USA > Pennsylvania > Adams County > Littlestown > History and directory of the boroughs of Gettysburg, Oxford, Littlestown, York Springs, Berwick, and East Berlin, Adams County, Pa. : with historical collections > Part 1
USA > Pennsylvania > Adams County > Gettysburg > History and directory of the boroughs of Gettysburg, Oxford, Littlestown, York Springs, Berwick, and East Berlin, Adams County, Pa. : with historical collections > Part 1
USA > Pennsylvania > Adams County > East Berlin > History and directory of the boroughs of Gettysburg, Oxford, Littlestown, York Springs, Berwick, and East Berlin, Adams County, Pa. : with historical collections > Part 1
USA > Pennsylvania > Adams County > Oxford in Adams County > History and directory of the boroughs of Gettysburg, Oxford, Littlestown, York Springs, Berwick, and East Berlin, Adams County, Pa. : with historical collections > Part 1
USA > Pennsylvania > Adams County > York Springs > History and directory of the boroughs of Gettysburg, Oxford, Littlestown, York Springs, Berwick, and East Berlin, Adams County, Pa. : with historical collections > Part 1
USA > Pennsylvania > Adams County > Berwick in Adams County > History and directory of the boroughs of Gettysburg, Oxford, Littlestown, York Springs, Berwick, and East Berlin, Adams County, Pa. : with historical collections > Part 1
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جنسين
Gc 974.801 Adlh 1527678
M. L.
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01178 9887
.
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015
https://archive.org/details/historydirectory00reil
WM. J. MARTIN,
Dealer in Groceries, Notions and Liquors, BALTIMORE STREET NEAR HIGH,. GETTYSBURG, PA.
SWEITZER & WEAVER,
Baltimore. St., OPPOSITE ( COMPILER OFFICE, ) GETTYSBURG, P.A.
DRY GOODS AND NOTIONS,
Alpacas, Delaines, Muslins, Prints, Table Linen, Cassimeres, Cottonades, Embroideries, Ribbons, White Goods, Flannels, Ladies' and Gents' Hosiery, Gloves, Handkerchiefs, Collars, Ties, Cuffs, Oil Cloths, Carpets, &c.
99 CENT DEPARTMENT. Set Knives and Forks, Silver-Plated Ware, Toilet Sets and Vases, Fine Parlor Lamp (with Argand Burner), Boys' Tool Chests, Large Express Wagons, Sets of 4 tin Buckets and Large Dipper, Looking Glasses, Sets of 5 Tin Pans, and line of Fancy and Staple Articles, etc.
Glassware Ware,' Bird Cages, Clocks, Albums, Silver and Gold Rings, Hammocks, Croquet Sets, Satchels, Trunks, etc.
5-CENT GOODS A SPECIALTY.
A. J. SMITH, DEALER IN COOKING STOVES, RANGES, HEATING STOVES, &C., AND MANUFACTURER OF
COPPER, TIN AND SHEET IRON WARE.
Opposite Compiler Office, - GETTYSBURG, PA. Roofing, Spouting and Jobbing a Specialty.
GLOBE INN,
YORK STREET, NEAR CENTRE SQUARE,
GETTYSBURG, PA.
F. S. RAMER, Proprietor.
The above Hotel has been recently refurnished and refitted in the best manner. The traveling public will always find the best accommodations and every endeavor will be made to render them perfectly at home. Terms reasonable. Careful and attentive Ostlers and Waiters always in readiness. A new Hack to and fro from the Depot on the arrival of all trains free of charge. Passengers conveyed to any part of the town.
HACKS, BUGGIES, & SADDLE HORSES TO HIRE AT ALL TIMES.
The Star and Sentinel.
PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
BUEHLER & COMPANY. TERMS $2.00 PER ANNUM, PAYABLE IN ADVANCE.
MEN'S AND BOYS' CLOTHING.
H. B. DANNER,
S. E. Corner of Centre Square,
GETTYSBURG, PA.
HISTORY AND DIRECTORY
OF THE
BOROUGHS
OF
GETTYSBURG, OXFORD, LITTLESTOWN,
YORK SPRINGS, BERWICK, AND EAST BERLIN,
ADAMS COUNTY, PA .;
WITH
HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
Published by JOHN T. REILY.
