History of Bedford, Somerset, Fulton counties Pennsylvania, Part 122

Author: Waterman, Watkins & Co.
Publication date: 1884
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 967

USA > Pennsylvania > Bedford County > History of Bedford, Somerset, Fulton counties Pennsylvania > Part 122
USA > Pennsylvania > Fulton County > History of Bedford, Somerset, Fulton counties Pennsylvania > Part 122
USA > Pennsylvania > Somerset County > History of Bedford, Somerset, Fulton counties Pennsylvania > Part 122

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).

Some years before the revolutionary war, Adam Lepley emigrated from Germany to Bed- ford county, and afterward to the present ter- ritory of Somerset county. He moved to Ohio about 1810, and there died at an advanced age. He was the father of four sons : Adam, Joseph, Jacob and George. Adam settled in South- ampton township prior to 1800. He followed blacksmithing, and died at the age of seventy- six. He married Elizabeth Horn, and was the father of Daniel, Valentine, Adam and Catha- rine, living ; Jacob, Joseph, George and Barbara, deceased. Daniel Lepley was born in 1799, and is the oldest man now living in Larimer town- ship. He has held a number of important offices ; was a captain of militia, justice of the peace in Southampton township, constable and county commissioner. Mr. Lepley moved to Larimer township in 1849. In 1850 Mr. Lepley erected the first gristmill in Larimer. The mill was burned in 1854, but was shortly afterward rebuilt by Edwin Deal. The second mill was also destroyed by fire; and Mr. Deal then erected the present structure.

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LARIMER.

Jacob Witt, a revolutionary soldier, was of Scotch origin. He was one of the pioneers of this county, and settled near Wellersburg, in Southampton township, where the house which he built is still standing. He carried on farm- ing and distilling until about 1830, when he died at the age of eighty-three. His sons were John, Samuel and Jacob. John was born in Lehigh county in 1785, and came to Somerset county in 1812. He followed surveying, was county sheriff, register and recorder. He died in 1859. At the time of his death he owned about nine thousand acres of land in this county. He married Catharine Davis, and was the father of four children : Samuel (deceased), John L., Cornelius H. and Caroline. John L. is a sur- veyor, and resides in Somerset. Cornelius H. is a farmer, living in the northern part of Lari- mer township. He was a soldier in the rebell- ion over three years.

J. M. Cook was born in Southampton town- ship. In 1882 he engaged in the mercantile business in Larimer township. Mr. Cook is also engaged in the lumber business, and is the pro- prietor of a steam flouring-mill. He is an ener- getic and successful business man.

Deal postoffice was established in 1882, with J. M. Cook as postmaster.

WITTENBURG.

Wittenburg is a small settlement built on a tract of land purchased by Jonathan Leasure

from John Witt. The first store in the place (which was likewise the first in the township) was kept by John Fichner. He was also the first postmaster and the first hotelkeeper. Fichner was succeeded in the mercantile business by Jo- seph Lepley, and Lepley by Harmon Johnson.

Herman Johnson, a native of Berlin, Somer- set county, came to Wittenburg in 1867, and engaged in the mercantile business, which he is still following. Mr. Johnson has been post- master since 1868. In 1875 he was elected justice of the peace, and in 1880 re-elected. He is also treasurer and tax-collector of Larimer township. Mr. Johnson served as drummer in Co. F, 142d regt. Penn. Vols., nearly three years.

SAND PATCH.

Sand Patch is a small railroad station on the Baltimore & Ohio railroad, and is of modern growth. The first building in the place was erected by the Pittsburgh & Connellsville Rail- road Company. The land on which the village is situated was owned by Ananias Heffley.

S. P. Sweitzer has been engaged in the mer- cantile business in Sand Patch since 1874. He was the first postmaster in the place (appointed in 1873), and still holds the position. Was elected justice of the peace, 1879. Mr. Sweitzer is a native of this county. He served in the late war from January, 1862, to January, 1865, in Co. G, 19th regt. (infantry) of the U. S. A. (regular).

