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 92
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Among these emigrants were five Hills, said to be brothers; although two of them had the same name, Jacob, it was not an uncommon thing then, as we shall see later, for two or more of a family to be given the same name. Of these five Hills, Michael Hill settled in Montgomery county, Jacob, Senior, in Oley township, Berks county, Adam Hill in Freder- ich township, Montgomery county, Gottlieb in Lancaster county, and Jacob Hill, our an- cestor, in Maxatawny township, Berks coun- ty. He was one of the founders of the Mose- lem Stone Lutheran Church in Berks county.
Another of our emigrant ancestors of equal or greater importance in the genealogy of at least some of us was John Crissman Merkling, or Markle, as it is now spelled, who was born in Alsace on the Rhine in 1678. After the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, when John Crissman was about eight years old, his par- ents with their family fled down the Rhine to Amsterdam, Holland. He married Jemima Weurtzin, a sister of the admiral of that name. He came to America in 1703, settling in Berks county, where he purchased 1,500 acres of land from the Penns. He was by trade a coachmaker; he there established a wagon shop, blacksmith shop and gristmill. Of his nine children we have only to do with two, Maria Appolonia and his youngest child, Gas- pard.
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But to return to the Hills. The emigrant of one hundred men from Westmoreland Jacob Hill had three sons, Daniel, Frederick county, under the county lieutenant, Col. Archibald Loughry, going down the Ohio river to join an expedition under George Rog- ers Clark against Indians, while preparing a meal on a sand bar in the Ohio river, were surprised by Indians under Brant, and all were either killed or captured and afterward mur- dered.
and John Jacob. Daniel married Catharine Sieberl or Saberline. His son Jacob served in the Revolutionary war for over seven years. Jacob Hill of Oley township and John Freder- ick Hill of our lineage were also in that army. After his first wife's death Daniel Hill mar- ried again and some time after the Revolu- tion came to Westmoreland county, where he died in 1813 or 1814. Frederick Hill married Maria Hottenstine, the seventh daughter of a French Huguenot family who brought with them their baptismal certificates from a French Huguenot Church in Alsace. He is the progenitor of the Hills on the north bank of the Susquehanna. John Jacob. the oldest son of our emigrant ancestor, was born about 1716, was married July 3, 1739, to Maria Ap- polonia Merkling, and settled in Windsor township, Berks county. He had ten children, Anna Maria, Anna Catarine, John Christian, John Jacob, Magdalena, John, John Peter, John Jacob, John Frederick, and John Casper. A remarkable feature of this family of John Jacob is that the sons all have John prefixed to a second name except the one born June 20, 1751, who was simply named John. A num- ber of these Johns came West and probably some of them settled in Westmoreland coun- ty. One of them, which one I am unable to say, as among so many Johns one may lose his identity in a century or more, was married to Magdalena Hower, and had three children, John, Jacob and Hannah. John, the eldest of these, the grandfather of some of us, and the great- and great-great-grandfather of a still larger number, was born Feb. 25. 1772. In 1782, when grandfather was ten years old, his father was captured by the Indians. Of his fate we have only the traditional account of a Mrs. McVeigh, oneof his neighbors, who was taken at the same time, and who by some means, either escape or exchange, was enabled to return to the settlement.
But to remind you of the condition of the country at this time I want to call your atten- tion to a few facts not just appertaining to this history.
During these closing years of the Revolu- tionary war frontier settlements and garrisons had to care for themselves without much help from what little there was of a central gov- ernment, so about this time, 1781, the garrison at Fort Pitt was reduced to very short rations, and to replenish their larder sent out hunting expeditions for considerable distances into what was admittedly Indian country, and in reprisal the Indians ravaged this section until the settlers were scarcely safe any distance from the forts or stockaded houses to which they could flee in time of alarm. One of these marauding parties captured our great-grand- father while he was returning home from a distance with a load of fruit trees he had pro- cured for planting. He with other captives, was taken to a point up the Allegheny river locally known as Hickory Flats. Of the ex- act location we are uncertain. Some reports say that it was near the mouth of French Creek in Venango county, others that it was nearer the New York State line in Warren county. There they were required to run the gauntlet, which great-grandfather did success- fully, and while he was standing by watching the fate of the others Mrs. McVeigh fell and was being clubbed; when our great-grand- father ran through a second time, he picked her up and carried her through, thereby doubt- less saving her life. Mrs. McVeigh after her return said that by such deeds of strength and daring great-grandfather had gained some favor in the eyes of the Indians, had been allowed some freedom, and had been able to perfect a means of escape, having secured and concealed a canoe on the river bank, intend- ing to leave on a certain night. That day he confided his plans to a fellow prisoner. a Ger- man, offering him the chance of escape, too. The German, to gain favor, revealed the plan to the Indians, who securely tied great-grand- father to a tree, and left him to whatever form of death the wilderness might bring.
