History of Bedford, Somerset, Fulton counties Pennsylvania, Part 131

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

USA > Pennsylvania > Bedford County > History of Bedford, Somerset, Fulton counties Pennsylvania > Part 131
USA > Pennsylvania > Fulton County > History of Bedford, Somerset, Fulton counties Pennsylvania > Part 131
USA > Pennsylvania > Somerset County > History of Bedford, Somerset, Fulton counties Pennsylvania > Part 131

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).

David Scott's is the oldest warrant in Ayr township, so far as investigation has revealed. But David Scott's right to the land was dis- puted by Samuel Burge's warrant, dated Feb- ruary 3, 1755. Scott settled this difficulty by purchasing Burge's claim .* Adjoining David Scott's land on the west is a tract warranted to James Galbraith, February 20, 1755, now owned in parts by John B. Hoke, G. N. Hoke and others. Five miles south of this is a tract granted by proprietary warrant to William Sloan and Alexander Nisbet, June 11, 1767, which is still in possession of the descendants of the warrantees. Four miles farther down the valley, where formerly were the Hanover Ironworks, now Elysian Mills, John Rannells, Esq., located a warrant dated June 9, 1763. About three years ago a storm blew down an ancient apple-tree on this property. The tree was slightly decayed at the heart, but so far as could be determined the growths of the wood counted one hundred and twenty-three years, making no estimate of the decayed part, showing that the land was occupied, improved, and fruit- trees planted some years before a warrant was obtained. The present stone mansion on this property was built in 1808. The original im- provements have all been obliterated. The war- rants above recited are known ax proprietary.

Distributed pretty thickly throughout the

*In votes of Assembly V, 597. it isrecorded that "in 1763 David Scott gave his bond to pay and maintain twenty seven men of a scouting party for three months, during which time they repulsed the Indians who made attempts on the Great Cove, and the inhabitants got their crops reaped."

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Cove and within the present limits of Ayr township are lands granted from 1766 to 1769, both inclusive, on application, with present owners' names, where definitely known, given in brackets in the following résumé, running from McConnellsburg southward : Daniel Mc- Connell-partly in Tod-[D. T. Fields, et al.], James Liddle ; James Cunningham (two tracts) [Christian Martin, Jacob Hykes, et al.], David Scott (two tracts besides the one on earlier war- rant), Robert Hammel, Martha Hunter, "alias Swan, alias Scott," James Poak, James Galloway [William Nesbit, J. G. Tritle, et al.], Adam Mc- Connell [William Warthin], John Kerr [Rev. F. W. McNaughton, J. Finlay Johnston], Robert McConnell [William M. Patterson and Rev. F. W. McNaughton, at Webster Mills], Bryan and John Coyle [John F. Kendall], Owen Owen [the old Taggart place], James and John Mckinley [late Col. James H. Johnston, John Sowers], James Wilson [Joseph B. Mellott], Mary Brack- enridge [John Hege], William Beatty [ Widow Hendershot]. Returning to Webster Mills, thence down the Cove creek, noted in the early surveys as East Branch of Licking creek, we have, first under this system of granting rights, the tract granted to William Smith, Samuel Findley and William Marshall [ patented to Daniel Royer, and now owned by Rev. L. Cham- bers, Benjamin Fisher, George Mellott, Dr. P. McCauley Cook, et al.], Jeremiah Stilwell [Mrs. Magdalena Pott's heirs], Samuel Gib [Jonathan Hess, et al.], James Mitchell [Thomas Humbert].

Next to the few proprietary warrants pre- viously noted, these application rights are the oldest within the present bounds of Ayr town- hip. This system of granting lands on indefi- nite credit was abandoned some time during 1769, and thenceforth land was sold only on warrants and for cash, and the titles to all lands in this township, as elsewhere, granted after 1769 rest on warrants.

In that part of the Great Cove north of the turnpike and now embraced in Tod township, the settling was cotemporaneous with that part south of the turnpike, and the lands there were settled and held in like manner before the ex- tinguishment of the Indian title, and subject to the same interruptions by both the civil author- ities and the Indians.

Among the oldest, if not the very oldest, land-office right within Tod township is the farm of the late Dr. Jacob S. Trout, deceased,

which was granted to John Queery by proprie- tary warrant, dated September 8, 1755. Ad- joining this is the farm of George C. Scott, originally granted to Alexander Queery on ap- plication, dated May 8, 1767 ; and the farm of John M. Sloan, originally granted to James Rhea on application dated April 2, 1767.

