USA > Pennsylvania > A history of the Juniata Valley and its people, Volume I > Part 15
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"That your Petitioners believe, as to numbers of those above and below the Narrows, very little difference exists, but claim the majority, and contend the town of Mifflin to be much more central and con- venient than Lewistown, taking into view the local situation of Mifflin County as it at present stands; also a further and very material accom- modation of Greenwood township, in Cumberland, Mahantango and Beaver Dam townships, in Northumberland, and Dublin, in Hunting- don Counties, the three latter of whom have petitioned to be annexed to Mifflin County on proviso that the Seat of Justice be removed to the town of Mifflin."
Upon the refusal of the legislature to grant the request of the peti- tioners, an agitation was started for a division of the county of Mifflin. More than ten years elapsed before this movement assumed anything like definite shape, but the people below the Narrows sent a petition, signed by a large majority of the voters living in that part of the county, to the legislature of 1813, praying for the erection of a new county. Early in February of that year there was introduced in the state senate a bill entitled "An act erecting that part of Mifflin county which lies east of and below the Black Log mountain and Long Nar- rows into a separate county." After some discussion the title of the measure was changed to "An act erecting part of Mifflin county into a separate county, to be called Juniata," and hopes were entertained
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that it would become a law. It was finally defeated, however, and the petitioners buckled on their armor for another contest. Again the work of circulating petitions for a division of the county was com- menced, but this time the people living above the Narrows got up a counter petition, the county officers and tavern-keepers of Lewistown being particularly active in their opposition.
The statement in the petition of 1801, that "numbers who live below the Long Narrows (and have the same to pass through to get to Lewistown) live at a distance of 37 miles from thence," could neither be denied nor ignored, and, to provide for a shorter route, the opponents of division petitioned the court "for a road across the moun- tains from Lewistown into Tuscarora valley." Road viewers were appointed and made a favorable report, which was confirmed by the court, and a road six feet in width was ordered to be laid out, but the townships through which it passed refused to open it. An appro- priation of $500 to aid in its construction was made by the legislature of 1816, and the money was used to build part of the road from Lewis- town to the Licking creek valley. Concerning this road, Everts, Peck & Richards' "History of the Susquehanna and Juniata Valleys," pub- lished in 1886, says: "It has in some places a grade of twenty-four degrees, or seven feet to the perch, and it is not known that any one ever risked his neck or that of his horse in riding down that road, and had it been finished it would have taken five thousand dollars and then been utterly unfit for any vehicle except a one-wheeled cart. It crossed the Blue Ridge near the route of the Fort Granville path, and is sometimes mistaken for it, though both may yet be easily found. In 1818. a road was laid out from the paper-mill to intersect this tavern- keeper's road. Few people in Licking Creek to-day know they have a laid-out road to Lewistown."
That the construction of this road failed to pacify the people below the Narrows is evidenced by the fact that another bill providing for a division of Mifflin county passed the senate in the session of 1816, but failed to pass the house. Two years later, in the session of 1818-19, another petition came before the legislature praying for a division of the county. After calling attention to the fact that petitions had been presented to the general assembly every year for seven years, and that these petitions had been signed by from 11,000 to 13,000 bona fide
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residents of that part of the county below the Narrows, the petition goes on to show the existing conditions, as follows :
"The old townships of Milford and Fermanagh alone in our pro- posed new county are now nearly as numerous and much more wealthy, and will sell for more money than all the county of Mifflin would have done at the time of its erection, in 1789. In our proposed new county we have twenty-eight grist and merchant mills, forty-nine saw-mills, three fulling mills, thirteen carding machines, three oil-mills and one complete paper mill, and it will be seen by the printed documents here- with submitted that there are seventeen counties in the State that are fewer in number than either the old or new county would be if divided, and twenty counties in the State in which the lands are not valued half as high as in Mifflin county, and some of them are entitled to two mem- bers.
