USA > Pennsylvania > Beaver County > History of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, and its centennial celebration, Volume I > Part 29
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This he operated successfully until 1849, when he built a paper mill to utilize the water power at the upper dam, then known as Adamsville, which he operated until 1864.
Politically, Senator Robertson was a Clay Whig and a Re- publican, representing his district in the Pennsylvania State Senate in 1851-52. He was made Collector of Internal Revenue for the Twenty-fourth District of Pennsylvania in 1866-69. Mr. Robertson died June 19, 1871.
Hon. De Lorma Imbrie was born in Big Beaver Township, Beaver County, on March 4, 1824, his parents John and Nancy (Rankin) Imbrie, being natives of Pennsylvania, of Scotch descent. He received his education in the common schools, and at Darlington Academy, from whose rustic walls went forth many to places of influence and honor. After leaving the academy, he taught school for a number of terms in Darlington, Old Brighton, and New Wilmington. While teaching at New Wilmington he met his future wife, Miss Margaret Carman, who was then a pupil in his school. Upon his marriage on October 27, 1851, he took up his permanent residence in Beaver. Though
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Bryson
James M. Power.
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History of Beaver County
many years of his later life were spent at the State capital, Beaver continued to be his home, and to it he always eagerly hastened when the briefest cessation from his labor permitted. Taking up the study of law in the office of the Hon. Thomas Cunningham, he was admitted to the bar of Beaver County on November 25, 1853. His natural ability and taste for politics soon led him from his profession into the political arena, where he figured conspicuously and as a leader, for many years. He was elected for three successive terms to the Legislature in the years 1856, 1857, and 1858; the first two terms representing the Legislative District composed of the counties of Beaver, Butler, and Lawrence, and the last term the District composed of Beaver and Lawrence counties.
In 1859 he was elected to the State Senate, from the Twenty- fifth Senatorial District, composed of the counties of Beaver and Butler, thus representing his county in the Legislative body con- tinuously, and with fidelity and ability, for the period of six years.
In February of 1863, he became editor of the Argus, in which capacity he served until November 9, 1864. In the fall of 1872, the Constitutional Convention having met in the city of Philadelphia for the purpose of framing for the State a new organic law, Mr. Imbrie was, without opposition, elected its chief clerk, which responsible position, through the entire ses- sion of that body, he filled with marked efficiency.
During the last seven years of his life, he was employed in the Auditor General's office at Harrisburg, where he died on Novem- ber 6, 1888. There survive him, his widow and four children: Carman, Nannie B., wife of Rev. W. S. McClure of Xenia, Ohio; Mary E., wife of W. H. S. Thomson, Esq., of Pittsburg, and Miss Lillian Fra. A daughter, Edith, died on December 31, 1895.
Hon. Alexander W. Taylor was born near Enon Valley, Lawrence County (then within the limits of Beaver County), March 31, 1836. He was educated in the common schools, and at a select school (known locally as "Tansy Hill,") in charge of Prof. W. E. Lincoln, a graduate of Oberlin College and a native of London, England.
In the Civil War Mr. Taylor served as captain of Co. H, IoIst Regiment, P. V. I. This position he held for about one year, when (November 13, 1862) he was promoted to the rank of
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major. He was subsequently (July 1, 1863) made lieutenant- colonel of that regiment, and its colonel (David B. Morris), having been wounded at Fair Oaks and afterwards detailed for duty at Pittsburg, Pa., where he had charge of a drafted camp, Taylor was in command of the regiment for perhaps eighteen months.I
Colonel Taylor was captured with his whole brigade at Plymouth, N. C., on the Roanoke River, April 20, 1864, and imprisoned, first at Macon, Ga., and subsequently in the city jail in Charleston, S. C., where fifty officers of the highest rank were transferred, ostensibly for safe-keeping, but really, as was be- lieved, to prevent the Union forces from continuing to fire on the city of Charleston.
Colonel Taylor served over three years and was mustered out November 20, 1864. In 1866 he was elected from Beaver County to the State Senate for a period of three years. In 1871-72 he was the owner and editor of the Alliance Monitor, Alliance, Stark County, O. In 1872 Mr. Taylor entered the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church, but on account of ill health, soon abandoned that and all other active duties. In 1883 he re-entered the ministry in the Presbyterian Church (Holston Presbytery) in East Tennessee, but owing to rheumatic trouble has been for many years unable to perform any active duties, and is now postmaster at Tusculum, Tennessee.
