History of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Part 62

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

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* Appointed by Col. Charles Campbell, contractor for the militia of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, who was to be paid eight- pence per ration on account of the stations being so small, as stated in Campbell's letter to Gov. Mifflin, August 13, 1791.

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one hundred and twenty rods southwesterly from it is the site of what, tradition says, was " Hutchison's hunting camp," on a run emptying into the Branch on its south side, and, therefore, called Hutchison's run. Who Hutchison was or whence he came has not been handed down to the present residents in this region.

The most northeastern portion of the division of this township south of the purchase line is covered by the less part of the Alexander Dallas tract, the warrant being dated July 1, 1784, the greater part being in Indiana county. Its locality, as well as the localities of the other tracts, will be manifest to those familiar with the topography of this region, from the names of some of its owners subsequent to the warrantee. This part of that tract became vested in James Oliver and Alexander McCreary, who conveyed 119 acres of it to John Oliver, July 15, 1839, for $500, who conveyed the same, June 13, 1840, to Hugh Elgin for $600, who in consideration of love and natural affection and the sum of $300, conveyed it May 22, 1849, to Joseph M. Elgin, the present owner and occu- pant.

The original tract adjoining that one on the west was the one covered by the warrant to John D. Mercer, dated about the same time as the Dal- las warrant. By virtue of the act of Congress of January 9, 1815, and its supplements for raising the United States direct tax for 1816, it was sold by Theophilus T. Ware, collector of that tax for the then tenth collection district of Penn- sylvania, to Robert Orr, Jr., for $3.67, on March 10, 1819, who conveyed it June 14, 1830, to David McCausland, for $10. It was first mentioned on the assessment list as seated by him in 1824.

Following the original tracts westwardly along the purchase line, the next one is the Joseph Fisher tract, on which George McCausland settled in 1817-18, of which he conveyed 107 acres, and which was sold by Samuel Matthews, county treasurer, for taxes, September 21, 1820, and was bid in by the county commissioners, who, viz .: their succes- sors, John Patton, Samuel Matthews and James Green, sold it to McCausland June 10, 1828, of which he conveyed 1074 acres to John Fisher, May 7, 1836, for $100.

Next is the Thomas Bradford tract, which will be noticed elsewhere in connection with several other tracts. Next the larger of the Elizabeth Henderson tracts, called "Pleasant," patent to James Carnahan, May 12, 1790, who conveyed it to Joseph Larkey, May 11, 1812, for £75 10s., which became vested in John Hutchinson, who, September 19, 1836, conveyed it to James Ash-

kittle, who, November 10, 1854, conveyed 53 acres of it to Finney Templeton, for $696. Schoolhouse No. 12 is on it. Adjoining the northwestern portion of it, on both sides of the purchase line, was a vacant tract, for which Robert Simpson took out a warrant, January 22, 1847, 323 acres of which James McGranahan conveyed to Finney Templeton, December 3, 1859, for $390.30. Next, bordering on the purchase line, the Benjamin Davis, a long, narrow tract, widening considerably toward its western limit. The warrant for it is dated January 20, 1774. It is the same tract of which Jacob Beer, John Boyer and Peter Rearich conveyed, January 19, 1855, 90 acres and 132 perches to Susannah Wampler, for $550, and the next day, the first two and David Wam- pler, 89 acres and 125 perches to Elizabeth Rea- righ, for $673.50. Returning to the above-men- tioned Elizabeth Henderson tract, next west of it and south of the Davis, was the William Wistar tract, from the west end of which Mrs. Ellen M. Douglass, an heir and devisee of Judge Young, conveyed, May 5, 1847, about 83 acres to John G. Kline, for $427, July 16, to George B. McFarland, 141} acres for $380, and May 1, 1851, 80 acres to Alexander Dixon, for $413.75. Next west was the George Snyder tract, included in the Young purchase. Next the Richard Wells tract, which became vested in Jacob Beer, Sr., blacksmith, who erected thereon, about 270 rods above the mouth of Huskins' run, in 1819-20, a gristmill and sawmill, with which he was assessed first in 1820, which, with 200 acres of that tract, he conveyed May 13, 1826, to Henry McBride, for $1,100, whose executors conveyed the same, June 19, 1849, to John Hughes, for $2,000, who conveyed, December 26, 1862, 132 square perches thereof, with the gristmill and other buildings thereon, to John C. Wilt, for $800, who conveyed the same, April 5, 1864, to John A. Boyer, for $1,200, who conveyed the one-half part thereof January 3, 1866, to Peter and Henry Louster, for $600, and which is now owned by Louster, Sowers & Co. This mill has been successively known, since its erection in 1819, as Beer's, McBride's, Hughes', Wilt's, Boyer's and now as the North Star gristmill. John Boyer purchased 1033 acres of this Wells tract, January 19, 1855, for $918.50, and was assessed as a coverlid-weaver in 1857.

