Steele, of Brownsville, is of ScotchIrish extraction. His great-grandparents came to
America from the north of Ireland about 1740, and
settled, it is believed, in Eastern Pennsylvania. On
the passage over the Atlantic Mrs. Steele presented
her husband with a son, who was given the name
William, and who was the grandfather of Mr. Samuel Steele. William grew up to manhood and found
his way into Maryland, where he married and resided
for a period of time, the precise record of which is
lost; but there several children were born to him,
one of whom, and the oldest son, was John, the
father of Samuel Steele. About 1783 or 1784, William Steele removed from Maryland with his family
to Fayette County, to a point on the "Old Packhorse road" about six miles east of Brownsville, where
he purchased a tract of land, which is now divided into
several excellent farms, occupied by Thomas Murphy,
who resides upon the old Steele homestead site, and
others. William Steele eventually removed to Rostraver township, Westmoreland Co., where he died in
1806.
Some years prior to his death Mr. William Steele
purchased for his sons John and William a tract of
land in what is now Jefferson township, and embraced the farms now owned and occupied by John
Steele and Joseph S. Elliott. John Steele (the father
of Mr. Samuel S.) eventually married Miss Agnes
(often called "Nancy") Happer, by whom he had
eight children, of whom Samuel was the fourth in
number, and was born June 15, 1814. Mr. John
Steele died June 6, 1856, at about the age of eightythree.
Mr. Samuel Steele was brought up on the farm,
and in his childhood attended the subscription
schools. In his eighteenth year he left home and
entered as an apprentice to the tanning and currying
trade the establishment of Jesse Cunningham, his
brother-in-law, a noted tanner of Brownsville, where
he served three years in learning the business. After
the expiration of his apprenticeship he entered upon
46lHISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
tlhe pursuit of various businesses, among whiclh was
flat-boating,agricultural products, apples, etc., cider,
and provisions of various kinds down the Monongahela to the Ohio, and on to Cincinnati and Louisville,
where he usually sold his merchandise, but sometimes
made trips to New Orleans. He followed the business in spring-time for soine seven years, ending about
February, 1843, when occurred the death of Mr. Jesse
Cunningham. Mr. Steele then entered into partnership with his sister, Mrs. Cunningham, under the
firm-name Samuel Steele  Co., and carried oIn the
business at the old place till 1860, when the partnership was amicably dissolved; and Mr. Steele sank a
new yard, a few blocks higher up the hill, wherein he
has since that time conducted business. In 1880 he
took into partnership with hinlself his son William,
under the firm-name of " Samuel Steele  Son."
Feb. 11, 1852, Mr. Steele married Miss Elizabeth
A. Conwell, of Brownsville, by whom he has had four
sons and four daughters, all of whom are living.
In politics he was formerly an old-line Whig, and
is now an ardent Republican. In religion he preserves the faith of his fathers, being a Presbyterian.
His wife and daughters are members of the Episcopal Church.
JOHN HERBERTSON.
John Herbertson, of Bridgeport, who has been for
over fifty years one of the most active business men
and substantial citizens of the borough in which he
resides, was born in Glasgow, Scotland, Sept. 16, 1805.
In his childhood he attended the common schools,
and had the good fortune to listen to many of the
scientific lectures of the renowned Ure. At seventeen years of age he left home for America. Having
spent some time in learning the joiners' and cabinetmakers' trades, and the law at that time forbidding
mechanics to leave the realm, young Herbertson got
his tools smuggled on board the "Commerce," the
ship on which he took passage, and which, after a
voyage of five weeks and two days, landed him in
New York, in July, 1823. He soon proceeded to
Marietta, Ohio, to enter upon farming under the misrepresentations of one Nahum Ward, a great scamp,
who by nmisrepresentations induced many people of
Glasgow and elsewhere to leave their homes and
settle upon his lands. At Marietta, Mr. Herbertson
"acquired" little else than fever and ague, and
moved, after a few months, to Pittsburgh, Pa., where
he arrived in April, 1824. He lived in Pittsburgh
about five years, meanwhile learning the trade of
steam-engine building. In 1829 he engaged with
John Snowdon, of Brownsville, as foreman in his
engine-shop. He remained with Mr. Snowdon about
seven years. During this time Mr. Snowdon took the
contract for putting up the iron bridge over Dunlap's
Creek, believed to be the first iron bridge ever built
in America, as it is the first of its kind ever built in
any country. For this bridge Mr. Herbertson did all
the head-work, and, in fact, all the mechanical work.
He designed the bridge, making the first drawing,
which was sent on to West Point, and there accepted
by the government construction engineers. He made
the patterns, supervised the moulding, and also the
erection of the bridge.
After the expiration of Ihis engagement with Mr.
Snowdon he went into the business of engine-building with Thomas Faull, the firm-name being Faull
 Herbertson. This was in 1837 or 1838. He continued business with Mr. Faull till 1842, when the
latter withdrew, and Mr. Herbertson has ever since
then carried on the business on the same site. He has
built a large number of steamboat- and mill-engines.
His work has been ordered from distant parts of the
United States and from Mexico. As a skilled mechanic and designer of nmechanical work, but few
men, if ally, in his line have excelled him. At the
age of seventy-six he takes active interest in his business, and with the aid of his sons, all thoroughly instructed in the business and competent to take their
father's place and let him wholly retire, if he would,
he still carries on an extensive work, which, however,
has, since September, 1880, been conducted by him
in partnership with his sons, George S. and William
H. Herbertson, and his son-in-law, William H. Ammon, and Mr. A. C. Cock, under the firm-name of
John Herbertson  Co.
In politics Mr. Herbertson is a Republican, but has
never taken active part as a politician; in fact, he has
had no time to waste as such. No man's reputation
for integrity and the other virtues which go to make
a noble and honorable man stands higher in his community than that of Mr. Herbertson.
In 1830, Mr. Herbertson married Miss Eliza Nimon,
daughter of Peter and Sarah Potts Nimon, of Pittsburgh, Pa. Mrs. Herbertson is living, and at the age
of seventy is active and thoroughly superintends her
domestic affairs.
They have been the parents of twelve children, five
of whom are living,-Sarah, first married to J. W.
Kidney (deceased), and now the wife of A. J. Davis,
of Pittsburgh; John P., who married Frances Marcus, of Bridgeport; Mary, the wife of William H.
Ammon; George S., married to Sarah Bar, of Bridge-.
port; and William H. Herbertson.
WILLIAM CHATLAND.
Mr. William Chatland, of Brownsville, was born
at Stratford-on-Avon, Warwickshire, England, June
9, 1811. He is the son of William Chatland, of
Meriden, a borough six miles north of the city of
Coventry, in the same shire, and of Priscilla Green
Chatland, of Brier Hill, Staffordshire.
Mr. William Chatland, Sr., died in London about
1819, at the age of forty years, and some five years
i
462I
I
CZ
ir//HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
senses, and made the country once more safe, so tha
the years 1765 and 1766 not only saw the return o
the people who had fled from the country betweer
the Monongahela and Youghiogheny Rivers, but X
very considerable increase of settlements in the sam(
territory by fresh arrivals of immigrants from th(
frontiers of Maryland and Virginia, to which lattei
province this region was then supposed to belong
A letter dated Winchester, Va., April 30, 1765, said
" The frontier inhabitants of this colony and Maryland are removing fast over the Allegheny Mountains
in order to settle and live there." The immigrants
who came here in that and several succeeding years
settled chiefly in the valley of the Redstone (which
included also Dunlap's Creek in usual mention), at
Turkey Foot, and some other points below on the
Youghiogheny, in the valley of the Cheat, and in
Gist's neighborhood. In the settlements at these
places, with that af Pittsburgh, were embraced nearly
all the white inhabitants of Pennsylvania west of the
Alleghenies' until about the year 1770.
Information having come to the king of England
that settlements were being made quite rapidly west
of the mountains in defiance of his prohibition, he,
in October, 1765, sent the following instructions to
Governor Penn: "Whereas it hath been represented
unto us that several persons from Pennsylvania and the
back settlements of Virginia have immigrated to the
westward of the Allegheny Mountains, and have there
seated themselves on lands contiguous to the river
Ohio, in express disobedience to our royal proclamation of Oct. 7, 1763, it is therefore our will and pleasure, and you are enjoined and required to put a stop
to all these and all other like encroachments for the
future by causing all persons who have irregularly
seated themselves on lands to the westward of the
Allegheny Mountains immediately to evacuate those
premises."  Instructions of the same purport had
been sent to the Governor of Virginia in 1754, and a
proclamation had been issued by the Governor, but
without having the desired effect. The dissatisfaction
among the Indians increased rapidly, and to a degree
which awakened the authorities to the necessity for
some action to allay it. The chiefs of the Six Nations were invited to a treaty council, which was
accordingly held at Fort Pitt in May, 1766, at which
no little dissatisfaction was expressed by the Indians
I Judge Veech says, "The documentary history of 1765,'66,'67, and
indeed of all that decade, speaks of no other settlements in Western
Pennsylvania, or the West generally, thlan those within or'imme.
diately bordering upon the Monongahela, upon Cheat, upon the
Yough, the Turkey Foot, and Redstone, the first and last being thle
most prominent, and the last the most extensive, covering all the interior settlements about UTnionltown. Georges Creek settlers were ieferred to Cheat, those about Gist's to the Yonlglh, while Turkey Foot
took in all the mountain districts. All these settlenments seem to have
been nearly conteniporaneous, those on the Redstone and the Monongahela border being perhaps the earliest, those on the Yough and Turkey Foot the latest, while those of Georges Creek aind Cheat occupy an
intermediate date, blending with all the others. They all range from
176:1 to 1768, inclusive."
t at the unwarranted encroachments being made by the
f  whites. In a letter dated at the fort on the 24th of
t  the month mentioned, George Croghan, deputy Indian
a  agent, said, " As soon as the peace was made last year
e [meaning the peace that followed Bouquet's victory
e of 1764], contrary to our engagements to them [the
r Indians], a number of our people came over the Great
Mountain and settled at Redstone Creek and upon, the Monongahela, before they had given the country
to the king, their father."  He also addressed Gen.
s  Gage, commander-in-chief of the British forces in
s  America, saying, " If some effectual measures are not
s speedily taken to remove those people settled on Redstone Creek till a boundary can be properly settled
t or proposed, and the Governors pursue vigorous measures, the consequences may be dreadful, and we be
involved in all the calamities of another general
war."'
r   This resulted in the ordering of Capt. Alexander
Mackay, with a detachment of the Forty-second Regiment of Foot, to Fort Burd, where he issued a proclamation, dated at Redstone Creek,2 June 22, 1766,
which proclamation was as follows: "To all people
now inhabiting to the westward of the Allegheny
Mfountains: In consequence of several complaints
made by the savages against the people who have
presumed to inhabit some parts of the country west
of the Allegheny Mountains, which by treaty belong
to them, and had never been purchased, and which
is contrary to his Majesty's royal proclamation, his
Excellency, the commander-in-chief, out of compassion to your ignorance, before he proceeds to extremity, has been pleased to order me, with a detachment
from the garrison at Fort Pitt, to come here and collect you together, to inform you of the lawless and
licentious manner in which you behave, and to order
you also to return to your several provinces without
delay, which I am to do in the presence of some Indian chiefs now along with me. I therefore desire
you will all come to this place along with the bearer,
whom I have sent on purpose to collect you together.
"His Excellency, the commander-in-chief, has ordered, in case you should remain after this notice, to
seize and make prize of all goods and merchandise
brought on this side the Allegheny Mountains, or
exposed to sale to Indians at any place except at his
Majesty's garrison; that goods thus seized will be a
lawful prize, and become the property of the captors.
The Indians will be encouraged in this way of doing
themselves justice, and if accidents should happen,
you lawless people must look upon yourselves as the
cause of whatever may be the consequence hurtful to
your persons and estates; and if this should not be
sufficient to make you return to your several provinces,
his Excellency, the cominander-in-chief, will order an
armed force to drive you from the lands you have
2 At that time the name of "Redstone" was also given to the vicinity
of Fort Burd and the valley of Dunlap's Creek.
I
58I
vIllWILLIAM H. MILLER.BROWNSVILLE BOROUGH AND TOWNSHIP.
subsequent to the death of his wife, which occurred
in 1814. Mr. Chatland, who was but three years of
age at the death of his mother, was placed in the
charge of his grandmother, Mrs. Ann Chatland, by
whom he was reared until about his tenth year, when
his grandmother died. He was then taken by his
uncle, Joseph Chatland, a prosperous baker of Coventry, with whom he resided until about his thirteenth year, and was then apprenticed to Daniel
Claridge, a famous baker of Coventry at that tinie,
to learn the art of baking in all its branches. He
remained with Mr. Claridge for seven years. After the
expiration of his apprenticeship he went to London,
and there, during a period of three years and a half,
occupied positions in two first-class houses of that
city. After finishing his stay in London he returned
to Coventry, established himself in the baker's business, and married Miss Elizabeth Manton, the
daughter of William Manton, a farmer of Berkswell,
Warwickshire. He conducted business in Coventry
for some six years, after which, and selling out, he
migrated with his family-wife and three daughtersto the United States, arriving in New York April 20,
1844.  In a few days thereafter he took the old
" Bingham Line" for Pittsburgh, Pa. Tarrying there
awlhile prospecting, he eventually moved to the countyseat of Washington County, where he resided, carryinig on both the baking and confectionery business,
for about eight years, and in 1852 organized a coinpany of fifteen persons to go with him by the overland route to California, where, at Sacramento, he
bought out a baking business, which he conducted
with great success until he was seized by fever and
ague, and was compelled to leave the country. He
returned to his family, who had remained meanwhile
at Washington. Failing to find a suitable location
for business in that town, he betook himself to
Brownsville in 1854, where he has since resided,
carrying on business by himself for about eighteen
years, whlen he took into partnership his son-in-law,
George W. Lenhart, the husband of' his daughter
Sarah. Under the firm-name of Chatland  Lenhart they do an extensive business, and enjoy the
reputation of making the best water-cracker now in
use. They manufacture products of every department of their trade.
Mrs. Elizabeth Chatland died at Brownsville, Jan.
28, 1874, in the sixty-first year of her age, leaving
three daughters, all now living. Elizabeth, the eldest
daughter, married Theodore A. Bosler, a son of Dr.
Bosler, of Mechanicsburg, Pa., and now residing in
Dayton, Ohio. Miss Mary Ann, the second daughter,
resides with her father. Sarah Ann Kate, the youngest
daughter, is the wife of Geo. W. Lenhart, before mentioned.
Mr. Chatland and his family are members of the
Protestant Episcopal Church, he being now and for a
long time having been a vestryman therein. Since
1848, Mr. Chatland has been a prominent member
of the Masonic fraternity. He was District Deputy
Grand Master for Pennsylvania for the space of fifteen
years, District Deptuty High Priest for sixteen years;
also Eminent Commander of St. Omer's Commandery,
No. 7, held at Brownsville, for the period of about
eighteen years. Mr. Chatland is justly proud of his
record as a Mason.
WILLIAM H. MILLER.
William H. Miller, of Bridgeport, is of English
Quaker descent on his paternal side.  His greatgrandfather, Solomon Miller, who was a miller by
trade, was born in England, married there, and emnigrated with his family to America prior to 1750, and
settled in York County, Pa. Of his children was
Robert Miller, who was born in York County, Pa.,
and in early manhood removed to Frederick County,
near Frederick City, Md., and purchased a farm, and
soon after married Miss Cassandra Wood, a Virginia
lady, who lived near Winchester, Va. They resided
upon the farm near Frederick City till 1796, wlhen
they removed to Berkeley County, Va., where they
remained about three years, and then, in 1799, came
into Fayette County and settled in Luzerne township,
on a farm purchased of one Joseph Briggs, and now
owned by Capt. Isaac Woodward. Residing there
for several years, his wife meanwhile dying, Robert
Miller eventually moved into Brownsville, and took
up his residence on Front Street, upon property now
belonging to the heirs of Thomas Morehouse, and
there died about 1832. He was the father of four
sons and four daughters, all of whom grew to maturity. Of these was William Miller, who was born
Sept. 9, 1782, in Frederick County, Md. At the age
of sixteen he became a clerk in a dry-goods store
belonging to his uncle, William Wood, in New Market, Va., and in 1799 came with his father into
Fayette County. He soon after took up the avocation of school-teaching, and pursued it near Perryopolis, in the old Friends' Church, known as "Redstone Church," in Bridgeport, on what was formerly
called " Peace`,Hill," and elsewhere. He followed
teachiing until f110, when he married Miss Rebecca
Johnson, daughter of Squire Daniel Johnson, of
Menallen, and at 6nce settled on a farm- in that townshil, near New Salem, and lived there till March,
1837. He then removed to Brownsville and purchased a woolen-fatory (no longer standing) and a
fiouring-mill, then standing on the site whereon is
located the present fiouring-mill of his son, W. H.
Miller. He pursued milling till 1855, when he retired
from business and led a private life until his death,
which occurred June 7, 1866. Mrs. Rebecca Miller
died Nov. 14, 1833, and in 1834 Mr. Miller married
Ann Johnson, his first wife's half-sister, who, childless herself, made a good mother for her sister's children. She is still living, nearly eighty years of age,
cheerful and buoyant in spirits.
463IIISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Mr. Williarn and Mrs. Rebecca Johnson Miller were
the parents of nine children, all of whom grew to
maturity, eight still living,-Warwick, born Dec. 11,
1811; Hiram, born Dec. 31, 1813; Sarah, born Sept. 7,
1816; Mary, born Feb. 5, 1819; Cassandra (deceased),
born March 3, 1821; Lydia, born Jan. 14, 1823; Jane,
born June 30, 1825; William H., born March 6, 1829;
and Oliver, born Dec. 13, 1831.
William H. Miller, the eighth in the above list,
was educated in the common, and the Friends' school,
and learned the milling business, upon which he entered in partnership with his brother Oliver in 1855
in the mill before named, and which he and his
brother inherited from their father. The partnership
continued for five years, when Mr. Miller bought out
the interest of his brother, who removed to a farm in
Luzerne township. In January, 1866, a fire destroyed
both the flouring-mill and the old woolen-factory before referred to. The buildings being uninsured the
loss was total. Mr. Miller immediately put up a new
and better building on the old site, and to this time
conducts business therein. As is noted above, Mr.
Miller's great-grandfather, Solomon, was a miller
by trade, and from his day down to the present the
trade has been practically and continuously represented by his descendants.
Mr. Miller has held several town and borough
offices, and was for eight years director in the Deposit
and Discount Bank of Brownsville, which two years
ago gave up its charter, a portion of its stockholders
uniting in the organization of the National Deposit
Bank of Brownsville, of which bank Mr. Wiliam
H. Miller is the president, the National Bank doing
business in the same house formerly occupied by the
bank the place of which it took.
May 16, 1855, Mr. Miller married Miss Margaret J.
Gibson, daughter of Alexander and Mary Hibbs Gibson, of Luzerne township. They have two children,
-A. Gibson Miller, born Feb. 7, 1861, and Sarah
Helen Miller.
Mr. Miller was brought up an Orthodox Friend,
observing the faith of his fathers, but is now a meniber,
as is also his wife, of the Cumberland Presbyterian
Church. In politics he is a Republican.
HON. JOHN L. DAWSON.
John L. Dawson was born in Uniontown on the
7th of February, 1813. When quite young he removed with his father's family to Brownsville, where
he grew up and spent the greater part of his life. He
was educated at Washington College, read law in
Uniontown under the direction of his uncle, the Hon.
John Dawson, and in due course was admitted to the
bar and commenced the practice of his profession.
Entering into politics at anl early age, he soon took
a leading part on the Democratic side in all current
questions and controversies.  In 1838 he was appointed by Governor Porter deputy attorney-general
for Fayette County, and discharged the duties of the
office with fidelity and ability. In 1845, President
Polk appointed him United States district attorney
for the Western District of Pennsylvania, which office
he held during the whole of Polk's administration,
and discharged its duties with signal ability. He
was a delegate to the Democratic National Conventions of 1844, 1848, 1856, and 1860. During the
Kansas troubles President Pierce tendered him the
Governorship of that Territory, but he declined to
accept it.
In 1848, Mr. Dawson was the candidate of the
Democratic party for member of Congress in the district then composed of Fayette, Greene, and Somerset Counties, but was defeated by his competitor, the
Hon. A. J. Ogle, of Somerset. He was renominated
in 1850, and triumphantly elected, the first and only
time that district was carried by the Democrats. In
1852 he was again nominated for member of Congress, and was elected, the district then being composed of Favette, Washington, and Greene Counties.
At the end of this term he declined to re-enter the
congressional arena, and remained in private life
until 1862, when he was again elected to Congress,
and re-elected in 1864, both these elections being
for the district composed of the counties of Fayette, Westmoreland, and Indiana. Soon after his
entrance into Congress he introduced the Homestead bill, which had previously been defeated, and
with the addition of a number of important provisions, originated by himself, he advocated the measure
with great earnestness, eloquence, and ability, and
continued to advocate it until he had the gratification of seeing it become a law. In the Thirty-eighth
Congress he was a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs. At the close of his terrm in the Thirtyninth Congress, Mr. Dawson's public career ended.
He had previously purchased the property formerly
owned and occupied by the Hon. Albert Gallatin, in
Springhill township, Fayette Co., and there he resided with his family during the remainder of his
life. He died at his residence, "Friendship Hill,"
on the 18th of September, 1870, in the fifty-eighth
year of his age. At his death the Cincinnati Enquirer gave the following deserved tribute to his
memory:
" He belonged to a school of great, good, and useful
men, but a few of whom linger now to adorn and serve
a country whose name their genius contributed so
much to make glorious, and whose prosperity and
happiness their wisdom and integrity ever sought to
promote. Among political philosophers and practical
statesmen, he was one of our profoundest thinkers.
As an orator, whether on the mission of persuasion or
conviction, he had but few rivals; and as a private
citizen, his exalted character was without a blemish.
His career in Congress was in every respect brilliant.
The private friendships he there contracted, even in
I
464BRIDGEPORT BOROUGH AND TOWNSHIP.
the face of the bitterest prejudices, the lapse of years
served only to strengthen and brighten, and the public record that he made is a proud heritage for his
fainily, aind a shining example for future statesmen,
and must grow brighter and brighter as time reveals
-as reveal more anid more each revolving year it
surely will-the soundness of his judgment, the
breadth of his comprehension, the clearness of his
foresight, and the truth of his predictions. Always
dignified, debonair, and dispassionate in debate, no
eruptions of temper ever ruffled the calm surface of
his vigorous intellect. Endowed with an impressive
and imposing presence, and those rare anid peculiar
gifts so prominently adapted to ad captandutm discussion, he was not more honored by his own party as a
leader than he was dreaded by the opposition as an
adversary. The loss of such a man as John L. Dawson amounts to a national calamity."
BRIDGEPORT BOROUGH AND TOWNVSHIP.
BRIDGEPoRT-borough and township, both covering the same area and lying within the same limitsis situated on the. right bank of the Monongahela,
extending up the river from the mouth of Dunlap's
Creek. The latter stream forms its eastern and the
river its northwestern boundary. On its other sides
it is bounded by the township of Luzerne, from Dunlap's Creek to the river.
For a period of more than half a century prior to
the time when travel and traffic became diverted by
the opening of the railway lines in Western Pennisylvania this town was a point of great comparative importance as a place of manufacturing industries, of
flat-boat, keel-boat, and steamboat building, and as
(practically) the head of steamboat navigation on the
river. By reason of the lack of railway facilities,
for many years Bridgeport lost much of its relative
importanice, but it is still one of the principal business-points on the Monongahela, and the recent opening (in the spring of 1881) of the Pittsburgh, Virginia
and Charleston Railroad line from Pittsburgh to West
Brownsville cannot fail to add materially to its prosperity. Its population by the United States census
of 1880 was 1134.
EARLY SETTLEMENTS AND INDUSTRIES.
Within the territory now embraced in the limits of
the borough and township of Bridgeport the earliest
landholder of whom any accouint is found was Capt.
Lemuel Barrett, a native of Marvland, who, in 1763,
obtained "a military permit from the conimandant
at Fort Pitt, for the purpose of cultivating lands
within the custom limits of the garrison then called
*Fort Burd," the military work which had been built
four years earlier on the other side of Dunlap's
Creek. The land embraced in this "military permit" was the site of the town of Bridgeport, but no
patent covering it was ever issued to Barrett, nor did
he ever hold any title to it under Pennsylvania warrant or Virginia certificate, his being merely a
" claim" which the later owner of the land thought it
expedient to purchase in order to secure an unquestioned title. In fact, there were other claims, result-ing from the same class of military permits, which
adjoined and to some extent overlapped and conflicted with that of Barrett.  These were chiefly
above and south of the present territory of Bridgeport borough,' yet there was one, Angus McDonald,
2 " The land just above Bridaeport, on the river, enibracin- some three
or four hundred acres, was ijn early times," says Judge Veech, "tile
subject of long and angry controversies-from 1769 to 1785-between
adverse claimants under military permits. It was well named in thie
official survey wlhichi orne of the parties procured of it under a Peninsylvania location' Bone of Contention.' Onie Angus McDonald claimed it,
or part of it, under a military permit from Col. Bouquet, dated April 246,
1763, and a settlement oni it. In March, 1770, he sold his claimii to Capt.
Luke Collins, descrilbing the lanid as'at a place called Fort Burd, to iilelude the field cleared by me where the saw-pit [douibtless a saw-p't
constructed by Col. Burd's men when building the fort] was, above the
mouth of Delap's [Dunlap's] Creek.'  Collins conveyed it to Capt.
Michael Cresap, con the 13th of April, 1772,'at half-past niine in the
morning,' describing it as situate'between Point Loolcoit anjd John
Martin's land,' recently owned, we believe, by the late Mrs. John S.
Krepps. Cresap's executors in June, 1781, conveyed to one William
Schooley, an old Brownisville merchlant, who conveyed to Rees Cadwallader. The adverse claimants wer e Henry Shyrock [of Frederick
County, Md.] and William Shearer, assignee of George Andrew. Their
claim reached farther southward towards the creek, and farther up the
river, covering the John Martin land. They sold out to Robert Adams
and Thomas Shain. Althouigh they had the oldest permit (in 1762) their
title seems to have been overcome by the settlement and official locatiou
and survey of their adversary.
"One Robert Thorn seems also to have been a claimant of part of the
land, but Collins bouight hiii out. This protracted controversy involved
miany curious quiestionis, anid called up maniy ancient recollections. NO
donibt the visit to this locality of Mr. Deputy Sheriff Woods, of Bedford,
in 1771, was parcel of this cointroversy. Many of these early claims were
lost or foi-feited by nieglect to settle the land according to law, and thus
were supplanted by others. Thev were valued by their owners at a very
low mark, atid often sold for trifling suims.
"These settlemenits by virtue of military permits began abouit this
period-from 1760 to 1765-to be somewlhat niumerouis in the vicinity of
Forts Pitt anid Burd, and along the army roads leading thereto. Thlty
were subsequently recognized as valid by the Pemins even before they
had bought out the In(dian title. This was a departure froni their general policy, required to umaintain those fortls ad keep up atccess to tlmteim.
They were inideed regarded as mere app)endages to the forts, and as accessories to the trade and ititercourse withi time Indians, and not as per4 0
465HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
who asserted his ownership, under such claim, of
lands embracing a considerable part of the land now
embraced in Bridgeport.
In 1783, Rees Cadwallader acquired bv purchase
the claims of both Angus McDonald (which in the
mean time had passed through several intermediate
hands) and of Capt. Lemuel Barrett to the lands
now embraced in the borough of Bridgeport. He
had already taken steps to obtain a title under the
State of Pennsylvania, and received a warrant of
survey which secured it, but the patent did not issue
to him until Oct. 1, 1787. The name of the tract, as
mentioned in the warrant and patent, was "Peace,"
a very appropriate designation to give it in token
of the final settlement of the conflict of claims to it
and contiguous territory.
Rees Cadwallader was then the first permanent
settler in what is now the borough of Bridgeport.
His residence was on the bank of Dunlap's Creek,
and farther up that stream he built a mill, where the
"Prospect Mills" of William  H. Miller now stand.
The race started from the creek, at a log dam (located where the present dam is), and ran round the
foot of the hill to the mill. Another mill was built
soon afterwards by Jonah Cadwallader at the point
where Harvey Leonard's saw-mill now stands, on the
creek at the borough line.
Isaac Rogers came from Chester County, Pa., to
Bridgeport about 1795, and erected a dwelling where
John Springer's warehouse now stands. He was a
mnerchant, and opened a store in a frame building
that stood on the lot now occupied by Joseph Rogers.
About 1804 he went into business with Rees Cadwallader, in a store that stood on a lot now vacant, opposite Dr. Hubbs' drug-store. He was also a justice of
the peace for years. He had five children. His only
son, Thomas, studied law in Uniontown with John
Lyon, was admitted to the bar in 1822, and practiced
in that town for several years. He was captain of the
"Jackson Artillerists," and was accidentally killed
while on the way to take part in an encampment of
troops at Pittsburgh. His sister, Affinity Rogers (second daughter of Isaac), became the wife of Samuel B.
Page (a son of Jonathan Page, of Connellsville), who
came to Bridgeport in 1826. Some years after the
death of his wife he married Mary, another daughter
of Isaac Rogers. He (Page) was by trade a shoemaker, and started a shoemaker's shop in Bridgeport
in 1827. For a few years after his coming to Bridgeport he worked at his trade and also kept a shoestore. In 1832 he went as a clerk on one of the river
steamboats. He afterwards becanie a builder and
owtner of steamboats, which ran on the Monongahela
and Ohio, and by his activity and enterprise accumulated considerable property. In 1843 he purchased
David Binns' place on the hill, and lived there until
1861, when he sold to Levi Colvin. In 1856 he was
elected member of Assembly. He died in July, 1878.
His widow now resides in Brownsville.
The town of Bridgeport was laid out by Rees Cadwallader in 1794. The first sales of lots in the town
were made by him, late in the year 1795, and after
that they were sold with considerable rapidity. On
the 3d of November, in the year mentioned, he conveyed "to the Citizens of Bridgeport a plat of land
for a public ground, commencing at the North West
extremity of Bank Street, and running along said
street one hundred and sixty-five feet to Water Street,
and up Water Street to --   Street, along said street
one hundred and forty-eight feet to the Monongahela
River."
In June, 1796, Rees Cadwallader, Jonas Cattle
[Cattell?], and Obed Garwood, of Fayette County,
and Amos Hough, of Washington County, sold to
Samuel Jackson, John Dixon, and William Dixon,
of Fayette County, and Ebenezer Walker, of Westmoreland Countv, " Trustees in behalf of the People
called Quakers," eight acres of land, which had been
patented to Andrew Gudgel, June 10, 1788, and by
him sold on the 18th of October following to Rees
Cadwallader and the other grantors above named.
Feb. 29, 1799, Rees Cadwallader sold to the Friends'
society three acres of land in Bridgeport, comprising
the Quaker grounds on the hill, on a part of which
the present union school-house stands. On this plat
was set apart the earliest burial-ground of Bridgeport.
Rees Cadwallader died a few years after the commencement of the present century, and a large number of town lots then remaining unsold passed to the
possession of his heirs. His sons emigrated to Zanesville, Ohio, some years afterwards, and none of his
descendants are now living in Bridgeport or vicinity.
Robert Rogers, who was for a period of almost sixty
years a well-known and enterprising citizen of Bridgeport and Brownsville, was a nephew of Isaac Rogers,
whose settlement in Bridgeport about 1795 is noticed
above. Robert was born in Queen Anne County,
Md., Jan. 15, 1794, and after the death of his father,
in 1806, lived with an uncle until the fall of 1807.
At that time another uncle (Lambert Boyer), who
had settled in Washington County, Pa., visited Maryland, and it was decided that Robert Rogers should
return with him to the West. They accordingly set
out on their long journey across the mountains, having only one horse for the two travelers. This " rideand-tie" method of journeying (in which doubtless
the boy Robert performed most of the pedestrian part)
was a slow process, but they finally reached that important point in the western bound travel of that day,
-the mouth of Dunlap's Creek. This for Robert was
the end of the journey, for here he found his uncle,
Isaac Rogers, with whom it was decided he should
manent settlements for honie and subsistence. The Moniongahela River
below Fort Burd, being ill fact an army highway, came in for a share of
these favors. Their aggregate was few, and they were often far between."
4(;6BRIDGEPORT BOROUGII AND TOIWVNSHIP.
remain,-his uncle Boyer proceeding on to his home
west of the Monongahela.
On his arrival at Bridgeport young Robert Rogers
was placed in the store of his uncle Isaac, and also
attended school during the small poition of the time
in which schools were then taught at this place. In
the fall of 1809 he was apprenticed in Bridgeport to
Cephas Gregg' (who had himself just completed his
apprenticeship with'Jacob Webb) to learn the trade
of potter. " I continued work" [says Mr. Rogers 2] " at
my trade as apprentice till the middle of January,
1815, when I was twenty-one. Then I left Bridgeport
on a flat-boat, and went to Pittsburgh for work." The
night before he started on this trip from Bridgeport
there was a deep flll of snow. The river was so low
that on arriving, in the middle of the night, at Baldwin's mill-dam, near Cookstown (Fayette City), and
attempting to run the chute, the boat struck on the
rocks, "and, being iron-loaded, sunk immediately
and we had to climb on the roof, which was still out
of water."  Some of Baldwin's people came with a
boat and took them off, and they stayed at the house
until morning, but nearly perished of cold. This was
on the Fayette County side of the river. In the morning Rogers and others started on down the river on
foot, and after a most fatiguing day's travel reached
Elizabethtown in the evening. The next day he
walked to Pittsburgh, and there " obtained employment in a queenswaretfactory at the head of'Hog
Pond' [between Grant and Smithfield Streets], lately
established by a Scotchman from Edinboro' named
Trotter [a man'who' was seven feet tall in his boots,
and being rather slim looked even taller']. Queensware was scarce, and ours sold readily and high, common yellow cups and saucers at one dollar per set,
and heavy, clumsy ones they were."  The diary
continues: "This spring [1815], while working in
Pittsburgh, news came of the treaty of Ghent and the
battle of New Orleans, in consequence the town was
illuminated. Soon after peace foreign ware began to
come in, and we could not compete.... I returned
to Bridgeport and Trotter to Scotland..... On my
arrival at Bridgeport I went to work with John Riley
(who was carrying on another shop from the one I
learned my trade in), and continued with him till late
in the fall of 1815...."  Then he was employed on
a steamboat on the river; visited New Orleans in the
spring of 1816; in the following fall returned to
Bridgeport, where he was married in October of that
year, and " undertook to carry on the shop for Cephas
Gregg on shares." In the spring of 1818 he again
went on the river, but soon returned to Bridgeport,
1 Cephas Gregg's pottery-works were located where the new brick
llouse of Seaburni Cr(awford now stands. They were afterwards carried
on by Robert Rogers, with his other business, for about thirty years.
From about 1814 John Riley had a pottery where Herbertsoll's machine-shops now are. Riley's pottery was in operation as late as the
year 1820, and probably after that time.
2 In a diary of his whicih is still in existence, and from which these
extracts in reference to him are made.
and during the almost half-century of his subsequent
life was prominent in matters of business enterprise,
both in Bridgeport and Brownsville, to which lastnamed place he removed his residence in April, 1834.
He died of paralysis on the 27th of January, 1866,
aged seventy-two years.
The journal of Robert Rogers, from which extracts
have been given above, contains the following remarks, having reference to the business of Bridgeport from the time of his arrival there in 1807, viz.:
"It was some time after this that the National
road was built from Cumberland west, and there was
great emigratiom from the Eastern States and from
Europe. They crossed the mountains and came to
Redstone Old Fort, and the road was so long and
rough that the emigrants would be so tired when they
got here that they seldom went beyond this by land,
but mostly in flat-boats called arks, floating only with
the current. These were mostly twenty to fifty feet
long, and twelve to sixteen feet wide, put together
with wooden pins (no spikes in use), generally poplar
gunwales, roof of thin boards, doubled and bent, and
fastened with wooden pins.... It was big business
here to supply emigrants with these boats, provisions,
farming implelnents, and housekeeping articles to
take with them. When the National road was completed to the Monongahela River, the arrivals of emigrants [meaning those who stopped here to construct
or purchase boats] was very great for several years;
but after the road was extended then emigration was
divided, some taking that route. In the early days
there were considerable quantities of flour and apples
shipped hence to New Orleans in large flats. It took
a long time to make this trip, as the river was not then
well known, and they could not run at night. Countrv
produce was then very low here, and merchants and
mechanics had a good time, as living was very cheap.
"About 1811, Daniel French arrived here froi
Philadelphia with big schemes of manufacturing,
steamboat building, and navigating Western waters.
He told people great advantages would accrue, and induced many prominent citizens to subscribe to stock
for a cotton manufactory and two steamboats, all
new to people here; but they were wise enough to secure charters for each company, viz., one for the factory and one for steamboats, and, as they felt a deep
interest and believed French, the people subscribed
liberally to both. Work commenced, but the enterprise was new to all, and it was a long time before it
was completed. And when they uwere ready there was
no one experienced in running factories or steamboats,
and neither enterprise made money, but run in debt,
and the factory was sold by the sheriff, and the boats
were sold by the company after they had run them
as long as there seemed any hope of profit."  The
building and operation of the old factory and the
company's two steamboats will be more fully mentioned in another place in this Iiistory.
4(67SETTLEMENT OF THE COUNTY.                 59
taken possession of to the westward of the Allegheny
Mountains, the property of the Indians, till such time
as his Majesty may be pleased to fix a farther boundary. Such people as will not come to this place are
to send their names and the province they belong to,,and what they are to do, by the bearer, that his Excellency, the commander-in-chief, may be acquainted
with their intentions."
On the 31st of July next following the publication
of Mackay's manifesto, Governor Fauquier, of Virginia, issued a proclamation to the people who had
presumed to settle to the westward of the Alleghenies
in defiance of his previous warning and prohibition
(which had been regarded by the people as a merely
formal compliance with the king's order, and not intended to be enforced), and requiring all such to immediately evacuate their settlements, which if they
failed to do promptly they must expect no protection
or mercy from the government, but would be left to
the revenge and retribution of the exasperated Indians.
In October, 1766, Governor Penn, at the request of
the Assembly, addressed Governor Fauquier, saying
that, without any authority whateyer from Pennsylvania, settlements had been made near the Redstone
Creek and the Monongahela, and that he had no
doubt this had been done also without the consent of
the government of Virginia, and in violation of the
rights of the Indian nations. He desired Governor
Fauquier to unite with him in removing the settlers
from the lands in the Monongahela Valley, and promised, in case of necessity, to furnish a military force
to effect the object. Governor Fauquier replied to
this that he had already issued three proclamations
to the settlers without effect, but that the commanderin-chief had taken a more effectual method to reniove
them by ordering an officer and a detachment of soldiers to summon the settlers on Redstone Creek, on
the Monongahela, and in other parts west of the Allegheny Mountains to quit their illegal settlements,.and in case of a refusal to threaten forcible expulsion
and seizure of their movable property.
All these proclamations, with the show of military
force, had the effect to terrify a few of the settlers
into removal; but by far the greater part remained
and were not disturbed by the military, which, after
a short stay at Fort Burd, returned to garrison at Fort
Pitt. In the summer of 1767, however, troops were
again sent here to expel non-complying settlers,
many of whom were then actually driven away; but
they all made haste to return as soon as the force was
withdrawn, and not a few of those who had thus been
expelled came back accompanied by new settlers from
the east of the mountains.
Finally all efforts to prevent settlements in this region and to expel those who had already located. here
failed. The extension of Mason and Dixon's line
to the second crossing of Dunkard Creek, in 1767
showed that nearly all the settlements'made were un
questionably in the jurisdiction of Pennsylvania, and
in Januarv, 1768, Governor Penn called the attention
of the Assembly to this then recently discovered fact,
narrated the ineffectual efforts made to that time to
remove the settlers, mentioned the exasperation of
the savages, which might not improbably result in a
bloody war, and advised the enactment of a law severe
enough to effect the desired result, and thus avert the
horrors of a savage outbraak. Accordingly, on the
3d of February, 1768, an act was passed providing
and declaring,"That if any person or persons settle upon any lands
within this province not purchased of the Indians
by the proprietors thereof, and shall neglect or refuse
to remove themselves and families off and from the
said land within the space of thirty days after he or
they shall be required to do so, either by such persons as the Governor of this province shall appoint
for that purpose, or by his proclamation, to be set up
in the most public places of the settlements on such
unpurchased lands, or if any person or persons being
so removed shall afterwards return to his or their settlements, or the settlement of any other person, with
his or their family, or witliout any family, to.remain
and settle on any such lands, or if any person shall,
after the said notice, to be given as aforesaid, reside
and settle on such lands, every sucli person or persons
so neglecting or refusing to move with his or their
family, or returning to settle as aforesaid, or that
shall settle on any such lands after the requisition or
notice aforesaid, being thereof legally convicted by
their own confessions or the verdict of a jury, shall
suffer death without the benefit of clergy.
" Provided always, nevertheless, that nothing herein contained shall be deemied or construed to extend
to any person or persons who now are or hereafter
may be settled on the main roads or communications
leading through this province to Fort Pitt, under the
approbation and permission of the commander-in.
chief of his Majesty's forces in North America, or of
the chliief officer commanding in the Western District
to the Ohio for the time being, for the more convenient accommodation of the soldiers and others,
or to such person or persons as are or shall be settled
in the neighborhood of Port Pitt, under the approbation and permission, or to a settlement made by
George Croghan, deputy superintendent of Indian
affairs under Sir Williamn Johnson, on the Oh.io River
above said fort, anything herein contained to the cont trary notvithstanding."
This law was doubtless as severe as Governor Penn
l had desired, but its folly exceeded its severity, for
l the evident brutality of its provisions barred the possibility of their execution, and it is by no means certain that this was not had in view by many of the members who voted for its enactment. A show was to be
made, however, of carrying the law into effect, and
soon after its passage the Governor appointed the
Reverend Captain John Steele, of the Presbyterian
SETTLEMIENT OF THE COUNTY.
59
IIHISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
INCORPORATION OF tHE BOROUGH AND ERECTION
OF THE TOWNSHIP OF BRIDGEPORT.
The incorporation of Bridgeport as a borough was
effected by an act of Assembly approved March 9,
1814, by which it was provided and declared " That the
towvn of Bridgeport, in the county of Fayette, shall be
and the same is hereby erected into a borough, which
shall be called the borough of Bridgeport, which
borough shall be comprised within the following
boundaries, to wit: Beginning at the mouth of Dunlap's Creek; thence up the Monongahela River with
the several meanders thereof one hundred and fortyeight perches; thence leaving the river... [and
proceeding by a number of described courses and distances]... to the north abutment of Jonah Cadwallader's mill-dam; thence down the ineanders of
Dunlap's Creek to the place of beginning."
The second Tuesday in May next following was
designated in the act as the day for holding the first
borough election. The meeting was held accordinglv,
and resulted in the election of the following-named
persons as the first officers of the borough of Bridgeport: Burgess, Samuel Jones; Councilmen, John
Cock, Joseph Truman, Enos Grave, Morris Truman,
John Bentley, William Cock. The reason why the
full number of (nine) councilmen was not elected
does not appear.
At the April sessions of the Fayette County court
in 1815 a petition of citizens of Bridgeport borough
was presented, praying that the said borough be erected
into a township. Upon this petition the court appointed Charles Porter, Israel Gregg, and William
Ewing commissioners to inquire into and report on
the propriety of granting the prayer of the petitioners. At the August sessions next following the
committee submitted a favorable report, which was
approved, and at the November termi in the sanme
year the court confirmed the proceediings and issued
an order erecting the "township of the borough of
Bridgeport;" its boundaries being the same as those
of Bridgeport borough.
LIST OF TOWNSHIP AND BOROUGII OFFICERS.
Following is a list of the officers of the borough
and township of Bridgeport from their organization
to the present time. It is not, however, claimed that
it is entirely accurate or comlplete, but this is wholly
due to the loose and careless manner in which the
clerks have kept the records, from which source alone
such information can properly be obtained.
BOROUGH OFFICERS.
1814.-Burgess, Samuel Jones; Council, John Cock, Joseph
Truman, Enos Grave, Morris Truman, John Bentley, William Cock; Clerk, Enos Grave.
1815.-Burgess, Morris Truman; Council, James Meek, Enos
Grave, William Troth, Joseph Truman, John Bouvier,
Elisha Gregg; Clerk, Enos Grave.
1816.-Burgess, Henry Troth; Council, Morris Truman, Joseph
Truman, John Morgan, John Bouvier, William Troth,1
Enos Grave, Asa Richards, Robert Patterson, George Carruthers; Clerk, John Bouvier.
181 7.-Burgess, George Carruthers; Council, James Meek,
William Cock, Evan Chalfant, James Hutchinson, John
Nelan, Jesse Ong, Cephas Gregg, Andrew Porter, Israel
Gregg; Clerk, James Meek.
1818.-Burgess, Cephas Gregg; Council, Henry Troth, John
Morgan, Joseph Truman, Andrew Porter, Amos Townsend,
William Cock, Evan Chalfant, Levi Burden, Abraham
Kimber; Clerk, John Morgan.
1819.-Burgess, William Cock; Council, James Meek, Levi
Burden, Amos Townsend, Abraham Kimber, Evan Chalfant, Henry Willis, John Morgan, Joseph Truman, Henry
Troth; Clerk, John Morgan.
1820.-Burgess, Solomon G. Krepps; Council, Amos Townsend,
Henry Willis, Joseph Truman, John Morgan, Robert
Rogers, Robert Ba the, Morris Truman, Washington Hough,
and Levi Burden; Clerk, John Morgan.
1821.-Burgess, Solomon G. Krepps; Council, Robert Rogers,
John Lanning, Robert Patterson, James Tomlinson,.James
Meek, Moses Dennall, John Nelan, Adolph Minehart,
Robert Baldwin; Clerk, Robert Rogers.
1822.-Burgess, Solomon G. Krepps; Council, James Reynolds,
Adolph Minehart, Nicholas Swearer, Jr., Amos Townsend,
Thomas Bang, Moses Durnal, John Smedley, John Nelan,
Daniel Worley; Clerk, Daniel Worley.
1823.-Burgess, James Meek; Council, James Reynolds, Nicholas Swearer, Jr., Moses Durnal, John Lanning, Amos
Townsend, John Nelan, John Arnold, Solomon G. Krepps,
John Gatenby; Clerk, James Truman.
1823, Septemlber.-Bur,ess, Joseph Truman; Council, Joel
Oxley, James Truman.
1824.-Burgess, Joseph Truman; Council, James Townsend,
John Nelan, Amnos Townsend, Thomas L. Rogers, John
Gatenby, Robert Rogers, Washington Hough, Moses Durnal, John Lanning; Clerk, James Truman.
1825.-Burgess, Joseph Truman; Council, Benedict Kimber,
John Troth, Thomas Burke, Thomas Berry, John Lanning, Caleb Hunt, Solomon G. Krepps, James Truman,
Washington Hough; Clerk, James Truman.
1826.-Burgess, Thomas G. Limb; Council, John Troth, Benedict Kimber, Robert Booth, James Reynolds, Amos Townsend, Joel Painter, Solomon G. Krepps, Caleb Hunt, John
Nelan; Clerk, James Truman.
1827.-Burgess, Joshua Wood; Council, Benedict Kimber,
James Truman, Robert Kimber, Rees C. Jones, Robert
Booth, David H. Chalfant, Peter Swearer, John Troth,
John Vanhook; Clerk, James Truman.
1828.-Burgess, Benedict Kimber; Council, Robert Booth,
Samuel B. Patge, Thomas Acklin, Joshua Vernon, Joseph
Reynolds, Joseph Manner, Peter Swearer, James Reynolds,
Jr., Robert Kimber; Clerk, James Reynolds, Jr.
1829.-Burgess, James Reynolds, Sr.; Council, David H Chalfant, Amos Townsend, Robert Kimber, James Reynolds,
Jr., Samuel B. Page, Joshua Vernon, Joshua Wood, Robert
Booth, James Moffat; Clerk, James Reynolds.
1830.-Burgess, Joseph Truman;3 Council, Adolph Minehart,
Joel Oxley, David Binns, Amos Townsend, Ebenezer Shion,
1 William Troth died in July, 1816; Amos Townsend was elected to
fill tlIe vacancy.
2 George Smedley elected, vice John Smedley, resig,med.
3 Francis Worcester elected burgess 13th of May, 1829, vice Joseph
Truman.
468BRIDGEPORT BOROUGH AND TOWNNSHIP.
Samuel Jones, Tilson Fuller, James Reynolds, Benedict
Kimber; Clerk, Joel Oxley.
1831.--Burgess, John Lanning; Council, Joel Oxley, James
Reynolds, Adolph Minehart, Moses Durnell, Samuel B.
Johnson, Peter Swearer, Tilson Fuller, Isaac Banks; Clerk,
Joel Oxley.
1832.-Burgess, John Gatenby; Council, Washington hough,
David Binns, Michael Miller, Andrew Hor)kins, Josclh
Reynolds, Isaac Bennett, James Moffitt, Abel Coffin, Charles
McFall; Clerk, Washington Hough.
1833.-Burgess, Andrew Hopkins; Council, Tilson Fuller, James
Reynolds, Jr., Joshua Armstrong, John Buffington, John
Rilev, Thomas Acklin, Joseph Manner, David H. Chalfant,
Andrew Porter; Clerk, James Reynolds, Jr.
1834.-Burgess, Thomas Duncan; Council, David H. Chalfant,
Joshua Armstronr, John Buffington, Joseph Manner,
James W. Moffitt, James Reynolds, Joel Oxley, Andrew
Porter; Clerk, Joel Oxley.
1835.-Burgess, Benedict Kimber; Council, Thomas Duncan,
D. H. Chalfant, Moses Durnall, Joel Oxley, Joseph Manner, Nicholas Swearer. John Buffington, Andrew Porter;
Clerk, Joel Oxley.
1836.-Burgess, James Truman; Council, Joshua Wood, John
Pringle, Joel Oxley, Joseph Reynolds, Charles McFall,
Caleb Woodward, Benedict Kimber, Joseph T. Rogers,
Iden V. Ball; Clerk, John Morgan.
1837.-Burgess, James Truman; Council, Joel Oxley, Iden V.
Ball, Charles McFall, Joshua Armstrong. Joseph Reynolds,
John Pringle, Benedict Kimber, Jonathan Binns, John
Gatenby; Clerk, John Morgan.
1838.-Burgess, James Truman; Council. John S. Pringle, Albert G. Bathe, Robert Kimber, William  hoover, Thomas
Duncan, Joshua Armstrong, Jonathan Binns, Thomas
Craven, Daniel Councilman; Clerk, John Morgan.
1839.-Burgess, John Herbertson; Council, Peter Swearer,
John Riley, Adolph Minehart, Charles McFall, Albert G.
Bathe, Benedict Kimber, henry Bulger, James Berry;
Clerk, John Morgan.
1840.-Burgess, James Truman; Couincil, Noah Worcester, John
Troth, Aaron Bronson, James Berry, John W. Porter,
Moses Durnal, Joseph T. Rogers, William Hoover, Thomas
Craven; Clerk, John Morgan.
1841.-Burgess, James Truman; Council, Jonathan Binns,
Thomas Gregg, Thomas Faull, Milton Woodward, Thomas
Craven, Noah Worcester, William  Hoover, William  C.
Fishburn, Joseph T. Rogers; Clerk, H. Casson.
1842.-Burgess, Thomas Faull; Council, William C. Fishburn,
Thomas Duncan, James Berry, James McDonwold, Leonard Lainhart, Robert Mitchell, Joseph Reynolds, Adolph
Minehart, James Goe; Clerk, h. Casson.
1843.-Burgess, John Herbertson; Council, C. C. Sherwood,
Aaron Branson, Noah Worcester, James C. Auld, N. G.
Mason, William Hoover, Calvin Richey, James Berry,
Thomas Gregg; Clerk, H. Casson.
1844.-Burg,ess, James C. Auld; Council, John Herbertson,
henry Bulger, Benedict Kimber, James Truman, Milton
Woodward, James Goe, Samuel Worcester, henry Troth,
Robert Mitchell; Clerk, Henry Casson.
1845.-Burgess, Moses Durnell; Council, James Goe, John
herbertson, Zeph. Carter, James C. Auld, Thomas Craven
Aaron Branson, John W. Porter, William Wharf, Thomas
Gregg; Clerk, henry Casson.
1846.-Burgess, Moses Durnell; Council, Thomas Duncan, John
Springer, Thomas Faull, James Truman, George Steininetz, Robert Wilson, William Wharf, Benedict Kimber,
Henry Troth; Clerk, Henry Casson.
1847.-Burgess, Samuel B. Page; Council, Thomas Duncan,
John Buffington, James Goe, John G. Gregg, Aaron Branson, John Riley, Joseph John, Isaac Bennett, John Lanning; Clerk, R. K. McLean.
1848.-Burgess, Samuel B. Page; Council, Thomas Duncan,
William H. Bennett, James Goe, James C. Auld, Samuel
I. Cox, John Herbertson, John W. Porter, John S. Roberts,
James N. Abrams; School Directors, Samuel B. Page,
Joseph T. Rogers, W. H. Bennett; Clerk, R. K. McLean.
1849.-Burgess, Henry Bulger; Council, John Springer, George
Stemmetz, S. J. Cox, Henry Wilson, Alexander Scott,
Samuel B. Page, William  H. Bennet, James M. Abrams;
Clerk, R. K. McLean.
1850.-Burgess, Jacob Shepherd; Council, John Springer,
William Wolf, William Wharf, C. C. Cromlow, Henry Troth,
John Buffington, Henry Wilson, A. G. Minehart; Clerk,
William C. Fishburn.
1851.-Burgess, John Buffington; Council, S. A. Wood, Henry
Cannon, Alfred Offord, S. J. Cox, Thomas Faull, Jr., John
Anderson, Henry Springer, William Woodward, John W.
Porter; School Directors, Henry Cannon, Henry Bulger;
Clerk, William C. Fishburn.
1852.-Burgess, Samuel J. Cox; Council, John Anderson, William H. Bennett, James C. Auld, John S. Roberts, William
Hoover, C. T. Hurd, Aaron Branson, James M. Carver,
Thomas Faull, Jr. School Directors, Robert W. Jones,
Benjamin Leonard; Clerk, William C. Fishburn.
1853.-Burgess, William  Hoover; Council, William L. Faull,
Joshua Murphy, Henry C. Drum, George Stemmetz, John
S. Wilgus, James Martin, William H. Bennett, R. D. Marcus, W. H. Crookham; School Directors, James M. Carver,
John Herbertson; Clerk, William C. Fishburn.
1854.-Burgess, John Buffington; Council, William H. Bennett,
James M. Carver, Thomas Duncan, Joshua Murphy, Robert
W. Jones, Alexander Moffit, William Hoover, Henry Cannon, John Anderson; School Directors, M. 0. Jones, John
S. Wilgus; Clerk, W. C. Fishburn.
1855.-Burgess, James A. Cromlow; Council, Alfred Offord,
William Worrell, Courtland Durnell, R. D. Marcey, Thomas
Duncan, Joshua Murphy, James M. Carver, Alexander
Moffit; School Directors, Elisha Bennett, James C. Auld;
Clerk, William C. Fishburn.
1856.-Burgess, A. G. Booth; Council, A. B. Gaskell, William
L. Faull, C. M. Goe, A. Offord, T. Duncan, J. M. Carver,
R. D. Marcey, W. Worrell; School Directors, B. W. Jones,
S. B. Page, G. Stemmetz; Clerk, W. C. Fishburn.
1857.-Burgess, A. G. Minehart; Council, Courtland Durnell,
William L. Faull, Joshua F. Murphy, C. T. Hurd, William
Worrell, Alfred Offord, W. C. Drum, A. B. Gaskell; Clerk,
A. G. Booth.
1858.-Burgess, A. G. Minehart; Council, John S. Roberts, W.
C. Fishburn; Thomas G. Aubrey, William  H. Lanning,
James Stewart, John Mason; School Directors, Elisha Bennett, A. G. Minehart; Clerk, A. G. Booth.
1859.-Burgess, A. G. Minehart; Council, J. T. Rogers, A.
hopkins, Z. Carter, Thomas Aubrey, W. h. Lanning,
James Stewart; School Directors, Thomas Duncan, M. 0.
Jones, John Herbertson; Clerk, A. G. Booth.
1860.-Burgess, James Stewart; Council, J. Murphy, P. Carroll, M. Woodward, R. D. Marcy, J. L. Rogers, John S.
Roberts; School Directors, John Mason, Joseph Wells;
Clerk, A. G. Booth.
1861.-Burgess, James Stewart; Council, Jesse Bulger, M.
Morehouse, M. Woodward, Z. Carter, J. T. Rogers, William  Woodward; School Directors, John Herbertson, S.
B. Page; Clerk, A. G. Booth.
469HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
1862.-Burgess, John S. Roberts; Council, John Herbertson,
John Buffington, James Moffit, John Springer, M. Woodward, William Woodward, M. Morehouse; School Directors, Thomas Duncan, Levi Colvin; Clerk, A. G. Booth.
1863.-Burgess, J. S. Roberts; Council, S. B. Page, E. H. Bar,
William Leonard, Joshua Murphy, John herbertson, J. K.
Bulger, William Woodward; School Directors, William
hoover, John Mason; Clerk, A. G. Booth.
1864.-Burgess, W. H. Lanning; Council, A. G. Minehart, E.
N. Coon, W. W. Auld, J. Murphy, E. H. Bar, S. B. Page,
John Herbertson, William Leonard, John Buffington;
Clerk, A. G. Booth.
1863.-Burgess, J. S. Roberts; Council, S. B. Page, E. H. Bar,
William Leonard, A. G. Minehart, Edward Toynbee, E. L.
Moorhouse, J. Armstrong; Clerk, A. G. Booth.
1866.-Burgess, William.  Hoover; Council, John Wilson,
Thomas Wright, John W. Porter, J. S. Roberts, A. G.
minehart, Thomas Wright, W. W. Auld, E. Toynbee, E. L.
Moorhouse, E. N. Coon; Clerk, A. G. Booth.
1867.-Burgess, 0. C. Cromlow: Council, E. Toynbee, P. S.
Wright, E. N. Coon, John Wilson, John Porter, h. B.
Cock, J. S. Roberts, E. Moorhouse, Joseph Walls; Clerk,
Edward Brawley, Sr.
1868.-Burgess, John S. Roberts; Council, John W. Porter, E.
N. Coon, E. Toynbee, Thomas I. Wright, Philo Norton, E.
L. Moorhouse, Joseph Wells, John Wilson, henry B.
Cock; Clerk, E. Brawley.
1869.-Burgess, 0. C. Cromlow; Council, Thomas S. Wright,
Isaac Mason, Daniel Delaney, E. L. Moorhouse, E. P. Coon,
Philo Norton, Edward Toynbee, 11. B. Cock, Joseph Wells;
School Directors, Jesse H. Bulger, J. B. Mason;' Clerk,
Henry Delaney.
1870.-Burgess, Thomas Shuman; Council, E. Toynbee, H. B.
Cock, Daniel Delaney, Isaac Mason, J. W. Porter, Nathan
Crawford, Thomas S. Wright, Philo Norton; Clerk, Henry
Delaney.
1871.-Burgess, 0. C. Cromlow;I Council, E. L. Moorhouse,
John W. Porter, Thomas S. Wright, Isaac Mason, N. Crawford, Daniel Delaney. H. B. Cock; Clerk, Henry Delaney.
1872.-Burgess, Eli Leonard; Council, John Allison, Thomas
Shuman, Daniel Delaney, 0. R. Knight, James Reynolds,
E. L. Moorhouse, N. Crawford, John W. Porter, h. B.
Cock; School Directors, Eli Leonard, Thomas Shuman;
Clerk, A. G. Booth.
1873.-Bouroess, S. A. Wood; Council, 0. R. Knight, D. Delaney, Thomas Shuman, E. L. Moorehouse, James Reynolds, W. L. Faull, H. Leonard, Thomas Brawley; Clerk,
S. S. Fishburn.
1874.-Burgess, John Buffington; Council, John Allison, h. B.
Leonard, D. Delaney, G. B. Mason, J. R. Crawford, C. F.
Hurd, W. T. Faull, Thomas Brawley, Thomas Shuman;
Clerk, S. S. Fishburn.
1875.-Burgess, J. Buffington; Council, C. F. hurd, G. B.
Mason, J. R. Crawford, W. H. Miller, C. T. Brawley, W.
L. Faull, Thomas Aubrey, N. Crawford; Clerk, A. G.
Booth.
1876.-Burgess, John Buffington. Council, H. B. Cock, Thomas
Aubrey, G. B. Mason, N. Crawford, W. R. Miller, C. T.
Hurd, R. Crawford; Clerk, A. G. Booth.
1877.-Burgess, S. S. Fishburn; Council, William Cock, John
Allison, W. L. Faull, N. Crawford, T. D. hoover, R. B.
Cock, R. Mitchell, H. h. hormel, W. h. Miller; Clerk, A.
G. Booth.
1878.-Burgess, Solomon G. Krepps; Council, T. B. Wilgus, N.
T. Terrell, Edward Hurd, H. B. Cock, William Cock, John
Allison, Robert Mitchell, J. R. Crawford, James Stewart;
Clerk, A. G. Booth.
1879.-Burgess, H. B. Leonard; Council, James Martin, James
Blair, J. R. Crawford, John Allison, Edward hurd, N.
Terrell, William Cock, John A. Hubbs, R. Mitchell; Clerk,
A. G. Booth.
1880.-Burgess, S. S. Fishburn; Council, R. Crawford, Eli B.
Cock, Edward Hurd, James Blair, James Martin, J. A.
Scott, J. A. hubbs, John Allison, William Cock; Clerk,
A. G. Booth.
1881.-Burgess, H. B. Leonard; Council, J. A. Hubbs, William
Cock, Joseph A. Scott, Eli B. Cock, William herbertson,
James Martin, James Blair, Miles Bulger, John Allison.
JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.
Samuel Jones, Luzerne, appointed for Bridgeport township and
borough, Feb. 17, 1817.
Robert Patterson, Luzerne, appointed for Bridgeport township
and borough, Sept. 7, 1819.
Robert Rogers, Luze lne, appointed for Bridgeport township
and borough, Feb. 19, 1822.
Moses Baird Potter, Luzerne, appointed for Bridgeport toonship and borough, Dec. 8, 1823.
Joshua Vernon, Luzerne, appointed for Bridgeport township
and borough, April 23, 1828.
Hugh Gilmore, Luzerne, appointed for Bridgeport township
and borough, Nov. 25, 18:31.
Joshua Ham, Luzerne, appointed for Bridgeport township and
borough, Dec. 7, 18.35.
George D. Stevenson, Luzerne, appointed for Bridgeport township and borough, Aug. 22, 1836.
Zephaniah Carter, Luzerne, appointed for Bridgeport township
and borough, Jtan. 16, 1838.
Elijah Crawford, Luzerne, appointed for Bridgeport township
anid borough, Dec. 19, 1838.
Elected.
1840. Albert G. Booth.
James Truman.
1845. William C. Fishburn.
Albert G. Booth.
1855. John Wilgus.
William C. Fishburn.
Albert G. Booth.
1856. John Buffington.
1859. William C. Fishburn.
John C. Rickey.
1861. William hoover.
James L. Irwin.
1862. A. G. Booth.
John Buffington.
1867. A. G. Booth.
Edward Brawley.
William Hoover.
Henry Delaney.
1872. A. G. Booth.
S. A. Wood.
1877. Alfred G. Booth.
1879. James A. Cromlow.
1880. Samuel A. Wood.
1881. David M. Hart.
ASSESSORS.
1840. James Fitzsimmons.
1841. Samuel Johnson.
1842. William Hoover.
1843-44. James Fitzsimmons.
1845. John Buffington.
1846. Thomas Duncan.
1847-48. Thomas Gregg.
1849-55. John Buffington.
1856-59. Alfred Offard.
1860-62. John Buffington.
1863. N. G. Booth.
1864-66. John Buffington.
1867. William G. Bane.
1868-69. Joshua Norcross.
18 70. George W'. Springer.
Joshua Norcross.
1879. T. D. hoover.
1880. Samuel S. Fishburn.
1881. S. Fishburn.
470
J. H. Bul-er elected burgess to succeed 0. C. Cromlow, deceased.BRIDGEPORT BOROUGH AND TOWNSI[IP.
LIST OF TAXABLES OF BRIDGEPORT IN 1816.
James Allison.
Snowden Auchoss, Sr.
John Bentley.
Bridgeport  Manufacturing Company, cottonfactory.
Robert Booth.
Robert Barton.
Jacob Bowman.
John Bouvier.
Joshua Burgen.
Levi Burden.
William Boyd.
James Breading.
Ezekiel Baldwin.
John Barry.
Robert Baldwin.
Sarah Briscoe.
Samuel Berry.
Lydia Berry.
Goldsmith Chandlee.
Joseph Crawford.
David Cattel.
James Campbell.
hannah Crider.
Enos Coldren.
Reuben Chalfant.
rees Cadwallader.
William Chappin.
Jonas Cadwallader.
James Chalfant.
George Carruthers.
John Cock.
Robert Clark.
William Cock.
Evan Chalfant, Sr.
Caleb Carr.
George Dilhouse.
Francis Dobbs.
henry G. Dales.
Van Dunn.
Peter Drum.
Robert Dilhouse.
William Dodge.
James Dunlap.
Arthur Donaldson.
Luke Enslow.
Benjamin Fell.
John W. Fell.
Rebecca Fitzgerald.
William Ferguson.
Foundry Company.
John Fenny.
Daniel French.
Israel Gregg.
Cephas Gregg.
Mary Gosling.
Thomas Grizzle.
Daniel Goodwin.
Pennell Garrett.
Samuel Gillespie.
Caleb Hunt.
William Heifer.
Samuel Harmon.
Samuel Hines.
John haines.
Robert hurrey.
John Harrison.
Margaret Harland.
Stacy Hunt.
Solomon hipsley.
Samuel Jones.
John Jacobs.
Isaac Jacobs.
Humphrey Johnson.
Christopher Irvin.
John Krepps.
Abraham Kimber.
Solomon G. Krepps.
Thomas King.
Timothy Kirk.
John Knight.
Richard Ledwith.
Joseph H. Laning.
John Miller, Sr.
John Miller, Jr.
Jacob Malon.
Adolph Merchant.
John Morgan.
Larkin Macklefresh.
Ebenezer Major.
Cooper Marsh's heirs.
James Meek.
Joseph Moore.
Joseph May.
John Nelan.
Joseph Nelan.
Mary Nicholson's heirs.
henry Nichols.
John Newburn.
George Newburn.
Joel Oxley.
Jesse Ong.
Vincent Owens, Sr.
Vincent Owens, Jr.
William Ogle.
Jesse Pennell.
Robert Patterson.
Andrew Porter.
Thomas Price.
Alexander Price.
Mary Pray.
Eliza Phelps.
William Perry.
Joel Painter.
Samuel Parks.
John Riley.
John Reynolds.
Mary Rogers.
Asa Richards.
Israel Randolph.
Robert Rogers.
John Rabe.
James Richards.
Thomas Stokely.
Philip Shaffner.
Thomas Stockdale.
James Springer.
Nicholas Swearer.
William Stevenson.
Ebenezer Shiver.
William Saint.
James Stephens.
Nathan Smith.
Amos Townsend.
Morris Truman, Sr.
Joseph Truman.
Morris Truman, Jr.
James Truman.
Jesse Townsend.
Robert Townsend.
John Troth.
henry Troth.
Joseph Thurston.
James Tomlinson.
Samuel Tolbert.
John Tap.
Persifer Vernon.
Samuel Jones and William
B. Irish.
John Williams.
Enoch watson.
Thomas Wraith.
Barnet Williams.
Daniel Worley.
Caleb Woodward.
Robert White.
Timothy Woods.
Hercules Young.
George Yarnall's heirs.
Below is given a list of persons engaged in 1816 in
the several occupations indicated, being taken from
the assessment-roll of Bridgeport for that year:
Merchants.
Caleb Hunt.
Israel Gregg.
Cephas Gregg.
Solomon G. Krepps.
Jesse  Pennell,  also
physician and brewer.
Mary Rogers.
Jesse Townsend.
James Tomlinson.
Daniel Worley.
John Krepps, also sawmill and ferry (just
commenced).
Printer.
John Bouvier.
Boat-builders.
William Chappin.
John Cock.
Cotton-factory.
Bridgeport Mfg. Co.
Steel-maker and factory.
Morris Truman.
Wire-weavers.
Morris Truman, Jr.
Joseph Truman.
James Truman.
Pipe-maker.
Joshua Burgen.
Inn-keepers.
John Nelan.
Robert Patterson.
Potters.
John Riley.
Robert Rogers.
Blacksmiths.
Asa Richards.
Samuel Hines.
Thomas Grizzle.
Hercules Young.
Hatters.
Robert Booth.
Luke Enslow.
Samuel Jones.
Saddler.
James Campbell.
Carpenter.
William Boyd.
Moulder.
John W. Fell.
Brick-maker.
Robert White.
Cooper.
John Morgan.
Shoemaker.
Timothy Woods.
Cabinet-maker.
Israel Randolph.
Seamstress.
Mary Gorling.
Teachers.
Joseph H. Laning.
Arthur Donaldson.
Saw-mill.
Jonah Cadwallader.
The following description of Bridgeport in 1821 is
found in " The Navigator," a book published in
Pittsburgh in that year, containino, directions to
pilots on tlfe Monongahela and other rivers, with
references to the towns and settlements located on
their banks:
"Dunlap's Creek.
" Here has been a fish-dam; the chute is near the
middle of the river. Immediately above the mouth
4,1HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY,. PENNSYLVANIA.
of this creek stands Bridgeport, a small village, connected with Brownsville by a chain-bridge over the
creek. In it are several mercantile stores, an eartlien
pottery, tan-yard, a wire-weaver, card-maker, hatters,
a boat-yard, and a market-house. It contains fifty-six
dwellings. A glass-works, commenced in October,
1811, for the making of green glass."
MARKET-IIOUSE.
A public market-house was built in Bridgeport a
number of years before the town became a borough.
Soon after the incorporation, on the 8th of July, 1814,
the Council directed that necessary repairs be niade
on the market-house. On the 22d of the same month
an ordinance was passed declaring "that from and
after the first day of the ninth month next a market
shall be established and held in the Market-House of
this Borough, on the fourth and seventh days of each
week, and from daylight until nine o'clock A.M. on
each of said days in the first, second, third, tenth,
eleventh, and twelfth months, and from daylight until
eight o'clock A.M. on each of said days in the fourth,
fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth months." The
stalls on the north side of the building were ordered
rented to butchers, at a yearly rent of five dollars.
On the 20th of September, 1814, the Council ordered
the erection of an addition to the market-house eight
feet in width, and extending the whole length of the
building. " Twenty feet of Rack, for the convenience
of Market people to hitch their horses," was also
ordered to be built.
The old market-house was sold to D. H. Chalfant,
July 4, 1829, for ten dollars, twelve and a half cents.
On the 20th of October, 1831, there was presented to
the Council a petition signed by seventy citizens,
praying for the erection of a new market-house. On
this petition a committee was appointed (October
22d) to examine and report on a suitable site, also on
the proper size aiid estimated expense of such market-house. This committee reported the public ground
as the proper place, and recommended a building
sixty-two feet six inches by thirty feet in dimensions.
The report was adopted and a building committee
appointed, who reported Nov. 24,1831, that the stonework was contracted for, and March 15, 1832, reported contract for, lumber and lath let to Bracken 
Rogers. The building was completed and occupied
in the fall of 1832. This market-house is still (November, 1881) staiiding, the main part of the building being used as a town hall and council-room.
PUBLIC WAREHOUSE AND WIIARF.
On the 26th of April, 1815, the Borough Council
granted to Israel Gregg for the term of ten years a
part of the public ground, on which to erect a frame
building for a warehouse fifty by twenty-five feet on
the ground, and one and a half stories high, to contain a fireplace, a chimney of brick, and a small
counting room, the building to become the property
of the borough at the end of ten years. It did so
revert at the end of that time.
In 1826 a committee was appointed by the Council
to repair the building and rent it. This was done,
and on the 30th of December in that year it was
rented to Benedict Kimber at $20 per annum from
April 1, 1827. On the 1st of April, 1829, it was
rented for one year to Charles McCollester. In May,
1831, it was rented to Joshua Armstrong for one year
at $20, but before the expiration of the time (in February, 1832) it was rented to Randolph Dearth for
one year at $50. Jan. 16, 1837, Thomas Acklin rented
the warehouse for two years at $40 per annum.
In 1844 the warehouse was sold, to be removed to
give room for the building of a wharf. The contract
for building the wharf was given to Henry Marshall,
and it was erected in 1845, at a cost of $963.54. In
August of that year the Council fixed the first rates of
wharfage for steamboats, viz.: one dollar per trip, and
fifty cents per day when laying over in a navigable
stage of the river, and five dollars per month in winter. Keel-boats, twenty-five cents per landing or per
day.
The wharf is still public property, under control of
the borough.
FERRIES AND BRIDGE OVER THE MONONGAHELA.
The first ferry across the Monongahela River within
the boundaries of Bridgeport was established by John
Krepps before 1794, as the court records of Fayette
County show that in that year a petition was presented for "a road from Krepps' Ferry to the bridge
at the mouth of Dunlap's Creek." The ferry landing
on the Bridgeport side of the river was at or very
near the foot of Spring Street (or Alley), northeast of
the residence of Solomon G. Krepps. This ferry remained in operation until some time after the completion of the Monongahela bridge, and towards the
last of its existence a ferry-boat propelled by steam
was used upon it.
The original owner of this ferry, John Krepps, always lived on the west side of the Monongahela; but
his sons, Samluel J. arid Solomon G. Krepps, settled on
the east side of the river, the latter being a resident
of Bridgeport as early as 1813, when he built the
brick house which is now the residence of his nephew
(his brother Samuel's son), Solomon G. Krepps. He
(Solomon G. the elder) was a merchant in Bridgeport in 1816, as is shown by the assessment-roll of
that year. He lived in Bridgeport until his death,
and was for many years one of the prominent citizens
of the place. In 1832 he, with Zephaniah Carter,
built the "Friendship Paper-Mill" in Bridgeport,
but died soon after, and before the mill was in full
and successful operation. He served one term in the
State Legislature, and was several times elected burgess of Bridgeport; also served as a member of the
Borough Council.  His brother, Samuel J. Krepps,
settled in Bridgeport about 1823, where Eli Leonard
472BRIDGEPORT BOROUGtI AND TOWNSIIIP.
now lives, and carried on the saw-mill at the Jonah
Cadwallader dam on Dunlap's Creek, also operating
the coal-banks on that property. In 1832 he built a
residence in Brownsville (the same which is now kept
as the " Monongahela House" by the widow of his son,
John B. Krepps), and removed to it. In 1834 he built
the " Valley Mills" on Dunlap's Creek, in Bridgeport.
He, like his brother, Solomon G. Krepps, was a prominent and public-spirited citizen, and identified with
the business interests of both boroughs for many
years. About 1846 he removed to the old Krepps
homestead, west of the Monongahela, and soon afterwards to the Neal Gillespie farm, where he died
March 6, 1866. In 1854 he was elected to the Legislature- from Washington County.
The other children of the old ferry-owner, John
Krepps, were John, who lived and died in West
Brownsville; Christian, who went West, and whose
subsequent history is unknown; and Helen, who became the wife of Judge Eli Miller, of Mount Vernon,
Ohio.
The Gillespie ferry, which was first established to
cross the river from Brownsville, was moved up from
there in or about 1820, and located near the foot of
Bridge Street in Bridgeport. This was kept in operation till after the opening of the Monongahela bridge.
On the 22d of February, 1825, application was made
to the Council of Bridgeport for the privilege of a
ferry landing between the east side of Bank Street
and the west side of the public lot for the term of five
years, and on the 3d of March the ground was rented
for that period at five dollars per year to Moses Durnel, concerning whose occupancy no further information has been obtained.
There was no communication by bridge across the
Monongahela River at Bridgeport until the year
1833, all traffic and travel across the stream at this
point being accommodated by the ferries up to that
time. More than twenty years earlier, however, the
project of bridging the river at some point near the
mouth of Dunlap's Creek was agitated by some of the
most proininent men of the vicinity on both sides of
the river. In 1810 an act was passed (approved March
20th in that year) "to authorize the Governor to incorporate a company for erecting a bridge over the
Monongahela River at or near where the road leading
from' Brownsville to the town of Washington crosses
the same," thus authorizing the location of the bridge
at Brownsville or Bridgeport as might be decided on.
The act designated and appointed "Neal Gillespie,
Jr., Parker Campbell and Thomas Acheson, of the
county of Washington, Jacob Bowman, Thomas
Mason, Charles Shaffner, Samuel Jackson, David
Ewing, and Michael Sowers, of the county of Fayette," commissioners to receive subscriptions to the
stock of the company to be formed. It was provided
and required by the act that the bridge should be so
constructed as not to obstruct navigation (except so
far as might be done by the erection of the two
abutments and three piers in the river), "or in any
manner to obstruct the passage over the usual fordingplace, which shall at all times be open as heretofore
to persons desirous of passing through the same."
The company was of course authorized to collect
tolls. The bridge to be commenced in three years,
and finished in seven years from the passage of the
act, under penalty of forfeiture of rights and franchises. References to the probable early commencement and completion of the bridge are found in the
newspapers of that time, but no work was ever actually done on it, nor does it appear that the bridge
site was definitely determined on, or the necessary
amount of stock subscribed.
On the 16th of March, 1830, the Monongahela
Bridge Company,was incorporated, with a capital of
$44,000. The corporators were George Hogg, James
L. Bowman, Valentine Giesey, anld Robert Clarke, of
Fayette County, Daniel Moore, Jesse Kenworthy,
Ephraim L. Blaine, John Kingland, and Thomas McKennan, of Washington County. By the terms of the
incorporation William Davidson, George Craft, Isaac
Meason, and Andrew Oliphant, of Fayette County,
and John Park, Jr., William Berry, and John Watson,
of Washington County, were appointed commissioners
to locate the site of the bridge. These men, taking
into consideration the great amount of travel and traffic then coming to the river over the National road,
fixed the location at the point where that road strikes
the river in Bridgeport, and where the bridge now
spans the stream.
Books were opened for subscriptions to the stock in
July, 1830, and the requisite amount was soon obtained. The contract for building was awarded to
Messrs. Le Baron  De Mond, at $32,000, with $5000
additional for the approaches. They commenced
work in the fall of 1831, and on the 23d of November
received the first payment of $500 on the contract.
Apparently the work was not pushed very vigorously,
for the bridge was not completed until 1833, the first
tolls being received on the 14th of October in that
year.
The bridge is a covered structure of wood, six hundred and thirty feet in length, in three spans, standing on two piers in the river between the abutments.
For almost half a century it has stood firm against
the ice and the numerous great floods in the Monongahela, the most remarkable of which was, perhaps,
that which reached its most dangerous point on the 6th
of April, 1852.1 The bridge has always been a very
profitable investment to the stockholders, but more
particularly so in the palmy days of the National
road, before the railways had diverted its travel and
traffic into other channels.
1 This fact, with many others noted in these pages, was obtained from
the diary of that veteran citizen of Bridgeport aind Brownsville, Robert
Rogers.
473HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
The first officers of the company were George Hogg,
president; Thomas McKennan, secretary; James L.
Bowman, treasurer. Mr. Hogg was succeeded in the
presidency by James L. Bowman, whose successor is
George E. Hogg. The following-named gentlemen are
the present (1881) officers: Managers, George E. Hogg
(president), J. W. Jeffries, Capt. Adam Jacobs, Eli J.
Bailey, N. B. Bowman, Joseph T. Rogers, George W.
Lenhart; Secretary and Treasurer, William Ledwith.
The several bridges built across Dunlap's Creek,
connecting Bridgeport and Brownsville, have been noticed in the history of the last-named borough.
STEAMBOAT AND KEEL-BOAT BUILDING.
In the extracts given in preceding pages from the
journal of Robert Rogers it is narrated that about
the year 1811 Daniel French came from Philadelphia
to Bridgeport, "with big schemes of manufacturing,
steamboat building, and navigating Western waters,"
and that some of the most influential and well-to-do
citizens of Bridgeport, Brownsville, and the vicinity
became so impressed with the apparent feasibility of
his projects that they subscribed liberally to the stock
of two companies which were formed, one for manufacturing, and the other for the building and running
of steamboats.
The latter company commenced operations without
much delay, building two steamboats, the "Enterprise" and the "Dispatch." The former was built
under the superintendence of Israel Gregg, Henry M.
Shreve,1 and Daniel French, on the bank of the river,
above Dunlap's Creek, the ground on which Gregg
built in the next year the warehouse which afterwards
came into possession of the borough.  The "Dispatch" was built on the spot where the "Monument
Mills" of Mason, Rogers  Co. now stand. The engines of both the " Enterprise" and " Dispatch" were
built by Daniel French. The career of the former
boat is thus mentioned in the journal of Mr. Rogers:
" In 1814 the largest of the two boats (the'Enterprise') was sent to New Orleans, with Henry M.
Shreve as captain. She arrived there when Gen.
Jackson's army was there, and was pressed into goverinment service to carry troops and stores, and continued to do so till the close of the war. Then Shreve
started with her for Pittsburgh with considerable
money, but on the way up the boat was robbed (as
he said) of all her money. She finally arrived at
Pittsburgh, and the company got possession of her
again. Then they employed Israel Gregg as captain.
He ran her for a time, but made no money, though
freight and passage was high. The company then
chartered her to James Tonilinson, who put his sonin-law, Daniel Worley, on her as captain, but he
made no money, and let the boat sink (a short distance below the Falls of the Ohio), so the company
lost both the money and charter." The "Enterprise,"
of Bridgeport, was the first steamer that ever made
the trip from Pittsburgh to New Orleans and return.
The company's other boat, the "Dispatch," is described by Mr. Rogers (who was employed on board
of her in her first trip down the river) as follows:
" Our engine was on the low-pressure principle, condensing the steam, and the fires were mnade inside the
boilers. We had two boilers, laid on the bottom of
the boat. She was open hull, and was eighty feet
keel and eleven feet beam. The water-wheel was
only eight feet in diameter, and worked inside the
boat, the rudders being aft of it..... I was second
engineer, with Israel Gregg as captain."  The boat
started'on her trip in December, 1815. Part of the
load was taken on at Bridgeport, and this having
been done, it was announced that she would take her
departure the next morning; but no watchlinian was
kept on board, and during the night the river fell, so
that her bow grounded at the balnk, and her stern
sunk and filled with water, so that several days more
elapsed before she could be raised and made ready
again. This was finally accomplished, and she proceeded down the river without further accident to
Pittsburgh, where she remained a few days, and then
went on down the Ohio.
At the mouth of Big Beaver the river was filled
with floating ice, and a furious gale sprung up, which
obliged Capt. Gregg to tie up to the shore, with the
intention of remaining only till the next morning,
but as the river fell rapidly during the night, he was
compelled to stay there for abouttwo weeks. At the
end of that time the ice disappeared, the weather became good, and the " Dispatch" proceeded down the
river, but "struck on the bar at Wheeling, on the
island side, and having no niggers on board" [says
Mr. Rogers] "we were comlpelled to jump into the
river, full of floating ice as it was, and pay her off
with rails."  From there no accident occurred until
the boat reached Walker's bar, below Cincinnati, and
there she stuck fast and remained for two weeks before the river rose sufficiently to float her off. Mr.
Rogers proceeds: "At Louisville Capt. Gregg left
the boat, leaving the engineer in command. I then
became first engineer, and had to clerk, as well as act
as steward, there being none on board." Passing from
the Ohio into the Mississippi, the boat's company
frequently saw Indians, who came down to the riverbank and sold them venison. For fear of these savages they dared not run by night, but laid up, and
employed the hours of darkness in cutting wood for
the next day's fuel, as there was then no wood for
sale along the river.
Thus the entire winter was passed on the river, and
early in the spring of 1816 the " Dispatch" arrived at
New Orleans. There she was boarded by Edward
1 A son of Col. Israel Shreve, who commanded a regiment of New
Jersey troops in the Continental linle in the war of the iRevolutioel, and
who, after the close of the war, enligrated from that State to Fayette
County, Pa., locating in what is now the township of P'erry, oil lands
purchased by him from Gen. Washington.
I
474BRIDGEPORT BOROUGH AND TOWNSHIP.
Livingston, United States marshal of that district,
who notified the engineer in charge that he (Livingston) and Robert Fulton had the exclusive right to
navigate the waters of Louisiana with steamboats,
and they would not permit that right to be infringed.
But the master of the "Dispatch" pleaded ignbrance of.that fact, and promised to leave Louisiana
and not return, upon which he was permitted to
depart with the boat without prosecution.
But it would appear that they did not live up to
the agreement, for the journal says they " then took
in freight and passengers, and started for Alexandria,
at the rapids of the Red River," whence after discharging they started on the return trip to Pittsburgh.
The boat was small and weak, and so made slow progress against the current of the Mississippi, though
some advantage was gained by her light draft of water,
on whlich account she " could run close in shore and
around the willow banks." Arriving at the Falls of
the Ohio the water was found to be low, so that the
boat was hauled by a slow and laborious process up
the rapids close into the Kentucky shore.
"It was late in the summer," says the journal,
"when we arrived at Pittsburgh, and our trip being so
long in making that we did not save any money. I
acted as clerk and first engineer on the trip from
Louisville to New Orleans and back to Pittsburgh.
On the whole route from New Orleans to Pittsburgh
we were not passed by a steamboat, nor did we meet
a boat on the Ohio. There were then in existence
the following boats,' N'ew Orleans,'' -Etna,''Vesuvius,' and'Buffalo,' on the Mississippi River. I do
not remember seeing any on the Ohio." And in
writing of a trip whicli he made two years later (1818)
down the Mononga4lela and Ohio on a flat-boat, Mr.
Rogers says, "I saw no steamboat from the time I
left Brownsville till I reached Louisville."
In 1825, Robert Rogers, Cephas Gregg, Abram
Kimber, and others built the steamboat " Reindeer."
She was built in John Cock's boat-yard, a short distance above where Mason Rogers  Co.'s flouringmill now stands, and was launched on Christmasday in the year mentioned.  Upon her completion
she was placed under command of Capt. Abram
Kimber, and ran for some years on the Ohio, between
Pittsburgh and Louisville, Ky.
About 1826, Abel Coffin and Michael Miller commenced the buildinlg of keel-boats in Bridgeport on
an extended scale, and an almost incredible number
of them were turned out by these builders. John
Cock also built large numbers of them, and he as
well as-Coffin anid Miller built some steamboats. In
1827, Mr. Cock built for James May, of Pittsburgh,
the two Ohio River steamers, "Erie" and " Shamrock." Coffin and Miller built the "Reindeer" (second of that name), the " Mountaineer," the " Champion" (Capt. Thomas Sloan), and many others.
John S. Pringle (now living in West Brownsville
at the age of about seventy-five years, and who has
been the builder of more boats than any other person
on the Monongahela River) came to this place from
the eastern part of the State in 1826. The first boat
on which he worked' here was the "Highlander,"
built by Robert Rogers, on a spot opposite the sawmill on Water Street. John Herbertson also worked
on the same vessel. In the early part of 1828, John
S. Pringle built for Robert Rogers and Samuel Clarke
a flat-bottomed boat called the " Visitor," which ran
the following summer from Pittsburgh to Louisville,
and made a remarkable success, earning two thousand
dollars more than her entire cost during that one
season, and was then sold at two thousand dollars
advance on her cost. The success of this boat caused
the building of others of simnilar construction by Ar.
Pringle.  He established a boat-yard where Mrs.
William Cock now lives. There he built a great
number of steamers and other river craft, continuing
in the business at that place till 1843, when he purchased from Ephraim Blaine the site of his present
yard in West Brownsville. It is stated that Mr. Pringle has built at his yards on both sides of the river
more than five hundred steamboats, besides a great
number of barges and other small craft. He lias not
unfrequently had three or four steamer hulls on the
stocks at one and the same time. The largest boat
ever built by him was the " Illinois," three hundred
and eight feet long and seventy-two feet beam, which
was floated down the river on high water to Pittsburgh to receive her engines. Mr. Pringle built the
first tow-boat on the river, the "Coal Hill," and
afterwards built twenty-five more of the same model
and construction.
MANUFACTURING ESTABLISIIMENTS.
THE OLD " BRIDGEPORT STEEL-WORKS."
In or about the year 1810 Morris Truman with his
three sons,-Morris, Jr., Joseph, and James,-all
Quakers, came from Philadelphia to Bridgeport,
where they erected and put in operation works for
the manutfcture of steel, where James Aubrey now
lives. They afterwards built also a machine and engine-shop where is now the brick house of Mr.
Dougherty. The precise date of the starting of the
steel-works is not known, but that they were in-operation in the early part of 1811 is shown by a coimmunication found in the "Pittsburgh Magazine
Almanac" of that year, and of which the followinog
is a copy:
"CROSS CREEK, Jtlly 1, 1811.
" MESSRS. PRINTERS:
" I have been accustomed to making various kinds
of edge tools for forty years, and have no hesitation
in pronouncing the steel made by Morris Truman 
Co. equal to any imported or made elsewhere.
"J. MARSHALL."
In the same Almanac for the year 1813 it is mentioned that "the steel manufactory of Morris Tru475HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
man, which was started about eighteen months since,
is doing well, and is capable of furnishing seventy
tons of good steel annually." The steel-works were
abandoned about the year 1825. From their machineshop the Messrs. Truman turned out the engines of
the "Reindeer," the  "Mountaineer," and other
steamers, and did an extensive business in that line.
They were men of education and of great mechanical
ability. Morris (Jr.) and Joseph Truman were bachelors, James was a justice of the peace for some years,
and all of the three brothers were at times members
of the Borough Council. They died in Bridgeport,
where many years of their lives were spent.
THE BRIDGEPORT GLASS-WORKS.
The old glass-works in Bridgeport were built and
put in operation in 18111 by a joint-stock company,
composed of John Troth, Henry Minehart, Isaac
Van Hook, and their associates. The works embraced
a main building about fifty-five feet square, and several smaller buildings near it, all located on the lots
afterwards occupied by the distillery of John Hopkins, and still later owned by Edward Toynbee.
The company and their successors continued the
manufacture of glass with varying success till about
1840. The works were rented for some years by
Benedict Kimber, who was very successful, accumulating a small fortune, which, howvever, he afterwards
lost in the building of boats. After his failure he
again ran the glass-works, but was not as successful
as before, and finally the works ceased to be used for
their original purpose.  On the 4th of May, 1847,
Samuel B. Page transferred to the borough " the four
lots formerly held by the Bridgeport Glass-Works,"
for which he was released from all borough taxes for
thlle period of ten years.
TIIE BRIDGEPORT MANUFACTURING COMPANY'S COTTONFACTORY.
The formation of this company and the erection of
its cotton-factory in Bridgeport nearly seventy years
ago was promoted by the representations of Daniel
French, who came here from Philadelphia about the
year 1811, and advocated his industrial schemes with
so much enthusiasm that the people were induced to
subscribe liberally to enterprises for manufacturing
and steamboating, as has been narrated on preceding pages in an extract from the journal of Robert
Rogers.
The date of the commencement of work in the erection of the cotton-factory has not been ascertained,
but that it was before 1814 is shown by the following
extract from the "Pittsburgh Magazine Almanac"
for that year, referring to Bridgeport, viz.: "... There
is also a large cotton-manufactory building, in which
they intend to use steam-power;" and also from an
advertisement by the company's manager, dated
"Bridgeport, August 15, 1814," and found in a newspaper of that time. It-announces to the public that
"'the factory is nearly ready to go into operation,
which will be drove by steam, where we intend keeping a constant supply of cotton yarn of various descriptions, which we will sell at the most reduced
prices. And, in addition to the above, we have two
new wool-carding machines with first-rate cards, and
having engaged an experienced carder, we hope, from
our determined intentions to do our work with neatness and dispatch, and at the usual prices, to merit a
share of the public patronage. (Signed) Enos Grove,
Manager of the Company."
The factory building was of stone, about fifty by
oniie hundred feet in ground dimensions, and four
stories high. It was completed at about the time
above indicated, but for somue reason which does not
appear the company was not incorporated until
1816.
An act of the Legislature, approved February 8th
in that year, incorporates "The Bridgeport Manufacturing Company,... for the purpose of manufacturing cotton and woolen goods, and who have
erected an establishment for that purpose in the
Borough of Bridgeport, in Fayette County;" the capital stock not to exceed $200,000, in shares of $500
each. The corporators were John Krepps, James
Tomlinson, Elisha D. Hunt, William Griffith, John
McClure Hezlip, Morris Truman, and Enos Grave.
The factory had been started with great expectations some time prior to the incorporation of the
company. "And when they were ready," says Mr.
Rogers' diary, "no one being experienced in running factory or steamboats, neither enterprise made
any money, but ranl in debt, and the factory was sold
by the sheriff." After being operated for a time by
Mr. Grave for the company, it was run successively
by James Meek, of Greene County, James Hutchinson, Robert Burke, and others. After years of unprofitable attempts to run it for the purpose for which
it was built it was abandoned as a cotton-factory, and
then, after some years of disuse, it was occupied as a
carriage-factory. Finally it was destroyed by fire,
and so ended the cotton-factory enterprise of Bridgeport.
FRIENDSHIIP PAPER-MILL.
A paper-mill, named as above by its proprietors,
Zephaniah Carter and Solomon G. Krepps, was built
by them on Water Street, Bridgeport, and put in
operation in 1832. Before the business had become
firmly established Krepps died, and hi. interest in the
mill was sold to Robert Clarke, whose advertisement,
announcing the purchase, and the continuance of
the business under the new proprietorship, also expressing his regret that an enterprise which gave such
good promise of success should have been checked so
soon after its commencement by the death of Mr.
1 The (late is fixed by the following mention of the concern, found in
the " Pittsburgll Magazine Almanlac" for 1813, viz.: "The Bridgeport
Glass Comlpany got in motion in October, 1811, a glass-works for the
imaking of all sorts of green glass," etc.
476BRIDGEPORT BOROUGH AND TOWVNSHIP.
Krepps, is found in the Washington Examiner, dated
November, 1833. The paper-mill continued in operation for a number of years, but finally the business
was abandoned, and the building sold, in 1857, to
Mason Rogers  Co., who converted it illto a flouringmill, which is still operated by them.
FOUNDRIES AND MACIIINE-SHOPS.
The first machine-shop of Bridgeport was that of
Daniel French, who (as has been already mentioned
in an extract given from the journal of Robert Rogers)
came from Philadelphia to the mouth of Dunlap's
Creek about the year 1811. He was a man full of
mechanical ideas, and a practical machinist. Mr.
James L. Bowman, in an article written for and published in the American Pioneer in 1843, said, "The
facility of obtaining iron and the abundance of bituminous coal for working it caused the establishment
of various manufactories in this section.  Among
them we may name that of a steam-engine shop, under
the direction of Daniel French, in Bridgeport, from
which emanated an engine which was put on board the
hull of the steamer'Enterprise' in 1814." The engine
of the " Dispatch," twin-boat with the " Enterprise,"
was built in the same shop. Mr. French was the inventor of the oscillating cylinder for engines. He
left Bridgeport about 1820, and went to Jefiersonville,
Ind., where his sons became extensive boat-builders,
and where he was still living in 1872.
Between 1825 and 1830, John Krepps, and others
associated with him, started a foundry where now is
the residence of Thomas Cock. While run by them
the foundry was under charge of William Cock as
foreman. Afterwards he ran it on his own account;
then it was rented by him to Culbertson  Rowe, who
carried it on for two or three years, and in 1835 it was
rented by John Snowdon, who had taken the contract
to furnish the castings for the iron bridge then about
to be built across Dunlap's Creek. The metal was
furnished by the government, and the castings were
made in the old foundry by the contractor, Snowdon.
This was the last casting done at these works.
The present foundry and machine-shop business of
Herbertson  Co. was started in 1838 by John Herbertson and Thomas Faull, the former having been
the superintendent of Snowdon's foundry when the
castings were made for the Dunlap's Creek bridge.
The mason-work of the Faull  Herbertson foundry
was done by Thomas Butcher. In 1842 the partnership between Herbertson and Faull was dissolved,
the former continuing the business. The establishment was at first but a small one, but extensions and
improvements have been made from time to time,
and the manufacture of machinery has been added to
the original foundry business, until the works have
been brought to their present capacity. A specialty
is now made in the manufacture of marine and sta31
tionary engines. The present firm of Herbertson 
Co. is composed of John Herbertson, G. S. Herbertson, W. H. Herbertson (the latter two sons of John
Herbertson), W. H. Ammon, and A. C. Cock.
Faull's foundry, located between Water Street and
the river, and above the Monument Mills, was started
by Thomas Faull soon after lie retired from the partnership with John Herbertson. His son now carries
on the business.
THE MONUMENT MILLS.
These mills' are situated on Water Street, Bridgeport, on the eastern bank of the Monongahela River.
The building was erected in the year 1832 by Zephaniah Carter and Solomon G. Krepps, and by them
and others operated as a paper-mill for a number of
years. In 1857 it was purchased by Mason Rogers
 Co., and converted into a merchant flouriig- and
grist-mill, and it is still running on that work. The
motive-power of the mill is a forty horse-power steamengine, which drives three run of stones. The mill
has a capacity of about forty barrels of flour per day.
PROSPECT MILLS.
These flouring-mills, owned and operated by W.
H. Miller, are located on Dunlap's Creek, about
three-fourths of a mile above and outside of the
borough limits, yet they properly belong with the
manufacturing industries of Bridgeport. The Prospect Mills are on or very near the site of the ancient
grist-mmiH1milt by Rees Cadwallader before the commencement of the present century. After Cadwallader, the property passed to other hands, and was at
one time owned by Rogers  Truman, by whom it
was sold to William Miller. The old dam, originally
built by Cadwallader, was used for the later mills
until within a few years, when a new one was built
by Mr. Miller, father of the present proprietor of the
mills.
VALLEY MILLS.
The flouring- and grist-mills known by the above
name are located on Dunlap's Creek, a short distance below and within the borough line, and were
built in 1834 by Samnuel G. Krepps, who operated them
for many years. Subsequently the property passed
through several hands, and in 1867 was purchased by
Eli Leonard, who ran the mills for about ten years.
They are now owned and operated by Snyder 
Crispin.
SAW-MILLS.
The saw-mill of Harvey Leonard is on Dunlap's
Creek, at the point where the borough line strikes
that stream, a short distance above the Valley Mills,
and at or very near the spot where Jonah Cadwallader's saw-mill stood in 1814 (the descriptions of the
lines of the boroughs of Bridgeport and Brownsville,
erected in that year, making "Jonah Cadwallader's
mill-dam" a.point of departure from Dunlap's Creek).
The water which is used to propel both Leonard's
4,T76  HISTORY OF' FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Church of Carlisle, John Allison, Christopher Leme,
and Capt. James Potter, of Cumberland County, t
visit the Monongahela, Youghiogheny, and Redston
Valleys, as well as any other places west of the All1
gheny Mountains where settlements might have bee
made within the supposed territory of Pennsylvania
to promulgate and explain the law, and induce th
settlers to comply with its requirements. The com
missioners took with them  copies of a proclamatio:
by the Governor, which, after a preamble reciting th
provisions of the law, proceeded, "In pursuance
therefore, of the said act, I have thought proper, b;
the advice of the Council, to issue this my proclama
tion, hereby giving notice to all persons to remov,
themselves and families off and from said lands or
or before the first day of May, 1768. And I d(
hereby strictly charge and command such person o:
persons, under the pains and penalties by it the saic
act imposed, that they do not, on any pretense what
ever, remain or continue on the said lands longer thai
thirty days after the first day of May next." Besides
this proclamation, the commissioners also had the
Governor's instructions to call together at each of the
settlements as many of the people as they could, and
at such gatherings to read and explain the proclamation, to remonstrate with the settlers against their
continuing on lands which still belonged to the Indians, and to warn them of the terrible danger which
they, as well as other settlers, were incurring by their
persistent refusal to remove. Finally, they were instructed to procure, if possible, the names of all the
settlers at the several points, and report the list to the
Governor on their return.
The commissioners, with the Reverend Captain
Steele at their head, left Carlisle on the 2d of March,
and proceeded to Fort Cumberland, from which place
they traveled over the route pursued by Braddock's
army to the Youghiogheny and to Gist's, thence by
Burd's road to the Monongahela. What they did at
the various settlelnents visited was related in their
report to the Governor, as follows:
"We arrived at the settlement on Redstone on the
23d day of March. The people having heard of our
coning had appointed a meeting among themselves
on the 24th, to consult what measures to take. We
took advantage of this meeting, read the act of Assembly and proclamation explaining the law, and
giving the reasons of it as well as we could, and used
our endeavors to persuade them to comply, alleging
to them that it was the most probable method to entitle them to favor with the honorable proprietors
when the land was purchased.
"After lamenting their distressed condition, they
told us the people were not fully collected; but they
expected all would attend on the Sabbath following,
and then they would give us an answer. They, however, affirmed that the Indians were very peaceable,
and seemed sorry that they were to be removed, and
s, said they apprehended the English intended to make;o  war upon the Indians, as they were moving off their
Le  people from the neighborhood. We labored to pere- suade them that they were imposed upon by a few
n  straggling Indians; that Sir William Johnson, who
i, had informed our government, must be better ace  quainted with the mind of the Six Nations, and that
i-  they were displeased with the white people's settling
n  on their unpurchased lands.
e    "On Sabbath, the 27th of March, a considerable, number attended (their names are subjoined), and
y most of them told us they were resolved to move off,
- and would petition your Honor for a preference in obe  taining their improvements when a purchase was
i made. While we were conversing we were informed
o  that a number of Indians were come to Indian Peter's.1
r  We, judging it might be subservient to our main design that the Indians should be present while we were
-  advising the people to obey the law, sent for them.
They came, and after sermon delivered a speech, with
sa string of wampum, to be transmitted to your Honor.
Their speech was:'Ye are come, sent by your great
men, to tell these people to go away from the land
I which ye say is ours; and we are sent by our great
men, and are glad we have met here this day. We
rtell you the white people must stop, and we stop them
till the treaty, and when George Croghan and our
great men talk together we will tell them what to do.'
The names of the Indians are subjoined.  They were
from the Mingo town, about eighty miles from Redstone (on the Ohio, below Steubenville).
"After this the people were more confirmed that
there was no danger of war. They dropt the design
of petitioning, and said they would wait the issue of
the treaty.  Some, however, declared they would
move off.
"We had sent a messenger to Cheat River and to
Stewart's Crossings of Yougheganny, with several
proclamations, requesting them to meet us at Giesse's
[Gist's] place, as most central for both settlements.
On the 30th of March about thirty or forty men met
us there. We proceeded as at Red Stone, reading the
act of Assembly and proclamation, and endeavored
to convince them of the necessity and reasonableness
of quitting the unpurchased land, but to no purpose.
They had heard what the Indians had said at Red
Stone, and reasoned in the same manner, declaring
that they had no apprehension of war, that they
would attend the treaty and take their measares accordingly. Many severe things were said of Mr. Croghan, and one Lawrence Harrison treated the law and
our government with too much disrespect.
" On the 31st of March we came to the Great Crossings of Yougheghanny, and being informed by one
"Indian Peter" was then living in a cabin located on what is now
the property of Col. Samuel Evans, three miles east of Uniontown.
2As follows: "The Indians who came to Redstone, viz.: Captains
Hatven, Hornets, Mygog-wigo, Nogawach, Strikebelt, Pouch, Gilly, and
Slewbells."
610HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
saw-mill and Valley Mills, below it, is still taken
from the creek at the place where Cadwallader
erected his mill-dam seventy years ago.
The saw-mill and planing-mill of Gibbons, Wood
 Crumlow, situated on Water Street and Cherry
Alley, is one (and by no means the least important)
of the industrial establishments of Bridgeport.
TIIE MEDICAL PROFESSION IN BRIDGEPORT.1
Dr. Jesse Pennel was born of Quaker parents in
Philadelphia, Sept. 5, 1772. He received a liberal
education, afterwards studying medicine and attending lectures in the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania. A certificate, of which the
following is a correct copy, is still possessed by his
daughter, Miss Susan Pennel, of Pittsburgh:
" This is to certify that Jesse Pennel hath attended a course
of my lectures on the Institutes of Medicine, and on Clinical
Cases, with diligence and punctuality.
"BENJN. RusH, M.D.,
"Professor of the above branches of Medicisle in the University
of Pennsylvania.
"PHILADELPHIA, 24th February, 1792."
Dr. Pennel was married to Miss Hannah Grubb, of
Winchester, Va., at which place the two resided for
one year, when they moved to Bridgeport in 1795,
where he practiced his profession the remainder of
his life. On the 5th of February, 1819, Dr. Pennel
died of typhus fever, which at the time was epidemic
in the county. He was a consistent member of the
Society of Friends up to the time of his death, as
was also his wife. Miss Susan Pennel, his daughter,
and Mrs. John A. Murphy, a granddaughter, both
residents of Pittsburgh, Pa., are his only surviving
descendants.
Dr. Henry William Stoy was born in Lebanon,
Pa., Sept. 7, 1784. He was the son of Dr. Henry
Wilhelm Stoy, a native of Germany, who emigrated
thence to Lebanon County, Pa., some years previous
to the birth of his son. There he practiced medicine
and officiated as minister of the gospel for a considerable time. Dr. Stoy was educated in Lancaster,
Pa., and studied medicine with Prof. Baker, of Lancaster. He canle to Bridgeport in 1817, where he
engaged in the practice of his profession, remaining
until 1822, at which time he went to Greensburg,
Westmoreland Co., but in 1832 returned to Bridgeport, where he continued to follow his profession
until 1852, when he removed to Shinston, Harrison
Co., Va., and died there Feb. 2, 1858. He continued
in active practice up to within three months of his
death.  Dr. Stoy was twice married,--in 1814 to
Katharine E. Cook, who died in 1824, leaving five
children; in 1826 he was married to Eleanor M. Watt,
who died in 1852, leaving also five children. While
in Bridgeport he enljoyed the esteem and confidence
of the community, and nmaintained an extensive prac1 By W. S. Duncan, M.D.
tice. In politics he was an ardent and enthusiastic
Democrat; he was also an active member of the
order of Freemasons for fifty years preceding his
death. His surviving descendants are Capt. William
H. Stoy, the well-known professor of music; Mrs.
Dorothy A. Kimber, of Oil City, Pa., and Mrs. Charlotte Reese, of Pittsburgh, Pa.
Dr. Thomas G. Lamb was born in Connellsville,
Fayette Co., Pa., in 1796; studied medicine with Dr.
Moore, of Connellsville, and in the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania, at Philadelphia. He came to Bridgeport and engaged in the
practice of his profession in 1820, continuing in active
business until 1836, in which year his death occurred.
He was married Jan. 27, 1822, to Sarah W., daughter
of Dr. Jesse Pennel. He was a man of active habits
and dignified presence. In religion he was a Quaker,
having a birthright in the Society of Friends.
Dr. Caleb Bracken was born in 1804 in Washington
County, Pa., about three miles up the Monongahela
River from Bridgeport. In 1826 he came to Bridgeport and engaged in the practice of medicine, remaining until 1836, when he removed to Belmont County,
Ohio, where he engaged in agricultural pursuits and
died in 1877. Dr. Bracken was a consistent member
of the Society of Friends, being a preacher in, that
religious denomination. While practicing medicine
in Bridgeport he was also the proprietor of a drugstore, and at the same time followed the business of
brewing beer on the premises now owned by James
Miller, Esq. The doctor was evidently a gentleman
of considerable versatility of character.
Dr. Abraham Stanley was born in the neighborhood called Cedar Creek, Hanover Co., Va., Aug. 30,
1804. In early life he taught school in Ohio, then
the far Northwest. He studied medicine in the office
of Dr. Pettit, of Columbiana County, Ohio, and spent
one winter at the Cincinnati Medical College. He
came to Bridgeport in 1836, purchased the drug-store
of Dr. Bracken, and at the same time began the
practice of his profession. The drug business proving
unremunerative was soon abandoned, and the remainder of his business life was devoted steadily to
his professional duties.  Soon after his arrival in
Bridgeport he was married to Lydia, daughter of Eli
Haines. He was a prominent member of the Society
of Friends, occupying an important position in the
councils of that body; he was also, like most of the
Quakers of the North, a strong Abolitionist, taking
an active and hearfelt interest in all that pertained to
the abolition of negro slavery in the United States.
He was a number of times importuned by his friends
and influential persons in the community to permit
his name to be used as a candidate for Congress on
the Anti-Slavery ticket, but always peremptorily declined. He was appointed by the State authorities a
manager of the House of Refuge for Western Pennsylvania, which position he held with credit for several years. In private life he was kind and urbane,
4'd-8BRIDGEPORT BOROUGH AND TOWNSIIIP.
charitable te the extent of his means, and universally
respected wherever known. While returning from
Harrisburg, where he had been on business connected
with the House of Refuge, he met with a railroad
accident, from the effects of which he died in the
summer of 1856, leaving no children. He was a
memrber of the Fayette County Medical Society.
Mathew Oliver Jones, M.D., was born of Quaker
parents in Southampton County, Va., on the 1st day
of May, 1822. In early childhood he emigrated with
his parents to the State of Ohio, and studied medicine in the office of Dr. Flanner, in Mount Pleasant,
Jefferson Co., Ohio, attending one term of medical
lectures in the Medical Department of the University
of Pennsylvania during the winter of 1841-42. In
December, 1843, he came to Bridgeport, forming a
partnership with Dr. A. Stanley in the practice of
medicine. In the autumn of 1849 he returned to the
University of Pennsylvania, where the degree of M.D.
was conferred upon him in March, 1850. He remained
in Bridgeport, devoting his entire attention to the
study and practice of his profession, until the spring
of 1861, when he removed to the city of Pittsburgh,
where he now resides, enjoying a large practice and
an honorable position in his profession. On the 29th
of April, 1851, he was married to Margaret C., daughter
of Capt. Elisha Bennett, of Bridgeport, by whom he
had two children, a son and a daughter. The son,
Dr. W. W. Jones, is now engaged in the practice of
medicine in Allegheny City, Pa. The daughter remains with her father. In 1844, Dr. Jones assisted
in organizing the first medical society in Fayette
County, which, however, was short-lived. He is the
author of a paper on the causes and treatment of
vomniting during pregnancy, which not only attracted
much attention among the profession in this country,
but was extensively published in the medical journals
of England and other European countries. He is a
member of the Allegheny County Medical Society,
also of the Medical Society of the State of Pennsylvania, and of the American Medical Association. In
politics he was an old-time Abolitionist, and is now a
Republican. His religion is that of the Society of
Friends.
Dr. James B. Grooms was born July 22, 1827, at
Carmichael's, Greene Co., Pa. He was educated at
Greene Academy, in Carmichael's; studied medicine
in the office of Dr. John Whitsett, at Washington,
Pa.-, attending the lectures in Cleveland Medical
College in the winter of 1852-53. He began the
practice of medicine in his native town in 1853, continuing there until the latter part of 1862, when he
entered the army as a member of the Ringgold Battalion, which was afterward a part of the Twentysecond Pennsylvania Cavalry. He served in the
army three years, part of the time as assistant surgeon, and located in Bridgeport in 1866, where he
has since remained, engaged in the practice of his
profession. Dr. Grooms is the inventor of the first
repeating rifle that was ever successfully operated in
the United States, and for which he obtained a patent in 1855. The rifle was tested satisfactorily, in
the presence of officers of the army and navy, the
same year, in Washington City. Owing to unexpected business arrangements the invention was for
some time neglected, the manufacture of the rifle
being postponed until others, profiting by the doctor's
invention, brought the improvements they had made
thereon before the public and the government, after
which no further attention was given to the original
invention. In 1858 he also took out letters patent
for a rotary steam-engine. The principle involved
in this invention has since come into extensive use in
the manufacture of steam fire-engines and steampumps. The doctor, although the first to apply successfully the valuable principles involved, has, like
many other inventors, failed to reap any pecuniary
benefit from his labors. He is a member of the
Fayette County Medical Society; also of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
William Stevens Duncan, M.D., son of Thomas
Duncan, and grandson of Dr. Benjamin Stevens, one
of the earliest medical practitioners of the county,
was born in Bridgeport, May 24, 1834, and educated at
Mount Union College, Stark Co., Ohio. He began
his medical studies in 1855, in the office of Dr. M. 0.
Jones, then of Bridgeport; matriculated in the IUniversity of Pennsylvania, and received the degree of
M.D. from  that institution in March, 1858.  The
same year he formed with his preceptor a partnership
in the practice of medicine, which was terminated in
about two years and a half by the removal of Dr.
Jones to the city of Pittsburgh. He has been actively engaged in professional pursuits up to the
present time, still occupying the same office in which
his first prescription was written. He served as a
volunteer surgeon at Gettysburg, and was captured by
the Confederates, but managed to escape. In 1869
he was instrumental in securing the reorganization of
the County Medical Society, which had not held a
meeting for twenty-five years, being elected its president. In 1871 he went to San Francisco, Cal., to
attend a meeting of the American Medical Association. Besides various articles on miscellaneous subjects, published in newspapers and magazines, he is
the author of the following scientific papers, viz.:
"Malformations of the Genito-Urinary Organs,"
"Belladonna as an Antidote for Opium-Poisoning,"
"M Iedical Delusions," "Reports of Cases to State
Medical Society," 1870-72, "Iliac Aneurism Cured by
Electrolysis," 1875, " The Physiology of Death," and
various reports published in the " Transactions of the
State Medical Society." He is a member of the Fayette County Medical Society, the Medical Society of
the State of Pennsylvania, the American Medical
Association, the Rocky Mountain Medical Association, and an honorary member of the California State
Medical Society.
I
I
479HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
James R. Nelan, M.D., was born in Luzerne township, Fayette Co., on the 10th of September, 1851;
educated at Waynesburg College, Greene Co., Pa;
studied medicine under the tutorage of Dr. Duncan,
of Bridgeport, and received the degree of M.D. in the
Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania in the spring of 1877, the subject of his graduating thesis being "Nervous Influence."  In the
same year he began the practice of his profession in
Bridgeport. He is a member of the Fayette County
Medical Society and the Medical Society of the State
of Pennsylvania; has served several years faithfully
as a director of the public schools, and is an active
Democratic politician.
Dr. Charles Hubbs was born in New Jersey in 1767,
pursued his medical studies under the direction of
Dr. Benjamin Rush, of Philadelphia, and practiced
his profession in Germantown, Pa., and Baltitnore,
Md., until 1816, when he removed to Mount Pleasant,
Westmoreland Co., Pa.; came to Bridgeport in 1820,
remained one year, returned to Mount Pleasant, and
died there in 1847.
Dr. William G. Hubbs (of the so-called PhysioMedical School), son of Dr. Charles Hubbs, was born
in Baltimore, Md., Feb. 21, 1811; studied medicine
under the direction of his father and brother, Dr. N.
G. Hubbs. He began the practice of medicine in
Cookstown (now Fayette City), Pa., in 1830, remaining there until 1861, when he removed to Greenfield,
Pa., and from there in June, 1867, to Bridgeport,
where he continued to practice his profession until
within a few weeks of his death from typhoid fever,
April 6, 1881.
John Allen Hubbs, M.D., son of Dr. W. G. Hubbs,
was born in Fayette City, Pa., Feb. 13, 1840. He
studied medicine under his father and Dr. J. R.
Nickel; attended lectures in the Physio-Medical College at Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1855-56, mid the winter
of 1856-57; practiced in partnership with his father
at Fayette City until he attended another course of
lectures in the Physio-Medical Institute atCincinnati,
Ohio, from which institution he received the degree
of M.D. in February, 1860, when, only twenty years
of age. He practiced his profession in Fairview,
Greene Co., Pa., until 1867, when he came to Bridgeport, where he has since been engaged in practice, also
in the drug business. He takes an active interest in
the affairs of the town, and has served several years
as a member of the Borough Council.
PUBLIC-IIOUSES.
The earliest tavern stand in Bridgeport was the old
red house that stood on the corner of Water and
Bridge Streets. In that house Isaac Kimber opened
a tavern in the year 1814. After Kimber, its landlords were Robert Patterson and others. Another
early tavern was opened by John Nelan about 1818,
at the place where now is the residence of Burnet
Mason. Little beyond these facts has been learned
in regard to these old taverns. Bridgeport has never
had many public-houses, the greater part of the
business of the vicinity in that line in the palmy days
of the National road and of Western emigration being
done on the other side of the creek in Brownsville.
The principal hotel of Bridgeport at the present time
is the " Bar House," kept by Matthew Story on the
site where Kimnber opened the first tavern of the place
in 1814.
FIRE APPARATUS.
On the 29th of November, 1842, the Council of
Bridgeport, in accordance " with the will of the people,
expressed at a town-meeting called for the purpose,"
subscribed one hundred dollars for the purchase of a
fire-engine for the use of the borough. Afterwards
the sum of two hund(red and fifty dollars was subscribed by citizens, when, as one hundred dollars
more was necessary, that additional amount was subscribed by the Council. An engine was then built for
the borough by Faull  Herbertson, and a company
was raised and organized to take charge of and work
it. The subsequent history of Bridgeport with regard
to the extinguishment of fires has been the same as
that of Brownsville. Fire companies have been raised
from time to time, and have as often gone down and
disbanded, and at the present time Bridgeport, like
Brownsville, is without a fire department or any effective means of preventing serious disaster to the
borough from the ravages of fire.
NATIONAL DEPOSIT BANK OF BROWNSVILLE.
This institution (located in Bridgeport notwithstanding its name and style) was organized in 1872 as
a State bank, named the Deposit and Discount Bank
of Brownsville, with Dr. W. Cotton as president, and
O. K. Taylor, cashier. The bank commenced business in the building at present occupied by it on the
1st of April in the year named. In 1873 it sustained
severe losses, from which it recovered only after several years of successful business. In April, 1880, it
was reorganized under the national banking system,
with its present name and a capital of $50,000. It is
now in a prosperous condition and has the confidence
of the community. The present (1881) officers of the
institution are: Directors, Dr. W. Cotton (president),
Joseph S. Elliott (vice-president), William H. Miller,
Samuel Thompson, Joseph Farquar, O. K. Taylor
(cashier), E. H. Bar, Dr. S. S. Rogers, Jeremiah
Baird.
SCHOOLS.
For some years after small schools had begun to be
taught at irregular intervals in Brownsville, Bridgeport had none, and consequently during that period
such of the scholars of the last-named place as attended school at all were compelled to cross Dunlap's
Creek to do so. The first schools of Bridgeport were
opened under the auspices of the Friends who lived
there, and the earliest teacher of whom any kqlowledge can be gained at the present day was Joseph
I
4S-  BRIDGEPORT BOROUGH AND TOWNSHIP.
Oxley, a Quaker, and a man of no little fame as a
mathematician, who taught in a building that stood
near the site of the grist-mill of Mason Rogers  Co.
Another very early teacher was Eli Haynes.
Joshua Gibbons, now living in Bridgeport, but retired from  active life, has been a resident of the
county for seventy years, of which fully sixty years
have been spent by him in educational employment,
teaching every year except when serving as county
superintendent of schools, which office he filled for
four terms of three years each, commencing as the first
superintendent of the county, under the school law of
1850. Two of his sons, James W. and Heiry, are
also successful teachers. Another son, Rev. H. O.
Gibbons, is pastor of a Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, and a daughter married the Rev. Robert
Fulton, of Baltimore, Md. This digression is thought
to be excusable in making honorable mention of a
man who has labored as long and faithfully in the
cause of education as has the veteran teacher and
school officer, Joshua Gibbons, of Bridgeport.
Not only were the Quakers of Bridgeport the first
to open a school in the town, but the fact is also to be
recorded that the first building erected here especially
as a school-house was built by members of the Society of Friends, on their grounds on Prospect Street.
One of the teachers in this old stone house was Eli
Haynes, above mentioned.
The earliest reference to a school-house found in
the borough records of Bridgeport is under date of
Jan. 1, 1815, being a mention of the amount to be
paid " to Israel Gregg for the expense of purchasing
a lot and building a school-house on Second Street,
and to procure a Deed and have it executed on behalf
of the Corporation." The school-house here referred
to was on the 29th of May, 1823, rented by the Council
to John Stump for the term of three months, to be used
for teaching a "subscription school," and on the 8th
of September in the same year the borough schoolhouse (without doubt the same building referred to
above) was rented to Charles Van Hook for the term
of six months.
March 25, 1824, the school-room was rented to James
Reynolds for three months; but on the 21st of April
following he declined using it, and resigned the privilege which had been granted to him. Three days
later, Joel Oxley " requested the privilege of the use
of the School-House as a school-room for two years
from the first day of May next," and on this application "the Burgess was directed to lease the same to
Joel Oxley for the above term, reserving the customary privileges of the Council, and to the Methodists as a Meeting-House."
Oct. 8, 1828, "Major King and James Reynolds
applied for the use of School-House," and the privilege wa;s granted to Reynolds.
Under the public school law of 1834, the courts of
the several counties in the State appointed school directors for each township district. At the January
term of Fayette County Court, in 1835, Caleb Bracken
and Joshua Wood were appointed as such officers for
Bridgeport. On the 15th of June following the Borough Council took action, ordering a tax of twentyfive, cents on the $100, to be levied for the use of
common schools, in addition to the tax levied by the
county commissioners for that purpose. Aug. 13,
1835, the township of Bridgeport complied with the
requirements of the law, and so notified the county
treasurer. The amount of money received from the
State in that year for sclhool purposes in Bridgeport
was $39.78; received from the county of Fayette,
$79.56.
On the 6th of May, 1837, the Council took into consideration the question "of erecting a building on
the west end of the Market-House, to answer the
double purpose of a Town Hall and School-House for
the Borough," arid a committee was appointed to act
with the school directors in the matter, the Council
agreeing to pay $200 towards the erection of the
building. The committee contracted (June 6, 1837)
with Joel Armstrong to build the hall and schoolhouse, and on the 23d of April, 1838, the Council
transferred the school-house and lot to the school directors.
In this old building the schools of the borough were
taught until they were transferred to the present
Union school-house, which was built in 1852-53,
on a lot which was purchased for $400, located on
Prospect Street, and being part of the grounds occupied by the old Friends' meeting-house. The cost
of the Union school-house was $2948.90, and of the
furniture and fixtures, $1150.85; making, with the
cost of the lot, a total of $4499.75. From November,
1854, the old stone school-house was used for tbe
schooling of colored pupils until 1875, when it was
demolished and a new brick school-house erected on
its site.
The schools of the borough are now under charge
of Thomas S. Wood, principal, who is assisted by
seven teachers. The whole number of scholars is two
hundred and seventy-six. Total receipts for the year
for school purposes, $2965.67; expenditures, $2631.77.
Valuation of school property, $10,000.
The present (1881) board of school directors is composed as follows: W. S. Duncan, president; William
H. Miller, William Cock, Daniel Delaney, James
Reynolds, and Jesse H. Bulger.
Following is a list of persons whose names appear
on the records as having been elected to the office of
school director in Bridgeport since the commencement of the operation of the school law of 1834, viz.:
1835, Caleb Bracken, Joshua Wood, "reported Aug.
13, 1835;" 1836, Tilson Fuller, Thomas DuVcan;
1856, R. W. Jones, S. B. Page; 1857, Benjamin Leonard, John W. Porter, Dr. M. O. Jones, Thomas Duncan; 1867, 0. C. Croinlow, Thomas Duncan; 1870,
Edward L. Moorehouse, Daniel Delaney; 1874, William H. Miller, C. W. Wanee; 1875, Daniel Delaney,
I
I
I
481HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
O. R. Knight, G. W. Springer; 1876, Jesse H. Bulger,
John S. Wilgus; 1877, William Patterson, William
J. Porter; 1878, James Reynolds, William S. Duncan; 1879, Daniel Delaney, James Blair, William
Cock; 1880, J. H. Bulger, W. H. Miller; 1881, James
Reynolds, W. S. Duncan.
RELIGIOUS IIISTORY.
FRIENDS' MEETING.
In the early period, before 1820, the members of
the Society of Friends in Bridgeport outnumbered
those of all other denominations, and their meetings
for divine worship were held here many years before
any other churches were organized in the place, beginning as early as about the year 1790. For a few
years they met in private dwellings. On the 28th of
February, 1799, a lot of three acres of land was purchased from Rees Cadwallader, and soon afterwards
a mneeting-house was built upon it. It was a stone
building, low, but nearly or quite one hundred feet
in length. Some years afterwards, when the Hicksites
seceded from the regular congregation, this old meeting-house was partitioned across in the middle so as
to accommodate both meetings. This was continued
for some years, but gradually, by reason of removals
and the death of members, the congregation became
reduced in numbers, and finally religious worship
after the manner of the Quakers ceased to be held in
Bridgeport.
Besides the old stone meeting-house built by the
Friends on the lot purchased from  Rees Cadwallader, they also built on it a stone school-house (the
first school-liouse in Bridgeport), and set apart a portion of the ground for a burial-place. Upon the lot
purchased by the Friends from Cadwallader there
now stand the residences of William Miller, Eli Cock,
and Richard Swan, and the Union school-house of
the borough.
SECOND METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF BROWNSVILLE.
This church, although located in Bridgeport, received and has retained its designation as " of Brownsville" from the fact that it was an offshoot from the
church of Brownsville, its original members being
from the membership of that church. The date of
the Bridgeport organization has not been ascertained,
but it is certain that it was as early as or prior to the
year 1833. Before that time, for many years, the
Bridgeport members of the Brownsville Church had
been accustomed to hold meetings for religious worship in the stone school-house on the hill in Bridgeport. In 1833 they purchased from Ruth Jones lot
No. 54 of the Bridgeport plat, situated on Second
Street, for $230, and that lot was accordingly conveyed by the grantor to Joseph Reynolds, Adolph
Merchant, Charles McFall, Thomas Gregg, and Edmund Draper, trus'ees for the Second Methodist
Episcopal Church of Brownsville. On this lot in
1834 a church edifice was built, thirty-five by fiftyfive feet in dimensions, and costing about $2000.
Its location was opposite the site of the present
church.
In that first church building the congregation worshiped for thirty years. Before the end of that time
it was thought necessary to build a new edifice, and
arrangements were made to erect one, but a consideration of the high prices prevailing during the war of
the Rebellion caused it to be delayed. The new
house was, however, completed in 1866, at a cost of
about $12,000, and was dedicated by the Rev. William
Pershing of Pittsburgh. The Rev. Charles W. Smith
was at that time pastor of the church.
Among the preachers who have ministered to this
church during the past twenty-two years have been
the Revs. Artemus Ward (1859), J. W. McIntyre,
Charles W. Smith, J. J. Hayes, J. R. Mills, S. W.
Horner,'C. W. Scott, Homer Smith, John C. Castle,
T. N. Eaton, and Charles Cartwright, the present
(1881) pastor. The church now numbers two hundred and seventy-five members. In connection with
it is a Sabbath-school, having-an attendance of about
three hundred, under the superintendency of J. Well
Porter.
METHODIST PROTESTANT CHURCH.
This church was organized in Bridgeport in 1830
by the Rev. William Collins, who was its first preacher.
In the following year a stone building was erected as
a house of worship on,lot No. 46, which was at that
time bargained to the trustees of this church, but was
not transferred by deed until Oct. 16, 1849. The
location was on the side of the hill, where the residence of James Kidnew now stands. This old church
edifice was used by the society until 1866, when the
building of the Wesleyan Methodists was purchased.
The old meeting-house was then sold, and the Wesleyan building has since that time been used as the
Methodist Protestant house of worship.
The Rev. William Collins, above mentioned as the
organizer of this church, was succeeded by the Rev.
John Lucas, since whose time there have been a great
number of preachers serving the congregation, among
whom are recollected John Wilson, George Huglies,
William B. Dunlevy, and Zachariah Ragan in the
old church, and the Revs. Stillwagon, Caruthers,
Mark Taylor, J. Simpson, and Henry Lucas since
the occupation of the house purchased from the Wesleyans. The Rev. Henry Lucas is the present preacher
in charge. The church now numbers fifty members.
WESLEYAN METHODIST CHURCH.
The date of the organization of this church has not
been definitely ascertained, but it is known that it
was in existence some years prior to 1848, at whichl
time it had a membership of about seventy-five, and
in which year also its meeting-house (the same which
is now the Methodist Protestant house of worship)
was erected. During its existence the church was
served by the Revs. --   Smith, John P. Bedker,
482BRIDGEPORT BOROUGH AND TOWNSHIP.
Lyell, Laughead, Tolgen, Planet, McBride, and A.
D. Carter, who was the last of its preachers. At
about the close of the war of the Rebellion the society
disintegrated, and their church edifice was sold to the
Protestant Methodists as before mentioned.
Concerning the African Methodist Episcopal and
the African Zion Wesleyan Methodist Churches of
Bridgeport little information has been obtained beyond the fact that the trustees of the former organization purchased, on the 13th of June, 1840, from
Robert Patterson, for the consideration of forty dollars, lot No. 136, on Cadwallader Street, for church
purposes, and that the trustees of the Wesleyan
Church (which is not now in existence) purchased
lot No. 130 from Lucinda Tucker on the 4th of March,
1840.  More extended sketches of these churches
were requested from, and promised by, the Rev. Benjamin Wheeler, but they have not been received.
CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.1
In February or March, 1832, two ministers of a new
denomination, known as the Cumberland Presbyterian, came to the town of Brownsville. The names
of these preachers were Alfred M. Bryan and Milton
Bird. Both came from what was then the far Southwest. The church they represented had been organized in Tennessee about twenty years before, and had
already in the West grown into'a denomination of
strength and influence. About the beginning of the
century a great religious revival had been kindled in
many of the Presbyterian Churches in Kentucky and
Tennessee, in the region then known as the Cumberland country. This revival continued for ten years,
and the whole aspect of society in that region was
affected by it. New life was imparted to the church,
and Christian truth acquired new power over the
hearts and lives of many. Growing out of this revival certain questions sprung up which brought disagreement, and out of these questions grew the hopeless breach which caused the formation of a new and
independent Presbytery in February, 1810, and finally
of the Cumberland Presbyterian denomination.
In the spring of 1831 this new church held its General Assembly at Princeton, Ky. A communication
was laid before this body from certain ruling elders
of a Presbyterian Church in Washington County, Pa.,
asking information about Cumberland Presbyterians,
and requesting that ministers of the new church
should be sent to Western Pennsylvania. In answer
to this request several preachers had come to Washington County in the fall of 1831. Their preaching
everywhere was attended with surprising results.
Scores of anxious inquirers knelt at every service.
The revival influence spread rapidly. Several congregations of the new denomination were organized in
Washington and Greene Counties.
1 By Rev. J. M. Iloward.
The two preachers named above-Bryan and Bird
-had crossed the Monongahela, and were holding a
meeting at an old Methodist meeting-house four
miles from Brownsville, known as Hopewell. The
usual result had followed, and a great revival was in
progress. At the solicitation of friends of the new
movement, these two ministers came to Brownsville
to spend two days. Mr. Bird preached in the forenoon of the first day at the Methodist Episcopal
Church. Mr. Bryan preached in the evening. Crowds
of people left their work to attend the services. A
large number of "seekers of religion" crowded the
altar. Next day and evening the services were held
in the Episcopal Church, and even greater results followed than on the day before. Many of the leading
people in the town professed faith in Christ. Some
who are yet living and who still occupy prominent
places in society here were among the converts. The
imeeting ended with these two days, and, strange to
say, no effort was mnade to organize a church, and the
fruits of the two days' revival was gathered by the
other churches of the towvn.
The Rev. John Morgan, who about this time became pastor of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church
at Uniontown, did not visit Brownsville till a good
while later, but he and others still preached here occasionally. Among these early preachers the names
of Le Roy Woods, S. M. Sparks, I. N. Cary, John
Cary, S. E. Hudson, and W. E. Post are mentioned.
As early as the year 1840 the last-mentioned minister began to hold meetings once or twice a month
in an old stone building on Front Street, Brownsville
(formerly the Black Horse tavern), standing on or
near the lot now known as the Sweitzer property.
Some time afterward the Baptists, who then had a
flourishing congregation here, finished their church,
which still stands on Church Street, and moved out
of Masonic Hall, where they had worshiped hitherto.  The Cumberland Presbyterians now rented
this hall, and held services in it regularly every two
weeks.
We are told that considerable success attended
these efforts, but we have no record of the work until
the spring of 1844. In April of that year a petition signed by a number of the citizens of Brownsville and vicinity was presented to Union Presbytery, asking that body to organize a church here.
The record informs us that after Presbytery duly considered the propriety of the'petition it was granted,
and the Rev. S. E. Hudson was appointed to assist
Rev. W. E. Post in said organization. For some
reason this action was not carried out until five
months later, Sept. 10, 1844. The Rev. J. T. A.
Henderson was present and assisted at the organization. There are thirty names on the original roll.
Josiah Waggoner and William Robbins were elected
and ordained ruling elders.
Mr. Post continued his labors with the congregation
thus organized until October, 1846. The growth of
483tIISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
the church was not rapid, the roll showing less than
forty names at that date. The services were still held
in Masonic Hall. From October, 1846, to April,
1847, "the congregation was furnished with preaching by supplies." Rev. J. T. A. Henderson, Rev. A.
G. Osborn, Rev. A. M. Blackford, and Rev. Isaac
Hague visited and preached for the congregation in
this interval.
In April, 1847, Rev. Isaac Hague, now of Galesburg, Ill., took charge of the work, continuing his
seryices till the fall of 1848. In the mean time the
place of meeting had been changed from the Masonic
Hall, Brownsville, to the Methodist Episcopal Church,
Bridgeport.
Mr. Hague's efforts were quite successful, and in
one revival meeting there were thirteen additions to
the church. Removals and deaths, however, left not
more than sixty in communion when he closed his
labors. Mr. Hague lived in the country, and as his
visits were only semi-monthly, he could not look constantly after the work as he might have done with a
home in the midst of the people.
On June 23, 1847, William H. Bennett and James
M. Abrams were elected ruling elders.
The Rev. A. B. Brice succeeded Rev. Isaac Hague
in the fall of 1848. He preached here one-half his
time till the fall of 1849. In January, 1850, he took
charge of the congregation, giving his entire time to
the work. Mr. Brice remained in charge of the work
for six years, and during his stay "there were frequent outpourings of the divine spirit and many
were brought into the church."
About the year 1850,,Oliver C. Cromlow was elected
ruling elder. Dr. Brice was editor of the Cumberland
Presbyterian, the organ of the denomination in Pennsylvania and Ohio. This paper was for several years
published at Brownsville, having been moved here
fronm Unliontown.
About the close of Mr. Hague's labors it became
necessary to change the place of holding the meetings, and the congregation moved to the old town
hall in West Brownsville. The necessity of building
a church began to be reco:nized, and subscriptions
for the purpose were started. In the spring of 1848
a lot was secured in the upper part of Bridgeport, and
a neat brick structure, one story high, forty by sixty
feet, was erected. The plastering was finished in
December, 1848, and the church was dedicated in
February, 1849, Rev. Hiram Hunter, then pastor at
Uniontown, preaching the dedicatory sermon.
The Rev. A. B. Brice, D.D., continued in charge
of the church until April, 1855. His successor was
the Rev. William Campbell, D.D., who also succeeded
Dr. Brice as editor of the Cumberland Presbyterian.
He continued to labor as pastor and editor till April,
1857, when he resigned the charge of the church and
took the paper to Pittsburgh.
The Rev. A. J. Swain became pastor in April,
1857, continuing to labor in that capacity four years,
till April, 1861. The record shows about forty accessions in the six years following 1855. Rev. N. D.
Porter succeeded Rev. A. J. Swain.  Thiis was the
memorable year which marked the beginning of the
great Rebellion. The work of the church was greatly
retarded at the time by the prevailing excitement,
but in January and February, 1862, there was an extensive revival, with one hundred and fourteen professions and nearly seventy accessions to the church.
Mr. Porter was assisted in this meeting by the Rev.
Henry S. Bennett, of Brownsville, and Rev. G. F.
Wright, of White Hall, N. Y.  The congregation
afterwards.continued to enjoy a good degree of prosperity, though there was no other extensive revival
under Mr. Porter's ministry.
Freeman Wise had been made ruling elder in
March, 1859, and that office was conferred on J. D.
Armstroiig in March, 1862.
MIr. Porter ceased to labor with this church in
January, 1864. The congregation was without a
minister until the July following, when Rev. G. W.
McWherter was called as a supply, and continued in
that capacity until April, 1865. The congregation
was again without a pastor until July, 1865, when
" Rev. J. T. A. Henderson was called for six months,"
and in April, 1866, "he was called to supply the
church for an indefinite period." Mr. Henderson
divided his time between Brownsville and Hopewell.
There had been very few additions to the church
since the revival of 1862 until February, 1866, at
whicli time, under Mr. Henderson's ministry, about
thirty were added to the church.
At some time during the spring or summer of 1868
(the record does not show the exact date) Rev. J. T.
A. Henderson resigned, and the congregation was
again for a time without a minister. Rev. L. Axtell
was next called as a supply, and continued for some
months in that capacity.
About the 1st of November, 1870, Rev. J. H. Coulter
took charge of the work. During the time of these
frequent changes the church made little progress.
In October, 1871, Mr. Coulter, assisted by Rev. A. J.
Baird, D.D., of Nashville, Tenn., held a series of
meetings of the most successful character.  About
forty were added to the church, and the work for a
time received a new impetus. About the middle of
June, 1872, Rev. J. H. Coulter resigned, and the congregation was without a minister until December of
the same year, when Rev. J. M. Howard, the present
pastor, was called. At this time there were many
things to dishearten and few to encourage the friends
of the struggling congregation. During the first two
years of Mr. Howard's ministry here not more than a
dozen joined the church, and this gain was balanced
by losses by removals, dismissions, and deaths.
On the morning of the 8th of October, 1874, the
church was entirely destroyed by fire, and there being
no insurance on the property the loss seerned fatal to
the congregation. Efforts were, however, immediately
484BULLSKIN TOWNSIIIP.
set on foot to raise funds to rebuild, and in the spring
of 1875 work was begun on the present building.
The congregation secured the use of what is known
as "Templars' Hall," in that part of the town called
"The Neck," and the regular services were continued
there. The basement of the new building was ready
to occupy Feb. 20, 1876. At that time an " opening
service" was held, Rev. A. B. Miller, D.D., president
of Waynesburg College, preaching an appropriate sermon. Rev. Henry Melville, then pastor of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Uniontown, assisted
in the services and preached in the evening. The
new building and lot have so far cost about $7000.
The congregation still worship in the basement,
but the audience-room is to be finished this year
(1881). The building committee having the work in
charge consists of J. D. Armstrong, Seaburn Crawford, and George L. Moore.
In February and March of 1876 an extensive revival of religion prevailed in this church. Mr. Howard, the pastor, was assisted by Rev. A. J. Swain.
There were, growing out of this revival, about fifty
accessions to the church.  The Sunday-school had
grown from about forty in 1872 to more than two
hundred, being at this time the banner school in the
county.
In October, 1877, there was another extensive revival. At this time the pastor was assisted by Rev.
W. S. Danley, of Carmichael's, Greene Co. More
than sixty members were added to the church. In
the spring of 1877 the " Murphy temperance work"
had begun in this church, and a large number who
had been reclaimed from intemperance joined the
church during the revival in October.
In February, 1881, the church enjoyed another revival, which resulted in about one hundred professions
and about fifty accessions to the church. The Rev.
Samuel McBride, pastor of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church of McKeesport, and Rev. A. W. White,
pastor of Hopewell Church, assisted the pastor.
In September, 1874, John S. Pringle, John Springer,
and Geo. L. Mooie were chosen ruling elders; these,
with J. D. Armstrong, constitute the present board of
elders.
The number now on the church roll-is about two
hundred. The Sunday-school has about two hundred,
with an average attendance of one hundred and thirty.
The present pastor has been here nearly nine years.
BULLSKIN TOWNSHIP.
THIS township is on the northern border of the
county, the second froim the east. Its general length
from  north to south is about nine miles, or about
double its width. The eastern boundary is formed
by the Chestnut Ridge, which separates it from the
townships of Salt Lick and Springfield; on the south
is Connellsville; on the west are Tyrone, and Westmoreland County, Jacob's Creek separating the latter
fromn Bullskin; and on the north is Westmoreland
County. The area embraced within these bounds is
about 24,320 acres of land, varying from rolling to
mountainous, the western half, in general, being tillable. The township is drained south and west by
Mounts' Creek and its affluents, White's, Butler's,
Spruce, and Yellow Springs Runs, Jacob's Creek,
and Green Lick Run. Most of these are constant
streams, and afford good mill-seats.  Their valleys
vary from a quarter to half a mile in width, and are
fertile, while their hillsides are usually quite productive. The celebrated Connellsville coal-beds underlie
the western part of Bullskin, while in the eastern
part iron ore of excellent quality and almost unlimited quantity abounds. Fire-clay also is found in
many localities. Much of the mineral wealth of the
township has been developed with rich returns to the
owners of the lands, whose agricultural value, too,
compares not unfavorably with other lands in the
county.
The attractive appearance of many parts of Bullskin caused many claims to be made at an early day,
before the question to the proprietorship of the lands
was determined. Hence there was in the township
a patent issued by Thomas and Richard Penn, in the
belief that they had a right to the soil. It was
granted to William Robertson, Jan. 12, 1771, and
covered the valuable lands lying on both sides of
Jacob's Creek, between Lobengier's and Snyder's
mills. Ralph Cherry successfully disputed the validity of this patent, and the litigation which arose
therefrom covers many pages of the recordcs of the
courts.  Although Robertson failed to dispossess
Cherry, it sppears that the latter did not perfect his
claim until many years after his settlement. The
survey was not made until 1787, several years after
the warrant was issued. Ten surveys in the township
were made earlier.
In the list of original surveys in what was formerly
Bullskin township appear the following-llamed perI
4 0- 4, -0
4 8a'HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
sons as the owners of the number of acres of land
set opposite their names:
Names.              Acres.
William Arr................  391
Henry Adams................ 21
D. B. Adams................   55
Christian Ansman.......... 366
Margaret Butler............. 83
Fred Banders................ 357
Conrad Bates................  89
F. Banders................   399
Thomas Brown............... 88
Joseph Brooks............... 250
Jesse Bracken................ 341
Frederick   Berg.............. 375
David Berg...... 282
George Batchelor............  100
Peter Bucher............ 154
William Boyd................ 239
George Burton........... 398
Samuel Black................ 4(t)
Charles Brewer.............. S 333
Edmund Brewer............  400
Philip Bool................  429
Alexander Bailey.. 4)9
Jesse Bracken...............  330
Ebenezer Branham..3 87
William  Boyle............... 364
John Brewer........... 67
David Bloom.......       14 8
Henry E. Brown............ 119
Adam Culler............ 226
John Cumpton........... 297
Ann Connell................ 307
Alexander Cummings...... 150
Adam  Clipliver.......... 410
Zachariah Connell.......... 600
Rachel Cherry........... 297
Ann Cherry............. 403
Abraham  Colladay......... 399
Thomas Cross........... 344
William Coyman............ 438
Ralph Cherry........... 403
Zachariah Connell......... 147
William  Crawford........ 300
Hiram Connell........... 404
John R. Connell..  414
James Connell........... 405
Thomas Connell.............. 380
John Cary................. 187
John Crist................ 168
Isaac Cecil................ 219
Alexander Cummings...... 148
Thomas Crawford.. 432
William Cole............ 417
Henry Corpening.......... 199
James Cummings............ 233
Peter Dilly............. 305
Philip Dumbauld.. 349
Frederick Dumbauld.. 46
Abraham  Davis......... 188
Adam Deitz................  16
David Dumbauld..1...... I
Peter Dumbauld............ 161
Edward Doyle............... 426
Abraham Dumbauld....... 425
John Dark.. 4 00
William Dark........... 400
George J. Dark.......... 421
Benjamin Davis............. 334
John Dunwoody......... 392
Israel Dean............... 390
William Douglas......... 415
James Dugan............... 412
Peter Dick...............    416
John Dugan............... 400
John Douglas........... 393
Andrew Douglas......... 435
Simon Douglas..............4 04
William Dugan.... 413
Abraham Dumbauld...... 306
Names.              Acres.
Casper Etling...............249
Joseph Eicher..    292
Clifford Elder.185
Eliza Elder.........  32
Thomas Fleming.           301
George Frame.            416
Charles Foster.          418
John Foreman.            382
Jacob Farry..............; 536
Abel Faulk.48
Philip Flack.28
John Fremberger.          40)0
Killian Guering..  330
Hugh Guering...          333
Everhhart Goff..        487
herman Gebhart..        753
Vralentine Giesy..        68
Abram Glllentine..        42
John Galloway..           219
Adam  Hatfield....38
Robert hood..         4(6
John Harlon..             407
George hogg.............., 295
Henry Horseman..        418
Richard haywood..        4(4
George J. Hill..     449
John Hazleton..          150
Price Higgins...    385
William  Harbaugh..    447
John Harbaugh...         462
Samuel hanseminger.    96
Robert huey..            1(03
George hatfield.. 13
Joseph Hoffhans..         13
John horhold..            248
Stakely Higgins..         285
Adam Hubley..     150
Robert Irwin..           434
Joseph Jarvis..          230
William. Joiles..        401
Richard Johnston..     426
John King...        2911
Solomon Kern..     425
James McKeown.. 138
Easter McKee..            92
John F. Knoll..           123
Peter Kesslar...... 308 and 345
George Kesslar.............1 45
Peter Kesslar.............   395
Andrew Kesslar......... 98
Philip Kalp, Jr.......... 147
John Keble.......... 307
Martin Klippart..        54
Enos King...             106
John Kitheart..300
John Knowsinger......   268
Philip Kalb...           201
John King..             26:3
Joseph Lownes...          436
James Long..           442
Presley Carr Lane..     209
Gustav X. Lencke..          6
Jonathan Lyons..        181
John R. Lohr..     23
John K. Lohr..    3
John McLean..     334
Ludwig Miller..          221
Frederick Miller..        10
Jacob B. Miller..          70
Harry Messer..         173
Michael McKendrick.     200
John G. Miller..         21
Hannah Meason.. 209
John Meason...   435
Philip Meason..          359
John Martin..     319
Isaac Meason..          113
Archibald Murphy.. 403'l Only part of the suirveys in Connellsville are here given.
Names.              Acres.
John Menson.........     103
John Muir.302
John Miner.25
David Miller.47
Isaac Meason.             295
William  Norton, Jr..      301
Robert Neil..           299
James Neigh..           437
William  Newbold...     411
William  Nob..          328
Ludwig Nogle..          208
James Nob...          354
John Nob..  367
Job Nob..                323
Samuel Nob..            36.5
Jacob Nob..              390
Sampson Nob..           456
Solomon Nob..           403
David Nob...             60
Frederick Nob..         412
Joseph Nob..1 ]79
Joseph Ogden..          374
William Orr..           391
Richard Phillips..      406
Christian Perkey..      245
John Purdon..           411
Eleazar Perkins..       187
William Potter..        373
Samuel Pritts..         342
William  Palmer..        16fi(1
William  Robertson......... 191
Daniel Kesler..         15:3
Thomas Ruston..         402
Charlotte Ruston..      286
Mary Ruston... 408
Andrew Robertson..      207
John Rearden..          400
Stephen rearden..       400
William Rearden...     400
Dennis Rearden..        400
Phlilip Rajin..   437
Brice Rajin..           394.James Ross..  404
Daniel Resler, Jr... 333
Conrad Rushenberg..  1()0
William   Rice..        153
Thomas Rice...          397
Catharine Senff..       100
Henry Schlater..        107
John Sap..              429
William Sap..           254
Thomas Small..          224
John Stag..    418
Michael Senff..         105
George Shumard..        125
Michael Senff..         330
John Stiers..           200
Namnes.             Acres.
Reuben Skinner............. 159
Samuel Skinner............. 205
Richard Skinner............ 290
William R. Solomon........ 228
David S. Spear..............   7
John Stephenson............ 412
William Stewart............. 215
James Stephenson...........3 X06
Thomas Shields.............. 832
Jacob Swink..............   143i
William Smith...............39
John Smith...........   426
James Smith...........     43' 2
Peter Smith........... 4-39
Robert Spear...........   212
George Swink........... 1 106
William Smith............,,.258
Nicholas Smith...........   28
Jacob Strickler...........  200
James Sonell...........     197
George Swink...........   30
Henry Sheets...........     205
Jacob Sheets...........  27
David Turner...........  54
John Truby........... 442
Peter Truby........... 402
Simon Truby...........     402
James Truby...........     403
Andrew Trapp........... 222
George Trump...........   422
Peter Tederow...........   152
Jacob Thorpe...........    440
Andrew Trapp...........   425
Reuben Thorpe...........  239
Andrew Trapp............ 446
Michael Taggart............ 321
Andrew Trapp............. 224
Henry Ullrey.............  152
James N. Ullrey............  14
Henry M. Ullrey............ 108
Daniel Witt.............   14
David A. Witt............. 231
Jacob L. Wilson............ 84
William Wood............. 418
Benjamin Wolfe............. 362
Rice Wolfe.............   410
William Wolfe.............3 92
Abraham Wortman........ 416
Isaac White.............    281
Andrew Wild...........,.291
Adam White..........     81
Henry White.......... 543
James Warren............  114
Jacob Wyland...........-.41
Daniel Young..........     125
George Yoho..........   312
Of the foregoing surveys those of George Batchelor
and Peter Bucher, both in Salt Lick, were made in
1785. William Boyd's, called "Spring Hill," ~ituated on Mounts' Creek, was made in June, 1786, and
was bounded by the lands of Edward Doyle, Robert
Beall, Lewis Flemming, William Connell, and the
Vance heirs. Doyle's survey was made in January
of the same year, and extended to the lands of Isaac
Meason, Ann Stephens, John Stephenson, and the
Vance heirs. Thomas Flemming had his survey
made in December, 1785.
The survey for John Cumpton was made first in
1769, by Col. Crawford, for Col. Thompson. The resurvey was made in 1788. The survey made for Alexander Cummings, April 23, 1788, was called " Little
Hopes," and the land was described as being one
inile north of the Turkey Foot road, where it crosses
Indian Creek. Both of the last-named surveys are in,
4S6BULLSKIN TOWNSHIP.        487~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Springfield. Abraham Dumbauld had a survey made
for four hundred and twentv-five acres, Nov. 21, 1785,
on the "Great Salt Creek," and gave the niame of
"Plum  Bottoms" to the lands, which are, in part,
now the property of Judge D. W. C. Dumbauld, of
Salt Lick. John Martin's survey, in the same township, made October, 1785, was called "Additional
Stones." William Norton's survey was made March
12, 1782, and was described as being " on the road to
the salt-works, between the Cranberry Glade and the
falls in Bullskin, north of the land of James Neigh."
John Stephenson's survey, for four hundred and
twelve acres, called "Strict Measure," was situated
on the south side of Jacob's Creek, and surveyed
Dec. 16, 1785, " in coinsequence of a certificate issued
by the commissioniers for adjusting the claims to unpatented lands in the Commionwealth of Virginia, in
support of the following voucher: No. 106, Virgina
Survey, Youghagania County."
The survey for George Hogg was made. March 3,
1837, locating a warrant of April 4, 1794, granted to
Isaac Meason. The tract was located on the waters
of Mounts' Creek, " and had on it a furnace, gone to
decay, old houses, sixty acres cleared, a few families
residing thereon, and appear to have been settled
about forty years ago."
John McLean's survey, called " Fertility," was
inade Jan. 8, 1787, for three hundred and thirty-four
acres, on Salt Lick Creek. Christian Perkey had a survey inade on the same stream, on the middle road
from Cherry's to Jones' mill, and situated partly in
Westmoreland County. Survey dated 1789.
Many of these land-owners were actual settlers at
the time the surveys were made, and not a few of
them had lived in the original township of Bullskin
a score of years before the metes and bounds of their
lands were officially determined. In 1788 the following were the owners of property:
Wm. McCormick.             Isaac Sissell.
Reason Reagan.             Robert Allison.
Nathan Young.              Edward Ross.
Zachariah Connell.       John Finney.
John Bakersheld.           Philip Jones.
Mary White.                George Bucher.
Adam White.                Ludwig Shick.
Abram Gardner.             Philip Brinker.
James Morrow.              John Kithcart.
Rachel Mounts.             George Rogers.
Isaac White.               John Varnon.
Charles Bute.              Robert Threw.
Lewis Flemming.            John Meason.
Thomas Davis.              Elnathan Cory.
Isaac Colwell.          Henry Evans.
John Trump.                George Trump.
Adam Hatfield.             John White.
William Trump.             Robert Beall.
Isaac Trumbaugh.        Hugh Messer.
Conrad Haile.              Charles Fahew.
Thoinas Flemmming.       James Hempfield.
Robert Flemming.           Joseph Jarvis.
henry Ray.                 Thomas Shay.
Wm. Robenoy.
Martha Warren.
James Warren.
Nathan Miller.
James Mcdole.
Michael Dougherty.
Graft Ghost.
Samuel Hicks.
John Wriight.
Edward Doyle.
Wm. Black.
Samuel Black.
Thomas Patton.
Elanor Patton.
Casper Etling.
Cornelius Woodruff.
William Woodruff.
Alexander Cummings.
Casper Senff.
Isaac Jones.
Jonathan Cooper.
Andrew Wild.
Adam Shaffer.
William Carnes.
Adam Bungard.
Jacob Lee.
George Batchelor.
John Colpenny.
James Carnehan.
henry Bork.
John Martin, Jr.
Joseph Douglas.
Conrad Vantrim.
Peter Bucher, Sr.
Peter Bucher, Jr.
John Martin, Sr.
Abraham Dumbauld.
Peter Dumbauld.
John McLean.
John Robison.
Daniel McKeredif.
Shadrach Davis.
John Christ.
Joseph Schlater.
Wm. Stewart.
Stephen Joser.
Joseph Huffhaus.
Samuel Lewis.
George Hoover.
Michael Houghnoy.
Elizabeth Shannon.
Henry Schlater.
David Smith.
Anthony Highland.
John Smith.
William Mathews.
Thomas Mathews.
Moses Smith.
John Burton.
John Piper.
Mary Davis.
Charles Coper.
Savy Reagan.
Christian Perkey.
Isaac Meason.
Henry Cleary.
Jacob Snider.
John Hazelton.
Wm. Good.
George Truax.
Providence Mounts.
Wm. McKee.
Wm. Boyd.
Thomas Mumford.
William Threw.
George Rogers.
Ralph Cherry.
Christian Lutzog.
John Van Dering.
Jonathan Roland.
Thomas Coyle.
Thomas Phillips.
Of these the Cherry, Robertson, Doyle, Smith,
Davis, McKee, Stewart, and White families were in
the township as early as 1772. Many of the first settlers removed at a very early day leaving no descendants, and consequently but little can be said of them.
Ralph Cherry lived on Jacob's Creek, and owned
mills which are yet known as Lobengier's. one of the
owners after Cherry. At the mouth of White's Run,
and partly in the present township of Connellsville, was
the tract of land owned by Providence Mounts, and
adjoining him on the west was Wm. McKee. The
McCormick place was below, in the present township
of Connellsville. Providence Mounts was probably
the earliest of these settlers, and the principal stream
of the township took its name from him. Just below the Bullskin line Mounts had a mill at a very
early day, and wool-carding was carried on at the
same place. Upon the removal of the Mounts family
(who emigrated to Kentucky) the farm became the
property of Stewart H. Whitehill, a son-in law of
Wm. Boyd, but in 1826, Alexander Johnstone, a
Scotch-Irishman, became the owner, and later his son,
I
487
BULLSKIN TOWVNSHIP.61
SETTLEMENT OF THE COUNTY.
Speer that eight or ten families lived in a place called   different settlements of Red Stone, Yougheganny, and
the Turkey Foot, we sent some proclamations thither   Cheat."
by said Speer, as we did to a few families nigh the             This estimate was intended to include all the setcrossinigs of Little Yough, judging it unnecessary to  tlers in what is now Fayette County, and the about
go amongst them.  It is our opiniion that some will  eight families on the east side of the Youghiogheny at
move off, in obedience to the law, that the greater  Turkey Foot.  The lists given in the commissioners'
part will wait the treaty, and if they find that the In-   report of course omitted a great number of names of
dians are indeed dissatisfied, we think the whole will  settlers, including  a  number who  were somewhat
be persuaded to move.  The Indians coming to Red   prominent and well known as having been located in
Stone  and  delivering  their speeches  greatly  ob-  this region several years before 1768, as Christopher
structed our design."                                         and Richard Gist, William Cromwell, Stewart of the
Appended to the commissioners' report was a list  "Crossings," Capt. William  Crawford,2 who had been
of settlers, as follows:                                      settled  near Stewart for about three years; Hugh
"The names of inhabitants near Red Stone: John   Stevenson, on the Youghiogheny; Martin  Hardin
Wiseman, Henry  Prisser, William   Linn, William    (father of Col. John  Hardin), on  Georges Creek;
Colvin, John Vervalson, Abraham  Tygard, Thomas   John McKibben, on Dunlap's Creek, and others.
Brown, Richard Rodgers, Henry Swatz [Swartz], Joseph McClean, Jesse Martin, Adam  Hatton, John                  The mission of the Rev. Mr. Steele and his assoVerwal, Jr., James Waller, Thomas Douter [Donthet,  ciates ended in failure, for the few people who had
who owned a part of the site of Uniontown], Captain   promised to remove disregarded tllat promise and reCoburn, John Delong, Peter Young, George Martin,  inained, for all the settlers were strong in confidence
Thomas Down, Andrew Gudgeon, Philip Sute, James   that results favorable to their continued occupation
Crawford, John  Peters, Michael Hooter, Andrew    would come from  the treaty council which was apLinn, Gabriel Conn, John Martin; Hans Cook, Daniel  pointed to be held at Fort Pitt about a month later
McKay, Josias Crawford, one Provence.                         At that treaty council there were present nearly two
"Names of some who met us at Giesse's [Gist's]   thousand Indians, including, besides chiefs and head
place: One Bloomfield [probably Brownfield], James   men of the dominant Six Nations, representatives of
Lynn, Ezekiel Johnson, Richard Harrison, Phil Sute,  the  Delaware, Shawanese, Munsee, and  Mohican
Jed Johnson, Thomas Geisse [Gist], Charles Lindsay,  tribes.  On the part of the white men there were
James Wallace [Waller?], Henry Burkman, Law-  present George  Croghan, deputy agent for Indiar
rence Harrison, Ralph Hickenbottom.       affairs; John Allen and Joseph Shippen, Jr., Esqrs.
"Names of the  people  at Turkey Foot: Henry
Abrahams, Ezekiel Dewitt, James Spencer, Benjamin               2 Captain (afterwards colonel) William Crawford settled oln the wes
*nnsJhCorEeiHimnJohn Ens-  banik of tiie Youghiogheny at Stewart's Crossings. A deposition sworr
Jennings, John Cooper, Ezekiel Hickman, Jonn Ens    by hilu, anid liavinig referenice to his settlenmenit here anid some othe
low, Henry Enslow, Benjamin Pursley."                         matters, is found in the'Calendar of Virginia State Papers and othe
Mr. Steele made a supplemental report to the Gov-  Manuscripts, 1632-1781. Preserved in the Capitol tit Richmond. Al
ernor, in which  referring to the conferences with the   rnged asud edited by William Palmer, M.D., uder authouity of iii
"The people at Red Stone alleged   Legislature of virginia, vol. i. 1875." Tue deposition, which was take
settlers, he said,                                            b The people at Red Stone alleged   sefore the Virginia commnnissioners, James Wood and Charles Simm], "
that the removing of them from the unpurchased lands  tise lhouse of John Ormsby, in Pittsburgh,' is given in part below as estal
wvas a contrivance of the gentlemen and merchants of  lilshing the date of Crawford's first comiing to this region, and as explaiu
inr t  some other no1atters coninected with the incoming of the settlers afte
Philadelphia that they migh1t take rights for thelr  the expulsion of the French and the building of the English forts, Pi'improvements when a purchase was made.  In con-  and Burd.
firmation of this they said that a gentleman of the             "; Colonel William Crawford Deposeth and saith that his first acquiain
name of Harris, and another called            ance with the Counitry on the Ohio was in the year 1758, he then heir
Wallace, with, with  tan Officer in the Virginia Service. That between that time and the yes
one Friggs, a pilot, spent a considerable time last  1765 a nunmber of Settlements were made on the Public Roads in th;
August in viewing the lands and creeks thereabouts.  Country by Permission of the Several Commanding Officers at Fort Pitt
I am of the opinion, from  the appearance the people   Thlat in the Fall of the year 1765 lie made some Improvements on ti
I am                                    West Side of the Allegheny Mountains; in the Spring of the year fo
made, and the best intelligence we could obtain, that  lowing he settled, and has contilnued to live out here ever sinice. Tb
there are about an hundred and fifty families in the   befor e that time, and in that year, a Considerable nlumber of Settlemen
wer e made, he thinks niear three hunidred, without permissioni froni at
Conminanding Officer; some of which settlements were made within tl
2" Ralph Higgenbottom resided on the Waynesburg road, in Menallen   Limits of the Indiana Company's Claimii, anid some others within Cl
township, a little west of the Sanidy Hill Quaker graveyard' (" Mononga-  Croghan's. From that time to the pr esent the people continued to en
hela of Old"). Mr. Veech also says of the personls named by the commis-  gratte to this Country very fast. The Deponent being asked by 3i
sioners that they resided at considerable distances from the places where  Morgan if lie knows the names of those who settled on the Inidiana;
they were met, as, for instance, " James McClean, who lived in North  Claimii in. the year 1766, and on what Waters, answers that Zachel Mor
Union township, niear the base of Laurel Hill; Thomas Douthet, on the  gan, James Chew, and Jacob Prickett came out in that year, atnd was i
tract where Uniontown now is; Captain Coburn, some ten miles south-  formed by them that they settled up the Monongahala; that he has sin..s,1.,~ --nrnLa.,v nn t1porfes Creek. near Il. Zachel Morgan's plantatiou, wlich is oni the South sidle of the 1i
east~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~el ofvllv Newtia oeea minrestinn meaJ..            ~
ezslt of New Geneva; Gabriel Conn, proi)awly u,Georges Creek i kxXuiguD n.w
Woodbridgetown. The Provances settled oni Provance's Bottom, near
Masontown, and on tlhe otlher side of thue river at the mouth of Big
Whitely. The Brownfields located south and southeast of Uniontown."
5
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runi by Mason and Dixon, aud that he believes that to be the first settlenmetlt made ill this Countitry.. Th. e "Zachel Morgan's planitation"
lhere merutioued was at Morgantown, W. Va.4HISTORtY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
John R. Johnstone, owned both mills and the farm.
It is said that the burrs in the original mill were
brought from Virginia by a man named Newcomer.
The present mill was built by Mr. Johnstone in 1856.
It is supplied with two runs of stones, and both it and
the saw-mill are kept in successful operation, being
now the property of the heirs of J. R. Johnstone,
who died in December, 1877. East of the Mounts
tract, and in the present township of Bullskin, were
the lands belonging to the White family. The principal part of the White farm has been owned since
1848 by Win. C. Johnstone, a brother of the foregoing. The stream of water south of the place took its
name from Henry White, who had mills on its waters.
This family also removed to Kentucky about the
beginning of the present century.
William Robertson was by birth a Scotchman, and
possessed to an unusual degree the tenaciou'sness of
purpose of that race. He removed to Bullskin from
the eastern part of the State about 1770, settling on
Jacob's Creek, below Cherry's, and with that family
had a wearisome litigation respecting certain land
titles, which were ended only by the death of Robertson many years ago. His family then removed to the
West. Andrew Robertson, a brother of William, settled first in Westmoreland County, but some time
about 1800 located at the foot of Chestnut Ridge.
He was married to Betsey Smart and reared a family
of four children,-John, who died in Scotland; Nancy,
one of the pioneer teachers, who died a maiden; Andrew, who settled on the county line, where his family
yet resides; and Elizabeth, who yet lives near Bridgeport, as the wife of Asher Walker.
South of William Robertson much of the lands were
claimed by John and Isaac Meason. The latter first
lived near the'chain-bridge, in Tyrone township,
removing to Mount Braddock at an early day. He
was the father of Isaac and George Meason, and a
daughter, who married Daniel Rogers. John Meason
lived on Green Lick Run, on the farm at present
owned by Jacob Shank. Upon his death his family
removed from the township.
Graft Ghost, or Gost, was a German, who served as
a soldier in the French and Indian war in 1755, and
later was with the garrison at Fort Ligonier. Having
obtained a knowledge of this country from his experience in the army, he came to Westmoreland as a
settler, working at his trade,-bell-making. At the
instance of Col. Meason he opened a shop near the
latter's residence, where he made bells and sharpedged tools until he had accumulated $2200 ili Continental money, which proved worthless just about
the tijme he was ready to invest it in land. This
misfortune obliged him to begin life anew, but in
time he secured from Meason 126 acres of land in
Bullskin, and lived near where is now the home of
George Adams. There he died in 1808. His only
child became the wife of John Highlands, who died
on the Gost homestead in 1826, leaving five daughters.
These married,-Christiana, Jesse Atkinson; Mary,
Robert Fleming, and yet resides near the old home;
Catharine is the wife of Christian Shank; Lavina, of
Washington Kelley; and Sarah married George
Brown, moving to Ohio.
William Boyd came from Virginia some time about
the close of the Revolution, making the journey to
his new home on the west border of Bullskin on packhorses. He brought with him several slaves, and six
negro children were registered as being born to these
from  1795 to 1809, namely, Andrew, Millie, Ben,
Prissie, Samuel, and Alexander, but of their subsequent history nothing can be here said. Win. Boyd
was a man of considerable education, and served for
a number of years as a justice of the peace. He died
in 1812, and was interred on his homestead. His
family consisted of eight children,-Thomas, John,
Robert, James, William, Jeremiah, and daughter,
who married Joseph Barnett, of Connellsville, and
Stewart H. Whitehill, who resided on the Mounts
place many years. After 1812, Thomas Boyd lived
on the homestead, where he carried on the distillation
of liquor at an early day. He was a popular man
among his fellow-citizens.  Two of his sons, William and Richard Boyd, are yet residents of Bullskin.  Other sons-John, Randolph, Thomas, and
Rice--have died or removed. Thomas Boyd, Sr., died
in 1855; John Boyd, the second son, died in 1857, at
Connellsville; Robert moved to Menallen township;
James died in Tyrone; William  moved to Ohio;
Jererniah became a physician, and, after living in
Louisiana a number of years, moved to Washington.
Christian Reist, a native of Lancaster County, settled in the Boyd neighborhood about 1800, and died
in 1827. He lhad three daughters, two of whom
married Thomas Boyd and Simon Roughcorn, and
the third remained single, all of them long since
deceased.
Presley Carr Lane was also a Virginian, who settled on the Henry D. Overholt place. He was a man
of culture and great gentleness of manner, and, for
those times, quite wealthy. He served in the Legislature with creditable distinction.. The family removed to Kentucky before 1830, and the original
homestead has been much divided.
Henry Freed, a native of Bucks County, Pa., after
living a short time in Virginia, settled on Mounts'
Creek about 1785. He died about 1863, aged eightyfour years, having reared four sons and three daughters. Jacob, the oldest, married Susan Garver, a
daughter of Martin Garver, a pioneer of Bullskin,
and settled on that part of the homestead now owned
by his son Joseph, where he died in August, 1875.
Other sons were Henry, Samuel, and Jonathan, the
former two living on Green Lick Run. Peter, the
second son of Henry Freed, lived and died in Tyrone;
John, the third, moved to McLean County, Ill.;
Henry, the youngest, lived on the homestead west of
the creek until his death, caused by an accident,
488BULLSKIN TOWNSHIP.
about ten years ago. The land is now the I
of the Cleveland Rolling-Mills. One of the
ters married Joseph Beidler, who lived on a
joining the homestead; another married Jac(
holt; and the third, Joseph Johnston, of Uni(
ship.
At Pennsville, and north of the village,
tract of land was settled early by Peter Ne
He died in 1836, aged seventy-five years, and
terred in the cemetery at the Baptist Churc
sons who attained manhood were named
David, Samuel, and Jonathan; and his df
married,- Betsey. Henry Strickler, of Tyrone
Christian Newcomer, of Tyrone; Ann, Dav
lenbarger, who lived on the Sherrick place;
Abraham Shallenbarger, who lived on the a,
farm; Susan, Henry Arnold, of Connellsville
married Edward Riggs; Jacob Newmeyer
Ann Shallenbarger, and died in Tyrone; l)avi(
to Ohio; Samuel married Elizabeth Stauffer,
moved to the West; Jonathan married Mary
ler, and lived on the home-place until his dea
15, 1879, at the age of eighty years. Non(
family remain in the township.
Abraham and David Shallenbarger lived
fine farms west of Pennsville until their deat
former had sons named Jacob, John, Abrah
David, all deceased. The sons of David Sha
ger were John, Henry, Abrahamn, and Davi
Shallenbarger farmr is now well known as the
A. H. Sherrick, whose family were pioneers i
moreland County.
John Shank, a German, after his emigrf
America settled at Hagerstown, removing t'
Bullskin. He located on Mounts' Creek, 1
mills, about the beginning of the century, w
cupied the site of Detweiler's mills. He was
nonite, and at his death was buried in the Me
graveyard, on the township line between
He had sons named John and Jacob; and th(
ters married John Stauffer, Martin Myers, w
near the Shank place, and Christian Seig
Westmoreland. Jacob Shank married Nanc
fer, and settled a mile north from Pennsvill(
he died in 1845. He was the father of John
of Ohio; Henry, of the same State; and Christ
Jacob Shank, yet living in the township. TI
was for many years a journeymnan hatter,
learned that trade of Hermnan Gebhart. of C
ville. The second son, John Shank, remainec
and died in the eastern part of the townshi
Shanks have always been sober, steady citizei
John Stauffer removed to Bullskin from
town, Md., settling on a farm in the neighboi
the Baptist Church, on which he died. His o
John, lived at Mount Pleasant. A grandson,
Stauffer, resides at Pennsville. Other familie
township bearing this name had a different ori
made a settlement at a later date.
property    Farther northeast two brothers, John and Joseph
daugh-  Rice, made pioneer settlements.  John Rice lived
farm ad- east of the Mount Pleasant road, and was buried on
)b Over-  his homestead. He was the father of Joseph, John,
on town-  Abraham, Samuel, Jacob, and David Rice, the latter
two yet living in the locality. His daughters married
a large  into the Kendig family. Joseph Rice lived in the
wmeyer. same locality, and after his death the family removed.
I was in-   Henry Lane, a native of New Jersey, moved from
Ih. His  that State to Bullskin about 1796, but removed to
Jacob, Tyrone, where he died in 1821. His sons, James,
aughters  Silas, and John, removed to the West, while William; Mary, continues a resident of Bullskin. Near the same time,
id Shal-  Asher Walker, also from New Jersey, settled on
Rachel, Mounts' Creek, but emigrated to Ohio, where he died.
djoining  One of his sons, John, is a resident of Tyrone; and; Hattie Asher lives on Jacob's Creek, in Bullskin.
married    Alexander Kelley was born in Ireland in 1760, but
d moved  eighty years ago settled in Westmoreland County.
and re-  Later he made his home north of Pennsville, where
Strick-  he died in 1850. He had sons named Samuel, George,
ith, May John, James, Paul, Washington, and Campbell, the
e of the latter two yet living in the township.
John Troxel, a local preacher of the United Brethon the  ren Church, moved from Lebanon County, Pa., and
h. The  settled in Westmoreland County about a mile from
Lam, and  Bridgeport. He was the father of Michael and John
llenbar-  B. Troxel, and of daughters, who married Abrahail
d. The  Pershing, Isaac Persburg, Moses Worman, and Martin
home of Krider. The latter also came from Lebanon County,
n West-  and settled on part of the Troxel lands in Bullskin,
building the stone house and barn on Green Lick
ation to Run. After his death the family removed and the
ience to farm became the property of John B. Troxel, whose
building  family yet reside there.
hich oc-   Northeast, Daniel Krider improved a farm, and
i a Men- lived there until his death; thence it became the
-nnonite property of Michael Farmer, and is now owned by
Tyrone. his son, Robert C. They were pioneers in Tyrone
edaugh-  township.
ho lived    On the north of Green Lick were the improvements
fried, of made by Abraham Pershing. He was born at Derry,
y Stauf-  Westmoreland Co., where his parents were among the
e, where  first settlers. Part of the Pershing lands are now in* Shank, eluded in Bridgeport, and were first claimed by Thomas
tian and  Meason. Abraham Pershing was one of the leading
he latter  men of the township, serving many years as justice
having  of the peace. He died in July, 1880, aged eighty-four'onnells- years. He had sons named John, yet living on the
d single, home place; Daniel H., living on a farm next east;
p. The  Isaac, living in California; and his only daughter,
ns.       Anna, married Jacob Myers, of Ligonier.
Hagers-    George Brothers, a native of Maryland, and by
rhood of trade a cooper, settled on Jacob's Creek in 1805,
nly son, purchasing a part of the Wm. Robertson tract. Of
John C. his family, John died on the homestead; George was
es in the killed at the Belle Vernon Furnace; Austin died in
igin and  the Rebellion; Washington, Andrew, and Lafayette
yet live in the township, the latter on the homestead.
489HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
John Shupe, of Bucks County, Pa., settled on Jacob's Creek, on the Westmoreland side, in 1790 or
earlier. He died in 1832. His son Jacob moved to
the Lake Erie country in Ohio; John settled in Bullskin, on the farm now owned by his son, Daniel F.,
where he built mills. He died in 1862, aged eightytwo vears. Two other sons died at Mount Pleasant,
and William Shupe yet resides at Derry, aged ninetytwo years. Their sisters married the Rev. Daniel
Worman and John Shepard.
Coming a little later than some of the foregoing
was Jacob Eshelman, a native of the eastern part of
the State. He built oil-mills and other important inddtstries. Of his family, a son, David, yet lives north
of Shupe's.  Eastward, on the Connellsville road,
John Hoke made some substantial improvements on
the farm now owned by his son James; and still farther east, near the Andrew Robertson place, Samuel
Latta was a pioneer. On Green Lick, where now resides Henry Freed, Christian Gardner was an early
and respected settler. He died there, and his family
removed from the township. Peter Stauffer settled
first near Mount Pleasant, about 1808. One of his
sons, Jacob J., located on the Green Lick, where he
died in 1877. Of his family, Peter is a physician at
Connellsville, Jonathan resides on a part of the Kuller place in Bullskin, Henry S. is a minister of the
Evangelical Association, and William B. resides on
the homestead. The daughters married Daniel Worman, J. W. Kinear, Simon Martz, and Samuel Eshelman.
John Washabaugh came from Somerset County to
Bullskin about 1815, settling at the base of Chestnut
Ridge. He had sons named Joseph, Henry, Thomas,
David, William, and Washington, the latter yet being
a resident of the Green Lick Valley.
In the southern part of the township Thomas Atkinson was among the first settlers. He had sons
named Jesse (who died on the Martin Detweiler place
in 1840); James, Thomas, Richard, Charles, John,
Robert, and Alexander, all of whom had removed
from the township before their death. The only son
of Jesse, George Atkinson, lived east of Pennsville.
Henry Detweiler, a miller, came from Bucks County,
settling in Fayette in 1820. In 1826 he became the
owner of the Shunk mills on Mounts' Creek, where
he died in 1847. His widow then improved the farm
above the Gault school-house, and there died in 1856.
Their children were Samuel; John S.; Martin, living
in the township; Joseph, who died in 1845; Jacob,
living in Ohio; Mrs. Henry Fritts; and Mrs. George
Atkinson.
Northeast from Detweiler's Jacob Gault was a pioneer, but removed to Ohio many years ago. Farther
down Mounts' Creek among the early settlers were
John Smutz, Martin Garver, and westward John
Stockman, the latter being a Dunkard preacher and
a very estimable man. This place is now occupied
by Jacob J. Stonacker. Near the old State road
Thomas Herbert, a native of New  Jersey, settled
some time after 1800, but died at Connellsville. He
had sons named Richard and James. The latter
moved to Ohio, but Richard settled in the southern
part of Bullskin, being a workman at the Findley
Furnace. He died about 1850. One of his sons,
Richard, resides in the Breakneck district, on a farm
which was cleared up by Walter Duncan.  In this
locality the Huey and Long families were among the
pioneers.
Soon after the settlement of the township John
Miner located east of Mounts' Creek, and after a
number of years of residence in that place was found
dead on the hills near his farm, where he had gone
for chestnuts.  When discovered he was sitting upright against a tree. His only child was John Miner,
born Nov. 30, 1798, and who lived on the farm until
his death, May 14, 1877. He was one of the old-time
justices of the peace, and a connecting link between
the past and the present. Farther south the Kell
farm  was improved  by Henry  Zimmerman, from
whom it passed to Gustavus Kell. Still farther south
on the township line a family by the name of Buttermore made some of the early improvements, some of
which are in Connellsville township, but none of that
name remain in that locality. Numerous changes in
the ownership of lands have taken place, and many
of those who bore the brunt of opening homes in the
wilds of the semi-mountainous country sought new
homes in the great West, where they had to repeat
the experiences of their pioneer lives. In 1823, after
the final division of the township (Connellsville
having been set off the year before), there were living
in Bullskin the following property-owners, with occupations as indicated opposite their names:
Patrick Adair, tailor.     Philip Bash, farmer.
Thomas Atkinson, farmer.   Thomas Boyd, coal-bank and
Jesse Atkinson, old ma.n.     saw-mill.
John Allender, stone-mason.   Walter Brown, laborer.
William Austram, blacksmith. Henry  Crossman,  cabinetWilliam Andrews, farmer.    maker.
Frederick Blucher,  "     John Coughenour, laborer.
Jacob Butler,     "        John Culler, farmer.
Joseph Brooks,    "        Adam Culler, laborer.
Abraham Baldwin,' owner of John Craig, farmer.
saw-mill.                Thomas Collins, laborer.
George Biddle, gunsmith.    WVm. Cunningham, "
Hugh Bodle, laborer.       Robert Cunningham, laborer.
Israel Bigelow, "         John Clair, farmer.
Thomas Brooks, farmer.     Win. Craig, mason.
Jacob Butler, Jr., "      Walter Duncan, agent.
George Bauders,  "        James Dell,ha. carpenter.
Joseph Butler, laborer.    Adam Denin, blacksmith.
Israel Bigelow, Jr., laborer.   John B. Droxel, saw-mill.
Samuel Bauders,   "        Henry Etling, fiarmer.
William Burnham,  "       Abraham Echard, shoemaker.
Jacob Barclay.    "        Casper Etling, laborer.
Daniel Bryan, weaver.     Jacob Eshelman, carding-maGeorge Brothers, cooper.    chine and oil-mill.
David Bechtold, laborer.    Frank Etling, laborer.
William Butler,  "        Abraham Freed, farmer.
Robert Bash, farmer.      Henry Freed,    "
490BULSI TONHP                          9
Thomas Flemming, farmer.    Peter Newmeyer, farmer.
Jacob Freed,        "       Abraham Newmeyer, farmer.
John Flack, Sr.,    "       Martin Newmeyer, tailor.
John Flack, Jr., saw-mill.  John Peppitt, Sr., farmer.
John Freed, farmer.         John Peppitt, Jr., wagoner.
Peter Freed, saw-mill.      Allen Peppitt, farmer.
Jacob Funk, farmer.         Robert Reed, laborer.
Martin Garver, "            Aaron Reed,   "
George Garver, shoemaker.   Christian Reist, firmer.
William Gibbons, teacher.   Rufus Ruffcoth, laborer.
William Gault, weaver.      Daniel Rogers,    "
James Gray, laborer.        James Rogers, ironmaster.
John Huey, millwright.      Edward Reeder, clerk.
John Harstone, farmer.      John Reed, carpenter.
Abra'm Harstone, shoemaker. John Rist, farmer.
John Harstone, Sr., old man.  Andrew Robertson, farmer.
John Hutchinson, farmer.    John Robertson,      "
J. Ilighlands, cabinet-maker.  William Robertson,   "
Ii. Harbaugh, basket-maker.  James Robertson,   "
Abram IIarbaugh, laborer.   John Robison,       "
Richard Iferbert, farmer.   Simon Roughcorn, laborer.
John Hargraves, laborer.    John Rice, farmer.
Charles Hill, blacksmith.   Joseph Rice, "
Robert IIuey, constable.    Benj. Shallenharger, farmer.
John Huey, farmer.          David Shallenbarger,  "
Robert Huey, "              Abra'm Shallenbarger, "
James Haney, laborer.       Henry Shallenbarger, cabinetWilliam Jarvis, teacher.      maker.
Arthur Jarvis, miner.       Jacob Shallenbarger, tan-yard
David Jenner, collier.      Martin  Stephenson, gentleDavid King, wagon-maker.      man.
John Kielwell, collier.     John Shank, farmer.
Joseph Kithcart, grist-mill.    John Stauffer, "
William Kerr, laborer.      Barbara Stauffer, widow.
Malrtin Krider, farmer.     Nathan Shaw, sawyer.
Joseph Kenear,   "          David  Shallenbarger,  gunJoseph Long, miller.          smith.
Jacob Long, farmer.         Eleanor Swink, widow.
John Lane,   "              David Swink, laborer.
Daniel Laughery, laborer.   Elias Swink,    "
Joseph Laughery,  "         John  Stonecker, Sr., millWVilliam Laughery, "          wright.
David Lindsey, teacher.     John Smutz, farmer.
John Lobengier, grist-mill.   Jacob Smnutz, gunsmith.
Sa,muel Latta, farmer.      Joseph Smutz, laborer.
Abraham Leatherman, farmer. John Stonecker, Jr., miller.
Presley Carr Lane,    "     Adam  Stonecker, grist- and
Richard W. Lane,              saw-mill.
Martin Myers,         "     Jacob Swink, farmer.
John Miner, distillery.     Jacob Strickler, "
John Miner, Jr., blacksmith.   George Sechman, saw-mill.
Isaac Meason, furnace and  Jacob Shank, farmer.
grist-mill.               Peter Shafer,    "
William L. Miller, iron-master.  George Swink, shoemaker.
Jacob Miller, carpenter.    John Shupe, saw-mill.
Cornelius Miller, "         William Spears, farmer.
John MeLenen, wagoner.      William Sowers,  "
John Martin, farmer.        David Sowers,    "
HIenry Martin, shoemaker.   Joseph Sterne,   "
Thomnas Meason, laborer.    John Stonecker, potter.
Sanmuel McIntyre, "         John Shallenbarger, farmer.
William McKelvey,"          Jesse Taylor, stone-mason.
John McNalty,    "          Andrew Trapp, farmer.
Jonathan Newmeyer, farmer.  Nathan Thomas,  "
David Newmeyer,       "     Alexander Thomas, farmer.
Samuel Ncwmeyer,      "     Jacob Tinsman, grist mill.
John Taylor, farmer.
Aaron Thorpe, "
George Ullrey, blacksmith.
John Van Orden, farmipr.
Benjam'n Whaley,  "
Stewart H. Whitehill, farmer.
Henry White, Sr., saw- and
grist-mill.
David White, farmer.
John Washington, farmer.
George Washington, "
Francis Wallker,    "
Charles Walker, wagoner.
Jacob Wieland, farmer.
Benjamin Wieland, wagoner.
Thomas Walker, stone-mason.
Abraham  Wolfe, laborer.
James Woods, farmer.
Nathan Wright, fulling-mill.
Asher Walker, farmer.
Abraham  Whitmrore, farmer.
Jacob Welchouse, miller.
John Yates, laborer.
William Yates, "
John Yates, Jr., laborer.
HIenry Zimmerman, farmer.
In 1830 the population was 1231; fifty years later,
in 1880, the population had increased to 2731.
CIVIL ORGANIZATION.
As originally organized by the Court of Quarter
Sessions at the March term, 1784, Bullskin embraced
within its limits the present townships of Salt Lick,
Connellsville, Springfield, and a part of Stewart. The
order defining its bounds was as follows:
" A township beginning at the Broad Ford on the
Youghiogheny River; thence by the line of Tyrone
township to the crossing of Jacob's Creek; thence up
Jacob's Creek to Cherry's mill; thence by the road
to Jones' mill to the line of Bedford County;' thence
by the same to the Youghiogheny River; thence
down the same to the place of beginning. To be
known by the name of Bullskin township."
Until this time the territory was, for civil purposes,
a part of Donegal township, now wholly in Westmoreland County. It does not appear that a good
reason exists why the name Bullskin was bestowed
upon the new township, but there is a tradition that
some of the early settlers from Virginia selected it to
commemorate the place of their nativity in that State.
Another account says that one of the pioneers north
of the Youghiogheny killed an animal of the bovine
species of such extraordinary size that its skin, he
claimed, in a spirit of braggadocio, would have covered the entire country. From this circumstance the
name was applied to that neighborhood, and later to
the new township. Attempts have been made to
change the appellation, but without noteworthy success, and the term, though not greatly in favor with
the people, will probably ever be retained to designate
this divison of the county.
In the month of December, 1797, all that part of
Bullskin lying east of the crest of Chestnut Ridge was
formed into the township of Salt Lick; and in October,
1822, the southern part of the remaining township
was carved off to constitute the township of Connellsville. A motion for such a purpose was made as early
as August, 1816, when the Court of Quarter Sessions
was petitioned to form such a township, and Joseph
Torrance, William Hamilton, and James Paull were
appointed to inquire into the propriety of allowing
1 Now Somerset County.
491
BULLSKIN TOWmNSHIP.HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
the request. Had it been granted the newly-made
township would have been styled the "Borough of
Connellsville."  With the idea of division in mind
the court was again petitioned in March, 1822, when
an order was issued to Isaac Meason, Moses Vance,
and Thomas Boyd to act as commissioners to view the
proposed township. On the 4th of June, 1822, their
report was made and approved by the court, although
not fully confirmed until Oct. 31, 1822, when Connellsville township was erected.
The boundary line between Tyrone and Bullskin
being in dispute, the court was petitioned, January,
1831, to appoint commissioners to define the same,
and their report, made March 9, 1831, was approved
and confirmed in October of the same year. This report sets forth that " William Davidson, John Fuller,
and Andrew Dempsey, the persons appointed by an
order of this court at the January sessions to view the
township line between Bullskin and Tyrone townships, report the following as the line between the
points aforesaid, viz.: Beginning at the Mennonite
mneeting-house, and running thence by the several
courses and distances of a public road, located from
said meeting-house to the Connellsville and Pittsburgh road, until it intersects the Connellsville township line, and thence along said line to the Broad Ford
Run aforesaid, which report being read in the manner
and at the time prescribed by law, the court approves
and confirms the same."
At later periods slight modifications in the boundary
lines of the township were made, yet in essential features Bullskin remains the same as when the township
of Connellsville was taken off, containing only a farm
or two less thaii at-that time.
It is impossible to give a complete list of the officers
of the original township of Bullskin, the records of
that period being very meagrelyikept, and in some
instances wholly missing, but from various sources it
has been ascertained that William Boyd, John Meason, and George Lamb were among the first justices
of the peace. In 1803 the township was embraced
within the limits of Justice District No. 10, "Beginning at the mouth of Jacob's Creek, thence up said
creek to Cherry's mill, by the Westmoreland County
line to the top of Chestnut Ridge, thence by the top
of said ridge to Youghiogheny River, thence down
said river to the mouth of Jacob's Creek, the place of
beginning, containing four hundred and fifty-two
taxables." At this time the justices were " William
Boyd, living near the centre of the township; John
Meason, near one side; Matthew Gault, near one si(e;
and George Mathews, near one side."' In 1814, Andrew Robertson was a justice, and later the township,
in connection with Tyrone and Connellsville, constituted District No. 11, and the justices were Abraham
Pershing, Henry Gebhart, Henry W. Lewis, and
Matthew Wray. After 1839 the names of the justices
appear in the list below. Among other early officers
of Bullskin were:
1784.-Nathan Young, constable; Henry White and Patrick
Murphy, supervisors of highways; David Lindsay and
Abraham Gardner, overseers of the poor.
1785.-John White, constab,le.
1786.--William  McKee, constable; Henry WVhite and William
Boyd, road supervisors.
1787.-Lewis Flemming, constable; Providence Mount and
Adam lIatfield, overseers of the poor; Cornelius Woodruff
and William Robison, supervisors of roads.
1788.-Isaac White, constable.
1789.-Joseph Jarvis, constable; Henry White and Adam Hatfield, overseers of the poor; Zachariah Connell and William Robison, supervisors of roads.
1790.-Edward Doyle, constable; William Robison and Henry
White, overseers of the poor; Adam Hatfield and George
Batchelor, supervisors of roads.
1791.-John Catheart (or Kithcart), constable; Craft Gost and
Henry White, overseers of the poor; Andrew Trapp and
John Rist, supervisors of roads.
1792.-John Cathcart, const.able; Hlenry White and Cornelius
Woodruff, overseers of the poor; George Poe and Caleb
Mount, supervisors of roads.
1793.-John Cathcart, constable: IIenry White and Cornelius
Woodruff, overseers of the poor; David Bloom and Jacob
Shallenbarger, supervisors of roads.
1794.-David Shallenbarger, constable; Henry White and
Joseph Rhodes, overseers of the poor; Benjamin Davis and
John White, supervisors of roads.
1795.-William  Potter, constable; Henry White and Joseph
Robison, overseers of the poor; Peter Newmyer and Joseph
Gerron, supervisors of highways.
1796.-John Clary, constable; Henry White and John Robison,
overseers of the poor; John Stouffer and Francis Marietta,
supervisors of highways.
1797.-John Clary, constable; Henry White and Samuel Trevor,
overseers of the poor; John Rice and George Batchelor,
supervisors of roads.
1798.- Peter David, constable,
1799-1800.-John Latta, constable; Samuel Trevor and Henry
White, overseers of the poor; John Barnhart and Joseph
Cathcart, supervisors of roads.
1801.-John     Gibson, constable; Benjamin Wells and John
Latta, overseers of the poor; Samuel Trevor and Adam
Crossland, supervisors of roads.
1802.-William McCormick, constable; Abraham Shallenbarger
and Casper Etling, supervisors of roads; Anthony Banning, Wm. Mifford, Caleb Mount, and John White, auditors.
1803-7.-Jacob Shallenbarger, Henry Smith, J.acob Balsey,
and Mathew Duncan, constables; James Blackstone, John
Bernhart, William McCormick, and Stewart H. Whitehill,
auditors.
1808-12.-Robert Huey, Mathew Duncan, and Jacob Shank,
constables. From 1812 until 1840 no satisfactory list of
officers has been obtainable. Since the last-named period
the officials have been as follows:
1840.-Justices, Abraham-Persh-ing, Jonathan Newmeyer; Constable, John F. Shupe; Assessor, Benjamin Shallenbarger;
Auditor, David Shallenbarger.
1841.-Constable, George Adams; Assessor, Jeremniah Abrams;
Auditor, David Pollen.
1842.-Constable, Richard Crossland; Assessor, Joseph Beidler;
Auditor, Abraham Pershing.
1843.-Constable, Washington Kelley; Assessor, William Boyd;
Auditor, Nathaniel tlurst.
1844.-Constable, Washington Kelley; Assessor, John B.
Troxell; Auditor, John Miner.
492BULLSKIN TOWNSHIP.
493
1845.-Justices, Abraham Pershing, John Miner; Constable,
Paul Kelley; Assessor, David Rice; Auditor, John Shupe.
1846.-Constable, Joseph A. Marietta; Assessor, Francis Andrews; Auditor, Henry D. Overholt.
1847.-Constable, Joseph A. Marietta; Assessor, Joseph Stauffer; Auditor, John Andrews.
1848.-Constible, Samuel Johnston; Assessor, Jonathan Garver; Auditor, Wm. Boyd.
1849.-Constable, Thomas HIoke; Assessor, Christopher R.
Stonecker; Auditor, Samuel D. Detweiler.
1850.-Justices, John Miner, Abraham Pershing; Constable,
Thomas Hoke; Assessor, Martin Bechtold; Auditor, John
H. Andrews.
1851.-Constable, Martin Bechtold; Assessor, Thomas Hoke;
Auditor, John II. Stoner.
1852.-Constable, Martin Bechtold; Assessor, Conrad Bowers;
Auditor, John Miner.
1853.-Constable, Martin Bechtold; Assessor, Joseph A. Marietta; Auditor, A. P. Lohr.
1854.-Constable, Martin Bechtold; Assessor, William Moody;
Auditor; Rice Boyd.
1855.-Justice, Christopher R. Stonecker; Constable, Jonathan
Cable; Assessor, Rice Boyd; Auditor, Jacob Overholt.
1856.-Constable, John S. Buttermore; Assessor, John W.
Stoner; Auditor, Aaron Coughenour.
1857.-Constable, Martin Bechtold; Assessor, Abraham Pershing; Auditor, Joseph Andrews.
1858.-Constable, Melchor Miller; Assessor, Jacob H. Echard;
Auditor, Jacob Mathias.
1859.-Constable, Amzi Stauffer; Assessor, Martin Bechtold;
Auditor, Win. Boyd.
1860.-Constable, John W. Stauffer; Assessor, Aaron Coughenour; Auditor, Horatio L. Sparks.
1861.-Constable, A. B. Halfhill; Assessor, Solomon Kiefer;
Auditor, John F. Stoner.
1862.-Constable, A. B. Halfhill; Assessor, George Etling;
Auditor, Jacob Crapp.
1863.-Constable, Andrew S. Halfhill; Assessor, Melchor Miller; Auditor, Thomas Hoke.
1864.-Constable, Campbell Kelley; Assessor, Rice Boyd;
Auditor, Daniel Pershing.
1865.-Justices, Abraham Pershing and John Miner; Constable, Andrew Halfhill; Assessor, Henry Huebenthal; Auditor, Jacob J. Shank.
1866.-Justice, David B. Glassburner; Constable, M. B. Caudy;
Assessor, Jonathan Stauffer; Auditor, Daniel F. Shupe.
1867.-Constable, M. B. Caudy; Assessor, Thomas S. Buttermore; Auditor, A. H. Sherrick.
1868.-Constable, Washington Brothers; Assessor, David Workman; Auditor, John Pershing.
1869.-Constable, Elias Swink; Assessor, Daniel II. Pershing;
Auditor, Abraham H. Hoke.
1869, October.-Justice, John Miner; Constable, Elias Swink;
Auditor, David F. Stoner.
1870.-Constable, John S. Stillwagon; Assessor, David Workman; Auditor, Daniel H. Pershing.
1872.-Constable, John  S. Stillwagon; Assessor, Jacob  K.
Shank; Auditor, Jacob J. Stonecker.
1873.-Constable, James M. Wilson; Assessor, H. D. Rice;
Auditor, Richard Boyd.
1874.-Constable, John S. Stillwagon; Assessor, Aaron Coughenour; Auditor, A. Reece.
1875.-Justice, John Miner; Constable, John S. Detweiler;
Assessor, Robert Wilson; Auditor, John F. Stoner.
1876.-Justice, Andrew P. Logan; Constable, John S. Detweiler; Assessor, Levi Brothers; Auditor, Amzi Miner.
32
1877.-Constable, Thomas Hoke; Auditor, HI. Huebenthall.
1878.-Justice, James Echard; Constable, Thomas Hoke; Assessor, Andrew Half hill; Auditor, John Stillwagon.
1879.-Constable, James Caldwell; Assessor, Solomon Keffer;
Auditor, Dalniel H. Pershing.
1880.-Constable, James Caldwell; Assessor, Lewis Brothers;
Auditor, Jacob J. Stonecker.
1881.-Justice, A. P. Logan; Constable, John Wright; Assessor, Jacob Echard; Auditor, James Caldwell; Road Supervisors, P. B. Ragan, J. Wiltrout, M. Bechtel, and V.
P. Kelley.
In 1847 the people of Bullskin were asked to vote
on the liquor question, and ninety-nine voters declared themselves in favor of permitting its sale in
the township, but thirteen voters being opposed. But
in 1873 a contrary sentiment was shown, only thirtytwo voting in favor of license, while one hundred and
thirty expressed themselves opposed to the sale of
liquor in any form.
The celebrated Braddock road runs along the
southwestern bounds of the township, and in early
times was the highway to the Youghiogheny and the
older settlements to the Northwest. Soon other roads
were located, and in 1784 the court was petitioned for
a road from Cherry's mill to Uniontown. Joseph
Torrance, John Mintor, Providence Mounts, Adam
Hatfield, Samuel McLean, and James Rankin were
appointed viewers. The following year tte road from
Col. Cook's landing to Cherry's mill was ordered.
The road from James Rankin's to Casper Etling's
was reported on June, 1797, the width to be thirtythree feet. The road from Alexander Long's plantation to White's Mill was reported on the same court,
the width to be eighteen feet.
In March, 1786, Zachariah Connell petitioned for
a road "from Uniontown to Jones' road, on the
Laurel Hill, between Cherry's and Jones' mills, and
Uriah Springer, Providence Mounts, Henry Schlater,
Samuel Work, Samuel McClean, and William McKee
appointed viewers." The June sessions decreed that
it be cut, cleared, and bridged, thirty feet wide.
The road from  the Bedford County line to the
Westmoreland line was ordered in September, 1789,
to be opened, thirty-three feet wide. William Robertson, William Kern, Benjamin Whaley, Jacob
Strickler, and Isaac White were the viewers.
In April, 1809, the road from Casper Etling by
John Fluck's mill, to the Mount Vernon Furnace was
ordered, with Casper Etling, James Francis, James
Rogers, Jonathan Mayberry, William Boyd, and
Daniel Rogers as viewers.
The road from Jacob Thorpe's to the road from
Lobengier's Mill to Connellsville was ordered in December, 1804, with Peter Newmeyer, John Rice, John
Latta, William Robertson, Joseph Kithcart, and John
Miner as viewers.
Many other roads were located about this period,
but no further account of them can here be given.
In general the highways of the township have beenHISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
well ordered, and the roads are usually quite passable,
the strealns being well bridged. Since 1871 the township has had railway communication. That vear the
Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad was built through
its territory, opening up its fine coal-fields and giving
speedy access to Pittsburgh and the Eastern cities.
The main line in Bullskin is about five miles, and
sidings and flag-stations have been provided at Pennsville and Moyer's. Running up the Green Lick Valley is a narrow-gauge railway two and a half miles
long, running from Scottdale to the ore hills along
Chestnut Ridge, which has been in operation several
years.
GENERAL INDUSTRIES.
The streams of Bullskin yielding constant power
have long been the motors for numerous mills, factories, and shops. Beginning with the lower power
on Jacob's Creek, David Hough built a mill where is
now Bridgeport as early as 1804, erecting the foundation on which now stands Snyder's Mill. Previously
a saw-mill had been operated several hundred yards
below by a man nanled Jarvis, a long raceway leading
from a small dam to the mill. Robert McCall was
the second owner of the power, and from him it passed
in order to Jacob Tinstman and Jacob Welshouse,
Isaac Shupe being a partner of the latter a short
time. In 1836 the grist-mill was repaired by D. P.
Patterson for the latter firm, but fourteen years later
the property passed into the hands of the present
owner, William Snyder, who put up the mill now in
operation in 1864. It is a frame, thirty-six by fortyeigllt feet, three and a half stories high, and is supplied with a hydraulic water-engine invented by
William Snyder, which greatly economizes the water
supply, which can be relied upon eight months per
year. The remainder of the time steam is the motor.
On the Westmoreland side below the same dam is a
saw-mill, operated by William Snyder, and formerly
distilleries were here carried on by David Hough,
and on the Bullskin side by Jacob Welshouse. The
latter building is yet standing near the mill.
Near the residence of Daniel F. Shupe, John and
Jacob Shupe had a small saw-mill and a trip-hammer for doing small forge-work about 1810. The
power was abandoned, and in 1831 the present power
was improved by John Shupe, the grist-mill also
being erected that year. It had originally three run
of stones, but at present has but two. From John
Shupe the property passed into the hands of his son
George, thence to the latter's son, Albert, who sold to
the present owner, David G. Anderson. Here is also
a circular-saw mill of good capacity, and both mills
can be operated by steam in case of the failure of
water.
Several miles above is the oldest water-power on
Jacob's Creek within Bullskin. It was improved by
Ralph Cherry in tlle time of the Revolution, and had
a wide reputation, although but a rude mill. The
Cherry interests became the property of John Lobengier, about the beginning of the present century, and
the stone mill now standing in Westmoreland County
was built by him about eighty years ago, Thomas
Hoke performing the mason-work. Subsequently the
mill was owned by Jacob Lobengier and his son
Jacob, but is at present the property of Peter Keim's
heirs. Below this mill, Jacob Lobengier has a sawmill in Bullskin, and a tannery on the Westmoreland
County side. The latter's residence was formerly in
Bullskin, but a resurvey has placed it out of the
county.
Near the mouth of Green Lick Run, John B. Troxel
had a saw-mill sixty years ago, and the frame-work
of an old mill yet stands there. Farther up on the
same stream, on the present Samuel Freed place,
Jacob Eshelman had a small grist-mill, and before
1823 an oil-mill and carding machinery.  Subsequently George Yoder made linseed oil at this place.
Upon the removal of the machinery a fulling-mill
was established by Levi Haigh. He also made
cloths, spinning and dyeing his wool as well as weaving it. The building last contained machinery for
hulling clover. The power has long since been abandoned, but a part of the old race remains to indicate
the spot where so much activity was displayed years
ago. After Haigh left this building he established
himself on the upper waters of Green Lick, where he
carried on a woolen-factory, but that interest declining, hesupplied machinery for making matched shingles. Between these two points Nathan Wright had
a fulling-mill before 1823, but the place has long
since been given over to other uses. Still farther
down the stream Jacob Stauffer built a saw-mill,
which has been owned and operated by Henry S.
Stauffer, and is at present the property of Jonathan
Stauffer. Yet lower down the stream a saw-mill has
been operated the past fifty years by the Freed family,
but is at this time (April, 1881) the property of W.
Merritt. In the same neighborhood is a tannery,
which was established more than a score of years ago
by H. L. Sparks, and which, after having many
owners, is now operated by John Gance. The product is limited, and consists of unfinished leather.
Formerly a currier was employed, and splendid
leather produced.
On Spruce Run the Flack family had mills very
early, soon after 1800, and afterwards a cardingmachine and fulling-mill was operated by the power.
The property passed into the hands of Jacob Sweitzer, but its use for manufacturing purposes had long
since been discontinued, although the building yet
remains.
Near the head-waters of Mounts' Creek, D. H.
Pershing has in successful operation a good saw-mill,
which has cut up a large quantity of the mountain
timl)er in that locality.  Down the same stream,
Joseph Kithcart built saw- and grist-mills about 1790,
the latter being a log structure. The present mills
were built by Joseph Andrews about 1853. It is a
I
494Q- co, In36ffjl      Rolp M?Ra(DRI3                 EMHU[FM(DT(DRIY9
w(DUVRIO OYMITIHp 0. W. P. R. R.9 IPM'Y[E-TTE (D.v PL%.BULLSKIN TOWNSHIP.
frame of good proportions, and the mills have both
water and steam as motors. Andrews was succeeded
by Emanuel Mason; thence by Isaiah Coughenour;
thence by C. A. Ebersole, and since October, 1880,
the mills have been owned and operated by James
Alexander Long. There are two runs of stones, and
the saw-mill has a fair capacity.  At these mills
Solomon E. Swink opened a general store in January, 1881. John Stonecker had a pottery here about
1820, which was carried on about a dozen years.
More than a mile farther down the stream Adam
Hatfield made a claim in 1780, receiving a patent for
the land in 1795. That year he sold it to John
Shank, who built mills there, which were operated
by-him until 1816, when Adam Stonecker became
the owner; thence, in 1824, Samuel Trevor; thence,
in 1826, Henry Detweiler; and since 1847 Samuel
Detweiler has operated the mills. The second mill
on the site was put up by Henry Detweiler in 1834,
alld stood until it was consumed by fire, Sept. 26,
1864. The present mill was gotten in operation in
November, 1865, by Samuel Detweiler. It is a frame,
40 by 50 feet, four stories high, and the motor is both
water and steam, the combined power being equal to
thirty horses.  Steam was supplied in 1851.  The
mill has three runs of stones and modern machinery,
being equal in its appointments to any mill in the
county. The present saw-mill was built in 1855.
On the John Miner place was formerly a distillery,
carried on by that family, and lately a steam sawmill, which has been removed.
Where is now Boyd's saw-mill Christian Reist had
a saw-mill in the early settlement of the country, and
later another mill was operated there by Thomas
Boyd. The present mill is owned by Wm. Boyd,
who also had a shingle-mill before 1857. The raceway is 80 rods long, and there is a tradition that it
was dug for fifty cents per rod, much of the excavation being solid rocks. On Butler Run, George Hatfield and others had small saw-mills, which have been
discontinued.
On0 White's Run, Henry White had saw- and gristmills soon after the settlement of the township, small
and rude at first, but giving place to better mills in
time, which had many owners. In the order of possession were Boyd  Davidson, Thomas and Joseph
Boyd, Thomas R. Davidson, Dr. James C. Cummings,
and, later, the heirs of T. R. Davidson. For the past
four years the property has belonged to Nathan Gilmore. The present mill was built about thirty years
ago. It is a fine building and has good machinery,
but the location is unfavorable for a successful milling
business. The saw-mill is more successfully operated.
A number of small tanneries have been carried on
in Bullskin, and several of greater proportions. In
1838, Levi Bradford built a good tannery at the Yellow Stone Sprillgs, which had a capacity for working
up three thousand hides per year.'After a few years
steam was supplied, and although the tannery has
been discontinued a score of years, the boiler was not,!
removed until recently. Fayette Tannery was ope/ated nineteen years by Levi Bradford, and several
years more by John Taylor.
At Pennsville, Benjamin Shallenbarger had a tannery about 1812, the yard being just above the barn
of Jacob J. Stonecker. Samuel Newmeyer carried on
the business next. Tanning was also carried on by
the Shallenbargers on the A. H. Sherrick farm; but
some time about 1852 they put up a good tannery in
the western part of Pennsville, having a yard under
roof which contained thirty vats. Steam-power was
used, and a large amount of business was done by the
several firins,--the Shallenbarger Brothers, Levi Brad;
ford, Boyd  Overholt, and Boyd, Myers  Co. The
latter firm owned the tannerv when it ceased to
operate, about 1873, Eli McClellan being the manager.
The abundance of fire-clay has made the manufacture of brick a profitable industry in the township,
and several works have lately been established. The
"Southwest Fire-Brick Works" were built at Moyer
Station in 1871, by Sysson, Kilpatrick  Co., and are
yet operated by that firm. Employment is given to
seventeen hands, under the management of Anthony
Sourd. The works are well appointed, embracing
four ovens, having a capacity of eight thousand firebrick (for lining coke-ovens) per day, which find a
ready market in the county.
On the Narrow-Gauge Railroad at Green Lick,
John W. Kinnear began the nianufacture of firebrick in the summer of 1880, and after a successful
season the works were destroyed by fire, March 29,
1881. The moulding-room was thirty-five by eighty
feet, with large engine-house attached. Four thousand brick per day were made. It is the purpose of the
proprietor to rebuild the works.
The manufacture of iron constituted an important
industry in Bullskin half a century ago. Along the
base of Chestnut Ridge an excellent quality of ore is
found, which is easily fluxed, producing a metal which
is highly esteemed. Near one of these mineral deposits, on Mounts' Creek, north of the centre of the
township, "the Mount Vernon Furnace" was built
about 1807 or 1808, by Isaac Meason, for his son Isaac,
who operated it a number of years. It had but a
small stack, yet was so well managed that in all about
sixty men were employed. Before the furnace went
out of blast, in 1830, the second growth of timber was
cut over for the purpose of making the charcoal necessary to carry it on. Considerable metal was cast into
kettles and other moulded work at the furnace, the
products being carried to Connellsville for shipment.
Among the managers were Jonathan Mayberry and
a young man named Taylor. The furnace was last
operated by David B. Long, and by him blown out of
blast. Nothing but the stack, a solid piece of masonry, remains to show the location, on land which
I  
I
I
4956
CONTENTS.
BULLSKIN TOWNSHIP.
Civil Organization-General Industries-Pennsville-Educational and
Religious................................................   I 485
DUNBAR TOWNSHIP.
Original Landholders-Tax-Payers in 1799-Early Roads-Early Ironworkers-The Union Furnace-Township Organization and Civil List
-Village of East Liberty-Village of Dunbar-Village of Alexandria
-Churches-Schools-Manufacturing Industries-Societies and Orders. NEW HAVEN BoROUGH.-New Haven's Physicians-Justices of
the Peace-Borough Incorporation and List of Officers-Schools in
New Haven-Post-Office-Religious-Biographical Notices........ 501
FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP.
Original Landholders in Franklin-Franklin Tax-Payers in 1785-Early
Roads-Township Organization and Civil List-Schools-ChurchesPersonal Sketches.549
GEORGES TOWNSHIP.
Old Roads-Ashcraft's Fort-Haydentown -Iron Industries-Coke
Manufacture-Mills-Taverns-Distilleries-Military MemoirsSchools-Churches-Sabbath-Schools -Woodbridgetown-Fairchance
-Smithfield-Physicians-cabinet Makers-Carpenters and Builders
-Coopers - Wagon-Makers - Societies and, Orders - Georges Creek
Trading Company-Justices of the Peace-Biographical Sketches. 564
GERMAN TOWNSHIP.
Physicians-Schools- Churches-Burial-Grounds-List of Township
Officers-Masontown Boroughs-McClellandtown-Societies and Orders-High House-Military Record of German Township-Various
Statistics of German Township-Personal Sketches...................5 90
HENRY CLAY TOWNSHIP.
Pioneers and Early Settlements-Roads-Tavern Stands-Township
Organization and Officers-Jockey Valley-Markleysburg-Religious
Denominations-Cemeteries-Schools....................................... 605
JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP.
Early Roads-Township Organization and Civil List-Schools-Churches
-Coal Productions-Biographical Sketches.............................. 614
LUZERNE TOWNSHIP.
Early Roads-Township Organization and List of Officers-SchoolsChurches-Burial-Grounds-Village of Merrittstown-Biographical
Mention.........................................         633
MENALLEN TOWNSHIP.
Early Roads-Early Taverns-Township Organization and List of Officers-Town of New Salem-Upper Middletown-Churches-Biogaphical.653
NORTH AND SOUTH UNION TOWNSHIPS.
NORTH UNION.-Early Settlements-Erection of the Township and List
of Officers-Schools-Soldiers' Orphans' School-Religious SocietiesManufacturing Industries. SOUTH UNION.-Early Settlements-Erection, Boundaries, and List of Officers-Schools-Redstone Coke-Works
-Chicago and Connellsville Coke Company's Works. MONRoE.-Taverns-Stores-Manufactories-Trip-Hammer Forge-Distillery-The
Professions -Churches - Sabbath-Schools - Schools - Biographical
Mention....                                                   669
NICHOLSON TOWNSHIP.
List of Township Officers-Schools-Churches-Biographical.   695
PERRY TOWNSHIP.
Erection of Township and List of Officers-Perryopolis-Layton Station
-Schools of the Township-Religious Worship-Burial-GroundsBiographical Notices.. 707
REDSTONE TOWNSHIP.
Township Organization and Civil List-Schools-Churches-Biographical Sketches.723
SALT LICK TOWNSHIP.
Roads-General Industries-Mercantile and Other Interests-Religious
and Educational.741
SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIIP.
Roads-General Industries-Villages and Business Interests-Educational and Religious-Biographical Mention.751
SPRINGHILL TOWNShIP.
Medical Men-Early Roads-Early Manufacturers-Sprighill Civil
List-Schools-Churches-Soldiers-Biographical..    763
STEWART TOWNSHIP.
Pioneer Settlers-Civil Organization-Falls City-Various Industries of
the Township-Religious and Educational-Schools..          774
UPPER AND LOWER TYRONE TOWNSHIPS.
Early Settlements-Erection of Tyrone as a Township of Fayette County
-Changes of Territory and List of Officers-Erection of Upper and
Lower Tyrone-Religious Worship-Schools-Churches-Societies
and Orders-Jimtown-Coke Manufacture-Railroads-Biographical
Sketches.783
WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP.
Township Organization and Civil List-Early Roads-Little Redstone
M. E. Church-Coal and Coal-Mining. BELLE VERNON BOROUGH.Schools-Churches-Belle Vernon Glass-Factory-Saw- and PlaningMill Company-Societies and Orders. FAYETTE City BOROUGH-Borough Organization and Officers-Schools-Churches-Fayette City
Woolen-Factory-Banks-Societies and Orders-Mount Auburn Cemetery-Biographical Notices.807
WHARTON TOWNSHIP.
Boundaries and General Description-Indian Trails and Graves-BattleGround of 1754-Roads-Old Braddock Road-The National RoadBraddock's Grave-Fayette Spring-Pioneer and Settlement-Township Organization and Officers-Villages-Cemeteries-Mail ServiceWharton Furnace-Religious Denominations-Schools-Biographical
Sketches.828
BIOGRAPHICAL
Allebaugh, Samuel.........................................................
Allison, James.........................
Baily, Silas Milton............................................................
Banning, Anthony  R........................................................
Barnes, David...................................................................
Barton, William................................................................
Blackstone, James............................................................
Bowman, G. H..................................................................
Boyle, Charles  E...............................................................
Boyd, Archibald...............................................................
Breading, David................................................................
Breading, James E............................................................
Breading, Nathaniel..........................................................
Britt, Robert.....................................................................
