History of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Part 53

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

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A glance at the historical map of Pennsylvania shows that the Indian path from Le Bœuf - now Waterford -through what is now the southern part of Erie county, across and down French creek, and down the left bank of the Allegheny, ter- minated here, on the northern side of the creek. Hence it may be reasonably, at least not violently, presumed that this was one of the points where the Indians left their canoes, perhaps moored them to the second bank which has been washed away, and proceeded on hunting expeditions up this

* It was further shorn of the greater part of its remaining terri- tory by the organization of Boggs township, June 10, 1878, by a line extending from a point on the Allegheny river, about 125 rods in an airline below the mouth of Whisky run-south of the telegraph office-to the upper southwest corner of Mahoning township, at the hend of the Mahoning creek, in the eastern part of the Wallace tract, No. 4143, leaving only about one-sixth of the territory in Pine town- ship. Samuel Mateer was appointed judge, and George W. Goohen and Sharon Quigley inspectors of the first election of township officers, and that election was ordered to be held at the house of Samuel Mateer, July 6. The vote on the question of the division of Pine township was 160 for and 159 against.

+ Heckewelder.

248

HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY.

stream. Here, too, the English and French traders may have bartered beads, trinkets and other com- modities to the Indians for their more valuable pelts, furs and other articles. This may possibly have anciently been a busy mart for that kind of commerce.

In this corner of this township is the minor por- tion of an original tract called "Springfield," cov- ered by a warrant to John Elliott, No. 3619, dated January 5, 1793. Elliott conveyed it to Archibald McCall February 24, 1795, to whom the patent was granted March 4. McCall conveyed it to Robert Orr March 3, 1835. This point was formerly called the mouth of Mahoning. The Orrsville postoffice was established here in May, 1838, and Anson Pinney was appointed postmaster. Among his successors were Joseph A. Knox and Thomas Meredith. This place was thereafter called Orrs- ville, so named after the owner of the land on which the town is built. Charles B. Schotte was employed by the owner of " Springfield " to build a hotel - the first frame structure erected here - in 1836, which he completed the next year, and which was successively kept by him, Pinney, William Templeton, Chambers Orr, John Wallace and others. Schotte remembers that before its erection there was not a vestige of another build- ing within the limits of Orrsville. About an acre of ground, on which is the site of that hotel, had the appearance of having been cleared years before. He also built for the proprietor the warehouse at the south side of the mouth of the creek, which was extended out somewhat over the bank of the river for the purpose of conveniently receiving such freight as might be landed here from the steam- boats. James McCullough, Sr., of Kittanning, remembers having seen a log cabin here when he first descended the Allegheny in 1820, and Jonathan E. Meredith also remembers having seen several of the same kind, possibly fishermen's huts, when he passed here in 1827. The only other building along the river for nearly a mile below the mouth of Mahoning was a log one in which Hetty Brice sold whisky-some of its imbibers say it was very good whisky- without suffering the penalty for selling it without license, to some of the residents in this section and to travelers along the road from Kittanning to Olean, after it was laid out in pur- suance of the act of assembly March 23, 1819.

Although Orrsville is at the junction of two im- portant streams, it was more tardily settled than some other parts of this township. It ought natu- rally to have been a stopping-place for rafts in the early times of the lumber trade, which it was not until suitable accommodations for the raftsmen

were provided on both sides of the Mahoning. It became a prominent point for landing and storing freight for the upper parts of Armstrong and por- tions of Clarion and Jefferson counties, and con- tinued to be until the completion of the low grade division of the Allegheny Valley railroad.

Next south of "Springfield " was a vacant tract, the upper end of which extended from the river back on to the hill, containing 350 acres, accord- ing to the ancient map of original tracts, to which Peter Brice, a colored man, acquired title by im- provement, and for which a patent was granted to him July 3, 1848. He conveyed the portion of it at Templeton Station and the mouth of Whisky run to John Brice August 1, 1852, who conveyed ten acres of it to Robert Thompson September 9, 1853, for $65.

Abraham Parkinson settled where Templeton Station now is in 1803, and was assessed with 400 acres, which he abandoned.

Peter Brice settled on the hill part of this tract in the spring of 1804. There were then but very few white settlers within a circuit of several miles. His was the only colored family here for years. The present number of colored people here and hereabouts is sixty-five.

