USA > Pennsylvania > Clearfield County > History of Clearfield County, Pennsylvania : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 54
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Christopher, another son of John, sr., lived near the Mount Joy United 62
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HISTORY OF CLEARFIELD COUNTY.
Brethren Church, near the center of the township. He died some years ago. A son, G. W., lives on the farm. Another, Charles E., was a store-keeper for some years ; is now an insurance agent in Curwensville. John E. lives not far from J. M. Riddle, his father-in-law.
David Mitchell was one of the earliest settlers, and took up a large tract of land about a mile from New Washington. When the Methodist Protestant Church was organized in 1829, he was one of the foremost in the movement. He died in 1833, aged sixty-five, and was buried on part of his land, where Mount Zion M. P. Church was built a couple of years later. There is only one tombstone in that cemetery of an earlier date, that of Rev. George Thomas, who was buried there in 1830. He was the first minister in the then young church in this county.
In the oldest tax list to be found of Burnside township, 1837, John Mitch- ell, son of David, is assessed with four hundred and fifty acres of land. He married a daughter of Rev. James McGee, and raised a large family. He moved to Kansas many years ago, but most of his children remain here and are married. David lives in Greenwood township on the old " Elder farm " along the river, Thos. M. not far from Burnside; both of them own a couple of farms and have large families. One daughter, Mary Ellen, is married to E. H. Wite, and lives in Burnside borough on a farm. Another daughter is mar- ried to Fillmore Riddle, and lives in New Washington. Joseph, another son of David, sr., lived on the ridge road about two miles south. He died about two or three years ago, aged seventy-five. His son John C., lives on the same farm; has filled the office of justice of the peace for many years. Another son of Joseph, David, lives a couple of miles further south on the road to East Ridge.
Joseph Hutton came in 1826, from Centre county, and settled adjoining Hugh Riddle. He died in 1833, aged fifty-seven. His son Jesse was married to Ruth Weaver and lived many years on the farm. He has lived for some years in New Washington. His son Joseph occupies the homestead. Another son, William, is a farmer in the corner of the township, a mile east- ward. A third son, Amos, was for some years a teacher, but for some time a preacher in the "Christian " Church, (or Disciples).
A couple of years before Hutton, Reeder King moved from Lycoming county and settled a mile below Cherry Tree, following the bed of the river. He had a large family of boys, all of them over six feet in height. Two of them, John and Charles R., are still living near Cherry Tree, and a number of grandchildren. Reeder King ran the first raft from there down the river, and built the first ark. Coal was carried in them at an early day, but there was too much risk of their sinking, and that method was soon abandoned.
King's brother-in-law, Edward McCreery, came in 1826, and| settled near Pine Grove, adjoining Mr. King's. His sons were also tall, and good marks-
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men and hunters. The oldest, Joseph, is still living in Cherry Tree, long past his three-score years and ten, but still active. It is not many years since he quit piloting rafts down the river.
John King, a brother of Reeder's, came from Westmoreland county about a year after McCreary, and settled on the ridge between the river and Chest Creek. He had a number of daughters and two sons, William and Wilson, who both live near where they were raised on adjoining farms.
Jacob Neff came from Centre county in 1828, and settled near New Wash- ington. His brothers, Christopher and Henry, came a couple of years later. They endured, with all the early settlers, many privations and hardships. In 1835, their wives walked back to Centre county, and dried apples and made apple-butter, and had them brought home in the winter ; there being no ap- ples then raised in the new settlement.
They packed grain to mill at Tyrone on horseback, and sometimes while away, grain had to be ground in a coffee-mill. Jacob died in 1879, aged eighty- four. Three of his sons are living : Joseph L., in Burnside, and Henry, in New, Washington ; John moved to Huntingdon some years ago. One of his sons, James, is a preacher in the Erie Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Christopher Neff lived a mile south of New Washington; has been many years dead ; some of his posterity remain in the county.
Henry Neff, sr., and wife, are still living in New Washington ; had no chil- dren, but are taking care now of the family of an adopted daughter. They are the only old couple now living that came to the township at that early date.