PAGE                                                                                                                 PAGE
605   Brown, Isaac...............2...........................................  692
667                 Brown, John-...............                                                                               827
355                 Brownfield, Basil...............                                                                          692
545                 Brownfield, Ewing...............                                                                        346
415                 Burton, John...............                                                                              562
694                 Buttermore, Smith..............                                                                         418
545                 Campbell, George  W...............                                                                      762
457  Caufield, Thomas.................................                         739
352  Chatland, William................................. 462
631  Clement, Samuel M................................ 691
651  Cochran, James................;................ 804
650 Cook, Edward..............                                                                                                825
650  Cook, John B................,................ 82
589  Covert, Benjamin...................652HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
commissioners for the province of Pennsylvania;  continuing any longer on their settlements, and that
Alexander McKee, commissary of Indian affairs; Col. you expect they will quit them without delay. If you
John Reed, commandant of Fort Pitt, and several  agree to this, we will send an honest and discreet
other military officers. The principal interpreter was  white man to accompany your messengers.  And,
Henry Montour, and many of the Monongahela and  brethren, if, after receiving such notice from you, they
Redstone settlers were present and among the most shall refuse to.remove by the time limited them, you
anxious of the spectators.                           may depend upon it the Governor will not fail to put
The council proceeded in the usual way, with high-  the law into immediate execution against them."
sounding speeches, hollow assurances of friendship,    Finally a reluctant consent to the proposition of
the presentation of divers belts and strings of wam-  the commissioners was gained from  the Six Nations'
pum, and the distribution among the Indians of pres-  chiefs. At a session held with these chiefs on the 9th
ents to the amount of ~1500; but as the deliberations  of May, " It was agreed by them to comply with the
progressed it became more and more apparent that request of the commissioners in sending messengers
there existed among the savages no deep-seated dis-  to the people settled at Red Stone, Youghiogany, and
satisfaction against the settlers; that nearly all the  Monongahela, to signify to them the great displeasure
indignation at the encroachments of the whites was  of the Six Nations at their taking possession of the
felt and expressed by the gentlemen acting for the  lands there and making settlements on them, and
Pennsylvania authorities; that these were extremely  also that it is expected they will, with their families,
angry with the Indians because in a few instances  remove without further notice. They accordingly apthey had sold small tracts to white men, and be-  pointed the White Mingo and the three deputies seint
cause they were now exhibiting a decided disincli-  from the Six Nations' country to carry a iessage to
nation to demand the immediate removal of the set-  that effect, and the commissioners agreed to send Mr.
tlers. Almost the only Indian of the Six Nations  John Frazer and Mr. William Thompson to accomwho complained was Tohonissahgarawa, who said, pany them, with written instructions in behalf of the
"Some of them" (the settlements) "are made di-  government of Pennsylvania."
rectly on our war-path leading to our enemies' country,   "Monlday, May 9, 1768, P.M.:
and we do not like it.  As we look upon it, it will   "The Indian messengers having agreed to set out
be time enough for you to settle them when you have  for Red Stone Creek to-morrow, the commissioners,
purchased them and the country becomes yours."  as an encouragement to them for the trouble of their
The commissioners addressed the Indians, telling  journey, made them a present of some black wampum.
them that when Steele and his associates had visited  They then desired Mr. Fraser and Capt. Thompson to
the settlers the latter had promised to remove. " But, hold themselves prepared for accompanying the Inbrethren," continued the commissioners, "we are sorry  dian messengers in the morning, and wrote thern a
to tell you that as soon as the men sent by the Gover-  letter of instructions."  In those instructions they
nor had prevailed on the settlers to consent to a com-  said,pliance with the law, there came among them eight    "As soon as you arrive in the midst of the settleIndians who live at the Mingo town, down this river, ments near Red Stone Creek, it wiil be proper to conand desired the people not to leave their settlements, vene as many of the settlers as possible, to whom the
but to sit quiet on them till the present treaty at this  Indians mnay then deliver their message, which shall
place should be concluded. The people, on receiving  be given to you in writing; and we desire you will
this advice and encouragement, suddenly changed  leave a few copies of it with the principal people,
their minds, and determined not to quit their places  that they may communicate the same to those who
till they should hear further from the Indians. Now, live at any considerable distance from them..
brethren, we cannot help expressing to you our great You may then acquaint them that they must now be
concern at this behavior of those Indians, as it has  convinced by this message and the speech of the Six
absolutely frustrated the steps the Governor-was taking  Nations that they have hitherto been grossly deto do you justice by the immediate removal of those  ceived by a few straggling Indians of no consequence,
people from your lands. And we must tell you, breth-  who may have encouraged them to continue on their
ren, that the conduct of those Indians appears to us  settlements, and that they will now be left without
very astonishing; and we are much at a loss to ac-  the least pretense or excuse for staying on them any
count for the reason of it at this time, when the Six  longer..... But should you find any of those inconNations are complaining of encroachments being  siderate people still actuated by a lawless and obstimade on their lands.    But, brethren, all that we  nate spirit to bid defiance to the civil authority, you
have now to desire of you is that you will immedi-  may let them know that we were under no necessity
ately send off some of your prudent and wise men  of sending, in the name of the Governor, any further
with a message to the people settled at Red Stone,  notice to them, or of being at the pains of making
Youghioghenv, and Monongahela, to contradict the  them acquainted with the real minds of the Indians,
advice of the Indians from the Mingo town, and to  to induce them to quit their settlements, for that the
acquaint them that you very much disapprove of their  powers of the government are sufficient to compel
62HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
is now the property of George Hogg. Several years
at'ter the furnace was abandoned, John Anderson
wodrked over a part of the cinders, having a small
stamping-machine for this purpose, his enterprise
being attended with considerable profit. In the
neighborhood of the old furnace ore is now mined by
the Charlotte Furnace Company of Scottdale, the
products of the mines being carried away by their
narrow-gauge railway, which has its eastern terminus
in these hills.  Formerly the furnace-owners had
mills to cut their own lumber and to grind the feed
for their animals, but the powers in use have long
since been abandoned. In the southern part of the
township, on White's Run, the "Findley Furnace"
was erected in 1818. It was more widely known by
the naine of Breakneck, a term which was applied to
it while being built on account of an accident which
one of the workmen sustained, falling from the stack
at the risk of bodily injury, which caused him to say
"that it was a regular breakneck affair." The enterprise was begun by Col. William L. Miller, but before
the furnace was completed Messrs. Rogers and Paull
became interested parties, although Col. Miller was
the nominal owner and manager. Later the furnace
was carried on by John Boyd and William Davidson
as lessees, and last by David B. Long, who blew it out
of blast in the fall of 1837. The furnace had a capacity of one hundred tons per month, but the product
usually did not exceed seventy tons. The water supply failing, steam was supplied several years before
the furnace was discontinued. In the foundry department from four to six moulders were employed.
Among the workmen at both of the foregoing furnaces was George Adams, now one of the most aged
citizens of Bullskin.
The mining of coal and manufacture of coke at
present constitutes the chief interest in the development of the minerals in Bullskin. For some years
the "Pennsville AMines" property has been the most
productive. It was owned by A. H. Sherrick, and embraces all the privileges of one hundred and sixty-five
acres of land. Here coal was mined in a small way
fifty years ago by the Shallenbargers and others, but
it was not until 1872 that the product of the mines
was converted into coke. In that year Mr. Sherrick
began the construction of his coke-works, grading a
yard about a quarter of a mile from the line of the
Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad. Seventy ovens
were built, and most of them lighted in the summer
of 1873. Nearly all of these have been kept in fire
since that time, the daily product being from seven
to nine cars of forty-eight-hour coke. The shaft in
the mine has been sunk to the depth of one-third of
a mile, and the coal is taken from a nine-foot vein,
which is underlaid by a fine stratum of limestone.
In connection with the mines are several shops and
seven dwellings. The hands employed number fifty,
and are under the personal superintendence of A. H.
Sherrick. L. M. Smith is the yard boss, and Alexander Taylor the pit boss. These works now embrace
seventy ovens, and are owned and operated by A. O.
Tinstman  Co.
The Eldorado Coke-Works at Moyer's antedate
those at Pennsville by about one year. In 1871, John
Moyer, of Mount Pleasant, secured the coal privilege
of a tract of land belonging to the Beidler farm, and
engaged to erect forty ovens adjoining the railroadtrack, having a sub-lease from Brunot  Detweiler.
After the coke-works were operated several years they
became the property of Brunot  Detweiler, who
leased them to W. F. Zuck and Joseph B. Henry,
who were the operators till August, 1880, when the
property passed into possession of the Cleveland Rolling Mill Company. To the original forty ovens
forty more had been added by Zuck  Henry, and
one hundred and forty-five more have since been
added by W. J. Rainey  Co., the present owners.
The company controls the coal of three hundred and
four acres, owning the entire privileges of one hundred and fifty acres thereof, and having a large capital
at command, will prosecute the work till the enterprise at this point will be one of the most important
in the county. In April, 1881, one hundred and
twenty-five men were employed under the superintendence of Frank R. Bradford. The yard boss was
J. W. Brooks, and the mines were carried on under
the direc ion of J. B. Henry. The coal is superior
for coking, and lies in a vein nine feet in thickness.
On the 1st of March, 1881, a new shaft was sunk, from
which will be drawn the future supplies of the works.
In addition to the attendant buildings at the cokery,
the company carries on a store and owns seventy-five
neat residences which are occupied by the workmen.
At MIoyer's is a flag-station of the Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad, and a post-office, which was established Dec. 20, 1880, with John H. McAffee postmaster. It is kept in the store of David Lontz, and
two mails per day are provided. The mercantile business at that point was established in the spring of
1880 by Zuck  Henry, passing from them to Lontz
in the fall of the same year.
PENNSVILLE.
This hamlet, the oldest in Bullskin township, is on
the M-ount Pleasant road, four miles from Connellsville, and about a mile east from the Tyrone line.
It is a flag-station on the Southwest Pennsylvania
Railroad,-contains a very fine school edifice, a church,
several stores, and about two dozen houses.  The
lots were sold off from the Cochrane and Strickler
farms by George Newmeyer and W. P. Kelley, among
the first purchasers being Henry Shallenbarger and
Bushrod Washington, both putting up houses about
1848 in the vicinity of the Disciples' meeting-house.
The Pennsville post-office was established soon after,
and was first kept by David Shallenbarger. Thence.1.I
496BULLSKIN TOWNSHIP.
came, as other postmasters, John J. Hurst, J. M.
Kurtz, Loyd Shallenbarger. Rice Boyd, L. F. Miller,
for one and a half years, and since Jan. 1, 1880, Dr.
Winm. Chalfant. The office has two mails per day.
The first store at Pennsville was kept by John S.
Strickler in the long building opposite the present
MNiller stand.  This was occupied by many firms,
among others by Christopher Stonecker, David Shallenbarger, John J. Hurst, Franks  Overholt, Loyd
Shallenbarger, John McAdams, Joseph Newcomer,
Rice Boyd, Boyd  Overholt, Livingood  Miller,
and L. F. Miller. In 1872 the latter occupied his
present business house, where, in April, 1881, he
associated with A. H. Sherrick, under the firm-name
of Miller  Sherrick. Other merchants in the place
have been Christian Pool, Hosack  Bougher, Austin and John Campbell, and George Newmeyer, the
latter in the small brick building on the present Stoner
farm.
In former days Pennsville had several large mechanic shops, and since 1852 WVm. C. Lvon has carried on wagon-making at this place. From 1850 to
1853 fanning-mills were here made by David Shallenbarger and George Newmeyer  Co. From four to
eight men were employed in the shops, and three or
four men were kept engaged peddling the mills
throughout the country.
Alexander Frazer had the first public-house, keeping it in the house now occupied by his widow, and
serving as landlord eight years, from 1850 till 1858.
At that time a line of stages ran through the place,
and the office was at the Frazer tavern. Near the
same time Stephen McIntyre had an inn where is
now the residence of Eli McClellan, and when he
retired the house was kept by Samuel and John
Eicher, the last to keep a tavern at Pennsville, which
has not had a public-house for a score of years. At the
last-named place a stage-office was also kept. In the
period of the great Western immigration, from 1785
to 1812, many taverns were kept in Bullskin, but as
these were more of the nature of traveler's inns, and
the doors of nearly every house on the principal
thoroughfares were open to accommodate the homeseekers, no account of them is taken here.
Country stores have been kept at various points in
Bullskin. At Detweiler's and Long's Mills, north of
Pennsville, a store was opened in 1865 by John T.
Stauffer for the sale of dry-goods. It was sold to
William Lane, who changed it to a grocery-store,
and as such it has been continued the past fourteen
years by Nancy Stillwagon. The village of Bridgeport, on Jacob's Creek, is partly in Bullskin, but all
the business interests are in Westmoreland County.
Dr. Apollos Lohr was probably the first regular
physician to locate in Bullskin. He opened an office
at Pennsville in 1850, and had as a contemporary a
short time his brother, Dr. James Lohr. Both removed to Ohio. Before they left Dr. John Lutz
came as a practitioner, and continued until his death,
about twenty years ago. Next came Dr. W. D. Riggs,
who was succeeded, in April, 1867, by the present
physician, Dr. W. B. Chalfant, who came to Pennsville from Brownsville. He graduated at the Cleveland Medical College in 1859. He enjoys the reputation of being a successfuil practitioner.
EDUCATIONAL AND RELIGIOUS.
One of the first schools in the township was taught
in a building near the Baptist Church. It was simply
a log cabin, but the school was well attended, and
for those times was considered very good. Pupils
were in attendance from the Stonecker, Shank, Newmeyer, Stockman, Latta, Shallenbarger, Highlands,
Myers, Smutz, Garver, and other families. In tIhe
northern part of the township the settlers first sent
their children to Westmoreland County. One of the
first schools in wvhat is known as Mud District was
taught by Samuel Shupe, and later by George A.
Hollingsworth. The Lattas, Freeds, Shafers, Robertsons, and others were among the first attendants.
In what is known as the Gault District was one of
the pioneer school buildings, where David Lindsay
taught a number of years. He was a teacher the
greater part of his life, his death occurring some time
about 1840. Mrs. Lindsay yet lives, at the home of
her daughter, Mrs. C. Kelley, at the age of eighty
years. Her recollections of early school-days would
not encourage many to engage as teachers. The salary was small, and much of the pay consisted of farm
produce, or such things as the settlers could conveniently spare, at the rate of $1.50 per scholar for a
quarter's instruction.
Under the common-school system Bullskin was
divided in 1836 into districts, and the families residing therein enumerated. District No. 1, answering
in general to the present Breakneck District, had
forty-seven families; District No. 2, or the southwest
part of the township, contained forty families; District No. 3, now about the Gault District, had forty-one
families; District No. 4, the northwest part of the
township, had thirty-nine families. The First HalfDistrict-the Pennsville settlement-had twentyone families; the Second Half-District-those living
at what is now Bridgeport-had nineteen families;
and in the Mountain District lived John Stauffer,
Jacob Anderson, Washington Washabaugh, Amos
Butler, Christopher Butler, David Washabaugh, John
Hoffhans, Samuel Bauders, Samuel White, Abraham
Cox, and Samuel Coffman.
The board of directors was composed of Wm. Andrews. president; D. B. Long, secretary; Henry Detweiler, treasurer; Thomas Boyd, George Brothers,
Richard Gault, and Henry Freed. These voted, Aug.
13, 1836, to open schools at the Findley Furnace, at
Richard Gault's, and at Abraham Pershing's. James
Pemberton was the teacher at Findley; David Lindsey at Gault's, and the following year taught at Pershing's. In 1837 the school-house in the Kell District
I
497HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
was erected by Wm. Boyd for $288. The same year
the Mountain District was allowed to build a schoolhouse at the expense of the citizens of that part of
the towinship. In May of the same year it was voted
to sign a contract for an octagon school-house in the
First Half-District. This house was on the Tyrone
line, west of Pennsville, and was a prominent landmark in its day. The teachers in 1837 and the few
years following were G. Buttermore, George W. Newmeyer, Robert Huey, Ann Parker, Anna C. Pershing,
John Strickler, Sarah Ullrey, James W. Snow, James
A. Black, Randolph Boyd, George Frick, Josiah Stillwagon, Joseph D. Long, Wm. Hixon, Joseph Sechrist,
David Lindsey, Jonathan Garver, John Edgar, Henry
Snively, Elijah Yunkin, Henry Ullrey, Martha McKown, John Harrold, John L. Means, James Pemberton, Sarah Kell, Wm. P. Baker, Nancy Robertson,
John M. Peoples, Otho Williams, Francis Andrews,
James Hunter, Austin Lane, Davis A. Hannum, Jacob
Berg, Jacob Lobengier, Andrew Kesslar, Sarah Lindsey, Jonathan Shallenbarger, Joseph Detweiler, Joseph A. Marietta, James A. Martin, A. Stauffer, Wm.
L. Miller, and Thomas B. Norris.
The township has been supplied with a good class
of buildings, those in several districts being commodious beyond what is generally found in the country.
The school building at Pennsville is a two-story brick,
which has been furnished throughout with modern
furniture and apparatus. The builder was P. C. Grim,
receiving therefor $3315, and the house was turned
over to the board of directors Nov. 23, 1876, as conforming in every particular with the terms of the
contract. This house took the place of a small brick
house which stood on its site, and which was the successor of the octagon house. The Pennsville sehool
was attended in 1880 by 44 male and 38 female pupils,
who were under the instruction of J. M. Moore. The
average dailv attendance was just one-half the nuinber enrolled. Other teachers of the school were, in
1871, Lucy Enfield; 1872, H. R. Franas; 1873, D.
McClellan; 1874, N. B. Tannehill; 1875, J. S. Spiegel
and Jacob Aubley; 1876, James S. Best; 1877, John
H. Weddle; 1878, Lizzie Leonard; 1879, Clark Frazer and George Sherrick.
Since the records of the annual elections have been
preserved the following have been school directors:
1840.-Wim. Boyd and John B. Troxell.
1841.-Joseph Beidler tand Jacob Rice.
1842.-George Brothers and David Pollins.
1843.-John Miner and Thomas Hoke.
1844.-Samuel Johnson a.nd Samuel Rice.
1845.-Percival Hamilton and Jacob Freed.
1846.-David Shallenbarger and Bartholomew Yost.
1847.--Samuel White and Jonathan Newmeyer.
1848.--Andrew Walker and Joseph Beidler.
1849.-Bartholomew Yost and Solomon Etling.
1850.-Christopher R. Stonecker and Appolos Lohr.
18.5l.-John Miner and George Shupe.
1852.-John M. Coup and John K. Andrews.
1853.--Samuel Detweiler and Christopher R. Stonecker.
1554.-James D. Overholt and Thomas McClean.
1855.-George Newmeyer and Isaac Palmer.
1856.-Christopher R. Stonecker an(l Joseph Beidler.
1857.--William  Litherwood, Christian Shank, and John F.
Stoner.
1858.-Richard Crossland, Jacob Reynolds, and Samuel Detweiler.
1859.-Francis Andrews and Nathaniel Hurst.
186O.-Henry Streak and Joseph Andrews.
1861--Henry Etling and Daniel F. Shupe.
1862.-Francis Andrews and David S. Spear.
1863.-Horatio L. Sparks and Jacob Echard.
1864.-Jacob J. Stonecker and Jacob E. Brown.
1865.-Thomas Keffer and James Hoke.
1866.-henry F. Bowman and Abraham H. Sherrick.
1867.-Jacob J. Stonecker and Jacob Mathias.
1868.-Daniel A. Pershino, John R. Johnstone, and Samuel
Detweiler.
1S69.-Daniel F. Shupe, henry Huebenthal, Jacob E. Brown,
John R. Johnstone, and Samuel Detweiler.
1869, October.-Jacob Mathias, Jacob Horner, and James
Hurst.
1870.-George Huebenthal and Jacob Rice.
1872.-Daniel F. Shupe and James Hurst.
1873.-David Eshelman and Wm. C. Lyon.
1874.-John Richey and Nathaniel Clair.
1885.-Samuel Detweiler, John R. Johnstone, and J. M. Creigh.
1876.-David Eshelman and Jacob J. Longanecker.
1877.-Nathaniel Clair and Jacob Rice.
18718.-Jacob K. Shank and Henry S. Stouffer.
1879.-David Eshelmnan and Wm. Leeper.
1880.-George Atkinson, Nathan Clair, and Wm. Adams.
1881.-Jacob K. Shank and David Coffman.
In 1880 the gross amount of tax levied for school
purposes was $3250.96, of which amount $1910 was
devoted to teachers' salaries. The number of schools
was thirteen, each having a male teacher. Five
months of school were maintained at an average salary of $29.38 per month. The number of male pupils
enrolled was 351; of females, 286. The average per
cent. of attendance was 77. The estimated value of
the sehool property was $20,000. A small portion of
Bullskin is emlbraced within the Bridgeport Independent District, whose territory is mainly in Westmoreland County. The district has three school buildings,
one being in Bullskin. It is a brick house of fine size,
and was built in 1875. The schools of this district
have a fine reputation for scholarship and attendance.
THE PENNSVILLE REGULAR BAPTIST CHURCH.
Soon after 1800 the settlers living in the western part
of Bullskin and in the eastern part of Tyrone united
to build a meeting-house, which should be consecrated to the worship of God by any and all, irrespective of denomination. It stood on land leased perpetually from the John Shank farm, a portion of
the lot being set apart for cemetery purposes. The
house was of logs, with seats made of slabs, having
legs of saplings inserted in auger-holes. The pulpit
was simply a board nailed on two upright pieces
of lumber. In the course of years the house was
weatherboarded, provided with a ceilin,, better seats,
48BULLSKIN TOWNSHIP.                   499~~~~_~~_
and a pulpit which was a very elaborate affair. It I the lot where the old house stood, and was built in
was made of wild cherry, the different parts being
held together by wooden pins. It was elevated about
six feet above the floor, and hlad a huge soundingboard. On either side were places for the readingand singing-clerks.  The building was commonly
designated as the "White Meeting-House," and was
the regular place of service of the Baptists living
along Jacob's Creek. These first had their membership with the church at Connellsville, and after 1828
with the Mount Pleasant Church. Among the members of that period were Allen and John Pippett and
their wives, Sarah Walker, Christiana Highlands,
Mary Gault, Catharine Highlands, Ann, Rachel,
David, Jacob, and Jonathan Newmeyer, and Abraham
Shallenbarger, who was a deacon. One of the first
ministers was the Rev. James Estep, who may properly
be termed the father of the church at Pennsville.
Other ministers of the Mount Pleasant Church were
as follows: Rev. William Shadrach, from 1828 to
1836; Rev. John Rockefeller, 1836-38; Rev. Isaac
Winn, 1839; Rev. Simeon Seigfried, 1840-42; Rev.
Milton Sutton, 1843; Rev. John Parker, 1844-46;
Rev. Milton Sutton, 1847-52; Rev. W. A. Caldwell,
1854-55; Rev. William Shadrach, 1856. The increase of members at Mount Pleasant induced the
church to demand the entire ministerial services of
their pastor, the Rev. B. F. Woodburn, and in 1868
the Jacob's Creek Church became a separate organization. It was duly constituted August 10th, when
William C. Lyon was elected clerk, and Conrad Bowers treasurer. Jonathan Newmeyer and Conrad Bowers, deacons of the Mount Pleasant Church, were continued, and Jacob Overholt and Daniel Reese were
newly-elected deacons. The Rev. W. W. Hickman
became the first pastor, and on the 19th of August,
1868, the deacons were ordained to their office by the
Council convened at that time. The church was received into the Monongahela Association Sept. 1,
1868, having at that time 90 members on its rolls.
The aggregate number of those who have belonged
was 139, and the present membership is 56. The
present deacons are William C. Lyon and Jacob H.
Echard. The former is also the church clerk.
In March, 1871, the Rev. David Williams was
called to the pastorate, and in the fall of 1872 a parsonage was built on a lot adjoining the church. Four
years later it was sold, and is now a private residence.
In November, 1873, Jacob H. Echard and D. P. Patterson were elected deacons. July 7, 1875, Deacon
Bowers, one of the chief members of the church, died.
The Rev. D. Williams served as pastor until Jan. 29,
1876, when he was succeeded by the Rev. W. T.
Hughes, who remained one year. Then the pulpit
was supplied a short time by Rev. W. S. Wood, but
in September, 1877, the Rev. Joseph M. Collins became the pastor, and has since maintained that relation, preaching one-half of his time at Scottdale.
The present meeting-house occupies a site adjoining
1852, the building committee being Jonathan Newmeyer and Conrad Bowers. It is a brick edifice, fortythree by fifty-five feet, and is plainly furnished. The
trustees in 1881 were Jacob H. Echard, George Atkinson, and Jacob Overholt. In this house is maintained a good Sabbath-school, which has about eighty
members. For many years William C. Lyon has
been its superintendent.
In the old White meeting-house, services were occasionally held by the adherents of Alexander Campbell, that minister himself preaching there several
times. Those who espoused his belief were, among
others, Christian Shank, David Shallenbarger, and
their wives, Andrew Rees and wife, Mrs. Arnold,
Jacob Lobengier, Bushrod Washington, Hamilton
Cunningham, Jonas Ellenbarger, Elizabeth Ellenbarger, Jacob K. Shank, Michael Myers, Joseph, Jonathan, Susan, Lydia, Catherine, and Henry Shallenbarger. These and others constituted
THE PENNSVILLE DISCIPLES' CHURCH.
In 1853 a lot of ground was purchased in the hamlet of Pennsville, and a meeting-house erected thereon
by a board of trustees, composed of Christian Shank,
Jonathan Shallenbarger, and Jacob Lobengier, which
thereafter constituted the place of worslhip. For a
time the church flourished under the ministry of the
Revs. Dorsie, Streator, Piatt, Parker, and Lobengier;
but the removal of many members caused the interest
to decline, and finally services were altogether suspended, the remaing interest being absorbed' by the
Bethel Church of Tyrone township. A proposition
to sell the meeting-house caused some members living in Bullskin to exert themselves to raise funds to
repair the building and again make it an inviting
place of worship. Active in this movement were
Richard Boyd and wife, and by some effort the purpose was accomplished. Thence, in connection with
the church at Bethel, semi-monthly meetings were established, the chief speaker being L. C. McLain,
and at present about thirty persons in the township
claim fellowship with the Disciples' Church at Pennsville, which is yet auxiliary to the Bethel Church.
THE FAIRVIEW UNITED BRETHREN CHURCH.
This house of worship is in the Pershing neighborhood, standing on a lot of ground which was donated
for this purpose and for a burial-place by Abraham
Pershing. It is a plain frame, and was built in the
summer of 1847. Previously the meetings of the denomination were held in the Pershing school-house,
in the same neighborhood, the principal members
belonging to the Troxel and Pershing families. The
services were held at long intervals, the preacher
coming from a distance, and this being one of a number of appointments. When the house was built
Rev. John R. Sitman was the preacher in charge.
Since that timne among the ministers have been the
following: Revs. Beichtel, Holmes, Harnden, Ritter,
BULLSKIN TOWNSHIP.
499
- - -                                                    -                                                                                                                                                IHISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Newman; 1852-53, Rev. William Beichtel; 1854-55,
Rev. John L. Baker; 1856, Rev. John Riley; 1857,
Rev. William K. Shimp; 1858, Rev. Bonewell;
1859-60, Rev. William Beichtel; 1865-66, Rev. Jacob
B. Resler; 1868, Revs. E. B. Kephart and J. Reynolds; 1869, Rev. D. Speck; 1870-71, Rev. Robert
Rankin; 1877-78, Rev. L. W. Stahl; 1879, Rev. C.
Wortman; 1880, Rev. J. Medsgar; 1881, Rev. David
Shearer.
The church has about sixty members, and William
W. Troxel as steward; the trustees are John Pershing,
Daniel H. Pershing, and Daniel Troxel.
On the 12th of May, 1850, a Sunday-school was
organized in this house, with Abraham Pershing, superintendent; J. B. Sherrick, D. Tinstman, and John
Pershing, managers; William S. Walker, secretary;
Jacob Zundle, Simon Bitts, Eli Wilkins, Isaac Pershing, Mary A. Heckathorn, Nancy Rice, Caroline
Welchouse, and Catherine Sprankle, teachers. It
was the first Sabbath-school in Bullskin. and has
been kept up ever since. The present superintendent
is Henry Huebenthall.
In the minutes of the Sunday-school for Aug. 4,
1850, appears an account of a very remarkable solar
phenomenon: "To-day an extraordinary phenomenon appeared about the sun, and was seen by the
whole school. It consisted of two large circles around
the sun, which seemed to join or run into each other
at the eastern and western sides; and another very
large circle west of the sun, with the eastern side of
the ring in or over the sun. There also appeared in
the eastern horizon an arc, resembling a rainbow in
colors, which was only an eighth of a circle large."
This remarkable exhibition occurred between the
hours of ten and eleven in the forenoon, while the sky
was beautifully clear and the air pleasant and warm.
It created a profound impression at the time, and as
there soon after occurred a virulent epidemic, which
caused the death of a member in nearly every family,
making fearful inroads upon the membership of the
school, it was looked upon as a sign of warning and
an omen of evil, which wrought a salutary influence
in the minds of the afflicted people. In addition to
the superintendents already named there have served
in that capacity J. B. Sherrick, J. B. Troxel, D. H.
Pershing, and R. C. Farmer.
THE MOUNT OLIVE UNITED BRETHREN CHURCH.
This is a place of worship of a class of that denomination residing east of the central part of the township. The house is a neat frame on the highway, a
quarter of a mlile south from Detweiler's Mills. It
was built in 1871 on an acre of ground secured from
the John Miner farm, a part of which is devoted to
cemetery purposes, and is a frame thirty-three by
forty feet. It cost two thousand two hundred dollars,
and the building committee was composed of Samuel
Detweiler, Richard Herbert, and J. S. Longanecker,
who were also the first trustees. The church was appropriately consecrated in November, 1871, by the
Rev. D. Speck. Prior to the building of the church
the society worshiped in the Gault school-house.
Among the early members were the Gault, Stauffer,
Fretts, and Detweiler families. At present there are
about seventy members, having J. S. Longanecker as
steward. The church belongs to a circuit which embraces besides the churches at Connellsville and Fairview, and has had, in the main, the same ministerial
supply as the last-named church.
In 1872 a Sunday-school was established in the
church, which had for its superintendent J. S. Longanecker. The attendants number about one hundred
in the summer season, the school seldom being continued the entire year.
THE PARADISE CHURCH OF THE EVANGELICAL ASSOCIATION.
This small but inviting place of worship in the
Stauffer neighborhood, in the Green Lick Valley, was
built in the fall of 1876 on a lot of land given for that
purpose by Jacob J. Stauffer. The trustees in charge
were Henry S. Stauffer, David Glassburner, and Peter
Rhodes, who yet constitute the board. The membership of the church is small, numbering but fifteen,
and the appointment is a part of the Mount Pleasant
Circuit, the Rev. Woodhull being the preacher in
charge.
In the northeastern part of the township, a small
class of members of the Evangelical Association was
formed about 1872, which has flourished, so that it
now has its own house of worship and about thirty
members. The present class-leader is David L. Miller,
and John Mull is the church steward.
THE MOUNT PISGAlI CHURCH
is the spiritual home of the above class. It is a plain
frame house, twenty-eight by thirty-eight feet, and was
consecrated to divine worship in December, 1877, by
the Rev. W. M. Stanford, of Pittsburgh. The trustees
in 1881 were David L. Miller, John Mull, and David
Coffman. The members of the Mount Pisgah Church
belong to the Indian Creek Circuit, and have had the
sarne ministers as the Evangelical Churches of Salt
Lick.
I  
500DUNBAR TONWNSHIP.
DUNBAR,' lying on the Youghiogheny River, had
in June, 1880, a population of 6327, including Dunbar
village, East Liberty, and New Haven borough.
It has the Youghiogheny on the north, separating it
from Tyrone township, the townships of Wharton and
Stewart on the south, the Youghiogheny on the east,
separating it from the townships of Connellsville and
Springfield, and the townships of Franklin and North
U!nion on the west.
Dunbar is a township rich in not only agricultural
but mineral resources, and it has become a proverb
that it is the banner township in Fayette County.
The total assessed value of Dunbar township subject
to a county tax, as returned upon the assessment-roll
for 1881, was $1,735,749.
The surface of the country is generally uneven, and
on the southeast it is wild and mountainous. In that
section iron ore is found in abundance. Numerous
streams traverse the township, of which Dunbar
Creek, a rapid water-course, is the most important.
Two lines of railway, the Fayette County and the
Southwest Pennsylvania, connecting Uniontown and
Connellsville, run in parallel courses in Dunbar,
sometimes scarcely fifty feet apart. The first is under
lease to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The second,
completed in 1876, is operated by the Pennsylvania
Railroad. Both lines enjoy a very profitable traffic in
the transportation of vast quantities of coke, iron, and
coal. The coke-burning, coal-mining, and iron-making
interests in Dunbar are extensive and lucrative, and
give at this present time employment to fully two thousand five hundred people in the township. Business
enterprises now under way and in progress will soon
materially increase that number.  Coal abounds
everywhere in almost exhaustless quantities, and must
for years to come prove a source of great revenue, as
well as a promoter of busy industry in every quarter.
Dunbar village, the centre of an important cokemaking region and iron-making district, is a thriving
town, whose growth has been steady, sure, and still
increasing as rich business interests develop about it.
EARLY SETTLEMENT OF THE TOWNSHIP.
The first settlements in the region now called
Dunbar township were made upon and near the
locality designated as Mount Braddock. Christopher
Gist was the first to lead the way hither in 1752. Before Gist came the only settlers even vaguely supposed
to have been in the county are said to have been the
Browns.2 Gist must have had his family in and occupied his cabin in the early fall of 1753, for Waslhington recorded in the narrative of his embassy to the
French posts that in November of that year he
"passed Mr. Gist's new settlement." Gist's cabin
was on that part of the Mount Braddock lands later
known as the Jacob Murphy place. The farm on
which he located belongs now to William Beeson.
Gist lived in North Carolina and Virginia previous
to 1753, and in 1750 was employed by the old Ohio
Company as land agent. In pursuance of his duties
he frequently visited the Ohio Indians. In 1751 he
made a tour among the Indian tribes on the Muskingum, Scioto, and Miami. Upon his return from
his explorations in the Ohio valley, he declared of
that country that nothing but cultivation was needed
to make it a delightful region. His missions were all
on behalf of the Ohio Company, to conciliate the
Indians and keep a lookout for good lands. In the
latter part of 1753 he accompanied Washington as
his guide from Wills' Creek (Cumberland) to theFrencll posts on the Allegheny. He was again with
him in his military expedition of 1754, and with
Braddock in 1755. His expeditions in 1754 included
also a journey with Capt. Trent for the purpose of
assisting in what proved the fruitless effort of the
Ohio Company to build a fort at the Forks of the
Ohio. It has been asserted by authorities that "Gist
induced eleven families to settle around him on lands
presumed to be within the limits of the Ohio Company's grant." Although nothing but this vague
tradition appears to have been preserved touching
these families, there seems no reason for disputing the
truth of the statement that families were settled about
Gist as early as 1754 at least. In testimony to this it
may be cited that the report of Monsieur de Villiers,
the French commander of the expedition against
Washington at Fort Necessity in 1754, set forth that
upon his return he not only ordered the house at the
intrenchment at Gist's to be burned down, but "detached an officer to burn the houses round about."'  
2 A doubtfull tradition at best.
3 Washington in his journal writes, "We reached Mr. Gist's new set-  
tlement at Monongahela Jan. 2, 1754, where I bought a hlorse and saddle."  Wa;shington was at Gist's with his command June 2), 1754, and
began to throw up intrenchments at that point with a view of making
501
1 So named for Col. Thomas Dunbar, commanding His Majesty's 48th
Regiment of Foot in Braddock's campaign of 1755.IIISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Gist, by the very nature of his business as land agent
and land explorer, was likely to note the most desirable localities for settlements, and being himself evidently bent upon making a new home for himself and
family wherever he could find in the Monongahela
country a place that suited him, he was naturally on
the lookout for a more than usually inviting spot.
This spot he found at Mount Braddock, as is evidenced
by the fact of making his new home there. The Virginia commissioners' certificate for that land, issued
to Thomas Gist in 1780, recited that Christopher Gist
settled upon it in 1753.
Christopher Gist's agency for the Ohio Company
appears to have ended in 1755. In the fall of that
year he raised a company of scouts on the Maryland
and Virginia frontiers, and thereafter was known as
Capt. Gist. In 1756 he was sent Southwest to enlist
a body of Cherokee Indians into the English service.
In 1757 he was appointed Deputy Indian agent in the
South. Washington indorsed the appointment in the
remarks, "I know of no person so well qualified f'or
the task. He has had extensive dealings with the Indians, is in great esteem among them, well acquainted
with their manners and customs, indefatigable and
patient, and as to his honesty, capacity, and zeal I
dare venture to engage."
With the defeat of Braddock in 1755 ended for a
time at least the efforts of English settlers to find
perinanent homes west of the mountains, and Gist,
like others who had hoped to stop where they had
gathered their families, hastened to change his habitation to more peacef'ul regions. From 1755 to 1758,
while the French held possession of the country along
the Moiongahela and Youghiogheny, no attempts at
settlements were made. The savages and wild beasts
were the only inhabitants of the territory now called
Fayette County. After the expulsion of the French,
in 1758, many of the old settlers returned, and among
them came Gist. Although he himself came in 1759
and resumed actual possession of his lands on Mount
Braddock, he did not effect a permanent settlement with
his family until 1765, for it was not until that year
that Indian troubles in this section were even temporarily disposed of. For some reason, however, he decided to end his days in his old Southern home, and
so after a while, transferring his Mount Braddock lands
to his son Thomas, he returned to either Virginia or
North Carolina and there died. Left behind in Fayette was Thomas Gist and William Cromwell, the
latter a son-in-law of Christopher Gist. This Wila stand against M. Coulon de Villiers, who was approaching to give
attack with a force of French and Inldians. Before the intrenlchments
were completed Washington called a council, and as a result the stand
at Gist's was at once abandoned for the location upon which Fort Necessity was constructed. The lines of the ol( fortifications at Gist's were
obliterated a long time ago, but the position was ascertained beyonld
doubt by the frequent plowing up in later years of numerous relics.
Tie spot was near Gist's cabiu, about thirty rodls east of where Jacob
Murphy built a baan, and within fifty rolls of the centre of Fayette
County.
liam Cromwell subsequently set up a claim under the
Ohio Company to a part of the Gist lands " inl the
forks of the roads to Fort Pitt and Redstone," including Isaac Wood's farm, asserting a gift of it to his
wife from  her fatlher, and a settlement thereof in
1753. Cromwell sold his land claim to Samuel Lyon,
between whom and Thomas Gist a long controversy
was waged for possession, which fell ultimately to
Gist.
Christopher Gist had three sons-Nathaniel, Thomas,
and Richard-and two daughters. Of the latter, Anne
never married; Violet married William  Campbell.
All the sons received lands on Mount Braddock from
their father, but their rights were eventually united
in Thomas. He died in 1786, and was buried on his
Mount Braddock farm. Soon after his death the Gists
left the township for Kentucky, after disposing of
their landed interests to Col. Isaac Meason. Thomas
Gist was a man of some note, and is said to have once
entertained Washington at his house.
George Paull, a Virginian, became a resident of
the Gist neighborhood in 1768. The place of his location was known as Deer Park. His son James,
known as Col. Paull, became a man of considerable
note, and owned large landed interests in various portions of the county. At the age of eighteen he entered upon a military career as a member of a company
guarding Continental stores at Fort Burd (Brownsville). This was in August, 1778. In May, 1781, he
was commissioned first lieutenant by Thomas Jefferson, Governor of Virginia, and set out to take part in a
proposed campaign against Detroit. In April, 1782,
he was drafted for a month's frontier duty near Pittsburgh, and in May, 1782, he joined Crawford's expedition to Sandusky as a private. After a harrowing
experience he escaped from the troubles of that campaign only to resume his warlike experience in 1784.
In 1790 he served with distinction as a major of the
Pennsylvania militia in Harmar's campaign against
the Indians. Later in life he became a colonel of
militia. After 1790 he devoted himself to the peaceful
pursuits of home life, and for a time was engaged as an
iron-manufacturer at Laurel Furnace, in Dunbar township. From 1793 to 1796 he was sheriff of the county,
and during that time was not only busy with operations against the " Whisky Boys," but was called
upon to hang John McFall, who was sentenced to
death for the murder of John Chadwick, Nov. 10,
1794. Col. Paull's sons numbered seven,-James,
George (a colonel in the war of 1812), John, Archibald, Thomas, William, and Joseph. His daughter
Martha married William Walker.
Col. Isaac Meason was an important figure in the
early history of Fayette County. He was a Virginian
by birth, and as early as the year 1770 came to Southwest Pennsylvania. He bought land on Jacob's Creek,
and built upon'it the Mount Vernon Furnace. Not
long afterwards he bought the Gist property on Mount
Braddock, in Dunbar township, and soon acquiring
502DUNBAR  TOWN'SHIP.                                          503
additional lands took rank as one of the largest land- years was a prominent citizen of Connellsville and
holders in that neighborhood. In 1799 he owned  New Haven. In Connellsville he kept a store as
upwards of six thousand acres. In 1790 he built the  early as 1798. During the later years of his life he
Union Furnace on Dunbar Creek, and set up two  resided at New Haven, where he died in 1873, at the
forges and a furnace on Dunbar Creek from Union  age of ninety-five.
Furnace down to the mouth of the creek.  At   Joseph Torrance, who came to Fayette County withl
Union Furnace he built a stone grist-mill, and for  George Paull, married one of Paull's daughters, and
years conducted extensive business enterprises that settled upon a place in Dunbar known as " Peace."
made him widely known. He owned, also, the lands  The tract is now occupied by the works of the Conoriginally possessed by Col. William Crawford, and  nellsville Coke and Iron Company.
in 1796 laid out the village of New Haven, on the    John Christy left Ireland about the year 1800 for
Youghiogheny opposite Connellsville.  He died in  America, and drifted in a short time to Fayette
1819, and was buried on the Mount Braddock estate. County, and worked for Col. Meason. He entered
His sons were Isaac, George, and Thomas. George  the United States service in the war of 1812, and
lived with his uncle, Daniel Rogers, of Connellsville.  died in the army. At the time of his enlistment he
Thomas became a resident of Uniontown.  Isaac,  was living in a sugar-bush that occupied the present
the best known of the sons, and known as Col. Mea- site of the Henderson Coke-Works. Among others
son, after his father's death succeeded to his father's  who are remember:ed to have lived near Union Furbusiness, and lived for mnany years at New Haven. nace before the year 1800, were Daniel Cole, John
His children were nine in number, of whom the sons  Weaston, Samuel Downey, and Timothy Grover. The
were William, Isaac, Jr., and Richard. The only ones  latter is said to have been one hundred and two years
of the nine children now living are three daughters. old when he died. Nearly all of his children and
Two reside in Uniontown, and one in Kansas. Col. grandchildren died of consumption.
Isaac Meason, the younger, was educated for the bar,  John Hamilton, who married Susanna Allen, of
and practiced in Pittsburgh before making his home  Franklin township, in 1792, bought of a Mr. Ray that
at New Haven. His mother died in Uniontown in  year about four hundred acres of land in Dunbar
1877, aged ninety-four.                             township. A portion of the land is now occupied by
Thomas Rogers and his five brothers are said to  his grandson, J. H. Byers. Ray had got up a log
have come from Maryland to Mount Braddock, ac- cabin and cleared a few acres when he sold out to
companied by their widowed mother. They took up  Hamilton.  The cabin Mr. Hamilton replaced in
lands under what was commonly styled "tomahawk  1808 with the house Mr. Byers now lives in. About
claims," but becoming dissatisfied soon disposed of Mr. Hamilton's settlement there were the Rogers,
their interests to Samuel Work. The Rogers families  Work, Paull, Lytle, Barkelow, Ross, Strickler, Curry,
moved to Washington County, and in the Indian ag- Parkhill, and Graham families. One of thle Currys
gressions that befell that region three of the brothers  is said to have lived to be over a hundred years old.
lost their lives.  The others removed then to the  There was a distillery near the Graham place about
mouth of the Beaver, but shortly returned to Dunbar  1790, where excellent apple whisky was made. At
township, and located in what is now knowin as the  least such was the testimony of D. A. C. Sherrard,
Cross Keys School District. One of the brothers  who has frequently been heard to say that he was
opened a blacksmith-shop on the Uniontown road, raised on apple toddy made at that still, and that the
and soon built a tavern near by. It is said that he  beverage was not only wholesome but delightful to
set a pair of cross keys over his shop as a token that the taste.
he was a locksmith as well as blacksmith, and when    The first school-house in the Hamilton or Cross
he opened his house he conceived the notion of call-  Keys District was probably a log affair, built in 1806
ing it the Cross Keys Tavern, by which name it was  upon the ground occupied by the present house, the
long known. There is a vague tradition that the  third one upon that site. Before 1806 the children
Rogers brothers founded a Masonic lodge in that of that neighborhood attended school in a slab.shanty
neighborhood, and that for a while the mysterious  that stood near the present site of Dunbar village.
meetings of the brotherhood in the Cross Keys school-   There were but few people in Dunbar when Joshua
house periodically excited the awe and wondering  Dickinson became a settler here. Just when he came
curiosity of the people of that vicinity, who were ac- hither cannot be determined with certainty, but tracustomed to gather regularly on lodge nights and  dition places the time at not far from 1770. Certain
exert themselves to a painful extent in their fruitless  it is that when he traveled westward over the mounefforts to penetrate into the awful secrets and amazing  tains, alone and on foot, looking for a land location,
performances which they were convinced were hidden  the country was a wilderness and swarming with wild
within the school-house.                            beasts. Upon the high bluff that overlooks the YougDaniel Rogers, whose daughter is Mrs. Banning, of hiogheny just above East Liberty he made his camp
New Haven-, was born in the Cross Keys District, mar-  under an oak-tree, and when he came to examine at
ried a daughter of Col. Isaac Meason, and for many  leisure the region about hinm he was not slow to deHISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
termine that he had found the location he had been
looking for. As far as he could judge, there was no
white settler anywhere near him, and if he had taken
the trouble or time to reflect upon the circumstance,
it would have doubtless occurred to him that he was
in not only a lonesome but a rather dangerous locality.
He had, however, no inclination to dwell on such
matters at first, for he was fired with an ambition to
get a start as a settler, and so he, working early and
late to get up a habitation and make a small clearing,
found no time to do anything else. He had not been
long on the ground, so the story goes, when he realized very forcibly the dangers of his situation at all
events. Looking from the river bluff one day he saw
the spectacle of a company of ugly-looking savages
wading across the stream, as if they had detected the
smoke of the white man's camp-fire and were bent upon
mischief. That seems at least to have been the view
taken of the case by Dickinson, for, understanding
that the redskins mnight murder him, he lost no time
in packing up a few trifling effects and striking off
for the far East. He made his way to his old home,
and concluded to stay there until there should be
promise of a peaceful life in Southwestern Pennsylvania. Within about a year he thought from what he
heard that the danger of Indians was past, and once
more he set out for the Western wilds, this time taking
with him his wife and infant son, Thomas, for, to use
his own language, "he proposed to stay."  They
came to the spot he first occupied, and there he built
a cabin. One authority declares that another man
with his family accompanied the Dickinsons westward and located near them. Who they were is not
ascertainable, but it is altogether likely, since Dickinson returned eastward for supplies in a short time,
and that he was scarcely likely to have done had he
been compelled to leave his wife and child unprotected. When he had made a clearing he began to
till the soil, and just then he began to get glimpses of
savages and to fear much for his safety. He was
not molested, but he never went out into his field
without taking his wife with him, who while he
worked would stand watch with gun in hand, and
after a time would take the hoe while he did sentinel
duty. Naturally enough they could not avoid believing that the Indians were likely to butcher them
at any time. Eternal vigilance was for them the constant watchword.  Despite their fears they never
came to any harm through the Indians. Mr. Dickinson was eminently a pioneer, and for years battled
almost single-handed among the wilds of Fayette
County, apart from other settlers, and met at every
turn such privations, trials, and toils as would have
checked his progress and sent him back to the haunts
of civilization had he not possessed a heart of oak and
a courageous, stout-souled helpmeet, who bore like a
heroine her full share of the burden.
In the fall Dickinson made a trip to the East for salt
and other supplies, and packed them westward on his
horses. Salt was one of the greatest and scarcest of
luxuries, as well as a necessity, and that it was
carefully husbanded when got may be well believed.
Bullets were articles of value. So careful was Dickinson of his small hoard that when he shot small
game he made sure to shoot in range with some tree,
so that if he missed he could secure the bullets for
further use.  Just before he left for his first trip
to the East in quest of provisions he found himself
the possessor of just two bullets. With one of them
he killed a bear, whose carcass supplied his family
with meat while he was absent; and with the other
he killed game for his own sustenance during the
journey over the mountains. Mr. Dickinson lived
to see the country blossom and teem with civilized
life. He became a large landholder in Dunbar upon
the river, and died upon the homestead farm  near
East Liberty, Oct. 10, 1827, in his eighty-eighth year.
He built a grist-mill upon the site of the mill IIow
owned by Oglevee Brothers about the year 1780. He
had six sons, named Thomas, William, John, Josllua,
Levi, and Eli, all of whom removed at an early day
to Ohio.  Mr. Dickinson was a stanch Methodist,
and for some years maintained preaching at his
house, where a class was organized in 1820. In 1.823
he gave material assistance in the erection of a Methodist Episcopal house of worship, and there until
1861 the organization flourished. At that time the
question of politics entered in some shape into the
church, and proved a rock upon which the organization soon became a wreck. The building then used
as a church is now the residence of Mr. Dunham.
The lot for the church and churchyard was donated
by Mr. Dickinson, and within the latter still lie the
mortal remains of himself and his wife.
Tradition says that upon thle bluff overlooking the
Fort Hill Coke-Works there was once an Indian fort
and an Indian graveyard, both upon the A. J. Hill
farm. Mr. Hill relates that bones and various implements of Indian manufacture have frequently been
plowed up there, and that one of his men unearthed
some time ago a curious-looking iron instrument, consisting of an iron ring about the size of a man's neck.
From that ring projected short chains, at the end of
each of- which was fastened a small ring. It was regarded as a curious relic, and by some it was determined to have served either in confining criminals or
fastening victims to the stake. These theories had,
however, but a vague foundation to rest upon, while
the generally accepted theory that Indians in those
days used no iron instruments appears to render it
doubtful whether the relic was of Indian origin or
use. Whatever it had been or was, it certainly
awakened much curious interest among antiquarians,
and eventually found its way to the cabinet of a collector of curiosities. Since that time it has not been
seen or heard of in these parts. The hill upon which
the Indian fort was located bears to this day the name
of Fort Hill.
504DUNBAR TOWNSHIP.
Thomas Jones was one of the very earliest settlers
in Joshua Dickinson's neighborhood. His home was
the farm now owned by William and James Collins,
whose father, James, came to Dunbar from Maryland
in 1822 and bought out Thomas Jones, who thereupon
moved to Ohio, and died there at the age of ninetyeight. James Collins the elder died in 1855, aged
seventy-seven.
Jacob Leet was an early settler near Dickinson,
upon the place now owned by Alexander Work, on
which his grave may now be seen. His son Christopher, now an old man of ninety-four, lives in Illinois.
Mr. Leet was regarded as an old-fashioned but rigidly
honest man, and a most excellent neighbor. When
Christian Stofer returned to Dunbar after a brief absence, and found Leet's grave instead of the living
Leet, he is said to have remarked with a show of deep
feeling, " There lies the body of an honest Dutchman."
Christian Stofer himself came from Westmoreland
County to Dunbar in 1815, but returned in 1819 to
the former place. In 1819, Christian Stoner, his sonin-law, bought Stofer's Dunbar farm, and occupied it
as a permanent settler. The Morelands, Galleys,
Spratts, and Wilkies were residents thereabout at an
early day. James Wilkie was a famous school-teacher,
anld taught in those parts more than twenty years.
One Clare was also an early school-teacher in that
vicinity. William McBurney says that in 1814 he
took his first day's schooling under pedagogue Clare.
Some maliciously disposed lads reported young McBurney to the teacher for swearing, and upon the complaint the boy was compelled to get down upon his
knee before the school and sue for pardon. The following day he was similarly reported, and that time
most unmercifully whipped by Clare. As soon as he
could, the bruised victim made for the school-room
door and ran home. There he told his mother that
he was afraid to go to school again, for he knew old
Clare would eventually murder him. And he did not
venture into that or any other school again for three
years.
An old woolen-factory, now standing on the river's
bank at the Broad Ford, was started in 1824 by White
 Sons, and carried on with varying fortunes for
some years. It served also later as a grist-mill, but
for years has lain idle.
In the fall of 1782, David Parkhill (who had come
from Ireland to America during the Revolution) settled in Dunbar, upon lands that joined Joshua Dickinson's and Joseph Oglevee's. Although a strong
Covenanter, his blood arose in resentment at the
thought of the troubles worked by Indian depredations, and at the head of a company of his neighbors
sallied out one Sunday morning to hunt and punish
the savages. The enemy had taken the alarm, and
luckily for themselves fled beyond the reach of the
determined pioneers. Mr. Parkhill's wife lived until
shle had rounded out a century of existence. She
died in 1842. Stephen Fairchild, who died in Dunbar in 1837, came to Pennsylvania in 1810, and located in Salt Lick township. He was born in New
York State, and at the age of fifteen enlisted with his
six brothers for service in the war of the Revolution.
One of the seven was wounded at the battle of Bunker
Hill. Stephen Fairchild's widow died in 1863, aged
eighty-four, and was at her death one of the oldest
persons then in receipt of a pension.
In the spring of 1880 one of the "characters" of
Dunbar died in a cave near Cow Rock, where for a
period of sixty years or more he had led the life of a
recluse. This singular personage, never known by any
other designation than "Captain Cook," is said to
have come to Fayette County from England simply
to show his reverence for the memory of Gen. Braddock. While in his English home he read in a book
the story of Braddock's fate, and straightway felt a
very strong desire to'visit the region wherein that unfortunate general met his death. He came to America, and to Fayette County. In Dunbar township,
east of Union Furnace, and near the river, he fouind
a cave that suited him for a home. Of it he took
squatter possession, and in it he passed the remainder
of his life, which was, by the way, a life conspicuously
devoid of an object, except, perhaps, in respect to his
satisfaction in being near the scenes that surrounded
Braddock when he died. It is said that for as long
as six months at a time he would keep himself utterly
secluded from the gaze of man. Near his hut was a
bank of fire-clay, and once in a while he would make
a few fire-bricks, and descend into the Furnace settlement for the purpose of exchanging the bricks for
provisions. His mission concluded, he would return
to his mountain den, and emerge no more for months.
Samuel Work, alluded to as having purchased the
Rogers farm, was grandfather to Samuel Work, now
of Dunbar township. John Work, son of Samuel
the elder, was born in 1787. He married Nancy
Rogers.
Jacob Lowry was a man of considerable note in
Dunbar before and after 1800. In 1788 he moved
from Northumberland County to Jacob's Creek, and
entered the employment of his brother-in-law, John
Gerhart, a miller. In 1794 he went over to Col. Isaac
Meason's Union Furnace, and for five years was Col.
Meason's miller at the Furnace grist-mill. In 1799 he
built a framed grist-mill on Dunbar Creek below the
Furnace, and carrying it on until 1815, built in that
year upon the same site, in conjunction with John
Strickler, the stone grist-mill now owned by William
Speers.  He leased the grist-mill to Strickler, who
after a five years' experience therein failed and retired to a farm near New Haven. Lowry had meanwhile been living on a farm and running a saw-mill
on Tucker's Run, but upon Strickler's failure resumed
his control of the grist-mill property. Of the old
framed grist-mill he had made a fulling-mill, and
about 1828 built the woolen-factory now owned by
Daniel Harper. After his death, in September, 1830,
I
I
I
505SETTLEMiENT  OF TIE  COUNTY.`3
them to pay due obedience to the laws, and they may  thought fills my heart with deepest grief, and I could
depend on it they will be effectually exerted if they  not suffer you to leave us without speaking to you on
persist in their obstinacy. You may likewise assure  this subject and endeavoring to make your minds
them that they need not attempt to make an offer of easy. *We were all of us much disposed to comply
terms with the government respecting their removal,  with your request, and expected it could have been
as we hear some of them have vainly proposed to do, done without difficulty, but I now find not only the
by saying they would go off the lands immediately  Indians appointed by us but all our other young men
on condition that they should be secured to them as  are very unwilling to carry a message from us to the
soon as the purchase is made. It is a high insult to  white people ordering them to remove from our lands.
government for those people even to hint at such  They say they would not choose to incur the ill will
things."                                              of those people, for if they should be now removed
*The two gentlemen whom the Pennsylvania com-  they will hereafter return to their settlements when
missioners had designated, Messrs. John Frazer and  the English have purchased the country from  us.
AVilliam Thompson, being ready to set out on their  And we shall be very unhappy if, by our conduct
contemplated journey from Fort Pitt to Redstone  towards them at this time, we shall give them reason
Creek, the Indian messengers were sent for, and at to dislike us and treat us in an unkind manner when
last made their appearance at the fort, but said that, they again become our neighbors.  We therefore
after due consideration of the business on which it hope, brethren, that you will not be displeased at us
was proposed to send them, they had decided that  for not performing our agreement with you, for you
they c6uld by no means undertake it, and immedi-  may be assured that we have good hearts towards all
ately returned to the commissioners the. wampum   our brethren, the English."
which had been given them. Upon being interro-    Upon the conclusion of this speech the commisgated as to their reasons for now declining to perform  sioners returned to Guyasutha many thanks for his
what they had once consented to, they answered that friendly expressions and behavior, assuring him that
three of them were sent by the Six Nations' council the conduct of all the Indians at the treaty council
to attend the treaty at the fort, anld having received  met their full approbation, and that they were now
no directions from the council to proceed farther, they  returning home with contented minds. They said to
chose to return home in order to make report of what him that they had urged the chiefs to send a message
they had seen and heard. They further added that by their own people to the Redstone and Monionthe driving of white people away from their settle-  gahela settlers, entirely on account of the great anxiety
ments was a matter which no Indians could, with any  they had to do everything in their power to forward
satisfaction, be concerned in, and they thought it the designs of the government, to do the Indians
most proper for the English themselves to compel justice, and to redress every injury they complained
their own people to remove from the Indian lands.  of; but, as they found that the course proposed was
After this refusal of the Indians who had been ap-  repugnant to them, that they (the commissioners)
pointed to carry the. message from the Six Nations, would not press the matter further, though it appeared
the commissioners in vain attempted to persuade or to them to be a proper and necessary course, and one
procure others to execute the business, though they  which they regretted to be obliged to abandon. "They
used great endeavors for that purpose, and they  then took leave of the Indians in the most friendly
thought it both useless and imprudent to continue to  manner, and set out on their return to Philadelphia."
press on the Indians a matter wllich they found they    This unlooked-for conclusion of the treaty council
were generally so much averse to, and therefore they  at Fort Pitt ended the efforts on the part of the proconcluded to set out on their return to Philadelphia  prietary government of Pennsylvania to expel the
without further delay. But in a short time after-  pioneer settlers from the valleys of the Monongahela,
wards Guyasutha' came, with Arroas (a principal  the Youghiogheny, and the Redstone.
warrior of the Six Nations), to the commissioners, to
whom the former addressed himself in effect as fol-   The aboriginal title to the lands composing the
lows:                                                 present county of Fayette, as well as those embraced
"Brethren,-I am very sorry to find that you have  in a great number of other counties in this State,
been disappointed in your expectations of the Indian  was acquired by the proprietaries of Pennsylvania by
messengers going to Redstone, according to your de- the terms of a treaty held with the Indians at Fort
sire and our agreement; and I am much afraid that StaIlwix (near Rome, N. Y.) in the autumn of 1768.
you are now going away from us with a discontented  In October of that year there were assembled at the
mind on this account. Believe me, brethren, this  fort, by invitation of Sir William Johnson, superintendent of Indian affairs, a great number of chiefs of
1 This Guyasutha, or Kayashuta, was a chief who met Washlington on  the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca,
his first appearance in tllis region in the fall of 1753. He was friendly  and Tuscarora tribes (composing the Six Nations),
to the English as against the French, but in the Revolutionary war tookiefs of the Delawares a
sides against the settlers, and was the leader of the Indian party whic  wth other chefs of the Delawares and Shawanese
burned Hannastown, the county-seat of Westmoreland, in 1782.  tribes, and. on the 24th of that month these were conHISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
his son Lewis came into possession of the grist-mill,
and his son William of the woolen-factory. In 1841,
John Speers purchased the grist-mill.
John Sherrard was a settler in Dunbar in 1773.
He remained in his new settlement but a year, and
then moved to Kentucky. In 1778 he resumed his
habitation in Dunbar, and retained it until 1805, when
he concluded to push farther-westward to Ohio, where
he died in 1809. He was in the Continental service
during the Revolutionary war, and was with Col. Williamn Crawford in the expedition to Sandusky in 1782.
Although but a private, he bore a somewhat conspicuous part in that affair. David Alexander Cathcart
Sherrard, born in Dunbar, Sept. 2, 1786, died June 2,
1880 (upon the farm that had been his home from his
birth), in the ninety-fourth year of his age. In early
life he was connected with the Laurel Hill Presbyterian Church, and for over sixty years was a ruling
elder of that church. In 1825 he was appointed a
justice of the peace, and held the office fifteen years.
It is said that during that time he tried eight hundred
and eighty civil cases, of which but four were appealed,
and of these but one reversed.
" John Travis and his brother-in-law, George Thompson, emigrated from Ireland shortly after the Revolution was over;l and immediately after landing off
shipboard they crossed the mountains, and each purchased a farm of one hundred and fifty acres of good
land of my father [John Sherrard], which they improved, and each raised up a large family.
"Mr. Travis became an elder in the Laurel Hill
congregation. In the spring of 1798 he bought a farm
one mile and a half east of the cross-roads, on some
of the branches of Raccoon Creek, on which he settled
with his family. Some time after he settled in the
bounds of Laurel Hill congregation, from some cause,
he became completely crazy, so much so that he had
to be confined and handcuffed and guarded by two
men of the neighborhood to keep him  from  doing
damage to himself or others. A neighbor by the
name of Thomas Graham was one of the two. Many
years afterwards he informed me that on one occasion
it was necessary to change his linen, and to make
that change Graham had to take off the handcuffs,
after which, while he was in the act of turning round
and reaching for a shirt that was airing by the fire,
Travis took advantage of the attitude Graham  was
in by lifting the bolt that fastened the handcuff, and
threw it with great force at Graham's head, just grazing it. After which assault Graham was careful at
such times to leave nothing in the crazy man's way
by which means he could do any one of his keepers
or himself any damage.
"At length the physician recommended that they
should seek out a waterfall in some of the mountain
regions, where a small'cold stream of water fell over
1 This account of Joll) Travis is given by Robert A. Sherrard (formerly
of Dunbar township, but now of Steubenville, Ohio) ill his mnanulscript'History of C'eltre'lhurch," in Ohio.
rocks several feet with somne weight and force. The
rill having been sought out, the neighbors built a
small house close to the waterfall, and divided it off
with a partition of logs, keeping Mr. Travis confined
in one end, while the other served as a place of lodging and shelter for those who waited on him. And it
was made the duty of the two men each morning to
place Mr. Travis under the waterfall, in such a position as that the descending streani fell on his head,
and thus once a day he was treated to a cold bath,
with its influence direct upon the head, and the process was continued daily until unmistakable signs of
returning sanity had made their appearance, and was
continued daily once a day until it had the desired
effect. Mr. Travis was thereby restored to reason,
and remained a man of sound mind to the day of his
death."
Samuel Martin came to Col. Meason's Union Furnace about 1793, and worked there as a teamster.
His son John was a founder, while his sons Alexander,
James, and Samuel, Jr., were also employed about
the furnace in various capacities. Alexander Martin,
of Dunbar, is a son of John the founder above mentioned. William J. and Samuel Martin, other sons
of John, live in Dunbar township. Mrs. Nancy
HIanen, living near Dunbar, is one of his daughters.
Cambridge, a son of James Martin (who worked at
Union Furnace in 1794), lives now at Dunbar Furnace.
Alexander Martin, of Dunbar, says there used to
be an old graveyard at Dunbar Furnace, and that the
place was doubtless used for the burial of those who
died in Col. Meason's service.  Rude headstones
marked many graves up to a few years ago, but no
stone bore an inscription or date-mark. Mr. Martin
says he recollects hearing of the burial in that yard
of an old lady named Flood, who hung herself at her
home at the Furnace with a skein of yarn.
William Hardy came to Fayette County in 1794
with the Maryland troops to assist in quelling the
Whiskey Insurrection. At the Meason Furnace they
found a liberty pole, and across it a board labeled
" Liberty and no Excise." After that bloodless campaign was ended he returned to Union Furnace, and
worked for Col. Meason as a wood-chopper. When he
was twenty-six years old he bou;ght a farm on the
mountain-side, and lived about Dunbar until his
death, in 1870, at the age of one hundred and three.
One of his sons lives in Michigan, and another in
Nebraska.
About 1790, John Artis and his brother Isaac came
from Delaware to Fayette County. John located at
Mount Braddock, and Isaac on the place now the
farm of John Hanen. John Artis was killed in 1811
while wood-chopping on Isaac Meason's lands. He
left nine children, of whom none are now living. At
the time of his death his home was where Stoneroad
Bodkin now lives, back of Dunbar village. Isaac
Artis, his brother, died in Connellsville. In 1.796,
506DUNBAR TOWNSHIP.
Isaac Young had an old log grist-mill on Young's
mill-run. How long before that he had been operatinig the mill is not knowni. Tradition says that
for some time Young's mill was the only one for a
lonig distance around. Isaac Meason built a stone
grist-mill at Union Furnace probably before the year
1800. Amnong the customers at that mill the most
fainous one was Betty Knox, who lived on the other
side of the mountain, and made regular trips to
Meason's mill mounted on an ox. The mountain
path by which she came and went was known for
years as Betty Knox's road.
ORIGINAL LANDHOLDERS IN DUNBAR.
Original surveys made of lands now in Dunbar
township show, as far as the subject can be pursued
with certainty, the original landholders to have been
the following:
A eraR  I               An{rao
Isaac Beeson...............
John  Barron...............
John  Ball..................
Wm. Cracraft.............
Moses Dillon..............
Levi Downer...............
Rezin  Gale.................
Geo. Gale...................
Thos. Gist..................
Wm. Gun..................
Lawrence Harrison......
L. J. Harrison............
Benj. Harrison............
Catharine Harrison......
Jas. Higginson...........
Robt. Hustead............
John  Husband...........
Robert Irwin..............
Andrew   Jakle............
Sampson John...........
Samuel John...............Job John...................
Robert John...............
David  John...............
Simon Job.................
George Job................
Peter John.................
Thos. Leech...............
Lewis Lowry..............
Thos. Moore...............
Alex. Moreland...........
Acwres.
50
388+
239
119i
420+
101W
3121
31.2
2309
4441
304+.325+4
214+
238
155+
591
11I+
391-1
38+
349
409I
4231
42(01
329i
111.97+
116i
S1
3671
325+
Isaac Meason.............
John McLean.............
Alex. McLelland.
Geo. Meade................
Thos. Meason.............
Wm. McMullen..........
Jacob Murphy............
Geo. Nichol...............
Geo. Paull.................
Geo. Paull................
Geo. Paull.................
Robert Pollock...........
Wm. Rogers...............
Robert Ross..............
John Sampson............
Edward Watre.............
Samuel Work.
Isaac Young...............
Jas. Paull..................
Jas. Paull..................
Alex. Pollock..............
Thos. Rogers..............
Jas. Rogers................
Wm. Ross..................
Wm. Steedman...........
Geo. Thompson...........
Geo. Woods................
John  Wells................
Benj. Wells................
John Crawford............
Acres.
2282
96+
436+
3851
2$
192+
116
165
329+
317
283i
1.41
4 10k
349
272
37i
339
485
159
218
325+
110+
391
438
223
209+
96
430+
375+
TAX-PAYERS IN DUNBAR TOWNSHIP IN 1799.
The first assessment-roll made for the township of
Dunbar, bearing date 1799, presents the followinlg
names as tax-payers in that year:
Horses.
Josiah Allen, mercbant.................. 2
Benj. Archibald, Sr.........        I........
Wm. Anderson.............,                 2
Anthony Able............                   2
Jas. Allen (one lot).................................
Isaac Artis............................................
Benj. Archibald, Jr................................
Robert Archibald............               1
John Barkelow, sing!'e...........................
Wm. Barns............................................
John Barnhill............1
Thos. Burch.........................................
Jonathan Black.....................................
Leonard Barns......................................
Isaac Byers............                     2
David Byers...........                     1
Benjamin Byers...........  I
Daniel Barkelow............1
Conrad Barkelow...........                2
Cattle.
1
2
1
2
*..
1
*. i
1
i
3
1
1
2
2
2
1
1
5
Acres.......
*..............................
160........................
50
70
70
100
9()
60
Horses.
Andrew Byree (I lot)....................    2
John Boyd (2 lots)....................      2.
Patrick Barr...........................      1
Jos. Bell (I lot)......................................
Levin Barns........................................
Sarah Bradford.....................................
Francis Bryan, merchant..................    2
Jos. Bell...................1
Samuel Barr..........................................
Jas. Boyes...................2
Anthony Banning..............................
Wm Bowers, weaver............1.......
Wm. Boner, single.............................
Thos. Boyers.........
Christopher Cummins............1
Wm. Connell.........1
John Clark, mason.................................
John Christy...................1
John Carlisle.......................1
Daniel Carlisle..................         1
Tesh Clark...................1
Daniel Conner.....................................
Jas. Cunningham (1 lot)..................  I
Wm. Craig.2..................2
Alex. Carson........:
Thos. Craig...........................................
John Cannon (2 slaves)................. 2
Widow  Canaan..................1
Wm. Cumberland...................................
Thomas Cumberland.................     3
Thomas Clark...............  2
David Catheart...............              1
William Carson...............              2
Hannah Crawford...............             I
John Clark................2
James Cunningham...............  1
D. Cracraft, chargeable to Col. Meason......
John Cord.............................................
Adam Cunningham...............             I
John Davis...........................................
Samuel Dunlap...........,                  1
Levi Dickerson......................................
Joshua Dickerson (grist- and sawlill). 3
Robert Dougan................................. 1
John Dougan......................  2
Robert Dougan,.Jr.............................. 2
Eli Dickerson................................   2
Nicholas Durbin................................  1
Thomas Dickerson, blacksminith.............. 2
Adam Dickey, inn-keeper (I lot)............  2
Thomas Durbin.....................................
William  Dodson....................................
John Delaney...................................  1
James Dunlap................................  2
Jonathan Davis................................   2
Adam   Dunlap................................  5
John Eliot......,.,.2
Thomas Eliot...................................3
William  Eliot.............................. I..
T. Eyerman.................................  1
Mager Foster................................. 1
William Francis................................   I
John Fouzer (I lot)............................... 1
Samuel Findley................................   1
John Findley......................
Abram  Forsythe, founder.....................  1
Barnet Findley......................................
Jacob Furry...................  2
Gordon Furguson...................................
Joshua Gibson, furnace...........................
John Gibson, hainmerinan.......................
Abraham Groble.............         5
Thomas Graham..............                1
John Gouger.........................................
Thomas Greenough (1 slave).....................
Matthew Gilchrist.....................       2
Widow Gilchrist.....................      2
John Graham, butcher.................;     3
John Gale.................1
Benjamin Griffith, nailer.....................
James Guin...................4
William Hainey, collier..................   1
William Hardy.....
Cattle.
2
2
1
1
1
1
2
1
I
2
4 *
1
3
2
1
4
2
2
3
1
4
1
1
3
2
5.
1
2
2
2
1
5
2
5
2
6
1
3*
2
2
2
1
4
2
1
5
4
1
2
Acres.
2
250
50
2200
200
2
80
140
270
150
370
221L,.00.
507HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Hoirse.s.
Allen Huston, saddler.
John harbarger....................
Emanuel Hoover, blacksmith.....-.......
Thos. Haggerty.....................
William Hunt, shoeniaker.
Arthur Hurry, tailor..............
David Howard.........1.........
Daniel hare......................
Alexander hunter.....           1
William Henry, tailor...............
Nicholas Howard, blacksmith..........
Jacob  Hunt  1....................
James Hindman.1................
Christopher  Isnogle................
Mordecai John, blacksmuith............
Thomas Jones....................
John Hamilton..................3
William Johnston.................        1
Isaac Johnston...................        1
Elijah Johnston...................
Thomas Kirkpatrick................
Adam Kinder.....................
Philip Kylander...................
Jacob Lowry.....................
Andrew Luckey...................
Thomas Little..................2
Jacob Leight....................2
James Lungen.1.................
Thomas Lawson.1................
James Latimer...................2
George Latimer.1.................
Benjamin Lowry...................
Thomas Lasher, joiner..............
William Moreland.2...............
Robert McLaughlin, Jr.............       1
Robert McLaughlin, Sr.............4
John McLaughlin.................2
Widow McFeeters.1...............
David Moreland..................2
Isaac Meason, Jr...................
Richard Melvin....................
Isaac Meason (1 forge, 1 furnace, 1 gristimill, 2 saw-mills)................
Joseph Minture...................2
Robert McBurney, blacksmith.1.......
David Mitz.....................
Samuel McDowell.4...............
Robert McKnight..................2
John Meloy.....................
Hugh McConnell...................
Samuel Martin...................1
Andrew McCane...................
Alexander Morrison...............        1
Charles Murry.1.................
Hugh McCormick..................
Edward McCardel..................
James Miller....................
John Merick.1...................
Neil McFadden.....................
Josiah Moreland.2................
William Miller...................6
John Miles.......................
Samuel McCune..................
James McCune...................
Jacob Murphy (1 slave).5............
James Miller.....................
John McClelland.................
David Maple.1.................
Daniel McGraw.1.................
Jacob Maple....................2
John Miller......................
John Maple.1....................
Alexander Moreland, blacksmith (sawmill)......................          6
Elijah McLaughlin.................2
John Moreland.1.................
Allen Morrison...................
Matthew Neely.2.................
Joseph Osborn...................
John Oldshaw.2..................
Henry Passmore...................
George Perry.....................
John Pool, potter...................
Cattle. Aces.
2               6
1               2
1             5
1             0
1             0
1              52
3            243
2            100
1             6
1           35.
19
10
300
1       0
hlorses.
William Pollock..................        1
Isaac Patterson...................
Samuel Patterson..................
Thomas Parkinson (grist- and saw-mill).. 2
Phineas Porter, tanner..............4
jamnes Pa-ull (2 slaves)..............   5
Samuel. Preston, blacksmnith..........4
Jesse Passmore, one house, not shing-led..
Samuel Paxton....................
ThomaS PeW......................
Samuel Phillips...................2
William Patterson.................2
John Plystone, wagon-maker...........
Joshua Porter, schoolmaster...........
Jonathan Paul, blacksmith...........
John Pattison......................
Thomas Patton, schoolmtaster.........:1
Robert Patterson..................2
Hugh Pattison.1.................
Widow Parkhill..................2
Jonathan Phillips.................       1
Mathew Russell....................
John Reed.......................
John Rogers, Jr., inn-keeper..........2
John  Rogers, Sr...................
Jesse Rebecka...................
Thomas Rogers (1 slave).5...........
William. Ramsey..................
Robert Reed, tanner.1.............
John Ryan..........................
John Reed, mason..................
William Ross.....................
Cornelius Reardon..................
Henry Sairing.
Joseph Sloan....................         1
Isaac Shallenbarger.................
Daniel Smithson, shoemaker............
John Shearer.....................
John Swift......................
John Shivers...........1.........
Daniel Sickles.....................
Caleb Squib...........1..........
John Stopher...........1.........
henry Smith.....................      2
Jacob Strickler.....................
George Swink.....................
John Strickler..................       2
Uriah Springer..................        I
Eliakim Stoops..........1.........
Sarah Stephens (1 slave).............  1
James Swany.....................
Edward Stephens...................
Benjamin StephenS.................      1
George Stewart....................
Thomas Talmon....................
Ebenezer Tinley, shoemaker...........
Joseph Torrence (1 slave)............    4
William Thompson.................
Samuel. Work (I slave)..............   4
Hance Wiley............1.........
James Waugh.....................
Thomas Wallace...................
James Wade......................
Gilly Wade......................        I
Matthew Wiley..................        3
John Wiley...........1..........
John Willoughby, ma,son....... 1.....
Asa Wilson, blacksmith..............
James Wilkins...................
Henry Willis...........1.........
Matthew Wilkin..................       2
Joseph Work.................... 4
George Wilhelm..................
John Winant...........2.........
Rhoda Wade..................... 2
James Worthington.................
Daniel Young...................         2
Joseph Yeagley...................       2
Peter Yeagley....................       2
Alexander Young...................
Adam Yeagley...I..................
Jehiel Service.....................
David Withrow....................
508
Cattle. Acres.
4      100
1150
3  280
4      150
6      450
3      100
2
2
2      15
1
6      1 00
5      200
1..  40
5  300
2       3 5..  150
3      150
6      258
3      200
3      30
27
10
10
2
1
42     38
1
1....
4..00.
1      40..
IDUNBAR TOWNSHIP.
The " single freemen" recorded on the tax-roll
were Robert Archibald, James Allis, Michael Benson,
William Boner, Henry Bruner, Hugh Barnhill, James
Barnhill, Thomas Byers, Henry Barkalow (tailor),
James Bell, Robert Craig, Robert Cunningham, Hugh
Cunningham (tailor), Alexander Crawford, Thomas
Cholkley, Thomas Corkins, John Corkins, William
Cook, Bryan Colly, John Carring, William Dunbar,
Azariah Davis (blacksmith), Joseph Douglass, Walter
Francis, James Francis, James Hamilton (merchant),
Lewis Hollingsworth, William Henner, George Latimer, John McLaughlin, Alexander Moreland (blacksmith), Elijah  McLaughlin, Samuel McDowell,
Thomas Matson, Anguish McDonald, Nathaniel
Mann, Dennis McGee, William  McKelvey, John
Morrison, William  Martin  (shoemaker), Joseph
Mason, Michael Mills, Neil McFadden, Thomas
Moore, Elisha Oldham  (joiner), Elijah Oldham
(shoemaker), James Parkhill, John Points, Daniel
Reed, Michael Reed, John Stephens, Francis Scott,
Michael Sloan, Jacob Shallenberger, Thomas Swift,
John Swift (millwright), James Stewart, Charles
Stewart, Matthew  Scott, Henry Strickler (tanner),
Thoinas Walters, James Wilson, Andrew Wade,
Robert Wisbey, Benjamin Archibald, George Chord,
WVilliam Cowell, Samuel Dunlap, Isaac Eggman,
James Henry, Samuel Lewis, John McLaughlin,
Charles McKerns, Archibald Quinney, Jacob Varnes,
Robert Work, James Wilkins, William Wilkins.
The assessment of, Dunbar in 1808 returned the
total assessed valuation of the township as $228,046.
The quota of county tax was $343. The acres assessed numbered 22,500. There were eleven mills,
five forges and furnaces, three tan-yards, six distilleries, nine slaves, four hundred and forty-seven
horses, and four hundred and forty-eight cattle.
EARLY ROADS.
At the September session of court in 1785 a report
was made by Matthew Wiley, James Rankin, William  Huston, Elisha Pierce, Samuel Finley, and
Dennis Springer upon a petition presented at the
December session in 1784 for a road from Uiniontown
to Joshua Dickinson's mill. The report was confirmed and the road fixed to lead from Uniontown to
Dickinson's mill, thence to the mouth of said mill
run, thence to a road already laid out from Hannastown to the Broad Ford, intersecting said road in the
county of Fayette. At the September sessions of
1792, James Paull, Matthew Gilchrist, Samuel Work,
Jacob Strickler, Robert McLaughlin, and Jacob Murchey reported the laying of a road from near the
house of John Rogers to the Broad Ford, and thence
to the nearest public road leading to Woodrough's,
etc. March, 1794, report of a road from Conwell's
Ferry by Union Furnace to the Uniontown road at
Gist's old place was made by Matthew Neely, Samuel
Work, Adanl Dunlap, Jacob Strickler, William Black,
and William McCormick. The road crossed Dunbar's
33
Run, and intersected the Uniontown road at the intersection of a road from Col. Cook's.
June, 1795, Andrew Arnold, Francis Lewis, Samuel
Finley, James Byers, James Rankin, and Adam Dunlap reported that they had viewed a road from
Matthew Wiley's barn to Dunn's cabin, beginning
at the end of Matthew Wiley's lane on the road froin
Uniontown to Joshua Dickinson's mill, and intersecting the road leading from Gist's to Col. Cook's
(now Fayette City). In June, 1791, a road was laid
out from Union Furnace to Joshua Dickinson's mill.
The viewers were James Blackston, James Torrence,
William Espy, Valentine Secrist, John Forsythe, and
Samuel Glasgow.
EARLY IRON-WORKERS-TIIE UNION FURNACE.
Col. Isaac Meason, Dunbar's great land-owner in
early times, and the town's most conspicuous citizen,
projected and completed in 1791 the then important
work of making iron in a blast-furnace. He built a
small stack on Dunbar Creek, about three hundred
yards above the present location of the stacks of the
Dunbar Furnace Company. Tradition says that the
Union Furnace (by which name Meason's works were
known) was put in blast in March, 1791. It was
doubtless a small affair, but what its capacity was is not
known. In 1793, Col. Meason and Moses Dillon joined
in rebuilding it and enlarging Union Furnace. Their
manufactures included stove-castings, pots, dog-irons,
and salt-kettles.l At a later date Col. Meason established, in connection with his furnace, a forge on what
is now known as the Thomas Watt place, and a second
one at the mouth of Dunbar Creek. In 1816 he built
at Plumnsock, on the Redstone, the first rolling-mill
west of the Alleghenies, and about that time built a
small rolling-mill on Dunbar Creek, near where Reid
 Co.'s coke-works are. Touching the manufacture
of iron in Dunbar about 1800 it has been written:
" The difficulties under which the ironmaster labored
in those days were curious ones. Not only was he
compelled to work with crude machinery and imperfect knowledge, but his efforts to realize on his labors
were herculea~L. The iron was run into numnerous
castings suitable for frontier life, or manufactured at
small forges into the merchant iron of those days.
These products were hauled in teams from fifteen to
thirty miles across the country to Brownsville, on the
Monongahela River, and there loaded into flat-boats.
These floated down the Ohio and Mississippi. The
iron was exchanged for corn, pork, whisky, etc.,
which were carried on to New Orleans and traded for
sugar and molasses. These latter commodities were
sent around by sea to Baltimore, and in turn exchanged
for groceries, dry-goods, etc., which, loaded on Conestoga wagons, were hauled three hundred miles over
the mountains to the furnaces whence the iron had
1 In 1804, Col. Meason filled the first order for sugar-kettles called for
by Soutllernl planlters.
I
I
5r09HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
started many months before." "An old furnaceman
told me," says the writer, "that he once conducted
business continuously for three years, and saw during
that time only ten dollars in money." Another curious
phase of that early life was the insertion of a clause in
all contracts for labor that a certain quantity of whisky
was to be allowed each day in addition to wages. A
stoppage of whisky rations was about the only cause
in those days that would precipitate a labor strike.
After Col. Meason's death, in 1819, his son Isaac
carried on the business. Upoll his retirement the
fuirnace lay idle some time, but was revived by Arthur
Palmer and Israel Miller in 1832. The only person
then living on the furnace property was Widow Mattie
Glenn. Jones  Miller succeeded them, and in 1844
the last-named firm gave place to J. D. Creigh, who
changed the name of the furnace from " Union"
to "Dunbar."  In 1846, A. J. Bryson entered Mr.
Creigh's employ, and since that time Mr. Bryson has
been continuously at work at the furnace under nine
different administrations. Creigh made from a ton
and a half to two tons of iron per day, and employed
eight men. In 1848 he failed, and a Mr. Shrayer
succeeded him.  Shrayer died in 1852, when the
works passed to the possession of Watt  Larmer,
w'ho put in the first steam-engine and the first hotblast stove the furnace had had. Previous to their
advent Dunbar Creek furnished the motive-power.
In 1854, Baldwin  Cheney became the proprietors,
and during their possession of five years introduced
the use of coke at the furnace instead of charcoal.
They produced about ten tons of iron daily. Their
stack was thirty-two feet high and six feet " bosh." In
1858, Wm. Baldwin bought the furnace and suffered it
to lie idle three years. In 1860 he sold it to the Youghiogheny Coal and Iron Company, of which Charles
Hathaway was the president. The company changed
the location of the furnace in 1865 to the present site,
and built a stone stack fifty feet high with a capacity
of from fifteen to eighteen tons daily. In 1866 the Dunbar Iron Company (E. C. Pechin being the president)
became the proprietors, rebuilt the stack, and made
additions of blowing-eugines and hot blasts. The
company suspended in August, 1873, obtained an extension, and in July, 1874, were sold out. The concern was bought by the first mortgage bondholders,
represented by Samuel Dickson. They leased the
works for fourteen months to Wnm. Beeson, and in
March, 1876, the Dunbar Furnace Company purchased the creditors' interests. The furnace company's operations will be found detailed under the
head of "Manufacturing Industries."
Laurel Furnace, commonly called "Old Laurel,"
was built in 1794 by Joshua Gibson and Samuel
Paxon, on Laurel Run, near the eastern base of
Chestnut Ridge.  In 1800, Reuben Mochabee and
Samuel Wurtz bought the property. They built also
on Indian Creek, in Springfield township, a forge
which they called Hampden Forge. Old Laurel Furnace was abandoned in 1812. New Laurel Furnace.was built by Jas. Paull  Sons upon Laurel Run,
about one mile below Old Laurel, and kept in blast
by them until 1834. Then the property passed into
the hands of Daniel Kaine, who carried it on until
1838. Since then nothing has been done there. In
1815, Col. Isaac Meason and his sons Isaac and
Thomas erected Dunbar Furnace on Dunbar Creek,
near the line between Dunbar and Wharton. It was
afterwards known as Centre Furnace. The furnace
was in blast until 1830, and under the control of Col.
Meason's sons at the last. In 1830 it was given up.
One may yet see the ruins of the old building there.
The old forge tract at Reed's, where Col. Meason
had an iron-works called Union Forge, was occupied
at a later date, about 1849, by Bowen, Wheatley 
Witter, who carried on an edge-tool factory there.
They gave up the business in 1856. Touching Hampden Forge, already mentioned, it is pertinent to note
that in May, 1800, John Ferrell, manager at the forge,
advertised for sale "castings light and tough at one
hundred dollars a ton, also bar iron." He expected
soon to have " some rolled iron nail-rods and cut nails,
the latter at eight cents a pound."
TOWNSI-IP ORGANIZATION AND CIVIL LIST.
Dunbar township was erected by the Court of Quarter Sessions in December, 1798. The record referring
to the matter reads as follows:
" On the petition of a number of the inhabitants of Franklin
township, praying for a division of t~ie said township by the
following boundaries, to wit: Beginning at Bird's old road at
the crossing of the road leading fromn Iniontown to Dickinson's
mlill; thence by the said road and the road that leads to Mathew
Willey's, leaving his house to the east side; thence by a straight
line to Youghiogeni River, a little east of William Hamilton's
house, it is considered by the court that the prayer of the said
petition be granted, and that the upper or east division be called'Dunbar township.' "
The civil list of the township from 1798 to 1881
has been gathered as best it could be from imperfectly kept records, and is given as follows:
SUPERVISORS.
1799. John Cannon.         1803. Robert McLaughlin.
John Hamilton.        1804. David Byers.
1800. John Rogers.              Robert McLaug,hlin.
John Dungan.          1805. John Strickler.
1801. David Cathcart.           William Elliott.
-- Parkinson.        1806. Ilenry Wile.
1802. David Catheart.           James Rogers.
Thomas Little.        1807. John McDowell.
1803. William Moreland.         John Oldshoe.
OVERSEERS OF THE POOR.
1799. Jacob Strickler.        1803. William Miller.
Joshua Dickinson.     1804. John Dougan.
1800. Joseph Torrence.          Samuel Preston.
Thomas Parkinson.     1805. Caleb Squibb.
1801. Thomas Little.            Mathew Willey.
Samnuel Work.         1806. John Fell.
1802. Jacob Murphy.             Mathew Willey.
William Moreland.     1807. James Paull.
1803. Phineas Porter.           William Patterson.
I
I
510DUNBAA TOWNSHIP.                     511
CONSTABLES.
1799. Jacob Murphy.            1803. John McLaughlin.
1800. Samuel Preston.          1804. David Cathcart.
1801. Samuel Work.             1805. Benjamin Byers.
1802. Isaiah Moreland.         1806-7. Samuel Patterson.
AUDITORS.
1841. Joseph Strickler.        1865. S. Craig.
1842. Andrew Byers.            1866. A. J. Allen.
1843. Richard Brookens.        1867. G. J. Ashman.
1844. John Reece.              1868. J. h. Darby.
1845. David Moreland.               J. R. Barker.
1846. John McBurney.           1869. R. J. Allen.
1847. Joseph Strickler.              W. R. Patterson.
1848. John V. Reece.           1870. C. S. Beatty.
1849. David Moreland.                Thomas Reiner.
1850. Martin B. Stauffer.      1871. J. R. Bunker.
1851. A. H. Patterson.         1872. R. J. Allen.
1852. John H. Leighty.         1873. R. M. Boyer.
185:3. Joseph Torrence.        1874. J. R. Bunker.
1854. David Moreland.                Ewing Porter.
1855. James Curry.             1875. Philip Ogleve.
1856. Joseph Moreland.         1876. Samuel Craig.
1857. David Moreland.                Robert Boyer.
185X. George Ashman.                 R. J. Allen.
Alexander Patterson.     1877. R. J. Allen.
1859. hugh Cameron.            1878. John Murray.
1860. Mathew Byers.            1879. A. C. Brown.
1861. William Harper.          1880. J. R. Bunker.
1862. John A. McClelland.            J. W. Hair.
1863. Daniel Harper.           1881. J. L. Keffer.
1864. G. J. Ashmnan.
SCHOOL DIRECTORS.
1840. Joseph Strickler.        1856. Isaac Munson.
Samuel A. Russell.             Robert husted.
1841. Phineas Porter.          1857. Moses Porter.
John Moreland.                 George White.
1842. Charles McLaughlin.            J. A. McDowell.
Aaron Work.              1858. John Freeman.
1843. John Clark.                    Henry Golley.
James Burton.            1859. Jesse Oglevee.
1844. Joseph Strickler.              Jacob Ilumber.
Joseph Paull.            1860. Nathan Lewis.
1845. Joseph Moreland.               James Allen.
Andrew C. Byers.         1861. Daniel Harper.
1846. Jesse Oglevee.                 Samuel Crossland.
William  Ball.           1862. David Stull.
1847. Jesse Miller.                  Nathaniel G. Hurst.
James R. McDowell.       1863. James Beattie.
1848. Joseph Strickler.              Joseph Oglevee.
James Blackstone.        1864. J. Willey.
1849. Mathew D. Gilchrist.           J. H. Moore.
William h. Harper.       1865. C. Stauffer.
1850. James Curry.                   A. Strickler.
John Bolton.             1866. T. G. Sherwood.
1851. Thomas Henderson.              J. Beattie.
John Boyer.                    W. Hughes.
1852. William Harper.          1867. J. Allen.
Thomas Rodgers.                J. Runer.
1853. John Bunker.             1868. C. Woodward.
Zachariah Ball.                W. H. Moreland.
1854. A. H. Patterson.              John Speers.
M. B. Stauffer.          1869. R. Boyer.
1855. Stephen Leighty.              W. Hughes.
John H. Leighty.         1870. M. Porter.
1856. Joseph Paull.                 S. Edwards.. 1871. H. Heardy.
C. Woodward.
J. W. Hair.
1872. A. S. McDowell.
L. L. Collins.
S. Harper.
1873. Esquire Edwards.
Christy Artis.
1874. James Humbert.
Alexander Porter.
1875. William Reynolds.
A. Minerd.
1876. William hughes.
C. S. Beatty.
John Hair.
W. F. Holsing.
ASSES
1840. John Clark.
1841. George Graham.
1842. John W. Cox.
1843. John Beattie.
1844. George Graham.
1845. Isaac Shallenberger.
1846. John Clark.
John V. Reece.
1847. Thomas Leighty.
1848. David Walker.
1849. William H. Brown.
1850. John R. Smith.
1851. John V. Reece.
1852. John Boyer.
1853. John Junk.
1854.. Stephen Varnes.
1855. George W. Cox.
1856. Thomas Sherwood.
1857. Samuel Harper.
1858. Isaac Hurst.
JUSTICES OF
1840. Jesse Bunker.
Ephraim Butcher.
1844. John Beatty.
James H. White.
1847. William R. Turner.
Daniel Harper.
William Walker.
1848. Robert Norris.
1852. Daniel harper.
William R. Turner.
Joseph P. Blakeny.
1853. George R. Bowers.
1857. Adam Kiffer.
Silas White.
1858. George R. Boyer.
CLER
1840. John haslet.
1844. John Clark.
1845-47. Robert Rankin.
1848. Martin B. Stouffer.
1852. David Turner.:
1855-56. James C. Guthrie.
1858. Joseph Oglevee.
1859. James Taylor.
1860. Mordecai McDonald.
1861. John Truman.
1862. John Freeman.
1863-65. J. R. McDowell.
1877. William Brown.
C. S. Beatty.
1878. J. Welshons.
J. W. Fairchilds.
W. Hartwick.
1879. George McClary.
henry Shafer.
W. B. Minor.
1880. James Seaton.
Isaac Hurst.
Andrew Bryson.
F. E. Oglevee.
1881. C. S. Beatty.
G. R. Griffith.
R. J. Carter.
S, H. Patterson.
SSORS.
1859. Daniel Harper.
1860. Alfred Cooper.
1861. Robert Rankin.
1862. John S. Reece.
1863. John Freeman.
1864. J. A. McClelland.
1865. A. Shallenberger.
1866. W. Harper.
1867. M. Porter.
1868. J. W. Hair.
1869. G. R. Griffith.
1871. R. Rankin.
1872-74. W. H. Harper.
1875-76. J. R. Bunker.
1877. J. H. Cox.
1878. James Barnart.
1879. R. M. Boyer.
James Barnart.
1880. Edward G. Lincoln.
1881. J.R. Dillon.
THE PEACE.
1860. Robert Gaddis.
Joseph Bute.
1863. G. R. Bowers.
1865. G. Ashman.
1868. G. R. Bowers.
R. McDowell, Sr.
1869. J. Speers.
1870. A. H. Patterson.
1871. W. H. Speers.
1872. J. R. Bunker.
1873. George P. Bowers.
1878. Josiah Allen.
A. J. Fairchilds.
W. C. Cotton.
1879. George W. Porter.
tKS.
1866. J. Morehead.
1867-68. N. G. Hurst.
1870. W. H. Speers.
1871. J. M. Work.
1872. J. Junk.
1875. Josiah Allen.
1876. S. h. Mulholland.
1877. William Harper.
1878. J. D. Craig.
1879. J. M. Work.
1880. W. H. Speers.
1881. R. M. boyer.
I
I
IHISTORY OF FAYETTE COUINTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
VILLAGE OF EAST LIBERTY.
The village of East Liberty, located upon a high
bluff overlooking the Youghiogheny River, opposite
the village of Dawson, and about four miles below
Connellsville, bears the impress of age in numerous
abandoned and decaying log buildings, whose presence bestows upon the place a shadow of neglect,
though there is considerable animation at the town's
business centre, and much that betokens a brisk and
lively spirit. The village history reckons backward
to at least 1792, in which year Joshua Dickinson
caused a town survey to be made. In the fall of that
year Andrew Bryson built the first house. One of
the old log houses still there bears upon its chimney
the date 1796. It is now occupied' by Mrs. Whittaker.
Another house bearing upon its chimney the date
1797 is the present residence of Ann Strickler. Since
1810, it is said, no log houses have been built in East
Liberty. William McBurney, who was born in East
Liberty in 1808, and has lived in the village ever
since, says that his father, Robert McBurney, came
fromn Maryland in 1798 to visit Robert Boyd, his
brother-in-law, then living in Dunbar township, about
one mile from East Liberty. McBurney was a blacksmith, and being at that time in search of a bulsiness
location, was strongly advised by Boyd to set up a
shop at East Liberty. He acted upon the suggestion,
and occupied without delay an abandoned blacksmith's shop, previously occupied by some person now
not remembered. There was at that time a small collection of houses there, includling that of Andrew
Byers, the tavern-keeper, and Samuel Brown, a hatter,
who was then living in the house now occupied by
William McBurney. That house Mr. McBurney has
always understood to have been the first building
erected in East Liberty. The village was laid out, as
said, by Joshua Dickinson, who directly sold the entire plat to Allen, Craig, and Byers.
The reasons for laying out a village here were probably because of the comnmanding, and healthful site,
and because the mainly traveled highway between
Uniontown and Greensburg passed the place. Andrew
Byers, one of the town proprietors, lived in the village and kept tavern, and as Josiah Allen was a storekeeper in Dunbar township in 1799, it is more than
likely that his store was at East Liberty. After Byers
the tavern was kept by one Arthur Hurry (previously
a tailor in East Liberty), who was especially famous
for having a scolding wife, whose sole delight appeared
to exist in making Hurry's life one of misery. Before
the village was laid out Joshua Dickinson built the
grist-mill now occupied as the mill of Oglevee Brothers. In 1814, Matthew Cannon kept a Mtore as well as
tavern in the village, and following him as a village
trader came William McMullen. A more pretentious
store than had before been opened was that of Robert
MeBurney, who, in 1823, turned his smithy over to
1 Since demolislled..one of his sons ahd became a merchant. It may be
remarked that since 1798 a McBurney has always
been a blacksmith at East Liberty, William McBurney, the present representative of the name, having
been in the business there since 1835 on his own account, and a blacksmith there since 1828.
The first resident physician was probably a Dr.
Johnson, who is said to haye practiced there from
1800 to 1807. After Dr. Johnson's departure no doctor located there until 1834, when Dr. Wilson came.
He remained until 1840, and then left the field to Dr.
Samuel Stahl, whose stay covered a period of about
twelve years. Dr. Charles Chalfant came about 1854,
and remained until his death, a few years later. Dr.
McCoy spent but a short time in the village, and removed then to Springfield township.  Dr. Barnet
entered the army from East Liberty for service during
the war'of the Rebellion, and died in the service.
Dr. O. P. Brashear, who succeeded Dr. Barnet in village practice, left in 1874, and lives now in Brownsville. After him Dr. Sidman Stahl located, but departed after a brief sojourn.  Since his time East
Liberty has been without a physician.
East Liberty's first postmaster was John MeBurney,
who served from 1826 to his death in 1848, one year
after the death of his father, Robert.
William Beatty followed him, and was himself succeeded by Samuel F. Randolph, Robert McBurney
(the younger), Joseph Oglevee, Susan Ransom, William McBurney, John Stoner, and Daniel Reynolds.
Upon the close of Reynolds' service, in 1874, a strong
effort was made by the rival village of Alexandria to
secure the post-office for that place; and a sharp contest setting in between the two villages upon the
question, much bitter feeling was engendered. Alexandria won the day, and East Liberty post-office was
accordingly given over to that town, where it still
remains.
East Liberty has received a check to its progress
in the presence of the village of Alexandria less than a
mile away, but still maintains a fair share of the trade of
the surrounding country. The Oglevee Brothers have a
fine store there, and do a satisfactory business. Joseph
Oglevee, the head of the firm, has been a merchant at
East Liberty since 1856. There is also at the village
a capacious foundry and machine-shop, where plows
and other agricultural implements are manufactured.
H. B. Snyder, the present proprietor, succeeded George
Balsley therein in 1867, and in that year materially
enlarged the works.
East Liberty has long been a temperance town, and
consequently a well-behaved one. There was a time,
however, when that could not have been truthfully
said, for whisky once flowed like water there. No
less than three taverns thrived in the village simultaneously, and turmoils were so frequent that, for lack
of a more expressive designation, peacefully inclined
citizens gave to East Liberty the name of Flint Mill.
Matters got to such a bad state that the better-disposed
512DUNBAR TOWNSHIP.              513~~~~~~~~~~~~
members of the community arose in their might and
declared the traffic in strong drink must cease. So
when Robert Huey opened a tavern, a comRany of
men demolished his doors and windows and warned
him to leave. Without waiting for further notice he
did leave, and with his departure ended whisky-selling
in the village.
Evidence of East Liberty enterprise was seen in
the erection in the summer of 1881 of a concert hall,
mainly for the use of the East Liberty Band. The
corner-stone is a relic of the past. It was the cornerstone of a building erected in East Liberty in 1795,
and bears this inscription: "A.D. 1795, rebuilt A.D.
1881."
THE VILLAGE OF DUNBAR.
Dunbar village, a station on the Southwestern
Pennsylvania as well as on the Fayette County Railroad, lies about six miles south of New Haven. The
village proper contains a population of about one
thousand, while an outlying district, reaching to the
Dunbar Furnace and neighboring coke-burning districts, contains more than the same number. The
chief interests are those of iron-making, coal-mining,
and coke-burning, in which industries nearly a thousand persons are employed. Railway traffic at this
point is especially active. About fifty trains pass the'station daily. Of these twenty-one are passenger-trains,
and the residue freight and coke trains. Dunbar
Creek, a rapid mill-stream, passes through the village,
and drives a grist-mill and woolen-mill, which with
a planing-mill are the only manufacturing industries
at the village aside from iron and coke manufacture.
To about the latter part of 1859 there was no settlement worthy of notice at the place now called Dunbar
village, though there had been a settlement at the
Furnace for seventy years. In 1850 the only house on
the village site was the residence of Alexander Martin,
a carpenter, now carrying on a planing-mill at the
village. Mr. Martin's house of 1850 is now the residence of Mrs. Cameron. Mr. Martin sold his house
to Hugh Cameron in 1853, at which time Cameron
opened a shoemaking shop in it. John Speers had
been carrying on since 1841 the stone grist-mill now
the property of his son William, and built by Jacob
Lowry and John Strickler in 1815. Farther up the
stream James Hankins operated the woolen-nlill now
owned by Daniel Harper. Where John Bunker now
lives he and his father had a wagon-shop. There
was a store at the Furnace, but at the village there
was none until after the completion through Dunbar
of the Fayette County Railroad, in the winter of
1859-60. The first village store was built by John
Hardy, and stood opposite where the Southwestern
passenger depot stands. The building is still there.
Although the opening of the railway was thought
likely to create a new town there in a short time,
the anticipation was slow of fulfillment. To 1866
Dunbar was but a flag-station, with a shanty depot
at Speers' saw-mill. A post-office was established in
1860, and the postmastership given to Daniel Hardy.
Previous to that there was a post-office in Woodvale
School District, called Woodvale Post-Office. Of
that office William Walker was postmaster. In 1865
Daniel Harper resigned the Dunbar postmastership,
which was then given to Sophia Devan, the present
incumbenlt. In 1866, when the Dunbar Iron Company took hold of the furnace, there was a considerable brightening at the village, and matters looked
up with a promise of vigorous growth. At that time
two stores were kept there,-one by Mrs. Mary A.
Bird, and one by Slocum  Walters. In 1868 John
Speers opened a store at his grist-mill.  The first
general store, and the first one with claims to importance, was that of Watt, Reid  Co (opened in 1871),
now owned by J. M. Reid.
The first public-house at the village was built by
John Hardy, and opened by James Patterson in 1868.
The house is now closed. Patrick McFarlane, its last
landlord, vacated it in February, 1881. The first
drug-store was opened near the mill by George W.
Speers, and the first undertaker's shop by J. R. Beers.
As already observed, the first carpenter was Alexander Martin, and the first wagon-maker Jesse Bunker.
The village progressed steadily in strength, and when
the coke-making interests developed the village grew
rapidly. The first survey of village lots was made in
1867, by John Speers, and the second in 1870, by
David Turner, both surveys being made upon Thomas
W. Watt's property, now the village site. In 1876
the Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad was completed,
and by that time Dunbar had taken on a healthy
growth, which since that period has continued to
keep pace with the profitable progress of adjacent
coal, coke, and iron interests.
Up to 1871 there was no resident physician at Dunbar, although from about 1842, Dr. J. G. Rogers, living at Joseph Paull's, near the village, practiced here,
and was to all intents a village physician. Dr. Rogers
practiced in that neighborhood nearly all the time
from 1842 to 1876, when he removed to Florida and
there died. The physician who first made his home
in Dunbar was Dr. J. T. Shepler; who came in November, 1871, remained until 1873, was absent until
1876, and then returning has been in practice at the
village to the present time in association with Dr. R.
W. Clark, who came to Dunbar in August, 1873. In
the spring of that year Dr. W. J. Hamnilton opened
an office, and still remains one of the village physicians. Dr. Thomas P. Walker has-beeli one of Dunbar's physicians since 1879, and Dr. A. C. Conley since
Jan. 1, 1880.
The Fayette County Railroad station, alluded to as
having been first located at Speers' mill, was changed
to its present location in 1865. William H. Speers was
the first agent, and served until 1865, when Thomas
W. Watt was appointed. His successor was Martin
B. Pope, and then followed John Herron. Cyrus S.
513
DUNBAR TOWNSHIP.HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Yard, who succeeded Mr. Herron, is still the agent of
the Southwest Railroad. W. N. Rodkey has been the
Dunbar agent since 1876.
When there began to be signs of a village in 1858,
Albert Cheney and John Speers told old Jesse Bunker
that the new town should be called Dunbar City,
but to this Mr. Bunker made objection, saying that if
there was to be a new village it must be called Frogtown, after the little settlement that once clustered
about Bunker's house. Cheney and Speers insisted,
however, for Dunbar City, and despite the old man's
warm feeling upon the subject and his disgust at the
eventual change in name, Dunbar City was recognized as the designation of the village for about two
years, when the "City" was dropped as rather farfetched. The place called Frogtown was originally
known as Unionville as early as the year 1810. At
that time there was a store there (kept by John McClelland), and beyond it a tavern, opened by William
Hoople in 1805, and of which the landlord in 1810 was
Isaac Brvson. Near by were Jacob Lowry's mill, Isaac
Bryson's still-house, and Phineas Porter's tan-yard.
Both store and tavern were abandoned by 1813. The
log cabin now occupied by Mr. Wilson as a residence
was then Porter's tannery. In 1818, Jesse Bunker,
who in 1808 was apprenticed to Joseph Bell, a wagonmaker at East Liberty, and in 1813 worked as wagonmaker for Col. Isaac Meason at Union Furnace, opened
a wheelwright-shop at Unionville, where he had
bought of Isaac Meason a small patch of land. His
house, which stood next to McClelland's store, is now
the residence of his son, John Bunker, who owns also
the building used by McClelland as a store-house.
Unionville lay on the road from Union Furnace to
the Plumsock rolling-mill, and was at one time
thought to promise something of consequence in the
matter of growth. Frogtown was a name bestowed
upon it in derision by some person, and as it happened that people generally about there thought
Frogtown was more appropriate than Unionville the
former prevailed. Frogtown did not, however, fulfill the destiny predicted for it by its enthusiastic
citizens, but faded out within a few years of its birth.
Jesse Bunker stuck to it despite its ill fortune, anl
stuck to his wagon-shop until his death in 1872, at the
age of eighty-four years.
THE VILLAGE OF ALEXANDRIA.
In 1871 there was a strong promise of a railway
line across Dunbar, to touch a point just above East
Liberty, and Alexander J. Hill concluded that as
the proposed line would cross his farm he would lay
out a town there. He therefore surveyed a field into
village lots, named the site Alexandria, and readily
sold the lots, for the prospect of a railroad seemed
wellnigh certain. Although the railway project misc: rried at that time, much to the grievous disappointment of all concerned with the progress of Alexandria, the outlook at this present time is exceedingly
favorable for a speedy fulfillment of the long-deferred
schemne. The first two houses built in Alexandria
were put up by William Clark and a Mrs. Hazen.
A store was soon erected by William Parkhill, and
thenceforward improvements progressed steadily if
not rapidly. The store, having passed thiough the
hands of several proprietors, is now kept by Ewing
Oglevee, who is also the postmaster. In 1874, Alexandria succeeded in obtaining the East Liberty postoffice, which it still retains.
Dr. J. D. Haslett became the village physician at
Alexandria in 1874, and still remains. The only
other physician known to local history was Dr. O. D.
Porter, who after a few months' trial abandoned the
field. The village contains two church buildings,
Presbyterian and Disciple, a school, a score or more
of dwellings, and various minor industries.
CIIURCHES.
LAUREL HILL (PRESBYTERIAN) CHURCII.
This, one of the oldest Presbyterian Churches in Fayette County, was organized by Rev. James Power, probably in 1776, although the loss of the early records of
the church prevents a positive declaration of the precise date. It is known that Mr. Power was licensed to
preach in the spring of 1773, and in that year preached
for the congregations of Laurel Hill and Dunlap's
Creek. Mr. Power, whose home had been in Chester
County, remained a while in the missionary field, and
then concluding to make his permanent home in the
Dunlap's Creek valley, returned to Chester County, and
brought out his family in 1776. Directly upon his
return he is supposed to have organized Laurel Hill
Church. Unfortunately, the names of the organizing
members have not been preserved. Mr. Power enjoyed the distinction of being the first ordained minister who settled with his family in Western Pennsylvania. It may also be observed that his daughter
Rebecca, who was first the wife of Rev. D. Smith and
afterwards of Rev. T. Hunt, was the first child born
in the family of a Presbyterian minister west of the
Allegheny Mountains. She was born December
12, 1776, within the bounds of the Dunlap's Creek
congregation. From the time of his arrival, in the
fall of 1776, until 1779, Mr. Power devoted his time
to the work of supplying destitute churches generally,
although he lived at Dunlap's Creek, and regarded
that as the principal point of his labors.  In the
spring of 1779 he became the regular pastor of the
Mount Pleasant and Sewickly congregations. To that
time his labors were given among the congregations
of Mount Pleasant, Sewickly, Dunlap's Creek, Laurel
Hill, Tyrone, and Unity. Early in 1782 the Laurel
Hill Church engaged Rev. James Dunlap as its first
pastor, and Oct. 15, 1782, he was installed in charge
of the churches at Laurel Hill and Dunlap's Creek.
He dissolved his relation with Dunlap's Creek in
1789, but remained with Laurel Hill until 1803, when
he joined the Presbytery of Ohio, and in that year
51-1:DUNBAR TOWNSHIP.
was chosen president of Jefferson College, at Canonsburg. At the time of Mr. Dunlap's settlement at
Laurel Hill the ruling elders were John Travis and
Samuel Finley. The first persons ordained ruling
elders after his settlemnent were James McClean,
Samuel McClean, Daniel McClean, John  Allen,
James Wilkie, and John Maxwell. The next ordained elders during the same pastorate were James
Parker and James Morrison.
During Mr. Dunlap's pastorate there arose a division in the congregation because of the introduction
into the church of the gospel psalmody. As a consequence about one-third of the members withdrew
and- organized the Laurel Hill United Presbyterian
(or Seceders) Church. April 18, 1804, Rev. Jaines
Guthrie was called to be the pastor of Laurel Hill,
and April 17, 1805, was installed. The ruling elders
at that time were Samuel Finley, Samuel McClean,
James Halliday, James McCormick, and Joseph
Morison. The first ruling elders ordained after Mr.
Guthrie's coming were Joseph Torrence, James Allen,
and Enioch French. The second addition of elders
included Patrick Watson, Andrew Wiley, and John
Clark. In 1826, D. A. C. Sherrard and Jol-hn Larimer
were chosen elders, and in 1833 Thomas Greer, John
Morison, S. A. Russel, A. E. Byers, Robert Davis, and
Mathew Byers. Mr. Sherrard served as ruling elder
from 1826 to his death in 1880, a period of fifty-four
years. Mr. Guthrie labored with the church uninterruptedly for the space of forty-five years or until his
death, which took place Aug. 24, 1850. A marble shaft
in Laurel Hill Cemetery marks his last resting-place,
and testifies to the love in which his people held him.
About six months before his death Mr. Guthrie suggested that as the infirmities of age were telling sorely
upon him, it would be well to secure some minister to
be co-pastor with him. In accordance with that suggestion Rev. Joel Stoneroad was called and installed
June 6, 1850. Within less than three months thereafter, Mr. Guthrie's death left Laurel Hill to the
charge of Mr. Stoneroad. The latter preached at
Laurel and Tyrone until 1861, when he gave his entire
time to Laurel Hill. In 1851 the membership of the
latter was one hundred and thirty-six, and soon rose
to one hundred and fifty. The first elders chosen
under Mr. Stoneroad's pastorate (in 1851) were Jaines
Stewart, John Clark, W. H. Haslett, and James Allen.
The next additions (in 1866) were WVilliam Bryson,
R. H. Smith, James Curry, James Henshaw, Thomas
G. Sherrard, and Samuel Watson. The last two declined to serve. After a pastorate of twenty-eight
years, Mr. Stoneroad was compelled in 1878 to resign
his charge by reason of ill health and bodily infirmities. He lives now in quiet seclusion not far from
the church. After depending upon supplies about a
year the church called Rev. R. R. Gailer, now in
charge, to be the pastor, and Sept. 12, 1879, he was
installed. In March, 1881, the membership of Laurel
Hill was one hundred and sixty. Besides the house
of worship at Laurel Hill, there is also Bethel Chapel
in North Union township, built in 1877. The elders
in March, 1881, were James Curry, John Wright, R.
H. Smith, Hervey Smith, George Yeagley, and William
Bryson. The trustees were Thomas Phillips, Ashbel
Junk, and Caleb Woodward. The Sunday-school,
which is in charge of the pastor, has an average attenldance of eighty teachers and pupils.
The following account of the church edifices of old
Laurel Hill Church is given by Robert A. Sherrard,
whose father was one of the earliest settlers in Dunbar, and a prominent member of this congregation:
"' The first meeting-house built for the use of old
Laurel Hill congregation was put up in the fall of
the year 1778. It was of hewed logs and shingled
roof. I had the information from William Carson,
whose brother, Alexander Carson, hewed the logs, and
after the house was raised he shingled it. This meeting-house did not stand many years, as it was a mile
from the centre of the congregation, and as the great
majority of the congregation [were] farther north and
west by three or four miles. In the course of a few
years (1782) a new site was selected, a vote taken, and
by a very large majority of the congregation it was
agreed to build upon the new site. Accordingly a
new house of hewed logs was built, and occupied as
a meeting-house for said Laurel Hill congregation
until the year 1850, at which time they erected an
elegant, large, and spacious brick meeting-house."
William Carson also related the following incident
to Mr. Sherrard:
" It was a dense forest of beautiful white-oak timber
for the distance of a mile from home to the site of the
meeting-house, and as a guide his brother blazed trees
all the way from home to the site; this was done to
mark a pathway for his own and afterwards for the
use of the family to travel along on Sabbath days
when the public service was held at the meetinghouse."
Mr. Sherrard says, "A graveyard had been formed
for some three or four years before the first meetinghouse was built. And there old Col. Paull's father,
George Paull, was buried in the fall of 1778. And
there my grandfather was buried in 1780. And there
his daughter, my mother, was buried in 1833."
As already mentioned, the first churchyard was
laid out in 1772, at the old church, upon the present
Joseph Work farm. When the church location was
changed to where it now is a burial-place was set apart
there. Among the oldest headstone inscriptions to
be found there are the following: Given Scott, 1793;
Andre Scott, 1790; John Gilchrist, 1795; Mary Allen,
1795; Daniel McClean, 1797; James Junk, 1799;
Jane Scott, 1797; Mary Work, 1800; Joseph Work,
1800; Johannah Beatty, 1801; Thomas Preston, 1801;
John Allen, 1802; Elizabeth Gilchrist, 1804; Agnes
Work, 1810; Martha Guthrie, 1807; James Paull, Sr.,
1811 (aged eighty-one); John A. Scott, 1790; Thomas
Scott, 1811; Sarah Luckey, 1811; Agnes McDowell,
515HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
vened in council with representatives of the royal  box or trunk, and after mixing them well together to
authority and of the governments of Pennsylvania,  draw them  out anid number them  in the order they
Virginia, and New  Jersey.  The principal white  should be drawn, in order to determine the preference
persons present at the council were " the Honorable  of those respecting vacant lands. Those who had
Sir William  Johnson, Baronet, his Majesty's super-  settled plantations, especially those who had settled,
intendent of Indian affairs; his Excellenicy William   by permission of the commanding officers, to the
Frankliin, Esq., Governor of New Jersey; Thomas  westward, were declared to have a preference. But
-Walker, Esq., cominissioner for the colony of Vir-  those persons who had settled or made what they
ginia; Hon. Frederick Smith, chief justice of New   called improvements since the purchase should not
Jersey; Richard Peters and James Tilghman, Esqrs.,  thereby acquire any advantage. The locations (after
of the Council of Pennsylvania; George Croghan  being put into a trunk prepared for the purpose, and
and Daniel Claus, Esqrs., deputy agents of Indian  frequently well mixed) were drawn out"' in the manaffairs; Guy Johnson, Esq., deputy agent and acting  ner above described.
as secretary, with several geintlemen from the different colonies; John Butler, Esq., Mr. Andrew Mon-    Prior to the opening of the Land Office in 1769, the
tour, and Philip Phillips, interpreters for the Crown."  settlers west of the Alleghenies (with a very few exThe council was opened by Sir William Johnson,  ceptions2) held the lands on which they had located
who stated that Lieutenant-Governor Penn, of Penn-  solely by occupation, on what were then known as
sylvania, had been there and waited a considerable  "tomahawk improvement" claims. The manner in
time,but was forced bv press of business to return, leav-  which the settler recorded his tomahawk claim  was
ing Messrs. Peters and Tilghman as his commissioners.  to deaden a few trees near a spring, and to cut the
He also explained to the chiefs the business on which  initials of his name in the bark of others, as indicative
he had called them  together, and then, after some  of his intention to hold and occupy the lands adjacent
preliminary talk, the council adjourned for the day.  to or surrounded by the blazed and deadened trees.
Afterwards its sessions were continued from time to  These "claims" constituted no title, and were of no
time until the 5th of November, when a treaty, known  legal value, except so far as they were evidences of
in history as the treaty of Fort Stanwix, by which the  actual occupation. They were not sanctioned by any
ehiefs of the Six Nations ceded to Thomas Penn anid  law, but were generally (though not always) recogRichard Penn, for the consideration of ten thousand  nized and respected by the settlers; and thus, in the
pounds, an immense tract of land in Pennsylvania,  applications wlhieh were afterwards made at the Land
described in the treaty by a great number of bounda-  Office for the various tracts, there were very few colries which it would be tedious to quote. This great  lisions between rival claiimants for the same lands.
purchase nmay, in a general way, be described as com-    The plan of drawing the names of applicants by
prehending all of the present territory of the counties  lot, which was adopted at the opening of the Land
of Fayette, Westmoreland, Washington, Greene, Som-  Office in April, 1769, as before noticed, was disconerset, Cambria, Columbia, Wyoming, Sullivan, and  tinued after about three months, and then the warrants
Susquehanna;- nearly all of Wayne, Luzerne, Mon-  were issued regularly on applications as reached in
tour, Northumberland, Union, and Indiana, and parts  the routine of business at the office. In the first three
of Beaver, Allegheny, Armstrong, Clearfield, Centre,  months there had been issued daily, on an average,
Clinton, Lycoming, Bradford, Pike, and Snyder.         over one hundred warrants for lands west of the
The Indian title to this great tract having now been  mountains and below  Kittaning.  The surveys of
acquired by the Penns, measures were immediately  lands within the territory wvhich now forms Fayette
taken to prepare the newly-purchased lands for sale  County were begun on the 12th of August, 1769, by
to settlers.  On the 23d of February, 1769, they pub-  the three brothers, Archibald, Moses, and Alexander
lished an advertisement for the general inforination  McClean, of whom  the first two were deputy surveyof tlle public, to the effect that their Land Office in  ors, while Alexander (who afterwards succeeded, to
Philadelphia would be open on the 3d of April next  that office anid became a more widely-famed surveyor
following at ten o'clock A.M. to receive applications  than either of his brothers) was then a young man of
from all persons inclined to take up lands ini the new   about twenty-three years of age, and an assistant surpurchase, upon the terms of five pounds sterling per  veyor under them. During the remainder of that
one hundred acres, and one penny per acre per annum
quit-rent.                                1 Addison's Reports, Appendix, p. 395.
quit-rent.                                              2 These very few exceptions were persons who lheld military permits
"It being known that great numbers of people  for settlement near the fbits and on the lines of army roads; also those
would attend [at the Land Office on the day of open-  to whom " grants of preference" lhad been given. Veech says only one
ing], ready  to  give  in  their locations  at  the  sam e  ss grant of preference" was issuierd in Fayette County, viz., to Hugh
Crawford, dated Jan. 22, 1768, for 500 acres, for his services as " Interinstant, it was the opinion of the Governor and pro-  preter and conductor of thje Indians" in the running of the extension
prietary agents that the most unexceptionable method  of Mason and Dixon's line in 1767. Anid in a few instanices the Indians
of receiving the locations would be to put them all  sold lands direct to settlers in this county,-as to Gist, the Browns,,
and to some of the Provances, at Provance's Bottom, on the Monongahela
together (after being, received from the people) into a
61HIISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
1801; Wm. Rogers, 1813; Elizabeth Peairs, 1814;
Elisha Peairs, 1816; Jane Rogers, 1815; Susannah
Hamilton, 1815; George Stewart, 1819; Mary Luckey,
1821; Thomas Junk, 1821; Margaret Gilchrist, 1823
(aged ninety-three); Joseph Luckey, 1823.
EAST LIBERTY CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
The first member of the Cumberland Presbyterian
denomination residing in Dunbar township was
Henry Leighty, who came from  Harmony, Westmnoreland Co., and settled at East Liberty. Not only
wvas he the first, but he was also the only member of
that denomination in the vicinity of his place of settlement for some years; but notvithstanding this fact,
it was at his invitation and solicitation that, in the
year 1832, the Rev. Isaac Hague, a Cumberland Presbyterian preacher, came to this neighborhood and began holding religious services. His preaching was so
effective that in a short time he had gathered a congregation of earnest members. When compelled to
transfer his labors to some other portion of the country he arranged to have the Rev. A. M. Blackford assigned to the care of the East Liberty congregation.
The result of Mr. Blackford's ministrations led to his
organization of the East Liberty Cumberland Presbyterian Church, July 2, 1838. The organizing members were Henry Leighty, Catharine Ash, Susanna
Dougan, Amy Work, Susan Leighty, Jane Cooley,
Nancy Leighty, Eliza Leighty, Mary Little, Charlotte Leighty. Henry Leighty was chosen ruling
elder in the spring of 1839, Rev. Mr. Blackford
retired from the charge and Elder Leighty removed
from the bounds of the congregation. At this juncture several of the members concluded to make their
homes in other parts, and thus a material check was
set upon the church's progress. During the summer
of 1839 and 1840, Rev. A. Shearer supplied occasional
preaching, and as the few remaining members of the
church exercised themselves with most earnest diligence to sustain the organization, it remained intact,
although it required a sharp struggle to keep it so.
From April, 1841, to April, 1842, there was scarcely
any preaching, but in the spring of 1842, Elder
Leighty returning, he reawakened the slumbering
interest, and in response to his request to the Union
Presbytery for the services at East Liberty of some
minister, Jesse Adams, a licentiate, was assigned to
preach there a portion of his time. His labors were
attended with gratifying success, and during the year
brought fourteen members into the church. These
were Joseph Evans, Joseph Martin, Mary Martin,
David Leighty, John Ash, Ann Oglevee, George
Boyer, Catharine Boyer, Francis Leighty, Ann Secrist, Mary Work, Francis Varns, Conrad Strickler,
and Elizabeth Strickler. During 1845 a house of
worship was erected, and there was a substantial
promise of much permanent prosperity. June 17,
1843, Jesse Oglevee was ordained ruling elder by
Rev. S. E. Hudson. Dec. 20, 1847, John Leighty,
Abraham Galley, and Joseph Harper were chosen
trustees. The succession of ministers, beginning
with Rev. Jesse Adams' time, is given as follows:
Jesse Adams, April, 1842, to October, 1842; A. B.
Brice, October, 1842, to April, 1843; William Campbell, April, 1843, to April, 1846; A. G. Osborn, April,
1846, to April, 1848; Messrs. Osborn and Swain,
April, 1848, to April, 1849; A. G. Osborn, April,
1849, to April, 1856; J. S. Gibson, April, 1856, to
April, 1858; J. P. Beard, 1858 to fall of 1859;
Anderson, from that time to 1861; J. N. Edmeston,
1861 to 1864; A. J. Swain, 1864 to 1871; H. S. Danley, 1871 to 1874; E. P. Pharr, 1874 to 1877. The
pastor now in charge is Rev. K. C. Hayes.
To June 1, 1860, the number of persons received
into membership aggregated three hundred and ten.
To 1881 the members received numbered six hundred
and twenty-seven.
The membership in March, 1881, was about three
hundred. The greater portion thereof worship at the
East Liberty (or Alexandria) Church, and the residue
at Summit Chapel, south of East Liberty, a meetinghouse provided for the convenience of such members
of the congregation as live in that vicinity. Rev. K.
C. Hayes, called in 1879 to be the pastor, preaches at
both places. In 1867 the present substantial brick
edifice replaced the building (likewise brick) set up
in 1845. Known as the East Liberty Church, it is
actually located at Alexandria. The elders in March,
1881, were Joseph Cropp, David Snyder, E. B. Porter,
Farrington Oglevee, Joseph Oglevee. The trustees
were J. L. Momyer, L. L. Collins, Watson Dunn, M.
L. Stoner, Philip Oglevee.
BETHEL CHAPEL.
There is at Alexandria a chapel, in which members of the Bethel Disciples' Church of Tyrone meet
for worship once a fortnight. The chapel was built
in 1875, and is commodious and neat but tasteful in
design. The attendance averages fully fifty persons.
METHODIST PROTESTANT CHURCII OF DUNBAR.
About the year 1835 a Methodist Protestant Church
was organized in Woodvale School District, and a
stone church building erected upon land donated by
Joseph Paull. At the same time Mr. Paull made a
donation of land for a burying-ground. About 1866
the Woodvale Church was abandoned, and in 1871
was demolished. From 1866 to 1875 the congregation worshiped in the village school-house at Dunbar.  In 1875 the present house of worship was
erected. The present enrollment of members is one
hundred and fifty, but the metnbership includes
about a hundred. The pastor is Rev. John Hodginson, the preacher on the Dunbar charge, which includes three appointments.  Services are held at
Dunbar once in two weeks. The class-leader at Dunbar is Daniel Cameron. The Sunday-school superintendent is Lewis McDowell.
516DUNBAR TOWNSHIP.
ST. ALOYSIUS' CHURCII (ROMAN CATHOLIC).
Previous to 1873 the Catholics residing at Dunbar
village attended church at Connellsville.  In that
year Rev. P. Brady, of Myersdale, in Somerset County,
visited Dunbar, and held services in Maurice Healy's
house, on which occasion the congregation numbered
about a hundred persons.  In 1873 and 1874 he
preached at Mr. Healy's house once a month. In
1875 a fine house of worship was completed at Dunbar and dedicated that year. It was built of brick,
and cost eleven thousand dollars. In 1875 Mr. Brady
became the resident priest at Dunbar, and still continues in charge. The congregation includes now
(March, 1881) from three hundred to three hundred
and fifty families. Services are held every Sunday.
DUNBAR PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
The Presbyterian Church of Dunbar was organized April 29, 1874, by the Presbytery of Redstone.
The constituent members numbered eighty-five, of
whom the greater portion had been members of
the Connellsville  Presbyterian Church.  Joseph
Paull, John Taylor, T. W. AVatt, and James L.
Paull were chosen ruling elders. In 1874 a church
was built at a cost of five thousand five hundred
dollars. Nov. 9, 1874, it was dedicated. Services
were at first held in the Harper school-house by
Rev. J. M. Barnett, of Connellsville, who supplied
until December, 1874, when Rev. R. T. Price, of Allegheny City, was engaged, and Mr. Price is still the
pastor. Since organization two hundred and eleven
members have been received. Of them one hundred
and fiftv remained March 1, 1881. The Sundayschool, in charge of J. L. Paull as superintendent, and
James Thompson and George T. Griffin as assistants,
has an average attendance of one hundred and fifteen. The church elders are T. W. Watt, J. L. Paull,
Thomas Reiner, and W. H. Barnes. The deacons are
A. B. Hosack, James Thompson, W. H. Wilson, and
J. W. Guthrie.
DUNBAR METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
Dunbar Methodist Episcopal class, attached to Redstone Circuit, has met at Dunbar village regularly
every fortnight in the Young Men's Christian Association Building since the beginning of 1879. The
members number now about fifteen. The preacher in
charge is Rev. Mr. Husted. The class-leader is WVilliam Rodkey. A house of worship was to be built
during the summer of 1881.
ST. JOHN IN THE WILDERNESS' CHURCH (PROTESTANT
EPISCOPAL).
A Protestant Episcopal chapel bearing this name
occupies a site near the Dunbar Furnace. It was
consecrated March 8, 1881. The structure cost three
thousand dollars, and was projected and completed
mainly through the efforts of Mrs. A. B. De Saulles.
The rector at New Haven, Rev. Mr. Stonax, is also
rector of this church.
ST. PAUL'S CIIURCH (EPISCOPAL).
About the year 1852, St. Paul's Episcopal Church
was organized, and a house of worship erected in
Woodvale School District, on land owned by Mrs.
Mary Meason. Among the families prominent in the
organization were the Murphys, Puseys, Measons, and
Walkers. The congregation was small at the outset,
and thus remained until it disbanded about ten years
later. Pulpit supplies were obtained from Connellsville. and Uniontown, but at no time were church
affairs sufficiently prosperous to warrant the engagement of a resident rector. In a little while the removal from the township of leading members of the
church began to weaken the organization, and in 1862
meetings were abandoned.
SCIIOOLS.
Incidental reference to some of the early private
or "subscription" schools taught in Dunbar township will be found in the history of the township's
early settlement. The remote period at which the
settlement of Dunbar began makes the task of reciting early school history a vague and unsatisfactory
one at best. Every small settlement had its school
as soon as the most important matter of settlement
was thoroughly adjusted, and these humble schoolhouses were scattered over the country, and multiplied rapidly as the country was peopled and developed. One of the most important schools of the
early era in Dunbar appears to have been opened by
the Rev. James Dunlap, pastor of the Laurel Hill
Presbyterian Church, and William Littell, Esq. An
old newspaper advertisement shows that the school
was opened in 1794, and that the preceptors were
ready to receive pupils, to whom would be taught
"elocution and the English language grammatically,
together with the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew languages, geometry and trigonouletry, with their application to mensuration, surveying, gauging, etc.; likewise geography and civil history, natural and moral
philosophy, logic, and rhetoric." They set forth,
moreover, that " boarding, washing, etc., may be had
at reputable houses in the neighborhood, at the low
rate of ten pounds per annum." The school building
is believed to have been located on the old Tanner
farm, formerly owned by Col. William Swearingen,
and later by Charles McLaughlin. It was probably
continued by Mr. Dunlap until 1803, when he was
called to the presidency of Jefferson College, at Canonsburg, Pa. Littell was subsequently well known
as a Kentucky lawyer and author.
The public school system was inaugurated in 1835,
and May 22d of that year the school appropriation apportioned to Dunbar was $113.331 from the State and
$226.661 from the county. Dunbar's first report under
the law was made Oct. 16, 1835.
The annual report for the school year ending June
7, 1880, gives details touching Dunbar's public schools
as follows:
517IIISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Whole numiber of schools..................            19
Avera,ge number of mlonths taugt.                  6
Numnber of male teachers............................  13
" femnale ".                                    6
Average salaries of males per month.          $3,4.28
"    "    females  ".$31.00l
Number of ma;le scholars......................................    517
"      female      "......................................  470
Average number attencling school..........................    824
Average percentage of attendance........................  83
Cost per nonth..........................................   $0.67
Numtiber of mills levied for school purposes..............  21
C       "    " C  c 4  6 i building   ".......................
Total amount of tax levied for school and building
purposes...........                 $4047.59
State appropriation.............            1067.24
Receipts from taxes and all sources except State appropriation.............                  4230.54
Total receipts.............                 5297.78
Cost of school-liouses-purchasing, building, renting,
etc........... 634.01
Pa'id for teachers' wages....................................... 3810.00
Paid for fuel and contingencies, fees of collectors, etc.,
and all other expenses....................................... 490.52
Total expenditures..........................................  4934.53
Resources.....3,217.88
Liabilities...............
SOCIETIES AND ORDERS.
KING DAVID LODGE, No. 826, I. 0. 0. F.
This lodge of I. 0. 0. F. was organized at Dunbar,
in 1873, with twenty-three members. John Speer was
the N. G.; A. J. Bryson, V. G.; and Samuel Wilson,
Treas. The membership now reaches one hundred.
The officers are Edward Potter, N. G.; William  Calhoun, V. G.; John Stafford, Fin. Sec.; A. J. Bryson,
Treas.; William Mitchell, Rec. Sec.
BRANCH No. 3, A. 0. H.,
was organized at Dunbar in 1875, with ten members.
In March, 1881, the membership was fifty. The officers were John Cain, President; Michael Maylie,
Sec.; Hugh Hagan, Treas.
DUNBAR LODGE, No. 410, KNIGIHTS OF PYTIIIAS,
was organized Oct. 10, 1873, with twenty members.
Samuel Wilson was chosen C. M.; C. H. Stetson, V.
C. M.; W. H. Speers, K. of R. and S.; C. S. Beatty,
M. of F. The membership, March, 1881, was one
hundred and twenty. Then the officers were Frank
Victor, C. M.; F. G. Smith, V. C. M.; D. M. Motherwell, Prelate; Wesley Devan. K. of R. and S.; John
Stafford, M. of F.; Smith Wortman, M. of E.; J. N.
Anderson, M. at A.
DUNCAN POST, No. 165, G. A. R.,
was organized in the spring of 1880, with twenty-two
members. John Stafford was chosen- the first commander. The memnbers now number fifty. The officers are D. A. Byers, Coin.; W. H. Martin, S. V. C.;
John Waters, J. V. C.; D. K. Cameron, Chap.; J.
N. Anderson, Adjt.; James Fraser, 0. D.; John Stafford, 0. G.; Henry Bunting, Q.M.
DUNBAR LODGE, No. 1236, I. 0. G. T.,
This lodge was chartered Aug. 3,1877, with twenty
members. D. K. Cameron was chosen W. C. T.; G.
B. Tedro, W. V. T.; James Thompson, Sec.; J. C.
Rosborough, Treas. The officers March, 1881, were
Andrew Laughrey, W. C. T.; Clara McDowell, W.
V. T.; Charles Trew, Fin. Sec.; J. N. Anderson, Ree.
Sec.; Allie Ambroue, Treas.; W. N. Rodkey, Chaplain; Boyd Lemon, Marshal.
DUNBAR YOUNG MEN'S CIIRISTIAN ASSOCIATION.
The Y. M. C. A. was organized in 1870, and irl that
year a hall costing $1000 was erected upon a lot donated by W. H. Speer. The officers are A. B. Hosack,
President; W. H. Wilson, Sec.; D. A. Byers, Treas.
MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES.
THE DUNBAR FURNACE COMPANY.
The Dunbar Furnace Company was organized June
1, 1876, with a capital of $500,000, of which $200,000
was in preferred stock. April 29, 1880, the preferred
was increased to $300,000.  Charles Parrish was
chosen president; A. B. De Saulles, vice-presidenlt;
Theodore P. Farrell, treasurer andI secretary. The directors were Charles Parrish, A. B. De Saulles, Samuel
Dickson, Fisher Hazard, James Cox, and Henry
Brock. The company became possessed of the Dunbar Iron Company's works, together with coal and
iron lands covering, about eight thousand acres in
Dunbar township. Edmund C. Pechin, superintendent for the Dunbar Iron Company, was installed in the
same position under the new organization, with A. B.
De Saulles as assistant superintendent. In 1877, Mr.
De Saulles was appointed to succeed Mr. Pechin as
superintendenit, and at that time Mr. William Beeson
was chosen general manager. Since that time there
has been no change in either the directors or other
officers of the company. The fuLrnace company found
one stone stack fifty-seven feet high and fifteen feet
" bosh," with a daily capacity of forty tons. The stack
was at once rebuilt to a height of seventy-six feet
with twenty feet " bosh," capable of making seventy
tons of iron daily. The number of employes at the
furnace and inines was increased from two hundred
and fifty to five hundred.  Three Whitwell hotblast stoves were put in (eighteeni by forty each), a
new blowing-engine and four new boilers were added,
and ninety-eight coke-ovens erected.
In December, 1879, a second stack similar to the
first was built, and additions made of two hot-blast
stoves, two new blowing-engines, and four new boilers.
In February, 1880, the company purchased the Ferguson Coke-Works, and leased three hundred acres
of ad jacent coal lands. This, with the Hill Farm
Coke-Works, bought in 1876, gave the company one
hundred and fifty-nine coke-ovens, and control of six
hundred acres of coal lands. The large tract of land
owned and controlled by the company, lying chiefly
in the mountainous region of Dunbar, east and southeast from Dunbar village, includes, besides coal, large
deposits of iron ore and limestone. Thus almost at
the very doors of the furnace, they find all the materials necessary to the manufacture of iron. Immediately under the coal-beds south of the Hill farm, to
518Company). There are in process of construction and
in contemplation upwards of fourteen hundred mnore.
Reference to the firms engaged in the business, together with details of their operations, will be found
ftblbwi'n8,.-..
ANCIIOR COKE-WORKS.
These works, located near Dunbar village (and
known until very recently as the Henderson CokeWorks), are now carried on by Morgan, Layng 
Co. In June, 1878, H. C. Frick  Co. came into control of one hundred ovens, built here in 1870 by R.
Henderson  Co., and two hundred acres of adjacent
coal lands. Frickl  C6. employed in their Dunbar
coke business about one hundred men, mined six
thousand bushels of coal daily, and for a similar period produced one hundred and fifty tons of coke.
The main slope in this coal-mine extends fifteen
hundred feet. The investment in ovens and lands
represents over $200,000. Thomas Lynch has been
in charge of the works since June, 1878.
MAHIONING COKE COMPANY (LIMITED).
In 1872, Messrs. Paull, Brown  Co. bought the
coal right to one hundred acres of coal lands, and
built one hundred ovens just south of Dunbar village. Their total investment aggregated $83,000. In
1878 they were succeeded in the proprietorship by the
Mahoning Coke Company (Limited). The chartered
capital was $40,000. They employ an average of sixty
men, mine two hundred tons of coal, and produce
one hundred and thirty-seven toils of coke daily. The
main slope is 1700 feet in length, and is at an angle
of about twenty-three degrees. The officers of the
company are Charles L. Rhodes, chairman; F. H.
Mathers, secretary and treasurer; N. F. Sanford,
manager and agent. Mr. Sanford has been in charge
of the works since 1875.
COLVIN  CO.'S WORKS.
In April, 1880, Messrs. S. Colvin  Co., of Pittsburgh, acquired control of eighty-four acres of coal
lands (formerly a portion of the R. Henderson  Co.
tract), and erected eighty ovens. They have but one
opening, which is a slope twelve hundred feet in length.
They employ sixty men, take out 4500 bushels of coal,.and manufacture 120 tons of coke daily. Their investment is about $45,000. W. A. Blythe is the superintendent.
The Dunbar Furnace Coke- Works are noticed elsewhere in the history of this township, in connection
with the account of the operations of the Dunbar
Furnace Company.
UNIONDALE COKE-WORKS.
In 1869 Messrs. Watt, Taylor  Co. bought the
coal right to one hundred and five acres of coal lands
near Dunbar village, and built upon it forty cokeovens. Soon afterwards they added twenty ovens,
and were succeeded by Watt, Byers  Co., wlio were
followed by T. W. Watt  Co.  In 1878 Reid
the depth of from eighteen to twenty    inches
below the coal, are found iron ore deposits
This is likewise true of other localities in the Lownship. The annual mining products of the company
include 9000 tons of coal, 15,000 tons of mountain
ore, 20,000 tons of coal ore, and 35,000 tons of limestone. The annual field of manufactured iron reaches
44,000 tons. The employes engaged at the furnace
and mines number between six hundred and seven
hundred, of whomn one hundred and seventy labor at
the furnace foundry and repair-shop. From $16,000
to $18,000 per month is paid out in wages. The principal manufacture is " open gray forge" or mill iron.
A large majority of the company's furnace employes
live in the vicinity in tenement-houses owned or controlled by the company, and make at the furnace a
village of six or seven hundred people.
The company owns twenty miles of single track,
four locomotives, and upwards of one hundred cars.
At the furnace settlement J. M. Hustead has a finelyappointed store, at which the furnace employes obtain their supplies.  The yearly business done by
Mr. Hustead is something very remarkable in amount
for a country store.
COKE MANUFACTURE.
The first coke-burning in Dunbar in ovens is said
by Mr. A. J. Hill to have been by William Turner
and Richard Bookens, who, between 1840 and 1845,
bought coal of Thomas Gregg, who had a piece of
fourteen acres of coal land qn the Youghiogheny
River, near the present Fort Hill Coke- Works.
Turner  Bookens burned the coke on the ground
at first, but afterwards put up a few ovens, about
which time also Col. A. M. Hill built four coke-ovens
near them. These four Mr. Hill soon increased to
twelve. The first coke made by Turner  Bookens
was boated down the rivers to Cincinnati, and there
for some days Mr. Turner made fruitless efforts to sell
it. He had got about discouraged when a foundryman agreed to experiment with it, provided Turner
would cart it to the foundry. The experiment proved
so satisfactory that the foundryman bought the entire
cargo, and thus the coke trade being opened, Turner
found no future difficulty in marketing all he could
make. More important coke operations in Dunbar
were commenced in 1854 by Watt  Larmer, of the
Dunbar Furnace, who bought ten acres of coal lands on
the present site of the Mahoning Company's works,
and burned coke on the ground there for their furnace.
The first large nest of coke-ovens built in Dunbar
were sixty of those now used by Reid Brothers. They
were put up by Watt, Taylor  Co. in 1869. The
second lot were built by the Connellsville Gas and
Coke Conmpany, the third by Ferguson  Scandred
in 1871, the fourth by Paull, Brown  Co. in 1872.
There are at present in operation in Dunbar township
upwards of fifteen hundred coke-ovens (including one
hundred and fifty-nine owned by the Dunbar Furnace
IOWN SHIP.
519Brothers bought the interests of Watt  Co., and  within       possessions.  They now  mine about
built sixteen additional ovens, making the present seven hi dred tons of coal daily, and employ upcomplement seventy-six. Their main slope reaches  wardb of four hundred people. They began to make
twelve hundred feet from the opeing. They employ  coke for the first time in April, 1881. It is expected
usually seventy-five men, mine five thousan,11-3usieis  that the company will erect extensive furnaces on
of coal daily, and produce each day one hundred and  their lands in the near future.
twenty tons of coke. They have invested in the                   TILE TROTTER COKE-WORKS,
business about $100,000.                              These coke-works, located within the township of
CAMBRIA IRON COMPANY'S WORKS.           Dunbar, are owned and operated by the ConnellsIn 1880 the Cambria Iron Company, of Johnstown,  ville Gas-Coal Company, which was organized Aug.
Pa., leased of the Connellsville Gas-Coal Company  9, 1864, under act of April 21, 1854. Letters patent
a large tract of coal lands near New Haven, together  were issued Oct. 14, 1864. The capital stock of the
with one hundred coke-ovens-and appurtenances, pre- company is $500,000. Their propertv consists of about
viously used by the last-named company. The Cam-  three thousand one hundred acres of coal right and
bria Company added four huindred ovens and other  about four hundred and fifty acres in fee, situated in the
appointments for coeeting their immense require-  vicinity of Connellsville. There are three mining vilments, at a total cost of $228,000. Their lease on the  lages on the property, viz., Wheeler, Morrell, and Trotproperty runs twenty years. They have two mine  ter, named after Charles Wheeler, vice-president of the
openings, take out from nine hundred to one thou-  Central National Bank of Philadelphia; Hon. Daniel
sand tons of coal, and ship about seven hundred tons  J. Morrell, general manager of the Cambria Iron
of coke daily. Their emnployes number about five  Company, Johnstown; and Charles W. Trotter, Esq.,
hundred. These live near the works, where the com-  of Philadelphia, respectively. The first two villages
pany. has provided a well-stocked store and one  consist of about one hundred and sixty tenementhundred and fifty-six teneinent-houses for their ac-  houses, a large store building, and suitable buildings
commodation. The office of the company is at No. for coal-hoisting machinery, etc., all under the man218 South Fourth Street, Philadelphia. E. Y. Town-  agement of the Cambria Iron Company, which has
send is the president; Charles S. Wurts, vice-presi-  leased for a period of twenty years the five hundred
dent; and John T. Kille, treasurer. The superin-  coke-ovens connected with the same, and which are
tendent of the coke-works is John McFadden. The  now in full blast.
two works of the Cambria Company in Dunbar are    The village of Trotter, recently laid out and built
kcnowvn as the " Morrell" and " Wheeler" Coke-Works.  under the management and direction of the company's
CONNELLSVILLE COKE AND IRON COMPANY.        superintendent, Henry Wickham, has been described
This company, now pushing rapidly forward the  as follows: " A little more than a mile out the Oposgreatest single coal-mining and coke-manufacturing  sum Run Branch from New Haven Junction is the
interest in Dunbar, was chartered in March, 1880, coke village of Trotter, where are located the extenwith a capital of $1,000,000. Hon. John Leiseniring, sive works of the Connellsville Gas-Coal Company.
of Mauch Chunk, is president; W. B. Whitney, of The town consists of about one hundred houses, of
Philadelphia, secretary and treasurer; and E. K. which the company own eighty-four, and is laid out
Hyndmanl, of Connellsville, general manager. The with mathematical accuracy. The houses are neat
company owns  eight thousand acres of coal lands,  and clean, and to each is attached sufficient ground
lyimg  in the townships of Dunbar, Franklin, and  for gardening purposes; the streets are wide and well
North Union, the greatest portion being in Dunbar.  drained; water-plugs are stationed along the streets
At the new town of I,eisenring, three miles and a  at convenient distances, and through these the village
half southwest from Connellsville, the company have is supplied with pure Youghiogheny River water,
two hunidred coke-ovens in operation, and to that furnished by a pipe line to that stream, over two miles
number they are now adding two hundred more, distant.i A school-house of modern design adorns
which are nearlv ready to be put in operation. In one of the thoroughfares; a large store supplies the
addition to these, the building of three hundred  employes with food and clothing; and, upon the whole,
more is contemplated, making seven hundred in all.  Trotter will compare favorably with any mining vilAt this place a shaft has been sunk three hundred  lage in the region. The town is to be enlarged to the
and seventy-five feet deep. The Pennsylvania Rail-  extent of forty more tenemeiit-houses. A portion of
road Company has constructed a branch road, known  the lumber for them is already on the ground, anid
as the "Opossum Run Branch," from New Haven  the contract for their erection has been made. In
to Leisenring, and as the coal company develop their  addition  tolthe modern improvements mentioned
lands, will lengthen it. The purpose of the coal com- above, a telephone line has been constructed connectpany is to sink shafts and build coke-ovens at the ing the works with those of the Connellsville Coke
most available points, and to use the utmost energy   1 The same puimping apparatus stupplies the villages of Morrell and
in utilizing the enormous supply of coal contained  Wheeler with water from the Youghgiogeuy.
HISTORY OF FAY'ETTE C
tSYLVANIA.
520DUNBAR TONWNSHIP.
and Iron Company at Leisenring, and with the residence of Manager Wickham in Connellsville.
" The works at present consist of two hundred completed ovens, which are in active operation, turning
out eight thousand tons of first-class coke per month.
The entire plant contemplates four hundred ovens,
and already seventy more are under contract. The
remaining one hundred and thirty will be built in the
near future. One hundred and seventy-five men find
employment here, and from the bowels of the shaft,
three hundred and fifteen feet from the surface of the
ground, are hoisted eleven thousand tons of raw coal
per month. The ovens are of the size now regarded
as the standard of the region, and known as the twelvefoot oven. The coke turned out at these works is
of a superior quality, the coal of this company lying
near the centre of the basin, where it is best for coking
purposes." The coal vein found in the Trotter shaft
averages nine feet workable, and an analysis recently
made by Prof. Charles P. Williams, of Philadelphia, shows it to be about three per cent. higher in
fixed carbon and coke yield, and about two per cent.
lower in sulphur and ash than any coal yet found in
the Connellsville region, thus proving the generally
accepted theory that the Connellsville coking coal is
purest where it has most cover.
The works of the company embody the latest improvements. The cages are hoisted and lowered by a
one hundred and twenty horse-power engine, manufactured by Hayden, of Luzerne County. This engine also runs a fan, which supplies the mine with a
constant current of fresh air. The main heading is
five hundred and seventy yards in length and nine
feet in width. The works are supplied with a blacksmith- and carpenter-shop in addition to the other
buildings. The whole is under the management of
Henry Wickham, well known as a coke man in this
region. His corps of assistants colnprises the following: John I. Munson, assistant superintendent; Elijah
Parker, pit boss; George Kelley, yard boss; George
Whetzell, engineer; Samuel Dinsmore, machinist in
charge of repair-shops.  The store is in charge of
James C. Munson, senior member of the firm by whom
it is owned, Munson  Co. The mining engineer at
present in charge of the Trotter shaft is Mr. George C.
Hewitt, recently connected with the Westmoreland
Coal Company at Irwin Station.
The enltire plant of this company, exclusive of the
coal, cost, in round numbers, $225,000. Their coal
lands embrace two thousand one hundred acres,
exclusive of a thousand acres leased to the Cambria
Iron Company, together with their old works on the
Fayette County Branch. The latter, both works and
coal, revert to the Connellsville Gas-Coal Company
in twenty years.
FORT HILL COKE-WORKS.
In the summer of 1880, W. J. Rainey, prominently
identified with the Cleveland Rolling-Mill Company
of Cleveland, Ohio, purchased of A. J. Hill the coal
right in a farm of three hundred and thirty-six acres,
located upon the Youghiogheny River just below New
Haven, and has built upon it eighty-eight ovens,
which number is to be increased to three hundred.
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company has
spanned the river with a fine bridge one mile below
Connellsville, and constructed a branch road to the
Fort Hill Coke-Works. It is the intention of the
railway company to ultimately push their extension to
Wheeling. Mr. Rainey will have a force of fully five
hundred employs, for whom he will erect tenements
on the opposite side of the river, with which lie will
establish communication by means of a substantial
bridge. When his enterprise gets fairly in operation
he will have at the Fort Hill works and surroundings an investment of about $200,000. Daily shipments of coke are expected to average about five hundred tons. Mr. A. J. Hill has been in charge of the
works from the outset. Back of the river, in Dunbar,
Laughlin  Schuhenberger and Graff, Bennett  Co.,
two Pittsburgh firms, have about fifteen hundred
acres of coal lands that are likely to be developed
within the near future. The probabilities as well as
the possibilities of the coke interests in Dunbar point
to vast business interests and a steady increase over
the present production of coke.
BLISS  MARSIIALL'S FIRE-BRICK WORKS.
About a half-mile south of Dunbar village, Messrs.
Bliss  Marshall have, since 1872, been engaged in the
manufacture of fire-brick for coke-ovens. This was
the first and is the only enterprise of a similar character known to Dunbar township. About five acres
of land are occupied, and from twenty-five to sixty
men employed at the works. There are four kilns,
that produce about 4,500,000 bricks annually. Messrs.
Bliss  Marshall have about $20,000 invested in the
enterprise.
HARPER'S WOOLEN-MILL.
Daniel Harper has on Dunbar Creek, near Dunbar,
a woolen-factory, wherein he manufactures blankets,
flannels, yarns, etc. It was built about 1821, by
Jacob Lowry, who before that had a carding-machine
and fulling-mill attachment in his stone grist-mill.
His son William succeeded him in business and iinproved the woolen-mill. In 1840, James Hankins
and Thomas Rankin became its owners. In 1850,
Hankins was sole owner, and in 1862 Daniel Harper
came into possession of the property. Since then he
has carried on the mill.
NEW HAVEN BOROUGH.
The borough of New Haven lies in a bend of the
Youghiogheny River, directly opposite the borougl
of Connellsville. Its population in July, 1880, was
four hundred and forty-two. Up to 1873 the town
was a manufacturing point of considerable consequence, but since then it has been devoid of special
5.-)HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
interest in that direction, and a diminution in its
prosperity has ensued. The near proximity to Connellsville checks New Haven's progress. As an evidence of this it may be noted that although New
Haven was laid out as a village in 1796, no post-office
was established there until 1878, the people of the
place being obliged to go to Connellsville for their
mails. The Southwest Pennsvlvania Railroad traverses the village, and crosses the river at that point.
Communication with Connellsville is likewise maintained by means of a substantial wire suspension
bridge, built and opened in 1862 by the Youghiogheny Bridge Company. Its entire cost was about
twenty thousand dollars. Previous to 1862 the river
at New Haven had been spanned by three bridges.
The first one fell in 1816, the second was washed
away in 1831, and the third in 1860.
Upon or just below the site now occupied by New
Haven a settlement was commenced by Capt. William Crawford in 1765, on the bank of the river, at the
point where Gen. Braddock forded the stream on his
way to the fatal battle-field of the Monongahela in
1755. That point is called " Braddock's Ford" to this
dayv. Stewart's Crossing, sometimes confounded with
Braddock's Ford, is farther up the river, and near the
suspension bridge. It was so called because, in 1753,
one William Stewart lived there on the south bank of
the river. The Indian troubles of that period drove
him away.
Evidence that Capt. William Crawford commenced
his settlement improvements at Braddock's Ford in
1765 is found in his own affidavit, taken at the house
of John Ormsby, in Pittsburgh, before the Virginia
commissioners, in the year 1780, which is given on
page 51 of this volume.  In that affidavit he says
he began his improvements on the Youghiogheny in
the fall of 1-765, and moved his family to his new
home in 1766. The patent for his land was not issued
until 1769. For some reason best known to himself
he did not take it out in his own name, but caused it
to be issued to his son John. The original survey
was nlade in 1769, and included 376L acres. This
tract embraced all of what is now New Haven borough. The description of the lands was as follows:
"Situated on the south side of the Youghiogheny
River, and includes what is generally called Stewart's
Crossing, in Cumberland County. The new purchase,
surveyed the twenty-second day of September, 1769,
by order of survey No. 2309, date the third of April,
1769. By N. Lane, Deputy Surveyor."
Not only for the reason that Capt. William Crawford was the original purchaser of the land now the
site of the borough of New Haven, but because he
was in his time oine of the most prominent and influential men in the country west of the Alleghenies,
and still more because his fearful death by Indian
torture has made his name historic, a somewhat extended sketch of his life is here given:
William Crawford was a native of Virginia, born
of Scotch-Irish parentage in the year 1732, in that
part of the county of Orange which afterwards became Frederick, and is now Berkeley County. His
father, who was a farmer of respectability, died in
1-73, leaving two sons, William and Valentine, of
whom the first named was the elder. Their mother,
Honora Crawford, was a woman of great energy of
character and of unusual physical vigor, kind and
affectionate in disposition, and devoted to the welfare
of her children. Remaining but a short time in widowhood, she married for her second husband Richard
Stephenson, who died about ten years afterwards,
leaving six children of their marriage, viz.: John,
Hugh, Richard, James, Marcus, and Elizabeth Stephenson,-five half-brothers and a half-sister of William and Valentine Crawford. The seven sons of
Mrs. Stephenlson were all remarkable for their size
and unusual physical strength, and they were all
living with their mother when, in the year 1749, the
young surveyor, George Washington, then seventeen
years of age, came to the neighborhood and took
lodgings at Mrs. Stephenson's house while engaged
in running lines in the vicinity for Lord Fairfax.
Here he remained for a considerable time, and during
his stay became much attached to the sons of his
hostess, particularly to the eldest, William Crawford,
who was of the same age as himself, and to whom he
always remained a steadfast friend until death severed the tie, after an acquaintance of thirty-two
years.
During the stay of Washington young William
Crawford became his assistant, and learned the business of surveying, which he afterwards practiced in
connection with his duties as manager of the farm
until the year 1755, when he entered the military service, receiving from the Governor of Virginia a commission as ensign, which had been procured for him
by the intercession of his young surveyor friend of six
years before, who was now called Colonel Washington.
It has been stated in some biographical account of
William Crawford that he marched with the army of
Gen. Braddock on the ill-fate(l expedition for the reduction of Fort du Quesne, taking part in the disastrous battle and defeat of the 9th of July, 1755; but
that such was not the case is shown conclusively by
his own affidavit, to which reference has already been
made, and in which he distinctly states that he never
saw the country west of the mountains until the year
1758. Prior to that time, for about three years, he
had been engaged in frontier duty along the line of
the Potomac and at Fort Cumberland, and during
that time had been advanced to a lieutenancy. In
the year mentioned, when the army under Gen. Forbes
was preparing to march westward for a second attemnpt
against Fort du Quesne, he received promotion to a
captaincy on the recotnmendation of his friend, Col.
Washington, who was then in command of all the
Virginia troops destined for the expedition. On receiving his commission Capt. Crawford recruited a
I
I
522DUNBAR TOWNSHIP.
full conmpany of frontiersmen,' and at their head
marched with Washington's regimeints to join the
forces of Gen. Forbes.
In this campaign, which resulted in the occupation
of the French fortress (Nov. 25, 1758), Crawford acquitted himself with gallantry and great credit. Three
years longer he continued in the military service, and
at the end of that time quitted it to resume his vocations of farmer and surveyor in the Shenandoah Valley. There he married Hannah Vance, a sister of John
Vance, who settled in Tyrone township, Fayette Co.,
and remained in the quiet of domestic life on the old
Yirginia farm until the summer of 1765, when he
mounted his horse and tturnied his face westward to
cross -the Alleghenies and select a location for the
fuLture home ot his family beyond the mountains, in
the new country which he had seen and admired
while on his march with the army of Forbes.
1 "The rendezvousing of Crawford's company, preparatory to marchinig hiis men to join the force iinder Washingtoni, disclosed the fact that
tlher e was a waiit of tr aiisportation. Here was a dilemma. Fortunately,
bow-ever, thcie happerned to be at the place where the comm any was encainlpe(l a teamster who had stopped to rest and feed his hlorses. In
such ani emergenicy Crawfor d felt no hesitancy in pressing the wagolner
into his service, and accordingly annotoiiced to the straiiger his deteriiniilation. The owuner of the team was in. no hIionor to suibnmit to what
lie considered an oppressive act. But howv could it be avoided? lie was
alone in the midst of a company of menv who were ready and strong
eiiougli atfa word to enforce their captaini's orders. Reniaining a short
tiniie silent, looking sullenly at the arnmed meni, as if measniring their
strength vith his own weakrness, lie finally observed to Crawford that
it was hard to be forced iiito the service against his will; tlhat every
nma n ou,lit to have a fair chance, and that he was taken at a great disadvantage, inastisuch as the odds a-aiiist Iiiin were so great as to deprive
limn of the lower of self-protectioni.
"lIe thotnght the captain was taking advantage of circumstanices, and
lie would now make a proposition, whiclh the comsmander was certainly
bouind iil honor to accede to.' I will fi, ht you, said lie,'or aiiy niaii in
y3osir companiy. If I am whipped I will go with you clheerfully.  If I
coniquier you mnist let me off.' From what has been said of Capt. Crawfold's personal activity and strength it will not be a matter of wonder to
learnii thiat the challenge of the doughty teamster was at once accepted.
Buili began to strip; the iniesi prepared to form a ring, deterniliied to
slhow fair play aiid to see the ftiii. At this mioment a tall young man,
wv;ho had lately joined tine company, but a stranger to most of them, aiid
wlho liad teen leatiing carelessly againlst a tree, eyeing the scene witi
aipparent UnCOiiCern, inov steppedt forwaId atid drew  CrawVfoird asi(le.'Captdiin,' said the stranger,' you ninist let me fighit that fellow; he will
whip you, anid it will niever do to have the company whipped.' A few
additioisal worlds of like import, overlieaid by the men, with the cool,
collected, and cornfident uiiaiiner of the speaker, iniduiced them to suggest
ti Cr'awford that perhaps it wosid be prudent to let the strantger try Ilis
hianid. The casptain, haviing done all that policy required in accepting
the chialleisge, suffered himself to be persuaded by Isis nien, and it was
agreed that the youith should be substituted in Isis place.
" By this tinie the wagoner was stripped to the buff arnd ready for the
fight. He was big, muscular, well filled out, bardeised by exposure, and
iiii adept in pugilistic encounters.  His air was cool and professional,
Isis niien defiant tand confident. WUhen the yoithsfiil-lookiiig stranger,
therefore, stepped into the  ring, clad in Isis loose huistiilg-sllirt, and
lookiii- slender and a little psile, the men- lhad not the nitniost confidence
in isis suecess. However, tlere was fire in Iis eye, and as he threw aside
hits garnients a stalwart frame was disclosed of etnormous boises aild
niusele. The spirits of the comnpaniy ininiediately revived.
"P rleparations beisig fissisheh, the word was given. The youth sprang
upon hIis antagonist with the agility and ferocity of a tiger. The blood
flowesI at every blow of llis treiiieiidous fists. The cotitest was short and
decisive. Tue teamister was conmpletely vanquiislhed. The lhero of thlis
Isis first figlht for hits couistry was afterwards Maj.-Gen. Daisiel Morgan,
of ilevolutionary fame."-BtitterfielV's " Expeclition against Sandusky."
The spot which he selected was that which has already been described on the left bank of the Youghiogheny, near the place where the army of Gen. Braddock crossed the river, on its way to Fort du Quesne,
ten years before. Here he built a log cabin, and
began clearing land.  He was joined in the same
summer by his half-brother, Hugh Stephenson, who
worked here with William Crawford for two years,
during which time he made a clearing and built a
cabin for himself, and in the year 1769 brought his
family, which up to this time had remained at the
Virginia hone. The family of William  Crawford,
when he caine to the Youghiogheny, consisted of his
wife and four children,-Sarah, John, Effie, and Ann,
the first named of whom became the wife of William
Harrison; Effie, the wife of Williain McCormick;
and Ann, the wife of Zachariah Connell.
In the year 1770, Col. George Washington visited
Crawford's homne on the Youghiogheny, and the latter
accompanied him in an extended tour down the Ohio
to the Kanawha for the selection of large bodies of
land, in which Washington desired to make investment. In the same year Crawford was appointed one
of the justices of peace for the county of Cumberland
(which then embraced the present county of Fayette),
and on the 11th of March, 1771, Governor Penn appointed him, with Arthur St. Clair, Dorsey Pentecost,
Robert Hanna, and others, justices of the peace of
the then newly-erected county of Bedford. Upon
the erection of WVestmoreland County, in 1773, his
coinmisslon was renewed for that county, and he was
made presiding justice in its courts.
On the breaking out of " Dunmore's war," in 1774,
being anxious to take part in the conflict, Crawford
was indiscreet enough to accept a captain's commission from the Governor of Virginia. Up to this time,
through the dispute which had existed between Pennsylvania and Virginia (in which both States claimed
jurisdiction over the region west of Laurel Hill), he
had reAmained true to the State under which he held
commission as justice of the peace, but now that his
military ardor had been reawakened he allowed it to
outweigh his loyalty to Pennsylvania, and to induce
him to recog,nize the claims of her adversary by
taking service under the Virginia Governor, Dunmore. He raised a company of men, and in June of
the year named marched them to " Fort Dunmore,"
as the Virginians had now named the fortification at
the present site of Pittsburgh. He was made major
by Dunmore, and took quite a part in the " war" of
that year, being sent in command of a detachment to
destroy one of the Mingo towns, and performed that
duity thoroughly, taking some prisoners, whom he
sent to Fort Dunmore. He also did some service
with his coinmand at Wheeling. At the close of the.Indian hostilities in November he returned fromn that
station to his home oIn the Youghiogheny.
While he was absent on the campaign Arthur St.
Clair (afterwards major-general in the war of the
5.9 3IIISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Revolution), one of his associate justices of Westmoreland Countv, feeling aggrieved at the course
which Crawford had pursued in accepting a military
office under Virginia and engaging in a war against
the Indians, which the Pennsylvania government
disapproved of, wrote to Governor Penn on the 22d
of July, saying, " Capt. Crawford, the president of
our court, seems to be the most active Virginia officer
in their service. He is now down the river at the
head of a number of men, which is his second expedition..... How is it possible for a man to serve two
colonies in direct antagonism to each other at the
same time?" He proceeded to argue that as Crawford
had "joined with the government of Virginia in opposing the jurisdiction of Pennsylvania," he should
be removed from the offices which he held by appointment in the county of Westmoreland. The argument
was held to be sound, and the reasons sufficient. He
was accordingly so removed on the 25th of January,
1775, and never again held office under the State of
Pennsylvania.
He now became fully identified with the Virginia
partisans as opposed to the jurisdiction of Pennsylvania. Upon the erection of the Virginia county of
Yohogania, Capt. Crawford was appointed deputy
surveyor and one of the justices for that county, and
occasionally sat on the bench as one of the justices
of its courts in 1777 and 1778. He continued to hold
these offices during the existence of the county,that is, until Virginia surrendered her claim to jurisdiction in the territory between Laurel Hill and the
present western boundary of Pennsylvania.
During the first part of his career as deputy surveyor under Virginia, when his surveys caused many
persons to be temporarily dispossessed and some imprisoned, Crawford became exceedingly unpopular
among the people of his section, in whose favor and
estimation he had previously stood high. But he soon
after regained his popularity by the patriotic course
which he took in the Revolution, sinking all his partisanship in an ardent zeal for the cause of liberty.
At the convention which met at Pittsburgh on the
16th of May, 1775, to express their views as to the
aggressions of the mother-country, and to concert
measures for the general good, William Crawford took
a prominent part in the proceedings, and was made
a member of the "Committee of Defense." It has
been said that about this time he offered his services
in a military capacity to the Council of Safety, then
sitting in Philadelphia, but that, "in view of his
conduct in setting at defiance the laws of Pennsylvania, and the bitter feeling engendered on account of
the transactions of other Virginians with whom he
had associated, his patriotic offer was rejected;" but
there is doubt of the authenticity of this statement.
In the fall of 1775 he offered his services to Virginia to raise a regiment for the general defense, and
the offer was accepted. He then at once commenced
recruiting, and-it was not long before a full regiment
was raised almost entirely by his own exertions. He,
however, did not then obtain the colonelcy, which he
expected and which he had so well earned, for the
reason that Congress had determined to receive only
six Virginia regiments into the Continental army,
and as the number of regiments raised in Virginia
exceeded this quota all the expectant officers could
not be provided for. On the 12th of January, 1776,
however, Crawford was commissioned lieutenantcolonel of the Fifth Virginia Regiment, and on the
11th of October received from Congress the appointment of colonel of the Seventh Virginia Regiment
in the Continental service, his commission dating the
14th of August preceding.
During the year 1776, Col. Crawford served with
his command in the campaign and battle of Long
Island, and in the later operations north of the city
of New, York. He was with the dispirited army of
Washington in the dreary retreat through New Jersey and across the Delaware River, and was one
of the heroes who, recrossing that stream in the night
of the 25th of Deceniber, fought the battle and
won the victory at Trenton on the morning of the
26th. On the 3d of January, 1777, lie was present
at the battle of Princeton, and marched from that field
by way of Pluckamin to the winter-quarters at Morristown. In the fall of the same year he took part in
the campaigns of the Brandywine and Germantown.
Col. Crawford having represented to the commander-in-chief that there was serious danger of
Indian attacks in the country bordering the Monongahela, Allegheny, and Ohio Rivers, his views were
taken into consideration, and it was ordered that two
regiments of men be raised-one in Virginia and one
in Pennsylvania-for the protection of their frontiers;
and it was by Congress' Resolved, That General
Washington be requested to send Colonel William
Crawford to Pittsburgh to take the commnand, under
Brigadier-General Hand, of the Continental troops and
militia in the Western Department." In pursuance
of this resolution the order was issued, and Col.
Crawford having received his instructions from Congress at York, Pa., proceeded to Fort Pitt to assumne
his new command.l The regiment which Virginia
1 When Col. Crawford bade farewell to his regiment-the Seventh
Virginia-preparatory to leaving for his new command in the West, lie
received from the officers of the Seventh the following address, whichl is
indicative of the highl esteem in which he was held by them as a coImmander and as a man:
"We beg leave to take this method of expressing our sense of the
warmest attachment to you, and at the same time our sorrow in the loss
of a commander who has always been infltenced by motives that deservedly gain the unfeigned esteem and lrespect of all those who have
the honor of serving under ltim. Both officers anid soldiers retaini the
strongest remembrance of the regard and affection you have ever discovered toward then; but as we are well assured that yool have tilhe
best interests of your country in view, we should not regret, lhowever
sensibly we may feel the loss of you, that you have chosen anlother
field for the display of your military talenlts. Permit ius, therefore, to express our most cordial wish that you may find a regimellt no less attached to you than the Sevenlth, and that your services nmay ever be
ploductive of beuefit to your country and honlor to yourseltf."
I
524DUNBAR TONWNSHIP.
had been required to furnish had been raised by that
State to the maximum; that of Pennsylvania was
considerably deficient in numbers. Both reported at
Fort Pitt in the spring of 1778.
One of the first duties assigned to Col. Crawford ill his
new command was the erection of a fort at a fordingplace on the Allegheny, sixteen miles above Pittsburgh, as a check to marauding Indians who were in
the habit of crossing the river at that place. This
work was performed successfully and to the entire
satisfaction of Gen. McIntosh,I who named it "Fort
Crawford," in compliment to the colonel who superintended its construction, and who was the commandant of its garrison a considerable part of the time
during 1778 and the following year.
In the fall of 1778, Col. Crawford (who was then in
command of a brigade formed of the militia of Yohogania, Monongalia, and Ohio Counties, Va.) took
part in the expedition under Gen. McIntosh for
the capture of the British post of Detroit. Nothing
caine of it, however, except the erection of Forts Laurens and McIntosh. At the close of the expedition
he returned with his command to Fort Pitt. In 1779
he commanded several minor expeditions against the
Indians, and was generally successful. In 1780 he
appeared before Congress to urge a more energetic
defense of the frontier against Indian depredations,
and his representations caused that body to grant aid
in money and munitions of war, which latter were
forwarded to Fort Pitt and other Western posts. In
1781 he gave powerful aid to the unfortunate Col.
Lochry in raising men in Westmoreland County for
the expedition under Gen. Clarke, in which Lochry
and his nien all lost their lives. It was the intention
of Crawford to accompany this expedition, but he was
prevented by the necessity of his presence at Fort Pitt
and on the Allegheny outposts.
In the autumn of 1781 he was retired from active
military duty, but without resigning his commission.
The war was evidently drawing towards a close, and
he resolved to pass the remainder of his life in peace
at his home on the Youghiogheny. For a time it
seemed as if this earnest wish might be gratified, but
it was not to be so. The surrender of Cornwallis was
clearly the end of the conflict, so far as the movements
of armies were concerned, but the Indian depredations on the Western frontier were, not only continued,
but were becoming more frequent and daring. Finally, in the spring of 1782, the Sandusky expedition
was proposed, to inflict a decisive blow on the savages
by the destruction of their town. The proposition
met with favor, the campaign was decided on, and
preparations for it were pushed rapidly forward. Col.
Crawford approved of but did not purpose joining it.
"His advice was frequently and freely given, and although resolved to draw the sword no more, yet his
martial spirit was fully aroused as reports came in from
the frontiers of the early appearance of the Indians,
and their audacity and horrible barbarity. He could
hardly restraii himself from hurrying away with his
neiglibors in pursuit of the merciless foe.... Many
eyes were turned upon Crawford as the proper person to lead the expedition, but he refused. His patriotism, however, pleaded powerfully against his settled determination, as he saw the probability of a volunteer force, respectable in numbers, being raised for
the enterprise. To add to the plea his son Johl. and
his son-in-law, William Harrison, determined to volunteer for the campaign. Pentecost2 was urgent that
he should once more take command. Irvine himself
thought it would be expedient for him to accept.
"Crawford could no longer refuse. He still held
his commission as colonel in the regular army, and
the commanding officer of the'Western Department
desired him to lead the expedition;'hen'ce,' he reasoned,'it is now my duty to go. I will volunteer with
the rest, and if elected to command, shall do all in
my power for the success of the expedition.' It is
the testimony of a grandson of Crawford (Uriah
Springer) that he had often heard his grandmother
say it was against the will of his grandfather to go
out on the Sandusky expedition; but as he held a
commission under the government, he yielded to the
wishes of the volunteers." 3
Having arrived at this decision, he at once set about
making arrangements for his departure. On the 16th
of May he made his will,4 and in the morning of the
18th he took leave of his children, relatives, and
friends, and departed. His wife accompanied him
across the Youghiogheny to its right bank, where,
bathed in tears and weighed down with the darkest
forebodings, she bade him a sorrowful and, as it
proved, a final farewell. The colonel mounted his
horse5 and rode to Fort Pitt, where he held an extended conference with Gen. Irvine in regard to the
expedition. On the 20th he left the fort and proceeded down the river to the rendezvous at Mingo
Bottom, and was elected to the command of the forces.
The events which occurred in the few remaining days
of his life, and of his dreadful death at the stake in
the afternoon of the 11th of June, 1782, have already
been narrated in the account of the disastrous Sandusky expedition.
Crawford's farm and primitive residence at the crossing of the Youghiogheny was called by him " Spring
Garden," but it was widely knowin by nearly all
2 Dorsey Pentecost, of Washington County, a particular friend of Col.
Ct awford's.,
3 Butterlfield's "Expedition agains.t Sandusky."
4 " He did not expect to traverse the Indian country as far as Sandusky
without encountering many obstacles, and perhaps fighting haird battles
so, calculating ail the chances, he thoulght fit to prepare for the wolrst,
not, however, firom any presentiment of disaster, as has so often been
alleged, but siniply from the dictates of prudence."-(Butterfield.)
5 The horse which Col. Crawoford rode on the expedition to Sandusky
was a very fine animal, which he had purcllhased expressly for this service foln  CUol. Isaac MIt.asoln, of NIount Braddock.
1 Who had succeeded Gen. Hand in command of the Western Departmejnt.
34
5121SETTLEMENT OF THE COUNTY.                                              65
year they made and completed seventy official surveys  being all that the settler was compelled to pay down on
in Fayette County territory; and in the following  his purchase of four hundred acres. Thus the.puryear they executed eighty more in the same terri-  chaser of lands from Virginia paid less than one-tenth
tory, besides a large number in the part which is  the amouit which he would havebeen compelled to pay
still Westmoreland County, and some in Somerset to Pennsylvania for the same lands. For this reason
and Washington.                                       he often chose to take the cheaper Virginia title, and
In the next succeeding five years there were but  when he had so purchased it was but natural that he
few surveys of land made in what is now Fayette ter-  should incline towards Virginia partisanship, at least
ritory, viz.: In the year 1771, twelve surveys; in 1772, so far as to desire the success of that government in
fourteen surveys; in 1773, eleven; in 1774, seven;  its boundary controversy against Pennsylvania. The
in 1775, two. During the Revolution, Pennsylvania  greater part of the lands in the present counties of
adopted the recommendation of Congress to cease the IVashington and Greene were taken up on these Virgranting of warrants for wild lands to settlers. This  ginia certificates, but the reverse was the case in the
was intended to discourage settlements (temporarily)  territory that is now Fayette, where nearly all the
and thus promote enlistments in the Continental army. settlers took titles from Pennsylvania, and where few
It is doubtful whether this measure had the effect in-  Virginia certificates are found. The reason for this
tended, but it closed the Land Office, thus prevenlting  was that prior to the close of the Revolution many,
settlers from acquiring titles to their lands, and from   and probably by' far the greater part of the people,
procuring official surveys, of which none were made  believed that the State line would eventually be esin the present territory of Fayette County from 1775  tablished on the Monongahela, giving sole jurisdiction
to 1782, in which latter year three surveys were made  east of that river to Pennsylvania, and all west of it
here, and the same number in 1783. On the 1st of to Virginia.
July, 1784, the Land Office was reopened by the State   But in the settlement of the controversy between
of Pennsylvania,l and from that time until 1790, the  the States it was agreed " That the private property
number of surveys mlade each year in what is now  and rights of all persons acquired under, founded on,
Fayette County were as follows: In 1784, twenty; in  or recognized by the laws of either country be saved
1785, two hundred and fifty-eight; in 1786, one hun-  and confirmed to them, although they should be found
dred and fifty; in 1787, eighty-eight; in 1788, sixty-  to fall within the other; and that in the decision of
two; in 1789, twenty-eight; and in 1790, nineteen. disputes thereon, preference shall be given to the elder
Two or three years afterwards they began to grow a  or prior right, whichever of the States the same shall
little more numerous, but never again reached any-  be acquired under such persons paying within whose
thing like the previous figures.                      boundary their lands shall be included the same purDuring the Revolution, when Pennsylvania had  chase or consideration money which would have been
closed her Land Office and issued no warrants for wild  due from them to the State under which they claimed
lands west of the Alleghenies, the government of the right; and where such money hath, since the
Virginia pursued an opposite course in the issuance  Declaration of Independence, been received by either
of "certificates" (corresponding to the Pennsylvania  State for lands which, under the before-named agreewarrants) for lands in this same section of country. ment, falls within the other, the same shall be reThe reason why this was done by Virginia was be-  funded and repaid; and that the inhabitants of the
cause she claimed and regarded as her own, the terri-  disputed territory now ceded to Pennsylvania shall
tory which now forms the western part of Pennsyl-  not before the 1st of December in the year 1784 be
vania as far eastward as the Laurel Hill. On this  subject to the payment of any tax, nor at any time
territory (extending, however, farther southwvard) she  hereafter to the payment of any arrears of taxes or
laid out her counties of Yohogania, Monongalia, and  impositions heretofore laid by either State; and we
Ohio, the latter bordering on the Ohio River, and the  do hereby accept and fully ratify the said recited contwo others lying to the eastward of it, covering all of ditions and the boundary line formed."
what is now Fayette County. It was on lands in    And in the adjustment of claims which succeeded
these Virginia counties that the "Virginia certifi-  the settlement of the controversy the rule was obcates" were issued in great numbers, principally in  served to recognize the validity of the oldest titles,
1779 and 1780. A board of commissioners, appointed  whether acquired from Virginia or from Pennsylvania.
for the purpose, granted to such bonafide settlers as  So the Virginia certificates (when antedating all other
would build a cabin and raise a crop a certificate for  claims to the said lands) were as good and valid as if
four hundred acres, of which the purchase price was  they had been warrants from the Pennsylvania Land
ten. shillings per one hundred acres. The cost of the Office, and the titles were afterwards perfected by the
certificate was two shillings and sixpence; this latter  issuance of Pennsylvania patents on them. The price
of lands, which was ~5 per one hundred acres under
1 There was no longer anly proprietarysllip by tlhe Penns, this having the Pennsylvania proprietaries, and under the State
ceased on the passage of "Anll Act for vesting the estates of the late pro- till 1784, was then reduced to 3, and the quitprietaries in this Commonwealth." This, usually called the " Divesting  till 1784, was then reduced to ~3 10s. and the quitAct," was passed Nov. 27, 179.                        rent (one penny per acre per annum), which had preIIISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
travelers to and from the Monongahela country as
"Crawford's Place," and it was made a halting-point
by great numbers of those (particularly Virginians)
who came to or through this region on land-seeking
tours or other business. Crawford was a man of remarkably open and generous nature, free-hearted,
and hospitable to a degree that was ruinous to his
own interest. The result was that his house at the
Youghiogheny crossing became a noted resort for
pioneers, and there was seldom a day or night when
his roof did not shelter others besides the members of his own family. Under these circumstances
he found that to escape being reduced to poverty he
must do one of two things,-leave the country or
open a tavern at his house. He chose the latter, and
announced his determination to Col. George Washington, in a letter dated "Spring Garden, Jan. 15,
1774," in which he said to his illustrious friend, "I
intend public housekeeping, and I am prepared for it
now, as I can live no longer without that or ruining
myself, such numbers constantly travel the road, and
nobody keeping anything for horses but myself.
Some days, now, if I had rum, I could make three
pounds. I have sent for some by Valentine Crawford, and can supply you with what you want as
cheap as you can bring it here if you carry it yourself."  This last part of the extract has reference to
Washington's supposed need of rum for the use of the
men he had employed about that time in improvements on his lands in what is now the township of
Perry. The Valentine Crawford mentioned in the
letter was William Crawford's brother, who came to
this region and settled on Jacob's Creek not long after
William  settled on the Youghiogheny. Both the
brothers were to some extent engaged in trade with
the Indians after their settlement here, and both at
different times acted as Washington's agent for the
care and supervision of his large tracts of land in
Fayette County and west of the Monongahela.
The widow of Col. Crawford was left in embarrassment as to property. Crawford's private affairs had
come to be in a very unsettled condition on account
of his military and other duties having called him so
frequently from home, his absence solnetimes being
greatly prolonged. The excitements and vicissitudes
of the later years of his life had called his attention
from them necessarily. The result was that his estte was swept away, most of it, by a flood of claims,
some of them having, doubtless, no just foundation.
For losses sustained upon the Sandusky expedition
the State afterwards reimbursed his estate. Hannah
Crawford afterwards drew a pension from the State
on account of the military services of her husband.
In November, 1804, a petition to Congress for her
relief was presented to Congress. It recited that her
husband, Williamn Crawford, was at the time of his
death on the Continental establishment as colonel of
the Virginia line; that in the spring of 1782, in the
hour of imminent danger and the defenseless situation
of the Western frontier, by the directions and under
the instructions of Gen. William Irvine, who then
had the command of the militia and Continental
troops in the Western country, he took the command
as colonel of and marched with a detachment of
Western militia volunteers and some Continental
officers against the savage enemy, the Indians; and
that in the'month of June of that year he was defeated by the savages and fell in the defense of his
country. The prayer of the petition was, in view of the
fact that the petitioner was aged, infirm, and indigent,
that " your honorable body will grant such relief and
support as in your wisdom, justice, and discretion for
the services and loss of her said husband your petitioner may be justly entitled to."  Congress, however, refused to grant the relief sought for.  For
thirty-five years after her husband's tragic death
Mrs. Crawford lived upon the old place at Braddock's
Ford, and in the old log house that Col. Crawford
built in 1765. After the departure of her son John
for his new home in Kentucky, she was left to the
care of an old slave named Daniel, and a man named
Ladd, who had long been one of the Crawford servants. These two, as well as all of the old Crawford
servants, she outlived, dying in New Haven in 1817,
at the age of ninety-three years and eleven months.
Mrs. Crawford was described as a remarkably active
woman in her old age. Provance McCormick, Esq.,
of Connellsville, renmembelrs that one day, about 1807,
Mrs. Crawfard, then upwards of eighty years old,
came on horseback to visit the McCormicks in Connellsville. She rode a good-sized mare, and when
ready to return home after her visit was ended went
to mount her favorite " Jenny."  "Wait, wait," called
one of the boys, " wait until I bring your horse to
the block." " I don't want a horse-block, my boy, to
mount upon Jenny's back," blithely replied the old
lady; "I'm better than fifty horse-blocks," and so
saying she moved briskly towards Jenny, placed one
hand upon the horn of the saddle, the other upon
Jenny's back, and at a single bound was firmly seated
in her place. "There," cried she, "what do you
suppose I want of horse-blocks?" Whereat everybody applauded and commended her performance,
saying but few women could equal it.
Of course the death of Col. Crawford was a terrible
blow to the widow. For years her grief was overwhelming. Uriah Springer' says, "When I was a
little boy (long after Col. Crawford's death) my grandmother Crawford took me up behind her on horseback and rode across the Youghiogheny, past the
John Reist farm, and into the woods at the left.
When we alighted we stood by an old moss-covered
white-oak log. " Here," said my grandmother, as she
sat down upon the log and cried as if her heart would
break, " here I parted with your grandfather."
1 Son of Col. Crawford's daughlter Sarah, whose first husband, W-illiami
Harrison, was killed in tile Crtwford expedition, and who afterwards
ularried Capt. Ur.ah Springer.
I
526The old Crawford house contained but one room,
and stood upon a round knoll, about fifty yards from
the Crawford Spring, now on Mrs. Banning's property, near the house of' Washington Johnson. In the
stone lhouse built over the spring is said to be a stick
of timber from  the Crawford house, while other
timbers therefrom are said to have been used in the
construction of the buildings known as the Locornotive-Works. When the house was demolished a few
speculative persons made walking-canes of some of
the timber, and sold them at high prices to relicseekers.
Early in 1770 an occurrence took place at the home
of William Crawford which created considerable excitement in Western Pennsylvania. John Ingham, a
young man in his employ, who had been indentured
to him to learn the art of surveying, brutally murdered (while intoxicated) an Indian, a warm friend
of the Crawford family. After committing the deed
the young apprentice fled to Virginia, pursued, however, by Crawford and a few neighbors, who succeeded
in capturing him. He was then turned over to the
State authorities for punishment. Lord Botetourt,
the Governor of Virginia, after a conference with
Crawford, sent Ingham, under guard, to Governor
Penn, of Pennsylvania, at the same time explaining
to the latter, by a letter written at Williamsburg on
the 20th of March, 1770, that he had sent " the body
of John Ingham, lhe having confessed Iiimself as concerned in the murder of Indian Stephen," wvhich,
from the best information the Governor could obtain,
was committed on a spot of ground claimed by Pennsylvania.l "You will find by the paper I have inclosed," adds Botetourt, "that there never was an act
of villany more unprovoked or more deliberately
undertaken."  Crawford took every pains to bring
forward the proper evidence against the prisoner,
but the latter escaped from custody and was never
heard of afterwards.
Contemporaneous with William Crawford as settlers
at and in the vicinity of the town of New Haven
were Lawrence Harrison and his sons, one of whom
was William Harrison, who becalile tLe Lusband of
Crawford's daughter Sarah, who  was said to have
been the most beautiful girl west of the Alleghenies.
The  Harrisons were settlers here in the spring of
1768, when the Rev. John Steele and Ihis associates
came to inspect the settlements in the Youghiogheny
and Monongahela Valleys.  The Harrison lands (adjoining those of Crawford) were entered at the Land
Office in that year. Those lands afterwards passed to
Dainiel Rogers, James Blackstone, and others.  Lawrence  Harrison's daughter Catharine married  Col.
Isaac Meason.  There are no Harrisons, descendants
1 Tie return of this prisoner 1,y Lord Botetouult to I'ennsylvaniia f,,r
trial was in the afitel conlltloversy between the two provinces as to wh,lll,l
the territory belolnged urged witll great force by Governol Penn agaillat
the cla'mni of Virginia.I-IISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
of this family, now remaining at or in the vicinity of   In 1815 he moved to New Haven, and opened a tailorNew Haven. John Harrison, the last of his name at shop in a house now the residence of Leander Dawson.
New Haven, died there about 1850.                   He had five children when he located in the town, and
Benjamin Wells, who lived near the William   had three born to him afterwards. The only one of
Crawford place in 1790, or before, was an excise  the eight now living in New Haven is Robert A. Mcofficer during the Whiskey Insurrection of 1794, and  Ilvaine, who has kindly furnished most of the followfor that reason was especially obnoxious to the  ing facts and incidents relating to the early history of
Whiskey Boys. One night they gathered in force and  New  Haven.  His residence in the village has
boldly marching to Wells' house set fire to it to show  covered a period of sixty-five years, during which
their hatred of his office. Wells and his family were  he has for upwards of twenty-five years followed the
not only left unharmed, but had received timely  business of druggist. Of those living in New Haven
warnling, so that they moved out before the torch was  when he came to the village in 1815 not one has a
applied. Considering that his presence was not wel- home there now. At that time Col. Isaac Meason
come on that side of the river, he imoved across to  was keeping store in a log house, and lived in a stone
Connellsville. His house at New Haven stood very  house now known as the Giles House. In 1816,
near to the site of the house now occupied by Wash-  Samuel G. Wurts was also a store-keeper in New
ington Johnson.                                     Haven. James H. White and Samuel Sly had small
John Crawford, son of Col. William Crawford, came  shops in' which they made nails and tacks by hand.
upon his father's death into actual possession of the  Levi Atkins, the shoemaker, lived just belovw,
property now including the site of New Haven, and  where Mathiott's drug-store is; Charles King was the
Nov. 27, 1786, sold the homestead to Edward Cook. village blacksmith, and Henry Beason the wheelA portion of it included Stewart's Crossing. Cook  wright. James McCoy and his sons had a cooper's
sold to Col. Isaac Meason. John Crawford removed  shop, and a man named John Campbell was landlord
in' 1786 to Kentucky, where he died. There is still of a tavern that stood on the ground now occupied
extant a story that tells of Col. Meason's acquiring a  by Mathiott's drug-store. Maj. James Rogers, an
portion of the Crawford tract on account of a claim  uncle of Daniel Rogers, kept a hotel in the frame
he held against Col. Crawford for the horse upon  part of what is now known as the Giles House.
which Col. Crawford rode away from his home when  Little is known of him save that he left a large
he set out upon his expedition in 1782. The horse  family. In the frame building nearly opposite to the
was a purchase (so runs the story) from Col. Meason, mill now owned by Kaine  Long, Adam  Victor
and was to be paid for at some future day. Crawford  was landlord in 1814. He was the son-in-law of the
did not return, and Meason brought an action against Rev. John Fell, a Methodist minister. Fell was
the estate to recover the value of the animal. The  married to Betsey Meason, a daughter of Col. Isaac
result was a protracted litigation on a sale of some of Meason, Sr. Victor's successor for some years was
the Crawford lands to satisfy Meason's and other  William Salters. His wife was Miss Fanny Meason,
claims. Under that sale Meason bought in a con- daughter of John Meason, a brother of Col. Isaac.
siderable tract.  He acquired a large landed estate  Salters appears to have been a jovial and joke-loving
in Fayette County at about the same time, and be- man. This story is told of him: While traveling in
came a famous iron manufacturer. His son, Col. Isaac  the West, as Ohio was then called, he halted for the
Meason, who was associated with him in business, night at a small village inn. Hearing that some
built a store in what is nowv New, Haven borough, near strange preacher was to do missionary service in the
Stewart's Crossing. In 1796 he laid out New Haven  town school-house, to while away the time he convillage. It is likely that the employ's of the iron-  eluded to go and hear the preaching. On entering
works had their homes there, and that he opened the  the house, great was his surprise to see in the preacher
store for the purpose of supplying them with neces-  "Pete" Stillwagon, a noted character of Connellssaries, for from all accounts there was not much else  ville. Though equally surprised to see Salters, "Pete"
at New Haven then save the Meason interests. At m"aintained his position undauntedly, and spoke quite
best, however, not much is known of the history of energetically.  At the close he announced that
the village at that date, beyond what has been related  " Brother Salters" would now take his hat around
ibove. John Rogers kept a tavern there in 1797 and  for their offerings. " Brother Salters" did as he was
1798, and in 1800 Caleb Squibb was landlord of the  desired, and took up the collection. On leaving the
house,-the same afterwards carried on by Campbell. house " Pete" begged Salters not to betray him, which,
In 1815 New Haven had come into the dignity of a  of course, after his part in the matter, Salters did
village, though with but two streets containing dwell-  not.
ings and perhaps a hundred inhabitants. The year   "It was at Salters' house," says R. A. McIlvaine,
nalmed saw the arrival at Connellsville of John A. "at an early period, that I first witnessed the still
IcIlvaine, a tailor, formerly a resident of Washington  popular performance of' Punch and Judy.' Old John
County. He lived a few months in Connellsville in  Green and his wife were the managers. At that time
the lhouse occupied by Zachariah Connell.       the puppets were brought out on the floor in front of
52SDUNBAR TOWNSHIP.
a curtain and worked by wires. One of the operators possessed some power of ventriloquism, and
delighted the audience immensely."
Salters (whlo was sheriff of Fayette County one term)
left here and went to the iron regions of Ohio, where
he became wealtliy, and lived till within a few years.
James McKee, his successor, died in the house. Of
the building occupying the lot on the corner of Front
and Ferry Streets, south of Ferry, it is said that at an
early day of the village, Adam Dickey, James Myers,
and Richard Weaver were its landlords. The first man
of whom there are any personal recollections was John
Campbell, an Irishman. He was spoken of as a very
passionate man. He had an old negro servant, called
Pompey, who often felt the effects of his rage in kicks
and cuffs. At last Pompey suddenly disappeared, and
some believed that he was the victim of his master's
violent temper. Some years subsequently the bones
of a m:,n were washed out from the sandy shore below
the town that were supposed to be his. Campbell.was
here as early as 1817; he must have left about 1821.
For a proper understanding of his residence here and
also that of Andrew Byers it must be stated that both
occupied not only this house, but the house on the
opposite corner, where the post-office is now kept.
Andrew Byers, the next occupant of this house as
landlord, was widely known. His son Andrew married Miss Phillips, of Uniontown. She was the sister
of John W. and Howell Phillips, who married the
two daughters (Margaret an* Eliza) of Zachariah
Connell, of Connellsville. His daughter Martha was
married to Joseph Miller, a brother of Col. Wm. L.
Miller, at one time a prominent business man. The
next occupant of the house was David Barnes, who
after several years' residence died in the house. He
was the father of a large family, most of whom are still
living,-Hamilton (a son of his) represented Somerset County in the State Senate; William is a minister in the Baptist Churchl; David is employed in the
office of the Southwest Peninsylvania Railroad, Connellsville; Ellis is in business in Connellsville. The
last in this line in this public-house was John Dougan. He was married to a daughter of Thomas Gregg,
one of the earliest business nmen of the county. Dougan occupied the house in 1837.  On the opposite
corner of Front and Ferry Streets, north of Ferry,
Caleb Squibb was an early landlord. He was also engaged in manufacturing salt on Sewickley Creek,
where he owned property. He died about 1820. He
had a large family of children. His daughter Ann
married Thomas Walker;.Jane and Emily married
two men of Westmoreland County named Greenawalt;
Martha married S. McCune, of Allegheny County.
One was married to a Whaley, another to John Rogers,
nephew of Daniel Rogers.  His sons William and
Caleb went West. Eliza never married. Andrew
Byers and John Campbell, already spoken of, were
his early successors in the house. The next and last
in this house as a lanidlord was John Rogers, son-inlaw of Caleb Squibb. He was in the business not more
than a year. His daughter Mary married her cousin,
Thomas Rogers, and now lives in Morgantown, W. Va.
In 1830, Joseph Keepes was in the place that Maj.
James Rogers once occupied. He had not been lhere
more than one year when he died. The house then
became a private dwelling for a few years. After this
John Dougan, already spoken of, occupied the stone
part as landlord.  His occupancy here was about
1837. For a few years after this, the building was
used as a private dwelling by Thomas Foster, proprietor of the woolen-mill. The next landlord was Win.
R. Turner, a saddler by trade. His father was a soldier of the Revolutionary war, and in his later years
taught school in Connellsville. He was a man of some
culture and a surveyor. He kept his compass and
chain, and made plats of land in the neighborhood.
Wm. R. Turner'lived here about 1846. It is not easy
to fix the tinme or date of occupancy of several persons who come in as his successors,-Joseph Cramer
for about two years; David L. Walker, subsequently
elected sheriff of Fayette County; George Foust, for
many years in the same line in Connellsville; Silas
White, a descendant of one of the early settlers and
artisans of the town; James H. White, brother of
Silas, and largely connected with the bridge enterprises
of the place. D. L. Walker came in for a second
term, then Joseph Loon, a son of Michael Loon, who
lived in Connellsville. For the last twenty years
Thomas Giles has owned and occupied the house for
the same purpose. He was a stone-mason by trade.
Being a man of energy and determination, and having a large family to support, he was never at a loss
when one enterprise failed to pay to turn to some other.
He has at different periods carried on shoemaking,
harness-making, chair-making, and painting. In the
present residence of G. A. Torrance, D. L. Walker
kept a hotel here at the time he was elected sheriff:
His brother, Noah Walker, took charge of the house
for some tiine after him.
In 1816 there was an abandoned rolling-mill on the
river-bank, in which Thomas Gregg had been concerned. Gregg lived in New Haven, and first and
last was a man of some note and many enterprises, although at no time especially fortunate in their prosecution. Gregg's prevailing weakness was an ambition
to invent, and it is said he did invent a good many
useful and valuable things, but somehow others thani
himself ultimately reaped the benefits of his inventions. Among other things it is claimed that he was
the first to fashion a mnodel upon which Ericsson conceived the monitors used in the United States navy
during the war of 1861-65, and that he actually patented his invention. If so, however, he made no attempt to enforce the claim thus obtained. It is said
also that he invented the hot-blast stove now in common use by iron furnaces, but this, like his monitor
invention, never accrued to his benefit.
529HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENSNSYLVANIA.
In 1823. Col. William Miller built the present dam
and operated a grist-mill on the river. Shortly after
that date Thomas Foster put up a woolen factory near
Miller's mill, and employed as many as thirty people
in the manufacture of cassinettes, jeans, and cloths.
In 1835 the woolen-factorv and grist-mill were burned.
Just below Foster's woolen-mill, Col. Miller built a
paper-mill. He made writing-paper by the exceedingly slow process of moulding one sheet at a time.
He had sometimes as many as twenty-five persons in
his employ making paper. Fire destroyed the papermill as also the grist-mill. The ruins of the former
may yet be seen. A steam grist-mill was built by
Joseph Strickler in 1840, but that is now abandoned.
There is now at the village a grist-mill driven by
water-power; Kaine  Long are the owners.
In 1836, Tholas Foster replaced his burned woolenfactory with a much larger one, equipped it with
valuable machinery, gathered a force of nearly one
hundred work-people, and started what was then considered an exceedingly important business enterprise.
He made blankets, woolen cloths, etc., and for a time
did a large and apparently successful business. The
success, however, was but temporary, and the end was
disaster for Foster. A Mr. Blucher, who succeeded
him, likewise failed, as did a Mr. Hill, who continued
the enterprise after Blucher's failure. During the
war of 1861-65, Orth Brothers controlled the property, and with a force of fully one hundred and fifty
hands they pushed their business briskly night and
day in the manufacture of army cloths. They enlarged the factory, and while their business lasted
made of New Haven a bright and bustling village,
Like their predecessors, however, they were doomed
to disaster. The close of the war fouiid them with an
enormous stock of manufactured cloths on hand, and
under the depression in prices they went down. The
property lay idle until April, 1871, when J. Y. Smith
 Co. fitted it with machinery for the manufacture of
light locomotives, and called it the National Locomotive-Works. For a time they were full of business
and worked upwards of a hundred men. They sold
to Bailey  Dawson, and they to William H. Bailey.
The latter failed to make the venture pay, and gave it
up in 1878. It was a most disastrous ending of his enterprise. For some time previous to his failure he
appeared to be thriving to a most extraordinary degree.  Two hundred employes were constantly at
work night and day, and the prosperity visited upon
the business interests of the village by this activity
was such as seemed to gratify and encourage every
one. Confidence was almost unlimited. When the
crash came, and disclosed a failure to the amount of
about $400,000, the village was staggered, and for a
little while well-nigh paralyzed, for thousands of dollars were due to employes, store-keepers, mechanics,
and others. In short, the village had.leaned upon
Bailey, and when he fell it brought a general calainity. Since then the works have been idle. They
are quite extensive, having a frontage of fifty feet, and
a depth of two hundred and forty. The property is
now owned by the National' Bank of Commerce of
Pittsburgh.
New Haven as it appeared sixty years ago is thus
described by Mr. McIlvaine, its oldest inhabitant.
He says, Commencing at the nortli side of Bridge
and east of Front Street, all was an open common on
the river-bank except the lot north side and adjoining
Trader's Alley, which was inclosed by a high tight
fence, and was occupied by the residence of Adam
Wilson.  Mr. Wilson was very fond of Shrubbery,
fruit, and flowers, and paid great attention to the
cultivation of his garden.  To the minds of the
young of that time a peep through the fence into his
inclosure was like getting a glimpse of the Garden of
Eden, but very few ever entered its gate. South of
the bridge and east of Front Street, on the riverbank, came first the residence of Isaac Meason. The
frame part of this building was used as a store-room.
I will here relate a little circumstance showing the
kindness of the Meason fanlily. A cart-load of ripe
peaches was hauled down froin Mount Braddock and
emptied out on a spare floor, and the villagers invited
to come and take A hat they wanted, which they gladly
did. The next building south of this was a frame
building, being the residence of Jacob Weaver, who
was married to a sister of Daniel Rogers. The corner room north was used by Mr. Weaver for merchandising. This house was subsequently torn down,
and the present building erected by G. J. Ashmun in
its place. Above this and near the bank of the river
was an air furnace, whicli was in operation when my
father came to town, and possibly a few years later.
The ruins of the rolling-mill and the shore part of
the grist-mill dam built by Thomas Gregg were a
short distance above and near the place where the
present mill stands. The mill stood until about 181516. The large iron rollers, wheels, and frame of the
rolling-mill were there till removed by Col. Miller
when about to rebuild in 1823 or 1824. Mr. Gregg
was a man of considerable enterprise as well as of
mechanical ingenuity, being doubtless the original
conceiver of the idea of clothing war vessels with
iron; a model of this kind was placed in the Patent
Office at an early day. He also had the idea of the hot
blast for furnaces, and experimented on its efficiency
in a small way. He had a stack erected west of town
to test its power, as also a copper-plate engraving of
the plan and course of draft. He was one of the parties engaged in the Connellsville Bank enterprise.
On the east side of Front Street, above this, was a
row of frame buildings; in the first were manufactured
by hand small headed tacks by the White family,
who also lived in this row; also Samuel Sly, a saddler,
and Thomas Gregg. The last house was occupied by
Col. W. L. Miller, who was married to a daughter of
Col. Torrance, who lived about three miles west of
5 30~DUNBAR TOWNSHIP.
town. Col. Miller was a man of great business enterprise. He built the present dam about the year 1824,
also a grist-niill, saw-mill, and a small establishment
for carding and preparing wool for country looms.
These were all burned down in the year 1836. Mr.
Miller was also variously engaged in the iron btisiness.
He was elected from Fayette County as one of the
delegates to amend the Constitution- in 1837-38. In
connection with this, the story is told that he went to
the negro voters and asked for their support, and
stating that it would be the last time he would solicit
their patronage; being elected, he favored the amendinent that deprived them of a vote. This was vouched
fo,r by Enos Mitchel, who afterwards complained of
the joke. This same Mitchel was probably the last
slave who obtained his freedom in New Haven; he
belonged to Isaac Meason, and was freed in 1824 on
attaining the twenty-eighth year of his age; he died
in 1866; he was the father of Baily Mitchel, the wellknown and enterprising knight of the razor.
Crossing to the west side of Front Street, and
nearly opposite to the present mill of Kaine  Long,
was the first dwelling-house on the southern limits of
the town, on the west side of Front Street; this was
known as the Salter House. The next house north
was the residence of Andrew Dempy, a long one-story
structure; the upper end was used as a store-room,
and had a projecting window of a circular form. He
at several different periods engaged in general merchandising; at one time he occupied in this way the
south corner (the frame part) of Mr. Meason's building; his house was at the point where Second Street
runs into Front by a sharp angle, and facing Second
Street on its western side, near the late residence of
George Nickel. From that house there was no building on the west side until the corner of Ferry and
Second Streets. On this corner was a two-story log
house, by whom occupied at that time I do not know.
It was subsequently used as a blacksmith- and coopershop, and was at last burnt down. Continuing north
and across Ferry Street, on Ferry near the eastern
corner of Second Street, west side, was a story and a
half house, lived in by Henry Beasou, a wagon-maker,
and Matthew McCoy, a cooper, severally about this
time. Below this, on the eastern corner, west of Second
Street and Trader's Alley, on the south side, was the
residence of Stephen Fairchild, already spoken of;
across from this, on the eastern side of Second Street,
and corner of Trader's Alley, north, was a two-story
frame house, lived in severally by James Collins, the
father of Col. John Collins, a well-known and respected citizen of Uniontown. It was also lived in about
this time by Capt. David Cummings, a soldier of the
war of 1812, and who also represented Fayette County
in the Legislature at Harrisburg; and, strange as it
may appear at this period of time, and the popular
estimation of our common school law, he was defeated
at a second election on account of his advocacy of a
public school system. It was related of hlim that.
up to the time of his death in 1846 he carried a
bullet in his shoulder received in the service of his
country. He was the father of a large family. His
son, Dr. James Cummings, was a successful practitioner in Connellsville for years up to the time of
his death; his son David was one of the victims of
the Mexican massacre at the Alamo; his two sons,
Jonathan and John Andrew, served in the Texan
war of independence. John Andrew also served in
the war between the United States and Mexico. Gen.
Galoway, of Connellsville, married one of his daughters.
Below this house, on Second Street, there was but
one more house. It ficed Second Street east, and was
occupied by John Winiing, a boat-builder and miller,
and also, near this period, by Daniel Butler. The
trestle-work of tlhe Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad
now crosses where the house stood, which was remnoved to give room for it. All below this, to the
river and Third Street, was an open common. I
should have mentioned in the proper place that west
of Second Street, on Trader's Alley, north side, there
was a fralne house, lived in by Patrick Fox. The
house is now owned by Mrs. Eva Johnston.
Returning to Front Street, on a line running east
with the last house was the home of my father, a
frame house. Fromn this to Trader's Alley was open
ground, save a small building between Front and
Second Streets, on the north side of the alley, where
Oliver Sprowl taught school a few years later. On
the northwest corner of Front Street and Trader's
Alley, facing east, lived Henry Nash. On the adjoining lot south lived Dr. R. D. Moore, and the next
lot was the property of Caleb Squibb, the corner
building being used as a hotel by Andrew Byers.
Crossing Ferry Street, on the corner of Ferry and
Front Streets, was also a hotel and silversmith-shop.
The shop was occupied by Matthew Kilpatrick, and
the hotel by John Campbell. Above this was the
store-room of Phineas Rogers. Another small house
on the triangle completed the town. Below, and now
outside the borough limits, was a taninery, but not in
operation. The tannery was operated by John Fell,
a local Methodist preacher. His wife was the sister
of Isaac and George Meason. *This open common
north of the town served in a large measure to pasture the town cows, and was frequently made the
place for the annual training of the organized military
companies of the county, as well as the militia of onehalf of the county. These annual trainings were great
gala days at that time, the country people for miles
all around attending, men, women, and children, who
were not slow to feast on the gingerbread and small
beer that was amply supplied at the various stalls.
I will conclude by some observations on the general
business relations of the town. At this period the
building of flat-boats, as they were called, was an important item in the business of the place. The men
531HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
I
most generally engaged in this enterprise were Col.
William L. Miller, Joseph Miller, his brother, John
AVining, who was married to Sallie Morrison, a stepsister of the Millers, Uriah Springer, Jr., and his
brother, Crawford, Christopher Taylor, and some other
casual assistants. The mode of preparing the "gunnels" was rather primitive as well as laborious. After
the fallen tree was squared by hewing with a broadaxe, it was hauled to the bank of the river and placed,
near one end, over a pit dug some eight or nine feet
deep, then with a whip-saw, one man standing above
on the gunnel, and another below in this pit, this
gunnel was sawed the entire length in equal halves,
moving the log as the sawing progressed. After
framing and putting on the bottom two long skids or
logs of wood extended from the bank to the water's
edge, and on these the boat was launched into the
river, where it was sided up. I should have previously stated that the boat was turned by means of
upright timbers, with holes and iron pins to secure
the raising advantage by means of levers.
These boats were used for freighting down the river
large piles of pig-metal that was accumulated on the
bank during the low stage of the river; whisky, flour,.and hollow iron-ware were sometimes sent off in this
way. Sometimes a keel-boat was pushed, by means of
pike-poles, from Pittsburgh up, laden with merchandise.
Among the early merchlants may be mentioned
Phineas Rogers, Isaac Meason, Andrew  Dempsey,
Jacob Weaver, and Samuel G. Wurts. At a period succeeding these we find Robert Wilkinson, Robert
Alexander, and John Bolton. Succeeding these were
Thomas Rogers, George J. Ashmun, Thomas Foster,
Anthony Hill  Co., Ilucher  Co., R. McQuestein,
Overholt  Co., McCallum  Co., G. A.  T. R. Torrance, C. Smutz, G. A. Torrance, Mrs. Whitely. These
all dealt more or less in general merchandise. More
especially in grains we have had John Wrigley, Noah.Walker, John Somers, Silas Wlhite, and S. G. Smutz.
In the drug line no effort of much consequence was
made until 1833, when I entered the business, and
continued for nearly twenty-five years; at one time I
associated groceries with the drugs. I sold out to
Daniel Chisholm, who was succeeded by G. H. Mathiott, the present proprietor at the post-office corner.
The paper-mill, built about the year 1829, at one
time did a considerable business in the old slow process of moulding a single sheet of paper by hand at a
time. The building was subsequently used as a carpenter-shlop, and was in use as a cooper-shop at the
time it was burnt down, in 1874. The present gristmill was built in 1848, the steam-mill on Second
Street about ten years previously, and which was
abandoned on completing the river mill. The mill,
woolen-factory, etc., built by Col. Miller was burnt
down in May, 1836. The woolen-mill, subsequently
converted into the locomotive-works, was built by
Thomas Foster in 1836.
NEW IIAVEN'S PHYSICIANS.1
In 1815, Dr. Robert Wright was living in the town,
but it does not appear that he engaged in regular
practice, and he was found mentioned as a schoolmaster before 1820. He was married to Elizabetll
Byers, a daughter of Andrew Byers, one of the early
landlords. Dr. Wright was here as late as 1833,
when he left. Contemporaneous with him from 1815
to about 1828 was Stephen Fairchild, who claimed to
be an Indian doctor. He made the cure of cancers a
specialty. He was sometimes absent for several days,
being called away for the treatment of cancer. He
carried on the business of shoemaking at the same
time. He lived in the house now remodeled and occupied by Hugh Cameron on Second Street.
About 1818, Dr. Robert D. Moore lived on Front
Street, across from the machine-shop. He remained
probably' nit more than one year, when he moved to
Connellsville, on Water Street, and lived in a house
on the lot now occupied by the Byerly family. He
was considered a good pllhysician, and was social in
his habits. His wife belonged to the Gibson family.
She was an enthusiastic Methodist in religion, and
sometimes gave vent to her feelings in shouts of Divine praise. Dr. Moore died in 1829.
The next resident physician in New Haven was Dr.
Joseph Rogers, in the year 1825. He was the son of
James Rogers, a brother of Daniel Rogers, well known
to many. He continued here for about three years,
when he married Miss Betsey Johnson, a daughter of
Alexander Johnson, of Connellsville, and engaged in
the iron business for some time. He finally settled
on a farm in Springfield township, where he engaged
in other enterprises and practiced at his profession
until near his death. He was very easy and mild in
his address, and miich esteemed as a physician. His
office in New Haven was a small building at the
north end of the larger buildings on what was known
as the Russell property, now owned by D. Kaine, Esq.
Dr. Joseph Trevor started in practice in 1829. He
belonged to an English family who were old residents
of Connellsville. He lived in the stone part of wliat
is now the Giles House. About this timrye he also engaged in the manufacture of woolen goods in partnership with Thomas Foster. He married a Miss
Breading; of Brownsville. As a practitioner he was
respectable in his profession. He moved to Pittsburgh, where he resided for some years, and then
migrated to New York City.
In 1835, Dr. Rufus Davenport came to New Haven
and commenced practice. He continued here some
two years, bought the lot of ground now lived on by
Baily Mitchel, dug a cellar on Front Street, walled it
up, and then suspended further work. He was coinsidered a good and reliable physician. Dr. Joshua
Gibson Rogers cotnmenced practice about 1839. He
was the son of Joseph Rogers, a brother of: Daniel and
1 By R. A. McIlvaiiie.
532DUNBAR TOWNSHIIP.
James, already referred to. He continued here at
iniitervals up to 1864. He was considered a wellread, intelligent, and successful physician. He went
from here to Dunbar, and lived in the family of Joseph Paull, who was married to his sister. A few
years after this he went to Florida to engage in the
raising of oranges, where he soon died. He was social
in his lhabits and lived a bachelor.
In 1847, Dr. Henry Goucher located here. He lived
in a frame building on Ferry Street. He had a small
room, in which he sold a few articles in the drug line.
He did not stay more than one or two year;. After
him, in 1850, Dr. William Stephenson commenced
practice. He was a brother of the Rev. Ross Stephen-'son, who for several years supplied the Presbyterian
pulpit of Connellsville. The doctor while here was
married to Miss Rachel Wilson, the daughter of John
Wilson, long known here as one among the oldest
and most upright citizens of New Haven. The doctor
was a native of Ireland. Dr. Stephenson went from
here to West Virginia, wllere he died.
In 1855, Dr. James K. Rogers came to New Haven,
and soon after became associated with J. G. Rogers
in the practice of medicine. In 1856 he practiced
alone. In 1861 he obtained a government appointment in the medical department of the army, and
served in different places South and West, chiefly as
inspector of hospitals. At the close of the Rebellion
he returned to New Haven. He was the son of Dr.
Joseph Rogers, who practiced in 1825. As a physician
he was considered skillful and intelligent. He was a
bachelor, and died in 1870.
In 1861, Dr. Benjamin F. Connell commenced practice, and was here for several years at intervals. He
belonged to the school of homneopathy. This was
the first break in the line of allopathic physicians that
preceded him. His system did not attain the popularity here that attended it in other places. In 1862
John R. Nickel commenced practice. He also made
a new departure from the old line. He was of the
school that professedly reject all mineral remedies in
practice, claiming that the vegetable kingdom contains all proper remedies. He was the son of George
Nickel, an old resident of the place. With some he
was very popular here, and acquired considerable practice. He removed to Connellsville, where he died.
In 1867, Dr. Ellis Phillips came to New Haven and
entered into a partnership with Dr. J. K. Rogers,
which ended in 1869. He subsequently lived and
practiced in New Haven and Connellsville till January, 1874, when he moved into his new residence,
where he has lived ever since. He married Ada,
daughter of R. A. McIlvaine, in 1872, and mnade a tour
through Europe, spending several weeks in the mnedical hospitals of Ireland and England. His practice
is large, extended, and remunerative. Heis of Quaker
parentage, and was born in Fayette County.
Dr. R. T. Grahamn came to New Haven in 1873. He
is an English Canadian and a successful practitioner;
he spent over a year in the town, and then removed
to Connellsville, where he now lives. The last on the
list of New Haven physicians is Daniel Rogers Torrance, the son of George A. Torrance. He has been
in practice since 1879. He is a young man of promise
in his profession.
JUSTICES OF TIIE PEACE.
The following sketches of New Haven's justices
of the peace from the year 1815 is contributed by
R. A. McIlvaine, Esq.: So far as I can learn,
Adam Wilson, the same ingenious Scotchman who
cut stone, planned bridges, and made furniture (a
piece of which, in the forin of a round stand-table,
made inI 1821, is still in the possession of my family),
found time in the official capacity of "'squire" to sit
in judgment in the civil, as well as in the more
violent, cases of'litigation that were settled before
him. While yet but a small boy, I, with others, had
a wholesome fear aind awe of his authority. After
his death, in 1825, William S. Cannon and Andrewv
Dempsey were the next law dignitaries. The former
subsequently engaged in merchandising in Connellsville; the latter, both previously and subsequently,
was engaged in the same way. Neither was in office
later than 1830. After them the line was continued
in John Bolton, a millwright, and Robert Norris, a
cooper. Mr. Bolton was engaged in the erection of
the steam-mill on Third Street. Their period of office
ended about 1840. The next to fill the office was
Adam Byerly, of no particular avocation, afterwards
" bridge-keeper," or collector of tolls. After him for
a short time was George Meason, "gent.," brother of
Isaac Meason. Of him it may be said that he deserves more than a passing notice. He held a lieutenant's commission in the regular army of 1812. A
difficulty arose with a fellow-officer, and in settling
the affair an appeal was made to the code of honor.
Lieut. Meason was seriously wounded by the shot of
his antagonist and permanently lamed. He was a.
geitlemnan remarkably courteous in his intercourse
with others, though sometimes overcome by the too
frequent weakness of convivial enjoyment. Yet he
never forgot the obligations of a gentleman, or the
natural urbanity of his manners. I remember being
called up at a late hour of the night to get some drugs
for a gentleman. The moon was shining brightly.
On our way to the store we saw Mr. Meason- standing
by a fence.  He bade us good-evening very pleasantly, and remarked, "I thought the old bachelors
had all the trouble, but I see that married men have
tlheirs too." I heard him relate an anecdote illustrating the code of army morals at the time of his military
life. The chaplain (a very liberal-minded man in his
way), after the soldiers were formed into a hollow
square, would address them and say, "The government does not expect the soldiers to pray much, and
has kindly and wisely provided a chaplain to pray for
them. All that is expected of you when called upon
533IIISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
to go into battle is to humbly bow your heads and
say,'God be merciful to me a sinner!'"
The Meason family were kind and generous to the
poor, yet at the same time governed by a high sense
of honor in their intercourse with equals. This is
showil by the additional fact that Isaac Meason, the
brother of George, also appealed to the code, once so
fashionable among the chivalrous men of the country.
The story runs that tlle fight was about a lady. A
silver dollar in his vest-pocket saved his life in the
duel.
George J. Ashmuni was the next justice.  He was
a good magistrate, and his decisions were generally
acquiesced in. Formerlv he was a merchant. Becoming disabled from  rheumatism  and unable to
walk, he was elected to this office, and served up to
the tiine of his death in 1872. During this period I
was elected justice, but for private reasons declined
to serve. The next in order are the present incumbents, J. M. Lyle and Thomas R. Torrance, the
fi,rmer a carpenter by occupation and son-in-law of
Thomas Gregg, the searcher after inventions and mechanical discoveries; the latter was at one time in
mercantile pursuits, and a lieutenant of cavalry in
the war of the Rebellion.
