History of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Part 23

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

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above its mouth, by lumbermen and others who descended the Allegheny river. It was declared a public highway from its mouth to the second fork by the act of March 21, 1798. Two hundred dollars were appropriated by act of March 24, 1817, for improving it. Thomas R. Peters and his heirs were authorized by act of April 2, 1822, to erect and forever maintain a dam or dyke across it near Turkey run. In the last mentioned act it is called "Toby's creek, or Clarion river," and that is the first act in which it is designated by the latter name, which it must have received before the last-mentioned year, but not, as some suppose, by legislative enactment. After careful inquiry, the writer is persuaded that this change of name originated in the suggestion of the late David Lawson.

SUBDIVISIONS OF THE ORIGINAL TOWNSHIPS.

The act of March 24, 1803, authorized the courts of quarter sessions of the several counties of this state to erect new townships, divide any township already erected, or to alter the lines of any two or more adjoining townships so as to suit the inhabit- ants thereof, upon application made to them by petition, upon which they were required to appoint three impartial men, if necessary, to inquire into the propriety of granting the prayer of the petitioners, whose duty was to make a plot or draft of the township proposed to be altered, or to change the lines of any two or more adjoining townships, as the case might be, if the same could not be fully designated by natural lines and boundaries, all of which they, or any two of them, were to report to the next court of quarter sessions, together with their opinion of the same, and at the next court after that to which the report was to be made, the court should confirm or set aside the same as to them should seem just and reasonable.

The petition of sundry inhabitants of Arm- strong county was presented to the proper court at December sessions, 1805, setting forth that the then townships were too extensive for the perform- ance of the duties of the township officers ; that the petitioners experienced great inconvenience from the township divisions, and praying the court to appoint proper persons to divide the county into several townships, so as to suit the convenience of the inhabitants. Whereupon the court appointed Robert Beatty, John Corbett and John McDowell for that purpose, who were required to report to the then next, or March, Court of Quarter Sessions. The presentation. of their report having been continued at the March and June sessions, was made at September sessions,

105

TOWNSHIP DIVISION AND ORGANIZATION.

1806, in which they expressed the opinion that the county ought to be divided into six townships, as designated in the accompanying plot or draft :

" No. 1, Toby township, beginning at Bucanon's most eastern district line"-4º 18,48' west longi- tude from Philadelphia-"where the same crosses Toby's creek ; thence south by said line to where the same crosses Mahoning creek, thence down said creek to the mouth on Allegheny river, thence up said river to the mouth of Toby's creek, thence up said creek to the place of beginning." Erected into a separate election district and general elec- tions directed to be held at the house then occupied by Thos. McKibbins, by act of April 11, 1807, about four miles east of Parker's Landing.

" No. 2, Red Bank township, beginning on the aforesaid district line on Toby's creek, thence by the said line of Toby township to the Mahoning creek, thence up said creek to the line of Indiana county, thence north by said county line and the line of Jefferson county to Toby's creek, thence down said creek to the place of beginning." Erected into a separate election district and elec- tions directed to be held at the house then occu- pied by Samuel C. Orr. Act of April 11, 1807.

A glance at a township map will show that all the present townships between Clarion river and Red Bank creek, in Clarion county, have descended, so to speak, primarily from Toby township and secondarily from Toby and Red Bank townships.

" No. 3, Kittanning township, beginning at the mouth of Mahoning creek, on the Allegheny river, thence up said creek to the line of Indiana county, thence by the line of said county south to the old purchase line (of 1768), from thence along the line of said county to a small run, a branch of Crooked creek, thence down said run to the mouth putting into Crooked creek, the first run above the brest of Esquire Clark's mill-dam"-now owned by Townsend & Bro .- "thence down said creek to

the mouth on the Allegheny river, thence up said river to the place of beginning." Erected into a separate election district and general elections directed to be held at the commissioner's office in the town of Kittanning. Act of April 11, 1807.

" No. 4, Allegheny township, beginning at the mouth of Crooked creek, thence down the Alle- gheny river to the month of Kiskiminetas river, thence up said river to the county line, thence along said line to the above run, the line of Kittan- ning township, thence along said line to the place of beginning." Erected into a separate election district and general elections directed to be held at the house then occupied by Solomon Shoemaker. Act of April 11, 1807. Place of election changed to house of Eliab Eakman by act of March 29, 1813.

