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Gc 974.801 W27 cru 1351121
M. L
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01179 8730
GENEALOGY 974.801 W27CRU
1800
WASHINGTON, PA., IN 1901. FROM THE WASHINGTON CEMETERY ON THE SOUTHWEST. [Half-tone by Bragdon, from photograph by Hallam.]
THE
COURTS OF JUSTICE BENCH AND BAR OF
WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
WITH SKETCHES OF THE EARLY COURT-HOUSES, THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM, THE LAW JUDGES, AND THE ROLL OF ATTORNEYS OF THAT COUNTY ; AND A HISTORY OF THE ERECTION AND DEDICATION OF THE COURT-HOUSE OF 1900; WITH PORTRAITS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
BY BOYD CRUMRINE OF THE WASHINGTON COUNTY BAR
" Remember the days of old; Consider the years of many generations; Ask thy father, and he will show thee; Thine elders, and they will tell thee."
-
UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE WASHINGTON BAR ASSOCIATION WASHINGTON, PA. [ ON SALE WITH THE COURT LIBRARIAN, WASHINGTON, PA.] 1902
COPYRIGHT, 1902 BY BOYD CRUMRINE
The Lakeside Press R. R. DONNELLEY & SONS COMPANY CHICAGO
1351121
JUSTICE AND LAW.
Justitia est constans et perpetua voluntas jus suum cuique tribuens : Corp. Jur. Civ., Tit. I.
Jurisprudentia est divinarum atque humanarum rerum notitia, justi atque injusti scientia : Idem, Tit. I., Sec. I.
Juris præcepta sunt hæc: honeste vivere, alterum non lædere, suum cuique tribuere : Idem, Tit. I., Sec. 3.
Expedit enim reipublica, ne quis sua re male utatur: Idem, Tit. VIII., Sec. 2.
Of law there can be no less acknowledged than that her seat is the bosom of God, her voice the harmony of the world. All things in heaven and earth do her homage-the very least as feeling her care, the greatest as not exempted from her power ; both angels and men and creatures, of what condition soever, though each in different sort and manner, yet all with uniform consent, admiring her as the mother of her peace and joy : Hook- er's Eccl. Pol.
iii
$10.00
AND YET MERCY.
POR. Then must the Jew be merciful. SHY. On what compulsion must I? tell me that. POR. The quality of mercy is not strain'd; It droppeth, as the gentle rain from heaven, Upon the place beneath ; it is twice bless'd,- It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes : 'Tis mightiest in the mightiest : it becomes The throned monarch better than his crown : His sceptre shows the force of temporal power, The attribute to awe and majesty, Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings ; But mercy is above the sceptred sway, It is enthroned in the hearts of kings, It is an attribute to God himself; And earthly power doth then show likest God's When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew, Though justice be thy plea, consider this,- That in the course of justice, none of us Should see salvation : we do pray for mercy; And that same prayer doth teach us all to render The deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus much To mitigate the justice of thy plea. -Mer. of Ven., Act IV., Scene 1.
iv
· FOREWORD.
This volume, prepared during the summer and fall of 1901, but containing a utilization of notes of studies in local history covering a period of over twenty years, is chiefly for the information and entertainment of the good people to follow us, with whom an interest in the things of the olden time shall the more and more increase as the years to come shall change into the years of the past.
In the preparation of every part of the work, very great care has been observed, both as to the matters that are of the long ago and as to those that belong to our own day, with, it is believed, a fair degree of success where accuracy was at all possible.
And now, to the great future, and especially to Macaulay's New Zealander or Somebody's Philippino, who, sitting on Wissameking Bridge, may sketch the ruins uncovered about the site of Catfish Camp of old, this volume is respectfully dedicated.
CHRISTMAS, 1901.
B. C.
V
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
IN THE BEGINNING. PAGE
Topographical Description of the Country in 1763, by Lieutenant Thomas Hutchins 1
Council of War at Catfish Camp in 1777 4
Instructions for Frontier Defence, by Patrick Henry, Governor of Virginia
9
ILLUSTRATIONS: Frontispiece ; " In the Beginning" 1
CHAPTER II.
OUR EARLY COURT-HOUSES.
