USA > Pennsylvania > Beaver County > History of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, and Its Centennial Celebration, Volume II > Part 39
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History of Beaver County
Another and counter paper was prepared by the friends of Rapp and of the old order of things, which was signed by five hundred persons. If this paper was published we have not been able to find the issue in which it appeared.
In the Pittsburgh Gazette of February 21, 1832, there ap- peared the following:
TO THE AMERICAN PUBLIC
Inasmuch as, under date of the Ist of February, 1832, by an adver- tisement published on that day, in the Pittsburgh Gazette, a large portion of the Harmony Society, at Economy, Beaver County, Pennsyl- vania, gave notice to the public of the revocation of all the authority and power claimed or exercised on behalf of said society by Geo. and Fred- erick Rapp-the undersigned, committee of the above mentioned portion of the society, feel it their duty to call upon all Banks and other Corpora- tions, as also upon all individuals who have been and are at this time connected in any business transactions with the said George or Frederick Rapp, or their assistants and agents, to send in their accounts or other exhibits up to the aforementioned date, to the undersigned committee (addressing their communications to the first named subscriber, William Smith, Post Master,) so that the affairs of the society may be fully under- stood and regulated, and that the exact statement of all the debts and credits of the Harmony Society, upon the basis of a community of in- terest, may be made known to those interested. By this means a speedy and general settlement between George and Frederick Rapp, or their agents, and this unincorporated society may be expected.
William Smith Anthony Knapper
Christian Smith
Augustus Smith
Israel Bendel Adam Schule
Jacob Durr
John George Wagner
Michael Forstner
Jacob Wagner
Matthew Klein Benotus Zundel.
ECONOMY, February 15, 1832.
The same papers which were named above were requested to run this notice for three weeks.
In the issue of the Pittsburgh Gazette, Friday morning, Febru- ary 24, 1832, Frederick Rapp ' published an answer to the above advertisements, as follows:
TO THE PUBLIC
In the Pittsburgh Gazette of the tenth instant, there is a publica- tion, signed by two hundred and seventeen persons, of both sexes, who
1 Frederick Rapp, whose proper name was Frederick Reichert, was born in Germany, April 12, 1775. He was a stone cutter and architect and possessed of a good common- school education, and while still in Germany became a devoted adherent of George Rapp,
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History of Beaver County
profess to be members of the Harmony Society; of this number, fifty- five are minors, and thirty-two are not regular members of the society, having never been received as such, nor signed our Articles of Associa- tion. The ostensible object of the publication in question is to inform the people that the authority which has been heretofore exercised by George Rapp, and his adopted son, Frederick Rapp, in regard to the business affairs of the society, has been legally revoked and annulled. The real object is presumed to be, to draw the attention of the people to the unhappy differences which have, of late, sprung up in the society, and to excite their prejudice against the Rev. George Rapp and myself. With respect to our authority, it is sufficient to say, that a large major- ity of the society are satisfied that we should continue to exercise it as formerly. Between them and myself or my father, the Rev. George Rapp, there is no dissention. Should the public incline to take any con- cern in the present disputes of the Harmony Society, it is respectfully requested that their opinion be suspended until the character and causes of those disputes shall have been investigated before the legal tribunals of the county. FREDERICK RAPP.
February 17, 1832.
Ly To be inserted weekly, for three weeks, in the National Gasette, Philadelphia; the Beaver Republican; Cincinnati Gazette; Louisville Advertiser; and the Statesman, Pittsburgh, and their accounts to be for- warded to the Office of the Pittsburgh Gazette.
Its great wealth has made the Harmony Society a mark for other adventurers, and some, not meriting that name, former members of the Society or their descendants, have, with some show of right, sought to obtain a share of the property or wages by bringing suit against the trustees. The Society has always avoided litigation, when possible, but has not escaped the neces- sity of several times defending its contracts in the courts. These
and a member of his family. On the coming of Rapp to America he was left in charge of his family and of the religious work which he had begun. To him were committed the arrangements for the emigration of the families which joined in Rapp's enterprise, and he himself came over with the last of them in one of the ships which landed at Phila- delphia. At the organization of the Harmony Society he was associated with George Rapp in the management of its affairs, and at the solicitation of the leader and the members of his community he dropped the name of Reichert and became recognized as the adopted son of George Rapp. To the latter were committed the spiritual concerns of the Society and the direction of its home interests, and to Frederick the care of all matters connected with the growing business relations of the Society with the outside world. Frederick Rapp continued to act as the general business agent of the Society until his death. During the absence or illness of George Rapp he also officiated as preacher, and being endowed with some poetic ability, he composed several hymns which were used in the Society's collection.