"No. 5, Buffalo township, beginning at the mouth of the Buffalo creek, thence up the Allegheny river to the mouth of Limestone run, thence west to the line of Armstrong county, thence along said line to the line of Buffalo township, thence along said line to the place of beginning." By act of April 11, 1807, this township was erected into an election district, and the place of holding elections fixed at Jacob Young's.

" No. 6, Sugar Creek township, beginning at the mouth of Limestone run, on the Allegheny river, thence up said river to the line of Armstrong county "-the northwest corner of the county- " thence along said line to the line of Buffalo town- ship, thence east along said line to the place of beginning." By act of April 11, 1807, this town- ship was erected into an election district, the elec- tions to be held at the house then occupied by Jost Weiles.

The report of the viewers, or commissioners, recommending the foregoing divisions and organi- zations of townships, was confirmed by the court September 18, 1806.

CHAPTER IV.

THE BOROUGH OF KITTANNING.

Origin of the Name- White Prisoners Among the Indians-Savage Torture-Early Mention of the Town Site- Robert Brown, the Watsons, James Claypoole, Patrick Daugherty, Andrew Hunter, and Other Pio- neer Settlers-The Town Platted -Sale of Lots- A Glimpse of the Village in 1804-The First Mer- chants, Lawyers, Physicians and Inn-Keepers-Some Reminiscences of the War of 1812-A Groundless Alarm-The Postoffice-The Village in 1820-Corporate History-Security Against Fires-The Streets- Public Improvements - Wharfing the River Bank -Crossing the Allegheny - Ferries and Bridges -First Steamboat Arrivals- River Improvement Convention -Some Old-Time Fourth of July Celebrations - Other and Later Notable Events-Tornadoes, Floods, Ice Gorges and Fires-The Churches of Kittan- ning -Public Schools- Academy-Universitv-College -Public Library -Literary and Dramatic Socie- ties-Lecture Courses-Temperance Societies-Secret and Benevolent Organizations- Independent Mili- tary Company -Bands-Boat Clubs-Manufacturing, Early and Late -Banking-Insurance -Gas and Water Works-Mercantile Matters-The Professions-Public Buildings-Cemeteries-The Town in 1876- Statistics-Geology of the Locality - Mineral Springs.

K ITTANNING is a word of Indian origin, and is significant. The writer's authority for the meaning of this and most of the other hereinafter mentioned Indian names in Armstrong county is Rev. John Heckewelder .* He says: "Kit- tanning is corrupted from Kit-hun-ne, in Munsi Delaware Gicht-han-ne, signifying the main stream, i.e. in its region of country. Kit-han-ne is perpetu- ated in Kittanning, corrupted from Kit-han-nink, signifying at or on the main stream, i.e. the town ut or on the main stream. He also says: We indeed have the word " Kittanning " on our maps for a particular spot on the Allegheny river, whereas the true meaning of the word, which should be written Kit-han-nink, denotes the river itself. He gives its etymology thus: Kitschi, superior, greatest, and han-ne, which denotes flowing water, or a stream of flowing water. The late Rev. W. C. . Reichel, who was very familiar with the Indian languages, in one of his papers says: " Among themselves the Indians always called the river Kit-han-ne. *

* Only when conversing with traders or white travelers to whom the word was familiar, in naming the river in question, would the Indians call it the Ohio."

* Heckwelder was a Moravian missionary among the Lenni Lenape or Delaware and other Indians, chiefly those in Pennsylvania, from 1762 until 1814, during which period he traveled about twenty-six thousand miles. He is undoubtedly reliable authority, judging from the mention made of him in one of works in the Philosophical Department of the Historical Society of this state. Henry R. School- craft, who was well versed in Indian customs and languages, says: " The inquiries into the Indian languages under the directions of Mr. Ileckewelder evinee more severity of research than had before his time been bestowed upon the subject." Schoolcraft's kinsman. Francis W. Sherman, who was one of the writer's class and room - mates at Hamilton College, informed the writer that his distinguished relative was partly, on his mother's side, of Indian extraction. Sherman could, as he did on one occasion in the presence of his class, make an impressive speech in the Oneida language, with which he had become familiar in his boyhood. Hence, the writer thinks that Heckewelder may safely be taken as reliable authority for the etymology and meaning of words in the Lenni Lenape lan- guage.