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HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY.

CHAPTER LXXVIII.

INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY.

Prefatory Remarks - Scope of the Following Chapters - The Geographical Position of Fulton County - Geology and Topography - Surface - Drainage - Principal Streams and Mountains - The Prominent Geological Features of Each Township of the County - Mineral Resources - The Great Variety and Wide Distribution of Iron Ores- Coal Beds - Limestone - Soil - The New Railroad.

NULTON county, having existed as a distinct political division of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania only since 1850, has but a brief history apart from that already given in pre- ceding chapters relative to the early colonial and state history of Bedford county. In the succeeding pages we have aimed to sketch events of local importance in the early settlement of Fulton, the trials of the pioneers, their suf- ferings from Indian barbarities, etc. Then fol- low chapters devoted to civil, military, legal, medical and educational history, the borough of McConnellsburg, and the several townships of Fulton county. Much labor and research have been expended in the preparation of these pages, and the writer feels confident that, if read in connection with the preliminary chapters of this volume, herein will be found the history of Fulton as full and accurate as could be obtained by diligent investigation at this late day.

Fulton county lies east of Bedford county and is separated from the latter by Ray's Hill mountain. On the north of Fulton lies Hunt- ingdon county ; on the east Franklin, and on the south the State of Maryland. The Cove and Tuscarora mountains, both majestic eleva- tions, form the line between Fulton and Frank- lin. Within the county, the principal mountain is Sideling Hill, which . is nearly parallel with the county line and traverses the western por- tion of the county from southwest to northeast. There are several smaller elevations, which, with intervening valleys, lend variety and picturesque- ness to the scenery.

The drainage of the county is mainly received by the Potomac. Brush Creek and Wells town- ships and the larger part of Taylor and Dublin, however, are traversed by streams whose waters ultimately mingle with those of the Susquehanna. [Brush, Sideling Hill, Wooden Bridge and Little Aughwick creeks are the most important water- courses of this district. The principal streams of the Potomac system are the Big and Little Conolloway* creeks and Licking creek. These with their tributaries receive nearly all the drainage of the county, excepting that belong- ing to the Susquehanna system.

The geology of Fulton county is rich in in- teresting features. The " coves " of the county owe their origin to the frequent occurrence of diminishing anticlinals and widening synclinals in close proximity. Want of space forbids a description of the axis of each of these in these pages ; suffice it to say that their presence accounts for the peculiar formation of the ridges and valleys, and also in part for the irregularity of the courses of the streams in the county.

Black Log, Shade, Cove, Tuscarora and Dick- ey's mountains are formed of the hard Medina sandstone of the Silurian system ; Ray's hill, Sideling hill, Town hill, Meadow Ground mountain and Scrub ridge, of the Pocono (Car- boniferous) system. Catskill red sandstone (Devonian), but little exposed, is the principal rock of Union township. In Brush Creek town- ship the outerop is Pocono sandstone along the mountains, and Mauch Chunk red shale (Car- boniferous) along the creek. The same rocks appear in Wells township, west of Sideling hill. The northwest corner of this township is occupied by the coal measures of the Broad Top region, around which the Pottsville conglomer- ate crops out. There are exposures of Mauch Chunk limestone in both Brush Creek and Wells.

* This name is variously written -Tonolloway, Tonalloway, Conolloway, Canallaway, etc., but usage seems to be in favor of the form Conolloway.

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INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY.