Next and also west of the Benjamin Davis tract is a portion of the James Dubb's tract.

South and west of the Wells is the major part of the Jonathan D. Sargeant tract, which having become vested in Charles S. Coxe, he conveyed it, April 26, 1837, to Samuel Patterson for $800, who

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HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY.

conveyed 123 acres of it, March 1, 1840, to Moses Beer, for $493.

Next south of the Sargeant, is that portion of the Larken Dorsey tract which is in this township, for which tract a patent, dated June 30, 1801, was granted to James Abercrombie, who conveyed the entire tract to Samuel Patterson, October 13, 1836, for $546, of which Patterson conveyed 150 acres and 13 perches to Samnel McCurdy, November 6, 1847, for $530.

East of the two last above-mentioned tracts was the John Gill tract, a patent for which was granted to John Vanderen, October 12, 1776, which having become vested in Judge White, Archibald Stewart, and James McKennan, the two former and the lat- ter's executors conveyed 304 acres of it to Jacob Beer, May 8 and June 7, 1847, for $2,079, and 32 acres the next year to William McIntosh, for $160.50. The latter was first assessed with 235 acres of it in 1835.

The next to the east was the John Lart tract, the warrant for which is dated January 20, 1774, who, two days afterward, conveyed it to Richard Wells, the consideration expressed in the deed being 5 shillings .. Wells conveyed it, August 17, 1795, to John Vanderen. It "fell by lot " to Susannah V. Johnston, to whom Vanderen's execu- tors conveyed it, December 14, 1819. It was seated and first occupied by Daniel Wampler, in 1826-7. Samuel F. Peters and Susannah V., his wife, nee Johnston, conveyed 239 acres of it, February 14, 1870, for $5,975, to James S. Peters. The public schoolhouse No. 10 is situated on it.

Next east was the John Dealing tract, being one of the tracts purchased by Richard Wells for the nominal sum of 5 shillings. In the deed from Dealing to Wells are these words: "To include a spring that rises among some little ridges and leads into a branch of Crooked creek about one mile southeast from an encampment of Benjamin Jacobs, and to extend toward said camp." Mrs. Ellen M. Douglas conveyed 145 acres of it to George Mitchell, December 30, 1846, for $500.

Next east is the William Craig tract, included in the Young purchase. It was seated by Samuel Brown, "in the spring of 1837," and on which he must have resided until 1846, for that is the last year in which his name appears on the assessment list of Plum Creek township, in which this tract then was. Judging from the maps and records to which the writer has access, it has since been very sparsely, if at all, inhabited.

Next east is the William Finney tract, the war- rant for which is dated July 1, 1784, and the sur- vey, November 10, 1786. It must have been seated

by John Black in 1827, as he was first assessed with it in 1828. It was conveyed by William Fin- ney to Mrs. Ann Black, July 18, 1833, as containing 427 acres, for $100. A sawmill was erected on it in 1840, which was assessed to Samuel Black, and which is probably the one now owned by Fin- ney Templeton, situated fifty rods slightly north of west from the public schoolhouse No. 11.

