History of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Part 72

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

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into Gordon's " Gazetteer" of this state. The sup- position used to be somewhat prevalent that there were veins of silver in this western region. As late as December 20, 1866, Speer made the special reservation in his deed to Rev. J. N. Dick for the 13 acres and 121 perches in the northwestern part of " Rebecca's Hope" to search for ten years in the ravine, on the east side of the tract thereby con- veyed, "for gold, silver and lead, and, if found, to mine the same." It does not appear that the geo- logical and mineralogical features indicate the existence of any one of these metals in its native state as a natural product anywhere in this county. If pieces of either ore were ever found here, they were probably brought from the west by the In- dians and lost.

Among the white settlers near the mouth of Garrett's run, in the latter part of the last and the early part of the present century, was James Henry. Jeremiah Lochery, a singular and some- what noted character in those times, lived with him. Lochery was reputed to have accompanied Gen. Armstrong in his expedition to Kittanning, and to have been wounded in one of Capt. Sam Brady's raids. Sherman Day learned, more than thirty years ago, from those who knew Lochery, that "he had no family, and wandered from house to house, staying all night with people and repay- ing their hospitality with anecdotes of his adven- tures," a knowledge of which has not come down, so far as the present writer is informed, to any of the present generation. Peter Ehinger, with his family, removed from the west side of the river to this side of it and resided, for several years, a few rods above the mouth of Garrett's run, and re- moved thence to the tract warranted in his name, a part of which is now occupied by his son James.

The original tracts outside of the manor appear to have been unoccupied for many years after they were surveyed, except by those who seated them and a few others who were transient residents. Patrick Dougherty, however, settled on the north- western part of the Davison tract, a short distance below where the rolling mill now is, and above the small run between the Armstrong and the Glent- worth tracts, in 1790, where he resided twenty-two years, during a part of which period he traded with the Indians and others, and transported freight to and from Pittsburgh in a canoe capable of carry- ing twelve barrels of flour, according to the state- ment of one of his descendants. The writer has his account book, less a few of its first pages, which have been torn out. His accounts were kept in pounds, shillings and pence, in Pennsylvania German, probably by his wife, who was a daughter

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MANOR TOWNSHIP.

of the elder Jeremiah Cook, elsewhere mentioned. It appears from the entries that Dougherty was trading there as early as October, 1793. On the fourth day of that month, Stephen Allen was charged with sundry quantities of cherry, walnut and poplar boards, and about the same time Gollit and Himmig was also charged with divers quan- tities of the same materials. Those parties, per- haps, resided in Pittsburgh, whither Daugherty transported these articles in his large canoe. The reader may be curious to know the prices which those kinds of lumber then brought. The following items are therefore given: 450 feet cherry boards, £1 10s 6d; 400 feet walnut boards, 16s; 700 feet poplar boards £2 5s 6d. The price of liquors, probably whisky, appears to have been two shillings a quart in 1799. Daugherty also kept a ferry between his place and Sloan's on the opposite side of the Allegheny river. The ferriage for one person was sixpence, and the same for one horse. That book shows that some who habitually crossed the river there did not pay their ferriage instanter, for it contains charges therefor against various persons, some of which are quite numerous and extend through the years 1800-1-2, but which appear to have been from time to time adjusted. The names of the persons thus charged are of interest in this con- nection as showing some of the then residents in the vicinity of that ferry and on both sides of the river. They are: Frederick Monroe, Thomas Williams, Levi Hill, Hamilton Kilgore, William Broch, Samuel Kelly, Jonathan Mason, Andrew McQuirn, Sebastian Wolf, Samuel Sunerall, Archi- bald Moore, James Hall, Malfus Sisrot.

In 1812 Patrick Daugherty enlisted in Capt. James Alexander's company, accompanied to Black Rock, and died the next year of fever contracted in the service.

