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 42
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" ARTICLE 3. Fines .- The fines shall be as follows : On law days, for each commissioned officer two dollars, for non commissioned officer one dollar and fifty cents, and privates one dollar, and on days appointed by the company one-half of said fine.
" ARTICLE 4. The non-commissioned officers shall be elected and act during good behavior. The commissioned officers having the power to remove the non commissioned officers and hold another election, the officer so removed, if aggrieved, may appeal to the com- pany.
" ARTICLE 5. The orderly sergeant shall act as clerk of the company, and the orderly sergeant shall collect all fines, etc.
" ARTICLE 6. The commissioned officers shall constitute a standing executive committee to manage all the concerns of the company, and court of appeals.
"ARTICLE 7. Signing the constitution and fulfilling the promises shall constitute a membership previous to the organization, after which, in addition to the above, every applicant shall be admitted by the con- currence of two-thirds of the company.
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
" ARTICLE 8. The constitution shall not be altered or amended ex- cept with the consent of two-thirds of the company.
" Adopted this 4th day of July, 1836.
" JOHN WILSON, WILLIAM KELSO,
HENRY VASTBINDER,
SAMUEL CHITISTER,
THOMAS DIXON,
DAVID CHITISTER,
WILLIAM DIXON,
DANIEL CHITISTER,
JOHN DIXON,
JOSEPH CHITISTER,
JAMES DIXON,
JAMES MURPHY,
DANIEL LONG,
DAVID MASON,
WILLIAM LONG,
WILLIAM MASON,
MICHAEL LONG,
JACOB MASON,
JOHN KNAPP,
BENJAMIN MASON,
JOSHUA KNAPP,
JAMES S. MCCULLOUGH,
SAMUEL KNAPP,
WILLIAM MCCULLOUGH,
PAUL VANDEVORT,
MOSES KNAPP, JR.,
DAVID VANDEVORT,
DAVID MOORE,
JOSHUA VANDEVORT,
JOHN HETERICK."
J. B. GRAHAM,
"ATTENTION, JEFFERSON BLUES !
" Notice is hereby given that an Appeal will be held at the house of William Clark on Monday, the sixth day of November next, when those concerned can have an opportunity of attending. Appeal to open at 10 o'clock.
" By order of the captain.
"SAMUEL CHITISTER, O. S.
" BROOKVILLE, October 19, 1837."
These Blues had an existence of seven years.
" MILITIA APPEAL.
" An appeal for the First Battalion, One Hundred and Forty-fifth Regiment, will be held at the house of J. Pierce, in the borough of Brookville, on Monday, the 12th day of December next. The field officers of said battalion are requested to attend for the purpose of hearing excuses and exonerating constables, etc. Persons interested are requested to attend.
" All persons having claims for military services are requested to present them at the above time and place.
" S. S. JAMISON, Brigade Inspector, " Second Bat., Fifteenth Div., P. M. " November 17, 1836."
-Brookville Democrat-Republican.
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
" THE AMERICAN BOY. " A POEM OF IS36.
"' Father, look up and see that flag, How gracefully it flies ; Those pretty stripes, that seem to be A rainbow in the skies.'
" ' It is your country's flag, my son, And proudly drinks the light, O'er ocean's wave-in foreign climes, A symbol of our might.'
"' Father, what fearful voice is that, Like thundering of the clouds ? Why do the people wave their hats, And rush along in crowds ?'
" ' It is the noise of cannonry, The glad shout of the free ; This is a day to memory dear,- 'Tis freedom's jubilee.'
"' I wish that I was now a man, I'd fire my cannon too, And cheer as loudly as the rest ; But, father, why don't you ?'
"' I'm getting old and weak, but still My heart is big with joy ; I've witnessed niany a day like this ; Shout you aloud, my boy.'
" " Hurrah for Freedom's Jubilee ! God bless our native land ! And may I live to hold the sword Of Freedom in my hand.'
" ' Well done, my boy. Grow up and love The land that gave you birth ; A home where freedom loves to dwell Is Paradise on earth.'