"The people below these Narrows have all to come from east, south, and west to one entering place, and then go up the Long Nar- rows and through the mountains, a distance of nine or ten miles- the whole distance they have to travel to the seat of justice is from nine to forty miles.
"Nature has fixed a boundary, which ought, at least, to separate counties ; that boundary is a chain of high mountains between Mifflin- town and Lewistown. Besides, there exists so much prejudice and jealousy between the people above and those below that almost all public improvement is at a stand while the question is pending.
"Therefore your memorialists most solemnly pray your honorable bodies to restore harmony and good will among the people by putting this long-litigated question and the people to rest by passing a law to divide the county agreeably to the prayers of the petitioners, and they will, as in duty bound, ever pray."
Petitions of protest from the citizens living above the Narrows were also presented, and their influence seemed to weigh more with the members of the legislature than did the petition from those living below, as no action was taken on the question during the session. Discour- aged by repeated defeats and rebuffs, the citizens of the southern and western townships for a time ceased their efforts to secure the estab- lishment of a new county. With this cessation the people above the Narrows became more active. In 1823 they exerted their influence to have Lack township annexed to Perry county, and, five years later, a bill was introduced in the general assembly to annex Greenwood town- ship to Union county, which then included the present county of Sny-
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der. The object of these measures was to get rid of some of the most active advocates of county division-those who had to travel farthest to reach Lewistown-and to hold the central part of what is now Juniata county to Mifflin. Neither of the bills passed, however, and the boundaries of Mifflin county remained unchanged.
In 1830 John Cummins, who lived below the Narrows, was elected to represent Mifflin county in the lower house of the state legislature. His election gave the friends of division fresh hope, and he did not disappoint them. Early in the session he introduced a bill providing for the erection of a new county, to be called Juniata, secured its passage in the house, and, after it was sent to the senate, he guarded it with zealous care until it finally passed that body, on the last day of February, 1831, by a vote of 18 to 12. The measure was approved by Governor Wolfe on March 2, 1831, and the long dispute was settled, Juniata county taking her place in the great Commonwealth of Penn- sylvania as a separate and independent organization.
Section I of the bill provided "That all that part of Mifflin county laying south and east of a line beginning on the summit of Black Log Mountain, where the Huntingdon county line crosses the same, and running thence along the summit thereof to the Juniata River ; thence along the same to a marked black oak, standing by the road on the north side of said river, about the middle of the Long Narrows, known as a line-tree between Derry and Fermanagh townships, in said county ; thence along the summit of Shade Mountain to the line of Union county, and thence along said line down Mahantango Creek to the Susquehanna river, shall be and the same is hereby erected into a separate county, to be called Juniata."
The section relating to the location of the county seat and the manner in which such site should be selected was as follows: "That the Governor be and he is hereby authorized and required, on or before the first day of May next ensuing, to appoint three discreet and disin- terested persons, not residents in the counties of Mifflin or Juniata, whose duty it shall be to fix on a proper and convenient site for a court- house, prison, and county offices within the aforesaid county of Juniata, as near the center thereof as circumstances will admit, having regard to the convenience of roads, territory, population, and the accommoda- tion of the people of the said county generally."
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In the exercise of the authority thus vested in him Governor Wolfe appointed Philip Benner, of Centre county; Joel Baily, of Dauphin, and Chauncey Frisbie, of Bradford, commissioners to visit the county and select a proper and suitable site for the seat of justice. The com- missioners met at Mifflintown on the Ist of June and entered upon their duties. After viewing several proposed sites in the Tuscarora valley, on Lost creek, in Greenwood township, and other parts of the county, they reported in favor of Mifflintown, which has since remained the seat of justice.
On March 22, 1832, for the purpose of giving the county a location for the court-house, twenty-seven of the proprietors of Mifflintown conveyed to the county commissioners, for a consideration of one dol- lar, the public square where the court-house now stands. In the deed of transfer the square is described as "the same piece of ground originally laid out by John Harris, the proprietor of said town, and intended by him for the purpose for which it is now conveyed, and for none other."