A part of the Davison tract was occupied several years after 1826 by James, son of Patrick Daugh- erty. In 1839 David Crytzer was assessed with 430 acres of the last-mentioned tract ; William McKelvy with 200 acres, and James McKelvy with 100 acres of the Glentworth tract; Robert Speer with 200 acres of the Rebecca Smith tract; James Lowther with 285 acres of the John Gray tract; John Richard with 80, and John Lopeman with 25 acres, of the Michael Mechling tract ; Jacob Hile- man with 307, Caskey with 50 and George Olinger with 50 acres of the Alexander Hunter tract ; Charles Rupert with 100, George Smeltzer with 150, and Philip Houser with 50 acres of the Win. Betts, Sr., tract; Philip Houser with 189 acres of the Wm. Betts, Jr., tract ; Jacob Wolf with 295 acres of the Simon Hermon tract; John Hustman

with 336 acres of the John Roberts tract ; John Cunningham with 240, Wm. Hartman with 83, and John Wolf with 73 acres of the John Biddle tract; Michael Isaman with 169, Solomon King with 143, and Joshua Spencer with 100 acres of the Clement Biddle tract; and Samuel Simmerall with acres of, probably, the Thos. Burd tract, which was surveyed to George Beck, who conveyed it to Jacob Beck, to whom the commonwealth granted a patent, March 27, 1837, who, on April 3, conveyed it to James C. Kerr, as containing 180 acres, for $2,000. He conveyed it to Robert Walker (of A), who devised it to his son Alexander, the present owner and occupant. Jonathan Mason was assessed with 225 acres from 1804 till 1816.

The reader who is familiar with the topography of this township can readily recognize the respect- ive locations of the above-mentioned tracts, by beginning at the Davison tract and tracing them in the order in which they are named southerly to Crooked creek. On the draft of the original sur- vey of the Manor tract, the land adjoining the line from its northeast corner, which is on the tract now occupied by Rev. A. S. Miller, south 18 degrees west 977 perches to a point about 200 rods nearly west of the present residence of Mrs. M. Lease, including the southern part of the Hunter, the whole of the two Betts and John Biddle tracts, and part of the Clement Biddle tract, is designated as "hilly poor land," from which designation, thus made by the then deputy surveyor-general of Cumberland county, the pres- ent owners, it is presumed, emphatically dissent, so far as it includes the qualifying word "poor." Its hilliness is patent, but the soil is generally too productive to be called poor, while the scenery visible from several points is grand, variegated and picturesque.

Among the early settlers in the southeastern part of this township was Joshua Spencer, Sr., who settled on the Clement Biddle tract, whose early biography is not without interest, from the fact of his having been a captive in his boyhood. He was about twelve years old at the beginning of the revolutionary war. While he and another person were thrashing in a barn where he then lived in the Susquehanna country, in the fall of 1776, five Indians rapidly entered the barn. Their moccasins being slippery, they fell, but instantly arose, captured Spencer and his companion, and, with the aid of three other Indians who remained outside, took the captives to the Indian country, where they were compelled to run the gantlet, which Spencer did without injury, but the other was badly hurt and covered with blood. When

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HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY.

Spencer had finished an Indian came up to him, called him "a d-d Yankee," and knocked him down. Having been adopted by the tribe, a squaw was selected for his wife. One day an Indian having suddenly raised his head from stooping over the fire, in the cabin where Spencer was, struck it against the front of the chimney over the fireplace, and was so provoked by being thus hurt that he seized a butcher-knife with which he chased Spencer to the end of the cabin, where he suddenly stopped and left him unharmed. He was adopted in place of an Indian boy that had died. The men wanted to kill him, but the squaws saved him. He planned his escape thus: While out fishing, daily, he marked his time by the shadow of a tree, so that he knew how much longer he remained away from his Indian quarters one day after another. He escaped on one of these days to the British, surrendered himself as a prisoner of war, was taken to Canada, transferred thence to Prisoner's island, in Lake Erie. Either there or in Canada he and Lieutenant Samuel Murphy, afterward of Murphy's bend, were fellow- prisoners. At the close of the revolutionary war he was exchanged. He then returned to his old home in the Susquehanna country, where he married, emigrated in 1799 to what is now Burrell township, in this county, and afterward removed to the Clement Biddle tract, in Manor township, where he died about 1844.

SCHOOLS.

The first schoolhouse within what are now the limits of this township was a primitive log struct- ure, which, according to a rather ancient draft of that portion of the manor tract purchased by Jona- than Smith, was located a few rods north of the pres- ent site of the Appleby Manor Presbyterian church, on the Duncan purpart of the manor tract, very near the line between it and the Cobeau purpart on the right hand side of the Kittanning and Leech- burgh road, facing to the north. It was probably erected as early as, perhaps earlier than, 1802, and was for years the only one within a circuit of several miles, to which the children of this then sparsely settled region resorted for instruction. The first teacher in it was probably Harrison Cook ; the next, - Conkling, who was succeeded, several years afterward, by one whom his pupils rather ungraciously called "the old girl." He taught there in 1811-12. Hugh Campbell was one of his pupils and the only one of those who attended that school, so far as the writer has learned, now living. He had previously taught elsewhere in this county. His name was pronounced as if it were spelled

