History of Bedford, Somerset, Fulton counties Pennsylvania, Part 51

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

USA > Pennsylvania > Bedford County > History of Bedford, Somerset, Fulton counties Pennsylvania > Part 51
USA > Pennsylvania > Fulton County > History of Bedford, Somerset, Fulton counties Pennsylvania > Part 51
USA > Pennsylvania > Somerset County > History of Bedford, Somerset, Fulton counties Pennsylvania > Part 51

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).

*Ormsby afterward became a resident of Pittsburgh, where he made himself conspicuous by defaming the name and mili- tary reputation of Col. Boquet. The colonel, probably, having thwarted him in some of his trading schemes.

Digitized by Google

244

HISTORY OF BEDFORD COUNTY.

Shippensburg, Chambersburg, Loudon, Rays- town and Ligonier to Fort Pitt was completed. It appears that when Forbes' troops first occupied this point it was termed in letters and orders the " Camp at Raystown " or " Raystown Fort," but before the close of a twelve-month it was called Fort Bedford, in honor of " his Grace the Duke of Bedford," one of the "Lords Justices," also one of " his Majestie's Principal Secretaries of State " during the reign of George II.

Of those, other than soldiers, who came here with Forbes' army and remained permanently, John Fraser and his wife Jean are the only ones of whom anything is known. Fraser, a Scotch- man, or Scotch-Irishman, was an intrepid fron- tiersman, and a small trader among the Indians before the inception of Braddock's disastrous campaign. He then resided in Virginia. When Braddock's army marched toward Fort Du Quesne, Fraser (accompanied by his wife) went as a guide and scout. Some household goods and a considerable stock of wares, suitable for the Indian trade, were also taken, it being Fraser's purpose to settle permanently on the head-waters of the Ohio. But, as already shown in these pages, Braddock met with de- feat and death. The remnant of his army re- treated, panic-stricken, to Fort Cumberland, and thither, too, proceeded Fraser and wife, where, for a time, they resided. A few months later, while near Fort Cumberland, Mrs. Fraser was captured by the Indians and taken as far west- ward as the present State of Ohio. After a captivity of about eighteen months, she escaped, and, in company with two white men, returned to her husband at Fort Cumberland.

When the Virginians, under Washington and Burd, marched from Fort Cumberland north- ward to join other detachments of Forbes' army at Raystown, Fraser and wife accompanied them, and on their arrival at this point, a small log cabin was built on the right bank of the Raystown branch, just below the present iron bridge, where meals were cooked for officers. The place finally became known as Fraser's Inn. Their son William, whose birth occurred in 1759, was, it is claimed, the first white child born within the present limits of Bedford county. Fraser became one of the most promi- nent men in the region surrounding Fort Bed- ford. As shown in a chapter relating to the first settlement of the three counties, he was present at Fort Pitt, in 1768, during a grand

council meeting held between the representa- tives of the province and the chiefs of the Six Nations and other tribes, and with Capt. Will- iam Thompson (also a resident of Bedford in 1768) was chosen as a messenger to visit and warn off the trespassing settlers located west of the Alleghenies. When Bedford county was organized he was appointed one of its first jus- tices of the peace, and served as such until his death, which occurred before the beginning of the revolutionary war. Subsequently his widow married Capt. Richard Dunlap. She was the mother of children by both husbands, and thus became the ancestor of the Frasers of Schellsburg and the Williamses of Napier, Rains- burg and Everett. She died in 1815, in Cole- rain township. Capt. Dunlap, her second hus- band, was killed in a fight with the Indians near Frankstown in 1781. (See general chapter relating to "The Revolutionary Period.")

As another pertinent matter regarding the early history of the town we append the follow- ing :

By Louis Ourry Esq' Captain Lieut', in the Royal American Regiment of Foot, & Aid, Deputy Quarter Master General, Commanding His Majesty's Troops at Fort Bedford.

