USA > Pennsylvania > Beaver County > History of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, and Its Centennial Celebration, Volume II > Part 51
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70
1140
History of Beaver County
problem to the pioneers, was the wherewith to obtain money for the pay- ment of taxes; for then as now taxes were required to be paid in money. and then as now, who ever might fail to put in an appearance, the tax gatherer never did. .
Twenty-five years ago, the writer had occasion to call on a gentleman living in Wayne County, Ohio, then over ninety years of age, who had removed there from Beaver County, Pennsylvania. In the course of some remarks about the experience of the early settlers, he said that when he was a boy there was of all possible products of the soil but one for which money could be obtained, and that the pioneers were shut up to that one product for the means wherewith to pay their taxes; that product was the skins of swine.
The most formidable part of the task that confronted the settlers was that of the removal of the heavy growth of forest with which the county was originally covered. It is questionable if anywhere upon the earth could be found a more magnificent white oak forest than that which one hundred years ago covered the western part of Beaver County (Beaver County at that time including a part of what is now Lawrence County).
A good many years ago, a gentleman, who was the son of one of the very first settlers in that part of the county, referring to his experience in early life, said that soon after he attained his majority he had the misfortune, or perhaps, we ought to say the good fortune, to fall in love with a young lady of the same neighborhood, and that when they were married his father gave him one hundred and forty acres of land all covered with a splendid white-oak forest, telling him to do as he himself had done; viz: build a cabin and then proceed to clear the land for cultivation. He said that he was appalled by the prospect. That timber to-day would bring the owner quite a little fortune, but at that time the whole of it was not worth one dollar, was indeed an incubus on the land, the land could have been sold for twice as much without it as with it.
As we to-day look back over the century that has gone, toits beginning, it is a rather melancholy reflection that to make way for the plough it was necessary with almost infinite toil to convert into ashes those fine forests that nature had bestowed so lavishly upon the land; and it would seem that the time had come to put in a plea for the saving of a remnant of those magnificent groves; to make practical application of the senti- ment embodied in the words, "Woodman spare that tree"; for if the present rate of destruction is to continue, by the time the next Cen- tennial of Beaver County is observed, there will probably be found in the antiquarian collection a section of a white-oak tree, as a relic of a past age, which men will contemplate somewhat as they do the petrified forests of Arizona to-day. A few fine groves yet remain in the county, but their name is not by any means legion, and the number is fast diminishing.
This occasion if we would but allow it would be eloquent in its power to conjure up in our minds a train of thought that is befitting. Far back, almost at the beginning of human existence, a fiat went forth in these words, "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread," and while that law still stands fast, and forever will stand fast, as a condition of human life
1141
History of Beaver County
on this earth, yet in the amelioration of the stern features of life, how much we owe to-day to those who constituted the vanguard of civiliza- tion in this part of our beloved land. Considering the manifold advan- tages and comforts that belong to ordinary human life in our day and land, we cannot but adopt the language of Holy Writ, "The lines have fallen unto us in pleasant places, we have a goodly heritage"; but let us not forget how largely it is matter of heritage, and what it all cost, and what is the obligation implied.
Duss's Band played a medley of Scotch airs, and then Rev. J. O. Campbell, D.D., of Wooster, Ohio, born and reared in Raccoon township, Beaver County, gave an interesting extem- pore address on "The Pioneers as Home-Makers."
Rev. Paul Weyand of Pittsburg, one of Beaver County's sons, then gave the following address on "The Anti-Slavery Move- ment in Beaver County."
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen:
There are four things that make the history of Beaver County an interesting field for the student of the Anti-Slavery movement:
First-The geographical position of the county along a Natural Underground Railroad, the Ohio River.
Second-The activities of the Quakers of New Brighton. Third-The origin of the Free Presbyterian Church movement.
Fourth-The work of Arthur B. Bradford.
There were three well-defined routes of escape through Beaver County Fugitives from the vicinity of Morgantown, Virginia (West), and Cumber- land, Maryland, stopped at Uniontown; thence they came to Pittsburg. From there they seem to have been sent by rail to Cleveland, Ohio, or to have been directed to follow the Allegheny or the Ohio River and their tributaries northward. Many would follow the west side of the Ohio to the mouth of the Beaver, thence northward to the shores of Lake Erie and thence by steamer directly across the lake or northeasterly along its shores till Niagara Falls was reached and across into the Promised Land. More frequently, however, their trend was a little westward to the better worn tracks and the more numerous and more experienced master mechanics of the road in the Western Reserve. Some of these fugitives crossed directly from Washington County into Beaver County, following the course of Raccoon Creek to the Ohio, which they crossed, proceed- ing through Black Hawk out to Achor, Columbiana County, Ohio, where meetings were often quickly improvised in the schoolhouse and a greeting given to the escaping slaves.
