History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 146

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 146

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In the sontbern portion of the township a Seced-

1848. Jesse D. Ramsey.

Lewis Mobley. 1849. David Craft.

James P. Baird.

R. C. Vernon. Joseph Crawford.

1853. William II. Crawford. Hamilton Crec.

Jobn Conwell. 1856. Robert Williams. George A. Nelan.

Charles Swan.

William Cattell.

Lebbens Clark.

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HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

ers', or United Presbyterian Church was formed so long ago that no one now living remembers anything as to the details, and it is believed that none of the constituent members are living. For more than fifty years the church history has been but a memory. A strong effort was made some years ago to revive the organization, but the effort resulted in failure.

There was a Quaker Church in the Charleston dis- trict even before 1800. It was a log structure, and stood near where the old graveyard in that district may yet be seen. It was burned about 1820, and re- placed by a stone church, whose location was fixed in Bridgeport borough. The land for the churchi lot in the borough was deeded by Jonah Cadwallader "to the Society of Friends and citizens of Browns- ville and Bridgeport, for the purpose of building upon it a house of worship." The church is no more, and Quaker meetings in Luzerne a thing of the past.

HOPEWELL CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.

Pierce. Samuel Roberts, Josephus Lindsley, and James Gibson, Jr., were chosen and ordained ruling elders. Lindsley being selected to represent the church in Presbytery, reported that Revs. A. M. Bryan and S. M. Sparks had been assigned to preach at Hopewell during the ensuing six months. Nov. 3, 1839, Jolin Davidson, Samuel Jenuison, and Moses Barnes were chosen trustees.

In the spring of 1835, Rev. Mr. Wood was ordered to the charge as stated pastor, and remained until the spring of 1838. In April of that year Rev. A. M. Blackford succeeded to the pastorate. In April, 1840, came Rev. Jolin Cary, and remaining one year was followed in April, 1841, by Rev. Samuel E. Hudson, whose term of service endured to 1846. In the fall of 1846, Fairview and Hopewell Churches united in a call to Rev. J. T. A. Henderson, who remained nearly all the time until 1856, Rev. Jesse Adams preaching also occasionally meanwhile. Rev. J. H. Coulter was the pastor a while after 1856, and then Mr. Henderson returned, to give way again to Mr. Coulter. Since April, 1880, Rev. A. W. White has been in charge.

In the autumn of 1831, Revs. Alfred M. Bryan and Milton Bird, acting as missionaries under the General Assembly of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, were called to visit the neighborhood of Hopewell, The first house of worship was built in 1833-34. The second and present one was built in 1872. It is a handsome brick structure, 60 by 40 feet in dimen- sions, and cost six thousand dollars. The member- ship is now abont two hundred and forty. The elders are Jolin Vernon, William Heller, A. G. Swan, Sam- uel Baird, and Elijah Craft. The trustees are William Acklin, John Vernon, Oliver Miller. The Sunday- school superintendent is Jesse P. Crawford. and as their ministrations were met with an interested awakening of religious fervor, it was thought expe- dient to form a Cumberland Presbyterian Society at Hopewell. The Methodist Episcopal Society of Hopewell tendered the use of their house, and May 14, 1832, the Cumberland Society was formed with a membership of eighteen, to whom the Lord's Supper was administered for the first time June 17, 1832, by Rev. A. M. Bryan, assisted by Rev. Samuel M. Aston. Thenceforward preaching was supplied by Revs. WEST BEND METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. Bryan, Sparks, and Aston. Liberal accessions were The dissolution of the Hopewell Methodist Epis- copal Church, about 1830, led to the formation of a Methodist Episcopal class in the river bend, the members being John Covert, Patience Lawrence, Richard Jamison and wife, George Lawrence and wife, and William Roberts, formerly of Hopewell. John Covert was chosen leader, and for many years afterwards was one of the ruling spirits in the church. Services were held in a school-bouse a few years, and when the congregation became prosperous enough to warrant the erection of a house of worship the one now used was built. Increase of membership has made the house too small, and within a short time it will be replaced by a spacious brick edifice to cost about six thousand dollars. The members number now about one hundred. The pastor is Rev. J. G. Gaugley. The trustees are Samuel Jamison, Benton Covert, John Covert, William Hurford, Albert Jami- son, John Wanee, and Joshua Strickler. The class- leader is Joshua Strickler. made to the congregation, and on Sept. 19, 1832, the formal organization of a church was effected. Sixty members were enrolled, and there were, in addition to the-e in the congregation, twenty-five seekers after religion. The constituent members were Samuel Roberts, Josephus Bindsley, James Gibson, John Davidson, William Downey, Robert Baird, Enoch Baird, William Chambers, Eleanor Mehaffie, Saralı Davidson, Rachel Ritenhour, Isabella Milligan, Mary Gibson, Ruth W. Gibbons, Orpha MeDougal, Moses Baird, Rachael Baird, Mary Porter, Rachel Downey, Mary Longley, Eliza Abrams, Mary B. Henderson, Eleanor Gibbous, Naomi Hurford, Sarah Moss, Ann Moss, Ann Hurford, Jane Louden, Eliza J. Paul, Lydia G. Gibson, Mary Jamison, Ann V. Gibbons, Eleanor Irwin, Ursula Arnold, Alexander Wilson, Deborah Wilson, Andrew Porter, Jr., Henry Alex- ander, William Kelly, Maria Porter, Mary Hurford, Eliza Rogers, Edward Rose, Hugh Kerns, Melinda J. Porter, Esther Pennell, Achsah A. Roberts, Mary A Union Church near Jacobs' Ferry is a monu- ment to the generosity of Mrs. Adam Jacobs, of Brownsville. Residing during the summer seasons at the Ferry, she caused the church to be built for the Lawrence, Rebecca Kennedy, Hester J. Roberts, William G. Roberts, Caroline Roberts, Tirza Rob- erts, Isaac Covert, Nancy Porter, Mossill Jamison, George W. Baumgartner, Elisha Pierce, and Mary " purpose of having Episcopal services therein regularly

