USA > Pennsylvania > Armstrong County > Armstrong County, Pennsylvania her people past and present, embracing a history of the county and a genealogical and biographical record of representative families, Volume I > Part 50
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 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96
This iron furnace was built in the summer of 1845 by the Colwell brothers, Alexander and John, and was operated as a cold blast until 1860, when the fuel was changed to coke. In forty-six weeks of 1856 it produced 4,796 tons of iron from the blue carbonate ore of that region. The only building near the fur- nace during its erection was the little log cabin of Adam Nulf, on the north side of the Ma- honing creek, which was used to house the lumber for the gristmill, which was built and workmen. The site of the furnace was a put in successful operation during the third year of the settlement. The elder Mr. Put- ney was a natural genius in mechanics and a typical New England pioneer, able to turn his hand to almost any industry. With the im- very successfully up to the spring of 1840, by which time considerable land had been cleared beautifully picturesque one, on the Mahoning, at the apex of a sharp bend, opposite Reedy run. By 1855 the region around the furnace developed into a thriving settlement, a saw- mill was in operation and a schoolhouse, used provements alluded to business was continued also as a church, erected. There were then thirty buildings near the furnace and a fine
253
HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
and the sunshine allowed to reach the fertile projects was definitely named about 1842. soil of the little valley. A few houses for ten- David Putney was the first postmaster in 1844. ants had also been erected. About this time Dr. J. H. Wick located here in 1848 and Dr. David Putney contracted to furnish a large amount of timber for the completion of dam No. I on the Monongahela river, at Pitts- burgh, and to meet the contract he purchased some rafts on Mahoning and Red Bank creeks.
In a reasonable time the timber was all taken out and in readiness for high water to run it to market. George S. Putney, having to re- main there waiting a rise, went to work and took out frame timber for the Methodist Epis- copal church at Freeport. To their misfor- tune there was no freshet during the fall suffi- cient to afford them the opportunity to make a delivery, and the timber was frozen up in the ice the following winter and lost. In conse- quence, David Putney became financially in- volved, and in 1842 was obliged to effect a sale of the greater part of his property to meet his indebtedness. It was then that James Thompson and George S. Putney, by request of the creditors, purchased the grist and saw mills with about 190 acres of land surround- ing them, agreeing to pay therefor the sum of $4,000. Fortunately for the young men, who succeeded their father in business, the Mahon- ing furnace was put in operation, in 1845, by John A. Colwell & Co., and an outlet was demanded for the metal which they manu- factured. This the Putney brothers supplied, putting up a boat scaffold and building boats upon which, under contract, they carried the company's pig iron down the creek and the Allegheny river to Pittsburgh. They put up a new sawmill, entered into a general lumber business, and in 1848 engaged in merchandis- ing. taking into partnership in the latter a third brother, David T. These industries were fairly remunerative, but it was the business of building and purchasing boats to carry metal for the furnace people which gave them the greater part of the revenue with which they discharged their indebtedness.
In 1858 the gristmill was burned, but at once replaced by a larger one. This mill is still standing, but is not operated now.
The boatbuilding occupied an average of twenty persons, the output being fifteen flats, So by 18 feet, yearly. B. H. Putney, grand- son of old "Father" Putney, was the last to construct flatboats in 1880.
The dam ivas carried away by the flood of 1862, rebuilt the following year, and lastly destroyed in the spring of 1880.
The town which grew up around the Putney
Theodore P. Klingensmith in 1874. George W. Goheen opened the first store in 1845, and in 1847 the Putneys purchased it. . This store has been in the Putney family for the succeed- ing years, the present owner being the genial B. H. Putney, nephew of old David. This is the only store on the south side of the creek. L. G. Schreckongost has a store on the opposite bank, in the building used as a hotel by Joseph C. Schreckongost in 1880. Another hotel, once a resort for travelers, and kept by S. Nulf in 1875, is now in the possession of O. D. Smith. Eugene L. Brown was druggist here in 1883-90.
There are about thirty-eight houses in the town at present, but no industries. Dr. G. L. Angueney is the only resident physician.
The place of worship of the Methodist Epis- copal Church was changed from an edifice near William Smullin's to this place in 1844, and public services held in the schoolhouse and occasionally in the Associate Reformed or U. P. Church edifice, until the present edifice, frame, 40 by 60 feet, two stories, costing $5,000, was erected, in 1873, on a lot conveyed, Dec. 27, 1870, by George S. Putney to Amzi Loomis, John F. Gearhart, William B. Smul- lin and himself, trustees, "containing sixty- four perches, also five feet from the south line for hitching purposes." The building is still standing and is used as often as the divided time of the pastor allows. Rev. B. H. Morey served here until 1912, being succeeded by Rev. John Walls.