In the successive distribution of the village ermine
the hand of Fate might be charged with nepotism, as
a large proportion of those who filled the office were
either closely associated with or related to the Meason
family. Adam Wilson was the intimate and trusted
friend of Isaac Meason. Being a bachelor he was received and treated as a member of his family, and
closed his life under his roof, ministered to by tender
sympathy and kind attentions. Andrew  Dempsey
was a distant connection by marriage. George Meason was a brotlher of Isaac, George J. Aslhniun was a
nephew by his motlier's side, and Thomas R. Torrance
is a grandnephew of Mr. Meason's by his sister, TIrs.
Daniel Rogers. In giving this account of the different persons who have acted as mlagistrates, I think I
have overlooked no one, and if so, certainly not intentionally, nor must any one suppose the succession
was continuous, as there were long intervals of time
whlen no one filled this office. I will again say that
all these relations of persons are chiefly interesting as
local matters, and will ever be so to their descendanits
for generations to come.
Having now gone through the history of this office,
and having a little spare time, I will relate a perilous
adventure and narrow escape of T. R. Torranee, one
of the persons named. While in the service of his
country during the war of the Rebellion, he was sent
out on a scouting expedition with a small body of men
in the vicinity of Hagerstown, Md. When near to
the town he suddenly found himself surrounded on
all sides by rebels. The only alternative appeared to
be submission and capture or a bold and hazardous
attempt to ride through the enemy's lines. He chose
the latter. Single-handed, he made a furious dash
inito the streets of Hagerstown, and was soon confronted by a line of the enemy. Not to be deterred
from his purpose, he spurred his horse onward, and
seeing an officer, whom he supposed to be Gen. McCausland. he fired at him. His audacity brought a
return fire. His horse fell, and he was shot through
near his left shouller, and slightly wounded in several other places. Instantly extricating himnself from
his horse, without knowing the extent of his injuries,
and seeing a gate that led past a house into a garden,
he dashed himself against the gate, forced it open,
arid ran past the house. Seeing soine ladies on a backporch, who fortunately proved to be Unionists, he
entered the house and found concealment. The pursuers were not long in following. The ladies did their
best to mislead them in the search, and directed them
through the lot. In that direction they saw a lad,
who, on' being questioned about the fugitive, replied,
boy-like, so as to magnify his knowledge and importance at the expense of truth, "I saw a Yank runniing
as if the very devil was after him." The search was
given up, Gen. McCausland remarking that " he was
too good a soldier to be killed."' After night the family
smuggled a loyal (loctor into the house and had his
wounds properly dressed, and the enemy soon leaving
the town, he was sent home on furlough for recovery.
BOROUGII INCORPORATION AND LIST OF OFFICERS.
At the March session of the Court of Quarter Sessions in 1839 a petition was presented praying for
the incorporation of the borough of New Havein, and
signed by Thomas Foster, John McClellan, Adain
Byerly, John Newcomanor, Jr., George W. Vance,
James Coslet, Daniel Rogers, T. M. Rogers, R. P.
Brown, Abel Merrill, James Robinson, Thomas C.
Gregg, George Meeason, Matthew Seeton, Robert Norris, Elisha Castle, William McFarland, John Williamson, William  Kinnear, Joseph Torrance, Thomas
Evans, George Dyson, Jacob Weaver, H. L. Page,
George J. Ashmun, John Bolton, D. Forrey, Isaac
Snyder, J. C. Herbert, John Wilson, H. Montgomery,
John  Graham, Joseph Strickler, John D ctwiler,
Charles G. Hutton, Moses Porter, James L. Shaffer,
Joseph Dillon, Thomas Githens, Daniel Freeman,
William Caldwell, William Lord, Thomas Rhodes,
Leavans Shlumway, Valentine Coughanour.
Upon the petition the grand jury reported favorably, and June 7, 1839, the report was confirmed by
the court. There was, however, considerable opposition at New Haven to the adoption of the charter,
and this opposition, taking the form of legal action,
deferred the charter's operation until 1842. In that
year the first borough election was held in the village
school-house. Of the officials chosen, no names are
found recorded, anld none are now recollected except
William M. McFarland as the burgess, and R. A.
McIlvaine as weighmaster. Councilmen were elected,
but their names are not now known. Directly upon
53tDUN BAR TOWNSHIP.
the election, and before the Council could meet for
organization, an anonymous letter fouind its way into
the hands of the newly-elected officials, threatening
that in case anv attempt was made to organize under
the charter the town wvould be burned. Who wrote
the letter was not positively kniown, but it evidently
came from some person or persons who proposed to
resent the probable increase of taxes likely to be
brought about under the boroughl organizationi. At
all events its result was to so thoroughly frighten the
ncwly-elected officers that they made no effort whatever to effect an organization, and so by common
consent the borough organization was allowed to go
by defauilt, and the people remained as before citizens of the township.  R. A. Mcllvaine, the weighmaster, did make an attempt to exercise the functions
of his office, but he was alone in his official endeavors, and  soon  abandoned  the task  in disgust.
After a lapse of twenity-eiglht years the subject of borough organization was revived, and in response to a
petition the court issued a decree, March 14, 1867,
authorizing the organization of the borouigh under
the charter of 1839, and  appointed W. H. Brown
judge, and J. V. Rhoodes and S. G. Smutz inspectors,
to hold an election for borouglh officers on Friday,
March 29, 1867.
At the Marchl session of court in 1867 the following
order wvas made:
"And now to wit, M\tarch 14, 1867: Petition of the citizens
of the Bo)rou(gh of New Haven for the appointment of officers
to hold an election. etc., as follows, settinrg torth that the said
Boroug,h was duly incorporated by the Court of Quarter Sessions on the 10th day of June, 1839, The charter, p'at, and
proceedin,s thereon havinig been duly recorded, as provided by
law], in the Recorder's office of Fayette County, that no sufficient organizat'0on was ever made under said charter, nor has
there been any org-anization or election for officers for imiany
years. The un(lersigned therefore pray the court to fix a titne
and place for hol(ling an election, to desi,nate some person to
give notce of said electioni, and to.appoint a judge and inspectors to hold said electCon, in order that said borough may be organized according to law, etc.
"And now to wit, March 14, 1S67, the Court appoint the
29th day of March inst. for holding the election at the schoolhouse, between the hours of one o'clock and six o'clock P.M.,
and the Couirt appoint William  Brown Judge, B. Rhoads
an(d Saniuel Smnutz as Inspectors of said election, and,also appoint Hugh Ca.meron to give notice of said election according
to law.
" Same day order and decree of court, with certificate, issued
to J. Mi. Lytle.
"And now to wit, December 9, 1867, petition of citizens of
said Borough setting forth that the great distance from the
place of election and the inconvenience of attending the same
on the part of petitioners would suggest the propriety of some
action of the couirt for their relief, and therefore pra,ying the
Court to make such order in the preinises as will erect and constitute thetn a separate election district. And now to wit, Dec.
9, 1867, the Court designated the school-house as the place for
holding the elections for all purposes, and appoint Josialh Vr.
Rho(les as Jud(ge, anrd George Nickel and John M. Lytle as Inspectors of Election."
From  1867 to 1881 the principal borough officials
chosen by elections and appointments will be found
namned in the following list:
1867.-Burgess. S. G. Sinutz; Councilmlen, R. A. McIlvaine
and Geo. Nickel (two years), J. V. Rhodes, J. M. Lytle
and huoh Cameron (one year); Constable, W. H. Brown
Treasurer, George J. Ashbmun.
l868.-Bur, evs, S. G. Smutz; Councilinen, J. V. Rhodes and
J. M. Lytle (two year s), David Carson (one year); Constable,
John Cunningham; Treasurer, Hugh Cameron.
1869.-Burgess, S. G. Stmutz; Assessor, J. M. Lytle  Auditors,
Henry Blackstone, Christian Smutz, and Michael Secrist;
Counci lmen, henry Blackstone, George Nickel, S. S. Myers;
Constab'e, h. L. Sheppard; Justice, Weaver  heaton;
School Directors, David Carson, Weaver heaton; Treasurer,
George Nickel.
1870.-Burgess, S. G. Smutz; Justices of the Peace, W eaver
Heaton, George J. Ashmun; Auditor, C. h. Whitely;
School Directors; George A. Torrence, George Nickel.
1S71.-Burgess, S. G. Smutz: Assessor, Christian  Smutz;
Auditor, J. T. herbert; School Direc!ors, Christian Smutz,
J. M. Byers, J. M. Lytle; Councilmiien. J. S. Collins, T. R.
Torrence, I. W. Byers, J. M. Lytle,'and Michael Secrist;
Constable, Levi Stoner.
S872.-Burgess, Weaver Heaton; Assessor, C. h. Whitely;
Audit6r, T. P. Forsythe; School Directors, S. G. Smutz,
R. M. Smith; Councilmen, George Nickel, S. G. Stnutz,
I. W. Byers; Constable, Uriah Springer.
1873.-Burg,ess, A. E. Clarey; Assessor, James S. Collins;
Auditor, Weaver Heaton; Justice of the Peace, S. G.
Smutz, Councilmnen, John Johnston, John Coulson, George
Dawson; Constable, Smith Dawson; Treasurer, George A.
T orrence.
1874.--Burgess, J. M. Lytle; Assessor, R. A. McIlvaine; Justices of the Peace, J. m. Lytle, T. R. Torrence; School
Directo's, D. Carson, C. Smutz; Auditor, A. E. Clarey;
Council men, L. L. herbert, George Torrence, John McBeth,
J. E. Giles, S. S. Myers.
1875.--Burgess, S. G. Smutz; Assessor, T. R. Torrence; School
Directors, J. S. Collins, hugh Cameron, Robert M. Smith,
S. G. Smutz; Councilmen, S. S. Myers, L. L. herbert, D.
Carson; Treasurer, G. A. Torrence.
1876.-Burgess, S. G. Smnutz; Assessor, Thomas H. Boyd;
School Directors, S. G. Simnutz, R. R. McQuestin; Auditor,
James S. Collins.
1877.-Burgess, S. ti. Smutz; Assessor, Robert A. Mcilvaine;
Auditor, L. L. Herbert; School Director, Christian Snmutz;
Councilrnen, R. M. Smith, J. R. Torrence, HIuDh Cameron;
Constable, Smith Dawson.
1878.-Burgess, T. R. Torrence; Assessor, Christian Smutz;
Auditor, William H. Cooper; School Directors, l. L. herbert, J. S. Collins, S. S. Myers; Councilmen, Kell Long,
George lI. Mathiott, R. F. Cooper; Treasurer, R. A. McIlvaine.
1879.-Burgess, T. R. Torrence; Justices, Thomas R. Torrence,
J. M. Lytle; Assessor, It. A. McIlvaine; School Directors,
George II. Mathiott, L. L. Herbert; Councilmen, R. M.
Smith, Ilug,h Cameron, S. S. Myers.
1880.-Burgess, T. R. Torrence; Assessor, R. A.  Mlclvaine;
Auditor, A. G. Vance; School Directors, Kell Long, S. G.
Smlutz, T. R. Torrence; Councilmen, Kell Long, George II.
Mathiott, IIugh Cameron.
1881.-Burgess, T. R. Torrence; Assessor, J. S. Collins; Auditors, A. G. Vance, G. H. Mathiott; School Directors, J. F.
Reed, A. R. Pool.
535HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
viously been required, was then discontinued, but interest was demanded from the date of first imnprovemnent. Again, in 1792, the price was further reduced
to ~2 10s. per one hundred acres, with interest as before. This continued till 1814, when the price was
placed at $10 per one hundred acres, with interest from
date of settlement.
CHAPTER IX.
DUNMORE'S WAR.
IN the Indian hostilities of 1774, known as " Dunmore's war," the territory now Fayette County saw
little, if anything, of actual fighting and bloodshed;
yet, in the universal terror and consternation caused
by the Indian inroads and butcheries on the west of
the Monongahela, it came near being as completely
depopulated as it had been twenty years before by
the panic which succeeded the French victory over
Washington.
The Dunmore war was the result of several collisions which took place in the spring of.1774, on the
Ohio River above the mouth of the Little Kanawha,
between Indians and parties of white men, most of
whom were adventurers, who had rendezvoused there
preparatory to passing down the river for the purpose
of making settlements in the then new country of
Kentucky. The circumstances which attended the
beginning of those hostile collisions were afterwards
narrated by Gen. George Rogers Clarke, who lwas
himself present and a prominent actor in the scenes
which he describes. The account, which bears date
June 17, 1798, is as follows:
"This country [Kentucky] was explored in 1773.
A resolution was formed to make a settlement the
spring following, and the mouth of the Little Kan- 1
awha appointed the place of general rendezvous, in  t
order to descend the Ohio from thence in a body. t
Early in the spring the Indians had done some mischief. Reports from  their towns were alarming,  t
which deterred many. About eighty or ninety men  A
only arrived at the appointed rendezvous, where we  c
lay some days. A small party of hunters that lay  N
about ten miles below us were fired upon by the In-  n
dians, whom the hunters beat back and returned to  c;
camp. This and many other circumstances led us to  n
believe that the Indians were determined on war. a
The whole party was enrolled, and determined to ex-  w
ecute their project of forming a settlement in Ken-  hf
tucky, as we had every necessary store that could be  d(
thought of. An Indian town called the Horsehead  wv
Bottom, on the Scioto, and near its mouth, lay nearly
in our way.  The determination was to cross the  an
country and surprise it. Who was to command was  et
the question. There were but few among us who had   2
experience in Indian warfare, and they were such as  int
we did not choose to be commanded by. We knew   x M
of Capt. Cresap being on the river, about fifteen miles
above us, with some hands, settling a plantation, and
that he had concluded to follow us to Kentucky as
soon as he had fixed there his people. We also knew
that he had been experienced in a former war. He
was proposed, and it was unanimously agreed to send
for: him, to command the party.  Messengers were
dispatched, and in half an hour returned with Cresap.
He had heard of our resolution by some of his hunters that had fallen in with ours, and had set out to
come to us.
"We thought our army, as we called it, complete,
and the destruction of the Indians sure. A council
was called, and, to our astonishment, our intended
commander-in-chief was the person that dissuaded
us from the enterprise. He said that appearances
were very suspicious, but there was no certainty of a
war; that if we made the attempt proposed he had.no
doubt of our success, but a war would at any rate be
the result, and that we should be blamed for it, and
perhaps justly. But if we wei'e determined to proceed he would lay aside all considerations, send to
his camp for his people, and share our fortunes. He
was then asked what he would advise. His answer
was that we should return to Wheeling as a convenient spot to hear what was going forward; that a few
weeks would determine. As it was early in the spring,
if we found the Indians were not disposed for war, we,
should have full time to return and make our establishment in Kentucky. This was adopted, and in
two hours the whole were under way...
"On our arrival at Wheeling (the whole country
being pretty well settled thereabouts) the whole of
the inhabitants appeared to be alarmed. They flocked
to our camp from every direction, and all we could
say we could not keep them from under our wings.
We offered to cover their neighborhood with scouts
until further information if they would return to
their plantations, but nothing would prevail.  By
this time we had got to be a formidable party. All
the hunters, men without farnilies, etc., in that quar-;er had joined our party. Our arrival at Wheeling
vras soon known at Pittsburgh.  The whole of that
ountry at that time being under the jurisdiction of
V'irginia,' Dr. Connolly2 had been appointed by Dunnore captain commandant of the district, which was
alled West Augusta.3 He, learning of us, sent a
lessage addressed to the party, letting us know that
Mwar was to be apprehended, and requesting that we
ould keep our position for a few days, as messages
ad been sent to the Indians, and a few days would
etermine the doubt. The answer he got was, that
e had no inclination to quit our quarters for some
t The country around Pittsburgh was then claimed by both Virginia
d Pennsylvania, but Clarke, being a Virgiliian, viewed the matter
tirely from the Virginian stand.point.
Dr. John Connolly, a nephew of George Croglian, the deputy superendent of Indian affairs.
All this regian was at that time claimed by Virginia to be within its
rest Augusta" District.
66HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
SCIIOOLS IN NEW  HAVEN.
It is a strange fact that during all the time the
borough limits were connected with the township
public school district the school directors never built
a school-house in the town. It is true that about the
year 1848 they erected a frame school-house just outside the town in a very unfavorable location, on
ground under a lease for twenty years, and which was
sold by them just before the expiration of the lease.
For some reason the directors refused to purchase a
piece of ground in a central and altogether eligible
position fbr a sdhool-house for the consideration of
one hundred dollars, but built on a ground-rent of
six dollars per year, with the result before stated.
The only building called a school-house was erected
by private contribution some time in the early part
of the decade between 1830 and 1840, and enlarged
by an addition for school purposes in the same way
by the efforts of the Rev. K. J. Stewart in 1847.
Since Mr. Stewart left, the addition has been used as
a private dwelling.,
The oldest authenticated record of a school relates
to that kept by Mrs. Sarah McIllvaine in the spring of
1815.  There being no school-house, private apartments had to serve instead. Accordingly she taught
in part of her residence, wlhich was the last house at
that date on Front Street north, on lot No. 113. The
next school was taught by " Old Mr. Ellis," as he was
known and designated. Little is knovwn of him at
this time, save that he lived in the country and
walked to town during his term. He taught in 1817
on the second floor of a house on Second Street, on
lot No. 95, and immediately back of Mr. McIllvaine's
house. The house he taught in was the last on Second
Street north. The next school was taught by Stephen
Smith in 1818. He also lived in the country, and
was usually engaged by James Robinson about his
mill and distillery on Opossum Run, about one-half
mile west of town. He taught in part of the Squibb
house, where the drug-store now stands, on lot No.
118.
The next teacher was Dr. Robert Wright, in 1819.
He also taught in the Squibb house just referred to.
In 1820, as well as in 1822, there was no school taught
in New Haven. In 1821, Jarvis F. Hanks taught in
a house near the river mill. In 1823, Oliver Sproul
taught in a small building on Trader's Alley, between
Front and Second Streets. He was an Irishman, and
a strict disciplinarian.
In 1829, Stewart H. Whitehill taught up-stairs in
the dwelling-house of Stephen  Fairchild, on the
corner of Second Street and Trader's Alley, being lot
No. 92. He was connected (by marriage to a Miss
Boyd) with an old and respectable family still residents of the neighborhood. The same year (1829) a
gentleman by the name of Pearsol taught in a building that was formerly used by Adam  Wilson as a
wareroom. It stood on the bank of the river, on the
only lot then inclosed north of the bridge on the
river tier, being lot No. 15. This brings the schools
down to 1830. After this period the school privileges
were not so limited. About the year 1833, Flavius
Josephus Worrell taught. He came from and returned to New Jersey. His high-sounding name
gave him  some notoriety. In 1839-40, Marlin D.
Dimick taught. At the time of his teaching he was
reading medicine. In 1845, Mrs. Robert Dougan
taught. In 1846, Daniel Forry was teaching. He
joined a company for the Mexican war, was elected
lieutenant, and died at the city of Vera Cruz. In
1847 the Rev. Kenzie John Stewart, an Episcopal
minister from Virginia, built an addition to the schoolhouse on Third Street, and made the first attempt to
raise the standard of schools by introducing advanced
studies, and by inducing scholars from a distance to
come here. In both respects, to some extent, he was
successful. He employed Mr. Nathan Merrill and
Miss Hoadly, a gentleman a.nd lady from  Connecticut, for assistant teachers. Scholars were in attendance from Brownsville, Greensburg, and Bedford.
About the year 1849 a Mr. Patrick gave more character to the school by advanced studies and practice
with chain and compass. For several terms, including 1851, David Barnes, now ticket agent in Connellsville for the Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad, was
the teacher. In 1852 and after Miss Mary Buckingham was teacher. In 1853, Miss Annie Hill taught
a sinall select school. She vas tlle daughter of Mr.
Anthony Hill, who had been at the head of the New
Haven woolen-mill enterprise. In 1854, Mr. John
Bolton was teacher. He was in ability above the
average of teachers of that time. Hie went from here
to Ohio, where lie has been advanced to important
positions in different schools, and is still successfully
engaged there.
In 1857 the Rev. James Black, a Presbyterian minister, in charge of the cliurch in Connellsville, fitted
up the hall above the brick drug-store, and made another attempt to elevate the school standard. He was
assisted by Mr. C. C. Baugh and Miss Maggie Bell as
teachers. He worked with energy and ability, and
was to a considerable extent successful. At present
Mr. Black is professor in an institution of learning in
Ohio. In 1858 he was succeeded in New Haven by
Christopher Columbus Baugh. His male assistant, Mr.
Baugh, belonged to the advanced line of teachers and
was liberally patronized. About 1860, Miss Margaret
Bell, also an assistant of Mr. Black, taught in the same
hall. She was assisted by a Miss Mills. She was a
thorough and successful teacher. Following her, in
1861, Mr. Pollard Morgan opened a school in the hall.
He was a young man of scholarly attainments, having
been educated and trained for the Presbyterian nlinistry, and, strange as it may appear, under the friendship and influence, as was supposed, of a much-loved
Roiiian Catholic friend and companion the disciple
of Calvin became a Papist. Soon after leaving here
he went to the city of Rome and entered the Romish
5.0 6DUNBAR TO'WNSHIP.
communion, and ultimately received priest's orders
Mr. Morgan was from  Pittsburgh, and a brother of
Sydney Morgan, an extensive coal and coke dealer.
In 1868, Miss Herring, from Dunbar, taught in'the
hall. The Rev. Timothy O'Connell, of the Episcopal
Church; an Irishman, and relative of the great Irish
agitator of the same name, openled a school in the
hall in 1875.  His assistant was a Miss Jones, from
New York, whom he afterwards married.
The names of teachers and the date of their teaching from 1868 to 1881 are as follows: 1868, A. S.
Murphey; 1869-70, A. S. Murphey and C. B. Scott;
1870-71, C. B. Allen; 1871-72, Miss Lizzie Miller
and Miss Mollie Ritenour; 1873-74, H. E. Faust;
1874-78, A. S. Cameron; 1879-80,1 Rev. William H.
Cooper and Miss Mary Cooper; 1880-81, N. V. Kill
and Miss Susie T. Griffeth.
The New Haven school district was organized June
1, 1868, the year following the reorganization of the
borough.  The directors chosen in 1868 were S. S.
Myers, Hugh Cameron, Geo. Nickel, I. V. Rhodes,
S. G. Smutz, and J. M. Lytle.  S. G. Smutz was
chosen president, I. V. Rhodes secretary, and S. S.
Myers treasurer. For the year 1868 the appropriation for teachers' wages was $320. The annual report,
dated June, 1880, was as follows:
Number of schools.............2...........  2
Average number of imonths taught.........  7
Teachers..........................................  2
Average sallary per month................... $30.00
Number of male schliolars......................    70
"'    femaile    "....................  48
Average daily attendance.....................    97
Amount levied for school purposes......... $588.27
Amount received from the State............ 102.85
"     "  tax collections..... 486.78
Expenditures.....................................   492.48
The directors for 1881 were C. Smutz, T. R. Torrance, S. S. Myers, Kell Long, J. A. Mestrezat, and
G. A. Mathiott.  C. Smutz is president, Kell Long
treasurer, and G. A. Mathiott secretary.
POST-OFFICE.
New  Haven tried many times and for years to
obtain a post-office, but until late in 1878 fruitlessly.
The inconvenience of having to depend upon the
Connellsville post-office for mail was not only an
aggravating but a costly one, for every time a citizen
of New Haven desired to post a letter or get his mail,
he not only had to make a considerable journey,
but pay toll to cross the river. Many efforts were
made to remedy the evil, but as often as New Haven
tried for a post-office, Connellsville influence was successfully brought to bear to frustrate the project. The
purpose in such opposition lay, it is said, in the conclusion that as long as New Haven lacked a postoffice Connellsville would reap the benefit of additional trade by forcing people from the other side of
the river to come to " town" for their letters. The
I A Batptist minister and his daughlter.
I
New Haven effort of 1878, based upon former futile
experiences, was, however, so quietly conducted that
before Connellsville was aware of what was going on
the New Haven post-office was established, and George
A. Mathiott commissioned postmaster Jan. 1, 1879.
RELIGIOUS.
TRINITY CHURCH (PRtOTESTANT EPISCOPAL).
It would appear from a fragmentary church record
that as early as 1780 Protestant Episcopal Church
services were held in Dunbar township and the
neighborhood by the Rev Mr. Mitchell, and, further,
that he preached in the vicinity from 1780 to 1790 as
an Episcopalian missionary. Who Mr. Mitchell was,
where he came from, or just where he preached are
matters upon which the record is silent.  At some
time previous to the Revolutionary war, Rev. Daniel
McKennon, an Englishman and an Episcopalian,
preached in the neighborhood of Connellsville. Upon
the outbreak of hostilities he sailed for England, and
was subsequently reported to have been lost at sea.
One of his daughters inarried Thomas Rogers, one of
Dunbar's early settlers. In 1780 the Episcopalians
living near what is now New Haven were Mr. and
Mrs. Thomas Rogers, Col. Isaac Meason and his wife,
Benjamin Wells and wife, Mrs. William Crawford
and her daughter Ophelia (or Effie).
In 1817 Trinity Church was organized, but beyond
the bare statement not much can be added touching
the event, since there is now no record of the incidents attendant, or showing who became members of
the organization at the outset. Among the members,
however, it seems pretty certain were Mr. and Mrs.
Thomas Gibbs, their daughter Anna, Mr. and Mrs.
Benjamin Moore, Abraham Baldwin and wife, Mrs.
Ann Norton (sister to Mr. Baldwin), and Elizabeth
Fell.
The first meetings were held in a log building that
stood upon the site now occupied by the Connellsville
public school. Services were held on that side of the
river until 1832, when a house of worship was built
in New Haven. Tllat house is still used. Mrs. Daniel
Rogers donated the ground, and, beyond that, liberal
aid toward the building enterprise was given by
Daniel Rogers. A handsome memorial window in
the church comlnemorates the grateful spirit with
which the kindly deeds of Mrs. Rogers are cherished.
To the gifts mentioned James Mcelvaine added later
those of a church-bell and a parsonage. The first
rector of Trinity was Rev. Jehu Clay, and the second
Rev. Samuel Johnson. Succeeding tilem followed
Revs. Jackson Kemper, Dean Richmond, John P.
Bausman, Henry Pfiffer, Lyman N. Freeman, and
Silas Freeman. During Rev. Silas Freeman's term
of service, from 1833 to 1835, Trinity Sunday-school
was established.
After the Rev. Silas Freeman came Rev. J. J. Kerr
and J. J. McElhinney (now Professor of Theology in
the Seminary of Virginia). The latter left in 1840,
5375HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
but returned in 1842. The interval was filled by the
Rev. William Arnott. Those who succeeded Mr. McElhinney were Revs. Kinsey J. Stewart, Edward
Walker, William J. Hilton, N. M. Jones, Samuel
Cowell, J. G. Furey, H. T. Wilcoxon, George Hall,
C. N. Quick, Faber Byllesley, Richard S. Smith (now
of Brownsville Deanery), G. C. Rafter, J. H. McCandless, S. S. Chevers, G. W. Easter, Timothy
O'Connell, and W. G. Stone. Rev. Mr. Stone, the
present rector, began his labors in 1877. Rev. J. J.
McElhinney was the first rector of Trinity to wear a
surplice. This was in 1846.
Trinity is now a prosperous parish, and owns not
only a house of worship but two parsonages. The
church membership is fifty-five, and that of the
Sunday-school about sixty. The wardens are Robert
A. McIlvaine and George A. Torrance. The vestrymen are E. K. Hyndman, E. V. Goodchild, Thomas
R. Torrance, Thomas Turner, Charles P. Ford, Henry
Wickhain, anld E. A. Jones. The Sunday-school superintendent is Charles P. Ford.
Besides Trinity Church there is but one other religious organization in New Haven, the Zion Methodist
Episcopal African Church, whose house of worship
was built in the summer of 1880.
BIOGRAPIIICAL SKETCHES.
COL. JAMES PAULL.
James Paull, who lived in Fayette County from
childhood to old age, and was one of its prominent
and most lhonored citizens, was born in Frederick
(now Berkeley) County, Va., Sept. 17, 1760, and in
1768 removed to the West with the family of his
father, George Paull, who then settled in that part of
Westmoreland County which afterwards became Fayette; his location being the Gist neigllborhood, in the
present township of Dunbar, which was the home of
James Paull during the remainder of his long life.
Judge Veech says of him that "early in life he
evinced qualities of heart and soul calculated to render hiim conspicuous, added to which was a physical
constitution of the hardiest kind. Throughout his
long life his bravery and patriotism, like his generosity, knew no limits. He loved enterprise and adventure as he loved his friends, and shunned no service or dangers to which they called him. He came
to manhood just when such men were needed."
In the early part of his life James Paull was much
engaged in military service, and in it his record was
that of a brave, honorable, and efficient soldier and
officer. His military experience began in 1778, when,
as a boy of eighteen years, he was drafted for a tour
of duty in the guarding of Continental stores at Fort
Burd, on the Monongahela, under Capt. Robert McGlaughlin. Three years later--in 1871-he was made
a first lieutenant by Thomas Jefferson, Governor of
Virginia, and in that grade served with a company
raised largely by his efforts, and which formed a part
of the expedition which went down the Ohio under
Gen. George Rogers Clarke on a projected campaign
against Detroit, as is mentioned in the Revolutionary
chapters of this history. Upon the failure of that
expedition he returned on foot through the wilderness from the Falls of the Ohio (Louisville, Ky.) to
Morgantown, Va., and thence home, being accompanied by the men of his own command and also the
officers and men of Maj. Isaac Craig's artillery, of
Pittsburgh. In 1782 he served a short tour of duty
as a private soldier at Turtle Creek, above Pittsburgh, and at its close joined (still as a private) the
expedition of Col. William Crawvford against Sandusky. The story of the hardships and perils which
he met in that disastrous campaign, and the manner
of his almost miraculous escape from the savages, has
been told in preceding pages. Again in 1783 and
1784 he was engaged in frontier service against Indian
incursions along the southwest border of the State.
In 1790 he served in the grade of major and lieutenant-colonel under Gen. Harmar in the unsuccessful
campaign of that officer against the Indians in the
Maumee country, and in this, as in all his Inilitary
service, he acquitted himself most honorably. This
was the end of his military experience.  Having
married, he settled down to the comforts of domestic
life and the pursuits of agriculture, in which he vas
eminently successful. He reared a large and most
respectable family, seven sons-James, George, John,
Archibald, Tllomas, William, and Joseph--and one
datughter,--Martha, who became the wife of  William
Walker. He had some concern in iron mailufacture,
and was occasionally in middle life a down-river
trader. But he was a lover of home, with its quiet
cares and enjoyments. He was never ambitious for
office, and the only one he ever held was that of
sheriff of Fayette County from 1793 to 1796. Col.
Paull was a man of perfect and unquestioned integrity
and truth, and of the most generous and heroic impulses. He died in Dunbar township, July 9, 1841,
aged nearly eighty-one years.
ROBERT ANDREW McILVAINE.
The Scotch-Irish McIlvaines of America point to
Ayrshire, Scotland, as the home of their ancestors,
and revert to a period as far back as 1315, whenl Edward, brother of Robert Bruce, led a large force into
Ireland with the purpose of expelling the English
troops from the soil of Erin, great numbers of his
soldiers and retainers remaining in Ireland and
founding what is known as the Scotch-Irish race,
many of whom migrated to America in colonial
times, and among whom were the ancestors of Robert
A. McIlvaine. of New Iaven, Fayette Co., whose
father, John McIlvaine, was a native of Delaware,
I
538"IA2DUNBAR TOWNSHIP.
where in 1796 he married Sarah White, by whom he
had ten children, six born in Delaware. In 1813 he
with his family left his native State, in the latter part
of June, for Washington County, Pa., arriving there
after a tedious journey-a great undertaking in those
days-in the early part of August, and locating on
Pike Run. In the same county two of his uncles,
George and Grier McIlvaine, were then living, and
also two of his brothers-in-law, Fisher and James
White.
On the 25th of August, 1814, his son, Robert Andrew, was born, and in October of the same year
John McIlvaine moved to Connellsville, where he
lived until March, 1815, when he moved across the
river into New Haven, a town at that time comprising about twenty dwellings and a few shops.
Here, in 1815, Mrs. McIlvaine taught a small school,
and counted among her pupils Margaret and Eliza
Connell, daughters of Zachariah Connell, the founder
of Connellsville. This school was one of the pioneer
educational enterprises of the village. While living
here three children were born to Mr. Mcelvaine,Sarah, Isaac, and Eliza.  The parents instructed
their children in the precepts and practices of Christianity, and endeavored to impress them with a sense
of the importance of habits of industry and frugality.
John McIlvaine died in 1850, in his seventy-ninth
year, Sarah, his wife, having gone before him in 1835,
in her fifty-second year. Of their ten children only
four survive,--Mary Tarr, the oldest survivor, a resident of Bethany, Westmoreland Co., Pa., in her seventy-sixth year; James, aged seventy-three, now of
Washington County, a gentleman distinguished for
hlis benevolence as well as great business ability;
Isaac, the youngest survivor, residing near Pittsburgh; and Robert A., the subject of this sketch,
who is sixty-seven years of age, and lives in New
Haven, where he has spent the greater part of his
life, actively identified with the business and growth
of the place.
In the early part of 1853, Mr. McIlvaine, after
having been engaged, with the ordinary share of success, in various avocations of life, entered upon the
business of a druggist, earning an exceptional reputation therein for scientific accuracy in the conmpounding of medicines, and securing the confidence
of a large circle of customers thereby, as well as augmenting his own financial resources. From this business he withdrew in 1876, and though keeping a
watchful eye over his affairs, now lives in comparative retirement, unpretentious in his habits, and
greatly preferring to fields of public duty the quiet
enijoyments of home.
In May, 1841, Mr. McIlvaine married Miss Susan
King, an estimable young lady and former resident
of Westmoreland County, Pa. Of this union four
children were born, the first not surviving its birth.
The others-Josephine, Gertrude, and Ada-grew
up to maturity, and were in proper time given the
best educational advantages at command. Josephinle
graduated at Beaver Female Seminary and Institute,
Gertrude at the Washington Female Seminary, and
Ada was educated in the Moravian Seminary at Bethlehem, Pa.
In 1868 Gertrude was married to Thomas. R. Torrence, of New Haven. In 1871 Mr. McIlvaine lost
his daughter Josephine, who died only four months
before her mother, AMrs. Susan K. McIlvaine, who
expired in the fifty-second year of her age. In 1872
Ada married Dr. Ellis Phillips, of New Haven. Mr.
McIlvaine and all his children are members of the
Episcopal Church, the office of senior warden having
been filled by him since 1854. He has five living
grandchildren,-Josephine, Catharine, and Robert
McIlvaine Torrence, and Ada and James McIlvaine
Phillips,-two having died in infancy,-Thomas Torrence and Gertrude Ellisa Phillips.
REV. JOEL STONEROAD.
Venerable not only for his ripe old age, but for his
well-spent life, as also by reason of his almost classic,
chastened face and fine presence and port as a gentleman, and for those acute instincts and sensitivities
which belong only to the scholarly man of thought, is
the Rev. Joel Stoneroad, who'has been identified for
over half a century with Fayette County, doing excellent work in moulding its moral character and
disciplining its intellectual forces.
This gentleman is of German descent, the name
Stoneroad being the English translation of the German
"Steinway," and was born near Lewistown, Mifflin
Co., Jan. 2,1806, the son of Lewis and Sarah Gardner
Stoneroad, both natives of Lancaster County, the
name of the former's father (Mr. Stoneroad's grandfather) having also been Lewis. Mr. Stoneroad was
educated at a common country school and at Lewistown- Academy, under Rev. Dr. James S. Woods, a
son-in-law of the famous Rev. Dr. Witherspoon, then
president of Princeton College, N. J., at which academy he remained for a year and a half, there applying himiinself to study with such remarkable assiduity
and cleverness in acquirement as in that brief period
of time to fit himself to enter the junior class of Jefferson College, Washington, Pa., as he did in the fall
of 1825, graduating from that institution in 1827;
whereafter he entered the Theological Department or
Seminary of Princeton College (New Jersey), where
lie remained three years, taking (what was then not
the custom to do) the full course, and receiving a
diploma. Leaving the seminary he was licensed to
preach, and returned home to Mifflin County, whence,
with saddle, bridle, and horse, provided him by his
father, he set out upon missionary work, under the
commission of the Board of Home Missions, and betook himself at first to Hancock County, Md., where
he preached his first sermon, and from thence to Morgantown, and Kingwood, Preston Co., W. Va., at which
I
539HISTORY OF FAYETTE COIJNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
place he continued in his missionary labors for about
a year, when he accepted the call of the Presbyterian
Church of Uniontown, Fayette Co., in 1831, of which
church he was pastor for about eleven years.
An important incident in his history while residing
at Uniontown was the active part he took in 1836 in
the trial of the celebrated Rev. Albert Barnes for
doctrinal heresy by the General Assembly of the
Presbyterian Church, of which he was a member, and
then in session in Pittsburgh. The controversy was
at its height when Mr. Stoneroad made a most telling
speech, which was extensively published through the
Pittsburgh and Philadelphia papers, and has frequeint!y  been quoted from since.
Leaving Uniontown he received a call from the
church of Florence, Washington Co., where he remained eight years. His next call was the joint or
united one of Laurel Hill, Franklin township, and
Tyrone, Fayette Co.  After holding this double
charge for about twelve years, he relinquished that of
Tyrone and devoted himself to Laurel Hill, with
Bethel added, for about sixteen years, when, after
having been in the active ministry nearly fifty years,
he resigned this charge, his health having failed him,
through too great devotion to his pastoral duties and
consequent exposure to the severities of an inclement
climate, which broke down in good part a constitution which was apparently, and otherwise might have
continued to be one of the most robust. Since that
time Mr. Stoneroad has taken no active part as a
clergyman. He now resides with his family, in their
quiet, romantically-located farm-house in Woodvale.
He is an old-time Calvinist in doctrine, but not of
that very bigoted school whose cruel austerities are
sometimes pictured by ill-tempered or despairing
mothers, and so made use of to frighten refractory
children, for he is both genial and benevolent.
Mr. Stoneroad has twice married, the first time in
Greene County, Sept. 11, 1832, Miss Rebecca Veech,
daughter of David Veech, Esq. (and sister of the late
Hon. James Veech, the celebrated historian of Western Pennsylvania), by whom he had two daughters, the
elder being the wife of Rev. T. P. Speer, of Wooster,
Ohio, the younger, Miss Sarah Louisa Stoneroad,
who resides with her sister. Mr. Stoneroad's second
marriage; on June 27, 1854, was with Miss Hannah
Paull, daughter of Col. James and Mary Cannon
Paull, of Fayette County, and who is still living. Of
this union are four children,-James Paull, now
residing in New Mexico; Thomas L, a graduate of
Lafayette College, Easton, Pa., in business near
Philadelphia; Mary Belle, who having taken full
course of studies at Hollidaysburg Female Seminary,
is spending her time at the present making advanced
studies at home; and Joel T. M., now attending
Tooster University, Ohio.
JAMES MADISON REID.
They who have won notable success in life are not
all old men. By the vigor and skill of men ranging
in years from twenty-five to forty-five most of the
world's weal has been wrouglht out. In the battles of
business, as in military life, they who win the rank of
leaders do so in early age or then give earnest of
some time so doing. Notable in the history of Fayette County, as much so perhaps as that of any one
in the county, is the career of the young man whose
name is the caption of this sketch, James M. Reid, of
Dunbar. Toward his prosperity " good luck" has
perhaps played the part of an important factor; the
envious would say so. But "luck" is a term which
admits of several definitions, and though "there is a
tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the flood,
leads on to fortune," the number of those who by
lack of,sagacity fail to discern just when to take it
and move not, or, launching their crafts unwisely, go
backward with the reflux and are submerged, is, conimparativelv, as ninety-nine, to the one who rises triumphant and crowns his ambition at last " high on
the hither shore" of security and success.
Together with his abundant abilities, force of character, etc., the chief characteristics as a business man
which mark Mr. Reid would seem to be those which
are as likely to serve him and achieve for hIim continued victories in the future as they have served him
in the past, namely, a mercurial temperament and a
peculiarly well-balanced, controlling brain, enabling
him to form opinions or judgmnents rapi(lly and with
accuracy. While other men ponder and " calculate"
by slow processes, he decides at once, and either secures new accessions to his worldly goods, or escapes
what might have proven a misfortune. But this may
be " luck" after all, but it is a kind of luck which is
somehow closely allied to genius. Mr. Reid has a
good deal- of the same character-and, indeed, personal appearance-as had the late Alexander T. Stewart, of New York, and comes of much the same stock.
He is on both sides of Scotch-Irish descent, and both
his paternal and maternal ancestries or lineages have
frequently adorned the pages of history by deeds of
military prowess, and by sagacity, honor, and learning in the peaceful walks of life. In short, the name
of Reid, as well as that of Henry, and also that of
McAuley (both on Mr. Reid's mother's side), have
played a grand part in the old world, and rank high
in various parts of America. Mr. Reid not only need
feel no diffidence in pointing to his ancestry for fear
of being charged with unworthy vanity, but may
be justly proud of his lineage, since it has been as
much distinguished for high honor as for brave deeds,
and "blood always tells" in some or other avocation
or position in life.
Of Mr. Reid's blood relations who have made their
mark in this country, we may name among others
Capt. Samuel C. Reid, the distinguished naval officer,
"who, in 1814, when in command of the privateer
540I
-                    Z)
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-,     /  k' 7       -1/,
- """  /        --'ll
.-   IDUNMORE'S WAR.                                               67
time, that during our stay we should be careful that killing of their people at Captina and Yellow Creek,
the enemy did not harass the neighborhood that we  immediately sought safety, either in the shelter of the
lay in.  But before this answer could reach Pitts-  "settlers' forts," or by abandoning their settlements
burgh he sent a second express, addressed to Capt.  and flying eastward across the mountains. A glimpse
Cresap, as the most influential man amongst us, in-  of the state of affairs then existing in what is now
forming him that the messengers had returned from   Fayette County is had froin two letters written in
the Indians, that war was inevitable, and begging  May of that year to Col. George Washington by his
him to use his influence with the party to get them  agent, Valentine Crawford, then residing on Jacob's
to cover the country by scouts until the inhabitants  Creek, a few miles northeast of Stewart's Crossings.
could fortify themselves. The reception of this letter  The two letters referred to are given below, viz.:
was the epoch of open hostilities with the Indians.,      " JACOB'S CREEK, May 6, 1774.
A new post was planted, a council was called, and    " DEAR COLONEL,-I am sorry to inform you that
the letter read by Cresap, all the Indian traders being  the disturbance between the white people and the Insummoned on so important an occasion. Action was  dians has prevented my going down the river, as all
had, and war declared in the most solemn manner;  the gentlemen who went down are returned, and most
and the same evening (April 26th) two scalps were  of them have lost their baggage, as I wrote more parbrought into camp. The next day some canoes 6f ticular in my other letter
Indians were discovered on the river, keeping the    "I got my canoes and all my provisions ready, and
advantage of an island to cover themselves from our  should have set off in two or three days but for this
view. They were chased fifteen miles and driven  eruption, which, I believe, was as much the white
ashore. A battle ensued; a few were wounded oni  people's fault as the Indians. It has almost ruined
both sides, one Indian only taken prisoner. On ex-  all the settlers over the Monongahela [that is, on the
amining their canoes we found a considerable quan-  west side of it], as they ran as bad as they did in the
tity of ammunition and other warlike stores.  On  years 1756 and 1757 down in Frederick County [his
our return to camp a resolution was adopted to  former residence in Virginia]. There were more than
march the next day and attack Logan's1 camp on the  one thousand people crossed the Monongahela in one
Ohio, about thirty miles above us. We did march  day.... I am afraid I shall be obliged to build a
about five miles, and then halted to take some re-  fort until this eruption is over, which I am in hopes
freshments. Here the impropriety of executing the  will not last long."
projected enterprise was argued. The conversation    "JAcoB's CREE.K, M~ay 25, 1774.
was brought forward by Cresap himself. It was gen-    "From all accounts Captain Connolly can get from
erally agreed that those Indians had no hostile inten-  the Indian towns they are determined on war, and he
tions, as they were, hunting, and their party was com-  has sent to all the people of Monongahela to let them
posed of men, women, and children, with all their  know that a large number of Shawanese have left
stuff with them.  This we knew, as I myself and  their towns in order to cut off the frontier inhabitants.
others present had been in their camp about four  This has alarmed the people of our neighborhood so
weeks past on our descending the river from Pitts-  much that they are moving over the mountains very
burgh. In short, every person seemed to detest the  fast; but I have, with the assistance of your carpenresolution we had set outt with. We returned in the  ters and servants, built a very strong block-house, and
evening, decamped, and took the road to Redstone."  the neighbors, what few of them have not run away,
Immediately afterwards occurred the murder of have joined with me, and we are building a stockade
Logan's people at Baker's Bottom and the killing of fort at my house. Mr. Simpson also and his neighthe Indians at Captina Creek. The so-called speech  bors have begun to build a fort at your Bottom [where
of Logan fastened the odium of killing his people in  Perryopolis now is], and we live in hopes we can stand
cold blood on Capt. Michael Cresap, of Redstone Old  our ground until we can get some assistance from beFort. That the charge was false and wholly unjust low."
is now known by all people well informed on the sub-   Again, irl a letter dated Jacob's Creek, June 8,
ject. Cresap did, however, engage in the killing of 1774, Crawford says to Washington, " We have built
other Indians, being no doubt incited thereto by the  several forts out here, which was a very great means
deceitful tenor of Dr. Connolly's letters, which were  of the people standing their ground. I have built
evidently written for the express purpose of inflaming  one at my house, and have some men to guard it.
the minds of the frontiersmen by false information, Mr. Simpson has also built a fort at the place where
and so bringing about a general Indian war.      they are building your mill, by the assistance of his
The settlers along the frontiers, well knowing that neighbors and part of your carpenters. I have sevthe Indians would surely make war, in revenge for the  eral times offered him all the carpenters and all the
servants, but he would not take any of the servants
and but four of the best carpenters. His reasons for
1 The Mino chief Logan the mnrder of whose fmily in this war not taking the servants are that there is a great deal
w%'as charged on Capt. Cresap; but the whole tenor of this letter of
Gen. Clarke goes to prove the injustice of the charge.  of company at the fort, and drink middling plenty.I
IDUNBAR TOWNSHIP.'Gen. Armstrong,' fought with a British fleet the
most brilliant naval engagement to be found on record."  (We quote from a biographical notice of
Capt. Reid in the Washington Union of April 30,
1858.) It was Capt. Reid who, in 1818, at the complimentary request of a committee of Congress, designed our present national flag. The first brigadiergeneral of the war of the Revolution was a Reid of
the same stock.  On his mother's side Mr. Reid
belongs to the Henry family, who, with Patrick
Henry, the illustrious orator of Virginia, and the
late Prof. Henry of the Smithsonian Institution, and
others, have added lustre to the American name, and
were sprung from the same common source with Mrs.
Reid; -and that ardent patriot, John McAuley, an
officer on Gen. Washington's staff, was a relative of
Mrs. Reid on her mother's side, a great-uncle. But
we need not enlarge on this head, for nature sets her
own visible seals upon those whom she honors with
strength and skill to do great deeds either of war,
commerce, art, or literature; and, after all, success is
the mirror which reflects them.
A gentleman well understanding the courtesies of
social life, and which he dispenses in a generous, unostentatious manner; and enjoying among his neighbors and all with whom he has business dealings an
unblemished reputation for integrity, and withal,
and quite as commendable, for free-handed, liberal
dealing,-for he is neither heartlessly avaricious, nor
made exacting and dominating through his great success,-Mr. Reid is popular in the best sense, and
widely respected by all classes. Of his parentage,
boyliood, and remarkable business career, it only
remains for us to tell the story in swift detail.
Mr. Reid is the son of James Dunlap Reid, who
came from the city of Belfast, Ireland, about 1840,
and settled in Pennsylvania. He married Miss Mary
Henry (whose mother was a McAuley), daughter of
Mr. Edward Henry. James M., born April 10, 1849,
is the third child of this union, and was raised in
Allegheny County. He was educated in the common
schools only, till about fourteen years of age, when he
entered the Allegheny Institute, and continued there
about two years, and then became a clerk in a general
store, where he was occupied for about a year; whereafter he removed to Broad Ford, Fayette Co., and was
engaged as a clerk with his brother, E. H. Reid, for
about four years, and from that place went into the
business of merchandising in partnership with others
at Dunbar, where he now resides.  He continued
partnership merchandising, with various changes in
copartners, for about six years. Meanwhile Mr. Reid
conducted, alone or with others, more or less other
business, particularly the mining of coal and manufacture of coke on lands and in works belonging to
himself and his copartners, but all of which he now
owns, the capacity of his coke-works being at present
ten car-loads a day.
Aside from these coke-works and coal lands, Mr.
35
Reid is largely interested in coal-fields, covering in
the aggregate over six thousand acres, the major
portion of or controlling interest in which he and
his brother, E. H. Reid, own; and in February last
(1882) he organized the Connellsville and Ursina
Coal and Coke Companv, with a capital of $400,000,
of which company he is president. The chief purpose of this company is to develop the iron ore, coal,
and limestone-beds which the lands above referred
to contain. He also holds a large interest in the
business of Boyts, Porter  Co., extensive brass and
iron founders and machinists at Connellsvi'lle.
Mr. Reid is a Republican who takes active interest in politics, and was appointed a delegate for the
representative district of Fayette County to the State
Convention of 1881. He is also a member of the
Republican State Central Committee, and has won
the gratulations of his party throughout the State
for the efficient and judicious work done in his district since his occupany of a seat4in the committee's
councils.
JOSEPII OGLEVEE.
Joseph Oglevee, Esq., a remarkably successful merchant and business man of East Liberty, is the grandson of Joseph Oglevee, who migrated from Cecil
County, Md., in the spring of 1789, and settled in
Fayette County, on the farm on which he lived till
his death, which occurred Sept. 14, 1835, in the seventy-first year of his age, Ann Barricklow, his wife,
surviving him. She died Oct. 16,1845, in her seventyeighth year. Their son, Jesse Oglevee, father of the
present Joseph, died Jan. 26, 1876, in the seventythird year of his age. He was well known throughout the county as one of its most upright citizens, and
was for many years a ruling elder in the Cumberland
Presbyterian Church of East Liberty, and of which
he was one of the main supporters. Mr. Oglevee's
mother (married May 14, 1826) was Elizabeth Galley
(born Oct. 3, 1807, died Aug. 14, 1858), a daughter of
Philip Galley, widely and favorably known in the
county. Mr. Oglevee was born June 2, 1827, on the
same spot where his father was born and lived all his
lifetime, the family residence standing on both sides
of the line (which divides the house about equally)
between Dunbar and Franklin townships, and brought
up by hlis parents,under strictly moral and religious
rules, and at the age of fourteen years united with
the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, of which he
has ever since been a faithful working member,
doing at least as much as any other one of the congregation towards defraying expenses, paying the
minister's salary, etc.
Mr. Oglevee's early education was gotten by the
hardest, he being till he had nearly reached manlhood
the only son of his parents, and his father being a
lame man, the work of the farm devolved upon him,
and lie was obliged to obtain his education by study541HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
ing at night. By that means, and one session at
Greene Academy, he succeeded in providing himself
with a fair English education.
Mr. Oglevee is a man of great energy and determination, which together with large native intellectuality, disciplined by acute general observation and
considerable reading, have doubtless been the main
factors of his success.  His chief ambition or desire in active life seems to be to accomplish whatever
he undertakes, whether it relates to matters of the
church or worldly affairs. As evidence of the persistent traits of his character and his untiring energy,
as well as a matter of local history, it may be added
here that he went into the mercantile business at
East Liberty about 1854, having nothing as capital
but his hard-earned, slender means to begin with,
and with no one to " bail " or help hiim, and practically unconversanto with the business, having then
" never stood in a store a day in his life," and in face
of the fact that several persons who had started in
like enterprises at the same place just previous to his
undertaking it had successively and utterly failed.
Undaunted by all obstacles he gradually wrougllt out
complete success, and has been obliged, in order to
accommodate his business, to enlarge the capacity of
his store building from time to time, and it is still too
small for the extensive business he carries on. The
profits of his mercantile and other business Mr. Oglevee applies in good part to the erection of houses and
the imrprovemlent of the town.
Another instance of his great energy and enterprise, and which, too, may be cited as an interesting
matter of local history, was his laying hold of the old
mill property of Jacob Leighty, Sr., on Dickerson
River, Dunbar township, when it had become so coinpletely wrecked that no one else could be induced to
attempt to revive it or even consider it, and not only
repairing it but making it better than ever before.
He put into it a new  engine, new  boilers, new
machinery, and a inew first-class miller, and it was
not long before custom poured in so fast that lie lhad
to enlarge the mill, wllich he did by an addition
thereto as large as the old mill itself, and he is now
doing there an extensive business, grinding more
wheat in a single month than had been ground for
many years before.
Oct. 25, 1850, Mr. Oglevee married Rebecca Stoner,
of Dunbar township. They have had seven children,
--Leroy Woods, born Oct. 9, 1851, died Feb. 16, 1874;
Emeline, born Sept. 18, 1853; Anna E., born Feb. 5,
1856; Jesse A., born Feb. 25, 1860; Wm. G., born
Nov. 19, 1865; Christopher S., born March 24, 1868;
Stark D., born Dec. 15, 1873, died March 30, 1875.
MAURICE IIEALY.
A short biography of Maurice Healy, the bold and
shocking murder of whom, on the evening of June
26, 1881, was a tragic episode in the usually peacefuil
life of Fayette County, merits a place here, not only
because he was the victim of murderous hate, but because he ably filled posts of duty in his sphere of life.
The brief tale of his murder, with the alleged animus
thereof, is that, on the evening above noted, he was
first suddenly struck down by a "billy" in the hands
of one of a band of conspirators, and then by some
one fatally shot, the murder taking place near the west
end of the side-cut of the Furnace Branch of the Baltimore and Olhio Railroad, at Dunbar. The motiVe of
the murder is supposed to be found in the fact that
Healy had with great earnestness opposed the granting by the authorities of a license to sell intoxicating
liquors, asked for by Patrick McFarlane, of Dunbar.
Charged with the crime, Patrick Dolan, James McFarlane, John Kaine, John Collins, James Rogan,
Michael Dolan, and Bernard Flood were arrested in
September, 1881, and indicted as Healy's murderers.
Patrick Dolan was'subsequently put on trial, and by
the jury found guilty of murder in the second degree.
McFarlane was tried before another jury, and under
evidence almost identical with that by which Dolan
was convicted was acquitted. Of the remainder, John
Kaine is in jail, and the rest are released under $4000
bonds each (now, February, 1882), their trial being
set down for the April term of court.l
Mr. Healy was born in Ireland, and came to America when quite young. Before first coming to Dunbar he worked at Jones  Laughlin's furnace, Pittsburgh, for some time, after which he was engaged as
furnace-keeper by the Dunbar Furnace Company, in
1868, when he was about twenty-seven years of age,
it is thought. After a short time he left the company,
and returned in 1871, and was engaged as furnacemanager, or foundry-man, having charge of the furnace, in which capacity he continued till some time
in 1875, when he left Dunbar and went to Riverside
Iron-Works, West Virginia, being occupied there
about a year as furnace-man. Leaving West Virginia he was next engaged in like capacity at Lemont
Furnace, remaining there till Feb. 22, 1877, when he,
was again engaged by the Dunbar Furnace Company,
and conltinued with it till the time of his murder.
In 1879 he, with others, purchased a sand-mill near
Dunbar Furnace, he taking charge of the same. The
same parties also bought, about the same time, what
is now called "The Percy Mine," at Percy Station.
Both purchases proved good investments. Just prior
to his death, Mr. Healy took considerable stock in the
Fayette Furnace Company, at Oliphant's Station.
By industry and economy he had accumulated a competence. He left a wife, who is in comfortable circumstances, but had no children.
Healy is described by those who knew him well as,
though niaking no claim to education in books, very
1 At the April term the district attorney fonnd that he had been in a
measure misled by the false statemenlts of certain detectives, anid Nwas
therefore unprepared to prosecllte thle cases, which wele for the preselnt
suspended by a,zolle pr1oseqli.
I
I
5 1,2I'd-    )                         "DUNBAR TOWNS[IIP.
intelligent, genial, and straightforward, a warm and
faithful friend, a man of great force of character, true
to the important business trusts which were conifided
to his care, and a good citizen.
COL. ALEXANDER M. AND COL. ALEXANDER J.
IIILL.
Alexanider J. Hill, of Duinbar, a portrait of whom
appears in these pages, would have preferred that a
picture representing his late father, Col. Alexander
M. Hill, be presented in its stead. But, as in the case
of not a few people of character and note, no good
likeness of the latter could be procured; but with
appreciative filial affection, Mr. A. J. Hill desires
biographical space herein to be accorded to the memory of hiis father rather than comment upon himself.
We therefore currently remark only that Alexander
J. Hill is a robust, active man, wlho was reared a
farmer; that he is at present principally occupied
with the superintendency of the worlks of the Rainey
Bank Coal and Coke Coiiipaniy, at Fort Hill, East
Liberty, Fayette Co.; and is popularly knowni as
" Col." A. J. Hill, but says that thie title is niot his by
right of any military commnissioni. B3ut he has beeni
so long "baptized" under the sobriquet or,title of
"colonel" by the popular will that to overlook the
title would be little else than overlooking himii.
Col. Alexander McClelland Hill was the son of
Rev. George Hill, wlho was pastor of the LPresbyterian
Church inl Ligonier Valley, Westinoreland Co. He
was of Scotelh-Irish  descent.  In the appendix of
Ellicott's " Life of Macurdy" it is stated that George
Hill was born in York County,., Matrcll 13,
1764. When about nineteen years of age i.e removed
with his fatlher and finnily to Fayette County, and
settled within tlhe t)oun(s of the congregation of
Georges Creek. Rev. George Hill's witfe was Elizabeth McClelland, a daughter of Alexander McClelland, of Fayette County, after whoimi Col. A. M. was
named.
Col. A. M. Hill, who died in 1863, at the age of
about sixty years, was a very reinarkable man, regarding whom it is to be reg,retted that but few details of his life and deeds can at this timne be readily
gathered. He was in early life a tanner, and became
an extensive farmer. His father left him a small
farm near Laurel Hill Clhurch, but by his energy and
tact Col. Hill acquired a very considerable domain,
and at the time of his death was possessed of a farm
lying in Dunbar township of about three hundred and
fifty acres, of which probably six-seveiiths part is
underlaid with coking coal; and of another farm of
a hundred and eighty-nine acres, all coal land; and
of another (now owined by the Dunbar Furnace Company) of a hundred and thirty acres.
Col. A. M. Hill is represented as having been a man
of high integrity, of great generosity, an obliging
and liberal friend, a man who clung, to his friends,
and would always do for them what he said he would.
Of course he had warm friends, and, as is not surprising in the case of a positive, earnest man who
fought his friends' battles, he had, it is said, bitter
enemies. He was a man of strong common seinse,
great energy, extreme tact, cautious in business, but
free-handed in the use of money when necessary. He
was one of the earliest advocates of the extension of the
Baltimnore and Ohio Railroad through Fayette County,
and labored hard to effect it,-a recognized leader
of the railroad party. He was among the pioneers of
coke manufacture in the county, making it in pits in
the ground and shipping it to Pittsburglh before cokeovens were erected in Fayette County. He was a
man of. fine personal appearance, of good address,
and popular manners. As a politician he was a force.
He was twice a member of the State Legislature,
representing the district of Fayette and Westmoreland
Counties (1851-52); and in 1854 was the regular
Democratic candidate for the State Senate from his
district, buit was beaten under a conspiracy of circumstances not affecting his popularity by William
E. Frazer (Native Anmerican). In 1860 he was again
a candidate for the Senate, but ran against Dr. Smith
Fuller, and was again defeated. As a legislator, Col.
Hill is said to have been excellent.
ELLIS PHILLIPS.
Dr. Ellis Plhillips, of Newv hIaven, is of Welsh
Quaker ancestry. His grandfatther, S~olomon Phillips;
was borni in the State of Delaware, where he married
Martlha Nichols, of WViltinlgtoin. About the year
1786 he removed to Washinigton CounIty, Pa., locating on a farm  on the baiiks of the Monongahela
River, opposite the moutlh ot Redstonie Creek. Here
Ellis Phillips, the father of Dr. E. Phillips, was bornl
Nov. 12, 1798. In 1824 he married Phebe, daughter
of Thomas Lilley, of Washington County, and removed to a farm in Nortlh Union township, Fayette
Co., where Dr. Phillips was born Aug. 31, 1843, being
the youngest son of his parents, who had eight children, five sons and three daughters.
Dr. Phillips remained on the farm, occasionallv attending the public schools, till about sixteen years of
age, when he commenced a course of preparatory
studies at the academy at Uniiontown, where he continued for two years, aild then entered Washington
(now Washington and Jefferson) College, Pennsyvania, from whiclh institution he graduated in 1865.
He then entered the office of Dr. Smith Fuller, of
Uniontown, as a student of medicine. Having attended the regular courses of lectures at Jefferson
Medical College, Philadelphia, he received his degree
in 1867. The same year he located in New Haven in
partnership with Dr. James K. Rogers, a surgeonl of
more than ordinary ability. They remained partners
for about three years until Dr. Rogers' death. Prior
to the death of Dr. Rogers, Dr. Phillips returned to
I
54368                   HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
He thinks, therefore, that it would be out of his power  Governor Penn, saying, " The panic which has struck
to govern themn... From  Indian alarms and the  this couintry threatens an entire depopulation therecrowds of people that come to the fort he can get  of."  To which the Governor replied, June 28, 1774,
nothing done, even with the small number of hands  "The accounts which you have transmitted of the
he has."                                             temper of the Indians and the murders they have
In a second letter of the same date he says, "Since  already perpetrated are truly alarming, and give
I just wrote you an account of several parties of In-  every reason to apprehend that we shall not long be
dians being among the inhabitants has reached us.  exempt from the calamities of a savage war. The deYesterday they killed and scalped one man in sight  sertion of that country in consequence of the panic
of the fort on the Monongahela,-one of the inmates.  which has seized the inhabitants on this occasion
There have been several parties of savages seen  must be attended with the most mischievous effects,
within these two or three days, and all seem to be  and prove ruinous to the immediate sufferers and dismaking towards the Laurel Hill or mountain. For  tressing to the province in general."  The people of
that reason the people are afraid to travel the road  this region sent a petition and address to Governor
by Gist's, but go a nigh way by Indian Creek, or ride  Penn, setting forth " That there is great reason to apin the night.     There is one unhappy circum-  preliend that the country will again be imlmediately
stance: our country is very scarce of ammunition and  involved in all the horrors of an Indian war; that
arms. I have therefore taken the liberty to write to  their circumnstances at this critical time are truly
you to get me two quarter-hundred casks of powder,  alarming,--deserted by the far greater part of our
and send theni as far as Ball's Run, or Col. Samuel  neighbors and fellow-subjects, unprotected with places
Washington's, or Keyes' Ferry, where I can get them  of strength to resort to with ammunition, provisions,
up here by pack-horses. I want no lead, as we have  and other necessary stores, our houses abandoned to
plenty....                                        pillage, labor and industry entirely at a stand, our. "On Sunday evening, about four miles over Mo-  crops destroyed by cattle, our flocks dispersed, the
nongahela, the Indians murdered one family, consist-  minds of the people disturbed with the terrors of falling of six, and took two boys prisoners. At another  ing, along wfith the helpless and unprotected families,
place they killed three, which makes in the whole nine  the victims of savage barbarity. In the midst of
and two prisoners. If we had not had forts built there  these scenes of desolation and ruin, next to the Alwould not have been ten families left this side of the moun-  mighty, we look to your Honor, hoping, from your
tains besides what are at Fort Pitt. We hlave sent out  known benevolence and humanity, such protection as
scouts after the murderers, but we have not heard  your Honor shall see meet."  This petition and the
that they have fallen in with them yet. We have at  letters above quoted set forth with much of truth and.
this time at least three hundred men out after the In-  clearness, the alarming situation of affairs existing
dians, some of wvhom liave gone down to Wheeling,  west of the Laurel Hill in the summer of 1774.
and I believe some have gone down as low as the    In the mean time (upon the retirement of George
Little Kanawha. I am in hopes they will give the  Rogers Clarke from Wheeling to Redstone) an express
savages a storm, for some of the scouting company say  was sent to Williamsburg, Va., to inform the Governor
they will go to their towns but they will get scalps."  of the events which had occurred upon the frontier,
It was the Indian chief Logan, he whose formrer  and the necessity of immediate preparation for an
friendship for the whites had been turned into bitter-  Indian war. Upon this, Lord Dunmore sent messen-.
est hatred by the killing of his people, who came in  gers to the settlers who had already gone forward to
with his band to ravage the settlements on the west Kentucky to return at once for their own safety, and
side of the Monongahela, throwing all that country  he then without delay took measures to carry war
into a state of the wildest alarm. The present coun-  into the Indian country. One force was gathered at
ties of Washington and Greene were almost entirely  WVheeling, and marched to the Muskingum counltry,
deserted by their people. Dr. Joseph Doddridge, in  where the commander, Col. McDonald, surprised the
his "  Notes," says that the people in the vicinity of Indians and punished them sufficiently to induce them
his father's settlement (in the west part of what is now  to sue for peace, though it was believed that their reWashington County) fled across the Monongahela to  quest was but a treacherous one, designed only to gain
the shelter of Morris' fort, in Sandy Creek Glade, time for the collection of a larger body of wvarriors to
southeast of Uniontown. That fort, he says, "con-  renew the hostilities.
sisted of an assemblage of small hovels, situated on the    But the main forces mustered by Dunmore for the
margin of a large and noxious marsh, the effluvia of invasion of the Indian country were a detachment to
which gave most of the women and children the fever  move down the Ohio from Pittsburgh, under the Govand ague."                                           ernor in person, and another body of troops under
The terror which prevailed on the east side of the  Gen. Andrew  Lewis,'  which was rendezvoused at
Monongahela was scarcely less than that which drove
the people from the west side of that river. Capt.ho had been a captain under Washington in the Fort Necessity
Arthur St. Clair, of Westmoreland County, wrote to  canlpaign of 1754.HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Plhiladelphia, where he remained several months,
taking special private courses of study in his profession. He then returned to his old location and to the
firm's business, where he has ever since enjoyed an
extensive and lucrative practice. On May 16, 1872,
he married Ada A. Mcllvaine, daughter of Robert A.
McIlvaine, of New Haven. They immediately sailed
for Europe, visiting England, Ireland, Scotland, and
parts of the continenlt. While abroad he took advantage of his opportunity to improve himself professionally by visiting the hospitals of London and
Dublin, taking a special course in several of them as
a student. Dr. Phillips has two children living, a
daughter and a son.
MAJ. ARTHUR B. DE SAULLES.
Maj. Arthur B. De Saulles, of Dunbar, the vicepresident of the Dunbar Iron Company, and superintendent of its works, is the son of an English gentleman, Louis De Saulles, who is of French descent, and
Armide Longer' De Saulles, a Louisianian by birth,
and, like her husband, of French lineage. Maj. De
Saulles was born in New Orleans, Jan. 8,1840, and
was instructed at home by a private tutor until ten
years of age, when he was placed in a Gerian school
at West Newton, Mass., and carefully trained in the
German language, as well as other studies, for two
years. This period of educational discipline was followed immediately by two years at Bolmar's FrenchEnglish Institute at West Chester, Pa., and the latter
period by a course of study at Cambridge, Mass., in
preparation for anl advanced course of scientific
studies, which he made at the Rensselaer Polytechnic
School at Troy, N. Y., from which institution he
graduated in June, 1859. During his connection
with the Polytechnic School he was engaged for five
months as assistant in the geological survey of Arkansas.
After his graduation Maj. De Saulles' father sent
him on a tour of inspection through the State of
Pennsylvania to examine mining and metallurgical
operations therein, and make report thereof to him,
after which experience and report he sent him to
Europe in December, 1859, and in January, 1860, De
Saulles entered the f]cole des Mines, Paris, where he
remained till September, 1861, when he returned to
New Orleans, and three days after his arrival there
entered the Confederate service, and was placed on
the staff of Maj. Lovell in the engineer corps, and was
put in charge of the construction of fortifications on
Lake Pontchartrain and on Plaine Chalmette, south
of New Orleans. With the Confederate forces he
remained on active duty (with the exception of a
short time when furloughed on account of a wound
received in a skirmish) until the surrender of the
Army of the Tennessee in North Carolina, at which
time he was its chief engineer. During this period
of service he was mainly enlployed in the construction of fortifications at various points, and in the
building of pontoon trains for the Army of the Tennessee, to which he was most of the time attached,
and wherein he acted as major from the fall of 1864
till the time of its surrender.
Soon after the war he went to Europe, where he remained till April, 1866, when he returned to America
and took the position of engineer of the New York
and Schuylkill Coal Company's works, after a year
being placed in charge, and remaining with the company till it sold out to the Philadelphia and Reading
Coal and Iron Company, in October, 1871, whereupon
he moved to New York City, and engaged in professional pursuits till March, 1876, when he became connected with the Dunbar Furnace Works. Aside from
his connection with these works he is manager of the
Percy Mining Company, and one of the executive
committee of the Fayette Coke and Furnace Company
at Oliphant, which works in all employ about a thousand hands.
He was one of the seven organizers (1868) of the
American Institute of Mining, which now embraces
about one thousand members and associates, and also
one of the original members of the American Society
of Mechanical EngiIleers, and is a member of the
American Meteorological Society.
In politics he is " a good old-fashioned Democrat,"
and in religion not a " communicant," but takes interest in the little Episcopal Church which his wife
built and presented to the parish at Dunbar Furnace
in 1880.
Aug. 19, 1869, he married Miss Catharinp Heckscher, daughter of Charles A. Heckscher, of New
York City, by whom he had three sons and two
daughters.
JOSEPH TAYLOR SIIEPLER, M.D.
In Fayette County, as in most other old divisions of
States throughout the Union, there are enterprising and
talented young men, who have already taken the first
steps to distinction and are fast " making history,"
and destined to add important pages to that already
made by the honored dead and the remarkable aged
living. Of these is notably Dr. Joseph T. Shepler, of
Dunbar, who is on his paternal side of German, and
on his maternal of Scotch, descent. His ancestors
were among the earliest settlers of Rostraver township, Westmoreland Co., coming there some time before Braddock's defeat. His great-grandfather's Christimn name was Mathias, that of his grandfather, Isaac.
Dr. Shepler's father's maternal grandfather, Joseph
Hill, was a colonial soldier in the French and Indian
war, and also a soldier in the Revolutionary war;
and his son, Joseph Hill, Jr., served as a soldier in
the war of 1812. Dr. Shepler's great-grandfather's
brother, Joseph Shepler, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war.
Dr. Shepler is the fourth child of Samuel and EveI
544_rI-v
Illl
I4#-                                              -t69
DUNMIORE'S WAR.
Camp Union, now Lewisburg, Greenbrier Co., Va.
These two columns were to meet for co-operation at   "SIR,--I yestelday returned from our late expedithe moutll of the Great Kanawha River. Under this  tion against the Shawanese, and I think we may
general plan Governor Dunmore moved from Wil- with propriety say we have had great success, as we
liamsburg to Winchester and to Fort Cumberland, made them sensible of their villany and weakness, and
thence over the Braddock road to the Youghiogheny, I hope made peace with them on such a footing as
and across the territory of the present county of Fay-  will be lasting, if we can make them adhere to the
ette on his way to Fort Pitt, which in the mean time  terms of agreement.... The plunder sold for ~400
had been named by his partisans, in his honor, Fort sterling, besides what was returned to a Mohawk InDunmore. From there hle proceeded with Ihis forces  dian who was there."
down the Ohio River, Maj. William  Crawford, of
Stewart's Crossings of the Youghiogheny, being one    The "settlers' forts" and block-houses, which by
of his principal officers.                           affording shelter and protection to the inhabitants
The force under Gen. Andrew Lewis, eleven hun-  prevented an entire abandonment of this section o!
dred strong, proceeded from Camp Union to the head- the country in DlDnmore's war, were nearly all erected
waters of the Kanawha, and thence down the valley  during the terror and panic of the spring and summei
of that river to the appointed rendezvous at its mouth, of the year 1774, though a few had been built previ
which was reached on the 6th of October. Gen. ously. Judge Veech, in his " Monongahela of Old,'
Lewis, being disappointed in his expectation of find-  mentions them as follows:
ing Lord Dunmore already there, sent messengers up   "These forts were erected by the associated effort,
the Ohio to meet Ihis lordship and inform him of the  of settlers in particular neighborhoods upon thb
arrival of the column at the mouth of the Kanawha. land of some one, whose name was thereupon given t,
On the 9th of October a dispatch was received from  the fort, as Ashcraft's, Morris', etc. They consiste(
Dunmore saying that he (Dunmore) was at the nmouth  of a greater or less space of land, inclosed on all side
of the IIocking, and that he would proceed thence  by high log parapets or stockades, with cabins adapte4
directly to the Shawanese towns on the Scioto, instead  to the abode of families. The only external opening
of coming down the Ohio to the mouth of the Kan-  were a large puncheon gate and small port-hole
awha as at first agreed on. At the same time he ordered  among the logs; through which the unerring rifle c
Lewis to cross the Ohio and march to meet him  the settler could be pointed against the assailant,
(Dunmore) before the Indian towns.              Sometimes, as at Lindley's, and many of the othe
But on the following day (October 10th), before  forts in the adjacent country west of the Monongs
Gen. Lewis had commenced his movement across the  hela, additional cabins were erected outside of th
Ohio, he was attacked by a heavy body of Shawanese  fort for temporary abode in times of danger, fror
warriors under the chief Cornstalk. The fight (known  which tile sojourners could, in case of attack, retre'
asthe battle of PointPleasant) raged nearly all day, and  within the fort. All these erections were of roug
resulted in the complete rout of the Indians, who sus- logs, covered with clapboards and weight-poles, tb
tained a very heavy (though not definitely ascertained)  roofs sloping inwards. A regularly built fort of tb
loss, and retreated in disorder across tile Ohio. The  first class had its angles, block-houses, and sometim4
loss of the Virginians under Lewis was seventy-five  a ditch protected a vulnerable part. These bloc]
killed and one hundred and forty wounded. Dun- houses projected a little past the line of the cabin
more and Lewis advanced from their respective points  and the upper half was made to extend some two fc
into Ohio to " Camp Charlotte," on Sippo Creek. There  farther, like the over-jut of a barn, so as to leave a
they met Cornstalk and tile other Shawanese chiefs, overhanging space, secured against entrance by heaN
with whom a treaty of peace was made; but as some  log floors, with small port-holes for repelling clo
of the Indians were defiant and disinclined for peace, attacks or attempts to dig down or fire the fort
Maj. William Crawford was sent against one of their  These rude defenses were very secure, were seldo
villages, called Seekunk, or Salt-Lick Town. His force  attacked, and seldom, if ever, captured. They we
consisted of two hundred and forty men, with which  always located upon open, commanding eminencE
he destroyed the village, killed six Indians, and took  sufficiently remote from coverts and wooded heigh
fourteen prisoners.                                  to prevent surprise.
These operations and the submission of the Indians   " The sites of the' old forts' (or prehistoric mound
at Camp Charlotte, virtually closed the war. Governor were sometimes chosen for the settlers' forts. TI
Dunmore immediately set out on his return and pro-  was the case with the site on the Goe land,just abo
ceeded by way of Redstone and the Great Crossings  the mouth of the Little Redstone, where, as befo
of the Youghiogheny to Fort Cumberland, and thence  mentioned, there was erected a settlers' fort, call
to the Virginian capital. Major Crawford also re- Cassell's, or Castle Fort. How far'Redstone C
turned to his home in the present county of Fayette, Fort' was so used cannot certainly be known,
where, the day after his arrival, he wrote Col. George  while it existed as a place of defense after settlemel
Washington, the friend of his boyhood, as follows:   began, it was a kind of government fort for t
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theDUNBAR TOWLNSIHIP.
lina Steele Shepler, both Presbyterians, and was born
near Rehoboth Church, in Rostraver township, March
20, 1847, and was brought up on a farm, attending
common and select schools in winter seasons, and a
commercial college at Syracuse, N. Y., meanwhile
gratifying as well as he was able a strong desire for
general reading, until he became about nineteen years
of age, when he entered as clerk a store for general
merchandising in Belle Vernon, Fayette Co., where he
remained somewhat over two years; but being uneasy
in his pursuit, and ambitious to excel in something
beside merchandising, he went as a student into the
office of Dr. S. A. Conklin, of that place, with whom
he remained prosecuting his studies with closest attention for two years, and then attended a course of
lectures at the Medical Department of the University
of Michigan. In the autumn of 1871 he located for
the practice of his profession in Dunbar, being the
first physician who settled at that place. There he
continued, securing a good practice, till September,
1873, when he went to New York City, and attended
a course of lectures at Bellevue Hospital Medical College, wherefrom he graduated in March, 1874, and
after a period of practice of about two and a half
years at Canton, Ohio, returned to Dunbar, where he
has since followed his profession, enjoying a large and
lucrative practice.
In connection with his practice, Dr. Shepler, in
partnership with Dr. R. W. Clark (his professional
partner also), carrieson the drug business. He has also
engaged somewhat in the purchase and sale of real
estate with profitable results, and from 1878 to 1880,
both inclusive, he was coroner of Fayette County, and
discharged the duties tllereof honorably and creditably. He is the surgeon of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company for its Southwest Branch, extending
from Greensburg to Fairchance.
On the 18th of November, 1875, Dr. Shepler married a daughterof-Jasper M. Thompson, Esq., president
of the First National Bank of UIniontown, Miss Ruth
A. Thompson, by whom he has one child, a daughter,
Eva Thompson. Dr. and Mrs. Shepler are members
of the Presbyterian Church.
JAMES BLACKSTONE.
The venerable Mr. James Blackstone, of Dunbar
township, near the line of New Haven, is of English
descent.  His grandfather, James Blackstone, came
hither from the Eastern Shore of Maryland shortly
after Col. William Crawford and his comrades found
their way into Yohogania County, Va., as the region
of which Fayette County is a part was then called.
Mr. Blackstone was married before he left Maryland,
and brought his family and some negroes with him,
and settled in what is now Tyrone township, on the
farm recently owned by Ebenezer Moore. He had
four daughters and one son, James, Jr. (the father of
the present James), who was born June 4, 1780. On
the 13th of October, 1803, James (Jr.) married Miss
Sarah Rogers, of Dunbar township, and going to
Connellsville there engaged in merchandising, and
built the house now occupied as a hotel by E. Dean,
on Water Street, into whicll he moved. He died July
16, 1809, leaving three children, the youngest of whom
(born July 19, 1808) is the chief subject of these
notes.
Mr. Blackstone grew up under the care of his
mother, a most estimable woman, and spent his youth
in the village, except two years thereof passed at college in New Athens, Ohio. Afterreturning from college, he spent some time as clerk in the store of Davidson  Blackstone (the latter of whom was his brother,
Henry), at Connellsville, and some time as clerk at
Breakneck Furnace, then owned by Mr. William
Davidson; but fa'rming was always more to his taste
than merchandising.
On the 10th of June, 1834, he married Nancy C.
Johnston, of Connellsville, and lived there till 1836,
in the spring of which year he bought of Col. William
L. Miller Roscommon Farm, moved to it June 23(d,
and has there lived ever since. Mr. and Mr,. Blackstone have nine children-four sons and five daughters
-living.
Mr. Blackstone was an old-line Whig, and is now a
Republican, but never was an active politician, never
holding a public office and never desiring one. He
has ever led a quiet life, and enjoyed an enviable
reputation for integrity.,
COL. ANTIIONY ROGERS BANNING.
Col. A. R. Banning, of New Haven, is the grandson
of Rev. Anthony Mansfield Banning, one of the sccalled "pioneer preachers" of the Methodist Church
west of the Allegheny Mountains, and who was born
on the Eastern Shore of Maryland in 1768, and ran
away fiom home at the age of sixteen years, just after
having experienced religion at a Methodist campmeeting, and at once commenced a career of evangelical exhortation. He betook himself to Fayette
County about 1785-86, and before he reached the age
of twenty married Sarah Murphy, a daughter of Jacob
Murphy, a native of Maryland. Mr. Banning settled
on lands which are now a part of the Mount Braddock farm, and became the father of eight children,
among whom was James S. Banning, born Jan. 11,
1800, and who in March, 1825, married Miss Eliza
A. Blackstone, only daughter of James Blackstone,
of Connellsville, a lady of rare accomplishments,
and with her removed at once to Mount Vernon,
Ohio, they making the journey through the wilderness on the backs of two ponies. The trip
occupied-eight days. There Mr. Banning, being a
tanner by trade, established a tan-yard and conducted
the business of tanining, together with merchandising,
for several years, but eventually removed to Banning's
5 154HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Mills, a locality upon a large farmn which he owned,
and where most of hischildren were born, and all of
them nmainly reared. He had nine cliildren,-Sarah
D., who died in 1881, at about fifty-three years of age;
Capt. James B. Banning, one of the bravest soldiers
whom the war of the Rebellion developed. He was
attached to the One Hundred and Thirty-second
Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Anthony R. Banning,
born in August, 1831; Priscilla, wife of Hon. John
D. Thompson, of Mount Vernon, Ohio; Lieut. William Davidson Banning, like his brothers, a brave
soldier of the late war; M,j.-Gen. Henry Blackstone
Banning, born in 1836; Eliza, wife of Gen. William
B. Brown, of Mount Vernon, Ohio; Thomas D. Banning, adjutant of the One Hundred and Twenty-fifth
Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry during the late
war; Mary, wife of AMr. Frank WVatkins, of Mount
Vernon.
Of this family of children, all worthy, filling their
places well in the world, and sprung, as it were, from
the loins of Fayette County, since their parents were
both natives of the county, perhaps the one whose life
and deeds have reflected more honor than any of others
upon the old " home of his fathers" was Gen. H. B.
Banning, whose biography is a part of the history of
the country, and is so widely known and so written
down for immortality in various extended histories of
the late war as to need no considerable mention here.
Educated at Kenyon College, he studied law and had
become a successful practitioner at the time of the
breaking out of the war. He at once enlisted (in
April, 1861), and was made a captain of Company B
of the Fourth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry,
which regiment took part in the battles of Rich
Mountain, Romney, Blue Gap, etc. But we have not
space to rehearse here in detail the history of Gen.
Banning's distinguished military career. Suffice it
that he rose through various grades to the rank of
major-greneral, being breveted as such after the battle
of Nashville for eminent and daring service therein.
During a portion of the war he was colonel of the
One Hundred and Twenty-first Ohio Volunteer Infantry, belonging to Gen. Steedman's division of the
Army of the Cumberland, which regiment, under his
command, at the famous battle of Chickamauga, engaged the Twenty-second Alabama, drove them and
captured their colors, the only rebel colors taken in
that fearful fight. After the war he resumed the practice of the law at Mount Vernon, and was several
times elected from his district a member of the Ohio
Legislature. He removed to Cincinnati in 1868. In
1872 the Liberal Republicans nominated hini for Congress against Rutherford B. Hayes, whom he defeated
by an overwhelming majority in a strongly Republican district. In 1874 he was re-elected to Congress.
In 1876 he was again a candidate, and on that occasion ran against Judge Stanley Matthews, whoni he
defeated. He died on the 10th of December, 1881, at
the age of forty-five years. The Cincinnati Enquirer
of Dec. 11, 1881, in a lengthy obituary notice of Gen.
Banning, said of him, " As a political organizer and
manipulator, Gen. Banning never had his equal in
this State."
Col. A. R. Banning was educated in the common
schools near Banning's Mills, Ohio, and under private
tutors. He learned farming, milling, and merchandising, and at about the age of twenty-five years left
Ohio and came to Fayette County, settling at New
Haven as a farmer, and has since followed farming as
his principal vocation, but has been much engaged
in the railroad business and in various other pursuits.
In the buying, combining, and sale of Connellsville
coking coal lands, Col. Banning has been one of the
largest operators. In all his pursuits he has been signally successful. Comprehensive in understanding,
cautious and careful, his course has been a steady and
sure one. Col. Banning is noted for his probity and
business honesty, and has frequently been intrusted
by his acquaintances with large sums of money for
investment, no security being asked. In fact, during
his whole extensive operations for others he has
never even once been asked to give other security
than that embraced in his "word," as good as any
man's bond.
His possessions are chiefly in coal lands and town
property. Among several farms owned by him is one
upon which Banning Station, on the Baltitnore and
Ohio Railroad, named after him, is built. This is perhaps the best site for the upbuilding of a manufacturing village between Pittsburgh and Connellsvile.
Dec. 2, 1856, Col. Banning married Catharine M.,
only daughter of the late Daniel and Mary Rogers, of
New Haven.
ALBERT J. CROSSLAND.
It is not often in these days of jealous and zealous
competition in all departments of life, while moneyed
capital holds almost supreme sway, that a man making
his way by his own unaided energy and native intellectuality achieves notable business success, and erects a
monument to his own memory in the affections of
his fellow-citizens, and goes down to death, widely
mourned, before reaching forty years of age. But a
marked exception to the general rule existed in the
case of the late Albert J. Crossland, of New Haven,
Favette Co., who was born Oct. 24, 1841, and died
Aug. 1, 1881.
Mr. Crossland was remotely of Quaker stock, and
was the son of Mr. Samuel Crossland, who lived at
Connellsville at the time of his son's birth.  Mr.
Crossland in boyhood attended the common school of
his native village, and when about fifteen years of age
went with his father to a then recently purchased farm
in Broad Ford., where he learned of his father, then
a carriage-maker as well as farmer, the trade of carriage-making. Possessing a strong desire for learning,
Albert pursued private studies, and at length entered
546IXI,/   ///    1111DUNBAR TOWNSHIP.
Allegheny College, where he passed a year, and thereafter tanght scllool for a while at the old Eagle schoolhouse. Remaining mlainly on the farm working with
his father till about 1863, he then went into the employ of Morgan  Co., of Pittsburgh, in charge of
a coke siding at McKeesport, where, on July 11, 1866,
lie married Miss Lottie Long, after which time he
was transferred to the company's office in Pittsburgh
for a while, and was then put in charge of the coinpany's Union Works at Broad Ford, where he operated for a year or so, anid became a member of the
firm of Morgan  Co., continuing with them, superintending the Morgan Mines, constructing coke-ovens
at the slope in West Latrobe, etc.; in short, being the
trusted superintendent and business man, doing the
heavy work of construction, etc., wherever needed,
and exercising practical guidance in a vast business
until near his death. His moneyed interest in the
firin of Morgan  Co. was one-sixteenth.
Ir. Crossland was a man of heroic mould, being
over six feet in height and well proportioned. To
his energy there were no bounds. He was noted for
strong common sense, for fine humor and wit, for
general geniality and affability in the social and domestic circle. His family never heard a cross or irritable word frorn his lips. He seems to have possessed
all the virtues which go to make up a really noble
character. He was especially generous to the poor
in a very quiet way, and celebrated his Thanksgivings
not by luxurious dinners at home, but by privately
sending provisions of food and fuel to worthy poor
of his acquaintance.
He was an earnest Freemason, a member of King
Solomon Lodge, No. 346, of Connellsville, and other
lodges at Greensburg and elsewhere, and had passed
the degree in Gourgas Grand Lodge of Perfection, it
being the thirty-second degree in Freemasonry. He
was also a member of General Worth Lodge, No. 386,
I. O. of O.. F. Distinguished members of both fraternities from different parts of the State united with
the great concourse of his neighbors and fellow-citizens
of Fayette County in doing honor to his memory at
his funeral obsequies. Mr. Crossland was the father
of two children (sons), both of whom, with their
mother, survive him.
bar township about 1766, where John, the father of
Mr. Work, was born in 1787, anl married, in 1814,
Nancy Rogers, daughter of John Rogers, of Fayette
County.
Mr. Work, the second issue of this union, attended
in childhood the so-called subscription school at the
old " Cross Keys" school-house in Dunbar until about
seventeen years of age, and after that the academy at
Uniontown, conducted by Rev. Dr. Wilson, till well
advanced in his twentieth year, and then commenced
the life of a farmer on the old homestead farm, and
subsequently inherited an adjoining farm, which he
cultivated with skill and profit, raising cattle, among
other things, together with carrying on the business
of a dealer in cattle, which he often sent in droves
to the Eastern markets until 1876, when he retired
from business, having previously sold the Connellsville coking coal which underlies a large portion of
the farm he occupied, the surface of which he has
since disposed of, he now residing in Dunbar village.
Mr. Work is a gentleman of genial, active temperament, and in early life greatly enjoyed all kinds
of athletic, manly sports, particularly that of foxhunting with horse and hounds, and was noted as a
finished horsenian and bold rider; but being ever
temperate and attentive to business, he never allowed
his love of the cliase to infringe upon important
affairs. He belonged to the Fayette County Cavalry,
at one time a famious organization, and took great
pride in military matters. In politics he is a Republican, and was formerly an old-line Whig. He took
great interest in the late war on the side of the Union,
and contributed liberally, particularly in aid of the
work of the Sanitary Commission. He is a member
of the Presbyterian Church, of which his wife is also
a member, and to which he has belonged for about
fifteen years, and enjoys an unsullied reputation for
general integrity and honest dealing wherever he is
known.
On the 23d of September, 1858, he was united in
marriage to Miss Jane W. Watts (born in 1837), a
native of County Donegal, Ireland, and daughter of
George and Jane Wilson Watts, both of Scotch descent. When about fifteen years of age, Mrs. Work,
then well instructed for her years, came to America,
and here continued her studies until the time of her
marriage. They have no children.
SAMUEL WORK.
An excellent representative of the best class of              DAVIS WOODWARD.
Fayette County agriculturists, combining the in-    Davis Woodward, of Dunbar township, was born in
stincts and culture of the gentleman with the steady  Menallen township, Fayette Co., June 11, 1806, and
industry and the muscle of the prosperous farmer, is  was of English descent. He received his education
Mr. Samuel Work, of Dunbar, who was born Dec. 5, in the common schools, and was married Nov. 2, 1828,
1817. Mr. Work's paternal ancestors came to Amer-  to Mary Boyd, of Menallen township.  They had
ica from thie north of Ireland.  His grandfather, thirteen children.  Twelve grew to manhood and
Samuel, whose name he bears, and who was born  womanhood, and were all married. There are seven
July 17, 1749, and died in 1833, moved from Lancas-  sons and four daughters living. The sons are all farter County into Fayette County, and settled in Dun-  mers, and the daughters all married farmers. Eight of
54770                 IIISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
storage of ammunition and supplies, guarded by sol-  out. To this eminence the early settlers were wont
diers.' Its proper name after 1759 (though seldom   in times of danger to resort daily to reconnoitre the
given to it) was' Fort Burd.' And there is evidence  country, sometimes climbing trees to see whether any
that besides its governmental purposes it was often  Indians had crossed the borders, of which theyjudged
resorted to by the early settlers with their families  by the smoke of their camps. This hill commanded
for protection, though for that object it was less  a view from the mountains to the Monongahela, and
tdapted than many of the private forts."             from Cheat hills far to the northward. On the occaOne of the earliest erected forts of this kind was by  sion referred to, the scouts reported that Indians had
John Minter, the Stevensons, Crawfords, and others,  crossed the Monongahela, judging from some smoke
)n land of the former,-since Blackiston's, now   "which so gracefully curled."  The alarm was given,
Ebenezer Moore's,-about a mile and a half west-  and the settlers flocked to Ashcraft's fort, with wives
vard of Pennsville.                                  and children, guns and provisions, and prepared to
There was oie on the old Thomas Gaddis farm,  meet the foe, when, lo! much to the vexation of
wo miles south of Uniontown, but what was its name  some and the joy of others, the alarm soon proved to
annot certainly be learned, or by whom  or when  be "all smoke."
rected, probably, however, by Colonel Gaddis, as he   Besides the settlers' forts mentioned as above by
vas an early settler and a man of large public spirit.  Veech, there was one where Perryopolis now stands,
Anlother, called Pearse's fort, was on the Catawba  built by Gilbert Simpson (as previously noticed in a
ndian trail, about four miles northeast of Union-  letter of Valentine Crawford to Washington), also
)wn, near the residences of William and John Jones. a strong block-house at Beeson's Mill (now Unionomre old Lombardy poplars, recently fallen, denoted  town), and perhaps a few others within the limits of
s site.                                             Fayette County.
About one mile northwest of Merrittstown there
as one on land now of John Craft. Its name is
)rgotten.
Swearingen's fort was in Spring Hill township, near.e cross-roads from Cheat River towards Browns-                     C   A   T E R  X.
lle. It derived its name from John Swearingen,
ho owned the land on which it stood, or from his                   THE REVOLUTION,
n, Van Swearingen, afterwards sheriff of Washingn County, a captain in the Revolution and in the  Troops Raised for the Field-Slubsequent Disaffection-Lochry's Expe)ntier wars, and whose nephew of the same name                            dition.
ll at St. Clair's defeat.                            WHEN, in the early part of May, 1775, the news of
One of considerable capacity, called Lucas' fort,  the battle of Lexington sped across the Alleghenies,
Is on the old Richard Brown farm, near the frame  announcing the opening of the Revolutionary strugeeting-house, in Nicholson township.               gle, the response which it brought forth from  the
McCoy's fort, on land of James McCoy, stood where  people west of' the mountains was prompt and unmisw stands the barn of the late Eli Bailey, in South  takably patriotic. In this region the feud was then
lion township.                                     at its height between Virginia and Pennsylvania, both
Morris' fort, which was one of the first grade, was  claiming and both attempting to exercise jurisdiction
Lch resorted to by the old settlers on the upper  over the country between Laurel Hill and the Ohio;
)nongahela and Cheat, and from  Ten-Mile.  It  but the partisans of both provinces unhesitatingly
od on Sandy Creek, just by, and near the Virginia  laid aside their animosities, or held them in abeyance,
e, outside Fayette County limits. It was to this  and both, on the same day, held large and patriotic
t  that the family of the father of the late Dr. Jo-  meetings, pledging themselves to aid to the extent of
h Doddridge resorted in 1774, as mentioned in his  their ability the cause of the colonies against the enes. The late Col. Andrew Moore, who resided  croachments of Britain. Prominent in the proceedings
g near its site, said that he had frequently seen the  of both meetings were men from that part of Westns of the fort and its cabins, which Inay yet be  moreland County which is now Fayette. The meetc. e  d.                                         |ing called and hleld under Virginia auspices was
Lshcraft's fort stood on land of the late Jesse  reportedasfollows:
ins, Esq., where Phineas Sturgis lived, in Georges    "At a meeting of the inhabitants of that part of
nship. Tradition tells of a great alarm and resort  Augusta County that lies on the west side of the
this fort on one occasion, caused thus: On land  Laurel Hill, at Pittsburgh, the 16th day of May,
ly owned by Robert Britt, in that vicinity, there is  1775, the following gentlemen were chosen a.comry high knob, called Prospect Hill, or Point Look-  mittee for the said district, viz.: George Croghan,
tlis statement Veech is nistaken, having evidently confounded  John Campbell, Edward Ward, Thomas Smallman,
medstone Old Fort with Fot Burd, wlicll was Luilt hear its site, lut John Canon, John McCullough, William Goe, George
lii entirely different bstructure.                Vallandigham, John Gibson, Dorsey Pentecost, Edt
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was aIHISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
the children reside in Fayette County; the other three
in the West. Mr. Woodward had sixty-five grandchildren and thirteen great-grandchildren. He was
engaged in farming and stock-dealing all his life.
Mr. Woodward never held any office. He said
lie always had enough to do to attend to his own
business. He and his wife were members of the Laurel
Hill Presbyterian Church. He was a successful business man, a cautious, skillful dealer.
His father, Caleb Woodward, came to Fayette
County from Chester County, Pa., early in the present
century. His wife was Phebe McCarty. They had
six children, five of them girls. Davis is the only
son. Caleb, the father, was a blacksmith by trade.
He bought a farm soon after coming to Menallen
township, and continued blacksmithing and farming
to the end of his life. He died Oct. 18, 1856, aged
seventy-seven years eight months and nineteen days.
His wife Pliebe died Dec. 4, 1856, aged seventy-six
years nine months and twenty-four days.
Mr. Woodward died April 6, 1882. He was an excellent citizen, enjoying the esteem of his acquaintances, and had abundance of this world's goods. He
was able to say, as he did say, that he made his
monley by telling the truth.
JAMES WILKEY.
James Wilkey, of Dunbar township, born Jan. 17,
1803, is of Irish extraction in both lines. His paternal grandfather, John Wilkey, and maternal one,
James Wilkey, both came to America from the north
of Ireland about the same time, and settled in the
same neighborhood, near Laurel Hill Church, Dunbar township, both bringing families with them. John
had two daughters, it is thought, and oine son, Jalnes
Wilkey, born in Ireland about 1771, the father of our
James, and who was an educated gentleman, and
taught subscription schools in his neighborhood until
he becanme an old man, dying about 1835. Mr.
Wilkev's mother's maiden name was Elizabeth Wilkey (daughter of James, above named). She died in
old age, outliving her husband by a score of years.
They had six children, of whom James was the only
son. The daughters are all dead.
James attended in childhood the schools kept by
his father, often going five miles each way daily to
and from school, summners and winters. At four years
of age he was taught to read the Scriptures. At thirteen he went to learn saddle-making of James Francis,
at Connellsville, but remained with him only six
months, when Francis moved to Rising Sun, Ind.
He then hired out to an ironmaster, S. G. Wurts, to
do general work, at ten dollars a month, and "stayed
with him three years, eleven months, and twenty-six
days," as he distinctly recollects. Mr. Wilkey kept
no written memoranda of accounts, WVurts did, and
there was a host of itemizations in that long time;
but Wilkey thought, when about to leave, that Wurts
owed him about forty dollars, and Wurts' accounts
showed that he was in debt to Wilkey about forty-one
dollars,-a decided "head for accounts." Mr. Wilkey's memory is remarkable. He recalls with minuteness many incidents which occurred when he was
only two years of age. Leaving Wurts he went to
learn the tanner's trade of Reason Beeson, at Plumsock, as an apprentice, and remained with him till
twenty-one years of age. He had to have, according
to contract, a common cloth coat when his time should
be out, but did not get it; but two years afterwards
got its value in store goods. When through with
Beeson he had a dollar and a half of money only.
But his sister kindly gave him a "levy" (eleven
pence), worth twelve and a half cents, saying, " James,
take that; it may help you." With his one dollar
and sixty-two and a half cents in pocket he started
out in search of work, and traveled one hundred and
fifty miles before he found it, at a point eleven miles
below Zanesville, Ohio, and yet had a part of the
money left! The young men of these days may not
comprehend such economy, but the secret lay in Mr.
Wilkey's industry. Leaving home on April 1st, he
went on board a flat-boat at Connellsville, and worked
his passage down the river into the Ohio and on.
Wherever the boat stopped he went on shore and
hunlted for work, at last finding it. Through the
influence of an uncle living near the place before
mentioned he got a job of boiling water at a saltworks, and stayed at the work till fall, when he became sick with fever and ague and resolved to return
home. He and a fellow-laborer agreed to divide the
results of their toil, and Wilkey's share was a quantitv
of salt, which he sold to a stranger living a few miles
from the works for twenty-two dollars and fifty cents,
which he got two years afterwards. Men were honest
in that time, and he had no fear to trust any stranger,felt safe, was safe. Mr. Wilkey prays for the return
of those honest days. After being gone about a year
he returned to Connellsville. An old acquaintance
seeing him on the street went, without Wilkey's knowledge, to John Fuller, tanner (father of Dr. Smith
Fuller), and advised him to hire Wilkey. Fuller sent
for him and gave him a trial of two weeks, at the rate
of six dollars per month; and when the two weeks
were passed offered to employ him for nine months at
five dollars per month. Wilkey stood out, and demanded more wages, to wit, two pairs of coarse shoes
into the bargain.
Fuller yielded, with the cautious condition that he
should get the shoes only in the last month of the
period. Wilkey consented to this, and, in brief, earned
the nloney and shoes, and Fuller's perfect confidence
besides. Near the time the nine months were up,
Wilkey chanced to call at the house of Dr. Bela
Smith, Fuller's father-in-law. Wilkey being about
to leave, Mrs. Smith, who knew his reputation as a
workman, said, " James, I wish I had a bill of sale of
you."  "What for?" asked Wilkey. "Why, then

I
I
548. KIFRANKLIN TO'WNSHIP.
I'd have a tan-yard sunk at Bela's (her son's), and
put you in it." This led to Wilkey's going with
Bela B. Smith (Jr.) as a partner into the tanning
business near Perryopolis. He continued in the business there for about four years, near the end of which
his grandfather, an old man of ninety-six years, died,
and left a farm  of two hundred and twenty-two
acres in Dunbar, and all Wilkey's relations said,
" James, you ought to buy the farm." It was much
encumbered, but he bought it and moved upon it,
soon selling a part of it to Henry Leighty. He occupied the farm  for seven years, and selling out, had
$1700, a horse, and nine cows left. He next bought
a tan-yard of John Fuller, in Connellsville, for $2500,
$1000 down, the rest in $250 notes, running a course
of years without interest, Fuller agreeing to take
half-pay for the notes in leather. Wilkey conducted
the business for about ten years, when he sold it.and
bought the farm whereon he has ever since resided,
leading the life of a farmer. He added to the farm
till it contained two hundred and seven acres, a part
of which (coal lands), he has disposed of. He has
always been a hard worker, but has enjoyed the best
of health, and has been very prosperous.
Mr. Wilkey has been a member of the Methodist
Episcopal Church for over forty years, most of the
time a class-leader, steward, etc. Since he first joined
the church he has always liberally contributed to its
support, and has also done much work in collecting
money from others. Lately the church in Connellsville has taken steps (March 1, 1882) toward pulling
down its old edifice and the erection of a two-story
church on its site. Mr. Wilkey refuses to contribute
towards the new edifice, on the ground that its audience-room will be " up-stairs," so high that lame old
people like himself and his wife and many others
cannot get into it, and will thus be practically prevented attendance upon preaching. He would give,
he says, as much as any other man towards a new
" one-story church."  It seems there is a difference of
opinion among the members of the church, some desiring to have the proposed edifice a " one-story," and
others wishing what Mr. Banning calls a " two-story"
church. The latter he says shall have no aid from him.
March 24, 1831, Wr. Wilkey married Catharine
Rodocker, daughter of Philip Rodocker, of Washington township, by whom he has had six children,
three of whom are now living,
FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP.
FRANKLIN, one of the original townships of Fayette, is purely agricultural in its interests, and the
census of June, 1880, credited it with a population of
1373. It is bounded on the north by the Youghiogheny River, which separates it from Tyrone; on
the south by Menallen and North Union; on the east
by Dunbar, and west by Menallen, Redstone, and
Jefferson. The township valuation subject to county
tax was in 1881 fixed at $639,870, or a gain over 1880
of $3537.
The township is well watered by numerous small
streams, while upon the Redstone Creek (which separates it from Menallen and Redstone townships) and
the Youghiogheny River there is abundant millpower. Franklin contains rich and extensive deposits of coal, that to the present time have remained
undeveloped because of the lack of railway transportation near at hand. Although there are yet no railroad facilities, assurances are made that before 1883
two railway lines will be constructed in the township,
-one between Brownsville and Uniontown, and the
line between New Haven and Brownsville. The
former will follow the course of the Redstone, and the
latter that of Bute's Run, in the township. The roadbeds are already graded, and by the autumn of 1882
both railroads are likely to be in readiness for traffic.
The first named will doubtless be opened early in
the present summer (1882). Franklin has no village,
but possesses two post-offices,-Flatwood, established
in 1842, and Laurel Hill, in 1879.
Among the earliest settlers in Franklin may be reckoned William  Rittenhouse, a Jerseyman, who came
in as early certainly as 1777, with, his wife and child,
and located upon a tract of land lying upon the western side of the township. As to the record of his experience for a few years after he came, not much can
be learned. It may be stated, however, tlat in 1795
he was living on the place now owned by Matthew
Arison, and in the house now Mr. Arison's residence.
He kept tavern in that house, which was in its day a
favorite halting-place for travelers, to whom landlord
Rittenhouse would, when in the mood, relate his brief
but adventurous experience during the Revolution, in
which he served as a fifer for the space of a year from
1776 to 1777.' Upon the site of his farm there was, at
an earlier date, an Indian village and graveyard, and,
tradition adds, in the village resided a chief of some
549IIISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
note, who more than once held important councils
there with other dignitaries of his race. The plowshare of the husbandman has in recent times unearthed many an Indian relic, such as arrow-heads,
stone hatchets, and the like. After a while Rittenhouse bought land adjoining his tract and skirting
what is called the Lazy Hollow road. Of that land
Isaac Quick was an owner before Rittenhouse, and
report has it that it was from the circumstance of Isaac
Quick's extraordinary indolence that the hollow mentioned was given the name of Lazy. A little east of
Aaron Lynn's present residence Rittenhouse built a
tavern, and leased it to John Freeman, who came
fromn New Jersey and settled first in Franklin, on
what is now the Radlinghofer place. The thoroughfare was the mainly traveled road between Brownsville and Connellsville, and Freeman's was probably
a busy centre at times. How long he kept the place
is not known, but the old tavern stand, now in ruins,
still amarks the spot, a reminder of the days when
Boniface welcomed with hearty hospitality the weary
wayfarer, cheering as well as sustaining him with
whatever fat that part of the land produced. Amos
Emamens also is said to have kept tavern on the Lazy
Hollow road, but just where is not known. Mr. Rittenhouse was much devoted to the encouragement of
religious as well as secular education, and at an early
day built a school-house on his farm, wherein Samnuel
Blaney, a famous teacher in his day, taught the children of these pioneers their early steps in the paths
of learning. William Rittenhouse died on the Arison
farm in 1815. Of his large family of thirteen childen, the only one now living is the widow of Ayers
Lynn, an old lady of eighty-two years.
Robert Smith came from Westmoreland County
before 1790, and settled on the farm now occupied by
his son Robert. Mr. Smith had served as a private
in thle Revolutionary war, and of his record in that
struggle has left the following:
"An account of the military services rendered by
me during the Revolutionary war in the Pennsylvania militia of Berks County. I was drafted, and
served two months in 1776, during September, October, and November, in Col. Burns' regiment, stationed
at Bergen and Paulus Hook, in New Jersey. In 1777
I served two months as volunteer in the Berks County
militia, during September, October, and November.
Our officers' names I do not recollect. Our general's
name was Irven, of Philadelphia. Our encampment
was along with Gen. Washington's main army at
sundry places. Whlien we were discharged the ariny
was encamped at White Marsh, about fourteen or fifteen miles from Philadelphia. When I returned home
I was drafted, and served two months in the same fall
and winter with Col. Heister's regiment of Berks
County militia. We were stationed at Plymouth Meeting-house, near Barren Hill Church. From thence
we went to the banks of the Shammine, near the
Crooked Billet tavern.       ROBERT SMITH."
Mr. Smith set up a blacksmith's shop on tlhe Lazy
Hollow road in front of his dwelling, and for years
plied his trade in the service of the people who came
from near and ftir. He died in 1837, at the age of
eighty. Of his ten children only one is left, Robert
Smith, aged eighty-two, and living still on the Smith
homestead, where he was born. Long before Robert
Smith the elder came to Franklin, the farm he bought
there had been occupied by David Allen, of whose
sons, Josiah and George M., Smith purchased it.
The farm now occupied by Jesse Piersol was owned
at a very early date by Hugh Shotwell, who settled
thereon about the year 1780. His four sons-John,
Joseph, William, and Arison-settled in Franklin,
but the last three ultimately moved to Ohio. John
died in Franklin in 1869, aged eighty-five. One of
his daughters is now the wife of Robert'Smith, above
mentioned.
The fine farm in Franklin township known as the
Modisette place was occupied in 1790 by Samuel
Stevens. But little is known about him, as he died a
few years after his settlement. His widow died in
Uniontown, aged ninety-three. His only child, Priscilla, is now iMrs. Austin, of Uniontown, and is in her
eighty-ninth year.
Joseph Oglevee, a young Marylander, found a
sparsely-settled  neighborhood when he carne to
Franklin in 1788. He warranted three hundred and
thirty-three acres (now owned in part by his son
Farrington), put up a cabin, and began to clear his
land. Conrad Barricklow, an old soldier, who had
served honorably througli the Revolutionary  war,
moved to Franklin in 1790. Conirad found himself
at the end of his campaigns the possessor of a great
lot of Continental money, and with it he proposed to
buy a farm somewhere. Unfortunately, he found his
Continental money worth so little that buying a farm
was out of the question. So with his family he lived
a while in a cabin on Joseph Oglevee's place, and
eventually he bought a small farm of his own. In
1790 Oglevee mrarried one of Barricklow's daughters.
His sons were three,-Jesse, John, and Farrington.
Of these only Farrington is now living, and he remains on the old homestead. Jesse, who settled on
the Dunbar and Franklin line so literally that his
family ate in Dunbar and slept in Franklin, had eight
children. Three of his sons, Joseph, John, and Philip,
are now residents of Dunbar township. Conrad Barricklow died in 1802, and Joseph Oglevee in 1835. In
their day onie of the scarcest articles of use was salt,
and to get it there was no way save by a trip eastward
over the mountains. The salt wells of the West were
then undiscovered treasures, and as salt must be had
at all hazards, the pioneers at intervals made long and
tiresome journeys for supplies of the needed article.
The fall of the year was customarily the season when
these salt trips were made, and according to previous
understanding, a half-dozen or more settlers would
set out together on horseback, and thus sociably and
550FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP.
safely get to narket, bringing back upon their horses
not only salt but other necessities required in the line
of provisions. Joseph Oglevee built a saw-mill on
Dickinson's Run in 1792, and sold it to Alexander
Moreland, who set up a nail-making shop. Moreland was bought out by Joseph McCoy, who, upon
the same site, established a sickle-factory.
James and Samuel Rankin were among the first
settlers in Franklin. James wished to buy land of
Col. Isaac Meason, and at an appointed time met
Col. Meason at Mount Braddock for the purpose of
visiting Franklin on a tour of inspection. While
en route Rankin remarked to Col. Meason upon his
overcoat, which was an inordinately shabby one,
" Colonel, I am amazed to find that a man owning as
much land as you do will content himself with such
a desperately ragged overcoat."  "The coat is well
enough," returned Col. Meason, "for, although ragged,
it keeps out the rain pretty well, while for its looks
I care nothing."  When they were about closing
the sale of the land, and while the deed was awaiting
Col. Meason's signature, he suddenly halted, and
turning to Rankin, said, " I don't know about signing
this deed after all. I believe I have sold vou the
land too cheap, and upon reflection conclude that I
will sign the deed only upon condition that you give
me your overcoat, which I see is a new and excellent
one, in exchange for mine, which, as you rightly
observed yesterday, is old and ragged." Rankin saw
he was caught, but he was eager to own the land, and,
what was. more, Meason knew that too. He hated to
yield in the matter, his inclination prompting him to
break off the trade then and there, but he fancied
the property vastly, and so, with rather bad grace,
accepted the alternative, remarking as he did so,
"The next time I buy land of a man in a ragged
coat I'll keep my mouth shut until I've concluded
the bargain." Meason was much pleased at what he
declared an excellent joke, and by way of emphasizing his appreciation remarked to Rankin at parting,
"My dear friend, I wonder that a man with as much
money as you have will wear such a ragged coat."
The Rankins lived in a community of practical jokers,
and were themselves keenly alive to the spirit of
harniless fun. So general was this mania for practical joking that no opportunity was lost by any of
the jokers for offering up a victim to ridicule.
Among them all, the Rankins, and especially
"Sammy" Rankin, were considered the most inveterate jokers of the period. Many a good story is still
told of Sammy and the manner in which he used to
sacrifice his neighbors, who as often sought to get
even with him by returning the compliment, although
Sammy was termed "smart enough to hold his own
and more too." For that reason it was exceedingly
gratifying to his many friends if they could get the
laugh on him. As a case in point it is told that
Sammy, while proceeding to town one cold morning,
met Andrew Wiley trudging along on foot, carrying
in his hand a jug that looked very much as if it
held whisky. Whisky in jugs was then as common
in the land as the most devoted tippler could desire,
and it was most natural and reasonable on Sammy's
part to suppose that Wiley's jug contained whisky.
It was equally natural and reasonable for him to conclude that a drink of whisky on a cold morning as
the one in question would be proper and consoling.
So after greeting Wiley cheerily, and receiving the
same in return, Sammy exclaimed, " Well, Wiley,
this is a pretty sharp morning, and as you've got a
jug of wlhisky I will be glad to take a drink with you."
Wiley owed Sammy one on the last time he had
been made a victim, and to that moment had pined
for an opportunity to repay the joker. As will be
seen, his chance had come. Lifting the jug to
Samlny's hand, remarking that it was a cold morning,,
that a drink was a good thing at such a time, and
that the jug held as good whisky as was ever made,
he bade Sam drink heartily. Thus invited and encouraged by Wiley's hospitality, his own desire as
well, Sammy applied his mouth to that of the jug
and drank. The drink was, however, a short one, and
was followed by the violent dashing of the jug upon
the ground, and the excited exclamation from Sammy
of "Great heavens, Wiley, it's soft soap!"  Spluttering and coughing to free his mouth of the nauseous
mess, he was inclined to be angry with the author of
the mishap, but better judgment prevailed, until, like
a philosopher, he laughingly declared to Wiley,
"Well, old fellow, you got me that time, but it's a
long lane that has no turn: I'll pay yoL off yet."
Wiley laughed and bade good-by to Sammy by inviting himi to meet him again some day for anlother
drink, and advising him to look sharp if he desired
to pay off the score. Whether Sammy did or did not
pay off the score does not appear among the chronicles of the time, but the popular conclusion is that if
he attempted it he succeeded.
Thomas Dunn is said to have located in Franklin
some time during the progress of the Revolutionary
war. He took up a farnl containing four hundred and
thirty-two acres, of which original tract his grandson
Thomas owns three hundred and thirty acres. Mr.
Dunn and his wife were hardy pioneers in every
sense of the word, and without waiting to build a
dwelling-house, they made their home in a stable for
a year after their arrival. Time was precious, they
were ambitious to get a portion of their land cleared
and a crop in, and so when the stable was up they
said, "We will defer the building of our cabin, since
we have a more pressing necessity to clear and cultivate our land, and until we can spare the time to
erect a better oiie we will make our home under the
same roof that shelters our cattle." When Dunn put
up his cabin the following year he built also a wagonshop, as he was by trade a wheelwright, continuing the
business until his death, which occurred in 1800.
Four years before his death he replaced the log ca'bin
I
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551HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
with the stone house now occupied by his grandson,
Thomas Dunn. Of his twelve children seven were
sons, and of these all but two removed early in life to
Ohio, pioneers of that State. John and Samuel, the
two who remained upon the old farm, worked it together for several years, when Samuel got the Western
fever, and selling his interest in the homestead to
John, he too emigrated to Ohio. John ended his
days in Franklin. He had but two sons, Robert and
Thomas, in a family of eight children. Robert moved
to Kansas and there died, while Thomas still lives
upon the farm that his grandfather cleared more than
a hundred years ago. He says he was left upon the
place to keep the name of Dunn alive, and adds, " I
rather guess I have made a good start in that direction, for I have had eleven children born to me."
One of his daughters, Harriet, was accidentally killed
in 1879. Driving to church with her brother one
Sunday morning a halt was made at a neighbor's, and
the brother alighted for a moment from the carriage.
As he did so the horse, a high-spirited colt, dashed
madly away, the young lady being thrown out and
almost instantly killed.
The McLeans (two brothers) were great land-owners
in Franklin, and were well known by all the people.
Land was cheap in those days, and to own a farm of
three or four hundred acres did not call for an especially liberal outlay of funds. Stories are told of
farms being frequently bartered for dogs, guns, or
horses, one gun sometimes proving enough of the
purchase price to secure a large tract of land. Robert
McLean had plenty of land, and that he did not value
it very highly is shown by the following story: He
met a man traveling through Franklin, and noticing
the fellow's dejected appearance, inquired if he was
in trouble. The man replied that lie had been unfortunate, was poor, and did not know how he could
better his condition. Prompted by a sudden and
charitable motive, McLean said to him, "See here,
my man, I'll give you a farm and put you in shape to
earn a living if you will mount that stump and cry
as hard as you can." The man thought of course that
McLean was joking, but upon being assured that he
was truly in earnest, and that the farm would be his
if he complied, he mounted the stump and cried like
a good fellow. In return, as the story is told, he was
given the farm, and became prosperous and successful
in life.
One of the early mills in Franklin was Cullen's
grist-mill on the Redstone, near where Bute's Run
flows into the former stream. Cullen was an accommodating miller, as the following will show.
Old Mr. Gilchrist set out one morning for Cullen's
mill, and as he passed the house of a Mr. Ramsey was
hailed by the latter with "Hold on, Gilchrist, I'm
going to mill with a grist, and will bear you conipany." Both journeyed along upon their horses until
they had arrived to within a mile or so of the mill,
despair and cried out, " God bless me, Gilchrist, if I
haven't forgotten my grist. I stayed up last night to
shell two bushels of corn for the mill-trip, and now
I've come away and left it behind."  With that he
fell to berating himself for having been so absentminded. Gilchrist consoled him with the suggestion
that perhaps he could borrow at the mill what cornmeal he wanted, and take the corn down some other
time. To this proposition Ramsey would listen only
upon the condition that Gilchrist should say nothing
about the matter to Jimmy Rankin, "for," added he,
"if Jimmy gets hold of the story there'll be no end
of the fun he'll have at my expense." The promise
was given, the corn-meal was obtained as suggested,
and the mnatter adjusted satisfactorily to all parties.
The following Sunday, at cliurch services, Ramsey
and Jimmy Rankin met during the nooning hour,
and Jinimy, broaching the sulbject of dry weather, remarked that such weather was very bad for the mills.
" Oh, yes," continued he, as Ramsey began to grow
uneasy, "where do you get your milling done now?"
Ramsev, feeling sure that Jimmy had heard about the
corn, determined not to give up the secret himself,
and pretended not to have heard the inquiry, but at
once began talking of the probable bad effect of the
dry weather upon crops. "Yes, yes," put in Jimmy,
loud enough for all to hear, "they tell me Cullen's
mill is a fine mill, and that Cullen himself is a fine
man. They say you can get your bag filled there
whether you bring any grist or not." With " Damn
ye! old Gilchrist has been blowing on me," Ramsey
fled, and for some time after heard the story at every
turn, from Jimmy Rankin's persevering purpose to
" get a good rig on Ramsey."
Another early mill was the one built by Jonathan
Hill, about 1790, on Redstone Creek, on the site now
occupied by Samuel Smnock. Mr. Hill sold the mill
to Jonathan Sharpless in 1810 and moved to Virginia,
where he died. Mr. Sharpless was conspicuous in the
history of Fayette County for having, with Samnuel
Jackson, built on the Redstone the first paper-mill
known west of the mountains.' He located in Franklin not long after the year 1800, and in 1810 was driving a grist-imill, saw-mill, sickle-factory, and fullingmill, which amount of business was, for those days,
very extensive. There he lived until his death, about
1860, at the age of more than ninety years. Joseph
Jordan was his nearest neighbor, and lived upon an
adjoining tract, where Samuel Jobes now resides.
Samuel Jobes (whose father, John, was an early settler
in Redstone township) came to Franklin in 1840.
John Lewis, a Methodist preacher and a tanner,
moved from Baltimore to Connellsville in 1790, and
at the latter place established a tan-yard. Haviing
bad luck in his business affairs he moved to a farm in
Dunbar town hip, afterwards to Franklin, and later
to Plumsock, in Menallen township. He died at the
when Ramsey suddenly clasped his hands together in I
I
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552
1 See history of Jefferson township.FRANKLIN TOWNS [lIP.
age of ninety-three, upon the farm in Franklin now
occupied by Joseph Lewis, and then by " Squire" Nathan Lewis. Nathan Lewis, just named, was a son of
John Lewis, and for more than twenty years was a
justice of the peace at Plumsock, where he was long
a figure in local history. lie died on his Franklin
farm in 1875, aged eighty-four. Two of his brothers,
John and Samuel, moved to the far West. James,
another brother, built a pottery in Plumsock in 1822,
conducting that business for twelve years, after which
his son Nathan succeeded him in it for fifteen years
longer. James Lewis died in 1872, aged eighty-two.
His wife was a daughter of Arthur Wharton, himself
one of the pioneers of Menallen, as well as an early
settler upon the land now owned and occupied by
his grandson, Nathan Lewis. All of Wharton's sons
moved to.Ohio. Resin Virgin, Jacob Wolf, Elisha
Pears, the Gillilands, McVays, Whetsels, Cooks,
Abrahams, Pattersons, Works, Junks, and Rossels
were concerned in the early settlement of Franklin,
but the majority of them have to-day no descendants
of their names in the township.
Although John Bute did not come until 1813, he
was very active in pioneer history. He bought on
Bute's Run a farm lying upon the State road. The
land had been patented in 1789 by Elisha Pears,
who later disposed of it at public sale.  David
Veach, the purchaser, met John Bute at Plumsock
while en route from the place of sale, and Bute being
anxious to own some land bought the Pears place of
Veach then and there. Bute, who had been keeping
tavern at Plumsock, moved to Franklin without much
delav and became a farmer. In 1829 he built a sawmill and grist-mill on Bute's Run, and in 1857 died
on the old Pears farm. Ten of his twelve children
were sons, and all became settlers in Franklin. Cyrus, one of the sons, carried on the mill, and had
also a small store there. The last owner of the mill
was a Mr. Madison. Eight of John Bute's sons settled eventually in the far West. The ninth died in
Franklin, and the tenth, Mr. Joseph Bute, now lives
in the township, upon a farm that was occupied before
1800 by Andrew Arnold. Mr. Bute located upon the
place in 1837. It was warranted April 3, 1769, by
Joseph Snively, and by him conveyed to Resin Virgin, July 3, 1771. Jan. 24, 1786, Virgin deeded it
to Andrew Arnold. Mr. Bute's first education was
obtained in Thornbottom District in 1816, at the
hands of James Adair, a somewhat famous pedagogue, who taught in Thornbottom District fully ten
years. He made a bargain to teach school there at
ten dollars annually for each scholar, all the pay to
be taken in produce, and bound hiinself to have at
no time more than thirty scholars, aside from his own
children and " poor scholars."
Thomas Townsend, a Quaker, settled west of the
M1onongahela, near Geneva, in 1770. From there he
went on a trading expedition to the Territory of Ohio.
While making Iiis return trip he and his companions,
McKnight and Colson, were surprised while encamped, by Delaware Indians and put to death. Of
his sons, Aaron located in Franklin township in 1823,
in the vicinity of what is now known as Flatwoods
post-office. He was a carpenter and joiner, and followed his trade at Flatwoods for many years. He
died at the age of eighty. Aaron Townsend's son
John opened a store at Flatwoods in 1846, and continued in the business until 1861, when he sold out
to Daniel Binns. In 1864, Binns disposed of his
interests to P. P. Murphy and John Townsend, who
have been the traders at Flatwoods since that time.
Flatwoods post-office was established in 1842. John
Townsend was postmaster until 1861, Daniel Binns
from 1861 to 1864, and P. P. Murphy from 1864 to
1881. iMail is received three times a week from
East Liberty.
William Craig settled in Franklin at an early day,
near the Duiibar line, and in what is now called the
Craig neighborhood. His sons were John, William,
Samuel, James, Allen, and Thomas. Those now
living are William, who lives in Illinois, and John,
whose home is in Dunbar. John Craig was for many
years a blacksmith at Laurel Hill, having bought of
Thomas White a shop that White had set up years
before on the town line road. Solomon Curry settled near the Craigs, upon land he purchased of John
Wiley. Mr. Curry died in 1857, at the advanced age
of one hundred and one. His three children were
named Mary Ann, James, and John. John was accidentally killed in a saw-mill in 1877. James and
Mary Ann are still living. John Graham, one of the
early coiners to the county, arranged a lottery drawing in Franklin township in 1814, but what the
lottery was for, or why it was instituted, are points
upon which there appears to be no light. A newspaper advertisement in 1814 contains the following
information touching the subject: "'The subscriber
informs the public that the drawing of his lottery is
unavoidably postponed to Tuesday, the 27th inst.,
on which day it will positively be drawn at the house
of William Craig, in Franklin township, near Laurel
Hill Meeting-house, under the direction of gentlemen
of unquestioned claracter."  Signed by John Graham, and dated " Union, September 7, 1814."
As long ago as the year 1800 there was in Franklin
township, on the Youghiogheny, at the mouth of
Furnace Run, a small village called Little Falls, the
village being made up of a furnace, forge, a gristmill, saw-mill, store, and workmen's dwellings. The
forge known as the Franklin Iron-Works was built
by George Lamb, and by him sold to Nathaniel Gibson, who was a man of considerable business capacity
and liberal enterprise. He built a furnace at Little
Falls, intending to make iron for his forge from the
ore in that neiglhborhood, but a few experiments convinced himn that the ore would not make such iron as
he wanted, and he was forced to abandon the project.
Mr. Gibson built for his residence a fine stone dwell553HISTORY OF FAPYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
ing, which was long known as the Mansion House.
He obtained his pig-metal from the Connellsville
Furnace, and shipped his bar iron down the river in
keel-boats. About 1825, Mr. Gibson disposed of the
works, including the mills, Mansion House, etc., to
F. H. Oliphant. Oliplhant's successors were Miltenberger  Brown, who carried on the business until
1839, when they closed it and ended the history of the
village of Little Falls, for the villagers, being simply
laborers at the works, moved awav, the store was
sold, and such portions of the works as could not be
utilized allowed to fall into decay. The stone house
built by Nathaniel Gibson is now occupied by James
Lynch.
ORIGINAL LANDHOLDERS IN FRANKLIN.
The original sirveys of lands in Franklin give the
names of original land-owners, as follows:
Acres.
Richard Applegate........ 120i
James Allen............,    1831
William. Allen............,.400
James Allen...........    75
John Allen...........    282
John M. Allen...........1 87
Jonathan Addis...........  97
Elijah Barkley...........  3851
Andrew Byers...........  41(7
Richard Bays...........  294
James Bays...........     1731
Robert Beall...........     163
A. S. Byers............,,,.1121
Richard Bays...........  2011
Allen Boyer...........   280
James Boys...........   721
John J. Barron........... 3981
John L. Barker........... 3901
William Barker........... 411
John Barker, Sr............ 4121L
John Barker, Jr............. 419
James Byers................ 101
John Byers.............     437
Elias Brewer.............   299
Joseph  Barker............. 108
Daniel Cannon............. 4600
John Cunningham........ 187
James Craig....... 806
John Carmichael.......... 604
William Collins...........  379
John Carson...........     133
David Catheart........... 3211
William Creacroft......... 101
henry Collins.63.
John Craig..................  68
Jonathan DUngan.     338
John Dunlap.             2801
Joshua Dickinson.        4261
robert Dougan.         298
zachariah Davis.        110
John Dawson..    611
Joseph Essington..       124
Thomas Espey.            1101
Joel Evans.54
John Gilchrist.          371
Henry Grier.             1191
Thomas Grier..           336
Andrew Gamble............ 2961
John Gary.                   9
Richard Gibson..   47
Jane Gilliland.     l
David Gibson.            134
David Hawkins..  229
John Holmes.............X 355
James holmes.         350
Patrick Logan..          166
Acres.
John Lowry............       194
Thomas Lawson............ 165
Robert Lynch............   21
John McClelland.......... 328
Robert McLaughlin...... 4(10
John McLaughlin.........3 3 7
Daniel McMullan......... 231
James McRefferty.........  71
Joel Maxwell............... 104
Matthew McCoy............  48
John March......... 283
James March.........      41()1)
Thomas May.........        16B
Benjamin Horner......... 440
Isaac Hll...................  281
Alexander Hamilton...... 204
John Hall, Jr...............96.)
Margaret Hall.............. 401
John Hall.................  418
George hunter.............  921.henry George..............  5(
Samuel Jackson............ 257
Edward Jordon............ 108
Josiah King................ 145
George King................1 05
Margaret Lattimore....... 199
George Lynch..............  133
James Lewis................  14
Robert Mays................ 336
William  Moreland......... 307
James  McCormick........ 106
David Moreland............ 3701
Peter and John Miller... 127
John Murphy............... 150
John Morrison..............  51
Malcolm McDonald....... 108
Charles McLaughlin......   90
Richard Noble.............1 176
James Nichol................ 237
Mathew Niely.............. 128
John Oglevee............... 334
H. F. Oliphant.............3 76
Robert Pollock............. 288
Isaac Quick................. 181
Robert Ross................ 325
Benjamin Ross............. 461
John Reed................. 31]8
John richey............... 170
Alexander Robeson......1.  8 1
Samuel Rankin............ 206
Thomas Rogers............3`6 0
William Rittenhouse...... 404
John Robertson............2 34
Robert Shields............... 4(8
Thomas Shields, Jr....... 404
Timothy Smith............ 364
Acres.
Richard Smith............. 441
J. C. and T. Townsend... 237
Matthew Weilly...........1 38
John Willey................ 345
Samuel Work............. 308
Daniel Wetzel..........   109
George Wetzel..........    50
James Patterson........... 418
William  Patterson......... III
James Rankin............. 702
James Rittenhouse........   4
David  rittenhouse........ 13
Hannah Radcliff..........  37
James Rossell..............! 100
Andrew Snively............ 307
Acres.
Jacob Snively.............. 300
Samuel Stephens............5 94
William Sparks............ 346
Jonathan Sharpless....... 35
John Shotwell..............1 616
Robert Smith............... 132
William  Tinsley........... 400
Joseph Torrence......... 4261
Christopher Wireman.... 178
James Wilkey.............. 353
Joseph  Work......... 302
Joseph Wetzel.........    5()
John  Wilkin.........    21fi
Daniel Young...........,.263
FRANKLIN TAX-PAYERS IN 1785.
Following are given the names of the tax-payers of
Franklin in 1785:
Acres.
John Allen...................               (10
David Allen...................   200
Andrew  Arnold..................                  350
James Adams..............................
Benj. Archibald......................................
Elijah Bartlet.................            3()0
John  Brand.................   100
Joseph Barker (I slave).................          50
Wm. Barker.................               100
Samuel Boden..........................................
James Brand...................   50
Andrew Byers, Sr............., 300
John Bradley..........................................
Ebenezer Burt................
Jotham Burt..........                      200
Thomas Brooks................
James Byers..........                      150
Samnuel Byers, Jr.....................................
Samuel Byers, Sr..................
James Boyes............   200
James Barnet..........................................
Sarah Bradford (I slave)........................
Thomas Cannon.......................................
John Cherry.............1 ]5()
Moses Cueseberry.............              200
Samuel Clemens.......................................
John Carson..........:           10(1
Joseph Coombs............                  300
W m. Cuesenberry.....................
Joseph Cummings......................           50
James Camble..........................................
Thomas Curry...................................
David  Cathcart.......................00'
hannah Crawford (2 slaves)................  20(
John Crawford........................................
Daniel Cannon (I. slave)......................  400
James Crai..................................
John  Carmichael......................   301(1
Wm. Carson.....................            20)0
Benjmin Caulk.....................          20
Josiah Decker.........................................
James Davis...........................................
Joshua, Dickinson, imiller....................   400
John Dougherty, distiller...........................
Benoni Dowson (4 slaves)..........................
Robert Dugan........................................
Zachariah Davis, distiller...................   100
Thomas Dunn, Sr....................................
Thomas Dunn, Jr....................             200
Wm. Dunlap....................    39
Adam  Dunlap.........'                    270
Wm. Dickson..........................................
Stafford Dickson......................................
John  Dunlap, distiller.................  100
Thos. Espey....................................
Thos. Estell............           70
Jos. Esington.................100
David Faulkner...........  100
Saml. Freeman............51)0
Saml. Finley...........3. ()0
Robt. Fowler..........................................
Horses. Cattle.
2        3
3        4
3        4
4        4
2        2
2
2
2
3
2
1
3
1
1
2
2
2
2
2
2
1
3
2
2
4
1
4
4
2
1
2
2
1
2
2
5
1
2
3
2
1
3
3
4
1
4
2
2
2
2
2
1
2
2
3
2
4
4
2
2
2
3
2
2
1
4
1
1
3
4
2
1.1
2
7
I
4
2
1
4
1
3
6
2
2
3
1
2
3
2
7
1
2...
3
3
4
3
4
2
3
3
4
2
2
2
1
2
1
2
1
534FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP.
Acres.
Samil. Gibson.....................  100
John Golden, distiller.........................
}Henry Gfillilin......................50.
Edward Gibson..................   16
John   (il  h.ri t......................  250
MIattheew  Gilchrist (1 slave)............  0
John Gibsons Jr.......................................
Thos. Greet, distiller................  200
John Gib8on, Sr....................................
Johtb Ilainnon.....................      40
Rich'd ffiawk...........................
Wnll. lIolliday.........................................
Chas. Harrison................
Solomon Hull......................................Jas. hiarper...........;,,. 200
Jolhn Ilu-ton.....................................
wil. Hlill......................2.         0
Jonathan Illl..    105
Jolhn Hollis............................................
Rlobt.  hlughey.........................................
Joseph   Lall............................................
Jas. IIunter............                      300
Archibald Johnison.............................
Edward Jordan..100.........  16
John  Jolhn............................................
Geo. Lynch............                  50
Francis Lewis.......... 50
Saiii. Lyon (I sla,ve)........................
Pattrick In.an...............        1)00
John Lowry, distiller................................
Jacob Lyon.............................................
Alex. Morlin................        3 00
Diavid Morlin...............         300
WVin. Morlin.................               3)0
Thos. More (2 sla.ves)................   260
Moses  MIclaffy, d6itiller...........................
Jas. Moo(iy.............................................
John  i,lexwell................        50
lWm. Miller................  300
Robt. Minteer......
Robt. Murphy..10....... r ()
Frauicis Alalbies.......................................
Robt.  McLounhlin, distiller..            400
John Nlebloughlin...................   300
C has. M a,y.................
Ja's. Mitchell.........................................
Alex. McClellan...............................
John McClellan (I sla,ve)...................         300
Jtas. McCornmick, miller.............................
Alex. McWilliains..............................
Danl. McLean...............80
Geo. MeCormicki.....................la,s. MecCai"...........................................
Widow  McMillan..................
Isa;ac Mooney.................1 0 0t)
Wmrt. McCormnick..............               600
Thos. Moore..............                    100
Jos. Nilson..........................................
M%athew  Nealy..............                160
Sauln. Neil........................................,Jas. Nicol..............2..    0
Wlm. Olre...............................................
Ja,s. Paul, distiller............        3 30
Jos.  P'erry.............................................
B3enj. P ower (1 slave)......................
Jas. Patton..........................................
Jonathan Phillips.............3 300
Elisha, Pierce.............  300
David Parks...........................................
John  Paxton..................    90
Win. Poange.............
Da,vid  Parkhill...50.....  I
Edward Parrish....... 60
Rich'd  Plhillips..........
Saamuel Phillips.................................1 00
Thos. Patterson................................    90
Jas. Pattei-sotn...................................  151)
JXhn Patterson..0.................  ](
WVin. Peiesol......................................   100
S~a,inl. Rankin.................................  l0
John Reagh............................................
Jas. Rankin........301.-       -    -     -).......   } )'0
Horses.
2
2
1
5
2
2
3
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
1
2
1
2
1. 2
2
2
3
3
2
1
6
2
3
1
1
4
1
2
1
5
2
2
3
1
5
1
1
2
1
1
2
2
2
1
2
1
3
1
2
* *.
1
4
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
3
3
2
1
2
2
3
Cattle.
2...
3. 5
3
5
3
2
3
2
1
2
2
1
3
1
2
1
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
1
4
2
4
6
2
2
4
1
3
1
5
8
1
3
1
5
2
2
3
2
1
1
1
2
2
2,
] I
I
1
2
2
1
3
2
2
1
3
2
1
2
4
3
2
1
3
5 1
Acres.  Horses. Cattle.
Saml.  Roe..........................................  2       2
John Ritchey....................1)00           2         2
WVin. IRittenhouse....................     1 5(0     3           5
John Robison..............1()0                          3         2
Alex. lRobiGon............1 00                         2         2
WVini. Robison..100.........       1       2         2
Jolhn Peed..    2(0   2    2
Santil. Ritchey...........                  25...        1
John Rodofers, Sr.....................................    2
Tlhos. Rodgers, distiller.............. 300    4         6
Jatred Reoman......................................1      1
Raisen Regan...1.........
Itobert Ross, (listiller (2 slaves)..   400        4         5
Wl'in. Ross (I slave)..................... -.  1       2
T. Rloss.........................................  2  2
Danl. Rector..........................................  2  2
Jas. Robison.....................................  2    2
Winiti. Reed..........................................  2  1
Phililp Rockert.....................................  1  2
Winll. Ramsey..........  70        1         2
Jas. Rodgers....................................... 3   2
John tlodgers, Jr...............................  1       2
Ja-s. Toward...................   2(10       3         3
lBenj. Stephens (4 s1ives)...................  40)0  6         6
Johni Sheerer, distiller..............  60    2         2
Saiil. Strain........ 150        2         3
Augustin Stephens...................................  2  3
Joseeph Stephens........................................  1
Gseosfr0e Swinik....................................2......   2
Jacob Swink.....................................  1     3
Uriah Springer (2 slav(es)...................  340  5           6
Corbit Simiitlh........... 10)                          2        2
Ad.iun Steel........ 50         1         1
Retiben Stewe;...1.....................................  I  I
Wvill. Sit, S.......................   34    1 *      2
Gleorgre Shanklin.............50..........   s.2        2
W in. Smith, Jr.........................................  2   1
Win. Scott.......................300            2:3
Gilbert Siiipson (5 slaves)...........   25        6         5
Danl. Stephens.....................................  2  2
John Smith......................................1...
WV in. Spar ks...........                 300        2        4
Jos. StDart..........  20       2         1
Huglh Torrence......................................  2  2
Satml. Torience..................................1....  I.
Jos. Torrence.....................................  3   1
Jas. Thouipson.............................1                      3
Jos. WVork.......... 300        2         2
Satinl. Work.......... 200        3        4
John  WVells (2 slaves)...............................   2   2
Wini. Willson..100......          1       2        2
John Willson.....................................  1   1
Rtobt. Willis..................              60        2         2
Matthew AVi!ey, distiller............. 400     4           5
Thios. Welch...                            1   1
Jas. Wilkie......... 200    2             3
D1an. Young......... 55    1                                1
Jos. Young,..          )1 (0    3    3
Geo. Young...................        250        2         3
The single freernen in the township in 1785 were:
John Byers.........                          150    2             2
Andrew Byers...........100 1...
Alex. Carson................       1         2
Wim. Carson...........................................
Johnl lDunlap...........................................
Beal Fowvler......................................1...
Jos. Irwin......................................2    1
Win. Maxwell...................................1......
Sam]. Stepdhens (t slave)..................    500   1         1
John Blattleshell..................So 80......
Thos.'Revanscraft........................................
Richard  loyes..................          300.......
RichArd Batnet..............................................
Isaiah Moreland............................................
Jos. Minteer....................................... 1          1
John Rodtgers, Jr...........1......
John Spieir...............1......
Wm. Speir.......................................1...
Jas. Allen......                             100    1    1
Freemtan Battesbell...................................
John Arnold............................................
555
i
iTHE REVOLUTION.                                              71
ward Cook, William  Crawford, Devereux Smith, present exigencies haVe made so exceedingly necesJohn Anderson, David Rodgers, Jacob Van Meter, sary.
Henry Enoch, James Ennis, George Wilson, William  " As this committee has reason to believe there is a
Vance, David Shepherd, William Elliott, Richmond  quantity of ammunition destined for this place for
Willis, Samuel Sample, John Ormsby, Richard Mc- the purpose of government, and as this country on
Maher, John Nevill, and John Swearingen."       the west side of Laurel Hill is greatly distressed for
A standing committee was appointed, to have " full want of ammunition, and deprived of the means of
power to meet at such times as they shall judge neces-  procuring it, by reason of its situation, as easy as the
sary, and in case of any emergency to call the coin- lower counties of this colony, they do earnestly remittee of this district together, and shall be vested  quest the committees of Frederick, Augusta, and
with the same power and authority as the other Hampshire that they will not suffer the ammunition
standing committee and committees of correspond-  to pass through their counties for the purposes of
ence are in the other counties within this colony."    government, but will secure it for the use of this desIt was by the meeting "Resolved, unanimously, titute country, and immediately inform this comThat this committee have the highest sense of the  imittee of their having done so. Ordered, that the
spirited behavior of their brethren in New England, standing committee be directed to secure such arms
ana do most cordially approve of their opposing the  and ammunition as are not employed in actual serinvaders of American rights and privileges to the  vice or private property, and that they get the same
utmost extreme, and that each member of this com- repaired, and deliver them to such captains of indemittee respectively will animate and encourage their pendent companies as may make application for the
hneighborhood to follow the brave example.....  same, and taking such captains' receipt for the arms
"Resolved, That the recommendation of the Rich-  so delivered.
mond Convention of the 20th of last March, relative    "Resolved, That this committee do approve of the
to the embodying, arming, and disciplining of the  resolution of the committee of the other part of this
militia, be immediately carried into execution with  county relative to the cultivating a friendship with
the greatest diligence in this country by the officers  the Indians, and if any person slhall be so depraved
appointed for that end, and that the recommendation  as to take the life of any Indian that may come to us
of the said convention to the several committees of in a friendly manner, we will, as one man, use our
this colony to collect from their constituents, in such  utmost endeavors to bring such offenders to condign
manner as shall be most agreeable to them, so much  punishment.
money as shall be sufficient to purchase half a pound    " Resolved, That the sum of fifteen pounds, current
of gunpowder and one pound of lead, flints, and  money, be raised by subscription, and that the same
cartridge, paper for every tithable person in their be transmitted to Robert Carter Nicholas, Esq., for
county be likewise carried into execution.      the use of the deputies sent from this colony to the
"This committee, therefore, out of the deepest General Congress; which sum of money was immesense of the expediency of this measure, most earn-  diately paid by the committee then present." The
estly entreat that every member of this committee do  delegates referred to in tilis resolution were John
collect from each tithable person in their several dis-  Harvie and George Rootes, who were addressed, in
tricts the sum of two shillings and sixpence, which  instructions from the committee, as " being chosen to
we deem no more than sufficient for the above pur- represent the people on the west side of the Laurel
pose, and give proper receipts to all such as pay the  Hill in the Colonial Congress for the ensuing year,".
same into their hands... And this committee, as  the committee then instructing them to lay certain
your representatives, and who are most ardently la-  specified grievances of the people of this section beboring for your preservation, call on you, our con- fore the Congress at their first meeting, " as we constituents, our friends, brethren, and fellow-sufferers, ceive it highly necessary they should be redressed to
in the name of God, of all you hold sacred or valua-  put us on a footing with the rest of our brethren in
ble, for the sake of your wives, children, and unborn  the colony."
generations, that you will every one of you, in your   The meeting held at the same time at the countyseveral stations, to the utmost of your power, assist  seat of Westmoreland County, under the call of the
in levying such sum, by not only paying yourselves, Pennsylvanians, was reported as below:
but by assisting those who are not at present in a    "At a general meeting of the inhabitants of the
condition to do so. We heartily lament the case of county of Westmoreland, held at Hanna's Town on
all such as have not this sum at command in this day  the 16th day of May, 1775, for taking into consideraof necessity; to all such we recommend to tender se- tion the very alarming situation of the country occurity to such as Providence has enabled to lend them  casioned by the dispute with Great Britain,so much; and this committee do pledge their faith and    "Resolved, unanimously, That the Parliament of
fortunes to you, their constituents, that we shall, with- Great Britain, by several late acts, have declared
out fee or reward, use our best endeavors to procure, the inhabitants of the Massachusetts Bay to be in
with the money so collected, the ammunition our  rebellion, and the ministry, by endeavoring to enIIISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Acires.
Saml. Dunlap, distiller................                        100
Dahnl. Estell............................................
Alex. Faulkner..........;
Godfrey  Johnson....................................
Geo. Johnson.........................................
Jas. McCormick.......................................
Win. McMullen......................................
Dennis  McCarty......................................
John  Dugan...........................................
Alatthew Richey...............                                   50
TThos. White, distiller................................
Thos. McCae.........................................
Josiah  Allen...........................................
John Lawson...............                                     200
John  Cumnmnins........................................
Thos. Guest (1 slave)...............                         2200
Horses.
2
* *....
1................
2
1
4
3
In 1796 the acres numbered 34,577; horses,
cattle, 721; slaves, 19.  The total valuation
$228,318, and the tax quota $380.52.
In 1808 the assessed acres in Franklin num
21,077; forges, 1; distilleries, 8; mills, 7; horses
and cattle, 403. The total valuation was $16
and the township's quota of county tax, $242.
Licenses were issued to tavern-keepers in Fra
(between 1794 and 1808) as follows: Jacob Stri
September, 1794; William Rittenhouse, March,
Arthur Hurry, September, 1795; Peter Kenny,
tember, 1796; James Cunningham, December,
Adam-Dickey, September, 1797; John Rogers,
liam Morehouse, and John Fouzer, September,
Edmund Freeman, December, 1797; John Fre
September, 1798.
EARLY ROADS.
At the March sessions in 1795 report was ma
Jolhn McClelland, Robert Adams, Jeremiah I
Sttmuel Stevens, Joseph Torrance, and James
on a road laid from Meason's furnace by Pears'
to the Redstone road. The road was describ
commencing at Isaac Meason's furnace, leadi
the forge. built by Jeremiah and Jamnes Peari
thence " till it iintersects the road leading
Uniontown to Brownsville." September, 1794, f
wvas viewed fromn Meason's iron-works to the r
of the Big Redstone by Robert McLaughlin, I
Cannon,. Matthew  Neely, Jeremiah Pears,:
Moreland, and Matthew Gilchrist. Also, in D
ber, 1794, a road was viewed from Meason's furn.
Pears' forge to the road from Uniontown to
stone, the viewers being Jeremiah Pears, I
Adains, James Paull, Col. Joseph Torrance, S,
Stevens, and John McClelland.
A report was made to the court at the Jun
sions in 1797 of a road from Thomas Dunn's p
tion by way of Samuel Grier's mills to Samue
ble's. The viewers were John Dunlap, Ben
Stevens, Joseph Work, Elisha Pears, Williain B
and William McFarland.
TOWNShIIP ORGANIZATION AND CIVIL LT
At the December session of the. Court of G
Quarter Sessions in 1783 the county was divide
townsliips.  One of these townships was Fra
Cattle.  whose creation is thus recorded: " A township to
2  begin at the mouth of Crab-Apple Run; thence up
the same to the mouth of Harvester's Branch; thence.... up the same to the head thereof; thence by a line to
be drawn to the head of the South Fork of Washing-.... ton Mill-Run; thence down the same to, the river.... Youghiogeni; thence up the Youghiogeni to the foot
1  of the Laurel Hill; thence along the foot of Laurel...  Hill to' Burd's old road, leadiing from  Gist's to the
Old Fort; thence along the said road to Redstone
3 Creek; thence down the said creek to the place of
2 beginning, to be lhereafter known by the namie of
521 * Franklin township." At the December term of court,
5  1793, it was ordered that " that part of Wharton townwas
ship whlich lies northward of a line lately run by Alexanider McCiean and his assistants as a line of experibered  ment from Berlin to the west side of the Chestnut
41;  Ridge or Laurel Hill, crossing the Youghiogenii River
about one hundred perches above the mouth of Rocky
Run, and thence due west to Braddock's road, be anbnkin nexed to the township of Franklin." At the Decem1795c   ber session of court in 1798 a portion of Franklin
was set off and called Durbar township. At the March
9Sep-  session in 1839 the township of Perry was created from
Wil-  portioais of Franklin, Tyrone, and Washington. At
1797; *the September session, 1849, a petition was presented,  for a change of line between the towniships of Perry
eman,  and Franklin, commencing at or near James H.
Patterson's steam saw-mill, and terminating on the
Red Lion road, south of the written property belongLde by  ing to David Rittenhouse, so as to inielude James PatPears,  terson, Jr., now of Perry, within the limits of FrankPaull,  lin township.' forge    Wim. Cohn, John Dunn, and Ephraim Lynch were
oed as  appoinited commissioners. Order was issued, report
Lng to  miade and approved Dec. 19, 1849, and confirmed
s, and  March 8, 1851. An addition from Franklin to Perry
from   was made in March, 1852. A slight change of liiie
a road I between Franklin and Perry was made in 1867, and in
mouth |March, 1872, petition lwas made by Hugh H. Patterson,
Daniel  Joseph Clark, Alfred and Freeman Cooper to " attaclh"
David  to Franklin township as more convenient for election
iecem-  and school purposes.
ace by    The records of elections in the township are incomRed-  plete, and the list of township officials following will
Robert  be found to extend only from 1784 to 1808 and from
amuel  1840 to 1881.
CONSTABLES..e ses-  1784. John Braun, Jr.    1794. Enos Thomas.
lanta-        John Dunlap.          1795. Samiiiuel Stephens.'1 Gra-  1785. James Nicol.        1796. Elisha Pearce.
jamin  1786. Andrew Arnold.         1797. Thomas Gibson.
3rown,  1787. John John.             1798. Thomas Dunni.
1788. Mitthew Wiley.      1799. William Robeson.
1789. James Itankin.      18()0. Williatm Craig.
ST.    1790. John Rud.              1801. Hugh Shotwell.
1791. James Byers.        1802. Williamn Rittenhouse.
eneral  1792. Robert Dougan.       1S03. Joseph Oglevee.
Ad into  1793. Daniel Cannon.      1804. Robert Patter son.
Lnklin,  1794. George Thompson.    1805-7. William Scott.
5'a 6FRANKLIN TOWNSIHIP.
OVERSEERS OF THE POOR.
178 S4. Daniel Cannon.
Daniel McLean;
] 785. Samnuel Stephens.
Samuel Rankin.
1786. Samuel Rankin.
Elisha Pears.
1787. Samuel Finley.
Elijah Barkley.
1788. Enoch Barkley.
Samuel Finley.
17,89. John Platterson.
Thomas Rogers.
1790. Robert McLaughlin.
Thomas Grier.
1791. Thiomas Rogers.
William Robinson.
1792. Mathew Wiley.
William Rittenhouse.
1793. William Scott.
John Patterson.
17 94. John Richey.
David Kithcart.
1795. Daniel Young, Sr.
1795. Thomas Dunn.
1796. Mathew Neely.
Robert Smith.
1797. James Wilkin.
James Byers.
1798. Johln Patterson.
Joseph Work.
1799. Hugh Shotwell.
Frank Lewis.
1.800. John Byers.
Andrew Arnold.
1801. Elisha Pears.
David Arnold.
1802. William Hamilton.
James Allen.
1803. Win. Craig.
John Reed.
1804. Henry Gilliland.
Joseph Esington.
1805. Ilenry Fitz.
Edward Jordan.
1806. Richard Arnold.
Richard Phillips.
SUPERVISORS.
1784. John McClelland.
Samuel Freeman.
1785. Robert McLaughlir
William Robeson.
1786. John John.
Thomas Moore.
1787.'William Sparks.
S,muel Stephens.
1788. John John.
Samtuel Work.
1789. Daniel Cannon.
WVillia,n Rittenhou
1790. James Rankin.
William Metler.
1791. John Dunlap.
John Robinson.
1792. Joshua Dickinson.
Andrew Arnold.
1793. Thomas Dunn.
Benjamin Stephens,
1794. Samnuel Rankin.
Jacob Strickler.
1795. Jamnes Byers.
Duncan McClean.
1840. James Fry, Jr.
1841. James Ghrist.
1842. Andrew Oldham.
1843. Jesse Arnold.
1844. Ilenry Fetz.
1845. James Allen.
1846. Jonathan Ramage.
1847. Frederick Boyer.
1848. James Arnold.
1849. Abraham Hazen.
1850. Daniel Harper.
1851. Henry Galley.
1852. E. H. Abraham.
1853. Henry Framer.
36
1796. Joseph Work.
Joseph Oglevee.
n.     1797. Richard Phillips.
Matthew Neely.
1798. William Scott.
Conrad Barricklow.
1799. Samuel Bryson.
Adam Steel.
1800. Francis Lewis.
John Paxton.
1801. James Rankin.
se.          Samuel Reed.
1802. Henry Jeiz.
William  Craig.
1803. John Bowman.
Samuel Reed.
1804. David Parker.
David Smith.
1805. James Byers.
James McCafferty.
1806. Jamnes Allen.
Mattthew Cannon.
1807. J. A. Scott.
Thomas Grier.
ASSESSORS.
1854. William Hertwick.
1855. Henry Fitts.
1856. William Humbert.
1857. James Allen.
1858. William Parkhile.
1859. Milton W. Patterson.
1860. Alfred Cooper.
1861. George W. Brown.
1862. Watson Murphy.
1863. S. P. Junk.
1864. C. Ilearford.
1865. G. Hazen.
1866. WV. F. Bute.
1867. W. Arison.
1868. J. Rankin.
1869. J. Jobs.
1871. J. M. Long.
1 87 2. A. Winnett.
1873. James McCloy.
1875. H. Sparks.
1840. William II. hIarper.
1841. Abraham Ilazen.
1842. David Gibson.
1843. Andrew Oldham.
1844. James Frey.
1845. Jonathan Ramage.
1846. Thomas McMillen.
1847. Thomas Craig.
1848. John Burton.
1849. Thomas McMillen.
1850. W. G. Bute.
1851. Jonathan Rapage.
1852. Jesse Arnold.
1853. James Long.  
1854. Moses Hazen.
1855. William McVey.
1856. Henry Barkalow.
1857. Joseph Bute.
1858. Robert Smith.
1859. Jamnes Ghrist.
1860. Mathew Byers.
TOWN C
1841-42. James H. Patterson.
1843-44. Robert Smith.
1845-52. Joseph Bute.
1853-54. Robert Smith.
1855. Jesse Arnold.
1856. George WV. Foulker.
1857. Washington Bute.
1858. John Cunningham.
SCHOOL DI
1840. William Abraham.
Joel Maxon.
1841. John Shank.
Benjamin Byers.
1842. Joseph Bute.
Abraham HIlazen.
1843-44. Ilenry Strong.
Henry Barkalow.
1845. Alfred Cooper.
George Wolf.
1846. Henry Snider.
Jefferson Lynn.
1847. James Fry.
Joseph Bute.
1848. Jonathan Ramage.
Robert Gaddis.
1849. James Rankin.
James Frey.
1850. Samuel Junk.
William Abraham.
1851. William Humbert.
George Wolf.
1852. Alexander Brown.
Henry Frazer.
1853. Joseph Bute.
Frederick Boyer.
1676. Adah Winnet.
1877. John Arnold.
1878. Jacob Mills.
1879. Phineas Rotruck.
1880. Thomas Hazen.
1881. J. Burton.
AUDITORS.
1861. John Cooper.
1862. Henry Cook.
1863. D. McMillen.
1864. T. A. Humbert.
1865. D. Snyder.
1866. W. Bradman.
1867. J. Frey.'
1868. L. McCrary.
1869. J. Rankin.
1870. D. Snyder.
1871. E. Shearer.
1872. J. Long.
1873. James Murphy.
1874. Jonathan Rankin.
1875. David Junk.
1876. Job Trasher.
1877. David Snyder.
1878. Hiram Jordan.
1879. Clark Foster.
1880. David Long.
1881. HI. F. Jordan.
LERKS.
1859. James Arnold.
1860-61. Mordecai McDonald.
1862. David Arnold.
1863-75. J. Bute.
1876. Jonathan Burton.
1877-78. J. Bute.
1879. Farrington Oglevee.
1880-81. Joseph Bute.
[RECTORS.
1854. Robert McGinnis.
Robert Gaddis.
1855. Edward Jordan.
John Cunningham.
1856. Thomas Dunn.
Morgan Campbell.
1857. Samuel P. Junk.
Abraham Galley.
1858. Edward Eaglan.
Washington Hess.
1859. Addison Allep.
George Whetsel.
1860. Nathan Lewis.
James Allen.
1861. Jacob Strickler.
Henry Barkalow.
1862. James Arnold.
George Wolf.
1863. W. Murphy.
F. McKee.
1864. R. Addis.
J. Allen.
1865. J. M. Long.
J. Barton.
1866. W. Murphy.
J. M. Long.
557IHISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
1866. J. Murphy.
1867. J. Rankin.
J. W. Bver.
1868. C. Hearford.
H. Cook.
1S69. WV. T. Bute.
W. ]Boyd.
1870. J. Parkhill.
J. Reed.
1871. W. Bradman.
C. Ilearford.
S. Evans.
1872. AV. F. Bute.
W. G. Allen.
J. Frey.
1873. James Junk.
Da,vid Snyder.
1S74. George Hazen.
JUSTICES
1840. William Abraham.
Joseph Ghrist.
1 845. Rober t Smith.
Jacob AVolf.
1S55. Matthew Arison.
Robert Gaddis.
1859. Ilenry Cook.
James Patterson.
1860. Rtobert Gaddis.
Joseph B3ute.
1874. William hairrison.
Thomas Dunn.
1875. William Hormel.
Joseph LTong,.
James Murphy.
1876. Conrad Stiickler.
William  llormiiell.
1877. George Hazeni.
Jonathan Rankin.
Willi.am Arison.
1878. Job Frasher.
David Juink.
1879. Lewis McCrary.
Thomnas J. Dunn.
1880. Jacob Strickler.
Jesse Og,le% ee.
1881. P. Roderick.
James Junk.
OF THE PEACE.
1864. Al. Arison.
186-5. F. 0-levee.
1869. 1I. Cook.
1870. W. Arison.
F. Oglevee.
1874. W. S. Allen.
1875. W. F. Bute.
Matthew Arison.
1880. W. S. Bute.
SCHOOLS.
One of the earliest school-houses in Franklin township vas a log building that stood in 1800 upon the
Uniontown and Pittsburghl road, about forty rods
south of John Shotwell's stone mansioni. It was the
only school-house in Franklin west of Flatwoods, and
one of the very first in that section of the country.
It was built before the year 1800, but just wlhen cannot be told. Among its earliest patrons and supporters were Hug,h Shotwell, Robert Smlitl, John Al'len,
Jonathan Sharpless, Antlhony Swayne, James McCaffertly; William Rittenhouse, Joseph Ghrist, John
Paxon, Jacob  Baughman, William  Burton, Jacob Wolf, WVilliam Condon, John and Robert Patterson, Amos Emmens, Catharine Shanklin, and Jolhn
Shotwell. The first teacher was Samuel Blaney, a
retired sea-captain, and a fine scholar for that day.
Blaiiey was perhaps the most fa-mous school-teaclher
Franklin ever had. He taught in arnd about Franiklin for upwards of thirty years, and died at Flatwoods
at a ripe old age. His successor in the old log schoolhouse was William Symins, a Yankee, who taught
there some time. Among the children who were
numbered as the earliest pupils in that school-house
were Catharine, Susanna, Rosetta, and Emjily Shotwell, Harriet Wolf, Pruda Rittenhouse, Jonathan
Ramage, Eliza and Charlotte Wolf, William Mevey,
John Blanev, Huston and Tlhomas Todd, Hugh Deyarmon, George, Ruth, and Sarah Wolf, Catharine,
Rachel, Melinda, and Samuel Condon, Abralhamn,
George, Thomas, and Mary Hazen, Wilson Hill,
James and Nancy McCafferty, John, Jamiies, and
Sarah Shanks,' Matthew Patterson, Arthur, Williamn,
and Thomas Rittenhouse.
The old Franklin school-house was built in 1821
upon the site of the present house. It was constructed of hewn logs, eighteen by twenty-four feet
in size, was covered with a shingle roof; and was
furnished with slab benches. Those most active in.
building the house were Joseph Ghrist, David Hazen,
Samuel Blaney, Jonatlhan Hill, William Condon,
Robert and Johni Patterson, David Rittenhouse,
Ashfordly Wintermute, Robert Smith, John Allen,
Jacob Wolf, and John Sliotwell. William Symms
was the first teacher, anid he was succeeded by John
Breckenridge, Samuel Blaney, Samuel Peden, Sarah
Griffith, William Frazer, Williain McVey. Amongr
Mr. Syimms' pupils were Janmes Patterson, D. P. Patterson, Flora, Sarah, John, and Clarissa Patterson, R.
S. Patterson, William, Isabella, and John Burton,
AVilliam and Perry Condoni, Hannah, Catharine, Mary,
aind Jacob Wolf, Thomas and Sarah Todd, Emily and
Caroline Shotwell, Clarissa and Sarah Hazen, Benjamin and Lida XVinterinute, Hiram, Hannah, and
James Glhrist, Polly and Betty Beal, George anid
William West, David and Wilson Rittenhouse, Saralh
and Matilda Ramage, Hiram Smith, Sarah and Neri
Hill, Hugh Deyarmon, Samiuel Blair, Samnuel, Levi,
and Sarah -Morris, W'illiam and Polly Shanks. Franllin school-house was in liberal demand by various
religious denomninations whlo worslhiped there nearly
every Sunday. A Union Sunday-school was established there in 1822, and much encouraged by the
efforts of John Shotwell, Gen. James H. Patterson,
David Rittenhouse, Samnuel Condon, and Jonathan
Hill. The land uponi wlhich tlle old log schoolhouse stood was conveyed by Hufgh Shotwell anid
wife to Edward Jordan, William  Oliphant, amid
Timotlly Smlitlh, Jr., truistees of the school-house, tihe
considerationi being one dollar. The deed describes
the tract as "containing forty-ninie square perchex,
situated on the west side of the road leading fromii
Uniontown to Pittsburglh, being, part of a tract of
land called Hope, for which a patent was granted to
Johln Patterson, Feb. 6, 1798, and by hinm conveyed
to Hugh Shotwell, May 8, 1798."
Following are presented details touching the public schools of Franklin, as taken from the anniual
school report ending June 7, 1880:
Whole number of schools....................................
Avertive numbher of months  taught........................
NumDber of' imale teachers.....................................
"    "  femnale  teaichers..................................
Average salaries of mnales per monjth.....................
"   "     femiiales per miiouith...................
Numiiber of miale schbolars....................................
"    "  femnale' scholars...................................
Average nutmjber attending school..........................
"    pereentage of attendance..:......................
Cost per Imloutlh............................
Nuimiber of mills levied for school purposes.............
buildin( purposes...........
Totaal amount of tax  levied  for school and building
purposes........................................................
StaLte appropriaLtion......................
7
5
6
$31.0(
31.1O
167
141
85
$72.00
1 -
00
$1295.61
293.S9
5 -58FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP.
From taxes and all other sources, except State appropriation.........................................................
Total   receipts...................................................
Cost of school-houses,-purcha,sing, building, renting,
etc................................................................
Paid for teachers' wages.......................................
Paid -for fuel and contingencies, fees of collectors,
etc., a n(l all other expenses...............................
Total expenditures............................................
Resources..........................................................
Liabilities.........................................................
$1529.54
1825.43
362.76
1044.13
153.65
1560.54
264.89
CIIURCIIES.
BIG REDSTONE BAPTIST CHURCH.
An entry upon the records of the Big Redstone
Church reads, "The church at Big Redstone, called
Philade]plpia, was constituited May 1, 1791, by Rev.
-David Loofborrow."   Fartlher on one reads that
"the following are the names of the members' regularly baptized and joined in fellowship and comlnunion: Henry Frazer, ininister and pastor of the
Philadelphia Church; William Rittenhouse, deacon
and recorder; Thomas Wells, deacon; Williain Calvin, singing clerk. Joseph Dougins, Thomas Wheatley, Samuel Cralle, John Stivers, David, Brenier,
Henry Fritz, James Winders, Abralhamn Laverd, Benjamin Plhillips, Job Rossel, Joseph Jordan, Rielard
Arnold, Andrew Yeagley, Joseplh Combs, M1athiias
Merril, Job Lecraw, Joel Rogers, Jolhn Oltoni, Abraham Rogers, Johni Gibson, Clhristoplher WVarman,
Robert Rogers, Brazilla Rossel, Jonatlhan  Addis,
Isaac Wlieatley, Hugh S1iotwVell, Isaac Updegraf,
Joseph Wheatley, Rachel Mooniey, Rebecca Rittenhouse, Abigail Leverd, Susannah Wells, Margaret
Grable, Alice Browvn, Martha Hainstide, Alartlia Stivers, EuplhemIia Brewver, Salrah PhIillips, Pattience Wilderman,Jatie Fitz, Francis Boughinan, Ainn Dalnielson
Mary Rossel, Phcebe Fraser, Anti Merril, Aisti Arniold,
Mary Calvin, Margaret Fitz, Priscilla Arnold, Nelly
Arnold, Elizabetlh Wlhitsel, Salrah Yettgley, Eliza-.
beth Bell, Mary Fitz, Saralh Whlitsell, Prudence Lecrau, Sarah Emmoiis, Lydia Slharp, Elizabetlh Combs,
Elizabeth Hilands, Mary Rossel, Millie Rogers, Chlloe
Logear, Lavina Rogers, Delilall Tlhomipson, Elizabeth Rossel, Tamsel Spencer, Polly Rogers, Hopey
Rogers, Rebecca Abrahams, Saralh Vooley, Sarah
Dalauf, Nelly Oliphant,  MIary Updegraf, Hannah
Wheatley."  As an evidence of " close cominunioin"
an extract is made from the ninth article of the Confession of Faith, as follows: " We do promise to keep
the secrets of the church, and not divuilge them to
any, for in this respect we are a gardenl inclosed, a
fountain sealed." Feb. 19, 1801, measures were taken
to "fence the graveyard."  Mr. Frazer appears to
have been the church's pastor unitil 1802, when, in
September of that year, Rev. Benjamin Stone was
called. The entry upon the minutes recites thus:
"Called Brother Benjamin Stone to take the pastoral
care of this church so long as it suits him and us.
And he agrees to supply us once a month until next
1 The list iticludes the names of members received up to 1803.
April; after that twice a month."  Preaching was
doubtless held at odd places, and perhaps chiefly in a
log school-house, until 1800, for it does not appear
that a house of worship was erected before that date,
although the statement may be a mistakeh one, as the
early records of the church scarcely refer to the subject of a meeting-house.
A stray memorandum, bearing date 1800, contains a
bill of items in connection with the business of building, and testifies that it is "a bill for work done at
the meeting-house," as follows:
~  s.  d.
"Tow doors and four shutters.......................  1 14  6
Cutting out tow win(lows and cheeking adtd facing. 0 10  0
To  making   sash............;.,..........   1  2  8
Laying the upper floor.1  13..                0)
Running uo the staihs.........0  18  0
Making clabboards and weatherboarding it up. 0  5  0
Plaining bords and nailing round the pulpit up in
the loft.......0             O               3 9
Plaiuuing bords and fixing round the stairs and
boarding.1 0 0
Fixing a tramne round thc top of the stares. 0   3
Total.                              7 9 1
Collected from the churc..0 4 6
May 19, 1800, settled with Joseph; we owed him... 1  4 4"
This church was a lo, building, and was in all probability erected by volunteer labor save as to the carpenter's work, Ior which the bill Nvas presented as above
iiarrated. How long Rev. Benjamin Stonie remained
the pastor is not of record. He was succeeded by
Rev. James Fry, who occupied the pulpit steadily for
about thirty years, and died in the pastorate. He was
followed by Revs. Courtland Skinner, Thomas Rose,
anid Adall Winnet.  Mr. Winlet's pastorate covered
a period of more than thirty years. He was suddenly
attacked witli palsy while preaching at Maple Creek,
in January, 1881, and in three hours was a corpse.
The present pastor is Rev. A. Canfield. Although
tlle church prospered greatly for many years, and had
at one time a miembership of upwards of one hundred,
deaths, organization of other churches, and removals
from  the neighborhood have cut the members down
to seventeen.  The present house of worship was
erected in 1845. Preaching is supplied once a month.
Tlle deacons are Samuel Jobes and Robinson Murphv.
Complaints were not infrequently urged before the
church by one member against another, and the recitals thereof were sometinies framed in what would
strike the average reader of to-day as an amusing
form. One, the following, is transcribed verbatim et
literatim:
"Job Roussel complains that on Wednesday last
he and his son had taken up a certain Thomas Brown
then they sent for Jonathan Addis to assist thein in
taking hiim before the authority he accordingly camle
wvbhen he carne lie asked Brown where h-e had got that
mare he denyed, J. Addis took hold of him and said
git up you dog, he then gave him a slap with hi.s
hand and damned him, Roussel- then thought that
Addis would be of service to go and see the fences that
I
I
i
I
5.)96HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
hle had left down they went to see and saw the tracks
of the mare and colt, Addis sai(I you dog you ought
to be at the work house long ago he gave him a push
and Kickt him-they then came to the house a little  
after John Addis came and desired his father not to
go, and that he would be damned if he should go  
and gave Roussel a considerable of ill language at  
the same time Roussel said he would bare his father  
Harmless He said you are not able for he was as able
as he was and that he (meanling Roussel) had not
given his daughter anything etc. Roussel answered
him to be gone a little dirty whelp, then they proceed
before the authority and Roussel sent a subpenice
for Jonathlan Addis and had him brought forward as
a witness then Roussel asked his son-in-law what he
came for he said for fun. Roussel said I have fetched  
your father too he answered Roussel you shall pay  
him for that then Jonathan Addis steped up and
said his son had acknowledged enough and that he
would kick him or any son he had, the magistrate
commanded the peace Roussel then went out at the
door and Addis followed him out and said I will kick
you you old dirty Raskel, Roussel said why did you
call me dirty have you a clean shirt when you go
homne. Then James Roussel and Addis started away
James R began to Inoderate him, Addis answered
him and said he did not care for any man then Roussel sent his wife to see'Addis she told hinm to come
and see him and make it up in love for it would be
mnuch the best, he seemed to Rave much she told him
if he did he would complain to the church he said
he disregarded the Church, she said this was a dreadful thing'and she cryd he told her to begone with
her tears, he said Roussel had used his sonI ill and
that he was a dirty old Raskel and he would not
see his son imposed upon and that he would kick
Roussel and that he could slap any one of the Roussels, she told he had aggravated Roussel a great deal
and that she blamed Roussel for antything wrong he
done the niext day he came into the field James Roussel asked him what he thought of yesterdays work
he said he had not felt well since and that he thought
he ought to be kickt James said he heard a man say
he intended to return him for swearing he asked him
who he was he said I am the man he went off slaping his fists together and swore he would have Revenge before Saturday night."
Attached to the complaint was an affidavit, of which
the following is a copy:
"' FAYETTE COUNTY, 88:
"13efore me the subscribing witness, as justice of the peace
in an(l for said county, pe-sona1ly came James Rossel and
made oath thatt on the 17th of July, 1805, he heard Jonathan
Addis sware one profane oath and the day following one profane
oath, and he further deposeth and sayth that on the 17th of
July at the dwelling house of Job Rossell he heard John Addis
give his father-in-law provoking sassey language as he thought
without provocation.
"Sworn and subscril,ed the 13th day of August, 1805.'ROnERT SMIITH.' JAMES ROSELL."
LAUREL HILL UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
About the year 1790, during the pastorate of Rev.
James Dunlap, the elders of the Laurel Hill Presbyterian Church introduced Watts' "Hymns" into the
form of worship, despite the opposition of many of the
members. The result was seen in the withdrawal of
the disaffected ones, aggregating about one-third of
the congregation. They desired, they said, to remain
faithfill to the forms their fathers had observed, and
cling to the songs their fathers had sung. They were
popularly known as "the Seceders." Being strong in
numbers they agitated the subject of organizing a
new church, and in 1792 they formned the Associated
Reformed Congregation of Laurel Hill. Application
was at once made for admission into the Presbytery
of Monongahela. Just how many seceded from the
original church cannot be told, since the early records
are lost, but that the number was considerable would
appear from the fact that from the minutes of the Associated Reformed Synod of the West for 1806 Laurel
Hill Church was reported as having a congregation of
one hundred and ten families, and a membership of
one hundred and sixty. At that time the ruling elders
were John Hamilton, James Wilkie, Joseph Finley,
William Patterson, Thomnas Dunn, Sr., and John Stewart. After the church was organized Rev. Mr. Warwick preached awhile, and then went to a charge in
Kentucky. Supplies were furnished by the Presbytery
until 1798, when Rev. David Proudfoot was called to
be the pastor. He was one of the pioneers in the
United Presbyterian Church. He came with his parents froir Scotland in 1754, and in 1788 entered college at Gettysburg, studied theology under Rev. John
Jamison, anid in 1796 was licensed to preach. He
labored at Laurel Hill, East Liberty, and Dunlap's
Creek from 1798 to the spring of 1824, and after
twenty-six years of continuous service was released.
He moved then to Ohio, where he died in 1830.
During his pastorate at Laurel Hill the ruling elders
ordained were James Patterson, Peter Patterson, John
Patterson, Esq., XV. C. Patterson, William Patterson,
Jeremiah Patterson, John Patterson, Robert Long,
and John Junk. The church was dependent upon
supplies from March, 1824, to the spring of 1836,
when Matthew McKinstry was called by Laurel Hill
and Bethesda, and installed April 27, 1836. He remained until 1844 in charge of both congregations,
when he gave his whole time to Bethesda. During
his pastorate the ruling elders ordained were Jamines
Gilchrist (iiin 1837), Edward Gilchrist (in 1840), and
Samuel P. Junk (in 1840).
After Mr. McKinstry's departure the pastorate was
vacant until August, 1849, supplies being regularly
furnished meanwhile. During the interregnum, Andrew Bryson, Sr., M. M. Patterson, and John Gilchrist
were chosen ruling elders. Mr. Bryson still lives, and
is still one of the elders. Rev. D. H. Pollock, the
next pastor, accepted a call April 10, 1849, and was
installed the following August. The church was then
560FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP.
in a flourishing condition, and under his ministrations prospered greatly. His labors closed Oct. 25,
1853. During his pastorate James R. Patterson and
Alexander H. Patterson were ordained ruling elders.
Supplies were again in order until the spring of 1856,
when Laurel Hill and Mount Pleasant called Rev.
James H. Fife, who labored in the pastorate until his
death, July 26, 1861.  There was after that no regular pastor until June 20, 1865, when Rev. T. F. Boyd
was called to Laurel Hill to devote all his time to
that churchl. His stay extended to Sept. 3, 1867.
When he took charge the membership was ninety,
and when he retired it was but seventy-five. After
this the pastorate was vacanit twvo years and seven
months, until Jan. 10, 1870. On that date Rev. T.
P. Patterson was called, and installed June 21, 1870.
He was released Sept. 4, 1877. J. H. Patterson was
chosen ruling elder Oct. 14, 1870, and Oct. 5,1871, additions to the session were made in William S. Gilchlrist, Joseph Humbert, and D. P. Patterson  Aug.
13, 1878, Rev. S. B. McBride, the present pastor, was
installed. He was ordained in September, 1870.
During the existence of the chlurch but two houses
of worship were erected. Soon after its organization
six acres of land, lying on the township line between
Franklin and Dunbar, were deeded to Jeremiah Pears,
William  McFarland, and John McClelland, "trustees of the Associated Reformed Congregation of Laurel Hill."  Upon the land (in Dunbar) a graveyard
was laid out and a stone church built, measuring
forty-four by fifty-five feet, and sixteen feet high.
During Rev. Mr. Pollock's pastorate the church was
repaired and remodeled, and the pulpit "taken downstairs from up-stairs." From 1792 to 1874 the same
house was used. In the latter year the present edifice, standing in Franklin, was erected. During the
summer of 1871 a parsonage costing $2000 was built.
In March, 1881, the memnbership was ninety-six, and
the ruling elders at that time were Andrew Bryson,
Sr., J. H. Patterson, Joseph H. Humbert, and D. P.
Patterson. The trustees were James Junk, John
Dunn, and David P. Long. In the Sunday-school,
of which J. H. Humnbert is superintendent, there was
an average attendance of sixty-five. In the churclhyard the older headstones are defaced, broken, or destroyed, so that the earliest burials cannot be noted
here. The oldest inscriptions traceable include the
following: Catharine Jackson, 1803; Thomas Dunrn,
1802; William Rankin, 1807; Robert Jackson, 1808;
Flora Patterson, 1811; Samuel Bryson, 1808; John
Richey, 1814; Elizabeth Rankin, 1818 (aged ninetyone); John Reed, 1815 (aged one hundred); and
Samuel Rankin, 1820 (aged eighty-three). Upon the
headstone of Alexander Work-died 1813-it is recorded:
"The man of business rests in dust,
Survivors feel the loss,
Widow and orphans, citizens,
Alas! must bear the cross."
FLATWOODS BAPTIST CHURCII.
About 1833 Andrew Arnold engaged Rev. Williamn
Wood to hold Baptist services in the Arnold schoolhouse, one and one-fourth miles east of the present
church building. Mr. Wood held services there and
in private houses, from time to time, and on the fifth
Sunday in June, 1834, in a grove near the school, Mr.
Wood, assisted by Revs. John Patton and Benoni Allen, organized the Flatwoods Baptist Church. Andrewv Arnold and John Detwiler were chosen deacons,
Andrew Arnold the singing clerk, and twenty-two
persons were received as constituent members. A list
of members received into the church up to 1842, gives
the names of Andrew Arnold, Hiramn Norris, John
Detwiler, David Rittenhouse, James Rittenhouse,
William Bell, Henry Stevenson, Obadiah Bowen, Tilson Fuller, John Goucher,    Whitset, Levi Morris, Lewis Zimmnerman, Job Rossel, Amnos Payne,
James Blayer, Caleb Rossel, J. H. Patterson, James
Shanks, James Fry, David Loof berry, Charles Rossel,
William Abrahamns, William Johnston, Henry Retinoyer, Jonathan Hoge, Ephraim Lynch, William
Beal, William Wadsworth, Samuel Rossel, Joseph Tilton, Benjamin Whaley, Reuben Sutton. In Novem
ber, 1842, a fourteen-days' protracted meeting was held
by Revs. Milton Sutton and Williamn Wood, and as a
result sixteen members were added to the church,
Jacob and Jane Hazlet, William Martin, John Townsend, Thomas Truman, James Arnold, Benjamin Higbee, Ansley Blayer, Andrew Oldham, Jesse Arnold,
Jr., Joseph Kerr, Joseph Bute, John Bell, Joel Cooper,
Jonathan Shaffer, and Elizabeth Shaffer. An extract
from the records touching this protracted meeting
reads thus: "Nov. 12, 1842, a protracted meeting
commenced with this church and continued fourteen
days, attended by ministering brethren Wood and
Sutton, when we had the presence of the Lord, as we
trust, in granting us a special season of grace, and as
the meeting progressed, while some were halting and
others weeping and praying over the condition of our
Zion, the spirit of Almighty God was evidently workinig in our midst, and he attended the word preach(d
with the power of the Holy Spirit. Sinners were
alarmed, and many were made to.weep under a sense
of their sin and guilt to cry for mercy."
Rev. William Wood was installed as pastor of the
church upon the day following its organization, Rev.
Mr. Estep preaching the installation sermaon. May
23, 1835, the church was received as a member of the
Monongahlela Association, then in session at Peter's
Creek. In 1835, William Dunlap donated land for a
church and churchyard, and that year a framed house,
forty by thirty-six feet in size, was erected upon the site
of the present building. To the graveyard lot additional donations of land were made by John Bowman,
Andrew Bowman, and John'Townsend. Sept.15, 1836,
Abner Rittenhouse, Andrew Arnold, and Hiram
Norris were chosen church trustees. In 1838 a Baptist minister living east of the mountains, happening
561HISTORY OF FAYETTE' COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
to be at Flatwoods during a meeting of the Monongahela Association there, wrote upon his return home
a newspaper sketch of his experiences in the West.
Touching Flatwoods he said, "We met at a place
called Flatwoods, but I called it anything but fiat.
Somne people came twenty and twenty-five miles. I
was.surprised to see so many ladies on horseback,
and they told me too they could ride just as fast as
the horses could go."
The church has had since 1834 an almost uninterrupted pastorate history. Rev. William Wood, the
first pastor, preached until January, 1842; E. T.
Brown then supplied for one year, and Milton Sutton,
being installed in January, 1843, served three years
longer. April 1, 1846, William Wood returned for a
second termn and remnained two years. Rev. J. W. B.
Tisdale was the pastor from April, 1848, to April,
1852; Milton Sutton (second term), from April,
1852, to April, 1853; W. W. Hickman, from 1853 to
1860; John Scott, from 1860 to 1864; WV. B. Skinner,
from 1864 to 1865; W. W. Hickman (second term),
fromn 1865 to 1868; C. W. Hodsall, from 1868 to
1869; N. B. Crutchfield, 1869 to 1870; J. R. Brown,
1870 to 1872; Daniel Kelsey, 1872 to 1874; W. R.
Patton, 1874 to 1880; and J. A. J. Lightburn, from
April 1, 1880, to the present time. Following is given
a list of deaconls elected since 1834: Andrew Arnold
and John Detwiler, May, 1834; Job Rossel and James
Fry, May 12, 1834; H. W. Norris, June 14, 1846;
James Piersol, James Arnold, and Ephraim Lynch,
Jan. 11, 1851; J. A. Piersol, E. H. Abrahams, Jarret
Jordan, Mathew Arison, July 14, 1860; Joseph Bute,
April 20, 1862; Aaron Townsend, Joseph Essington,
John Blair, and T. P. Murphy, Nov. 19,1865. Messrs.
Arison, Bute, Townsend, Essington, and Murphy are
still elders. The first chlurch clerk was Abner Rittenhouse. James Fry, the second, was chosen Jan.
8, 1842; Jesse Arnold, Feb. 7, 1852; E. H. Abrahams, March 19, 1859; and Joseph Bute, the present
clerk, June 15, 1861. In 1861, Joseph Bute, Joel
Cooper, and John Townsend were appointed a commnittee to provide a new meeting-house, which restilted in the present brick edifice, that was dedicated
April 20, 1862. It measures fifty-five by forty-five,
with a seventeen-feet story, and cost$1725. Upwards
of five hundred members have been received since
1834, about one hundred and ninety of these remaining at this time. The church trustees are P. P. Murphly, Freeman Cooper, and James Blair, and the Sunday-schllool superintendent is P. P. Murphy.
REDSTONE DISCIPLES' CHURCH.
In 1834, Rev. Mr. Wheeler preached occasionally
in Willianm Shank's barn to such of the members of
the Disciples' faith as lived within convenient distancQ  He secured the attendance of a good many
people, who proposed to effect an organization. Mr.
Wheeler suggested that it would be as well to join Flatwoods Church, but being opposed in this measure he
withdrew, as did a fewv others of his opinion. Those
remaining sent for Rev. David Newmeyer, of Ohlio,
who came and organized the Redstone Disciples'
Church in a school-house that stood upon Robert
Smith's farmn. The constituent members numbered
about thirty. Levi Morris and John Shotwell were
chosen deacons; Henry Goe and John Higbee, elders.
Johln Shotwell and others lost no time in pushing
their efforts towards the building of a house of worship,
and in 1838 the church now in use was erected. The
first regular pastor was Rev. Alexander Camnpbell,
who preached for the church uninterruptedly until his
death in 1864. The present pastor is Rev. John
Satterfield, who holds services once a month. The
membership is now (1881) about thirty-five. Emanuel
Shearer is the deacon; William Harper and Owen
Blair, elders.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
JOHN BURTON.
John Burton, of Franklin township, is a native of
England, and was born in Yorkshire, June 17, 1817.
He is the son of Thomas Burton and Jane Mason
Burton, of Yorkshire, England, who were married
March 7, 1810, and emigrated to Amnerica in 1818,
when John was only a year old. They first located
near Winchester, Va., but in 1823 moved into Fayette
County, Pa., and settled upon a farm which is now a
part of the one owned by their son John. There they
lived in fact the rest of their lives, Thomas Burton
dying July 16, 1844, at the age of fifty-eight; Mrs.
Jane M. Burton, who survived her husband thirtyone years, residing during this period wholly with her
son John, died Nov. 23, 1875, at the age of niinetyfive years. She was noted for her piety, and was a
devoted member of the Methodist Protestant Church
for over half a century. They had four children,Williamn, married to Catharine Wolf, March 12, 1835;
Isabel, married to David Deyarmon Dec. 4, 1832;
Thomas, deceased; and John.
John Burton was married to Tacy Hogue, daughter
of Jonathan and Anne Hogue, of Redstone township,
Fayette Co., Sept. 27, 1838. By this marriage there
are two children,-Thomas J. and Jonathan  H.
The former married Louisa S. Johnson, and has one
child living, Annie Florence; Thomas J. is a merchant, and resides in West Brownsville, Washington
Co., Pa. Jonathan H. married Mary E. Strong, and
has one child,-Ernest Colwell Burton. Jonathan is
a farmer, and resides upon his father's farm.
John Burton has filled important township offices,
and has always discharged these duties, as all others
devolving upon him, with fidelity. He and his wife
have long been members of the Methodist Protestant
Church. Mr. Burton has hleld all the offices imposed
upon laymen in his church. He is recognized by all
562JOHN BURTON.CONTENTS.
PAGE
Craft, James W................., 740
Crossland, A. J...546
Crossland, Greensberry................. 360
Cummings, David... 419
Davidson, John H................. 721
Davidson, Thomas R...405
Davidson, Daniel R...406
Dawson, John L...464
De Saulles, Arthur B...     544
Dils, Henry...706
Dravo, John F...415
Duncan, Thomas...459
Duncan, William S...460
Dunn, Justus... 590
Dunn, Thomas...563
Elliott, Joseph S...628
Elliott, William................. 628
Ewing, William...651
Ferguson, Edmund M...414
Ferguson, Walton...415
Finley, Robert.                            737
Forsyth, William...     628
Franks, M. W...705
Frick, Henry C...414
Frisbee, John D...416
Fuller, Smith...347
Gallatin, Albert...771
Gibson, Alexander...     652
Gans, Lebbeus B...773
Gibson, Joshua G...404
Goe, Henry B...629
Goe, John S...630
Graham, Hugh...........     668
Greene, Wilson...705
Griffin, William P...706
Griffith, Samuel C...826
Hague, Reuben...589
Hansel, George W... 841
Healy, Maurice...542
Herbertson, John...462
Hibbs, David:.......................................................................    739
Hibbs, Samuel C...   739
Hill, Alexander and Alexander J..543
Hogg, George...458
Hogg, William....................................................   459
Hogsett, Robert............. 347
Hough, William......................... 631
Howell, Joshua B............. 356
Howell, Alfred............. 352
Hunt, William............... 360
Huston, John...........................................................  359
Hyndman, Edward K...409
Jackson, Robert...      668
Jacobs, Adam...458
Johnson, David...604
Jones, John...691
Kendall, Isaac P...604
King, Josiah......................... 722
Leisenring, John...410
Lenhart, Leonard...741
PAGE
Lindley, Lutellus...............'.'.'.'.406
Lynn, James M............... 738
Lynn, Denton...............'..'..  827
Marchand, Louis............'.......'.. 627
Mathoit, Henry B...............                          587
McClean, Alexander..............'                      362
McIlvaine, Robert A...............     538
Miller, L. S...................            632
Miller, William H                                                  463
Moore, J. W.694
Morgan, John.773
Newcomer, George W.417
Newmyer, P. S.420
Nutt, Adam C.358
Oglevee, Joseph.541
Oliphant, F. H.582
Oliphant, S. D...............,  194
Patterson, Alfred.351
Patterson, William G...............:           630
Paull, James.                                                       38
Peirsol, James......................................... 721
Peirsel, Jeremiah.667
Phillips, Ellis.543
Playford, W. H.353
Poundstone, John.705
Redburn, James Thomas.358
Reid, James M.                                                   540
Roberts, Griffith.738
Robinson, Eleazer..361
Robinson, James........... 590
Rogers, James K.419
Rush, Sebastian.840
Schnatterly, Thomas B.354
Schoonmaker, James M.412
Scott, Alpheus W.774
Searight, William.665
Shearer, Jacob                                                     563
Shepler, Joseph T..544
Smith, Robert..563
Soisson, Joseph.                                                   420
Springer, Levi..690
Steele, John....................................... 633
Steele, Samuel..461
Stephens, Levi..826
Stephens, Levi B........... 826
Sterling, John..602
Sterling, Jonathan..603
Stewart, Andrew..363
Stoneroad, Joel...........                             539
Strickler, Stewart..805
Sturgeon, Daniel..345
Swartz, Christian..             630
Thompson, Jasper M.................,.. 350
Tinstman, Abraham 0..413
Trader, William H..             589
Wells, Joseph..632
Wilkey, James..              548
Woodward, Davis..547
Woodward, Joseph.                                                  603
Work, Samuel..547
ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Adams, John Q., Residence of.......................     facing  620
Allebaugh, Samuel.......................           between 604, 605
Allison, James.......................                          668
Baily, Silas Milton............' facing  355
Banning, Anthony R..................... between 544, 545
Barton, William.....................                    facing  695
Binns, Gibson, Residence of......................"   620
Blackstone, James.....................             between 544, 545
Bowman, G. H.....................                       facing  457
Boyd, Archibald.....................               between 630, 631
PAGE
Boyle, C. E.............                              between 352, 353
Braddock's Grave..830
Breading, James E.facing 650
Britt, Robert................................................  "   589
Browneller, David, Residence of.......................................  620
Brown, Isaac..................................           692
Brown, John.................................................."    827
Brownfield, Basil.................................................."    693
Brownfield, Ewing.................................................."   346
Burton, John.................................................."   562472                 HISTORY  OF FAYETTE  COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
force those acts, have attempted to reduce the said  go on in the same way as before the era of the Stamp
inhabitants to a more wretched state of slavery than  Act, when Boston grew great and America was happy.
ever before existed in any state or country.  Not As a proof of this disposition, we will quietly submit
content with violating their constitutional and char-  to the laws by which we have been accustomed to be
tered privileges, they would strip them of the rights  governed before that period, and will, in our several
of humanity, exposing lives to the wanton and un-  or associate capacities, be ready, when called on, to
punishable sport of a licentious soldiery, and de-  assist the civil magistrates in carrying the same into
priving them of the very means of subsistence.    execution.
*" Resolved, unanimously, That there is no reason to    "Fifth. That when the British Parliament shlall
doubt but the same system of tyranny and oppression  have repealed their late obnoxious statutes, and shall
will (should it meet with success in Massachusetts  recede from their claim to tax us and make laws for
Bay) be extended to other parts of America; it is  us in every instance, or some general plan of union
therefore become the indispensable duty of every  and reconciliation has been formed and accepted by
American, of every man who has any public virtue  America, this, our association, shall be dissolved, but
or love for his country, or any bowels for posterity,  till then it shall remain in full force; and to the obby every means which God has put in Ihis power, to  servation of it we bind ourselves by everything dear
resist and oppose the execution of it; that for us we  and sacred amongst men. No licensed murder! t'o
will be ready to oppose it with our lives andl fortunes. famine introduced by law!"
And the better to enable us to accomplish it, we will  The first men who went forward from this region
immediately form ourselves into a military body, to  to service in the Revolutionary army were about
consist of companies, to be made up out of the sev-  twenty frontiersmen, who marched from thle Mononeral townships, under the following association, which  gahela country and crossed the Alleghenies to join
is declared to be the Association of Westmoreland  the Maryland company commanded by Capt.  Michael
Couunty:                                           iCresap, of Redstone Old Fort (afterwards Brownls"Possessed with the most unshaken loyalty and  ville). He had been in Kentucky in the spring of
fidelity to His Majesty King George the Third, whom  1775, but being taken ill there had set out by way of
we acknowledge to be our lawful and rightful king, the Ohio and across the mountains for his home in
and who we wish may long be the beloved sovereign  Maryland, where he hoped to recover his health.
of a free and happy people throughout the whole  "On his way across the Allegheny Mountains' he
British Empire, we declare to the world that we do  was met by a faithful friend with a message stating
not mean by this association to deviate from that loy-  that he had been appointed by the Committee of
alty which we hold it our bounden duty to observe;  Safety at Frederick a captain to command one of the
but, animated with the love of liberty, it is no less  two rifle companies required from  Maryland by a
our duty to maintain and defend our just rights  resolution of Congress. Experienced officers and the
(which with sorrow we have seen of late wantonly  very best men that could be procured were demanded.
violated in many instances by a wicked ministry and'When I communicated my business,' says the mesa corrupted Parliament), and transmit them entire to  senger in his artless narrative,'and announced hlis
our posterity, for which we do agree and associate  appointment, instead of becoming elated he becanme
together.                                          | pensive and solemn, as if his spirits were really de"First. To arm and form ourselves into a regi-  pressed, or as if he had a presentiment that this was
ment, or regiments, and choose officers to command  his death-warrant. He said he was in bad health,
us, in such proportions as shall be thought necessary. and his affairs in a deranged state, but that neverthe"Second. We will with alacrity endeavor to make  less, as the committee had selected him, and as he
ourselves masters of the manual, exercise, and such  understood from me his father had pledged himself
evolutions as may be necessary to enable us to act in  that he should accept of this appointment, he would
a body with concert, and to that end we will meet at go, let the consequences be what they might. He
such times and places as shall be appointed, either  then directed me to proceed to the west side of the
for the companies or the regiment, by the officers  mountains and publish to his old companions in arms
commanding each when chosen.                         this hlis intention; this I did, and in a very short
"Third. That should our country be invaded by a  time collected and brought to him at his residence in
foreign enemy, or should troops be sent from Great Old Town [Maryland] about twenty-two as fine felBritain to enforce the late-arbitrary acts of its Par-  lows as ever handled rifle, and most, if not all of
liament, we will cheerfully submit to military disci-  them, completely equipped."'
pline, and to the utmost of our power resist and    It was in June that these men were raised and
oppose them, or either of them, and will coincide  moved across the mountains to Frederick, Md., to
with any plan that may be formed for the defense of join Cresap's company. A letter written from that
America in general, or Pennsylvania in particular.   place on the 1st of the following August to a gentle"Fourth. That we do not wish or desire any innovation, but only that things may be restored to and   1 Extract from "  Logan and Cresap," by Col. Brantz Mayer.JACOB SHEARER.FRANKLTN TOWNSHIP.
whlo know him as a Christian gentleman. He has been
engaged in farming all his life upon the farm which
he now owns and occupies.  His possessions are
chiefly lands, coal, etc. Mr. Burton has the esteem
of everybody for his hlonesty, social, neighborly kindnesses, and upright, straightforward life.
ROBERT SMITII.
Robert Smith was born Nov. 19, 1799, in Frankllin
township, upon the farm on which he died, Nov. 21,
1881. He was of Scotch stock. His education was
received in the common schools. Mr. Smith was
married Jan. 4, 1827, to Rosetta, daughter of John
and Sarah Shotwell, of Franklin township. They
had twelve children. Ten of them grew to manhood
and womanhood. Nine are now living.
Mr. Smith held the office of justice of the peace
for a numnber of years. He was one of the first justices after the office was made elective in this State.
He also held other iminportant township offices.
As a man, he was modest and unassuming. True
to his convictions as a citizen, he was upright, honest,
and enterprising; as a husband, he was faithful. devoted, affectionate; as a father, kind and indulgent;
as a Christian, he was consistent and exemplary.
He was a member of Laurel Hill Presbyterian
Church more than forty years.
His father, Robert Smnith, emigrated to America
from Scotland in early life, and settled on the farm
where his son Robert lived and died. He married
Mary Starret. Robert Smith, Sr., died in 1837, aged
seventy-nine years ten months and eighteen days.
His wife Mary died in her seventy-seconid year.
JACOB SHEARER.
Mr. Jacob Shearer, of Franklin township, is the
sonI of Frederick Shearer, who was born March 24,
1770, in Eastern Pennsylvania.  He was married
March 23,1793, to Rebecca Markle, of Berks County.
They had eleven children, of whom Jacob is the
eighth. He was born in Franklin County, Pa., Jan.
30, 1809, and removed with his father in 1815 to
Jefferson township, Fayette Co. Mr. Shearer is of
German stock. He received his early education in
the common schools, and was married March 27,
1838, to Emily Shotwell, daughter of John Shotwvell,
lonIg a prominent man of Franklin township. They
had seven children, two of whom, Emanuel and Sarah
Catharine, are still living. Emanuel married Elizabeth Cook, and has five children,-Esther E., Fred
Orville, Harry J., Jessie, and an infant boy yet unnamed. Sarah Catharine married Rufus Flemming,
of Franklin, and has three children,-John Frederick, Guy Shearer, and Esther Emma.
Mr. Jacob Shearer has never held office, never aspiring to public place, and has led a modest and industrious life, and bears an excellent reputation for
integrity. He and his family are all members of the
Christian Church. The church whichl they habitually attend stands near the spot whlere, in the open
air, Alexander Campbell, the founder of thlle sect
called Disciples, first promulgated his distinctive doctrines after the severance of his relations with the
Baptist Church.
Mr. Shlearer has resided in his present home since
1843, and is the possessor of valuable properties, consisting of coal lands, etc. For the last fev years he
has been a considerable sufferer under,physical ills,
which he hlas patiently borne.
TIIOMAS DIJUNN.
Thomas Dunn, of Franklin township, was born
April 7, 1824, of'Scotch-Irish stock, and was educated
in the common schools. He was married Feb. 4,
1844, to Eleanlor Scott, of German township. They
have ten living children, and have lost one. Thomas
Dunn was born in the house in which he lives, and
which was built by his grandfather in 1796. His
entire life has been spent upon the farm on which he
now resides. He, his wife, and nearly all of his children are members of the United Presbyterian Church.
The children are John A., married to Mary Junk;
Agnes R., married to John Junk; Thomas S., married to Jennie Murphy; Mary C., married to Bryson
Gilchrist; Samuel W., married first to Ellen Stoner,
and again to Clarissa Hanshaw; Annie E., married
to Jacob Cooper; William C., married to Mary E.
McClure; Harriet, deceased, unmarried; Robert C.;
Major E.; Harry G.
Thomas Dunn's father, John Dunn, first married
Mary Smith in 1815. She died June 5, 1835. His
second wife was Mary Oldham. She died in 1843.
In 1844 he married Catharine Scott, who still. survives himn, an active woman of eighty-two years. He
was a farmer, and lived upon the farm nIow occupied
by Thomas. He was also a soldier in the war of
1812. They had eight children; Thomas was the
fourth. John Dunn died Oct. 21, 1861.
Thomas Dunln, grandfather of the subject of this
biography, was an Irishman. He married a Scotchwoman, Mary Caldwell.  They came to Fayette
County about 1772. Thomas patented the farm
upon which his grandson Thomas now lives. He
was a Revolutionary soldier, and had twelve children, each of whom raised families. They are scattered all over the United States. Thomas, Sr., died
in 1799, aged fifty-five. Mary (Caldwell) Dunn was
born Jan. 20, 1746, and died 1824.
Mr. Thomas Dunn is held in high esteem by his
neighbors,-an honest, genial man; and it may properly be added that the Dunn family are nloted for
their frankness and general good nature or affability.
Mr. Dunn raised his large family in a commendable
manner, and, like himself, they are good citizens..ro 6  GEORGES TO WNSHIP.
IN 1783, when Fayette County was formed from a
part of Westmoreland, this was one of the original
townships, and was bounded and described as follows:
"Beginning at John Main's, on Jacob's Creek; thence
to Jesse Bayle's; thence in same direction to the line
of Wharton township; thence by the same until opposite Charles Brownfield's; thence by Charles Brownfield, Thomas Gaddis, the Widow McClelland, and the
residue of the line of Union -township to the head of
Jennings' Run; thence by the lines of German township to the beginning, to include the three first abovementioned persons, to be hereafter known by the
name of George  township."
This township seems to have possessed many natural attractions, and was settled at a very early date.
The fertile valleys, the abutndant supply of excellent
water, the superior timber, and many other attractive
features of this township led to its rapid settlement,
and soon made it one of the most populous and
important townships of the county. Before Westmoreland County had been erected this region had
quite a number of settlers, and when Fayette was
struck off from Westmoreland, after the burning of
Hannastown by the Indians, this was quite a denselypeopled section of the new county. In December,
1845, a part of Georges township was taken to form
Nicholson.
For a hundred years past the Delaney Cave has
been sought as a place worthy of the sight-seer. Located as it is near the summit of the Laurel Hill
range, and commanding thus a magnificent view of
the beautiful lands towards the setting sun, it affords
attractions not possessed by the Mammoth Cave of
Kentucky. It would be difficutlt for the most accurate observer to form any definite conception of the
vastness of space here presenited to the eye. Miles toward the north and south, the fair valley at the base of
the mountain is visible, while stretching far toward the
west the beautiful landscape is shut out from view only
when the horizon limits it, far away over the Monongahela in Greene County. A description of the cave,
from the pen of John A. Paxton, of Philadelphia,
who visited it in 1816, is given in the general history
of the county. The manner in which this cave derived its name is readily traceable to the fact that a
Mr. Thomas Delaney was owner of the lands beneath which the cave is located. About the year
1800 two men, Crain and Simmons, from Smithfield,
went to the cave to explore it; they were lost in it,
and remainied there two days and two nights before
the people succeeded in finding them. When found
they were locked in each other's arms, and were almost
dead for want of water and food.
This township is very rich in mineral resources,
This township in its varied and picturesque beauty  and on this account the early settlers, seeming to unis excelled by few in the United States. Here we  derstand thoroughly whereto locatein order that they
have the "White Rocks," famed not only for their  might have rich possessions in mineral lands, came
great natural attractiveness, but aside from this they  and settled near the base of the mountain, and soon
are noted as the place where the "Polly Williams  thereafter the ores they had discovered were worked
murder" occurred in August, 1810. The chasm  is into iron, and the coal was dug and used as a fuiel,
somre fifty feet in depth, and the huge gray stones  although inot to any great extent, for the wood was
stand in mute grandeur with all their romantic his- everywhere abundant at that time. As early as 1790
tory clustered around them. In ages to come, when  coal was dug by George Hertzog in this county, on
they have gathered all the enchantment which time  the Springhill Furnace property, not far from Haycan lend, and the additional charm  of ancient re- dentown. It was the Upper Freeport vein, and people
membrance shall have caused the facts to be thought came many miles to get some of the wonderful fuel
of as traditionary, then will the traveler come for dug from the earth.  In addition to the bountiful
hundreds of miles to look upon the place where the  supply of coal and iron ore, the hand of Nature has
base inhumanity of man was displayed, and examine  provided the very best fire-clay in the country. On
the great gray stones where the crimson heart-blood  the property of Abraham Low there is a silver-mine,
of Polly Williams was shed by the hand of her se- which, perhaps, might be worked in paying quantiducer.                                               ties if capital was brought into requisition. It is said
Bm~y M. M. Hopwood.  ~that Mr. Low was at one time offered five thousand
1                                    By Mn. a. Hopwood.
2 The name of this township, originally George, has become by general dollars for his mine by an experienced mineralogist.
usage Georges, and the laiter is therefore adopted in this history.  The silver-bearing, rock is of a dark color, and when
564GEORGES TOWNSHIP.
-I
broken the metallic lustre can be seen on every face
of the fracture. It is stated that the Indians had a
lead-mine in this township, and used the lead in
moulding bullets. Evidently it must have been very
pure ore, or it would not have been either possible or
expedient to have used it as we use merchantable
lead. Upon several occasions the Browns and other
very early settlers attempted to find out the locality
of this mine, for lead was in demnand on the frontier;
but, owing to the fact that they risked their lives if
found watching the Indians, they never succeeded in
finding the treasure for which they sought.
The earliest settlement of which any positive information can be gathlered is that which was mnade
upon the land now owned by Mr. Joel Leatherman.
This settlemnent was made probably as early as 1730,
which is demonstrated from the following facts: The
grandfather of Basil Brownfield settled in this county
soon after Braddock's defeat, say 1760; he lived to be
a very old man, and Mr. Basil Brownfield said that
when he was a little boy he often heard his grandfather and father mention the French village which
had once stood upon the Leatherman farm. At some
time, early in the eighteenth century, a party of
Frenchmen settled there and built a village; they
were on good terms with the Indians, and to some
extent intermarried with them. They were a progressive and intelligent community, and immediately
began to improve their new home. After having resided there a number of years, they from some cause
vacated the premises, and when the next white settlers
came upon the scene, some thirty years later, the village had gone to wreck, and a dense thicket had
taken its place.
Towards the close of the century Mr. Joel Leatherman's father purchased the tract of land from Richard
Reed, and soon thereafter they proceeded to grub the
thicket of hazel-bushes, and after due preparation it
was sowed in grass. Upon plowing it they found the
remains of the houses, one of which had a solid stone
foundation and a floor of stone. Some articles of
crockery-ware were also found, and irons of peculiar
device; the remnant of what had been a well; also a
macadamized road running through the farm; and
upon opening the coal-bank near by it was found that
it had been mined before and considerable of coal
used. To make all of these improvements would require a good many years of labor for such a smnall
colony, and the land, too, was densely overgrown with
hazel-bushes when the first permanent settlers came
into Fav ette County. In order to have erected this
village and added all the improvements it would, as
we have stated, have required no brief time; then
after it had been abandoned-it must have taken a
series of years to have reduced such durable buildings to ruins so that a thicket might spring up and
occupy the place where the buildings had been
erected. All of which would tend to impress us with I
the fact that there were settlers of our own color in
this county long before the coming of the permanent
settlers, such as the Browns, Gists, and others. WVhat
the name of this French village was we never may
know, neither can we expect to learn of the particulars as to the length of its duration or the causes
which led to its abandonment; yet it is a satisfaction
to know that there were white people who had a
home in these beautifuil valleys a century and a half
ago.  In addition to this fact, Georges townshlip
has the credit of one of the earliest permanent settlers. As early as 1752 or 1753, Wendall Brown and
his three sons, Maunus, Thomas, and Adam, settled
in Provance's Bottom, on the Monongahela River,
but changed very soon to Georges and Union townships, where some of their descendants yet live. The
change from the place of their original settlement
was brought about by the Indians, who assured them
that their new home, in what is now Georges township, would be better, the land being, as they said,
mnuch richer. When Washington surrendered Fort
Necessity in 1754 the Browns accompanied him and
his troops back to their old Virginia home, but a few
yearis thereafter returned to their former frontier
home, after Gen. Forbes had reinstated the English
dominion.
In 1787 the number of property-owners in Georges
township had increased until there were more than
two hundred, as follows: Jacob Abraham, Ichabod
Ashcraft, Daniel Ashcraft, Richard Asheraft, Riah
Asheraft, Robert Allison, John Archer, William
Archer, Robert Brownfield, Charles Brownfield, Bazil
Bowell, Alexander Buchanan, Josephl Boultinghouse,
John Boultinghouse, John Bell, Humphrey Bell, Ezekiel Barnes, Sylvanus Barnes, Jeremiah Bock, Catherine Bavens, Peter Byrnhardt, Samnuel Bovey, Melchior
Baker, John Carr, Moses Carr, Thomas Carr, Elijah
Carr, Absalomn Carr, Joseph Coombs, John Coombs,
William Coombs, Edward Coombs, Jr., George Conn,
William Cubert, Williamn Cross, John Chadwick, Johil
Coon, James Calvin, Christley Coffman, Jr., Edward
Coombs, Sr., Owen Davis, James Dale, Roger Dougherty, William Downard, Jacob Downard, James
Downard, Benjamin Davis, John Drake, Samuel
Drake, James Dummons, Evan Davis, William Davis,
Lewis Davis, Sarah Drake, Thomas Downard, John
D. Duval, Peter Edwards, Benjamin Everett, Henry
Efford, John Fowler, John Finley, Daniel Ferrel,
William  Forsythe, Mark Graham, Daniel Green,
William Green, Uriah Glover, James Grahamn, Charles
Glover, Moses Gard, William Graham, John Graham,
Benjamin Hardin, John Hutson, John Hustead, Matthias Hawfield, Peter Hawfield, Catherine Hawfield,
Elizabeth Hawfield, Thomas Heddy, Sr., Thomnas
Heddy, Jr., James Heddy, John Hayden, John Harrison, John Harnet, James Hay, William Hoagland,
Isaac Hoagland, Robert Hannah, David Johns, John
Jenkins, Philip Jenkins, James Jameson, "Little"
5656IISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Daniel Johnston, James John, John Jacksonl, Henry
Jennings, Joseph Kinnison, James Kinnison, Sr.,
James Kinnison, Jr., James Lupton, Alexander McDonald, Isaac McDonald, David McDonald, Mary
McDonald, John McDowell, Arthur McChlristy, Abraham McCafferty, William Mininger, Daniel Minson,
David Meredith, Daniel Moxford, William Mitchell,
John Moore, Rachel McDonald,- Adam McCam'ty,
James McClean, Sr., James McClean, Jr., Alexander
McPherson, Jeremiah McDonald, John McDow, Stephen Mackey, George Main, William Nixon, Christopher Noon, Allen Oliver, James Orr, John Phillips,
Isaac Phillips, Thomas Phillips, Jenkins Phillips,
Benjamin Phillips, Richard Poundstone, John Patterson, WVilliam Patterson, John Pierson, John Quarden, Adam Quarden, Richard Reed, Thomas Reed,
Samnuel Reed, Caleb Reed, Andrew Reed, Giles Reed,
Thomas Reed, Jr., Robert Ritchey, James Robinson,
Joshua Robinson, Henry Robinson, William Robinson, Philip Rogers, Sr., Phlilip Rogers, Jr., Henry
Rogers, William Rhoades, Jacob Riffle, Nathaniel
Reeves, Jonathan Rees, William Sallisbury, John
Shacklet, Peter Smith, Charles Smith, Henry Smith,
Philip Smith, Phelty Smith, George Smith, Corbet
Smith, William Smith, Andrew Smith, G. Sangston,
Zado6 Springer, John Street, John Shanks, Peter
Snrider, Joseph Stillwvell, Jacob Southard, John Scott,
Basil Sillwood, Samuel Stephens, Philip Slick, James
Steel, William Sharon, Obadiah Truax, Hendrick
Taylor, John Taylor, John TLucker, Joseph Thomas,
George Tobin, Levi Thomas, U. Vandeventer, James
White, John White, Sr., John Whlite, Jr., James
White, Jr., Levi Wel1s, Samuel Woodbridge, James
Walker, Williamn Welsh, William  Watson, Jesse
Worthington, Zachariah Wheat, Abraham  White,
Isaac White, Daniel Wood, David Wood, Ruth White,
Ephraim Woodruff, Jesse York, Jeremriah York.
The quota of tax for Georges townshlip in 1796 was
$272.57. In 1808 it had increased to $337, and had
ninie mills, five forges and furnaces, three tan-yards,
seven distilleries and brewveries, four hundred and
ninety-two horses, five hundred and eight cattle; the
total amount of the assessment being $223,660. The
number of acres of land taken up in 1796 was mnore
than twenty-three thousand. In 1810 the population
was two thousand and eighty-six. In 1820, when the
census was taken, it was found that there was a decrease of fifty-five in the population. At the next
census of 1830 the population was two thousand four
hundred and sixteen.
OLD ROADS.
Georges township has the honor of the first road
after Fayette County was organized. An old trail,
known as the "Cherokee" or "Catawba Trail," ran
through Georges township, entering Fayette County
at Grassy Run, in Springhill township, and passing
through the land of Charles Griffin by Long's Mill,
Ashcraft's Fort, Philip Rogers' (now Alfred Stewart's),
William James'; thence through the remaining portion of Georges township almost on a line with the
present Morgantown road. It was on this trail that the
Grassy Run road was laid out. It was confirmed and
ordered opened up, thirty-three feet wide, at March sessions, 1784, which was the second sessions of the court.
At the previous sessions the view had been prayed
for, and Empson Brownfield, Henry Beeson, Jamnes
Neal, John Swearingen, and Aaron Moore appointed
viewers. The "Sandy Creek" road was in existence
long before Fayette County came into being. It came
from the Ten-Mile settlement in Greene County,
crossing the Monongahela River at Hyde's Ferry, and
thence passing throughl Haydentown to David John's
mnill; thlence up Laurel Hill, through the Sandy Creek
settlement, to Daniel McPeck's and on to Virginia. It
was by this road that Rev. Joseph Doddridge traveled
in 1774 when he made his tour west of the Allegheny
Mountainis, at which time he preached at the Mount
Moriah Presbyterian Chlurch, in Springhill township,
near New Geneva. After thlle organization of the
county this was the second road viewed and ordered
opelled by the court. This was opened as so ordered
Dec. 28, 1785. The viewers were Zadoc Springer,
Philip Jenkins, John Hill, Owen Davis, and William Hill.
AStICRAFT'S FORT.
On the property now owned by Mrs. Evans Willson,
in this township, and on the line of the Cherokee
trail, stood the Ashcraft fort. To this place of refuge
the settlers were accustomned to flee when Indian difficulties wvere feared.  It was named after Ichabod
Ashcraft, who took up this property (1993 acres,
called "Buffalo Pasture"), receiving his warrant for
it, dated May 29, 1770. Here they built their fort
near a bubbling spring.  Long since the fort has
disappeared, but the spring gushes forth to tlie
sunlight just as it did a century and a qutarter ago.
The fort was built on the same plan as other early
forts,-the second story projected out about one foot
over the lower, so that in case the Indians should
attempt to fire the fort they could be readily shot from
the loop-holes above. There was a stockade of an
acre with a ditch and picket-linie for the purpose of
protecting the stock from the depredations of the
savages. It is related that one morning Mrs. Rachel
Ashcraft was awakened by the call of a turkey gobbler. She told her husband that she believed she
would go out and kill it. Her husband said she had
better not, it might be an Indian. The call was repeated, and Mrs. Aslicraft cautiously opened one of
the port-holes and looked out. Presently the call of
the turkey gobbler was repeated, and then out came
the head of an Indian to see if any one was stirring
in the fort. She quietly took down her trusty rifle,
and the next timie hlie gave the call and protruded his
head from behind the tree she sent a bullet through
his head, striking him square between the eyes. Ashcraft's fort was built at the crossing of two Indian
I
I
I
I
566GEORGES TOWNSHIP.
trails. At this cross-roads suicides were buried, in
conformity with an old English custom. It is said
that the Indian shot by Mrs. Asheraft was interred at
this place. It is also related (but how truly is not
known) that he was skinned, and his skin tanned
and made into razor strops, which were distributed
among the settlers as trophies.
In the valley, near Fort Gaddis, Daniel Boone and
his companions encamped when on their way to the
Western wilds. This was previous to the year 1770.
Mr. Basil Brownfield said that an old man who died
a great many years ago-in fact, soon after the commencement of this century-informed him that he
saw Daniel Boone when he was camnped near Gaddis'
Fort.
There was an Indian village near where Abraham
Brown now lives, four miles west from Uniontown,
and there was an Indian burying-ground near the
village. In this graveyard some bones of immense
size have been found, indicating an unusual height
for the person when alive.
HAYDENTOWN.
This town is located upon a tract of land known as
Hatydenberg, which was patented by John Hayden
in 1787. Haydentown was laid out soon after 1790,
and at first bore the name of Georgetown. By deed
for one-fourth of an acre of ground, lying in Georgetown, from Robert and Mary Peoples, dated Nov. 20,
1793, we learn that there wvas a forge there then, and
one of the boundaries in the description is Forge
Street.  Robert Peoples evidently owned much of
the land, and may have laid out the towvn. The
forge spoken of is evidently the same one which
was sold to Hayden and Nicholson in the previous
spring.