To Tobias Risenor, Baker.

By virtue of the Power & Authority unto me Given by John Stanwix, Esq', Major General and Com- mander in Chief of His Majesty's Forces in the South- ern District of North America, I do by these Presents, Grant unto you during His Majesty's Pleasure, the use & Possession of a certain Lot of Ground, situate near this Fort, on the South side of Bedford Street * in the Town of Bedford, Province of Pennsylvania, thereon to build & make gardens for your own pri- vate use & advantage, & for the better accommo- dating & Supplying this Garrison & other His Ma- jesty's Troops employ'd on this Communication. [Hav- ing reference to the route or line of communication leading westward to Fort Pitt.] In considera- tion of which Grant from the Crown, you are to pay as an acknowledgement to His Majesty one Spanish Dollar per Annum Ground Rent. Given under my Hand & Seal at Fort Bedford this Twen- ty sixth day of March, 1760, And in the Thirty third year of the Reign of Our Sovereign Lord, George the Second, by the Grace of God, King of Great Brittain, France & Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c., &c., &c.

L' OURRY, A. D. Q. M. G. Capt. Commandant.

* Meaning the old military road, or the present street known as Pitt. This old paper likewise indicates the fact that at least one year before the survey of " Bedford Manor" by Col. John Arm- strong, and six years before the plotting of the town by Surveyor- Gen. Lukens, the military authorities, fully empowered, had laid out lots and streets " in the Town of Bedford."

Digitized by Google

245

BOROUGH OF BEDFORD.

Upon the back of the old document of which the foregoing is a literal copy were the follow- ing indorsements :

" Lot No. 11, containing in Forefront 25 feet, Back- side 25 feet, Upperside 150 feet, Lowerside 150 feet. L' Ourry, A. D. Q. M. G. Capt. Commandant." " Ground Rent paid to the 25 March, 1764. L' Ourry, March 9, 1764." " Bedford the 28th Day of May, 1764. These are to Certify that I, Alexander Lutes, give over my Right & title Mention'd on the other Side unto Henry Road, as Witness my Hand.

bis

ALEXANDER X LUTES." mark

The next important event was the survey of Bedford Manor. Concerning this and simi- lar proceedings throughout the province it ap- pears that on the 1st day of September, in the year 1700, William Penn issued his warrant or order to Edward Pennington, then surveyor- general of the province of Pennsylvania and territories, for the survey of one-tenth of all the lands that should be laid out in the said province for the use of the proprietor and his heirs. This warrant or order was as follows :

PENNSYLVANIA. William Penn Absolute Proprietary and Governor in Chief of the Province of Pennsyl- vania and Counties annexed :

According to the Primitive Regulation for laying out of Lands in this Province, by which it was pro- vided that one tenth part of all the lands therein sur- veyed should be appropriated to me the propriatary thereof, I do hereby require and command thee to Survey or cause to be surveyed to my proper use and Behoof and my heirs after me, five hundred acres in every Township consisting of five thousand acres that shall be Surveyed, and generally one tenth part of all the lands that shall be laid out in this province or territories and make due Returns thereof into my secretaries office.

Given under my hand and seal this first day of September 1700.

WILLIAM PENN.

To Edward Pennington, Surveyor General of the Province of Pennsylvania and territories.

On the 25th of November, 1748, the lieuten- ant-governor of Pennsylvania, James Hamilton, issued a second warrant or order directed to Nicholas Scull," Esq., at that time surveyor- general of the province, in the language follow- ing, to wit :

Pennsylvania, By The Proprietaries .- Whereas, by a warrant under the hand and seal of our late Father, dated the first day of September 1700, Edward Pen- nington, then Surveyor General of this province and

Territories thereunto belonging, was required and commanded in pursuance of the primitive Regulation for laying out lands in this Province to survey or cause to be Surveyed, to the proper use and Behoof of our said Father and his heirs five hundred acres in every township consisting of Five Thousand Acres that should be Surveyed, and Generally one tenth part of all the lands that should be laid out in this Provence or Territories. These are therefore to authorize and require you to make Strict Examination what has been done in pursuance of the above mentioned Warrant, and to make exact returns of such Surveys into the Secretaries office, as also of all other Lands whatever that have by warrants heretofore Issued been appro- priated to our use.

