History of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Part 51

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

USA > Pennsylvania > Armstrong County > History of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania > Part 51

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

AmJackson

is. lachaine

COL. SAMUEL MCCARTNEY JACKSON.

Samuel McCartney Jackson, who has attained considerable prominence, both civil and military, was born npon a farm near Apollo, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, September 24, 1833, and was the son of John and Elizabeth (McCartney) Jackson, both of whom were of Scotch-Irish descent. As hoy and youth he shared the toils of the farm, and when sixteen years of age was sent to the Jacksonville Academy, in Indiana county. It was his intention to obtain there a good academie education, but the death of his father at the close of his first year in the school compelled him to abandon his cherished design. He was naturally studious and had early ex- hibited a marked liking for history and biography, and had become quite well versed in those branches of literature. That he had some inherent taste for martial affairs is shown by the fact that at the age of thirteen he joined the local militia organization, and his subse- qnent promotions show that he was regarded as possessing good qualities for an officer. He rose successively to the rank of lieutenant and captain. When the war of the rebellion broke out his military spirit and patriotism were brought promptly into action. He re- cruited for the Union service in the vicinity of his home a company of infantry which was mustered in as Co. G of the 11th regt. Pa. Re- serves, and of which he was chosen captain. He commanded his company, known as the Apollo Independent Blues, until July, 1861, when he was promoted to the rank of major. In October of the same year he was promoted to lieutenant-colonel, and in April, 1863, to colonel of the regiment. He served gallantly through his three years' term of service, and on two occasions was slightly wounded. The principal engagements in which he participated were Gaines' Hill, the second Bull Run, South Mountain, Antietam, Fredericks- burg, Gettysburg, Wilderness, Spottsylvania, and Bethesda Church. He particularly distinguished himself at South Mountain, Freder- icksburg, Gettysburg and the Wilderness, where the conflicts were of snch a nature as to try officers and meu to their utmost, and especially to test the bravery, decision and skill of the former. At Spottsylva- nia he commanded a brigade and was brevetted brigadier-general for gallant conduct. At Gettysburg he was thrown forward on the bloody ground where the 3d corps had been driven back, and sup- ports from several corps which had been sent to the relief of the 3d had been terribly broken. The position there taken was held, and the entire field was subsequently regained. At the battle of the Wilderness, while in command of his own and the 2d regiment, he

was cut off from the balance of the division by a strong force of the en emy, but rallying his men about him, he charged the hostile lines, and by a circuitous route reached the Union front, where he had for several hours been given up as lost. The appreciative regard of the officers and men of the 11th regiment for their colonel was indicated by their presenting him with a superb gold-encased and jeweled sword, together with sash and spurs, the accompanying speech being made on behalf of the regiment by Capt. Timblin. At the close of his term of service Col. Jackson was mustered out and returned to his home and to private life. He was engaged for a time in the oil busi- ness in Venango county, but returning to Armstrong county was elected to the legislature of the state upon the republican ticket in 1869. He was re-elected the following year and during both terms maintained the character of a wise and faithful legislator. In 1871 he was the leading spirit in organizing the the Apollo Savings Bank, of which he was elected cashier. He served satisfactorily in that position until 1882. In the meantime he was again called from private to public life, being nominated and elected to the state senate in 1874. He represented the forty-first district, composed of Arm- strong and Butler counties, so acceptably that he was tendered a renomination, which, however, he saw fit to decline. He was chair- man of the committee on banks, and a member of several others, among them the centennial committee. In April, 1882, Col. Jackson was appointed by President Arthur collector of internal revenue in the twenty-third district, composed of the counties of Beaver, North Allegheny, Butler, Armstrong, Indiana, Jefferson and Clearfield. He entered upon his duties in this office July 1, 1882.

Col. Jackson has taken an active and prominent part in local affairs in Apollo, of which town he has been burgess for two terms and school director for many years. He was instrumental in securing the act anthorizing the building of the free bridge at Apollo and has been interested in almost every measure of public improvement.

