USA > Pennsylvania > Washington County > Washington > Century history of the city of Washington and Washington County, Pennsylvania and representative citizens, 20th, Vol. I > Part 57
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RIVERVILLE.
Riverville formerly was the name of a mining village about two miles north of Fredericktown. The River- ville Coal Company opened up a mine here and worked it for a year or more until they came in contact with a ledge of rock. The work was continued for almost a year, the company heing unahle to penetrate the rock aud the mine was given up and the miners moved away.
BESCO.
Besco is a station on the Pennsylvania Railroad ahout 11% miles up Ten-Mile Creek. The Bessemer Coal and Coke Company has a mining town at this point. The coal of the mine is hurned iuto coke, there heing 100 ovens.
RACINE.
Racine was formerly the name of a postoffice near the center of East Bethlehem Township. The White- hall school house is located here. John Sharp conducted a fulling-mill at this place many years ago, but it has been torn down.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century schools were being conducted in East Bethlehem Township hy John Donaghoo and Peter R. Hopkins. The early schools were held in log houses fitted up in primitive style with windows of greased paper and large open fireplaces. Mr. Donaghoo taught schools in turn on the William Welch farm at Beallsville and also at Scenery Hill.
In 1815 a school was built northeast of the Daniel Crumrine residence. The teachers of this school were George Dobbs, Hiram Baker, Mr. Boyd, Jeff. McClel- land and Peter Crumrine.
The public school law was accepted by the township in 1835. In 1850 East Bethlehem Township had 12 schools and 651 scholars. In 1870 it had 10 schools and 430 pupils, which was unchanged in 1880 except that the attendance was 17 less.
There were in 1908 in East Bethlehem Towuship eight schools; teachers, S, (males 2, females 6); en- rollment of pupils, 285; average number of months taught, 8; average salary of teachers per month, (males $60.00, females $49.00) ; cost of each pupil per month, $4.07; number of mills on the dollar levied for school purposes, 6; estimated value of school property, $15,000.
The decrease in the number of schools is owing to the erection from East Bethlehem Township of Deem- ston and Centerville Boroughs.
East Bethlehem Baptist Church-A Baptist congre- gation was organized in East Bethlehem Township in 1849 and a frame church shortly afterwards built on land douated by James C. Hawkins. About the year 1888 a frame church was huilt. The church at present has a membership of 89. Rev. S. E. Anderson is pastor.
EAST FINLEY TOWNSHIP.
The territory of East Finley Township, together with West Finley, was originally embraced in Donegal Towu- ship from 1781 to 1788. Finley Township was erected from Donegal Township May 6, 1788. It was hounded on the north hy Donegal Township, on the east hy Frank- lin, Cumberland and Greene Townships, on the south hy the Mason and Dixon liue and on the west hy Virginia. Finley Township embraced all of what is now East and West Finley Townships and Rich Hill Township, Greene County. It was 30 miles from north to south, a veritable principality in extent and resources. Rich Hill Town- ship was formed from a part of Finley Township in 1792 and in 1796 Rich Hill, together with Franklin, Greene, Morgan and Cumberland Townships, were made to form Greene County by an act of Legislature. In 1802 a small portion of land was added to Finley Town- ship hy the Legislature as a result of the alteratiou of the boundary line between Washington and Greene Counties.
On the 24th of December, 1828, Finley Township was divided into East and West Finley Townships.
East Finley Township is bounded on the north by Douegal and Buffalo Townships, on the east by South Franklin and Morris Townships, on the south hy Greene County and on the west hy West Finley Township. The township is drained on the south hy the tributaries of Wheeling Creek and on the north by the headwaters of Buffalo Creek.
East Finley Township is fertile in regard to its soil and is underlaid with oil and gas and several beds of coal which has not as yet been mined to any great ex- tent. Much of the Washington County wool is obtained from this region.
The real estate value of East Finley Township is $1,647,657; value of personal property, $70,470: num- ber of taxables, 296.
The population of East Finley Township in 1850 was 1,281; in 1860, 1,261; in 1890, 1,291, and in 1900, 1,185. The number of voters in 1850 was 245; in 1904, 283, and in 1908, 295. This would indicate the population was slowly increasing in adults, but there were fewer chil- dren in the families.
