USA > Pennsylvania > A pioneer outline history of northwestern Pennsylvania > Part 36
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69
William Ayers had one slave in Potter County from 1808 to 1814.
In 1808 there were six hundred and five negro slaves in Pennsylvania. The pioneer court records of Crawford County contained such items as the following: " William Davis, farmer, of Mead Township, Crawford County, returns to the Clerk of the Peace of Crawford County, one female mulatto child, Dinah, born on the 25th of April last, of his negro woman Vine, Octo- ber 28, 1802."
The Crawford Messenger, of December 24, 1831, has an advertisement for the sale of a colored boy, who is twelve years old.
The negro slave in Jefferson County in 1830 was named Sam, and was a
364
. .
HISTORY OF NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
miller. He belonged to James Parks, whose mill was near where Christ's brewery now is. In 1824 Sam was assessed at fifty dollars. In 1829 he was assessed at one hundred dollars.
In 1833 one negro slave was assessed in Brookville to William Jack,- to wit, one boy of color, worth forty dollars.
In 1836 Rev. Jesse Smith, a Presbyterian minister, living one mile north from where Corsica, Jefferson County, now is, was assessed with one mulatto, valuation fifty dollars.
The pioneer slave in Mercer County was in Sandy Lake Township in 1801. The pioneer will recorded in Mercer County was that of John Calvin, in 1804, of Salem Township. In this will he bequeathed a mulatto to his wife. John Sheakley migrated from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, to Sandy Creek Township, Mercer County, in 1804, bringing with him four negro slaves,- viz., Sam, Steve, Phœbe, and Hannah. Phœbe had two children born in slavery in Mercer County,-to wit, Ben and Rose. John Sheakley died in 1816, and in his will he bequeathed a mulatto girl to his wife; all of his other slaves were then free. John Young lived on Indian Run, in Springfield Township. He owned slaves; how many is not known. In his will of April 20, 1825, he says, "I do will that Peg, the old wench, is to be supported out of my farm, left to John and David." Peg had two children born in slavery in Mercer County,-to wit, Robert Johnson and Sallie Johnson. Robert worked at shoe- making after his freedom.
PIONEER ADVERTISEMENT IN PENNSYLVANIA IN SLAVERY DAYS "2 S. (SHILLINGS ) REWARD
" Ran away on the 2d inst. negro man John, about 22; also negro girl named Flora, about 18, slender made, speaks bad English and a little French. Has a scar on her upper lip and letters branded on her breast. Whoever secures the runaways in any place where their master can get them shall have the above reward and reasonable charges paid by
" JOHN PATTON.
" CENTRE FURNACE, MIFFLIN COUNTY, July 26, 1799."
Thank God this cruel slavery, which existed once in Pennsylvania, is forever wiped out in these United States! There is now no master's call, no driver's lash, no auction-block on which to sell, and no bloodhounds to hunt men and women fugitives not from justice, but fugitives for justice. Thank God for John Brown, and may " his soul go marching on !"
John Brown was born in Torrington, Connecticut, May 9, 1800. He was found in this wilderness June 21, 1820, and settled in Richmond Town- ship, Crawford County, in 1826, and engaged in tanning, farming, and sheep- raising avocations.
In 1832 he married Mary A. Day, of Meadville. He was a strict Pres-
365
HISTORY OF NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
byterian until the day of his execution. The year 1800 began with nine hundred thousand slaves in the United States. The year 1900 closed with- out one.
REVOLUTIONARY SOLDIERS
Patriots of the Revolutionary War settled in every county in North- western Pennsylvania. In the counties where the "donation lands" were located, they settled in quite large numbers. I deem it my duty to the de- scendants of these patriots to give the pay received by their ancestors for services in the Continental army.
The first pay schedule was set forth in the Act of April 12, 1785, which fixed the pay of an infantry private at four dollars a month. By the Act of April 30, 1790, the pay was reduced to three dollars a month. The Act of January 1, 1795, again made it four dollars, at which it remained for three years, but by the Act of July 17, 1798, when we were preparing for a war with France, it was raised to five dollars. It remained at this for fourteen years.
