History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 140

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 140

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Two of Jefferson's early blacksmiths were Reason Grimes (on the Tunis Wells farmn) and James Coul- son, on the Mrs. D. Coulson place. Mr. Coulson was noted as a hunter, fisherman, and botanist. Of his resolute character and somewhat eccentric disposition many stories are still extant. His sons, William, Martin, and Sanford, are now among the best known and wealthiest steamboatmen on the upper Missouri. Martin, whose home is in Pittsburgh, once worked for W. G. Patterson for fifteen dollars a month.

Henry Murphy lived on the farm now occupied by Samuel Murphy. Henry's son John lived to be up- wards of ninety. James, another son, was a black- smith on the " pike."

The Copes settled at an early day in the Red Lion neighborhood. They were exceedingly numerous, and ranked among the best known and most highly re- spected Quakers of Fayette County. The greater portion of the Copes moved from Jefferson to Colum- biana County, Ohio, and located at New Salem.

John Lyons settled on the Christian Swartz farm, and George Crawford on a tract that includes the farms of Eli Forsyth and the Messrs. Byers. In the Red Lion neighborhood some of the early comers were the families of Stewart, Stephens, Farquhar, Patterson, Shearer, Ford, Negus, and Clark.

In 1816, Philip Bortner bought of William Goe the place upon which John Bortner now lives. Philip set up a wagon-shop there and followed the business many years. In his eighty-fourth year he made a wheel, and it was pronounced a most excellent job. He died in 1847, aged ninety-one.

David Hough, one of the pioneer millers on the Little Redstone, in Washington township, moved to Jefferson at an early day. In his neighborhood were also Beriel Taylor and Samuel Brown. Samuel Brown was esteemed a mechanical genius of more than ordi- nary capacity, and according to popular opinion was able to make anything that mechanical skill could

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HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

produce. For a long time he had a workshop on his place, and manufactured among other useful things a great many eider-press screws, and coffins. Mr. Brown died in 1845, aged eighty-two.

William Parkhill came from Dunbar to Jefferson about 1800, and bought the old Martin Schilling mill property on the Little Redstone, now owned by D. M. Shearer. In 1776 the Schilling mill-site was occu- pied by John Carmichael, a member of the Constitu- tional Convention of 1776. Below that point Barzillai Newbold carried on a mill before 1800 on the Krepps place.

Christian Tarr, the potter, lived on the present J. S. Elliott place, and for many years made earthen- ware there. He was elected to Congress in 1817 and 1819, and served, it is said, with a good deal of credit. Mr. Tarr had on his place a colored man named Charles Smothers, who fought with Perry on Lake Erie, and for whom Mr. Tarr succeeded in obtaining from Congress an allowance of prize money for his share in the capture of the enemy. After Mr. Tarr's death his family removed from Jefferson to Ohio.

The only post-office Jefferson has ever had is the Redstone post-office, in the Pleasant Valley school distriet. Dennis Smith, who had for some time be- fore that been keeping a store at that point, was ap- pointed postmaster when the office was established in 1856. Successive postmasters and store- keepers were Joseph Wilgus, Hugh Conley, Edward Stephens, Gib- son Binns, and James Forsythe, the latter being the present merchant and postmaster.

EARLY ROADS.

At the September term of court in 1784, Andrew Linn, Jr., Basil Brown, Samuel Jackson, William Forsythe, William Goe, and John Stephens were ap- pointed viewers upon a petition for a road from Red- stone Old Fort to Samuel Jackson's mill, at the mouth of Redstone Creek, and thence to Edward Cook's mill. At the December term the report of the viewers was confirmed. The length of the road was eight miles and a half and thirty-seven perches. At the March term of court in 1788 a road was petitioned for from Peter Patterson's to Samuel Jackson's mill, and at the September session the report of the viewers was confirmed. The names of the viewers were James Crawford, William Campbell, Josiah Crawford, Amos Hough, Thomas Gregg, and William Sparks. At the December sessions in 1789, John Cooper, Richard McGuire, James Patterson, James Finley, and Samuel Jackson were appointed to view a road from Browns- ville by Samuel Jackson's mill to Moncraft's Ferry on the Youghiogheny River. In June, 1794, John Fulton, Charles Chalfant, Richard McGuire, Hugh Laughlin, Jeremiah Pears, and Jacob Beeson viewed a road from Jackson's new mill to the mouth of the Redstone. In March, 1797, a report of the review of a part of the road from Jackson's mill to Kyle's mill was made by Johu Patterson, Edward Chambers, Andrew Brown, Moses Davidson, George Crawford, and Joseph Downer. Aug. 15, 1792, au order was issued to James Patterson, William Patter- son, John Robison, Peter Miller, Andrew Arnold, and Samuel Freeman to view a road from Andrew Ar- nold's to Samuel Jackson's new mill. In June, 1793, a petition for a road from Samuel Jackson's new mill to the mouth of Redstone Creek was granted. The viewers were John Work, Ebenezer Finley, Philip Galaday, Samuel Torrance, James Allison, and Hugh Jackson.