William Mahaffey came from Lycoming in 1827, and purchased a tract of land on the river (the present site of Burnside borough), and put up a log house near where Mrs. Horace Patchin's residence now stands. The next year he removed with his family, six boys, three of whom, John, Thomas and Robert, still reside in the county. In 1833, he, with his second wife and daughters, returned to Lycoming, leaving the three sons above named on the land, farm- ing and lumbering, for they had a saw-mill erected. John was married to Ellen Byers, daughter of John Byers, sr., and Thomas to Margaret, daughter of David Mitchell, sr. They lived together with their families, and brother Robert, unmarried, in the same house, a number of years, until they sold to Matthew Irvin. John bought land below Cherry Tree, where he still lives, quite active for one of his years. Thomas removed to New Washington. He was for many years justice of the peace ; has a large family. Robert bought land at the mouth of Chest Creek, where he still lives, the proprietor of the new railroad town, Mahaffey. He served one term as county commissioner, and his son James was sheriff, and at present is proprietor of the Hotel Windsor at Clearfield, the finest hotel in the county. The Mahaffeys are numerous in Burnside and Bell townships.
On the opposite side of the river from Mahaffey, a little below, Rev. Tim-
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HISTORY OF CLEARFIELD COUNTY.
othy Lee, a local preacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church, took up three hundred acres of land, and raised a family. His oldest son, Joseph, was a circuit preacher in the same church, and died in the ministry during the rebell- ion, leaving a son, Asbury Lee, of Clearfield, and a daughter. John Fletcher Lee lived in Bell township; was for many years justice of the peace, and died recently (1887) aged over seventy. He has one son, Thomas, in the county near Utahville. One of the daughters, Mrs. Gardner, is living on the home- stead with her family.
Benjamin Yingling cleared a farm on Beaver Run about 1828, and put up a saw-mill ; was justice for many years. Two of his sons still remain on or near the old place. About the same time Samuel Lafferty improved what is now the McKee farm; and James Somerville the Shepherd farm. But few of either families are in the county. Somewhere near the same time Jacob Boice, an old surveyor, took up a piece of land near East Ridge. He did consider- able surveying for many years thereafter. His son Lewis is at present on the same place.
In 1829, Benjamin Baird came from near Lock Haven, with his wife and two children, and "squatted " in what is known as the Elk Lick tract, below Burn- side, joining Bell township. There is a small marshy spot at the mouth of the run, that it is said elk formerly came to for its saltness, which gave it the name.
It has been a great resort for deer in later years, and many have been shot there by the hunter lying in ambush, when they came at night for the salt. Mr. Baird cleared a few acres and stayed on it for years till he had quite a family. The land was heavily timbered with pine, but at that time pine timber was not valued very highly. Years after it could be bought standing at one-half cent per cubic foot. After Mr. Baird removed from it, John Irvin, of Curwens- ville, bought the land for five dollars per acre. A few years since his sons sold it for $250 per acre to a Williamsport lumber firm. Two of Mr. Baird's daughters live in Burnside: one the wife of J. S. Wetzel, and the other the wife of Samuel Brickell; others of the family live in Bell township. Mother Baird is still living with her youngest son, Blake, and is very active for her age. She is the only one living of the original settlers along the river valley. About the same time Mr. Baird came, John Smith, originally from Ireland, bought a piece of the Bailey land, and cleared out a farm on which he lived until his death in 1861, at the age of seventy-three.
About the year 1840, the family were attending a meeting at Mount Zion, having three children, the youngest five years old. While at the meeting the house caught fire, and when they got back was a sheet of flame, and no chil- dren in sight. They were found in a cave built for vegetables, not far from the house, the oldest girl having discovered the fire in time to save the younger two. The family lived in the cave and slept in the barn until they built an- other log house, although it was in the early winter. Two of the sons still
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occupy the farm, and one daughter, Mrs. Newry (the heroine of the fire) with her family.
Another of the early settlers was Henry Young, a German, who cleared a farm within the limits of Burnside borough. He raised a large family, all daughters, but one son, Henry, and nearly all live in the township. Mr. Young bought a piece of land near the center of the township. Young's school-house, where election is held, was named for him. His son is still liv- ing about a mile from the old place.
The Breths, Henry, Adam, and Peter, came from Alsace, in Germany, and settled on what is known as Beaver Bottom, a little above Patchinville. They were members of the Evangelical Church (or Allbright's), and quarterly meet- ings were held at Henry's house before there were any churches. Young men from a considerable distance attended these meetings, probably for amuse- ment, for the members were very demonstrative, jumping, shouting, and clap- ping hands, usually keeping time to the singing with both feet, and often falling in a trance or swoon. That church has held camp-meetings in the same neighborhood until a few years ago. Henry had a number of children. Three of his sons have been justices ; Henry in Bell township, and Joseph and Adam in New Washington ; another son, Samuel, is living in Cherry Tree. Adam is now agent for the Sanderson coal lands in Burnside and Chest town- ships.
