History of Bedford, Somerset, Fulton counties Pennsylvania, Part 130

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

USA > Pennsylvania > Bedford County > History of Bedford, Somerset, Fulton counties Pennsylvania > Part 130
USA > Pennsylvania > Fulton County > History of Bedford, Somerset, Fulton counties Pennsylvania > Part 130
USA > Pennsylvania > Somerset County > History of Bedford, Somerset, Fulton counties Pennsylvania > Part 130

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).

Having obtained a good mercantile education, he, in 1819, decided to try his fortune in America, and shipped from Liverpool for Philadelphia. This same year he settled at Fort Lyttleton, and engaged in farming until 1831, when he engaged in the mercantile business with Col. Jas. Agnew, in McConnellsburg, in one of the oldest and most successful stands in this part of the state. In 1847 Mr. Agnew retired, and Mr. Greathead continued the business alone until 1858, when he associated his son, John W., with him.

Mr. and Mrs. T. Greathead reared a family of ten children, and remained here until their demise, she pass- ing away in 1867, aged seventy-four years, and he in 1874.

Fully appreciating the benefits of the English govern- ment, their love of their mother country never grew cold, and was only overruled by a deeper solicitude and higher hopes for their adopted country and the prosper- .ity and happiness of their children in the land of their choice.

Mr. and Mrs Greathead were consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and their home was the hospitable roof that sheltered the ministers when on the tour of their circuits.

John W. Greathead, the immediate subject of this sketch, was born February 24, 1834. He early assisted his father in the store, and at the age of sixteen years engaged with Mr. Daniel Snively, of Greencastle, where

he remained for two years, and then went to Dubuque. Iowa, where, on the strength of a letter of recom- mend from Mr. Snively, he immediately secured a clerkship. His employer's finances being in an em- barrassed condition, he concluded to change employ- ers and selected one of two offers which he consid- ered the best ; this employer soon failed, and he was se- lected by the assignee to close up the business, which responsible position he filled with eminent satisfaction.

In September, 1854, he entered the employ of Messrs. Barney, Scott & Co., a large drygoods house, as book- keeper and cashier, where he remained until 1857, when he severed his connection with this firm to accept an offer of copartnership with his father, at the old stand in McConnellsburg, Pennsylvania. From April, 1858, until 1868, the business was continued under the firm name of T. & J. W. Greathead, when the senior member retired, and J. W. continued the business alone until January 1, 1884, when Mr. Greathead associated his son, R. Newton, with him in the business, the style of the firm now being J. W. Greathead & Son. In 1862 the firm then in business lost nearly everything by reason of the rebels, who invaded the borough and pillaged the store. This, however, did not discourage them, for they continued business notwithstanding constant menace of recurring invasions. The year 1881 completed the first half-century of business conducted at this stand, during which time it only suffered an interruption of about five weeks, when the store-building was being remodeled. Two stools made of pine-that were made and used by the founder of the business, Mr. Agnew-are still re- tained by the present proprietors as relics.

October 2, 1860, J. W. Greathouse was married to A. Virginia, daughter of Col. H. W. Dellinger, of Clear- spring, Maryland.

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THE BOROUGH OF MCCONNELLSBURG.

Fisher, of this county, the following year, and for five years was engaged in farming. He next clerked for sixteen months at Matilda furnace in Mifflin county, then returned to railroading for two years. Mr. Woollet kept hotel in Mount Union, Huntingdon county, from 1876 to 1880. He then bought the hotel prop- erty known as the Washington House, in McConnellsburg, where he has since continued business.

August Rexroth, proprietor of the Eagle Hotel, was born in Germany, and emigrated to America in 1853. After residing three years in York county and eleven years in Franklin county, in 1867 he removed to McConnellsburg, where he has since lived. Mr. Rexroth learned the tanner's trade in Germany and has fol- lowed it for about four years in this country. Since 1860 he has been engaged in hotel- keeping.

David Goldsmith was born near Chambers- burg, Franklin county, in 1827, and when an infant moved with his parents to Mount Pleasant, Westmoreland county. At the age of fifteen he commenced learning tailoring in Fayette county, and has followed the trade ever since. Mr. Goldsmith moved to McConnellsburg in 1850 and has since resided in this town. In the fall of 1864 he enlisted in the 23d Ill. regt., with which he served until the close of the war. He married Miss Hannah E. Wilson in 1849, and is the father of nine children, seven living.

CHURCHES.

