History of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Part 79

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

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dower or third part of the rents, issues and profits of the lands and tenements which the said Barnard Davers then had, and of her part of the personal property which she possessed under the laws of this state. The marriage occurred early in 1825, and they used, managed and occupied their separ- ate estates as distinctly and independently of each other, pleasantly and harmoniously, until Davers' death in December, 1829.

In due time another suitor, George A. King, a substantial farmer, who owned and cultivated, be- sides other lands, a part of "Edgeware," as the Isaac Mechlin tract was called, west of the western branch of Pine run, and north of the Isaac Mather tract, known also as the Samuel. Peebles tract, to whom the patent was granted, whose heirs sold to John Robb 301 acres of it September 5, 1810, for $602, who sold 121 acres of it to Geo. A. King June 16, 1812, for $242, sought her hand. Her children had then grown up, some of them were married, and with her were cultivating and managing the fertile acres of " Monmouth," which their father had de- vised to her. In that emergency-as related by the then editor of the Pittsburgh American, and whose statement is reproduced in Sherman Day's Histori- cal Collections of Pennsylvania-she consulted the late Samuel Houston, of Kittanning, her factor and confidential merchant. When she had stated to him her intention to marry again, he is reported to have said, "I should suppose that one so happily situ- ated as you are, with everything rich and comfort- able about you, and your sons and daughters grown up, would not think of such a thing at your time of life. I would advise you by no means to en- tangle yourself again in any marriage alliance." " You tink not, Mr. Houston ?" "Why, it is very sin- cerely the advice I would give you, if that is what you want." " Well, dat may be all very well and very goot; but, see here, a man I want, and a man I will have!" "O, that is a very different thing alto- gether, and in that case, I would advise you by all means to marry." She, however, would not accept her new suitor's proposal, unless he, too, would en- ter into an ante-nuptial agreement, like that with Barnard Davers, which he did. The parties to the agreement in this instance were Geo. A. King, of the first part, James E. Brown, of the second part, and Margaret Davers, of the third part. The date of the this second agreement is March 8, 1832. They were subsequently married, and managed their respective estates as she and Davers had done. In both instances husband and wife were separate, on their farms, from Monday morning until Saturday night each week; their accounts were kept sepa- rately; they knew hardly any more about each other's

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business affairs than if they were single. There were no clashing interests, no coveting of each other's possessions, to cause trouble and discord. At the death of her third husband, in the spring of 1843, as at that of her second one, the Shoe- maker estate was left intact. She never claimed dower in either Davers' or King's estate. From loyalty to her first husband's estate, not from stingi- ness, did she, by ante-nuptial stipulations, require each of her last two husbands to pay, as they cheer- fully and regularly did, an annual stipend in flour for his boarding and horsekeeping from Saturday night until Monday morning of each week of their singular, and, in this county, unprecedented, con- jugal lives. She is said to have been well educated in German. She survived her last husband several years, having enjoyed the affection of her kindred, and the esteem of friends and acquaintances, to which the good qualities of her heart and mind justly entitled her.

POWDERMILLS.

As early as 1811 George Beck, Sr., commenced the manufacture of powder near the mouth of Pine run, on the George Risler tract, which was continued by him and his sons until Thursday, June 29, 1826, when an explosion of about fifty pounds of powder in the mortar occurred, caused, it was supposed, by a spark elicited by one of the pounders. John and Daniel Beck were at the time employed in the mill. The latter was thrown out of the door and so injured that he after- ward died: The former was severely but not fatally injured. A part of the roof was also carried away by the explosion, but the building was saved. Willow charcoal, the writer is in- formed, was used in making powder at that mill. The reputation of Beck's powder stood high at home and abroad. Large quantities of it were transported to Pittsburgh in canoes, Some of the Kittanning merchants made prominent mention of it in their advertisements.

In September, 1875, Thomas Logan, Jr., deputy- sheriff, found, near the junction of Pine run with Crooked creek, a flagstone which had apparently been detached from the face of a' rock, on which is this inscription : "CAPT. S. BRDY, 1780," the figures being under the central part of the words. This relic is now in the possession of Col. Wm. Sirwell of Kittanning.

It is said by some of the oldest inhabitants that there was another powdermill at the mouth of a run above Cochran's mills, either Fageley's or the one lower down, in what was formerly a part of Plum creek township. It does not appear that anyone was ever assessed with a powdermill in that

township. But George Beck's name with the initials " P. W." after it, being those probably of powderworks, appears on the assessment lists for 1817-18. The lowest of the three rates then fixed for powdermills was $50. George Beck's occupa- tion, one horse and two cattle were assessed at only $38 in 1817, and $36 in 1818, so that although he then manufactured powder he must have done so on too small a scale to be assessed with a powdermill.

