USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of genealogy and biography of the state of Pennsylvania with a compendium of history. A record of the achievements of her people in the making of a commonwealth and the founding of a nation, Volume I > Part 25
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for him was responsible in large degree for his undoing. Admirable as were the qualities of the early people, many, perhaps most of them. were accustomed to the use of strong liquors, and the best of the house- hold stock was reserved for company, among whom the minister was the most honored guest, as he was the most frequent. A few pastoral calls in a day and each day would soon put the poor clergyman at a disadvantage by fastening upon him a pernicious habit. In the early part of the eighteenth century the custom of drinking had become dis- tressingly prevalent. No business or social event could be observed without the use of liquor, whether it was a public sale. a barn or house raising, a wedding. the birth of a babe, or a funeral. These abuses became so common that in February. 1725. the Chester Friends' Meet- ing took the following action :
"At our Quarterly Meeting it was desired ye friends take care at Burralls not to make great provision as to provide strong Liquors & hand it about : but let Every one take yt is free to take it as they have ocation and not more than will do them Good."
This is the first ascertainable action taken to restrain the immod- crate use of liquor, and it does not appear that the General Assembly of the Presbyterian church took cognizance of the matter until 1750. a quarter of a century later.
As settlements extended. families visited each other at intervals. often traveling considerable distances, arriving in the afternoon and re- maining until late in the evening. If the weather permitted. the men folk sat on the long benches on the stoop or in the yard. where they conversed concerning their successes and failures in their calling, and exchanged views as to inture crops and prices. Little interest was felt in governmental questions, and, indeed. of such matters. in the carlier days, the common people were profoundly ignorant. The seat of author-
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ity was too far removed and information was too meagerly dispensed for it to be otherwise. Were it winter season, or the weather inclement. the men gathered in front of the fireplace in the house. In either case the women kept to themselves, sewing and knitting. idleness at such times heing considered disgraceful.
Weddings and funerals were the most important events in the social life of the community. To the wedding were bidden as many guests as the family could afford to entertain, often more, for an an- nalist writing in 1735 notes of the colonists: "Their marriages are very chargeable, many times wife's fortunes being expended at the celebra- tion of the nuptials." The evening was occupied with games, and when the bride and groom were shown singly to their room, pranks were played which would be considered indelicate at the present day. The customs of the Quakers were in marked contrast, and their simple ceremonies were conducted with the utmost decorum.
In the event of a funeral, the people of the entire neighborhood not only felt privileged to attend. but they considered that their pres- ence was demanded under a serious sense of duty, while the mourning family held that proper respect was not paid to their dead should any neighbor fail to attend except on account of illness. The occasion im- posed great labor and expense upon the mourning household. Custom demanded the most lavish hospitality that could be afforded, and it was a point of pride to admit of no unfavorable comparison with neighbors upon such an occasion. Ardent spirits were dispensed with a liberality that led to many excesses. For this reason many ministers took strong ground against Sunday being taken for funerals, and the prevailing custom gradually came into disfavor and ultimately was abolished. 1
In marked contrast with the earliest provincial conditions were the
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excesses beginning in the later colonial days and extending beyond the close of the Revolutionary war. These were traceable in large degree to the tavern. Taverns were established to meet the wants of travelers. to provide them with food and lodging, and, while ardent spirits were dispensed on call, the tavern was never intended to be a mere tippling place. Always on an important line of travel. it was in many cases a terminal or relay point, and its customers were therefore numerous. It sheltered from time to time the highest dignitaries and most eminent men in the land-governors, judges, lawyers and clergymen. These were the newsbearers and oracles of the day, and their presence attracted the principal men of the neighborhood, who gathered to listen to them and to learn of events present and impending. The sole resort for men of affairs. to say nothing of the "lewd fellows of the baser sort." it is not to be wondered at that the tavern became the scene of gaming and drunkenness. But we find nothing in the annals of Pennsylvania to correspond with the records of a New Jersey grand jury in the case of some young men who, while engaged in a debauch, held mock burial and baptismal services over a number of dogs. Bishop Asbury made a journey through Pennsylvania just after the Revolutionary war, and he notes in his journal that he witnessed considerable misconduct. . and the annals of the time contain frequent references to highwaymen and. horse thieves. It was a crucial period for society and for civil insti- tutions. The irresponsible bands which had ravaged the country during the war, plundering patriot and loyalist alike. now, without excuse for maintaining the semblance of an organization, had dispersed. and where they went they spent profligate. lives, indulging in all manner of, ex- cesses and committing all sorts of depredations. A notorious malefactor, of this period was James Fitzpatrick, who figures as "Sandy Flash,"
OF THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA.