Between 1830 and 1833, Joseph McMurray came from Lycoming to a piece of land within the present limits of New Washington. The family were from the north of Ireland and belonged to the Methodist Church. Rev. Jacob S. Murray of the Methodist Church, who died recently, was a half brother. Joseph was for a long time class-leader, and was also a justice of peace. He died in 1878, aged seventy years. Of his children only James and Mrs. Nie- man reside in the township. James was married to Matthew Irvin's widow, and owned the Burnside mills for many years, and kept store. He put up three or four of the finest buildings in Burnside; afterwards purchased a fine farm near Indiana town. His family are all dead but one daughter, and he makes his home at New Washington.
Russell, a brother of Joseph McMurray, lived a while on a farm; removed to New Washington and had a store there many years. He was an earnest Methodist ; died in 1886, aged eighty-two. He has only two children living, Mrs. Garrettson, and Joseph R. McMurray, who does the most extensive busi- ness merchandising in the upper end of the county.
John Holmes, a brother-in-law of George Atchison, came from Ireland about 1833, and bought a hundred acres of the McKeehan land, in the bend of the river, opposite Burnside. His wife was dead and two of his daughters kept house for him. He was a very genial, pleasant man, a fair sample of an old country Methodist. He died in 1839, aged fifty-five years. One daughter
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HISTORY OF CLEARFIELD COUNTY.
married Thomas Eastgate, who had a saw-mill on Rock Run ; afterward moved to Illinois. He built the first hewed log school-house on Atchison's land, just above the upper Burnside bridge, nearly fifty years ago. It was seated with high plank benches, the feet of the smaller scholars not reaching the floor ; and the desks were fastened around the walls. Many of the early scholars of this school are still in the neighborhood. Among the earliest teachers was John Donaby Kime, an Englishman, who had been a surveyor, and was a good flute player-quite an attraction at that time. He lived on Bennett Hill. George Bennett, from whom it was named, was a brother-in-law of his. One of Mr. Holmes's daughters, Mary, was married to Thomas A. McGee, of McGee's Mills, and has a large family ; one son, William, lives in Burnside.
Another family that was influenced to come to this county by Mr. Atch- ison, was the Smiths, who came from County Leitrim, Ireland, in 1829. This was long before the days of steamships, and they were seven weeks and three days on board a sailing vessel on the voyage. John Smith came on here the same year with his family, but David and Andrew, who were unmarried, and their sister, and two nephews, William and James Dowler, lived five years in the city of New York, and came to Burnside in 1835. They had heard of their cousin, George Atchison, owning over four hundred acres of land, and supposed he was rich, as in Ireland he would be called an estated gentleman. They were undeceived when they found him living in a log cabin, and poor as all the early settlers were. They bought a homestead right on the river just below the mouth of Cush Creek, and a few years after purchased the land, two hundred and fifty acres. David was a shoemaker by trade, and made the first boots ever worn in Burnside. Before that time the lumberman wore shoes with leggins tied on them to keep out the snow. He must have been in good standing in Ireland, for he was admitted to the Masonic fraternity there and attained the highest degrees of the order. He died in 1871, aged eighty- five. Andrew died in 1869, aged seventy-nine. Of the nephews, William, died in 1836, aged over twelve years, and was buried at Mount Zion. James is at present on the old homestead ; has a family of eight children living.
Another of the Smith brothers, William, came some years after the others from Schuylkill county with his family. He died in 1858, aged seventy-nine. Of his sons, only one, Robert, lives in the township, at the mouth of Cush Creek. David F. bought the Atchison property in Burnside, and for many years did an extensive lumbering business. He is now living in Cherry Tree.
John Patchin came in 1835, from near Lake George, New York. He was accustomed to lumbering, and came to Clearfield first as an agent for a com- pany. His keen perception of the value of timber lands prompted him to buy several thousand acres. The price then averaged about five dollars per acre. Up to this time running timber down the river was done only by the settlers, who would get out a raft and haul it in the winter to the stream, and each run
i.s.