Hon. Franklin Howell Agnew was born in Beaver, Beaver County, Pa., April 6, 1842. He was educated at Beaver Acad- emy and at Jefferson College, where he was graduated in 1862. He afterwards graduated from and taught in, Iron City Com- mercial College, Pittsburg, Pa. He was principal of Beaver Academy, 1864-65, resigning to accept a position in the United States Coast Survey in the fall of 1865.
During his term of service in the Coast Survey he was engaged in some very important work, such as large primary triangula- tion, where in some cases the sides of the triangles would run from fifty to sixty miles; accurate measurement of lines by means of the base measuring apparatus; the measurement of an arc of meridian from Nantucket to the northern part of Maine; the measurement of longitude across the continent from Cam- bridge, Mass., to San Francisco, and incidentally connected with
I Hist. of Penna. Vol., Bates, vol. iii., p. 605.
T. J. Power.
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this, the accurate determination of latitudes by means of the zenith telescope. He was one of the Coast Survey party observ- ing the total eclipse of the sun at Shelbyville, Ky., in 1869. Mr. Agnew was to have been one of the party for the determination of longitude between Washington City, Greenwich, and Paris, by means of the Atlantic cable, but through ill health was com- pelled to forego it. Resigning his position in the Coast Survey, he was admitted to the bar of Beaver County in September, 1872, after studying law with his father, the Hon. Daniel Agnew. He formed a partnership with John M. Buchanan, Esq., under the firm name of Agnew & Buchanan.
In 1882, at the solicitation of friends, he was induced to run for the State Senate in the Washington-Beaver District; was elected, and served four years, including the famous extra session of 1883. Mr. Agnew was married in 1885 to Miss Nancy K. Lauck, daughter of the Rev. William F. Lauck of the Pittsburg M. E. Conference. Owing to ill health he was compelled to give up all work and go to California in the early part of 1891. After remaining there for eight years, he returned to his native town, where he has again taken up residence. For the past year or two Mr. Agnew has been engaged in some important scientific researches, the results of which, it is hoped, will some- time be given to the world.
Hon. William B. Dunlap, the present manager of the Beaver Star, was born at Darlington, Beaver County, Pa. His parents were Samuel Rutherford Dunlap and Nancy Hemphill Dunlap. The former was a grandson of Walter Clarke, who was a member of the first Constitutional Convention of Pennsylvania, which was held in Philadelphia in 1776, and over which Dr. Franklin presided. Walter Clarke was buried in 1802 in the Westfield graveyard, then in Beaver, now in Lawrence County. The latter was the third daughter of Judge Joseph Hemphill,' one of the three commissioners named in the Act of Assembly for the erection of the county of Beaver.
The education of William B. Dunlap was obtained at the common schools, and at Darlington and Beaver academies, and Jefferson College. He was intended for the bar, but being over- taken by ill health at the completion of his college course he
1 See biographical sketch of Joseph Hemphill in Chapter IX.
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was forced to abandon this purpose,-it was then hoped tempor- arily. Later he was principal for two years of the Scott Street Public Schools of the city of Covington, Ky. Failing to attain restored health, he entered upon the more open, out-door life of the river, and was for a number of years engaged in the transportation business in our inland rivers.
In 1890, in a triangular fight, he was elected to represent Washington and Beaver counties, as a Democrat, in the Senate of Pennsylvania. Since the expiration of his term in the Senate he has been connected with the publication of the Daily Star and Semi-Weekly Star.
Hon. Samuel P. White of New Brighton has been one of the active and successful men of Beaver County. His father, Timothy Balderston White, was born in Bucks County, Penn- sylvania, and his mother, Olive Bowen Howland, in New Bed- ford, Mass. They belonged to the Society of Friends or Quakers, were married at Ledyard, Cayuga County, N. Y., and came to Beaver County in 1838 and lived first in Bolesville, then in Fallston, and built in New Brighton in 1840, where the family has since resided in the same homestead and where Samuel P. White was born in 1847. Mr. White attended the public schools of his native place and later graduated at Eastman's Business College of Poughkeepsie, N. Y. He left school at the age of fourteen years and went to work with his father as a bridge builder and contractor. At present he is president of the Penn Bridge Company, Valley Electric Company, and Quaker Milling Company. Mr. White served in the 56th Penn- sylvania Volunteers State troops in 1863 when but fifteen years of age. In 1884 he was a member of the Republican County Committee of Beaver County, was its chairman in 1885, and its treasurer in 1889. He was a member of the State Committee of the same party in 1888, and a delegate to the State Convention in 1900. He was nominee for State Senator in Beaver County in 1886, 1890, 1894, and 1902, the county making no nomination in 1898 as the nomination was conceded to Washington County. Mr. White was elected State Senator in 1894 and 1902, and served on the Committees of Finance, Corporations, Appropriations, and Railroads and was chairman of Public Roads and Highways and Judiciary Special.