Next east is the smaller one of the Elizabeth Henderson tracts, the warrant for which is dated July 1, 1784. The patent for it was granted to James Carnahan May 17, 1790, and by him con- veyed to Absalom Woodward, who, March 18, 1823, conveyed it to his daughter Mary, wife of David Reynolds, the consideration expressed in the deed being " good-will and affection," 111 acres and 24 perches of which Alexander Rey- nolds, a lineal heir-a son of David and Mary Reynolds-conveyed, January 11, 1858, to Martin John, for $1,111.50, and April 30 to George El- wood, 55 acres and 16 perches, for $551; to J. T. Sloan, April 19, 1856, 109 acres and 76 perches, for $1,175; to Samuel Sloan, July 6, 1857, 108 acres and 85 perches, for $1,175.

Next east was the Joseph Norris tract, which, being included in the Bradford purchase, will be elsewhere noticed.

Next east was the Joseph Nourse tract, in which are the vestiges of the circumvallation heretofore- mentioned. This tract was seated by David McCausland. He was first assessed in 1809, in Kittanning township, in which this tract was then included, with 368 acres, his title thereto being by an "improvement," but on the first assessment list of Plum Creek township, in 1811, by a " war- rant." The first mention of his having seated this tract is on the assessment list of the last-men- tioned township, in 1814.

Next east is the James Dundas tract, the war- rant for which is dated July 1, 1784. It became vested in John Montgomery, of Indiana county, Pennsylvania, who, May 4, 1833, in consideration " of natural love and affection and the comforta- ble maintenance of Elizabeth Montgomery, or paying her $30 a year during her natural life," conveyed as containing 452 acres to James Mont- gomery and Daniel Devinney, the former "to inherit the lower end where McGahey had im- proved," who settled on it in 1807, both being equal sharers as to quantity and quality. The former conveyed to the latter, two years after- ward, 128 acres and 4 perches for $50.

A few years later a dispute arose between De- vinney and David McCausland, who had, as above mentioned, become the owner of the Mercer tract, "

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COWANSHANNOCK TOWNSHIP.

respecting the division line between these two con- tiguous tracts, which, after the preliminary steps had been taken for a prosecution in the court of quarter sessions, and a suit had been instituted in the court of common pleas of this county, was set- tled by a domestic tribunal selected by the parties litigant. On October 22, 1840, they agreed to submit their controversy to the arbitrament of Thomas Armstrong and John McEwen, who, as they were authorized by the agreement of the par- ties, chose David Peelor as the third member of the tribunal, whose decision was to settle all mat- ters contraverted in that suit and that prosecution. Armstrong and McEwen met at McCausland's house, November 25, 1840, and examined the papers presented by both parties and then adjourned to meet on the disputed ground, December 11th, when the three referees met at Devinney's. On examin- ing the ground about a mile below his house they found old marks of a division line for that block of surveys corresponding to the Mercer and Dun- das surveys, which they traced up and found marks near to McCausland's land and Devinney's west line, and by continuing run them within about two feet of where McCausland claimed " the war- rantee corner," as he called it. Then after finding, by an actual survey made on the ground, what bearing would take them to "the Bishop White's maple corner," in Indiana county, and found it to bear at that date, by Peelor's compass, south 80° 42' east. Then they commenced at that "warran- tee corner," and without any regard to lines made before, as there were none older than thirty-nine or forty years, they run a division line between McCausland and Devinney and marked it on the ground. Thus ended a controversy which might otherwise have occupied much of the time of the civil and criminal courts, have embittered the par- ties and their families toward each other, and entailed upon one or the other of the litigants a large amount of taxable costs, and upon each a considerable loss of time, expenditure of money, and racking anxiety, whichever of them would have been victorious in that action and prosecu- tion. It may be remarked in passing, that 100 acres and 97 perches of this Dundas tract was sold in July, 1835, for $200, to Thomas J. Brandon, who exchanged it with David Ralston for another tract, who conveyed it to Jesse Henderson in January, 1857, for $1,000.

