USA > Pennsylvania > Fayette County > History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 115
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An old woolen-factory, now standing on the river's bank at the Broad Ford, was started in 1824 by White & Sons, and carried on with varying fortunes for some years. It served also later as a grist-mill, but for years has lain idle.
In the fall of 1782, David Parkhill (who had come from Ireland to America during the Revolution) set- tled in Dunbar, upon lands that joined Joshua Dick- inson's and Joseph Oglevee's. Although a strong Covenanter, his blood arose in resentment at the thought of the troubles worked by Indian depreda- tions, and at the head of a company of his neighbors sallied out one Sunday morning to hunt and punish the savages. The enemy had taken the alarm, and luckily for themselves fled beyond the reach of the determined pioneers. Mr. Parkhill's wife lived until she had rounded out a century of existence. She died in 1842. Stephen Fairchild, who died in Dun-
bar in 1837, came to Pennsylvania in 1810, and lo- cated in Salt Lick township. He was born in New York State, and at the age of fifteen enlisted with his six brothers for service in the war of the Revolution. One of the seven was wounded at the battle of Bunker Hill. Stephen Fairchild's widow died in 1863, aged eighty-four, and was at her death one of the oldest persons then in receipt of a pension.
In the spring of 1880 one of the "characters" of Dunbar died in a cave near Cow Rock, where for a period of sixty years or more he had led the life of a recluse. This singular personage, never known by any other designation than "Captain Cook," is said to have come to Fayette County from England simply to show his reverence for the memory of Gen. Brad- dock. While in his English home he read in a book the story of Braddock's fate, and straightway felt a very strong desire to visit the region wherein that un- fortunate general met his death. He came to Amer- ica, and to Fayette County. In Dunbar township, east of Union Furnace, and near the river, he found a cave that suited him for a home. Of it he took squatter possession, and in it he passed the remainder of his life, which was, by the way, a life conspicuously devoid of an object, except, perhaps, in respect to his satisfaction in being near the scenes that surrounded Braddock when he died. It is said that for as long as six months at a time he would keep himself utterly secluded from the gaze of man. Near his hut was a bank of fire-clay, and once in a while he would make a few fire-bricks, and descend into the Furnace settle- ment for the purpose of exchanging the bricks for provisions. His mission concluded, he would return to his mountain den, and emerge no more for months. Samuel Work, alluded to as having purchased the Rogers farm, was grandfather to Samuel Work, now of Dunbar township. John Work, son of Samuel the elder, was born in 1787. He married Nancy Rogers.
Jacob Lowry was a man of considerable note in Dunbar before and after 1800. In 1788 he moved from Northumberland County to Jacob's Creek, and entered the employment of his brother-in-law, John Gerhart, a miller. In 1794 he went over to Col. Isaac Meason's Union Furnace, and for five years was Col. Meason's miller at the Furnace grist-mill. In 1799 he built a framed grist-mill on Dunbar Creek below the Furnace, and carrying it on until 1815, built in that year upon the same site, in conjunction with John Strickler, the stone grist-mill now owned by William Speers. He leased the grist-mill to Strickler, who after a five years' experience therein failed and re- tired to a farm near New Haven. Lowry had mean- while been living on a farm and running a saw-mill on Tucker's Run, but npon Strickler's failure resumed his control of the grist-mill property. Of the old framed grist-mill he had made a fulling-mill, and about 1828 built the woolen-factory now owned by Daniel Harper. After his death, in September, 1830,
506
HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
his son Lewis came into possession of the grist-mill, and his son William of the woolen-factory. In 1841, John Speers purchased the grist-mill.
John Sherrard was a settler in Dunbar in 1773. He remained in his new settlement but a year, and then moved to Kentucky. In 1778 he resumed his habitation in Dunbar, and retained it until 1805, when he coneluded to push farther westward to Ohio, where he died in 1809. He was in the Continental service during the Revolutionary war, and was with Col. Wil- liam Crawford in the expedition to Sandusky in 1782. Although but a private, he bore a somewhat conspic- uous part in that affair. David Alexander Catheart Sherrard, born in Dunbar, Sept. 2, 1786, died June 2, 1880 (upon the farm that had been his home from his birth), in the ninety-fourth year of his age. In early life he was connected with the Laurel Hill Presbyte- rian Church, and for over sixty years was a ruling elder of that church. In 1825 he was appointed a justice of the peace, and held the office fifteen years. It is said that during that time he tried eight hundred and eighty civil cases, of which but four were appealed, and of these but one reversed.
