History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 143

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 143

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The poor of his neighborhood knew in him one of their most charitable friends, and he gave liberally to the benevolent enterprises of the church. Having a sound and vigorous constitution, and being temper- ate in his habits, he preserved a hale and healthful body for more than threescore and ten years. After one or two premonitory attacks he was stricken fatally with paralysis, and died May 28, 1877, respected by his neighbors, esteemed by his friends, and sincerely loved and mourned by his family. To the last mo- ment of his conscious life he held fast to his integrity and his Christian faith. Not a single doubt clouded his mind or cast a shadow over his peaceful soul. His faith, steadfast to the end, is voiced in the lines,-

" An angel's arın can't snatch me from the grave, Legions of angels can't confine me there."

Joseph Hell's

RESIDENCE OF L. S. MILLER, CN MONONGAHELA RIVER. JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP FAYETTE CO. PA.

RESIDENCE OF JOHN STEELE, JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP, FAYETTE CO., PA.

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LUZERNE TOWNSHIP.

JOHN STEELE.

John Steele, one of the most worthy men and lead- ing farmers of Jefferson township, Fayette Co., Pa., as well as one of the most methodical, solid business men of the county, is the son of William Steele, who was born in Westmoreland County, Pa., July 22, 1779, and about 1806 married Sarah Elliott, and soon after moved to a farm in Jefferson township, which is now owned by his son John. Upon this farm the eleven children, five sons and six daughters, of William Steele were born. John was the eighth in number, and is the only son now living. He was born Aug. 31, 1822.

Mr. Steele received his education in the common

schools. March 6, 1850, he married Mary Jackman, of Washington County, Pa. He has one child living, James Harvey Steele, who married Ruth Nutt.

Mr. Steele has all his active business life been en- gaged in farming. IIe owns large tracts of land, two or three good farms of the best quality of soil, and manages them excellently. Mr. Steele's father, a justly considerate and sensible gentleman, gave him a fair start in life, and he has added largely to his patri- monial possessions. Ahout twenty-five years ago lie built his present commodious residence and its com- fortable outbuildings.

Mr. Steele and his family are members of the Little Redstone Presbyterian Church. He enjoys the con- fidence and esteem of his neighbors.

LUZERNE TOWNSHIP.

LUZERNE, one of the original townships of Fay- ' about sixteen feet upon either side, and bears numer- ette, lies on the Monongahela River, which along the ous sunken impressions of divers figures said to rep- resent wild animals, fishes, turkey-tracks, etc. Le- gends make the Indians the carvers of these strange and in some cases unfamiliar figures, while specula- tive antiquarians hold to the prehistoric theory. Whatever the basis of argument, it is certain that the impressions were upon the rocks when the first white settlers came to the river region. western and northern lines of the township describes a series of irregular bends, and flows for the most part between hilly ranges that give sweeping views of the river's course and a long stretch of country beside. The great bend on the west curves gracefully from Da- vidson's Ferry to Millsboro', and there taking a sharp turn outward makes a second but more abrupt curve to where William G. Crawford's farm fronts the stream. The total assessed valuation of Luzerne subject to county tax in 1881 was $1,050,092, or a decline from the preceding year of $2061. The population of the township by the census of 1880 was fourteen hundred and forty-five, including the village of Merrittstown. Across by land from Davidson's Ferry to Crawford's the distance measures less than three miles ; between the same points by river it is more than eleven miles. The river separates the township on the north and west from Washington and Greene Counties. On the south the boundary is German township, and on the The opening of the road from Laurel Ilill to the mouth of Dunlap's Creek, by Col. James Burd, in 1759, brought settlers to the vicinity of its terminus at an earlier date than settlements were made in most of the other parts of the Monongahela Valley. Among the early comers William Colvin was the first who came into the territory which is now Luzerne with the intention of making a home here. He acquired a settlement right in 1763, and afterwards sold that right to Thomas Brown ( the founder of Brownsville), who, on the 16th of December, 1779, obtained from the commissioners of the State of Virginia a certifi- cate for four hundred and fifty-seven acres, "to include the settlement purchased of William Colvin, near Redstone Okl Fort, made in the year 1763." This is recited in the certificate, and thus the date of Colvin's settlement is fixed. What became of Colvin after he sold his settlement right here is not known. The traet which he sold, and which was certificated to east Redstone. Steamboats ascend the Monongahela as far as New Geneva. Ferries established at conven- ient distances give easy access to the opposite shore. These are located at Jacobs', Davidson's, Rice's Land- ing, Millsboro', Fredericktown, and Crawford's. On the river-front, as already noted, the land lies high and forbids much profitable agriculture. Generally, how- ever, the surface of the township is rolling and offers a fine field for farming. Coal is plentiful, but mining - is chiefly confined to production for local demand. Merrittstown, the most important village in the town- ship, is located upon Dunlap's Creek, whose mill- power is freely utilized at that and other points. Curious features in the landscape are found in so- called carved rocks, of which the most striking are on " the river hill" near Millsboro'. They are two in number, flat of surface, and jutting perhaps a foot above the ground. The larger of the two measures