Next east was the William Ramsey tract, most, if not all, of which is in Indiana county, but which was returned as an unseated tract by the assessors of both Kittanning and Plum Creek townships, by those of the latter until 1819, but it is not on the

more recent list on parchment of warrantees and of the persons who seated the original tracts, which was made by James E. Brown in 1827.

Next south of the Dundas was the Parsons Leaming tract, which was sold for taxes September 20, 1822, by Samuel Matthews, county treasurer, for the use of the county, and sold by John Patton, Samuel Matthews and James Green, county com- missioners, March 17, 1828, to David Johnston, of Kittanning borough, for $34, who conveyed it to Thomas Bradford March 10, 1829, for $100. The Jacob Amos tract adjoins it on the south. Twenty years later the southern part of the Leaming tract was occupied by Daniel Fyock, and the northern part of the Amos tract by Thomas Price, between whom a controversy arose respecting the division line between the two tracts. For the purpose of settling it without further legal proceedings, Thomas Bradford's executor agreed with Price, December 31, 1849, to submit the question in dis- pute to Jonathan E. Meredith, and that he should permanently establish the division line, which it was agreed should be final and conclusive, and, furthermore, if Price was not in the occupancy of any part of the Leaming tract, Bradford was to pay him all the costs of the prosecution for forci- ble entry and detainer which had been instituted against him, and if Fyock had occupied any part of the Amos tract, the referee was to determine the amount of rent and damage which Bradford ought to have. The referee found that Price was occupying 8 acres and 100 perches of the Leaming

tract. Thus ended a prosecution before it had reached the court of quarter sessions. The local- ity of the Leaming tract may be otherwise recog- nized by that part of it, 70 acres and 102 perches, conveyed March 14, 1864, by Benjamin Rush Bradford to Ephraim Buffington and J. A. and Richard Coulter,# and by them, May 30, 1866, to John W. McClain for $700, or nearly $10 an acre.

The Amos tract was returned by assessors as being in Kittanning township until 1810. It was returned the next year on the first assessment list of Plum Creek township as being in Indiana county. The returns made of this and various other tracts indicate that, for several years after the organization of this county, the division line between this part of it and Indiana county was not clearly known, at least to the assessors. It was afterward ascertained to be partly in each county. The portion of it in this county is in the southeastern part of this and the northeastern part of Plum Creek township.

# Colonel of the 11th regt. Pa. Vols, in the war of 1861.

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HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY.

Next west was about one-third of "Norway," as the Mary Semple tract was called.

Next west of the Leaming and northwest of the Amos tract was the Patrick Farrell, west of which was the Samuel Fisher tract. North of the last was the Joseph Norris, which appears on some of the assessment lists and in some of the Bradford conveyances as the "John Nourse " tract ; on the ancient map of original tracts, and on Brown's list above-mentioned it is written "Joseph Norris ; " and north of that was the Thomas Bradford tract.

