History of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Part 33

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

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Since the close of the war of the rebellion the comely and grateful custom of strewing the soldiers' graves in those cemeteries with flowers has been annually observed, on some occasions by large multitudes of people of this borough and vicinity, and by appropriate and patriotic addresses on decoration day, which by act of assembly has been made a legal holiday.

THE TOWN IN 1876.

The number of public buildings, dwelling and business houses this centennial year is estimated at 530, a large portion of which are substantial brick edifices, a respectable number of which, as well as some frame ones, are elegant and costly.

The mercantile appraiser's list shows the num- ber of wholesale and retail dealers for this year to be fifty-seven, viz .: In the 14th class, 41; 13th class, 8; 12th class, 3; 11th class, 3; 4th class, 1. One of those in the Sth class was exonerated froni paying license because he had not been en- gaged in the mercantile business since the 1st of May

Population-In 1810, 309; in 1820, 318; in 1830, 526; in 1840, 702; in 1850, 1561; in 1860, 1696; in 1870, 1889. The number of taxables in 1876 is 580, which, at the rate 43 persons to a taxable, makes the present population 2,628. The number of the different kinds of mechanics is adequate to

153

THE BOROUGH OF KITTANNING.

the wants of the community. There are 9 licensed hotels. One of the stores does a large wholesale as well as retail business. The mode of transact- ing business, as in many other Pennsylvania towns, is quiet. The amount thus done here would make far more show and bustle in places of equal or even of less size in some other states.

GEOLOGY OF THE LOCALITY -MINERAL SPRINGS.

Ferriferous limestone of a gray or blue color, 14 to 16 feet thick, not containing many fossils, un- derlies this borough. Its fragments cover the river banks; it sinks under water level below the south- erly limit of the borough. It is seen on Mr. Rey- nolds' farm, one mile north, where the Kittanning coal is twenty feet above it. On the Nulton land, north of the court-house, it is four feet thick, and is divided by a thin slate about one foot from the top; a short distance south, it is from two to two and a half feet thick, and below the rolling-mill two feet and ten inches thick, whence it gradually sinks beneath the river-level.

The strata, compiled from around Kittanning, indicate as follows, descending, i. e., from the sur- face of the high ground to the river-level:

Slaty sandstone, 35; red and variegated shales, l5 feet; brown shales and argillaceous sand- stone, with nodules of iron ore and bands of aranaceous limestone, 45 feet; limestone, blne, black, sandy, 12 inches; coal, not always present, 6 to 9 inches; olive shales and slaty sandstones, 25 feet ; brown shales, 25 feet ; upper Freeport coal, 3 feet; blue, compact shale, 10 to 15 feet; Freeport limestone, 5 to 6 feet; shale and sand- stone, 30 feet ; lower Freeport coal, 4 feet, sometimes thinned away; brown and black shales, 25 to 30 feet; coal, 6 to 15 inches; fine clay and shales, 25 feet; iron ore; ferriferous limestone, 12 to 14 feet .*

The forgoing features are to be taken in connec- tion with such as are presented in the sketches of Manor, Valley, and East Franklin townships.

The passing remark may here be made, that as that part of the report of the second geological survey of Pennsylvania relating to this county, under the charge of Prof. Lesley, has not yet be- come accessible, the writer is limited, in presenting the geological features of this and other portions of this county, to the able and extensive report of the first geological survey of our state, under the charge of the late Prof. Rogers, and to such devel- opments as have casually and more recently oc- curred.

While Anderson and Marshall were excavating a

* Rogers' Geology of Pennsylvania.

piece of ground for a foundry, in June, 1876, next below outlot No. 27, on the upper side of Grant avenue, below and opposite the head of Jacob street, they developed a ten-inch vein of excellent iron ore, a stratum, several feet thick, of blue lime- stone of a superior quality, and a mineral spring .* The water of this spring is agreeably cool and very clear, except when some vis a tergo forces it up more rapidly and copiously than usual through divers apertures in the bed of the spring, when the sediment is disturbed and the water is temporarily roiled. Analyses of that water by able and experienced chemists and the opinions of learned physicians clearly indicate that it contains valuable medicinal properties. The following are the analyses:

1. By Drs. David and Myron H. Alter, of Free- port, this county :

"Reaction slightly acid ; gravity, 1.002.

"Sulphate of lime in one pint . 15 grains.

" Sulphate of magnesia in one pint 1

" Carbonate of iron in one pint. 4 66

" Substances not determined in one pint .. 1

" The proportion of iron in this water being greater than in that of the Bedford Springs, it is therefore a bet- ter chalybeate-the Bedford containing only 1} grains in a pint. The gas being held in solution by carbonic acid renders it a most valuable tonic-a grain of it being equal to at least ten grains as found in the shops."

