USA > Pennsylvania > A pioneer outline history of northwestern Pennsylvania > Part 44
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March-12 -1800
Harman
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PINCEL
zeltaropy Evansburg
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Glade
the Buffalo
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Bull
or Roaq
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Slip
Fairview
Muddy
on Pine
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Road
onequenessing
HISTORY OF NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
near Cunningham's mill, to lay out a lot, etc., for the public buildings, and the residue in town lots, to be sold by auction."
Butler County is bounded on the north by Venango; on the east by Armstrong ; on the south by Allegheny; and on the west by Beaver and Mercer. Length, thirty-three miles; breadth, twenty-three miles; area, seven hundred and eighty-five square miles; and contains five hundred and two thousand four hundred acres of land. Population in 1810, 1346; in 1820, 10,193; in 1830, 14,681; in 1840, 22,378.
Butler Borough is situated on the Conequenessing Creek, in the bend thereof, on an eminence that commands an extensive and picturesque view of the surrounding country, " embracing rolling land, variegated with copse of woodland, country seats, verdant meadows, and the silvery waters of the creek meandering among them."
The town was laid out in lots in 1803, and a public sale held in August of that year. Butler contains the usual county buildings,-a brick court-house, a prison, an academy, and several well-built churches, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Methodist, Episcopal, etc. The borough was incorporated February 26, 1817. Population in 1830, 580; in 1840, 861. On the creek there are several mills, and a salt-works.
Harmony is on the south bank of Conequenessing Creek, fourteen miles southwest of Butler; and Zelienople, on the same creek, is about one mile southwest of Harmony, and was laid out about forty years ago, by Dr. Miller. It contains between forty-five and fifty-five houses, three hundred and twenty- five inhabitants, principally German, and mostly intelligent and enterprising. The soil around the village is fertile. Besides these, there are many other villages,-Centreville, Harrisville, Woodville, Murrinsville, Portersville, Pros- pect, Evansville, Summersville, North Washington.
No river passes through the county, but the Allegheny River touches the northeast and southwest corners. The county is well watered by a number of creeks, giving an abundance of water-power to grist-mills, saw-mills, oil-mills, woollen-factories, etc. Springs of pure water are abundant.
Several graded roads called turnpikes, though not covered with broken stones, and hence called " clay pikes," cross the county in different directions.
Education receives considerable attention. There is an academy at the seat of justice, established in 1811, and endowed by the Legislature with two thousand dollars and a tract of land. There are twenty school districts in the county, nineteen of which reported that in these were one hundred and fifty-two schools in operation, in which three thousand nine hundred and one males, and two thousand eight hundred and forty-two females were taught five months in the year 1845. A school tax of $5593.86 was assessed, and the State appropriation was $3257.21. The whole cost of instruction was $6484. 55.
The various religious persuasions are Presbyterians, Seceders, German
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Reformed, Lutherans, Universalists, Unionists, Covenanters; but the Catho- lies are the most numerous.
One of Captain Samuel Brady's adventures occurred on the waters of Slippery Rock Creek, probably somewhere in this county :
" The injuries inflicted on the Indians by the troops under General Broad- head quieted the country for some time. He kept spies out, however, for the purpose of watching their motions, and guarding against sudden attacks on the settlements. One of these parties, under the command of Captain Brady, had the French Creek country assigned as their field of duty. The captain had reached the waters of Slippery Rock, a branch of Beaver, without seeing signs of Indians. Here, however, he came on an Indian trail in the evening, which he followed till dark without overtaking the Indians. The next morn- ing he renewed the pursuit, and overtook them while they were engaged at their morning meal. Unfortunately for him, another party of Indians were in his rear. They had fallen upon his trail, and pursued him, doubtless, with as much ardor as his pursuit had been characterized by; and at the moment he fired upon the Indians in his front, he was, in turn, fired upon by those in his rear. He was now between two fires, and vastly outnumbered. Two of his men fell; his tomahawk was shot from his side, and the battle-yell was given by the party in his rear, and loudly returned and repeated by those in his front. There was no time for hesitation; no safety in delay; no chance of successful defence in their present position. The brave captain and his rangers had to flee before their enemies, who pressed on their flying foot- steps with no lagging speed. Brady ran toward the creek. He was known by many, if not by all of them; and many and deep were the scores to be settled between him and them. They knew the country well; he did not; and from his running toward the creek they were certain of taking him prisoner. The creek was, for a long distance above and below the point he was approach- ing, washed in its channel to a great depth. In the certain expectation of catching him there, the private soldiers of his party were disregarded; and throwing down their guns, and drawing their tomahawks, all pressed forward to seize their victim.