The last-mentioned five tracts, the John Ewing and Thomas Hutchinson-called "Hutchins" in some conveyances-tracts in Kittanning, and the James Burnsides one in Plum Creek township, became vested in Thomas Bradford, of Philadel- phia, Pennsylvania, printer. The warrants for them are dated July 1, 1784. His trustees con- veyed them, July 1, 1857, to Benjamin Rush Brad- ford for $9,000. The latter, May 1, 1858, conveyed the Farrell and Fisher tracts, and parts of the Bradford and Norris tracts, containing 1,183 acres, to Dr. Thomas H. Allison, for $7,000, and 170 acres and 34 perches of the Bradford and Norris tracts, July 19, 1864, for $960. Bradford wished to convey to Allison 1,700 acres; but James, Alexan- der and John Guthrie were in the occupancy of and claimed the title to 150 acres of the Norris tract, and William and James McCausland, Will- iam Kennedy and Andrew Mitchell were in the occupancy of and claimed title to 154 acres of the Thomas Bradford tract. It was necessary for them to be ousted before Bradford could make a satis- factory conveyance of these 304 acres. The dis- puted points or questions in these cases were in regard to the boundary lines of the original sur- veys of these two tracts and the uninterrupted hostile and adverse possession of the above-men- tioned portions of them by the occupants for twenty-one years. Bradford instituted ejectments against these occupants, at Nos. 97 and 98 of Sep- tember term, 1858, in the court of common pleas of this county. Struck juries were drawn, who went on the ground and examined the original lines so far as they were apparent. The cases were continued several times. The former was tried September 19, 1863, and resulted in a verdict for the defendants. A motion for a new trial having been granted on the filing of an ade- quate bond by the plaintiff, the venue in each case was subsequently changed to Allegheny county by a special act of assembly, to the district court of which the records and papers were certified June 23, 1864. The trials there also resulted in verdicts for the defendants. Writs of error having

been taken to the supreme court, the judgments in the court below were affirmed.

James Guthrie, Sr., must have settled on that Norris tract as early as, perhaps earlier than, 1804, for he was assessed with 250 acres of it in 1805, it being then in Allegheny township. William McCausland -sometimes spelled McCaslin -was first assessed in Plum Creek township with per- sonal property in 1812, and with 200 acres of land in 1813, so that he must have settled on the Brad- ford tract in 1811-12.

Patents for those Bradford lands were granted to Thomas B. Darrach, James H. Bradford and William Bradford, Jr., in trust for the heirs of the above-mentioned Thomas Bradford, not until March 22, 1856. Their more rapid settlement began after Allison's purchase. He divided them into com- paratively small tracts, most, if not all, of which he sold at considerably advanced rates, within fif- teen years after his purchase. As an evidence of the ready demand for such tracts, he conveyed, June 3, or about one month after his purchase, 65 acres and 4 perches of the Farrell tract to William M. Cox for $942.50; July 24, 100 acres of the Samuel Fisher tract to George Mclaughlin for $1,030, and 22 acres and 31 perches of the Thomas Bradford tract for $227.60, and 70 acres to Finney Templeton for $910. The summary of which is, he sold, within three months after his purchase, 2574 acres for $3,110.10, or a trifle more than one- fifth of the quantity of his first purchase for nearly half of what he paid for the whole of that pur- chase. A glance at the map of this township made in 1860 and the one made in 1876 will give an idea of the greater density of the population of that portion of this township covered by those four original tracts since than before they were thus brought into market. The respective locali- ties of the Thomas Bradford, Joseph Norris (John Nourse) and Samuel Fisher tracts can be readily recognized by readers familiar with this region from the localities of the smaller portions purchased as above stated.

The locality of the Patrick Farrell tract may be identified by the town of Atwood, which is situated about equi-distant from its northern and southern lines, in the western part of the tract, and about sixty rods east of its western line, which is the boundary between it and the Samuel Fisher tract. In 1860 the site of this town was covered by the forest. It was then cleared by Dr. Allison. The writer remembers the primeval appearance of the scope of country around this town, as he traversed it on tours of official dnty, from and after 1857. When he was there the last time, in 1866, Atwood

John Wilson Marshall

Mrs. John W. Marshall.

JOHN WILSON MARSHALL.

