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 55
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In those days everybody came to court, either on business or to see and be seen. Tuesday was the big day. The people came on horse- back or on foot. We had no book-store in town, and a man named Ingram, from Meadville, came regularly every court and opened up his stock in the bar-room of a hotel. An Irishman by the name of Hugh Miller came in the same way, and opened his jewelry and spectacles in the hotel bar-room. This was the time for insurance agents to visit our town. Robert Thorn was the first insurance agent who came here, at least to my knowledge.
In 1840 every store in town kept pure Monongahela whiskey in a bucket, either on or behind the counter, with a tin cup in or over the bucket for customers to drink free of charge, early and often. Every store sold whiskey by the gallon. Our merchants kept chip logwood by the barrel, and kegs of madder, alum, cobalt, copperas, indigo, etc., for women to use in coloring their homespun goods. Butternuts were used by the women to dye brown, peach-leaves or smartweed for yellow, and
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
cobalt for purple. Men's and women's clothing consisted principally of homespun, and homespun underwear. Men and boys wore warmusses, roundabouts, and pants made of flannels, buckskin, Kentucky jean, blue drilling, tow, linen, satinet, bed-ticking, and corduroy, with coon-skin, seal-skin, and cloth caps, and in summer oat-straw or chip hats. The dress suit was a blue broadcloth swallow-tail coat with brass buttons, and a stove-pipe hat. " Galluses" were made of listing, bed-ticking, or knit of woollen yarn. Women wore barred flannel, linsey-woolsey, tow, and linen dresses. Six or eight yards of " Dolly Varden" calico made a superb Sunday dress. Calico sold then for fifty cents a yard. Every home had a spinning wheel, some families had two,-a big one and a little one. Spinning-parties were in vogue, the women taking their wheels to a neighbor's house, remaining for supper, and after supper going home with their wheels on their arms. Wool-carding was then done by hand and at home. Every neighborhood had several weavers, and they wove for customers at so much per yard.
About 1840, Brookville had a hatter,-John Wynkoop. He made what was called wool hats. Those that were high-crowned or stove-pipe were wreath-bound with some kind of fur, perhaps rabbit-fur. These hatters were common in those days. The sign was a stove-pipe hat and a smoothing-iron. There was a standing contest between the tailors, hatters, and printers in drinking whiskey (doctors barred).
Then, too, coopers were common in every town. These coopers made tubs, buckets, and barrels, all of which were bound with hickory hoops. Ours was a Mr. Hewitt. His shop was on the alley, rear of the Commercial Hotel lot. These are now two lost industries.
In 1840 there was but one dental college in the world,-the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery, established in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1839, -the first dental college ever started. Up to and in that day dentistry was not a science, for it was practised as an addenda by the blacksmith, barber, watch-maker, and others. In the practice no anatomical or sur- gical skill was required. It was something that required muscular strength and manual dexterity in handling the " turnkey." With such a clumsy, rude condition of dentistry, is it any wonder that Tom Moore wrote these lines ?
" What pity, blooming girl, that lips so ready for a lover, Should not beneath their ruby casket cover one tooth of pearl, But like a rose beneath a churchyard stone, Be doomed to blush o'er many a mouldering bone."
All the great discoveries and improvements in the science and art of dentistry as it is to-day are American. Dentistry stands an American in- stitution, not only beautified, but almost perfected upon a firm pedestal, a most noble science. Through the invention, by Charles W. Peale, of Philadelphia, of porcelain teeth, our molars shall henceforth be white as
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milk. If Moore lived to-day, under the condition of American dentistry, he might well exclaim, in the language of Akenside,-
" What do I kiss ? A woman's mouth, Sweeter than the spiced winds from the south."
In 1796, when Andrew Barnett trod on the ground where Brookville now stands, slavery existed throughout all Christendom. Millions of men, women, and children were held in the legal condition of horses and cattle. Worse than this, the African slave-trade-a traffic so odious and so loudly reproved and condemned by the laws of religion and of nature- was carried on as a legal right by slave-dealers in and from every Chris- tian nation. The horror with which this statement of facts must strike you is only proof that the love of gold and the power of evil in the world is most formidable. The African slave-trade was declared illegal and un- lawful by England in 1806-7, by the United States in 1808, by Denmark, Portugal, and Chili in 1811, by Sweden in 1813, by Holland in 1814-15, by France in 1815, and by Spain in 1822.