"John Travis and his brother-in-law, George Thomp- son, emigrated from Ireland shortly after the Revolu- tion was over;1 and immediately after landing off shipboard they crossed the mountains, and each pur- chased a farm of one hundred and fifty aeres of good land of my father [John Sherrard], which they im- proved, and each raised up a large family.
" Mr. Travis became an elder in the Laurel Hill congregation. In the spring of 1798 he bought a farm one mile and a half east of the cross-roads, on some of the branebes of Raccoon Creek, on which he settled with his family. Some time after be settled in the bounds of Laurel Hill congregation, from some cause, he became completely crazy, so much so that he had to be confined and handcuffed and guarded by two men of the neighborhood to keep him from doing damage to himself or others. A neighbor by the name of Thomas Graham was one of the two. Many years afterwards he informed me that on one occasion it was necessary to change his linen, and to make that change Graham had to take off the handcuffs, after which, while he was in the act of turning round and reaching for a shirt that was airing by the fire, Travis took advantage of the attitude Graham was in by lifting the bolt that fastened the handcuff, and threw it with great force at Graham's head, just graz- ing it. After which assault Graham was careful at such times to leave nothing in the crazy man's way by which means he could do any one of his keepers or himself any damage.
" At length the physician recommended that they should seek out a waterfall in some of the mountain regions, where a small cold stream of water fell over
rocks several feet with some weight and force. The rill having been sought out, the neighbors built a small house close to the waterfall, and divided it off with a partition of logs, keeping Mr. Travis confined in one end, while the other served as a place of lodg- ing and shelter for those who waited on him. And it was made the duty of the two men each morning to place Mr. Travis under the waterfall, in such a posi- tion as that the descending stream fell on his head, and thus once a day he was treated to a cold bath, with its influence direct upon the head, and the pro- eess was continued daily until unmistakable signs of returning sanity had made their appearance, and was continued daily onee a day until it had the desired effeet. Mr. Travis was thereby restored to reason, and remained a man of sound mind to the day of his death."
Samuel Martin came to Col. Meason's Union Fur- nace about 1793, and worked there as a teamster. His son John was a founder, while his sons Alexander, James, and Samnel, Jr., were also employed about the furnace in various capacities. Alexander Martin, of Dunbar, is a son of John the founder above men- tioned. William J. and Samuel Martin, other sons of John, live in Dunbar township. Mrs. Naney Ilanen, living near Dunbar, is one of his daughters. Cambridge, a son of James Martin (who worked at Union Furnace in 1794), lives now at Dunbar Fur- nace.
Alexander Martin, of Dunbar, says there used to be an old graveyard at Dunbar Furnace, and that the place was doubtless used for the burial of those who died in Col. Meason's service. Rude headstones marked many graves up to a few years ago, but no stone bore an inscription or date-mark. Mr. Martin says he recollects hearing of the burial in that yard of an old lady named Flood, who hung herself at her home at the Furnace with a skein of yarn.
William Hardy came to Fayette County in 1794 with the Maryland troops to assist in quelling the Whiskey Insurrection. At the Meason Furnace they found a liberty pole, and across it a board labeled "Liberty and no Excise." After that bloodless cam- paign was ended he returned to Union Furnace, and worked for Col. Meason as a wood-chopper. When he was twenty-six years old he bought a farm on the mountain-side, and lived about Dunbar until his death, in 1870, at the age of one hundred and three. One of his sons lives in Michigan, and another in Nebraska.
