History of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Part 109

Author: Smith, Robert Walter
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago : Waterman, Watkins
Number of Pages: 790

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516

HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY.

acres and 41 perches, December 3, 1857, for $1,000 and some other conditions with regard to mainten- ance, to whom Ezekiel M. and M. M. Lyons, chil- dren of Mary Lyons, née Milligan, conveyed their interests, March 13 and July 20, 1858, for $125 each.

Adjoining the Milligan tract on the south and west is an octagonal one, 342 acres, on which Fred- erick Razor must have either lived, or to which he claimed title, for his name is on it on the Lawson & Orr map, though it does not appear on the assessment list of either Sugar Creek or Franklin township. The warrant for it was granted to James Buchanan February 13, 1794. Buchanan sold his interest to Jolın Milligan September 18, 1808, 102 acres, which his son James sold to Robert Brown, of Kittanning, June 29, 1810, and the remaining 102 acres to Jesse Young April 2, 1806, which Young sold to Thomas Leard, February 15, 1812, for $409, " six hundred weight gross of iron" to be paid in hand to Young, and the residue to Milli- gan. This tract was surveyed to Buchanan June 24, 1815. Leard released all his interest in the en- tire tract to Brown, December 16, 1817, for $1, and having paid all the purchase money which he had agreed to pay to Young, most of it to Brown, the latter having obtained the patent for the whole tract conveyed to Leard. Brown conveyed 228 acres and 60 perches of it to Benjamin Am- brose, May 5, for $500, on which he resided during the rest of his life, and which, by his will dated August 16 and registered August 27, 1847, he de- vised to his son John, who was required to pay $1,000 to his executors and receive $400 from them, which was to be his full portion of his father's estate, and release to his brother Franklin the 200 acres elsewhere on which John then re- sided. Brown conveyed 113 acres of this tract to Thomas Leard, May 24, 1819, for $450.

Adjoining those Milligan and Brown tracts on the north, 399 acres and 146 perches, a southern strip of which is in East Franklin township, the . major of which will be noticed elsewhere .* This tract became vested in Jacob Steelsmith, who conveyed the portion in this and a small portion in Washington township, both portions being then in Sugar Creek township, 116 acres and 116 perches, to Simon Steelsmith, April 6, 1818, for $50, who conveyed the same to Michael Fair, November 24, 1821, for $100, and which his administrator, by virtue of a decree of the proper court for the specific performance of a contract made in his in- testate's lifetime, conveyed to the present owner, William Fair, April 8, 1867, for $1,000.

Adjoining the James McKee, Anthony Mont- gomery and Francis Johnston tract, and the Andrew Milligan tract, 95 acres on the south, and " Moran " on the north, is one nearly a rectangular parallelogram, lengthwise east and west, 394 acres, claimed by William Wasson. When Gapen made the survey of its eastern adjoiner to William Todd, the patent for which adjoiner was, as before stated, granted to McCall and Jonathan H. Sloan. This tract, on the Lawson & Orr map, bears the name of "Elizabeth Leasure," on which she probably settled about 1797, and with which and 1 horse she was assessed, in 1805, at $168 ; and the next year with the land and 1 cow, at $164. She disposed of her interest in this tract by her verbal declarations, which were made late Saturday night, before July 26, 1826, in the pres- ence of her brother, Benjamin Leasure, William Montgomery and Archibald Moore, who were then at her house. She expressed a wish to have her will drawn, her brother having gone to Montgom- ery's before midnight to get some candles, a pen and ink. Montgomery asked her how she would leave her property. She answered that she would leave "all her effects, land, cattle and all, to her son, Joseph Wasson." Moore asked her if she allowed " Wasson to be her whole (sole) executor." She replied: "To be sure." Leasure and Mont- gomery designated Moore to write the will, but there being no paper in the house, the latter went to his own house for it, and his spectacles. On his return, he and the others thought she was too ill to be again disturbed ; hence her will was not written. But the statements of her brothers, Mont- gomery and Moore, respecting her verbal disposi- tion of all her property were sworn to before the register of wills of this county, Philip Mechling, Angust 5, 1826, who admitted her declarations, thus proven, to probate, as her nuncupative will. Benjamin and John Leasure conveyed their inter- est in this tract, which, it is stated in their deed, " was settled by Benjamin and Elizabeth Leasure, to George Leasure, March 18, 1842, for $1 and "natural love and affection." To settle the ques- tion of title, George Leasure brought his action of ejectment against Hugh J. Wasson to No. 98 of June term, 1842, in the common pleas of this county, which was tried, and the verdict of the jury, September 20, 1843, was in favor of the plaintiff for the land embraced in the survey made for Wasson, May 6, 1837, lying " north of the dot- ted line, marked ' Richards' line,' on the diagram returned with the verdict." Both parties then agreed to release to each other the portions of the tract according to the finding of the jury ; so the