Witness James Hamilton, Esq., Lieutenant Governor of the said provence, who in pursuance and by virtue of certain powers and authorities to him for this pur- pose (Interalia) granted by the said propriataries hath hereto set his hand and caused the seal of the Land office to be affixed at Philadelphia this twenty-fifth Day of November, 1748.

To Nicholas Scull, Surveyor General.

JAMES HAMILTON.

By virtue of these warrants Col. John Arm- strong, deputy surveyor-general, made and re- turned to the land office a survey of Bedford Manor, upon which he indorsed the following:

A Draught of a Tract of Land, situate at Bedford, in the County of Cumberland, containing two thou- sand eight hundred and ten acres, and an half of one acre, with the usual allowance of 6 p" cent for Roads, &c. - Surveyed for the Honb" the Proprietaries, the 29th day of October, 1761. In pursuance of a warrant bearing date the 25th day of November, One thousand seven hundred and forty-eight-1748.

by JOHN ARMSTRONG D. S.

To John Lukens Surveyor General } copy.

This draft of the manor grounds, as sketched by Col. Armstrong, represents the Raystown branch, Schober's run, Cumberland Valley run ; the old military road leading toward Fort Pitt ; bridges over the Raystown branch at the point below the present town where the ford is now located, and across Dunning's creek at the same place where bridges are now found; Fort Bedford with its five bastions ; the " Com- mandant's House " (the central part of the old building near the southeast corner of Pitt and Juliana streets, formerly known as the " Rising Sun " inn, and which was built about 1760); twen- ty-seven wooden structures, chiefly of logs, which, standing rather compactly on grounds now oc- cupied by the Washington house and others to the westward, and from the site of the same

. Nicholas Soull was the ancestor of Edward Scull, Esq., the well known revenue collector of this district, and for many years the publisher of the Somerset Herald. See the history of the Bench and Bar of Somerset county, in this work.

Digitized by Google

246

HISTORY OF BEDFORD COUNTY.

house southward, were designated "Houses built by sutlers who followed the army." The manor lines embraced Garrett Pendergrass' and John Ormsby's* claims on the north, Philip Baltimore's* claim and Samuel Drenning's* " clearing," in the southwest part, the claims of the two last named being located on the west side of Cumberland Valley run. At the same time, 1761, those owning or claiming lands ad- joining the manor were Col. Geo. Croghan (Sir William Johnson's chief deputy Indian agent) on the northeast -a large tract containing more than one thousand acres ; Christopher Lewis" " lot," which was on the left bank of the Rays- town branch just below the present Richard street bridge ; Winemiller's* "place " on the east, mentioned as a house and "old mill," the mill being located on Schober's run about half a mile from its mouth ; Joseph Shenewolf's* "land " on the southeast ; Samuel Drenning's " claim" on the southwest ; John Dougherty's* " land," Thomas Jamison's" "claim," John Holmes"* "land," and Barnard Dougherty's* "land" on the northwest.

The stockade already referred to as Fort Bed- ford stood upon the grounds bounded north by the Raystown branch, east by Richard, south by Pitt and west by Juliana streets. It em- braced about seven thousand square yards, and, besides its five bastions-places prepared for the use of swivel guns - it had a " gallery with loopholes " extending from the central bastion on its north front to the water's edge, "to secure the water and secure the banks" of the stream. The main gate was on the south side, and parallel with the southern rampart ran Forbes' road or avenue, now known as Pitt street. There was, also, a smaller gate on the west side, and a postern gate opening north- ward. Ample quarters for the officers and men composing the garrison were arranged inside, but the storehouse and hospital buildings were situated outside and to the southward of the fort, while, as already mentioned, the sutlers' houses were located about one hundred yards to the south westward.