About 1790, John Artis and his brother Isaac came from Delaware to Fayette County. John located at Mount Braddock, and Isaac on the place now the farm of John Hanen. John Artis was killed in 1811 while wood-chopping on Isaac Meason's lands. He left nine children, of whom none are now living. At the time of his death his home was where Stoneroad Bodkin now lives, back of Dunbar village. Isaac Artis, his brother, died in Connellsville. In 1796,
1 This account of John Travis is given by Robert A. Sherrard (formerly of Dunbar township, but now of Steubenville, Ohio) in his manuscript " History of Centre Church," in Ohiu.
DUNBAR TOWNSHIP.
Isaac Young had an old log grist-mill on Young's mill-run. How long before that he had been oper- ating the mill is not known. Tradition says that for some time Young's mill was the only one for a long distance around. Isaac Meason built a stone grist-mill at Union Furnace probably before the year 1800. Among the customers at that mill the most famous one was Betty Knox, who lived on the other side of the mountain, and made regular trips to Meason's mill mounted on an ox. The mountain path by which she came and went was known for years as Betty Knox's road.
ORIGINAL LANDHOLDERS IN DUNBAR.
Original surveys made of lands now in Dunbar township show, as far as the subject can be pursned with certainty, the original landholders to have been the following :
Horses.
Cattle. Acres.
Andrew Byres (1 lot)
2
2
9
John Boyd (2 lots)
2
2
Patrick Barr
1
1
Jos. Bell (I lot).
Levin Barns ..
1
Sarah Bradford.
...
...
2
Jos. Bell
1
1
Samuel Barr
...
..
Jas. Boyes
Anthony Banning ..
..
...
250
Win. Bowers, weaver
1
...
Win. Boner, single.
...
...
50
Christopher Cummins
1
1
..
Win. Connell.
1
...
John Clark, mason
2
Jnhn Christy.
1
...
John Carlisle ..
1
Daniel Carlisle
1
Tesh Clark
1
...
Daniel Conner
1
Jas. Cunningham ( 1 lot)
1
Wm. Craig.
2
Alex. Carson
1
Thos. Craig
...
John Cannon (2 slaves)
9
Widow Canaan.
1
200
Moses Dillon. 4204
Thes. Meason.
3854
Levi Downer.
1011
Win. MeMullen 23
Thomas Clark
9
Rezin Gale
3124
Jacob Murphy
1922
David Catheart ..
1
2
100
Geo. Gale. 3121
Geo. Nichol
116
2
3
200
Hannah Crawford,
1
Wm. Gun.
4444
Geo. Paull.
329ł
John Clark.
2
80
James Cunningham
1
I
...... 100
Catharine Harrison.
238 Robert Ross
4101
1
......
Jus. Iligginson
1554
John Sampson
349
John Davis.
1
Robt. Hustend.
594
Edward Ware
272
Samuel Dunlap. 1
3
140
John Husband
1164
Samuel Work
371 Levi Dickerson.
...
......
Robert Irwin
391}
Isaac Young ..
339
5
340
Andrew Jakle
38ł
Jas. Paull.
485
1
1
270
Sampson John ..
349
Jas. Paull.
159
9
2
Robert Dougan, Jr ....
9
2
...
lob John ..
4231
Robert John.
420}
Jas. Rogers
110₺
1
1
David Jobn ..
3292
Wmn. Ross.
3912
Thomas Dickerson, blackstuith.
2
5
90
Simon Job.
111
Wmn. Steedman.
438
Adam Dickey, inn-keeper (1 lot).
2
Thomas Durbin
..
William Dodson
..
125
James Dunlap
2
5
150
Jonathan Davis
2
Adam Dunlap
5
John Eliot.
2
Thomas Eliot.
3
William Eliot
1
..
T. Eyerman
1
2
Mager Foster.
1
William Francis,
1
2
370
John Fouzer ( ] lot)
1
1
Samuel Findley
1
...
2
1
1
2
Wm. Andersen
22
1
Anthony Able ..
2
...
..
...
Isaac Artis.
1
..
Robert Archibald ...
1
1
... 160
Jobn Barkelow, single ..
1
.. ..
John Barnbill.
1
3
... ...
Thos. Burch
1
.. ...
Widow Gilchrist.
4
221
Leonard Barns ...
50
John Grabam, butcher.