in Bayard Taylor's "Story of Kennett." and who was brought to the gallows for his misdeeds. In some instances soldiers out of the dis- banded continental army set an example of idleness and dissipation. bidding defiance to all moral restraints, and respecting the law but little. For many such there was some excuse. They were but mere youths when they set out in a war which engaged them for seven long years of untold privation and dangers. They had gone to the life of the camp and march before character was formed. and without knowledge of the temptations and vicious influences which were to beset them. They returned full grown men, to enter into a world which was new to them. one wherein there was no home they could call their own, nor occupation for which they seemed to be fitted. A sailor shipwrecked upon a foreign strand was scarcely more helpless. But such were the exceptions, "and far the greater number turned to peaceful pursuits.
Shortly after the coming of Bishop Asbury, began that great re- vival of religion which was productive of so much good. The churches resumed their functions and regained their influence. and social vices were frowned upon. A few years later, led by the Friends, societies were formed for the promotion of temperance, and these began a work which was not only of immediate benefit. but projected a laudable senti- ment into the future.
Following after the Revolutionary war came a gradual improve- ment in all things material as well as moral. Homes became more homelike. If the building remained unchanged outwardly. the"changes: were many within. A carpet covered the floor of the best room, if of nome other : people of means purchased an imported article, while the : poorer classes made a wonderfully durable substitute out of woven rags. . The family no longer dined in the kitchen, but in another room, which
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was also the sitting room. A better quality of furniture came into use. Clothing for men was of better quality, and was frequently of im- ported goods. For country travel the horse-cart came to supplant the saddle horse. A multiplication of comforts, if not luxuries, excited a keen mental stimulation. Soon came the weekly newspaper with its messages from the outer world. and this created a desire for yet more knowledge, and the magazine and book followed. To the informal social gathering were added the debating society and the singing school. The two last named were admirable in their way as educational agencies. and those who are yet with us, who were participants in them in their youthful days, are accustomed to recall them with pleasure, and to the disparagement of much that is peculiar to these present "fair. well spoken days." For many years the only musical instrument in the farm or village home was the violin or flute, and a fair performer upon either was a gladly hailed acquisition in any company, and frequently in the choir of such a church as was not sternly set against the use of "the devil's instruments" in divine worship. Abont 1850 the seraphine or melodeon became familiar, but ten years later a piano was yet a great curiosity in many a good sized town.
There is now a well stored library in the village where a book was uncommon a half century ago. Where were then but a few isolated instruments of music is now an orchestra capable of performing the music of the great masters. The humble cottage has given. place to the elegant mansion with its luxurious furnishings, and the stately temple stands where did the modest plain-walled country church. But here and there is an old-time dwelling of the long-ago .. with its trees and flowering shrubs planted hy loved hands which ours can, no longer. touch. or an old church so far from the busy throng that it has not been
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deemed worthy of destruction to make way for one more modern, and about it the ancient tombstones marking the last resting places of
"The men whose unrecorded deeds Have 'stamped the nation's destiny."
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GOVERNORS OF THE COLONIES ON THE DELAWARE AND OF THE PROVINCE AND COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA.
UNDER THE COLONY.
DIRECTORS AND GOVERNORS OF THE NETHERLANDS AND THE DUTCH COLONIES ON THE DELAWARE.
Cornelius Jacobsen, director 1624-1625
William Van Hulst, director 1625-1626
Peter Minuit, governor 1626-1633
David Pieterzen De Vries, governor 1632-1638
Wouter Van Twiller. governor 1633-1638
Sir William Kieft, governor 1638-1647
Peter Stuyvesant. governor 1647-1664
GOVERNORS OF THE SWEDES ON THE DELAWARE.
Peter Minuit 1638-1641
Peter Hollender 1641-1643
John Printz 1643-1653
John Pappegoya 1653-1654
John Claude Rysingh 1654-1655
UNDER THE DUTCH DOMINION.
Peter Stuyvesant 1655-1664
Andreas Hudde. commissary . 1655-1657
John Paul Jacquet, director . 1655-1657
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. . .
OF THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA.
THE COLONY OF THE CITY.
Jacob Alrichs 1657-1659
Alexander D'Hinoyossa 1659-1663
1
THE COLONY OF THE COMPANY.