" J. G. H."
-Baltimore Chronicle.
PINE CREEK-THE MOTHER TOWNSHIP.
Pine Creek in the Delaware language is " Cucoeu-harrue, "-i.e., a pine creek, a stream flowing through pine woods.
This township was established by an act of Assembly in 1806, being the first and only township in the county, and named in honor of Pine Creek township, Lycoming County, from which the county and this town-
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
ship were taken. This township was the mother of all the others, and its historic reminiscences are all commemorated in the general history of the county.
The resident taxables in 1807 were 23; in 1814, 35 ; in 1821, in- cluding Perry township, 161 ; in 1828, 60 ; in 1835, 103 ; in 1842, 98. The population by census in 1810 was 161; in 1820, 561 ; this also in- cluded Perry township; in 1830, not obtained ; in 1840, 628.
Though the county was organized provisionally in 1804, there seems to have been no records kept nor any elections held untill 1807.
The pioneer election district in the county and in Pine Creek town- ship, Jefferson County, was created by an act creating certain election districts, and making alterations in other districts already enacted. Ap- proved 31st March, A.D. 1806, which read as follows, -viz., Jefferson County made a separate district :
" SECTION 9. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the county of Jefferson shall be a separate election district, and the electors thereof shall hold their general elections at the house now occu- pied by Joseph Barnett, on Sandy Lick Creek, in said county."
The pioneer election returns are as follows :
" 1807-Jefferson County. At an election held at the house of Samuel Scott, in said county, on Friday, the 20th of March, A.D. 1807, the fol- lowing persons were duly elected :
" Supervisors, John Scott had eighteen votes, Peter Jones had eigh- teen votes. Signed, Samuel Scott, Thomas Lucas, judges."
" ISO8-At an election held at the house of Samuel Scott, in said county, on the 18th day of March, A.D. 1858, the following persons were duly elected as returned below :
" Supervisors, John Jones, Alexander McCoy, were duly elected ; au- ditors, Samuel Lucas, Samuel Scott, Moses Knapp, and Adam Vastbinder were duly elected. Signed, Samuel Scott, John Dixon, judges."
These returns are as copied from the records of Indiana County, where the returns had to be made, this county then being under the legal jurisdiction of Indiana.
In June, about the year 1818, a terrible hail-storm swept through this region and extended its ravages several miles, killing and destroying the largest pine-trees, leaving them standing as dead. The width of this storm was about half a mile.
On the 6th of June, 1806, there was a total eclipse of the sun. Fowls went to roost and bees hastened to their hives. The pioneers and Indians were greatly alarmed.
Between the hours of three and seven o'clock in the morning of December 16, 1811, two distinct shocks of earthquake startled the pio- neers of Jefferson County. The violence was such as to shake their log cabins.
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
The pioneer explorers of the land were Andrew Barnett and Samuel Scott, in 1796.
The pioneer settler was Joseph Hutchison and wife in 1798. The patriarch was Joseph Barnett, who settled here in the fall of 1800. The pioneer birth was Rebecca Barnett, in 1802.
-
Andrew Barnett, Jr.
The pioneer marriage was Sarah Barnett to Elisha M. Graham, March 30, 1807.
The pioneer minister of the gospel to visit and preach was a Rev. Mr. Greer, a friend of Joseph Barnett. He came on a visit in 1801. He remained two weeks, and preached several times. He returned on a visit in 1802, and again preached.
The pioneer death was that of Andrew Barnett, in the fall of 1797.
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
He was buried on the bank of Mill Creek, by Samuel Scott and two friendly Indians, and to this day no man knoweth the exact place of his burial.