1
... 300
David Byers.
1
2
70
Benjamin Griffith, nailer.
...
...
1
1
100
James Guin ..
4
..
Daniel Barkelow
2
I
90
William lainey, collier
1
...
Conrad Barkelow
2
5
60 William Hardy.
...
Thos. Moore ..
367} 325₺
John Crawford
375+
Alex. Moreland
TAX PAYERS IN DUNBAR TOWNSHIP IN 1799.
The first assessment-roll made for the township of Dunbar, bearing date 1799, presents the following names as tax-payers in that year :
Horses.
Cattle. Acres.
Josiah Allen, merebant
John Findley.
...
Abram Forsythe, founder.
1
.. Jacob Furry
2
Gordon Ferguson.
Joshua Gib-on, furnace.
1300
Benj. Archibald, Jr.
John Gibson, hammerman.
Abraham Goble.
5
Thomas Graham
1
1
...... ......
Thomas Greenongh (1 slave).
1
... ...
Marthew Gilchrist
5
150
Jonathan Black
1
.. ...
Isaac Byers
9
70 John Gale ..
1
2
Isaac Beeson
50
Isaac Meason. 2282
John Barron .. 3884
John McLean ... 436}
John Ball 239
Alex. MeLelland 964
Wm. Cracraft. 1195 Geo. Mende. 436}
Wm. Cumberland ..
...
... ...
Thomas Cumberland
241321422914 1 1 4 1 1
2
Lawrence Harrison.
3042
L. J. Harrison.
325ł
Robert Pollock
2833
D. Craeraft, chargeable to Col. Menson
...
Benj. Harrison ..
2144
Wm. Rogers
144
John Cord ...
..
...
Adam Cunningham.
1
Samuel Jolin
4094
Alex. Pollock
218
Eli Dickerson
9
9
George Job
97↓
Geo. Thompson.
223
Peter John
1164
Geo. Woods 2093
Thos. Leech
395
John Wells. 96
Lewis Lowry
812
Benj. Wells 430}
.. Barnet. Findley ..
...
4
Jas. Allen (one lot)
...
2
...
...
Wm. Barns.
John Gouger.
1
Acres.
Acres.
Thos. Gist 2309
Gen. Paul]
165
Geo. Paull.
317
9
Joshua Dickerson (grist- and saw-mill ) ... Robert Dougan
John Dougan.
Thos. Rogers
3253
Nicholas Durbin.
John Delaney
1
1 2613 3
......
2
William Carson
1
Thos. Boyers ...
..
Francis Bryan, merchant
...
...
...
Benj. Archibald, Sr.
...
3
Benjamin Byers.
1
1
220
18
507
508
HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Horses. Cattle. Acres.
Cattle. Acres.
Allen Huston, saddler .. ....
... ......
John Harharger
1
......
...
...
..
Emanuel Hoover, blacksmith.
...
Samuel Patterson.
1
...
150
Thos. Haggerty
1
Phineas Porter, tanner.
4
4
150
Arthur Hurry, tailor
James Paull (2 slaves).
5
6
450
David Howard ..
1
Samuel Preston, blacksmith
1
3
100
Daniel llare.
1
I
1
Thomas Pew
.. .
...
2
2
Jacob Ilunt ..
1
William Patterson 9
150
James Hindinan.
1
1
52
John Plystone, wagon-maker.
...
Christopher Isnogle .
1
Joshua Porter, schoolmaster.
1
...
Mordecai John, blacksmith.
Thomas Jones ..
3
3
243
Thomas Patton, schoolmaster. Robert Pattersun.
1
1
...
William Johnston
1
9
100
9
2
.....
Isaac Johnston.
1
1
Hugh Pattison
1
1
40
Elijah Johnston ..
Widow Parkhill
6
100
Thomas Kirkpatrick
Jonathan Phillips
1
5
200
Adam Kinder ..
Mathew Russell
1
...
Philip Kylander
1
1
John Rogers, Sr
40
Thomas Little ..
4
130
Jesse Rebecka
...
...
2
6
109
5
5
300
James Lungen ..
1
1
William Ramsey
1
35
Thomas Lawson.
