History of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Part 36

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

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A high freshet, about November 18, 1827, caused considerable damage to the works along the Kis- kiminetas. One-half of the " Big Dam " was swept away, and the tow-path was considerably damaged, causing a loss of six or seven thousand dollars.

After the completion of those public works Mr. Leech was authorized by the proper authorities to use water from that dam for the purpose of running a sawmill, gristmill and woolen-factory. In 1829 he was assessed with a sawmill, and in 1830 with it and a gristmill, and in 1831 with only the former, after which he does not appear to have been assessed with either. He built the passenger and freight boats of the first line on the canal from Pittsburgh to Blairsville, and used as a boat-yard

the lot on the northwest corner of Canal and Sec- ond streets, which is the one now next east of H. K. McKallip's dwelling house, and William Gos- ser's blacksmith shop on the northeast corner of Market and Second streets, was the one used by the builders or workmen. The work was superin- tended by Captain Cole.

The first boat that passed Leechburgh on the canal was a packet, built near Saltsburgh, probably at Coal Port, which made a fine display, having on board banners and music. About two weeks after- · ward one of Leech's boats was launched and started for Pittsburgh. She was detained a considerable length of time below Freeport, in consequence of a break in the embankment at the aqueduct. After the water was let into the canal above Leechburgh a boat was drawn out of the river into the canal, run up to Johnstown and loaded with fifty tons of blooms. On her return, while passing through the tunnel, says Morris Leech, she was filled with about three tons of stone and clay. When about one hundred yards below the tunnel, hundreds of tons of earth, etc., fell from the tunnel into the canal, which shut off the water below it, so that the boat did not reach Leechburgh until nearly a month afterward. Soon after the breach at the Freeport aqueduct was repaired, a prize of five hundred dollars was offered to the proprietor of the boat that would first arrive at Pittsburgh. Harris and Leech were the contestants. The former's boat was a light packet, and the latter's-the Gen. Leacock-was a much larger and heavier one. Harris was confident that his smaller and lighter boat would win the prize. On the 1st of July, about four miles above Pittsburgh, Leech's was within a mile of Harris'. The next day Leech's men cut poles, peeled the bark off them and laid them across the canal, in which there was then only six inches of water. By the aid of one hundred men, relays of the poles, five yoke of oxen and ten horses the boat was kept up out of the mud and moved onward. When Leech's horses came abreast of Harris' boat, an extensive and fierce fight between the crews of the two boats began. When Harris discovered that he had to contend with su- perior numbers, he proposed that he would give up the contest if his contestants would quit fighting and permit his boat to go to the rear. On a signal being given by Leech all fighting ceased, and his hundred muddy men plunged into the clear water of the Allegheny and washed. The next day all hands aided with the poles in hauling Harris' boat to the rear and starting her up the canal. On the Fourth of July tables were set in the hold and un- der canvas on the deck of Leech's boat, on which

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a sumptuous dinner was served to five hundred persons, ineluding Gen. Leacock, then canal super- intendent, who presided, engineers and a large number of Pittsburgh merehants. Such was the finality of the first trip of the first of Leech's boats that reached Pittsburgh.

The number of freight and passenger hoats then built was four, viz .: Pioneer, Capt. Monson; Penn- sylvania, Capt. Cooper; De Witt Clinton, Capt. Joshua Leech; Gen. Leacock, Capt. Robert King. The cabin for passengers in each was in the center.

A part of the dam was swept away July 7, 1831, by a sudden and heavy flood in the Kiskiminetas, causing a cessation of eanal navigation for the rest of that season. A new loek and dam were located by the engineers about sixty rods below the former ones and within the limits of the town. At the letting the contract was awarded to Thos. Neil, of Tarentum, Pennsylvania, for about $16,000. He had seareely entered upon the performance of his part of the contraet when the commissioners turned it into a state job, the cost of which, says Alex. Gordon, is known to very few persons, if any. From November 10, 1831, and throughout the principal part of the following winter, the weather, most of the time, was very cold, which caused a large accumulation of iee in the river, which broke up February 10, 1832, with a high flood that carried away the lock, the northern abutment of the dam, and did much damage else- where. That abutment had to be repaired and a new loek built before navigation could be resumed on the eanal.