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LUZERNE TOWNSHIP.

during her suburban stay, and then caused it to be declared that all denominations were free to hold meetings in the house at all times save such as were chosen for the meetings of the Episcopalians.

BURIAL-GROUNDS.

Burial-places are numerous in Luzerne, and include among private and public graveyards some that are old and neglected, but yet dotted with weather- stained headstones that record the deaths and virtues of many of Luzerne's pioneers. There is the old Quaker burying-ground in the Charleston district (but little used now), one at Merrittstown, where the old Baptist Church once reared its modest front, one at Hopewell (or Heistersburg), one on the John Horner farm near the river, one on the David Porter farm, another at the site of the United Presby- terian Church, another on J. W. Dearth's farm, and still another on the Joseph Crawford place. All these are burial-places dating from 1800 or near that period. There is a neat cemetery at the Hopewell Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and one at the West Bend Methodist Episcopal Church, at which latter place there is also an unused graveyard, orig- inally laid out for the family of Jonathan Arnold, but used also by the neighborhood.

THE VILLAGE OF MERRITTSTOWN.

Merrittstown, lying upon Dunlap's Creek, and on the eastern line of Luzerne township, ranks among the old villages of the county, but that it has materially improved with age cannot be truthfully said. It con- tains to-day as its representative business interests two stores, a grist-mill, tannery, and the usual minor village industries, and a population of sixty-two in- habitants by the census of 1880. Seventy years ago it was a livelier place, for then it was a station on one of the traveled routes between East and West, and a halting-place for stock-drivers, freighters, etc. The opening of railway communication diverted such traffic, and took away much of Merrittstown's im- portance, but now the probability of a railway to touch at this point has awakened hopes of renewed prosperity, and brightened the prospect materially.

Merrittstown was founded and laid out by two brothers, named Caleb and Abram Merritt, of whom Abram was a man of considerable energy. Just when the Merritts laid out the village cannot be as- certained, although the statement is made that the original plat of the town is in the hands of some person living in the far West. The date may, how- ever, be fixed with moderate certainty as not far from 1790. It is known that Samuel Douglas had a grist-mill and saw-mill there as early as 1785, and notion of building a village around the nucleus of a mill. The place was at first called New Town, but directly after Merrittstown. Abram Merritt's house stood opposite the present shoe-shop of Lewis Dur-