At the time of grandfather's birth, West- moreland county was still a part of Bedford county. Westmoreland was not organized as a separate county until the year following. Pittsburgh was at that time a village of such It was in such a frontier life that grand- father received his earliest schooling, with minor importance that litigants there were ac- customed to take their disputes to Hannas- such men around him, then considered worthy town for adjudication. Hannastown was de- of emulation, as Captain Brady, and John stroyed by Indians later. In 1781 a company John or "Jackie of the Forest," as he called
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HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
himself, in honor of whom Johnstown was named, and with whom grandfather spent days, camping and hunting. Grandfather was one of the company who went in pursuit of the Indians who captured Massey Har- bison. However, they failed to overtake the Indians. Amid such surroundings, grand- father grew up into a fine type of pioncer, strong, energetic and resourceful.
Grandfather was twice married, first to Elizabeth Waltz, of whose ancestral history I have learned very little, but to us of the sec- ond family it may be of interest to go back to the Gaspard Markle or Merklin already mentioned.
He was born in Berks county in 1732, mar- ried Elizabeth Grim and came to Westmore- land county in 1770. Soon after his wife died, and he returned to Berks county, where he married Mary Roedermel, whom he brought to his home in Westmoreland county. His res- idence was the post of refuge to which the settler fled in time of Indian alarıns and was known as Markle's fort, at which Col. Lough- ry and his company spent their last night in Westmoreland county before starting on the expedition referred to above. Gaspard Mar- kle entered large tracts of land along Sewickly creek and in 1772 built a gristmill. Here was made some of the first flour made west of the Allegheny mountains. It was transported in flat boats as far as New Orleans. For a while all the salt used in this section was transported by the Markles, Gaspard's sons, from eastern cities on pack horses, there being no wagon roads.
Several of his sons served in the Indian wars, and George gained considerable dis- tinction in the defense of Wheeling. His brother Jacob was in the naval service, and was with Commodore Barney on board the "Hyder Ally" at the capture of the "General Monk." His nephew George was in the Rev- olutionary army. His son Joseph was the Whig candidate for governor in this State in 1844. His daughter Esther married George Ament, another soldier of the Revolution, who spent the winter with Washington's army at Valley Forge. Among other things he is said to have told his children, indicative of the hardship suffered by the soldiers that winter, that often when they would awaken in the morning their long hair, such as the men wore in those days, would be so frozen to the ground on which they had slept that it would have to be cut off before they could get up. His homestead was on the property now oc- cupied by the town of Export. His daughter
Susannah was the second wife of grandfather.
As the oldest of the family grandfather came into possession of his father's house, where he lived until he was probably about twenty-eight years old. At an early age he en- gaged in other business enterprises which, while they do not seem of much importance to us now, were nevertheless of considerable val- ue to the community as well as remunerative to grandfather at that time.
One of his ventures was the manufacture of gunpowder. He had a sawmill and grist- mill near Salem on Beaver Run, to which patrons came from such distances that it seems incredible to us at this time; and cus- tomers would wait days (doubtless visiting old friends) to get their grists home with them, and the mill would be run night and day in a busy time.
In the autumn of 1800, or near that date, grandfather built a crib in the Kiskiminetas river at what is now Bagdad station on the West Penn Railroad, but which was formerly known as Hill's Mill, where grandfather and his sons owned and operated a mill for many years. Returning in the spring and finding that the crib had withstood the high water and ice of the spring freshets, he at once com- menced the crection of a mill, first getting a water wheel and grinding machinery in opera- tion, and then covering them with a building. At first the flour was bolted through a com- mon sieve, then a bolting cloth was procured and each customer was required to take hold of the crank and turn it to bolt his own flour.