GETTYSBURG : J. E. WIBLE PRINTER, COR. OF WASHINGTON AND NORTH STREETS. 1880.
JOHN M. HUBER,
Baltimore Street, - - GETTYSBURG, PA., DEALER IN
DRUGS AND MEDICINES, and all the Reliable PATENT MEDICINES ; a choice assort- ment of PERFUMERY.
SCHOOL BOOKS, BLANK BOOKS & STATIONERY in great variety.
FORNEY'S HORSE AND CATTLE POWDES, one of the best things in use for the health and improvement of Horses, Cattle, Sheep and Hogs.
Garden and Flower Seeds, of all kinds, the rarest and best. A specialty in Trusses. Why suffer when relief is here ? EVERYTHING SOLD ON SHORT PROFITS.
WEBSTER'S UNABRIDGED DICTIONARY.
Now added, a SUPPLEMENT of over
of over 9700 NAMES. and a New Biograghical Dictionary 4600 NEW WORDS AND MEANINGS,
NEW EDITION.
WEBSTER'S
NEW EDITION K.TH
UNABRIDGED DICTIONARY SUPPLEMENT
WEBSTER'S UNABRIDGED. 1928 Pages. 3000 Engravings. Four Pages Colored Plates.
GET THE LATEST. N EW EDITION contains a Supplement of 4610 new words and meanings. E lach new word has been selected with great care, and is thoroughly defined. With Biographical Dictionary, now added, of, 9710 names of Distinguished Persons.
THE BEST. Edition of the best Dictionary of the Eng- lish Language ever published.
D
efinitions have always been conceded to be better than in any other Dictionary.
Illustrations, 3000, about three times as many as any other Dictionary.
1
The Dictionary recommended by State Sup'ts of 35 States, and 50 College Presidents. Tn Schools,-about 32,000 have been placed in Public Schools in the U. S
Only English Dictionary containing a Bio- N graphical Dictionary,-this gives the ame with Pronunciation. Nation, Profession and Date of 9710 persons. Published by G. & C. MERRIAM, Springfield, Mass.
1527678
PREFATORY.
Y way of introduction to the HISTORY AND DIRECTORY OF THE BOROUGHS OF ADAMS COUNTY, we have little to say. As first contemplated, the work included the entire county. A friend pointing out the impossibility of accomplishing such an undertaking, the enterprise has been limited to the bor- oughs of the county, combining a history and a directory of the same as more interesting, and giving such other history and directory matter as could be obtained under the head of "Historical Collections." The diffi- culties met with were innumerable. The ministers of churches not un- frequently had been only lately installed ; many were away at Synod ; while others resided out of the county, or had charge of several congrega- tions widely separated. After all, there is much church and local history that can only be obtained from aged men-landmarks of the past whom Death has been removing one after another, until few remain. The churches that have kept early records are not many, and fewer yet are those preserved to the present day ; for, like most records of the past, they have long since been lost-forever lost-whilst Time rolled his ceaseless course.
After visiting all places of interest in the county, and corresponding with men supposed able to give the information needed, there remain still many omissions ; while even much of the data obtained is rendered un- satisfactory by the oft-repeated "about"-in many instances the only alternative.
Fortunate were we, and great our pleasure, in meeting so many men who are taking an interest in collecting local history, many of whom pos- sess rare collections. As time passes on, and other generations people this arena of life, such names as Heller, Gitt, Sheely, Marsden, Myers,- such journals as The Compiler, The Star and Sentinel, will then be held in grateful remembrance for preserving from the wreck of time the early history of their (future generation's) native hills and valleys, of the towns and villages then grown into cities, of the churches where their forefathers were baptized and wedded, of which then the sites alone will remain,- and of the homes and firesides around which friends and kindred will then only gather in imagination.
To these men,-some of whom have given us the fruits of their labors,- to the ministers who furnished sketches of their churches, and to all who in any way rendered us assistance, we return our sincerest thanks; hoping that they, and the many patrons of our youthful enterprise, will kindly overlook its deficiencies.
ADAMS COUNTY.
