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 44
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" On more than two-thirds of the little farms no wagon-tracks were to be seen, all the work being done with sleds. Nevertheless, there were occasional freighters through the wilderness, generally loaded with salt. The only stores in that sixty miles were one at Glade Run and one at Punxsutawney. The people made all their own clothes. Nearly every family that had a daughter as old as fourteen years had a weaver. The blooming miss who learned that art was an artist indeed. It was a treat for the boys who had no sister weaver to carry the yarn to the neighbor girl and help her adjust the web for the work. Their clothes were made from the backs of the sheep and the flax in the field. The girls wore linsey- woolsey and the boys linen and tow shirts, and indeed full suits of the same for common work. The fine clothes for the girls were barred flan- nel of their own spinning, and the boys satinet,-then generally called cassinet,-flax, and wool. The preachers and the teachers were rever- enced and respected, but woe unto them if they even seemed to put on airs on account of their 'store clothes.'
" Many were the expedients for social gatherings ; but to these brave, industrious pioneers it was essential to unite business with pleasure, and I rarely heard of a party which was not utilized for the advancement of improvements on the farm. The singing-school was the only exception. In the log-rolling, the wood-chopping, the flax-skutching, the sheep- shearing, all the neighbors would go the rounds helping each other, in the spirit of the song,-
"' Let the wide world wag as it will, We'll be gay and happy still.'
"' Skutching' was the term used for the primitive mode of separating the woody part of the flax from the fibre used in weaving cloth, and a skutching was a jolly party, in which the boys took the heavier part, and passed the 'hank' to the girls for the lighter, more delicate work of polishing.
" Thus the logs were rolled in the clearings, the flax and wool pre- pared for the loom, and the firewood made ready for the winter. But the most primitive, most amusing, and the merriest gathering of all was the kicking frolic.
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" It is doubtful whether any of the readers of this book have ever seen a kicking frolic. Let me try to describe it. As I have said, the people made all their own clothes in those days. After the web was woven, the next process was fulling, whereby the cloth was properly shrunken for use. Generally it was taken to fulling-mills, but in some parts they were so far away and so expensive that the wits of the pioneers were compelled to invent a substitute. One night, at my journey's end for the day, near Punxsutawney, I was invited to go with the McComb boys to Hender- son's kicking. The girls of the whole neighborhood had spent the after- noon at quilting, for the quilting was an accompaniment of nearly all the other frolics, and at dark the boys assembled for the kicking. The good old Mrs. Henderson had prepared a boiler full of soapsuds. The web of cloth was placed on the kitchen floor,-a floor generally made from puncheons,-that is, logs split and smoothed with the axe and adze. Around the web was placed a circle of chairs, with a plough-line or a clothes-line circling the chairs, to hold the circle together for work. Thus equipped the boys took off shoes and stockings, rolled up their pants to their knees, placed themselves on the chairs in the circle, and then the kicking began. The old lady poured on the soapsuds as hot as the boys' feet could stand, and they sent the web whirling and the suds splashing to the ceiling of the kitchen, and thus the web was fulled to the proper thickness and dimensions. Despite the good Mrs. Hen- derson's protestations that ' the hard work would kill the boys,' I stripped and went in, and never did a boy so sweat in his life. The work was done. The barred flannel was ready for the girls' dresses, the blankets for the beds, and the satin for the boys' clothes. A merrier time boys and girls never enjoyed, nor did a party ever have a better supper than Mrs. Henderson prepared. There was no dance, but the kissing plays of the time lent zest to the occasions, and
"' In the wee sma' hours ayont the twal'
all returned to happy homes.
" The threshing machinery was unknown to the farmers anywhere, and the flail did the work of threshing. Even the fanning-mill was un- common, as I remember of but three on all that route. There was a mode of winnowing grain by three men, one shaking the wheat in the chaff through a ridder or sieve, and two waving a tightly drawn sheet, producing wind to separate the chaff from the grain.
" In places I have seen hand mills for grinding corn and wheat. They had an upper and nether millstone, the upper stone being turned by a ' handle' standing nearly perpendicularly above the centre of the stone.
