USA > Pennsylvania > Fayette County > Connellsville > Centennial history of the borough of Connellsville, Pennsylvania, 1806-1906 > Part 4
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
51
PIONEERS OF THE YOUGH
Connell that the inhabitants of said town should be accommodated with a commodious seat whereon to erect a house or houses for public worship and school or schools, he for that purpose alone appropriates the Lots Nos. 88 and 96 on said plan for said purpose, free and clear of purchase money or ground rent, forever to the inhabitants of said town, their heirs, and successors, to be held in common for the purpose aforesaid, or jointly, as the inhabitants may choose, and also a sufficient quantity of suitable ground con- venient thereto, and not included in the said Town, or in the one hundred acres aforesaid, not exceeding an acre, for the purpose of a Grave Yard. And to prevent a misunderstanding of the grant made of the timber and stone on the hundred acres aforesaid, the said Zachariah Connell hereby declares that the said Timber and Stone shall be removed or prepared for removal before the sale of the land whereon it may be. Provided always that the said Zachariah Connell hereby reserves to himself, his heirs, or assigns, the purchase money for each and every Lot so laid off for sale, and an annual ground rent of half a dollar for each Lot, the ground rent to be paid to the said Zachariah Connell, his heirs, and assigns, at the town aforesaid, on the first day of May in each and every year forever, and the said Zachariah doth hereby coven- ant with the inhabitants of said town that all moneys that shall become due and owing unto him for ground-rents for the space of four years from the date hereof to be applied to raising a meet- ing house or meeting houses, and School or School Houses on the aforesaid lots appropriated to that use. And whereas in length of time it may be convenient for some of the inhabitants of said town to have outlots for pasture, the said Zachariah Connell doth hereby grant to be surveyed and laid out for the use of the inhabi- tants of said town the one hundred acres of Land above mentioned adjacent to said Town, in Lots of not less than one acre nor exceeding four acres each, subject to such purchase money as the parties may agree upon.
In witness whereof the said Zachariah Connell has hereunto set his hand and affixed his Seal, the twenty-first day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and ninety- three.
ZACHARIAH CONNELL.
(Seal.)
Sealed and delivered in the presence of JONATHAN ROWLAND, ALEXANDER McLEAN.
Fayette County, ss. :
The sixth day of January, Anno Domino, 1800, Before me the subscriber, one of the Justices of the Peace in and for said County, personally came Zachariah Connell and acknowledged the foregoing Instrument of writing to be his Act and deed.
JONATHAN ROWLAND.
52
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF CONNELLSVILLE
The original copy of this charter is now in the posses- sion of Harry C. Norton, of Connellsville. It is said upon good authority that the framer of this historic document was Doctor James Francis, the pioneer physician of Con- nellsville, who came to this vicinity first about the year 1790. He was engaged in the practice of medicine along the Mo- nongahela river, giving special attention to the emigrant camps for some time previous to this. Upon first coming to Connellsville he made his home in an old log house on Water street, near the home of Zachariah Connell. He was a warm personal friend of Mr. Connell, a man of high lit- erary tastes, a successful practitioner and an eminent and influential citizen: He married the widow of Doctor Thomas Pierce, and went to housekeeping on East Main street. From here they moved farther up the hill to the bend of the street, where he died in the year 1840. He was the father of three children-John, Jane (Mrs. Dorsey), and Mary (Mrs. Knox), all of whom died of tubercular trou- ble at an early age.
The Borough of Connellsville, as originally platted, contained 180 quarter-acre lots and formed almost a per- fect square. Its extreme boundaries were-North alley, East alley, South alley and the river. The first sale of lots, of which we have any record, took place in 1795, and the purchasers were-Thomas Rogers, George Livingston, George Lamb, Asa Dudley, Michael Senniff, Morris Mor- ris and Patrick Meligan. The price of the lots, regardless of location was £3 specie and an annual ground-rent of half a dollar. In the later deeds the ground-rent clause is omitted. Other purchasers of Connellsville lots prior to 1806 were Michael Aultman, Melchoir Endley, Thomas Gibson, John Lewis, Daniel Bowers, James Rowland, Nicholas Johnson, Frederic Bollard, John Woodruff, An- thony Banning, Daniel Rogers, Henry Fox, Charles Wells, Benjamin Wells, Joseph Page, James Blackstone Jr., Joshua Lobdill, Samuel Trevor, Caleb Trevor, William Stewart, John Barnhart, Caleb Squibb, Isaac Mears, James Francis,
Jack Connell C sea DanRogers
H. Crawford
Baac Mason
Wiliam Dage
GR. Jones
IFfinan Connelle JohnRogers of games
Nali Crawford, fall Ineven
Anthony Banning George Mathiot Las Francis John B. Freuro
AUTOGRAPHS OF PIONEERS.
