History of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Part 84

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

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A slight undulation is suspected to pass from the neighborhood of Scrubgrass creek through the neighborhood of Allegheny Furnace, crossing local northwest dips .- Rogers.

The ferriferous limestone is seen on Reynolds'

ROBERT TOWNSEND,

MRS. ROBERT TOWNSEND.

ROBERT TOWNSEND.

The man whose name heads this sketch, until late years a resident of South Bend township, was born in this county, December 3, 1796. The lady whom he after- ward married, Elizabeth, daughter of Samnel and Eva B. (Miller) Hine, was born August 27, 1797. They were joined in wedlock by Squire Paul, in the year 1816. After their marriage they lived near the river in South Bend township for three years, and then went to Westmoreland county. After remaining there seven years they returned to this county, where Mr. Town- send spent the remainder of his days. In 1837 Mr. Townsend purchased a farm of 386 acres of land, all timbered except a few acres which had been cleared by its former owner. When they went upon the farm they lived for a year in a small, rough log cabin, but after- ward moved into a better one, made partly of hewed logs, which they could not have at first, as it was rented. The farm on which Mr. and Mrs. Townsend lived was commonly known to the hunters for miles around as " The Bucks Farm," for the reason that it abounded at an early day in deer, which came there to feed on the acorns. During the first years of their housekeeping they were obliged to grind their corn in what was then known as the "Pint Mill," owned by a Mr. Johnson. Mrs. Townsend did most of her cooking at the fireplace, but baked bread in an outdoor oven, built for the pur- pose. She obtained her first cook-stove in I845. She

used the spinning-wheel to make linen for clothing from the flax they raised upon the farm. To keep her family properly clothed she was often compelled to weave until midnight, after being busy all day with other domestic

duties. Having no mill to clean their wheat, they used a bed-slieet, which was handled as a huge fan by husband and wife, separating the chaff from the grain. As time passed the disadvantages under which household and farm labor was performed were lessened, and work done with more ease and rapidity. Mr. Townsend kept abreast of the times in agriculture, and in the matter of fruit-growing was far ahead of his neighbors, having the greatest variety and choicest fruit in the township. Upon December 28, 1874, Robert Townsend passed away, after a long, useful and honorable life. He was a mem- ber of St. Jacob's church, near South Bend. His widow is a faithful communicant of this church today. She is in a remarkable state of health, and as active in her movements as a woman of fifty, although in her eighty- sixth year.

Mr. and Mrs. Townsend have been blessed with ten children, all of whom are now living. Their names, with dates of birth, are as follows : Isaac, born February 23, 1817; Anna Margaret, March 15, 1819; Susannah, December 13, 1821 ; Henry, October 15, 1823; Simon P., March 19, 1826; Rachel, August 12, 1829; Elizabeth E., November 23, 1831; Robert, August 28, 1834; Sarah, October 6, 1837 ; John L., July 16, 1840.

John L. Townsend lives upon the old homestead. He was married in 1864, to Miss Jemima D. Wherry, born January 31, 1847. She died July 20, 1867, leaving one child, Annie, born July 22, 1867. On April 17, 1871, Mr. Townsend married as his second wife Mary Jane, widow of William Robertson, whose maiden name was Barr, and she was born January 19, 1836. She has one son, William, a chill of her first husband.

FMG

RESIDENCE OF THE LATE ROBERT TOWNSEND.

393

VALLEY TOWNSHIP.

farm, one mile north of the borough, where the | Kittanning coal is twenty feet above it; on Nul- ton's land, north of the court-house, it is four feet thick, and is divided by a thin slate about one foot from the top .- Rogers.

The following is an analysis of a piece of per- forated red ore, obtained from John C. Rhea's

farm, the above-mentioned part of the Findley tract No. 666, by F. A. Genth, Jr., of the Univer- sity of Pennsylvania:

Ferri oxide, 77.10 ; ferrous oxide, 0.43 ; manga- nous oxide, 1.02; alumina, 2.47; silicic acid, 7.17; phosphori acid, 0.38; carbonic acid, 0.47; water and organic matter, 11.23 .= 100.27.