Thomas McCurdy submitted plans for a court-house, which were accepted by the commissioners, and a contract was entered into with Gustine & Oles for the erection of the building for $3,940. The court- house was completed before the close of the year 1832, and the last payment was made on January 22, 1833, with an additional sum of $225.93 for extra work. The first court was held in it the following May, the sessions having been previously held in the old stone Pres- byterian church. Soon after the completion of the court-house the commissioners-George Gilliford, William Wharton, and Louis Evans -advertised for proposals for the erection of a stone jail, according to plans prepared by Everett Oles, such proposals to be submitted by February 26, 1833. Wise & McCurdy were awarded the contract for $2,600, and the jail was completed that year. At first the yard in the rear of the jail was inclosed by a high wooden fence, but subsequently a stone wall was built, reaching almost to the eaves of the two-story building. The jail is still standing on the northeast corner of the public square, and, after eighty years of service, is in good condition.
In February, 1868, the grand jury recommended the erection of a new court-house, and immediately a movement was started to remove the seat of justice to Perryville (now Port Royal). For a time excite-
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ment ran high, and the question was brought to the attention of the legislature then in session. The result was that, on April 11, 1868, Governor Geary approved an act "Authorizing an election to be held in the county of Juniata relative to a change in the county seat and the erection of new buildings." The election was held on the 13th of the following October, and resulted in 2,122 votes being cast for Mif- flintown and 1.165 for Port Royal. Nothing was done toward the erection of a new court-house for nearly five years after that election. At the April term of the court of quarter sessions, in 1873, the grand jury reported on the subject as follows :
"The grand inquest of said county (Juniata) would respectfully report that an inspection of the court-house has counciled them that it is unfit for the accommodation of persons having business to trans- act in the several courts; and also unfit for a proper transaction of business; that the building is in a dilapidated condition; the vaults in which the public records are kept are entirely insecure; the offices are illy arranged, and the court room entirely too small to accommodate the citizens of the county ; that such complaints have long been known to and made by the citizens of the county."
The report concluded with a recommendation to the court to direct the commissioners to remodel the building so that the public offices should occupy the first floor and the court-room the second, and that such additions or enlargements be made as might be necessary to carry out the recommendations. No action was taken by the court at that session, and at the September term in 1873 an entire new conrt-house was recommended, all the materials in the old one fit for the purpose to be used in the new building. In the meantime the board of com- missioners instructed the president, William Ulsh, to go to Harrisburg and consult with L. M. Simon, an architect of that city, with regard to repairing or remodeling the old building. The report of Mr. Ulsh cannot be found, but it is probable that his consultation with the archi- tect was in some degree responsible for the action in September. On September 15, 1873, the commissioners adopted a resolution to bor- row $50,000 under the provisions of an act passed by the legislature on April 9, 1868, said loan to be secured by six per cent. bonds, pay- able in eight annual instalments, and on February 6, 1874, a contract was made with G. W. Smith for the removal of the old court-house.
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A little later a contract was made with Hetrich & Fleisher, of Newport, to build the new court-house, according to certain plans and specifi- cations, for $42,100, though some changes in the work and the addition of a clock and bell, with the installation of new furniture throughout, brought the total cost up to about $63,000. While it was in process of erection the sessions of the courts were held in the Lutheran church.
On the first floor of the court-house are the offices of the register and recorder, the prothonotary, the orphans' court, sheriff, treasurer, and county commissioners. The second floor is occupied by the court- room, jury rooms, etc., and on a third floor are the rooms for the use of the grand jury. The building stands upon an eminence overlooking the Juniata river, and can be seen for some distance by passengers on the Pennsylvania railroad.