When Andrew Barnett first trod the ground where Brookville now stands the curse of slavery rested on Pennsylvania, for in that year three thousand seven hundred and thirty-seven human beings were considered " property" within her borders and held as slaves.
" Chains him and tasks him, and exacts his sweat With stripes, that Mercy with a bleeding heart Weeps when she sees it inflicted on a beast."
In 1840 slavery still existed in Pennsylvania, the total number being 75, distributed, according to the census of that year, as follows : Adams County, 2 ; Berks, 2; Cumberland, 25 ; Lancaster, 2 ; Philadelphia, 2 : York, I; Greene, I; Juniata, I; Luzerne, I; Mifflin, 31; Union, 3 ; Washington, 2; Westmoreland, 1 ; Fayette, I.
It will be seen there was no slave held or owned in Jefferson County. There is not to-day a slave in all Christendom, after a struggle of nearly two thousand years.
" Little by little the world grows strong, Fighting the battle of Right and Wrong. Little by little the Wrong gives way ; Little by little the Right has sway ; Little by little the seeds we sow Into a beautiful yield will grow."
In 1840, according to the census, there were fifty-seven colored people and no slaves in Jefferson County. The most prominent of these colored people who lived in and around Brookville were Charles Sutherland, called Black Charley ; Charles Anderson, called Yellow Charley ; John
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Sweeney, called Black John; and George Hays, the fiddler. Charles Sutherland came to Jefferson County and settled near Brookville in 1812. He came from Virginia, and was said to have held General Washington's horse at the laying of the corner-stone of the national capitol at Wash- ington. He was a very polite man, a hard drinker, reared a family, and died in 1852, at the advanced age of nearly one hundred years.
Charley always wore a stove-pipe hat with a colored cotton handker- chief in it. He loafed much in Clover's store. The late Daniel Smith was a young man then, and clerked in this store. Mr. Smith in his manhood built the property now owned and occupied by Harry Matson. Charley Sutherland, if he were living now, would make a good Con- gressman, because he was good on appropriations. One day there was no one in the store but Smith and Charley. There was a crock of eggs on the counter. Smith had to go to the cellar, and left the store in the charge of Charley. On returning he glanced in the direction of the eggs, and discovered that Charley must have pilfered about a dozen of them. Where were they ? He surmised they must be in Charley's hat ; so stepping in front of Sutherland, he brought his right fist heavily down on his hat, with the exclamation, " Why the h-ll don't you wear your hat on your head ?" Much to the amusement of Smith and the discom- fort of Sutherland, the blow broke all the eggs, and the white and yellow contents ran down over Charley's face and clothes, making a striking contrast with his sooty black face.
The lives of many good men and women have been misunderstood and clouded by the thoughtless, unkind words and deeds of their neigh- bors. Good men and women have struggled hard and long, only to go down, down, poisoned and persecuted all their days by the venomous and vicious slanders of their neighbors ; while, strange to say, men and women who are guilty of all the vices are frequently apologized for, re- spected, and are great favorites with these same neighbors.
Charles Anderson, or, as he was called, " Yellow Charley," came to Brookville in May, 1831. From his first entry into the town until his death he was a public and familiar character, a kind of family visitor. He was the pioneer coal merchant. He was the first man to mine, transport, and sell coal in this city. He mined his coal on what is now the John Matson property, opposite Samuel Truby's, on the Sigel road, and also on the Clements farm. He dug this coal from the spring ravine where our school building receives its supply of water. The vein of this mine was about two feet thick. Anderson stripped the earth from the top of the vein, dug the coal fine, and transported it in a little, old, rickety one- horse wagon, offering, selling, and retailing the coal at each family door in quantities of a peck, half-bushel, and bushel. The price per bushel was twelve and a half cents, or an eleven-penny bit, and a fippenny bit for a half- bushel. I had a free pass on this coal line, and rode on it a great deal.
