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 46
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
" Mr. Panther soon tired of this, and bade them an affectionate fare- well, which shook the earth with its vibrations."
The provisions were brought by canoes up the Clarion River from the place where Parker now stands. Two canoes were engaged in delivering groceries, etc. Ephraim and John Shawl were the two men who had control of one, and David Ridder and a man by the name of Sampson manned the other.
CRIME.
From 1778 to 1855, inclusive, three hundred and twenty-eight per- sons were hanged in Pennsylvania. Of these, five suffered the penalty of death for high treason, eight for robbery, fourteen for burglary, three for assault, one for arson, four for counterfeiting, and seven for unknown offences. On April 22, 1794, the death penalty was abolished except for murder in the first degree. Before 1834 hangings took place in public, and since then in jail yards or corridors.
The pioneer murder in Jefferson County was committed on May 1, 1844. Daniel Long, one of the mighty hunters of Pine Creek township, and Samuel Knopsnyder, were murdered in Barnett township, now Heath, near Raught's Mills. There was a dispute between Long and James Green about a piece of land. The land was a vacant strip. James Green and his son Edwin took possession of Long's shanty on this land while Long was absent. On Long's return to the shanty in company with Knopsnyder, Long was shot by young Green as he attempted to enter the shanty, with Long's own gun. Knopsnyder was so terribly cut with an axe in the hands of the Greens that he died in a few days. The Greens, father and son, were arrested, tried, and convicted of murder in the second degree, and each sentenced to four years in the penitentiary.
James Green, the father, served a year and was pardoned. Edwin served his time and returned to Jefferson County a few days only, as he was in terror of the Longs. He therefore returned to Pittsburg, and settled down somewhere and lived and died highly respected.
" In 1784, the year in which Pittsburg was surveyed into building lots, the privilege of mining coal in the 'great seam' opposite that town was sold by the Penns at the rate of thirty pounds for each mining lot, extending back to the centre of the hill. This event may be regarded as forming the beginning of the coal trade of Pittsburg. The supply of the towns and cities on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers with Pittsburg coal became an established business at an early day in the present century or in 1800. Pittsburg coal was known long before the town became noted as an iron centre.
" Down to 1845 all the coal shipped westward from Pittsburg was floated down the Ohio in flat-bottomed boats in the spring and fall freshets, each boat holding about fifteen thousand bushels of coal. The
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
boats were usually lashed in pairs, and were sold and broken up when their destination was reached. In 1845 steam tow-boats were introduced, which took coal-barges down the river and brought them back empty."
PIONEER FLAT-BOATS-PIONEER TIPPLES, ETC.
The pioneer boats in what is now Jefferson County were built at Port Barnett for the transportation of Centre County pig-metal. In 1830
Making a boat, Clarion River.
they were built on the North Fork for the same purpose. In after-years, when tipples were used, boats were built and tipples erected at the fol- lowing points,-viz. : at Findley's, on Sandy Lick, by Nieman and D. S. Chitister ; at Brookville, by John Smith ; at Troy, by l'eter Lobaugh ; at Heathville, by A. B. Paine and Arthur O'Donnell ; at the mouth of Little Sandy, by William Bennett ; at Robinson's Bend, by Hance Rob- inson. This industry along Red Bank was maintained by the charcoal furnaces of Clarion and Armstrong Counties. The boats were sold at the Olean bridge at Broken Rock, and sold again at Pittsburg for coal- barges. Some of the boats were sold for the transportation of salt to the South from Freeport. The industry on Red Bank ceased in the fifties.
Anthony and Jacob Esbaugh built scaffolds and boats for the dealers on Red Bank. The pioneer boat was sixteen feet wide and forty feet
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
long. These boats were always built from the best lumber that could be made from the choicest timber that grew in our forests. Each gunwale was hewed out of the straightest pine-tree that was to be found, -viz. : twenty-eight inches high at the " rake," fourteen inches at the stern, ten inches thick, and forty feet long, two gunwales to a boat. The ties were hewed six inches thick, with a six-inch face, mortised, dove-tailed, and keyed into the gunwale six feet apart. The six "streamers" for a boat were sawed three by twelve inches, sixteen feet long, and " pinned" to the ties with one pin in the middle of each streamer. These pins were made of white oak one and a half inches square and ten inches long. The plank for the " bottoms" were first-class white pine one and a half inches thick, and pinned to the streamers and gunwales with white oak pins, calked with flax or tow. All pioneer boats were built on the ground and turned by about ten men-and a gallon of whiskey-over
E.C. HALL.