The Boundary Controversy with Virginia 13
The First Court-house (1787-1789) 17
Description of Site before Erection, by William Darby 17
Money Paid out by Contractors for Building 18
Early Currency, Pounds, Shillings, and Pence 22
The Second Court-house (1791-1794) 24
Description of, and of Related Public Buildings 24
Distinguished Lawyers of Those Days 30
PORTRAITS: James Ross (admitted 1784); Joseph Pentecost (1792); Parker Campbell (1794); James Ashbrook (1798); William Baird (1812); Thos, McK. T. McKennan (1814); John S. Brady (1817); John L. Gow (1825); in the order here given 13-31
CHAPTER III.
THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM AND EARLY JUDGES.
Under the Constitution of 1776 32
Colonel David Williamson and William Johnston Elected Justices,
William Johnston Commissioned -
33
Colonel Henry Taylor, President Judge - 35
Colonel Dorsey Pentecost, President Judge 36
Under the Constitution of 1790 37
Alexander Addison, President Judge, 1791-1803 -
39
The Circuit Court Held at Washington, Pa.
46
The Case of Birch v. McMillan, 1 Binn. 178 47
Samuel Roberts, President Judge, 1803-1818 49
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viii
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE
Thomas H. Baird, President Judge, 1818-1838
. 51
Under the Constitution of 1838 53
Nathaniel Ewing, President Judge, 1838-1848 53
Samuel A. Gilmore, President Judge, 1848-1861
55
James Lindsey, President Judge, 1861-1864
57
J. Kennedy Ewing, President Judge, 1864-1865
59 60
Brown B. Chamberlin, President Judge, 1866 Alexander W. Acheson, President Judge, 1866-1876
61
Under the Constitution of 1874
61
The Last of the Associate Judges 62
George S. Hart, President Judge, 1876-1886 64
PORTRAITS: Isaac Leet (1826); Alexander Wilson (1826); James Watson (1831); William McKennan (1837); Judge Addison; Judge Roberts; Judge Baird; Judge N. Ewing; Judge Gilmore; Judge Lindsey; Judge J. K. Ewing; Judge Chamberlin; Judge Acheson; Judge Hart; in the order here given - 32-65
CHAPTER IV.
THE THIRD COURT-HOUSE, 1839-1842.
Cost of Construction 67
Contents of Corner-stone Laid in 1840
68
Justices of the Supreme Court in 1840 69
Court Officials of Washington County in 1840
70
Practising Lawyers in 1840
72
Aged Citizens of the Borough of Washington in 1840
74
Description of Third Court-house
76
Statue of George Washington on Third Court-house -
77
The Court-house Clock 78
The Court-house Bell 78
ILLUSTRATIONS AND PORTRAITS: The Third Court-house in 1882; Robert H. Koontz (1840); Thomas R. Hazzard (1840); William Montgomery (1841); Robert F. Cooper (1842); in the order here given - 67-75
CHAPTER V.
THE FINANCES OF WASHINGTON COUNTY IN 1860.
Commissioners' Account of Expenditures in 1860 79
Expenses of Court for 1860 79
Expenses of Jail for 1860 - 80
Payments to Officers for the year 1860
82
Tax-levy for 1860 84
PORTRAITS: Alexander Murdoch (1843); Thomas H. Baird, Jr. (1846); David S. Wilson (1849); Robert M. Gibson (1853); in the order here given - - - 78-85
ix
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VI.
THE FOURTH COURT-HOUSE, 1900.
PAGE
Approval of the Plans
86
The Petition by the County Commissioners
Indorsements by County Officers 87
97
Report by S. C. Clarke, Court Reporter, as to the Court-houses, etc., Westmoreland, Fayette, and Allegheny Counties
99
Circular and Remonstrance Against Estimated Expenditure
103
Hearing on Objections to Approval of Plans 106
Opinion and Decree Approving Plans 107
Populations in 1840, 1900, Contrasted
112 113
Separate Assessment of Coal Lands in 1900
114
Corporations, Partnerships, Companies Operating in 1900
114
Question for the Future 116
ILLUSTRATIONS AND PORTRAITS: Court-house of 1900, as by pre- liminary plan ; F. J. Osterling, Architect ; Alexander M. Templeton (1892), District Attorney; Samuel C. Clarke and William H. McEnrue, Court Reporters; Joseph T. Hemphill, Sheriff, and John J. Fitzpatrick, Coroner; John I. Carson, Prothonotary, and Charles E. Baker, Clerk of Courts; W. C. Robison, Register of Wills, and W. Frank Penn, Recorder of Deeds; W. Scott Armstrong, County Treasurer, and H. Edgar Mccutcheon, Superintendent of Public Buildings; Frank R. Hall, County Superintendent of Common Schools; "Up in - 86-116
Smoke"; in the order here given
CHAPTER VII.
