USA > Pennsylvania > Beaver County > History of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, and Its Centennial Celebration, Volume II > Part 55
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Beaver Falls Art Tile Company.
Atlantic Refining Company (headquarters, New Brighton) .- Two wagons.
New Brighton .- Frank C. O'Rourke, Marshal; aides, James Louri- more, George Kennedy, David Garden, William Graham, W. B. Kennedy, J. D. Martsolf, Charles W. Bradshaw, William L. Jackson, Charles McDanel, Charles Ferguson, A. C. Townsend, John S. Boots, Frank W. Walker, R. B. McDanel, A. F. Smith, Victor Graham.
New Brighton Council and borough officials in carriages.
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Dawes & Meyler Bath Tub Works, New Brighton.
Sherwood Bros.' Pottery, New Brighton.
Pittsburg Wall Paper Company, of New Brighton.
R. B. McDanel & Sons .- Planing-mill display, New Brighton.
E. F. Hope, merchant, New Brighton.
Frank & Charles Comella, merchants, New Brighton.
J. S. Stauffer, meat dealer, Beaver Falls.
Shuster Steam Laundry, Beaver Falls.
Keswick China Company, Fallston.
Atlantic Refining Company .- Wagon.
American Clay Manufacturing Company, New Brighton.
A. F. Smith & Co., Clay Manufacturers, New Brighton.
Star Rolling Mills, New Brighton.
Douglass & Co., Flouring Mills, New Brighton.
Campbell & Stiffey, Bridgewater .- Handsomely decorated wagon with Miss Stiffey and lady clerks.
The Beaver Valley General Hospital .- Ambulance.
Standard Gauge Steel Company, Beaver Falls.
Cadet Drum Corps, Beaver Falls .- Captain Kirker with forty pieces. An excellent organization.
G. W. Schaney, harness dealer, Beaver Falls, with nine vehicles. Marshall Music Co., Beaver Falls.
Frank Hicks, bicycle dealer, Beaver Falls.
Fallston Fire-Clay Company.
Penn Clay Company, Fallston.
M. T. & S. Kennedy, Kennedy Keg Company, New Brighton, with a wagon bearing an immense pillar of kegs.
Harmony Society, Economy, with Father Rapp's coach, 1844, and old fire engine.
L. C. Foster, furniture dealer, Rochester.
Aliquippa .- W. L. Shrum, Marshal; aides, John W. Reid, Harper Irons, U. S. Jones, Thomas Jones.
Aliquippa Division .- Seventy mounted men.
Aliquippa Steel Company .- Float with fine display of agricultural steel plates, circular and cross-cut saws.
Two hay wagons with Aliquippa people.
J. C. Russell Shovel Company, Aliquippa .- With elaborate display of shovels of all kinds.
Troy Laundry of Beaver.
W. C. Dobbs, Beaver .- Real-estate dealer.
J. W. Lawrence, Beaver .- Hardware and furnaces.
Charles Campbell, of Service, Raccoon township, with Cuban pony brought from Cuba by Rev. J. O. Campbell, D.D. The pony was with General Joseph Wheeler's cavalry through the Santiago campaign.
C. W. Schropp, Rochester .- Float carrying large Stanton heater, pumps, house furnishings, etc.
Pennsylvania Clay Company, No. 4 Works, Monaca .- Showing line of bricks manufactured.
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Monaca .- James Argobast, Marshal; aides, John Hunter, W. J. Mellon, Esq., William Hunter, Jr., George Heinz, Charles R. Eckert, Esq., J. J. Allen, M.D., J. R. Gormley, M.D.
Prof. Koch's Delsarte classes of the Monaca Turn-Verein Society, composed of a large number of little girls.
Beaver Valley Tea Company.
Conestoga wagon, used between Washington and Philadelphia, John B. Potter, Monaca.
James Hicks, Monaca .- Wagon showing men working with old-time flails.
Keystone Bakery, Walters Bros., Bridgewater .- Five wagons.
In addition to the above firms represented there were many carriages containing citizens of the different valley towns, and mounted escorts composed of probably one hundred men. It was a great parade, and closed a great celebration of a great county.
The Beaver County Centennial is now become a part of his- tory. That everything in connection with it was all that it might have been, its most enthusiastic supporters would not claim; but that it was, on the whole, a magnificent triumph of thought and energy and unselfish devotion to public interests, even the most captious critic would have to concede. No ac- count of it could do full justice to those whose civic patriotism and unwearying patience and labor conceived and created it, and to attempt to name particularly these persons might seem invidious. They have their reward in the accomplishment of the project. They did not work for money, and they did not work for fame, but each for the joy of the working, and they may now say with Robert Louis Stevenson, "We know what real happiness is, for we have done good work." But simple justice to the facts of the history of this important event requires the mention of John M. Buchanan, Esq., Hon. I. F. Mansfield, Agnew Hice, Esq., and Hon. W. B. Dunlap, whose faith and courage and initiative made a large part of its success.