In the northerly end of the Great Cove, in Tod township, the early settlements were co temporaneous with those in and about McCon- nellsburg, warrants for land on Licking Creek Flats having been issued as early as 1762-3 to Patrick Maxwell, James Maxwell, David Mc- Crory, Edward Head, Bigger Head, Edward Lingenhead, et al. Much of these lands now be- long to the descendants of the late David Fore, deceased, of later advent into the Great Cove from Maryland, and who, in 1828, was one of the representatives in the legislature of Penn- sylvania from Bedford county. About a decade later, his brother, H. H. Fore, was also elected to the legislature.

In the northerly end of the Great Cove (Tod township), on land now owned by A. J. Fore and formerly known as the Comerer farm, there was, in the time of the above-named early pio- neers, erected a private stockade fort, as a refuge for the frontier settlers during Indian disturbances. A similar fort also existed on the farm of the late James Kendall, two miles south of McConnellsburg.

This territory, until recently in Ayr, but now included within the bounds of Tod township, can justly be proud of two of its sons, who have won distinction and honor in science and statecraft.

Prof. John H. Tice, of St. Louis, Missouri, recently deceased, grew to manhood here and went hence to wider fields to seek fame and for- tune, and was successful in both. He was in every sense a self-made man, and became prom- inent as an electrician, meteorologist, astrono- mer and mathematician. Interesting incidents of his boyhood could be related if space per- mitted. Among his school companions and neighbors he was accounted lazy. They did not know the active brain of the boy, but have since learned to know him as a man of superior talents and of indefatigable industry and en- ergy.

Hon. Francis Jordan, like Prof. Tice, is es- sentially a self-made man, and, like him, sought wider fields, but within his native state. He

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was born where Rev. Mr. Rose lives, in (now) Taylor township, this county. He early came, with his father, to the Cove, and grew to man- hood on the farm now owned by Daniel E. Fore, Esq., in Tod township. Thence he went to Bed- ford and studied law. In due time he was sent to the state senate, where he speedily took rank among the able men of that body, and from that time forward he was a conspicuous figure, not alone in his own section, but throughout the en- tire state, in politics and statesmanship. He was among the earliest to espouse the cause of the new-born republican party, and with energy and ability fought its battles in its dark days, and contributed largely to win for it a place in the arena of national politics. His services, talents and statesmanship were recognized by his friends, and he was brought prominently before the people as a candidate for governor. But being a man of unswerving integrity, in- capable of stooping to the intrigues of the pro- fessional or " practical " politician, he twice failed of the nomination which he had so richly merited at the hands of the party he helped to cradle into existence and nurture into vigorous and triumphant manhood.

Mr. Jordan received his political inspirations and training in the Henry Clay school of pol- itics, and believed in the principles and recti- tude of that great man who said he "would rather be right than be president "; and on this principle he has uniformly acted. He was, dur- ing the two terms of Gov. Geary's administra- tion, secretary of the commonwealth ; and the writer of this heard Gov. Geary say that Mr. Jordan was " an able, conscientious, clearheaded statesman, a wise counselor and a just man."

Besides this, Mr. Jordan has held other posi- tions of honor and trust, in which large respon- sibilities were involved, with entire accepta- bility to others and credit to himself.

With the close of Gov. Geary's terms of office, Mr. Jordan retired from active politics, has since then resided at Harrisburg, has de- voted himself wholly to his profession and has built up a large and lucrative practice from all parts of the state.

At the time the present Chief Justice Mercur was nominated for judge of our supreme court, the next highest on the last ballot was Francis Jordan, and close up to the figure that nomi- nated Mercur, although he was not a candidate and his name had not been mentioned for the

place until a few days before the meeting of the convention.

Mr. Jordan is an honor to his native county and state, and Tod township, the youngest and fairest of "Old Mother Ayr's" family, may justly feel proud of her honored and distin- guished sons, Francis Jordan and John H. Tice.

EARLY PIONEERS.

As already stated, the precise date of the first advent of pioneers into the Great Cove is in- volved somewhat in uncertainty. Amid the haze that veils the early part of the century and a half that has lapsed since that time, we must deduce facts from cotemporary events and concurrent history. Dates of the oldest land titles in this case, at least, cannot establish the point of time when the pioneers began set- tling west of the Kittatinny mountains, as no locations by sanction of the provincial author- ities could be made before the Indian title was extinguished. This was the policy of the Penns. Non-descriptive warrants might have been is- sued which the warrantee might have purposed to plant in this valley ; as may have been the purpose in David Scott's case, but no survey would or could be made by any authorized sur- veyor until the title to the land was obtained from the aboriginal owner. Scott's warrant was issued in 1749, and the inference is that he had already located in this valley, but the survey thereon was not made until 1760. As it is, this is the oldest official survey in the valley -John Queery's not having been made until 1767. That Scott had been here more than a decade before he had his survey made, selected his Icca- tion and then obtained the warrant, its date (1749) proves. That others were in the valley long before that time as settlers is established by record .*