The people of Jefferson remember with a good deal of distinctness the great wind storm of 1852, which passed through the township over a belt of a half mile or more in width and inflicted a great amount of damage. The storm set in after nightfall and con- tinued about two hours. It blew down fences, barns, and houses, killed small stock, and uprooted great trees as if they were twigs, but happily no human The first paper-mill west of the Alleghenies was built upon Redstone Creek, in Jefferson township, and as that incident was a matter of no ordinary im- portance in the history of Western Pennsylvania, there is good warrant for making detailed reference lives were lost. Among stories of the freaks of the hurricane one tells how feathers were blown from chickens as completely as if picked by hand. Another that the daugliter of Rev. Mr. Rose, lying ill in her father's house, was carried, bed and all, a distance of ; to it here. In 1791, Jonathan Sharpless, a black- two hundred yards and set down without the slightest smith and general mechanic, living in Chester County, Pa., made a western trip to visit his brother-in- law, Solomon C. Phillips, then living in Washing- ton County. While there, Sharpless, who was a staneli member of the Society of Friends, made the acquaintance of Samuel Jackson (also a Friend ), who owned and carried on a grist-mill just across the Monongahela at the mouth of Redstoue Creek, in what is now Jefferson township. Sharpless made frequent journeys over to Jackson's mill, and in some manner they came to discuss the subject of the want of a paper-mill west of the mountains, and from that to speculate upon the feasibility of themselves supply- ing the want. The result of their discussions was an agreement to build such a mill upon the Redstone injury, while the house in which she had been lying was utterly demolished. Still another relates that a lot of James Cary's papers were blown from his house through an open window, and one of the documents carried a distance of four miles, to just east of Smith- field, whence it was mailed to Mr. Cary the next day. W. G. Patterson lost an entire field of wheat, which, ready sheaved, was swept to the four points of the compass, leaving not a straw behind to mark the spot where it stood. Similar instances were common. Some farmers found that after the storm they had no fences left standing. The aggregate loss was very considerable, and the general spoliation consequent upon the blow gave the country a desolate look.

...

SCHOOL HOUSE

Res Of LEWIS COPE

ResOF CHA'S FORU

No. 1. Residence of Charles Ford.

44 " Lewis Cope.

4 3.

= " John Q. Adams.

. 4

. Emmor Cone

RED LION VALLEY.

No. 5.

Residence of David Browneller. " 6. " James S. Forsythe.

" Gibson Binns.

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JEFFERSON TOWNSIIIP.

Creek, on some land owned by Jackson. As a pre- cedent thereto Sharpless returned home to provide the sum of fifteen hundred dollars, his half of the capital necessary to start the proposed enterprise, also to further investigate the business of paper- making as conducted on the Brandywine, that the new firm might have some practical knowledge of the business before embarking in it, for neither knew anything of the details of paper manufacture. Sharp- less found the work of raising fifteen hundred dollars upon the fruits of his smith-labor a slow process, but within two years he had laid by the amount, and in 1793 he set out with his family for the West, prepared to set the paper-mill in motion. In 1794 the erection of the structure was begun upon the Redstone Creek, in what is now Jefferson township, and on what is the present site of the Parkhill grist-mill, at the mouth of Washwater Run. There was then upon the site an abandoned grist-mill, containing an undershot wheel, but when or by whom that mill had been built is not known.

