USA > Pennsylvania > Historical register : notes and queries historical and genealogical, chiefly relating to interior Pennsylvania. Volume II > Part 17
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Friday, August 18th. I spent the day at Mr. Campbell's pre- paring for the exercises of Sunday. Mr. Campbell's house is in a lonely neighborhooded place. His mother, Mrs. Wilson, was a near neighbor in Ireland, and shipmate of Mr. Hunter, our preacher in Jersey. There is a relation of hers in this valley, a Seceder, with whom I have some acquaintance, who is soci- able, kind, and attends sermon steadily. His name is Camp- bell, too. One Covenanter resides here, a stiff, true-blue, warm, obstinate Precisian. Most of the Seceders attend and contri- bute to the Presbyterian society here.
Saturday, August 19th. Many went past this morning, mov- ing back, and are daily flitting to the Standing Stone settlement and more westerly. I have, by several of the inhabitants, been asked to allow them the permission of sending to the Presby- tery for my services with them this winter, but I am destined to the southward. Afternoon I rode up the valley to Mr. John McDowell's, from the Squire's eleven miles.
West Kishacoquillas Valley.
Sunday, August 20th. We held sermon in a barn of Mr. Brotherton, but few were present compared with last Sunday's assembly. Some, however, from that end are here, Mr. Flem- ing and family, Mr. Culbertson, &c. Miss Polly Laundrum, the village toast. a young lady lately from Maryland, of the English church, young, neat, exceedingly beautiful, was at ser- mon, too. I saw, also, Billy Carr here, our quondam stageman at college. I had several proposals to stay in this valley, and, indeed, I love the people, but yet I cannot fix. To-day, for
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the first time, I preached both sermons without making any use of papers. Dined with Mr. Brotherton and returned in the evening to Mr. MeDowell's. *
* A letter from Dr. Samuel Maclay, dated Milroy, (Mifflin county, Pa.,) April 5, 1884, contains the following very interesting notes upon Mr. Fithian's Journal in Kishacoquillas Valley :
" The road by which Rev'd Mr. Fithian entered our valley was no doubt the old Penn Valley road, which crossed the Seven Mountains a few miles north of this place, and is still plainly discernible. The Mr. Fleming mentioned was probably Mr. John Fleming, who owned and resided at what was known as Fleming's Mills, about two miles west of Reedsville. William M. Fleming, of Reedsville, is a grand- son, and another grandson, Rev. John Fleming, resides in Illinois. William M. Fleming still owns part of the property. The old home- stead now belongs to Mr. John McNitt, a descendant of one of the old settlers of the valley. The mill has been converted into a woolen factory, and is now owned by Mr. H. H. Gibboney. The curiosity mentioned as being in Mr. Fleming's field has been closed over, and the field is now all cultivated, and the exact spot not now discernible. I remember, however, when, many years ago, a space of near half an acre was left uncultivated near the aperture spoken of. I doubt whether any of the present owners know anything of it.
The place where Mr. Fithian preached was no doubt the meadow of Judge Brown, opposite the village of Reedsville. There is a high hill west of the meadow, which is just below the old residence of Judge Brown. Of the family of Mr. Culbertson I know little ; the wife of Mr. Moses Thompson was his daughter, and Mr. Moses Thompson, of Centre Furnace, (Centre county,) and Mr. Moses Thompson, present postmaster at Milroy, are grandsons.,
Mr. Fithian gives a very interesting acount of the early settlers in the valley ; they were nearly all Presbyterians. Mr. William Cum- mins was a Seceder ; he owned a fine farm about four miles west of Reedsville, in the middle of the valley ; his descendants now chiefly reside in Stone Valley, Huntingdon county. Rev. Cyrus Cummins, U. Presbyterian of Xenia, Ohio, is one of his grandsons. The next neighbor west of Mr. Cummins was Mr. Landrum, of whom Mr. Fithian gives a very correct description in saying he was an agree- able, sensible, and sociable churchman ; he had been educated for the Episcopal ministry, and, I believe, occasionally preached, though I do not know whether he had any regular charge. He remained in the valley but one or two years, when he removed to Carlisle, where his daughter, Miss Polly Landrum, was married to Mr. Wm. Holmes. My father, William P. Maclay, was first married to Sally, youngest daughter of Judge Brown. Myself and brother, William Brown Maclay, were her sons. After mother's death, my father married Miss Jane Holmes, of Carlisle, a daughter of Polly Landrum. My