nell. Caleb lived on the lot now occupied by John Moore. But little can be said touching the history of Merrittstown up to 1805, but it would appear that at or before that time people journeying across the mountains and drovers taking stock to market began to make a point of stopping there, and the demand for accommodation naturally led to the opening of a public-house. In the year mentioned, therefore, we find that Adam Farquar was keeping a tavern in the old Caleb Merritt house, and that by that time the Merritt brothers had sold their property and moved to Ohio. Simeon Cary was then making nails by hand in a little log shop, and although he turned out some coarse and clumsy work in the shape of shingle- nails, he found the demand quite equal to the supply, for, as luck would have it for him and other unskillful manufacturers, the pioneers were not over-fastidious in that direction. A man named Richard Bates was the miller at the old Douglas mill, and it is said that the mill proprietor was Encal Dodd. Bates seems to have been especially conspicuous for the generous way in which he treated himself to strong drink. Upon the old account-books kept by John and James Cunningham, the distillers, it may be observed that charges against Richard Bates for "one gallon of whiskey" appear with remarkable frequency. Encal Dodd was esteemed a great talker, as well as one of the most rigidly honest men in the country, but slightly given to absent-mindedness withal. It is told of him that while grinding a grist for James Cunningham he maintained with that gentleman an incessant flow of argument, and as he talked he helped himself quite absent-mindedly to toll so fre- quently that when the grist was ground the miller had decidedly more of it than his customer. Mr. Cunningham, who had noted with much amusement the freak of his friend, laughingly remarked, " Well, Mr. Dodd, suppose I take the toll for my share and you take what I have." At this Dodd looked and felt much ashamed of his action, and then turned not only the toll into Cunningham's bag, but added an extra allowance from the mill stock, saying he was determined to punish himself for being so absent- minded.

In 1805, Elijah Coleman carried on a tannery where E. T. Gallaher now pursues the same busi- ness, and from best accounts obtainable Coleman had then been there some years. Of the Colemans none are now to be found in the township. Daniel Bixler was the village shoemaker, and upon the lot now oc- cupied by W. L. Guiler, George Hogg kept a store, the pioneer store in Merrittstown.

A post-office was established in Merrittstown before 1805, with Elijah Coleman as the first postmaster. sold his interests to the Merritts, who conceived the ; Old Dennis McCarty was the mail-carrier between Uniontown and Brownsville vin Merrittstown, and for a long time made the trip on foot once a week. Although his mail-pouch was exceedingly light, he always carried a bulky batch of copies of The Genius

648

HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

of Liberty, which he left to subscribers en route.

now stands. In that shop James Cunningham, now Dennis was a white-haired old man, but a merry one, | of Luzerne, worked as an apprentice under George and regularly upon his approach to Merrittstown was greeted by the village lads, then in waiting for him, with the announcement, " Here comes old white head !" Having delivered his mail Dennis would bestow him- self in the bar-room of the village tavern, and sing rollicking songs as long as the landlord would pay him for the songs in cider. Then Denny was in his glory, and the gathered villagers in a state of delight. Denny bore about with him a pair of ears of which each was ornamented with a slit. Rather proud than otherwise of the marks, he called frequent at- tention to them, and boastingly related that early in life he had been taken captive by the Indians, and thus received from them signs of their kindly at- tention. Brown, beginning in 1826. Speaking of his im- pressions of Merrittstown's early history, Mr. Cun- ningliam says he is sure that Daniel Wilson, the wagon-maker, was in the village in 1812, for Daniel Wilson's wife Hester once told him (Cunningham) that she carried him, then a babe, to the window one day in that year to see a company of soldiers march past on the way to the army. George Chandler was then the village tailor, and in his shop he had as ap- prentice Josephus Lindsley, who afterwards set up a shop of his own and became the village postmaster. Chandler carried on tailoring until his death, when the business was continued by his sou Isaac, who not long afterwards removed to Ohio. Noalı Lewis suc- ceeded Adam Farquar as the village tavern-keeper in a house occupying the lot that adjoins Gadd's black- smith's shop.

Elijah Coleman did not fancy being postmaster be- cause of the trouble it always gave him to make out his quarterly returns, and failing to get a better idea of the business as time passed he resigned in utter disgust. Adam Farquar, who kept the village tavern, is said also to have had a bowling alley in it, and be- tween selling whiskey, furnishing entertainment, and running the nine-pin alley managed to make life pleasant and lively for the travelers who came that way in considerable force and halted at old Farquar's for the night.

One of Merrittstown's local characters about 1812 was Lott Green, a Quaker and a good mechanic. He was a noted manufacturer of flax-hatchels and also a skillful repairer of firearms.

The year 1823 saw considerable activity in Merritts- town. John McDougall, the carpenter (who was said, by the way, to have put the cabin upon the first steamboat built at Brownsville), built a brick tavern stand upon the site of William Cunningham's Conti- nental store, the frame of which latter was included within the new structure. Mr. MeDougal kept the brick tavern until 1845, since when it has been used as a family residence, it now being the home of Mr. L. C. MeDougall. John McDougall died in 1856.