On the death of Frederick Rapp, July 5, 1834, George Rapp was for the first time formally designated by the Society as its business agent, but being himself still chiefly occupied with the spiritual and domestic functions of the community, he appointed as sub-agents R. L. Baker and Jacob Henrici, who attended to those details of outside business which had previously been under the care of Frederick Rapp.
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contracts have uniformly been sustained in the decisions ren- dered, either in the lower courts or in those of last resort. Legal questions of the highest importance have been involved in the cases of this Society, which have been conducted by some of the greatest lawyers in the country, and before some of its most eminent judges. The testimony alone in one of them covers nearly five thousand printed pages, and it will be evident that the notice of them, without which our treatment of this subject would be incomplete, must be very brief.
The first suit against the Harmony Society was brought by Eugene Müller, being an action to recover wages for services rendered by him while he was a member of the Society. Muller, after joining the com- munity had become dissatisfied, and in 1822 had left it. The court held that, having signed the articles of agreement, which expressly stipulated that a seceding member should have no claim on the Society for wages, he was without recourse. John H. Hopkins, referred to above as having drawn up the agreement of 1827, and the celebrated James Ross, of Pittsburg, were the legal counsel of the Society in this case.
Schreiber vs. Rapp .- The second case was that of Jacob Schreiber, as heir of Peter Schreiber, his father. Peter Schreiber had become a mem- ber of the Society at Harmony in 1806. His family, consisting of five sons and four daughters, had entered it at the same time. Jacob, his fourth son, later began to advise the removal of the Society's location to Palestine, as a more fitting place for the saints to await the coming of Christ. Not being able to carry his point with the leaders, he withdrew from the Society in 1826, and together with other claimants memorialized the State Legislature, praying to have the affairs of the Society investi- gated, with a view to a restitution of the several properties in its hands formerly belonging to the petitioners or their parents. Failing in this appeal to the Legislature, Schreiber, his father being now dead, took out letters of administration as one of the heirs of his father's estate, and brought suit in the Court of Common Pleas of Beaver County against the Society to recover his share of the estate. The case was tried in Beaver before the Court of Common Pleas, Hon. John Bredin presiding, and was decided against the claimant. An appeal was taken to the Supreme Court of the State, where it was tried at the October term, 1836. The judgment of the lower court was affirmed after an able opinion by Judge Gibson. The attorneys for the Plaintiffs in Error were Shaler and Watts; for the Defendant in Error they were Biddle and Forward. All of these attorneys were afterwards very distinguished men.1
Baker, appellant, vs. Nachtrieb .- The third important case against the Society, involving practically the same issue, was that of Joshua Nach- trieb. This complainant filed a bill in equity before the Circuit Court of the United States for the Western District of Pennsylvania at the
1 5 Watts, p. 351.
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History of Beaver County
November term, 1849, setting forth his grievances against the Society, and asking for redress of the same. The case, after much preliminary labor, came to final argument before Judges Grier and Irwin in Novem- ber, 1851. Some of the most eminent legal talent of the day was employed by the parties in this trial; for the Society, A. W. Loomis,- Stanbury and Wilson McCandless; and for the complainant, Hon. Charles Shaler, fourth in the list of president judges of Beaver County and after- wards an associate judge of the District Court; Edwin M. Stanton, Lin- coln's Secretary of War; and Th. Umbstaetter, his partner. April 5, 1852, judgment was rendered in favor of the complainant, and the trus- tees of the society, R. I .. Baker and Jacob Henrici, were ordered to make a complete exhibit of the business of the society for the whole period of Nachtrieb's connection with it, amounting to twenty-seven years, in order to ascertain what was due him. The investigation which followed involved the Society in endless annoyance and expense, but showed their affairs to be in excellent condition. In 1855 the court, in a decree issued by Judges Grier and Irwin, awarded the complainant the sum of $3890, but the case was carried on an appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States, where, in December, 1856, the decision of the lower court was reversed, the opinion of the Supreme Court being read by Justice John A. Campbell. Loomis's argument before the court in behalf of the Society is said to have been one of remarkable ability.1
Lemmix vs. the Harmony Society .- In 1852, after the decision of Judges Grier and Irwin in favor of Nachtrieb, Elijah Lemmix, a friend and associate of Nachtrieb, also brought suit before the same court for the recovery of his share of the property, but at the February term of the court, in 1855, Judge Grier decided against his claims .?
