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 61

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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 61
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 61

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The signs of the severer conflict were to follow. In 1863 Gen. Ewell's corps passed through the town on their way to Gettysburg to reinforce Gen. Lee. Fitzhugh Lee's cavalry also passed through the town. Many of the Pennsylvania and New York militia marched through the streets on their way to Gettysburg. Taking the Confederate and Union soldiers together, not less than 40,000 men passed through Mount Holly Springs during the months of June and July, 1863.

INCORPORATION, ETC.

Mount Holly Springs was incorporated as a borough in 1873. It is a beautiful, clean town, with one long principal macadamized street, on which are a number of handsome residences. The place is not only noted for the manufacture of fine paper, but is an old and established summer resort, dating from a very early period. Its situation is delightful; protected by the moun- tains, cool in summer, particularly in summer evenings, it lies amid scenery which might afford an inspiration to an artist. The Mountain Creek, flowing rapidly down through the long gorge from its high recesses, here rests in wider crystal sheets, "where the green mountains bending hang their heads," and are reflected as in a mirror. These sheets, particularly the Upper Holly Dam, afford both boating and piscatorial sport, as well as ample motive power for the mills. From Upper Holly the stream runs in a deep bed beside the turnpike, and under the shade of many trees, and with the mountains on either hand. There are few more beautiful places in Pennsylvania; and it will, on account of its situation and scenery, its pure mountain air and summer climate, con- tinue to attract the weary who are longing for recreation or rest, and the lover of nature who seeks to live where she lavishes her beauties.

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SOUTH MIDDLETON TOWNSHIP.

The borough lies almost due north and south, and the longer streets, Wal- nut, Chestunt, and Baltimore Avenue, run almost parallel with the creek, in this direction. The streets running east and west are Butler, Pine, Harman und Railroad. The principal street is Baltimore Avenue, which consists of all that portion of the turnpike road embraced within the borough limits. It is a wide, level street, a milo or moro in length, sixty feet in width, beautifully maendamized with fine gravel taken from the mountains. With the exception of our large cities, there can be found no finer street in the State.

Mount Holly Springs lies twenty miles southwest from Harrisburg, the capital of the State, and six miles south of Carlisle, the county seat. It is connected with Carlisle and Harrisburg by two railroads. A daily lino of stages runs to York Sulphur Springs, Carlisle, and other points, so that its muil facilities are equal to those of any like inland town elsewhere. It is now a thriving and prosperous town, and bids fair to become a still more beautiful and important one in the future. The various paper-mills afford continual em- ployment to hundreds of operatives, who, in their turn, contribute to the de- velopment of its resources.

CHURCHES, SCHOOLS AND NEWSPAPER.

The churches of the borough are the Evangelical Lutheran Church, on Bal- timore Avenue, and the Methodist Episcopal Church, a commodious structure, erected in 1860, also on Baltimore Avenue. There are five schools-four white and one colored-in the borough. The press is represented by the Mountain Echo, a weekly paper, established by R. Melvin Early in 1872.

HOTELS.

The hotels in the borough for the accommodation of the public will compare favorably with those of larger towns and cities, and of these the " Central " and the "Holly Inn," which was for many years known as the "Mullin Hotel," but which has been remodeled and refitted, and is now under the charge of a stock company, are particularly worthy of mention.

SOCIETIES.

Holly Gap Lodge, No. 277, K. of P., was organized December 8, 1870, with the following named charter members: S. P. Goodyear, J. L. Wolf, Samuel G. Givin, T. J. Wolf, Jacob Hemminger, F. L. Goodyear, M. S. Goodyear, Chas. H. Mullin, J. L. McAllister. Number of present members, seventy-five. Present officers: Dr. R. B. Pollinger, V. C .; James A. Stees, P. ; Lincoln Vinck, M. A .; S. P. Goodyear, K. of R. and S .; G. R. Klopp, M. of F .; Thomas Haveock, M. of E .; Thomas Wolf, P. C.

Mount Holly Lodge, No. 650, I. O. O. F., was organized November 17, 1868, with the following charter members: JJohn Humes, N. G .; Chas. H. Miller, V. G .; James L. McAllister, Sec. ; Henry Mullin, Asst. Sec .; Jacob Hem- minger, Treas. Present officers are A. Simpson, N. G .; John A. Bosler, V. G .; S. P. Goodyear, Sec .; Edward C. Beach, Asst. Sec .; Thomas Wolf, Treas.