But the greatest number were from Kentucky and Virginia. The Ohio River as a part of the Mississippi was the great natural route be- tween slavery and freedom. Slaves would smuggle on board steam- boats at Louisville among the freight and when the hospitable shores of VOL. 11 .- 34.
.
1142
History of Beaver County
Pennsylvania were reached they would leave the boat and guided by the North Star would strike for freedom.
Many came on foot up the Ohio, and crossing at Wellsville, Ohio, and Wellsburg, Virginia, found their way to the Quakers of New Brighton, who fed them and took them by night in wagons-sometimes nine or ten in a group-on to the next station the home of the Rev. Arthur B. Brad- ford of Enon. Thence they were conveyed usually by night by O. B. Bradford, a son, and a hired man, on to Salem, Ohio, to the home of Jacob Heaton and others, whence they went on by similar stages to Canada. It is estimated that fifty or sixty were sheltered in this way at Enon alone.
Many amusing and pathetic incidents are related of the fugitives. One fellow reached Enon with only a blanket on and a hole in it through which his woolly head protruded. He did not know his name but thought it was "Cuffy" or "boy." He had left a boat at Rochester. A Mercer County farmer kept him and gave him the alliterative name of "Daniel Dossle." On the other hand several slaves while escaping were pursued, and, about to be overtaken, risked a passage on the ice in the Ohio River and one of their number was drowned within the limits of Beaver County.
Would that a fitting tribute could be paid to those magnificent people the Quakers of New Brighton! They had come to the county in 1800, the year of its organization, and have indelibly stamped their honesty, sobriety, and God-fearing characteristics upon the century just closed and have left an impress upon the business, social, and moral life of New Brighton that will last for centuries. A Friend was always and every- where a friend of the unfortunate fugitive from slavery. None could surpass him in his allegiance to law and authority, but the Fugitive Slave Law he considered a monstrosity and not worthy the sacred name of Law. His was the only denomination throughout the long struggle that was a unit against slavery. It gave to the cause such men as Levi Coffin, of Cincinnati-familiarly called the President of the Underground Rail- road; Thomas Garrett, the great Abolitionist of Delaware, and John G. Whittier, the poet of Freedom.
By some mysterious method of communication, slaves from Kentucky, Maryland, Virginia, and even Huntsville, Alabama, knew that if they could but reach the Quakers of New Brighton, they would be helped on to freedom. There Evan Townsend with his ingenious trap-door to his cellar; Benjamin Townsend with his famous cave at Penn Avenue and Allegheny Road; David Townsend with his friendly island in the Beaver: Milo, Talbot, and Lewis Townsend, James Erwin, Timothy B. White, E. Elwood Thomas and wife, and many others, were untiring in their assistance to the poor fugitives. Among them Abby Kelly and Stephen Foster found a friendly home when they spoke at "Shuster's" or "Abo- lition Hall" and Frederick Douglas also when he lectured at the Presby- terian Church. In 1848 with other prominent New Brighton men they addressed a magnificent letter to Joshua Giddings, John P. Hale, and John Dickey, the latter their Representative in Congress, congratulating them on their splendid stand against slavery and assuring them of their
1143
History of Beaver County
support. Jonathan Morris, a great friend of Isaac T. Hopper, of Phila- delphia, and a Quaker, made his home on Little Beaver Creek a station for the mysterious railway, on the way to the larger colony of his people- the "Carmel Settlement" between Darlington and Salem, near Achor, Ohio.
As early as 1828, a paper was numerously signed in the neighborhood of Darlington, favoring Abolition. William Scott was its author and Dr. George Scott was active in securing subscribers. It was understood by the signers that the paper had no political significance and that the result aimed at was to be secured by other than political means, but when it was supposed to have a political trend, at a public meeting many of the signers erased their names.