PHỤ1).
Rafting-in on the Clarion, at Armstrong's.
and on a bed made of brush to keep the planks in the bottom from springing. All boats were " sided up" with white oak studding two and a half by five inches and six feet (high) long. Each studding was mor- tised into a gunwale two feet apart. Inside the boat a siding eighteen inches high was pinned on. These boats were sold in Pittsburg, to be used as coal-barges for the transportation of coal to the Lower Missis- sippi. The boats were manned and run by two or three men, the pilot always at the stern. The oar, stem and blade, was made the same as for ordinary rafts. The pioneer boats were tied and landed with halyards made of twisted hickory saplings. The size of these boats in 1843 was eighteen feet wide and eighty feet long, built on tipples similar to the
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
present method. The boats are now made from one hundred and twenty to one hundred and fifty feet long and from twenty to twenty-four feet wide, and from spliced gunwales.
Sixty years ago boats were built on the Big Toby at Maple Creek, Clarington, Millstone, Wynkoop, Spring Creek, Irvine, and Ridgway. The pioneer boat was probably built at Maple Creek by William Reynolds.
-
Turning a boat.
The pioneer boats were gems of the art as compared with those made to- day. Now the gunwales are spliced up of pieces to make the required length, and the boats are made of hemlock. The industry, however, is carried on more extensively on the Clarion now than ever and for the same market.
From this time forth, as has been the case for several years of the past, the boat bottom will be of hemlock, patched of many pieces, spiked together instead of built with long oak pins, and they will have to be handled with care to serve the purpose. Of such a kind of boat bottoms there is small danger of scarcity.
SNYDER TOWNSHIP.
THE BEGINNING OF ITS EXISTENCE AS AN ORGANIZED COMMUNITY-DR. A. M. CLARKE'S REMINISCENCES-JOEL CLARKE'S SETTLEMENT WITH HIS SONS-PIONEER LUMBERING ON LITTLE TOBY-PIONEER POST-ROUTE, IS28-POST-OFFICE AND POSTMASTER-PIONEER ELECTION-PIONEER HUNTER, ETC.
Snyder, the seventh township, was organized out of Pine Creek and Ridgway townships in 1835. It is situated and lies on the western and
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
southwestern water-shed of the Elk Mountains, which consist of spurs of the Allegheny range. One of the most prominent of these high grounds is called Boone's Mountain, or frequently, in the common usage of the neighborhood, " The Mountain." The rock formation of this eminence is sandstone and conglomerates, giving rise to many springs of pure cold water. These are the sources of Little Toby and Sandy Lick Creeks.
The township was called for Governor Simon Snyder. The taxables in 1835 were 41 ; in 1842, 72. The population by census of 1840 was 291. In 1843 part of this township was detached and added to Elk
LITTLE . OHIL A.
A. D. Clarke hund
County. Owing to so many changes in the lines I am unable to tell the pioneer settlers.
Ami Sibley was one of the early hunters and trappers in this sec- tion, having arrived in 1818. The tales of his adventures in hunting would make an interesting volume. He died in 1861. His wife was Rachel Whitehill, to whom he was married in 1827, when they located in what is now Snyder.
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
In 1819, Joel Clarke, with his wife and sons, Elisha and Joel, Jr., came to and settled on Little Toby from Russell, St. Lawrence County, New York. Later, the same year, Philetus, the third son of Joel Clarke, came also from Russell, New York, and settled on Little Toby. The late Dr. Clarke describes their coming as follows,-viz. :
" I was about eleven years old when my father, Philetus Clarke, came from St. Lawrence County, New York, into the Little Toby wilderness. The journey was long and tedious. We moved with oxen in wagons, which were covered with canvas, and which gave us shelter from sun- shine and storm. I was the oldest child, and there were three of us. Sometimes I had to drive, while my father would support the wagon to keep it from upsetting. The Susquehanna and Waterford turnpike was being made, and we came along an old road near it to 'Neeper's Tavern,' about four miles from where Luthersburg now is. This was the old State Road from Bald Eagle's Nest, Mifflin County, to Le Bœuf, Allegheny County, at this time the Milesburg and Water- ford road. I remember the motto that was over the sign-board at Neeper's :
"' It is God's will This woods must yield, And the wildwood turn To a fruitful field.'
