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 45
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Part of the Cooper lands were situated in what was then Jefferson County, and the flaming hand-bill which was gotten up to advertise these lands gave the following explicit directions for getting to them :
" Title .- Three hundred thousand acres of land for sale and settle- ment. In the counties of McKean and Jefferson, in the State of Penn- sylvania, joining the New York line and the Genesee lands, extending for forty miles, and situate about two hundred and fifty miles northwest from Philadelphia, etc.
" Settlers and others wishing to go into the aforesaid lands from the northern part of Jersey, New York, and New England States, take the Newburg and Cohecton Turnpike, or such roads as will be most direct to the Painted Post ; then cross the York and Pennsylvania line, taking the Tioga road to Dr. Willar's or Widow Barry's ; thence to and on the east and west road, passing Wellsborough and Coudersport to Smethport ; thence ten miles to Instanter (proposed county town of Mckean). For settlers and others south of Easton, fall into the Lehigh and Berwick or Sunbury pike, from thence to Williamsport, passing by Jersey Shore to the aforesaid east and west road. For such as go on foot or horseback, they can take the Ellicott road from Jersey Shore, passing through Duns- town, and up the Susquehanna and Sinnemahoning to Cox's settlement and Instanter.
" BENJAMIN B. COOPER.
" COOPER'S POINT, April 25, 1812."
-History of Pennsylvania.
In 1835 a man by the name of Frank Goodar lived in Ridgway town- ship, on the Beechwoods road, near what is now Brockwayville, Snyder township. He was married, but concluded that he ought to have two wives, so with the consent of wife No. I he married Mollie No. 2, Squire Mccullough, of Pine Creek township, performing the ceremony in the summer of that year. For this offence against morals Isaac Temple prosecuted Goodar before Thomas Lucas, Esq., for bigamy ; but at the
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
hearing of September 12, 1835, he failed to prove a marriage with wife No. I, and of course Goodar was discharged. All three lived together for seven years in a log cabin, on what was afterwards the Frost farm, and now the William Kearney place, where Frank and Mollie deserted Beckie, wife No. I.
Ralph Hill settled at Portland Mills about 1832. He came from Massachusetts. He lived the life of a hermit. Portland becoming too much in civilization, he moved up Spring Creek, and lived in Forest County, the companion of wild animals, " where his right there was none to dispute." He died at a ripe old age.
The pioneer railroad was the Sunbury and Erie. "The Sunbury and Erie, now the Philadelphia and Erie, a portion of that magnificent sys- tem, the Pennsylvania Railroad, was chartered April 3, 1837, but it was not until 1852 that construction was commenced, and the road was not completed until 1864."
In the speculative times of 1836 non-residents of then Jefferson County bought largely of the wild lands in and around Ridgway town- ship, which, of course, when railroad and other bubbles burst, was left on their hands. This land had been advertised to contain valuable iron ore and bituminous coal, and much of it could have been bought as late as 1841 at fifty and twenty-five cents an acre.
To build a railroad through a dense wilderness of worthless hemlock, ferocious beasts, gnats, and wintergreen berries required a large purse and great courage. Of course, there was no subject talked about in the cabin homes of that locality so dear to the hearts of the pioneers as this railroad.
There was not a cabin on the line of this proposed road from Shippen to Ridgway, and but one at Johnsonburg from Ridgway to the waters of Tionesta.
The pioneer justice of the peace was Reuben A. Aylesworth, appointed February 18, 1832.
In 1839, James Watterson, of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, settled at the mouth of Spring Creek, and he and Job Paine built a saw- mill. In 1833, Ralph Hill and a man named Ransom were living in a shanty at Beech Bottom.
" The pioneer school was held in Gallagher's log cabin (near the present Ridgway Central Graded School), in 1826, under the control of Hannah Gilbert, and attended by the children of the three families re- siding there. Subsequently Ann Berry and Betsey Hyatt taught in an old red school-house, which was situated at the present site of Dillon's meat market. In 1834 a house for common school purposes was erected above the old Dickinson homestead, on the west side of the race and north side of Main Street, by Messrs. Crow, Gallagher, Thayer, Dickin- son, Cobb, and Cady, and Betsey (Elizabeth M.) Hyatt installed teacher.
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
She was succeeded by Mr. Barnutz in 1835. A second building was erected in 1838, near where the B. R. & P. depot now stands.
In the winter of 1832, L. Wilmarth, Arthur Hughes, and George Dickinson erected the red saw-mill. Ridgway was laid out for a town in 1833.
