USA > Pennsylvania > Fayette County > History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 154
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On Oct. 17, 1817, he received from the United States Baptist Board of Missions an appointment as a missionary. In compliance with the request of Dr. Turner, the Indian agent, Mr. McCoy, in 1820, settled at Fort Wayne, Ind., and May 29th of that year opened a school numbering twenty-five scholars,-ten Eng- lish, six French, eight Indians, and one negro. March 12th of the next year the number had increased to thirty-nine Indian scholars. Being authorized to select a site to establish a mission, after much thought and many examinations Mr. McCoy chose a tract in Michigan, one mile square, on the south side of the St. Joseph River. On Aug. 29, 1821, a treaty was made by the government with the Indians for the transfer of this land, which was ratified March 25, 1822, and July 16th of the same year Mr. McCoy re- ceived an appointment from Gen. Cass to take charge of this Indian mission. On October 9th following a company of twenty-two persons left Fort Wayne for the new station on the St. Joseph River, where they were to erect buildings, clear the land, and make
other improvements for the growth and development of the "Carey Mission." On December 9th of the same year a train of thirty-two persons, three wagons drawn by oxen and one drawn by horses, and having "with them five cows and fifty hogs, left the old school at Fort Wayne for the new home. They arrived at their destination safely, and the first report made to the government, dated July 1, 1823, announced sixty acres of land cleared. In 1825 came the report that two hundred acres had been inclosed, thirty acres were in corn, three hundred peach-trees were growing finely, and a flouring-mill was in operation. With all this advancement the sale of whisky by the traders to the Indians outside of the mission tract caused so much trouble that Mr. McCoy was induced to seek another place for the mission. He studied thoroughly the Indian question, and wrote a work entitled "Remarks on Indian Reform." The prin- cipal design of this work was to show the practica- bility of the meditated reform, and suggested measures to be adopted for its accomplishment. He says, " We discovered that our Indians could not possibly prosper when they knew they had no settled resi- dence, and when the influx of the white population, and with it the introduction of floods of ardent spirits, had already added disconragements to their spiritless minds." On Sept. 15, 1826, a treaty was held with the Pottawatamies on the Wabash, at which there was granted to fifty-eight Indians, by descent, "scholars in the Carey Mission" school on the St. Joseph, under the direction of Rev. Isaac McCoy, one-quarter section of land to be located by the President of the United States.
In 1827, Mr. McCoy left the station to visit New York, Philadelphia, and Washington on business connected with the Indian interests. He held inter- views with the President and Commissioner of Indian Affairs with a view to getting a territory for the. In- dians set off, and in this effort he was successful. The land and improvements of the "Carey Mission" were appraised and sold, and the school gradually declined. Mr. McCoy and Mr. Lykins, his son-in-law, were in- structed to visit the region west of Missouri and Ar- kansas to inspect and report upon the condition of the country there, and select a suitable location for a mission. The tract of land on which the "Shawnee Mission" house in the Indian Territory is located was selected, and Aug. 11, 1833, the little band that was left of the " Carey Mission" gathered there and or- ganized a church. The whole of Mr. McCoy's long life was a constant endeavor to soften and civilize the Indian race.
The Sutton family of five brothers, all Baptist min- isters, came to this county as early as 1770, and after that date all located land here. The property of Isaac and Moses Sutton was south of the present vil- lage of Monroe, adjoining that of John Hopwood, Jeremiah Cook, and James McCoy. Moses Sutton was one of the purchasers of the residence of Charles
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NORTH UNION AND SOUTH UNION TOWNSHIPS.
Brownfield, and in 1788 he was assessed upon a dis- Painting Signs," his place of business being three tillery as his property. Isaac Sutton was one of the miles south of the borough of Uniontown, near Lit- early ministers of Great Bethel Baptist Church at Uniontown. James Sntton settled in Georges town- ship, but afterwards removed to Amwell township, Washington Co., Pa., where, in the year 1774, he was pastor of the Ten-Mile Baptist Church.