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To me it was a line of " speed, safety, and comfort." Anderson was a " Soft Coal King," a baron, a robber, a close corporationist, a capitalist, and a monopolist. He managed his works generally so as to avoid strikes, etc. Yet he had to assume the rôle of a Pinkerton or a coal policeman at one time, for " there was some litigation over the owner- ship of this coal-bank, and Charley took his old flint-lock musket one day and swore he would just as soon die in the coal-bank as any other place. He held the fort, too."
Charley was a greatly abused man. Every theft and nearly all out- lawry was blamed on him. Public sentiment and public clamor were against him. He tried at times to be good, attend church, etc., but it availed him nothing, for he would be so coldly received as to force him back into his former condition. As the town grew and other parties became engaged in mining coal, Charley changed his business to that of water-carrier, and hauled in his one-horse wagon washing- and cooking- water in barrels for the women of the town. He continued in this business until his death, which occurred in 1874. In early days he lived on the lot now owned by Dr. T. C. Lawson. He died in his own home, near the new cemetery.
It is unfortunate enough in these days to have been painted black by our Creator, but in 1840 it was a terrible calamity. A negro then had no rights ; he was nothing but a " d-d nigger ;" anybody and everybody had a right to abuse, beat, stone, and maltreat him. This right, too, was pretty generally exercised. I have seen a white bully deliberately step up in front of a negro, in a public street, and with the exclamation, " Take that, you d-d nigger !" knock him down, and this, too, without any cause, word, or look from the negro. This was done only to exhibit what the ruffian could do. Had the negro, even after this outrage, said a word in his own defence, the cry would have been raised, " Kill the d-d nigger !" I have seen negro men stoned into Red Bank Creek, for no crime, by a band of young ruffians. I have seen a house in Brook- ville borough, occupied by negro women and children, stoned until every window was broken and the door mashed in, and all this for no crime save that they were black. It used to make my blood boil, but I was too little to even open my mouth. A sorry civilization this, was it not ?
The accompanying cut represents Brookville as I first recollect it, -- from 1840 to 1843,-a town of shanties, and containing a population of two hundred and forty people. It is made from a pencil sketch drawn on the ground in 1840. It is not perfect, like a photograph would make it now. To understand this view of Main Street, imagine yourself in the middle of the pike then, street now, opposite the Union or Mckinley Hotel, and looking eastward. The first thing that strikes your attention is a team of horses hauling a stick of timber over a newly laid hewed log bridge. This bridge was laid over the deep gully that can be now seen in
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
G. B. Carrier's lot. Looking to the left side of the street, the first build- ing, the gable end of which you see, was the Presbyterian church, then out- side of the west line of the borough. The next, or little house, was Jimmie Lucas's blacksmith shop. The large house with the paling fence was the residence and office of John Gallagher, Esq., and is now the Judge Clark property. The next house was east of Barnett Street, and the Peace and
Brookville, 1843.
Poverty Hotel. East of this hotel you see the residence and tailor-shop of Benjamin McCreight. Then you see a large two-story house, which stood where the Commercial Hotel now stands. This building was erected by John Clements, and was known as the Clements property. Then there was nothing until you see the court-house, with its belfry, standing out, two stories high, bold and alone. East of this and across Pickering Street, where Harry Matson now resides, was a large frame building, occupied by James Craig as a store room for cabinet work. Rev. Gara Bishop resided here for a long time. Next to this, where Guyther & Henderson's store now stands, were several brick business buildings belonging to Charles Evans. Next came Major William Rodgers's store, on what is now the Edelblute property. Then came Jesse G. Clark's home ; then the Jefferson House (Phil. Allgeier's house) ; and the present building is the original, but somewhat altered. Then across the alley, where Gregg's barber-shop now is, was the Elkhorn, or Red Lion Hotel, kept by John Smith, who was sheriff of the county in 1840. The next house was on the Mrs. Clements property, and was the home and blacksmith-shop of Isaac Allen. Then came the Matson row, just as it
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
is now down to the Brownlee house, northeast corner of Main and Mill Streets.