The paper-mill building was made capacious. Its dimensions were seventy-five by forty, and three stories high, with a half-story cellar on the creek side. The understanding between the partners was that Sharpless should have the sole management of the business, while Jackson should simply provide means, and so, in accordance with that arrangement, Jackson gave his time to his grist-mill business at the mouth of the creek, where he resided, and other im- portant matters, while Sharpless made his home near the paper-mill, and looked closely after matters there. The house in which he lived stood just across the creek in Redstone township. It had been built but a few years, and stands in part yet as a portion of the residence of Joseph Gadd. It was originally sup- plied with a "stick" chimney, which Mr. Sharpless replaced in 1799 with the stone chimney now used. Joseph Grist agreed to build the new chimney for eleven dollars, but he was twice as long at it as he expected to be. Nevertheless he held to his bargain, although a poor one, but generous old Mr. Sharpless determined that, bargain or no bargain, Grist should have a fair price for his labor, and so paid him just twice the sum agreed upon. Upon his place Mr. Sharpless had put up a blacksmith's shop, and there, assisted by Nathan Mitchell and John Piersol, worked the iron used in building the mill. Their most im- portant work was the manufacture of six large iron ; screws intended for pressing the paper. Each screw was five inches in diameter and four feet six inches in length. The threads were cut by horse-power. Sharpless was noted, during his residence in Chester County, as a skillful inventor, and among other things he invented a powerful pressing-screw for use in the United States Mint in Philadelphia. The story goes that when the Mint was in its infancy a visitor remarked upon the poor work made by the coin-pressing machines, saying he knew of a young

blacksmith who could make a serew infinitely better than the ones there in use. He named Jonathan Sharpless as the man, and Sharpless was thereup n engaged to make a screw. It proved so satisfactory that he was at once requested to furnish more. IIis contract completed he was asked to make out his bil , and named two hundred and fifty dollars as his price although, truth to tell, he feared the bill would be re- jected as too high, for his work upou the whole job had not covered more than a month's time. "Still," said he, when relating the story afterwards, "I thought the government was rich, and ought to pay me a big price." Not only was the bill not rejected, but it was paid cheerfully and quickly. After pay- ing it the Mint superintendent gleefully remarked, " Mr. Sharpless, those screws are of such value to us that had you asked three times two hundred and fifty dollars you would have got your price." "That's the time they bit me," remarked the old gentleman while relating the incident years afterwards.1 As to MIr. Sharpless' shop in Redstone, it may be related in pass- ing that there he made for Capt. Shreve what are said to have been the first steamboat anchors used on the Monongahela River.

Returning to the subject of the paper-mill, the completion of the mill building, tenement-houses for mill-hands, and a small grist-mill was not effected until 1796, in which year the mill was started and the first paper made.

The following editorial is taken from the Washing- ton Telegraphe of Jan. 12, 1796, published at Wash- ington, Washington Co., Pa., and refers to this mill :

"We are happy in being able to announce to the public with a considerable degree of confidence that a paper-mill will shortly be erected on this side the mountains; that there is little doubt of its being com- pleted by the ensuing fall. The gentleman who un- dertakes it is of an enterprising disposition, and capa- ble of going through the business with spirit. The work, for which several preparations are already made, will be erected on a never-failing stream, in a thick-settled part of the country, and close to navi- gation. The advantages aceruing to our community from this addition to its manufactures will be very great, and it behooves every well-wisher to the com- munity to contribute his mite toward the supporting it. It cannot be carried on without a supply of rage. Of these every family can supply more or less, and there will be stores in every town and various parts of the country ready to receive them. Every patri- otic family then will doubtless cause all their rags to be preserved and forwarded to some place where they are collected, not so much for the pecuniary advan- tage to be derived from them as for the pleasure aris- ing from having deserved well of their country. We shall shortly be furnished with a list of such store-

1 Mr. Sharpless wore many years a set of vest buttons that he lind him-elf made and curved with his initials. These buttons are trow m the possession of Sabina sharple-s of Jefrison,

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HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

keepers as can make it convenient to receive them, and shall then announce their names to the public."

The Telegraphe bearing date May 24, 1796, contains the following advertisement:

"TO THE PUBLIC.

"Samuel Jackson and Co.

"Inform the inhabitants of the Western Country that they are making every exertion to forward the completion of their Paper-Mill, which they are erecting on Big Redstone, about four miles from Brownsville, in Fayette County, a never-failing stream. That they have experienced Workmen engaged to carry on the work, and hope to be able before the expirat on of the present year to furnish their Fellow-Citizens with the dif- ferent kinds of paper usually in demand, of their own manu- facture, and of as good quality as any brought from below the mountains. They request their fellow-Citizens generally to promote their undertaking by encouraging the saving and col- Jecting of rags, and inform Merchants and Store-keepers in par- tieular that they will give them a generous priee in Cash for such elean Linen and Cotton rags as they may collect.

" REDSTONE, May 19, 1796."