John Hayden was the son of William Hayden,
who came fromn the East to Georges township in
1781.  His mother was a daughter of a wealthy
merchant of Philadelphia by the name of Nicholson. We believe that it was Mr. Nicholson's son
who was State comptroller, and embarked with John
Hayden in the iron manufacturing business. In the
town named in honor of John Hayden there was
more iron made in 1810 than in the city of Pittsburgh, the iron being worked into hoes, axes, sickles,
scythes, log-chains, trace-chains, etc. The subject of
this brief notice was a good soldier in the war of
1776, and an estimable and energetic citizen thereafter, doing much to promote early industries. He
raised a family of twenty-two children.
The first store ever kept in Haydentown was probably that of Jesse Evans, who had one there about
the year 1800. Since then Joseph Kyle and James
D. Low have had stores.
In 1818, Jehu Shladrack was making scythes and
edge-tools in Haydentown. Samuel Anderson learned
th-e trade under him, and followed it successfully at
Haydentown and at his stand on the Morgantown
road.  Mr. Shladrack also carried on the wagonmaking business.
James Miller had a powder-mill here in 1810. He
pulverized the charcoal by hand in a mortar, and
made both rifle and blasting powder. He also made
grindstones, and hle was the man who took a stone
such as he used for grindstones and cut the inscription upon it and put it up at his own expense to mark
the last resting-place of the murdered Polly Williams
The Haydentown flouring-mill was built about
1775. It was afterwards owned by Philip Jenkins,
who received it from his father, John Jenkins. In
February, 1790, it was sold to Jonathan Reese. March
7, 1792, Reese disposed of it to Robert Peoples, wlho
remrnained in possession of it for a number of years.
Afterwards it was owned by Williami Nixon, Abraham  Stewart, Johln Oliphant, Jehu Shladrack, Andrew  McClelland;, Joseph Davison, Philip Victor
(who remodeled it), and the present owner, William
Swaney. This was one of the very earliest flouringmnills west of the mountains. Previous to its erection
it was the custom to go to Cumberland for flour.
Public-houses were kept by William Spear, James
Miller, George Nixon, Matthew Doran,        Davis,
Joseph Victor, Otho Rhoades, Jacob Kyle, and Joseph
Kyle. The first school ever taught in Haydentown
was taught by Andrew Stewart, before 1810.
For a number of years, commencing about 1825,
Rev. Peter T. Laishly held religious service in the
hlouse of Philip Victor, and organized what was called
the "Bible Christian," or "New  Light Church."
Some years afterwards he left the New Lights, and
connected himself with the Methodist Protestant
Church, and preached for that denomination for a
number of years. About fifteen years ago the adherents to this church succeeded in building a house
of worship in Haydentown.
In the vicinity of Haydentown was the old Fairview Furnace, previously known as the "Mary Ann"
Furnace, with considerable settlement clustered about
it. At this place Melchior Baker manufactured guns
about the year 1800. Abraham Stewart made knives,
forks, spades, shovels, stirrups, bridle-bits, tracechains, etc. He was what was called a whitesmith.
Col. John Morgan and the Hon. Andrew Stewart (son
of Abraham) both learned the trade of whitesmith in
Stewart's factory. Here at the Mary Ann Furnace,
which ran about a ton and a half of metal daily, the
pig-metal was converted into salt-kettles, tea-kettles,
etc.  These were usually taken to New  Geneva,
and shipped by the river down to New Orleans. They
were also sent to Canada. At that time there were
eight or ten moulding-shops there in full operation.
The place is now but a ruin of what was once a prosperous and thrifty village.
Not far from Haydentown is the Woods tannery,
which was built by George Patterson about 1825.
i
567THE REVOLUTION.
man in Philadelphia said, "Notwithstanding the  to the two Virginia regiments raised in the valleys of
urgency of my business, I have been detained three  the Youghiogheny and Monongahela, viz.:
days in this place by an occurrence truly agreeable.    "Many reasons have we to expect a War [with the
I have had the happiness of seeing Capt. Michael  Indians] this spring. The chief of the lower settleCresap marching at the head of a formidable com-  ments upon the Ohio has moved off; and should both
panv of upwards of one hundred and thirty men  the regiments be moved away, it will greatly distress
from the mountains and backwoods, painted like In-  the people, as the last raised by myself [the West
dians, armed with tomahawks and rifles, dressed in  Augusta Regiment] was expected to be a guard for
hunting-shirts and moccasins, and though some of them if there was an Indian war. By the Governor
them had traveled near eight hundred [?] miles from   of Virginia I was appointed to command that regithe banks of the Ohio, they seemed to walk light and  ment at the request of the people.
easy, and not with less spirit than on the first hour   "The conditions were that the soldiers were enlisted
of their march."... They marched in August, and  during the war, and if an Indian war should come on
joined Washington's army near Boston, where and  this spring they were to be continued there, as their
in later campaigns they did good service.  Their  interest was on the spot; but if there should be no
captain's health  growing worse he resigined  and  Indian war in that quarter, then they were to go
started for Maryland, but died on his way in New   wherever called. On these conditions many cheerYork in the following October. The names of the  ftllly enlisted. The regiment, I believe, by this time
men who were recruited west of the mountains for  is nearly made up, as five hundred and odd were made
Cresap's company cannot be given, but there can be  up before I came away, and the officers were recruitlittle doubt that most of them were from the vicinity  ing very fast; but should they be ordered away before
of the place where their captain had located Ihis fron-  they get blankets and other necessaries, I do not see
tier horne,--Redstone Old Fort, on the Monongahela.  how they are to be moved; besides, the inhabitants
will be in great fear under the present circumstances.
The first considerable body of men recruited in  Many men have already been taken from that region,
the Monongahela country for the Revolutionary army  so that if that regiment should mlarch away, it will
was a battalion, afterwards designated as the Seventh  leave few or none to defend the country. There are
Virginia. It was raised in the fall of 1775, chiefly  no arms, as the chief part of the first men were armed
through the efforts of William Crawford, whose head-  there, which has left the place very bare; but let me
quarters for the r.ecruiting of it were at his home at  be ordered anywhere, and I will go if possible...."
Stewart's Crossings on the Youoghiogheny, then in the   By the above letter is shown the rather remarkable
county of Westmoreland, or rather, as the Virginia  fact that by the early part of 1777 the Youghiogheny
partisans claimed, in the western district of Augusta  and Monongahela region of country had furnished
County, Va. After raising this regiment, Crawford  two regiments2 to the quota of Virginia (besides
did not immediately secure a colonelcy, but was 6om-  eight full companies to the Pennsylvania.Line, as will
missioned lieutenant-colonel of the Fifth Virginia in  be noticed below), and that the men of the first regiJanuary, 1776, and in the latter part of the same year  ment raised here had been almost completely armed
became colonel of the Seventh. The regiment which  before marching tojoin the army. Crawford's lastregihe raised was made up principally of men from the  ment, the Thirteenth Virginia, performed its service
region now embraced in the counties of Westmore-  in the West, being stationed in detachments at Fort
land and Fayette, but no rolls or lists of their names  Pitt, Fort McIntosh, and other points on the Ohio
can be given. The regiment took the field early in  and Allegheny Rivers. No list of its officers and
1776, fought well in the battle of Long Island,  men has been found.
marched with Washington's dispirited army in its
retreat through New Jersey in the latter part of the    Under Pennsylvania authority, a company was
same year, and performed good service at Trenton  raised in Westmoreland County in 1776, under com-r
and other engagements, but in the latter years of the  mand of Capt. Joseph Erwin. It marched to Marwar served in the Western Department, and for a long  cus Hook, where it was incorporated with Col. Samtime formed part of the garrison of Fort Pitt.        uel Miles' "Pennsylvania Rifle Regiment."  It was
The " West Augusta Regiment"-designated as the  subsequently included in the Thirteenth PennsylvaThirteenth Virginia-was afterwards raised, princi-  nia, then in the Second Pennsylvania Regiment, and
pally by Col. Crawford's efforts, in the same region  was finally discharged from service at Valley Forge
of country in which his first regiment had been re-  Jan. 1, 1778, by reason of expiration of its term  of
cruited. Of this last regiment he was made colonel.  enlistment. During its period of service the comAn extract from  a letter written by him  to Gen.
Washington,' dated " Fredericktown, Maryland, Feb-   2 In February, 1777, Congress appropriated the sum of $20,000, "to be
ruary 12, 1777," is given below, because of its reference  paid to Col. William Crawford for raising and equipping his regiment,
which is a part of the Virginia new levies." It is not certain as to wlhich
of the regiments raised by Crawford this had reference, but it appears to
1 Washington-Crawford Letters, p. 62.    have been the last onle, the " West Augusta Regiment."HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
He was succeeded by Charles Brownfield, Zadoc
Brownfield, Henry Stimple, George Woods, and
Smith Fuller, and William H. Baily. Dr. Smith
Fuller is now the proprietor. The new tannery was
built about 1857.
Before 1800 Joseph Page had a ca-rding-machine
above where Smith Brownfield now has one. The
new one of Brownfield's was built in 1868. There was
one other before that, located farther up the Pine
Grove Run; it was built by Alexander Brownfield.
IRON INDUSTRIES.
This township was one of the first west of the Allegheny Mountains to introduce the manufacture of
iron. Here, about the year 1790, Thomas Lewis built
the old Pine Grove Forge, which was located on the
Pine Grove Run, on the property now owned by Mr.
Tilomas Farr. The first mention of the old Pine
Grove Forge is in the minutes of the Mount Moriah
Baptist Church, in Smithfield, showing that Richard
Reed had loaned Thomas Lewis one hundred pounds
of Pennsylvania money, and was to receive in payment four tons of iron fromn his forge. Previous to
this he had been making iron, and Mr. Basil Brownfield said that he had always understood from old
people that Pine Grove was the very first forge west
of the Alleghenies, and Mr. Brownfield was raised at
Smithfield, but a few miles from the location of this
forge, and could remember back as far as 1800. Jacob
Searing, when a very old man, informed Joseph
Hickle that he dug ore for Thomas Lewis for a number of years before he failed, and the failure occurred
in 1799. The earliest mention of this forge which we
find upon the county records is in a mortgage made
by Thomas Lewis to Philip Jenkins, of Georges township, in 1796, which embraced "all that certain
tract of land, located in Georges township adjoining
lands of Joseph Stillwvell, John Shacklet, the heirs of
Augustus Smith, and William Davis, with his forge,
hlouses, and all manner of buildings." All of this
tract of land was held by warrant and improvement.
At this forge, by the use of charcoal, they worked
the raw ore into bar iron of unusual toughnezs. The
ore used was specially adapted to their crude process,
and was excellent when made into bar iron; it was
what is known as the "Red Short;" the thickness of
the vein is about twvo and one-half feet.
The forge property was finally sold at sheriff's sale
to Isaac Sutton, for one hundred and forty-five dollars. After this sale by the sheriff in 1800 we find that
Thomas Lewis mortgaged one-half of a four-hundredacre tract, upon which was erected a forge, dwellinghouse, etc. This tract was located on Georges Creek.
About the year 1789, John Hayden dug out what
he supposed was limestone from the creek-bed of a
tributary to Georges Creek, in Georges township.
The location is said to have been on the line which
divided the properties of the late F. H. Oliphant and
Rev. Isaac Wynn. He. attempted to burn his supposed limestone, but found it would not work; taking
some of it he went to an old blacksmith-shop which
stood at the corner of an orchard on the property of
Richard Reed, bought by the Leathermans in 1799,
and at present in the possession of Mr. Joel Leatherman. Here he soon discovered that the supposed
limestone was iron ore of the best quality. After
making his discovery, MIr. Hayden hurried off to
Philadelphia to see if he could there interest some
wealthy person or persons in the manufacture of iron.
We find he was successful in his efforts, for in 1792,
March 31st, he entered into partnership with John
Nicholson, State comptroller, under articles of agreement, by which a forge and a furnace were to be built
and put in operation on land which hlad been purchased by Hayden, and on other lands in Georges
township to be purchased of Joseph Huston, then
sheriff of Fayette County. The result of this agreement, the completion of Hayden's forge, but failure
to finish the contemplated furnace, will be found
more fully mentioned in another part of this work, in
the accouint of iron and iron-works in the county, as
will also be found separate mention of the old "Fairfield," the "Mary Ann," the "Fairchance," and Oliphant's Iron-Works, which were erected at different
periods in Georges township.
COKE MANUFACTURE.
This business has recently taken rapid, progressive
strides in this township, and it is only a question of a
fewv years until there will be a continuous line of
ovens through Georges township, along the line of the
Southwest Railway. Already the Fairchance Iron
Company have ovens manufacturing coke, which
they consumne in the ftirnace. The "Fayette Coke
and Furnace Company" erected extensive coke-works
in 1881 at Oliphant's, and have now one hundred
and thirty ovens in successful operation.
The "Marie Co)ke-Works," owned and operated by
Bliss  Marshall, of Uniontown, are located on
Georges Creek, about half a mile from Fairchance,
on the land known as the Jacob Kyle farm, which
is one of the finest mineral farms in Fayette County.
Fifty or sixty acres lie on water-level. The ores are of
superior quality,-Blue Lump, Big Bottom, and Red
Flag,-all of them the finest of blue carbonates. The
coal is worked from crop. The land on which this
plant is located is admirably adapted in every respect
for furnaces and for the manufacture of coke, being
abundantly supplied with pure water from copious
springs and from Georges Creek, which runs through
the farm. The present number of ovens at these
works is sixty, which will be increased to one hundred, giving employment to about forty men.
MILLS.
One of the earliest industries of the township was
the erection of mills. One of the first mills west of
the mountains was that at Georgetown, now Hayden568GEORGES TOWNSHIP.
town. Before the erection of this mill, and Beeson's,
at Uniontown, the people went to Fort Cumberland
for their flour. This mill was built, it is said, by
Robert Peoples and Jonathan Reese, two of the most
energetic business men of the frontier country. It
was in existence at the opening of the Revolutionary
war, and was owned by Philip Jenkins as early as
1787. Other proprietors have been William Nixon,
Andrew  Stewart, John Oliphant, Jehu Shadrack,
who was succeeded by Andrew McClelland. Philip
Victor, when he came into possession of it, remodeled
it and sold it to Jehu Shadrack, after which it passed
into the hands of William Swaney, who operated it
a number of years, but long since it was allowed to
pass into disuse, and is now but a remembrance of
what it was in past years.
Near Smithfield, Jollathan Reese built a saw-mill
before 1790, and it was at this mill that the timber
was sawed for the Mount Moriah Baptist Church in
1785. At first horse-power was used; afterwards
they substituted water-power for its propulsion.
Nixon's mill, now Abel's mill, was built before the
year 1800. It was originally constructed by Moses
Nixon, who disposed of it to Jefferson Nixon, after
which it passed into the hands of Pierce Vernon-and
John Vernon, then J. Mackeldowney, who sold it to
Bryson Abel, and it still remains in the possession of
this fanlily. This was an excellent flouring-mill in
its time.
The Ruble mill was originally the property of Meshack Davis and Jesse Evans, and was a log structure. After Davis and Evans sold it, Lyons and
Thomas Batt came into possession, and they sold to
Nathaniel G. Hurst. In 1844, Mr. Hurst had the new
mill built upon the site of the old one, the millwright
being William S. Barnes. The contractors upon the
framework were Robert Britt and Robert Britt, Jr.
The mill was remodeled by Mr. Mickey. Mr. Hurst
traded it to George T. Paull for a farm in Dunbar
township about the year 1858. Mr. Paull disposed of
it to William Mock, of Westmoreland County, fromin
whom  the present owner, Mr. Jacob Ruble, purchased it. He has remodeled it recently. It has
been a good mill, and the water supply is sufficient to
run it all the year.
Weaver's mill was built about 1806 by Charles
Brownfield, who eventually disposed of it to James
Downard. Other owners have been William  and
Henry Browifield, Williamn and John Ritenour, John
Weaver, and the present proprietor, Jacob Weaver,
who hlas constructed in recent years one of tlhe best
grist-mills in this section of the county.
About 1825, George Patterson erected what was
afterwards known as Whistler's mill; it occupied a
site near where Wood's tannery is at present located.
TAVERNS.
For the accommodation of the public taverns were
established at a very early date.  Soon after 1800
these houses of entertainment had increased until
they numbered fifteen or twenty in Georges township
alone. A considerable number of these were located
on the Morgantown road. One feature of the hotels
of that day was their peculiar signs; for example, Patrick Gallaher kept the tavern where he had as a sign
the "Jolly Irishman;" Daniel Dimond, the "Black
Bear;" John Emery, "The Green Tree;" John Chadwick, "The White Horse;" Moses Nixoil, "The Fox
and Dogs;" William  Spear, in Haydentown, the
"Cross Keys;" James Miller, in Haydentown, "The
Black Bull."  In 1791, Hugh Marshall was keeping
tavern, licensed by the court of Fayette County; in
1792, Conrad Maller was added to the list; Caleb
Hayes in 1793; John Chadwick in 1794; Joshua
Jamison, 1795; Thomas Jackson, 1795; John Mintun,
1796; Patrick Gallaher, 1796; John Stark in 1796;
Barnet Evertson in 1797; William Spear, 1798; and
in the same year Paul W. Houston, Isaac Groover,
Richard Whealen, Robert Brownfield; and from
1800 down to the present time the following persons have kept tavern, some for a brief time, others
for a series of years: Samuel D. Bowman, Thomas
Pugh, Joel Kendall, Jacob Hager, David Curry, William Moore, Lott W. Clawson, Nathaniel G. Smith,
Joseph Lewis, Samuel Wiley, Aaron Joliff, George
Traer, David Trystler, Nathan Style, Joseph Victor,
Moses Nixon, John Thompson, Joshua Brown, James
Miller, Daniel Dimond, David Victor, Joseph Taylor,
John Emiery, Otho Rhoades, David Hare, Thomas
Iliff, James Bryant, Andrew Collins, George Nixon,
David Parks, James Doran, Zachlariah Wheat, Jacob
Johnston, Matthew Doran, Nathan Morgan, David
Fisher, Jacob Kyle,. Elias Bailey, Joseph Kyle,
Thomas Gaddis, John Richards, Peter Goff, William
Campbell, Andrew McClelland, Aaron Stone, Thomas
Stentz, John Hall, Henry Kyle.
DISTILLERIES.
Both previous and subsequent to the Whiskey Insurrection whiskey was the staple commodity of the
country west of the Allegheny Mountains.  The
facilities for shipping grain were poor indeed, and the
settlers of the Redstone country soon founrd that they
could distil the grain into whiskey, and thus ship it in
a formn not so bulky and more valuable. Soon distilleries sprung up on almost every farm of pretensions, and a goodly portion of these establishments
were in Georges township. Among the number may
be mentioned John Vernon's, near Fairchance;'Thomas Downard's, near Walnut Hill, in the Brown
settlement. Moses Nixon had one at Fairchance at
the time of the Whiskey Insurrection. Richard Reed
had one at the same time, located upon the farm then
owned by him, now in possession of Joel Leatherman.
Col. Zadoc Springer had one at the same time.
Squire Ayres had one at an early date. There was
also one in Smithfield, one on the Smith property
569.I5ISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
near the Leatherman place, and Charles Brownfield
had one as early as 1790.
MILITARY MEMOIRS.
Some of the inhabitants of this township took part
in the Revolution.  Proininen't among these wvas
Thomas Gaddis, who lived julst on the border line
between South Unlion and Georges. He was an officer
in the Revolutionary army, and towards the close of
Lis life he drew a pension from the government. Col.
John McClelland was also in the Revolutionary war
as an officer. His home was in the Brown settlement.
Zadoc Springer was also in the Revolution, and held
a comiiission. Others were Dennis McCarty, Joseph
Stillwell, Robert Allison, William COlVin, John Pierson, Robert Hustead, John Bowen, Hugh McClelland,
Alexander McClelland, John Hayden, and last, but
not least, Tomn Fossett, who was a soldier for maniy
years. He served under Washington in the Virginia
Rangers, and was with Washington at his first battle
at Great Meadows. We next find him accompanyiing
Braddock in his ill-fated expedition.against Fort du
Quesne, and finally in the ranks of the Continental
army in the Revolution. Nearly all of these men
served through the Indian wars. Col. Thomas Gaddis was with the ill-starred expedition of Col. Crawford in 1782, and returned in safety. In this same
campaign Capt. John McClelland met with death at
the hands of the Indians. Thomas Headdy was also
killed in Crawford's campaign-.
There were two companies raised in this community
for the war of 1812;'one was commanded bv Capt.
James McClelland, of this township, the other by
Capt. H. Yeager, wlho belonged to that part of Georges
township now forming tlle southeastern portion of
Nicholson. The following are the names of the soldiers of 1812, as nearly as we can gatlher them:
Basil Bowel, Stephen Pollock, Aaron Ross, Jeremiah
Archer, Rezin Reed, Jacob Price, James Price, Cato
Hardin, Joseph Eaton, Morris Morgan, Jacob Greenlee, Thomas Bowel, Joseph Thompson, John Getzendiner, Abraham Croxen, John Thompson, George
Herod, Thomas Porter, John Trimble, John Gaddis,
Jamnes Mallaby, Jamnes Abraham, Jacob Akles,
Edward Cooinbs, John Coombs, James Hamilton,
Thomas Devan, Caleb Brown, Melchoir Hartman,
Thomas Reed, Hugh Tygart, Thomas Thompson,
Jerenliah Kendall, William Parnell, Jonathan Parnell.
The soldiers in the Mexican war who were from
this township were as follows: Jacob Farr, Daniel
Koontz, William Pixler, Thomas Brawley, Davis Victor, Henry Bryan, John Sutton, Oliver Jones, and
John Stillwell.
In the war of the Rebellion (1861-65) there was
a numerous representation from Georges township, as
follows: Jacob Farr, Alfred Swaney, Ralph Jones,
Jesse Jones, Jesse B. Jones, Robert Brownfield, James
S. Brownfield, Zadoc Brownfield, Alexander Brownfield, Thomias Brownfield, Stephen Brownfield, Luther
Brownfield, James Utt, Allen Mitchell, William Utt,
Samnuel Conn, Henry W. Moser, John Farr, William
Sessler, Wesley Sessler, Ja1mes D. Low, James Goodin,
William Balsinger, John Hartmnan, Aaron Hickle,
Lowry Campbell, George Campbell, Robert Deyarmon, Ewing Deyarmon, John Deyarmon, Capt. Ashbel F. Duncan, Lieut. James M. Husted, Lieut. Albert G. Hague, John C. Pastories, Washington Pastories, John Pastories, George Cover, Philip Hugh,
William H. Swaney, Daniel B. Swaney, John Daniels, William Smith, William Shumabarger, Joseplh
Kinneson, George Low, William S. Bailey, Benjamin
Marshall, Benjamin Showvalter, Joel Reed, Henry
O'Neil, Joseplh A. Rankin, John Humbert, Benjamini
Robinson, Rees Moser, Samnuel McCarty, George Hardin, Samiuel Artis, George Artis, Frank Abel, Oliver
Abel, Benjanmin Wilson, Jesse Wilson, Mfelchoir
Hug,hes, George Fields, Calvin Buirrier, Robert B.
Cooley, Asa Cooley, James Pastories, William Yunkin, Henry Abel, Allis Freeman, Moses H. Freeman,
Oliver Stewart, Lieut. Etlhelbert Oliphant, George
Hiles, Joseph Rhoades, Frederick Martin, Samuel
Davis, Philip Miller, James Victor, Napoleon B.
Hardin, Alexander Swaney, Andrew J. Hibbs, Sturgeon Goodin, Chaplain Andrewv G. Osborn, Wilkinis
Osborn, H. M. Osborn, Isaac B. Osborn, S. F. Osborn,
Alexander Osborn, Joseph Osborn, John Smith,
David Grove, Peter 1-lughev, James Hughey, Jamres
Hughn, Moses Sangston, Joseph Sangston, Henry
Reese, John D. Reese, Albert Woods, Kern Ward,
Samnuel Higg, Williami Higg, Andrew Humnbert, Neff
Hicks, Benjamin Black, Hlarvey Monteith, George
Smith, John Tlhomlpsoni, George Hays, Josiah Mitchell, Ellis Mitchell, Albert Ramnag6, Duncan Ramage,
Washington Ramage, Jarrett Tedrick, John Malone,
Armstrong Doyle, Benjamiin Jordan, Joseph Bedingover, Jackson Smith, Charles Deyarnmon, Samluel
Hague, William Hague, Lucien Leech.
Capt. James M. Hustead, of the Fourteeinth Pennsylvania Cavalry, vas brought up in this towvnship.
In 1862 he enlisted in Capt. Duncan's comnpany, and
was elected to the first lieitenancy. After Capt. Duncan's death he was promoted to captain. At the close
of the Rebellion he entered coinmnercial life, and has
been very successful. He is at present the proprietor
of the Dunbar store, and he and Mr. Isaac Semans
have a store at Oliphant's.
The AlcFall Mu,rder.-One of the most prominent
features of the history of this townslhip is her criminal annals. Here occurred the McFall murder, for
which he was tried, convicted, and executed, being
the first one who suffered the death penalty in the
county. The statemyent of.facts here given is froin
"Addison's Reports," p. 255:
I
I
1 570GEORGES TOWNShIIP.
"FAYETTE COUNTY,
"Deceinber Term, 1794.
Pennsylvania vs. John McFall.
"This was an indictment for the mimurder of John Chadwick,
on 10th November, 1794. In the inorninD of this day McFall
was drunk, calme to the house of Clmt.dwick, who kept a tavern,
and got some liquor there. One Myers, a constable, camne there.
McFa ll had expressed resentinent against Myers for having
taken himi on a warrant, and had threatened to kill or cripple
hin the first timNe he met hiim. Wl hen MeFall saw Myers he
jutmnped up) and said he would have his life. Chadwick reproved
McFall for this. McFall rubbed his fists at Chadwick, and said
he was not so drunk but lhe knew what he was doing. Myers
Foon went away. McFall went out after him, and aoain said
he would have his life. iMyers rode off. McFall returned
into the house again. Chadwick bade him go home, for he had
albused several people that day, anid had got liquor einough.
MeFall shook hands with Chadwvick and wenlt away. Chaldwick shut the door. About two minutes after he returned.
Chaidwick rose to keep the door shut; McFall jerked it off the
hinges, dragged Chad%%ick oiit, and struck him  several titmes
with a club on the head. hIls skull was fractured by the blows,
and he die(d the second day after.
MIcFall then fled to Virginia, where he was that
night arrested by Robert Brownfield and one Jenkins.
He wouild not admit them to the house at first, btit
upon their stating that they were neighbors anid there
w^as sickness he admitted tlhem, whereupon they arrested him and brought himn to Uniontown and committed hiim to jail.
- At the Court of Oyer and Terminer, December
term, 1794, an indictmenit was presented against John
McFall for the murder of Jolhn  Clhadwick.   The
jurv empaneled in the case were Wim. Taylor, Adam
Dunlap, Jacob Lyon, Basil Brashear, James McCune,
Robert McGlaughlin, Elislha Kerr, Thomas Rogers,
John Work, MattheNv Neely, Moses Wells, and Zadoe Springer. James Ross, of Pittsburglh, appeared
for the defendant, and       Galbraith for the State.
The verdict of the juiry is as follows: The jury " do
say that the prisoner is guilty of murder wherewith
lhe is ebarged in the first degree."   After convictioIn lhe escaped from the jail, and was apprelhended
at Hagerstown. He was executed in May, 1795,
between two trees that stood close together on
Douglas Thicket, or Douglas Bottom, on the banks
of Redstone Creek, about three-quarters of a mile
from Uniontown, immediately north of the FairC'rounds. Col. James Paull was sheriff, and emploved
one Edward Bell as executioner.  He was disguised,
and not till years after was it known who performed
the execution.
The Mardered Peddler.-Soon after 1800 a peddler
stopped at a tavern stand in Smithfield, intending to
stay overnight. John Updyke and Ned Cassidy wvere
tlhere, and they made themselves very agreeable to the
peddler upon learning that he carried a considerable
sum of money with him. They drank at this tavern
and at the Wlhite Horse tavern until the convivial
spirit rose to its highest degree. Proving hail-fellows
well inet, they persuaded the peddler to go to Haydentown with them. At a late hour the trio were seen
starting for Updyke's, but were never seen together
again, and the peddler was never heard of again.
There was a field of Updvke's near his house whicl
had a denise thicket in it. A man passing by there
the next day heard cattle lowing, and saw them tearing up the ground and much disturbed; he went in
to find out the cause, if it could be ascertained, and
to his surprise lie saw traces of blood and other indications pointing to foul play, and most likely a murder committed there. The place where a horse had
been tied and evidences of its having been frightened
were apparent. The gentleman secured the aid of
a few others, and they tracked the horse to a pair of
bairs which led out of the field, and there they found
the print of a man's bloody hand upon the bars, where
lhe had taken lhold of thein to iet them down. Updyke and Cassidy were never arrested. Soon after
Updyke was taken down with a loathsome disease,
which was said to have been superinduced by poisonl
given hIin by Caissidy, who was afraid that Updyke
would div-ulge the crime or turn State's evidence. He
soon died a most horrible death. Ned Cassidy went
West as soon as Updyke had died. He there committed another murder, for which he was tried, colnvicted, and before beinig executed lhe mnade a confession, in wvhich lhe stated that he and Updyke had
murdered the peddler, and after securing a lhandsome
sum  of money they sunk hiis body in Brovnfield's
mill-damn. Williain Stulrgis has the confession.
The Polly Williams JIurder.-This tragedy occurred
at the White Rocks, in this township, May 12, 1810.
Philip Rogers. the perpetrator of this crime, lived near
New Salem, in the valley east of the town. His victim lived at or near NeNv Salem. Rog,ers had been
paying attentions to her for some time. Mr. Williams, Mary's father, was going to Steubenville, Ohio,
to live, and desired his daughter to accompany him,
but Rogers persuaded her to reluain where she was,
and, she being engaged to him, was influenced to do as
he wished. The father of Mary Williams had had
suspicions of Philip Rogers on more than one occasion. At one time Rogers tried to persuade her to
accompany him to the river after he had seduced her,
intending doubtless to drown her, but she would not
go. One day he told her they would go to AVoodbridgetown and get married. Accordingly they started
afoot for Woodbridgetown as she supposed. Instead
of going to that place they went to the Whitd Rocks,
a secluded place on the summit of the mountain.
Here the terrible tragedy occurred which has since
marked that place, and will for years to come distinguish it as the spot where innocent blood was shed.
Fromn those who were there when her lifeless body
was found we learn the following facts: It seems that
some persons were gathering huckleberries near by,
and upon hearing her screams they ran from the
mounitain tlhinking it the screams of a panther. In a
few days after there were some other persons near the
571HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
White Rocks gathering huckleberries, and they were
attracted by the barking of a dog they had with them.
Upon going to the place where the dog was, they
found the miurdered girl. Mr. Basil Brownfield'  was
present, and says that there were signs of the fearful
struggle on the verge of the rocks, as though she had
escaped from him and had run some distance into the
laurel-bushes, where she had been overtaken by Rogers,
and the place where the struggle took place was torn
up for several yards around. She was a strong girl,
and he could not drag her back to the cliff of rocks.
It appears as if the struggle must have lasted several
minutes, and that, fighting for her life as she was, she
could not be overcome until the villain grasped a large
stone in his hand and struck her on the head with it
until she was insensible, then dragged her back to
the precipice, but here she must have shown signs of
recovering, for it seemed as if he was afraid to approach the suminmit of the rock and throw her over for
fear that she might in the death-struggle drag him
over with her. There is a passage-way to the base of
the rocks, and through this there were indications of
her having been dragged. He then went to the summit of the cliff of rocks and cast bowlders down upon
her. One of these stones Mr. B. Brownfield has in his
possession; when he picked it up it had both blood
and hair upon it. In the laurel thicket where the
chief struggle occurred was found the bloody stone
with which he struck her.
The news of the tragedy flew as though on electric
wings, and soon hundreds gathered at the base of the
mountain, where the poor murdered girl had been
taken, and viewed the crushed and mangled remains.
She was buried and afterwards disinterred, and the
gentleminan from New Salem with whom she had
lived having arrived, he recognized her as Mary
Williams. Soon after, Phil. Rogers was arrested,
and thlle following mention of it is taken fromn the
court record: "Commonwealth against Philip Rogers.
Murder, a true bill. In custody, Jacob Moss" [the
man with whom she lived], "for himself and wife, of
German township, tent in $200; Dennis McCuker, of
German township, tent in $100; Moses Nixon, of
Georges township, tent in $100. Conditioned that
they shall appear at the next Court of Oyer and Terminer to testify. August 22, 1810. Indictment for
murder found at August sessions, 1810. November
22, 1810, defendant being arraigned, pleads not
guilty. Issue and rule for trial. Same day tried
and verdict not guilty. Same day prisoner discharged." Thus termninated a farce of trial by jury,
and on a technicality of the law, together with the
eloquence of Jennings, of Steubenville, Ohio (formerly from the vicinity of New Salemn), the lawyer
for Rogers, he was acquitted. Rogers afterwards
went to Greene County, where he married, reared a
family of boys, and when his miserable life was
ended his remains were refused interment in any
graveyard.
SCHOOLS.
One of the first school-houses in the territory west
of the Allegheny Mountains was the old log schoolhouse located between Smrnithfield and Haydentown.
This building was erected before 1780, and one of the
pupils in it at that early date was Robert Brownfield,
father of Basil Brownfield, from whom mnuch interesting data for this history was gathered. A Mr.J. Jameson was the first teacher. Robert Ritchley, for twenty
years justice of the peace for Georges township, succeeded Mr. J. Jameson as teacher in this ancient
school.
About 1803, when the Presbyterian Church built
their log church building, they also took into consideration'the feasibility of erecting a school-house, so
that their children might secure a rudimentary knowledge of the English language, and here alongside the
church they built a rude log school-house, and in 1812,
April 27th, they advertised in the Genius of Liberty
for a teacher. The following is the advertisement as
it appears in the Genius of that date: "A Teacher
Wanrted.-A young man who can come well recommnended as a teacher of an English school will meet
with good encouragement by applying to the subscribers, who live adjoining the meeting-house."
Signed by Rev. James Adamns, John Knight, aind
Moses Dunham, trustees.
Soon after 1800 the citizens living in the vicinity
of where Leatherman's school-house now stands concluded to erect a building for school purposes. In
accordance with this desire a sufficient sum was soon
collected and a log building was erected, which served
as a school-house for many years. It was known as
Miller's school-house, and was located on the property of the gentlemami for whomn it was named.
At Woodbridgetown there was a log school-house.
John Tedrick was the schoolmaster, and was succeeded by Phllineas G. Sturgis.
Paull's school received its name from George T.
Paull, who aided the enterprise by donating the lot of
ground upon which the building was erected. After
the passage of the common-school law at the session
of Assembly in 1834 the educational interests to.ok
an advance step. At January sessions of court, 1835,
Squire Ayers and James Robinson were appointed
school directors.for Georges townlship, and held their
position until an election had taken place. Under
this commnon-school law many schools have sprung
up through the township, and one of these is Paull's.
There have been two houses devoted to commonschool education at Paull's. The first was a brick
structure, and remained but a few years in use, until it
was succeeded by the present school-house, which was
erected about 1855. The teachers who have taught
here have been William Johnson, Samuel Rotharmel, Jamies Showalter, Milton Sutton, James Hol1 Wllen this account was wriitten (June, 1881) Mr. Brownfield was
living atlld ill full possessiori of his powers of recollection.  He died not
loniig afterwards.
572GEORGES TOWNSHIP.
bert, Clayton Richards, Clay Showalter, Sallie Ruble,
James Provance, L. Rhoades, Lizzie Abraham.
The Pleasant Hill school came into existence about
1840, the first building, like the present one, having
been a brick structure. In this school Frederick
Mlartin, Nancy Martin, Rev. William R. Patton (before entering the ministry), Samuel Rotharmel, Clayton Richards, and Altha Moser taught. In 1871 the
newv building was completed, and since then the
teachers have been Dr. Jaines F. Holbert, William
A. Richards, James Provance, Oliver P. Moser, Aaron
C. Holbert, Maggie Field, and I. Sturgis Stentz.
The Upper Haydentown school building is of stone.
The teachers have been Henry Mitchell, Sallie Ruble,
John Tamkin, I. S. Stentz, and Hannah Ruble.
The Lower Haydentown school was built about 1870.
It is a brick building. The teachers have been ClaytoIl Richards, Martha Robinson, Snyder Hague, John
C. Miller, Sallie Ruble, and Leah Carothers.
The Three-Mile Spring school, three miles above
Haydentown, was erected one year ago. It is a log
school-house. The teacher during the last term was
James Showalter.
The Leatherman school-house was built about 1840.
The first house, like the present one, was of brick.
The teachers in the old building were Lucien Leech,
John G. Hertig, Clark Vance (who afterwards became
a Baptist preacher), Rev. John S. Gibson (at present
a Cumberland Presbyterian minister), Rev. James
Power Baird (also a Cumberland Presbyterian clergymall), Samuel J. Acklin, Hugh Smith, James Henry
Dougherty, James W. French (afterwards a Baptist
mninister), James W. Showalter, Albert H. Smith.
In 1870 the old structure was torn away, and a commodious new brick was built to take its place. The
other teachers have been James F. Holbert (at present practicing medicine), J. C. Miller, Isaac Coldren,
Annie Oglevee, James Miller, Michael Franks, and
Lizzie Black.
The Custer school was opened about 1840, The
structure was of brick. In the old building the following persons taught.: James M. Hustead, James
French, William Patton, John Anderson, Amadee
Trader, Sarah Conn, Albert Smith, and Lucien Leech.
In 1873 the new school-house was built, and since
then the teachers have been Isaac Coldren, James
Presley Smith, William Fouch, and Oliver P. Moser.
The Deyarmon was one of thie first commono schools
in the township after the law went into effect. Some
of the instructors have been John G. Hertig, Robert
Allen, James W. Showalter, Milton Sutton, William
Nixon Canan, Joseph C. Stacy, Hervey Smith, Carrie
Herbert, Abraham Humbert, Albert Hutchinson,
Frances Mackey. This building has been twice remodeled. The latter alteration was done by the
Uniontown Planinig Mill Company, during the summer of 1880.
The White Rock school was organized in 1879. The
teachers have been Hannah Ruble and Mollie Griffitlh.
37
The first building erected for the common schools
was at Smithfield as early as 1836. The frame building is yet standing, but is no longer used for school
purposes. During the past few years the directors
have rented the academy for the use of the common
schlool. The teachers have been Gideon G. Clemmer,
Nathaniel Walker, Eliza Showalter, Joseph C. Stacy,
George G. Hertzog (at present a professor in the Californiia Normal College, Washington County), George
D. Purinton, James W. Showalter, James Provance,
A. C. Gilbert, Aaron C. Holbert, Williani Richards,
John C. Miller, Lizzie Abraham, Michael Franks,
Lizzie A. Black.
The Fairchance school was commenced in 1838 in
a frame house. Thie new building, a brick one, was
constructed in 1875. Revs. J. Gibson and J. P. Baird
both taught in the old house, and since the new one
was built the following teachers have acted as instructors: Leah A. Carothers, James W. Showalter,
Jennie R. Griffith, John C. Miller, Martha Robinson,
James P. Smith, Maggie Field, Lizzie Wilson.
The Walnut Hill school was originially known as
Brown's school. The present house is the second
within the past forty years; the first was built of
logs, the present of brick. Some of the teachers have
been J. P. Blair, Elias Green,    Frazer, Carman
Cover, Noble McCormnick, W. Osborn (now a practicing physician in Kansas), Albert H. Smith, Abraham Humnbert, Mollie Griffith, Sallie Dawson, J.
Newton Lewvis.
GEORGES CREEK ACADEMY.
The Baptist Church in Smithfield saw, as early as
1854, the necessity of an academy of learning in the
town. The subject was brought up at the mnonthly
meeting. The Methodists and other denominations
were willing to aid the enterprise, and thus the
project took definite shape, and in 1856 the court at
March sessions granted a charter to the Georges
Creek Academy, and constituted the following persons a body politic to carry into effect the object for
which it was founded, viz., "A seminary of learning." The original trustees were Enos Sturgis, Rev.
Isreal D. King, Hon. John Brownfield, Dr. H. B.
Mathiot, Benjamin F. Brown, William Conni, Isaac
Franks, John Summners, Gideon G. Cleinmer, A. J.
Patton, Luther W. Burchinal, William P. Griffin,
James Hess, John Downey, Rev. Caleb Russel, John
E. Taylor, Aaron W. Ross. In 1856 the contract was
awarded to Luther W. Burchinal  Co. to build the
necessary school-house. In the spring of 1857 the
academy was ready for occupancy. Since then the
Georges Creek Academy has been one of the sources
of knowledge for that whole community. Sometimes
during its most prosperous sessions there have been
more than onile hundred students attending. The
professors who have had charge of this academy are
as follows, viz.: C. A. Gilbert, Mrs. C. A. Gilbert,
Aaron Ross, Joseph Smith, H. H. Bliss, J. B. Solo573HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
mon, A. L. Purinton, Fannie Gerard, Miss Bryce,
Carrie Mathiot.
Gen. Alexander McClellan had built an academy
upon his farm long previous to the erection of the
Georges Creek Academy. He used it for school purposes and also for preaching, but we will not refer to
it here at length, as it belongs to the portion of
Georges township which was given to Nicholson
when it was forined in 1845.
After the passage of the act of 1834 establishing
public schools, the January term of court of Fayette
County in 1835 appointed Squire Ayers and James
Robinson school directors. The amount of State appropriation for this township for 1835 was $124.461-,
and county appropriation $248.931. The township
reported to the county treasurer Jan. 5, 1836, in compliance with the requirements of the law.
The subsequent schlool directors of this township
have been Stephen Richards, William Moser, William Millei, Henry Bowell, James Franks, Frederick
Roderick, Daniel Smith, Nathaniel G. Hurst, Jonathan Custer, Henry Brownfield, Jacob Haldeman,
Henry Hayden, Isaac Harvey, Jacob Kyle, John L.
Patton, Samuel Vance, James Hugh, Reuben Hague,
Teagle Trader, William McCleary, Joseph Swaney,
Ethelbert Sutton, John A. Sangston, John A. Patton,
Humphrey Humphries, William Vance, Hugh Deyarniton, U. L. Clemmer, Joseph Moser, John N.
Freeman, Moses Nixon, Alexander Swaney, Johi
First, Win. Sturgis, George D. Moore, Solomon
Smnith, Robert Britt, George T. Paull, Joel Leathlerman, Henry B. Mathiot, William Hague, John M.
Clark, Alexander Deyarmon, Peter S. Haldeman,
Isaac Franks, Abralham Hibbs, John Swaney, Abralhamn Brown, Williamn Custer, William Rhoades, Jackson Wilson, William D. Nixon, Warner Hugh, Otho
Victor, S. A. Fouch, William Trader, H. J. Dougherty, William Shoof, Henry Kyle.
CIIURCHES.
One of the earliest chutrches of the county was on
the Philip Rogers farm, in the township, the property
being now owned by the Fairchance Iron Company.
The log church was built upon the summit of a hill,
near the Morgantown road and the old Cherokee
trail. The site commanded a view of the country
eastward to the mountain, and westward over the
valley then owned by the Carrs, now in the possession of the Colliers. This church was built before
the Revolution. It was a German Baptist Chutrch.
Nothing is left to mark the location but a very ancient graveyard. When the Corbly family was murdered by the Indians in Greene County a messenger
came to this church and informed them of that terrible slaughter.. When the news was brought they
were at worship.
Among the ministers who cared for this frontier
church we may mention John Corbly, the father of
the ill-fated family, Thomas Stone, Mayberry, David
Loveberry. It was the custom to gather in the morning and remain nearly all day at the church; the
people invariably carried their trusty old flint-lock
rifles with them, and were ever on the alert for their
red foe. This building was eventually destroyed by
fire, which originated in the forest. A few logs were
left to mark the site of the ancient temple of worshlip. In 1820 these logs were visible, but within the
space inclosed within the logs were walnut-trees of
thirty years' growth apparently. One feature of the
pioneers of this section evidently was their religious
zeal, and it was handed downr to their descendants,
thus founding the Chlristian religion, and lending to
this community all the prosperity attendant upon the
worshipers of God.
Mount Moriah Baptist Church was originally a
branch of Great Bethel Baptist Church of Uniontowvn. On the 30th of October, 1784, it was constituted an independent church, with twenty-seven
members, viz.: William  We ls, Rebecca Wells, Joseph Thomrnas, Jane Jenkins, Owen Davis, Hannah
Davis, Joseph Brown, Abigail Brown, David Morgan,
Robert Hainna, Ann Griffin, Jeremiah Becks, Dinah
Becks, Thomas Bowell, Ann Bowell, Richard Reed,
Sarah Reed, Ann Coombs, Eliza Carr, Eliza Ashcraft, Sarah  Hardin, Jonathan  Pane, Balthazcr
Drago, Margaret Wood, Philip  Jenkins, Jesse
Coombs, Abraham Hardin.  
After the church had been organized the first pastor
to preside over the congregation and minister to their
spiritual needs was Jamies Sutton, a brother of Isaac
Sutton, then preaching for the Great Bethel Church.
The mnessengers to the Association, Sept. 10, 1785,
wvere Phlilip Pearce, Thomnas Bowell, and Rev. James
Sutton. At a business meeting held on Sept. 9,1786,
the following-named persons were appointed to meet
at the house of William Archeb, each one being requested to bring a hlorse, in order to draw logs to the
saw-mill to make seats for the meeting-house: David
Morgan, William  Wells, Richard Reed, Jeremniah
Beck, Charles Griffin, Philip Jenkins, Joseph Brown,
and John Taylor.
Rev. James Suttton acted as pastor until May 12,
1787, at which time he was dismissed at his own request, to accept a call to the Mount Pleasant Church,
Monongalia County, Va. Rev. Samuel Woodbridge
was the second preacher for this congregation, accepting a call as early as March 1, 1786. At that
time it seems to have been quite common for the
churches to have twvo or more preachers at the same
time. One would preach twice in each month, and
the other minister would alternate with him. On
the 3d of November, 1788, Rev. George Guthrie was
chosen pastor. At this meeting it was decided to
meet during the winter at the house of John Griffith;
this was necessary on account of the church needing
some repairs. Dec. 13, 1788, Philip Jenkins was appoinited to assist William  Wells in settling thle acI
574GEORGES TOWNSHIP.
count for repairing the church. Rev. John Corbly
was the next minister, having received his call Dec
13, 1788. On the 13th of June, 1789, David Loveborrow was called and accepted, becoming their fifth
preacher. At the monthly meeting Oct. 10, 1789, it
was decided to complete the carpenter-work on the
meeting-house, and to meet thle next Friday to plaster
the house. Dec. 10, 1791, Owen Davis was appointed
to lay out the grounds where the meeting-house and
graveyard were, so that the graveyard could be fenced.
At the monthly meeting, Sept. 8, 1792, Robert Hannah and David Morgan were appointed "to select
men to put in joice at the meeting-house." At this
same meeting a call was extended. to Rev. Benjamin
Stone, of Hampshire County, Va., who becamne their
next minister. Rev. John Patton assumed the pastorate in 1811, and continued for niany years in charge
of this church.
It was decided Feb. 10, 1816, that " thle congregation
must have a new church." The old church had served
its purpose well, and niow the movement was to replace
it with a more commodiouLs brick church. Accordingly Richard Patton and Robert Hannah, Jr., were
appointed to procure a lot for the samie. Subsequently
Michael Franks and Robert Britt wvere appointed to
receive from Charles Brownfield a deed for the burying-ground and lot for the new churchll. The new
church building was erected by Gideon WAVay as
contractor and builder, and was comnpleted in 1825.
About this time Rev. Jaines Frev was called to the
charge, and remained pastor until 1831, at wvhich tilme
Rev. George J. Miles, of Milesburg, Centre Co., Pa.,
was called to preach for this people. On the 13th of
February, 1832, Rev. Benoni Allen succeeded G. J.
Miles, at a salary of $150 per year. Jan. 12, 1832,
Rev. John Thomas was chosen to preach once a inonth.
In 1833, Eliel Freeman was granted permission to
hold a singing schlool in the churclh.
Oct. 10, 1835, Rev. David Thomas was called to
preach once a month, at a salary of $50 per year. In
March, 1836, a Mr. Gould was permlitted to talk upon
the subject, "The Abolition of Slavery," in the
church. He proceeded to lecture, and considerable
controversy springing up, it was thought best that lhe
should not speak again in the church.. When he
could no longer secure the church for his lecture
against slavery he procured a room in the house at
present occupied by William Campbell as a hotel,
and would hlave spoken there but for the timely
knowledge received from a friend that a plan had
been perfected whereby he was to be kidnapped and
handed over into the hands of the Virginians, who
were anxious to lay hands upon him.
In 1837 it was decided that the mnembers of the
church shlould hand in their valuation of property,
and support the preacher according to their means.
May 12, 1838, Joseph Grover, alias William F. Missildine, of Medina County, Ohio, was called, and accepted the call at $150 per year. After acting as
pastor for a time he became popular and married into
one of the most highly respectable families in the
church. Soon there came a report injurious to his
character; upon inquiry it was found to be true.
Upon finding that his true character was known lie
left the country and never returned. The succeeding preacher was Rev. J. W. B. Tisdale, who came
I Dec. 8, 1838, at a salary of $200 per year. At the
I meeting of Feb. 9, 1839, an Auxiliary Mission Society was organized in conjunction with the "Monongahela Home Missionary Society."  In this society
Squire Ayers was made presidenlt; Enos Sturgis, vicepresident; N. R. Walker, secretary; and D. Patton,
treasurer. In 1843, Rev. A. J. Penny was called as
pastor, at a salary of $200 a year. The next minister
was Rev. Caleb Rossel, who was called March 7,
1846.  He was followed by Rev. J. M. Purinton,
March 8, 1851. At the monthly mneeting Feb. 7,
1852, it was resolved to open a Sabbath-school in the
church April 1, 1852.
On the 13th of May, 1854, Rev. Israel King was
chosen pastor. In 1855, John Sutton was appointed
to take charge of the singing. April 12, 1856, Rev.
D. B. Purinton was called to minister to the church,
and he served until Sept. 12, 1857, at which time
lie was succeeded by Rev. A. J. Collins. In 1858,
John E. Patton took charge of the choir. In 1859
the church purchased a house from William Hannah
for four hundred and fifty dollars, which they colnverted into a parsonage.
For a number of years the clhurch building, which
had been completed in 1825, hlad been considered unsafe; accordingly the church concluded to erect a
new house of wvorship. The following building committee was appointed: Phineas G. Sturgis, Jeremiah
Burchinal, Luthler W. BuLrchlinal, Samuel Anderson,
and Williamn Conn. In 1862-63 the present large
brick church was built at a cost of about four thousand dollars, one hilundred thousand brick being required in its construction. The lot upon whichl it was
built was bought of William Parshall, Esq. The new
church was dedicated in January, 1864. During the
two years required for the erection of their new house
of worship the Methodists kindly gave them permissiomi to hold service in their church.
This church has had since its organization in 1784
the following ministers: James Sutton, Samnuel Woodbridge, George Guthrie, John Corbly, David Loveborrow, Benjamin Stone, James Estep, John Patton,
James Frey, George J. Miles, Benoni Allen, John
Thomas, David Thomas, Joseph Grover, J. W. B.
Tisdale, A. J. Penny, Caleb Rossel, J. M. Purinton,
Israel King, A. J. Collins, D. B. Purinton, J. M.
Hall, Jonathan Smith, J. Moffatt, and William Wood.
This church has licensed the following persons to
preach, viz.: James Patton, Nov. 12, 1809; Williani
French, Sept. 13, 1823; Jeremiah Burchinal, Sept.
13, 1823; William Wood, Sept. 30, 1830; Levi Griffith, Sept. 30, 1830; David Evans, Sept. 30, 1830;
5 74HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Jo,hn Rockafellow, Aug. 24, 1832; Abraham Bowlnan, June 8, 1833; Garret Patton, Jan. 13, 1839; S.  
Kendall, April 9, 1842; W. W. Hickman, Nov. 11,
1843; Lewis Sammons, Feb. 8, 1851; Benjamin F.
Brown, Aug. 12, 1854; Phliineas G. Sturgis, Oct. 7,
1854; George W. Hertzog, Jan. 13, 1855. Some of
the secretaries have been Philip Jenkins, Jeremiah
Sutton, Richard Patton, Moses Jeffries, Robert Hannal, Reuben Sutton, David Evans, W. Miller, Eugene Sturgis, D. P. Smith, Phineas G. Sturgis, T. J.
Conn. Some of thlle treasurers have been A. J. Siltton, T. Burchinal, and Gideon G. Clemmer. The following were amnong the early deacons: Owen Davis,
Feb. 12, 1785; Robert Hannah, Sept. 8, 1792; Jeremiah Kendall, Jan. 13, 1798; Michael Franks, Feb.
9, 1822.
TENT PRESBYTERIAN CIIURCII.
This church was organized a number of years before the present century. As early as Nov. 14, 1792,
David Smith was licensed by the Redstone Presbytery
to preach, and at once settled at the Tent and at
Georges Creek. These two appointments he continued to fill until shortly before his death, which occurred Aug. 24, 1803. He was the father of the Rev.
Joseph Smith, who has in his "Old Redstone" done
so muchl to embalin the history of the Presbyterian
Church. At the time when Rev. Smith was pastor
over this congregation it is most likely that they
worshiped in all old log house; but previous to 1792
this church had derived its name from the fact, it is
said, that they worshiped in a tent. In 1805 the
Union Presbyterian Church of Georges township
bought from Daniel Dimond a lot of ground upon
which to build a house of worship. They iminediately proceeded to erect their church building, which
was a large log structure. In this church they worshiped for a considerable length of time. About this
time Ebenezer Jennings was their pastor. Rev. Jennings was raised on Dunlap's Creek, near New Salem,
this county, and was a brother of the noted attorney
from Steubenville, Ohio, who defended Philip Regers,
and was successful in clearing him in the Polly
Williams murder trial.
Johln Adams was preaching for the Tent Church
during the war of 1812.  Then came William
Wiley, who was pastor about 1820. Rev. Ashbel
Fairchild took charge of the church in 1827, and remained its pastor for a great many years, during
which time there was great prosperity. The church
hlad decided to build a new church. In tearing down
the log structure a melancholy accident occurred,
which resulted in the death of Thomas Heddy and
Henry Dimond. The weather-boarding on the western gable had not been taken off, and the rafters
having been stripped of all the boards a puff of wind
struck the gable and blew the rafters against one another, there being nothing to stay them, and before
they had warning sufficient to save themselves they
were caught between the rafters and were crushled to
death, and it was with considerable difficulty that
their bodies were extricated. Mr. Dimond's residence
was near by, almost opposite the present residence of
William James. The pulpit taken from the old log
church is at present used by a Presbyterian Church
near Elliot's Mill, in Wharton township.
The brick building, the walls of which are yet
standing, took the place of the former rude building,
and met with no accident until April 14,1878, when, as
the sexton was kindling a fire for the morning service,
the building was fired from a defective flue and was
soon destroyed. The members of the church immediately set about rebuilding, and the contract was
soon thereafter let to Fuller, Laughead  Co., of
Uniontown, who soon had the new church ready for
the dedicatory ceremonies, which occurred Aug. 4,
1878, Rev. S. S. Gilson, of Uniontown Presbyterian
Church, preaching the sermon, and Rev. S. L. Bergen
being installed pastor. In addition to the names of
the ministers already mentioned the following have
preached for this church: Revs. Rogers, J. C. Hench,
and J. B. Dickey.
The Rev. Ashbel Green Fairchild, D.D., was born
at Hanover, N. J., May 1, 1795, and graduated at
Princeton College in the class of 1813. He was
licensed to preach by the Presbytery of New Jersey
in April, 1816, and was ordained an evangelist by the
Redstone Presbytery, July 1, 1818. He commenced
preaching at Georges Creek in 1822. In 1827 he resigned from that charge, vlwhich was connected with
Greensboro' and Morgantown, and was installed pastor of the Tent Church. He was the author of the
"Great Supper,"  "Baptism," "Unpopular Doctrines," and " What Presbyterians Believe." He
died June 30, 1864, after a long and useful life, and
left a lasting influence for God and the right.
The Rev. David Smtitlh, the first pastor of the Tent
Presbyterian Church of whomn we have any knowledge, was born in 1772, and after graduating at
Hampden Sydney College he came West, and was licensed by the Redstone Presbytery to preach, Nov,
14, 1792, and settled at Georges Creek and the Tent
Churchles. He was the father of Rev. Joseph. Smith,
the historian of "Old Redstone." He died Aug. 24,
1803.
SMITHFIELD METHIODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
This society was organized about 1819, by Dennis
Batty and a Mr. Stevenson. The place of their
meeting was at Dr. Sackett's residence, one mile
south of Smithfield. James Smith applied to the
preacher on the Redstone Circuit to organize a church,
and a sufficient humber of memnbers having been secured the society was organized. At that time Redstone Circuit included all of Fayette County. The
original members of this church were as follows:
James Smith, Candacy Smith, Rachel Smith, Martlha
Smith, Freeman Smnith, Stephen Smnith, Mary Smith,
Hannah Smith, Benoni Freeman, Mary Freeman,
Lydla Dunham, Eve Sackett, Rebecca Cooley, Nancy
II
576GEORGES TOWNSHIP.
Griffin, Gen. Alexander McClellan, and, soon after,
Dr. Sackett.
The preaching was continued at the house of Dr.
Sackett for two or three years, after which it was
changed to the house of James McCormick, who had
in the mean time connected himself with the church.
At sundry times thley had service at Benoni Freeman's and James Smithl's. The church had the service of a minister every two weeks. Henry B. Bascom,       Poole, John Watterman, Simon Lauck,
and Thornton Fleming were some of the eminent
miniisters who preached for this church in its infancy.
Occasionally the presiding elder would come to
Smithfield. The most promninent of these elders was
the Rev. Thomas M. Hudson. He was considered
the most eloquent divine that ever preached in this
part of the county. When it was announced that
Rev. Hudson would preach the church would not
hold the congregation, and hundreds would stand
on'the outside and listen to his eloquence. He not
only possessed remarkable power and( magnetism as a
speaker, but was one of the best singers west of the
Alleghenies.
In 1833 a camp-meeting was held in the grove on
Gen. Alexander McClellan's place, on the hill above
where Georges Creek Academy now stands. Gein.
McClellan advertised that he would keep all of the
preachers who came to the camp-meeting. This
proved to be a great meeting, and thoroughly built
up and established Methlodism in the vicinity of
Smithfield. Among the mninisters who were present
and preached were Revs. Drummond, George Holmes,
W. Stevens. On Sabbath there were about three
thousand people present.
Jan. 27, 1834, the trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church boughlt from Thomas Gaddis a lot in
Smithfield, containing nine thousand six hundred
square feet, the consideration having been fifty dollars. The names of the trustees were Benoni Freeman, Jamnes McCormick, Stephen Smith, Thomas
Batt, and Alexander Brownfield.
The preachers in this church have been, in addition
to those already named, as follows, viz.: J. K. Miller,
John Martin, John J. White, David L. Dempsey, David
Hess, William Tipton, Hamilton Cree, Warner Long,
Ebenezer Hays, Henry Kerns, Richard Jordan, John
L. Irwin, Samuel Wakefield, - Gorden, M. Ruter,
-    McClaig, John S. Lemon, L. A. Beacom, Joseph
Horner, Henry Long, William K. Foutch, William
C. P. Hamilton, W. K. Brown, H. Snyder, Isaac P.
Sadler, John McIntire, E. B. Griffin, Thomas H.
Wilkinson, A. L. Chapmnan, J. L. Stiffy, Charles McCaslin, J. Momyer, D. J. Davis, Sylvanus Lane, M.
D. Lichliter, R. J. White, John T. Stiffy, and W. L.
McGrew, who is the present pastor. Under the pastorate of John T. Stiffy, in 1878, a substantial brick
parsonage was erected at a cost of about fifteen hundred dollars.
This church has produced the following-named
persons for the local ministry: Henry B. Mathiot,
James H. Green, S. E. Feather, and W. Richards.
The leaders of classes have been William McCleary,
John Downey, R. C. Baily, William P. Green, John
L. Whetstone, and Wesley Laken. At an early date
there were others.
The stewards of the church have been Henry B.
Mathiot, Ignatius Feather, Thornton F. Farmer,
William E. Reynolds, James McCormick, Aaron
Ross, J. H. Stumm, William McCleary, and P. S.
Haldemnan.
FAIRCHANCE IETHODIST PROTESTANT CHURCII.
This church was built jointly with the Cumberland
Presbyterian Church, about the year 1840. About
1855 the Cumberland Presbyterians sold their interest
in the house of worship to the Methodists, and the
latter church has until the last few years used this
church building for their mneetings. Recently the
building has become so thoroughly unfit for meeting,
on account of want of repairs, that the house has
been abandoned. The congregation thought that it
was not worth repairing, and have now collected
sufficient money to erect a commodious house of wvorship, which has been already let to the contractors,
and will be completed in the present season (1881).
Among those who organized this churchll the following members may be mentioned: Elias McIntire,
Theophilus Ellsworth, John Means, Jacob Waid,
John Pugh, Samuel Colley, Isaac Harvey, John
Carr, Abram Hayden, and their several wives.
The ministers who hlave preached to this congregation are as follows: Denton Hughes, Peter T.
Laishley, Amos Hutton, William Betts, F. H. Davis,
Isaac Francis, Henry Palmer, Jesse Hull, James
Phipps, John Tygert, John Rutledge, Miltonl Stillwell, Peter T. Conaway, Henry Lucas, George G. Conway, Williamn Wallace, and Edward A. Brindley.
FAIRCHANCE CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
This society was organizedrl about 1840. Among the
first members were A. J. Osborn, William Campbell,
Solomon Smith, Joel Leatherman, Mrs. John Hayden, and Adamn Canan. As early as 1830 there were
some mnembers of this branch of Presbyterianism in
Georges township.  Prominent among them  were
William Nixon, Isaac Nixon, and Judge Samuel
Nixon.
On the property of William Nixon, now owned by
Col. J. Robinson, there was a Cumberland Presbyterian camnp-meeting held in 1833, and for several
years subsequent. There were a number of substantial tents erected, and the arrangements were complete for camp-meeting. The Revs. Donnell, Bryan,
Sparks, Bird, and John Morgan were p)resent during
the exercises, and preached to the large concourse
of people that gathered to attend something new in
that region. The church was much strengthened by
the additions from the camp-meeting. Afterwards
the members succeeded in building a church in union
57774 HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
pany fought at Long Island, White Plains, Trenton,  Fitzgerald, Henry.
Princeton, Quibbletown (N. J.), Brandywine, and  Forsyth, James.
Germantown. Followving is a roll of the company:   Gunnon, Jeremiah, missing since the battle, Aug. 27,
Captain.                          1776.
Guthry, John, missing since the battle, Aug. 27, 1776.
Erwin, Joseph, Westmoreland County, appointed 0 Guthry, William, missing since the battle, Aug. 27,
March 9, 1776; commission dated April 6, 1776;    1
promote captai in Ninh Pennslvania.1776.
promoted captain in Ninth Pennsylvania.     | Geyer, Peter, enlisted at Hannastown; discharged at
First Lieutenant.                     Valley Forge Jan. 1, 1778; wounded by a bayoCarnaghan, James, from second lieutenanit; inissing  net in the groin and by a ball in the leg at Gersince the battle, Aug. 27, 1776; after release he  mantown. His wife, Mary, went with his comrepaired to headquarters, in December, 1776, and  pany as washer-woman, with her son John, above
served as a volunteer at Trenton and Princeton;  mentioned, anld accompanied the regiment in all
promoted first lieutenanit in Eighth Pennsylva-  its marches; she was eighty-six years of age in
nia on Jan. 15, 1777.                              1821, then residing in Cumberland County; she
had three other children,-Jacob, Mary, and
Second Lieutenants.
Catharine.
Carnaghan, James, appointed March 16, 1776; pro- Henderson, Edward.
moted first lieutenant Oct. 24, 1776.          Hennan, David.
Sloan, David, from third lieutenant, Aug. 9, 1776;  Hennan, John.
killed in battle at Long Island, Aug. 27, 1776;  Henry, John, missing since the battle, Aug. 27, 1776.
left a widow Mary and daughter Ann, aged eleven, Heslet, Robert.
in 1789 residing in Westmoreland County.       Holiday, William.
Third Lieutenants.                Johnson, Robert.
Sloan, David, appointed March 19, 1776; promoted  Kelly, Philip, missing since the battle, Aug. 27, 1776.
second lieutenant, to date from Aug. 9, 1776.  Leech, Archibald, discharged Jan. 1, 1778; resided in
Brownlee, Joseph, commission dated April 15, 1776; | Armstrong County in 1811.
promoted second lieutenant Oct. 24, 1776; miss-  Leech, James.
ing since the battle of Long Island, Aug. 27, 1776. Leonard, James, discharged Jan. 1, 1778; resided in
Warren County, Ohio, in 1831, aged eighty-seven.
Sergeants.                     McClelland, David.
Lindsay, William.                                  McCollister, James.
Roddy, Samuel.                                     McCord, William.
Dugan, James.                                    |McKenzie, Andy, "a volunteer," missing since the
Justice, John.                                         battle, Aug. 27, 1776.
Drum and Fife.                    Miller, Peter, resided in Bedford County in 1819.
Howard, George.                                    Moor, William, missing since the battle, Aug. 27
Gunnion, John.                                         1776.
Geyer, John, drummer-boy (eleven years of age), son  Moll, William, missing since the battle, Aug. 27
of Peter Geyer, below; wounded in the heel at     1776.
Germantown; discharged Jan. 1, 1778, at Valley  Nail, James.
Forge; was a stone-mason, residing in Metal Nelson, James, missing since the battle, Aug. 27,
township, Franklin Co., in 1821.                   1776.
Privates                      Nelson, William, wounded in the left knee; missing
Anderson, Martin.                                     since the battle, Aug. 27, 1776; resided in WestBentley, James.                                       moreland County in 1789.
Brown, Andrew.                                    Orr, David.
Brownfield, Daniel, missing since the battle, Aug. 27, Riddle, John.
1776.                                          Riddle, Robert.
Brownlee, John, April 1, 1776; discharged Jan. 1, Roddy, Patrick.
1778; resided in Donegal township, Washington  Sims, John.
Co., in 1814.                                  Singlewood, Stephen, missing since the battle, Aug.
Bryson, Andrew, April 1, 1776; drafted into the artil.  27, 1776.
lery at Brandywine; discharged Jan. 1, 1778; Stamper, Charles, missing since the battle, Aug. 27,
resided in Bedminster- township, Bucks Co., in    1776..                                  Stone, Allen.
Carnahan, Joseph.                                Stoops, John, missing since the battle, Aug. 27, 1776.
Dunnough, William.                               Twifold, William, missing since the battle, Aug. 27,
Doyle, Sylvester.                                    1776.
74TIISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
with the Methodist Protestants, and had preaching
for some fifteen years. During the time wvhile the
society flourished Revs. Andrew J. Osborn, James
Power Baird, WVilliam Hannah, and J. Henderson
were pastors over the flock.
WOODBRIDGETOWN SEVENTH-DAY BAPTIST CHURCH.
This church was a log structure, and was built by
the Rev. Samuel Woodbridge, somewhere near 1790.
Mr. Woodbridge acted as pastor himself for many
years. Enoch David was also a preacher here; he
died Nov. 28, 1798, and his remains were interred at
the graveyard near the church. Other preachers were
John Corbly,     Stone,    Mayberry, and Thomas
Hersey, who was chaplain of a regiment in the war
of 1812. William Brownfield preached there sometimes. It has long since gone to ruin.
GROVE GERMAN BAPTIST CHURCH.
On Sept. 15, 1837, William Moser, of Georges township, sold to Samuel Ache, Ephraim Walters, and
Daniel Moser, trustees for the Georges German Baptist Association, fifteen and a half perches of land in
Georges township, for the purpose of erecting a
church. In 1838 this church (a log building) was
built. The families who constituted the membership
of this church were the Bakers, Ganis, Leathermans,
Mosers, Aches, Covers, and Longaneckers.
The ministers presiding over this congregation
have been Joseph Leatherman, Isaiah Custer, James
Kelso, James Fouch, James Quinter, Jacob Mack,
Joseph I. Cover, A. J. Sterling, and John Johnson.
The two last mentioned are the present pastors.
About 1861 the old log structure was torn down, and
the site was used for the new frame church which is
now used by the church. About 1860 there was a
Sabbath-school organized in connection with this
church; through the labors and under the superintendency of William Moser. It remained in existence somne three or four years.
WALNUT HILL METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
There was a society at Walnut Hill as early as 1815,
and shortly after that (in 1821) they were successful
in building a church, which they used for many years
and then converted it into a school-house. The building stood near the residence of Mr. Willianm Trader.
George Watters was the chief mover in the organization of this society. Others of the original members
were George Griffith, Michael Mink, Noble McCormick, Mrs. Michael Mink, Harriet McCormick, Mary
MIcCormick, Catherine Griffith, Sarah Griffith, Elisha
Griffith, and Mrs. Elisha Griffith. On the 17th of
January, 1821, a deed for the lot of ground upon
which the church was to be built was made by Thomas
Downard and Barbara, his wife, to George Griffith,
Michael Mink, and Noble McCormick, trustees of the
church, the consideration having been ten dollars, for
a certain lot fromn the tract of land called ThomastownI, situate in Georges township, adjoining of James
Fouch and Joseph Hadden, containing fifty-eiglht
perches. When this building had become so much
dilapidated that it was Ino longer fitted for tile purpose for which it had been built, the society held
mneetings at private houses and the school-house.
About the year 1850 the members concluded that it
was best to have a new house of worship. A subscription paper was started, and with such able men
as John A. Sangston, John N. Freeman, Howard
Griffith, anid Andrew McClellan to aid in the progress of the work it soon took definite shape, and the
elegant new brick chlurch building in which the congregation now worships was built. John N. Freeman,
John A. Sangston, Howard Griffith, and Andrew
McClelland all aided with both means and influence
to the project. Since that time this church has been
very prosperous. The Sabbath-school, which was organized soon after 1850, has been kept up as a summer school. Mr. John N. Freemnan bequeathed to
the Methodist Episcopal Church five hundred dollars
at his death. He was for a great many years actively
identified with this the church of his choice. Some
of the ministers have been L. R. Beacom, who was
pastor in charge wheni it was built; Joseph Horner, Henry Long, William K. Fouch, William C. P.
Hamilton, H. Snyder, W. K. Brown, Isaac P. Sadler,
John Mclntire, E. B. Griffin, T. H. Wilkinson; Richard Jordan, A. R. Chapman, J. L. Stiffy, Charles
McCaslin, J. Momyer, D. J. Davis, Sylvanus Lane,
M. D. Litchliter, R. J. White, John T. Stiffy, and W.
L. McGrew, the present pastor. It has belonged to
Fayette Circuit, and has been allotted the same pastors
the other charges have had. Sometimes John Waterman, H. B. Bascom, John Fielding, Simon Lauck,
Thornton Fleming, and other prominent ministers of
the Methodist Episcopal Church preached to this
congregation. Some of the officers in more recent
years have been: Stewvards, John N. Freeman, James
Lewis, William Trader, James Sessler, and Joseph
Sangston; Leader, James Lewis; Trustees, John N.
Freeman, James Lewis, William Trader, James Sessler, Joseph Sangston.
Squire Hayden has been a local preacher, and is
connected with this church. In 1878, under the pastoral chlarge of Rev. John T. Stiffy, this church was
remodeled and painted and papered at an expense of
two hundred dollars.
SABBATI-SCHOOLS.
Perhaps the very first Sabbath-school in the township, and certainly one of the earliest in the county,
was called the "Ore Bank Sabbath-school."  Eliel
Freeman was the superintendent in 1825. It was a
Union school.
In 1842 a Sabbath-school was organized at Leatherman's school-house. Solomon Smith, Esq., was superintendent.  This was a Cumberland Presbyterian
school. For the past twenty years there has been a
Union school at the Leathermian school-house. Dur5 N  -GEORGES TOWNSHIP.
ifog this time Solomon Smith, Reuben Hague, Humphrey Humphreys, Esq., John C. Miller, and Lucien
Leech have acted as superintendents. This schlool is
in session about six months in the year.
The Tent Church Presbyterian school was organized about 1828, Eliel Freeman having been the first
superintendent. He hlas been succeeded by the following gentlemen: J. Kennedy Duncan, Alexander
Deyarmon, Alfred Stewart, William Custead, John
Smnith, and John Oliphant. It is a summer school.
The Fairchance Presbyterian school was opened by
the efforts of Dr. Ashbel Fairchild, J. Kennedy Duncan, and Fidelio H. Oliphant. The superintendents
of this school have been Fidelio H. Oliphant, William'Pastories, J. Kennedy Duncan, Samuel Duncan,
Joshua V. Gibbons, and Esquire Humphrey Humphreys.
The Mount Moriah Union school was one of the
first in the field. Previous to 1820 Mr. Basil Brownfield attended Sabbath-school in the old "Log Meeting-house"' at Smithfield. At that timine Phineas Sturgis wvas the superintendent. At that early day there
was some dissension as to the propriety of having the
school in the church; subsequently it was held for a
number of years at private residences. In 1852 the
Baptist Church organized a school, and held the sessions in the "Brick Church." In 1838 the Mount
Moriah Church held Sabbath-school services in the
church for a while. Since the last organization, April
1, 1852, thlle school has been continued, and the place
of meeting has been the church. The school is in
session twelve months.
The Methodist Episcopal school was organized by
William McCleary about 1850. The next superintendent was William P. Green, and since that time
Dr. Henry B. Mathiot and John Downey have presided over the school'in the capacity of superintendent.  Under the superintendency of William McCleary the school made wonderful progress.  He
acted as its presiding officer until his removal from
Smtnithfield. In 1861 the numerical strength of this
school was one hundred and twenty-five. The number on the roll at present is in excess of one hundred.
The school is in session all of the year.
The Haydentown Union school was organized as
early as 1838, in the school-house, by F. H. Oliphant
and Thomas Faw. Since then the school has had for
its superintendents Rev. John McCarty and James D.
Lowe.
Paull's Union Sabbath-school has been in existence
for about twenty years as a summer school. Mr. George
T. Paull was instrumental in securing its organization.
The superintendents have been Phineas G. Sturgis,
John E. Patton, Joseph Hickle, Andrew J. Stewart,
George Miller, and Charles H. Mathiot.
For a numnber of years a Union Sabbath-school was
in existence at the Fairchanlce Methodist Protestant
Church.
The Walnut Hill Methodist Episcopal Sabbathschool was organized about 1850. The superintendents have been Benjamin King, John M. Freeman,
and Lucien Leech.
WOO DBRIDGETOWN.
This was originally Mifflintown, named, we believe,
in honor of Governor Thomas Mifflin. It was then
a town of some imnportance. Here John Hall, Joseph
Taylor, Aaron Joliff, and David Trystler kept tavern.
Col. Thomas Brownfield had a tannery soon after
1800; this tannery was built and for a time operated
by Joseph Mendenhall. Benjamin Paine had here a
carding-machine before 1800.  There was an old
school-house here. John Tedrick taught here, as also
Phineas G. Sturgis.
FAIRCHANCE.
This place has grown with the increased prosperity
of the furnace, until at present it is a town of considerable importance.  In this town there are two
churches, viz., Presbyterian and Methodist Protestant,
and for a timne there was a Cumberland Presbyterian.
The history of these churches will be found under
their respective titles. For a great many years F. H.
Oliphant and others who were engaged in the furnace
business have had a company store at this place. In
more recent years the Fairchance Iron Company's
store and those of Robert Goldsboro and James Shay
have been doinig the mercantile trade.
SMITHIFIELD.
This town was laid out by Barnabas Smith on the
13th day of June, 1799. The tract upon which it was
laid out was known as "Beautiful Meadows," and
was originally the property of Jonathan Reese, who
patented it Feb. 10, 1787. Barnabas Smith married
Elizabeth Reese, daughter of Jonathan Reese, and
through her received this tract of land. John Fisher
bought a lot in the town, which was then kniown as
Smithfield; his purchase was mnade on May 13, 1801.
Aniother lot was bought by Samuel D. Bowman, May
30, 1801.  The consideration he paid was fourteen
dollars for No. 11 in the plan of Smithfield. Other
lot-buyers were Robert Brownfield, Benjamin Wheeler,
David Hartman, Isaac Groover, and Samuel Kennedy.
From the very first the name of the town was Smithfield. The Brownfields owned land nearly all around
the town. About the time of the war of 1812 it was
decided by the governmental authorities to open a
post-office in Smithfield, and then the question arose,
What should the office be named? Some were in
favor of Smithfield, while others favored Brownfieldtown. To settle the matter in dispute it was left to
the voters of the township to decide what the name
of the new post-office should be. Robert Brownfield
furnished whisky freely to one of the tavern-keepers,
and Barnabas Smith gave an equal quantity to another tavern-keeper, and these gave the ardent freely
to the voters. The day was almost gone, and no votI
I
I
F, orHISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
ing had been done as yet, when Col. John Oliphant
put in an appearance on the scene, and seeing that
the voters were too drunk to properly exercise their
right of suffrage he mounted a store-box, and calling
them to order he said, "We hiave met for the laudable purpose of giving a name to our new post-office,
but as the day is far spentt and I see no chance of deciding by ballot, now I propose to decide viva voce. I
would like to accommodate both of the gentlemen
with at least a part of the name. Mr. Smith's first
name is Barnabas, but we all call him'Barney;'
Mr. Brownfield's given name is Robert, but we all
call him'Bob.' Now I move you that the name of
this town hereafter be'Barney Bobtown."' The motion received a second, was put, and unanimously
adopted. But the name of the post-office always remained Smnithfield. The first postmaster was Andrew
Collins, who kept the mail in his store-roomn. This
was duLring the wvar of 1812. Thlle mail was received
once a week. David Campbell was mail-carrier, and
made the weekly trip on horseback. After Andrew
Collins James Caldwell was postmaster, and the office
has been maintained ever since its organization, a
period of nearly seventy years.
About the year 1800, Henry Whistler had an oilmill where Wood's tannery now stands.
In and before 1800, Thlomas Wynn had an oil-mill
at Fairchance, and mnade flaxseed oil.
James Martin had a wagon-making shop on the
Morgantown road for about ten or fifteen years. He
bought fromn Edward Coombs, who erected it about
1830, and operated it many years.
Isaiah Jones made powder for a number of years at
the works built by Jones  Sammons, about 1830,
near Woodbridgetown. Some of their powder was
used by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company
for blasting purposes.
An old blacksmith-shop was carried on at the
cross-roads near Deyarnmon's, on the Morgantown
road, for many years. Henry Smtnith manlufactured
powder on York's Run before 1800. Recently Jacob
Ruble has erected a blacksmith-shop near his mill.
It is in charge of Mr. Rhodes.
Israel and John Sheeler built a foundry, which
was afterwards owned and operated by Stephen Richards, G. G. Clemnmer, John E. Patton, and John McCurdy. The last named were the last operators as a
foundry, after which it passed into the hands of Isaac
Franks, who converted it into a grist-mill. He associated Jacob Ruble with him in the business. Some
three years ago the mill was burned and never rebuilt.
John Semmes, Jere Archer, Lewis Grimes, John
Getzendiner, Elijah Sutton, William  Utt, Samuel
Reese, Washington Reed, Jacoh Fordyce, Daniel
Fordyce, Johnston Divilbess, James Huhn, and Squire
Bradley have followved the trade of blacksmithing in
the township.
There have been two pottery establishments in the
town. One was built about 1800 by Robert Brownfield. In 1803 he sold it to John Fisher. Another
came into existence afterwards. These were carried
on by Stephen Richards, Matthias Allensworth,
Charles Brownfield, Jr., and Dunn  Clemmer. Both
of them ceased operations long since.
The merchants of Smithfield have been Phillips,
Gcorge Traer, Richard Patton, Andrew Collins, John
Hagan, William Stewartson, Daniel Thomas, Williamn
Gans, Joseph Victor, Hugh H. Gilmore, Albert West,
James Oliphant, Thomas Mitchell, Israel Painter,
Jamnes Caldwell, Samuel Sackett, Stephen Richards,
John Brownfield, F. H. Oliphant, Joseph Kyle,
Thomas Ocheltree, Robert Jones, Joseph Hyde, Jamnes
Schroyer, David Patton, William  Walker, H. S.
Sparks, William McCleary, James Davenport, John
Worthington, Ignatius Feather, E. O. Ewing, Dunn
 Poundstone, Sturgis  Burchinal, A. J. Stewart,
Eugene Brownfield, Feather  Jaco, Thomas Conn,
Mrs. E. T. Brownfield, Mrs. I. Feather, and Jacob
High.
Drug-stores: D. Patton and William Brownfield,
E. A. Hastings, John M. Hustead, Johln Moore  Co.
Saddlers: Henry  Rockafeller,        Lockwood,
William Campbell, Lewis Clemmer, Abraham Rogers,
Allen Byers, John E. Patton, A. B. Crow.
Tin-shops: Eugene T. Brownfield, W. Woods.
PIIYSICIANS.
Dr. James Todd was the first regular practitioner
of medicine to settle in this vicinity. He commenced
the practice of medicine in Smithfield in 1822. Since
then there have been Emanuel Showalter,    Fleming, Henry Matthews, George Gans, Brown Brownfield, Henry B. Mathiot, U. L. Clemmer, D. Vowell,
Samuel Sacket, Jr., Frederick Patton, James T. Beazell, James Holbert, Clayton Richards, William Longanecker.
DENTAL SURGEONS.
Drs. T. F. Farmer and Mr. Watson.
CABINET-MAKERS.
John Jackson, Thomas Gaddis, James Ocheltree,
and Samuel Sutton.
COOPERS.
Lewis Sammons, John Downey.
CARPENTERS AND BUILDERS.
Henry Huhn, Mr. Phillips, James Vance, John
Kramer, Luther W. Burchinal.
WAGON-MAKERS.
George Burris, Samuel Kendall, Orlanzo Lytle,
Simeon Zearly, William Hannah.
I.O 0. OF 0. F.
Gallatin Lodge, No. 517, I. O. of O. F., was organized under charter granted by Sovereign Grand Lodge
of Pennsylvania, dated June 26, 1855, and instituted
I
530GEORGES TOWNSHIP.
under D. 1). G. Master David L. WValker, of Connellsville, Pa., with the followilng persons as charter
members: Dr. U. L. Clemmer, H. J. Dougherty, Capt.
J. Hickman, J. E. Patton, J. D. Field, W. T. Goodwin, Capt. James Abraham, Maj. James M. Abraham,
Enos WV. Field, Simeon Zearly, Gideon G. Clemmer,
G. R. Miller, W. T. Ellis, T. P. Burchinal, J. L.
Showalter, H. B. Mallaby. The first officers were as
follows: N. G., Dr: U. L. Clemnmer; V. G., H. J.
Dougherty; Treas., Gideon G. Clemmer; Sec., G. R.
Miller; Trustees, H. J. Dougherty, L. W. Burchinal,
James Abrahanm.
Past Noble Grands: U. L. Clemmer, H. J. Dougherty, G. G. Cleinmer, G. R. Miller, J. L. Shlowalter,
L. W. Burchinal, Enos W. Field, James Abraham,
H. B. Mal!aby, James M. Abraham, W. R. Griffin,
B. F. Black, Simneon Zearly, W. T. Goodwin, J. E.
Patton, J. D. Field, W. T. Ellis, T. P. Burchinal, J.
L. Whetstone, J. M. D. Low, J. W. McCarty, WV. H.
Heston, W. E. Reynolds, J. W. Hugh, P. T. Sturgis,
John Downey, John Martin, A. J. Miller, B. F. Martin, J. C. Miller, P. S. Ilaldeman, E. S. Hayden, E.
M. Martin, W. E. Moore, Joseph Ewing, James
Vance.
TIIE GEORGES CREEK TRADING COMPANY
was organized in 1816, to do a general banking and
trading business in the town of Smithfield. The
movers in this enterprise were Jamnes Brownfield, B.
Stevens, A. Mc.Masters, William Abraham, John Showalter, James Showalter, Basil Brownfield, and Richard
Patton. Of these James Brownfield was made the first
president. The clerk elected was Richard Patton, and
the directors or board of managers were B. Stevens,
A. McMasters, William Abraham, John Showalter,
James Showalter, and Basil Brownfield.
The officers of the company were to consist of a president, clerk, and board of managers. Those first elected to these offices should retain their positions until
the last Monday in March, 1817, at which time a new
election was to be held. The capital stock was not to
exceed fifty thousand dollars. The shares were to be
twenty dollars each, payable in gold, silver, or current
bank-notes equivalent thereto.
The banking-room was in the brick building then
owned by Mr. Basil Brownfield, and now owned and
occupied by Mr. William Campbell as a hotel parlor.
This banking institution was in existence inl 1819,
October 10th (see Mount Moriah Baptist Church
minutes, volume xi. page 22). In 1822, by action of
the stockholders, it was decided to dissolve the partnership and discontinue the business, accordingly
all the outstanding paper money of the concern was
called in, redeemned in coin, and burned.
JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.
The township was well represented in this office in
the days when the justices were appointed by the
Supreme Executive Council. The first occupants of
the office after the organization of Fayette County
were Philip Rogers and Robert Richey; the latter
gentlemwan served in this capacity for more than
twenty years under appointment from the Governor.
Others holding this office have been Andrew Oliphant,
Enoch Abraham, Abraham Stewart, Richard Patton,
Daniel Thomnas, Stephen Richards, Samuel Nixon (at
one time associate judge), Squire Ayers, William
Abrahlam, James Brownfield, Solomon Smith, Joel G.
Leatherman, George Hertzog, Thomas Trader, James
Beeson, Alexander Brownfield, Thomas Williams,
Humphrey Humphreys, Alfred Core, George Measoin,
John R. Means, Henry Hayden, Reuben Hague,
Isaac Peters, William Conn.
Hon. John Brownfield, son of James Brownfield,
was born near Smithfield, Dec. 28, 1808. On the 10th
of January, 1833, he married Belinda, daughter of
John Hustead. Both are living. Mr. Brownfield has
twice had the honor of associate judge conferred upon
him, serving in that capacity from 1852 to 1862.
Dr. Emanuel Showalter commenced the practice of
physic in Smnithfield some forty or fifty years ago, and
afterwards went South, where he became eminent in
his profession.
Alexander Clear was one of the early school-teachers of Fayette County, and a very excellent one he is
said to have been. About the time of the war of
1812 he was engaged in his calling in the toNvnI of
Monroe. He afterwards settled in Georges township,
and taught for a numnber of years. He was a Christian gentleman, and was noted for his fine accomplishments as a penman. He removed, with his son
Thomas, to Cumberland about 1845.
Dr. William Hampton McCormick, son of James
McCormick, was born near Smithfield in 1826. After
reading medicine with Dr. Smith Fuller, Uniontown,
he attended Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia,
where he graduated, after which he began the practice of his profession at Donegal, Westmoreland Co.,
Pa., where he practiced for a while, and then changed
his location to Grantsville, Md.,'and fromi there he
went to Cumberland, where he has been practicing
ever since. His practice has been a remunerative
one, and he has amassed a considerable fortune.
Dr. James F. McCormick, son of James McCormick, was born near Smithfield, July 6, 1839. He
received an academical education at Carmichaelstown,
Greene Co., Pa., and at Georges Creek Academy,
Smithfield, after which he read medicine under his
brother Hampton and attended Jefferson Medical
College. After completing his studies he located at
Petersburg, Somerset Co., Pa., but afterwards went
West, and commenced practicing at Quincy, Ill., and
from there he went to Menden, Ill., and from thence
changed to Fowler, where he built up a good practice,
but his health failed, and he died there in 1874.
Dr. Alcynus Young McCormick, son of James McCormick, was born and raised near Smithfield. He
attended school at Carmichael's, Greene Co., and
5-81.HISTORY- OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Georges Creek Academy with his brother. He then
read medicine under his brother Hampton in Cumberland, attended Jefferson Medical College, where
hle completed his studies, and then located in Frederick City, Md., where he practiced during thle latter
part of the Rebellion. When his brother James became sick he located at Fowler, Ill., on the Quincy
and Burlington Railroad, and is still practicing there.
Rev. Samuel Woodbridge was the founder of the
town which bears his name. He came to this community at a very early date. He was the pastor of
the Mount Moriah Baptist Churchl as early as 1785.
Almost contemporaneous with the erection of the
chlurchl just spoken of he built in Woodbridgetown a
Seventh-Day Baptist Church.
Dr. James Brownfield, son of ex-Judge John Brownfield, was born and reared in the town of Smnithfield,
studied medicine, and is at present practicing in Fairmiouiit, West Va.
Dr. James Holbert was born in Georges. He taught
in the public schools for a numnber of years, after
which he attended lectures at Jefferson Medical College, and is at present practicing at Fairchance.
Rev. W. W. Hickman was licensed to preach by
Mount Moriah Baptist Church Nov. 11, 1843, since
which time he has presided over the Flatwvoods,
Uniontown. and Waynesburg charges. He is a man
eminently fitted for the ministry, and exceedinigly
popular and useful in his sacred calling.
Rev. George W. Hertzog was raised in this township. In January, 1855, he was licensed to preach at
Mount Moriah Baptist Church, and since then has
been actively engaged in his ministerial duties.
Phineas G. Sturgis was licensed by the Mount
Moriah Church to preach Oct. 7, 1854. For a number of years past he hlas been engaged in merchandising, and is at present following that business,
having as a partner Mr. Luther W. Burchinal, wvho
has beeni for many years one of the most enterprising
business men in this township. His occupation originally was that of Architect and builder. He had the
contract for building the Georges Creek Academy
and the Mount Moriah Baptist Church.
Gideon G. Clemmer was prominently connected
with the Georges Creek Academy and the organization of Gallatin Lodge of Odd-Fellows. A number
of years since he went West, where he is now engaged
in the banking business.
Dr. U. L. Clemmner was raised near Smithfield,
practiced medicine in that town for several years,
after which he removed to Brownsville. For a number of years he was editor and publisher of the
Greenbaeck Banner and Labor Advocate.
Dr. Clayton Richards was born in Smithfield, educated at Jefferson Medical College, and is now practicing in West Virginia.
Mr. A. J. Stewart has been one of the most enterprising and successful merchants of Smithfield for a
number of years.
Rev. Joseph Leathlierman came to Georges township
ill 1799. He was a Dunkard or Germnan Baptist
preacher, and was for a number of years pastor of
the Grove German Baptist Church in this township.
Rev. Isaac Wynn, a Baptist minister, has always
been a resident of this township, and preaches very
acceptably to the people through this and adjoining
townships, usually holding his meetings in the schoolhouses. He resides near Oliphant.
Rev. Andrew J. Osborn, a Cutmberland Presbyterian minister, was raised near Faircliance. During
the war of the Rebellion he acted as chaplain of the
Fourteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry. He had six sons
in the service..Four of his sons belonged to the
samne company he enlisted in, viz., Company E.
He preached for the Cumnberland Church at Fairchance for a number of years.
Dr. Frederick Patton, son of Alexander Patton, read
medicitne under Dr. H. B. Mathiot, and after attending the lectures at Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, he practiced for a while as partner of Dr.
Mathliot. About ten years ago he wenit to West Newton, Pa., and located there, where he still remains.
It has been persistently claimed and believed by
many that Gen. Sam Houston, President of the republic of Texas, and afterwards Governor and United
States senator from that State, was a native of the
township of Georges, born at Woodbridgetown, where
his father, Paul Houston, was a tavern-keeper about
the year 1800, and that the young Houston was in his
youth a schoolmate of Basil Brownfield, in Georges.
It is no doubt correct that there was a Samuel Houston of which all this was true, but that it was not
Gen. Houston, of Texas, is rendered more than probable from the testimony of one who unquestionably
knew whlereof he spoke. That one was no less a personage than the Hon. Thomas H. Benton, UJnited
States senator from Missouri, who, in his "Thirty
Years in the United States Senate" (vol. i. p. 676),
says, "Gen. Sam Houston was born in the State of
Virginia, county of Rockbridge; he was appointed
an ensign in the army of the Uniited States during
the late war with Great Britain, and served in the
Creek campaign under the banners of Jackson. I
was the lieutenant-colonel of the regiment to which
he belonged, and the first field-officer to whom he reported."
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
F. II. OLIPHANT.'
"It is in men as in soils, where sometimnes there is a v in of
gold which thlle owner knows not of."-I)EAN SWIFT.
Fideleo Hughes Oliphant was the third son and
fourth in the order of birth of a family of ten children
1 The steel-plate engraving accomnpanying this sketchl is from a daguerreotype taketn wlhent he was between forty-five and fifty years of age,
and is an excellent likeness of the original at that period of his life.
5S2C
-       ---GEORGES TOWNSHIP.
-four sons and six daughters-of John and Sarah
Oliphant. Hughes, the subject of this sketch, was
born on the 4th of January, 1800, at Old Fairfield
Furnace, on Georges Creek, in Georges township, Fayette Co., Pa. Of this old furnace, the rival of another
on Jacob's Creek, Westmoreland County, Pa., for the
distinction of being the first at whichl pig iron was
made wvest of the Allegheny Mountains, in which both
localities have zealous advocates, nothing but the
cinder pile and some of the larger stones of the stack
remain to mark the spot where its proprietors,
pioneers in what has grown to be the great industry
of Western Pennsylvania, saw and heard their first
bantling heave and sigh.
His-father, Col. John Oliphant, was born in Chester
County, Pa., and his mother, Sarah McGinnes, born
in Philadelphia, Pa., was the only child of a sea-captain, who was lost in shipwreck. Left an orphan at
an early age, she was adopted by her uncle, the Rev.
Samnuel Woodbridge, of the Seventh-Day Baptist
persuasion, with whom she crossed the mountains on
horseback in 1778 or 1779,mounted on bales of goods
strapp)ed upon a pack-saddle.
Her uncle Woodbridge settled in Springhill township, founded the village which bears his name, built
a church in which he preached every seventh day,
and erected a dwelling-house, which in its day and
locality was considered stylish and commodious. He
preached without money and without price there until
his lips were sealed in death. His remains rest in the
old graveyard adjoining the church, and by his last will
and testament he left somrne of these village lots for the
perpetual maintenance of the church and graveyard
in good order, whlich benevolent intention has been
sadly neglected. Squatters and trespassers profane
the sacred soil with which pious faith meant to cherish
and protect "God's half-acre."  Church and churchyard both feel the cold hand of time heavy upon
thenm, and the colder charity of neglect chills every
pilgrim. to this sacred shrine.
Tradition says that Col. Oliphant and Sarah Woodbridge (she took her uncle's name) "made a remarkably fine couple" when they stood up before the
venierable uncle of the bride to be united in marriage,
some time in the year 1790. Their remains rest in
the old churchyard at Woodbridgetown.
Andrew, the grandfather of Hughes Oliphant, had
his honme in Chester County, Pa., previously to the
war of the Revolution. He was a trader, and transported goods over the mountains on pack-horses, exchanging them with the Indians and settlers for furs
and land, for there was no money there at that time.
Gen. Braddock, int his campaign against Fort Du
Quesne in 1755, pressed him and his pack-horses
into his service.  When Braddock fell, mortally
wounded, at the battle of the Monongahela, on July
9,1755, he was carried on a litter swung between two
of these horses, under the direction of Andrew Oliphant, in the retreat to Dunbar's camp, the rearguard of the army, where he died on the fourth day
after the battle, and was buried in the road, near the
site of Fort Necessity, where Washington fought his
first battle, on the 3d of July, 1754. Tradition says
Andrew Oliphant assisted in the construction and
defense of Fort Necessity.
After the war he moved out to Fayette County,
and settled on land near to Merrittstown. His remains rest in the graveyard of the Dunlap's Creek
Presbyterian congregation.
John Oliphant and Andrew, his younger brother,
commenced the iron business at Old Fairfield Furnace, and soon added Fairchance, on the sainme
stream, to it. Subsequenrtly to this they built "Sylvan Forges," on the lowver waters of Georges Creek,
near the village of New Geneva. They made pigs at
Fairchance, and converted them into bar iron at
Sylvan Forges; built boats, launched them on the
Monongahela at Geneva, and floated their iron down
the river to Pittsburgh and pQints below on the Ohio
to market.
They continued as partners in business until
1816, when they dissolved and divided the property.
Fairchance and Sylvan Forges being considered
about equal in value, John gave his younger biother,
Andrew, the first choice. He took Sylvan Forges,
and the property was partitioned on that basis, without invoking thle aid of the courts.
F. H. Oliphant's first schooling was in a log house,
still standing in the back-yard at "Liberty Hall,"
where his father then lived, two miles from Fairfield
and half a mile from Fairchance. The teacher was
Thomas, father of Gen. A. G. Porter, lately elected
Governor of Indiana.
His next experience was with Alexander Clear at
Morris X-Roads school-house, where Col. Samiuel
Evans, the Morris, Hardin. Tobin, Gans, and Griffin
boys and others were among his schoolmates. Here
he learned to "read, write, and cipher as far as the
single rule of three," and acquired some knowledge
of English grammar, geography, history, and bookkeeping.
After leaving Mr. Clear's school he went to Brownsville, in the same county, to attend a school of Rev.
James Johnson, andwhile there, in consideration of
boarding and lodging, assisted Mr. James Brading in
his store mnornings and evenings. He then secured
the life-long friendship and confidence of Mr. Brading, and by his industry and attention to the duty
before him attracted the notice of George Hogg, Jacob Bowman, and Joseph Thornton, leading men of
that part of the county, and made them his friends
for life.
This, with one session of five months at Jefferson
College, where his older brothers, Woodbridge and
Orlando, and subsequently his younger brother, Ethelbert, graduated, finished the course of his education
before he was seventeen years old.
About this period of his life, financial trouble, the
I  
I
1.
583HISTORIY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
result of too much lending of his name, falling upon
his father, wvith the accumulation of years, he entered
his office at Fairchance, and at eighteen years of age
the entire business devolved upon him. He paid just
debts and resisted the payment of unjust claims until
all were settled and the property relieved.
On the 8th day of November, 1821, he married Jane
Creigh, the oldest daughter of Samuel Duncan, Esq.,
of the Fayette County bar, from which came a family
of eleven children,-John, Duncan, Orlando, Henry,
James and Ethelbert, Elizabeth, Mary Louise, Jane,
Sallie Ann, and Ellen. On the 8th of November,
1871, they celebrated their golden wedding at the
residence of the oldest daughter, Mrs. R. P. Nevin,
Sewickley, Pa., at which all the children living and
many grandchildren were present.  June 5, 1876,
his wife Jane died, and he afterwards married her
younger sister, Mary E. Duncan, who survives hiim.
In 1820 or 1821 he purchased Franklin Forge, at
the Little Falls of the Youghioghleny River, hauled
pigs from Fairchance, hammered tihemn into bar iron,
and with the fall and spring freshets floated the iron
down the Youghiogheny and Monongahela Rivers to
Pittsburgh, and sometimes down the Ohio to Cincinnati, selling what lie could for cash, and trading the
balance for store goods and provisions for the furnace
and forge.
In 1823-24, in connection with two other gentlemen
of Pittsburgh, he built the Pennsylvania (now the
Wayne) Rolling-Mill, and not agreeing cordially with
his partners, he sold his interest to Messrs. Miltenburger  Brown, returned with his family to Franklin
Forge, and conducted the business there in connection
with Fairchance for a number of years without a
dollar of money. It was all barter and trade. Franklin Forge was a centre of business. His iron was the
currency of the country. Farmers brought in their
produce to the mills, traded it for iron, taking what
they wanted for present use, and a certificate of deposit for the balance. His office and iron-house became a bank of deposit. There was no money in the
country, and so this system of trade went on for years,
the iron not leaving the warehouse only at the semiannual freshets, when all on hand went down the
river, and a new stock would accumulate at the warehouse. The wagons that brought pigs from Fairchance returned loaded with flour and other supplies
accumulated in the mill at the forge. He has often
declared that this was the most satisfac-tory period of
his business life. But he looked beyond the beautiful
hills and wild, romantic surroundings of the "Little
Falls" for wider fields and deeper mines. He saw
the day of the forge-fire and the tilt-hammner passing
away, and in 1832 sold Franklin Forge to Messrs.
Miltenburger  Brown, of Pittsburgh.
Leaving his family in Uniontown he started for
Tennessee, with a view of entering into the iron business there with Messrs. Yateman, but not being
pleased with the situation, he returned to Cincinnati,
purchased a steam-engine and the option of a lot of
land in Covington, rented a house in Cincinnati, and
made other arrangements for building a rolling-mill.
Coming home, he yielded to the eloquent pleadings
of the gray hairs of his father and mother and the
tears of his sisters, abandoned the Cincinnati scheme,
brought the engine to Fairchance, and in the fall of
1832 commeniced building a rolling-mill, nail-factory,
etc., alongside the furnace, which in the spring and
summer of 1833 were in full operation.
He made a superior article of iron and nails. They
became popular as soon and as far as they were known,
and these iron-works went on throtgh good times and
hard without a strike or stop, except for necessary repairs, until after the property was sold to a New York
company in 1870-71.
In hard times dicker and trade was resorted to
again, as in previous years at "Little Falls." Wagons
were loaded at the works, started on the old National
road, selling in the towns through which they passed,
and the balance converted into store goods and groceries in Baltimore. These in tiurni were loaded into
the wagons to "plod their weary way" back to the
works.
He had coal and iron ore and limestone in the
ground, and timber for charcoal in the mountains.
He had only labor to pay for. The raw material
went into the ftLrnace, and came out bar iron and
nails at the other end of the same building, almost
withlout getting cold in the process. When times
were hard and iron was dull, selling for cost, or less
than cost, the store made a little profit, or made up
the loss.
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad having made its
way out to Cumberland, these tactics had to be and
were changed to another direction. The surplus of
iron accumulated at the works vas shipped on steatnmboats at Brownsville, and bartered and traded down
the river for anything that would be useful at the
works, or for which there was a market in New Orleans. There the balance of the iron and such other
freights as had been collected by the way were converted into sugar, coffee, tobacco, etc., one part being
shipped up the river by steamboats for the works,
another shipped by sea to Baltimore and sold or exchanged for dry-goods, which in turn found their way
to Fairchance.
In 1848 he purchased "Springhill Furnace," and
in 1870 sold two-thirds of both these properties to a
New York company, and subsequently sold the other
third to the same parties. He seemed then to be
entirely out of jactive business, but in the mean time
he had purchased the "Sunnie Brae" property, on the
Southwest Branch, Pennsylvania Railroad, from the
heirs of Moses W. Nixon, and the site being eligible,
and the building of the railroad secured, visions of
another furnace soon began to float through his brain.
In the summer of 1875 he commnenced preparations,
and in the fall and winter of 1875-76 built "Oliphant
584GEORGES TOWNSHIP.
Furnace," on the Sunnie Brae property, getting into
operation early in the summer of 1876, but this venture did not prove a success. The times were too
hard to make money on pig iron, and to add to other
drawbacks, in the night of the 7th of November,
1878, the furnace buildings took fire and burned
down, and on the 11th of the same month he sold the
Sunnie Brae and Oliphant Furnace property to his
son Duncan, who at once rebuilt the furnace, put it
in operation again in the early spring, added numerous
improvements in the way of dwelling-houses for
hands, new hot-blast, etc. Under this mnanagement
it was continued in blast until November, 1880, whlen
it was again sold to the Fayette Coke and Coal Company.
While operating "Franklin Forge" Mr. Oliphant
introduced a new process ill making iron between the
pig and the forge fire or puddling oven, which he
called refining, blowing the iron in an open coke fire.
It was a very simple and inexpensive addition, was an
economy in the end, and improved the quality of
the iron.
While in Tennessee he was the first to think of and
suggest placing the engine boilers at the top of the
furnace stack, instead of consuming and wasting large
quantities of wood or other fuel under them on the
ground below. Among other improvements he adopted
this plan when he came into possession of "Springhill
Furnace," where the stone coal was not of a very
good quality or very plenty.
In 1836-37 he successfully experimented, and, as is
claimed, was the first iron man in the United States
who had a real and substantial success in making
iron in any considerable quantity with coke. He was
Inot well prepared for this experiment; the furnace
stack was old, built for cold blast and charcoal, and
but little alteration was made in the blast. The furnace ran a blast of about five months on coke, making a fair quality of iron, good enough for nails, but,
although he rolled and piled the iron and then rolled
it again, it was not' Oliphant's iron." Timber was
still plenty for charcoal, and he went back to his first
love.
In the spring of 1837 he deposited in "Franklin
Institute" of Philadelphia specimens of the ore, coal,
and limestone, and iron and nails made from thlese
raw materials, where they still remnained at last accounts, and although the managers conceded that he
had substantially earned the medal offered in 1835 it
was not awarded, on the technicality that the iron
had not been made within the time limited in the
offer.
The superior quality of Mr. Oliphant's iron was
indisputable. L.W. Stockton, presidentof the "National Road Stage Company," used large quantities
of it at their "stage-yard" in Uniontown, and although they were not on friendly terms, he oftenl
declared emphatically that "Oliphant made the best
iron that ever went into a stage-coach." Through
Mr. Stockton it was introduced to the notice of the
War and Navy Departments, whlere it more than
stood every test to which it was subjected, and he
sold hundreds of tons to the government for gunbarrels and chain-cables.
In this connection his iron came under the observation of Asbury Kimble, a very ingenious and intelligent man, who believed from its quality that it
would make good steel. He visited the works, and
the result was the building of a steel furnace at Fairchance in the fall of 1837, in which a good quality of
steel was made from this iron. But consumers would
not believe it to be as good as the imported; there
was little or no sale for it. The enterprise was abandoned, leaving Mr. Oliphant with a stock of seel on
hand of his own make large enough to last him for
the rest of his business life at Fairchalnce. He used
none other,-the best proof of its good quality.
"F. H. Oliphant inherited all the nobler traits of
character which distinguished his father. He was
particularly noted for kindness to those in his emnploy.
In their temporal welfare he manifested a deep personal initerest. He built comfortable homines for thenm,
planted fruit-trees in their yards, and in every way
sought to assist them in lightening the burdens of a
toilsome life. He has made tens of thlousands for
others where he has made hundreds for himself." 1
"The subject of this notice was Ino ordinary man;
he was a remarkable man, and his entire business
career, throughout a long life of untiring energy.and
unselfish and unflinching integrity of purpose, has
showni it. In addition to his regular business at times
he took hold of others, such as plying steamboats
between Pittsburgh and Western and Southern ports.
Before the railroads pierced the Allegheny Mountains
hle owned and ran a fast wagon line between Cumberland and Wheeling.  This line carried only fast
freight, and soldiers during the Mexican war. His
wagons were lighter than the ordinary regulars, and
were drawn by mule teams, which were changed at
fixed points along the road.'
"Perhaps there was no wider known, or more generally respected gentleman in all his time in this
county. Of active habits, he did much to develop
the mineral wealth of this section of the State, and
its people are largely indebted to him for the prominent part he has all the time taken in building up
its interests and promoting its welfare."'1
On the 16th of April, 1870, "about one hundred
of his employes, men, women, and children, and a
sprinkling of neighbors and friends, assembled in the
rolling-mill, and sent for Mr. Oliphant. When he
walked into the mill he was naturally very much
surprised, and inquired what it all meant. This inquiry was hastily answered by the Rev. Peter T.
Lashley, who mounted a store box, and after mnaking
a neat and appropriate address, presented him, for the
1 American Standardt of Feb. 24, 1870, and March 13, 1879.
585THE REVOLUTION.
Waddle, William, April, 1776; discharged Jan. 1, Lay aside all P
1778; resided in Westmoreland County in 1819.  that it Would I
Watterson, John.                                     made use of ti
Wead, Maurice.                                       under from ye
Wilkinson, Angus, missing since the battle, Aug. 27, Will have a Go
1776.                                            ye Neceserey o0
Three sergeants were also captured,.but the roll Randevous at
does not indicate which.                             March Emedit
/                                   it to ye Militia
The Eighth Regiment of the Pennsylvania Line  post until furtli
was raised under authority of a resolution of Con-    " I Hope to I
gress, dated July 15, 1776 (" Journal," vol. i. 411-19),  we mean to tal
for the defense of the western frontier, to garrison the  mean time, I
posts of Presque Isle, Le Boeuf, and Kittanning, to con-  wisher and Hbl
sist of seven companies from Westmoreland and one
fromi Bedford County. On the 29th of Jutly, 1776, the  "To Col. JAME
Convention of Pennsylvania, then in session, having   Congress,
recommended for field-officers of this regiment Col.
Eneas Mackey (written also McCoy), Lieut.-Col.    Until the Sti
George Wilson (of New Geneva, now Fayette County), styled in the q
and Maj. Richard Butler, they were elected and ap-  commanded by
pointed as such by Congress. A resolution of Con-  it is first styli
gress having given to the committees of Westmore-  troops in the
land and Bedford Counties the right of naming the had then beer
company officers, they were so named (as in the roster  Line. The re
hereafter given), and on the 14th of September, 1776, the 6th of Jai
Congress accepted them  and orderedl commissions.  Pennsylvania
On the 22d of September Congress elected David'Mc-  the field. Tb
Clure chaplain, and Ephraim Douglass quartermaster  of Timothy P:
of the regiment. On the 23d of November Congress  follo^ving refei
directed the Board of War to order the regiment to
march with all possible expedition by the nearest "Dr. Putna
route " to Brunswick, N. J., or to join Gen. Washing-  following is a
ton wherever he may be."  On the 4th of November    "'DEAR SI]
the regiment received orders to march to Amboy, to have a Doc
N. J., whereupon Lieut.-Col. George Wilson wrote  of medicine.
from the regimental rendezvous to Col. James Wilson  morning and
as follows:                                          favor you shal
"KETANIAN, Dec. 5tlh, 1776.  humble serva
"Dr Colonall: Last Evening We Recd Marching
ordors, Which I must say is not Disagreeable to me
under ye Sircumstances of ye times, for when I enter'd'TQUIBBLETOW
into ye Service I Judged that if a necesety appeared   "I desired t
to call us Below, it would be Don, therefore it Dont  were raised a
come on me By Surprise; But as Both ye Officers and  five hundred
Men understood they Ware Raised for ye Defence of for the Dr. in
ye Westeran Frontiers, and their fameleys and sub-  tains, iiever e]
stance to be Left in so Defenceless a situation in their
encamping in
abstence, seems to Give Sensable trouble, altho I Hope used to such I
We Will Get over it, By Leving sum of ower trifeling  and Lieutena
Officers Behind who Pirtend to Have More Witt then  informed he f
seven men that can Rendar a Reason. We are ill houses."
Provided for a March at this season, But there is
nothing Hard under sum Sircumstances. We Hope    The regime
Provision' Will be made for us Below, Blankets,  in the winter:
Campe Kittles, tents, arms, Regimentals, c., that by the British
we may not Cut a Dispisable Figure, But may be  of men. Lie
Enabled to answer ye expectation of ower Countre.    died of pleur
"I Have Warmly Recommended to ye cfficcrs to  of that year.'ersonall Resentments at this time, for
be construed By ye Worald that they
hat Sircumstance to Hide themselves
cause of their countrie, and I hope it
ood Efect at this time. We Have ishued
rders, and appointed ye owt Parties to
Hanows Town, ye 15th instant, and to
tly from there. We have Recomended
to Station One Hundred Men at this
ier orders.
have ye Plesure of Seeing you Soon, as
ke Philodelphia in ower Rout. In ye
am, lWith Esteem, your Harty Wellle Sert
"G. WILSON.
ES WILSON, of the Honorable the Cont.
Phila."
h of December, 1776, the regiment was
quartermaster's receipts " the Battalion
y Col. Eneas Mackay," but at that date
ed "{The Eighth Battalion of Penn'a
Continental service," showving that it
n assigned to duty in the Continental
egiment marched from Kittanning on
anuary, 1777, and it and the Twelfth
were the first regiments of the Line in
e next notice of it is found in the " Life
Pickering" (volume i., page 122), in the
rence to the Eighth Pennsylvania:
"1 March 1, 1777, Saturday.
am brought me a billet, of which the
copy:
R: Our Battalion is so unfortunate as not
tor, and, in my opinion, dying for want
I beg you will come down to-morrow
visit the sick of my company. For that
l1 have sufficient satisfaction from your,nt,
"'JAMES PIGOTT,
"'Capt. of 8 Batt. of Pa.
rN-, Feb. 28, 1777.'
the Dr. by all means to visit them. They
about the Ohio, and had travelled near
miles, as one of the soldiers who came
nformed me. For 150 miles over mounentering a house, but building fires, and
in the Snow. Considerable numbers, unhardships, have since died. The Colonel
ant-Colonel among the dead. The Dr.
found them quartered in cold shattered
-nt was stationed at Bounid Brook, N. J.,
and spring of 1777, where it was attacked
h and defeated, with the loss of a number
ut.-Col George Wilson, of New Geneva,
risy at Quibbletown, N. J., in February
75HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
people assembled, with a valuable gold-headed cane.
When the speaker hlanded the old captain the cane
in token of the donors' respect, the venerable gentleman of iron constitution, as well as manufacturer,
read the inscription carefully, and while tears trickled
down his cheeks he said, in words ever to be remembered,'My friends, I have not words to express my
sincere and heartfelt thanks and gratitude for this
valuable expression of your regard.' The boys threw
up their caps and cheered, while the old men and
women went forward and grasped his honest hand
with the expression,'God bless you!' trembling on
every tongue. After a few side remarks, they passed
out, with tears of sorrow anld affection flowing profusely down their cheeks. There were but few dry
eyes in the crowd." 1
In his private life and in his family he was kind
and affectionate, consulting more the convenience and
comfort of others than his own. With strangers and
those who did not understand him he was supposed
to be harsh and severe in his nature; but he was a
man of' deep and strong feelings, and in a way was
very sensitive, though a proud reserve kept the secret
of this quality so close that few suspected it was
there. He was of strong physique, and of extraordinary powers of endurance, often surpassing those
of young and vigorous men, working his brain and
his body as unsparingly as if they had been machines
made of his own iron, insensible to the pleasures or
necessity of rest. His manner was sometimes brusque,
and more decided than the occasion seemed to require.
His words were outspoken frankness when he had
anything to say, andd sometimes gave offense when
none was intended. Always ready to forgive an injury, hle was a firm and constant friend, and, like his
father before him, seriously damnaged his fortune "by
the too much lending of his name."  Of great moral
and phlysical strength and courage, he "dared do all
that might become a mnan," feeling, with the great
poet of nature, that "he who dared do more was
none."  Strong in his convictions, he was hard to
move from them.  Impressed by the precepts and
the examples of his father and uncle, he naturally
fell into political ranks adverse to the Democratic
party, but not to Democratic ideas, and remained so
through life. Of iron nerve, he seldom gave outward
signs of emotion, and those who knew him best can
recall but one or two instances in which he was known
to have been unmanned. In his younger days he was
fond of mnilitary parades and displays, loved poetry,
and could to the last recite long passages from Scott
and Burns. Especially fond of the old Scotch songs,
when he was well stricken in years and had an evening at home his daughters charmed the hours away
withl the music and words of the same airs and lines
with whlich his "Bonnie Jane" chained his heart
and hand "in days o' auld lang syne."
1 Unliontovun Democrat, Dec. 11, 1879.
From the outbreak to the close of the war of the
Rebellion he was intensely loyal to the Union, and
nearly depleted his iron-wvorks of hands to put meii
in the field; nor did he spare his own family. When
taking leave of his son Duncan, starting with his
company into service, he said, "Go, my son, and do
your duty; I would rather see you in an honored
grave than hear that you had faltered." There was
no tear in his eye, only the faintest tremor on his
lip; then added, "I once heard your grandfather say'No one of the name ever turned his back on a friend
or an enemy;' you will not be the first to break the
chain. Farewell."
One of the instances in which he was known to
have been unmnanned was when the cane was presented to him on retiring from business. He was
quite unnerved with emotion; sweet and sad memories seemed to crowd upon him, and the strong man,
like Jacob of old, "lifted up his voice and wept"
tears of joy and grief. And again when the death of
his youngest son, "Bertie," at Yorktown, was announced to him, his head sanlk upon his wife's
shoulder; they mingled their tears and sobbed aloud
together for their "Benjamin" of eleven children.
It was no unusual thing for him to mount his horse
(famous old Marmion, almnost as well known throughl
the county as his rider) in the evening after a hard
day's work at the fiorge, ride to Pittsburgh, thirty-five
miles away, for breakfast, be on foot all day long,
and home again for breakfast next morning; and this
often occutrred with himi in his business between the
"Little Falls" and Fairchance. He said he could
"sleep quite refreshingly a good part of the time on
old Marmion."
About the year 1820-21, in company with other
young men  of the locality, he raised and organized
the "Fayette Cavalry," of wvhich he was elected captain; commanded the company until he moved to
Pittsburgh, and after two years' absence, returning
to Fayette, he was again elected captain, and continued in command until 1836. Nor had his military
proclivities entirely forsaken him when the war broke
out in the spring of 1861. He raised and organized
a company of mounted men for any service that
might fall to it at home or in the field, in which
some of his old comrades of the Fayette cavalry
joined him.
Hearing that the "Black Horse Cavalry" was
plundering Northwestern Virginia and threatening
Morgantown, he loaded wagons with provisions, mustered his troop, and started for them. "By the time
they reached the Cheat River the command had
swelled to two hundred. This advent into West Virginia was greeted with the greatest enthusiasm. The
women rushed into the roads, throwing up their
hands, and shouting,'The Pennsylvanians have
come! the Pennsylvanians have come!'  When he
reached Grafton the accession to his force had augmented it to five hundred. There vas but little
I
I
I
56p
t-f 0---GEORGES TOWNSHIP.
military discipline among the men, but they were all
well armed and good marksmen, and to a body of
irregulars, like themselves, would have proved no
insignificant foe. The rebels abandoned Grafton as
they entered it, and there seenling no further use
for them they returned home." I It is believed this
unauthorized raid saved West Virginia to the Union.
This troop maintained its organization throughout
the war.
There were four things he disliked with a cordial
hatred,-whisky, tobacco, a lawsuit, and Gen. JacksonI. Once, and only once, a candidate before the
people for office, he ran as the Whig candidate for
Congress in 1838 against Enos Hook, Esq., a lawyer
of Waynesburg, Greene Co., and, as he expected, was
badly beaten, but his candidature well illustrates one
of these three traits of his character. Being accosted
one day by a man who was drunk, he said, "Go'way,
Jack, you are drunk; I won't shake hands with you."
A friiend suggested "that was no way to be a candidate."  He answered, "I can't help it; I won't be
seen shaking hands with a drunken man, and if I
can't be elected except at the expense of my selfrespect I shall stay at home."'
He banished whllisky from the furnace and works,
so far as he could control it, from the start. Tobacco  
was a necessary of life with furnace men, almost as
urgent as bread itself, and he had to endure it. His
dislike of lawsuits resulted in part from the fact that
they would not always go his way, and then the law,
the court, the jury, and the lawyers would be all
wrong, and he never could get it through his head,
although he had a brother and a son at the bar, that
lawyers half earned their fees.
i' His dislike of Gen. Jackson commenced with the
high hand with which he carried things in Florida,
-hanging Arbuthnot and Ambruster, and imprisoning the Spanish commissioner, Callava, ill Monroe's
administration, and for some irregularity or failure
of memory on the general's part in regard to an
order for a number of large iron salt-pans, evaporators, which he ordered while stopping over night in
Uniontown, on his way to Washington, as a member
of Congress, to be made at Fairchance, to be boated
down the river to the mouth of the Tennessee, on the
Ohlio. He also disliked him later on account of his
war on the tariff and the Bank, which hle firmly believed would ruin the business prosperity.of the
country.
When Jackson was a candidate for President
there were frequent animated tilts between himn and
his sister Juliet, who, in sympathy with her husband, Capt. James A. McClelland, was a stalwart
Jackson man, and on one occasion, when words were
running higher between them than she liked, their
mother laid hler command upon them to stop, and
said, "Hughes, you are a good deal of a Gen. Jack1 American Standard, Nov. 13, 1879.
son yourself when you have the power, and Juliet you
are entirely too much of a politician for a womani."
Growing warm in a discussion during the wvar,
he declared a wish "that old Jackson was back to
shoot down rebels and hang up traitors to the Union."
"What!" sai(d some one present, "would you bring
old Jackson back?"  "Yes, to save the Union," was
the answer. "Forgive him his war on the tariff and
the Bank?"  "Yes; and the salt-pans too; anythling
to punish Rebellion and save the Union," was his
reply.
Within a year after the sale of the "Oliphant Furnace" property he began to fail in physical health,
and the decline continued until his lamp of life went
out on the morning of the 10th of November, 1879,
at the residence of his oldest son, John, on the Sunnie
Brae farm, within two miles of Fairfield, where he
was born, within two miles of Fairchance, where he
toiled, and within the sight of his last lingering look
upoii earthl he coutld see over the intervening wvoods
and vales the "old Tent Church" in which he and his
wife together, in 1825, professed the faith in which
they lived and died, and in which he became a ruling
elder in 1838.
On the 12th of November, 1879,b he was borne fromi
the Presbyterian Chlurch in Uniontown, where the
funeral services were conducted by tte Revs. S. S.
Bergen and Isaac Wynn, by six of hlis grandsons, and
buried in Oak Grove Cemetery.
IHENRY BERNARD MATHIIOT, M.D.
Dr. Mathiot, of Smithfield, was born at Connellsville, Fayette Co., Pa., Aug. 31, 1815. He is of
French ancestry, having descended from a Frenchl
officer who, at the time of the massacre of St. Bartholomew, obeyed the voice of conscience rather than
that of the king and charged on the priests with his
regiments, for which he was compelled to fly fron
France. But the king, winking at his official misconduct, fturnished hinm a letter intended to serve as a
warrant of immunity from civil arrests, and he returned to France seeking to regain his estates. The
fiamily still found France dangerous ground on account of the priests, and Jean Mathiot, grandfather of
the doctor, emigrated to America in 1754, settling in
Lancaster, Pa. He had the previous year married
Catharine Margaret Bernard, daughter of Hon. Jean
James Bernard, mayor of Dampierre, France. They
had three sons,-Christian, who located in Baltimnore,
John, who remained in Lancaster, and George, who
was the father of the subject of this sketch.
George Mathiot was born Oct. 13, 1759, and raised
in Lancaster, Pa., where he enlisted in the patriot
army Nov. 18, 1776, and served until the close of
the war, when he was honorably discharged. He
then located at Elk Ridge Landing, near Ellicott's
Mills, Md., where he was married Oct. 31, 1787, to
I
587HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Ruth Davies, daughter of Joshua Davies, of Anne
Arundel County, Md. This lady was a Quakeress,
a perfect type of the gentle but strong character we
are accustomed to assqciate with the sect to which
she belonged. In 1796 they moved west of the mountains and located in Connellsville, Fayette Co., Pa.,
where they resided until his death, which occurred
April 4,1840, at the advanced age of eighty-one. He
was a man prominent in his day in affairs of church
and State. He was commissioned in 1800 justice of
the peace for Bullskin township by Governor Thomas
McKean, to serve "so long as you behave yourself
well," and served until the infirmities of age compelled him to relinquish the office. He was a prominent miember of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
His house was the home for itinerant ministers, whom
his Quaker wife cordially and kindly entertained.
George Mathiot was the father of eleven children, viz.:
Jacob D., Eliza, Catharine, Mary, Joshua D., Cassandra, John, Susan, Ann M., George F., and Henry B. Of
these but two are now living, namely, Ann M. Dorsey,
widow of George W. Dorsey, who now resides with
hler daughter, Mrs. Stephenson, of Parkersburg, VW.
Va., and Henry B., the youngest of the family. Some
of them were prominent in business life and public
affairs, and all lived to raise families.
Dr. Mathiot's oldest brother, Col. Jacob D. Mathiot,
was well known among the business men of Western
Pennsylvania, being extensively engaged in the manufacture of iron at Ross Iron-Works, Westmoreland
County. He represented this county in the State
Legislature in the session of 1833-34.
Another brother, Joshua D. Mathiot, located while
a boy in Newark, Ohio. He became a lawyer, and
represented his district, then the Thirteenth, in the
United States Congress in 1841-42, refusing a reelection. A daughter of this gentlemnan married the
distinguished Dr. Cuyler, of Brooklyn, N. Y. The
doctor's eldest sister, Eliza Mathliiot, married Col.
Davidson, an officer of the war of 1812. Col. Davidson was in Hull's command at the time of the surrender of Detroit, and marched out the forces immediately under his command and escaped.
Dr. Mathiot had only the advantages of a commonschllool education, and began life on his own account
when, as a boy, he left home with his wardrobe in a
cotton handkerchief and fifty cents in his pocket,
walking forty miles in a deep snow to accept a position as clerk in the office of his brother at Ross IronWorks. The courage and self-reliaince here displayed
in the youth foreshadowed the indomitable energy
that has enabled the man to achieve success against
every obstacle. In 1837 he went to Newark, Ohio,
and entered the office of Dr. Anderton Brown as a
medical student. He returned to his native county
in 1840, and began the practice of his profession in
Smithlfield as an under-graduate, whlich was the common practice of the timne in Pennsylvania. He graduated at Jefferson Medical College, Phliladelphia, in
the class of 1852. Nature as well as education mnade
him a physician, and his success was assured from
the beginning. For more than forty years he has
ranked at the head of his profession in his community. With cool judgment and quick perception he
unites large sympathy and an exceeding cheerful disposition. In the sick-room he at once commands the
respect and secures the confidence of his patients.
Perhaps he has obtained reputation and practice as
much from his cheerful, sympathetic manner with
patients as his superior skill in administering remedies. His physical endurance has been wonderful.
For twenty-five years his professional field embraced
ani extent of territory that made his average day's
riding about thirty miles, and his visiting-list immnense. This was done in the saddle, and the older
inhabitants well remember his celebrated horses
"Bill" and "Charley," which were never seen with
their rider, going up-hill or down, in any gait but a
full gallop. He is one of the very few old-fashioned
doctors who answer all calls, night or day, regardless
of weather or roads, attending rich and poor alike.
He married Rebecca Ruth Brownfield, daughter of
Col. Thomas Brownfield, of Georges township, Fayette
Co., March 19, 1844. His domestic life has been most
fortunate and happy. His wife has been a helpmeet
in the. grandest sense. Her husband's comfort and
her children's hiappiness hlave been her greatest care,
and to her wifelv devotion he is largely indebted for
the comforts of his home, the hospitable doors of
which are ever open. It is proverbial that no house
in the community entertains so nmany persons, friends
and strangers, as Dr. Mathiot's. In politics the doctor has been a decided and positive Whig and Republican, an earnest advocate of the principles and mneasures of his party. He has twice been the candidate
of his party for the State Legislature, but as the
opposition had an overwhelming majority in the district, he was cnI both occasions defeated. He is an
earnest and persuasive public speaker, and for a quarter of a century his voice has been hleard in advocacy
of every moral, temperance, and religious movement
that has agitated the community in which he lives.
Since 1851 he has been an active and consistent
member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and has
held most of its official positions. He was ordained
a deacon by Bishop Morris in 1859, and was ordained
an elder by Bishop Simpson in 1872, and consequently
occupies the responsible position of a minister in his
church. His services are much sought, especially by
the poor, to officiate at funerals, as he regards it one
of the crowning glories of the Christian dispensation
that the gospel shall be preached to the poor.
He is possessed of a comfortable home, most desirably located, and sufficient means to render his old
age secure from want. His family has consisted of
ten children, five of whom are now living: Caroline,
Charles H., Ida F., Edward B., and Perie A. Several
of these evince excellent mechanical and artistic tal5886lytI6HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Cols. Mackey and Wilson having died, Daniel
Brodhead became colonel, Richard Butler lieutenantcolonel, and Stephen Bayard major.  When Morgan's
rifle command was organized, Lieut.-Col. Butler was
made lieutenant-colonel of it, and Maj. James Ross,
of the First Pennsylvania, becawie lieutenant-colonel.
According to a return signed by the latter, dated
"Mount Pleasant, June 9, 1777," the number of men
enlisted between the 9tlh of August and the 16th of
December, 1776, was six hundred and thirty; enlisted
since the 16th of December, thirty-four; making a
total of six hundred  and eighty-four.  The strength
of the respective companies was:
Ser-   Rank
geants.  File
Capt. David Kilgore's Company..  3         55
Capt. Samuel Miller's           "..  4          82
Capt. Van Swearingen's   "..  3       71
Capt. James Pigott's        "..  4       55
Capt. Wendel Ourry's        "..  4       54
Capt. Andrew  Mann's        "..  4       58
Capt. James Montgomery's Company.  2                     57
Capt. Michael Huffnagle's             ".  4         70
Capt. Lieut. John Finley's            ".  2         77
Capt. Lieut. Basil Prather's          ".  3         69
From the total, thirty-six were deducted as prisoners of war, fourteen missing, fifty-one dead, fifteen
discharged, one  hundred  and  twenty-six  deserted.
Lieut. Matthew Jack, absent from April 13th,
wvounded.   Ensign  Gabriel Peterson, absent from
April 17th, wounded. Capt. Moses Carson, deserted
April 21st. First Lieut. Richard Carson, deserted.
Aquila White, ensign, deserted February 23d. Joseph
McDolo, first lieutenant, deserted. Thomas Forthay,
ensign, deserted. Alexander Simrall, second lieutenant, cashiered.  David McKee, ensign, dismissed
the service. Ephraim Douglass, quartermaster, taken
by the enemy March 13th.
Capt. Van Swearingen, First Lieut. Basil Prather,
and  Second  Lieut. John  Hardin,1  with their com1 The following testimionial to the bravery and efficiency of Lieut.  X
(afterwards Col.) John Hardin, of Fayette County, duringg his term of
service in the Revolution, is from a letter written by Gen. James Wilkinson to President Dickinson, on the occasion of his tendering, his
resignation as brigadier arid a(ljutanit-general of Pennsylvania, in 1784,
viz.:'On the present return of the Election for Fayette County, Major
John Hardin stands secornd for the Sheriff's Office; permit me briefly to
state to your Excellenicy this man's merit, without detractinig froni that  J
of' his competitor. Mr. Hardi n serVed in the alert of the armiiy, iunder
tire Generals (then Colonels) Morgan and Butler, in the Northernt Cam-  i
paign, 1777. His Ranik wvas that of a Lieutenant, and I can, as the Adjutant-General of the Army under General Gates, assert that lhe was
exposed to more danger, encouintered greater Fatigue, and performed   r
more real service than any other Officer of his Station; with Parties   C
never exceeding 20 men, he in the Course of the Cainpaign made up-  I
wards of 60 Prisoners, rind at a Personal Rencounter in the rear of the
Eneiies' positioni he killed a Mohawk express and brought in tihe dis-  I
Witecies which he was conveyiig froni Gen'l Burgoyne to the Command-  I
ilug Officer at Ticonderoga, with the loss only' (indeed) of a Lock of Hair,  I
wvhich the Indian's Fire carried away. It is sufficient for me, Sit-, to
testify his merits; the Juistice wlhich clharacterizes your administration
will do the rest."
mands, were detailed on duty with Col. Morgan, and
greatly distinguished themselves in the series -of actions that resulted in the surrender of Gen. Burgoyne at
Saratoga. These commnands consisted of picked riflemen out of all of the companies of the Eighth Pennsylvania.
A return dated Nov. 1, 1777, shows the strength of
the regiment present: colonel, major, two captains,
six lieutenants, adjutant, paymaster and surgeon, sergeant-major, quavtermaster-sergeant and drum-major,
twenty-nine sergeants, nine drums and fifes, one hundred and twelve rank and file fit for duty, twentyeight sick present, seventy-seven sick absent, one
hundred and thirty-nine on command; total, three
hundred and fifty-one. Prisoners of war, one sergeant
and fifty-eight privates.  Capt. Van Swearingen,
Lieut. Basil Prather, and Lieut. John Hardin on
command with Col. Morgan. Vacant offices: lieutenant-colonel, four captains, three lieutenants, eight
ensigns, chaplain, and surgeon's mate. Lieut.-Col,
Ross resiglned after the battles of Brandywine and
Germantown.
On the 5th of March, 1777, the regiment was ordered to Pittsburgh for the defense of the western
frontiers, and by direction of Gen. McIntosh, Col.
Brodhead made, aboutithe 12th of July, a detour up the
West Branch to check the savages who were ravaging
Wyoming and the West Branch Valley. He was at
Muncy on the 24th of July, and had ordered Capt.
Finley's company into Penn's Valley, where two of the
latter's soldiers, Thomas Van Doren and Jacob Shedacre, who had participated in the campaign against
Burgoyne, were killed on the 24th, in sight of Potter's
fort, by the Indians. (Pennsylvania Archives, 0. S.,
vol. vi. page 666.) Soon after, Col. Hartley with his
regiment relieved Col. Brodhead, and he proceeded
with the Eighth to Pittsburgh.
A montlhly return of the troops commanded by Col.
Brodhead in the Western Department, dated July
30, 1780, gives the strength of the Eighth Pennsylvania: colonel, lieutenant-colotiel, major, two captains,
three lieutenants, four ensigns, adjutant, paymaster,
quartermaster, surgeon, surgeon's mate, sergeantmajor, quartermaster-sergeant, one drutn and fife
iajor, ten sergeaints, ten drums and fifes, one hundred
and twenty rank and file fit for duty, four sick, two
furloughed, eighlt on command, three deserted, six
joined the Invalid Company.
In a letter from Gen. William Irvine to Gen. Washington, soon after lie took command at Fort Pitt,
lated Dec. 2, 1781, he says, "I have re-formed the
remains of the- late Eighth Pennsylvania. into twvo
-ompanies, and call them a detachment from the
Pennsylvania Line, to be commanded by Lieut.-Col.
Bayard." [The first company, Capt. Clark, Lieuts.
Peterson and Reed; second company, Capt. Brady,
Lieuts. Ward and Morrison.]
Capt. Matthew Jack, in a statement on file, says,'In the year 1778 the Eighth was sent to Pittsburgh"IGEORGES TOWNSHIP.
ent, in which the doctor takes a father's pride. The
daughters are young ladies of careful mental discipline; Charles is engaged in the drug business in his
native town; Edward is just graduated (March 30,
1882) from Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia,
with every promise of success in his profession. Dr.
Mathiot, like many of our self-made men, has been an
assiduous reader and thoughtful student of the various subjects touching public interest and general culture, thus largely supplying the lack of a collegiate
education. But few vocations in life furnish so many
opportunities for usefulness and wide-spread personlial
influence as that open to an intelligent, Christian
physician, imbued with public spirit and possessing
a nimind richly stored with the fruits of years of careful research. With unremitting energy and conscientious zeal the doctor has endeavored to discharge
the manifold duties thus open to him, and is still, at
the age of sixty-seven, anl active man, earnestly engaged in the various occupations of his busy life.
REUBEN HAGUE.
Reuben Hague, of Smithfield, is of English stock,
and was born April 16, 1809. Of his ancestors we
have no special account save that they were Quakers;
but his maternal grandfather was a farmer of some
note, of whose history the legend has been preserved
that he plowed in the forenoon the field of Brandywine whereon the famous battle took place in the
afternoon. Mr. Hague has resided in Fayette County
sixty-five years. He was educated in the common
schools, and is a bricklayer by trade, and has worked
in all parts of Western Pennsylvania. When he
started out in life for himself at eighteen years of
age he had only a "quarter" and a "fippenny-bit"
in his pocket, in all thirty-one cents. He helped lay
up the first brick dwelling in Allegheny City. He
was once a cavalry officer in the Virginia militia, and
has served as a school director of his township for
nearly twenty years. For over fifty years he has
been a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian
Church, and has for a long time been an elder
therein. He is a rigid temperance man, and has
been a constant worker in the cause of temperance
since he became twenty years of age. He never spent
but three cents for whisky for his own use. He cannot be turned from his course by the taunts and jeers
of wine-bibbers. Mr. Hague is the possessor of one
of the best fruit-orchards in Fayette County. His
property consists mnainly of real estate. Whatever
criticisms the liquor-loving portion of the community
may indulge in over his extreme but consistent observance of abstinence from intoxicating beverages,
his neighbors say no harmful words of him.
Feb. 14, 1836, Mr. Hague mnarried Mary Swan, who
died July 1st of the samne year. Feb. 14, 1839, he
married again, being united to Mary Lemnley. Of
38
this marriage there are six living children,-Samuel;
Rebecca Ellen, who married William Booth; Emnily;
Frances; Jeffries; and Snyder. The second Mrs.
Hague haviing died, Mr. Hague married a third time,
Nov. 27, 1862, his wife's maiden naume having beenl
Jane Abraham. A son, James A., is the issue of this
marriage.
WILLIAM H. TRADER.
William H. Trader, of Georges township, is a man
of mark, distinctively of that honorable class called
"self-made," having fought the battle of life to financial success by his own energy and skill. He was
born in Maryland, near the line of Virginia, Jan. 15,
1818. When he was two years of age his father left
Virginia and settled in Georges township. Mr. Trader
never enjoyed opportunities of schooling. What he
learned he pickedup as he could. His summers were
employed cutltivating the home farrm, his winters in
threshing with a flail, until he became eighteen years
of age, when he left his father, or "turned out," without money or education, to make his own way in life,
first working for a farmer of his neighborhood.
In 1841 he mnarried Charlotte Franks, of Nicholson
township. By her he has ten children, all living,three sons and seven daughters,-all of whom but one
are married. Mr. Trader has held the office of school
director and other important township offices. Both
himself and his wife are members of the Baptist
Church. He is a modest, unassuming man, and enjoys an excellent business and general reputation.
He has lived upon his present farm thirty-five years,
and has steadily worked on to fortune, accomplishing
the purpose of his early life, and is now regarded
wealthy, his estate being estimated by his neighbors
at from sixty thousand dollars to seventy-five thousand dollars. About two hundred and fifty-seven
acres of Mr. Trader's homestead farm are underlaid
with the five-feet vein and the nine-feet vein, also, of
Connellsville coking coal.
ROBERT BRITT.
Robert Britt, of Smithfield, is of Irish descent, and
was born in Chester County, Pa., June 4, 1805,
and removed from there with his father to Springhill
Furnace, Fayette  Co., in August, 1811.  HlIe received his education in the common schools. Mr.
Britt is by occupation a carpenter. He spent two
years working at his trade in Kentucky, and, following his vocation, passed eight years of his life in
Virginia; the rest has been spent in Fayette County.
He has resided in his present home for thirty-two
years.
Dec. 11,1831, he married Asenath Greenlee, a lady
of Irish stock, whose mnother was three years old
only- when brought to America. Of this union are
thlree children,-Mary Em1ily, married to BenjaminHISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Franklin Goodwin; Frances Elizabeth, wife of Albert S. Miller; and Frank P., who was educated in
the common schools at Washington and Jefferson
College, and the Allegheny Theological Semninary,
and is now pastor of the Pisgah Presbyterian Church
at Corsica, Jefferson Co., Pa. Mr. Britt and his wife
have been members of the Presbyterian Church for
more than a quarter of a century. In December,
1881, they celebrated their golden wedding. Mr.
Britt has held the office of school director, and other
responsible township offices. He has always been a
Jefferson Democrat, and never swerved from his party.
JUSTUS DUNN.
Justus Dunn, of Georges township, is a prosperous
farmer and stock-dealer, and was born in Erie City,
June 8, 1817. He is the son of Simeon Dunn, of
Irish stock, and who served in the war of 1812 as a
"dispatcher," carrying orders or dispatches from Erie
to Buffalo, N. Y. He bore the first news of Perry's
victory to Buffalo.
Mr. Dunn began business life at the bottom of the
financial scale, chopping wood at twenty cents per
cord when he first came to Fayette County; but he is
now in good circumstances, and owns a valuable tract
of land, which is well improved. He settled in his
present location in 1844. He has been treasurer of
Fayette County for two years and eight months. On
May 26, 1852, he married Mary A. Zearly, of Nicholson township, by whom he has hlad eleven children,
four of whom are married and have left the homestead,
seven remaining at home. The Dunn family is hardy
and long-livecf. Mr. Dunn has an uncle who is ninetyeight years of age, and was married for the second
time when he was ninety-four. An aunt of his died
a few years ago aged over one hundred years.
Mr. Dunn is a good business man, and commands
the respect of his neighbors and all others with whom
he deals.
COL. JAMES ROBINSON.
Col. James Robinson, of Oliphant Furnace, represents the Scotch-Irishl Presbyterian stock. His grandfather settled in 1780, in what was then Georges township, now Nicholson, upon a farm which remained in
the Robinson name for ninety-nine years. James Robinsonl was born Nov. 27, 1806. He was educated in the
common schools, and spent over twenty years of his
early manhood in the iron business with F. Hughes
Oliphant, at Springhill and Fairchance Furnaces. The
greater part of this time he was superintendent, as
which he was not only successful, but by his unassunming yet potent influence obtained and held the respect
and good will of all in his employ. In all business
transactions he is a mani of the most strict integrity.
He obtained his military title by election to the position of colonel in the State militia, receiving his coinmnission from Governor Wolf during the latter's first
term in the gubernatorial chair. Jan. 27, 1857, he
married Mrs. Catharine Saams, of Allegheny County,
who died Sept. 9, 1863, leaving three children,-Margaret Ann, John Taylor, and Emma Caroline. The
colonel was again married Feb. 13, 1866, to Miss Lavinia P. Caldwell, of St. Joseph, Mo., and has no
living children by his second wife. He was elected
director of the first railroad built froIn Connellsville
to Uniontown, now owned by the Baltimore and Ohio
Railroad Company (and in which he is yet a stockholder).  He was also elected a director of the
National Bank of Fayette County at its organization,
and held position as such for a number of years, and
was elected director of the People's Bank of Fayette
County, which position he still holds. Coal land.,
railroad and bank stock, and United States bonds
constitute his chief possessions.
Col. Robinson is an energetic man, of few words,
pleasant and unobtrusive in manner, of a kind, benevolent spirit, especially to the worthy poor, greatly
attached to home and fireside, and walks blameless
before, and is popular with, his neighbors. Withal,
a true gentleman of the old school.
GERMAN TOWNSHIP.'
THE township-of German occupies a position south  it. The township is well watered, but has no large
of a line drawn east and west through the centre of streams except the Monongahela, its western boundthe county. It is bounded north by Luzerne and  ary. Its principal creeks are Brown's, Middle, and
Menallen, east by South Union and Georges, south  Deep, all flowing west and falling into the river. The
byNicholson, westbythe MonongahelaRiver. There  controlling topographical feature is a series of hills
are no mountains nor any considerable elevations in  or ridges crossing it from east to west. When viewed
from a higher elevation, they resemble a plain covered
BBy James Rofs.           with a multitude of cones, some large, some small.
I
590Z/1
t,'lxi
Ix
X 
IGERMAN TOWNSHIP.
In the northwest of the township a considerable
number of those mounds exist which have so long
engaged the attention of travelers and philosophers,
and of which Mr. Jefferson speaks in his "Notes on
Virginiia." Their shape has been so often described
that a repetition seems altogether superfluous. Many
bits of pottery, stone implements of various kinds,
pipes, and remains can be found after plowing or
hard rains. Along the Monongahela are rocks, upon
which are cut strange hieroglyphics. Others are indented with footprints of birds and animals, said to
have been done when these rocks were in the plastic
state. Just south of Middle Run several rocks may
be seenil when the water is low, upon which a great
many figures could plainly be seen until recently.
Of the indentations the rocks below Geneva are full
and perfectly formed. These are out of water during
most of the year, and are visited by many lovers of
the mysterious.
German is one of the nine original townships into
which the county was divided by the first court held
at Uniontown, Dec. 27, 1783.1 The following boundaries were ordered by the court: "A township beginning at Oliver Crawford's ferry; thlence up the Monongahela River to the mouth of Jacob's Creek; thence up
said creek to the head branch thereof, where Michael
Franks, Sr., lives; thence to John Wait's; from thence
to Frederick Waltzer's; thence to pass between James
Downer's and George Watson's, to include the three
first-mentioned persons, to the head of the west branch
of Jennings' Run; thence by a straight line to the
head of the Burnt Cabin branch of Dunlap's Creek;
thence downi the same and the creek to the road that
leads from Uniontown to Oliver Crawford's ferry;
thence by said road to the beginning."
The townshlip'was settled largely by Germans,
hence the name given to it on its erection by the
court. Although at first a part of Springhill, its
early settlers were altogether different in customs and
language from those of the former. According to
Withers, "Several families had settled on the Monongahela, in what was once a part of German, as early
as 1767. Among these were John W. Provance,
Joseph G. Provance, and John Hardin,"-a name
famous in Kentucky. Frederick Waltzer is said
to have been a very early comer also, but undoubtedly not so early as 1754, at which time he was
scarcely three years old. He died Dec. 21,1834, aged
eighty-two years and three months. The oldest land
titles are those of Provance's, Gilmore's, and Rabb's,
viz.: John W. Provance, warrant dated Oct. 11, 1771;
surveyed March 10, 1772; number of acres, 347. Joseph Yard Provance, warrant dated Oct. 11, 1771;
number of acres, 366; surveyed March 11,1772. Andrew Rabb, warrant dated; number of acres,
203; surveyed July 11, 1771. Hugh Gilmnore, warrant
dated; surveyed 1770. Thomas Moore, warrant dated Sept. 13, 1769. John Mason, date of warrant'and survey and number of acres unknown. The
names of property-holders in the territory then embraced in the township are indicated in the following "Return of the Names of the Taxable Inhabitants of German Township, together with their Taxable
property. Witness my hand this 10th day of August,
1785." Signed by the assessor, Jacob Rich, viz.:
Adir, John.
Artman, John.
Aryesmith, Samuel.
Alison, John.
Alexander, the Scotchman.
Andrews, John:
Alton, Mary.
Barkman, John.
Brackbill, Jacob.
Barkman, Frederick.
Brown, James.
Burns, Andrew.
Beard, John.
Baxter, William.
Balsinger, George.
Boyers, Philip.
Baker, Malachi.
Branbury, Conrad.
Berry, Thomas.
Bowman, Philip.
Batker, Philip.
Cattt, John.
Chrisly, Michael.
Cooper, John.
Collens, Henry.
Collens, John.
Coon, Philip.
Carnes, John.
Catt, George.
Carnes, Lewis.
Caner, Sebastin.
Catt, Michael.
Core, Henry.
Dawson, John.
Dawson, Charles.
Davison, Thomas.
Dulap, Robert.
Delenger, George.
Debolt, George.
Eberly, Nicholas.
Easter, Jacob.
Easter, Jacob, Jr.
Eberly, Leonard.
Fleck, William.
Ferst, Jacob.
Frame, Thomas.
Frame, William.
Flough, Casper.
Franks, Jacob.
Franks, Michael.
Fast, Nicholas.
Gilmore, James.
Gilmore, Matthew.
Gilleland, John.
Gilbert, Margaret.
Godhert, Williatm.
Gilmore, Hugh.
Gordon, Robert.
Gilmore, William.
Galagher, John.
Hollingsworth, Jesse.
Hlester, Jacob, Jr.
Huston, Andrew.
Hoglebery, George.
fester, Jacob, Sr.
IIillicost, George.
Hainey, William.
Ilillicost, Conrad.
Howard, Gideon.
Hlibbs, William.
Huffman, John.
Hoover, Jacob.
Hlester, Martin.
lHerber, Thomas.
Herman, John.
hlilyard, Thomas.
Ilelinick, Nicholas.
IHarrison, Robert.
Harrison, John.
Heald, William.
HIolly, Samuel.
Kindle, Reuben.
Kindle, Jared.
Kindle, Benjamin.
Leckey, John.
Lee, Randle.
Little, Adonijah.
Lee, Alexander.
Lawrence, Jacob.
Lesly, Thomas.
Lesly, John.
Myers, Elizabeth.
McClean, Robert.
Moss, Joseph.
Meets, Henry.
Mills, James.
McMulin, John.
Myers, Adam.
McWilliams, Samuel.
McWilliams, John.
Messmore, John.
Meets, Jacob.
May, George.
Myers, Frederick.
Myers, Henry.
1 By partition the townshlip is much less in area than when organized.
In 1821 a large portion was annexed to Luzerne, and again in 1845 to
form Nicholson. In both instances German lost some of the mnost productive territory in the county, in addition to a loss in wealth and population.
I
591HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Myers, Andrew.
Mitter, David.
Meets, Leonard.
Myers, William.
Mason, Philip, Jr.
Myers, John.
Mason, Martan.
Mason, George.
Mason, John.
Myers, Hannah.
Nicholas, Hostaler.
Nixon, Jonathan.
Owl, David.
Overturf, John.
Overturf, Martin.
Overturf, Valentine.
Pitzar, Chrisly.
Provance, Sarah.
Peters, Catharine.
Pitman, Jonathan.
Provance, Joseph.
Parker, Samnuel
Riffle, George.
Ross, Joseph.
Remley, Henry.
Rich, Jacob.
Robb, Andrew.
Remly, Hieronomus.
Robb, Samuel.
Robb, William.
Rloss, Robert.
Rudisil, Michael.
Riffle, Matthias.
Riffle, Jacob.
Shiplar, John.
Freemen
Joseph Sproat.
John Work.
Benjamin Kindle.
George Hoffman.
Godfrey Smith.
Georg,e Itoover.
John McWilliams.
John Gallagher.
Frederick Walser.
Ilenry Franks.
George Delenger.
John Corns.
Smith, Godfrey.
Sellers, Christian.
Sprote, Joseph.
Stockwell, James.
Stokely, Thomas.
Shelby, Joshua.
Shumaker, John.
Shumaker, Adam.
Snare, Michael.
Thompson, James.
Teefilbough, Conrad.
Shaley, Adam.
Snodgrass, Charles.
Vidman, Christian.
Vernor, John.
Vert, Jacob.
Vernor, Martin.
Vernor, Leonard.
Yandeman, Henry.
Wilson, David.
Walser, Frederick.
Work, John.
Wilson, Alexander.
Wilson, James.
Work, Henry.
Whealing, George.
Watson, John.
Walser, Peter.
Walter, Ephraim.
Webb, John.
Wolf, George.
Wolf, Adam.
Weaver, IHenry.
Write, Benjamnin.
Isaac, Newman.
George Wolf.
Adam Wolf.
Joseph Gween.
Matthew Gilmore.
Black Will.
Samuel Hutcheson.
Jeremiah Brooks.
Austin Moore.
Alexander, the Scotchman.
Nicholas Hostaler.
John Lasly.
Tavern-keepers are always persons of importance
in new settlements.  The first individual recommended to court as a suitable person to cater to the
wants of the traveling public was John Boltenhouse,
at June sessions, 1787. Licenses were subsequently
issued as follows: Philip Lawrence, Elijah Moore,
Jeremiah Davidson, September sessions, 1796; Zachariah Wheat, June sessions, 1797; William McClelland, September sessions, 1798; David Schroyer,
September sessions, 1804; Henry Balsinger, September sessions, 1812; Aaron Maple, June sessions,
1805; Michael Kline, September sessions, 1805;
Frederick Struble, September sessions, 1806; James
Sangston, August sessions, 1807; John  Grove,
Aug,ust sessions, 1810; Elias Parshall, November
sessions, 1810; George Balsinger, April sessions,
1812; David Auld, January sessions, 1813.
William McClelland kept in what is now McClellandtown for many years, as did also Frederick Struble.
David Schroyer, Zachariah Wheat, Aaron Maple,
James Sangston, John Grove in Germantown. Sangston entertained travelers and sold whisky for the
long period of forty years. Messrs. Balsingers owned
the stand near where now stands Balsinger's schoolhouse, between McClellandtown and Uniontown.
David Auld's is now the residence of Mrs. Catharine
Hoover, on the Uniontown and Little Whitely Creek
road, south of Rabb's mill.
The only highways known to the primal inhabitants were the cardinal points of the compass. The
geometrical roads were unobstructed by anything of
which they knew, and the traveler pursued the course
he desired to without asking.  The earliest road
ordered by the court to pass through Germnan was the
one from Uniontown to Rabb's mill, on Brown's Run;
from thence to the Monongahela River, at the mouth
of said run. The following is the order, dated 4th
Tuesday of December, 1783:
"On the petition of divers inhabitants of the County of
Fayette, representing to the Court the great inconveniences
they labor under for want of a road from Uniontown to Andrew
Rabb's Mill upon Brown's Run, and from thence to the Monongahela River at the mouth of said Run, and praying that
the Court would appoint six suitable men to view the ground
over which the said road is desired to pass, therefore considered
and ordered that Robert Harrison, John Huffman, Andrew
Rabb, Esq., Jacob Rich, John Messmore, and Daniel Culp do
view the ground over which the said road is desired to pass, and
if they, or any four of them, see it necessary, that they lay out
a road the nearest and best way the ground will admit of, and
make report of their proceedings therein by course and distance to the next Couit."
At the same court an order was issued for laying
out a road to connect with Hyde's Ferry road. Mr.
Veech, in writing of this road, says, "It came from
the Ten-Mile settlement through Greene County,
crossing the creek at Hyde's Ferry or the mouth of
Big Whitely Creek, passing by the south side of
Masontown through Haydentown, or by David John's
mill, up Laurel Hill, through Sandy Creek settlement, to Daniel McPeak's and into Virginia." The
road from John Gilliland's to Rabb's mill was ordered
to be laid out at September sessions, 1788, and Abraham Stewart, John Allison, John Work, Hugh Gilmore, Andrew Rabb, and John Gallaher appointed
viewers. This road is the one known as the McClellandtown road at this day. Mr. Abraham Stewart,
appointed one of the viewers, was very greatly interested in this road, as it crossed his farm from east to
west, he residing at that time and owning the farm
now in possession of James Parshall, just out of
McClellandtown to the east. The road from Germantown to the mouth of Catt's Run was also ordered, and Andrew Long, James Thompson, William
Rabb, Jatnes WVilson, Anrdrew Work, and John Leckey
I
I
592GERNMAN TOWNSHIP.
appointed viewers. There are now ninety miles of
road in the township, according to the survey of the
supervisors.  "The Luzerne Road Law" was extended by the State Legislature so as to apply to German in 1871-72.
There are no macadanmized roads nor railroads in
the township. The "big roads" are used by all classes
for reaching markets or traveling.  The Baltimore
and Ohio Railroad had a route surveyed by Jonathan
Knight nearly fifty years ago, down the main branch
of Brown's Run to a point on the Monongahela River
opposite the mouth of Little Whitely Creek, in
Greene County. Short-sighted people and politicians
refused the right of way, and forced the road through
the wilds of West Virginia. Upon a vote taken for
and against granting the right of way through Fayette County there were but two votes in favor of it
cast in German (cast by Jacob Newcomer and John
Haney). Two other routes have been surveyed in
the past few years, viz., the Uniontown and Catt's
Run, and Pittsburgh, Virginia and Charleston Railroads.
The Monongahela has been the great natural outlet for the Western country from a very early date,
and since the era of steamnboats and slack-water navigation has become still more imnportant. Three ferries
connect Germnan with Greene County,-Brown's, at
Middle Run; McCann's, at or near Little Whitely
Creek; and McLain's, west of Masontown.
The earliest saw- and grist-mills were built by
Messrs. Gilmore, Work, and Rabb. They were taxed
on this class of property as early as 1785, but had
been eilgaged in distilling several years previous.
Their whisky, "Mononigahela, Pure Rye," had even
then gained for itself lasting fame. The flour made
at their mills was of two kinds, wheat and rye. The
practice of eating rye bread prevailed until within the
last few years, and does even yet in some localities.
There was no home market for flour, and to reach the
New Orleans market (the only paying one) caused
Rabb to engage in keel-boat building in connection
with others. The boats were annually loaded with
whisky and flour and sent down the Ohio and Mississippi. The early mills were generally upon creeks,
but after a few years several were built upon the river,
and to distinguish them from those upon the creeks
were denominated "river mills." This class of mills
have been superseded by steam-mills, except far up
the Monongahela and on its Virginia tributaries.
The first to apply steam motive-power to mills was
the venerable John Debolt, who still lives to see the
wonderful progress of the age. The engine cost $900 in
Brownsville, and was bought of Cuthbertson  Roe,
in 1833. Flour, except for home consumption, is no
longer made by the country mills. For the purpose
of supplying the people of the township with flour
the following-named persons have mills: Jacob Johnson, on Middle Run, steam-mill, with saw attached;
Joseph Mack, on Brown's Run, steam-mill, saw attached; Joseph Galley, on Brown's Run, water-mill,
saw attached; Gilmore Brothers, on Brown's Run,
water-mill, saw-mill attached. The ruins of old mills
and still-houses are found in many localities. Of sawmills there are in the township those of John D. Rider,
Brown's Run, water-power; Isaac N. Hague, portable,
Catt's Run; Ephraim Sterling, saw- and planing-mnill
on Monongahela River, do considerable business. On
Catt's Run John Mason had a mill built at an early
day. He sold to Simon Yandes. The Yandeses built a
still-house, and in turn sold to David Johnson, better
known as "Davy Yawnse, or Yonts." He added an
oil- and carding-mill. Nothing remains but the
crushers of the oil-mill.
A Mr. Grool started a tannery in Germantown, at
or near the beginning of the present century. For
many years an excellent quality of leather was manufactured. The yard passing thlrough many hands
has finally become the property of Josiah S. Allebaugh. A Mr. John McKean, of McClellandtown,
also manufactured some forty years ago. The only
person engaged in the business now is Mr. Leonard
Sapper, and he only in a small way.
John Debolt started a pottery in Masontown in
1823. The ware made was of an inferior quality in
comparison with that made now, but answered every
purpose in its day. Salt was made by the "Silver
Oil Company" at their works east of Masontown in
1866-69, but bad management or other causes ruined
the enterprise.  The year 1881 has found German
where it started in manufacturing whisky first. Dunlevy, Rabb's distiller, succeeded in getting a yield of
two and three-eighths gallons per bushel, and refused
to impart his secret. This made Rabb a fortune. At
one time twenty-seven stills were runninig in German. The mash was from three to twenty-five bushels, or according to the capacity of the still or wealth
of distiller. Sylvanus T. Gray, the only manufacturer
in German, now produces daily more than all these
old distillers combined. His works are on Catt's Run.
In conversation with the proprietor, in presence of
United States officials, he said, "The yearly consumption of grain was thirty thousand bushels;" average
yield per bushel, three and one-half gallons. According to the above data, there are produced per year
105,000 gallons, amounting to $141,750.
A new enterprise is being developed in German.
Mr. Enoch F. Brown has erected the necessary works
for the manufacture of cement on his premises near
the mouth of Brown's Run. The first kiln burnt was
drawn July 16, 1879, and the enterprise promises
success.
Many years back in the history of Fayette County
a Mr. Baker manufactured guns, making all the different parts from the raw material. His shop and
premises are now in possession of Philip Kefover's
heirs in Nicholson township, formerly German.
Many of the early adventurers who crossed the Al593THE REVOLUTION.
to guard the frontier, and placed under the command
of Gen. McIntosh; that they went down to the
mouth of the Beaver, and there built Fort McIntosll,
and from that went, upon McIntosh's command, to
the head of the Muskingum, and there built Fort
Laurens. In the year 1779 went up the Allegheny,
on Gen. Brodhead's expedition, attacked the Indians
and defeated them, and burned their towns. On the
return of the regiment, its time having expired, it was
discharged at Pittsburgh."  For a full account of the
services of this regiment in the West, the reader is
referred to "Brodhead's Letter-Book," published in
the twelfth volume, first series, of Pennsylvania Archiives..
Van Swearingen was probably the most noted captain in the Eighth Pennsylvania. On the 19th of
September he and a lieutenant and twenty privates
were captured in a sudden dash that scattered Morgan's men. He fell into the hands of the Indians,
but was rescued by Gen. Fraser's bat man (one who
takes care of his officer's horse), who took him before
the general. The latter interrogated him concerning
thlle number of the American army, but got no answer,
except that it was commanded by Gens. Gates and
Arnold. He then threatened to hang him. "You
may, if you please," said Van Swearingen. Fraser
then rode off, leaving him in care of Sergt. Dunbar,
who consigned him to Lieut. Auburey, who ordered
him to be placed among the other prisoners, with
directions not to be ill treated. Swearingen, after
Burgoyne's army was removed to Virginia, made
especial exertions to have Dunbar and Auburey exchanged. Swearingen was the first sheriff of Washington County in 1781; resided in now Fayette
County, opposite Greenfield. His daughter became
the wife of the celebrated Capt. Samuel Brady (also
of the Eighth Pennsylvania), so conspicuous in the
annals of Western Pennsylvania.
ROSTER OF FIELD AND STAFF OFFICERS OF THE
EIGHTH PENNSYLVANIA.
Colonels.
Mackey, Eneas, of Westmoreland County, July 20,
1776; died in service, Feb. 14, 1777.
Brodhead, Daniel, from lieutenant-colonrel, Fourth
Pennsylvania, March 12, 1777; joined April,
1777; transferred to First Pennsylvania, Jan.
17, 1781.
Lieutenant- Colonels.
Wilson, George, July 20, 1776; died in service at
Quibbletown, February, 1777.
Butler, Richard, from major, March 12, 1777, ranking
from Aug. 28, 1776; transferred to lieutenantcolonel of Morgan's rifle command, June 9, 1777;
promoted colonel of Ninth Pennsylvania, ranking from June 7, 1777; by an alteration subsequent to March 12, 1777, Richard Butler was
6
placed in the First Pennsylvania, and James Ross
in Eighth Pennsylvania.
Ross, James, froIn lieutenant-colonel First Pennsylvania; resigned Sept. 22, 1777.
Bayard, Stephen, from major, ranking Sept. 23, 1777;
transferred to Sixth Pennsylvania, Jan. 17, 1781.
Majors.
Butler, Richard, July 20. 1776; promoted lieutenantcolonel March 12, 1777.
Bayard, Stephen, March 12, 1777, ranking from Oct.
4, 1776; promoted lieutenant-colonel, to rank
from Sept. 23, 1777.
Vernon, Frederick, from captain Fifth Pennsylvania,
ranking from June 7, 1777; transferred to Fourth
Pennsylvania, Jan. 17, 1781.
Captains.
Kilgore, David, died July 11, 1814, aged sixty-nine
years four months and twelve days; buried in
the Presbyterian graveyard of Mount Pleasant
(Middle Church), Westmoreland County.-Letter
of Nannie H. Kilgore, Greensburg, July 23, 1878.
Miller, Samuel, died in service, Jan. 10, 1778; left a
widow, Jane Cruikshank, who resided in Westmoreland County in 1784.
Van Swearingen,' Aug. 9, 1776. Van Swearingen had
been in command of an independent company, in
the pay of the State, from February to Aug. 11,
1776, in defense of the frontiers in Westmoreland
County.
Piggott, James; on return June 9, 1777, he is marked
sick in camp.
Ourry, Wendel.
Mann, Andrew; on return of June 9, 1777, he is
marked sick in quarters since May 2d.
Carson, Moses, left the service April 21, 1777.
Miers, Eliezer.
[The foregoing captains were recommended by the
committees of Westmoreland and Bedford Counties,
and directed to be commissioned by resolution of Congress of Sept. 14, 1776.]
Montgomery, James, died Aug. 26, 1777; his widow,
Martha, resided in Westmoreland County in 1824.
Huffnagle, Michael, died Dec. 31, 1819, in Allegheny
County, aged sixty-six.
Jack, Matthew, from first lieutenant; became supernumerary Jan. 31, 1779; resided in Westmoreland County in 1835, aged eighty-two.
Stokely, Nehemiah, Oct. 16, 1777; became supernumerary Jan. 31, 1779; died in Westmoreland
County in 1811.
Cooke, Thomas, from first lieutenant; became supernumerary Jan. 31, 1779; died in Guernsey County,
Ohio, Nov. 5, 1831.
1 The names of the captains appear, on the first return found, in the
order indicated above, but date of commissions cannot be ascertained.
Probably they were all dated Aug. 9, 1776, as Van Swearingen's.
I
I
i
7 "HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
leghenies in 1767,'68,'69, and'70 located permanently in what was afterwards erected into the township of German. Among the number were the
Provances, Gilmores, McLains, Fasts, Yeagers, and
WValters in the southern portion of the township, near
the Monongahela River, and north of Jacob's Creek;
in the central part, Waltzers, Messmores, Rabbs, and
Antils, on the waters of Brown's Run; in the extreme northwest were the McKibbins, Moores, Crawfords, Sprotes, and a few famnilies of less note. These
pioneer citizens of original German were nearly all
included in the portions annexed to Luzerne in 1820
and 1821, and still later by the act organizing Nicholson township in 1845. The few reminaining of the first
settlers were the Moores, Rabbs, and Gilmores, after
the partitions mentioned.  The tide of emigration
was almost entirely checked by the Indian troubles
between 1774 and 1780, and it was not until 1780 that
it again set in. In 1783 one hundred and seventyeight taxables were returned by the assessor. Of this
very great number a few have risen to a prominence
which entitles them to notice, viz.: the Wilsons, Hostetlers, Kendalls, Franks, Messmores, Riffles, Sprotes,
and Eberlies (now written Everly).
The Franks (or Frankes now) were of French origin. The Frank mnentioned (Jacob) was born in 1743.
He came to Baltimore, Md., when eighteen years of
age, with his father, Michael Frank, Sr. After serving
his apprenticeship he married a Miss Barbara Brandeberry, emigrated to Western Pennsylvania, and purchased a large tract of land near High House village,
which is called "Frankston."  He was prominent in
organizing the " Old Dutch Church" in 1785 and 1793.
In 1802 hle died, leaving a large fanmily. The descendants are scattered over the Western States, and a large
branch in West Virginia. The most prominent representative of the family in Fayette County is the
present honest and efficient treasurer, Michael Franks,
formerly of Nicholson township, but now of Uniontown. In Ohio they have a regular family convention
or reunion annually in August.
Of the early life of Nicholas Hostetler little is
known except that he was of German descent. He
and his descendants were and are hard-working men
and women, and embrace many of the best citizens
of German township. In addition to their love of
hard labor, their fondness for music is characteristic.
The celebrated Hostetler blind family are descendants
of Nicholas, and children of Daniel Hostetler and
Mary Gibbons, who were married nearly sixty years
ago. There was nothing unusual in their marriage,
except their being first cousins. Their future was as
yet unraveled, and timne brought them eight children,
-five girls and three boys. Of these, two boys and
a girl were born absolutely eyeless, and a boy and a
girl with but one eye each. Nature, to compensate
for her parsimoniousness in withholding sight, gave
great musical talents, and from tender infancy these
afflicted ones have been the wonder of the land. They
are first-class composers as well as excellent performers on the organ, violin, and other instruments. Their
names are John, born Jan. 25,1829; Catharine, Feb.
15, 1835; Bartholomew, April 21, 1845 (these three
were born eyeless); Samuel, born Nov. 12, 18-42, was
born with one eye, but he has since becomne totally
blind..
James Wilson was born in Lancaster County, Pa.,
1764, anid came to Fayette County when twelve years
of age. He was married twice, his first wife being a
Miss Mary Rabb, born 1777; the second Miss Elizabeth
Lowrie, or Lowry. He was a large landholder, living
upon his estate near McClellandtown, on the Morgantown and Brownsville road, until the day of his death.
The family he had by his two wives are many of them
living, some in their native township, German, some
in Indiana, and other western States. Jamnes Wilson
was one of the early justices of German, succeeding
his father-in-law, Andrew Rabb. He served from
1807 till near 1840, when he became paralyzed. He
was unable to articulate for nearly four years before
his death. Several of his first wife's children-Dr.
William Wilson, Andrew Wilson, and Sarah Yandesreside in Indiana. John Wilson, Esq., of German, is
a son by the second marriage. He has served as justice of the peace, and is one of the most upright and
useful citizens of the township. Mrs. Eleazer Robinson, of Uniontown, is also a daughter of James Wilson. Rev. Alexander Wilson and Dr. William L. S.
Wilson, of Washington County, are grandsons.
John Messmore was a Swiss by birth, but emigrated
to the British colonies at an early day. During the
war for independence he was a teamster in the Continental army under Washington. After the time of
his service had expired he came West, Inot with the
intentioil of remaining, but meeting many Germans
here he was induced to stay. He raised a large family
of children, many of whom became in later years useful and solid citizens. Squire George Messmore,
born iln 1791, was an honored citizen of German township. He served one term as justice while residing
where Joseph Mack now does on Brown's Run. He
then sold and moved to the State of Ohio, and located
in Wayne County, where he continued to reside until
his death, March 28, 1878. His son is now sheriff of
the county in which his father died. From the same
forefather is ex-Sheriff Isaac Messmore, of Uniontown. He was elected from Luzerne, but was born
and reared in German township. He removed to
Luzerne in 1854. Ex-Justice of the Peace John
Messmore, also of Uniontown, is his brother. While
a citizen of German he was twice elected justice of the
peace.
Joseph Sprote was an old Revolutionary soldier,
entering the service at the age of seventeen, as he said,
"without much reflection, but afterwards repented at
leisure." He resided southwest of New Salem until
the year of his decease. His daughter Ann married
Asbury Struble, Esq., of German; Margaret married
5914GERMAN TOWNSHIP.
a Mr. Thlompson; another married Mr. John Huston,
of Greene Counity. Joseph S. Struble and Mrs. Sarah
J. Hellen, of Uniontown, are grandchildren of Joseph
Sprote.
Jacob Eberly, or Everly, was an honest Dutchman,
very piously inclined. He was a consistent member
of the "Dutch Church" in German township, the patent for the glebe having been granted to him and
others.
Jacob Riffle was a quiet, peaceable man. His talents were not showy but solid. His house was the
polling-place where three townships met for many
years. His descendants have inherited his estate,
with much of his character. They are honest, hardworking, and economical, and several of them have
filled township offices with credit to themselves.
Daniel Yandes, Jr. was a son of Daniel Yandes,
who owned the property of the late Nicholas Johnson,
and called by John Mason "East Abington." Daniel
Yandes, Jr., married Sarah Wilson, a daughter of
James Wilson, Esq. He sold his farm to David
Johnson (known to Fayette County people as "Davy
Yawnse") and moved to Indiana, near Indianapolis,.
in 1823. He became very wealthy, and during the
Kansas-Nebraska excitement organized a company in
thlle interest of the Free State party. The Yandes are
now prominent citizens of Indiana.
Jeremiah Kendall, ajustice of the peace for German
townshlip, was a son of William Kendall, who emigrated to Fauquier County, Va., from England.
Young Kendall was Washington's secretary during
the Revolutionary war, and received a wound at the
Brandywine battle. After the war he married a Miss
Rhoda McIntyre and came to Fayette County. He
moved into a house belonging to Hugh Gilmore, the
elder, north of Middle Run. After a short time had
elapsed he purchased a large tract of land on Brown's
Run, southeast of where McClellandtown now stands.
He engaged in agriculture and distilling, in which
he succeeded financially. He left a large family of
children to inherit his estate. Jeremiah, Jr., took
the home-place, and at his death left it to his sons
and daughters. Isaac P. and John C. Kendall own
the homestead, and are the only descendants of the
male line in German. Mrs. Jane Deffenbaugh, Mrs.
Rhoda Reppert, and Mrs. Jacob Dawson are granddaughters. The oldest son of Jeremiah Kendall, Sr.,
emigrated to Ohio about 1820. The "White SewvingMachine Company," of Cleveland, Ohio, is largely
owned by members of this branch of his descendants.
Hon. David Gilmore was born near the Monongahela River, in German township, in 1786. He was a
representative in the State Legislature and a member
of the convention to amend the State Constitution in
1838. In the war of 1812 he was a member of Capt.
James A. Abrams' company, and saw hard service in
the Northwest under Harrison. His brother Hugh
was a lieutenant in the same company. He died
April 30, 1847.
The Hon. Andrew Stewart was born near McClellandtown, in German township, in 1791. His life and
public services are of national fame. He died near
Uniontown, July 16,1872.
Hon. Henry Clay Dean was born in McClellandtown, Oct. 27, 1822; attended Madison College;
clerked for George Hogg,- Esq., of Brownsville;
taught school, and finally entered the lawv-office of
Hon. Andrew Stewart; was chaplain of the United
States Senate in 1855-56, and candidate for elector on
the Stephen A. Douglas ticket in 1860. He refuses
all office, and says he "considers office-seekers the
most detestable spaniels that lick the dust from the
feet of power."  He lives in Missouri, on a farm of
eighteen hundred acres on Chariton River. When
not engaged in the courts he employs his time in
studying philosophy, history, and literature; admitted
to the bar of Fayette County Sept. 11, 1863.
Capt. Cyrus L. Conner, born in 1825, was a soldier
of the Mexican war. He was captain of a company
in the Pennsylvania Reserves in the civil war of
1861-65; promoted to major and served in Georgia.
Died in Masontown, April 5, 1877.
William Parshail, Esq., was born near McClellandtown, Sept. 21, 1822; studied law with Hon. Joshua
B. Howell; was educated at Rector, Va., and Washington, Pa.
Seth Ely and George W. Rutter, noted musicians
and composers, were both of German township.
Ashbel Fairchild Hill was borni near Masontown,
Oct. 23, 1842. He was a member of Capt. Conner's
comnpany, and lost a limb in the war. During his
soldiering he wrote "Our Boys." This was followed
by "Whlite Rocks," "Secrcts of the Sanctum," and
several romances for literary papers. He died at the
close of the Presidential contest, Nov. 7, 1876.
Capt. George WV. Gilmore was born June 9,1832.
He was a prominent actor during the Kansas troubles,
-an aide to Gen. James Lane. He raised a company
in Fayette County, anid was mustered into the Virginia service at Clarksbutrg in July, 1861. He resides
in Dade County, Mo.
Daniel Yandes was born and raised on the Jolhn
Mason "East Abington tract," near Masontown. He
emigrated to Indiana. His mother was a Rider. He
married a half-sister to John Wilson, Esq., antd Mrs.
Eleaser Robinson, of Uniontown. During the Kansas troubles he acted a conspicuous part on the Free
State side.
In the Whiskey Insurrection, after the people had
been misled by their leaders, they raised "liberty
poles," and proceeded to organize companies for the
purpose of forcing the general governmnent to repeal
tie act of 1791, which imposed a tax on whiskey. The
government having raised an army of fifteen thousand
men, sent them into the western part of Pennsylvania,
whiere the Whiskey Boys had somne seven thousand illdisciplined men to oppose themn. Before this show
of force the Whiskey Boys dispersed without firing a
595IHISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
gun. Detachments were sent out to arrest prominent
offenders, but generallv failed. German had furnished
a company of one hundred men under the command
of Capt. Robert Ross. A squad of cavalry from Uniontown attempted to capture him, but were not successful.
PHYSICIANS.
Tradition furnishes no clue by which the historian
canI discover who was the first regular physician to
practice the healing art in this section. Indian root
and herb doctors were found in almost every family.
In 1809, Dr. Joseph Ross was a regular practitioner,
having located in Germnantown some time previous.
His brothers, C. J. and James, were also physicians,
having considerable practice in the neighborhood of
McClellandtown. Dr. Lewis Sweitzer followed them
in 1822, and Dr. David Rhoads in 1825; he had a
very large practice, dysentery and putrid sore throat
prevailing for a number of years. For several years
Dr. John Wilson was in partnership with him. In
1835, Dr. John J. Steel located in Masontowin, and
soon after Dr. John Fithian.  Dr.      Bloomino
was also practiciing near McClellandtown, while Drs.
Merchant and Campbell, of Uniontown, were callled
frequently in the northern part of the township. The
famous Dr. Braddee was often consulted between 1833
and 1839.  About 1838-39, Dr. Rhoads took inito
partnership Dr. George W. Neff, of Uniontowin, who
was highly recommended by Dr. Hugh Campbell.
Neff is said to have been the first dentist in Fayette
County, having practiced in Uniontown nearly fifty
years ago. Dr. Rhoads dying in 1841, Neff, took his
practice, which he kept as long, as his health remained.
In 1843, Dr. Jesse E. Penny settled in McClellandtown, where he resided for several years. Dr. George
Ringland bought him out, and in turn sold to Dr.
Casper M. Miller, who, in 1870, sold his property to
Dr. H. W. Brashear, and in 1880 was succeeded by
Dr. James P. Sangston, who graduated in 1868 at the
Charity Hospital Medical College, Cleveland, Ohio,
now the Medicaf Department of the University of
Wooster.
In Masontown, in 1848, Dr. N. W. Truxal (now of
Brownsville) had a large practice. Near the same
place Drs. Charles Myers and Finfrock lived and
practiced in 1850.
SCIIOOLS.
The ruiins of many old cabins used in the past as
school-houses are still to be seen. Among these were
Mason's school-house in Masonborough; one on the
Fast or Bullit tract, now in Nicholson; later, one on
Provance's Flats; one near the Seceders' Church, now
near the line of Luzerne; one near Rabb's mill, now
Hoover's; one on Middle Run, to the right going
towards the river on Brown's lanid; one near High
House; one on the German Lutheran and German
Reformed Lutheran glebe; one near the cross-roads
on the Newcomer lands; one on the farm now owned
by John Riley, near cross-roads; one near Dunilap's
Creek, and one or two in the. northeast corner of the
township. In these huts taught John Knox McGee,
Jacob Ish, Samnuel Taggart, John Hickenloper,
Thomas Green, Fred Frazer, James Anderson, Joseph
Deffenbaugh, Amnos Gray, James T. Redburn, Moses
A. Ross, John Atkinson, and many others; in the
past fifty years, Bridget Hainey, John G. Farmer,
John G. Hertig, Henry Jennings, and others. The
introduction of the free school system inaugurated a
new era in the schools.
At January  sessions, 1835, the court appointed
Jeremiah Kendall, Jr., and Elisha Laughead school
directors of German townslhip.. The new system met
with great opposition, and several years elapsed before
its benefits were seen or appreciated.
The rich opposed being taxed for the purpose of
helping fo school the children of the poor. The real
objection was their objection to schools in general at
all.  By statute they had been taxed by the county
for the same purpose before the passage,of the law, or
act complained of. The township was districted and
suitable sehool-houses erected prior.to 1837.
Following are extracts from the county records. referring to schools in German:
Order of John Hickenloper, of German, for teachin(g
poor children, dated Jan. 4, 1812, ain't.................. $14 25
Sept. 24, 1813, to same for same..28.73k
June 23, 1815, to same for samne.           16.19
Jan. 13, 1813, to Satimiuel Taggart for same.4.64
In 1838 the system had made considerable progresc,
and Nathaniel Darrall, John Ross, Jesse Antram,
David Jennings, Isaac Core, and Richard Poundstone
were the directors, and all advocates of the system.
Its progress from  year to year has been good since
that time.
Present number of districts in townsip.11
Nuinber of teachers.11
Males.11
NAMES OF DISTRICTS AND COST OF HOUSES.
Windy Hill..........   $450  Balsinger's.$1100
Middle Run..........   500  Core's.650
McC]ellanidtown..........  500  PRoss.80 0(
Church Hill..........   5.50  Mennonite.915
Gilmnore's..........   650  Crow hill.975
Messmore's..........   950
NUMBER OF SCHOLARS ON THE ROLLS FOR 1880.
Total................................................    461
Males..........................................  217
Fematles.......244
FemAles ~~.......................................................2L
Total receipts........ $3116.36
Total expenditures.............................  3046.23
School property, furniture, etc.............................  1200.0(0
Cost of school-houses............................    8041)00
Cost of land.............................  500.!0
The following is a list of school directors of German township from 1840 to the present time:
1841. Samuel Winders, John Mosier.
1842. John Poundstone, lIenry Jennings.
1843. Philip Poundstone, Ellis Freemiian.
1844. Samuel Winders, Georm e V'ance.
1845. Thomas Conner, William B. Alton.
596GERMAN TONWNSHIP.
1846. Nicholas Miller, William Jeffreys.
1847. John P. Williams, Alexander Black.
] 818. Ellis Coldren, Joseph Woodward.
1849. Jesse Overturf, Urialh Higinbotham, William Schroyer.
1850. Joseph Deffenbaugh, Jacob F. Longanecker.
1851. William Jeffreys, John IIaney.
]852. Samuel D. IHarn, John Brown.
1853. John Moore, Jacob Mack.
1854. Vincent Parshall, Jesse' Overturf.
1855. Lewis Campbell, John IIaney.
1856. John Sterling, Allen Q. Darrall.
1857. HIarvey Grove, George Balsinger.
1858. James C. Hliginbotham, Isaac Crow.
1859. Johnson Dearth, John Emery.
1860. Thomas WVilliams, Alexander Blacek.
1861. William P. Green, Peter Crago.
1862. Harvey Grove, Jefferson Sangston.
] 863. John J. Riffle, James Newcomer.
1 864. John D. Rider, John Sterling.
1865. Isaac Crow, John Ferren.
1866. Michael S. Franks, Levi Antram.
1867. James M. Howard, Rezin L. Debolt.
1868. Westly W. Altman, -.
1869. Nathaniel Gray, Isaac N. Ross.
1870. Jamines M. Harvard, John Sterling.
1872. Hugh J. Gilmore, George Porter, John D. Rider.
1873. John D. Rider, Jacob Johnson.
1874. Joseph Rockwell, Nicholas Johnson.
1875. John H. Newcomer, George Dearth.
1876. Jesse V. Hoover, George Porter.
1877. William H. Brashear, Nicholas Johnson.
1878. Samuel Campbell, Ihenry D. Core.
1879. John Iluhn, David S. Longanecker.
1880. Joseph Gadd, Levi Brown.
1881. Samuel Beal, Ilenry D. Core.
CHURCIIES.
THE "DUTCH CIIURCH."
For the purpose of establishing a church in German township, Michael Franks and others obtained a
warrant for a tract of land south of Brown's Ruin,
called the "Straight Narrow  Way," Feb. 2, 1785.
In 1785, April 25th, it was surveyed, and found to
contain 117- acres and allowance. This they received a patent for from Governor Thomas Mifflin,
July 22, 1794. Prior to the year 1793 they had built
a log meeting-house, the only kind in the county at
that time. It had a gallery, a rude pulpit or seat for
the minister, and rough seats for the congregation.
In 1792 the Rev. John Stough was sent out as a catechist. In May, 1793, he was licensed to preach by
the Lutheran Synod in the city of Philadelphia. In
the same year he organized the church known since
as the Dutch Church, because the sermons were delivered in that language.  The minutes of the organization contain twenty-five names, among which are
the following: John Huhn, Philip Lawrence, Francis Fast, William Fast, Michael and Jacob Frank,
Henry Barrickmnan, Daniel Schmidt.
The patent was made to Michael Frank, Nicholas
Pock, John Mason, John Hartman,          Everly, and
Joseph Yeager.  In 1846 the old log house was replaced by a brick house, the one in use at present.
The congregation are about remodeling or erecting a
new house. Upon the grounds attached Rev. W. O.
Wilson and the church council succeeded in having
a cemetery chartered, but not without great opposition. During the time in which the minutes of this
church were recorded in German twelve hundred
baptisms were performed.
Since the organization in 1793 the following ministers have been in charge: From 1763 to 1806, Rev.
John Stough (born in York County, Pa., 1762; died
in Crawford County, Ohio, July 25, 1845), Rev.
Redman, Rev. Ravenock, Rev. Henry Weygandt, Rev.
Charles Koebler, Rev. John Brown, Rev. Abrahlam
Weills; from 1852 till 1865, Rev. Jacob K. Melhorn (now of Allegheny County, Pa.); 1866 to April,
1873, Rev. Henry Acher; April 25, 1873, to 1881,
Rev. William  Orris Wilson, of West Chlester, Pa.
He was educated at Ceylon Grove and other schools.
The present membership (1881) of this church is
two hundred and forty-five.
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CEIURCH.
From the most authentic sources it is found that the
following-named individuals were the founders of the
Methodist Church in German, namely, Andrew Long,
Caleb Hanna, and Alexander McDougle, who, in the
year 1819, began preparations for building a church.
In 1820, in June, the house was nearly completed,
when, on the night of the 11th, it was almost entirely
ruined by one of the most violent storms that has ever
visited this section of the county. It was, however,
finished and used until 1833, when, the walls having
crumbled, the congregation took measures to rebuild it.
In 1876, when the court erected Masontown a borough, this house was included in the town. Being
built by persons of every shade of belief, it has been
the bone of contention in many a strife. The most
liberal subscribers to the building fund were Ephraim
Woodruff and his wife Frances, Miss Rainey Chenowith, Solomon Altman and his mother. A host of
worthy ministers have labored here, but to enumerate
would occupy more space than can be allotted the
subject. The first to preach the Wesleyan doctrine
in this new field was Rev. Wesley Webster, an Englishman, in 1818. Then came Revs. Batty and Pool.
But the most noted was the eloquent H. B. Bascom.
There was connected with this church for nearly half
a century an individual by the name of Solomon Altman, licensed in Pittsburgh in 1825 as a local preacher,
who was eminent for his industry and benevolence.
He died near Weston, W. Va., in 1846. The present
(1881) minister in charge is the Rev. H. D. McGrew.
The present membership is forty-five,-males, twentyone; females, twenty-four.
The lot on which the Methodist Church stands, as
well as the cemetery attached, was purchased from
Caleb Hanna.
5975HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
REGULAR BAPTIST CHURCH.
By an order of the Redstone Association a church
was organized near McClellandtown in 1828. The
ministers appointed for the work were Revs. William
Brownfield and Francis Downey. The church officers
were: Deacons, Elias Parshall, Sr., Erasmnus Alton;
Clerk, John Grove. Following is a list of the ministers in charge of this church fr6m organization till the
year of its dissolution: Revs. William Brownfield,
Francis Downey, James Seymore, William Woods,
Sr., James McCoboy (not certain), Garret Patton,
Thomas Rose, in 1851, when the congregation dissolved. The church grounds were donated by Elias
Parshall, who, with Erasmus Alton, contributed
mainily to its support during the period of its existence.
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
Presbyterianism was not introduced into German
until after the Scotch-Irish element began settling
here. The members who resided in it were visited
by ministers from more fortunate regions at regular
periods. The best known of these missionaries were
the Rev. Crittlebaugh and Rev. George Van Enem.
"At a meeting of the Redstone Presbytery an order
wvas granted for the organization of a church in German township. The ministers appointed for carrying
the order into effect were Messrs. William Johnson,
Ashbel G. Fairchild, and Samuel Wilson. On the 23d
day of November, 1839, the Rev. committee convened
at the Baptist Church on Church Hill, west of and
near to McClellandtown, for the purpose of executing
the order of the Presbytery. After a sermon by the
Rev. Ashbel G. Fairchild, Rev. Samuel Wilson presiding, they proceeded to organize a churchl. Thomas
AVilson, Samuel Gettys, Williamni Grove, Joseph Deffenbaugh, and Elisha Langhead were ordained elders." In the year 1843 they erected a brick church,
which has been their regular place of worship since
(except when being remodeled a fewv years ago on account of its having been damaged by fire).
From the organization of the chlurch to the present
time the following-named preachers have had the
congregation ill charge, viz.: Rev. Samuel Wilson,
Rev. James P. Fulton, Rev. S. S. Bergen. Membership in 1881, fifty.
CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
About the year 1839, Revs. Bird and Morgan were
sent out by the Cumberland Presbytery as missionaries to preach the new faith. Their success at  MIasontown induced the Presbytery to select and send
"Revs. Abraham Shearer, Isaac Hague, and Daniel
A. Murdock to organize a church. These ministers
began their labors in the spring of 1840. Having
gained twenty-nine members in a very short timnle,
they founded the Cumberland Presbyterian Church
of Masontown, July 23, 1840."  The Methodists
kindly permitted the new sect to occupy their building until they should feel themselves able to build
one of their own, which they did in 1852. Their
trustees-Samuel Winders, John Henry Bowvmnan, and
Jacob Newcomer-purchased a piece of ground of
John Ross, west of Masontown, upon which they
erected a brick church. On the 7th day of May,
1852.4, they received the deed for their property.
The following-named ministers have been in charge
of this chlurch since its organization, viz.: Rev. Andrew G. Osburn, 1842 to 1853; Rev. John T. A. Henderson, 1853 to 1854; Rev. William Hanna, 1854 to
1858; Rev. Andrew G. Osburn, 1858 to 1863; Rev.
Jamres P. Baird, 1863 to 1865; Rev. Jesse Adams,
1865 to 1867; Rev. Ellis E. Bailey, 1867 to 1871;
Rev. John S. Gibson, 1871 to the present time. The
membership Jan. 1, 1880, as given by Josiah S. Allebaugh, Esq., was one hlundred and eighty-three,males, sixty-seven; females, one hundred and sixteen.
IENNONITE CHURCH.
The followers of the teaching of Menno Simon
constituted a very great portion of the early inhabitants of German, but they were without any churches
for many years after settling. For religious exercises
they met at certain of the brethren's residences till
about the year 1790, when they built a log church
near the road leading from Uniontown to Masontown,
via High House, on lands now owned by John Riley.
It was used both as church anid school-house for many
years. In it preached and taught Peter Longanecker,
one of thle great lights in those days. The Revs. Jacob
Newcomer and Joseph Bixler were contemporary.
The first house having gone to decay, the congregation in 1838 built another on lands of Nicholas Johnson, which was knowvn as the "Dogwood Church."
In 1870 dissensions in the chlurch caused considerable
trouble, and ended by Nicholas Johnson, deceased,
donating ground for a site for a new house as well as
furnishing the necessary futnds for building it. In
1871 their present house (brick) was dedicated. It is
located east of Masontown, on the Smithfield road.
Ministers in charge: Revs. David Johnson, John
Durr, Christian Deffenbaugh. Membership in 1881,
forty,-twenty males and twenty females.
DISCIPLES' CIIURCH.
The pioneer of this denomination in German was
Elder J. D. Benedict, who, in the fall of 1873, held a
meeting in McClellandtown. He was followed by
Elder M. L. Streator in January, 1874, and in MAay
following fifteen persons professed religion. On the
26th day of July, 1874, the first organization of this
sect took place by the election arid confirmation of
the following persons as church officers, viz.: James
W. French, Sr., and Clark B. Scott, elders; Melancthon J. Crow, Elias Parshall, and James W. French,
Jr., deacons. The total membership at that timne was
twenty-nine. In the spring of 1876 nearly the entire
congregation emigrated West and South, and at present not more than five or six members remain.
598GERMAN TOWNSHIP.
BURIAL-GROUNDS.
The following is a list of cemeteries and burialplaces in German township, designating them by the
names by which they are comnmonly known, and indicating their location in different parts of the township, viz.:
Lutheran (chartered), on the glebe attached to
Lutheran Church, in Southeast Germ.an. Dedicated
Oct. 1, 1879.
Leckey, north of McClellandtown.
Presbyterian, Church Hill.
Methodist, Masontown.
Cumberland Presbyterian, Masontown.
Mennonite, on Catt's Run.
There are numerous family and private burialplaces located on farms in diffrent parts of the township. These are chiefly old grounds, many of them in
disuse. Some of them are fenced, and others lying
common with the lands of the farms on which they
are located. Among these are the following:
One near old Mennonite Church and school-house
lot on John Riley's farm.
Kendall, on Jonathan Galley's farm.
Longanecker, oi Louch's farm.
Hiarrison, on John Sterling's farm.
Gilmore, on Ephraim Sterling's farnm.
Bowman's, on Jonathan Sterling's farm.
Gilliland (2), on John Cofflnan's farm.
Messmore, pn George Haught's farm.
Newcomer, on Newcomer heirs' farm.
Bixler, on David Johnson's farm.
Ross, on Asbury Struble's farm.
Coldren, on William Schroyer's farm.
Hostetler, on John Coffinan's farm.
Unknowp, on William CofflTman's farm.
Mason, on Mason Borough farm.
Free Bla,ks, on William M. Lardin's farm.
Fretz's, on James H. Hoover's farm., on George Dearth's farm.
Gordon's, on Samuel Brown's farm.
Brown's, on Levi Brown's farnm.
McClelland's, on John S. Mosier's farm.
Antrim's, on William H. Riffle's farm.
There are three other burial-grounds on lands belonging to Poundstone and others, not well cared for.
LISTIOF TOWNSHIP OFFICERS.
JUSTICES, 1785 TO 1881.
Andrew Rabb, Jan. 24, 1785, appointed by Governor James
Irvine; poisoned by his slave; died at WVhite Sulphur Springs,
Va., Sept. 5, 1804.
Ephraimn Walter, by Governor Charles Biddle, Nov. 21, 1786;
died Dec. 8, 1835, aged 91 years.
Abraham Stewart, by Governor Thomas Mifflin, Aug. 18,
1790.
Jeremiah Kendall, by Governor Thomas Mifflin, July 22,
1799; died Jan. 28, 1843, aged 85 years.
James Wilson, by Governor Thomas McKean; died Feb. 19,
1841, aged 77 years.
John Auld, by Governor William Findley, 1819; died in
Brownsville.
Moses A. Ross, by Andrew Schultze, March 17, 1824; died
in Alamakee County, Iowa, Nov. 22, 18i2, aged 72 years.
Jesse Beeson, by Governor George Wolf, 18:32.
John P. Williams and George Messmore, elected March, 1840;
Messmore died in Ohio, March 20, 1878; Williamns was re-elected
in 1845, and died in Greensboro', Greene Co., Pa., 1875, aged 66
years.
James C. Higinbotham, elected 1845; died in Luzerne township, Dec. 18, 1870, aged 66 years.
John Wilson, elected 1849; now living.
Pi,ilip D. Stentz, elected 1850; re-elected 1855; died in Connellsville.
David Miller, elected 1854: living; age 64.
John  Messmore, elected 1858; re-elected 1863; living in
Uniontown; age 60 years.
James C. Edlin-ton, elected 1859; re-elected 1864; died April
20, 1873, aged 78 years.
John W. Lynch, erected 1868; re-elected 1877; living; age
66 years.
Thomas Williams, elected 1869; living; age 62 years.
James W. French, elected 1873; living in Kansas; age 57
years.
Col. David Gilmore, elected 1874; died Aug. 9, 1876; aged
44 years.
John B. Woodfill, elected 1878; living; age 59 years.
ASSESSORS.
1841. William Grove.
1842. John Weltner.
1843. Harvey Grove.
1844. Isaac Smiith.
1845. John Poundstone.
1846. Jesse Antram.
1847. John Brown.
1848. John H. Bowman.
1849. Jacob F. Longanecker.
1850. Robert Moss.
1851. Isaac Messmore.
1852. John Riley.
1853. William P. Green.
1854. John A. Walters.
1855. John J. Riffle.
1856. Samuel Allebaugh.
1857. Alfred Core.
1858. John D. Rider.
1859. Clark B. Haney.
1860. Quincy A. Partridge.
1861. Solomon G. Riffle.
1862. Alexander Leckey, Jr.
1863. Christian T. Rhoads.
1864. Hugh C. Poundstone.
1865. William Poundstone.
1866. Daniel F. Ilostetler.
1867. George W. Green.
1868. Reuben Grove.
1869. Isaac W. Coldren.
1870-71. Lewis C. Lewellen.
1872. James H. Hoover.
1873. James A. Weltner.
1874. Michael Crow.
1875. John Sterling.
1876. Henry D. Core.
1877. John HI. Crago.
1878. James A. McWilliams.
1879. Henry S. Lynch.
1880. Thomas A. Jackson.
1881. William L. Moore.
AUDITORS.
1841. William MeKean.
1842. Stephen Grove.
1843. Isaac Core.
1844. William MeKean.
1845. James Wilson.
1846. Isaac Core.
1847. Wm. G. Higinbotham.
1848-49. Jesse Antram.
1850. Isaac Core.
1851. John Wiltner.
1852. William P. Green.
1853. Andrew J. Gilinore.
1854. Cyrus L. Conner.
1855. Isaac P. Kendall.
1856. William Parshall.
1857. Joseph Rockwell.
1858. Hugh J. Gilmore.
1859. Williatm Parshall.
1860. Joseph S. Struble.
1861. Allen Q. Darrall.
1862. John Wilson.
1863. Levi Antram.
1864. Quincy A. Partridge.
1865. Jamnes Lewis.
1866. Peter H. Franks.
1867. Thomas D. Bise.
1868. Isaac P. Kendall.
1869. James W. French.
1870-71. Melancthon J. Crow.
1872. David Gilmore.
I
599HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
1872. James H. Campbell.   1877. Jesse P. Brown.
John H. Poundstone.   1878. Isaac W. Coldren.
1873. Thomas A. McKean.   1879. Cyrus W. Porter.
1874. Joseph Catmpbell.   1880. Charles S. Langley.
1875-76. Jacob Provance.   1881. Samuel Campbell.
MASONTOWN BOROUGH.
Masontown, formerly Germantown, was laid out by
John Mason on a tract of land called East Abington. By deed dated the 29th of May, 1798, he conveyed to the inhabitants the streets and alleys, with
the usual privileges and franchises conveyed in town
charters.
For picturesqueness of location that of Masontown
is unsurpassed. It is just far enough removed from
the mountains to give to them that dark steel blue
color which " lends enchantment to the view."
The town, although built upon a hill, is surrounded
by a highler chain of hills, except upon the west, or
side next to the Monongahela River, from which it
is distant one and one-half miles. The distance from
the county-seat by the shortest route is ten miles.
A daily mail to and from Uniontown puts the town in
communicatiou with mnore imnportant places. There
are some seventy dwellings in the town, many of
which are large and of modern architecture. Population, four hundred.
The following branches of industry are to be found
here: three chair-factories, four wagon- and buggyshops, two saddle- and harness-shops, three smithshops, tin-shop, tannery, one cabinet-maker, a large
fiouring-mill, four stores, two milliner-shops, two
eating-houses, two undertakers, post-office, large
school building, two churches; one physician, Dr.
George W. Neff, who is a graduate of Philadelphia
Medical College, March 12, 1870.
At March sessions, 1876, the court granted the town
the rights and privileges of a borough. The executive officers from that period to the present are and
have been the following-named persons:
BURGESSES.
1876. Ilon. Jacob Provins.
1877. M. F. H. Farmier.
1878. S. F. Altman.
1879. S. F. Altman.
1880. Josiah S. Allebaugh.
1881. Stephen F. Altman.
COUNCIL.
1876.-Alexander Mack,'Christian C. Sterling, Rezin L. Debolt,
James Lewellen, Allen D. Smith, Josiah S. Allebaugh.
1877.-Absalom Longanecker, James Lewellen, Isaac N. Hague,
Josiah A. Bowman, Alexander Mack, John M. Deffenbaugh.
1878.-James Lewellen, Myers M. Altman, I. N. Hague, James
A. Bowmnan, Josiah S. Allebaugh, Aaron Walters.
1879.-Adam J. Willyards, James Lewellen, I. N. Hague, Josiah S. Allebaugh, Richard Webber, Ephraimn F. WValters.
SCHOOL DIRECTORS.
1876.-Abram Mosier, Ephraim Sterling, three years; James
R. A. Altman, William J. Sangston, two years; Sylvanus
S. Gray, James M. Howard, one year.
1877.-William J. Sangston, J. R. A. Altman, three years;
Robert M. S. Temple, two years.
1878.-Josiah S. Allebaugh, Josiah A. Bowman, Absalom Longanecker.
1879.-Andrew J. Sterling,, Isaac N. Hague.
1880.-John F. Bowman, James R. A. Altman.
1881.-James Lewellen, Josiah S. Allebaugh.
1876. James M. Howard.
1877. Christian T. Rhod
1878. Andrew J. Sterling
ASSESSORS.
1879. John F. Bowman.
es.    1880. Benjamin Herrington.
[Y.   1881. Thomas J. Walters.
AUDITORS.
1876.-Theophilus K. Higinbotham, three years; Thomas J.
W*alters, two years; Solomon J. Honsaker, one year.
1877.-John C. Lewellen.
1878.-Lucius M. Speers.
1879.-James A. Ferren.
1880.-Miles F. H. Farmer, C. N. Franiks.
1881.-Lucius M. Speers, three years; William C. Sterling, two
years; IIugh J. Gilmore, one year.
JUSTICES.
1876. Josiah S. Allebaugh.    1881. Stephen F. Altman.
Stepben F. Altmiian.       Miles F. H. Farmer.
SOCIETIES AND ORDERS.
Colfax Lodge, No. 565, Independentt Order of OddFellows.-Organized May 18,1860.
Valley Lodge, A. Y. M., No. 459.-Organized Dec.
27, 1869. Andrew Long was the first Mason known
in German township.
Grange Society, No. 413.-Organized Dec. 15, 1874.
In 1801, John Mason and Apalonia, his wife, deeded
to the citizens of Germantown "A house and lot on
Water Street for school purposes," enumerating the
objects intended, viz.: "An education-German and
English-in the Arts and Sciences, Morality and Religion." The trustees were Lawrence Rider, Solomon Overturf. This is the first provision made for
the purpose of establishing a system of public instruction in Masontown.
Some historical incidents connected with the history of Masontown are worthy of narration. "Fort
Mason" was just below or east of the town, to the
north of the spring in the field now belonging to
Messrs. Gray. It was built by John Mason near
1780, and was resorted to for safety by the early settlers during the Indian troubles. It was threatened
with destruction by the Tories and Indians, but
was warned by Mr. Carmichael, founder of Carmichael's, Greene Co., in time to prepare for the enemy,
which when they perceived they passed by and attempted to capture Fort Burd. In 1823 it was given
by Ephraim Walter to Mr. John Debolt, his sonin-law, who had it removed and re-erected on the
Main Street, where it still remains, the dwellinghouse of Isaac N. Hague, Esq. The Whiskey Boys of'94 had a liberty pole here, around which they rallied
during the days of the insurrection. Seth Ely, a
famous mnusician, resided here for many years.
The population of Masontown by the United States
census of 1880 was 376.
I
I
600GERMAN TOWNSHIP.
McCLELLANDTOWVN.
McClellandtown was founded by a family of that
name, who lived there many years ago. William
McClelland, the founder, died here July 12, 1815, in
the eighty-second year of his age. The town is some
eight miles southwest of Uniontown, and two and
one-half miles east of the Monongahela River. It is
pleasantly situated in the midst of a moral anid industrious people, and in a rich country. It has produced many men who have won distinction in their
spheres of life. Hon. Andrew Stewart and Hon.
Henry Clay Dean were borni and raised here. The
population is one hundred. It contains a post-office,
two stores, three blacksmith-shops, two wagon-makers,
two saddlers, a buggy-shop, and several shoemakers,
carpenters, and millwrights. Several fine residences
have been erected in the past few years, and several
mlore will be added the conling year.
IIIGH HOUSE.
High House, a hamlet of six or seven houses, is in
the extreme east of the township. It contains a postoffice, two stores, and a blacksmith-shop. It is five
mniles from the county-seat, and commands a full view
of the Laurel Hill.
MILITARY RECORD OF GERMAN TOWNSHIP.
The following-named persons were soldiers in the
war for independence, and at the time of their death
were citizens of German: Joseph Sproat, Ephraim
Woodruff, Nicholas Helmick, Robert Ross, Roger
Lander. In the Indian war of 1790-94: Nicholas
Hellnick, Abram Franks, Robert Ross. These fought
under "Mad Anthony Wayne."  Following is the
list of German township soldiers in the war of 181215, viz.:
David McCann, Sr.
Jacob Riffle (lieutenant;
resigned).
William Boise (Bise).
Solomon Debolt.
Rezin Debolt.
Solomon Getty.
James Antil (substitute).
Simon Yandes.
Daniel Yandes.
Henry Black.
Hugh Gilmore.
David Gilmore (these last
two in Capt. McClelland's cavalry).
James Sangston.
Nathaniel Parshall.
William Sangston.
Joseph McClain (substitute).
Benjamin Provance.
Thomas Bise.
David McCann, Jr.
Edin Clary.
Jacob Harrison.
Isaac Harrison.
Jacob Owl.
George Haught.
Robert Ross, Jr.
William Graves.
Thomas Harn.
Thomas McClain.
Philip Lawreince.
Abraham Franks.
Hugh McCann (substitute for E. Walter).
William Hazel (captain,
P. D.).
Jeremiah Hill.
John Jackson.
James Sapp.
Christopher Balsinger.
George Martin.
These soldiers mustered in two places on the day of
starting,-first squad at McClellandtown; second,
from the old school-house near the Seceders' Church,
on the Brownsville and Morgantown road.
A large number of these men were members of
Capt. James A. McClelland's company (cavalry).
They served in the Northwest under Gen. Harrison,
Just before the campaign against the Indians on the
Missinnewa, the entire company deserted except
six, including the captain. Those who remained
were Hugh and David Gilmore, two of the Abrams,
and a Mr. Porter.
The soldiers from this township in the war with
Mexico were Cyrus L. Conner (returned), Jesse
Smith (died), Josiah Winders (killed).
In thlle war of the Rebellion the following men of
German township served in different regiments and
companies in the United States service.
In Capt. Stacy's company:
William King.
David Grove.
Jackson McCann.
Lewis L. Knotts.
Jacob Rider.
Samuel Bise.
James A. Bowman.
George M. Woolsey.
Jefferson Walters.
Americus L. Rader.
George Franks.
Isaiah Frost.
James A. Weltner.
Thomnas A. McKean (vol.).
Emanuel Turk (vol.).
William  Reed (as a substitute).
John Moulton.
William Bixler.
William Herrington.
William Kendall.
Ilarvey Balsinger.
Braden Christopher.
Ewing Christopher.
Aaron Yowler.
James Barber (vol.).
Charley Yawger (vol.).
Joseph Renshaw (vol.).
John Cunningham (vol.).
Capt. A. S. Fuller's company:
Jamines S. Darrall (2d lieut.).
Rezin L. Debolt (0. S.).
George A. Prlovance.
Thos. L. W. Miller.
David Miller.
William IH. Poundstone.
James R. A. Altman.
John P. Altman.
Andrew J. Todd.
James E. Alton.
William B. Alton.
Ephraim W. Barber.
Sebastian Crago.
William Keener.
John Gue.
John Ilostetler.
Isaac Conner.
Rezin Whitehill.
Solomon Riffle.
Daniel Hostetler, 154th Regt.
Thonmas Black,    "      "
William  Black,   "      "
Christopher Core.
David Ilonsacker.
John McCann.
William Ilarmony.
Jacob Whoolery.
James T. Black.
Alfred Wolf.
Thomas Williams.
John H. Smith.
Nicholas Miller.
HIenry Black.
Henry Cunningham.
Benjamin J. Conley.
John W. Conley.
John Dean.
Andrew J. Farrier (sub.).
Luther L. Linton (capt. of
colored company, Florida).
James Porter.
John Wilsdn.
Harrison Ingraham.
James Bodley, Jr.
John W. Williams.
David Wilson.
William Funk.
John Core.
Jamnes Rossel.
George W. Balsinger.
Jacob Deffenbaugh.
Capt. George W. Gilmore enlisted a company partly
in German, and mustered into the service of West
60162HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
(for which Gerinan was never IVARIOUS STATISTICS OF GERMAN TOWNSHIP.
George W. Gilmore, capt.    Joseph Brooks.
Andrew J. Cunningham.       Moses Sangston.
William Ingraham.           Thomas N. Weltner.
Harvey Grove.               Thomas B. Phillips.
IHamilton Bixler.           James P. Grove.
George R. Walters.          Menasseh Sedgwick.
James Walters.
In Capt. John Harper's company of cavalry (Company K, 1st Regt. P. V. C.) from Greene County:
Jesse Hughs.
Baltzer K. Higinbotham.
In companies and regimenits un'known:
John W. Edington (lieut. in
an Ohio company).
Jobn McLain.
Robert J. Linton (adjt. in
Virginia 7th).
Lewis Walters.
Henry Brooks.
Hiram Shafer.
Thomas Jackson.
Levi Vantussne.
Aaron Hostetler.
Joseph Sese.
James Colvin.
Joseph King.
James Provance (sub.).
Jackson Ilughs (8th Penna.
Reserves).
David Hughs (8th Penna. Reserves).
Hugh Townsend (sub.).
Jamnes Cain (sub.).
John Strickler.
James Malone.
Aaron Malone.
Thomas W. Malone.
William Malone.
David Malone.
John Keener (vol.).
George Cruse (vol.).
Joseph Hostetler (vol.).
Andrew B.'Watson.
Samuel Rotharmel.
Clark Dearth.
Samuel Newcomer.
C. W. Porter (vol.).
Jam^es Kline (vol. in cavalry).
*James S. Rhorer (vol., Capt.
C. L. Conner's company
Penna. Reserves).
Ashbel F. Hill (vol., Capt. C.
L. Conner's company Penna.
Reserves).
Thomas Grooms (vol., Capt.
C. L. Conner's company
Penna. Reserves).
John Kendall.
Neil Hostetler (vol.).
Abraham Liston (vol.).
John Sisler (vol.).
William Turner (vol.).
Stewart Christopher.
According to the report of the United States en*
rolling officer there were in German in the year 1863
one hundred and ninety-nine persons between the
ages of eighteen and forty-five liable to military
duty. At an examination held by the authority of
the United States twenty-seven were declared disqualified and twenty-seven drafted for nine months.
About this time a very great number volunteered.
The Legislature having passed an act authorizing
school directors to levy a tax, the German township
school board levied the requisite amount to hire an
equal number of substitutes for those whom the government had drafted. The following are the names
of the tax collectors and the amount of their duplicates: Isaac Crow, $10,190.75; Jacob Newcomer,
$5428.47; Jacob Newcomer, $7,285.82; Thomas D.
Bise, $2094.25. Amount of bounty tax levied,
$24,999.29.
Value of taxable property in 1784, as returned by
Jacob Rich, Auo. 10, 1785........................
Valuation per property roll for 1881, in commissioner's office, Uniontown....................
Amount of State and county tax for year 1881....
Amount levied for schools, 1881.......................
Amount received from  State, 1881.....................
From  Masontown, 1881...................................
Number of pupils enrolled..............................
$54,495.00
1,011,454.00
2,72.5.85
2,025.7 6
41 2.44
390.00
490
With no public works in the township, German
exhibits her resources. In her limits are the Waynesburg seam of coal, five feet; two smaller veins, three
feet each; and the nine-feet vein. These may be
seen cropping out of the creek and river bluffs in
nearly every part of her area. The Waynesburg
seam is six feet in thickness, and but few, even of coal
men, know of its existence in German. An excellent
quality of oil was obtained at a depth of six hundred
feet on Catt's Run, on Gray's land.
The population of Germian by the United States
census of 1880 was 1834, including 90 in the village
of McClellandtown.
By actual canvass the following were found to be
the production of farms and live-stock in the year
1878 of and in the township:
Wheat raised and thrashed....................    32,235 bushels.
Corn    "   " cribbed....................   89,099  "
Oats    "   " thrashed....................     45,451  "
Rye     "'.100                                 "
Rye    "   "    " ~~~~....................... 10 "
Hay....................                  2,023 tons.
Maple sugar....................          2,000 pounds.
"  molasses....................  500 gallons.
Sorghum  "..................... 2,500  "
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
JOIIN STERLING.
John Sterling, of Masontown, a farmer of distinction, was born on the farm where he now lives, Aug.
12, 1822. He is of English descent. His father, also
John Sterling, was born and reared in Fayette County,
and was a farmer, and resided on the farm  which
John, Jr., now occupies. He married Catharine Knife.
They had three sons and three daughters. Three ot
their children are still living, of whom our subject is
one, and was educated in the common schools. When
starting in life his father gave him a small farm, but
his possessions, which are large, consisting of lands
town properties, and bank stock, are mostly the accumulations of his own industry and business tact.
Feb. 6,1842, he married Elizabeth Debolt, a daughter of John and Charity WValters Debolt, of Nicholson township, by whomn he has had eight children,
seven of whom are living: Ephraim WValters, a general business man; Amy J., wife of Hon. Jacob Provins; A. J., a minister of the German Baptist Church;
Charity A., Mary M., and Rebecca B., all now (February, 1882) attendincg Monongahela College; Jonathan
(dead); and John B., a nurseryman. Mr. Sterling has
Virginia in July, 1861
credited), as follows:
602HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Dawson, Samuel, from Eleventh Pennsylvania, July
1, 1778; died at Fort Pitt, Sept. 6, 1779; buried
in First Presbyterian churchyard in Pittsburgh.
Moore, James Francis, from Thirteenth Pennsylvania,
July 1, 1778.
Clark, John, from Thirteenth Pennsylvania, July 1,
1778; transferred to First Pennsylvania, July 17,
1781.
Carnahan, James, from Thirteenth Pennsylvania,
July 1, 1778; transferred to Fourth Pennsylvania, Jan. 17, 1781.
Finley, Joseph L., from  Thirteenth Pennsylvania,
July 1, 1778; brigade-major, July 30, 1780; transferred to Second Pennsylvania, Jan. 17, 1781.
Finley, John, from first lieutenant, Oct. 22, 1777;
transferred to Fifth Pennsylvania, Jan. 17, 1781.
Crawford, John, from first lieutenant, Aug. 10, 1779;
transferred to Sixth Pennsylvania, Jan. 17, 1781.
Brady, Samuel, from captain lieutenant, Aug. 2, 1779;
transferred to Third Pennsylvania, Jan. 17, 1781.
Captain Lieutenant.
Brady, Samuel, commission dated July 17, 1776; from
Sixth Pennsylvania; promoted captain Aug. 2,
1779.
First Lieutenants.
Moseley, Robert (written Moody in the return), resigned May 16, 1777; resided in Ohio County,
Ky., in 1820, aged sixty-nine.
Cooke, Thomas, promoted captain.
Finley, John, promoted captain Oct. 22, 1777.
Jack, Matthew, lost his left hand by the bursting of
his gun at Bound Brook, N. J.; promoted captain
April 13, 1777.
Hickman, Ezekiel.
Carson, Richard, left the service in 1777.
McGeary, William, resigned April 17, 1777.
McDolo, Joseph, left the service in 1777.
[The foregoing first lieutenants were commissioned
under the resolution of Congress of Sept. 16, 1776.]
Richardson, Richard, returned June 9, 1777, as recruiting.
Prather, Basil, returned Nov. 1, 1777, as on command
with Col. Morgan from June 9th; resigned April
1, 1779.
Hughes, John, Aug. 9, 1776; resigned Nov. 23, 1778;
resided in Washington County in 1813.
Crawford, John, from second lieutenant, April 18,
1777; promoted captain Aug. 10, 1779; promoted
to Second Pennsylvania, with rank of captain,
from April 18, 1777..
Hardin, John, July 13, 1777; Nov. 1, 1777, returned
as on command with Col. Morgan; resigned in
1779; afterwards Gen. John Hardin, of Kentucky;
murdered by the Indians, near Sandusky, Ohio,
in 1791.- Wilkinson's Memoirs.
Mickey, Daniel, became supernumerary Jan. 31, 1779.
Peterson, Gabriel, July 26, 1777; died in Allegheny
County, Feb. 12, 1832.
Stotesbury, John, from old Eleventh Pennsylvania,
commission dated April 9, 1777; he was a prisoner in New York for some time; transferred to
the Second Pennsylvania, Jan. 17, 1781.
Neilly, Benjamin, from ensign, Oct. 4, 1777.
Finley, Andrew, on return of Nov. 1, 1777, marked
sick since October 16th; retired in 1778; resided
in Westmoreland County, 1813.
Amberson, William, in 1779 he was deputy mustermaster-general; resided in Mercer County in
1835.
Read, Archibald, vice Joseph Brownlee, Dec. 13, 1778;
died in Allegheny County in 1823.
Graham, Alexander, vice Basil Prather, April 1, 1779.
Ward, John, April 2, 1779; transferred to Second
Pennsylvania, Jan. 17, 1781.
Second Lieutenants.
Thompson, William, Aug. 9, 1776; resigned May 17,
1777.
Simrall, Alexander, Aug. 9, 1776; left the army in
1777; resided in Jefferson County, Ohio, in 1834,
aged eighty-eight.
Guthrie, James, Aug. 9, 1776.
Rogers, Philip, Aug. 9, 1776.
Smith, Samuel, Aug. 9, 1776; killed at Germantown,
Oct. 4, 1777.
Mountz, William, Aug. 9, 1776; resigned April 17,
1777.
Beeler, James, Jr., Aug. 9, 1776.
