History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 149

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 149

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"The Farmers' and Mechanics' Bank of Fayette County promise to pay - - , er bearer, on demand, ONE dol- lar out of their joint funds according to their articles of asso- ciation.

" NEW SALEM, -, 18 -, President."

Cushier.

The three and five dollar notes were essentially similar to the one described, except that the vignette of the three is a soaring eagle, and of the five an eagle perching upon the back of a lion.

Of this bank one Peter Black was one of the di- rectors. An advertisement appearing in the Genius of Liberty under date of April 20, 1819, thus alludes to Mr. Black :

"$100 REWARD, and all necessary expenses, will be given by the subscriber for the apprehension and delivery of Peter Black in any jail in the United States. Said Black is charged with the murder of Crawford Laughlin. Peter Black is a man six feet high, of dark complexion, has a large head thiekly covered with black hair, has prominent cheek hones, and large shoul- ders. He is a man of about thirty years of age. He had on when he went away a blue surtout, pants, and vest, and it is sup- posed he has also taken with him a quantity of gray elothes. Ile was formerly a director in the Muttontown, or New Salem Bank of Fayette County, Pa., and he will be doubtless recollected in Ohio, where he distributed large quantities of the paper of that bank. It is supposed that Black has gone into the State of Ohio. The circumstances attending this horrid deed are as follows : On the 20th inst., while the deceased was at the house of Black, in Fayette County, a dispute arose between the deceased and another man. Black interfered and stabbed deceased in the neck, making a gash about one and a half inches deep.

" HUGH LAUGHLIN.

" March 27, 1819."

Alexander Wilson had a store in 1811 on the Jonah Dearth place.

Harmon Ficke came here in 1816, announcing that he had come from Baltimore for the purpose of start- ing in trade at New Salem. He put a few goods into John Funk's old store building, and declared himself ready for business. Ficke claimed to be a doctor as well as trader, but his medical and surgical skill were not made apparent. He kept his store open six or eight years, and departed because store-keeping in New Salem was overshadowed in importance by whisky-selling and rendered a profitless undertaking. There was no store at New Salem for many years after Harmon Ficke left, but taverns abounded and whisky was king. Martin Wolf was one of the tav- ern-keepers at this time, and soon after him came two others, named Emmons and Mitchell. At one time there were three taverns in the village. Jacob Balsinger was one of the later and most widely known of New Salem's tavern-keepers, but during his time the popular voice made itself heard in em- phatic protest against a further continuance of whisky traffic at the village, for matters had been going from bad to worse, and, like other evils, that evil had got to the point where it was likely to cure itself. A tem- perance society was organized in 1835 at the village

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HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

school-house, and at that meeting speeches were made by Gen Joshua B. Howell and Dr. Hugh Campbell. The temperance reformers once fairly started, kept the ball in motion and worked assiduously. The whisky men fought to stop it, but to no purpose. Balsinger finding his business waning, sold his tavern -the only one then in the village-to James Down- ard. Downard got the impression that the temper- ance wave would exhaust itself and eventually leave him master of the field, but the longer he waited the more certain became his conviction that the temper- ance crusade had come to stay. All the village dram- shops but his had been driven out of existence, and his was doomed. One day he received a note of warning, threatening him with an immersion in the horse-pond if he failed to close his bar within a week. Discretion prevailed with him, and within less than a week his house was closed and he on his way to other parts. That was in the year 1843, and from that day to this no strong drink has been sold in New Salem. From one of the worst and most disorderly it was changed to one of the most orderly and peace- ful villages in the State. Persistent hard work by the persevering and unfaltering advocates of temper- ance worked a reform for which that section of the country became grateful years ago. Ebenezer Fin- ley, who took a leading part in the contest against whisky and disorder, was chosen the first president of the temperance society, and has been its president ever since. To him belongs a very large share of the credit for the wholesome results that followed the warfare.

About 1840, Joseph Gadd and William Boyd were keeping a store at New Salem ; Balsinger had a tavern, and in it the post-office was kept, his son being post- master. There was no village physician in 1840, although there had been previous to that date. In 1844, Dr. Jacob Post made New Salem his home, and lived on the Joshua Scott property. To go back a little, there was a school-house in 1812 upon the site of the present school-house, and in that year Thomas Campbell was the teacher. After him an old man named Gray taught school. It will be well also to mention that William Allison, a gunsmith, had a shop at New Salem as early as 1820; that Neddy Hughes was that year the village shoemaker, and that in 1821 Ebenezer Finley organized a Sunday- school. The old log grist-mill passed from James Thompson to Robert Boyd, and from Robert Boyd to his son Samnel, who built a new mill, the same now owned by Jesse Frost, Sr.