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HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Brown as above mentioned, was surveyed to the latter in March, 1785. It was then described as bounded on the north by land of John and Samuel McCul- longh,1 northwest by land of Rees Cadwallader and Thomas Gregg, and on the south by land of Basil Brown. Thomas Brown soon removed to the north side of Dunlap's Creek, where he laid out the town of Brownsville, as before mentioned.

Basil Brown, Sr., brother of Thomas, settled on the land mentioned in the preceding description as ad- joining the Colvin tract in the year 1770. It was a tract of four hundred and forty-three acres, granted to him on a Virginia certificate, and was surveyed to him March 22, 1785. The certificate on which it was so surveyed recited that the tract granted was "to include his settlement made in the year 1770." On this homestead tract Basil Brown lived and died. He left two sons, Thomas and Basil, Jr., and a daughter, Sally, who was a cripple. Thomas Brown lived in Luzerne, on the farm now occupied by Lewis Adams. He married Dorcas, daughter of William Goe, and for a second wife the widow of Philip Worley. His brother, Basil Brown, Jr., was a bachelor, who re- mained for some years in Luzerne, and afterwards re- moved to Brownsville, where his father had purchased a number of town lots from his brother, the elder Thomas Brown. Basil Brown, Jr., and his sister Sally lived in Brownsville, on Market Street, at or near the corner of Morgan Street, where he died at the age of seventy-five years. Sally, the cripple, died in that town some years later.

John McKibben was a very early settler in what is now Luzerne, locating on three hundred and eigh- teen acres in April, 1766, as is recited in a deed for the same tract, made by David Breading to Nathaniel Breading, in 1783. The tract is located about one mile southwesterly from Merrittstown, and was for many years the farm and home of Nathaniel Bread- ing. It is now owned by his grandson, George E. Hogg, of Brownsville.

Jehu Conwell and his brother, Capt. William Con- well, settled within the limits of this township in June, 1767. One James Bredin was in the territory before the Conwells, who upon their arrival found Bredin living in a log cabin upon a tomahawk claim, where he had girdled a few trees, he having come in the pre- vious April. For a small consideration the Conwells purchased Bredin's claim and improvements, and he departed for other scenes. The land thus taken by the Conwells lies now in the Heistersburg school dis- triet, and is included within the John McMullen farm. The country was at that time infested by savages and wild beasts, but with neither had the settlers then any trouble, for the former were friendly, and the latter not so much inclined to pursue man as afraid of being themselves pursued. By and by, however, the In-

dians began to show signs of hostility, and the Con- wells thought it advisable to withdraw for a brief sea- son to a more populous locality. In August, 1772, Jehu returned to his old home in Delaware, in Octo- ber was married, and in November of the same year set out with his young bride for the Luzerne clearing. Existence was comparatively quiet and uneventful until 1774, when Indian aggressions set in in earnest. Jehu Conwell and his brother, Capt. William, then bestirred themselves and started the project of build- ing a fort. A site was selected upon the Coleman plantation, on the west side of Dunlap's Creek, not much more than half a mile below Merrittstown, on a place now occupied by Harrison Henshaw. There a block-house was hastily constructed, to include within its inclosure the spring near the present Henshaw house. Assisted and directed by the Conwells, the settlers had the fort completed in quick time, and in May, 1794, it was occupied. There appears to be no evidence that the fort was ever attacked, or that the people living in that portion of Luzerne met with serious injury at the hands of the savages, although they were for a time in great terror for fear of In- dians. Several children are said to have been born within the fort during 1774. The names of only two can now be given. One was Ruth, daughter of Capt. William Conwell. She married Abram Armstrong. Another was a daughter of Jehu Conwell. She mar- ried Judge William Ewing. After the autumn of 1774, the clouds of alarm clearing away, block-house life was abandoned, and the peaceful pursuits of the pioneer were pushed forward with renewed vigor.