In 1808, John MeDougal came from Maryland to Merrittstown and set up a cabinet-shop. He was also a builder, and with John Allander to assist bim did a good deal in the house-carpentering way. In 1810, George Hogg having given up business as a vil- lage trader, William Cunningham, son of James Cuu- In 1826 there were three village taverns in Mer- rittstown, namely, MeDougal's, Hiram Miller's (in the old Noah Lewis stand), and Daniel Marble's, in the building now occupied by Lewis Durnell. A new grist-mill had replaced in 1824 the old Douglas mill, and was owned by Joseph Thornton, whose mil- ler was John Grimes, who removed at a later date to Ohio. William Ramsey and his son Jesse were for many years millers at the Thornton mill and the Gil- more mill, a short distance up the stream. The Thornton mill is now carried ou by Lynch & Hanna. After John McDougal closed his tavern stand no public-house was kept in Merrittstown from that day to this. The opening of the National road had turned traffic from the route through Merrittstown, aud of course the consequence of no travel was no tavern. ningham, the distiller, opened a little store on the lot now occupied by L. C. MeDougal's residence, and built also the house known as the Baird residence ad- joining MeDougal's. Mr. Cunningham's establish- ment was known as the Continental store, and as he had other business interests to look after, he employed John Gallagher and Benjamin Barton as his store clerks. Ile bought also the grist-mill property, and employed John Dunlap as his miller. He was excise officer for some years, and altogether had his hands full of industrial enterprises. He removed from the village to the Cunningham farm in 1817, and there died in 1819. During the latter portion of his stay at Merrittstown he operated a fulling-mill as an at- tachment to the grist-mill. Merrittstown had in 1810 a hatter named Joshua Wilson, who had a shop across After William Cunningham closed bis store, in 1817, Merrittstown was without a local trading-place until 1830, when John Smith opened trade in a store-house built by George Brown, the blacksmith. In that year Hugh Gilmore had a distillery near the town, and Elijah Coleman was still carrying on his tannery. Coleman was no less famous for being a tanner than he was for being the father of nineteen children. Hiram Durnell had been the village shoemaker from from where Lewis Durnell's shoe-shop is, and there made heavy fur hats. He had in front of his place a great sign, upon which he had painted the picture of a hat, a fox, and other fur-coated animals. Matthias Lancaster, his workman, succeeded him in the busi- ness. Lancaster afterwards moved to Redstone. Ca- Jeb and Joshua Harford were the village blacksmiths, and Daniel Wilson the wagon-maker. The black- smith's shop stood near where Mr. Moore's house . 1818. George Brown, the blacksmith, had opened

RESIDENCE OF CAPT. ISAAC C. WOODWARD, LUZERNE TOWNSHIP, FAYETTE CO., PA.

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LUZERNE TOWNSHIP.

his shop in 1822, prospered, and went to store-keeping. He traded about ten years, when in consequence of business misfortunes he became deranged. George Brown, who was Merrittstown's fourth store-keeper, was the successor of Robert Brown, and the prede- cessor of Samuel Henderson and John Gallaher. In 1876 the village had two stores, kept by Alfred Cun- ningham and Thomas D. Miller. Cunningham's store was burned in 1877 and Miller's in 1879, at which time the post-office with all' the mail, being in Miller's store, was likewise destroyed.

In 1822 the foot-bridge across Dunlap's Creek at Merrittstown was washed away by a flood, and from that on to 1836 fording or ferrying was the method of crossing. In that year John Langley and Liberty Miller built the mason-work, and Stoffel Balsinger, with his son Perry, the frame-work of a new bridge. The mason-work remains, but the frame, being badly constructed, fell soon after it was put up. The pres- ent frame was constructed by William Antrim.

In the post-office the successor of Elijah Coleman was William Cunningham, who was succeeded in 1817 by Josephus Lindsley, the tailor. Lindsley re- signed in 1832 and left the town. The next post- master was George Brown, the blacksmith, who, after holding the place several years, was followed by Hugh Gilmore. Then came Margaret Gilmore, Alexander Brown, John Armstrong, and James McDougal. The succession after MeDougal was Hiram S. Horner, 1861-62; Lewis Durnell, 1862-68; Mary Messmore, 1868-69 ; Samuel H. Higinbotham, 1869-72; E. H. Baird, 1872-75; T. D. Miller, 1875-79; Harriet A. Cook, 1879, to the present time. For a small place Merrittstown appears to have bad a pretty extensive supply of postmasters.

The first resident physician at the village now re- membered was Dr. Morrill Parker, who located there in 1821 or 1822. He was at no time very popular, for he appeared to esteem himself a grade above his neighbors in the social scale, and instead of culti- vating friendly relations with them he had visitors from abroad at his home constantly, and rather de- lighted in showing off what he was pleased to term his aristocratic company before the villagers. By the latter he was termed a high-flyer, and when he left the town, after a stay of a few years, he was not much regretted. He aspired to be an author, and wrote " The Arcanum of Arts and Sciences," but it is not known that it created a very great commotion in the world of letters. After Dr. Parker's departure there was no village physician for some time.