In 1812 grandfather bought and moved onto the farm that has since been known as the Old Hill Farm. This farm was taken up by P. Berrickman, who received his title from the State April 20, 1793, and was called in this and subsequent transfers the "Hustings Mill Seat." Berrickman sold it to George Craw- ford, Crawford to Nicholas Klingensmith, and Klingensmith to grandfather by deed dated April 18, 1812; signed in German, and wit- nessed by Henry A. Weaver and Philip Bolen. I have heard that Mr. Klingensmith said if a certain very large tree on the farm should fall he would sell, as he would never take the time necessary to clear it up. A storm having uprooted the tree, the farm was sold to grand- father, and with the exception of two or three years the farm has been in the possession of the Hills ever since, and is now the property of Edward Hill.
Soon after coming onto the farm grand- father planted an apple orchard of one thou- sand trees, and a large cherry orchard. This
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cherry orchard seemed to be as much the prop- erty of the public as if it had been growing on the commons. There never was any question as to the proprietorship, however, as grand- father was allowed always the privilege of boarding the pickers who were so freely help- ing themselves to his cherries. Of all this planting I do not think there is one tree stand- ing to-day.
Grandfather was an expert with the axe, and for some time engaged in the building of houses and barns and was considered an adept in the erection of the log structures of those days. He had also considerable reputation as a manufacturer of wooden mold-board plows. Grandfather was always interested in educa- tion, having a small building fitted up for a schoolroom. He employed teachers at his own expense for the instruction of his family and allowed his neighbors to send their children to the school.
The first of the teachers so employed it seems would become weary in well-doing, or possibly having imbibed too freely of the 'good cheer" of those days would sleep the greater part of the day in school. Then upon awakening, to stimulate the lagging interest of the children, and possibly to thoroughly arouse himself, he would whip all the children in school.
After four or five teachers had been thus employed, a house of Mr. Riggle was used as being more centrally located. Then grand- father made a frolic to build a schoolhouse; he furnished all the extras, everything except the logs, and boarded the men while they were working at the building. Afterward the build- ing was used for the free schools.
Grandfather was a lifelong Democrat. He was a justice of the peace for a number of years. In that capacity, together with dispens- ing justice, he was more frequently called upon to perform the marriage ceremony than usu- ally falls to the lot of a justice in our day. In this connection there are a couple of anec- dotes I would like to relate, if I am not tres- passing too far on my time; but then you will please remember that our committee selected the very longest day in the year for our meet- ing so that I could have time for all of this.
At one time the father of the bride accom- panied the bridal party and in the service where those having objections are to speak, or "forever after hold their peace," the father objected. Then, when grandfather would not proceed with the ceremony, the father of the bride said he did not object to the ceremony, but that they were poor, and he had thought
in that way to make a little to start the young people in life.
I remember hearing an old woman, long since dead, tell of when she and some other girls were at grandfather's of two of them disguising themselves and impersonating a bride and groom. They came across a field where some of the boys were at work and inquired the way to Squire Hill's. The boys, supposing this to be a bridal party, skipped to the house to be present at the marriage, which to their chagrin did not take place.
We should not measure grandfather's influ- ence as a citizen in a pioneer country entirely by his active business life. He was a good neighbor, always willing and more than wil- ling to help where help was needed. He was a man of sound judgment, whose advice was much sought after, and usually followed to ad- vantage.
In those days doctors were not as numerous as nowadays, consequently the people enjoyed much better health. But even then it was not always what would be desired, and in minor ailments and accidents grandfather's prescrip- tions were considered very beneficial, and in more serious accidents, resulting in broken bones, etc., he was frequently called upon to reduce the fracture, at which, if we accept the tradition, he possessed no small amount of skill.
Grandfather was a man of religious tenden- cies, and a member of the Lutheran Church. Before there were any churches in this local- ity his large barn was frequently used for church services and was free to all denomina- tions. When one of our pioneer ministers in the course of his circuit would come, there would usually be services for several days. To these people would come quite a distance, re- maining for all the services, finding the most hospitable entertainment at grandfather's, and among his neighbors.