HE land comprised within the present boundaries of Adams County, as well as the whole of York and Lancaster Counties, originally belonged to Chester, one of the three counties first formed in the Province of Penn, Lancaster County was separated from Chester, May 15th, 1729; York County was formed from parts of Lancaster, Aug. 9th, 1749; and Adams County was divided from York, Jan. 22d, 1800.
A title to the lands west of the Susquehanna was obtained under many difficulties, and only after years of conciliatory treaties with the Indians. Thomas Dougan, Governor of New York, purchased of the Five Nations a title to the lands west of the Susquehanna, in 1696, and conveyed the same by deed to Wm. Penn, Jan. 13th, 1696, for 100 pounds sterling. Af- terwards Penn purchased of the Susquehannas, the original owners of the soil, who had been conquered by the Five Nations, their claims to the lands; the Conestogas, however, denying the right of the Susquehannas to sell, Penn again satisfied them by paying their demand. The Five Na- tions still continued, notwithstanding their deeds, to claim a right to the river and adjoining lands. At a council held in the country of the Onon- dagoes, Oct. Ith, 1736 ; a deed was signed by twenty-three Indian chiefs, (eight Onondagoes, six Senecas, four Oneidas, two Tuscaroras, and three Cayugas,) conveying to John, Thomas, and Richard Penn, all the Sus- quehanna river and the lands, westward to the setting of the sun, eastward to the heads of the branches of said river, and extending northward to the Kittatinny, or "endless hills."
According to an agreement made by Gov. Keith, no whites were al- lowed, without permission from the Indians, to settle west of the Susque- hanna. To counteract the advances of Maryland "Squatters," this re- straint was removed, and John and James Hendricks, the first legal settlers, crossed in 1729. Then began a strife between the settlers holding lands under Pennsylvania titles and the Maryland "Squatters," as prolonged and vindictive as that between Dudley Diggs and the Germans along the Temporary Line. Gov. Ogle sent a copy of an order from the King to the Pennsylvania Council, Nov. 26th, 1737, commanding the border troubles to cease, and neither government to make any more grants until further orders. The border difficulties were settled by reference to a Grand Jury Feb. 18th, 1757, which made all conform to the royal order, and des- ignated to which Province they belonged.
The southern portion of what is now Adams County, was also along the scene of border troubles, resulting from an unsettled dispute touching the
5
ADAMS COUNTY.
boundary line between the two Provinces. October 14th, 1727, John Dig- ges, a petty nobleman, obtained from the proprietors of Maryland, a grant of 10,000 acres. In 1732, Digges surveyed a tract of 6822 acres, which included Conewago and Germany Townships, and was called "Digges' Choice." The first settlers on this tract were Andrew Shriver, David Young, Adam Miller, Adam Weiser, John Lemmon, in 1732; and were followed soon after by Henry Sell, Martin Kitzmiller, Adam Forney, and others. Digges' grant was decided to be in Pennsylvania, but his title was good, for in a royal order, May 25th, 1738, it was decreed that all titles to lands previously obtained should be valid, no matter on which side of the Temporary Line located, nor by which Province granted. Af- ter this, Digges applied to the Pennsylvania Land Office to have his tract made square. This was granted provided it did not include the lands of the German settlers. Digges, however, told the settlers that according to an agreement with the Land Office, they were obliged to give up their lands to him. This caused great excitement and resistance, officers were sent from Maryland by Digges to arrest Matthew Ulrich and Nicholas For- ney. While the officers were taking the prisoners past the house of Adam Forney, father of Nicholas, he interfered, and gives the following account in a letter to Thomas Cookson, dated
"LITTLE CONAWAKO, April 25th, 1746."
"I ordered the two men, Matthew Ulrich and Nicolaus Forne, to return to their Habitation ; whereupon the Sheriff and Digges' son made resist- ance, and the Sheriff drew his sword upon me, and we then drew our swords and was a goin' in upon them, when they fled to their horses. * * If we do not get help speedily, we must help ourselves, and should it be with our last drop of blood, for I am well assured that we will not be put upon by no Digges that ever lived under the sun."