The second family to follow the Barnetts into this wilderness was Peter Jones, from Centre County, Pennsylvania. He came in 1801. In the winter of 1801, Stephen Roll, August Shultz, and a negro named Fudge Van Camp started on foot near Easton for the Barnett settlement. When they struck " Meade's trail," at the mouth of Anderson's Creek, there yet remained for them to travel thirty-three miles of unbroken wil- derness. They were foolish enough to start on this part of their journey without anything to eat on the way. After they started it snowed all day in this wilderness until the snow was two feet deep. Van Camp was a large and powerful man. He undertook to break the road for the other two, but hunger and cold overcame him when within a mile of Barnett's, and this last mile he had to make on his hands and knees.
He reached Barnett's at midnight, half frozen, and so exhausted as to be scarcely able to tell of the condition of his two companions. A rescue party of four or five men was at once started. Roll was met a few rods from the house, making his way on his hands and knees. Shultz was found some two miles farther, almost frozen. He lost several toes from his feet, and eventually died from this exposure. Roll and Van Camp lived to be old men. In 1802, John, William, and Jacob Vastbinder settled on what is now the Ridgeway road, near Kirkman Post-Office. In the year 1803, Ludwig Long, a hunter, settled on the Ridgeway road, two miles from Brookville. He was father of our great hunters, Mike, John, Dan, and William Long. He started the first distillery. At an early day he moved to Ohio, leaving his sons here. Jacob Mason and Master John Dixon came in 1802. In 1805 or 1806, John Matson settled where Robert now lives.
'The second or third mill built in the county was at the head of what is now Heidrick, Matson & Co.'s mill pond. It was erected by Moses Knapp in 1800. In the thirties the Matsons and Mcculloughs erected mills on the North Fork and Mill Creek. These were only mills in name, being the old up-and-down mills, or commonly called thunder- gust mills. The mill at Bellport was erected in 1830 by Benjamin Bailey. It was carried away in a flood, and then John J. Y. Thompson rebuilt it in 1838.
The pioneer graveyard in the county was located on the property now of William C. Evans, near the junction of the Ridgeway road with the pike. I found this graveyard in my boyhood, and thought they were Indian graves. My mother told me its history. The graves are now lost and the grounds desecrated. The second graveyard in the township was laid out in 1842, on Nathaniel Butler's farm, and is still called Butler's graveyard.
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
In 1816, Cyrus, Nathaniel, and David Butler, and John Lattimer set- tled on farms near the Barnetts.
Pioneer efforts to secure a county road at September term, 1807, of Indiana Court :
William C. Brady, Thomas Lucas, Samuel Scott, James McHenry, Captain Hugh Brady, and James Johnston were appointed to lay out a road from Joseph Barnett's, on Sandy Lick Creek, Jefferson County, to Brady's mill, on the Little Mahoning, Indiana County.
The pioneer road was the Indiana and Port Barnett, for the creation of which the petition of a number of citizens of Jefferson County and parts of Indiana County was presented to the Indiana County Court at the September term, 1808. The points of the road were from Brady's mill, on Little Mahoning Creek, Indiana County, to Sandy Lick Creek, in Jefferson County (Port Barnett), where the State (Milesburg and Waterford) road crosses the same. The Court appointed as viewers Samuel Lucas, John Jones, Moses Knapp, and Samuel Scott, of Jefferson County, and John Park and John Wier, of Indiana County, to view and make a report at the next term. This road was probably built in 1810.
The pioneer justice of the peace was Thomas Lucas, appointed Janu- ary 16, 1809.
The early settlers to erect cabins on the Indiana road in Pine Creek township were Joseph Carr in 1817, Manuel Reitz, George Gray, and Samuel McQuiston in 1827, John Matthews in 1830, Elijah Clark in 1833, Andrew Hunter and William Wyley in 1834, and Isaac Swineford in 1835. The pioneer school-house in this settlement was built in 1830 ; the pioneer graveyard was on the McCann farm in 1830.
" FINES FOR MISDEMEANORS .- In the early days of the county's his- tory the penalties prescribed by the laws of the Commonwealth for any offence against any of the statutes was rigorously enforced, seemingly without regard to the social standing of the offender. Sabbath-breaking, swearing, and intoxication seem to have been the sins most vigorously punished by the arm of the law. In an old docket, opened on the 15th day of January, 1810, by Thomas Lucas, the first justice of the peace of Pine Creek township, are the following entries :
(Copy.)