2. By Dr. F. A. Genth, chemist of the Geologi- cal Survey of this state, and professor of chemistry in the University of Pennsylvania, in accordance with the request of Prof. Lesley, chief geologist :

"Calculated in grains for one gallon of 231 cubic inches :

"Sulphate of alumina. 1.52753

" ferrous oxide. 24.49271

" magnesia. 26.84937

" lime 65.12190

" soda 8.72585

" potash

.90762

Phosphate of lime.

.11036

Bicarbonate of lime

16.05445

Bicarbonate of manganese 24629

Chloride of sodium. .64741

Silicic acid . 1.17201

145.85460

Prof. Genth's is manifestly a very elaborate and minute analysis, such as can only be made by so extensive and complete an apparatus as there is in that university. Both analyses show that the water of this spring contains an unusually large percentage of iron and magnesia, which, combined with other ingredients, make it a valnable " altera- tive and tonic,"t effective in removing " gastric troubles cansed by indigestion," and in curing those

* This spring is really in Manor township.

f Dr. J. G. Cunningham.

154

HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY.

complaints " arising from an impoverished condi- tion of the blood,"" as intimated by some of our resident physicians.

It is noticeable that a pint of this water contains, by Dr. Alter's analysis, four grains of iron, and a gallon of it, by Prof. Genth's, 24.49271 grains, denominated by the former " carbonate of iron," and by the latter "sulphate of ferrous oxide." Whether the iron ingredient is a carbonate or a sulphate, it is manifestly very large-much larger than in any other known spring in the world. A gallon of the Ballston Spa, New York, contains of iron 5.95 grains ; Lebanon Springs, New York, 3.25 grains ; Congress Springs, Saratoga, 5.075 grains ; Pavilion Spring, Saratoga, 3.51 grains ; Capon Spring No. 1, West Virginia, .041 grains : Capon Spring No. 2, West Virginia, .052 grains : Buffalo Lithia Spring No. 1, Virginia, .500 grains; Buffalo Lithia Spring No. 2, Virginia, .300 grains ; Buffalo Lithia Spring No. 3, Virginia, 3.774 grains.

One of the merits justly claimed for the waters of those springs is that they are tonic. Such is the deliberate conviction and candid opinion of learned and experienced physicians who have carefully studied their medicinal properties and observed their effects. Granted that they are tonic, it must be granted that the water of the Kittanning spring is, a fortiori, tonic. An Eastern physician + of close observation and several years' successful practice, in a letter to the present writer, says after examining the analyses of the last-mentioned spring : "I have by me analyses of all the springs of any note in the world. It [the Kittanning spring] is by far the richest in iron, magnesia, lime sulphates, lime bicarbonates and phosphate of lime of any other mineral spring of which we have any analysis. ** * This one in your place exceeds them all for the tonie properties which the water contains. * The effect of the water pre- pared in nature's laboratory is much more effica- cious than that prepared by art. * * * In all eases where a tonic, alterative and exhilarating effect is needed I think you have just the water to produce this."

An eminent physician,¿ in an article respecting the medicinal properties of the water of the Buf- falo Lithia Springs, of Mecklenburg county, Vir- ginia, in the Virginia Medical Monthly, says : "It may be said, however, of all mineral spring waters, that analysis can never reveal the combinations upon which their efficacy depends ; in fact, the very process of analysis may break up combina-

tions formed in the laboratory of nature, which the best skill of the chemist can never detect, and which may impart to them their most valuable properties."

About thirty-five yards from that spring is an- other, which was covered four or five feet deep while excavating as above mentioned, the water of which is quite acid, which, mixed with sugar, made a drink tasting like lemonade. It probably contains sulphuric acid in solution.

The elevation or level above the Atlantic ocean, at the top of the curbstone, northwest corner of Market street and Grant avenue, is 809.94 feet .- (Pennsylvania Second Geological Survey, N.)

THE PURCHASE OF 1768.