" From that place the road was very rough over the hills and moun- tains. We could not get through in one day, and had to stop one night at a place where the road-makers had built a shanty, but it had burned down and the place was called 'Burnt Shanty.' Our wagon gave us shelter, and a good spring was pleasant indeed. The next day we passed over Boone's Mountain, came to the crossing of Little Toby, near where the Oyster House was built many years afterwards. We pursued our jour - ney onward to Kersey settlement. My father thought best to examine the lands for which he had exchanged his New York property before going any farther, and was utterly disappointed and disgusted with them. He made explorations in various directions in search of a mill site, and finally concluded to settle at what is now Brockport, where he built a saw-mill, the first ever built on Little Toby. He put a small grist-mill with ' bolts' in the saw-mill, which answered the requirements of the few settlers for a while, and afterwards built a good grist-mill, which did good service for the people." His first home was a cabin, twelve by fourteen, of round logs.
Old settlers, frequently carrying a peck or a half-bushel of corn on their backs, came to this mill and waited for their grist to be ground. Ofttimes a bushel or two of grain, too heavy to carry, was suspended across the yoke of an ox team.
In 1823, Jacob Shafer located about a mile and a half above Brock-
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
wayville, on the Henry Sivert tract. He was a fine old German gentle- man of the olden time. He was always a good Democrat, and voted for Jackson for many years. He died in 1851. Henry Walborn, brother- in law of Mr. Shafer, came at the same time, and located near Mr. Shafer on the stream which took his name, -Walborn Run. He sold his place to Joel Clarke, Jr., and went off, and his name, but for the run, would have been forgotten.
In 1828 the lumbermen of Little Toby commenced to open up the creek for a public highway. This was attended with much labor, and re- quired two years' time. In 1830 the lumber from these mills was started to market,-viz., Brockway's, Philetus Clarke's, and Horton's, these being the only mills at that time on the creek. Dr. A. M. Clarke says, " I went with the first lumber that was sent from Little Toby to Pitts- burg. It was a great company raft, awkwardly put in and poorly man- aged from beginning to end. After a great deal of trouble and much staving, the rafts were all collected and coupled together in one unwieldy raft at Miller's Eddy, on the Allegheny River. On account of the ex- ceeding rough appearance of this raft it was called the 'Porcupine.' Want of experience and lack of skill nearly wrecked the whole business, for in their anxiety to get to market, and encouraged by their pilot, the unwieldy craft-I think it was three abreast and thirty-two platforms long-was started on very high water. They soon discovered their mis- take, but were unable to land, and went rushing forward, and miles of foaming water were traversed before the frightened crew effected a land- ing. I was sent to take care of my father's share in the adventure. We went down in May, 1830, and came back in July. Our best sales were made for five and ten dollars per thousand feet for common and clear stuff."
In 1828 a post-route was established, and the mail ordered to be car- ried once a week on horseback from Kittanning to Smethport, Mckean County. The route lay through this section of country, and in April of that year Hellen Post-Office was established, and Philetus Clarke was ap- pointed postmaster ; this was the first post-office in this neighborhood. Letter postages were six and a quarter, twelve and a half, eighteen and three quarters, and twenty-five cents, according to the distance over which they were conveyed. In 1829 a post-office was established at Brockwayville, and Alonzo Brockway appointed postmaster ; this gave name to the place, which it has retained.
The first burial was an infant child of Alonzo and Huldah Brockway. The scathed stump of a pine-tree, which grew over the grave, until re- cently it was struck by lightning, marks the place, though the appearance of a grave has been entirely obliterated, and the unconscious passer-by, as he walks over the spot, has no thought that a human form lies mould- ering under his heel. The second burial was also a child, one of the
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
family of Mr. Jacob Shafer. They buried it in a corner of a field, on a somewhat elevated spot, between two ravines, by the roadside, near where Marvin Allen now resides. Others were afterwards buried there, until it came to be called "Shafer's Burying-Ground." In that " little city of the dead" rest the remains of Joel Clarke and Chloe, his wife, Baily Hughes, A. J. Ingalls, Joel Clarke and Mary, his wife, Philetus Clarke and Ada, his daughter, Annie Sibley, Mrs. Monahan, Mrs. Stephens, Samuel Beman and wife, Jacob Shafer and Mary, his wife, Hiram, Willis, and Jane, children of Joel and Mary Clarke, Jacob Myers, Comfort D. Felt, and others. It has lately been much neglected, and is rapidly going to decay. Some of the dead have been removed to Wildwood Cemetery.