Canada Post, No. 490, G. A. R., was organized in August, 1885, with the following named charter members: Alexander Adams, W. H. Brinn, Jos. S. Early, N. J. Glass, John Goodyear, Geo. W. Kinter, John Cauffman, Jacob Hoffert, W'm. H. Hatz, A. Noffsinger, J. E. Mondorf, D. A. Nagle, A. T. Rich- wine, W. H. Rieker, Geo. Slusser, Milton Still, S. J. Sadler, Philip Snyder, James Snyder, Eli Toner, Silas Toner, Henry Wallet, John Ward, Moses Wag- ner, Benj. F. Wallet, Philip Harman, Augustus MeGonigal. Present number

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HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

of members, sixty-one. Present officers: Rev. J. Wise Shannon, C .; Augustus Miller, S. V. C .; Samuel Sadler, J. V. C .; Daniel Wallet, O. D .; Milton Still, O. G .; P. Herman, Q. M .; James Snyder, Q. M. S .; Wm. Goodyear, Adjt. ; Benj. Wallack, S. M .; John Ward, Chaplain.

There are also Patriotic Sons of America, Washington Camp, No. 181, a Building and Loan Association, a Literary Society, a Cornet Band, etc.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

UPPER ALLEN TOWNSHIP.

A LLEN TOWNSHIP was formed from East Pennsborough in 1766. It

then embraced what is now Monroe, Upper and Lower Allen Townships. Monroe was taken from Allen first in 1825, and in 1850 the remainder was di- vided into Upper and Lower Allen.

Upper Allen is bounded on the north by portions of Silver Spring and Hampden; on the east by Lower Allen; on the south, where the Yellow Breeches Creek is the dividing line, by York County; and on the west by Mon- roe Township.

EARLY SETTLERS, MILLS, MINES, ETC.

The earliest settlers were Scotch-Irish, principally from Lancaster County, of which this, then, was the frontier, although the Germans began to come in- to this lower portion of the county about 1760.

Among the earlier Scotch-Irish who settled here before the year 1762 were the Quigleys, Dunlaps, Rosebarys, Brysons, Trindles, McCues, Gregorys, and others.

The names of other early settlers were the Hunters, Musselmans, Switzers, Taylors, Harknesses, Brysons, Longneckers, Brenizers, Mohlers, Shelleys, Bitners, Rupps, Hecks, the Gorgas family, Cochrans, Coovers, Beelmans, Eberlys, the Eckels family, Browns, Myers, Lambs, and others.

The Pattersons were an old family, and lived on land since owned by Moses C. Eberly. The Grahams settled where James Graham owns; the Wertzes on the farm since owned by Milton Stayman; the Dunlaps on land since owned by Mrs. Coover, on the Lisburn road; and the Coovers, originally from Switzer- land, on a place in the possession of their descendants. The Mohlers, Daniel and his uncle, Christian Mohler, purchased their land in Cumberland County in 1800.

The Cocklin farm, known as "Spring Dale," was purchased from the Penns in 1742 by Andrew Miller, who sold it in 1772 to Jacob Cocklin, who came in 1733 from the western part of Germany, and settled first in Lancas- ter, but afterward in Cumberland County. The Yellow Breeches Creek forms the southern boundary of the two Allen Townships. The first mill, it is said, was built of logs, and was owned by Richard Peters until 1746. It was torn down, and other mills (the last now owned, or lately owned, by Levi Lautz) have been successively erected upon its site. The farm on which this mill is located, 295 acres, including the mill, was once purchased by John Anderson from Richard Peters for £50. The Quigleys located close to what is now Bow- mansdale and built a mill there, which was known as Quigley's mill. This

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UPPER ALLEN TOWNSHIP.

was owned by Henry Quigley before ISIS. The Bryson estate came in on the east, and on the west the Niesleys, who also erected a mill, now known as Hertzler's mill. About a mile and a half east of the Quigleys was the Swit. zers, and they also owned a mill on the site of what is now Gingrick's mill. The present one was erected in 1837. This mill (also known as Underwood's) was purchased from Richard Peters, between 1740 and 1750, by Frederick Switzer, who joined the army, and was absent during the Revolutionary war, and bequeathed it to his son, from whom it has passed through various hands.

Three prominent families which came into this section at a very early pe- riod were the Grahams, the Harknesses, and the Browns. The two latter es- tates reached almost from Mechanicsburg to the Yellow Breeches Creek. The Graham estato lay east of the Harknesses, and the Browns south.

Of this Harkness family, as we have material from a sketch of one of the Lamberton family, and as it contains points of general interest, we will here give an account.

