History of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Part 83

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

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No. 3809 lay north and east of " Chester," south of which lay No. 3810, and west of that, No. 3811. Patents for these three were granted to Zaccheus Collins, July 3, 1795. His only child, Anne, married Gen. Daniel Parker, and died before her father, leaving two children, Charles Collins and Sarah Ann Parker, in the latter of whom, by her father's intestacy and her broth- er's devise, these tracts became vested. She married Clement Hill, of Upper Marlborough, Maryland, and with her husband conveyed parcels of these tracts as the records show : 1234 acres of allotment 1 of subdivisions of Nos. 3809-10-11 to George Wilt, August 22, 1850, for $795 ; 116 acres and 123 perches, " lot No. 8 of the subdivisions of tracts Nos. 3809-10-11," to Anthony Schrecongost, August 22, 1850, for $ -. The first schoolhouse in what is now Valley township was erected on his farm. The place for holding elections has been at his house on this parcel ever since the erection of this township ; 48 aeres and 150 perches of No. 3809 to A. Colwell, December 9, 1852, for $196 ; 413 acres of 3810 to Emanuel Sehrecongost, July 11, 1854, for $240 ; 160 acres and 12 perches of the same to Joseph Harris, August 16, 1857, for

$835 ; and 844 acres of 3811 to George Miller, August 1, 1861, for $427.

IIenry Schrecongost probably settled on No. 3810 in 1811, for he was assessed the next year with 1 horse and 1 cow at $11; in 1813 with 40, and afterward with 440 acres of this tract. Sam- uel Schrecongost was assessed with 1 horse and 2 cows in 1826, with 133 acres in 1827, and 440 of No. 3811 in 1828. The parcels now owned by Joseph Mosgrove and Patrick McAfee, belonged to Henry Schrecongost's estate.

Traet No. 3812 lay between 3809 on the south and " Amherst " and " Mexico" on the north. James Hall was first assessed with it in 1829. It was conveyed by sheriff's deed along with 3804 and 3808, which lay between it and the Allegheny river, September 20, 1833, to Thomas Cadwallader, occupied by David Hall, 30 acres cleared, with a square log house and daub barn, who conveyed 16 acres and 146 acres of it to Henry Cunningham, May 15, 1834, for $34 ; 140 acres and 96 perches to Alexander Colwell, April 11, 1838, for $307.20 ; his executrix to James McClure, 52 acres and 16 perches for $130 ; and her executor, 100 and 105 acres and 19 perches to William Croyle, June 12, 1854, for $370.

The Pine Creek Baptist church is the outgrowth of occasional itinerant preaching in this region before and regular preaching after 1836. There were occasional supplies by Revs. Thomas and Wilson. The church was organized with ten mem- bers in 1830, on which occasion Revs. Wilson, McCumber and Scott officiated. The first church edifice, frame, 24×32 feet, was erected on the last- mentioned Collins tract in 1841. The present one, a neat frame, 38 × 45 feet, has been erected on the site of the old one during this centennial year. The original members of this church were Joseph Davis, Daniel Hepler, Sarah Hepler, James Hall, Naney Hall, Margaret Walker, Harriet Peart, Robert Walker and Tabitha Walker.

There was quite a large body of vacant land, as presented on the map of original tracts, extending from the southern line of the eastern portion of "Mexico " between the Collins lands and the Elliott tract No. 74 on the west and the Holland lands covered by warrants Nos. 3047, 3032, 3023, 3003 to the purchase line. The southwestern part of it borders on the eastern side of 74 and the south- western part of Collins' 3810, and is the Bumgard- ner-Schrecongost parcel above mentioned. Adjoin- ing that parcel on the east and north lay one containing 400 acres, with which and three horses and two cattle Conrad Schrecongost was first assessed in 1807 at $310, which, in pursuance of an

William Devers

WILLIAM DEVERS.

William Devers, the oldest man living in South Bend township, is one of the few who still remain of a fast decreasing circle of pioneers.

He is one of the men who witnessed and partook in the work of planting civilization in the wilder- ness, and is more blessed than some of them in being allowed to remain and enjoy an old age of ease, contemplate the country in its condition of peace, prosperity and plenty, which he helped to bring about.