54
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF CONNELLSVILLE
James Irons, Timothy Hankins, John Fidlar, Matthew Thom, Charles Williams, George Mathiot and George Swartz. Many of these original purchasers were only speculators who never made Connellsville their home, but their investment was a good one, for the most desirable lots trebled in value within the first ten years. Mr. Connell sold lot 61 to James Irons in 1801 for $58.00, and lot 103 to Matthew Thom in 1803 for $48.00. The choice locations seem to have been those on Water and Spring streets. Main street was known as Spring street in early days, because of a fine large spring located just a short distance east of the Colonial Bank. For many years the waters of this spring were piped out to the road and slaked the thirst of both man and beast. It is to this spring in particular that reference is made in the town charter. Its waters now flow quietly into the public sewer, and few of our citizens are aware of its location.
On June 6, 1795, a change was made in the propri- etorship of Connellsville to which no reference has ever heretofore been made in any local history. On that date, Zachariah Connell sold the entire "Mud Island" tract, in- cluding the ferry and all the unsold lots of the Borough, to Benjamin Chew, Jr., of the City of Philadelphia. Mr. Chew at once appointed Samuel Trevor and John Rice Connell as his local agents, and the original letter of in- structions is still preserved among the papers of the Con- nell family. This arrangement remained in force until October 25, 1798, when Mr. Chew made a return deed of the property to Mr. Connell. It is much to be regretted that no picture or silhouette of the founder of Connells- ville was ever taken. The picture given in the Centennial Souvenir Program as his was spurious. He is described as a typical Scotch Sandy with red hair, brown eyes and a florid complexion, about five feet, nine inches tall, straight as a popular, strong and muscular and possessed of a con- stitution that could endure the severest hardship. He died in his Water street home, August 26, 1813, and was buried
55
PIONEERS OF THE YOUGH
in the little family grave plot on East Francis avenue hill. His last Will and Testament, made a few weeks before his death, is given herewith.
ZACHARIAH CONNELL'S WILL
In the name of Almighty God, Amen. I, Zachariah Connell, of the town of Connellsville, being deeply impressed with the uncertainty of life, have made this my last Will and Testament. I give to my wife, Peggy, the new stone house that I am now building (which is to be finished out of my money) to live in during her widowhood, and one third part of my estate during her natural life; after her disease to be divided equally between my two youngest daughters, Peggy and Eliza. I give to my daughter, Hetty Black, five hundred dollars, to be deposited in the hands of my executors, to be appropriated to her personal benefit in that way which they in their judgment shall think most proper. I give to my four grandsons, Zachariah, Samuel, William and John Black all that tract of land lying situate in Ohio State, whereon my daughter Hetty Black now lives, to be equally divided among them. I give to my son John Connell the debt which he now owes me on a book account. I wish all my debts to be punc- tually paid. After my debts and the above legacies are paid, my desire is that the balance of my estate, whatever it may be, should be equally divided between my other six children (leaving out John and Hetty) one sixth part to each. And I appoint my son, Hiram Connell, William Page and Greenbery R. Jones, executors of this, my last Will and Testament. And I do hereby revoke and cancel all Wills by me heretofore made, and do by these presents acknowledge this my last Will and Testament. Signed this 2nd day of August in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and thirteen.
(Seal.)
ZACHARIAH CONNELL.
Signed, sealed and acknowledged in presence of DANIEL ROGERS, JOHN PAGE.
Soon after his death, all of Zachariah Connell's first children except Hiram had removed to Ohio. The widow, with her two little daughters, Margaret and Eliza, removed to the stone house bequeathed to her by her husband, where the giris grew up to womanhood and married the Phillips brothers of
56
0
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF CONNELLSVILLE
Uniontown. John Wesley Phillips, the husband of Margaret, bought out the local interests of all the other Connell heirs, built a brick house near the stone dwelling and carried on cabinet making here for a num- ber of years. He was a partner with Isaac Meason, Jr., in the Yough Bridge Company, and, in 1846, was elected a member of the House of Representatives. His children were Charles W. Phillips, Indianapolis, Ind., Zachariah Connell Phillips, Uniontown, Pa., Mrs. Eliza Jane Darling- ton, Los Angeles, Cal., and Wesley H. Phillips, Mrs. Ella Whitmore and Mrs. M. Alice French of San Diego, Cal. The two branches of Zachariah Connell's family were re- united in the far west when Carey R. Darlington, the great grandson of Rebecca Connell was married to Eliza Jane Phillips the grand daughter of Margaret Connell.