William Harkness was born October 1, 1739, in the North of Ireland, and when quite a boy immigrated with his father, William Harkness, Sr., and settled among the Presbyterians of Donegal, in Lancaster. He married, in 1771, Priscilla Lytle, of the same Scotch-Irish stock, and living in the same settlement. After the close of the harassing Indian wars (by the treaty of Col. Bouquet) which ravaged the Cumberland Valley until 1764, William Hark- ness, Jr., bought of the proprietaries, on August 1, 1766, land now in Allen Township. The Indian titles having been extinguished, and the boundary difficulties with Maryland adjusted, the proprietary advertised that the office for the sale of lands west of the Susquehanna would be opened on August 1, 1766, the settlers prior to that holding their lands under license certificates. Judge Huston says the number of applications issued on that day was 669. The application of William Harkness was number thirty-eight.

The survey was on January 24, 1767. and patent issued subsequently.

Prior to this he and his neighboring settlers were often engaged in defend- ing their homes against a savage enemy, and in the work of the harvest-fields there, and in the Sherman's Valley, carried their rifles with them. They were armed agriculturists. The name of William Harkness is found on the list of taxables of Cumberland County as early as 1753. Later, in 1776, he entered the colonial service as an ensign, and together with Mr. Lytle, his brother-in- law, was amongst the conflicts at Brandywine and Germantown. At the latter place Mr. Lytle was killed by his side.

After the war Mr. Harkness, by purchase, added to his property until he possessed a large estate of some 700 or 800 acres. On it he erected a large stone dwelling house, among the first of that kind in the valley, and other buildings, and devoted himself to agriculture and other business pursuits. His house was famous for its hospitality.

At this time there was slavery in Pennsylvania. In the registry of the last 297 slaves registered under the requirements of an act to explain and amend a former "Act for the gradual abolition of slavery, etc., in Pennsylvania," passed the 1st of March, 1750, among the records of Cumberland County we find the well-known names of Armstrong, Buchanan, Butler, Carothers, Craw- ford. Clarke, Craighead, Bryson, Duncan, Blaine, Dunlap, Irvine, Galbreath, Gibson and others, and that William Harkness returns those born on his estate. Some who desired it he afterward manumitted at the age of twenty-one, seven years before the time fixed by law, having previously sent them to school and in other ways given them preparation for self-dependence. Others lived long afterward on his estate -the children of some until the death of his son, Will- iam Harkness, in 1851.

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HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

William Harkness died May 4, 1822; Priscilla, his wife, October 31, 1831. Both are buried in the old grave-yard at Silver Spring. Their daughter, Mary, became the wife of Major Robert Lamberton, of Carlisle.

Another family, the McCues, dating back of 1762, lived a short distance south of the Graham estate, and between them lay the large estate of the Poormans. Another family who were large land-owners were the Gregorys- also dating beyond 1762, and the last of whom (so far as we know), Walter Gregory, was buried in the Silver Spring grave-yard in 1730. They owned the estate part of which is now owned by Harry McCormick, where the bridge crosses the Yellow Breeches Creek, on the line of the State road leading from Harrisburg to Gettysburg. One Rosebary (probably Robert Rosebary) mar- ried one of the daughters, and built a mill, which for more than a century has been known as Roseberry's Mill. The bridge at that point was also known as Roseberry's Bridge. Another family who owned large landed estate was the Myers family, on the Trindle Spring, just above Mechanicsburg. Here, also, were the Trindles and the Lambs. The Trindles lived at Trindle Spring and, adjoining them on the southwest, the Lambs. Samuel Eckels settled in the township about 1809. He erected a house not far from what is known as Winding Hill, near the Mennonite Church, on the State road.

Besides the mills which we have incidently mentioned there were a number of carding and fulling-mills, a number of which are still in existence, and the business of raising wool was once an extensive industry in the Allen Town- ships.

The oldest buildings, according to an account given by Henry S. Mohler, are a log house and barn on the farm belonging to the Garrett heirs. They are supposed to be more than a hundred and thirty years old. On this farm, nearly sixty years ago, there were over 200 cherry trees, under which, in the season, used to be celebrated what was called "cherry fairs," when "cherry bounce " circulated freely, and when the owner derived more profit from the sale of his fruit than from his crops of grain. The first stone house in the township was on the farm now owned by H. G. Mosser, but it has since been replaced by a more imposing brick structure. The first stone house which is still in existence, was built on the farm now owned by Joseph Bosler, near the close of the Revolutionary war. Another was built in 1790 on the farm of H. M. Cocklin. The first stone barn was built in 1801, on J. W. Byer's farm, and the first of brick was in 1812, on the farm of Jacob Gehr, near Lisburn, but was destroyed by lightning in 1837.