David Leech, Robert S. Hays, George Blaek, Geo. W. Harris and Wm. F. Leech, constituting the copartnership of D. Leech & Co., of which David Leech was the traveling agent, subsequently established distinet lines of freight boats and packets, or exclusively passenger boats, which they continued to run until the canal was superseded by the Pennsylvania railroad. Travelers on the Pennsylvania canal in those times will not likely forget that company's packets and their attentive and obliging captains.

David Leeeh, having purchased the right to use water from the dam, erected, in 1844, a sawmill, a large gristmill, with four runs of stone and expen- sive machinery, the walls in the first or lower story of the latter being stone, and those in the other stories brick, which subsequently became vested in Addison Leech, who conveyed the same to the present owners, R. D. Elwood & Bro.

In addition to the above-mentioned enterprises the founder of Leechburgh was, soon after he settled here, engaged in the mercantile business;

he and his sons were afterward extensively en- gaged in the same business. Ile was, still later, from 1853 till 1856, engaged as an active member of the firm of Leech, Chamberlain & Co., in the construction of the Allegheny Valley railroad from Pittsburgh to Kittanning. Ilis vigorous constitu- tion began to yield to the weight of years, the numerous cares and responsibilities of his active life and to the approach of disease, in 1857, and he died November 3, 1858, regretted and esteemed at home and abroad.

The growth of Leechburgh as a town commeneed with the construction of the canal. The first brick house in it was built in 1830 on the corner of Third street and Basin alley, by Solomon Moore. The first separate assessment list of its taxables was made in 1832, viz. :

John Brown, lot No. 87, land 125 acres (Mar- tin's), one head of cattle, valued or assessed at $833; Joshua Cooper, lots No. 78-9, one head of cattle, $58; Samuel Dickey, one house and lot, one horse, one head of cattle, $223; George Dupehorn, lots Nos. 83, 96, one head cattle, $108; Daniel Freeze, lot No. 36, one head cattle, $108; John Fee, black- smith, lot No. 49, one head cattle, $283; Wm. Hickenlooper, lot No. 117, one head of cattle, $208; Jacob Hill, lot No. 10, two cattle, $616; David Kuhns, lots Nos. 98-9, two horses, one tanyard, one head of cattle, $286; Christian Grove, head of cattle, $8; Malcom Leech, lots Nos. 38 and 31, $225; John R. Long, lot No. 12, one head of cattle, $408; James MeBride, lot No. 84, one head of cattle, $183; William F. Martin, hatter, $100; Peter Nees, lot No. 3, one head of cattle, $108; Samuel Philliber, lot No. 30, $50; Matthew Taylor, tailor, lots No. 69, 101, one head of cattle, $108; Peter Ulam, eabi- net maker, lot No. 11, one head of cattle, $508; Robert Walker, hatter, $100; Peter Weaver, shoe- maker, one head of cattle, $33; David Weaver, one head of cattle, $8. Total valuation, $1,198.

STEAMBOAT ARRIVAL.

On Friday, May 18, 1838, the steamboat New Castle made a trip up the Kiskiminetas as far as Leechburgh with a large number of passengers, on account of a slip in the eanal above Freeport. She left the same day with about 150 passengers. The dam at that point prevented navigation higher up that stream. By the act of April 13, 1791, provid- ing for the opening of sundry roads and improving sundry navigable waters, the governor was empow- ered to contract with certain individuals or eom- panies for improving among others the Kiskimine- tas river from the mouth of the Loyal Hanna to the second falls, inclusive, and thence to the Alle-

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gheny river, and the sum of #250 was appropriated for improving the navigation of the former and of £100 for improving that of the latter portion of this.

THE TOWN INCORPORATED.

By the act of March 22, 1850, this town was incorporated into a borough, included within these boundaries, viz. : Beginning at a buttonwood on the Kiskiminetas river south eighty degrees, east seventy perches, north twenty degrees, east sixty- five perches to a post corner of land of D. Leech ; thence by same south sixty and a half degrees, east one hundred and twelve perches to a post ; thence south five, east seventy-nine perches to a black oak (fallen) on the bank of the river ; thence down the said river the several courses and distances of the same to the place of beginning.