The same paper of June 20, 1797, contains the fol- lowing notice : " The paper which you now read was manufactured at Redstone, by Messrs. Jackson & Sharpless, and forwarded with a request to publish thereon a number of the Telegraphe, that the public might judge of their performance."

In the Pittsburgh Guzette of June 24, 1797, appeared the following :

<< "This paper is made in the Western country. It is with great pleasure we present to the public the Pitts- burgh Gazette, printed on paper made by Messrs. Jackson & Sharpless, on Redstone Creek, in Fayette County. Writing-paper, all kinds and qualities, as well as printing-paper, will be made at the mill. This is of great importance to the inhabitants of the coun- try, not only because it will be cheaper than that which is brought across the mountains, but it will keep a large sum of money in the country which is | yearly sent out for the article." >J

him a clear and unquestionable title to one-half of the business, the property, and the profits. The earliest manufacture of the mill was writing-paper, which Sharpless himself carried to Pittsburgh in a two-horse wagon, and there sold as he could find customers. To find them was not difficult, for he placed his goods far below the prices that had ruled before his advent, and at his prices he made a very handsome profit. In his record of the profits he stated that he paid four cents a pound for rags, and sold his paper for one dollar per quire. He used often to tell that when peddling his paper in Pittsburgh he would find his pockets so overloaded with silver that he would have to stop his sales until he could hurry back to the tavern and deposit his coin with the landlord. Then, his pockets being empty, he resumed traffic. In 1797 the mill made chiefly printing-paper, and employed as many as twenty or twenty-five hands.

Samuel Jackson and Jonathan Sharpless carried on the paper-mill together with much profit until ISI0, when Sharpless coneluded to retire from active par- ticipation, and accordingly leased his half-interest to Samuel Jackson for twelve hundred dollars perannum. Jackson thereupon took in as a partner his son Jesse, who had married Jonathan Sharpless' daughter Bet- sey. Jonathan Sharpless moved to Franklin town- ship, on Redstone Creek, where he had purchased the mill property owned by Jonathan Hill, and which is now owned by Samuel Smock. Mr. Sharpless called the place Salem Mill, built there also a sickle- factory, fulling-mill, blacksmith-shop, etc., and con- ducted for many years an extensive business. There he died Jan. 20, 1860, at the age of ninety-two, and was buried in the Quaker Cemetery in Centre school distriet, Redstone township. Upon taking possession with his son of the paper-mill Samuel Jackson re- moved his residence from the mouth of the creek to the paper-mill, and occupied the stone mansion built by Jonathan Sharpless, near the mill, and yet in good preservation. Upon the death of Samuel Jackson in 1817, Jesse Jackson became the sole proprietor of the paper-mill business, and shortly associated with him Samuel, son of Jonathan Sharpless. In 1822, Jesse Jackson removed to the mouth of Redstone to take charge of the mill there, leaving the paper-mill in the hands of Samuel Sharpless, William Sharpless, and Job Harvey. The latter firm carried it on three years. A time-book kept by them in 1823, still pre- served, shows a list of the girls employed at the mill that year. They were named Nellie Shaw, Naney Castler, Peggy Cochran, Eliza Maxon, Matilda Maxon, Eliza Rose, Ann Shaw, Eliza Dunn, Ann Lyle, Mary Reed, Mary Bowlin, Lucinda Bowlin, and Sabia Rob- inson. In 1825, William Sharpless and Jefferson Carter succeeded to the business, and in 1832 Samuel Sharpless and his father Jonathan became the pro- prietors, although the latter took no part in the active posed of Samuel Sharpless, John Wallace (the latter

The first sheet of paper was dipped by Polly Given, a young woman employed in Jonathan Sharpless' family, to whom she had come from Brownsville. She married Capt. James Patterson in 1801. When Sharpless found that upwards of $6000 had been laid out in the building of the paper-mill and attachments, instead of the $3000 reckoned upon, he was somewhat nervous over the great ontlay and feared a profitless result, especially as Jackson had furnished the bulk of the capital and held everything in his name, al- though Sharpless was ostensibly a half-partner. The situation worried Sharpless, for not only all of his money but money belonging to his wife had been put into the affair without any writings to show that he had any claim whatever. Added to that was the in- formation that Mr. Jackson was a sharp one and likely to ignore his partner's claims entirely, in view of the fact that there was no written evidence to them. But Mr. Jackson was the soul of honor in | management. The next succession was a firm com- all his transactions with Sharpless, and in 1798 gave