Crawford, John, Aug. 9, 1776; promoted first lieutenant, April 18, 1777.
[The foregoing second lieutenants were commissioned under resolution of Congress, Sept. 14, 1776,
dating as above.]
Owine, Barnabas, marked on return of Nov. 1, 1777,
as command in the infantry.
Carnahan, John, resigned in 1779..,nsigns.
Neilly, Benjamin, promoted to first lieutenant, Oct. 4,
1777.
Kerr, Joseph.
Simmons, John.
Wherry, David.
Mecklin, Dewalt, resigned April 17, 1777.
Weaver, Valentine.
Reed, John.
White, Aquila, left the army Feb. 23, 1777; resided
in Montgomery County, Ky., in 1834.
[The foregoing ensigns were commissioned under a
resolution of Congress of Sept. 14, 1776.]
Forshay, Thomas, left the service in 1777.
McKee, David, left the service in 1777.
Peterson, Gabriel, on a return of June 9, 1777, he is
marked absent, wounded, from April 17, 1777;
promoted to first lieutenant, July 26, 1777.
Guthrie, John, appointed Dec. 21, 1778.
Morrison, James, appointed Dec. 21, 1778.
I
I~~~~~~~~~~~~
78JOSEPH WOODWARD.GERMAN TOWNSHIP.
been for many years a member of the German Baptist
Church, and Mrs. Sterling is a zealous church-meinber as well as excellent woman, a good wife and kind
friend. Mr. Sterling has held important local offices,
the duties of which he always performed in a satisfactory manner. He and nearly all his male relatives
are "sterlilng" Democrats. If Mr. Sterling's life has
been marked by one peculiarity more striking than
another it is to be found in the fact that he has not
labored hard merely through a sense of duty, but because he likes to work,-cannot be idle and happy too.
Men like him are apt to thrive, and they ought to be,
like him, prosperous.
Mr. Sterling and his son, E. W., are the owners of
a large saw-mill and planing-mills located on the
Monongahela River, and thoroughly equipped with
all machinery necessary for carrying on the manufacturing of "worked" lumber. Mr. Sterling and his
son's extensive tracts of land are all underlaid with
the nine-feet vein of the Con,lellsville coking coal,
and supplied abundantly with iron ore and limestone.
In fact, Mr. Sterling claims to hold, in his own right
and that of his sons, one of the best tracts of coal and
ore lands in Fayette County. He, with his sons, Rev.
A. J. and J. B., own a large nursery, with extensive
green-houses, adjoining his home-farm, where they
raise all kinds of fruit and ornamental stocks.
living, William M., owns a valuable farm near Masontown, and is noted as one of the most skillful scribes
of the region. The daughters are all well married
and in comfortable circumstances. Mr. Sterling was
JONATIIAN STERLING.
JONATEIAN STERLING.
The late Jonathan Sterling, of German township,  a very industrious and good man. He never held
was born March 29, 1820. He was the son of John  any but township offices, but fulfilled the duties of
Sterling, deceased, of whom we have made notice in  these well. He and his wife were members of the
the accompanying biography of John Sterling (Jr.).  German Baptist Church. He was a Democrat, and
Mr. Jonathan Sterling died Aug. 8, 1881. He was  attended the polls faithfully. The Sterlings are said
all his active business life a farmer, and in childhood  not to be fighting men, have no soldiers in the family,
attended th3 common schools. On March 31, 1840, but are good voters. The principal recreation in
he married Mary Ann Hart, of Nicholson township. which Mr. Jonathan Sterling allowed himself to inThey had ten children, of whom five sons and three  dulge was voting and hurrahing for the Democratic
daughters are living. Mr. Sterling was a prosperous  ticket. To his family, party, and God he was ever
man, and was at one time wealthy, in the local sense. faithful.
He gave his children good educational advantages,
and left them in prosperous circumstances at his
death.  John, his eldest son, residing in German             JOSEPH WOODWARD.
township, is an excellent farmer, and through his in-   Joseph Woodward, of German township, a farmer,
dustry and thrift has accumulated a large estate for is derived from  Irish Quaker stock. His father,
a young man. Christian C., the second son, owns the  Joseph Woodward (Sr.), was born in Chester County,
most valuable piece of real estate in Masontown  Pa., April 11, 1766, and some time after coming to
borough, the "Sterling House," and is also the owner Fayette County was married therein to Hope Shotof a very valuable farm about a half-mile from the  well, a native of New Jersey. He was a farmer.
borough. The third son, Andrew J., Jr., is an active  They had eight children, of whom Joseph, Jr., was
business young man, alert and expert of calcula-  the third, and was born Nov. 10, 1810, in Menallen
tion. He is an enthusiastic politician of the Demo- township. June 7, 1832, Joseph (Jr.) married Eleanor
cratic school, married and has three children, and re- Buchanan, of German township. They had thirteen
sides in German township, where he owns a farm of children, of whom nine are living. Mrs. Woodward
a hundred acres, besides valuable real estate in Ma-  died Feb. 9, 1853, and June 29, 1854, Mr. Woodward
sontown borough. James B., the fourth son, is an  married Sarah Ann Bunker, who died Aug. 6, 1872.
active and industrious farmer, and has gathered  He again married March 11, 1875, his third wife's
together quite a property. The fifth and last son  maiden name being Sarah Black. Mr. WoodwardHISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
settled in his present home early in life, before his
first marriage. His children are widely scattered,
some living in Illinois, others in Kansas, and some in
Pennsylvania, and all are married and prosperous.
Mr. Woodward has been a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church for nearly half a century, and an elder in the church for many years. His
property consists of lands principally. He enjoys
the respect and confidence of his neighbors, always
having been noted for excellent good sense, uprightness, and kindly deeds.
DAVID JO0INSON.
The late David Johnson, of German township, was
born in Rockingham County, Va., March 5,1786, and
came with his father, Peter Johnson, and the family
into Fayette County when David, who was the oldest
son, was quite young. They settled in German towInship. He was educated in the subscription schools
of the times, worked on his father's farm, and learned
the art of weaving, and remained at home till the
time of his marriage to Mary Magdalena Bixler, of
German township, June 27, 1809, whereafter he took
up his residence with his father-in-law for one year,
and then purchased a farm, still in the hands of relatives of his, near Uniontown, whereon he resided for
six years, and selling the farm to his brother Jacob,
bought the "Yanders farm" near Masontown, upon
which he lived the rest of his days. He was the father
of nine children, eight of whom were living at the time
of his death, which occurred May 24, 1860. All the
eight children, six boys and two girls, were also married
at the time of the father's death. Mrs. Johnson died
some three years before her husband, and both were
buried in the private burying-ground on the Newcomer farm, adjoining Mr. Johnson's original farm,
and which he owned at the time of his death, and
which his daughter Frances, Mrs. John Young, now
owns.
Mr. Johnson and his wife were members of the
Mennonite Church. Mr. Johnson was in early life a
Whig in politics, but became a Republican. He was
not an ardent politician, and never sought office. It
is said of him that "If David, Johnson was Inot an
honest man then there are no honest men."
Mr. Johnson owned about sixteen hundred acres of
land, the most of which is underlaid with the ninefeet vein of bituminous coal, and left to each of his
children a farm of about two hundred acres of land,
with house and outbuildings thereon, upon which
severally the surviving children are still living in
prosperous circumstances.
Mr. Jacob Johnson, the son of David, and the next
to the last born of his children, and who, perhaps,
more especially than the rest supplies the place of his
father in the world, left the old homestead farm,
whereon for a long number of years he had wrought,
just prior to his father's death, and moved upon "the
Middle Run farm," in the same township, to which
he has made many additions by purchase until his
preseilt landed estate covers about a thousand excellent acres. He married in 1852 Elizabeth Knotts, a
native of Virginia. They have had five sons and two
daughters. Four sons and two daughters are now
living anld residing with their father, and being industrious and faithful children are adding to the worth
of the already valuable homestead farm. Mr. and
Mrs. Johnson are members of the Mennonite Church.
CAPT. ISAAC PHILLIPS KENDALL.
Capt. Isaac Phillips Kendall, a worthy farmer and
citizen of Masontown, and a gentleman of individual chlaracteristics and varied talents, was born in
German township, April 7, 1822. His grandfather,
Jeremiah Kendall, of English descent, was born in
Virginia, and was a soldier of the Revolution, and at
one time private secretary of Gen. Washington. He
was wounded at the battle of Brandywine. He married Rhoda McIntyre, of Virginia, a lady of Scotch
lineage, and, nearly a hundred years ago, settled in
Fayette County, and had "patented" to him at that
time the farm upon which Capt. Kendall's father and
himself were born, and on which the father always
lived, and the captain has resided until March, 1881.
Capt. Kendall's father was Jeremiah. He was a soldier of the war of 1812. His wife was Sarah Phillips,
of Nicholson township. Capt. Kendall received his
education in the common schools and at Rector College, Pruntytown, Va. Nov. 7, 1844, he married Nancy
J. Allebaugh, the oldest daughter of Samuel and
Elizabeth Allebaugh. The latter (referred to in the
biography of Samuel Allebaugh) resides with her sonin-law, Capt. Kendall. Capt. and Mrs. Kendall have
had no children.
Capt. Kendall has held important township offices,
but is no seeker after official positions. He derives
his military title from his election to the post of captain, commissioned as such by Governor F. R. Shunk
in a volunteer company, Nov. 7,1846, which company
tendered their services for the war with Mexico, but
were not accepted. He was afterwards elected major
of battalion on a 7th of November. He remnembers
the date of his military election and re-election because it is the same (November 7th) as that of his
marriage.  Thus peace and war go hand in hand
together with him.
Capt. Kendall is a successful business man, and is
now engaged in farming and manufacturing coke.
He has always been a farmer, and says that he is a
poor one; but his neighbors do niot think so. His
considerable possessions consist of agricultural lands,
coal deposits, bank stocks, etc. He is, in the English
sense, a very clever gentleman. Indeed, he may be
called a "genius" withal, possessing excellent powers
of mechanical invention. He is, mioreover, a man of
refined sensitiveness, studential habits, and strong in604JI/l//l,
rFSAIMVUEL ALLEBAUGH.TERVlUTO.7
Wyatt, Thomas, appointed Dec. 21, 1778; resided at
St. Louis, Mo., in 1834, aged eighty.
Cooper, William, appointed April 19, 1779.
Davidson, Joshua, appointed April 19, 1779; resided
in Brown County, Ohio, in 1833, aged eighty-one.
Chaplain.
McClure, Rev. David, appointed Sept. 12, 1776.
Adjutants.
Huffnagle, Michael, appointed Sept. 7, 1776.
Crawford, John, lieutenant, 1780.
Paymaster.
Boyd, John, July 20, 1776.
Quartermasters.
Douglass, Ephraim, Sept. 12, 1776; taken prisoner
while acting as aide-de-camp to Gen. Lincoln,
March 13, 1777; exchanged Nov. 27, 1780; prothonotary of Fayette County in 1783; died in
1833.
Neilly, Benjamin, appointed in 1778.
Surgeons.
Morgan, Abel, from old Eleventh; resigned in 1779;
died in 1785.
Morton, Hugh, March 7, 1780.
Surgeon's ~Mate.
Saple, John Alexander, 1778.
Clothier.
TD-   A _1 I __1  l 1 7/7Q.eac, ArcnDailua, 11  1.
Mluster-roll of Capt. Nehemiah Stokely's comzpany, in
the Eighth Pennsylvania Regiment of Foot, in the
service of the United States of America, commainded
by Col. Daniel Brodhead, taken for the months of
October, November, and December, 1778, and January, 1779.
Captain.
Stokely, Nehemiah, Oct. 16, 1777; supernumerary,
Jan. 31, 1779.
First Lieutenant.
Hughes, John, Aug. 9, 1776; resigned Nov. 23, 1778.
Ensign.
Wyatt, Thomas, Dec. 20, 1778, on command at Fort
Laurens.
Sergeants.
Crawford, Robert, three years.
Hezlip, Rezin, three years.
Smith, John, three years, on command at Sugar
Camp.
Armstrong, George, war.
Corporals.
Bradley, Thomas, three years.
Jarret, William, three years, on command at Fort
Laurens.
Ackles, Arthur, three years, on guard at Block-house.
Stevenson, James, three years, on command at Sugar
Camp.
Drummer.
Bower, Michael..Privates.
Bacon, John, war, at Fort Laurens.
Caldwell, Robert, three years, on command, making
canoes.
Cline, George, three years.
Cooper, Joseph, three years, on command at Fort
Laurens.
Counse, Felix, three years.
Eyler, Jonas, war, on command at Fort Laurens.
Fisher, John, three years.
France, Henry, three years.
Handcock, Joseph, three years.
Hill, John, three years.
Holmes, Nicholas, three years.
Holstone, George, three years, on command at Fort
Laurens.
Keer, William, three years.
Lamb, Peter, three years, on command at Fort Laurens.
Lewis, Samuel, war.
Lynch, Patrick, three years, on command, boating.
McCombs, Allen, three years.
McCaully, Edward, war.
McGreggor, John, war.
McKeehan, David, three years, on command at Fort
Laurens.
McKissan, James, three years.
MIcLaughlin, Patrick, three years.
Matthew, William, three years, on command, boating.
Marman, George, war, on command, recruiting.
Martin, Paul, three years, on command at Fort Laurens.
Miller, George, three years, on command at Fort
Laurens.
Richard, Richard, three years.
Shaw, Jacob, three years, on furlough.
Shelhammer, Peter, three years.
Smith, Emanuel, three years.
Smith, Jacob, three years.
Smith, John, war.
Sommerville, William, three years, on command; enlisted Aug. 8, 1776, under Capt. Ourry; October,
1778, appointed conductor of artillery; see letters
to, Pennsylvania Archives, second series, vol. iii.
p. 245, etc.; he was appointed by President Jefferson postmaster at Martinsburg, Va., and died
there, March 18, 1826, aged seventy.
Steel, Thomas, war.
Tracey, James, war, on guard.
I
]
79
THE REVOLUTION.
IHENRY CLAY TOWNSHIIP.
dividual traits. In 1866, at the age of forty-four, a time
of life when most men, especially those engaged in
active business, would be disinclined to commence a
new study, the captain, until that time unable to
read a musical note, took up the study of music, as a
pastime as well as a science, pursuing it faithfully for
three years before he felt competent to attempt to instruct in the art. He is now well equipped, a successfiul teacher, and instructs pupils in Sunday- and common schools. Perhaps he is more noted as a teacher
of music than in any other capacity. He would say
so of himself; but he is as well noted throughout the
region he inhabits as an excellent neighbor, highminded public citizen, and warm-hearted friend.
SAMUEL ALLEBAUGH.
The late Samuel Allebaugh, of Masontown, was of
German stock. His father, Christian Allebaugh. lived
in Rockingham County, Va., where he married Catharine Showalter, of the same county, by whom he had
ten children, eight sons and two daughters. Samuel
was their fourth child, and was born March 3, 1789,
and was educated in the country schools of Rockingham County. Growing up he learned the trade of
blacksmithing, and finally came into Fayette County,
locating at Masontown in 1810. He married Elizabeth Weibel, of Germuan township then, now Nicholson. They had eight children, equally divided as
to sex (six of whom are living),-Josiah S., who mnarried Nancy J. Heath, March 4, 1832; James M., who
married Elizabeth Guinn; Andrew J.; William R.,
who married Mary M. Hill, and died June 13, 1875;
Nancy J., married Nov. 7, 1844, to Capt. Isaac P.
Kendall; Elizabeth A., who married James S.
Rohrer, Jan. 25, 1846; Rebecca C., who married
Adam Poundstone, Feb. 8, 1846, and died Nov. 1,
1852; Elmira J., who married Capt. C. L. Conner,
Sept. 21, 1843. Capt. Conner was a soldier in the
Mexican war and in that of the Rebellion, and was
engaged in each from the beginning to its close. He
was a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian
Church, and died April 5, 1877.
Samuel Allebaugh died Sept. 16, 1867, and was interred in the German Baptist burying-ground. After
leaving Virginia he lived wholly in Masontown, except
for a period of about five years which he passed on his
farm in German township, on the waters of Brown's
Run, and two years which were spent in Fairfield
County, Ohio, on a farm which he purchased in
1835, upon which he moved in 1836, and which he
sold in 1837, returning in the fall of that year to his
old and cherished homne in Masontown. His reputation for manally virtues was excellent; in fact, he was
noted for his good qualities as a neighbor and citizen.
According to his means he generously assisted all his
children to a start in life. Thley had all arrived at
maturity before his death. His widow, Elizabeth, in
her ninety-second year, is an active, intelligent, and
amiable old lady. Mr. Allebaugh was long a member
of the German Baptist or Dunkard Church. His
children are Cumberland Presbyterians.
HENRY CLAY TOWNSHIP.'
Bounidaries and General Description-Indian Trails and Graves-Pioieers and Early Settlements-Roads-The Braddock Road-The National Road-Mail Service-Bridges on thle Youghiogheny-Township
Organization and Officers-Villages-The Marylatnd anrd West Virgi nit Corner-Stone-Religious Denominations in Henry Clay-Cerneteries-Schools.
IN 1823, at the January session of court for Fayette County, there was presented a petition of the
inhabitants of Wharton township for a division beginning at the Great Falls on Youghiogheny River;
thence to Carrol's mill; thence by said mill to tlhe
Virginia (now  West Virginia) line.  An order was
issued, and Morris Morris, Thomas Collins, and Abel
Campbell appointed viewers to inquire into the propriety of such division. In obedience to the order
they reported that with the assistance of a competent
surveyor they had performed the duties assigned to
1 By Saniuel T. Wiley.
39
them by taking into consideration the territory of the
township, its population, etc., and recommend a division of said township by running lines, viz.: Beginning at the Great Falls of the Youghiogheny
River; thence south 180 perches, south 37~ degrees
west, 646 perches to the mouth of Laurel Run; thence
south 30 degrees east, 34 perches; thence south 75
degrees west, 24 perches; thence south 9 degrees
east, 28 perches; thence south 4 degrees east, 78
perches; thence south 7~ degrees east, 30 perches;
theice south 10 degrees west, 3 perches; thence south
19~ degrees east, 20 perches; thence south 8~ degrees
east, 152 perches; thence south 30 degrees east, 60
perches, thence south 23 degrees east, 40 perches;
thence south 300 perches; thence south 43~ degrees
west, 702 perches to the United States turnpike;
thence south 13 degrees west, 295 perches to the burnt
cabin at the intersection of the road leading to Car---- -- Ofo-s --  A
605HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
rol's mill; thence with said road to the Virginia
(now West Virginia) line.
This report was presented to the court on the 9th
day of June, 1824, and by them confirmined, and it was
directed by said court that the western section continue to be called "Wharton," and the eastern sectionI be erected into the township of" Henry Clay."
Henry Clay township is bounded on the north by
Stewart township, on the east is separated by the
Youghiogheny River from Somerset County, Pa., on
the south is divided by the celebrated Mason and
Dixon's line from the States of Maryland and West
Virginia, and on the west (bounded) by Whlarton.
It lies partly in the Ligonier Valley, and is the southeastern of the five mountain or highland townships,
and is also the southeastern township of the county.
Its greatest length from north to south is eight miles,
and from east to west is seven and three-quarter miles.
Laurel Hill Ridge runs through the towvnship a little
west of the centre, with an average width of three
miles, and average height of two thousand three
hundred feet above the level of the ocean. On the
west of Laurel Hill Ridge high hills, rough and
broken, extend to the Wharton line. On the east
high hills extend to the river, and rise from six
hundred to eight hundred feet above its banks. There
are here no valley or bottoms, but the river cuts
its way through rugged hills. These hills, east of
the Ridge, extend as far south as the National road.
From the National road south to Mason and Dixon's
line is an elevated plain (with a rolling surface) over
two thousand two hundred feet above the level of the
ocean, a section well adapted to grazing. It was formerly called the "Glades."
Youghiogheny and Cheat Rivers drain the township. Beaver Creek, west of Laurel Hill, Mill, Hall,
and Tub-Mill Runs, east, fall into the Youghiogheny, while Cheat receives from the southwest Little Sandy and Glade Runs; both rise in the edge of
the township. The rapid fall in the Youghiogheny
and these differenit runs offer many splendid sites for
mills or factories. The soil is principally a clay loam
on the hills and.a sand loam along the streams and on
the chestnut ridges of the mountain. Oak is the main
timber, next chestnut, then small quantities of sugar,
poplar, wild-cherry, dogwood, sycamore, and walnut.
Originally it was a very heavy timbered region, but
much of it has been cut, yet a large amnount remains.
Coal exists throughout the township, but in many
places the veins are only from fifteen to eighteen
inches thick. The Upper Freeport coal-vein, about
four feet thick, is found on Hall's Run, Beaver Creek,
along the river, and near Markleysburg. Above the
river, north of the National road, the Philson coalvein, two feet thick, is found, and close to the HorseShoe Bend the Berlin coal-vein, two feet thick, is
found. South of Somerfield, and on land of H. J.
and J. J. Easter and Susan Lenhart, are found veins
of bituminous coal six feet six inches in thickness.
The coal is of excellent quality, and has been mined
here for more than forty years. The principal supply
of coal for the villages of Somerfield and Jockey Valley, as well as for much of the surrounding country,
comes from these mines.
On the same lands there is found a vein of excellent iron ore, which is utilized to some extent, and
which will be of great value if railroad facilities
should be extended to this township.
The Mahoning sandstone is found in many places,
and from twenty to fifty feet thick. Traces of the
Morgantown sandstone are found, and other good
building rock. The silicious limestone is found on
Beaver Creek, well exposed, and also exists in the
river hills in veins five to six feet thick, in bowlders
or chunks.
Fruits, especially apples, do well throughout the
whole township. Peaches are injured by the borer,
and do not yield a regular crop. Pears, plums, and
cherries do well, and grapes are a never-failing crop.
Berries are an abundant crop.
Wheat yields from six to fourteen bushels per acre.
Forty years ago it was supposed it could not be grown,
but a better system of farming than what prevailed
then shows that it can be raised. Rye, corn, buckwheat, and oats are raised, while potatoes are the
staple crop. The soil, improved by liming, and well
farmed, would give better results than have yet been
attained; but the highl elevation of the township
above the ocean, with its length of winter season, will
always keep most of its productions below the average
of lower localities. The township is well adapted to
grazing and dairying. The climate is very healthy,
from the high elevation, pure air; absence of swamps,
and the best of water. The winter season commences
with early frosts about two weeks sooner, and ends
with rough weather two weeks later than in any other
part of the county outside of the other mountain
townships.
The township contains two villages,-Jockey Valley,
on the National road, within one mile of the river, in
the southeastern part, and Markleysburg, in the southern part, one mile and a half southwest of the National road. In 1870 the population was 951, of
which 15 were foreign born, and all whites. In 1880
the population was 1232, in luding Markleysburg, the
population of which was 77.
The Indiani path known as Nemacolin's trail was
the route of the old Braddock road through the township, and where it crosses the river, a half-mile up the
river from the Smithfield bridge, on a high hill on
lands of J. J. Easter, were several Indian graves. At
Sloan's Ford an Indian trail crossed the river, and on
land of Charles Tissue, on a beautiful knoll, was a
stone pile or Indian grave. Mr. Tissue opened it and
found a very large skull, apparently that of an Indian.
The body had been laid down on the ground and stones
set up edgewise along each side of the body, and then
fiat stones laid over them, and then about a wagon606HENRY CLAY TOWNSHIP.
load of stones gathered and laid over them. The Indians only used this region as a hunting-ground, and
never killed any settlers in the township.
Gen. Braddock's first camp in Fayette was at the
Twelve Springs, near Job Clark's tavern stand. Persons have doubted his camping here, as the place does
not suit the description of his first camp, but John E.
Stone took the description, and after a full day's exploration found the place to agree with it in every
particular.
PIONEERS AND EARLY SETTLEMENTS.
In 1768, John Penn granted to Chew  Wilcox
several large tracts of land in the township. These
proprietary (preferred) grants comprised three hundred and thirty-two acres on the head-waters of Beaver Creek, close to the Glover school-house, called
Beaver Dam, a tract onI Hall's Run, above W. Barnes,
one hundred and fifty acres near the river at Confluence, three hundred and thlirty-seven acres back of J.
J. Easter's, running to the Maryland line, and over
two thousand acres on Glade Run, near the cornerstone in the boundary line of Maryland and West
Virginia.
Enoch Leonard was supposed to ha:ve been here
about 1770. He lived within two or three miles of
Sloan's Ford. His wife was Lydia Fish. His son
Enoch married Henry Abram's sister, and went to
Virginia.  His daughter Charity married Joshua
Jones, Elizabeth married a man by the name of Clay,
and Lydia married Job Clark.
Henry Abrams caine soon after Leonard. Job Clark
came about 1778. He left home on account of his
step-mother and enlisted in the American army, and
claimed to have fought at Bunker Hill. He was a
small man, with black hair and blue eyes; born in
Connecticut, and married Lydia Leonard about 1779
or'80, and built his tavern soon after at the Twelve
Springs. He was born in 1758, and died in 1842.
The Hon. Andrew Stewart secured a pension of ninetysix dollars a year for him. His son Job was killed
at the Inks tavern, in Wharton, by his team running
away. Leonard married Hannah, daughter of Benjamin Price, Esq., and went West. Isabella married
Andrew Flanigan, and Sallie married Johnl Collier,
who kept tavern at Mount Augusta. Moses Hall was
supposed to have come here about 1785. He occasionally preached to the people of the surrounding
country, though it does not appear that he was very
much gifted in that direction. On one occasion he
closed one of his sermons in this way. "Suppose," he
said, "that all the men in the world were put into
one man, all the rivers into one river, all the trees
into one tree, and all the axes into one axe; that the
one man should take the one axe and cut down the
onie tree, so that it would fall into the one river,
what a splish, splash, and splatter dash there would
be!" No doubt this was thought (by himself if by no
one else) a very convincing argument. Moses Hall
had a son Ephraim, anid his son Squire kept tavern
after him. Joseph Liston and Plancet came with
Moses Hall. Andrew Flanigan from near Farmington, where his father, David Flanigan, lived. He
married Isabella Clark about 1799. He was often in
Henry Clay township when a ihere child. He was
in the war of 1812 under Capt. Alldrew Moore. He
kept on Braddock and National roads, in the sanme
house. Clark Flanigan, one of his sons, married
Mary Roberts and lives above Sloan's Ford, quite an
old man, possessed of a good memory of the past.
John Sloan was the ancestor of the Sloans, Sloan's
Ford being named after him. He came fromn Ireland
about 1787, then disposed of his property to Sebastian
Tissue, and removed with his family to Maryland,
where he died. Of his family, William, David, Margaret, and Sarah returned to Henry Clay. William
had two sons, Henry and James, and two daughters,
Eliza and Sarah. The latter married Jonathan Butler, and is now living near the ford.
John Potter came from New Jersey to Henry Clay
(then Wharton) in January, 1787. In 1797 he married
Elizabeth Callaghan. John and George, their oldest
children, went to Ohio, and died there. Elizabeth
married Capt. J. Wickline, and died in Illinois; Ann
married a Mr. Hathinson; Samuel married Sarah  
Leonard, and lives in Stewart township; Amos, the
youngest, lives in Wharton, now seventy-four years
of age. John Potter was justice of the peace for
many years, and lived onI the Braddock road. He
was a wheelwright in New Jersey, and the British
burned his shop. He built the first bridge near
Somerfield, which was burnt. He was the author of
a work of two lhundred pages called "Potter's Inquiry." He was said to have been in the Revolutionary war. He was born in 1748, and died in
1826.
John Burnworth came in 1792 from Lancaster
County. He settled near Fairview Ohurch. He was
born in 1767, and died in 1848. His wife was Hannah Hinebaugh. Their children were John R. (whose
son is Rev. P. Burnworth), James (who married a
cousin to Judge Shipley), Mary, Barbara, George,
Christopher, Jonathan, Ziba (who lives near Fairview Church), Susan (the widow of Peter Lenhart, the
tavern-keeper), Keziah, Rhoda (who married Julius
Kemp, of Somerfield), and Rheuma (who married
Charles Tissue, near Sloan's Ford).
In 1800, Ephraim V~ansickle came to where A. B.
Bradley now lives, close to Jockey Valley. His wife
was Anna Robison. They came from New Jersey.
Ephraim, one of their sons, is the hotel-keeper at Somerfield, and previously kept at Jockey Valley.
John O'Hegarty came from Lebanon, Pa.  He
bought the Mount Augusta farm, which was formerly
the Daniel Collin stand in the days of the staging on
the National road. There were stables for seventy-five
horses then. This property is the highest point on
607HISTORY OF FAYETTE COTJNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
the road in this county, and commands a magnificent
view of the Alleghenies.
Before 1800 Charles Shipley came from Baltimore
to near Fairview Churc'h. His sons were William,
Charles, and James. Sebastian Tissue married Susannah Haines. He was at Sloan's Ford at this
time, and was in the war of 1812. His son Charles
still lives at the ford. He had also three daughters,Ursula, married James Lalon; Rachel, married Amnos
Butler; Nancy, married David Thorp. There are
many descendants of Charles Shipley in Henry Clay
and other parts of the county, among wvhom is the
Hon. Samuel Shipley, of Uniontown, who was justice
of the peace for ten years, county commissioner three
years, and associate judge five years.
In 1807 Michael Thomas was living near Markleysburg. He came from Somerset, and married Magdalena Maust.  One of his sons, Michael, lives near
the home-place, an intelligent old gentleman. Isaac
Umbel, the ancestor of the Umbels in the township,
came about this time. His wife's name was Nancy
Campbell. Andrew, his oldest son, lives near Markleysburg, and William, another son, lives on the
National road.
In 1815 James Thorp was living on Beaver Creek,
and in 1820 John Hall, Joseph Hall, John Show,,Thomas and James Laland, arid John Lechner were
here. Lechner shot his son one evening in the brush,
taking him for a deer. In 1832 Amos Glover and his
wife, Eliza Gilmore, came here from Virginia. In
1852 Andrew Boyd came from Stewart, and about
1858 Jacob Staup came from  Maryland. In 1818
William Chidester came to settle where W. T. Reckner now lives, near Fairview Church. John Lenhart
came from Maryland and settled in Henry Clay
about 1820.
John Easter came from Allegheny County, Md.,
about 1829, and settled on land purchased of William
Butler, it being the same on which his son, J. J.
Easter, now lives. Jacob Easter came from Maryland
or Virginia and settled in Henry Clay about 1830.
John Griffin married Sarah Knotts, and came from
Delaware about 1823. He bought the old Twelve
Springs tavern, and lived in it till he built his stone
tavern. His daughter Elizabeth now lives in it. Her
husband was Jacob Stone, a son of Squire Stone, of
Greene County. John Barnes came in 1840 to near
Jockey Valley. His son, J. P. Barnes, is a leading
citizen.
Samuel Rush lived in Hepry Clay township, on
what is now the Flanigan farm. He was a contractor
on thke National road in 1832 and 1833. His son,
Marker Rush, used to ride as a postilion ahead of
the mail fromn Uniontown east in the days of the
National road.
Israel Parnell camne to Henry Clay in 1817; settled
on the property now occupied by his son, Israel Parnell. His three sons-Hiram, Jackson, and Israelare now living in Henry Clay.
As late as 1824 wolves, panthers, and bears remained in the townshil). In that year a wolf chased
Mrs. Elizabeth Stone, then a small girl, with her sister, into the old Twelve Springs tavern, then kept
round the house till it heard a horseman approaching.
In the same year Michael Thomas, then a young
man, with three dogs and a heavy club, killed a bear
near Markleysburg, and Richard Hall in that summer shot a panther. But since 1828 no wild animnals
but wildcats and deer have beenl known in the township.
ROADS.
The old roads in the township were: 1st, Braddock's; 2d, Turkey Foot road, from Confluence by
Sloan's Ford, past Liberty Church, past Potter's Mill,
to Dunbar's Camp; 3d, Selbysport road, froin Wharton, passing south of Markleysburg,-oftenl called
Haydentown road; 4th, the National road.
Township roads: 1st, River road, from Somerfield
to Liberty Church, connecting the National and Turkey Foot roads; 2d, Beaver Creek road, from Griffin's
stand, past Beaver Creek, and joining Turkey Foot
road near Liberty Church; and another branch from
Beaver Creek, running into Stewart, to the Falls. And
since these roads many minor roads have been laid
out in differenrt parts of the township.
Braddock's road entered the townsllip about onehalf mnile up the river from the Widow Lenhart's, on
lands of J. J. Easter. It passed from the ford down
to the mouth of Hall's Run, or Jockey Valley, passing
up Jockey Valley through T. Conaway's place; thence
through lands of William Umbel, passing within onehalf mile of Markleysburg, through lands of Michael,
and past the residence of George J. Thomas; thence
through lands of Jacob Humnberston; thence through
lands of Squire O'Hegarty, the old Griffin place, and
through lands of Andrew Moyes to the township line.
After 1790 wagons were put on the road, and
regular tavern stands were established along the road.
The first wagon-stand after crossing the river was at
Jockey Valley, kept by Andrew Flanigan, a log
building, still standing. The second stand was about
one-half mile farther west, a log building, kept by
John Conaway. The old Jockey Valley school-house
now stands on its site. Conaway moved from it to
the National road when the latter was opened. The
next stopping-point was Squire John Potter's, who
from 1790 kept travelers till the road wvent down, but
never had a license or followed it as a business. His
house was of logs and stood about seventy yards south
of William Umnbel's residence on the National road,
and during the time of the "Whiskey Insurrection"
Potter was known as a government man, although
owning a small still. "Tom the Tinker" sent him
one or two threatening notices, but he gave no heed
to them, and tradition has it that the party who arrested Col. Gaddis stopped at Potter's with himn and
stayed all night. When the road went down Potter
moved to the house now occupied by William Umbel.
I
608HENRY CLAY TOWNSHIP.
The third wagon stand was Moses Hall's, over half
a mile west of Squire John Potter's. Moses Hall
kept tavern at an early day. His son Squire kept a
short time before the road went down. The house
was a large log house, which stood just across the
road from George J. Thomas' residence. Thomas
moved in it in 1864, and the next spring tore it down.
Squire Hall built a brick addition of two rooms to it,
but never put a roof onI it.
The "Standing Rock" is nearly a mile west of the
Hall stand, on Squire John O'Hegarty's land. It is a
large rock fifteen feet high, resting on a bed rock six
feet square in the ground. The Standing Rock commences small at the bottom (about two feet in diameter), widening out up to the bulge, and then, instead
of drawing in, gets wider for three or four feet higher
up, and presents a top level asa table and sixteen feet
square.
On the road nearly one mile south of Squire
O'Hegarty's, where the Widow Bird lives, and over
a mile west of the Standing Rock, John Bowermaster cleared land and kept and pastured packhorses before there were wagons used on the road.
The fourth wagon stand was Job Clark's, or "The
Twelve Springs," nearly two miles west of Bowermaster's, a large log house and log barn, a stone
spring-house, and stone game- and meat-house, and
within a circle of three hundred yards twelve
strong-flowing springs, and on the hillside Clark
planted a large orchard.
The National road was built through this township chiefly in 1816-17. In September, 1815, about
six and a half miles of the road west of Smithfield
was let by contract. It reached the present Wharton
line. The contractors were Hagan, Doherty, McGlaughlin, and Nicholas Bradley, Aull, and Evans
 Ramsey, and they sublet many parts. Kincaid,
Beck  Evans built the Smithfield, or Somerfield,
bridge in 1817-18 for $40,000.
The bridge is 1465 feet above the level of the ocean,
and 513 feet above Uniontown. Barren Hill, or the
crest of Laurel Hill, west of O'Hegarty's, is 2450 feet
above the ocean and 1498 feet above Uniontown.
Woodcock Hill, or Briery Mountain, a spur or hill
just west of Laurel Hill on the road, is 2500 feet
above the ocean and 1548 feet above Uniontown.
TAVERN STANDS.
The first stand west of the bridge in the township
was the Lenihart tavern stand. A man of the name of
Ebert ran a tannery and had a small log house here,
and John Lenhart bought it about 1830, and built to
it and kept it. He rented to Jacob Tabb in 1839, and
William Bruce in 1840, who kept it. His son, Peter
Lenhart, kept it from 1841 to 1872, repairing and
building to the house. It is a long two-story (frame)
building, and was always a wagon stand. It is now
occupied by Peter Lenhart's widow.
The second stand was the Flanigan, or Jockey
Valley stand, built by Andrew Flanigan as a tavern
on the Braddock road, and when the National road
was made through Jockey Valley he repaired his log
house, and opened it in 1817 as a wagon stand. He
was followed by Maj. Paull and Clement, who was
succeeded by Jacob Probasco; then John Baker,
Peter Baker, Jacob Richards (1841), Charles Kemp,
and James Gooden were landlords. Morris Mauler,
from Frostburg, kept and left, and followed the road
into Wharton, renting and keeping from Frostburg,
Md., to Monroe, Fayette Co.
Aaron Wyatt came next (in 1848) as landlord. He
afterwards removed to Uniontown, and was succeeded
in 1857 by John Olivine, who was followed by Lewis
Hamill, now at Chalk Hill, and in 1871 by Alexander
Spear, and since that it has been a private residence.
It is a long two-story building of log, frame, and stone,
and owned by Marshall Spurgeon.
The third stand was a two-story frame building, a few
yards west of the Flanigan stand, and was leased by
Ephraim Vansickle and his son-in-law, Daniel Bradley, in 1851, and was known as the Vansickle stand.
It burned down in February, 1852, and Vansickle 
Bradley built a log house and weather-boarded it, and
were keeping in it in forty days after the fire. They
kept till 1857. It was a wagon stand.
The foutrth was the Conaway wagon stand. John
Conaway left the Braddock road and built a log house
on the National road, near a mile west of Jockey Valley. It was kept by him and afterwards by his sons.
The house is now gone. It stood close to Thurman
Conaway's residence.
The fifth stand was the Brown (wagon) stand, a log
house kept by Thomnas Brown. In 1826 a man by the
namne of Fuller furnished the material and built a large
stone two-story house, forty-five feet front and seventy
feet deep. He kept it, and after him his son Jacob,
who went West and died. Jacob Humberston bought
the property in 1857, and kept it in 1864 and 1865, and
still owns and resides in the house.
The sixth stand was the Mount Augusta stand, over
a mile west of the Brown stand. John Collier first
kept here, about one hundred and fifty yards east of
Mount Augutsta. Daniel Collier, a son of John, then
built a log house and kept it, and in 1824 built a large
brick, the Mount Augusta proper. M'cMillen succeeded Collier, and then Thomas Brownfield bought
and changed it from a wagon to a stage stand. He
was elected county commissioner and sheriff, and went
to Missouri. John O'Hegarty bought the property a
few years ago, and the house burned down in 1872.
It stood a few yards from O'Hegarty's present residence.
The seventh stand was the Griffin stand, and about
one and a half miles west from Mount Augusta a
large two-story stone building was built by John Griffin in 1824, who occupied it as a stage stand. After
his death it was changed to a wagon stand, and kept
by his widow and his son William in 1827, after whom
6(9HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
came Benjamin Miller, Charles Kemp, Isaac Denny,
William Spau, and William Griffin again. It is now
occupied by Mrs. Elizabeth Stone, a daughter of John
Griffin.
The eighth and last tavern stand in the township
was the Marlowe wagon stand, nearly a mile west of
the Griffin stand. It was a large two-story brick house.
Benjamin Miller, an old wagoner, built and kept it a
short time. It is supposed to have been built about
1830. James Marlowe came from Petersburg, and
kept till 1856; then his sons Jeff and Upton kept it a
short time. Andrew Moyes, from Allegheny County,
bought the property in 1876, and resides upon it at
the present time.
The mails over the National road passed from
Farminington to Somerfield, and to those points the
citizens of the township had to repair for their mail.
In 1862 the Somerfield, Pa., and Bruceton, W. Va.,
route was established, passing through Markleysburg,
where a post-office was established, and Dr. Benjamin
Feichtner appointed postmaster. Elias Hicks succeeded hirnm in charge of the office till 1865, when
Joseph Reckner came in as postmaster; following him
were Marion Arnett in 1872, H. Griffith, 1874, and
the present incumbent, H. Umbel, who came in
possession in 1879.
Moses Silbaugh, of Bruceton, was the first contractor for carrying the mail on this route. He was
succeeded by George Burke, the present carrier, whose
successor, J. C. Dehaven, of Jockey Valley, has been
appointed.
The first bridge built over the Youghiogheny
River in the limits of the township was a long
wooden bridge near Braddock's Crossing, about onehalf mile above the National road bridge. Squire
John Potter built it, and it was burned by a barrel of
tar being poured on it and set fire to in the night.
The second bridge was a long wooden structure, built
by Philip Smyth, the founder of Smythfield, or
Somerfield. It stood about one-half mile below the
present bridge. It was allowed to go to decay, and
after it became impassable the ford over the river was
used. Smyth's.bridge was succeeded by the present
bridge, a good stone structure of three arches, built
by Kincaid, Beck  Evans in 1817-18. The longest
span of this bridge is ninety feet, the next in length
is seventy-five feet, and the other sixty-five feet. The
height is forty feet; width, thirty feet; length of
parapet walk, three hundred and fifty feet.
The first mill in the township was called the old
Blougher, or Plucker's mill, about a mile down the
river from the Widow Lenhart's, near to the mouth of
Tub-Mill Run. According to some it was built by a
man by the name of Oswalt. The old mill was
rented for many years after Plucker owned it. Samuel Dean had it rented, and Levi Rush, father of Sebastian Rush, of Farmington, relted it about 1814.
Jacob Easter bought the property about 1850, and
built a new mill in place of the old one, and sold to
Jacob Beeghley, who sold to Harrison Hinebaugh,
who sold to Jackson Tissue, the present owner.
Years ago people came to mill here for many miles
around. The next mill was the old Shipley mill, said
to have been built by William Shipley, a small log mill,
on a run three-quarters of a mile from the river, about
fifty years ago. It was bought by John K. Tissue
(father of Jackson Tissue) in 1872, and torn down
and a frame mill built in its stead which is running
now. The next and last flouring-mill was built by
Jacob ~Probasco at Jockey Valley about 1825, and is
now owned by Marshall Spurgeon. It is a steammill; an engine was attached to it by Aden Clary,
The two Tissue mills are run by water-power.
Distilleries.-About 1794, John Potter had a small
distillery on the old Braddock road; about 1800,
David Woodmansee had a distillery close to Sloan's
Ford, and John Rush had one on the river. About
1814, Barnabas Bond -ad one close to Plucker's mill,
and about 1820, John Kirkpatrick had a distillery on
the river, and Michael Thomas one close to Markleysburg; but they are all gone, and there is not a distillery to-day in the township.
TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION AND OFFICERS.
Henry Clay township was organized in 1824. It
was taken from Wharton, and included at that time
the territory now occupied by Henry Clay, a portion
of Stewart, and a small portion of Wharton. A portion was set off Nov. 17, 1855, to help form Stewart,
and a small portion-a strip less than one-quarter of
a mile broad-was set off in 1872, along the Wharton line, to Wharton. John O'Hegarty and Harvey
Morris were appointed commissioners to run the line
setting off this portion to Wharton, and they enmployed Martin Dixon as surveyor. The cause for it
was the complaint of Zar Hart and others asking to
be set off to Wharton, as Wharton schools were near,
and Henry Clay schools at too great a distance from
theIn. Before this new line was run, in 1853, a petition was presented for a view of Clay and Whartonl
line. John I. Dorsey, John F. Foster, and Robert
McDowell were appointed viewers. The report was
made, renewed, and reissued, anid report made and
approved March 27, 1854. The review was granted,
and J. N. H. Patrick, James Robinson, and Hugh
Graham appointed viewers. Their alteration and
changing of lines was approved June, 1854, and confirmed Oct. 30, 1854.
No township records can be found prior to 1842,
and those found afford only a partial record of township officers, as follows:
1824.-Constable, Levi Rush, appointed.
1825.-Constable, Levi Rush; Overseer of the Poor, John Griffin; Road Supervisors, John Conaway and John R. Burnworth.
1826.-Constable, Levi Rush; Auditors, Jacob Fike, John Griffin; Road Supervisors, John Burnworth Charles Kemp.
I
610HENRY CLAY TOWNSHIP.
1827.-Constable, John Conaway; Auditors, Levi Rush, Daniel
Show, John Bolen, John Burnworth; Road Supervisor,
A. Thomas.
1828.-Constable, John Conaway; John Burnworth, deputy.
1829.-Constable, George Burnworth; Auditors, S. Tissue,
James Gooden; Clerk, Joseph Adanson.
1830.-Constable, William Tissue; Auditors, T. Brow, T. Stanton, Charles Rush, P. Rush; Road Supervisors, Charles
Kemp, Sebastian Tissue; Clerk, Joseph Adanson.
1831.-Constable, William Tissue; Auditors, J. Hinebaugh,
John Burnworth; Supervisor, Jacob Most; Clerk, Nicholas Bradley.  
1832.-Constable, William Tissue; Supervisor, H. Show; Auditors, J. Vansickle, J. Myers, W. Ebert, Daniel Conaway;
Clerk, James Gooden.
1833.-Constable, William Tissue; Auditors, J. Vansickle, J.
Burnworth, John Kemp, Samuel Rush; Supervisor, S.
Tissue; Clerk, Joseph Adanson.
1834.-Constable, William Tissue; Auditors, W. Ebert, S. Rush,
James Watson, M. Thomas; Supervisorsj P. Rush, J.
McGlaughlin; Clerk, -    Adanson; School Inspectors,
Daniel Collier, Thomas J. Miller.
1835.-Constable, W. Tissue; Auditors, L. Rush, J. Vansickle,
John Myers; School Inspectors, J. R. Burnworth, John
Kemp.
1836.-Constable, W. Tissue; Supervisor, S. Shipley; Auditor,
N. Bradley; Clerk, H. Show.
1837.-Constable, W. Tissue; Supervisors, S. Rush, Stephen
Stuck, W. Griffin, Ephraim Vansickle; Auditors, J. Lenhart, L. Rush, James McGlaughlin, Andrew Umbel; Clerk,
11. Show; School Inspectors, Charles Kemp, John Easter,
James Gooden.
1838.-Constable, William Tissue; Auditors, John Burnworth,
H. Show; Supervisors, S. Stuck, S. Tissue, S. Rush;
Clerk, H. Show; School Directors, John Baker, John Burnworth, Andrew Umbel, Peter Rush, James Gooden.
1839.-Constables, W. Tissue, John Vansickle; Auditors, John
Burnworth, H. Show; Supervisors, Israel Parnell, A. Glover,
J. Conaway; School Directors, H. Show, J. R. Burnworth,
J. Umbel, D. Conaway; Clerk, H. Show.
1840.-Constable, John Vansickle; Auditors, John Easter, Samuel Rush, Julius Kemp, John R. Burnworth; School Directors, W. Show, G. Morrison, J. R. Burnworth; Justices
of the Peace, Samuel Shipley, William Tissue.
1841.-Constable, John Vansickle; School Directors, John W.
Easter, S. Shipley, R. Brown; Clerk, John W. Easter;
Auditor, S. Shipley.
1842.-Auditors, John Easter, Jr., S. Rush, S. Shipley; Clerk,
John Easter; Supervisors, Israel Parnell, Henry Yother.
1843 to 1856.-No record.
1856.-Auditors, P. Lenhart, Johh H. Steele, L. Hall.
1857.-No record.
1858.-Auditors, L. Hall, D. Bradley, W. Show; Clerk, J. W.
Lancaster; School Directors, John W. Lancaster, president, J. Vansickle, secretary, J. J. Easter, Clark Flanigan,
J. Reiber.
1859.-Auditors, same as 1858; School Directors, J. Lancaster,
John Reiber, John Markley, John Easter, Thomas Brownfield, C. Flanigan.
1860.-Auditors, L. Hall, J. W. Easter, J. W. Lancaster;
School Directors, A. Boyd, J. Reiber, T. Brownfield, J.
Easter.
1861.-Auditors, same as 1860; school directors, same as 1860,
and no schools taught.
1862.-Auditors, J. Humbertson, J. Easter, R. Umbel; Clerk,
J. W. Lancaster; School Directors, Daniel Bradley, president, J. Lancaster, secretary, J. Reiber, treasurer, C. Glover,
A. Boyd.
1863.-Auditors, same as 1862; School Directors, Ziba Burnworth, president, J. Lancaster, secretary, C. Glover.
1864.-Auditors, M. T. Umbel, P. Clister, D. Bradley; Clerk,
S. P. Lancaster; School Directors, Z. Burnworth, president, J. Lancaster, secretary, Gabriel Seese, Charles Glover,
J. Lancaster.
1865.-Auditors, same as 1864; School Directors, John Barnes,
president, J. Lancaster, secretary, Z. Burnworth, treasurer,
G. Seese, Charles Glover.
1866.-Auditors, M. T. Umbel, A. Umnbel, J. Barnres; Clerk, S.
P. Lancaster; School Directors, G. Seese, J. Lancaster, M.
Sumey, W. S. Glover, Daniel Urmbel, John Barnes.
1867.-Auditors, same as 1866; School Directors, W. S. Glover,
Daniel Umbel, J. Lancaster, A. J. Umbel, M. Sumey.
1868.-Auditors, no record; Justice of the Peace, J. W. Lancaster; School Directors, D. Umbel, president, L. L. Clary,
secretary, A. J. Umbel, treas., J. O'Hegarty, J. J. Easter.
1869.-Auditors, Daniel Bradley, John Barnes, J. J. Easter;
Clerk, S. P. Lancaster; School Directors, J. J. Easter,
president, Dr. Switzer, secretary, A. J. Umbel, treasurer,
W. Hine)augh.
1870.-Auditors, same as 1869; School Directors, M. C. Thomas,
president, Dr. Switzer, secretary, J. J. Easter, J. Shipley,
J. Easter, A. Glover.
1871.-Auditors, Andrew Umbel, Daniel Bradley, J. J. Easter,
J. Conaway, clerk; School Directors, G. J. Thomnas, president, Dr. Switzer, secretary, J. J. Easter, W. Hinebaugh,
M. C. Thomas.
1872.-Auditors, same as 1869; School Directors, G. J. Thomas,
president, Dr. Switzer, secretary, J. J. Easter, John Conaway, M. C. Thomas, W. IHinebaugh.
1873.-Auditors, John Barnes, J. P. Barnes, S. P. Lancaster,
clerk; School Directors, John Conaway, president, J.,J.
Easter, secretary, G. J. Thomas, treasurer, W. Ilinebaugh,
A. J. Umbel.
1874.-Auditors, same as 1873; School Directors, W. Hinebaugh, William Utubel, president, John Conaway, secretary, Elisha Leighty, William Reckner.
1875.-Auditors, no record; School Directors, W. Urnbel, president, John Conaway, secretary, Joseph Reckner, A. J. Umbel, E. Leighty.
1876.-Auditors, M. R. Thomas, J. P. Barnes, J. J. Easter; S.
P. Lancaster, clerk; School Directors, John O'Hegarty,
president, John Conaway, secretary, W. Glover, treasurer,
H. Silbaugh, W. Utnbel, E. Leighty.
1877.-Auditors, M. R. Thomas, J. P. Barnes, Lutellus Davis;
Clerk, S. D. Collins; School Directors, J. O'Hegarty, president, J. P. Barnes, secretary, A. Moser, treasurer, W. Glover, W. Ilinebaugh, John Conaway.
1878.-Auditors, same as 1877; School Directors, John O'Hegarty, president, J. P. Barnes, secretary, J. Conaway, M.
R. Thomas, W. Hinebaugh, A. Moser.
1879.-Auditors, A. J. Umnbel, J. P. Barnes, L. Davis; School
Directors, John O'Hegarty, president, J. P. Barnes, secretary, Charles Lytle, M. R. Thomas.
1880.-Auditors, A. J. Umbel, W. J. Barnes, S. W. Hall; Clerk,
Clark N. Flanigan; School Directors, John O'Hegarty,
president, H. Griffith, secretary, W. Hinebaugh, M. R.
Thomas, Israel Parnell, M. McClintock.
1881.-Judge of Election, John Thomas; Inspectors, J. M.
Seese, W. Conaway; Assessor, I. Seese; Road Supervisors,
Samuel Wilson, Amos Tissue, constable; Auditors, H.
Hinebaugh, W. J. Barnes, S. W. Hall; Clerk, A. B. Bradley; School Directors, Milton Glover, William Barnes.
611HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
The following persons have served as justices of the
peace:
John Potter, John Lenhart, Williamn Tissue, Jacob Easter, W.
W. Show, John H. Steele, John Vansickle, John Markley,
John K. Tissue, George Graff, John WV. Lancaster, Thomas
Brownfield, and John Markley and Johnl O'legarty,
present justices.
JOCKEY VALLEY
is located on the National road, about a mile west of
the river (in Hall's Run Valley), and consists of nine
houses, one fiouring-mill, one store, and one blacksmith-shop. A tavern stand on the old Braddock
road, kept by Flanigan, was the first house. After
the National road was made nearly on the Braddock
road other houses were built, and Jacob Probasco in
a few years erected a flouring-mill. Upon the decline
of the National road, Jockey Valley suffered from
the loss of travel, and has gained but slowly since.
When the National road was completed there was
always to be found at the Flanigan tavern stand one
or more horse-jockeys to trade or run races. A racetrack was also laid out by James Piper, a merchant
of Soinerfield, and from these circumstances people
got to speaking of the place as "Jockey Valley," and
the name remained with the village when it was
built. The residents of the place are Daniel Bradley,
lumberman; J. C. Dehaven, mail contractor; George
Smith, blacksmith; H. Hinebaugh, miller; John
Conaway, farmer; and John A. Patton, clerk. The
taverns were the Flanigan and Vansickle stands,
noticed under head of Braddock and National road
stands. The flouring-mill was built by Jacob Probasco, some time between 1820 and 1 825. John Baker
succeeded him, then Capt. Thomas Endsley, about
1838, who ran it for several years, and was succeeded
by Isaac Vansickle, who sold in 1852 to John Rhomsberg, who sold to Aden Clary, agent of Lloyd Lownes.
Marshall Spurgeon is the present owner.
Jacob Probasco kept the first stock of goods in one
roomn of the Flanigan tavern stand. John Baker next
kept in the same room. Aaron Wyatt succeeded him,
and next came Aden Clary. After Clary, in 1871,
Daniel Bradley occupied the room while building a
store-roomn. After Bradley came O. M. Hatfield, who
kept till 1879.
When Aaron Wyatt was keeping store Daniel
Bradley and Ephraim Vansickle put a stock of goods
in a house nIow torn down. Vansickle soon retired
from the firm, and Bradley kept from 1857 to 1871,
when he mnoved his goods and kept in the Flanigan
room till he built a new store-room, into which he
moved and kept till 1878. In 1880, Mrs. J. C. Dehaven
opened a grocery in one room of her dwelling.
The Southern Methodists hold services regularly in
the school-house under the Rev. Simnons.
MARKLEYSBURG.
About three miles southwest of Jockey Valley, in
the southern part of the township, Within two miles of
Mason and Dixon's line, is situated the pleasant little
village of Markleysburg, laid out by Squire John
Markley and named after him. The first house was
built in 1860. The town has one principal street,
named Main Street, and three back streets.  The
present residents are Hiram Griffith, merchant;
Hiram Umbel, merchant and postmaster; S. K.
Thomas, boarding-house keeper; Joseph Reckner,
cabinet-maker; Dr. S. Switzer; Jonas W. Seese, carpenter; Rev. John Myers; Adam S. Sell, lumberman;
Mrs. Jtlia Markley; Mrs. Little; James Cassedy,
tinner; Mrs. Brown; F. Thomas, farmer;' Watson
Guard, shoemaker; John Howell, blacksmith; SquLire
John Markley; I. D. Seese, laborer; J. W. Seese,
undertaker; C. Thomas, farmer; Moses Chrise, shoemaker; Silas Myers, farmer; John Matthews, teacher.
The only post-office ever established in the township is kepthere. Situated on level lands, the village
has room to build up into a large town. The Shoemaker Church stands in the village, and just on its
edge is a very large Dunkard Church.
The first store was kept by Philip Myers and
Brown, who were succeeded by George Thomas, when
the building burnt. A new building was put up on
its site, and Hicks  Markley kept in it. They were
succeeded by Joseph Reckner. Daniel Umbel then
kept in it a while, and moved to the building now used
by Reckner as a cabinet-shop, and kept one year;
they dissolved partnership, and Reckner kept six
years and closed. Sylvanus Thomas, while Reckner
was keeping, mnoved into the room vacated by Reckner  Umbel, and kept four years. Marion Arnett
opened a store in 1872 in the house now occupied by
I. D. Seese, as Reckner  Thomas had quit, and kept
till 1874. Then, in 1874, H. Griffith built the present
store-house, and kept until 1879, when he was succeeded by Hiram Umbel, the present occupant.
Physicians.-In 1862, Dr. Benjamin Feichtner came
from West Virginia and located here. He served in
the army, and returning at the end of his time formed
a partnership with Dr. S. Switzer, from Maryland,
who had just returned from the army. Dr. Feichtner soon went to Confluence, where he now practices,
and Dr. Switzer remains, the only physician in the
township, and himself and Dr. Feichtner the only
physicians ever in the township.
About one mile and three-quarters from Markleysburg southwest, on the State line and Henry Clay
line, stands a small stone pillar, marking the spot
where Maryland and West Virginia join the Pennsylvania line.
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
OLD LIBERTY CHURCH
was built about 1812, as a Union church for all denominations. It was a log building, and stood near
the site of Fairview Church. It was also used as a
school building. Peter T. Laishley and Henry
612HENRY CLAY TOWTNSHIP.
Clay Dean preached here. The Methodist Episcopal
Church formed a class here about 1825. John Burnworth, Catherine MeNear, and Job Clark were members. In 1830, John R. Burnworth and wife became
members, and John White preached. In 1852 the
church was burned.
FAIRVIEW METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH
was built in 1853, near the site of Old Liberty Church.
Rev. Patterson Burnworth, Charles, William, and
John K; Tissue, Ziba, Lorenzo, and Christopher Burnworth, Mrs. Isabella Flanigan, Mrs. Sarah Butler, and
Mrs. Rhoda Kemp and many others constituted the
class. Ministers in charge: A. J Endsley, two years,
Joseph Ray, Joseph Horner, Sawhill, J. Mansel, Ezra
Hingely, J. McIntyre, M. M. Eaton, Meachem D.
Jordan, S. T. Mitchell, D. J. Davis, Napthali Luccock, J. B. Taylor, and J. Murray, present minister.
LUTHERAN CHURCH.
The Lutherans, about 1845, used Old Liberty Church,
and in 1850 built Mount Zion Church, about a mile
from Old Liberty Church. John Reiber and wife, J.
W. Lancaster and wife, William and Jonathan Close
and their wives, and Charles Troutman and others
were members organizing the church. It burned
down in 1872. They immediately rebuilt, and have
a small frame house. It belongs to Addison charge.
Ministers in charge, Revs. Failer, who preached in Old
Liberty Church, and then in Mount Zion when finished; M. Snyder, David Tressler, Beaver, P. Geme,
1870; William Triday, 1874; Singler, David Crozer,
A. M. Smith, and Andrew Felton, present minister.
GERMAN BAPTIST.
The Thomases, Myerses, and Fikes constituted the
first organization of the church at Markleysburg sonme
thirty years ago. In 1880 they built a large church
at Markleysburg, seventy-six by forty feet, with a
seating capacity for a thousand people. Their ministers have been Hinebaugh, S. Hazlett, Beeghley,
and John Myers, present minister.
THE BRETHREN IN CIHRIST,
or Shoemaker Church, built a house of worship in
Markleysburg  in 1868.  George Shoemaker, the
founder of the denomination, and his son Joshqa,
both from Westmoreland County, preached here, followed by Samuel Smith, but at present the church
has gone down, and the building is used by ministers
of other denominations.
THE SOUTHERN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH
organized a branch at Jockey Valley several years
ago. Ministers: Markwood, Hazlett, Wolf, and Simons.
BURIAL-GROUNDS.
The Leonard graveyard, on the river, is the oldest
burial-ground in the township. The Sloan graveyard
is supposed to be next in order of age. It is close to
Sloan's Ford, and some three miles down the river
from  the Leonard graveyard. The early Sloans are
buried here, while the old Leonards and Job Clark
and the Flanigans are buried at the Leonard graveyard.
Old Liberty Cemetery is now Fairview Cemetery.
It is about sixty years old. Zion Cemetery was laid
out in 1850, and the Markleysburg cemetery about
1860, being formnerly an old graveyard. There is also
an old graveyard near the Flanigan tavern and
wagon stand, in Jockey Valley, where John Conaway, his wife, and others are buried.
SCHOOLS.
The first schools in the township were what was
known as pay schools, taught by the quarter, and the
teacher boarding around among his patrons. The
free schools succeeded them, and have been wvell sustained by the citizens, they taxing themselves from
five to seven mills on the dollar to keep their schools
running.
The condition of the public schools of Henry Clay,
as shown by the county superintendent's annual report, made June 7, 1880, is as follows:
Numnber of districts.............................  7
Number of scholars.............................   279
Average number attendin   g...................   157
Average percentage of attendance..........    53
Cost per month of each scholar.............  $0.64
Number of mills for school purposes.......  5
Total amount of school tax................... $976.58
State appropriation............................. $230.91
Number of school-houses, all frame........  7
Number of teachers (male 4, female 3)...  7
Amnount paid teachers (5 months).......... $770.00
The following persons have ranked as the leading
teachers of the township since 1840: Rev. Patterson
Burnworth, Julius Kemp, William  Thomas, John
Harah, and J. P. Barnes. R. V. Ritenhour and A. C.
Holbert, candidates for the county superintendency
in 1877, taught their first terms in Henry Clay.
613HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Turner, William, three years.
Webb, Hugh, war, on command, at Sugar Camp.
Wilkie, Edward, war, on command, at Fort Laurens.
FORT MCINTOSH, Feb. 21, 1779.
Then mustered Capt. Stokely's company, as specified in the above roll.
WM. ANDERSON,
D.M.M. Genl., M.D.
I certify that the within muster-roll is a true state
of the company, without fraud to these United States,
or to any individual, to the best of my knowledge.
ROBERT CRAWFORD,
Sergeant.
I do certify that there is no commissioned officer
present belonging to the company.
DANIEL BRODHEAD,
Col. 8th Pa. Regt.
COMMISSIONERS' OFFICE FOR ARMY ACCOUNTS,
NEW YORK, July 19, 1786.
This may certify that the above and foregoing is a
true copy of the muster-roll of Capt. Stokely's company, the original of which is filed in this office.
JNO. PIERCE, M. G.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS AND PRIVATES OF
THE EIGHTH PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT, CONTINENTAL LINE.1
[Those marked (e) are taken from a list in the Secretary's office of soldiers whose depreciated pay escheated to the State.]
Sergeant.
Allison, John, died in Versailles, Ky., June 16, 1823,
aged seventy-five.
Adams, Robert.
Atkinson, Joseph.
Adams, George.
Corporal.
Adams, robert
Drummer.
Atkinson, Joseph
Fifer.
Adams, george
Privates.
Abrams, Gabriel, Kilgore's company, 1776-79.
Aikins, Robert, resided in Bedford County, 1790.
1 "This roll of the Pennsylvania Line of course f.lls far shor t of doing
jtustice to the patriotism of Pennsylvania. It is in fact a nmere roll of
the Lin)e as (liseClharged in January, 1781. The huindreds who fell in all
the battles of the Revoluition, from Quebec to Clarlesto,,, are not here;
the wouinded, wlho dragged their torn limbs lhome to die in their isative valleys, are not here. The heaths of New Jersey, from Paranmus to
Freelhold, by a line encircling Morristown and Bound Brook, were, in
the summer of 1777, dottcd with tihe graves of the Eiglhth and Twelfth
Pennsylvania. These regiments from the frontier counties of tlle State
-Westmoreland and Northumberland-were the first of the Liaie in the
field, thou-gh they had to come from the banks of the Monongahela and
the head-waters of the Susquehanna. At Brandywine the Pennsylvania
troops lost lieavily, the Eighth and Twelfth and Col. Hartley's additional
r egiment in particular, in officers and men; and Col. Patton's additional
regiment, after the battle of Germantown. could not maintain its regimental organizationm-Thie Pennsylvania Line, from July 1, 1776, to Nov.
3, 1783.
Alcorn, James, transferred to Invalid Corps, July,
1780.
Allen, William, deserted August, 1778.
Anderson, Johnson.
Anderson, William, resided in Mercer County, 1809.
Anderson, George, resided in Westmoreland County,
1835, aged eighty-four.
Armstrong, George.
Askins, George.
Askins, James, deserted August, 1778.
Atkins, Isaac.
Sergeants.
Baker, Michael, died in Greene County, Ill., ~Sept. 13,
1831.
Blake, William.
Byels, Joseph, of Piggott's company.
Bond, John.
Fifer.
Bacon, John.
Bannon, Jeremiah.
Beard, John, deserted August, 1778.
Berkett, Robert.
Berlin, Isaac, died in Crawford County, June 16, 1831,
aged seventy-six.
Berry, Michael.
Bess, Edward, Van Swearingen's company, 1776-79;
also in Crawford's campaign; died in Washington County, July 17, 1822, aged seventy-sexven.
Blake, Luke William.
Blake, Nicholas, enlisted August, 1776.
Blakeney, Gabriel, private at Long Island; lieutenant
in Flying Camp; captured at Fort Washington;
resided in Washington County, 1817.
Bodkin, Janmes.
Booth, George.
Boveard, James, Kilgore's company, 1776-79; died in
1808, in East Buffalo township, Union County.
Boyer, Oziel, killed in action.
Brandon, Michael.
Bright, John (e).
Bristo, Samuel.
Broadstock, William.
Brothers, Matthew.
Brown, John, resided in Armstrong County, 1825.
Burbridge, Thomas, Kilgore's comnpany; taken December, 1780; in captivity three years; resided
in Westmoreland County, 1805.
Burket, Christopher.
Burns, Pearce, transferred to Invalid Corps, August,
1777.
Byan, David, August, 1777-79; Capt. Piggott's company; served at Saratoga under Van Swearingen; went West with regiment, 1778; at the
building of Fort McIntosh and Fort Laurens;
Pennsylvania pensioner, 1813.
Cavenaugh, Barney.
Cheselden, Edward.
Sergeant.
I
so
Privates.JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP.
JEFFERSON, one of the richest agricultural townships in Fayette County, lies on the Monongahela
River, which flows along the western border at the
base of an abrupt hilly range, whose value lies in
vast deposits of coal, found, indeed, not only along the
river but in every part of the township, except perhaps under a small area in the southeast. Jefferson
had in June, 1881, a population of 1613, and in January, 1881, an assessed valuation of $745,903. The township boundaries are Washington township on the north,
Redstone Creek on the south (separating Jefferson
from Redstone and Brownsville townships), Perry and
Franklin on the east, and the Monongahela on the
west, at that point the dividing line between Fayette
and Washington Counties. Along the river the surface of the country is rough and precipitous, but generally the land is rolling and easy of cultivation.
Handsome and well-kept farms, like well-built and
tastefully appointed farm homes, are common sights
in Jefferson, and as features in a generally attractive
landscape invite the pleased attention of the beholder.
The interests of Jefferson, except on the river, where
coal is mined extensively, are at present purely agricultural, although the interest of coal-mining must
one day become a general one when railways push
their way into the township, as they inevitably must.
The Redstone Extension Railroad, now approaching completion, follows the course of the Redstone
in Jefferson, and will straightway open the rich
coal region lying upon and adjacent to its course.
Other railway lines are yet to come. The township
is watered by numerous small streams, of which the
most important is the Little Redstone Creek, that.
rises in Jefferson and empties into the Monongahela
near Fayette City.
There were, doubtless, in the territory now occupied
by Jefferson township settlements along and near the
river-front as early as 1761; but they were interrupted
by Indian incursions that drove the settlers back, and, in
a majority of cases, frightened them away permanently.
A few returned, however, to their lands, anid among
these William Jacobs appears to be about the only
one of whom there is present knowledge. His land
lay at the mouth of the Redstone Creek, but that he
took a very active part in improving the country is
not clear, since in 1769 he sold the property to Prior
Theobald and Lawrence Harrison. In 1777 the same
tract came into the possession of Samuel Jackson, and
614
was his home until his death. Just when Andrew
Linn came to the creek is not known, but it was not
long after 1761. He tomahawked a claim to lands on
both sides of the creek near the mouth, and put in
a patch of corn on the Jefferson side, where he also
put up a cabin. Presently he concluded the Indians
were getting altogether too threatening, and, fearing
harm might come to him and his family, he hastily
fled to the country east of the Alleghenies. He caine
back in the fall, rightly conjecturing that the danger
signs were past, and quite luckily found his corn
crop intact and ready for gathering. In April, 1769,
he applied to have his land surveyed, and August 22d
of that year the survey was made. That was the first
survey made under the law of 1769 within the present limits of Fayette County.  Mr. Linn did not receive the patent for his land until 1787. In view of
the fact that this was the first land surveyed in the
county, a copy of'the patent is given as follows:
"The Supreme Executive Council of the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania.
"To all to whom these presents shall come, greeting: Know
ye that in consideration of the sum of thirty-nine pounds, ten
shillings and sixpence in lawful money paid by Andrew Linn
into the Receiver General's office of this Commonwealth, there
is granted by this Commonwealth unto the said Andrew Linn a
certain tract of land called Crab-tree Bottom, situated on the
east side of the Monongahela River, on the Great Redstone
creek, in Fayette County, beginning, at a corner sugar tree of
Samuel McCulloch's land; thence by the samie and a vacant
hill south thirty-five degrees, east sixty-eight and a half perches,
crossing said creek to a buttonwood tree; thence by said creek
south eleven degrees, east one hundred and nine perches and
eight-tenths to a buttonwood, south fifty-five degrees, east
twenty-nine perches to a small buttonwood; thence across
said creek and by vacant hilly land south eighty-seven degrees,
east one hundred and sixteen perches to a post; thence by vacant hilly land north sixty-five degrees, eatst sixty-six perches
to a sugar tree a corner of Nathan Linn's land; thence by the
samne north one degree, west 47ic perches, and north 48 degrees, east 336 perches to a box-elder tree; thence by vacant
land north 53 degrees, west 116 perches to an elm; north
twelve degrees, west twenty-four perches to a Spanish oak;
thence by vacant land or land of William Jacobs north seventy
degrees, west 1496 perches to a box-elder tree, and south 38i
degrees, west 70j perches to the place of beginning, containing 2441 acres and allowances of six per cent. for roads, etc.,
with appurtenances (which said tract was surveyed in pursuance of an application, No. 2051, entered April 5, 1769, by
said Andrew Linn, for whom a warrant of acceptance issued on
March 27th last). To have and to hold the said tract or parcelJEFFERSON TOWNSHIP.
of land with the appurtenances unto the said Andrew Lynn
and his heirs, to the use of him the said Andrew Lynn, his
heirs and assigns forever, free and clear of all restrictions and
reservations as to mine royalties, quit-rents, or otherwise, ex-. cepting and reserving only the fifth part of all gold and silver
ore for the use of this commonwealth, to be delivered at the
pit's mouth clear of all charges. In witness whereof His Excellency Benjamin Franklin, Esq., President of the Supreme
Executive Council, hath hereto set his hand and caused the State
Seal to be hereto affixed in Council, June 16, 1787, and of the
Commonwealth the eleventh.
" B. FRANKLIN.
"Attest, JAMES TRIMBLE,
"For J. ARMSTRONG, JR., Secy."
This tract has been in the possession of the Linn
family since it was surveyed for Andrew Linn in
1769, and contains to-day valuable deposits of coal
and iron ores that add to it a wealth of which Andrew Linn never dreamed.
Andrew Linn entered the Continental service during
the Revolution as wagonmaster, and upon the close
of the war resumed his rural life on the Redstone.
About 1790 he moved across the creek, and lived near
the present home of J. M. Linn until his death in
1794. After his death his widow enlarged the Linn
landed possessions by the purchase of adjacent hilly
tracts, and in 1796 built upon the Redstone a gristmill, where Andrew Linn had some years before
erected a saw-mill. The Widow Linn would doubtless have deferred the building of the grist-mill, but
Basil Brown, with an eye upon the property, compelled the erection of the mill under the law providing that every owner of a mill-site should put up a
mill thereon or abandon the same to the State. Mrs.
Linn's son Isaac was for many years the miller. Besides Isaac, the sons of Andrew Linn were Andrew,
Jr., William, Ayers, and John. There was but one
daughter, Mary. She married John Corbly, a Baptist minister of Greene County, who while on his
way to church one Sabbath with his children was attacked by Indians. One of his daughters was scalped
and killed, while he and his other children made good
their escape by flight. John Linn went out to the
Ohio frontier to fight the Indians an4 was killed.
Andrew, Jr., moved to near Fayette City (or Cookstown). William, Ayers, and Isaac lived and died in
Redstone. Isaac occupied the old homestead and
carried on the mill. He went out as captain of a
company of Pennsylvania militia in Col. Rees Hill's
regiment in 1813, and served six months. J. M.
Linn, son of Capt. Isaac, recollects seeing the company leave Brownsville for the field, and recalls the
circumstance that the men crossed the river on the
mill-darn, the stream being then quite low. The
last survivor of Capt. Isaac Linn's company, Sergt.
John Reed, died at the house of S. W. Reed, in Jefferson township, in the summer of 1880, at the age of
nrinety-four.
In 1817, Capt. Isaac Linn built the brick mansion which is now occupied by his son, J. M. Linn.
Henry Hutchinson, one of the hod-carriers at the
butilding of that house, died in Springhill township
in 1879, at a great age, nearly ninety. He came of a
long-lived family, his mother dyinlg at the age of oine
hundred and six. Isaac Linn, who died in 1835,
upon the farm where he first saw the light, had nine
children, of whom the sons were Andrew, John, William, Jacob, James Madison, Thomas, and Ayers.
James Madison lives on the old farm, Jacob in Armstrong County, Pa., Ayers inl Jefferson township, and
Thomas in Perry. J. M. Linn rebuilt the Linn mill
in 1844, and still controls it. He has beenl a miller on
that spot since 1820.
One of the conspicuous figures in Fayette County's
early history was Samuel Jackson, a sturdy Quaker
fromn Chester County, and a business man of large
anid liberal enterprise that made him quite famous in
his day. Early in the year 1777 he settled in Fayette
County, at the mouth of the Redstone Creek, and
occupied land now included within the limits of Jefferson township. The deed for the property, now in
the possession of E. J. Bailey, of Jefferson, recites
that May 22, 1777, Jesse Martin, of Westmoreland
County, transferred to Samuel Jackson, of London
Grove, Chester Co., for a consideration of two hundred pounds, a piece of land with improvements at
the mouth of the Redstone Creek, containinig three
hundred acres, known as "Martin's Folly," and
bounded by the lands of Thomas Brown and Andrew
Linn.
This land was originally occupied for a settlement
by William Jacobs, who is said to have located
upon it as early as 1761. Driven out by the Indians,
Jacobs returned after a while and applied for a survey
ofhis land, April 24, 1769. He sold it to Prior Theobald and Lawrence Harrison, to whom he execqited a
deed bearing date June 2, 1769. Harrison transferred
his right to Theobald, July 10, 1769, and April 5,
1776, Theobald deeded the property to Jesse Martin,
who, in 1777, sold to Jackson. Mr. Jackson selected
a site for his home near the place now called Albany,
and built thereoil a log cabin. In 1785 he erected the
commodious stone mnansion now occupied by Eli J.
Bailey, and in that house resided until his death in
1817. Although nearly a hundred years old the house
is still a shapely, solid structure, and bids fair to remain so for years to come. The land purchased by
Jackson of Jesse Martin was not patented by the
former until Feb. 7, 1789. Jackson was a mnillwright,
and soon after making a location put up at the mouth
of the creek a saw-mill, grist-mill, and oil-mill. He
enrgaged likewise to a considerable extent in the
building of flat-boats, for which there was a lively
demand from emigrants coming over Burd's road to
the river, and thence desiring to journey to the lower
country. The craft were each in size large enough to
carry a family and effects, and while his customers
waited for the construction of a vessel Jackson would
615HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
furnish them with entertainment at his house for a
week or so.'
Samuel Jackson expanded his business enterprises
as time progressed, and grew to be a man of mark.
His establishment, in connection with Jonathan
Sharpless, of the first paper-mill west of the Alleghenies is spoken of elsewhere. He carried on a
store at Brownsville, in company with Ellis Nichols,
embarked in the manufacture of iron outside of the
county, had interests in various other enterprises, and
in 1817 founded the Albany Glass-Works on the Monongahela, of which more anon. Jackson was a man
of peculiar and at times eccentric disposition, while
not infrequently his Quaker blood would boil with
unaccustomed heat and stir up matters rather unpleasantly to the objects of his wrath. When so disturbed he would walk with his long arms crossed behind him, kicking spitefully at sticks and stones that
lay in his path. When his paper-mill employ6s saw
him coining in such mood it was understood that
trouble was ahead for somebody. On one occasion,
while repairing his mill-dam, he kept a boat for the purpose of conveying his hands across the creek. While
he and his men were at dinner one day a traveler saw
the boat, and knowing no other way to cross the
stream appropriated the craft, tied it to the other
shore, and proceeded on his way. When Samuel
came from dinner and found his boat on the opposite
bank he was very angry, and vowed terrible retaliation should the opportunity offer. The opportunity
did offer that very day, for the traveler had been only
to Brownsville, and came back by way of Jackson's
in the evening, and he frankly confessed to having
taken the boat. Mr. Jackson became angry, and excitedly exclaimed, "Friend, I wouldn't strike thee or
beat thee, but I have a mind to rub thee down, and
that severely."  The fellow  resented the implied
threat, whereupon Jackson cast self-control to the
winds, and with his fist did rub the traveler's face so
severely as to draw blood. He then caught up his
victim bodily and cast him headlong into the creek,
calling out at the samne time, "There, I'll teach thee
manners and likewise force thee to swim." Frightened
and half-drowned the fellow scrambled out of the
water, and hurried away as fast as his legs could carry
1 In 1754 there was in Jefferson, near the nmouth of the Redstone, a
store-house called the Hangard, built in February of that year by Capt.
William Trent for the Ohio Company. Trent set out early in 1754 from
Virginia with a company of forty men, to aid in finishing a fort at the
Forks of the Ohio already supposed to have been begun by other employes of the Ohio Company. Catpt. Trent's line of march was along
Nemacolin's trail to Christopher Gist's, and then by the Redstone trail
to the mouth of the Redstone, where, as already told, he built a storehouse for the company and proceeded on his journey. On June 30,
1754, M. Coilon de Villiers, in command of a force of French and Indians, en route from Fort Du Quesne to attack Washington at Gist's, halted
at the Hangard and encamped on the rising ground about two musketshots from the building. M. de Villiers afrerwards described the Hangard as "a sort of fort built of logs, one upon another, well notched in,
and about thirty feet long by twenty feet wide." When they retulrned
in July the French burned the structure. It occupied the present site
of the Bailey mill.
him, satisfied doubtless that although a Quaker might
look meek enough he could easily show some of the
old Adam upon provocation.
"During the Whiskey Insurrection of 1794,2 Mr.
Jackson, who, as a member of the Society of Friends,
was conscientiously opposed to distillation, favored the
acts of the government as a means of suppression.
He had dubbed one of the insurgent meetings a'scrub congress.' It gave umbrage to them, and at
a subsequent meeting it was proposed that a file of
men should go to the residence of Samuel, about a
mile distant, and bring him before them for condemnation and punichment. Samuel did not much like
the visit or the intent of his visitors, and being a
large, athletic man might have given them some
trouble had he laid aside his Quaker principles; but
being a man of peace, he submitted without resistance,
and accompanied his escort with his peculiar and
accustomed step, his long arms thrown crosswise behind, and with as much thoughtfulness in his manner
as if he were going to one of his own First-Day
meetings. The late.Judge Brackenridge, who was
of the assemblage, was personally acquainted with
Samuel, and entertained a friendly regard for him.
He mounted the stand and addressed the people, admitting_that Samuel had been remiss in applying
opprobrious epithets to so august and legitimate an
assemblage, but that he attributed it more to a want
of reflection on ~amuel's part than to enmjity or
design, and that the best retaliation would be in stigmatizing him as a'scrub Quaker.' It had the intended effect.  The insurgents discharged Samuel
with the appellation of being a'scrub Quaker.'
Had it not been for this ruse of Judge Brackenridge
Samuel would no doubt have been personally injured,
or, as others had been, in the destruction of his property."
In 1817, Samuel Jackson began the erection of glassworks upon his property, at a place now known as
Albany, but died before getting the works in operation. His sons, Jesse and Samuel, pushed the business after their father's death, and made of Albany a
busy place. They had an eight-pot furnace, employed
about fifty men, and built for their convenience a store
and a score or more of tenement-houses. The works
produced common window-glass, and obtained sand
from the neighborhood of Perryopolis, whence it was
hauled in wagons. Glass was manufactured at that
point by various persons until 1865, when Ashbel
Gabler  Co. carried on the works. Since 1865 nothing has been done there. Bowman  Reppert owned
the property for many years to 1881, when it was sold
to George E. Hogg, whose intention is to develop the
valuable coal deposits underlying it. Samuel Jackson's sons were Samuel, Jr., John, Josiah, Jesse, and
Joseph, all of whom ultimately removed to the West
and died there. Of Mr. Jackson's three daughters,
2 From the " American Pioneer."
616JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP.
Rebecca was noted for a prodigious strength, touching which a good many stories are still current. One
of them is that it was a common thing to see her
carry a barrel of flour from her father's mill to his
house, and an6ther that to lift a barrel of whiskey
clear of the ground was one of her pastimes. She
inherited the mill property, and in 1820 built a new
grist-mill onI the creek to replace the one built
by her father, which was burned with the oil-mill
and saw-mill before his death. The mill she built
was enlarged by E. J. Bailey in 1844, and carried on
by him until 1865, when the dam gave way. Since
then it has been suffered to remain idle. For her
second husband Becky married Joseph Bailey, and
then-removed her home to Greene County.
William Elliott, one of Jefferson's early settlers,
and a man of more than ordinary local prominence,
made a location upon which his grandson Robert
now lives. In a family of eight children he had but
two sons, who were named Johnson and James.
William Elliott, the father, was killed by a falling
tree a few years after occupying his Jefferson home.
His son Johnson lost his life in a similar way when
but nineteen years of age. James had a family of
ten children, of whom James, Robert, and Joseph
live in Jefferson. James Elliott, the father of the
three last named, died in 1842.
Before the close of the Revolution four brothers,
named Robert, James, William, and Peter Patterson,
mnoved from  Dauphin County to Fayette County,
where they proposed to found new homes. Robert
settled in Westmoreland County and the othlers in
Fayette, Peter and William in Jefferson township,
and James in Franklin. The brothers came westward
in company, and with their families traveled and carried their effects on the backs of horses. With the
journey over the mountains and the pack-saddle mode
of progress William becamne especially familiar, for
after their settlement in Fayette he made several trips
to the East for salt and othier supplies. Peter Patterson patented the land now owned by Emma Cope,.
near Redstone post-office, and lived there until his
death at the age of more than ninety. He had a
large family, but of the sons only Thomas made his
home in the township after reaching man's estate.
He opened the "Red Lion Tavern" on the place and
in the house now occupied by David Browneller, but
did not keep it a great while. He gave it up before
1809, but while it lasted the "Red Lion" was a stopping-place of some note on the old Pittsburgh road
leading from the country south by way of the Sharpless' paper-mill.  William  Patterson warranted, in
1786, the place now owned by William G. Patterson.
He is said to have been born on shipboard during the
emnigration of his parents from Ireland to America.
His children numbered nine, of whom but two were
sons, named James and William. James, who lived
and died in Jefferson, was a captain in the war of
1812 under Gen. Harrison. Patterson went out as a
member of Capt. Reginald Brashear's company, but
Capt. Brashear falling from his horse and sustaining
severe injury resigned his command, in which he was
succeeded by James Patterson. A colored man named
Harry Goe, born in slavery upon William Goe's farm,
was a teamster in Capt. Patterson's company. Some
of Goe's descendants still live in Jefferson. Capt. Patterson followed the business of teaming as well as
farming, and hauled goods from Baltimore and Philadelphia to Brownsville until 1823. In that year his
son, William G. Patterson, continued the business,
and freighlted from Baltimore to Wheeling until the
Baltimore and Ohio Railway reached the Ohio River.
Capt. James died on the W. G. Patterson farm in 1827.
William Patterson, brother of Capt. James, lived on
the present David Wakefield's farm. He had eleven
children, of whom the sons were David, James, William, and Jeremiah. David served in the war of
1812 under Capt. Geisey. Of the eleven children six
are living. They are Nelly, Martha, James, and
Nancy Patterson, of Jefferson township; Jeremiah
Patterson, of Kansas, and Mrs. Sarah Ely (mother of
Mrs. Benjamin Phillips), of Redstone township.
In the bend of the river John Dixon, a Quaker,
was thlle first permanent settler. He came from Eastern Pennsylvania in 1770, and bought the tomahawk
claim of one Wisemnan to about four hundred acres,
upon which Wiseman had built a cabin and set out a
few apple-trees. Mr. Dixon's home was on the present Bowman place, where about 1800 he built the
stone house still standing there. In 1813 he built
a woolen-factory on his farnm, and carried it on two
years, when, the close of the war acting disastrously
upon the business, he gave it up. Mr. Dixon had a
family of ten children, of whom four were sons.
Nathan lived upon the homestead, and died there in
1829. Johni Dixon, his father, died in 1840.
About 1800, Louis Marchand, a physician, located in
the river bend upon a four-hundred-acre tract, and engaged in the practice of his profession. Being a bachelor he took Joshua Wagoner as a farm tenant and lived
with the Wagoner family. Dr. Marchand acquired
considerable fame as a skillful physician, and enjoyed
a large and profitable practice. As the compounder
of an anti-hydrophobia pill, his reputation extended
far beyond the confines of Fayette County, and from
far-distant points, where stories of the marvelous
cures effected had penetrated, came candidates for
treatment.at the hands of Dr. Marchand. That the
doctor did produce a pill of wonderful curative powers
is verified by the testimony of those who were his
neighbors, and from whom we hear to-day of'his unbounrded success. After practicing on the river about
twenty years, Dr. Marchanld removed to Uniontown,
where he remained about twenty years, and during
his residence there married Sally, daughter of Samuel Sackett, of Smithfield. From Uniontown he returned to his Jefferson farmn, where he ended his days,
dying in 1864.
C,17HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
The Brackenridge tavern stand spoken of was on  A hundred barrels of manufactured whiskey stored
the road between Perryopolis and Brownsville, near  in the still-house were carried away in the general
the site of the Mount Vernon Methodist Church. wreck, and, like the rest of the property, utterly lost.
Bryant Taylor was perhaps the first landlord there, Nearly forty years afterwards the still "worm" was
and after him Samuel Brackenridge conducted its  found buried in the sand on the creek bottom. Mr.
hospitalities for some years. Brackenridge's was a  Goe rebuilt the distillery and carried it on until his
favorite resort, and merry reunions there of young  death in 1817. After that his son Henry conducted
folks were of frequent occurrence. Old Mr. Bracken-  the business until 1830, anld then gave it up. In this
ridge was peculiar in being easily annoyed, and the  connection comes a recollection of a story about W.
mischievous ones of the neighborhood never lost an  G. Patterson and John Watson. They wanted some
opportunity to vex and harass him. There was much  whiskey for harvest-time, and undertook to make it at
travel over the road, for it was by that way sand and  the old Goe distillery, then abandoned. The whiskey
other supplies were conveyed from Perryopolis to the  was scorched a little and turned blue, but it passed
Albany Glass-Works. Brackenridge kept the tavern  muster after a fashion, not, however, without some
until his death in 1840, after which it was closed.  misgivings on the part of the farm hands, who were
William  Forsyth purchased in 1780 a tomahawk  at first suspicious of the color. Subsequently they
right to four hundred acres on the river, and gave in  gave it the name of bluejay whiskey, and as the mnanuexchange two cows, a bushel of salt, and a gun. Ad-  facturers of the "blue jay" brand, Messrs. Patterson
joining Forsyth one Isaac Hastings had already  and Watson became famous far and near.
made a settlemnent, but he soon grew tired of staying    Philip, another of William Goe's sons, moved to
there and moved away.  Eli, son of William For-  Kentucky, and married a daughter of Daniel Boone.
syth, threw a cobblestone dam across the river, and  Batemnan Goe, the distiller, was grandfather to Robert
for a little time operated a grist-mill on the Forsyth  S. Goe, Gen. John S. Goe, and Mrs. Robert Elliott,
place.                                               of Jefferson. Allusion to Bateman Goe and his disNot far from Albany, at a locality known as Turtle-  tillery suggests the remark that stills were in the early
town, old Billy Norcross was a blacksmnith at an early  time as plentiful almost as blackberries in June, and
day. Billy was not a very nice mani to look at. In- that every large farm should have its still-house was
deed, he was so objectionable in appearance that  expected as a matter of course. David Porter, living
horses taken to him to be shod utterly refused to go  near Merrittstown, was the gauger for the government
near him until they were blindfolded. At least, such  about 1809, anid as he embraced within his jurisdicis the story told of him.                            tion a large stretch of country, he was kept as busy
William  Goe, a Marylander, came to Fayette  as a bee.
County in 1780, and located in Jefferson, on the    On Sept. 5,1784, a tract of land, including four hunriver near Troytown, and there resided until his  dred andtwenty-three acres, and called "Tunis," was
death. He lived to be nearly a hundred years old, surveyed to Tunis Wells, and in 1790 patented to
and was buried in a coffin that he had kept in his  him for three pounds, ten shillings, and sixpence.
house for years. He concluded it would be well to  Mr. Wells made his settlement about 1780, and, losing
have his coffin about him during life, so that he might his wife by death soon after coming, married for his
get used to it, and accordingly orderel Samuel Brown  second wife Margaret WVilliams. By his first wife he
to make one for him. He stored it in his garret,  had six children, of whom nonle are now living. By
where in due time it became a receptacle for dried.his second the children were Mary, Joseph, Rachel,
fruit, and soon served as a lodging-place for rats.  Elizabeth, Margaret, James, Jacob, and Charlotte.
When old Mr. Goe discovered the base uses to which  The only one living is Charlotte, whose home is in
the coffin had come he declared he wouldn't allow  Iowa. James died in Jefferson, Jacobin Ohio, and
himself to be buried in it, and gave it over for the  Joseph on the old homestead in 1877. There his
last home of onie of his slaves just deceased.  For  widow still lives. Tunis Wells himself died on his
himself a second one was made by Samuel Brown, Jefferson farm in 1811, and was buried in the Dunlap
and in that one Mr. Goe was accustomed to lie occa- Creek churchyard.  His widow died in 1845. Josionally during life, to make sure, perhaps, that he  seph Wells' widow, now residing on the Tullis Wells
was not outgrowing it. William Goe was eccentric  place, came with her father, Issachar Shaw, to Jefferenoughto sow hisgrain whileridinghorseback through  son in 1816.
his field, but just why he followed that fashion no one    Near the Sharpless paper-mill, site William Norris
appears to know.                                     lived on land that he warranted in 1772, Richard
One of the largest distilleries in Fayette was built by  Noble on the W. C. Johnson place that he patented
Bateman Goe (son of William Goe), on Whiskey Run, in 1785, and John Ray on land now occupied by Joabout the year 1800. Goe had a still-house, malt-  seph and E. D. Stewart, and patented by Ray in
house, and chopping-house, and manufactured great  1788. Adamn Laughlin lived on a farm adjoining S.
quantities of apple-jack. In 1809 a severe flood came  R. Nutt's place, where he died in 1811.
and swept still, malt-house, and all into the Redstone.    Peter Miller, a Quaker, was conspicuous with Jona618JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP.
than Sharpless as a leading member of the Society of
Friends worshiping at Centre Meeting-house, in Redstone. He came to the vicinty of Redstone Creek
from New Jersey in 1791, and located land now occupied in part by Thomas Miller, in Jefferson township. Peter Miller was a most excellent gentleman,
of particular methods, and famous withal as a model
farmer. In illustration of his rustic ideas and nonfamiliarity with law, it is told that upon being summoned to court as a witness, and beinig asked how he
would swear, insisted upon replying, "I qualify."
MuLch to his and the court's relief, Jonathan Sharpless, there present, came to the rescue with "he affirms."
Mr. Miller and his family were constant and
zealous attendants at the Quaker meeting-house in
Redstone, whither the young ladies frequently proceeded upon their father's oxen. At the junction of
Crab-Apple Run with Redstone Creek may be seen
a rock yet known as Quaker Rock, so called from the
fact that from the rock the Quakers had thrown a tree
across the creek, and thus easily constructed a bridge
that served them when they journeyed to church each
First Day. Peter Miller had six children. The sons
were named David and Joseph. David moved in
1820 to Ohio. Peter, the father, died in Jefferson in
1838, at the age of eighty-five. Joseph died in 1875,
aged ninety-two. Of the latter's sons, Thomas and
J. D. are residents of Jefferson township.
The place now occupied by Jacob Wolf was originally settled by one McGuire, who sold it to Alexander Deyarmon, a moulder at Jackson  Sharpless'
paper-mill.  Deyarmon was a very eccentric man,
and indulged in such queer freaks of contorting his
body and communing with himself while walking, out
that strangers often thought him demented. He
was, on the contrary, a person of exceedingly sound
mind.and quite shrewd withal. Once, he with his
wife, attended divine services at James Patterson's
house, where Rev. Mr. Johnston had been preaching.
After service the niembers of the company gathered
about the fireside for an after-church conversation.
Presently Mrs. Deyarmon asked Mr. Johnston the
question, "How long were Adam and Eve in the
Garden of Eden before they fell?" Mr. Johnston
replied, "Well, madame, I have frequently discussed
that question wvith myself, but thus far I have not
been able to solve it satisfactorily." At this Mr. Deyarmon jumped up and sharply exclaimned, "I'll tell
you, Mr. Johnston, how long Adam remained in the
Garden of Eden. He stayed until he got a wife,
then he had to quit."
Of Andrew Hammell, who was an early settler on
the place now owned by James Esington, it is told
that being a strong Covenanter he was most bitterly
opposed to the organization of Fairview Methodist
Episcopal Church, and when the erection of a church
edifice was proposed he prophesied most dire misfortune in the event of the project being consummated.
He forbade the members of his family setting foot
within the building, and at all times, when occasion
offered, lifted his voice in condemnation of the adherents of Methodism. One day he and a lad named
James Dumm were riding homeward from mill, and
being overtaken by a violent thunder-storm were
both with their horses instantly killed by a lightning
stroke while passing Fairview Church. When found
their bodies were carried into the church, and people
pondered over the singular circumstance that when
dead Hammell's first resting-place should be the
sanctuary that nothing could have induced him to
enter while living.
Joshua Clark lived on the Red Lion road before
1800, upon the place now occupied by Archibald
Boyd's widow. Clark's son Nathaniel was a schoolteacher, and taught in Jeffersoni some years. Joshua
Clark bought an original tract including the present
Amos Cope and James Clark farrms, paying for it a
horse that cost himn forty d(llars.
Two of Jefferson's early blacksmiths were Reason
Grimes (on the Tunis Wells farm) and James Coulson, on the Mrs. I). Coulson place. Mr. Coulson was
noted as a hunter, fisherman, and btanist. Of his
resolute character and somewhat eccentric disposition
many stories are still extant. His sons, William,
Martin, and Sanford, are now among the best knowi
and wealthiest steamboatmen on the upper Missouri.
Martin, whose home is in Pittsburgh, once worked
for W. G. Patterson for fifteen dollars a month.
Henry Murphy lived on the farm now occupied by
Samuel Murphy. Henry's son John lived to be upwards of ninety. James, another son, was a blacksmith on the "pike."
The Copes settled at an early day in the Red Lion
neighborhood. They were exceedingly numerous, and
ranked among the best known and most highly respected Quakers of Fayette County. The greater
portion of the Copes moved from Jefferson to Columbiana County, Ohio, and located at New Salem.
John Lyons settled on the Christian Swartz farm,
and George Crawford on a tract that includes the
farms of Eli Forsyth and the Messrs. Byers. In the
Red Lion neighborhood some of the early comers
were the families of Stewart, Stephens, Farquhar,
Patterson, Shearer, Ford, Neguis, and Clark.
In 1816, Philip Bortner bought of William Goe the
place upon which John Bortner now lives. Philip set
up a wagon-shop there and followed the business
many years. In his eighty-fourth year he made a
wheel, and it was pronounced a most excellent job.
He died in 1847, aged ninety-one.
David Hough, one of the pioneer millers on the
Little Redstone, in Washington township, moved to
Jefferson at an early day. In his neighborhood were
also Beriel Taylor and Samuel Brown. Samuel Browin
was esteemed a mechanical genius of more than ordinary capacity, and according to popular opinion was
able to make anything that mechanical skill could
619HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
produce. For a long time he had a workshop on his
place, and manufactured amnong other useful things a
great many cider-press screws, and coffins. Mr. Brown
died in 1845, aged eighty-two.
William Parkhill came from Dunbar to Jefferson
about 1800, and bought the old Martin Schilling mill
property on the Little Redstone, now owned by D. M.
Shearer. In 1776 the Schilling mill-site was occupied by John Carmichael, a memnber of the Constitutional Convention of 1776. Below that point Barzillai
Newbold carried on a mill before 1800 on the Krepps
place.
Christian Tarr, the potter, lived on the present
J. S. Elliott place, and for many years made earthenwvare there. He was elected to Congress in 1817 and
1819, and served, it is said, with a good deal of credit.
Mr. Tarr had on his place a colored man named
Charles Smothers, who fought with Perry on Lake
Erie, and for whom Mr. Tarr succeeded in obtaining
from Congress an allowance of prize money for his
share in the capture'of the enemy. After Mr. Tarr's
death his family.removed from Jefferson to Ohio.
The only post-office Jefferson has ever had is the
Redstone post-office, in the.Pleasant Valley school
district. Dennis Smith, who had for some time before that been keeping a store at that point, was appointed postmaster when the office was established in
1856. Successive postmasters and store-keepers were
Joseph Wilgus, Hugh Conley, Edward Stephens, Gibson Binns, and James Forsythe, the latter being the
present merchant and postmaster.
The people of Jefferson remember with a g6od deal
of distinctness the great wind storm of 1852, which
passed through the township over a belt of a half
mile or more in width and inflicted a great amount
of damage. The stormn set in after nightfall and continued about two hours. It blew down.fences, barns,
and houses, killed small stock, and uprooted great
trees as if they were twigs, but happily no hluman
lives were lost. Among stories of the freaks of the
hurricane one tells how feathers were blQwn from
chickens as completely as if picked by hand. Another
that the daughter of Rev. Mr. Rose, lying ill in her
father's house, was carried, bed and all, a distance of
two hundred yards and set down without the slightest
injury, while the house in which she had been lying
was utterly denmolished. Still another relates that a
lot of James Cary's papers were blown from his house
through an open winldow, and one of the documents
carried a distance of four mniles, to just east of Smithfield, whence it was mailed to Mr. Cary the next day.
W. G. Patterson lost an entire field of wheat, which,
ready sheaved, was swept to the four points of the
compass, leaving not a straw behind to mark the s'pot
where it stood. Similar instances were common.
Some farminers found that after the storm they had no
fences left standing. The aggregate loss was very
considerable, and the general spoliation consequent
upon the blow gave the country a desolate look.
EARLY ROADS.
At the September term of court in 17$4, Andrew
Linn, Jr., Basil Brown, Samuel Jackson, William
Forsythe, William Goe, and John Stephens were appointed viewers upon a petition for a road fronm Redstone Old Fort to Samuel Jackson's mill, at the mouth
of Redstone Creek, and thence to Edward Cook's mill.
At the December term the report of the viewers was
confirmed. The length of the road was eight miles
and a half and thirty-seven perches. At the March
term of court in 1788 a road was petitioned for from
Peter Patterson's to Samuel Jackson's mill, and at
the September session the report of the viewers was
confirmed. The names of the viewers were James
Crawford, William Campbell, Josiah Crawford, Amos
Hough, Thomas Gregg, and William Sparks. At the
December sessions in 1789, John Cooper, Richard
McGuire, James Patterson, James Finley, and Samuel
Jackson were appointed to view a road from Brownsville by Saiimuel Jackson's mill to Moncraft's Ferry
on the Youghiogheny River. In June, 1794, John
Fulton, Charles Chalfant, Richard McGuire, Hugh
Laughlin, Jeremiah Pears, and Jacob Beeson viewed
a road from Jackson's new mill to the mouth of
the Redstone.  In March, 1797, a report of the
review of a part of the road from Jackson's mill
to Kyle's mill was made by John Patterson, Edward
Chambers, Andrew Brown, Moses Davidson, George
Crawford, and Joseph Downer. Aug. 15, 1792, an
order was issued to James Patterson, William Patterson, John Robison, Peter Miller, Andrew Arnold, and
Samuel Freeman to view a road from Andrew Arnold's to Samnuel Jackson's new mill. In June, 1793,
a petition for a road from Samnuel Jackson's new mill
to the mouth of Redstone Creek was granted. The
viewers were John Work, Ebenezer Finley, Philip
Galaday, Samuel Torrance, James Allison, and Hugh
Jackson.
The first paper-mill west of the Alleghenies was
built upon Redstone Creek, in Jefferson township,
and as that incident was a matter of Ino ordinary importanee in the history of Western Pennsylvania,
there is good warrant for making detailed reference
to it hlere. In 1791, Jonathan Sharpless, a blacksmith and general mechanic, living in Chester County,
Pa., made a western trip to visit his brother-inlaw, Solomon C. Phillips, then living in Washington County..While there, Sharpless, who was a
stanch member of the Society of Friends, made the
acquaintance of Samuel Jackson (also a Friend), who
owned and carried on a grist-mill just across the
Monongahela at the mouth of Redstone Creek, in
what is niow Jefferson township. Sharpless made
frequent journeys over to Jackson's mill, and in sonme
manner they came to discuss the subject of the want
of a paper-mill west of the mountains, and from that
to speculate upon the feasibility of themselves supplying the want. The result of their discussions was an
agreement to build such a mill upon the Redstone
----
I
620No. 1. Residence of Charles Ford.
"' 2.      " "' Lewis Cope.
"  3.      4  "        John Q. Adams.
RED LJ)H VMLLIEY.
No. 5. Residence of David Biowneller.
I  6.      "  "         James S. Forsythe.
7 -     i     " Gibson Binns.JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP.
Creek, on some land owned by Jackson. As a precedent thereto Sharpless returned home to provide
the sum of fifteen hundred dollars, his half of the
capital necessary to start the proposed enterprise,
also to further investigate the business of papermaking as conducted on the Brandywine, that the
new firm might have some practical knowledge of the
business before embarking in it, for neither knew
anything of the details of paper manufacture. Sharpless found the work of raising fifteen hundred dollars
upon the fruits of his smith-labor a slow process, but
within two years he had laid by the amount, and in
1793 he set out with his family for the West, prepared
to set the paper-mill in motion. In 1794 the erection
of the structure was begun upon the Redstone Creek,
in what is now Jefferson township, and on what is the
present site of the Parkhill grist-mill, at the mouth
of Washwater Run. There was then upon the site
an abandoned grist-mill, containing an undershot
wheel, but when or by whom that mill had been built
is not known.
The paper-mill building was made capacious. Its
dimensions were seventy-five by forty, and three
stories high, with a half-story cellar on the creek
side. The understanding between the partnliers was
that Sharpless should have the sole management of
the business, while Jackson should simply provide
means, and so, in accordance with that arrangement,
Jackson gave his time to his grist-mill business at the
mouth of the creek, where he resided, and other inmportant matters, while Sharpless made his homne near
the paper-mill, and looked closely after matters
there. The house in which he lived stood just across
the creek inRedstone township. It had been built
but a few years, and stands in part yet as a portion of
the residence of Joseph Gadd. It was originally supplied with a "stick' chimney, which Mr. Sharpless
replaced in 1799 with the stone chimney now used.
Joseph Grist agreed to build the new chimney for
eleven dollars, but he was twice as long at it as he
expected to be. Nevertheless he held to his bargain,
although a poor one, but generous old Mr. Sharpless
determined that, bargain or no bargain, Grist should
have a fair price for his labor, and so paid him just
twice the sumn agreed upon. Upon his place Mr.
Sharpless had put up a blacksmith's shop, and there,
assisted by Nathan Mitchell and John Piersol, worked
the iron used in building the mill. Their most important work was the manufacture of six large iron
screws intended for pressing the paper. Each screw
was five inches in diameter and four feet six inches
in length. The threads were cut by horse-power.
Sharpless was noted, during his residence in Chester
County, as a skillful inventor, and among other
things he invented a powerful pressing-screw for use
in the United States Mint in Philadelphia. The
story goes that when the Mint was in its infancy a
visitor remarked upon the poor work made by the
coin-pressing machines, saying he knew of a young,
40
blacksmith who could make a screw infinitely bett(r
than the ones there in use. He named Jonathan
Sharpless as the man, and Sharpless was thereup n
engaged to make a screw. It proved so satislactory
that he was at once requested to furnish more. His
contract completed hlie was asked to make out his bil,
and named two hundred and fifty dollars as his price
although, truth to tell, he feared the bill would be rejected as too high, for his work upon the whole job
had not covered more than a month's time. "Still,"
said he, when relating the story afterwards,'I
thought the government was rich, and ought to pay
me a big price." Not only was the bill not rejected,
but it was paid cheerfully and quickly. After paying it the Mint superintendent gleefully remarked,
"Mr. Sharpless, those screws are of such value to us
that had you asked three times two hundred and fifty
dollars you would have got your price." "That's the
time they bit me," remarked the old gentlemaLn while
relating the incident years afterwards.' AsAto Mr.
Sharpless' shop in Redstone, it may be related in passing that there he made for Capt. Shreve what are
said to have been the first steamboat anchors used on
the Monongahela River.
Returning to the subject of the paper-mill, the
completion of the mill building, tenement-houses for
mill-hands, and a small grist-mill was not effected
until 1796, in which year the mill was started and the
first paper made.
The following editorial is taken from the Washington Telegraphe of Jan. 12, 1796, published at Washington, Washington Co., Pa., and refers to this mnill:
"We are happy in being able to announce to the
public with a considerable degree of confidence that
a paper-mill will shortly be erected on this side the
mountains; that there is little doubt of its being completed by the ensuing fall. The gentleman who undertakes it is of an enterprising disposition, and capable of going through the business with spirit. The
work, for which several preparations are already
made, will be erected on a never-failing, streani, in a
thick-settled part of the country, and close to navigation. The advantages accruing to our community
from this additioni to its manufactures will be very
great, and it behooves every well-wisher to the community to contribute his mite toward the supportiing
it. It cannot be carried on without a supply of rags.
Of these every family can supply more or less, and
there will be stores in every town and various parts
of the country ready to receive them. Every patriotic family then will doubtless cause all their rags to
be preserved and forwarded to some place where they
are collected, not so much for the pecuniary advantage to be derived from them as for the pleasure arising from having deserved well of their country. We
shall shortly be furnished with a list of such store1 Sir. Sharpless wore many years a set of vest buttons that he lad
himrnelf imiade and carved wi,ih his fnititals.  These butttonls are now in
thle possession of Sa,ixia Shlarpless, of Jefferson.
9 181
THE REVOLUTION.
Clarke, James.
Cooper, William, of Kilgore's company.
Crawford, Robert, Aug. 20, 1776-Sept. 15, 1779; resided in Venango County, 1825.
Fifer.
Clark, David (e), Capt. Kilgore's company, April,
1777.
Privates.
Cain, Bartholomew.
Cain, John.
Calahan, John.
Call, Daniel, resided in Westmoreland County, 1821.
Campbell, George, Mount Pleasant, Westmoreland
Co., 1786.
Carr, Daniel.
Carrenger, Martin.
Carswell, Joseph.
Carty, Richard.
Casevey, Patrick, deserted August, 1778.
Castile, Samuel.
Cavenaugh, John.
Cavenaugh, Patrick, enlisted at Carlisle in Capt.
Huffnagle's company; he saved Gen. Lincoln
from capture by the British in New Jersey;
afterwards express-rider for Gen. Greene; died
in Washington County, April 5, 1823, aged
eighty-three.
Chambers, Andrew.
Chambers, Moses, from Ligonier; deserted August,
1778.
Chriswell, Joseph.
Churchfield, John, enlisted July, 1776; wounded in
the leg in the battle of Germantown; resided in
Westmoreland County, 1835, aged eighty-six.
Clark, Benjamin, Kilgore's company; wounded at
Bound Brook, 1777; also, in 1778, on march to
Fort McIntosh; resided in Steubenville, Ohio,
1815.
Close, Robert.
Coleman, Joseph.
Conner, John.
Connor, Bryan, enlisted July 2, 1777.
Conway, Felix.
Cooper, Joseph," deserted August, 1778; died Jan.
16, 1823, in Bedford County, aged sixty-eight.
Cooper, Leonard, from Maryland; deserted August,
1778.
Cooper, William, Aug. 17, 1776-September, 1779;
resided in Venango County, 1810.
Corner, Felix.
Coveney, Felix.
Cripps, John.
Critchlow, James, enlisted August, 1776, in Capt.
Moses Carson's company; served in all the Saratoga engagements under Lieut.-Col. Butler; resided in Butler County, 1835, aged seventy-eight.
1 The fact of a soldier being marked on one roll deserted amounted to
nothing, because they usually returned after a few months' absence.
Crosley, Timothy.
Cruikshank, Andrew, Miller's company, Aug. 17,
1776-September, 1779; resided in Butler County,
1810.
Curtin, John.
Sergeants.
Dennison, James.
Donnalson, William.
Corporal.
Davis, William, died in Muskingum Countv, Ohio,
in 1834, aged eighty-two.
Privates.
Darragh, John.
Davis, John, died in Holmes County, Ohio, June 7,
1830, aged sixty-four.
Dempey, ThomaS.
Dennis, Michael.
Dennis, Thomas, killed in April, 1779.
Dennison, Joseph (e), transferred to Seventh Regiment.
Desperett, HenryDickerson, Henry, enlisted 1776 in Van Swearingen's
company, at Saratoga, etc.; resided in Washington County in 1813.
Dickson, William.
Dolphin, Joseph.
Dougherty, James, alias Capt. Fitzpatrick, deserted
August, 1778, and executed for robbery.
Dougherty, Mordecai brother of above, deserted
August, 1778.
Dowden, John.
Du Kinson, Joseph, killed in action.
Evans, Arnold (e).
Edwards, John.
Sergeant.
Drummer.
Fifer.
Evans, Anthony, promoted to fife-major, Third Pennsylvania.
Privates.
Edwards, David (e).
Everall, Charles.
Quarternmaster-Sergeant.
Fletcher, Simon.
Sergeants.
Font, Matthew.
Forbes, William.
Corporal.
Fitzgibbons, James.
Privates.
Faith, Abraham, Capt. Mann's company, Aug. 15,
1776-Nov. 19, 1779; resided in Somerset,County
in 1825, aged seventy-four.
I6HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
keepers as can make it convenient to receive them,
and shall then announce their names to the public."
The Telegraphe bearing date May 24, 1796, contains
the following advertisement:
" TO THE PUBLIC.'Samuel Jackson and Co.
"Inform the inhabitants of the Western Country that they
are making every exertion to forward the completion of their
Paper-Mill, which they are erecting on Big Redstone, about
four miles from Brownsville, in Fayette County, a never-failing
stream. That they have experienced Workmen engaged to
carry on the work, and hope to be able before the expiration of
the present year to furnish their Fellow-Citizens with the different kinds of paper usually in demand, of their own mnanufacture, and of as good quality as any brought fromn below the
mountains. They request their fellow-Citizens generally to
promote their undertaking by encouraging the savingr and collecting of rags, and inform Merchants and Store-keepers in particular that they will give them a generous price in Cash for
such clean Linen and Cotton rags as they may collect.
"REDSTONE, May 19, 1796."
The same paper of June 20, 1797, contains the following notice: "The paper wyhich you now read was
manufactured at Redstone, by Messrs. Jackson 
Sharpless, and forwarded with a request to publish
thereon a number of the Telegraphe, that the public
might judge of their performance."
In the Pittsburgh Gazette of June 24, 1797, appeared
the following:
"This paper is made in the Western country.  It is
with great pleasure we present to the public the Pittsburgh Gazette, printed on paper made by Messrs.
Jackson  Sharpless, on Redstone Creek, in Fayette
County.  Writing-paper, all kinds and qualities, as
well as printing-paper, will be made at the mill. This
is of great importance to the inhabitants of the country, not only because it will be cheaper than that
which is brought across the mountains, but it will
keep a large sum of money in the country which is
yearly sent out for the article."
The first sheet of paper was dipped by Polly Given,
a young woman employed in Jonathan Sharpless'
family, to whom  she had comrne from  Brownsville.
She married Capt. James Patterson in 1801. When
Sharpless found that upwards of $6000 had been laid
out in the building of the paper-mill and attachments,
instead of the $3000 reckoned upon, he was somrnewhat
nervous over the great outlay and feared a profitless
result, especially as Jackson had furnished the bulk
of the capital and held everything in his name, although Sharpless was ostensibly a half-partner. The
situation worried Sharpless, for not only all of his
money but money belonging to his wife had been put
into the affair without any writings to show that he
had any claim whlatever. Added to that was the information that Mr. Jackson was a sharp one and
likely to ignore his partner's claims entirely, in
view of the fact that there was no written evidence
to them. But Mr. Jackson was the soul of honor in
all his transactions with Sharpless, and in 1798 gave
hin a clear and unquestionable title to one-half of the
business, the property, and the profits. The earliest
manufacture of the mill was writing-paper, which
Sharpless himself carried to Pittsburgh in a two-horse
wagon, and there sold as he could find customers.
To find them was not difficult, for he placed his goods
far below the prices that hlad ruled before his advent,
and at his prices he made a very handsome profit. In
his record of the profits he stated that he paid four
cents a pound for rags, and sold his paper for one
dollar per quire. He used often to tell that when
peddling his paper in Pittsburgh he would find his
pockets so overloaded with silver that he would have
to stop his sales until he could hurry back to the
tavern and deposit his coin with the landlord. Then,
his pockets being empty, he resumed traffic. In 1797
the mill made chiefly printing-paper, and emnployed
as many as twenty or twenty-five hands.
Samuel Jackson and Jonathan Sharpless carried on
the paper-mill together with much profit until 1810,
when Sharpless concluded to retire from active participationi, and accordingly leased his half-interest to
Samuel Jackson for twelve hundred dollars perannum.
Jackson thereupon took in as a partner his son Jesse,
who had married Jonathan Sharpless' daughter Betsey. Jonathan Sharpless moved to Franklin township, on Redstone Creek, where he had purchased
the mill property owned by Jonathan Hill, and which
is now owned by Samuel Smock. Mr. Sharpless
called the place Salem Mill, built there also a sicklefactory, fulling-mill, blacksmith-shop, etc., and conducted for many years an extensive business. There
he died Jan. 20, 1860, at the age of ninety-two, and
was buried in the Quaker Cemetery in Centre school
district, Redstone townshlip. Upon taking possession
with his son of the paper-mill Samuel Jackson removed his residence from the mouth of the creek to
the paper-mill, and occupied the stone mansion built
by Jonathan Sharpless, near the mill, and yet in good
preservation. Upon the death of Samuel Jackson)
in 1817, Jesse Jackson became the sole proprietor of
the paper-mlill business, and shortly associated witl
him Samnuel, son of Jonathan Sharpless.  In 1822,
Jesse Jackson removed to the mouth of Redstone to
take charge of the mill there, leaving the paper-mill
in the hands of Samuel Sharpless, William Sharpless,
and Job Harvey. The latter firm carried it on three
years. A time-book kept by them in 1823, still preserved, shows a list of the girls employed at the mill
that year. They were nanled Nellie Shaw, Nancy
Castler, Peggy Cochran, Eliza Maxon, Matilda Maxon,
Eliza Rose, Ann Shaw, Eliza Dunn, Ann Lyle, Mary
Reed, Mary Bowlin, Lucinda Bowlin, and Sabia Robinson. In 1825, William Sharpless and Jefferson
Carter succeeded to the business, and in 1832 Samuel
Sharpless and his father Jonathan became the proprietors, although the latter took no part in the active
management. The next succession was a firm cormposed of Samuel Sharpless, John Wallace (the latter
622JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP.
for many years previous having been the mill foreman), and Richard Huskins. While they were in
possession  the mill burned, Oct. 28, 1842.   The
loss was considerable, for the building contained a
stock of manufactured paper valued at twenty thousand dollars.  All of it was destroyed.  That disaster
brought the paper business at that point to a close.
In 1843-44, Samuel Sharpless erected upon the site
the Redstone Flour-Mill, and carried it on until his
death in 1846. After that the successive proprietors
were James and John B. Patterson, Charles Foulk,
Sharpless, Patterson  Baird, Baird, Davidson  Co.,
Sharpless  Patterson, Linn  Parkhill, and J. P.
Parkhill. Mr. Parkhill conducted the business until
1875, since which time the property has lain idle.
TOWNSIIIP ORGANIZATION  AND CIVIL LIST.
At the Septemnber sessions of the court in 1839 a
petition for the division of the township of Washington was presented. George Craft, Dennis Springer,
and Thomas McMillen were appointed commissioners
to investigate and report upon the matter of dividing
said township. Their report; made at the June session of court in 1840, was as follows:
"We report that we mnet pursuant to previous notice at the
house of Abrahamn Ilough, on Monday, the 1lth day of November, 1839; that we then proceeded to Imake a division of
said township of Washington as nearly agreeable to the said
order as practicable, making natural boundaries the lines of said
new township when the same would arrive at the points mentioned in said order, commencing at a coal-hank on the Monongahela River about ten perches above the mnouth of a small
run called Coil Run, on tihe lands of said Abraham Hough;
then eastwardly through the lands of said Hough amid lands of
John Blythe to a point on the north branch of Little Redstone,
near a coal-bank on the lands of John Blythe; thence by the
meanders of sai,l north branch of the Little Redstone up to
Evan Cope's sickle shop; thence by a straight line, passing near
Hamilton's blacksmith-shop, to a point in the line between said
Stevens and Asa Chambers; thenrce by the samne to a point in
Perry township line, near the residlence of said Asa Chambers;
thence by Perry township line to the line between Franklin
and Washington townships, now proposed to be called Jefferson township; thence by said line to Redstone Creek; thence
by Redstone Creek to its mouth, thence by the Monongahela
River to the place of beginning. The undersigned are of
opinion that from what is now called Washington township, and
the number of voters residing therein, that the foregoing division is necessary, and they therefore recommnend to the Honorable Court to authorize the erection of a new township to be
called Jefferson."
At the same sessions the commissioners' report, as
above given, was confirmed by the court.
At the June sessions of court, 1843, a petition was
presented "For altering a line between Jefferson and
Perry townships so as to include Martin Lutz within
Jefferson township." Commissioners were appointed,
and the following report was presented and approved
March 14, 1845:
"To the Honorable the Judges above named.
"We the persons appointed by the annexed order of Court
for the purpose of revising township lines, having first been
duly sworn and affirmned aecording to law, do report in favor of
placing so much of the land of Martin Lutz as indicated in the
above Plot No. 2, viz., that the Township line be so altered
that it commence at an elm tree, one of the corners of said
Lutz land, and run north 22~, east 22 perches, thence north
16~, east 76 perches, thence south 70~, west 40 perches, to the
old line, and that in our opinion there is a necessity for the
samle. Given under our hands and seals this 18th day of January, A.D. 1845. James Fuller, William Elliot, Daniel Sharpless."
The court record continues:
"And now to wit, June 6th, 1845, the above report having
been read in the Court in the manner and at the timres prescribed by law, the Court approve and confirm the said alteration."
The civil list of Jefferson from 1840 to 1881 is
given herewith:
JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.
1840. Alexander Blair.
Richard Huskins.
1845. John H. Tarr.
1848. William G. Patterson.
1850. John Miner.
Abraham  Pershing.
1852. Charles McCracken.
John S. Goe.
1853. John S. Goe.
Wm. G. Patterson.
1858. Wm. J. Stewart.
1858. John S. Goe.
1864. F. C. Herron.
J. N. Dixon.
1868. J. N. Dixon.
F. C. Herron.
1872. Gibson Binns.
1874. William  P. Clifton.
1877. Gibson Binns.
1878. Jacob Wolf.
James Essington.
ASSESSORS.
1840. John H. Tarr.
1841. Williain G. Paltterson.
18412. Samuel B. Chalfant.
1843. Thomas Miller.
1844. John Van Sickle.
1845. Steel Sample.
1846. Peter Miller.
1847. David L. Brackenridge.
1848. Asa Worley.
1849. Nathan Morehead.
1850. Martin Bechtel.
1851. James L. Brackenrid, e.
1852. Jesse C. Strawn.
1853-54. F. C. Herron.
1855. John N. Dickson.
1856. Abner Donaldson.
1857. J. B. Hutchinson.
1858. S. R. Nutt.
1859. James Essington.
1860. William Elliott.
1861. D. W. Blair.
1862. Williamtn Johnston.
1863. John A. Corder.
1864. Jonathan Sharpless.
1865. Ilenry WVileman.
1866. Johnston Forsyth.
1867. William H. Wolfe.
1868. Robert Boyd.
1869. B. M. Chalfant.
1871. Lewis Cope.
1872. Joseph W. Chalfant.
1873. Taylor Clark.
1874. James S. Elliott.
187 5. David Browneller.
1876. E. 0. Murphy.
1877. James Chaltant.
1878. S. S. Patterson.
1879. N. E. Murphy.
1880. Harvey Steele.
1881. H. It. Trump.
AUDITORS.
1840. Joseph D. Wilgus.
James Elliott.
George Kirkpatrick.
1841. Samuel Cope.
1842. William Sharpless.
1843. John W. Chalfant.
1844. Isaac Umble.
Jacob Kemp.
1845. William G. Patterson.
1846. John Byers.
1847. Levi Calvin.
1848. William Forsyth.
1849. James C. Elliott.
1850. John H11. Andrew.
1851. David Shearer.
1852. William Elliott.
1852. William  G. Patterson.
1854. William Forsyth.
1855. Thomas Miller.
1856. Levi B. Stephens.
1857. James Coulson.
1858. Andrew Ford.
Archibald Boyd.
1859. John N. Dixon.
623HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
1S60. William r. Wells.    1870. Eli Forsyth.
1861. HI. B. Goe.            1871. Gibson Burns.
1862. Robert Elliott.      1872. Stephen R. Nutt.
186:3. Thomas Lilley.      1873. Eli S. Forsyth.
1864. WVilliamn Hall.    j 1874. Thomas Lilley.
1865. Williamn Elliott.    1875. Gibson Burns.
1866. John Simripson.     1876. J. N. Dixon.
1S67. William Hall.        1877. William J. Townsend.
E. N. Stephens.,  1878. W. J. Forsyth.
1868. Gibson Burns.        1879. HItgh Laughlin.
Thomas W. Lilley.     1880. Emmor Cope.
Hugh Laughlin.        1881. William Stephens.
1869. William Elliott.
SChIOOLS.
Early school history in Jefferson is somewhat vague,
for previous to 1835 there were no free public schools,
and consequently no school records. The first school
now recollected as having been taught in Laurel
Dale District was held by a Mr. O'Connor in 1805.
In Washington District school was taught in a log
cabin by Nathaniel Clark about the same time Nathaniel's father, Joshua, owned the land upon which
the school-house stood. The place is now included
in the Boyd farm. In 1817 school was held in one
of the unfinished buildings at Albany, intended by
Samuel Jacksonl to be a portion of the Albany GlassWorks. John Sheldon, an Irishman, taught there
and in the neighborhood a good many years. He was
a warm admirer of England's king, and kept the
king's portrait hung in his room, in which it was
often his pleasure to gather a company and dilate in
eloquent manner upon the veneration with which he
regarded the royal George. Sheldon died in Brownsville, where his daughter, Mrs. Joseph Graff, now resides. In Laurel Dale District, in 1816, Mordecai
Johns taught in the old stone school-house. In the
same year a log school-house stood in Washington
District, near the present house, and in it that year
an old man of seventy, known as Hickory Quaker
Miller, taught the youths of the period. In 1806 an
old Irishinan taught anid thrashed in Cedar Hill District. He was accounted a severe task-master, and
beat the boys right and left until'they were black and
blue. Roused to a pitch of desperation, the pupils
took revenge on the pedagogue onie day by throwing
red pepper upon the stove and then clearing out and
locking hinm in the school-room.  He,begged and
plead and sneezed until his head threatened to leave
his shoulders, but the boys refused to release him
until he had promised to behave decently to them in
the ftuture. Whether the promise was kept or not is
not related.
Following, is a list of school directors of Jefferson
township from 1841 to the present time:
1840.-Josiah King, Joseph Nutt, William Sharpless, and Job
Mann.
IS41.-Abraham Alfrev, Andrew C. Ford.
1842.-Abraham Alfree, David Deyarmon.
is 1L-W illi;tn Fovsyth, Christian Krepps.
1844.-William Show, Julius Kemp.
1845.-Abraham Alfree, David Peoples, Andrew C. Ford.
1846.-William Forsyth, William G. Patterson.
1847.-Francis C. Ilerron, John Patterson.
1848.-David Peoples, Thomas E. Warner.
1849.-Walter B. Chalfant, Eli J. Bailey, William C. Patterson.
1850.-Apollos Loar, Christopher R. Stonecker, Adam Culler.
1851.-Charles McCracken, Eli J. Baily, David Deyarmon.
1852.-William G. Patterson, Walter B. Chalfant.
1853.-W. J. Stewart, F. C. Herron.
1854.-N. C. Ford, H. B. Goe.
1855.-William G. Patterson, F. C. Herron.
1856.-Peter Miller, William J. WVells.
1857.-F. C. llerron, H. H. Connelly, William Thistlethwaite,
Samuel Brown.
1858.-William Elliott, Thaddeus Chalfant.
1859.-Williamn Forsyth, David Deyarmon, A. C. Ford.
1860.-Thomas Miller, F. C. Hlerron, David Deyarmon.
1861.-F. C. Herron, Williamn G. Patterson.
1862.-James Essington, William I. WVells.
1863.-Samiuel Brown, William  T. Goe.
1864.-John S. Goe, S. R. Nutt.
1865.-Levi Narcroze, J. M. Crouch.
1866.-A. C. Ford, James D. Miller.
1867.-F. C. Ilerron, David Deyarmon, John S. Elliott.
1868.-James M. Crouch, Joseph S. Elliot.
1869.-E. D. Stewart, D. M. Shearer.
187 0.-Robert S. Goe, Francis S. Herron.
1871.-David Deyarinon, Mark Winnet.
1872.-Charles Stuckslager, Andrew C. Ford, Hugh Laughlin,
Israel Cope.
1873.-Robert Boyd, James IHutchinson.
1874.-Caleb Campbell, Jehu Luce, Mark Winnet.
1875.-Datvid Deyarmiion, A. C. Ford.
1876.-Robert Elliott, Israel Cope.
1877.-James Chalfant, Lewis Cope.
1878.-Robert S. Goe, Daniel Bortner.
1879.-Joseph Swartz, J. T. Elliott.
ISS0.-J. R. L,uce, Frank Hough.
1881.-I. 0. Miiller, J. Wehage.
The annual report for the school year ending June
7, 1880, gives details concerning Jeffersonl's public
schools, as follows:
Number of schools..............................    8
Average nuinber of months taught........          5
Male teachers................................     5
Femnale  "................................       6
Average monthly salaries of males.........       $30
4 6      4 "  "       c   females......     30
Male scholars................................    165
Female "......  144
Average attendance..............................  221
percentage of attendance.........      83
"    cost per month.......................   $0.86
Mills levied for school purposes.....................
buildingc.............01
Amount "   "      "    and school purposes....................                 $983.60
State appropriation.............................
Receipts fromn taxes and all sources except
State appropriation..................; 1633.87
Total receipts.................              1633.87
Cost  of  school-houses, - purchasing,
building, renting, etc........................
Tetachers' wages.............         $1200
Patid for fuel and contingencies, fees of
collectors, and all other expenses....      159.82
Total expenditures....                       1359.82
Resources....                         489.94
Liabilities.........................................
I
-~~~~~~~~~JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP.
CHURCHES.
LITTLE REDSTONE CItURCH.
Little Redstone Church was organized by Rev.
Jacob Jennings in a log cabin that stood close to
where the town hall now stands. The year of the
organization is supposed to have been 1797, although
the loss of the early church records renders positive
evidence upon that point unobtainable. For the
same reason the names of the constituent members of
thlle organization cannot be given. The first elders
chosen were Joseph Lyon, John Blythe, Sr., and
John Wells. Among those who served as elders in
the early history of the church may also be mentioned William Steele, John Steele, John McKinnon,
John Hazlip, Peter Humrickhouse, John Gormly,
William Forsyth, Nicholas Baker, J. H. Duncan,
Henry Barkman, David Hough, William Hough, Joseph Wells, James Cummings, J. V. Gibbard, and
William Parkhill. Little Redstone Church was supplied with preaching by the pastors of Dunlap's
Creek Church, and when Rev. Mr. Jenninigs ended
his pastorate Rev. William Johnston took charge.
During his term of service the organization at Little
Redstone was discontinued and its members transferred to the Brownisville Church. In 1844 Little
Redstone was reorganized by the election of William
Steele, John Steele, John Wells, and John Blythe as
elders. A brick church was built in 1845, about a
half-mile north of the old location (William Elliott,
William Forsyth, and William G. Patterson being
the building committee), and a churchyard laid out.
Rev. Thomas Martin assumed the pastorate and remained until 1848, when he was succeeded by Rev.
Robert M. Wallace. Mr. Wallace remained until
1860. His successors to the present time have been
Revs. Joseph H. Stevenson, George Scott, R. R.
Gailey, and C. C. B. Duncan. The latter was the
pastor in April, 1881. The present memnbership is
ninety. The trustees in April, 1881, were S. R. Nutt
and John N. Dixon.
FAIRVIEW (METHODIST EPISCOPAL) CHURCH.
Fairview was organizedc in 1828, with something
like forty or fifty members. Among those who took
a leading part in effecting the organization were
Samuel Goe, Robert Dunn, Stacy Hunt, William Ball,
Jacob Wolf, and William Condon. After using the
stone school-house a year for meetings the congregation built a frame church in 1829, and in 1849 built
the present brick edifice. The present pastor is Rev.
J. J. Mitchell, who preaches once in two weeks. The
memnbership is now about sixty. The class-leader is
Johnson Noble, who is also superintendent of the
Sunday-school, which has enjoyed a continuous and
prosperous existence since Sept. 18, 1830. The church
trustees are Playford Cook, George Krepps, Johnson
A. Noble, Joseph W. Miller, J. D. Miller, Alexander
W. Jordan, James Essington, John Stephens, and
Charles Stuckslager. Some of the early pastors of
Fairview were Revs. Thornton Fleming, Jacob Young,
James Wilson, William Monroe, Christopher Frye,
Joshua Monroe, Thomas Jemison, Asa Shinn, David
Sharp, John Spencer, Charles Elliott, Robert Boyd,
William Stephens,     Bascom, J. G. Sanson, John
Erwin, Warner Long, and Samuel Wakefield.
BELLEVUE (PROTESTANT METHODIST) CHURCH.
Bellevue Church was organized in 1832, by Rev.
Mr. Dunlevy, of the Brownsville Circuit, in the church
building of the Fairview Methlodist Episcopal congrega'tion. Among the prominent constituent members were Thomas Burton and wife, Robert Isherwood
and family, Alexander Blair and wife, and Robert
Dunn and wife. The major portion of the organiizing
members had been connected with Fairview, and at
Fairview as well as at the school-house meetings were
held until 1835,'when Bellevue Chlurch was erected.
The first trustees were H. B. Goe, Thomas Burton, and
Robert Dunn. A Sunday-school was not organized
until 1856. Previous to that, Fairview had a Union
Sunday-school. Rev. Mr. Dunlevy was the first pastor at Bellevue. After him some of the earliest pastors were Revs. Cyrington, Palmer, Hull, Valentine
Lucas, Henry Lucas, Taylor, Colehour, Crowthler, and(l
Stillwagon. Bellevue had at one time a membership
of seventy-five, but can boast now of but about forty
communicants. Among the early class-leaders were
Alexander Blair, Robert Dunn, Thomas Burton, T.
W. Dunn, and Jacob Wolf. The present pastor is
Henry Lucas, and the leader, Thomas W. Dunn. The
trustees are Jacob Wolf, S. W. Reed, and William
Bradman.
MOUNT VERNON CHURCH (PROTESTANT METHODIST).
Mount Vernon was at one time a prosperous organization, but since 1872 it has had a precarious existence, and at present may be considered as virtually
dissolved. No regular preaching has been enjoyed
there for some time. A church building was erected
in 1855. In 1872, Francis Herron, the mnainstay of
the society, removed from the township, and being
soon followed by other members, the speedy decline
of the church followed. There was an organization
of Methodist Episcopals at Mount Vernon in 1849,
but it failed in a few years for want of support.
On the Boyd farm in Washington School District
an Episcopal Church stood in 1805. It was a log cabin,
minus doors or windows, and had for a pulpit a rough
desk, under which the rector's surplice was usually
kept. This looseness in hiding the priestly robes led
to their being abstracted by certain mischievous spirits,
and a consequent dismay when the rector next came
and searched for his garments that were non est. Joshua
Clark donated seven acres of land for the church and
churchyard. The property was for many years assessed to the Church of England. It is thought the
church was built as early as 1800. In 1806 the Episcopalians gave up their meetings, and for a while
I25HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
afterwards the German Lutherans used the house for
worship.
COAL PRODUCTION.
The coal deposits beneath the soil of Jefferson
township are said to extend beneath the entire area
of territory, except a small portion in the southeast.
The so-called Pittsburgh nine-foot vein prevails
here, and the deposits are therefore of an exceedingly
valuable nature. Thus far, however, developments in
the way of important mining operations for shipment
have been confined to the river-front, for the reason that
only by means of the river has there been ready transportation to coal-consuming centres. The contemplated completion of the Redstone Extension Railroad along the course of the Redstone Creek will
offer an outlet for the product of the creek coal region,
and the opening of the railway will of course be the
signal for the opening on the Redstone in Jefferson
township of extensive mining enterprises. Something
like four thousand acres of coal lands lying along the
creek have long been owned by the Redstone Coal
Company, which has been waiting simply for the
march of railway progress to bring forth its hidden
treasures.
Upon the river, in Jefferson, coal-mining has been
carried on to a greater or lesser extent since 1834, and
engages at present the attention of six different mining companies, who ship annually millions of bushels,
employ hundreds of hands, and have upon investment
hundreds of thousands of dollars. In the olden days
mining was pursued according to primitive methods.
The coal was wheeled from the pit to the river bottom
and there dumped, to remain until such a time as the
water in the river became high. Water being plentifLl the coal was dumnped into fiats and floated down
the stream to Pittsburgh or other points. Similarly
coal was mined along the Little Redstone, and floated
out in the same way upon the coming of high water.
The largest operators on the river in Jefferson at
present are Turnbull  Hall, who have been mining
there since 1871. They have a river-front of half a
mile (or from the Washington line to Troytown),
owned from the commencement from six hundred to
seven hundred acres of coal, and of that quantity
have three hundred acres still to be mined. They
have twvo openings. Both reach from the river to
Little Redstone Creek, while one passes under the
creek and so on. Turnbull  Hall have a capacity
for mining eighteeni thousand bushels of lump coal
daily, and employ ordinarily one hundred and twentyfive men. They own a steam tow-boat and forty-three
coal-boats, possess also forty tenements in which
their miners live; they disburse monthly about
twelve thousand dollars in wages, carry on a store for
the convenience of their hands, and have upon investment in their business about one hundred thousand dollars.
Adjoining Turnbull  Hall on the west is a miners'
village, known for years as Troytown, from one James
Troy, who about 1855 began mining operations there
and erected a score or more of tenements. The landed
interests have been, however, owned in chief for many
years by Adam Jacobs, of Brownsville, who has leased
the coal privileges to various parties from time to
time. Among the mining operators at that point
after the departure of James Troy were Thornton
Chalfant, Mark Winnet, John Bortner, and Daniel
Bortner. Armstrong  Jacobs took the business, in
September, 1880, and employ at present twenty hands.
They get out from three thousand to four thousand
bushels daily. Their working territory inceludes about
one hundred acres. Next above the Troytown Works
is the Forsyth mine, operated by Harris  Brother,
who have two hundred acres under lease and mine
about three thousand bushels daily.
Adjoinrling the Harris place is the White Pine
coal-mine, which has'been abandoned since 1876,
when John Stofft was the lessee. The Forsyth tract
has been leased to the extent of two hundred acres
by the Little Alps Company, and will be mined in
the autumn of 1881. At the Marchand mine, in the
river bend, Eli Leonard now takes out from three
thousand to four thousand bushels of coal daily, and
employs a force of thirty-five men. At the Bud CoalWorks the Little Alps Company has been operating
quite extensively since 1873, but that tract, like the
Marchand Mine, shows signs of exhaustion. The
Little Alps Company's works include the coal under
an area of about seventy acres, produce at the rate of
six hundred thousand bushels annually, and give
emnployment to fifty men. Next to the Little Alps
Works, going up the river, lie the works of Morgan 
Dixon, who have been at work since 1874. They
owned originally one hundred acres of coal, of which
they have yet about fifty to be mined. Their working force averages from forty to sixty men, and their
yield is about twenty thousand bushels weekly. They
own a steam tow-boat and eighteen coal-boats. Between Morgan  Dixon and the mouth of the Redstone Creek there is an abundance of coal, but as yet
tlie deposits have not been developed.
The Redstone Coal Company, alluded to in the forbgoing as owning about four thousand acres of coal
lands along the Redstone Creek, was organized in
May, 1873, by Westmoreland County capitalists. At
the head was A. L. McFarland, and associated with
him were Messrs. H. D. Foster, Edward Cowan,
William Welsh, George Bennett, F. Z. Shellenberg,
Israel Painter, the McClellans, and others. They
bought coal lands on Redstone Creek, reaching from
the mouthl of the creek to Vance's mill, and as a condition precedent to their purchases agreed to construct
a railway through their territory. The railway company was accordingly formed, with J. H. Bowman as
president, and a majority of the directors of the Redstone Coal Company as directors of the railway company. Subscriptions to the amount of one hundred
6246%                    1,52
O-t-t-, -_/,JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP.
thousand dollars were received from  people living
along the line, and work upon the road was begun
without much delay. The plan was to grade fromn
Brownsville to Mount Braddock, where connection
was to be made with the Southwest Pennsylvania
Railroad. Smith and Prindiville took the contract
for grading. Prindiville completed his portion of
the work, but Smith retired from the field before he
had fairly begun. His part of the unfinished contract was sold to Campbell  Co., of Altoona, who
upon winding up their affairs with the railway company found themselves unable to get much satisfaction upon their unpaid claim of about twelve thousand
dollars. They entered suit and obtained judgment,
whereupon, in 1879, the road was sold by the sheriff,
and bid in by Mr. Prindiville for seventeen thousand
dollars. He sold out to Charles Spear, of Pittsburgh,
who took in George E. Hogg and Adam Jacobs, of
Brownsville, and they in turn sold their interests in
the fall of 1880 to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. Meanwhile nothing was done upon the road
after the bed had been graded to Vance's mill, but
uponI the acquirement of possessionl by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company measures were set on foot to
push the work to completion with such effect that the
road is now nearly ready for the running of trains
from Brownsville to Uniontown. The Redstone Coal
Company remains still intact, F. Z. Shellenberg being
the president, and S. S. Graham secretary and treasurer, and awaits simply the completion of the railway
linle to begin the development of the coal-mines.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
DR. LOUIS MARCHAND.
In the year 1770, Dr. David Marchliand, the ancestor of the Marchands now residing in Western Pennsylvania, settled on Little Sewickly Creek, about six
miles southwest of Greensburg, Westmoreland Co.,
Pa. He was born in the canton of Berne, Switzerland, and emigrated at an early age with his father,
David Marchand, to the British colonies in Amnerica,
and settled near Hagerstown, Md. His father was a
Huguenot, and fled his country on account of religious
persecution.
Dr. David was a physician of rare albility. He
practiced in Westinoreland and adjoining counties,
and so great was the number of patients who applied
to him at his office that he established a hospital near
his home, to which many persons resorted for medical
treatment. He died July 22, 1809, in the sixty-fourth
year of his age, and his remains sleep in the cemetery
of Brush Creek Church, of which he was a liberal
supporter. His old German wooden-backed Bible
contains thllis entry upon the first page:
"These are the children which the Lord hath given
me. Will the Lord keep them to.walk in His way,
that in their conduct in life and in death they may,
in Christ, grow in patience and virtue:
"Catharine, born March 8, 1767.
"Elizabeth. born Nov. 5, 1768.
"Susanna, born Oct. 13, 1770.
"Judith, born Jan. 12, 1772.
"Daniel, born Dec. 8, 1773.
"Esther, born Aug. 23, 1775.
"David, born Dec. 10, 1776.
"Louis, born June 23, 1782."
The daughters all married and settled in Westmoreland County, Pa. The sons all became physicians,
and all emninent in their profession, and their distimiguished ability, and that of their father, connected
the namne M{archand in the most prominent manner
with the medical profession in that early day. Dr.
David, Jr., located in Westmoreland County. He
possessed great popularity as a citizen and a man, and
was twice elected to Congress, and returned home with
a pure and good record. He was the father of nine
children, seven sons, all professional men. Dr. Daniel
settled in Uniontown, Fayette Co.
Dr. Louis Marchanid read medicine with his father,
and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania
in 1809. He then located upon the Marchand homestead farm, in Jefferson township, Fayette Co., five
miles below Brownsville, on the Monongahela River,
where he practiced his profession for a few years. Upon
the death of his brother Daniel he located in Uniontown. While there he married (about 1823) Sarah,
daughter of Dr. Samuel Sackett, who lived on Georges
Creek; one mile south of Smnithfield. He continued
to practice his profession in Uniontown until 1843,
when he retired from practice and removed to his
farm in Jefferson township, where he led a quiet life
until his death, Jan. 11, 1857. His remains rest in
the family graveyard upon the farm where he spent
his declining years. He was long a member of the
Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and became a
member at the time of its organization in Uniontown.
He had the profoundest reverence for God and sacred
things, and had implicit faith in the atonement of
Christ. Many remember him kindly for his valuable
services, and bless his memory for his disinterested
love. He practiced medicine from love for his profession, anld from a desire to do good to suffering
humanity. He was an esteemed citizen and true
patriot. "His life was gentle, and the elements so
mixed in him that Nature might stand up and say to
all the world, this is a man." He had nine children,
seven of whom grew to manhood and womanhood,Elizabeth, married to A. I. Miller; Samuel Sackett
Marchand, who was a physician, and noted for ability
and skill in his profession. He was educated at Madison College, Fayette County, and Cleveland Medical
College. He practiced in Westmoreland County, Pa.,
and entered the army during the late war as captain
of Company H, 136th Regiment (Col. Bayne's). He
was wounded at the battle of Fredericksburg, Dec. 13
6276HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
1862, and died in Libby Prison, Feb. 28, 1863. His
remains were interred at Richmond, but have since
been removed to the family burial-ground on the
farm in Jefferson township.
The third child, Rachel, married A. I. Miller as
his second wife. The other children were Mary
Louisa, who married Thomas W. Lilly; Frances
Caroline, who married John W. Ward; Lucius A.,
who married Minerva Vandruff, and resides upon the
old homestead; and Catharine B., miarried to Ellis
W. Lilly.
WILLIAM  FORSYTH.
WAVilliam Forsyth was born in Jefferson township,
Fayette Co., Pa., Aug. 28, 1799; died July 20, 1878;
Scotch-Irish stock. He was married, Sept. 18, 1828,
to Jane P. Steele, daughter of John Steele, of Jefferson township. Jane died Jan. 24, 1882.
They had eight children,-Johln, born July 2, 1829,
died Sept. 4, 1852; Eli S.. married to Kate E. Wood;
Nancy J., married to Joseph S. Elliott; Will am
Johnson, married to Lizzie R. Baily; Elizabeth D.,
married Isaac T. Crouch; Mary A., married to Louis
S. Miller; James S., married to Mary E. Morton;
Ruth A., married to WV. Frank Hough.
Mr. Forsyth was engaged in farming all his life.
He was also a coal merchant, and was successful in
all his business. He was a model farminer. He and
his wife were members of the Presbyterian Chlurch
at Brownsville, where he held the office of elder.
When Little Redstone Presbyterian Church was organized, about 1840, he was chosen a ruling elder there,
and continued in that position until his death. He
was an exemplary Chlristian, respected and beloved
by all who knew him. He was quiet, unostentatious,
and benevolent.
His grandfather, William, settled upon the Forsyth homnestead in 1775. He came from the Eastern
Shore, Md. The farmn was known as "Wolves' Harbor."  He had eleven children.  Willianm's father,
Eli, was one of the younger. He was born about
1770. He married Jane McKee, who emigrated from
Ireland when about seventeen.  They had eleven
children, William being the oldest.
WILLIAM ELLIOTT.
William Elliott was born in Jefferson township,
April 5, 1814, and died Jutly 21, 1878. He was of
Scotch-Irish stock, and was educated in common
schools and Georges Creek Academy. He was married, April 12,1837, to Eliza Jane Conwell, of Luzerne
township. They had eight children,-James Stokely,
married to Jane Wood; Annie Mary, married to
Robert R. Abrams; George Craft, deceased; Margaretta Davidson; Matilda Florence, married to William Craft; Virginia Bell, married to William P.
Allen; Sarah Emma, married to Frank V. Jeffries,
and is dead; and Louisa Searight, unmarried.
Mr. Elliott was born in the old Elliott homestead,
about a mile from where his family now resides, to
which place he mnoved in 1837, and led the life of a
farmer the rest of his years. He held a numnber of
township offices, and was collector of internal revenue
for Fayette County, receiving his appointment in
1862.  He and his wife joined the Presbyterian
Church soon after their marriage. Mr. Elliott was
a successful business man. He was honest, and enjoyed the respect of his neighbors: He left his family in very comfortable circumstances. He had but
little, if any, aid when starting out in life, and gathered what he had and whllich his family now enjoy
by his own energy and good mnanagement.
JOSEPII S. ELLIOTT.
Joseph S. Elliott is the son of James Elliott, whose
father, Williamn, came into Fayette County from
Westinoreland County at an early day, and had what
is now called "the old Elliott homestead," in Jefferson township, patented. His wife was Ruth Crawford. They had eleven children. James was the
fifth child and only son who grew to mnanhood, and
was born in Jefferson townshlip, April 25, 1785, and
was a farmer. June 3, 1813, he married Mary Cunningham, of Rostraver township, Westmnoreland Co.
They had ten children,-William, James C., Edward
J., Robert, Ruth, Mary A., Joseph S., Alexander,
Sarah R., and Martha,-all of whom grew to maturity.
Joseph S. Elliott was born at the old Elliott homestead, Jefferson township, Fayette Co., Pa., April 18,
1827. His school education was limited. His business education, gathered fromn observation and contact with business men, is excellent. He was married Oct. 7, 1852, to Nancy J. Forsyth. They have
six children,-William F., married to Laura A. Wells;
Violette H., married to Joseph A. Cook; Oliphant
P., Ida J., Eva M., and Gracie F.
Mr. Elliott spent his early life upon his father's
farm. In 1850 he began work for himself upon the
farm where he now resides, and has ever since been
engaged in farming and stock-dealing. He is a
shrewd, energetic, successful busine5ss man, one of the
real business men of the county. He makes money
and enjoys it, and has one of the most comfortable
homines in the county., He has no church record, but
is a liberal supporter of all causes which he deems
worthy. His butsiness status among those who know
him is as good as need be. He has held the usual
township offices intrusted to business men in a business township. His possessions are chiefly stock and
lands. He owns a thousand acres of as good land as
there is in Western Pennsylvania, and all underlaid
with bituminous coal except one hundred anid thirtytwo acres. He has made his own fortune, with the
assistance of a most excellent wife. Mrs. Elliott is a
lady of rare general intelligence, and has a wider
62J  8
CONTENTS.
PAGE
Campbell, George W.....................................              762
Caufield, Thomas............ facing 740
Chatland, William..................................... between 462, 463
Clement, Samuel M.....................................  "  690,691
Cochran, James....................................   facing  804
Connellsville Gas-Coal Company's Works..................... between 520, 521
Connellsville Coke and Iron Company's Works............          520, 521
Cook, Edward.....................................               826
Cook, John B.....................................           facing  825
Court-house.....................................            "   134
Cope, Emmor, Residence of.....................................   "   620
Cope, Lewis, Residence of.....................................   "   620
Covert, Benjamin............ between 652, 653
Craft, James............                                " 740, 741
Crawford's House.............o27
Crossland, A. J............._                        facing 546
Crossland, Greensberry.................................... b between 360, 361
Cummings, David................................................. facing  418
Davidson Coke-Works........................   "   244
Davidson, Daniel R.....................................  "   408
Davidson, John H......................................"              720
Davidson, Thomas R...........................  "  405
De Saulles, Arthur B..................................... between 544, 545
Dils, Henry.....................................        "   706, 707
Dravo, John F..........                                 facing 415
Duncan, Thomas......................................"           459
Duncan, William S.....................................  460
Dunn, Justus.....................................b between 588, 589
Dunn, Thomas.....................................           facing  563
Elliott, Joseph S.....................................  between 628, 629
Elliott, William.....................................  "   628, 629
Ewing, William.....................................         facing  651
Ferguson, Edmund M.....................................   between 414. 415
Ferguson, Walton....................................            414, 415
Finley, Robert.....................................         facing  737
First Methodist Episcopal Church, Uniontown............................. 323
Ford, Charles, Residence of.....................................   facing  620
Forsyth, James S., Residence of.....................................  "   620
Forsyth, William.....................................    between 628, 629
Franks, M. W.........;. "  704, 705
Frick, Henry C.............                             facing 414
Frisbee, John D.............                                " 416
Fuller, Smith.............                                  " 347
Gallatin, Albert.............                       "           771
Gans, Lebbeus B............. "   773
Gibson, Alexander.............;   between 652, 653
Goe, Henry B............                                facing 629
Goe, John S.............                           between 630, 631
Graham, Hugh.............                                       669
Greene, Wilson...............                           facing 705
Griffin, William P...............                  between 706, 707
Griffith, Samuel C...............                       facing  826
Hague, Reuben...............                       between 588, 589
Hansel, Geo.W...............                            facing 841
Healy, Maurice...............                               " 542
Herbertson, John................"   462
Hibbs, David............... 739
Hibbs, Samuel C...............                          facing 739
Hill, Alexander J...............                            " 543
Hogg, Geo...............                           between 458, 459
Hogg, Wm...............     458, 459
Hogsett, Robert...............                          facing 348
Hough, William...............                      between 630, 631
Howell, Alfred.5................                            32, 353
Howell, Joshua B...............                         facing  356
Hunt, William...............                       between 360, 361
Huston, John................ facing 359
Hyndman, Edward K............... P 409
Jackson, Robert...............                                  668
Jacobs, Adam................          between 458, 459
Johnson, David................:.".604, 605
Jones, John...............                              facing 691
Jumonville's Grave...............                               829
Kendall, Isaac P...............                         facing 604
King, Josiah................................................."       722
PAGE
Leisenring, bird's-eye view of.........................facrng  520
Leisenring, John........................                        410
Lenhart, Leonard........................   between 740, 741
Lindley, Lutellus........................  facing  406
Linn, James M........................                    "      738
Lynn, Denton........................between 826, 827
Map, Battle of Great Meadows.......................   facing  830
Map of Beeson's Town.......................   "   280
Map of Coke Region.......................          between 246, 947
Map of Fayette County, 1832.......................    facing  250
Map, Geological...............................       230
Map, Outline of County..................................................". 13
Marchand, Louis..............".....                  627
Mathfot, Henry B...............................  587
McIlvaine, Robert'A..................................................". 538
Miller, L. S., Residence of...................    between 632, 633
Miller, William H.............                      "   462, 463
Moore, J. W............                                 facing 694
Morgan, John............ " 772
Newcomer, George W............ " 417
Newmyer's Opera-House............    382
Newmyer, P. S............                          between 420, 421
Nutt, A. C., Residence of............                   facing  298
Oglevee, Joseph..5 41
Oliphant. F. H............  582
Oliphant, S. D............  194
Patterson, Alfred............,351
Patterson, William G............                   between 630, 631
Peirsol, James...............                     t         facing  721
Peirsel, Jeremiah, Sr...............  "   667
Peirsel, Jeremiah, Jr............... 667
Phillips, Ellis...............                     between 544, 545
Playford, W. H...............                           facing  353
Poundstone, John...............                    between 704, 705
Redburn, J. T...............                            facing  358
Red Lion Valley............... "         620
Reid, James M...............   540
Roberts, Griffith....................... 738
Robinson, Eleazer.......................                facing  361
Robinson, James.......................             between 590, 591
Rogers, James K.......................                  facing  419
Ruins of Old Alliance Furnace....................... 234
Rush, Sebastian....................... facing  840
Schnatterly, Thomas B.......................  354
Schoonmaker, James M........................                   412
Searight, Wm................................        665
Shearer, Jacob................................   between 562, 563
Shepler, Joseph T..5..............................   "   44, 545
Smith, Robert................................        "   562, 563
Soisson, Joseph................................  "      420, 421
Soisson  Kilpatrick, Brick-Works................................ facing  495
Springer, Levi................................   between 690, 691
Stauffer, J. R.  A., Flouring-Mills of................................ facing  802
Stauffer, J. R.  Co., Dexter Coke-Works............................  4C  803
Steele, John, Residence of.........................  633
Steele, Samuel................................."                461
Stephens, Levi................................   between 826, 827
Stephens, Levi B................................     "   826, 827
Sterling, John................................ facing  602
Sterling, Jonathan................................ 603
Stewart, Andrew................................      facing  363
Stoneroad, Joel......................  "  539
Strickler, Stewart......................  805
Sturgeon, Daniel......................  345
Swartz, Joseph, Residence of......................  "  630
Thompson, Jasper M......................'     350
Tinstman, A. 0......................  "  413
Trader, William H............................    between 590, 591
Uniontown Soldiers' Orphans' School...........................  "   678, 679
Wells, Joseph............................              facing  632
Wilkey, James.............................                      548
Woodward, Davis............................b between 546, 547
Woodward, Isaac C., Residence of............................     facing  648
Woodward, Joseph............................."...             603
Work, Samuel............................           between 546, 547HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Faughey, James, deserted August, 1778.
Finn, James, transferred. to Invalid Corps.
Fitzgibbons, David.
Fossbrooke, or Frostbrook, John, resided ill Bath
Co., Ky., in 1834, aged one hundred and four.
Fulton, Joseph, July 4, 1776.
Gladwin, John.
Corporal.
Privates.
Gallagher, Michael, June 7, 1776; deserted before he
reached the regiment.
Gallagher, John.
Gerinain, Henry.
Gibbons, David.
Gibson, Henry.
Gill, William, wounded in hand at Bound Brook;
resided in Mercer County in 1833, aged eightyfour.
Girdler, James.
Glenn, Hu(gh, killed in action.
Graham, Alexander, deserted August, 1778.
Graham, William, Capt. Kilgore's company; resided
in Westmoreland County in 1811.
Greenland, James.
Grimes, John.
Guthery, Archibald, killed August, 1779.
Gwyne, Joseph, June 7, 1776; served three years; resided in Greene County in 1808.
Halpen, Joseph.
Corporal.
Privates.
Hamill, Hugh, Finley's company, 1776-79; resided
in Westmoreland County in 1809.
Hancock, Joseph (e), Capt. Mann's company, 1777;
resided in Wayne County, Ind., in 1834, aged
seventy-seven.
Hanley, Michael.
Hardesty, Obadiah, resided in Lawrence County, Ill.,
in 1833, aged seventy-one.
Harman, Conrad, died in Muskingum County, Ohio,
June 9, 1822, aged seventy-five.
Harvey, Samuel.
Hezlip, Rezin, Stokely's company; resided in Baltimore in 1813.
Hayes, Jacob, from Brandywine, deserted August,
1778.
Hayes, Joel, from Brandywine, deserted August,
1778.
Hiere, David, deserted August, 1778.
Hoback, Philip, resided in Madison County, Tnd., in
1820, aged sixty-four.
Hockley, Richard, Capt. Clark's company; resided in
Westmoreland County in 1813.
Hotten, John, Aug. 2, 1876-Sept. 17, 1779; resided
in Westinoreland County in 1812.
Humbar, Nicholas.
Hunter, Nicholas (e).
Hunter, Robert, John Finley's company; wounded at
Bound Brook: and Paoli; resided in Westmoreland County in 1808.
Hutchinson, John.
Sergeant.
Jamison, John, Capt. Miller's company; enlisted in
1776, at Kittanning; served three years; resided
in Butler County in 1835, aged eighty-four.
Privates.
Jennings, Benjamin, Sept. 9, 1776-Sept. 9, 1779, in
Kilgore's company; drafted into rifle command;
resided in Somerset County in 1807.
Johnson, Peter (e), resided in Harrison County, Va.,
in 1829.
Jones, Benjamin, resided in Champaign County,
Ohio, in 1833, aged seventy-one.
Jordan, John, Westmoreland County.
Justice, Jacob, resided in Bedford County in 1820.
Kerns, Robert.
Kidder, Benjamin.
Sergeant..Drummer.
Fifer.
McKinney, or Kenney, Peter, Capt. Clark's company,
1776-79; resided in Butler County in 1835, aged
J -    --4
seventy.
Kain, John.
Kairns, Godfrey.
Kean, Thomas, Aug. 23, 1776, Capt. Montgomery's
company; lie was an indented servant of William
Rankin.
Kelly, Edward.
Kelly, Roberts.
Kelly, Thomas.
Kemble, Jacob.
Kerr, Daniel.
Kerr, William, Capt. Miller's company, Aug. 1776Sept. 9, 1779; resided in Westmoreland County in
1823.
Kildea, Michael, paid from Jan. 1, 1777-Aug. 1,
1780.
Sergeant-Il~aj or.
Lee, William, died in Columbiana County, Ohio, Jan.
6, 1828, aged eighty-five.
Corporals.
L
L
ewis, Samuel.
ucas, Henry.
Lacey, Lawrence.
Lacount, Samuel.
Landers, David.
Lawless, James.
Lecron, John.
Lewis, William, of Brady's company; resided in Morgan County, Ohio, in 1831.
I
I
--
I
80
Privates.
Privates.z
- IzI        (11
c,  6JEFFERSON TOIWNSHIP.
knowledge of the requirements of business life than
hlave most ladies, and has always eagerly united with
her husband in his various enterprises, while at the
same time paying special attention to domestic affairs.
A lesson for the young men of Fayette County
may be gleaned from Mr. Elliott's career in the fact
that he began with but little means, and, contrary to
Horace Greeley's well-known advice to young men,
refused to "Go West," he holding that a dollar earned
here in a settled country is worth two wrought out in
the far West. So he settled down in Jefferson township,
and went into debt in the purchase, against the judgment of his neighbors one and all, of the "Tark
farm," feeling that if he could not make a great sum
of mnoney on it he could at least so manage as to
make of it a good practical savings-bank, which
would on sale render up whatever deposits he might
make in it; and by extreme industry, by tact in management, anid by possessing himself of and applying
the best arts of agriculture, under a systeni of mixed
farming, including the raising of sheep for their
fleeces, etc., demonstrate that Fayette County is as
good a land as any in the West, or anywhere else, to
stay at home in and grow up to fortune.
HIENRY BATEMAN GOE.
Mr. Henry B. Goe, late of Jefferson township, but
now a resident of Allegheny City, Pa., is the greatgrandson of William Goe, a native of Scotland, who
migrated to America at an early day and settled in
Prince George's County, Md., near what is now known
as Upper Marlboro', a suburb of Baltimore. William
Goe was there married to Elizabeth Turner, a daughter of John Turner, Jr. He was a planter and slaveholder, but boasted that he never sold a slave. He
died in the summer of 1762, leaving a widow and
two children,-William, Jr., and Margaret.
William Goe, Jr., was born Aug. 4, 1729, and, like
his father, was a planter and slave-holder, and was
married, Nov. 28, 1754, to Dorcas Turner, a daughter
of Philip Turner, and who was born May 4, 1735.
They had fourteen children. William, Jr., with his
family, migrated from Maryland to Fayette County
(then Somerset County, Va.) about 1773, and settled
on a farm on the east side of the Monongahela River,
between it and Little Redstone Creek, near where
the creek unites with the river. He died March 27,
1824, and was buried in a vault of his own construction on the farm. Of the number of his children was
one named Henry Bateman Goe (the father of the
present H. B. Goe), and who was born in Upper
Marlboro', before referred to, June 14, 1770, and
came to Fayette Coutnty with his father when three
years old. After reaching maturity he went to Maryland, and there made the acquaintance of Susan Gettings (born Oct. 2, 1763), a daughter of Philip and
Elizabeth Gettings, of Prince George County, and
whom he married Feb. 16, 1792. She died June 30,
1837, and was buried in the same vault with her
father-in-law, Willianm  Goe, Jr., and her husband,
who had died twenty years before her.
Henry B. Goe, Sr., was an unusually active and
prompt business man, and lived on a farm east of
Brownsville, and near Great Redstone Creek. His farm
was patented in the namne of" Friendship," by which
it is known to this day. Besides carrying on his farm,
he ran a mill and distillery located on the farm. He
also traded on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, going
as far as New Orleans by flat-boats, and returning
home overland by bridle-path through the wilderness.
At one time, in 1806, failing to make at New Orleains
satisfactory sale of a cargo, he crossed over to Cuba,
and sold out in Havana. Hedied Oct.28,1817, leaving
a widow and an only child, Henry Bateman Goe, Jr.,
whose name is the caption of this sketch, and who
was born on Friendship farm, Dec. 29, 1803. He inherited Friendship farm of three hundred acres, and
the adjoining "Springfield farm" of two hundred
and fifty acres, together with a smaller farm near by
these and a section of land below Zanesville, Ohio.
His father dying when he was but fourteen years old,
his mother, a woman of wonderful energy, assisted
him at first in carrying on the farms and the distillery. He was married, Jan. 20, 1824, to Catharine
Shotwell, a daughter of John and Sarah Shotwell, of
Fayette County, and continued to operate the farm in
connection with his mother until her death, when he
came into full possession of the estate of his father,
and conducted the farm and distillery as his principal
active business until about 1832, when he abandoned
the distillery and entered upon the scientific improvement of his farms and the raising of improved stock,
and soon became a noted breeder, for those days, of
short-horned cattle and merino sheep. He about that
time raised an excellent flock of imniproved merino
sheep, descended from the Atwood stock and that of
the early importers.  His short-horns were better
known than his merinos, and perhaps he carried
their improvement still further than he did that of
his sheep. He continued actively engaged in the
stock-raising business until the fall of 1866, when he
relinquished it into the hands of his son, John S.
Goe, who, in the course of three or four years, closed
it out for him. In 1866, Mr. Goe sold his farm to his
son, Robert S. Goe, and moved to Allegheny City,
and entered into the oil business in Pittsburgh and
Bradford, Pa., and is still interested in the business.
In religion he is a Disciple, or Christian, and was
baptized by immersion, together with his wife, in
December, 1836. He has for many years held the
office of elder in the church, and has been a liberal
contributor to missionary anid other church causes.
Mr. and Mrs. Goe, having lost one child, are the
parents of nine living children,-John S., H. Bateman, Mrs. Susan Gettings Newcomer, Mrs. Sarah
Caroline Elliott, Robert S., Mrs. E. S. Ganse, Joel
S., Rose S., and Laura.
629HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
JOHN S. GOE.
John S. Goe, the oldest son of Henry Bateman Goe,
a biographical sketch of whom precedes this, was
born on Friendship farm, Jefferson township, Dec.
13, 1825. Gen. Goe enjoys to-day a world-wide reputation as the breeder of the finest flocks of pure-bred
merino sheep in the world, and as one of the breeders
of the best herds of thoroughbred, short-horned
cattle to be found. The raising of pure-bred domlestic
animals and the improvement of his farm have been
the special aspirations, aims of ambition, and labors
of his life, and, as is conceded by his most envious
competitors even, his labors have been crowned with
signal success. His stock is sought for from all the
States and Territories of the Union, from Mexico and
Australia, colonies of his stock having been sent out
from hlis farm to all the States and the countries
above named. The fame of his stock, thus widely
spread, is a just one, for his short-horns are descendants from special selections from the great herds of
the old English breeders, the Collings, Whiticar, Stevenson, Mason, Bates, and Booth. In his herd are
descendants of one of the most famous bulls which
ever snuffed the air, "The Duke of Oneida," 9927,
and his dam, "The 10th Duchess of Geneva," said to
have been the best pure Duchess in America. She
was sold at the great sale of short-horns at New York
Mills in 1874 for thirty-five thousand dollars to a
foreign purchaser, who took her to England, where
she was recognized as the best pure Duchess in that
country.
Gen. Goe's experience as an exporter has not always
been a smooth one. He has had many obstacles to
surmount.  The first exportation of his sheep to
Australia, in response to an order from there, comprised a struggle of three years or more with the
English government.  Importation into Australia
was forbidden by an old and obsolete law, under penalty of confiscation and fine, and perhaps imprisoinmenit also. The Australian purchaser of Gen. Goe's
sheep, after having forwarded a draft of six hundred
pounds sterling and an unlimited letter of credit to
pay expenses, found himself foiled by the captain of
the steamer "City of New York" and by envious
Australian breeders who took advantage of the law,
and fillally a special permit was prayed for from Parliatnent to land the sheep in Australia, which permit
was granted about two years after it was first applied
for.
Gen. Goe, having previously held the position of
major of the First Independent Squadron of Dragoons
of uniformed militia of Pennsylvania, in the Second
Brigade of the Seventeenth Division, obtained his
title of brigadier-general by commission issued by
Governor William Bigler on the 20th day of June,
1854, giving him command of the Second Brigade of
the Seventeenth Division of the forces of the Commonwealth.
Oct. 6, 1846, Gen. Goe married Miss Catharine E.
Colvin, then residing near Freeport, Harrison Co.,
Ohio. They have five children,-Dorcas C., John
S., Jr., Eva C., Etnma Virginia, and Irene.
WILLIAMI G. PATTERSON.
William G. Patterson, of Jefferson township, is of
Irish descent. He thinks that his great-grandfather
was born on the ocean, while his parents were on the
way to America. His grandfather, William Patterson, came with three brothers into Fayette County
from Dauphin County, Pa., about 1780. His father,
James Patterson, was born in Dauphin County in
1771, and about 1801 married Mary Given, a native
of Ireland. They had ten children; William G. was
the fourth. James Patterson was a captain in the war
of 1812. His business was farming, distilling, and
teaming. He located on the farm where his son, William G., now lives, about the time the county was organized. He commanded a company in the State
militia for many years.
William G. Patterson was born in Jefferson township, upon the farm where he now resides, Dec. 20,
1809, and was educated in the common schools. He
was married April 6, 1854, to Mrs. Edith Nichols
Craft, daughter of Samuel Sharpless, of Jefferson
township. They have three living children,-Samuel
S., Mary E., Minerva C. Amanda, another child, is
dead. Mr. Patterson's entire life has been passed in
Jefferson, except a few years spent in California, Pa.,
while educating his children. He has been a farmer
and general business mnan all his life, and has been
successful.  He is a mnember of the Presbyterian
Church, and has been a justice of the peace and held
other important townI offices. Mr. Patterson is a useful and honorable citizen, respected by his neighbors
and all who have known him in life.
CHRISTIAN SWARTZ.
Christian Swartz was born in Germany, near the
Rhine, Jan. 6,1806. He died in Jefferson township,
Fayette Co., Feb. 25, 1875. He was educated in
the public schools of Germany, and emigrated to
America in 1833, landing at Charleston, S. C., and
then went to Baltimore. He there took a road-wagon
and traveled to Westmoreland County, Pa., near
Mount Pleasant, where he rented a farm. There he
married Elizabeth Seightlinger, who had emigrated
from Germany with him. They remnained in Westmoreland County eight years. Then they located in
Tyrone township, Fayette Co., where they remained
four years. They settled where the family now lives
in 1846. They had six children, five of whom are
living,-Susan, married to Hugh Laughlin; John,
married first to Maggie Blair, again to Mary Krepps;
Christian, married to Mary Jane Clark, who is dead;
Lizzie, unmarried; Joseph, unmarried; James, married first to Mary S. Lytle, again to Catharine Beck.
630IREINDIMM 0 VMIE LMYE ORRMTOAH Zw,%nvz; AHD PR[EvEn'T mmaDEH(DE (Dv 06ZEPN lzwmRvy3,
JEFY[ER06H 76WHZHUPY FM'YE-TTE     PA.83
THE REVOLUTION.
Lingo, Henry, resided in Trumbull County, Ohio, Merryman, William.
1834, aged seventy-one.                        Miller, Isaac.
Long, Gideon, resided in Fayette County,- 1835, aged Miller, John.
seventy-nine.                                 \ Mitchell, James, Mann's company, 1776-79; resided
Long, Jereniah.                                         in Somerset County in 1810.
Luckey, Andrew, of Westmoreland County; Miller's  Mooney, Patrick.
company; became teamster to Eighth Pennsyl-  Moore, John.
vania; discharged at Valley Forge; resided in  Moore, William, Capt. Jack's company, November
Fayette County, 1822, aged sixty-eight.         1777.
Morrison, Edward.
Sergeant-Major.                   Morrow, William, transferred to Invalid Corps, Au
McClean,.                                            gust, 1780.
Sergeants.                     Mowry, Christian.
McClure, John.
McGregor, John.
McAfee, Matthew.
Mairman, George.
Drummer.
Miller, John, killed in action.
Privates.
McAlly, Edward.
McAnary, Patrick.
McCarty, Jeremiah.
McCaulley, Edward.
McChristy, Michael, Capt. Van Swearingen's colmpany, October, 1777.
McClean, Abijah.
McComb, Allen, of Mann's company, 1776-79; resided in Indiana County, 1810.
McConnell, John, of Huffnagle's company, Aug. 28,
1776-Aug. 1779; died in Westmoreland County,
Dec. 14, 1834, aged seventy-eight.
McFee, Laughlin, killed in action.
McGill, James.
McGlaughlin, Patrick.
McGowan, Mark, enlisted in 1775, in Capt. Van
Swearingen's company for two years; Aug. 9,
1776, this company was broken up, and he reenlisted under the same captain in Eighth Pennsylvania, and served three years; resided in Mercer County, KIy., in 1830.
McGuire, Andrew.
McInamey, Patrick.
McKee, John, resided in Bath County, Ky., in 1830.
McKenney, Peter.
McKinney, John, Capt. S. Miller's company; enlisted
March, 1778.
McKissick, Isaac.
McKissick, James, Miller's company; resided in
Maryland in 1828.
McMullen, Thomas, August, 1776-79; died in Northampton County in 1822.
lMartin, George.
Maxwell, James, 1776-79, Capt. Montgomery's company; resided in Butler County in 1822.
Mercer, George.
Murphy, Michael.
Murray, Neal, August, 1776, Miller's company; taken
at Bound Brook, April 17, 1777; released, and rejoined at Germantown, where he was again taken
and made his escape.
Fifer.
Ox, Michael.
Sergeants.
Parker, John.
Porter, Robert, resided in Harrison County, Ohio,
1834, aged seventy-one.
Plrivates.
Paris, Peter, Invalid Corps, Aug. 2, 1779.
Parker, Charles, 1776-79; resided in Armstrong
County, 1818.
Pegg, Benjamin, Piggott's company, Aug. 13, 1776September, 1779; resided in Miami County, Ohio,
in 1834, aged eighty-two.
Penton, Thomas.
Perry, Samuel, Invalid Corps, September, 1778.
Pettitt, Matthew, resided in Bath County, Ky., 1834,
aged seventy-four.
Phillips, Luke, Aug. 28, 1776.
Phillips, Matthew.
Reed, Samuel.
Ridner, Conrad.
Robinson, Simon.
Rooke, Timothy.
Rourk, Patrick.
Sergeants.
Sample, William.
Smith, John, 1776-Sept. 20, 1779; died in Indiana
County, 1811.
Corporal.
Swan, Timothy, resided in Trumbuli County, Ohio,
in 1834.
Privates.
Seaton, Francis.
Sham, Michael, resided in Rowan County, N. C., in
1834, aged eighty-six.
Shedacre, Jacob, Finley's company; killed by the
Indians near Potter's fort, Centre County, July
24, 1778; had served under Morgan at Saratoga.
Shedam, Jacob.
Sheridan, Martin.
Corporals.
I
1IJOHN S. GOE.-- I
I t.A
eg-1:0w46JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP.
Christian Swartz was a farmer, and one of the best
in the county.
Mr. Swartz and his wife had about three dollars
when he married and settled in Westmoreland County.
By industry and economy he accumulated a good
deal of property, leaving his children lands, bonds,
etc. He was a member of the Presbyterian Clhurch
before he left Germany. He united with Little Redstone Presbyterian Church soon after coming to Fayette County. He was noted for his piety, and was a
useful citizen. Mr. Swartz had the respect of all who
knew him, and was specially known and esteemed by
his neighbors as a kind father to his family, as a
faithful friend and honest citizen, upright in all his
dealings with his fellow-men. Mrs. Swvartz, now seventy-two years of age (1882), survives him, together
with three sons and two daughters. Another son,
Christian, died in the spring of 1878.
WILLIAM HOUGH.
The Hough families of the old stock in this country
are known to have descended from a William Hough,
who emigrated from Cheshire County, England, and
located first near Plymouth, and then at Gloucester,
Mass., and finally at New London, Conn., where he
died Aug. 10, 1683, or from Richard and John Hough,
who also came from Cheshire, England, in the ships
"Endeavor" and "Friendship," in the year 1683, and
settled in Bucks County, Pa.
David Hough was the first of the namrne to settle in
Fayette County. He emigrated from Eastern Pennsylvania at an early day, and located upon a farm
still occupied by his descendants. He was a tiller of
the soil, and lived an industrious, useful life. He
married Barbara Orally. They had twelve children.
David died March 3, 1858, aged eighty-four years.
Barbara died Oct. 11, 1841, aged sixty-two years.
Thle subject of this sketch, William Hough, was
the sixth son of David and Barbara Hough, and was
born in Fayette County in 1812, a few months after
the declaration of war against Great Britain. He received his early education in the district schools, and
spent most of his life upon the farm of his parentage, where for more than half a century his labor and
attention were given to agriculture. His first vote
was cast for Gen. Andrew Jackson. Becoming dissatisfied with the policy of the Democratic party, he
united with the Whig party, and continued in that
faith until the organization of the Republican party,
when he joined it, and continued an earnest supporter of its principles until his death.
William Hough was married Nov. 7,1833, to Catharine Fisher, of Rostraver township, Westmoreland
Co., Pa., and there were born to them five sons and
four daughters, of whom seven are still living, viz.:
Elvira, married to Richard Brown; Abia Allenl, married to Mary Atkinson; George F., married to Elizabeth Weaver; David S., married to Elizabeth Krepps;
Deraza, married to Daniel Bostner; William F., married to Ruth Forsyth; Clara, married to Ewing McCurdy.
Mr. Hough held a number of township offices, always discharging the duties satisfactorily. He was
for many years a devoted member of the Presbyterian
Church, and for several years a ruling elder in Little
Redstone Church of that communion.  During his
latter years he was much afflicted with paralysis,
which terminated his life Feb. 13, 1876.
He was held in high esteem by his neighbors. His
Christian life challenged the respect of all who knew
him. His life was one of industry, and he left his
family a valuable inheritance, namely, a good name,
lands, etc.
ARCItBALD BOYD.
The late Archibald Boyd, of Jefferson township,
was born July 4, 1799, in North Huntingdon township, Westmoreland Co., Pa. He was of Scotch-Irish
descent, and was educated in the common schools,
learned the business of farming, and worked with his
father until he was twenty-one years of age. He then
engaged in droving. This he followed until his marriage, Jan. 29, 1833, to Margaret Hunter, of Westmoreland County. He then rented a farm, and
worked it for six years. After that he moved to
Stewartville, and kept a hotel for one year. He next
bought a farm in South Huntingdon township, Westmoreland Co. Here he remained for twelve years,
when he bought the present homestead of his offspring, and here he lived until the time of his death,
Oct. 9, 1879.
He had three children,-Robert, married to Margaret A. Gray, and who is a farminer, and lives upon
the Boyd homestead. His children are Jennie G.,
Maggie V., Mary E., Carrie E., George M., Maude O.
William, who was born March 13, 1836, and died
April 13, 1881.
Mary, who married John H. Bryson. They reside
in North Union, Fayette Co. They have seven living
children,-Maggie V., Susan V., Andrew O., William
H., Melvin H., Robert E., Lulu May.
Archibald Boyd held the usual township offices.
He was a member of the Little Redstone Presbyterian
Church. His pecuniary start in the world was small.
By industry and judicious management he increased
this largely, and left his progeny all well situated.
He was a first-class farmer, a valuable citizen, a good
man.
His father, Robert Boyd, was a native of Adams
County, Pa. He married Elizabeth Larimner, of
Chester County, Pa. They moved soon after marriage to Westmoreland County, where most of their
children were born. They had nine. Archibald was
the fourth.
63184     HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Sherlock, Edward, died in Ross County, Ohio, Feb.  Waters, Joseph, 1776-1779.
11, 1825, aged sixty-eight.                    Watson, John, July 4, 1777.
Shilhammer, Peter, resided in Westmoreland County  Weaver, Adam, 1776-79, Kilgore's company; resided
in 1824.                                           in Westmoreland County in 1821.
Shuster, Martin.                                  | Wharton, William, resided in Pendleton County, Ky.,
Simmons, Henry, June 12, 1776, Huffnagle's company.   in 1834, aged eighty-seven.
Smith, Henry, resided in Rush County, Ind., in 1834, Wilkey, David, deserted August, 1778.
aged sixty-nine.                               Wilkie, Edward.
Smith, John, Sr., resided in Frederick County, Va.,  Wilkinson, William.
in 1834, aged ninety.                          Williams, John, Invalid Corps, Aug. 2, 1779.
Smith, John, 2d, resided in Westmoreland County in  Williams, Lewis, resided in Muskingum County, Ohio,
1835.                                              in 1834, aged ninety-two.
Smith, John, 3d, from Mifflin County; in Ourry's  Williams, Thomas, killed in action.
company, October, 1777; re-enlisted from Third  Wilson, George, Capt. Huffnagle's company, October,
Pennsylvania, Capt. Cook's; taken and scalped     1777.
at Tuscarawas.                                 Wilson, William, resided in Trumbull Couinty, Ohio,
Steel, Thomas.                                    |    in 1820, aged sixty-eight.
Stephen, Patrick, Capt. Kilgore's company, October,  Winkler, Joseph.
1777.                                          Wolf, Philip, resided in Bedford County in 1790.
Stewart, Charles.                                  Wyatt, Thomas, promoted sergeant.
Stewart, Francis.                                  Wyllie, Owen.
Stewart, Samuel.                                   Wynn, Webster.
Stevenson, Samuel.
Stokely, Thomas, August, 1776; resided in Washing-   ROLL OF CAPT. JOHN CLARK'S COMPANY,
ton County in 1823.                            ".In a Detacht. from Penn. Line, Commanded by Stephen
Straphan, William.                                     Bayard, Esq., Lt. Colo., for the Months of Feb.,
Stubbs, Robert.                                        March,  April, 1783."
Sutton, David.
Swift, John.                                                            Captain.
Clark, John.
Taggert, William, transferred to Invalid Corps, July,
1780.                                                             Lieutenants.
Tea, John.                                         Paterson, Gabe'.         Bryson, Samuel.
Tharp, Perry, resided in Marion County, Ky., in 1834. Crawford, John.     Everly, Michl.
Turner, William, in Stokely's company, Sept. 17,                       Sergeants.
1776-79; resided at Connellsville, Fayette Co.,                         Blak,i.
in 1835, aged eighty-one.                      McCline, Jobn.            Blake, Will.
Tweedy, George.                                    Baker, Michl.
Van Doren, Thomas, Finley's company; served at                           MAajor.
Saratoga; killed by the Indians near Potter's  Lee, Wm.
fort, Centre County, July 24, 1778.                                 Corporals.
Vaughan, Joseph, enlisted in Capt. Samuel Moore-  Gladwin, John,             McAfee, Mathw.
head's company, April 24, 1776, served two years  Jonston,   Peter,  dis- Marmon, George.
and six months; then drafted into Capt. Miller's,   charged March 17, 1783.
and served six months; resided in Half-Moon
township, Centre Co., in 1822, aged sixty-two.                     Drummers..
Verner, Peter, Invalid Corps, Aug. 2, 1779.        Kidder, Benj".            Edwards, Jno.
Sergeants.                                           Fifers.
Woods, John, transferred to Invalid Corns.
- -Jr-           Bond, Jno.
Wyatt, Thomas, promnoted ensign, Dec. 21, 1778;
shoulder-bone broken at Brandywine.                                 Pri
Corporal.                      Amberson, Johnston.
WVard, Matthias.                                   Atchinson, Joseph, deDrummer.                          serted Sept. 7, 1783.
Whitman, John.                                     Bigget, Robert.
Privates.                      Boothe, George.
Wagoner, Henry, 1776-79; resided in Cumberland  Cardwell, Joseph,  deCounty in 1819.                                  serted April 1, 1783.
Waine, Michael, deserted August, 1778.             Caringer, Martin.
Kenny, Peter.
vates.
Carty, Richd.
Casteel, Sam'.
Chalmers, Andw.
Clark, James.
Connor, John.
Conway, Felix.
Cripps, John.
Dinnis, Michl.
84 -HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
LOUIS SOWERS MILLER.
Louis S. Miller is the grandson of Israel Miller, in
his day a leading business man of Brownsville, Fayette Co., and the only child of Augustus I. Miller, a
native of the same place.  Israel Miller was born
April 6, 1783, and on May 6, 1810, married Anna Maria
Sowers, daughter of Michael and Dorothy Sowers,
who was born June 29, 1790. Michael Sowers was
one of the earliest business men of this region, and
was bornr Oct. 16, 1762. Israel Miller died April 16,
1871. Mrs. Anna M. Miller died May 5,1850, in her
sixtieth year. Israel and Anna Maria Miller were
the parents of eleven children, five sons and six
daughters, of whom was Augustus I. Miller, who was
born Feb. 2, 1821, the third in number of the sons.
OnNov. 13, 1845, he married Elizabeth K. Marchand,
daughter of Dr. Louis and Sarah Sackett Marchand,
of Uniontown, Pa. He was a soldier in the war of
the Rebellion, and enlisted among the three months'
troops in April, 1861, joining the Twelfth Regiment
Pennsylvania Volunteers, and after the expiration of
that period of enlistment enlisted in November, 1861,
for the term of three years, being attached to Company H, Seventh Regiment Pennsylvania Cavalry,
and died at Louisviile, Ky., Aug. 19, 1863, of disease
contracted while in the service.
Louis S. Miller was born in Brownsville, Fayette
Co., Pa., March 16, 1848. His early education was
received in the public schools, his business education
in Iron City Commercial College and the business
world. His mother dying when he was two days old,
his early life was spent with his grandmother, Mrs.
Dr. Louis Marchand. He was married Nov. 10, 1870,
to Mary A. Forsythe. They have five children,Laura, Frank, Oliver, Jennie, and Lizzie. He has
occupied his present residence three years. His farm
is worked by tenants under his direction. He devotes
most of his time to the coal business. His neighbors
regard him as a good business man.
JOSEPHI WELLS.
It sometimes happens that refined feelings, the domestic virtues, and true nobility of character adorn
and brighten the obscurity of a country home, and
achieve for the possessor all the happiness and coinfort that cultivated society and enlightened civilization can give. Instinctively just and upright in his
dealings with his fellow-men, kind-hearted and charitable to the poor, careful and attentive to his business, thrifty and economical, but single-minded and
generous,-in short, a good illustration of the domniestic
and social virtues,-such a man was Joseph Wells,
late of Jefferson township, Fayette Co., Pa.
Joseph Wells was of Irish descent, and was born
April 19, 1803, on the farm where, with true Irish instinct, he lived all his days. He received such education as the common schools of the Commonwealth
afforded iIl his youthful days, and in early manhood
became a "pike boy," driving his team on the National road from Brownsville to Cumberland and return,
a business he followed for many years. On Dec. 1,
1824, he married Anna Shaw, an estimnable lady, who
is still living, and who is well known for her many
social and Christian virtues. They had eight children, one of whom died in infancy; two others, married daughlters, are dead, and the remaining four
daughters and one son are all married and living in
the county, the son occupying the homestead.
Mr. Wells began life with little of this world's
goods, but by industry and careful husbandry he acquired the ownership of the paternal homestead, and
a handsome competence besides, enjoying in his old
age the comforts and even the luxuries of life. While
struggling to pay for his farm he unluckily lost several
hundred dollars by indorsing for a friend, and although he recovered from this financial trouble, his
autograph was seldom, if ever, afterwards seen on the
back of a promissory note.
In religion he was a Presbyterian, having been a
communicant in that church for fifty years. He
joined the Brownsville Presbyterian Church under
the ministrations of Rev. William Johnston, and in
1840 united with the Little Redstone Church at its
organization, where for many years he was a ruling,
elder, and continued a member until the time of his
death. Of Mr. Wells one who knew him long and intimately, pertinently says, "Unlike many Presbyterians
we meet at this day, he believed the decrees which
constitute the peculiar tenets of his church, or at least
he came as near believing themn as any person I have
ever met, with a single exception."  Still in business
he was human, and while strictly honest, his excellent
judgment often gave him the best end of the bargain
in buying a steer or selling a horse. To him the
sermon on the mount was law, but in practical operations he had acquisitiveness and secretiveness enough
to enable him to do business successfully, and add a
balance to the profit account at the end of each year.
In politics he was a Democrat of the old school, and
held as firmly to the Jacksonian and Jeffersonian Democracy as he did to the everlasting decrees.
The poor of his neighborhood knew in him one of
their most charitable friends, and he gave liberally
to the benevolent enterprises of the church. Having
a sound and vigorous constitution, and being temperate in his habits, he preserved a hlale and healthful
body for mnore than threescore and ten years. After
one or two premonitory attacks he was stricken fatally
with paralysis, and died May 28, 1877, respected by
his neighbors, esteemed by his friends, and sincerely
loved and mourned by his family. To thlle last moment of his conscious life hlie held fast to his integrity
and his Christian faith. Not a single doubt clouded
his mind or cast a shadow over his peaceful soul.
His faith, steadfast to the end, is voiced in the lines,"An angel's arm can't snatch me from the grave,
Legions of angels can't confine me there."
632e)v L.  Ei ILL'_nv
tH UTRMIDMAYJLA  nOWER                     7,9?JJ\JNelJP  MIVE_77, t0c, PA(LI"P jlUMJ'\j
76WINHl3hl5pq                               pzLUZERNE TOI"WNSHIP.
JOHN STEELE.
John Steele, one of the most worthy men and leading farmers of Jefferson township, Fayette Co., Pa.,
as well as one of the most methodical, solid business
men of the county, is the son of William Steele, who
was born in Westmoreland County, Pa., July 22, 1779,
and about 1806 married Sarah Elliott, and soonI after
moved to a farm in Jefferson township, which is now
owned by his son John. Upon this farm the eleven
children, five sons aud six daughters, of William
Steele were born. John was the eighth in number,
and is the only son now living. He was born Aug.
31, 1822.
Mr. Steele received his education in the common
schools. March 6, 1850, he married Mary Jackman,
of Washington County, Pa. He has one child living,
James Harvey Steele, who married Ruth Nutt.
Mr. Steele has all his active business life been engaged in farming. He owns large tracts of land, two
or three good farms of the best quality of soil, and
manages them  excellently.  Mr. Steele's father, a
justly considerate and sensible gentleman, gave him a
fair start in life, and he has added largely to his patrimonial possessions. About twenty-five years ago he
built his present commodious residence and its comfortable outbuildings.
Mr. Steele and his family are members of the Little
Redstone Presbyterian Church. He enjoys the confidence and esteem of his neighbors.
LUZERNE TOWNSHIP.
LUZERNE, one of the original townships of Fayette, lies on the Monongahela River, which along the
westernil and northern lines of the township describes
a series of irregular bends, and flows for the most part
between hilly ranges that give sweeping views of the
river's course and a long stretch of country beside.
The great bend on the west curves gracefully from Davidson's Ferry to Millsboro', and there taking a sharp
turn outward makes a second but more abrupt curve
to where William G. Crawford's farm fronts the stream.
Across by land from Davidson's Ferry to Crawford's
the distance measures less than three miles; between
the same points by river it is more than eleven mniles.
The river separates the township on the north and
west from Washington and Greene Counties. On the
south the boundary is German township, and on the
east Redstone. Steamboats ascend the Monongahela
as far as New Geneva. Ferries established at convenient distances give easy access to the opposite shore.
These are located at Jacobs', Davidson's, Rice's Landing, Millsboro', Fredericktown, and Crawford's. On
the river-front, as already noted, the land lies high and
forbids much profitable agriculture. Generally, however, the surface of the township is rolling and offers
a fine field for farming. Coal is plentiful, but mining
is chiefly confined to productioni for local demand.
Merrittstown, the most important village in the township, is located upon Dunlap's Creek, whose millpower is freely utilized at that and other points.
Curious features in the landscape are found in socalled carved rocks, of which the most striking are
onl "the river hill" near Millsboro'. They are two
in number, fiat of surface, and jutting perhaps a foot
above the ground. The larger of the two measures
about sixteen feet upon either side, and bears numerous sunken impressions of divers figures said to represent wild animals, fishes, turkey-tracks, etc. Legends make the Indians the carvers of these strange
and in some cases unfamiliar figures, while speculative antiquarians hold to the prehistoric  theory.
Whatever the basis of argument, it is certain that the
impressions were upon the rocks when the first white
settlers came to the river region.
The total assessed valuation of Luzerne subject to
county tax in 1881 was $1,050,092, or a decline from
the preceding year of $2061. The population of the
township by the census of 1880 was fourteen hundred
and forty-five, including the village of Merrittstown.
The opening of the road from Laurel Hill to the
mouth of Dunlap's Creek, by Col. James Burd, in
1759, brought settlers to the vicinity of its terminus
at an earlierdate than settlementswere made in most
of the other parts of the Monongahela Valley. Among
the early comers William Colvin was the first who
came into the territory which is now Luzerne with
the intention of making a homne here. He acquired
a settlement right in 1763, and afterwards sold that
right to Thomas Brown (the founder of Brownsville),
who, on the 16th of Decemnber, 1779, obtained from
the commissioners of the State of Virginia a certificate for four hundred and fifty-seven acres, "to include
the settlement purchased of William  Colvin, near
Redstone Old Fort, made in the year 1763." This is
recited in the certificate, and thus the date of Colvin's
settlement is fixed. What became of Colvin after he
sold his settlement right here is not known. The
tract which he sold, and which was certificated to
6334HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Brown as above mentioned, was surveyed to the latter
in March, 1785. It was then described as bounded
on the north by land of John and Samuel McCullough,1 northwest by land of Rees Cadwallader and
Thomas Gregg, and on the south by land of Basil
Brown. Thomas Brown soon removed to the north
side of Dunlap's Creek, where he laid out the town
of Brownsville, as before mentioned.
Basil Brown, Sr., brother of Thomnas, settled on the
land mentioned in the preceding description as adjoining the Colvin tract in the year 1770. It was a
tract of four hundred and forty-three acres, granted
to him on a Virginia certificate, and was surveyed to
him March 22, 1785. The certificate on which it was
so surveyed recited that the tract granted was "to
include his settlement made in the year 1770." On
this homestead tract Basil Brown lived and died. He
left two sons, Thomas and Basil, Jr., and a daughter,
Sally, who was a cripple. Thomas Brown lived in
Luzerne, on the farm now occupied by Lewis Adams.
He married Dorcas, daughter of William Goe, and
for a second wife the widow of Philip Worley. His
brother, Basil Brown, Jr., was a bachelor, who remained for some years in Luzerne, and afterwards removed to Brownsville, where his father had purchased
a number of town lots from his brother, the elder
Thomas Brown. Basil Brown, Jr., and his sister
Sally lived in Brownsville, on Market Street, at or
near the corner of Morgan Street, where he died at
the age of seventy-five years. Sally, the cripple, died
ill that town some years later.
John McKibben was a very early settler in what
is now Luzerne, locating on three hundred and eighteen acres in April, 1766, as is recited in a deed for
the same tract, made by David Breading to Nathaniel
Breading, in 1783. The tract is located about oine
mile southwesterly from  Merrittstown, and was for
many years the farm and home of Nathaniel Breading,. It is now owned by his grandson, George E.
Hogg, of Brownsville.
Jehu Conwell and his brother, Capt. William Conwell, settled within the limits of this township in June,
1767. One Janmes Bredin was in the territory before
the Conwells, who upon their arrival found Bredin
living in a log cabin upon a tomahawk claim, where
he had girdled a few trees, he having come in the previous April. For a small consideration the Conwells
purchased Bredin's claim and improvemnents, and he
departed for other scenes. The land thus taken by
the Conwells lies now in the Heistersburg school district, and is included within the John McMullen farm.
The country was at that time infested by savages and
wild beasts, but with neither had the settlers then any
trouble, for the former were friendly, and the latter
not so much inclined to pursue man as afraid of being
themselves pursued. By and by, however, the Indians began to show signs of hostility, and the Conwells thought it advisable to withdraw for a brief season to a mnore populous locality. In August, 1772,
Jehu returned to his old home in Delaware, in October was married, and in November of the same year
set out with his young bride for the Luzerne clearing.
Existence was comparatively quiet and uneventful
until 1774, when Indian aggressions set in in earnest.
Jehu Coiiwell and his brother, Capt. William, then
bestirred themselves and started the project of building a fort. A site was selected upon the Coleman
plantation, on the west side of Dunlap's Creek, not
much more than half a mile below Merrittstown, on a
place now occupied by Harrison Henshaw. There a
block-house was hastily constructed, to include within
its inclosure the spring near the present Henshawv
house. Assisted and directed by the Conwells, the
settlers had the fort completed in quick timne, and in
May, 1794, it was occupied. There appears to be no
evidence that the fort was ever attacked, or that the
people living in that portion of Luzerne met with
serious injury at the hands of the savages, although
they were for a time in great terror for fear of Indians. Several children are said to have been born
within the fort during 1774. The names of only two
can now be given. One was Ruth, daughter of Capt.
William Conwell. She married Abrain Armstrong.
Another was a daughter of Jehu Conwell. She married Judge William  Ewing. After the autumn of
1774, the clouds of alarm clearing away, block-house
life was abandoned, and the peaceful pursuits of the
pioneer were pushed forward with renewed vigor.
When the flag of national independence was raised
in 1776, Jehu and William Conwvell responded to tle
call, and fought throughl the Revolution. Happily
surviving the struggle they resumed their rural labors,
and in good timne ended their lives upon the Luzerne
lands they had cleared from the wilderness. Jehu
died in January, 1834, at the age of eighty-six, upon
the farm that had been his homne for sixty years, and
from which he is said in that time never to have removed himself a distance of more than fifty'miles.
He was married more than sixty years, and had seven
children. His sons Shepard, Yates T., John, and
George settled and died in Luzerne. One of his
daughters married Judge William Ewing, another Andrew Porter, and the third John Arnold. With his
brother, Capt. William, he rests now in the old Conwell burying-ground upon the George Conwell farm,
where lie also numerous others of the same name.
Jehu Conwell was not only a farmer, but a manufacturer and miller. He built a log grist-mill upon
Big Run, which was certainly the first grist-mill in
the township, and, according to some authlorities, the
first in the county.2 A half-bushel measure, made
2 Clark Breadinrg, of Uiniontown, says Jehu Conwell told him he constructed the mill the year after he came to the township. It was us d
simply for pounding corn. A flutter-wheel was the motive-power for a
great sweep, to which a pounder was attachedl. The mortar was a rock
1 These McCulloughs were Indian traders who acquired settlement
rights here nearly as early as Colvin, but they were not permanent settlers, and soon migrated.
f
i
634LUZERNE TOWNSHIP.
of mulberry wood and used in the mill when the
latter was first erected, is yet in the possession of
George W. Conwell. Jehu built also a distillery at
the same place, and as the business transacted there
assumed an appearance of extraordinary briskness,
while it attracted many patrons, the locality was
given the name of Frogtown, and by that name was
known for many years.
About the time of the coming of Jehu and William
Conwell there came also to Luzerne Aaron Hackney,
grandfather of Aaron Hackney, now of Luzerne. He
settled in the Conwell neighborhood, but, like the
Conwells and other early settlers, was soon comrpelled
to vacate his new home by the threatening danger of
Indian aggressions. He returned to his former home
in Virginia, but came again to Luzerne after an absence of about two years, and remained there ever
after until his death in 1807. His sons were George,
Joseph, John, Jehu, and Aaron. George, Joseph,
and Jehu died in Luzerne, Johni moved to Menallen,
and Aaron to Mercer County.
Richard Aschraft, a Revolutionary spy and scout,
claimed also to be a settler and land-owner upon the
Monongahela, just above Heaton's mill, nearly opposite the mouth of Ten-Mile Creek. He was living
there about, and perhaps before, 1767, and likely
enough was simply a hunter, scout, and trader, without any ambition in the direction of a husbandman's
vocation except to raise what little he needed for
home consumption. From the record of the proceedings of the West Virginia Historical Society in 1871
is taken the following copy of an affidavit made by
Richard Ashcraft and Thomas Carr before James
Chew, July 19, 1777:
"Richard Ashcraft and Thomas Carr, two of the
spies, came before James Chew, one of the Magistrates for Monongahalia County, and made oath that
on Thursday evening, the 17th inrst., they discovered
on the head-waters of Buffaloe creek (tracks) which to
the best of their knowledge appeared to be them of
the enemy, and that from the sign of the said tracks
their number might be seven or eight, that the said
tracks were making toward the Monongahalia river,
and appeared to be gone the said day."
The land tract on the river known as "The Bone
of Contention" is thus alluded to by Veech:
"The land just above Bridgeport, on the river, embracing
some three or four hundred acres, was in early timte the subject
of long and angry controversies-from 1769 to 1785-between
adverse claimants under military permits. It was well named
in the official survey (which one of the parties procured of it
under a Pennsylvania location)' Bone of Contention.' One
Angus McDonald claimed it, or part of it, under a military
permit from Cel. Bouquet, dated April 26, 1763, and a settlement on it. In March, 1770, he sold his claim to Capt. Luke
Collins, describing the land as'at a place called Fort Burd, to
include the field cleared by me where the saw-pit was, above
the mouth of Delap's Creek.' Collins conveyed'it to Michael
Cresap (of Logan speech celebrity) on the 13th of April, 1772,'at half-past nine in the morning,' describing it as situate between' Point Lookout and John Martin's land,' recently owned,
we believe, by the late Mrs. John T. Krepps. Cresap's executors, in June, 1781, conveyed to one William Schooly, an old
Brownsville mnerchant, who conveyed to Rees Cadwallader. The
adverse claimnants were 1enriy Shryock and William Shearer,
assignees of George Andrew. Their claim  reached farther
southward towards the creek, and farther up the river, covering
the John Martin land. They sold out to Robert Adams and
Thomas Shain. Although they had the oldest permit (in 1762),
their title seems to have been overcome by the settlement and
official location and survey of their adversary. One Robert Tho-rn
seems also to have been a claimant of part of the land, but
Collins bought himi out. This protracted controversy involved
many curious questions, and called( up many ancient recollections. No doubt the visit to this locality of Mr. Deputy Sheriff
Woods of Bedfo)rd in 1771 was parcel of this controversy. Many
of these early claims were lost or fo)rfeited by neglect to settle the
land according to law, and tlhus wvere supplan)ted by others.
They were valued(l by their owners at a very low mialrk, and often
sold for trifling sumui."
The Crawford settlement in Luzerne was important
in one respect.  It was the first location in the bend
of thle river, and included  an extensive tract that
reached along the river-front from Millsboro' to Crawford's Ferry, south of lock No. 5. The heads of the
Crawford families were James and Josiah, who came
together from Maryland to Fayette County in 1770
or 1771, and bought about sixteen hundred acres on
the Monongahela, in Luzerne. James Crawford built
his cabin a little below Fredericktown, on the bank
of the stream, and not long after established a ferry
there. Before that ferry was established, Josiah Crawford, his brother, who had settled near the river upon
the place now occupied by Joseph Crawford, south of
lock No. 5, had put a ferry on at that point. That was
probably the pioneer ferry on the Monongahela along
the Luzerne line. Illustrative of the wild character
of the country when he founded his settlemnent, Jamnes
Crawford said that when he and his brother Josiah
came out on their land-prospecting tour, they found
houses so scarce they had to sleep in the woods at
night with the snow knee-deep all about them, and
that when he (Jamnes) put up his cabin it was the
only house between the river at that point and Uniontown. The log house that James Crawford built at
the river is still standing, and is said to be in good
preservation despite the fact that scarcely any repairs
have been put upon it. The weather-boards with
which he inclosed it he got out by hand upon his
place with the aid of his slaves, of whom he had several. James and Josiah Crawford were known to the
Indians as Quakers and friends to William Penn.
For this, it is said, the savages not only did not molest them, but took frequent occasion to show an exceedingly  friendly  disposition.  Once the Indians
gave James and his family a severe fright. A party
of them came down the river one evening and put up
in which an excavation was rudely made. Conwell said he hlad grown
tired of going miles upoIn iiles to mill, and was determined to have a
mlill of his own.
I
I
I
63585
THE REVOLUTION.
Dinnison, James.
Dixon, Willm.
Dorough, John.
Fossbrook, John.
Gibson, Henry.
Girdler, James.
Harmon, Conrad.
Hoetzley, Richard.
Hutchinson, John.
Jones, Benj".
Kerns, Godfrey.
Kerr, Dan'.
Landers, David.
Lingo; Henry.
Lucas, Henry.
Maxwell, James.
MIcAuly, Edward.
McCristall, Mich'.
MIcGill, James.
McGuire, Andrew.
Brady, Samnue
Mahon, John.
A1.
Fletcher, Sirnon.
Font, Matthew.
Cheselden, Edward.
Allison, John.
Evans, Anthony.
Davis, Willm.
Adams, Robert.
MBiller, John.
Adams, George.
Anderson, George.
Bannon, Jeremiah.
Branon, Michael.
Brothers, Matthew.
Brown, John.
Cain, John.
Callahan, John.
Cavenaugh, Barney.
Mercer, George.
Miller, Isaac.
Mooney, Patrick.
Morriso.n, Edward.
Murphy, Mich'.
Ox, Michael.
Parker, Charles.
Rooke, Timothy.
Smith, John.
Sherlock, Edward, prisoner of war; joined
Feb., 1783.
Steed, James, deserted 27th
March, 1783.
Stuart, Charles.
Tharpe, Perry.
Wharton, Willm.
Willson, Willm.
Winkler, Joseph V.
Captains.
Finlev, John.
Lieutenants.
~Ward, John.
Quartermaster-Sergeant..Sergeants.
Sample, William.
Porter, Robert.
Fife-MIajor.
Corporals.
Swan, Timothy.
Drummers.
Whitman, John.
Fifer.
Privates.
Coleman, Joseph,
June 11, 1783.
Crowlev, Timothy.
Dimsey, Thomas.
Dolphin, James.
die(
I
Evans, Arnold, deserted
June 27, 1783.
Everall, Charles.
Fitz Gibbons, David.
Gibbons, David.
Gollacher, John.
Greenland, James.
Grimes, John.
Hanley, Michael.
Hobach, Philip, deserted
June 2d; joined June
4, 1783.
Jordan, John, discharged
July 1, 1783.
Kelley, Edward.
Lacey, Lawrence.
Lacorn, John.
Martin, George.
McGloughlin, Patrick.
Merryman, Wm.
Miller, John.
Mourey, Christian.
Phillips, Matthew.
Roairk, Patrick, died Sept.
2, 1783.
Robinson, Simon.
Shereden, Martin.
Shuster, Martin.
Simmonds, Henry.
Smith, John.
Steel, Thomas.
Strephan, William.
Stubbs, Robert.
Sutton, David.
Tea, John.
Terman, Henry.
Ward, Matthias.
Wilkinson, Willm.
Williams, Lewis.
Winn, Webster.
-   (faded out), Hugh.
-   (faded out), Obediah.
JOHN FINLEY, Capt.
After the formation of the military organizations
already mentioned,-viz.: the Eighth Pennsylvania
Regiment, the company which joined Miles' rifle
regiment, and the two Virginia battalions raised by
Col. Crawford,-and the march of a detachment of two
hundred and forty Westmoreland County militia to
Philadelphia, under command of John Proctor, in
January, 1777,1 no other troops were raised in the
Monlongahela country for regular service in the Revolutionary armies, though an independent company
was formed by Capt. Moorhead for special duty on
the frontier, and many men were afterwards raised
for expeditions against the Indians during the continuance of the war with Britain; but it seems to
have been a fact beyond the possibility of denial that
in the mean time the sentiment of patriotism which
at the commencement of the war was almost universal among the people west of the Laurel Hill became greatly diminished, if not entirely extinct, with
regard to a large proportion of the inhabitants of
this frontier region.
The existence of this state of feeling, and a partial
reason for it, was noticed by Gen. Brodhead, commandant at Fort Pitt, in a letter written by him on
the 23d of September, 1780, in which he said, " The
emnigrations from this new country to Kentucky are
incredible, and this has given opportunity to disaffected people from the interior to purchase and
settle their lands." Again, on the 7th of December
following, the same officer wrote to President Reed,
" I learn more and more of the disaffection of the inhabitants on this side of the mountains. The king of
England's health is often drank in company." And
he gave it as his opinion, gathered from the observation of many of his officers, including Col. John Gib1 This detacllnlent was accompanied on its march by Col. Archibald
Lochry, county lieutenant.
ROLL OF CAPT. SAMUEL BRADY'S COMPANY,
" Now Captain John Finley's Company of the Detachmt
from  the Penn. Line, in the Service of the United
States of America, commanded by Lt Col' Steph'
Bayard, for the mnonths of Feb., lMarch,  April,
1783."HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
for the night upoIn James' place. In the morning they
said to the old gentleman that they had determined
to take one of his children with them, and to einphasize their remarks with an apparent threat showed
him some scalps. The old man pretended that he
wasn't much frightened, and in that fiction was helped
along by his good wife, who knew as well as did her
husband the value of a strong policy of conciliation
toward the redskins, and thus they acquiesced in the
taking of the child, while in response to the Indian demand that he (James) too should accompany them
apparent willing resignation was yielded. To the unspeakable relief of the Crawfords the Indians informed them, laughingly, that neither child nor old
man should be taken, and that the project was simply
put forward by way of a joke. Joke as it was, the
Crawfords did not for many a day forget the terror it
had brought upon them.
In the course of time James Crawford concluded to
go still farther west, and dividing the bulk of his
property among his children, moved to Ohio and settled upon land now occupied by the city of Chillicothe, where he died. His sons were John, Ephraim,
William, and Joseph, all of whom died in Luzerne.
John and William lived to reach the age of ninetysix. Josiah (brother of James Crawford), who died
in Luzerne at the age of eighty, had seven sons, named
James, Josiah, Jr., Benedict, Elijah, Levi, Ephraim,
and Abel. Benedict was killed on the river by the
Indians; Elijah, Ephraim, and Levi died in Luzerne;
the rest removed out of the township. There are
still among the residents of Luzerne many bearing
the name of Crawford. Of these the oldest representatives are William, aged eighty-two; Joseph, eighltythree; Ephraim, seventy-five; and George, seventy.
The ferries established by James and Josiah Crawford were maintained for many years by some member of the family, and before the great volume of
traffic between the East and WVest was diverted to the
National road they were kept busy night and day
transporting passengers, live-stock, and freight that
at one time moved through that region. There was
at a very early day a John Crawford at what is now
known as Jacobs' Ferry, where he had a ferry. He
was not of the other Crawford family, but belonged,
it is believed, to the Crawfords of Greene County.
He disappeared from Luzerne history, and gave place
at the ferry to Jeremiah Davidson, who came from
Mercer County before 1800, and continued the ferry
established by John Crawford. Davidson must have
been in the river region during the time of Indian
troubles, for recollections of him and his time mention the circumstance of his assisting at the organization of a party of settlers who went out uponI an expedition that had for its object retaliation upon a
band of savages who had been committing depredations. Davidson's first ferry-boat is said to have been
a dug-out; which he soon replaced with a fiat-boat.
Besides being a ferryman and farmer, he was also a
boat-builder, and constructed barges for himself as
well as for others. Not infrequently he would journey down the river in one of his barges on trading
expeditions, and thus became a pretty well known
character. The ferry he maintained until his death,
about 1850.
The old Davidson property is now owned by Adam
Jacobs, of Brownsville, who in 1862 bought and
took possession thereof.  His land embraces two
tracts, patented respectively by John Crawford and
Samuel Stokely. The Stokely farm was called "The
Cave," by reason, it is said, of the fact that early
explorations noted the presence thereon of a cave,
but what sort of a cave, what its dimensions, or even
its locality are to-day unknown, since not one of the
many later searchers has been able to locate it. Capt.
Jacobs has about one thousand acres of land near
the river, and has at the ferry a sumnmer residence,
store, grist-mill, boat-yard, etc. At his boat-yard he
has built four steamnboats and numerous barges.
During 1881 he employed a large force of men in the
boat-yard upon steamboats and barges already contracted for. Upon the hill overlooking the river
Capt. Jacobs has sunk a shaft running perpendicularly down one hundred feet, and four hundred and
sixty feet along a slope. At that depth he has found
the "nine-foot Pittsburgh vein," and  intends developing the coal interests of that region. A branch
wire of the Western Union Telegraph Line from
Brownsville to Davidson's Ferry connects the latter
place with Jacobs' Ferry. East Riverside post-office
was established at Jacobs' Ferry in 1864. The first
postmaster was Adam Jacobs, Jr. The second and
present one is John N. Jacobs.
Another early ferry was the one established by
David Davidson, where his son David has maintained
a ferry for many years. At this place a steam ferryboat was once put on, but business did not warrant
its retention.  There was another ferry at Rice's
Landing, and still another at Millsboro', which latter
was owned by Henry Heaton and Rezin Virgin.
Below were the Crawford ferries, already spoken of.
In 1772, Andrew Frazer built a fine log house on
the present W. S. Craft place, and placed high up on
the chimney the mark "A F 1772." A lock weighing eleven and a half pounds secured the door, and
is still held as a relic by his descendants in Cincinnati. Some of the apple-trees planted by Mr. Frazer
about the time of his settlemnent are still bearing.
Mr. Frazer died in 1800.
Robert Baird, Sr., was the eldest son of Moses Baird,
Sr., of New Jersey, and was born in the year 1756.
He came to this county first in the year 1777, a young
man, and bought the lands in the southeastern part
of what is now Luzerne township, and southwestern
part of Redstone township, now owned by Jeremiah
Baird, heirs of Uriah Higinbotham, Samuel M. Baird,
and others, in all six hundred acres or more. He returned to New Jersey, married a Miss Elizabeth
636LUZERNE TOWNSHIP.
Reeves, and came back with his young bride, bringing their household goods on horseback over three
hunidred miles. They had a good cabin near a large
spring, amidst the almost trackless wilderness of sugar,
black walnut, oak, etc. He was an energetic man,
and soon had several acres cleared. His brothers and
sisters came after a few years, and a family by the
name of Frame, who settled on the next farms south.
His brothers, John, Moses, and Jamnes, soon married,
and moved to Ohio, as did also his younger sister.
Moses was the father of Mrs. James Ewing, of Uniontown, Pa. His sisters Jane and Margaret married
Charles and John Porter, of this county. The former
was associate judge for many years.
Robert Baird, Sr., and his wife were very industrious
and frugal, and raised a family of four sons and four
daughters, all of whom married and raised large families. He was a man of true Christian merit, and
stood among the best of men in his day. His wife's
brothers, Manassah and Michael Reeves, came to
Western Pennsylvania soon after, and settled near
to where Belle Vernon, Pa., now stands. Some of
their descendants are in that section yet.
Mrs. Elizabeth Baird died in 1826, and Robert, Sr.,
mnarried for his second wife Mrs. Sarah McClelland,
of Greene County, Pa. He lived until Oct. 5, 1835.
His oldest son, Alexander, inherited that part where
thlle widow Uriah Higinbotham now lives and where
Samuel M. Baird lives; his second son, Aaron, the
part where Mr. Grove now lives; and his son Moses,
where Jeremiah P. Baird now lives. His youngest
son, Rev. Robert Baird, D.D., was educated at Jefferson College, Pa., and at Princeton, N. J., where he
married Miss Fermine O. A. DeBoisson. Dr. Baird
was for a long timtne corresponding secretary of "The
Foreign Christian Alliance," during which time he
crossed the ocean fourteen times and visited eighteen
different crowned heads. He could converse in many
languages, and was the author of several works. His
"Travels in Notthern Europe," "Religion in America" (written in French and afterwards translated
into English), with many smaller works, live after
him. He died in 1861, leaving a wife (who died a
year afterwards) and four sons,-Rev. C. W. Baird,
D.D., of Rye, N. Y.; Rev. H. M. Baird, D.D., Professor of Greek in the New York University; Judge
E. P. Baird, of New York City; and William W.
Baird, Esq., of the same place. Among the descendants of Robert Baird, Sr., now living there are six
ministers of the gospel, five ruling elders of the
chutrch, and many that are useful mechanics and
farmers.
Shortly after Robert Baird, Sr., settled in Fayette
County, Pa., a famnily by the name of Morgan settled
near where Morgantown, W. Va., now stands. The
Indians were troublesome; the men who cleared the
lands had to keep their guns with them or near at
hand in the fields. On one occasion the elder son of
the Morgans went away on business, and when he
41
-I
returned he found thlleir house burned, and his fathler,
mother, one brother and sister murdered by the Indians. He stood terror-stricken. Two of the younger
children, a boy and girl, had run away and hidden
themselves. John Morgan, then and thlere, took an
oath that he would kill every Indian he ever set eyes
on. Several years after this, during which time he
did kill many a redskin, he went to Baltimnore for
salt with his pack-hlorses. In the city one day he saw
a small crowd of men and boys who were having
fun over something; as he looked in among them
he saw an Indian cutting pranks. Capt. Jack Morgan turned pale as he started away, and remembering
his oath he turned, went back, pushed into the crowd,
and with his knife stabbed the Indian to the heart
and walked away. Of course he was remanded to
jail for trial for murder. His attorney heard his
story, his oath, etc., then asked if he had no friend
that could testify to these things. He said Robert
Baird, of Western Pennsylvania, could. So Baird was
sent for, and when he heard of Capt. Jack's bad luck
went to him in time to give testimony before the
court and jury that tried the case. After the hearing
the jury returned a verdict of not guilty.  Capt.
Morgan and Mr. Baird came home together, with
their train of pack-horses laden with salt, etc. They
were fast friends.
Mr. Baird's treatment of his yourigest son, Robert,
Jr., showed his wisdom and judgment in planning
the future of his boy.  The parents desired very
much to educate their youngest son, whom they had
so often prayed God to call into the ministry, so they
toiled hard to get means and clothing (home-made at
tlat) to send himtn to school. There was a grammar
school at Uniontown, Pa. (twelve miles away), taiught
by a Mr. Gilbert. When the spring of the year came
they took Robert, Jr., to the school, arranged for his
board and tuition for six months, by which time he
could enter college. Robert stayed a few weeks, when
he packed up and walked home. It was near noon
when he arrived. His mother soon learned Wvith
sorrow that he did not want to stay at school. His
father came in from work, found his boy there, and
learning his dislike to books, etc., or rather staying
from homne, he said, "Well, Robert, get a mattock,
and come with me after dinner down to thle thicket
and help grub." Here they toiled for several days
beneath a hot sun. Robert's hands blistered,-the
thorny wild plumn was hard to grub,-but still his
father did not say a word about a change of work.