Georan Van Dyck 1657-1658
William Beekman 1658-1663
THE UNITED COLONY.
Alexander D'Hinoyossa .... ..
1663-1664
DOMINION OF THE DUKE OF YORK.
Colonel Richard Nicholls 1664-1667
Robert Carr. deputy governor 1664-1667
Robert Needham. Com. on the Delaware 1664-1668
. Colonel Francis Lovelace 1667-1673
Captain John Carr. Com. on the Delaware 1668-1673
DOMINION OF THE DUTCH.
Anthony Colve 1673-1674
Peter Alrichs, deputy governor west of the Delaware .. 1673-1674
DOMINION OF THE ENGLISH.
Sir Edmund Andross 1674-1681 ..
PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT UNDER THE PROPRIETARY,
William Penn, proprietor and governor 1681-1693
William Markham. deputy 1681-1682 William Penn 1682-1684
The Council-Thomas Lloyd, president 684-1686
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Five Commissioners, appointed by Penn 1686-1688
Captain John Blackwell. deputy 1688-1690
The Council-Thomas Lloyd, president 1690-1691 Thomas Lloyd. deputy for the Province and William Mark- ham, deputy for the Lower Counties 1691-1693
Governed by the Crown 1693-1694
Benjamin Fletcher, governor of New York 1693-1695
William Markham, deputy 1693-1695
William Penn, proprietor 1695-1718
William Markham, deputy
1695-1699
William Penn, proprietor
1699-1701 Andrew Hamilton. lieutenant-governor 1701-1703
The Council-Edward Shippen. Pres 1703-1704
John Evans, lieutenant-governor 1704-1709
Charles Gookin, lieutenant-governor 1700-1717
Sir William Keith. lientenam-governor
1717-1718
John Penn, Richard Penn and Thomas Penn, proprietors. . 1718-1746
Sir William Keith, lieutenant-governor .1718-1726
Patrick Gordon, lieutenant-governor 1726-1736
The Council-James Logan. Pres. 1736-1738
George Thomas, lieutenant-governor
1738-1746
John Penn and Thomas Penn. proprietors 1746-1776
George Thomas, lieutenant-governor 1746-1747
The Council-Anthony Palmer, Pres. 1746-1748 James Hamilton. lieutenant-governor 1748-1754
Robert Hunter Morris, deputy governor 1754-1756
William Denny, lieutenant-governor 1756-1759
James Hamilton. lientenant-governor 1759-1763 John Penn, lieutenant-governor 1763-1771
OF THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA. 337
The Council-James Hamilton. Pres 1771 Richard Penn, lieutenant-governor 1771-1773
John Penn, lieutenant-governor 1773-1776
DURING THE REVOLUTION.
Benjamin Franklin, chairman Com. of Safety .. 1776-1777
PRESIDENTS OF SUPREME EXECUTIVE COUNCIL.
Thomas Wharton, Jr. 1777-1778
1778 George Bryan, acting Pres
Joseph Reed
1778-1781
William Moore 1781-1782
John Dickinson 1782-1785
Benjamin Franklin 1785-1788
Thomas Mifflin 1788-1790
GOVERNORS OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA.
Thomas Mifflin 1790-1799
Thomas Mckean 1799-1808
Simon Snyder 1808-1817
William Findlay 1817-1820 Joseplı Hiester 1820-1823
Jolin Andrew Shulze 1823-1829 George Wolf 1829-1835 Joseph Ritner 1835-1839 David R. Porter 1839-1845
Francis R. Shunk 1845-1848
William F. Johnston 1848-1852
William Bigler 1852-1855
James Pollock
1855-1858
22
338 COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY AND GENEALOGY
William Fisher Packer 1858-1861
Andrew G. Curtin 1861-1867
John W. Geary 1867-1873
John F. Hartranft 1873-1879
Henry M. Hoyt 1879-1883
Robert F. Pattison 1883-1887
James A. Beaver 1887-1891
Robert E. Pattison 1891-1895
Daniel HI. Hastings
1895-1899
William A. Stone
1899-1903
Samuel W. Pennypacker 1903-
GasHemphill
-
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JAMES HEMPHILL.
James Hemphill, born in the town of Mechanicsburg, Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, July 22, 1827, was the son of John Hemphill and Anne Longsdorff. His father was descended from the early set- tlers. who came from the north of Ireland, known as Scotch-Irish; his mother from that thrifty and able stock known as Pennsylvania Dutch. Both father and mother came from Revolutionary ancestors.