When the flag of national independence was raised in 1776, Jehu and William Conwell responded to the call, and fought through the Revolution. Happily surviving the struggle they resumed their rural labors, and in good time ended their lives upon the Luzerne lands they had cleared from the wilderness. Jehu died in January, 1834, at the age of eighty-six, upon the farm that had been his home for sixty years, and from which he is said in that time never to have re- moved himself a distance of more than fifty miles. He was married more than sixty years, and had seven children. His sons Shepard, Yates T., John, and George settled and died in Luzerne. One of his daughters married Judge William Ewing, another An- drew Porter, and the third John Arnold. With his brother, Capt. William, he rests now in the old Con- well burying-ground upon the George Conwell farm, where lie also numerous others of the same name.

Jehu Conwell was not only a farmer, but a manu- facturer and miller. He built a log grist-mill npon Big Run, which was certainly the first grist-mill in the township, and, according to some authorities, the first in the county." A half-bushel measure, made

1 These Mcculloughs were Indian traders who acquired settlement rights here nearly as early as Colvin, but they were not permanent sel- tlers, and soon ungrated.

2 Clark Breading, of Uniontown, says Jehu Conwell told him he con- structed the null the year after he came to the township. It was us d simply for pounding coru. A flutter-wheel was the motive-power for a great sweep, to which a pouuder was attached The mortar Was a rock

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LUZERNE TOWNSHIP.

of mulberry wood and used in the mill when the latter was first erected, is yet in the possession of George W. Conwell. Jehu built also a distillery at the same place, and as the business transacted there assnined an appearance of extraordinary briskness, while it attracted many patrons, the locality was given the name of Frogtown, and by that name was known for many years.

About the time of the coming of Jehu and William Conwell there came also to Luzerne Aaron Hackney, grandfather of Aaron Hackney, now of Luzerne. He settled in the Conwell neighborhood, but, like the Conwells and other early settlers, was soon compelled to vacate his new home by the threatening danger of Indian aggressions. He returned to his former home in Virginia, but came again to Luzerne after an ab- sence of about two years, and remained there ever after until his death in 1807. His sons were George, Joseph, John, Jehu, and Aaron. George, Joseph, and Jehu died in Luzerne, John moved to Menallen, and Aaron to Mercer County.

Richard Aschraft, a Revolutionary spy and scout, claimed also to be a settler and land-owner upon the Monongahela, just above Heaton's mill, nearly oppo- site the mouth of Ten-Mile Creek. He was living there about, and perhaps before, 1767, and likely enough was simply a hunter, scout, aud trader, with- ont any ambition in the direction of a husbandman's vocation except to raise what little he needed for home consumption. From the record of the procee 1- ings of the West Virginia Historical Society in 1871 is taken the following copy of an affidavit made by Richard Ashcraft and Thomas Carr before James Chew, July 19, 1777 :

" Richard Ashcraft and Thomas Carr, two of the spies, came before James Chew, one of the Magis- trates for Monongahalia County, and made oath that on Thursday evening, the 17th inst., they discovered on the head-waters of Buffaloe creek (tracks) which to the best of their knowledge appeared to be them of the enemy, and that from the sign of the said tracks their number might be seven or eight, that the said tracks were making toward the Monongahalia river, and appeared to be gone the said day."

The land tract on the river known as "The Bone of Contention" is thus alluded to by Veech :