A half century or more ago Peter Brice's chil- dren found a pair of pothooks, having a hinge, about four feet below the surface, near Parkin- son's, which for some years has been called Whisky run, where the Templeton Station now is. This run was known as Parkinson's until after Ore Hill Furnace went into operation, when its employés and others residing in the valley of this run used whisky so freely that it was suggested the name should be changed to Whisky run and Whisky Hollow.

Next south and west of the Brice tract, between the principal portion of it and the river, was the William Elliott tract, No. 21, May 17, 1785, sur- veyed June 18, called "Mahoning Old Town Bot- tom," 211 acres, according to the original survey. It, however, like nearly every original tract, contained a surplus. "The surveying fees paid November 8, 1787, per Wm. Elliott £2, carried to the credit of J. B. McLean," as one-half of this tract was then in his district. This entire tract passed under the hammer of the sheriff of Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, to Charles Smith, November 26, 1789. He conveyed it, September 1, 1790, to Will- iam West, and he, July 8, 1793, to Robert Elliott, who died intestate, leaving ten children, three of whom died intestate and without issue, and one intestate, leaving a widow and two sons. And yet William Elliott conveyed it to Richard Chil-

Mrs. Salome Shoemaker

JOSEPH SHOEMAKER.

The parents of the subject of this sketch, Solo- mon and Elizabeth (Uncafer) Shoemaker, came to this county from Loudoun county, Virginia, at the beginning of the present century, and settled in Kiskiminetas township, where Spring church now is. Mr. Shoemaker, having entered 335 acres of land, built upon it a comfortable stone house, the first in the township, in which he and his wife resided until their deaths. They were the parents of six children -John, Joseph, Catharine, George, Margaret and Elizabeth, of whom George, Marga- ret and Elizabeth are still living. The first named and Elizabeth, wife of William Townsend, are in Kiskiminetas township, and Margaret, widow of R. Dentzell, lives in Apollo.

Joseph Shoemaker was born in Loudoun county, Virginia, April 16, 1799, and came to this county an infant. He remained at home until after his marriage, which took place May 18, 1825. His wife was Miss Salome Weinel, daughter of Rev. William and Catharine (Frye) Weinel, born July 10, 1806. Seven children were the offspring of this marriage -William L., Josiah J., Theodore T., Sarah Jane, Alexander D., Maria C. and Anna Mary, of whom Sarah Jane and Maria C. are deceased. William L. went to Iowa in 1853, where he located a farm. He returned home, where he was married. On his return to Iowa he was taken sick, and died when within a few miles of his home. Josiah and Alexander live in Kiskimine- tas township, Theodore T. is in Montana, and

Mary (wife of Rev. P. Baker) in Fayette county, Pennsylvania.

Mr. Shoemaker and his wife lived with his parents until he could build a hewed-log house on a farm of 315 acres, which he purchased for a home. He afterward built a howed-log barn. This land, for which he gave $700.37, was thickly cov- ered with forest, and he began and successfully carried on the work of clearing it. In 1840 his farm had been brought into such good condition that he needed a new barn, and he built one, a frame structure, 75×50 feet. In 1845 he built the brick house in which his widow and son, Josiah J., now live, and which is probably the best farm dwelling in the township. Mr. Shoemaker began his career under difficulties, having to use the old- fashioned plow with a wooden moldboard, and similar primitive farm implements, but being an industrious man and a good manager, he developed his heavily-timbered land into a fine farm, and, with the aid of his excellent wife, secured for himself and family a pleasant home. Mr. Shoe- maker died April 15, 1874, and this home passed into the possession of his son, Josiah J., and his sister, Mrs. Baker.

Mr. Shoemaker's memory is cherished in the neighborhood in which, during life, he was an honored and useful citizen, and his humble but admirable character is regarded as worthy the emulation of all those who have to start in life, as he did, with no capital but sterling honesty and industry.

RESIDENCE OF JOSIAH SHOEMAKER.