Dr. Hickman has already been mentioned as being a resident physician in New Salem in 1802. He re- mained only a couple of years, and then there was no resident doctor until 1811. In that year Dr. Joseph Rose and his brother Erasmus located and practiced in conjunction for several years. After their de- parture there was a lack of village doctors until 1844, when Dr. Jacob Post opened an office and re-

mained a village fixture for some years. He removed to Winona, Minn., and there died. While Dr. Post was here Dr. Fitz came in, but stayed only a short time. Then there appeared in succession Dr. C. D. Chalfant in 1867, and Dr. I. C. Hazlett a little while thereafter. The only village physician now is Dr. Samuel E. Johnston, who has been practicing in New Salem and vicinity since 1870.

New Salem's first postmaster was Christopher Bal- singer, who was appointed in 1820 and served until about 1840. He was succeeded by C. S. Seaton and Mr. Kline. J. W. Scott followed Kline in 1861, and in 1868 was succeeded by W. D. Swearingen, who held the office less than a year. C. H. Scott was the incumbent from 1869 to 1877, and in the latter year William P. Green, the present postmaster, received his appointment.

NEW SALEM LODGE, No. 559, I. O. O. F., was or- ganized in 1858. The membership is now twenty, and the officers William Jeffries, N. G .; J. C. Moore, V. G .; S. E. Johnson, Sec .; Elijah Tracey, Treas. ; A. J. Tint, Asst. Sec.

UPPER MIDDLETOWN.

Upper Middletown village, better known as Plnm- sock, is a small hamlet lying upon Redstone Creek, on the eastern side of the township. It is simply a rural town without special industry, beyond the main- tenance of such business as is afforded by the support of the adjacent rural population. The name Plum- sock has clung to the place since the time its village existence begun, but why it was so christened is not known. Various stories are told to account for the origin of the name, including one about an intoxi- cated individual, who, while riding through the place, fell from his horse into the mud, and remarked, "Here I am, plump sock !" The expression is said to have so pleased the ears of those within hearing that they concluded to call the town " Plumsock" to commemorate the incident. How true the story is it is perhaps not important to inquire. Another story traces the origin of the name as far back as 1794, when a company of " Whiskey Boys" rendezvoused on the village site. 'Tis said they contracted with a certain citizen of the neighborhood to supply them with sub- xistence during their stay, and that when the citizen delivered his first load of provisions the " Boys" en- deavored to cajole him into giving them credit for a few days. At that proposition the purveyor is said to have waxed wroth, and exclaiming, " No, sirree, my men ; if you want me to supply you you must pay me the cash, 'plumpsock' on the nail," was about to depart in displeasure, when they came forward with the cash, and agreed unanimously that the place ought to be called "Plumpsock" forever afterward in commemoration of the man's business principle.

Nov. 28, 1789, Jeremiah Pears (or Pearce, or Peairs) patented a piece of land containing one hundred and twelve aeres, called "Prophetic," and lying in Men-

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allen and Franklin townships. Edward Hall and Jeremiah Pears held land adjacent to this tract, and laid out lots in the form of a town, which they called Middletown (now known as Upper Middletown, or Plumsoek). Hall sold to Rev. Robert Warnoeks. The one hundred and twelve acres mentioned as belong- ing to Jeremiah Pears included the site of the Mea- son rolling-mill, hereafter to be mentioned, and for a long time popularly known as Forgetown. On that ! site Pears had a mill as early as 1784, and perhaps before, for in the road records of the county, under the date mentioned, " Jeremiah Pears' mill" is no- ticed. In 1794, " Jeremiah Pears' forge" was recorded as being then at the same point, and in 1804 he had there a saw-mill, grist-mill, forge, slitting-mill, and rolling-mill,-quite a large collection of industrial en- terprises for the time. Thomas Cook, then of Perry, and afterwards of Cook's Mills, in Redstone, was one of the builders of the Pears' forge, which was proba- bly erected in 1794. Pears carried on the manufac- ture of iron at Plumsock until about 1804, when he sold out to George Dorsey. Dorsey sold in 1809 to Benjamin Stevens, he to Meason & Keller in 1813, and Keller sold his interest to Col. Isaac Meason in 1815.