The widow Margaret Kendall, with her two sons, John and Robert, came in very early ; tradition among her descendants, in the fourth and fifth generations now living in the Great

* Gov. Patrick Gonlon, who died in 1736, wrote : "The progress of the white population toward the west continued to alarm and irritate the Indians. The new settlers, impatient of the delays of the land office, or unable or unwilling to pay for their lands, or in search of richer soil, sought homes in districts to which the Indian title had not been extinguished. Especially was this the case with the Scotch-Irish, who had seated themselves · . in the Great and Little Coves and at the Big

and Little Conolloways, * and rapidly increased, in de- spite of the complaints of the Indians. the laws of the Province,

or the proclamations of the Governor." This establishes the settlement of the places above named, prior to 1736, and if, in that year, the settlers had so increased as to " alarm and irritate" the Indians, it is entirely safe to say that the settlement of the Great Cove began, certainly, as early as 1730, and probably earlier - cotemporaneously with the settlement at Mercersburg, which was prior to 1729.

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Cove, says that her advent into this valley oc- curred " not later than 1735." The truth of this tradition will hardly be challenged when it is stated that right around the primitive hearth- stone of this lion-hearted, brave woman, her descendants have reached the sixth generation. This daring woman came from Maryland, and laid her hearthstone and reared her altar in the wilderness, on land now the property of Hon. Daniel Logan. There she died and was buried in 1750. A rough stone was erected at her grave, on which was rudely carved : "M. K., 1750," which the ravages of one and a third centuries have nearly effaced.

In the same year, 1750, her son Robert was one of the white settlers evicted by the sheriff of Cumberland county as an intruder on Indian lands, and, with others, was placed under bond to the proprietaries, not to trespass farther on the Indians' domain. John, with others, no doubt, eluded the sheriff and remained. Subsequently Robert sold his landed interests to John and emigrated to Kentucky. On the adoption of a slavery constitution there he moved to Ohio and is the progenitor of an almost innumerable line of descendants in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Iowa, while many of John's descendants, a numerous progeny, have adhered to the Great Cove with remarkable tenacity and have been prosperous. It is a noteworthy fact that the proprietary right to the land first settled on by the widow Ken- dall (and held in the family for fifty years with- out title) was not obtained from the state until April 13, 1785, when it was warranted in the name of Robert Kendall.

Of others among the early pioneers the names have already been mentioned in recounting old land titles ; many of these have long since dis- appeared from the Cove, and of many others not even a trace of blood remains under other names. The names of others of the early pio- neers still preserved in Ayr township directly are Alexander, Hunter, Hess, Kendall, Nelson, Patterson, Pittman, Sloan and Taggart. Indi- rectly, the Gibsons and the Coyles are repre- sented by the Kendalls, Alexander Nesbit by John Peoples and the Nelsons and the Conrads, John Kerr by. Jacob S. Pittman's family, and the Rankins by the Misses Mary and Nancy Hunter. The Alexanders, among the very ear- liest of the pioneers, have all disappeared except the family of Andrew, the last of the old stock of the Alexanders in the Great Cove.

The name of Hunter is still preserved in George A. Hunter, grandson of the original plant in this valley, and son of David Hunter, who was a picturesque character in this town- ship during the latter part of the last and the first half of the present century ; a useful man in the community ; a man of large public spirit and untiring energy, always engaged in enter- prises profitable to himself and affording remu- nerative employment to mechanics and laboring men. He was a representative in the legisla- ture in 1836, when this was yet Bedford county. George A. Hunter, on his mother's side, is a direct descendant from the Cromwells.

William Sloan settled here sometime during the Indian disturbances, between 1755 and 1764; was, with others, driven out by Indians, but returned to his "claim " as soon as quiet was restored by Col. Boquet's victory over the In- dians in 1763 and their complete subjugation in 1764. His name is still preserved in his pos- terity of the second, third, fourth and fifth generations, now residing on the original home- stead.

Charles Taggart, though not of the earliest, was among the ante-revolutionary settlers in Ayr township and was a patriot soldier during that struggle, was taken prisoner, carried to England and endured great suffering ; returned to America, and was subsequently a captain in the troops called out to suppress the whisky insurrection. The sword he wore still remains in the family. The name, once numerous, sur- vives now only, in the Great Cove, in the daugh- ter and only child of the late Charles Taggart, the last of the old race of that name.