On January 28, 1836, according to an announcement made previously in the county papers, an Anti-Slavery Society was organized at the Academy, in Darlington. Strong Anti-Slavery resolutions were adopted. Col. James Sprott acted as Chairman and Dr. Joseph Frazier, as Secretary. The following officers were elected for the ensuing year: President, The Rev. David Imbrie; Vice-Presidents, Dr. Joseph Frazier and Dr. James Cochran; Secretary, the Rev. George Scott; Treasurer, Col. James Sprott; Board of Managers, Wm. Adair, Jos. Taylor, James Cook, Robert Russell, Wm. Scott, Thomas Silliman, and John Still.
November 30, 1837, a Citizens' Meeting was held at the Methodist Episcopal Church in Beaver, and the Beaver County Colonization Society was organized. The temporary officers were Enoch Marvin, President, and L. B. Williams, Secretary. James Allison was elected President for the year. The Rev. A. B. Quay, pastor of the Beaver Presbyterian Church, was for several years agent of the National Colonization Society.
Between 1842 and 1845, the first Abolition Society in Chippewa township was organized. Wm. Scott known all over the country as a man of the cleanest conscience and a prominent Anti-Slavery agitator was the acknowledged leader. The four other original members were Thomas Grant, Ethan Thomas, James Rannel, and Ezriah Inman. Joseph Brittain, and Ethan Thomas's sons joined the club later. They met once a month at the Brick School House in Chippewa township, where they discussed ways and means to further the cause that had become the ruling passion of their lives. These sessions were sometimes en- livened by the presence of opponents who came to argue with them. "Billy" Braden was a prominent man of the opposition. One night he was asked if he could not read the signs of the times in the magazines and journals of the day. He answered "I read the Star and the Bible and that 's enough for any man."
December 5, 1850, the Anti-Slavery people of New Brighton, met and adopted drastic resolutions against the Fugitive Slave Law just passed. Joseph M. Alexander, was Chairman; Charles Coale, Secretary, and Dr. Isaac Winans, T. B. White, Dr. Charles Weaver, and James Erwin, were the Committee on Resolutions.
Hon. Joshua R. Giddings spoke in the county, and Stephen C. Foster, Abby Kelly, Cassius M. Clay, and other noted Anti-Slavery orators
1144
History of Beaver County
advocated their cause in New Brighton and Greersburg (Darlington), in 1844 and 1845. Wm. Lloyd Garrison also visited the county on two or three occasions and always made a deep impression on his bearers. Next to A. B. Bradford, Thomas Silliman, of Little Beaver township, was most active in impressing his anti-slavery convictions on his neigh- bors. He was a man of unusual mental ability. Deeply religious, he re- garded slavery as a crime against God and man. Intensely patriotic, be deemed the institution a menace to the perpetuity of the national life. He was a radical of the radicals. The Abolition cause became the ruling passion of his life and to it he devoted all the energy and ability with which he was endowed. His fervor was always at a white heat and he rode the county over making large sacrifices of time and means in behalf of the cause. But few of his neighbors were drawn to meet him in discussion, and those who did always came off second best. He ex- posed himself to the peril of the law by assisting fearlessly in operating the Underground Railroad, but there is no record that he was ever arrested for doing what he believed to be his duty. On the South Side Dr. A. R. Thomson, of Duluth, a man of great natural gifts as a public speaker-a Democrat-but never a blind party follower, raised his voice in public protest against the system of iniquity. When the National Republican Party came into existence pledged to oppose the further aggressions of slavery Richard P. Roberts, Esquire, of Beaver, came prominently to the front as the eloquent exponent of its principles.
But the guiding spirit in developing the healthy public sentiment of the county was Mr. Bradford.
Although the Abolition movement largely centered in Darlington, Little Beaver township, and New Brighton, there were Abolitionists scattered here and there throughout the county. Beaver borough, however, was extremely Whiggish and Conservative. Among those who helped to mold local public sentiment and whose houses were open to the slaves were - Taylor, an Irishman, of Big Beaver township, at one time an associate judge of Lawrence County; Thomas Todd, for many years the only Abolitionist in Moon township, who was an annual thorn in the side of the election boards with his long solitary Abolition or Free Soil Ticket; Dr. - Montana, a strong minded man, of West Bridgewater; Wm. Scott and Thomas Silliman, of New Galilee; Dr. - Smith and Samuel Mclaughlin, of Hookstown; Robert Bradshaw, James Wilson, Andrew Watterson, Sr., of Brighton township; John McConnell, of Brush Run; S. H. Barclay, of South Beaver; John R. Logan, Rev. Abel Brown, Joshua Gilbert, and - Rakestraw. Thomas Nicholson, Andrew Miller, and James Nelson, prominent farmers of Hanover town- ship, were active Abolitionists, and aided and sheltered fugitive slaves.
