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 53

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

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 53
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 53

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).

George Croghan, the celebrated Indian interpreter, owned a large tract of land in Hopewell Township, a little north of Shippensburg. On or before 1730, one of the Chambers brothers (Robert). settled at Middle Spring. It is a matter of history that the first laud taken up in this valley under the " Blunston license" was by Benjamin Furley, and afterward occupied by the Herrons, MeCombs and Irwins, a large tract lying on the Conodoguinet Creek in the neighborhood of Orrstown. In evidence of the early settlement of this viciu- ity, 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 Susquehanna to the Potomac, passing through the barrens, but wanted it to be made through the Conodoguinet settlement, which was more thickly inhabited. This indicates that at this time a number of people lived in this vicinity. Some of these, who settled here before the year 1738, were Robert Chambers, Herrons, MeCombs (MeCoombs). Youngs (three families), MeNutts (three families), Mahans (three families), Scotts. Sterritts, Pipers; soon after the Brady family, the MeCunes, Wherrys, Mitchells, Strains, Morrows and others. It was such pioneers as those who, with their children, made Shippensburg the most prominent town of this valley, prior to the year 1750 .* Here, in this northwestern portion of the county, settled, prior to this time, besides the names which we have men- tioned, the Quigleys, Laughlins, Nesbitts (Allen, John, and John, Jr.), Hannas, Bradys, Martins, and, if not so early, soon after, the Jacks, Hendersons and Hemphills. Many of these families were represented afterward in the Revo- lution, and after defending the frontier against a savage enemy, they turned to defend their country against a foreign foo. It may seem almost incredible, but it is known to be a fact, that of the members or adherents of the Middle Spring Church (now in Southampton, but then in Hopewell Township) there were five colonels, one major (James Herron), fifteen captains and twenty-eight privates. Their patriotic pastor, Robert Cooper, surcharged with patriotism, preached earnestly for the cause, and then, like Steel, King and Craighead, went as a chaplain to the field of actual conflict. (His commission is dated December 24, 1776.) He acted as a soldier, bore arms, marched and countermarched through the Jerseys on foot so long as he was able, and stood in the line of battle with the men at Trenton." Among the officers in the number to which we have alluded were Col. Benjamin Blythe, who lived at the head of Middle Spring, and was a noted Indian and Revolutionary soldier; Col. Robert Pee- bles, who lived on the farm since owned by Gen. David Middlecoff; Col. James Dunlap, who lived near Newburg. Among those also were Capt. Mathew Henderson, Capt. William Strain, Capt. Joseph Brady, Capt. Robert Quigley, and Capt. Charles Leeper, killed at the battle of Crooked Billet, May. 1778.

The Rev. Dr. Cooper, to whom we have alluded lived on and owned the farm a short distance south of Newburg now owned by David Foglesonger.

"Sce Rev. S Wylic's historical discourse (1876) at Middle Spring.

292

HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

This farm he purchased of John Trimble on the 7th of June, 1776. It con- tained about 207 acres. The stone end of the house, adjacent to the road, was built for him, it is said, by the congregation. Col. (then captain) Peebles marched with one of the earliest companies which was mustered into the field. It was in the battle of Long Island, August 27, when a portion was captured, and the remainder fought at Princeton, Trenton and White Plains. On his return from the war Col. Peebles resided on Peeble's Run near Newburg.

The Bradys .- Among the earlier settlers in this township was one, some of whose descendants were destined to become of historic interest. This was Hugh Brady, who emigrated from the North of Ireland about the year 1730, and settled first in the State of Delaware, but soon after in Cumberland County, on the banks of the Conodoguinet Creek, within five miles of where Shippens- burg now stands .* At this time the county was settled only by a few Scotch and Irish emigrants, simple, religious and sincere. Here he raised a family of nine children: John, Joseph, Samuel, Hugh, William, Ebenezer and James; and daughters, Margaret and Mary.

Of these, John was the father of Capt. Samuel and Gen. Hugh Brady. He was born in Delaware in 1733, but came with his father when they founded their home in Cumberland County. In the quiet preceding the storm of the French and Indian war he followed the usual vocation of frontier life, the primeval forest yearly bowing to the settler's ax. John and his brother Hugh, we are told, studied surveying. His personal appearance has come down to us by tradition; he was six feet high, well-formed, had coal black hair, hazel eyes and was of rather dark complexion.