The last litigation involving the property and rights of the Harmony Society, and reviewing the legal status of the said Society, is the case known as "Schwartz, et al. versus Duss et al.," which was a bill filed in the Circuit Court of the United States for the Western District of Pennsylvania at No. 11, November term, 1894; and was concluded by the opinion of the Supreme Court of the United States delivered in the early part of the year 1903. This bill was filed by Christian Schwartz et al., claiming to be heirs at law and next of kin to persons who had been members of the Harmony Society, and who had either died in fellowship or had withdrawn from it. Their contention was that the property of the Harmony Society was a trust fund created by the donors, and by the product of the labor of the members for the use and benefit of the Society, and that with
1 10th Howard, 126, Supreme Court of the U. S.
' No. 2 November term, 1852, Circuit Court of U. S., for Western Dist. of Penna. Published in Federal Cases.
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History of Beaver County
the termination of the Society a resulting trust arose in favor of the heirs at law of those who had been members of the So- ciety, and that by reason of diminished numbers and other reasons the Society had become dissolved or had departed from the original purposes, and, therefore, the resulting trust claimed, had come into existence.
The answer to this bill set up the various Articles of Agree- ment, or Compacts, between the members of the Society from its inception, alleging that as a matter of law the title of the Society was absolute and unqualified. That at the death or withdrawal of any member all rights of the member in the prop- erty of the Society ceased, and nothing passed to his heir or legal representative. That the right of enjoyment of the prop- erty of the Society was absolutely dependent on membership in the Society. That, as a matter of fact, there had been no aban- donment of the principles of the Harmony Society, and no dis- solution of the said Society; but that the Society existed in its present membership as fully as it had ever existed; and that, as a matter of law, there was no required number of persons needed to constitute said Society.
After taking of testimony for many months before a Master (W. W. Thompson, Esq.), the Master found that there had been no dissolution of the Harmony Society as alleged; no conspiracy to defraud the complainants as alleged; that the complainants were without standing to question the title of the Society.
After full and extended argument before the Circuit Judge, Acheson, the Court filed an opinion upholding the findings of the Master throughout, and the legal positions of the defendants, and dismissing the bill.
From the decision of the Circuit Court an appeal was taken to the United States Circuit Court of Appeals and the case argued before that Court at length; which Court affirmed the decision of Judge Acheson in the Circuit Court and fully upheld the position of the defendants.
An appeal was then taken to the Supreme Court of the United States and allowed, and the case argued, and that Court, by a majority of opinion, upheld the opinion of the two courts below and established, beyond doubt, the legal status of the Harmony Society and its property rights as that Society had contended for the same since its organization.
VOL. 11 .- 27.
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History of Beaver County
In this litigation, which extended over a period of almost nine years, the complainants were represented by George Shiras, 3d, and Solomon Schoyer, Jr., and the leading counsel for the defense was D. T. Watson.'
Since the foregoing account of Economy and the Harmony Society was written, vast changes have been inaugurated in the ownership and conditions of the property in the town and its immediate neighborhood.
On the first of May, 1903, the Union Company, which was a Pennsylvania Corporation, organized by the Harmony Society for the purpose of holding real estate, sold and conveyed to the Liberty Land Company, also a Pennsylvania Corporation, all but about ten acres of the Home tract of land in Harmony township, upon which the Harmony Society has resided since the year 1825. These lands, comprising about two thousand five hundred acres, constitute one of the finest tracts for the purpose of a town site between Pittsburg and Cincinnati along the Ohio River, being some three miles in length along the river. Having for many years been devoted to agriculture, they will, in all probability, be soon converted into the site of a town, with mills, factories, etc. The close proximity of the tract to Pitts- burg, and the railroad facilities afforded by the Pennsylvania lines, and the extended river frontage, have brought it into a position and to a standard of value which is inconsistent with its further use for agricultural purposes; and what was once the home of the Harmony Society, and the quaint German vil- lage of Economy with its beautiful surrounding fields, will shortly be a thing of the past.