Among the more influential citizens of Connellsville, prior to 1806, in addition to those whose names have been mentioned, were Daniel Rogers, George Mathiot, Samuel and Caleb Trevor, Benjamin Wells, David Barnes, Anthony Mansfield, Banning and Joseph Page, Sr. Joseph Page, Sr., was a Jersey man, who came to Connellsville in 1801, and, on October 26th of that year, purchased the "Confi- dence" tract of 302 acres from Zachariah Connell for £ 536. This tract was located along the river immediately south of the "Mud Island" tract, and embraced the larger part of the ground now occupied by the Baltimore and Ohio vards. At the upper end of this tract he erected a mill, the race for which was more than a quarter of a mile in length. Mr. Page was the father of seven children-Jonathan, John, Samuel, Joseph Jr., William, Rebecca and Mary. Jona- than Page was a shoemaker and lived and died in the old stone house on Meadow alley. Samuel Page purchased the old homestead in 1814, but sold it a few years later to the Gibsons, bought the old Banning property on Water street and lived there for a number of years. He also kept the old stone tavern on East Main street. William Page became a Methodist minister, married a daughter of Zach-
ZACHARIAH
CONNELL
1741,-1813. FOUNDER OF THE BOROUGH OF CONNELLSVILLE
1806.
THE TOMB OF ZACHARIAH CONNELL.
58
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF CONNELLSVILLE
ariah Connell, and removed to Ohio. Joseph Page, Jr., lived and died in New Jersey. Miss Rebecca Page mar- ried D. S. Knox, and became the mother of Senator Phil- ander C. Knox.
Anthony Mansfield Banning was the pioneer Methodist preacher of this vicinity. He was born in Maryland, in 1768, and ran away from home at sixteen years of age, after he had been converted at a Methodist camp-meeting and felt called to preach. Upon coming to Fayette county in 1786, he located in the Mount Braddock settlement, but came to Connellsville quite frequently and conducted expe- rience meetings in the home of Zachariah Connell. For a number of years he preached here and at other points throughout the country, but conducted a tannery and a tavern at the same time, not deeming either business incon- sistent with his high calling. He married Miss Sarah Mur- phy and was the father of eight children. In 1810 he re- moved to Mount Vernon, Ohio. His family has reflected great honor upon their father's home.
David Barnes purchased property in Connellsville in 1802, and in 1803 moved from Irishtown, near Breakneck Furnace, and opened a tavern. He was one of the most useful men in the community, and did much to develop its resources.
Benjamin Wells and the Trevor brothers were the first merchants of the town. Their public record is given in another chapter.
George Mathiot was one of the most conspicuous fig- ures in the early history of the Borough because of his long service as Justice of the Peace. He was born in Lan- caster county, Pa., October 13, 1760. On October 30, 1787, he was married to Miss Ruth Davies at Elk Ridge, Maryland, went to Ellicott's Mills, and from there came to Connellsville in a wagon, camping and sleeping in a tent, arriving here July 12, 1796. In 1800, he was commissioned by Governor Thomas Mckean as Justice of the Peace, a position that he filled with much credit until compelled by
TWO OLD LOG HOUSES OF THE PINNACLE.
60
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF CONNELLSVILLE
the infirmities of age to resign. In 1802 he purchased property on West Main street, where he lived to the day of his death, April 4, 1840. Mr. Mathiot was of French Huguenot parentage, and demonstrated his good blood by enlisting in the patriot army, November 18, 1776, and serv- ing to the close of the war. He was an ardent Methodist, and his home was usually the stopping place of all the itinerant preachers of his day. Mrs. Mathiot was a Quakeress and a woman of rare character. Eleven chil- dren were born to them-Jacob D., Eliza, Catherine, Mary, Joshua D., Cassandra, John, Susan, Ann M., George F., and Henry B. Some of these children had distinguished careers in other parts of the country. So far as we can learn, none of their descendants are now living in this community.