* See Washington township.

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EAST FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP.

northern part was ordered and decreed by the court to Leasure and the southern part to Was- son, a warrant having been granted to the latter, March 27, 1837.

Leasure conveyed 40 acres of his purpart to Nicholas Best, May 10, 1848, for $200, which his executors conveyed to William Wylie, May 15, 1852, for $800 ; 126 acres and 50 perches to Will- iam Wylie, September 3, 1852, for $615.

Wasson conveyed 200 acres of his purpart to Dr. John Gilpin, September 13, 1844, for $600, which the latter conveyed to John and Robert Wasson, December 18, 1848, for the same price.

Adjoining that Wasson-Leasure tract on the west and " Union " on the north is one, a rectangular parallelogram, 436 acres and 51 perches length- wise east and west, on which is the name of David Todd on the Gapen, but of Thomas Milliken on the other map, on which the latter made an im- provement in August, 1793, and a settlement July 5, 1797, to whom it was surveyed by Ross, deputy surveyor, June 22, 1802, the patent for which was granted to Milliken, January 28, 1807. Widow Milliken and Thomas Milliken (or Milligan) were assessed with 600 acres, 2 horses and 4 cows in 1805 and 1806, at $344. Thomas Milliken con- veyed 200 acres adjoining the east bank. of Glade run to his son Andrew,* August 17, 1849, for $1, " and natural love and affection," which he still owns, and by his will, dated June 11, and registered July 5, 1853, devised all the rest of his real estate to his son James as long as he and his sisters Mary and Sarah lived together, but if they separated he was to give them 50 acres along the Kittanning road. James Milliken conveyed 64 acres of his purpart to Thomas Leard, Jr., March 31, 1863, for $2,010.

One of the early primitive schoolhouses, said to be the second one within the limits of this town- ship, was located on this tract about 20 rods east the present site of Andrew Milliken's house about 1819, in which Archibald and William Moore, John Reed and George Speers were teachers. Samuel Mateer was a pupil of that school in 1829.

Adjoining that Milliken tract on the west is a hexagonal one which was surveyed by Gapen, deputy surveyor, to "Joseph Clark," "403.80," as shown by his map, on which Robert McDowell made an improvement and settlement in February, 1798, to whom it was surveyed by Ross, deputy

surveyor, June 22, 1802, as containing 429 acres and 38 perches, with 400 acres of which and 1 horse he was assessed, in 1805-6, $185, the in- creased quantity resulting from a protraction of the survey westward from the northwestern por- tion of the Gapen survey, making it a tract with nine sides, the patent for which was granted to McDowell, March 16, 1808, one-half of which he conveyed to Thomas Barr, August 17, 1810, " for a valuable consideration." McDowell's last assess- ment on the Sugar Creek township list was in 1809, and Barr was thereafter assessed with 400 acres until 1818.