" Quick of eye, fearless of heart, and determined never to be a captive to the Indians, Brady comprehended their object and his only chance of escape, the moment he saw the creek; and by one mighty effort of courage and activity, defeated the one and effected the other. He sprang across the abyss of waters, and stood, rifle in hand, on the opposite bank, in safety. As quick as lightning (says my informant) his rifle was primed; for it was his invariable practice in loading to prime first. The next minute the powder- horn was at the gun's muzzle; when, as he was in this act, a large Indian, who had been foremost in pursuit, came to the opposite bank, and with the manliness of a generous foe, who scorns to undervalue the qualities of an
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enemy, said, in a loud voice, and tolerable English, ' Blady make good jump!' It may, indeed, be doubted whether the compliment was uttered in derision ; for the moment he had said so he took to his heels, and, as if fearful of the return it might merit, ran as crooked as a worm-fence-sometimes leaping high, at others suddenly squatting down, he appeared no way certain that Brady would not answer from the lips of his rifle. But the rifle was not yet loaded. The captain was at the place afterwards, and ascertained that his leap was about 23 feet, and that the water was 20 feet deep. Brady's next effort was to gather up his men. They had a place designated at which to meet, in case they should happen to be separated ; and thither he went, and found the other three there. They immediately commenced their homeward march, and returned to Pittsburg about half defeated. Three Indians had been seen to fall from the fire they gave them at breakfast."
When Butler County was first organized, Mr. William Ayres was ap- pointed prothonotary, and had for his clerk and law student, Mr. H. M. Breckenridge, since a distinguished Member of Congress from Allegheny County. The following graphic sketch is from his "Recollections of the West":
"On my arrival at Butler there were a few log houses just raised, but not sufficiently completed to be occupied. It was not long before there were two taverns, a store, and a blacksmith's shop; it was then a town. The country around was a perfect wilderness, with the exception of a few scattered settlements. The business of the office requiring but little of my time, and having an unbounded liberty, with a most exquisite relish for its enjoyment. no small portion of it was passed in wild and uncertain rambles through the romantic hills and valleys of Butler. The mornings and evenings were devoted to study, but generally the day was sacred to liberty.
" The first court held in Butler drew the whole population to the town. some on account of business, some to make business, but the greater part from idle curiosity. They were at that time chiefly Irish, who had all the characteristics of the nation. A log cabin just raised and covered, but with- out window-sash or doors, or daubing, was prepared for the hall of justice. A carpenter's bench, with three chairs upon it, was the judgment-seat. The bar of Pittsburg attended, and the presiding judge, a stiff, formal, and pedan- tic old bachelor, took his seat, supported by two associate judges, who were common farmers, one of whom was blind of an eye. The hall was barely sufficient to contain the bench, bar, jurors, and constables. But few of the spectators could be accommodated on the lower floor, the only one yet laid : many, therefore, clambered up the walls, and placing their hands and feet in the open interstices between the logs, hung there, suspended like enormous Madagascar bats. Some had taken possession of the joists, and big John McJunkin (who until now had ruled at all public gatherings) had placed a
29
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foot on one joist, and a foot on another, directly over the heads of their honors, standing like the Colossus of Rhodes. The judge's sense of propriety was shocked at this exhibition. The sheriff, John McCandless, was called, and ordered to clear the walls and joists. He went to work with his assistants, and soon pulled down by the legs those who were in no very great haste to obey. McJunkin was the last. and began to growl as he prepared to descend. ' What do you say, sir?' said the judge. 'I say, I pay my taxes, and his as good a reete here as iny mon.' 