No. XLI of London Documents, published soon after the making of the treaty of 1768, contains the entire deed then executed, establishing the boun- dary or purchase line. Various good and pruden- tial reasons and considerations are given in the preamble or recitals why such a line should be established. The grantors in that deed were the Sachems and chiefs of the Six Confederate Nations, and of the Shawaneese, Delawares, Mingoes of Ohio, and other dependent tribes. The grant, con- sideration and boundaries are in these words:

"Now, therefore, know ye, that we, the Sachems and chiefs aforementioned, native Indians or pro- prietors of the lands hereinafter described, for and in behalf of ourselves and the whole of our con- federacy, for the considerations hereinbefore men- tioned, and also for and in consideration of a valuable present of the several articles in use amongst Indians which, together with a large sum of money, amount in the whole to the sum of ten thousand four hundred and sixty pounds seven shillings and threepence sterling, to us now deliv- ered and paid by Sir William Johnson, Baronet, His Majesty's sole agent and superintendent of Indian affairs for the northern department of America, in the name and on behalf of our sovereign Lord George the Third, by the grace of God," etc., "the receipt whereof we do hereby acknowledge: We, the said Indians, have, for us and our heirs and successors, granted, bargained, sold, released and confirmed, and by these presents do grant, bargain, sell, release, and confirm unto our said sovereign Lord King George the Third all that traet of land situate in North America, at the back of the British settlements, bounded by a line which we have now agreed upon and do hereby establish as the boundary between us and the British colo- nies in America, beginning at the mouth of Chero- kee or Hogohege (Tennessee) river, where it emp-

* Dr. W. H. Stewart.

+ Dr. D. E. Smith, New York.

į Dr. M. H. Houston, Virginia.

155

THE BOROUGH OF KITTANNING.

ties into the river Ohio, and running from thence upward along the south side of said river to Kit- tunning, which is above Fort Pitt, from thence by a direct line to the nearest fork of the west branch of the Susquehanna, thence through the Allegany mountains along the south side of the said west branch until it comes opposite to the month of a creek called Tiadaghton,* thence across the west branch along the south side of that creek and along the north side of Burnett's Hills to a creek called Awandae, thence down the same to the east branch of Susquehanna and across the same and up the east side of that river to Oswegy (Owego), from thence to Delaware river and up that river to opposite where Tianaderha falls into Susquehanna, thence to Tianaderha and up the west side of the west branch to the head thereof, and thence by a direct line to Canada creek, where it empties into the Wood creek at the west of the carrying-place beyond Fort Stanwix, and extending eastward from every part of the said line as far as the lands for- merly purchased, so as to comprehend the whole of the lands between the said line and the pur- chased lands or settlements, except what is in the Province of Pennsylvania, together with all the hereditaments and appurtenances to the same be- longing," etc. It was sealed and delivered, and the consideration paid in the presence of William Franklin, governor of New Jersey, Frederick Smith, chief justice of New Jersey, Thomas Walker, commissioner of Virginia, Richard Peters and James Tilghman, of the council of Pennsylva-

* It was questionable for several years after that treaty, whether Tladaghton was Pine creek, now in Tioga county, or Lycoming creek, the next considerable branch of the Susquehanna to the east- ward. While there was doubt as to which of those two streams was meant, it was not prudent for settlers to occupy west of the latter creek. That vexed question ought to have been settled in the nego- tiations between the Pennsylvania commissioners for treating with the Indians and the six confederated tribes of Indians, effected at Sunbury, Pennsylvania, October 23, 1784, when Capt. Aaron Hill, on behalf of the Six Nations, declared to the commissioners: "With regard to the creek called Teadaghton, mentioned in your deed of 1768, we have already answered you and again repeat it, it is the same you call Pine creek, being the largest emptying into the west branch of the Susquehanna," which declaration Samuel Kirkland, missionary, aud James Dean, interpreter, certified as having been made by Hill on that day. (Pennsylvania Archives.) It is stated in 2d Smith's Laws, page 195, that the Indians declared at Fort Stanwix, in October, 1784, that Pine creek was meant by Tiadaghton, which is recognized as the boundary in the Indian deeds of October, 1784, aud January, 1785. Nevertheless the act of December 21, 1784, rescinded the powers given to those commissioners, and maintained the view taken by the proprietaries that Lycoming creek was the boundary line in the purchase of 1768, so that settlements on land between those two streams were unlawful. That act, however, de- clared that those who had made actual settlement there prior to 1780, and had made an application and tender of purchase money prior to November 1, 1785, on account of "their resolute stand and sufferings during the late war," should be allowed the right of pre- empting tracts, respectively, of not more than three hundred aeres, that is, not a greater quantity than that in any one tract. Those pro- visions of course ended the exercise of the functions of the fair play men, who were a self-constituted tribunal, established in that doubt- ful district to decide all controversies and disputed boundaries, from whose " decision no appeal was allowed, and it was enforced by the whole body, who rose up en masse on the mandate of the court to carry their decree into execution."

nią. It was executed at Fort Stanwix November 5, 1768, in the presence of Sir William Johnston by Tyorhansere als Abraham for the Mohawks, Canaghaguieson for the Oneidas, Segnareesera for the Tuscaroras, Otsinoghiyata als Bunt for the Onondagas, Tegarria for the Cayugas, Guastrax for the Senecas.