Two hundred and seventy-eight acres and 80 perches of this tract having become vested in Archibald McCall, descended to his heirs, who, by Chapman Biddle, their attorney-in-fact, conveyed the same and two other parcels of other tracts to Reuben Burghman, Peter Graff and Jacob Painter, who conveyed 89 acres to John Shearer, August 1, 1859, for $834.

Adjoining that Clarke-McDowell tract on the west is, on the Gapen map, an octagonal one, nearly a parallelogram, which Gapen, deputy surveyor, surveyed to " Robert Williby," August 25, 1794, as containing 421 acres and 136 perches, on which Williby made an improvement, which he conveyed to.Archibald McCall, who paid the purchase money to the court and obtained a warrant of acceptance, July 3, 1795, on which John McDowell made an improvement and settlement, March 1, 1796, to whom it was surveyed by Ross, deputy surveyor, May 5, 1801, as a decagon containing 439 acres and 145 perches, about one-fourth of which is in what is now West Franklin township, with 400. acres of which, 1 horse and 2 cows he was assessed in 1805-6 at $232. His house was the place designated for holding elections in Buffalo township from 1803 till 1811. McCall conveyed this tract to his son, George A. McCall, June 22, 1835, for $500, who for the same consideration conveyed it to McDowell, September 26, by A. Mc- Call, his attorney, to whom the patent was granted May 27, 1837, who conveyed 100 acres and 126 perches to John Moore, May 20, 1842, for $400 ; 150 acres of it to Matthew McDowell, May 18, 1848, for $150, which the former had conveyed to Thomas Barr, May 10, 1816, and which the latter reconveycd, May 18, 1848, for $150, and 150 acres same day to James McDowell for $150, partly in West Franklin township, in which is his sawmill on Long run. Matthew conveyed 5 acres of his parcel to Andrew Messenheimer, August 24, 1853, for $90; 13 acres and 150 perches to Abram Young, June 3, 1854, for $408, and 71 acres and 108

* Who by his will, dated June 28, 1879, registered April 24, 1880, de- vised to his sons Ross and William the western portion of the ori- ginal tract where was the old mansion-house in which his father had lived, and 40 aeres off the part on the east side of Glade run on which he, the testator, was then residing, which quantity he directed to be equally divided between them, and to his youngest son Andrew the rest of the farm on which he was living at the date of his will, and to his son John the 50 acres which he bought off the Leasure traet.

518

HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY.

perches to Van Buren Bowser and Samuel Stam- baugh, October 31, 1865, at $1,380.

Adjoining that Williby-McCall-McDowell tract on the north is the one surveyed by Gapen, deputy surveyor, to "David Bead," " 402.8" acres, a rec- tangular parallelogram, traversed from its north- eastern corner in a southerly meandering course by Long run, as it appears on the Gapen map, about one-fourth of which is in what is now West Franklin township, but on the other map, " Samuel Robinson," " 402ª," to which Robinson acquired an inchoate title by an early improvement and settle- ment, with 400 acres of which he was assessed in 1805 at $100, and the next year, with the land and 1 horse, at $115. He conveyed 150 acres, " includ- ing his improvement on the waters of Long run," to William McAdoo, December 21, 1812, for $100, which the latter conveyed to Conrad Helm, No- vember 18, 1814, for $300. A portion of this tract became invested in McCall to whom the patent was granted, October 2, 1833, and was included in the sale from his heirs to William F. Johnston, who conveyed 54 acres and 20 perches of it to Helm, who, by his will, dated April 5, 1862, and regis- tered April 7, 1864, devised the same and the parcel which he had purchased from McAdoo to his son George, to whom the two parcels, or the major part of them, still belong.