The Lewistown valley, which in Fulton county includes the townships of Bethel, Belfast, Lick- ing Creek and Taylor, with portions of Thom- son and Dublin, is bounded on the west by Sideling hill, but has no well-defined eastern limit. The main rock throughout the western part of the valley is the Catskill red sandstone, east of which a wide belt of Chemung shale (Devonian) appears. At the Maryland line, the Chemung belt is entered by a cone-shaped pro- jection (as one would represent it on a map), of the Lower Helderberg limestone (Silurian), widest at the state line, and terminating almost in a point at Needmore. A narrow outcrop of Oriskany sandstone (Silurian) surrounds this cone, and is itself girded by Hamilton shales (Devonian). Portage flags (Devonian), olive brown in color, form massive cliffs on Tonolo- way creek. Belfast and Licking Creek town- ships show Chemung and Portage rocks through- out their central portion, and various outcrops of the upper and lower conglomerates of the same. Pocono sandstone appears along Side- ling hill and Scrub ridge. The Catskill sand- stone is the principal rock of Taylor township. A strip of Chemung skirts the eastern line of the township. The same rock also appears, from Dublin mills to within a mile of West Dublin.

The rocks of Thomson township, beginning at the west, and proceeding eastward, are the Lower Helderberg and its concomitant outcrops before mentioned, the Chemung and Hamilton shales, Catskill sandstones, Chemung and Ham- ilton, a narrow strip of Oriskany, with a paral- lel strip (wider) of Lower Helderberg limestone, Mauch Chunk red shale, and, in Dickey's and the Cove mountain, Medina sandstone.

Ayr, Tod and Dublin townships show a vari- ety of formations of Lower Silurian rocks. Along the Cove Creek road, in the southern part of Ayr, appears the Lower Helderberg limestone. The lowlands of the Great Cove are mainly underlaid by Lower Silurian lime- stone, of which there are frequent out- crops. Scrub ridge and Meadow Ground moun- tain are Pocono sandstone ; they are surrounded by Catskill sandstone, upon which abuts Che- mung shale. An interesting geological feature of this locality is the Cove fault, originating in Dickey's mountain, about one mile south of Big Spring run, and extending north and northwest to within about a mile of

Huntingdon county. From the origin of this fault to the northwest side of Little Scrub ridge, where it passes into the Clin- ton, its jaws hold the upper beds of the White Medina. A projecting wall, fifty to two hundred feet wide, is formed by this rock. It also forms Lowrie's Knob. Where Spring Valley run crosses the fault, the Marcellus rock (Devonian) is in contact with the Lower Silurian limestone. Various exposures of Medina and Chemung rocks are observed in tracing the fault northward. Hudson river and Utica shales (Lower Silurian) appear on the sides of the cove in Ayr and Tod townships. Chemung and Hamilton shale, Portage flags, conglomerates, Clinton shale and Lower Hel- derberg limestone are all found in Dublin township.

Fulton county is rich in the extent and variety of its iron ores. But, owing to the entire absence of railroad facilities, these minerals have re- ceived comparatively little attention, until very recently. With the prospect of the speedy construction of the Southern Pennsylvania rail- road through the county, ore lands are now in demand, and their value is steadily appreciating. The quality of some of the ores has been fully tested. As far back as 1827, the Hanover furnace was successfully operated in Ayr township, nine miles south of McConnellsburg. Like many other furnaces far from transportation facilities, it went out of blast years ago.

Brown hematite has been found in Union, Wells, Brush Creek, Belfast and Bethel town- ships, and on Meadow Ground in Ayr township. Along the west of Scrub ridge, in Licking Creek township, it is found of excellent quality. Dublin township also has valuable quantities of the same ore. Micaceous and fossiliferous ores exist in Ayr. Hematite was mined near Elysian mills to supply Hanover furnace ; also, quite ex- tensively, at Sargent's Rocks, where the ore is a brown compact hematite which is believed to exist in considerable quantities. Kidney iron ore is quite abundant in Wells ; it is also found in small quantities in other parts of the county. Hard fossiliferous ore, which experts pronounce practically worthless, has been discovered in the north part of Tod township. Fossil ore of fair quality is found on Black Log mountain, in Dublin township. The investigations yet made offer but a slight basis for estimating the value or extent of the ores mentioned. Yet it is con-

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HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY.

fidently believed by the best informed citizens that there is untold wealth in the mineral resources of the county. Certainly with ore in nearly every township, and in such variety, there are good grounds for this belief.

