USA > Pennsylvania > Fayette County > Uniontown > A history of Uniontown : the county seat of Fayette County, Pennsylvania > Part 27
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A fine spring was on this property, which when conveyed through wooden pipes to the tan yard of John Miller, supplied the vats with running water all the time a tan yard was in operation there. This spring was the constant supply for a great portion of the neighborhood until the introduction of city water. It was always a favorite resort for strollers who wished a cooling draught of sparkling water.
A small two-roomed log house stood on the high bank facing this spring, and was usually occupied by men employed at the tan yard. Billy Bleeks was one of the many who have lived in this house, and it was he who set out the row of Lombardy poplars that graced the front of this property for so many years. Billy Bleeks was a private in Captain Thomas Collins' company in the war of 1812. Isaac Stimmell was for several years a tenant in this log house and worked at the tan yard.
Teagel Trader purchased 91.75 feet frontage of this prop- erty, running back a considerable distance, including the spring. Mr. Trader sold to Daniel Chisholm who in 1906, moved the frame house which stood next to the First Presbyterian church, and built by Mrs. William G. Guiler, to this lot, immediately south of the spring, and occupied it as a residence.
Robert Knight bought of Eli Cope a lot of 47 feet frontage bounded on the south by an alley, November 26, 1870, and erected thereon a frame dwelling and occupied as such for some time. Elijah Brownfield purchased this property, and after occupying the Knight house some time, erected another on the same lot and moved into the new building.
History of Uniontown, Pennsylvania. 279
Lot No. 30 in Henry's Addition was immediately south of the 20-foot alley donated by william McArthur for public use. This was the last full lot in Henry's Addition on Morgantown street; and in William McArthur's deed to Jacob Beeson it is recited that this lot, No. 30, was known as the Martin Myers lot, 1798, yet there is no evidence that Martin Myers ever had a deed for it.
Ezra Fell purchased lots Nos. 29 and 30 from Henry Beeson, September 18, 1807, for $50. Mr. Fell was a saddle-tree maker by trade and carried on that business for many years. He lived in the same old log house still standing on the south side of the alley above mentioned. He advertised that he would make men's saddle-trees at $7 per dozen and women's at $10 per dozen. Mr. Fell owned other property on the opposite side of the street and some out-lots. He moved out the Morgantown road about a mile and a half into a small log house which stood on a bluff on the right hand, and a well pump and two locust trees adorned the front yard. Mr. Fell continued to make saddle-trees and also manufactured well pumps after moving to the country. Several members of the Fell family have been manufacturers of well pumps from the earliest history of the town. These pumps were made from oak logs some twelve inches in diameter and bored out with suitable augers, and were calculated to endure for several generations.
In the early history of the town these Fell pumps adorned the sidewalks, and were almost as numerous as the fire-plugs of today, and back in the yards were innumerable of these pumps, which supplied the familes with drinking and cooking water, and the cisterns and rain barrels supplied the soft water.
This property was sold by the sheriff as the property of Ezra Fell to Ellis Baily who transferred it to John Hagan, who, in turn, conveyed part of it to Nicholis Jordan who had lived on and farmed the E. B. Dawson farm for eighteen years, who after occupying this property for two years, sold it in 1869, and removed to Ohio, where he died. Mr. Jordan sold this property to Samuel Hatfield who gave it to his daughter, the wife of George W. Hook, who occupied it a while, when they moved to Grand Ridge, Illinois, and sold it to James T. Gorley who con- veyed it to Lucy Webster, a colored domestic of the town, who with her mother, Sally Curry, made this their home the re- mainder of their lives. Mrs. Curry was born a slave in 1802, and
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died here December 30, 1909, aged 107 years. This property descended to Mrs. Harrison Scott who conveyed it to John Jenkins.
Andrew and Ellis Fuller erected a frame house next south of the above and occupied it as a residence. Daniel K. Moser purchased this property and made it his home.
Arthur James purchased the property next north of the Catholic church which has been used as a dwelling.
John Hagan, who as before stated, owned the two lots, Nos. 29 and 30, deeded about 44 feet of the southern portion of lot No. 29 to the Right-Reverend Michael O'Connor, the first bishop of the diocese of Pittsburg, for $75. This deed bears date of October 21, 1852, and during the following year a brick Roman Catholic church was erected on this lot. The building was con- secrated and used regularly for public service until a new church building was completed on Center street, since which time the old building has been used off and on by other congregations of that denomination.
On December 26, 1796, James Kendall, Jr., purchased lots Nos. 27 and 28 in Henry's Addition for $40.