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY
The geological conditions are so nearly identical in East and West Finley Townships that it is thought ad- visable to discuss them together. The Pittsburg coal in this region has a workable thickness of five feet or more. This seam, in almost all the wells in East Finley Township, has been found to be 10 feet approximately in thickness, some of which is shale, and is reached at a depth of about 560 feet. A section of the Upper Washington coal near Robinson Run shows a thickness of 5 feet 10 inches, 1 foot of which is hard and blocky coal. Above the Washington coal is the Sparta coal which is 12 to 18 inches thick, on Rocky Run it being unusually thick. It has been opened for mining at various places, but because of the thickness and quality of the coal, all of these banks have long since been abandoned. On the road to the north one-eighth of a mile from East Finley, in an entry driven 80 feet into the hill, this coal is said to have varied from 6 inches to 31% feet in thickness. Those who have nsed it say that the best is somewhat rusty in color, makes a hot fire and leaves a small amonnt of white ash. Where not in outerop, the bed is from 6 feet to 18 inches thick and very friable with a number of shale and clay part- ings. At the forks of Robinson's Run jnst west of the point where it crosses the township line between East and West Finley Townships, the Jollytown coal barely comes to the surface in the road at the south end of the bridge. Coal here is unusually thick for this bed, show- ing it to be in two layers each six inches in thickness.
The Finleys have several good beds of limestone. The Prosperity limestone is S to 10 feet in thickness. The Donley limestone has nsually occurred in two beds, hav- ing a thickness of from 2 to 5 feet. The Upper Wash- ington limestone is found in two or three sections, each nearly 8 feet in thickness.
The most of the coal of East Finley Township is owned by the Pittsburg and New York Coal Company which owns coal lands assessed at $248,680, and the George F. Auld, trustee, coal assessed at $131,640. The remaining coal is owned by small land owners.
Considerable interest has just recently been aroused in the Finley Townships, cansed by the drilling of a number of wells, both of oil and gas. The companies operating are the Mannfacturers' Light and Heat and Ohio Valley Oil and Gas Companies and the Natural Gas Company of West Virginia.
In this field there have been eight wells drilled. Three are gas, two oil and three dry holes. Perhaps the best well in this territory is the Dague well which is now a little over one year old. This well when it came in pro- duced 400 barrels per day. It now pumps about 60 barrels per day, and with the Plants well about 75 or 80 barrels are produced daily.
A line five miles in length has been built to carry the
gas of this field to Wheeling, after connecting with the other line of the company. In West Finley there are several gas wells which produce a strong flow.
The gas saud is about 765 feet below the Pittsburg coal. Salt sand averages 165 feet below the top of the gas sand or 932 feet below Pittsburg coal. Its thick. ness as reported by well drillers varies from 15 to 175 feet thick. In some wells, where the salt sand is very thick, no report is made of the gas sand, as they may run together.
The "Big Injun" sand in a well on the A. Sprowls farm in West Finley Township was found at 1,130 feet below the Pittsburg coal.
In 1904 before roads commenced to be constructed in Washington Connty under the recent enactment East Finley Township had 32 miles of public highway. The cash road tax was accepted by the township in 1906. The road tax for 1908 was 412 mills and $7,048.28 was collected. East Finley Township has had two excellent roads built partly within its territory, a Flinn road by the county and a Sproul road by the State. The Clays- ville-Burnsville Flinn Road is 15,840 feet long, one mile of which is in East Finley and two in Donegal, 9 feet in width of stone and 19 in width of grading. The cost of construction was $37,911.66 and cost of engineer- ing $1,905.58. The road was constructed by Zelt & Brothers, contractors, in 1904 and 1905. Since then the cost of repairs has been $19,968.14, making the total cost of the road $59,785.38. Mueh heavy hanling lifted the top dressing as if it were soft mnd and the road soon became rntty and billowy.
The Claysville-Spronl Road was built in 1907 by N. (. Hunter, contractor. The road is 5,900 feet in length, 12 feet in width of stone and 23 feet in width of grad- ing. The construction cost was $15,580.16, cost of engi- neering $759.04. One of the most beautiful drives in the connty is through this township from Claysville toward Burnsville in West Finley Township.
The postoffices of England (at Pleasant Grove Vil- lage), East Finley, Gale, Fargo, Bartholdi, Plants and Simpson's Store were discontinued about the year 1900 and rural free delivery established in their stead.
PLEASANT GROVE.
The little conntry village of Pleasant Grove is lo- cated in the northeast part of East Finley Township and is composed of a general store, blacksmith shop, a Baptist Church, a schoolhouse and nine dwellings.
EAST FINLEY VILLAGE.
