USA > Pennsylvania > Beaver County > History of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, and Its Centennial Celebration, Volume II > Part 40
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1 The data for the above sketch were furnished by Rev. T. B. Anderson, D.D.
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History of Beaver County
Daugherty's. The other is Father F. A. Steffen, a young priest who died of the smallpox at Rochester, while pastor of St. Cecilia, which was his first charge. There are now other Catholic burial-grounds in the county, but many of the older Catholic families still continue to bury their dead at Daugherty's cemetery.
Being of such recent birth Daugherty township has not much history other than that which it has had as a part of the town- ships to which its territory formerly belonged.
The Beaver County Centennial
Tuesday, June 19, 1900
Opening Day.
Wednesday, " 20, " . Military Day.
Thursday, 21, "
.
Old Settlers' Day.
Friday, " 22, "
Industrial Day.
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TO THE CITIZENS OF BEAVER COUNTY
THE Centennial Celebration of Beaver County will be held June 19, 20, 21, and 22, 1900. Beaver County will mark the completion of its first century by a twofold effort, under the general direction of an Executive Committee selected by Hon. Daniel Agnew, LL.D., Chairman of a County Citizens' Meeting, called for the purpose of arranging for the appropriate celebra- tion of the centennial of the county.
This twofold effort includes:
FIRST. A reunion of all civic and military organizations of the county, past and present, a presentation of the industrial, educational, scientific, and social advancement of the county during the century past, by an exhibition of all such matters and things as will evidence the progress made, addresses, parades, and a general reunion of all persons interested in Beaver County.
SECOND. The publication of a book containing an account of the celebration, and of the proceedings of the committees in charge, and a series of historical and biographical sketches, specially prepared, and carefully edited, giving a complete and authentic history of the county, and its people, municipal divi- sions, industries, civic, religious, and military organizations, its schools and educational institutions, etc.
Not only the presence of all persons interested in the county is requested, but also their hearty co-operation in the efforts to be made.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.
THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION
THE celebration of the Beaver County Centennial held in Beaver, the county-seat, June 19, 20, 21, and 22, 1900, was carried out with a brilliancy and dignity worthy of the event
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2.22
Centennial Arch.
Procession of School Children in Industrial Parade.
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History of Beaver County
the approaching Centennial Anniversary of the erection in 1800 of Beaver County.
Ex-Chief Justice Daniel Agnew was then unanimously elected to the position of President, and Ellis N. Bigger, Esq., was elected Secretary. The Vice-Presidents were chosen as follows: Hon. Henry Hice, Hon. M. F. Mecklem, Rev. W. G. Taylor, D.D., and Arthur Shields.
At a meeting held on May 6, 1898, President Agnew ap- pointed the following Executive Committee:
JOHN M. BUCHANAN, EsQ., Chairman.
A. P. MARSHALL, Eso.
AGNEW HICE, Eso.
ELLIS N. BIGGER, Eso.
HON. W. B. DUNLAP
HON. M. F. MECKLEM
HON. T. L. KENNEDY
CHARLES A. BARKER
FRANK E. READER, Eso.
THOMAS HENRY, Eso.
J. M. MAY
J. RANKIN MARTIN, EsQ.
JOHN T. TAYLOR
JOHN S. DUss
T. A. CLIFTON
R. M. BRYAN.
Thereafter the Centennial arrangements were in charge of this committee, and the able sub-committees and assistants appointed by them.
On May 14, 1898, the Executive Committee met in the Law Library of the court-house, and Ellis N. Bigger, Esq., was elected Secretary. F. E. Reader and Hon. T. L. Kennedy were ap- pointed a committee to report an outline of a program to be observed, which they did at a meeting held on August 27th of the same year when their report was accepted and the program adopted.
At a meeting held May 28, 1898, the time of holding the Centennial Celebration was, on motion of A. P. Marshall, Esq., fixed for the four days beginning Tuesday, June 19, 1900.
-1L
UOFM John f Juchaman
MNOU
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History of Beaver County
to preside at the exercises on Military Day and to speak at the unveiling of the monument. Other invited speakers and readers were Rev. J. M. Wallace, D.D., of Pittsburg; Rev. J. O. Camp- bell, D.D., of Wooster, Ohio; Rev. D. S. Littell, D.D., of Pitts- burg; Rev. Albert Dilworth, of East Palestine, Ohio; Rev. Harry C. Swearingen, of Allegheny, Pa .; Rev. William M. Tay- lor, D.D., of Mt. Jackson, Pa .; Rev. N. P. Kerr, of Pittsburg; Colonel James M. Swank, of Philadelphia; Major Thomas Henry, Hon. G. L. Eberhart, of New Brighton, Pa .; F. H. Laird, Esq., of Beaver; Agnew Hice, Esq., of Beaver; Jere C. Martin, of Beaver; Hon. W. S. Shallenberger, Second Assistant Postmaster- General, of Washington, D. C .; and Evan J. Henry, of Princeton, N. J.