Nearly half a century ago, a mine of hematite ore was discovered in Upper Allen Township, a short distance west of Shepherdstown, from which several thousand tons were taken, about 1848, for the iron works at Boiling Springs and for the Dauphin Furnace. Boulders containing iron ore have been found in other portions of the township. Rich deposits of magnetic ore were discov- ered in 1853, on several farms on the Yellow Breeches Creek south of Shep- herdstown, while men were digging the foundation for a barn. There is little doubt that there are a number of places where iron ore can be found, and that they will be worked in the future, if the time arrives when it will prove remun- erative. There is also much lime burned in Upper Allen, sometimes as many as fifty kilns being kept in constant operation.

The distilling of whisky was also, at one time, a prominent industry. When the railroads and canals were unknown most farmers converted their grain into this form, in order that it might be conveyed to market at the least possible expense. At this time such goods were sent to the large cities by means of the great Conestoga wagons, which traveled often in company and took a week or

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UPPER ALLLEN TOWNSHIP.

more to make their trip. At night the drivers would stop to rest and build their camp-fire on the road. Now that the reason has ceased, there is no distillery in operation in the township, although the remains of former ones can be seen at several places.

VILLAGES.

Of the villages in the township the first was known as Stumpstown, but it never had more than six houses, and, in 1810, a storo, which has been aband- oned.

Shepherdstown, near the center of the township, is a post village of about 175 inhabitants, three miles south of Mechanicsburg, on the State road. It was called after William Shepherd.

Kohlerstown .- In 1867 a small cluster of houses was built on the State road, half a mile from Mechanicsburg, which was called "Kohlerstown," af- ter the family by whom it was originally settled.

Bowmansdale is another small village in the southern portion of the town- ship, called after Jacob Bowman, a former sheriff of Cumberland County, and the principal proprietor.

CHURCHES, BURIAL PLACES, ETC.

The oldest church in the township, known as the " Western Union Church," on the Lisburn road, was erected in 1835, but the grave-yard connected with it has been used as a place of interment for more than a hundred years. An- other Union Church was built at the eastern end of Shepherdstown in 1844, which was also used for school purposes. The Reformed Mennonites have a church, erected in 1851, on Winding Hill, so called because of the road which winds around it. Near it are the water works which supply Mechanicsburg. The "Mohler Meeting-House" is a large structure built by the German Bap- tists in 1861. On the farm of John Dunlap is a grove which has long been used for Methodist camp-meeting purposes, from 1820 until 1862, and twenty acres of which grove, at his death, were bequeathed to them for such purposes forever. The grounds are elevated, sloping toward the east. Of the grave- yards besides the one which we have mentioned, the oldest is on the farm of Henry Yost, and there are, at different points, three private ones, for the Zug, Lautz and Mohler families. The Chestnut Hill Cemetery, on a beautiful rounded elevation in this township, for the use of the people of Mechanics- burg and vicinity, is under the control of an association which was incorpo- rated in 1852.

SCHOOLS.

The first schools of which we have any knowledge were taught in private houses. The first building ereeted for school purposes was built at a date unknown, but before 1800, on the farm now owned by David Coover. It was of logs, covered with thatched straw, with slabs or three-legged stools for seats, and no desk, save for the teacher. In 1805 another was built upon the same farm: in 1809, another on the farm of John Beelman, near Shepherdstown; and two years later, another on the farm of the late Judge Moser. These were the earliest schools of which we have any record.

For the following recollections of his school-boy days we are indebted to William Eekels, of Mechanicsburg, who was born in Upper Allen Township. It throws a gleam of light upon the primitive methods of education which were in vogue at the beginning of the century. "Of the places remembered most distinctly," says he, "beyond the home domicile, are the two schoolhouses sit- uated about equal distance from the place of my birth and childhood days.

360

HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

These structures were known as Bryson's and Taylor's schoolhouses. The former stood in a large piece of woodland, not far from the new barn recently erected by William M. Watts on the north side of his farm. It was a rude structure in every way, beiug lighted only by windows inserted between the logs on each side, ten inches high. But, with all its apparent discomforts, it served the double purpose of a place for preaching and school for many years, until accidentally burned down about fifty years ago.