1
3
165
Robert Reed, tanner.
1
3
James Latimer ...
1
John Ryan.
George Latimer.
1
I
John Reed, mason
1
Benjamin Lowry.
..
..
300
Henry Sairing
70
Robert Mclaughlin, Jr ..
1
1
...
Joseph Sloan ..
1
1
Robert MeLaughlin, Sr.
4
5
400
Isaac Shallenbarger
150
John MeLaughlin
5
375
Daniel Smithson, shoemaker.
Widow MeFerters
1
1
60
John Shearer
David Moreland.
2
1 350
John Swift.
John Shivers
1
1
Richard Melvin.
Isaac Meason ( 1 forge, 1 furnace, 1 grist- mill. 2 saw. mills).
...
6400
Joseph Minture.
2
2
Ilenry Smith
2
3
150
Robert MeBurney, blacksmith ..
1
...
David Mitz.
4
1
196
John Strickler.
3
200
Robert Mcknight
1
Uriah Springer
1
Eliakim Stoops.
1
2
Sarah Stephens (1 slave) ..
1
1
Sammel Martin
1
1
James Swany
1
Alexander Morrisoo.
1
Benjamin Stephens
I
Charles Murry
1
George Stewart,
Thomas Talmon
Ebenezer Tinley, shoemaker.
1
James Miller.
1
... ....
John Meriek
1
1
William Thompson ..
1
4
382
Josiah Moreland
3
300
1
William Muller.
6
6
450
James Waugh
Joho Miles ..
3
Thomas Wallace.
Samuel McCune.
Gilly Wade ..
1
1
. ....
Jacob Murphy ( I slave).
5
5
250
3
5
275
James Miller.
John Wiley
1
John MeClelland
...
300
John Willoughby, mason 1
1
..
David Maple.
1
2
100
Asa Wilson, blacksmith.
...
..
Daniel MeGraw
1
..
Jacob Maple.
2
1
llenry Willis ...
1
1 40
John Miller
Matthew Wilkin
2
2
...... 300
John Maple
1
1
Joseph Work .. 1
George Wilhelmn.
2
Elijah MeLanghlin
9
Rhoda Wade.
John Moreland.
1
...
Daniel Young
Matthew Neely
2
3
130
Joseph Yeagley
Joseph Osborn
9
4
250
Alexan ler Young.
...
Henry Passmore
1
1
Adam Yeagley
4
George Perry.
1
......
Jehiel Service.
John Pool, potter.
1
.....
David Withruw
Horses. 1
1
100
Isaac Patterson
...
... ... Thomas Parkinson (grist- and saw-mill) ... 2
3
280
William Hunt, shoewaker
211 I 1
2
Jesse Passmore, one house, not shingled .. Samuel Paxton
...
...
William Henry, tailor ..
1
Samuel Phillips
Jonathan Paul, blacksmith. John Fatti-on
1
...
...
John Reed
..
Jacob Lowry ..
John Rogers, Jr., inn-keeper.
110
Andrew Luckey
..
...
Thomas Lasher, joiner.
Cornelius Reardon
William Moreland ..
9
Isaac Meason, Jr
Daniel Sickles Caleb Squib.
1
2
John Stopher
1
1
Jacob Strickler.
5
6
258
George Swink.
...
..
Andrew MeCane.
1
12
Ilugh MeCormick.
...
Edward McCardel.
...
100
Joseph Torrence ( I slave).
3 300
Neil MeFadden
..
Samuel Work ( 1 slave). Hance Wiley.
1
James Wade.
James Mel'une.
Matthew Wiley
Jatoes Wilkins
4
.. 300
Alexander Morelaod, blacksmith mill)
(saw-
6
...
John Winant ..
2 224 4
...
120
Allen Morrison
...
James Worthington.
...
:222
...
...
Peter Yeagley.
John Oldshaw
...
...
100
John Meloy
Ilugh McConnell.
Edward Stephens
...
1
Samuel McDowell
William Ross
Jacob Leight.
Thomas Rogers (1 slave).
...
...
...
6
2
Alexander llunter.