'Sheriff, sheriff,' said the judge, 'bring him before the court.' McJunkin's ire was now up; as he reached the floor, he began to strike his breast, exclaiming, 'My name is John McJunkin, d'ye see-here's the brist that niver flunched, if so be it was in a goode caase. I'll stan iny mon a hitch in Butler County, if so be he'll clear me o' the la'.' ' Bring him before the court,' said the judge. He was accordingly pinioned, and, if not gagged, at least forced to be silent, while his case was under con- sideration. Some of the lawyers volunteered as amici curie, some ventured a word of apology for McJunkin. The judge pronounced sentence of im- prisonment for two hours in the jail of the county, and ordered the sheriff to take him into custody. The sheriff, with much simplicity, observed, 'May it please the coorte, there is no jail at all at all to put him in.' Here the judge took a learned distinction, upon which he expatiated at some length, for the benefit of the bar. He said there were two kinds of custody: first, safe custody ; secondly, close custody. The first is, where the body must be forthcoming to answer a demand, or an accusation, and in this case the body may be delivered for the time being out of the hands of the law, on bail or recognizance ; but where the imprisonment forms a part of the satisfaction or punishment, there can be no bail or mainprize. This is the reason of the common law, in relation to escapes under capias ad satisfaciendum, and also why a second ca. sa. cannot issue after the defendant has been once arrested and then discharged by the plaintiff. In like manner a man cannot be twice imprisoned for the same offence, even if he be released before the expiration of the term of imprisonment. This is clearly a case of close custody-arcta custodia, and the prisoner must be confined, body and limb, without bail or mainprize, in some place of close incarceration.' Here he was interrupted by the sheriff, who seemed to have hit upon a lucky thought. 'May it please the coorte, I'm just thinken that may be I can take him till Bowen's pig-pen- the pigs are kilt for the coorte, an it's empty?' 'You have heard the opinion of the court,' said the judge, 'proceed, sir ; do your duty.'
" The sheriff accordingly retired with his prisoner, and drew after him three fourths of the spectators and suitors, while the judge, thus relieved, proceeded to organize the court. But this was not the termination of the affair. Peace and order had hardly been restored, when the sheriff came rushing to the house, with a crowd at his heels, crying out, 'Mr. Jidge, Mr. Jidge ; may it please the coorte.' 'What is the matter, sheriff ?' 'Mr. Jidge,
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Mr. Jidge,-John McJunkin's got aff, d'ye mind.' 'What ! escaped, sheriff ? Summon the posse comitatus !' 'The pusse, the pusse-why now I'll jist tell ye how it happen'd. He was goin' on quee-etly enough, till he got to the hazzle patch, an' all at once he pitched aff intil the bushes, an' I after him, but a lumb of a tree kitched my fut, and I pitched three rad off, but I fell forit, and that's good luck, ye minte.' The judge could not retain his gravity ; the bar raised a laugh, and there the matter ended, after which the business proceeded quietly enough."
The pioneer court was held in 1803 by Judge Jesse Moore; Associate Judges, Samuel Findley and John Parker ; John McCandless, sheriff. Moore wore knee breeches, powdered wig, etc.
The pioneer school-house was near Whitestown, Nicholas Willison, master. It was a German school. Of course, the school-houses were logs and in every particular were conducted like the pioneer schools in other counties.
Butler academy was built in 18II.
The pioneer doctor was Dr. George Miller, about 1816. Butler County was well represented in the war of 1812. Colonel John Purviance raised a regiment of twelve companies and marched to the front.
Butler City was laid out in 1803, and incorporated as a borough Feb- ruary 26, 1817. General Lafayette passed through the borough on his way from Pittsburg to Erie, June 1, 1825.
Conequenessing Lodge, No. 278, I. O. O. F., was instituted December II, 1847.
The pioneer grist-mill was a small log one erected in 1805 by Alexander Bryson.
Saxonburg was incorporated August 11, 1846. The pioneer election was held September 5, 1846.
Prospect Borough was laid out in 1825 by Andrew McGowen, and was incorporated as a borough in 1846.
Portersville Borough was laid out in 1828 by Robert Stewart, and in 1845 was incorporated as a borough.
Centreville was laid out by William Hill in 1820, and was incorporated as a borough in 1841.
Harrisville was laid out in 1825, and was incorporated as a borough in 1847.
Thomas Robinson, Esq., of Butler City, kindly loaned me a history of Butler County, from which I have gleaned most of these data.