The manner of constructing this and other stockades of that period was as follows : Around the area to be enclosed a ditch was dug to the depth of four or five feet. In this oak- logs, or logs of some other kind of timber not

easily set on fire or cut through, about eighteen feet long and pointed at the top, were placed side by side in an upright position. Two sides of the logs (or " pallisadoes " or " stoccadoes," as they were termed in those days) were hewn flat, and the sides were brought close together and fastened securely near the top by horizontal pieces of timber spiked or pinned upon their inner sides, so as to make the whole work con- tinuous, firm and stanch. The ditch having been filled up again, and the loose earth well rammed down about the base of the " stoc- cadoes," platforms were constructed all around the inner sides of the enclosure some four or five feet from the ground, and upon these, in case of an attack, the garrison stood and fired through loopholes cut at the requisite hight above the platforms. For the swivel guns portholes were cut on either side of the bastions. Fort Bedford was also protected on the south and west sides by a moat about eight feet deep, ten feet wide at the bottom and fifteen feet wide at the top. The great mass of earth taken from the ditch was thrown outward, and the same being graded down into an easy slope formed the glacis. The near proximity of the stream on the north and the peculiar formation of the original surface of the ground on the east front of the fort precluded as well as rendered unnecessary the construction of a fosse or moat on those sides. In a word, the site of Fort Bedford was an admirable one, and the fort itself was strongly and very regu- larly constructed. Built by the vanguard of Forbes' army in the summer of 1758, it had be- come a ruin before the beginning of the revolu- tionary struggle and was never rebuilt.

As early as 1765, four men whose names are prominently and indissolubly connected with the history of the town, county, province and com- monwealth, became residents at Fort Bedford- Barnard Dougherty, Robert Galbraith, Thomas Smith and George Woods. It is believed that all were cf Scotch descent, and it is known that all were men of great activity, ability and sterling worth. All of them served as early justices of the peace of Bedford county, were active in the formation and organization of the county, and during the revolutionary period assisted largely in shaping the destinies of the state. They have been referred to so frequently in thé general chapters of this work, that it is not deemed essential in this connection to add other than a summary to what has already been written

* Residents in 1761, or very soon thereafter.

Digitized by Google

John Anderson

JOHN ANDERSON, M.D.

John Anderson was a native of Bedford, and was born in 1770. He was the second son of Thomas Anderson, who emigrated from Ireland, and with his wife (Mary Lyon) settled in Bed- ford about 1766. He studied medicine with one of the most eminent practitioners of Car- lisle, and commenced the practice in his native town about 1796. He married Miss Mary, daughter of Capt. David Espy, and grand- daughter of George Woods, who was one of the first justices of " Our Lord the King," George III. After the erection of Bedford county, in 1771, her father succeeded Gen. Arthur St. Clair as the second prothonotary of Bedford county. Dr. Anderson was not only a successful phy- sician, but a man who conquered success in everything he undertook ; he was emphatically a man of affairs, and was possessed of all the essential qualities of a man " predestined to

success in business." How long he continued in the practice of his profession is not known, but he became very largely engaged in various enterprises in middle life. For many years he was the president of the Allegheny Bank of Penn- sylvania, at Bedford. He was also president of the Chambersburg and Bedford Turnpike Road Company, beside being extensively engaged in land speculations. He owned at one time, be- sides the Springs property, a large quantity of land in Bedford county. He was also known in official life and occupied several positions of trust, notably among the number that of pro- thonotary. Dr. Anderson was a typical " old- school gentleman," possessed of marked social qualities and a fine presence. He was widely known and everywhere highly esteemed. He was the father of four children : George Woods, Espy Lyon, Elizabeth and Mary. He died in Bedford in 1839.