His residence in this county antedates its ju- dicial organization. Born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, September 26, 1798, he came with his parents to South Bend township, and to the very farm on which he now lives, in the year 1802. He grew up inured to hard labor, and by his own exertions cleared and brought into cultivation a large part of the property which he now owns. He was in the prime of his manhood, a man

possessed of a rugged constitution and great physical strength, and was better qualified than many to bear the toil and hardship of a life in the woods during the early part of the century. He married in early life (1825) Miss Nancy Henry, born in Indiana county in 1801, and, like himself, the child of pioneers. It was not destined, how- ever, that the wife of his young manhood should be his helpmeet in old age, for she died in 1835. She was the mother of four children, Henry, James, Joseph and Martha Jane. Mr. Devers' sons, Hen- ry and Joseph, live on farms in the township, and his son James upon the old homestead. Mr. Devers has followed farming all his life, and is universally respected in the community in which he lives, having always exhibited the qualities of a good man and useful citizen. He is of Scotch-Irish descent, his grandparents having been natives of Scotland, and those upon his mother's side of Ireland.

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VALLEY TOWNSHIP.

agreement made in his lifetime, his heirs conveyed to Daniel Schrecongost, September 6, 1844, for $500, on which the latter erected a two-story brick house, which for several years he kept as an inn, a few rods east of which is one of the public school- houses of this township. In 1872-3, a company consisting of twenty members sunk a well for oil on the southern part of this tract to the depth of 1,920 feet, which proved to be a dry one. A large vein of gas was struck at the depth of 1,005 feet. The well after it was abandoned was plugged. In 1875, an attempt was made to clean it for the pur- pose of piping the gas to Kittanning, to be used as fuel in the iron-works and water-works. So much matter of one kind and another had been thrown into the well, it was so much clogged up that, after the expenditure of $10,000, including the expense of drilling the well, the attempt was abandoned. A diminished quantity of gas is still emitted. *

Frederick Yockey settled on that vacant land north of the last-mentioned tract, in 1807, and was first assessed with 200 acres at $75, and one horse and one cow at $16, in 1808. He obtained a warrant for 383 acres and 103 perches February 22, 1836, on which the survey was made April 9. Military musters were occasionally held on his premises. The seventh battalion of volunteers, Findley Patterson, Major, was notified by James Mccullough, Sr., of Kittanning, adjutant, to meet at Yockey's house at 10 o'clock A. M., on Wednes- day, September 10, 1834, completely armed and equipped for training. The German Reformed Church edifice is located on this Yockey tract. It is a frame structure, 36×40 feet, which was erected in 1850. This church, called the Mount Union, was organized by Rev. L. B. Leberman in 1851. Its pastors have been: Rev. F. Wire from 1853 till October, 1853; Rev. E. Shoemaker in 1860; Rev. R. R. Duffenbosker from May 30, 1862, till -; Rev. J. F. Snyder in 1865; Rev. J. J. Pennypacker from 1867 till 1872, and Rev. D. S. Duffenbosker since June 1, 1873. Its membership is 83; Sabbath- school scholars, 60.

Another portion of that vacant land, north of Yockey's, was settled by George Waugaman in 1811, with 40 acres of which, with one horse and cow, and as a weaver, he was first assessed the next year at $34. His warrant for 201 acres and 113 perches is dated February 22, and the survey March 3, 1836.

Patents for some other portions were granted: To John Davis, March 29, 1827, for a tract includ- ing the parcel now owned and occupied by Daniel Davis, at whose house the Davis postoffice, he being the postmaster, was established July 14,

1857; the portion now owned and occupied by Daniel Slagle, at whose house the West Valley postoffice, he being the postmaster, was established April 22, 1861, to which the Davis office was then changed; and the parcel of 5 acres and 8 perches conveyed by Daniel Davis to Levi Davis in March, 1868, for $225.