About the year 1755 he married Mary Quigley, of Hopewell Township, also of that Scotch-Irish extraction whose ancestors had read their Bibles by the camp fires of Cromwell's army, and, in the year 1756 his eldest son, the celebrated Indian fighter, Capt. Samuel Brady, was born in Shippensburg in the midst of the tempestuous waves of trouble that rolled in upon the settle- ments of this valley in the wake of Braddock's defeat.

During this critical period John Brady was very active against the Indians, and, as a reward for his services, was appointed a captain in the provincial lines, which, at that time, was a mark of no small distinction. In the Penn- sylvania Gazette of April 5, 1764, there is an account of the Indian depreda- tions in the Carlisle region on the 20th, 21st and 22d of March, "killing peo- ple, burning houses, and making captives;" adding, "Capts. Piper and Brady, with their companies, did all that lay in their power to protect the inhabitants. No man can go to sleep within ten or fifteen miles of the border without being in danger of having his house burned and himself or family scalped or led into captivity before the next morning. The people along the North Mountain are moving farther in, especially about Shippensburg, which is crowded with fam- ilies of that neighborhood." John Brady's life was eventful. He served, as we have seen, in the French and Indian war; went as a private with Col. Arm- strong from Cumberland County in his expedition against Kittanning; was commissioned July 19, 1763, as captain of the Second Battalion of the Penn- sylvania Regiment; fought in the Revolution; was commissioned (October 12, 1776.) one of the captains of the Twelfth Regiment; was wounded at Brandy- wine (where his sons, Samuel and John,) the latter only sixteen, who was wounded, fought by his side) and, after leaving this county. he became one of the most prominent pioneers and defenders of the West Branch Valley.

When he left Shippensburg he located himself at the Standing Stone, a

*From a letter written by a descendant we learn: " He settled on the farm now (1869) owned by Joseph Wbistler, adjoining the estate of the Smith beirs on the west." His name appears in the list of taxables for 1751.

George bleven

295

HOPEWELL TOWNSHIP.

celebrated Indian town at the confluence of Standing Stone Creek and the Juniata River. The present town of Huntingdon stands in part on the site of Standing Stone. From thence he removed to the west branch of the Susque- hanna River, opposite the spot on which Lewisburg or Derrstown, in Union County, stands. He also resided near Muney, where he erected, in the spring of 1776, the semi fortified residence known afterward as "Fort Brady," near which place he was shot from his horse and killed by the Indians on April 11, 1779. a centenary celebration of which event was held at Muncy in 1879, at which time a monument was erected to his memory.

Capt. Samuel Brady, better known as " Capt. Sam," whose name is familiar in history and in fiction as an inveterato Indian killer and captain of the "rangers " or spies, was born in Shippensburg in 1756, and was the oldest of the five sons (James, John, Gen. HIngh and Robert Quigly Brady) of Capt. John Brady, whom we have mentioned.

He entered the Revolutionary Army at the age of twenty; was in the sur- prise at Paoli, where he narrowly escaped being taken prisoner; fought at Monmouth, and in 1779, at the age of twenty two, was promoted to a captaincy by brevet. * He was afterward ordered to join the command of Gen. Broad- head and to march to Fort Pitt, where he remained until the army was aban- doned. In 1775 his brother James was ernelly murdered and scalped by the Indians, and some time after this he began a career which, interwoven as it is with fiction, is certainly one of the most remarkable which can be found any- where in the annals of Indian warfare. On the Susquehanna, the West Branch, Beaver's Creek, the Ohio and Alleghany, ont as far as Sandusky (where he was sent with despatches by Gen. Broadhead), the stories of his adventures, bravery and hair-breadth escapes were told. t Says one (John Blair Linn, Esq., ) "When border tales have lost their charm for the evening hour, or when oblivion blots from the historic page the glorious record of Pennsylvania in the Revolution of 1776, then, and then only, will Capt. Sam- uel Brady of the rangers be forgotten."

Capt. Samuel Brady, the son of Cumberland County, is emphatically the hero of western Pennsylvania, around whom the concealment of romance has most been woven. The fact that his father and brother (who is described as a handsome and noble man) were both killed by the Indians, and that ho is said to have sworn eternal enmity against them, has given rise to a popular but erroneous idea of his character. He has been considered as a devoted Indian killer, reckless of all sympathy and destitute of all humanity, whereas he was a gentlemanly, fino-looking man, "possessed of a noble heart and intellect of a high order." As Gen. Hugh Brady, his brother, said of him, "Never was there a man more devoted to his country, " and few rendered her more important service. Active, vigilant, cool in the midst of danger, with deliberate courage and capacity for physical endurance, knowing all the wiles of Indian warfare, he followed and watched them until his name became a terror to his foes, but a comfort to those on the defenseless frontier who were in danger of their depredations. If he was vengeful, which is doubtful, he had cause. He was a patriot and a protector to the unprotected.