A large frame house stood partly on lot 28 and partly on 27, and was occupied at various times by different tenants, among whom were Joseph Moore, the step-father of Thomas Fenn, and whose son, William Moore, enlisted in the Mexican war and died at Puebla; John White, another tenant here, was a gunsmith by trade, who offered his services as a hangsman for money.
James Fletcher became the owner of these lots and after his death his executors sold 93 feet frontage of this property to Miss Sophia Stevens, 1858, who with her mother, the widow of Dr. Benjamin Stevens, made her home in a large frame house which stood on this lot. Miss Sophia Stevens will be remembered as one of the old school teachers of the town. She had an innate faculty for teaching and adopted that profession long before the public school system became established, and the children of the town even unto the third generation were her pupils. When West Berkeley street was opened through from Morgan- town street to South Mt. Vernon avenue a part of this prop- erty was condemned, and John G. Stevens, a nephew of Miss Sophia retained some 58.5 feet of the northern part of this prop-
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erty, upon which he built a neat cottage house in 1879, in which he lived since its erection.
West Berkeley street was opened through from Morgan- town street to South Mt. Vernon avenue 40 feet wide in 1896.
Jacob Pritchard purchased the southern part of lot No. 27, January 9, 1847, and lived in a frame house next south of the Stevens house. This lot had a frontage of 45 feet. John Mana- way bought this property and ten and a half feet of it was con- sumed in opening Berkeley street. Walter W. Laughead bought the remainder of the Pritchard lot and erected thereon a two- story frame store room and dwelling, facing on Morgantown street and a double frame dwelling facing on Berkeley street.
Joseph Pryor purchased lots Nos. 24, 25 and 26 in Henry's Addition, December 26, 1797, for $150. These lots were sold back to Henry Beeson at sheriff's sale, September 13, 1805, who the same day transferred them to John Stiles, and Stiles, on January 31, 1822, sold them to Priscilla Wood, the wife of Lewis Wood, who on August 3, 1831, conveyed the same to Joseph Collins, who on June 22, 1833, conveyed the same to Dr. John F. Braddee. These lots, containing one and a half acres, constituted part of the hitching places for the horses and teams of his patients.
Soon after Dr. Braddee was sent to the penitentiary for robbing the mails, his property was seized upon and sold by the sheriff, and at such a sale on September 8, 1841, Adam Lutz purchased a row of lots on the west side of Morgantown street, beginning at the James Fletcher lot and running southward 297 feet to the Benjamin Hellen lot, for $290.
Adam Lutz was a Dutchman and for a time was employed as watchman by the town council. Early in the morning of the 29th of December, 1848, Adam discovered a party of several persons in an alley at the west end of town, and in attempting to make an arrest, was stabbed by one of the party. He was conveyed to his home, and on the following day made deposi- tion implicating a notorious female named Lucinda Tucker, Frederick Raymer and Samuel Betts. The Tucker woman and Raymer were arrested and placed in jail, but Betts fled the country. Mr. Lutz lingered until the 13th of January following, when he died. A post mortem revealed that Mr. Lutz had been stabbed between the seventh and eighth ribs below the left shoulder blade, penetrating the lung. Betts was apprehended
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in Ohio, and at the March sessions, 1849, all three were placed on trial for murder. The grand jury ignored the case against Raymer, but Betts and the woman were held for trial. Judge James Veech defended the woman, and owing to insufficient evidence to convict, although many witnesses were examined, and the whole community interested in the case, she was ac- quitted. Betts was next tried, and for the same reason he too was acquitted. Betts remained in the town and was known as a quiet, inoffensive citizen, and was subsequently employed as janitor for several years at the public school building.
The Adam Lutz property was advertised at public outcry on the 28th of February, 1857, by John Keffer as executor, at which time James Winterbottom became the purchaser. Mr. H. V. Combs, who announced himself as a veterinary surgeon, occupied this house in 1857. Mr. Combs was a shoemaker by trade and also manufactured brushes ; politically he was a strong Democrat, and always marched in the political parades of that party, and invariably carried a small bantam rooster on the top of a pole, by which he attracted much attention and created considerable merriment. Many tenants occupied this little house since Adam Lutz's time. At the death of James Winterbottom his son, James P. Winterbottom, fell heir to all the property on the west side of Morgantown street of which he died seized. " Polk " Winterbottom, as he is familiarly called, sold this 58 foot lot to D. A. Griffith who tore away the old house in Feb- ruary of 1902 and erected a neat frame residence on its site.