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Monday. August 21st. Very, very hot. Mr. McDowell, for my supply, gave me 20 shillings. Talking to Billy Carr of old manners in happy times, stage-driving, and stage-riding. We used to do these together. Billy seems glad to see me here be- tween these huge mountains. I am very certain it glads me to the heart to see him, sometimes talking to Mrs. McDowell's sister in miscellaneous rhapsodies. Preachers are not back- ward sometimes in speaking of the sympathy of hearts. There is a time for all things which are done under the sun. There- fore I say with merry Horace. Dulce est desipere in loco,-'Tis friendly sometimes to be foolishly gay. She is busy making preparations to go down the country to Carlisle. Some little before three I took my last leave of this kind family and the whole valley. I rode alone up between the mountains till the valley became very narrow; it is vastly stony, and through it I passed to the bank of roaring Juniata .* Then up the river I steered, quite alone and more than five miles from my post when the sun went down. The road was wholly strange and in parts on low bottoms under the tall timber in their fullest
brothers Holmes, David, of Clarion county, and Joseph H. Maclay, were her sons, and grandsons of Polly Landrum. [Holmes Maclay, now deceased, was member of the House, from Mifflin county, in 1863 ; David Maclay was the genial and witty Senator from Clarion, at Harrisburg, 1873-5; Joseph H. Maclay was member from Mifflin county, 1879 .- LINN.]
The cave spoken of by Mr. Fithian is very readily recognized ; it is little altered except the absence of any arch or covering. It is situated on a limestone hill about one mile east of this village, (Mil- roy,) on a farm now owned by Levi Yoder. I cannot locate the Mr. John Campbell mentioned by Mr. Fithian. Robert Campbell was one of the first settlers in that part of the valley, and has left num- erous descendants, Robert, Joseph, Andrew, John O., Douglass, and John Campbell, all respectable farmers occupying farms near Belle- ville, mostly inherited from their grandfather. Judge James Camp- bell, of Clarion county, is a grandson, also, of Robert's. The John McDowell mentioned, lived in the west end of the valley. Perry W. McDowell, of Nittany Valley, is one of his grandsons. The Broth- ertons lived in the west end of the valley ; they left the valley at an early day."
* Leaving the neighborhood of Belleville, Mr. Fithian struck the Juniata river at the mouth of Mill creek, five miles south-east of Huntingdon.
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dress of leaves, and when there was no moon the gloominess was nearly total and indeed horrible. I met two men on horse- back ; as they passed by me I smelled their breath, it was strong of whiskey. By this token, which in thicker settled places you would perhaps scruple, I grew certain that I was near the town. My conjecture was right; I soon after entered
Huntingdon.
As I drew near I could not help thinking myself on the borders of some large town. There was a drum beating; sev- eral antic-loud singers : every now and then a most vociferous laugh, and candles thinly scattered, shining here and there from the houses. I expected to find one of our American bedlams. These small towns, especially when they are growing fast, and a new thing, go before every other place in most sort of vice; but especially in drinking, and a few of its nearest allied attenadnts.
I had cautiously put on my riding coat, to disguise the cler- ical cloth, for I was not certain that I should escape some reli- gious or blackguard embarrassment, for too much liquor makes many "over-wicked." But it makes some "over-good," and sets them in a tune to ask more questions in divinity, especi- ally explanations of parts of Scripture than inexperienced I or indeed any Doctor in Divinity in America could have the pa- tience, if he had the ability, to resolve. Fearing all this and knowing in such a case I should either affront them or myself, before I came within a mile of town, I put on my surtout and cocked up my hat in the best manner. "You seem to be a stranger," said a tall youngster to me as I put my first foot upon the porch. "Is the hostler here ?" I asked. "Are you from below, stranger?" "Bring in the saddle-bags and let the horse cool before you give him a gallon of oats." " Are you a stranger, sir ? " "Yes, sir." "A stranger," I could hear one and another whispering about me on the porch; some thought I was one of the delegates appointed to the treaty with the Indians which is soon to be held at Fort Pitt ; some thought I was a land jobber; some that I was a broken, absconding merchant, some that I was a tory flying from mob-stick ven- geance. I supped, however, and soon retired.
...