The Methodist Episcopal Church edifice, frame, was erected in 1873 on that part of that vacant land now owned by George Boringer, who conveyed an acre to the "Trustees of the Pine Creek Methodist Episcopal Church, July 22, 1873, for $1. The church was organized in 1846, and until the com- pletion of the present edifice services were held in the house about 75 rods northeast of it, which was built for both church and school purposes, and known as the Furnace schoolhouse, which is situated in the southeastern part of "Mexico."

Another portion of that vacant land was in- cluded in the patent to Alexander Colwell, June 14, 1836, and which, with a portion of the parcel which he had purchased from the Holland Land Company, he conveyed to Jacob Sleese, Sr., aggre- gating 196 acres and 27 perches, April 18, 1848, for $508.50, 126 acres and 38 perches of which the latter conveyed to his son Jacob November 25, 1851, for $100.

A warrant for 116 acres and 80 perches, in the northwestern part of that vacant land, was obtained by Joseph Davis March 27, on which the survey was made July 3, 1837, adjoining " Mexico " on the north, Sleese on the east, Waugaman on the south, and the Collins tracts, Nos. 3809 and 3812, on the west. He sold it to Peter Mobly.

That belt of vacant land was bounded on the north by a narrow strip of "Mexico" south of Pine creek. In the west end of that part of Val- ley township north of Pine creek, near the junc- tion of the Pine Creek & Dayton Railroad, Daniel Hepler settled in 1828, and was assessed the next year as a blacksmith and with one cow at $81. William White conveyed to him 40 acres and 58 perches, on which his blacksmith shop was erected, January 21, 1839, for $120.

James E. Brown and James Mosgrove erected Pine Creek Furnace in the east end of the part of this township north of Pine creek in 1845-6, hot- blast, steam, charcoal, ten feet across the bosh-stack and thirty-three feet high; made its first pig-metal in July, 1846; used charcoal until 1863, when the hight of the stack was increased to forty feet and the fixtures were improved; commenced making iron with coke in 1865 .* The capacity of this

* It continued with coke until June, 1879, when it went out of blast, the price of pig-iron being then $16 to $17 per ton.

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HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY.

furnace is fifty-six tons of forge metal out of limestone ore from beds in the coal measures for miles around. In 1869 Brown & Mosgrove built a three-foot-gauge railroad from the north of Pine creek to the furnace, a distance of four miles, for transporting ore and metal from and to the Alle- gheny Valley Railroad, which has proved to be very successful. It is designated on the township map the Pine Creek & Dayton Railroad, so named because the people of the borough of Dayton, in this county, and of the valley of Pine creek, have evinced considerable interest in its extension to Dayton, but as yet without securing the requisite pecuniary means. Subscriptions reaching $30,000, one-half the required amount, were made for this purpose in 1871.

Allotment No. 3 of the tract covered by the Le Roy & Co. warrant, No. 3036, was in the north- east corner of this township, which was occupied first by Adam and Thomas Beer, Daniel Guld and George Williams in the latter part of the first de- cade of this century. Martin Kneas, a volunteer in Capt. James Alexander's company, followed the last named and occupied the cabin which he had built. Benjamin B. Cooper conveyed 153 acres and 121 perches of that allotment to James Han- negan, the first court-crier in this county, June 7, 1819, for $191.34, with which and two horses and two cattle, he was first assessed in 1816. It is the same land which his heirs released to William Peart, March 18, 1850, which point the latter named Oscar, where the Oscar postoffice, Francis Martin, postmaster, was established, July 25, 1861, and where a store had been opened several years before.

Cooper conveyed 160 acres of allotment 2, same warrant, to Hannegan, April 4, 1817, for $192.19, and Wilhelm Willink et al., 1742 acres of allot- ment 4, same warrant, December 19, 1827, for $98.