" In 1834 the first bridge was put across the Clarion River. This was a toll-bridge. It was built of twelve by sixteen inch stringers resting on cribbing. Before this time teams forded the river, and in high water boats were used. The country was covered by a thick growth of hemlock-trees. Game, such as elks, deer, bears, panthers, and wild-cats were found in great abundance, fish abounded in the streams," and rattlesnakes and other reptiles were numerous and dangerous.
Up to 1835, Ridgway township included all that portion of Snyder township that is now Brockwayville borough, and even west of Sugar Hill, as well as a good portion of what is now Washington township. Ridgway in 1836 was a small village. At the west end of the town was George Dickinson's boarding-house, then Henry Gross's home, then Dickinson's saw-mill and barn, Caleb Dill's home, justice office, and blacksmith-shop, Stephen Weis's home and John Cobb's house, Hon. James L. Gillis's home and store, George Dickinson's home and store, and on the east side of the Clarion was the Exchange Hotel, owned by David Thayer, then Edward Derby's old red house, then the Lone Star Hotel, owned by P. T. Brooks.
When P. T. Brooks, who was quite a wag, very polite and demon- strative, was keeping this hotel in the wilderness, two finely dressed and appearing gentlemen rode up one day in front of and stopped at his hotel for dinner. Of course, this was an opportunity for Mr. Brooks to be demonstrative and polite. After seeing that the horses were properly cared for, Brooks approached the gentlemen in this way : "What kind of meat would you gentleman prefer for dinner?" "Why, Mr. Land- lord, we would prefer venison." "I am sorry that we are just out of venison." " Oh, well," said the strangers, " a little good beef or mut- ton will do." " Well, well," replied Mr. Brooks, " I am sorry to say we are just out of beef and mutton." At this the strangers were a little nonplussed, but finally said, " We will be satisfied with fish." "Well, well," replied Mr. Brooks, rubbing his hands, " I am sorry to say that we are just out of fish, but we have some very excellent pickled pork."
Uncle Eben Stevens, an old hunter who came to the Sinnemahoning region about 1812, told me there was an Indian graveyard at the mouth of Mill Creek, that he used to go up there and hunt with the Indians, and in the spring they would paint their canoes red with that "iron paint" on the Clarion.
And down the Toby Creek-
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
" Where the rocks were gray and the shores were steep,
Where the waters below looked dark and deep,
Where the shades of the forest were heavy and deep the whole day through,"
Stevens and the Indians in these red canoes would carry their game, skins, and furs to the Pittsburg market.
The pioneer effort to erect what is now the county of Elk was on Tuesday, February 28, 1837, when an act to erect the county of Ridg- way was reported in the State Senate.
The present town or borough of St. Mary's was established in 1842. Father Alexander had the colony in charge then. Early in the summer of 1842 a number of Germans in the cities of Baltimore and Philadelphia associated themselves in a society to form a German settlement on the community plan, and appointed John Albert, Nicholas Reimel, and Michael Deileth to select the place for settlement. This committee selected Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, and the site where the borough of St. Mary's and the adjoining settlement now is. For this colony they purchased thirty-five thousand acres of land from Mr. Kingsbury. In October of this year the first instalment of settlers-one from Phila- delphia and one from Baltimore-reached John Green's, in Kersey. From Kersey these men, in two instalments, opened a path to where St. Mary's now is, and immediately set to work to erect their log cabins on St. Mary's Street. In December, 1842, they moved their families to these cabins, and the county of Elk was organized in 1843.
The pioneer election for township officers was held in Ridgway township, at the house of James Gallagher, on the 16th of March, 1837. The following persons contested, -viz. : Constable, Nehemiah Bryant, 8 votes ; Alanson Viall, 7 votes. Supervisors, James Gallagher and Alonzo Brockway, no opposition. Poor Overseers, Naphtala G. Barrun and William Maxwell, no opposition. Fence Appraisers, Nehemiah Bryant and William Taylor, no opposition. Town Clerk, James Gallagher. Officers of Election : Inspector, John Stratton ; Judges, Nehemiah Bryant, James Brockway, and Alonzo Brockway; Clerk, James Gal- lagher.
ROSE TOWNSHIP.