Daniel Rogers, the first Burgess of Connellsville, comes from an interesting pioneer family. This family came to Dunbar township about the year 1768 and took up con- siderable land by "tomahawk right." Becoming dissatis- fied for some reason with their location, they moved west of the Monongahela river, but, after severe conflicts with the Indians, in which three of the men lost their lives, returned to this part of the country and settled in the Cross Keys district. This district received its name from the fact that one of the Rogers brothers was a smith, who set up a large pair of crossed keys over his shop door as his professional sign, and when he opened his house called it the Cross Keys Tavern. Daniel Rogers, son of James Rogers was born in this district, June 8, 1728. He may be called a child of Connellsville for his whole life was spent either in the town or its immediate vicinity. When he was yet quite a young man he built a grist mill on the old island above the bridge, which, for many years, was one of the most important industries of the town. Disposing of his mill to the Pages he embarked in the mercantile business on Water street. In 1806, he built the brick house on the corner of Water and West Main streets, and here he con-
61
PIONEERS OF THE YOUGH
ducted a general store for a number of years. This is the oldest house now standing in the Borough, and is in a. fair state of preservation. In 1810, he was interested in the building of a paper mill on the Yough above Connells- ville. He was also engaged in the cattle business and em- ployed a great company of boys every summer at 121/2 cents a day to make hay for his cattle. He was rather an eccentric individual, but clever and influential in public affairs. He married Miss Mary Meason, a daughter of Colonel Isaac Meason, and was the father of two children -- Catherine (Mrs. Banning) and Thomas. The declining years of his life were spent in New Haven, where he died, September 18, 1872, at the ripe old age of 94 years. His body lies at rest in the little cemetery on New Haven hill.
Another pioneer, who deserves more than a passing notice here in view of the fact that more than one thou- sand of his descendants are now residents of Connellsville and vicinity, was Peter Stillwaggen Sr. Mr. Stillwaggen was born in Germany, and came to America about the year 1765. In 1775 he was married to Miss Elizabeth Poole in the German Lutheran church of Philadelphia, Pa. In July of the following year, he enlisted in the patriot army as Sergeant of a company commanded by Captain Holmes. He was also a member of the Fifth Pennsylvania Regiment. He took part in the battles of Colts Neck, Brandywine, Ger- mantown, Trenton, Monmouth and Eatontown. While out on an expedition near Eatontown he was captured by the British and confined in an old sugar house in New York for nearly two years. During his absence, his home was plundered by the British troops, and his wife so mistreated that she applied to General Firman for relief, who gave her a home with the wife of Captain Huddy. Just before the battle of Trenton, a company of Tories, commanded by Captain David Smith, again visited the Stillwaggen home, plundering it of all its remaining valuables and burn- ing it to the ground. Mrs. Stillwaggen, hearing of their coming, hid with her two little children in an adjoining
62
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF CONNELLSVILLE
field, and watched in anguish while the work of destruc- tion was carried on. She then once more sought refuge in the camp with her husband. The commanding officer treated her kindly and allowed her to stay. She made herself useful by washing and baking for the soldiers and caring for the sick and wounded. At the battle of Mon- mouth she distinguished herself by her courage, and car- ried ammunition for the artillery. By some she is believed to be the Molly Pitcher of historic fame. At the close of the war, Peter Stillwaggen received an honorable discharge and settled with his family at Deckertown, N. J. He was the father of thirteen children-Daniel, Hannah, William, Sarah Ann, Mary, Catherine, Andrew, Peter Jr., Susannah, Josiah Decker, Andrew Poole, Henry and John. In 1802 he came to Connellsville, and established a home in the neighborhood of Peach and Water streets. The children at this time numbered but nine, four of them having died. By a mere chance of fortune, Captain David Smith, their old Tory enemy, also came to Connellsville after the war, living with his son Asher Smith, on the corner of Cottage avenue and East Main street, and it is said upon good au- thority that some of the plunder of the Stillwaggen home was afterwards discovered there in an old chest. Wil- liam, the oldest son of the family, was married to Miss Margaret Wilson of Deckertown, and had eleven children- Peter (husband of Margaret White), Joshua, Sophia, Eliza, (Mrs. Stephen Robbins), Josiah Decker (husband of Elizabeth Eicher), Sarah (Mrs. Josiah Marietta, mother of the large Marietta family of Connellsville), Henry Nash (husband of Mary M. Curry), Joseph, Mary, John (husband of Elizabeth Stouffer) and William Wilson (hus- band of Maria M. Rockwell). William Stillwaggen inheri- ted much of the patriotic fire of his parents and was a veteran of the war of 1812. Sarah Ann, his sister, mar- ried Henry Nash, a Methodist minister and moved to Ten- nessee. Another sister married Mr. Haven, an Englishman, and lived and died in Connellsville. Among her grand chil-
63
PIONEERS OF THE YOUGH
dren were Mrs. Anne Robbins (deceased), Mrs. Eliza Newcomer (deceased), Mrs. Mary Enos and Mrs. Kate Kurtz. Henry Nash Stillwaggen, son of William was a soldier in the Mexican war, and received an injury while building a bridge for the artillery before Vera Cruz from which he never fully recovered. John Stillwaggen, son of Peter Stillwaggen Sr., died without issue at Broad Ford. Andrew Poole Stillwaggen, another son, married Miss Catherine Buttermore and removed to the west; Catherine Stillwaggen, a daughter, married a Mr. Conklin and died at the early age of 22 leaving two children, Daniel and William ; another daughter married a Mr. Polk and re- moved to Tennessee; of the families of the remaining chil- dren we have no definite knowledge. Peter Stillwaggen Sr., died in Connellsville in December, 1831 ; his wife, Eliz- abeth, with a marvelous vitality, lived to be one hundred and fifteen years of age. Even at that advanced age she was remarkably active and able to attend to many of her household duties. One Monday afternoon she was left at home alone, and her grandson, on his return, found the interior of the house on fire. Securing help he put out the flames as quickly as possible, but his grandmother was then already dead. It is believed that she was smoking a pipe and that sparks from this set her clothing on fire.