The Hon. John H. Reddick, of Hanover township, an associate judge of the county, was one of the very first of the Abolitionists. Early in the century he made up his mind that slavery was wrong and he did not fear to let his views be known. When Benjamin Lundy established his first "Humane Society," in St. Clairsville, Ohio, in 1815, Reddick was one of the first to lend his aid and sympathies to it. It is said that he
1145
History of Beaver County
came to know Lundy at the time the Genius of Emancipation was estab- lished at Mt. Pleasant.
At any rate he became so active in his championship of the slaves that at one time the residents of Virginia objected so strongly to his stand that a band of white caps was organized to punish him. What was then the "Old Dominion " came within a gunshot of his home, and Wheeling was prominent as a slave market. The visit was never paid to him, however, and until his death he preached his doctrine of freedom for the negro.
Samuel C. Clow, who married a sister of John Brown's wife in Summit County, Ohio, lived near the North Sewickley Academy and his home was an Underground Railway Station.
Ex-Chief Justice Daniel Agnew, of Beaver, says: "The churches of Beaver County, as a general rule were against slavery." The Reformed Presbyterians (Covenanters) were probably the original Abolitionists of the county. The Quakers were a unit against slavery. The Presby- terians and Methodists were shocked at the moral loathsomeness of the thing and so the General Assembly of 1845 and the General Conference of 1836 did not reflect the feeling of this part of the country. The Rev. Jas. Haggerty and the Rev. Wm. McElwee, United Presbyterian ministers, of Hanover and Frankfort Springs, prayed and preached nearly every Sabbath for years against slavery. The Rev. Marcus Ormond, the united Presbyterian minister of Hookstown and Tomlinson's Run, from 1857 to 1861, preached sermons on Abolition and led his people into voting the same way. In the larger towns of the valley the Methodist itinerant's voice rang out clear and strong in the same cause.
To show the feeling of Presbyterians in western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio, record is found of the action of the session of the Salem Presbyterian Church of Ohio, in reviewing the action of the General Assembly of 1845. It is a terrible arraignment of slavery. Their words as a counter appeal show the clear moral vision of this part of the country; "Do not the principles of humanity and truth require us to interpret particular portions of the Scripture in accordance with the general design and spirit of the gospel when it can be done without violence to the philology of language?"
At a meeting of the Presbytery of Beaver, held at New Brighton, April, 1860, the Rev. Wm. Taggert McAdam, pastor of the church at Sharon, Pa., preached by special appointment, on the question "What should be the position of the Presbyterian Church on the subject of American Slavery?" He made a powerful appeal through logic, facts, and feeling against the evil of the day. Taking the Bible, he met the miserable subterfuges of the pro-slavery people with their isolated portions of Scripture, by showing that the whole spirit of the Book was against the enslavement of a human being. In part he said: "Apart from experience we could scarcely think it credible that any man with a moral sense in his soul and a Bible in his hand could for a single moment defend the moral rightness of American Slavery without being totally ignorant of what it is. We would think that its inherent moral
1146
History of Beaver County
loathsomeness is so palpable that mankind with united voice would pro- nounce its condemnation."
FREE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
A unique religious movement originated in Beaver County and spread over several counties in western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio. It sprang from the heart and brain of the Rev. Arthur B. Brad- ford, pastor of the Mount Pleasant Presbyterian Church, of Darlington. Holding to every cherished tenet and tradition of the faith of Calvin and Knox, it was simply a revolt from the action of the General Assembly of 1845 on the subject of slavery, which declared that slave holding was not a bar to Christian Communion. The dissatisfied element left the parent church, organized about a score of churches, had several Presby- teries and a Synod, and when the Emancipation Proclamation had done its work, the purpose of the church having been accomplished, it dis- banded and its members entered such other churches as they pleased.
The official severing of the relations is taken from the records of Presbytery in the matter:
"June 22, 1847, at a meeting of the Presbytery of Beaver, at North Sewickley, the following paper was presented to Presbytery by Rev. S. A. McLean and Rev. Arthur B. Bradford.
"To the Moderator of the Presbytery of Beaver:
"We, the undersigned, in our own name, and in the name, and as the representatives of all ministers, ruling elders, sessions, and congregations, who do adhere to us, respectfully decline the jurisdiction of the Presby- tery of Beaver and through that body of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of the United States."