623

JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP.

for many years previous having been the mill fore- man), and Richard Huskins. While they were in possession the mill burned, Oct. 28, 1842. The loss was considerable, for the building contained a stock of manufactured paper valued at twenty thou- sand dollars. All of it was destroyed. That disaster brought the paper business at that point to a close. In 1843-44, Samuel Sharpless erected upon the site the Redstone Flour-Mill, and carried it on until his death in 1846. After that the successive proprietors were James and John B. Patterson, Charles Foulk, Sharpless, Patterson & Baird, Baird, Davidson & Co., Sharpless & Patterson, Linn & Parkhill, and J. P. Parkhill. Mr. Parkhill conducted the business until 1875, since which time the property has lain idle.

TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION AND CIVIL LIST.

At the September sessions of the court in 1839 a petition for the division of the township of Washing- ton was presented. George Craft, Dennis Springer, and Thomas McMillen were appointed commissioners to investigate and report upon the matter of dividing said township. Their report, made at the June ses- sion of court in 1840, was as follows :

"We report that we met pursuant to previous notice at the house of Abraham Hough, on Monday, the 11th day of No- vember, 1839; that we then proceeded to make a division of said township of Washington as nearly agreeable to the said order as practicable, making natural boundaries the lines of said new township when the same would arrive at the points men- tioned in said order, commencing at a coal- bank on the Mo- nongahela River about ten perches above the mouth of a small run called Coal Run, on the lands of said Abraham lough ; then enstwardly through the lan Is of said flough and lands of John Blythe to a point on the north branch of Little Redstone, near a coal-bank en the lands of John Blythe ; thencc by the meanders of said north branch of the Little Redstone up 10 Evan Cope's sickle shop : thence hy a straight line, passing near Hamilton's blacksmith-shop, to a point in the line between said Stevens and Asa Chambers; thonee by the same to a point in Perry township line, near the resilence of said Asa Chambers ; thence by Perry township line to the line between Franklin and Washington townships, now proposed to be ealled Jeffer- son township ; thenee by said line to Bedstone Creek; thenee by Redstone Creek to its mouth, thence by the Monongahela River to the place of beginning. The undersigned are of opinien that from what is now called Washington township, and the number of voters residing therein, that the foregoing divis- ien is necessary, and they therefore recommend to the Honor- able Court to authorize the erection uf a new township to be called Jefferson."

At the same sessions the commissioners' report, as above given, was confirmed by the court.

At the June sessions of court, 1843, a petition was presented " For altering a line between Jefferson and Perry townships so as to include Martin Lutz within Jefferson township." Commissioners were appointed, and the following report was presented and approved March 14, 1845 :

" To the llonorable the Judges above named.

" We the persons appointed by the annexed order of Court for the purpose of revising township lines, having first bern

duly sworn and affirmed according to law, do report in favor of placing so much of the land of Martin Lutz as indicated in the above Plot No. 2, viz., that the Township line be so altered that it commence at an elm tree, one of the corners of said Lutz land, and run north 22}, east 22 perches, thence north 164, east 76 perches, thence south 703, west 40 perches, to the uld line, and that in our opinion there is a necessity for the same. Given under our bands and seals this 18th day of Jan- mary, A.D. 1845. James Fuller, Willium Elliot, Daniel Sharp- less."

The court record continues :

" And now to wit, June 6th, 1845, the above report having been read in the Court in the manner and at the times pre- scrihed by law, the Court approve and confirm the said altera- tion."

The civil list of Jefferson from 1840 to 1881 is given herewith :

JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.

1840. Alexander Blair. 1858. John S. Goe.

Richard Huskins. 1864. F. C. Herron.

1845. John H. Tarr. J. N. Dixon.

1848. William G. Patterson.

186S. J. N. Dixon.

1850. John Miner. F. C. Herron.

Abraham Pershing. 1872. Gibson Binns.

1852. Charles MeCracken.

1874. William P. Clifton.

Joho S. Goe.

1877. Gibson Binns.

1853. John S. Goe.

1878. Jaeeb Wolf.

Wm. G. Patterson.

James Essington.

1858. Wm. J. Stewart.

ASSESSORS.

1840. Jobn H. Tarr. 1861. D. W. Blair.

1841. William G. Patterson.

1862. William Johnston.

1842. Samuel B Chalfant. 1863. John A. Corder.

1843. Themas Miller.

1864. Jonathan Sharpless.

1844. Jobn Van Sickle.

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History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 140

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