In an altercation that took place at the residence of Martin Kitzmiller, Wednesday, Feb. 26th, 1752, between the Sheriff of Maryland and his men and the settlers, Dudley Digges was accidentally shot by a son of Mr. Kitzmiller, who was afterwards acquitted on a verdict of justifiable homicide. The boundary difficulties were finally settled in 1767, by the running of Mason and Dixon's Line.
The history of Adams County, prior to its formation in 1800, can only be gathered in fragments here and there from the history of the parent county. The lower portion of the county, as we have seen, was settled by the Germans, while the upper, or northwestern part, was settled by the "Scotch-Irish," between 1736 and 1740. Among the early settlers on Marsh creek were Wm. McClellan, Joseph Farns, Hugh McClain, Matthew Black, James McMichel, Robert McFarson, James Agnew, John Alexan- der, James Wilson, John Hamilton, Hugh Vogan, the Campbells, Allisons; Morrisons, and others. They selected that part of the country on account of its pure springs and mountain air, to which they were accustomed at home. They belonged to the better order of peasantry, were frugal, in- dustrious and intelligent, and were for the most part Presbyterians.
Y
6
ADAMS COUNTY.
During the French and Indian wars their settlements were in great danger from the Indian incursions. At that time, this part of the county furnished a number of horses and wagons, and many volunteers. After the defeat of the British and Washington near Fort DuQuesne, the Indians threatened the settlements east of the South Mountain, and in November, 1755, the greatest alarm prevailed through the Marsh Creek Settlements, -the settlers having no arms and no ammunition. Hans Hamilton with sixty men, was at Carlisle, and from there he sent Messrs. Pope and Mc- Conaughy to raise reinforcements. The women and children were sent towards York and Lancaster. A petition from Marsh Creek Settlement to the Executive Council, Aug. 21st, 1756, stated that the people from Cumberland County were all coming this way-that Marsh Creek was the frontier, and that horrible atrocities were committed by the Indians, who took women and children out of their coffins and scalped them. It was about this period that the home of Mary Jamison along the South Moun- tain was destroyed, and Mrs. Jamison with her family taken captive, a full history of which was lately published in one of the county papers. The barn of Wm. Waugh, on "The Tract" was also among the buildings burned by the Indians. In 1758, Richard Baird, living in Hamiltonban township, was seized by the Indians, of which his son gives the following account : "My father lived in York County (now Adams) and owned the mill now called Marshall's, in 'Carroll's Tract,' when on the 13th of April, 1758, his house was entered by a party of Indians. They were discovered by a little girl named Hannah McBride. The persons in the house at this time were, my father and mother, Lieut. Potter, a child and a bound boy. Being unable to contend with them, and fearing they would fire the house, the party surrendered, the Indians declaring they would not put any to death. They also made prisoners Samuel Hunter and Daniel McMend- my, laborers in a field near by, and Wm. White, a lad coming to the mill. A short distance from the house, contrary to their promises; they put Pot- ter to death, and further on they killed the child and scalped it. They passed on through Path Valley, and reaching the top of Tuscarora Mountain they halted, when an Indian, without any warning, sank a tomahawk into the forehead of Samuel Hunter, after scalping him the Indians proceeded on their way. My father escaped and made his way to Fort Lyttleton, whence friendly Indians accompanied him home."
In April, 1758, fresh incursions were made by the Indians. Rev. Thomas Barton, Episcopal minister of Huntingdon, wrote : "All is confusion. Within twelve miles of my house two families of eleven persons were killed. The inhabitants are flying into the interior. I prevailed on the inhabitants of Canawaga and Bermudian to form themselves into companies, and I hope by these means we shall be able to keep these settlements from breaking up."
In 1756, a company had already been formed in Mount Joy township, of which Wm. Gibson was Captain, Wm. Thompson, Lieut., and Jasper Little, Ensign.
7
ADAMS COUNTY.
When the dark days of the Revolution came, this section furnished its full share of men, horses, wagons, and provisions. Contributions were made by each township in the county to a fund to be sent to Boston, in the beginning of the war, to which, among others, Germany township contri- buted 16 pounds and 2 shillings. Among a list of representatives of each county at a meeting held at Yorktown, July 4th, 1775, "to take measures to secure the liberties of America," occur the names of Nicholas Bittinger and Wm. McClellan, from Cumberland township. Mr. Bittinger was one of the first to take up arms in the Revolution. He was taken prisoner while fighting at Fort Washington.
