USA > Pennsylvania > Franklin County > Chambersburg > Historical sketch of Franklin County, Pennsylvania : prepared for the centennial celebration held at Chambersburg, Penn'a, July 4th, 1876, and subsequently enlarged by I. H. M'Cauley John M. Pomeroy, publisher. To which is added a valuable appendix by J. L. Suesserott, D. M. Kennedy and others, and embellished by over one hundred lithographic illustrations, drawn by W. W. Denslow > Part 5
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At the period of which I speak the streets of the town were nearly in the same condition as when laid out, although some twenty to twenty-four years had passed since their dedication to publie use. Pavements were few and of the worst kind, made to suit the conve- nience or fancy of the persons by whom they were constructed. The court house and the new jail were going up slowly. Immedi- ately around the "Diamond" there were but few improvements. John Jack's stone house, in which the courts were held, was the best building there. John Martin kept tavern in a low, two-story log house, about twenty by twenty-five feet in size, where Mrs. Watson resides. The lot where Ludwig's building now is was vacant, and remained so until 1795, when Stephen Rigler built the stone house on it so long known as Noel's hotel. Hugh Gibb kept a tavern in a small, two-story log house which stood where the National Bank now stands. A small blacksmith shop stood where the Franklin County Bank now stands, and Samuel Lindsay owned . and occupied a small log house which stood on the lot the Repository hall now occupies. The other lots facing the diamond were then unimproved.
There were about one hundred and thirty-five dwellings in the town, but as the whole population of the county had to come to Chambersburg to vote, for several years after the organization of the county, a liberal provision in the shape of taverns was made for its accommodation. In addition to those named already, Owen Aston kept a tavern in the Geo. Gottman property, on the south-east cor- ner of Main- and King streets for a while, and was succeeded by Jacob Von Stattenfield ; Nicholas Snider, where the Montgomery hotel is; Benj. Swain, where the late Rev. B. S. Schneck lived ; Wm. Morrow, where Peter Bruner now lives ; Thomas Shannon, where Captain Jeffries lives; Wm. Shannon, where the Union Hotel stands; George Graesing, where Mrs. Fohl lives; Wm. Thorn ' and Geo. Wills, opposite the Academy, on east Queen street ; John Smith and David Fleming, at John Stevenson's old property, west Queen street; Frederick Reamer, Heck's old property, south Main street; William Bevis, on west side of south Main street, corner of the alley, in the house now belonging to Mrs. Byers. Besides these there were several others whose location I don't know with certainty.
POSTAL FACILITIES IN 17SS.
We have now the Cumberland Valley railroad, running through our valley, from the Susquehanna to the Potomac, with branches
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Historical Sketch of Franklin County.
and connecting roads to Dillsburg, South Mountain, Mont Alto, Mercersburg, and Path Valley at the Richmond furnace; and we have daily postal communications with Pittsburg, Harrisburg, Phila- delphia, New York, Baltimore, Washington city, and even points more distant, and also receive, almost daily, the news of current events in Europe and Asia, and other more distant parts of the earth. But it was not so in the times of which I am now writing, as is evidenced by the following resolution passed by the Congress of the United States on the 20th of May, 1788, viz. :
"Resolved, That the Post Master General be and he is hereby di- rected to employ posts for the regular transportation of the mail be- tween the city of Philadelphia and the town of Pittsburg, in the State of Pennsylvania, by the route of Lancaster, York town, Car- lisle, Chambers' town and Bedford, and that the mail be dispatched once in cach fortnight from the said post offices, respectively." Journal of Congress, volume 4, page 817.
It is remarkable that Harrisburg, the capital city of our now great Commonwealth, is not even mentioned in this resolution ; and nothing that I know of so emphatically shows the progress we have made as a nation, in the past eighty-eight years, as the difference between the postal facilities contemplated by this resolve of Con- gress and the postal facilities we now enjoy.
From the Hon. James H. Marr, Acting First Assistant Postmaster General, I learn that a post office was first established at Chambers- barg on the Ist of June, 1790. I had an idea that we had a post office here at a much earlier date. The settlement was then sixty years old; the town had been in existence twenty-six years and the county nearly six years, and it is surprising to think that our ances- tors did so long without governmental postal facilities, The sante authority informs me that the following persons filled our post office in the earlier years of its existence, viz. :
John Martin, Appointed 1 June, 1790. 1 July, 1795.
Patrick Campbell,
Jeremiah Mahony,
1 Jannary, 1796.
John Brown, .
5 July, 1802.
Jacob Dechert, .
