History of Cumberland and Adams counties, Pennsylvania. Containing history of the counties, their townships, towns, villages, schools, churches, industries, etc.; portraits of early settlers and prominent men; biographies; history of Pennsylvania, statistical and miscellaneous matter, etc., etc, Part 23

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Publisher: W. Taylor
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USA > Pennsylvania > Adams County > History of Cumberland and Adams counties, Pennsylvania. Containing history of the counties, their townships, towns, villages, schools, churches, industries, etc.; portraits of early settlers and prominent men; biographies; history of Pennsylvania, statistical and miscellaneous matter, etc., etc > Part 23
USA > Pennsylvania > Cumberland County > History of Cumberland and Adams counties, Pennsylvania. Containing history of the counties, their townships, towns, villages, schools, churches, industries, etc.; portraits of early settlers and prominent men; biographies; history of Pennsylvania, statistical and miscellaneous matter, etc., etc > Part 23

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"In the settlement commenced by James Chambers (whose residence was about three miles southwest of Nowville) was one of the most numerous clus-

HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY. 1

ters of inhabitants in the valley. It was very early (1738) strong enough to form a religious congregation, which offered to pledge itself to the support of a pastor. In each direction from the Big Spring the land was almost entirely taken up before 1750; so that the people there presented strong claims to the county seat. Among the earliest of these settlers was Andrew Ralston [see page 8, this Part], on the road westward from the Spring; Robert Patterson the Walnut Bottom road; James McKehan, who came from Gap Station, Lan- caster County, and was for many years a much respected elder in the church of Big Spring; John Carson, John Erwin, Richard Fulton, Samuel Mc- Cullough and Samuel Boyd. On the ground now occupied by the town of Newville were families of the name of Atchison and McLaughlin, and near them were others of the name of Sterrett, Blair, Finley, Jacobs, and many whose locations are not known to the writer. * "

The third brother of the Chambers family, who located near Middle Spring (north of Shippensburg at the county line) soon had a numerous settlement around him. A history of the Middle Spring Presbyterian Church in 1876, by Rev. S. S. Wylie, then its pastor, has the following: "There is good evi- dence for the statement that at that time (1738) this section of this valley, be- tween Shippensburg and the North Mountain, was as thickly settled as almost any other portion of it. It is a matter of history that the first land in this valley taken up under the 'Samuel Blunston license' was by Benjamin Furley, and afterward occupied by the Herrons, McCombs and Irwins, a large tract lying along the Conodoguinet, in the direction of and in the neighborhood of Orrstown. At the house of Widow Piper, in Shippensburg, as early as 1735, a number of persons from along the Conodoguinet and Middle Spring met to remonstrate against the road which was then being made from the Susque- hanna to the Potomac, passing through ' the barrens,' but wanted it to be made through the Conodoguinet settlement, which was more thickly settled. This indicates that at this time a number of people lived in this vicinity. I give the names of some of them, on or before the year 1738: Robert Chambers, Herrons, McCombs, Youngs (three families), McNutts (three families). Mahans (three families), Scotts, Sterretts and Pipers; soon after the Brady family, McCunes, Wherrys, Mitchells, Strains, Morrows and others. It was such pio- neers as these who, with their children, made Shippensburg the most promi- nent town of this valley prior to the year 1750. Many of the names given above constituted some of the most prominent and worthy members of Middle Spring Church." Dr. Wing gives names in this settlement as follows: Hugh and David Herron, Robert McComb, Alex and James Young, Alex McNutt, Archibald, John and Robert Machan, James Scott, Alex Sterrett, William and John Piper, Hugh and Joseph Brady, John and Robert McCune and Charles Morrow. The twelve persons who, in June, 1730, made the first settlement at Shippensburg, were Alex Steen, John McCall, Richard Morrow, Gavin Mor- row. John Culbertson, Hugh Rippey, John Rippey, John Strain. Alex Askey, John McAllister, David Magaw, John Johnston.

Wild Animals and Fish .- Dr. Wing says, in his general work on Cum- berland County: "These fields and forests were full of wild animals, which had multiplied to an unusual degree with the diminution of their enemies-the Indians. Deer were especially numerous, particularly on the mountains; but bears, wolves, panthers, wildcats, squirrels, turkeys and other game were everywhere plentiful. Along the creeks and smaller streams the otter. musk- rat and other amphibious animals were taken, and their skins constituted no small part of the trade with the Indians and early hunters. Fish of all kinds

*Dr. Wing's History, pp. 24-5.

HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

were caught in the streams, and large quantities even of shad are said to have come up the Susquehanna and to have frequented the Conodoguinet in the Eastern part of the county. Many of those were taken in the rude nets and seines called " brushnets." made of boughs or branches of trees. Most of these wild animals and fish have now disappeared, but the accounts of the early settlers are filled with tales of their contests with each other, the Indians und themselves." The same faets nro substantially given in Rupp's History of Dauphin and other counties.

Customs and Habits, -Wearing apparel was " home-spun and home-made." and the men went about dressed in this, and in hunting shirts and moccasins. Carpets were unknown. Floors were of the "puncheon" variety-logs split and hewed, with the smooth surface uppermost. Benches made of the same material with legs in them answered in the place of chnirs. Instead of crockery and china-ware the table furniture consisted of plates, spoons, bowls, trenchers, and noggins made of wood, or of gourds and hard-shell squashes; though in the families in better circumstances pewter took the place of wood, and there was nothing finer. The border settlers who could eat their meals from pewter dishes were rich indeed. Says Rupp: "Iron pots, knives and forks, especially the latter, were never seen of different sizes and sets in the same kitchen.'

The few sheep, cows and calves possessed by the first settlers were for some years a prey to wolves, unless securely protected and watched. The raven- ous wolves were bold in their marauding expeditions, and many a time they came prowling around the houses at night, poked their noses into the openings and looked in through the crevices in the log dwellings upon the families within, while the discordant howling sounded like the yelling of demons and made the darkness appalling. Woe be then to the domestic animal that was not securely housed or penned, for in the morning only its glistening bones would be left to tell that it ever existed. The country lying between the Con- odogninet and the Yellow Breeches, for a distance of ten or twelve miles west - ward from the Susquehanna, was a barren, or tract devoid of timber, and across this deer were occasionally seen in a race for life with a pack of snarl- ing and hungry wolves at their heels. These cadaverons and cunning animals were seldom taken in steel traps; a better plan offered for their capture was the log pen, with sloping exterior, open at the top, with retreating inner walls. The wolf could easily climb up the outside, and get at the bait within-gener- ally the careass of a sheep which had previously furnished a wolf a meal-but once inside they could not get out, and were at the mercy of the settlers. Many were destroyed in this way, yet it was forty years or more before they ceased to be very troublesome.

The pioneers were a "rude race and strong," or they never could have withstood the terrible hardships and privations of life in a border region, with wild beasts and wilder men continually harrassing them and making their lot desperate indeed. There is that in the Anglo-Saxon blood which appears to court difficulty and danger, and the resources of the race in time of trial are wonderful beyond comparison. In this broad and beautiful valley, in the days when the colonists were going through experiences which should finally canse their separation from the mother country and the upbuilding of a magnificent Republic, there were hours, months and years of extremest peril, of which he who reads at this late day can hardly have conception.

Necessarily the buildings erected by the first settlers were simple and unpretending, whether for dwellings, places for worship or schools. Their supplies must be brought on horseback from Philadelphia, and across the Sus- quehanna in canoes or simple boats. It may, therefore, readily be understood

HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

that they did not make pretensions to style, though there was a degree of uni- formity about their buildings, dress, furniture and mode of living, which their isolation brought about as a matter of course. Lumber was not to be had for any price; wooden pins took the place of nails: oiled paper answered for glass in the windows. Says Dr. Wing: "They could dispense for a time with almost everything to which they had been accustomed, provided they could look forward with confidence to a future supply. Their cabins were soon erected, and they did not scorn to receive suggestions from the rude savages whose skill had so long been tasked in similar circumstances. The same for- ests and fields and streams were open to them, and the Indian did not grudge his white brother his knowledge of their secrets. These buildings were con- structed of the logs to be had off the banks of the streams or from the neigh- boring hills; the combined strength of a few neighbors was sufficient to put them in position and small skill was needful to put them together, to fill up the interstices between them, and to roof them with rude shingles, thatched straw or the bark of trees, and in a little while the same ingenuity would split and carve out of timber, and fashion the floors, benches. tables and bedsteads which were wanted for immediate use. As the number of settlers increased, these dwellings became of a better order. More skilled workmen began to be employed, and better materials and furniture were introduced, but for the first twenty years the people were contented with the most humble conveniencies. A few houses were constructed of stone, but these were not common. The first stone dwelling on Louther Manor, or in the eastern part of the county, was said to have been put up by Robert Whitehill, after his removal over the river, in 1772. The houses for schools and for public worship may have been of a better quality, for they were not usually erected under such extreme emergency, but they were of like materials and by the same workmen. Those, however. who know the buoyancy of hopes which ordinarily characterize the pioneers of a new country will not be surprised to learn that these were a happy people. The rude buildings in which they slept soundly, studied diligently, and wor- shiped devoutly, were quite as good for them, and were afterward remembered as pleasantly as were the more costly edifices of their father-land."