St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church .- The first church erected in the village of Mc- Connellsburg was a small log structure on the site of the present Lutheran church, in 1801. It was then ample in size for the accommoda- tion of all the people in the place. It was after- ward weatherboarded and painted red. The church had no pastor during the first three years, but there was frequent preaching by traveling missionaries. Rev. Jonathan Ruthrauff, 1804-14, was the first pastor, and under him the congregation prospered greatly. Succeed- ing pastors : Revs. Ferdinand Cramer, 1814-26: M. Schultz, 1826; Reuben Weiser, - Diefen- baugh ; Samuel Rothreck, 1835-7 ; Peter Zahn, 1837-43 ; David Smith, 1843-5 ; W. A. Kopp, 1845-50 ; Martin M. Bechtel, 1850-4; Solomon McHenry, 1854-9 ; G. Rothis, 1859-64 ; A. M. Whetstone, 1864-9 ; Ph. Doerr, 1869-71 ; J. B. Anthony, 1871-3; Joseph R. Focht, 1874-6;

H. B. Winton, 1876-80 ; B. F. Kautz, 1880, present pastor.

Under the Rev. Mr. Diefenbaugh, the Re- formed congregation was united to the Luth- eran, but the union lasted only for a short time. Rev. David Smith, since known as the Lutheran revivalist, conducted the first revival in the church. Another took place under Rev. Solo- mon McHenry.

· The present house of worship was erected in 1848. The membership of the congregation in November, 1883, was one hundred and eighty- four.

Presbyterian :- It is believed that there was frequent preaching by supplies in the Great cove* as far back as 1769. The precise date of the formation of a congregation is not known, but it was prior to 1791. The organization was known as the Great Cove congregation. The first elders were William Alexander, William Gaff and Charles Taggart. Subsequently Alex- ander Alexander and James White were elected to the same office. Judge John Dickey was a leading member, and for some time services were held in his house. Chiefly through his in- fluence, a log church was erected two miles south of McConnellsburg, and in it the congre- gation worshiped until 1811. Then a church edifice was built upon the site of the present, in McConnellsburg. Mr. Barclay gave five hun- dred dollars toward the building.

The first regular pastor, Rev. Isaac Kellar, was settled here in 1818, and remained about five years. After his removal a Mr. Jewett came and organized an independent church, greatly to the injury of the Presbyterian con- gregation. Rev. Robert Kennedy, of Welsh Run church, was the stated supply of McCon- nellsburg for several years prior to 1833. Suc- ceeding pastors : Rev. N. G. White, 1834-64 ; Rev. Joseph H. Mathers, 1865-8 ; Rev. S. W. Pomeroy, 1868-71; Rev. J. Horner Kerr, 1873-3; Rev. R. F. McLean, 1877-80 ; Rev. George Elliott, 1880, present pastor.

During the long pastorate of Mr. White, four hundred and thirty-six persons were admitted to membership, chiefly on profession. When he took charge, in 1834, the church had one hun- dred and thirty-five members. During his pas- torate the church in McConnellsburg was twice repaired. In 1867 the old. church was torn down to make room for the present costly and beautiful edifice, which was dedicated on the

*Sce chapter on Ayr township.

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HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY.

5th of November, 1868. The bell was pre- sented by Mr. Samuel Agnew, of Philadelphia.

The churches of McConnellsburg, Green Hill and Wells Valley have always formed one pas- torate. McConnellsburg congregation had nine- ty-two members in November, 1883.

Rev. David Elliott Campbell, who was well known to the people of McConnellsburg, was born in Mercersburg in 1825. He was taken into the family of his uncle, Elias Davidson, of McConnellsburg, when a boy ; graduated from Marshall College and the Western Theological Seminary, and went with his wife to India, in 1850, as a missionary of the Presbyterian church. Both fell martyrs to the cause of Christianity in the Sepoy revolt of 1857, being cruelly mur- dered along with their two small children. Sev- eral other missionaries were slain at the same time. Both Mr. and Mrs. Campbell had many dear friends in this town.

Reformed .- The early history of the Reformed congregation in McConnellsburg cannot be ob- tained, owing to the want of records. The Reformed people worshiped with the Lutherans for many years. About 1834 the church building, now occupied by the Reformed congregation, was erected as a union house by the Reformed, the Presbyterians and other denominations. The following names of Reformed pastors and sup- plies are found on the church record : Revs. W. W. Good, 1840 ; J. B. Shade, 1843 ; A. Wanner, 1843 ; J. Heller, 1848 ; H. Wagner, 1851; M. A. Steward, 1853 ; D. G. Kline, 1856 ; J. G. Wolf, 1858 ; D. Sheel, 1859 ; C. F. Hoff- meier, 1862-4; D. W. Gerhard, 1865 ; E. V. Gerhart ; J. S. Shade, 1871; J. A. Reber, 1878-82. There has been a vacancy since Mr. Reber resigned. At the first communion held by Mr. Hoffmeier in 1862, June 1, fifty-four members were present. The present membership is about seventy. Services have generally been held in English and German alternately. Jacob Divens, John Mulwitz, Jacob Hoke, Peter Tice, John Barman, Peter Long, and many others now de- ceased, were among the early members of this church. Henry Sheets has been a member since 1843.