LAYING OF THE CORNER-STONE; CHANGES.
Address, Hon. J. F. Taylor, A. L. J. 118
Address, Hon. J. A. McIlvaine, P. J. 119
The Contents of the Box Placed in the Corner-stone 121
Petition and Order Changing Inside Finish, etc. 124
Proceedings for the Erection of Court-house and Jail, where
Records Filed 126
CHAPTER VIII.
DESCRIPTION OF THE FOURTH COURT-HOUSE, 1900.
Exterior 127
Interior
132
Frederic Harrison on American Architecture
143
Other Comparative References
X
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
ILLUSTRATIONS: The Fourth Court-house, 1900; South Front and Sheriff's Residence; Mural Tablet, Colonel Hawkins; View from First Floor, left of Main Stairway; View up Front Stairway, Second and Third Corridors; Northeast Corner from First Platform; Northwest Corner from Third Corridor; One-half Dome, from Main Stairway; in the order here given - - 127-144
CHAPTER IX.
THE FIRST JUDICIAL BUSINESS.
The First Grand Jury 145
The First Charge to Grand Jury, McIlvaine, P. J. 146
ILLUSTRATIONS AND PORTRAITS: The First Grand Jury in Court- house of 1900; Judge McIlvaine; in the order here given - 146-150
CHAPTER X.
THE DEDICATION EXERCISES.
Program 152
Letters of Regret
154
Calling to Order, McIlvaine, P. J.
157
Sketch of Judge McIlvaine -
n. 157
Introductory: Theo. B. Noss, Ph. D., Master of Ceremonies
158
Sketch of Dr. Noss n. 158
Prayer, Rev. Frank Fish
160
Sketch of Rev. Fish n. 160
Presentation Address: Mr. J. Murray Clark
162
Sketch of Mr. Clark
n. 162
James G. Blaine, College Student, Statesman, a Tribute
n. 164
Responses:
1. Mr. J. Wiley Day, on Behalf of the Tax-payers 169
Sketch of Mr. Day n. 169
2. Mr. D. S. Fulton, also on Behalf of the Tax-payers 171
Sketch of Mr. Fulton n. 171
3. Mr. James S. Buchanan, also on Behalf of the Tax-payers 174 Sketch of Mr. Buchanan n. 174
4. Hon. J. F. Taylor, A. L. J., on Behalf of the Court 177
Sketch of Judge Taylor -
n. 177
5. Mr. Alexander Wilson (1853), on Behalf of the Bar and County Officers 180
Sketch of Mr. Wilson n. 180
Address: History of the Fourth Court-house, 1900, by Mr. James I. Brownson (1878) - 182
Sketch of Mr. Brownson - n. 182
List of Contractors and Sub-contractors 201
PAGE
xi
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE
Dedicatory Address: Mr. Boyd Crumrine (1861)
204
Sketch of Mr. Crumrine n. 204
Prayer of Benediction: Rev. Father John Faughnan Sketch of Father Faughnan
221
n. 221
Lunch and Dinner by the Ladies of the Washington Hospital, and Evening Reception in the Court-house 222 223
Sermon: Rev. James H. Snowden, D.D.
PORTRAITS AND ILLUSTRATIONS: Bar Association Committee of
Arrangements; Theo. B. Noss, Ph. D .; Rev. Frank Fish; Mr. J. Murray Clark; James G. Blaine, College Student, States- man ; Mr. J. Wiley Day; Mr. D. S. Fulton; Mr. James S. Buchanan; Hon. J. F. Taylor, A. L. J .; Mr. Alexander Wilson (1853); Mr. James I. Brownson (1878); Court-room No. 2, Tay- lor, A. L. J .; Court-room No. 3, for arguments; "Justice," above Portico, to the South; Mr. James Q. McGiffin (1882); "Liberty," above Portico, to the North; Mr. Boyd Crumrine (1861); Washington County until 1788; Virginia Claims in Boundary Controversy; Washington, Pennsylvania, in 1901, from the South; Central Canonsburg in 1901; Rev. Father John Faughnan; The Front Portico; Side View of Front Portico; Sheriff's Residence and Jail; George Washington, on the Dome; in the order here given - 152-233
CHAPTER XI.
DEVELOPMENT IN THE YEAR 1900.