CHAPTER XVIII.

SOUTH BEND.

Organized in 1867 from Territory in Kiskiminetas and Plum Creek -The Thirty-five Original Land Warrants - The Pioneers and First Owners of the Several Tracts-Transfers of Property -"Captain Tom's Hunting Camp "-A Political Meeting of 1810-Woodward's Mills -Postoffice-Blockhouses Built by the Early Settlers - Churches -Primitive Schoolhouses and Pioneer Pedagogues - Later Schools - Miscellaneous Items - Census and Other Statistics - Mechanical Industries.

O N the 17th day of April, 1867, the petition of divers inhabitants of Kiskiminetas and Plum Creek townships-that is, of those within the boundaries of the then proposed new town- ship,-setting forth that they labored under great inconvenience for the want of a new township to be composed of parts of those two townships, was presented to the court of quarter sessions of this county. Whereupon, after considering the same, the court appointed Reuben Allshouse, James Y. Jackson and John Smith viewers or commissioners, to inquire into the propriety of granting the prayer of the petitioners. This report in favor of erect- ing the new township, to be called South Bend, as prayed for by the petitioners, accompanied by a draft thereof, was presented to the court, and or- dered to be filed June 4, 1867. Three days after- ward, June 7, the court ordered that an election of the qualified voters of those parts of Kiskiminetas and Plum Creek townships, within the boundaries of the proposed new township, be held at the usual place of holding elections in the former, on Friday, June 28, then instant, and to be conducted as other township elections, on fifteen days' notice to be given by the constable of Kiskiminetas township. The returns of that special election were made by the election officers, and filed July 1, then next en- suing. The vote was, for dividing those two old townships and erecting the new one, 152, and against the same, 90. The court thereupon ordered and decreed that the township of South Bend be erected according to law and the lines of division reported by the viewers, and appointed James Fulmer, judge, and James Armstrong and Jonathan Crnm, inspectors, to hold and conduct the then next general and spring elections.

The boundaries reported by the viewers or com- missioners are : Beginning at a corner of Burrell township, on land of Jacob Hart; thence south 29 degrees east 1 mile and 120 perches to A. Walk- er's ; thence south 2 miles to the top of a hill on I. Horn's land ; thence south 34 degrees east 1 mile and

108 perches to the Indiana county line, on or near to land of Robert Elder ; thence by Indiana county line north 373 degrees east 6 miles and 172 perches to a point on land of John Ramsey ; thence north 40 de- grees west 220 perches on the bank of Crooked creek, near Reuben Allshouse's (Idaho) mill ; thence down said creek north 80 degrees west 150 perches ; thence across said creek north 50 degrees west 3 miles on land of Isaac Rowley, deceased ; thence south 87 degrees west 1 mile and 97 perches, on land of M. Davis ; thence by the line of Burrell township sonth 15 degrees east 1 mile and 258 perches to Linsbigler's run ; thence down said run south 70 degrees west 110 perches ; thence south 56 degrees west 64 perches to Crooked creek ; thence 31 degrees west 1 mile and 308 perches to the place of beginning, containing about 23 square miles, to be called South Bend. The name is de- rived from a great southern bend in Crooked creek, the extreme southern part of which is in the southeastern part of the township, about 75 rods from the Indiana county line. Along that portion of that creek in this township some of the earliest settlements by the whites in this county were made.

The warrants for some of the thirty-five original tracts, as they are indicated on the ancient county map, are dated as early as'1773. Those tracts are: James Gray, 364} acres, partly in Indiana county; Abraham Hunt, mostly in Kiskiminetas township, 301.9 acres, seated by Samuel Hancock; James Elder, 1583 acres, partly in Indiana county, seated by James Smith ; Robert Lettis Hooper (of North- ampton county, an assistant deputy commissary of purchases in 1779), 321 acres, partly in Kiskimine- tas ; William Forbes, 335.3 acres, partly in Kiski- minetas; Stephen Duncan, 322.3 acres ; Joseph Speer, 352 acres, partly in Indiana county ; Ann Kirk, 346.6 acres, seated by Samuel Fleming ; Daniel Drinker, 3223 acres, seated by Charles Hancock ; Alexander Todd, 319.8, partly in Kiski- minetas, seated by Andrew Cunningham ; John

395

SOUTH BEND TOWNSHIP.