A. P. Patchin
A.LITTLE
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his own raft to market in the spring, and sell it for what he could get, usually five or six cents a cubic foot. At first there was no rope used in landing, but a slim sapling trimmed with the knots projecting, called a halyard, was fastened to the lashpole of the raft with a withe, and was thrown on the shore and trampled on by the raft hands. When drawn to the water's edge it was car- ried forward and repeated again and again until the raft was stopped. An- other way of landing was a " grouser," a stick of green wood, as much as a man could raise on end, dropped down between the ends of two stakes left separate for the purpose, until it reached the bottom. This scraping on the bottom of the river was a great help in checking the headway.
Mr. Patchin soon improved on these primitive methods of lumbering ; was the first to haul large spars for ship masts to the river, which he did by means of a rope and pully blocks in the difficult places. For many years he did all the spar hauling of the vicinity. The river in places had very short turns, so that raftmen often broke their oars against the bank, especially at Cush Creek and Turtle Bend. Mr. Patchin had a ditch cut across these narrow points, and it was not long till the river took the new channel, a great benefit to the lum- bermen.
In 1840 he put up a log shanty, one story high, of large logs, at Patchin- ville, which served some years for a store and a dwelling. He then erected a frame house and brought his family. The older sons had been with him lum- bering some years before. He was a very energetic man, had great control of men, and was very active up to the close of life. He died in 1863, aged sev- enty-four, and was buried on his land near Patchinville.
Horace, his oldest son, came to Clearfield in 1838, aged twenty years, and was engaged with his father a length of time, getting out lumber and floating from the Chesapeake to the Delaware. He lumbered about eight years at Deer Creek, and while there married Miss Weaver, of Centre county. In 1853 he removed to Patchinville, where he lived until 1870. He bought the Irvin property at Burnside and moved there, where the family still live. He made extensive improvements in clearing and building until he made it the most desirable residence on the Upper Susquehanna. He died in 1885, leaving four daughters, but no son.
Aaron came to the county in 1847, and staid with his father, assisting in the business until his father's death. He inherited most of his father's lands. He married Miss Barrett, of Indiana county, in 1862, and resides in and owns most of Patchinville, and carries on farming, lumbering, and merchandizing.
Jackson came in 1844, at the age of fourteen years, and clerked in the store for his father. Afterward he and Aaron were taken in as partners. After their father's death, they carried on the business until 1871, when he (Jackson) removed to Burnside. He carries on storekeeping and farming.
George Patchin, the youngest, lives between Patchinville and Cherry Tree, and follows lumbering and farming.
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HISTORY OF CLEARFIELD COUNTY.
Mr. Patchin, sr., had two daughters. The oldest, Mary, married Mr. Wal- ters, and lived until recently in Patchinville. Emily married the Rev. Justus A. Melick, of the Methodist Episcopal Church. She died in 1860.
George Darr came to the township about 1835, and lived near Langdon's, below Cherry Tree. In early life he wagoned goods from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, in the old six-horse covered wagons then in use. After coming to this township he was for many years miller at the Burnside mill. One son, Henry, lives on a farm in Burnside borough, and one daughter, the wife of John Kime.
Of the signers to the petition for the erection of Burnside township, in 1834, beside those already referred to, George W. King was a son of Reeder King, and lived near his father.
John McCullough came from Westmoreland, and took up a piece of land, two hundred and fifty acres, partly in Indiana county, about a mile from Patch- inville, and raised a large family. A grandson of the same name now occu- pies it.
A. W. Coffey was from Huntingdon, lived with his wife, without any fam- ily, near where John E. Rorabaugh now lives, and practiced medicine through the township ; was what was called an herb doctor. One of his specifics was pulverized charcoal. He was a man of considerable education, and was some- what of a poet. He left a large manuscript poem, written in a full, round hand, that was never published.
David Fulton, jr., was a son of David Fulton. Some of his descendants live along Chest Creek.
Hugh Gallaher was a son of Squire Gallaher. He married late in life, and lived in Chest township, where some of his family remain.
Most of the other signers belonged to Chest township. Daniel Braughler probably lived in Burnside. There was a town called by the name of Braugh- lersburg, and nearly forty lots purchased by parties whose names are on the the old assessment list of Burnside township for 1837, the oldest that can now be found. It was located a little below Cherry Tree, on the river, but there is no such town at present.