By the Act of December 12, 1812, when an army had to be raised for the second war with England, the pay was raised to eight dollars. It remained at this during the war, but as soon as peace came the Act of March 3, 1815, reduced it to five dollars again. It remained at this for eighteen years, when the Act of March 2, 1833, raised it to six dollars. The Act of July 7, 1838, raised it to seven dollars, where it remained for sixteen years, and all through the Mexican War.
In 1785 the pay of a lieutenant-colonel commanding-ranking with a colonel now-was only sixty dollars a month.
In 1785 a lieutenant-colonel received fifty dollars a month.
In 1785 a major received forty-five dollars a month.
In 1785 a captain was paid thirty-five dollars a month.
In 1785 a first lieutenant received twenty-six dollars a month.
In 1785 a second lieutenant received twenty dollars a month.
INCIDENTS AND ANECDOTES
On October 23, 1819, was the " dark day." Between nine and ten o'clock in the morning the darkness was so great that the pioneer had to light his old lamp or blaze his pitch-pine knot.
In January, 1828, there was a great flood; and also a great one on February 10, 1832.
In 1816, or the year without a summer, frost occurred in every month. Ice formed half an inch thick in May. Snow fell to the depth of three inches in June. Ice was formed to the thickness of a common window-glass on July 5. Indian corn was so frozen that the greater part was cut in August and dried for fodder; and the pioneers supplied from the corn of 1815 for the seeding of the spring of 1817.
In 1809 Fulton patented the steamboat.
366
HISTORY OF NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
The pioneer steam-vessels that made regular trips across the Atlantic Ocean were the "Sirius" and "Great Western" in the year 1830.
The pioneer use of gas for practical illumination was in 1802.
The pioneer mill to make finished cloth from raw cotton was erected in Waltham, Massachusetts, in 1813.
In 1807 wooden clocks were made by machinery.
The anthracite coal business was established about 1820.
In 1836 matches were patented.
" The first practical friction matches were made in 1827 by an English apothecary named Walker, who coated splints of card-board with sulphur and tipped them with a mixture of sulphate of antimony, chlorate of potash, and gum. A box of eighty-four matches sold for one cent, a piece of glass- paper being furnished with it for obtaining ignition. In 1830 a London man named Jones devised a species of match which was a little roll of paper soaked in chlorate of potash and sugar, with a thin glass globule filled with sulphuric acid attached to one end. The globule being broken, the acid acted upon the potash and sugar, producing fire. Phosphorus matches were first introduced on a commercial scale in 1833, and after that improvements were rapid.
" The modern lucifer match combines in one instrument arrangements for creating a spark, catching it on tinder, and starting a blaze,-steps requiring separate operations in primitive contrivances. It was in 1836 that the first United States patent for friction matches was issued. Splints for them were made by sawing or splitting blocks of wood into slivers slightly attached at the base. These were known as ' slab' or 'block' matches, and they are in use in parts of this country to-day."
The pioneer strike in America was that of the journeymen boot-makers of Philadelphia in 1796. The men struck, or " turned out," as they phrased it, for an increase of wages. After two weeks' suspension of trade their demands were granted, and this success gained them greater strength and popularity, so that when they " turned out" in 1798, and again in 1799, for further increases, they were still successful and escaped indictment.
Vulcanized rubber was patented in 1838.
In 1840 Daguerre first made his pictures.
The express business was started about 1840.
The pioneer telegram was sent in 1845.
The pioneer steamer to cross the Atlantic was built in New York in 1818 by Francis Picket. The vessel was called the "Savannah." In the trip she carried seventy-five tons of coal and twenty-five cords of wood. She left Savannah, Georgia, in May, 1819, and arrived at Liverpool in June. 1819. She used steam eighteen of the twenty-six days.
Before " stocks" were invented oxen had to be thrown and tied and the shoes nailed on while down.
367
HISTORY OF NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
In 18II a furious tornado swept across this wilderness.
On March 9, 1828, an earthquake shock was felt in Northwestern Penn- sylvania.
The earliest recorded tornado in the United States was in 1794. It passed north of Brookville, in what is now Heath and other townships, and extended to Northford, Connecticut.
In June, about the year 1818, a terrible hail-storm swept through this region and extended its ravages several miles, killing and destroying the largest pine-trees, leaving them standing as dead. The width of this storm was about half a mile.