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Tuesday, August 22d. I spent the night, quite contrary to my expectations. in peace. Squire Hall, a store-keeper here, came in late, found me a stranger, and took me with another young man, Mr. Cluggage, of Shirley, to his house. Here I saw a late paper. It said his Excellency Gage had resigned ยท his commission to General Howe, &c. Squire Hall told me he is now selling salt by the bushel at fourteen shillings current. He told me further that many in this town and neighborhood are under present alarming apprehensions of danger from the Indians. It is certain the Indians have strong temptations ; the Governor of Canada with all of his agents are employed and bribed to set them on us.
I arose from my bed early in order to be at the "warm springs," for I came about by this village wholly to see them. I rode to them through the wet bushes, five miles, quite alone. The path is single, much used, not over stony, but all the way bushy. These springs are in what is called Standing Stone Valley, a little west of the mountain, and five miles north of Juniata river. The water rises, boiling up with sand and much air in bubbles, in a piece of land which is alinost level. There is a small descent of a few feet from the highest part of the neighboring land to the places of the water rising, and below is a watery flat covered with marsh-flowers, flags, touch-me- not, water-lilys, &c. The water rises up, in nearly equal quan- tities in two places, at about three perches distance. One is used by the invalids for drinking, the other for bathing. They both stand as great nature formed them, edged with moss and overhung with boughs; only delicacy has urged the present year's inhabitants to assist nature a little by adding a few more boughs to the bathing part, which are laid on in the form of an arch, and wholly conceal such as choose to bathe alone. They have also scooped out the bath into a kind of hollow basin something more than six feet long and about four feet wide. The water is quite clear, without any floating scum whatever; the bottom is covered by a white sand and small gravel which makes the place in bare appearance desirable. I could not but wonder at the rising wind. In both springs it ascends contin- ually, and at times in large quantities, bubbling up through
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the sand and breaking with a small noise when it comes to the surface of the water, which is between two and three feet deep. I am not qualified, by reading or experience, to satisfy myself or inform others of the quality of these springs from any in- formation I can get by being present and seeing and tasting them. I have said the water is quite clear. It has no unusual or unpleasant taste. It is not indeed cold. I think it is like some springs I have seen running without a shade in summer. The water is sensibly soft to the mouth, and those who are try- ing it tell me it may be drank, without pain or injury, in great quantities. I drank, out of curiosity, near about a pint, but it was to me in taste and effect like other common water, and I found that a pint was as much as I should choose to swallow at once. The water must be used some days before the per- spiration fully begins : on this account it cannot be used at first in so large a measure as it may be afterwards. As to the virtue of these waters, the people say it is chiefly in rheumatic cures, violent pains in the limbs and different parts of the body, and some that have been long fixed the steady use of these springs has entirely removed. Weakness and debility of the system have been much assisted, in some few cases persons have been quite restored. I heard one person say, I will not vouch for the correctness of his assertion, that it is an effectual asylum for all impotent women in cases of barrenness, &c. There are now here twenty-two persons professedly indisposed. Seven, I took from their age and appearance to be unmarried virgins. Two with their husbands, and one of these is very old. A young wag in the town said of this venerable silver-haired matron " that she came filled with the hopes of finding the springs pos- sessed of a quality to heal old age." The remaining thirteen were men of different ages. It looks indeed like an infirmary. Many of them are by no means in health. They must, in strong belief at least, be indisposed, or they could not subinit to the inconveniences for any length of time, which the situation of the place makes necessary. It is quite in the woods, not a single house or any cleared land between it and town. They must carry all their provisions and supply themselves; they live in low cabins built with slabs and boughs, and dress their
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dinner all at one great common fire. The men. for exercise, play at quoits, hunt deer, turkeys, pheasants, &c. With these hardships, however. they live in friendship, and are steadily cheerful, conquering by society the uneasiness both of infirmity and labor, and making themselves almost constantly pleasant.
In a brook at some distance from the springs are many re- markably smooth blue stones. Their shape chiefly I admire; every size of these stones is an oblate spheroid, and they are very dense in contexture. Some not much larger than an ordinary tea-kettle were nearly a load for a common man. On the smooth surface of several of these, which people had brought to their cabins and used as seats, are inscribed the names at large and initial letters of great numbers who have been here before. Partaking of the general and deeply fixed desire of all the human race for every method of passing down notice of our existence, I also, with my spur, wrote at full length, in Italic letters my three names. Having at last, with as much accurary as I was able, viewed and reviewed the whole, I mounted and rode back to town. In this town I parted, not without reluctance, with an able, steady, and useful friend. I mean my horse. Bob Orr, of Kishacoquillas, gave me a smaller neat black horse, four years old, and half a Joe for my old companion Jack.
