Century history of Butler and Butler County, Pa., and representative citizens 20th, Part 12

Author: McKee, James A., 1865- ed. and comp
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1526

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fused the deputy marshal possession. The members of the officer's party, the armed farmers, and the little squad of men and boys from the village who had followed the contestants to the spot from curiosity to see what the outcome would be, crowded around Parchment and Robb. When they heard the refusal of the latter to yield to the officer's demand, and saw that no im- mediate effort was to be made to take forcible possession of the premises, they fell back and broke into little groups to talk over the situation. Lowrey and Max- well were standing close together convers- ing by the side of a rail fence which ran from the cabin to the public road when the confused sound of the many voices was suddenly pierced by the sharp crack of a rifle. Maxwell cried out, "I'm shot; I'm shot," and fell to the ground. Per- sons whose attention was not immediately drawn toward Maxwell saw a man, rifle in hand, bounding through the bushes up the hillside. Excitement and consterna- tion prevailed among the group of men at the cabin. Maxwell was apparently dy- ing, and his friends believed that the mur- derous shot was fired by one of Lowrey's followers. The farmers excitedly abused Lowrey as the instigator of the crime, and threatened violence, and for a time it looked as though a serious riot would re- sult. The arguments of the cooler beads among the crowd finally prevailed, and the land speculator and the officers were allowed to depart in peace. Maxwell's wounds were of a serious nature and his life hung in the balance for many days, but he finally recovered, and at the end of two months was removed from Robb's cabin to his own home a few miles distant.

The fact that Maxwell was shot led to the belief that one of the land speculator's party was guilty of the crime, but later when all the circumstances were reviewed, it became the opinion of most of the people that the man who fired the shot was one of the farmers who sympathized with

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Maxwell and that he was endeavoring to kill .or at least wound, Lowrey. In the confusion he accidentally shot Maxwell, who was the champion of the squatters. It was never positively known who fired the shot, though it is said that Abraham McCandless, at one time sheriff of Butler County, who died in 1893, was present at the tragedy and with a playmate, Jacob Brinker, saw and recognized the man who fired the shot but whose identity, however, they never revealed.

This occurrence was the means of changing most radically the policy of the land speculators. Up to this time they had almost invariably dispossessed the settlers of their land by suits of ejectment, but after the shooting of Maxwell almost all of the contested claims for lands were compromised, the farmer being allowed a certain portion of the tract on which he was settled for his improvement, or granted the whole upon payment of a nom- inal sum of money.

THE END OF THE LAND JOBBERS.

From the close of October, 1815 to July, 1818, the land speculators resorted to compromise and arbitration rather than to law. In July, 1818, Dunning McNair, of Glade Mills, then called Woodville, gave notice through the papers published in Butler that as Colonel Stephen Lowrey made sales and received money for lands in the Cunningham district, which were the property of Robert Morris and said McNair, buyers in the future should deal directly with him, as he could not conceive by what authority Mr. Lowrey had the

right or power to interfere. This notice was continued unanswered until March 17th, 1819, when Stephen Lowrey pub- lished a friendly caution in the same paper, in which he invited all persons in- terested to call upon him in the town of Butler when he would show them in whom the title to the lands was really vested.

Owing to the reversion of the lands to the State under the acts of 1792, 1795, and 1799, the time for applying for donation land was extended to 1810. In the mean- while the board of property, misconstru- ing the act of April, 1802, placed tickets for the bad land in the wheels from which the soldiers drew.

THE M'KEE AND VARNUM CASE.

Under the act of reversion, Andrew McKee bought two hundred acres in the second Donation District, for which a pat- ent was issued February 8, 1804. Enoch Varnum claimed the greater part of the tract as a settler and improver of 1797, and the State Supreme Court decided in his favor some time prior to 1823. The legislature accepted the law but in justice to McKee, who held a patent from the es- tate, an indemnity was granted to him. Thus the claim of the actual settler was recognized and the error of the board properly corrected. The question of squatter sovereignty slept until after the oil fields were opened, when it was re- vived in several localities, the most not- able case occurring at Renfrew in the days of the oil excitement. This case grew out of the ownership of the Purviance land and was the most stirring agrarian trou- ble since 1815.