Jeremiah Gard owned a tract of land in this town- ship some time before 1780. It contained two hun- dred and forty-eight acres, and was located next to the farm of Thomas Gaddis. In 1791, Mr. Gard built a mill on Redstone Creek, which is still standing, and is known as the Hutchinson mill. He was also en- gaged in the manufacture of scythes, and served as a private in the Crawford expedition. He died upon this place, and left three sons,-Daniel, Simeon, and Jeremiah. They all settled near their father and lived here for many years, but after his death removed to the West.
On Nov. 29, 1783, George Troutman purchased of Charles Brownfield thirty-nine acres of land, a por- tion of the property Brownfield sold upon his removal to Kentucky. The regular survey of the transfer- rance of this property was not made to Mr. Troutman until March 2, 1786, at which time there was also surveyed to him, under a warrant issued from the land-office Feb. 23, 1786, another tract of land con- taining one hundred and twenty-three acres. Later he purchased still more land, and July 16, 1791, he sold one hundred and sixty-two acres to Jonathan Gray, whose descendants still occupy the property. In the year 1788, George Trontman was running a distillery.
The name of Job Littell appeared upon the assess- ment-roll of Union township in 1785, as being assessed upon a tract of land containing fifty acres. From that time his taxable property increased, and in 1788 he was assessed upon a saw-mill; in 1796 upon a saw- mill, grist-mill, and a house; and in 1798 upon six hundred and thirty-nine acres of land. On Nov. 22, 1802, Job Littell purchased of the commissioners of Fayette County, for the unpaid taxes of 1799-1800, a tract of land of three hundred acres, "situate on the branch of Redstone Creek south of Uniontown." A portion of Job Littell's property was given the name of " Job's Hollow." In this is still visible the ruins of an old mill, with a balf-filled race, the old mill-stones, moss-covered and gray, lying in the débris and surrounded by a thicket of underbrush, while the stone house, which was built upon an adjacent hill, has also crumbled and fallen to the ground.
Samuel Littell was a son of Job and Elizabeth Lit- tell. His son Alonzo is now a resident of Cleveland, Ohio, and was for several years editor of The Genius of Liberty, of Uniontown. Elizabeth, the daughter of Joh and Elizabeth Littell, married John Custead, and with her husband lived in this section. In May, 1819, John Custead advertised that he had " added to his trade of Cabinet-Making that of Making and
tell's mill. When Job Littell purchased his property there was reserved an acre of ground for a burial- place, in which himself and wife and John and Eliz- abeth Custead are buried. Mr. Littell died in 1824, aged eighty-one years, and his wife in 1838, aged eighty-eight years. Other graves are found in this burying-ground, but none are marked save by a com- mon field-stone at the head and foot.
Samuel Work was assessed in 1785 on a tract of 200 acres of land. In the names of property-holders in 1793 appears that of Esther Work, undoubtedly the widow of Samuel, assessed upon 188 acres. Rob- ert, Andrew, John, and Alexander Work were as- sessed as single men. Shortly after this, however, Alexander Work was assessed upon a grist-mill in Menallen township. About the year 1817 he built a mill in Union township (now South Union), which is still standing, and is known as the Barton mill.
In 1785, Jeremiah Cook was assessed upon property consisting of sixty-three acres of land, a saw-mill and a grist-mill. In 1791 a distillery was added to the above amount of property, and all of it was assessed to him in Union township. In 1793, Richard Stur- geon was assessed upon one hundred and fifty-nine acres of land, a grist-mill, saw-mill, and a fulling- mill, also in Union. From what can be learned both of these men seem to have carried on consider- able business here, and to have remained here several years, but no information can be gained as to what section of the township of Union they lived in.
