History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 139

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 1314

USA > Pennsylvania > Fayette County > History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 139

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In 1817, Capt. Isaac Linn built the brick man-

sion which is now occupied by his son, J. M. Linn. Henry Hutchinson, one of the liod-carriers at the building of that house, died in Springhill township in 1879, at a great age, nearly ninety. He came of a long-lived family, his mother dying at the age of one hundred and six. Isaac Linn, who died in 1835, upon the farm where he first saw the light, had nine children, of whom the sons were Andrew, John, Wil- liam, Jacob, James Madison, Thomas, and Ayers. James Madison lives on the old farm, Jacob in Arm- strong County, Pa., Ayers in Jefferson township, and Thomas in Perry. J. M. Linn rebuilt the Linn mill in 1844, and still controls it. He has been a miller on that spot since 1820.

One of the conspicnous figures in Fayette County's early history was Samuel Jackson, a sturdy Quaker from Chester County, and a business man of large and liberal enterprise that made him quite famous in his day. Early in the year 1777 he settled in Fayette County, at the mouth of the Redstone Creek, and ocenpied land now included within the limits of Jef- ferson township. The deed for the property, now in the possession of E. J. Bailey, of Jefferson, recites that May 22, 1777, Jesse Martin, of Westmoreland Connty, transferred to Samuel Jackson, of London Grove, Chester Co., for a consideration of two hun- dred pounds, a piece of land with improvements at the mouth of the Redstone Creek, containing three hundred acres, known as "Martin's Folly," and bounded by the lands of Thomas Brown and Andrew Linn.

This land was originally occupied for a settlement by William Jacobs, who is said to have located upon it as early as 1761. Driven out by the Indians, Jacobs returned after a while and applied for a survey of his land, April 24, 1769. He sold it to Prior Theo- bald and Lawrence Harrison, to whom he executed a deed bearing date June 2, 1769. Harrison transferred his right to Theobald, July 10, 1769, and April 5, 1776, Theobald deeded the property to Jesse Martin, who, in 1777, sold to Jackson. Mr. Jackson selected a site for his home near the place now called Albany, and built thercon a log cabin. In 1785 he erected the commodious stone mansion now occupied by Eli J. Bailey, and in that house resided until his death in 1817. Although nearly a hundred years old the house is still a shapely, solid structure, and bids fair to re- main so for years to come. The land purchased by Jackson of Jesse Martin was not patented by the former until Feb. 7, 1789. Jackson was a millwright, and soon after making a location put up at the mouth of the creek a saw-mill, grist-mill, and oil-mill. He engaged likewise to a considerable extent in the building of flat-boats, for which there was a lively demand from emigrants coming over Bard's road to the river, and thence desiring to journey to the lower country. The craft were each in size large enough to carry a family and effects, and while his customers waited for the construction of a vessel Jackson would

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HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

furnish them with entertainment at his house for a week or so.1

1 In 1734 there was in Jefferson, near the month of the Redstone, a store-house called the Hangard, built in February of that year by Capt. William Tient for the Ohio Company. Trent set out early in 1734 from Virginia with a company of forty men, to aid in finishing a fort at the Forks of the Ohio already supposed to have been begun by other em- ployés of the Ohio Company. Capt. Treut's line of march was along Nemacolin's trail to Christopher Gist's, and then by the Redstone trail to the month of the Redstone, where, as already told, he built a store- house for the company and proceeded on his journey. On June 30, 1754. M. Coulon de Villiers, in command of a force of French and In- dians, en route from Fort Du Quesne to attack Washington at Gist's, halted at the Hangard and encamped on the rising ground about two musket- shots from the building. M. de Villiers afterwards described the Han- gurd as " a sort of fort built of logs, one upon another, well notched in, and about thirty feet long by twenty feet wide." When they returned in July the French burned the structure. It occupied the present site of the Bailey mill.

him, satisfied doubtless that although a Quaker might look meek enough he could easily show some of the old Adam upon provocation.