7 April, 1818.
John Findlay, . William Gilmore,
20 March, 1829.
24 November, 1838.
I hope to be able to state hereafter when the several other post offices of our county were established.
The Shippensburg post office was first established 13th May, 1790, but a few days before ours. Prior to these dates our people had to depend upon private carriers to get their mail matter from older offices, or await the semi-monthly coming of the post rider referred to in the resolution of Congress just given. 6
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Historical Sketch of Franklin County.
FIRST ELECTION OF CONGRESSMEN.
The Constitution of the United States went into operation on the first Wednesday of March, 1789. What number of the people of our State were then entitled to vote I know not; but amongst the pro- ceedings of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, un- der date of the 31st of December, 1788, the returns of the election of members of Congress held just before, are given, from which it appears that but 15,774 votes were polled in the whole State, and that the highest candidates upon the two tickets received the fol- lowing number of votes respectively, viz. :
Fred'k. Augustus Muhlenberg, of Montgomery, .
8,707
John Allison, of Franklin, . .
. 7,067
NEWSPAPERS.
From the organization of our county, in September, 1784, to July 14th, 1790, there was no newspaper published in Franklin county, and all the sheriff's proclamations, notices of candidates for office, of real estate offered for sale, estrays, runaway negroes, desertions of bed and board by wives, &e., &e., were published in The Carlisle Gazette and Repository of Knowledge, printed at Carlisle, Cum- berland county.
It has been claimed that a paper called the Franklin Minerra was published at Chambersburg before the year 1790 by Mr. Robert Har- per. I doubt the truth of this claim. No copy of the paper now exists, by which to determine the doubt, but the fact that Sheriff Johnston, in July, 1790, published his proclamation in the Carlisle Gazette, shows almost to a demonstration that there was no news- paper here about the beginning of June, 1790, when that proclama- tion was first inserted in the Carlisle Gazette. Again, I do not think that Robert Harper was then here. An examination of the assess- ment lists of the county shows that his name appears for the first time as a taxpayer in Franklin township (Chambersburg) in the year 1794, so that it is most likely he came here sometime in the previous year, perhaps about the time he formed the partnership with Mr. Davison, hereafter referred to. It is known that William Davison commenced the publication of his paper at Chambersburg on the 14th of July, 1790, under the name of "The Western Adver- tiser and Chambersburg Weekly Newspaper," and the assessment lists for 1791 contain his name as one of the taxpayers in Franklin township for that year. Mr. Davison afterwards, about the year 1792 or'93, formed a partnership with Mr. Harper, which continued until the fall of 1793, when he died, and Mr. Harper became sole owner of the paper. On the 12th of September, 1793, Mr. Harper changed the name of the paper to that of "The Chambersburg Gazette," under which title it was published until the 25th of April, 1796, when he
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Historical Sketch of Franklin County.
again changed its name to that of the "Franklin Repository." It was, when first established, a small, three column concern, about ten by sixteen inches in size, and cost fifteen shillings per year. It was almost wholly made up of advertisements and extracts from foreign journals, for those were the days when Napoleon was stirring up the nations of the old world generally.
In the year 1800 George Kenton Harper became the sole editor and proprietor of the Repository, and conducted it until January, 1840, when he sold out to Mr. Joseph Pritts. So indifferent were the post office arrangements for the carrying and delivering of newspapers from 1794 to 1828, that the Harpers ( Robert and George K.) employed their own "Post Riders," who once a week rode through large sections of the county to ensure the certain and speedy delivery of the Repository at all points where it could not be sent through the mails.
For much of the subsequent history of the Repository and other newspapers which were heretofore published in our county, I am indebted to an article written by B. M. Nead, Esq., and pub- lished in the Repository on the 27th of March, 1872.
"As above seen," says Mr. Nead, "Mr. Harper gave up the con- trol of "The Franklin Repository" to Mr. Pritts in the year 1840. Mr. Pritts served an apprenticeship and worked as a journeyman at the printing business in Cumberland, Maryland, from which place he removed to Chambersburg about the year 1820. In 1823 he be- came the editor and proprietor of a Democratic paper styled the "Franklin Republican," started in 1808 by William Armour, who was followed in its editorship by John Hershberger, John M'Farland and Jolii Sloan, whose successor Mr. Pritts was. This paper Mr. Pritts continued to edit until the year 1828, when the anti-Masonic excite- ment arose. He then gave up the publication of the Franklin Re- publican, bought the Anti-Masonic Press, a paper which had been established by Mr. James Culbertson, and started a new paper, strongly advocating anti-Masonic principles, under the name of "The Anti-Masonic Whig." This paper Mr. Pritts continued to edit until the year 1840, when he purchased the Repository from Mr. Harper, and united the two papers under the name of the "Repository and Whig." In 1840 Mr. Benjamin Oswald, of Kittanning, Pennsylvania, was associated with Mr. Pritts in editing the paper, and in 1841 Wm. R. Rankin, Esq., filled the same position. In 1842 Wm. H. Downey bought Mr. Pritts' interest in the paper, and continued to publish it until 1846, when he sold out to Mr. Wm. Brewster. Mr Pritts continued about the office, as a general superintendent, adding weekly to its spiciness by his wit and satire, until the year 1848, when he died. The paper was then in the hands of Messrs. John F. Denny, Hugh W. Reynolds and D. O. Gehr. On the Ist of February, 1849, Mr. Reynolds withdrew,
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Historical Sketch of Franklin County.