In a recently published account of early iron industries in Western Pennsylvania occurs the fol- lowing: "The first rolling-mill erected west of the Alleghenies to puddle iron and roll iron bars was built in 1816 and 1817, on Redstone Creek, about midway between Connellsville and Brownsville, at a place called Upper Middletown, better known as Plumsock, in Fayette County." The inceptor of the enterprise was Thomas C. Lewis, and it was carried into effeet by Col. Isaae Meason, of Union Furnace, in Dunbar. The chief engineer in the erection of the mill was Thomas C. Lewis, whose brother, George Lewis,-both Welshmen,-was turner and roller. The mill was built " for making bars of all sizes and hoops for cutting into nails." "The iron was refined by blast, and then puddled." Active operations were carried on at this mill until 1831, Mr. Arthur Palmer being in possession to the date named. By a flood in the Redstone the mill was partially destroyed. Subsequently the mill machinery was conveyed to Brownsville. Concerning this rolling-mill Samuel C. Lewis, son of Thomas C. Lewis above mentioned, said that his father and bis uncle, George Lewis, not only superintended the erection and put in operation the mill of which notice is here made, but that he himself as a boy assisted in rolling the first bar of iron, his uncle being chief roller. Besides the two Lewis brothers, Thomas and George, there were also Samuel Lewis, heater, and James Lewis, cateher, who participated in starting the mill and in the roll- ing of the first har. Henry W. Lewis, another brother, was a clerk in the office. Samnel C. Lewis was then a boy of fifteen, and "heaved up" behind the rolls. There were in the mill two puddling-

furnaces, one refinery, one heating-furnace, and one tilt-hammer. Raw coal was used in the puddling- and heating-furnaces, and coke (for a short time) in the refinery. James Pratt worked the refinery. David Adams was the puddler.

The State report on iron-making in Pennsylvania, published in 1878, says, "We think it extremely probable that at the Plumsock rolling-mill was done the first puddling, and that here was rolled the first bar of iron in America." Careful inquiry in well-in- formed quarters fails to discover the existence in the United States of any rolling-mill to roll bar iron and puddle pig iron prior to the enterprise at Plumsoek in 1816.

Benjamin Rutter, who lives near Plumsock, worked for Arthur Palmer at the Plumsoek rolling-mill, as did also Franeis Duff, whose widow now lives in the village. One of the early rolling-mill proprietors was J. L. Keller, who built a great roomy briek man- sion near the mill. Keller's house was a fine build- ing for that day, and is to-day even a handsome- looking residence. Since 1858 it has been the prop- erty of James Nickel. Mr. Keller died after a few years' occupancy of the premises, and when a family of strangers undertook to oeeupy the red brick house their stay was soon brought to a hurried close by the idea that the house was haunted. They averred that old Keller's spirit roamed through the mansion at will, that doors were opened and shut by unseen hands, and with a great noise, while unearthly and discordant sounds made every night hideous and the lives of the tenants a torture. People to whom they told these stories laughed at them and seouted the stories as the result of exeited imaginations. When, however, another family moved into the red briek and moved quickly out again, declaring that ghosts and goblins peopled the house, publie belief was inclined to think that there might, after all, be a haunting presenee in the mansion. When a third family was precipitately driven forth after but a two days' oecu- paney opinion generally conceded that the house was indeed haunted. By that time the eirenmstances were public gossip, and while the curious came to look with awe upon the mysterious abode of alleged spirits, no one cared to undertake the task of living in it, although it was offered for rent at a nominal priee. So it was suffered to be untenanted for some time, when a matter-of-fact family took possession, and kept possession peaceably too. The supposed spirits seemed to have taken a permanent leave of the abode, and have not reappeared to this day. Al- though keen investigations were set afoot in pursu- ance of a desire to discover the source of the disturb- ing elements that drove people out of the house after Keller's death, no satisfactory result was achieved.

Time dispelled the fears of the timid, but to this day there are seemingly intelligent persons who insist that old Keller's ghost did haunt the house. The story goes that Keller, who married a daughter of

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HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Gen. Douglass, and built the brick house in 1812, squandered in various ways money that had come to him through his wife. She had taken great pleasure in the embellishment of their home, and when Keller's failure entailed the loss of that home she felt much embittered against him. Declaring that she could never forgive him for causing the loss of so much that she had endeared to herself, she vowed that she would haunt the place after she was dead. There- fore people who firmly believe that the house was haunted must always be in doubt whether the visi- tation was by the spirit of Mrs. Keller or by that of her husband.