Annual Statement of the County Commissioners for the Year 1900 234
Court Expenses for the Year 1900 237
Jail Expenses for the Year 1900 237
Payments to Officers for the Year 1900 239
Building Fund Statement for the Year 1900 243
Bond Statement for the Year 1900 244
Total Cost of Court-house and Jail of 1900 244
Labor and Materials Fixing up Grounds 246
Extraordinary Expenses 247
Tax-levy for the Year 1900 248
PORTRAITS: John M. Dunn, County Commissioner; William G. Shillito, County Commissioner ; John P. Charlton, County Commissioner; Tom P. Sloan, County Commissioner; George E. Lockhart and William A. Britton, Commissioners' Clerks; in the order here given - 234-248
CHAPTER XII.
THE COURT LIBRARY, BAR ASSOCIATION, ROLL OF ATTORNEYS.
The Court Library, History of 250
The Washington Bar Association, Incorporation of
251
xii
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
Officers and Committees on Organization
Social Meeting of, on December 14, 1901 Subpoena upon Members to Attend -
Addresses
Brown v. Brown, Will Case, Report of Trial
Reminiscences, Music, Banquet
Roll of Attorneys, 1781-1901, in Order of Admission, with Bio- graphical Sketches
PORTRAITS AND ILLUSTRATIONS: Court Library, Southwest Corner;
Miss Alice E. Jones, Court Librarian; Bar Association Recog- nizance to be Good; Judge's Chamber, McIlvaine, P. J .; Judge's Chamber, Taylor, A. L. J .; Group Portraits: Prac- tising Attorneys, admitted 1851-1878; Practising Attorneys, Admitted 1879-1889; Practising Attorneys, Admitted 1890-1896; Practising Attorneys, Admitted 1897-1901; in the order here given
250-296
CHAPTER XIII.
LISTS OF JUDGES AND COUNTY OFFICERS.
President Judges, List of, from 1781 301
Additional Law Judges, from 1895 302
Associate Judges, List of, from 1781 302
Deputy Attorneys-General, List of, from 1781
304
District Attorneys, List of, from 1781
305
Sheriffs, List of, from 1781 306
Coroners, List of, from 1781
307
Prothonotaries, List of, from 1781
308
Clerks of Courts, List of, from 1781 -
310
Registers of Wills, List of, from 1781
311
Recorders of Deeds, List of, from 1781
312
County Commissioners, List of, from 1781
313
Clerks to Commissioners, List of, from 1781
317
County Treasurers, List of, from 1781 - 318
County Superintendents of Common Schools, List of, from 1854 - 319
CHAPTER XIV.
ALPHABETICAL LIST OF ATTORNEYS.
Alphabetical List of Attorneys, 1781-1901
321
Conclusion 336
Index 341
PORTRAITS AND ILLUSTRATIONS : Two Youths not Admitted; "Where It was Done"; Map of Washington County in 1901; in the order here given - 336-353
PAGE 252 253
254 255 256 259
261
"IN THE BEGINNING."
I.
IN THE BEGINNING.
WHAT manner of country was this of ours before our fathers moved into it to stay? The question is answered authoritatively by Captain Thomas Hutchins, who was here to see it for himself and to study it before there were any settled homes of white men on our hills or in our valleys.
Hutchins was a lieutenant and engineer with Colonel Bouquet of the British army in America. Major William Grant, under Colonel Bouquet, who was under General Forbes on the expedition for the capture of Fort Duquesne from the French, fought the bloody battle with the French and Indians on September 14, 1758, on Grant's Hill, where the Allegheny County court-house now stands, and was disastrously defeated. In this battle Lieutenant John Baird, the father of Dr. Absalom Baird, the ancestor of the Baird family of Washington, was killed.
In a later expedition for the relief of Fort Pitt, during Pontiac's Conspiracy, the British under Bouquet, then gen- eral, on August 5, 1763, fought the terrible battle with the Indians at Bushy Run, not far to the east of Fort Pitt and the new town of Pittsburg, defeating the Indians with great slaughter and relieving Fort Pitt. On what is known as his second expedition, Bouquet, in September, 1764, built his well-known blockhouse, still standing in Pittsburg as he built it, and now under the care of the Daughters of the Revolution.