Nicholas Iloward, blacksmith.
John llamilton ..
William Pollock
..
2
...
......
......
509
DUNBAR TOWNSHIP.
The "single freemen" recorded on the tax-roll were Robert Archibald, James Allis, Michael Benson, William Boner, Henry Bruner, Hugh Barnhill, James Barnhill, Thomas Byers, Henry Barkalow (tailor), James Bell, Robert Craig, Robert Cunningham, Hugh Cunningham (tailor), Alexander Crawford, Thomas Cholkley, Thomas Corkins, John Corkins, William Cook, Bryan Colly, John Carring, William Dunbar, Azarialı Davis (blacksmith), Joseph Douglass, Walter Francis, James Francis, James Hamilton (merchant), Lewis Hollingsworth, William Henner, George Lati- mer, John Mclaughlin, Alexander Moreland (black- smith), Elijah Mclaughlin, Samuel McDowell, Thomas Matson, Anguish McDonald, Nathaniel Mann, Dennis McGee, William McKelvey, John Morrison, William Martin (shoemaker), Joseph Mason, Michael Mills, Neil McFadden, Thomas Moore, Elisha Oldham (joiner), Elijah Oldham (shoemaker), James Parkhill, John Points, Daniel Reed, Michael Reed, John Stephens, Francis Scott, Michael Sloan, Jacob Shallenberger, Thomas Swift, John Swift (millwright), James Stewart, Charles Stewart, Matthew Scott, Henry Strickler (tanner), Thomas Walters, James Wilson, Andrew Wade, Robert Wisbey, Benjamin Archibald, George Chord, William Cowell, Samuel Dunlap, Isaac Eggman, James Henry, Samuel Lewis, John Mclaughlin, Charles McKerns, Archibald Quinney, Jacob Varnes, Robert Work, James Wilkins, William Wilkins.
The assessment of Dunbar iu 1808 returned the total assessed valuation of the township as 8228,046. The quota of county tax was $343. The acres as- sessed numbered 22,500. There were eleven mills, five forges and furnaces, three tan-yards, six distil- leries, nine slaves, four hundred and forty-seven horses, and four hundred and forty-eight cattle.
EARLY ROADS.
At the September session of court in 1785 a report was made by Matthew Wiley, James Rankin, Wil- liam Huston, Elisha Pierce, Samuel Finley, and Dennis Springer upon a petition presented at the December session in 1784 for a road from Uniontown to Joshua Dickinson's mill. The report was con- firmed and the road fixed to lead from Uniontown to Dickinson's mill, thence to the mouth of said mill run, thence to a road already laid out from Hannas- town to the Broad Ford, intersecting said road in the county of Fayette. At the September sessions of 1792, James Paull, Matthew Gilchrist, Samuel Work, Jacob Strickler, Robert Mclaughlin, and Jacob Mur- chey reported the laying of a road from near the house of John Rogers to the Broad Ford, and thence to the nearest public road leading to Woodrongh's, etc. March, 1794, report of a road from Conwell's Ferry by Union Furnace to the Uniontown road at Gist's old place was made by Matthew Neely, Samuel Work, Adam Dunlap, Jacob Strickler, William Black, and William McCormick. The road crossed Dunbar's
Run, and intersected the Uniontown road at the inter- section of a road from Col. Cook's.
June, 1795, Andrew Arnold, Francis Lewis, Samuel Finley, James Byers, James Rankin, and Adam Dun- Jap reported that they had viewed a road from Matthew Wiley's barn to Dunn's cabin, beginning at the end of Matthew Wiley's lane on the road from Uniontown to Joshua Dickinson's mill, and inter- secting the road leading from Gist's to Col. Cook's (now Fayette City). In June, 1791, a road was laid out from Union Furnace to Joshua Dickinson's mill. The viewers were James Blackston, James Torrence, William Espy, Valentine Secrist, John Forsythe, and Samuel Glasgow.
EARLY IRON-WORKERS-THE UNION FURNACE.