In appearance he was five feet, eleven and three-quarters inches in height, with a perfect form, lithe and active; somewhat reticent in conversation. His walk was peculiar, ugile; his step light; his form erect, as was always his posture in sitting, he sat upright. His face was handsome, his manner quiet,

"The party from whom the writer obtained this information hos this commission in his possession. tree "Otzinachson," or History of the West Branch Valley, by J. F. Meginess, or the chapters relating to him in " Border Life."

296

HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

and in speaking or turning he moved his head less than his eyes. His manner and conversation, as it has come down to the living from one who knew him, was, in their language, "that of as fine a gentleman as I ever met."

Of his brother, Gen. Hugh Brady, as he was but a descendant of a pioneer of Cumberland, we have naught to say, except that he was an educated kind- hearted gentleman and lion-hearted officer, who fought under the "mad" Wayne, and of whom his friend and admirer, Gen. Winfield Scott, said, "God never made a better man or a better soldier." The lines from the poem of Rev. George Duffield, of Carlisle, written on the occasion of his death, might apply equal- ly to others of the family we have mentioned:

"And manly eyes may weep to-day As sinks the patriot to his rest; The nation held no truer heart Than that which beat in Brady's breast."

Hugh Brady, one of the seven sons of Hugh Brady the elder, who emi- grated from Ireland, married Jean Young, whose father and mother lived on and owned the plantation lately owned by the heirs of Alexander Kelso. They had nine children, one of whom, Hannah Brady, married Samuel McCune and another, Rebecca, married his brother Hugh McCune. Both had large fami- lies. James the eldest child of Samuel and Hannah (Brady) McCune, mar- ried John Sharpe, a son of Alexander Sharpe of Green Spring, members of an early and one of the most prominent families of that portion of the town- ship now embraced within the bounds of Newton. Two of the sons, James and Joseph, settled in Northumberland County. The former was an eminent citi- zen of Greensburg, represented the county in the State Senate and was at one time secretary of the commonwealth.

From a letter written some few years ago we learn that Moses Hemphill bought the two farms of the Bradys on the Conodoguinet Creek. "These farms were bounded as follows: On the north by the Rev. Dr. Cooper, at the present time by D. Foglesonger; on the east by the Owens, at present by J. Filer and the Chamberlains; on the south by the Conodoguinet Creek and the Duncans; and on the west by Hendersons. The mansion farm of the Bradys is now owned by John Clippinger, and the Hugh (son of Hugh Brady, the orig- inal settler) Brady farm adjoining is now owned by Benjamin Newcomer. The farm owned by James Brady is now owned by Moses Hemphill." There are none now of this family remaining in the county, but we have thought it well to preserve this record of a family whose sons were worthy of their sires.

HOPEWELL ACADEMY.

A classical school, known as "Hopewell Academy," was founded by the learned and genial John Cooper (son of Rev. Robert Cooper, D. D., of the Middle Spring Church), about the year 1810, "which, notwithstanding," says Dr. Alfred Nevin, "the barren hill on which it stood, and its secluded sur- roundings, sent forth many from its unpretending portals to act well their part." The academy stood near Newburg. Its founder, who was also its only teacher, was a graduate of Dickinson College under Dr. Nesbitt. The name of the school was derived from the township in which it was located. The fur- niture consisted of a stove (manufactured by Peter Ege at the Pine Grove Fur- nace) a table, professor's chair and benches. It stood about 150 feet in the rear and to the east of the mansion house of the farm on which it was located. The road from Shippensburg to Newburg at that time ran directly by the aca- demy building. The logs of the structure were used in the erection of a house near the spot on which the plain, substantial building so long stood.

297

HOPEWELL TOWNSHIP.

The students of this academy enme, many of them, from a distance, and others from the more immediate vicinity of the school.