The portion of the Le Roy & Co. tract, No. 3047, south of Pine creek, was in what is now Valley township. Parts of the parcels conveyed to Alexander and James White border on the south side of this stream, which were mentioned in the sketch of the southeastern part of Pine township. Alexander White erected a gristmill in 1828 and a sawmill in 1831, with which he was assessed from 1829 and 1832, respectively, until 1838. He and William Love entered into an agreement for the sale and purchase of these mills and 180 acres of adjacent land, September 11. Love went into pos- session soon after and was first assessed with that property in 1839. After Love's death White exe- cuted a deed therefor to William McCain, executor in trust for Love's heirs, devisees and legal repre-

sentatives, March 1, 1849, for $2,000. Joseph Barker, miller, Thomas McConnell and Joseph L. Reed acquired an interest in this property in 1845-6, and Barker was assessed with the mills for several years from 1846. IIe and McConnell and Reed acquired from Noah A. Calhoun a grant of one- half the water-power used in running these mills, October 21, 1847. Barker conveyed the one-half of the 48 acres and 13 perches on which these mills are situated, March 31, 1857, for $500. The mills were assessed to Secrist from 1861 till 1868, since which time they have been assessed to Francis Martin, by whom they are still operated.

James White-distingnished on the assessment list by the title of Major from James White, of David-erected in 1837 a carding-machine and fulling-mill some distance below the grist and saw mills erected by his brother Alexander on the par- cel of 3047 purchased by him on the south side or left branch of Pine creek. After operating them for abont a year he employed William Gillis, skilled and experienced in these branches of busi- ness, who advertised in the Kittanning papers, May 9, 1839, the "Pine Creek Woolen Factory," in which "carding and spinning" were done, and " wool manufactured into cloth, satinet, flannels, blankets, cassimeres," and other articles. Before these works were started the people of this region had their carding and fulling done in the southern part of Indiana county.

James White conveyed 157 acres and 92 perches, allotment 5, tract 369, warrant 3047, to John Adair, May 2, 1845, for $1,700; Adair conveyed the same, " together with machinery for a woolen factory, carding machine, two spinning jennies, one power loom, picker, shearing machine, one stove, fulling stock, press power, one hand loom, and other ma- chinery," to James E. Brown, February 25, 1846, for $100, who reconveyed the land to White, April 14, 1847, for $1. James White died intestate, leaving only as next of kin his full brother, Alex- ander, who conveyed those 157 acres and 90 perches to Brown & Mosgrove, the present owners, May 13, 1853, for $1,106.

Adjoining allotment 5 on the west was allotment 4, 1123 acres of which became vested in John W. McLinn, which, excepting ten acres and the water- right in Pine creek between them and the eastern boundary of McLinn's parcel, his administrator, by virtue of an order granted by the proper court for their sale, conveyed to James E. Brown, October 3, 1846, for $325. McLinn had agreed, September 14, 1841, to convey those ten acres and that water- right to William Gillis, which that administrator conveyed to him when he conveyed to Brown.

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VALLEY TOWNSHIP.

Gillis has, since his purchase from McLinn, carried on his woolen factory on that part of these ten acres a few rods below the mouth of Dill's run.

Other parcels of allotment 4 consisted of a part, the west end of that allotment, of the 86 acres and 42 perches which Willink & Co. conveyed to Alex- ander Colwell March 23, 1835, and included in the latter's conveyance to Jacob Sleese ; and 112 acres to George W. Mechling, May 30, 1836; for $56.15.

Passing to the southeastern part of this town- ship is the territory covered by the warrant No. 666 to William Findley, 3283 acres, a strip of which is in Cowanshannock township, the patent for which was granted to him May 24, 1796. Mrs. Mary Black, one of his devisees, conveyed 200 acres of it to Isaac Rhea, April 9, 1833, for $600, with which he was first assessed in 1840.

The rest of the territory of what is now Valley township was covered by Holland Land Company warrants : No. 3003 extended west from the Find- ley tract No. 666 along the purchase line to the southeastern part of the above-mentioned belt of vacant land, and contained 990 acres. It will be readily identified by the following : B. B. Cooper conveyed 171 acres and 131 perches of allotment 3 to George Gravenor, April 8, 1817, for $199, he having been first assessed with 211 acres in 1812 ; Willink & Co. to Daniel McAfoos, 118 acres and 117 perches, April 19, 1827, for $59.37 ; to Richard Gravenor, 1104 acres, September 19, for $55; to William McIntire, 1514 acres adjoining the Find- ley tract, September 17, 1828, for $25.90, which McIntire conveyed to George Somers, April 12, 1836 ; to Benjamin Schrecongost, 188 acres, Octo- ber 1, 1830, for $70, and to Findley Patterson, 149 acres and 25 perches of allotment 5, March 19, 1833, for $87.50, on which he was that year assessed with a sawmill. He soon after erected the present grist- mill with two runs of stone, in which was made the first flour shipped from this county to Philadelphia and Baltimore, which, with this parcel of land, passed by sheriff's deed, June 21, 1848, to Thomas Sturgeon, who conveyed the mills and land to John Kammadinier, March 7, 1855, for $4,000. The expense which the latter incurred in attempting to operate the gristmill by steam embarrassed him so that this property again passed under the sheriff's hammer, when David Patterson became the pur- chaser, to whose estate it now belongs. The public schoolhouse No. - is on this allotment. The Greendale postoffice, George Bowser, post- master, was established here February 7, 1867.