Juniata county is irregular in shape, its boundaries being formed by natural features, such as creeks and mountain chains. From the Susquehanna river at the mouth of the Mahantango creek to the south- west corner of the county, where it touches Huntingdon and Franklin counties, the distance is about forty-five miles. The widest part is east of the Juniata river, where it is about ten miles. The area is 360 square miles, or 230,400 acres, nearly two-thirds of which is cleared and under cultivation. It is bounded on the north and north- west by the counties of Mifflin and Snyder ; on the east by the Susque- hanna, which separates it from Northumberland county; on the south- east by Perry and Franklin counties, and on the southwest by the county of Huntingdon.
It speaks well for the county that it has never had a poorhouse. As a rule the people are industrious and self-sustaining, hence few paupers have ever appealed for public aid. Those few have been taken care of by the authorities of the townships in which they reside or sojourn, and the county commissioners have not deemed it necessary at any time in the county's history to go to the expense of purchasing a farm and erecting a home for the poor. In the matter of criminal history the county is also fortunate. Two men have been executed in the old jail yard-the only two legal executions in the county in nearly a century-and in recent years the jail has been without inmates more than two-thirds of the time.
Following is a civil list of the officials of Juniata county, as com-
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pletely as it could be obtained from the records, some of which are missing. In this list the names of the county officers prior to 1885 are copied from a list made by Professor A. L. Guss. From 1885 to the present time (1913) they have been taken from the official records.
Sheriffs-Amos Gustine, 1831; John Beale, 1835; Henry Miller, 1838; William W. Wilson, 1840; William Bell, 1843; Samuel Mc- Williams, 1843; David Mckinstry, 1850; Joseph Bell, 1853; D. M. Jamison, 1856; George Reynolds, 1859; James W. Hamilton, 1862; Samuel B. Loudon, 1865; John Deitrich, 1868; Joseph Ard, 1871; Wil- liam H. Knouse, 1874; W. D. Walls, 1877; Joseph B. Kelly, 1880; George Shivery, 1883; David Fowler, 1885; Franklin W. Noble, 1888; Samuel Lapp, 1891 ; James P. Calhoun, 1894; S. Clayton Stoner, 1897; Theodore J. Schmittle, 1903; Daniel B. Reitz, 1906; R. B. Zimmerman, 1909.
Prothonotaries-William W. Kirk, 1831; Robert Patterson, 1836; Tobias Kreider, 1839; Lewis Burchfield, 1839; James M. Sellers, 1845; J. Middagh, 1851; Amos H. Martin, 1854; R. M. Sterrett, 1860; George W. Jacobs, 1863; George Reynolds, 1866; Robert E. McMeen, 1869; I. D. Wallis, 1872; Jacob Beidler, 1876; George Reynolds, 1879; George S. Conn, 1882; Theodore H. Meminger, 1885 (reelected in 1887); John W. Gibbs, 1890; W. H. Zeiders, 1896; Styles K. Boden, 1899; H. H. Hartman, 1905; S. B. Murray, 191I.
Registers and Recorders-James S. Law, 1831; Robert Barnard, 1833; Tobias Kreider, 1836; Joseph Bogg, 1839; William Reader, 1845; Benjamin Bonsell, 1848; Alexander Magonigle, 1854; Joseph L. Stewart, 1855; John P. Wharton, 1855; R. P. McWilliams, 1861; Joshua Beale, 1867; Eli Dunn, 1870; J. T. Mittlin, 1873; J. D. Musser, 1876; J. M. McDonald, 1880; S. Drady Coveny, 1883: Edward E. Berry, 1885; John R. Jenkins, 1891; Anson B. Will, 1894; George B. Cramer, 1897; Elmer G. Beale, 1903 ; G. Frank Bousum, 1906 (reelected in 1909 and second term prolonged one year by constitutional amend- ment making all county officers elected in 1913 for terms of four years).