The first election, as provided by the charter, was to have been held on the first Friday of May in that year, and on the first Friday of March there- after until 1874, since when, by the constitution of 1873, it, in common with the elections of cities, boroughs and townships, has been on the third Tuesday of February. The burgess and town coun- cil elected on the first Friday of May, 1850, and their successors are made a body politic and corpo- rate by the name, style and title of the burgess and town council of the borough of Leechburgh, and have and possess and enjoy all the rights, lib- erties, franchises and privileges of a borough in- corporated in pursuance of "an act to provide for the incorporation of boroughs," passed April 1, 1834. It is also provided by that charter that the constable of the borough shall perform the duties of high constable, but that the burgess and town council may authorize the election or appointment of a high constable if they deem it expedient. The other officers clective by the voters of the borough are two justices of the peace, a judge and two inspectors of election, assessors, overseers of the poor, agreeably to the laws of this commonwealth; and three school directors at the first election, one to serve one year, one for two, and one for three years, and one annually thereafter, who must per- form the same duties and possess the same powers as those elected under the general laws of this commonwealth.

There does not appear to have been a borough election held on the first Friday of May, 1850. At the spring election of that year, however, Alexander Gordon had thirty-five and Jonathan Hettrick twenty-six votes for justice of the peace.

David Leech was elected the first burgess and Addison Leech, J. Thos. Johnston, Jonathan Het- trick, Wm. R. Garver, and Jacob Ulam were

elected the first councilmen, at the spring or borough election in 1851 and the municipal gov- ernment of Leechburgh was soon thereafter inaug- urated.

CHURCHES.

There appears to have been preaching at Leech- burgh by both Lutheran and Presbyterian clergy- men early in its history, before either the organi- zation of any church there or its incorporation into a borough. The early Lutheran clergymen who preached here were Revs. Michael Steck, Sr. and Jr., Adam Mohler and Jacob Zimmerman, and, later (in 1844), David Earhart.

There was preaching here by a Presbyterian clergyman (Rev. Samuel Caldwell) at times for about a year before the organization of the Pres- byterian church, which appears to have been first in the chronological order of church organization. Rev. A. Donaldson, D. D., in his sketches of the churches of Kittanning Presbytery, presented at its April session in 1873, at Elder's Ridge, says : " Leechburgh, in an irregular way, had become a preaching point for a brother not in the presbytery of Blairsville, which, therefore, sent the writer to the village to inquire into the case. Having done so, and reported that an organization there was needed, it was effected April 24, 1844." That church was thereafter supplied by Rev. Levi M. Graves, Messrs. John Steele and John Black, licen- tiates; Revs. Andrew McElwain and William F. Keane, and Thos. S. Leason (a grandson of the Mrs. Leason elsewhere mentioned). The last named was the settled pastor from 1851 until 1859, when, by reason of "an unhappy and obsti- nate fend arising, the relation was. dissolved." Rev. J. E. Caruthers was immediately settled as pastor for half time until 1864, and from that year until 1871 his whole time, when the state of his "health required his removal west. He was suc-

ceeded by the present pastor, Rev. David Harvey Sloan, for three-fourths of his time. The present church edifice was erected in or about 1850 on the northwest corner of Main and First streets. It has been several times repaired. Membership, 178; Sabbath school scholars, 130.

The Hebron Evangelical Lutheran church was organized November 21, 1844. The present brick edifice was erected in 1845, on the north side of Back, at the head of Second street. The pastors since its regular organization have been Revs. David Earhart, Louis M. Kuhns, Jonathan Sarver, and the present one, F. T. Hoover. Membership, 188; Sabbath-school scholars, 80. This church was incorporated by the court of common pleas of this county June 22, 1848. The trustees named in the