Col. Isaac Meason, Dunbar's great land-owner in early times, and the town's most conspicuous citizen, projected and completed in 1791 the then important work of making iron in a blast-furnace. He built a small stack on Dunbar Creek, about three hundred yards above the present location of the stacks of the Dunbar Furnace Company. Tradition says that the Union Furnace (by which name Meason's works were known) was put in blast in March, 1791. It was doubtless a small affair, but what its capacity was is not known. In 1793, Col. Meason and Moses Dillon joined in rebuilding it and enlarging Union Furnace. Their manufactures included stove-castings, pots, dog-irons, and salt-kettles.1 At a later date Col. Meason estab- lished, in connection with his furnace, a forge on what is now known as the Thomas Watt place, and a second one at the mouth of Dunbar Creek. In 1816 he built at Plumsock, on the Redstone, the first rolling-mill west of the Alleghenies, and about that time built a small rolling-mill on Dunbar Creek, near where Reid & Co.'s coke-works are. Touching the manufacture of iron in Duubar about 1800 it has been written : " The difficulties under which the ironmaster labored in those days were curious ones. Not only was he compelled to work with crude machinery and imper- fect knowledge, but his efforts to realize on his labors were herculean. The iron was run into numerous castings suitable for frontier life, or manufactured at small forges into the merchant iron of those days. These products were hauled in teams from fifteen to thirty miles across the country to Brownsville, on the Monongahela River, and there loaded into flat-boats. These floated down the Ohio and Mississippi. The iron was exchanged for corn, pork, whisky, etc., which were carried on to New Orleans and traded for sugar and molasses. These latter commodities were sent around by sea to Baltimore, and in turn exchanged for groceries, dry-goods, etc., which, loaded on Cones- toga wagons, were hauled three hundred miles over the mountains to the furnaces whence the iron had
1 In 1804, Col. Meason filled the first order for sugar-kettles called for by Southern planters.
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HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
started many months before." " An old furnaceman told me," says the writer, "that he once conducted business continuously for three years, and saw during that time only ten dollars in money." Another curious phase of that early life was the insertion of a clause in all contracts for labor that a certain quantity of whisky was to be allowed each day in addition to wages. A stoppage of whisky rations was about the only cause in those days that would precipitate a labor strike.
After Col. Meason's death, in 1819, his son Isaac carried on the business. Upon his retirement the furnace lay idle some time, but was revived by Arthur Palmer and Israel Miller in 1832. The only person then living on the furnace property was Widow Mattie Glenn. Jones & Miller succeeded them, and in 1844 the last-named firm gave place to J. D. Creigh, who changed the name of the furnace from "Union" to " Dunbar." In 1846, A. J. Bryson entered Mr. Creigh's employ, and since that time Mr. Bryson has been continuously at work at the furnace under nine different administrations. Creigh made from a ton and a half to two tons of iron per day, and employed eight men. In 1848 he failed, and a Mr. Shrayer succeeded him. Shrayer died in 1852, when the works passed to the possession of Watt & Larmer, who put in the first steam-engine and the first hot- blast stove the furnace had had. Previous to their advent Dunbar Creek furnished the motive-power. In 1854, Baldwin & Cheney became the proprietors, and during their possession of five years introduced the use of coke at the furnace instead of charcoal. They produced about ten tons of iron daily. Their stack was thirty-two feet high and six feet " bosh." In 1858, Wm. Baldwin bought the furnace and suffered it to lie idle three years. In 1860 he sold it to the Youg- hiogheny Coal and Iron Company, of which Charles Hathaway was the president. The company changed the location of the furnace in 1865 to the present site, and built a stone stack fifty feet high with a capacity of from fifteen to eighteen tons daily. In 1866 the Dun- bar Iron Company (E. C. Pechin being the president) became the proprietors, rebuilt the stack, and made additions of blowing-engines and hot blasts. The company suspended in August, 1873, obtained an ex- tension, and in July, 1874, were sold out. The con- cern was hought by the first mortgage bondholders, represented by Samuel Dickson. They leased the works for fourteen months to Wm. Beeson, and in March, 1876, the Dunbar Furnace Company pur- chased the creditors' interests. The furnace com- pany's operations will be found detailed under the head of " Manufacturing Industries."
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