" ' (L. S.) JEFFERSON COUNTY, SS :
" ' Be it remembered that on the seventh day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ten, Gabriel Puntus, of sd county, is convicted before me, Thomas Lucas, Esq., one of the Justices of the Peace in and for sd county, going to and from mill unnecessarily upon the sixth of May instant, being the Lord's day, commonly Coled Sunday, at the county aforesaid, contrary to the Act of Assembly in
28
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
Such cases made and provided, and I do adjudj him to forfeit for the same the sum of four dollars.
""' Given under my hand the day and year aforesaid.
"''THOMAS LUCAS.'
(Copy.)
"' COMMONWEALTH US. JOHN DIXON.
" ' (L. S.) JEFFERSON COUNTY, SS :
"'Be it remembered that on the 13th day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twelve, John Dixkson, of Pine Creek township, in the county of Jefferson, is convicted before me, Thomas Lucas, one of the Justices of the Peace, in and for sd county, of being intoxicated with the drink of spirituous liquors, and for cursing one profane curse, in these words : "God dam," that it is to say this Day at Pine Creek township, aforesaid, contrary to the Act of General Assembly in such cases made and provided, and I do aguge him to forfeit for the same the sum of sixty-seven cents for each offence.
""' Given under my hand and seal the day and year afore s'd.
"' THOMAS LUCAS.
" ' Justice's Cost 35 cents ; Constable's Cost 31 cents.'
" Lewis Long is also convicted in 1815 for ' having hunted and car- ried the carcis of one deer on the 23d day of July instant, being the Lord's day, commonly Coled Sunday, up Pine Creek township aforesaid,' and sentenced to pay four dollars penalty.
" The first entry in this old docket is an action for debt. 'Thomas McCartney vs. Freedom Stiles, to recover on a promisory note, dated June 20th, 1805, for $4.25.'
" The next entry is an action of surety of the peace :
(Copy.)
"'COMMONWEALTH US. HENRY VASTBINDER.
" 'Surety of the peace and good behavour on oath of Fudge Van Camp, January 25th, 1810.
" ' Warrant issued January 25th, 1810.
"' Fudge Van Camp, principal, tent. in $100, to appear, &c. Samuel Lucas, (bail,) tent. in $100, to prosicute, &c. referred to Samuel Scott, John Scott, Elijah M. Graham, Peter Jones, and John Matson.
"' Justice's Costs .- information 15 cents, Warrant 15 cents, 2 recog- nizances 40 cents, notice to refferees 15 cents, One Sum. 3 names 19 cents, One Sum. I name 10 cents, Swearing 3 witnesses 56 cents, Five referees 35 cents, Entering rule of renewment 10 cents, Constable's Cost $1.96, referees $2.50, Witnesses $1.50.
""' We, the refferees within named having heard the parties, the proofs and allegation to wit : We find from the evidence that the run is to be
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
the line between Fudge Van Camp and Henry Vastbinder, from the line of the tract of land to the corner of - by the camp, and thence along the old fence to the corner, thence by a direct line the same across the ridge to the run, and each party to enjoy these clearings till after harvest, next, Fudge Van Camp to enjoy the benefit of his sugar camp till the line is run, and John Jones and Moses Knap is for to run the line be- tween the parties, and eavery one of the partis is to move there fence on their own ground, sd Van Camp is to leave sixteen feet and a half in the clear between the stakes of the fences for a lane or outlet between the partis, and each party is to give sureity for there good behavior unto each other, there goods and chattles, for the term of one year and one day from entering of sureity, to be entered ameditly if it can be had ; if not to be had at the present time, bail is to be entered on Tuesday, the sixth day of February, A.D. 1810. The plaintiff to pay fifty cents costs, and the defendant the remainder of the costs of Sute.
