USA > Pennsylvania > Jefferson County > Brookville > A pioneer history of Jefferson county, Pennsylvania and my first recollections of Brookville, Pennsylvania, 1840-1843, when my feet were bare and my cheeks were brown > Part 30
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" Whenever such an agent had collected a sufficient number, he would take them personally to the shipping harbor in Holland. It was a gay crowd which travelled in this manner in wagons across the country. The horses and wagons were decorated with gay ribbons, and joyous songs
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
were heard from the emigrants, who believed they were leaving toil and poverty to go to the fabulously rich America to enjoy the ease and plenty of this world's goods. This spirit was artificially kept up by the liberal- ity of the agent until they were safely aboard the ship. From thence such a life of suffering, privation, and hardship commenced, that it seems incredible that the Christian nations of Europe and America should have permitted such a trade to flourish up to nearly the end of the first quarter of the present century. I myself know several very old persons yet living in Baltimore who came to this country in this manner. The contracts which these Redemptioners had to sign in Holland, and which few of them then understood, contained the proviso that if any passenger died on the voyage, the surviving members of the family, or the surviving Re- demptioner passengers, would make good his loss. Thereby a wife who had lost her husband during the sea-voyage, or her children, on her arrival here would be sold for five years for her own voyage and additional five more years for the passage-money of her dead husband or dead children, although they may have died in the very beginning of the voyage. If there were no members of the family surviving, the time of the dead was added to the time of service of the surviving fellow-passengers. The effects and property of the dead were confiscated and kept by the cap- tain. By this the shipping merchant and the captain of the vessel would gain by the death of a part of the passengers, for the dead did not require any more food and provision. It seems that many acted on this prin- ciple. The ships were often so overcrowded that a part of the passengers had to sleep on deck. Christoph Saur, in his petition to the governor of Pennsylvania in 1775, asserts that at times there were not more than twelve inches room for each passenger (I presume he means sleeping room below deck), and but half sufficient bread and water. Casper Wister, of Philadelphia, in 1752, writes, ' Last year a ship was twenty- four weeks at sea, and of the one hundred and fifty passengers on board thereof more than one hundred died of hunger and privation, and the survivors were imprisoned and compelled to pay the entire passage-money for themselves and the deceased.' In this year ten ships arrived in Philadelphia with five thousand passengers. One ship was seventeen weeks at sea, and about sixty passengers thereof died. Christoph Saur, in 1758, estimates that two thousand of the passengers on the fifteen ships which arrived that year died during the voyage. Heinrich Kep- pele, the first president of the German Society of Pennsylvania, writes in his diary that of the three hundred and twelve passengers on board of the ship wherein he crossed the ocean, two hundred and fifty died during the voyage. In February, 1775, Christoph Saur relates in his news- paper, 'Another ship has arrived. Of the four hundred passengers, not more than fifty are reported alive. They received their bread every two weeks. Some ate their portion in four, five, and six days, which
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
should have lasted fifteen days. If they received no cooked victuals in eight days, their bread gave out the sooner, and as they had to wait until the fifteen days were over, they starved, unless they had money with which to buy of the mate flour at three pence sterling a pound, and a bottle of wine for seven kopstick thalers.' Then he relates how a man and his wife, who had ate their bread within eight days, crawled to the captain and begged him to throw them overboard, to relieve them of their misery, as they could not survive till bread-day. The captain re- fused to do it, and the mate in mockery gave them a bag filled with sand and coals. The man and his wife died of hunger before the bread-day arrived. But, notwithstanding, the survivors had to pay for the bread which the dead ought to have had. Pennsylvania, in 1765, at the insti- gation of the German Society, passed rigorous laws for the protection of the Redemptioners, but Maryland remained inactive until more than fifty years later."-Hennighausen.
In Pennsylvania this traffic in white people continued until about 1820-25, when public sentiment compelled it to be discontinued.
CHAPTER XVI.
PIONEER MONEY.
" THE subject of a national mint for the United States was first intro- duced by Robert Morris, the patriot and financier of the Revolution. As head of the finance department, Mr. Morris was instructed by Congress to prepare a report on the foreign coins then in circulation in the United States. On the 15th of January, 1782, he laid before Congress an expo- sition of the whole subject. Accompanying this report was a plan for American coinage. But it was mainly through his efforts, in connection with Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton, that a mint was estab- lished in the early history of the Union of the States. On the 15th of April, 1790, Congress instructed the Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, to prepare and report a proper plan for the establishment of a national mint, and Mr. Hamilton presented his report at the next session. An act was framed establishing the mint, which finally . passed both houses and received President Washington's approval April 2, 1792.