In February, 1788, William Campbell came to this section and purchased a tract of land of one hundred and four acres of Henry Beeson, upon which the for- mer settled in 1768. In 1789, Mr. Campbell took out a warrant for two hundred and seventeen acres of land in Union, in the survey of which he desired to include the land he had previously purchased of Mr. Beeson. It was all surveyed to him in the manner desired, and is now in the possession of E. B. Daw- son and Nathaniel Brownfield. In 1788, Mr. Camp- bell was proprietor and conductor of a distillery, which was situated on the tract of one hundred and four acres purchased of Henry Beeson. The follow- ing is a verbatim copy of a marriage certificate given in Mr. Campbell's family in 1790. The original cer- tificate is written on parchment, in a large, bold, and beautiful style of penmanship. The copy is here given as of interest in this connection :
" Whereas Abel Campbell, son of William and Mary Camp- hell, of Union Township, Fayette Coanty, Pennsylvania, and Susanna Dixon, daughter of William and Rebecca Dixoa, of Menallen township, county aforesaid, having declared their ia- tentions of marriage with each other, before several Monthly Meetings of the People called Quakers at Westland, according to the good order used among them; and having Coaseat of Parties concerned, their said proposals were allowed of by the said meetings. Now these are to certify whom it may concern, that for the full accomplishing of their said Intentions, this
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HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Sixth Day of the Tenth Month, in the Year of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and ninety ; they, the said Abel Camp- bell and Susanna Dixon. appeared in a public meeting at Red- stone, and the said Abel Campbell taking the said Susanna Dixon by the Hand, did in solemn manner openly declare that he took the said Susanna Dixon to be his Wife; promising through Divine Assistance to be to her a loving and faithful Husband, until Death should separate them ; and then and there in the same Assembly, the said Susanna Dixon did in like manner declare that she took the said Abel Campbell to be her Husband ; promising through Divine Assistance to be to him a loving Faithful Wife, until Death should separate them ; or words to that import. Moreover, they the said Abel Campbell and Susanna (she ac- cording to the Custom of Marriage Assuming the surname of her Husband) as a further confirmation thereof, did then and there to these presents set their Hands. Signed, Abel Camp- bell, Susanna Campbell. And we, whose names are herennto subseribed, being present at the solemnization of said Marriage and Subscription have as Witnesses thereto set our Hands the Day and Year above Written. Sarah Sanems, Mary Coope, Rebekah Jackson, John Coope, Ruth Crawford, Margaret Craw- ford, Mary Campbell, Abel Campbell, Rachel Hammond, Jonas Cottell, Orr Garwood, Joshna HIunt, Sarah Cadwallader, Eliza- beth Cottell, Esther Cottell, Mary Walton, Rachel Cottell, Mar- ing Harleu, Thomas French, Nimrod Gregg, Thomas Irain, Jo- seph, Benjamin Townsend, William Wilson, William Silver- horn, John Cadwallader, John McCaddon, John Graves, Jacob Downard, Jesse Beeson, Thomas Townsend, George Ilarleu, Benj. Harleu, Junr., Isaac Johnson, George Hackney, Samuel Gregg, John Mason, Nathaniel Sanems, William Dixon, Re- bekah Dixon, Wm. Campbell, Jr., Mahy Campbell, Junr., James Campbell, William Dixon, Junr., Charles Gouse, Ebenezer Walker, Rachel Walker, George Walker, William Whiteside."
In the year 1804 the name of John Barnes is given on the assessment-roll as a coppersmith. In 1807 a shop was built on the Thomas Gard property by James Barnes for the manufacture of sickles.
It was frequently related by Mr. Basil Brownfield, who died in South Union in August, 1881, at the age of eighty-six years, that about twenty years ago he was told by Judge Friend, of Garret County, Md., that his (Judge Friend's) grandfather was a great hunter and an acquaintance and friend of Daniel Boone, the pioneer of Kentucky, and that upon one occasion, being out on a hunting expedition with Boone, they crossed the Laurel Hill in what is now Fayette County and bivouacked for the night by a fine spring at or near the spot where Gaddis Fort was built nearly twenty-five years later. Here at daylight the next morning they were surprised and captured hy a party of French and Indians, by whom they were disarmed, robbed of everything they had but their clothes, and taken to the summit of Laurel Hill, where they were dismissed with the admonition never to be again found west of the mountain on penalty of death by torture. This, Judge Friend said, was told to him by his grandfather, who placed the date of the adventure at about 1750.