The Associate Reformed, now called United Presbyterian, Church was dependent on sup- plies most, if not all the time, until 1870, when it ceased to exercise its ecclesiastical functions. Its membership was too small to maintain a regular pastor. The lot on which its frame edifice was situated was conveyed by J. T. and G. S. Putney to James L. Armstrong, John Duff and Samuel Ferguson, committee or trus- tees, and their successors, Dec. S, 1853, for $1. The congregation became divested of their title to it by sheriff's sale to William R. Hamil- ton, who had been one of the chief contributors to the maintenance of the organization during its ephemeral existence.
The first bridge across the Mahoning, con- necting the two parts of this town, was erected at an early date. The present superstructure, the fourth one, was built in 1890 by the county.
Rev. J. A. Campbell, the first county super-
254
HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
here in 1855-56.
intendent of schools, taught a normal class Church of Oakland." The number of its mem- bers was 60, and of Sabbath school scholars,
The first separate assessment list for Put- 75. A union Sabbath school, with different officers, which most of the scholars of the Bap- tist school attended, was held; at a different
neyville was in 1851, showing that the entire town then contained 24 taxables, indicating the number of inhabitants then to have been 110. hour, in this edifice, except in the winter. This Though the occupations were assessed at $320, practice is still continued. There is no regular pastor. The site of the first church edifice, used until 1873, when it was destroyed by fire. was at the side of the old graveyard directly opposite the schoolhouse, on the Anderson ferry road. That church was erected in 1846.
there are no specifications of what any of them were. The aggregate valuation of real estate was $1,735, and of personal, $165. The assess- ment list for 1876 shows: taxables, 51, indi- cating the population to be 234. The occupa- tions were specified thus: Minister, I ; school teacher, I ; surveyor, I ; physician, I ; farmers, 2; laborers, 8; merchants, 2; millers, 2; shoe- makers, 2 ; blacksmith, I ; cabinetmaker, I. The last separate assessment was in 1873.
In the summer of 1913 the Mahoning Coal Company opened a coal mine under the farm of W. J. Sullivan, formerly the W. R. Hamil- ton farm. This is close to Putneyville and will have an effect on the future prosperity of the town. The Shawmut railroad has a station on the north side of the Mahoning, within the limits of the town.
OAKLAND
This town was originally called "Texas" in 1848 by Joseph Moorehead, the owner of that tract. It was changed to Oakland by William R. Hamilton in 1854, who laid out the lots and made the sales. He also started the Oak- land Trading Company in 1856, which was a stock company of forty-seven members, for the purpose of operating a communistic store. The project did well for a few years, but finally wound up in a litigation.
The assessment list of Oakland for 1850 gave the number of taxables as eight and the total valuation as $772.
The Methodist Episcopal church here was built in 1874. The congregation had pre- viously worshipped in a frame building, built in 1843 on the land of William Smullin, south of the Mahoning furnace. Services are held here occasionally by pastors from nearby towns.
The Brethren in Christ congregation have a church edifice at the northeastern extremity of this village, on Peter Shoemaker's land, frame, 31 by 41 feet, one story. It formerly belonged to the Methodist congregation, and was erected in 1844 on that part of the Bryan lands conveyed to William Smullin, and was purchased by Peter Shoemaker in 1872, taken down, removed to its present site, and recon- structed just as it was before its removal. This church was organized prior to 1846, and worshipped elsewhere until the present edi- fice was provided. It was so carefully fostered by Peter Shoemaker and some of his kindred as to be frequently called "Shoemaker's church." Its membership at present is small. The resident minister is Rev. L. R. Holsinger.
Dr. W. S. Hosack was the first resident phy- sician of Oakland. He settled there in 1874. The second one was Dr. P. W. Shoemaker, who came in 1875. The later practitioners to locate at Oakland were: Dr. C. A. Duff in 1882. S. J. Heffner in 1892 and B. J. Long- well in 1904.
The Oakland Classical and Normal Insti- tute. under the principalship of Lebbens J. Shoemaker. A. B., a graduate of Princeton College, was opened in the first story of the Baptist church, April 11, 1877. Instruction was given in the common and higher English branches and the Greek and Latin languages. The average number of pupils, male and fe- male, was sixty-eight, and of those pursuing the higher English branches and Greek and Latin, sixteen. This institution had a very brief existence, however.