The coal area of the county is of small extent, and is confined principally to the Broad Top region in Wells township. Here the Barnet mine has been worked several years for the sup- ply of local demands. There are several beds of coal in the same section, but the most of them have not yet been tested.

Limekilns have been established in nearly every neighborhood where limestone is found. The lime is principally used as a fertilizer, and has added largely to the productive capacity of the land. Only railroads are needed to render the quarries valuable, as the stone is of excellent quality.

The soil varies greatly in different parts of the county. In the limestone regions of the coves it is highly productive and very valuable. Other valleys have a mixed soil of average fer- tility. There is much valuable timber in every township of the county.

Fulton county has thus far been without rail- road privileges within its borders. In Novem- ber, 1883, work commenced on the Southern Pennsylvania railroad, which extends from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh, and crosses the northern part of Fulton county from east to west. There will be extensive and costly tunnels through the Tuscarora, Sideling Hill and Ray's Hill mountains.

CHAPTER LXXIX. EVENTS OF COLONIAL DAYS.

Scotch-Irish Settlers of Fulton County, 1740 to 1750 - Secretary Peters Sent by the Province to Drive Intruders from the In- dian Lands - Names of the Settlers of the Great Cove - Three Cabins Burnt in the North End of the Cove -Secretary Peters' Testimony as to the Settlement of the Cove and Conolloways- Effect of Braddock's Defeat upon the Frontier Settlements-Indian Barbarities - The Great Cove Massacre, November 1, 1755- Names of the Murdered and Captured - Correspondence, giving Details of the Bloody Deeds of the Savages - Adventures, Skirmishes and Murders, 1756 to 1763 - The Revolutionary Period - Nativity and Characteristics of the Settlers - Fort Lyttleton -An Important Post of Colonial Days.

THE Scotch-Irish, forced to leave their native land by religious persecutions, began to settle in Pennsylvania as early as 1719, and for many succeeding years their number rapidly increased. They were the progressive pioneers

who prepared the way for the civilization of Western Pennsylvania. They were bold, hardy and fearless by nature.' The older counties of the province, becoming well settled, were too narrow for their adventurous spirits, and they began pushing forward into land which the Indians still owned. The Indians, seeing their hunting-grounds usurped, became incensed and threatened the settlers with violence. The pro- prietaries, in the hope of avoiding bloody war- fare, were thus led to take active measures where the proclamations of the governor had been without avail. Richard Peters, secretary of the province, and Conrad Weiser, interpreter, were directed to proceed into the county of Cumberland, and expel the intruders. They set out May 15, 1750, and were joined by the magistrates of the county, the delegates of the Six Nations, a chief of the Mohawks, and! Andrew Montour, an interpreter from Ohio; and, after a conference, proceeded to carry out the objects of their mission.

"On Monday, the 28th of May," says Mr. Peters, in his report to Gov. Hamilton, "we were met at Shippensburg by Samuel Smith, Will- iam Maxwell, George Croghan, Benjamin Chambers, Robert Chambers, William Allison, William Trent, John Finley, John Miller, Her- manus Alricks and John Galbreath, esquires, justices of Cumberland county, who informing us that the people in Tuscarora Path, in Big cove and Aughwick would submit, Mr. Weiser earnestly pressed that he might be excused from any further attendance," on account of necessary business at home, and the request was reluctantly granted.

On Wednesday, May 30, the magistrates and company proceeded into Path valley, convicted the trespassers, compelled them to give bonds for immediate removal with their families and effects, and also for appearance at the next term of court, and burned eleven log houses. They next visited, the Aughwick settlement, then turned their attention to the people of the Big cove.