Samuel Jackson expanded his business enterprises as time progressed, and grew to be a man of mark. "During the Whiskey Insurrection of 1794,2 Mr. Jackson, who, as a member of the Society of Friends, was conscientiously opposed to distillation, favored the acts of the government as a means of suppression. He had dubbed one of the insurgent meetings a 'serub congress.' It gave umbrage to them, and at a subsequent niceting it was proposed that a file of men should go to the residence of Samuel, about a mile distant, and bring him before them for condemn- ation and punishment. Samuel did not much like the visit or the intent of his visitors, and being a large, athletic man might have given them some trouble had he laid aside his Quaker principles ; but being a man of peace, he submitted without resistance, and accompanied his escort with his peculiar and accustomed step, his long arms thrown crosswise be- hind, and with as much thoughtfulness in his manner as if he were going to one of his own First-Day meetings. The late Judge Brackenridge, who was of the assemblage, was personally acquainted with Samuel, and entertained a friendly regard for him. He mounted the stand and addressed the people, ad- mitting that Samuel had been remiss in applying opprobrious epithets to so august and legitimate an assemblage, but that he attributed it more to a want of reflection on Samuel's part than to enmity or design, and that the best retaliation would be in stig- matizing him as a 'scrub Quaker.' It had the in- tended effect. The insurgents discharged Samuel with the appellation of being a 'scrub Quaker.' His establishment, in connection with Jonathan Sharpless, of the first paper-mill west of the Alle- ghenies is spoken of elsewhere. He carried on a store at Brownsville, in company with Ellis Nichols, embarked in the manufacture of iron ontside of the county, had interests in various other enterprises, and in 1817 founded the Albany Glass-Works on the Mo- nongahela, of which more anon. Jackson was a man of peculiar and at times eccentric disposition, while not infrequently his Quaker blood would boil with unaccustomed heat and stir up matters rather un- pleasantly to the objects of his wrath. When so dis- turbed he would walk with his long arms crossed be- hind him, kicking spitefully at sticks and stones that lay in his path. When his paper-mill employés saw him coming in such mood it was understood that trouble was ahead for somebody. On one occasion, while repairing his mill-dam, he kept a boat for the pur- pose of conveying his hands across the creek. While he and his men were at dinner one day a traveler saw the boat, and knowing no other way to cross the stream appropriated the craft, tied it to the other shore, and proceeded on his way. When Samuel came from dinner and found his boat on the opposite bank he was very angry, and vowed terrible retalia- tion should the opportunity offer. The opportunity did offer that very day, for the traveler had been only to Brownsville, and came back by way of Jackson's in the evening, and he frankly confessed to having taken the boat. Mr. Jackson became angry, and ex- Had it not been for this ruse of Judge Brackenridge citedly exclaimed, "Friend, I wouldn't strike thee or Samuel would no doubt have been personally injured, or, as others had been, in the destruction of his prop- erty." beat thee, but I have a mind to rub thee down, and that severely." The fellow resented the implied threat, whereupon Jackson cast self-control to the winds, and with his fist did rub the traveler's face so severely as to draw blood. He then caught up his victim bodily and cast him headlong into the creek, calling out at the same time, "There, I'll teach thee manners and likewise force thee to swim." Frightened and half-drowned the fellow scrambled out of the water, and hurried away as fast as his legs could carry

In 1817, Samuel Jackson began the erection of glass- works upon his property, at a place now known as Albany, but died before getting the works in opera- tion. His sons, Jesse and Samuel, pushed the busi- ness after their father's death, and made of Albany a busy place. They had an eight-pot furnace, employed about fifty men, and built for their convenience a store and a score or more of tenement-houses. The works produced common window-glass, and obtained sand from the neighborhood of Perryopolis, whence it was hauled in wagons. Glass was manufactured at that point by various persons until 1865, when Ashbel Gabler & Co. carried on the works. Since 1865 noth- ing has been done there. Bowman & Reppert owned the property for many years to 1881, when it was sold to George E. Hogg, whose intention is to develop the valuable coal deposits underlying it. Samuel Jack- son's sons were Samuel, Jr., John, Josiah, Jesse, and Joseph, all of whom ultimately removed to the West and died there. Of Mr. Jackson's three daughters,

" From the " American Pioneer."

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JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP.

Rebecca was noted for a prodigious strength, touch- ing which a good many stories are still current. One of them is that it was a common thing to see her carry a barrel of flour from her father's mill to his house, and another that to lift a barrel of whiskey clear of the ground was one of her pastimes. She inherited the mill property, and in 1820 built a new grist-mill on the creek to replace the one built by her father, which was burned with the oil-mill and saw-mill before his death. The mill she built was enlarged by E. J. Bailey in 1844, and carried on by him until 1865, when the dam gave way. Since then it has been suffered to remain idle. For her second husband Becky married Joseph Bailey, and then removed her home to Greene County.