The present church edifice of the Baptist congregation, frame, 36 by 56 feet, two stories, The separate assessment list of Oakland for 1876 shows its number of taxables to have been 55 : laborers. 26; carpenters, 7 ; single men, 3; merchants. 2; physicians, 2; shoemaker, I; plasterer. 1 ; school teacher, I ; farmer, I : art- ist. I ; pauper. 1 ; landlord, I. Before the com- pletion of the Allegheny Valley and Low the first 12 and the second 16 feet in the clear. which cost $5,000, was erected on this parcel in 1874, adjacent to which is the parsonage. This church was organized April 10, 1837, by Rev. Thomas Wilson, and worshipped else- where until the completion of this edifice. It was incorporated on Sept. 13, 1876. its Grade railroads, when the travel and hauling corporate name being the "Red Bank Baptist of freight along this route were considerable,
255
HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
there were two hotels, which were reasonably the equivalent of the Kittanning upper coal, well patronized.
At this date Oakland is included in the town- ship assessment list. There are 105 houses here, two hotels, two butchers, and four black- smiths. The storekeepers are W. T. Johnson, John Allen, G. B. Doverspike, W. W. McEn- tire and G. B. Miller.
A REMARKABLE COAL VEIN
The "Bostonia Mine" of the Fairmount Coal & Coke Company is located a mile and a quar- ter northeast of Oakland, and has the largest vein of cannel coal in the United States. It has been in operation since 1854, and the "pot vein" is so extensive that it has not been worked out so far. The daily shipment in 1875 was 250 tons, sixty miners were em- ployed, and the company had started the pres- ent industrial settlement near the mines. A deposit of the Upper Kittanning coal is also mined. The assessment of the company's property for 1913 is $12,770. The employees number 457 and the output for this year is 290,000 tons. J. A. Beam is the local man- ager.
This vein of coal is a continuation of the stratum of block coal mentioned in the sketch of Red Bank township. and is from ten to twelve feet thick. It contains, according to the analysis of a government coal expert, Dr. F. A. Genth: moisture, 1.06; volatile matter, 34.00 ; fixed carbon, 56.78; ash, 8.16=100.00; sulphur, .21. This stratum extends northwest- erly, and as it approaches Bostonia is what is commonly called cannel coal, though in real- ity a cannel slate, containing, according to A. S. McCreath's analysis of a specimen of it, 25 per cent of ash. This deposit, says Platt, is irregular, existing only in "pots" or concave arcas, disconnected, and often widely sep- arated, so that the occurrence of cannel is con- fined to certain localities. The thickness or thinness of the mass may be judged by the depth or shallowness of the "pots." A mis- taken idea prevails in the Red Bank region that the outspread of the "cannel" is as regular as that of one of the coalbeds of the productive series. The origin of these "pots" is not ex- actly clear. They may represent depressions which existed originally in the surface when the coalbed was formed; or they may be due
by which the geological horizon of the cannel deposit is defined.
SOUTHI BETHLEHEM
William R. Hamilton must have acquired the townsite habit, for after laying out the town of Oakland, in 1854, he founded the town of South Bethlehem in 1874. He was as suc- cessful in this investment as he was in the for- mer, for the place is growing rapidly in unison with the thriving borough of New Bethlehem in Clarion county, on the opposite side of Red Bank creek. The population is mostly com- posed of persons interested in mercantile and industrial investments in New Bethlehem, and they are served by the storekeepers of that borough.
The chief industry at South Bethlehem is the Red Bank Milling Company, C. C. Gum- bert, manager, which is operated by the water- power of the Red Bank creek, through a fine concrete millrace and turbine wheels. The dam, a successor of an early wooden one, is of concrete and fitted to resist the force of any freshet in the future. The mill plant is one of the finest in the county and is kept busy most of the time in and out of season.
The town is lighted and supplied with fire protection by New Bethlehem, on a yearly contract. T. A. Kerr is the burgess in 1913, and N. A. Corbett, treasurer.
In 1913 the number of schools in South Bethlehem borough was 3; average months taught, 8; male teacher, I ; female teachers, 2; average salaries, male, $62.50 ; female, $50.94 ; male scholars, 58; female scholars, 71; aver- age attendance, 103; cost per month, $1.48; tax levied, $899.22; received from State, $678.56; other sources, $3,392.96; value of schoolhouses, $3,580; teachers' wages, $1,318; fuel, fees, etc., $2,026.53.