Digitized by

Google

Digitized by Google

---

247

BOROUGH OF BEDFORD.

Barnard Dougherty became a justice of the peace in this part of Cumberland county in 1767. He was reappointed to the same office when Bedford county was formed, and served in the same capacity for many years, frequently acting as the senior justice or president of the courts of quarter sessions. He also officiated as county treasurer for a number of terms. In June, 1775, he was appointed one of the Council of Safety, a famous body of men then preparing for the long struggle with Great Britain. He after- ward served as a member of the Supreme Execu- tive Council and in many other honorable capacities. He died in Bedford, and was buried, it is said, in the old burial-ground fronting on Penn street.

The following extract from the provincial records will explain itself :

At a Special meeting of the Board on Monday the 5th of May 1766, Present, His Honour the Governor, Mr. Secretary Tilghman, Mr. Receiver General Hock- ley, and Mr. Surveyor General Lukens, Ordered, That the Surveyor General with all convenient speed repair to the place called Fort Bedford, in Cumber- land County upon the waters of Juniata and lay out a Town there to be called Bedford into 200 lots, to be accommodated with streets, lanes, and alleys, with a Commodious Square in the most Convenient place. The main streets to be eighty feet wide, the others sixty feet wide, the lanes and alleys twenty feet wide. The Corner Lots to be reserved for the Proprietaries and every tenth lot besides. The lots to be sixty-five feet on the front and two hundred feet deep if the ground and situation will conveniently allow of that depth.

It is likewise ordered that the streets be laid out as Commodious as may be to any buildings now on the place worth preserving, and that the surveyor after laying out the Town receive applications and make entrys to be returned and recorded in the Secretary's office from any person or persons inclined to settle and build in the same Town. And that the people there now settled have preference as to their own tenements on which they are now settled. That the ground rent for the present be seven shillings sterling per annum; And the takers up of lots be obliged to take out their patents within six months from the time of application and give bond to build within three years a house of twenty feet square with a brick or stone chimney, and in case of failure the lots to be forfeited.

It is further ordered that the Surveyor General make survey and return a plan of the lands nearly adjacent to the Town and report the nature and quality of them.

When and how the surveyor general, John Lukens, performed the duties imposed by the

foregoing order is best told by himself as fol- lows :

Upon my arrival in Bedford June 4th 1766, hav- ing called together the principal inhabitants to con- sult with them concerning the streets and size of the lots, being also assisted by the Sheriff of the county ; It was concluded the streets running East and West should run parallel with Captain Lewis' new house, [the solid and commodious stone structure on Pitt street, now owned and occupied by Adam B. Carn, Esq., which was built, probably, in the year 1765, and, apparently, is yet good for another century, or more, of years], and on measuring the ground, we found that the size of the lots mentioned in the order for laying out said Town would not answer so well as to lay them out sixty feet in breadth by two hundred and forty feet in length, which was accordingly done except the eight short lots fronting the Great Square, and those lying between Pitt street and the Raystown Branch of Juniata which are of various lengths.

To do the work it required the presence of Mr. Lukens at Bedford from the 4th to the 14th days of June inclusive, and at the conclusion of his task the following-named streets intersected and bounded the original plot" of the town : Pitt, Penn and John, running east and west, and East, Bedford (by the proprietaries called Shelburne), Richard, Juliana, Thomas and West, running north and south. On the south- east corner of Juliana and John streets two acres were granted Barnard Dougherty and others for "a burying-ground," and on the southeast corner of John and Richard a plot, sixty by one hundred and twenty feet, was designated as "a burial-ground for the People called Quakers, if the Governor would please to grant it." Those then mentioned as owning lots in the town were Barnard Dougherty, Robert Galbraith, Thomas Smith, Esq., George Woods and Phoebe Wolf. Thereafter the resi- dents in the new town gradually increased in numbers, and very early one morning, in 1769, they were aroused, and the startling intelligence imparted that a king's fortress, Fort Bedford, had been surprised and captured by Capt. James Smith and his Black Boys. (See Chapter VII.)