On June 6, 1806, there was a total eclipse of the sun. Fowls went to roost and bees hastened to their hives. The pioneers and Indians were greatly alarmed.
Between the hours of three and seven o'clock in the morning of Decem- ber 16, 1811, two distinct shocks of earthquake startled the pioneers of Northwestern Pennsylvania. The violence was such as to shake their log cabins.
PIONEER THANKSGIVING DAYS
The first recorded Thanksgiving was the Hebrew feast of the Taber- nacles.
The New England Thanksgiving dates from 1633, when the Massa- chusetts Bay colony set apart a day for thanksgiving.
The first national Thanksgiving proclamations were by Congress during the Revolutionary War.
The first great American Thanksgiving day was in 1784, for the declara- tion of peace. There was one more national Thanksgiving in 1789, and no other till 1862, when President Lincoln issued a national proclamation for a day of thanksgiving.
The pioneer Thanksgiving day in Northwestern Pennsylvania, was on the last Thursday of November, 1819, by proclamation of Governor Findlay.
In 1803 the name Keystone was first applied to the State. This was in a printed political address to the people. Pennsylvania was the central State of the original thirteen.
The winter of 1842-43 was severe and bitter cold, with snow three feet deep all winter. In the fall thousands and thousands of black squirrels migrated through this wilderness.
RECORD OF BIG FLOODS
In 1806, the year of the big flood, Redbank had a rise of twenty-one feet. On September 27, 1861, twenty-two feet.
We had big floods on November 10, 1810; January, 1828; February 10, 1832; February 1, 1840.
368
HISTORY OF NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
September, 1844, a foot of snow fell, followed by a warm rain, which caused a great flood.
In 1816 Ludwig Long and his son William shot five wolves without changing position with single-barrelled, muzzle-loading guns.
In 1823 David Postlethwait, then living in Perry Township, found a rattlesnake den about a mile from his cabin, in what is now Porter Town- ship, and killed forty or fifty of the reptiles. In 1824 he, Nathaniel Pos- tlethwait, and James Stewart killed, in two hours, three hundred snakes at this den. John Goheen now owns (1901) this snake farm. It is in Jefferson County.
In 1850 " Jack Long" crept through the rocks sixty feet into a panther's den and shot a full grown panther by the light of the creature's eyes.
In 1840 the tolls received for that year on the pike were $4,109.10; costs of repairs and improvements, $3,338.17; amount paid gate-keepers, $784.33.
SHOOTING STARS IN 1833-A SHOWER OF FIRE-NATURAL PHENOMENON
" The heavens declare Thy glory, O Lord."
On Wednesday, November 13, 1833, about five o'clock A.M., the heavens presented a spectacle in this wilderness as has seldom been seen in the world. It struck terror to the hearts of those who saw it, and many ran away from home to their neighbors, declaring that the " day of judgment had arrived." The duration of the display was about an hour.
The theory of meteorites is that they are parts of comets. The greatest fall of meteorites in the history of the world was in 1833.
This shower was the result of the disappearance of a comet of which the meteorites were parts, and they are still falling. Though that was seventy years ago, stars still continue to shoot down the path, and astronomers say that they are the remaining pieces of the same vanished comet.
A RAILROAD COLLISION OF 1837 "FATAL RAILROAD ACCIDENT
" STEAMBOAT 'COLUMBUS,' August 12, 1837.
" The most serious accident has occurred in Eastern Virginia since my recollection happened on the Portsmouth and Roanoke Railroad, one and a half miles from Suffolk, yesterday, between nine and ten o'clock. A company, consisting of about one hundred and fifty ladies and gentlemen, from the counties of the Isle of Wight, Nansemond, and Southampton, came down on the railroad on Thursday, the 10th inst., with the view of visiting Portsmouth, Norfolk, Fortress Monroe, and returning the next day. On their return, at the time and place above mentioned, they met a locomotive and train of burden-cars, and, horrible to relate, the two ran
24
369
HISTORY OF NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
together while going at the rate of ten or twelve miles an hour."-Brookville Republican, August 31, 1837.