Having adjusted matters, I left town in company with Mr. Cluggage, and rode down the river, a most stony path, through Jack's Narrows, where high mountains on each side of the water come down to its very bank, so that in places we were forced to go down on the water's edge. We crossed over this water. " This is one end of Hell valley," said Mr. Cluggage to me, as we were jogging quietly along. About ten miles onward is a gap between the hills called the "Shades of Death." What! are the shadows of death and hell here? so easily passed through. Vain man, how daring to make these tremendous subjects common! We crossed Ofwick (Aughwick) creek and arrived, about 8 in the evening, at Mr. Fowley's, who lives within the walls of old Fort Shirley. Distance from town 20 miles.
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FACTS IN ARMSTRONG COUNTY HISTORY.
BY ISAAC CRAIG.
In the article on Fort Armstrong and the Manor of Kittan- ning, in the last number of the HISTORICAL REGISTER, the Rev. A. A. Lambing expresses the opinion that the name "Ap- pleby," as applied to either the fort or the manor, is erroneous. This is correct. Appleby was the name of a town proposed to be laid out in the Proprietary Manor of Kittanning, in the summer of 1774, as a refuge for the traders of Pittsburgh, who adhered to Pennsylvania in the boundary controversy with Virginia, from the persecutions of Col. John Connolly.
At a Council held at Philadelphia on the 4th of August, 1774, "the Governor laid before the Board two letters, which he received within these three days from Captain St. Clair, at: Ligonier, dated the 22d and 26th July, with sundry papers in- closed relative to Indian and other affairs in Westmoreland, and the same being read and considered, the Council advised the Governor to order a town to be immediately laid out in the Proprietary Manor at Kittanning, for the accommodation of the traders and other inhabitants of Pittsburgh, whom by Cap- tain St. Clair's advices, would be under the necessity of remov- ing from that town on account of the oppressive proceedings of the Virginians."-Col. Rec., x, 201.
August 6th, 1774, Governor Penn wrote St. Clair: "I am now to acquaint you that I approve of the measure of laying- out a town in the Proprietary Manor at Kittanning, to accom- odate the traders and other inhabitants who may chuse to re- side there; and therefore, inclose you an order for that pur- pose." --- Ib., 202.
September 15th, 1774, Richard Butler made a deposition be- fore Arthur St. Clair, in which he states: "On Wednesday, the 24th of August, 1774, as I was returning from conveying Mr. James McFarlane who set off before day with eight horse-
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loads of dry goods, to be taken to the new town to be built af the Kittanning on the Proprietaries' Manor, and two horse loads of flour and salt, for the use of the Pennsylvania troops that is to be stationed there." * * * * " The * people of the town was to meet Capt. St. Clair and a party of soldiers on the Monday following at the Kittanning, and proceed to building a store and dwelling house, but the horses were stopped and turned back, and Mr. McCully seized and brought prisoner."-Pa. Arch., iv, 571-2.
The above are only brief extracts from a long deposition which does not give the name of the new town; but Arthur St. Clair, in a letter dated Ligonier, Augt. 25th, 1774, writes to Gov. Penn : "At the same time I acquainted them [the Del- awares] with your orders for erecting a trading place at the Kittanning, for which they are very thankful as they are in want of many things already, and cannot come to Pittsburgh to purchase, and a number of them will probably be there on Monday next, which is the time I have appointed for laying out the town. Mr. Speare and Mr. Butler set out this day with their goods and other effects."
"Instead of sending the message to the Shawanese by a white man, I procured the Pipe, a faithful and sensible Dela- ware Chief, to go and acquaint them with the message his Na- tion had received from your Honour, that you had recom- mended it to them to speak to the Shawanese not to strike the Virginians, and that he had seen a message and belt for them, which, if they were well disposed, some of their people might come and receive it at Appleby." * * * * %
" This moment I have heard from Pittsburgh, that Mr. Speare and Mr. Butler's goods, that were going to Appleby, are seized by Mr. Connolly's orders." * * * * " It will oblige me to put off my journey to Appleby, as all my stores and provisions were with Mr. Butler's goods."-Pa. Arch., ir, 573-5.