Some came from Carlisle, others from Shippensburg or Newville, others from inore distant points. Some, within a reasonable distance, came daily to the school on horseback. This "academy." like the much carlier "log college" in Buck's County, or the Academy of Blair, (founded by Rov. John Blair, after- ward pastor at Middlo Spring) at Fagg's Manor, was the last of these unpre- tentions schools which helped to lift the standard of education and sont men out into the world whose career afterward reflected honor upon these nests where they were fledged.

Among the students of Hopewell Academy, to prove that we have made no idle boast, were such names as Alexander Sharpe, D. D., a prominent Presby- terian divine: Rev. John Kennedy, at one time professor of mathematics and natural sciences at Jefferson College; John W. MeCullough, D. D. ; the three Williamson Brothers, James, Moses and MeKnight, from the vicinity of Now- burg, all of whom became clergymen; Judge William McClure, of Pittsburgh; H. M. Watts, minister to Austria: Bishop Samuel A. McCoskry of the Episcopal Church: Charles McCluro, afterward secretary of the commonwealth; Com. Gabriel ()'Brien, who was afterward lost at sea; John and Alfred Armstrong, from Carlisle; Isnac G. Strain, lieutenant in the United States Navy, who ex- plored the Isthmus of Darien; Jack Hemphill, who studied law with Andrew Carothers, Esq .. of Carlisle, but died at middle life in Newburg; the Revs. D. E. Nevin, Edward H. Nevin, D.D., and Alfred Nevin, D.D., LL. D., who was ad- mitted to the bar at Carlisle, but entered the ministry, and who is still living and well known; Thomas McCandlish, who died and is still well remembered in Newville. These and many others whom we have not mentioned, were among the number known by the neighbors at that time as " Cooper's Latin scholars." The disipline of the school was not remarkable for strictness, but there were few temptations. The "entertainments" of the neighborhood were very few and simple. " Often in the evening," says Dr. Nevin, " some of the boys would be pitching iron rings by the roadside, near the gate, whilst others on the porch were playing checkers, and others still, with the violin and flute, were making sweet strains of music to float out upon the gentle breeze, over the quiet and beautiful landscape that lay beneath. Now and then a fish- ing in the creek was resorted to as an expedient for enjoyment. With well prepared torch-lights, nets and poles, all the students would march about dark to the Conodoguinet, and spend five or six hours wading in that beautiful stream, often returning with success, at midnight, to their homes, sometimes with no success, but always with glad hearts, making the surrounding woods echo with their songs."* Such were the harmless recreations, the simple amusements, at this primitive academy, in the township of Hopewell, -scenes such as some modern Goldsmith might delight to picture. The academy closed its existence about the year 1832.

MISCELLANEOUS.

There are, at present, six public schools in Hopewell Township; the time for the "log colleges." in remote places, away from the great thoroughfares of civilization, with the ceasing of their necessity, have passed away. In the mean time the township is noted only for its fine farms and industrious agricul- tural community.

"Dr. Nevin's address at Middle Spring, 1876.

298

HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

BOROUGH OF NEWBURG.

Newburg is the only village in Hopewell Township. It is situated on slightly elevated ground on the main road leading from Carlisle to Roxbury, about one mile northwest of the Conodoguinet Creek. It was laid out in 1819 by Thomas Trimble. There were then but three or four houses in the place. One at the western end was Mr. Trimble's; another, at the eastern, was occu- pied by George McCormick; and a third by John Carson and Joseph Barr. * In 1845 it is described by Rupp as "a post village in Hopewell Township;

* contains twenty or more dwellings, two stores and a tavern." It has now three churches, three dry goods stores, one drug store, one tavern, tannery and other shops, and a population of about 400. It was organized as a borough in 1861.

"] In 1858, a school known as " The Sunny Side Female Seminary " was begun at Newburg. It was regularly chartered by the Legislature and issued diplo- mas, but lasted only for a few years.

CHAPTER XXVI.

LOWER ALLEN TOWNSHIP AND BOROUGH OF NEW CUMBER- LAND .*

L OWER ALLEN TOWNSHIP was formed by the division of Allen Town- À ship in 1850. It lies in the extreme southeastern portion of the county, and is bounded on the north by Hampden and East Pennsborough, on the east by the Susquehanna River, on the south by the Yellow Breeches Creek, and on the west by Upper Allen Township. The whole of the land of which this township is formed was, long before the formation of Cumberland County, a portion of the proprietary manor known as "Paxtang."