Adjoining that McCall-Robinson tract on the east is one not fully defined on the Gapen map, with the name of "Wm. Williby," but on the other a rectangular parallelogram, 3992 acres, with the name of "Wm. Cowan," who made an improve- ment and settlement on it, May 6, 1796, and to whom it was surveyed by Ross, deputy surveyor, June 14, 1802, which Jacob Mechling, sheriff, sold on judgment in favor of John Cowan, Sr., for $2,000 debt, and $9.41} costs, to whom he conveyed it, September 17, 1827, for $1,000, to whom the patent was granted August 24, 1829, who, by his will, dated May 24, and registered December 16, 1841, devised his mansion-house and 100 acres to his son-in-law, William Porterfield, which the latter conveyed to John Cowan, Jr., January 16, 1845, for $100, on which the latter opened his store. John Cowan, Sr., conveyed 53 acres and 30 perches to Philip Cowan, August 23, 1840, for $2, in a meadow of which was the frame schoolhouse, No. 9, of the Franklin district, in which John Cowan was the first teacher, and which was not so easily accessible as a temple of knowledge should be. The present schoolhouse is of brick and is on a more eligible site, on the west side of the public road from Kittanning to Middlesex. Philip Cowan conveyed this parcel, reserving that schoolhouse

lot (No. 9), to Nicholas Cloak, April 4, 1865, for $3,100.

John Cowan, Sr., conveyed 97 acres and 6 perches of the eastern or northeastern part of this tract to John Cowan, Jr., August 23, 1831, for $1, which he conveyed to William McClatchey, No- vember 20, 1848, for $1,600, along the eastern border of which he laid out the town of Middlesex, and 16 lots were surveyed by J. E. Meredith, May 15, 1849, each 18×4 rods, 8 on each side of the public road, called Main street, 60 feet wide, with a bearing north } degree west. Irwin street is of the same width with a bearing south 883 degrees west. The alleys are 163 feet wide, one of which intersects Main street between lots Nos. 5 and 6, and Nos. 12 and 13.

The Cowansville postoffice, John Cowan, post- master, was established here August 8, 1849.

The prices for which some of the lots in Middle- sex sold appear in the following conveyances: Mc- Clatchey to Samuel F. Crookshanks, lots Nos. 6 and 7, June 16, 1849, for $100; to William H. Foster, No. 4, April 1, 1851, for $50, and Foster to John T. Ehrenfeld, May 11, 1867, for $1,000; to A. H. McKee, April 3, 1855, No. 11 for $400; to Rev. David Hall, lots Nos. 21 and 22, November 9, 1864, for $1,175; to Charlotte Thompson, November 16, No. - , for $50; to Joseph Rumbaugh, November 17, Nos. 22, 24, for $55; to James Foreman, August 13, 1856, Nos. 2, 3, 12, for $2,500, which he con- veyed to Ignatius Dougan and Wm. H. H. Piper, September 5, 1858, for $-, and they to James T. Wilson, July 11, 1862, for $2,000; to A. H. McKee, No. 10, July 21, 1862, for $100.

The site of Middlesex and the circumjacent ter ritory very early became a prominent point by the organization of the Union Presbyterian church here by the Presbytery of Erie, in 1801, in this then so sparsely inhabited region (about one settler to every 640 acres) that many of the men, women and children who first attended its services had to travel from four to seven miles, and afoot for want of passable roads. Those people were generally well clothed, and the fashions were then so dura- ble that their articles of clothing were worn out before they were abandoned. Very little can be learned respecting the earliest membership of this church, save that the number was small, but they were zealons in their efforts to plant Presbyterian- ism in this part of the wilderness.

The first edifice, log, with chestnut pulpit and puneheon floor, must have been soon after erected on the five-acre parcel of land, within the limits of the 110 acres and 77 perches of the John Cowan tract, conveyed by him to Wm. Bell, and

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EAST FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP.

which after divers transfers now belongs to James H. Dickey, which John Cowan, Sr., probably gave to the church, to which it still belongs, and on which is the cemetery, at the eastern terminus of Irwin street. That edifice must have been erected in the latter part of 1801, or in the fore part of 1802, for Jacob Mechling, one of the commission- ers heretofore mentioned, who were appointed to examine sites for public buildings in this and some other counties," says in his diary, on Sunday, June 6, 1802: "Proceeded toward Butler county, 7 miles " (from Kittanning) "to Boyd's meeting- house-heard him preach." That was then called "Boyd's Upper Meeting-House," and was so called in a certain road petition as late as 1845. The cemetery on that five-acre parcel is nearly coeval with the church, and the first person buried in it was William McKee.