The reason for naming the proposed town Appleby is not known; but, as it was doubtless expected to become the county seat of Westmoreland county, Pa., it seems probable it was called after the chief town of Westmoreland county, England.
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The story of the capture of McFarland, as related by the Rev. Lambing, is incorrect in nearly every particular. He was not taken prisoner in 1790, but in February, 1777 ; he was not carried to Detroit, but to Quebec.
On the 26th of December, 1776, William Lochry and John Moore, of Westmoreland county, wrote to Thomas Wharton. President of the Council of Safety : "By the removal of Col. Mackey from the Kittanning, the frontiers of this county is laid open and exposed to the mercy of a faithless, uncertain, savage enemy, and we are informed by Andrew McFarland, Esqr., who lives at the Kittanning, that he is much afraid that the Mingoes will plunder the country, and that he will not think himself safe if there is not a company, of men stationed there, and if he removes, a number more of the inhabitants will follow."-Pa. Arch., 2, 135.
On the 4th of March, 1777, several of the Delawares arrived at Fort Pitt, and communicated the following intelligence to Col. George Morgan, the Indian Agent at that post : " About twenty days ago, two Chippewa Indians, two Six Nation In- dians and two white men came to Munsey town in fourteen days from Niagara. The Indians made no delay there, but the two white men, who were very tired, staid there. The Indians proceeded directly to the Kittanning, and there took one of your people, (Mr. McFarlane, ) and have carried him to Niagara.
They told our young people and women, for none others were at home, that the commanding officer at Niagara sent them for the above purpose, in order to hear the news in these parts. They were directed not to hurt him. Had our head men been at home we should have brought him back, for we will not allow this bad work to pass through our towns."-Hildreth's Pioneer History, p. 114.
The wife of Andrew McFarland was a remarkable women : her maiden name was Margaret Lynn Lewis; she was the daughter of William Lewis, and neice of Gen. Andrew Lewis, the hero of Point Pleasant, and of Col. Thomas Lewis, of Virginia. It is said that her father and uncles received their early instruction from Rev. James Waddell, D. D., " the blind preacher." made famous by Wirt, in "The British Spy." On
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Facts in Armstrong County History.
learning of the capture of her husband, Mrs. McFarland, with her infant and maid servant, fled from Kittanning. After starting, the servant reminded Mrs. McFarland of her husband's money and valuable papers, but she desired the girl not to men- tion anything of that kind to her at such a moment: but, re- gardless of the commands of her mistress. the servant returned to the dwelling and brought all the money and as many of the papers as she could hold in her aporn. overtaking, in a short time, her mistress, as the snow was very deep. After incred-
ible fatigue, they reached the house of Col. William Crawford, at Stewart's Crossings, on the Youghiogheny, where New Haven now stands. Here the attention of friends soon restored her from the exhaustion caused by carrying her infant such a dis- tance through the snow. She staid at Colonel Crawford's until her father, hearing of her situation, sent her brother, Colonel William Lewis, to bring her home. Intelligence was received that her husband had been carried captive to Quebec, and that the Indians had agreed, that if a heavy ransom was paid. they would restore McFarland to his friends. Of course this was done: his brother went on and returned with McFarland to Staunton, Virginia.
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THE EWING FAMILY OF LANCASTER AND YORK.
BY SAMUEL EVANS.
Thomas Ewing came from that sturdy Presbyterian stock which emigrated from the northern part of Ireland and settled along Chickies creek in or about the year 1730. He was then a married man. In the year 1734 or '5 he was a widower. In the year 1736, he married Susannah, the widow of James Pat- terson, the Indian trader, who settled in Conestoga manor in 1717, and who died in October, 1735. In the years 1737 and 1738, Mr. Ewing purchased six hundred acres of land at the mouth of Chickies creek, which had been taken up and settled in the year 1716 by Peter and John Gardner, who came from West Jersey. Mr. Ewing purchased from John Bortner and John Ross, who purchased from Gardner. In 1738, he also purchased four hundred acres of land on the east side of the Swatara, at Quitopahilla, in Lebanon township. He was elected to the Legislature for the years 1739 and 1740. After he mar- ried Mrs. Patterson, he moved to the Patterson farm then in Hempfield township, and adjoining the northern boundary of Conestoga Manor. He was a member of Donegal church, and was one of the first persons to bequeath a sum of money to that congregation.
The following is a copy of a letter from Richard Peters to John Taylor, the surveyor :
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