Girl or Gurl, neither of which is correct. His name in full is Edward Gorrell. The orthoepy was faulty, as much so as in our own times is the construction of Horrell into Hurl or Hirl. His name appears for the first time on the assessment list of Allegheny township in 1811; in 1813 he was assessed with twelve acres of land. In 1814 the assessor wrote his name "Gurral." He may have been a kinsman of Lt. Gorrell, who com- manded the English garrison at Green Bay, in the summer of 1763, when the great Pontiac's mighty conspiracy was raging, and which, through the tact and good conduct of its commandant, was the only forest garrison that was not then over- powered. Perhaps some of that name in and about Pittsburgh are descendants or other kindred of that early teacher in the manor.

These were considered, so far as the writer can learn, good teachers in those times; they were good penmen, and taught thoroughly the few branches then embraced in the course of study in those early schools. Gorrell's pupils say he wrote a very fine, neat and beautiful hand.

That primitive temple of knowledge, in the course of several years, was abandoned and another log one was erected about sixty rods southwest of it, on the opposite side of the last-mentioned road, which continued in use after the adoption of the common school system until 1866, when a frame one was erected, about forty rods- east of it, a few rods below the church, which is still used for school purposes.

In 1860 the number of schools was 7; average number months taught, 4; male teachers, 7; average monthly salaries, $20; male scholars, 179; female scholars, 143; average number attending school, 191; - cost of teaching each per month, 46 cents; amount levied for school purposes, $646.82 ; amount re- ceived from state appropriation, $87.51 ; amount received from collectors, $317.01; cost of in- struction, $560; fuel and contingencies, $31; repairs, etc., $11.

In 1876 the number of schools was 9; average number months taught, 5; male teachers, 2; fe- male teachers, 7 ; average salaries per month of male teachers, $32; average salaries per month of female teachers, $33.29 ; male scholars, 247; fe- male scholars, 202; average number attending school, 283 ; cost per month, 65 cents ; total amount tax levied for school and building pur- poses, $2,380.68 ; received from state appropria- tion, $298.53 ; from taxes and other sources, $2,791,75 ; cost of schoolhouses, viz., purchasing, renting, etc., $996.20; teachers' wages, $1,320 ; fuel, contingencies, etc., $588.16.

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MANOR TOWNSHIP.

CRADLE FACTORY.

The proprietor of this factory for the manu- facture of grain-cradles, Thomas Montgomery, commenced the business in his twelfth year on a very limited scale, and with a very meager stock of tools. In the manufacture of his first cradle he used an old drawing knife, a shingle nail, ground sharp for a chisel, a fire-poker for a bit or boring tool, and a condemned cradling scythe, which he procured from his brother. His first cradle, thus made, was used for several years. It won a some- what extensive reputation, which induced several of his neighbors to apply to him to make cradles for them. He did so, they finding the scythes and trimmings, and he finding the wood. The demand for his cradles increased to such an extent that the boy began to regard himself as a manufacturer. He collected about $25, with which he purchased, at Pittsburgh, one and a half dozen scythes, a brace, three bits, three chisels of different sizes. He also purchased on credit an additional dozen and a half of scythes from P. H. Laufman, who insisted on his thus taking them, and which he used in making thirty-six cradles, which were readily sold. The next year he made 160 cradles-all by hand. He thus continued to manufacture on a small scale until his father moved from the Manor to near Cochran's mills, where he made them about four years -during the latter part of that period at the rate of 350 annually. He removed thence to near the junction of the Anderson Creek road and the Clearfield turnpike, in what is now Valley township, where, for nine years, he an- nually made nearly 600. Thence he removed to Manor township, where-except two years dur- ing the war, on that portion of the lower tract taken by Thomas Duncan and purchased by Moses Patterson-in connection with his agricultural pursuits, he has continned to manufacture them at the rate of from 450 to 650 each year. He has from first to last made and sold 18,000 cradles, and still continues to make them.

TEMPERANCE.

The vote, February 28, 1873, for granting a li- cense to sell liquors, 34 ; against it, 85.

POSTAL.

The Ross' Mill postoffice was established June 16, 1843, George Ross, postmaster. The only one now within the limits of this township is the one at Rosston. It was established June 15, 1858. The first postmaster was Thomas McConnell ; the present one is John C. Christy.

POPULATION.