THE ANTIQUARIAN EXHIBIT
Special mention must be made, too, of the work done by those who had in charge the collection and arrangement of objects of antiquarian interest, curios, and articles of every sort that would illustrate the progress of the world, of our country, and our county. Here again due acknowledgment must be
Hon. Ira F. Mansfield.
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made of the intelligent and zealous activity of Hon. I. F. Mans- field and his assistant, Mr. Samuel Henry, and of the earnest co-operation given by the other members of the Antiquarian Executive Committee and of the Ladies' Auxiliary.
The names of the members of these two committees are as follows:
ANTIQUARIAN EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
I. F. Mansfield,
Thomas Henry,
John Linnenbrink,
Hugh Sturgeon.
J. Robert Littell, John S. Duss,
James Harper, Thomas Bigger,
Arthur Shields,
Wm. L. Standish,
J. Frank Miner,
Lawrence Smart,
E. D. Merrick,
John S. Wilson,
John S. Littell,
Thomas Kennedy,
John H. Telford,
Frank W. Walker,
H. C. Patterson,
W. A. Freed,
A. F. Smith, Archie Stewart.
LADIES' AUXILIARY
Mrs. Elizabeth C. McCoy, Rochester,
Mrs. Emily Mayer, New Brighton,
Mrs. Emma Reeves, Beaver Falls,
Mrs. Lizzie McCartney, Hookstown,
Mrs. Effa Robertson, Hookstown,
Mrs. Flora Veasy, Raccoon,
Mrs. Thomas Calhoun, Georgetown,
Mrs. Margaret Jack, Industry,
Mrs. Jennie Spence, Georgetown,
Mrs. Milton Thompson, Homewood,
Mrs. Mattie Creighton, Darlington,
Miss Wilda Craig, Raccoon,
Miss Blanche Bray, Industry,
Miss Mary Wagner, Monaca,
Miss Mary I. Vance, Frankfort Springs,
Miss Mary McClymonds, Darlington,
Miss Sallie Patterson, Beaver Falls,
Miss Mary B. Cowan, Chippewa, Miss A. Elinor Reid, New Galilee,
Mrs. Andrew Watterson, Beaver,
Mrs. Jennie Cunningham, Beaver Falls,
Mrs. Edward R. Sullivan, Pittsburg,
Mrs. Alice B. Morrison, Beaver,
Miss Ida M. Geer, stenographer, Beaver.
Eight large rooms on the first floor of the Beaver College building were devoted to the Antiquarian Exhibit, and every
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History of Beaver County
town and township in the county had been ransacked to make the collection of curios as rich and complete as possible. The arrangement of the articles and the decorations in all the rooms were the work of the ladies of the committee, with the assist- ance of young ladies and gentlemen from all the valley towns, and were very striking.
Many of the articles loaned are worthy of particular notice, such as the collection of old domestic objects, of Indian relics, and relics of the great wars of our nation, the Harmony Society contributions, the collection of portraits, and of rare and valua- ble manuscripts and books and Bibles, such as the famous " Breeches Bible," old musical instruments, etc .; but for the full list the reader must be referred to the Catalogue issued by the Antiquarian Committee.
[The following sketch of the history of Beaver County was prepared by the honored President of the Centennial Association, ex-Chief Justice, Daniel Agnew, now deceased, for the Centennial of that county. It was intended to be more extended, but by reason of ill-health and advancing age was left unfinished, touching only the legal aspect of Beaver County's history. Though it was not read at the Centennial we feel that it is proper to give it a place in the record of that occasion .- EDITOR.]
In celebrating the Centennial of Beaver County, one of the smallest and youngest counties of Pennsylvania, it is very proper to recur to some of the leading traits of the great State of which it forms a part.
By a charter, dated March 4, 1681 (Old Style), Charles the Second, King of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, and Defender of the Faith, granted to William Penn, his heirs and assigns, the territory in America, between the beginning of the 40th, and the beginning of the 43d degree of North Latitude, and bounded by the Delaware River on the east, and running west five degrees in Longitude, excepting the territory within a circle whose center was in the town of New Castle, and twelve miles distant from the circumference.