249

PINE (INCLUDING BOGGS) TOWNSHIP.

derston December 16, 1797, who conveyed it to Right Elliott, and he, January 8, 1810, to David Lauson for $800. Robert Orr, Jr., of Sugar Creek township, this county, April 16, 1818, purchased from William Elliott, one of Robert Elliott's sons, of the town of Sandwich, in the province of Upper Canada, his undivided share of this tract for $2333, and at other times from other heirs their interests, amounting in all to six-sevenths of the tract. The other seventh was purchased by James E. Brown, who conveyed it to Chambers Orr June 2, 1848, for $840. Robert and Chambers Orr con- veyed it, as containing 299 acres, to Philip Tem- pleton February 24, 1852, for $7,500. He conveyed 10,920 square feet of it to Robert Thompson Oc- tober 25, 1865, for $500, and 106 acres and 72 perches to William Phillips, then president of the Allegheny Valley Railroad Company, December 1, 1869, for $25,548, subject to the right of way of that road, which passed by sheriff's deed, dated Sep- tember 6, 1876, to James Mosgrove for $11,171.57. " Mahoning T." on Reading Howell's map of 1792 and "I. T." for Indian Town on the Historical Map of Pennsylvania, were on this Elliott tract. It was a Seneca or Cornplanter town. It is not known when it was founded-probably before 1790. When Peter Brice came here in 1804 it consisted of about thirty huts and one hundred and fifty people. The Indians engaged in hunting and fishing and the squaws raised the corn, which they kept in a hole about four feet deep in the ground, shaped like an earthen dish. They were friendly to Brice and his family. The friendship was mutual, not only between those who lived there, but others from the upper Allegheny who sometimes stopped here. A party of the latter reached here on an autumn day, between 1804 and 1810. After drawing their canoes out on dry land and partaking of Brice's hospitality they pro- ceeded to the hills back from the river, where they spent several days in hunting, and returned laden with game. The river having risen in the mean- time their canoes would have been swept down stream if Brice had not secured them. When those Indians became cognizant of the facts, and especially the kindness of Brice, they expressed their gratification by dancing, singing and shout- ing. In those times bears, deer, wolves, panthers and wild turkeys were abundant along and back from the river. When Brice was farming a por- tion of the river bottom below Whisky run, fifty odd years ago, he found many large blue, red and white beads, flint darts six inches long, little toma- hawks with ronnd poles, and pieces of wire five or six inches long filled with scalps of wild ducks.

William Templeton was assessed with and of course occupied this tract from 1824 until 1841, with the exception that Jacob Starr was assessed with seventy aeres of it from 1827 until 1830, and John Toy with the same from then until 1841. During Templeton's occupancy he was assessed with a distillery from 1826 until 1830, which was located where the water-tank of the A. W. railroad now is. The house in which he lived was in the lower part of the tract, where it is widest, between the river and the curve in the railroad, in front of which swung for several years the sign of the Green Tree, painted by James McCullough, Sr., on the 7th of April, 1828, which indicates that he kept there a publie house, though not assessed as an inn- keeper. Chambers and Robert Orr resided several years on this part of the tract after Templeton re- moved to the mouth of Mahoning. Starr and Toy, who successively lived on the upper portion, appear to have been the only other occupants of this tract for many years.

Another William Elliott tract, warrant No. 633, 1274 acres, its shape a rectangular parallelogram, extended lengthwise from northeast to southwest. Its northeastern end apparently interfered with the Samuel Wallace tract No. 4149, or the latter with it. The rest of it was adjoined by the Brice tract, or vacancy, and the James Calhoun improve- ment. It was first noted on the assessment list of Kittanning township as seated in 1810. Peter Brice was first assessed with it in 1811, that being the first year in which name appears on the dupli- cate, and with which he continued to be assessed until 1846, and thereafter with a larger quantity than it contained. James Brice's present residence is on the upper or northeastern portion of it.

Adjoining that tract on the southwest and south- east was James Calhoun's improvement, 400 acres, as seen on the map of original tracts. His name appears on the Toby township duplicate for 1806- assessed as a weaver, and with 197 acres, rated at $1 per acre, one horse, and one head of cattle, $227. His name does not thereafter appear on the dupli- cate for either Toby or Kittanning township.

A patent was granted to James Cochran for that Calhoun tract as containing 480 aeres and 162 perches, October 9, 1833. Wm. Lowry was assessed with a tanyard on it in 1837-8. Cochran conveyed fifty acres of it, May 9, 1845, to James Cochran, Eathen Chilcott, A. P. Moderwell and Franeis Dobbs, for $500. They, by article of agreement, July 26, entered into a copartnership, under the name and style of "Cochran, Dobbs & Co.," for the purpose of erecting a blast furnace and manufacturing pig metal on that fifty-acre.