While Findley Patterson resided at this point, then in Pine township, he was elected county com- missioner in 1837, one of whose duties it then was

to view, value and grade all the unpatented lands in the county. He was clected state senator in 1838 ; appointed revenue commissioner in 1843 ; elected member of assembly in 1844 and 1845, and was elected and re-elected speaker of the house of representatives; and in 1847 he was again appointed revenue commissioner to represent this and Indiana counties, and was chosen president of the board. He was also a member of the board of school directors, first of Kittanning and then of Pine township dur- ing the greater part of his residence in this county, and was captain of the Wayne township artillery company and major of the regiment, and was appointed in 1857 receiver in the land office, Kan- sas, for four years. His maternal grandfather was William Findley, a native of the north of Ireland. He came to this state when he was a young man ; served in the American army during the revolu- tion ; after its close he settled in Westmoreland county; was elected a member of the legislature of this state, of the constitutional convention of 1790, and was a member of congress 1791-9 and 1803-17. To distinguish him from Gov. William Findley, who was cotemporaneous with him in public life, he was called "Congress Findley." He was the author of "A Review of the Funding System," published in 1794, " History of the Insurrection of Western Pennsylvania," 1796, and " Observations " vindicating religious liberty. He was the warrantee and patentee of various tracts of Findley lands, mentioned in the sketch of Cowanshannock town- ship, the one in Valley and of several on the west side of the Allegheny river in this county.

Adjoining the last-mentioned tract was the Le Roy & Co., No. 3023, 1,000 acres, of which B. B. Cooper conveyed 207 acres and 70 perches, allot- ment 6, to Philip Gravenor, April 8, 1817, for $275; 1033 acres to George Gravenor, December 21, 1818, for $240. Willink & Co. conveyed 126 acres, allot- ment 3, to John Howser, July 2, 1827, for $63.25, which was subsequently purchased and occupied by George Leighley; 113 acres, allotment 5, to George D. Shaeffer, March 7, 1830, for $56, with which and as a blacksmith he was first assessed in 1831; 74 acres and 141 perches, allotment 4, to Jacob Mc- Afoos, March 24, 1831, for $37.50, with 111 acres of that allotment he was first assessed in 1811, and on which he had probably resided since 1806, and 74 acres 141 perches, December 23, 1835, for $37.50, and he to George Schrecongost, February 3, 1841, for $300; 126 acres and 64 perches, allotment 1, to Jacob King, January 19, 1835, for $63.25, 110 acres of which were subsequently owned by Andrew and then by Joseph Mosgrove, who conveyed the same to Aaron Black, January 24, 1855, for $800,

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HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY.

and the latter to John Rutter, except 10 acres, Jan- nary 24, 1866, for $1,800.

The next tract to the north was Le Roy & Co., No. 3032 ; 1,000 acres was parceled: B. B. Cooper to Alexander McElwain, 100 acres, allotment 3, Oc- tober 7, 1819, for $200, and Willink & Co. 55 acres and 24 perches, June 20, 1827, for $28; B. B. Cooper to Francis Dill, 155 acres and 98 perches, allotment 2, September 20, 1820, for $311.16, and Willink & Co. 112 acres, allotment 1, June 1, 1832, for $56, both of which parcels Richard Dill con- veyed to Charles Moore, Jr., March 3, 1868, for $4,000; Willink & Co. 1623 acres to Jacob Howser, July 3, 1827, for $81.25, subsequently occupied by George Howser; 167 acres and 52 perches to George Stiffey, October 7, 1828, for $83.75.