and the remaining partners carried on the paper until 1st of May of that year, when they sold out to Messrs. John W. Boyd, of Hagers- town, and David E. Stover, of Greencastle."
"On the 4th of July, 1849, Messrs. Henry A. Mish and Lewis A. Shoemaker started a paper called "The Franklin Intelligencer," and continued its publication until 1851, when it was purchased by Stover & Boyd and merged in the Repository. In the spring of 1852 Mr. Stover became sole proprietor of the Repository, and on the first of May of that year Col. A. K. M'Clure purchased a half inter- est in the paper, and in September following obtained the entire control of it."
"On the 4th of July, 1853, R. P. Hazelet, who for some time had been issuing, semi-monthly, a ten by twelve advertising sheet, called "The Omnibus," began the publication of a paper called " The Trans- cript." In October, 1854, Geo. Eyster & Co. became interested with Mr. Hazelet in the Transcript, and continued to publish it until December, 1855, when they sold it to Washington Crooks & Co., who about the same time purchased the Repository from Col. M'- Clure. They consolidated the two papers under the name of the "Repository and Transcript." A few years after they sold out to (}. H. Merkline & Co. About 1861, A. N. Rankin, one of the latter firm, got sole control of the paper. Soon after Snively Strickler, Esq., became proprietor, and in 1863 he sold it to A. K. M'Clure and H. S. Stoner, who again changed the name to "The Pranlilin Repos- itory."
"On the 19th of April, 1861, G. H. Merkline & Co. started the Semi- Weekly Dispatch. It continued till June, 1863, when it was purchased by Messrs. M'Clure & Stoner, and merged in the Reposi- tory. On the 30th of July, 1864, the Repository office, and every- thing connected with it, was destroyed when our town was burnt by the Rebels. It was started again soon after in the lecture-room of the Presbyterian church, from which it was issued till June, 1868, when it was removed to its present location."
"On the 1st of July, 1865, "The Repository Association' was formed, and the paper was issued under its auspices, with Messrs. M'Clure and Stoner as editors and publishers. On the 30th of May, 1868, they retired and Messrs. Jere Cook and S. W. Hays obtained con- trol of it as editors and publishers. On the Ist of July, 1870, Mr. Hays retired and Mr. H. S. Stoner took his place, and the paper was published by Messrs. Cook and Stoner until the 15th of August, 1874, when it went into the hands of Major John M. Pomeroy, its present owner and editor. It has now reached the ripe old age of eighty-seven years. It is Republican in politics, and has a circula- tion of abont 2,200.
The first English Democratic paper that I have been able to hear of, published in our county, was called "The Franklin Republican,"
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FARM BUILDINGS OF JAMES K. ANDREWS.HAMILTON TWP. FRANKLIN CO. PA.
HOPEWELL
& MILLS
HOPEWELL MILLS OF JOSIAH BURGER & RES. OF JOHN BURGER, WASHINGTON TP. FRANKLIN CO. PA. Tager.
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Historical Sketch of Franklin County.
and was started by William Armour about the year 1806. He was succeeded by Frederick Goeb, or Geib, and Richard White. They published two papers, one in German and one in English. The German part of the office was owned by Goeb, and White owned the English part. About the year 1808 John Hershberger bought these gentlemen out.
About this time George K. Harper was publishing a German paper in the same office with the Repository, called " Der Redliche Regis- trator "-" The True Recorder." This paper Mr. Harper sold to F. W. Schoepflin about the year 1814, who removed it from the Repos- itory office and conducted it as a Democratic paper until his death, in 1825, when it passed into the hands of Henry Ruby, who had learned the printing business with Mr. Schoepflin. He published it until 1831, when he discontinued it.
