USA > Pennsylvania > A pioneer outline history of northwestern Pennsylvania > Part 40
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the sheep's foot of pure principles, it will be battered by the points of whig- gery, bit by the frisket of self-interest; and when the foreman comes to lift it on the second Tuesday of October, will stand a fair chance to be knocked into pi.
" By Michael Woods. Richard M. Johnston, of Kentucky: a statesman who has been long and thoroughly tried and never found wanting. His nomination for the next Presidency will still the angry waves of political strife, and the great questions which now agitate the nation will be settled upon democratic principles.
" By Hugh Brady. The citizens of Jefferson County: they have learned their political rights by experience ; let them practise the lesson with prudence.
" By B. T. Hastings. The Hon. James Buchanan: the Jefferson of Pennsylvania and choice for the Presidency in 1844. His able and manly course in the United States Senate on all intricate and important subjects entitles him to the entire confidence and support of the whole Democracy.
" By Andrew Craig. Henry Clay: a worthy and honest statesman, who has the good of his country at heart, and is well qualified to fill the Presidential chair.
" By A. Hutcheson. American independence : a virtuous old maid, sixty- eight years old to-day. God bless her.
" By David S. Deering. The Declaration of Independence : a rich legacy, bequeathed us by our ancestors. May it be transmitted from one generation to another until time shall be no more.
" By the company. The orator of the day, David S. Deering: may his course through life be as promising as his commencement.
" By D. S. Deering. The mechanics of Brookville: their structures are enduring monuments of skill, industry, and perseverance.
" By George F. Humes. The American Union : a well-adjusted form of twenty-six pages, fairly locked up in the chase of precision by the quoins of good workmen. May their proof-sheets be well pointed and their regular impressions a perfect specimen for the world to look upon.
" By John Hastings. James Buchanan : the able defender of the rights of the people and the high wages candidate for the Presidency in 1844. His elevation to that post is now without a doubt."
In 1840 the mails were carried on horseback or in stage-coaches. Com- munications of news, business, or affection were slow and uncertain. There were no envelopes for letters. Each letter had to be folded so as to leave the outside blank and one side smooth, and the address was written on this smooth side. Letters were sealed with red wafers, and the postage was six and a quarter cents for every hundred miles, or fraction thereof, over which it was carried in the mails. The postage on a letter to Philadelphia was eighteen and three-quarter cents, or three " fippenny bits." You could mail your letter with- out prepaying the postage (a great advantage to economical people), or you
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could prepay it at your option. Postage-stamps were unknown. When you paid the postage the postmaster stamped on the letter " Paid." . When the postage was to be paid by the person addressed, the postmaster marked on it the amount due, thus : "Due. 614 cents."
In 1840 nearly half of our American people could neither read nor write, and less than half of them had the opportunity or inclination to do so. News- papers were small affairs, and the owners of them were poor and their business unprofitable.
The candles used in our houses were either " dips" or "moulds." The " dips" were made by twisting and doubling a number of cotton wicks upon a round, smooth stick at a distance from each other of about the desired thick- ness of the candle. Then they were dipped into a kettle of melted tallow, when the ends of the sticks were hung on the backs of chairs to cool. The dipping and cooling process was thus repeated till the " dips" attained the proper thickness. This work was done after the fall butchering. "Moulds" were made in tin or pewter tubes, two, four, six, eight, ten, or twelve in a frame, joined together, the upper part of the frame forming a trough, into which the moulds opened, and from which they received the melted tallow. To make the candles, as many wicks as there were tubes were doubled over a small round stick placed across the top of the frame, and these wicks were passed down through the tubes and fastened at the lower end. Melted tallow was poured into the trough at the top till all the tubes were filled. The moulds were usually allowed to stand over night before the candles were " drawn." The possession of a set of candle-moulds by a family was an evidence of some wealth. These candles were burned in " candlesticks," made of tin, iron, or brass, and each one had a broad, flat base, turned up around the rim to catch the grease. Sometimes, when the candle was exposed to a current of air, it would " gutter" all away. A pair of " snuffers," made of iron or brass, was a necessary article in every house, and had to be used frequently to cut away the charred or burned wick. Candles sold in the stores at twelve to fifteen cents per pound. One candle was the number usually employed to read or write by, and two were generally deemed sufficient to light a store,-one to carry around to do the selling by, and the other to stand on the desk to do the charging by.