At a committee meeting held at York, July 28th, 1775, the county was divided into five districts-each district to raise a battalion of men. The townships of Cumberland, Hamiltonban, Straban, Menallen, Mount Joy, and Tyrone, furnished the Second Battalion, the officers being, Col., Rob- ert McPherson ; Lieut. Col., David Kennedy ; Majors, Moses McClean and Hugh Donwoodie. Among the townships raising the 3d battalion were Mountpleasant, Germany and Berwick, and the 5th included Huntington and Reading.
In 1776, York and Cumberland counties were required each to raise four companies, for the formation of a regiment. Among the officers were Moses McClean, Capt., and James Dunlap, Major, from Cumberland town- ship. This regiment was called the IIth of the Pennsylvania Line, and participated in the battle of Brandywine.
In the summer of 1772, a company of light horsemen was raised, half at Marsh Creek and half at McAllisterston, (Hanover). The officers were, Capt., Wm. McPherson ; Lieut., Robert Morrison ; Cornet, James Gettys.
After Independence had been achieved, there is little of interest in the history of the county until the formation of Adams County in 1800. The winter of 1783 is known as the "hard winter," during which everything froze, causing an entire failure of crops the following year. A contagious disease breaking out among the cattle, carried hundreds away. The peo- ple, generally, were in distressing circumstances. Collectors of taxes were unable to make their collections, and when the Supreme Council urged them to be more active, they replied that the people were in a destitute condition and were unable to make their payments. Some collectors levied on goods, but received scarcely enough to pay the expenses. For a number of years after the war, times were hard, on account of the great depreciation of Continental money, and the waste of life and property dur- ing the long struggle.
During the war of 1812-14, a number of the citizens of the county went to the defence of Baltimore. In the southern and eastern portions of the county, they mostly joined the companies of York county under Capts. John Bair and Frederick Metzger. One of these was Mr. Peter Smith, still living in Mountpleasant township, at the advanced age of eighty-six years, who was among the reserves at the battle of North Point, and re-
.
8
ADAMS COUNTY.
members well the shooting of Gen. Ross. A company had been organ- ized in Adams county called the "Gettysburg Troop," commanded by Capt. McCurdy. They reported to Gen. Smith at Baltimore, and were ac- cepted, but the number of cavalry already in service "being fully sufficient to all the objects in the defence of Baltimore," these patriotic citizens were permitted to return to their homes.
An old lady, who lived at Brough's Tavern, along the Little Conowago, during this war, thus pictures the scenes that took place at that place. "Many volunteers passed along here and were supplied with food and lodging. One afternoon, after having baked all the bread we could in the oven and stoves, a company of soldiers stopped and remained over night. When supper was over, the bread was all, and the old landlord said, 'girls, you must bake to-night.' We baked all night, and in the morning the soldiers started for Baltimore, well provided with provisions. They slept in the neighboring houses and barns. Couriers, carrying messages be- tween the seat of war in Canada and the headquarters at Washington, changed horses at this tavern. They rode day and night-some going one way and some the other. The mail was also brought on horseback, and after the war, the postman came along carrying a banner on which was inscribed 'Peace.' That night there was a great time at the old tavern."