About 1846 Justice Charles Shultz of Leech- burg, a German doctor, who had frequently been a guest at grandfather's house and par- taken of his hospitality, got an idea that he had been offended by some members of grandfath- er's family, and made threats that he would burn grandfather's barn, and kill all the fam- ily then at home. In March, 1847, he made the attempt, but only succeeded in burning the barn and in blowing up grandfather's office, a small building in which the boys, my father and one of his brothers, slept. That night a neighbor boy was with them. The boys were awakened by the light of the burning barn, so they were up at the time of the explosion of
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HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
the powder Shultz had placed in the building, William Corbett, his paternal grandfather, was a pioneer farmer in what is now Clarion county, Pa., where he lived and died. His family consisted of five sons and two daugh- ters, the sons being Isaiah, Johnson, Lewis WV., Jackson and Cyrus. through a broken window, for the purpose of killing them. The force of the explosion was such that the boys were thrown in different directions. The one end of the building and the door were blown out, but the boys were not seriously injured. Shultz, however, did not Lewis W. Corbett, son of William, was born in what was then Armstrong (now Clarion) county, and was a carpenter by trade. In young manhood he located at Oak- land, in Mahoning township, this county, where for many years he did business as a contractor and builder, being one of the enter- prising and active men of the locality in his time. He was prominent in public affairs, fare so well. He had been about to break into the dwelling house where the other members of the family were sleeping, but heard the boys getting up, and fearing the powder would not do its work until the boys had left the build- ing he had gone back to the door, with a rifle, and a butcher knife, to meet the boys when they would open the door, but he just got there in time to receive the full force of serving as commissioner of Armstrong county. the door as it was blown outward by the His wife Lucinda was born in what was then explosion, and was so badly injured that he Armstrong (now Clarion) county, daughter was disabled for the time. His face, too, was of John Mohney, a pioneer of what is now Porter township, Clarion county, later of very much lacerated by the butcher knife, which he was holding between his teeth at the Madison township, Armstrong county. To time. By this time the inmates of the house them were born six children: Worthington W .; Sarah M., wife of Charles Ellenberger ; were aroused, and it was necessary for all to give their attention to saving the house, as the Eliza J., wife of Alsinus G. Truitt ; Melancthon roof was already ignited by sparks from the J .; Vander K., a physician, of Driftwood, Pa .; and Lizzie E., wife of Allen Woodward. barn. The house was saved without being very much damaged.
The next day Shultz was taken to Kittan- ning, and lodged in jail. He had his trial at the June term of court, and was found guilty of arson, and sent to the penitentiary, where he died.
Grandfather's barn was the largest in Alle- gheny township, which then comprised what is now three townships, Gilpin, Parks and Bethel. At the time it was burned it contained one thousand bushels of wheat, besides other grain, but the loss that grandfather felt most was the fate of his fine horses, burned in the barn, especially of his favorite riding horse, on which, when increasing age had made walk- ing tiresome, he would take short hunting trips, frequently using its head as a gun rest when desiring a steady shot.
Such a calamity was a heavy burden for a man already worn by many years of toil in a of Mahoning township and South Bethlehem frontier life, and may have hastened grand- father's death. After a short illness he died, Jan. 8th, 1848, and is buried in a spot of his own choosing on the old farm.
WORTHINGTON W. CORBETT, head of the well-known firm of W. W. Corbett & Son, who conduct the Corbetts Drug Store (Incorporated) in New Bethlehem, Clarion county, was born in New Bethlehem Oct. 26, 1844, son of Lewis W. and Lucinda ( Mohney) Corbett.
Worthington W. Corbett was reared in Clarion and Armstrong counties. He obtained his education in the public schools and in the normal school at Dayton, Pa., and learned the carpenter's trade with his father, following that line of work for twenty years in Arm- strong county. In 1884 he embarked in the drug business at New Bethlehem, which has since been his principal interest, the estab- lishment having prospered from the start. Since 1906 his son Norvin A. Corbett has been associated with him, under the name of W. W. Corbett & Son. They have the leading drug store in the borough and rank among the most successful business men in their section of Armstrong county. Mr. Corbett has re- sided at South Bethlehem since 1884, and has served as school director from that year to the present. He has been justice of the peace for over thirty years, having served as such continuously since 1881. In political con- nection he is a Republican. His long continu- ance in office is the strongest evidence of the satisfaction his services have given.