East Finley Village is situated near the center of the township and is composed of a general store, a black- smith shop and one dwelling. A schoolhouse and chnreli are a short distance west of the village.
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY
Gale is on the eastern border of East Finley Town- ship, Fargo in the northern part, Bartholdi in the cen- tral part and Plants in the western part of the town- ship.
There is at present at Gale a store; at Fargo a house, blacksmith shop and store; at Bartholdi a store and dwelling; at Plants a store, several houses and a blaek- smith shop, and at Simpson's, a store:
In 1775 Abraham Enlow settled withiu the limits of Finley Township. He built a block house, famous throughout this region as a refuge in time of peril from Indians. He was soon followed by the Roneys, who likewise ereeted a block house or fort, near which oe- curred the tragic death of eight members of the Me- Intosh family, murdered by the Indians, tomahawked and scalped. Ouly one daughter who had been sent to a distant pasture with a horse escaped to tell the ter- rible story at Roney's block house. Other places of refuge in those perilous times were Beeman's bloek house and Campbell's bloek house in which the sturdy pioneers took refuge when necessary from the savages. Their work in the fields had to be carried on while the rifle was kept near at hand and sentinels were posted to give warning of danger. Such was the condition in this region for 20 years after the first settlers came. For two decades the Ohio River was an insuperable barrier to the onward march of civilization. Not until after the battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794 and Wayne's treaty with the Indians of the Northwest Territory the year following, were the inhabitants of this region free from fear of Indian incursions.
In the meantime many sturdy sons of old Scotland, of Ulster, of the Quakers of England and the Scotch-Irish from the seaboard settlements had made homes here. Among these were the Montgomerys, the Elliotts, peace- ful Quakers, who came as early as 1780; the Cracrafts, Irish, in 1781; the five Sprowls brothers, before 1782- enterprising Englishmen, one of whom, Hugh Sprowls, was with Col. Crawford, the friend of Washington, in the ill-fated expedition against Sandusky where Craw- ford was burned at the stake; Henry Holmes, an Irish- man, in 1780, and James Becham perhaps before that date; Alexander Burns, a Scotchman, in 1780; the Byers family, Irish, in 1786; the Sutherlands and the Fraziers, both Scotch, the same year; and the Hender- sons a year later. Many other families which have left their impress upon this region were among those early settlers. Familiar names found in the records are the Carrolls, two of whom suffered from Indian bru- tality; Hill, Wolf, Post, MeCleary, Martin, Rockafellow, Vansyock, England, Knox, Rose, Toland, Porter. David- son, Davis, McCoy, Isaac Lucas, a Revolutionary soldier and aidecamp to Gen. Washington, William Gunn, from
old Aberdeen, in Scotland, and Alexander Gunn to whom he was not related, the Hunters, Stouts and Shorts and others.
The Rockefeller name was abbreviated by some de- scendants to Rocky. The Vansyock name was so hard to spell that deeds were signed four different ways.
The early resident physicians of the township were Dr. Hatcher, Dr. Joseph Pedan and Dr. Jonathan Simp- son.
Samuel England was the undertaker for a large sec- tion of this region and he and his sons made many a coffin in the shop which still stands near the residence on the farm of Amon English, not far from the lo- cation of the old Quaker church.
Robert Morris, a patriot of the Revolution, who financed the colonies in that heroic struggle for free- dom, owned 30,000 aeres in old Finley Township. It was one of the disastrous land speculations which brought him to poverty and the debtors prison in his old age. This tract was sold, divided into 75 farms of 400 acres each, most of which were purchased by Scotchmen, so that this neighborhood came to be known as the Seotch settlement."
One of the inhabitants of this region, Dunean Mc- Arthur, son of a poor Scotchman as his name might tell, removed to Ohio when a boy and became governor of the Buckeye State. He had fought the Indians under Gen. George Rogers Clark, going out frou Washington County when about 19 years of age.
A very interesting and rare book was dedicated "to Gen. Dunean McArthur,"' late governor of Ohio, dated Columbus, December, 1833, written by Caleb Atwater. It is a description of the antiquities discovered in the western country, especially throngh Ohio and westward. These Indian mounds he described very closely resem- ble the several mounds in Washington County.
Here within the limits of old Finley Township three- quarters of a century ago far-seeing and patriotie uien met at the house of Kenneth McCoy and resolved that human slavery must go, and their constant agitation and work brought glorious fruitage.