Methodist .- The Methodist Episcopal church in McConnellsburg is a prosperous society. We are unable to learn the date of its organizaton. A house of worship was built by this denomination in McConnellsburg about 1843, which served as a place of worship until the new and costly brick

church now in use took its place. The latter was built in 1870.

NOTE .- The first organization of Methodists in Fulton county, of which there is any record, was in existence in 1791. Concerning it Rev. D. Hartman states : "It was at a place called Lavering's, at the base of Sideling Hill, mid- way between the turnpike and Warfordsburg. The circuit was called Bath, in Baltimore dis- trict; the preachers were Michael Leard and Jobn Simmons in 1791. In 1794 the Rev. Thomas Boyd, preacher in charge, died and was buried at the above-named appointment."

ODD-FELLOWS.

McConnellsburg Lodge, No. 744, I.O.O.F., was chartered as Cassawappa Lodge, November 15, 1870, and instituted on the 9th of December, 1870, with officers and charter members as follows :

J. J. Cromer, P.G .; R. V. Campbell, N.G .; S. M. Robinson, V.G .; B. N. Sterrett, S .; Peter M. Lamp, A. S .; Wm. H. Rodeay, Treas .; J. G. Jones, M. F. Fahnenstock, G. W. Naugle, James Wishart, J. D. Richardson, David Hoke, S. F. Dively, J. A. Rummel, Philip Doerr, J. L. Smith, William H. Tritle, S. W. Shoemaker, George Tritle and Jacob Clouser. Membership, Octo- ber 1, 1883, twenty-six ; value of lodge property, six hundred and eight dollars and one cent.

CHAPTER LXXXVI.

AYR AND TOD.

Its Organization - Original Area - Progressive Curtailment- Orthographical Changes in Names- Early History and Set- tlement - Changes in Name of Valley -- Date of First Set- tlement - Expulsion of Settlers - Great Cove Devastated 1755 - First Public Rond - James Buchanan's Birthplace in Old Ayr - The McConnells, Where Located - How Land Was First Held - Subsequent Land Titles - David Scott's Warrant the Oldest - David Scott as a Public Spirited Man - Earliest Land Titles - Early Settlements in (now) Tod Township- Early Pioncers - Personal Mention - Traditions - First Schoolhouse and Burying-Ground - First Church - Church Historics- Iron Works and Iron Ores - Ayr in 1773 and 1883 - Asr and Tod in the Great Rebellion - The "Battle of Ayr" - The Women of the Great Cove.

AYR TOWNSHIP- ITS ORGANIZATION - ORIGINAL BOUNDS, AND PROGRESSIVE CURTAILMENT.

T O write the complete early history of Ayr township and the earlier settlement of the territory comprised within its original bounds would be to write the history of that part of Fulton county lying east of the summit of Side-

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ling hill, and north of the Maryland line, as well as that part of Huntingdon county now embraced in Dublin, Shirley, Tell, Cromwell, Springfield, Clay, and part of Cass, and proba- bly part of Union townships of that county ; as, also, that part of Franklin county now cm- braced in Warren township (Little Cove), parts of Peters and Metal, and possibly part of Fannet townships, covering, at the time of the organ- ization of Ayr, an area almost equal to the State of Rhode Island, and fully double the present area of Fulton county. To do this would exceed the limits prescribed for this sketch and must therefore limit the history of Old Ayr- the " Mother of Townships."

The name of the township has been variously written at different stages of its existence. The first record of it is Aire. Since then it has passed through various styles of orthography, as Eur, Eyre, Eyer, Ayre, Are, Air, and finally has settled down, nearly universally, to the more correct and classical AYR ; although there are still some who adhere to the last preceding orthography-Air.