Now please come back and look down the right-hand side. The first building, the rear end of which only can be seen behind the tree, was the first foundry built in town. It stood near or on the ground where Fetzer's brick building now stands, and was built and owned by a man named Coleman. It was afterwards the Evans foundry. When built it was outside the borough. The second house, with the gable next the street, was the home of James Corbett, Esq., father of Colonel Corbett, and it stood where the gas-office now is. The next and large building, with the gable-end next the street, was called the James Hall Building, and stood on the ground now occupied by the Bishop Buildings. This building was used for day-school and singing-school purposes. I went to day-school here to Miss Jane Clark then, now Mrs. E. H. Darrah. It was also used by a man named Wynkoop, who made beaver hats. The next building was a house erected by a Mr. Sharpe, and was located on the lot west of where the National Bank of Brookville now stands. The building having the window in the gable-end facing you was the Jack Building, and stood on the ground now occupied by Mcknight & Son in their drug business. East of this, on the ground now occupied by R. M. Matson's brick, stood a little frame building, occupied by John Heath, Jr. It cannot be seen. East and across Pickering Street you see the Franklin House and its sign. Here now stands the Central Hotel of S. B. Arthurs. East of the Franklin House, but not distinctly shown on the picture, were the houses of Craig, Waigley, Thomas M. Barr, Levi G. Clover, Mrs. Mary McKnight, Snyder's row, and Billy Mccullough's house and shop, situate on the corner of Main and Mill Streets, or where the Baptist church now stands.
The buildings on each side of Pickering Street, east of the court- house, you will see, are not very plain or distinct on the picture.
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
CHAPTER XXVII.
CORNPLANTER-OUR CHIEF-CHIEF OF THE SENECAS, ONE OF THE SIX NATIONS-BRIEF HISTORY- SOME SPEECHES-LIFE AND DEATH-MOSES KNAPP-SAW-MILLS-JOHN JONES.
IN the year 1784 the treaty to which Cornplanter was a party was made at Fort Stanwix, ceding the whole of Northwestern Pennsylvania to the Commonwealth, with the exception of a small individual reserve to Cornplanter. The frontier, however, was not at peace for some years after that, nor, indeed, until Wayne's treaty in 1795.
Notwithstanding his bitter hostility, while the war continued, he be- came the fast friend of the United States when once the hatchet was buried. His sagacious intellect comprehended at a glance the growing power of the United States, and the abandonment with which Great Britain had requited the fidelity of the Senecas. He therefore threw all his influence at the treaty of Fort Stanwix, now Rome, New York, and Fort Harmar in favor of peace. And notwithstanding the large con- cessions which he saw his people were necessitated to make, still, by his energy and prudence in the negotiation, he retained for them an ample and beautiful reservation. For the course which he took on those occa- sions the State of Pennsylvania granted him the fine reservation upon which he resided on the Allegheny. The Senecas, however, were never satisfied with his course in relation to these treaties, and Red Jacket, more artful and eloquent than his elder rival, but less frank and honest, seized upon this circumstance to promote his own popularity at the ex- pense of Cornplanter.
Having buried the hatchet, Cornplanter sought to make his talents useful to his people by conciliating the good will of the whites and se- curing from further encroachment the little remnant of his national domain. On more than one occasion, when some reckless and blood- thirsty whites on the frontier had massacred unoffending Indians in cold blood, did Cornplanter interfere to restrain the vengeance of his people. During all the Indian wars from 1791 to 1794, which terminated with Wayne's treaty, Cornplanter pledged himself that the Senecas should remain friendly to the United States. He often gave notice to the garri- son at Fort Franklin of intended attacks from hostile parties, and even hazarded his life on a mediatorial mission to the Western tribes.
The following is an extract from a speech of Cornplanter to repre- sentatives of the United States government appointed to meet him at Fort Franklin, 8th of March, 1796 :
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"'I thank the Almighty for giving us luck to meet together at this time, and in this place as brethren, and hope my brothers will assist me in writing to Congress what I have now to say.
""' I thank the Almighty that I am speaking this good day. I have been through all Nations in America, and am sorry to see the folly of many of the people. What makes me sorry is they all tell lies, and I never found truth amongst them. All the western Nations of Indians, as well as white people, have told me lies. Even in Council I have been deceived, and been told things which I have told to my chiefs and young men, which I have found not to be so, which makes me tell lies by not being able to make good my word, but I hope they will all see their folly and repent. The Almighty has not made us to lie, but to tell the truth one to another, for when two people meet together, if they lie one to the other, them people cannot be at peace, and so it is with nations, and that is the cause of so much war.