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CHAPTER VII
COUNTY DEVELOPMENT
Indian Trails-Brodhead's Road-County and State Roads-Bridges- Canals-Ohio River Dams-Steam Railways-Railway Contrasts- Street Railways-Water, Fuel, and Lighting Companies-Banking Institutions-Mail Facilities-Growth of Population.
Lord, send a man like Robbie Burns to sing the Song o' Steam. KIPLING, McAndrew's Hymn,
ONE of the chief factors in the material development of countries and their civilizations is found in the character of the roads and means of transportation which are provided by nature or created by the genius and enterprise of the people. Ancient Rome derived her grandeur and power not alone from her laws and institutions and her veteran legions, but also from her mighty works of engineering, her swift posts and solid roads and splendid bridges. She called her Emperor "Pontifex Maximus"- the chief bridge-builder,- and from a golden mile stone in the centre of the Forum there ran twenty-nine military roads that were built over Alps and rivers to the remotest bounds of the empire. Without these her legions would have been largely shorn of their strength, and her laws inoperative.
INDIAN TRAILS
This part of our local history-the development of highways -is not without interest, or even elements of romance. For it carries us back to the time when the forest wilderness covered all this region, and was broken only by the river courses and the trails of the red man.' These trails were, indeed, the beginning
1 Indian Thoroughfares, by Archer Butler Hulbert (Historic Highways of America, the Arthur H. Clarke Co., Cleveland, O., 1902, vol. ii.), contains much of interest on this subject See also The Monongahela of Old, Chapter III.
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of some of our present routes of travel. The early traders and explorers followed them, and those who built our military and national roads found that they could not do better than the Indians in overcoming the difficulties which were presented by the mountains and rivers in their way. Some of these Indian trails were very long. The best known and the oldest of them was the Catawba, or Cherokee trail leading from Georgia through Virginia, western Pennsylvania, and western New York to Canada. This, and the Warrior Branch 1 from Kentucky, which intersected it in what is now Fayette County in this State, were the most important trails running through the country north and south. The trails which ran east and west were still more noted, and the greatest of these was the Kit- tanning, which extended as far west as Detroit. Of greater importance to us was that known in early times as Nemackolin's path. It began at the mouth of Will's Creek, where Cumber- land, Maryland, now stands, and crossed the mountains to the point known as Burd's Fort, now Brownsville, Pennsylvania, a branch leaving it near the present Uniontown and running to the "Forks of the Ohio" (Pittsburg). This was afterwards adopted and improved by Braddock and Washington, and is known as "Braddock's Road." This trail continued west from the Forks of the Ohio to what is now Vincennes, Indiana, and is known in Beaver County as the "Tuscarawas Trail." It passed through Logstown, crossed the Big Beaver Creek, prob- ably where the Bridgewater bridge spans it to-day, and thence led on through Beaver up the hill west of the town.
From the Mingo village, which stood on the present site of Rochester, a trail led in a northeasterly direction through Ve- nango to Lake Erie and the country of the Iroquois. The Beaver and Butler road in Beaver County is supposed to follow this trail in a great part of its length.
1 How jealously the Indians guarded these trails is seen from the following incident. When Mason and Dixon were running the line between Pennsylvania and Maryland, now so famous, they were escorted by fourteen Indians, with an interpreter, deputed by the chiefs of the Six Nations to accompany them. On arriving at a point on the southern boundary of Washington County, Pa., as originally erected, at the crossing of Dunkard Creek, they came to an Indian war-path winding its way through the forest, and their escort informed them that it was the will of the Six Nations that the surveys should be stayed. This was the Warrior Branch of the old Catawba trail, along which traveled the war-parties of the Indians from the south and the north, and "across it the Indian escort would at that time allow not even an imaginary barrier to be drawn."-See Crumrine's History of Washington County, p. 163.