About ten o'clock, the fourth or fifth day, Robert
Jr., said, "Father, I'll go to school and stay." "Well,
my son," said his father, "if you are determined to
do so you can go, otherwise this thicket mnust be
cleared." "I'll stay." Young Baird went. At the
end of six months he entered college, and graduated
with honors and became one of the great men of
A merica.
Robert Baird, Jr., was greatly attachled to the cause
637IIISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
of religion and education; gave a great deal to the
support of the church and schools and colleges. He
was a ruling elder in the Dunlap's Creek Presbyterian Church more than forty years.
None of his children are living now. When his
youngest son, Robert, Jr., brought home his wife, a
few days after their marriage, according to the customn of those days, there must be a gathering of
friends and a dinner. The old father had invited all
his children and grandchildren to be present at the
old mansion, Oct. 14, 1824, to take part in the festive
occasion. They were all present: his three sons and
four daughters, with their children, making in all
forty-five persons, besides the bride and groom and
the family. After dinner Rev. Robert Baird, Jr.,
made a short address to the young folks. And the
old grandfather handed each grandchild, thirty-eight
in number, a copy of the New Testament, bound in
calf, saying, "My dear grandchildren, this is a small
gift, but a very precious one. Make it the guide of
your lives." Many of these are yet in the families of
those grandchildren.
In September, 1879, the Bairds held a centennial
gathering at the old home, in memory of the first settling of old grandfather Robert Baird, Sr., on these
lands. There were present thirty-eight representatives,
a singular coincidence. There are now living descendants in Fayette County of the family of Alexander
Baird, one; of Aaroni Baird, six; of Moses Baird,
two; of Elizabeth, who became the wife of Randolph
Dearth, one. The rest are scattered in the West
and South.
Lewis and John Deem came to Luzerne among the
earliest settlers, and located a tract of four hundred
and fifty acres, which include now the farms of James
Cunningham, I. N. Craft, and John Acklin. Lewis
built a log cabin upon the present Craft place in
1777. John put up his cabin on the Acklin farm.
The portion now owned by James Cunninghlam was
bought of the Deems by Eber Homan. A part of the
liouse built by Homan in 1780 still serves as a portion of the residence of James Cunningham, and, as
far as appearances go, is yet stanch and tight. Eber
Homan set up a blacksmith's shop on the Cunningham place, and employed also a hand-mill for grinding corn, not only for himself, but for many of his
neighbors, who were glad of even that primitive
kind of a mill. Grated corn was a common and
sometimes exclusive diet with some people, simply
because they were too poor to buy anything else.
Instances are given of how farmers, preliminary to
harvesting, finding themselves unable to purchase
bread, would cut unripe wheat, dry it and take it to
mill, so that bread might be provided to feed the harvesters at their coming to gather the crop.
In the list of Luzerne's pioneers-a list of some
magnitude-may be recorded the names of James
and William Dearth, the Vernons, Acklins, Ewings,
Samuel Durnell, John Patterson, Joseph Ritchlie,
John Denny, John McConnell, John Wanee, Swethen
Chandler, Charles and John Stewart, Job Briggs, and
the Thorntons. Samuel Durnell was a Chester County
shoemaker, and about the year 1800 located in Luzerne upon a place now owned by William Roberts,
where he resumed his trade of shoemaking. He
bought a farm later, anid in 1819 he sold it, intending
to remove to Ohio. While making his preparations
for the journey he was taken ill and died.
John Wallace, of Chester County, migrated to Luzerne with his family, and settled on the river hill
near Jacobs' Ferry. Of his two sons, Robert moved
to Washington County; William settled in Ohio, returned to Luzerne, and died in the township. The
only member of John Wallace's family living is the
widow of Aaron Baird, now residing in Merrittstown.
Hugh Gilmore, a settler in German township about
1780, built a grist-mill and saw-mill on Redstone
Creek, in Redstone township, and gave the charge
thereof to his sons, James and Hugh Jr., who lived
over the creek in Luzerne.  James and Hugh Jr.
died in Merrittstown. Three brothers namned Dearth
came in before 1780, but only two, James and William, mnade actual settlements.  The third brother
was a great hunter, and devoted himself almost constantly to the sports of the chase. As civilization
advanced and cleared the forests he kept in the advance, and still clinging to his nomnadic life among
the wilds. pushed on westward as the pioneer's axe
opened the way for the march of progress, and so
kept on toward the setting sun a hunter and a roamer
to the last. He died somewhere in the far West.
William Ewing, who married one of Jehu Conwell's daughters, lived on the J. W. Conwell place,
and operated for some years the distillery started by
Jehu Conwell. He was father of Nathaniel Ewing,
who served the county as president judge., William
Miller was on the present William Miller place (located by Amos Hough in 1784) in 1800, where he died
in 1822. Samuel Hurford, one of his farm-hands,
married his daughter Margaret, and died in the towlnship in 1842. David Jamison, from Delaware, and
afterwards of Washington County, settled in 1804,
in Luzerne, near the river, upon land now occupied
by A. G. and J. R. Jamison. There were one hundred and forty-seven acres in the tract that had been
warranted to Jonathan Arnold in October, 1785, at
which time also his son, Jonathan, Jr., located an
adjoining tract. In July, 1785, William Hammond
received a warrant for three hundred and fifty-two
acres upon which is now the Andrew Porter farm.
In 1784, Rezin Virgin located the lands now occupied by Jacob Jamison and William Heller, the property being known as" Perkins' Beauty.?' The Richard
Covert place was first settled by Kinsie Virgin, and
in 1792, John Lawrence located land west of William
Hammond. The Nelan property was warranted to
Thomas Gilpin, and called "Gilpin's Adventure;"
the William  Hurford farm  (known as Ulster) to
I
I
638Thomas Lingan in 1785. Daniel Goble and Thomas  that eating the latter seemed possible. They passed
Goodin warranted lands in 1784 just west of Cox  safely if not happily through their captivity, to be
Run, and Obed Garwood tracts near by ill 1789 and  restored at last to home and friends.
1792. Michael Cox received his warrant in 1786, and    The experiences and sufferings they had endured ill
James Williams his on June 30, 1796. John Covert,  common made them fast friends, and at the close of
who came to the river about 1800, lived there until  the war they resolved to seek together a new home in
his death.  William  Horner and Nicholas Black  the West. Both were bachelors, and a location and
ranked among the old settlers on the river. Black  settlement in the wilderness was a mattor of speedy
was one of William Hammond's slaves, received his  accomplishment.  They bought lands in Luzerne
freedom because of his faithful service, turned basket-  township, Fayette Co., and erected a distillery upon
maker, and in time earned money enough to buy a  the place now occupied by Armstrong Porter. The
farm, upon which his descendants are living at this  log house they built for a dwelling they used in
day.                                                 part as a malt-kiln, and in a little while they were
A deed dated Nov. 10, 1777, recites the transfer  doing quite a business in the manufacture of whiskey.
from John Craig to Charles Porter of three hundred  Ramnsey generally carried the product by flat-boat to
acres (consideration ~600), adjoining lands of John  New Orleans, and in making the return trip would
McKibben, Robert Smith, Lewis Deem, and others. sometimes come back on foot, but most frequently
Feb. 7, 1798, a tract called "Newery" (adjoining  proceeded by sea' to Philadelphia, and thence by horseJonas Kitts) was patented by Robert Adams, and sold  back over the mountains, taking occasion also to bring
by Adams to Alexander Nelan, July 8, 1799.        a lot of salt with him, and such necessaries as the
Before the outbreak of the Revolution James Cun-  backwoods failed to afford.
ningham, of Chester County, Pa., camne out to Wash-   Some time before the year 1800, Mr. Ramnsey conington County, and tomahawked a clain near the  cluded to leave Luzerne for Cincinnati, where he
present site of Washington borough, where there was judged there was a wider and more profitable field for
at that time but one house, and that a log cabin. Mr. the exercise of his energies. The Luzerne distillery
Cunningham put up a hut, did a little chopping, and  had brought much profit to himself and his partner,
returned to Chester County to make ready for a re-  but Cincinnati promised more, and so he dissolved
turn trip to his proposed new settlement, looking to a  his business partnership with his old friend Cunningpermanent location thereon. He did come back that ham and moved to the fuiture Queen City. Not relfall, but found that his cabin was already occupied,  ishing the idea of being left alone, John Cunningham
and althlough he hated to be beaten away from what  wrote to his brother James, still living in Chester
he considered his own by right, he concluded not only  County, that if he would come out to Luzerne and
to leave the interloper in peacef'ul possession, but to  build a good stone hlouse hlie might have in exchange
abandon utterly the project of settling in the Western  one-half of the distillery business, as well as one-half
wilds, being urged to that conclusion, no doubt, by the  of the land connected therewith. James responded
conviction that the country looked a trifle wilder and  promptly by selling his Chester County farm  and
more desolate than he at first thoughtit did. So back  moving to Luzerne with his family. The house that
he went to Chester County, bought a farnm, and pur-  he built upon his arrival, according to contract, is the
sued a quiet and uneventful existence until the tocsin  one now occupied by Armstrong Porter. Set in the
of war sounded, and then with fobur of his brothers,  stone-work is a wooden tablet, bearing the inscription,
living also in Chester County, he entered the service  James and Mary Cunningham, 1800."  Of William
in the Continental army. His brother John and a  Ramsey it will suffice to say that he engaged in busiWilliam Ramsey were captured by the enemy and  ness in Cincinnati, grew up with the town, and became
confined in one of the abominable prison-ships into  in time one of its wealthiest merchants. John and
which the English thrust mnany of their captives. James Cunningham carried on the distilling business
The ship in which Cunningham and Ramsey were  in Luzerne until 1820, and grew rich. The distillery
confined was dispatched to a far-off port, and en route  was operated by others until 1833, William Porter
the unhappy prisoners in the dark and reeking hold  being the last proprietor.
died each day in great numbers, of actual suffocation.   John Cunningham died in the old stone house in
Ramsey and Cunningham were lucky enough to sus-  1830, at the age of eighty-seven, remaining to the last
tain life at a small aperture through which refreshing  a bachelor, and bearing wherever hlie was known the
air came to them, but it was at that only by dint of title of "Uncle John."  He was a member of the
sticking closely and constantly to the opening that State Legislature thirteen successive years. For the
they did manage to keep breath in their bodies. Dur-  fourteenth time he was nominated, but was defeated
ing their subsequent confinement on shore they had a  in the contest by Charles Porter, afterwards county
terrible and painful experience. As a portion of their judge. Uncle John took his defeat sorely to heart,
daily food (it is said) they received bread mixed with  but declared he would stand another nomination, just
lime, and as a part of their daily exercise they found  to show that he could beat Porter, and, in fact, both
employment in separating the lime from the bread so  being nominated the next year, he did beat him. His
LUZERN'E TOWNS -IIP.
639HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
ambition falfilled, he declined to appear any more as
a candidate. Upon his first election he sent to England for a silver watch, that he might properly support
the dignity of his exalted station, and wore it ever after
with much pride. It is now in the possession of his
brother's grandson, and although an article of some
consequence in Cunningham's time, does not nIow
look like m*ch of a watch as compared to time-pieces
of modern production.
John Cunningham's brother James died on the
horne farm in 1832. Of his two sons, William became a merchant at Merrittstown, and died in 1819.
John boated on the Monongahela for his father and
luncle, and died at an early age. In his school life he
was a famous debater, and was, with his brother William, a schoolmate of Andrew Stewart, who entertained a high regard for John's educational abilities.
James Cunningham's daughters were Arabella and
Jane. The former married David Porter, and the
latter William Gallaher.
Armstrong Porter came westward in 1774, and
bought seven hundred acres of land in Luzerne township, including the farm now owned and occupied by
W. J. Stewart. He lived in a two-story log house on
the present Stewart place. His sons nlumbered six
and his daughters two. The sons were named Andrew, Jared, William, David, John, and Armstrong,
all of whom, except John (who moved to Ohio), settled and died in the township. Their mother lived
to be over ninety, and each of them to an advanced
age. Andrew died at the age of eighty-seven; Jared,
at eighty-one; William, at eighty; David, at ninetyone; and Armstrong (in 1879), at ninety-six,-a remarkable showing of long life in so many mnembers
of one family.
Early settlements were made alonig Cox Run, near
Dunlap's Creek. Among them a conspicuous figure
was Michael Cox, who was famous as a great Indianfighter and an ex-Revolutionary soldier. The Coxes
were at one time quite numerous in Luzerne, but now
may be looked for in vain. A story about Michael
Cox and a hog stands as a laughable episode in the
old man's experience. He had been so much troubled
by the animal's depredations that he arose one day'
in his might and swore he would jerk the hog to an
unmentionable place, mneaning to throw him over a
high bluff into a depth known locally as "hell."
Accordingly Cox caught the hog by the tail, and
drargging him toward the precipice put his available
strength into a last pull that was to land the porker
in perdition. Unluckily Cox pulled with such vigor
that he fell on the precipice brink, the earth gave
way, and Cox promptly relinquishing his hold upon
the tail, descended into the place where he had hoped
to send the beast. It was a terrible fall and well-nigh
killed Cox, who lying where he fell and groaning out
his mnisery attracted a lad named John Covert to the
scenie, and the boy running for assistance Cox was
got homie and to bed. His injuries were serious indeed, but he recovered after a long confinement.
John Covert, the boy above named, died in Luzerne
in 1881 at the age of ninety-three. Michael Cox died
in Luzerne, and was buried upon the present C. H.
Swan place. Cox had a large family, and to each of
his sons gave a farm. One of these sons was a captain in the militia, and, what was singular for a militia
captain, invariably appeared upon parade in his bare
feet. One day at parade he got a thorn into one of
his feet, and halting to repair damages yelled to his
men, "Go ahead, boys, and march to yon mullein
stalk while I pull this blasted thorn out of my foot."
Upon the farm where C. H. Swan lives a man
(whose name is now not remembered) putup a fullingmill and carding-machine as early as 1800. He dug
at the expense of much timrne and labor a race through
the limestone, and tried hard to make the venture a
paying one. It proved instead a failure, and was
abandoned by the projector in disgust. After lying
idle some time the property was bought by Rev. William Johnston.
James Coleman was among the early settlers on
the run, and on Oct. 24, 1783, deeded a tract to John
Roiley, of Westmoreland, who for a consideration of
~575 sold it to Andrew Oliphant, of Chester County.
The land is described in the deed as "lying and being
in Menallen township, Westmoreland County, adjoining the lands of Andrew Fraser, William Gray,
Thomas Gregg, Michael Cox, Sr., Henry Swindler,
and M. Douglas." The Thlomas Gregg mentioned was
a Quaker, but was charged, nevertheless, with holding his house open as a Tory rendezvous. The name
of Gregg is now extinct in Luzerne. A grandson of
Thomas has been recently the subject of some public
notoriety in one Elihu Gregg, who burned the jail of
Preston County, W. Va., in 1869, was sentenced to be
hanged, escaped the day before the date fixed for his
execution, was recaptured in Greene County, Pa., two
years afterwards, tried a second time, and a second
time sentenced to death. Governor Matthews commuted his sentence to a life-imprisonment, but this
commnutation the prisoner (then seventy-seven years
old) refused to receive, saying,he wvould have liberty
or death. His case was reviewed a year later by Governor Jackson, who, in April, 1881, issued an unconditional pardon.
As an evidence of the kindly and self-denying
humanity that characterized some of Luzerne's early
settlers stands the story of the man who, coming into
the township from Hagerstown to find employment,
accidentally broke his leg only a little while after he
came in. He was poor and unable to pay for such
service as his case required, but eight of the inhabitants of old Luzerne imnprovised a hlammock, laid the
wounded man thereon, and shouldering the burden
marched through the woods and over hills until they
reached Hagerstown, and there delivered their charge
into the hands of a surgeon, whom they bade attend
him at their expense. Five of these men were
I  
I
I
640LUZERNE TOWNSHIP.
Thomas Davidson, John Conwell, Michael Cox, Eli
Virgin, and William Roberts.
Passing down from Cox Run towards Brownsville,
the chronicler of history comes upon an early Quaker
settlement south of Bridgeport. Amnong those promninent among the "Friends" were Stephen Darlington,
Jonas Cattell, Robert Miller, Obed and Jesse Garwood, David Cattell, John Haines, Joshua and John
Moore, Jonah and Septimnus Cadwallader, and Thomas
Gregg. Septimus Cadwallader was a fuller, and set
his mill on Dunlap's Creek, where Miller's mill now
stands. Jonas Cattell built a tannery in 1808, and
hired Samuel Wheaton, now living in Redstone, to dig
the vats for him. William Dales became a proprietor
of the tannery, and carried it on until his death in
1845. William Binns had also a tannery, which Joel
Painter subsequently converted into a malt-house.
Capt. I. C. WVoodward, who was raised in the family
of David Cattell, and began his service on the river
in 1834, lives now in the same neighborhood that
knew him in his boyhood's days.
The Quakers built a log church about 1800 in the
Charleston District, at the site of the old graveyard.
This church was destroyed by fire, and when a new
house of worship was built the location was changed
to Bridgeport. Among the Dearths known as early
settlers in Luzerne, John Dearth is known to have
been here in about 1780, for in August, 1783, he quitclaimed to Armnstrong Porter a tract of land lying on
Dunlap's Creek, and adjoining lands of Rogers, Robert
and Lewis Deem.
Henry Heaton, at one time a prominent man in
Luzerne history, was a miller on the river at Millsboro', and carried on a mill upon each side of the
stream. He was a representative in the Legislature,
but far from a handsome man. As to the latter reference to his personal appearance a good story is still
extant to the effect that a man calling at his mill to
see him was told that Mr. Heaton was attending a
Legislative session at Harrisburg. The visitor was
exceedingly anxious to see him, and accordingly
started for Harrisburg.  Although a stranger to
Heaton he knew the latter as soon as he encountered
him at the capital, and at once accosting him proceeded to unfold his business. Heaton apleared to
be impatient while the man told his story, and before
the latter had got half through broke in with, "See
here, mny friend, I'm mightily curious to know how
you, who had never seen me before, knew me the instant you saw me. I'm so curious to learn that your
business can wait until I find out." The man fidgeted
some and said he'd rather not tell, but upon being
informed that he must tell or go without transacting
his business replied, "Well, Mr. Heaton, if you must
know, I met a man near your mill of whomn I asked
a description of your personal appearance, so that I
could pick you out unaided. He told me it would be
the easiest thing in the world for me to know you, for
I had but to look about me until I saw the ugliestlooking man in America and call him Heaton, with
a positive assurance that there would be no mistake."
Heaton was philosopher enough to laugh, and as a
proof that he was not'sensitive about it used himrnself
to tell the story as a capital joke. Another story
about Heaton deals with him as a miller. He set out
one day with a boat-load of stones to stop a hole il
his mill-dam. He got his boat around in what he
judged the proper position, and caught hold of a great
bowlder which he proposed to push into the opening.
By some mischance he failed in his intent, so that
instead of pushing the bowlder in he lost his balance
and himself went headlong from the boat into and
through the aperture. He shot into the lower depths
with considerable velocity, but managed to scramble
up and out of his involuntary bath without feeling
seriously damaged. Indeed, he was more surprised
than hurt, and as he recovered his mental balance he
exclaimed, with a good deal of emphasis, "By Jove,
the man that beats that performinance will have to go
through the othler way!" He said, moreover, that it
was about the closest shave he had ever sustained, foir
his body just about fitted the opening, and while lhe
was going through even he feared he might stick
fast and be drowned. Mr. Heaton was widely
known and highly respected, and in business as well
as politics bore a conspicuous place. Singular to relate, four of his children were born mutes, and thus
remained all their lives.
Nathaniel Breading, living in Cecil County, Md.,
found himself at the close of the Revolutionary war
in possession of considerable Continental money, and
not knowing what better to do with it, carried it away
on horseback over the mountains to Southwestern
Pennsylvania, and laid it out in about seven hundred
acres of land lying upon Dunlap's Creek, in Luzerne
township, about one mile above Merrittstown. Having
bought his land, Mr. Breading proceeded at his leisure to bring his family out, and got comfortably located
some time during 1784. Later he built a grist-mill
and saw-mill down the creek, and hired Samuel Bunting as his miller. Mr. Breading always appeared in
knee-breeches and silver buckles, and wore his hair
in a cue. He rose to the distinction of member of
the Supreme Executive Council from 1790 to the close
of the Council, and of associate judge of the County
Court, serving from 1790 until his death in 1821. He
bore otherwise a prominent part in local affairs. The
stone house which he built in 1794, and in which he
died in 1822, is still a solid structure, and serves as
the occasional residence of. his grandson, George E.
Hogg, of Brownsville, who owns the old Breading
farm. A portion of the land purchases of Nathaniel
Breading, as above noticed, appears to have been acquired by him from David Breading, his brother, of
Lancaster, as per recorded deed bearing date May 8,
1783, the consideration being ~500. The land is mentioned as being "a certain tract lying and being on
Dunlap's Creek, in the township of MAenallen, in
C41IHISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
-i
WVestmoreland County, containing three hundred  cumbents have been Taylor Lynch and David Conand eighteen acres, adjoining lands late of Robert
Evans, Charles Porter, John Ewing, and other lands,
it being the tract whereon John McKibben, of the
County of Westmoreland and Commonwealth aforesaid, settled on the 24th of April, in the year of our
Lord 1766, and which was surveyed and located to the
aforesaid John McKibben by Alexander McLean, but
withlout warrants." McKibben sold to David Breading, and he to Nathaniel Breading, as stated. A tract
adjoining this, and containing two hundred and twelve
acres, was surveyed under two warrants, dated respectively Nov. 6, 1771, and JuIne 4, 1772. Rev. John
McMillan, a pioneer preacher in the West, recorded
in his journal under date of "second Sabbath in August, 1775," "Preached at the house of John McKibben, and lodg,ed there all night." David Breading,
who with his brother Nathaniel served through the
Revolutionary war, bought land in Fayette County
while still living in Lancaster, and in 1786 followed
Nathaniel to the new country as a settler. He lived on
the farm now owned by Robert Hogsett, who lives in
the stone house erected there by David Breading in
1800. Both David and Nathaniel Breading died in
Luzerne. None of Nathaniel's children are now
living.  David's son, Clark, the only remaining
member of the family bearing the name of Breading,
resides in Uniontown.
The hamlet of Heistersburg, so named from Governor Heister, was in 1825 the location of a roadside
inn that Yates S. Conwell opened to accommodate the
travel that passed between the river and the mountains over the State road. A store was opened there
in 1830 by Robert Brown, who kept also the Conwell
tavern. This latter house has been a house of entertainmnent since 1825, and for a long time was known
as "The Exchange." The last landlord was Samuel
Kelly, who died in the winter of 1880-81. In 1827,
Samuel Roberts built a brick house at Heistersburg,
and in a little while afterwards William Rice bought
it, and kept store in one portion of it. In 1837, Zebulon Ridge rented it of Rice and converted it into a
tavern stand.  For some years Heistersburg boasted
two taverns, each of which was tacitly understood to
be a rallying-point for mnembers of each political party,
and report has it that Heistersburg was on more than
one occasion a very animated locality.  The best
known of the respective landlords during the exciting
political eras were Zebulon Ridge and John- S. Conwell. Thomas Acklin is remembered as among the
early store-keepers at Heistersburg, but he failed to
make much of a mark as a merchant. The present
brick store, kept by John Ridge, was built by John
S. Conweli, and kept by him for some time. The
first postmaster at Heistersburg was John S. Conwell.
The office was discontinued after he resigned, and
remained so for some time. Upon its revival Neil
Hostetler was appointed.  Succeeding him the inwell, the latter being the present postmaster.
From 1785 to 1800 licenses to tavern-keepers in
Luzerne were issued as follows: William Homan,
March, 1785; Abram  Forker, March, 1792; Job
Briggs, December, 1792; Samuel Large, June, 1796;
Eber Homan, September, 1796; James McCoy, September, 1797; John Black, September, 1797; Elijah
Crawford, March, 1799; Isaac Kimber, September,
1799; Adam Blair, June, 1800.
In the records of the September sessions in 1784
appears the following entry: "William Hoinan, of
Luzerne, having been reported to the court by the
constable of that township for keeping a tipplinghouse, and Thomas Scott, Esq., having declared upon
his oath to the court that in his opinion all the property of said William Homan would be insufficient to
pay the fiie and costs on an indictment, and that he
must becomne a charge on the township, the Court
duly considering these circumstances do recommend
to the attorney for the State not to prefer a bill of indictment against him."
EARLY ROADS.
One of the early roads laid out through Luzerne
was the one extending from James Crawford's ferry
to Uniontown. Upon a petition for the road, presented at the June sessions of court, 1784, Roger
Roberts, Josiah  Crawford, Aaron Hackney, William Royl, David Jennings, and Nathaniel McCarty
were appointed viewers. A report of the road was
made at the September sessions of the same year.
The course of the road lay through Luzerne, Redstone, and Menallen townships, by way of "Mr.
Lawrence's," "Mr. Fenting's," and "Big Meadow
Branch," and so to Uniontown. At the same sessions the court confirmed the report and ordered it
opened, cut, cleared, and bridged, thirty-three feet
wide. A petition for a road from Oliver Crawford's
ferry to Uniontown was presented at the June sessions in 1784. Samuel Adams, William Ross, William Gray, James Hammond, Andrew Fraser, and
William Haney were appointed viewers. r The road
is spoken of as "the nearest and best way fromn Oliver Crawford's ferry to Uniontown," and passed by
Thomals Davidson's house, Absalom Littel's, Charles
Porter's, intersecting the road leading from James
Crawford's ferry to Uniontown, and thence by the
course of said road to TTniontown. A road twenty-five
feet wide from Josiah Crawford's ferry to Uniontown
was reported at the December sessions of 1784 by the
viewers, Messrs. Armstrong Porter, Henry Swindler,
Amos Hough, Samuel Douglas, Josiah Crawford, and
Thomas Gregg, and accordingly confirmed.  The
route was from the ferry by way of Daniel Gudgel's, Samuel Douglas' mill (at Merrittstowni), Amos
Hough's mill, and intersecting the road from James
Crawford's ferry to Uniontown, the course of which
road thereafter being followed.
6 2
I                                        1   LUZERNE TOWNSHIP.                      643
A report of two roads from Redstone Old Fort was
made to the court at December sessions of 1788. One
of the roads reached from the ferry of Thomas McGibbin, just below the Redstone Old Fort, on the
Monongahela River, to Septimus Cadwallader's gristand saw-mill, and from thence to intersect the road
from the Friends' meeting-house to the ferry aforesaid, near the mouth of Joseph Grayble's lane. The
second road was the road from the Friends' meetinghouse to the ferry aforesaid. The viewers were Samuel Jackson, Josiah Crawford, James Crawford, Lewis
Deem, Samuel McGinley, and Robert Baird. In September, 1794, Jehu Conwell, Charles Porter, Jr., Robert Baird, Michael Cox, Thomas Gregg, aind William
Oliphant laid a road thirty-three feet wide from Kinsey Virgin's ferry towards Brownsville, a distance of
six miles and seventy-eight perches, intersecting a
road leading to Brownsville. June, 1795, a road was
laid from near Robert Adams' to James Crawford's
road. The viewers were Jeremiah  P'ears, Robert
Adams, Samuel Adams, Thomas Gregg, Hugh Laughlin, and Charles Porter, Jr.
TOWNShIIP ORGANIZATION AND LIST OF OFFICERS.
At the December session of the Court of Quarter
Sessions for 1783 the county was divided into townships, of which one was Luzerne. The limits were
described as follows:
"A township beginning at the mouth of Dunlap's Creek,
thence up the Monon,ahela River to Oliver Crawford's Ferry,
thence along the road leadingr from Oliver Crawford's Ferry to
Uniontown to McKibbin's Run, thence down the said run to
Dunlap's Creek, thence down Dunlap's Creek to the beginninog
to be hereafter known by the name of Luzerne township."
At the December sessions of 1820 a petition of a
number of persons living near the dividing line between the townships of German and Luzerne was
presented, setting forth,"That the satid line being declared to be the old Muddy
Creek path, which is now obliterated, its precise location being
known to few or none, whereby inconveniences may, occur;
besides, as the market and business of your petitioners are at
Brownsville, it would be more convenient for them to be included in Luzerne township; they therefore pray the court to
appoint three impartial men to enquire into the expediency of
so altering said line as to make the same more certain andl more
convenient to your petitioners by beginning at Seceders' meeting-house, and running thence by a straioht line to the headwaters of Patterson Run, and down said run to the Monongahela, or by such other course as they may think proper whereby
the greater part of said line will be a natural boundary not
liable to inistake or dispute. Viewers appointed, George Craft,
Charles Porter, and Robert Boyd. Order issued; returned
March 6, 1821; confirmed June 7, 1821."
A petition was presented to the court at this sessions
of June, 1845, for the alteration of the line between
German and Luzerne township. An order was issued
and commissioners were appointed. A report was
made and approved Sept. 4,1845, and confirmed Dec.
12, 1845. The change of boundary is indicated in the
report of the commissioners, as follows, viz.: " Commencing at the corner between German, Luzerne, and
Redstone townships, thenice up Lilly's Run to Bixler's
line, thence with said line until it intersects the
present township line."
A list of the principal township officers chosen in
Luzerne between 1784 and 1881, as gleaned from the
imperfectly preserved records, is here given, viz.:
JUSTICES OF
1840. P. F. Gibbons.
James Cunningrbam.
1845. Jarmies Ctunningham.
Lewis Mobley.
1850. Jesse B. Ramsey.
William R. Milli(gan.
1855. Williamn Dunaway.
James Cunningham.
1860. Isaac Mcssmore.
Moses B. Porter.
1861. Isaac Covert.
Joshua. lMeredith.
1865. Isaac Messmore.
THE PEACE.
1S66. Joseph G. Garwood.
Isaac Covert.
1869. Isaac Messmore.
1871. WV. S. Baker.
1872. William J. Stewart.
1873. John Conwell.
1S74. Lewis Mobley.
1876. William S. Baker.
1877. Isaac Covert.
Levi Antrirn.
1878. Jamiies C. Acklin.
Jehu Conwell.
ASSESSORS.
1841. Samuel John.
1842. John Bradmuan.
1843. James D. Williams.
1844. George D. Moore.
1845. Lewis Knight.
1846. Mark R. Moore.
1847. Jamnes F. Baird.
1848. John Bradman.
1849. John G. Hackney.
1850. Saimiuel S. Crawford.
1851. Clark Breading.
1 S52. Samnuel McGinnis.
1853. James Dunaway.
1854. Charles C. Stewart.
1855. John Armstrong.
1856. William P. Crawford.
1857. John G. Hackney.
1858. John A. Nealon.
1859. George G. Johnson.
1860. William Heller.
1861. John Conwell.
1862. John Vernon.
Alexander Gibson.
1863. Williain G. Wood.
1864. Richard Covert.
William Dunaway.
1865. Joseph Scott.
1866. Joseph Hackney.
1867. Albert McMullin.
1 868. George A. Miller.
1869. John A. Messmore.
1871. Joseph T. Hackney.
1872. Reason Walters.
1873. George W. Crawford.
1874. John Hackney.
1875. Georgfe C. Porter.
1S76. James Robinson.
1877. Jarnes Dunaway.
1878. William Porter.
1879. John W. Dearth.
1880. Oliver Miller.
AUDITORS.
1841. James Ewin".
1842. P. F. Gibbons.
1843. William Dunaway.
1844. William C. Johnston.
1845. Willianm R. Milligan.
1846. James Cunningrham.
1847. Joseph Crawford.
1848. William Miller.
1849. James Cunninoham.
1850. Alexander Gibson.
1851. James Ewing.
1852. Cephas Porter.
1853. James Cunningham.
1854. George A. Nealon.
1855. Hamnilton H. Cree.
1856. Johnston McGinnis.
1857. James Ewing.
1858. Samuel Roberts.
Mark R. Moore.
1859. William Cattell.
1860. John D. Scott.
1861. Jesse Coldren.
1862. G. M. Nelan.
Jesse P. Crawford.
1863. James Cunningham.
1864. John D. Cree.
1865. John Nelan.
1866. Joseph Crawford.
1867. Otis G. Harn.
1868. James Ewing.
William P. Craft.
1869. John 0. Stewart.
1870. Lewis Knight.
1871. David Porter.
I
643
LUZEItNE TOWNSHIP.1HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
1872. John N. Jacobs.       1877. John L. Nelan.
1873. William Duna.way.          David Porter.
1874. George W. Acklin.     1878. William J. Stewart.
1S75. Jamnes Ewing.         1879. Jefferson Ilibbs.
1S76. IVilliam Moore.       1880. Jehu Conwell.
SCHOOLS.
The oldest school record extant in Luzerne is an
ancient document now in the hands of John M.
Moore, dated 1802, and inscribed " School-House
Subscription." The document reads as follows:
"We, the undersimners, do promise to pay such sums as
shall be laid on us by James Thompson, John Work and David
Breading, to William Moore and Ebenezer Finley, trustees for
the purpose of building a school house niear Thomnas Barnes, at
the intersection of the Morgantown and J-ames Thompson road,
the size of 20 ft. by 18 do. Such sums we promise to pay in
manners folloWing: The one half payable in wheat at 9 p. rye
at 3, corn 2-6 p. Bu. in Jaines Thompson or Ebenezer Finley's
mill; all on demand, as witness our hands and seal this 1st da,y
of Dec. 1802. Further, we agriee that the above witness shall
purchase a seven-plate stove and set it up in the house when
finished.
John Moore............  $5.50  Abram Haney............. $4.50
Ebenezer Finley..........1 4.50  William Haney............ 6.00
Thos. Frame.............  9.0)0  Samuel hlaney............ 2.00
Wvilliam MIoore............ 2.00  lVm. Brown................ 3.50
Robt. Baird............1 4.50)  Jacob Moss.2.00
John Nicholson........... l.00  Rolbt. Thompson.......... 3.50
Christ. Buchanan......... 5.50  Jacob Brown............... 2.)00
Jaines Framile.........    6.50  Aaron M1foore............... 00..0
John Frame.........  5.50  James Hany............... 2.00
"We are of the opinion tbat the fore-oing assessment is
equitable according to the above article.
[Signed]                 "JAMES THOMPSON}
"JOHN WOIRK,
"DAVID BREADING."
The school-house they built still stands, and is
known as the ol(1 cross-roads or Morgantown road
school-house.   It was constructed  of round  logs,
chinked and daubed, and covered with slat-boards
and shingles; chimney made of split sticks. Slabs
with two sticks under each end served for seats.
Rough boards fastened against the walls were writingdesks. Two square holes about two by two and a
half feet, one on each side of the house, were windows. There was one door, which was all that was
necessary. The building has been inhabited for a
number of years by Aaron Moore and John White,
wlho vacated it on April 4, 1881.
Merrittstown was a little more fortunate than the
surrounding country in the matter of educational advantages, for it had a sehool that was enough better
than the ordinary school of the time to win the honor of
being designated as " the college." The school-house,
whieh stood near the old Baptist graveyard, was not
any different from the log cabin school-houses of the
period, but old Anthony Burns, the teacher, must
have been considered a superior sort of pedagogue,
since in that respect only was the superiority of the
Merrittstown school discernible. Schoolmaster Burns
must have been a teacher in great favor, for he taught
in Merrittstown and vicinity about fifty years, and
gave up the btusiness of teaching only when, at eighty
years of age, he found himself too infirm to continue
it. Andrew Stewart (afterwards known to fame as
" Tariff Andy") took his first lessons in that schoolhouse under a teacher named Carr, who ruled there
before 1805, or before the advent of Burns, and who
boasted in his school a Latin class, of which three
members were Andrew Stewart, John Cunningham,
and William Cunningham. Andrew Stewart's father
was a blacksmlith at Merrittstown for a while, and
thus Andrew was a pupil in Daddy Carr's school.
Later the Rev. William Johnston, pastor of the
Dunlap's Creek Presbyterian Church, opened a
Latin school at Merrittstown, and coniducted it successfully for some years. Mention may likewise be
made that William  Darby, afterwards editor of The
Gazetteer, was among the earliest teachers in the old
Merrittstown log school-house, which, standing until
1836, was then accidentally burned. In 1806 the
school-houise in the present Crawford district stood
about three-quarters of a mile distant from the site
of the house now in use. The teacher in that year
was Joseph Wanee, son of John Wanee, then living
where John Wanee now lives. School children were
not over plentiful there even in 1806, and by dint
eveni of stronigest effort the number available fell
short of the requirement; whereupon Joseph Crawford, exceedingly anxious for a school, agreed to pay
for the tuition of ten children, although he could
send only three, and so the school was started. In
1813 the house in the Charleston district stood near
the present house. Murdock, the then teacher, was
succeeded by Mr. McCleary, Anthony Burns, and
others.
The following is a list of the school districts of
Luzerne as formed in 1835 under the operation of the
school law of the previous year, and of the districts
of the township at the present time (1881), viz.:
In 1835.                   In 1881.
Merrittstown..........        Merrittstown (No. 1).
Heistersburg........          Heistersburg (No. 2).
Middle District (chatnged to)........... Haines' (No. 3).
West Bend......................   West Bend (No. 4).
Crawford's......................   Crawford's (No. 5).
Cross-Roads (changed to)................ Charleston (No. 6).
Scrabbletown (changed to)............... Luzerne Village (No. 7).
Daividson's (changed to).................. Sassafras (No. 8).
Oak Hill.......................   Oak lill (No. 9).
Colored School (No. 10).
The amount expended in the year 1835 for school
purposes was $611.36. Teaclhers' wages then were
from eleven to twenty-five dollars per month. The
directors in 1838 were Joseph Crawford, Jr., John
Moore, David Porter, Jr., Clark Breading, P. F. Gibbons, and David Craft. Joseph Crawford, Jr., was
president, and David Craft secretary. The list of
school directors of Luzerne elected since the year
1840 is as follows:
641LUZERNE TOWNSHIP.
1841. Ephraim R. Crawford.
Johnston McGinnis.
1842. William Dunamon.
Lebbeus Clark.
1843. Larkin S. Dearth.
William R. Milligan.
1844. Benjamin Vernon.
John R. Jennison.
1845. Wm. G. Crawford.
David H. Wakefield.
1846. James Ewing.
Johnston McGinnis.
1847. John R. Jamison.
Cephas Porter.
1848. Jesse B. Ramisey.
Lewis Mobley.
1849. David Craft.
James P. Baird.
1850. Wm. Y. Roberts.
William Cattle.
1851. J. R. Jamison.
Jesse Ileacock.
1852. James D. Williams.
David Porter.
1853. William H. Crawford.
Hamilton Cree.
1854. Jamies Ewing.
Samuel McGinnis.
1855. William Hufford.
John Conwell.
1856. Robert Williams.
Georgre A. Nelan.
1857. Clark Breading.
John R. Jamison.
David Porter.
1858. William Cattell.
Isaac Covert.
1859. Ebenezer T. Gallaher.
William Dunaway.
1860. James Ewing.
Elisha P. Gibbons.
1861. William Ilurford.
Samuel McGinnis.
William Cattell.
Isaac Messmore.
1862. Jacob N. Ri(dge.
Joshua Meredith.
1863. Isaac Woodward.
Lewis Knight.
1864. John Armstrong.
Jesse B. Glenwood.
1865. Samuel McGinnis.
George Vance.
1866. Samuel S. Meredith.
James Cunningham.
Robert Doully.
Jacob S. Jamison.
1867. Robert Harn.
Henry Crawford.
1868. William Hatford.
John J. Cree.
WAilliam Keller.
1869. I. C. Woodward.
J. N. Craft.
Andrew Porter.
Win. J. Stewart.
1870. I. C. Woodward.
R. C. Vernon.
Joseph Crawford.
1871. E. T. Gallaher.
Aaron Hackney.
J. L. Nelan.
1872. John Conwell.
Jolhnl S. Pratt.
1873. Iliram Calvert.
C. D. Krepps.
Caleb B. Doully.
1874. John 0. Stewart.
John McEldowney.
Thomas L. Wood.
1875. Levi Antram.
E. T. Gallaher.
1876. William S. Croft.
Caleb Duvall.
Adin Horn.
1877. Adin Horn.
Charles Swan.
David Porter.
1878. L. C. McDougal.
Oliver Miller.
1879. John L. Nelan.
William S. Craft.
1880. John W. Dearth.
Charles Swan.
The school board of 1881 was composed of Oliver
Miller, Charles Swan, John W. Dearth, John L. Nelan, L. C. McDougal, and William S. Craft.
CHURCHES.
Although Luzerne contains now but three houses
of worship,-a Cumberland Presbyterian, a Methodist
Episcopal, and an African Church (the latter at Luzerne Village),-no less than four other churches have
been known to the township's history, although of
those four nothing now remains save the recollection that they once flourished. Each church had
a history that began almost as soon as the history of
the township itself, and each has for so many years
been a thing of the past that but little save a reference to their existence can be here presented, since
the church records have disappeared, no one knows
where. One of the oldest of the four was the Baptist
Church at Merrittstown. It must have been organized as early as 1800, for the present recollection is
that when the church building was destroyed by fire
in 1836 it was old and dilapidated. The church
stood near the school-house, and was burned with the
latter structure. Among the leading members of this
Baptist organization were Abram Vernon, Josiah
Richards, David Wilson, the Crafts, Harfords, Hibbs,
and others. The congregation was a large one for
many years, but towards the last it became weakened,
and was virtually dissolved even before the church
was burned, so that there was not strength to create
a revival of the organization or the building of a new
house of worship, and so the record was closed. The
last pastor the church had was the Rev. William
Brownfield, whose home was near Uniontown. He
was a very eccentric preacher, and seems to talke
great comfort in doing and saying things widely out
of the common way. Mr. James Cunningham remembers going one Sunday with Jamres Walker to
hear Brownfield preach, and that the parson paused
suddenly in the midst of his sermon to point his finger sharply and apparently at Cunningham and his
companion, to exclaim, in a loud voice," Did you ever
see me fly?" Then, keeping his eyes intently fixed
upon the two younig men, who blushed and looked
much confused, he said, quite as loudly but more deliberately, "No, you haven't, and what's more you
never will." Having thus relieved his mind of a
seeming burden, he went on with his sermon. He
was once engaged in reading the Declaration of Independence at a Fourth of July celebration, when, coming to that part of it where recital is made of the
English king's oppressive acts, he grew quite excited,
and with flashing eyes commented upon the passage
with the single exclamation, "The villain!" delivered
in such emphatic and fiery manner that none who
saw or heard him could doubt for a moment that if
Parson Brownfield could get at King George at that
instant he would make short work of him.
IIOPEWELL METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHIURCIHI
was formed not long after the year 1800, and near
what is now known as Heistersburg, where its house
of worship stood until about 1835. Singing-schools
are said to have flourished therewith considerable
vigor, but the church organization did not maintain
a very long lease of life. It may be well to say, however, that the dissolution of the church organization
was chargeable as much as to anything to the fact
that the location of the church edifice was not a convenient one. This statemnent would appear to be
borne out in the declaration that when West Bend
Methodist Episcopal Church was formed, about 1835,
many of Hopewell's old members participated in organizing the new church.
In the southern portion of the township a Seced645HISTORY OF. FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
son, that " Should the enemy approach this frontie:
and offer protection, half the inhabitants wvould joir
them." Afterwards Gen. Irvine (who succeeded Brod
head as commandant at the fort) wrote: "i am confident if this post was evacuated, the bounds of Canlada
would be extended to the Laurel Hill in a few
weeks."
In the latter part of 1780, Capt. Urianh Springer (a
resident of that part of Westmoreland County which
is now Fayette) was on duty with his company, engaged in the collection of supplies in the Monongahela Valley, at and in the vicinity of Fort Burd,  and
while on this service experienced great trouble from
the opposition and enmity of the people there, as is
shown by the following letter, written to him by the
commandant at Fort Pitt, viz.:
"I have this moment received your favor of yesterday, and am sorry to find the people about Redstone
have intentions to raise in arms against you. I
believe with you that there are amongst them many
disaffected, and conceive that their past and present
conduct will justify your defending yourself by every
means in your power. It may yet be doubtful whether
these fellows will attempt anything against you, but
if you find they are determinied you will avoid, as
much as your safety will admnit, in comings to action
until you give me a further account, and you may
depend upon your receiving succor of infantry and
artillery. I have signed your order for ammunition,
and have the honor to be, etc.
"DANIEL BRODHEAD.
"CAPT. URIAH SPRINGER."
At that time the officers commanding the few
American troops west of the Alleghenies had great
difficulty in obtaining tlle supplies necessary for the
subsistence of their men. On the 7th of December,
1780, Gen. Brodhead said, in a letter of that date addressed to Ricllhard Peters, "For a long time past I
have had two parties, commanded by field-officers, in
the country to impress cattle, but their success has
been so small that the troops have frequently been
without meat for several days together, and as those
commands are very expensive, I have now orde-red
them in." He also said that the inhabitants on the
west side of the mountains could not furnish one-half
enough meat to supply the troops, and that he had
sent a party of hunters to the Little Kanawha River
to kill buffaloes, "and to lay in the meat until I can
detach a party to bring it in, which cannot be done
before spring." In the letter to Peters, above quoted
from, Brodhead made allusion to the furnishing of
1 Fort Burd (Brownsville) was used as a depot of supplies for some
years during the Revolutionary war, and was guarded, while so used, by
detachments of militia detailed for the purpose. Col. Janies Paull served
there with ole of these giuarding detachmenlts, under command of Capt.
Robert McGlauglllin, in 1778. Col. Ephratil  Bhille, deputy quartermaster-general of the Continental forces, lived on the Monongallela, near
the fort.
r spirits for the use of the troops, and indicated pretty
1 plainly his preference for imported liquor over the
whisky of Monongahela, viz.: " In one of your former letters you did me the honor to infbrm me that
his Excellency, the commander-in-chief, had demanded of our State seven thousand gallons of rum,
and now the commissioner of Westmoreland informs
i me that he has verbal instructions to purchase that
i quantity of whisky on this side of the mountains.
I hope we shall be furnished with a few hundred gallons of liquor fit to be drank."
EXPEDITION OF COL. LOCHRY.
In 1780 the Indians beyond the Ohio had grown
alarmingly hostile and aggressive. Incited to their
bloody work by their British allies in the Northwest, they were almost constantly on the war-path,
crossing the Ohio at various points, making incursions into the frontier settleInents east of that
river, and assuniing, in general, an attitude so menacing to the white inhabitants west of the Laurel
Hill that it was regarded as absolutely necessary
to send out a strong expedition to meet and chastise
them in their own country. Accordingly, with this
object in view, in February, 1781, Gen. Washington issued orders to Gen. George Rogers Clarke
(who had achieved considerable renown by his success in the command of an expedition against the
British p)osts between the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers
three years before) to raise an adequate force and proceed with it from Pittsburgh to the Falls of the Ohio
at Louisville; thence to march to the Wabash, for the
purpose indicated, and also to move, if practicable,
against the British posts on and near Lake Erie.
Clarke was a Virginia partisan, but, willing to enlist men from Pennsylvania to make up his force, he
at once entered into correspondence with the Executive Council of this State to obtain its consent to the
project, which he secured on the recommendation of
Christopher Hays, of Westmoreland County. Under
this authority Clarke, on the 3d of June, 1781, addressed the "Council of Officers" of Westmoreland
to secure their concurrence and assistance. The result was that the matter was laid before the people of
Westmoreland County at a public meeting held for
the purpose on the 18th of June, which meeting and
its proceedings were reported as follows:
"Agreeable to a Publick notice given by Coll.
Hays to the Principal Inhabitants of the County of
Westmoreland to meet at Capt John McClellen's, on
the 18th Day of June, 1781.
"And Whereas, There was a number of the Principal people met on sd Day, and unanimously chose
John Proctor, John Pomroy, Charles Campbell, Sam'l
Moorhead, James Barr, Charles Foreman, Isaac Mason [Meason], James Smith, and Hugh Martain a
Committee to Enter into resolves for the Defence of
our frontiers, as they were informed by Christ Hays,
I
I
86HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
ers', or United Presbyterian Church was formed so
long ago that no one now living remembers anything
as to the details, and it is believed that none of the
constituent members are living. For more than fifty
years the church history has been but a memory. A
strong effort was made some years ago to revive the
organization, but the effort resulted in failure.
There was a Quaker Church in the Charleston district even before 1800. It was a log structure, and
stood near where the old graveyard in that district
may yet be seen. It was burned about 1820, and replaced by a stone church, whose location was fixed
in Bridgeport borough. The land for the church lot
in the borough was deeded by Jonah Cadwallader
"to the Society of Friends and citizens of Brownsville and Bridgeport, for the purpose of building
upon it a house.of worship." The church is no more,
and Quaker meetings in Luzerne a thing of the past.
HOPEWELL CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURChI.
In the autumn of 1831, Revs. Alfred M. Bryan and
Milton Bird, acting as missionaries under the General
Assemnbly of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church,
were called to visit the neighborhood of Hopewell,
and as their ministrations were met with an interested
awakening of religious fervor, it was thought expedient to form a Cumberlanid Presbyterian Society at
Hopewell.  The Methodist Episcopal Society of
Hopewell tendered the use of their house, and May
14, 1832, the Cumberland Society was formed with a
membership of eighteen, to whom the Lord's Supper
was administered for the first time June 17, 1832, by
Rev. A. M. Bryan, assisted by Rev. Samuel M. Aston.
Thenceforward preaching was supplied by Revs.
Bryan, Sparks, and Aston. Liberal accessions were
made to the congregation, and on Sept. 19, 1832, the
formal organization of a church was effected. Sixty
members were enrolled, and there were, in addition
to these in the congregation, twenty-five seekers after
religion. The constituent members were Samuel
Roberts, Josephus Bindsley, James Gibson, John
Davidson, William Downey, Robert Baird, Enoch
Baird, William Chambers, Eleanor Mehaffie, Sarah
Davidson, Rachel Ritenhour, Isabella Milligan, Mary
Gibson, Ruth W. Gibbons, Orpha McDougal, Moses
Baird, Rachael Baird, Mary Porter, Rachel Downey,
Mary Longley, Eliza Abrams, Mary B. Henderson,
Eleanor Gibbons, Naomi Hurford, Sarah Moss, Ann
Moss, Ann Hurford, Jane Louden, Eliza J. Paul,
Lydia G. Gibson, Mary Jainison, Ann V. Gibbons,
Eleanor Irwin, Ursula Arnold, Alexander Wilson,
Deborah Wilson, Andrew Porter, Jr., Henry Alexander, William Kelly, Maria Porter, Mary Hurford,
Eliza Rogers, Edward Rose, Hugh Kerns, Melinda
J. Porter, Esther Pennell, Achsah A. Roberts, Mary
Lawrence, Rebecca Kennedy, Hester J. Roberts,
William G. Roberts, Caroline Roberts, Tirza Roberts, Isaac Covert, Nancy Porter, Mossill Jamison,
George W. Baumgartner, Elishla Pierce, and Mary
Pierce.  Samuel Roberts, Josephus Lindsley, and
James Gibson, Jr., were chosen and ordained ruling
elders.  Lindsley being selected to represent the
church in Presbytery, reported that Revs. A. M.,
Bryan and S. M. Sparks had been assigned to preach
at Hopewell during the ensuing six months. Nov.
3, 1839, John Davidson, Samuel Jennison, and Moses
Barnes were chosen trustees.
In the spring of 1835, Rev. Mr. Wood was ordered
to thle charge as stated pastor, and remained until the
spring of 1838. In April of that year Rev. A. M.
Blackford succeeded to the pastorate. In April, 1840,
came Rev. John Cary, and remaining one year was
followed in April, 1841, by Rev. Samuel E. Hudson,
whose term of service endured to 1846. In the fall
of 1846, Fairview and Hopewell Churches united in
a call to Rev. J. T. A. Henderson, who remained
nearly all the time unitil 1856, Rev. Jesse Adams
preaching also occasionally meanwhile. Rev: J. H.
Coulter was the pastor a whlile after 1856, and then
Mr. Henderson returned, to give way again to Mr.
Coulter. Since April, 1880, Rev. A. W. White has
been in charge.
The first house of worship was built in 1833-34.
The second and present one was built in 1872. It is
a handsome brick structure, 60 by 40 feet in dimensions, and cost six thousand dollars. The membership is now about two hundred and forty. The elders
are John Vernon, William Heller, A. G. Swan, Samuel Baird, and Elijah Craft. The trustees are William
Acklin, John Vernon, Oliver Miller. The Sundayschool superintendent is Jesse P. Crawford.
WEST BEND METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
The dissolution of the Hopewell Methodist Episcopal Church, about 1830, led to the formation of a
Methodist Episcopal class in the river bend, the
members being John Covert, Patience Lawrence,
Richard Jamison and wife, George Lawrence and
wife, and William Roberts, formerly of Hopewell.
John Covert was chosen leader, and for many years
afterwards was one of the rulinig spirits in the church.
Services were held in a school-house a few years, and
when the congregation became prosperous enough to
warrant the erection of a house of worship the one
now used was built. Increase of membership has
made the house too small, and within a short time
it will be replaced by a spacious brick edifice to cost
about six thousand dollars. The members nuniber
now about one hundred. The pastor is Rev. J. G.
Gaugley. The trustees are Samuel Jamison, Benton
Covert, John Covert, William Hurford, Albert Jamison, John Wanee, and Joshua Strickler. The classleader is Joshua Strickler.
A Unionl Church near Jacobs' Ferry is a monument to the generosity of Mrs. Adam Jacobs, of
Brownsville. Residing during the summer seasons at
the Ferry, she caused the church to be built for the
purpose of having Episcopal services therein regularly
646LUZERNE TOWNSHIP.
during her suburban stay, and then caused it to be
declared that all denominations were free to hold
meetings in the house at all timnes save such as were
chosen for the meetings of the Episcopalians.
BURIAL-GROUNDS.
Burial-places are numerous in Luzerne, and include
among private and public graveyards some that are
old and neglected, but yet dotted with weatherstained headstones that record the deaths and virtues
of many of Luzerne's pioneers. There is the old
Quaker burying-ground in the Charleston district
(but little used now), one at Merrittstown, where the
old Baptist Church once reared its modest front, one
at Hopewell (or Heistersburg), one on the John
Horner farm near the river, one on the David Porter
farm, another at the site of the United Presbyterian Church, another on J. W. Dearth's farm, and
still another on the Joseph Crawford place. All
these are burial-places dating from 1800 or near that
period. There is a neat cemetery at the Hopewell
Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and one at the
West Bend Methodist Episcopal Church, at which
latter place there is also an unused graveyard, originally laid out for the family of Jonathan Arnold,
but used also by the neighborhood.
THE VILLAGE OF MERRITTSTOWN.
Merrittstown, lying upon Dunlap's Creek, and on
the eastern line of Luzerne township, ranks among the
old villages of the county, but that it has materially
improved with age cannot be truthfully said. It contains to-day as its representative business interests
two stores, a grist-mill, tannery, and the usual minor
village industries, and a population of sixty-two inhabitants by the census of 1880. Seventy years ago
it was a livelier place, for then it was a station on one
of the traveled routes between East and West, and a
halting-place for stock-drivers, freighters, etc. The
opening of railway communication diverted such
traffic, and took away much of Merrittstown's importance, but now the probability of a railway to
touch at this point has awakened hopes of renewed
prosperity, and brightened the prospect materially.
Merrittstown was founded and laid out by two
brothers, named Caleb and Abram Merritt, of whom
Abram was a man of considerable energy. Just
when the Merritts laid out the village cannot be ascertained, although the statement is made that the
original plat of the town is in the hands of some
person living in the far West. The date may, however, be fixed with moderate certainty as not far
from 1790. It is known that Samuel Douglas had a
grist-mill and saw-mill there as early as 1785, and
sold his interests to the Merritts, who conceived the
notion of building a village around the nucleus of a
mill. The place was at first called' New Town, but
directly after Merrittstown. Abram Merritt's house
stood opposite the present shoe-shop of Lewis Durnell. Caleb lived on the lot now occupied by John
Moore. But little can be said touching the history
of Merrittstown up to 1805, but it would appear that
at or before that time people journeying across the
mountains and drovers taking stock to market began
to make a point of stopping there, and the demand
for accommodation naturally led to the opening of a
public-house. In the year mentioned, therefore, we
find that Adam Farquar was keeping a tavern in the
old Caleb Merritt house, and that by that time the
Merritt brothers had sold their property and mnoved
to Ohio. Simeon Cary was then making nails by
hand in a little log shop, and although he turned out
some coarse and clumsy work in the shape of shinglenails, he found the demand quite equal to the supply,
for, as luck would have it for him and other unskillful
manufacturers, the pioneers were not over-fastidious
in that direction.. A man named Richard Bates was
the miller at the old Douglas mill, and it is said that
the mill proprietor was Encal Dodd. Bates seems to
have been especially conspicuous for the generous
way in which he treated himself to strong drink.
Upon the old account-books kept by John and James
Cunningham, the distillers, it may be observed that
charges against Richard Bates for "one gallon of
whiskey" appear with remarkable frequency. Encal
Dodd was esteemed a great talker, as well as one of
the most rigidly honest men in the country, but
slightly given to absent-mindedness withal.  It is
told of him that while grinding a grist for James
Cunningham he maintained with that gentleman an
incessant flow of argument, and as he talked he
helped himself quite absent-mindedly to toll so frequently that when the grist was ground the miller
had decidedly. more of it than his customer. Mr.
Cunningham, who had noted with much amusement
the freak of his friend, laughingly remarked, "Well,
Mr. Dodd, suppose I take the toll for my share and
you take what I have." At this Dodd looked and
felt much ashamed of his action, and then turned
not only the toll into Cunninghlam's bag, but added
an extra allowance from the mill stock, saying he
was determined to punish himself for being so absentminded.
In 1805, Elijah Coleman carried on a tannery
where E. T. Gallaher now pursues the same business, and from best accounts obtainable Coleman had
then been there some years. Of the Colemans none
are now to be found in the township. Daniel Bixler
was the village shoemaker, and upon the lot now occupied by W. L. Guiler, George Hogg kept a store,
the pioneer store in Merrittstown.
A post-office was established in Merrittstown before
1805, with Elijah Colemnan as the first postmaster.
Old Dennis McCarty was the mail-carrier between
Uniontown and Brownsville via Merrittstown, and
for a long time made the trip on foot once a week.
Although his mail-pouch was exceedingly light, he
always carried a bulky batch of copies of The Genius
I
I
647HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
of Liberty, which he left to subscribers en route.
Dennis was a white-haired old man, but a merry one,
and regularly upon his approach to Merrittstown was
greeted by the village lads, then in waiting for him,
with theannouncement, " Here comes old white head!"
Having delivered his mail Dennis would bestow himself in the bar-room of the village tavern, and sing
rollicking songs as long as the landlord would pay
him for the songs in cider. Then Denny was in his
glory, and the gathered villagers in a state of delight.
Denny bore about with him a pair of ears of which
each was ornamnented with a slit.  Rather proud
than otherwise of the marks, he called frequent attention to them, and boastingly related that early in
life he had been taken captive by the Indians, and
thus received from them signs of their kindly attention.
Elijah Coleman did not fancy being postmaster because of the trouble it always gave him to make out
his quarterly returns, and failing to get a better idea
of the business as time passed he resigned in utter
disgust. Adam Farquar, who kept the village tavern,
is said also to have had a bowling alley in it, and between selling whiskey, furnishing entertainment, aiind
running the nine-pin alley managed to make life
pleasant and lively for the travelers who came that
way in considerable force and halted at old Farquar's
for the night.
In 1808, John McDougal came from Maryland to
Merrittstown and set up a cabinet-shop. He was
also a builder, and with John Allander to assist him
did a good deal in the house-carpentering way. In
1810, George Hogg having given up business as a village trader, William Cunningham, son of James Cunningham, the distiller, opened a little store on the lot
now occupied by L. C. McDougal's residence, and
built also the house known as the Baird residence adjoining McDougal's. Mr. Cunningham's establishment was known as the Continental store, and as he
had other business interests to look after, he emrnployed
John Gallagher and Benjamin Barton as his store
clerks. He bought also the grist-mill property, and
employed John Dunlap as his miller. He was excise
officer for some years, and altogether had his hands
full of industrial enterprises. He removed from the
village to tlle Cunningham farm in 1817, and there
died in 1819. During the latter portion of his stay
at Merrittstown he operated a fulling-mill as an attachment to the grist-mill. Merrittstown had in 1810
a hatter named Joshua Wilson, who had a shop across
from where Lewis Durnell's shoe-shop is, and there
made heavy fur hats. He had in front of his place a
great sign, uponl which he had painted the picture of
a hat, a fox, and other fur-coated animals. Matthias
Lancaster, his workman, succeeded him in the business. Lancaster afterwards moved to Redstone. Caleb and Joshua Harford were the village blacksmiths,
and Daniel Wilson the wagon-maker. The blacksmith's shop stood near where Mr. Moore's house
now stands. In that shop James Cunningham, now
of Luzerne, worked as an apprentice under George
Brown, beginning in 1826.  Speaking of his impressions of Merrittstown's early history, Mr. Cunningliam  says he is sure that Daniel Wilson, the
wagon-maker, was in the village in 1812, for Daniel
Wilson's wife Hester once told him (Cunningham)
that she carried him, then a babe, to the window one
day in that year to see a company of soldiers mnarch
past on the way to the army. George Chandler was
then the village tailor, and in his shop he had as apprentice Josephus Lindsley, who afterwards set up a
shop of his own and became the village postmaster.
Chandler carried on tailoring until his death, when
thebusiness was continued by his son.Isaac, who not
long afterwards removed to Ohio. Noah Lewis succeeded Adam Farquar as the village tavern-keeper in
a house occupying the lot that adjoins Gadd's blacksmith's shop.
One of Merrittstown's local characters about 1812
was Lott Green, a Quaker and a good mechanic. He
was a noted manufacturer of flax-hatchels and also a
skillful repairer of firearms.
The year 1823 saw considerable activity in Merrittstown. John McDougall, the carpenter (who was said,
by the way, to have put the cabin upon the first
steamboat built at Brownsville), built a brick tavern
stand upon the site of William Cunningham's Continental store, the frame of which latter was included
within the new structure. Mr. McDougal kept the
brick tavern until 1845, since when it has beedi used
as a family residence, it now being the home of Mr.
L. C. McDougall. John McDougall died in 1856.
In 1826 there were three village taverns in Merrittstown, namely, McDougal's, IHiram Miller's (in
the old Noah Lewis. stand), and Daniel Marble's, in
the building now occupied by Lewis Durnell. A
new grist-mill had replaced in 1824 the old Douglas
mill, and was owned by Joseph Thornton, whose miller was John Grimes, who removed at a later date to
Ohio. William Ramsey and his son Jesse were for
many years millers at the Thornton mill and the Gilmore mill, a short distance up the stream.  The
Thornton mill is now carried on by Lynch  Hanna.
After John MeDougal closed his tavern stand no
public-house was kept in Merrittstown from that day
to this. The opening of the National road had turned
traffic fromn the route through Merrittstown, and of
course the consequence of no travel was no tavern.
After William Cunningham closed his store, in 1817,
Merrittstown was without a local trading-place until
1830, when John Smith opened trade in a store-house
built by George Brown, the blacksmith. In that year
Hugh Gilmore had a distillery near the town, and
Elijah Coleman was still carrying on his tannery.
Coleman was no less famous for being a tanner than
he was for being the father of nineteen children.
Hiram Durnell had been the village shoemaker from
1818. George Brown, the blacksmith, had opened
648RLP,,g]D[EH(g9 y (DAPT. 0,WU(9 CD. ZT3cDWARDq
LUZIERHIE 700WHIMPO FAIYEVITIE COO-9 PA.LUZERNE TOWATNSHIP.
his shop in 1822, prospered, and went to store-keeping.
He traded about ten years, when in consequence of
business misfortunes he became deranged.  George
Brown, who was Merrittstown's fourth store-keeper,
was the successor of Robert Brown, and the predecessor of Samuel Henderson and John Gallaher. In
1876 the village had two stores, kept by Alfred Cunningham  and Thomas D. Miller.  Cunningham's
store was burned in 1877 and Miller's in 1879, at
which time the post-office with all the mail, being in
Miller's store, was likewise destroyed.
In 1822 the foot-bridge across Dunlap's Creek at
Merrittstown was washed away by a flood, and from
that on to 1836 fording or ferrying was the method of
crossing. In that year John Langley and Liberty
Miller built the mason-work, and Stoffel Balsinger,
with his son Perry, the frame-work of a new bridge.
The mason-work remains, but the frame, being badly
constructed, fell soon after it was put up. The present frame was constructed by William Antrim.
In the post-office the successor of Elijah Colemnan
was William Cunningham, who was succeeded in
1817 by Josephus Lindsley, the tailor. Lindsley resigned in 1832 and left the town.  The next postmaster was George Brown, the blacksmith, who, after
holding the place several years, was followed by Hugh
Gilmore. Then came Margaret Gilmore, Alexander
Brown, John Armstrong, and James McDougal. The
succession after McDougal was Hiram S. Horner,
1861-62; Lewis Durnell, 1862-68; Mary Messmore,
1868-69; Samuel H. Higinbotham, 1869-72; E. H.
Baird, 1872-75; T. D. Miller, 1875-79; Harriet A.
Cook, 1879, to the present time. For a small place
Merrittstown appears to have had a pretty extensive
supply of postmasters.
The first resident physician at the village now remembered was Dr. Morrill Parker, who located there
in 1821 or 1822. He was at no time very popular, for
he appeared to esteem  himself a grade above his
neighbors in the social scale, and instead of cultivating friendly relations with them he had visitors
fiom abroad at his home constantly, and rather delighted in showing off what he was pleased to term his
aristocratic company before the villagers.  By the
latter he was termed a high-flyer, and when he left
the town, after a stay of a Jew years, he was not much
regretted. He aspired to be an author, and wrote
"The Arcanum of Arts and Sciences," but it is not
known that it created a very great commotion in the
world of letters. After Dr. Parker's departure there
was no village physician for some timne.
Dr. Meason was the next to locate, and after him
Dr. Wilcox, but neither remained more than a year.
In 1827 came Dr. Elliott Finley from Westmoreland
County, who, after a stay of a few years, moved to
Greene County, where he was killed by an accidental
fall from a wagon. After another interval the field
was occupied by Dr. William L. Wilson, who left
after the expiration of about a year. In 1840 an
office was opened by Dr. J. N. Craft, son of David
Craft. Dr. Craft practiced in Merrittstown and vicinity until his death in 1846, and achieved a popularity
that causes grateful mention of his name to this day.
His successor was Dr. H. R. Roberts, who had
but little practice. N. L. Hufty followed Roberts,
and in 1847 was succeeded by Dr. Henry Eastman, who came to Merrittstown in Juniie of that
year. Since then he has been steadily in practice in
and about the village, and rides a wide circuit in a
practice that has been extensive and profitable
through his residence of thirty-four years and made
his name a household word in hundreds of families
in the county.
The only civic society in Merrittstown is Merrittstown Lodge, No. 772, I. O. O. F., which was organized
Aug. 5, 1871, with charter members as follows: Isaac
Messmore, P. G.; Samuel H. Higinbotham, John A.
Messmore, P. G.; James M. Jackson, William Knight,
Johnson Miller, James H. Ball, Jesse Coldren, William H. Higinbotham, George W. Green, Jacob N.
Ridge, Samuel L. Stewart, Jacob Huber, Casper
Haynes, George Thompson, William S. J. Hatfield,
F. F. Chalfant, R. Brashear, John Coldretn, J. C.
Wood.
The first officers were J. A. Messmore, N. G.; Isaac
Messmore, V. G.; S. H. Higinbotham, Sec.; James
M. Jackson, P. S.; Johnson Miller, Treas. The
Noble Grands have been J. A. Messmore, Isaac Messmore, John Allen, James Jackson, Samuel Higinbotham, S. J. Gadd, William Gadd, S. L. Stewart,
George Roberts, W. S. Craft, Absalom Hostetler, J.
N. Ridge, Johnsonl Miller, John Williams, and Newton Jackson. The members are now twenty-four, and
the officers as follows: Newton Jackson, N. G.; John
Norman, V. G.; Robinson Savage, Rec. Sec.; Richard
Miller, P. S.; Joseph Woodward, Treas.
The most important industry in Luzerne, aside
fromn that of agriculture, is the distillery of George
W. Jones, on the river near Bridgeport. The business
was founded there and a distillery built in 1857 by
John Worthington and J. S. Krepps. Fire destroyed
the establishmnent in 1859, and in 1860 John Worthington rebuilt it. He carried it on until 1866, when
he sold out to Britton  South, who were succeeded
in 1868 by Britton  Moore, and they in 1869 by
Jones  South. In 1876 George W. Jones became
the sole proprietor. Mr. Jones has recently enlarged
the works. They have at present a capacity of one
huindred and fifty bushels, employ fifteen hands, and
produce about twelve barrels of whiskey daily.
649HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
amounts of Judge Breading's property were burned
B I 0 G R A P H I ( A L   S K E T C H E S.    by the insurgents. He, in connection with Edward
Cook and John Oliphant, was a delegate from Fayette County to a convention of gentlemen which met
at Pittsburgh, Sept. 7, 1791, to take measures in ret//6g}//t~-~   2~/~ /   7          gard to suppressing the Whiskey Insurrection.
Judge Breading was commissioned by the State,
March 5, 1785, to survey all the lands then recently
purchased from the Indians north and west of the
Among the immigrants into Fayette County at an  Ohio and Allegheny Rivers to Lake Erie, as also to
early day was Judge Nathaniel Breading, a man of assist ill running the lines between Pennsylvania,
strong character and of peculiar note in his times. Virginia, and Ohio.
His grandfather, David Breading, was of Scotch de-    We recur here to the days of Judge Breading's
scent, and was born near Coleraine, Londonderry  early manhood to note that he purchased the Tower
Co., Ireland, and coming to America settled in  Hill farm, before referred to, in 1783, buying at that
Lancaster County, Pa., about 1728, bringing with him  time the tomahawk right of one McKibben, who had
his family, of whom was his son James, the father of taken it up and was then living upon it, and "paid
Nathaniel Breading.                                 out the land" to the State in 1784, and immediately
Nathaniel Breading, son of the above-named James  moved upon it, and in 1790 built thereon a stone
and Ann Ewing Breading, was born March, 1751, in  house, which is in perfect preservation, and is now in
Little Britain township, Lancaster Co., Pa. Being  the possession of one of his grandsons, George E.
given a fine classical educationi, he took charge of an  Hogg. Judge Breading lived continuously in this
academy at Newark, Del., and afterwards taught house after its erection, and died therein.
school in Prince Edward County, Va.                   Judge Breading was very enterprising, and aside
We next hear of him serving in the army of the  from various other important operations he, in comRevolution under his future father-in-law, Gen. pany with others, built at Brownsville, in 1814, a
Ewing, commissary of the Pennsylvania line, while  steamboat named the "Enterprise," which was the
the army was encamped at Valley Forge during the  first steamer built at Brownsville, and which, after
hard and gloomy winter of 1777. Having married  making a number of trips to Pittsburgh, was sent
Mary Ewing, he removed his family to Tower Hill  down the river to New Orleans and never returned.
farm, Luzerne township, Fayette Co., in 1784. Dur-  In 1816 the same persons built a second steamer.
ing 1785 he was appointed one of the five justices of   Nathaniel Breading died April 22, 1822, his wife,
the peace, who were the sole judges in the Court of Mary Ewing, surviving him, and dying Aug. 31, 1845,
Common Pleas for some years, until Judge Addison  aged seventy-eight years. Their children, now all
was appointed president judge, on which event Mr. deceased, were George; Mary Ann, intermarried with
Breading was appointed associate, and continued  George Hogg; James E., who married Elizabeth
such until his death. After the close of the war he  Ewing; Sarah, who married Dr. James Stevens, of
was chosen as one of the Supreme Executive Council  Washington, Pa.; Harriet, who was the wife of Dr.
of Pennsylvania, with whom was lodged all the ex-  Joseph Gazzam; Caroline Margaret, who married
ecutive power of the State. This office he held about Dr. Joseph Trevor, of Connellsville and Pittsburgh,
five years, until the adoption of the new constitution  Pa.; Elizabeth, who married Rev. Win. B. McIlvaine;
of 1790 providing for the election of a Governor.  William E., a lawyer, who died in the twenty-fifth
At an early day Judge Breading did much to de- year of his age; and two children who died in invelop the infant trade between the western counties  fancy.
of the State and New Orleans by sending annually    Nathaniel Breading and his wife Mary, as also his
to that market a fiat-boat laden with flour and whiskey, father, James, and his wife, Ann Ewing, were interred
at that time almost the only articles of production  in the Laughlin burying-ground, two and a half miles
and export, though as he was early engaged with  east of Brownsville, in sight of the National road.
John and Andrew Oliphlant in the furnace business,
they occasionally included salt- and sugar-kettles,
hollow-ware, etc.                                                 JAMES E. BREADING.
During the troublous times of the Whiskey Insur-   James E. Breading, son of Judge Nathaniel and
rection Judge Breading, as a law-abiding citizen, Mary Ewing Breading, was born at Tower Hill farm,
used all his influence in maintaining the laws  Luzerne township, Fayette Co., Pa., Oct. 19, 1789.
taxing whiskey, notwithstanding these laws were de-  While quite young he entered on his long career as
structive to his interest and so obnoxious as to create  a merchant at New Haven, in his native county, then
a rebellion which could be suppressed only by the  the centre of the largest and almost the only iron instrong arm of military force. So strong indeed was  terest west of the mountains. Thence he removed to
public opinion against the excise laws that large  Brownsville, and there pursued the same line of busi650,
2'87
THE REVOLUTION.
Esqr, that their proceedings would be approyd of by  Reed that he had left Westmoreland with Capt.
Council.                                                  Thomas Stokely's company of Rangers and about
" lst. Resolved, That a Campaign be carried on with  fifty volunteers, on his way to join Gen. Clarke at the
Genl Clark.                                               rendezvous at Fort Henry (now Wheeling).  After
"2d. Resolved, That Genl Clark be furnished with  Ihis departure Lochry's force was augmented to about
300 men out of Pomroy's, Beard's, and Davises Bat-  one hundred and ten men, in four small companies,
talion.                                                   including those of Capts. Thomas Stokely,2 John
1i3dly* Resolved, That Coll. Archd  Lochry gives  Boyd, and Shearer (mentioned in some accounts as
orders to 5d Coils, to raise their quota by Volunteers  Shannoni), and a small body of horsemen under Capt.
or Draught.                                               Campbell.
ii4thty Resolved, That ~6 be advanced to every vol-    Gen. Clarke had lhad his headquarters at Fort
luntier that marches under the command of Genl  Henry for several weeks, and from this base he prosClark on the proposd Campaign.                            ecuted. his recruiting  (or rather drafting) in the
i 5th And for the further Incouragement of Volun-  Monongahela Valley.  This business he carried oln
tiers, that grain be raised by subscription by the Dif-  with great vigor, and as it appears with very little
ferent Companies.                                         leniency towards those (and they were many) who
" Gthty. That Coll. Lochry concil with the Officers of  were inclined to deniy the jurisdiction of Virginia.3
Virginia respecting the manner of Draughting those  One of the many comiplaints mnade against his conthat associate in that State and others.                   duct in this particular was the following from James'i7th, Resolved, That Coll. Lochry meet Genl Clark   Marshal, lieutenant of Washington  County, emand other officers and Coll. Crawford on the 23d  bodied in a letter written by hiin to President Reed,
Inst, to confer with them the day of Rendezvouse.         Aug. 8, 1781, viz.:
i Signd by ordr of Committee,                "... As the manner in which the general and
"JOHN PROCTOr, Prest."          his underlings have treated the people of this and
Westmoreland Counties has been so arbitrary and
A meeting of militia officers had previously been   unprecedented, I think it my duty to inform  your
held (Junle 5thl) at the Yohogania County court-  iExcellency the particulars of a few facts. The first
house (near Heath's, on the west side of the Monon-  instance was with one John Harden, in Westmoregahela), at which a draft of one-fifth of the militia of  land, who, vith a number of others, refused to be
said county (which, according to the Virginia claim,  drafted under the governiment of Virginia, alleging
included the north half of Washington County, Pa.,  they were undoubtedly in Pennsylvania and declared
and all of Westmoreland as far south as the centre of  if that government ordered a draft they would obey
the  present county of Fayette)       l was made for the ex-  cheerfully, and accordingly elected their officers and
pedition.  The people, howvever, believing that the  made returns thereof to Col. Cook.  After this the
territory claimed by Virginia as Yohogania County general, with a party of forty or fifty horsemen, came
was really in the jurisdiction of Pennsylvania, denied  to Harden's in quest of him to hang him, as tle genthe authority of the Virginia officers, and refused to  eral himself declared  but not findin  the old gensubmit to the draft until the question of jurisdiction   tleman took and tied his SOn, broke open his mill, fed.
was definitely settled. But the public notice giv-en by  aw ay and destroyed upwards of oine hundred and fifty
Christopher Hays, as mentioned in the proceedings  bushels of wwheat, rye, and corn, killed his sheep and
of the Westmoreland County meeting, as also hiis  _
declaration to the people of Westmoreland and Wash-  approbation of Couincil in ouir iiundertalkings, and for whicli I beg leave
ington, fhat he held in his hands money from the Ex-  to retuirni imiy iiost lltuiiible Tlhaniks.
ecutive Council to be expended for the protection of    "I ani now on my Mareli with Capt. Stokely's Company of Rangers
thefrontier, ha he effect to quiet to a great extent, |  atFbtout Fifty Voluniteeris from tllis Colnty. We shall join Gen. Clark
the ronter, ad te efect o quet t a geat xtei t'at Fort Henriy oil the Ohio River, whiere Itis ArmDy has' lay for som-e
th-ough not entirely to allay, the dissatisfaction, anld  weelks pasta as it was most Expedienit to have the Boats there, tlhe'Water
the work of raising men in the two Pennsylvania  b5ein eeper from ibat to where he intends going than folni Fort Pitt
counties (or, as Gen. Clarke expressed it, in Yoho-  tlhere. I expected to hlave a iiumiiiber more Volunteers, but they have by
somiie Insinuations been hlind(lered froni goinig. Our Rangers lhave been
gania, Monongahela, and Ohio Counties, Va.) was  very ill supplyed vith Piovisions,as there las beell no possibility of Proallowed to proceed, though not without strong protest.  curing Meat, particularly as ouir Money lhas not beeni in tthe lest Credit.
The commander (under Gen. Clarke) of the men  Wve lhave generally had Flour, but as I have kept the men constanjtly
raised                                                    83, in Westmoreland was Col. Archibald Lochry,  Scouting it is hard for tllheii to be witlhout Meat.."-Pa. Arch., 1781lieutenant and prothonotary of the county.  On the    2 Capt. Tliomas Stokely was a resident of that part of Westmoreland
4th of August1 he reported by letter to President  which ba( thens recenitly been erected ilto Washington County-. The
greater patrt of his men, howt ver, were from the east side of the Monion* V ] t 8-+Ilsa p{\1 T..rlbrv xvrnta Ptepideolee wa hela.nn anxous io Llie
I At the time of his depai-ture Col. Lochry wrote r1-Vu6JUtfL11, ;UU"
followvs:
" MIRAILLES' MILL, WESTMORELAND COUNTY,
"' August 4th, 1781.
" HONoMRED SIR,-Yesterday the Express arrived with your Excellency's Letters,'stitch does singular Honour to our Couinty to lhave thie
3 3Iany of those people who lia(l beeen willing aiid anxious t-or tiie
establislhment of Virginia's claim,, so that they iniglht purchase their
lands from iher at one-tentlh pait of the price demanded by the Pennlsylvania Laiud Office, wer e ilow quiite as ready to deny tier right to demand
nitilitary service fronm themi.
I
I
11I
4e, Z1-1LUZERNE TOWNSHIP.
ness until the death of his father made it necessary
for him to take charge of Tower Hill farm in 1822.
He removed to Pittsburgh, Pa., in 1829, where, in
conniection with his brother-in-law, George Hogg,
and Williamn Hogg, the uncle of George, both of
Brownsville, he emnbarked very largely in the wholesale trade of groceries and dry-goods. Herein, by his
recognized character for honesty and integrity and
his fine business capacities, he was eminently successful, and secured the confidence and respect of a large
community with which he had business relations.
He retired, however, some years before his death to
enjoy that rest in the evening of his days to which
his long life of activity entitled him.
Mr. Breading was connected with the commissary
department during Gen. (afterwards President) William H. Harrison's cam-paign against Tecumseh and
his braves. He was for many years connected with a
large mercantile establishment in St. Louis as a silent
partner, holding the most responsible position in the
house.
in 1821, Mr. Breading married Elizabeth, daughter
of William and Mary Ewing, and died without issue
in Allegheny City, Nov. 19, 1863, his wife surviving
him. His remnains were interred in Allegheny Cemetery.
Mrs. Elizabeth Ewing Breading, his widow, now in
the eighty-fourth year of her age. resides at Emsworth,
a few miles west of Allegheny City, on the Fort
Wayne Railroad, where she passes her venerable
years in affluent domestic quiet, her life being now
given, as her earlier days were in a great measure expended, in literally doing good, and commanding the
affection of all who know her.
DAVID BREADING.
David Breading, who was the son of James and
Ann Breading, was one of the early settlers of Fayette
County, moving thereinto in 1794 from Lancaster
County, Pa. He entered the army as a private in
1776, and passed the winter at Valley Forge, and was
afterwards made an officer of the commissary department, wherein he continued during the remainder of
the war of the Revolution, except for a short time
while he was aide-de-camp to Gen. Maxwell in the
battle of Monmouth, during which Mr. Breading was
witness of a notable incident in the military career of
the "Father of his Country." While the battle was
progressing, Gen. Maxwell, thinking that the division general, Lee, was not conducting his forces as
he should, sent Breading to Gen. Washington, then
in a distant part of the field, to inform him of the
state of affairs. Washington on receiving the dispatch asked, "Young man, can you lead me to Gen.
Lee?" Breading replying, "Yes, general," Washington promnptly said, "Well, you lead and I will
follow," and soon Breading became witness of the severe reprimand which, as is well known, Washington
bestowed upon Lee, curses and all.
In 1785, Mr. Breading married Elizabeth Clark, of
Lancaster County, Pa., and moved to Luzerne township, Fayette Co., in 1794, as above noted. He had a
large number of children, the majority of whom died
of yellow fever, at about the same time, in Vincennes,
Ind. The only surviving member of David Breading's family is Maj. Clark Breading, who resides at
Uniontown, and at whose death, he having no male
issue, the name of Breading of this stock will become
extinct. Maj. Breading has a daughter, Mrs. Dr. O.
E. Newton, of Cincinnati, Ohio.
WILLIAM  EWING.
Willianm Ewing, one of the early day eminent men
of Fayette County, was born May 19, 1769, in Peach
Bottoms, York Co., Pa. He was the son of George
Ewing, who was a brothler of the Rev. Dr. John
Ewing, of Plliladelphlia, a great scholar acnd an able
minister of that period, and for many years professionally connected with the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Ewing was a man of great scientific attainments, and was commissioned to run the southern
line of Pennsylvania.
William Ewiing, who for some time resided with
his uincle, Dr. John, and under his direction had made
considerable progress in studies, including that of
medicine, following his brother Nathaniel (afterwards
of Vincennes, Ind.) and his two sisters, who preceded
him by about two years, left York County, and came
as a surveyor into Fayette County about 1790, when
he was about twenty-one years of age, and took up a
tract of land and built thereon a house in which he
lived, and wherein he died in 1827.
He married, in 1791, Mary Conwell, daughter of
Jehu Conwell and Elizabeth Stokeley (her family
perhaps coming from New Castle, Del.), a woman of
great spirit, natural talent, and energy. She became
the mother of a large family, widely scattered and
occupying influential positions in society.  Their
children were Hon. George Ewing, born Feb. 27,
1797 (afterwards of Houston, Texas); Judge Nathaniel Ewing, born July 18, 1794, of Uniontown; Hon.
John H. Ewing, born Oct. 5,1796, of Washington,
Pa.; James, born April 18, 1807, of Dunlap's Creek,
Pa.; Mrs. Elizabeth Breading, born July 9, 1799,
and Mrs. Maria Veech, born Aug. 22, 1811, of Emsworth; Mrs. Ellen J. E. Wallace, born Jan. 23, 1819,
of Allegheny City; Mrs. Louisa Wilson, born March
8, 1802, of Uniontown; Mrs. Mary Ann Mason, born
Feb. 24, 1816, of Muscatine, Iowa; and Caroline, born
April 20, 1804, and who died in infancy.
William Ewing was one of the early settlers of the
Dunlap's Creek district, Fayette Co., together with
other of the now "old families" who came from York
and Lancaster Counties,-the Breadings, Conwells,
Crafts, Davidsons, Finleys, Hackneys, Peterses, WilI
I
651HISTOItY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
sons,- all associate names well known among the
early inhabitants, and in these times also.
William Ewing and his son, John H., of Washington, constructed the National road between Hillsborough and Brownsville. He was appointed by the
Governor of the State a justice of the peace, and held
that office with great credit to himself and satisfaction
to the public until the constitution of the State made
it elective.
He was a man of strong mind and excellent judgment, together with great physical strength; an active
and enterprising business man, who kept up close relationships with the prominent characters of his day.
He was a Federalist in politics, and often took an
active part, especially in the Ross and McKean campaign of 1800.
William Ewing died Oct. 21,1827, of what perhaps
would now be called typhoid fever. He lies buried
in the Conwell family graveyard, on the old homestead
farnm of Jehu Conwell, and is remembered as one of
those substantial, honorable, public-spirited men of
whom the community was justly proud.
ALEXANDER GIBSON.
The progenitor of the Gibsons of Luzerne township was one James Gibson, who migrated from Ireland in 1770, and located in Chester County, Pa., and
engaged in farming. He followed his vocation until
1776, when he entered the Continental army and
served until the surrender of Cornwallis. After the
surrender he found that two of his brothlers were
soldiers in the British army, having been pressed into
the service by the mother-country. At the close of
the struggle they settled in Virginia, and their descendants nearly all reside there. James Gibson's
home continued in Chester County until 1790, when
he emigrated to Southwestern Pennsylvania, and settled upon a farm in Luzerne township, where his son
Alexander afterwards lived and died, and which is
now in possession of Mr. Oliver Miller. James Gibson was married to Margaret Lackey in 1792. They
had six children, of whom Alexander, the subject of
this sketch, was the third. He was born June 8, 1797.
His early life was spent upon his father's farm, and
received his education in the country schools of that
period. He began work for himself at the age of
twenty years, engaging in wagoning from Wheeling to
Baltimore, and in 1820 changed his route to and from
Baltimore to Nashville, Tenn. Here he, in company
with Levi Crawford, now living in Luzerne township,
spent two years trading with the Cherokee Indians.
In 1823 he returned to Pennsylvania, sold his team,
and purchased a farm. On the 24th of June, 1824,
he was married to Mary Hibbs, of Redstone township.
To them were born six children, four of whom are
living, viz.: James G., married first to Mary Rodgers.
They had two children,-John A. and Mary R. Mary
died in 1860. He was married again June 25, 1867,
to Rebecca J. Haney. Margaret J., married to William H. Miller; Mary A., married to Oliver Miller.
They have two children, Albert G. and Emma V.
Albert M., married to Alice Frey. They have one
child, Nellie.
The most of Alexander Gibson's active business
life was spent in farming and stock-dealing. He was
industrious, a good manager, and accumulated enough
property to give each of. his children a fair start in
life. He never sought political preferment. He was
prompt to perform what he promised, and was highly
esteemed by his neighbors. He was eminently a man
of peace, and never had a lawsuit in his life. He wvas
for many years an active member of the Cumberland
Presbyterian Church, and his Christian life challenged
the respect of those who knew him. He died July
12, 1875, and his remains rest in the Hopewell Cemetery. HIis wife, Mary, died Jan. 25, 1876.
BENJAMIN COVERT.
The progenitor of the Coverts in the United States
was one Abraham Covert, who came from Holland
to the colonies about 1707. Of his family nothing is
now known except that he had a son Abraham, who
raised a family of eight children,-four sons and four
daug,hters. The sons were Abeaham, Isaac, John,
and Morris. These four sons in time became widely
separated. Abraham remained East, while the others
sought their fortunes in the West. John settled
north of Pittsburgh. Morris first lived in New Jersey,
and there married a Miss Mary Mann. After his marriage he moved to Col. Cresap's estate on the Potomac,
in the State of Maryland, where he resided some years.
About the year 1780 he moved to Fayette County, Pa.,
and located about three miles west of Beesontown,
now Uniontown, where he purchased a farm of three
hundred acres for eight hundred and fifty dollars, on
the old Fort road leading to Redstone Old Fort.
Here he lived and died, and raised a family of eleven
children,-six sons and five daughters. The oldest
son, Joseph, married Nancy Borer, of Harrison, Ohio,
whlere he lived and died. The second son, Abraham,
married Catharine Black, and they removed to Harrison County, Ohio. The third son, John, mniarried
Amy Doniey, and lived on the Monongahela River, in
Luzerne township, Fayette Co., and died in his ninetythird year. The fourth son, Morris, was an itinerant
Methodist preacher. He mnarried Nancy Purcell, of
Chesapeake Bay, and died near Clarksburg, W. Va.,
aged' about sixty years.  Jesse, the youngest son,
married Henrietta Gibson; resided principally in
Fayette County, Pa., and died at the age of fifty-five.
Benjamin Covert was born July 10, 1799, on the
old homestead, where he grew to manhood.  He
married Abigail Randolph, and removing to Harrison
County, Ohio, in 1820, settled on the Stillwater, and
there resided until 1830. Two of his children, Richard and Mary, wvere born there. He next removed
652ALEXANDER GIBSON.A                               d
e--n?   /r,4MENALLEN TOWNSHIP.
to a farm onI Short Creek, in the same county. There
he remained three years, and there his youngest
daughter, Elizabeth, was born. He then moved to a
farm in Luzerne township, Fayette Co., Pa., which he
purchased from George Custer. It contained two
hundred and fourteen acres, and cost him two thousand six hundred and fifty dollars. Here he has resided for forty-eight years, doing good as the Lord
prospered him, "by helping to build churches in
the Bend and at the Landing, and sustaining the
ministers of his church, as well as contributing to the
support of others."  He has been an ardent Methodist'for sixty-four years.  His father and mother
were Methodists, as were also his brothers and sisters.
They are all dead, having lived and died meek and
humble Christians. He alone of the family survives,
in his eighty-third year.
His children are Richard, who resides on the old
homestead; Mary, married to D. H. Wakefield, of
Jefferson township, Fayette Co., Pa.; and Elizabeth,
married to Joshua Strickler, of Luzerne township.
With but little intermission he has held an office in
the church during the entire time of his membership.
His start in life was a strong constitution. He has
always been noted for his sobriety, indomitable energy,
frugality, and rectitude of purpose.
MENALLEN TOWNSHIP.
MENALLEN, one of the most prosperous agricultural townships of Fayette County, contained in June,
1880, a population of 1461. The assessment for 1881
gave the total valuation subject to county tax as
$626,827, a decline of $25,044 as compared with 1880.
The township is bounded by Redstone and Franklin
on the north, Georges, South Union, and German on
the south, Franklin, North Union, and South Union
on the east, and German and Redstone on the west.
Menallen has as yet no railway line, but that famed
highway known as the National road crosses it from
east to west, and is a great convenience to the people.
There are three small post-villages in the township,
-Upper Middletown (or Plumsock), on Redstone
Creek; New Salem, six miles westward therefrom;
and Searight's, on the National road, five miles westward from Uniontown. Mill streams are abundant.
Among them are Redstone Creek, Dunlap's Creek,
Jennings' Run, and Salt Lick Run. The surface of
the township is uneven. Coal and iron ore are found
in great quantities, but beyond supplying the wants
of home consumers do not contribute to local wealth,
for the reason that lack of railway transportational
facilities puts out of the question the matter of profitable mining operations. The valuable coal and iron
interests of Menallen, however, will soon be developed, as a result of the opening of the Redstone
Branch of the Pittsburgh, Virginia and Charleston
Railroad, which passes along the northeast border of
the township, and is now near completion.
EARLY SETTLEMENTS.
Of the considerable number of settlers who were
found located in the Redstone Valley when the Rev.
John Steele made his tour of observation in this region, in the spring of 1768 (and whose names were
42
given by him  in his report to the Governor on his
return east), it is not known which or how many of
them were settled within the territory that now forms
Menallen township, though there is no doubt that
some of them were living within its boundaries. A
very early settler, and not improbably the first within
the township of Menallen, was William Brown, who
came here in 1765. His children were Sarah, George,
Mary, James, Alexander, Alice, and John. The last
named (and youngest) is now living in Kansas, at
the age of ninety-six years. Little beyond this has
been ascertained of the history of this first settler,
William Brown. The tract on which he settled is
now a farm owned (but not occupied in person)
by his great-grandson, Richard H. Brown, of Franklin township. As early as the year 1765 the Rev.
James Finley, then living upon the Eastern Shore
of Maryland, came out through Southwestern Pennsylvania on a tour of exploration in the service of the
church with which he labored, his mission being presumably to learn how the people of that region were
supplied with the means of religious worship. He
was accompanied on his journey (made on horseback)
by a Mr. Philip Tanner, a fuller by trade, whose object in undertaking the excursion was the looking for
a favorable land location. This object had likewise
something to do with Mr. Finley's journey, for he
had a family of six sons, and he conceived the idea
that perhaps he might find for his boys a place where
they might grow up with a new country and lead a
life of independence. Mr. Finley is supposed to have
been the first minister of the gospel to penetrate westward of the mountains for the purpose of spreading
the influences of religion among the inhabitants.
Army chaplains had been there before him, but they
could scarcely be classed in the same category. He
653HTSTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
preached wherever he found a place and opportunity,
and returning to the same country subsequently on
similar expeditions in 1767, 1771, and 1772 became
well known. In 1771 he selected some lands lying
in Redstone and Menallen townships, and in 1772
brought out his son Ebenezer, a lad of fourteen,
whom he intended to be trained in the hardy experience of a pioneer. With his son he brought also a
few negro slaves and Samuel Finley (not related to
the Rev. James), to the latter of whom he gave the
charge of the lands and the guardianship of young
Ebenezer.
The Rev. Mr. Finley himself never became a resident
of Fayette County. He lived in Maryland until 1783,
when he accepted a call to preach for a church in
Westmoreland County, Pa. There he remained in
charge of the congregation until his death in 1795.
Ebenezer Finley grew to manhood and prospered. He
became an owner of much land in Redstone, Germnan,
and Menallen townships, but had his home in Redstone. A more extended reference to him will accordingly be found in the history of that township,
where he died in 1849, aged eighty-eight years. In
1826 his son, Ebenezer, Jr., moved into Menallen,
and settled upon some of his father's land. There
he still resides, hale and hearty, although nearing his
eightieth year. He and his excellent wife celebrated
in 1876 the golden anniversary of their wedding, and
on that occasion gathered within their hospitable
mansion friends, relatives, and children even from
distant parts of the country. The reunion was a joyous and memorable one. Another son of Ebenezer
Finley the elder, living in Menallen on a portion of
the early Finley purchase, is Eli H., whose home is
near the village of New Salem. There is an amusing
story told of the appearance of Rev. James Finley
and Philip Tanner in the Dunlap's' Creek Valley.
It recites that Messrs. Finley and Tanner rode up to
the house of Capt. John Moore, of German township,
and upon their near approach were espied by Capt.
John's youthful son Aaron, who, running as fast as
he could into the house, cried out almost breathlessly
to his father, "Pap, pap, there be two great men out
there. I know they're great men'cause they've got
boots on." Evidently "men with boots on" must
have been rare objects in that country at that day.
There were many of the Society of Friends among
the early settlers of Menallen. They came from Virginia soon after the close of the Revolutionary war,
and in considerable numbers located in the neighborhood of New Salem, in Menallen, German, and South
Union townships. Among them were James Sidwell,
Joseph Mendenhall, William Dickson, John Hackney, Caleb Antram, Abraham Vail, John Woods, the
Campbells, and many others. At Sandy Hill, on
Jennings' Run, upon the road between New Salem
and Uniontown, the Quakers built at an early day
(as early as 1784, and perhaps before) a log meetinghouse, and laid out a graveyard. The meeting-house
stood for many years, and was long a place where the
Friends assembled regularly for worship.  After
a while, however, the members of that sect, lessening
by deaths and removals, became so few in number that
meetings were discontinued, and by and by the meeting-house was demolished. The graveyard, thickly
dotted with old headstones, is still used for its original purpose.
Joseph Mendenhall was a prominent figure in Menallen's early history, and although he was known as
a Quaker, and attended at the Quaker meeting-house,
he was said to exhibit at times a boisterous disposition utterly at variance with the peaceful tenets of
the Society of Friends, and is indeed reported to have
gone so far on more than one occasion as to swear
roundly. Mr. Mendenhall came from Philadelphia
directly upon the close of the Revolution, and settled
in what became the Mendenhall school district, on a
stream, and at a place called to this day Mendenhliall's
dam, where he built a saw-mill. He claimed to have
been a captain in the Revolution, and for that reason,
more perhaps than for any other, he was known as
"the fighting Quaker." His greatest delight was to
be chosen supervisor, so that he might follow the
bent of his inclinations, or hobby more properly,
towards the working of the township roads. He
was township supervisor many successive years, and
always filled the office with the highest credit. Although he was generally chosen without much opposition, he worked hard at each election, and invariably carried to the polls a jug of whisky, upon the
contents of which he and his adherents would make
merry over the result. The jug, and sometimes more
than one, bore a prominent part in the supervisors'
highway labors, for he ever made it a point to provide whisky at his own expense for the refreshment
of those whom he called to the work of repairing the
roads. Inasmuch as he frequently had as many as
fifty or sixty men laboring at that business at a time,
his expenditures for whisky must have amounted to
a considerable sum. Mr. Mendenhall lived to be
ninety-four years old.
James Sidwell, a Quaker, came from Martinsburg,
Va., in 1790, and made his home upon a tract of three
hundred acres of land that he had bought of Benjamin Whaley, who had bought the land of the patentees, Grant, Pitt, and Buchanan, to whom the patent
was issued April 24, 1788. Upon that land now lives
Hiram H. Hackney, grandson of James Sidwell.
The latter had but two children, and they were
daughters. He died on his Menallen farm in 1815, aged
seventy-seven years. One of his daughters married
James Stevens, and moved to Indiana. The second
became the wife of John Hackney, of Luzerne, who
settled on the Sidwell homestead.
Although James Sidwell himself took no part in the
Revolutionary struggle, all of his brothers-to the
number of three-fought through the campaigns with
conspicuous gallantry. There was a Quaker named
I
651MENALLEN TOWNSHIP.
William Dickson adjoining Sidlwell on the west when
the latter settled, and near him a number of Quakers.
John Hackney died in 1868, at the age of eighty-five.
He had seven children, of whom four are living. Of
these Hiram H. and John are residents of Menallen.
In 1793 there was a school-house on the Sidwell
farm, at which John Hackney's wife (James Sidwell's
daughter) took her first lessons in education from
Daniel Roundtree, who taught a long while there and
in the neighboring school-houses.
Caleb Woodward moved from Chester County at an
early day, and set up a blacksmith's shop in Menallen,
on James Sidwell's farm. He was a somewhat noted
mechanic, and was esteemed especially skillful in the
manufacture of plows, chains, etc. The plows of
his day were made of wood and plated with strips of
iron. People came to him from afar off, nine miles
and more, to have him make for them chains and
plows.  He did also a brisk business in plating
saddles. He settled eventually on a farm now occupied by Joseph Woodward, and died in New Salem.
Caleb's brothers, John, Joshua, and Joseph, located in
Menallen about the same time. All of them were
farmers. Joshua's home was on the place now owned
by his son Ellis.
William Barton came also from Chester County
about 1775. He bought of a man named Rayall the
land now occupied by J. W. Barton. His sons were
William, Joseph, Robert, Thomas, and Benjamin.
His daughters were two in number. All the children
were born on the Menallen place. His son Thomas
married Priscilla B. Gaddis, of South Union. She
died in Menallen, aged, it is said, one hundred years.
Her father, John Gaddis, saw an extended period of
active service during the war of 1812. There was a
school-house near the Barton place in 1805, to which
Barton's children went, and in that year had as teacher
a Mr. Thomas.
The Quaker settlement near New Salemn was increased in 1795 by the arrival of Caleb Antram, himself a Quaker, who migrated from Virginia, with a
family consisting of a wife and three children. He
bought one hundred and fifteen acres of land of
Henry Vandemnient, and after he had been in a short
time bought also the William Dickson farm. Antram
died in 1840, aged eighty-seven years. Of his seven
children but two are living, Caleb and Joshua. John
Butterfield was living uponI the site of New Salem
village when Antram made his location, and there
were also in the vicinity, besides those already mentioned, the Rodericks, Campbells, Millers, Woods, and
Johnsons. Daniel Johnson had been living on the
present Abram Roderick place since 1783. He was a
cabinet-maker by trade.
Robert Jackson settled about 1790 on the John
Dearth farm. His son Zadoc married a daughter
of Caleb Woodward. Giles McCormick, a native of
Ireland, came to Fayette County in 1808, and bought
of Mr. Watt a farm in Menallen, upon which James
Gaddis now lives. There Mr. McCormick died in
1835. Samuel Harris and Ralph Higinbotham were
early settlers in the Mendenhall neighborhood; Jeremiah Piersol (who died in 1881, aged ninety-five), the
Campbells, the Shaws, the Grables, Colleys, and Keys,
near Searight's; and the Vails, Gaddis, McGinnis,
Works, Fullers, Rutters, Coopers, Osborns, Kellys,
and Radeliffs, near Plumsock.
Redding Bunting, who died May 22,1878, was born
near New Salem, and was one of the noted stagedrivers on the National road; was stage agent, tavernkeeper, mail contractor, and generally a busy man in
matters appertaininrg to stage-coaching in its palmy
days.
Immediately after the close of the Revolutionary
war, Col. William Roberts migrated from Bucks
County to Southwestern Pennsylvania, and settled
upon a three-hitndred-acre tract of land that included
what is now known as Searight's, on the National road.
William was commissioned colonel of the Fourth
Battalion of militia in Bucks County, May 6, 1777,
and after serving through the war, was at its close
comissioned major of the Third Battalion of Bucks
County militia, Oct. 11, 1783. Both commissions are
now in the possession of his granddaughter, Mrs.
Zenas Van Kirk, of Redstone township. She has
also a certificate of the marriage of William Roberts
and Rachel Griffith, dated Aug. 7, 1760. The document is signed by the contracting parties, the officiating clergyman (John Thomas), and no less than
fifteen witnesses. Col. Roberts lived in Menallen
until his death. All of his sons except Benjamin
moved to the far West. He lived a while at Plumsock, and ended his days at the house of Mrs.
Zenas Van Kirk, in 1845. His brother John had
been one of the county commissioners, and he
himself a justice of the peace twenty-five years. His
son, William B., of Uniontown, was an officer in the
Mexican war, and died in the city of Mexico.
"Searight's," on the National road, five miles westward from Uniontown, has for many years been a
well-known locality to travelers upon that thoroughfare, and in the days of great traffic over the road was
a somewhat famous stopping-place for stage-coaches
and freighters. There are at that point now a tavern,
post-office, store, blacksmith-shop, and perhaps a halfdozen houses, but the bustling activity that once
marked the spot when the National road was in its
glory has given place to a dozing quietude, albeit the
tavern still greets with entertainment occasional wayfarers. The tavern was built by Josiah Frost in 1819,
but before he had made it ready for business he sold
it and adjacent landed property to William Searight.
William Searight was by trade a fuller, and in 1807
had a mill on Dunlap's Creek. From there he moved
to Cook's Mills, and thence to Perryopolis, where he
built a fulling-mill. While there he bought the tavern stand property, and when he had completed the
erection of the buildings, including with the tavern a
I
I
65588                   IIISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
hogs, and lived away at Mr. Harden's expense in    Col. Lochry, with his force, increased to about one
that manner for two or three days; declared his estate  hundred and ten men, proceeded to the rendezvous at
forfeited, but graciously gave it to his wife; formed  Fort Henry, as before mentioned, expecting there to
ani article in which he bound all the inhabitants he  join Gen. Clarke; but on arriving there he found
could lay hands on or by any means prevail upon  that the general had gone down the river the day beto come in to him; under the penalty of ten months  fore, leaving Major Craycroft with a few men and a
in the regular army, not to oppose the draft."      boat for the transportation of the horses, bnt without
President Reed, in his reply' to Col. Marshal's  either provisions or ammunition, of which th'ey had
complaint, said,-                                     but a very insufficient supply. Clarke had, however,
"... But while we utterly disapprove the irreg-  promised to await their arrival at the mouth of the
ularities and hardships which have been exercised  I(anawha; but on reaching that point they found
by him  [Gen. Clarke] towards the inhabitants, we  that hlie had been obliged, in order to prevent desertion
cannot help fearing that too many, in consequence of  among his men, to proceed down the river, leaving
the unsettled state of boundaries, avail themselves of only a letter affixed to a pole directing them to follow.
a pretense to withhold their services from the publick  Their provisions and forage were nearly exhausted;
at a time when they are most wanted, and when an  there was no source of supply but the stores conveyed
exertion would not only serve the country, but pro-  by Clarke; the river was very low, and as they were
mote their own security. We cannot help also ob-  unacquainted with the channel, they could not hope to
serving that, by letters received from the principal  overtake the main body. Under these embarrassing
gentlemen in Westmoreland, it seems evident they  circumstances Col. Lochry dispatched Capt. Shearer
approve of Gen. Clarke's expedition, and that the  with four men in a small boat, with the hope of overlieutenants of both States united in the plan of raising  taking Gen. Clarke and of securing supplies, leaving
three hundred men for that service. As the state of his (Shearer's) company under command of Lieut.
publick affairs had not admitted your formning the  Isaac Anderson.  Before Shearer's party had promilitia sufficiently to concur in these measures, we  ceeded far they were taken prisoners by Indians, who
concluded that these resolutions would also include  also took from them a letter to Gen. Clarke, informing
yofir county, and even now are at a loss to account  him of the condition of Lochry's party.
for the different opinions entertained on the point by    About the same time Lochry captured a party of
the people of Westmoreland and Washington Coun-  nineteen deserters from  Clarke's force.  These he
ties."                                              I afterwards released, and they immediately joined the
In a letter by Christopher Hays, of Westmoreland,  Indians. The savages had before been apprised of
and Thomas Scott, of Washington County, to Presi-  the expedition, but they had supposed that the forces
dent Reed, dated " Westmoreland, August 15, 1781.,"  of Clarke and Lochry were together, and as they knew
they said, "... The truth of the matter is, the  that Clarke had artillery, they had not attempted an
General's Expedition has been wished wvell, and vol-  attack. But now, by the capture of Shearer's party,
unteers to the service have been Incouraged by all  with the letters, and by the intelligence brought to
with whom we corispond; but we have heartily repro-  them by the deserters, they for the first time learned
bated the General's Standing over these twvo counties  of the weakness and exposed situation of Lochry's cornwith armed force, in order to dragoon the Inhabitants  mand, and they at once determined on its destruction.
into obedience to a draft under the laws of Virginia,   Collecting in force some miles below the mouth
or rather under the arbitrary orders of the officers of  of the Great iMiami River, they placed their prisonthat Government, without any orders from Virginia  ers (Shearer's party) in a conspicuous position on the
fbr that purpose, and this is really the part the Gen-  north shore of the Ohio, near the head of Lochry's
eralhath acted, or rather the use which has been  Island, with the promise to them  that their lives
made of him in this country."                         should be spared if they would hail Lochry's men as
"  With respect to Gen. Clarke's Proceedings," said  they came down and induce them to land. But in
President Reed, in his reply to the above, "we can  the mean time, Col. Lochry, wearied by the slow
only say that he has no authority from us to draft  progress nade, and in despair of overtaking Clarke,
Militia, much less to exercise those acts of Distress  landed on the 24th of August, at about ten o'clock in
which you have hinted at, and which other letters  the morning, on the same shore, at an inlet which
more particularly enumerate.  His Expedition ap-  has since borne the name of Lochry's Creek,2 a short
pears to us favorable for the Froiitiers, as carrying  distance above the place where the Indians were awaitHostilities into the Indian Country, rather than rest-  ing them. At this point the horses were taken on shore
ing totally on the defensive. We find the (Gentlemen  and turned loose to feed.. One of the men had killed
of Westlnoreland, however different in other Things,  a buffalo, and all, except a few set to guard the
to have agreed in Opinion that his Expedition deserved encouragement....                             This creek empties into the Ohio, nine or ten miles below the mouth
of the MIiami. Lochry's Island, near the head of which the prisoners
were placed by the Indians to decoy their friends on shore, is three miles
1 Pa. Arch., ix. 367-68.            below tlhe creek.HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
blacksmith's and wheelwright's shop, he leased them,
but to whom is not now remembered. In a little while
Mr. Searight sold his Perryopolis mill, and remnoving
to his new possessions on the National road, became
himself the landlord of the wayside inn, which he
soon made a noted and popular halting-place. In
that day there was a great volume of travel over the
National road, and as the tavern was maintained in
most excellent order, "Searight's" soon became well
known from one end of the road to the other as a place
where good cheer for man and beast awaited all comers,
and where great numbers of people and teams were
constantly entertained. Four-horse passenger-coaches
rolled over the road in rapid succession, and as Searight's was a "stage-house," there was always plenty
of business, bustle, and profit at the "Corners."
Before James K. Polk was chosen to the Presidency, and while he was a congressman, he rode with
his wife by stage-coach over the National road en
route to Washington to attend a congressional session.
When near Searight's the stage-coach broke down,
and it being decided that the journey could not be
resumed before the following morning, Mr. and Mrs.
Polk walked to Searight's, where they proposed to
pass the remainder of the night, it being then well on
towards morning. They found the landlord up, in
anticipation of their arrival, and they found, too, the
floor of the great bar-room thickly strewn with sleeping wagoners, who had halted there for the night. In
response to their request for a roomi with a fire the
landlord made ready to execute their commands, but
expressed the fear that they might be annoyed over
the delay in the making of the apartment comfortably
warm. At this declaration Mrs. Polk, looking earnestly at the cheerful, brightly-burning fire in the barroom grate, as if charmed with its inviting warmth,
proposed that they should sleep there. A "shakedown" was accordingly made, and they passed the
remainder of the night in the bar-room. In the morning they breakfasted and went forward upon their
journey. The accidental visit of Mr. and Mrs. Polk
to Searight's was for a long time afterwards a topic
of interesting discussion among those who tarried to
enjoy the hospitality of the tavern, and Searight's
was greatly profited by the incident, in fame if not in
exchequer.
One McDermott was a landlord at Searight's at an
early day, and so was old Johnny Gray, but it is
likely that some Boniface had possession before McDermott's time. Mr. Searight himself did not take
charge of the tavern until 1828, or two years after his
marriage. He presided as landlord a few years, and
then retired to his adjacent farm, after leasing the
tavern stand to Joseph, son of old Johnny Gray.
Mr. Searight was appointed by Governor Porter superintendent of that portion of the National road
passing through Pennsylvania, and in 1852 he received the Democratic nomiination for the office of
canal commissioner. Before the election he died,
August 12th. Col. William Hopkins, of Washington
County, was nominated in his stead and elected.
Mr. Searight's widow, who survives him, lives in
Uniontown, where also live his sons, Thomas B., William, and J. A. Ewing, another son, resides upon
the old tavern property.
In 1830, Mr. James Allison (who had worked in
Mr. Searight's fullinig-mill on Dunlap's Creek) came
to Searight's, and at the Corners he has lived ever
since. He found Hugh Keys keeping a store there.
In 1833 a post-office was established at Searight's, and
Thomas Greer, the blacksmith, appointed postmaster.
He served until 1834, when the office was discontinued. In 1849 it was revived and James Allison
appointed postmaster. He was the incumbent until
1880, when Elias Hatfield, the present postmaster,
wvas appointed.
Hugh Graham, a carpenter and architect, landed
in Philadelphia in 1822, and worked two years for
Stephen Girard. His entire possessions upon reaching Philadelphia amounted to ten guineas and a chest
of carpenter's tools. In 1824 he journeyed on foot
from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, and although suffering from an injured foot (is said to have) nmade the
trip of three hundred mniles in six days,-most excellent time if true. En route he passed the house of
Jacob Black, in Menallen, near which, at a spring, he
saw Mr. Black's daughter Margaret washing clothes.
She was so much amused at the appearance of Graham's foot-gear, consisting of a big boot and a small
shoe, that she laughed most immoderately. This incident was Graham's introduction to Margaret Black,
and as he happened to return that way from Pittsburgh, after a sojourn of two weeks at the latter
place, he stopped for rest at Jacob Black's house, and
renewed his acquaintance with the young lady. The
acquaintance proved to be so satisfactory uponI both
sides that Miss Margaret eventually became Mrs. Graham. Mr. Graham became a builder and architect
of some renown at Uniontown, and in 1835 he retired
to a farm in Menallen that was originally taken up
by Hugh Crawford. In 1840 he came into possession
of the Jacob Black farm, and lived there until his
death, which occurred May 19, 1878, when he had
reached the age of eighty-five years. His father-inlaw, Jacob Black, was a German, and came to Menallen about 1790. His location was made upon the
farm now occupied by his grandson, Thomas B. Graham, and there he died.
William Wheatley enlisted from New Jersey for
the war of the Revolution, and served through the
conflict as captain of a company of light cavalry.
After the Revolution he settled in Menallen An old
account-book kept by him and beginning with the
date June 15, 1785, is now in the possession of his
great-grandson, John S. Marsh, of Cook's Mills.
Mr. Marsh has also a full set of silver buttons worn
by Capt. Wheatley upon his Revolutionary uniform.
Anthony Cummard, an early settler in Franklin, mar656MENALLEN TOWNSHIP.
ried one of Capt. Wheatley's daughters. She used to
tell how during thlle battle of Trenton she sat in the
Wheatley mansion when a cannon-ball tore its way
through the house.  Anthony Cummard himself
fought through the Revolution, and shared in the
victory of Yorktown. Thomas Marsh, grandson of
Capt. Wheatley, died in Indiana. His living children
are Mrs. Westcott, of Fayette City, Mrs. Duval, of
Ohio, aild John S. Marsh.
In 1808, Menallen's taxable property was assessed
at $117,950. The quota of county tax was $177. The
taxable acres numbered 12,944. There were seven
mills, one forge, one rolling-mill, two tan-yards,
eleven distilleries, one slave, three hundred and
sixty-five houses, and three hundred and twentyeight cattle.
EARLY ROADS.
At the March term of the Court of Quarter Sessions
in 1793 mention of an early road was made in the
following report: "We, the undersigned subscribers,
being by Your Honors appointed to view a road from
Ebenezer Finley's saw-mill,' to intersect the road
leading from Uniontown to the old fort at or near
the Episcopal church,2 according to order, etc." In
September, 1785, a petition was granted by the court
to Menallen for a road from Jeremiah Pears' sawmill3 door (from which the Uniontown road bore
south 160 45/ east), past Robert Gadds' house, on
the middle of Peters Street and centre of Middle
(Meadow) Alley. June, 1784, a petition was presented for a road "from Robert McGlaughlin's to
Jeremiah Pears' mill, from there to strike the road
that leads from Uniontown to Middle Run near John
Watson's." December, 1794, a petition was presented for a road from Meason's furnace (in Dunbar) to Pears' forge,4 to intersect a road from Uniontown to Redstone.
EARLY TAVERNS.
At the March term of court in 1784, John McMartin was recommended for a license as tavern-keeper
in Menallen, but he did not at that time obtain it.
At the December term, 1784, Reuben Kemp and
Jacob Hewitt were licensed; December, 1785, Matthew Campbell; June, 1786, Joseph Price and John
Heath; June, 1790, Patrick Tiernan and John Farquar; December, 1791, George Kruman. In addition
to the list given, Josiah Tannehill was licensed June,
1788; George Mitchell, March, 1789; Zachariah
Doty, June, 1789; Ephraim Hewitt, March, 1795;
Robert Willis, John Ayers, and William Ayers,
June, 1795; George Kinnear, September, 1790; Jonathan Hickman, Richard Weaver, Anthony Swaine,
John Brown, and John Grier, September, 1795; William Cox, December, 1795; Amos Wilson and Benjamin Bowman, September, 1796; John Jones, Francis Griffith, and Peter Kinney, September, 1797;
James Brown, December, 1798, and Alexander Williamson, March, 1800.
TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION AND LIST OF OFFICERS.
Menallen was one of the original townships created
by the Court of Quarter Sessions at the December
term in 1783. The court decreed as follows:
"A township, beginning at the mouth of Redstone Creek;
thence up the same to the mouth of Jennings' Run; thence up
the same to the head of the west fork thereof; thence by a
straight line to the head of the Burnt Cabin branch of Dunlap's
Creek; thence down said branch and Dunlap's Creek to the
road that leads to Oliver Crawford's ferry; thence along the
said road to McKibben's Run; thence down the same and Dunlap's Creek to the river; thence down the same to the beginning, to be hereafter known by the name of Menallen township."
In Marclh, 1797, the petition of sundry inhabitants
of Menallen township prayed for a division of the
township. In response thereto the court, at the December term in 1797, set off and erected Redstone
township from the west and northwest part of Menallen.
The records containing the civil list of the township are imperfect. From 1784 to 1808 the elections
of township officials are recorded and kept. From
1808 to 1840 nothing of consequence has been preserved. From 1840 to 1881 the records have been
kept, and from them the lists for that period have
been taken, as given below:
AUDITORS.
1840. Robert Boyd.
John Cunningham.
1842. Adam McCray.
1843. Wilson Scott.
1844. Joseph Gray.
1845. William McGinnis.
1846. Robert S. Henderson.
1847. Ebenezer Finley.
1848. Adam McCray.
1849. Robert S. Henderson.
1850. William McGinnis.
Simon Johnston.
1851. Thomas Barton.
1852. William Bolsinger.
William McGinnis.
1853. William Johnston.
1854. William McGinnis.
Albert G. Hague.
1855. Hugh Poundstone.
1856. Hugh Keyes.
Andrew Lynn.
1857. John McCray.
1858. Nathan Holloway.
1859. William I. Johnson.
1860. William McGinnis.
1861. James McCormick.
1862. William McCormick.
1863. L. Colly.
1864. W. McGinnis.
] 865. G. Colley.
1866. J. Dixon.
1867. W. McCormick.
1868. G. MeCrary.
1869. T. Jeffries.
1870. W. McCormick.
1871. J. McCormick.
1872. James Nickel.
1873. W. J. Johnston.
1874. James McCormick.
1875. Abram Osborn.
1876. Alfred Frost.
T. B. Graham.
1877. E. Courtney.
Charles McCormick.
1878. Ewing Searight.
1879. S. W. Colley.
Ewing Searight.
1881. Joshua Woodward.
Hiram B. Jackson.
TOWNSHIP CLERKS.
1840. Adam McCray.         1850. Joseph Smith.
1842-46. John Dixon.       1851-52. John McCray.
1847-48. Andrew Springer.      1853. William Krepps.
1849. Aaron Beal.          1854. John Ferren.
1 In Redstone.        2 In Menallen, on the National pike.
3 In Menallen, at Plumsock.  4 At Plumsock.
657HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
1855. John McCray.
1856. Joseph I. Smith.
1857. George Friend.
1858-60. Joseph Smith.
1861. Francis Marion.
1862-65. F. M. Smith.
1866-69. A. Stewart.
1870. N. Holloway.
1871-72. A. Stewart.
1873. Joseph McCray.
1874. W. Gunison.
1875-79. F. M. Smith.
1880. F. M. Smith.
1881. Amos Fry.
SCHOOL DIRECTORS.
184 1. Ebenezer Finley.
William McMillan.
1842. Hugh Graham.
James Dunn.
1843. Warwick Miller.
Thomas Hazen.
1844. Caleb Antram.
James Allison.
1845. Thomas Dixon.
Daniel Espey.
1846. Nathan Lewis.
Simon Johnson.
1847. John M. Claybaugh.
James Campbell.
1848. Robert Boden.
Taylor Jeffries.
1849. Mifflin Jeffries.
William McGinnis.
1850. David Poundstone.
Robert Powell.
1851. Jesse Johnston.
Robert Powell.
1852. Charles S. Sexton.
Thomas Moxley.
1853. Warwick Miller.
James H. Lewis.
1854. Isaac Cowell.
David Phillips.
1855. Thomas Moxley.
S. C. Chalfant.
1856. C. V. Tracy.
William J, Johnston.
1857. Samuel Lynn.
Robert Finley.
1858. Warwick Miller.
Daniel Binns.
Nicholas Deffenbaugh.
1859. William Boyd.
Taylor Jeffries.
1860. Robert Powell.
Peter Colley.
1861. Isaac Coma.
John Kelley.
1862. Taylor Jeffries.
I. I. Harris.
1863. J. C. Grable.
Peter Colley.
1864. I. Cowell.
J. Kelly.
1865. T. Jeffries.
I. I. Harris.
1866. P. Colley.
J. C. Grable.
1867. J. Kelly.
I. Cowell.
1868. J. Woodward.
William McGinnis.
E. Searight.
1869. E. Campbell.
J. Graham.
J. Dixon.
1870. H. McGinnis.
E. 0. Leonard.
1871. J. Woodward.
M. V. Whetzel.
E. Searight.
1872. J. Cromwell.
A. Colley.
1873. J. B. Graham.
M. V. Whetzel.
1874. John Dearth.
Hiram Miller.
1875. Benjamin Beall.
John Williams.
1876. J. B. Graham.
M. V. Whetzel.
1877. Joseph Woodward.
Ethelbert Courtney.
1878. W. B. McCoy.
John Shaw.
1879. M. V. Whetzel.
Levi Beall.
1880. Ethelbert Courtney.
Levi Beall.
1881. E. Campbell.
John Shaw.
JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.
1840. Simon Johnson.
William Morrison.
1845. William Balsinger.
James Dixon.
1848. John Kelly.
Hiram McCoy.
1850. Hiram Jackson.
1852. William Allison.
1853. Joseph W. Miller.
1854. John Kelly.
1857. Hiram H. Kackney.
1858. Daniel Binns.
1860. Matthew Arison.
1862. John Kelly.
Lyman S. Herbert.
1867. J. Kelly.
R. A. Moss.
1868. T. Dixon.
1869. M. Hess.
1872. W. McGinnis.
A. J. Tait.
1877. A. J. Tait.
M. V. Whetzel.
THE TOWN OF NEW SALEM.
New Salem, also known as "Muttontowin," is a
small village of about one hundred and fifty' inhabitants, lying on the western border of Menallen township. It contains three stores, a post-office, an OddFellows' hall, three churches, and a fine public school,
the district in which it is included being independent in school matters from the township. The village site was owned by Johni Butterfield in 1790, and
later by James Vandement, who was also the owner
of no inconsiderable land tracts in that locality besides. David Arnold bought the village property in
1799, and August 17th of that year laid out a village
which he named New Salem, containing sixty lots.
Why he called it New Salem no one knows. From a
copy of the original plat of the town it appears,
however, that thle land upon which he laid it out had
been called "Stuffle's Policy." The nucleus of the
village was James Thompson's grist-mill, a rude log
structure, built some time before Arnold conceived
the idea of founding a town. Others than himself
thought favorably of the village prospects, for one
Solomon Hickman opened a tavern there in 1802, at
the same time that his father, Dr. Hickman, located
as the village physician. In 1803, John Funk came
from Maryland in pursuit of a favorable opening
for trade, and found at New Salem one to suit him.
He put a few goods into a log cabin on the "OddFellows' corner," and traded a year, until 1804, when he
died. There was John Boner, the village blacksmith,
and soon afterwards Alexander Campbell, who thought
the field so promising that he too opened a smithy.
Campbell was, moreover, a firm believer in his ability
to discover the secret of perpetual motion, and bestowed so much time upon his efforts in that direction
that he did not spare much time to the blacksmithing
business. He did somnething in the way of making
pottery, but perpetual motion was his hobby, and of
course he wore himself out without achieving the
object of his ambition. Dr. Hickman and Alexander
Campbell lived in two log houses that stood near together. Campbell's house has been demolished; Dr.
Hickman's still stands, and is now the home of Henry
Funk, son of John Funk, store-keeper in New Salem
in 1803, at which time Henry was two years old.
After that he lived back from the village until 1835,
when he resumed his habitation at New Salem and
set up a blacksmith-shop. Since 1835 he has lived
in New Salem, although long since retired from active
business.
For some reason unexplainable at this day New
Salem soon assumed and maintained a reputation for
immorality and disorder that made its name a byword and reproach among peaceful and law-abiding
people. What especial circumstance led to this is
not now apparent, nor is it necessary to inquire. But
by common consent New Salem was mentioned as a
1 The population by the census of 1880 was 158.
658MENLLN  OWSHP.65
place conspicuous for dram-drinking, horse-racing,
drunkenness, and vicious idleness. Well-behaved
people shunned it, and in derision rechristened it
Muttontown,-some say because many a stolen sheep
was traced to the village. Taverns, so called, but
really whiskey-shops, were numerous and flourishing.
In 1816 certain keen-eyed speculators concluded a
bank would pay at New Salem, and accordingly built
a stone banking-house in that year upon the lot now
occupied by J. W. Scott's store, and without delay
began to issue seductive-looking bank-bills of all denominations, ranging from six and a.quarter cents
upwards. The bank was called The Farmers' and
Mechanics' Bank of Fayette County, at New Salem.
Aaron Torrance was president, and Timothy Smith
cashier. The people of the surrounding country failed
to exhibit any very great confidence in the mnatter
of depositing money in the bank, but Messrs. Torrance, Smith, and others managed to keep themselves
moderately busy and the bank in a state of temporary
prosperity by an industrious issue of bills, which penetrated not only into remote corners of Pennsylvania,
but inIto Maryland; Ohio, and other States. In a little
while, when no more bills could be issued, the collapse came, for of course a collapse was inevitable.
The banking-house was closed. Torrance, Smith, and
their associates departed for other scenes, and the
unhappy bill-holders, whose name was legion, were
left to bewail an overweening confidence in promises
to pay. This New Salem bank was from the outset
looked upon with distrust by the State banking authorities. It appears that a letter of inquiry concerning the bank came to the Union Bank at Uniontown
in June, 1816. To thatletter the cashier ofthe Union
Bank made the following response:
"UNION BANK OF PENNSSYLVANIA, July 11, 1816.
"DEAR SIR,-Your letter of the 27th ult. was duly received.
As I could not answer it before this day (when our Directors
meet), I laid your letter before them; they say from information received in regard to the Association named in your letter
that they have reason to believe that such does exist, but that
the persons composing it are not of sufficient respectability to
render it reputable; for myself, I know none of the names mentioned, and from that am led to believe they are not men of
much consequence. The village where the bank in question is
to be established contains a few small log houses, as I am informed;'tis situated about six miles from this place, and five or
six miles from Brownsville, where there is a chartered bank.
"I am, respectfully, your ob't servant,
"J. SIMS, Cashier.
"E. P. HARRISON, ESQ."
There is still in preservation one of the plates from
which were printed bills of the New Salem  Bank of
the denominations of one, three, and five dollars.
The one dollar niotes bore the vignette of a recumbent
female holding a sheaf of wheat. Over the figure is
the line "Instituted in 1816." Below the figure appears the following:
"The Farmers' and Mechanics' Bank of Fayette County
promise to pay         -, or bearer, on demand, ONE dollar out of their joint funds according to their articles of association.
".-, Cashier.
"NEW SALEM,   ~, 18  
-, President."
The three and five dollar notes were essentially
similar to the one described, except that the vignette
of the three is a soaring eagle, and of the five an
eagle perching upon the back of a lion.
Of this bank one Peter Black was one of the directors. An advertisement appearing in the Genius
of Liberty under date of April 20, 1819, thus alludes
to Mr. Black;
"$100 REWARD, and all necessary expenses, will be given by
the subscriber for the apprehension and delivery of Peter Black
in any jail in the United States. Said Black is charged with
the murder of Crawford Laughlin. Peter Black is a man six
feet high, of dark complexion, has a large head thickly covered
with black hair, has prominent cheek bones, and large shoulders. He is a man of about thirty years of age. He had on
when he went away a blue surtout, pants, and vest, and it is supposed he has also taken with him a quantity of gray clothes. He
was formerly a director in the Muttontown, or New Salem Bank
of Fayette County, Pa., and he will be doubtless recollected in
Ohio, where he distributed large quantities of the paper of that
bank. It is supposed that Black has gone into the State of Ohio.
The circumstances attending this horrid deed are as follows:
On the 20th inst., while the deceased was at the house of Black,
in Fayette County, a dispute arose between the deceased and
another man. Black interfered and stabbed deceased in the
neck, making a gash about one and a half inches deep.
"HUGH LAUGHLIN.
"March 27, 1819."
Alexander Wilson had a store in 1811 on the Jonah
Dearth place.
Harmon Ficke came here in 1816, announcing that
he had come from Baltimore for the purpose of starting in trade at New Salem. He put a few goods into
John Funk's old store building, and declared himself
ready for business. Ficke claimed to be a doctor as
well as trader, but his medical and surgical skill were
not made apparent. He kept his store open six or
eight years, and departed because store-keeping in
New Salem was overshadowed in importance by
whisky-selling and rendered a profitless undertaking.
There was no store at New Salem for many years
after Harmon Ficke left, but taverns abounded and
whisky was king. Martin Wolf was one of the tavern-keepers at this time, and soon after him came
two others, named Emmons and Mitchell. At one
timne there were three taverns in the village. Jacob
Balsinger was one of the later and most widely
known of New Salem's tavern-keepers, but during
his time the popular voice made itself heard in em-,
phatic protest against a further continuance of whisky
traffic at the village, for matters had been going from
bad to worse, and, like other evils, that evil had got to
the point where it was likely to cure itself. A temperance society was organized in 1835 at the village
659
MENALLEN TOWNSHIP.HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
school-house, and at that meeting speeches were made
by Gen Joshua B. Howell and Dr. Hugh Campbell.
The temperance reformers once fairly started, kept
the ball in motion and worked assiduously. The
whisky men fought to stop it, but to no purpose.
Balsinger finding his business waning, sold his tavern
-the only one then in the village-to James Downard. Downard got the impression that the temperance wave would exhaust itself and eventually leave
him master of the field, but the longer he waited the
more certain became his conviction that the temperance crusade had come to stay. All the village dramshops but his had been driven out of existence, and
his was doomed.  One day he received a note of
warning, threatening himn with an immersion in the
horse-pond if he failed to close his bar within a week.
Discretion prevailed with him, and within less than
a week his house was closed and he on his way to
other parts. That was in the year 1843, and from
that day to this no strong drink has been sold in New
Salem. From one of the worst and most disorderly
it was changed to one of the most orderly and peaceful villages in the State. Persistent hard work by
the persevering and unfaltering advocates of temperance worked a reform for which that section of the
country became grateful years ago. Ebenezer Finley, who took a leading part in the contest against
whisky and disorder, was chosen the first president
of the temperance society, and has been its president
ever since. To him belongs a very large share of the
credit for the wholesome results that followed the
warfare.
About 1840, Joseph Gadd and William Boyd were
keeping a store at New Salem; Balsinger had a tavern,
and in it the post-office was kept, his son being postmaster. There was no village physician in 1840,
although there had been previous to that date. In
1844, Dr. Jacob Post made New Salem his home, and
lived on the Joshua Scott property. To go back a
little, there was a school-house in 1812 upon the site
of the present school-house, and in that year Thomas
Campbell was the teacher. After him an old mnan
named Gray taught school. It will be well also to
mention that William Allison, a gunsmith, had a
shop at New Salem as early as 1820; that Neddy
Hughes was that year the village shoemaker, and
that in 1821 Ebenezer Finley organized a Sundayschool. The old log grist-mill passed from James
Thompson to Robert Boyd, and from Robert Boyd to
his son Samuel, who built a new mill, the same now
owned by Jesse Frost, Sr.
Dr. Hickman has already been mentioned as being
a resident physician in New Salem in 1802. He remained only a couple of years, and then there was no
resident doctor until 1811. In that year Dr. Joseph
Rose and his brother Erasmus located and practiced
in conjunction for several years.  After their departure there was a lack of village doctors until
1844, when Dr. Jacob Post opened an office and remained a village fixture for some years. He removed
to Winona, Minn., and there died. While Dr. Post
was here Dr. Fitz came in, but stayed only a short
time. Then there appeared in succession Dr. C. D.
Chalfant in 1867, and Dr. I. C. Hazlett a little while
thereafter. The only village physician now is Dr.
Samuel E. Johnstonil, who has been practicing in
New Salem and vicinity since 1870.
New Salem's first postmaster was Christopher Balsinger, who was appointed in 1820 and served until
about 1840. He was succeeded by C. S. Seaton and
Mr. Kline. J. W. Scott followed Kline in 1861, and
in 1868 was succeeded by W. D. Swearingen, who
held the office less than a year. C. H. Scott was the
incumbent from 1869 to 1877, and in the latter year
William P. Green, the present postmaster, received
his appointment.
NEW SALEM LODGE, NO. 559, I. O. O. F., was organized in 1858. The membership is now twenty,
and the officers William Jeffries, N. G.; J. C. Moore,
V. G.; S. E. Johnson, Sec.; Elijah Tracey, Treas.;
A. J. Tint, Asst. Sec.
UPPER MIDDLETOWN.
Upper Middletown village, better known as Plumsock, is a small hamlet lying upon Redstone Creek,
on the eastern side of the township. It is simnply a
rural town without special industry, beyond the maintenance of such business as is afforded by the support
of the adjacent rural population. The name Plumsock has clung to the place since the time its village
existence begun, but why it was so christened is not
known. Various stories are told to account for the
origin of the name, including one about an intoxicated individual, who, while riding through the place,
fell from his horse into the mud, and remarked,
"Here I am, plump sock!" The expression is said to
have so pleased the ears of those within hearing
that they concluded to call the town "Plumsock" to
commemorate the incident. How true the story is it
is perhaps not important to inquire. Another story
traces the origin of the name as far back as 1794, when
a company of "Whiskey Boys" rendezvoused on the
village site.'Tis said they contracted with a certain
citizen of the neighborhood to supply them with subsistence during their stay, and that when the citizen
delivered his first load of provisions the "Boys" endeavored to cajole him into giving them credit for a
few days. At that proposition the purveyor is said to
have waxed wroth, and exclaiming, " No, sirree, my
men; if you want me to supply you you must pay
me the cash,'plumpsock' on the nail," was about to
depart in displeasure, when they came forward with
the cash, and agreed unanimously that the place
ought to be called "Plumpsock" forever afterward
in commemoration of the man's business principle.
Nov. 28,1789, Jeremiah Pears (or Pearce, or Peairs)
patented a piece of land containing one hundred and
twelve acres, called "Prophetic," and lying in Men660MENALLEN TOWNSHIP.
allen and Franklin townshiips. Edward Hall and
Jeremiah Pears held land adjacent to this tract, and
laid out lots in the form of a town, which they called
Middletown (now known as Upper Middletown, or
Plumsock). Hall sold to Rev. Robert Warnocks. The
one hundred and twelve acres mentioned as belonging to Jeremiah Pears included the site of the Meason rolling-mill, hereafter to be mentioned, and for a
long time popularly known as Forgetown. On that
site Pears had a mill as early as 1784, and perhaps
before, for in the road records of the county, under
the date mentioned, "Jeremiah Pears' mill" is noticed. In 1794, "Jeremiah Pears' forge" was recorded
as being then at the same point, and in 1804 he had
there a saw-mill, grist-mill, forge, slitting-mill, and
rolling-mill,-quite a large collection of industrial enterprises for the time. Thomas Cook, thtn of Perry,
and afterwards of Cook's Mills, in Redstone, was one
of the builders of the Pears' forge, which was probably erected in 1794. Pears carried on the manufacture of iron at Plumsock until about 1804, when he
sold out to George Dorsey. Dorsey sold in 1809 to
Benijamin Stevens, he to Meason  Keller in 1813,
and Keller sold his interest to Col. Isaac Meason in
1815.
In a recently published account of early iron
industries in Western Peninsylvania occurs the following: "The first rolling-mill erected west of the
Alleghenies to puddle iron and roll iron bars was
built in 1816 and 1817, on Redstone Creek, about
midway between Connellsville and Brownsville, at a
place called Upper Middletown, better known as
Plumsock, in Fayette County." The inceptor of the
enterprise was Thomas C. Lewis, and it was carried
into effect by Col. Isaac Meason, of Union Furnace,
in Dunbar. The chief engineer in the erection of the
mill was Thomas C. Lewis, whose brother, George
Lewis,-both Welshmen,-was turner and roller. The
mill was built "for making bars of all sizes and hoops
for cutting into nails."  "The iron was refined by
blast, and then puddled." Active operations were
carried on at this mill until 1831, Mr. Arthur Palmer
being in possession to the date named. By a flood
in the Redstone the mill was partially destroyed.
Subsequently the mill machinery was conveyed to
Brownsville. Concerning this rolling-mill Samuel
C. Lewis, son of Thomas C. Lewis above menitioned,
said that his father and his uncle, George Lewis, not
only superintended the erection and put in operation
the mill of which notice is here made, but that he
himself as a boy assisted in rolling the first bar of
iroin, his uncle being chief roller. Besides the two
Lewis brothers, Thomas and George, there were also
Samuel Lewis, heater, and James Lewis, catcher,
who participated in starting the mill and in the rolling of the first bar.  Henry W. Lewis, another
brother, was a clerk in the office. Samuel C. Lewis
was then a boy of fifteen, and "heaved up" behind
the rolls. There were in the mill two puddlingfurnaces, one refinery, one heating-furnace, and one
tilt-hammer. Raw coal was used in the puddlingand heating-furnaces, and coke (for a short time) in
the refinery.  James Pratt worked the refinery.
David Adams was the puddler.
The State report on iron-making in Pennsylvania,
published in 1878, says, "We think it extremely
probable that at the Plumsock rolling-mill was done
the first puddling, and that here was rolled the first
bar of iron in Amnerica." Careful inquiry in well-informed quarters fails to discover the existence in the
United States of any rolling-mill to roll bar iron and
puddle pig iron prior to the enterprise at Plumsock
in 1816.
Benjamin Rutter, who lives near Plumsock, worked
for Arthur Palmer at the Plumsock rolling-mill, as
did also Francis Duff, whose widow now lives in the
village. One of the early rolling-mill proprietors
was J. L. Keller, who built a great roomy brick mansion near the mill. Keller's house was a fine building for that day, and is to-day even a handsomelooking residence. Since 1858 it has been the property of James Nickel. Mr. Keller died after a few
years' occupancy of the premises, and when a family
of strangers undertook to occupy the red brick house
their stay was soon brought to a hurried close by the
idea that the house was haunted. They averred that
old Keller's spirit roamed through the mansion at
will, that doors were opened and shut by unseen
hands, and with a great noise, while unearthly and
discordant sounds made every night hideous and the
lives of the tenants a torture. People to whomn they
told these stories laughed at thenm and scouted the
stories as the result of excited imaginations. When,
however, another family moved into the red brick
and moved quickly out again, declaring that ghosts and
goblins peopled the house, public belief was inclined
to think that there might, after all, be a haunting
presence in the mansion. When a third family was
precipitately driven forth after but a two days' occupancy opinion generally conceded that the house was
indeed haunted. By that time the circumnstances
were public gossip, and while the curious came to
look with awe upon the mysterious abode of alleged
spirits, no one cared to undertake the task of living
in it, although it was offered for rent at a nominal
price. So it was suffered to be untenanted for some
time, wheni a matter-of-fact family took possession,
and kept possession peaceably too. The supposed
spirits seemed to have taken a permanent leave of
the abode, and have not reappeared to this day. Although keen investigations were set afoot in pursuance of a desire to discover the source of the disturbing elements that drove people out of the house after
Keller's death, no satisfactory result was achieved. ~
Time dispelled the fears of the timid, but to this
day there are seemingly intelligent persons who insist
that old Keller's ghost did haunt the house. The
story goes that Keller, who married a daughter of
661IIiSTORIY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Gen. Douglass, and built the brick house in 1812,
squandered in various ways money that had come to
him through his wife. She had taken great pleasure in
the embellishment of their home, and when Keller's
failure entailed the loss of that home she felt much
embittered against him. Declaring that she could
never forgive him for causing the loss of so much that
she had endeared to herself, she vowed that she
would haunt the place after she was dead. Therefore people who firmly believe that the house was
haunted must always be in doubt whether the visitation was by the spirit of Mrs. Keller or by that of
her husband.
Before the rolling-mill enterprise had been put in
operation, Isaac Meason carried on at Plumsock a
small forge that Jeremiah Pears had built.  That
forge was the beginning of manufacture at that point.
There was a pottery there in 1822, that was started
by James Lewis, and continued by him and his son
Nathan for twenty-seven years afterwards. James
Lewis worked at the rolling-mills before he was married, and it was during his time there that a nail-factory was attached to the works. Thomas Duncan,
now of Brownsville, was also one of the rolling-mill
hands. Nathan Lewis, of Franklin township, says
that wheni he was a lad of twelve he worked at Plumsock for Arthur Palmer, the iron-worker, and that in
1823 he was employed to wheel coal from a coal-bank
to a coke-oven that Arthur Duncan (father of Judge
Duncan, of Brownsville) had built for Palmer and
was in charge of. This oven, Mr. Lewis thinks, was
erected before 1823, and in it Mr. Palmer burned
coke for use in his iron-works. It was constructed
entirely of stone, and held about forty-eight bushels.
Slack or fine coal only was burned.  Palmer had at
his works a rolling-mill, a puddling-furnace, refinery,
saw-mill, and grist-mill. The imnmediate locality of
the works was known as Forgetown until the departure of Mr. Palmer and the abandonment of the iron
manufactory in i831.
The inauguration of the rolling-mill industry at
Plumsock created a village near there, and of course
a store and tavern sprung quickly into existence.
Robert Thompson was the store-keeper as early as
1808, and Henry Dick tavern-keeper in 1806. John
Bate succeeded the latter in 1809. A Mr. Bodkin was
in 1813 the tavern-keeper (or, more strictly speaking,
the whisky-seller, for a village tavern then meant
"whisky-shop" more than it meant public-house).
Bodkin's tavern was simply a log shanty, and presently Elijah Gadd opened a second tavern in another
shanty. Of Gadd it is said that he sold his whisky to
the mill hands, and took his pay at the mill once a
month in bar iron. When the mill stopped Gadd
had on hand sufficient bar iron to pay for a good farm.
Some of Gadd's successors as tavern-keepers at Plumsock were William Stevens, John Gadd, and Edward
Jones, but that either made the success in the business that Elijah managed to achieve is extremely
doubtful. There was a small log grist-mill close by
the rolling-mill, and although it was a crude and
clumsy concern, it was one of the prime necessities of
the locality. It was built by Jeremiah Pears, and
afterwards continued by successive mill-owners. Keller, the proprietor of the rolling-mill, had a store, and
Palmer probably kept a stock of goods on hand while
he carried on the iron-works. After the mill interest
ceased Plumsock fell into a disheartening quietude.
There was no store there or very much call for one
after that until 1831, when John Morrison built the
brick residence now owned by James Lewis and
stocked one corner of it with goods.
About 1820, Henry Creighton was the village blacksmith, and Reuben Jones the village carpenter. The
first cabinet-maker in Plumsock was Daniel Whetzel.
In 1824 there was a log school-house at the village, in
which Macklin Mayer taught, and in which Joseph
Garrett and Oliver Sproul were his immediate successors. A post-office was established at Plumsock
about 1825, and a Methodist Church was built in 1829.
Thlere was probably no resident physician until 1840
or later. Robert Muir should have been mentioned
as the landlord of the Cross-Keys tavern about 1820.
He kept it for some years, and rented it then as a
dwelling. In 1847, Henry Fuller reopened it as a
tavern, and kept it twenty years. Since 1867,.Plumsock has been without a licensed tavern.
In 1844, Thomas Hazen was keeping store in the
Lewis brick, and David and John Huston one at the
upper end of the town. The Hustons sold out to
Abram Hornbeck, who was for a time both store-keeper
and tavern-keeper. In the Hornbeck building Edward Roddy afterwards carried on trade about twelve
years. Then came William Smith, Gibson  Arrison, and Gibson  Thompson, who moved from the
ol(1 quarters into the building now occupied by Mansell  Thomnipson. Daniel Binns  Co. occupied the
Lewis brick in 1857, and in 1858 moved to the Keller
mansion.  In 1864, Binns retired, leaving his partner, James Nickel, to succeed the firm.
The post-office succession at Plumsock mnay be given
as follows: Joseph Gadd was appointed about 1825,
and resigned in 1828. Henry Creighton, the blacksmithl, succeeded himn, and in 1840 William Morrison
became the incumbent. Morrison held the office
until 1857, when Edward Roddy received the appointment. To him succeeded Daniel Binns, WVilliam
Smith, and Daniel Binns (second term). James
Nickel served from 1865 to 1869; Samuel Thompson,
1869-70; D. T. Gibson, from  1870 to 1880; and
Hugh Thompson, from 1880 to the present.
The first physician to locate at Plumsock was a Dr.
Rogers. Just when he caine is not easy to say, but
the time was not far fromn 1840. Drs. Brownfield and
Crane were in village practice shortly after Rogers
departed for the West in 1844, but their stay was
brief. There was no resident physician afterwards
until 1851, when Dr. Samuel B. Chalfant opened an
662I MENALLEN TOWNSHIP.
office and established his home at Plumsock. He
continued steadily in practice at the village until his
death in 1877. Meanwhile, Dr. W. W. Osborn came
in 1870, and still remains. Dr. John Hankins came
in 1875, and removed to Uniontown in 1878. Besides
Dr. Osborn, there is now one other physician in the
village, William H. Hopwood, who located in 1878.
REDSTONE LODGE, No. 499, I. O. O. F., was organized
at Plumsock in 1852. The membership in March,
1881, was twenty-five, and the officers Nathan Holloway, N. G; M. V. Whetzel, V. G.; A. N. Osborn,
Sec.; James Lewis, Treas.
CHURCHES.
GRACE CHURCH (PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL).
Grace Church, located on the National road, near
Searight's, was organized before 1793, in which year
the congregation were occupying their own house of
worship. There are, however, no records froin which
to write a history of the early days of the organization,
and as humnan recollection is of course unavailable as
a matter of reference, absolutely nothing can be said
with certainty touching the events that attended upon
the organization of the church, except that Robert
Jackson donated some land for a church and churchyard. The first house of worship was a homely log
structure, but it did excellent service for nearly fifty
years. In 1840 it was replaced by the house now in
use. For the erection of the latter the subscribers
were Hugh Keys, William Searight, Hiram Jackson,
Zadoc Jackson, William Hogg, George Hogg, Robert
Clark, John Bowman, John Snowdon, Eli Abrams,
Samuel J. Krepps, Henry Sweitzer, Christopher Buchanan, David Jackson, John Moore, Aaron Moore,
William Moore, John Hibbs, Johnston Van Kirk,
Ebenezer Finley, Ebenezer Finley, Jr., Elizabeth Finley, Joseph Gadd, E. Balsinger, Joseph Wilson, Joshua
Antram, Caleb Antram, Jr., Richard Beeson, J. C.
Simmons, Benjamin Roberts, Arwind McIttree, John
Gadd, N. P. Bowmnan  Co., Jacob Bowman, Wesley
Frost, G. W. V. Bowman, G. W. Cass, G. W. Curtis,
William Sloan, John Allison, John Dawson, Rezin
Moore, D. N. Robinson, Joshua B. Howell, N. Given,
R. P. Flenniken, A. Stewart, James Fuller, Isaac
Beeson. The congregation, at no time large, includes
now perhaps twenty families. At no time has there
been a resident rector. Rev. R. S. Smith supplied
the church from 1868 to 1878. The present rector is
Rev. S. D. Day, of Brownsville. The wardens are
James Allison and Ewing Searight. The vestrymen
are James Searight, Ewing Searight, Thomas Graham,
Buchanan Jeffries, Andrew Keys, Hiram Jackson,
and Levi Beal. The superintendent of the Sundayschool is James Allison. The graveyard at the church,
laid out some time before the year 1800, has within it
as the oldest headstone now distinguishable a tablet
erected in 1799 to the memory of a member of the
Jackson family.
UPPER MIDDLETOWN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
About 1825, when Arthur Palmer took charge of
the Plumsock rolling-mill and established his home
in the Keller mansion, he began to hold Methodist
meetings therein, himnself being the preacher. Mr.
Palmner was a very energetic worker in the religious
field, and preached regularly at his house once a fortnight until 1829. In that year he succeeded in effecting a church organization and in causing the erection
of a stone church known as Asbury Chapel. As far
as cail now be remembered, the organizing members
of the first class included Arthur Palmer and wife,
James Hedden and wife, John Lewis and wife, William Bradley and wife. In 1840 the stone church
was replaced with the present brick structure. The
preacher in charge is Rev. O. E. Husted, of the Redstone Circuit. He preaches once a fortnight. The
class numbers now about forty. The leader is William Hormel.
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF NEW SALEM.
Public worship by Methodists was held in the New
Salem school-house in 1834, and in that year a class
was organized with twelve members. Among these
were Booth McCormick and wife, Richard Miller
and wife, Mr. Carpenter, his wife and wife's sister,
and Nancy Whitehill. Booth McCormick was the
leader. In 1840 a spirited revival set in and about
forty persons joined the church. In 1850 a house of
worship was built, and in 1851 the membership was
fully one hundred and twenty-five. Prosperity attended upon the progress of the organization for a
while, but afterwards dissensions were created by a
disaffected member, and with such disastrous results
that in 1867 the total membership had been reduced
to five persons. Dissolution was imnminent, but the
few energetic ones worked hard for a reawakening of
interest to such good effect that the membership
steadily increased, and the church rested once more
upon a sure foundation. In March, 1881, there were
in good standing about thirty active members. The
leader was then Johnston Roderick, and the preacher
Rev. Mr. McGrew, of the Smithfield charge.
PRESBYTERIAN CHAPEL.
A Presbyterian chapel was built at New Salem in
1853 by members of the Dunlap's Creek Church, and
since that time has been used simply as an adjunct to
the last-named organization, whose pastor preaches
also at New Salemi. A Presbyterian Sunday-school
was organized at New Salem by Ebenezer Finley, Sr.,
in 1825, and to this day it has had an uninterrupted
and active existence.  The elder Finley was the
superintendent from 1825 to 1849, and his son Ebenezer from 1853 to 1881.
PLEASANT VIEW (CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN) CHURCH.
During the years 1832 and 1833 Revs. Morgan
Bird, and Bryan were preaching in Fayette County
as the advance guard of the Cumberland Presbyterian
663HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
ministers just then being sent out from Tennessee to
Pennsylvania. They were invited to preach at the
Centre school-house, near John C. McCormick, and
from that time forward there was more or less preaching there for several years. Mr. McCormick himself
became a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian
Church at Uniontown, where he was a ruling elder
ten years or more. Afterwards he joined Hopewell
Church, in Luzerne township, where he remained until
the organization of Pleasant View in 1859. During
the years 1857 and 1859 Rev. John S. Gibson, pastor
of the East Liberty Cumberland Presbyterian Church,
frequently held services in the McCormick neighborhood, and one result of his ministrations was the organization of a Sunday-school by E. Campbell and
John McCormick. The Sunday-school being well on
its way, attention was turned to the subject of a church
organization. The Union Presbytery being appealed
to, authorized Revs. Jesse Adamns and A. G. Osborn
to take charge of the business.  Accordingly they
organized Pleasant View, Oct. 1, 1859, in a schoolhouse that stood near where the church now stands.
The constituent members numbered twenty-four, viz.: I
Emanuel Camnpbell, Mary Campbell,' Samuel Brown,
Louisa Brown, Henry Hornbeck, Sr.,' Rebecca Hornbeck,' Henry Hornbeck, Jr., John G. Hornbeck,
James Ridlinghafer, Catharine Ridlinghafer, Robert
Hagerty, John Ball, Jr.,' Mary Hess, Eliza B. Powell,
Margaret Wheaton, Sarah J. Arison, Mary Mitchell,'
Mahala Hill, Amy Work,' Anne Stewart, Ebenezer
Hare,' Rebecca Hare, John C. McCormick, Hannah
McCormick.' The elders chosen were John C. McCormick, Emanuel Campbell, and Samuel Brown. In
1860 a house of worship was erected. The trustees
were Robert Hagerty, John Ball, Jr., and James Ridlinghafer.
The first pastor was Rev. Andrew G. Osborn, who
served from April 1, 1860, to April 1, 1862. Eli
E. Bailey was pastor from April, 1862, to April, 1866;
J. Power Baird from April, 1866, to April, 1880.
Since Mr. Baird's departure Rev. William Hays has
been the supply. Several gratifying revival seasons
have marked the history of the church. In 1866 about
twenty persons were received as members under the
preaching of Rev. E. E. Bailey; and in 1871, 1874,
and 1875, during the pastorate of Rev. J. Power
Baird, large accessions, to the number of one hundred and twenty-eight, increased the strength of the
church. There are at present one hundred and fiftytwo members. The elders are Emanuel Campbell,
Samuel Brown, John E. Craft, and Thomas H. Higinbotham. Martin Hess donated, in 1860, one acre
of land, lying two and a quarter miles north of Searight's, for church and cemetery. In 1878 two acres
were added by purchase.
1 Since deceased.
CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CIIURCH OF NEW SALEM.
Fairview Church, now the Cumberland Presbyterian Church of New Salem, was organized by Rev.
Samuel E. Hudson. Members of the denomination
living in the vicinity of New Salem, who attended for
public worship at Uniontown and New Hopewell,
expressed a desire for a church organization, and in
response thereto Rev. Samuel E. Hudson, then supplying the church at New Hopewell, began, in the
spring of 1842, a series of protracted meetings at New
Salem. A number of conversions followed, and in
June, 1842, the Lord's Supper was comnmemorated at
the New Salem school-house. In September of that
year about one hundred persons joined in a petition
to the Union Presbytery for the organization of a
congregation in the New Salem neighborhood. In
the spring of 1843 the Presbytery appointed Revs.
Samuel E. Hudson and Carl Moore, with Isaac
Beeson and John McCormick, as a committee to attend New Salem for the purpose of effecting the desired organization, and authorized Rev. Samuel E.
Hudson to supply the new church for the space of one
year. One hundred and five persons were received
as constituent members. Among these the nanmes of
the following only have been preserved uponl the record: Caleb Antram, Samuel Brown, Eliza Brown,
Miranda Luckey, Hugh Poundslow, John Hackney,
Sr., John Hackney, Jr., Lydia Hackney, Amy Hackney, Joseph Rockwell, Catharine Rockwell, Jacob
Allamon, Levi Linn, Joseph Woodward, Nancy Woodward, William Jeffries, Jane Jeffries, Taylor Jeffries,
Sarah Jeffries, E. F. Moss, Rebecca Johnson, Hannah
Walters, Lydia Jackson, Eliza Hacock, Hannah Dunlap, Jane Luckey, Sarah L. McWilliams, Louisa Gilmore, Catharine McDougal, Jane Carey, Henry Funk,
Zabina Keener, Lydia Worley, Keziah Watson, John
Watson, Mary Jeffries, John Williams, Sarah A.
Williams, Elizabeth Sickles, and Mary A. Poundslow. The elders chosen were Caleb Antram, Joseph
Rockwell, Abel Campbell, Jr., and William Thompson. Caleb Antram donated land for a church and
churchyard, and in 1844 a brick house was built at a
cost of two thousand dollars. In April, 1856, the
church had so prospered that the membership aggregated one hundred and eighty-four. The pastors of
the organization have been Revs. Samuel E. Hudson,
A. B. Brice, J. T. A. Henderson, Alexander Blackford, Jesse Adams, and J. S. Gibson. Mr. Gibson
has been thle pastor since 1872. The membership in
March, 1881, was one hundred and eighty-one. The
Sunday-school has fifteen officers and teachers and
eighty-three scholars. The superintendent is Christopher Woodward. The elders of the church are
Joseph Woodward, Joseph Rockwell, H. H. Hackney, Lewis Antram, and John Funk. The deacons
are Christopher Woodward, J. W. Hackney, Taylor
Jeffries, Samuel Newcomer, and A. J. Tuit.
66489
THE REVOLUTION.
horses, were enghged around the fires which  they   prisoners in the hands of the  Americans.  In  the
had kindled in preparing a meal from  it.  Suddenly   spring of 1783 they sailed from  Quebec to New  York,
a volley blazed forth on them  from  a wooded bluff,  anid from  there returned bome by way of Philadeland simultaneously a large force of Indians appeared   phia, having been absent twenty-two  months.  But
and rushed to attack them. The mien, tlhus surprised,  more than  one-half of those who  went down  the
seized their arrms and bravely defended themselves as   Ohio with Col. Lochry never again saw their homes
long as their ammunition lasted. Then they attempted   in the Monongahela and Youghiogheny Valleys.
to escape by their boats, but these were unwieldy, the         Besides the coni mland of Col. Lochry, there.also
water was very low, and the party, too much weakened   wvent out in Clarke's expedition another company of
to avail themselves of this method  of escape, and   men raised in Westmoreland County (principally in
being wholly unable to make further resistance, sur-  that part which is now Fayette), under command of
rendered to the savages, who at once proceeded to the   Capt. Benjamin Whaley,' the comnpany being largely
work of massacre.  They killed Col. Lochry and sev-  recruited by Lieut. (afterwards colonel) James Paull.
eral others of the prisoners, but were restrained from    This force embarked in flalt-boats on the Monongafurther butchery by the timely arrival of their chief,'  bela at Elizabethtown, and  being joined  at Pittswlho declared that he disapproved of their conduct,  burgh by Capt. Isaac Craig's artillery, proceeded with
but said he was unable wholly to control his men,  other troops down the river to the appointed rendezwho were eager to revenge the acts of Col. Brodhead   vous at the Falls of the Ohio, arriving there late in
against the Indians on the Muskingum  a few months   the month of August.  But the other forces failing to
before.                                                     assemble at that point the expedition was abandoned,
The party which Col. Lochry surrendered to the   and Capts. Whaley and Craig, with their commliands,
Indians consisted of but sixty-four men, forty-two   returned on foot through the wilderness of Kentucky
having been killed.  The Indians engaged numnbered   and Virginia, encountering innumerable  perils and
over three hundred of various tribes, but principally   hardships, and being more than two months on the
those of the Six Nations.  They divided the plunder   homeward journey.  Their arrival, as also the terrible
among them  in proportion to the numbers of each   disaster to Col. Lochry's command, was annoyunced by
tribe engaged.  On the next day the prisoners were   Gen. Irvine  (who had in the mean time succeeded
marched to the Delaware  towns, where they  were   Col. Brodhead in the command of the Western Demet by a party of British and Indians, who said they   partrnent) in a letter to Gen. Washington, dated Fort
were on their way to the Falls of the Ohio to attack   Pitt, Dec. 2, 1781, as follows:
Gen. Clarke.   The  prisoners  were separated  and            "... Capt.Craig,withthedetachmentofartillery,
taken to different places of captivity at the Indian   returned here on the 26th inst. [ult?]... A  Col.
towvns, and there they remained (excepting a few who   Lochry, of Westmoreland County, Pa., with about one
escaped) until the close of the Revolutionary strug-  hlundred men in all, composedl of volunteers and a
gle. After the preliminary articles of peace hlad been   company raised by Pennsylvania for the defense of
signed  (Nov. 30, 1782) they were ransomed by the   that county, started to join  Gen. Clarke, who, it is
British  officers in command  of the Northern posts  said, ordered him  to unite with him  (Clarke) at the
and were sent to Canada,' to be exchanged for British   mouth of the Miami, up which river it was previously
___  desigined to proceedc; but the general, having changed
1 It has been stated that the chief in commnand of this Indian party   his plan, left a small party at the Miami, with direcwas the famous Capt. Brant, and thiat he afterwards professed mtch re   tions to Lochry to follow him  to the mouth of the
gret for the massacre of Lochry and lis men.
2 The following menmorial of escaped prisoniers belonging to Col. Lochry's command was presented to the Suipreme Executive Council, ad-    A simiiiltar petition was presenited to Council Jan. 6, 1783, by prisoners
dressed to President Moore (and indorsed Jtily 3, 1782), viz.: -from Locliry's command, tlheni returniin- (tiot escaped) from Canada, as
"SIR,-We, the subscribers, Inhabitants of ilie Counity of Westmore-  follows:
land, beg leave to represent to youir Excellency and C ouncil that we had    "We, the Subscribers, would beg leave to represent the Situation of
the misfortune to be made prisoners of by time Indians on the 24tlh of  Henery Dungan, Sergt of Captn John Boyd's Company, mand Robert WatAuiguist last and carried to Montreal, and there kept in close confine-  son, John Marrs, anid Mich. Hare, of Capt. Thos. Stokely's Comnpy of
iuenit till the 26th of May last. when we were so fortunate as to make   Rangers of this State, that they lhave becen Captured by the Sava-es in
our escape, anid after a lon- and fati-neinig immairch through the Wil(ler-  the Sunmmer of Eighty-one, and are now on their retuirni froni Caniada,
ness ~ve got to this City yesterdany at- three o'Clock. As wve are at presenlt  Jbeing Destitutte of Money, and allnost Cloatlhing, would beg that Couniilestiwute of bothi Mioyyey and Clokthes,  sithout which we cannot go  cil would take their Situationi unider Consideration, and grant them sucl
lhome, We pray your Exc'y and Council to take ouir case inito Consi(lera-  supply's as they in their wvisdomn slhall thinik necessary."
tioIn, and order us our lay from the time we were inmale pri oners to      (Signed)               "JOHN BOyD,
tlhis. We were uinder time command of Colo. Loughery wlheni taken, ad(l                         " Cpt'n of Rangers S. P.
la e a list of all thtose, both officers and private;, wlho are njow pr isonier-s                  "ThOMAS STOKELY,
of that party, wlhich, togetlher with suclh infornmation as is in ouir power,                   "Capt. of  atagers S. P."
we are ready to give for the satisfaction of your Exc'y and Cuoulcil.  -Penmsa. Arch. 1781-83, Pp. 733-34.
"We lhave the IHonour to be                          Among the prisoners taken from Lochry's command by the Indians
"Your Excellerncy's Hble Ser-vts,            were Melchoir Baker, Robert Browfield (fattier of Basil Brownfield),
" ISAAC ANDERSON,           both of Fayette Couniity; also Dennis McCarty, well kosown in Unlion"Liett. Capt. Sheerer's Cosnpany Ranigers.   towvI for years as time veteran carrier of tlhe Genius of Liberty.
" RIChARD WALLACE,            3 Fattier of Capt. James Whaley, of Fayette County, who was an officer
"Late Qtartermaster to Colonel Lochry."   in s.rvice in tIe waar of 1812-15.rIME NALLEN TOWNS tlIP.
BIOGRAP1IICAL   SKETCHES.
WILLIAM SEARIGHT.
William Searight was born near Carlisle, Cumberland Co., Pa., on the 5th day of December, 1792. His
father came from Londonderry, Ireland, in the year
1760, and first settled in Lancaster County, Pa. His
mother, Anne Hamilton, removed from Belfast, Ireland, the same year to the same county. His mother
was an aunt of James Hamilton, once Governor of
South Carolina, was a sister of William and McHugh
Hamilton, wealthy and influential citizens of Lancaster County, and was remotely connected with Alexander Hamilton. Her ancestry were of Scotch
descent. A granduncle of William Searight was in
the "siege of Derry." He lived to get out of the besieged city, but soon afterwards died from weakness
and exhaustion. In 1780 the parents of William
Searight remnoved from Lancaster County to Cumberland County, Pa., settling near Carlisle. The names
of their children were Samuel, Alexander, William,
Mary, John, and Hamilton. About the beginning
of this century they moved into Indiana County, Pa.,
where they remained only a short time, and came over
into Westmoreland County, Pa., and settled permanently on the Loyalhanna River, a few mniles above
the town of Ligonier, where they lived until their
death. About the. year 1810, Samuel Searight settled
in Tippecanoe County, Ind.; Alexander Searight settled in Ohio County, Va., and William Searight settled in Fayette County, Pa. The remainder of the
family lived, died, and were buried in Ligonier Valley without issue. William Searight received only a
plain English education. He was endued with the
precepts of stern integrity and honor, the elements of
his future success in business, and of his elevated
character. In the neighborhood in which he was
reared he had learned the business of fulling cloth, a
knowledge of which, his native energy and honorable
character being his only stock with which to commence and push his own fortune. He arrived in
Fayette County at about the age of twenty-one, and
commenced business at an old fulling-mill on Dunlap's
Creek, known as Hammond's mill. He afterwards
prosecuted his vocation at Cook's mill, on Redstone
Creek, and again near Perryopolis. He next purchased
a farm and hotel at Searight's, the property and village
deriving its name from him, and there made his permanent settlement. In 1826 he married Rachel Brownfield, daughter of Thomas Brownfield, of Uniontown,
Pa. Here he laid the foundation of a large fortune,
and his integrity, united to a generous and benevolent
heart, gave him a high place in the esteemn and affection of the community in which he lived. His sound
judgment soon impressed itself upon his own county,
anid he became one of her most influential citizens.
Mr. Searight was a prominent and zealous old-time
Democratic politician, and wielded a large influence.
On one occasion he rode on horseback from Searight's
to Harrisburg, a distance of over two hundred miles,
to aid in preparing to nominate Gen. Jackson for the
Presidency.
In the early history of Fayette County political
conventions of both parties were accustomed to meet
at Searight's and plan campaigns. A memorable
meeting, of which Mr. Searight was the chief instigator, was held there in 1828, known as the "Gray
Meeting," from the namne of the then keeper of the
local hotel, John Gray. At this mneeting the Jackson and Adams men met to measure their strength.
They turned out in the meadow below the hotel,
formed in rank, and "counted off." The Jackson men outnumbered their opponents decisively,
and it was regarded as a great Jackson victory.
In the political, campaign of 1856 a large Democratic meeting was held in Uniontown, and the delegation from Searight's bore a banner with the inscription, "Menallen, the battle-ground of the'Gray'
meeting."  Many prominent political leaders of the
olden time were there. Among them, on the Jackson
side, were Gen. Henry W. Beeson, Col. Ben Brownfield, Westley Frost, William F. Coplan, Henry J.
Rigden, James C. Beckley, Benedict Kimber, Solomnion G. Krepps, William Searight, Hugh Keys, Williamni Hatfield, Col. William L. Miller, John Fuller,
Provance McCormick, William Davidson, Alexander
Johnson, and Thomas Duncan. On the Adams side
were Andrew Stewart, John M. Austin, F H. Oliphant, John Kennedy, John Dawson, Samuel Evans,
James Bowman, William  Hogg, Stokely Connell,
William P. Wells, Basil Brownfield, George Mason,
Kennedy Duncan, and John Lyon. The many similar political meetings with which William Searight
was identified go to show the esteemn in which he was
held by the citizens of the county by all parties. But
Fayette County, although the first, was but little in
advance of other communities to learn and admire his
worth. He early became known and appreciated
throughout the entire State. He was appointed commissioner of the Cumberland (National) road by Governor Porter, in the most prosperous days of that great
thoroughfare, a positioni he held for many years. In
1845 he was superseded by Col. William Hopkins, of
Washington, Pa. Subsequently an act of the Legislature placed the road in the hands of trustees appointed by the courts, and these trustees restored
William Searight to the commissionership, the duties
of which office he continued to discharge with great
fidelity and industry. He was thoroughly familiar
with all the hills and valleys of that grand old thoroughfare, once so stirring and active, but now still
and grass-grown. Previous to his appointment as
comnmissioner of the National road he was'a contractor on the same. He was one of the contractors
who built the iron bridge over the mouth of Dunlap's
Creek, between Brownsville and Bridgeport. He was
665HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
also a contractor on the Erie extension of the Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal.
At the time of his death he was the candidate of
the Democratic party for one of the most dignified
and important offices of the State, that of canal commissioner. To this office he would have undoubtedly
been elected had not death interposed anid called him
from the active duties of this life to the realities of
another world, as after his death William Hopkins,
of Washington County, was nominated by the Democratic party for the same office, and was elected by a
large majority. He died at his residence in Menallen
township, on the 12th of August, 1852. He left a
wife and six children,-Thomas, Ewing, Jane, William, James, and Elizabeth.
William Searight was a man of the most generous
and humane character, ever ready to lend his counsel,
his sympathies, and his purse to the aid of others.
Though a strong political party man, yet he ever
treated his opponents with courtesy. In religion he
was, like most of the race to which he belonged, imbued with Calvinism. The brightest traits of his
character were exemplified at the last. So far as
human judgment may decide, he died a Christian,
in peace. Although death plucked him from the very
threshold of earthly honors; yet it caused him no
regrets. The scenes upon which he was about to
enter presented higher honors, purer enjoyments.
To him they offered
"No midnight shade, no clouded sun,
But sacred, high, eternal noon."
A more emphatic eulogy than is in the power of
language to express was bestowed upon him on the
day of his funeral by the assembling around his
coffin to perform the last sad duty of friendship of
as great if not a greater number of citizens than ever
attended the funeral ceremonies of any one who has
died within the limits of Fayette County. Among
that vast assemblage were both the patriarchs of the
county and the rising youth, all come to give their
testimony to the lofty worth in life of the distinguished dead. A few days after his death a large
meeting of the citizens of Fayette County, irrespective of party, convened at the court-house for the
purpose of bearing suitable testimony to his memory
and character.
The following gentlemen were chosen officers: Hon.
Nathaniel Ewing, president; Hon. Daniel Sturgeonr
(ex-United States senator) and Z. Ludington, vicepresidents; John B. Krepps and R. P. Flenniken,
secretaries. On motion of Hon. James Veech (later
author of "Monongahela of Old") a committee
on resolutions composed of leading citizens was
appointed, which committee presented the following
preamble and resolutions, which were unanimously
adopted, viz.:
"When a valued citizen dies, it is meet that the commnunity of
which he was a member mourn their loss. A public expression
I
of their sorrow at such an event is due as some solace to the
grief of the bereaved family and friends, and as an incentive to
others to earn for their death the same distinction. In the recent death of William Searight, Esq., this comnmunity has lost
such a citizen. Such an event has called this public meeting,
into which enter no schemes of political promotion, no partisan
purposes of empty eulogy. Against all this death has shut the
door. While yet the tear hangs on the cheek of his stricken
famtnily, and the tidings of death are unread by many of his
friends, we, his fellow-citizens, neighbors, friends, of all parties, have assembled to speak to those who knew and loved him
best, and to those who knew him not the words of sorrow and
truth in sincerity and soberness. Therefore as the sense of this
meeting,"Resolved, That in the death of William  Searight Fayette
County and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania have lost one
of their best and most useful citizens. The people at large
may not realize their loss, but the community in which he
lived, over whose comforts and interests were diffused the influences of his liberality and enterprise, feel it, while his friends
ot' all classes, parties, and professions, to whom he clung, and
who clung to him, mourn it.
"Resolved, That while we would withhold our steps from the
sanctuary of domestic grief, we may be allowed to express to
the afflicted widow and children of the deceased our unfeigned
sorrow and sympathy in their great bereavement, and to tender
to them our assurance that while in their hearts the memory of
the husband and father will ever be cherished, in ours will be
kept the liveliest recollections of his virtues as a citizen and a
friend.
"Resolved, That among the elements which must enter into
every truthful estimate of the character of William Searight
are a warm amenity of manners, combined with a great dignity
of deportmnent, which were not the less attractive by their plainness and want of ostentation, elevated feelings more pure than
passionless, high purposes, with untiring energy in their accomplishment, an ennobling sense of honor, and individual independence, which kept him always true to himself and to his
engagements, unfaltering fidelity to his friends, a liberality
which heeded no restraint, but means and merit, great promptness and fearlessness in the discharge of what he believed to be
a duty, private or public, guided by a rigid integrity, which
stood all tests and withstood all temptations, honesty and truthfulness in word and in deed, which no seductions could weaken
nor assaults overthrow, in all respects the architect of his own
fortune and fame. These, with the minor virtues in full proportion, are some of the outlines of character which stamped
the man whose death we mourn as one much above the ordinary level of his race.
"Resolved, That while we have here nothing to do or say as
to the loss sustained by the political party to which he belonged,
and whose candidate he was fbr an office of great honor and
responsibility, we may be allowed to say that had he lived and
been successful, with a heart so rigidly set as was his, with
feelings so high and integrity so firm, and withal an amount of
practical intelligence so ample as he possessed, his election
could have been regretted by no citizen who knew him, and
who placed the public interests beyond selfish ends and party
success. As a politician, we knew him to hold to his principles
and party predilections with a tenacious grasp, yet he was ever
courteous and liberal in his deportment and views towards his
political opponents.
"Resolved, That in the life and character of William Searight
we see a most instructive a,id encouraging example. Starting
in the struggle of life with an humible business, poor and unbefriended, with an honest mind and true heart, with high pur666JEREMIAH PEIRSEL, SR.MENALLEN TOWNSHIP.
poses and untiring industry, he by degrees gained friends an i
means which never forsook him. He thus won for himself and
his family ample wealth, and attained a position among his
fellow-men which those who have had the best advantages our
country affords might well envy. That wealth and that position he used with a just liberality and influence for the benefit
of all around and dependent upon him. Though dead, he yet
speaketh to every man in humble business,-go thou and do
likewise, and such shall be thy reward in life and in death.
"Resolved, That the proceedings of this meeting be furnished
for publication in all the papers of the county, and a copy
thereof, signed by the officers, be presented to the family of the
deceased."
JEREMIAH  PEIRSEL.
Jeremiah Peirsel was born in what is now Perry
township, March 4, 1787, and died in Menallen
township, Nov. 20, 1880. He was of Welsh descent,
and educated in the common schools. He was married to Mary Beal, of Menallen township, in 1810.
They had twelve children, seven sons and five daughters. He was always a farmer, and located upon the
farm where his son Samuel now resides in 1824, and
remained there until his death. He was an exemplary
member of the old Redstone Baptist Church for more
than sixty years. He never held a political office;
never had a lawsuit; never had any difficulties with
his neighbors. His long life was due in a measure,
no doubt, to his amiable disposition.  He had all the
good qualities that usually attend a lovable disposition. He belonged to a long-lived family. The average age of himself, brothers, and sisters is eighty years.
His father, William Peirsel, camre to Fayette County
from Chester County, Pa., early in life. He married
Grace Cope. They had eight children. Jeremiah
was the third. William died in 1848, supposed to be
over one hundred years old. Grace died in 1854, aged
ninety-four.
Seven of the children of Mr. Peirsel are living,-Elizabeth, married to James McLaughlin; Samuel, married to Maria Radcliffe; Jeremiah, Jr., who married
Melvina N. Frasher, and has one living son, Isaac
F., who has received a liberal education, is a farmer,
and is married to Marv Hormel, and has one child,
Arthur L. Peirsel, the only grandchild of Jeremiah,
Jr. The other four children are Sarah, married to
Henry Frasher; Anne, married to Jacob Grant;
William, married to Catharine McKay; and Uriah,
married to Dettie Swayne.  One of his sons, Levi,
was killed in the late war at the battle of Petersburg.
For a great part of her life the wife of Mr. Peirsel
was seriously afflicted by mental maladies, and he
took the utmost tender care of her, never being heard
to complain of his unhappy lot.
Jeremiah Peirsel, Jr., well maintains the goodly
name he bears, is industrious and thrifty, and in the
enjoyment of a comfortable home and a competency,
which he has acquired through his own energy and
business sagacity. He, like his father, has the conJEREMIAH PEIRSEL, JR.
fidence of his neighbors, and if not so gentle and
retiring as his father it is because the latter was
extremely so.
JAMES ALLISON.
James Allison, without whose biography the history of Menallen township, and particularly of the
village of Searight's, would be incomplete, was born
near Laurel Hill, in Fayette Co., Pa., Dec. 22, 1801.
His parents lived and died in that neighborhood, and
their remains were buried in the Laurel Hill graveyard. In early life James Allison moved from the
locality of Laurel Hill, and settled on Redstone
Creek, Fayette Co., Pa., and learned to be a fuller of
cloth under William Searight, in whose family he
ever afterwards made his home. When William Searight bought the homestead on which. is the village
of Searight's, James Allison moved with him to it,
where he lived and died. He was born to no other
inheritance than that of a noble character and good
name, and was in early life thrown upon these his
only resources. He held the responsible office of
commissioner of the county from 1837 to 1840, and,
as was the case in all his business transactions, acquitted himself creditably and honorably. He also
held the office of justice of the peace for many years,
and was postmaster at the village of Searight's from
the time of the establishment of the office in 1845
until within a very short time of his death, having
filled the longest continuous term of office of any
postmaster in the State, and perhaps in the United
States. So long and so very attentively did he occupy this position that he became a part of the town,
thought to be entirely indispensable. He was a conscientious and consistent member of the EpiscopalChurch, and was for very many years senior warden of
Grace Church, Menallen. He was married in early
life, and his wife died shortly after their marriage.
He had no family. The life of James Allison is well
worthy of imitation. It was straightforward, unfaltering, unchequered, anid uneventful.  His habits
were extremely plain, simple, sensible, sober, temperate, and indulstrious.  His manner was free, open,
friendly, frank, and courteous. His character was a
perfect light-house of honesty, truthfulness, and uprightness. So highly was he esteemed for these qualities, it became a conmmon saying in the surrounding
community of which he was a part that "If Jimmy
Allison says it is so it must be so;" or, "If Jimmy
Allison did so it must be right." These sayings still
reverently linger in the memories of his old neighbors.
He died suddenly on July 4, 1881, of a congestive
spasm, to which he was subject. His remains were interred in Grace Church burial-ground on July 5, 1881.
The Rev. R. S. Smith, rector of St. Peter's Church,
Uniontown, and Grace Church, Menallen, officiated
at his funeral, and in the course of his remarks said
that he had known James Allison intimately for
twenty years, and for that period had been his personal friend, and he knew of nothing in his life and
character that he would have blotted from the book
of remembrance. Notwithstanding it was mid-harvest, and the weather was extremely hot, Grace
Church was crowded by neighbors and friends to
witness the funeral rites of James Allison-an honest
man-" God's noblest work."
ROBERT JACKSON.
Robert Jackson vwas born in Menallen township,
upon the farm where he now resides, Oct. 11, 1831.
He is of Irish descent, and was educated in the common schools. He learned the business of farming,
and has always been engaged in it. He was married
Nov. 7, 1867, to Catharine Murdock, of Pittsburgh,
Pa. They have no children. He has never held any
office, and never sought one, and is not a churchmember. His father left him a small legacy, to which
he has added yearly by good farming.
His father, Zadock Jackson, was born in the same
township, and was a farmer. He married Lydia
Woodward. They had a family of eight children,
only three of whom grew up. Robert is the eldest.
Zadock, the father, died May 7, 1861, aged fifty-six;
Lydia, his widow, is still living. Mr. Robert Jackson
is a modest, unassuming man. Hie has a good farm,
and enjoys the respect of his neighbors. He takes
delight in his business, does all his work well, and is
noted for his hospitality, charity, and industry. Mr.
Jackson is a Republican in politics.
HUGH GRAHAM.
Hugh Graham died at his home in Menallen township, May 19, 1879, aged eighty-three years. He was
born in the northern part of Ireland in 1796, and was
of Scotch extraction, his father and mother having
been born in Scotland. His education was receivedNORTH UNION AND SOUTH UNION TOWNSHIPS.
in the " pay schools" of Ireland. At an early age he
learned the carpenter's trade in all its branches.
When twenty-two years of age he emigrated to
America. He stopped in Philadelphia for a short
she dying about five years before her husband. They
had eight children,-Catharine and William died
young; Jacob married Caroline Gaddis, and is a
farmer; Albert Gallatin graduated at Jefferson College, read law, and practiced in Jonesboro', Tenn.;
he was also editor of the Jonesboro' Union, and is now
dead. Margaret married L. B. Bowie; Thomas Baird,
who attended Emory and Henry College, near Abingdon, Va., read law and graduated from the Lebanon Law School of Cumberland University, Lebanon,
Tenn., and practiced in Tennessee, Missouri, and at
Pittsburgh, Pa., for several years. He is now engaged in farming. iHugh died when eighteen years
of age; Jennie G. married William Thorndell, deceased.
Mr. Graham held several important township offices; was also director of the Poor Board. In all
public positions he discharged his duties well. He
was a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian
Church for a number of years. Although his early
opportunities for education were limited, he by careful study during his spare moments stored his mind
with a vast fund of useful knowledge. He possessed
a retentive memory, and having once learned a fact
he was able to repeat and detail it with the ease and
grace of the true gentleman. He was a great admirer
of the poet Burns, and could repeat from memory
probably more of his poems, in their Scotch dialect,
than any man who ever lived in Fayette County.
He was ever ready with the Psalms of David and
sacred lyrics learned at his mother's knee. He was
especially noted for his retentive memory, his genial
Irish wit, his great physical ability, honesty, charity,
and industry. Mr. Graham was reticent in regard to
his charities; in other words, modest, apparently not
letting his left hand know what his right hand did.
Like all generous, really strong men, he was never
boastful, and was quiet in demeanor. Probably no
man exceeded him in a due sense of all the proprieties of life and society. He suppressed all scandalous
tongues that wagged in his presence, carrying out
practically the maxim, "Let no evil be spoken of
another."
HUGH GRAHAM.
time, and was there in the employ of Stephen Girard,
for whomn he built some of the finest houses then in
Philadelphia. He then moved to Pittsburgh, thence to
Uniontown. Here he remained and worked at his
trade for a number of years, building some of the finest
houses in the county, among which are the Gallatin
house of Springhill township, now owned by Mrs.
John L. Dawson; the residence of Col. Samuel Evans,
of North Union, the dwelling occupied by Judge Willson, the fine house on Main Street, Uniontown, formerly ownled and occupied by the late Judge Nathaniel Ewing, etc. In 1822 he was married to
Margaret Black, an estimable woman, of Menallen
township. They lived together for fifty-two years,
NORTH UNION AND SOUTH UNION TOWNSHIPS.
FoR the reason that during the ninety-eight years  of the history of the two present townships should be
which have elapsed since the formation of the origi-  written together as that of old Union, and accordnal townships of Fayette County the territory (or ingly that method has beenl adopted in the narrative
nearly all of it) now embraced in North and South  which follows.
Union was for almost seventy years included together   In December, 1783, the Court of Quarter Sessions
in the old township of Union, it is evident that much  of Fayette County at its first session-held in the
43HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
month above named-decreed the erection of" a township beginning at the head of the west branch of
Jennings' Run; thence down the same to the mouth
of said run; thence up Redstone Creek to Burd's old
road; thence along the same to the foot of the Laurel
Hill; thence along the foot of Laurel Hill to Charles
Brownfield's; thence by a line or lines to be drawn
by Charles Brownfield's, Thomas Gaddis', and the
Widow McClelland's, including the same, to the head
of the west branch of the Jennings' Run aforesaid,
to be hereafter known by the name of Union township." 1
At the first election in the township James Finley,
Alexander McClean, Henry Beeson, Jonathan Rowland, John  Gaddis, and Moses Sutton were elected
justices of the peace. In reference to the election of
these officers, Gen. Ephraim Douglas wrote, in a
letter dated Uniontown, Feb. 6, 1784, and addressed
to John Dickinson, president of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, as follows:
"Want of an earlier conveyance gives me the opportunity of
enclosing to Council the return of an election held here this
day for Justices of the Peace for this township; and I trust the
importance of the choice of officers to the county will excuse me
to that honorable body for offering my remarks on this occasion.
Col. McClean, though not the first on the return, needs no
panegyric of mine; he has the honor to be known to Council.
James Finley is a man of a good understanding, good character,
and well situate to accommodate that part of the township most
remote from the town. Henry Beeson is the proprietor of the
town, a man of much modesty, good sense, and great benevolence of heart, and one whose liberality of property for public
uses justly entitles him to particular attention from the
county, however far it may be a consideration with Council.
Jonathan Rowland is also a good man, with a good share of
understanding, and a better English education than either
of the two last mentioned, but unfortunately of a profession
rather too much opposed to the suppression of vice and immorality,-he keeps a tavern. John Gaddis is a man whomin I
do not personally know, one who has at a former election in
the then township of Menallen been returned to Council, but
never commissioned, for what reason I know not. His popularity is with those who have been most conspicuous in oppo1 The territory of Union township was reduced by the taking froll it
of the borough of Uniontown, which was erected by act of the Legislature passed April 4, 1796.
A part of the territory of Wharton township was added to Union in
1802. Thie record of the June term of the Court of Quarter Sessions in
1801 shows that a petition of certain inhabitants, "praying for a division
of Wharton township, [was] continued under advisement." And the following is from the record of the same court in its session of March,
1802, viz.: "Union township extended:-On a petition praying an enlargement of the boundaries of Unionl township, the court directs that
the fuiture limits of the said township shall be as follows: By a line beginning at Benjamin Brownfield's, including it as formerly, extending
as near as may be to the forks of the run above Henry Beeson's fulling.
mill; thence up the left hand branch or fork of said run to the top of
the mountain or Laurel Hill; thence to Washington's Spring; thence
along Braddock's old road to the line of Dunbar township, and from the
intersection, by the line of Dunabar township, to the northeastern corner
of the present Union township."'
On the 6th of December, 1871, the petition of Thomas Vance was presented to the court, praying to be set off from Franklin township, and to
be included in North Union. An order was issued December 28th; returned at the Marchl term in 1872; report favorable to the prayer of the
petitioner was made and confirmed June 8, 1872.
sition to the laws of this Commonwealth. Moses Sutton is remarkable for nothing but aspiting obscurity, and a great facility
at chanting a psalm or stammering a prayer.
"Duty thus far directs me to give Council an impartial description of the men who are to be the future officers of this
county, but both duty and respect forbid my saying more or
presuming to express a wish of my own; for I have no predilection in favor of, or personal prejudice against, either of them.
"I have the honor to be, etc.,
EPHRAIM DOUGLAS."
But evidently Gen. Douglas afterwards changed his
opinions as above expressed, as is shown by a letter
(found in the Pennsylvania Archives, 1773-86, p.
696) as follows:
"E. Douglas to Sec'y Armstrong, 1785.
"UNIoNTOWN, 27th Jan'y, 1785.
"SIR,-Unwilling to send you this certificate in a blank, and
desirous of saying something on the subject, I have sat with my
head leaninlg on my hand these ten minutes to consider what
that something should be, and after all have considered that
whatever I could say upon it would amount to nothing, for I
have knowledge of Gentlemen foremost on it to justify my giving a character of him.
"I have already been deceived into a misrepresentation to
Council on a former one, for which I most penitentially beg forgiveness, protesting at the same time my innocency in it, for the
Constable who made the return, and several others of the township of Menallen, assured me it would be petitioned against,
but I find they have not done it, nor are they attempting it.
I can offer nothing more on that subject, unless it be that the
township is in great want of a justice. I have given their
characters faithfully as I received them from the general voice
of the inhabitants hereabout. Council in their wisdom will do
the rest. I have the honor to be with high esteem, Sir,
"Your most humble and
"Obedient servant,
"EPHRAIM DOUIJGLAS."
Of those elected justices of the peace, as before
mentioned, James Finley, John Gaddis, and Moses
Sutton were commissioned as such. Following is a
partial list of justices of the peace elected for the district embracing the township of Union until the time
of its division into North and South Union, viz.:
1793. Jonathan Rowland.
1797. Robert Moore.
1803. Jonathan Rowland.
1804. John Wood.
1805. Robert Moore.
Jonathan Rowland.
1808. Ellis Bailey.
1812. Thomas Hadden.
1819. Thomas Hadden.
1823. Andrew McMasters.
1825. Samuel Smith.
1826. Thomas Nesmith.
Clement Wood.
1827. James Piper.
1829. James Lindsey.
Moses Hopwood.
Clement Wood.
1833. Samuel Keeler.
1840-45. Thomas Nesmith.
William Bryson.
1850. James McClean.
William Bryson.
Below is given a list, made up from election returns,
of other officers of Union township down to the time
of its division:
FREEHOLDERS TO SETTLE ACCOUNTS.
1788-89.-Henry Beeson, Jonathan Rowland, James Rankin,
William Gillespie.
1792.-Henry Beeson, Jonathan Rowland, James Rankin, William Gillespie.
670NORTH UNION AND SOUTH UNION TOWNSHIPS.
1793.-Jonathan RIowl lnd, James 1tankin.
1794-95.-Henry Beeson, James Rankin, James Gallagher,
Lewis Springer.
1796.-Henry Beeson, Samuel King, Jonathan Downer, Lewis
Springer.
1797.-Levi Springer, Henry Beeson, Samuel King, Robert
Moore.
1800.-Levi Springer, James Gregg, James Allen, Isaac Sutton.
AUDITORS OF ACCOUNTS.
1801.-Jacob Beeson, Morris Morris, John McCoy, William
Crawford.
1803.-Jacob Beeson, Jr., Ellis Bailey, James Gallagher, William Crawford.
1805.-Jacob Beeson, Jr., Joseph Taylor, Reuben Bailey,
Thomas Hibben.
1806.-Jacob Beeson, Jr., James Lindsey, Daniel Keller, Rich-,
ard Weaver.
1807.-Thomas Meason, John Kennedy, Thomas Hibben, Zadoc
Springer.
1821.-William Swearingen, Abel Campbell, John Springer,
Samuel Cleavinger, Samuel Clark.
1822.-Abel Campbell, John Springer, Samuel Clark, Samuel
Cleavinger, William Swearingen.
1823.-William Swearingen, Samuel Cleavinger, Abel Campbell,
John Gallagher.
1824.-Abel Campbell, Samuel Smith, Samuel Cleavinger, John
Gallagher.
1825.-Samuel Cleavinger, William Bryson, John McClean,
Abel Campbell.
1826.-John Gallagher, John McClean, Abel Campbell, William
Bryson.
1827.-Abel Campbell, John McClean, John Gallagher, William
Bryson.
1830.-William Morris, William Bryson, Jacob Gaddis, John
Gallagher.
1831-32.-Jacob Gaddis, J. Gallagher, William Morris, William
Bryson.
1833-34.-J. Gallagher, W. Barton, Uriah Springer, George
Meason.
1835.-William Bryson, William Jones, Isaac Wiggins.
1836.-Isaac Wiggins.
1837.-Isaac P. Minor, John Gaddis, William Bryson.
1838.-Willianm Barton, Jr.
1839.-Charles Brown.
1840.-Thomas Rankin.
1841.-Isaac Hague.
1842-43.--John Jones.
1844.-Charles Brown.
1845.-Uriah Springer.
1846.-Richard Swan.
1847.-Charles G. Turner.
1848.-Uriah Springer.
1849.-Benjamin IIayden.
1850.-E. G. Turner.
SCHOOL DIRECTORS.1
1835. Henry W. Beeson.     1841. John Deford.
Samuel Evans.               William Brownfield.
1836. James Hopwood.        1842. John Huston.
Samuel Evans.               Peter Humbert.
1838. Thomas Hopwood.       1843. Thomas Rankin.
Isaac Hague.                Isaac Wiggins.
1840. Ellis Phillips.
1 Under tlle act of 1834, school inspectors were first appointed for
Union in Jainuary, 1835.
1844. William Barton.
Henry Yeagley.
1845. Samuel Hatfield.
William Bryson.
1846. Isaac Wiggins.
Everard Bierer.
]1847. William Barton.
1847. tIenry Yeagley.
1848. Charles G. Turner.
Dennis Sutton.
1849. Samuel Hatfield.
James Carter.
1850. Henry Yeagley.
Emanuel Brown.
NORTH UNION.
EARLY SETTLEMENTS.
The only instance of a direct grant of land having
been made in Fayette County prior to April 3, 1769,
was that of Hugh Crawford, who, in 1767, was "interpreter and conductor of the Indians" in the running of the western part of Mason and Dixon's line.
The grant was given by Governor John Penn, dated
Jan. 22, 1768, and was a conveyance of land, called a
"Grant of Preference," for a tract of five hundred
acres. It was, besides, save the Gist tracts, the only
instance where any one person was given more than
four hundred acres. In consequence of this unusual
proceeding the tract of land was given the name of
"Injustice." Previous to this, however, Peter Redstone, or Indian Peter, who was the acting interpreter
for Hugh Crawford in his official term as Indian
agent, claimed to have owned this same land. In a
letter to His Excellency the Governor, Redstone
stated that he had lived peaceably upon the land given
him by Penn until one Philip Shute, a Dutchman,
came and quarreled with him. He therefore asked
that another tract be given him, which was done, and
he vacated the first one to occupy the second, located
near Brownsville, on the opposite side of the Monongahela River. Conflicting titles of the original five
hundred acres caused numerous lawsuits between
Crawford and Shute, which were decided in favor of
Crawford, and he became the owner under the "Grant
of Preference," as stated. The order of survey of this
land was made July 4, 1770, and in that year Crawford died. Not long after his death the property was
sold by his administrator, William Graham, by an
order of the Orphans' Court of Cumberland County,
to pay his debts, Robert Jackson being the purchaser.
The records of early transfers of property show that
on June 15, 1773, Hugh Crawford (probably a son),
in consideration of ~50, purchased of Walter Briscoe
"a plantation containing two hundred acres, being
upon the waters of Big Redstone Creek, on a branch
called Lick Run, joining line with John Allen and
Elias Newkirk, it being a tract of land that said Briscoe took possession of in the year of our Lord 1768, to
have and to hold." Again, March 10, 1783, Walter
Briscoe, in consideration of ~300, sold to Robert
Jackson three hundred acres of land "lying on the
waters of the Redstone, adjoining lands now held by
Benjamin Phillips, Hugh Crawford, and the said
Jackson." The property included in Hugh Crawford's "Grant of Preference" is now withint the limits
of the farm of Col. Samuel Evans, containing fifteen
671HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Falls.  Sundry accounts agree that this party, and all  league with the wlhites, and on thig plea had visited
of Lochry's troops to a man, were waylaid by the In-  their towvns, broken them up, driven the people away
dians and British (for it is said they had artillery),  to Sandusky, and carried the white Moravian misand all killed or taken, not a man escaping, either to  sionaries residing among them, prisoners to Detroit.
join Gen. Clarke or to return home.  When Capt.    On his arrival at the towns, Williamson found
Craig left the general he would not be persuiaded but  them  deserted, except by a small party of the Morathat Lochry with his party had returned home. These  vians, who had been driven away, but who had been
misfortunes throw the people of this county into the  allowed by their captors to return for the purpose of
greatest consternation, and almost despair, particularly  gathering some corn which had been left standing in
Westmoreland County; Lochry's party being all the  the fields near the villages.  This party he took prisbest men of their frontier.  At the present they talk   oners and marched them to Fort Pitt, where, however,
of flying early in the spring to the eastern side of the  they wvere soon after set at liberty by Gen. Irvine, the
mountains, and are daily flocking to me to inquire I commandant.
what support they may expect."
The second expedition led by Col. Williamson
against the Moravian settlemenits was made up, on the
frontier in the latter part of February, and completed
CHAPTER   XI.                           its bloody work in Mareh, 1782. It was composed
of volunteers (mostly mounted) from the counitry
THE REVOLUTION-(C6ontinued).                west of the Monongahela,' but no lists of their names
Williamson's Expeditioncra.ford Sa          or places of residence have been preserved a fact
which is not strange in view of the odium wh ich has
THE unsuccessful campaign of Gen. Clarke down  justly attached to the expedition and its barbarous
the Ohio was followed by two expeditions sent from   vork during the century which has followed its exeWestern Pennsylvania against some settlements or  cution.
vilages on the Muskingum  occupied by Indian con-    In the, winter of 1781-82 about one hundred and
verts, usually known as the Moravian Indians.           fifty of the Moravian Indians (including many women
Both these expeditions were under command of  and children), who had been driven away from their
Col. David Williamson, of WVashington County, and  towns in the preceding autumn, were permitted by
were made up of volunteers from the region between  the Wyandot chiefs to return to them to secure the
the Monongahela and Ohio Rivers.  It is not known  corn which was still left in the fields there, and to
or believed that any men from what is now Fayette  make preparations for a new crop. The kind manner
County served in these camnpaigns under Williamson,  in which Gen. Irvine had treated their people who
and they are only noticed here because they were  had been carried as prisoners to Fort Pitt the previous
connected in some degree with Col. Crawford's Indian   fall had reassured them, so that they came back to
campaign, which immediately followed them, and of  the villages without much fear of violence from the
which a more extended narrative will be given,          whites east of the Ohio.
Williamson's first expedition, consisting of be-    The weather in the month of February had been
tween seventy-five and one hundred men, went out  remarkably fine, so that wvar-parties of Indians from
late in the fall of 1781. The reason for this move-  Sandusky had been able to move earlier than usual,
ment against the peaceable Moravian Indiains was  and had committed many depredations in the white
that many of the frontiersmen believed, or professed  settlements.  As tllese inroads had occurred so early
to believe, that they (the Moravians) were secretly in  in the season it was generally believed by the settlers
league wvith the warlike savages who lived farther to  that the hostile parties had not come all the wvay froni
the west; that even if they did not take active part  the Sandusky towns, but that the outrages were either
in the frequent raids and butcheries, they did at least  committed by Moravians or by hostile Indians from
give  shelter, subsistence, and  information  to the  the west who had been sheltered by them, and had
Shawanese and Wyandot warriors, and some even
believed that the Moravians themnselves mingled with      Stone, in hiis "Life of Branlt," ii. 220, says, "A band of between
the war-parties and wielded the knife and tomahawk.  one an,d two hundred meni from the settlemernts of the Monongahela
williamson, in this expedition, did not intenid to  tuirned out in quest of the marauiders [those who had comnsitted atrociWilliamson,.                                ties on the fronitier east of the Ohlio, and part of whom were supposed
use fire and swo(rd, but to induce the Indians of the  to be the Moravians], thirsting for vengeance, nuiider the command of
Moravian townis to remove farther from the Ohio, or,  Col. David Williamson."
if he failed to accomplish this, to take them all as pris-    On page 143 of "Contributions to American history," published by
oners to Fort Pitt.  WVith th is i n ten tion  h e  moved  hl is |the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, is found the following: "'In
oners o FortPitt.With tis intntionhe movd hisMarch, 1782, onie huindred anid sixty militiamen living iipon the Monon.
force rapidly towards their towns on the Muskingum.  gahela set off oI horseback to the Muskingum, in order to destroy tliree
But in the mean time he had been forestalled inl his  [Moravian Indian settlements."
Butoincthed   mean  tie  h le  hadrtyen  forestaled h ill hIn    Col. Whittlesey, in the "A merican Pioneer," vol. ii, p. 428, says, "They
projected work by a large party of the hostile In-  were principally from the Monongahela region, and appointed Williamdians, who charged the Moravians with being in  son to the command."
90HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
hundred acres, and formerly owned by Judge Kennedy.
Philip Shute, after the decision against him in the
Crawford lawsuits, settled upon a tract of land called
Thorn Bottom, on what is now known as Shute's Run,
which was warranted to him Sept. 9, 1769. He was
one of the first persons to make a home here, and his
namne appears upon the records as early as 1768 among
those settlers who met the commissioners at Gist's
place on March 23d of that year. On May 9, 1788,
there was surveyed to Philip Shute ninety-nine and
one-half acres of land. Elizabeth Shute had received
a warrant for thirty-two and one-quarter acres as far
back as April 1, 1773, but the tract was not surveyed
to her until Nov. 11, 1815.
The tub-mill which Philip Shute built on "The
Neck," now a portion of Col. Evans' large farm, is
said to have been the first one erected in the county.
William Cromwell was a son-in-law of Capt.
Christopher Gist, and like him one of the earliest
settlers in the county. In 1786, Cromwell claimed a
piece of land on which Philip Shute was living that
year. This piece of land was called "Beaver Dams,"
and is a part of that now owned by Col. Evans.
Josiah and Nathan Springer were members of the
party whose applications for land were in the landoffice awaiting the first issue of warrants. The one
issued to Josiah was No. 819, for three hundred and
sixteen acres, and dated April 3, 1769, the first day
warrants were ever given for land in Fayette County.
This tract was surveyed under the name of "Elk
Lick," on June 2, 1770. Josiah Springer died at his
home in 1785, and his descendants all removed to the
West. His will is the first on record in the county.
Nathan Springer's land was located next to his
brother's on the southwest. It contained three hundred and six and one-quarter acres, and was called
"Springer's Lot." The warrant, No. 1830, was
granted the same day as that of Josiah, and the survey was made June 22d of the same year. Nathan
Springer eventually removed with his family to the
West. Dennis Springer, another brother, in pursuance of a warrant bearing date Feb. 28, 1786, located
a tract of three hundred and twenty-seven acres just
north of that belonging to Josiah, which was surveyed
May 15, 1788. The names of Dennis and Nathan
Springer also appear as purchasers of lots upon the
original plat of Uniontown in the year 1776. Dennis
was the contractor for the building of the court-house
erected in Uniontown during that year, and the bricks
for the purpose were manufactured on his farm. His
family of five sons and three daughters-Jacob, John,
Dennis, Uriah, Josiah, Anna, Hannah, and Sallyall reached the estate of men and women. The two
oldest sons were born before the parents crossed to
the west side of the mountains. All the sons, except
Dennis (who had a part of the homestead), settled on
farms near or adjoining that of their father,-John,
where Henry Smith now lives; Jacob, on the farm
now owned by Dr. Walker; and Uriah, upon a portion of the William Hankins farm. The daughters
-Anna, Hannah, and Sally-married, respectively,
Morris Morris, Griffith Morris, and William Morris,
-three brothers. They are all buried in the churchyard of the old Baptist Church at Uniontown. Calvin Springer, of Uniontown, is a grandson of Dennis,
Sr. As a result of Dennis Springer's becoming
security for Daniel P. Lynch, the old homestead was
brought under the hammer and sold at sherifl's sale.
It is now the property of Greenbury Crossland. Levi,
a fourth son of the Springer family, was a resident in
this vicinity as'early as 1782, as on May 12th of that
year he answered at the Court of Appeal held at the
house of John Collins, at Uniontown, and sent a substitute on the Crawford expedition. On Sept. 3, 1796,
he purchased of Jacob Beeson a piece of land adjoining the plat of Uniontown, lying north of Peter and
west of Pittsburgh Streets. This was a part of the
"Stone Coal Run" tract, afterwards known as Mount
Vernon, and was originally surveyed to Henry Beeson.
The same property now belongs to Levi, a grandson
of the elder Levi Springer. Dennis Springer, a son
of Levi, Sr., married Sally, a sister of Ewing Brownfield. She is now a widow, eighty-two years of age.
Daniel M. Springer, of Uniontown, is her grandson,
and Zadoc Springer, of the same place, is a greatgrandson.
James, William, and Hugh Rankin were early in
this county, and each became the owner of a large
tfarm in North Union. James purchased 321 acres
called "Siege," which was warranted July 8, 1769,
and surveyed May 18,1770. Tracts of land in Washington, Franklin, and Tyrone townships also came
into his possession afterwards, as did 338 acres called
"Sugar Bottom," on Shute's Mill Run, and 185 acres
was warranted May 30, 1788, to William Martin, including his improvement. John Walter purchased
300 acres of one tract and sold it to Andrew Hoover,
Sr. Financial troubles overtaking Mr. Rankin, he
disposed of his property about the year 1800 and
removed to the West. William Rankin's farm, called
"Narrow Bottom," comprising 355 acres, was warranted July 8, 1769, and surveyed September 30th of
the same year. His whole life was passed upon the
place. The name of the property upon which Hugh
Rantkin settled was "Extent."  It contained 225
acres, which was warranted to him Feb. 27,1770, and
surveyed May 18th of the same year. In 1799 he
sold 193 acres of this land to Andrew Bryson. His
family niumbered four children,-William, Esther,
Ann, and Thomas. The first three upon reaching
maturity settled in the West. Thomas remained
upon the homestead until 1851, when he remnoved to
the borough of Uniontown, and died there the same
year. The old farm has become the property of Robert Parkhill and others. Thomas Rankin was the
father of eight children, but only three are now
living,-Hugh IL. Rankin and Mrs. Albert G. Bee672NORTH UNION AND SOUTH UNION TOWNSHIPS.
son, of Uniontown, and Mrs. Anna Snlith, of Clarksburg, W. Va.
Isaac and Jonathan Pearce, two brothers, came to
this county with the earliest settlers, and each took
up a considerable tract of land. On Sept. 14, 1769, a
tract of 320 acres was surveyed to Isaac, which was
given the name of "Discord," and upon which a
patent was issued March 10, 1786. In 1785 the business of a distillery was carried on here, and June 29,
1791, the property was sold to Mordecai Lincoln, of
Derry township, Dauphin Co. While yet in the
possession of Isaac Pearce the survey of "Discord"
was disputed by the attorney of Thomas Gaddis, for
William Cromwell, by virtue of an order issued from
the Ohio Company. The property located by Jonathan Pearce was called "Bowling Green," a body of
186 acres, adjoining that of Samuel McClean and
Jonathan Pearce. A survey of it was made March
20, 1787.
Samuel Lyon, Sr., and Samuel Lyon, Jr., came
here in 1769, and purchased extensive bodies of land
north of that located by Isaac Pearce. Samuel, Sr.,
had three hundred and fifteen acres, which was called
"Pretention and Contention," and which was surveyed June 13, 1769. In later years the title of this
property was disputed by the attorney of Thomas
Gist for William Cromwell, under an order from the
Ohio Company. The tract of Samuel Lyon, Jr., contained two hundred and seventy acres, which was
surveyed to him June 12,1769, under order No. 3352,
and named "White Oak Level." This land was
afterwards found to have been granted to James Finley, assignee of Henry Boyle, under warrant No.
2107, dated April 3, 1769, the earliest day upon which
warrants were issued for lands in the county. James
Finley entered a caveat against the acceptance of the
Lyon survey, and he must have come into possession
of the property, as he lived here until his death,
holding prominent offices the entire time. In August,
1791, he was appointed associate judge, remaining in
the position until his death, which occurred in 1828.
He was also a mnember of the Senate of Pennsylvania
from this district, succeeding John Smilie, who was
elected to Congress in 1792. Mr. Finley was the inventor of the first chain suspension bridge ever put
up in this county, which was built in 1801 across
Jacob's Creek, on the road between Mount Pleasant
and Connellsville.
Thomas Junk settled in Union township on one
hundred and eighty-six and three-quarters acres of
land, warranted to him Feb. 1, 1796, and surveyed
under the name of "Consolation." The patent of
this tract to him dates April 16, 1798. Its location
was on a branch of Redstone Creek, and adjoining
land of William Cravcraft. Descendants of Thomas
Junk are still living in North Union.
A part of the property in this county upon which
Alexander McClean lived for many years is that now
owned and occupied by the Stewart Iron Company.
On June 11, 1769, James Stewart made application
for three hundred acres of land, described as "about
one mile from Laurel Hill, on a branch of Redstone
Creek, adjoining the lands of Phillip Shute and John
Davis, including his improvement made that year."
On this application warrant No. 3465 was issued to
James Stewart, June 14, 1769, for three hundred and
thirty-nine acres and one hundred and forty perches
of land, which was surveyed to him. On Sept. 26,
1769, Stewart assigned and delivered to Alexander
McClean all right and title to this property. Upon
it McClean built a log house, which was the home of
himself and wife on their coming into the county.
Upon this place all their children were born, and here
they lived for many years, but in after-time financial
difficulties necessitated the selling of a part of the
property. In 1822 the sheriff sold a portion to James
Piper. Later the greater part of the original tract
came into the hands of Gen. H. W. Beeson, and Nov.
8, 1880, the Stewart Iron Company purchased one
hundred and seventy-one acres of Beeson's heirs.
Most of the sons of Alexander McClean settled in
North Union township, on farms their father bought
for them in his prosperous days. James McClean, a
brother of Alexander, located his lands in North
Union township, near the base of Laurel Hill, and
near the site of the present village of Monroe. John
MeClean, another brother, located one hundred and
forty-six acres of land upon the side of the mountain,
but soon disposed of it and removed to Washington
County. Samuel McClean, also a brother of Alexander, was a surveyor, and in that capacity was of
great assistance for many years to Alexander in his
profession. Samuel first located fifty-six and one-half
acres of land on the mountain, and afterwards purchased six hundred acres of a squatter, who had cut
off the timber from about three acres, paying him
forty pounds therefor. Another tract of sixty acres,
which Samuel McClean had located some years previously, was taken possession of by a man namned
Nealy, who built a cabin upon it in the night, and
purchased some implemnents for working the land.
This caused a lawsuit, which was tried at Hannastown and decided in MeClean's favor. That tract of
land is still called " Nealy's Moonlight Discovery."
Samuel MeClean had two sons, William and John.
William removed to Butler County, Ohio, in 1808,
and died there in 1824. John lived for some years
on the farm which the Lemont Furnace now occupies. In the war of 1812'he went out as captain
of a company of soldiers. After the war he lived
upon the farm now owned by George McClean, where
he died in 1831.  All the daughters of Samuel
McClean, except Nancy and Sarah, removed West.
Nancy became the wife of Stephen McClean, her
cousin, and a son of Alexander McClean. Sarah
married George McRea, and lived upon the homestead until her death. Mrs. William Hankins is a
daughter of Stephen and Nancy MeClean.
673HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Robert and John Gaddis, sons of William Gaddis,
came from "Apple-Pie Ridge," near Winchester, Va.,
to North Union township some time in the year 1785.
At this time John was forty-five years of age. He
purchased 295t acres of land, with an allowance of
six per cent. for roads. The tract joined that of Robert Gaddis and John Patrick, and was called "Gaddistown." The warrant for it was dated Feb. 7, 1785,
the patent being granted March 30, 1786. Adjoining
this " Gaddistown" tract John Gaddis, in 1797, purchased two other tracts,-one, called "Oxford," containing 401 acres, and the other, called "Cambridge,"
of 161 acres,- with the allowance of six per cent. for
roads, as before. The warrants for the last two were
dated March 6, 1794. During his life John Gaddis
was a prominent inember and worker in the Great
Bethel Baptist Church of Uniontown.  He died
April 12, 1827, aged eighty-seven years. His wife,
Sarah Gaddis, died a quarter of a century before, Jan.
7, 1802. Five sons and six daughters made lip the
family of John and Sarah Gaddis. They were
Thomas, Jonathan, William, Jacob, John, Mary,
Anna, Elizabeth, Priscilla, Sarah, and Ruth. Jonathan died in 1793, and Anna in 1799, six years later.
William and Sarah remnoved to the West; Mary became Mrs. Allen and lived in Franklin township, and
Elizabeth and Ruth married and moved to Wilmington, Del., and died there. Priscilla married Thomas
Barton and lived in Menallen township, where she
died during the winter of 1880-81, at the age of ninetyfive years. John and Jacob each took a part of the
old homestead.  John married a daughter of his
cousin, John Gaddis (son of Robert), and she is now
living in Uniontown with her son Eli, her husband
having died in 1868. Oliver Gaddis, son of Jacob,
lives on the property formerly owned by his father.
Robert Gaddis came to this township with his
brother Johln in 1785, and purchased 237 acres of land
at that time about two and one-half miles northwest
of Uniontown, on the National road. This land
adjoined that of John Gaddis, and was surveyed to
Robert April 19, 1788. Of his large family of children, all of the daughters and the sons Benjamin,
William, and Jesse removed West. John inherited a
part of the homestead, and some of his descendants
still live upon it. His wife was Rachel Davis, a
daughter of James Davis, an old settler of Union
township. Henry Gaddis, a brother of Robert and
John, came to North Union soon after their settlement here. He purchased 252 acres of land (adjoining John's property), which was surveyed to him
March 15,1788. Henry Gaddis, who now lives in
this township, is one of his descendants.
John Patrick settled here in 1785. He received a
warrant for two hundred and ninety-six and onehalf acres, the warrant being dated Sept. 30, 1785.
The patent was issued May 12th of the following year.
This tract of land was named "Crooked Path," situate
on Redstone Creek opposite the Buffalo Lick, and adjoining the lands of Robert Gaddis, Nathan Springer,
Josiah Springer, and Cornelius Conner. The property
has now passed out of the family.
Dec. 27, 1785, there was surveyed to Eleanor Dawson, wife of George Dawson, three hundred and twelve
acres of land in this vicinity, by virtue of a certificate from the surveyor of Yohogania County, Va., of
which the following is an exact copy:
" VIRGINIA SURVEYORS' OFFICE, YOHOGAN1A COUNTY.
"Eleanor Dawson produced a certificate from the Com's for
adjusting Titles and settling claims to lands in the Counties of
Yohogania, Monongahela, and Ohio for four hundred acres of
land in this county on the waters of Redstone to include her
settlement made in the year 1770 in right of herself during her
natural life; the remainder to Nicholas Dawson ex'r of George
Dawson Dec'd to be distributed according to the will of s'd
George.
"Jany. 21, 1780.            "W. CRAWFORD, S. Y. C.
"The certf. mentioned in the within was granted by Francis
Peyton, Phil. Pendleton,  Joseph Holms, Gentlemen Com'rs
when sitting at Redstone Old Fort the day  year within
mentioned, of wbich the within appears on record in my office.
Given under my hand and seal this 18th day March, 1785.
"B. JOHNSON, S. Y. C."
A similar certificate was procured by Henry Dawson Jan. 21,1780, while the commissioners were in
session at Cox's Fort, for which he was granted two
hundred and fifty acres of land "on the waters of
Redstone, to include his settlement thereon made in
the year 1771." This certificate and entry claim
Henry Dawson assigned to Joseph Little, Feb. 23,
1786, and on March 23, 1811, Little sold it to Samuel
Musgrove and Robert Davis. The land in question
lies adjoining the Eleanor Dawson tract and William
Rankin's farm on the east, and joins the James Finley
property on the west. George Dawson's son Nicholas
removed to the Virginia Pan Handle and died there,
leaving two sons, John and George. The latter lived
at Brownsville.  His son, John L. Dawson, became
very prominent at the bar and in political life. His
last years were passed on "Friendship Hill," where
he died. John Dawson, the other son of Nicholas,
was quite a prominent lawyer, and well known in
public life. E. Bailey lDawson, of Uniontown, is his
so1i. Elizabeth M. Dawson, daughter of George and
Eleanor Dawson, married Col. Willianm Swearingen.
Their great-grandson now lives on the original property in North Union.
John Hankins, a native of North Carolina, came
with his wife and children to Beesontown in this
county in 1784. On June 11, 1786, in pursuance of
a warrant dated June 2d, there was surveyed to him
a tract of land in North Union township containing
one hundred and twelve acres, the same upon which
his grandson, William Hankins, now lives. On the
north side of his land was that of Richard Waller;
on the east, that of Dennis Springer; south, that of
James Rankin; and west, that of Uriah and William
Martin. Martin was then in possession of the tract,
674NORtTH UNION AND SOUTH UNION TOWNSHIPS.
and had built a cabin upon it, besides having cleared
a part of the land. These improvements Mr. Hankins
bought and moved into the cabin, while Martin took
up one hundred and eighty-three acres in the vicinity,
for which he received a warrant May 30, 1788. At
the same time Mr. Hankins purchased the one hundred and twelve acres mentioned above he also bought
another tract of one hundred acres. This he afterwards sold to Matthew Clark, and it now belongs to
Col. Samuel Evans. The sons of John Hankins
were James, William, Samuel, Richard, and Arthur.
They lived in this section until they reached manhood, when, with the exception of James, they all
removed to Tennessee.