He inherited from these strong people many of their sturdy quali- ties, and, being endowed with a fine physique and clear mind, coupled with industry, application and economy, he soon made himself felt as a power. He spent his early life upon a farm, but when about eighteen years of age thought he would learn blacksmithing. After finishing and having acquired a general knowledge of mechanics, for which he always had a natural aptitude, he accepted a position as assistant en- gineer of the Pittsburg Water Works under Joseph French, who was one of the best hydraulic engineers of his time; he filled this position for about eight years and at the same time studied mechanical engineer- ing. with such success that later in life he became an expert, and was regarded as an authority throughout the United States. While still at the water works in the late fifties, he spent his evenings in devising ways and means for casting baggage checks, which he made and sold to the railroads : this gave him his financial start. In the fall of 1859 he went into the engine-building business at the corner of Twelfth and · Pike streets, the firm being known as Mackintosh. Hemphill & Com- pany. About this time he was a member of select council and served on the finance committee of the city of Pittsburg. He was always an advanced thinker, and invented, constructed and designed many little things, as well as the great machines which helped to bring to Pittsburg
342 COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY AND GENEALOGY
its reputation of being the great steel center of the world. The name of Mackintosh, Hemphill & Company is so identified with the success of the Steel Age that it is not necessary to go into detail in this sketch. In 1878 the firm removed to Old Fort Pitt foundry site and enlarged their plant : after it had made itself felt and was acknowledged at home and abroad as leading in its hine. Mr. Hemphill directed some of his energy and experience to outside interests, viz. : Carrie Furnace Com- pany. Star Tin Plate Company, National Bank of Western Pennsyl- vania, of which he was the first president, and other industrial enter- prises, in all of which he retained an active interest until his death, which occurred August 7, 1900.
His wife was Elizabeth, daughter of Horace Frink, of Rome, New York. She died in 1899. Mr. Hemphill was survived by five children, Newton A. Hemphill, William A. Hemphill. Horace F. Hemphill, Mrs. William AA. Hoeveler and Mrs. George W. Baum. He was a man of strong principles and excellent judgment, and was sought after as an arbitrator in many large and important controversies. He was simple in his tastes, quiet in his amusements, fond of his home life, and. pos- sessed of warm sympathies, had a keen sense of justice, and was a staunch friend.
ANDREW WHITE McCOLLOUGII.
The name of Andrew White McCollough is so inseparably inter- woven with the history of the development of the natural resources of the state that the annals of Pennsylvania would be unicomplete without extended mention of his life work. He stands almost without a peer in the extent and accuracy of his knowledge of geology, and few indeed are the men who have put their learning to such broad and practical test.
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OF THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA.
Nature was bountiful in her gifts to the Keystone state, but she has always placed upon man the duty of transforming the raw material into a marketable commodity, and it is the men of marked enterprise. keen discernment and unfaltering purpose who, having recognized the possibilities that Nature has provided, utilize these in the acquirement of a competence and for the benefit of the commercial world. Mr. McCollough has done much for the development of the oil and gas in- dustries of the state, and, while his brilliant success commands admira- tion, his business policy has ever awakened the keenest respect. He is a man whose business career stands untarnished, whose integrity is proverbial.
In the latter part of the eighteenth century the McCollough family was founded in Pennsylvania, but much farther back than this can the ancestry of the family be traced, for the McColloughs accompanied William the Conqueror and made their way from Scotland into Ire- land. In the latter country they remained, becoming residents of coun- ties Down and Antrim. James McCollough, the great-grandfather of Andrew W. McCollough, spent his entire life at Moneyrca, in county Down, near Belfast, Ireland, but his son, Matthew McCollough, crossed the Atlantic to the new republic of America, taking up his abode in Newville, Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, in 1798. He was there married to a Miss Hunter, and in 1804 he removed with his family to Prospect. Butler county, Pennsylvania, where he remained until his life pilgrimage was ended.
Matthew McCollough, the father of Andrew White, was born in 1813, where now stands the village of Prospect, and when he had arrived at years of maturity he wedded Miss Jane White, who died in 1844. He became an agricultorist of Worth township. Butler county,
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COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY AND GENEALOGY'
and upon the old home place resided until called to his final rest, Sep- tember 22. 1899.