" A lot of ground was purchased on Seventh Street near Arch, and appropriations were made for erecting the requisite buildings. An old still-house, which stood on the lot, had first to be removed. In an account- book of that time we find an entry on the 31st of July, 1792, of the sale of some old materials of the still-house for seven shillings and
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
sixpence, which 'Mr. Rittenhouse directed should be laid out for punch in laying the foundation-stone.'
" The first building erected in the United States for public use under the authority of the federal government was a structure for the United States Mint. This was a plain brick edifice, on the east side of Seventh Street near Arch, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the corner-stone of which was laid by David Rittenhouse, director of the mint, on July 31, 1792. In the following October operations of coining commenced. It was occupied for about forty years. On the 19th of May, 1829, an act was passed by Congress locating the United States Mint on its present site.
" The first coinage of the United States was silver half-dimes, in October, 1792, of which Washington makes mention in his address to Congress, on November 6, 1792, as follows : ' There has been a small beginning in the coinage of half-dimes, the want of small coins in circu- lation calling the first attention to them.' The first metal purchased for coinage was six pounds of old copper at one shilling and three pence per pound, which was coined and delivered to the treasurer in 1793. The first deposit of silver bullion was made on July 18, 1794, by the Bank of Maryland. It consisted of ' coins of France,' amounting to eighty thou- sand seven hundred and fifteen dollars and seventy-three and a half cents. The first returns of silver coins to the treasurer was made on October, 15, 1794. The first deposit of gold bullion for coinage was made by Moses Brown, merchant, of Boston, on February 12, 1795; it was of gold ingots, worth two thousand two hundred and seventy-six dollars and seventy-two cents, which was paid for in silver coins.
" The first return of gold coinage was on July 31, 1795, and con- sisted of seven hundred and forty-four half-eagles. The first delivery of eagles was on September 22, same year, and consisted of four hundred pieces.
" Previous to the coinage of silver dollars at the Philadelphia Mint, in 1794, the following amusing incidents occurred in Congress while the emblems and devices proposed for the reverse field of that coin were being discussed.
" A member of the House from the South bitterly opposed the choice of the eagle, on the ground of its being the ' king of birds,' and hence neither proper nor suitable to represent a nation whose institutions and interests were wholly inimical to monarchical forms of government. Judge Thatcher playfully, in reply, suggested that perhaps a goose might suit the gentleman, as it was a rather humble and republican bird, and would also be serviceable in other respects, as the goslings would answer to place upon the dimes. This answer created considerable merriment, and the irate Southerner, conceiving the humorous rejoinder as an insult, sent a challenge to the judge, who promptly declined it. The bearer, rather astonished, asked, ' Will you be branded as a coward ?' 'Cer-
20
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
tainly, if he pleases,' replied Thatcher ; ' I always was one, and he knew it, or he would never have risked a challenge.' The affair occasioned much mirth, and, in due time, former existing cordial relations were restored between the parties, the irritable Southerner concluding there was nothing to be gained in fighting with one who fired nothing but jokes.
" Previous to the passage of the law by the federal government for regulating the coins of the United States, much perplexity arose from the use of no less than four different currencies or rates, at which one species of coin was recoined, in the different parts of the Union. Thus, in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Ver- mont, Virginia, and Kentucky the dollar was recoined at six shillings ; in New York and North Carolina at eight shillings ; in New Jersey, Penn- sylvania, and Maryland at seven shillings and six pence ; in Georgia and South Carolina at four shillings and eight pence. The subject had en- gaged the attention of the Congress of the old confederation, and the present system of the coins is formed upon the principles laid down in their resolution of 1786, by which the denominations of money of ac- count were required to be dollars (the dollar to be the unit), dimes or tenths, cents or hundredths, and mills or thousandths of a dollar. Noth- ing can be more simple or convenient than this decimal subdivision. The terms are proper because they express the proportions which they are in- tended to designate. The dollar was wisely chosen, as it corresponded with the Spanish coin, with which we had been long familiar."-G. G. Evans's History of the United States Mint.
TABLE OF THE DENOMINATIONS OF UNITED STATES MONEY.
Standard Weight as established by Law.
Dwt. Gr.
3 cent
3
12
Io mills make I cent
7
00
dime
O
Io cents make I dime .
I
1 dollar
4
S
1 dollar
S
16
Io dimes make 1 dollar
17
S
Į eagle
2
16.5
¿ eagle .