Bringhurst, 285.3 acres, partly in Kiskiminetas, seated by Jacob Snow ; Walter Finney, 390} acres, seated by Peter Henry ; Samuel Sloan, 3143 acres ; Samuel Massey, 321.6 acres, seated by Wm. Hef- felfinger and Christopher Miller, the latter 160 acres ; Joseph Sannders, 326.4 . acres, partly in Indiana county ; John Finney, 337.7 acres, seated by Henry Allshouse; Matthew Irwin, 360 acres, seated by Jacob George, now owned chiefly by John and James Wherry; John Walker, 374.2 acres, seated by John Householder; James Davis, Sr., 421.4 acres ; James Davis, Jr., 422 acres ; Erasmus Beatty, 428Į acres, partly in Kiskiminetas and Burrell, seated by Nicholas Fulmer; John Righter, 163.2 acres, seated by William Eakman ; George Woods, 297.3 acres, seated by H. and Geo. Rupert ; John Levering, 316. acres, seated by Peter and Christopher Rupert; Samuel Dixon, 3154 acres ; James Skullknot, 334 acres, seated by George Smith ; Robert Dick, 159 acres ; Elizabeth Pile, 346.3 acres, seated by Widow Smith ; Han- nah Gregory, 346 acres, seated by -- Rankin ; John Sloan, 201 acres, 69 perches ; David Todd and William Wason, 570 acres, seated by Philip Rearigh, 170, Joseph Lowrey, 107, and Alexander George ; Rowland Chambers, 2252 acres, seated by Joseph Lowrey; Hugh Neely, 267 acres, 146 perches, mostly in Indiana county, seated by An- thony Montgomery. Another tract, making the thirty-fifth, covers territory within the great bend of Crooked creek above mentioned, which origi- nally contained 299 acres, for which a warrant was issued to John Ladd Howell, dated February 8, 1776. As a part of this tract has for many years been a prominent point in this region, its various transfers may not be without interest to the reader. By deed dated May 22, 1776, Howell con- veyed his interest in the entire tract to John Van- deren, of Philadelphia (miller), for five shillings. Vanderen's executors, being so authorized by the will of their testator, conveyed it to Charles Campbell by deed dated July 18, 1795, for £59 4s. Campbell, by deed dated May 17, 1813, con- veyed it to James Clark for $2,000; Clark, by deed dated May 20, 1813, conveyed it to Jacob France, or, as spelled in later times, Frantz, for $3,000, who by his will, proven April 28, 1832, de- vised it to his children, from whom David Ral- ston, at divers times from 1837 until 1855, bought portions including the mill, aggregating 75 acres, which, with the mill, he conveyed for $13,000 to Chambers Orr, by deed dated June 14, 1859, who, by deed dated May 22, 1865, conveyed it to the present owners, Robert and Henry Townsend, for $14,000. In the deed from Howell to Vanderen a

mill-seat is mentioned as included in the tract. A grist and saw mill must have been erected thereon while it was owned by Campbell, for as early as 1805, James and William Clark were assessed in Allegheny township, in which this territory was then included, with one of each kind. For many years afterward Frantz's mill was resorted to by settlers from the lower part of the county, it being then the nearest to them. By act of March 16, 1819, Crooked creek was declared a public highway from its mouth to that mill.