CHAPTER IV

ORGANIZATION OF BUTLER COUNTY

Accounts with Allegheny County-Location of County Seat- Original Townships-A New County Proposed-Present Division of Townships-Another New County Proposition-Transactions of the County Commissioners-Tax on Bachelors-The Northwestern Railroad-Dispute of Bounty Claims-1804 and 1908 Compared- Commissioners' Clerks-Conscience Money-Public Buildings-The Court House of 1884 --- Court House of 1908-County Jails-The First Stone Jail-Recent Jail Escapes-Capture and Death of the Biddle Brothers-The County Home-The Temperance Cause-W. C. T. U .- Non-partisan Temperance Union-Loyal Tem- perance Legion-Population Statistics.

The act of the legislature of Pennsyl- vania, erecting Butler County, was ap- proved March 12, 1800. The act also pro- vided for its attachment for administra- tive purposes to Allegheny County, and described its boundaries as follows: Be- ginning at a locust tree on the south side of Buffalo Creek; thence along the Alle- gheny line twenty-three miles, to Alex- ander's District; thence due north twen- ty-three miles along that line and Beaver County to a corner near the confluence of Muddy Creek and Slippery Rock; thence north fifteen degrees east fifteen miles along the Mercer County line to a white oak tree in the Third Donation District; thence due east along the Venango County line to the Allegheny River; thence due south along the Armstrong County line to the place of beginning.

The county was named after General Richard Butler, who was killed at St. Clair's defeat, and a sketch of whose life has been given in the preceding chapter of this volume.

ACCOUNTS WITH ALLEGHENY COUNTY.

The transcript of accounts between But- ler and Allegheny Counties from May 7, 1800, to December 3, 1803, shows that the sum of $5,528.901/2 was collected in the townships of Butler County, all of which was expended by the commissioners of Allegheny County in the manner set forth in the itemized statements contained in records now in the possession of the commissioners of Butler County. At the close of 1803 the total receipts from Butler County aggregated $5,079.51, and the expenditures on account of Butler County were $5,528.901/2, showing an in- debtedness to Allegheny County of $449.391%, which the commissioners of Butler County agreed to pay at the time the settlement was made. The settlement of the accounts between the commission- ers of Allegheny County and of Butler County appears to have been attended with some difficulty, as the transactions of the commissioners of Butler County show

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as late as September, 1812, that the dis- putes had not all been settled.

The tax levy in the original township of Connoquenessing in 1800 was $176.99; in 1801, $204.06; in 1802, $450.53; and in 1803, $452.92, or a total of $1,234.50 for the four years.

In Middlesex Township the tax given for the four years was as follows : $183.58; $284.28; $438.09; and $444.53; a total of $1,350.48.

In Slippery Rock Township the tax amounted to $345.98; $214.50; $281.36; and $341.33; a total of $1,183.17.

In Buffalo Township the tax amounted to $82.53; $108.80; $135.15; $161.01; a to- tal of $487.49.

LOCATION OF THE COUNTY SEAT.

The original act provided that the county seat was not to be at a greater dis- tance from the center of the county than four miles. The year following the pas- sage of the act the governor appointed Samuel Rippy, Henry Evans, and John McBride surveyors, with Beatty Quinn as their axeman, commissioners to run the county line. After these commissioners had performed their duties and made the proper report the legislature appointed John David, William Elliott, and Samuel Ewalt commissioners to locate the county seats of Armstrong, Butler and Mercer Counties.

A supplementary act was passed April 6, 1802, authorizing the governor to ap- point a commission who would locate the seats of justice in Armstrong, Butler and Mercer Counties, and the executive act- ing under this authority appointed Isaac Weaver, John Hamilton, Thomas Morton, James Brady, and P. Carr Lane.

The next step taken toward establish- ing the county seats was under the act of March 8, 1803, in which John McBride, William Elliott, and John David were ap- pointed trustees for the county, and au- thorized to survey three hundred acres on

the north side of Connoquenessing Creek, near the site of Cunningham's mill, agree- able to the grant and obligation secured from Samuel Cunningham, John Cunning- ham and Robert Graham. The trustees were authorized to lay out a lot, or lots of land not exceeding five acres for county buildings, the residue in town lots which were to be sold at public sale. Under this act the grounds for the county buildings were laid off and the first sale of lots was held August 10, 1803. (See Butler Bor- ough.)