Archie Campbell married Mary Ann Kyle. Archie and his wife lived in the vicinity of what is now Reynoldsville, and one winter day they con- cluded to visit the Kyles. They hitched up their horse in a little jumper, and reached their destination, some four miles over the Ceres road, and remained over night with their relations. During the night there was a heavy snow-fall. On starting home in the morning the Kyles presented Mary Ann with a small crock of apple-butter. The crock was stored between Mrs. Campbell's feet when she took her seat in the jumper. The road-track was covered with fresh snow, and Archie could not, of course, discern it. After driving some distance he struck a trot, the jumper went over a stump, and threw Archie and Mary Ann violently into the snow. Archie scrambled up and cried, " Mary Ann, my dear, are you hurted ?" " My thigh is broken, my thigh is broken, Archie!" Archie rushed to her aid, and running his hand up her limb to ascertain her injury, he exclaimed, "It's wurse than that, it's wurse than that, Mary Ann; your bowels are busted, your bowels are busted !" And it was only apple-butter.
Joseph Matson, Esq., lived in Eldred Township, Jefferson County, and in the early days he built an outside high brick chimney. He employed a pioneer stonemason 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 arm around Matson's neck, he ex- claimed, 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.
Archie Campbell and James Kyle were brothers-in-law and lived in Jef- ferson County. They were odd, eccentric, and stingy, but each prided him- self on being very generous. A true story of them is told in the following verses :
" ARCHIE CAMPBELL AND JIMMIE KYLE
" Archibald Campbell and his friend Jimmy Kyle Were sturdy old gents from the Emerald Isle.
Jimmy lived on a farm just below Prospect Hill And Archie kept tavern in old Reynoldsville.
Now this was long since, perhaps during the war,
And possibly even a few years before.
Both were thrifty and close, and knew to the cent
Precisely the quantity of money they spent.
It happened one day, in the course of affairs,
That the old Prospect graveyard needed repairs.
370
HISTORY OF NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
It had grown up with briars, bushes and trees,
The fence was quite rotten and weak in the knees, And tombstones that ought to be standing erect Were prone from a true upright course to deflect. Now this was a shame, the good citizens said, For they ought to show more respect for the dead. And so they agreed, to accomplish their ends,
To raise a subscription amongst their good friends.
Tom Dolan, Ed. Seeley, Ben Haugh, and Pete Brown
George Sprague and Wash Fuller all put their names down. But still they were short, and to increase the pile
They handed the paper to old Jimmy Kyle. For a ten dollar bill he put down his name,
And said he'd make Campbell contribute the same.
And forth with his paper friend Kyle did essay, Talking loud to himself as he wended his way:
'Sure Archie is ruch; he sells whusky and ale, An' a paltry tin dollars he never would fale,' And thus with himself he debated the case Till firmly convinced. When he reached Archie's place He knocked at the door of the old Sandy Lick,
When Archie jumped up and opened it quick.
' Gud mornin',' said Jimmy, all wreathed in a smile,
'An how's Muster Cummel?' 'Quite wull, Muster Kyle, Except for me legs, fer yez know how it is, I'm bothered a gud but wuth ould rheumatiz.
In a general way me health's gud enough, An' I'd be all right if I wasn't so stuff.'
'An how's Mary Ann?' 'She is gud-very gud; She's out in the back yard splitting some wud.'
'Muster Cummel,' said Jimmy, 'I'll sthate what I want : We're fixin' the cimetry over beyant-
I've a subscription papur I want yez to sign :
Jist put down yer name for a tin below mine.'
'Egad!' exclaimed Archie, 'not a cint will I guv! I won't be buried there as long as I luv !'
' We duffer on that pint,' said Kyle, 'be me s'ul !
If I luv and kape me health, Archie, I wull !'"
-W. O. SMITH, in Punxsutawney Spirit.
As Americans we are proud of this blood. In our struggle for inde- pendence they were loyal. A Tory was unheard of among them. Pennsyl- vania and the nation owe very much of their greatness to this race. Natural- born leaders and orators, they have given us statesmen, teachers, professors, ministers, physicians, judges, Congressmen, and generals, even to our Sher- idan and Grant. They have furnished the nation with seven Presidents and our State with seven governors. Brave, intelligent, warm hearted, and true, their influence must and always will be potent.