Before the rolling-mill enterprise had been put in operation, Isaac Meason carried on at Plumsock a small forge that Jeremiah Pears had built. That forge was the beginning of manufacture at that point. There was a pottery there in 1822, that was started by James Lewis, and continued by him and his son Nathan for twenty-seven years afterwards. James Lewis worked at the rolling-mills before he was mar- ried, and it was during his time there that a nail-fac- tory was attached to the works. Thomas Duncan, now of Brownsville, was also one of the rolling-mill hands. Nathan Lewis, of Franklin township, says that when he was a lad of twelve he worked at Plum- sock for Arthur Palmer, the iron-worker, and that in 1823 he was employed to wheel coal from a coal-bank to a coke-oven that Arthur Duncan ( father of Judge Duncan, of Brownsville) had built for Palmer and was in charge of. This oven, MIr. Lewis thinks, was erected before 1823, and in it Mr. Palmer burned coke for use in his iron-works. It was constructed entirely of stone, and held about forty-eight bushels. Slack or fine coal only was burned. Palmer had at his works a rolling-mill. a puddling-furnace, refinery, saw-mill, and grist-mill. The immediate locality of the works was known as Forgetown until the depar- ture of Mr. Palmer and the abandonment of the iron manufactory in 1831.

The inauguration of the rolling-mill industry at Plumsock ereated a village near there, and of course a store and tavern sprung quickly into existence. Robert Thompson was the store-keeper as early as 1808, and Henry Dick tavern-keeper in 1806. John Bate succeeded the latter in 1809. A Mr. Bodkin was in 1813 the tavern-keeper (or, more strictly speaking, the whisky-seller, for a village tavern then meant "whisky-shop" more than it meant public-house). Bodkin's tavern was simply a log shanty, and pres- ently Elijah Gadd opened a second tavern in another shanty. Of Gadd it is said that he sold his whisky to the mill hands, and took his pay at the mill once a month in bar iron. When the mill stopped Gadd had on hand sufficient bar iron to pay for a good farm. Some of Gadd's successors as tavern-keepers at Plum- sock were William Stevens, John Gadd, and Edward Jones, but that either made the success in the busi- ness that Elijah managed to achieve is extremely

doubtful. There was a small log grist-mill close by the rolling-mill, and although it was a crude and clumsy concern, it was one of the prime necessities of the locality. It was built by Jeremiah Pears, and afterwards continued by successive mill-owners. Kel- ler, the proprietor of the rolling-mill, had a store, and Palmer probably kept a stock of goods on hand while he carried on the iron-works. After the mill interest ceased Plumsock fell into a disheartening quietude. There was no store there or very much call for one after that until 1831, when John Morrison built the brick residence now owned by James Lewis and stocked one corner of it with goods.

About 1820, Henry Creighton was the village black- smith, and Reuben Jones the village carpenter. The first cabinet-maker in Plumsock was Daniel Whetzel. In 1824 there was a log school-house at the village, in which Macklin Mayer taught, and in which Joseph Garrett and Oliver Sproul were his immediate suc- cessors. A post-office was established at Plumsock about 1825, and a Methodist Church was built in 1829. There was probably no resident physician until 1840 or later. Robert Muir should have been mentioned as the landlord of the Cross-Keys tavern about 1820. He kept it for some years, and rented it then as a dwelling. In 1847, Henry Fuller reopened it as a tavern, and kept it twenty years. Since 1867, Plum- sock has been withont a licensed tavern.

In 1844, Thomas Hazen was keeping store in the Lewis brick, and David and John Huston one at the upper end of the town. The Hustons sold out to Abram Hornbeck, who was for a time both store-keeper and tavern-keeper. In the Hornbeck building Ed- ward Roddy afterwards carried on trade about twelve years. Then came William Smith, Gibson & Arri- son, and Gibson & Thompson, who moved from the okl quarters into the building now occupied by Man- sell & Thompson. Daniel Binns & Co. occupied the Lewis brick in 1857, and in 1858 moved to the Keller mansion. In 1864, Binns retired, leaving his part- ner, James Nickel, to succeed the firm.

The post-office succession at Plumsock may be given as follows: Joseph Gadd was appointed about 1825, and resigned in 1828. Henry Creighton, the black- smith, succeeded him, and in 1840 William Morrison became the incumbent. Morrison held the office until 1857, when Edward Roddy received the ap- pointment. To him succeeded Daniel Binns, William Smith, and Daniel Binns (second term). James Nickel served from 1865 to 1869; Samuel Thompson, 1869-70; D. T. Gibson, from 1870 to 1880; and Hugh Thompson, from 1880 to the present.

The first physician to locate at Plumsock was a Dr. Rogers. Just when he came is not easy to say, but the time was not far from 1840. Drs. Brownfield and Crane were in village practice shortly after Rogers departed for the West in 1844, but their stay was brief. There was no resident physician afterwards until 1851, when Dr. Samuel B. Chalfant opened an

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office and established his home at Plumsock. He continued steadily in practice at the village until his death in 1877. Meanwhile, Dr. W. W. Oshorn came in 1870, and still remains. Dr. John Hankins came in 1875, and removed to Uniontown in 1878. Besides Dr. Osborn, there is now one other physician in the village, William H. Hopwood, who located in 1878.

