Century history of New Castle and Lawrence County, Pennsylvania and representative citizens, 20th, Part 37

Author: Hazen, Aaron L. (Aaron Lyle), 1837- comp. and ed. cn
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold publishing co.
Number of Pages: 1058

USA > Pennsylvania > Lawrence County > New Castle > Century history of New Castle and Lawrence County, Pennsylvania and representative citizens, 20th > Part 37

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).

MOUNT JACKSON.

This village was laid out by John Nesbit, on his share of the old farm, about 1815. It was named in honor of General Andrew Jackson, who had, on the 8th of January of that year, gained a signal victory over the British troops under General Packen- ham, at New Orleans, in which battle the British leader was killed. The first house on the town plat was built by William Henry, who had been living on Hickory Creek, west of the place where Dr. Allen Nesbit afterwards lived. When the town was laid out, he removed to it, built a house, and opened a store in it.

George Eccles began blacksmithing soon afterward, and was the first blacksmith in the village. Joseph Hughes probably had the first wagon shop, and Robert McCand- less opened the next one.

Benjamin Wells started the shoemaking business, and Samuel Lane (a descendant of the Finns, who, in company with the Swedes, settled in Delaware in 1638) came at nearly the same time. Lane was a tall, slim man, and exceedingly polite.

The second house in town was built by Matthew A. Calvin, who opened a tavern there. He was a lame man and had been teaching school previous to this, in New Castle. After keeping the tavern for about twenty years, he removed to Mercer Coun- ty, where he had a son who was a physi- cian.

" All the early taverns kept bars; and a well known gentleman, who at one time had a tavern in the place, agreed to sign the pledge, and quit selling liquor at his house, if the people would buy the stock he had on hand, and pay him for it. This they did, and emptied the liquor out on the snow, and tried to burn it. It was fire- proof, however, and the boys who were fond of their sups came and ate the snow to get the whisky out of it."

Robert Tait came to Mount Jackson about 1831 and in 1835 opened a tavern; he also carried on the hatting business. Before he came, William Miller had a shop also, and worked at the hatting business, but finally discontinued it. Mr. Tait car- ried it on a number of years, making sev- eral varieties of hats, from fur to silk. Journeymen hatters were always kept at work. For one year David McConahy worked at the business with Mr. Tait.

Mr. Tait's father, Samuel Tait, came from Ireland, and in 1809 or 1810 located on the farm now owned by Joseph Dick- son. Mr. Tait was the first settler on the place.

A postoffice was established at Mount Jackson about 1817, with William Henry as the first postmaster. Before the office was established it was necessary to go to New Castle, five miles distant, for mail. Mount Jackson was laid out purposely to secure a postoffice. John Ferguson held the office of postmaster after Henry.

The first physician in the place was a mineral doctor named Robert Smith. Fol- lowing him came Dr. Robert McClelland, also a mineral doctor. Dr. McClelland was an old schoolmate of Dr. Allen Nesbit, and was persuaded by him to come to the place. Dr. Nesbit began practicing on the Botanic or Thompsonian system, while Dr. Mc- Clelland was at the place, and kept up his practice until about 1865.

Thomas Ferguson, a brother of John Ferguson, came from Steubenville about 1828-30 and conducted a shoe shop until 1885.

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About 1822 John Justice built the first tannery in the vicinity, it being located about a mile south of the town. He after- ward removed to Ohio. Another tannery was built about 1832 by William Alcorn.

A log schoolhouse was built about 1815-16, where Louis Etter's wagon shop formerly stood, and was the first one in the town. The ground was reserved by John Nesbit for school purposes when he laid out the town.

In 1875 John L. Camblin built a plan- ing mill a short distance east of town.

Mount Jackson is located on the summit of one of the highest hills in the neighbor- hood, having a steep descent on the west and south towards Hickory Creek, and stretching off on a comparative plane to- wards the east and north. The place con- tains several stores, and has some neat and cosy residences and a substantial school building. Until the present two- story school building was constructed, the house originally erected by the members of the Free Presbyterian Church was used as a school building and was located at the forks of the road where the John McGin- ness residence has since been built.