The school directors for year were: F. M. Cribbs, president ; R. C. Behan, that secretary; W. W. Corbett, treasurer ; G. M. Lavely, A. S. Shankle.
The resident physicians are Drs. Edgar K. Shumaker and Philip W. Shumaker.
The assessment returns of South Bethlehem for 1913 show : Number of acres, 2814, valued at $2,431 ; houses and lots, 190, valued at $520, average, $27.15; cows, 8, value, $115; average, $14.37; taxable occupations, 197; amount, $7,285; total valuation, $69,484. Money at interest, $15,926.60.
to floating sheets of vegetation, similar to $51,633, average, $266.48; horses, 19, value, those which now exist in the Dismal Swamp, North Carolina. Underlying the "cannel" at all points is a thin layer of bituminous coal, with a regular and continuous outspread, being
256
HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
RELIGIOUS
In addition to the churches mentioned in the sketches of the towns of Oakland and Putney- ville there were three edifices in other portions of the township.
An old log church stood at the side of the "Hogback road," south of Mahoning furnace, which must have been built as early as 1812. Philip Mechling, sheriff of Armstrong county in 1818, passed it one summer day in 1815 when a meeting was being held in it, and noticed several persons looking at him through the unchinked cracks in the logs. He said the building had the appearance of age that date. This structure was used for church purposes furnace went into operation. Rev. B. B. Killi- kelly preached here at intervals during later years. The site is now marked by a clump of briers. A frame church and a small dwelling are now located near here.
Philip Shumaker, who was quite a church builder, constructed a brick building on his land near Oakland in 1846, in which his brother George, of the Dunkard denomination,
was pastor till 1872, when Philip turned the the town of Caldwell, to connect that place building into a residence.
The German Reformed and Lutheran Churches held services in an old log school- It is to be hoped that the great waterpower of Red Bank creek will not long remain un- used. The locations for dams are many and the proper legislation can probably be ob- tained. In early days acts of Assembly were house in the bend of the Mahoning opposite Eddyville, until 1865, when they built a frame church in partnership. Services were held in it till 1893, when the congregations sep- arated, the Reformed rebuilding near the same passed declaring the stream navigable and site, the Lutherans going to Eddyville, where they erected a structure of their own.
MODERN INDUSTRIES
The Climax Brick Company, located at St. Charles and Climax, both on the Red Bank west of New Bethlehem, was originally the Stewart Firebrick Company, established in 1872. At their organization the valuation of the land, clay mines and railroad along the left bank of the creek was $32,000. The capacity in 1874 was 8,000 bricks daily, and fifty men were employed. The panic of 1873 affected the finances of the company and it later came into the hands of the present own- ers. Over one hundred employees are on the payroll at present and the output is many times that of the early days, owing to modern machinery and methods. Most of the em- ployees reside at Climax. P. P. Buffington is the foreman of the plant.
The Fort Pitt Powder Company, a Pitts- burgh corporation, has a large powder works east of Putneyville on the northern side of the Mahoning, in which about thirty men are em- ployed. They produce several grades of black mining powder and are capitalized at $15,000. They are now producing 900 kegs of powder per day.
The Shawmut road has two new mines in this township. The Seminole mine lies up the run above the old furnace site and near the town of Oakland. It is one of the most up-to-date mines in the State. The superin- tendent is A. White, and the company doc- tor is B. J. Longwell, M. D.
Chickasaw is the name of the mining town and as a schoolhouse for some years after the on a branch of the Shawmut, about half a mile from Widnoon, consisting of about eight hundred inhabitants. The Shawmut Commer- cial Company store is in the charge of Charles Kennedy. Mr. R. A. Crum is proprietor of the Hotel Chickasaw. The mining plant is en- tirely modern, all the buildings being of con- crete, and the entire mine is operated by elec- tricity.
A new county bridge is being erected near with the Shawmut station on the opposite shore.
prescribing the methods of operating dams and locks, but they were not operated under after the surrounding hills were denuded of timber and the old raftsmen passed into the realm of forgotten things. This stream, as well as the Mahoning, is seldom used by boats of any description, even in flood stages.
POPULATION
The population of this township, includ- ing that of the above-mentioned towns, in 1860, was 1,446 white; in 1870, native, 1,333; foreign, 69, and colored, I. The number of taxables in 1876 was 426, indicating a popula- tion of 1,959. The population in 1880 was 1,930; in 1890, 1,256; in 1900, 1,457; in 1910, 1,725.