ERECTION, BOUNDARIES, AND LIST OF OFFICERS.
The erection of South Union township by act of General Assembly, March 11, 1851, has already been
noticed in connection with North Union, which was erected at the same time from the territory of old Union The township of South Union lies wholly on the southwest side of the old National road, which forms its boundary against North Union. Its other boundaries are Wharton township on the southeast, Georges on the southwest, and Menallen on the west and northwest. Its population by the last census (1880) was eleven hundred and seventy-seven, includ- ing the village of Monroe.
The list (nearly complete) of the principal town- ship officers of South Union from its formation until the present time is given below, viz .:
JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.
1855. Abram Hayden.
1868. Robert McDowell.
1856, John McCoy. Alexander Black.
James Piper. 1869. Isaac Marest.
1861. Hiram Miller.
1872. George W. Folke.
Benjamin F. Ham.
1873. John S. Dawson.
1862. Thomas Calhoun.
1874. Elias Freeman.
1866. Channcey B. Hayden. 1875. Thomas Seman.
Thomas Seman. 1878. John Custead.
B. F. Ilellen.
1880. William W. Canan.
1867. Samuel Shipley.
1881. Jesse Reed.
AUDITORS.
1851. James H. Springer.
1867. Henry Sutton.
1853. Isaac Brownfield.
1868. Noah Brown.
Samuel Hatfield. 1869. Henry Sutton.
1856. Thomas H. Fenn. Louis S. Williams.
1857. Thomas Seman.
1870. John Brownfield.
1858. H. C. Jeffries.
1876. William Parshall.
1859. Jeffries Hague.
David S. Richie.
1861. Abraham Hayden.
Perry G. White.
1862. Henry Sutton.
1877. Isaac Brownfield.
1863. Calvin Mosier.
Joseph Hopwood.
1864. Ezra Seman.
1878. Joseph Hopwood.
1865. Robert Hagan.
David S. Richie.
1866. George Yeagley.
1881. Charles L. Smith.
ASSESSORS.
1851. Calvin Springer.
1852. John Sackett.
1870. James Hutchinson.
1853-54. Isaac Hutchinson.
1873. William E. Chick.
1855. I. A. Hague. 1874. Clark E. Hutchins.
1857. John F. Foster.
1875. Calvin Mosier.
1858. Henry Sutton.
1877-78. William E. Chick.
1859-61. Wm. D. Nesmith. Calvin Mosier.
1862. Thomas Calhoun.
1879. William N. Canan.
1863. Samuel Hatfield.
1880. William T. Kennedy.
1864. Thomas Calhoun.
1881. Josiah V. Williams.
1865-66. James Ilutchinson.
1867-69. Calvin Mosier.
SCHOOLS.
The first school in the township of South Union was taught on the Hellen Hill farm, adjoining the Peter Hook farm; another very early school was taught on the Benjamin Brownfield farm. Oliver Sproull (who was a sergeant in Col. Hamtramek's regiment) was a teacher here for about twenty years in the early days.
In 1857 the county superintendent's report showed that there were then in this township four schools under five teachers and 278 school children. The
NORTH UNION AND SOUTH UNION TOWNSHIPS.
685
amount of tax levied for school purposes was 8618. The report of the school year of 1880-81 shows 242 pupils and five teachers. Total expenditure for school purposes, $1088.15; valuation of school property, $6000.
The township is divided into five school districts, called Hatfield, Monroe, Hutchinson, Hague, and Poplar Lane. The list of school directors from the formation of the township to the present time is as follows, as shown by the election returns, viz. :
SCHOOL DIRECTORS.