The names given to some of these tracts are as follows : The Samuel Dixon tract was called "Partrenship "-so it is spelled ; the Hannah Greg- ory tract "Pised"; the Elizabeth Pile tract, " Phoenicia ; " the Matthew Irwin tract, "Trux- illo ; " the Rowland Chambers tract, "Cha -; " the John Shaw tract, "Brabant ; " the Abraham Hunt tract, " Hunt's Forest ; " the William Forbes tract, "Franconia ; " the John Bringhurst tract, " White Oak Plains ; " the Alexander Todd tract, " Todd's Plains ; " the Daniel Drinker tract, "Hickory Ridge ; " the Samuel Sloan tract, " Long Meadow ;" the Samuel Massey tract, " Limestone Runs ; " the Joseph Saunders tract, " Desart Sin ; " the James Davis, Jr., tract, "Slephenton ; " the Alexander Craig tract, a very small portion of which is in this county, " Craig's Farm." As de- scribed in the deed from Absalom Woodward to Robert C. Peebles, dated April 20, 1815, this last- mentioned tract was " situate on a large run empty- ing into Crooked creek, opposite to a place known by the name of Capt. Tom's Hunting Camp, in Plum Creek township." That " large run " must be the one that empties from the southeast in Crooked creek about eighty rods northeast from the lowest point in its great southern bend, so that "Capt. Tom's Hunting Camp " must have been on the John Ladd Howell tract, about a hundred rods southeast from the " mill-seat," mentioned in the deed from Howell to Vanderen, the present site of the Townsend mills, on the right bank of that creek. Who Capt. Tom was, or whence he came, the writer has not yet ascertained. He probably made annual hunting excursions to this region from one of the older and more densely settled counties. The writer has not yet met with anyone who can correctly inform him concerning the exact locality of that " hunting camp," which was one of the old landmarks. Strange it is, that none of those born and raised in its immediate and more remote vi- cinity, of whom he has inquired, had ever heard of it ! One who has resided in its neighborhood for more than forty years thinks it was about three miles below, on the farm now owned by

396

HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY.

Jared McCandlers, which is a part of "Phæeni- cia." Another, who has passed his four score and ten years, and who in early life was familiar with this region, thinks it must have been at the mouth of "Horny Camp Run," which is in the southwest corner of Kittanning township, several miles still further down the creek. The writer has, to his own satisfaction at least, ascertained its locality by putting together certain facts, points and boundaries, mentioned in several old deeds for different tracts.

AN EARLY POLITICAL DELEGATE MEETING.

The following is from the Western Eagle of September 20, 1810:

At a meeting of the delegates appointed by the democratic-republicans of Armstrong and Indiana coun- ties, for the purpose of consulting and recommending a proper person to represent this district in the legislature of this state, and when met agreeably to appointment at the house of Samuel Sloan [on the John Sloan tract next below the John Ladd Howell tract], near Crooked creek, on Thursday, the 9th day of August last, JOHN BRANDON, Esq., of Armstrong county, was chosen chairman, and ALEXANDER TAYLER, Esq., of Indiana county, secretary, eleven delegates from the two counties being present.

The following resolutions were adopted by the meet- ing :

"Ist. Resolved, with the exception of one dissenting voice, That JAMES SLOAN, Esquire, of Armstrong county, be and is hereby recommended to our fellow-citizens to represent the counties of Armstrong, Indiana and Jeffer- son in the legislature of this commonwealth.

"2nd. Resolved, That a committee of three members be appointed to prepare and send forward copies of these resolutions to the editors of The Commonwealth in Pitts- burgh and of the Farmers' Register in Greensburgh for publication, and that Jonathan King, John Davidson and John Brandon, Esquires, compose the aforesaid com- mittee.

"3rd. Resolved, That when the tickets are printed for the ensuing election, 1,000 shall be delivered to John Brandon, of Kittanning, and 1,000 to Alexander Tayler, of Indiana, who are hereby requested to have the same dis- tributed in their respective counties previous to the election.

"4th. Resolved, That the above resolutions be signed by the chairman and attested by the secretary, and that the original copy thereof be lodged with John Brandon, in the town of Kittanning.

"JOHN BRANDON, Chairman.

" Attest: " ALEXANDER TAYLER, Secretary."

That nominee was not elected that year: James McComb was.

WOODWARD'S MILLS.

Absalom Woodward was first assessed with grist and saw mills in 1811, which he had erected on the southeastern part of the William Cowden tract, on

the south side of Plum creek, near its junction with Crooked creek, in the northeastern part of the pres- ent township of South Bend, where he resided for many years, and where he died in August, 1833.