" ' Witness our hands and seals this second day of february, A. D. IS10. "'SAMUEL SCOTT, (L. S.) JOHN SCOTT, (L. S.) ELIJAH M. GRAHAM, (L. S.) PETER JONES, (L. S.) JOHN MATSON, (L. S.)
" ' Before me THOMAS LUCAS.'
" The fines for Sabbath-breaking, profane swearing, and intoxication seem to have been rigidly enforced all through the term of office of Mr. Lucas, as we find numerous entries, in some instances the fines amount- ing to twelve dollars for one person. Numerous other offences are en- tered, the most curious being the indictments of the 'Commonwealth vs. Francis Godyear and Mollie Taylor for Poligamy,' September 12, 1835.
" In the same old docket is the account of Thomas Lucas's fees on probates on fox, wolf, and wild-cats, from February 14, 1832, to June II, 1838. Among the hunters are the names of William and Michael Long, Adam, Philip, Henry, and William Vastbinder, John, Samuel, and James Lucas, John and Thomas Callen, Jacob Shaffer, James Linn, Ralph Hill, John Wyncoop, William Dougherty, Frederick Heterick, Nelson T. McQuiston, William Horan, and William Douglass. The list embraces thirty wild-cats, forty-eight wolves, seventy-six foxes, and one panther (shot by Thomas Callen). The justice's fee on each probate was twelve and a half cents.
" On the whole, however, the early settlers of the county seem to have been a law-abiding people, for, with the exception of a few actions for ' assault and battery,' there were no serious breaches of the peace in the first quarter of a century that this old docket legally chronicles."-Kate Scott's History of Jefferson County.
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
The following were the early settlers up to 1818 :
Jacob Mason, Richard Van Camp, Samuel States, John Hice, Henry Lott, Joseph Clements, Charles Sutherland (colored), Robert Dickson, Enos Van Camp (colored), Frederick Frants, George Evans, Robert Knox, William Hayns, Israel Stiles, Hulet Smith, John Templeton, and Joseph Greenawalt, and perhaps a few others.
Fudge Van Camp was the pioneer colored settler.
The pioneer school in the county was started here, a description of which will be found under the chapter on education.
" The first election in the county was held at Port Barnett, and up to 1818 it was the only polling and election precinct in and for the county. At the last election (when the township was the whole county), in 1817, Friday, March 14, the names of the contestants for office and the votes were as follows,-viz. : Constable, Elijah M. Graham, 22 votes ; John Dixon, 13 votes. Supervisors, Joseph Barnett, 25 votes ; Thomas Lucas, 28 votes. Overseer of the Poor, Henry Keys, 9 votes ; John Matson, 6 votes. Fence Appraisers, Moses Knapp, 7 votes ; William Vastbinder, 7 votes. Town Clerk, Elijah M. Graham, 22 votes.
" Signed and attested by the judges, Walter Templeton and Adam Vastbinder."-Kate Scott's History of Jefferson County.
From 1831 to 1842, Andrew Barnett kept a licensed tavern at Port Barnett. Jacob Kroh kept the tavern from 1842 until 1843. Isaac Packer kept the log tavern near Peter Baum's from 1834 until 1842. In 1834 there were but two buildings between Port Barnett and Reynolds- ville,-Packer's tavern and Hance Vastbinder's house near where Emerickville now is. The pioneer store was opened by the Barnetts and Samuel Scott, who, in 1826, sold it out to Jared B. Evans, and he, in the fall of 1830, removed it to Jefferson Street, Brookville, Penn- sylvania.
PORT BARNETT.
Port Barnett, where the pioneer settlers of Jefferson County founded a home for themselves, was the property of Joseph Barnett and Samuel Scott. The county records describe the ownership of this property as follows :
" The Port Barnett property containing two hundred and fifty-six acres and one hundred perches. One part conveyed to Samuel Scott by Jeremiah Parker, by deed dated 16th day of -, 1818, recorded in Indiana County, in Deed Book No. 2, page 727, and by sundry convey- ances to Andrew Barnett. Other moiety conveyed to Joseph Barnett by Jeremiah Parker, by deed dated 26th of June, 1821, recorded in Indiana County, in Deed Book No. 4, page 482, and by will of Joseph Barnett devised to Andrew Barnett."