The American Bridge Company .- Nearly midway between Economy and Fair Oaks on the Ohio River and the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad and in Harmony township, the American Bridge Company is now (1903-04) building an im- mense plant and a town named Ambridge, which name will be recognized as derived from the company style. There will be manufactured here finished iron and steel products of many sorts, and it is promised that the plant will be the largest of its kind in the world.
Work on the plant is already well under way. A site of 105 1 No. 231 October term. 1001, Sup. Court of U. S.
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History of Beaver County
acres between the railroad tracks and the Ohio River, almost a mile long, has been reserved for the works. There will be a total of fourteen principal structures. The main shop at about the center will be 270 x 800 feet. The auxiliary bridge shop, 180 x 600; the machine shop and iron foundry, each 110 X 360; the steel foundry, slightly larger, three buildings each 220 X 240 and two 80 x 512, give an idea of the extent of the plans of the company.
Twenty-five thousand tons of finished product every four weeks will be the output. Between 3500 and 4000 skilled work- men will be employed, and the pay-roll will average $250,000 a month. One of the principal new products is to be steel barges and transfer boats, strong enough to withstand the storms of the Gulf Stream, and of light enough draught to invade the Missis- sippi and the inland rivers for coal, oil, or any other heavy freight. Already one of these immense barges is completed at the forge shop and ready for launching.
The work of grading and sewering the streets of the new town is actively begun, and a model industrial town bids fair to be soon created.
PULASKI TOWNSHIP
This township was formed out of part of New Sewickley, September 14, 1854. Its dimensions were very much reduced by the erection of Daugherty township, January 27, 1894. It lies a little northeast of the center of the county, and is enclosed by Daugherty township on the north and east, with New Brighton borough on the west and Rochester township on the south. Blockhouse Run, which rises in Daugherty township, flows through it, and empties into the Beaver at the lower end of New Brighton.
The report of the Secretary of Internal Affairs for 1900 shows the township of Pulaski as having 163 taxables, 274 acres of cleared land, and real estate amounting in value to $195,498. The latter was divided into real estate exempt from taxation, $16,200; and real estate taxable, $179,298. Its population, as shown by the United States Census for 1900, was 728.
The surface of the township is very irregular, and is occu- pied by the Lower Coal Series. The abundance of good coal and of clay specially adapted to the manufacture of various pro- ducts, such as terra-cotta ware, sewer-pipe, fire-bricks, grate-
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History of Beaver County
backs, etc., has made this district a busy hive of industry, many mportant plants elsewhere described being located here.
DAUGHERTY TOWNSHIP
Daugherty was formed from Pulaski township, January 27, 1894. It is the most recent of the township divisions of the county. It is surrounded by the following townships starting with the north side, North Sewickley, New Sewickley, Rochester, and Pulaski; with the Beaver River on its northwestern corner. Blockhouse Run is the only stream of any consequence which rises within its limits. This rises in its eastern and northern parts, and flows out on its western side into Pulaski township. The surface is quite irregular and the soil fairly good. Sand- stone and limestone are found in most parts of the township, and excellent coal is mined in many places. By the United States Census of 1900 its population was 533. The report of the Secretary of Internal Affairs of the State for the same year gives the following showing for Daugherty: Taxables, 229; acres of cleared land, 4802; of timber land, 1127; value of all real estate, $338,527; real estate exempt from taxation, $13,600; real estate taxable, $324,927.
There are several good common schools in the township, and near its southeastern corner is the small Presbyterian Church whose history follows:
Oak Grove Presbyterian Church .- At an adjourned meeting of the Presbytery of Allegheny held at Emsworth, Pa., October 6, 1890, a petition, signed by seventy-one residents of New Sewickley and Pulaski townships, Beaver County, Pa., was pre- sented asking for the organization of a Presbyterian church at a place called Oak Grove in New Sewickley township, on the Darlington Road, about four miles from New Brighton and the same distance from Rochester. Commissioners from the peti- tioners, namely, Messrs. Charles J. Bonzo and Leander McCauley, having been heard and the pastors of the neighboring churches having expressed their approval, the petition was granted.