Mr. Hershberger conducted "The Franklin Republican" as the Democratic organ of the county, at the same time publishing the Ger- man paper formerly issued by Mr. Goeb. After several years he soll both papers to Mr. James M'Farland, by whom the German paper was thiscontinued. Mr. M'Farland sold the " Republican " to John Sloan, about the year 1816, who continued to publish until his death, in 1831. Some time after Joseph Pritts married the widow of Mr. Sloan, and thus obtained control of the printing office. Mr. Pritts was then a strong Democrat, and greatly enlarged and improved the paper, and as a reward for his devotion to his party and its interests was appointed county treasurer for several years.
In the year 1828 the anti-Masonic excitement reached its height, and Mr. Pritts, being dissatisfied with the course of the Democratic party in relation to the United States Bank, and on other political questions, and being actuated by a dread of the pernicious influence of seeret societies upon the future of the country, with large num- bers of his former Democratic associates, joined the new party and purchased the "Anti-Masonic Press," a paper which Mr. James Cul- bertson had shortly before established here. This paper Mr. Pritts conducted for a short time, as only he could conduct a newspaper, in the interests of the anti-Masonic party, when he purchased the "Franklin Repository " and consolidated the two papers.
When Mr. Pritts ceased to publish the Republican as a Democratic paper the Democratic party were left without an organ in our county. But in the year 1831, or thereabouts, Messrs. Henry Ruby and James Maxwell started a new Democratie paper called "The Franklin Tele- graph." After publishing it for about six or seven years, they sold it to Messrs. Michael C. Brown and Hiram Kesey, who, in the year 1841, sold it to John Brand, who changed the name to "The Chambersburg Times." In 1843 he sold out to Frank- lin G. May, who, in 1845, associated Mr. Enos R. Powell with himself in the conduction of the paper. In 1848 Mr. May retired
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Historical Sketch of Franklin County.
and Alfred H. Smith took his place, and the name of the paper was changed to "The Cumberland Valley Sentinel." In 1951 Messrs. B. F. Nead and John Kinneard became the proprietors, with Joseph Nill, Esq., and afterwards Dr. William H. Boyle, as editors On the Ist of July, 1852, the paper passed into the hands of Messrs. John M. Cooper and Peter S. Dechert, and was merged into "The Valley Spirit," which paper these gentlemen had removed from Shippensburg to Chambersburg about a year previously. In 1857 Messrs. Cooper & Dechert sold the paper to Messrs. George H. Men- gel & Co., Dr. Boyle continuing as editor. In 1860 Messrs. Mengel and Ripper became the owners, Dr. Boyle continuing as editor.
In April, 1858, Messrs. R. P. Hazelet and David A. Wertz started a paper called "The Independent." In 1859 they sold it to W. I. Cook and P. Dock Frey, who changed its name to " The Times." Mr. Cook retired in a short time, and gave place to Mr. M. A. Foltz. In 1860 Messrs. Jacob Sellers and Win. Kennedy became the owners of The Times, and published it as a Democratic paper. In 1862 Messrs H. C. Keyser and B. Y. Hamsher purchased the Valley Spirit from Messrs. Ripper and Mengel, and shortly after Mr. Kennedy associa- ted himself and his paper with them, and the name of the paper was changed to that of " The Spirit and Times," and published by B. Y. Hamsher & Co. In 1863 Mr. Kennedy retired and the name of the paper was again changed to "The Valley Spirit." In July, 1-67, J. M. Cooper & Co. again became the owners. In September, 1867, it passed into the hands of Messrs. Augustus Duncan and Wm. S. Stenger, who continued its publication until 1876, when they sold out to Mr. Joseph C. Clugston, the present proprietor. It is now edited by John M. Cooper, Esq., is Democratie in politics, and has a circulation of 2,160.
The following newspapers are now also being published in our. county, viz. :
The " Public Opinion, " at Chambersburg. It was established in the year 1869 by its present editor and proprietor, Moses A. Foltz. It is Republican in polities, and has a circulation of about 1,700.
The "Mercersburg Journal," published at Mercersburg, is owned and edited by M. J. Slick, Esq. It is neutral in politics, and has a circulation of about 500. It was established in 1846.
"The Village Record" is published at Waynesboro', by W. Blair, who is editor and proprietor. It was established in 1847, has a eir- culation of about 1,000, and is neutral in politics.
"The Valley Echo" is published at Greencastle, by George E. Haller, editor and proprietor. It was established in 1867, has a cir- culation of about 500, and is neutral in politics.