REDSTONE LODGE, No. 499, I.O.O. F., was organized at Plumsock in 1852. The membership in March, 1881, was twenty-five, and the officers Nathan Hollo- way, N. G; M. V. Whetzel, V. G .; A. N. Osborn, Sec .; James Lewis, Treas.

CHURCHES.

GRACE CHURCH (PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL).

Grace Church, located on the National road, near Searight's, was organized before 1793, in which year the congregation were occupying their own house of worship. There are, however, no records from which to write a history of the early days of the organization, and as human recollection is of course unavailable as a matter of reference, absolutely nothing can be said with certainty touching the events that attended upon the organization of the church, except that Robert Jackson donated some land for a church and church- yard. The first house of worship was a homely log structure, but it did excellent service for nearly fifty years. In 1840 it was replaced by the house now in use. For the erection of the latter the subscribers were Hugh Keys, William Searight, Hiram Jackson, Zadoc Jackson, William Hogg, George Hogg, Robert Clark, John Bowman, John Snowdon, Eli Abrams, Samuel J. Krepps, Henry Sweitzer, Christopher Bu- chanan, David Jackson, John Moore, Aaron Moore, William Moore, John Hibbs, Johnston Van Kirk, Ebenezer Finley, Ebenezer Finley, Jr., Elizabeth Fin- ley, Joseph Gadd, E. Balsinger, Joseph Wilson, Joshua Antram, Caleb Antram, Jr., Richard Beeson, J. C. Simmons, Benjamin Roberts, Arwind MeIttree, John Gadd, N. P. Bowman & Co., Jacob Bowman, Wesley Frost, G. W. V. Bowman, G. W. Cass, G. W. Curtis, William Sloan, John Allison, John Dawson, Rezin Moore, D. N. Robinson, Joshua B. Howell, N. Given, R. P. Flenniken, A. Stewart, James Fuller, Isaac Beeson. The congregation, at no time large, includes now perhaps twenty families. At no time has there been a resident rector. Rev. R. S. Smith supplied the church from 1868 to 1878. The present rector is Rev. S. D. Day, of Brownsville. The wardens are James Allison and Ewing Searight. The vestrymen are James Searight, Ewing Searight, Thomas Graham, Buchanan Jeffries, Andrew Keys, Hiram Jackson, and Levi Beal. The superintendent of the Sunday- school is James Allison. The graveyard at the church, laid out some time before the year 1800, has within it as the oldest headstone now distinguishable a tablet erected in 1799 to the memory of a member of the Jackson family.

UPPER MIDDLETOWN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

About 1825, when Arthur Palmer took charge of the Plumsock rolling-mill and established his home in the Keller mansion, he began to hold Methodist meetings therein, himself being the preacher. Mr. Palmer was a very energetic worker in the religious field, and preached regularly at his house once a fort- night until 1829. In that year he succeeded in effect- ing a church organization and in causing the erection of a stone church known as Asbury Chapel. As far as can now be remembered, the organizing members of the first class included Arthur Palmer and wife, James Hedden and wife, John Lewis and wife, Wil- liam Bradley and wife. In 1840 the stone church was replaced with the present briek structure. The preacher in charge is Rev. O. E. Husted, of the Red- stone Circuit. He preaches once a fortnight. The class numbers now about forty. The leader is Wil- liam Hormel.

METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF NEW SALEM.

Public worship by Methodists was held in the New Salem school-house in 1834, and in that year a class was organized with twelve members. Among these were Booth McCormick and wife, Richard Miller and wife, Mr. Carpenter, his wife and wife's sister, and Nancy Whitehill. Booth McCormick was the leader. In 1840 a spirited revival set in and about forty persons joined the church. In 1850 a house of worship was built, and in 1851 the membership was fully one hundred and twenty-five. Prosperity at- tended upon the progress of the organization for a while, but afterwards dissensions were created by a disaffected member, and with such disastrous results that in 1867 the total membership had been reduced to five persons. Dissolution was imminent, but the few energetic ones worked hard for a reawakening of interest to such good effect that the membership steadily increased, and the church rested once more upon a sure foundation. In March, 1881, there were in good standing about thirty active members. The leader was then Johnston Roderick, and the preacher Rev. Mr. McGrew, of the Smithfield charge.

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History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 149

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