" The land just above Bridgeport, on the river, embracing "some three or four hundred acres, was in early time the subject of long and angry controversies-from 1769 to 1785-between adverse elaimants under military permits. It was well named in the official survey (which one of the parties procured of it under a Penosylvania location) 'Bone of Contention.' One Angus McDonald claimed it, or part of it, under a military permit from Col. Bonquet, datel April 26, 1763, and a settle- ment on it. In March, 1770, be sold his claim to Capt. Luke Collins, describing the land as ' at a place called Fort Burd, to

include the field cleared by me where the saw pit was, above the mouth of Delap's Creek.' Collins conveyel it to Michael Cresap (of Logan speech celebrity) on the 13th of April, 1772, 'at half-past nine in the morning,' describing it as situnte be- tween ' Point Lookout and John Martin's land,' recently owned, we believe, by the late Mrs. John T. Krepps. Cresap's execu- tors, in June, 1781, conveyed to one William Schooly, an ok! Brownsville merchant, who conveyed to Rees Cadwallader. The adverso elaimants were Heury Shryock and William Shearer, assignees of Georgo Andrew. Their claim reached farther southward towards the creek, and farther up the river, covering the John Martin land. They soll ont to Robert Adams and Thomas Shain. Although they had the oldest perant (in 1762), their title seems to have been overcome by the settlement and official location and survey of their adversary. One Robert Thoin seems also to have been a claimant of part of the land, but Collins bought him out. This protracted controversy involved many curious questions, and called up many ancient recollee- tions. No doubt the visit to this locality of Mr. Deputy Sheriff Woods of Bedford in 1771 was parcel of this controversy. Many of these early claims were lost or forfeited by neglect to settle the land according to law, and thus were supplanted by others. They were valued by their owners at a very low mark, an I often sold for triding su01 .. "

The Crawford settlement in Luzerne was important in one respect. It was the first location in the bend of the river, and included an extensive tract that reached along the river-front from Millsboro' to Craw- ford's Ferry, south of lock No. 5. The heads of the Crawford families were James and Josiah, who came together from Maryland to Fayette County in 1770 or 1771, and bought about sixteen hundred acres on the Monongahela, in Luzerne. James Crawford built his cabin a little below Fredericktown, on the bank of the stream, and not long after established a ferry there. Before that ferry was established, Josiah Craw- ford, his brother, who had settled near the river upon the place now occupied by Joseph Crawford, south of Jock No. 5, had put a ferry on at that point. That was probably the pioneer ferry on the Monongahela along the Luzerne line. Illustrative of the wild character of the country when he founded his settlement, James Crawford said that when he and his brother Josiah came out on their land-prospecting tour, they found houses so scarce they had to sleep in the woods at night with the snow knee-deep all about them, and that when he (James) put up his cabin it was the only house between the river at that point and Union- town. The log house that James Crawford built at the river is still standing, and is said to be in good preservation despite the fact that scarcely any repairs have been put upon it. The weather-boards with which he inclosed it he got out by hand upon his place with the aid of his slaves, of whom he had sev- eral. James and Josiah Crawford were known to the Indians as Quakers and friends to William Penn. For this, it is said, the savages not only did not mo- lest them, but took frequent occasion to show an ex- ceedingly friendly disposition. Once the Indians gave James and his family a severe fright. A party of them came down the river one evening and put up

in which an excavation was rudely made. Conwell said he had grown tired of going miles upon miles to mill, and was determined to have a mill of his own.

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HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

for the night upon James' place. In the morning they said to the old gentleman that they bad determined to take one of his children with them, and to empha- size their remarks with an apparent threat showed him some sealps. The old man pretended that he wasn't much frightened, and in that fiction was helped along by his good wife, who knew as well as did her husband the value of a strong policy of conciliation toward the redskins, and thus they acquiesced in the taking of the child, while in response to the Indian de- mand that he (James) too should accompany them apparent willing resignation was yielded. To the un- speakable relief of the Crawfords the Indians in- formed them, laughingly, that neither child nor old man should be taken, and that the project was simply put forward by way of a joke. Joke as it was, the Crawfords did not for many a day forget the terror it had brought upon them.

In the course of time James Crawford concluded to go still farther west, and dividing the bulk of his property among his children, moved to Ohio and set- tled upon land now occupied by the city of Chilli- cothe, where he died. His sons were John, Ephraim, William, and Joseph, all of whom died in Luzerne. John and William lived to reach the age of ninety- six. Josiah (brother of James Crawford), who died in Luzerne at the age of eighty, had seven sons, named James, Josiah, Jr., Benedict, Elijah, Levi, Ephraim, and Abel. Benediet was killed on the river by the Indians ; Elijah, Ephraim, and Levi died in Luzerne ; the rest removed out of the township. There are still among the residents of Luzerne many bearing the name of Crawford. Of these the oldest repre-en- tatives are William, aged eighty-two; Joseph, eighty- three; Ephraim, seventy-five; and George, seventy.

boat-builder, and constructed barges for himself as well as for others. Not infrequently he would jour- ney down the river in one of his barges on trading expeditions, and thus became a pretty well known character. The ferry he maintained until his death, about 1850.