James Winterbottom erected on a 47 foot lot next south of the Adam Lutz house, a double frame tenement which has since been occupied by various families. Next south of the double frame, " Polk " Winterbottom erected a frame dwelling and oc- cupied as such for some years and sold it to Samuel Fouch who occupied it. He also built another dwelling next south of the above on a 25 foot lot, in 1881, and George Stacy was the first tenant who occupied it for several years until his death. Mrs. Kyle purchased this property and at her death it descended to her daughter, Mrs. Lucius Stacy. This lot marks the southern limit of the James Winterbottom purchase of the Adam Lutz estate, and which comprehended about 25 feet more than the original lots, 25 and 26 in Henry's Addition.
Just south of the part of the Adam Lutz estate sold to James Winterbottom, was a lot of 50 foot frontage which was
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sold at public outcry February 26, 1853, to William H. Murphy and Thomas Jaquett for $101.50. Polk Winterbottom bought the northern half of this lot and erected thereon a frame dwell- ing which he sold to Miles Anderson, whose widow still owns it. The southern half of this lot was sold to Samuel Gadd who erected thereon a frame dwelling and after occupying it for several years sold it to William Cloud who occupied it. This completes lot No. 24 in the original plan.
Jeremiah Gard purchased lot No. 23 in Henry's Addition, December 26, 1797, for $25. Mr. Gard owned a tract of land in South Union township, of 248 acres, before 1780, which ad- joined Col. Thomas Gaddis. In 1791 he built a flouring mill on a branch of Redstone creek, since known as the Hutchinson mill. Here he conducted a carding machine, a fulling mill, and manufactured linseed oil and grain scythes. He served as a private in Captain William Crawford's ill-fated expedition against the Indians. He died upon his farm and left three sons, Daniel, Simeon and Jeremiah, Jr., who all settled near their father, but after his death they all moved to Ohio.
Jeremiah Gard conveyed this lot to Benjamin Hellen, March 23, 1811, and subsequently Col. Ben Brownfield came into possession of this lot and built thereon a brick residence for his son, Elmer Brownfield. Col. Ben sold the lot to Benja- min Courtney, who lived here until his death. Mr. Courtney's heirs sold this lot, April 2, 1870, to Nancy B. Clark, it then being in the occupancy of William Dawson. Nancy B. Clark, wife of William M. Clark, March 14, 1871, transferred this to Robert Patterson who on May 10, 1883, sold 36.5 feet of the north- ern part of the lot to Robert Fuller, Jr., who erected thereon a frame dwelling and it was conveyed to Joseph Fouch and at his death it descended to his heirs.
Robert Patterson conveyed the southern part of this lot, of 40 feet on which stood the brick house erected by Col. Ben Brownfield, to his son, John W. Patterson, together with several other lots, June 19, 1903. John W. Patterson conveyed this property to Charles H. Plummer, who added many im- provements to it.
Jacob Johnson purchased lots Nos. 21 and 22 in Henry's Addition, February 27, 1802, for $82. Mr. Johnson and Comfort, his wife, conveyed these lots to Lydia Huffman, November 27, 1806. Mr. Johnson was a resident of Georges township, near
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the Tent meeting-house where he owned a farm. He was knowi to bring wagon loads of peaches to town and if he could no get his price for them he would throw them into the road as he went home. In a newspaper of October 14, 1829, appeared the following advertisement : " My wife, Comfort, has left my bed and board without just cause or provocation and I hereby warn all person against trusting her on my account, as I will pay no bills of her contracting." The above was bad enough, but there was still added, "She is Comfort by name, but no comfort to me." Mrs. Johnson had already made application for a divorce. Lydia Huffman, on February 21, 1811, conveyed these two lots to Benjamin Hellen.
Robert Patterson subsequently came into possession of these lots and sold off No. 22 to C. W. Pyle who built a com- fortable frame dwelling on the northern part of the lot and occu- pied it for some time. William Trader bought this property for a home for his daughter, and it was subsequently sold to Mrs. Phebe White who made it her home. Basil B. Brownfield pur- chased the southern part of this lot and erected thereon a modern frame dwelling lining on Summit avenue. Mr. Pat- terson opened out Summit avenue and on it laid off a number of small building lots. O. P. Markle purchased 35 feet of the southern part of lot No. 21 and thereon erected a modern brick dwelling in which he lived for some years, when he sold it to Mrs. Isaac Williams who made it her home until her death, February 19, 1904, since which it has passed into other hands.