Rev. J. H. Bausman, Rev. W. J. McCrory, Rev. J. K. Mc- Kallip, Rev. R. L. Smith, and elders D. Singleton, J. R. Bruce, James Manor, and Andrew Mccullough were appointed a com- mittee to organize a church, if the way should be clear at their earliest convenience.
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The committee organized the church, October 18, 1890. The sermon was preached by Rev. R. L. Smith. Nine members were received by letter from the Rochester Presbyterian Church, and eleven on profession of their faith, one of whom was baptized.
It was ordered that the name of the church should be the "Oak Grove Presbyterian Church."
Leander McCauley and Fred W. Rader were elected ruling elders. Mr. Rader was ordained and then both were installed, Mr. McCauley having been an elder in another church. Rev. W. J. McCrory delivered the charge to the elders, and Rev. J. H. Bausman charged the people.
A house of worship, which had been erected at a cost of $1270.73 by the aforesaid petitioners just prior to the organiza- tion of the church, was dedicated to the worship of God, Octo- ber 19, 1890. The church was incorporated and a charter se- cured. The first board of trustees were Charles J. Bonzo, Peter Rader, Richard Cable, McPherson Brewer, and Joseph Wallace. The congregation was statedly supplied by Rev. W. J. Mccrory, pastor of Bridgewater Presbyterian Church, who preached in the afternoon every alternate Sunday.
In 1890 dissension arose in the church over some doctrinal matters. Rev. W. J. McCrory withdrew from the Presbyterian body, taking with him about half of the membership of Oak Grove Church, who started an independent organization. At a meeting of the Presbytery of Allegheny, held in Westminster Church, Allegheny, Pa., January 9, 1893, Mr. McCrory publicly renounced the authority of the Presbyterian Church, and a com- mittee which had been in charge of the congregation from the beginning of the trouble, called a meeting of the people for January 24, 1893, with a view of reorganizing the church. At this and subsequent meetings the reorganization was effected, the final meeting being held April 14, 1894, when John A. Mellon and Elias Goehring were chosen elders; and a board of trustees was elected consisting of McPherson Brewer, Charles J. Bonzo, Richard Cable, John A. Mellon, and William Durr.
Following the reorganization, Rev. M. A. Parkinson of Beaver Falls preached one sermon on alternate Sundays during April, May, June, and July of 1893, and Rev. C. W. Cable of Rochester conducted one service on alternate Sundays for the remainder of the year of 1893. The Rev. T. B. Anderson, D.D.,
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of Rochester rendered a similar service during the first quarter of 1894, and by Presbyterial and congregational action has since for the greater part of the time, been in charge of the church in connection with his church at Rochester.'
The Roman Catholic Cemetery, popularly known as Daugh- erty's, is in this township. It is located at the junction of the Harmony and Three Degree roads, equidistant about two miles from Rochester and New Brighton. This was the first Roman Catholic cemetery within the limits of Beaver County. For sixty years it was the only place of burial for Catholics in the county, except a small graveyard at the old church in Beaver, which since 1898 has been disused and the bodies that were buried there removed. As stated in the chapter on the religious history of the county, this cemetery was started about 1801 by Edward Daugherty, who donated about half an acre of ground on his farm to the Catholics to be a burial-place forever. Manas- seh Daugherty, a brother of Edward, had been killed in the raising of a barn, and buried on Edward's farm. This prompted the gift of the spot for the purpose named.
In 1844 a deed for this half acre of ground was made by the heirs of Edward Daugherty to Michael O'Connor, Bishop of Pittsburg, there having been previously no formal conveyance of the property made.
In 1884 an effort was made by some of the members of the congregations of SS. Peter and Paul of Beaver and St. Cecilia of Rochester to abandon this cemetery and locate one nearer Rochester. This was felt to be necessary on account of the fact that the old burial-ground was so nearly filled up. Thereupon Edward Black Daugherty, Esq., of Beaver, a grandson of the original donator, gave a large piece of land adjoining for an annex to the cemetery, deeding the same to the two congrega- tions. In 1885 the whole was enclosed by a substantial fence and the property is now much improved, but only the old por- tion has been dedicated and made consecrated ground. The cemetery is now under the control of St. Cecilia parish. Two priests are buried here; one, Father James Reid, who died July 14, 1868. After the burning of the Beaver church in April, 1898, his body was removed from the churchyard there and interred at
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