Watches were rare, and clocks were not numerous in 1840. The watches I remember seeing in those days were " English levers" and " cylinder escape- ments," with some old " bull's-eyes." The clocks in use were of the eight-day sort, with works of wood, run by weights instead of springs. Along in the forties clocks with brass works, called the " brass clock," came into use. A large majority of people were without " time-pieces." Evening church ser- vices were announced thus: " There will be preaching in this house on - evening, God willing, and no preventing providence, at early candle-lighting."
In 1840 the judge of our court was Alexander McCalmont, of Franklin,
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Venango County. Our associate judges from 1841 to 1843 were James Wins- low and James L. Gillis. Our local or home lawyers were Hugh Brady, Cephas J. Dunham, Benjamin Bartholomew, Caleb A. Alexander, L. B. Dun- ham, Richard Arthurs, Elijah Heath, D. B. Jenks, Thomas Lucas, D. S. Deer- ing, S. B. Bishop, and Jesse G. Clark. Many eminent lawyers from adjoining counties attended our courts regularly at this period. They usually came on horseback, and brought their papers, etc., in large leather saddle-bags. Most of these foreign lawyers were very polite gentlemen, and very particular not to refuse a " drink."
Moses Knapp, Sr., was our pioneer court crier. Elijah Graham was our second court crier, but I think Cyrus Butler served in this capacity in 1840.
In 1840 there was no barber-shop in the town. The tailors then cut hair, etc., for the people as an accommodation. My mother used to send me for that purpose to McCreight's tailor-shop. The first barber to locate in Brook- ville was a colored man named Nathan Smith. He barbered and ran a con- fectionery and oyster saloon. He lived here for a number of years, but finally turned preacher and moved away. Some high old times occurred in his back room which I had better not mention here. He operated on the Major Rodgers lot, now the Edelblute property.
Then " Hollow Eve," as it was called, was celebrated regularly on the night of October 31 of every year. The amount of malicious mischief and destruction done on that evening in Brookville, and patiently suffered and overlooked, is really indescribable. The Presidential contest in 1840, between Harrison (Whig) and Van Buren (Democrat) was perhaps the most intense and bitter ever known in this nation.
The first exclusively drug-store in Brookville was opened and man- aged by D. S. Deering, Esq., in 1848. It was located in a building where Mcknight & Brothers' building stands, on the spot where Mcknight & Son carry on their drug business. The first exclusively grocery-store in Brook- ville was opened and owned by W. W. Corbet, and was located in the cast room of the American Hotel. The first exclusively hardware-store in the town was opened and owned by John S. King, now deceased. Brookville owes much to the sagacity of Mr. King for our beautiful cemetery.
In the forties the boring of pitch-pine into pump-logs was quite a business in Brookville. One of the first persons to work at this was Charles P. Merri- man, who moved here from the East. By the way, Merriman was the greatest snare-drummer I ever heard. He also manufactured and repaired drums while here. He had a drum-beat peculiarly his own, and with it he could drown out a whole band. He introduced his beat by teaching drumming- schools. It is the beat of the Bowdishes, the Bartletts, and the Schnells. It consists of single and double drags. I never heard this beat in the army or in any other locality than here, and only from persons who had directly or in- directly learned it from Merriman. Any old citizen can verify the marvellous
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and wonderful power and skill of Merriman with a drum. No pupil of his here ever approached him in skill. The nearest to him was the late Captain John Dowling, of the One Hundred and Fifth Regiment, Pennsylvania Vol- unteers. It was the custom then for the different bands in the surrounding townships to attend the Fourth of July celebrations in Brookville. The Monger band, father and sons, from Warsaw Township, used to come. They had a peculiar open beat that old Mr. Monger called the 1812 beat. The Belle- view band came also; it was the Campbell band, father and sons. Andrew C. and James ( 1895), after going through the war, are still able on our public occasions to enliven us with martial strains. The Lucas band, from Dowling- ville, also visited us in the forties. Brookville had a famous fifer in the person of Harvey Clover. He always carried an extra fife in his pocket, because he was apt to burst one. When he " blowed" the fife you would have thought the devil was in it sure.