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Another trail began at the west end of the Bridgewater bridge and led up the west side of the creek to Kuskuskee, an Indian town on the Mahoning in what is now Lawrence County.1 At Brady's Run there was an offshoot up the run, leading to Sandusky, which was much used by the celebrated Indian scout, Captain Samuel Brady. It was on this trail, probably on the main part of it near Kuskuskee, as we have elsewhere seen, that Brady rescued Jenny Stupes and her child, who had been taken captive on the south side of the Ohio River.2
Other trails were also well known, as one passing from where Beaver now stands down the right bank of the Ohio, which was called the "French Way," because it was used so much in the early times by the French; one from Catfish Camp (now Wash- ington, Pa.) across the country to where Georgetown now stands, and one from Fort Pitt, through the present Sheffield, to the Ohio River, opposite Fort McIntosh. Brodhead's Road was afterwards laid out on this path. This was a road, which, as previously stated, was cut from Fort Pitt to Fort McIntosh for the purpose of getting supplies to the latter. It was con- structed by General McIntosh,3 but was afterwards used by General Brodhead, and has ever since been known as the "Brod- head Road." It came down to the Ohio through the gap just opposite the fort.
COUNTY AND STATE ROADS
The importance attached to the subject of the construction of highways by the early inhabitants of the county is shown by the fact that at the first session of the court held in Beaver in February, 1804, seven petitions for the laying out of roads were presented. Various delays were experienced, but gradually numerous State and county roads were established. Not much science was exhibited in the construction of these roads. The
1 See note about Kuskuskee, page 15. Concerning this trail Wm. M. Darlington says, "Portions of the path along the west bank of the Beaver and Mahoning, worn deep into the soil, were plainly visible and often seen by the writer about thirty years since, and some he is credibly informed yet remain."-(Christopher Gist's Journals, p. 102.) Interesting notes on several of the above-mentioned trails are given in this book (Gist's fournals), and between pages 80-81 is a "Map of West Pennsylvania and Virginia, 1753," (original in British Museum) on which part of Nemackolin's path and the trail up the east side of the Beaver to Venango and Lake Erie are indicated.
2 See note, page 165.
5 See Fort McIntosh: Its Times and Men, p. 18, by Hon. Daniel Agnew.
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usual method employed was to plow parallel furrows and scrape the loosened earth upon the space between the furrows to form the road-bed. In Beaver County there were no turnpike, cor- duroy, or toll-roads built. The State roads were laid out under Acts of the Legislature. One State road ran from Bridgewater through Borough township, Chippewa, South Beaver, Darling- ton, and Little Beaver townships to the State-line near Peters- burg; one from the east end of the Bridgewater bridge, called in the charter "Wolf Lane Bridge," up the north side of the Ohio River to Pittsburg; one known as the "river road" from Beaver down the Ohio River to Smith's Ferry; one from Beaver to Butler; one from New Brighton to New Castle; and one from Beaver to the State-line, known as the "Tuscarawas Road," and as the "Beaver and New Lisbon Road." There was also a State road starting from the Ohio River, opposite Vanport, running through Moon, Raccoon, and Hanover town- ships to Frankfort Springs, twenty and a half miles long. This was the only road in the county with mile-posts. These posts were made of locust planks five feet long, and a foot to fourteen inches wide, on which were painted the distances and names of places. Some of the posts are still standing after a period of forty years. By the Act of Assembly authorizing this road to be built, James Harper and William Hales were appointed to work out $1600, which was all paid to them in silver, and they in turn paid it out in silver to the workmen.
BRIDGES
The construction of roads in a region so generously pro- vided Iby nature with streams and rivers as is Beaver County, necessitates the building of bridges, and this work was early undertaken in the county. The bridges erected in this county were generally of the most primitive kind, and were built of wood, but many have in recent years been replaced by strong and beautiful structures of stone and steel. But several of the earlier bridges were quite substantial. A good bridge was built over the Conoquenessing on the New Brighton and New Castle grade. One over Raccoon Creek at Murdocksville was noted in its day, and has now been replaced by a fine iron structure built jointly by Beaver and Washington counties, the dividing line between the counties being right on the bridge.
Bealve
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Mesi
Last of the Old Locust Mile-Posts' Standing on the Frankfort Grade Road. From photograph taken about 1899 by R. R. Hice.