East of No. 3023 lay the western portion of Le Roy & Co. tract No. 3022 of which Willink & Co. conveyed 120 acres of allotment 2 to William Powers, September 12, 1831, for $255; 97 acres and 154 perches of allotment 1 to Jacob McAfoos, March 8, 1837, for $90; 176 acres and 110 perches, allotment 5, to Abraham Beer, August 7, 1842, for $126.50, which he had occupied since 1826.

STATISTICS.

The people of this township voted, February 28, 1873, on the question of granting license to sell intoxicating liquors: Against, 103; for, 41.

The mercantile appraiser's list shows four stores in the fourteenth and one in the eleventh class in 1876.

Occupations other than agricultural, according to the assessment list for 1876: Furnace managers, 2; laborers, 102 ; miners, 5; teamsters, 4; carpen- ters, 3; shoemakers, 3; blacksmiths, 2; hucksters, 2; millers, 2; bookkeeper, 1; bricklayer, 1; butcher, 1; clerk, 1; coker, 1; cooper, 1; grocer, 1; harness- maker, 1; marble-cutter, 1; pit-boss, 1; printer, 1; school-teacher, 1; sexton, 1.

The population in 1860: White, 1,551; colored, 1. In 1870: Native, 1,665; foreign, 156; colored, 0. Number of taxables in 1876, 460, giving about 2,116 of a population.

Schools, 1860 : Number schools, 9; average number months taught, 4; male teachers, 5; fe- male teachers, 4; average monthly salaries of male teachers, $16.60; average monthly salaries of female teachers, $16; male scholars, 210; female scholars, 156; average number attending school, 246; cost of teaching each scholar per month, 42 cents; tax levied for school purposes, $674.10; tax levied for building purposes, $421.32; received from state appropriation, $104.64; from collectors, $561; cost of instruction, $572; fuel, etc., $62; repairs, $10.

1876 : Number schools, 13; average number months taught, 5; male teachers, 5; female teach- ers, 8; average salaries of male teachers per month, $28.60 ; average salaries of female teachers per month, $26.75; male scholars, 316; female scholars, 305; average number attending school, 240; cost per month, 61 cents; tax levied for school and building purposes, $3,309.12; received from state appropriation, $412.92; from taxes, etc., $2,160.57; cost of schoolhouses, $210.70 ; paid for teachers' wages, $1,785; fuel, etc., $284.24.

GEOLOGICAL FEATURES.

The uplands have a thin covering of lower barren rocks. These are the measures which make the summit of the ridge which the Anderson Creek road traverses. The lower productive meas- ures are exposed along the Cowanshannock and Pine creeks throughout the entire township. The hills skirting the river from Kittanning borough to the mouth of Pine creek and beyond consist mainly of these rocks. The Pottsville conglom- erate, sixty feet thick, rises to the day over an area extending from Quigley's mill nearly to the mouth of Hays' run, and this rock makes the sandstone bowlders along the river's edge. The upper Free- port coal and limestone, the lower Freeport coal, the upper and lower Kittanning coals, the fireclay underlying the lower Kittanning coal, the ferrifer- ous limestone and the fireclay underlying it, have all in turn been developed. The ferriferous lime- stone is above the Cowanshannock from John C. Rhea's property nearly to below the Hague school- house, between it and the Robinson farm, and is above the waters of Pine creek a like distance and extending to Pine Creek furnace, and supports here the buhrstone ore; along the river front it is continuous above water-level from the southern to the northern end of the township. The structure is somewhat complicated by the gradually diminishing force of the anticlinal axis, which crosses the river near the site of the old Allegheny furnace. This gradual decline of the axis gives to the rocks a southwest dip down the river rather than the usual and normal incline toward the northwest and south- east. Another and well-developed anticlinal crosses the Cowanshannock near Greendale, where it lifts the Pottsville conglomerate to daylight, and it crosses Pine creek near Oscar postoffice .- W. G. Platt.

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History of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Part 83

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