185I. Charles G. Turner.
1866. Jefferson A. Hague.
Abraham Hayden.
1867. Thomas Seman.
1852. Samuel Hutchinson.
John Snyder.
Isaac Wiggins.
John Ring.
John Hague.
Isaac Hutchinson.
1853. Charles G. Turner. Henry Sutton.
John Johnson.
1854. Samuel Hatfield. Emmanuel Brown.
1869. Porter Craig.
Robert Hagan.
Julius Shipley.
1855. Isaac Wiggins. William Custead.
1870. Julius Shipley.
1856. Charles G. Turner.
Noah Brown.
1873. Charles L. Smith.
Jesse Reed.
1858. Thomas Semnan.
1874. H. C. Jeffries.
Charles G. Turner.
Isaac Hutchinson.
1859. Isaac Wiggins.
1875. Francis M. Seman.
Isaac Hutchinson.
Joseph I. Johnson.
1861. M. Fell.
1876. John Brownfield. James Laughead.
Benjamin F. Hellen.
Basil Brownfield.
1862. Robert Bailey.
Christopher Riffle.
1878. T. P. Eicher.
1863. Alfred Brown.
John Davis.
Thomas Seman.
1879. James A. Laughead.
1864. John Snyder.
Isaac A. Brownfield.
Robert Hagan.
Robert T. Sutton.
1865. Mahlon Fell.
Alfred Brown.
Joseph Johnson.
1880. Jacob M. Johnson.
1866. John C. Johnson.
1881. Elijah Hutchinson.
Samuel Hatfield.
Addison C. Brant.
Calvin Mosier.
1
THE REDSTONE COKE-WORKS.
These works, owned and operated by J. W. Moore & Co., are situated about three miles south of Union- town, near the railroad leading from that town to Fairchance. The property embraces about six hun- dred acres of land, with a frontage of nearly two miles along the line of the railroad. A part of this land was purchased in 1880, and the construction of ovens then commenced. On the 1st of May, 1881, seventy- five were completed, and ninety-five have since been added. It is the intention of the owners to increase the number to three hundred.
The mine is entered by a slope or " dip-heading," with a grade of one foot in twelve, and has been ex- tended to six hundred feet. Three hundred feet from the entrance is the first flat-heading, which extends southward, and from this another runs parallel with the slope-heading.
Several blocks of houses, each containing eight rooms, and intended for use of the miners, have been built at the works. A large brick store building has also been erected. Two stone-quarries have been opened on the property near the oven-beds. The location of the works is near the head of a mountain stream, which furnishes an abundant supply of pure water. The coke manufactured here is contracted for by J. D. Spearman Iron Company, in Mercer County, Pa.
CHICAGO AND CONNELLSVILLE COKE COMPANY'S WORKS.
The land on which the works of this company are located (being a part of the McCoy tract, taken up in 1769) lies on the line of the Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad, about three-fourths of a mile south of Uniontown. About four hundred acres of coal right and twenty-one acres of surface was purchased of Greenbury Crossland and William Hopwood by Jas- per M. Thompson, Alpheus E. Willson, Dr. Smith Fuller, William H. Playford, Daniel Kaine, John Snyder, Charles E. Boyle, and Thomas B. Schnat- terly, and on the 14th of February, 1880, these gen- tlemen sold to Robert Montgomery, of Pittsburgh, the twenty-one acres of surface, and the right to all coal and minerals underlying three hundred and twenty-six acres of their lands. Thereupon the Chi- cago and Connellsville Coke Company was formed, consisting of Robert Montgomery, Mr. McNair, of St. Louis, and Alexander J. Leith, of Chicago, the last-named gentleman being its president. In the month following the purchase they commenced the sinking of the shaft and the construction of ovens, of which one hundred and six had been completed by the 1st of May, 1881, and one hundred and seventy- eight have been added since that time. The shaft has been sunk two hundred and seventy-eight feet, and a derrick one hundred feet in height erected over it. From the base of the shaft six entries (including the air-course) radiate in different directions. The main entry of flat-heading was in July, 1881, two hundred and twenty feet in length, and the one of the other two hundred feet, rising towards the surface. The company have erected at the works a large brick store and thirty blocks of tenements for the use of the miners and other employés.