5
9
Io dollars make I eagle
IO
IS
The mills were imaginary and never coined. The old cents were made of copper, round, and about one inch in diameter and one-sixth of an inch in thickness.
PIONEER BANKS.
The pioneer act of the Legislature of Pennsylvania regulating banks was passed March 21, 1813, but Governor Snyder vetoed the bill. On
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
the 21st of March, 1814, this bill was " log-rolled" through the Legis- lature and became a law over Governor Snyder's veto. Previous to that time banks were organized under articles of association.
CURRENCY.
" The best currency of those times was New York bank-notes, and the poorest those of the Western banks. Pennsylvania bank-notes had only a small circulation in the county, and held a place in popular esti- mation intermediate between the above. There was a discount on all these, ranging from one to twenty per cent. It was for the interest of the private bankers to circulate the notes on which there was the largest discount, and as a consequence the county was flooded with the bills of banks the locations of which were hardly known. Every business man had to keep a 'Bank-Note Detector,' revised and published monthly or weekly, on hand, and was not sure then that the notes he accepted would not be pronounced worthless by the next mail. There was hardly a week without a bank failure, and nearly every man had bills of broken banks in his possession. To add to the perplexities of the situation, there were innumerable counterfeits which could with difficulty be dis- tinguished from the genuine. Granting that the bank was good, and that the discount was properly figured, there was no assurance that the bill was what it purported to be. All this was a terrible annoyance and loss to the people, but it was a regular bonanza to the 'shaving-shops.' Even of the uncertain bank-notes there was not enough to do the busi- ness of the community. Most of the buying and selling was done on long credit, and occasionally a manufacturing firm, to ease itself along and relieve the necessities of the public, would issue a mongrel coin, which went by the name of 'pewterinctum.' "
CHAPTER XVII.
"SCOTCH-IRISH"-ORIGIN OF THE TERM UNDER JAMES 1 .- LORDS AND LAIRDS-EARLY SETTLERS IN PENNSYLVANIA-THE PIONEER AND EARLY SETTLERS IN JEFFERSON COUNTY.
SCOTCH-IRISH.
THE term " Scotch-Irish" is so frequently used, particularly in Penn- sylvania, and is so little understood, even by those who claim such relationship, that I consider it appropriate in this place to explain its derivation. In the time of James I. of England the Irish earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnell conspired against his government, fled from Ireland, were proclaimed outlaws, and their estates, consisting of about five hun-
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
dred thousand acres of land, were seized by the crown. The king divided these lands into small tracts, and gave tracts to persons from his own country (Scotland), on the sole condition that each individual securing a tract of land should cross over into Ireland within four years and reside upon the land permanently. A second insurrection soon after gave occasion for another large forfeiture, and nearly six counties in the province of Ulster were confiscated and taken possession of by the officers of the crown. King James was a zealous sectarian, and his primary object was to root out the native Irish, who were all Catholics, hostile to his government, and almost continually plotting against it, and to populate Ireland with those from his own country, Scotland, whom he knew would be loyal to him.
The distance from Scotland to County Antrim, in Ireland, was but twenty miles. The lands offered by James free of cost were among the best and most productive in the Emerald Isle, though they had been made barren by the strifes of the times and the indolence of a degraded peasantry. Having the power of the government to encourage and pro- tect them, the inducements offered to the industrious Scotch could not be resisted. Thousands went over. Many of them, though not lords, were lairds, or those who held lands direct from the crown, and all were men of enterprise and energy, and above the average in intelligence. They went to work to restore the land to fruitfulness, and to show the superiority of their habits and belief compared with those of the natives among whom they settled. They soon made to blossom as a rose the counties of Antrim, Armagh, Caven, Donegal, Down, Fermanagh, Lon- donderry, Monaghan, and Tyrone,-all names familiar to Jefferson County and Pennsylvania settlers.
These were the first Protestants to settle in Ireland, and they at once secured the ascendency in the counties in which they settled, and their descendants have maintained that ascendency to the present time against the efforts of the Church of England on the one hand and the Roman Catholic Church on the other. These Scots refused to intermarry with the Irish who surrounded them. The Scotch were Saxon in blood and Presbyterian in religion, while the Irish were Celtic in blood and Roman Catholic in religion. These were elements that would not coalesce ; hence the races are as distinct in Ireland to-day, after a lapse of more than two hundred and fifty years, as when the Scotch first crossed over. The term Scotch-Irish is purely American. It is not used in Ireland ; in the United States it is given to the Protestant emigrants from the north of Ireland, simply because they were descendants of the Scots who had in former times taken up their residence in Ireland.