" In the wilderness was every animal native to the clime,-the deer,
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
the wild turkey, the fox, the raccoon, the wolf, the porcupine, the bear, and the panther. There I have seen scores of such animals. Frequently I have met bears in pairs, but I never saw a panther, though I frequently heard their familiar screams. It was a shy animal, but considered the most dangerous of all wild animals. On one occasion, when near the middle of that wilderness of sixteen miles, I was startled by the fearful screams of a panther, which, from the sound, seemed fast approaching me. Hurriedly breaking a limb from a spruce tree, I lashed my horse into all his speed ; still the screams became more distinct and frightful. I had perhaps run my horse a quarter of a mile, when a bear rushed through the thick underbrush across the road, not more than two rods ahead of me, the screaming of the panther sounding as if he was not a rod behind in the brush. The bear never stopped to look at me, and I plied my stick to the horse's back, shoulder, and flank with all my power, running him until the sounds gradually died away, and the exhausted horse gave out and I was compelled to slacken my speed. My first stop- ping-place was at the house of Mr. Andrew Bowers, at the edge of the wilderness. I told him my story, and he replied, 'John, that was a " painter," and that " painter" was after that bear, and if he had come up to that bear when you were near it, he would have jumped onto you quicker than the bear. Now, John,' he continued, 'don't run, nor don't advance on it. If you do either, the " painter" will attack you. But just stop and look the "painter" in the eye, and by and by he will quietly walk off.'
" I have twice seen in the wilderness that rarest of animals, the black fox, whose fur rivals the seal and the sable in ladies' apparel.
" Did I ever see ghosts ? Of course I did. What could a poor post- boy know of cause and effect in the wilderness which has since developed some of the most wonderful gas-wells of the age? In that wild country the ignis-fatuus was frequently seen. Once I saw a floating light in the darkness, and in my fright was trotting my horse at his best speed, when he stumbled on a rock, throwing me clear over his head, the mail-bag following. I grabbed the bags and was on my horse's back before he could get off his knees. The 'ghost' in the mean time had vanished. Once, when about half-way between Smicksburg and Punxsutawney, a light as brilliant, it seemed to me, as Paul saw on his way to Damascus, shot up under my horse. I grabbed my hat, as my hair seemed to stand on end. I was so alarmed that I told my story to the postmaster at Ewing's Mill, and he relieved my mind greatly by explaining the phe- nomenon. He said, 'Was there snow on the ground ?' 'Yes.' And then he went on to relieve my fears in the most kindly way, telling me that all the stories about ghosts, spooks, and hobgoblins could be ex plained on natural principles. He said that at times natural gas exuded from between the rocks, and that the snow confined it, and that my
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
horse's shoe had struck fire from the flinty rock, and the gas exploded. I believed him, and my ghost story was exploded, too, but I would have killed a horse before I would have ventured over that spot in night-time again.
" The boys of that period had as much fun in their composition as those of the present age. One Halloween we sauntered ' on fun intent' near where Dayton now stands. We lodged a yearling calf in a hay- mow, changed the hind wheels of the only two wagons in the neighbor- hood to the forward axles, and vice versa, robbed a loom and strung the maiden's web from tree to tree across the road, and changed the natural order of things generally. I remember especially that in our mischief we accidentally broke a window in the house of a good old couple. We re- paid damages by a boy slipping up and depositing fifty cents on the sill of the broken window. The old people were so universally esteemed that malicious mischief would have been investigated ; but whether the motive for recompense was remorse for a bad act or esteem for their two beautiful daughters with raven locks and black eyes, this boy will only confess for himself. The McComb boys reported that one of the girls called on the way to the store the next day for glass and expressed the gratitude of the family for the kind consideration of the boys in making restitution.
" I distinctly remember how we all put in our utmost strength to place a log endwise against the door of Dr. Sims's house, so as to press it inward with such force that an urgent call before morning compelled the doctor to crawl out of the window."-Punxsutawney News.
RIDGWAY TOWNSHIP.
THE PIONEER SETTLER AND OTHER EARLY SETTLERS-PIONEER ROAD UP HOGBACK HILL-PIONEER GRIST-MILL FOR THE WILDERNESS-PIONEER PHYSICIAN AND MINISTERS-PIONEER BLACKSMITH-THE PIONEER ELEC- TION-JAMES L. GILLIS, ETC.
Ridgway, the fourth township, was organized in 1826, being taken from Pine Creek, and named after a Mr. Jacob Ridgway, residing in Philadelphia, a large landholder in the township. It was then bounded on the north and east by Mckean County, and south and west by Pine Creek township. The taxables in 1826 were 20 ; in 1835, 40 ; in 1842, 75. The population by census in 1830 was 50 ; and in 1840, 195. In 1843 this township was separated from Jefferson County by the organiza- tion of a new county called Elk, and has now within its bounds the seat of justice for that county, and which is also named Ridgway.