The territory, as above described, had its first municipal life in Cumberland county, as Aire township. The exact date of its organization is not known. At the time (1750) of the organ- ization of Cumberland county, this territory was yet the unpurchased domain of the Indian, but on the 6th of July, 1754, the Penns, by their agents, purchased it from the chiefs of the Six Nations and it at once became a part of Cum- berland county. The Great Cove and contigu- ous parts were then, and had been for a long time, settled by a considerable number of adventur- ous pioneers, and it is reasonable to assume that as soon after " Purchase of 1754 " as the case could be reached by court proceedings, the township was organized. The Sessions Docket of the Cumberland county court, on the 21st of July, 1761, by the list of constables, shows that there were fifteen townships in all the vast ter- ritory covered by that county, extending from the South mountain to the Alleghenies and from the. Maryland line to the Susquehanna, and that Aire, Fannet, Lack, Tyrone, and perhaps one or two others, were the organized townships in the then recently purchased territory west of the Kittatinny mountain, showing that Ayr had at that date a complete municipal organization and was among the first, if not the very first, township created in the " Purchase of 1754."

At October sessions, 1767, of the Cumberland county court, Ayr was divided and Dublin town- (ship erected out of the northern end, Ayr be- ing thus shorn of nearly half her territory. The next reduction of Ayr was the erection of Bethel township, January 12, 1773, shortly after Bedford county was organized. Belfast town- ship came next ; the exact date not ascertained, but it was erected prior to 1795 and not earlier than 1790. March 29, 1798, the Little Cove, then in Ayr township, was detached and an- nexed to Franklin county. Licking Creek township followed, September 21, 1837.

Ayr township was now confined, in the main, to the Great Cove, having a length of from eighteen to twenty miles and an average breadth of about four miles, and thus remained until March 20, 1849, when Tod township, the last, but not the least fair, of Old Mother Ayr's family, was born. This reduced the township, that originally covered an area of from eight hundred to nine hundred square miles, to about forty-six; and she is yet the fairest of the family.

EARLY SETTLEMENT AND HISTORY.

Much of the early history of Ayr township is necessarily embodied in the general history of Fulton county, to which the reader is re- ferred. This sketch will now be confined to the township as it is at this writing, as nearly as may be ; but as the Great Cove was a con- spicuous factor in the history of the state a century and a half ago, and as Ayr township embraced the entire valley until Tod township was erected, only some thirty odd years since, in speaking of the Great Cove both Ayr and Tod townships must be included.

In later years the qualifying adjective "Great" was dropped, and this valley was known for years as " McConnell's Cove," by reason of the prominence of the McConnell families, who were of the earliest settlers. More recently, however, and at the present time, the name uni- versally employed is "Big Cove."

The precise date of the first settlement of the Great Cove is not known, but it dates back cer- tainly twenty years beyond the purchase of 1754, and, possibly, to 1730. Benjamin Cham- bers' settlement on the Conococheague, where Chambersburg now is, was begun in that year (1780). But farther westward, under the very shadow of the Kittatinny, at or in the immediate

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vicinity of the place where Mercersburg now is, and near the gateway through the Kittatinny mountain, early known as Larraby's Gap, but now as Cove Gap, was a settlement so far ante- dating Col. Chambers' settlement that the re- quirements of the settlers justified the building of a mill in 1729, by James Black. From this settlement, which, in that early day, was proba- bly the farthest west in the Cumberland valley, and nearest the border that separated the white settlers from the Indian domain, no doubt radiat- ed the early pioncers to the Great Cove through Larraby's Gap. The stream of water flowing through that gap, now known as Buck run, is noted in the early surveys as Larraby's run.

That this theory of the first settlers in the Great Cove is correct, is manifest from the simi- larity of names. Allison, Armstrong, Alexan- der, McConnell, Patterson, Reynolds, Stevens, Scott, Smith and others are names which ap- pear prominently in the earliest settlements, alike on the western border of the Cumberland valley and in the Great Cove, and that both settlements were nearly cotemporaneous is hardly controvertible. It went for naught with these intrepid Scotch-Irish spirits that the ter- ritory they were invading was yet the unsold domain of the Indian. The love of adventure and the desire to possess the rich lands of this beautiful valley overcame all other considera- tions. The friendly relations at that time cx- isting between the whites and the Indians for a time gave the pioneers immunity against moles- tation of any serious character from the red man.