The Bureau of Publicity was composed of three: T. L. Ken- nedy, Agnew Hice, and I. F. Mansfield; and a Transportation Committee of three: Colonel Samuel Moody, Agnew Hice, and Scott Mason.
The Military Committee, consisting of Hon. I. F. Mansfield, Thomas A. Clifton, Samuel Henry, and H. J. Boyde, was ap- pointed to make arrangement for the quartering and entertain- ment of the soldiers. To this committee is due the credit of securing the presence of Lieutenant-General Nelson A. Miles, who reviewed the regiments on Military Day.
John T. Taylor of Monaca was made Chief Marshal of the Industrial Parade.
For several days preceding the opening of the Centennial there was a growing feeling of anticipation of the great event, and by Monday night, the 18th, the busy towns of the valley were bright with many-colored decorations, especially the county-seat, where citizens and officials seemed to vie with each other in their efforts to give to their beautiful homes and public buildings the most brilliant and appropriate embellishment. The court-house, the college, the public-school buildings, the Buchanan block, and many stores and dwellings were decked from story to story with hundreds of yards of bunting, with mottoes and legends, and, above all, with the flag of all flags- "Old Glory." A magnificent triumphal arch, thirty feet in height and twenty-four feet wide, was erected at the corner of Third and Market streets, to be illuminated at night with 250 electric lights.
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History of Beaver County
The following notice and request had been published in the daily papers on Saturday, the 16th. by the aged and honored President of the Centennial Association. Judge Daniel Agnew:
The citizens of the county of Beaver propose to celebrate the one- hundredth anniversary of the formation of the county with exercises be- ginning at 1.30 P.M .. Tuesday, June 19. 1900. in the court-house.
Exercises will also be held on Wednesday and Thursday, and an Industrial Display and Procession on Friday, June 22, 1900.
I respectfully ask that every manufacturer in the county have his factory whistle blown at 6 A.M., city time, sharp, Tuesday, June 19th, for ten minutes. and that every church and school bell in the county be rung at the same time. Simultaneously roo guns will be fired by Battery B, from the heights near Beaver. In this way the people will attest their joy at the completionfof our one hundred years of history.
This request met with a hearty response throughout the county, and on the morning of
TUESDAY, THE 19TH,
the shrieks of steam-whistles, the merry clanging of the bells, and the booming of cannon made a volume of sound that echoed and re-echoed over the hills and valleys loud enough to awaken all late sleepers and announced the beginning of the great jubi- lee. A morning salute was fired by Hampton Battery B, of Pittsburg, which was stationed in the old Fair-grounds, Beaver. Sixty-five men took part in the salute. They were in charge of First Sergeant. (. H. Powell, with Sergeants Ollinger, McDade, Gormley, and Stewart present. One shot for each milestone passed during the county's existence, fired at intervals of a half- minute, made one hundred rounds, and they were fired with a will. The Captain of this Battery was W. C. Wallace; the other commissioned officers were: First Lieutenants Ichenlaub and Marks; Quartermaster Heber McDowell, and Assistant- Surgeon A G Russell.
As the day advanced hundreds of the citizens of Beaver appeared upon the streets in gala-day attire, and the crowd stead- ily increased until, with the addition of visitors from the neigh- boring towns and the country districts, it numbered thousands. The attendance throughout the four days of the celebration, we may say here, was remarkable. It was natural, indeed, to count upon this from a people possessing so large a degree of civic
--
Agnew Hice,
T. L. Kennedy,
W. B. Dunlap.
Ellis N. Bigger,
John T. Taylor.
Members of the Centennial Executive Committee.
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History of Beaver County
patriotism as that which Beaver County's citizens have always manifested, but the most sanguine expectations as to the prob- able interest in the occasion fell short of the actual showing made in the size and character and fervid enthusiasm of the vast throngs that gathered day after day to the close of the event.