The United Presbyterian Church, at Mount Jackson, was organized about the year 1820 or 1822 by a number of persons who had elsewhere been members or ad- herents of what was then called the "As- sociate Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America." These persons occasion- ally secured the services of itinerant min- isters, who would preach a day or two at a time in a barn or private house to those who were disposed to attend. From such small beginnings, in the course of two or three years, a congregation of per- haps twenty-five members was organized. About 1825 the services of a missionary- one John Norwood-recently from Ireland, were secured for one-third of his time. After serving for one year in this capacity, he was settled as permanent pastor for one-third of his time. There were then about thirty or thirty-five members, among

them being the Millers, Chambers, Kyles, Hammils, Davidsons, Alcorns and Black- burns.

During the summer of 1825 the first church building was erected. It was a frame structure. Mr. Norwood resigned his charge in 1833, and for four years subsequently the congregation was without a pastor. In October, 1837, John Neil, a young man from Washington County, Pennsylvania, who had just finished his theological studies, became pastor and re- mained until 1860. Under his pastoral care the congregation increased from thir- ty-five members to 140, and became able to support a pastor for his whole time.

In 1857 a new frame church building, 40 by 50, was erected at a cost of between by 50 feet, was erected at a cost of between $2,000 or $3,000. In the year 1858, at the consummation of the union between the As- sociate and Associate Reformed Presby- terian Churches, this congregation, in com- mon with all others in the Associate Re- formed Church, became a United Presby- terian Church.

After Mr. Neil gave up the charge, the congregation was without a pastor for over a year, when the Rev. Cyrus Cummins became pastor, and for eight years faith- fully performed the duties devolving upon him. He then resigned, and was followed, after an interval of about one year, by the Rev. Hugh R. McClelland, who took charge of the congregation in October, 1870. He has been followed by other pas- tors, and although the congregation has suffered much at different times from death and removals it has increased in numbers and good works. The church edi- fice is located half a mile south of the vil- lage, on the south side of Hickory Creek.

The Free Presbyterian Church was or- ganized in 1846 by the members of the Presbyterian Church at Westfield. The new organization numbered about fifty members in full communion. The Civil War which followed the secession of the Southern States, having resulted in the

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abolition of slavery, and the action of the general assemblies of the Presbyterian Church, which met in 1864, 1865 and 1866, having, in some measure, removed the causes of the separation, the members of the Free Church almost unanimously re- solved to dissolve their organization and unite with other sister churches. The above resolution was adopted in June, 1866, after having maintained their organi- zation for nearly twenty years. Nearly all the members went back to the church from which they had separated.

Methodist Episcopal Church. - The pioneer Methodist, at Mount Jackson, was Jacob Bear, who came from Northumber- land County, Pennsylvania, with his fam- ily in 1825. Mr. Bear was born in the Buf- falo Valley, in Union County. Through Mr. Bear's efforts, a class was organized at Mount Jackson about 1838, by Rev. Ru- fus Parker, Previous to its organization meetings were held as early as 1828 at Mr. Bear's house. Mr. Bear was one of the first associate judges of Lawrence County, the other being Charles T. Whippo. When the Methodist class was organized, its first leader was Richard M. Bear, and William Marrs was the second. The class was or- ganized some three or four years before the church was built. A Sabbath-school was organized early, and has been kept up most of the time since.

The church, a frame building, was erect- ed about 1842, on land purchased from John Nesbit, who laid out the town. It has since been repaired and remodeled, and is yet standing.

MORAVIA.

This place is the site of the old Moravian missions, founded in 1770, and originally located on the broad bottomland on the east side of the river. It is said that when the missionaries and their converts were coming up the Beaver they passed, near where Newport now stands, a village of Indian maidens who were all single, and pledged never to marry. The village was

moved from the east to the west side of the river, because the former locality was too low and unhealthy. The western town stood a short distance north of the pres- ent Moravia station, and there the Mora- vians stayed until 1773, when they removed to the Tuscarawas Valley, in Ohio. Long after the Christian Indians had left the locality, and after subsequent Indian troubles, the region was again settled by whites, and this time permanently.

About 1798 William Forbes settled just below the present village, and soon after built a grist mill and a sawmill on the Beaver River. The dam was nearly half a mile above the mill, and the construction of it and the digging of the mill-race must have required an immense amount of labor. Mr. Forbes held the office of justice of the peace and died some time before the War of 1812.

James Alsworth came from Franklin County, Pennsylvania, in November, 1804, with his wife and six children. Three chil- dren were born in the family after they ar- rived. The youngest of the six children who came with their parents was William Alsworth. James Alsworth settled a 200- acre tract and made the first improvements upon it.