Treasurers-J. Cummings, 1831 ; William H. Patterson, 1836; Amos Gustine, 1837; Robert Barnard, 1838; James Kirk, 1844; Samuel Pene- baker, 1842; James Kirk, 1844; Benjamin Bonsell, 1846; Joseph M.
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Belford, 1848; Benjamin F. Kepner, 1850; George Jacobs, 1852; John Yeakley, 1854; Benjamin F. Kepner, 1856; D. W. A. Belford, 1858; George W. Stroup, 1860; Jacob Suloff, 1862; John B. M. Todd, 1864; Robert E. Parker, 1866; Jacob A. Christy, 1868; David Watts, 1870; William C. Laird, 1872; Samuel H. Showers, 1874; Robert E. Parker, 1876; John W. Kirk, 1879; Jacob Lemon, 1881; John M. Copeland, 1884; Henry S. Scholl, 1890; W. S. North, 1893; W. W. Landis, 1896; John F. Ehrenzeller, 1899; E. Milton Guss, 1902; Ferdinand Meyers, 1905 ; Harry C. Lawson, 1908; Samuel R. Bashore, 191I.
County Commissioners-1831, Joel Baily, P. Benner, C. Frisbie ; 1832-33, George Gilliford, William Wharton, Louis Evans; 1834, John Funk, Louis Evans, David Glenn; 1836, Michael Bushey, Paul Cox; 1837, Emanuel Wise; 1838, Daniel Collins; 1839, John North; 1840, John P. Shitz; 1841, John Kenawell; 1842, John Crozier; 1843, John F. Saeger ; 1844, James Lauthers; 1845, John Dimm; 1846, David Beale; 1847, Ezra McLin; 1848, Robert Inners; 1849, Samuel Rannels; 1850, David Alexander; 1851, John Anderson; 1852, Thomas J. Mil- liken; 1853, William Adams; 1854, Joseph Seiber; 1855, Daniel Flick- inger ; 1856, James Anderson; 1857, Barnett Rapp; 1858, Joseph Ker- liss; 1859, Henry McConnell; 1860, John Landis; 1861, William Kohler; 1862, James S. Cox; 1863, John Foltz; 1864, John Kenawell; 1865, Matthew Clark, William Logue; 1866, David Diven; 1867, David Suloff, Sr .; 1868, Walter App; 1869, E. R. Gilliford; 1870, William Ulsh; 1871, William Von Swearinger; 1872, David B. Diven; 1873, Alexander A. Crozier; 1875, Thomas Watts; 1876, James McLaugh- lin, David B. Cox, William H. Groninger; 1879, J. Banks Wilson, Hugh L. McMeen, John B. McWilliams; 1881, J. Banks Wilson, Hugh L. McMeen, David Partner; 1884, O. P. Barton, John T. Dimm, W. N. Sterrett; 1887, John H. Cunningham, Francis Hower, Absalom Rice; 1890, John Balentine, David Beale, Uriah Shuman; 1893, W. H. Moore, Neal M. Stewart, John Neimond; 1896, David D. Rhinesmith, William Puffenberger, Jeremiah Loudenslager; 1899, J. W. Hostetler, H. Cloyd Horning, Robert Long; 1902, David B. Stouffer, Samuel A. Graham, George F. Goodman; 1905. James Adams, W. K. McLaugh- lin, Samuel A. Graham; 1908, William B. Zimmerman, W. H. Bru- baker, David B. Stouffer; 1911, John N. Carney, B. P. Clark, Albert Groninger.
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State Senators -- Ezra Doty, 1808; William Beale, 1812 (both from Mifflin county, of which Juniata was then a part) ; James Mathews, 1840; J. J. Cunningham, 1850; James M. Sellers, 1855; E. D. Craw- ford, 1860; John K. Robinson, 1868; D. M. Crawford, 1871 (elected again in 1877); Joseph M. Woods, 1888; Walter H. Parcels, 1896; James W. McKee, 1900; William H. Manbeck, 1904; Franklin Martin, 1912.