Rose, the fifth township, was organized in 1827, and was also taken from Pine Creek township. It was named for Dr. Rose, then a prom- inent landholder in its territory. He founded the village of Roseville, and labored hard to make it the county seat, but failed in this aspiration. Roseville was celebrated for the early horse-racing. The other village in the township is Bellview (post-office, Stanton), about five miles south of Brookville. The taxables in 1828, 123; in 1835, 252 (this included the taxables in the borough of Brookville). The town and township held their elections together for a number of years, and the taxables were as-
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
sessed together up to 1845. The population of Rose township, including Brookville, in 1840, was 1421. The pioneer settlers in Rose township were John Matson and Mary, his wife. He built his cabin on the land now owned by his son, Robert L., in 1805. The next settler was Joseph Clements, the next Andrew Vastbinder. John Lucas came from Crooked Creek, Indiana County, in 1816, and settled at Puckety. John Kennedy came in the spring of 1822. Walter Templeton, grandfather of Thomas L. Templeton, the efficient cashier of the Brookville National Bank, was living in the township then. He was the mechanic of that time. He could do any and all kinds of repairing. In 1826, Samuel D. Kennedy settled on the pike near Corsica. There was a log house then in what is now Corsica, and a man by the name of Powers kept a tavern in it. Luther Geer settled in the township in 1833. Peter Thrush in 1837.
Square timber.
Peter Himes in 1838. The Enoch and Joseph E. Hall family came in 1833. Joel Spyker came in 1835. The Witherows came in 1833. William Thompson came in 1834.
James Corbett built the pioneer saw mill on Red Bank, near Coders. The pioneer church building was the Bethel log, in 1824 (Presbyterian).
The pioneer brick-yard was started by Colonel William Jack and General Wise. It was situated on the head of what is now Heidrick, Matson & Co.'s mill-pond, on the east side of the North Fork, and was operated about 1830.
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
The pioneer improvement in what is now Rose township was made by John Matson. He built the first pioneer grist-mill in the township, on the North Fork, above Verstine & Kline's saw-mill, in 1830. In 1829 he built the saw-mill now known as Verstine & Kline's mill.
The pioneer election polling-place was at the house of John Lucas. In 1836 it was changed as follows : By an act of the Legislature passed the 16th day of June, 1836, it was enacted " that all that part of Rose township, in the county of Jefferson, lying west of a line commencing at the home of Robert Morrison, on the line of Perry township; thence north along an old line to the Eldred township line, be, and the same is hereby, erected into a separate election district, and shall hereafter hold their general elections at the house now occupied by Darius Carrier within said bounds."
Among the pioneer industries was tar-burning. Kilns were formed and split fagots of pitch-pine knots were arranged in circles and burned. The tar was collected by a ditch and forced into a chute, and from there barrelled. John Matson, Sr., marketed on rafts as high as forty barrels in one season. Freedom Stiles was the king " tar-burner." Pioneer prices at Pittsburg for tar was ten dollars a barrel.
The pioneer licensed tavern was kept by John Matson on the old State Road in 1812.
The early tavern-keepers, or those to whom license to sell whiskey was granted, were William Vastbinder, William Christy, John Shoemaker, David Orcutt, Anthony Rowe, James Green, Isaac Mills, and Joshua Mckinley. The two latter kept at Roseville. Joseph Henderson at Dowlingville in 1841.
The early brick-kilns were started in 1832, one by Robert P. Barr and the other by Joseph Kaylor.
The pioneer birth in the township was Jane, daughter of John and Mary Matson.
At the pioneer local election for 1828 the number of votes cast was 65, and at the general election in the fall, 66.
At an election held at the home of John Lucas, March 20, 1829, the following persons contested,-viz. : Supervisors, Moses Knapp, 39 votes ; James Shields, 30 votes. Poor Overseers, John Lucas, 10 votes ; John Avery, 10 votes. Auditor, John Hughes, 50 votes ; Alonzo Baldwin, 42 votes ; R. K. Scott, 36 votes ; William Morrison, 32 votes. Constable, William Love, Jr., 51 votes. Fence-Viewers, John Kelso, 16 votes ; Elijah M. Graham, 14 votes. Town Clerk, John Christy, 3 votes ; James Corbett, 3 votes. Attest : Alonzo Baldwin, John Lucas, judges.
Election district according to the act of April 16, 1838 :
" SECTION 52. That the citizens of Rose township, Jefferson County, within the following boundaries,-viz. : Beginning at the mouth of a run putting into the north side of Red Bank Creek, a short distance west of
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
the mill of Dr. Dowling ; thence up said creek till it strikes the Rose dis- trict line ; thence west to county line between Armstrong and Jefferson Counties, and from a place or point the nearest opposite the mouth of the aforesaid run, by a line running due south till the same shall strike the northern line of Perry township, shall hold their elections in the borough of Brookville, at the place now appointed by law for holding the borough election."