Thus the common idea that Kittanning means cornfield is exploded. The etymology of the word does not indicate that such is its meaning. Accord- ing to the glossary of words used by the Delaware and Shawanee Indians, made by Major Denny at Fort McIntosh, January, 1785, musquern means corn ; and according to the one made by him at Fort Finney, Jannary, 1786, the meanings of the words in which were chiefly obtained by him from the " Grenadier Squaw," the Indian word tommey also means corn. It is manifest that the word Kittanning has not originated from either of these words.

" The Kittanning" was, as already intimated, an important point, having been the base of opera- tions by the French and Indians against the fron- tier settlements. In Washington's letter to Gov. Hamilton, written in the latter part of April, 1754, he said: " It is with the greatest concern I acquaint you that Mr. Ward, Ensign in Capt. Trent's com- pany, was compelled to surrender his small fort in the forks of Mohongialo to the French on the 17th inst., who fell down from Weningo"-as Venango was formerly called-" with a fleet of three hun- dred and sixty battoes and canoes, with upward of one thousand men and eighteen pieces of artil- lery, which they planted against the fort," etc. It may not be a violent presumption that, if the diary or journal of the commander or someone else of that French force could be had, it would show the landing of that fleet, in its descent down the Alle- gheny, at Kittanning, or at least the salutations with which it was greeted by the then dusky inhabitants of this ancient town, which was the Delawares' chief town from 1727 and 1729 until

107

THE BOROUGH OF KITTANNING.

1756, and which had been frequented by white traders from the East until 1749, when the French expedition, under the command of Louis Celeron, descended that stream.

WHITE PRISONERS AMONG THE INDIANS.

This, too, was one of the prominent places where English prisoners were confined. One of the first, if not the very first, of them brought here was James Smith, mentioned by James Burd, commis- sioner of the roads, in his letter to Gov. Morris, dated "From the Allegheny mountains, 5th July, 1755," where the force then employed in opening the road from Fort Loudon to the three forks of the Youghiogheny, where it intersected Braddock's road, had then arrived. Smith was captured and a companion killed in this vicinity by the Indians. The former was taken to Fort Du Quesne, where he figures in Charles McKnight's historical novel, "Old Fort Du Quesne, or Captain Jack the Scout," as the companion of Lord Talbot, who is also represented as confined there, having been captured in Brad- dock's defeat. Smith, on his arrival at the fort, was compelled to run the gauntlet. Shortly after- ward, as he relates in his narrative, he was taken by some Delaware Indians, who had determined to spare his life, in a canoe up the Allegheny to an Indian town about forty miles distant, on the north side of the river, which must have been the Indian town, or villages as they were called, of Kittan- ning, where he remained several weeks.

At a council, held at Philadelphia, Tuesday, Sep- tember 6, 1756, the statement of John Coxe, a son of the widow Coxe, was made, the substance of which is: He, his brother Richard and John Craig were taken in the beginning of February of that year by nine Delaware Indians from a plantation two miles from McDowell's mill, which was be- tween the east and west branches of the Conoco- cheague creek, about twenty miles west of the present site of Shippensburgh, in what is now Franklin county, and brought to Kittanning "on the Ohio." On his way hither he met Shingas with a party of thirty men, and afterward with Capt. Jacobs and fifteen men, whose design was to destroy the settlements in Conogchege. When he arrived at Kittanning he saw here about one hun- dred fighting men of the Delaware tribe, with their families, and about fifty English prisoners, consisting of men, women and children. During his stay here Shingas' and Jacobs' parties returned, the one with nine scalps and ten prisoners, the other with several scalps and five prisoners. An- other company of eighteen came from Diahogo

with seventeen scalps on a pole, which they took to Fort Du Quesne to obtain their reward. The warriors held a council, which, with their war dances, continued a week, when Capt. Jacobs left with forty-eight men, intending, as Coxe was told, to fall upon the inhabitants of Paxton. He heard the Indians freqently say that they intended to kill all the white folks, except a few, with whom they would afterward make peace. They made an example of Paul Broadley, whom, with their usual cruelty, they beat for half an hour with clubs and tomahawks, and then, having fastened him to a post, cropped his ears close to his head and chopped off his fingers, calling all the prisoners to witness the horrible scene.

Among other English prisoners brought to Kit- tanning were George Woods, father-in-law of the eminent lawyer, James Ross (deceased), and the wife and daughter of John Grey, who were captured at Bigham's Fort, in the Tuscarora Valley, in 1756. Mr. Grey came out here with Armstrong's expedition, hoping to hear from his family. These three prisoners were sent from Kittanning to Fort Du Quesne, and subsequently to Canada.