250

HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY.

tract, which Cochran put in as his share of the capital stock. That copartnership was brief, for its members conveyed these fifty acres to William and Robert McCntcheon, of Pittsburgh, November 21, 1845, for $1,200. Ore Hill Furnace was erected thereon that year. It was a steam hot-blast char- coal furnace. It was eight and a half feet across the bosh, and its stack was thirty-four feet high. It made 1,525 tons of mottle iron in forty-one weeks, in 1856, out of limestone carbonate ore obtained from two miles above it along both sides of the river and from both sides of Whisky Hol- low. The Mccutcheons were its proprietors while it was in blast, and Jesse Bell was, the greater part of the time, its manager. It went ont of blast in the spring of 1857 for the want of wood. William, who survived Robert McCntcheon, conveyed 48 acres and 157 perches of this furnace tract, and 66 acres and 138 perches of the tract which they had purchased from Peter P. Brice, aggregating 115 acres and 135 perches, to John B. Finlay, May 1, 1865, for $2,000, and which the latter conveyed to James E. Brown, November 15, 1866, for $10,000.

The lower portion of the land embraced in the patent to Cochran became vested in Samuel Hutchi- son in his lifetime, on which is "Barton Bend House," now owned by William Hutchinson. Other portions, on the hill, belong to Cochran's heirs. .

Adjoining that Calhonn improvement or Coch- ran tract, on the west and south, was a regularly- shaped one whose western line extended from a point a few rods above the sharp bend in the river to a point abont thirty rods below the mouth of Pine creek, covered by warrant No. 160 to Lient .- Col. Stephen Bayard. It became vested in William Turnbull, of Philadelphia, who was one of the liberal patriots who gave their bonds,* payable in gold and silver, for procuring provisions for the American army at a critical period in our revolu- tionary struggle. Some time before the Indian war of 1790, as related to the writer by James White, then in his eighty-fifth year, Turnbull built a sawmill near the month of Pine creek, from which some spies took all the irons and hid them in the woods along the little runs.

It is related that a man by the name of Mawmy was associated with Turnbull-perhaps as mill- wright-in building that mill.

Abont the 1st of June, 1794, a party of Indians with hostile intent were here, for Gen. William Jack, in his letter of the 6th, to Gov. Mifflin, wrote that he had just received a letter from Col. Charles Campbell, informing him that the spies

had discovered a large trail of Indians “ on Pine creek above the Kittanning," who appeared by their tracks to be advancing toward the settlement. It was on the face of the hill on this tract that a scouting party from the blockhouse near Fort Run discovered and killed two of the Indians, who, as they believed, had decoyed and shot the three scouts mentioned in the sketch of the Manor. James White related to the writer that John Har- birm, about 1811, shot an Indian, offensive at least to him, as he was mending his moccasin on a beam in the mill, a short distance above the month of Pine creek.

Turnbull, September 7, 1806, conveyed this tract, 5484 acres, called "Pine Grove," "situate on the Allegheny river, at the month of Pine run, includ- ing the forks of said run," and another tract in what is now Valley township, about 307 acres, to William Peart, Sr., of Oxford township, Philadel- phia county, Pennsylvania, for $4,000.

Peart built a sawmill near the mouth of Pine creek in 1807, with which he was first assessed the next year, and subsequently a gristmill, with one run of stone, on the south side of the creek in what is now Valley township, with which he was first assessed in 1810. This tract was on the un- seated list for the last time in that year. Two or. three years later he erected another gristmill still higher up and on the south side of that stream, which was swept away by a heavy flood before it was quite completed. Some of the stones of con- siderable size in the masonry of that mill were carried several hundred yards below by the force of that flood, where they were visible on a small flat many years afterward. William Peart, Sr., conveyed 300 acres and 80 perches of the northern part of "Pine Grove " to William Peart, Jr., No- vember 16, 1821, for $1, and agreed, July 30, 1828, to convey another parcel thereof, containing 248 acres, to William L. Peart, which agreement was consummated after his death by his widow, Susan Peart, executing a proper deed, October 3, 1832. Walter Sloan, who was first lieutenant of Capt. James Alexander's company in the war of 1812,* and William L. Peart entered into an article of agreement April 2, 1830, for the sale and pur- chase of the latter's grist and saw mill, with which Benjamin Peart was first assessed in 1825, a cabin house, barn, and 200 acres in the southeastern part of "Pine Grove," five acres of which were then cleared, for $800, of which Sloan was to pay $100 in hand, and the residue in seven equal annnal installments. Peart having died without execnt-

* See sketch of Allegheny township.