" The Keystone Gazette" is a new weekly paper, the publication of which was commenced at Waynesboro' in our county, about the Ist of September last, by Messrs. J. C. West and W. J. C. Jacobs, edi-
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Historical Sketch of Franklin County.
tors and proprietors. It is Democratic in politics and claims a cir- culation of about five hundred.
The "Saturday Local"' is a weekly newspaper recently started at Chambersburg, by Joseph Pomeroy & Co. It is neutral in politics.
GENERAL WASHINGTON'S VISIT.
On the first of October, 1794, President Washington left Philadel- phia for the western part of this State, called thither by the troubles known in our history as the "Whisky Insurrection." He was ac- companied by General Henry Knox, the Secretary of War ; General Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury; Hon. Riebard Peters, Judge of the District Court of the United States for Pent- sylvania; Mr Dandridge, his Private Secretary, and others of his official family. On Friday, the 4th of the month, the party reached Harrisburg, and on Saturday, the 5th, Carlisle, where a considerable part of the army was already assembled. The President remained at Carlisle until the 11th inst. During that time he had several inter- views with commissioners from the insurgents, who wished him to disband the army, assuring him that the people of the insurrectionary counties would obey the laws without marching the troops out there. He refused to accede to their request, yet he assured them that no violence would be done, that all that he desired was to have the people come back to their allegiance.
On the morning of Saturday, the 11th inst., the Presidential party left Carlisle and reached Chambersburg that evening. Whilst here they stopped with William Morrow, who kept a tavern in a stone house which stood on south Main street, on the lot recently owned by Dr. J. C. Richards, dee'd., now the property of Peter Bru- ner. The President and party went south from this, through Green- castle, to Williamsport, Maryland, and from thenee to Fort Cumber- land ; but as they did not reach Williamsport until the evening of Monday, the 13th, the presumption is that they remained in our town over Sunday, the 12th inst., as it is well known that President Washington was very averse to doing any work on the Lord's Day which could be avoided.
THE WHISKEY INSURRECTION.
For three or four years prior to the date of President Washing- ton's visit to our town, the larger part of the people of the counties of Fayette, Allegheny, Westmoreland and Washington, in our State, had been in open rebellion against the general government, because of the United States excise tax upon whisky. The tax was origin- ally only four pence per gallon, and was subsequently reduced be- low that sum. The people of that section of the State were mainly the descendants of Scotch-Irishmen, who hated the name and office
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Historical Sketch of Franklin County.
of an exciseman. There were no temperance societies then in ex- istence, and to make and drink whisky was common, and was not regarded as disreputable by any one; and the fame of their "Old Monongahela" was proverbial east and west. The only surplus pro- ducts of the people of that region were corn and rye, and it would not pay to transport them to the eastern markets by pack horses, the only means they had. A horse could carry but four bushels of rye over the miserable roads then in existence, but he could carry the product of twenty-four bushels in the shape of whisky. They therefore made whisky everywhere. Almost every farmer had his "still." They thought that as they had cultivated their lands for years, at the peril of their lives every hour, and had fought the savages nnaided most of the time by the government, which gave them little protection, they had a right to do as they pleased with the surplus products of their labors. And so they made it into whisky, knowing that it could be easily shipped east to a market where it would find a ready sale. They denied the right of the government to tax it, refused to pay the tax, tarred and feathered the tax collectors, and compelled them to resign their offices or leave the country. So wide spread was the opposition to the enforee- ment of the law, and so inflamed the state of the public mind, that it was found necessary to send a large body of troops out to the in- surrectionary districts to bring the people to reason and obedience.
The opposition to the enforcement of the excise laws was not con- fined exclusively to the people of the western counties of the State There were many persons east of the mountains who were very hostile to the excise laws, and who sympathized with the alleged grievances of their western friends and kinsmen. General James Chambers, in a letter from Loudon Forge, to A. J. Dallas, E-q., Secretary of the Commonwealth, under date of September 22d, 1794, says: "On the 16th inst. I arrived in Chambersburg, and to my great astonishment I found the Rabble had raised what they Caled a Liberty pole. Some of the most active of the inhabitants was at the time absent, and upon the whole, perhaps, it was best, as mat- ters has Since taken a violent change. When I came hear I found the magistrates had opposed the sitting of the pole up, to the utmost of their power, but was not Supported by the majority of the Citty- zens. They wished to have the Royators Subject to Law, and (Mr. Justice John Riddle, John Scott and Christian Oyster) the magis- trates of this place informed me of their zealous wish to have them brought to Justice. I advised them to Call a meeting of the inhab- itants of the town on the next morning, and we would have the matter opened to them, and Show the necessity of Soporting Gov- ernment, Contrassed with the destruction of one of the best govern- ments in the world."
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