The consideration of this grant was the commendable desire of William Penn to enlarge the English Empire, promote useful commodities, and reduce the savage natives by gentle and just manners, to the love of civil society and the Christian religion.
A further consideration was the just regard of the King to the memory of his late father in divers services, and particularly his conduct, courage, and discretion in that signal battle and victory over the Dutch fleet, commanded by Herr Van Opden, in the year, 1655.
Before William Penn came to America, he granted a frame of govern- ment, dated 25th of April, 1682, and framed laws for the province, dated May 3d, 1682. He arrived in America, on the 24th of October, 1682. The population on the Delaware then consisted of English, Dutch, and Swedes.
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Proprietary frames of government were again granted by him after his arrival in 1683 and 1696, and in 1701 he granted a charter of privi- leges to the inhabitants of Pennsylvania and territories.
He who reads these frames, laws, and privileges will be impressed with the downright honesty, fairness, and Christian principles of William Penn, and the desire for the welfare and happiness of the people of his colony.
Another fact will rise to view, that the general and fundamental principles of liberty of our American institutions are all found in these institutions of William Penn, and indeed may be said to be superior in degree to many of the early colonies.
Another characteristic of William Penn was his constant upright dealings with the Indians found within his province. Though clothed with the charter of a King, which in other places was considered sufficient authority to strip the aborigines of their lands, Penn determined to ex- tinguish the Indians' title within his province by fair purchase. In pursuance of this just intent, he and his sons succeeding him, made many purchases of the Indians by treaty. After the Declaration of Inde- pendence, the State continued this policy, the last treaty being made at Fort Stanwix, in the State of New York (near Rome), in 1784, and consummated with unrepresented tribes at Fort McIntosh, in 1785.
After the English Revolution of 1688, the enemies of Penn induced William and Mary, in 1692, to deprive him of the government of Pennsyl- vania, and resume the charter grant. But in 1693, the friends of Penn obtained his restoration. He returned to Pennsylvania in 1699. Lord Baltimore, the Proprietor of Maryland, disputed with Penn the boundary of his territory. This compelled Penn, in 1701, to go to England to attend his lawsuit, which was delayed some years by the slow proceedings of the English Chancery. In consequence, he never returned to Pennsylvania, but died in England on the 30th of July, 1718, leaving a will which continued in dispute until the year 1727, when it was confirmed.
By this will, Pennsylvania was divided into four shares :- To John Penn one half, to Thomas Penn one fourth, and to Richard Penn one fourth. John Penn died in 1746. Thomas Penn then held three shares, one in fee, and two from John Penn as life tenant, and Richard Penn held one fourth.
Thomas Penn, now the principal owner, came to Pennsylvania in 1732, remained here nine years, and returned to England in 1741. After his return, he bought property at Stoke Pogis, where he remained until his death in 1775. This property had been owned by Chief Justice Sir Edward Coke, given to him by Queen Elizabeth.
Stoke Pogis is celebrated not only as the residence of Thomas Penn for so many years, but as the site of the country graveyard in which the poet Gray wrote his famous elegy, and where he himself was buried.
During the absence of William Penn and Thomas Penn in England. the province of Pennsylvania was governed by deputies. While these deputies governed, great disputes took place between them and the As- sembly as to taxing the lands of the Proprietary, the deputies being
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instructed by the Proprietary to resist taxation. These contests disabled the Province from granting sufficient supply during the French, the Indian, and the Revolutionary wars, the strife often affecting the inter- ests of the colony.
In consequence of the Declaration of Independence, the Legislature of Pennsylvania, by an Act passed November 27, 1779, divested the title of the Penns, vesting the territory of Pennsylvania in the Common- wealth, excepting certain private lands and realty of the Penns, and granting to them one hundred and thirty thousand pounds sterling, payable in installments, after one year from the termination of the war with Great Britain, to the devisees and legatees of Thomas and Richard Penn.
Since the Declaration of Independence, Pennsylvania has had con- stitutions of government adopted in 1776, 1790, 1838, and 1874.