ORIGINAL TOWNSHIPS.

When the first commissioners of the county took charge of affairs in 1804, they found the four townships named in the statement of the Allegheny County com- missioners to be sufficient for the purposes at that time. These townships were Con- noquenessing, Middlesex, Slippery Rock and Buffalo. The inhabitants of the county were not satisfied with the division of townships, and in February, 1804, a pe- tition was presented to Judge Moore, then holding court in Butler, praying for a change in the order of townships. The petition stated :

"That Middlesex Township at present extends from the southern boundary to the township of Slippery Rock, a distance of more than twenty-three miles * and we pray your honors to erect that part of Middlesex and * * Buffalo Townships south of said northern boundary into separate townships.

This petition was signed by John Quinn, Patrick McGee, Bernard McGee, Hugh McGee, Robert Maxwell, Robert Kennedy, William M. Kennedy, Joseph Sutton, Da- vid Sutton, Daniel Sutton, James Guffey, John David, David Kerr, Matthew Wig- field, John Bittiger, Henry Sofire, and James Shields. The court held the peti- tion under advisement until the May term of court, 1804, when this endorsement was made: "The court considers that the ne- cessity of acting on this petition is super- seded by an appointment of viewers at the present session to divide the whole county

HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY

of Butler into separate districts to be erected into townships .- J. Moore."

Another petition for the erection of townships was presented May 15, 1804. This petition represented that the inhab- itants of the county at large labored under a great inconvenience for want of a suffi- cient number of townships in said county, and that they therefore prayed the hon- orable court to appoint suitable persons to lay out a competent number of town- ships, and make report of their proceed- ings at the next session of court. The signers of this document were Matthew White, Jacob Mechling, James Bovard, John Negley, William Ayres, John Gil- more, Robert Hays, David Dougal, Josiah Crawford, John McCandless, Alexander White, Samuel Kinkaid, Samuel A. Rippy, William Skeer, William B. Young, James Thompson, John McBride, John David, William Elliott, Samuel Cunningham, Henry Evans, and William Wasson. Pur- suant to this petition Judge Moore ap- pointed John Cunningham, John David, and Barnett Gilliland a committee to in- quire into the propriety of granting the prayer of the petitioners, and to execute all other acts and duties required by the act of assembly in such case provided.

At the session of court held in August, 1804, the committee named tendered their report, in which they stated that they are of the opinion that it is absolutely neces- sary that the county should be divided into a convenient number of townships, and submitted plan No. 1 and plan No. 2 for the consideration and determination of the court. This report was endorsed by John Parker who was then holding court in Butler, and continued under advisement until the next session. Plan No. 2 referred to in the report showed nine divisions, each seven and three-fourths miles square; one division thirteen miles, ninety-eight perches by five and one-half miles; one division ten miles by five and one-half miles; one division in the northwest cor-

ner of the county ten miles by five and one-half miles; and one division in the northwest corner five miles one hundred and fifty-two perches on the north line by five and one-half miles on the east line. The only township name given on the re- port is "Slippery Rock."

Report No. 1, or the minority report, was drawn to a scale and the townships named as follows: Connoquenessing in the southwest corner, Middlesex next, and Buffalo in the southeast corner. In the second tier Muhler, Butler and Connaught ; in the third tier Muddycreek, Heidelberg, and Clearfield; in the fourth tier Slippery Rock and Parker; and in the fifth, or northern tier, Mercer in the northwest cor- ner and Venango in the northeast corner. The minority report was practically adopted, but amended so far as the names were concerned, and the division of town- ships approved November 15, 1804, by Judge Parker. The names of the town- ships, as amended, were: Cranberry, Mid- dlesex and Buffalo in the first tier; Con- noquenessing, Butler and Clearfield in the second tier; Muddycreek, Center and Don- egal in the third; Slippery Rock and Par- ker in the fourth; and Mercer and Venan- go in the fifth tier, making in all thirteen townships. Previous to this time the county had been divided into six election districts, and these districts were super- seded by the new order of townships.