In 1818 there were but three saw-mills in the county, and nineteen miles of county road. "The only road then in this region was one
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
from Port Barnett, which crossed the Sandy near where Fuller's dam is now built, and from thence to Indiana. There were fourteen men em- ployed in cutting it out, under the direction of Judge Shippen, of Meadville.
" The party had a wagon to haul their provisions, and was composed of Mr. Kennedy and two men named Halloway and Williamson. No respect was had for the future comfort of the traveller, or the poor horses that had to toil over the road, no digging was done, and it was up one hill and down another. The second road was from Port Barnett to Troy, and was made in the same manner as the other. These roads were made so as to pass the homes of as many settlers as possible. The unseated taxes were sufficient to pay all expenses. The nearest grist-mill was run by a man named Parks, and was the Knapp mill. This mill was in what is now Brookville. The bolting was done by hand, and William Kennedy says he often took his turn at this work when waiting for his grist."
Timber tracts could be bought for twenty-five and fifty cents per acre. In 1820 there were twenty-five saw-mills in the county, and one hundred and fifty miles of county road. The early paths of the settlers ran over the steepest part of the hills, and these paths were usually enlarged into roads. These paths and roads were run over the hills by sighting from peak to peak with a compass to keep from being lost in the wild woods.
THE PIONEER SQUARE TIMBER RAFT.
Ludwig Long and sons about 1834 ran the first square timber raft. It took them six days to reach the mouth. Up to the year 1830 our people were unable to run much timber to market in any other way than in boards. A Yankee by the name of Samuel Seeley moved into this county about the year 1830 or 1832 and located at Port Barnett. This man Seeley either invented or introduced into this wilderness the idea of rafting timber sticks together with white oak bows and ash pins.
About the year 1834, Long's timber raft was taken out near Port Barnett, hauled to the creek, and rafted in. It was three platforms long. The timber sticks were of uniform length. which left no stiffness in the structure. The oar-blades and stem, as was the custom then, were hewed out of a good-sized pine-tree in one body. The cables were hickory. and the halyards wild grape-vine. The pilot stood on the front end of the raft, and steered from there. The timber was marketed at Pittsburg.
" Although more or less of the lumber has from the origin of the business until now been annually exported, the trade in square timber and spars was not until 1842 considered remunerative. Prior to that it was carried on from necessity. It was important to clear the land that bread might be raised and population supported, and, whilst the growing trees were considered of little or no value, our citizens were satisfied if
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
the pittance they then received for their timber would pay them for the labor of cutting and exporting.
" During all the early years of the settlement, varied with occasional pleasure and excitements, the great work of increasing the tillable ground went slowly on. The implements and tools were few and of the most primitive kinds, but the soil that had long held in reserve the accumu- lated richness of centuries produced splendid harvests, and the husband- man was well rewarded for his labor. The soil was warmer then than now, and the seasons earlier. The wheat was occasionally pastured in the spring to keep it from growing up so early and so fast as to become lodged. The harvest came early, and the yield was often from twenty to thirty bushels per acre. Corn grew fast, and roasting ears were to be had by the Ist of August in most seasons."
PERRY TOWNSHIP.
This was the second organized township, being taken, in 1818, from Pine Creek. The division line separating at that time these two town- ships was called the " Mason and Dixon line of Jefferson County." This township was named in honor of Commodore Perry, the hero of the navy on the Lakes, in the war of 1812; and its boundary then was, on the north by Pine Creek township, east by Clearfield County, south by Indiana County, and west by Armstrong County. There are two pioneer villages in the township,-viz., Perrysville and Whitesville; and the former has a post-office called Hamilton, and the latter's post-office is Valier ; also the taxables were as follows : in 1828, 85 ; 1835, 209 ; 1842, 251. The population by census of 1840 was 1076.
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