When Mr. Hankins removed his family to this
county James was but four years old. He remained
upon his father's farm and died there, leaving two
sons, William and John. William still lives on the
homestead where he was born. His son, Dr. John
Hankins, is practicing  medicine in Uniontown.
John Hankins, the brother of William, and second
son of James, lives on a farm that his father bought
of Benjamin Lincoln.
Joseph Huston came to Union township in 1790, and
in the same year was elected sheriff of the county. He
had previously lived with his father in Tyrone, and
afterwards with Col. James Paull in Kentucky, and
for many years he led a roving life. On Oct. 5,
1791, the year after his election to the sheriffalty, he
bought ninety-four and one-quarter acres of land on
Redstone Creek, in what is now North Union, it
being a part of the tract of land which had been patented to Samuel McCarty, under the name of "Union
Grove." On Feb. 20,1792, he purchased of Henry
Beeson lot 39, in Uniontown, that where Mrs. Dr.
David Porter now lives. Subsequently he bought the
lot and built the brick house which adjoins the residence of E. Bailey Dawson upon the west, and which
he afterwards sold to Jonathan Rowland. For several
years Joseph Huston pursued a mercantile business.
Becoming interested in the manufacture of iron, he,
in December, 1795, purchased of Dennis Springer a
share in fifty-one acres of land in North Union, adjoining that of John Patrick and Ephraim Douglass,
which was patented to Jacob Knapp in May, 1788, and
a part of it sold to Dennis Springer in the same year.
On this land Huston Springer built the "Huston Old
Forge." In 1803, Huston bought of Jeremiah Pears
the Redstone Furnace, in the present township of
South Union, and continued the business at these
places until near the time of his death. His wife was
Mary, daughter of John Smilie, and by her he had
two daughters,-Jane, who married Isaiah H. Marshall (at one time manager of the Fairfield Furnace),
and Sarah, who became Mrs. Andrew Bryson, Jr.
Mrs. Huston died in 1799, and Mr. Huston in 1824,
aged sixty-one years. Of Joseph Huston's brothers,
William and John, the former lived in Tyrone
township until his death in 1821, and his son Eli
still resides there. In 1783 John lived in Uniontown, where for two or three years he kept a tavern.
He purchased lands on tax titles until 1792, when he
went to Kentucky.
Some time previous to 1791, Benjamin Lincoln,
son of Mordecai Lincoln, left his home in Perry
township, Dauphin Co., and emigrated to the west
side of the mountains, and lived for a time on the
Rankin farmin in Union township. While there his
father visited him, and was so well pleased with the
country and its prospects that on June 29, 1791, he
purchased of Isaac Pearce the tract of land called
"Discord," containing three hunrdred and twenty
acres. Mordecai Lincoln had four children,-Benjamin, John, Ann, and Sarah. A few years later Benjamin purchased a farm on Whitely Creek, in Greene
County. Afterwards he became the owner of the
farm now occupied by John Hankins, and lived
there until his death. John and Ann Lincoln went
to Virginia. Sarah was married before coming to
North Union to John Jones, a Philadelphian of
Welsh descent. Jones remained upon the old farm
until the death of Mordecai Lincoln, when he became
its purchaser. He lived there until 1802, when he
died, and was buried in the family burying-ground
where his father-in-law and other members of the
family had been laid. The children of John and
Sarah Jones were six in lnumber, of whom William,
Ann, and John remained in this township, and the
other three went West. William lived a bachelor on
a part of the homestead, and died in 1872, aged
eighty-three years. Ann married Daniel Canon
(brother of Col. John Canon, of Washington County),
and resided in Uniontown. John is still living on
the homestead farm. This farm, like many others
in this section, is underlaid with a vein of coal, nine
feet in thickness. The Youngstown Coke Company
have purchased the right to mine the coal under this
farm and some others adjoining. On this, which was
the Isaac Pearce tract, was one of the early "Settlers' Forts," built for protection against the Indians.
In the year 1796, Jacob Lewis, accompanied by his
sons Freeman and John, came from Basking Ridge,
N. J., and settled in the vicinity of Uniontown (near
Hogsett's Station), at Minor's mill. Jacob came as a
miller for John Minor. At that time Freeman Lewis
was sixteen years of age. He studied surveying with
Col. McClean, and assisted him in many of his surveys. He was also employed with Jonathan Knight,
when surveying the route of the Chesapeake and Ohio
Canal, as well as in most of the important works of
surveying in the western part of the State. He was
appointed county surveyor by Governor Wolf, and
held the office until the incoming of Governor Ritner.
Freeman Lewis was a fine musician, and published a
book on the "Beauties of Harmony." In December,
1809, he married Rebecca Crafts, daughter of David
Crafts, and for several years taught school at Uniontown. From 1814to 1829 he lived in Merrittstown,
I -                                                                                -
I
I
675HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
after which he removed to Uniontown, staying there
until his death, Sept. 18, 1859. The map of Fayette
County, published by Freeman Lewis in 1832, is reproduced in the pages of this history. His sons were
three,-Levi, Thomas, and John. The first two live
in Uniontown, and John is a civil engineer and surveyor in Ohio.
John Lewis, the other son of Jacob Lewis, was a
saddler, and learned his trade of John Campbell. His
home was in Uniontown, and his soIns, Samuel and
Marshall Lewis, are still living there, the former
having filled the office of justice of the peace for many
years.
Andrew Bryson emigrated to this country from Ireland, and Oct. 29, 1799, purchased of Hugh Rankin
one hundred and seventy-three acres in this township.
He lived and died upon the place, and his son Andrew is still living there, very far advanced in years.
The sons of Andrew Bryson, Jr.,-John H., Andrew,
and Robert,-are also residents of North Union, occupying the homestead and other lands adjoining.
Jesse Evans was a native of Wales, who having
emigrated to America, was for many years a resident
of Springhill township in this county. In 1831 he
removed from there to "Spring Grove" farm, a large
tract of land which his son Samuel had purchased
some teii years previous. His active business life was
passed in the supervision of Springhill Furnace, with
which he was connected from 1797 to 1831. He was
also quite extensively engaged in mercantile pursuits,
conducting branch stores in many different sections.
His official career as justice of the peace extended
over many years, and was throughout very honorable.
The last years of his life were passed upon his farm
and in Uniontown, where he died in 1842 at an advanced age. Samuel Evans, a son of Jesse Evans, was
born June 5, 1800. His earliest education was acquired
at the academy at Dunlap's Creek, and in 1812 he entered the academy at Uniontown, then in charge of
Dr. James Dunlap. When eighteen years of age he
entered the office of Judge John Kennedy as a student of law; remained there three years, when he
went to Philadelphia and studied with Jonathan W.
Condy, a prominent lawyer of that city. Upon his
return to Uniontown he commenced the practice of
law, which he continued for two years, and then
served one term as member of the State Assembly.
In 1825, Col. Evans, Thomas Irwin, John Kennedy,
and James Todd were appointed a committee from
Fayette County to attend a convention at Harrisburg,
the object of which was the consideration of plans for
the development of public improvements. The result
was the adoption of a comprehensive system which
included the construction of the canals of the State.
Of the one hundred and thirty delegates who attended
that convention, Col. Evans is the only one now living.
Soon after this he and Judge Irwin made a trip to
Buffalo, from thence to Albany and New York City,
for the purpose of examining the Erie Canal (then
just completed) and other public improvements. The
winters of Col. Evans' early life, after 1823, were
many of them passed by him at Baltimore, that he
might have opportunity for examining the old documents and maps pertaining to the early history of the
country. The fruits of his labors in this direction
were many and valuable, and were passed over to
L Mr. Veech, in the preparation of his "Monongahela
of Old." Among the old maps is one which shows
Redstone Creek under the French name "La Petite
Riviere."  His intimate association with the prominent men of the country in its early days, and his
thorough knowledge of the history of the county,
make him a cyclopaedia of interesting reminiscences
and information. He owns and lives upon a tract of
land of 1500 acres about two miles from Uniontown,
in which is included Hugh Crawford's "Grant of
Preference" of 500 acres. This part is in the bottomlands below Col. Evans' house, where Philip Shute
built the tub-mill, the ruins of which are still visible.
William Craig was a native of Ireland, who emigrated to this country in 1785, settling at East Liberty, where in later years he started a store. In the
year 1798 he married Jane Smilie, a daughter of John
Smilie, and about 1811 removed to Union township
and commenced work in Huston's old forge, where he
was intrusted in the manufacture of nails. Mrs.
Craig died in 1835, and Mr. Craig in 1838. They left
one son, John S. Craig, who in 1817 commenced
work in Huston's old forge, and soon took the mnanagement of it. Three years later he went to Dunbar
Creek, where for a year he had the supervision of a
rolling-mill, also the property of Joseph Huston. As
Mr. Huston sold the rolling-mill to Isaac Meason,
John Craig returned to the old forge, and remained
until he was twenty-two years of age. He then
spent two years at Redstone Furnace, and in 1827
purchased the farm where Robert Huston now lives,
Leaving that, he spent a few years in Menallen township and in the West, after which he returned to
Union township, and in 1850 purchased the farm on
which he now resides in North Union.
Ephraim Douglass, although a settler in Uniontown,
purchased forty-one acres of land known as Douglass
Bottom, lying north of the fair-grounds, and another
tract of three hundred and thirty-nine acres. In his
later years he lived in what is now North Union township, and died there in July, 1833. But his earlier
life, after his settlement in Fayette County, was
passed in Uniontown, in the history of which borough he is more fully mentioned. His son Ephraim
died in 1839. His daughter Sarah was the wife of
Daniel Keller, a well-known iron-master of this
county. Another daughter, Eliza, was the wife of
Allen King, of Clark County, Ohio.
James Gallagher purchased and became a settler
upon a tract of land on the north bank of Redstone
Creek, adjoining Uniontown, now in North Union
township. To this property was given the name of
676NORTH UNION AND SOUTH UNION TOWNSHIPS.
"James' Fancy." Mr. Gallagher's grandson still occupies a part of this farm.
ERECTION OF THE TOWNSHIP AND LIST OF
OFFICERS.
The partition of old Union township into the present divisions of North Union and South Union was
effected by an act of the Legislature of Pennsylvania,
approved March 11, 1851, which provided and declared, "That hereafter the township of Union, in the
county of Fayette, shall be, and is hereby divided into
two separate election districts, to be called North and
South Union; and that the Cumberland road be the
dividing line between the same; and each township
shall have a separate window to vote at, in the courthouse in the borough of Uniontown."
The township of Northl Union then, under this
division, is bounded on the north by Franklin and
Dunbar townships, on the east by Dunbar and Wharton, on the south and southwest by the borough of
Uniontown and the township of South Union (against
which last nlamed the boundary is formed by the old
National road), and on the west by the township of
Menallen. The population of the township by the
census of 1880 was 3170.
The list of township officers' of North Union from
its formation until the present time is as follows:
JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.
1855. Abraham Hayden.       1869. Asher M. Bailey.
1857. Jonathan D. Springer.   1872. J. D. Springer.
1860. William Wallace.      1875. William M. Shipley.
Abraham Hayden.        1877. Enoch M. Abraham.
1862. Elisha D. Emerson.    1878. George Gearing.
George Yeagley.        1879. John W. McDowell.
1864. Asher M. Bailey.      1880. William W. Clark.
1867. Elisha D. Emerson.    1881. Samuel W. Jones.
AUDITORS.
1851. James H. Springer.
1853. Thomas H. Fenn.
1854. Dennis Springer.
1855. Henry Jeffries.
1856. Thomas H. Fenn.
1857. William Bryson.
1858. Isaac Jeffries.
1859-60. Thomas H. Fenn.
1861. Andrew Bryson.
1862. William W. Clark.
1863. N. B. Jones.
1864. William Darlington.
1865. William Swan.
1866. John C. Johnston.
1867. Robert Junk.
1868. William W. Clark.
1869. Samuel Jones.
Samuel Beatty.
1870. Thomas Junk.
1874. Moses Foster.
1875. William W. Clark.
Sherman Frazee.
1876. John Junk.
1877. John B. Hogsett.
1878. B. V. Jones.
1879. S. W. Jones.
1880. John H. Bryson.
1881. James Hankins.
ASSESSORS.
1851-52. John S. Craig.
1853-54. James T. McClean.
1855. Calvin Springer.
1856. John Gallagher.
1857. Emanuel Brown.
1858. James McClean.
1859. James McKean.
1861. Wilson Hutchinson.
1862. John S. Craig.
1863. William Darlington.
1864. John S. Craig.
1865-67. James McClean.
1868. Stephen Hawkins.
1869. Mordecai Lincoln.
1869. Abraham Huston.
1870. John S. Craig.
1873-74. John Foster.
1875-76. Emmanuel Maust.
Moses A. Foster.
11879. M. A. Foster.
James Hanan.
1880. Fuller Carson.
1881. W. S. Jobes.
SCHOOLS.
One of the earliest schools in what is now North
Union was taught, not long after the commencement
of the present century, by James Todd, afterwards
attorney-general of the State, in a house situated near
Mount Braddock, on land adjoining the Pearce tract.
There are few, if any, surviving of the scholars who
attended that school except Mr. John Jones, now
eighty years of age, who has still a vivid recollection
of attending there under the teaching of "Schoolmaster" Todd.
In 1822 a school was taught in a log building standing on the Widow  Murphy place, now  owned by
Robert Hogsett.  This school was then under charge
of Hugh Ellerton, but the names of his predecessors
and successors, if there were any, have not been ascertained.  About 1826 the people of the vicinity
united to build a large log school-house on the site of
the present one near William Hankins'. In that
school-house Daniel Keller, who had been identified
with the early iron interests of this section, taught
from the time of its erection till the inauguration of
the free-school system under the law of 1834.
In 1857 the county superintendent reported for this
township nine schools, nine teachers, four hundred
and sixty-four scholars, and the sum of $1430 levied
for school purposes.
The township is now (1881) divided into seven
school districts. The report for the last year gives
five hundred and sixty-three pupils, eleven teachers;
total expenditure, $2014.25; valuation of school property in the township, $10,000.
Following is given a list of those who have served
as school directors in North Union from the division
of the old township to the present time:
1851.-Charles G. Turner, Abram Hayden.
1852.-Dennis Sutton, James McClean.
] 853.-H. W. Beeson, Andrew Bryson, Henry Yeagley.
1854.-Andrew Bryson, J. D. Springer, Elisha D. Emerson.
1856.-William Robinson.
1857.-John Clark, J. D. Springer.
1858.-Parker C. Pusey, Adam Cannon.
1859.-Henry Yeagley, William H. Henshaw.
1861.-Adam Cannon, James Henshaw, Moses Farr.
1862.-Lacey Hibbs.
1863.-William Hawkins, Henry Foster.
1864.-James Henshaw, Charles Shriver, Lewis Stewart.
1865.-William Carson, Upton Spear, William Bryson, George
Faring.
1866.-James Henshaw, William Hawkins, Jacob M. Lewellyn.
1867.-Thomas Junk, Henry Foster.
1868.-John Rankin, William Shipley.
1869.-James Henshaw, James Hannan.
1870.-William Shipley, Samuel Carter.
1873.-Robert Hogsett, Thomas Frost.
1874.-William Shipley, Samuel Carter, William Phillips.
1 The list here given is nearly complete, though not entirely so, on
account of the imperfection of records and election returns.
677HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSY'LVANIA.
1875.-William McShane, Joht Hankins.
1876.-Andrew Bryson, Jr., Robert HIlogsett.
1877.-Samuel Carter.
1878.-William Phillips, H. McLaughlin.
1879.-John F. Hogsett, Andrew Bryson, Jr.
1880.-Samuel Carter, Henry Thomas.
1881.-John Hankins, Ewing B. Hare.
SOLDIERS' ORPHANS' SCHOOL.
The following sketch of the Soldiers' Orphans'
School, located at Dunbar's Camp, in North Union,
is taken from an account of its establishment furnished
by James Paull, and published in "Pennsylvania
Soldiers' Orphans' Schools."
On the 7th of May, 1866, the Hon. Thomas H.
Burrowes, ex-superintendent of common schools, and
to whom the labor and responsibility of organizing a
system of soldiers' orphan schools had been intrusted,
wrote the Rev. A. H. Waters, who had just retired
from the school superintendency of Butler County, Pa.,
earnestly requesting him to look out a suitable location for a soldiers' orphan school somnewhere in the
western counties of the State not already furnished
with a school. After considerable inquiry and search
without success the efforts were about to be abandoned,
when circumstances rendered it necessary for him to
visit this county in the discharge of another duty.
While here his attention was called to the Madison
College buildings, then used only for a small dayschool, and owned by the Hon. Andrew Stewart.
Having found Mr. Stewart very desirous to have the
property used for that purpose, and Dr. Burrowes
warmly approving of the location, the buildings were
secured and arrangements made for opening the
school. On the 19th of September, 1866, the first
scholar was admitted, and in a few days large accessions were made on order and by transfers from other
schools. The first year of the school's history was
attended with many difficulties and discouragements.
The want of adaptation in the buildings, and the great
uncertainty of the continuance of the system, made
it hazardous to incur any great expense in the erection of additional buildings. After a year of struggle
the system was made permanent, and by the erection
of new buildings and changes in the old the school
was placed upon a solid footing, and started on a
career of gratifying prosperity. Credit was due to
Mr. Stewart for his devotion to the interests of the
school, which was shown by his willingness to contribute to the necessary changes, and his generous
contribution of six hundred dollars annually-being
one-half of the annual lease-as rewards to meritorious pupils.
After nearly eight years of encouraging su'ccess,
and when from the nature of the case this, as well as
all the other schools, must soon begin to decline, for
various reasons it was thought advisable to change its
location. After giving the matter due consideration,
and with the consent of the State superintendent, it
was determined to move to Dunbar's Camp, four miles
and a half east of Uniontown, on Laurel Hill. This
point was selected on account of location, commanding one of the finest natural scenes to be found in the
country; and, also, because it was sufficiently removed from the influence of a large town. Accordingly, in the fall of 1874 work was begun, and in
April, 1875, large and convenient buildings were so
far completed as to enable the school to move into
them. The 8th of April in that year was memorable
in its history, as on that day it was transferred from
the old home in Uniontown to the new one at Dunbar's Camp.
The. change has been demnonstrated to be a wise
one. The children are healthier, have more freedom,
and are happier. They breathe the pure air of an
altitude of two thousand five hundred feet, and drink
the pure mountain water. It is claimed that there is
no finer'location for a school in the State, and it is
hoped that when this school shall have finished its
noble work an educational institution may still be
continued in this charmning spot.
The school has continued in a very prosperous condition, containing at present (July, 1881) one hundred
and eighty pupils. It is still under the efficient management of the Rev. A. H. Waters.
RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES.
The Bethel Presbyterian Chapel congregation in
North Union is a branch of the Laurel Hill Presbyterian Church in Dullbar township. A small chapel
was built for its use near the Youngstown Station in
1877.
The congregation of the Methodist Episcopal Chapel
in this township is a branch of the Uniontown Methodist Episcopal Church. The society in North Union
built a chapel in 1877 near the Youngstown Station
and adjoining the Presbyterian Chapel.
MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES.
LEMONT FURNACE.
In pursuance of an arrangement made early in the
spring of 1875 between Ewing, Boyd  Co. and the
Lemont Furnace Company, Lemont Furnace was
begun and hastened to completion as rapidly as labor
and material could secure that end. It was started
on the 1st of January, 1876, and has been in blast
continuously ever since, except a few months during
which its lining was renewed and its power repaired.
The stack is sixty feet high, with a maximum diameter of twenty-two feet, it is sixteen feet in the bosh,
and has a capacity of fifty tons per day, running
mostly on native ores. It has two hot-blasts, two
large blowing-engines, four boilers sixty feet long by
three and a half feet in diameter, also stock- and
casting-houses of adequate capacity to meet the wants
of the furnace.
The tramwvays to the mountain and coal ore mines,
as well as to the limestone-quarries, and switches to
the coke-ovens, furnish every facility for cheap and
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
678nE,
72NORTtI UNION AND SOUTH UNION T'OWNSIIIPS.
expeditious delivery of all material in the stockhouse. As both the Baltimore and Ohio, and Southwest Pennsylvania Railroads pass within a short distance on either side of the furnace, it has ample
connections to secure for it the fullest advantages of
competitive freight rates.
The furnace property consists of two thousand
acres, all underlaid with several veins of ore yielding
from thirty-five to forty-two per cent. of iron. Its
fine limestone-quarries and large coal-fields, on which
one hundred and fifty coke-ovens are now in operation, supplying fuel to the furnace, together with its
other advantages, assure Lemont Furnace an independence which but few such establishments enjoy.
The present owners of Lemont Furnace are Robert
Hogsett (one-half interest), James P. Hanna, and
Thomas H. Rabe.
STEWART IRON COMPANY'S COKE-WORKS.
This company, who have iron furnaces at Sharon,
Mercer Co., Pa., as well as in other parts of the country,
began the manufacture of coke in North Union for
the purpose only of supplying those furnaces. On
the 8th of November, 1880, they purchased here one
hundred and seventy-one acres of coal land of the heirs
of Gen. H. W. Beeson, and commenced work in the
opening of the slope and the erection of one hundred
and twenty ovens, which are completed and now in
operation. The slope has been extended to six hundred feet, with two flat headings, one of three hundred
and one of five hundred feet.
MOUNT BRADDOCK COKE-WORKS.
A company, composed of Robert Hogsett, T. W.
Watt, W. H. Bailey, John Taylor, and Hugh L. Rankin, commenced these works in 1871 on four hundred
acres of land purchased of Robert Hogsett. One hundred and twenty-seven ovens were built, and all the
coal mined manufactured into coke. For the first
two years their coke was sold to Dewey, Vance  Co.,
of Wheeling, West Virginia, but afterwards was disposed of in open market.
In the spring of 1881 the works were sold to A. O.
Tinstman, of Pittsburgh. The product of the ovens
at the present time is fifteen car-loads per day. The
works are located on the extreme northeastern border
of the township, on the line of the Southwest Pennsylvania, and Baltimore and Ohio Railroads.
THE YOUNGSTOWN COKE COMPANY'S WORKS.
This company was organized Sept. 29, 1879, the
corporators being John Stambaugh, Henry O. Bonnell, Augustus B. Cornell, and Thomas W. Kennedy,
who constitute the board of managers. Operations
on their lands in North Union were commenced very
soon after the organization of the company. They
now own five hundred and four acres of coal and one
hundred and forty-eight acres of surface, their coalright extending under lands of John Jones, B. V.
Jones, Samuel McClean, George Swearingen, and
Elizabeth Canon. They have now in operation two
hundred and forty coke-ovens, with all the necessary
machinery  and  appliances, and  have also  erected
twenty-four double dwelling-houses and a large storehouse. The main slope of the mine is 1250 feet, with
six fiat headings varying from 300 to 500 feet. The
daily production of coal is about 500 net tons, making
about 380 tons of coke. John Shipley is the mining
engineer.
John  Stambaugh is president of the Briar Hill
Iron and Coal Company; Augustus B. Cornell, manager of the Himrod Furnace Company; and Henry
O. Bonnell, manager of the Mahoning Valley Iron
Company, all of Youngstown, Ohio.  Thomas W.
Kennedy is also manager of an iron company's works
in the same place. And it was for the purpose of
supplying these several furnaces and iron-works with
fuel that the Youngstown Coke Company effected its
organization and established its works in this township.
THE PERCY MINING COMPANY'S WORKS.
In the spring of 1879 this company, composed of
A. W. Bliss, G. C. Marshall, A. B. De Saulles, and
Maurice Healy purchased one hundred and forty-two
acres of coal-land in North Union, and commenced
the mining of coal and ore, and the manufacture of
coke. They have now sixty-nine ovens in operation,
and from thirty to fifty tons of ore is mined daily.
Their coal, coke, and ore are shipped by rail and sold
in open market.
The Lemont Furnace Company have one hundred
and fifty coke-ovens in blast, as is mentioned in the
account of their iron-works.
The fire-brick works in this township are under
lease to Messrs. Bliss and Marshall, of the Percy
Mining Company. These works, which were first
put in operation in 1874, now produce daily from four
thousand to ten thousand fire-bricks, which are principally used in the construction of coke-ovens in this
part of the county.
SOUTH UNION.
EARLY SETTLEMENTS.
According to tradition Wendell Brown and his
sonsi were the earliest settlers in South Union town1 Veech gives the following in reference to the Browns: "It is well
known that while the Indians held undivided sway in the region they
had one or more lead-mines in our mountains, the localities of which
they guarded with inviolable secrecy. The discovery of these by the
Browns would have been an invaluable acquisition to their venatorial
pursuits. Many efforts did they make to find them, and many sly attempts to follow the Indians in their resorts to the mnines, but all in vain.
And more than once did they narrowly escape detection, and consequent
death, by their eagerness to share the forbidden treasure. Abraham
Brown [grandson of Wendell] used to relate of his uncle Thomas that,
having offended the Indians by some tricks played upon them (perhaps
in contrivances to discover their lead-mines, and by repeatedly escaping
from them when taken prisoner), he once escaped being. burned only by
the timnely interposition of a friendly chief; but that eventually they
caught him whlen no such intercessor was nigh, and knocked out all his
teeth withl a piece uf iron and a tomahawk. This was savage cruelty.
Now for savage honesty. In a season of scarcity soulme Indians came tb
-  -                                                                                                                                                                  -~~~~~~~~~~~~
67991
THE REVOLUTION.
made the Muskingum settlements their base of oper- o
ations. It was declared that in either case the blame  T
was chargeable on the Moravians, and as a consequence  a
the frontiersmen resolved to destroy them. The hor-  A;
rible story of the manner in which this was accom- c
plished by Williamson's men is told in the Pennsyl-  o
vania Archives, 1781-83, page 524, as follows:  a
" Relation of what Frederick Linebach was told by
two of his Neighbours living near Delaware River, P
above Easton, who were just returned from the Mo- e
nongahela:                                          t
" That some time in February one hundred  sixty  a
Men, living upon Monaungahela set off on Horse-  t
back to the Muskingum, in order to destroy Three
Indian Settlements, of which they seemed to be sure  t
of being the Touns of some Enemy Indians. After i
coming nigh to one of the Touns they discovered  c
some Indians on both sides of the River Muskingum.
They then concluded to divide themselves in Two
parties, the one to cross the River and the other to
attack those Indians on this side. When the party  1
got over the River they saw one of the Indians coming
up towards them. They laid themselves flat on the
ground waiting till the Indian was nigh enough, then
one of them shot the Indian and broke his arm; then
three of the Militia ran towards him with Tomahawks; when they were yet a little distance from
hlim he ask'd theni why they had fired at him; he was
Minister Sheboshch's (John Bull's) Son, but they
took no notice of what he said, but killed him on the
Spot. They then surrounded the field, and took all
the other Indians Prisoners. The Indians told them
that they were Christians and made no resistance,
when the Militia gave them to understand that they
must bring them as Prisoners to Fort Pitt they seemed
to be very glad. They were ordered to prepare themselves for the Journey, and to take all their Effects
along with them. Accordingly they did so. They
were asked how it came they had no Cattle? They
answered that the small Stock that was left them had
been sent to Sandusky.
"In the Evening the Militia held a Council, when
the Commander of the Militia told his men that he
would leave it to their choice either to carry the Indians as Prisoners to Fort Pitt or to kill them; when
they agreed that they should be killed. Of this Resolution of the Council they gave notice to the Indians by two Messengers, who told them that as they
had said they were Christians they would give them
time this night to prepare themselves accordingly.
HIereupon the Women met together and sung Hymns
 Psalms all Night, and so likewise did the Men, and
kept on singing as long as there were three left. In
the morniiig the Militia chose Two houses, which
they called the Slaughter Houses, and then fetched
the Indians two or three at a time with Ropes about
their Necks and dragged them into the Slaughter
houses, where they knocked them down; then they
set these Two houses on Fire, as likewise all the
ther houses. This done they went to the other
Powns and set fire to the Houses, took their plunder,
Lnd returned to the Monaungahela, where they held a
rendue among themselves. Before these Informants
ame away it was agreed that 600 men should meet
n the 18th of March to go to Sandusky, which is
tbout 100 Miles from the Muskingum."
The number of Moravian Indians killed was re)orted by Williamson's party on their return at
fighty-eight, but the white Moravian missionaries in
heir account gave the number of the murdered ones
is ninety-six,-sixty-two adults, male and female, and
thirty-four children.
The result of this expedition gave great mortification and grief to Gen. Irvine, who tried, as far as lay
in his powver, to suppress all accounts of the horrible
letails. By those who were engaged in the bloody
vork it was vehemently asserted that their action
vas generally approved by the people of the frontier
settlements; but it is certain that the'statement was
unfounded. Col. Edward Cook, of Cookstown (now
Fayette City), the county lieutenant of Westmoreland (who had succeeded the unfortunate Col. Lochry
in that office in December, 1781), in a letter addressed
by him to President Moore, dated Sept. 2, 1782, expressed himself in regard to this Moravian imassacre
as follows:
".. I am informed that you have it Reported
that the Massacre of the Moravian Indians Obtains
the Approbation of Every man on this side of the
Mountains, which I assure your Excellency is false;
that the Better Part of the Community are of Opinion
the Perpetrators of that wicked Deed ought to be
Brought to Condein Punishment; that without something is Done by Government in the Matter it will
Disgrace the Annals of the United States, and be an
Everlasting Plea and Cover for British Cruelty."
And the testimony of a man of the character and
standing of Col. Edward Cook is above and beyond
the possibility of impeachment.
CRAWFORD'S SANDUSKY EXPEDITION.
Evein before the disbandment of the volunteers
composing Williamson's expedition the project had
been formed for a new and more formidable one to
be raise(l to march against the Indian towns at Sandusky, the headquarters of the hostile tribes that
were so constantly and persistently depredating the
frontier settlements east of the Ohio. Mention of
such a project is found in Linebach's " Relation" (before quoted), where he says, "It was agreed that six
hundred men should meet on the 18th of March to
go to Sandusky...." Whether this was the inception of the plan or not, it is certain that immediately
afterwards it was known to, and favorably entertained
by, nearly all the people living west of the Laurel
Hill.
As a nmatter of course, the first step to be taken was
to lay the matter before the commandant at FortHISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
ship. Judge Veech, in his "Mononigahela of Old,"
says, "When Washington'slittle army was at the Great
Meadows, or Fort Necessity, the Browns packed provisions, corn, and beef to him; and when he surrendered to the French and Indians, July 4, 1754, they
retired with the retreating colonial troops across the
mountains, returning to their lands after the reinstatement of the English dominion by Forbes' army
in 1758." The Browns had originally located on
Provance's Bottom, on the Monongahela, but after
their return settled in what is now South Union and
Georges townships. Upon finally making permanent
settlement here, Adam Brown located on three hundred and twenty-seven acres of land which was warranted to him June 14, 1769. Maunus Brown had
three hundred and six acres warranted to him the
same day. Adam Brown was in his earlier life a
lieutenant under the king, and served with the Virginia provincials in the French and Indian wars.
He induced many of the former acquaintances of tlhe
family to come to this section, and they located lands
now lying in both Georges and South Union townships, as is shown by the records, which give the titles
of the tracts, number of acres contained therein, and
the date uponl which they were warranted. Of these
settlers one was William Downard, who took up two
hundred and ninety-three acres of land on the waters
of Brown's Run, adjoining the tracts of Adam and
Maunus Brown.  This property was warranted to
him June 14, 1769, under the name of" Walnut Hill."
David Jennings came to this section in 1768, selected a desirable tract of land, and then returned to
his home in the eastern part of the State to persuade
others to come here and settle with him. John and
James Henthorn, two brothers of his wife, camne back
with Mr. Jennings, and all three of the men entered
the Browns for provisions. The old man sold them eight rows of corn.
He afterwards found they had taken just eight rows, and not an ear
more.
"Adam Brown-' old Adam,' as he was called-boasted of having been
a king's lieutenant in his early days, having probably served with the
Virginia provincials in the French and Indian wars. For his services
he claimed to have had a royal grant of land of nine miles square, extending from near Mount Braddock along the face of Laurel Hill southward, and westward as far as New Salem. I have seen a large stone,
standing a little southwest of the residence of Daniel (or William)
Moser, in George township, which the late John McClelland said was a
corner of Adam's claim. The old lieutenant, it was said, induced many
acquaintances to settle around him on his grant,-the Downards, Greens,
McDonalds, McCartys, Brownfields, Henthorns, Kindells, Scotts, Jenningses, Higginsons, etc., and out of abundant caution he and his brother
Maunus and they entered applications for their lands in the Pennsylvania Land-Office on the 14th of June, 1769, and had them surveyed
soon after. They seem to have been quiescent in the boundary controversy. But it was said that early in 1775, Adam and some of his associates had employed an agent to go to London to perfect the royal grant;
when, upon the breaking out of the Revolution, which ended the king's
power in this country, they gave up the effort, and in due time perfected
their titles under Pennsylvania. From this and some other grounds
arose the current allegations that'Old Adam' and sundry of his neighbors were unfiiendly to the cause of Americanr independence, but we
believe they were never guilty of any overt acts of toryism.... The
Maunus Brown branch of the family has always been considered free of
the taint charged to' Old Adam,' and has been productive of good citizens."
applications at the land-office Tor tracts they had
chosen. David Jennings' tract, named "Fear Fax,"
contained 3084 acres. It was given him by warrant
No. 3459, dated June 14, 1769, and surveyed September 26th of the same year. He lived upon this property until his death, March 29, 1824, at eighty-three
years of age, when his two sons, David and Benjamin, inherited it. David Jennings, Jr., who died
May 23, 1851, aged seventy-seven years, sold his
share to Samuel Moxley, who again disposed of it to
Jasper M. Thompson. This gentlemnan also became
possessor of the other part of the Jennings farm
through Johnston Van Kirk, to whom Benjamin
had sold it. The stream that crosses this property is
called Jennings' Run.
John and James Henthorn were brothers-in-law of
David Jennings, and settled here when he did. John's
land was a body of 363 acres called "Choice Tract,"
directly east of "Fear Fax," which he took up under
warrant No. 3485, dated June 14, 1769, and which
was surveyed Sept. 27, 1769. The property east of
his belonged to his brother James, David Jennings
was on the west side, Richard Parr on the north, and
the farm on the south was at one time owned by Col.
Thomas Collins. John Henthorn spent his life upon
this farm, and died in April, 1784, aged forty-three
years. Another John Henthorn died in 1799, aged
sixty-six years. They, with David Jennings and his
son David, were buried in a family cemetery on John
Henthorn's farm, which now belongs to Jasper M.
Thompson. James Henthorn had 346 acres adjoining the farms of his brother and Adam McCartney,
which was surveyed Sept. 28, 1769. At a later day it
was owned by James Veech, and at the present time
belongs to William E. Caruthers and John C. Breading.
Thomas Gaddis was one of those pioneers who had
applications for land in the land-office awaiting the
first issue of warrants, which were dated April 3,
1769. The warrant issued to Mr. Gaddis was No.
1690, which shows the great number of applications
that had been filed before that date. He had been in
this section several times in previous years, but was
frightened away by the Indians, and did not make a
permanent settlement until 1769. The land which
he located was described as being in the "Redstone
Settlement, Cumberland County, the new purchase,"
and was surveyed Sept. 25, 1769, under the name of
"Hundred Acre Spring."  In 1789, Mr. Gaddis was
carrying on a distillery upon his place. In the early
days a Settler's Fort was built upon the tract, and the
portion of it still standing was the residence of the
late Basil Brownfield. The farms adjoining the one
in question were owned in the pioneer time by Isaac
Sutton, Edward Brownfield, and James Hamilton.
From his first appearance in this vicinity Thomas
Gaddis was active and prominent in the expeditions
against the Indians, and in all civil and military
county affairs. He was second field-major in the
680NORTH UNION AND SOUTH UNION TOWNSHI'S.
Crawford expedition, and was a prominient leader in
the Whiskey Insurrection of 1794. In 1816 he sold
the farm upon which he had lived for nearly half a
century to John Miller and John Kennedy, and emigrated to the "Miami country," Ohio.
Charles Brownfield was a native of Scotland, who,
with his brother James, emigrated to this country and
lived for a time near Winchester. His wife was Betsey, the sister of Col. James Burd, and when they
came to this township they located a tract of land
containing 300 acres, which, in a deed of later years,
is described as "near Laurel Hill, on one of the
head branches of the Redstone, including my improvement made in the year 1769." Warrant No.
3456, dated June 14, 1769, was given for this land,
and the survey was made in September of that year.
In 1783, Mr. Brownfield sold this property and removed to Kentucky. Alexander McClean made a
second survey of it at this time, and one entry upon
the records says, "Said Brownfield removed to the
Kentucky country, having sold the above part to
Benjamin Brownfield, his son, and the residue to
Moses Sutton and George Troutmani." In the same
connection he further says of this survey, that he
"resurveyed the same as by the different purchasers."
Charles Brownfield had eight sons, -Edward,
Charles, Robert, Thomas, Empson, Richard, William, and Benjamin. There was but one daughter,
Sally, who married Raphael Naylor, of Philadelphia, whither she went to reside, and where she died.
Edward Brownfield settled upon a tract of land at
the samne time his father did, and adjoining that of
his father, which contained 250 acres, and was called
"Mount Pleasant." Several years later, when the
general exodus from this section to Kentucky took
place, he removed with his family to the place called
"Bear Grass," where John Brownfield, a son of his
brother Benjamin, now lives. Empson Brownfield
took up 295 acres of land on the waters of Georges
Creek, but near the waters of Redstone Creek, partly
on the dividing ridge and on the road leading from
the gap of the mountain to Cheat River, in Georges
township. This land was surv.eyed Dec. 23, 1785,
"by virtue of certificate from the Comnmissioners of
Monongalia, Yohogania, and Ohio Counties for 400
acres of land on the waters of Redstone Creek, to include his settlement made in 1770."
In the year 1776, Empson Brownfield's name appears in the list of purchasers of lots in Uniontown,
or Beesontown. In 1784 he purchased a lot in Uniontown, upon which he later built and kept a tavern.
It is said that he was the first to start a store in
Uniontown, for which he brought the goods over the
mountains on pack-horses. After a few years he, too,
removed with his family to Kentucky. Charles and
Robert Brownfield both settled at Smithfield. The
descendants of Charles are all dead. Robert was
with Crawford's expedition.  His son Basil settled
on thlle old Gaddis place in 1820, and lived there
until his death, Aug. 21, 1881.'
Thomas Brownfield settled upon a farm between
Monroe and Uniontown, and his grandson, Isaac
Brownfield, now occupies the place. Richard Brownfield lived near Morgantown for a few years, and
then emigrated to Kentucky. William also removed
early to Kentucky.  Benjamin, the son to whom
Charles Brownfield sold his pioneer home on his removal to Kentucky in 1783, always remained upon
the farm and died there. His son, Col. Benjamin
Brownfield, died there March 28,1880, at the remarkable old age of one hundred and one years. The
property is now owned and occupied by a grandson,
Marion Brownfield.
James McCoy settled in South Union in 1769,
when, with many others, he made application for a
tract of land in the valley east of Uniontown. He
was a native of Ireland, and when about fifteen years
of age ran away from home and came to America.
He had been attending the races with his father, who
had entered a favorite colt, and which, at the close
of the races, James had been sent home with. On the
way he and some other boys ran the horses, when by
some mishap the colt stumbled and fell, breaking
one of its legs. This so frightened him that instead
of going home he started for the coast, where he
shipped on board a vessel and worked his passage to
America. He remained in the East until twentyfour years of age, when he came to this county, as
stated. The warrant for Mr. McCoy's land bears date
June 14, 1769, and the order of survey was made Sept.
23, 1769. The property was named "Flint Hill,"
comprised 305 acres, and an allowance of six per cent.
was made for roads. This tract of land is recorded as
adjoining those of Thomas Brownfield and Isaac
Sutton.  Anlother tract of 221 acres adjoining was
surveyed to him the same date, Sept. 23, 1769.
Before leaving the East, Mr. McCoy had married
Ann Bruce, who was like himself born in Ireland,
and who came to this country when but twelve years
old. Upon locating here he built a log cabin, which
was situated at the foot of the Bailey orchard. Very
soon, however, this cabin was reconstructed and made
into "McCoy Fort," which was the rendezvous for
all the immediate neighbors in timnes of danger, the
"Col. Thomas Gaddis Fort" being two miles away to
the southwest. Mr. McCoy then built for his own
residence a house of hewn logs, which stood upon the
site of the brick house afterwards built by Eli Bailey.
1 An obituary notice of Basil Brownfield, published at the time of his
death, contained the following: "Mr. Brownfield was born near Smithfield, this county, in 1795. His ancestors came here from Apple-pie
Ridge, Shenandoah Valley, Va. He was a man of strong will and aggressive disposition, as the result of which he was well known, and had
acquired a large amount of valuable estate. His connections by blood
and marriage are very extensive. He leaves four sons and four daughters living, two of these being in Texas, one of the latter being Mrs.
William Core. Mr. Brownfield's wife was Sarah Collins, daughter of
Joseph Collins, one of the original settlers of Uniontown."
681HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
The original property, which was quite extensive, has  other improvements for the growth and development
been divided and sold at different times, until but of the "Carey Mission."  On December 9th of the
comparatively little of it remains in the hands of Mr. same year a train of thirty-two persons, three wagons
McCoy's descendants. A tract of nine or ten acres  drawn by oxen and one drawn by horses, and having
was leased by himself to Thomas Brownfield for with them five cows and fifty hogs, left the old school
ninety-nine years for a mill-site. A large portion of at Fort Wayne for the new home. They arrived at
the land is now the property of the Chicago Coke and  their destination safely, and the first report made to
Coal Company, sold to them  by Eli Bailey, who  the government, dated July 1, 1823, announced sixty
bought it of the heirs of McCoy after his death. His  acres of land cleared. In 1825 came the report that
death occurred in 1803, and he was buried in the  two hundred acres had been inclosed, thirty acres
churchyard of the South Union Baptist Church, of vwere in corn, three hundred peach-trees were growing
which he was long a worthy and consistent memnber. finely, and a flouring-mill was in operation. With
The children of James and Ann McCoy were Wil-  all this advancement the sale of whisky by the
liam, George, Isaac, John, Rachel, Ann, Sarah, and  traders to the Indians outside of the mission tract
Mary. John married and lived on the old home-  caused so much trouble that Mr. McCoy was induced
stead, dying there when fifty-two years of age. His  to seek another place for the mission. He studied
wife was a daughter of Col. Thomas Gaddis. Of their  thoroughly the Indian question, and wrote a work
several children; John, the eldest, is still living on the  entitled "Remarks on Indian Reform." The prinold place, and is eighty-three years of age. George,  cipal design of this work was to show the practicawho never married, went to Ohio to live, and died  bility of the meditated reform, and suggested measures
there. Isaac married, lived, and died near his father's to be adopted for its accomplishment.  He says,
home, and left a family of five children. Rachel and  "We discovered that our Indians could not possibly
Ann married and removed from the State. Sarah be- prosper when they knew they had no settled resicame the wife of Samuel Sutton, son of Moses Sutton. dence, and when the influx of the white population,
They lived on the farm one mile southwest of the  and with it the introduction of floods of ardent
Redstone Coke-Works, which has since been owned  spirits, had already added discouragements to their
by John Hagan. Mary McCoy married Thomas  spiritless minds."  On Sept. 15, 1826, a treaty was
Brownfield, son of Charles Brownfield. The farm on  held with the Pottawatamies on the Wabash, at which
which they lived is now owned by their son, Isaac  there was granted to fifty-eight Indians, by descent,
Brownfield. William McCoy became a Baptist min-  "scholars in the Carey Mission" school on the St.
ister. He was married in Uniontown, and in 1789  Joseph, under the direction of Rev. Isaac McCoy,
removed to Kentucky. His son Isaac, born in this  one-quarter section of land to be located by the
place in 1783, became a noted Indian missionary.  President of the United States.
He was but six years of age when, with his parents,   In 1827, Mr. McCoy left the station to visit New
he removed to Kentucky. While living there in  York, Philadelphia, and Washington on business
1803 he also married, and very soon after emigrated  connected with the Indian interests. He held interto Fort Wayne, Ind., to preach and labor among the  views with the President and Commissioner of Indian
Indians.                                            Affairs with a view to getting a territory for the InOn Oct. 17, 1817, he received from the United  dians set off, and in this effort he was successful. The
States Baptist Board of Missions an appointment as  land and improvements of the " Carey Mission" were
a missionary. In compliance with the request of Dr. appraised and sold, and the school gradually declined.
Turner, the Indian agent, Mr. McCoy, in 1820, settled  Mr. McCoy and Mr. Lykins, his son-in-law, were inat Fort Wayne, Ind., and May 29th of that year opened  structed to visit the region west of Missouri and Ara school numbering twenty-five scholars,-ten Eng-  kansas to inspect and report upon the condition of
lish, six French, eight Indians, and one negro. March  the country there, and select a suitable location for a
12th of the next year the number had increased to  mission. The tract of land on which the "Shawnee
thirty-nine Indian scholars.  Being authorized to  Mission" house in the Indian Territory is located was
select a site to establish a mission, after much thought selected, and Aug. 11, 1833, the little band that was
and many examinations Mr. McCoy chose a tract in  left of the "Carey Mission" gathered there and orMichigan, one mile square, on the south side of the  ganized a chlurch. The whole of Mr. McCoy's long
St. Joseph River. On Aug. 29, 1821, a treaty was life was a constant endeavor to soften and civilize the
made by the government with the Indians for the  Indian race.
transfer of this land, which was ratified March 25,   The Sutton family of five brothers, all Baptist min1822, and July 16th of the same year Mr. McCoy re-  isters, came to this county as early as 1770, and after
ceived an appointment from Gen. Cass to take charge  that date all located land here. The property of
of this Indian mission. On October 9th following a  Isaac and Moses Sutton was south of the present vilcompany of twenty-two persons left Fort Wayne for lage of Monroe, adjoining that of John Hopwood,
the new station on the St. Joseph River, where they  Jeremiah Cook, and James McCoy. Moses Sutton
were to erect buildings, clear the land, and make  was one of the purchasers of the residence of Charles
682NORTH UNION AND SOUTH TTNION TOWNSHIPS.
Brownfield, and in 1788 he was assessed upon a distillery as his property. Isaac Sutton was one of the
early ministers of Great Bethel Baptist Church at
Uniontown. James Sutton settled in Gebrges township, but afterwards removed to Amwell township,
Washington Co., Pa., where, in the year 1774, he was
pastor of the Ten-Mile Baptist Church.
Jeremiah Gard owned a tract of land in this township some time before 1780. It contained two hundred and forty-eight acres, and was located next to
the farm of Thomas Gaddis. In 1791, Mr. Gard built
a mill on Redstone Creek, which is still standing, and
is known as the Hutchinson mill. He was also engaged in the manufacture of scythes, and served as a
private in the Crawford expedition. He died upon
this place, and left three sons,-Daniel, Simeon, and
Jeremiah. They all settled near their father and
lived here for many years, but after his death removed
to the West.
On Nov. 29, 1783, George Troutman purchased of
Charles Brownfield thirty-nine acres of land, a portion of the property Brownfield sold upon his removal
to Kentucky.  The regular survey of the transferrance of this property was not made to Mr. Troutman
until March 2, 1786, at  which time there was also
surveyed to him, under a warrant issued from the
land-office Feb. 23, 1786, another tract of land containing one hundred and twenty-three acres. Later
he purchased still more land, and July 16, 1791, he
sold one hundred and sixty-two acres to Jonathan
Gray, whose descendants still occupy the property.
In the year 1788, George Troutman was running a
distillery.
The name of Job Littell appeared upon the assessment-roll of Union township in 1785, as being assessed
upon a tract of land containing fifty acres. From
that time his taxable property increased, and in 1788
he was assessed upon a saw-mill; in 1796 upon a sawmill, grist-mill, and a house; and in 1798 upon six
hundred and thirty-nine acres of land. On Nov. 22,
1802, Job Littell purchased of the commissioners of
Fayette County, for the unpaid taxes of 1799-1800,
a tract of land of three hundred acres, "situate on
the branch of Redstone Creek south of Uniontown."
A portion of Job Littell's property was given the
name of" Job's Hollow." In this is still visible the
ruins of an old mill, with a half-filled race, the old
mill-stones, moss-covered and gray, lying in the debris
and surrounded by a thicket of underbrush, while the
stone house, which was built upon an adjacent hill,
has also crumbled and fallen to the ground.
Samuel Littell was a son of Job and Elizabeth Littell. His son Alonzo is now a resident of Cleveland,
Ohio, and was for several years editor of The Genius
of Liberty, of Uniontown. Elizabeth, the daughter
of Job and Elizabeth Littell, married John Custead,
and with her husband lived in this section. In May,
1819, John Custead advertised that he had "added
to his trade of Cabinet-Making that of Making and
Painting Sigits," his place of business being three
miles south of the borough of Uniontown, near Littell's mill. When Job Littell purchased his property
there was reserved an acre of ground for a burialplace, in which himself and wife and John and Elizabeth Custead are buried. Mr. Littell died in 1824,
aged eighty-one years, and his wife in 1838, aged
eighty-eight years. Other graves are found in this
burying-ground, but none are marked save by a common field-stone at the head and foot.
Samuel Work was assessed in 1785 on a tract of
200 acres of land.  In the names of property-holders
in 1793 appears that of Esther Work, undoubtedly
the widow of Samuel, assessed upon 188 acres. Robert, Andrew, John, and Alexander Work were assessed as single men. Shortly after this, however,
Alexanider Work was assessed upon a grist-mill in
Menallen township. About the year 1817 he built a
mill in Union township (nIow South Union), which
is still standing, and is known as the Barton mill.
In 1785, Jeremiah Cook was assessed upon property
consisting of sixty-three acres of land, a saw-mill and
a grist-mill. In 1791 a distillery was added to the
above amount of property, and all of it was assessed
to him in Union township. In 1793, Richard Sturgeon was assessed upon one hundred and fifty-nine
acres of land, a grist-mill, saw-mill, and a fullingmill, also in Union. From what can be learned
both of these men seem to have carried on considerable business here, and to have remained here several
years, but no information can be gained as to what
section of the township of Union they lived in.
In February, 1788, William Campbell came to this
section and purchased a tract of land of one hundred
and four acres of Henry Beeson, upon which the former settled in 1768. In 1789, Mr. Campbell took out
a warrant for two hundred and seventeen acres of
land in Union, in the survey of which he desired to
include the land he had previously purchased of Mr.
Beeson. It was all surveyed to him in the manner
desired, and is now in the possession of E. B. Dawson and Nathaniel Brownfield. In 1788, Mr. Campbell was proprietor and conductor of a distillery,
which was situated on the tract of one hundred and
four acres purchased of Henry Beeson. The following is a verbatimi copy of a marriage certificate given
in Mr. Campbell's family in 1790. The original certificate is written on parchment, in a large, bold, and
beautiful style of penmanship. The copy is here
given as of interest in this connection:
" Whereas Abel Campbell, son of William and Mary Campbell, of Union Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, and
Susanna Dixon, daughter of William and Rebecca Dixon, of
Menallen township, county aforesaid, having declared their intentions of marriage with each other, before several Monthly
Meetings of the People called Quakers at Westland, according
to the good order used among them; and having Consent of
Parties concerned, their said proposals were allowed of by the
said meetings. Now these are to certify whom it may concern,
that for the full accomplishing of their said Intentions, this
683HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Sixth Day of the Tenth Month, in the Year of our Lord, one
thousand seven hundred and ninety; they, the said Abel Campbell and Susanna Dixon, appeared in a public meeting at Redstone, and the said Abel Campbell taking the said Susanna
Dixon by the Hand, did in solemn manner openly declare that he
took the said Susanna Dixon to be his Wife; promising through
Divine Assistance to be to her a loving and faithful Husband,
until Death should separate them; and then and there in the same
Assembly, the said Susanna Dixon did in like manner declare that
she took the said Abel Campbell to be her Husband; promising
through Divine Assistance to be to him a loving Faithful Wife,
until Death should separate them; or words to that import.
Moreover, they the said Abel Campbell and Susanna (she according to the Custom of Marriage Assuming the surname of
her Husband) as a further confirmation thereof, did then and
there to these presents set their Hands. Signed, Abel Campbell, Susanna Campbell. And we, whose names are hereunto
subscribed, being present at the solemnization of said Marriage
and Subscription have as Witnesses thereto set our Hands the
Day and Year above Written. Sarah Sanems, Mary Coope,
Rebekah Jackson, John Coope, Ruth Crawford, Margaret Crawford, Mary Campbell, Abel Campbell, Rachel Hammond, Jonas
Cottell, Orr Garwood, Joshua Hunt, Sarah Cadwallader, Elizabeth Cottell, Esther Cottell, Mary Walton, Rachel Cottell, Maring HIarleu, Thomas French, Nimrod Gregg, Thomas Irain, Joseph, Benjamin Townsend, William Wilson, William Silverhorn, John Cadwallader, John McCaddon, John Graves, Jacob
Downard, Jesse Beeson, Thomas Townsend, George Harleu,
Benj. Harleu, Junr., Isaac Johnson, George Hackney, Samuel
Gregg, John Mason, Nathaniel Sanems, William Dixon, Rebekah Dixon, Wm. Campbell, Jr., Mahy Campbell, Junr., James
Campbell, William Dixon, Junr., Charles Gouse, Ebenezer
Walker, Rachel Walker, George Walker, William Whiteside."
In the year 1804 the name of John Barnes is given
on the assessment-roll as a coppersmith. In 1807 a
shop was built on the Thomas Gard property by James
Barnes for the manufacture of sickles.
It was frequently related by Mr. Basil Brownfield,
who died in South Union in August, 1881, at the age
of eighty-six years, that about twenty years ago he
was told by Judge Friend, of Garret County, Md.,
that his (Judge Friend's) grandfather was a great
hunter and an acquaintance and friend of Daniel
Boone, the pioneer of Kentucky, and that upon one
occasion, being out on a hunting expedition with
Boone, they crossed the Laurel Hill in what is now
Fayette County and bivouacked for the night by a
fine spring at or near the spot where Gaddis Fort was
built nearly twenty-five years later. Here at daylight
the next morning they were surprised and captured
by a party of French and Indians, by whom they
were disarmed, robbed of everything they had but
their clothes, and taken to the summit of Laurel
Hill, where they were dismissed with the admonition
never to be again found west of the mountain on
penalty of death by torture. This, Judge Friend
said, was told to him by his grandfather, who placed
the date of the adventure at about 1750.
ERECTION, BOUNDARIES, AND LIST OF OFFICERS.
The erection of South Union township by act of
General Assembly, March 11, 1851, has already been
noticed in connection with North Union, which was
erected at the same tine from the territory of old
Union The township of South Union lies wholly on
the southwest side of the old National road, which
forms its boundary against North Union.  Its other
boundaries are Wharton township on the southeast,
Georges on the southwest, and Menallen on the west
and northwest. Its population by the last census
(1880) was eleven hundred and seventy-seven, including the village of Monroe.
The list (nearly complete) of the principal township officers of South Union from its formation until
the present time is given below, viz.:
JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.
1855. Abram  Iayden.        1868. Robert McDowell.
1856. John McCoy.                 Alexander Black.
James Piper.           1869. Isaac Marest.
1861. Hiram Miller.         1872. George W. Folke.
Benjamin F. Ham.       1873. John S. Dawson.
1862. Thomas Calhoun.       1874. Elias Freeman.
1866. Chauncey B. Hayden.   1875. Thomas Seman.
Thomas Seman.          1878. John Custead.
B. F. Hellen.          1880. William W. Canan.
1867. Samuel Shipley.       1881. Jesse Reed.
AUDITORS.
1851. James H. Springer
1853. Isaac Brownfield.
Samuel Hatfield.
1856. Thomas H. Fenn.
1857. Thomas Seman.
1858. H. C. Jeffries.
1859. Jeffries Hague.
1861. Abraham Hayden.
1862. Henry Sutton.
1863. Calvin Mosier.
1864. Ezra Seman.
1865. Robert Hagan.
1866. George Yeagley.
1851. Calvin Springer.
1852. John Sackett.
1853-54. Isaac Hutchins(
1855. I. A. Hague.
1857. John F. Foster.
1858. Henry Sutton.
1859-61. Win. D. Nesmitl
1862. Thomas Calhoun.
1863. Samuel Hatfield.
1864. Thomas Calhoun.
1865-66. James Hutchins
1867. Henry Sutton.
1868. Noah Brown.
1869. Henry Sutton.
Louis S. Williams.
1870. John Brownfield.
1876. William Parshall.
David S. Richie.
Perry G. White.
1877. Isaac Brownfield.
Joseph Hopwood.
1878. Joseph Hopwood.
David S. Richie.
1881. Charles L. Smith.
ASSESSORS.
1867-69. Calvin Mosier.
1870. James Hutchinson.
on.    1873. William E. Chick.
1874. Clark E. HIutchins.
1875. Calvin Mosier.
1877-78. William E. Chick.
h.          Calvin Mosier.
1879. William N. Canan.
1880. William T. Kennedy.
1881. Josiah V. Williams.
son.
SCHOOLS.
The first school in the township of South Union
was taught on the Hellen Hill farm, adjoining the
Peter Hook farm; another very early school was
taught on the Benjamin Brownfield farmn. Oliver
Sproull (who was a sergeant in Col. Hamtramck's
reg,iment) was a teacher here for about twenty years
in the early days.
In 1857 the county superintendent's report showed
that there were then in this township four schools
under five teachers and 278 school children. The
61 QzNORTH UNION AND SOUTH UNION TOWNSHIPS.
amount of tax levied for school purposes was $618.
The report of the school year of 1880-81 shows 242
pupils and five teachers. Total expenditure for school
purposes, $1088.15; valuation of school property,
$6000.
The township is divided into five school districts,
called Hatfield, Monroe, Hutchinson, Hague, and
Poplar Lane. The list of school directors from the
formation of the township to the present time is as
follows, as shown by the election returns, viz.:
SCHOOL DIRECTORS.
1851. Charles G. Turner.
Abraham Hayden.
1852. Samuel Hutchinson.
Isaac Wiggins.
John Hague.
1853. Charles G. Turner.
Henry Sutton.
1854. Samuel Hatfield.
Emmanuel Brown.
1855. Isaac Wiggins.
William Custead.
856. Charles G. Turner.
1857. Evan Moore.
Tobias Sutton.
1858. Thomas Seman.
Charles G. Turner.
1859. Isaac Wiggins.
Isaac Hutchinson.
1861. M. Fell.
Benjamin F. Hellen.
Basil Brownfield.
1862. Robert Bailey.
Christopher Riffle.
1863. Alfred Brown.
Thomas Seman.
1864. John Snyder.
Robert Hagan.
1865. Mahlon Fell.
Joseph Johnson.
1866. John C. Johnson.
Samuel Hatfield.
Calvin Mosier.
1866. Jefferson A. Hague.
1867. Thomas Seman.
John Snyder.
John Ring.
Isaac Hutchinson.
1868. Julius Shipley.
John Johnson.
1869. Porter Craig.
Robert Hagan.
Julius Shipley.
1870. Julius Shipley.
Noah Brown.
1873. Charles L. Smith.
Jesse Reed.
1874. H. C. Jeffries.
Isaac Hutchinson.
1875. Francis M. Seman.
Joseph I. Johnson.
]1876. John Brownfield.
James Laughead.
1877. H. C. Jeffries.
Jacob M. Beeson.
1878. T. P. Eicher.
John Davis.
1879. James A. Laughead.
Isaac A. Brownfield.
Robert T. Sutton.
Alfred Brown.
1880. Jacob M. Johnson.
1881. Elijah Hutchinson.
Addison C. Brant.
THE REDSTONE COKE-WORKS.
These works, owned and operated by J. W. Moore
 Co., are situated about three miles south of Uniontown, near the railroad leading from that town to
Fairchance. The property embraces about six hundred acres of land, with a frontage of nearly two miles
along the line of the railroad. A part of this land
was purchased in 1880, and the construction of ovens
then commenced. Qn the 1st of May, 1881, seventyfive were completed, and ninety-five have since been
added. It is the intention of the owners to increase
the number to three hundred.
The mine is entered by a slope or "dip-heading,"
with a grade of one foot in twelve, and has been extended to six hundred feet. Three hundred feet from
the entrance is the first fiat-heading, which extends
southward, and from this another runs parallel with
the slope-heading.
44
Several blocks of houses, each containing eight
roomis, and intended for use of the miners, have been
built at the works. A large brick store building has
also been erected. Two stone-quarries have been
opened on the property near the oven-beds. The
location of the works is near the head of a mountain
stream, which furnishes an abundant supply of pure
water. The coke manufactured here is contracted for
by J. D. Spearman Iron Company, in Mercer County,
Pa.
CHICAGO AND CONNELLSVILLE COKE COMPANY'S
WORKS.
The land on which the works of this company are
located (being a part of the McCoy tract, taken up in
1769) lies on the line of the Southwest Pennsylvania
Railroad, about three-fourths of a mile south of
Uniontown. About four hundred acres of coal right
and twenty-one acres of surface was purchased of
Greenbury Crossland and William Hopwood by Jasper M. Thompson, Alpheus E. Willson, Dr. Smith
Fuller, William H. Playford, Daniel Kaine, John
Snyder, Charles E. Boyle, and Thomas B. Schnatterly, and on the 14th of February, 1880, these gentlemen sold to Robert Montgomery, of Pittsburgh,
the twenty-one acres of surface, and the right to all
coal and minerals underlying three hundred and
twenty-six acres of their lands. Thereupon the Chicago and Connellsville Coke Company was formed,
consisting of Robert Montgomery, Mr. McNair, of
St. Louis, and Alexander J. Leith, of Chicago, the
last-named gentleman being its president. In the
month following the purchase they commenced the
sinking of the shaft and the construction of ovens, of
which one hundred and six had been completed by
the 1st of May, 1881, and one hundred and seventyeight have been added since that time. The shaft
has been sunk two hundred and seventy-eight feet,
and a derrick one hundred feet in height erected over
it. From the base of the shaft six entries (including
the air-course) radiate in different directions. The
main entry of fiat-heading was in July, 1881, two
hundred and twenty feet in length, and the one of the
other two hundred feet, rising towards the surface.
The company have erected at the works a large brick
store and thirty blocks of tenements for the use of
the miners and other employ6s.
The coal mined by this company is all manufactured into coke, and the producet of the ovens is sold
under contract to the Joliet Steel Company, of Joliet,
Ill., of which company Mr. Leith is also the president.
MONROE.
This town, located on the line between North and
South Union, was laid out by John Hopwood, Nov.
8, 1791, and by him then named Woodstock. The
tract of land upon which the towni was erected was
patenited by John Hopwood from Richard Penn,
Governor of Pennsylvania, April 1, 1786. The patent
685HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
granted four hundred and fifty acres lying in the
valley along Redstone Creek. Prior to this, viz.,
Nov. 23, 1785, he had purchased a tract of land from
James McClean, brother of Alexander McClean. In
addition to these valuable possessions, John Hopwood acquired by purchase from Moses Sutton two
other tracts of land bounding his other property on
the West. John Hopwood readily discerned that
his location was advantageous in many respects, being
on the old Braddock road, over which passed the
travelers from the East to the land of Boone, and
being at the base of the Laurel Hill, where the profuse water-power coming from the hills and flowing
through his possessions might be readily utilized for
driving mills and factories. The traveling traffic had
so increased that it became imperative to afford the
new-comers public-house accommodations. With all
these, and doubtless many additional views, John
Hopwood founded the town, and for the accomplishment of this design he set apart two hundred acres of
the land he had received by patent, and divided these
two hundred acres into four hundred lots.
The charter of the town guaranteed the following
benefits and general advantages, viz.: Each purchaser
of a lot was to have the privilege to enter upon a threehundred-acre tract lying contiguous to the town, and
take therefrom any stone or timnber necessary for the
erection of their buildings free of charge, also any
timber for the purpose of improving their lots in said
town, for the period of ten years from the date of their
respective purchases.  The terms of sale required
the purchaser to pay an annual ground-rent of onehalf a Spanish milled dollar or a bushel of wheat.
The founder of the town further stipulated that unless the purchasers of these lots or their heirs or assigns should improve their lots by building thereon a
good dwelling-house at least twenty-four feet front
and sixteen feet in depth, with sufficient stone or
brick chimney thereto, at or before the expiration of
five years from the date of the purchase, then the said
lot or lots should be forfeited to the grantor.
John Hopwood was a thorough scholar, and desiring that the inhabitants of the town might have facilities for acquiring education, he set apart for the
building and furnishing of an "Academy of Learning" all ground-rent which should becomne due and
be paid on the lots for the period of twenity years from
the date of the charter, together with all the moneys
arising from the sale of any lot or lots forfeited as
aforesaid for the space of twenty years, also one-fifth
part of the first purchase money of all lots in said
town for the same period, and to further the object
Alexander McClean, Dennis Springer, and Joseph
Huston, Esqs., or their successors in office, were to
act as trustees, to collect, receive, and hold the fund
for building and endowing the "Academy of Learning" in the said town, to be built whenever a majority of the inhabitants residing in and holding lots
in fee simple in the town, and proprietors of improved
lots although non-residents, should think the said fund
sufficiently large to warrant the undertaking of erecting such buildings as would be proper for an academy.
As a suitable location for the academy, he deeded
lots Nos. 1 and 2 to the inhabitants of the town and
their heirs and assigns forever, to be used for this and
for no other intent or purpose whatever. This academy was afterwards built, and in the minutes of the
Great Bethel Baptist Church are found resolutions
looking to their patronizing the "Union Academy of
Woodstock" as a denomination. This was July 19,
1794, and was doubtless one of the first academies in
this part of the State.
In the general plan of his town, lots Nos. 80 and 81
were reserved for a market-house, and "for the erection of said Academy and Market-House" the inhabitants were to have the privilege of using all the stone
and timber from the aforementioned three-hundredacre tract, free. The proprietor of the town had
granted so many privileges that the town grew rapidly. Among the earliest settlers and citizens of the
town were Nicholas Sperry, Moses Hunter, John
Haymaker, Nathaniel Wills, Edward Slater, John
Sockman, Joseph Chambers, Philip Koontz, Adam
Albert, Frederick Sniyder, Richard Holliday, Luke
D. Reddecoard, John Morrow, John Fessler, Richard
Bowen, Peter Lauch, Caleb Hall, Patrick Byrne, Ann
Barnholdt, Simon Lauck, John Formwalt, William
Tyler, William Thorn, Jacob Storm, George Tilley,
Johnston Smith, John Rhea, John Shietz, Jacob
Clowser, John Schley, Alexander Smith, Alexander
Doylte, Joseph Semmes, Henry Walker, William
Deakins, Jr., George Gilpin, Robert Peters, Johni
Leese, John C. Sneider, John Ritchie, Josiah Starberry, Isaac Sutton, Sr., Peter Deast, Sr., Zacheus
Morgan, Christian Street, Archibald McClean, Margaret Reynolds, Isaac Sutton, Jr., Daniel Roberdean,
David Russell, William M. Lemmon, William Lemmon, Sr., Samuel Sutton, Christopher Sowers, and
William Lucas.
In 1793 the occupations of some of the lot-owners
and residents of the town were as follows, viz.: Patrick Byrn, merchant; George Tilley, merchant; Christian Street, minister; Isaac Sutton, Sr., minister;
John C. Sneider, physician; Hanson  Bond, printers; Richard Bowen, printer; Nathaniel Willis,
printer; Simon Lauck, gunsamith; John Foornwalt,
baker; William Tyler, bookbinder; John Shietz,
gunsmith; John Clowser, blacksmith; John Schley,
coppersmith; John Haymaker, blacksmith; Edward
Slater, cabinet-maker; Adam Albert, blacksmith;
John Fessler, clock-maker; Joseph Chambers, blacksmith; Peter Lauck, tavern-keeper; Caleb Hall, cabinet-maker; Philip Koontz, butcher.
Thus the town grew and prospered. In 1802, John
Hopwood, the proprietor, died. In 1816, Moses Hopwood, the only son of the founder, who by will had
inherited all the wealth of his father, decided to lay
out an addition to the town. At that time the Na686NORTH UNION AND SOUTH UNION TOWNSIIIPS.
tional road was rapi(lly allpproaclling Monroe, and as
it was completed from point to point supplanted the
old "Braddock road." During the Presidential campaign of 1816, James Monroe came through here on
his trip westward, and was the guest of Moses Hopwood, who informed the Presidential candidate of his
intention to enlarge and rename the town, and asked
Mr. Monroe what he should call it. The future President requested that it be named for him, and accordingly when the town had been completed in plan in
May, 1818, it was so named,-Monroe. Prior to this
(in 1817) he had christened one of his sons for the
President. The new town was laid out so as to conform to the original Woodstock plat. It consisted of
eighty-eight lots. The front or main street received
the name of Franklin, and afterwards became the
National road.  The other principal streets were
Perry, Findlay, Washington, Jefferson, and Madison.
Among the first lot-owners may be mentioned William Hart, Isaac Beeson, James Watkins, Jesse
Barnes, John Farr, John Farr, Jr., James Barnes,
Rachel Bebout, Robert Cooper, Reuben Mockabee,
Rebecca Allen, John Custead, William Morris, Julian
Wood, Hannah M. Wood, Samuel Hall, Zachariah
White, Patrick Bradley, Thomas Hopwood, James
Hopwood, Gaddis Hopwood, Elisha Hyatt, James
McLucas, Jacob Harbaugh, Henry Barber, Hiram
Miller, David Davis, William Hopwood, Enoch W.
Clement, Rice G. Hopwood, William Beattie, and
Joseph Fisher.
From 1818 until the opening of the railway system
the National road was the great thoroughfare of travel
between the East and West, and during all this period of more than thirty years this town enjoyed a
prosperity that few towns of equal size participated
in to such an extent. To illustrate the business which
was done in the tow-n during its prosperous years, it
need but be mentioned that acres of covered wagons
could be seen every night in the week in Monroe, and
from five to ten thousand head of hogs and cattle
were centred at this point every evening, so that the
drovers might get an early start over the mountains
before daylight in the morning. Then, in addition to
these caravans and trains of covered wagons, there
were numerous gangs of slaves on their way from
Virginia to Kentucky. The town of Monroe was the
place which all travelers aimed to reach at night, so
that they might be fresh for the task of passing over
the mountains in the early morning. As further indicative of the prominence and importance of the
town, the proposition to change the county-seat from
Uniontown to Monroe was at one time considered.
Gaddis Hopwood, Esq., made the argument in favor
of the change, but the larger town continued the
county-seat.
TAVERNS.
One of the first requisites in a town is accommodation for the traveling public; this necessity brings
public-houses into existence. Soon after the founding of Woodstock, in 1791, tavern-houses were opened
there by John De Ford, James McLucas, Jesse Barnes,
Lewis Williams, and Benjamin Minton. At that time
it was considered a good day's travel to drive from
Woodstock to John Slack's, only four miles distant,
but that was prior to the existence of the National
road, when the old Braddock road was too rough for
vehicles. When the addition had been made other
tavern stands sprung up in rapid succession on the
new Main Street.
The John De Ford tavern was the first in the new
town. His stone building was erected in 1818. The
persons who did the stone-work were John Sutton,
Matthias Chipps, and his son, David Chipps; the
carpenter-work was done by Gabriel Getzendiner,
John Farr, and Elias Freeman. Mr. John De Ford
kept it as a hotel for a number of years, and then removed to Carrollton, Ohio. Matthias Frey succeeded
him in the business, and then Henry Fisher. It is
now used as a residence.
The German D. Hair tavern-house was built in
1818, by William Morris. He sold it to Thomrnas
Brownfield, March 13, 1822, after which it was completed, the stone-work being done by Benjamin
Goodin, Robert Cooper, John Sutton, and John Harvey, Sr., and the carpenter-work by Gabriel Getzendiner and Enos West. After William Morris retired
from it, Joseph Noble, Andrew McMasters, and German D. Hair occupied it as a tavern.
The Morris tavern was built by William Morris in
1823, on an elevated site west of the town. This
building was of brick. The mason-work was done
by Benjamin Goodin and Matthias Chipps, and the
carpenter-work by Elias Freeman, Gabriel Getzendiner, and John Farr. William Morris kept this,
his second public-house, for a number of years, and
was succeeded by Calvin Morris and Matthias Frey.
May 22, 1846, it was sold to Moses Hopwood, James
Hopwood, Gaddis Hopwood, and John N. Freemian.
Since that time the house has been occupied as a residence by the person operating the coal farm, which
was sold with the house.
The Andrew McMasters tavern was built in 1825.
The stone-work was done by Abraham Beagle, John
Harvey, and William Harvey. The carpenters were
James Thirlwell, Enos West, Gabriel Getzendiner,
and Lawrence Griffith. The following persons occupied it as a public-house: Andrew McMasters, Lott
Clawson, Enos W. Clement, Thomas Acklin, Matthias
Frey, James Shaffer, and John Worthington, after
which it passed into the possession of Benjamin
Hayden, and has since been used as a residence.
The Clement House, since known as the Shipley
Hotel, was erected by Enoch Wilson Clement in
1839. John Harvey, Jr., did the stone-work. Mr.
687HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUJNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Clement kept it five years, at the expiration of which
time it was sold to Col. Benjamin Brownfield, whose
son, Elijah Brownfield, kept it as a tavern two years.
It then went into the following hands successively:
Benjamin Brownfield, Jr., Archibald Skiles, John
Worthington, John Wallace, Matthias Frey. Aaron
Wyatt then bought the property, and after keeping
hotel one year sold it in 1858 to Samuel Shipley,
who sold it to his son Julius, after which it was
rented to Ezra Burke, Redding Bunting, and Lindsay
Messmore. The property is at present in the possession of A. C. Brant, and is by him used as a dwellinghouse.
The Miller Hotel, a large stone building, was
erected by Moses Hopwood, Jr., as a residence. He
disposed of it to Elisha Hyatt, who in a few years
resold it to Hiram Miller. The latter gentleman
kept a public-house for some twenty years. Since
then it has been used as a private residence by Mrs.
M. M. Beeson.
The Frame Tavern building was originally intended as a dwelling-house when erected by William
Ellis. He afterwards disposed of it to Matthias
Frey, and that gentleman enlarged it and converted
it into a tavern. He was succeeded in business by
James Dennison and Thomas Acklin.
STORES.
The first store in the town was opened by Reuben
Mockabee. In it was kept a general assortment of
dry-goods and groceries. He kept in Woodstock,
and when Monroe was laid out removed to Franklin
Street, and built a store and residence where the
dwelling of Mrs. Elizabeth Hays is at present. Mr.
Mockabee afterwards removed to Brownsville. Benjamin Hayden was the next to follow the mercantile
business in the town, and he was soon followed by
Gaddis Hopwood, Thomas Hopwood, James Hopwood, and Monroe Hopwood. These brothers were not
in partnership, but kept the store in succession. The
last one, Monroe Hopwood, carried on the business
for twenty-five years. Coming on down through the
history of the town, the following persons are found
engaged in store-keeping, viz.: James Canan, Joseph
Peach, William Shipley (who in 1865 bought the
store of Benjamin Hayden), Jacob Llewellyn, and
A. S. Ingles, who in 1868 sold out to Frank M. Semans, but in 1870 embarked in the business again.
In thirteen years Mr. Ingles sold one hundred thousand dollars' worth of goods in Monroe. F. M. Semans
has carried on the business successfully for thirteen
years past in the old store occupied by the Hopwood
brothers in former days. Other merchants have been
James E. Goff, N. H. Black, W. H. Cottom, Morgan
Canan, A. Shipley, and Benjamin Kissinger.
MANUFACTORIES.
As early as 1810, David Wilcox made shoes, boots,
and moccasins in this town, and Hezekiah Reinier
and Thomas Barnes tanned and dressed deerskins
for leather breeches, which were at that time considered necessary to an aristocratic dress.
Among the earliest industries of the town was that
of wagon-making. The needs of the times when all
the travel was overland brought these shops into existence. John Farr and John Hannah were the first
wagon-makers in the town. They carried on the business for a number of years, and were succeeded in 1830
by Lott Clawson, who has carried on the business
for fifty years. In the mean time others have established themselves here, among whom were Horatio
Griffith, who carried on the business some ten years,
and then John Custead, who is yet engaged in it.
The first to engage in blacksmithing in the town
were Dennis Bryan and Lewis Williams. These were
followed by Zachariah White, John Johnson, Philip
Horner, Fogg Jenkins, William Amos, Jonas Pratt,
Joseph and David Fisher, William Wallace, Bryson
Devan, Samuel Hickle, and O. Devan.
At one time there was an extensive comb manufactory in Monroe, the business being carried on by
Thomas Nesmith. From 1828 until 1855 he conducted the business, and most of the.time had peddlers on the road selling the product of his horn-comb
manufactory.
About 1840, William Graham opened a chair- and
wheelwright-factory, and this remained in operation
until 1847, at which time the works were renoved to
Waynesburg, Pa.
In 1832-33, Thomas Hopwood, now of Oregon, had
built the Monroe Flouring-Mill, which has been successfully carried on ever since. Jacob Dutton was
the contractor and millwright.
For the past twenty years John Ingles has been
carrying on the business of broom-making in the
town.
Isaac Barkley has followed the harness- and saddlemaking business a great number of years, and thousands of specimens of his workmanship are in the
country.
A carding-machine was put in operation here about
1820 by George Gregg and William Stumph. They
carried on the business for a number of years.
TRIP-HAMMER FORGE.
Soon after 1800 there was a trip-hammer forge
constructed in the townI of Monroe (then Woodstock)
by the Hopwoods. This was called Vulcan Forge,
and in 1800 John Hopwood had all of the materials
in readiness for its construction.  Soon after (in
1802) he died, and his soln Moses completed the
work. This forge and trip-hammer was in operation
some fifteen years. It is said that Nathaniel Mitchell had charge of it for a time, and in 1815 Lewis
Williams bought it from Moses Hopwood, and the
consideration was payable in a good assortment of
hoes, axes, mattocks, plow-irons, and shovels before April 1, 1818. The cupola and trip-hammer
688NORTH UNION AND SOUTH UNION TOWNSHIPS.
were operated by the stream of water which flows
through "Lick Hollow."
DISTILLERY.
There was a distillery in the southern limits of
Monroe. It was owned by Joseph Frazier, and then
by James Calhoun. Long since it was removed from
the stream of water where it was located, and a residence was made of it on the front street in Monroe.
THE PROFESSIONS.
These have been well represented from Monroe.
Among the lawyers of the place we have Rice G.
Hopwood, for many years one of the foremost members of the Fayette County bar, and Albert Hayden,
an active practitioner at Fairmount, W. Va.
Among the physicians of Monroe may be mentioned Jordan Morris, son of William Morris, who
is now practicing in the West; Thomas Hudson Hopwood, son of William  Hopwood, Esq., who was a
promising young physician at the breaking out of
the Rebellion, and allowing his patriotism to overcome his other desires, he enlisted, passed through
the war, and came home in 1867 a major in the
United States army, to die from injuries and wounds
received on the battle-field.
Moses Hopwood, son of Rev. James Hopwood, removed t5 Iowa, where he practiced medicine a
number of years, and finally yielded to that fell destroyer consumption.
Dr. Alonzo Hopwood, now of Vinton, Iowa, was
born in this town, and removed to his new home in
1861.
Dr. William H. Hopwood, son of William Hopwood, Esq., now located at Upper Middletown, Fayette Co., is a graduate of Jefferson Medical College,
Philadelphia, Pa., class of 1876.
Among the clergymen who have labored in Monroe
may be mentioned the following:
James Hopwood, son of Moses Hopwood, Sr., began his ministerial career in 1827, and was for many  
years an efficient preacher in the Methodist Church.
He died March 4, 1881, at his home in Vinton, Iowa.
William Ellis commenced preaching at the same
time James Hopwood did. Subsequently he united
with the Baptist Church, but has now ceased labor on
account of age.
James Brown, pastor of the Baptist Church at Confluence, Pa., commenced his ministry in the Monroe
Methodist Protestant Church.
William Wallace was formerly a blacksmith in the
town. Having been converted, he left the forge and
anvil to preach the glad tidings to the world of sinners.
He is now a successful preacher in the Pittsburgh
Conference, Methodist Protestant Church.
Moses Hopwood, Sr., Gaddis Hapwood, and Thomas
Nesmith were all useful as local ministers.
CHURCHES.
The earliest church organization in the town was
the Methodist Episcopal. This society was formed as
early as 1825, at which time, and for several subsequent years, they had preaching at the residence of
Moses Hopwood, Sr., when such eloquent divines as
John H. Fielding, Charles Elliot, Henry B. Bascom,
John A. Watermnan, James G. Sansom, and Thomas
M. Hudson preached to this society. In 1830 the
Methodist Protestant Church was organized, and
many seceded from the Methodist Episcopal Church
and united with the new organization. The early
members of the church prior to the formation of the
new society were Joseph Frazier, Stephen Brown,
Hannah Hopwood, Moses Hopwood, Gaddis Hopwood, Thomas Farr, Lucy Farr, Mrs. Brown, John
De Ford, Lydia De Ford, James Hopwood, William
Hopwood, Thomas J. Nesmith, and William Ellis.
In 1833 the Methodist Episcopal Church, under
the pastorate of Rev. J. K. Miller, built the stone
church in which they still worship. The succeeding
ministers who have cared for the spiritual welfare of
this society and congregation are as follows, viz.:
Revs. John White, David L. Dempsey, David Hess,
William Tipton, Hamilton Cree, Warner Long, Ebenezer Hays, Henry Kerns, Richard Jordan, John L.
Irwin, Samuel Wakefield, R. Gordon, Martin Stewart,    Ruter,       MeClaig, John S. Lemon, L.
R. Beacom, Joseph Horner, Henry Long, William K.
Foutch, William C. P. Hamilton, Walter K. Brown,
H. Snyder, S. Show, Isaac P. Sadler, John Mclntire,
E. B. Griffin, T. H. Wilkinson, Homer J. Smith, W.
D. Stevens, H. L. Chapman, J. L. Stiffy, Charles MeCaslin, J. Momeyer, D. J. Davis, Sylvanus Lane, M.
D. Lichliter, R. J. White, John T. Stiffy, and the
present pastor, Rev. W. L. McGrew.
When this circuit was first organized the charge
was in the Uniontown Circuit, afterwards changed
to Fayette Circuit. It has since received the name
of Smithfield Circuit. Since its organization this
society has had the following persons as class-leaders,
viz.: Moses Hopwood, Gaddis Hopwood, Jesse Sacket
Perry G. White, Monroe Hopwood, George Hopwood,
Jesse Reed.
In 1828 and 1829, under Charles Elliot, there was a
great revival, which lasted through the sumnmer and
winter, and there were about one hundred and fifty
accessions to the church. This revival, under the
same preacher, swept all Uniontown and Madison
College, and hundreds were there converted. This is
said to have been the most remarkable revival of religion ever known in this part of the country.
THE METHODIST PROTESTANT CHURCH.
As has been previously stated, there was a division
in the church in 1829. In 1833, soon after the Methodist Episcopal Church had succeeded in building a
house of worship, the Methodist Protestant Church
also erected a church edifice. Their first class con689
r95
HiSTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Pitt, Gen. Irvine, to  secure  his countenance  and   proceeded  northwestwardly, receiving  conlsiderable
approbation.   That  this  was  successfully  accom-   accessions to their numbers from  the settlements on
plished  is shown  by the  following  extract from   a   Ten-Mileand-atCatfish.' Fromthelatterpointthey
letter written  by the general to President Moore of  moved  on  through  Washington  County  and  across
the Council, dated Fort Pitt, Mav 9, 1782, viz.:             what is now  known as the Pan Handle of West Vir"A  volunteer expedition is talked of against San-   ginia (wlhere their numbers were still further augdusky, which, if well conducted, may be of great ser-   mented) to the Ohio River, at a point on its left bank
vice to this country; if they behave well on this oc-   opposite Mingo Bottom,' the appointed rendezvous of
casion  it niay also in  some  measure  atone for the   the expedition, where the volunteers had been directed
barbarity  they  are  charged  with  at  Muskingum.   to assemble on the 20th of May.
They have consulted me, and shall have every coun-              The enthusiasm  in favor of the expedition was so
tenance in my power if their nunmbers, arrangements,   great in  the settlements and among the volunteers
etc., promise a prospect of success."   There is in the   that as early as the 15th of the inonth a great proportone of this letter an evident resolve on the part of  tion  of thein lhad made all their arrangements3 and
the general that this new  expe(lition should be very   were on their way to the place of meeting.  But they
different in character from that wlhich had so recently   did not all arrive at the time appointed, and it was not
and so barbarously executed  vengeance against the   until the niorning of the 24th that the last of the volunresisting Moravians; and this was afterwards made   unteers had  crossed from   the Virginia side to the
still more apparent by his determined opposition to   rendezvous.  When, on the same day, the forces were
Col. Williamson as commander.                                mustered on the Mingo Bottom, it was found that four
The direction and conitrol of the projected expedi-   hunidred  and  eighty4 mounted -mnen  were  present,
tiOnl was, of course, with Gen. Irvine, as the command-   ready and eag,er for duty. 5  Of this number fully
inig officer of the department.  " It was as carefully   three hundred were from  Washington County, while
considered  and  as authoritatively  planned  as aiiy   of the remainder the greater part were from  the terrimilitary enterprise in the West during the Revolution.  tory of the present county of Fayette, only a comparAs a distinct undertakinig, it was intended to be effect-   atively small number lhaving beel raised in the other
ual in ending the troubles upon the western frontiers   parts of Westmoreland, and about twenty in the Pan
of Pennsylvania and Virginia.  Its promoters were   Handle of Virginia.6
not only the principal military and civil officers in           Following is a list of men from  wlhat is now  Faythe Western Department, but a large proportion of  ette County who accompanied the  expedition.  The
the best-knowvn and most influential private citizens."'      W
I Nowv Washington, the cotiiity-seat of W\a.slsiilgton Coulnt,y, Pa.
According to the plan of the expedition, it was to be                2 Mingo Bottom, the site of the "Old Mingo Town," is on the west
made up  of volunteers, each  one of whom   was to   baiik of the Ohlio River, about two aud a half miles below Steubenville,
equip himself with a horse, armns, and supplies; and   Ohio.' Butterfield, inl his " Expedition against Sanduisky," says, " It is a trait was given out, and not doubted, that the State of  dio-a,a etbihdf ct-htmn,aie rmhsodnr
n        X                       ditl.oii-iiay, aii establislhled fact-tliat nmariy, afside fi-oiii the ordinlary arPennsylvania would reimburse all who might sustain   rangements necessary for a nmontlh's absenice (llot son mulch, hvowever,
losses in the campaign.  Great exertions were mnade   fronm a presenitimiienit of disaster as from that prudence whdich careful and
to  induce men  to  volunteer, and  the  result wXtas a1  thlouiglhtful men are pronie to exercise), execuited deeds'il consideration
of love anid affection,' anid imianiy witnesses were calledi inl to suibscribe
rapid recruitment.  Many wlho were willing to serve   to'last wills and testaments."'  The comlnmanider of the expedition, Col.
in  the expedition were unable to equip themselves   Crawford, executed his will before departinig oni the fatal journey to the
for a campaign in the Indian country, but in iiearly   Wyandot towns.
4  Lieut. John Rose (usually mentioned in accoutits of the expedition
all such  cases some  friend  was found  who  would   as MW1ij. Itose), an aide-de-camp of Gen. Irvine, whlo liad beeii detailed for
loan  a horse or furnish  supplies.   The  dangerous   the sanie duty witlh the commanider of this expedition, wrote to the genand desperate nature of the enterprise was fully un-   eral oil tise eveninig of the 24Lth fironi Mingo Bottom, anid in the letter lie
derstood, yet such enthusiasm   was exllibited  in all  said, "Our number is actually four hunidred tnd eiglhty mieni." Tlhiswas
a n,ore favorable resuilt thiani had been anticipated, as is shiown by a letthe  settlements that in  the  early part of May the   ter writteni three days before (May 21st) to Gen. Washington by Gen. Irnumber of mnen obtained  was regarded as sufficienlt   vine, in which the latter said, "  The volunteers are assemibling this day
for the successful accomplishment of the purposes of  at Minigo Bottom, all on horseback, withli tlhirty days' provisions.... If
nubthir iiiimnber exceeds tlhree lhundred I am of opinlioIn they nsay succeed,
the campaign.                                                 as their march will be so rapid they will probably, ill a great degree,
The  volunteers  composing   the  expedition   were   effect a surprise."
nearly all from   the  country thenl comprised  in  the'"All were in hilh spirits. Everywhaere around there was a pleasurable excitement. Jokes were banidied and sorrows at partinig withl loved
counties of Westmoreland  and Washington.  Of those   ones at home quite forgotten, at least could outward appearances be relied
raised  in the former county many were from   the vi-  ulpoIn. Nevertheless furtive glanices uip the western lJillsides into tlle
cinity  of Uniontown  and Georges Creek, and  from    deeep woods kept alive in the mnintdds of some the dangerous purpose of all
einity  ofUniontownaiid  Geores  Creelc   and   from this bustle anid activity."-Buaterfieldm's Historical.4ccowaa of the Expedi
the  valleys   of  the  Youghiogheny   and   Redstone.  tion against Sandusky under Col. William Crawford.                 p
These  collected   at Redstone   Old   Fort, whlere they             6Col. Marshal, of Washington County, in a letter addressed to Gen.
were joined  by men  from   the settlements lower down   Irvine, dated May 29, 1782, claimed that of the 480 men composing tlle
the  Monongahela  and  Youghiogheny.   Crossing  the   forces of the expedition 320 wvere from hlis cournty, 20 fr-om Ohlio Couinty,
t n1a., and the remainder (or, as he said, about 130) frorn the county of
Monongahela  at the  mouth  of Dunlap's Creek, they   Westmioreland, includinig the present territory of Fayette.HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
sisted of the following persons, viz.: Joseph Frazier,
John De Ford, Sr. (who afterwards removed to Ohio
and died there, aged one hundred and four years),
Samuel Littell, Stephen Brown, Sr., James Hopwood,
Louisa Hopwood, Thomas Hopwood, Elizabeth Hopwood, Thomas Brownfield, Obadiah Ellis, Thomas
Nesmith, Lydia De Ford, Harriet De Ford, William
De Ford, Elizabeth De Ford, Hannah Brownfield,
Margaret Rankin, Margaret Frazier, William Ellis,
Margaret Devan, and Moses Farr. James Hopwood
was the first class-leader.  His successors in that
office were Thomas J. Nesmith, William De Ford,
Moses Farr, Stephen K. Brown, John Bennington, Sr.
The first preacher for this church was Moses Scott,
who was followed by the following-named ministers:
Thomas Stynchicum (who afterwards intermarried
with the family of "Stonewall" Jackson), John Huntsman, James Robinson, John Burrs, William College,
Porter,      Piper, D. B. Dorsey, James Hopwood, John Scott (now editor of the Methodist Recorder), John Woodruff, Valentine Lucas, Joseph
Burns,      Ross, John Stillion, Denton Hughes, P.
T. Laishley, Amos Hutton, William Betts, F. H.
Davis, Isaac Francis, -   Boulton, Henry Palmer,
Joel Woods, Jesse Hull, James Phipps, John Tygert,
John Patton, John Rutledge, M. Stillwell, P. T. Conaway, Henry Lucas, Geo. G. Conaway, William Wallace, and E. A. Brindley.
Prior to 1833 this church held their services in an
old log house which had been fitted up as a schoolhouse.
SABBATH-SCHOOLS.
For a great many years the Methodist Episcopal
and Methodist Protestant congregations have had
Sabbath-schools here in connection with the churches.
The Methodist Episcopal Sabbath-school has been
very prosperous during the term of its existence. The
present superintendent is Mr. George Hopwood, under
whose management it has taken front rank among the
live schools of the county; and from the report made
at the late county convention of Sabbath-school
workers we glean the fact that there were sixty colnversions in this school during the year 1880. At
present the number of officers, teachers, and scholars
on the roll is about two hundred and ninety. Other
superintendents and prominent workers have been
John Custead, N. H. Black, John S. Dawson, James
Reed, O. Devan, J. E. Goff, Monroe Hopwood, Simon
Matson, James Williams, A. Hayden, A. Shipley,
Daniel Crawford, M. Silbaugh.
THE METHODIST PROTESTANT SABBATH-SCHOOL
is at present in excellent condition, and in the past
it has done good work. Among the superintendents
may be mentioned William Barnes, Thomas G. Barnes,
Jacob D. Moore, and Abram Hayden. Prominent
among the workers have been Moses Farr, Rhinaldo
Farr, Mrs. L. W. Clawson, Mrs. W. N. Canan, and
Mrs. Priscilla White. This school has the names of
about one hundred and fifty teachers, officers, and
scholars upon its roll.
SCHOOLS.
After the death of John Hopwood his academy
was discontinued, yet the desire for knowledge had
received such an imnpetus that it never ceased to exist,
and to the teachers and the schools the town owes
much of its prosperity. One of the earliest teachers
was Alexander Clear, a lame man, who had some
thirty pupils, and boarded at the home of Moses
Hopwood, Sr. Following him were William Downer,
J. Muckadoo, Samlluel Lathrop, Mr. Rolin, William
Hart (a surveyor and teacher), Mr. Sproul, Mr.
Canby, John I. Dorsey, Benjamin Hayden, William
Ellis, Calvini Watson, Abram Hayden, Messrs. Vandingburg,' and      Morton.  After this time the
common school law of Pennsylvania came into effect,
and a stone school-house was built on the site of the
present frame building. William Ellis was the first
teacher after the enactment of the new school law.
At that time Col. Samuel Evans and William Bryson
were directors in Union township.
In 1851 the township was divided for school purposes, and the old brick school-house was erected in
South Union. The first teacher in this school was J.
P. Blair. The school-house was torn down a few
years since, and a new brick building erected in its
place.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
LEVI SPRINGER.1
Levi Springer, a notable and characterful man of
his times, was born in North Uniontown, Aug. 14,
1777, and died Feb. 15, 1862. His ancestors came to
America from Sweden, but his stock was remotely
German. The name "Springer" was given, in sport,
by an emperor of Germany, in the eleventh century,
to a relation of his, in consequence of an adventurous
leap by the latter into the river Saale from the castle
of Geibichenstein, where he had been imprisoned for
an alleged crime. This original Springer was pardoned by the emperor, and his estates and powers
also increased.
Dennis Springer, the grandfather of Levi Springer,
lived in early life in New Jersey, where he married
at Burlington, in 1736, Ann Prickett, where, it is said
to be without doubt, Josiah, Levi, Sr., and other
children were born to him. Levi, born 1744, married,
about 1768, Annie Gaddis, by whom he had seven
children,-Drusilla, Abner, Ruth, Annie, William,
1 For the "etymology" of the name Springer, and above-mentioned
facts concerning Dennis Springer, the writer is indebted to the "Genealogical Table and History of the Springer Family, by II. C. Springer, of
Lincoln, Kan."
690,"I,- -
k  ,z,
-   ( -          --/,
7z ),X. I
/')                                  i, -,,z/                                            V//,eowlf
(  I                       --lNORTH UNION AND SOUTH UNION TOWNSHIPS.
Zadoc, and Levi, Jr. His wife died in 1778, and in
1780 he married the widow Sarah Duke (whose
maiden name was Shephard), by whom he had eight
children,-Sarah, Hannah, Elizabeth, Lydia, Rachel,
David, Dennis, and Job. Levi, Sr., died March 26,
1823, and his second wife, Sarah, Oct. 25, 1832. Dennis eventually moved to Virginia, and purchased
and settled upon land surveyed to him on Apple-Pie
Ridge by George Washington. It was obtained from
Fairfax, who resided in the neighborhood. Levi
Springer, Sr., lived for a time with his father, Dennis,
in Virginia, where he married, and where were born
two of his children, with whom and their mother he
removed into Fayette County about 1773, and here
theyounger Levi, as noted above, was born, and here
raised, being instructed in childhood, according to the
manner of the times, in domestic private schools.
Early in life he engaged in boating from Brownsville
to New Orleans, La., and frequently made return
trips horne from that far-off point on horseback
thlrough the wilderness, though sometimes coming
back by vessel as far as New York. His active lifetime home was within a quarter of a mile of his birthplace, which is now in possession of the family of
Dennis Springer (deceased), having never been sold
since first taken possession of by the elder Levi under
the law of "tomahawk improvement."
Mr. Springer after his boating days led the life of a
farmer mainly, but occasionally dealt in real estate,
and withal became a man of wealth. His judgment
of the value of lands and other property was excellent, and leading operators in his vicinity were wont
to consult him when proposing to invest their money.
He bore an unsullied character for integrity, was a
man of large stature, very energetic, of strong will,
and, it is said, never failed to accomplish what he
undertook. Ile was an old-line Whig, and afterwards
a Republican, taking earnest interest in politics.
In the spring of 1828 he married Catharine Todd,
a widow (whose maiden name was Condon), and who
had one child, John O. Todd, who resides in North
Union township. Mr. and Mrs. Springer (who died in
March, 1859) were the parents of three daughters,Ruth Ann, who married Henry W. Gaddis; Kate,
married to John Fuller; and Priscilla G., wife of
D. O. Cunningham, of Pittsburgh.
JOHN JONES.
Mr. John Jones is the grandson of one of the first
settlers of Humnmeltown, near Reading, Pa., and the
son of John Jones (Sr.), who migrated, with his wife,
from Berks County to Fayette County, and settled in
Union township in 1792. His mnother was Sarah
Lincoln, of Quaker ancestry, the daughter of Mordecai Lincoln, born in the neighborhood of Hummeltown, and of the same stock as Abraham Lincoln, the
martyred President. Mr. Jones was born near where
he now lives, Oct. 8, 1802, the youngest child of his
parents, who had two sons and three daughters. In
childhood Mr. Jones went to the common schools,
and enjoyed the instructions of a gentleman who
afterwards became the distinguished Judge James
Todd, and at sixteen years of age attended a select,
school for a while. In 1819 he was apprenticed to
learn the trade of cabinet-making, at which, as apprentice and journeyman, he continued for five years,
during which he took a course of book-keeping.
Thereafter for two summers he was occupied with the
civil engineers who made the United States surveys
for the then contemplated extension of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal westward from Cumberland,
under Capt. Shriver. He next engaged for a while
in stock-driving, wherein he obtained an experience
which has since in life availed him profitably as a
stock-raiser and dealer. In 1826 he betook himself
to the life of a farminer, stock-raiser, etc., which he has
since pursued. In 1835 he bought a farm, which he
now occupies, and to which he has added until it now
covers about two hundred and forty acres of excellent
land, one hundred and twenty acres of which are underlaid with the celebrated nine feet stratum of Connellsville coking coal. On July 26, 1851, he suffered
a notable disaster in the destruction of his house and
farm buildings, near midnight, through a violent tornado, being then obliged to retreat from his house
with a family of thirteen persons. He rebuilt the
house and barns in the same year.
Mr. Jones is a life-long Democrat, but not a politician, always averring that he would not accept
political office on any condition. He is, and has been
for forty-seven years, a member of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, having been steward nearly all
that time. During his long life of eighty years he
has borne himself with unquestioned fidelity to duty,
and enjoys among his neighbors a high character for
probity and honorable business dealing.
He was in June, 1826, united in marriage with
Jane Van Horn, of Fayette County, who died Feb.
10, 1879, in her seventy-seventh year, and by whom
he had five sons and six daughters, all of whom
reached majority, and eight of whom are now living.
SAMUEL M. CLEMENT.
Mr. Samuel M. Clement, of English descent and
Quaker stock, was born at Camden, N. J., Aug. 8,
1798, and emigrated thence with his father and family
to Fayette County at the age of twelve years. He
was educated at the schools of Uniontown, and resided on a farm in North Union township for a number of years. About 1834 he kept a hotel in the
mountains at the old Inks stand, half a mile east of
Farmington; and about 1835 he and a partner took
and prosecuted a valuable contract for macadamizing
on the Nationtal road, a few miles east of Wheeling,
691HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
W. Va. Leaving the mountains he removed to his farm
in North Union township, where he conducted for
several years, and very successfully, a woolen-mill,
which he subsequently converted into a grist-mill
that is still in operation. Mr. Clement died Jan. 8,
1876.
He was a gentleman of genial temperament, jovial,
possessed of much humor, and of course was very
social. Honest in all his business transactions, he
was held in high esteem by his neighbors. He was
especially remarkable for the purity of his life, and
despised all such vices as profanity. Although not
a communicant, he attended and aided in the support
of the Baptist Church. In politics he was an earnest
Republican, and the very last time he left his house
it was for the purpose of going to the polls, as a matter of duty to his country as he regarded it. During
the war of the Rebellion he was, though too old to
go into the field, one of the most ardent of patriots,
giving all his moral influence and much of his time
and money to the furtherance of the cause of the
Union.
In 1823, Mr. Clement married Miss Rebecca
Springer, daughter of Jacob Springer, of Uniontown. His wife died only a few months before him,
on the 20th of September, 1875. They had nine children, only one of whom is now living, Miss Elizabeth Clement, who resides on the old homestead and
skillfully manages the farm.
ISAAC BROWN.
Among the active, practical men who have contributed to the prosperity of Fayette County is the
now venerable Isaac Brown, of South Union township, who was born Jan. 4, 1802, in Georges township,
less than a mile from his present home. Mr. Brown's
grandfather, Emanuel Brown, came from Germany,
and was one of the earliest settlers of Fayette County,
whose son Abraham, the father of Isaac, settled upon
a tract of land lying near Uniontown, on which Isaac
Brown now lives, and one of the most valuable tracts
of the region. Abraham, the father, was born on the
same spot oil which Isaac first saw the light. Isaac
was married first to Sarah Hutchinson, Aug. 23,1829.
Sarah died July 30, 1834. By this marriage there
were three children,-Mary A., who died in infancy;
Sarah, who died April 6, 1876; and Phebe A., who
married Robert Brownfield. They have one living
child, Robert.  Isaac was married again Jan. 6,
1839, to Mrs. Mary Jane Grier. To them were born
four children,-Caroline, Clarissa, Elizabeth, and
Isaac Skiles Brown, who married Helen Moore, and
resides upon his father's farm. They have two children,-Carrie May and Isaac. Mary Jane died Sept.
19, 1875.
The rule of Mr. Brown's life has been, "Owe no
man anything." He is ami acnte business man, is
hospitable, and respected by his neighbors for his
honesty and charity. He has always been an ardent
Democrat, casting his first Presidential vote for Andrew Jackson. His memory is retentive, and he delights in relating incidents in the early history of the
county. His race is nearly run. and he realizes the
truth of the proverbial saying, "Once a man twice a
child."
BASIL BROWNFIELD.
Basil Brownfield, one of the most remarkable meli
who ever lived in Fayette County, or any other part
of the world, died at his residence in South Union
township, Aug. 21, 1881, in the eighty-sixth year of
his age. It is a matter of but little importance from
what stock was descended, or where was born and
reared, or what special business in life was followed
by such a man as he; for nature gave him stature and
intellect of such large proportions as to derelate or
distinguish him from almost any special race of men,
-made him a giant, a symmetrical anomaly, who
might properly look with contempt down upon whatever ancestral line led up to him, as well as upon his
fellow-beings generally. But since Mr. Brownfield
left a lrief record of what he was pleased to declare
his lineage, it is well enough to say here that according to that record he was of Brito-Scotch-Irish stock,
and was the great-grandson of Charles Brownfield,
who emigrated to America from Ireland before the
Revolutionary war, but whose parents were Scotch
Presbyterians, who left their native land and settled
in Ireland, and who traced their line back to one
George Brownfield, a native Briton, who belonged
to Cromwell's horse, and went over to Scotland with
the great Protector and his army.
Charles, with other members of his family, settled
near Winchester, Va., and finally came into Fayette
County through the persuasion of the husband of a
sister of his, Col. Burd, the builder of Redstone Old
Fort, at the mouth of Redstone Creek. Charles remained in the region now known as Fayette County,
built a cabin near where stands the present Brownfield Station, on the Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad; was several times dislodged and driven away
by the Indians, but at last succeeded in fixing his
abode. The first fee simple deed on the records of
Fayette County is that of Charles Brownfield, granted
to George Troutman, and dated Nov. 29, 1783.
Charles married and became the father of Robert
Brownfield, who in his turn had a son, Robert Brownfield, Jr., and this latter Robert was the father of
Basil,Brownfield, our hero, who was born March 2,
1796, on the Brownfield homestead farm, near Smithfield, Georges township. At the age of twenty-four,
March 2, 1820, he married Sarah Collins, daughter of
Joseph and Margaret Collins, of Union township.
She died Oct. 1, 1870, aged sixty-eight years. They
had eleven children,-Joseph C., Robert, Margaret
C., who married Jehu, son of Col. Benjamin Brown692cl--          ,,- oTI R                                               3
list (which is not claimed to be a complete one, but
which certainly embraces the greater part of those
who went from this county) is made up from various
sources, but principally from the minutes of a " Court
of Appeal" (a military tribunal) held at various times
in the spring and summer of 1782 at Uniontown,
before Alexander McClean, sub-lieutenant of the
county, viz.:
James Collins.            John Smilie.
Abraham Plunket.'Michael Frank.
John Alton.               James Wood.
MIoses Smith.             James Rankin.
Thomas Patton.            Edward Hall.
Reuben Kemp.              James Downard.
Barnabas Walters.       Zachariah Brashears.
John Patrick.             Henry Coxe.
Josiah Rich.              John Chadwick.
Michael Andrews.        John Hardin, Jr.
Peter Patrick.            George Robins.
Thomas Ross.              Dennis Callaghan.
Isaac Prickett.           Thomas Kendall.
William Ross.             Joseph Huston.
Jeremiah Cook.            Crisley Cofman.
James Waits.              Jacob Weatherholt.
Thomas Carr.              John Jones.
Joshua Reed.              John Walters.
Richard Clark.            Charles Hickman.
Silvanus Barnes.        Henry Hart.
George McCristy.        Caleb Winget.
Josephl Moore.            Webb Hayden.
John Collins.             William Jolliff.
George Scott.             Benjamin Carter.
Edward Thomas.            John Orr.
Alexander McOwven.      Daniel Barton.
Obadiah Stillwell.      Providence Mounts.
Levi Bridgewater.       Philip Smith.
Jonas Same.               Aaron Longstreet.
Matthias Neiley.        William Case.
George Pearce.            Richard Hankins.
Abraham White.            John White.
James Clark.              James McCoy.
John Lucas.               George McCoy.
Jeremiah Gard.           -  McCaddon.
Daniel Harbaugh.        Nicholas Dawson.
James Paull.              Daniel Canon.
John Rodgers.           Alexander Carson.
John Sherrard.            Richard Hale.
John Crawford.            Robert Miller.
Uriah Springer.           John Custard.
Christopher Beeler.
It was in the afternoon of the 24th of May that the
force was mustered and divided into eighteen companies, their average strength, of course, being about
twenty-six men. They were made thus small on account of the peculiar nature of the service in which
they were to engage,-skirmishing, firing from cover,
and practicirig the numberless artifices and strata7
gems belonging to Indian warfare. Another object
gained in the formation of these unusually small
conlpanies was the gathering together of neighbors
and acquaintances in the same command.  For each
company there were then elected, a captain, a lieutenant, and an ensign.  One of the companies was
commanded by Capt. John Beeson,' of Uniontown;
another by Capt. John Hardin, with John Lucas as
lieutenant; a thlird by Capt. Joseph Huston, of Tyrone, father of Joseph Huston, afterwards sheriff of
Fayette County; and a fourth by Capt. John Biggs,2
with Edward Stewart as lieutenant, and William
Crawford, Jr. (nephew of Col. William Crawford), as
ensign. One or two other companies were made up
largely of men from  the territory which now forms
the counties of Fayette and Westmoreland, but of
these the captains' names have not been ascertained.
"Among those [captains] chosen," says Butterfield,
in his narrative of the expedition, " were McGeehan,
Hoagland, Beeson, Munn, Ross, Ogle, John Biggs,
Craig Ritchie, John Miller, Joseph Bean, and Andrew Hood,... and James Paull remembered, fifty
years after, that the lieutenant of his company was
Edward Stewart."
After the several companies had been duly formed
and organized, the line-officers and men proceeded to
elect field-officers and a commandant of the expeditionary force. For the latter office there were two
candidates.  One of these' was Col. David Williamson, who had previously led the expedition against
the Moravian Indians on the Muskingum, and his
chances of election seemed excellent, because he was
a resident of Washington County, which had furnished two-thirds of the men composing the forces.,
His competitor for the command was Col. Williami
Crawford, whose home was on the Youghiogheny
River, near Braddock's Crossing, in what is now Fayette County. He was a regular army officer in the
Continental establishment of the Virginia Line, well
versed in Indian modes of fighting, and had already
made an enviable military record; he enjoyed much.
personal popularity, and was also the one whom Gen.
Irvine wished to see selected for the command.3
When the votes-four hundred and sixty-five in
number-were counted, it was found that Williamson
had received two hundred and thirty against two
hundred and thirty-five cast for Col. Crawford, who
thereupon became commandant of the forces of the
expedition.4  Four majors were then elected, viz.:
1 In the minutes of the military " Court of Appeal," before referred to,
is this entry, under date of June 5, 1782: "Capt. John Beeson's Company-9th. No Return for Duty, being all out on the Expedition."
2 It is not known that Capt. Biggs was of Fayette, but his lieutenant,
ensign, and many of the men of hlis company were residents of this part
of Westmoreland.
3 Gen. Irvine wrote to Gen. Washington on the 21st of May,-" I have
taken some pains to get Col. Crawford appointed to command, and hope
he will be."
4 Doddridge, in h's "Notes" (page 265), says of Clrawford that" when
notified of his appointment it is said that he accepted it with apparent
93
THE REVOLUTION.J/
0-(NORTH UNION AND SOUTH UNION TOWNSHIPS.
field; Mary, who married Isaac Hutchinson, a son of
Isaac H., of Union township, but a native of Trenton,
N. J., and died Feb. 3, 1857; Eliza, who died unmarried July 20, 1853, in the twenty-fourth year of
her age; Sarah N., who married Wm. F. Core; Ruth,
who married Joseph Barton, son of the late William
Barton, Esq.; William N., who for his first wife married Elizabeth James, and after her death married
Elizabeth Sackett; Isaac Allen, who married Sarah
Burchfield, of Pittsburgh; Lydia C., wife of Thomas
McClelland; and Harriet Helen, who died March 22,
1870, in her twenty-fourth year.
Basil Brownfield enjoyed some, but little, opportunities of early education in the subscription schools,
and though quite generally understood by his acquaintances throughout life to be, as they expressed
it, "unlettered," in the sense of ignorant of books,
investigation discovers that he read books extensively,
was particularly well versed in ancient history and
in the history of his country, and read the Bible so
carefully and appreciatively as to be able to quote it
fluently and pertinently upon occasion of warm discussion.
Mr. Brownfield commenced his active business
life (dating from about twenty years of age) equipped
with little "book-learning," but with extraordinary
native intellect, a marvelously retentive memory, and
an herculean body. By industry, rare tact, with
which from the beginning he was gifted, and by
economy, he made his way steadily on to fortune, so
that at the age of about thirty-five he was accounted
wealthy in the local sense. But at about forty or
forty-five years of age, burdened through unfortunate free-hand indorsements and universal bail-giving for others, prompted by his great benevolence, he
became financially embarrassed, and mortgaged much
of his real estate, but finally managed to lift his burdens. But during this period of financial difficulty
his business complications became numerous and vexatious, and a career of litigation in his history was
inaugurated which won for him a remarkable distinction in the courts, and which continued till the day
of his death,-a career in which he was for the most
part the victor, by one means and another. Litigation became a recreation to him, obviously a necessity
to his happiness.  Strong-willed, aggressive, evidently feeling that great intellect, massive muscles,
and tireless endurance are "gifts of God" to men with
which to fight the battles of life, and the assertion of
a powerful manhood a very duty, Mr. Brownfield
made of course hosts of enemies to himself, but he
had an army of friends; and there was another body
of people, neither friends nor foes, who stood aloof,
admired the prowess and diplomacy of the man, however much they might have questioned the propriety
of some of the weapons with which he fought. These
were wont to descant about what a throne this provincial demi-god might have occupied in the world if his
education in literature and the sciences had only been
fitting to his superb natural gifts. He was doubtless
much misunderstood by even those who thought they
knew him best; for underlings and the commonality possess no means of measuring the mental capacity or weighinig the moral worth, or, for this matter, touching the bottom of the ingenious diabolism,
it may be, of the giants about the outskirts of whose
being they hang.
But want of space forbids our enlarging on this head.
Many legends and stories of more or less truth and
some fancy are current regarding Mr. Brownfield's
peculiarities, his methods of operation, his eccentricities, his heroic struggles against his foes, his victories, his sagacious demeanor under defeat, turning
it often into victory, etc.;-such tales, as everywhere,
cluster about the memory of extraordinary men; but
they mostly lack verity in details, and can hardly be
crystallized intb permanent history.
Mr. Brownfield's great experience as a litigant made
him conversant with the arts of the practice of the
law, and gave him very considerable knowledge of
comnmon law principles and of the statutes of the
State, and his fine intellect was not slow to take the
measure of the attorneys who swarmed about the
Fayette County courts. He held the most of them
in royal contempt. To his mind they were pigmies,
and he was wont to say, among other things, of those
attorneys and pettifoggers that they were "not fit to
feed stock," a declaration which had its great weight
with his acquaintances, and probably its effect upon
the career of the luckless attorneys, for such men as
Brownfield make "public opinion," and, it may be
said, the law too. And here a well-authenticated tale
regarding him, a peculiar fact in his history, such as
possibly never had place in the history of any other
man, may be pertinently narrated. The gist of it is
this, that Brownfield, in his large-hearted good nature
and consummate adroitness, as well as dominating
wisdom, was accustomed to freely feed and shelter in
his own house his most active, belligerent foes, harboring and nursing them while they were bitterly
"lawing" him (to use the provincialism of the county)
in the courts. These men were mostly "savages,"
too, from thie mountains, who not only accepted his
courtesies when extended, but, knowing his good nature, often quartered  themselves unceremoniously
upon him, turning their horses into his pastures, and
betaking themselves to his table and fireside, when
they came down to town to wage legal war upon him.
He at one time owned many thousands of acres of
land in the mountains, and here and there made
clearings therein, put up cabins, and got tenants to
occupy them. Almost invariably these fellows quarreled with him, launched suits at law for one cause or
other against him, and in the midst of their bitterest
legal fights camped at his fireside, as above related.
The reader who admires the tender Christian kindness, the forbearance, the benevolence, and other virtues which Mr. Brownfield surely evinced under such
693HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
extraordinary circumstances must not suspect him of
having indulged in childlike sifnplicity and imbecility
in all this. He knew not only how, with the Christian graces, to draw the temper and dull the edge of
his adversary's sword or turn the point of his stiletto,
but how as well to catch him at fault, put hinm in repose, and woo from him the details of his plot and
circumvent him. He understood, in short, that it is
better to have a legal foe at your fireside and quietly
study his weapons than to keep him at bay and be
unconscious all the while whether or not he carries
dynamite torpedoes in the shape of "testimony" of
peculiar coinage, etc., which he may cast and explode
under your feet at any time. Mr. Brownfield's great
benevolence was not of the crude, undisciplined, undiscriminating kind, though it was often spontaneous
and hearty; but his great brain was ever supreme,
and probably even his occasional religious zeal was
never so hot-tempered as to set his good sense agog.
If Mr. Brownfield at times forgot his great virtues
of benevolence, great social virtues, and rigid sense
of justice and stooped to the use of questionable arts
in his life warfare, it must be said in his defense that
he was surrounded by a corrupt set of men, some of
them, too, men of comparatively good education, able
jurists, for example, who when off the bench kept the
ermine spotless by hanging it away out of sight while
they systematically wallowed in the mire of business
hypocrisies, and attempted to, and sometimes did,
plunder Brownfield himself,-in short, surrounded by
pious knaves of all kinds, and of a high degree of
"respectability," and who, like Basil himself, belonged to churches which were for the most part
cages for unclean birds; and Brownfield was, in a
sense, compelled to fight these wretches with their
own weapons, and learned of them what may have
been bad in his life and ways. It is safe to say that
with his large nature he was always better than his
surroundings.
That the poor, who through his whole life enjoyed
his largesses, sorely felt his loss and tenderly mourned
him dead, speaks volumes for the man. And it should
be added regarding him that he so profited by the iniquities which he discovered hidden under the cloaks
of his fellow church-members and members of communions other than his as to be aroused to strong
suspicion that church membership is not necessarily
a sure road to "glory." Indeed, he was bitter in denunciation of some church-memnbers, and as he had
doubts at last about the existence of an orthodox
"hell," he seemed to think that there could be no
suitable home for them in the future.
But even Basil Brownfield, who potently "lives
after he is dead," the favorite public sobriquet of
whomn, "Black Hawk," a name which when associated
with his will and brawn bore terror to evil-doers,
living and to live on forever in history, even this
"Black Hawk" Basil must not be allowed too much
space in this history, though eventful and wonderful
was his life, and this sketch must come to a close. Perhaps nothing more fitting in its ending could be added
than the following extract from an obituary notice of
him, published editorially in the Genius of Liberty of
Uniontown, Aug. 25, 1881, four days after Mr. Brownfield's death:
"His neighbors bear testimnony that he was a man
of good impulses, and was always ready to forgive an
injury when he was approached in a proper way.
*      *       *      *       *      *      *
"His physiognominy had the impress of greatness
strongly marked in every lineament, and we venture
to say that no man ever lived and died in Fayette
County with a stronger cast of expression.  Mr.
Brownfield was a pleasant and agreeable gentleman,
and his home was always open for the reception of
his friends and neighbors, and whilst he was always
able to impart correct knowledge of the secular things
that had transpired around and about him for more
than threescore and ten years, he was notable as a
good listener, which is a sure indication of a wellbalanced mind."
This was written of the wonderful man when near
the close of a life of eighty-six years, in far-lengthened old age, when most men of like years would be
passing through second childhood into the nursed
infancy of drivelling dotage. Brownfield had no
peerin his domain, and nature's monarchs, unclassified, spring from and found no races. Their histories,
like their lives, are grandly individuate, and other
men record but cannot imitate them.
J. W. MOORE.
Mr. J. W. Moore, a portrait of whom appears in
this work, is a resident of Greensburg, Westmoreland
County, in which county he owns extensive tracts of
coal lands, and has other possessions, but hlie is also
largely interested in the manufacture of coke in Fayette County, especially at the coke-works of J. W.
Moore  Co., in South Union township.
WILLIAM BARTON.
William Barton, who was born in New Jersey, Sept.
13, 1795, of Quaker stock, and of English ancestry,
camne into Fayette County with his parents at about
twelve years of age. He enjoyed good advantages of
education for the times, and in early life was occupied
for some years as clerk and manager of a furnace in
Uniontown.
On Nov. 28, 1824, he married Mrs. Hannah Collins
Foster (born Oct. 28, 1795), widow of John Foster, a
captain in the regular army in the war of 1812, and
daughter of Thomnas Collins, of Uniontown, who was
a colonel in the same war, and at one time sheriff of
Fayette County, a man of great business capacity.
Soon after marriage Mr. Barton settled with his wife
69414WILLIAIM BARTON.NICHOLSON TOWNSHIP.
on the old Collins farm, which eventually became by
inheritance the property of Mrs. Barton, in South
Union township, where he prosecuted farming all his
life, adding to the farm by the purchase in 1830 of an
adjoining tract equal to it in size. Mr. Barton became
a considerable stock-raiser withal, and for twenty
years or more ran a distillery, the products of which
had a great reputation all along the line of the National road when that thoroughfare was at the height
of its glory.
He was an old-line Whig, afterwards a Republican, and took great interest in national politics particularly, and though confined to his house mainly
for-the last eighteen years of his life, he always caused
himself to be carried into town to deposit his vote.
He died Nov. 6, 1865, while the war of the Rebellion
can be said to have been hardly settled, and during
that struggle watched its course with intense anxiety,  
but with full confidence from the first in the ultimate
success of the cause of the Union. He was a genial  
man and noted for his thorough integrity in business,
his word being all the "bond" his neighbors needed
of him. He took great interest in the public schools,
and was a director for a number of years. Mr. Barton
was a great reader and an independent thinker, and
was never attached to any religious organizations; in
fact, was distrustful of if not opposed to such organizations.
Mr. Barton died leaving four children, one daughter and three s6ns, all now dead save one son, Mr.
Joseph Barton, who served as a private in the First
West Virginia Cavalry during the war of the Rebellion, and who owns the old homestead, in which with
his family resides his aged mnother, an intelligent
woman, still hearty and active, occasionally walking
to town eveni in coldest weather, a distance of two
miles, over a road too rough at times for horses to
travel with safety to limb, and one of the wretchedly
bad roads too common in the county and a disgrace
to the people of Uniontown.
NICHOLSON TOWNSHIP.'
NICHOLSON lies south of German and north of
Springhill township. Its area is over twenty square
miles, and its topography is similar to that of all
the western portion of the county. Along the river,
from the mouth of Georges Creek to that of Jacob's
Creek, the river-bluffs crowd close upon the river, in
many places leaving scarcely enough space to form a
road. From Jacob's Creek down to Catt's Run are
the broad fiats known as "Provance's Bottoms." The
principal stream, next to the river, is Jacob's Creek,
near the centre. Georges Creek receives several considerable affluents on the south, and Catt's Run
several small ones on the north. The soil is generally
very fertile, being for the most part heavy limestone.
Wheat, corn, oats, and other grains are produced in
great abundance.
Nicholson township was formed of territory taken
from the old townships of Springhill, German, and
Georges. The first movement (unsuccessful) towards
forming a new township from parts of these townships was made a little more than forty years ago,
as follows:
At the September term of court, 1841, a petition
was presented "of divers inhabitants of Springhill,
Georges, and German townships for a new township,
to be composed of parts of the aforesaid townships,
to be called'Gallatin.'" Thomas Boyd, of Bullskin,
1 By James Ross.
George Craft, of Redstone, and George Dawson, of
Brownsville, were appointed commissioners. A favorable report was made, and approved Dec. 11, 1841.
On the 11th of June, 1842, objections were filed,
which were confirmed by the court on the 2d of January, 1843, and thus the proceedings of Dec. 11, 1841,
were rendered void and of no effect.
The effort was renewed with success in 1845. At
the June session of the court in that year, "On the
petition of divers inhabitants of Springhill, George,
and German for a new township, to be composed of
parts of the aforesaid townships, to be called'Nicholson,' James Paull, James Hi. Patterson, and Jacob
Murphy were appointed commiissioners.... to lay
out a new  township to be called Nicholson out of
parts of Springhill, George, and German townships."
On the 19th of August, 1845, these commissioners reported,"That a new township should be made within the following
boundaries, to wit: Beginning at the mouth of Georges Creek;
thence up the same to Robert Long's fulling-mill; thence along
the Morgantown road to a point at or near Rev. A. G. Fairchild's; thence hy a road as far as Bonaparte Hardin's; thence
by a straight line to the northwest branch of York's Run to a
stone-pile near a white-oak; thence [by various courses and distances] to a stone in Catt's Run, westwardly of Jacob Emley's,
and on land of George Defenbaugh, about three perches from a
spring-house; thence down Catt's Run to the land or farm of
John Poundstone, where the road crosses said run; thence by
- - ~-i T-C-  q  a'              ---
695HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
David Williamson, of Washington County, Thomas
Gaddis and John McClelland, of that part of Westmoreland which is now Fayette, and      Brinton,
their rank and seniority being in the order as here
named. Daniel Leet was elected brigade-major.
John Slover, of Fayette County, and Jonathan Zane
were designated as guides or pilots to the advancing
column. Dr. John Knight,' post surgeon at Fort
Pitt, had been detailed as surgeon to the expedition.
Instructions addressed " to the officer who will be
appointed to command a detachment of volunteer
militia on an expedition against the Indian town at
or near Sandusky" had been forwarded by Gen. Irvine from Fort Pitt on the 21st of May. In these instructions the general expressed himself as follows:'"The object of your command is to destroy with
fire and sword, if practicable, the Indian town and
settlement at Sandusky, bv which we hope to give
ease and safety to the inhabitants of this country;
but if impracticable, then you will doubtless perform
such other services in your power as will in their consequences have a tendency to answer this great end.
" Previous to taking up your line of march it will
be highly expedient that all matters respecting rank
or comnmand should be well understood, as far at least
as first, second, and third.2 This precaution, in case
of accident or misfortune, may be of great importance.
Indeed, I think whatever grade or rank may be fixed
on to have command, their relative rank should be
determined. And it is indispensably necessary that
subordination and discipline should be kept up; the
reluctance." Concerning tliis, Butterfield, in his narrative of the expeditioni, says,"It liS been extensively circulated that Crawford accepted the office of
comnmanider of the expedition witlh apparenit reluictance, but Rose (Maj.
Rose, of Gen. Irvine's staff) settles tlat questioni. Ilis reluctance was not,
in taking command of tle troops aftertlie election, but in joining the expedition.  He left his home with tlle full understanidinig that lhe was to
lead tle volunteers.  Gen. Irvine, it is true, allowed tle troops to choose
their own comminaider, but lie was not backward in lettinig it be known
that lie desired the election of Crawford."
1 Dr. John Knight was a resident of Bullskin township, in what was
afterwards made Fayette Counrity. In 1776 lhe lhad enilisted in the West
Augusta regiment (13tli Virgiisia) as a private soldier. Soon after enllisting lie was made a sergeant by Col. Crawfor'd, the commanidin-g officer
of the regimenrt.  On the 9tlh of Augsist, 1778, he was appoinited surgeon's niate in the 9tlh Vii ginia. Afterwvards lie was promoted to suirgeon of tlIe 7th Virgina (tinder commasid of Col. John Gibson), and lheld
that positionI in the same regiment at the tinie the Sansduisky expeditiols
was fitted out. He was then detaclhed by order of Gen. Irvine, aild at
the request of Col. Crawford, to act as surgeon of that expedition.  On
the 21st of May he left Fort Pitt to joiti the expeditiotiary forces, anid
reached the rendezvous at Mingo Bottom on the 22d. After encunltering all the dangers anid lhardslhips of the canspaign, fionis whlichl lie iiarrowly escaped with Iiis life, lie returned to Iiis regimleiit, and rensaisied
on duty as its surgeon at Fost Pitt till the close of the wasr, wlien lie left
military life. On the 14tll of October, 1784, he married Polly, datiglhter
of Col. Richard Stevenson, who was a hsalf-brotther of Col. Crawford.
Sutbsequently Dr. Knight removed to Slhelbyville, Ky., wlhere he (lied
MVarch 12, 1838. His widow died Juily 31, 1839. They were the paretits
of ten clhildren. Otne of their dattglsters masrried John, a soti of Presley
Carr Lane, a prominent puiblic nsan of Fayette Couinty. Dr. Knight
was the recipient of a pension from  government, under the act of May
15, 1828.
2 These directions were observed, M1aj. Williamson beisig designated as
second, and Maj. Gaddis as third in command.
whole ought to understanid that, notwithstanding they
are volunteers, yet by this tour they are to get credit
for it in their tours of military duty, and that for
this and other good reasons they must, while out on
this duty, consider themselves, to all intent, subject
to the military laws and regu.lations for the government of the militia when in actual service.
" Your best chance of success will be, if possible,
to effect a surprise, and though this will be difficult,
yet by forced and rapid marches it may, in a great degree, be accomplished. I am clearly of opinion that
you should regulate your last day's march'so as to
reach the town about dawn of day, or a little before,
and that the march of this day should be as long as
can well be performed.
" I need scarcely mention to so virtuous and disinterested a set of men as you will have the honor to
command that though the main object at presenit is
for the purpose above set forth, viz.,. the protection
of this country, yet you are to consider yourselves as
acting in behalf of and for the United States, that of
course it will be incumbent oni you especially who
will have the command to act in every instance in
such a manner as will reflect. honor on, and add reputatioil to, the American arms, of nations or independent States.3
"Should any person, British, or in the service or
pay of Britain or their allies, fall into your hands, if
it should prove iniconvenient for you to bring them
off, you will, nevertheless, take special care to liberate
them on parole, in such manner as to insure' liberty
for an equal number of people in tlleir hands. There
are individuals, however, who I think should be
brought off at all events should the fortune of wvar
throw them into your hands. I mean such as have
3 Yet the Moravian historians atid their iniitators hatve heaped unmeasttred  abuse on  the  brave  isieii  whllo comiiposed tliss expedition.
Ileckewelder, in Iiis "Ilistory  of the Indian Nations," calls them  a
" gang ofbansditti;" and Loskiel, wvrtiting in the sanse veitl in his " History
of Indian  Missions,"  said,' Tue saine gang  cf nsttrderers who had
consmitted the massacre on the Muskinigumn didI not give up thseirbloody
design uipon ttie remnatnt of the In(littii congregatiol, tlsosigh it was delayed for a season.  They matcelded in Mlay, 1782, to Sandusky, where
they foiund  tiothisiig but enipty htuts.'  The Rev. Joseplh  Doddridge,
D.D., followring the lead of these Moraviati defasmers, in Iiis " Notes otl
thie Settlensent and In(lian Wars of the Westerss Plar-ts of Virginia and
Penisylvatila" (page 264), saiys of Crawford's exl)edition, "Tlhis, in otli
poisit of view at least, is to be considered as a seconi Moravian casiipaign, as one of its oijects was  thatt of fiusisliing tlie worli of mtirder
asi(l pltitider with the Christian Indians at their new establishment orn
the Sanduisky.  Tue siext olject was that of destroying the  Wyandot
touwns on the sanie river. It was the resoltution of all those conceruied
in this expedition not to spare the life of any Indians that mi-ht fall
inito their lbands, wlsetlser fr ietids or foes.... It would seens tisat tlle
long contisiuance of the Iti(lian war lhad debased a considerable portioni
of our population to tse savasge state of our nature.  Iaving lost so
many relatives by the Indians, and witnessed their horrid niurders and
otlher depredations on so exteissive a scale, they becanie stitbjects of that
indiscrinsinatisig tlhirst for revesige wlhich is suich a prominesit feature in
the sava-e character, and lhaving had a tasto of blood and pilltlnder,,without risk or loss on their part, they resolved to go oii and kill every
Isidian they could findl, whether friend or foe."  Does not the tenor of
Gen. Irvine's instructions to Col. Crawford comsipletel;disprove thei alle.
gatioris of Loskiel, Heckewelder, and Doddridge?
94
IHISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
said road, running north of said Poundstone's house, nearly
due west to the Monongahela River; thence up said river to the
place of beginning."
On the 19th of December, 1845, this report was approved and confirmed by the court, and by this action Nicholson was erected a township with the abovedescribed boundaries.
In the December session of court, 1846, a petition
was presented "to change part of the boundary line
between George and Nicholson townships." An
order was issued and viewers appointed, viz.: John
Robinson, Isaac Core, and Jeremiah Kendall, who
made a report on the 26th of February, 1847, favorable to a change in the line between Nicholson and
Georges townships, the effect of which was to include
the petitioners, John Harris, James Abram, and
Henry Bowell, in the township of Nicholson. The
report was approved and confirmed by the court
June 12, 1847, making the change of boundary as
prayed for by the petitioners.
The name Nicholson was given to the township in
honor of James Witter Nicholsoni, a noted citizen
of New Geneva. He was the second son of Commodore James Nicholson, U.S.N., who became senior
officer in the navy October, 1776, and who died in
New York, Sept. 2,1804. His mother was Frances
Witter, a native of Maryland, as was also her husband.
James W. Nicholson was born April 20, 1773, his
parents residing on Nicholson mnianor, near Nicholson
Gap, Md. His wife was Ann Griffin. He was employed by Albert Gallatin to manage the financial
affairs of his glass-factory on Georges Creek, one mile
east of New Geneva, which he established in 1794.
Nicholson died at his residence, Oct. 6, 1851, aged
seventy-eight years. His property was known in the
early land titles as "Elk Hill;" title dated June 26,
1770. He was a brother of Albert Gallatin's second
wife. Charles N. Nicholson is his grandson.
One of the earliest settlers within the territory now
Nicholson township was George Wilson, who came
to this section about the year 1765, and settled on
Georges Creek. From the time of his first settlement
here he appears to have been a notable man among
the pioneers of the Monongahela Valley, and he, with
Thomas Scott, of Dunlap's Creek, were marked by
Lord Dunmore, and arrested by his order, in 1774, as
chief among the Pennsylvania adherents in the territorial controversy between this State and Virginia,
which was then at its height. It was at the house of
George Wilson that the Rev. John McMillen stopped
when he first preached to the Mount Moriah congregation in 1775. On the breaking out of the Revolution
Wilson entered the Revolutionary army in the Eighth
Pennsylvania Regiment, and became its lieutenantcolonel. Referring to him, and to his honorable
career, Judge Veech says,"Col. George Wilson is a historic character. He was
a Virginian, from Augusta County, where he had been
an officer in the French and Indian war of 1755-62.
He came to the West about 1768-69 [Mr. Veech has the
date about three years too late], and settled on the land
where New Geneva now is, owning the land on the river
on both sides of Georges Creek, to which it is believed
he gave the name, and being from a locality in Augusta called Spring Hill, he caused that name to be
given to the township in which he resided.' He was
a Pennsylvania justice of the peace there while it was
a part of Bedford County, and his commission was
renewed for Westmoreland. Pennsylvania had no
more resolute officer than he was in all the boundary
troubles.... He died in the service of his country as
lieutenant-colonel of the Eighth Pennsylvania Regiment, Col. Enos McKay, at Quibbletown, N. J., in
April, 1777."
His family received the first intelligence of his
death from, his black servant, who returned from New
Jersey with the colonel's horse. Of the children of
Col. George Wilson little is known with certainty,
except that William George, John, and Jane were
three of them. Jane married, for her first husband, a
man named Bullitt, who proved a spendthrift and
ran through his wife's patrimony. She was at one
time the owner of the farms now owned by Jason
Woolsey and Daniel Sharpnack, as also of many acres
of other lands. After Bullitt's death she married Mr.
Hawkins, an excellent man of the Friends' Society.
By him she had children, among whom the most
widely known was the Hon. William George Hawkins, of Pittsburgh. After a few years Mr. Hawkins
died, and his widow married, for her third husband,
Gen. John Minor, of Greene County, by whom she
had two children,-Lawrence L. Minor, Esq., of
Greensboro', Greene Co., and Minerva, who married
John Crawford, of Greensboro', and who died in 1864,
aged about fifty-six years. Her son, Lieut. John
Minor Crawford, served in the war of the Rebellion
in the Eighty-fifth Pennsylvania Regiment, and is
now a resident of Greensboro', Greene Co., Pa.
When the Rev. John Steele and other commissioners were sent to the Monongahela country, in
1768, to ascertain what settlements had been made
here, they reported to the Governor the nlames of
those found settled in this region, and among them
were mentioned as living "near Redstone," "John
Wiseman, Henry Prisser, William Linn, William Colvin, John Vervalson, Abraham Teagard, Thomas
Brown, Richard Rodgers, Henry Swatz, James McClean, Jesse Martin, Adam Hatton, John Verval, J3'r.,
James Waller, Thomas Donter, Capt. Coburn, John
Delong, Gabriel Conn, George Martin, Thomas Down,
Andrew Gudgeon, Philip Sute, James Crawford, John
Peters, Michael Hooter, Daniel McCay, Josiah Crawford, one Provence."  Of these, several can be located. Gabriel Conn was an early settler in the Monongahela Valley, where many of the descendants are
1 The place where he settled being in Springhill township until the
erection of Nicholson.
696NICHOLSON TOWNSSHIP.
found to-day. The Crawfbrds were located in what
is now Southwestern Luzerne; Abraham Teagard, on
Big Whiteley Creek, in Greene County, where the
name is common, several residing in Jefferson and
other places in the same county. The "One Provence" evidently means John W. Provance, who resided on the river bottom between Jacob's Creek and
Catt's Run, in Nicholson township, and who settled
there in 1767.
William Yard Provance was also one of the very
early settlers on the Monongahela in the same section.
In the early years of their residence here an old Indian chief named Bald Eagle lived in or frequented
the valley of the Monongahela. He was on the most
frienidly terms with the white settlers, and in passing
up and down the river on his hunting and fishing expeditions never failed to stop to visit the Provances.
Finally, while hunting at some point up the river
(supposed to be near the mouth of Cheat), hlie was
murdered in cold blood by three white men named
Jacob Scott, William Hacker, and Elijah Runer,
who after doing the deed thrust a piece of cornbread into the mouth of the dead chief, and placed
the lifeless body in an upright position in the canoe,
which was then sent adrift on the river. It floated
slowly down the stream, and finally came close in
shore opposite the residence of Mrs. Sarah Provance,
who saw it, and wondered that the Bald Eagle maintained his motionless position in the canoe, making
no movement to land. Going down to the bank she
made a closer observation and learned the truth, that
he was dead. She procured assistance, had the body
brought ashore, and buried in a Christian way. The
Indians were greatly enraged when they learned of
the unprovoked murder, but they were as deeply
grateful to Mrs. Provance and her family for the respect they had shown to the remains of the murdered
chief. The bones of Bald Eagle still rest in an unmarked and unknown grave by the Monongahela,
near the place where the old Provance house stood
more than a century ago. The Provances were noted
for their size and muscular powers as well as for their
love of all athletic sports. Many of the descendants
of the family still reside in Fayette County. By some
of them the name has been changed to Provins, one
of them being Jacob Provins, of Masontown, who is
a representative in the State Legislature from Fayette
County.
The brothers John Hardin and Martin Hardin
have already been mentioned as among the first settlers in the Monongahela Valley. All of Martin
Hardin's family afterwards removed to Kentucky, and
became prominent citizens of that State. They are
mentioned in Marshall's "History of Kentucky," in
which it is stated that Martin Hardin, who was the
father of the somewhat famous Col. John Hardin, of
Kentucky, emigrated from Fauquier County, Va., to
Georges Creek, in Fayette County, Pa., within what
is now Nicholson township, when his son John was
twelve years old. That was in 1765. Not long after
their arrival on Georges Creek there came Indian
troubles, and the situation of the settlers became precarious and alarming, but they held their position
and did not abandon their possessions, as was the
case with many other settlers.
The location of John Hardin, Sr., was upon a tract
of land which he called "Choice," containing three
hundred and nineteen and a quarter acres and allowance. The warrant for this tract was dated April 17,
1769. It was surveyed May 22d of the same year.
On this tract he made his residence, and lived on it
until his death. Martin Hardin located a tract named
"Harbout," of three hundred and seventeen and a
quarter acres and allowance, warranted April 17,
1769, and surveyed on the 22d of May, 1770. He
emigrated to Kentucky in or soon after the year 1780.
His son John (afterwards Col. John Hardin) went to
Kentucky in that year, and took up lands for himself
and friends in Nelson County, afterwards Washington County, in that State, but returned to Fayette
County, and remained here six years longer before he
finally removed to Kentucky. In Dunmnore's war of
1774 he (John Hardin, Jr.) served with a militia
company as an ensign. In the Revolution, in the
year 1776, he joined the Eighth Pennsylvania Regiment, and became a lieutenant ill onIe of the companies. In December, 1779, he resigned, and returned
homne to Georges Creek, declining the proffered promotion to the rank of major in a new regiment. In
1784 hlie received the nomination for sheriff of Fayette County, and was returned to the Executive Council as one of the two candidates receiving the highest
number of votes. On that occasion and under those
circumstances Geni. James Wilkinson asked the Council to commission Hardin as sheriff in a letter addressed to President Dickinson, of the Council,' dated
November, 1784, and running as follows:
"... On the present return of the Election for Fayette
County, Major John Harden stands second for the Sheriff's
Office; permit me briefly to state to your Excellency this man's
merit without detracting from that of his competitor. Mr.
Hatrden served in the alert of the Army under Generals (then
Colonels) Morgan  Butler, in the Northern Campaign 1777.
His rank was that of a Lieutenant, and I can, as the Adjutant
General of the Army of Gates, assert that he was exposed to more
danger, encountered greater Fatigue, and performed more real
service than any other officer of his Station. With Parties never
exceeding 20 men, he in the Course of the Campaign made upwards of sixty Prisoners, and at a Personal Rencounter in the
rear of the Enemie's position, he killed a Mohawk express, 
brought in the dispatches which he was conveying from Genl.
Burgoyne to the Commnanding Officer at Ticonderoga with the
loss only (indeed) of a Lock of Hair, which the Indian's Fire
carried away. It is sufficient for me Sir to testify his merits;
the Justice which characterizes your administration will do the
rest."
In 1786 he removed his family to the new settlement in Kentucky, where his father and brothers had
1 Pa. Arch., x. 610.
697HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
preceded him. In the same year he volunteered
under George Rogers Clarke for the expedition against
the Indians on the Wabash, and was appointed quartermaster. He was afterwards engaged in the succeeding Indian campaigns in Ohio and Indiana, and
rose to the rank of colonel. He was killed in the campaign against the Miami villages in the fall of 1792.
A son of his was killed Feb. 23,1847, at the battle of
Buena Vista, under Gen. Taylor, in Mexico.
Miss Martha Hardin, a granddaughter of John
Hardin, Sr., now living in Nicholson township in
her eighty-sixth year, gives the following account of
the family of which she is a mnember: The Hardins,
she says, came originally from France. John Hardill,
Sr., Martin Hardin, and Lydia Hardin (who became
Mrs. Tobin) were brothers and sister. John Hardin,
Sr., married Isabella Shubranclh, by whom he had
eleven children, viz.: John, Absalom, Henry, Nestor.
George, Cato, Hector, Mary Ann, Miriam, Matilda,
and Alice. He died in Fayette County, and his wife
survived him many years. Martin Hardin married
Elizabeth Hoagland, by whom he had seven children
besides Col. John. He (Martin) emigrated from Fayette County, as before mentioned, to Kentucky, and
lived in the latter State until his death, though he
revisited his old home in (then) Springhill township, and the narrator recollects that when she was a
little girl she saw him here on one of those visits.
All the Hardins of Kentucky, she says, are his descendants.
Lydia Hardin, sister of John and Martin, married
Thomas Tobin, from which marriage came the family
of Tobins of Fayette County.
Robert McLain was a Scotchman who settled in
Nicholson township, south of the mouth of Catt's
Run, on the bank of the Monongahela River. He
was an elder of the Mount Moriah Presbyterian
Church of Springhill, which was organized by the
Rev. James Power in 1774. Among the early settlers he was highly esteemed and respected. He was
so unfortunate as to be compelled to kill a fellowbeing to save himself and family from being burned
to death. The region along the Monongahela was
infested by a band of robbers, called "Bainbridge's
Gang," with headquarters at a high bluff of the river,
now owned by Jesse E. McWilliams, and known as
the Robbers' Den. McLain was the owner of a very
valuable stallion, which they resolved to take. McLain having been notified of their intention, stabled
his horse in the kitchen of his house. When they
arrived they soon discovered the whereabouts of the
horse, and commanded McLain to bring him out.
Receiving no reply, they warned him that unless he
did as they bade him his house would be fired. Still
receiving no answer, Bainbridge commnanded some of
his men to get straw, and he would show the d-d
Scotchman whether his commands were to be disregarded. Seizing the straw and advancing to execute
his threat, McLain fired, killing him instantly. He
was then  carried off by some of the gang, who
wrapped the body in a bed coverlet, with stones, and
sunk it in the Monongahela. Mr. McLain, in the
later years of his life, was greatly troubled in mind
by the recollection of this justifiable homicide. Mr.
John Bowman (deceased), grandfather of Morgan H.
Bowman, Esq., of Uniontown, told the writer that
Robert McLain frequently visited his father's house,
aind that he had often heard him express his deep regret for having killed the desperado Bainbridge. The
date of Mr. McLain's death has not been ascertained.
His remains lie in the McLain burial-ground, in
Nicholson.
Isaac Griffin was one of the pioneer settlers, as
well as one of the most prominent men in public and
private life for many years in what is nIow Nicholson
township, owning a large amount of land here, a part
of which is known as the Morris farm. He was a
native of Delaware, being born and reared in Kent
County in that State. Although wild and reckless
while young, he won the heart of a young Quakeress,
named Mary Morris, whose family were strict Friends.
She was locked in a room up-stairs to prevent her
union with the young worldling. He found out the
situation, obtained a ladder, put it to the window, and
she climbed down and eloped with him. This bit of
romance has beeni handed down in that neighborhood
to this day. A meeting of the Friends was called,
when she was notified that "If thee will say thee is
sorry that tliee married Isaac, thee can stay in." But
as she would not say it she was expelled from their
membership.
Isaac Griffin was a captain in the war of the Revolutioni, and had a great deal of trouble with the
Tories, who were very numerous in Delaware. He
was mainly instrumental in capturing their leader,
Chany Clow, who was executed. When Clow came
home from the Tory camp, Capt. Griffin with his
company, and accompanied by Maj. Moore, surrounded the house. It was dark, and in attempting
to reach the door Griffin stumbled and fell. Maj.
Moore got ahead of him and was shot dead by Clow,
who said he was sorry it was not Griffin. The adherents of Clow hated Griffin intensely, and after the
close of the war his personal safety was endangered.
This in part caused him  to change his residence.
He bought his first lands in Springhill (now Nicholson) township, Fayette Co., Pa., of the Hardins, but
the Indians lingering near, his wife feared to move
there. He then traded his Western lands to his relative, Charles Griffin, for a farm in Delaware, where
the town of Clayton now stands. His wife having
lost her health, and his enemies constantly harassing
him, she finally consenited to go to Western Pennsylvania. He again visited the West and bought land
of the Evans'. He afterwards bought several farms,
and became one of the most successful stock-raisers
on the Monongahela.
Mr. Griffin owned a few negro slaves that he brought
698NICHOLSON TOWNSHIP.
with him to Fayette County. Soon after he became
a citizen of Pennsylvania the Governor appointed him
justice of the peace, in 1794, in which capacity he
served several years. In 1807 he was elected to the
Legislature, and re-elected until he served four successive terms. In 1809 there were six candidates for
the office, but Mr. Griffin ran far ahead of all the
others, receiving the entire vote of Fayette County
with the exception of about two hundred votes. Although living in the opposite end of Fayette County
from Mr. John Smilie, Mr. Griffin was appointed by
that gentleman one of the executors of his will, and
at his death in 1812 Mr. Griffin was elected to Congress as Mr. Smilie's successor. It is related of him
that upon being notified of his election he brought
cloth of home manufacture to Thomas Williams, Esq.,
of New Geneva, for the purpose of having him make
him a suit of clothes. He informed the persons present that "he raised the sheep, carded, spun, dyed, and
wove the cloth on his own premises." At a massmeeting in Uniontown he was nominated for Congress
by acclamation. At the election his comrnpetitor was
Gen. Thomas Meason, a prominent member of the
Fayette County bar. He defeated Gen. Meason by
a large majority, and was once re-elected without opposition. He served in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth
Congresses. In 1812 a gloom was cast over him by
the death of his favorite son, James Morris Griffin,
who was killed in battle in the war with England.
Mr. Griffin voted to sustain Mr. Madison in all his
war measures, and ever enjoyed his confidence, as
well as that of his constituents. For no vote that he
gave during the ten years that he was in public life
was he censured, but for a vote that he did not give
he was blamed. It was said that when the vote was
taken to increase the pay of members of Congress he
was not in the house. He felt stung by the comments
of a writer in his home paper, and would not allow his
name used as a candidate for re-election.
In 1824, Mr. Griffin was the Crawford electoral candidate for the Fayette district, but was of course defeated, as the State went largely for Jackson. Mr.
Griffin could never be induced to make a public
speech, but his conversational powers were of a high
order, and these made him a general favorite. The
ablest men of the nation would with pleasure listen
to hear him talk. His personal dislike to Gen. Jackson
was caused by the hanging of Alexander Arbuthnot
and Robert C. Ambrister in Florida after they were
cleared by court-martial. This opposition to Gen.
Jackson caused Mr. Griffin to lose his great popularity
among his neighbors, where Jackson was a great
favorite.
Mr. Griffin had features of the Roman type, with
black hair and deep-blue eyes. In height he was six
feet two inches, and had a powerful physical organization. Although he was modest and retiring he
possessed a chivalric nature, and he was not slow to
resent an insult. While in Congress he had a difficulty with a member from South Carolina, which
would have been a serious affair but for the timely
interference of other members. At a public dinner
in Uniontown an Englishman, who was an officer of
the old Uniontown Bank, spoke of Mrs. Madison in
the most disgraceful terms, and for this act of illbreeding Mr. Griffin knocked him down at the table,
an act for which he was greatly applauded at the
time.
Soon after he settled in his new home in Fayette
County his wife joined Father Woodbridge's SeventhDay Baptist Church, and remained a consistent member until her death, which occurred in her eightieth
year, although she had been an invalid for fifty years.
Her husband, although not a member, gave his support to the regular Baptist Church. This caused them
to have a Sabbath and a Sunday in their house for
about forty years, but this occasioned no jar, for
everything moved on smoothly, and they traveled
life's pathway harmoniously, although differing
widely in most thintgs.  After Mr. Griffin retired
from  public life he remained on his farm until his
death, at the age of seventy years, occasioned by a
fall fromni a loaded wagon. The Rev. John Patton, of
the Baptist Church, who performed the funeral service, said, "Mr. Griffin did not attach himself to the
church for reasons best known to himself, but he was
an Israelite indeed in whom there was no guile."'
His wife survived him several years. They had ten
children, four sons and six daughters, all of whom
survived their father except the sons James M. and
Isaac. One of the daughters, Ann, married James
W. Nicholson. She resided during her life near New
Geneva. Charles Nicholson is the only representative of this branch of the family remaining. Mary
Griffin married Andrew Oliphant. Joseph E. Griffin
was formerly a member of the State Legislature from
Fayette County, and is now living in Texas. William P. Griffin is of the original stock, a descendant
of Isaac and Mary Griffin.
Robert Ross was an early settler. It does not appear that in the early part of the Revolutionary war
he was reckoned among the adherents of the patriot
cause, but in June, 1779, he took the oath of allegiance to Pennsylvania, and afterwards served to the
end of the war under Gen. Anthony Wayne. At the
close of the struggle he, like thousands of others,
was paid the arrears due him for services in Continental money, which was depreciated to one-fortieth
of its face value. He afterwards served in the various Indian campaigns in Ohio and Indiana, rising to
the rank of captain. In the Whiskey Insurrection of
1794, Capt. Ross was on the side of the insurgents,
and commanded a company of about one hundred
men of the western and southwestern parts of the
county, a part of the (supposed) available force of
the insurrectionists to be used in opposition to the
government. At the head of this company Capt. Ross
marched to Uniontown in August, 1794, to raise the
699HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
"liberty poles" in the town, and two miles south of
it at Gaddis' place. When Gen. Lee came in with
his army to suppress the insurrection, a squadron of
cavalry was sent towards the Monongahela for the
capture of Robert Ross as insurgent leader, but the
expedition was unsuccessful. The powder-horn and
other Revolutionary accoutrements of Capt. Ross are
in the possession of his grandsons in Iowa. Another
of his grandsons is the Hon. Moses A. Ross, of Somerset County, Pa.
In Nicholson, on the road leading from Masontown
to New Geneva, via the "Goose Neck," is a tract of
land on which was the settlement of a Mr. Graham,
who came there from Washington County, Pa. On
this he erected a mill and distillery, some vestiges
of which are still in existence, located on Jacob's
Creek. Graham having become heavily indebted to
Jesse Evans (father of Col. Samuel Evans, now living
near Uniontown), sold this property to one Haught.
The buildings were destroyed by fire soon afterwards.
Graham emigrated to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he became engaged in the manufacture of paper. It has
been said of him that he was a brother-in-law of
President William H. Harrison, but this is not
known to have been a fact.
The first white men who visited the place where
now stands the village of New Geneva were William
Childers, John Pringle, Samuel Pringle, and Josephl
Lindsey, soldiers belonging to the garrison of Fort
Pitt, who deserted from the post in the year 1761,
and traveled up the Monongahela to this place, at
the mouth of Georges Creek, but before the stream
had ever been known by that name. They remained
here but a short time, however, and not liking the
location moved eastward to the upper waters of the
Youghiogheny, where they lived in the "Glades" region for about a year, and then moved southward
into Virginia, and lived for some years on the waters
of Buckhannon River.
These men, however, could not in any sense be regarded as even temporary settlers on the Monongahela,
the first person who actually settled at or in the vicinity of the site of New Geneva being Col. George Wilson, who, as has already been mentioned, came there
about 1765, and gave to the creek his own name,Georges,-and thus to the township, when it was
formed (embracing the south part of what is now
Nicholson), the name of Springhill, from his former
home in Virginia. His residence on Georges Creek,
however, was not directly at the mouth, but a short
distance above it, and his first purchase of land here
did not include to the bank of the Morfongahela,
where Geneva village stands. This was warranted to
Col. Wilson's sons, Sept. 15, 1785, eight years after
their father's death. The title afterwards passed to
Albert Gallatin.
The first actual and permanent settler within the
town limits was Thomas Williams, a native of Delaware, and a tailor by trade. The precise date of his
settlement here is not known, but it was not far from
the close of the Revolutionary war. On the 19th of
February, 1793, he married Joanna Phillips, daughter
of Theophilus Phillips, who was one of the earliest
settlers in this section, but on the south side of
Georges Creek. Thomas Williams becamne a somewhat prominent man, and was one of the most highly
respected citizens of the township. He received the
appointment of justice of the peace in or about 1797,
and served in that office satisfactorily to the people
and creditably to himself until his death in 1837, a
period of forty years. His son, Joseph G. Williams,
also filled the office of justice of the peace in Nicholson for thirty-five years.
From the time when Thomas Williams settled here
a few other settlers gathered round him from time to
time, until a number of straggling dwellings had clustered on the river-bank and on the bluff above it,
and in the early days, before the present name had
been given to the village, these little groups of houses
had received the names of "Wilson Port" and
"George Town," applied respectively to the settlement on the river margin and to that on the bluff,
the two embracing the two names of the early proprietor of the neighboring lands, George Wilson.
The title to lands embracing the site on the river
being purchased by Mr. Gallatin, as before mentioned,
he laid out upon it the town of New Geneva, so named
by him from Geneva, in his niative Switzerland. The
"charter" was acknowledged by Mr. Gallatin before
Justice Isaac Griffin, Oct. 31, 1797, the town plat bearing date the 28th of the same month.
The building of the old glass-works in the vicinity
by Gallatin and his partners, and the establishment
of the gun-factory, together with the residence of Mr.
Gallatin and some other persons of note in the vicinity,
gave to New Geneva (as the post-town of the surrounding country) a considerable growth and much
prospective importance, which latter, however, has
proved to a great extenit delusive. In 1797 the impending danger of a foreign war and the passage of
an act to procure twenty thousand stand of arms
for the State, as also similar action in other States and
by the general government, led to the establishment
of gun-factories in various parts of the country, and
among these was the one established by Albert Gallatin and Melehoir Baker near New Geneva in 1799,
for the manufacture of muskets, broadswords, alnd
other arms. It was located in that part of Springhill
township which is now Nicholson, on land now or
recently owned by Philip Keefover. The establishment employed from fifty to one hundred men. In
1800 the State contracted with this establishment for
two thousand muskets, and about the same time the
firm received an order from the general government
for a large number of arms. In 1801, when Mr. Gallatin was about being called to the head of the Treasury Department, he came from Washington to New
700NICHOLSON TOWNSHIP.
Geneva, and closed out his interest in the factory of
his partner, Mr. Baker, because his prospective position as Secretary of the Treasury would render it improper for him to be privately concerned in contracts
to which he would of necessity be a party on behalf
of the government. Mr. Baker continued the business for several years and with some success until the
government armories at Harper's Ferry and Springfield, Mass., were established, when he abandoned the
gun-works in Fayette County and removed to Clarksburg, Va.
A memorable event in the history of New Geneva
was the visit, in 1825, of the Marquis de Lafayette
to Albert Gallatin, at the residence of the latter, at
"Friendship Hill," on the south side of Georges
Creek, in Springhill township. To reach that place
he would pass through the town of New Geneva, and
the time of his arrival had been announced a sufficient time in advance to give an opportunity to make
preparations for a fitting reception.
"The streets were swept perfectly clean, the dwellings decorated, and the inhabitants, dressed in their
best, patiently awaited the arrival of the distinguished
foreigner. For the purpose of escorting the General
to Gallatin's they had raised a company of men, who
were comnmanded by Captain Joseph Wood, with
James W. Nicholson as first lieutenant. These men
escorted the General and his suite through the town,
he the while standing uncovered in his carriage, responding to the salutations of the citizens. Having
arrived, he was conducted to Gallatin's house, where
the speeches of welcome and reply were made.
Lunch was served to all upon the ample grounds.
After the speech-making and dining, several survivors of the Revolution were called for by the Mar-.quis. Frederick Eberhart, who assisted in bearing
the wounded General from the disastrous field of
Brandywine, was there. The meeting between these,old comrades was mnost affecting; they embraced and
wept like children." After the ceremonies and festivities were concluded, Lafayette and suite, accomnpanied by Mr. Gallatin, returned to Uniontown,
from whence the Marquis proceeded on his way to
Pittsburgh.
Manufacturing has always been carried on to some
extent in New Geneva, though the high hopes that
were indulged in that direction on the establishment
of the old glass-works and gun-factory, more than
eighty years ago, are long since dead and almost forgotten. In 1837, Andrew Kramer, Baltzer Kramer,
Theophilus P. Kramer, and Philip Reitz established
a glass-factory here. The style of the firm was Andrew Kramer  Co. The brand was the same as that
of Albert Gallatin and the Kramers, who established
the first factory on Georges Creek in 1794, viz., "New
Geneva Glass." The last glass made in this factory
was by John C. Gabler and Charles Kramer, in 1857.
The sheriff had sold the works. Alexander Crow be45
came the owner, and sold to William H. Sheldon, and
he to Isaac P. Eberhart. Mr. Eberhart has demolished the factory, and the lot is cultivated for garden
produce, which pays better than a glass-factory so far
from the needful material.
In 1840, William James established a foundry here.
After running it for a season, Shealor  Merryman
bought it and began making the celebrated cook-stoves
known as "Drum Stoves." The patent was granted
to J. J. Anderson, Aug. 17, 1843. These stoves had
a large sale and were considered perfect. The foundry
has not run since the war of the Rebellion. Just on
the river-side of town stood the "Old River Mill," of
whose erection none can tell. It belonged to a class
of mills now only found far up the head-waters of the
Monongahela. During dry seasons it did all the grinding for miles around. Daniel Hough has the only mill
now. The French Mills were located on Georges
Creek. They now belong to Warwick Ross' heirs.
The town of New Geneva is located in the extreme
southwest corner of Nicholson township, having
Georges Creek on the south, and the Monongahela
River as its west line. Its site embraces the river
bottom, the bluff above, and intermediate levels.
The streets, except along the river and creek, are in
most parts steep and difficult. There are few pretentious buildings here, either business structures or
residences. The town is antiquated, and has little of
the modern look, yet a considerable amount of business is done from this point, chiefly on the river,
this being practically the head of slack-water navigation on the Monongahela.  The fine steamers
"Geneva," "Germania," and "James G. Blaine,"
belonging to the Pittsburgh, Brownsville and New
Geneva Packet Company, make daily trips from this
town to Pittsburgh, compensating in a great degree
for the lack of railroad facilities.
Among the buildings, institutions, and business of
the town are included a post-office (established before
the year 1800), signal service station, two school buildings, six stores, a grocery, warehouse and commission
business, three eating-houses, wagon-shop, blacksmithshop, a merchant tailor's establishment, two physicians, two pottery-works, a saw-mill and grist-mill
(built by A. B.  M. Eberhart in 1837), three religious
organizations,-Presbyterian, Baptist, and Methodist,
-and two hundred and eighty-six inhabitants, according to the United States census of 1880.
The only places in Nicholson township besides New
Geneva which can claim any approach to town or
village importance are Anderson and Woodward's
Cross-Roads. The former has a post-office, two stores,
and a blacksmith-shop, and is the polling-place for
the township. Woodward's Cross-Roads has a store
and several dwellings.
The township contains a number of saw-mills and
grist-mills. Among these are the Gray grist- and
saw-mills, Poundstone grist- and saw-mill, and Honsacker's saw-mill. Many years ago Peter Johnson
/
I
I
I
I
701HTSTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
carried on a foundry on Jacob's Creek, which is now
abandoned.
LIST OF TOWNSHIP OFFICERS.
The names of the persons elected to the principal
township offices in Nicholson from the time of its
erection to 1881 is given below, viz.:
JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.
1845. Joseph G. Williams.1
John Schnatterly.
1846. John Schnatterly.
Joseph G. Williams.
1851. Joseph G. Williams.
George Beatty.
1856. Joseph G. Williams.
John Weltner.
1857. Francis Fast.
1858. Jacob Cover.
1859. Jacob Bowers.
1860. Ephraim Walters.
1861. Joseph G. Williams.
1862. John F. Gans.
1863. James Woolsey.
1864. John Hague.
1865. -
1866. Joseph G. Williams.
1867. David R. Gans.
1868. George Beatty.
1869.     -.
1870. Joseph G. Williams.
1871. -  
1872.
1873. George Beatty.
1876. Jos. Gordon Williams.
1878. George Beatty.  
1881. John C. Schnatterly.
ASSESSORS.
1846-47. William P. Griffin.
1848. John Poundstone.
1849. Andrew Davis.
1850. Philip Gans.
1851. Samuel Franks.
1852. John Gans.
1853. Henry B. Maleby.
1854. Andrew J. Walters.
1855. James Vanderslice.
1856. Francis Fast.
1857. John T. Blackford.
1858. Michael Schnatterly.
1859. Joseph Longanecker.
1860. Samuel Franks.
1861. John Jaco.
1862. James Woolsey.
1863. Andrew J. Walters.
1864. J. B. Johnson.
1865. William P. Bowers.
1866. Ephraim Walters.
1867. Joseph Longanecker.
1868. Jacob Easter.
1869. William Deffenbaugh.
1870. Henry L. Shank.
1872. Peter Johnson.
1873. James R. Dils.
1874. Joseph Meredith.
1875. Jacob Bowers.
1876. Andrew J. Walters.
1877. Alfred O'Neil.
1878. James L. Crow.
1879. George W. Hager.
1880. Joseph Heath.
1881. John A. Walters.
AUDITORS.
1846. Thomas W. Nicholson.
1847. James Davenport.
1848. John Moore.
1849. Isaac Franks.
1850. Squire Green.
1851. James Davenport.
1852. John Cunningham.
1853. Peter Johnson.
1854. Samuel Robinson.
1855. John Weltner.
1856. Michael Franks.
1857. Isaac R. Franks.
I858. Henry L. Shank.
1859-60. Meredith Mallory.
1861. Harvey Jaco.
1862. Andrew J. Walters.
1863. John F. Gans.
1864. Jacob Cover.
1865. Michael Schnatterly.
1866. John F. Gans.
1867. Jacob Cover.
1868. Michael W. Franks.
1869. William Parshall.
1870. David R. Gans.
1871. -  
1872. L. W. Schnatterly.
1873. A. B. Johnson.
1874. Michael Baker.
Henry L. Shank.
Harvey F. Jaco.
1875. Henry L. Shank.
A. B. Crow.
1876. Jacob Cover.
1877. Peter H. Franks.
1878. Samuel Johnson.
1879. John F. Gans.
1880. D. R. Anderson.
1881. Lorenzo D. Ramsey.
SCHOOLS.
Before the passage of the common-school law of
Pennsylvania, schools in this section, as elsewhere,
were supported by subscription, but they were few
and of low grade, and were generally taught but a
few weeks in the year. In 1811 a school was taught
here by the Rev. James Dunlap, a Presbyterian clergyman, who had among his scholars at that time
James Nicholson, Thomas Nicholson, Jr., David
Bradford, Jr., and Samuel Evans, who is now living,
an octogenarian, on his fine estate near Uniontown.
Under the free-school system, inaugurated by the law
of 1834, the following-named school-houses have been
built, viz., two in New Geneva, and one in each of
the following-named districts: "Woolsey's," "Griffin's,"  Robinson's," "Dogwood," " Pleasant Hill,"
and "Valley."  Following is a list of school directors
elected in Nicholson from the erection of the township to 1881:
1846.-John Robinson, William P. Griffin, John Moore, Rev.
James Quinter, James Hamilton, Samuel Ache.
1847.-Peter Johnson, Bonaparte Hardin.
1848.-Samuel Ache, Alexander Crow.
1849.-Joseph Baker, Jacob Bowers.
1850.-Peter Johnson, Thomas Campbell.
1851.-John Poundstone, Alexander Crow.
1852.-Sanmuel Robinson, William Watkins.
1853.-David Sutton, Francis Fast.
1854.-John Ache, John F. Gans.
1855.-Thomas Campbell, John Summers.
1856.-Jacob Bowers, Benjamin Dils, Michael Schnatterly.'
1857.-George M. Woolsey, Lot Coleman.
1858.-Michael Franks, William Zerly, Eph. Walters, Nicholas
Johnson.
1859.-Henry B. Maleby, J. Harvey Green.
1860.-Joseph Longanecker, Henry Franks.
1861.-William Zerly, John F. Gans, John J. Cover.
1862.-Nicholas B. Johnson, Michael Baker.
1863.-Alfred B. Eberhart, Joseph High.
1864.--William Zerly, Ephraim Walters.
1865.-John Hayne, Phineas West, Harvey Jaco.
1866.-A. B. Eberhart, James Hamilton, Jacob Fast.
1867.-Henry Dils, J. B. Johnson.
1868.-John Poundstone, Henry Franks.
1869.-Joseph David, Samuel Dillinger, Jacob Bowers.
1870.-Henry Franks, John Henry.
1872.-John Poundstone, Ephraim Walters.
1873.--G. W. Hager, Joseph Longanecker.
1874.-Michael W. Franks, Andrew J. Allebaugh.
1875.-John Z. Whetstone, Isaac P. Eberhart.
1876.-William L. Miller, Jacob J. Johnson.
1877.-Samuel Robinson, Silas R. Provance.
1878.-Amadee M. Franks, James Richey.
1879.-Ross Anderson, D. R. Gans, Michael Baker.
1880.-James Hartley, David R. Anderson.
1881.-Amadee Franks, James Richey.
CHURCHES.
MOUNT MORIAH CHURCH.
The records of Fayette County show that a Presbyterian Church was building in Springhill township
as early as 1773. The land upon which the church
702
1 Joseph G. Williams, a grandson of Col. Theophilus Phillips, who
served thirty-five years as a justice of the peace. He is a resident of
New Geneva.
I
INICHOLSON TOWNSHIP.
was erected (about tour acres) was purchased of Joseph Caldwell.' The following is taken from the
records of the church:
"The congregation was organized as a church by
Rev. James Power, of New Castle Presbytery, in
1774. The elders were Robert McLain, James Pollock, Theophilus Phillips, Thomas Ramsey, William
Hill, Abram Crow. Rev. James Power in 1776 settled with his family on Georges Creek, where he
continued to reside for some years. In 1778, Rev.
James Dunlap preached for the congregation. Many
important changes took place about this time, the
most notable being the organization of the Redstone Presbytery.  The Georges Creek or Mount
Moriah Church divided in 1781, the members north
of Georges Creek organizing the'Old Frame,' thus
becoming the principal church and assuming control
of the mother or Mount Moriah Church, the whole
congregation being known as the'Mount Moriah
Church.' Rev. James Findley preached the regular
sermon, and Henry Robinson, Joseph Caldwell, Robert Richey, Robert McLain, David Frame, and William Hill were ordained elders. This was iii 1788. The
church was without a regular pastor. The supplies
were Revs. Thaddeus Dod, James Hughes, Joseph
Patton, James Dunlap, Samuel Porter, and others.
In 1789 they purchased of Richard Brown a log
house twenty by twenty, which answered their purpose. It was used as a church in winter, but during
the summer the congregation worshiped in an adjoining grove. Robert Findley preached as supply in
1790-91, the church adding to their ground by a purchase made of Isaac Phillips, Esq. By alterations
the house (now a frame) was enlarged to forty-eight
by thirty-six, and to Robert Findley were added as
supplies Revs. William Swan, George Hill, George
Mercer (president judge of Washington County, Pa.),
Jacob Jennings, and David Smith. In 1793 the
church united with Union or Tent, and in September,
1794, Rev. David Smith was regularly installed pastor (the first of this congregation). He continued
in charge a little over three years.
1 The following, having reference to the purchase of the church laind
from Joseph Caldwell and the erection of the church building upon it,
is found in the recorder's office at Uniontown:
"Know all men by these presents that whereas the members of the
Congregation of Mount Moriah have fixed with my free will  consent
on a spot of the land I claim to erect a prisbaterian church uponI that
I do hereby bind myself my Hairs Ext.  Adm.  every of them firmly
by these presenits to John Swearingen  George Wilson Trustees  to
their successors for ye standing use of that congregation to give grant
and bequeath  a good legal title to make to 4 acres of land  the benefit
of ye spring joyning the same where ye meeting house is now a building
for ever as soon as it shall Be in my power to make it To the just performance Here of For and in consideration of One Shilling to me in
hand paid by ye said Trustees for ye Congregation the Receipt Whereof
I hereby acknowledge I bind me my Heirs Ex. Adm.  every of us and
them in the just sum of one hundred pounds as Witness my hand  Seal
July ye 1st 1773.                   "JOSEPH CALDWELL.
 in Presence of
"THEs. PHILIPS.
"JOHN FORSHEY."
In 1798, Georges Creek, Muddy Creek, and Union
or Tent united, with the Rev. James Adams in charge,
he being the second regularly installed, Oct. 16, 1799.
He resigned in 1808. The members having nearly all
emigrated West, the church was suffered to fall into
decay. An occasional setmon was preached by the
Rev. James Dunlap to the remnant. He was at
this time teaching school in New Geneva. This state
of things continued for some years. In 1816 the
house was thoroughly repaired, and in the following year Ashbel Green Fairchild, a licentiate of
New Jersey, preached for the members. This he
continued to do in 1818, and in July, 1819, was ordained and installed as pastor. The membership at
this time was ten, with Henry Jennings as elder. In
a few months the membership was increased to ninety
persons. In 1822 he was in charge of Georges Creek,
Morgantown, and Greensboro', Greene Co., Pa., congregations, with a salary of $333. In April, 1827, he
resigned the charge of Morgantown and Greensboro'
congregations and took Union or Tent Church. The
Old Frame was under his care until 1854, a period of
thirty-six years. This justly celebrated divine continued in charge of the Tent Church until his death,
June 30, 1864.
The great addition to membership was made from
1829 to 1832, when it reached one hundred and eighty.
Eighty joined during the year 1829.
In July, 1854, the "Mount Moriah Church" called
H. O. Rosborough, who on June 5, 1855, was ordained
and installed the fourth regular pastor of this church.
His salary has been increased several times. Georges
Church agreed to pay him $600 alone in September,
1872, the remaining portion of his time, one-third,
being in the service of Mount Washington, twentyfour miles distant. The property of Ashbel G. Fairchild was purchased of L. S. Hough, executor of his
estate, March 31, 1866, for the sum of $2188, consisting of seventeen acres and buildings. This is
now  attached to Mount Moriah, Old Franme, or
Georges Creek Church, as a parsonage. Rev. H. O.
Rosborough, the minister in charge, resides here, a
short distance south of Smithfield.
The parsonage property was paid for and freed of
incumbrance in less than two years.
The ministers in charge since the organization by
Rev. James Power in 1774 have been the following:
Rev. James Power, 1776; Rev. David Smith, August,
1794; Rev. James Adams, 16th October, 1799; Rev.
Ashbel G. Fairchild, called 1817, regular from Julyi
1819, to April, 1854; Rev. H. O. Rosborough, called
July, 1854, and remained from 1855 to the present
time (1881).
Membership of the church in 1788, 50. Membership in 1819, 10; in 1832, 180; in 1881, 160.
GERMAN BAPTIST (FAIRVIEW) CHURCH.
The German Baptists in this section worshiped in
school-houses and barns in early times. The first
703HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
church edifice built by this denomination in this part
of Fayette County was "Fair View," in the year
1835. Ephraim Walters donated the lot upon which
the church stands. John Debolt sawed the lumber,
and Joseph Mosier was one of the contractors to build
the house. The trustees of the church were Ephraim
Walters, Samuel Aughey (now written Ache). The
ministers or bishops were Rev. James Kelso, James
Fouch, Letherman Sphon, Rev. James Quinter, Jacob
Mack, succeeded by Elder Joseph I. Cover, the bishop
having it in charge at present. Its membership at
present is about two hundred.
The Baptist Congregation in Geneva is a branch of
the Greensboro' Church, and cannot be considered as
belonging to Nicholson.
METHODIST CHURCH AT NEW GENEVA.
The history of Methodist worship at this place and
vicinity prior to 1852, and the various efforts for the
establishment of a church of this denomination, belong to the religious history of Springhill township.
In the year named a congregation was gathered here,
and a frame building erected as a house of worship,
mainly through the efforts of the Rev. I. C. Pershing.
The church building stands on land formerly belonging to the estate of Miller Denny, and sold by his
executor, Jonathan Monroe, Esq., to the church.
Trustees, Isaac Crow, Frederick Eberhart, David
Franks, Alexander Conrad, and Joseph Provance.
The present membership of the church is thirtyfive. Pastor, Rev. S. W. McCurdy.
BURIAL-GROUNDS.
There are in Nicholson the following-named burialgrounds, most of them being the last resting-places of
old settlers in the township, viz.: One at the stone
school-house, New Geneva; one at McLain's, Provance Bottoms; one at Provance's, Provance Bottoms;
one at Fair View (German Baptist); one at Young's;
the Debolt ground at Rise's; the Cover and Aughey
ground at Woolsey and Cover's; and the old Frame
Church burial-ground. The last named, as also the
Fair View and the burial-place at Young's, are well
kept and cared for. The same can hardly be said of
the others.
NICHOLSON SOLDIERS.
In the Mexican war of 1846-48 a number of men
from Nicholson entered the United States service,
among whom were Albert G. Nicholson and William
Fairchild Nicholson, the latter of whom died of
cholera on his way home from Mexico.
In the war of the Rebellion, 1861-65, Capt. William
West enlisted many men in this part of Fayette
County, and had them mustered into the service as
West Virginia troops. Capts. Thompson and Leasure, of Morgantown, also did the same. The length
of time elapsed since the war has caused the names of
many to be forgotten. The following persons were
among the number who enlisted in Virginia regiments: Joseph G. Provance, Jesse Poundstone, Harrison Mack, John Knife, Martin Stoneking, James
Wood. In Capt. George W. Gilmore's company,
which was mustered to the credit of West Virginia,
were the following-named men from Nicholson
Joseph Provance, John Debolt, John Gilmore, James
W. Nicholson, Albert G. Sandusky, Johnson J. Mallory, Abijah Farmer. Following is a partial list of
Nicholson men who served in Pennsylvania regiments
in the war of the Rebellion:
In the 85th Regt., Capt. I. M. Abrams, John McDonald, William Pratt, Ashbel Pratt, Isaac Pratt,
James Gray, Alfred O'Neil, Hugh O'Neil, Henry
O'Neil, James H. Core, James Sturgis.
In the 168th Regt., Capt. Joseph Stacy, Henry
Miller, William  Harrison, Peter Bricker, Robert
Armstrong, John Hill.
In the 112th Regt., Capt. Amzi S. Fuller, A. Turner
Dougherty, David L. Provance, Harmar Denny,
Hugh T. Davenport, Nicholas Honsaker, Warwick
H. Ross, John Campbell, sub.
In the 14th Cavalry, Capt. Duncan, William Conn,
John Wesley Poundstone, Joseph E. Dilliner, John
Beatty, William Abram.
In the 16th Cavalry, Capt. Fisher, John Dugan,
sub., Adolph A. Eberhart, Isaac P. Eberhart, Henry
Blair, Andrew J. Dunham, Albert G. Dougherty,
Abraham Dunham.
Other regiments which cannot now be designated
contained the following-named soldiers from Nicholson:
Martin L. Blackford, Josiah Honsaker, Calvin
Malaby, John Ross Summers, John Jaco, William
Jaco, Henry K. Atchison, Samuel Davis, John Davis,
John Whetstone, Asa O. Cooley, William Eberhart,
Henry Huhn, Doc Arnold, William Patterson, John
Mallory, Miller Dunaway, William Franks, Wesley
O'Neil, Benjamin F. Huhn, Isaac P. Huhn, William
A. Stewart, Charles Nicholson, James Mallory, Morgan Kefover.
MANUFACTURING INTERESTS.
The Catt's Run Coke-Works are located onI Provance Bottoms, nearly two miles south of Catt's Run.
They were built by a company of Uniontown capitalists in 1877, the first coke being made in October of
that year. The style of the company was Ewing,
Kendall  Co. Having erected sixty ovens, the
works were leased to a Pittsburgh firm, Messrs.
Charles H. Armstrong  Son. At these works the
coal is crushed and thoroughly washed before being
placed in the ovens. The entire product of these
works is sold to the Ironton Manufacturing Company, of Ironton, Ohio, at three dollars per ton.
The minerals of Nicholson township are the same
that are found generally in Fayette County. Iron
ore has'been mined and shipped to Wheeling from
Fred's Run (a tributary of Catt's Run), but the cost
I
704THE REVOLUTION.
deserted to the enemy since the Declaration of Independence."
The forces of Col. Crawford commenced their march
from Mingo Bottom early in the morning of Saturday,
the 25th of May. There was a path leading from
the river into the wilderness, and known as "Williamson's trail," because it was the route over which
Col. Williamson had previously marched on his way
to the Moravian towns. This trail, as far as it extended, offered the easiest and most practicable route,
but Col. Crawford did not adopt it,l because it was a
principal feature in his plan of the campaign to avoid
all traveled trails or routes on wvhich they would be
likely to be discovered by lurking Indians or parties
of them, who would make haste to carry intelligence
of the movement to the villages which it was his purpose to surprise and destroy. So the column, divided
into four detachments, each under immediate conimmand of one of the four field-majors, moved up from
the river-bottom into the higher country, and struck
into the trackless wilderness, taking a course nearly
due west, piloted by the guides Slover and Zane.
The advance was led by Capt. Biggs' company, in
which were found young William Crawford (ensign),
James Paull, John Rodgers, John Sherrard, Alexander Carson, and many other Fayette County volunteers.
Through the depths of the gloomy forest, along the
north side of Cross Creek, the troops moved rapidly
but warily, preceded by scouts, and observing every
precaution known to border warfare, to guard against
ambuscade or surprise, though no sign of an enemy
appeared in the unbroken solitude of the woods. No
incident of note occurred on the march until the
night of the 27th of May, when, at their third camping-place, a few of the horses strayed and were lost,
and in the following morning the men who had thus
been dismounted, being unable to proceed on foot
without embarrassing the movements of the column,
were ordered to return to Mingo Bottom, which they
did, but with great reluctance.
On the fourth day they reached and crossed the
MIuskingum River, and then, marching up the western
side of the stream, came to the ruins of the upper
Moravian village, where they made their camp for
the night, and found plenty of corn remaining in the
ravaged fields of the Christian Indians.  This encampment was only sixty miles from their startingpoint on the Ohio, yet they had been four days in
reaching it. During the latter part of their journey
to this place they had taken a route more southerly
than the one originally contemplated, for their horses
had become jaded and worn out by climbing the
hills and floundering through the swamps, and so the
commander found himself compelled to deflect his
line of march so as to pass through a more open and
level country; but he did this very unwillingly, for it
led his army through a region in which they would
be much more likely to be discovered by Indian
scouts or hunting-parties.
Up to this time, however, no Indians had been
seen; but while the force was encamped at the ruined
village, on the evening of the 28th of May, Maj.
Brinton and Capt. Bean went out to reconnoitre the
vicinity, and while so engaged, at a distance of about
a quarter of a mile from the camp, they discovered
two skulking savages and promptly fired on them.
The shots did not take effect and the Indians fled,
but the circumstance gave Col. Crawford great uneasiness, for, although he had previously supposed
that his march had been undiscovered by the enemy,
he now believed that these scouts had been hovering
on their flanks, perhaps along the entire route from
Mingo Bottom, and it was certain that the two savages
who had been fired on would speedily carry intelligence of the hostile advance to the Indian towns
on the Sandusky.
It was now necessary to press on with all practicable speed in order to give the enemy as little time as
possible to prepare for defense. Early in the morning
of the 29th the column resumed its march, moving
rapidly, and with even greater caution than before.
From  the Muskingum  the route was taken in a
northwesterly course to the Killbuck, and thence up
that stream to a point about ten miles south of the
present town of Wooster, Ohio, where, in the evening of the 30th, the force encamped, and where one of
the men died and was buried at a spot which was
marked by the cutting of his name in the bark of the
nearest tree.
From the lone grave in the forest they moved on
in a westerly course, crossing an affluent of the Mohican, passing near the site of the present city of
Mansfield, and arriving in the evening of the 1st of
June at the place which is now known as Spring
Mills Station, on the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and
Chicago Railroad. There by the side of a fine spring
they bivouacked for the night. In the march of the 2d
they struck the Sandusky River at about two o'clock
P.M., and halted that night in the woods very near
the eastern edge of the Plains, not more than twenty
miles from the Indian town, their point of destination. They had seen no Indian since their departure
from the night camp at the Moravian Indian village
on the Muskingum, though they had in this day's
march unknowingly passed very near the canlp of
the Delaware chief Wingenund.
On the morning of the 3d of June the horsemen
entered the open country known as the Sandusky
Plains, and moved rapidly on through waving grasses
and bright flowers, between green belts of timber and
island groves such as few of them had ever seen
before.  Such were the scenes which surrounded
1 Dr. Doddridge, in his "Notes," says, "The army marched along
Williamson's trail, as it was then called, until they arrived at the upper
Moravian town."  In this, as in many other parts of his narrative,
Doddr:dge was ent.rely mistaken.
95001'L",,z /// -NICOLONTOWSHP.70
of transportation is found too great for the profitable
working of the mines. Petroleum has been obtained
at a depth of five hundred feet on Jacob's Creek in
this township.
The manufacture of stone-ware from clay found in
Springhill township has become the most important
industry of New Geneva. The manufacture consists of
milk-pans, jars, jugs, fruit-jars or "jugoos," also chemical pots and piping. Two firms are now carrying on
this business, viz.: Isaac P. Eberhart  Co. and
Alexander Conrad, each producing about forty-eight
thousand gallons of ware per year.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
JOHN POUNDSTONE.
John Poundstone, of Nicholson, is of German descent. His grandfather, Philip Poundstone, came
from Germany and settled in Nicholson township
at an early day. Nicholas Poundstone, father of
John, was born in Fayette County, and spent his life
here as a farmer. He married Elizabeth Everly, and
they had eight children. Their son John was born
in Nicholson township, Aug. 30, 1804, and was educated at the public schools, and growing up learned
the trade of cabinet-making, and followed it for about
four years in Masontown. In 1830 he moved to where
he now lives, and has ever since "farmed it."
Aug. 12, 1827, he married Susanna Rider, of German township, who died in June, 1869. They had ten
children, seven of whom are now living. June 4,
1871, Mr. Poundstone took to himself another wife in
the person of Barbara A. Hunsaker. Of his children,
one, a son, is living in California, another son is a
hotel-keeper, and the others are. farmers. He has
but one daughter living, Louisa, who married a
farmer by the namne of - Law.
Mr. Poundstone has held important township offices,
that of school director, etc., and is a member of the
Lutheran Church, in which he has held the office of
elder for many years. His possessions consist chiefly
of lands. Mr. Poundstone is a gentleman of unassuming modest manners. His neighbors speak highly
of him as an honest, honorable man, whose life is
gentle, and whose good deeds, quietly done, are numerous.
MICHAEL W. FRANKS.
Michael W. Franks, of Nicholson township, the
late popular treasurer of Fayette County, is of German lineage. His father, Michael Franks, was born
and raised in Fayette County, upon the farm whereon
he, Mr. Franks, our subject, now resides. He was a
farmer, and married Charity Kendall, of Nicholson
township, by whom he had seven children. Michael
W. (the third, for his grandfather as well as father
bore the same Christian najne) was born April
29, 1832, and was educated in the common and select
schools, learned the business of farming, and since
his marriage, in 1864, has resided where he now lives,
except for three years, during which time he held
public office and resided at Uniontown.
He was elected treasurer of Fayette County by a very
large majority in November, 1878, and performed the
duties of his office from Jan. 1, 1879, to Jan. 1, 1882,
giving universal satisfaction. It may be added here
that he was nominated by his party for that office
over more good men, probably, than were ever before
beaten as aspirants for the same office at the same
time in Fayette County.
It is generally conceded by his political opponents
that Fayette County never had a better treasurer
than Mr. Franks, and there are gentlemen of standing in the county who declare it never had so good
an one as he. He is popular in all parts of the county,
generous, and gentlemanly.
Mr. Franks and the family of Franks are distinctively Democratic in politics.
May 17, 1864, Mr. Franks married Martha J. Bell,
of Greene County, and has three children,-Emma B.,
Charles O. B., and Estella R.
DR. WILSON GREENE.
Dr. Wilson Greene, of New Geneva, Nicholson
township, was born in Greene County, Dec. 1, 1829,
and is of Puritan descent on his paternal side, but on
his maternal of Germnan extraction.
His grandfather, William Greene, was born in New
England. He. migrated to Greene County, Pa., at an
early day, and settled on Whitely Creek, near "Willow Tree." He married Rebecca La Rue, and their
issue were five sons and three daughters.
Henry Sycks, his maternal grandfather, was a native
of Virginia, but while quite young removed with his
father to Greene County, Pa., and settled on the waters
of Dunkard Creek, inl Monongahela township. They
were among the pioneers that first permanently located
west of the Monongahela River. Young Henry participated in the Indian wars of the period, and endured
the privations and hardships incident to border life.
He was united in matrimony with Barbary Selser, a
daughter of a contemporary settler, and ten children
were the fruits of their marriage.
Matthew Greene and Rachel Sycks, the parents of
Dr. Greene, were married in 1828, and reared four
children, of whom the subject of this notice was the
only son, born on the farm his great-grandfather
located, where his mother was born, and where she
died, and where his father still resides.
Dr. Greene is eminently a self-made man. His
advantages for acquiring an education were very limited. Supplementing his scant public school opportunities by several terms of select school, which he
was enabled to attend through the summer by teaching district school through the winter, he succeeded
705
NICHOLSON TOWNSHIP.HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
in obtaining a very liberal and thorough English
education. In like manner he earned the means that
supported him at Cleveland Medical College, Cleveland, Ohio, where he completed his professional studies.
March 23,1859, he formed a propitious matrimonial
alliance with Pleasant M., second daughter of Evan
Evans, who owned an adjoining farm. He was of
pure Welsh lineage, both parents having been born
in Wales. Mrs. Greene's mother, Nancy Myers, was
a granddaughter of the historic Rev. John Corbly,
whose wife and several children were massacred while
on their way to church, Sunday morning, May 10,
1782, by the Indians, near Garard's Fort.
They began their married life at Bristol, Perry Co.,
Ohio, where he soon acquired a lucrative practice.
Having pursued his profession here for five years, he
returned to Pennsylvania and located in New Geneva,
where he now resides. Here, too, he soon attained to
an extensive practice, which he still retains. Personally he is eminently popular, having merited the
esteem of his fellows by being instant in good words
and works. Professionally he has been signally successful, and is held in high esteem by the medical
fraternity.  At present he is vice-president of the
Fayette County Medical Association, and holds the
appointment as delegate to the National Medical Convention, to be held in St. Paul, Minn., in July next.
Dr. Greene is the father of two children,-Isa D.
and Willie W. Isa is an accomplished young lady,
educated at Monongahela College, and a graduate of
Dana's Musical Institute, Warren, Ohio. She possesses
a rare talent for instrumental music and enjoys a sweet
and delicately-cultured voice. Willie is at present
pursuing a course of study at Monongahela College.
The doctor has for a number of years been a prominent and influential member of one of the leading
Evangelical Churches, of which also his wife and children are all communicants.
Though not luxuriating in unbounded affluence, he
has accumulated much valuable property, which consists of houses and lands and moneys at interest, etc.
He is one of the solid and useful citizens of the county.
WILLIAM P. GRIFFIN.
Mr. William P. Griffin, of Nicholson township, is
of Welsh stock. He is the son of William and Rhoda
Griffin, who, coming to Fayette County, settled on
Georges Creek, in Springhill township. He was a
miller. They had a family of eight children, of whom
William P. was the seventh, and is the only one living, and was born Sept. 2, 1809. He was educated in
the common and select schools, and has been engaged
in farming all his business life. He has resided upon
the farm which he now occupies for fifty years.
In August, 1837, Mr. Griffin married Ann Gans, of
Springhill township, by whom he has had thirteen
children, eleven of whom are living. Mr. and Mrs.
Griffin were for many years members of the Baptist
Church, but about 1868 they united with the Christian Church, of which they are honored and usetiffl
members, Mr. Griffin being an elder thereof. He
was once a lieutenant in the State militia, and two
of his sons, William L. and Charles A., served in the
war of the Rebellion, the former of whom is a physician, the latter a general trader. Mr. Griffin's third
son, Newton, is a farmer; the fourth son is a grocer;
and all the sons have left the old homestead and the
county, living in various parts of the Union.
Mr. Griffin is a substantial, excellent farmer, an
honest, hard-working man; and Mrs. Griffin has contributed to their success in life her full share of management and hard work. They command the respect
and esteem of their neighbors. Mr. Griffin has held
important township offices.
HENRY DILS.
Henry Dils, of Nicholson township, who was born
July 3, 1816, in what was then Springhill township,
is descended from good old Dutch stock, it is believed.
His father, Philip Dils, married in Springhill township Mary Hager, and located in the same township
about 1807. They had five children, of whom Henry
was the third. Three are yet living,- Henry, Peter,
and Mary Core. Mr. Dils' father passed most of his
life as a farmer, and was successful, leaving each of
his children a good farm.
Mr. Dils received a limited education in the common schools, but is a man of observation and intelligence, and has held the position of school director
and other offices. He has been a member of the Old
Frame Presbyterian Church for many years, and has
for several years been an elder in that church. He
was first married Dec. 28, 1843, to Martha Vandervort, of Nicholson township. They had eleven children, eight of whom are living. His wife being deceased, he married again Nov. 10, 1870. Six children
were the issue of this latter marriage, four now living.
Mr. Dils has resided in his present home thirty-eight
years. Here his children have been reared, and he
has assisted his grown-up children to a start in life.
His sons are all farmers. Mr. Dils is a gentleman of
excellent moral character, without reproach as a business man. His possessions are chiefly lands.
7069-/1,0
IF
Loeoo'HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
them during all of that day's march, and at night
they made their fireless bivouac on or near the site of
the present village of Wyandot, not more than ten
miles from their objective point, where (as they believed) the deadly and decisive blow was to be struck.
Two hours a.fter sunrise on thle 4th the men were
again in the saddle, and the four squadrons began
their march, moving with greater caution than ever.
A march of six miles brought them to the mouth
of the Little Sandusky; thence, having crossed the
stream, they proceeded in a direction a little west of
north, past an Indian sugar-camp of the previous
spring (which was all the sign that they had seen of
Indian occupation), and passed rapidly on towards
the Wyandot town,' the objective point of the expedition, which, as the guide Slover assured the coinnander, lay immediately before them within striking
distance. Suddenly, at a little after noon, the site of
the town came in full view through an opening in
the timber, but to their utter amazement they found
only a cluster of deserted huts without a single inhabitant! The villagre appeared to have been deserted for a considerable time, and the place was a
perfect solitude. This was a dilemma which Col.
Crawford had not foreseen nor anticipated, and he at
once ordered a halt to rest the horses and give time
for him to consider the strange situation of aff'tirs,
and to decide on a new plan of operations.
The guides, Sloiver and Zane, and some others in
Crawford's command were well acquainted with the
location of the Indian town. John Slover had previously been a prisoner with the Miamis, and during
Ihis captivity with that tribe had frequently visited
the Wyandot village on the Sandusky. In guiding
the expedition there he had, of course, expected to
find the village as he had before seen it, and was, like
the rest, astonished to find it deserted. The fact, as
afterwards learned, was that some time before Crawford's coming, but how long before has never been
definitely ascertained, the Indians, believing that
their upper village was peculiarly exposed to danger
from the incursions of the whites, had abandoned it
and retired down the river about eight miles, where
they gathered around the village of the Half-King,
Pomoacan; and that was their location when the columns of Col. Crawford descended the Sandusky.
Contrary to the belief of the Pennsylvania and
Virginia settlers that the mustering of their forces
and the march of their expedition was unknown to
the Indians, the latter had been apprised of it from
the inception of the project. Prowling spies east of
the Ohio had watched the volunteers as they left their
homes in the Monongahela Valley and moved westward towards the rendezvous; they had seen the
gathering of the borderers at Mingo Bottom, and had
shadowed the advancing column along all its line of
march from the Ohio to the Sandusky. Swift runners
had sped away to the northwest with every item of
warlike news, and on its receipt, the chiefs and warriors at the threatened villages lost not a moment in
making the most energetic preparations to repel the
invasion. Messengers were dispatched to all the Wyandot, Delaware, and Shawanese bands, calling on
them to send in all their braves to a general rendezvous near the Half-King's headquarters, and word was
sent to De Peyster, the British commandant at Detroit, notifying Iiim of the danger threatening his Indian allies, and begging that he would send them aid
without dclelay. This request he at once acceded to,
sending a considerable force of mounted men, with
two or three small pieces of artillery. These, however,
did not play a prominent part in the tragedy which
followed.
The Indian scouts who had watched the little army
of Crawford from the time it left Mingo Bottom sent
forward reports of its progress day by day, and from
these reports the chiefs at the lower towns on the Sandusky learned in the night of the 3d of June that the
invading column was then in bivouac on the Plains,
not more than eighteen miles distant. The war-parties of the Miamis and Shawanese hlad not come in
to the Indian rendezvous., nor had the expected aid
arrived from the British post at Detroit, but the chiefs
resolved to tal;e the wvar-path without them, to harass
and hold the advancing enemy in check as much as
possible until the savage forces should be augmented
sufficiently to enable them to give battle with hope of
success. Accordingly, in the morning of the 4th of
June, at about the same time when Col. Crawford
was leaving his camp-ground of tlle previous night
to march on the deserted Indian town, the great Delaware chief, Capt. Pipe, set out from his town with
about two hundred warriors, and marched to the rendezvous, where his force was joined by a larger party
of Wyandots under their chief Ghaus-sho-toh.  With
them was the notorious white renegade, Simon Girty,
mounted on a fine horse and decked out in full Indian
costume. The combined Delaware and Wyandot
forces numbered in all more than five hundred braves,
-a screeching mass of barbarians, hideous in their
war-paint and wild with excitement. After an orgie.
of whooping, yelling, and dancing such as savages
were wont to indulge in before taking the war-path,
the wild crowd relapsed into silence, filed out from the
place of rendezvous, and glided away like a huge serpent across the grassy plain towards the cover of the
distant belt of forest.
In the brief halt at the deserted village Col. Crawford consulted with his guides and some of the officers
as to the most advisable course to be adopted under
the strange circumstances in which he found himself
placed. John Slover was firmn in the opinion that the
inhabitants of the village had removed to a town s.itu1 The location of the old Wyandot town was three miles southeast of
the present town of Upper Sandusky, or five miles below by the course
of the river, and on its oppos'te bank.
96PERRY TOWNSHIP.
PERRY is one of the northernmost townships of
Fayette County, its northern line being a part of the
boundary between this county and Westmoreland.
On the east the township is bounded by Lower Tyrone and Franklin, on the south by Franklin, and on
the west by Jefferson and Washington. Perry lies
on both sides of the Youghiogheny River, which
flows through the township in a general northwesterly course. Its other principal streams are Jacob's
Creek, Washingtoll Run, and Virgin Run. The last
nlamed enters the Youghiogheny from the south, and
marks the southeastern boundary of Perry against
the township of Franklin. Washington Run flows
northeastwardly through the central part of Perry,
past its principal town (Perryopolis), and falls into
the Youghiogheny.  Jacob's Creek enters the Youghiogheny from the eastward, and marks the northeastern boundary of Perry against Westmoreland County.
That part of the township which lies east of the
Youghiogheny, and between it and Jacob's Creek, is
mountainous, rising in some parts quite precipitously
from both streams, and having but little bottom-land.
In that part of the township which lies on the southwest side of the river the land rises to a considerable
height from the Youghiogheny, then slopes back to
what are called Washington Bottoms, which are
drained by Washington Run. Where the village of
Perryopolis is located is a moderate elevation of land,
which from there has a gradual descent in all directions. This section is excellently adapted for the
production of grain and grass, and nearly the whole
township, particularly that part southwest of the
river, embraces very fine lands for purposes of agriculture. The Pittsburgh and Connellsville Railroad
-l-now generally known as the Baltimore and Ohio,
because leased by that company-traverses the township along the right bank of the Youghiogheny
River, and has within the boundaries of Perry two
stations,-Layton and Banning's. The population
of the township by the census of 1880 was fourteen
hundred and seventy-six.
NAMES OF ORIGINAL PURCHASERS OF LANDS IN PERRY
TOWNSHIP.
William Athel, 33lt~ acres, Spring Run; warranted April 3,
1769; surveyed Oct. 27, 1769.
George Washington, 329 acres, Meadows; warranted April 3,
1769; surveyed Oct. 25, 1769.
ThomrnasJones, 332 acres, Deer Range; warranted April 3. 1769;
surveyed Oct. 26, 1769.
John Paty, 330 acres, Crab-Tree Run; warranted April 3, 1769;
surveyed Oct. 27, 1769.
John Bishop, 319 acres, Flatt; warranted April 3, 1769; surveyed Oct. 28, 1769.
NOTE.-The five tracts above were surveyed to the original warrantholders, Oct. 26 and 27,1769, but were all patented to George Washington, Feb. 28, 1782.
George Brown, 326 acres; warranted April 3, 1769.
James Hunter, 276j acres; warranted April 19, 1769.
Eleanor Hunter, 326 acres; warranted April 19, 1769.
Hopewell Jewell, 82; acres; warranted April 17, 1794; surveyed Aug. 25, 1795.
John Jones, 224 acres.
J. Augustine Washington, 320i acres, Fork; warranted April
3, 1769; surveyed October 28.
Laurence Washington, 320k acres, Bear Hill; warranted April
3, 1769; surveyed October 28.
William Wilson, 205i acres.
Christopher Bealer, 298; acres; warranted Dec. 16, 1788; surveyed March 11, 1789.
Mary Higgs, Springfield; patented April 6, 1791.
John G. Zizing, 684 X 158 acres; warranted March 10, 1819,
and Feb. 25, 1822.
William Espey, 149 acres; warranted May 27, 1785; surveyed
Oct. 31, 1811.
Hugh Espey, 1131 acres, June 27, 1809.
Robert Espey, 66 acres, 1815.
William Turnbull, 301 acres, Rocksbury; patented July 13,
1789.
William Turnbull, 219 acres, Springsbury; patented July 13,
1789.
Jacob Lawrie, 223 acres, Luton; patented Jan. 9, 1789.
Valentine Secrist, 108k acres; warranted Sept. 29, 1791; surveyed Oct. 26th.
EARLY LAND PURCHASES AND SETTLEMENTS.
The earliest as well as the most extensive purchaser of lands in what is now Perry township was
Gen. (then Col.) George Washington, who received
a warrant for lands here on the first day of the landoffice of the proprietaries for the sale of tracts west
of the mountains, April 3, 1769. Nearly two years
prior to this, however, Washington had begun to entertain the idea of purchasing large tracts in this
region, as is shown by the tenor of a letter written by
him to Capt. William Crawford, of Stewart's Crossings (now New Haven), as follows:
"MOUNT VERNON, Sept. 21, 1767.
"DEAR SIR,-From a sudden hint of your brother's 1 I wrote
to you a few days ago in a hurry. Having since had more
1 The brother of William Crawford here referred as having given
Washington his first hint concerning the obtaining of a tract of land
707HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
time for reflection, I now write deliberately and with greater
precision on the subject of my last letter. I then desired the
favor of you (as I understood rights might now be had for the
lands which have fallen within the Pennsylvania line)' to look
me out a tract of about fifteen hundred, two thousand, or more
aeres somewhere in your neighborhood, meaning only by this
that it may be as contiguous to your own settlement as such a
body of good land can be found. It will be easy for you to
conceive that ordinary or even middling lands would never
answer my purpose or expectation, so far from navigation and
under such a load of expenses as these lands are incumbered
with. No; a tract to please me must be rich (of which no person can be a better judge than yourself) and, if possible, level.
Could such a piece of land be found you would do me a singular
favor in falling upon some method of securing it immiediately
from the attempts of others, as nothing is more certain than
that the lands cannot remain long ungranted when once it is
known that rights are to be had.
".. It is possible, but I do not know that it really is the
case, that the custom in Pennsylvania will not admit so large a
quantity of latnd as I require to be entered together; if so, this
may perhaps be arranged by making several entries to the same
amount, if the expenses of doing it is not too heavy. If the
land can only be secured from others it is all I want at present.
The surveying I would choose to postpone, at least till the
spring, when, if you can give me any satisfactory account of
this matter, and of what I am next going to propose, I expect
to pay you a visit about the last of April."
No information is found as to the preliminary steps
taken by Capt. Crawford to select and secure these
lands on behalf of Washington, but it is certain
that on the opening of the land-office at the time
above mentioned warrants were issued for lands in
the present township of Perry, amounting to miore
than sixteen hundred acres, all of which came into
possession of the general. The only tract in this
township warranted to George Washington was one
named "Meadows."  The warrant bore date April
3, 1769, and the survey October 27th of the same
year. There was, however, at the samfie time one
tract called " Forks," warranted to John Augusta
[Augustine?] Washington; one called "Bear Hills,"
to Lawrence Washington; one called "Spring Run,"
to William Athel; one called "Flatts," to John
Bishop; one called "Crab-Tree Run," to John Paty;
and one called "Deer Range," to Thomas Jones. The
surveys, made with large allowance, gave the area of
these several tracts as follows: "Meadows," 329
acres; "Forks," 320 acres; "Bear Hills," 320 acres;
"Spring Run," 331 acres; "Flatts," 319 acres; "CrabTree Run," 330 acres; and "Deer Range," 332 acres.
There is nothing found tending to show that either
John A. Washington's "Forks" or Laurence Washington's "Bear Hills" tract ever came into the hands
of George Washington; but that he did purchase
under Pennsylvania " rights" in the trans-Allegheny country was Valentine Crawford, who located upon Jacob's Creek, Westmoreland Co.,
Pa.
1 By the Pennsylvania line Washington meant the boundary line be
tween Pennsylvania and Virginia, which at that date was being run
beyond the Allegheny Mountains. this understanding as to rights was
erroneous, as will hereafter be seen.
or otherwise acquire all the other tracts above enumerated, amounting in the aggregate to 1641 acres,
and that they were patented to him Feb. 28, 1782, is
made certain by a recital to that effect in deeds given
in the year 1802 by his executors. None of the names
of the warrantees of the tracts above named as having
been patented to Gen. Washington are found in connection with aniiy later settlement or transfer, and
therefore it is probable that they took up the lands
in his interest; and it is certain that the warrants
taken by them passed to him before the issuance of
the patents.
Capt. Crawford, who selected these lands for Washington, acted also as his agent in locating many other
tracts in what is now Washington County, Pa., in
Ohio, and along the Ohio River Valley in Virginia.
In 1770, the year next following the location and
survey of, these lands, Washington made a tour
through this section, and down the Ohio to the Great
Kanawha, and kept a journal of the trip. A part of
that journal is given below, commencing on the date
of his departure from Mount Vernon, viz.:
"October 5th.-Began a journey to the Ohio in company with
Dr. Craik, his servant and two of mine, with a led horse and
baggage. Dined at Towlston's, and lodged at Leesburg, distant
from Mount Vernon about forty-five miles. Here my portmanteau horse failed. [Here follows the journal of six days'
journey by way of Old Town, Md., and Fort Cumberland to'Killman's,' east of Castleman's River.]
"12th.-We left Killman's early in the morning, breakfasted
at the Little Meadows, ten miles off, and lodged at the Great
Crossing (of the Youghiogheny at Somerfield), twenty miles farther, which we found a tolerably good day's work.'...
"13th.-Set out about sunrise, breakfasted at the Great
Meadows [Fayette Co.], thirteen miles, and reached Captain
Crawford's about five o'clock. The land from Gist's [Mount
Braddock] to Crawford's is very broken, though not mountainous, in spots exceedingly rich, and in general free from stone;
Crawford's is very fine land, lying on the Youghiogheny, at a
place commonly called Stewart's Crossing.
" 14th.-At Captain Crawford's all day. Went to see a coalmine not far from his house on the banks of the river. The
coal seemed of the very best kind, burning freely, and abundance of it.
"15th.-Went to view some land which Captain Crawford
located for me near the Youghiogheny,2 distant about twelve
miles. This tract, which contains about one thousand six hundred acres, includes some as fine land as I ever saw, and a great
deal of rich meadow; it is well wvatered and has a valuable millseat, except that the stream is rather too. slight, and, it is said,
not constant more than seven or eight months in the year; but,
on account of the fall and other conveniences, no place can exceed it. In going to this land I passed through two other
tracts which Captain Crawford had taken up for my brothers
Samuel and John. I intended to have visited the land which
Crawford had procured for Lund 3 Washington this day also, but,
time falling short, I was obliged to postpone it. Night catne
on before I got back to Crawford's, where I found Colonel Ste2 Referring to the tracts above mentioned, lying in the present towiiship of Perry.
3 Meaning Laurence Washington, who was not a relative, or if he was,
a very distant one, and who is mentioned in the general's will as an
"acquaintance and friend of mny juvenile years."
708PERRY TOWNS1HIP.
phen. The lands which I passed over to-day were generally
hilly, and the growth chiefly white oak, but very good notwithstanding; and, what is extraordinary and contrary to the property of all other lands I ever saw before, the hills are the richest
land, the soil upon the sides and summits of them being as
black as coal, and the growth walnut and cherry. The fiats
are not so rich, and a good deal more mixed with stone.
"16th. At Captain Crawford's till evening, when I went to
Mr. John Stephenson's, on my way to Pittsburg.... 17th.
Dr. Craik and myself, with Capt. Crawford and others, arrived
at Fort Pitt; distance from the Crossing forty-three and a half
measured miles...."
On the 20th, Washington, with Dr. Craik, Capt.
Crawford, William Harrison, Robert Beall, and others,
with some Indians, proceeded down the Ohio in a
large canoe, having sent their servants back to Crawford's with orders to meet the party there on the 14th
of November, but they did not reach there until ten
days after the time appointed. The journal then
proceeds,"Nov. 24th. When we came to Stewart's Crossing at Crawford's the river was too high to ford, and his canoe gone adrift.
However, after waiting there two or three hours, a canoe was
got, in which we crossed, and swum our horses. The remainder of this day I spent at Capt. Crawford's, it either raining
or snowing hard all day.
"25th. I set out early, in order to see Lund Washington's
land; but the ground and trees being covered with snow, I was
able to form but an indistinct opinion of it, though upon the
whole it appeared to be a good tract of land. From this I went
to Mr. Thomas Gist's and dined, and then proceeded to the
Great Crossings at Hogland's, where I arrived about eight
o'clock."'
From there he journeyed back to Mount Vernon
by the route over which he came.
Except by the parties above mentioned as receiving
warrants April 3, 1769, the only purchases made in
the present township of Perry during that year were
those of Eleanor and James Hunter, of Philadelphia,
the tract of the former being 316 acres, and that of
the latter 2763 acres. They were located on the
waters of Virgin Run, and warranted April 19, 1769.
Of all these purchasers of lands in the present township of Perry in the year 1769, none ever became
settlers on them. And from that year until 1784 no
other purchases of land were made within the present
bounds of the township.
It is evident from the language of Washington's
journal, above quoted, that the tracts of his brothers,
Samuel and John A. Washington, were on the route
from Capt. Crawford's (New Haven) to his own land,
at and near the site of the present town of Perryopolis, but that Lund (Laurence) Washington's land lay
some distance away from the direct route. It has not
been ascertained to whom the title of these lands
passed, nor their exact location,
In the extracts above given from Washington's journal of 1770 it will be noticed that he makes reference
to a mill-seat onI the small stream (since named Washington Run) which flowed through his tract. It was
his purpose to build a mill at this place, and preparations were soon after commenced for it by Gilbert
Simpson, whom Washington sent out as manager
of his property here. His first business, however,
was to erect a log house, which stood adjoining the
present residence of John Rice. This was the farmhouse which was the headquarters of the operations
carried on by Simpson for the proprietor. The mill
was built onI the run, in the immediate vicinity of the
present village of Perryopolis. From the time of its
completion until the present (with the exception of a
few years prior to 1790) a mill has been in constant
operation on this site.
Between 1770 and 1774, Valentine Crawford (who
had settled on Jacob's Creek) succeeded his brother,
Capt. William Crawford, as Washington's financial
agent in this region, Simpson being merely the manager of his farming and other operations on his lands
in the present township of Perry. Below are given
some extracts from letters written in the vear last
named by Valentine Crawford to Col. Washlington,
having reference to the improvements then being made
under the direction of Simpson on the Washington
tract, viz.:
"JACOB'S CREEK, April 27, 1774.
"I went to Gilbert Simpson's as soon as I got out and gave
him the bill of scantling you gave me, and the bill of his articles. I offered him all the servants that he might take thein to
your Bottom until we got our crews'at work; but he refused for
fear they would run away from him.... "
"JACOB'S CREEK, May 6, 1774.
"As to the goods, I have stored them; and I went to Mr.
Simpson as soon as I came up, and offered him some of the carpenters and all the servants; but he refused taking them,-the
latter for fear they would run away; he has, however, now
agreed to take some of both, the carpenters to do the framing for
the mill, and the servants to dig the race. Stephens has agreed
to quit, provided the Indians make peace, and it would be out of
his power to get them back again, as he has no means of conveyance. I am afraid I shall be obliged to build a fort until
this eruption is over, which I am in hopes will not last long. I
trust you write me full instructions as to what I must do. Mr.
Simpson yesterday seemed very much scared; but I cheered
him up all I could. He and his laborers seemed to conclude to
build a fort if times grew any worse."
"GIST'S, May 13, 1774.
"DEAR SIR,-I write to let you know that all your servants
are well, and that none of them have run away. Mr. Simpson
has as many of the carpenters as he can find work for, and has
got some of the servants assisting about the seat for the mill
until this storm of the Indians blows over."
"JACOB'S CREEK, May 25, 1774.
"From all accounts Capt. Connolly caught from the Indian
towns they are determined for war..... I have, with the assistance of some of your carpenters and servants, built a very
strong block-house; and the neighbors, what few of them have
not run away, have joined with me, and we are building a
stockade fort at my house. Mr. Simpson, also, and his neighbors have begun to build a fort at your Bottom; and we live in
709I LSTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
hopes we can stand our ground till we can get some assistance
from below."
A letter from Crawford, dated June 8th, informed
Washington that Simpson had completed the fort at
the Bottoms:
"JACOB'S CREEK, July 27, 1774.
"My wagon and team have been at work at your mill for some
time, hauling timber, stone, and lime and sand for it. I went
over to assist in hauling some of the largest of the timber, but
the late alarming accounts of the Indians have stopped the
workmen, and I have brought home my team. I consider it a
pity that the mill was ever begun in these times. It appears
to me sometimes that it will be a very expensive job to you
before it is done. All the carpenters I brought out for you
stopped work on the sixth of May, except some who were at
work on your mill. These I pay myself. I shall observe your
orders in regard to settling with the carpenters."
But it seems that the work on construction of the
mill was delayed for some cause (doubtless the opening of the war of the Revolution), so that two years
had elapsed from the time of its commencement before it was completed and put in operation, as is
shown by a letter,' dated Sept. 20, 1776, written by
Valentine Crawford to Gen. Washington when the
latter was engaged in the operations of his army
around the city of New York after the battle of
Long Island. The following extract from that letter
has reference to the building of the mill, and tells the
time when it was first started, viz.:
"I this spring, before I came over the mountain,
called at Simpson's to see your mill go for the first
time of its running, and can assure you I think it the
best mill I ever saw anywhere, although I think one
of a less value would have done as well. If you remember, you saw some rocks at the mill-seat. These
are as fine millstone grit as any in America. The
millwright told me the stones he got for your mill
there are equal to English burr."
From this time until 1785 little is known as to what
was done with Washington's mill, or on his lands in
this vicinity. On the 23d of Septeinber in that year
he wrote to Thomas Freeman (who had succeeded
Valentine Crawford as his agent) as follows:
"If you should not have offers in a short time for the hire
of my mill alone, or for the mill with one hundred and fifty
acres of land adjoining, I think it advisable, in that case, to
let it on shares, to build a good and substantial dam of stone
where the old one stood, and to erect a proper fore-bay in place
of the trunk which now conducts the water to the wheel, and,
in a word, to put the house in proper repair. If you should be
driven to this for want of a tenant, let public notice thereof be
given, and the work let to the lowest bidder, the undlertaker
finding himiself and giving bond and security for the performance of his contract. The charges of these things must be paid
out of the first moneys you receive for rent or otherwise. If I
could get fifteen hundred pounds for the mill and one hundred
acres of land most convenient thereto I would let it go for that
money."
" G. WASHINGTON."
Gen. Washington, however, did pot succeed in selling or otherwise disposing of his lands until the fall
of 1789, when they were leased for a term of five
years to Col. Israel Shreve,' who afterwards became
their purchaser.  He (Col. Shreve) emigrated  to
Western Pennsylvania in 1788 from New Jersey,
leaving his old home in Hunterdon County in that
State on the 7th of July. WAVith him came others,
forming a party of thirty persons in all, viz.: Israel
Shreve and Mary, his wife, with their children,-Keziah, Hester, Israel, George, Greene, Rebecca, and
Henry, with John Fox and James Starkey; William
Shreve and Rhoda, his wife, with their children,Anna and Richard (the preceding named traveling in
three two-horse wagons and driving three cows); Joseph Beck and Sarah, his wife, with their children,Benjamin, Rebecca, Elizabeth, Henry, Joseph, and
Ann (in 6ne three-horse wagonI); Daniel Hervey, hisg
wife, Sarah, their son Job, a mulatto boy, Thomas, Josephl, and Ann Wheatley, and John Shellow, the lastnamed seven traveling with one three-horse wagon,
one two-horse wagon, and one cow.
They came over the mountains to Westmoreland
County, Pa. Without pausing to follow the fortunes
of other members of the party, it is sufficient to say
that Col. Shreve stopped with his family in Rostraver
township, occupying the house of Joseph Lenman
for something more than a year, until he rented the
Washington lands, as before mentioned. SoonI after
concluding the bargain, he wrote to his brother, Caleb
Shlreve, of Mansfield, N. J., a letter which shows what
was the condition of the Washington lands at that
time, as also the fact that the mill built by Gilbert
Simpson was then in disuse, and too much out of repair to be again started without considerable expense.
The letter3 referred to is here given, as follows:
"FORKS OF YOUGH, Dec. 26, 1789.
"DEAR BROTHER,-Having an opportunity to Philadelphia,
I eorl)race it and miention my situation or intended one. Since
I have been here, have worked to get Washington Bottom, and
have at last obtained the whole tract on rent for five years.
I wrote to the General by his Agent in this county, Col.
2 Israel Shreve was born Dec. 24,1739, at the Shreve homestead, Mount
Pleasant, Mansfield, Burlington Co., N. J., but at a later period removed
to Ilunterd(lon County in the same State, where he was living at the omitbreak of the Revolution. When the first two battalions were raised in
New Jersey for the Continental army, he was appointed by the Congress
(Oct. 28, 1775) liemitenant-colonel of the Western Battalion, William
Maxwell being appointed colonel and David Ray imajor. These officers
were commissioned Nov. 8, 1775, and the battalion was mustered into
the regutlar Continental service in the following December, and marched
to the vicinity of the city of New York, which was then occupied by the
Brmitisli.