According to the census there were, in 1850, white, 754, and colored inhabitants, 11; in 1860, white, 1,210; in 1870, native, 1,013, foreign, 58. There has been a considerable accession of colored persons, employés and their families, at the quarry, since the taking of the last census. The present number of taxables is 426, making the present population 1,967, exclusive of Manorville, whose population was included in that of the township in 1850 and 1860.

ROSSTON

is a town or village on the Ross tract, extending from the mouth of Crooked creek up along the left bank of the Allegheny river, on its west side, and the Allegheny Valley Railroad on its east side. It was surveyed and laid out into thirty lots for Washington Ross-hence its name-by James Stewart, September 18, 1854. Its shape, by reason of the curvature of the railroad and the bend in the river, is nearly lanceolate. Lot. No. 30, the one between the southmost street and the mouth of the creek, contains 1 acre and 70 perches. The width of the east ends of each of lots Nos. 1, 2 and 3, fronting on Railroad street, is 66 feet and 10 inches, and that of the eastern ends of all the rest, except No. 19, is 66 feet. The width of the western ends of lots Nos. 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 is 663 feet each; of lots Nos. 12, 13 and 19, 68 feet each, and that of the west end of No. 11 and east end of No. 19 is 65 feet. Their lengths vary, the greatest being 277, and the least 100 feet. The plan of this town shows four streets and two alleys to have been laid out. Water street is 40 feet wide, and extends along the river, between the two unnamed streets, which intersect it, north 44 degrees east 672 feet. Railroad street extends from the south- most street north 50 degrees east 3323 feet to an alley, thence north 44 degrees east 342 feet to the northmost street, and thence north 344 degrees east to the upper extremity of the plot. The two alleys are each 12 feet wide, and cross each other at right angles nearly midway between the north- most and southmost streets. At the upper extremity of the plot is a parcel of ground that was not laid out in lots, containing 100 square perches, which Anthony Kealer purchased for an acre more or less for $100, by deed dated March 3, 1863.

On lot No. 22, fronting on Water street, which is the third lot below the northmost street, that is, the street extending from the railroad station west to Water street, now known as the Heigley lot, was the site of Fort Green, elsewhere men- tioned. Some of its outworks extended back on

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HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY.

to lot No. 9. The first sales of lots appear from the records to have been made November 25, 1854, to John Isamon, No. 1 for $106 ; to Jacob Isamon, Nos. 3, 27 and 29 for $281, averaging $93.66 for each.

A steam sawmill was erected by Messrs. Wash- ington Ross and George Householder on lot No. 30, which cost $3,000. Ross purchased House- holder's interest in the mill, and afterward, Sep- tember 23, 1859, sold it and that lot to Andrew J. Faulk for $4,500. Faulk reconveyed the same to Ross, April 1, 1861, for $4,000, who conveyed the same, April 8, 1867, to William T. and George Reiter for $6,300, from whom it subsequently passed by public sale to Elisha Robinson, Jr. For the first three years its capacity was such as to enable the proprietors to saw 3,000 feet a day. Afterward, by the introduction of the muley saw, the capacity was increased to 10,000 feet a day. The Allegheny Valley Railroad afforded an extensive market for the stuff sawed until the completion of the Bennett's branch or Low Grade division. A large quantity of the lumber sawed here was also used in the construction of boats or barges, which was carried on at Rosston for several years. The number of employés in the mill, which was run by steam, and the boatyard was from fifteen to twenty.

Other lots were sold at various times for different prices. For instance, lot No. 22, the site of Fort Green, was conveyed to Emmanuel Heigley for $51, and Nos. 15 and 16 to Jacob Spencer for $100, both on February 6, 1858. Lots Nos. 2, 4, 6, 7, 8 were conveyed to Andrew J. Faulk, afterward governor of Dakota territory, November 25, 1859, for $420, averaging $84 each. At a later period, February 16, 1863, Nos. 13 and 14 were conveyed to George C. King for $90. There have been several transfers of lots Nos. 9 and 10, from Ross to George Bovard, July 29, 1856, who soon after- ward conveyed to Joseph L. Reed, and in which Thomas McConnell acquired an interest, which he released to Reed, who conveyed the same, includ- ing the storehouse erected by McConnell and Reed on No. 10, to James Ross, February 17, 1863, for $2,200, whose collateral heirs conveyed both lots to John C. Christy, August 31, 1867, together with two other small parcels out of the town plot, for $2,500. No. 10 has been the site of the only store in Rosston. The first storehouse erected on it, while in the possession of Christy, was destroyed by fire on the night of August 30, 1874. The present structure, better and more substantial than its predecessor, was soon after- ward erected on the same site, which is on the

corner of Railroad street and the northmost cross, or, as it is called in some of the records, Market street, opposite to which, on the east end of lot No. 11, is the Allegheny Valley Railroad ware- house, in which, when emergencies require, a tele- graph office is kept in operation.