The pioneer settler of Ridgway township was "a pioneer hunter named General Wade and family, with a friend named Slade, who came to the head-waters of the Little Toby in 1798, and settled temporarily. In 1803 the party returned east, but the same year came hither and built
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
Skidding logs in the woods.
E. C. HALL: PHOTO
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
a log house at the mouth of the Little Toby on the east bank. In 1806, while Wade and Slade were hunting near what is now Blue Rock, they saw an Indian girl watching them. Approaching her, Wade enticed her to follow him to his home, and there introduced her to Mrs. Wade. In 1809 this Indian girl married Slade, Chief Tamisqua performing the cere- mony. Slade removed with his wife to where Portland now is and estab- lished a trading house there."-Elk County History.
Of the early settlers Dr. A. M. Clarke wrote as follows :
" About the time of the 'late war' with England, in 1812, some ven- turesome men pushed their way up the Susquehanna River and up the Sinnemahoning Creek to the mouth of Trout Run on Bennett's Branch, at which place Leonard Morey located and built a saw mill. Dwight Caldwell, John Mix, and Eben Stephens came at the same time. These were the first settlers on Bennett's Branch. About the same time a large tract of country, containing some one hundred and forty thousand acres, which had been surveyed on warrants issued in the name of James Wil- son, had come into the possession of Fox, Norris & Co., Quakers, of Philadelphia, who sent William Kersey as agent to construct a road into their lands and build a mill. The road started from a point on an old State road leading to Waterford, Pennsylvania, about eight miles west of the Susquehanna River, passed through the woods over Boon's Mountain, crossed Little Toby's Creek, without a bridge, where Hellen Mills now stand, followed up the creek seven miles to the point of Hogback Hill, up which it went, though steep and difficult, continued over the high and undulating grounds to the spot which had been selected for a mill site on a stream which was afterwards called Elk Creek, where the mill was built, about two miles from the present Centreville. Jacob Wilson was the miller who for many years attended this mill. Often the old man had to go a mile and a half from his own house to the mill to grind a small grist of a bushel, brought on horseback ; but his patience was quite equal to the emergency, and he did it without complaining.
" A few settlers came into the county about the time the Kersey Mill was built ; of these I may mention Elijah Meredith, James Green, Josiah Taylor, J. R. Hancock, David Reesman, John Kyler, and John Shafer, with their families ; these constituted the Kersey settlement."
This settlement was in Clearfield County, but was along the line of Jefferson, and its history is a part of ours.
" In 1822, Alonzo and James W. Brockway settled on the Henry Pfeffer tract, Lottery Warrant No. 34; they had to cut their way down the creek five miles from Philetus Clark's. This was the first settlement in what afterwards became Snyder township, and where Brockwayville now stands. Rev. Jonathan Nichols settled on the Brandy Camp. He was the first clergyman who settled in this section, and spent his life in serving the people. He was the first physician, and his visits were re-
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
quired over a large extent of country. As a clergyman, his ministrations were generally well accepted, and his meetings as well attended as could be in a country so sparsely settled ; people frequently went six or eight miles to meeting. In the winter their carriages were sleds drawn by oxen ; in the summer, men, women, and children could walk nine or ten miles and home again the same day."
The old State road spoken of here by Dr. Clarke was the Milesburg and Le Bœuf road that passed through Port Barnett.
One of the pioneers of Ridgway township was James L. Gillis. In June, 1820, he left his home in Ontario County, New York, to look over the land, and in December, 1820, he moved his family into the wilder- ness. They came in sleds, and it required two days ; they had to camp out overnight. Gillis was an agent for Ridgway, and was furnished ample means for all expenses. He cleared five hundred acres of land, erected a large frame house, and built a grist-mill and a carding-machine. Reuben A. Aylesworth and Enos Gillis came with his family.
James L. Gillis was a man of State celebrity. He was absent nearly all the time, lobbying at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, or at Washington. He was a very interesting man to talk with.
In 1826, William Morgan, of Batavia, New York, was abducted from his home at night and never heard of afterwards. Morgan had been a Mason, and published the alleged secrets of the Masonic order. The 'Masons were charged with abducting and murdering him. Mystery sur- rounds his disappearance to this day. Intense excitement prevailed all over the nation.