We give the words of Secretary Peters : "The like proceedings at Big Cove against Andrew Donaldson, John McClelland, Charles Stewart, James Downy, John MacMean, Robert Kendell, Samuel Brown, William Shepperd, Roger Murphy, Robert Smith, William Dickey, Will- iam Millican, William MacConnell, Alexander MacConnell, James Campbell, William Carrell, John Martin, John Jamison, Hans Patter, John

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EVENTS OF COLONIAL DAYS.

MacCollin, James Wilson and John Wilson, who, coming before the magistrates, were con- victed on their own confession of the like tres- passes as in former cases, and were all bound over in like recognizances, and executed the like bond to the proprietaries. Three waste cabins of no value were burnt at the north end of the cove by the persons that claimed a right to them. The Little cove [in Franklin county] and the Big and Little Conolloways being the only places remaining to be visited, as this was on the borders of Maryland, the magistrates declined going there, and departed for their homes."

In the same report, dated July 2, 1750, Mr. Peters further states : " At that time (1741) none had presumed to settle at a place called the Big cove - having this name from its being enclosed in the form of a basin by the southernmost range of the Kittochting hills and Tuscarora hills, which last end here and lose themselves in other hills. This Big cove is about five miles north of the temporary line [of the province], and not far west of the place where the line terminated. Between the Big cove and the temporary line lies the Little cove, so called from its being likewise encircled with hills; and to the west of the Little cove, toward Powtowmec, lie two other places called the Big and Little Conolloways, all of them situate on the temporary line, was it to be extended toward Powtowmec." " In the year 1741 or 1742," continues Mr. Peters, "infor- mation was likewise given that people were beginning to settle in those places, some from Maryland and some from this province. But as the two governments were then not on very good terms, the governor did not think proper to take any other notice of these settlements than to send the sheriff to serve his proclama- tion on them, thought it ample occasion to lament the vast inconvenience which attend unsettled boundaries. After this the French war came on, and the people in those parts, taking advantage of the confusion of the times, by little and little, stole into the Great cove ; so that at the end of the war* it was said thirty families had settled there; not, however, without frequent prohibitions on the part of the govern- ment, and admonitions of the great danger they run of being cut off by the Indians, as

these settlements were on lands not purchased of them. At the close of the war, Mr. Maxwell, one of the justices of Lancaster county, deliv- ered a particular message from this government to them, ordering their removal, that they might not occasion a breach with the Indians ; but it had no effect."

Mr. Peters further adds that "the bulk of these settlements were made during the admin- istration of President Palmer," which lasted from May, 1747, to November, 1748. This testimony is conclusive and firmly establishes the date of the first settlements within the present county of Fulton.

Here is another fact which doubtless had its influence in the settlement of this region subse- quent to 1750 : In that year, in consequence of frequent disturbances between the Irish and Ger- man settlers in York and Lancaster counties, the proprietaries forbade their agents to make any further sales of land to the Irish in those counties. They also made advantageous offers to the Irish for their removal to the new county of Cumberland, which had been erected in that year.

The settlers in the Little cove * (now Frank- lin county) and on the Conolloways, at the time of Secretary Peters' visit to the Big Cove, were: Joseph Coombe, John Herrod, William James, Thomas Yates, Lewis Williams, Elias Stilwell, John Meeser (?), John Newhouse, Rees Shelby, William Lofton, Charles Wood, Henry Pierson, George Rees, William Morgan, John Lloyd, Levi Moore, John Graham, Wm. Linn, Andrew Coombe, John Polk and Thomas Haston.

After Braddock's defeat, July 9, 1755, the fires of savage warfare, long since kindled, blazed forth anew, and spread rapidly, leaving death and desolation in their train. The Indians entered upon a wild career of carnage. Mad- ness seemed to possess them and they literally reveled in blood. Throughout the frontiers of Pennsylvania their warcry sounded ; many fair valleys were laid waste, hundreds of homes made desolate; victims of the scalping-knife were numbered by scores; and captivity, worse than death, became the fate of many more. There is scarcely a valley in all the mountain

*Not the French and Indian war, as the date of the com- munication proves.