John R. Shaeffer erected a powdermill in 1822 near Pine run, about 100 rods south of the present northern boundary-line of the township, near W. and L. Shaeffer's present residences. About two years thereafter an explosion, probably caused by friction, occurred while the proprietor and his em- ployé were returning from the house, whither they had gone a short time before. It was afterward converted into a linseed-oil mill, which was in a few years converted into a distillery, which was operated for several years by Shaeffer.

More than half a century ago Frederick Altman commenced, and continued for some years, the manufacture of plows with wooden moldboards. He advertised in the Kittanning Gazette, Septem- ber 21, 1825, that he was then making half-patent plows, that is, those with cast-iron moldboards and wrought-iron colters. His plows of both kinds are still remembered as having been excellent ones. The locality where he made them is in the northern part of the township, near the head of a spring run which empties into Pine run about 230 rods above its junction with Crooked creek. That locality is on the Valentine Shallas tract, which became vested in Michael Shall. Altman must have been endowed with a good degree of mechan- ical ingenuity and inventive genius. Besides guns and other things, he made a good pocket-knife with twelve blades, and invented an auger with a chisel attachment, by which he bored holes in his wooden moldboards, etc., which were nearly square .* He was certainly eccentric enough to have been a man of genius. One of his eccentrici- ties was his constant refraining from speaking to any of his children. Their mother was the medium of communication from him to them, except on one occasion, which was when he and one or more of them were going to Kittanning in a wagon. When they were descending, or about to descend a hill he said to his son Isaac, in German, perhaps involuntarily, "Nun yetz der wagon must gespert sein!" "Now the wagon must be locked," equiva- lent to " down brakes " on railroad cars.

* There was on exhibition a similar invention at the International Exposition in Paris in 1878, which attracted much attention.

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HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY.

" WILLIAMSBURGII."

A patent dated June 9, 1818, was issued to William Fiscus, Sr., for 138 acres of a tract adjoining the Henry Davis, Agnes Kyle and Joseph Shoemaker tracts, which must have been the major part of the Christian Hoover tract, on which Fiscus soon afterward laid out the town of " Williamsburgh," with 51 in-lots and 6 out-lots, and convenient streets and alleys. The lots were numbered and the streets named Main and Market. The records show that the proprietor conveyed lot No. 11, containing one-quarter of an acre, on the corner of Main and Market streets, August 15, 1818, to Canady Hunter for $31. Hunter assigned his interest therein to John Pounds, September 9, 1818 ; Pounds assigned his interest to Edward Carlton December 1, 1819 ; Carlton conveyed the same to Rachel Pounds, April 2, 1823, for $1, and there endeth the record. It is not apparent to the writer that another of these lots was ever sold. The passing remark may here come in that Will- iam Fiscus was assessed as a "hatter" from 1811 until 1816. Perhaps some of the oldest inhabit- ants of that region remember whether his mann- facture of hats was extensive and lucrative enough to warrant the expense incident to purchasing the ground for, and the laying out of, a town.

From 1820 until 1822, inclusive, these lots were assessed separately; the tax on each varied from ten to twenty, fifty, seventy-five cents and one dol- lar. The assessor and his assistants returned in 1823 that the value of the lots was so small that " the tax could not be got off them." They there- fore agreed with Fiscus to aggregate the 24 of them on the list that year at 6 acres, on which they assessed a tax of $6.

South of "Williamsburgh " and below and adjoining the western projection of the Henry Davis tract, in a southern bend of Crooked creek, was " Ganges," as the John Salter tract was called, which extended several rods across the creek, and was surveyed May 22, by warrant of February 4, 1776. Opposite to "Ganges," on the west side of the creek, was " Nemidid," on the William Eckhart tract, surveyed May 21 by warrant of February 12, 1776.

SALTWORKS.

Some time prior to 1820, perhaps as early as 1812, a salt well was bored and the salt manufac- ture commenced on the southern part of the above- mentioned Christopher Hoover tract, on that part of it called " Hooversburgh." These "saltworks " were for the first time assessed to W. R. Richards in 1841, and then successively until 1844. The patent for sixty-nine acres of that tract was issued

to Christian Hoover June 10, 1809, who conveyed the same to James Richards, November 18, next thereafter, for $139, who by deed dated March 18, 1820, conveyed two-fifths of the sixty-nine acres, on which " Crooked creek salt works are erected," to William R. Richards for $80, who by deed of March 5, 1857, conveyed one-fifth thereof to David Ralston for $100.