Rosston is not an incorporated or separate municipality. For all municipal purposes it is part and parcel of Manor township, and its inhab- itants are liable for their proportionate part of the township taxes. There is no schoolhouse within the limits of the town plat, but there is one a few rods east of its eastern boundary, where the chil- dren of Rosston and of the southwestern part of the township resort for instruction, the cost of which is paid out of the township school tax for five months in the year. The cost of maintaining a " summer school " is raised by subscription ; such schools are also called " subscription schools," the teachers of which, in some places, are too often ill- qualified for the important work of teaching young children, whom some, aye, too many, unreflecting parents think such teachers can properly instruct. The truth is, that class of pupils require the most intelligent, skillful and faithful teachers, so that the foundation of the educational work may be thorough and solid. The best and most experi- enced and skillful teachers are selected in Prussia for the youngest scholars.

There is not as yet any church edifice in Ross- ton. The schoolhouse is occasionally used as a place of public worship by different religious de- nominations. The number of taxables shows the population of this village to be about one hundred and seventy-four. Various occupations: Merchants, 2, one doing business elsewhere; teachers, 2; boss, 1; brakemen, 3 ; carpenters, 2; laborers, 12; con- duetor, 1; mechanie, 1; saddler, 1; cobbler, 1.

Slabtown is a hamlet in the northwestern corner of the township, with a population of about ninety. The chief occupation of the men is that of laborer.

THE BOROUGH OF MANORVILLE

was formed out of a part of the Thomas Dun- can purpart of the Manor tract and a part of " Rebecca's Hope," or the Rebecca Smith tract. Twenty-four lots were laid out for John Sibbett "in the town of Manorville," June 28, 1854, lying between the present eastern boundary of the borough and Water street, and between the northern boundary of the manor tract, which extends through the borough along the center of a " lane 22 feet wide," as designated on the plat of the borough, and which is between H. M. Lamb- ing's shop and dwelling-house-between that lane

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MANOR TOWNSHIP.

and the unnamed street, 35 feet wide, extending from the eastern line of the borough past the Cop- ley brickyard and James Cunningham's store to Water street. At and before the time of laying out these lots this place was called Manorville, obviously from the manor. The northern line of the manor tract is about equidistant from the northern and southern lines of the borough, but the southern portion being considerably wider than the northern, the major part of the borough was taken from what was formerly that tract. Those Sibbett lots appear from the plat to be the only ones that have as yet been numbered. Arnold and others laid out lots at different times on that part of the borough taken from " Rebecca's Hope."

The taxables of Manorville were first assessed by themselves, or separately, in 1851.

The construction of the Allegheny Valley Rail- road a few years thereafter gave the chief impetus to settlements here.

The first petition for incorporating this place into a borough was presented to the court of quar- ter sessions of this county December 7, 1865, but was not approved by the grand jury. A second one, signed by two-thirds of its taxable inhabitants, was presented at June sessions, 1866, which having been approved by the grand jury and having laid over the time required by law, the court ordered and decreed, June 6, 1866, that the village of Manorville be erected and incorporated into a body corporate and politic, to be known and designated as the borough of Manorville, with the following metes and bounds: Beginning at a red oak on the bank of the Allegheny river; thence on the line between Calvin Russell and P. F. McClarren south 68° east 28 perches to the Allegheny Valley Rail- road; thence along said railroad 17º east 51% perches to a post; thence by land of John Shoop south 68º east 20 perches to a post; thence by land of Cham- bers Orr, now of Adam Reichert, north 14° east 64 perches to a post; thence 68° west 1 perch to a post ; thence north 14° east 56 perches to a post ; thence north 10° east 27 perches to a post; thence by land of Arnold's heirs north 77º west to said railroad; thence along said railroad north 17º east 35} perches to a post; thence south 61º east 4 perches to a post; thence north 25° east 3 perches to a black jack; thence south 68° east 7 perches ; thence north 10° east 34 perches to a chestnut; thence north 68° west 13 perches to a post on the bank of the Allegheny river; thence down said river south 28° west 80 perches, and 22º west 130} perches to a red oak and the place of beginning.

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History of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Part 72

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