In 1847 the town had water-works, the enterprise of Judge Jared B. Evans. The spring that furnished the water was what is now known as the American Spring. The conduit-pipes were bored yellow-pine logs, and the plant was quite expensive; but owing to some trouble about the tannery, which stood on the spot where the American barn now stands, the water- plant was destroyed. Judge Evans was a useful citizen. He died some three years ago.
In 1840 the church collection was either taken up in a hat with a handker- chief in it or in a little bag attached to a pole.
H. Clay Campbell, Esq., has kindly furnished me the legal rights of married women in Pennsylvania from 1840 until the present date. The com- mon law was adopted by Pennsylvania, and has governed all rights except those which may have been modified from time to time by statute. Black- stone's Commentaries, Book I., page 442, says, "By marriage, the husband and wife are one person in law; that is, the very being or legal existence of the woman is suspended during the marriage, or at least is incorporated and consolidated into that of her husband, under whose wing, protection, and cover she performs everything."
You see the rights surrendered by a woman marrying under the common law were two: First, the right to make a contract; secondly, the right to property and her own earnings. To compensate for this she acquired one right,-the right to be chastised. For as the husband was to answer for her misbehavior, the law thought it reasonable to intrust him with the power of restraining her, by domestic chastisement, with the same moderation that a man is allowed to correct his apprentice or his children.
In 1840 married women had no right to the property bequeathed to them by their parents, unless it was put into the hands of a trustee, and by marriage the husband became the immediate and absolute owner of the personal prop- erty of the wife which she had in possession at the time of marriage, and this
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property could never again revert to the wife or her representatives. She could acquire no personal property by industry during marriage; and if she obtained any by gift or otherwise, it became immediately by and through the law the property of her husband. This condition prevailed until the passage of an act, dated April II, 1848, which in some slight degree modified this injustice of the common law. By that act it was provided that all property which belonged to her before marriage, as well as all that might accrue to her afterwards, should remain her property. Then came another modification by the act of 1855, which provided, among other things, that " whenever a hus- band, from drunkenness, profligacy, or other cause, shall neglect or refuse to provide for his wife, she shall have the rights and privileges secured to a femme-sole trader under the act of 1718." Modifications have been made from year to year, granting additional privileges to a wife to manage her own property, among which may be noted the act of 1871, enabling her to sell and transfer shares of the stock of a railroad company. By the act of May, 1874, she may draw checks upon a bank. During all these years of enlightenment the master has still held the wife in the toils of bondage, and it was with great grudging that he acknowledged that a married woman had the right to claim anything. The right to the earnings of the wife received its first modi- fication when the act of April, 1872, was passed, which granted to the wife. if she went into court, and the court granted her petition, the right to claim her earnings. But legally the wife remained the most abject of slaves until the passage of the " married woman's personal property act" of 1887, giving and granting to her the right to contract and acquire property; and it was not until 1893 that she was granted the same rights as an unmarried woman, excepting as to her right to convey her real estate, make a mortgage, or become bail.
The higher education of women in the seminary and college is of Ameri- can origin, and in 1840 there was an occasional young ladies' seminary here and there throughout the country. These isolated institutions were organized and carried on by scattered individuals who had great persistency and courage. Being of American origin its greatest progress has been here, and at present there are more than two hundred institutions for the superior education of women in the United States, and fully one-half of these bear the name of college. The women who graduate to-day from colleges and high-schools out- number the men, and as a result of this mental discipline and training women are now found throughout the world in every profession, in all trades, and in every vocation.