Flour was an article not easily obtained until after the erection of mills to grind the wheat raised in the valley. The latter was found to flourish on the soil of the region, easily cleared of the bushes which grew upon it, and "as soon as it could be carried to market it became the most important article of trade." Maize, or Indian corn, was for some time more abundant, and afforded a good source of food supply. The Indians raised it and none was exported, and the process of preparing it for eating was simple.

Buckskins were made into breeches and jackets of great durability, though the working classes more commonly wore garments of hempen or flaxen tow, or woolen. The men had wool hats, cowhide shoes, linsey frocks, and some- times deer-skin aprons, while the women had frocks of similar materials, and occasionally sun-bonnets. They managed to have a little better dress for Sun- day, or for social meetings, in which they indulged for "amusement and good cheer." In out-of-door sports the Indians often came in for a share in the exercises.

After the long French and Indian war, and the subsequent war precipitated by Pontiac, there was a greater feeling of relief than had been experienced since the settlements began, and prosperity became more general. , Some fam- ilies had by that time become possessed of considerable wealth, and were enabled to maintain a style of living which those less fortunate could not indulge in. This style was naturally modeled after English customs. Dr. Wing, who quotes

HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

as authority " Watson's Annals of Philadelphia," continues; " To have a house in town for winter and another on n plantation for summer was not very unus ual, and in the proper season a large hospitality was indulged in. In many families slaves were possessed, and oven where a more ordinary style of servi- tude prevailed there were not a few forms of aristocratie life. Some slaves were found even on the smaller farms, but the great majority of servants were German or Irish 'redemptioners."* As their term of service was commonly not more than four or five years, and the price not more than the hire of labor- ers for a less term, many farmers found this an advantageous method of obtain ing help. As they were not much distinguishable from their employers and afterward received good wages, they soon became proprietors of the soil, and their children, being educated, passed into better society. In such a state of af- fairs there was a perpetual tendency to a uniformity of conditions and of social life. The great body of the people were moral, and all marked distinctions among them were discountenanced, but those who followed rough trades were not nnwilling to be recognized. A style of dress and manners prevailed to which our later American habits are generally averse, and which plainly dis- tinguished between them and professional men and persons of independent means. Each class had its special privileges, which amply compensated for in- feriority of position. The long established relations which thus grew up were the sources of mutual benefits and pleasures. The dress of those who aspired to be fashionable was in many respects the reverse of what it now is. Men wore three-square or cocked hats and wigs; coats with large eutfs, big skirts lined and stiffened with buckram: breeches closely fitted. thickly lined and coming down to the knee, of broadeloth for winter or silk camlet for summer. Cotton fabrics were almost unknown, linen being more common, the hose es- pecially being of worsted or silk. Shoes were of calfskin for gentlemen, while ordinary people contented themselves with a coarser neat's leather. Ladies wore immense dresses expanded by hoops or stiff stays, curiously plaited hair or enormous caps, high-heeled shoes with white silk or thread stockings, and large bonnets, universally of a dark color. The dresses of the laboring classes were different from these principally in the materials nsed. Buckskin breeches, checked shirts, red flannel jackets and often leather aprons were the ordinary wear. While at their work in the fields the appearance of the men and women continued much as we have described it at an earlier period. Before the Rev- olution Watson tells us that . the wives and daughters of tradesmen through- out the provinces ' all wore short gowns, often of green baize but generally of domestic fabric, with caps and kerchiefs on their heads, for a bare head was seldom seen except with laborers at their work. Carriages were not common and were of a cumbrous description. People usually rode horseback, and good riding was cultivated as an accomplishment. At the country churches on the Sabbath not unfrequently the horses on the outside were nearly as numerous as the people inside the buildings. Stores in town were places of resort, and did a more extensive business than they have done since the cities have been so ac- cessible. Newspapers were rare, published generally only once a week and reaching subscribers in this county nearly a week after dato. Eight weekly newspapers and one semi-weekly had been started in Philadelphia, but as the post went into the interior only once a week, the latter was of little advantage to our people. The sheets on which they were printed were small, and the amount of news would now be considered very meager. The death of a sover eign about this time was not proclaimed in the province until nearly six weeks after its occurrence, and Bouquet's victory and treaty with the Indians were not

*Emigrants hired out until their passage money, which had been advanced to them, should be repaid.

HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

known in Carlisle until between three and four weeks from those events. Visit- ors to Philadelphia usually went in their own two-wheeled chaises or on horse- back, occupying two or three weeks in the journey. The numerous courts and transactions in land, as well as the lively social intercourse, made such journeys frequent. The transportation of goods both ways rendered needful trains of heavily loaded wagons (since called by the name of Conestoga or Pennsylvania), with four, five or six horses. As the woods westward and over the mountains would not allow of this method, either at Shippensburg or Smiths (Mercersburg), the goods had to be transferred to pack horses. ' It was no uncommon thing at one of these points to see from fifty to 100 packhorses in a row, one person to each string of five or six horses, tethered together, starting off for the Monongahela country, laden with salt, iron, hatchets, powder, clothing and whatever was needed by the Indians and frontier inhabitants.' "

In the days of pack-trains, time about 1770-80, there were seen at one time in Carlisle as many as 500 pack-horses, going thence to Shippensburg, Fort London and other western points, loaded with merchandise, salt, iron, etc. Bars of iron were carried by first being bent over and around the bodies of the horses. Col. Snyder, an early blacksmith of Chambersburg, once told (1845) that he " cleared many a day from six to eight dollars in crooking, or bending iron, and shoeing horses for Western carriers." [Rupp's History of Cumberland and other counties, p. 376. ] The same authority says: "The pack horses were generally led in divisions of about twelve or fifteen horses, carrying about two hundred weight each, all going single file and being managed by two men, one going before as the leader, and the other at the tail to see after the safety of the packs. When the bridle road passed along declivities or over hills, the path was, in some places, washed out so deep that the packs, or burdens, came in contact with the ground, or other impeding obstacles, and were fre- quently displaced. However, as the carriers usually traveled in companies, the packs were soon adjusted and no great delay occasioned. The pack hors- es were generally furnished with bells, which were kept from ringing during the day drive, but were let loose at night when the horses were set free and permitted to feed and browse. The bells were intended as guides to direct their whereabouts in the morning. When wagons were first introduced, the carriers considered that mode of transportation an invasion of their rights. Their indignation was more excited and they manifested greater rancor than did the regular teamsters when the line of single teams was started, some thirty [now seventy ] years ago."

Formation of Townships and Boroughs. - The townships, as they now ex- ist in the County of Cumberland. were formed at dates as follows:

Cook, from a part of Penn, June 18, 1872; Dickinson, April 17, 1785; East Pennsborough, 1745 (originally Pennsborough, 1735); Frankford, 1795; Hampden, January 23, 1845; Hopewell, 1735; Lower Allen, 1849, (originally Allen, 1766); Middlesex, 1859; Mifflin, 1797; Monroe, 1825: New- ton, 1767; North Middleton, 1810 (originally Middleton, 1750); Penn, from part of Dickinson. October 23, 1860; Shippensburg, 1784; Silver Spring, 1787; Southampton, 1791 ;* South Middleton, 1810, (originally Middleton, 1750); Upper Allen, 1849 (originally Allen, 1766); West Pennsborough, 1745, to present limits in 1785, part of original township of Pennsborough, 1735; Carlisle Borough, 1782, new charter, 1814: Camp Hill Borough, Novem- ber 10, 1885; Mechanicsburg Borough, 1828; Mount Holly Springs Borough, 1873; Newburg Borough, 1861; New Cumberland Borough, 1831; Newville Borough, February 26, 1817, township in 1828, borough in 1869. Shippens- burg Borough, 1819; Shiremanstown Borough, 1874 or 1875.

*One authority says before 1782, but we have found no record to that effect.

HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

Lands. - The lands in this region at the time of the carly settlements were of two classes: those to which the Indian title had not yet been extin- gnished, and upon which white people were not allowed to settle until the government should purchase them and open an office for their sale; and the proprietary lands " sometimes surveyed into manors and reserved for special purposes and sometimes held open for private purchase," but belonging to them (the proprietarios) in fee simple. Purchasers of land from the proprie- taries, who had surveyed and divided them into lots, paid very low prices, some- times as low as one shilling sterling per acre, and even down to a merely nom- inal valuation according to location. These purchasers often had to borrow money to pay even the small sums required, and gave mortgages upon the lands for security. They were generally able to meet their obligations in a few years. Every acre of land sold by the proprietaries was also subject to an annnal rental, from one penny down, and sometimes a diminutive quantity of wheat or corn, or perhaps poultry. *

It was not until the treaty of October, 1736, that the Indian title to lands in Cumberland County was extinguished and vested in the heirs, successors and assigns of Thomas and Richard Penn. Paxton Manor had been set off in 1731-32 by Thomas Penn as an inducement to the Shawanees to settle here and live at peace with the whites; the title to it was, however, acquired in 1736 with the other lands included in the deed, and it was then laid out. + Its limits were described as follows in the return, May 16, 1765, of the warrant for its resurvey, issued December 26, 1764: "On the west side of the Susquehannah River, opposite to John Harris' ferry, and bounded to the eastward by the said river; to the northward by Conodogwinet Creek: to the southward by the Yellow Breeches Creek, and to the westward by a line drawn north, a little westerly from the said Yellow Breeches to Conodogwinet Creek aforesaid, con- taining 7,507 acres, or upward." The survey showed it to contain 7,551 acres. It embraced all the land between the two creeks, according to reliable anthor- ity, extending westward to "the road leading from the Conodogwinet to the Yellow Breeches, past the Stone Church or Frieden's Kirch, and immediately below Shiremanstown." Its first survey had been made very early (1731-32). John Armstrong surveyed it in 1765, and divided it into twenty portions, and in 1767 John Lukens surveyed it and divided it into twenty eight tracts or plantations of various sizes, aggregating about the original quantity of land in the manor. These tracts were sold originally to the following persons: No. 1, 530 acres, to Capt. John Stewart; No. 2, 2673 acres. to John Boggs; 300 acres to Casper Weber: 256 acres to Col. John Armstrong; 227 acres to James Wil- son: 227 acres to Robert Whitehill (including site of town of Whitehill); No. 3, 200 acres; No. 4. 206 acres, to Moses Wallace; No. 5, 200 acres, to John Wil- son; Nos. 6 (267 acres) and 7 (253 acres), to John Mish; No. 8, 275 acres, to Richard Rogers; No. 9, 195 acres, Conrad Renninger; No. 10, 183 acres, to Casper Weaver: No. 11, 134 acres, to Casper Weaver; No. 12, 181 acres, to William Brooks: No. 13. 184 acres, to Samnel Wallace; No. 14, 153 acres, Christopher Gramlich; No. 15, 205 acres, James McCurdey: No. 16, 237 acres, Isaac Hendrix; No. 17, 213 acres, Robert Whitehill; No. IS, 311 acres, Philip Kimmel; No. 19, 267 acres, Andrew Kreutzer; No. 20, 281 acres, David Moore; Nos. 21 and 22. 536 acres, Edmund Physick: No. 23, 282 acres, Edmund

*The annual quit rent was placed at 1 shilling per 100 acres, payable In lawful money forever. Its collec- tion was very difficult, however, for the people deemed it preposterous that they should have to pay it even though it exempted them frem all other proprietary taxes. Some wero paid in Cumberland County though, until some time after the Revolutionary War. The amount was payable to the heirs of William Penn. Gold and silver was very scaree and the province Issued paper money, which depreciated to half its face value. Many farmers lost their tracts through failure to pay mortgages, losing at the same time their earlier payments and linprovements.

+Dr. J. A. Murray in article upon Louther Manor, in Carlisle Herald, early in 1985.

HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

Physick; No. 24, 287 acres, Rev. William Thompson; No. 25, 150 acres, Alex Young; No. 26, 209 acres, Jonas Seely; Nos. 27 (243 acres) and 28 (180 acres), Jacob Miller. The manor included portions of Hampden, East Pennsborough and Lower Allen Townships, as at present existing, and the western boundary would pass just east of Shiremanstown. Within its area are now situated the towns and settlements of New Cumberland, Milltown (or Eberly's Mills), Bridge- port, Wormleysburg, Camp Hill and Whitehill Station.

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Author: Publication date: Publisher: W. Taylor Number of Pages: 1280

Author:
Publication date:
Publisher: W. Taylor
Number of Pages: 1280