William Elliott, one of Jefferson's early settlers, and a man of more than ordinary local prominence, made a location upon which his grandson Robert now lives. In a family of eight children he had but two sons, who were named Johnson and James. William Elliott, the father, was killed by a falling tree a few years after occupying his Jefferson home. His son Johnson lost his life in a similar way when but nineteen years of age. James had a family of ten children, of whom James, Robert, and Joseph live in Jefferson. James Elliott, the father of the three last named, died in 1842.

Before the close of the Revolution four brothers, | upon which Wiseman had built a cabin and set out a

named Robert, James, William, and Peter Patterson, moved from Dauphin County to Fayette County, where they proposed to found new homes. Robert settled in Westmoreland County and the others in Fayette, Peter and William in Jefferson township, and James in Franklin. The brothers came westward in company, and with their families traveled and car- ried their effects on the backs of horses. With the journey over the mountains and the pack-saddle mode of progress William became especially familiar, for after their settlement in Fayette he made several trips to the East for salt and other supplies. Peter Patter- son patented the land now owned by Emma Cope, near Redstone post-office, and lived there until his death at the age of more than ninety. He had a large family, but of the sons only Thomas made his home in the township after reaching man's estate. He opened the "Red Lion Tavern" on the place and in the house now occupied by David Browneller, but did not keep it a great while. He gave it up before 1809, but while it lasted the "Red Lion" was a stop- ping-place of some note on the old Pittsburgh road leading from the country south by way of the Sharp- less' paper-mill. William Patterson warranted, in 1786, the place now owned by William G. Patterson. He is said to have been born on shipboard during the emigration of his parents from Ireland to America. His children numbered nine, of whom but two were sons, named James and William. James, who lived and died in Jefferson, was a captain in the war of 1812 under Gen. Harrison. Patterson went out as a

member of Capt. Reginald Brashear's company, but Capt. Brashear falling from his horse and sustaining severe injury resigned his command, in which he was succeeded by James Patterson. A colored man named Harry Goe, born in slavery upon William Goe's farm, was a teamster in Capt. Patterson's company. Some of Goe's descendants still live in Jefferson. Capt. Pat- terson followed the business of teaming as well as farming, and hauled goods from Baltimore and Phila- delphia to Brownsville until 1823. In that year his son, William G. Patterson, continued the business, and freighted from Baltimore to Wheeling until the Baltimore and Ohio Railway reached the Ohio River. Capt. James died on the W. G. Patterson farm in 1827. William Patterson, brother of Capt. James, lived on the present David Wakefield's farm. He had eleven children, of whom the sons were David, James, Wil- liam, and Jeremiah. David served in the war of 1812 under Capt. Geisey. Of the eleven children six are living. They are Nelly, Martha, James, and Nancy Patterson, of Jefferson township; Jeremiah Patterson, of Kansas, and Mrs. Sarah Ely (mother of Mrs. Benjamin Phillips), of Redstone township.

In the bend of the river John Dixon, a Quaker, was the first permanent settler. He came from East- ern Pennsylvania in 1770, and bought the tomahawk claim of one Wiseman to about four hundred acres, few apple-trees. Mr. Dixon's home was on the pres- ent Bowman place, where about 1800 he built the stone house still standing there. In 1813 he built a woolen-factory on his farm, and carried it on two years, when, the close of the war acting disastrously upon the business, he gave it up. Mr. Dixon had a family of ten children, of whom fonr were sons. Nathan lived upon the homestead, and died there in 1829. John Dixon, his father, died in 1840.

About 1800, Louis Marchand, a physician, located in the river bend upon a four-hundred-acre tract, and en- gaged in the practice of his profession. Being a bach- elor he took Joshua Wagoner as a farm tenant and lived with the Wagoner family. Dr. Marchand acquired considerable fame as a skillful physician, and enjoyed a large and profitable practice. As the compounder of an anti-hydrophobia pill, his reputation extended far beyond the confines of Fayette County, and from far-distant points, where stories of the marvelous cures effected had penetrated, came candidates for treatment at the hands of Dr. Marchand. That the doctor did produce a pill of wonderful curative powers is verified by the testimony of those who were his neighbors, and from whom we hear to-day of his un- bounded success. After practicing on the river about twenty years, Dr. Marchand removed to Uniontown, where he remained about twenty years, and during his residence there married Sally, daughter of Sam- utel Sackett, of Smithfield. From Uniontown he re- turned to his Jefferson farm, where he ended his days, dying in 1864.