Dr. Meason was the next to locate, and after him Dr. Wilcox, but neither remained more than a year. In 1827 came Dr. Elliott Finley from Westmoreland County, who, after a stay of a few years, moved to

Greene County, where he was killed by an accidental fall from a wagon. After another interval the field was occupied by Dr. William L. Wilson, who left after the expiration of about a year. In 1840 an office was opened by Dr. J. N. Craft, son of David Craft. Dr. Craft practiced in Merrittstown and vicin- ity until his death in 1846, and achieved a popularity that causes grateful mention of his name to this day. His successor was Dr. H. R. Roberts, who had but little practice. N. L. Hafty followed Roberts, and in 1847 was succeeded by Dr. Ilenry East- man, who came to Merrittstown in June of that year. Since then he has been steadily in practice in and about the village, and rides a wide circuit in a practice that has been extensive and profitable through his residence of thirty-four years and made his name a household word in hundreds of families in the county.

The only civic society in Merrittstown is Merritts- town Lodge, No. 772, I. O. O. F., which was organized Aug. 5, 1871, with charter members as follows: Isaac Messmore, P. G. ; Samuel H. Higinbotham, John .1. Messmore, P. G. ; James M. Jackson, William Knight, Johnson Miller, James H. Ball, Jesse Coldren, Wil- liam H. Higinbotham, George W. Green, Jacob N. Ridge, Samuel L. Stewart, Jacob Huber, Casper Haynes, George Thompson, William S. J. Hatfield, F. F. Chalfant, R. Brashear, John Coldren, J. C. Wood.

The first officers were J. A. Messmore, N. G .; Isaac Messmore, V. G .; S. H. Higinbotham, Sec .; James M. Jackson, P. S .; Johnson Miller, Treas. The Noble Grands have been J. A. Messmore, Isaac Mess- more, John Allen, James Jackson, Samuel Higin- botham, S. J. Gadd, William Gadd, S. L. Stewart, George Roberts, W. S. Craft, Absalom Hostetler, J. N. Ridge, Johnson Miller, John Williams, and New- ton Jackson. The members are now twenty-four, and the officers as follows : Newton Jackson, N. G. ; John Norman, V. G. ; Robinson Savage, Rec. Sec. ; Richard Miller, P. S .; Joseph Woodward, Treas.

The most important industry in Luzerne, aside from that of agriculture, is the distillery of George W. Jones, on the river near Bridgeport. The business was founded there and a distillery built in 1857 by John Worthington and J. S. Krepps. Fire destroyed the establishment in 1859, and in 1860 John Worth- ington rebuilt it. He carried it on until 1866, when he sold out to Britton & South, who were succeeded in 1868 by Britton & Moore, and they in 1869 by Jones & South. In 1876 George W. Jones became the sole proprietor. Mr. Jones has recently enlarged the works. They have at present a capacity of one hundred and fifty bushels, employ fifteen hands, and produce about twelve barrels of whiskey daily.

650

HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

Nathe Brading

Among the immigrants into Fayette County at an early day was Judge Nathaniel Breading, a man of strong character and of peculiar note in his times. His grandfather, David Breading, was of Scotch de- Co., Ireland, and coming to America settled in Lancaster County, Pa., about 1728, bringing with him his family, of whom was his son James, the father of Nathaniel Breading.

- We recur here to the days of Judge Breading's scent, and was born near Coleraine, Londonderry . early manhood to note that he purchased the Tower

Nathaniel Breading, son of the above-named James and Ann Ewing Breading, was born March, 1751, in Little Britain township, Lancaster Co., Pa. Being given a fine classical education, he took charge of an academy at Newark, Del., and afterwards taught school in Prince Edward County, Va.

We next hear of him serving in the army of the Revolution under his future father-in-law, Gen. Ewing, commissary of the Pennsylvania line, while the army was encamped at Valley Forge during the hard and gloomy winter of 1777. Having married Mary Ewing, he removed his family to Tower Hill farm, Luzerne township, Fayette Co., in 1784. Dur- ing 1785 he was appointed one of the five justices of the peace, who were the sole judges in the Court of Common Pleas for some years, until Judge AAddison was appointed president judge, on which event Mr. Breading was appointed associate, and continued such until his death. After the close of the war he was chosen as one of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, with whom was lodged all the ex- ecutive power of the State. This office he held about five years, until the adoption of the new constitution of 1790 providing for the election of a Governor.

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History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 146

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