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charter, who were to continue until the election held on the last Saturday of March, 1850, were Rev. David Earhart, George Kepple, Jacob Trout, Thomas Van Tine, Abraham Heckman, Andrew Ashbaugh, Jr., and Samuel Shuster. The charter provided, among other things, that the pastor or pastors should be in communion with some Evan- gelical Lutheran Synod in the United States. That portion of the charter was amended by the same court, March 15, 1864, thus : "The pastor or pastors of this congregation shall be members of some Evangelical Lutheran Synod which is in con- nection with the General Synod of the Lutheran Church in the United States." In 1860 or 1861 this church received an accession of eighteen or twenty members from the Zimmerman charge, con- sisting of two churches a mile or two apart in Westmoreland county, they retaining their church organization there so far as church property was concerned. Congregational unity continued until March, 1868. To understand the cause of the schism which followed, it is necessary to bear in mind that the General Synod of the Lutheran Church in the United States, organized as shown by the testimony in 1821, once embraced the terri- tory of the principal portion of the United States, but now it embraces all north of Mason and Dix- on's line; that the General Council embraces all of the United States and Canada; and that a portion of the District Synods seceded from the General Synod, and organized, in December, 1866, at Read- ing, Pennsylvania, an ecclesiastical body known as the General Council, which adopted its consti- tution at a meeting held in Fort Wayne, Indiana, in December, 1867. The original Pittsburgh synod was organized in 1845, and incorporated by act of April 18, 1846. From the organization of that synod this church was a constituent part of it. At a regular meeting of that synod, held at Greenville, Mercer county, Pennsylvania, in Octo- ber, 1867, after discussing the question whether it would still adhere to the General Synod or attach itself to the General Council, a majority of its members resolved to join the latter. The minor- ity declined to do so, but immediately met, elected officers, and then adjourned to meet at Worthing- ton, in this county, on the fourth of the then next ensuing December. They held a session there of three or four days. Thus there were two bodies, each claiming to be the Pittsburgh synod, one ad- hering to the General Synod and the other to the General Council.

In April, 1866, Rev. Jonathan Sarver was elected pastor of the Hebron Evangelical Lutheran church for a term ending April 1, 1867. He was then in

connection with the General Synod, but afterward became an adherent of the General Council and was aware that some of his congregation were for that reason opposed to his being their pastor. A com- promise was entered into between those in favor of and those opposed to his being continued the pastor, by agreeing to employ him for another year. After examining the above-mentioned amend- ment to the charter, he thought he could not prop- erly he the pastor of a church that did not belong to a District Synod attached to the General Council For he said in the course of the hereinafter-men- tioned testimony: "The reason which would force me to leave the congregation was, that I was not and could not be connected with any synod in con- nection with the General Synod." The question on the amendment to the amendment of the charter was considered by members of the congregation and by the council, and notice was given from the pul- pit that a congregational meeting would be held on March 5, 1868, to determine whether the con- gregation would be in favor of changing the amend- ment of 1864, so as to read: "That no minister shall be eligible to the office of pastor of this con- gregation unless he be a member of the Pittsburgh synod of the Evangelical Lutheran church, or con- nect himself with it as soon as possible after his election, and a failure to be so connected shall be considered a resignation of his office as pastor of this congregation," and to remove and repeal in both supplement and charter everything inconsist- ent with this amendment. The meeting was held and the vote stood fifty-seven for and forty-two against the proposed change. A petition in favor of and a remonstrance against the proposed amend- ment were presented to the court of common pleas of this county. The court refused to grant the prayer of the petitioners. The majority, however, continued to hold the church edifice and other property, and the pastor and council unanimously refused the use thereof to the minority or adherents of the General Synod, who thereupon employed a pastor and used the academy building for a while as a place of worship, still claiming that they were the lawfully constituted Hebron Evangelical Ln- theran church of Leechburgh. Their council and trustees on April 24, 1869, filed their bill in equity in the court of common pleas of this county, No. 49, June term, 1869, against the pastor, council and trustees of the general council portion of the church, in which, among other things, they alleged or charged that they, the plaintiffs, were the duly elected council and trustees of that congregation; that the congregation was, by its connection with the Pittsburgh synod, still in connection with the

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HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY.

General Synod; that the defendants had dissolved their connection with the General Synod and con- nected themselves with the General Council who have departed from the faith and doetrinal basis of the General Synod, and adopted a doctrinal basis widely different from that of the General Synod; that the defendants were not the legal pastor, council and trustees of the congregation; and that the said pastor persisted in the possession of the church property and the exclusion of the plaintiffs. The bill concluded with the prayer that the de- fendants and all others of the General Council be restrained from the use of the church property, and that the plaintiffs be restored to the possession thereof, and for general relief.