The glorious weather that continued throughout the Cen- tennial week added much to the comfort and pleasure of the people participating in its attractions, many of which were, of necessity, carried out in the open air on the streets and beneath the grand old trees of the public parks. It realized Lowell's familiar tribute to the month of roses:
What is so rare as a day in June? Then, if ever, come perfect days,
for these four festival days were rare indeed, each dawn seeming to increase in purity and sweetness, each sunset to glow more brilliantly than the last. The heat was temperate, the air clear and tonic, and the gaiety and good humor of the shifting crowds testified that they felt the mental and physical exhilaration that comes from the blue skies and sunshine and an atmosphere free from humidity.
The Opening Day exercises were held at one o'clock, Tues- day afternoon, in the court-house, which was elaborately dec- orated inside and out in honor of the occasion. Over the main entrance, surrounded by flags, was the portrait of General Nel- son A. Miles, who took part in the ceremonies on the following day. The court-room itself was draped tastefully with stream- ers and tricolored bunting, and ornamented with shields and masses of flags arranged in butterfly effects, and over its plat- form was conspicuously placed a fine portrait of the Father of his Country. The audience that had gathered in this large room was one that taxed its seating capacity, and afforded in itself an inspiration. On the platform were seated the officers of the Centennial Association, guests of honor, and the orators of the day; and behind these were the members of the great chorus of eighty carefully selected singers under the direction of Prof. W. R. Gardner. Below the rostrum, inside the bar, was the celebrated Duss's Great Western Band of forty pieces, Mr. John S. Duss, conductor.
We may say at this point in our sketch of the Centennial VOL. 11 .- 28.
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History of Beaver County
processings. that is, mach praise cannot be given to the men- bers of these two great musical organizations. and especialy to their leaders. for their contributions to the enjoyment of the pespie. Not only were the daily proceedings enlivened and relieved by the numerous interludes of song and music which they furnished. but in the special concerts given in the evenings in the court-house and the college auditorium. when the Chorus Club rendered Haydn's magnificent oratorio of The Creation, and Duss's Band discoursed sweet music to the crowds of delighted listeners, they won the admiration and the gratitude of thousands.
The program of the first day's exercises was opened with a grand march by Duss's Band.
Then John M. Buchanan. Esq .. the Chairman of the Centen- nial Executive Committee, advanced to the front of the ros- trum and delivered the following opening address.
Ladies and Gentlemen:
The venerable and beloved President of the Centennial Association of the county of Beaver, by reason of the infirmities of a great age. is not able to be with us to-day, and as Chairman of the Executive Committee. it is my duty to call together this opening meeting of our centennial week.
Let us congratulate ourselves that we are assembled in such goodly numbers, on this day of brightness and beauty, to celebrate the centen- nial birthday of the county of Beaver.
It is my pleasant duty and privilege to welcome in your name the invited guests of to-day, the sons and daughters of old Beaver County, who come back to the old home as on some glad thanksgiving festival. and the other respected guests whom we have invited to share with us in the congratulations and the hopes of the hour.
On the 12th day of March, 1800, the Legislature of Pennsylvania. in its wisdom, set apart the counties of Beaver, Butler, Mercer, Crawford, Erie, Warren, Venango, and Armstrong-an empire in itself. So much of the county of Beaver as was formed by a line beginning at the State line at or near Georgetown, and running from thence taking in the town- ship of Hanover and a portion of what is now the township of Greene, was taken from Washington County, and all the rest lying south of the Ohio, and north of the Ohio, now embraced within the county of Beaver, was taken from the county of Allegheny.
Immediately after its formation, Beaver County had upon the south side of the Ohio River the township of Hanover and First and Second Moon townships. Nearly all lying east of the Beaver River was called Sewickley township, and west of the Beaver River was divided into two townships called North Beaver and South Beaver. All of these divisions came from Allegheny County, except Hanover township.
Charles A. Barker,
J. M. May,
John S. Duss,
Thomas Henry, T. A. Clifton.
Members of the Centennial Executive Committee.
=
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History of Beaver County
Until about :; 95. Indians frequented the north side of the Oids River and made frequent incursions among the whalements upon the south side. killing Mary Colvic. the daughter of Sammel Swearingen. one of the early settlers of Hanover township. on the roth of May. 1991.' This was perhaps the ast murder committed in Beaver County by the Indians.