The village of Moravia was laid out by David W. D. Freeman, about 1863-64, soon after the New Castle and Beaver Railway was opened for travel.

The town has a fine location on the hill above the river, commanding a view both up and down the stream and across the fertile "bottoms" on the eastern shore. The Erie & Pittsburg Railway affords shipping and traveling facilities, and the town, though yet small, has a wide future before it, in which to become equal in im- portance to its sister towns in the county.

PERRY TOWNSHIP.

This was one of the thirteen original townships of Lawrence County, its posi- tion being the southeast corner, on the east side of Slippery Rock Creek. Owing to

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the creek being the boundary line, the township is somewhat triangular in shape.

The surface is generally uneven, the hills rising to a height of several hundred feet above the waters of the Slippery Rock, and the valleys between them are usually nar- row.

The soil is generally fertile, and the different grains and fruits which the coun- try produces are here grown in profusion.

The township is watered by numerous streams, most of which are branches of Slippery Rock Creek. The most impor- tant of the smaller streams is Camp Run, which flows in a southerly direction through the eastern portion of the town- ship, and enters the Conoquenessing Creek in Franklin Township, Beaver Coun- ty, Pennsylvania. The stream affords con- siderable power. It takes its name from the fact that the settlers along it had a great many "sugar camps," the "sugar trees" standing very thick in the valley. Hickory timber was also plenty, and the name "Hickory Run" would have been just as applicable.

Along all the streams are rugged and precipitous banks, and in many places the scenery partakes of a wildness and gran- deur beyond description. "Along Slip- pery Rock Creek the frowning bluffs rise to a height of 400 feet, their sides covered with huge fragmentary masses of sand- rock and a dense growth of hemlock. Away down below, the waters of the stream rush impetuously over a rock bed, and oc- casionally foam and dash down a steep and narrow rapid, or tumble with angry com- motion over a low ledge, each particular drop of water seemingly furiously strug- gling with its might to become first among its sisters whirling onward to the sea. In every spot along the Slippery Rock the scenery is delightful, and it is by no means necessary for the inhabitants of the land to go beyond its banks to find a grand cul- mination of nature's beauties. The gray old sandstone, with its mossy surface, oc- casionally shelving and forming a gloomy

recess underneath, the ragged fragments, piled in reckless confusion, the somber hemlocks and humbler, though not less beautiful, laurel, the occasional dripping brooklets, their waters falling carelessly over the rocky banks, the larger stream, with its swift rushing waters dashing mad- ly down the deep and narrow gorge, com- bined, make a picture worthy the pencil or brush of the artist, and one that, once seen and appreciated, is not easily for- gotten."

Much of the territory along Slippery Rock Creek was leased by oil companies, and a number of wells bored, the result not always realizing expectations, how- ever.

An Armstrong iron bridge, manufac- tured at New Brighton, Beaver County, Pennsylvania, was built across the creek, at the wells, about 1870, and is a strong, substantial structure.

Coal abounds throughout the township, and except where the vein approaches Slippery Roek Creek, is of an exceedingly fine quality. The upper vein averages about four feet in thickness, except as it approaches the creek, where it becomes thinner. It has been worked in a number of places to good advantage.

Iron ore is also found, in quality very rich. Below the upper coal vein is a vein of fire clay, averaging some three feet in thickness, and below that both bog and kidney ore are found.

Limestone also abounds, but owing to its lying next the iron, and being more or less impregnated with and gradually merged into it, is worth but little for burning, and is valueless for building purposes.

A large proportion of the lands in Per- ry Township are in what was known orig- inally as the "Chew district." Benjamin Chew, of Philadelphia, had secured a tract of land in the southern part of what is now Lawrence County, including portions of Big Beaver, Wayne, Shenango, Slip- pery Rock and Perry Townships. It was surveyed into 400-acre tracts, and each

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settler on a tract was entitled to half for settling. The balance was sold at a small price and in quantities to suit purchasers. The Chew tract was four or five miles in width and some eight or ten miles in length.