Of others of the original pioneers, the Stew- arts, Smiths, Reynolds, Gibs, Stilwells, McKin- leys, Mcclellans, Poaks, Hammells, Galloways, and many others, there is neither record nor tradition from which to collate either incident or biography.

Col. William Patterson was a native of Scot- land. He was one of the pioneers of the cove, and located on the farm now owned by his grandson, Thomas Patterson, of McConnells- burg, long prior to the revolution. The family were several times driven from their home by the Indians. William Patterson was an orderly sergeant in the revolutionary war; served in the first legislature under the constitution of 1799. He dined by invitation with President Wash- ington, and was commissioned a justice of the

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peace and colonel of the militia by Gov. Mifflin. He died upon the old homestead, aged nearly one hundred years. His son Jeremiah was born in the cove in 1776; he died in Ohio. Jere- miah, John, William and Thomas were the sons, and Jane (Patterson), Polly (Morrow) and Sally (Proudfit), the daughters. John lived and died on the old homestead, and Thomas on an ad- joining farm. Two sons of Thomas are resi- dents of the county - Thomas, of McConnells- burg, and William H., of Webster's Mills. A third son, John, now deceased, lived in this county.

John Hendershot was born and reared in Bethel township. In 1844 he married Elizabeth Powell. In 1867 he removed from Bethel to Ayr township, having purchased three hundred and thirty acres of land in the "corner." Mr. Herdershot died in 1873. His widow still re- sides upon the farm, which is managed by her son, Isaac P. Hendershot, who also has a repu- tation as one of the best hunters in Fulton county.

The Pittmans, of Scotch descent, were among the earliest settlers in the cove. Their location was in Ayr township, near the present site of Pott's gristmill. Samuel Pittman was born in Ayr township in 1797 and died in 1883. He married Mary Smith, of this township, and reared a family of six children : Susanna (Cy- pher), Margaret (Eberly), deceased, George, Ja- cob, Elizabeth (McGovern) and Sarah (Snyder). Jacob married Sarah Ann Kerr in 1861. He is one of the prosperous farmers of Ayr town- ship.

James HI. Johnston, born in 1796, came from Franklin county in 1823 and purchased two hundred and forty acres of land, upon which he settled. Mr. Johnston was a man of remarka- ble physical strength and intellectual vigor. He once walked from his home in Ayr township to Leavenworth, Kansas, and returned, making seventy miles per day. He took with him only forty dollars, and of this he had eighteen dollars left when he reached home. During the war he was one of the most patriotic men in the county. When he was seventy years old he walked from his home to Bloody Run (Everett) to notify Gen. Milroy that the rebels were ap- proaching the Big Cove. Mr. Johnston also possessed a mind stored with valuable knowl- edge. For ten years he was engaged as a con- tractor on the Chesapeake & Ohio canal and on

the Baltimore & Ohio railroad. He was mar- ried in 1823 to Nancy Rankin, of Franklin county, who, at the age of eighty-two years, still survives him. Mr. Johnston died in 1879. Children : Marion E. (Johnston), Thomas, Mary A. (Huston), Archibald W., John, Ann (de- ceased), J. Walker, Samuel H. and Anna C. J. Walker Johnston enlisted in Co. F, 77th regt. Penn. Vols., in 1861, entering the service as a: private ; he was promoted to first lieutenant. He resigned and returned home in 1865. The same year he married Eliza J. Morrow, of Alle- gheny county, Pennsylvania. Mr. Johnston is engaged in farming, and owns six hundred acres.

John Peoples, Sr., and his son James came from County Donegal, Ireland, to Virginia, where they remained a few years, then settled in Ayr township, Fulton county, about 1802. John Peoples, Sr., purchased two hundred? acres of land from Alexander Nesbit. In 1832 he died, at the age of eighty-six. His children were Mary, Peggy, Susan (Gaut), Jane and James, all now dead. James married Susan Nesbit in 1804. He inherited his father's farm. His children were Jane (deceased), Mary (Nel- son), John, Alexander, Johnson, David (de ceased), Martha (deceased) and Rebecca (Con- rad). John Peoples, son of James, was born in Ayr township in 1809, and has resided on the old farm all his days. He owns five hundred acres of land.

James F. Johnston, son of Archibald Johns- ton, was born and reared in Ayr township. In February, 1881, he married Elizabeth M. Mor- row, of Urbana, Ohio. In March of the same year he purchased the farm of one hundred and ninety acres, on which he now lives. Mr. Johns- ton was engaged in school-teaching for several years.