The Commonwealth concluded treaties with the Indians of the Six Nations, for the purchase of their title in October, 1784, at Fort Stanwix, and in January, 1785, at Fort McIntosh, as heretofore stated. The lands embraced in these treaties are thus described:
"Beginning on the south side of the River Ohio where the western boundary of the State of Pennsylvania crosses said river, near Shingo's old town at the mouth of Beaver Creek, and thence by a due north line to the end of the forty-second, and beginning of the forty-third degrees of north latitude, thence by a due east line, separating the forty-second and forty-third degrees of north latitude, to the east branch of the river Susquehanna, thence by the bounds of the late purchase made at Fort Stanwix, the 5th day of November, A.D., 1768, as follows :-
" Down the said east branch of the Susquehanna on the east side there- of, till it comes opposite to the mouth of a creek, called by the Indians, Awandac, and across the river and up the said creek on the south side thereof, and along the range of hills called Burnetts hills by the English, and by the Indians, -, on the north side of them, to the head of a creek which runs into the west branch of the Susquehanna, which creek is by the Indians called Tyadaghton, but by the Pennsylvanians, Pine creek, and down said creek on the south side thereof, to the said west branch of the Susquehanna, then crossing the said river, and running up the same on the south side thereof, the several courses thereof, to the fork of the same river which lies nearest to a place on the Ohio river, called Kittanning, and from the fork by a straight line to Kittanning aforesaid, and then down the said river, Ohio, by the several courses thereof, to where the western bounds of the said State of Pennsylvania crosses the same river at the place of beginning."
Kittanning, now in Armstrong County, was a large Indian village on the Allegheny River, then called the Ohio, which was captured, and a large number of Indians killed, by a company under the command of Captain John Armstrong (afterwards General), in the year 1756.
It will be noticed, that by this deed, the western boundary of Pennsyl- vania was then believed to cross the Ohio at Shingo's old town, at the mouth of the Big Beaver Creek. This error was not corrected until the
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History of Beaver County
western boundary between Pennsylvania and Virginia was run to the Ohio River, by the Commissioners of Pennsylvania, David Rittenhouse, and Andrew Porter, and the Virginia Commissioners, Andrew Ellicott and Joseph Neville, in the year 1785. The western boundary of Pennsylvania as then defined, crossed the Ohio a few perches below the mouth of the Little Beaver Creek.
The Pennsylvania Commissioners, to whom Andrew Ellicott was added, ran the boundary from the Ohio to Lake Erie, in 1785 and 1786.
The error in the western boundary, as described, in the deed from the Six Nations to Pennsylvania, of October 1784, led to difficulties in making the early surveys north of the Ohio, and west of the Allegheny, leaving a large area of land, west of the Big Beaver, unsurveyed until after the survey of the Commissioners.
It being well understood that the Indians of the Six Nations, in- habiting the State of New York, would execute a treaty relinquishing their title to the lands in Pennsylvania, the Assembly did not wait for its execution, but by an Act of 12th March, 1783, appropriated the lands within the purchase of 1784, to two great purposes, to which the State stood pledged by previous laws, that is to say, for donations of land to the soldiers of the Pennsylvania military line of the Revolutionary War, and to the redemption of certificates of the depreciation of their pay, payable in coin.
The division line between these two great tracts was a due west line running from a creek in Armstrong County, called Mogulbughtiton by the Indians. This line runs through Beaver County as it was before Law- rence County was erected about seven to eight miles south of New Castle.
The northern territory was appropriated to donations to the soldiers, and the southern, to the redemption of the certificates of depreciation. Hence the northern part has been called the Donation lands, and the southern the Depreciation lands.
By the same Act of 1783, the State reserved to her own individual use, two tracts of three thousand acres each; one at the mouth of the Alle- gheny River, on which she laid out the town of Allegheny, in the year 1787; the other at the mouth of the Big Beaver, on which she laid out the town of Beaver, in the year 1792.
Beaver County being divided by the Ohio River, that part lying south of the river was governed by the land laws passed in 1784 and subse- quently, and that part north of the Ohio, by the land laws of 1792 and subsequently, relating to the lands not granted as Donations to the soldiers, and not sold for the redemption of the Depreciation certificates.
The lands in Beaver County, lying south of the Ohio River, fell within the purchase of Fort Stanwix, in 1768. The titles of warrantees and settlers therefore fell within the laws opening the land office in 1784, and supplements thereto. Hence many of the lands on the south side were settled or taken up in warrants as early as 1784. One of these early settlers on the south side, was John Braden, well-remembered by the writer. His lands lay on Raccoon Creek.
A radical change was made in the titles to lands on the south side,
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by the Act of 28th March, 1814, which dispensed with the necessity of making settlement, residence, and raising of grain.
Under the Act of 3d April, 1792, granting titles to settlers and warrantees, two settlements were commenced on the very day of the passage of the law, on the north side of the Ohio, one by Benoni Dawson, and the other by Neal Mclaughlin; and two warrants were taken out by Colonel Daniel Brodhead, on the same day, for lands on Walnut Bottom Run, on the west side of the Big Beaver, and opposite the Middle Falls. The warrants were in the names of Joseph Williams and William Barker, each for 400 acres, and allowance of six per cent for roads. The town of Beaver Falls is located on these two warrants.