The first school in East Fiuley Township was eon- ducted by Mr. MeDonald. As early as 1800 Mr. Heaton taught school in the Quaker Church. Other early sehool masters were James Hunter, George Plants and Samuel England.
In 1836, two years after the publie school law was enacted, East Finley Towuship was divided into dis- tricts and schoolhouses built. In 1850 East Finley had eight schools and 300 scholars. In 1863 the township had nine schools and 351 pupils in attendance; in 1870 eight schools and 300 scholars; in 1880 eight schools and 313 enrolled.
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY
There were in East Finley Township in 1908 eight schools and nine teachers, (five males, four females). The enrollment of pupils was 185, the average number of months taught was seven, the average salary of teachers per month, males, $47.80; females, $47.70; cost of each pupil per month, $3.24; number of mills on the dollar, 2; estimated value of school property, $18,000.00. Notwithstanding the compulsory attendance law the at- tendance has decreased until all schools are small. Many families moved out of the two Finley Townships soon after 1900, drawn away from the quiet of the township by the excitement of a building boom at Washington.
Quaker Church-The first religious society known to have held meetings in East. Finley Township was the svet known as Quakers or Friends. A log church was built in 1797 north of the center of the township and near the Morris Township line about a mile southwest of Pleasant Grove Baptist Church on the farm now owned by Amon England, now of Edgington, W. Va., a descendant of one of the early prominent members. This church was destroyed by fire in 1800 and another meeting-house built of hewn logs in 1803. Many of the members of this congregation moved west and the church died ont in 1841.
The old church building was in ruins 40 or 50 years ago, but the logs are still on the farm, having been re- built into dwelling or tenant house and has been used as such until within the past few years. The burying ground is still kept and cared for by Amon England.
Fairmont United Presbyterian Church-This congre- gation was organized in 1824. The church is six miles south of Claysville, a mile west of East Finley Village.
In 1850 George Plants donated land to the congre- gation and on this they built a church. In 1874 a new frame church was built on the site. One of the most prominent men in the early history of this church was George Ealy.
The present membership is about 100. This church has one of the most beautiful small cemeteries in this section of the county.
Stoney Point Methodist Episcopal Church-The Stoney Point Methodist Church is located near the center of East Finley Township. The congregation was orgau. ized in 1826. Meetings were held at first in the houses of Luke and Elliott Eulow. A frame church was built in 1830. The membership of the congregation is small, the number of members in it and the Mount Zion Cou- gregation which is on the same charge being 60. Rev. G. W. Anderson is pastor.
Mount Zion Methodist Episcopal Congregation was organized and the frame elmurch built some ten years ago in the eastern part of the township. five miles east of Stoney Point.
Wheeling United Presbyterian Church -- The Wheeling United Presbyterian Church, more familiarly known as Dog Wood Grove United Presbyterian Church, is in East Finley Township, four miles south of Claysville. The congregation, when it was organized in 1836, was of the Associate faith. Meetings were first held in a tent and private houses. After some time a frame church was built. In the year 1867 the heads of Wheeling United Presbyterian Church, six miles southeast, were united with the Wheeling Church. In 1867 a new church was built a short distance north of the old building. Rev. R. M. Sherrard has been pastor since 1907. The membership is 38.
The Pleasant Grove Baptist Church is near the east- ern boundary line of East Finley Township. This con gregation was formed by 53 members of the Ton-Mile Baptist Church in 1840.
The Enon Baptist Church formerly stood in Greene County. About 1881 the congregation built a frame church near the Washington County line in the southern part of East Finley Township at a cost of $2,700. The first pastor after its removal to Washington County was Rev. Mr. Miller. This congregation has 138 mem- bers. The present pastor is Rev. S. S. Denny.
Fairview Presbyterian Church-The Fairview Church is in the eastern part of East Finley Township. The congregation was originally of the Cumberland Presby. terian denomination, but was changed to a Presbyterian Church in 1907. It was organized in 1873 with 45 charter members, most of whom were dismissed for the purpose from the old Concord Cumberland Presbyterian Church. The first pastor of the congregation was Rev. James S. Keener. The congregation has never been larger than 75 or 80. The services are conducted at present by a stated supply, Rev. J. R. Burson. The membership is 45.
BYER'S BURIAL GROUND.