" Preferring sense from chin that's bare To nonsense 'throned in whiskered hair."
Women are now admitted to the bar in nine different States of the Union, and by an act of Congress she may now practise before the United States Supreme Court.
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In 1840 women had but seven vocations for a livelihood,-viz., marriage, housekeeping, teaching, sewing, weaving, type-setting, and bookbinding. Then female suffrage was unknown. To-day ( 1895) women vote on an equality with men in two States ( Colorado and Wyoming), and they can vote in a limited form in twenty other States and Territories.
In 1840 women had no religious rights. She did not dare to speak, teach, or pray in public, and if she desired any knowledge in this direction, she was admonished to ask her husband at home. The only exception I know to this rule was in the Methodist Church, which from its organization has recognized the right of women to teach, speak in class-meetings, and to pray in the public prayer-meeting.
In 1840 women had no industrial rights. I give below a little abstract from the census of 1880, fourteen years ago, which will show what some of our women were working at then and are working at now.
FEMALE WORKERS
Artists, 2016; authors, 320; assayists, chemists, and architects, 2136; barbers, 2902; dressmakers, 281,928; doctors, 2433; journalists, 238; law- yers, 75; musicians, 13,181 ; preachers, 165; printers, 3456; tailors, 52,098; teachers, 194,375; nurses, 12,294; stock raisers, 216; farmers, 56,809; in government employ as clerks, 2171 ; managing commercial and industrial in- terests, 14,465. And now in 1894 we have 6000 post-mistresses, 10,500 women have secured patents for inventions, and 300,000 women are in gainful occu- pations. I confess that this statement looks to the intelligent mind as though " the hand that rocks the cradle" will soon not only move but own the world.
The earliest schools established by the settlers of Pennsylvania were the home school, the church school, and the public subscription school, the most simple and primitive in style. The subscription or public school remained in force until the law of 1809 was enacted, which was intended for a State system, and which provided a means of education for the poor, but retained the subscription character of pay for the rich. This 1809 system remained in force until 1834. The method of hiring "masters" for a subscription school was as follows: A meeting was called by public notice in a district. At this gathering the people chose, in their own way, three of their number to act as a school committee. This committee hired the master and exercised a super- intendence over the school. The master was paid by the patrons of the school in proportion to the number of days each had sent a child to school. A rate- bill was made out by the master and given to the committee, who collected the tuition-money and paid it to the master. The terms of these schools were irregular, but usually were for three months.
The studies pursued were spelling, reading, writing, and arithmetic. The daily programme was two or four reading lessons, two spelling lessons,-one
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at noon and one at evening,-the rest of the time being devoted to writing and doing " sums" in arithmetic. It was considered at that time (and even as late as my early schooling) that it was useless and foolish for a girl to learn more at school than to spell, read, and write. Of course there was no uni- formity in text-books. The child took to the school whatever book he had, hence there was, and could be, no classification. Blackboards were unknown. When any information was wanted about a " sum," the scholar either called the master or took his book and went to him.
The first school-master in Jefferson County was John Dixon. His first term was for three months, and was in the year 1803 or 1804. The first school-house was built on the Ridgway road, two miles from Brookville, on the farm now owned by D. B. McConnell. I give Professor Blose's descrip- tion of this school-house :
" The house was built of rough logs, and had neither window-sash nor pane. The light was admitted through chinks in the wall, over which greased paper was pasted. The floor was made with puncheons, and the seats from broad pieces split from logs, with pins in the under side, for legs. Boards laid on pins fastened in the wall furnished the pupils with writing-desks. A log fireplace, the entire length of one end, supplied warmth when the weather was cold."
The era of these log school-houses in Jefferson County is gone,-gone forever. We have now ( 1895) school property to the value of $269,300. We have 196 modern school-houses, with 262 school-rooms, 295 schools, and the Bible is read in 251 of these. There is no more master's call in the school- room, but we have 131 female and 149 male teachers,-a total of 280 teachers in the county. The average yearly term is six and a half months. The average salary for male teachers is $39.50, and for female teachers, $33.00. Total wages received by teachers each year, $64,913.20. Number of female scholars, 5839; number of male scholars, 6073. The amount of tax levied for school purposes is $56,688.23. Received by the county from State appro- priation, $42,759.72.