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HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

The Brackenridge tavern stand spoken of was on the road between Perryopolis and Brownsville, near the site of the Mount Vernon Methodist Church. Bryant Taylor was perhaps the first landlord there, and after him Samuel Brackenridge conducted its hospitalities for some years. Brackenridge's was a favorite resort, and merry reunions there of young folks were of frequent occurrence. Old Mr. Bracken- ridge was peculiar in being easily annoyed, and the mischievous ones of the neighborhood never lost an opportunity to vex and harass him. There was much travel over the road, for it was by that way sand and other supplies were conveyed from Perryopolis to the Albany Glass-Works. Brackenridge kept the tavern until his death in 1840, after which it was closed.

William Forsyth purchased in 1780 a tomahawk right to four hundred aeres on the river, and gave in exchange two cows, a bushel of salt, and a gun. Ad- joining Forsyth one Isaac Hastings had already made a settlement, but he soon grew tired of staying there and moved away. Eli, son of William For- syth, threw a cobblestone dam across the river, and for a little time operated a grist-mill on the Forsyth place.

Not far from Albany, at a locality known as Turtle- town, old Billy Norcross was a blacksmith at an early day. Billy was not a very nice man to look at. In- deed, he was so objectionable in appearance that horses taken to him to be shod utterly refused to go near him until they were blindfolded. At least, such is the story told of him.

William Goe, a Marylander, came to Fayette County in 1780, and located in Jefferson, on the river near Troytown, and there resided until his death. He lived to be nearly a hundred years old, and was buried in a coffin that he had kept in his house for years. He concluded it would be well to have his coffin about him during life, so that he might get used to it, and accordingly ordered Samuel Brown to make one for him. He stored it in his garret, where in due time it became a receptacle for dried fruit, and soon served as a lodging-place for rats. When old Mr. Goe discovered the base uses to which the coffin had come he declared he wouldn't allow himself to be buried in it, and gave it over for the last home of one of his slaves just deceased. For himself a second one was made by Samuel Brown, and in that one Mr. Goe was accustomed to lie oeca- sionally during life, to make sure, perhaps, that he was not outgrowing it. William Goe was eccentric enough to sow his grain while riding horsebaek through his field, but just why he followed that fashion no one appears to know.

One of the largest distilleries in Fayette was built by Bateman (toe (son of William Goe), on Whiskey Run, about the year 1800. Goe had a still-honse, malt- house, and chopping-house, and manufactured great quantities of apple-jack. In 1809 a severe flood came and swept still, malt-house, and all into the Redstone.

A hundred barrels of manufactured whiskey stored in the still-house were carried away in the general wreck, and, like the rest of the property, utterly lost. Nearly forty years afterwards the still "worm" was found buried in the sand on the creek bottom. Mr. Goe rebuilt the distillery and carried it on until his death in 1817. After that his son Henry conducted the business until 1830, and then gave it up. In this connection comes a recollection of a story about W. G. Patterson and John Watson. They wanted some whiskey for harvest-time, and undertook to make it at the old Goe distillery, then abandoned. The whiskey was scorched a little and turned blue, but it passed muster after a fashion, not, however, without some misgivings on the part of the farm hands, who were at first suspicious of the color. Subsequently they gave it the name of blue jay whiskey, and as the manu- facturers of the "blue jay" brand, Messrs. Patterson and Watson became famous far and near.

Philip, another of William Goe's sons, moved to Kentucky, and married a daughter of Daniel Boone. Bateman Goe, the distiller, was grandfather to Robert S. Goe, Gen. Jolin S. Goe, and Mrs. Robert Elliott, of Jefferson. Allusion to Bateman Goe and his dis- tillery suggests the remark that stills were in the early time as plentiful almost as blackberries in June, and that every large farm should have its still-house was expected as a matter of course. David Porter, living near Merrittstown, was the ganger for the government about 1809, and as he embraced within his jurisdic- tion a large stretch of country, he was kept as busy as a bee.