The earliest burial places in the county were private or family burial grounds. One of the oldest of these is Byer's Burying Ground on the Daniel Tilton farm at the end of the Flinn Road, four miles south of Clays- ville in East Finley Township. Samuel Byers, a father aged near 75 years, came out into this wilderness with their children in the year 1784 to make a home in the almost unbroken forest at a time when there were but few settlers iu it and these harassed by the Indians. The oldest of the sandstone tablets shows that Samuel Byers died Jannary 26, 1785, aged a little over six months. Old Samuel Byers died in 1785 and his wife in 1801.
EAST PIKE RUN TOWNSHIP.
Pike Run Township was set off from Fallowfield Township by a decree of court April 23, 1792. The
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY
boundaries of Pike Run Towuship were Fallowfield and Somerset Townships ou the north, the Monougahela River on the east, Bethlehem Township on the south and Somerset Township on the west.
On the 9th of March, 1839, Pike Run Township was divided into the townships of East and West Pike Run. In 1850 and again in 1857 the lines between East and West Pike Run Townships were changed somewhat. Greenfield was incorporated a borough from East Pike Run Township on April 9, 1834. The name was changed to Coal Center in 1883. On the 29th of August, 1849, West Brownsville, on November 26, 1853, California, on November 12, 1894, Deemston, and on the 16th of Feb- ruary, 1895, Centerville were incorporated boroughs to which East Pike Run Township contributed a part of her lands.
The present boundaries of East Pike Run Township are Fallowfield Township and Twilight Borough on the north, Long Branch and Elco Boroughs and the Monon- gahela River on the east, Centerville Borough and the Monongahela River on the south, and West Pike Run Township on the west.
East Pike Run Township is drained by Pike Run and its branches Gorby Run and Lilly Run entering it from the north and south.
The soil is fertile and the land is underlaid with coal, which has been miued for many years.
In 1850 East Pike Run Township had 1,358 inhabi- tants. The population in 1860 was 1,221, in 1890, 1,162, and in 1900, 2,071.
In 1904 there were 705 voters in the township and in 1908 the number had increased to S27.
At the close of 1908 there were 859 taxables in East Pike Run Township. The real estate valuation was $2,211,350 ; personal property, $113,935. There is one licensed retail liquor saloon in the township.
In East Pike Run no coal beds of importance below the Pittsburg bed are exposed, and very little of con- sequence above the Waynesburg horizon remains on the hilltops. Aside from the great Pittsburg bed, the Red- stone and the Waynesburg coal veins are the most im- portant members of the series.
The Pittsburg coal bed is exposed along the river bluffs up the river nearly to Brownsvile, where it passes slightly below water level. At the Knob mine, above West Brownsville, the lower division has a total thick- ness of nine fect oue and one-half inches, but the bottom of the coal bed, consisting of brick and bottom coal, is not generally removed, so that the amount of available coal is about six feet. The roof division is greatly ex- panded at this place including about seventeen feet of carbonaceous shalc. At this mine the coal is reached by a short slope. It does not outerop at the surface for some distance below. It probably could be seen at West
Brownsville were it not for the flood plain deposit, which conceals its outerop. It lies close to water level for two miles below the mouth of Redstone Creek, then gradually rises and remains well above the river farther north. In the western bend of the river below Coal Center it is mined in several places. The thickness at this point is about normal, the roof division showing about two feet, the main clay parting one foot, and the lower division about seven feet.
On account of the westward rise of the strata over the Bellevernon anticline, the Pittsburg coal is visible on Pike Run a considerable distance, and it also shows in outerop on Little Pike Run to the road crossing one- half mile above its mouth. The dips are strong in this section and somewhat irregular, and for that reason the position of the coal varies considerably from creek level. At the bend a mile above Granville it lies at least sixty feet above the level of the creek. It then descends rapidly and follows approximately the bottom of the valley to the sharp bend about a half mile below Little Pike Run, where it disappears from view for a distance of nearly half a mile. It rises again and continues above creek level for nearly two miles to the road crossing north of East Bethlehem. A great many country banks have been opened along this creek to supply the local demands, but most of them are in such a condition that the thickness of the coal could not be determined. The coal is well exposed along Gorby Run for three miles above its mouth, and it also shows on several of the minor tributaries.
The Sewickley eoal bed is found on Gorby Run, where a thickness of three feet six inches has been reported.
The Uniontown coal is of little importance throughout the part of Washington County. It is reported from Krepp's Knob, west of Brownsville, with a thickness of three feet and also with the same thickness in the bluff below Coal Center. It occurs about one hundred feet below the Waynesburg coal, and consequently ranges from 230 to 260 feet above the Pittsburg bed.
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