Among other descriptions of the Purchase Line of 1768 is the following, by Chief Justice Agnew, in Poor vs. McClure, 77 Pa. St. Reports, p. 218: " Part of the western and southwestern boundary lines are thus described in the treaty of 1768: 'To the said west branch of the Susquehanna, then crossing the said river and running up the same on the south side thereof to a fork [canoe-place on the old and Cherry Tree on the recent maps] which lies nearest to a place on the Ohio [Allegheny] called the Kittanning, and from said fork in a straight line to Kittanning aforesaid, and then down the said river Onio by the several courses thereof to where the western boundary of said Province crosses the same river, and then with the said western bounds to the south boundary thereof, and with the south boundary thereof to the east side of the Allegheny hills,'" etc. He further says: "The treaty of October 22, 1784, is for the land within the state lying west and north of the purchase of 1768, and is bounded eastward by the line of the treaty of 1768, reciting it by quotation in the language just given." The com- missioners on the part of the United States on that occasion were Oliver Wolcott, Richard Butler and Arthur Lee, and Cornplanter and Red Jacket were the most prominent of the Indian chiefs. The former was in favor of, and the latter opposed to, peace. La Fayette, who was present and advised them to keep the peace, to rely upon the clemency 'of the American people, to sell their lands only to those who were the duly authorized agents of Con- gress, and to abandon the use of intoxicating liquors, says that Red Jacket's speech in favor of war was "a masterpiece, and every warrior who heard him was carried away with his eloquence." The treaty was not signed until after a long conference, one of the conditions of which was, that six hostages should be immediately delivered to the commissioners, to remain in possession of the United States until all the prisoners, white and black, which had been taken by the Senecas, Mohawks, Onondagas and Cayugas, or by any of them, in the revolutionary war, from among the citizens of the United States there, shall be delivered up.

CHAPTER V.

ALLEGHENY (NOW BETHEL, PARKS AND GILPIN).

Division of the Township in 1878-Origin of the Name Allegheny - English and French Traders-Conrad Weiser

and Christian Frederick Post-The Earliest Land Tracts Surveyed and Seated - Valuation at Different Periods-Names of Pioneers-Churches -Schools - Mills - A Notable Fox Hunt-Old-Time Fourth of July Celebration - Railroad Stations-Towns-Leechburg -Lively Enterprises - Canal Packet Lines-Taxable Inhabitants in 1832-Steamboat Arrival in 1838 -The Town Incorporated in 1850-Religious History of Leechburg - Litigation in the Lutheran Church - Education - Physicians - Cemetery - Primitive and Improved Means of Crossing the River- Manufactures- Mercantile and Other Occupations-Soldiers' Aid Society -Secret Societies -Temperance - Population - Borough of AAladdin - Its Schools- Oil Works- Statistics - Geology of Allegheny Township.

[The township of Allegheny was in existence when the author wrote this volume, and its history is here presented intact, as it, of course, covers the three new townships of Bethel, Parks and Gilpin, erected from the territory of the old one.

A number of the inhabitants of Allegheny township petitioned the Court of Quarter Sessions, June 3, 1878. asking for a division of the territory comprising Allegheny into two or more townships. by the old sub-school district lines as near as was practicable, so as not materially to change the said school districts. Remonstrances were also presented, and the project was vigorously opposed. September 18, 1878, however, tbe court ordered a vote by the qualified electors of Allegheny to be taken upon the question of division, and fixed Tuesday, November 5, following, as the time. The return of this election, made December 26, 1878, showing that a majority of the voters were in favor of a division of Allegheny into three townships, the court ordered that it be divided as the commissioners had reeom- mended and that three new townships be erected. It was further ordered and decreed that the names of the divisions should be, " No. 1, Bethel ; No 2, Parks : No. 3, Gilpin." The day fixed for the first election in each of the townships was February 18, 1879. The place designated in Bethel was at schoolhouse No. 4, known as Bethel schoolhouse ; and in Parks, schoolhouse No. 1, known as Hill's schoolhouse. The place originally ordered for the holding of the election in Gilpin was at " Spruee College " schoolhouse, but a subse- quent order of the court designated the house of Joseph Lessig as being more convenient. Bethel township was named after the church and schoolhouse which had been for years so called ; Parks, after the Park family, old and prominent residents ; and Gilpin, in honor of John Gilpin, Esq., of Kittanning Borough, who, as an attorney, had assisted the people of Allegheny who favored the division .- EDITOR.]