He is a member of the Presbyterian church, a trustee and a member of the session.

He has been twice married. His first wife was Miss Martha J. Byerly, of Westmoreland county. They were married in 1860, and she died in 1864, leaving two children, Mary Gertrude (Townsend) and Lizzie Virginia. In December, 1869, Col. Jackson was united in marriage with his present wife, who was Miss Mary E. Wilson, of Clarion county. Five children were the offspring of this mar- riage, namely, Frank Wilson, John Howard, Bessie, Mamie and Emily Louise.

239

KISKIMINETAS TOWNSHIP.

very high series of rocks. The following section was made 33 miles below Saltsburgh :

"Soil, 7 feet ; gray sandstone, slightly mica- ceous, 363 feet ; coal, 12 inches ; black slate, 2} feet ; black slate, 8 feet; olive shale, 10 feet ; limestone, nodular, 4 inches ; olive slate, etc., under cover, 42 feet ; coal, 12 inches ; clay, 5 feet ; lime- stone, 14 inches ; shale, 2 fect ; limestone, 16 inches ; clay, variegated calcareous nodules, 5 feet; sandstone, white massive, weathering cellular in parts, 33 feet ; blue slate, 10 feet ; gray shale, 7 feet ; Pittsburgh coal (coal, 30 inches ; black shale, 3 inches ; coal, 12 inches ; gray shale, 8 inches ; coal, 3 feet ; bituminous shale, 3 inches ; coal 3 feet), in all 10 feet 2 inches ; clay, 2 feet ; sandy slate, 15 feet ; micaceous sandstone, green- ish gray, 4 feet ; light-colored shale, passing into an impure limestone, 15 inches, floored with cal- careous clay-in all 33 feet interval ; shales, 7 feet ; greenish shale, 123 feet ; nodular clay bed, 2 feet ; greenish sandy slate, 43 feet ; nodular clay, 2 feet ; green slate, 32 feet; sandstone, 1 foot ; limestone modules in top of olive shales, 22} feet ; green slate, etc., calcareous nodules, 8 feet ; gray slate, with bluff cleavage, 13} feet ; gray and purple shale, 5 feet ; sandstone, 12 inches ; greenish shale, 5 feet ; interval down to water level, 153} feet."

Below this is the green fossiliferous limestone, as seen on the towpath, passing under. water-level, at a point one-half a mile below. A small coal- bed underlies it there. At least 30 feet must be added to the last interval of 1533 feet to bring the present section down to the green fossiliferous limestone, which will then be about 350 feet below the Pittsburgh coalbed.

The Pittsburgh coalbed of this section ranges northward and southward from the Kiskiminetas river, and toward Crooked creek is underlaid by the same frosted-looking limestone as seen at Pittsburgh and elsewhere. The limestone stratum seventy-seven feet below the Pittsburgh coal is a widely persistent bed ; it is not quite non-fossili- ferons, and has a brecciated (pudding-stone) aspect, although it is not fragmentary, but concretionary.

Toward Saltsburgh the strata rise very slowly, the green fossiliferous limestone emerging from below the first bank at Saltsburgh, where it con- sists of four bands, each between one and two feet thick, the whole measuring about three feet ; and the representatives of the black fossiliferous lime- stone strata emerge in the first exposure above Saltsburgh. ( Vide Rogers' Geology of Pennsyl- vania.)

About three miles above Apollo, on the right bank of the Kiskiminetas, is a sandstone rock pro-

jecting out over the bank about nine feet. The space between the ground and side of the rock, at the front, is about nine feet. The rock slopes back to the ground a distance of about twelve feet. It has gained considerable notoriety in that region by reason of a strange family by the name of Dun- mire, who claimed to be part Indian, having re- sided there (that is, under the rock) more or less of the time during several years, from whom it is called " Dunmire's Rock." There is about it con- siderable pebble-stone, in which is something re- sembling lead, which can be cut with a knife.