The parents of the subject of this sketch, John and Elizabeth (Stewart) Marshall, were natives of Indiana county, Pennsylvania, and were among the early settlers in Wayne township, Armstrong county. John Mar- shall and his father, Archibald Marshall, are known to have located here in 1812. John Marshall was born in 1794 ; married Miss Elizabeth Stewart in 1817, and died in 1872. Mrs. Marshall was born in 1789, and died in 1842, in the fifty-third year of her age. There were born to them eight children, five sons and three daughters, as follows: Archibald and William S. (deceased) ; John Wilson (of whom we shall have more to say presently) ; Sarah Jane (deceased) ; Watson S. (deceased) ; Margaret C. (wife of Peter Good, now a resident of Wayne town- ship) ; Alexander S. (a minister in Linn county, Iowa), and Elizabeth (who lives in this county).

John W. Marshall was born in Wayne township, Arm- strong county, October 15, 1821, and remained with his father until twenty-four years of age. Shortly afterward he purchased a homestead in Wayne township, to which

he took his bride, née Catharine Marshall, with whom he was united in marriage February 19, 1850. This lady, born in Wayne township, August 23, 1826, died December 7, 1882, after a long life of usefulness. After their mar- riage this couple resided upon the farm and in the village of Dayton until their removal to Atwood, where Mr. Marshall entered the mercantile business, in which he was engaged for nine years, until 1879, when he moved to his new farm residence, where he still lives. He owns about 125 acres of land adjoining Atwood. This village was laid out by Mr. Marshall, and he was its first post- master. He accomplished also the laying out of the Atwood cemetery, and the organization and incorpora- tion of the association which controls it. The United Presbyterian church of Atwood has been liberally sup- ported by the subject of this biography. He is one of its oldest members, and was made an elder of the church October 12, 1866. The present house of worship, a very creditable structure, was built by him upon contract, for the sum of $2,300, in 1873.

RESIDENCE OF J. W. MARSHALL, ATWOOD, PA.

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COWANSHANNOCK TOWNSHIP.

seemed to have just begun to emerge from the wilderness. Only one house had been built there before then. Its name was suggested by its being at, or near, or more properly in the woods. It was not named after any person living or dead. Dr. Allison resolutely and successfully resisted the suggestion of naming it after him. The inhabited parts of the town plot are on Indiana and Jefferson streets, each about forty-one feet wide, and cross- ing each other at right angles, the course of the former being from southeast to northwest, and of the latter from northeast to southwest, on which are twenty-four dwelling-houses, one of which is a hotel, three stores, two blacksmith shops, two car- penters' shops, one cabinetmaker's shop, two wagonmakers' shops. According to the assessment list for 1876 there are one blacksmith, three car- penters, one merchant, two pedlars, five laborers, two shoemakers, one wagonmaker, one physician, and the number of taxables forty-two, which ought to give a population of 193. The only permanent resident physician is Dr. John W. Morrow, who settled here in the spring of 1873.

The only church here is the United Presbyte- rian. The congregation was organized about 1827, though there was occasional preaching earlier, the first sermon having been preached by Rev. Mr. Jamison in 1815. Services were first held under the white-oak trees near the house of Samuel Sloan, Sr., near the boundary line between Cowanshannock and Plum Creek townships, on the Robert Semple, Sr., tract. The number of its original members was thirty-five. It was called the Associate Presbyterian Congregation of Con- cord. Rev. David Barclay, of the Presbyterian church, commenced preaching to the Concord con- gregation several years later than Rev. Jamison. The first permanent pastor was Rev. John Hind- man, whose pastorate continued from 1832 until April 29, 1840. That of the second pastor, Rev. William Smith, commenced June 24, 1851, and continued until in 1859. James Hutchison and Henry McBride were the first elders. A union having been formed in 1858 between the Associate and Associate Reformed churches, this congrega- tion thereafter took the name of the United Pres- byterian Congregation of Concord, and as such it was incorporated by the proper court December 4, 1876. The present pastor, Rev. David K. Duff, was installed June 21, 1866. Its present member- ship is 95 ; its contributions for 1876 amount to $882, and its number of Sabbath-school scholars is 117.

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History of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Part 62

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