The coal mined by this company is all manufac- tured into coke, and the product of the ovens is sold under contract to the Joliet Steel Company, of Joliet, Ill., of which company Mr. Leith is also the presi- dent.
MONROE.
This town, located on the line between North and South Union, was laid out by John Hopwood, Nov. 8, 1791, and by him then named Woodstock. The tract of land upon which the town was erected was patented by John Hopwood from Richard Penn, Governor of Pennsylvania, April 1, 1786. The patent
44
1877. H. C. Jeffries. Jacob M. Becsou.
1857. Evan Moore. Tobias Sutton.
1868. Julius Shipley.
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HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
granted four hundred and fifty acres lying in the lots although non-residents, should think the said fund valley along Redstone Creek. Prior to this, viz., sufficiently large to warrant the undertaking of erect- ing such buildings as would be proper for an academy. As a suitable location for the academy, he deeded lots Nos. 1 and 2 to the inhabitants of the town and their heirs and assigns forever, to be used for this and for no other intent or purpose whatever. This acad- emy was afterwards built, and in the minutes of the Great Bethel Baptist Church are found resolutions looking to their patronizing the " Union Academy of Woodstock" as a denomination. This was July 19, 1794, and was doubtless one of the first academies in this part of the State. Nov. 23, 1785, he had purchased a tract of land from James McClean, brother of Alexander McClean. In addition to these valnable possessions, John Hop- wood acquired by purchase from Moses Sutton two other tracts of land bounding his other property on the West. John Hopwood readily discerned that his location was advantageous in many respects, being on the old Braddock road, over which passed the travelers from the East to the land of Boone, and being at the base of the Laurel Hill, where the pro- fuse water-power coming from the hills and flowing through his possessions might be readily utilized for driving mills and factories. The traveling traffic had so increased that it became imperative to afford the new-comers public-house accommodations. With all these, and doubtless many additional views, John Hopwood founded the town, and for the accomplish- ment of this design he set apart two hundred acres of the land he had received by patent, and divided these two hundred acres into four hundred lots.
The charter of the town guaranteed the following benefits and general advantages, viz. : Each purchaser of a lot was to have the privilege to enter upon a three- hundred-acre tract lying contiguous to the town, and take therefrom any stone or timber necessary for the erection of their buildings free of charge, also any timber for the purpose of improving their lots in said town, for the period of ten years from the date of their respective purchases. The terms of sale required the purchaser to pay an annual ground-rent of one- half a Spanish milled dollar or a bushel of wheat. The founder of the town further stipulated that un- less the purchasers of these lots or their heirs or as- signs should improve their lots by building thereon a good dwelling-house at least twenty-four feet front and sixteen feet in depth, with sufficient stone or brick chimney thereto, at or before the expiration of five years from the date of the purchase, then the said lot or lots should be forfeited to the grantor.
John Hopwood was a thorough scholar, and desir- ing that the inhabitants of the town might have fa- cilities for acquiring education, he set apart for the building and furnishing of an "Academy of Learn- ing" all ground-rent which should become due and be paid on the lots for the period of twenty years from the date of the charter, together with all the moneys arising from the sale of any lot or lots forfeited as aforesaid for the space of twenty years, also one-fifth part of the first purchase money of all lots in said town for the same period, and to further the object Alexander McClean, Dennis Springer, and Joseph Huston, Esqs., or their successors in office, were to act as trustees, to collect, receive, and hold the fund for building and endowing the " Academy of Learn- ing" in the said town, to be built whenever a ma- jority of the inhabitants residing in and holding lots in fee simple in the town, and proprietors of improved
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