From a period unknown the Susquehanoc Indians inhabited the woods on the western shore of the river, and long before the first white man had crossed it, or the first ax had made the primeval forest ring, some sixty families of Sha- wanese, who had come from the far south, had settled here upon the river's bor- der. There they remained until about 1727 or 1728, when they removed to the Ohio, and placed themselves under the protection of the French. They, and the Delawares, who also lived on this side of the Susquehanna, assigned as a reason for this course that satisfaction had not been made them for land surveyed into the proprietary manor on Conodoguinet. A number of Indian villages existed in this lower portion of the county, three in Lower Allen Town- ship. One was a little north of the spot where the Yellow Breeches Creek empties into the Susquehanna (now New Cumberland) where James Chartier had a landing place; another Indian village was a short distance north of the house now occupied by William Kohler; and the third on an elevation in the neighborhood of Milltown, where there was an Indian burial place, the graves of which, it is said, were easily distinguishable in the early days of some of the present inhabitants.

Of the earliest white settlers who crossed over the river into the North Val- ley, we have no knowledge. They were probably "squatters," who settled on lands west of the Susquehanna prior to the final Penn purchase in 1736,

*For Borough of Shiremanstown see page 268.

299

LOWER ALLEN TOWNSHIP.

and who have left no record of their names. On the west shore of the Sus- quehauna, at a very early period, ono Kelso lived, and, in connection with Harris, managed a ferry. This building is the oldest of its kind in the Cum-

berland Valley. It was built prior to 1740, and possibly before 1730. In 1739 Alexander Frazier bonght of the Penn heirs a tract of 200 aeres on which the present mills and a part of the town of Lisburn are situated. The elder Harris, at his death, owned land in the Cumberland Valley, including Gen. Simpson's place below Yellow Breeches, extending to the South Mount- ain. Among the earliest settlers Isaac Hendrix lived upon the manor. as did also William Brooks, of Scotch-Irish origin, who purchased Lot No. 12 of the manor plot, situated on the Yellow Breeches Creek about three miles from the Susquehanna River, and erected thereon a grist-mill and saw-mill, which were very important at that early period. He was a Presbyterian and a very correct man in all his dealings.

In 1740, Peter Chartier, the Indian interpreter, who was of mixed French and Shawnee Indian blood, purchased from John Howard and Richard Penn, 600 acres, bounded on the north by Washington Kinster's and George Mum- per's lands, on the east by the river, on the south by the Yellow Breeches, and on the west by property belonging to Andrew Ross and the Flickinger heirs. William Black, from Scotland, purchased property in 1773, now belonging to the above mentioned heirs; and John Mish, a native of Wartemburg, in 1770, bought 253 aeres, Lot No. 6 of the manor, where the Zimmermans live, and built upon the bank of the Yellow Breeches Creek a house and tannery, prior to the period of the Revolution. About this time (1770) John Wilson pur- chased 200 acres, Lot No. 5 of the manor, now owned by the heirs of Wm. Mateer, and extending from the Feeman to the McCormick farm. The land lying betweon this tract and the bridge at Harrisburg was purchased by Moses Wallis in 1768-70. It is Lot No. 4 of the manor, and is now owned by the McCormicks. Extensive quarries of limestone are on this land.

John Fleck, who died at the age of sixty-five, in the year 1795, was in his day the largest land-owner in this portion of the county, and must have settled there at a very early period. The great-grandfather of William R. Gorgas came from Holland near the beginning of the century, but did not settle in the valley and township till 1791. Michael T. Simpson, prominently connected with the war of the Revolution, established the Simpson ferry four miles below Harris', and was a prominent man of the times.

The pioneer settlers in the eastern portion of Cumberland County were principally from the North of Ireland, although some came directly from Scotland and some few from England.

After a time a number of German settlers mingled with them. The fertil- ity of the soil and the beauty of the newly settled valley attracted them into it, where they established homes, and where, by their industry and frugality, they have increased in wealth and numbers, so that they have in a great measure displaced the descendants of the original Scotch-Irish.

The character of the soil in Lower Allen is principally limestone. In the neighborhood of Lisburn, on the Yellow Breeches Creek, the middle second- ary red shales and sandstones pass across from York County. overlapping the limestone to a limited extent. The predominant interest is the agricultural, and fine farms. highly cultivated, are to be seen in every part of the township. Iron ore, of excellent quality, has been found in detached portions, and some 10,000 tons were taken from the farm of William R. Gorgas, to supply in part the Porter Furnace at Harrisburg prior to 1546. For various causes, however, we believe they have been long abandoned.

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.

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

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