Lieutenant (afterward Captain) Hutchins, this engineer with Bouquet in one or more or all these expeditions, re- mained west of the Alleghanies, and surveyed the lands claimed by the Indiana Company under a grant from the Indians, these lying in what is now West Virginia, about
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COURTS OF JUSTICE, BENCH, AND BAR.
the southwestern corner of Pennsylvania. A map of them made by Hutchins is before the writer now, bearing the date 1763.
The Monongahela (or Mohongalo) has its headwaters in those lands, and flows out of West Virginia northwardly to Pittsburg, where it joins with the Allegheny (Allegany) to form the Ohio (or Splawacipiki), which flows thence southwardly, forming with the Monongahela an immense horseshoe, so to speak. The lands lying within that horse- shoe form a part of the country described by Hutchins in a work entitled "A Topographical Description of Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and North Carolina, etc., by Thomas Hutchins, Capt. in the 60th Regiment of Foot," London, 1778, from which the following is quoted:
"The lands which lie upon the Ohio, at the mouths of and between the above creeks [Little Kanawha, Buffalo, Fishing, Wheeling, and other creeks previously named ], also consist of rich intervals and very fine farming grounds. The whole country abounds in Bear, Elks, Buffaloe, Deer, Turkeys, &c. - An unquestionable proof of the extraordi- nary goodness of its soil."
- Here he makes a foot-note as follows:
"Indiana, as may be seen in my map, lies within the territory here described. It contains about three millions and a half of Acres, and was granted to Samuel Wharton, William Trent, and George Morgan, Esquires, and a few other persons, in 1763."
- The latitude of Fort Pitt, at the confluence of the Alle- gheny and the Monongahela, is given as 40° 31' 44," and he proceeds:
"In the year 1760, a small town, called Pittsburg, was built near Fort Pitt, and about 200 families resided in it; but upon the Indian war breaking out (in the month of May 1763) they abandoned their houses and retired into the fort. In the year 1765 the present town of Pittsburg was laid out. It is built on the eastern bank of the River Monongahela, about 200 yards from Fort Pitt.
3
IN THE BEGINNING.
"The Rapids [a distance of 705 computed miles from Fort Pitt] are nearly in latitude 38° 8', and the only Indian village (in 1766) on the banks of the Ohio River, between them and Fort Pitt, was on the northwest side, 75 miles below Pittsburg, called the Mingo town; it contained 60 families.
"The country on both sides of the Ohio, extending South- easterly and South-westerly, from Fort Pitt to the Missis- sippi, and watered by the Ohio River and its branches, contains at least a million square miles, and it may with truth be affirmed, that no part of the globe is blessed with a more healthful air or climate; watered with more navigable rivers and branches, communicating with the Atlantic Ocean by the rivers Potowmack, James, Rappahannock, Mississippi and St. Lawrence; or capable of producing with less labor and expence, Indian Corn, Buckwheat, Rye, Oats, Barley, Flax, Hemp, Tobacco, Rice, Silk, Potash, &c., than the country under consideration. And although there are considerable quantities of high lands for about 250 miles (on both sides the river Ohio), southwardly from Fort Pitt, yet even the summits of most of the Hills are covered with a deep rich soil, fit for the culture of Flax and Hemp; and it may also be added that no soil can possibly yield larger crops of red and white Clover, and other useful grasses than this does."
- The author quotes here in a foot-note from the journal of Colonel Gordon, a traveler of an earlier date, describing the same country as follows:
"This country may, from a proper knowledge, be affirmed to be the most healthy, the most pleasant, the most commodious, the most fertile spot on earth known to the European people."
Such were the lands, a part of which we now call our own, at the time they were occupied by our forefathers, more than one hundred and twenty-five years ago; and we now proceed to show what has been done upon them, in the way of estab- lishing civil government, and law and order, and courts of justice, and public buildings in which to hold them.
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COURTS OF JUSTICE, BENCH, AND BAR.
But we are not quite ready for that.
The foregoing quotation shows a bird's-eye view of the surface of the country of which our county forms a part, as it was in 1763. Come down fourteen years later, to the year 1777. At this time our county was a part of Westmoreland County, which had been erected by the act of the Pennsyl- vania legislature of February 26, 1773: 1 Dall. L. 663; 2 Carey & B. 88; 1 Sm. L. 407. But Virginia, also, claimed jurisdiction over the whole of what is now Westmoreland, Allegheny, Fayette, Washington, and Greene counties, had created thereof what she called her District of West Augusta, and had divided it into three Virginia counties, Yohogania, Monongalia, and Ohio. In 1777, however, the Pennsylvania and Virginia adherents were not quarreling with each other so much as they had been, for the War of the Revolution was then on, and many of the men from the Monongahela Valley had gone across the mountains to the east to fight King George's armies, and those who had not gone had enough to do to protect their homes and families from the raids of the Indians, with a great lack of guns and ammunition with which to do it. Observe that our own county had not yet been formed, and that on the west side of the Monongahela River the Virginia adherents, and Pennsylvanians who were patriotic enough to act with them in the emergency, had the most part to do in the direction of public affairs.