* By an act of March 29, 1798, "all that part of Bedford, com- monly called the Little Cove, and lying eastward of a line to begin in the Maryland line near the Great Cove or Tuscarora mountain, thence northeasterly along the summit of said mountain until it intersects the present line between Bedford and Franklin coun- ties," was annexed to Montgomery township, Franklin county.

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HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY.

region of the state then occupied by the whites which was not the scene of fiendish atrocities.

THE GREAT COVE MASSACRE.

On Saturday, November 1, 1755, a party of about one hundred Indians," Shawnees and Delawares, among them Shingas, the Delaware king, entered the Great cove and began mur- dering the defenseless inhabitants and destroy- ing their property. The savages divided into two parties, one of which attacked the inhab- itants of the cove, and the other swept down upon the Conolloways. All the settlers who had warning of the approach of the savages fled. Many thus saved their lives, and, going into the neighboring settlements, gave the alarm to the inhabitants. John Potter, sheriff of Cumberland county, Rev. John Steel, Adam Hoop, and others of the Conococheague settle- ment, forming a scouting party, went in quest of the Indians, but did not succeed in over- taking them.

On November 14, Sheriff Potter was in Phila- delphia, and before the provincial authorities, made the following statement relative to the extent of the ravages of the Indians : "He said that twenty-seven plantations were burnt and a great quantity of cattle killed ; that a woman ninety-three years of age was found lying killed, with her breast torn off and a stake run through her body ; that of ninety-three families which were settled in the two coves and the Conolloways, forty-seven were either killed or taken and the rest [had] deserted."

The Pennsylvania Gazette of November 13, 1755, gives the names of several of the killed and captured as follows : Elizabeth Gallway, Henry Gilson, Robert Peer, William Berryhill and David McClelland were murdered. The miss- ing are John Martin's wife and five children, William Gallway's wife and two children and a young woman, Charles Stewart's wife and two children, David McClelland's wife and two children. William Fleming and wife were taken prisoners ; Fleming's son and one Hicks were killed and scalped.t

The details of the massacre, as far as they were known at the time, are best given in the following correspondence :

*The number is variously given in the records of the time; but as two witnesses agree upon the above number, we have given their estimate. There were also, it was stated, some French among the Indians.

t Rupp's History.

FALLING SPRINGS, Sabbath Morning, Nov. 2, 1755. To the Inhabitants of the Lower Part of the county of Cumberland :

Gentlemen,- If you intend to go to the assistance of your neighbors, you need wait no longer for the certainty of the news. The Great Cove is destroyed. James Campbell left his company last night and went to the fort at Mr. Steel's meeting-house and there saw some of the inhabitants of the Great Cove, who gave this account, that as they came over the hill they saw their houses in flames. The messenger says that there are but one hundred, and that they are divided into two parts; the one part to go against the Cove, and the other against the Conolloways, and that there are two French among them; they are Delawares and Shawnees. The part that came against the Cove are under the command of Shingas, the Delaware king. The people of the Cove that came off saw several men lying dead; they heard the murder shout and the firing of guns, and saw the Indians going into their houses that they had come out of, before they left sight of the Cove. I have sent express to Marsh Creek at the same time I send this; so I expect there will be a good company there this day, and as there are but one hundred of the enemy, I think it is in our power, if God permit, to put them to flight, if you turn out well from your parts. I understand that the West settlement is designed to go if they can get any assistance to repel them. All in haste, from

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History of Bedford, Somerset, Fulton counties Pennsylvania, Part 122

Author: Waterman, Watkins & Co. Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Number of Pages: 967

Author: Waterman, Watkins & Co.
Publication date: 1884
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 967