Mr. Gillis was a Mason, and was arrested at Montmorenci and carried to New York State, and there tried for the abduction and murder of Morgan. In the trial he was cleared.
Mr. Gillis was a cavalry soldier in the war of 1812, and took part in several severe engagements. He was taken prisoner by the British and suffered severely. He was a model man physically, and by nature en- dowed with much intelligence. This, added to his extensive travels and political experience, gave him a prominence in the State and nation that few men possessed. Gillis was the Patriarch in Ridgway township. He migrated in 1821 to what he named Montmorenci, Pine Creek township, then in Jefferson County. He brought his children and brother-in-law with him. He cleared four hundred acres of land in one chopping, and built a grist-mill and a carding-mill in those woods.
For five years he was monarch of all he surveyed, and without any post-office nearer than fifty miles of him. He came to Port Barnett, near Brookville, to vote, was liable to and for militia service, and for all legal business had to go to Indiana, Pennsylvania, a distance of ninety miles. While at Montmorenci in 1826 he was instrumental in securing a mail-route from Kittanning to Olean, New York. This gave him mail
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
service once in two weeks. He was a great horseman and horseback rider.
Gillis was related to Jacob Ridgway, one of the richest men in the State, and he was agent for all his lands in Jefferson County. Gillis was slow and methodical in his habits ; was fond of games,-viz., chess, backgammon, checkers, and euchre. He carried a snuff-box that held about a pint of the choicest snuff, in which was buried a Tonka bean, that imparted to the snuff a delightful aroma. He walked with a gold- headed cane, and in winter he wore a panther-skin overcoat. Physically he was a large man, and was sociable and agreeable. In 1830 he moved to where Ridgway now is. He was elected to several offices, including Congress. He moved to Mount Pleasant, Iowa, where he died in 1881, aged eighty-nine years.
" Sleep, soldier, though many regret thee Who pass by thy cold bier to-day ; Soon, soon shall the kindest forget thee, And thy name from the earth pass away. The man thou didst love as a brother A friend in thy place will have gained, And thy dog shall keep watch for another, And thy steed by another be reined."
The second saw-mill was erected by Enos Gillis in 1823, at the western end of what is now Ridgway, and is standing as it did seventy years ago, only it is transformed into part of an axe-factory.
James Gallagher and family arrived in 1825, over the same trail Gillis came. Enos Gillis and James Gallagher were the pioneers in what is now called Ridgway borough, by having erected there three or four log cabins and a saw-mill in 1824. About 1838, J. S. Hyde, father of Hon. W. H. Hyde, reached Ridgway clothed in overalls, and all his possessions tied up in a handkerchief. He entered the store of Gillis & Clover and wanted to buy an axe on credit ; on being refused he told the storekeeper to keep his axe; that he would see the day when he could buy the whole store.
Caleb Dill was the "post-boy" in 1828.
The pioneer tannery was started in 1830. Enos Gillis, owner ; James Gallagher, tanner.
" WANTED IMMEDIATELY.
" Two apprentices to the TANNING BUSINESS. Two boys, about 17 or 18 years of age, who can come well recommended, will find a good place. All pains will be taken to acquaint them with the business.
" JAMES GALLAGHER.
" RIDGWAY TOWNSHIP, March 13, IS34."
- The Jeffersonian.
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
The pioneer road was the State road from Kittanning to Olean. There was great excitement and enthusiasm by the land-owners and settlers over this State road. But it all came to naught, for the road has never been used to any extent. It is still known as the Olean road where it is not grown up and abandoned.
The Ceres road was laid out in 1825 and finished in 1828. The Milesburg and Smethport Turnpike Company was incorporated in 1825, and the road was finished about 1830. (See Laws. )
In 1840 the waters of what is now called the Clarion were as clear as crystal, pure as life, and gurgled into the river from the mountain springs. No tannery or other refuse was to be found in it. In 1749 the French named the stream Gall River. It was declared a public highway as Toby's Creek by an act of the Legislature, March 21, 1798, up to the second great fork.
In early times this river was known as Stump Creek, and sometimes as Toby's Creek, and it is said that it got these two names after two Indian hunters, who were in the habit (in the winter) of going up this river in canoes, to hunt and trap. They would return each spring with their furs and meat to their villages down the Allegheny and Ohio Rivers.