The old Davidson property is now owned by Adam Jacobs, of Brownsville, who in 1862 bought and took possession thereof. His land embraces two tracts, patented respectively by John Crawford and Samuel Stokely. The Stokely farm was called "The Cave," by reason, it is said, of the fact that early explorations noted the presence thereon of a cave, but what sort of a cave, what its dimensions, or even its' locality are to-day unknown, since not one of the many later searchers has been able to locate it. Capt. Jacobs has about one thousand acres of land near the river, and has at the ferry a summer residence, store, grist-mill, boat-yard, etc. At his boat-yard he has built four steamboats and numerous 'barges. During 1881 he employed a large force of men in the boat-yard upon steamboats and barges already con- tracted for. Upon the hill overlooking the river Capt. Jacobs has sunk a shaft running perpendicu- larly down one hundred feet, and four hundred and sixty feet along a slope. At that depth he has found the " nine-foot Pittsburgh vein," and intends de- veloping the coal interests of that region. A branch wire of the Western Union Telegraph Line from Brownsville to Davidson's Ferry connects the latter place with Jacobs' Ferry. East Riverside post-office was established at Jacobs' Ferry in 1864. The first postmaster was Adam Jacobs, Jr. The second and present one is John N. Jacobs.

Another early ferry was the one established by

The ferries established by James and Josiah Craw- ' David Davidson, where his son David has maintained ford were maintained for many years by some mem- a ferry for many years. At this place a steam ferry- boat was once put on, but business did not warrant its retention. There was another ferry at Rice's Landing, and still another at Millsboro', which latter was owned by Henry Heaton and Rezin Virgin. Below were the Crawford ferries, already spoken of. ber of the family, and before the great volume of traffic between the East and West was diverted to the National road they were kept busy night and day transporting passengers, live-stock, and freight that at one time moved through that region. There was at a very early day a John Crawford at what is now In 1772, Andrew Frazer built a fine log house on the present W. S. Craft place, and placed high up on the chimney the mark " A F 1772." A lock weigh- ing eleven and a half pounds secured the door, and is still held as a relic by his descendants in Cincin- nati. Some of the apple-trees planted by Mr. Frazer about the time of his settlement are still bearing. Mr. Frazer died in 1800. known as Jacobs' Ferry, where he had a ferry. He was not of the other Crawford family, but belonged, it is believed, to the Crawfords of Greene County. He disappeared from Luzerne history, and gave place at the ferry to Jeremiah Davidson, who came from Mercer County before 1800, and continued the ferry established by John Crawford. Davidson must have been in the river region during the time of Indian Robert Baird, Sr., was the eldest son of Moses Baird, Sr., of New Jersey, and was born in the year 1756. man, and bought the lands in the southeastern part of what is now Luzerne township, and southwestern part of Redstone township, now owned by Jeremiah Baird, heirs of Uriah Higinbotham, Samuel M. Baird, and others, in all six hundred aeres or more. He re- turned to New Jersey, married a Miss Elizabeth, troubles, for recollections of him and his time men- tion the circumstance of his assisting at the organiza- ' He came to this county first in the year 1777, a young tion of a party of settlers who went out upon an ex- pedition that had for its object retaliation upon a band of savages who had been committing depreda- tions. Davidson's first ferry-boat is said to have been a dug-out, which he soon replaced with a flat-boat. Besides being a ferryman and farmer, he was also a

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Reeves, and came back with his young bride, bring- ing their household goods on horseback over three hundred miles. They had a good cabin near a large spring, amidst the almost track less wilderness of sugar, black walnut, oak, etc. He was an energetic man, and soon had several acres cleared. His brothers and sisters came after a few years, and a family by the

name of Frame, who settled on the next farms south. 'did kill many a redskin, he went to Baltimore for His brothers, John, Moses, and James, soon married, and moved to Ohio, as did also his younger sister. Moses was the father of Mrs. James Ewing, of Union- town, Pa. His sisters Jane and Margaret married Charles and John Porter, of this county. The former was associate judge for many years.

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History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 143

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