"In 1821, John S. Brockway purchased at treasurer's sale, at Indiana, the ' Henry Peffer' tract on Little Toby, and the next year Alonzo and James M. Brockway moved over from Bennett's Branch and commenced improvements on the land. They had to cut their way five miles down the creek from Philetus Clarke's. They planted fruit-trees of various kinds as soon as the land was cleared, and peach- and plum-trees were soon in bearing. They also made large quantities of maple sugar, raised all their own supplies, and, with game in abundance, lived luxuriously for those days. This was the first settlement in what is now Snyder township." Other early settlers were Baily Hughes, A. J. Ingalls, James Pendleton, Dr. William Bennett, A. R. Frost, Samuel Beman, Stephen Tibbetts, Jacob Myers, Alonzo Ferman, Bennett Prindle, Charles Mat- thews, Joseph W. Green, McMinns, and others.
The pioneer saw-mill was built in 1828 by the Brockway brothers. Dr. William Bennett built one of the first saw-mills in the township. In 1836, Hoyt and Wilson built a mill where Ferman's is now. In 1841, James Pendleton built a saw-mill, grist-mill, and carding-mill on Rattle- snake. Early school-teachers were Miss Clarissa Brockway, A. M. Clarke, John Kyler, and Mary Warner.
The first township election was held in 1835 at what is now Matthew Bovard's, and the following officers were elected, -viz. : Constable, Myron Gibbs ; Supervisors, John Mclaughlin, Ami Sibley ; Auditors, Milton Johnston, Thomas McCormick, Joseph McCurdy ; Town Clerk, Thomas McCormick ; Overseers of the Poor, Myron Gibbs, Joseph McAfee ; Assessor, Milton Johnston ; Inspector, Myron Gibbs ; Fence Appraiser, James Ross.
In 1836, Dr. A. M. Clarke moved into the township and laid out the town of Brockwayville. It is pretty hard to locate these old settlers. They are found in different townships, owing to the fact that new town- ships were being formed, county lines changed, and townships or parts thereof stricken from one county and added to either Clearfield or Elk.
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
" No. 174. AN ACT ESTABLISHING AND ALTERING CERTAIN ELECTION DISTRICTS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.
·
" Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Com- monwealth of Pennsylvania in General Assembly met, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same. . .
" SECTION 28. The township of Snyder, in the county of Jefferson, shall hereafter be a separate election district, and the electors thereof shall hold their general elections at the house of John Mclaughlin, on the Brockway road, in said township. Approved April 15, 1835."
The act of the Legislature, No. 110, regulating election districts, approved July 11, 1842, established the polling-place for Snyder as follows :
" SECTION 27. That the qualified voters of the township of Snyder, in the county of Jefferson, shall hereafter hold their general and township elections at the house of James M. Brockway, in said township."
The pioneer justice of the peace was Stephen Tibbetts, appointed February 14, 1835.
Dr. A. M. Clarke relates the following incident : " When I was about twelve or thirteen years of age I was sent, in the winter season, with a yoke of oxen and a sled to procure a load of corn from any source from which it could be obtained, and found myself belated in the woods ; but at last came to a little clearing, where there was an old man by the name of Stevens and his wife living in a poor log cabin. I was made welcome to the warmth of their fire, which was very pleasant, as I was cold, tired, and perhaps hungry. I had brought forage with me, and the team was soon cared for, and the old lady busied herself for some time in pre- paring a supper for me. She first fried some salt pork, then greased a griddle with some of the fat procured from the meat and baked some corn-cakes, then made what she called 'a good cup of rye coffee,' sweet- ened with pumpkin molasses. I was not hungry enough to much enjoy this repast. In the morning, on inquiry of my host, I learned that six miles farther down the stream (Bennett's Branch) I could likely get the corn at a Mr. Johnston's. I must not return without it, so onward we went in the morning, bought the corn and returned home."
ELDRED TOWNSHIP.
Eldred, the eighth township, was organized in 1836, and was taken from Rose and Barnett townships, and named for Hon. Nathaniel B. Eldred, then president judge of this judicial district. Taxables in 1835, 37; in 1842, 123. The census was, in 1840, 395.
The pioneer settler in Eldred was Isaac Matson, in 1828. In 1829, Walter Templeton, James Linn, and Robert McCreight. In 1830, Elijah M. Graham and John Mclaughlin. In 1831, David English and Jacob
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
Craft. In 1832, Paul Stewart, James Templeton, and James Trimble. In 1833, Stewart Ross, John Wilson, and Thomas Hall. In 1834, William and George Catz and James Summerville. In 1836, Frederick Kahle. In 1842, Professor S. W. Smith. Mr. Smith was a highly educated man, and served the county as teacher, professor in the academy, and county superintendent of schools.