During the years intervening between 1804 and 1853, six additional townships were created, making in all nineteen. A line extending from the west line of But- ler to the Connoquenessing Creek and thence along that stream to the east line, divided the original Butler Township into North and South Butler. Connoquenes- sing Township was divided by a north and south line, creating East Connoquenessing and West Connoquenessing. Muddycreek was similarly divided, and the east half of the township was given the name of Frank- lin. A north and south line divided Slip-

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pery Rock Township, and the eastern half was given the name of Cherry. Allegheny Township was created out of the eastern half of Venango, and Washington and Fairview composed the other two town- ships.

On June 16, 1847, a petition for the erec- tion of a township out of parts of Middle- sex, South Butler, Cranberry, and East Connoquenessing, to be called Ringold Township, was signed by ninety-three resi- dents of those districts and presented to court. This petition was met by seven counter-petitions from the old townships, supplemented by an account of the large meeting held at Breakneck, now Evans City, to protest against the establishment of such a township. The opposition was led by Samuel Marshall, Andrew Boggs, Joseph Johnson, David Garvin, and Dan- iel Boggs, residents of the southwest por- tion of the county.

From the records it appears that in 1849 the school directors of Middlesex and Cranberry Townships flatly refused to create a sub-school district for the accom- modation of the citizens of those two townships. On the 10th of March the mat- ter was considered at a meeting held at A. M. Brown's store and a petition was prepared to be presented to court asking for the erection of a new township, and for the increase of school districts. The petitioners submitted. a plat of the territory and asked the court to order the establishment of a new township and name it "Ringold." The court did not take kindly to this petition and marked it with his disapproval.

A NEW COUNTY PROPOSED.

The snub inflicted by the court on the southwestern portion of the county burned in the breasts of its citizens for a number of years, and the desire for a change in the division of the townships took another shape in 1849, when a proposition was made to the Legislature to create a new

county to be named Lawrence out of parts of Beaver, Mercer, and Butler Counties. · The measure received little support from Butler County people, who were pleased with Butler County as it stood, and the movement finally resulted in the creation of Lawrence County out of parts of Beaver and Mercer, the territory of Butler County remaining intact.

In 1853, on the petition of citizens of Buffalo, Middlesex and Cranberry Town- ships, the Legislature passed an act cre- ating ten townships out of the three named. The governor did not sign the act, but referred the question of the griev- ances of the citizens to the courts of But- ler County.

PRESENT DIVISION OF TOWNSHIPS.

In the meantime there was growing dis- satisfaction in the county over the division of school districts, and the townships, and a movement was undertaken which re- sulted in the division of the county into the thirty-three districts that exist to- day. The new movement was born in a little schoolhouse in which the late Maj. Cyrus Anderson, of Butler, then presided as teacher. The miserable condition of the building was called to the attention of the directors who were unable to afford relief until new townships or districts were formed, one of which at least they could govern. A petition was drawn up and circulated for signers and the work of the reconstruction of the county begun. On the 18th of June, 1853, a petition bear- ing forty-five signatures was presented to court asking that the prior petition of the people of Buffalo, Middlesex and Cran- berry Townships be denied, and that the act of the Legislature erecting ten town- ships be set. aside. The prayer of the petitioners was granted, the court ap- pointing three viewers to devise a plan for the division of the county into town- ships.

A petition of sundry citizens of the

HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY

county asking for the division of the county into townships five miles square was presented to court on June 18, 1853. The signers set forth that the petitions from the people of Buffalo, Middlesex and Cranberry Townships to the State Legis- lature asking that ten townships be erected out of the three named, were granted, and that an act was passed in accordance with the prayer of the petitioners; that the governor did not approve of that act, but remanded the whole question to the courts of Butler County, and that now the people of Butler County desire their disapproval of the petitioners' prayer as it would re- sult in the division of the county into forty-three small townships.

The signers of this remonstrance asked the court to order that the whole county be divided into townships, each as nearly five miles square as possible. The court acquiesced in this opinion and the same day-June 18, 1853-appointed Hugh Mc- Kee, Samuel M. Lane, and James T. Mc- Junkin commissioners to inquire into the propriety of granting the petition and to make a draft of the townships and of the division lines proposed, as well as of the lines of townships proposed to be altered, and to make a report before the next term of court. On November 19, 1853, the com- mittee filed their report and opinion which were presented to Judge Agnew and asso- ciate judges. The report of the committee is an elaborate document in which is set forth the advantages of the new division of townships, and which also considers the objections urged in connection with the disarrangement of school districts. The committee found it necessary to ascertain the exact dimensions of the county by actual survey, which was done by Hugh McKee.