Another salt-well, called the "lower saltworks," was drilled, abont 1824, a half a mile or so below Cochran's, now Carnahan's, mill, on the Francis Cooper, afterward John Duncan, tract, on the upper or north side of Crooked creek, by Michael Town- send, who with the intent, Jacob-like, of deceiving his father, as Michael Davis relates, showed a bot- tle of salt water to his father, as having been ob- tained from that well. The father, thus induced to believe that the well would yield a good supply of the briny fluid, erected a shed and procured pans which were put in place. When he discov- ered that the well did not yield that kind of water, he became so disgusted that he burned the shed. Le Fevre and Jolin Parks made salt several years, which they hauled away by teams. It was not a profitable well, and was of course abandoned.

CHURCHES.

The first Evangelical Lutheran church within the present limits of this county is the St. Michael's, which was organized in 1806, by Rev. Michael Steck, Sr., of Greensburgh, Pennsylvania. The original members of the church were twenty-four, namely : John George Helfferich and George Peter Shaeffer, elders ; John Philip Shaeffer, Michael Schall, Sr., Isaac Wagley, Sr., Jacob Waltenbaugh, Henry Davis, Jacob George, Sr., Wm. Heffelfinger, . Adam Wilhelm, Philip Hartman, George A. King and their wives. The number increased rapidly. At least two other Lutheran churches have sprung from this one.

Before the regular organization of churches in this region, clergymen, chiefly Lutheran and Ger- man Reformed, itinerated and held religions ser- vices at private houses, one of which, in what is now Burrell township, was George Peter Shaeffer's, frequently mentioned in Rev. Gabriel A. Reichert's diary, which was in the vicinity of the mouth of Cherry run, near which Mr. Reichert resided sey- eral years before he was called, in 1837, to the pas- torate of Christ's and Immanuel churches in Phil. adelphia. Previous to his removal thither, his itinerations had extended east to the Allegheny furnace, then in Iluntingdon, now in Blair county, north to Venango and Crawford counties, and through the western and southern parts of this

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county, so that his ministrations occurred at Shaef- fer's but once in four weeks. He preached a trial sermon there, July 6, 1823. A congregational meet- ing was held there August 3, when St. Michael's church was reorganized, and it was determined that his salary should be paid from the 1st day of July. The officers were installed August 31. His diary shows that on April 11, 1824, he baptized four chil- dren, two of whom were John Householder's, and then or about that time, confirmed twenty-five per- sons, the youngest of whom was fourteen years of age, and the oldest fifty-five. Of that number Peter George is known to be still living. There were then sixty-four church members. The num- ber present at the communion, August 11, 1827, was small, on account of a difficulty or controversy in one of the largest families, that is, a family con- sisting of a large number of persons, with exten- sive family connections.

The first church edifice, 30×40 feet, was con- structed of square hewed logs, about 1820. Its site was about a mile and a half northeast of the mouth of Cherry run, on the northeastern part of the John Craig tract, on land then owned by George P. Shaeffer, which continued to be used until 1852. Shaeffer for $1, conveyed, August 3, 1830, five acres and eight perches of that land to John P. Shaeffer and Peter Rupert, "trustees for the German Evangelical Lutheran and German Re- formed churches in the townships of Allegheny, Kittanning and Plum Creek," meaning, probably, that the members of these churches then consisted of persons residing in those townships.

It was announced in the Kittanning Gazette that the Evangelical Lutheran church, near George P. Shaeffer's, was consecrated on Sunday, September 16, 1832, when Revs. Steck and Hacke, of Greens- burgh, Pennsylvania, officiated-the former a Lu- theran, and the latter a German Reformed clergy- man. The Lutheran church was then under the charge of Rev. G. A. Reichart.

The St. Michael's Evangelical Lutheran church was incorporated by the proper court, March 20, 1850. The charter officers were : Rev. George F. Ehrenfeldt, pastor ; Isaac Kinnard and George King, elders ; Peter Hileman, Samuel Woodward and George Riggle, deacons, who were to serve until an election should be held.

The second church edifice, brick, 44×60 feet, height of ceiling fourteen feet, was erected in 1852, at the crossroads on Anthony Helfferich's land, and was dedicated soon after its completion, by Rev. Daniel Earhart and others. It was razed to the ground by one of the violent storms in the summer of 1860. The present brick editice was soon after

erected, through the exertions, in part at least, of Rev. Michael Swigert, on the same site, which is probably on the southeastern part of the Jacob Shallas tract.