When the territory in western Penn- sylvania was first surveyed, a body con- sisting of eight tracts of 400 acres each- two tracts north and south, and four east and west-was put down on the survey- or's map as "depreciated lands," or lands not fit for settling. These became known as the "eight tracts," a name they still retain, and were located principally in the northern part of what is now Perry Town- ship. As these lands are equal, if not su- perior, to any in the township, it is pos- sible that the surveyors, with an instinc- tive knowledge of their future value, re- ported them in the manner they did in or- der to deceive settlers, and some time set- tle on or speculate in the tracts themselves. But if such were their designs they were speedily frustrated when the settlers be- gan to come in and choose those tracts first of all. It is a fact that the earliest settlements in the township were made on these same "depreciated lands," and some of the best improvements today are in this locality.

EARLY SETTLEMENTS AND SETTLERS.

About the year 1796 Matthew Murray settled on Tract Number Four, 200 acres, and was the first settler on the place. Mr. Murray came from Maryland, with his wife and seven children. Five children were born after he made his settlement, the first one, Thomas, very soon after they came, said to have been the first white child born on Slippery Rock Creek. Mr. Murray served in the Revolution, and was in the Light Horse under "Light Horse Harry Lee." Two of Mr. Murray's sons, Matthew and William, were out at Black Rock during the War of 1812, and two others, James and John, were with Gen- eral Harrison, at Fort Meigs and vicinity.

Matthew Murray, Sr., died in 1827; his wife died in 1812 or 1813.

During the years 1797 and 1798 a num- ber of settlers came in, and after that the filling up of the township proceeded more rapidly.

James Stewart, Robert Young, William Scott, Thomas and Marvin Christy, and Robert Stewart, came during the two years above mentioned, and settled in the same neighborhood. The Christeys and Robert Stewart settled just across in Butler Coun- ty, and the others in what is now Perry Township, Lawrence County.

James Stewart came in 1798. He was originally from what was then Adams County, Pennsylvania, and for a while stopped in the valley of Pigeon Creek, Washington County. When he came to Lawrence County he located on a farm in the northern part of Perry Township. Mr. Stewart was a tall, athletic man, and could stand and jump over "anything he could lay his chin over." His father, Matthew Stewart, had served in the Revolutionary War, and though not as tall as his son, was fully as active and very quick. James Stewart's daughter, Joanna, born April 24, 1801, was the wife of William Gealey, Sr., who lived in Plain Grove Township, Lawrence County.

Robert Young was from Ireland, and he and William Scott made a settlement on the same tract. For a long time there was considerable strife between them as to which one the tract belonged to. They finally settled the dispute by dividing it, and afterwards lived amicably as neigh- bors. Young had made improvements near the center of the tract, and when the divi- sion was made, Scott took a strip off each side in order to allow Young to keep his improvements.

William Scott's oldest son, John, served in the War of 1812.

A peddler, named John Fulton, came in 1797, and settled on the east side of Slip- pery Rock Creek, at the spot where the stream is crossed by what is known as

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"Harris' Ford." Fulton was in some way connected with the Harris family, from whom the ford derives its name.

James Stewart, a different personage from the man already mentioned, came from Peter's Creek Valley, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, and settled on the farm recently owned by Andrew Powell, in 1796 or 1797. He came with his father and mother. His father, John Stewart, served in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, and fought in the bat- tle of Brandywine, September 11, 1777. James Stewart was not married when he came with his parents, but some time pre- vious to the War of 1812, he married Nancy Morrison, whose parents lived on Camp Run. John Stewart lived a num- ber of years after the settlement, and died aged over seventy years. James Stewart served as captain in the War of 1812. He was a great hunter, and took extreme de- light in the sports of the chase. He had a rifle which he called "Old Danger," which carried a ball weighing nearly an ounce.

A man named Hawkins was the original settler of the farm afterwards owned by Andrew Elliott, and later by William Cur- ry, of Pittsburg. Hawkins must have been out previous to the year 1800. He made the first improvements on the place, sold it to Elliott, and left the country before 1812. Mr. Elliott located on the place the 2nd day of May, 1807, and in 1812 taught school in a log schoolhouse which was built on his place. The original tract, as settled by Hawkins, consisted of 200 acres.

Among the first settlers in the southern portion of the township were Charles Dobbs, William Morton, and others, who located along the line at present dividing the two counties of Beaver and Lawrence.

Job Randolph settled on Camp Run about 1805. He was at that time a young man, and was married after he came to the township. He, with his parents, when but eight years of age, came from near Princeton, N. J., the family settling first

in Washington County, Pennsylvania, and afterwards removing to Beaver, now Law- rence County. His son, John Randolph, laid out the town of Princeton, naming it after the old dwelling place of the family. John Randolph was one of the first com- missioners of Lawrence County.