But few Scotch-Irish emigrants found their way to the Province of Pennsylvania prior to 1719. Those that came in that year came from the north of Ireland. Subsequently the descendants of the Scots in Ire-
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
land were bitterly persecuted by the English government ; hence thou- sands of them migrated to and settled in Pennsylvania. In 1729 thousands of Scotch-Irish arrived in Philadelphia from Ireland, as well as some English, Welsh, and Scotch people, many of whom were sold in servitude for a term of from three to seven years, for about forty dollars each, to pay passage-money or for their goods. For a further description of this form of slavery, see Chapter XV., German Redemptioners.
In September, 1736, one thousand Scotch-Irish families sailed from Belfast because of an inability to renew their land leases upon satisfactory terms, and the most of these people settled in the eastern and middle counties of Pennsylvania. By a change of residence they hoped to find an unrestrained field for the exercise of industry and skill, and for the enjoyment of religious opinions. They brought with them a hatred of oppression and a love of freedom that served much to give that inde- pendent tone to the sentiments of the people of the province which pre- vailed in their controversies with the English government years before these Scots entertained a thought of American political independence.
The Scotch-Irish who settled in the Cumberland Valley of Pennsyl- vania brought its fair lands under cultivation. They fought the savages and stood as a wall of fire against savage forays eastward. It is said that between 1771 and 1773 over twenty-five thousand of these Scotch-Irish were driven from Ireland by the rapacity of Irish lairds or landlords, and located either in that rich valley or west of the Allegheny Mountains in Pennsylvania. This was just before the Revolutionary War, and while the angry controversies that preceded it were taking place between the colonists and the English government. Hence these Pennsylvanians were in just the right frame of mind to make them espouse to a man the side of the patriots. A Tory was unheard of among them. They were found as military leaders in all times of danger, and were among the most prominent law-makers through and after the seven years' struggle for freedom and human rights. The Scotch-Irish in the United States have furnished Presidents, United States Senators, Congressmen, judges, and many others in civil as well as in all stations of life.
The pioneers of Westmoreland, Indiana, and Jefferson Counties were made up principally of these Scotch-Irish or their descendants .* I am indebted to the " History of Franklin County, Pennsylvania," 1876, for the data and facts contained in this article.
PIONEER RECORD OF CIVIL LIST.
Roster of State Officers in 1804, at Organization .- Thomas McKean, Governor ; Thomas McKean Thompson, Secretary of the Commonwealth ;
* The Barnetts and others were of this origin. Washington township was settled almost exclusively by them.
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
George Duffield, Auditor-General ; Andrew Ellicott, Secretary of Land- Office ; Timothy Matlack, Master of Rolls; John McKissick, Receiver- General ; Samuel Bryan, Controller-General ; Clement Biddle, Escheator- General ; Samuel Cochran, Surveyor-General ; Isaac Weaver, State Treasurer ; Joseph B. McKean, Attorney-General ; Richard Hampton, Adjutant-General ; Simon Snyder, Speaker of the House of Representa- tives ; Robert Whitehill, Speaker of the Senate ; Edward Shippen, Chief Justice of Supreme Court. Pennsylvania then had eighteen Congressmen. Her United States Senators were George Logan and Samuel Maclay.
In 1838 the amended constitution as adopted limited the rights of any one man to serve in the office of governor to six years out of nine. Under the first constitution of 1790 the limit of service in this office was nine years out of twelve.
Up to 1840 the judges were all appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the Senate. Supreme Court judges were appointed for fifteen years, district judges of the Court of Common Pleas were appointed for ten years, and the associate judges were appointed for five years.
OFFICIALS OF WESTMORELAND AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES.
President judge, 1805, Alexander Addison ; 1806, John Young.
OFFICIALS OF INDIANA AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES.
Jefferson was attached to Indiana from 1806 until 1830. Hon. John Young, of Greensburg, was president judge from 1806 until 1830.
Associate Judges appointed and elected .- James Smith, Charles Camp- bell, 1806; Joshua Lewis, 1818; John Taylor, 1828; Andrew Browning, 1829; Samuel Morehead, 1830.
Prothonotary, Clerk, and Register and Recorder .- James McLain, 1806-18; John Taylor, 1818-21.
Prothonotary, Clerk, etc .- James McCahan, 1821-24; Alexander Taylor, 1824-28 ; William Banks, 1828-30.
Register and Recorder .- James Speer, 1821-24; Alexander Taylor, 1824-28 ; William Banks, 1828-30.