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One of the most important bridges in the county, important both from its position and its history, was the old wooden bridge between New Brighton and Beaver Falls, which was torn down in 1900, and replaced by a modern steel bridge of the best style, erected by the Penn Bridge Company for the Overgrade Bridge Company. The old bridge was built amid many trials to those who projected the enterprise. By an Act of Assembly of March 20, 1810,' a company was incorporated under the name, style, and title of "The President, Managers and Company for erecting a Bridge over Big Beaver Creek, opposite the town of Brighton." Brighton, so-called, was then what is now the lower part of Bea- ver Falls. The Act appointed Abraham Wellington, Jonathan H. Mendenhall, Benjamin Townsend, Isaac Wilson, and Jacob Yoho, commissioners to receive subscriptions of stock for the erection of said bridge. The books were opened according to notice given, and, September 14, 1814, 238 shares of stock at twenty-five dollars per share, amounting to $5950, had been subscribed. On the same date the following officers were elected: President, Samuel Adams; Treasurer, Samuel Jack- son; Managers, Jeremiah Barker, Jeremiah Britton, John Arm- strong, John Pugh, James Taylor, and Isaac Wilson; with Joseph Hoopes, Secretary. The contract for building the bridge was given to Persifor Taylor and Joseph Hoopes. It was to be a framed trussed bridge, in spans not to exceed I10 feet; 20 feet wide; 6 feet clear of high-water mark; to stand on framed piers and abutments; posts to be set in the rock; planked on the outside, without being filled in. The bridge was completed October 30, 1815, and opened for travel November 11th of the same year, with Joseph Townsend as toll collector, at a salary of $130 a year. The first dividend, declared April 1, 1816, amounted to four per cent. But this dividend did not continue. There was a great deal of complaint about the rates of toll, and many persons refused to cross on the bridge, preferring to ford the creek whenever it was possible. The tolls were as follows: "for every coach, landau; chariot, phaeton, or other pleasurable carriage with four wheels, drawn by four horses, 75 cents; the same carriages with two horses, 50 cents; every wagon with four horses, 50 cents; every wagon with two horses, 37 cents; every chaise, riding chair, sulky, cart, or other two-wheeled
1 P. L., 169.
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carriage, or a sleigh or sled with two horses, 25 cents; the same with one horse, 18 cents; single horse and rider, 6 cents; led horse or mule, 2 cents; foot passengers, 2 cents; sheep and swine, I cent." But as a matter of fact, not more than half of these rates were ever demanded.
Two years after this bridge was opened to traffic, March 3, 1818, one pier and two spans were carried away by the high water and ice. No attempt being made to rebuild, and no officers being elected for a period of fifteen years, the charter was forfeited.
On the 8th of April, 1833,' a new charter was granted by the Legislature under the same title, and commissioners were appointed to receive subscriptions of stock to build a new bridge. These were James Patterson, David Hoopes, David Townsend, John C. Hunter, and John Boles. November 7, 1833, the fol- lowing officers were elected: David Townsend, President; Ben- jamin Townsend, Treasurer; Edward Hoopes, Secretary ; Charles T. Whippo, Joseph Hoopes, James Patterson, M. F. Champlin, Joseph W. Maynard, and David Hoopes, Managers. The plans called for a new bridge five hundred feet long and twenty-eight feet wide; and, February 3, 1834, the contract was awarded to Farrow & Martin. July 19, 1834, Farrow & Martin aban- doned the contract, and it was given to William LeBaron, who completed the bridge the next spring. The bridge cost about $15,000. Nathaniel Coburn, a Revolutionary veteran, was made toll collector at a salary of $100 a year. His name is on the roll of Pennsylvania pensioners for 1820 as "Nathaniel Coburn, fifer." 2 The stock of the Brighton Bridge Company was bought by the Overgrade Bridge Company, which, as stated, built the present structure, but the former company still maintains its identity.
The next bridge in order of time and importance is that which was erected between Rochester and Bridgewater, under an Act of Assembly approved January 21, 1814,3 entitled “An Act to authorize the Governor to Incorporate a Company to erect a Toll Bridge over Big Beaver Creek, at or near Wolf Lane, in the County of Beaver." By this Act Robert Darragh,
I P. L., 379.
2 Penna. Arch., 2d series, vol. xv., p. 689.
3 P. L., 23.
The Bridgewater Bridge. From a painting owned by Hon. W. B. Dunlap.
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