These mills were, for a long time after their erection, a noted point in this region of country. He devised the William Cowden tract, including these mills and various other tracts, to his son Absalom. The mill property has been subse- quently and successively owned by Stacy B. Bar- croft, George S. Christy and Reuben Allshouse, the present proprietor, who has changed its name to that of " Idaho," to which name he is probably partial on account of the valuable mineral acquisi- tions which he had the good fortune to make in the Territory of Idaho.

Hugh Brown's store was located two miles below this point more than seventy years ago. He was assessed as a "store-keeper " in 1805. How many years before that he opened his store there, the writer has not been able to learn.

POSTAL.

The only postoffice between Kittanning and In- diana sixty years ago was at Absalom Woodward's. The record of its establishment having been de- stroyed by the burning of the postoffice building in Washington, in 1836, there is but little knowledge of it left. A postoffice was kept there in 1817-18, when Josiah Copley carried the mail from Indiana to Butler. He presumes that Absalom Woodward was then the postmaster, because he opened the mails. That office was probably discontinued when the one either at Elderton or Shelacta was estab- lished. In this connection, though not in the chronological order of events, it may be stated that the Frantz's Mill postoffice was established Febru- ary 21, 1843. James Mitchell, Jr., was the first postmaster, and the South Bend postoffice was es- tablished April 6, 1848, at the same point, and its first postmaster was James Johnston, Jr .; the Olivet postoffice was established April 10, 1850, and John McGeary was its first postmaster.

BLOCKHOUSES.

Prior to 1795, or to the time when the Indians ceased to be troublesome and dangerous in this region, there was a blockhouse on the John Shaw tract, on what is now called Jones' hill, about a mile a little east of south from the junction of Crooked and Plum creeks, or Idaho. According to a tradition which has come down from the ear- liest settlers, there was, in those times, another blockhouse, called by some a fort, at or near the present site of the Townsend mills and the South Bend postoffice. Abraham Frantz and others for-

termes B. Nilsen.

Nancy Nr. Wilson

JAMES D. WILSON.

The Wilson family, to which the subject of this sketch belongs, was one of the earliest settled in Washington county, Pennsylvania. His grand- parents on his mother's side (the Hendersons), were from Lancaster and Chester counties, and set- tled at an early day in Washington county, and his grandparents on his father's side were from Frank- lin and Adamıs counties. The father of James D. Wilson, Hugh M. Wilson, married Mary Hender- son, a granddaughter of the Rev. Matthew Hen- derson, the pioneer of Washington county, and prime mover in the establishment of Jefferson college. It is not out of place to state here (and it may be of interest to some readers who have hitherto been ignorant of the fact), that at a little meeting held under a tree in the pioneer settle- ment of Washington, Pennsylvania, the college we have named had its inception. Rev. Hender- son labored zealously for the establishment of that useful educational institution, and it is a worthy monument to his memory.

James D. Wilson was born, of the marriage of which we have spoken, in Allegheny county, No- vember 5, 1818. He remained at home until 1847, in which year he was united in marriage with Nancy, daughter of Robert and Abigail Wray, who was born in this county, August 11, 1825,

by Rev. Alex. Donaldson, D. D., March 24, 1847. In April following Mr. and Mrs. Wilson moved to the farm where they now reside, and which was purchased by his father in 1838. The farm, con- taining 120 acres, was deeded to Mr. Wilson by his father some time after his marriage. He has at different times since purchased land adjoining, till the farm now contains about 180 acres. Mr. Wilson has followed farming all of his life except four years, when he was engaged in milling. He owns about 180 acres of good land, situated near Olivet Village, South Bend township. He is a director of the Apollo Savings Bank, and has held that position for about ten years.

To Mr. and Mrs. Wilson have been born six children, viz. : Robert H., born July 9, 1851; studied engineering at the Western University of Pittsburgh, county surveyor, married December 5, 1878, to Miss Emma L. Blakely, of West Leb- anon, Pennsylvania ; they have two children, Florence and Karl ; Mary L., June 5, 1854 ; Abigail, September 18, 1856 ; Hattie, April 27, 1864; and Hugh and Sarah, born respectively in 1849 and 1860, both of whom died in infancy.