This property was the southern limit of "Henry's Ad- dition " on the western side of Morgantown street.
Anthony Swain purchased from Henry Beeson four acres of ground immediately south of Henry's Addition, on the west side of Morgantown street, March 13, 1792, for 40 pounds, a little over $26 per acre. This lot ran from lot No. 21 south- ward 371.91 feet on the Morgantown road, to the southern line of Mr. Beeson's tract. Mr. Swain lived in a log house on this lot and kept a tavern. This old log house was built in two parts which parts were connected by a hall, thus making one long house. Hiram Swain carried on the chair making business here in 1815.
Anthony Swain purchased also a lot from Benjamin Devore, Nov. 10, 1804, immediately south of his former purchase, front- ing 112 feet on Morgantown street.
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Benjamin Hellen purchased this property from Anthony Swain in 1809, and lived for a while in the log house. Among the many occupants of this old house may be mentioned Morgan A. Miller who, as early as 1830, conducted a tavern here. This location was known in Miller's advertisement as " Prospect Hill " and his tavern was a great resort for drinkers. On one occasion when a crowd were carousing at this tavern a tomb- stone maker was requested to compose an epitaph appropriate for Miller's tombstone when he quickly produced the following : " Here lies the body of Morgan Miller, Who has drunk the whisky of many a'stiller, He once lived up on Prospect Hill, And sold his whisky by the gill." Mr. Miller's wife, Polly, was a daughter of "Granny Thomas," and a sister to Capt. Hugh Gorley's wife. Mr. Miller is mentioned elsewhere.
The notorious Dr. John F. Braddee first located in this property upon settling in Uniontown as early as 1829, and here practiced his profession until he purchased the Thomas Irwin property, as mentioned elsewhere. Robert Patterson lived in one part of this house when he first came to this town, and Samuel Dorsey, whose wife was a daughter of Peter Hook, lived in the southern part of the house and owned one acre and a half of land adjoining. Mrs. Dorsey's first husband was Rev. Thomas Daughiday, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church. Samuel Dorsey was a surveyor by occupation. Mrs. Dorsey was one of the old time school teachers of the town.
After several transfers this property and much more came into possession of Robert Patterson until he owned over twelve hundred feet of a frontage on Morgantown street, through which he laid off Summit avenue on which he laid off several lots. Next south of the Markle lot, and from part of the Anthony Swain lot he sold a 35-foot lot to Mrs. Rachel McCray upon which was built a frame dwelling which was subsequently owned by Elliott Finley. John McDonald bought the next lot and erected a frame house which he sold to Lin T. Hayden who improved it and sold it. The next house is a part of the old log building before mentioned which with several acres Mr. Patter- son sold to George A. McCormick who sold the part still stand- ing to Alexander Chisholm who greatly improved it and occupied it for several years. George McCormick tore away the southern part of the old building and opened out Dunkard avenue, on which he sold several lots.
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South of Dunkard avenue and on the Priscilla Dorsey tra stood quite an orchard of apple trees. Julia Sutton purchase one and a half acres south of Dunkard avenue from Robe Patterson and after living here a while sold to John F. Smit who sold to Alonzo Nabors. Albert Wheeler bought the north ern part of this lot, next to Dunkard avenue, on which is frame dwelling, and Mrs. Susan Deffenbaugh purchased th southern part of the Nabors lot. This was the last lot on th west side of Morgantown street within the borough. The larg white oak tree that marked a corner of the Anthony Swain lo was also a corner of the Henry Beeson tract, the Tomlinsor " Trial " tract and of the William Campbell tract and also a corner of the original borough line. This venerable oak was cut down in 1894 and sawed into wagon stuff.
Isaac Wood purchased from various parties several small tracts, making in all nearly 14 acres, extending from what is now Lebanon avenue northward to about the Anthony Swain tract. Mr. Wood, in 1856, conveyed it all to Lucinda Patterson, wife of Robert Patterson, and here Mr. and Mrs. Patterson ended their days.
Robert Patterson was of Scotch ancestry and was born in Ireland, March 4, 1808, and settled in Uniontown in 1842. For many years he was a leading and prosperous butcher in the town, and by his shrewd business methods and industry he ac- cumulated a handsome fortune, and owned much valuable real estate. Sometime before his death Mr. Patterson erected a com- fortable brick residence a short distance south of the old log building in which he had lived so long, and in this he died June 14, 1904, aged over 96 years.
Thomas J. Moyer purchased a part of the Patterson estate, including the brick residence, beginning at Lebanon avenue and facing 155 feet on Morgantown street.