Rev. Alexander McCahon, a " Seceder" minister who preached in and near Brookville about 1850, and before that time, was a Scotch-Irishman, tal-
37I
HISTORY OF NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
ented and well educated, but like many of that time, including preachers, was fond of " the gude crayther of God." He was accustomed to get his jug filled regularly at Judge Evan's store, and before leaving he would nearly always request William C., who still lives in Brookville (1899), to "jist open the molasses gate and let a little New Orleans drop on the cork." He must have been very fond of molasses. I remember him well. The town papers occasionally published one of his sermons.
SAW-MILLS
The earliest form of a saw-mill was a " saw-pit." In it lumber was sawed in this way: by two men at the saw, one man standing above the pit, the other man in the pit, the two men sawing the log on trestles above. Saws are prehistoric. The ancients used "bronzed saws." Saw-mills were first
Pioneer saw-mill
run by "individual power," and water-power was first used in Germany about 1322. The primitive water saw-mill consisted of a wooden pitman attached to the shaft of the wheel. The log to be sawed was placed on rollers, sustained by a framework over the wheel, and was fed forward on the rollers by means of levers worked by hand. The pioneer saw-mill erected in the United States was near or on the dividing line of Maine and New Hampshire, in 1634.
The early up-and-down saw-mills were built of frame timbers mortised and tenoned and pinned together with oak pins. In size these mills were
372
HISTORY OF NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
from twenty to thirty feet wide and from fifty to sixty feet in length, and were roofed with clapboards, slabs, or boards. The running-gear was an undershot flutter-wheel, a gig-wheel to run the log-carriage back, and a bull- wheel with a rope or chain attached to haul the logs into the mill on and over the slide. The capacity of such a mill was about four thousand feet of boards in twenty-four hours. The total cost of one of these up-and-down saw-mills when completed was about three hundred dollars, one hundred dollars for iron used and two hundred dollars for the work and material.
In 1827 the pioneer planing-mill in the world was invented and used. The band saw was invented in 1815. The circular saw was invented in 1805. In 1815 a machine for turning hat blocks, shoe lasts, and wheel spokes was invented. In 1818 a machine to make wooden pegs for boots and shoes was invented.
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 holidays 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 country 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 Brookville, 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 pur- chased 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, Eric, Clearfield, and Centre. The stake was usually three hundred dollars, and the excitement and side-betting was lively.
373
HISTORY OF NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
Previous to 1793 there were no postal or post-office facilities in this wilderness. Letters and papers had to be sent with friends, neighbors, or by special carriers. The first newspaper started in the western part of the State was the Pittsburg Gazette. It was published by John Scull, and issued in 1786. It was distributed to patrons by special carriers.
In the forties, Peter Ricord, Sr., and his son Peter erected on their farm in what was then called " Jericho," and now Warsaw Post-Office, Jefferson County, a frame grist-mill structure thirty by thirty feet. This mill had one run of stones, and the motive power was one yoke of oxen. I cannot de- scribe it. The capacity was about thirty bushels of corn or grain a day. Ephraim Bushly was the millwright; Peter Ricord, Jr., the miller. The scheme not proving a financial success, the running gear was removed in a few years, and the building utilized as a barn by the Ricords, and afterwards by John A. Fox.
The pioneer convention of national delegates to nominate a candidate for President was held at Baltimore, September 26, 1831. The anti-Masonic party then and there nominated William Wirt, of Maryland, for President, and Amos Ellmaker, of Pennsylvania, for Vice-President.
Previous to 1831 Presidential nominees were made by each party in this way,-viz., first, the Congressional caucus; second, the legislative caucus ; third, the legislative mixed caucus; fourth, the legislative convention. From 1796 to 1824 the Congressional caucus was in power. The legislative caucus fell by its own weight. The legislative mixed caucus stood for a short time, and then died.
" Natural gas, we are informed, was first discovered in the United States in natural springs in Western New York and Pennsylvania by the Indians, who used to perform their semi-religious ceremonies in the light of the burn- ing springs. The early history of it elsewhere dates back to the dawn of history itself.
" The first historical record of natural gas in the United States was in 1775, when General Washington visited the natural gas spring a few miles east of the present site of Charleston, when the sight of it so impressed him that he pre-empted an acre of ground surrounding it, dedicating it to the public forever. This feeling, however, at the first sight of this phenomenon was not an unusual one, as Humboldt is quoted as declaring it the " eighth wonder of the world."
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.