On the other hand the defendants, in their answer to the plaintiff's bill, averred that the Pittsburgh synod was only incorporated by the legislature by act of April 18, 1846; that said synod was organized in January, 1845, and the congregation of the Hebron Evangelical Lutheran church of Leechburgh participated, through its then pastor, Rev. David Earhart, in its organiza- tion, and that it had ever since remained a part of the Pittsburgh synod, and never in connection with the General Synod except through the Pitts- burgh synod and its connection therewith; that the Pittsburgh synod united with the General Synod in 1853, and in 1866 legally and orderly dissolved that connection; that the only connec- tion a congregation can have with a General Synod is through a District Synod ; that such connection is matter of choice ; that the withdrawal of the Pittsburgh synod from the General Synod was orderly and legal, and involved no departure from the faith of the church or violation of charter or constitution, but a closer adherence thereto ; that the defendants' pastor was the legal pastor and the other defendants were the legal council and trus- tees, and that the plaintiffs were secessionists. That answer denied all schism on the part of the defendants' pastor ; that any synod has control of church property ; and that the defendants had not ousted or excluded the plaintiffs from the congre- gation or church, but alleged that the plaintiffs voluntarily withdrew therefrom. The answer con- cluded with a prayer that the plaintiffs' bill be dismissed with costs.

During the pendency of the case for several years testimony was taken on both sides, filling one hundred and thirty-two printed octavo pages, on the questions as to which of these two divisions of that church adhered most closely to the faith and doctrinal basis of the Evangelical Lutheran church in the United States, and as to which of those two

divisions was legally entitled to the use and con- trol of the property belonging to the Hebron Evangelical Lutheran church of Leechburgh. In the latter was involved the question raised by the defendants touching the validity of the above- stated amendment of 1864, their counsel alleging in his history of the case that it was "slipped through " under pretence of amending the charter of the church so as to embrace an academy prop- erty, and referring to certain testimony adduced by the defendants in support of that allegation, which was denied by the plaintiffs' counsel in their counter history of the case, who used certain other testimony in support of their denial. That ques- tion was argued by learned counsel on both sides on the application to change that amendment by the substitution of the one above-mentioned, voted for by a majority of the congregational meeting March 5, 1868. It was claimed that the petition- ers for and the remonstrants against that change were, respectively, in the majority. Judge Logan, in giving the reasons of the court of common pleas of this county for not allowing that change of the amendment of 1864 to be made, said : " Our duty, however, is but the exercise of a judicial function in determining whether, under the laws of the land and of this corporation, the amendment de- manded can be granted, and we shall refer to doc- trinal questions only as they may be necessary to guide us in this inquiry. *

* It seems to be conceded on all hands that the Pittsburgh synod " (the body to which the petitioners for that change and defendants in the bill in equity belong) "is not connected with the General Synod, but with the General Council of the Lutheran church. It may be further stated that the General Synod and General Council, whilst both claiming to be within the Lutheran church, are yet in antagonism, neither yielding recognition or obedience to the other. * *

* We do not at present say what might be the effect were this an application to set aside that decree " ( allowing the amendment of 1864). “ It is enough to say that here the question cannot be inquired of. But more : this amendment was acted under for almost, if not quite, three years, and it is held" (by the supreme court) "in the Commonwealth ex rel. vs. Cullen et al., 1 Harris, 140, that a single unequivocal act may be patent enough conclusively to establish assent. We are compelled, therefore, to regard this as an existing and valid provision of the charter, and in that light must examine this application. * * * Of course this is not a possessory action, but its effect is to give title under which possession may be en- forced." laving cited two cases in which the

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supreme court of Pennsylvania holds that " the title to the church property of a divided congrega- tion is in that part of it which is acting in har- mony with its own law, and the ecclesiastical laws, usages, customs and principles which were ac- cepted before the dispute began, are the standards for determining which party is right," and that it is " unimportant on which side the majority is." That learned judge further said : " By this rule we are bound. *

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History of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Part 36

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