Fort Granville, which was situated on the Juniata, one mile above Lewistown, was besieged by the Indians July 30, 1756. The force then in it consisted of twenty-four men under the com- mand of Lieut. Armstrong, who was killed during the siege. The Indians having offered quarter to to those in the fort, a man by the name of John Turner immediately opened the gate to them. He and the others, including three women and several children, were taken prisoners. By order of the French commander the fort was burned by Capt. Jacobs. When the Indians and prisoners reached Kittanning, Turner was tied to a black post, the Indians danced around him, made a great fire, and his body was run through with red-hot gun-barrels. Having tormented him for three hours, the Indians scalped him alive, and finally held up a boy, who gave him the finishing stroke with a hatchet .*

Such were a few of the terrible enactments of which Kittanning was the scene in the eighteenth century.

The writer has not learned the exact locality of that " black post," or whether it was in the upper, central or lower one of the three villages, as the separate clusters of the forty houses were called, and which were located on the bench now between McKean street and Grant avenue-two of the villages having been above and one below Market street. Between these villages and the river was

* Gordon's History of Pennsylvania.

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HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY.

an extensive cornfield. William M. Darlington, in a communication to the writer, says : " Respect- ing the Indian villages of Kittanning, I have some- where seen the narrative of a white prisoner, who mentions the villages as the upper, middle and lower. They were not far apart, and all on the river bottom where Kittanning now stands."

Tradition says that "black post " was at the mouth of Truby's run, which was formerly sev- eral rods lower down than it is now.

Thomas Girty, mentioned in the list of prison- ers rescued by Col. Armstrong, was a brother of Simon, George and James Girty. He is said to have been the only one of them who returned to civilized life after they were captured by the Indi- ans. He became one of Capt. Sam Brady's spies in the Indian wars after the Revolution.

Kittanning was a notable point in the boundary line, established between the Northern Colonies and the Indians, at the treaty held by Sir William Johnson at Fort Stanwix (near what is now Rome, New York), November 5, 1768, known as the pur- chase line of that year .*

The line between those two purchases divides this borough into nearly equal portions. Its bear- ing from, at or near the mouth of Truby's run to the nearest fork of the west branch of the Susque- hanna river is south 79° east.

Major Ebenezer Denny, in that part of his mil- tary journal relating to the return of Gen. Harmar, himself and others from Fort Franklin-Venango county-whither they had gone to inspect the fortification there, for erecting which Capt. Heart had been ordered, April 10, 1787, to proceed from Fort Harmar, at the mouth of the Muskingum, says of the lower Allegheny: "Some very beautiful situations and tracts, indeed ; old Kittanning a delightful one." They made their down trip from Fort Franklin to the fort on the Monongahela- from Franklin to Pittsburgh-in fifteen hours, the "Allegheny river flowing brimful "-May 4, 1788.

Robert Brown first came with some hunters to Kittanning in 1798, and settled here soon after. About that time William-father of ex-Sheriff Watson-John, James and Robert Watson made a tour of observation along Cowanshannock and Crooked creeks, and the Allegheny river. They then saw vestiges of the Indian cornhills on the site of the present borough of Kittanning. They desired to buy either a part or the whole of the tract embraced in the Armstrong purchase. They wrote to the then owners in relation thereto, but, the organization of this county having then begun

to be agitated, they could not purchase any portion of it.

EARLIEST SETTLERS.

In the spring or summer of 1791, James Clay- poole, as related to the writer by one of his grandsons, with his wife and six children, settled near the mouth of Truby's Run. He built a log cabin at what is now the northwest corner of Arch and Water streets, on lot No. 75, now owned by Miss Kittie S. Craig," and resided there until he noticed, one day the next spring, that his horses ran past as horses do when they are very much frightened. He inquired of a peaceable, friendly Indian whose cabin was in the rear of his own, what that frightening of the horses meant? The Indian mounted a high stump, and looked around in every direction, and then asked : "Can you go home?" Claypoole, fearing that danger from the approach of Indians was imminent, hurriedly pre- pared a raft from the dead timber standing in the bottom, on which he and all of his family, except two of the boys, descended the river to Pittsburgh, where they resided a short time, and removed thence to his former residence on the Monongahela, nearly opposite Turtle Creek. His sons, John and Jehu, drove his two horses and two or three cows by land down the east side of the river to Pittsburgh.

The next earliest settlers appear to have been Patrick Dougherty, who lived a short distance below, and Andrew Hunter, who lived a short distance above, the present borough limits. The site of the latter's house was washed away years ago by the freshets and occasional floods.