On the South side of Lebanon avenue stood a two-story log house which Peter Hook owned and occupied after retiring from the hat business in which he had for many years been en- gaged. While residing here he gave a dinner to Captain Thomas Collins' company on the eve of their departure to the war of 1812. Peter Hook had one son and two daughters. The son, Peter Hook, Jr., married Amelia Thomas, and was the father of Peter Uriah Hook, the well remembered auctioneer, merchant and hotel proprietor. His widow subsequently married Captain
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Hugh Gorley. Peter Hook, Jr., died on a steamboat on the Mississippi river and was buried on the river bank. The daugh- ter Priscilla, became the wife of Rev. Thomas Daughiday, a Methodist Episcopal minister, who died October 12, 1810, leav- ing one daughter. She subsequently married Samuel Dorsey, a school teacher and surveyor, who died a short time after this marriage. Aunt Dorsey, as she was affectionately called, taught school for many years and died at a good old age. The other daughter, Drusilla, married Benjamin Hellen, who had worked at the hatting business with Mr. Hook, and who succeeded him in the business. Peter Hook died March 12, 1818, in the 65th year of his age, and was buried in the old Methodist graveyard on Peter street. His widow, Isabella Hook, died in August, 1824, aged 75 years. Peter Hook had acquired much real estate to which his son-in-law, Benjamin Hellen, succeeded.
Dad (Thomas) McCulloch bought this old log house and about one acre of ground and here kept a cake and beer shop for some time. Granny Thomas also lived and kept a cake and beer shop in this property for some time. Her daughter Polly mar- ried Morgan A. Miller ; Amelia married first Peter Hook, Jr., and subsequently Capt. Hugh Gorley and Betsy married a Mr. Tol- bert. Nathaniel Brownfield purchased this property and in the course of years it became a nuisance on account of objectionable tenants and one night some of the neighbors tore away some of the logs and rendered the building untenantable. Basil B. Brownfield purchased the lot on which this old building stood and erected thereon a modern frame residence and occupied it as such. Nathaniel Brownfield purchased nine acres of land from Rev. William Brownfield lying on the west side of the Morgantown road, which after farming for some years, on April 8, 1893, he conveyed this with the residue of his fine farm to Joseph Wolf of the town of Braddock who laid off a plan of lots known as the Wolf Addition. These lots were put on the market, 1906, and afforded fine sites for residences.
Clarence McClure, a plumber, built a modern brick house next south of the B. B. Brownfield residence and occupied it a few years and moved to Riverside, California in 1891. Sea- right Brown purchased the property and occupied it as a resi- dence. Passing on southward comfortable and tasty homes were built by E. H. McClelland, C. F. Smith. Then came Al- lard street, then the residence of W. K. Talman, then Warren
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street, then the home of John Price, then Newmon street, then the vacant lot of Taylor Dawson, then two vacant lots to the borough line.
Benjamin Hellen, as before stated, inherited much of the Peter Hook estate much of which extended from the southern limits of Uniontown to about one mile out the Morgantown road ; and after a successful business career in the town, Mr. Hellen moved to his country home, known as Cottage Hill, about half a mile south of town, in 1835. He was the son of William and Dorcas Johnson Hellen and was born near Frederick, Maryland, October 7, 1779. He learned the hatting trade and came to Union- town in 1802, where he secured employment under Peter Hook who was then in business on the lot now occupied by the resi- dence of the late Hon. John K. Ewing. On May 9, 1803, he was married to Drusilla Hook, the sixteen-year-old daughter of his employer, by whom he had 15 children, of whom the following grew to maturity, viz .: Peter Hook Hellen, a well known mer- chant of the town, and who built the Tremont building on the southeast corner of Main and Morgantown streets; Minerva, who married William Wilson, also a hatter by trade, and a well known banker of the town; William, a student of medicine, who died at the age of 28 years; Norval H., once a merchant of the town and who moved to Webster city, Iowa; Benjamin Frank- lin, a merchant and justice of the peace of this place, and who inherited Cottage Hill and much other property ; Jane, who mar- ried Jesse Beeson the well remembered miller of the town; Drusilla, who married Burgess Hammond of New Market, Mary- land; Harriet, who married Thomas J. McClurg of Pittsburgh, and who were both deaf mutes; and Hellen M., whose first husband was John McMacken and whose second husband was John A. Patton. Mrs. Hellen was born January 11, 1786, and died November 10, 1856. Mr. Hellen died January 3, 1864. They were buried in the Methodist graveyard on Peter street.
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