The assessment returns for 1913 show : Number of acres, timber. 4.076, clear, 10.556, value, $166,143: houses and lots, 391, valued at $67,104. average, $171.62 ; horses. 311, val- ued at $11,382, average, $36.59; cows, 254,
257
HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
value, $3,778, average, $14.85; taxable occu- pations, 828, amount, $30,645 ; total valuation, $370.716. Money at interest, $76,448.60.
SCHOOLS
The population of this township having been small and sparse prior to the adoption of the common school system, the educational fa- cilities were correspondingly meager. The buildings purposely erected for schoolhouses before the passage of the free or common school law of 1834 appear to have been the primitive log ones heretofore mentioned, lo- cated nearly a mile east of Oakland, in the "Cove," and on Millscat run. The pioneer teachers were Robert Walker, George Ellen- berger and William Foster.
In 1860 the number of schools was 9; av- erage number of months taught, 4; male teach- ers, 7; female teachers, 2; average monthly salaries of male, $16.86; average monthly salaries of female, $17.50; male scholars, 208; female scholars, 163; average number attend- ing school, 226; cost of teaching each scholar per month, 54 cents; amount tax levied, $734.02; received from State appropriation, $72.07; received from collectors, $673.16; cost of instruction, $612 ; cost of fuel and con- tingencies, $185.74; cost of schoolhouses, $378.66.
In 1876 the number of schools was 10; av- erage number of months taught, 5; male teachers, 7; female teachers, 5; average sala- ries male per month, $31.14; average salaries female per month, $25.40 ; male scholars, 272; female scholars, 242; average number attend- ing school, 322; cost per month, 76 cents ; amount tax levied, $3,035.89; received from State appropriation, $378.51 ; from taxes and other sources, $2,974.56; cost of schoolhouses, $1,158.79; paid teachers, $1,615; paid fuel, etc., $517.90.
The number of school in 1913 was 13; av- erage months taught, 7; male teachers, 3; female teachers, 10; average salaries, male, $48.33, female, $42.25; male scholars, 280; female scholars, 291; average attendance, 387; cost per month, $1.32; tax levied, $4,372.79; received from State, $2,104.48; other sources, $5,985.01 ; value of school- houses, $11,300; teachers' wages, $3,972.50; fuel, fees, etc., $3,476.60.
The school directors for 1913 are: J. G. Orr, president; D. W. Shumaker, secre- tary; G. B. Doverspike, treasurer ; G. F. Cul- bertson, William Bouch.
GEOLOGY
The Kellersburg anticlinal axis crosses the western part of this township, passing over the Mahoning valley, near the former site of the Mahoning furnace, thence between Oak- land and the "Narrows," and across Red Bank creek in the neck of the "Great Bend." The castern part of this township is a synclinal, perfectly regular and without any disturb- ances. The deep valleys of Mahoning and Red Bank creeks exhibited conglomerate and subconglomerate rocks. The lower productive measures usually make up the interval be- tween the conglomerate and the highlands, except in the castern corner of the township, where a small portion of the lower barrens caps the hills. Of these lower barrens the Ma- honing sandstone forms the principal part. It is handsomely exhibited on the slopes over- looking Putneyville from the north. It is very massive and seventy-five feet thick. The lower productive coal measures present some exceptional features of interest, the entire group, with all its coals and limestones, be- ing favorably situated for study. At the "Point," at Putneyville, a complete section of those measures is obtained, displaying all the typical members of the group in connected succession. By typical members are meant the following strata in descending order : Freeport upper coal, formerly called Upper Freeport, 31/2 feet thick ; Freeport upper lime- stone, the one chiefly mined in this vicinity ; Freeport lower coal; Freeport lower lime- stone, the middle bed at Bostonia; Freeport sandstone, massive and prominent; the Kit- tanning upper coal; the Johnstown cement limestone ; Kittanning middle coal; Kittanning lower coal, 3 feet thick; ferriferous limestone, 10 feet thick, and supports its usual iron ore ; Clarion coal; Brookville coal. The last-men- tioned coals are not important here. Further down the Mahoning the ferriferous limestone and iron ore were used at Colwell's furnace, where the Upper Freeport coal supplied the fuel for the stack. The Pottsville conglomer- ate is conspicuous at the base of the slopes at Putneyville and below the furnace site, and extends along Red Bank creek to the outskirts of New Bethlehem, where it sinks under water level.
The highest point in this township is a hill in the eastern part, near the headwaters of Camp run, 1,566 feet above sea level.
17
CHAPTER XXXV
MADISON TOWNSHIP
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.