The presbytery met, June 16, 1802, within the bounds of Union congregation, and ordained and installed Rev. John Boyd as pastor .* He, modera- tor, and James Barr, Charles McClatchey, William Noble and Joseph Shields, elders, constituted the first session. During Mr. Boyd's pastorate, one- half time, nearly of eight years, till April 17, 1810, this church prospered. After he left, the pulpit was supplied for about a year by Rev. Robert Lee, and was thereafter vacant four years. The next pastor was Rev. John Redick, who, having been licensed by the Presbytery of Erie, at Mead- ville, October 20, 1813, was ordained and in- stalled by the same presbytery pastor of the Slate Lick and Union churches, September 28, 1815, at Slate Lick, which he served alternately until the autumn of 1848, when he resigned his charge on account of his infirmities, the membership of Union church having varied during his pastorate from 50 to 100. The annual salary paid him by each church was $150.

Rev. George Cairns was ordained and served as pastor of Union church about two years. After a vacancy of three years, Rev. David Hall, D. D., was ordained here, July 20, 1856, as pastor of both Union and the Brady's Bend churches, during whose pastorate the membership of Union church was from 100 to 150. He was dismissed at his own request in November, 1866. The vacancy con- tinued until July 1, 1868, when Rev. John M. Jones became the pastor, whole time. His pastorate closed October 1, 1873. Then ensued another vacancy until April 1, 1876, when the present pas- tor, Rev. W. J. Wilson, entered upon his pastoral duties, and was ordained here June 14, and became

the pastor also of the Midway church in Sugar Creek township, one-half time to each. The pres- ent number of members is 74 *; Sabbath-school scholars, 50. A weekly prayer-meeting and a woman's missionary society are also connected with this church. This church was incorporated by the decree of the court of common pleas of this county, June 7, 1871, as "the Union Presbyterian congre- gation of Middlesex, composed of the pew-holders of the Union Presbyterian Church."

The old log edifice continued to be used until about 1820, when a frame addition was annexed to its eastern end, making the length about 70 feet, with the pulpit on the south side. That edifice was crushed by a heavy fall of snow on the roof on New Year's night, 1840. A frame edifice, 60×40 feet, with a ceiling 12 feet high, was erect- ed the next summer, which cost $1,400. The con- gregation, realizing the necessity of a new edifice, prepared in the summer of 1873 for its erection on the lot fronting Main street on the west and Irwin street on the north, and adjoining the five-acre parcel on which the old ones were located, the same lot which McClatchey conveyed to William Fair, which, after several transfers, became vested in John Fair, who conveyed it to C. A. Foster, John and Thomas Leard, Thomas V. McKee, Will- iam Patton and William Wylie, trustees, February 3, 1873, for $330, on which a two-story frame edifice was afterward erected, which was burned February -, 1875. The present two-story frame one was erected on the same site the next summer, at a cost of $4,000, which was soon after dedicated by Rev. Thomas D. Ewing.

The second schoolhouse, a primitive log one, said to be the first in this part of East Franklin township, was situated a few rods west of the old log Union church edifice, near the line between the tracts surveyed to John and William Cowan, in which the first teacher was James Hannegan. Among the pupils who attended school there were Andrew Milliken and Philip Templeton. It was torn down by some persons to whom it was obnox- ious. Another log schoolhouse, in which a subscrip- tion school was taught, was erected on the Dickey parcel of the John Cowan tract, about thirty rods southeasterly from the preceding one, in which the teachers were Miss Martha Irwin, Robert Kirby, James McDowell and John Cowan. Among the surviving pupils that have come to the writer's knowledge is Mrs. Samuel Rumbaugh.