According to this survey the county averages twenty-four miles and a fraction east and west, and thirty-three miles and a fraction north and south. To carry out the wish of the petitioners to create town-

ships five miles square would, it was said, leave a fractional range of townships on two sides of the county, and a ground for future complaints, but by dividing the dis- tance and approximating the direction of the order of court, five ranges of town- ships north and south, and seven east and west were secured, making in all thirty- three townships. Thirty-one of the town- ships are almost five miles square and con- tain about twenty-four square miles, the other two, owing to the diagonal north- western boundary line of the county, vary- ing a little from that size. The expense at- tending the proposed division which was one of the objections urged against it, was estimated by the committee at $600, or an average of about eight cents to each tax- able. The report was signed by Hugh McKee and James T. McJunkin, the other member of the committee being absent, but was not immediately acted upon by the court. David Scott was appointed viewer to succeed Mr. Lane, and on March 6, 1854, signed the final report which was presented and considered by the court on March 29 that year. This provided for the establishment of thirty-three town- ships, all except three being nearly twenty- four square miles in area. The township of Mercer having four unequal sides lacked about one-third of a proportionate area, while the townships of Slippery Rock and Worth, owing to the division of the tri- angle lying to the north and west of them, contained a little more territory than an equal proportion. The triangle contained about six square miles, and it was appor- tioned to the two townships named, each of which would lack a fraction of being the regular size without such addition. The order of court approving this division and creating the townships was signed March 29, 1854, and the thirty-three town- ships are named in order, beginning at the northwestern township of the northern range and running cast, as follows: Mer- cer, Marion, Venango, and Allegheny in

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the first tier; Slippery Rock, Cherry, Washington, Parker in the second; Worth, Brady, Clay, Concord, and Fairview in the third; Muddycreek, Franklin, Center, Oakland, and Donegal in the fourth; Lan- caster, Connoquenessing, Butler, Summit, and Clearfield in the fifth; Jackson, For- ward, Penn, Jefferson, and Winfield in the sixth; Cranberry, Adams, Middlesex, Clin- ton, and Buffalo in the seventh.

Under the new order of townships an election of township officers and justices of the peace was ordered to be held April 28, 1854, under the act of that year.

At the March term of court, 1854, a petition was filed asking for the modifica- tion of the line between Slippery Rock and Worth Townships. This petition was signed by Stephen Morrison, A. H. Boyle, A. Murphy, Thomas Kelly, Jr., John W. Martin, Thomas Kelly, A. G. Dennison, John Stoughten, William Gallagher, Thomas Boyle, C. Nussell, John Stoughten and John Brant.

On March 6, 1854, a remonstrance against the order of survey signed by forty-six citizens was filed, showing the whole plan to be disadvantageous to a large number of citizens. A long list of reasons are given in this remonstrance, the sixth of which is as follows: "We apprehend that the surveyors in their hurry to finish their work and influenced perhaps by the representations of a few individuals lying north of the line, have unintentionally done injury and incom- moded the whole township by accommo- dating a few at the expense of thirty or forty men."

NEW COUNTIES PROPOSED.

The dissatisfaction over new township. agitation about a new county ceased. lines took shape again in a proposition to carve part of a new county out of Butler County territory, which was presented to the Legislature in April, 1854. An act passed the House of Representatives and

was carried through the Senate providing for the erection of a new county out of parts of Westmoreland, Allegheny, Arm- strong and Butler. The plotters succeeded in getting the bill through the House and the Senate without the knowledge of the people of Butler County, but they could not win any real support in Butler County, and hence the project fell through.

In February, 1856, the committee of the Legislature on new counties reported a bill for the erection of parts of Allegheny, Butler and Westmoreland into a county to be named Madison. According to this bill the townships of Middlesex, Clinton and Buffalo would have been detached from Butler County.

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Century history of Butler and Butler County, Pa., and representative citizens 20th, Part 12

Author: McKee, James A., 1865- ed. and comp Publication date: 1909 Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1526

Author: McKee, James A., 1865- ed. and comp
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1526