On the reorganization of the New Jersey line he was made colonel
of the Second Regiment, and remained in that command to the close
of the war, serving in Maxwell's brigade, and taking part in many of
Washington's most important battles, including that of Monmouth.
Ilis lbrother was colonel of the First New Jersey Regiment, and another
brothler (Samuel) lieutenant-colonel of the First Battaliomi of New Jersey
in the Contiinental line.
3 This letter, as also the account of the party withl which Col. Shreve
enmigrated from New Jersey to Western Pennsylvania, was published in
the Amnericant  Magazine of History in 1842.
1 This, as well as the extracts before given, is from the "WashingtonCrawford Letters."
710PERRY TOWNSHIP.
Canon, who a few weeks ago returned from New York; the
General was pleased to order Col. Canon to let me have the
whole of the Bottoms so called at my offer. The old farm contains about 80 acres of improved upland and about 40 of the
best kind of meadows, a bearing orchard of 120 apple and ] 00
peach trees, the buildings as good as most in this county,
pretty well situated, and five other improved farms that at
this time rent for ~43 10s. I am accountable for the whole
rent, which altogether is ~60, so that I shall have the old place
for ~16 108s., to be paid either in money or wheat at 3s. per
bushel.
"I considered that the land at the Miami settlement was
rising fast, and that I had better pay this low rent for a wellimproved farm than barter away my land nt a low rate for land
here. Land does not rise much in this place owing to the great
emigration down the river. It seems as if people were crazy to
get afloat on the Ohio. Many leave very good livings, set out for
they know not where, but too often find their mnistake. I believe
this as good as any of the settlements down the river for the
tnesent. The Mississippi trade is open at this timre, and all the
wheat, whisky, bacon, etc., buying up by those concerned in it.
The highest price for wheat is four shillings in trade, or three
shillings nine pence cash, whisky three shillings cash, and
bacon nine pence per pound cash. On the farm where I am
going is as good a chance for a grist-mill as any in the whole
forks, and a mill that can be set going for I believe fifty pounds,
and a number of years given for the repairs. I am in hopes of
being able to set it going, as it will produce more grain than all
the six farms on the tract. I am to have possession the first of
April next, and flatter myself I have as good a chance as any
person in my circumstances could expect. I shall have nothing
to attend to but my own private concerns. I think this way of
life far preferable to any other. Richard Shrieve is to have one
of the small fartns. They contain of improved land as follows:
One forty acres upland and five good meadows; one thirty-five
acres upland and six good meadows; the other two twenty-five
acres upland and five or six good meadows; the whole in fences,
they being the year before last rented for repairs. Peggy Shrieve
has a daughter. She and her husband have been very sickly
this last faill, but have recovered. I am grandfather to another
son. John and his wife are pretty well, as is our family at
present, but except the measles, as it is in the school where our
boys go. I hope you are well also.
"I am, with great respect and love,
"Your Brother, ISRAEL SHRIEVE."
On the 31st of July, 1795, Gen. Washington, by
his attorney, James Ross, of Pittsburgh, entered into
articles of agreement to sell and convey in fee simple
to Israel Shreve, for the consideration of four thousand pounds, sixteen hundred and forty-four and a
quarter acres of land with allowance, consisting of
the five surveys before mentioned, viz.: "Meadows,"
"Deer Range,"  "Crab-Tree  Run,"  "Flatt,"  and
"Spring Run," for which patents had been issued
Washington Feb. 28, 1782. Gen. Washington died
in 1799, never having conveyed the tracts under the
articles of agreement to Col. Shreve,' who also died
in the same year.
1 At one time, not long before the death of Washington and Shreve,
the former, notwithstanding his great wealth, having become somewhlat
straitened for money, pressed Shreve hard for payment on the lands, and
caused an execution to be issued against him, at the same timne writiDg
him a severe letter in reference to his delinquency; but at its close lihe
relented, and said to his old comrade of Trenton and Monmouth, "NotNearly two years after Gen. Washington's death
his executors, George Steptoe Washington and Samuel Lewis, constituted James Ross, of Pittsburgh, their
lawful attorney, to convey the five tracts in pursuance
of the agreement of July, 1795; and accordingly, on
the 17th of June, 1802, Ross did so convey the property to the heirs of Israel Shreve.
Col. Shreve had four sons,-Henry, John, Samuel,
and Israel, Jr. Henry was a civil engineer, and was
employed by the government to clear the channel of
the Red River in Louisiana. He finally settled on
that river at the present town of Shreveport, which
was named in his honor. John Shreve lived in what
is now the township of Perry, and represented the
district in the Assemnbly with John St. Clair and Col.
Henry Heaton. Samuel Shreve settled in Perry, and
was one of the original proprietors of Perryopolis.
Israel Shreve, Jr., also lived and died in Perry.
The heirs of Col. Shreve sold the greater part of
the property purchased from Gen. Washington to
Isaac Meason. In the division of the property after
his death the Shreve homestead, containing one hundred and sixty-one acres, was set off to Mrs. Williamins,
of Greensburg, by whom it was sold to Caleb Antrim, a Quaker. He left it by will to his daughter
Mary, Mrs. William Campbell, whose heirs sold it to
the present owner, John Rice.
A tract of two hundred and thirty-six acres of the
Washington lands was set off in the partition of the
Meason estate to Alfred Meason. He sold to Benjamin Martin, who in turn sold in 1838 to Pierson
Cope, who still occupies it. His father was one of
the early settlers in Jefferson township, and he is
himinself one of the oldest living settlers of Perry.
Other purchasers of lands belonging to the original
tracts of Gen. Washington were Isaac Sparks, one
hundred and eighty-five acres; Ruel Sears, one hundred and fifty acres; and John Lloyd, one hundred
and sixty acres. Of the latter, the heirs of Alexander Thom now own fifty acres. The tract of Isaac
Sparks was purchased by James Fuller and John F.
Martin, Jan. 19, 1831. James Fuller, of Dunlap's
Creek, came to this township in 1817, and purchased
two hundred acres of the Washington lands of the
widow of Isaac Meason, and one hundred and fifty
acres of Conrad Shultz, a merchant of Baltimnore.
He also purchased one hundred and twenty acres of
Thomas Burns, it being a part of the Burns tract,
which extended to the Youghiogheny River, and on
which the Burns Ford was situated. David and John
Fuller were two of the six sons of James Fuller.
withstanding what has been done, and in consideration of our ancient
friendship, I give you further indulgence.  Take this letter to Col.
Thomas Collins, sheriff of Fayette County, and it will operate as a stay
of execution."  Col. Shreve took the letter to the sheriff as directed;
further time was given, the payments were met (though with great difficulty) by Shreve, but both he and his great creditor passed from earth
leaving the transaction uncompleted and the lands still unconveyed.
The letter referred to remained in the possession of Sheriff Collins and
his widow for miiany years.
711HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
A tract lying directly south of the town plat of
Perryopolis, and containing one hundred and seventytwo acres of the Washington lands, was sold June
13, 1802, to Joseph Sayre. Of this, fifty-one acres
was sold in 1806 to John Baldus, who sold in 1810 to
John Kubbs. On the 11th of May, 1815, it was conveyed to Samuel Shreve, and on this was surveyed and
laid out the outer tier of lots that was added to the
town plat in 1815. The land comprising the original
plat of the town was purchased before 1814 of George
Meason by Samuel Shreve, Dr. Thomas Hersey, and
Nathan Hersey.
The Washington Mill property passed to Powell
Hough, and from him to John Strickler and Jacob
Strawn. Strawn's heirs sold it to George Anderson,
who repaired it in 1859, and later sold to Samuel
Smith, in whose possession it still is. The site has
been occupied by a mill in active operation for a
period of one hundred and five years without intermission, except for a few years prior to 1790, during
which it was out of repair and in disuse.
James Hunter and his wife, Eleanor, were among
the owners of original tracts in this township, two
hundred and seventy-six acres on Virgin Run being
warranted to him, and three hundred and twenty-six
acres to her, on the 19th of April, 1769. They were
residents of the city of Philadelphia, and he a land
speculator. It was said of him that he could ride
from Philadelphia to Lake Erie and sleep every night
on his own land. He and his wife were ill the habit
of riding through the country together to visit his
lands. Pierson Cope says he remembers that when
he was a boy James Hunter and wife came together
to the house of his father (who was Hunter's agent)
in a private carriage, with a white man for a driver.
This driver had heard of sugar-trees, and asked young
Cope to show him one. This he did, but the man
after examining the tree remarked that he saw no
signs of sugar upon it, whereupon the lad explained
at length (and much to the driver's surprise) the
process by which it was manufactured from the sap.
Both the two tracts above mnentioned became Mr.
Hunter's property. He lived to a very advanced age,
and in a codicil to his will (made Dec. 14, 1819) devised his lands in Perry township to his niece, Mrs.
Eleanor H. Curwin. Afterwards the greater part of
these lands were sold by Pierson Cope, as agent, to
Obadiah Bowne, Sr., and John H. Blaney.
The Bowne tract was sold by order of court after
the death of Mr. Bowne, Sr. The widow of Obadiah
Bowne, Jr., had an interest of $500 in the property
by will if she married, and the whole of it if she remained single. She preferred matrimony, and in the
course of time married James Blair, Jr., her manager.
They bought in the farm, she paying one-half of the
purchase-money and he the other half. Mrs. Blair
by this last act helped to pay for the farm three times,
pay for the place originally; second, in paying off
legacies under the will of Obadiah Bowne, Sr.; and
third, in the half-payment at the time of purchase by
Mr. Blair.
The remainder of the Hunter tract was purchased
by John H. Blaney, James Blair, Sr., John B. Blair,
James Piersol, John Carr, John Hamilton, Samuel
Johnson, and Ephraim  Lynch. A brother of Ephraim, Robert Lynch, was a blacksmith and an axemaker. For a time he had a shop on the Israel Shreve
farm, afterwards built on what is now the King farm.
The coal to supply his forge was brought from Little
Redstone. A few years later a vein of coal was found
within a short distance of the forge.
The tract of land situated north of the Hunter tract,
and running to the Youghiogheny River, contained
over three hundred acres. Charles March became the
possessor of the tract from the warrantee about 1790.
It passed from him to his sons, John M. and James.
The widow of the latter is now living on the place.
Christian Patterson became the owner of over one
hundred acres of land before 1800. He sold to Benjamin Martin, who later conveyed it to Thomas Price,
by whom the present brick house on the farm was
built. The property now belongs to Mrs. Sutton.
The place where Aaron Townsend now lives was
owned fifty years ago by his father, Aaron Townsend,
Sr., who purchased of Joseph Radcliff. Freeman
Cooper resides on a farm purchased by his father,
Joel Cooper, of John Patterson.
Hugh Patterson is a son of James H. Patterson, of
Franklin township. The latter purchased many
years ago.
North of the Joseph Radeliff tract is land that formerly belonged to Patrick Robinson, who left it by
will to his wife. She conveyed it to Robinson Murphy and Samuel Watson, who both live on the place.
Adjoining this last tract on the northwest is four
hundred acres of land now owned by James Piersol,
which was purchased by his father, William Piersol,
before the commencement of the present century.
Samuel, a brother of James, owned land adjoining,
also a part of the land of his father. His son Levi
now owns this, and has added considerably to it.
Benjamin, Sarah, and Elizabeth Powers, all advanced in years, are old settlers, and live on an old
homestead.
Thomas Cook, a native of Chester County, Pa.,
came to this township about 1800, and purchased over
three hundred acres of land south of the Washington
tract. He was a weaver and wheelwright, and forsook
farming after a time and bought the John Follies
mill on Big Redstone Creek, and resided there till his
death. He had a number of children. John, a son,
settled on Big Redstone Creek, and now owns the mill
his father purchased years before.  Rebecca, the
daughter of Thomas Cook, married James D. Cope,
the father of Eli and Pierson Cope. The farm of
-first, in assisting her husband in helping his father  Tlloumas Cook was purchased by George Stickle, Pat712PERRY TOWNSHIP'.
I  
rick Watson, Josiahl King, a(nd David Jonies. Josiah
King, in addition to his original purchase, now owns
part of the George Stickle farm.
A property lies in this section of the township formerly owned by William Wallace, and now by John
H. Patterson, that contains a fine vein of coal, which
is the eastern outcrop of the Pittsburgh or Monongahela basin.
West of the Cook farm, adjoining the Jefferson
township line, is a farm formerly owned by Samuel
Brewer, whose son Henry nowv owns it. Adjoining
this tract north lies a tract that many years ago was
owned by John Negis. Later it was owned by William Binns, by whom it was conveyed to William
Price, who now owns it.
Jonathan Hewitt, a native of Ireland, came to this
country in 1770, and in 1786 to this section. No account is shown of purchase until Sept. 15, 1807, when
he purchased of Thomas Barns one hundred and sixty
acres of land, part of the tract which was patented
Oct. 26, 1795. The children of Jonathan were Abel,
Joseph, John, Elizabeth, Mary, and others who moved
West. Abel lived on Washington Run, near the
mouth, where he erected a saw-mill and carding-machine.  He died there, leaving a widow and large
family, now scattered in the West. John Bradley
now owns the Abel Hewitt property. In 1870, Bradley started the manufacture of fire-brick in the run,
and later removed above Layton's Station, where he
is still manufacturing.
Joseph Hewitt lived on part of the old farm. His
son Milton now owns it, and is devoting it to fruit
culture. In 1877 he started a fruit-house for preserving apples late in the spring.  He studded and
sheathed an old house with eighteen inches space,
which was filled with saw-dust. The first year he
kep)t successfully five hundred barrels, which were
sold in March for four dollars and seventy-five cents
per barrel. In 1879 five hundred barrels were also
kept, and in 1880 twelve hundred barrels were put up,
which were finely preserved. An additional hlouse
was built in 1878, which was intended to keep them
still later.
John A., son of Jonathan Hewitt, settled on part
of the homestead where his daughter, Mrs. George
Jackson, now lives. Elizabeth married James Binns
and went West. Mary married Asa Chambers; they
lived and died in the township. A son, Asa, now lives
on part of the farm left to his mother.
Jacob Harris purchased five hundred acres of land
of the warrantee. It lay west and northwest from
Washington Bottoms. He had four sons-Benjamin,
James, Isaac, and Jacob-and six daughters,-Amy
(Mrs. Andrew Work), Annie (Mrs. Thomas Patton),
Rachel and Sally, who married brothers by the name
of Stemm; Jemima (Mrs. John Coder), and Eliza
(Mrs. Harvey Henderson). Jacob in his will devised
his real estate to his sons and grandsons. The hundred acres were owned by Benjamin H., one hundred
and sixteeni by Jacob, and one hundred and ninety
by James Harris.
Henry Stow, Samuel and David Luce now own land
long known as the Powers farm, a tract of over four
hundred acres. From Powers it passed to Hurst, who
sold it to John H. Martin, by whom at different times
it has been conveyed to its present owners.
Joseph McGara many years ago owned a tract of
two hundred acres. He died. His famnily sold out and
removed West. The farm is now owied by Philip
Luce, Elliot Porter, William Wiggle, and others.
The section of the township known as the Browneller settlement was formerly owned by Thomas and
William Bleakley. Frederick Browneller came from
Franklin County, Pa., and purchased the Thomas
Bleakley tract, and Jacob Snyder that of his brother,
William Bleakley. The heirs of Jacob Snyder still
ownI the property. On the Snyder farm was built the
old log church belonging to the Cumberland Presbyterians, and known by the name of "Harmony."
The present church stands nearly on the same site.
Frederick Browneller'built a saw-mill on a small
stream near his place, which was discontinued a few
years ago. He had four sons,-William, Samuel,
Frederick, and George. The two former remained on
the farm, and the other removed West. A steam sawmill at the mouth of Van Meter's Run is owned by
Peter Van Meter, of Rostraver township. He married a daughter of Peter Marmie, who was for many
years connected with the Jacob's Creek Iron-Works.
The land now owned by Oliver Porter and John
Bryan was owned many years ago by one Peter Reed.
Joseph Whitsett took up a warrant for one hundred
and forty-four acres of land in the section. The land
where Ralph C. Whitsett now lives, on the Youghiogheny River east of Van Meter's Run, was formerly
owned by a Mr. Thompson, who sold to Robert Wilkinson. The Martin Elwell farm was formerly owned
by Henry Stone, Sr. A Mr. Rhodobacker purchased
of the warrantee the farm now owned by the heirs of
David Carson. Job Strawn, from Berks County,
Pa., prior to 1800 purchased a tract of three hundred
acres. When the excitemnent of magnificent enterprises broke out at Perryopolis, he became interested
in the glass-works and the bank at that place, and
when the crash came, his property was swept away by
the disastrous management of the former. The farm
was sold at sheriff's sale and purchased by his son Jacob, who lived there until his death in December, 1855,
by an accident on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
near Layton Station. His son is now a merchant at
Perryopolis. Job Strawn, after the sale of his property, removed to the West.
Thomas Carson many years ago purchased a tract
of land known as the " Round Bottom." It passed
from him to his sons John and James, and recently
the homestead was sold to Albert Marlin. Joel, a
grandson of Thomas, owns a part of the farm formerly owned by his grandfather..1 qHISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Samuel Burns bought of the warrantee a tract of
land, which was patented to him Dec. 28, 1809, and
known as "Liberty Hill." He devised the property
to his son, Thomas E. Burns, who sold it on the 8th
of November, 1823, to Robert Bleakley. On the 31st
of January, 1848, it came into possession of James
Fuller, and is now owned by his son, David Fuller.
Of the other sons of James Fuller, John resides in
the borough of Perryopolis; James, William, and
Alfred are residents of Philadelphia. The last two
are engaged in shipping beef to London, and are also
very extensive manufacturers of oleomnargarine. William acts as managing partner in London.
The settlements before mentioned were all south of
the Youghiogheny River. In that part of the present
township north of the river, and thence to the county
line on Jacob's Creek, the largest purchaser was William Turnbull, of the firm of Turnbull, Marmie 
Co., merchants of Philadelphia, who became interested in iron ore which was found in these lands.
This firm, in the spring of 1789, began the erection
here of the first furnace built west of the Allegheny
Mountains. At what time the warrants were taken
out is not known. The tract on which the furnace
was built was named "Rocksbury," and contained
three hundred and one acres. The patent was issued
on the 13th of July, 1789. At this time the furnace
was so far completed as to be mentioned in a petition
to the court of Fayette County, at the June session,
for a road "from the furnace on Jacob's Creek to
Thomas Kyle's mill."
A tract of three hundred and one acres, named
"Frankford," and another adjoining of two hundred
and nineteen acres, named "Springsbury," were
patented to Mr. Turnbull at the same time. A tract
of two hundred and twenty-three acres adjoining,
named "Luton," was patented to Jacob Lowrie, Jan.
9, 1789. This was purchased by Turnbull  Marmie on the 9th of October, 1791. In addition to the
ten hundred and forty-four acres owned by Mr. Turnbull in Fayette County, there was obtained by patent
and by purchase thirteen hundred and eighty-one
acres of land across Jacob's Creek, in Westmoreland
County, as follows: "Rural Felicity," 262 acres,
patented Nov. 1, 1787; "Bannockburn," 308 acres,
patented July 11, 1789; "Darby," 312 acres, patented
July 13, 1789; "Abington," 200 acres, patented
April 17, 1790; and a tract of 299 acres, named
"Springfield," which was patented to John Gebhart,
March 10, 1785, and sold to Turnbull, Marmie  Co.,
Oct. 9, 1791. These tracts of land, by reason of the
financial difficulties of Mr. Turnbull, were transferred to Col. John Holker (one of the firm) on the
10th of February, 1797. But little was done at the
furnace after 1793, although it continued in operation
till 1802, when its fires went out forever. Col. Holker, on the 20th of January, 1817, entered into an
agreement with Henry Sweitzer for these lands. In
accordance with this agreement, Col. Holker, on the
27th of June, 1821, conveyed all the lands mentioned
to Paca Smith, in trust to convey to Henry Sweitzer,
and on the 27th of July, 1822, he conveyed the property by deed to Henry Sweitzer and Jacob Bowman
as tenants in common. The greater portion of the
lands were afterwards sold to the Jacob's Creek Oil
Company, by whomin they are still owned.
The ruins of the old furnace-stack, charcoal-house,
and other structures are still visible. The two first
mentioned are in Fayette County. The abutment of
the bridge which crossed the creek at this place is still
standing, a pile of stones without form. The ruins of
the forge are on the north side of the creek, in Westmoreland County. The ruins are approached from
Burns' Ford north to the school-house, thence westerly by an old road to the woods, and winding down
the hill into the deep valley of Jacob's Creek. As the
approach is made to the creek the stack is visible below, and upon the upper side of the road, directly in
rear of it, are the ruins of the charcoal-house, a solid
wall of masonry, sixty feet in length, twenty feet in
height, anid two and a half feet thick, the enid walls
extending back to the hill, about twenty feet, the rear
wall being formed by the natural rock. With the exception of the east end and the top of this wall, it is
as solid and as true as when first laid. After passing
the ruin the road extends several rods westerly, still
descending to the creek, where it is met by another
road coming up from the mouth of the creek. From
this junction the road runs up the stream on the low
level a few rods to where the furnace is located, and
at which place the road crosses the creek into Westmoreland County. The stack is about twenty-five
feet square, with two arches, now partly broken away,
one on the north side and one on the west. A part of
a low wall is standing that extends fronm the southl
side of the stack towards the hill. The northeast
corner is still true for a height of eight or ten feet,
except the lower stones, which have fallen away.
The others are crumnbled. Shrubs, mosses, and climbing vines partially hide the ravages of time, and trees
are growing from the upper part of the stack, one of
which is five inches in diameter. A view of the ruins
will be found with the article on furnaces in the general history of this county.
On the extremne northwest corner of the township,
at the junction of Jacob's Creek and the Youghiogheny River, Chistopher Beeler took out a warrant
for 2981 acres of land, Dec. 16, 1788, and received a
patent therefor March 11, 1789. He came from Virginia, and lived in this section before he took out his
warrant, as he was with Col. Crawford in his camnpaign of 1782. He sold this tract to Col. Isaac Meason,
who gave it to his daughter Mary, who married Daniel Rogers. They lived in Connellsville, and the farm
was rented many years. It was finally purchased by
A. R. Banning, and when, about 1859, the Pittsburgh
and Connellsville (now the Baltimore and Ohio) Railroad was completed, a station was opened at that place
714PERRY TOWNSHIP.
5
called Banning's Station. The land is still owned
by Mr. Banning. About 1870, Daniel Hohenschell
started a store, which was kept for a year or two. In
1879, M. L. Wright built a store at the station, which
is still there. A brick manufactory is in process of
construction by Smith  Hough'.
Gen. J. B. Sweitzer owns 240 acres of land adjoining the Beeler tract, east on Jacob's Creek. This was
part of the Turnbull lands.
Thomas Forsyth took out a patent for 171 acres of
land in this part of the township. He had sons,Ezekiel, David, and Thomas. Ezekiel settled on the
homestead. His son Thomas now lives on the farm
adjoining. Henry and John, sons of Ezekiel, both
live near. David, son of Thomas, lived in Westmoreland County.
Valentine Secrist took up a tract of one hundred
and eight and three-quarter acres on a warrant dated
Sept. 29, 1791, for which he received a patent dated
October 26th the same year. He also received a warrant for two hundred and forty-five acres the same date,
which was surveyed November 2d of the same year,
and another of one hundred and ninety-eight acres,
warranted Oct. 5, 1790, surveyed Feb. 11, 1791. These
Jast two tracts were in what is now Tyrone township,
adjoining the Turnbull lands. A part of these lands
are now occupied by descendants of the family. David Secrist lives on the tract in Perry township.
John Zizing came to this region of country as a cowboy with Peter Galley. He learned the trade of a
cabinet-maker, and for many years worked among
the farmers before purchasing any land. On the 10th
of March, 1819, he took out a warrant for sixty-eight
and one-quarter acres, and on the 25th of February,
1822, a warrant for one hundred and fifty-eight acres.
These tracts were patented to him June 23, 1822. He
had three sons, John, Gottlieb, and Solomon, who live
on the lands a short distance from Layton's Station.
Henry Stemmel purchased a tract of land which
was a part of the Turnbull lands, now owned by Mrs.
David Morrow. Samuel and John Stemmel, sons of
Henry, live in the township.
The land on which Layton Station is situated was
a tract called "Springfield," and was patented April
6, 1791, to Mary Higgs (a daughter of John Shreve),
and contained two hundred and seventeen acres. It
was deeded by her June 3,1795, to Francis Bryson, and
was sold by him Aug. 2, 1797, to George Johnston,
who conveyed it on the 2d of April, 1806, to William
Espy. It was devised in his will to his sons, Hugh
and Robert, in December, 1813. On the 25th of October, 1821, they conveyed the greater portion of it to
Abraham Layton for $2352. Upon his death the land
passed to his sons, Michael and Abraham, who for a
long time built keel-boats on the river to ship sand
and glass down the river. The land was sold by the
Laytons to Daniel R. Davidson, and in 1864 was conveyed to Joseph Wilgus. Michael Layton, after
the death of his father and sale of the lands at Layton's Station, purchased a tract south of the river,
said to have been formerly owned by       Lloyd, and
now owned by Jacob Henderson. It is a tradition
that before the warrant was obtained for this land  
Michael Sowers lived in an old cabin and ferried
people across the river.  After his death one Dunn
lived in the cabin.  He was drowned a few years
later, and the place was long known as "Dunn's
Deep Hole." There is an old burial-place in the
rear of where the cabin stood, where seventy or seventy-five years ago hundreds of graves were to be
seen.  In 1812, Aaron Jones lived there, and his wife
was drowned in the river while crossing in a canoe.
The name was changed from Dunn's to Layton's after
the purchase by Abraham Layton in 1821.
A tract of three hundred acres was located next east
of the Turnbull lands on Jacob's Creek. It was patented by Andrew Robinson, and owned by him as
late as 1859. Hfe sold the farm to Plummer and
Stiner. It now belongs to Pierson Cope.
Many years since a grist and saw-mill were erected
on this tract at the falls, which are at this point
twenty-five feet high. Two dams have rotted down.
No improvements are on the place at present.
ERECTION  OF TOWNSHIP AND LIST Of OFFICERS.
A petition of illhabitants praying for a township
to be formed out of parts of Washington and Tyrone
townships was presented to the January term of
court, 1839. William Davidson, Thomas Boyd, and
Joseph Torrance were appointed commissioners.
They made a report at the June session of court the
same year, from which the following is extracted, viz.
"That in pursuance of said order they met at McDonald's
Mill, on Virgin Run, in Franklin township, being the most
convenient point of meeting for said viewers, and after viewing the ground proposed to be formed into a new township,
and being accompanied all the time by a number of intelligent, respectable citizens interested in the new township, and
finding great unanimity of sentiment so far as heard expressed by all included therein, they unhesitatingly recommend
to the court the formation of a new township out of parts of the
townships of Washington, Franklin, and Tyrone, with the following boundaries, viz.: Beginning at Robinson's Mill on
Jacob's Creek, on the line between Fayette and Westmoreland
Counties, in Tyrone township; thence a straight line to Robert
Hutchinson's barn, in Tyrone township aforesaid; thence a
straight line to the foot of Grassy Island, in the Youghiogheny
River, at the head of the round bottom; thence up the said
river to the mouth of Virgin Run; thence up the said run to
McDonald's Mill; thence by a new road recently located from
said mill to the old road leading from Union Town to Pittsburgh near Robert Patterson's; thence with the said Pittsburgh
road to the top of the hill near Martin Lutz' house; thence by
a straight line to the Perryopolis and Cookstown road, near
where a ravine crosses said road on Thomas Patton's land;
thence by a straight line to a white-oak tree on the Westmoreland County line, on the land of Jacob Snyder; thence by the
county line aforesaid to the place of beginning."
June 7, 1839, the report was confirmed by the
715THE REVOLUTION.
ated a few miles below. He also believed that other
villages would be found not far away from the one
which had been abandoned, and that they might be
surprised by a rapid forward movement. Zane, the
other guide, was less confident, and not disposed to
advise, though he did not strongly oppose a farther
advance into the Indian country. The commander,
after an hour's consideration of the embarrassing
question, ordered the column to move forward towards
the lower towns. Crawford's army and the combined
Indian forces under Pipe and Ghaus-sho-toh were now
rapidly approaching each other.
Crossing the river just below the abandoned village,
the Pennsylvania horsemen pressed rapidly on in a
northerly direction to the place which afterwards
became the site of Upper Sandusky. There was no
indication of the presence of the foe, but the very
silence and solitude seemed ominous, and the faces of
officers and men grew grave, as if the shadow of approaching disaster had. begun to close around tliem.
A mile farther on, a halt was ordered, for the gloomn
had deepened over the spirits of the volunteers, until,
for the first time, it found expression in a demand from
some of them that the advance should be abandoned
anid their faces turned back towards the Ohio River.
At this juncture Col. Crawford called a council of
war. It was composed of the commander, his aidede-camp, Rose, the surgeon, Dr. Knight, the four
majors, the captains of the companies, hnd the guides,
Slover and Zane. The last nained now gave his opinion promptly and decidedly against any farther advance, and in' favor of an immediate return; for to
his mind the entire absence of all signs of Indians
was almost a sure indication that they were concentrating in overwhelminlg numbers at some point not
far off. His.opinion had great weight, and the council
decided that the march should be continued until
evening, and if no enemy should then have been discovered, the column should retire over the route by
which it came.
During the halt Capt. Biggs' company, deployed as
scouts, had been thrown out a considerable distance
to the front for purposes of observation. Hardly had
the council reached its decision when one of the
scouts came in at headlong speed with the thrilling
intelligence that a large body of Indians had been
discovered on the plain, less than two miles away.
Then, " in hot haste," the volunteers mounted, formed,
and moved forward rapidly and in the best of spirits,
the retiring scouts falling in with the main body of
horsemen as they advanced. They had proceeded
nearly a mile from the place where the council was
held when the Indians were discovered directly in
their front. It was the war-party of Delawares, under
their chief,'Capt. Pipe,-the Wyandots being farther
to the rear and not yet in sight.
When the Americans appeared in full view of the
Delawares, the latter made a swift movement to occupy an adjacent wood, so as to fight from cover, but
Col. Crawford, observing the movement, instantly
dismounted his men and ordered them to charge into
the grove, firing as they advanced. Before this vigorous assault the Delawares gave way and retreated to
the open plain, while Crawford's men held the woods.
The Indians then attempted to gain cover in another
grove farther to the east, but were repulsed by Maj.
Leet's men, who formed Crawford's right wing. At
this time the Wyandot force came up to reinforce the
Delawares, and with them was Capt. Matt'hew Elliott,
of the British army, dressed in the full uniform of an
officer in the royal service. He had come from Detroit, and arrived at the Indian rendezvous a little in
advance of the British force, but after Pipe and Ghaussho-toh had set out with their braves to meet Crawford..He now came up to the scene of conflict, and
at once took command of botli Indian parties. On
his arrival he immediately ordered the Delaware chief
to flank the Americans by passing to their left. The
movement was successfully executed, and they held
the position, much to the discomfort of the frontiersmen, who, however, could not be dislodged from their
cover. But they had no great advantage of position,
for the Indians were scarcely less sheltered by the tall
grass of the plains, which almost hid them from view
when dismounted, and afforded a considerable protection against the deadly fire of the Pennsylvania
marksmen.l
Thlle fight commenced at about four o'clock, and
was continued with unabated vigor, but with' varying
success, through the long hours of that sultry June
afternoon. Throughll it all, the villanous Simon Girty
was present witll the Delawares, and was frequently
seen by Crawford's men (for he was well known by
many of them), riding on a white horse, giving orders
and encouraging the savages, but never within range
of tlle white men's rifles. The combined forces of the
Wyandots and Delawares considerably outnumbered
the command of Col. Crawford, but the latter held
their own, and could not be dislodged by all the artifices and fury of their savage assailants. When the
shadowvs of twilight began to deepen over grove and
glade, the savage hordes ceased hostilities and retired
to more distant points on the plains.
The losses in Col. Crawford's command during theafternoon were five killed and twenty-three wounded,
as reported by the aide-de-camp, Rose, to Gen. Irvine.
One of the killed was Capt. Ogle, and among the
officers wounded were Maj. Brinton, Capt. Ross, Capt.
Munn, Lieut. Ashley, and Ensign McMasters. Philip
Smith, a volunteer from  Georges Creek, Fayette
County, received a severe wound in his elbow, which
1 ", Somle of the bor(lerers climbed trees, and firom their bullshy tops took
deadly aim at the heads of the enemy as they arose above the grass.
Danliel Canon [of Fayette County] was conspicuons in this novel mode
of warfare.  He was one of the dead shots of the army, and from his
lofty hiding-place the reports of his unerring rifle gave nunmistakable
evidence of the killing of savages.' I do not know how many Indians
I killed,' sai(d lhe, afterwards,'.but I never saw the samle head again above
the grass after I shot at it.' "-Butteyfield.
97HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
court and a township erected "according to the lines
of the plot returned, to be called Perry township." 1
The following is a list of township officers of Perry
froiii the time of its erection to the present:
JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.
1840. James Fuller.
Ellis Simpkins.
1845. Job Rossell.
Reuben Sutton.
1850. Pierson Cope.
Robert Bleakley.
1855. Thomas Shepherd.
Robert Bleakley.
1858. James Blair, Jr.
Robert Bleakley.
1860. Robert Bleakley.
John K. McDonald.
1863. George W. Anderson.
J. A. Murphy.
1865. John R.'McDonald.
Josiah King.
1870. Robert Bleakley.
Jamnes Blair.
1873. T. L. Newell.
1874. James D. Cope.
1878. T. J. Suttle.
1879. Thomas Watson.
1880. Thomas C. Strawn.
AUDITORS.
1840. Amos Iewitt.
Samuel Hubbs.
James Patterson.
1841. John A. Murphy.
1842. James Fuller.
1843. John L. Morton.
Samuel Porter.
Robert Bleakley.
1844. William Campbell.
1845. Pierson Cope.
1846. W. T. McCormick.
1847. Andrew Stone.
1848. Thomas Shepherd.
1849. John K. McDonald.
1850. William Martin.
1851. John Hewitt.
1852. John K. McDonald.
1853. Samuel Watson.
1854. L. R. King.
1855. David Luce.
1856. James E. Strickler.
1857. Henry Mherling.
ASS]
1840. James Blair.
1841. Martin Elwell.
1842. Alexander Armstrong.
1858. Pierson Cope.
1859. Martin Hewitt.
1860. Charles Lutz.
1861. George W. Martin.
1862. Eli McClelland.
1863. David Fuller.
1864. Robert Bleakley.
1865. John Yard.
1866. Pierson Cope.
1867. Emlin Pierce.
1868. Daniel Fuller.
1869. David P. Hagerty.
1870. Joseph Piersol.
1874. David Luce.
1875. A. Hixenbaugh.
1876. Joseph Piersol.
1877. David Luce.
1878. Samuel Luce.
1879. William Snyder.
1880. Leslie Harris.
William W. Patterson.
1881. Elliot Porter.
Robert B. Patterson.
John Blaney.
John M. March.
ESSORS.
1843.
1844.
1845.
1 At the September term of court, 1842, a petition was'presented "of
sundry inhabitants of Perry township for an alteration of the line between said township and the township of Tyrone, as per draft annexed
to petition." Order was issued and viewers appointed. On the 2d of
December, 1844, the order was renewed to March sessions, 1845, at which
time the report was approved (March 14th), anid confirmed by the court
June 6th in the same year. At the same time a change was made in the
line between Perry and Jefferson (see Jefferson and Tyrone township
histories).
At the December term of court, 1851, a petition was presented for "a
view to change the line between Franklin and Perry townships, so as to
embrace Aaron Townsend, Jr., Laban Blaney, John H. Blaney, and Joel
Cooper (now of Franklin township) in the township of Perry, by starting at the township line at or near said Townsend's new house; thence
along the Greenfield and Connellsville road to Joel Cooper's farm or
bridge that crosses the head-waters of Virgin Russ, and thence down the
same to Malcolm McDonald's Mills." The commissioners appointed
were Josiah King, Daniel Essington, and Samuel C. Griffith. Order was
issued Jan. 24, 1852. Report approved at the March sessions of court,
1852, and confirmed at the June term following.
1846. Ross M. Murphy.
1847. James Patterson, Jr.
1848. James Pearsoll.
1849. William Martin.
1850. Joseph Luce.
1851. Martin Ellwell.
1852. Lynch R. King.
1853. Aaron Townsend.
1854. Milton Hewitt.
1855. Job Strawn.
1856. John Hewitt.
1857. Gottlieb Zizing.
1858. Henry Stuckstager.
1859. John A. Murphy.
1860. Patrick Watson.
1861. Jacob Strickler.
1862. George M. Jackson.
1863. James P. Cope.
1864. Noah Armstrong.
1865. Samuel Strickler.
1866. Benjamin F. Harris.
1867. James Bell.
1868. Asa Chambers.
1869. Martin Thompson.
1870. Thomas C. Strawn.
1873. C. B. Campbell.
Elliot Porter.
1874. Samuel Luce.
1875. John Townsend.
1876. William Blaney.
1878. Henry Stone.
1879. George W. Jackson.
1880. Philip Luce.
1881. Job Strawn.
E. K. (halfant.
PERRYOPOLIS.
Before the year 1814, Dr. Thomas Hersey, Nathan
Hersey, and Samuel Shreve had bought of George
Meason a part of the Washington tract, with the intenition of laying out a village or town upon their
purchase. Thomas E. Burns owned land on the
northeast of them, and became interested with them
in the platting of the town. On the 18th of March,
in the year named above, these four proprietors executed the "charter" of thle town of Perryopolis, as
follows:
" To all to whom these presents shall come, Greeting: Whereas
we, the undersigned, Nathan Hersey, Thomas Hersey, Thomas
E. Burns, and Samuel Shreve, of Fayette County,  State of
Pennsylvania, for divers good causes and considerations thereunto moving, have caused to be laid off on the contiguous parts
of our lands in Washington Township, County,  State aforesaid a number of lots interspersed with Streets and Alleys, in
order to promote the erection of a Town, to be known by the
namne of Perryopolis. Now know ye that in order to promote
the prosperity and encourage the improvement of said Town,
and secure to the purchasers of lots therein the privileges and
immunities necessary for the common interest, we, the undersigned Proprietors of Perryopolis aforesaid, feel it our pleasurable duty to give forth this our Charter, to wit:' Washington's Diamond,' in the centre of said Town, is laid off one
hundred and sixty feet square. The two principal Streets,'Liberty' and' Independence,' crossing each other at right
angles in said Diamond, are laid off eighty feet wide. The
alleys proceeding from each of the four corners of said Diamond are laid off twenty feet wide.  All the other streets are
laid out and intended to be sixty feet wide, and all other alleys
are laid off and intended to be fifteen feet wide, as by the general plan hereunto annexed will appear. All which said Diamond, Streets, and Alleys shall be and remain of the above
stipulated width and dimensions severally, any excess or deficiency in the measure of any lot or lots notwithstanding, and
they are hereby declared to be public highways, and appropriated solely to that purpose. To have and to hold the free and
undisturbed use of the ground of the above-described Diamond,
Streets, and Alleys for the above purposes to the Purchasers,
Inhabitants, and Citizens of the aforesaid Town of Perryopolis,
its vicinity, and all other persons whatsoever demeaning themselves peaceably and as liege citizens of the United States, in
common with ourselves, our heirs, and assigns forever, reserv716
IPERRY TOWNSHIP.
ing the titlber thereon for our owvn particular use.... Given
under our hands and seals at Perryopolis, the 18th of March,
in the year of our Lord 1814.
"THOMAS HEIRSEY.
" THOMAS E. BURNS.
"SAMUEL SHREVE.
"NATHAN IHERSEY."
In the laying out of the alleys eight triangles were
formed, which were set apart for public uses as follows: No. 66, religious; 67, female school; 68, academy; 69, male school; 70, religious; 71, Masonic,
medical, mechanic; 72, library; 73, "paupery." The
charter and plat were filed May 3, 1837.
At the time of the laying out of Perryopolis there
were but two Qr three straggling dwellings on its site.
One of these was the house or cabin of John Wilgus,
who as early as 1806 came from his native State,
New Jersey, and settled on the Washington Bottoms,
then in the township of Washington. He became a
justice of the peace, and filled that office for many
years. He is still remembered by the older citizens
of Perry township. His son Joseph was born in
1807, where Perryopolis now is, and he is now living
at Layton's Station. Edward Wilgus, a brother of
John, came here at about the same time. He was a
shoemaker, worked at his trade here, and ended his
days here. Some of his family are still residents of
Perryopolis.
The platting of the new town had the effect to attract considerable attention to the place, and the discovery of sand suitable for the mnanufacture of glass
induced the organization of a company for that purpose. The project being pushed with energy, and
recommended to the people in glowing terms, the farmers and other well-to-do inhabitants of this section
of country subscribed liberally to this enterprise, as
also to the stock of a banking concern which was
started about the same time. A flint-glass factory
was erected where the Methodist Church and cemetery now are. Fromn bad management or other causes
none of these projects proved profitable to the original
stockholders or of permanent advantage to the town.
Their failure brought disaster to many public-spirited
people who aided them by subscriptions, and Perryopolis never realized the prosperity and importance
which at one time seemed assured by the establishment of these enterprises.
The Perryopolis Glass-Works is a name well known
in this region, but very little definite information can
now be obtained concerning their starting and subsequent operation. They were carried on by Thomas
Bleakley, whose management resulted in disastrous
failure and the sale by the sheriff of about twenty of
the best farms in this section, their owners having
sunk their property in subscriptions to the stock of
the glass company. After 1830 the glass-works property came into the possession of John F. Martin and
Jonathan Baker, and under their management became more successful. Later it came into the hands
46
of Henry B. Goucher, under whom the business languished, and was finally discontinued, The property
now belongs to the heirs of the late Andrew Stewart.
The Youghiogheny Banking Company was organized in 1814 by Eastern men, who succeeded in inducing the farmers through this section to subscribe
largely to its stock. The only definite knowledge obtained of any of the affairs of this bank is the following advertisement, found in the columns of the Genius
of Liberty of the year indicated, viz.:
"YOUGHIOGHENY BANKING COMPANY.
"Stockholders to attend at the house of Caleb B.
Potter, in Perryopolis, on Monday, Nov. 18, 1816, in
order to elect a Cashier, and for other purposes.
"JOSEPH BENNETT,
"Cashierpro tem.
"PERRYOPOLIS, Oct. 19, 1816."
The affairs of the bank were wound up gradually,
and the management finally came into the hands of
Robert Lynch and Jesse Arnold, and every dollar of
its notes (presented for payment) was redeemed.
So that the public lost nothing, though the original
stockholders lost all. The old stone banking-house,
on Liberty Street, was purchased by John F. Martin,
who afterwards kept a store in it. It is now occupied
by the Perryopolis post-office.
David Barnes and Joseph Barnet came here from
Connellsville soon after the opening of the glassworks, and sunk a well near Washington's Run to the
depth of nearly three hundred feet in the hope of
finding salt water. Their expectations were realized
to the extent that they struck a vein of strong salt
water, from which they were enabled to produce about
two hundred bushels of salt, and they began to entertain high hopes of brilliant success, when, at the
end of about a week, the flow suddenly and entirely
ceased, and the manufacture of salt in Perryopolis
was terminated, probably forever.
A newspaper was started in Perryopolis (soon after
the laying out of the town) by William Campbell, a
brother of Dr. Hugh Campbell, of Uniontown. He
(William) had been the editor of the Fayette and
Greene Spectator, in UJniontown, for one year from its
first publication in 1811. The name of the paper he
published in Perryopolis has not been ascertained.
The office where it was published was on a lot opposite the residence of John Fuller. Campbell, the
editor and publisher, had moved from Uniontown in
1812 to Washington township, where, in January,
1813, he married Priscilla, daughter of John Porter.
The paper which he started in Perryopolis was shortlived, and after its discontinuance he removed to New
Lisbon, Ohio, where he soon after commenced the
publication of another journal.
The first tavern in Perryopolis was opened in 1815,
by Caleb Porter, on the corner where Davidson's
Hall now stands. In this house all the public meet717HTSTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
ings of that time were held. Gen. Lafayette dined
there in 1825,.when on his way from Uniontown to
Cookstown (Fayette City) and Pittsburgh. Among
the landlords of the place from timne to time were
John Waldron, George Hazen, and Moses Jeffries,
the latter of whom lived at the lower end of the town,
where James Shepard now lives.
Among the early blacksmiths of Perryopolis were
Daniel Fields, whose shop was on the school-house
lot; Thomas Van Hook, on the McDonald lot; and
William Kyle, where Adam Hixenbaugh now has a
shop. Ih 1830, Mr. Hixenbaugh took the shop, and
has been in the business continuously till the present
time.
Samuel Porter came from Greene County, Pa., to
Perryopolis in 1819. He was connected with the
glass-works till about 1851, when he bought a part
of the Turnbull tract, north of the Youghiogheny
River, where his son James now lives,-a part of the
old Secrist tract. On this land he, with his son John,
quarried stone for furnace use until 1860. About that
time stone of the same quality was discovered in the
mountains above Connellsville, where John and
James Porter are now engaged in the quarrying of it.
The first resident physician in Perryopolis was Dr.
Thomas Hersey, one of the original proprietors of
the town. He afterwards removed to the West.
Among those who succeeded him in practice here
were the following-named physicians: Dr. William
Morris practiced and died here. Dr. McSherry canme
from Brownsville, practiced here for a time, and afterwards removed to Mineral Point, Wis. These were
followed in practice by Dr. Mitchell; Dr. James E.
Estep (died here in 1836); Drs. Patterson, Way,
Crawford, Gordon, Johnson, F. Shugart, James Storer,
Robinson, Abrams, H. B. Arnold, Grader, and McKoskey. The present physicians of the town are Drs. O.
P. McKay and J. H. Davidson.
Dr. McKay studied medicine at Washington, Pa.,
with Dr. J. W. Blatchley; attended lectures at the
Ohio Medical College, Cincinnati; came to Perryopolis Feb. 12,1866, and has since been in practice in
the town to the present time.
Dr. Davidson is a native of Redstone township.
He studied medicine with Dr. S. W. Chalfant, at
Upper Middletown; attended lectures at the Western
Reserve Medical College, Cleveland, Ohio; has been
in practice in Perryopolis since Dec. 12, 1872. He is
a member of the Fayette County Medical Society.
The postmasters of Perryville from the establishment of the office to the present time have been (as
nearly as can be ascertained) as follows: Caleb Trevor,
Moses Jeffries, William McCray, Adam Hixenbaugh,
John Ebbert, Allen Murphy, John Voorhees, James
Murphy, William Grist, John McCullough, Mary
Campbell, and Lucy Martin, the present incumbent.
In 1838 a pottery was put in operation where
Aaron Higbee now lives in Perryopolis. It continued
to be worked by him for about fifteen years, then it
was sold to John Ebbert, who ran it for one year. He
sold to Thomas Suttle, who carried it on for about
twenty years, after which it was discontinued. The
kiln is still standing.
David Anderson, of Pittsburgh, built a pottery below
the glass-works and near Washington Run in 1859.
Three years later it was sold to John A. Murphy. It
was kept in operation till 1868.
John Porter  Brothers started a pottery in 1859
in the rear of the Methodist Church. It was in operation only about three years, and then discontinued.
The sand and clay of Perryopolis and vicinity were
found to be admirably adapted to the manufacture of
glass and pottery-ware. Large quantities of sand
were shipped about 1825 from this place to Pittsburgh, Monongahela City, Brownsville, Cookstown,
and Elizabethtown. A vein of clay sixteen feet in
thickness was used largely, both for the pottery-works
here aid for shipment to other markets.
In the year 1853, when stone blocks were being
contributed from all the States of the Union for the
erection of the Washington Monument, at Washington, D. C., a block for that purpose was quarried by
Pierson Cope, owner of a part of the Washington
Bottoms, from which it was taken. Its removal from
the quarry to the "Diamond" in Perryopolis was
made the occasion of a Fourth of July (1853) celebration, of which Gen. Joseph Markle was the president; William Campbell (who lived on the site of the
old Washington house), Dr. David Porter, and others,
vice-presidents; and Col. William Y. Roberts, orator
of the day. The procession which escorted the block
from the quarry to the" Diamond" was large, and accompanied by a band of music. The stone (five feet
in length and eighteen inches square) was loaded on
a wagon drawn by four fine horses, trimmed and decorated with flowers and evergreens. Sitting on the
block, and dressed in "regimentals," was an old negro
called "Funty Munty," or Simon Washington, who
had been a slave, and owned by Gen. Washington.
This old man, with a stone hammer in his hand, occasionally pecked the stone, so that it might truthfully
be said not only that the block was taken from land
once owned by Gen. Washington, but that it was
worked by one of his former slaves. The celebration
was attended by nearly three hundred people, and
great enthusiasm was manifested on the occasion.
Schools were taught at different times in an early
day in several of the dwelling-houses of Perryopolis.
Mrs. John F. Martin remembers attending school
about 1820 in the bank building, where she now lives.
The school was taught by a man named Tower, and
afterwards by Isaac C. Murphy and - Ayres. In
1828 a school-house was erected on lot No. 69, which
had been designated and set apart in the original plat
718PERRY TOWNSHIP.
and charter for the purpose of a mlale school. Under
the school law of the State, this school-house came
under charge of the school directors. It was used for
schools for some years, and then abandoned. The
present school-house was built in 1852, on lot No'.
79, which was donated by the proprietors in the charter of the town for" Paupery." The schools of Perryopolis are at present under charge of Noah Patton as
principal.
A lodge of the Independent Order of Good Templars was chartered in Perryopolis in May, 1879, with
John A. Ebbert as W. C. Templar, and Miss Lucy A.
Martin as Vice-Templar. It now contains about
thirty-five members. The present (1881) officers are:
Noah Patton, W. C. T.; Mollie Strawn, V. T.; Walter
Hixenbaugh, Sec.; Lewis Herwick, Treas. Meetings
are held in Davidson's Hall.
Fayette Lodge, No. 172, Ancient Order of United
Workmen, was chartered March 23, 1880, with sixteen members. It now (June, 1881) contains twentyseven. The present officers of the lodge are as named
below: P. M. W., E. K. Chalfant; M. W., William
C. Drumm; Foreman, Joseph Newcomer; Overseer,
T. G. Herwick; Recorder, N. O. Stinger; Financier,
J. H. Davidson; Receiver, J. Baker, Jr.
The population of Perryopolis by the census of
1880 was three hundred and twenty-one.
LAYTON STATION.
This railway station, which has given its name to
the small village clustered about it, is located on the
right bank of the Youghiogheny River, in the east
part of Perry township, on the line of the Pittsburgh
and Connellsville Railroad, and was established at
the time of the opening of that line. The first store
was opened there by Henry H. Brollier, who was also.
a telegraph operator. He became successful in trade,
and afterwards left the place and removed West.
His successor in the store was James Stickle, who
kept it two or three years, and sold to Baugh 
Drumm, who are the present proprietors. Another
store was opened by P. M. Hunt in 1876, and one has
recently been built for Carson  Carr. The first
postmaster at Layton Station was Henry H. Brollier,
who was succeeded by James Carson, the present
incumbent.
About 1868 the rock on the farm of Joseph Wilgus,
at Layton, was found to contain a large percentage
of pure silex, rendering it valuable in the manufacture of glass.  Samples were sent to Pittsburgh,
where its quality was pronounced excellent, and from
that time to the present large quantities of it have
been shipped to that city foi use in the glass-works.
Mr. Wilgus has sold a part of his land (about four
acres) containing the rock to Noah Spear, who is constantly employed in supplying it for the glass-works
in Pittsburgh. The amount now shipped daily to
that place averages forty tons.
A bed of fire-clay, lying above the sand-rock, is
found admirably adapted for union with German clay
for fire-pots, and also unites well with the Missouri
clay. This fire-clay is taken out and shipped by Mr.
Wilgus at eight dollars per ton. In the past twelve
years he has sold it to the amount of thirty thousand
dollars, mostly for shipment to Pittsburgh. There is
also found on his tract a Bond clay, which is used for
the manufacture of fire-brick. In the year 1871 "The
Diamond Fire-Brick Company" commeinceed work at
this place, and in 1879 sold out to Davidson  Drumm,
who have manufactured about two million bricks the
past year. About an equal number are manufactured
by the Keystone Fire-Brick Company, who commenced operations in the spring of 1880. These
bricks are chiefly used in the construction of furnaces
and coke-ovens.
Land on the bottoms along the Youghiogheny
River was, in the early years, considered as of little
value, and the locality was known as "Poverty Neck,"
but it has since proved a mine of wealth to its possessors by reason of the development of its sand-rock and
fire-clay resources.
"Big Falls" in the Youghiogheny, near Layton
Station, is a place noted for the many drownings and
other accidents which have occurred in its swift current. In 1805 a man named Moorhead was drowned
there by the swamping of a flat-boat. In 1807 another accident of the same kind occurred at this place,
resulting in the death of one man. In 1810 a Mr.
Dougherty, when in liquor (as was said), attempted to
ford the river here and was drowned. In 1814 a flatboat, loaded with pig-metal, was sunk here and one
man drowned. In the same year George Ebbert and
Martin Kennedy, both of Perryopolis, were drowned
here from a raft of logs. In 1822 a man, while attempting to land an iron-loaded flat-boat, after passing through the dangers of the falls, jumped for the
shore, but fell into the river and was drowned. In
1834 a coal-boat coming down the river at a high
stage of water was wrecked at this place, drowning
four men,-Andrew Burtt, John Franklin, Andrew
Knight, and Wesley Johns. In 1836, Andrew Bobb
was killed while assisting in turning a flat-boat. In
1839, Uriah Strickler was drowned while attempting
to take a boat through the falls. The accident occurred in March, but the body of the drowned man
was not found till the following May. In 1850 a man
was lost from a log raft above Connellsville, and his
body was found a month later at these falls.
SCHOOLS OF THE TOWNSHIP.
Under the operation of the public school law of
1834, school districts were organized in the territory
now Perry township, then included in Washington
and Tyrone. After the erection of Perry as a separate
township it was redistricted as it is at the present
time into seven school districts, as follows:
Summer Hill District is in the north part of the
71,9HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
township, bordering on the line of Westmoreland
County, and west of the Youghiogheny River. The
school-house is nearly in the territorial centre of the
district.  
West Point District embraces all the territory of
the township lying between the Youghiogheny and
Jacob's Creek.
Poplar Hill District lies west of Perryopolis, and
extends to the west line of the township. The schoolhouse is located near the line.
Perry District embraces the greater part of the village of Perryopolis, and extends northwardly to the
Youghiogheny.
Herschel District includes part of the village of
Perryopolis, and extends eastward along the Youghiogheny. The school-house is about a mile southeast of
the village.
Stickle District lies in the southwest part of the
township. The school-house is near the centre of the
district, on the main road running southwest from
Perryopolis.
Jackson District is in the southeast part of the
township. Its school-house is near the residence of
J. B. Blair.
The number of pupils attending the several schools
of the township in 1880-81 was four hundred and
forty-four. Number of teachers, nine; valuation of
school property, $8000; total expenditure for educational purposes during the school year, $1632.50.
Following is a list of persons who have been elected
school directors in Perry from the organization of the
township to 1881, viz.:
1840. Henry Stimel.
Joseph Luce.
John Hewitt.
Robert Bleakley.
1841. Pierson Cope.
1842. Joseph Bute.
1843. Alexander Armstrong.
David Potter.
1844. Presley St. Clair.
John Dewilter.
Edward Stickle.
1845. John H. Blaney.
James Piersall.
Jacob Strickler.
1846. Ralph Whilsett.
Lewis Eberhart.
Josiah King.
1847. Amos C. Strawn.
Job Rossell.
1848. James Patterson.
William Price.
Henry Stimel.
1849. Henry Stimel.
James Gwinn.
1850. James Blair.
Joel Strawn.
Job Rossell.
1851. Adam Higinbaugh.
William Campbell.
James Blair.
1852. Henry Stone.
John Patterson.
Josiah King.
1853. Josiah King.
John A. Murphy.
1854. Samuel Watson.
John Porter.
1855. Joel Cooper.
Peter Darr.
1856. Josiah King.
Eli McLean.
1857. Henry Hardesty.
James Porter.
1858. James Cope.
James Blair.
1859. Charles Rossell.
George Anderson.
David Fuller.
1860. Harvey Leeper.
Samuel Hoggest.
Noah Armstrong.
1861. Samuel Uncksterter.
John Purcell.
1862. Aaron Townsend.
Henry Foster.
William L. Grist.
1863. Adam Higinbaugh.
William Hopkins.
Gottlieb Zizing.
1864. Joseph Luce.
1864. Robinson Murphy.
1865. William Hopkins.
J. K. McDonald.
Samuel Smith.
Henry Stine.
John Gwinn.
1866. William Luce.
Paul Hough.
John K Marsh.
Samuel Albertson.
1867. Joseph A. Ebbert.
James Porter.
Michael Layton.
John Blackman.
1868. Thomas Little.
David Luce.
William Gibson.
1869. William Patterson.
William Rossell.
George W. Jackson.
1870. Josiah King.
1870. J. D. Cope.
1873. Joseph D. Wilgus.
B. C. Slocum.
David Morrow.
Andrew Patterson.
1874. J. R. Hough.
John Blackburn.
1875. Joel Strawn.
Hugh Patterson.
1876. John H. Davidson.
Philip Luce.
1877. Nathaniel Stephens.
Asa Chambers.
1878. W. C. Drumm.
P. F. Harris.
1879. Joseph Newcomer.
1880. Nathaniel Stephens.
Asa Chambers.
1881. W. 0. Drumm.
Gouchen Hixenbaugh.
RELIGIOUS WORSHIP--BURIAL-GROUNDS.
The Methodist Episcopal Church in Perryopolis
was organized within a few years after the laying out
of the town, and was from the first embraced on a
circuit with other appointments. For many years
their services were held in the school-house and in
the bank building. About 1832 they erected a church
edifice, which has been used as a house of worship
until the present time, it having been repaired and
remodeled in 1872. Among the preachers who have
served this church may be named the Revs. Robert
Boyd,      Sawhill, John Coyle, James Larscom,
Samuel Wakefield, John Wakefield, J. C. Pershing,
Patterson, Sheets, Davis, Cartie, and others.  The
church has now no regular pastor, but has a membership of about seventy-five.  It belongs to the
Redstone Circuit, being one of four appointments,
viz.: Perry, Upper Middletown, Jones', and Dunbar.
Other denominations hold occasional services in
the village of Perryopolis.
The Harmony Church (Cumberland Presbyterian)
congregation, in Perry township, first used as a house
of worship a log building which was erected for the
purpose on land owned by William Bleakley, where
there had previously been a distillery. The present
church edifice (a frame structure) was built in the fall
of 1859.
Among the pastors who have labored with this congregation have been the Revs. John Gibson, H. J.
Anderson, A. J. Swaim, James Beard, Luther Axtell, S. E. Hudson, and W. M. Hayes, the present
pastor.
On the road leading from Perryopolis to the Red
Lion, and near the township line between Perry and
Jefferson, stands the old Quaker meeting-house, or
rather the ruins of it, for the roof has fallen in, leaving only the ancient walls standing. This was built
by the Friends of this vicinity so many years ago that
720(/'k   6,I)    -",/ v k--lJAMES PEIRSOL.PERRY TOWNSHIP.
none now living remember its erection. Adjoining
the site of this old meeting-house, anid also adjoining
lands of S. Strickler, T. Shepard, and heirs of Benjamin Brown, is the old Quaker burial-ground, surrounded by a substantial iron fence, and kept in good
condition by a small fund donated by some one of the
Quaker sect for the purpose. In this old cemeteryground lie interred the remains of many of the early
Friends and other settlers of the vicinity,-Jonathan
Hewitt, John Shreve, Joseph Shlreve, Samuel Cope,
Joshua Cope, Isaac Cope, John Negus, Joseph Negus,
Joseph Shepard, William Nutt, Jesse Couldron, William Griffith, and many others. With the exception
of this old ground the places of interment of those
whodied in Perry township in early years were upon
the farms.
In Perryopolis a burial-ground was established on
the land of the Methodist Episcopal Church, but
burials are now chiefly made in the Mount Washington Cemetery, which was laid out on land taken for
the purpose from the farm of Cyrus Martin, about a
mile and a half south of the town.
There is also a cemetery in use at the Cumberland
Presbyterian Church in the Browneller settlement.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
JOHN H. DAVIDSON, M.D.
Although a young man, Dr. John H. Davidson, of
Perryopolis, is one of the prominent physicians of
Fayette County. He was born Nov. 15, 1845, in Redstone townlship, Fayette Co., at the old Brownfield
tavern stand, two miles east of Brownsville, on the
National pike. His early life was passed upon his
father's farm in much the same manner that farmers'
boys usually spend their time. He was educated in
the commonii schools and Dunlap's Creek Academy,
and read medicine in the office of Dr. Samuel B.
Chalfant, of Upper Middletown, Fayette Co., and
attended lectures at and graduated from the Medical
Department of the Western Reserve University, of
Cleveland, Ohio. He began his course in this college
in 1868, and graduated in 1870. He was married Dec.
26, 1871, to Chilnissae J. Chalfant, daughter of Dr. S. B.
and Elizabeth Chalfant. Mrs. Davidson died June 27,
1877. They had one child, Clayton Torrance Davidson, now a bright boy of eight years. The doctor
was married again Jan. 10, 1881, to Mary E., the
sister of his former wife.
Dr. Davidson is of English stock. His father,
Jacob Davidson, was born in Westmoreland County,
Pa., and married Hannah Kelley, of the same
county. Soon after his marriage he located upon the
farm where the doctor was born. He died in 1858.
Mr. Davidson's occupation was farming. He was a
prominent member of the United Brethren Church,
and was noted for his piety, and was a local preacher.
The doctor's grandfather, Jacob Davidson, was
born in England. When quite young his father, who
was a minister of the gospel, emigrated to America,
and located in Philadelphia. Jacob, the doctor's
grandfather, married Mary Young, of Franklin
County, Pa. They came to Fayette County in 1837,
and settled on the Basil Brown tract of land, near
Brownsville. He died April 15, 1856, aged seventyfour years. He was a miller by trade, owned a large
amount of land, and was long a director in the Monongahela Bank, of Brownsville.
After graduating Dr. Davidson first practiced his
profession in company with his preceptor and fatherin-law, Dr. Chalfant. He located in Perryopolis in
December, 1872. From the beginning his practice
there has been large and lucrative. He is recognized
as a skillful physician. His judgment is excellent;
his knowledge of men and general business acute.
He has -held the office of school director in Perry
township, and, according to a late county superintendent of schools, was one of the very best directors
in Fayette County. His possessions are houses, lands,
bank stock, brick-works, book accounts, energy,
good health, good sense or brains.
The doctor's maternal grandfather, Jacob Kelley,
was born in England, came to America when young,
and settled in Westmoreland County, Pa.
Dr. Davidson's parents, Jacob and Mary Davidson,
were married June 2, 1835, and had ten children,
nine of whom are living,-Mary, married to John
Rice, Nov. 2, 1855; Elizabeth, married March 12,
1862, to Otho Brashear; Kate, married Jan. 23,
1867, to Benton Bennett; Lou, married Jan. 3,
1871, to James F. Grable; Haddie, married July
24, 1873, to Jesse Coldren; Anna, married Nov. 12,
1874, to Luther Noble; Amos W., married May 29,
1878, to Maggie Vernon; and Ada, who is single.
JAMES PEIRSOL.
Among the old families of Perry township we find
the name of Peirsol. The first of the family to settle
in Fayette County was William Peirsol, who bought
of Thomas Estel, in 1784, the farm now owned in
part by James and Lewis Peirsol. He was married
to Miss Grace Cope, and was born, according to the
Cope genealogical history, about the year 1748. For
a time Mr. Peirsol lived in a rudely built cabin, which
in time gave way to a log house, which at that time
was considered a model of elegance and comfort, and
which still stands on the farm of James Peirsol. In
this he resided till his death at a ripe old age. His
children were John, born in 1782; Sarah, 1785; Jeremiah, 1787; Samuel, 1789; Mary, 1792; Elizabeth,
1794; William, 1797; and James, the subject of this
sketch, May 29, 1799. All of the children grew to
man's and woman's estate. On the 29th day of June,
72198   HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
protruded slightly from behind the tree which he had
taken as a cover wlhile firing.'
The losses of the Indians were inever ascertained.
Though  doubtless greater than  those of the whites,
they were probably not very heavy, because the savage
combatants were to a great extent hidden  from  view
by the tall grass which grew  everywvlere in the openings. A number of Indian scalps were taken by
Crawford's mien, but no  prisoners wvere captured  on
either side.
At the close of the conflict of the 4th of June the
advantage seemed to be with the white men, for the
foe had retired from their front, and they still kept
possession of the grove,2 from  which  the red demonis
had  tried  persistently  but in  vaini for nearly  fouir
lhours to dislodge them. The officers and mein of
Col. Crawford's command were in good spirits, and
the commander himself felt confident of ultimate
victory, for his volunteers had  behaved  admiralbly,
exhibiting remarkable steadiness and brav ery during
the tryino scenes of the afternoon. But the Indianis
were by no means dispirited, for they had suffered no
actual defeat, and they knew that their numbers
would soon be augmented by the Shawanese and other
war-parties who  were  already on  their way to join
them, as was also  the British detaclhment which had
been  sent from   Detroit.3   The night bivouac of the
Wyandots wa,s made on the plains to the north of the
battle-field, anid  that of the  Delawares at about the
samie distance south. Far to the front of the Indian
camps, lines of fires were kept burninig through the
night to prevent a surprise, and the same precautionary  measure  was  taken  by  Col. Crawford.   Outlying scouts from both forces watched each other with
sleepless vigilance through the hours of darkness,
and frontiersmen and savages slept on their arms.
1 Butterfield, in his3 account of the expedition, mentions the following
incident of the battle, as narrated by Smith h-imself: " About a hundred
feet off an Indian was Ihid in the tall grass, fliring at mie. I felt the bark
of a tree whlere I stood fly in my fiace several tinmes. Ilavinlg discovered
the position of tho savage, I fired several slhots, and at thje seveinth on)e,
catchiiii si-lit of his blody, I brought hiim down. No more balls canie
froni that quarter. After wvating a reasonable timiie It crawled along to
find tils body, but it lead been dragged away. I could plainily see the
trail of blood it made."
2 "The battle of Sandusky was fought in and around the grove since
well known as'Battle Island,' in what is now Crane township, Wyandlot Co., three miles north and lhalf a mile east of the coiert-house in
Upper Sandusky. The spot las always beeii readily identified by reason
of the scars upon tlee trunlks of the trees, niade bty the lhatchlets of the
Indians in getting oiit tle bullets after tle action. But thel islaed' may
now be said to lhave disappeared. Ciiltivated fields mark the site where
the contest took place. Occasionally an iieteresting relic is turned cup
by tie plow-share, to be preserved by the curious as a memeceto of tie
battle."-Butterfield.
3 The British force from Detroit, consisting of Butler's Rangers, lead
arrived on the evening of the 4tl at a point only six nmiles nortlh of tie
hattle-ground. and there encamped for tie night. Tie Ind(lians kinew
of tlhis, and as they had also begneie to receive reeinforcements by snlicll
parties of Shawanese, they knew that they leadl oily to liold Crawford's
force at bay until all tieir succors shouild arrl ive, wleel victory would be
certain. Col. Crawford was entirely ignoranut of tie proximity of any
white enemies, tleoeegle he lead ieo doubt that Ice(lian lreiteforceneents were
on their way. Had lee kiown all the facts lits feeling of confidenice
noust have been chan-ed to tie miost gloomy forlebodiijgs of disaster.
It was the wish of Col. Crawford to make a vigorous attack on the Indians at daylight on the morning
of the 5tlh, but he was prevented frorn doing so by the
fact that the care of his sick4 and wounded was very
embarrassing, requiring the services of a number of
men, and so reducing the strength of his fighting
force. It was determined, however, to make the best
preparations possible under the circumstances, and to
attack with every available mnan in the following
night. The Indians had comnmenced firing early in
the morning, and their fire was answered by the
wlhites; but it was merely a skirmish at long range,
and in no sense a battle. It wvas kept up during the
greater part of the day, but little harm was done, only
four of Crawford's men being wounded, and none
killed. Col. Crawford, as we have seen, was not prepared for a close conflict, but lie, as well as his officers
and men', felt confident of their ability to defeat the
enemy wheen tie proper timiie should come, attributing
the apparenit uliwillingness of the Indians to come to
close quarters to their having been badly crippled in
the figlt of the 4th. But the fact was that the savagfes were content with making a show of fight sufficient to hold their white enemies at bay while wvaiting for the arrival of their reinforcements, wlhich they
knew wvere approaching and near at hand.
The day wore oii. The red warriors kept up their
desuiltory firing, and the white skirmishers replied,
while their comrades were busily and confidently
making preparations for the intended night assault;
but it was a delusive and fatal coiifidence. Suddenlv,
at a little past noon, an excited scout brought word
to Col. Crawford that a body of white horseinen were
approaching from the north. This was most alarming
intelligence, but it wuis true. The British detachment
from Detroit-Butler's Rangers-had arrived, and
were then forming a junction with the Wyandot forces.
But this was not all. Almost simultanieously with the.
arrival of the British horsemen, a large body of Shawanese warriors appeared in the south, in full view
from Col. Crawford's position, and joined the line of
the Delawares.
In this state of affairs the idea of an attack on the
Indian camps could no longer be entertained. The
commandant at once called a council of war of his
officers to determine on the course to be pursued in
this dire emtergency. Their deliberations were very
short, and the decision unanilnously rendered was to
retreat tovards the Ohio. In pursuance of this decision, preparations for the movement were at once
comnmenced. The dead had alreadv been buried, and
fires were now built over them  to prevent their dis4 A considerable numniber eof his niet leasl beeii nmade sick by the great
fatig5ie aci(e excessive lieat of the previoucs daec, aced by the very bad water
whicie they hled been compelled to drinklS, the only water whlicle could
be fouced ice the vicineity of the battle-,ground being a stagceant pool
wvlich heead formed uie(ler thee roots of a tree whiche lead been blown over.
Maj. Rose, in his report to Gen. Irvine, said, " We were so neucl enctinebered with oucr wouended aced sickc thlet tie slvhole disy vas specet in tlleir
care and ile prep:euirig for a general attack teis next niglet."
98HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
1823, James was married to Elizabeth Gue, who was
born Oct. 2, 1806. To them have been born John,
June 10, 1825; Mary Jane, Dec. 2, 1827; James A.,
Feb. 5, 1830; Sarah, Feb. 6, 1832; Joseph, July 4,
1834; Emeline, Feb. 2, 1837; Edith, March 17, 1839;
Nancy V., May 6, 1842; and Jacob L., Nov. 28,1851.
After his marriage he went to Ohio and settled on a
tract of wild land owned by his father. Here he remained four years, clearing away the forests and improving the farm when not engaged in his favorite
pursuit of hunting, of which he was passionately
fond, and at which he became an expert. Not liking
his new home, he returned at the expiration of the
four years, his place being filled by an older brother.
On the death of his father the old homestead fell to
him, on which he still resides and to which he has
added, until it now comprises 300 acres of valuable
land. For more than thirty years Mr. Peirsol has
been a consistent member of the Baptist Church, and
through a long life has been an honored and respected
citizen.
JOSIAH KING.
In the year 1816, George King, with his wife and
children, moved into Fayette County, and in the township of Perry bought the fulling-mills which are now
known as the Strickler mill property. It was a part
of the General Washington tract. George was the son
of Michael King, who was of German descent, and
was born in York County, Pa. After his marriage to
Susan Husbands he movedto Somerset County, where
he bought a farm, on which he passed the remainder
of his days. He was a local Methodist preacher, and
his descendants have'nearly all been of the same religious faith.
George was born July 4, 1774, on the home-farm in
Somerset County, and, as set forth above, emigrated to
Fayette County in 1816. He was a carpenter, and at
intervals followed that calling for many years, quitting
it finally for the farm. In 1794 he was joined in marriage to Miss Catherine Stickle. The result of this
union was nine children, two of whom died in infancy;
the others were Susan, Josiah, Enos, Caroline, Rachel,
Mary, and William. He operated the fulling-mills a
few years, then sold out and bought the farm now
owned by James Carson. In 1840 he built a house
near Perryopolis, in which he resided till his death,
Nov. 7, 1844; his wife died July 24, 1838. Both were
members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Josiah King, of whom this brief sketch is written,
was born Dec. 18, 1801, on Laurel Hill, in Somerset
Co., Pa. His chances for an education were limited
to a few months' attendance at a country school, and
completed in the school of life by observation and remembering what he saw, making his judgment on any
subject desirable. From the age of sixteen to nineteen
years he served as an apprentice as a cloth-dresser with
Myers  McClay. He was then for three years a
partner of William Searight in woolen cloth dressing,
when the building of woolen-factories made their
business unprofitable. We now for a few years find
him building boats on the Youghiogheny River, and
shipping'sand and stone to Cincinnati and other
points. This business proved remunerative, and he
obtained a start in life. In 1835 he went on the farm
he with others had bought in 1828 in Jefferson township. There he remained until 1845, when he rented
of Robert Lynch the farm which he now owns (bought
in 1848), and where he intends to pass the remainder
of his long and upright life. The farm now consists
of 180 acres of well-improved land, the result of industry and good management. On the 3d day of July,
1823, he was married to Nancy Lynch, daughter of
Robert and Mercilla (Martin) Lynch. She was born
May 27, 1804, on the farm where they now reside.
Their children are L. R., born Aug. 11, 1824, married
to Rebecca Shepherd. He emigrated to Winona
County, of which he was three terms sheriff; died
Nov. 8, 1868. Elizabeth, born March 5, 1826, married Dec. 25, 1845, to S. B. Chalfant. Catherine, born
Jan. 28, 1828, married Michael C. Cramer; died May
21, 1855. E. L. King, born Feb. 17, 1830, married
March 21, 1854, to Miss Mary M. Sanborn. He is a
physician of Ashtabula, Ohio, of which place he is
now mayor. Enos King, born June 12, 1834, married June 12, 1856, to Polly C. Stephens. Mary Jane,
born March 19, 1836, married to Rev. John McIntyre,
March 15, 1860. Mercilla Ann, born Aug. 17, 1838,
married Aug. 18, 1864, to John H. Martin. She
died May 6, 1870. And George F., born Feb. 11, 1841,
died May 17, 1851.
722i
PI
11-                     641-11REDSTONE TONE TOWNSHIP.
REDSTONE, one of the western townships of Fayette, has for its boundaries Jefferson on the north,
Menallen and German on the south, Franklin and
Menallen on the east, and Brownsville and Luzerne
on the west. The total valuation of Redstone subject to county tax in 1881 was $660,948, or a decrease
from 1880 of $8895. Its population June, 1880, was
1065.
Redstone contains valuable coal deposits, but these
lie deep in the earth in most localities. Upon the
land of Robert Tate and in the contiguous region the
coal vein is rich and easy of development. The great
highway through Redstone is now the old National
road (so called), but a line of railway (the Redstone
extension of the Pittsburgh, Virginia and Charleston
Road) running along the northeastern border of the
township is now nearly completed and will prove of
great benefit to the people of Redstone.
Innumerable water-courses traverse the township,
but Redstone and Dunlap's Creeks are the most noticeable and about the only ones having mill-power. The
surface of the country is uneven and in many places
quite hilly. There are many valuable farms and
some rough ones, but generally considered the agricultural resources are quite up to the average. Oil
deposits have been found on Redstone Creek and in
other places. Oil-wells were sunk in 1870 by a company styled the Farmers' and Mechanics' Oil Company, and in some cases to the depth of a thousand
feet, but operations were not satisfactorily pursued,
although indications of more than ordinary promise
were apparent. It is thought by many that profitable
oil-wells will yet be sunk and operated in this township.
The township received its name from that of the
creek which forms its northeastern boundary. The
reason why the name was originally given to the
creek is told in the "American Pioneer" (vol. ii. p.
55), as follows:' The hills around abounded with bituminous coal, and along
the water-courses, where the earth had been washed off, the coal
was left exposed. The inflammability of that mineral must
have been known to the inhabitants at that early period, for
where those exposures happened fire had been communicated,
and an ignition of the coal taken place, and probably continued
to burn until the compactness and solidity of the body and want
of air caused its extinguishment. These fires in their course
camne in contact with the surrounding earth and stone and gave
ing, for Spanish brown. Many of the red banks are now visible; the most prominent one, perhaps, is that near the junction
of a creek with the Monongahela River, a short distance below
the fortification, and which bears the name of Redstone, doubtless from the red appearance of the bank near its mouth."
But the State geologist, in the third annual report
on the geological survey of the State of Pennsylvania, gives a different account of the origin of the
ignition of the coal-banks. viz.: "In many places the
coal of the roofs has been precipitated by a slipping
of the hillside upon the lower part of the seam, in
which case the latter has often taken fire from the
heat evolved by the chemical, decomposition. This
has occurred particularly at the mouth of Redstone
Creek, in Fayette County, where the overlaying slate
has been reddened by the combustion."
The earliest settlements in what is now known as
the township of Redstone were made west and south
of the centre, although there was but little difference
in point of time between settlements in that section
and in the country along the Redstone Creek. Indeed, some authorities give the creek region the precedence, but the advantage upon either side was too
slight to call for special investigation. Among the
first who came into Redstone to stay, if not indeed
the very first, was George Kroft, the ancestor in this
county of the now numerous Crafts, who through the
changes of time have Anglicized the spelling and
pronunciation of the name fromn Kroft to Craft. Mr.
Kroft came from Germany to America as a "redemptioner,"-that is, he sold himself to pay his passage.
Upon arriving in America he was indentured toSamuel
Grable, a farmer living on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. In 1771, Kroft found himself in the possession
of a family, some means, and an ambition to better
his fortunes in a new country. Such a country he discovered in Southwestern Pennsylvania, and in Fayette
County in the same year of 1771 he tomahawked a
claim of eight hundred acres in the present township
of Redstone. The land lay near and north of the
site of the Dunlap's Creek Church, and near that site,
not far from Dunlap's Creek, he put up his cabin.
In testimony of the wild and lonesome condition of
the region in which he located, he used to relate that
his nearest neighbor was nine miles distant in German township, at a place called High House, and his
theni a red appeatance; indeed, so completely burned were" -next nearest at Beesontown (now  U nlontown).  It
they that when pulverized they have been substituted, in paint- would appear from these declarations made by Mr.
72.3
I    - - -           -- - - -- - -1       - I         ir'b - - -- - -- i- -          f -- - --    YT--! - -  A. - ----  X                  TA.HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Kroft that he must have been at the time of his location the only settler in what is now Redstone township. In 1772, Mr. Kroft made a trip to Eastern
Maryland for a supply of salt and other commodities,
and upon his return brought a half-dozen young
apple-trees and set them out near his house. One of
the six apple-trees brought in by Mr. Kroft in 1772
still bears fruit, and, beyond that distinction even, is
claimed to be the largest apple-tree in Fayette
County. Six inches from the ground it measures
two feet six inches in diameter, and it is said to have
borne one season seventy-five bushels of apples.
This tree stands on George M. Craft's farm.
Mr. Kroft (dying in 1806) had four sons, named
Samuel, Benjamin, David, and John. Benjamin
lived and died on a portion of the old farm, Samuel
died in Luzerne, John in Greene County, and David
on the old farm in 1837. David, who was the father
of Mr. Elijah Craft, of Redstone, used to tell his son
about the trials and privations that waited on pioneer
life in Redstone, and among other things told how he
and one of his brothers once rode twenty-five miles
to a mill on the Youghiogheny to get a grist ground.
For subsistence while they were gone they carried a
mess of boiled corn, and when they got to the mill
they found so many customers before them that by
the time their turn came they had eateni all their
boiled corn and spent a couple of days and nights in
waiting, so that when they started for home it was
upon empty stomachs that landed them at the parental
roof-tree in a condition bordering upon starvation.
David Croft, herein referred to, became the father of
thirteen children, and when his wife died the youngest of the children was but three weeks old. David
bestowed watchful care upon them all, small as they
were, despite the exhaustive field of labor incident to
his farming pursuits, and gave to each a good education. Of the thirteen children six were boys. Of the
six boys, Elijah Craft, of Redstone, is the only one
now living. His brother George, who died in Ohio
in 1877 at the age of eighty-eight, rode when a boy
with his father to Brownsville in the winter of 17991800 to view the funeral ceremonies of Washington
there displayed.
One of the daughters of old George Kroft married
Peter Colley, one of Redstone's noted pioneers and a
popular landlord of his day. George Kroft died in
1806, but how old he was he did not know himself,
for he was a man but little given to either learning,
reflection, or observation. George B. Craft, one of
his grandsons, died in Redstone in 1878, aged ninetythree. Another of his grandsons, George, was at one
time sheriff of Fayette County.
During the early period of George Kroft's residence
in Redstone settlers felt much apprehension concerning Indian ravages, and although no very serious
trouble came to them from that source, they were in
constant dread for a time. There was at Merrittstown
a fort, whither at the first alarm of the near presence
of Indians neighboring inhabitants would flee, to
remain until the signs of danger were past. A story
told of a Mr. Wade, who lived onI the present Fought
place, is to the effect that each night he used to send
his wife and little ones to the fort at Brownsville,
while he himself would crawl into a hollowed log,
and thus rest securely if not comfortably until morning, consoled with the reflection that if the savages
should happen along there they would never dreamn
that an innocent-looking log contained human prey.
Isaiah Ratcliffe, a Quaker, was one of Redstone's
pioneer blacksmiths. He set up his shop near Dunlap's Creek Church, but did not tarry long. He died
before 1800. He had made the journey from tbe East
with Alexander Nelan, who made his settlemnent in
Luzerne on the river. A son of Isaiah Ratcliffe
now lives in Brownsville in his eighty-sixth year.
William Colvin, mentioned in early accounts as
having been in the territory now called Redstone
township as early as 1768, was doubtless a settler
two years before that, or in 1766. He tomahawked
a claim to a large tract of land, and put up a log
cabin near what is now known as the Dunham place,
not far from the Bath Hotel property. An old account-book kept by William Colvin, and now in the
possession of Samnuel Colvin, of Redstone, discloses
the fact that William Colvin traded in a small way
at his home near Brownsville as early as 1766. Under that date he charged John Sarvil, John Wiseman, Mr. Hamer, David Cook, Jonathan Himer
with such articles as fine combs, rum, broadcloth,
whisky, tobacco, egg-punch, egg-nog, vinegar, etc.
In 1767 charges appear against John Davis, Capt.
Colren, Andrew Grigen, James Brown, Jacob Drinens, Richard Ashcraft, George Coran, George Moran,
George Martin, MNorris Brady, Moses Henry, Charles
Ferguson, Aaron Richardson, Moses Holladay, John
Joees, Alexander Bowlin, John Henderson, and
John Martin.
Under date of 1768 appear upon Mr. Colvin's account-book the names of Isham Barnett, Levi Colvin, John Radcliff, Moses Holladay, Thomas Wiggins, Joel White, John Peters, Jeremiah McNew,
and William Lanfitt. Subsequently occur the names
of Thomas Bandfield, Zachariah Brashears, Basil
Brown, Robert Chalfant, James Crawford, William
Butler, Alexander Armstrong, Isaac Stout, Jeremniah
Downs, Joseph Brashears, William Brashears, John
Craig, William Smith, Nathaniel Brown, Aaron
Richardson, Evan Williams, Moses Davison, John
Matthews, Thomas Downs, Lucas Ives, Zela Rude,
Samuel Jackson, Jamnes Stephens, Christopher Perky,
Henry Tillen, Nathaniel Flemrning, Francis Pursley,
Robert Shannon, John McGrew, John Dean, Richard McGuire, John McCormickle, Anthony Tills,
Thomas Best, Adolph Iler, John Miller, Godfrey
Johnson, John Cumnmins, James Winders, Williami
Beard, Benjamin Caulk, John Cherry, Reuben Stivers, John Scantlin, Robert Chalfant, Edward Elliot,
724REDSTONE TOWNSHIP.
Jonathan Chambers, Patrick Lynch, John Casler,
James Richey, Thomas Barker, Edward Jordan,
John McConnell, John Bright, John Lynch, Muael
Hess, John Laughlin, Richard J. Waters, Edward
Brashears, Philip Fout, Charles Hickman, George
Bruner, John Matson, John Restine, Michael Lynch,
James Lynch, Ezekiel Painter, Reuben Kemp, John
Detrich, Joseph Price, Hugh Laughlin, Caleb Gaskill, Robert Adams, John Jackson, John Cartnell,
Robert Martin, William Granon, John Fulton, John
Rosemon, Henry Lancaster, and Aaron Dennis.
William Colvin lived in a log cabin, as mentioned,
and as can best be gathered from the records he left,
must have kept a trading-place and tavern as well as
a distillery. How long he remained after his first
location cannot be told, but it is probable that he
withdrew from that region about 1771, frightened
away, doubtless, by fears of Indian aggressions, since
it seems pretty well authenticated that when George
Kroft settled on Dunlap's Creek in 1771 his nearest
neighbor was nine miles away. Accepting that statement as true, the conclusion follows that Colvin was
not in the vicinity at that time. That his absence
was not prolonged to any great extent is tolerably
certain. It is said that the floor of his cabin was
composed of a single fiat rock, which was at a late
date broken up and used for house foundations in
Brownsville. William Colvin, grandson of the William Colvin first named, was a surveyor of some note.
He died in 1870 on the farm now occupied by his son
Samuel, the only son of William Colvin in the township. Of eight sons six are, however, still living.
William Colvin's widow, aged seventy-six, still resides
on the old homestead with her son Samuel.
The settlement of the Finleys in Redstone was one
of the conspicuous features of early local history, although, as a matter of fact, the Finley settlement proper
was effected by a person who, although named Finley, was not akin to the actual owner of the land on
which he settled. To trace the thread of the story
from the source, the declaration is made that in or
about 1765, Rev. James Finley, then a Presbyterian
minister living in Cecil County, upon the Eastern
Shore of Maryland, came into Southwestern Pennsylvania on a tour of observation, which included not
only a religious mission looking to the preaching of the
gospel to such settlers as he might find, but looking
for land locations where he might after a while make
homes for his sons. Accompanying Mr. Finley was
a Chester County farmer and fuller, by name Philip
Tanner, who was similarly in search of lands. Tanner and Finley made a wide circuit of the then almost
unbroken wilderness of country, and tarried perhaps
a month, Finley preaching here and there as he
found opportunity. He is said to have been the first
minister of the gospel (except army chaplains) who
ever penetrated into Western Pennsylvania. Finley
came into the country again in 1767, and again in
1771, each time on a preaching tour, and each time
encountering an experience that must have made him
not only familiar and warmnly welcome to the people,
but an experience that taught him valuable lessons in
the school of pioneering, and toughened his own
nature to endure the rigors of the wilderness. What
had seemed a predilection in favor of the country in
1765 was confirmed as he became acquainted with it,
and in 1771, considering that the population had
then become numerous enough to warrant an effort
to make such a land settlement as he had lorng looked
for, he purchased a large tract of land upon Dunlap's
Creek, within the present limits of the townships of
German, Redstone, and Menallen. To this land then
he returned the following year with his fourteen-yearold son Ebenezer, a farm hand named Samuel Finley
(not related to the Rev. James), and a number of
negro slaves. Philip Tanner, who bore Rev. James
Finley company to Western Pennsylvania in 1765,
located lands adjoining Finley's tract in 1770, and
doubtless made a settlement about 1772; but details
touching his residence in this county are so meagre
that nothing can, with any degree of certainty, be
told concerning him except that he died on his Redstone farm in 1801. In 1802 his executors sold the
farm to John Moore. As to Rev. James Finley, he
was at no time himself an actual resident of Fayette
County, although his son lived and died in the county,
and left within it many descendants who have to this
day worthily maintained the name. Rev. James was
settled in 1783 over Rehoboth Church, in Westmoreland County, and died in 1795. With this statement
his history may be considered closed as concerns this
record of Fayette County, save the remark that from
the time of his coming in 1765 to 1783, thirty-four
families, connected mainly with his congregation in
Cecil County, removed to Western Pennsylvania..
These families, it is said, intended to make their Pennsylvania settlements near each other, but coming out
in straggling detachments as circumstances allowed
they found themselves unable to secure lands as they
desired, and thus they became scattered, although
only so far that the area that included their homes
measured less than forty miles between extreme
points. There was nevertheless a Providence in this
scattering of the families, for it was the instrument
through which Presbyterian Churches were established at least at five points, to wit: Chartiers, Cross
Creek, Rehoboth, Laurel Hill, and Dunlap's Creek.
Of the thirty-four families named, twenty-two of the
heads thereof became ruling elders of the churches
named at their organization.
Ebenezer Finley played a conspicuous part in a
perilous adventure with Indians near Fort Wallace
in 1776. "Finley' had gone from Dunlap's Creek on
a short tour of militia duty to the frontier as a substitute for Samuel Finley, then in charge of the Finley
farm. While Finley was at Fort Wallace tidings
1 From "Old Redstone."
725HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
were brought by a man on horseback in breathless
haste that Indians had made their appearance at a
little distance; that he had left two men and a woman
on foot trying to make their way to the fort; and that
unless immediately protected or rescued they would
be lost. Some eighteen or twenty men, among whom
was young Finley, started immediately for their rescue. About a mile and a half from the fort they
came unexpectedly upon a considerable force of savages. They were for a while in the midst of them.
A sharp fiye began immediately, and a zig-zag running fight took place. Our people making their way
back toward the fort, numbers of them were shot
down or tomahawked.
"Finley's gun would not go off. He stopped for a
moment to pick his flint and fell behind. An Indian
was seen leveling his gun at him, but was fortunately
shot down just at the moment. Being fleet of foot,
Finley was soon abreast of his companions, and in
passing around the root of a tree, by a quick motion
of his elbow against his companion's shoulder, succeeded in passing him, when, the next moment, this
comrade sunk beneath the stroke of a tomahawk. A
Mr. Moore, seeing Finley's imminent danger from a
bridge upon which he stood, stopped, and by his welldirected fire again protected him and enabled him to
pass the bridge. At last, after several doublings and
turnings, the Indians being sometimes both in the rear
and ahead of him, he reached the fort in safety. But the
most remarkable part of the matter remains to be told.
Mr. Finley, the father, then at home east of the mountains, three hundred miles off, had, as he thought, one
day a strange, undefinable impression that his son was
in imminent danger of some kind, but he could form
no distinct conception of its nature or cause. He
betook himself to intense and agonizing prayer for
his son, continued in this exercise for some timne, felt
at length relieved and comforted, as though the danger was past. It was altogether to himself an extraordinary thing, such as he had never before experienced. He made a note of the time. A few weeks
afterwards he received from his son an account of his
narrow escape from death. The time corresponded
exactly with the time of Mr. Finley's strange experience. This is the substance of the statement we have
received. Its accuracy, in its most essential features,
may be relied on. What shall we say of it? Mr.
Finley was a man of most scrupulous veracity. We
leave the simple statement of the case to the reflections of the reader."
Ebenezer Finley grew to manhood in his adopted
home, and rose to importance in the community.
His home was in Redstone, on Dunlap's Creek,
where at an early day he erected a grist-mill and
saw-mill. The foundations of the saw-mill may still
be seen, as may also the miller's house. Mr. Finley
was married four times, and with his four wives rests
now in Dunlap's Creek churchyard. He died in 1849
at the age of eighty-eight. Three of his sons, Ebenezer, Elliott, and Eli H., live now in Menallen, on
portions of the land located by their grandfather,
Rev. James Finley, in 1772. Robert, another son,
died in Redstone in 1874. Of Ebenezer Fipley the
elder it is stated that he was upon one occasion
plunged into great distress consequent upon his having
hauled a liberty pole over to New Salem during the
days of the Whiskey Insurrection. He did not happen
to learn until after he had hauled the pole to its destination that it was intended to take part in a defiant
demnonstration on the part of the Whiskey Boys, and
with that knowledge came the apprehension that the
authorities might consider him equally culpable withl
the Whiskey Boys in defying the law. He was not a
partisan, and he felt sure the Whiskey Boys and their
abettors would be ultimately overthrown and punished, and knowing that circumstances pointed
strongly toward him as an abettor as far as concerned
the liberty pole business, he was in great fear lest he
should meet with punishment. Happily for him no
serious results attended his action.
John Laughlin, a conspicuous character in Redstone's early history, tomahawked a four-hundredacre claim that included the present Benjamin Phillips and Colvin places. Laughlin was a bachelor, a
farmer of some enterprise, and employed slave labor
almost exclusively. He must have occupied his land
as early as 1780, if not before. He was esteemed a
man of considerable wealth, and was noted for keeping a large amount of it, in the form of gold and
silver, tied up in a pair of buckskin breeches. Once
when he lay quite ill he sent for his neighbors, William  Colvin, Thomas Wells, and Samuel Grable,
whom he requested to count in his and each other's
presence the gold and silver that was within the
buckskin breeches. That task they performed, and
left him satisfied, and his mind relieved. Contrary to
his expectations, however, he did not die that time,
but he did die about six months later; and then,
strange to relate, not a vestige of either his buckskin
breechles or the wealth they contained could be found.
There were many conjectures as to what had become
of the money, and many faithful searches in every
place of supposable concealment, but every search
was fruitless, and the disappearance remained as
muchl a mystery as ever in the end. People whose
cupidity outran their judgment dug upon the present
Benjamin Phillips farm in various places and under
cover of night, hoping to unearth the treasure which
then was and to-day is confidently believed by some
persons to be hidden in the earth, placed there they
say by the hands of old John Laughlin himself; but
as the case stands at present, they are not likely to
learn whether their theories are or are not correct.
Mr. Laughlin's death occurred shortly after the year
1800, and although his silver and gold were not found,
he left behind him a bountiful supply of this world's
goods for those who came after -him. H ie had. been
an excellent master to his slaves, and in his will left
726lLREDSTONE TOWNSHIP.
to each one a substantial reminder of his thoughtful
care for them. Laughlin was not only a kindly-disposed and gentle master to his servants, but he was an
earnest and faithful worshiper at the Dunlap's Creek
Church, despite the fact that he was not a member
thereof. For a long time, however, it was the generally-accepted belief that he was a member, and indeed the church-members themselves were so convinced that he was one of them that they chose him
a ruling elder. When they learned from his own
lips that he had never been in membership they were
surprised and disappointed. That one so devout and
regular in attendance upon church mneetings could be
without the circle did not once occur to them.
John Laughlin was as precise in his dress as in his
manners, and as famous almost for his knee-breeches,
slippers, silver buckles, and perique as he was for his
simple and correct methods of speech and honorable
dealings with his fellow-men. He followed the business of distilling to a considerable extent, and kept
his neighbors as well as his own farm-hands well supplied with thejuice of the grain. An old manuscript
in the possession of Mr. Benjamin Phillips purports to
be an order from some person (signature missing)
upon John Laughlin for the delivery to John Miller
of two gallons of whisky "the day he begins to reap,
and not before."
John Fulton, who located upon the present Samuel
Colvin farm about 1800, died there in 1818.- One of
the daughters of his son, John L. Fulton, is Mrs.
Benjamin Phllillips.
The first survey of lands in Fayette County under
the law of 1769 appears to have been made to Andrew Linn, Aug. 22, 1769. It lies in what are now
Redstone and Jefferson townships, upon the Redstone
Creek. The tract, including two hundred and fortyfour and one-half acres, was called Crab-Tree Bottom,
and is said to have had at one corner of the survey a
plum-tree that was spoken of for a long time afterwards as a noted tree because it marked the beginning
of the pioneer land survey. It stood upon a bank of
the creek, into which it was washed many years ago.
The tract named is now owned by J. M. Linn. At
the point now occupied by J. M. Linn's mill a gristmill was built by Andrew Linn's widow in 1796.1
Additional surveys to the Linns in 1769 are quoted
as follows:
"To William Lynn two hundred and ninety-three
acres called'Whiskey Mount,' situated on the east
side of the Monongahela River, in the new purchase,
Bedford County, and surveyed Aug. 25, 1769, by order
of survey No. 2847, dated April 5, 1769."
"To Andrew Lynn, in right of Nathan Lynn,
2921 acres, called'Contention,' situated on the east
side of the Mononigahela River, in the new purchase,
Bedford County, and surveyed Aug. 25, 1769, by order
of survey 492, dated April 3, 1769."
1 See history of Jefferson townlship.
"To Andrew Lynn, in right of Thomas Pearce,
1301 acres, called'Purchase,' situated on the east side
of the Monongahela River, in the new purchase,
Bedford County, and surveyed Aug. 26, 1769, by order
of survey 1768, dated April 3,1769." The first-named
survey was made by Archibald McClean, deputy surveyor, the last two by A. Lane, deputy surveyor.
Some time before the year 1800, Benjamin Phillips
(an ex-Revolutionary soldier) came with his wife
from New Jersey, in company with Jonathan Hill,
for whom he had agreed to drive a team across the
mountains.  Among Hill's effects was a chest that
contained-so relates Mr. Benjamin Phillips, of Redstone-fully three bushels of silver and gold.  The
chest was in the possession of Mr. Benjamin Phillips,
of Redstone, until within a few years, but where
it is now is not known. Jonathan Hill located in
Franklin, and built a mill upon the present Samuel
Smock place. When he sold his property to Jonathan
Sharpless, in 1810, he moved to Virginia, and there
died in a lunatic asylum. Benjamin Phillips rented
a small place in Jefferson township of Bateman Goe,
and worked for the neighbors whenever he got the
chance, for he was poor, and strove to get something
laid by so that he could buy land for himself. He
worked so hard that his health failed, and he spent a
season in bed. His wife was, however, just the sort
of a wife a man like him needed, for while her husband lay ill, and it was for some time, she not only
attended to her domestic duties, but worked their
smnall farm, and did it all, too, without calling for
assistance from the neighbors. After tarrying a few
years in the present township of Jefferson, Benjamin
Phillips moved to Redstone township, and located
upon the old State road, near the Menallen line,
where he opened a tavern. Ultimately he changed
his habitation to the farm whereon the widow of
David Phillips now lives, and there he died in 1831,
aged upwards of eighty-five. The only ones of his
children now living are Mrs. Edward West, of Iowa;
Elijah Phillips, of Iowa, aged eighty-three; and Benjamnin Phillips. of Redstone. Daniel C. Phillips died
in 1878, aged seventy-five, and David Phillips in 1881,
aged eighty-five.
Mr. Benjamin Phillips remembers a story told to
him by his mother of her trip with her husband to
New Jersey upon horseback onII a visit to her parents,
only a few years after they (the Phillipses) had come
to Southwestern Pennsylvania. Mrs. Phillips carried
her babe before her upon her horse, while Mr. Phillips
had likewise a load, and thus on horseback they journeyed across the mountains by way of a road that for
a great part of the distance was no better than a mere
path through forests. Her experience had the effect
of urging her to forswear forever any more journeys
from Pennsylvania to New Jersey, and so she persuaded her parents to remove westward, which they
shortly did, much to their daughter's gratification.
In 1780, Thomas Gallagher came from east of the
727HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
mountains with a wife and two children, and with
them first found a home in the West in the loft of a
spring-house on Ebenezer Finley's farm, in Redstone
township. Mr. Gallagher had bought the land known
as the James Black tract, but the tenant upon the
place was not prepared to move out of the farm-house,
anid so until the following spring Mr. Gallagher and
his family had to get along as best they could. Thomas
Gallagher was commissioned, Oct. 18, 1813, as adjutant of the Ninety-first Regiment. He was taken
ill in service and came home to die. Gallagher occupied a portion of a tract of six hundred acres taken
up by Robert Evans. Nov. 25, 1771, the proprietors
of Pennsylvania patented to Robert Evans two hundred and fifty acres in the forks of Dunlap's Creek
and Four-Mile Run, joining lands of John McKibbin's, and including a stony spring to the eastward of
Thomas Scott's cornfield, in the county of Bradford.
Of Thomas Gallagher's grandsons now living, J. M.
and W. K. are citizens of Redstone, and E. T. a resident of Luzerne. J. M. Gallagher, now a farmer near
Merrittstown, was a merchant in the last-named'place
from 1845 to 1856. His wife is a granddaughter of
Sam Brady, famous in the olden time as a scout and
Indian-fighter.
Capt. John Moore, a famous figure in Redstone's
early history, was a settler as early as 1770 in the
southern portion of the present township, upon a farm
until recently owned by John and William Moore.
Capt. Moore came out to prospect, and lived six weeks
in a hut. During that time he devoted himself to
hunting and land-looking, and saw no human being
until one day at the end of six weeks he encountered
old Billy Davis, who was living in German township,
and who, like Moore, was living in a hut alone while
considering the matter of making a new home in the
wilderness. Capt. Moore had a large family of children. Their names were George, John, Aaron, Rezin,
Ezekiel, Rachel, Hannah, and William. Rezin and
William settled in Redstone.  William was never
married. Rezin had ten children. Of them living
now are John M., Mrs. Samuel Herron, and William
R. Capt. Moore served in the war of 1776, and won
a record for more than common bravery. Upon the
old Moore place in 1778 he planted an apple-tree that
still bears largely of fruit. He. brought it over the
mountains along with a half-dozen others in his saddle-bags. Capt. Moore died in Redstone, and was
buried on the old Moore farm.
Abraham Landers, a settler about 1790 in the
southern portion of Redstone, was one of the early
sawyers at Ebenezer Finley's saw-mill. His children
numbered four. They were named Polly, Sallie,
Abraham, and Jacob. Polly was the mother of Mrs.
W. R. Moore. James Frost, to whom a place called
"Lapland" was surveyed Feb. 5, 1784, was a prominent pioneer in Redstone. When but seven years of
age he came to the township with his step-father,
William Rose, who located on what is now known as
the David Fuller place. Mr. Frost was grandfather of
Mrs. W. R. Moore. He was married three times, and
died in 1834 upon W. R. Moore's farm. His son, J.
L., who died in Redstone in 1869, had ten children.
Eight are now living, and of the eight all save one
live in Fayette County. Jacob Hibbs is supposed to
have come from Loudon County, Va., to Redstone as
early as 1780.  Lacey, the only one of his sons to
make Redstone a permanent home, married Sallie,
daughlter of George Kroft, and lived at first on the
farm now owned by Aaron J. Hibbs. He died in
1819. He had five sons and three daughters. The
only son now living is Samuel C. H!bbs, of Redstone.
William Ball, one of Redstone's pioneer blacksmiths,
had a shop in 1809 near Redstone Creek. He died
in 1865. His widow still lives in Redstone.
Philip Fought, a German, emigrated to America to
escape the turmoil incident to a religious commotion
in Germany, and settled in Chester County, Pa.
About 1780 he moved to Fayette County, and made
a settlement in Redstone township upon a seven-hundred-acre tract of land, now comprising the four farms
that are owned by James Fought, Daniel Craft,
Mathias Hess, and John L. Reisbeck. James Fought's
place in Redstone, always owned by a Fought, is now
in the third generation of succession in the name.
Mr. Philip Fought, who was singular ill his dress, and
appeared invariably in attire fashioned in a peculiar
style of his own, established a wagon-shop, blacksmithshop, and plow-shop upon his farm, and carried on the
business with perseverance until old age ended his labors. Of the elder Fought's family of six children there
were four sons,-James, William, George, and Philip.
George was a soldier under Mad Anthony Wayne at
Stony Point, where he was wounded in the left arm,
rendering it useless. Some time later he took a boatload of supplies down to New Orleans, where he died
of yellow fever. James and William died in Virginia.
Philip died on the old farm in Redstone in 1860, aged
eighty-two.
Joseph Gadd located in 1800 upon the S. C. Hagerty
farm, a half-mile west from Tuckertown. He died ini
Redstone in 1852, aged seventy-nine. One of his
daughters married William Hatfield. Isaiah Stephens was an early comer to the place now owned by
Joseph Gadd, who married one of Stephens' daughters. Thomas Hatfield, grandfather of Joseph Gadd,
fought under Jackson at New Orleans. The wife of
the elder Joseph Gadd (first named above) died
on the present Joseph Gadd place in 1875, aged
ninety-six years. Isaiah Stephens died on the same
farm in 1814.
The McCormicks were among Redstone's early
settlers, and among the most esteemed. James McCormick settled in Jefferson in 1780, and died there
in 1847, aged eighty-five. John C. McCormick, one
of his sons, was born on Dunlap's Creek, where his
father was at one time a settler. John C. was a
house-carpenter as well as farmer. His farm, south
728REDSTONE TOWNSHIP-'.
of Cook's Mills, Nwas during his possessioni thereof
regarded as a model. He was an ardent Presbyterian,
and with others founded the Central Presbyterian
Church of Menallen. He died in 1876. Of James
McCormick's seventeen children the living are seven
in number.
Griffith Roberts, of Chester County, with a family
of four children, traveled westward over the mountains in company with William Jeffries and family
about the year 1800. Roberts made his home in
Redstone township, on the farim now occupied by
John Hibbs, in Pleasant Valley District, and bought
by Roberts of Anthony Sills. Jeffries settled in
Union township. Mr. Roberts was a stone-mason
and plasterer by trade, and upon his settlement in
Redstone pursued that occupation with great industry. George Chalfant, a lad whom Roberts. had
brought west with him, worked and lived with'the
latter, and became a skillful mason. George Chalfant bought a farm in 1809 of Cavalier Wheaton.
There, he died in 1858, aged seventy-six, and there
his son Finley now lives. Mr. Roberts himself did
not live in a very magnificeniit house, for it was, as a
matter of fact, simply a log cabin with a clapboard
roof; but he constructed good houses for other people, and is said to have done his work exceedingly
well. He plastered a house in Bridgeport about
seventy years ago, and the plaster is as firm and
smooth now as it was when put on. Mir. Roberts
died in 1825, aged eighty years. His only son, Griffith, married a daughter of Edward Morris, who lived
in the Finley settlement.
Edward Morris was especially noted for being a
large man. His weight was three hundred and thirty
pounds, and that of his daughter, who married Griffith Roberts, Jr., three hundred and twenty. Morris
moved from Redstone to the State of Ohio. Griffith
Roberts died in 1819. His son, Judge Griffith Roberts, lives now in Bunker Hill District, Redstone
township.
There was a pretty numerous settlement of Quakers
along Redstone Creek where the stream separates
Redstone township from Jefferson and Franklin, and
the members of this settlement, coming in about the
year 1800, were located in each of the three townships named. Among these people the most prominent personage was Jonathan Sharpless, who lived
first in Redstone, afterwards in Jefferson, and lastly
in Franklin, where he died. He was a quaint, bluntspoken Quaker, who always said what he meant, and
for whom his brother Quakers felt a very high esteem.
The first of the family who emigrated to this country
were John Sharpless and two brothers from Wales,
who came with William Penn. They took up a thousand acres of land in Chester County, about twenty
miles from Philadelphia. John had a son Joseph.
He also had a son Joseph, who was the father of
Jonathan, who emigrated to Fayette County. His
first wife was Edith Niccolls, of Wilmington, Del.,
in whichl l)lace they lived until their two children,
Samuel and Elizabeth, were born. Jonathan was a
blacksmith by trade, having served an apprenticeship of seven years. He settled on Big Redstone in
1796, in which year the firm of Sharpless  Jackson
erected the famous Redstone paper-mill, it being the
first paper-mill west of the mountains. and first lived
on the Gillespie farm, where West Brownsville now
stands, but Jackson in a short time converted an old
stable into a house on the paper-mill grounds. His
second wife was a daughter of Peter Miller, of Redstone. He died Jan. 20, 1860, at the Redstone homestead, in the ninety-third year of his age, his first wife
having died in May, 1823, andof the death of his
second wife we have no date. He left eleven children. Those who were living in 1870 were William,
Sabina, Edith (Mrs. Piersol), of Mehaska County,
Iowa, and Priscilla (Mrs. Morgan Campbell), of
Scottdale, Westmoreland Co., Pa.
William Sharpless was born on the Redstone papermill farm, Feb. 7, 1797. He was married to Mary
Colvin, Oct. 23, 1823, who was born Jan. 30, 1802,
and died Aug. 12, 1870. He had no children, and
was in the paper business most of his life. The product of his mill was widely known as the standard
paper of the country. The old paper-mill was
burned many years ago, and on the ground now
stands what is known as the Parkhill flouring-mill.
He was long a member of the Baptist Church, and
the present edifice, well known as the Redstone Baptist Church, was erected chiefly through his individual effort and means. He died Nov. 22, 1881, at the
residence of Capt. S. C. Speers, Allen township,
Washington County.
Among other prominent members of the sect in
that locality may be named Theodore Hoge, Peter
Miller, James Veech, Samuel Vail, Joseph Woodmansee, and Micajah Smith. These were instrumental in erecting a log meeting-house in what is now
known as Centre School District, and there the Friends
regularly assembled for many years. By and by the
ranks began to grow thin, and the number of Friends
had dwindled away in 1856 to less than half a score.
In that year the meetings were discontinued, and
with the death of Jonathan Sharpless, in 1860, passed
away about the only remainiing evidence of the existence in the neighborhood of a community of
Friends. A graveyard laid out by the Quakers at
the church is still used occasionally, though it is a
neglected spot, where broken and crumbling headstones and rankly growing weeds contribute to the
appearance of desolation. But few of the headstones bear any inscriptions, but simply initials rudely
cut. Two stones record the burials of "Mr. Sharpless" and "Joseph Sharpless." Others are marked
W. P.; P. C., Esq.; C. M.; J. P.; D.C.; C.P.;
E. S. F.; andH.
In 1780, Samuel Grable came from the Eastern
Shore of Maryland and located a tract of about six
729TERVlUTO.9
covery and desecration by the savages. Most of the
wounded were able to ride, but for the few who were
not, stretchers were prepared. These and other necessary preparations were completed before dark, and
the volunteers were ready to move at the word of
command. Mean while, war-parties had been hourly
arriving to reinforce the Indian forces, which had now
become so overwhelming in numbers that any offensive attempt against them would have been madness.
As soon as the late twilight of June had deepened
into darkness, all scouts and outposts were called in,
the column was formed in four divisions, each under
command of one of the field-majors, as on the outward -march,' and the retreat was commenced, the
command of Maj. John McClelland leading, and Col.
Crawford riding at the head of all. Usually in a retreat the post of honor, as of danger, is that of the
rear-guard, but in this case the head of the column
was as much or more exposed than the rear, as the
line of march lav between the positions held by the
Delawares and Shawanese. That the advance was
h]ere considered to be the post of danger is shown by
thlle fact that orders were given to carry the badly
wounded in the rear.
The Indians had discovered the movement almost
as soon as the preparations for it commenced, and
hardly had the head of the column begun to move
when it was fiercely attacked by the Delawares and
Shawanese. The volunteers pushed on, fighting as
they went, but they suffered severely, aind soon after,
Maj. McClelland was wounded, and, falling from his
horse, was left behind to the tender mercies of the
savages.2 The division, however, fought its way clear
of the Indians, who did not then follow up the pursuit,
probably for the reason that they felt doubtf'ul as to
the actual intent of the movement, thinking it might
prove to be but a feint, covering the real design of a
general assault; so, fearful of some unknown stratagem or trap, they remained within supporting distance of the Wyandots and Rangers, and by failing to
pursue probably lost the opportunity of routing, perhaps annihilating, the head division.
When the advance-guard received the attack of
the Delawares and Shawanese, the other three divisions, which, although not wholly demoralized, were
undoubtedly to some extent panic-stricken, most unaccountably abandoned McClelland's command, and
in disregard of the orders to follow the advance in a
solid column, moved rapidly off on a line diverging
to the right from the prescribed route. They had not
proceeded far, however, before some of the companies
became entangled in the mazes of a swamp, in which
several of the horses were lost. During the delay
1 Excepting that of Maj. Brilton, who was wounded. His division was
now commanded by Brigade-Major Danriel Leet.
2 It was believed at the time by his officers and men that Maj. McClelland was killed outright, alld this was doubtless the reason wihy no
effort was made to save him from capture. The belief was erroneous, as
will hereafter be shown.
caused by this mishap, the rear battalion was attacked
by the Indians, and a few of the men were wounded,
but the enemy did not push his advantage, and the
divisions pushed on as rapidly as possible, and deflecting to the left beyond the swamp, and striking
the trail by which they came on the outward march,
came about daybreak to the deserted Indian village
on the Sandusky, where they found the men of McClelland's division, who had reached there an hour or
two earlier, disorganized, panic-stricken, and leaderless, for Maj. McClelland had been left for dead on
the field, as before narrated; and during the hurried
march, or more properly the flight, from the scene of
the fight to the abandoned village, the commander,
Col. Crawford, had disappeared, and no one was able
to give any information concerning him, whether he
had been wounded, killed, captured, or lost in the
woods. John Slover, the guide, and Dr. Knight, the
surgeon, were also nmissing. These facts, when known
by the men, greatly increased their uneasiness and
demoralization.
At this point (the deserted Wyandot village), Maj.
WVilliamson, as Col. Crawford's second in command,
assumed the leadership of the forces, and after a brief
halt the entire command, now numbering something
more than three hundred and fifty men, continued
the retreat over the route by which they had come on
the outward march. The new commander, never
doubting that the Indians would pursue him in force,
hurried on his men with all possible speed, keeping
out the most wary and trusty scouts on his rear and
flanks. The command passed the mouth of the Little
Sandusky without seeing any signs of an enemy, but
while passing through the Plains, at about eleven
o'clock in the forenoon, the scouts discovered far in
their rear a pursuing party, apparently composed of
both Indians and white men. They were afterwards
found to be Wyandots and British Rangers, all
mounted. It was now the purpose of Maj. Williamson to cross the Plain country and reach the shelter
of the timber before being overtaken by the pursuers;
and the latter were equally determined, if possible, to
possess themselves of the woods in advance of the
Americans. The race was an eager and exciting (ne
on both sides, but at last Maj. Williamson found that
the Indians were gaining on him so rapidly that he
would be compelled to stand for battle before reaching the timber. Maj. Rose, in his report of these
operations to Gen. Irvine, said, "Though it was our
business studiously to avoid engaging in the Plains,
on account of the enemy's superiority in light cavalry, yet they pressed our rear so hard that we concluded on a general and vigorous attack, whilst our
light-horse3 secured the entrance of the woods."
The place where M aj. Williamson found himself
compelled to stand at bay before the pursuing horde
3 Referring to one of the companies, which Col. Crawford had selected
and equipped for special duty as skirmishers and scouts.
99
THE REVOLUTION.HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
hundred acres in the present township of Redstone.
Mr. Grable's property was known as the "Maiden's'Bower," and was patented to him in 1785. He lived
on what is called the Beal place, and died there in
1811. His children numbered nine. His sons were
David, Samuel, and Philip. David removed at an
early day to Kentucky. Samuel, Jr., and Philip remained on the old farm and died in the townshi p.
Philip married a daughter of Jeremiah Downs, who
in 1787 patented land lying in Redstone, upon the
creek where William Norcross now lives. In 1795
Philip bought of Peter Rothwell the place on which
Earhart Grable now lives, Rothwell himself living
then where Thomas Canfield now resides. The Earhart Grable place Rothwell had got fromn Zelah Rude.
who was living on it in 1789. Two daughters of
Philip Grable, aged respectively eighty-one and
eighty-two, are at present living with their brother,
Earhart Grable.
Mentioning as among the early settlers of Redstone the names of Samuel Wheaton (now living in
the township at the age of ninety-three), Barig Brashears, John Tate (who died in 1799), James Winders,
Stephen Randolph, Timothy Smith, James Frost, the
Hibbs families, and Christopher Perkey, we come to
Samuel West, who established a wagon-shop near the
river in Luzerne township before 1800, and after gaining much fame and profit in the business moved over
into Redstone, and located as a farmer near the place
now occupied by his son James. The last named has
been constantly engaged since 1831 in the manufacture at his farm of wagons and carriages, in which
business he is still largely employed.
In 1809, Johnson VanKirk (whose father, Willianm,
was a Revolutionary soldier) rented a piece of land
near Merrittstown, and farmed it until 1816, when he
moved into the Finley settlement in Redstone, where
he had purchased two hundred and thirty acres of
land of John Moore's heirs. This John Moore was
a man of considerable note among the pioneers, and
was especially famous as a skillful manufacturer
of spinning-wheels. Johnson Van Kirk lived in the
Finley settlement until his death in 1870, at the age
of eighty-three years. Three of his sons now reside
in Redstone. They are named Zenas, Theodore, and
Elijah. Zenas lives on a place patented by Robert
Evans in 1775, and sold by Evans to Thomas Gallaher
in 1799. George Gallaher carried on at that place
at one time a distillery of considerable importance.
Leonard Lenhart, living now on the pike in Redstone, settled on the place in 1860. His father, Michael
Lenhart, came over the mountains about 1800, and
locating first on the Yough, removed soon after to
Cookstown, where he set up as a wagon-maker.
Michael was drafted in 1814 into the military service,
but the war closed before he was called upon to go.
Upon one of his periodical trading trips down the
Ohio he was taken ill and died near Cincinnati.
He had twelve children; five were sons, and of them
two are living,-Leonard in Fayette, and Philip in
Westmoreland County. J. A. Noble, living now in
Redstone, located in 1863 upon his present farm,
which was patented in 1796 by Thomas Jones. Mr.
Noble worked as a glass-cutter at the Albany GlassWorks, on the Monongahela, in 1832.
On the 28th of February, 1785, Alexander McClean,
deputy surveyor, surveyed a tract of land to Elizabeth
Briscoe, in trust, containing 297 acres. McClean described the land as "situated on the north side of
Burd's road, and on the new road leading to Pearce's
mill on the Redstone Creek, in Menallen township,
Fayette County." He adds this note to John Lukens,
Esq., surveyor-general: "This survey was made in
order to give a proper representation of a controversy
between Thomas McIlroy and Elizabeth Briscoe, in
trust for her children. McIlroy had obtained a warrant, which I had executed previous to this coming to
hand, and which is caveated by her attorney, viz.,
Jacob Beeson. It appears that all of McIlroy's pretensions to a right previous to the warrant was a pen
raised three logs high and his name marked on a
tree. Edward Todd also caveats the acceptance of
this survey as well as that of McIlroy's, alleging some
kind of equitable right to a part of it."
William Price came to Fayette County from Washington County, Pa., in 1797, having received a patent
for his land June 27, 1796. Of his eight children the
sons were Joel, William, Harmon, David, Isaac,
and Henry. Joel Price had six children. He died
in Redstone, Nov. 4, 1864. His three sons-W. D.,
T. B., and H. W.-are still living.
One of the early grist-mills of Redstone stood upon
the Redstone Creek, just north of where the Baptist
Church stands, and upon land patented in 1794 by
John Gary, who was the mill proprietor. The millsite was occupied in 1836 by Levi Colvin, Morris
Truman, Joseph Truman, and William  Sharpless
with a paper-mill. When the floors were laid the
mill was dedicated by religious services by Rev. Mr.
Speer, in the presence of a large company of guests.
Sharpless  Co. continued the business until 1845,
when John Taylor bought out the Trumans, and as
then formed the partnership of Taylor, Sharpless 
Colvin endured until 1850. William Sharpless then
retired from the firm, but in 1860 purchased the entire interest in the mill and became its sole proprietor. He experimented in the manufacture of straw
paper, but his venture was not successful, and after
a brief experience he abandoned the mill, which
stood idle from that time.
The following tavern-kee,pers were licensed in Redstone between 1798 and 1800: John Bartlett, Amos
Wilson, Jonathan Hickman, Francis Griffith, Peter
Kinney, in September, 1798; Elias Bayliss, December, 1798; George Kinnear, September, 1799; Tobias
Butler and Samuel Salter, September, 1799; James
Brown, December, 1799; John Richards and Herman
Stidger, in June, 1800.
730REDSTONE TOWNSHIP.
The National road traverses Redstone township,
and in the days of its liveliest travel imparted much
animation to that portion of the township lying along
its course. Previous to the days of the National road,
however, there was a State road, over which a great
deal of traffic passed, and upon which there were in
Redstone several taverns  This road entered the
township near the site of the Menallen Cumberland
Presbyterian Church, and passing towards the west
along by the place known as the old Colley tavern
stand; traversed thence to Brownsvillb, about the
course now pursued by the National road. One of
the earliest taverns on that highway in Redstone was
a house kept by Benjamin Phillips before the year
1800. Morris Mahler kept a tavern a little south of
Phillips' place, where a man named Green, and succeeding him John Piersol and Robert Johnson, kept
the Green Tree inn in a log house that stood upon
the farm now occupied by Nathan Phillips. There
was also old Peter Colley's tavern farther along on the
State road, and still westward the Red House tavern,
on the present G. H. Bowman place, where Matthias
Hess lives. Cuthbert Wiggins (known for short as
"Cuddy") was the landlord of the Red House as far
back as 1810. That house is now and has been for
as long as any one can remember the voting-place for
Redstone township. The stone house in which Elijah
Craft lives was built in 1817 by Wilkes Brown for a
tavern, and a stanch, compact house it is even at this
day. It stands a little back of the pike now, but
wvhen built was upon the old State road. Wilkes
Brown, Thomas Brown, and Basil Brown were early
comers to Fayette County, and in Brownsville and
vicinity, reaching into Redstone, owned a great
deal of land. Taverns were also kept on the old
road by William Hastings (where Leonard Lenhart
lives), and by some person on the Higinbotham place,
east of the Red House. There were indeed taverns in
great abundance, such as they were, but they were at
best nothing to boast of. Business was, however, brisk,
for travel was lively, and besides freight traffic there
were stages too, but the stage-houses were elsewhere
than in Redstone. Tradition repeats tales of robbery
and even murder when speaking of the old State road,
and refers especially to one old dreary wayside inn
where travelers were often despoiled, and where a
peddler was once robbed and murdered; but such
stories ofttimes attach to the past of historic higtaways, and there is doubtless in them, as in this case,
a liberal amount of fiction.
When the National road came into existence in
1818-20 the tide of travel, largely increased in volume, was turned from the old State road into a new
and broader channel, and as a consequence there
came a demand for better taverns. The best of its
class in Redstone was the stone house now occupied
by William Hatfield, at a place called Ttuckertown,
so named, it is said, by Col. Thomas B. Searight in a
spirit of sport, for there is not at the spot, nor ever
was there, a sign of a village. Johnson (who had,
by the way, been landlord of the Green Tree tavern
on the State road, and some years before that a hand
in Jackson  Sharpless' paper-mill on the Redstone)
built the stone tavern about 1816 or 1817. In 1814
there was nothing at Tuckertown but the blacksmith's shop and residence of George Wintermute.
In that year a twelve-year-old orphan lad named
William Hatfield (born near Plumsock) tramped
into Wintermute's shop and asked to be taken as an
apprentice. Wintermute rather fancied the lad, and
not only agreed to take him as an apprentice but
soon adopted him as his son. Hatfield worked faithfully with Wintermute until 1826, and upon the latter's removal to Ohio purchased his shop and business at Tuckertown (or Johnson's, as it was then
called). Hatfield carried on a good business as blacksmith and farmer until 1840, having in 1836 provided the State with all the iron toll-gates erected on
the pike within Fayette County. In 1842, Mr. Hatfield bought of Robert Johnson the stone tavern stand
which, as before observed, had been built (by Randolph Dearth) for Johnson in 1817. After the sale
of his Redstone tavern stand Johnson moved to
Franklin township, where he died.
By 1842 Johnson's tavern had become a famous
place, and was well known the whole length of the
road. It was not only a stage-house, where the stages
of the Good Intent Line changed horses and dined
passengers, but where throngs of travelers put up
every night.  Tb,he great tavern-yard was always
crowded with wagons and teams, and the roomy barroom with troops of drivers and travelers, among
whom the spirit of sociability made friends and boon
companions of all hands. As an evidence of the
amount of travel passing over this portion of the
National road in the early days, Mr. Johnson Van
Kirk says that once, while journeying from Johnson's
to Uniontown, he counted no less than eighty great
freight-wagons, hauled by teams of six horses or more,
besides stages and a miscellaneous assortment of fourwheeled vehicles. Arthur Wallace rented Johnson's
of Hatfield from 1842 to 1843, and in 1844 Charles
Guttery was the landlord. In 1845, when James K.
Polk, President-elect, passed over the pike to his
inauguration, he traveled by the Good Intent Stage
Line and dined at Johnson's. His progress had been
a sensation that drew in his train many curious sightseers, and when he stopped at Johnson's for dinner
there was a numerous crowd in attendance to get a
good look at the man who had been chosen to be the
people's ruler. Andrew Jackson stopped at Johnson's
while making a trip over the road, and it is said also
that Henry Clay tarried there briefly one day. Landlord Guttery reigned over the fortunes of Johnson's
six years, and was followed by John Foster (1849 to
1851), andHiram Holmnes (from 1851 to 1852). In
1852, William Hatfield took charge of the tavern, and
kept it open until 1855, when the opening of railways
731HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
diverted traffic from the pike, closed the doors of the
famous roadside taverns, and hushed the stir and animation that had for years made the old National
road a panorama of busy life. William Hatfield, who
had become by that time a man of means and a large
land-owner, lived at Tuckertown until his death. He
served in Redstone township as justice of the peace
for the space of ten years, and associate judge of the
Court of Quarter Sessions. There were besides
Johnson's the taverns of Peter Colley and others on
the pike within the limits of Redstone township, but
they were of no especial consequence, and came in
for only irregular and uncertain patronage.
Richard Mills, an old man of more than ninety,
still living in Minnesota, was in his day a famous
character in Redstone, and indeed a famous man from
one end of the National road to the other. He lived
on a portion of the Hatfield place, and was known
far and near as a slave-trader. When the season permitted it he traveled the road between Virginia points
and the Monongahela in charge of gangs of slaves,
purchased in the Old Dominion. The sight of Dick
Mills marching a company of chained slaves was a
common one in the olden time.
Timothy Canfield, who emigrated from Ireland to
America in 1809, came to Fayette County in 1813,
and in 1820 took a contract to do a large amount of
work on the National road. In 1834 he bought a
farm in Redstone originally occupied by Joseph
Woodmansee. There he settled and lived until his
death in 1874, aged ninety years. Three of his sons
are still living,-Thomas on the old farm, John in
Iowa, and Daniel in Kansas.
Cook's Mills, so called from the establishment at
that point by Thomas Cook in 1812 of a saw-mill and
grist-mill, is a small hamlet lying oil the Redstone in
the northeastern corner of the township. The settlement at Cook's Mills was founded by John and Richard Fallis, who about the year 1800 built there a
grist-mill and fulling-mill. They pursued the business until 1812, when they sold out their interests to
Thomas Cook, previously living near Perryopolis,
where he located in 1791, and carried on until 1812
the business of general mechanic. With the mill
property on the Redstone Cook acquired from the
Fallis brothers about seventy-five acres of land, and
building there a shop for the manufacture of plows,
etc., he set himself to the pursuit of that industry, while
he gave to his son John charge of the grist-mill, and
leased the fulling-mill to William  Searight.  The
elder Cook was a skillful workman in iron, and in the
manufacture of plows was so famous that people came
from afar to give him orders. He was, moreover, a
millwright and carpenter, and until a few years before
his death in 1842, at the age of eighty-seven, was industriously employed in mechanical pursuits at Cook's
Mills and the vicinity.
John Cook, whom his father placed in charge of the
grist-mill, knew scarcely anything about practical
milling, and protested to his father that he would
make a sorry mess of it, but the old gentleman insisted, and John determined then to do what he could
to promptly master the situation. The first grist he
ground was a three bushel lot of wheat for Joseph
Woodmansee, and out of it he got one hundred and
twenty pounds of flour. John knew the quantity was
up to the standard, but he was not quite sure as to the
quality, and with much solicitude he begged Mr.
Woodmansee to report upon the flour after the family
test had bee'n made. Accordingly Mr. Woodmansee
happened at the mill three days afterwards, and,
much to Cook's gratification, reported that the
flour was the best the Woodmansee family had ever
had in the house. Cook w,a- delighted, and to this
day refers with pleasure to the excellent luck he had
with his maiden grist. He got to be a successful and
even famous miller, and did such a brisk business that
he ground day and night on custom and merchant
work. Sixteen barrels of flour was his average yield
for twenty-four hours. He bought wheat all over the
country from Uniontown to Belle Vernon, and shipped
flour to Philadelphia, as well as to many customers
along the line of the National road in Fayette County.
For fifty-five years, or from 1812 to 1867, John Cook
stuck faithfully to his post as the miller of Cook's
Mills, and during that extended term of service he
never lost a day while he had health and strength.
He is still living at Cook's Mills in his ninety-third.
year, and in the enjoyment of moderately good physical health and mental vigor. In 1832 he built a
new grist-mill, the one now carried on by his son
Henry. From 1812 to 1881 the mill property has always been in the hands and possession of a Cook.
The old log fulling-mill that had been operated by
the Fallis brothers upon the present site of the Cook
Brothers' woolen-factory was leased by Thomas Cook
to William Searight, who made the business so successful that he had in a few years saved five thousand
dollars from it. He fulled as high as two hundred
pieces of cloth in a year.
In 1829-30, Thomas Cook, Jr., built the present
woolen-factory, stocked it with valuable machinery,
and leased it to Ephraim Pilling, James Pilling, and
James Hamer, who were the first to manufacture
woolen cloths at Cook's Mills. Thomas Cook, Jr.,
took possession of the factory business after a while,
and carried it on until his death in 1873. His sons,
Thomas and Playford Cook, are the present proprietors of the business, in which they manufacture blankets, flannels, satinettes, cassimeres, jeans, and all
kinds of yarn. They use both steam- and waterpower, and employ usually a force of six hands.
John Smith is believed to have opened the first store
at Cook's Mills, but when he opened it or how much
of m store he had are now not to be ascertained.
Likewise Shadrach Negus did a small tanning business on the creek at Cook's Mills, but recollection of
him as well as of Smith is vague and uncertain. The
732REDSTONE TOWNSHIP.
first store of any consequence was first kept by
Thomas Cook, Jr.
The store now at Cook's Mills was established there
by John S. Marsh in April, 1881. He was a storekeeper at the place tw,enty years or more before that
date, but in 1862 transferred his store just over the
creek into Jefferson township, in which year he was
appdinted postmaster of Tippecanoe post-office. The
Tippecanoe post-office was established about 1856, at
which time there was a sharp contest between the
residents of the respective localities of Cook's Mills
and the Sharpless paper-mill for a post-office. Mr.
William Colvin, of Jefferson, acted on behalf of the
paper-mill location, and not only suggested the name
as not borne by any other office in the State, but was
mainly instrumental in securing the office location at
the mill. W. C. Johnson claims that he and Postmaster Sloan, of Brownsville, fixed upon the name of
Tippecanoe, in remembrance of the old-time election
songs of the Harrison camnpaign. John B. Patterson,
then keeping a store at the paper-mill, was appoinited
the first postmaster, and was succeeded by William
W. Strebig. In 1862, John S. Marsh was appointed,
moved the office to Cook's Mills, and since that date
has beeni the postmaster.
Cook's Mills' first resident physicians were Dr.
Washington Barras and his brother William, who
practiced in partnership from 1862 until a short time
afterwards. Both are now dead, William being said
to have been blown up on a Southern steamboat.
The next physician was Dr. Houston Finley, who remained about three years. He resides now in Streator, Ill. Dr. John Davidson, who came after him,
stopped but two years. He is now in Perryopolis.
Andrew Guiler, the present village physician, located
here in 1879. A Dr. Baltz built a water-cure establishmenit in Redstone in 1846, and conducted it to
1850, whenii, discouraged with his poor success, he'
abandoned the enterprise.
William Thornton, onre of Redstone's early settlers,
was killed in 1853 by one Peter Kelly. They met on
the National road, and in the heat of a controversy
that was but a renewal of an old feud Thornton was
killed. Kelly was sentenced to a term of twelve years'
imprisonment and served his full time.
TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION AND CIVIL LIST.
In March, 1797, certain citizens of Menallen township petitioned for the division of the township,
whereupon the court ordered at the December term
in 1797 as follows: "On the petition of sundry inhabitants of Menallen township praying a division of
the same township, beginning at the corner of German township; thence with Dunlap's Creek to Ebenezer Linsley's saw-mill; thence with the great road
to John Townsend's mill; thence with the new road
leading to Brownsville to a draught or run at Thomas
Fitz Randolph's; thence with the said draught or
run past Conrad Muller's to the forks of the same at
47
David Brewer's; thence in a direction to intersect
the Broad Ford road at the house of Andrew McKinney, the property of John Tate; and thence with the
said road to Redstone Creek, it is considered by the
court that the said township be divided according to
the prayer of the petitioners, and that the lower or
western division thereof be called'Redstone' township, and that the upper or eastern part retain the old
name." In November, 1817, Brownsville township
was erected from a portion of Redstone.
The records of the elections in Redstone have not
been well kept, and it is therefore impossible to obtain a complete civil list of the township from the
time of its erection. A list of the principal officers of
the township from 1840 to the present time is given
below, viz:
JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.
1840. William Hatfield.
John Brown.
1845. William K. Gallaher.
William Hatfield.
1850. William C. Johnston.
John Cunningham.
1854. Griffith Roberts.
Uriah Higinbotham.
1855. James Craft.
1859. William G. Patterson.
1859. James J. Hastings.
1860. James Craft.
1864. W. P. Clifton.
1865. R. Hagerty.
F. Chalfant.
1869. J. Armnstrong.
J. Craft.
1877. Jacob Gallaher.
1880. George Krepps.
1881. T. H. Higinbotham.
ASSESSORS.
1840. Daniel C. Phillips.
1841. Washington Brashear.
1842. Griffith Roberts.
1843. William Hastings.
1844. Jacob Shackleton.
1845. Samuel Arison.
1846. William Colvin.
1847. John C. McCormick.
1848. William S. Hatfield.
1849. Solomon Colley.
1850. George Wagoner.
1851. James Colvin.
1852. James J. Hastings.
1853. Alfred Dearth.
1854. George N. Crable.
1855. William Waggoner.
1856. Elliott Hibbs.
1857. William C. Johnston.
1858. Nelson Randolph.
1859. James Craft.
1860. John Irons.
1861. Samuel W. Rammage.
1862. Reason A. Moore.
1863. J. W. Linn.
1864. J. Radeliff.
1865. A. Beal.
1866. W. Waggoner.
1867. J. W. Linn.
1868. W. T. Gribble.
1869. O. Brasher.
1871. R. Tate.
1872. R. A. Frost.
1873. H. Y. Roteruck.
1874. S. P. Chalfant.
1875. R. S. Smith.
1876. R. P. Brashear.
1877. J. D. Simpson.
1878. J. A. Beal.
1879. J. A. Woodward.
1880. J. R. Van Kirk.
1881. J. E. Frost.
AUDITORS.
1840. Samuel P. Chalfant.
1841. George Colley.
1842. Samuel P. Chalfant.
1843. Eli Abrams.
1844. William K. Gallaher.
1845. James Watson.
1846. James Craft.
1847. Earhart Grable.
1848. Daniel C. Phillips.
1849. Alexander Baird.
1850. Abraham Garwood.
185f. William B. Craft.
1852. William K. Gallaher.
1853. Lorenzo D. McCormick.
1854. Finley Chalfant.
1855. Benjamin Phillips.
1856. John Radcliff.
1857. Andrew Linn.
1858. George Craft.
1859. Oliver P. Randolph.
1860. Thornton Randolph.
1861. Elijah Van Kirk.
1862. Abraham Garwood.
1863. Samuel Baird.
1864. W. Colvin.
1865. E. Grable.
733HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
1866. W. Colvin, Sr.     1875. John Armstrong.
1867. E. Craft.                 George N. Gallaher.
1868. G. Roberts.        1876. James Craft.
1869. W. Sharpless.      1877. Alpheus Craft.
1870. A. Rush.             1878. Anderson Craft.
1871. S. Colvin.           1879. J. F. Grable.
1872. C. N. Hatford.     1880. L. D. Craft.
1873. James Craft.              John Gallagher.
1874. Finley Chalfant.   1881. J. Palmer.
G. B. Clemmen.
SCHOOLS.
Brief mention only may be made of Redstone's
early schools before the organization of districts in
1835, and less even about the schools at the lastmentioned date, since the school records beginning
then have disappeared. In 1807 a log school-house
stood in the Centre school district near the Quaker
Church, and in it the teacher that year was old Sammy
Lappan. In 1810, John Simpson taught school in a
log house that still stands in the Redstone District
and is the residence of Aaron Hess. In 1812, John
Hankinson taught in a house near the Green Tree
tavern, and in 1813 there was a school-house in the
Bunker Hill District near Gallaher's, but who was
the first teacher is not known. In the Colvin neighborhood a school was taught by a Mr. Walbridge in
1803. Of course schools were taught in Redstone
some time before the earliest of the dates above given,
but the oldest inhabitants do not recollect any earlier
particulars than those mentioned.
In 1828 a hewn-log school-house was built upon
land donated by Robert Baird near the Luzerne line,
in Oak Hill District. It measured twenty-four by
eighteen feet, having windows on three sides. Each
window was nine feet long and two feet and a half
high. Many years afterwards the fourth side was
pierced for a window. Desks were fastened along
the wall below the windows, and upon slab benches
the children sat and pursued their studies. Those
concerned in the building of the house were Hon.
Charles Porter, Robert Baird, Sr., Johnson Van Kirk,
Aaron Baird, Maxwell Dearth, Alexander Baird,
James E. Breading, and others. The carpenter was
Joseph Mahaffey. School was opened the second week
of May, 1828. Sarah Henderson, the first teacher,
taught there four years. Then she removed to Ohio,
where she died in 1834.
The rolls of the pupils of this school for the years
1828 and 1829 had upon them the names of Aaron
Langley, Alexander J. Baird, Jr., Allen Bird, Caleb
Hibbs, Daniel McKnight, Enoch F. Baird, George G.
Baird, Harrison Johnston, Hugh Laughlin, Jacob
J. Porter, John Porter, James P. Baird, John Dearth,
Johnston V. Dearth, Jonah Dearth, Jacob Meredith,
John Coulter, C. W. B. Henderson, Joseph H. Coulter, John Smith, Levi Bunting, R. J. Baird, R. McC.
Porter, Robert A. Baird, Samuel Allamon, Samuel
M. Baird, Samuel N. Baird, Theodore Van Kirk,
Thomas W. Porter, William F. Baird, William J.
Baird, William Riley, William Hanna, Eliza Jane
Van Kirk, Elizabeth J. Porter, Ellen and Mary
Ewing, Hannah and Phcebe Porter, Isabella and
Rebecca Laughlin, Martha J. Johnston, Martha McKnight, Mary McKnight, Susan Hadley, Amanda
Offord, Anna Dearth, Erie, Eliza, Harriet, and Jane
Baird, Harriet and Hannah Riley, Virlinda J. Riley,
Harriet and Mary Ann Meredith, Jane Dunlap, Margaret Moulton, Mary J. Coulton, Miranda Van Kirk,
Sarah J. Hibbs. The books used were the United
States Speller, New Testament, English Reader, Murray's English Grammar, Smiley's Arithmetic and
Western Calculator, Goodrich's Geography.
Following is a list of school directors elected in
Redstone during the last forty years:
1840. George Craft.
Robert Finley.
1841. Samuel Linn.
Jacob Shackleton.
William K. Gallaher.
1842. John Roderick.
John Craft.
1843. William Hatfield.
Washington Brashear.
1844. William Hastings.
William B. Randolph.
1845. Griffith Roberts.
John McCormick.
1846. William Hatfield.
Samuel Linn.
William B. Craft.
1847. John Hibbs.
Huston Todd.
1848. William K. Gallaher.
Washington Shriver.
1849. Henry Cook.
Eli Cope.
1850. Samuel Linn.
Alexander Baird.
1851. Joel Vernon.
Amos Woodward.
1852. William Hastings.
John Roderick.
1853. W. S. J. Hatfield.
Daniel C. Phillips.
1854. David Hibbs.
Washington Shriver.
1855. Isaac Linn.
James Dunn.
H. J. Ritenhour.
1856. Eli Cope.
Wilson Hill.
1857. Samuel Linn.
Robert Finley.
1858. William Corbin.
William Hopkins.
Uriah Higinbotham.
1859. John Radeliff.
William Hastings.
1860. John Kelly.
William tIopkins.
1861. Robert Finley.
Nelson Randolph.
1862. John McCormick.
/  Parker McDonald.
1863. A. F. Dearth.
W. B. Downs.
1864. A. F. Dearth.
A. Garwood.
1865. S. Ramage.
D. Hibbs.
S. McCormick.
1866. T. Simpson.
J. Linn.
1867. J. Cook.
S. B. Page.
S. Cammarine.
S. M. Baird.
1868. J. Thornton.
A. Beal.
F. Chalfant.
1869. J. Higinbotham.
J. Armstrong.
1870. W. Norcross.
Alexander Van Kirk.
1871. S. M. Baird.
J. Palmer.
1872. J. C. Thornton.
W. G. Higinbotham.
A. Dearth.
1873. John Reisback.
Leonard Thompson.
Aaron Beal.
1874. Paul Hough.
Elliott Hibbs.
1875. James Jackson.
W. G. Higinbotham.
1876. John Moore.
W. S. Clemmer.
1877. Thomas Higinbotham.
Isaac Lyons.
Solomon Cummins.
1878. W. S. Hatfield.
W. I. Grable.
1879. John Simpson.
John Moore.
1880. J. B. Stephens.
T. C. Linn.
1881. T. W. Finley.
W. Kefover.
Thomas Coffman.
734lREDSTONE TOWNSHIP.
CIIURCiIES.
DUNLAP'S CREEK PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
Presbyterian preaching, and perhaps preaching of
any kind, was first heard in Dunlap's Creek Valley
in 1765, in which year Rev. James Finley, living on
the Eastern Shore of Maryland, made an expedition
through that region. He preached wherever opportunity offered, in tents, groves, school-houses, and
barns. He made similar tours in 1767, 1771, and
1772. In the summer of 1774, Philip Tanner, a companion with Rev. Mr. Finley in 1765, and a settler in
Redstone soon afterwards, agitated the subject of the
organization of a church in his neighborhood, and
invited Rev. James Power, his son-in-law, to come
out from Chester County for the purpose. Mr. Power
responded promptly, and in September, 1774, he organized the Dunlap's Creek Church at a meeting
held in a sugar-grove on Mr. Tanner's farm. There
were sixty-one constituent members, of whom the
ruling elders chosen were Charles McClean, Andrew
Frazer, Robert Baird, John Parker, Samuel Torrance,
Daniel Reeder, Ebenezer Finley, and William Frame.
The large number of constituent members would
seem to indicate that nearly all, if not quite all, the
church-going people in that region were Presbyterians.
The region tributary to the church organization soon
embraced not only Dunlap's Creek Valley, but Uniontown, Brownsville, and the country known as the Redstone settlement. Mr. Power preached two years,
and then being requested to settle permanently among
the people as pastor returned to Chester County for
his family, and with them came over the mountains
in the fall of 1776 by way of Braddock's road. He
rode upon one horse, his wife and one child upon another, and his two other children upon a third in
baskets slung across the animal's back. Shortly after
Mr. Power organized the church a log meeting-house
was built upon Mr. Tanner's farm, and ih that house
-and occasionally in tents in the woods-the Dunlap's Creek congregation worshiped until 1814, when
a new edifice was erected. Mr. Power was comfortably settled with his family, and was promised a yearly
salary of ~120 ($320). He remained, however, but
three years, when he accepted a call to be the pastor
at Mount Pleasant, where he afterwards preached for
thirty years. Rev. James Dunlap was secured to
succeed Mr. Power at Dunlap's Creek. Mr. Dunlap
was the first installed pastor, for it was not until 1781
that the Redstone Presbytery was organized. The
Presbytery intended to take action that year upon
the call to Mr. Dunlap to be pastor at Dunlap's Creek
and Laurel Hill, but the members did not assemble
because of prevailing Indian troubles, and so it was
not until Oct. 15, 1782, that he was installed, although
he had been officiating as pastor from 1780. The Presbytery consisted that year of the Revs. James Powers,
of Sewickley and Mount Pleasant; Thaddeus Dodd,
of Ten-Mile; John McMillan, of Pigeon Creek and
Chartiers (who preached at Dunlap's in 1774 and 1775
in conjunction with Rev. Mr. Power); and Joseph
Smith, of Buffalo and Cross Creek.
Mr. Dunlap continued to be the pastor until 1789.
In 1787 the church had a session of eight elders and
eighty-three members. The elders were Charles McClean, Robert Baird, Ebenezer Finley, Samuel Torrance, Andrew Frazer, John Parker, William Frame,
and Daniel Reeder. The members included the foregoing-named elders and their wives, together with
William Lynn, John and Jane Moore, Margaret
Smith, William and Anne Norris, John Jones, Linn
Oliphant, Linn Gilillen, John and Sarah Miller,
Widow McKinn, James and Margaret Adams,
Thomas and Ann Gallaher, Samuel and Agnes
McKinley, Samuel Adams and wife, Jacob and
Eleanor Reeder, George Hill, WilliaTn and Mary
Grey, Stephen Reeder, Susanna Adams,/James Brown,
David and Mary Reeder, Eliza and Jemima Reeder,
Mary Hubbell, William Rose and wife, Elizabeth
Adams, James and Susanna Frame, Richard and
Elsie Watts, James Adams, Jr., Benjamin Adams,
George Smith, Sarah Wilson, Samuel and Elizabeth
Sprout, Mary Alton, Mary Wilson, John Baird, William Powell and wife, Eleanor McClain, Absalom
Little and wife, William Conwell and wife, Lewis
Davidson and wife, Joseph Moss, Reuben Winget,
James and Agnes McLaughlin, James and Rebecca
Veech, Samuel Adams, Jr., and wife, Martha Work,
and George Lee.
Between the date of the departure of Mr. Dunlap
and 1792 the church depended upon supplies. In the
year last named Rev. Jacob Jennings was installed as
pastor, and remained in the pastorate until 1811, when
he resigned because of age and infirmities. He continued his residence at Dunlap's Creek, and occupied
the pulpit occasionally until his death in February,
1813. Mr. Jennings was a physician as well as mninister, and during his entire pastorate pursued the
practice of his medical profession.
In September, 1812, it was determined to secure the
services as pastor of Rev. William Johnston. The
pledge for support was signed by ninety persons, and
read as follows: "We whose names are hereunto subscribed, desirous of having the means of grace statedly
administered at Dunlap's Creek meeting-house, and
having a prospect of obtaining, in connection with
Brownsville, the ministerial labors of Mr. William
Johnston, at present a licentiate of the Ohio Presbytery, do engage to pay for his support, and as an acknowledgment for one-half of his labors in the Dunlap's Creek congregation, the sums set opposite our
names per annum in half-yearly payments." The
paper was dated Sept. -, 1812, and signred by Ebenezer Finley, George Gallaher, John McClean, Robert
Baird, John Moss, Enoch French, James McCormick,
James Adams, John Wallace, Jacob Walter, F. Lewis,
Aaron Baird, Eucal Dod, John McCormick, Alexander
Baird, John Cunningham, Jr., William Ewing, Comn735HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
fort Arnold, Thomas Davidson, Jeremiah Davidson,
John Cunningham, Armstrong Porter, David Porter,
William Porter, Joshua Corey, Nathaniel Breading,
William Hazel, Alexander Wilson, Samuel Haney,
Jesse Brown, Joseph Sprott, Samuel Taggart, Violet
Hays, George Chalfant, John Moore, Maxwell Dearth,
Henry Conkling, John Saladay, Joseph Willey, Easter
Landers, Jacob Moss, Robert Boyd, James Finley,
John McDougal, Charles Porter, William Linn,
Ephraim Dilly, Joseph Green, Benjamin Ross,
Thomas Gallaher, John Coulter, James Cunningham, William Cunningham, Joseph Dilly, L. B. Dod,
John Fultoii, Noah Lewis, Elijah Coleman, Johnston
Van Kirk, Samuel Stanberry, John Luckey, Aaron
Torrence, Elizabeth Ross, Nancy Crawford, Elizabeth
Mills, James Corbitt, David Jackson, James Laughead and sons, Peter Hammon, William Ramsey,
John Torrence, Jesse Ross, James Kelly, Andrew
Clark, Hugh Laughlin, James Gilmore, Prettyman
Conwell, James Gibson, Margaret Porter, Barbara
Porter, A. Littell, William Mustard, Polly Englehart,
John Gallaher, Benjamin Barton, Thomas Scott. Of
the foregoing not one is now living. The last who
died was Armstrong Porter, who lived until 1879, and
reached his ninety-sixth year.
In March, 1813, Rev. Mr. Johnston entered the pastorate, and continued therein until December, 1839.
Soon after the commencement of his pastorate (in
1814) the handsome stone church now in use was
built. Mr. Johnston's successor was the Rev. Samuel Wilson, who was called Jan. 1, 1840, and installed
November 17th of that year. His pastorate lasted
until May 1, 1869, after which he moved to Illinois.
When he began his labors at Dunlap's Creek the
church membership was eighty-two; when he closed
them it was one hundred and eighty-three. Rev. J.
P. Fulton, hissuccessor, was the pastor from 1870 to
1879, when the present pastor, Rev. W. G. Nevin,
began his labors.
In 1853, to accommodate the large number of members living in the neighborhood of New Salem, the
society built at New Salem a substantial brick chapel,
where services are regularly held by the pastor of
Dunlap's Creek. There is also at New Salem a
flourishing Sunday-school in connection with the
church. Of that school Ebenezer Finley has been
the superintendent twenty-eight years. He is, moreover, the oldest member of Dunlap's Creek Church,
his period of connection therewith embracing fiftythree years. For forty-seven years he has been a
ruling elder. Dunlap's Creek Church enjoys much
prosperity. The membership in March, 1881, was
about two hundred and seventy-five. The church
property consists of two houses of worship, a parsonage, and twenty-six shares of bank stock, bequeathed
by Mary Ann Gilmore, widow of Hugh Campbell,
of Merrittstown. The elders are Finley Chalfant,
Johnson Van Kirk, E. T. Gallaher, Hayden Baird,
Ebenezer Finley. The trustees are Theodore Van
Kirk, W. S. Craft, Joseph Woodward, and Albert
McMullen. Johnson Vanl Kirk is superintendent of
the Dunlap's Creek Sunday-school.
During the pastorate of Rev. Samuel Wilson the
Dunlap's Creek Presbyterial Academy was founded
in 1849, partly by the churches of the Presbytery, but
chiefly by members of Dunlap's Creek Church. Rev.
Samuel Wilson was the first principal, and John S.
Craig the first tutor. The principals succeeding Rev.
Mr. Wilson were James Black, Joseph Power, Simon
B. Mercer, Caleb B. Downs, George W. Chalfant, S.
J. Craighead, T. D. Ewing, D. H. Sloan, R. B. Porter,
W. J. Burchinal, and William Fulton. The academy
was a very popular school in its day, and frequently
had upwards of one hundred students on the rolls. In
1875 it ceased to exist, because the support extended
to it had become inadequate for its continuance.
The Dunlap's Creek graveyard, in the centre of
which stood the old Dunlap's Creek log church, contains within its weather-beaten and time-worn old
stone-wall inclosure many reninders of the past and
of those who were foremost among the pioneers.
There are to be found in it many handsome monumeilts, as well as neglected graves and broken tablets,
which tell how apt the living are to forget the dead.
Many old tombstone inscriptions are defaced and
illegible, others are still easily read.  Among the
latter are those erected to the memories of Jane Moore,
who died Dec. 6, 1787; Jane Findley, June 5, 1793;
Lewis Davidson, Nov. 16, 1793; "Elizabeth, ye wief
of Lewis Davidson," April 24, 1794; John Mackey,
May 19, 1794; Samuel Torrance, 1797; Jacob Jennings, 1796; Mary Hany, Jan. 10, 1802; Violet Findley, 1804; Jane Torrance, 1808; Johnii Porter, 1812;
Ann Porter, 1813; Margaret, consort of David Craft,
1812; William Wallace, 1804; Thomas Gallaher,
1806; Mary Cunningham, Oct. 23, 1822; John Fulton, 1825; John Gallaher, 1820; and David Breading, who died (aged 85) in 1844. Upon the tombstone
of Elizabeth Baird, who died in 1826, is written,
"N.B. The deceased was consort of Robert Baird."
Two of the pastors of Dunlap's Creek Church were
laid to rest in the old churchyard. They were the
Revs. Jacob Jennings and William Johnston. The
tablet over Mr. Jennings' grave has the following:
"In memory of the Rev. Dr. Jacob Jennings, who for twenty
years was pastor of this congregation. That he was a true follower as well as a faithful minister of the Lord Jesus Christ
was testified by his long-continued works and labor of love in
two arduous professions combined.l He died in the faith of the
gospel of Christ, and in the hope of that life and immortality
which are thereby brought to light, Feb. 7, 1813, aged sixtynine.'And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me,
Write, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. Yea, saith the
Spirit, that they may rest fromn their labors, and their works do
follow them.'"
A handsome shaft perpetuates the memory of Rev.
William Johnston, and bears this inscription:
1 Physician and minister.
I
I
I
I
736REDSTONE TOWNSHIP.
"In memory of Rev. Willi im Johnston, who departed this
life Dec. 31, 1841, in the fifry-eighth year of his age and thirtieth of his ministry. In him talents, intelligence, and those
Christian virtues which adorn the relations of life were happily
united and blended.'They that be wise shall shine as the
brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.'"
Beneath the same stone lies Martha, his wife, who
died June 9, 1860. In the old churchyard lies also
Ebenezer Finley, one of the fathers of Redstone, and
by his side lie the four worthy women who were his
wives.
REDSTONE BAPTIST CHURCH.
Baptist worship was held in Redstone before 1847,
but until that time there was in the township neither
church organization nor meeting-house connected
with the Baptist denomination. Brownsville was the
point to which the Redstone Baptists journeyed to
church, although public services were sometimes held
in private houses and school-houses in the neighborhood of the creek. In 1847 a meeting was held at
the house of William Colvin to discuss the subject of
building a church; and a lot being offered for the
purpose as a donation from Levi and D. C. Colvin,
prompt action was taken by the appointment of William Sharpless, William Colvin, and Elias Hutchiiinson as a building committee to take charge of the
matter of erecting a house of worship. Assistance
being readily forthcoming, the house was built that
year near the junction of Colvin's Run and Redstone
Creek.  An inscription upon the front of the structure
testifies that it is the "Regular Baptist MeetingHouse."   At the dedication Rev. James Estep
preached the sermon.
Rev. E. M. Miles and William Penny were engaged
to supply the preaching, but no church organization
was effected until Mr. Penny came, when he and the
Rev. William Wood formed the church, with a constituent membership of upwards of forty-five. Among
the pastors who served the church after the organization may be named Revs. John Scott, William Hickman, Daniel Kelsey, and - Smith. Thle last pastor was Rev. O. O'Brien Strayer, who relinquished the
charge in November, 1880. April, 1881, the membership was thirty-eight. The deacons were D. E.
Whetzel and Earhart Grable; the trustees, Benjamin Phillips, Estep Colvin, and Alfred Cooper.
CHURCH OF CHRIST.
Feb. i, 1874, Alanson Wilcox, an evangelist of the
Church of Christ, met with a company of persons at
the Redstone school-house, and by the advice and
consent of Elder Wesley Lorimer, of Cookstown,
formed the Church of Christ in Redstonle. The organizing members were Robert S. Goe, Hittie Goe,
Catharine Goe, Dora Goe, Lizzie A. Higinbotham,
Louisa Higinbotham, Stephen Phillips, Caroline
Phillips, D. R. Hazen, C. R. Hess, Emily R. Hess,
Otho Brashears, Lizzie Brashears, Lucy Brashears,
Anna Brashears, Emanuel Stewart, Rebecca Stewart,
Hester Hess, Maggie Simpson, --Shook, W. G.
Hubbs, John Johnson, Levi Colley, Caroline Colley.
Those baptized at the first meeting were George Higinbotham, Emma Higinbotham, Rachel Higinbotham, Louise Higinbotham, Dilworth Craft, Mary
F. Craft, Hattie E. Craft, William Matthews, Mary A.
Matthews, Aaron Hess, Lizzie McHenry, Rockey McCune, Mary E. Eagle, David Shook, John Wilgus,
Mrs. B. E. Wilgus. One hundred and twenty persons have been received as members of the organization to the present time (April, 1881), and of these
about sixty remain.
In 1875 the present house of worship (called the
Christian Chapel) was erected at a cost of $3500.
The successive pastors have been Revs. S. F. Fowler,
J. W. Kemp, D. L. Kincaid, and -- Satterfield.
The pastorate is at present vacant. The elders are
Clark Hess and Solomon Crumrine. The deacons
are Robert Goe, John Colley, Otho Brashears, and
Levi Colley.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
ROBERT FINLEY.
Robert Finley was born April 4, 1809, in Redstone
township, and there died Oct. 7, 1874. He was of
Scotch-Irish descent. His education was received in
the common schools, and was supplemented by extensive reading. He was a man of keen observation,
and was noted for the wonderful powers of his memory. He was married to Catharine Caruthers, of
Sewickley, Jan. 23, 1833. There were six children.
Four died in infancy. Mary M. married Jeremiah
Baird; Samuel E. Finley married Sarah Burchinal;
Catharine died June 9, 1842.
Robert was married again May 13, 1845, to Anne
Hurford, of Luzerne township. They had five children, two of whom are dead. The three living are
Thomas W., John E., married to Josephine Hazlett;
Margaret A., married to James G. Wilson.
Onie who had known Mr. Robert Finley long and
intimately thus wrote of him, " Seldom are we called
upon to record a death which makes so sensible a breach
in the church and community as that of Mr. Robert
Finley. For forty-five years he was a member, and
for thirty-five an active and efficient trustee, of the
Presbyterian Church of Dunlap's Creek. He was
the youngest son of Ebenezer Finley, Sr., deceased
who had been a ruling elder for some seventy years; a
grandson of Rev. James Finley, one of the first ministers of the gospel who crossed the Allegheny Mountains, and founder of Rehoboth, in the Presbytery of
Redstone, who was a brother to Rev. Dr. Samuel
Finley, president of Nassau Hall, New Jersey, an
ancestry in covenant with God. Mr. Finley possessed great vigor of constitution and energy of char737HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
of Wyandots and British Rangers, in the early afternoon' of the 6th of June, was near the creek called
Olentangy,l a tributary of the Scioto, near the eastern
edge of the Plains, where the column of Col. Crawford had first debouched from the shades of the forest
into the open country on the morning of the 3d,
when moving towards the Wyandot town, which they
fobund deserted.  But the aspect of affairs was materially changed since that time. Then they were advancing  in  high  spirits and  confident of victory
over the savages, now, in headlong flight before the
same barbarous foe, they were turning in sheer desperation to fight for their lives.
The battle-line of the Pennsylvanians faced to the
west, and in its rear, holding the edge of the woods,
and ready to act as a reserve corps in case of emergency, was the company of light-horsemen.  The pursuing force, close upon them, attacked unhesitatingly
and with fierce energy, first striking the front, then
quickly extending their battle-line around the left
flank to the rear of Williamson's force, which was
thus compelled to meet the savage assault in three
directions. But the panic and demoralization of the
volunteers had entirely disappeared,2 and they met
each successive onslaught with such cool bravery and
steadiness, and fought with such desperation, that at
the end of an hour from the commencement of the
battle the  enemy withdrew, discomfited, and apparently with heavy loss.  Perhaps the sudden cessation of their firing was in some degree due to the fact
that just then a furious thunder-storm, which had for
some time been threatening, burst upon the combatants.  The men were drenched  and chilled to the
bone, while much of their ammunition was rendered
useless by the rain. This, however, operated quite as
unfavorably, to the Indians as to the whites.
As soon as the savages and Rangers withdrew, Ma;.
Williamson, without a moment's delay, caused  the
dead to be buried and the wounded3 cared for, and
then the retreat was resumed. Capt. Biggs' company,
which seems to have always held the post of danger,
leading the advance in the outward march, now
formed the rear-guard, though its ranks were reduced
to nine men and all its officers were missing.  It was
1 This battle of Olentangy was fouight on a plain about five miles
southeast of Bucyrus, Ollio.
2 Before the fight Maj. Williamson addressed his men, telling them
that the only possible chance they had of escaping death andil probably
torture was to stand solidly togetllher anld fight with the determnination
never to yield; that if they should break and endeavor to save thenlselves by flight there would be but faint lhope that any of them would
ever again see their homes. The aide-de-canlp, Mtj. RtoQe, rode along
the line, cheering tihe men by his own cooliiess and apparenit confidence.
"Stand to your ranks," he cried, in clear, ringing tones, and with his
slightly foreign accent; "take steady aim, fire low, and waste not a
single shot! Be steady, steady, for all our lives depend upon it!" These
admonitions from their officers, and the evident hopelessness of escape
by flight, caused them to stanid firm, resolved to fight to the last, with no
thought of surrender.
3 The loss of the volunteers in this fight was three killed and eiglht
wounded; that of the enemy was not known, but must have been nmuch
greater.
afterwards relieved, however, and from that time each
of the companies in turn took position to guard the
rear of the retreating column.
When Williamson commenced his retreat from the
battle-field, the enemy, who had in the -mean time
scattered over the Plains, soon concentrated and reinewed the pursuit, firing rapidly but at long range.
Soon, however, they began to press the rear more
closely, throwing the volunteers into some disorder,
which must have grown into a panic but for the coolness and intrepidity of the commander and Maj.
Rose. These officers were unceasing in their efforts,
constantly moving along the line, entreating the volunteers to keep solidly together and preserve unbroken
the order of march, and warning them that if any
should leave the column and attempt to escape singly
or in squads they would certainly lose their scalps.
Finally they became steady, and the order of march
was preserved unbroken during the remainder of the
day. The Indians kept up the pursuit, and occasionally attacked with much vigor, though, as Williamson's force was now mnoving through the timbered
country, the savages no longer held the relative advantage which they had possessed in fighting on the
Plains.
The volunteers bivouacked that night (June 6th)
on the Sandusky River, about six miles from the
battle-field of the afternoon; the enemy's force
camped about a mile farther to the rear. Unusual
precautions were taken by Maj. Williamson to guard
against a surprise during the night, and at the first
streakings of dawn on the 7th the men fell in to resume the march; but hardly had the column been
formed when the Indians came up and opened fire
upon the rear. A lively skirmish followed, in which
two of the men fell into the hands of the savages, but
no disorder ensued. The retreat was continued
steadily and in good order, and, much to Maj. Williamson's surprise, the Indians suddenly abandoned
the pursuit. The last shot from the savages was fired
at a point near the present town of Crestline. From
there the column moved rapidly on in good order
and without molestation to the Ohio, which it crossed
on the 13th of June. On their arrival on the Virginia side of the river, the men not being compelled
to wait for a formal discharge, dispersed to their
homes.
Having seen how Maj. Williamson with the main
body of the troops reached and crossed the Ohio
River, let us return to trace the adventures and misfortunes of the brave Col. Crawford, his faithful
friend Dr. Knight, and others who had become separated from the column and were struggling on through
the wilderness, with dangers surrounding them on
every side, in their endeavors to escape from the
savages.
When the volunteers commenced their retreat from
the battle-field of the 4th and 5th of June, at about
I
10.HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
ette County with him. They were all Quakers. Griffith, Sr., died in 1823, his wife a few years afterwards.
HoIn. Griffith Roberts has no membership in any
church, but has always been a liberal contributor to
acter, and marked success in business. He was a
judicious counselor, a genial friend and companion.
He enjoyed life in the best sense, and loved to see
others enjoy it in like manner. His example of strict
teimperance, of industry, prudent economy, and generous hospitality and wise counsel was of great value
to young men. His benevolent spirit found pleasure
in seeing all embrace the gospel, and be temperate,
honest, industrious, peaceful, prosperous, and happy,
but had little patience with laggards, tipplers, and
spendthrifts. His charity was genuine and expansive, embracing all classes and denominations; a
lover of good men, whose society he greatly enjoyed,
being in cordial sympathy with them in the love of
Christ and his cause.
" He left a large circle of friends to lament his loss.
His place will not soon be filled. The church has
lost one of its pillars, the community one of its most
earnest, upright, and exemplary business men."
" Help, Lord, for the godly man ceaseth!"
IHON. GRIFFITH ROBERTS.
Hon. Griffith Roberts was born in Redstone township, Fayette Co., Pa., where he now resides, March
7, 1807. He is of Welsh stock, and was educated in
the common schools. His early life was spent upon
his father's farm. He was married Dec. 14, 1826, to
Nancy Fought, of Redstone. He remained upon his
father's farm one year after marriage, and then moved to
a farm adjoining the one upon which he now lives, and
remained there twenty-five years, and then moved to
his present place of abode. He has had four children,
-Hannah, married to James M. Cook; George, married to Eliza Franks; Philip (now dead), married to
Eliza A. Balsinger; Elizabeth, unmarried. The first
office Mr. Roberts ever held was that of captain of a
militia company when a young man. He has held
all the offices of the township, except that of constable.
He was nominated and elected associate judge of Fayette County in 1876 by a flattering vote. He held the
office until it was abolished in 1881, discharging the
duties in a manner creditable to himself and satisfactory to his constituents. He held the office of county
commissioner for three years, 1866, 1867, 1868. His
wife, Nancy, died Dec. 25, 1858.
His father, Abraham Roberts, was born in Chester
County, Pa.; came to Fayette County when a young
man, and married Elizabeth Morris, of this county.
They had eight children,-four sons and four daughters. Griffith was the second, and is the only one residing in Fayette County. The others who are living
reside in the West. Abraham died in 1819; Elizabeth died in 1845.
Mr. Roberts' grandfather, Griffith Roberts, came
from Wales when a young man and settled in Chester County, Pa., where he married Rachel Jeffries.
They had but one son, Abraham, and caine to Faythe various denominations. He rather leans to the
belief of his father.  His morality is unquestioned.
He is well and favorably known in the county. He
is worthy of the confidence his friends have in him,
and is a genial gentleman of the old school.
JAMES MADISON LINN.
The grandfather of James Madison Linn, Andrew
Linn, settled in Fayette County at a very early date.
He had his farm patented. He was a soldier in the
Revolutionary war, and was one of the first settlers
west of the Alleghenies. They were driven back east
of the inountains several times by Indians.
James M.'s father, Capt. Isaac Linn, was born upon
the farm where his son now resides in 1774. He was
mnarried on Oct. 22, 1796, to Jeinima Voorhes. They
had eight children. James M. was the fifth. Isaac Linn
was a soldier in the war of 1812. He was captain of
an infantry company, and served during the war,
going during his period of service into Canada.
James Madison Linn was born July 20, 1808, upon
the farm where he now resides, and was educated in
the common school, and studied the classics under a
private tutor. He was married May 13, 1841, to MaryJAMES M. LINN.ee,    ZREDSTONE TOWNSHIP.
Linn, of Redstone township. They had eight children,-William Voorhes, now dead; Isaac, married
to Emma Stewart; Ayers, deceased; Jemima A.,
married to John C. Hanna; Samuel S. B., married to
Florence A. Holmes; Charlotte L., married to S. A.
Phillips; Alcinda C., not married; Mary E., married
to O. D. Porter.
In the early portion of his life Mr. Linn was occupied as a clerk, and afterwards engaged in distilling.
For many years past he has followed farming and
milling, and has held important township offices. He
is a member of the Old Redstone Baptist Church, as is
also his wife. He started in life with nothing, and
gradually accumulated his considerable property,
which consists mostly of lands, but he has a good
share of money also.
DAVID IIIBBS.
The late David Hibbs, who died May 18, 1868, was
born in Redstone township, July 15, 1809. He was
of English descent, and was educated in the common
schools. He was married April 18, 1839, to Hannah
Walters, daughter of Ephrainm Walters, of Nicholson
Frances, who married Joseph Antram; Elizabeth,
married to Dr. J. P. Sangston; Harriet A., married
to John F. Hess; Lucetta, George L., and John G.,
unmarried.
Mr. Hibbs held the usual township offices intrusted
to a careful business man, and was for three years a
member of the almshouse board. In all these positions he conducted the public business in a satisfactory manner. For many years he was a member
of the German Baptist Church, and held the office of
elder for a number of years. His pecuniary start was
small. By industry and careful business management
he was able to leave his family in comfortable circumstances. His success was due to his integrity, his industry, his devotion, his unselfishness, and charity.
These made his character great,-"the virtues are
the forces and powers in life." He was a quiet man,
made but little show, and did his duty as nearly as
he was able, and was content. The best legacy he
left his family was a good name.
SAMUEL C. HIBBS.
Samuel C. Hibbs was born in Redstone township,
Feb. 14, 1802. He is of English stock, was educated
in the common schools, and learned the business of
farming, and has been engaged in it all of his life.
He was married in January, 1833, to Elizabeth Beal, of
Menallen township.  They had six children,- Malinda, married first to James Niccolls, again to Dr.
King, of Bloomington, Ill.; John, married to Hannah
Lackey; Aaron, married to Margaret Weitner; Benjamin, who was a soldier in the late war, was wounded
at City Point and died there. His remains are buried
in the Presbyterian Cemetery at New Salem. Robert,
married Anna Davidson; Elizabeth, married to James
Finley. The sons are all farmers. Mr. Hibbs has
long been a member of the Presbyterian Church.
His wife, Elizabeth, died in 1874. He had a small
start in the world in a pecuniary way.  The fine
farms which he owns, or rather which he has given
his children, thus sensibly starting them well in life,
he made by his own industry. He is active for one
of his age, and is evidently contented and happy.
His moral status is excellent. Those who know him
respect him as a citizen and a man. His father, Lacy
Hibbs, was born east of the Alleghenies, and came to
Fayette County early in life and settled upon the
farm where his grandson, Aaron, now resides. He
married Sarah Craft, of Fayette County. They had
eight children. Samuel was the sixth, and is the only
one living. His ancestors were Quakers.
THOMAS CAUFIELD.
Thomas Caufield is of Irish stock. His father,
Timothy Caufield, was born in County Galway, Ireland, in 1784, and migrated to America in 1810,
locating in Belmont County, Ohio. He married
township, and sister of Ephraim Walters, of Masontown, German township, and of Dr. Jefferson A.
Walters, now living in Dayton, Ohio, a gentleman of
prominence, and a considerable and careful contributor to genealogical literature. They have had nine
children.  Two died in infancy. The seven living
are Jefferson W., who married Ellen Van Kirk; MaryHISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Nancy Hynes, of that county, in 1826. Mrs. Caufield died in 1831, leaving three children, John,
Thomas, and Daniel. John resides in Clarke County,
Iowa. Daniel was merchandising in Kansas during
the struggle for supremacy there between the Northern and Southern political forces, and has not since
been heard of by his friends in Pennsylvania.
Timothy Caufield moved from Belmont County,
Ohio, into Fayette County, Pa., in 1834. He was a
contractor on the National pike, and spent much of
his life in operating upon public works, building
roads, etc. He was married a second time in 1836.
The maiden name of his second wife was Elizabeth
Detson, who died in 1872. Mr. Caufield died Dec.
30, 1873.
Thomas Caufield was born April 24, 1829, in Belmont County, Ohio, and removed with his father to
Fayette County, Pa., in 1834. He was educated in
the common schools, and has spent nearly all his life
upon the farmn where he now resides. He was married July 15, 1874, to Maggie L. Lynn, of Millsboro',
Washington Co., Pa. Her great-grandfather, William Lynn, was one of the pioneers of Fayette
County, settling in Redstone township, on a farm adjoining her husband's, about the time the county was
organized. The farm remained in the name for three
generations. Mr. and Mrs. Caufield have had four
children, three of whom are living,-John Gibson,
Carrie Lynn, and Mary Edna.
Mr. Thomas Caufield has never held or sought political office. He is a well-informed gentleman, having read much, particularly of history, remembering
well what he reads, and applying the results of his
study to practical purposes, much more than it is customary for farmers to do. His neighbors esteem him
for his honesty and fair dealing.
JAMES W. CRAFT.
James W. Craft's grandfather, George Craft, came
from Germany, and lived in Maryland, near where
the battle of Antietam was fought, until the year
1771, when he removed with his family to Western
Pennsylvania, and settled on the farm on which his
descendants have ever since resided. David Craft,
the father of James W. Craft, was born in 1763, and
married, in 1788, Margaret Woodrow, who died in
1812, leaving him a family of thirteen children, only
two of whom are now living,-Elijah Craft, of this
county; and Elizabeth Sproat, of Guernsey County,
Ohio.
David Craft approved of the cultivation of the
minds of his children. He with some of his neighbors engaged a graduate of the University of Oxford
to teach a select school, in which he placed his sons.
The old Craft homestead is one mile east of Merrittstown, Fayette Co., Pa.
The late James W. Craft, of Redstone township,
was born Feb. 13, 1807, and died Feb. 20, 1880. He
was of German stock, and was married in 1847 to
his cousin, Caroline E. Craft, of Redstone township.
There were born to them nine children, seven of
whom are living, five daughters and two soIns,Ellen L., married to Samuel Colvin; Loretta, married to Joseph O. Miller; Hester B., married to Dr.
H. W. Brashear; Richard N., married to Rebecca
Nutt; Hayden R., married to Laura Bell Colley;
Annie M., married to John R. Carothers; Jessie Benton, single.
Mr. Craft was a justice of the peace in his native
township for about thirty years, and was not only a
justice in every sense of the word, but was eminently
a man of peace, never failing, contrary to his own
pecuniary interest, to urge upon litigants a peaceful
settlement of their difficulties. As nearly as possible
he followed the golden rule. Under the preaching
of the pioneers of the Cumberland Presbyterian
Church,-Morgan, Bryan, Sparks, and others,-he
became a member of the Hopewell branch of that
communion. When the final hour came he expressed
himself as ready and willing to die, "having full assurance of a blessed immortality."
Mr. Craft was educated in common and select
schools. He cultivated a taste for the higher grades
of literature, and had great admiration and love for
the English classics, a high appreciation for Campbell, Gray, and others of the British poets, and was
able to quote many of their finest productions.
In early years he showed a proficiency in music.
While quite a boy he became the leader of the celebrated military band which discoursed music for Capt.
Geisey's company of Brownsville, and Capts. Trevor
and Beeson's companies of Uniontown. This band
made the music at the reception of Marquis de Lafayette in Uniontown in 1825, and was urged by him
and the celebrated Albert Gallatin to accompany
them to the home of the latter on the Monongahela
above New Geneva, and partake of the festivities of
his visit there, but were obliged to decline the flattering compliment.
This band, under the leadership of Mr. Craft, furnished music for all the Masonic and military parades
of Uniontown, Washington, Brownsville, and many
other places from 1824 to about 1835. So good was
its music that Gen. Jackson said it surpassed any
martial music he had ever heard. So great was Mr.
Craft's fondness for music that he continued to play
on his two favorite instruments, the flute and the
clarionet, up to the hour of his last sickness.  So
noble and gentle was Mr. Craft during his whole life
that it is safe to say that no man in the wide region
throughout which he was known was ever more
missed after death than he, or his loss more sincerely
felt.
I
740/- -1THE REVOLUTION.
nine o'clock in the evening of the last-mentioned
day, Col. Crawford rode at the head of the leading
division (McClelland's). A very short time afterwards they were attacked by the Delawares and
Shawanese, and (as has already been mentioned) the
rear divisions left their position in the line of march
and moved away to the right, leavinog the front division to extricate itself from its perilous situation.
They left in such haste that no little disorder ensued,
in which some of the sick and wounded were left
behind, though it is believed that all but two were
finally saved from the enemy. While the Indian
attack on the advance division was in progress, Col.
Crawford became anxious concerning his son John,
his nephew, William Crawford, and his son-in-law,
William Harrison, and rode back to find them or
assure himself of their safety, but in this he was unsuccessful. While engaged in the search he was
joined by the surgeon, Dr. Knight, whom he requested to remain with and assist him. With this
request the doctor readily complied. He thought
the missing men were in the front, but as the colonel
assured him they were not, the two remained behind
a conisiderable time after the last of the troops had
passed on, the commander in the meanwhlile expressing himself in terms of indignation at the conduct of
the three battalions in disobeying his orders by leaving
the line of march and pressing on in their semi-panic,
forgetting the care of the sick and wounded, and
regardless of everything but their own safety.
After the last of the troops had passed on, and
when Cravford and the surgeon found it useless to
remain longer, they followed as nearly as they could
in the track of the larger columni, which, ho1vever,
by this time was a considerable distance away and
lost to view in. the darkAness.  Proceeding rather
slowvly on (for the colonel's horse had become jaded
and nearly worn out by the fatigues of the dav), they
were soon after overtaken by two strIagglers wvho came
up from the rear, one of them being an old man and
the other a stripling. Neither of these had seen or
knew anything about the two young Crawfords and
Harrison.
The colonel and his three companions had not
proceeded far when the sound of fire-arms was heard
in front of them and not very far avay. It was from
the attack which the savages made on the rear of the
retreating colurmn at the time when a part of it became entangled in the swamp, as has been mentioned.
The noise of the firing before them caused Crawford's
party to turn their course in a more northerly direction, on which they continued for two or three miles,
when, believing that they were clear of the enemy,
they turned at nearly a right angle, niow facing niearly
east, and moving in single file, Indian fashion. At
about midnight they reached and crossed the Sandusky River. Near that stream they lost the old
man, who had lagaed behind, and was probablv
killed by Indians.
From the Sandusky they continued in an easterly
direction, but when morning came, they turned more
southerly. Early in the day the horses ridden by Col.
Crawford and the boy gave out entirely and were
left behind. Early in the afternoon they were joined
by Capt. Biggs and Lieut. Ashley, the latter mounted
on Biggs' horse, and suffering severely from the
woutnd received in the battle of the 4th. The captain
had bravely and generously stood by the wounded
lieutenant, and was now marching, on foot by his side,
resolved to save him if possible, even at the risk of his
own life. And a fearful and fatal risk it proved to be.
At almost precisely the time when Biggs and Ashley
were found by Col. Crawford's party (about two o'clock
P.m. on the 6th of Juine), the main body of volunteers,
under Williamson, were facing to the rear, forming
line of battle to meet the attack of the pursuing Indians, as has already been noticed. The distance
from the field where the battle was raging to the
place where the party of fugitives were at that time
was about six miles in a northwest direction. After
being joined by Biggs and Ashley, the colonel and his
companions moved on slowly (being encumbered by
the care of the wounded officer) for about an hour,
when their flight was interrupted by the same thunderstorm that burst over the battle-field of Olentangy at
the close of the conflict. Being now drenched with
the rain, and wearied by their eighteen hours' flight,
the commander thought it best to halt, and accordingly they made their night bivouac here,1 amid the
most cheerless surroundings, wet, shivering, and in
constant dread of being discovered by proowling savages.
Early in the morning of the 7th the party pushed
on in nearly the same southeasterly direction, recrossing the Sandusky River. An hour or two after their
start they came to a place where a deer had been
killed. The best parts of the carcass had been cut off
and wrapped in the skin of the animal, as if the owiler
had intended to return and carry it away. This they
took possession of and carried with them, as also a
tomahawk which lay on the ground near by. A mile
or so farther on they saw smoke rising through the
trees. Leaving the wounded officer behind, in charge
of the boy, the others advanced cautiously towards the
fire. They found no person there, but they judged,
from the indications, that some of the volunteers had
been there, and had left the place only a short time
before. Lieut. Ashley was then brought up, and they
proceeded to roast the venison which they liad captured. As they were about finishing their meal a
white man was seen near by, who, on being called to,
came up very cautiously, aild was recognized by Col.
Crawford as one of his own men. He said lhe was the
slayer of the deer, anid that he lhad been frightened
away from the carcass by the approach of the colonel
I The place where they encamped that nig,hit is about two muiles north
of Bucyrus, Ohio...
101-6;.e 4k'o                   pSALT LICK TOWNSHIP.
LEONARD LENHART.
Leonard Lenhart is of German descent. His father,
Michael Lenhart, was a native of Carlisle, Pa. He
married Martha Kline, and soon after his marriage
located in Fayette City, Fayette Co. He was a wagonmaker by trade, and followed his vocation for some
time in Fayette City, and then removed to a farm in
Washington County, Pa., near Greenfield. He died
in 1823. His wife, Martha, died in 1860, aged eightythree. They had twelve children. There are four of
them low living,-Philip, in his eighty-second year;
Mary Ferry, Sarah Kendall, and Leonard.
Leonard Lenhart was born in January, 1809, in
Fayette City, Fayette Co., and was educated in the
common schools. He was married April 23, 1828, to
Hannah Baldwin, of Fayette City. They had eleven
children,-Michael, married to Maggie Dodson;
Martha, married to George W. Clarke; James S., unmarried; George, married to Sarah Chatland; Laura
J., married to William Guiker, Esq., who are living;
William B., Maria, John R., Mary F., who was married to William S. Hatfield; Catharine, and Philip,
are all dead.
Mrs. Hannah Lenhart died Aug. 2, 1858, and on
July 24,1860, Mr. Lenhart married Mrs. Elma Niccolls, a daughter of William Eberhart, Esq., of Redstone township, who died Feb. 23,1882, in the eightysecond year of his age.
And here a few words concerning Mr. Eberhart
will not be out of place. He spent the last few years
of his life in the famnily of Mr. Lenhart, his son-inlaw. Mr. Eberhart was a man of great energy and
of enterprise as a business man; was at one time an
extensive manufacturer of glass. In the days of his
thrift he was open and liberal with his means, ready
to assist others. But a reverse came to his good fortunes at last in the destruction by a devastating fire
at Cincinnati of several thousand boxes of glass which
belonged to him. From  this misfortune he never
recovered, but his assistance was sought by other
manufacturers, and he was engaged actively in manufacturing until old age pushed hinm into retirement.
He was kind in spirit, possessed fine colloquial powers,
was very social, and, above all, honest in purpose.
Of his latter marriage Mr. Lenhart has three
childrern,-Lizzie Bell, Charles E., and Leonard H.
Mr. Lenhart began life as a boat-builder in Fayette
City. In 1831 he worked in John S. Pringle's yard
in Brownsville. Several years after he went there he
was made foreman of the yard. In 1846 he engaged
as a partner in the business with Mr. John Cock, and
continued with him until 1859. In 1860 he moved to
the farm where he now resides, and has been engaged
in farming ever since.
He had no pecuniary start. He has made all he
has by his own labor. He has held a number of important township offices. He enjoys the respect of
his neighbors, has a pleasant home, and is surrounded
by more comforts than farmers are usually supplied
with.
SALT LICK TOWNSHIP.
OCCUPYING the extreme northeast portion of the
county is the township of Salt Lick, which has for its
northern boundary Westmoreland County, for its
eastern Somerset County, from which it is separated
by Laurel Hill. On the south is the township of
Springfield, and on the west is the Chestnut Ridge,
which cuts it off from  Bullskin.  the surface is
mountainous.  Rising above the general level are
high hills which constitute a plateau in the western
part. Along the streams are deep valleys, in some
localities possessing considerable width and noted for
fertility. In other parts of the township the soil is
thin and only fairly productive. Limestone is abundant, and coal of a good quality crops out along the
streams. Iron ore and other minerals abound, but
have not yet been developed. Centrally, flowing
through the township from northeast to southwest, is
the chief stream, Indian Creek, which was known
in early times as the Great Salt Lick Creek. Being
fed by numerous sprinigs it has considerable volume,
whose conistancy, although affected by the summer
heat, bears favorable comparison with other watercourses of like size in the western part of the State.
The larger tributaries are Back, Poplar, and Champion Runs, each having affluent brooks. The former
heads in the Laurel Hill range, and after flowing
southwest unites with Indian Creek a mile above the
Springfield line. Champion Run rises in the Chestnut Ridge, near the northwest corner, thence flowing
southeast till it loses its waters in the Indian Creek
north of the centre of the township. Poplar Run
also rises in the Chestnut Ridge, near the southwest
corner, which it drains, then flows out of the township into Springfield. On these streams are a number
of good water-powers, which have been utilized from
the first settlement of the country. Salt Lick was
originally heavily timbered, and many parts are yet
covered with fine forests, free of undergrowth, adapt74114 ISTORtY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
ing them for grazing. In other sections the ground
is covered with fine trees of a second growth, which
will be a source of wealth in years to come. The
township having been a part of Bullskin for a number of years, the original surveys and list of taxables
in 1788, given in the history of that township, embrace also what pertains to Salt Lick, and omitted
here to avoid useless repetition.
The pioneer settlers came from the eastern part of
the State and from Maryland about the period of the
Revolution, a few possibly coming earlier. Concerning some of the pioneers but little can be said. They
removed from the township more than half a century
ago, and the bare record of their having lived in Salt
Lick alone remnains. To that class belonged Christian
Perkey. He made early and noteworthy improveminents on Indian Creek, near the north line of the
township, his lands being partly in Westmoreland
County. Near his former residence are now the mills
of William Newell  Son. Perkey had sons named
Daniel and Christian, and a few other children, but
none of their descendaniits are left in the county.
Several miles south, on Back RunI, were Peter and
George Bucher, both of whom had sons bearing their
names.  George Bucher was the owner of a slave,
commonly called Black Ben, who, whatever virtues he
may have had, was possessed of a weakness for strong
drink, a liking which did not much promote his personal welfare. Peter Bucher died at his home near
the Berg Mills about 1807, but the others bearing that
name removed in the course of a dozen years. John
Martin lived on a tract of land east of the Buchers,
where he died before 1810, but his family remained a
score of years longer, when they left for the West.
Benjamin Davis was the pioneer on the present
Joseph W. Gallentine place, where he kept a licensed
tavern as early as 1795, while northeast, on the same
road, George Batchelor kept a public-house the same
year. But both families removed from the township
more than seventy years ago. Occupying a fine tract
of land at an intermediate point between the above
was Andrew Trapp, the first justice of the peace. He
was by birth a Pennsylvania Dutchman, but possessed
shrewd, sound sense, and was, in his day, a person of
so much importance in the community that his place
was the centre of business, notwithstanding the early
elections were held at the house of Benjamin Davis.
He had sons named Philip, Andrew, David, and John,
and six daughters. He died in 1824, and was buried
in the cemetery at the Lutheran Church. Thereafter
his business was carried on by his son Andrew a few
years, when all of the family removed. The original
Trapp farm is now the property of H. L. Sparks.
In the southern part of the township George Poe
was one of the first settlers.  He was a native of
Maryland, and a brother of Adam and Andrew Poe,
the celebrated frontiersmen, who sometimes came from
their home, near the Ohio River, to visit their brother.
The latter had a son namned George, and another
named Andrew.  His daughters married Henry
Adams, Levi Adams, and Christopher White, all of
whom lived in Salt Lick. About 1810 the Poes emigrated to the Ohio country. There is much of interest
connected with the name of Poe on account of the
exploits of George Poe's brothers, Adam and Andrew
Poe, who lived in the western part of Washington
County. One adventure in particular, occurring on
the Ohio River in 1781, in which Adam Poe killed
the famnous Wyandot chief "Big Foot," after a long
and dubious hand-to-hand struggle with the savage,
is related at length in several histories of early border
warfare, and is familiar to a majority of readers.
The Poes were all muscular men, none of them
being less than six feet in height, and although noted
for their heroic achievements, were peaceable, kindhearted, and greatly esteemed by their neighbors.
Henry and Levi Adams, sons-in-law of George Poe,
were also natives of Maryland. They came to Salt
Lick some time about 1790, and Levi, after living a time there, went to the West to join the Poe
family. Henry Adams settled on Back Run, dying
on the farm now owned by David Adams about
twenty years ago, at the age of eighty-five years.
He had sons named John, Henry, and George, the
latter still living in Bullskin at the age of eighty
years.  His sisters were married to Jacob Pritts,
Abraham Dumbauld, and Daniel Witt, all of Salt
Lick.
The Dumbauld family was the first to make a permanent settlement and retain it to the present time.
The progenitor of the family was Abraham Dumbauld
(formerly Duimbauld), a native of the canton of
Berne, Switzerland, who emigrated to America when
hlie was nineteen years of age. He settled at Hagerstown, where in time he mnarried a daughter of the
founder of that town, and subsequently catne with a
numsber of other immigrants to the Ligonier Valley.
He laid claim by tomahawk right to large tracts of
land on Four-Mile Run, west of the Chestnut Ridge,
and on Champion and Indian Creeks, in Salt Lick.
This was before the Indian troubles were settled, and
after being in the country a short time, the Dumbaulds with others sought safety by going back to
Hagerstown. About 1769 they returned to the Ligonier Valley'and erected a block-house on FourMile Run, to which they might flee in case of Indian
incursions or when they apprehended an attack by
the savages. Abraham Dumbauld had two sons and
several daughters; the former were named Peter and
Abraham. The latter left the home of his father and
brother, in Westmoreland County, and about 1777
settled on the Dumbauld claim on Indian Creek,
near where Judge Dumbauld now lives. Evenii at
that time they did not live secure from the Indians,
and on several occasions Abraham Dumbauld took
his family from Salt Lick to the block-house on the
Henry farm in the Ligonier Valley, burying such of
i
I
i
742SAL  LCKTOWSHP.74
their valuables as they could not carry with them.
On one occasion a lot of dishes were thus hidden in
the hurry of their departure, and when they returned the most diligent search failed to reveal the
spot, the dishes being finally given up as lost. A
sister of Abraham Dumbauld, who came with him to
Salt Lick, was the first person to die in the township.
Her coffin was a trough-shaped box, hewed out of a
chestnut log, and the place of burial was on the Dumbauld tract, where they made a family graveyard.
This tract of land embraced three hundred and sixtyseven acres, the warrant therefor being dated 1785,
and extended on both sides of the Indian Creek
north of Champion Run. Abraham Dumbauld died
about 1828, upwards of seventy years of age, and his
wife, whose maiden name was Catharine Boyer, survived him, dying at the age of eighty years. Their
children were all born in Salt Lick, as follows; Frederick, Feb. 6, 1778; Mary, July 6, 1780; Philip,
June 10, 1783; David, June 18, 1785; Peter, Dec.
20, 1787; Christiana, March 3, 1790; Barbara, Sept.
16, 1792; Dolly, March 24, 1795; Elizabeth, Sept. 8,
1797.
Frederick Dumbauld was the first white child born
in the township. He lived on the homestead until
about 1832, when he moved to Ohio. Philip, the
second son, lived onI an adjoining farm, and after his
death, some time about 1830, the family also emigrated to Ohio. David settled on Back Run, where
he died after 1860. He was the father of Hugh and
Samuel Dumbauld, who removed to Indiana. Peter
married Sally Cable, and lived on the homestead until
his death in April, 1875. For many years he was a
justice of the peace. He was the father of Abraham
C. Dumbauld, living in the western part of the township; Jonathan, living in Somerset County; Samuel,
living in Illinois; Peter and Solomon, who removed
to Indiana; and David W. C., the youngest son, yet
living on the homnestead, which has been occupied by
the family more than a century. He has held many
offices of putblic trust, and is better known as Judge
Dumbauld. The only daughter, Elizabeth, became
the wife of Samuel Pile, of Licking County, Ohio.
The daughters of Abraham Dumbauld married:
Mary, John Lohr, and died on the homestead; Christiana, Samuel Fulton, of Somerset County; Barbara
and Dolly, Joshua Davis and Jacob Miller, both of
Salt Lick; and Elizabeth, Henlry Phillips, of Somerset County.
Shadrach Davis, by birth an Englishman, came to
Salt Lick about the same time as the Dumbaulds.
He was the father of Abraham and Joshua Davis,
who were promninent in the history of the township.
The former first lived on Champion Run, on the farm
now owned by Amos Miller, but died at the hamlet
of Davistown, where he owned and operated mills.
He reared sons named Samuel, who moved to Springfield in 1830, settling on the farm now owned by his
son Solomon, where he died in 1873; Jacob, yet living
in Westmoreland; Benjamin and William, who removed to Defiance, Ohio; John, Jehu, and Solomon died in Salt Lick. The daughters of Abraham  Davis married William  Stull, Samuel Eicher,
David Stull, Jacob Snyder, Eli Gallentine, and Daniel Bruner. Joshua Davis lived in the northwestern
part of the township until his removal to Jefferson
County, about 1838.
Adanm Bungard, a German, settled on the tract of
land which is yet in part owned by the Bungard
family, where he died in 1833 at the age of eightyseven years. He reared sons named Adam, George,
John, Christian, Daniel, Jacob, and Michael. His
daughters married Jacob Miller, Samuel Berg, and
Samuel Hahn. Of the sons, Jacob and Michael yet
live in the southern part of the township. On "Plentiful Hill" John Grindle was a pioneer. He was the
father of John, David, and Christian Grindle, who
after living in Salt Lick a number of years moved to
the West.
The Schlater family were among the first settlers
in the Ligonier Valley, where they had many adventures with the Indians. One'of the Schlater
daughters was scalped and left for dead, but recovered and became the mother of a large family. In
the possession of Isaac Schlater is the door of one of
the pioneer cabins in which the family lived, which
shows numerous bullet-marks and gashes mnade by the
tomahawks of the Indians in one of their attacks.
Some of the family lived near the Salt Lick line, and
Isaac Schlater was for a number of years the owner
of the Mount Hope Furnace in that locality. Henry
Schlater for a number of years lived in Salt Lick, removing from the township to Ohio. In the extreme
northwest of Salt Lick lived the Kesslar family, some
of the members residing in Westmoreland. William
Kesslar improved the farm now owned by Jaines Coffman, and George Kesslar the Martin Wrinkler place.
Ludwig Miller was born i' Somerset County, but
in 1800 moved to the present Christner farm, in the
southern part of Salt Lick, where he died in 1845.
His son, Jacob H., was just a year old when his
parents settled in the township. He yet resides in
the eastern part of Salt Lick, one of the oldest and
most hale men in the county. For twenty-five years
he was a justice of the peace, and in that period( of
time joined two hundred and forty couples in matrimony,-a very large number considering the sparselysettled condition of the country. The other sons of
Ludwig Miller were Ludwig H., who moved to Ohio;
George H., who died near Sparks' Mill; Henry H.,
whose death was caused by falling from a horse;
Abraham H., who died in Springfield; Frederick H.,
who fell from a cherry-tree and was killed; John H.,
removed to Ohio; and Isaac HI., the youngest, died
in the towniship. The daughters married Christian
Bungard, Ludwig Hart, Jacob Bungard, George Sleasman, and Henry Cassell. There were thirteen children in all, and when Mrs. Ludwig Miller died, at
743
SALT LICK TOW1NSHIP.HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
the age of eighty-six years, she had one hundred and
fifty grandchildren and two hundred great-grandchildren, some of her children being parent to eighteen
and twenty children. Nearly all the Millers in Salt
Lick originated from this family, and have displayed
remarkable unanimity in their political predilections.
At the late Presidential election the family cast twenty
votes for Gen. Hancock. John Harbaugh, who resided for many years on the head-waters of Poplar
Run, was the grandson of the Millers. He received
from Gen. Jackson a hickory cane, which passed from
him to the Millers, and is cherished by them as a
memorial of the stern old hero of New Orleans.
At the head of Laurel Run, Charles Worrick, a Revolutionary soldier, was a pioneer who came in about
the close of the war. He died in Springfield township at an advanced age. Of his sons, William died
at Connellsville, and John was burned to death while
attempting to rescue his family from his burning
house. This sad event occurred about 1852.
On Champion Run, John Robison was one of the
first settlers. The land passed from his to the hands
of his son John, and from him to his son Jacob. The
farm at present belongs to the latter's son, Win. L.
Robison, a member of the fourth generation. The
present Lyons farm was first settled and improved by
John Crist, and sold by him to Henry Yedeson about
1812, when Crist removed to the West. He was the
father of Frederick Crist. On the Peterson place Wm.
Hess was a pioneer, and after the death of Hess the
farm was occupied by his son-in-law, Samuel Lohr.
George Sleasman, a native of New Jersey, came
about 1800 and settled in the southeastern part of the
township, near Worrick's and Anthony Miller's, the
latter living on the present Yinkey place. He died
in 1812, and his son Peter was then bound out to
Andrew Trapp. He is still a resident of the township at the age of seventy-two years. George Sleasman last lived on the George Batchelor farm after the
latter had removed. David Berg, a native of Lancaster County, became a settler of Salt Lick a little later,
locating on the farm which is now occupied by Elijah
Cramer. Of his sons, Benjamin, David, and Joseph
are yet residents of the township. Other sons were
John, Frederick, Samuel, Jacob, George, and Emanuel. John Yinkel was one of the pioneers on Laurel
Hill, where he lived until the death of his wife, when
he removed to Ohio, but returning to Salt Lick after
many years, died at the house of his son-in-law, David
Berg, at the age of ninety-eight years. In the western
part of the township, Christian Echard, the father of
John, David, Jacob H., George, Christian, Peter, and
Levi Eichard, settled some time after 1800, and some
of the above yet remain in the township.
TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION AND LIST OF OFFICERS.
The township was created at the December, 1797,
term of Court of Quarter Sessions, "on the petition of
sundry inhabitants of the Salt Lick settlement, in the
township of Bullskin, praying for a division of said
township, and that the top of Chestnut Ridge may be
the line of separation. It is considered by the court
that the prayer of the petitioners be granted, and
that the eastern division be called Salt Lick township."
Although thus officially named, it was for several
years known by the name of Young township, not
only locally but in official transactions. In the second volume of "Coin. Records," page 38, under date
of Jan. 13,1798, the name of Reuben Skinner appears
as the assessor of Young township. Again, March 1,
1798, "the house of Benjamin Davis, of Young township," is designated as the place where appeals from
assessments might be heard. The name of John Robison appears as the collector of taxes, July 7, 1798,
for the township of Young, and the tax-roll for that
township is closed Feb. 16, 1799, over the signatures
of John Robison and George Batchelor, his assistant.
Other accounts were opened about this time with
Young township, and continued later as the accounts
with Salt Lick; but there is nothing on record to show
that the name of Young was ever authorized. It was
probably unwittingly used in a local sense, and thus
received semi-official sanction until the error was
corrected. The term Salt Lick was derived from the
licks of salt along Indian Creek, the principal stream
in the northeastern part of the county, and the nanme
was for many years applied to all that part of the
country lying east of the Chestnut Ridge and north
of the Youghiogheny River. A petition for the division of this large township was presented to the
court at its June session in 1831, and William Davidson, William Andrews, and Samuel Rogers were appointed viewers, with orders bearing date Nov. 1,
1831, continued Jan. 13, 1832, and March 8th of
the same year. At the following session of court,
June, 1832, they reported that they had "met to view
the contemplated division line as set forth by the
order, and are of the opinion that it is inexpedient
to grant the prayers of the petitioners." The court
approved the report, and for several years the subject
was allowed to rest. But at the June session in 1839
the court was again petitioned for a division, and
commissioners were appointed, who reported unfavorably Sept. 5, 1839, their report being approved by
the court. After the lapse of eight years a petition
again went to the court praying for a division of
the township of Salt Lick, and Thomas R. Davidson,
Alexander M. Hill, and Joseph Torrance were appointed viewers. These reported Sept. 18, 1847, and
on the 11th of December of the same year their report was confirmed as follows: "The court approve
the division of said township by the clay turnpike;
the south side of said road to be the line from the Connellsville and Bullskinl township line to Indian Creek,
and from thence to the Somerset line, the northern
side of said road to be the line. The northern township to retain the name of Salt Lick, and the southern
township to be called( Youghiogheny township."
744SALT LICK TOWNS1IP l'.
It appears that tle above division di(d lot prove
satisfactory to the citizens of the newly-constituted
township, and at the September term of court, 1848,
that body was petitioned for a new township, to embrace parts of both Salt Lick and Youghiogheny.
Abraham Pershing, Levi Bradford, and Provance
McCormick were appointed commissioners to investigate the matter, and a report was made by them
Dec. 4, 1848, and ordered filed in favor of a new
township. This report was confirmed on the 10th of
March, 1849, as follows: "The new township is
established according to the within report, and the
court direct that the said township shall be called'Springfield.'" By this order Salt Lick was limited
to its present bounds, and those of Springfield were
enlarged in November, 1855, by the addition of that
part of Youghiogheny township which had not been
absorbed by the formation of Stewart township.
Before Salt Lick was erected Andrew Trapp held
a commission as a justice of the peace in and for the
township of Bullskin, his name appearing in that
connection as early as 1796. He was also the first
justice of Salt Lick. He served as a justice a number
of years, but in 1810 appears the name of Richard
Skininer as a justice, anld later, and before 1837,
Frederick Dumbauld, William Kessler, Peter Dumnbauld, and Peter Kooser.
Among other early officers of Salt Lick were the
following: 1798, John Cleary and George Poe, constables; Abraham Dumnbauld and William Kern, supervisors of highways; Christian Perkey and William
Smnith, overseers of the poor. 1798, John Schlater
and Alexander Cummings, supervisors of highways;
Henry Rush anid Christian Senf, overseers of the
poor. 1800, Richard Truax and Jacob Norrix, overseers of the poor. 1801, Richard Truax and Conrad
Bates, supervisors of highways; Alexander Cummings and William Spear, overseers of the poor.
1802, Michael Beasinger and George Bungard, supervisors of roads; William Kern, Nathaniel Skinner,
John Robinson, and Joseph Hoff hance, auditors.
1803, John Robinson and Richard Truax, supervisors
of highways; William  Kern and Abraham  Dumbauld, auditors.  1804, John Robison and Smith
Godwin, supervisors of highways. 1805, Benjamin
Truax and George Wolf, supervisors of highways.
1806, John Murray and George Batchelor, auditors.
Since 1839 the principal officers of Salt Lick have
been the following:
1840.-Justices, Peter Dumbauld, Jacob H. Miller; Assessor,
Gabriel Christner; Auditor, Fred Begg.
1841.-Assessor, David Barnett; Auditor, William Kern.
1842.-Assessor, George Dull; Auditor, John Senff.
1843.-Assessor, John Robison; Auditor, Abraham Gallentine.
1844.-Assessor, John M. Murray; Auditor, Abraham C. Dumbauld.
i845.-Justices, Jacob H. Miller and James Schrichfield; Assessor, Daniel Kessler; Auditor, John Senff.
1846.-Assessor, Daniel Senff; Auditor, Abrahaiu Gallentine.
1847.-Assessor, Jonathan Lyon; Auditor, Jacob H. Miller.
1848I.-As,essor, Jacob l'Piitts; Atlitor, Peter Dumbauld.
1849.-Justice, Peter Dumbauld; Assessor, Samuel Kessler;
Auditor, Abraham Gallentine.
1850.-Justice, Philip Fleck; Assessor, Jacob W. Robison;
Auditor, John Schultz.
1851.-Assessor, Henry Snyder; Auditor, D. W. C. Dumbauld.
1852.-Assessor, Willianm Muncy: Auditor, Samuel Kessler.
1853.-Assessor, Joseph Gallentine; Auditor, William Fleger.
18354.-Justice, D. AV. C. Dumbauld; Assessor, William Steel;
Auditor, Peter Dumbauld.
1855.-Justice, Philip Fleck; Assessor, John Shultz; Auditor,
John R. Lohr.
1856.-Justice, Daniel Witt; Assessor, A. C. Dumbauld; Auditor, Samuel Kessler.
1857.-Assessor, Jacob H. Miller; Auditor, A. C. Dumbauld.
1858.-Assessor, John Shultz; Auditor, Jeremiah C. Lohr.
1859.-Assessor, Jacob Yothers; Auditor, Daniel Witt.
1860.-Justice, Philip Fleck; Assessor, Samuel Lohr.
1861.-Justice, Jacob H. Miller; Assessor, John Davis; Auditor, D. W. S. Cavenaugh.
1862.-Assessor, Peter H. Echard; Auditor, Emanuel Barley.
1863.-Assessor, John F. Murray; Auditor, William H. Miller.
1864.-Assessor, D. A. C. Hostetler; Auditor, Jacob H. Miller.
1865.-Justice, D. W. C. Dumbauld; Assessor, Frederick Murray; Auditor, George A. Dumbauld.
1866.-Justice, Jacob Hl. Miller; Assessor, J. C. Lohr; Auditor,
Philip Fleck.
1867.-Assessor, George W. Kern; Auditor, Jacob H. Miller.
1868.-Assessor, David Cramer; Auditor, George A. Dumbauld.
1869.-Assessor, Aaron Brooks; Auditor, Jeremiah M. Miller.
1869.-Justice, D. W. C. Dunbauld; Auditor, Nathan Wilson.
1870.-Justice, Jacob H. Miller; Assessor, D. W. C. Dumbauld; Auditor, George A. Pritts.
1872.-Justice, David A. Witt; Assessor, William  H. Miller;
Auditor, Jeremiah M. Miller.
1873.-Assessor, John N. Kalp; Auditor, David A. Witt.
1874.-Assessor, A. C. Dumbauld; Auditor, George A. Dumbauld.
1875.-Assessor, David Ayres; Auditor, Emanuel Barclay.
1876.-Justice, George A. Dumbauld; Assessor, Simon Fulton;
Auditor, David Witt.
1877.-Justice, Isaac W. White; Assessor, S. M. Miller; Auditor, Heman Stall.
1878.-Assessor, Samuel Christner; Auditor, George W. Gaus.
1879.-Assessor, Cyrus White; Auditor, David A. Witt.
1880.-Assessor, David Foust; Auditor, Henry Witt.
1881.-Justice, George A. Durmbauld; Assessor, A. H. Miller;
Auditor, J. B. Adams; Supervisors of Roads, E. Barkley,
A. Reece, and J. H. Miller.
ROADS.
One of the oldest roads of the township of which
any record appears was petitioned for December, 1784,
praying that it be located from the Broad Ford to Christian Perkey's mill, and from thence to the Redstone
Old Fort. At the March term of the court, 1785,
Robert Beal, Edward Doyle, Andrew Arnold, William Miller, and Joshua Dickerson, as viewers, reported "that the road was of great use and very
necessary, as well for the county adjacent as for the
inhabitants to said road in general, and we do presume
it to be necessary to be of the width of thirty feet."
"Thereupon, after due consideration, the court do
confirm the same, and order that the said road be
745HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
opened, cut, cleared, and bridged, twenty-five feet
wide." The road was run with the assistance of
Alexander Moreland, and has always been one of
the chief highways of the township, whose importance has only been exceeded by the State road across
the mountains, which was also opened about this
time. In December, 1800, the court was petitioned
for a bridge across Salt Lick (Indian) Creek at the
crossing of the State road. The Grand Jury recoinmmended that the bridge be built, and the court at the
March session in 1801 directed the commissioners to
have it built in accordance with the plans presented.
The road from Andrew Trapp's to the west of the
Laurel Hills was ordered in April, 1806, while the
road from Trapp's to Perkey's and thence to Lobengier's was ordered in April, 1808, Abrahaml Kinnear,
Henry Adams, Abraham Dumbauld, John Grindle,
George Batchelor, and James Patten being the viewers. The road from John Grindle's to the bridge oil
Indian Creek was ordered by the same court, and was
viewed by Andrew Trapp, Abraham Kern, John
Robinson, Peter Dumbauld, Daniel Perkey, and John
Muir. The township is well provided with highways,
which are usually kept in a passable condition.
GENERAL INDUSTRIES.
Although agriculture has always been the leading
pursuit of the people of Salt Lick, considerable importance has always been attached to its manufacturing interests. The first was probably the mill built
by Christian Perkey, on the waters of Indian Creek,
near the north line of the township. It was put in
operation some time about 1780, and was at first a
very small affair. Later a better mill was built of
logs on a good stone foundation, which was allowed
to remain when James Muir took down the old mill
and built in its place a one-story frame mill, with
improved gearing and a pair of French burrs in place
of the ordinary mountain stone which previously did
service. That mill in turn gave place to the present
structure, which was erected in 1878 by William Newill, under the direction of James Leeper as millwright. It is a three-story frame of large size, has
three runs of stones and modern machinery, being
in all its appointments one of the best mills in the
county. The motive-power is furnished by a Leffel
turbine-wheel, and the mill is rated at $10,000. The
present owners are William Newill and his son, A. M.
Newill, the latter operating the mills. The property
has had many owners, passing from Christian Perkey
to his son Daniel; thence to Frederick Fleck, who
had the grist-, saw-, and an oil-mill in operation in
1823, the latter being continued about ten years;
thence to William Murray, thence to James Muir,
and from him to James Muir, Jr., who owned it until
his death, when Mr. Newill became the proprietor of
both the grist- and the saw-mill, continuing both, as
above stated. The oil-mill was long since discontinued.
Passing down Indian Creek to a point above Champion RunI, the next power was improved, about 1820,
by Peter Dumbauld to operate a saw-mill, which
after a number of years became the property of
George Bitner. On the same place was a fruit and
grain distillery, which was discontinued about 1836.
On Champion Run are several water-powers, one
of which was improved by William W. Robinson
about 1852, and made to operate a saw-mill, which is
at present the property of Jacob Bruner. Farther up
the stream, John Spear had a linseed-oil mill about
1846, which had also as owners John Piper and
Henry J. Ritner, but has not been operated the past
twenty years. On the south branch of the run a
saw-mill was put in operation about 1840 by William Kessler, which passed into the hands of John
W. Kinnear, and thence to others, a new mill being
erected on the site by James Coffman, which is yet
profitably operated.
On the main branch of Indian Creek, at the hamlet of Davistown, Abraham Davis built a saw-mill
about 1830, and not long after, a carding-machine
and fulling-mill. Ten years later he built a small
grist-mill, which was displaced by the present mill
in 1872, which was built by John Davis. After his
death in 1873 the mill became the property of Lemuel Mathews. The mill-house is three stories high,
and contains three runs of stones. A new saw-mill
has also recently been built at this point, and while
the carding-machine is still kept in operation, the
fulling-mill has long since been discontinued.
On Back Run, a mile above its mouth, the power
was first improved about 1790 by Peter Bucher, to operate a saw-mill, which was a great convenience to the
settlers of this part of the township. A saw-mill is
yet maintained at that point by Joseph Berg. A
short distance above, Henry White, a resident of
Bullskin, built a log-mill about 1796, which is yet in
use, and is in a well-preserved condition. The stoine
basement appears perfect, and there is little to show
the age of the mill, as the internal arrangements
have been changed from time to time. At present
there are two runs of sto0es, which are run by the
power of an overshot water-wheel, fed by a long race.
Among the early operators of the mill were Daniel
Perkey, George Huey, and Adam Leppert. The mill
was sold by White to the Berg family, and still remains in their possession, the present owner being
David Berg. The sawm-nill at this point has become
practically useless, although the mill still remains.
A short distance above, Daniel Witt has had a sawmill in successful operation the past fourteen years.
Yet farther up the stream David Dumbauld built a
saw-mill about 1840, which passed from him to Daniel Eiseman, thence to Jonathan Ash, and to David
Saylor, the present owner. Another mill was operated on Back Run, above the latter, by James H.
Miller, but the power has been abandoned, the water
supply being too small to be advantageously emi
746SALT LICK TOWNSHIP.
ployed. On Poplar Run a small saw-mill is owned
and operated by Manasseh Burkholder.
At the mouth of Back Run, Andrew Trapp built a
saw-mill about 1800, obtaining power by means of a
long raceway from the run to a point near the Indian
Creek. Trapp operated the mill a number of years,
and was thereafter succeeded by his son Andrew. The
subsequent owners of this power have been John and
Gabriel Christner, Daniel and John Senif, Abraham
Gallentine, Alfred Cooper, and the present, H. L.
Sparks. Alfred Cooper established the tannery business at this point in 1855. His yard contained thirtyeight vats, and the building was a story and a half
high. In 1863, Mr. Sparks became the owner of the
property, and after ten years he remodeled the tannery and the mill. The power was increased by the
substitution of water-wheels of the Leffel pattern,
whose capacity aggregates thirty-nine horse-power.
The old tannery was displaced by the present building, which is 50 x 80 feet, two and a half stories high.
Although supplied with a boiler, steam has not yet
been used, the proprietor preferring to finish his work
in cold water, thus securing for his products a most
enviable reputation in Eastern markets. From two
thousand to three thousand hides per year are tanned
into harness- and skirting-leather, about one-third of
which is finished at the currying establishment of the
firm at Connellsville. The saw-mill was rebuilt in
the fall of 1879, the capacity being increased to fifteen
hundred feet per day. In the spring of 1881 a planingmill was attached to the same power, and the manufacture of builders' materials of all kinds begun. The
products of the mill are mainly oak, chestnut, and
poplar, chiefly the latter two, the woods yet abounding with trees from which first-class lumber may be
cut. In 1875, H. L. Sparks associated with him his
son S. H., and the firm has since been known as H. L.
Sparks  Son.
In former times there were a number of small distilleries in the township, which were employed to a
large extent in working up the fruit which grew so
abundantly on many farms. Among the principal
distillers were John Dull and David Berg on Back
Run, and the Dumbaulds and Andrew Trapp on
Indian Creek; but all of them have been discontinued
more than thirty years since. George Rees made hats
in a small shop on the old State road, and had the
reputation of being a very skillful workman. Powder
was made in a small way at Davistown by Joshua
Davis; and in the southwestern part of the township,
J. Yoder had in operation, after 1826, a loom of ingenious construction for weaving' woolen, cotton, and
linen goods. He wove linen sheets of such fineness
and texture that they were in great demand and highly
prized by the housekeepers of Eastern Fayette.
A good quality of mountain coal abounds on nearly
every farm, and has been developed in many localities
to supply the home demand, there being yet no facilities for shipping to outside markets. At Sparks'
Mill appear two layers of coal, in veins four feet
thick and about one hundred feet apart, and in many
other localities similar strata manifest themselves,
some of the chief mines being on the old Henry
Adams place, and on the Brooks, Lohr, Robison, and
Berg farms.
Within the past twenty years limestone of a superior quality has been found in many accessible places,
and has been quarried to a considerable extent for
fertilizing purposes, to the manifest benefit of the
lands to which it has been applied. One of the finest
strata thus far discovered is on the old George Poe
place, now owned by Henry Bungard. It is nearly
sixty feet in thickness and very easily developed. In
the northern part of the township iron ore was formerly mined to supply the Mount Hope Furnace,
which was in that locality, in Westmoreland County.
But since it has gone out of blast no further development of that mineral has been made. Mount Hope
Furnace was built in 1808, and blew out about 1820.
MERCANTILE AND OTHER INTERESTS.
Before the clay pike was opened through Springfield, in 1810. the old State road was the great
thoroughfare from Somerset County to Connellsville,
and many taverns consequently were kept on that
route to accommodate the numerous teams toiling up
and down its course. Three of these were licensed
as early as 1795, viz.: George Batchelor, on the present Peter Sleasman place; Benjamin Davis, on the
Joseph Gallentine place; and Melchior Entling, the
latter being in the present township of Springfield.
These were continiued a number of years, and at the
Davis stand was afterwards Peter Feike. Eastward
were the taverns of Andrew Trapp, David Berg,
George Batchelor, George Rees, and Frederick Murray, the latter being at the foot of Laurel Hill.
Nearly half a century has elapsed since Salt Lick has
had a licensed tavern.
It is probable that Andrew Trapp was the first to
engage in mercantile pursuits, having a small store
near the site of Sparks' tannery as early as 1799. His
original account-book, to which/ the writer has had
access, contains the names of nearly all the pioneers,
and shows that he must have carried on quite a flourishing business.  The chief articles of traffic were
liquor, lumber, flour, tallow, and salt. In addition,
Trapp was the keeper of a public-house and justice
of the peace, making his transactions numerous and
multiform. In 1800, Adam Bungard was debited to
"one bushel of salt, for which he promised to deliver
me eight bushels of corn." December, 1800, George
and Andrew Poe were made debtor to writing "Two
Bonds of Performance and other writings, at ls. 6d.
per paper." Christian Senf, 1801, was credited by
one heifer, ~3, and charged with ten bushels of wheat,
at 5s. per bushel; one gallon of vWhisky, 5s.; three
gallons of apple brandy, at 4s. per gallon. Abraham
Workman, 1804, "Dr. by wife to five quarts of whisky,
747