It was called Toby's Creek as early as 1758. Unable myself to find any authority for a change to Clarion, I wrote to the Secretary of Inter- nal Affairs, and received the following,-viz. :
" June S, 1897.
" HON. W. J. MCKNIGHT, Brookville, Pa.
" DEAR SIR,-In answer to your letter of recent date, we beg to say that we are unable to find any act of Assembly changing the name of Toby's Creek to Clarion River. In an act to authorize the erection of a dam, passed in 1822, this stream is designated as ' Toby's Creek, other- wise called Clarion River.'
" Very truly yours, " JAMES W. LATTA, " Secretary."
The early mills in and around Ridgway were the Elk Creek Mill, owned by J. S. Hyde, the Mill Creek Mill, owned by Yale & Healey, and the Dickinson Mill. This mill was erected by Hughes & Dickinson, and painted red. The boarding-house was also red.
In the year 1833 there were seven families in what is now Ridgway, -viz., Reuben Aylesworth and Caleb Dill west of the river, and Enos Gillis, James W. Gallagher, H. Karns, Thomas Barber, and Joab Dobbins on the east side.
About 1840, common hands on the river received one dollar per day and board. Pilots, two and three dollars per day and board. The " head" sawyer on the Red Mill received twenty-five dollars per month
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
and board ; the assistant, eighteen dollars per month and board ; and common hands, fifteen dollars a month and board.
The usual religious exercises on Sunday at the Red Mill, in 1842, were wrestling, fishing, pitching quoits, shooting at mark, running foot- races, and " jumping by the double rule of three."
The Beech Bottom Mill belonged to the Portland Lumber Company. The diet at these old mills was bread, potatoes, beans, flitch, and mo- lasses ; brown sugar, old tasted butter, coffee and tea without cream, and for dessert dried apple-sauce or pie. Labor was cheap. Pine boards of the finest quality sold in Louisville, Kentucky, at seven and nine dollars per thousand. If the operator cleared twenty-five or fifty cents on a thousand feet he was thankful.
All goods and groceries were dear, they had to be hauled from Olean, New York, or Waterson's Ferry on the Allegheny River. Money was scarce, the people social and kind. Whiskey and New England rum was three cents a drink.
PIONEER TEAMSTERS-MELANCHOLY ACCIDENT.
" On Thursday, the 4th of July, a man by the name of John Schram, from Ridgway settlement, in Jefferson County, a wagoner, while at Freeport waiting the arrival of some store goods from Pittsburg, came to a sudden and untimely end by his wagon oversetting upon him, while driving rather faster than prudence would justify, along the towpath. An inquest was held by Robert Criswell, Esq. Verdict that he came to his death by the upsetting of his wagon in the Pennsylvania Canal. The unfortunate stranger was interred in decency and respect."-Armstrong Democrat, July 4, 1837.
Other early teamsters from Ridgway to Freeport, Kittanning, and Waterson's Ferry were Conrad Moyer, Coryell Wilcox, Barney McCune, and Charles B. Gillis. The pioneer and early teamsters from St. Mary's to those points were John Walker, Charles Fisher, and Joseph Wilhelm. The merchandise carried from Pittsburg to this region was by canal to Freeport, by keel-boat and steamboat to Kittanning and Waterson's Ferry. The teamsters loaded their wagons with wheat flour, etc., in barrels bound with hickory hoops, bacon and salt and whiskey in barrels bound with iron hoops. But, strange to say, there was always a soft stave in these whiskey-barrels through which a " rye straw" could be made to reach the whiskey for the teamster and his friends while en route home.
" From 1825 to 1845 the plan of Fourier-that of communities with a union of labor and capital and working under fixed rules-was actively put into operation in this section of Pennsylvania. On the main road from Ridgway to Smethport are the remains of the town of Teutonia, once a large community ; but jealousies grew up, and the members dis-
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
persed among the people at large, and became industrious and useful citizens.
" The sudden advent and exit of this community had its prototype within half a mile of Teutonia. The mouldering wood and growth of trees of half a century mark the spot where was laid out the town of Instanter. Its plot is duly recorded in McKean County. Mr. Cooper, a large landholder, was the instigator, if not the forerunner of the settle- ment. As the streets were marked out, the buildings went up like magic ; but Madam Rumor spread a report that the land-title was unsound, and on investigation such was found to be the fact. Work suddenly ceased and the settlers left."
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