In the spring of 1771 the county of Bedford was organized as the ninth civil division of the province, and the residents and lot-owners of Bedford, which was then the county-seat of a region embracing the southwest quarter of the

* Hugh Barclay's addition was laid out by Thomas Vickroy, October 20, 21, 1808, and since that time the limits have been still farther extended by the Watson and Haehnlen additions on the south, the Shuck, Gephart and Defibaugh additions on the west, and Mann's extension on the north.

Digitized by Google

248

HISTORY OF BEDFORD COUNTY.

present state, were as follows : Anthony Adams ; Carling & Casebeer, blacksmiths ; Samuel David- son, Barnard Dougherty, Esq., John Fraser, Esq .; Jean Fraser, innkeeper; George Funk, inn- keeper ; Robert Galbraith, Esq., attorney ; John Hite, George Keeler, George Litenberger; James McCashlin," shopkeeper and constable ; Samuel McCashlin, Cornelius McCauley, Matthew Mc- Allister, William McCall ; Frederick Nawgel, merchant (in those days termed a shopkeeper); Charles Ruby, Frederick Rehart; Andrew Steele, owner of a sawmill ; Adam Saam, Samuel Skinner, Jacob Saylor, George Millegan, George Swigart and George Woods, Esq., the latter of whom owned three servants, six town-lots and thirty acres of improved out-lots. There were, beside, a number of single taxables, among whom were David Espy, Esq., and David Sample, Esq., attorneys at law.

From the time last mentioned, 1771, until the closing years of the revolutionary war, the records mention as additional lot-owners and residents : James Beatty, Capt. Richard Dunlap, Ebenezer David, James Millegan, Godfrey Nip- pen, John Ormsby, John Swigert, Thomas Anderson, Henry Didier, Samuel Drenning, Jacob Hersh, John Kassler, Samuel McCashlin, Jr .; Dr. John Peters, who became Bedford's first resident physician in 1778 ; Jacob Rine, George Sill, Samuel Todd, and Henry Wertz, an inn- keeper, tanner, distiller, and in later years a brewer.

Near the close of the war for independence, or in 1782, those owning lots in the town were Jacob Saylor, Anthony Nawgel, John Hite, George Funk ; Ebenezer David, a carpenter ; Thomas Anderson, Barnard Dougherty, Michael Sill ; Andrew Casebeer, blacksmith ; John A. May, Rebecca Smith ; Hugh Simpson, black- smith ; Jane Dunlap, the widow of John Fraser, Esq., and of Capt. Richard Dunlap ; George Sill, Elizabeth Henry, Frederick Reigher, George Millegan, David Erwin, Henry Wertz, Jacob Hersh, Samuel McCashlin, Charles Ruby, Hector McNeal, George Woods, Esq., Dr. John Peters, Cornelius McAuley, David Espy, Esq., John Fraser's heirs and Frederick Nawgel's heirs. At the same time the town could boast of thirty-

four dwellings and business houses. Of these George Woods, Esq. (who then resided in the building now owned by Adam B. Carn), and the heirs of Frederick Nawgel owned three each, George Funk, Ebenezer David and Thomas Anderson each owned two, while Anthony Naw- gel, Barnard Dougherty, Esq., Michael Sill, John Casebeer, John A. May, Rebecca Smith, Hugh Simpson, Elizabeth Henry, Jane Dunlap, George Sill, Frederick Reigher, George Millegan, David Erwin, Henry Wertz, Jacob Hersh, Samuel McCashlin, Charles Ruby, Jacob Miller, Hector McNeal, Cornelius McAuley, David Espy, Esq., and John Fraser's heirs, each owned one house.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Bedford, Somerset, Fulton counties Pennsylvania, Part 51

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

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