The act of 1809 made it the duty of assessors to receive the names of all children between the ages of five and twelve years whose parents were unable to pay for their schooling, and these poor children were to be educated by the county. This law was very unpopular, and the schools did not prosper. The rich were opposed to this law because they paid all the tax-bills, and the poor were opposed to it because it created a " caste" and designated them as paupers. However, it remained in force for about twenty-five years, and during this period the fight over it at elections caused many strifes, feuds, and bloody noses. This was the first step taken by the State to evolve our present free- school system. The money to pay for the education of these " pauper" chil- dren was drawn from the county in this way: " The assessor of each borough or township returned the names of such indigent children to the county
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commissioners, and then an order was drawn by the commissioners on the county treasurer for the tuition-money."
One of the most desirable qualifications in the early school-master was courage, and willingness and ability to control and flog boys. Physical force was the governing power, and the master must possess it. Nevertheless, many of the early masters were men of intelligence, refinement, and scholar- ship. As a rule, the Scotch-Irish master was of this class. Goldsmith describes the old master well:
" Yet he was kind, or if severe in aught, The love he bore to learning was in fault. The village all declared how much he knew, 'Twas certain he could write and cipher, too. In arguing the parson owned his skill,
For e'en though vanquished he would argue still."
The government of the early masters was of the most rigorous kind. Perfect quiet had to be maintained in the school-room, no buzzing, and the punishment for supposed or real disobedience, inflicted on scholars before, up to, and even in my time, was cruel and brutal. One punishment was to tie scholars up by the thumbs, suspending them in this way over the door. " Spare the rod and spoil the child" was the master's slogan. Whippings were frequent, severe, and sometimes brutal. Thorn, birch, and other rods were kept in large number by the master. Other and milder modes of punish- ment were in vogue, such as the dunce-block, sitting with the girls, pulling the ears, and using the ferule on the hands and sometimes on the part of the body on which the scholar sat.
" What is man, If his chief good and market for his time Be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more."
In 1840 the country master boarded around with the scholars, and he was always given the best bed in the house, and was usually fed on dough- nuts and pumpkin-pie at every meal. He called the school to order by rapping on his desk with his ferule.
During the twenty-five years of the existence of the pauper schools the agitation for a better system was continually kept up by isolated individuals. This was done in various ways,-at elections, in toasts to a " free-school system" at Fourth of July celebrations, and in conventions of directors. The first governor who took a decided stand in favor of the common schools was John A. Schultze. He advocated it in his message in 1828. Governor Wolf, in 1833, found that out of four hundred thousand school children of the legal age, twenty thousand attended school, and that three hundred and eighty thousand were yearly uninstructed. Therefore, in his message to the
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Legislature, he strongly recommended the passage of a law to remedy this state of affairs. William Audenreid, a senator from Schuylkill County, intro- duced a bill during the session of the Legislature of 1833, which became what is known as the school law of 1834,-the establishment of the common- school system. Our second State superintendent of public instruction was appointed under this law. His name was Thomas H. Burrowes. The first State aid for schools in Jefferson County was in 1835. The amount received was one hundred and four dollars and ninety-four cents.
"Barring the master out" of the school-room on Christmas and New Year's was a custom in vogue in 1840. The barring was always done by four or five determined boys. The contest between the master and these scholars was sometimes severe and protracted, the master being determined to get into the school-room and these boys determined to keep him out. The object on the part of the scholars in this barring out was to compel the master to treat the school. If the master obtained possession of the school- room, by force or strategy, he generally gave the boys a sound flogging; but if the boys "held the fort," it resulted in negotiations for peace, and in the master eventually signing an agreement in writing to treat the school to apples, nuts, or candy. It took great nerve on the part of the boys to take this stand against a master. I know this, as I have been active in some of these contests.
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