** See sketch of Kittanning borough.

251

PINE (INCLUDING BOGGS) TOWNSHIP.

ing a deed therefor, and Sloan having complied with his part of the contract, proceedings were instituted for the specific performance of that con- tract on the part of Peart's administrator, the result of which was a decree by the orphans' court of this county, directing its specific performance, and that the administrator, Robert E. Brown, " make, execute, acknowledge and deliver a suffi- cient deed" to Sloan. These mills, assessed to Sloan in and after 1830, and since known as " Sloan's Mills," are situated a short distance below the junction of the north fork with Pine creek.

Peart's eddy is in the northwestern part of "Pine Grove," where the Peart's Eddy postoffice was established July 13, 1868, Levi G. Peart, post- master, and changed to Brattonville, December 8, 1870. In the northeastern part of "Pine Grove," and adjoining the 200 acres purchased by Sloan on the northwest, are the farms of John and Mont- gomery Patton, 201 acres and 39 perches, being purpart C, in the partition of William L. Peart's real estate, which his administrator, Robert E. Brown, conveyed to them, June 24, 1850, for $1,207.464. Bordering on the river below the eddy is a considerable body of land belonging to Samnel M. Peart. William L. Peart's executor conveyed 55 acres to Sharon M. Quigley, April 1, 1851, for $500. The latter conveyed three acres and fifty- two perches of the lower part of his land to George W. Wilkins, of Westmoreland county, Pennsyl- vania, August 1, 1871, for $2,162.50, one-third of which the latter conveyed to Columbus Bell, De- cember 23, for $1,666.66, to which has been given the name of " Bellview," on which Wilkins & Bell erected their sawmill in August, 1871, which was ready to be run in April, 1872, and was worked that year almost exclusively for the Allegheny Valley Railroad company, affording employment to seven or eight men. The planing-mill, store- house, and six tenant-houses were erected in the next winter. The barge-yard was finished the next spring. About two-thirds of the next summer were occupied in sawing for the Allegheny Valley Railroad company, and in building, besides, eight barges, employing twenty men. The number of boats and barges built and of men employed gradually increased till 1876, when thirty-two boats and barges were built, 1,000,000 feet of other lumber cut, and thirty men employed. These works now consist of saw, lath, shingle and planing mills, and a box-factory.

Between Bellevue and the mouth of Pine creek is a small tract of about five acres, which Quigley con- veyed to Hugh R. Rutherford, of Indiana county, Pennsylvania, July 2, 1860, for $400, which he con-

veyed to James B. Walker four days thereafter for $500. The latter leased this small tract December 8, 1875, to the Midland Oil Mining Association, who were to have the exclusive right "for fifty years to bore, explore, dig for, gather, collect, manufacture, own, remove, transport in any man- ner, oil, gas and water," and certain other privi- leges necessary for prosecuting the object of the lease, and for which they were to pay the lessor one-tenth part of the proceeds of all sales at the prices realized on the premises of all the oil which might be obtained, or to deliver to him one-tenth of the oil obtained. There are various other stipula- tions in the lease which it is not necessary here to mention. The association, under the superintend- ence of J. B. Brundred, one of its managers, com- menced drilling a well in March, 1876, and prose- cuted the work to the depth of 1,700 feet without obtaining oil, at an expenditure of $8,000, and then abandoned this territory. A considerable vein of gas was struck at the depth of 1,060 feet. Much delay and expense were occasioned by the sticking of tools and other accidents incident to drilling such wells. The association consisted of a number of capitalists who seemed determined to thoroughly test the territory of the regions or districts in which they obtained their leases. They took thirty other similar leases of varying quantities of land in this township, forty in Mahoning and Red Bank townships, in a northeasterly direction from this well, and eleven in Perry township and in or near Parker City, and others in other counties. Another subdivision of "Pine Grove " is a tract contain- ing 62 acres and 152 perches and allowance, being allotment D in the partition of the real estate of William L. Peach, which his adminis- trator, Robert E. Brown, conveyed to James E. Brown March 22, 1851, for $661.70. This purpart is traversed by Pine creek, the major portion being on its north side. It is now assessed to Brown & Mosgrove. James A. Lowery opened a store near the mouth of Pine creek in 1852. The first Bratton- ville postoffice, James A. Lowrey, postmaster, was established here in the autumn of 1852, so named after Miss Jane Bratton Brown, daughter of the vendee of this purpart. It was removed to the " Barton Bend House," on the Hutchinson land, in 1855, and was discontinued in 1857.

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History of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Part 53

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