On Sept. 5, 1784, a tract of land, including four hun- dred and twenty-three acres, and called "Tunis," was surveyed to Tunis Wells, and in 1790 patented to him for three pounds, ten shillings, and sixpence. Mr. Wells made his settlement about 1780, and, losing his wife by death soon after coming, married for his second wite Margaret Williams. By his first wife he had six children, of whom none are now living. By his second the children were Mary, Joseph, Rachel, Elizabeth, Margaret, James, Jacob, and Charlotte. The only one living is Charlotte, whose home is in Iowa. James died in Jefferson, Jacob in Ohio, and Joseph on the old homestead in 1877. There his widow still lives. Tunis Wells himself died on his Jefferson farm in 1811, and was buried in the Dunlap Creek churchyard. His widow died in 1845. Jo- seph Wells' widow, now residing on the Tunis Wells place, came with her father, Issachar Shaw, to Jeffer- son in 1816.

Near the Sharpless paper-mill site William Norris lived on land that he warranted in 1772, Richard Noble on the W. C. Johnson place that he patented in 1785, and John Ray on land now occupied by Jo- seph and E. D. Stewart, and patented by Ray in 1788. Adamı Langhlin lived on a farm adjoining S. R. Nutt's place, where he died in 1811.

Peter Miller, a Quaker, was conspicuous with Jona-

619

JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP.

than Sharpless as a leading member of the Society of Friends worshiping at Centre Meeting-house, in Red- stone. He came to the vicinty of Redstone Creek from New Jersey in 1791, and located land now oc- cupied in part by Thomas Miller, in Jefferson town- ship. Peter Miller was a most excellent gentleman, of particular methods, and famous withal as a model farmer. In illustration of his rustic ideas and non- familiarity with law, it is told that upon being sum- moned to court as a witness, and being asked how he would swear, insisted upon replying, "I qualify." Much to his and the court's relief, Jonathan Sharp- less, there present, came to the rescue with "he af- firms."

Mr. Miller and his family were constant and zealous attendants at the Quaker meeting-house in Redstone, whither the young ladies frequently pro- ceeded upon their father's oxen. At the junction of Crab-Apple Run with Redstone Creek may be seen a rock yet known as Quaker Rock, so called from the fact that from the rock the Quakers had thrown a tree across the creek, and thus easily constructed a bridge that served them when they journeyed to church each First Day. Peter Miller had six children. The sons were named David and Joseph. David moved in 1820 to Ohio. Peter, the father, died in Jefferson in 1838, at the age of eighty-five. Joseph died in 1875, aged ninety-two. Of the latter's sons, Thomas and J. D. are residents of Jefferson township.

The place now occupied by Jacob Wolf was origi- nally settled by one McGuire, who sold it to Alex- ander Deyarmon, a moulder at Jackson & Sharpless' paper-mill. Deyarmon was a very eccentric man, and indulged in such queer freaks of contorting his body and communing with himself while walking out that strangers often thought him demented. He was, on the contrary, a person of exceedingly sound mind and quite shrewd withal. Once, he with his wife, attended divine'services at James Patterson's house, where Rev. Mr. Johnston had been preaching. After service the members of the company gathered about the fireside for an after-church conversation. Presently Mrs. Deyarmon asked Mr. Johnston the question, " How long were Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden before they fell?" Mr. Johnston replied, " Well, madame, I have frequently discussed that question with myself, but thus far I have not been able to solve it satisfactorily." At this Mr. De- yarmon jumped up and sharply exclaimed, " I'll tell you, Mr. Johnston, how long Adam remained in the Garden of Eden. He stayed until he got a wife, then he had to quit."

Of Andrew Hammell, who was an early settler on the place now owned by James Esington, it is told that being a strong Covenanter he was most bitterly opposed to the organization of Fairview Methodist Episcopal Church, and when the erection of a church edifice was proposed he prophesied most dire misfor- tune in the event of the project being consummated.

He forbade the members of his family setting foot within the building, and at all times, when occasion offered, lifted his voice in condemnation of the ad- herents of Methodism. One day he and a lad named James Dumm were riding homeward from mill, and being overtaken by a violent thunder-storm were both with their horses instantly killed by a lightning stroke while passing Fairview Church. When found their bodies were carried into the church, and people pondered over the singular circumstance that when dead Hammell's first resting-place should be the sanctuary that nothing could have induced him to enter while living.

Joshua Clark lived on the Red Lion road before 1800, upon the place now occupied by Archibald Boyd's widow. Clark's son Nathaniel was a school- teacher, and taught in Jefferson some years. Joshua Clark bought an original tract including the present Amos Cope and James Clark farms, paying for it a horse that cost him forty dollars.

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History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 139

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885 Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co. Number of Pages: 1314

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 1314