Sheriff .- Thos. McCartney, 1806-9 ; Thos. Sutton, 1809-12 ; Robert Robinson, 1812-15 ; Thos. Sutton, 1815-18; James Elliott, 1818-21 ; Henry Kinter, 1821-24; Clements McGara, 1824-27 ; and James Gor- don, 1827-30.
Treasurer .- James McKnight, 1811-12; Thos. Sutton, 1813 ; John Taylor, 1815-16 ; William Lucas, 1817-18 ; William Douglass, 1820-21 ; Alexander Taylor, 1822-23 ; William Trimble, 1824-26 ; William Lucas, 1827-29 ; and Blaney Adair, 1830.
Commissioners .- William Clark, 1806-7; James Johnson, 1806;
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
Alexander McLain, 1806; Wm. Clark, 1808; Alexander McLain, 1808; Wm. Clark, 1809 ; Rev. John Jamison, 1809 ; James McKnight, 1810; Rev. John Jamison, ISI0; Robt. Robinson, 1810-II; Joshua Lewis, 1811-12; Rev. John Jamison, ISII; Robt. Robinson, 1812; Joseph Moorhead, 1812 ; Francis Boals, 1813-14; Joshua Lewis, 1813; Joseph Moorhead, 1813-14; Francis Boals, 1814-15 ; Alexander McLain, 1814- 16; Garvin Sutton, 1815-17; Thomas Sharp, 1816-18; John Smith, 1817-19 ; Thomas Laughlin, 1818-19; Joseph Henderson, 1819-21; Wm. Clark, 1820; John Smith, 1820; Clements McGara, 1821-22 ; Stewart Davis, 1822-24; Wm. Clark, 1822; Clements McGara, 1823; Alexander Pattison, 1823-24; James Gordon, 1824-25.
Clerk to Commissioners .- James Riddle, 1806; James McKnight, 1807 ; Daniel Stannard and James M. Biddle, 1808; Daniel Stannard, 1809-10 ; James McKnight, 1811; James M. Kelley, 1812-13; John Wilson and James Coulter, 1814; John Wilson and John Taylor, 1815; Garvin Sutton and John Taylor, 1816; Daniel Stannard and Stewart Davis, 1817; Stewart Davis, 1818-20; Robert Young, 1822-23; Ephraim Carpenter, 1824.
In 1824 Jefferson County elected three commissioners independent of Indiana.
The pioneer elections in Jefferson County for President and governor were as follows :
For President .- 1832, Andrew Jackson, 175; William Wirt, 105. 1836, Martin Van Buren, 244; William H. Harrison, 231. 1840, Martin Van Buren, 592 ; William H. Harrison, 476. 1844, James K. Polk, 731 ; Henry Clay, 591.
For Governor .- 1832, Geo. Wolf, 250; Joseph Ritner, 173. 1835, Geo. Wolf, 356 ; Joseph Ritner, 246 ; Muhlenberg, 3. 1838, David R. Porter, 591 ; Joseph Ritner, 421. 1841, David R. Porter, 678; John Banks, 447. 1844, Francis R. Shunk, 727; Joseph Markle, 617.
Pioneer Congressional Districts and Early Members .- Pioneer district, Indiana, Westmoreland, and Jefferson : 1816-17, David Marchand ; 1820-24, Rev. Plummer ; 1826-28-30, Richard Coulter. Early districts, Armstrong, Butler, Clearfield, and Jefferson : 1832-34, Samuel S. Harri- son ; 1836-38, William Beatty ; 1840, William Jack, first Congressman from Jefferson County. Clearfield, McKean, Warren, Potter, Erie, Venango, and Jefferson : 1833, Chas. M. Reed.
Pioncer Senatorial Districts and Senators .- Pioneer district, Indiana, Westmoreland, and Jefferson : 1815, John Reed ; 1819, Henry Alls- house. Early districts, Indiana, Cambria, Armstrong, Venango, Warren, and Jefferson : 1822, Robert Orr, Jr. ; 1825, Ebon S. Kelley. Jefferson, Indiana, Armstrong, Venango, and Warren : 1829, Joseph Fox ; 1830, William D. Barclay ; 1831, Philip Mechling ; 1834, Meek Kelley. Jef- ferson, Venango, Warren, McKean, and Tioga: 1838, Samuel Hays.
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
Elk, Jefferson, Mckean, Potter, Warren, and Clarion : 1842, William P. Wilcox. Twenty-eight years and Jefferson no Senator.
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