BOROUGH OF APOLLO.

Apollo is a borough. It was formerly the town of Warren, so called after either an Indian chief or an English trader who bore that name. The town as originally laid out, it is said, was partly on the upper part of a tract containing 5004 acres, called " Warren's Sleeping-Place," and partly on the lower part of another tract containing 70} acres, according to the original surveys. The former was surveyed to John Montgomery and Alexander Stewart on an application dated February 9, 1769. Thomas and John Penn, the then proprietaries of the province of Pennsylvania, conveyed it by their patent dated March 5, 1773, to John Montgomery. The warrant for the latter is dated December 27, 1774, and it was surveyed to John Montgomery, as mentioned in old deeds January 17, 1775.

William Smith became the purchaser of both those tracts, at sheriff's sale, December 20, 1805. The sheriff's deed therefor is dated June 28, 1806. They were sold by the sheriff of Westmoreland county. That purchaser, by deed dated February 1, 1814, conveyed them to William Johnston and Thomas Hoge for the sum of $3,708. The execu- tors of William Smith, by their deed dated Octo- ber 14, 1814, and John Montgomery (son, of that patentee) and his wife, by their deed dated Sep- tember 28, 1815, contributed to assure the title of those purchasers (namely, John Montgomery and wife) to both tracts, and the executors to the smaller tract.

John B. Alexander, of Greensburgh, Pennsylva- nia, by advertisement in the Western Eagle dated December 17, 1810, offered for sale " War- ren's Sleeping-Place" as containing about 570 acres, and the tract on the opposite side of the river, called the "Three Bottoms," as containing about 360 acres, and represented both tracts to be of the best quality and to contain a great propor- tion of excellent bottom, and, being separated by the Kiskiminetas river, to afford a good seat for waterworks.

240

HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY.

Thomas Hoge and wife, by their deed dated No- vember 3, 1815, conveyed the undivided half part of both those tracts to Rev. William Speer for the sum of $1,856.56.

By article of agreement dated October 10, 1822, William Johnston's executors agreed to sell to John Andree (or Andrews) the undivided half part of the tract called "Warren's Sleeping-Place," that is, the residue after Speer and Johnston sold 2064 acres off the lower end to Isaac McKis- seck in 1818. The quantity of land thus agreed to be conveyed to Andree was supposed to be 400 acres, for which the latter agreed to pay $8.75 for each acre of that moiety, after deducting the number of acres sold to McKisseck, and in town lots, streets and alleys, which had been per- viously laid out. Those executors did not execute their deed to Andree for that moiety, but he bought it at sheriff's sale September 29, 1827. The sheriff's deed is dated March 20, 1828.

By deed of partition between Speer and Andree, dated March 8, 1829, the former took 208 acres and 41 perches of the northeastern part of the theretofore undivided and unsold portion of the tract, and the latter took the rest.

The town of Warren was surveyed off into lots, streets and alleys by William Watson, in Novem- ber, 1816. These lots are fifty in number and are respectively 66 × 165 feet, each containing a quar- ter of an acre. Water (now Canal) and Back (now Church) streets are parallel to the Kiskiminetas river -the former being from 90 to 100 and the latter 60 feet wide, and are intersected at right angles by North, Main, Indiana and Coal Bank streets, each 60 feet wide. An alley 30 feet wide inter- sects Water street between lots Nos. 20 and 21 and Back street between lots Nos. 11 and 30. Four other alleys parallel to Water and Back streets are respectively 12 feet wide. Two acres adjoining Back street and opposite the eastern end of Main street and lots Nos. 10 and 11 were laid out agree- ably to the terms of sale of the town lots, as a public lot for a meeting-house, schoolhouse, etc., which have been used for cemetery purposes. Rev. William Speer, who survived William Johnston, duly acknowledged, July 26, 1827, before William Watson, a justice of the peace, the plan of the town of Warren, as above described, to be the same as was laid out by him and William John- ston in the lifetime of the latter. That plan was recorded in the office for the recording of deeds of this county, November 8, 1828.