The Act of 3d April, 1792, had large tracts of land to operate upon, much vacant land being found in the District appropriated for Donations to the soldiers, and the Depreciation surveys being largely unsold, owing to the very low prices brought at the Coffee House in Philadelphia, the place of sale under the law.
Many tracts in Beaver County, north side, were surveyed on warrants, chiefly to John Nicholson, from whom they were transferred to the Pennsylvania Population Company. When that company dissolved, the largest number of the tracts were bought by William Griffith, of New Jersey, and John B. Wallace, of Philadelphia.
Owing to the treaty of General Anthony Wayne made at Fort Green- ville, in Ohio, in August, 1795, and confirmed by the United States Senate, December 22d, 1795, the settlers rushed over the Allegheny and Ohio in great numbers in 1796. These largely settled on the surveyed warrant lands, owned by Griffith and Wallace, - Rhinelander, Benja- min Chew, and others. The settlers considered the warrants as all forfeited, because of non-settlement by the warrantees, under the 9th section of the Act of 3d April, 1792. This led to a long litigation between the warrantees and settlers, which lasted long into the time of the writer. Not only the land laws of the State, but the Statute of Limitations played a large part in this litigation. Many compromise laws were passed, but they were not altogether effective in settling the disputes.
Agreement, death, descent, and lapse of time have now settled all these original titles. On the south side, the Act of 1814, dispensing with settlement and residence, has put at rest disputes about title.
Formerly, Beaver County, owing to its situation and division by the Ohio River, had the greatest number and kinds of original title, possessed by any county in the State. Now, litigation is confined entirely to derivative titles.
At one time, titles for lands sold at sales for delinquent taxes, under the Acts of 1804, and 1815, were very numerous. After the passage of the Act of 1815 and its supplements, tax titles became very good, and valid titles to many tracts exist.
The legal learning on the subject of tax titles was once very large and important, embracing many cases in the early Pennsylvania Reports of the decisions of the Supreme Court. The principles adopted by the Court rendered the sales under the Act of 1804 of little effect. The Act
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of 1815 was passed to remedy many of the defects of title under the Act of 1804.
Payment of taxes also played a large part in decisions under the Statute of Limitations. Payment did not confer title, but aided in enlarging the possession of those claiming under the Act of Limitations, especially of woodland, and land unfenced, and unimproved.
Another peculiarity of title at one time played a large part in western Pennsylvania titles, that is to say, the dispute between Pennsylvania and Virginia as to the ownership of western lands under the charters of these States. Virginia went so far as even to lay out counties, and appoint magistrates in the counties of Washington, Fayette, Allegheny, and Westmoreland. The boundary lines between the States of Pennsyl- vania and Virginia were long a subject of contention, which was not settled until the years 1785 and 1786, when the line between Maryland and Pennsylvania, known as Mason and Dixon's line was run, and ex- tended between Pennsylvania and Virginia, to the southwest corner, by Commissioners of Pennsylvania, appointed on behalf of these States. The Pennsylvania Commissioners were David Rittenhouse and Andrew Porter, and the Virginia Commissioners were Andrew Ellicott and Joseph Neville. The Virginia lines were completed to the Ohio River, in August, 1785. Andrew Ellicott was then added to the Pennsylvania Commis- sioners, and the western boundary run and finished in 1785, and 1786.
Owing to the claim of Virginia, many titles in western Pennsylvania were granted under Virginia laws. One of the Virginia entries as they were called, existed at the mouth of Sawmill Run, opposite the Point at Pittsburg. A number were laid in Beaver County, on the south side of the Ohio. They are found in Hanover and Greene townships, Beaver County. These titles were recognized by Pennsylvania, so that the only question arising in litigation, was that of priority as between Pennsyl- vania titles.
The great source of litigation was under the 9th section of the Act of 3d April, 1792. But the subject is too large to enter into. Information on this point will be found at large in Agnew's Settlement and Land Titles in Northwestern Pennsylvania.I
Beaver County is rich in materials for local history, and some progress was made in this direction by the writer, in the pamphlets known as Fort McIntosh, Fort Pitt, Logstown and Kaskaskunk. It was the purpose of the first named, to aid in erecting a monument on the banks of the River Ohio, marking the place of Fort McIntosh, and recalling the recollections of the early disasters arising from the Indians, and from Great Britain. But by a most singular and unpatriotic interference, the proceeding to erect the monument was arrested, and the project, in consequence, has fallen into a premature grave from which it is unlikely to be resurrected.
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