Members in 1876, 225 ; Sabbath-school scholars, 100.

The church of Christian Brethren was organized about 1852. The edifice is a one-story frame. It was incorporated by the proper court June 7, 1853. The charter officers were : Jos. Shoemaker, elder ; Jos. B. McKee, Thos. A. McKee, deacons ; Samuel Wilcox, Jr., John Carnahan, Daniel Shoemaker, Daniel Keefer, David Rarich, trustees.

The Methodist Episcopal church was also or- ganized about the same time as the last-mentioned one. Its edifice is one-story, frame.

Both of these edifices appear to be near the cen- tral part of the William Sykes tract. The former is possibly on the southwestern part of another ancient tract, designated " vacant" on the map of original tracts.

SCHOOLS.

Not record evidence but reliable tradition says, that before 1807 some of the more forehanded citi- zens employed teachers to instruct their children in their families. That is probably what Mrs. Kirkpatrick means when she says that she remem- bers of schools being kept here and there in pri- vate houses in the locality where she spent her childhood, several miles up Crooked creek .* A primitive log schoolhouse, according to reliable tradition, was built on the Christopher Hoover tract, perhaps on the " Hooversburgh " part of it, in 1807, then in Allegheny township. Whether the first teacher in that house was Jacob Shall or Will- iam Smith, or James Moor, who were assessed as " schoolmasters " somewhere in Allegheny town- ship in 1805-6 and afterward, or someone else, is not manifest to the writer. Reliable tradition in- dicates that some, if not the mass, of early settlers of the territory included in Burrell township paid a due degree of attention to the education of their children. It is but fair to infer that thorough and accurate teachers were sought, that is, thorough and accurate in their limited degree of advance- ment, and that the desire for thorough and ac- curate teaching has been transmitted, at least such is the writer's conclusion from his past observa- tions, made in the discharge of his official duties in the educational service. A fair type of the early teachers, probably, is Isaac Kinnard, who, before and since the adoption of the common school system, taught twenty-three consecutive seasons. His penmanship was neat and legible, and

*See sketch of South Bend township.

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HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY.

so far as he had progressed in the other branches, he was thorough and accurate. This feature is not mentioned here as exclusively peculiar to Burrell township, but rather as illustrative of the force and effect of a good beginning, a right start in the early settlement of a place or section of country. Prominent among the good and zealous teachers, under the common school system, was Samuel Murphy, who had become a veteran in this im- portant branch of public service, in Burrell and Allegheny townships, in both of which he trained a goodly number in his schoolrooms and normal classes to be thorough, accurate and acceptable teachers. A peculiar feature of the Teachers' Dis- trict Institute in Burrell, for one term at least, was the presence of a number of pupils selected from the respective schools, who were formed into classes for drills, which were conducted by the different teachers, one session of which the writer had the pleasure of attending and observing the good effect of that feature upon teachers and pupils and upon the parents who were thus induced to be present.

In 1860 the number of schools was 8; average number months taught, 4; male teachers, 8 ; aver- age salaries per month, $16.88 ; male scholars, 172; female scholars, 114; average number attending school, 177; cost of instructing each scholar per month, 49 cents ; amount levied for school purposes, $664.87 ; received from state appropriation, $60.62 ; from collector, $500; cost of instruction, $540; fuel and contingencies, $24.

In 1870 the number of schools was 8; average number months taught, 5 ; male teachers, 7; female teachers, 2 ; average salaries of males per month, $31.55 ; average salaries females per month, $30.69 ;

male scholars, 185; female scholars, 131; average number attending school, 224; cost per month, 83 cents ; amount tax levied for school and building purposes, $1,164.60 ; received from state appropria- tion, $209.25; from taxes, etc., $1,283.74; cost of schoolhouses, $64.75 ; paid for teachers' wages, $1,254.72 ; paid for fuel, collector's fees, etc., $135.45.

POSTAL.

Pitts' Mill postoffice was established June 16, 1843, whose first postmaster was Joseph Miller, and the Cochran's mills one Angust 1, 1855, Rob- ert A. Paul postmaster, both at the same point.

MERCANTILE AND OTHER OCCUPATIONS.

The stores were appraised this year thus : In 10th class, 1; in 13th class, 1; in 14th class, 1. The number assessed as merchants, 4.