Andree, soon after his purchase, conveyed to John McElwain an interest in 11 acres of that half of the tract which he bought at the sheriff's sale,

which 11 acres were called the "new addition to Warren," surveyed, probably, by Robert McKissen. Andree and McElwain jointly conveyed a number of lots in that " addition " to divers persons.

John Cochran and Abraham Ludwick cleared the principal part of the land within the limits of the town exclusive of the Guthrie and Chambers plots.

The first settlers before the Pennsylvania canal was made were Joseph Alford, John Cochran, Abraham Ludwick, Isaac Mclaughlin, Michael Risher, Robert Stewart and John Wort.

POSTAL.

Before the establishment of the postoffice here, August 15, 1827, the points nearest to Warren for receiving mail matter were Freeport and Kittan- ning. Milton Dally was the first postmaster. The department gave this office a name different from that of the town, because there was another office in this state by the name of Warren.

Whether Postmaster-General McLean or one of his subordinates conceived, when he bestowed on this office its classical name, some citizen or citi- zens of Warren to be endowed with some or all of the attributes ascribed by poets and mythologists to the illustrious Apollo, the writer is not in- formed.

The first separate assessment list of the town of Warren, then in Allegheny township, was made in 1830 thus: John Alford, lot No. 22, 1 horse, 1 head of cattle, total valuation $58; James H. Bell, lot No. 16, 1 house, 1 other lot not known, $156; Catherine Cochran, lot No. 34, 1 house, 1 head of cattle, $31; Robert Cochran, single man, lot No. 9, $25; Andrew Cunningham, lot No. 48, 1 head of cattle, $31; William Davis, lot No. 17, 1 house, blacksmith, $91; Philip Dally, No. lot not known, one house, $225; Samuel Gardiner, lot No. 255; William Graham, lot No. 48, 1 house, 1 head of cattle, $31; John Lewellyn, lot No. 4, 1 house, 1 horse, $255; Robert McKissen, lot No. 15, 1 house, 1 head of cattle, $106; Alexander McKinstry, lot No. 1, 1 house, $252; William Mckinstry, 1 lot and house, $225.25; John McElwain, lot No. 3, 1 house, 2 horses, 1 head of cattle, $601; Isaac Mc- Langhlin, lot No. 38, 1 house, transferred to John McElwain, -; William Mehaffey, half-lot No. 24, -; Peter Risher, lot No. 18, 1 house, 1 horse, $225; John Wort, lots Nos. 5, 6, 1 house, 1 tanyard, I horse, 2 cattle, lot No. 12 unseated, $247. The valuation of unseated lots varied from five to ten, twenty, thirty and forty dollars each.

Eight years before, the county treasurer adver- tised twenty-five of Warren inlots for sale for taxes, county and road, each of which varied from

241

KISKIMINETAS TOWNSHIP.

five to seven, ten, twelve, fifteen, twenty, twenty- five and thirty-seven cents assessed upon each lot. The heaviest burden of those taxes was borne by lots Nos. 1 and 28, and the lightest by lots Nos. 9, 10, 12, 42, 43, 46 and 47.

The first assessment list for the "new addition " was made in 1832, thus : Smith Agnew, 2 lots and houses, 1 head of cattle, $808; James Barr, carpenter, lot No. 41, 1 house, $150; Andrew Brown, lots Nos. 4, 5, 1 house, $50; James Cham- ber, lots Nos. 22, 23, 1 house, I head of cattle, $158; Nicholas Day, 1 head of cattle, $8; Abraham Find- ley, lot No. 16, 1 house, 1 head of cattle, $258; Jacob Ford, 2 houses and lots, 1 head of cattle, $366; Francis Graham, lot No. 17, 1 house, $100; William Mckinstry, carpenter, lot No. 40, $100; Alexander Sharp, lot No. 21, 1 house, $100; Fran- cis M. Thompson, lot No. 39, 1 house, $150.