There are before the writer papers which came to him through the late Mr. David T. Morgan from the papers of his grandfather, Colonel George Morgan, who in 1777 was the government Indian agent at Pittsburg. They bear such indorsements by Colonel Morgan as show that they had been transmitted to him officially, and now, one hundred and twen- ty-four years afterward, they are used here to indicate out of what conditions our county and its good neighbors have arisen. They are copied here verbatim et literatim:
" At a Council of War held at Catfish-Camp in the Dis- trict of West Augusta on Tueasday the 28th day of January, Anno Dom., 1777.
P
5
IN THE BEGINNING.
Present -
Dorsey Pentecost, Co. Lieut., John Cannon, Col., Isaac Cox, Lieut, Col., Henry Taylor, Maj.,
Yohogania County.
David Shepherd, Co. Lieut., Silas Hedge, Col.,
David McClure, Lieut. Col.,
Samuel Mccullough, Maj.,
-
Monangahela County.
Captains-
Captains-
John Munn,
David Andrew,
David Owings, Henry Hogland,
John Wall,
John Pearce Duvall,
Cornelias Thompson,
James Brinton,
Gabriel Cox,
Vinson Colvin,
Michael Rawlings,
James Buchannon,
William Scott,
Abner Howell,
Joseph Ogle,
Charles Crecraft,
William Price,
John Mitchell,
Joseph Tumblenson,
John Hogland,
Benjamin Frye,
Reason Virgin,
Matthew Richey,
William Harrod,
Samuel Meason,
David Williamson,
Jacob Lister,
Joseph Cisnesy,
Peter Reasoner,
Charles Martin,
James Rogers,
Owin Daviss.
"Colonel Dorsey Pentecost was unanimously Chosen Presi- dent of this Council, whereupon Col. Morgan & Col. Shepherd Conducted him to his seat.
"Col. David McClure was unanimously Chosen Clark.
" The President Informed the Council of the Importance of the Business for which he had convened them, and Con-
Ohio County.
Zacharia Morgan, Co. Lieut., John Evins, Major,
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COURTS OF JUSTICE, BENCH, AND BAR.
cluded with Recommending Deliberation in their Councils, Decency & decorum in their Debates; and then Produced two letters from his Excellency the Governor dated the 9th & 13th of December last, Signifying the necessity of a spedy & vigarous Exertion of the Militia, and putting them in a proper state of Defence, &c., &c.
"Upon Motion made Resolved,
" That Col. Dorsey Pentecost, Col. Shepherd, Col. Morgan, Col. Cannon, Capt. Richey, Col. McClure, Maj. Evins, Capt. Mitchell & Capt. Martin be appointed a Select Council to Consider of the before mentioned letters, and make their Report to this Council, to be [by ] them Re-considered.
" And the Council adjourned until Tomorrow, 10 O'Clock.
"January 29, 1777.
"The Council met according to adjournment, and Present as yesterday.
" Col. Isaac Cox was unanimously Chosen Vice-President.
" Col. Pentecost from the Select Council delivered the fol- lowing Resolutions which he read in his place and then handed them to the Clark's Table, where they ware read a Second Time.
" Resolved, That it is the opinion of your Committee that the following is Proper Places for Magazines in the District of West Augusta (Vizt) the House of Gabriel Cox in the County of Yohogania, the House of John Swearingen in the County of Monongahela, & the House of David Shep- herd in the County of Ohio, and that the six Tunns of Led to be sent to this district mentioned in his Excellency's Let- ter of the 13th of December Last, address'd to Col. Pente- cost, be divided in the following manner and deposited at the before mentioned places (Vizt), for Yohogania County 23 Tunns, for the Monongahela County 2} Tunns, & for the Ohio County 14 Quarter Tunns, being (as this Committee conceives ) as equal a Division of the said Led and other am- munition that may be sent to this District, according to the number of People in each County as may be.
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