On Sept. 10, 1875, Mr. Corbett married Mary E. Gumbert, daughter of David and Elizabeth (Whited) Gumbert, of Armstrong county, and they have three children : Morna E., wife of Robert R. Anderson, a prominent hardware merchant and banker, president of the New Bethlehem Trust Company, of New
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Bethlehem, Pa., Norvin A .; and Homer E., one daughter came to America and settled at a leading dentist of New Bethlehem. Mr. Pittsburgh, Pa., where he went into the public Corbett and his family are members of the house business and for three years conducted Baptist Church.
NORVIN A. CORBETT, junior member of the drug firm of W. W. Corbett & Son, of New Bethlehem, was born May 15, 1880, at Oakland, Armstrong county, and passed his early life there and at South Bethlehem, where the family settled in the year 1884. He ob- tained his preliminary education in the local public schools, attending high school at New Bethlehem where he graduated in 1897, and took his course in pharmacy at the Medico- Chirurgical College, Philadelphia, from which institution he was graduated in 1900. During the next four years he was employed as clerk in drug stores in that city, in 1904 returning home to enter his father's drug store, at New Bethlehem, in the same capacity. Two years later, in 1906, he was admitted as a partner in the business, which has since been con- ducted under the firm name of W. W. Corbett & Son. He devotes all his time to its develop- ment and management. The store is the most completely equipped and stocked in New Bethlehem or vicinity, and its up-to-date man- agement is a matter of pride with the owners. Mr. Corbett is one of the most popular young business men in the borough, his ability and sterling character combining to win him the confidence and respect of all who have deal- ings with him. He is a member of the Baptist Church, and in political faith is a Republican. His home is in South Bethlehem.
On April 9, 1904, Mr. Corbett married Anna E. Leidy, daughter of John A. and Philena Leidy, of Colon, Mich .. and they are the parents of one daughter, Alice Blanche.
DR. HOMER E. CORBETT, a prominent dentist practicing in New Bethlehem, Clarion county, is the second son of W. W. and Mary E. Corbett, born at Oakland. Armstrong county, in 1883. Ile graduated from the New Bethle- hem high school in 1900. entered the Penn- sylvania College of Dental Surgery. Phila- delphia, in 1901, and graduated in 1904. In 1908 he was married to Mable C. Hutchison. daughter of John H. and Mary Hutchison, of New Bethlehem, where he has since resided.
F. A. SEITZ, a representative business man of Freeport, Pa., and formerly postmas- ter for five years, was born at Pittsburgh, Pa., Oct. 27. 1849, son of Henry and Kathryn (Wagoner) Seitz. The parents were born in Germany.
In 1848 Henry Seitz with his wife and their
the "Diamond Hotel" in that city. In his early life Henry Seitz had been especially trained for the stage and became a popular actor, filling many engagements in different parts of the country. One of his acts was the impersonating of William Tell in the cele- brated historic act of shooting an apple off the head of his son, and when he performed the feat on the Cincinnati stage F. A. Seitz took the part of the child. Henry Seitz lost his life in a fire in 1854. in which the theater at New Orelans. La., where he was playing at the time, was totally destroyed. His widow survived the shock but three years.
F.A. Seitz was thus left an orphan when young and he was placed in an Orphans' home at Mount Auburn, near Cincinnati, where he remained until 1859. In that year he came by way of the canal to Freeport, Pa .. where he remained until 1866, when he went to Kittan- ning. and in 1867 to Philadelphia, there learn- ing the trade of baker. After perfecting him- self in this trade he returned to Freeport, and in June, 1871, embarked in the bakery and confectionery business. He had but little capital, and at the end of the first year his books showed $150 on the wrong side of the ledger. He did not permit this. however, to discourage him, but made still greater en- deavors to establish himself, and finally, add- ing the wholesaling of ice cream to his other activities, found an avenue of great profit. In the course of time every line of the industry was prospering. and he continued it, making and disposing of a pure product at a reason- able price, with sufficient profit to encourage him to make still wider plans for business extension. Just about this time, however. his many competitors found themselves in a position to undersell him, the expense of keep- ing his product up to its high grade making it impossible for him to find a profitable whole- sale trade. and at the present time, though still in the business. he supplies only a limited trade. His pure, delicious product, however, made his name well known all over western Pennsylvania. He is now operating an exten- sive bakery and confectionery establishment at Freeport, and is also, in association with his sons. interested in the retail grocery busi- ness.
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