I THE township of Allegheny, though having until 1878 an extensive area for a township in these later times, included but a small portion of the territory that once bore its name. Its name was derived from the Allegheny river, which is its western and southwestern boundary. Heckewelder says : Allegheny is corrupted from Allegewi, the name of a race of Indians who are said to have dwelt along a river of that name, and in Allegewinnink, i. e., all the country west of the Alleghenies. The Shawanees called the river Pulawu-thepi-ki, i. e. the "Turkey River place," or country, according to J. Hammond Trumbull .*

On the Historical Map of Pennsylvania the upper Allegheny is named Palawuthepiki, and the lower Allegheny Palawuthepi.

The Indian settlements within the limits of this township were probably visited by English traders from the East, from 1730 until 1749, and there- after by French traders and agents.

In 1748 Conrad Weiser must, the writer thinks, have passed through the southeastern portion of the present township of Allegheny, on his route to Logstown. It may be remarked, in passing, that he was one of ten children of John Conrad Weiser, and was born at Herenberg, Germany, November 2, 1696. His father and family emigrated to Schoharie, New York, in the summer of 1710, where the Mohawk chief Quagnant became well acquainted with him, and induced his son Conrad to accompany him to his home and learn the Mo- hawk language. After acquiring a good knowl- edge of it he returned to his father's residence, and was now and then employed as an interpreter. In 1729 he removed with his wife and children to that part of the Tulpehocken valley, a half mile east of the present town of Wormelsdorf, in upper Heidelberg township, Berks county, Pennsylvania. The Muhlenbergs are among his descendants. He was a prudent, conscientious man. Because of his knowledge of the Indian language and customs, and his being a favorite with the Indians, he was frequently withdrawn from his farm, where he wished to spend the rest of his days after leaving Schoharie, to act as interpreter and agent for the Province. Twenty-five years of his life were thus spent. On June 23, 1748, Anthony Palmer, then president of council, gave him instructions to be followed in his mission to the Indians, at Logs- town, from which it appears that the government had promised the Indians who were in Philadel- phia in November, 1747, that Weiser should be

* The writer gratefully acknowledges the receipt of the following letter :

"THE WATKINSON LIBRARY, Hartford, Connecticut, December 4, 1877.

DEAR SIR: Mr. F. Vinton, of Princeton, encloses to me your re- quest for the etymology of the Shawano name for Allegheny river, which you write " Palawu-thep-iki." This name properly belongs to land (or some locality) on the river, or near it. Palawa-other- wise written Pelewa-is the Shawano name for the Wild Turkey ; Miami, pilauh ; Illinois, piréwa. Pelewa-sepi, or, as a Shawano often pronounced it, Pelewa-thepi, is "Turkey River; " Pelewa-thepi-ki, " Turkey River place" (or country).

Whether the Allegheny was so named because of the abundance of wild turkeys, or from the Turkey tribe ( Unalachtgo) of the Dela- wares, I cannot certainly say ; but the former is the more probable. Yours truly, J. HAMMOND TRUMBULL."

DAVID KEPPEL.

MRS. DAVID KEP: EL.

DAVID KEPPEL.

The paternal grandfather of our subject, Nicholas Kep- pel, was born in Germany, and came to this country early in the eighteenth century. His son Daniel, who was David Keppel's father, was born in this state in 1767, and died in 1824. His wife was Miss Elizabeth Yearyan, of Westmoreland county ; born in 1770, and died in 1821. Her father, George Yearyan, was a native of Germany, and worked his passage to America, his services being sold, before he left the Fatherland, to a farmer named David Kaufman, for a period of three years and nine months, at the expiration of which he received a horse, a saddle and bridle and two suits of clothes. His wife's maiden name was Williams. She was a Welsh woman, who came to this country with her parents and brothers and sisters at an early day.

Daniel and Elizabeth (Yearyan) Keppel were the par- ents of twelve children, whose names were Susan, Mar- garet, George, Mary, Elizabeth, Daniel, Frances, Christina, Esther, Philip, Hannah and David. Three of this family · are now living, viz .: Esther, wife of Jolin Gumbert, of Westmoreland county ; Hannah, widow of George Spicher, who resides in the same county, and David Keppel, our subject, who was born February 6, 1818, on the old homestead in Parks township, where he is now living and has always lived. He has never been away

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History of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Part 33

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