The earliest settlements were in Hanover Township and that part of Second Mooc which is now called Greene township as early as 1 ;; 1: and in Its so many persons kad removed from Northampton and Northum- berland counties that they formed a fal grown church. then and yes. known as the Han Creek Presbyterian Church And I have heard from. the lips of those who beard is from their father that they frequently cartier! bbeir rides on the church for the purpose of protection on the way and while there Sabbath after Sabbath
These early serien were a study mean3. Scotch-Krish people. They were competed on soler many bandabica and privations. of which now we bare bus Ettle conception. The forests were to be clearel. the ground to be broken up. and chat by tusneces: implements. There was In food at it was grown: frequently families were depadre: box their Food want what could be obtained from the forestaby chet sites = core covid be grown. It was impossible to get food from the Earth: the Stance was ton great and the means of anesportatice con post. They west depender: you the East for the absolute necessities of He, such as sait and the Hot In case of sickness there were an physicians medicines
bers of ise perche bed for want of ice siecles bestimmen
Consider what a Zde was their. Sweet face this wide expense ba seeds and iexigen reclame to come and haga ta uning tel's and
down in fancy in on datien tid in fact of the wow siege of stations came Cicatrice ise your wife and chaten a miserable their Com the snow and mary beard prionly for weeks perhaps for menche you
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History of Beaver County
New York City contained then but 60,000 people; Philadelphia some- thing less; and Pittsburg about 1500 people, about what Bridgewater, perhaps, contains to-day. The original thirteen States had then been increased by but two-Kentucky and Tennessee. There was no Cincin- nati, no Chicago, no St. Louis, Omaha, Denver, nor San Francisco. Beaver County then, with its neighbors, constituted the Great West; and all beyond us was the Northwestern Territory. Pennsylvania was nearer to England than to Iowa. The center of population in the United States in 1800 was Baltimore, Md., in 1900 it is Columbus, Ohio, six hundred miles distant. Napoleon Bonaparte had just fought Marengo, and Austerlitz followed some weeks later, and Waterloo was fifteen years distant.
It has been remarked by an eminent American statesman that our great mountains and rivers have been the cause of so many of the great facts in the history of our country. They are so closely identified with its social and political affairs that they seem to become sentient actors in its events. We are compelled to speak of their bearings upon the causes of war, commerce, and civilization.
This is especially true of the county of Beaver. The Beaver River, a narrow gateway to the West, but a short distance from the historic Fort DuQuesne, afterwards Fort Pitt, our county became the tramping ground of armies. Naturally this brought the county into notice, and settlers followed close upon the heels of the retreating savages. George Croghan visited our county in 1746; Conrad Weiser visited it in 1748; Christian Frederick Post visited it in 1758; Colonel Bouquet's expedi- tion against the Indians was in 1764; Moravians passed up our valley in 1770; in October of the same year Washington passed down the Ohio, stopping at Logstown, near where Economy now is, and on the same side of the river.
Fort McIntosh was built upon the site of Beaver in 1778; and soon after General McIntosh, for whom the fort was named, conducted a small army against the Sandusky Indians, doubtless passing up what is now Tuscarawas Road. Anthony Wayne spent the winter of 1792-3 at Legionville, and passed down the Ohio in the spring of 1793, and in his great victory at Maumee, in what is now Ohio, ended the Indian occupa- tion in this county. Celeron visited the mouth of the Beaver on the 8th of August, 1749, and claimed all of this country in behalf of the French king. His claim was founded upon the well-known principle that who- ever has discovered the mouth of a stream is entitled to all the land that it drains.
The Spaniards discovered the Mississippi and, having sold their rights to the King of France, therefore the French claimed all the land in this part of Pennsylvania, because the Mississippi drained this valley.
What a change from that day to this in the two nations that then we'd contesting for supremacy upon the banks of the Ohio and the Beaver. Then twenty-one millions of human beings spoke the English tongue, and thirty-one millions spoke the French tongue. To-day one hundred and sixteen millions of people speak the English tongue, and but fifty-two mil-
SAUGOONLY
A. P. Marshall,
Frank E. Reader,
J. Rankin Martin,
M. F. Mecklem,
R. M. Bryan. Members of the Centennial Executive Committee.
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History of Beaver County
lions speak the French tongue. One hundred years ago the French lan- guage was the language of society, of diplomacy, of courts and com- merce, and with this language at your command you could have traveled throughout the civilized world; to-day the English has become the domi- nant tongue, of a far larger area, and the man who expects to stand before kings and courts throughout the world must be able at least to speak the English language. To-day the French armies are discussing the French scandals and intrigues, and protecting the French capital from itself; the English armies are in control of Europe, Asia, and Africa. And the only passport needed to obtain the protection of the British flag is the one fact that you speak the English language.