Although the streams afforded the principal means of communication for the Indians (and for the few whites who ventured into the wilderness in the last century), there were numerous trails crossing the country. The great "Kittanning path," which led westward from Philadelphia to the Indian town of Kittanning on the Allegheny, was continued through what
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is now Butler County, passed the site of the seat of justice, and thence probably led to Beaver Creek or the Ohio, or merged with other trails which extended to those streams. There is traditionary evidence that an Indian path, well defined when the county was settled, extended from the site of Butler in an almost straight line to Pittsburg. In Buffalo Township a trail has been identified which ran in a north and south direction. It probably extended northward a considerable distance, and again approached the Allegheny River near the northeastern angle of the county, cutting off the big eastern bend of the river.
There were other trails, however, compared with which those we have alluded to were mere by-paths.
The lands which now form the western part of Butler County were traversed by two Indian trails, of which very distinct traces remained when the first settlers came into the county in 1796, and which, indeed, can be identified in some localities at the present day. The more important of these was the trail from the forks of the Ohio ( the site of Pittsburg) to Venango, an old Indian town at the mouth of French Creek, on the Allegheny River, where is now the town of Franklin. The old Pittsburg and Franklin road, as originally laid out, closely followed the ancient path of the red men. Entering the present limits of the county on the south line of Cranberry Township, the trail extended almost directly northward.
It can still be detected on the lands of Christian Goehring and Israel Cookson, in Cranberry, and it is probable that, after passing northward into what is now Jackson Township, it bore slightly eastward, following a small run to Breakneck Creek, which it must have crossed very near Evansburg. From this point it extended northward through Forward and Conequenessing, Franklin, Brady, and Slippery Rock, and so onward to Venango. It is highly probable that it crossed the lands upon which the village of Prospect has been built, and it was doubtless at that locality that the trail from Logstown intersected it. This latter trail is supposed to have traversed the sites of Zelienople and Harmony.
Another Indian trail crossed the lands now embraced in Cranberry, from the northwest to the southeast, running in a line approximately parallel to Brush Creek. This connected " the forks," or the site of Pittsburg, with the Indian village of Kosh-kosh-kung. David Garvin, a settler of 1796, is authority for the statement that for many years this ancient pathway could be distinguished upon the farm now owned by J. Dambach.
In the year 1753, more than two score years before there were any white men resident in Butler County, no less a personage than George Washington travelled on foot through the wilderness along the trails between " the forks" and Venango, and between Logstown, on the Ohio, and the site of Prospect.
Robert Morris, the Revolutionary patriot, and Washington's Secretary of
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the Treasury, became a large owner of Butler County lands, and many of the land-owners of to-day hold title through this celebrated but unfortunate personage.
Morris located three hundred and eleven warrants in that part of Cun- ningham's district of depreciated lands, lying within Butler County, and was the owner of from seventy to ninety thousand acres of land, including the site of Butler borough.
Litigation concerning title was more common within the limits of this immense purchase than elsewhere in Butler County.
Robert Morris's effects were sold in 1807 at marshal's sale, in Philadel- phia, and the warrants for the Butler County lands came into the hands of Stephen Lowrey, of Maryland, and other speculators. Lowrey became the owner of one hundred and seven tracts. Upon many of these tracts, and upon those of other speculators, settlers were located, who had made improve- ments, but who held no warrants for the lands. Many of them were sum- marily dispossessed of their squatter homes, and others were compelled to make terms with the speculators for occupancy. As a rule, the land jobbers were sustained by the law. The feeling against them ran very high, and. considering the character of the frontiersmen with whom they had to deal, it is surprising that war did not result from the controversy other than that which was carried on in the courts. As it was, much ill-feeling was en- gendered, and on one occasion, at least, bloodshed ensued.
In the " new purchase," as the territory in Northwestern Pennsylvania released from Indian claim in 1784 was called, the price set on lands from the Ist of March, 1785, to the Ist of March, 1789, was £30 ($80) per hundred acres; from the Ist of March, 1789, to the 3d of April, 1792, £20 ($53-3313).
Lands in the " new purchase" lying north and west of the Ohio and Allegheny Rivers and Conewango Creek, from the 3d of April, 1792, to the 28th of March, 1813, were £7 Ios. ($20) per 100 acres. Undrawn donation lands from the Ist of October, 1813, until the 25th of February, 1819. were one dollar and fifty cents per acre, and upon the latter date were reduced to fifty cents per acre.
The first white man who is positively known to have built a habitation within the present limits of Butler County was James Glover.