At the close of the period of which this chapter treats, January 1, 1806, it was scarcely possible to discern more than a feeble outline of the present town of Connellsville. On Water street there were eight log houses, owned by Thomas Page, Zachariah Connell, John Gibson, Joseph Rogers, Benjamin Wells, Jonathan Moody, David Stewart and Peter Stillwaggen. On South Meadow alley there was a stone house and the Banning tannery. On South Pitts- burgh street there was an empty log house and Jonas Coal- stock's blacksmith shop. On Main street, from the river to the top of the hill, there eight log houses, occupied by Squire Mathiot, Samuel Trevor, Elijah Crossland (butcher and plow maker) Charles Williams (blacksmith) James
64
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF CONNELLSVILLE
Nixon (store keeper) John Hinebaugh (blacksmith), Jesse Taylor (stone mason ), and E. Clayton. On the same street there were four log taverns, kept by David Barnes, John Barnhart, Thomas Keepers and Cornelius Woodruff ; a stone house occupied by Otho Williams, a hatter, and the frame residences of Doctor James Francis, Adam Snider, Cornelius Woodruff Jr., and William Davis. All of Main street from Meadow alley to Mountain alley, on the north side, was unoccupied by a building of any kind. On the pinnacle, above the bend of the street, there were four or five scattered dwellings, one of which was a tavern kept by Nancy White. All told, there were not more than thirty- six buildings of any kind within the Borough limits at the time of its incorporation. Yet her citizens seem to have had great faith in her future. They were not satisfied to include only the chartered Borough within the limits of the corporation, but included the entire tract of 152 acres. How well the work of their children has justified their faith will be told in the succeeding chapters.
CHAPTER II.
THE INCORPORATION OF THE BOROUGH.
One hundred years ago our fathers asserted for them- selves a separate place and a proper name that marked them apart from the rest of the world. If we have lost some- thing of the odor of the forest, the simplicity of the rocks and the uncultivated air of the backwoodsman, in its place we have much of the culture, the comfort and the industry of a modern civilization. Nature has been lavish in her gifts to this immediate locality. Scarcely can there be found a stream of water so clear, so pure, so beautiful and with such a wide variety of scenery as the "Dare-Devil Yough." The mountains and the river seem to vie with one another in producing scenes of the rarest loveliness. Yet to this wealth of natural beauty is added the charm of a mild climate and an almost incredible mineral wealth. Such is the happy situation of Connellsville, about fifty-eight miles east of Pittsburg.
It received its name from Zachariah Connell, its founder and one of the earliest settlers in this region. It had been chartered as a town for more than twelve years before its citizens were impressed with the necessity of a Borough government for their proper development and pro- tection. Some of these men were wise enough to see that inasmuch as their town was situated at the head of naviga- tion on the Yough it possessed many of the natural advant- ages of a thriving city. At the time of the incorporation of the Borough a number of its citizens were wholly en- gaged in the construction of boats and rafts on which emi- grants floated their goods down the river on their way to Kentucky and Ohio. Their very occupation was a proph- ecy of the city that was sure to come.
65
66
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF CONNELLSVILLE
The first step to organize the Borough of Connellsville was taken January 1st, 1806. A preliminary meeting was held to establish the boundaries of the proposed new bor- ough. The following account of this meeting was found in the old house of Joseph Herbert, on Main Street :
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.