James D. Wilson and wife, together with all their children, are members of the United Presbyterian church at Olivet. He is the last one remaining of the original members of this congregation.

SOUTH BEND TOWNSHIP.

397

merly found many bullets in the ground thereabout. Numerous flint arrow-heads of various sizes are still found on the Hugh Neely tract, now Alexan- der J. Montgomery's farm, and elsewhere in the vicinity of those blockhouses.

The general, especially the early, history of this township is nearly identical with that of Plum Creek and Kiskiminetas townships; the dangers, hardships and inconveniences of its early settlers were similar to those of those two townships. It was along that part of Crooked creek in this town- ship that the earliest settlements by the whites were made in this county. Early settlers, as indi- cated by the assessment list of Allegheny township for 1805, within whose limits the present territory of this township was then included, were Hugh Brown, James and William Clark, Barnard Davers (mason), George and Henry Hoover, John House- holder, John and Adam Johnston, Samuel George, George King, Daniel Linsinbigler, Peter Rupert, Sr., Peter Rupert (weaver), Samuel Sloan, John Sloan, Joseph Thorn (blacksmith), David Todd, and Absalom Woodward (?). It may be that the last-named then resided on the George Campbell tract, nearly two miles above Idaho, on Plum creek.

Twenty years or so later, Henry Allshouse, on the John Finney tract, Samuel Fleming, on the Ann Kirk tract, Nicholas Fulmer, on the Erasmus Beatty tract, Jacob George, on the Matthew Irwin tract, William Heffelfinger, on the Samuel Massey tract, Nicholas Jordan, on the John Levering tract, Joseph Lowry, on the Rowland Chambers tract, Anthony Montgomery, on the Hugh Neely tract, John McCain, on the John Levering tract, George and Henry Rupert, on the George Woods tract, James Smith, on the James Elder tract, Jacob Snow on the John Bringhurst tract, were residents in those parts of Allegheny and Plum Creek town ships now included in South Bend township. Among the residents, eight or nine years later, were John and Peter Dice, Alexander Lowry, John and Robert Smith, Robert Townsend, James and John Wherry in the Kiskiminetas portion ; Jacob Allshouse, John and Jonathan Crum, Jacob, John, Samuel and Abraham Frantz, Peter, Samuel and Jacob George, Thomas Kinnard, Joseph Lowry, Frederick and Peter Rupert, John Shoup, Robert W. Smith-not this writer,-Samuel Sloan, Sr. and Jr., John Windgrove, William Wilkison, and Absalom Woodward, Jr., in the Plum Creek por- tion of South Bend township. There may have been others in both sections of the township, and it is possible that some of the above-mentioned were at the time residents of Plum Creek town-

ship. The writer has formed his judgment as to their residence chiefly from the assessment lists of those various periods.

RELICS.

Ten or fifteen years ago Rohert Townsend, as related by his son, S. P. Townsend, found a mat- tock on his farm, near Whiskey run. It was struck by the plow, at the depth of about ten inches, in good soil. Several bunches of oxide of iron, about the size of hen's eggs, were on it. Its ends were steel, which he had sharpened at the blacksmith's. It is still extant on that farm, on the ridge or watershed from which the runs flow into Crooked creek and the Kiskiminetas. From six to ten inches below the surface, in a gravelly soil, on the same farm, various Indian relics have been found : A stone implement, shaped somewhat like a wedge, with one end sharp like the bit of an ax, while near the other end was a groove, probably for holding a strap, nsed, probably, for skinning animals; several very hard stone utensils, some of which were a foot in diameter, the interior of which was somewhat like an apothecary's mortar, some holding a quart and others two quarts of water, which were pro- bably used for breaking and grinding corn; nu- merous flint arrow-heads; a mound of stones, which must have been brought some distance, as the field in which it is is clear of stone, about twenty feet in diameter, and two feet high, its shape being circular, and under which no bones have been found.

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History of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Part 84

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