"The other schoolhouse stood on the Taylor farm, now owned by Judge Moser, and is still standing and is used as a place of shelter for farming imple- ments. This house was considered quite modern in its day, with its pyramid roof and its two square windows in front, with twelve lights, 8x10. Its pres- ent dilapidated condition is a sad and forcible reminder of the flight of time to those who, long years ago, came there to enjoy the benefits of the rude system of education which then prevailed in the county, and who often made the sur- rounding forest ring with the boisterous play and the merry laugh of child- hood. Like the former, this, too, was a place for preaching, as well as for "school;" and of the ministers whom my earliest recollection recalls as being at the former place, was the eccentric Lorenzo Dow and the grave old Scotch- man, Dr. Pringle, who was pastor of the Seceder Church, of Carlisle. Many quaint stories were related of Lorenzo Dow, which interested children and kept him in their memory at an early age. Dr. Pringle was noted mainly for the gravity of his manner of conducting the services of the house of worship, and his severe dignity at all times. Perhaps no two men were more unlike, in the same calling, than were Dow and Pringle." To such worthies (whose names, to the older inhabitants, are still "household words") these school boys, at the beginning of the present century, listened; characters whose severe earnestness and sinew-grit-made amends for culture, and was more fitting for the comparative wilderness in which they worked.

There are at present nine school buildings in the township, of which eight are of brick or stone, and all more or less fitted, according to our modern ideas, for their purpose.

MISCELLANEOUS.

The Cumberland Valley Railroad runs across the northern border of the township. The postoffices are Shepherdstown and Bowmansdale.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

WEST PENNSBOROUGH TOWNSHIP.

P ENNSBOROUGH was one of the two original townships which were formed in the North Valley as early as 1735. This was fifteen years before the for- mation of the county. For some few years after it was divided, for purposes of convenience, in the early tax-lists, into north, south, east and west parts of Pennsborough, until, in 1745, it seems to have been definitely divided into East and West.

In the years which have intervened since its formation, West Pennsborough has been gradually reduced to its present limits. It first lost Newton, on the west, in 1767; then Dickinson, which included Penn, on the south, in 1785; and Frankford, on the north, ten years later.

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WEST PENNSBOROUGH TOWNSHIP.

FIRST SETTLEMENTS, ETC.

The names of the carliest settlers found on land warrants between the years 1743 and 1786, indicate that they were all of Irish or Scotch-Irish de- scent. Such are the names of Atcheson, McFarlane, Dunbar, McAllister, Dunning, Ross, Mitchell, Davidson, M'Keehan, and others. Not a single German name can be found until about 1790, when the German Mennonites began to move into Cumberland from Lancaster and Lebanon Counties. Some of these, as the Dillers and the Bears, not only purchased large tracts of land, but erected substantial stone dwelling houses and barns upon them, and began to improve their farms in such a manner as made them a worthy object of imi- tation to the earlier settlers. Some few of the Hessians captured by Wash- ington at Trenton in 1777 settled in this township, and were represented by such names as Washmond, whose descendants lived until 1840, or later, on the farm now owned by Levi Clay, and the Rhines, who owned the property now belonging to William Kerr.

The earliest settlers here, as in other portions of the county, seem to have preferred the land upon the springs or along the streams in the various por- tions of the township. The lands, therefore, which lay upon the Big Spring on the west, the Conodoguinet on the north, the Mount Rock Spring on the south, or McAllister's Run, seem to be those which were first settled by the early pio- neers.

"The earliest settlement," says Hon. Peter Ritner, "was made by a fam- ily named Atcheson at a place now owned by J. A. Laughlin, a descendant of the original settler, and at the 'Old Fort,' on land now in the possession of William Lehman, formerly of Abram Diller. This fort was built at an early day (perhaps 1733) to be a refuge from the Indians." It probably antedated the final purchase of Penn, for it was spoken of as " the Old Fort" in the or- iginal warrant for the 200 acres upon which it stood, which was taken out by James McFarlane in 1743. " One of the grandparents of the present genera- tion of the Laughlin family was born in this fort. Abram Diller built an ad- dition of stone to the original structure, covered the log portion with weather- boards, and occupied the whole as a dwelling house. In 1856 the entire build- ing was accidentally burned. Adjoining the original tract on the eastward was another containing 400 acres, which was also taken up in 1743 by James McFarlane, and has since been known as the "New Farm." Both tracts were sold by him, in 1790, to Abram and Peter Diller, whose descendants are still in possession of a portion of the New Farm. None of the houses built by the orig- inal settlers are now standing, the log cabins of the Atchesons and Laughlins having long since given place to substantial stone dwellings."

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

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