The settlement of the region of country lying close to Pittsburg was an entering wedge to the various other forward movements of civilization, which more or less closely followed. Among these more immediate results were the rapid increase of immigration into the Kentucky wilder- ness, the settlement at Marietta by the Massachusetts Colony under Manasseh Cutler, the ill-starred settlement of the French colonists at Gallipolis, the occupation of the Virginia Reserve on the Scioto by Gen- eral Massey, the settlement west of the Muskingum on the grant made to Ebenezer Zane, and the several settlements of New England on Connecti- cut Reserve. These all were events which had their historic importance; but it is quite plain that not one of them would have been practicable had not prior occupation been made of the region situate on the head- waters of the Ohio.
In 1800 this county had less than 6000 people; in 1900, 60,000. We have property assessed to the amount of $30,000,000, worth, perhaps, $40,000,000. We have in addition $6,500,000 invested in manufactures of nearly every article known to trade, with a pay-roll of $30,000 per week. This, with the investments in railroads and other public improve- ments not taxable, and we have within the county of Beaver gathered together in a century $50,000,000 of property. But still better than this, we have in the century past done our duty to the State and Nation. The townships of Hanover, Greene, and Raccoon have placed in the Christian ministry more than one hundred and thirty of their sons,-educated men, -more than one hundred physicians and many lawyers and teachers. In our sacred soil we carry the dust of the soldiers of the Revolution, of the War of 1812, of the Mexican War, of the War of 1861, and the Span- ish War. In every conflict for the right, Beaver County has borne a noble part. No braver officer ever led a braver regiment into bloody action than the brave Colonel Roberts, who graced our bar when at home, and died at the head of his regiment-the 140th-in defense of his native State at Gettysburg. Colonel Joseph H. Wilson left a sick bed to go into the battle of Williamsburg, causing his death. Dr. Minis, from his great desire to alleviate suffering, died from sheer overwork; but time would fail me to recount to you hosts of others equally deserving of notice. The sons of this old county have distinguished themselves in the ministry, in law, teaching, and the various fields of activity. I may be pardoned in referring to one particular example, the godly and
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History of Bearer County
eminently spiritmi D. W. S. Planer, back in Dadingen, the der of more than twenty five volumes moderator of the General Sembly, the higher place in which a Presbyterian may aspire Who can show a nobler record than this? His grandeos hes honored us with b's perence today. Bearer Comasy has given to the century two Crined States Senators, and their influence is attested by the fact that to-day our county is spoken of familiariy as "the State of Beaver." and one of theme, the Hon. M. S. Quay, is a dominant factor in the National Republiem Con- pension now in session. The county has given to the Commonwealth Daniel Agnew, fifteen years a Justice of the Supreme Bench, still in cox midst, president of this Association, in the sinety-second year of his ggz. To judge ever wrote opinions more inclusive learned, and thoroughly homens than he; so lawyer after reading his opinion had my dificilty in learning what the court had decided, and this is often a comfort, even though the opinion is against you. He is ranked with Sharywood, Black, and Gibson. Wonderfid century! It has been the period of the cvota- tion of the public schools, the greatest achievements in education, in science, in the arts, and the civilization of the world. It has seen the enfranchisement of man, the revolution of the condition of woman, of convicts, and the insane. Philanthropy hes thrown wide her gates, nat- ural and applied science has altered the world's whole conception of the earth and its products, of life and its possibilities.
But we are a practical people. The dollar mark is dominant in Amer- ica, and the question naturally may arise in the minds of some, What good is this Centennial week? To the same question, in reference to the custom of the people of Derry observing appropriately the anniversary of the famous siege of 1689, Lord Macaulay said: "A people which takes no pridie in the achievements of remote ancestors will never achieve any- thing worthy t, be remembered with pride by remote descendants." The Latin historian Sallust, in his account of the Jugurthian wars, tells us that the Romans trained their children in the presence of the busts of their ancestors, and constantly inculcated this one idea never to rest satisfied whilst the efforts and victories of the past were more numerous of more glorious than those of the present. Webster once said upon a similar occasion, "We live in the past by a knowledge of its history, and in the future by hope and anticipation. By ascending to an association with our ancestors, by contemplating their example, and studying their character, by partaking their sentiments and imbibing their spirit, by accompanying them in their toils, by sympathizing in their sufferings, and rejoicing in their successes and their triumphs, we seem to belong to their age and to mingle our own existence with theirs. We become their con- temporaries, live the lives which they lived, endure what they endured, and partake of the rewards which they enjoyed. And, in like manner by running along the line of future time, by contemplating the probable fortunes of those who are coming after us, by attempting something which may promote their happiness, and leaving some honorable memorial of ourselves for their regard, when we shall sleep with the fathers, we pro- tract our own earthly being and seem to crowd whatever is future, as
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