Vandall Stouteagle was born in Ayr township

1 in 1818. He learned the milling trade of An- drew Fox at Webster Mills, and has since fol- lowed that occupation. He married Mary Bow- ers, of Ayr township, in 1846. Children : Re- becca (Ott), Edward, George, Anna (Willis). Edward Stouteagle learned the miller's trade with his father and still follows it. He also has a farm of one hundred and five acres. In 1868 he married Martha Lynch, of Ayr township.

John B. Patterson was born in Ayr township in 1818. In 1847 he purchased a farm of three hundred acres on Big Cove creek. The follow-

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ing year he married Ann G. Hunter, by whom he reared one child, Thomas E. Mrs. Patterson died in 1853. In 1858 Mr. Patterson married Isabel N. Milligan, of Mercersburg, who sur- vives him. Children : John L., William C., Mary C. and Bessie. Mr. Patterson died in 1862. His widow and children reside upon the old homestead.

John Sowers was born in Frederick county, Maryland, and came to Bedford county in 1826, when but sixteen years of age. He learned blacksmithing with his uncle in St. Clairsville, and worked at his trade in that place until 1834. He then located at Webster Mills, where he fol- lowed his trade until 1845. He then purchased a farm, which he sold in 1856, and in its stead bought three hundred and fifty acres of Barney Howser. Mr. Sowers was married in 1834 to Margaret, daughter of Paul Bloom, of Timber Ridge. Children : Eleven, of whom six are living, viz .: John, David, Jacob, George, Martha J. (Wagner) and Matilda (Helman).

Conrad Glazier, a native of Germany, came to Franklin county, Pennsylvania, at the age of twenty-one. In 1862 he settled in Ayr town- ship, having purchased of Jacob Laymaster a farm of two hundred and fifty acres. Mr. Gla- zier has followed farming all his life. His farm, well improved, is situated in the picturesque spot known as the Corner, in Ayr township. He was married in 1849 to Barbara Klock, of Franklin county. Children : Catharine (Duffy), Rebecca (Carbaugh), Tobias, Priscilla, Jere- miah, Anna and Conrad.

Benjamin Fisher, an old resident, was born in Fulton county in 1804. He was the son of Lud- wick and Elizabeth (Crawford) Fisher. His father died in 1856 and his mother in 1858. Benjamin learned the millwright's trade, when a young man, in Allegheny county, Maryland, and until 1860 was engaged in its pursuit. He then purchased a woolenmill of S. & J. Robin- son, at which he is still engaged in the manu- facture of woolen goods. Mr. Fisher's mill is 32×38 feet, three stories in hight. It contains five carding-machines, one hundred and ninety- two spindles, and one full set of woolenmill machinery. In 1832 Mr. Fisher married Sarah Reader, of Ayr township, by whom he had two children - Elizabeth (Pittman) and Mary C.

Edward E. Parker was born in Newark, New Jersey, and has resided in Newark, Philadel- phia and Lancaster. In 1869 he came to Fulton

county, Ayr township. In 1876 he married Ella M. Crouse, of this township. Mr. Parker is en- gaged in the manufacture of agricultural fertil- izers. He has held various township offices.

A. J. Craig, son of William and Saran Craig, was born in Ayr township in 1829. His father came to this county about 1820 and settled in Thompson township. In 1844 he purchased some real estate in Ayr township, on which he settled and remained until his death, in 1870, aged eighty-four years. His wife died in 1862, aged about seventy-two years. They left six children. A. J. Craig has been county auditor, and is at present justice of the peace. He is a wagonmaker by trade, but has followed farming for the past five years. He was married twice : first to Catharine Horr, who died in 1862, and, second, to Anna Carbaugh, who died in 1882.

Philip Snider was born in Bavaria, Germany, in 1800. In July, 1833, with his wife, Christina Donah, and his family, he emigrated to America and settled in Schellsburg, Bedford county, Pennsylvania. He had learned the shoemaker's trade in Germany, and followed it in Schells- burg until the fall of 1835. He then moved to Martinsburg, Blair county, where he resided until 1837. He next located in the Great Cove, near McConnellsburg, and followed farming and shoemaking until his death, in 1877. He was the father of twelve children, six of whom reached mature years : Jacob, Charles, Catha- arine (Rotz), George, Anna (Peck) and David. George Snider, now a farmer in Tod township, was born in Schellsburg in 1834. He worked, farming, for his father until 1865, when he mar- ried Sarah B. Pittman and moved to McCon- nellsburg, where he resided a few years. He then resumed farming, and in 1877 bought his present farm of one hundred and twenty-five acres. Mr. Snider served as county treasurer in 18 -. In October, 1882, he was appointed county commissioner, to fill the unexpired term of George McGovern, resigned.

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History of Bedford, Somerset, Fulton counties Pennsylvania, Part 131

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

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