The first of the line of packets from Warren to Pittsburgh was called the Apollo, of which John B. Chambers was the captain.

BOROUGII.

By act of assembly March 15, 1848, the town of Warren, then in the township of Kiskiminetas, was incorporated into the borough of Apollo, with all and singular the powers and franchises in said act specified. One reason for changing the name from Warren to Apollo was, because goods shipped to that point from the East were often carried past it to Warren, in Warren county, Pennsylvania.

By act of March 31, 1859, the boundaries of the borough were extended as follows: Beginning at the northwest corner of the borough at a post, thence down the Kiskiminetas river, making that river a line for the distance of 155 perches, to a water-ash a few rods above the mouth of a run; thence from said river south 63 degrees east 74 perches to a locust; thence south 15} degrees west 98 perches to the northeast corner of the borough; thence to the northern line of the borough south 81 degrees west 98 perches to the place of beginning.

The first borough election was held May 8, 1848, when Robert McKissen was elected burgess, and Willianı Nichols, William Miller, George C. Bovard, John T. Smith, John Elwood and David Risher town councilmen.

The first board of school directors was elected at the spring election in 1850, and consisted of Wm. C. Bovard, John B. Chambers, John T. Smitlı, Thomas Cochran, Samuel Owens and H. M. G. Skiles.

By act of March 26, 1868, forty-three feet square of North street, immediately in front of the Pres- byterian church edifice, was vacated and declared

to be no longer a street or highway, and the title thereto was vested in John B. Chambers, D. C. Blair, William A. Fulton and Alexander McCul- loch, trustees of the Presbyterian church, and their successors, for the use of the church.

By the act of March 8, 1869, the lines of the borough were so extended as to include the lands of Michael Cochran, which thereby became sub- ject to the laws and regulations of the borough.

A considerable portion of the territory annexed to the borough by the act, March 31, 1859, became vested in John B. Chambers, who caused forty-five building, or in-lots, and twenty-one out-lots, to be surveyed and laid out, December 4, 1865. The portion of Canal street in this plot is thirty-three feet wide, and those portions of Church, Locust, Wood, State, and Union streets within it, are, respectively, forty feet wide. Adjoining and above this plot, extending to the alley between and par- allel to Mill and Maple streets, and between Church and Canal streets, is a smaller plot, laid out about the same time by James Guthrie, and below and adjoining it, i. e., the Chambers plot, is another plot more recently laid out by Simon Truby, through which extend, nearly east and west, First and Second streets. The land between the canal and the Kiskiminetas river from North street, down to or near the rolling-mill, was formerly owned by David McLane, for several years editor of the Pittsburgh Gazette, who long ago laid out lots thereon, called the McLane plot, but very few of them were sold. The J. Morgan lot is one of them.

By the act of March 12, 1870, the burgess and town council were authorized to levy a street tax not exceeding ten instead of five mills, as provided by the act of March 15, 1848, as a street tax, and required property-owners to pave their sidewalks fronting on all streets with brick or stone; and in case they neglect or refuse to do so, the burgess and town council are authorized and directed to have such paving done, accepting, if they see fit, a plank or board sidewalk in such instances as the owners are unable to pave with brick or stone. That act also provides that liens may be entered on the mechanics' lien docket, to secure the costs incurred for any pavements made by the town council, and that the same be collected by due process of law, and furthermore that all improve- ments then made or to be thereafter made, should be kept in good repair by the owners and their successors.

FERRIES AND BRIDGES.