During the early settlement of this county, swindlers were as wide- awake and as successful as they are now-a-days, though quite of a differ- ent character, as little was then known of lightning rods or windmills. Rev. Dr. Dady, who came to this country with the Hessians during the revolution, lived in the "mountainous parts" of what is now Adams county. When the sacerdotal robes were no longer subservient to his avaricious views, he laid them aside and assumed the character of a physician. Clay- ton Chamberlain was a neighbor of Dr. Dady's. Rice Williams, a New Englander, and John Hall, a New Yorker, came to the house of Chamber- lain in July, 1797. They told Chamberlain that his house was haunted and that he was born with spiritualistic gifts, and they would show him a spirit. In the evening, they went into a field, and Williams drew a circle " on the ground, after which they had several interviews with the spirit. Williams told him that the spirit knew of a treasure, which it was permitted to discover to eleven men, who must be "honest, religious and sensible, and neither horse jockeys nor Irishmen." Each candidate received a sealed paper, containing certain "power." On the night of the 18th of Aug., 1797, the following instructions for the committee were received from the spirit. "Go on, do right, and prosper, and the treasure shall be yours. * Take care of your 'powers' in the name and fear of God, our pro- tector ; if not, leave the work. There is a great treasure-4,000 pounds apiece for you." In consequence of these directions, Abraham Kephart waited on Dr. Dady, by order of the committee, and paid him $36 and 3 bushels of oats for 3 ounces of his "eliximer." Yost Liner gave the doctor $121 for eleven ounces of the stuff. The company soon increased to thirty
I
9
ADAMS COUNTY.
members, all of whom were miserably duped by the wily doctor. This gang of swindlers was prosecuted, and found guilty of "cheating and de- frauding by means of pretended spirits, certain circles, brown powder, and other compositions called mineral eliximer." The doctor was fined ninety dollars, and sentenced to two years confinement in the penitentiary.
LETTER OF THOMAS BARTON .*
Reading Township, (Adams co.) Aug. 21, 1756.
HONORED SIR :
I send your Honor the enclosed petition, at the solicitation of a great number of people. The complicated distresses of these poor creatures are beyond expression. What few inhabitants remained in Cumberland are daily flying from thence ; so that in three or four days it will be totally re- linquished.
Marsh creek is now the frontier, and such a panic has seized the hearts of people in general, that unless we have soon some favorable turn in our affairs, I am afraid that the enemy need not long be at the pains to dis- pute a claim to these two counties.
I hope your Honor will pardon this freedom, and do me the justice to believe that I am, with gratitude and truth,
Your Honor's most obedient and humble servant,
RICHARD PETERS, Esq. THO. BARTON.
Many of the settlers on Marsh creek had made their settlement on lands that had been surveyed, or set apart for a Proprietary manor. As the lands were wild, unimproved, and were the property of the Proprietary, remote from the settlements on a frontier, the settlers might readily sup- pose that, like all the other lands, not appropriated by settlers, they were open to settlement. Mr. Peters, as Secretary of the Proprietary, with some assistants, in 1743, went into this settlement, to survey the manor lines, which would include the settlements and improvements of a number, who, for years, had been expending their money, time, and labor, in clearing and improving their supposed homesteads. The settlers, in considerable numbers, forbade the Proprietary agents to proceed with the survey, and on their persisting, broke the Surveyor's chain, and compelled the party to retire. The settlers were prosecuted, but submitted, and accepted leases for a time, and purchased the lands before the leases expired, to the satisfaction of the parties interested.
Upon these settlers devolved the perilous duty of defending the whole settlement from the Indian incursions and ravages in the wars which fol- lowed Braddock's defeat, in 1755. The massacre and dispersion of the inhabitants of the Kittochtinny valley, made Marsh creek settlement a frontier, and as the Indians crossed the Kittochtinny valley and its moun- tains they both massacred, as well as carried off captive many of its in- habitants. They organized themselves into military companies, and in concert with the inhabitants of the Kittochtinny valley, pursued the In-
*This letter, and the following matter came to hand after the account of Marsh Creek settlement had been printed.
2
IO
THE FORMATION OF ADAMS COUNTY.
dians, in their retreats in the western mountains; whilst some of them formed a part of that brave and successful expedition, under the com- mand of Col. Armstrong, which attacked and captured the Indian fort and town of Kittanning, on the Allegheny river, in 1756. The men who had resisted Proprietary agents periled their lives in a distant campaign, across the mountains, to attack the Indians and their French Allies, and defend the land and province of Pennsylvania, against the invasions and devastation of the enemy, whilst the agents and favorites of the same Pro- prietary, with few exceptions, took care to keep themselves at a safe dis- tance from the enemy and dangers. These resolute settlers held on to their lands, as a permanent abode for their families, and when the war of the Revolution broke out, more willing or brave hearts, and higher patri- otic feeling, were not to be found in the colonies.
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