In Butler county, Pennsylvania, in 1840. AAndrew White MeCol- lough was born, and as he was but four years of age at the time of his mother's death he went to live with his maternal grandparents, Andrew and Angeline White, spending the years of his minority in their home. He acquired a good eduaction in his youth, but his reading and research in later years have made him a scholar of broad scientific attainments and an authority in the line to which he has given his special attention. Having attended the common and normal schools near his home and also spent some time as a student in the Conoquenessing Academy at Zelie- nople, Pennsylvania, he 'engaged in teaching, following the profession in Conoquenessing. Jackson and Franklin townships, in Butler county. Thus he entered upon the business world with its cares, responsibili- ties and opportunities, and, though destined to meet difficulties and ob- stacles, the force of his nature and the strength of his character have enabled him to conquer in the end. When the pecuniary return of his lahor as a teacher was sufficient to enable him to engage in business requiring ready capital, he established a store in Prospect, which he conducted successfully for a decade, and at the end of that time, in 1871, he began operating in oil at Parker and Bear creek, extending his labors in 1872-3 to Millerstown and Greece City, Pennsylvania. At times he was very successful, at others not, but he gained broad and practical experience, and eventually became connected with the oil business in all its departments and realized therefrom handsome returns from his labors and investments, but a turn in fortune's wheel brought upon him heavy losses, and the earnings of many years were engulfed. This (lisaster, however, seemed but to serve as an impetus for renewed effort and closer application, and though his financial outlook was such
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OF THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA.
as would have utterly discouraged many a man of less resolute spirit, he bravely undertook the task of meeting all the obligations which rested upon him. The result is a matter well known to his friends and those with whom he has been brought in contact in a business way. He stands to-day with untarnished name, having paid off every dollar, and the consciousness of duty well performed is his as well as the respect and confidence of those with whom he has had business relations.
Mr. McCollough became interested in the exploration and develop- ment of the gas fields of Pennsylvania, and in speaking of this portion of his life work a contemporary biographer has said: "After careful study and exploitation, he commenced operations based upon the anti- clinal theory-the theory that under inexorable law, gas pressure is always toward the highest point, and is only to be found in high pres- sure and large volume in the subterranean reservoirs along the crown of these anticlinal arches, which are the retiring rockwaves of the Alle- ghany mountains. His first operations were in the Sarver field, in Win- field township, Butler county, Pennsylvania, in 1889. In this field, for the Pittsburg Plate Glass Company, hie located the largest wells ever drilled within the bounds of this county. This gas area is on the fifth axis, of Brady's bend anticlinal, at a point where the strata are lifted to the highest elevation to be found anywhere along the trend of that folding. These wells supplied the fuel for the extensive plate glass factories at Ford City and Tarentum, Pennsylvania. The capacity of the wells was from ten to fifteen million cubic feet per day."
Mr. McCollough has continued his labors with ever increasing suc- cess, his broadening knowledge of geological formation making his labors most effective in the determination of the location of gas wells. In 1891 he opened a field for the Pittsburg Plate Glass Company at
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COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY .IND GENEALOGY
North Washington, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, located on a spur of the western slope of the fourth axis. or Waynesburg-Murrays- ville anticlinal. The gas from this field was piped to the plate glass fac- tory at Creighton and by some lines to Pittsburg. In 1892 Mr. Mc- Collough opened the field for the same company on the Pinhook axis, in Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, known as the Crooked Creek field. In this field the rock pressure exceeded one thousand pounds to the square inch and the volume of this well was also great. In 1893 he located the Shellhammer field for the Carnegie National Gas Company on the Apollo uplift, and in this field very large wells were struck, one of which, the Van Tine, No. 1, delivered twenty million cubic feet at the discharge end of the pipe line at the Homestead plant, thirty miles from the mouth of the well. The Carnegie Natural Gas Company also drilled several wells on leases that he had taken on the Roaring Run anticlinal, which proved to be among the largest producers in that county, while the largest producing well in western Butler county was located and drilled by Mr. McCollough at Prospect, Pennsylvania, hav- ing a capacity of from six to eight million cubic feet every twenty-four hours.
The work which Mr. McCollough has done since becoming inter- ested in the development of the gas resources of the state has been enormous in extent and important in character, and has been the basis of many successful manufacturing enterprises. In Butler, Westmore- land and Armstrong counties he has located and drilled more than one hundred producing wells, embracing six of the largest gas fields in Penn- sylvania. His broad knowledge resulting from scientific investigation and practical experience, has made him a recognized authority on the geological structure of the gas and oil fields of Pennsylvania, and he
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