The first ferry was kept by Owen Jones where the bridge across the Kiskiminetas now is. In- creased facilities for crossing that river were

242

HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY.

afforded by the bridge across it, which was erected by a company incorporated by the act of March 15, 1844, called the Warren Bridge Company, and its supplement of April 3, 1846. In the course of six or seven years after the bridge was erected, indebtedness had so accumulated against the com- pany that additional legislation was resorted to to enable it to discharge its liabilities, in the act of May 1, 1852, which authorized the trustees to sell the bridge and appropriate the proceeds of the sale to the payment of the costs thereof and the claims of the creditors in full, if a sufficient amount were realized, or pro rata, if not, provided, if the com- pany could liquidate and satisfy the claims of the creditors, before the first of July of that year, the bridge should not be sold. It was not sold by vir- tue of that last-mentioned act. By act of April 20, 1858, any judgment creditor was authorized to sue out execution against the company, and cause their bridge and tollhouse to be levied on and sold in the same way provided for the collection of debts on judgments which are liens on real estate upon which executions are issued. That act re- quired the sheriff either of Armstrong or West- moreland county, as the case might be, to execute and deliver to the purchaser such a deed as would vest in him all the interest, rights and privileges of the company; and the act provided that all the corporate powers, authorities and privileges of the company should also be vested in the purchasing; and further, that the proceeds of the sale, except the costs, should be paid into court, and distributed so as to satisfy all claims, if sufficient, but if not, pro rata. All bonds of the company, whether judgment had been obtained on them or not, were entitled alike in the distribution, under which act a sale was made to the present company. The bridge consists of two stone abutments and three stone piers, and a covered wooden arch superstruc- ture, the original cost of which was about ten thousand dollars.

RELIGIOUS.

The Presbyterian church, if ever formally organ- ized, was probably organized by the old Redstone Presbytery, in or about 1825. The first pastor was Rev. Mr. Lee ; the second, Rev. Watson Hughes, whom Rev. Alexander Donaldson, D.D., assisted in his farewell communion services, in May, 1838. Dr. Donaldson preached here occasionally in July and September, and supplied statedly during the following winter one-third of the time ; the third pastor was Rev. Levi M. Graves, half time, until 1843 : the fourth, from 1846 until 1856, was Rev. Cyrus C. Bristol ; the fifth, Rev. Robert McMillan, grandson of the first president of Jefferson Col-

lege, Cannonsburgh, Pennsylvania, and apostle of Presbyterianism in Western Pennsylvania, from 1858 until he became too enfeebled to continue his pastorate, in 1865 ; the sixth, Rev. John Orr, from the last-named year, until compelled by neuralgic affection of his eyes, he was compelled to resign his charge in 1871 ; the seventh and present pastor is Rev. H. McGill. Members, 285; Sabbath-school scholars, 200. Before the first church edifice, one- story stone, was erected in 1825-6, services were held in the shade of trees. The pulpit consisted of a platform made of logs, which were raised about five feet above the ground, over which was a board roof. There were no services in the winter until the meeting-house was erected ; communion services were held sometimes in barns in the country. The present edifice was erected on the site of the first one, opposite the head of North street, in 1872-3, with a lecture-room in the base- ment.

The first Methodist Episcopal church edifice, frame, 20×25 feet, was erected in 1838 ; the present one, brick, about 40×60 feet, with lecture-room in the basement, situate on the southerly side of Mill street, on the second lot below Church street, was erected in 1851. Members, 232; Sabbath- school scholars,-150.

By act of April 4, 1844, the trustees of this church were authorized to sell the lot of ground in "the new addition," No. 15, and the house of worship thereon erected and convey the interest of the church therein to the purchaser, provided that before the sale the trustees should execute a bond to the commonwealth with such penalty as should be approved by the judges of the court of common pleas of this county, and that the proceeds of the sale should, so far as necessary, be applied to the payment of the debts of the church, and the bal- ance in such manner as should be directed by the quarterly conference with which the church was connected.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Part 51

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