The pioneer school-house was built at Hall's in 1839.
The first election for township officers was in 1836. The following persons were elected,-viz. : Constable, Elijah M. Graham ; Supervisors, Thomas Barr and Thomas Anthony; School Directors, George Catz, Henry Boil, Thomas Hughes, Thomas Hall, Jacob Craft, and John Maize ; Poor Overseers, Thomas Callen and Michael Long ; Town Clerk, Jacob Craft. The pioneer polling-place was at the home of James Linn, now the farm of Timothy Caldwell.
Joseph Matson, Esq., lived in Eldred township, and in the early days he built an outside high brick chimney. He employed a pioneer stone- mason by the name of Jacob Penrose to do the job. Penrose was a very rough mason, but had a high opinion of his own skill, and was quite confiding and bombastic in his way. After he finished the chimney, and before removing the scaffold, he came down to the ground to blow off a little steam about his work. Placing his arms around Matson's neck, he exclaimed, pointing to the chimney, " There, Matson, is a chimney that will last you your lifetime, and your children and your children's children." " Look out !" said Matson. "God, she's a coming !" True enough, the chimney fell, a complete wreck.
JENKS TOWNSHIP-A LOST TOWNSHIP.
Jenks, the ninth township, organized in 1838, was taken from Barnett township. This and Tionesta township might be called twins, as both were separated at the same time from the same township. Taxables in 1842, 16; in 1849, 32. The population in 1840 was 40. The township was named in honor of Hon. John W. Jenks, then one of the associate judges of Jefferson County. It is now in the bounds of Forest County.
Cyrus Blood was the pioneer of Jenks and Tionesta townships. He brought his family into this wilderness in 1833. For years his farm was called the "Blood settlement." When he settled there, the region was full of panthers, bears, wolves, wild cats, and deer. Mr. Blood was a powerful man, of great energy and courage. He was well educated and a surveyor.
Cyrus Blood was born at New Lebanon, New Hampshire, March 3, 1795. He was educated in Boston. When twenty-two he migrated to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, where he was the principal of the academy. He was afterwards principal of the Hagerstown Academy, Maryland.
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
He accepted and served as a professor in the Dickinson College, at Car- lisle, Pennsylvania.
Ambitious to found a county, Cyrus Blood made several visits into this wilderness, and finding that the northern portion of Jefferson County was then an almost unbroken wilderness, he finally purchased a tract of land on which Marienville is now located, and decided to make his settlement there.
It was understood when Mr. Blood purchased in Jefferson County from the land company that a road would be opened into it for him. In 1833, when Mr. Blood arrived where Corsica now is, on the Olean road, he found to his annoyance that no road had been made. Leaving his family behind him, he started from what was then Armstrong's Mill, now Clarington, with an ox team, sled, and men to cut their way step by step through the wilderness twelve miles to his future home. Every night the men camped on and around the ox sled. When the party reached Blood's purchase, a patch of ground was cleared and a log cabin reared. In October, 1833, Mr. Blood and his five children took possession of this forest home. For many years Mr. Blood carried his and the neighbors' mail from Brookville. Panthers were so plenty that they have been seen in the garden by the children, playing like dogs. For years they had to go with their grist to mill to Kittanning, Leatherwood, or Brook- ville.
Trumbull Hunt was the second pioneer.
The pioneer election was held in Jenks township in 1838. The fol- lowing persons were elected to fill township offices : Constable, Cyrus Blood ; Supervisors, Cyrus Blood, John Hunt ; School Directors, Cyrus Blood, John Hunt, Aaron Brockway, Sr., Aaron Brockway, Jr., Josiah Lacey, and John Lewees ; Auditors, John Hunt, Aaron Brockway, Sr., and Aaron Brockway, Jr .; Poor Overseers, Cyrus Blood, Aaron Brock- way, Sr .; Town Clerk, John Hunt; Fence Viewer, Aaron Brockway, Jr. ; Inspector, John Hunt.
The last and only beavers in this State made their homes here in the early thirties, in the great flag swamp or beaver meadows on Salmon Creek. These meadows covered about six hundred acres. Furs were occasion- ally then brought to Brookville from these meadows by trappers.
Pioneer election district according to the act of April 16, 1838 :
" SECTION 48. That the township of Jenks, in the county of Jefferson, is hereby declared a separate district, the election to be held at the house now occupied by Cyrus Blood in said township."
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