The assessment list for 1876 shows, besides 127 farmers, laborers, 62 ; blacksmiths, +; carpenters, 3 ; teachers, 3 ; preachers, 2 ; physicians, 2 ; wagon- makers, 2 ; professor, 1; civil engineer, 1 ; miller, 1; shoemaker, 1.

POPULATION.

According to the census of 1860, the first one after the organization of this township, the num- ber of whites was 830, colored 3. In 1870, native, 941; foreign, 23 ; total, 964. The number of taxa- bles in 1876 is 253, which indicates the present population to be 1,163, showing an increase of 199 in the last six years.

For the geological features of this township the reader is referred to those presented in the sketches of Plum creek township and Elderton.

CHAPTER XVII.

VALLEY.

Set Apart from Pine-Mills-Monticello Furnace-The Patentees and Subsequent Owners - Lands of Gen. Armstrong's Heirs- Doanville Seminary - Donaldson Nurseries-Troy Hill -The Old State Road -The Collins Lands-Pine Creek Baptist Church - Methodist Episcopal Church at West Valley - Pine Creek Furnace-Holland Land Company Warrants- Geological Features.

VALLEY TOWNSHIP.

THE petition of divers inhabitants of Pine township, praying for its division into two townships, was presented to the court of quarter sessions of the peace of this county, at June ses- sions, 1855. James Stewart, Archibald Glenn and John H. Lemmon were appointed viewers or com- missioners. Their report, favoring the division, was filed September 13, and confirmed December 13, of that year. It was suggested that the new township to be organized by that division be called Buffington, and also after some other individual. In speaking of it to the writer, Judge Buffington remarked that he was opposed to naming any new township after any living person. He suggested the name of Valley, inasmuch as its territory is traversed from east to west by the valley of the Cowanshannock. The court, consisting then of three judges, adopted this name, and on the last- mentioned day Pine township was divided and Valley township erected, with the following boun- daries: Beginning at the corner of the cemetery in the borough of Kittanning; thence by the bor- ough line north 523 degrees east 110 perches; thence along the upper line of said borough south 373 degrees east 160 perches to the purchase line ; thence along said line and the townships of Manor and Kittanning south 80 degrees east a distance of about 82 miles to the corner of Plum Creek (?), Kittanning and Cowanshannock townships; thence along the line of Cowanshannock and Wayne townships north 2 degrees east 4 miles to Pine creek near Peter Beck's; thence down Pine creek by the several meanderings thereof a distance of 3 miles and 28 perches to a point near Bossinger's sawmill; thence south 46 degrees west 113 perches to a chestnut; thence north 893 degrees west 58 perches to a white-oak; thence north 89 degrees west to a maple; thence south 86 degrees west 75 perches to a white-oak; thence north 72 degrees west 23 perches to a white-oak; thence north 57 degrees west 24 perches to McAllister's dam on Pine creek; thence down said creek by the several

meanderings thereof a distance of 2 miles and 132 perches to the Allegheny river at the mouth of Pine creek; and thence down said river by the different meanderings thereof a distance of 5 miles and 100 perches to the place of beginning.

The records do not show who were appointed to hold the first election of township officers. The following were elected at the first spring election, in 1856 : Justice of the peace, Jas. K. Tittle; con- stable, Wm. S. Campbell; judge of election, John B. Starr; inspectors of election, Andrew Wauggaman, John I. Sloan; school directors, Robert E. Brown, James K. Tittle, one year; Daniel Slagle, John Robinson, two years ; John Howser, Wm. Peart, three years ; assessor, John Robinson ; township auditors, Wm. Gillis, one year, Hugh Space, two years, George Hill, three years ; overseers of the poor, Abraham Fiscus, Abraham Bossinger; town- ship clerk, Geo. W. Speace.

In the northwestern section of this township, west of the bridge across Pine creek, near Hepler's blacksmith shop, it is found that James Walker, of "Mexico," and Philip Essex, afterward of Morgan county, Ohio, agreed, May 5, 1811, for the sale and purchase, at $4 per acre, of a portion of "Mexico" contained within specified boundaries, so that Essex might "have the benefit of the creek." Essex also purchased about that time 40 acres, " surveyed off the southwest side of Samuel Cal- houn's land." He conveyed both of those parcels, the former for $120, and the latter for $40, to Robert Brown, April 17, 1827, both of which the latter conveyed to Alexander McAllister, of Alle- gheny county; Pennsylvania, May 3, for $200, who erected a fulling-mill in the northwestern part of the parcel which he had purchased from Calhoun, with which he was assessed from 1829 until 1848-9, and a gristmill, with which he was assessed from 1832 until 1837.

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History of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Part 79

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