A POLITICAL CANDIDATE.
" Prior to March, 1832, our neighboring county of Jefferson was with- out any newspaper, and the announcements of candidates for county offices were then made through the weekly papers of this county, and it might be incidentally added that then, as ever since over that way, there was no scarcity of candidates.
" The announcements were generally inserted prominently in large type, occupying from three to five times as much space as would be allowed in these days.
" One of these announcements, which was shown us a few days ago by one of our subscribers, appeared regularly in the Indiana Free Press for three months prior to the October election in 1831. It is a curiosity. Here it is in its original form and style :
"'TO THE FREE AND INDEPENDENT ELECTORS OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
" ' Solicited it's I have been, To stand a poll by many, For office of Commissioner Before, have not agreed to any ;
My name at length I will let go, Through medium of the press.
By word of mouth and by hand-bills, Which way they think it best ;
It's free and independent times, October you will see,
The second Tuesday, if I'm right, The polls will ended be ; And now I'll say what I have said Before, on such occasions, That if elected to an office, I'll do my best endeavors
To fill the office I'm put in With punctuality, And with the utmost of my skill, Though best it may not be ;
If I'm elected to that trust, My best wishes shall be fervent,
Whilst here I stand a candidate, Your most obedient servant.
457
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
JOHN CHRISTIE is my name in full, America is my nation, Rose township is my dwelling place, A Farmer is my station.
"' July 31, 1831.'"
-Indiana Messenger.
I copy the following advertisement from the Brookville Democratic Republican of the year 1837 :
" CAMP-MEETING.
" There will be a camp-meeting held by the Methodist Episcopal Church below Troy, to commence on Friday, the Ist day of September, 1837.
" DARIUS CARRIER."
HORSE-RACING.
Horse-racing was practised as early as when Troy was besieged by the Greeks. In the plain before the city the besiegers celebrated holi- days by sports and horse-races, and Homer says the walls of Troy were covered with sporting Trojans watching the result.
The trotting horse is an institution of the present century. Before 1800 running was the only method of racing.
Horse-racing as practised in the pioneer days of our county was a great sport. People came here from all the northwest.
THE ROSEVILLE PIONEER RACE-GROUND.
" Jefferson County Races .- On Tuesday, the 14th of November, instant, will be run over the race-course on the Lewistown and Erie Turnpike, near the public house of Mrs. Mills, four miles west of Brook- ville, a match race of 600 yards between the celebrated racers Robin and Zib. The public and all others friendly are hereby invited to attend. By order of
" THE PROPRIETORS. "November 2, 1837."
" Robin" was a Brookville horse, and won this race. He was a sorrel, and belonged to John Pierce and Major William Rodgers. These men purchased him from Ephraim Bushly for five hundred dollars, and they sold him to Benjamin Bennett, Sr., of Bellefonte, where he was taken and matched for a race. He had never been beaten in a race, but before this match took place in Centre County he was poisoned and ruined.
" Zib" was a dark bay horse, and was owned by a Mr. Chambers, of Crawford County, Pennsylvania. The "stake" in the above race was three hundred dollars. Great crowds attended these races. People came from Indiana, Armstrong, Crawford, Clearfield, and Centre. The
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
stake was usually three hundred dollars, and the excitement and side- betting was lively.
The act of the Legislature No. 110, regulating election districts, ap- proved July 11, 1842, established the polling-place for Rose township as follows :
"SECTION II. That the qualified voters of Rose township, Jefferson County, shall hereafter hold their general election at the court-house of Brookville, in said county."
The pioneer to clear land in what might be called South Rose was Joseph Millen. Robert Morrison was the second.
The pioneer school-house was on the farm of William Carr. The one at Bellview was built in 1842.
The pioneer church was on the land of William Ohl in 1837.
The Brookville Republican, under date of June 13, 1837, contains the following :
" DISTRESSING ACCIDENT.
" On Saturday, the 24th day of May last, a few men were collected in building a church in this vicinity. While in the act of pushing up a log it accidentally slipped off the skates and fell upon Mr. Robert Mor- rison and crushed him, so that he survived but a few hours."
This church was on the farm now owned by Simon Reitz, of Beaver township.