THE TOWN PLATTED-SALE OF LOTS.

The town of Kittanning having been laid out in 1803, its lots were surveyed and a draft of them made by the late Judge Ross, who was then deputy surveyor general for this county, and were soon after offered for sale at public outcry, at the house of James Sloan, on the west side of the Allegheny river, nearly a mile below the present bridge across that river, which was then the only tavern in this region. The first stake in the first lot laid out was driven, the writer is informed, by the above-mentioned Robert Brown. The highest and best prices bidden for these lots varied con- siderably, according to their locations in different parts of the town. For instance, in-lot No. 14, being the fourth lot below High, on the west side of Jefferson street, brought $10.50; No. 1, corner of High and Water streets, the present site of St. Mary's church, $28 ; No. 45, the third above Arch,

" See note at close of chapter, which contains a full account of the treaty by which this line was established.

* Since married to Melchin B. Chaplin.

Robert By

109

THE BOROUGH OF KITTANNING.

east side of Jefferson street, $18; No. 125, corner of Market and Water streets, Eagle House, $280 ; No. 121, corner of Market and Jefferson streets, Reynolds House, 8294; No. 123, northeast corner of Market and MeKean streets, on which and the adjacent lots was the body of the old Indian town destroyed by Gen. Armstrong and his force, $100 ; No. 152, third above Jacob, on the west side of Jefferson street, $72; No. 163, northwest corner of Jacob and Water streets, $106; No. 207, second above Mulberry, east side of Jefferson street, $15 ; No. 211, northwest corner of Water and Mulberry streets, $80; No. 248, northeast corner of Walnut and Mckean streets, $71.123; No. 119, second above Market, west side of Mckean street, $9.25 ; No. 84, corner Arch and Mckean, $34. Out-lots, No. 5, $37; Nos. 13 and 15, each, $34; No. 19, $27; No. 25, $31. The out-lots varied in extent, the largest being 2 acres, 17% perches, and the smallest, 1 acre, 1316 perches.

A GLIMPSE OF THE VILLAGE THROUGH THE ASSESSMENT LIST OF 1804.

From a part-the other part has been detached and lost-of the assessment list of persons and occupations, the first after the town was laid out, of such as were then taxable and residing in the town, which was then in Allegheny and Toby townships, dated December 21, 1804, Joseph Clark, assessor, and James Gaff and Isaac Town- send, assistant assessors, for Allegheny township- from the preserved part of that list, it appears thus : James Guthrie, joiner, trade valued at $10, horse 1, cattle 1-total valuation, $25. William Hannegan, tailor, $10, lot No. 125, present site of St. Paul's Church, $16, cattle 2-total, $36. James Hannegan,* hatter, $10. James Henry, lot No. 232, $5, horses 4, cattle 1-total, $50. Daniel Lemmon, single man, whose son Thomas is the oldest man now living who was born here. Joseph Miller, storekeeper, $40, horse 1, cattle 1-total, $55 ; Bernard Mahan, shoemaker, $5. Alexr. Moor, lot No. 25, $10, horse 1, cattle 1-total, $25. James McElhenny, wheelwright, $10, lot No. 90, $18- total, $28. Samuel Miller, shoemaker, $5. James McClurg, storekeeper, $40, lot No. 45, $10 -- total, $50. Samuel Massey, attorney at law, $25. Michael Mechling, lot No. 120, $22, horse 1, cattle 3-total, between $40 and $50-the last figure in the total torn off. James Pinks, joiner, $10. Abraham Parkinson, mason, $10. David Reynolds, store- keeper, $40, lot No. 221, $22, horse 1, cattle 2- total, $77. William Reynolds, single man, tanner, $10. Col. James Sloan, single man. John Shaeffer,

joiner, $10, lot No. 173, $22-total, $32. Dewalt Shaeffer, rough carpenter, $5. Erastus Sands, joiner, $10, lot No. 220, $6-total, $16. John Thomas (mulatto), shoemaker, $5. That list con- tained the names of taxables living on both sides of the Purchase line. It appears from other sources, that David Crawford was the first black- smith, having settled in Kittanning in 1805. His son David is the first white male born and raised here, who is still living. James Monteith, Samuel Houston, and Robert Robinson were the next earliest merchants, who commenced business about 1806-8, and were, in common with nearly all the Kittanning merchants until the present time, safe, solvent, and successful business men.

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History of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Part 23

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