But in due time he began to regard this in- trusion with suspicion and jealousy, and trouble came. Savage though he was, he yet desired to hold sacred his treaty obligations with his pale- faced brothers, and so, after years of submission to the intrusion, he appealed to the proprietary government for the sanctity of the treaty by the expulsion of the intruders, which was done in 1750, a full account of which is given in the general history, to which the reader is directed. But these rugged frontiersmen again returned, preferring to confront danger from the savage foc rather than remain within the pale of pro- tection from the provincial government, al- though much of the finest land in the Cumber- land valley was yet unappropriated by settlers. A reasonable theory for this is, that in that lo- cality warrants must be obtained and the land

paid for as a condition precedent to appropriat- ing it ; while in the Great Cove it could be had without these preliminaries, and held, perhaps for years, before the Indian title would be ex- tinguished and such a demand be made on them. For awhile these things worked out their ex- pectations with reasonable smoothness. As be- fore stated, these lands were purchased from the Indians in 1754, and Ayr township was created soon thereafter. By this treaty and purchase the Indians claimed they were defrauded. They became discontented and lost faith in the honor of the white man, whom they had previously trusted. The French and the English were then at war, and the French speedily availed themselves of the situation and arrayed the In- Idians against the English, and after the defeat of Braddock, July 9, 1755, turned their savage allies loose upon the frontiers, by which the Great Cove was devastated in the latter part of October in that year. For detailed account of this and what transpired in the Cove during the following decade, the reader is again referred to the general history.

Among the early settlers in this valley, now Ayr and Tod townships, were, besides those be- fore named as corresponding to like names in the frontier settlements in the Cumberland valley, the McConnells - Adam, Robert, William and Daniel. The McConnells were prominent in, and among the earliest settlers of, the Great Cove, but all trace of them has disappeared from the valley and the township. In 1761 William was one of the supervisors of Ayr township (Reis Shelby being the other). In that year the Cum- berland county court, on the favorable report of the viewers, of whom Francis Patterson and James Smith of Ear township were part, granted a "bridle road " from Carlisle, by way of Larraby's (now Cove) Gap, to the foot of Sideling Hill, to intersect the Provincial road, and ordered the said supervisors of Ear town- ship to open the same from Larraby's Gap to said Provincial road, and that they "do have the said road completed with all convenient speed." This, so far as the records show, was the first public road opened by order of court through Ayr township, which, at that time, was yet unshorn of any part of its original area. This road, too, passed through Stony Batter, then in Ear township, and since become fa- mous as the birthplace of James Buchanan, fifteenth president of the United States.

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Adam McConnell, the father, settled on the land now owned by William Warthin ; Robert settled on the farm now owned by William M. Patterson, and William and Daniel settled on the tract where now stands McConnellsburg.

The restless spirit of adventure induced Will- iam to sell out to Daniel, at an early day, and "go west." Daniel became the founder of the town, died there and was buried in the old burial-ground on the farm of Jacob Hykes. The writer of this sketch had some interesting correspondence in 1876 with Adam McConnell, a grandson of the founder of McConnellsburg, and then residing in Armstrong county, Penn- sylvania. These letters were handed to the general historian and their substance embodied in the chapter devoted to McConnellsburg.

It is pertinent here to say, parenthetically, that the proprietary government did not issue any warrants or other rights for land west of the Kittatinny (now known as North) mountain prior to 1754, as the Indian title to these lands was not extinguished until July 6 of that year, but that much of the land in the Great Cove was occupied and held on claims long before that date has already been shown and is evi- denced by the fact that in 1750 the settlers on these Indian lands had become so numerous as to excite the jealousy of the Indians, upon whose complaint the proprietary authorities drove these intruders out, or so many of them as could be found. But most of them speedily returned and other pioneers rapidly followed. Among actual settlers, claims staked out were re- ligiously respected, and on these claims most of the settlers held their lands for years, even after the land was opened to entry. From the first to the present time, with the exception of a brief interval from 1761 to 1769, the system of obtaining title to land in this state was by warrant. Under this system the land applied for must be paid in advance, which, even at the low price of land, many were not able to do. To meet this difficulty and to encourage rapid set- tlement and improvement, the proprietaries, in 1761, established a system of taking land on "application," by which land was sold on in- definite credit, the purchase money running at a low rate of interest, and to be a lien on the land. This system remained in vogue until 1769, and under it much of the land in Ayr township, as also in other localities, was appro- priated, and, with few exceptions, these are the

earliest and oldest land titles in this valley ; but these same lands in most, if not all, cases had been held for from ten to thirty years on "im- provement claims." This explains the appar- ent discrepancy between the date of early land titles and the earlier settling in the Great Cove. Where persons were able to pay they preferred taking land on warrant, and there are some of these titles that date back farther than the application titles; notably that of David Scott, warranted in 1749, surveyed 1760, lying south of McConnellsburg and " calls " to adjoin William and Daniel McConnell's land, which was warranted and surveyed only in 1762, show- ing that the McConnells were in possession of and used that tract of land long before they obtained title from the proprietaries. . The evi- dence of this is that the McConnells were among the settlers expelled from the Great Cove in 1750.

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History of Bedford, Somerset, Fulton counties Pennsylvania, Part 130

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

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