After Franklin township was districted under the present school system, the children of Middle- sex and vicinity attended the above-mentioned

* Vide Freeport, Kittanning borough.

* Vide South Buffalo.

* Afterward increased to 85.

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HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY.

school No. 9, in Philip Cowan's meadow, until the present brick house was erected near the Kittan- ning road.

Select schools in which the Greek and Latin languages and some of the higher English branches, besides the common ones, were taught, have been from time to time liberally patronized, of which Rev. William F. Ewing was one of the principals.

About seventy rods north of Middlesex, at the crossroads, is the Rich Hill United Presbyterian church, which was organized as an associate church about 1811, according to the recollection of some old residents, for the records were destroyed by the burning of the house in which they were kept. Its first pastor was Rev. John Dickey, a native of the county of Derry, Ireland, who was partly educated at Dublin, and partly at Glasgow, and who continued to be its pastor until his death, in 1849. The first heads of families belonging to this church were William Blaney, John Cowan, Archibald Dickey, Stewart Henry, Thomas Her- ron, Thomas Milliken, Robert Orr, Sr., John Y. Stewart, James Summerville, Philip Templeton, Sr., John Young, and others, whose names the writer has not ascertained, who occupied portions of an arca of about ten miles square. Its earliest members of session were Robert Orr, Sr., and Philip Templeton, Sr. Thomas Milliken and John Y. Stewart are known to have been chosen at the second election, and William Dickey and William McGarvey, at the third election, in 1836.

The second pastor was Rev. William Smith, who was ordained in 1849, and released in 1859. Mo- ses Dickey, James Henry, David McGarvey and John Templeton were chosen members of session at the fourth election, in 1851. The third pastor was Rev. Thomas M. Seaton, who was ordained in 1861 and released in 1870. John Cowan, James H. Dickey, Thomas Herron and George Pence were chosen members of session at the fifth election, in 1861, all of whom and William McGarvey, chosen at the third, and James Henry and John Temple- ton, chosen at the fourth election, still survive.

The present pastor, Rev. John L. Grone, was ordained in 1872.

The first religious services of this congregation were conducted by itinerant preachers in the barn of Philip Templeton, Sr. After awhile a tent was erected on the site of the present burying-ground, from which the minister spoke, the congregation being seated around on logs. The first church edifice, erected here in 1820, was of hewn logs, abont 32×28 feet, which was used until 1849, when the present frame one was erected. The largest membership of the Rich Hill elmurch was

109 in 1851. In 1876 it is 69; Sabbath-school scholars, 39.

The third schoolhouse in the immediate vicinity of what is now Middlesex, a primitive log one, was located near Rich Hill church, in the latter part of the second decade of this century, in which John Dickey was the first teacher. He was a theo- logical student, and returned to Ireland and be- came a preacher. The next teacher in this house was T. Stewart, during whose term of teaching it was crushed by some of the pupils mounting the roof. James Spear afterward opened a school in the Union Presbyterian church. The next school- house hereabouts was the one heretofore men- tioned, near the spring on the Dickey parcel of the John Cowan tract.

The Rich Hill United Presbyterian church edi- fice is situated on the southern part of the tract for which a patent was granted to David Johnston, February 4, 1815, who conveyed 101 acres and 140 perches of it, mostly in what is now Sugar Creek township, to Rev. John Dickey, December 6, for $335, of which the latter gave to the congregation the lot used for church purposes.

Mrs. Nancy Cowan by her will, dated May 29 and registered July 24, 1872, bequeathed $50 to this church.

The population of Franklin township, in 1840, was 1,713. In 1850 : white, 2,405 ; colored, 5. In 1860 : white, 2,877; colored, 10.

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History of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Part 109

Author: Smith, Robert Walter Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Chicago : Waterman, Watkins Number of Pages: 790

Author: Smith, Robert Walter
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago : Waterman, Watkins
Number of Pages: 790