Two days later, at the same meeting of Presbytery, the following preamble and resolutions were adopted,
" Whereas, the Rev. Arthur B. Bradford and the Rev. Samuel A. McLean, members of this Presbytery, have, by a written paper, an- nounced to the Presbytery, that they hereafter decline its jurisdiction ; therefore,
"Resolved 1. That the stated clerk be instructed to remove their names from the roll.
"Resolved 2. That in so doing, the Presbytery feels that a due regard for themselves, as well as fidelity to those estranged brethren, renders it proper for them to express their deep conviction that in the course they have pursued, and the misrepresentations they have made reflecting on the character of the General Assembly of our church, they have greatly erred and greatly sinned.
"Resolved 3. That we earnestly and affectionately exhort the members of the churches under our care diligently to guard against the means that may be employed to withdraw them from the faith of their fathers, and to abound much in supplication and prayer to God that He will teach them the way of truth, and give grace to walk therein."
It was ordered that the above resolutions be read from the pulpits of all the churches, and published in the Presbyterian Advocate.
1147
History of Beaver County
With about two thirds of the membership of the Mount Pleasant Church, Mr. Bradford seceded, taking with him three elders, David Boyd, John Rayl, and Thomas Bradshaw. Later, at different times, he added to his elders James Calhoon, J. Dickson Reed, David Fields, Joseph Brittain, and Samuel O'Connel. Of these elders when the long struggle was over, Mr. Bradford declared: "The only honor I wish in this world is to put a shovelful of earth on the graves of my Old Guard."
His parish embraced families within a radius of twelve miles. The Sessional Record shows a membership of 230 October 1, 1860, and of 274 January, 1866, less a few deaths and removals. David Boyd was clerk from at least April 28, 1859, to April 26, 1860, when he resigned and Wm. S. Calhoon served from April 26, 1860 to Sept. 4, 1863, and was succeeded by J. I. Reed, who made the last entry in the Record October 15, 1866. The bulk of the Darlington church afterwards became Covenanters. S. K. Kane served as Moderator, April 28, 1859, and S. A. McLean, on May 1, 1863, and D. D. Waugh, May 2, 1862 and in 1864.
Presbytery met in New Bedford, Pa., May, 1860; Darlington, Pa., October 3, 1860; Lowell, Ohio, May, 1861; Deerfield, Ohio, Sept., 1861; Mercer, Pa., May 7, 1862 (I. C. Bighorn, Moderator); Mt. Jackson, Pa., September, 1862; New Castle, Pa., January 14, 1863; New Bedford, Pa., May 12, 1863 (S. A. McLean, Moderator); Neshannock, September, 1863; Mercer, Pa., January 20, 1864; Buffalo, Pa. (Washington Co.), May, 1864; New Castle, Pa., January, 1864 (Francis Z. Moffitt, Moderator); Lowell, Ohio, October 3, 1864, and at Darlington, Pa., 1866.
Synod met at Martinsburg, October 3, 1860; at Ripley, Ohio, October 17, 1861; Savannah, Ohio, October 2, 1862; New Castle, Pa., October, 1863 and at Clarksville, Pa., October, 1864.
Mr. Bradford was succeeded at Darlington, by S. K. Kane, he by Rev. Mr. Jamison and from September, 1861, to March, 1862, the pulpit was supplied by G. McIlheny, S. K. Kane, D. D. Waugh, and Francis Z. Moffitt, respectively. A Rev. Mr. Bushnell is spoken of as one of the founders of the general movement.
There was another Free Presbyterian Church in the county. It was on the South Side at Frankfort. It was the outgrowth of a sermon preached in the neighborhood by A. B. Bradford and was the only radical Anti-Slavery movement on the South Side. The Rev. George Gordon had been pastor of the Presbyterian church there for sometime but becoming dissatisfied with the General Assembly's actions of 1845 and fired by the burning zeal of the Anti-Slavery apostle from Darlington, he seceded about 1848 and organized a church. Its membership was never over fifty. A few of its members were from Washington County. The Elders were, Wm. Carothers, Wilson Duncan, and John Proudfit (of Washington County). Josiah Campbell and Caleb McClung were prominent members. The church lived only a year after the President's Emancipation Proclamation.
The Free Presbyterian Church had official organs; one of them was the Free Presbyterian. Volume I., Number 2, was the issue of September 25, 1850. It was published by Wm. F. Clark, a veteran newspaper man,
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.