James Glover was of Holland Dutch descent ; was born in Essex County, New Jersey, where he lived until the breaking out of the Revolutionary War. At that time, being of suitable age, and patriotically disposed. he enlisted in the colonial army. He served his first term of duty in the New Jersey Line. and, on its expiration, enlisted in the Pennsylvania Eine, the expiration of his former term of service finding him in this State or colony. He served until the close of the war; was at the battle of Princeton, at Germantown, with Washington crossing the Delaware, and was one of the soldiers who passed the memorable and terrible winter at Valley Forge. He was a very skilful
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blacksmith, and was engaged much of the time as an armorer. His pure patriotism was attested by the fact that he was among those who steadfastly refused to draw pay from the government for services rendered. After the close of the war he went with his wife to Pittsburg, and there followed his trade. His shop was upon Diamond Alley, between Market and Wood Streets. After a few years he purchased a farm on the north side of the Allegheny River, and took up his residence upon it. This farm is now in the heart of Allegheny City, and some of the finest buildings of the busy town stand upon the ground where Glover followed agricultural pursuits. He lived to see the city built up, but realized very little from it pecuniarily. Shortly after the close of the war of 1812 he leased the farm in perpetuity for seventy-five dollars per year, and that amount is now received annually by some of his heirs, one city lot paying the rental. This lease of Glover's, and one or two others, operated to bring about prohibitory legislation in the State of Penn- sylvania, so that leasing in perpetuity is now an impossibility. Mr. Glover died on the place where he settled, in Adams Township, in September, 1844, aged ninety-one years. His family consisted of two daughters,-Mary and Nancy. Mary married the Rev. Daniel McLean, for many years a resident of Crawford County, and Nancy married Barnet Gilleland, in 1802, who, with his father, settled in Butler County, in the locality now known as Buhl's Mill, in 1796.
The pioneers of the county were nearly all Irish, Scotch, or Scotch- Irish, and mostly from " beyond the mountains."
The early German pioneers came into the county through the influence of a few individuals. Detmar Basse came from Germany in 1802, settled in Jackson Township, and in 1803 founded Zelienople, which has ever been practically a German village. George Rapp founded Harmony in 1805, bringing into the county a colony of Germans who constituted the Harmonist or Economite Society. When that society removed, in 1815, the community still remained German, Abraham Zeigler, who settled there in 1814 and bought the lands, bringing in a large number of settlers of his nationality from Western Pennsylvania.
The road from Pittsburg to Mercer was laid out as a State road in 1805-06.
The pioneer bridge built in the county was across the Conequenessing, south of Butler, in 1805.
The court-house of 1807 was a small stone building, and stood upon the ground occupied by the present court-house.
In 1803 Butler County was divided into six election districts.
In 1804 the county was made into fourteen townships.
Very primitive methods of marketing necessarily prevailed in pioneer times. Hogs were frequently carried to market on horseback-there was no other way. The legs of two hogs were tied together by a hickory withe and
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the load balanced thus upon the pack-saddle, a hog on each side of the horse. Ploughs were made after the most ancient pattern, mostly of wood. John Burtner, after his settlement, used to make them for the whole neighborhood. They were very rude affairs, and so light as to require the greatest patience and dexterity from the operator. Thomas Lardin had one of the first metal ploughs. It was called the "patent plough," and when it had been tested and found to work well, other settlers soon purchased ploughs like it. Har- rows were made entirely of wood, including the teeth. Horse-collars were made of husks or oatstraw, and sewed together with a tow string. Traces were made of hickory withes.
CHAPTER XXVI
CRAWFORD COUNTY-FORMATION OF COUNTY-LOCATION OF COUNTY SEAT- - TRAILS-ROADS-SETTLERS-LAKES-THE MEADS-TURNPIKE-HOLLAND COMPANY - CHURCHES - CANALS - BOATING - ANIMALS - OIL - ELKS - PIGEONS - SALT WELL - WEEKLY MAIL - MURDER - LAWYERS -VILLAGES-SOLDIERS OF 1812-BOROUGHS-STAGE ROUTE
"CRAWFORD COUNTY was taken from Allegheny County by the act of March 12, 1800. It received its name in honor of Colonel William Craw- ford, one of the heroes of the Western frontier, who was burned by the Indians at Sandusky. Length, forty-one miles; breadth, twenty-four miles ; area, nine hundred and seventy-four square miles. Population in 1800, 2346; in 1810, 6178; in 1820, 9397; in 1830, 16,030; in 1840, 31,724.
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