On the old assessment list referred to, of fifty years ago, there are a few names of others than those already mentioned, who ought to receive a passing notice. Adam Allison had two hundred acres. His son Tate now lives in Patchinville. John Brickly lived about two miles northeast of Burnside; was a local preacher in the Evangelical Church. Several of his family are living in the township.
Joseph Brothers was taxed with four hundred acres. The tax then levied was a dollar and a half to two dollars per acre, and on horses averaged thirty dollars each. There was nearly as many yoke of oxen as of horses at that time. They were assessed at about forty dollars. Some of Brothers's descendants are in the southeast corner of the township.
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William Moore had two hundred and forty acres of land on the river in the upper end. He was an Irishman of powerful build ; was drowned at Muncey dam in middle age. Some of his family remain.
Joseph Croasman lived near where Elk Lick school-house stands. One of his sons, though a very wild young man, afterward got to be a preacher, and is on the Pacific coast.
James Coleman located below Cherry Tree. His son Henry still resides in the township.
Henry Eisenhower was a German; had one hundred acres, part of the Bailey land. A grandson still occupies it.
Frederick Shepherd had one hundred acres near the head of Beaver Run. Several of his sons are still in the township.
New Washington was incorporated as a borough in 1859, and is one and a half miles from Newburgh, on Chest Creek, where at present a second railroad is being made, connecting with the Pennsylvania Central. It has two general stores, an Odd Fellows' hall (a three story building), and a Methodist Episco- pal Church. In the cemetery is buried the oldest couple can be found in the State. John Ludwig Snyder was born in Ludwig, Germany, March, 1746, and died in November, 1860, having reached the remarkable age of over one hundred and fourteen years. He was one of the earliest settlers near New Washington (in Bell township), having come soon after Mr. Gallaher. His wife, Anna Maria, was born in Philadelphia, May, 1752, and died August, 1857, aged over one hundred and five years. A number of their descendants are living in Bell and Burnside township.
The old hewed log church (Methodist Episcopal) which was near the ground occupied by the present one, was built about 1837. It was seated with plank benches, and served until 1860, when the present one was built.
The old Mount Zion Church, also of hewed logs, was built in 1835 by the members of the newly-formed Methodist Protestant Church. It was used until about two years ago, when the society put up a neat frame church.
The Evangelical Association, familiarly called " Allbrights," has a nice church near the election house, called Harmony, and another below Cherry Tree. This denomination held yearly camp meetings above Patchinville until a few years ago.
The United Brethren have a church a mile from Harmony, called Mount Joy ; one built a couple of years since at Patchinville, and later still one at Shepherd's. At East Ridge a frame Union Church was built over forty years ago by the Presbyterians, the Lutherans, and Brethren or Allbrights. It is still in use by the Brethren and Methodists, the other societies having gone down.
Burnside Borough was incorporated in 1874. It is finely located on a gently sloping ground, in a large bend of the river, and has finer buildings than is usual in country towns. There are five general stores, beside groceries, 63
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HISTORY OF CLEARFIELD COUNTY.
drug stores, millinery, etc., a Union Church built in 1868, and a Methodist Episcopal in 1871, and the finest school-house in the south end of the county. An Odd Fellows' Lodge was instituted here in 1869, which is in a flourishing condition.
Within two or three miles of Burnside on the northwest, in the valley of Cush Creek, there are veins of fine coal, six to eight feet thick, that have been worked for years for home consumption.
The first Sunday-school within the limits of Burnside was in the old log school-house on the Atchison farm, about the year 1845. It was a union school, but Mr. Atchison procured the books for it, and got Wesleyan Metho- dist, he at that time being a member of that church, and had preaching there.
The early history of Burnside township would not be complete without a notice of "muster day " or militia training, which was on the first Monday of May. Under the militia laws of the Commonwealth, all the able-bodied men under forty-five years old, were required to meet and drill one day in the year, or be subject to a militia fine of one dollar. The ununiformed militia of the three townships of Burnside, Chest and Bell, met at New Washington, and with many of them came their wives and families to enjoy the sight and have a " good time." Some parties were always on the ground with gingerbread, cider, beer, and often something stronger, to suit the tastes of the crowd. Oc- casionally some one would indulge too freely and get up a disturbance. If one of the militia, he would be put " under guard " as a punishment, but it was rather courted than shunned, especially by the men taken from the ranks for guards, as a relief from the tiresome drill.
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