"'General Washington, the father of us all, hear what I have now to say, and take pity on us poor people. The Almighty has blest you, and not us. He has given you education, which enables you to do many things that we cannot do. You can travel by sea as well as by land, and know what is doing in any other country, which we poor people know nothing about. Therefore you ought to pity us. When the Almighty first put us on this land he gave it to us to live on. And when the white people first came to it they were very poor, and we helped them all in our power ; did not kill them, but received them as brothers. And now it appears to me as though they were agoing to leave us in distress.' " -- Pennsylvania Archives.
" After peace was permanently established between the Indians and the United States, Cornplanter retired from public life and devoted his labors to his own people. He deplored the evils of intemperance, and exerted himself to suppress it. The benevolent efforts of missionaries among his tribe always received his encouragement, and at one time his own heart seemed to be softened by the words of truth, yet he preserved in his later years many of the peculiar notions of the Indian faith.
" In 1821-22 the commissioners of Warren County assumed the right to tax the private property of Cornplanter, and proceeded to enforce its collection. The old chief resisted it, conceiving it not only unlawful, but a personal indignity. The sheriff again appeared with a small posse of armed men. Cornplanter took the deputation to a room around which were ranged about a hundred rifles, and, with the sententious brevity of an Indian, intimated that for each rifle a warrior would appear at his call. The sheriff and his men speedily withdrew, determined, however, to call out the militia. Several prudent citizens, fearing a sanguinary collision, sent for the old chief in a friendly way to come to Warren and compromise the matter. He came, and after some persuasion, gave his
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note for the tax, amounting to forty-three dollars and seventy-nine cents. He addressed, however, a remonstrance to the governor of Pennsylvania, soliciting a return of his money and an exemption from such demands against lands which the State itself had presented to him. The Legislature annulled the tax, and sent two commissioners to explain the affair to him. He met them at the court-house in Warren, on which occasion he deliv- ered the following speech, eminently characteristic of himself and his race :
" ' Brothers, yesterday was appointed for us all to meet here. The talk which the governor sent us pleased us very much. I think that the Great Spirit is very much pleased that the white people have been in- duced so to assist the Indians as they have done, and that he is pleased also to see the great men of this State and of the United States so friendly to us. We are much pleased with what has been done.
"' The Great Spirit first made the world, and next the flying animals, and found all things good and prosperous. He is immortal and ever- lasting. After finishing the flying animals, he came down on earth and there stood. Then he made different kinds of trees and weeds of all sorts, and people of every kind. He made the spring and other seasons and the weather suitable for planting. These he did make. But stills to make whiskey to be given to the Indians he did not make. The Great Spirit bids me tell the white people not to give Indians this kind of liquor. When the Great Spirit had made the earth and its animals, he went into the great lakes, where he breathed as easily as anywhere else, and then made all the different kinds of fish. The Great Spirit looked back on all that he had made. The different kinds he had made to be separate and not to mix with or disturb each other. But the white peo- ple have broken his command by mixing their color with the Indians. The Indians have done better by not doing so. The Great Spirit wishes that all wars and fightings should cease.
"' He next told us that there were three things for our people to attend to. First, we ought to take care of our wives and children. Sec- ondly, the white people ought to attend to their farms and cattle. Thirdly, the Great Spirit has given the bears and deers to the Indians. He is the cause of all things that exist, and it is very wicked to go against his will. The Great Spirit wishes me to inform the people that they should quit drinking intoxicating drink, as being the cause of disease and death. He told us not to sell any more of our lands, for he never sold lands to any one. Some of us now keep the seventh day, but I wish to quit it, for the Great Spirit made it for others, but not for the Indians, who ought every day to attend to their business. He has ordered me to quit drinking intoxicating drink, and not to lust after any woman but my own, and informs me that by doing so I should live the longer. He made known to me that it is very wicked to tell lies. Let no one suppose this I have said now is not true.
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