Representatives-John Cummins, 1831 (elected from Mifflin county, and secured the passage of the bill under which Juniata county was organized) ; William Sharon, 1832; (after William Sharon Professor Guss gives the names of Thomas Stinson, William Curran, John Adams, James Mathews, James Hughes, John Funk, John H. McCrum, William Cox, Andrew Patterson and John McMinn, but does not name the years in which each served. In 1850 the counties of Union and Juniata were made a representative district ). John Mclaughlin, 1850; William Sharon, 1852; John Beale, 1853; John W. Simonton, 1854; James W. Crawford, 1855; George W. Strouse, 1856; Thomas Bower, 1857; John J. Patterson, 1859; George W. Strouse, 1863; John Balsbach, 1864; A. H. Martin, 1869: Abraham Rohrer, 1870; Jerome Hetrick, 1874; T. D. Garmon, 1877: William Pomeroy, 1878; Lucien Banks, 1879; John D. Milligan, 1881; James North, 1884; Louis E. Atkinson, 1886: William Hertzler, 1888; J. C. Crawford, 1890; Hugh L. Wilson, 1892: Jeremiah N. Keller, 1896; A. J. Fisher, 1898; Thomas K. Beaver, 1900; George B. M. Wisehaupt, 1902; William C. Pomeroy, 1906; Jerome T. Ailman, 1908; I. D. Musser, 1912.
Surveyors (since 1886)-Wilber F. McCahan, 1886: William H. Groninger, 1889; Wilber F. McCahan, 1892; A. B. Evans, 1895; J. O. Brown, 1898; C. W. Mayer, 1904; W. F. McCahan, 1907 (reelected in 19II).
Coroners (since 1886)-James J. Patterson, 1886; Philip A. Smith, 1889; L. P. Walley, 1892; J. O. Brown, 1895; Jacob A. Davis, 1898; W. H. Rodgers, 1901; B. F. Long, 1904; D. L. Snyder, 1907 (re- elected in 1911 ).
CHAPTER IX
JUNIATA COUNTY, TOWNSHIPS, BOROUGHS, ETC.
Early Township Organizations-Their Subdivison-The Present Thirteen Townships- Beale-Delaware-Fayette-Fermanagh-Greenwood-Lack-Milford - Monroe - Spruce Hill-Susquehanna-Turbett-Tuscarora-Walker-Early Settlement of Each-Squatters-Principal Villages-Schools-The Four Boroughs-Mifflintown- Mifflin-Port Royal-Thompsontown-Pioneer Business Enterprises-Postoffices and Population-Rural Routes in the County.
T HE organization of townships in what is now Juniata county began on October 23, 1754, when the magistrates "in con- junction with the commissioners and assessors of Cumberland county" met at Carlisle and concluded that, "Whereas, there has been an addition to the county aforesaid by a late purchase from the Indians : to erect the habitable parts added to the said county into separate town- ships, and to appoint constables in the same for the better regulation thereof."
Four townships were at that time formed, viz. : Aire, Fannet, Lack, and Tyrone. No boundary lines were mentioned or described, it being merely stated that certain settlements should constitute the townships named. Lack township included all that part of Juniata county lying south and west of the Juniata river and part of the present county of Huntingdon. Since the establishment of these four original town- ships in the new purchase each has been divided and subdivided until, in 1913, Juniata county was composed of thirteen townships, viz. : Beale, Delaware, Fayette, Fermanagh, Greenwood, Lack, Milford, Mon- roe, Spruce Hill, Susquehanna, Turbett, Tuscarora and Walker.
Beale township was taken from Milford in 1843. Nine petitions, signed by 218 citizens, were presented to the Mifflin county court (Juniata county was at that time a part of Mifflin), asking for the appointment of viewers to lay off a new township from parts of Mil- ford and Turbett, but no action was taken by the court on the peti-
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