Some time previous to the War of 1812- 15, probably about 1810, Amos Pyle came with his family from Peter's Creek Val- ley, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. The family consisted of himself, his wife and six children, and four more children were born after his settlement, making ten in all. Mr. Pyle had been here about 1807-8, and made some improvements on the place, and also built a sawmill on Camp Run. After he brought his family, he built a log grist mill on the run, on the site of the mill then owned by Caleb Pyle. Mr. Pyle's brother. Caleb Pyle, Sr., came with him, and served as a lieutenant in the War of 1812. The Pyles were originally from England, and settled first in Chester Coun- ty. Pennsylvania. Amos Pyle's wife was an eye-witness of the battle of Bunker Hill, and her father, William Wright, was in the ranks of the Americans that day, fighting manfully for "Liberty and Inde- pendence."

Edward White came early to the town- ship, and settled on a 400-acre tract. White built a couple of small cabins and a barn, all of logs, on the tract, and then left it. A colored man, named Cæsar Mercy, then got a man named Sturgeon, living in Pitts- burg. to go and make further and better improvements. White returned and tried to hold the place by virtue of the improve- ments he had made, but Mercy's (or Stur- geon's) improvements were superior, and White had no show for at least a part of the tract.

In 1825 John Weller purchased 200 acres of Mrs. Sturgeon, and located on the land. The balance of the 400-acre tract is now, or was formerly, owned by George H. Magee, William Weller, James Bran- don and J. H. Mitchell.

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HISTORY OF LAWRENCE COUNTY

George H. Magee, owning a part of this tract, came to the township about 1837, and purchased 200 acres of Robert Aiken, locating and residing upon it until his death. He had previously lived on the Conoquenessing Creek, in Butler County.

Robert Aiken came from the Youghio- gheny Valley, seven miles above Mckees- port, in April, 1804, bringing four children with him. Purchasing land of Edward White, he located upon it, near where the present residence of George H. Magee stands. Mr. Aiken raised four children after he came to the township, viz .: Rob- ert, Margaret, John and Eliza Jane. The other children were Ann, born in 1798, at the old home on the "Yough"; James, Andrew and William. Mrs. Aiken died in 1835, aged sixty-six years, and Mr. Aiken in 1850, at the age of eighty.

Jacob Van Gorder came from New Jer- sey about 1806, and settled on Slippery Rock Creek. He built a sawmill some time after he came, and some time between 1845 and 1850 erected a grist mill, which was later operated by his sons.

Elias Van Gorder, brother to Jacob, came in 1808, and settled on a farm owned by Smith, Collins & Co., a Philadelphia oil firm. He brought three or four chil- dren with him. He went to Erie in Cap- tain Kildoo's company, during the War of 1812, and died there. This company was raised in the neighborhood, and had mem- bers from Perry, Slippery Rock, Wayne, and other townships, and probably some from Butler County.

ROADS.

The first road in the township was one which was intended to run through old Harmony Village, in Butler County. Its route was from the spot where the iron bridge at the oil well now stands, through to the old Freeman farm, at the Butler County line, thence on to Harmony. It was cut through Perry Township to the county line, but was never met from the

other side, and consequently was never fin- ished. Trade went in those days almost exclusively to Harmony, and when a road was opened it was well traveled, but finally business took a start in New Castle, and was pushed so briskly that Harmony lost much of its custom, which went to New Castle, and the old road grew up to brush. A petition was afterwards circulated for a State road, which was finally viewed from New Castle to Zelienople, Butler County, and partially cut through, on a part of the same track the old road followed.

Another State road was located on near- ly the same line, varying a little from it in some places, but a petition was gotten up, and the road annulled and vacated, and a road laid running from the oil works down along the hollow, up the hill past the site of the old Covenanter Church, and on to Zelienople.

The Wurtemberg and Portersville State road was laid out about the time the coun- ty of Lawrence was created, 1849-50.

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Century history of New Castle and Lawrence County, Pennsylvania and representative citizens, 20th, Part 37

Author: Hazen, Aaron L. (Aaron Lyle), 1837- comp. and ed. cn Publication date: 1908 Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold publishing co. Number of Pages: 1058

Author: Hazen, Aaron L. (Aaron Lyle), 1837- comp. and ed. cn
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold publishing co.
Number of Pages: 1058