" Between the years of 1830 and 1840 a number of German families came into the lower part of the county and settled near Red Bank Creek.
" The impulse given to the lumber trade by the speculations in the State of Maine was not without its influence in the remote sections of the Union. The keen sagacity of the Yankee discovered that there were vast bodies of pine lands lying around the sources of the Allegheny River, not appreciated at their full value by the few pioneers who lived among them. The Yankees had learned to estimate the value of pine land by the tree and by the log ; the Pennsylvanians still estimated it by the acre. Somewhere between 1830 and 1837 individuals and companies from New England and New York purchased considerable bodies of land on the head-waters of Red Bank and Clarion Rivers from the Holland Land Company and other large land-holders. They proceeded to erect saw- mills and to drive the lumber trade after the most approved method. The little leaven thus introduced caused quite a fermentation among the lumbermen and land-holders of the county. More land changed owners, new water privileges were improved, capital was introduced from abroad, and during the spring floods every creek and river resounded with the preparation of rafts and the lively shouts of the lumbermen as they shot
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
their rafts over the swift chutes of the mill-dams. The population of the county was trebled in ten years."
Matson dam.
In 1840-43 large bodies of original tracts were still held by rich pro- prietors at a distance. The price of land then was fifty cents, one dollar, and three dollars per acre.
BARNETT TOWNSHIP.
This township was so called for Joseph Barnett, the patriarch ; it was the sixth organization, and was separated from Rose township in 1833. That part lying north of the Clarion River was taken away from it by the organization of Forest County. The taxables in 1835 were 70; 1842, 67. The census gave it for population, in 1840, 259.
In 1827, William, George, and Samuel Armstrong came to that sec- tion. In 1829, David and Joseph Reynolds, John Cook, John H. Maize, and Alex. Murray located. David Reynolds cleared the first land and ran the first lumber in 1829. Other early settlers were Alex. Forsythe, Robert Wallace, Richard Burns, and Orrin Butterfield. The pioneer birth was Evaline Armstrong, daughter of William.
The pioneer marriage was Thomas Maize, who married Martha Hall in 1836. The pioneer death was James Maize, who died in 1831. The first grave was at Troutman's Run. The pioneer school-house was built
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
at the mouth of this run. The pioneer grist-mill was built on the Toby, now Clarion River, by William Armstrong, who also opened a store, in 1830. The pioneer hotel-keeper was Alex. Murray. The pioneer blacksmith was Andrew Clough. The pioneer saw-mill was built by Wm. Reynolds, at Maple Creek, in 1829.
The pioneer election for township officers was in 1833, and the follow- ing officers were elected : Constable, John Maize ; Supervisors, David Mead, William Armstrong ; Auditors, John Wynkoop, Edwin Forsythe, Wm. Manross ; Poor Overseer, Enos Myers, John Maize.
From an act regulating election districts in the State :
"SECTION 29. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the electors of Barnett township, in the county of Jefferson, shall hereafter hold their general elections at the house now occupied by John Wynkoop, in said township.
" Approved-the third day of May, A.D. one thousand eight hundred and thirty-two.
"SECTION 64. The electors of the township of Barnett, in the county of Jefferson, shall hereafter hold their elections at the house of Alexander Murray, in said township.
" Approved-the fifteenth day of April, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-five."
In 1833, Job Carr had a saw-mill about a mile above Millstone, on the river.
In Big Toby Creek (now Clarion River) and in the Little Toby Creek pike were occasionally shot and gigged weighing from thirty to fifty pounds. The Mahoning, Sandy Lick, North Fork, and Red Bank also were full of choice pike, catfish, bass, sunfish, suckers, and chubs. It was a common thing to shoot pike ; the others were caught by hook and line, in seines, and gigged after night. The lesser streams, like the mill creeks, in addition to many of the others just mentioned, were alive with speckled trout, and every run in the county then contained these speckled beauties.
" In 1835, James Aharrah migrated with his family from Indiana, Pennsylvania, to Wynkoop Run, and erected a cabin eighteen by twenty feet with a few small windows in it. One night when James was absent a panther paid them a visit. Sitting up on his haunches, he peered into the small cabin. In desperation Mrs. Aharrah seized an axe which was standing near by and took her place at the side of the window, ready to receive the visitor should he decide to enter, while her son, armed with the old-time poking-stick, came to her assistance and took post at the opposite side of the window. Henry and his sister Jane (Jack Knopsnyder's mother), who were both quite young, took refuge under the bed and waited for the panther's departure.
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