USA > Pennsylvania > Fayette County > History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 165
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When the National road came into existence in 1818-20 the tide of travel, largely increased in vol- ume, was turned from the old State road into a new and broader channel, and as a consequence there came a demand for better taverns. The best of its class in Redstone was the stone house now occupied by William Hatfield, at a place called Tuckertown, so named, it is said, by Col. Thomas B. Searight in a spirit of sport, for there is not at the spot, nor ever
was there, a sign of a village. Johnson (who had, by the way, been landlord of the Green Tree tavern on the State road, and some years before that a hand in Jackson & Sharpless' paper-mill on the Redstone) built the stone tavern about 1816 or 1817. In 1814 there was nothing at Tuckertown but the black- smith's shop and residence of George Wintermute. In that year a twelve-year-old orphan lad named William Hatfield (born near Plumsock) tramped into Wintermute's shop and asked to be taken as an apprentice. Wintermute rather fancied the lad, and not only agreed to take him as an apprentice but soon adopted him as his son. Hatfield worked faith- fully with Wintermute until 1826, and upon the lat- ter's removal to Ohio purchased his shop and busi- ness at Tuckertown (or Johnson's, as it was then called). Hatfield carried on a good business as black- smith and farmer until 1840, having in 1836 pro- vided the State with all the iron toll-gates erected on the pike within Fayette County. In 1842, Mr. Hat- field bought of Robert Johnson the stone tavern stand which, as before observed, had been built (by Ran- dolph Dearth) for Johnson in 1817. After the sale of his Redstone tavern stand Johnson moved to Franklin township, where he died.
By 1842 Johnson's tavern had become a famous place, and was well known the whole length of the road. It was not only a stage-house, where the stages of the Good Intent Line changed horses and dined passengers, but where throngs of travelers put up every night. The great tavern-yard was always crowded with wagons and teams, and the roomy bar- room with troops of drivers and travelers, among whom the spirit of sociability made friends and boon companions of all hands. As an evidence of the amount of travel passing over this portion of the National road in the early days, Mr. Johnson Van Kirk says that once, while journeying from Johnson's to Uniontown, he counted no less than eighty great freight-wagons, hauled by teams of six horses or more, besides stages and a miscellaneous assortment of four- wheeled vehicles. Arthur Wallace rented Johnson's of Hatfield from 1842 to 1843, and in 1844 Charles Guttery was the landlord. In 1845, when James K. Polk, President-elect, passed over the pike to his inauguration, he traveled by the Good Intent Stage Line and dined at Johnson's. His progress had been a sensation that drew in his train many curious sight- seers, and when he stopped at Johnson's for dinner there was a numerous crowd in attendance to get a good look at the man who had been chosen to be the people's ruler. Andrew Jackson stopped at Johnson's while making a trip over the road, and it is said also that Henry Clay tarried there briefly one day. Land- lord Guttery reigned over the fortunes of Johnson's six years, and was followed by John Foster (1849 to 1851), and Hiram Holmes (from 1851 to 1852). In 1852, William Hatfield took charge of the tavern, and kept it open 'until 1855, when the opening of railways
732
HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
diverted traffic from the pike, closed the doors of the famous roadside taverns, and hushed the stir and an- imation that had for years made the old National road a panorama of busy life. William Hatfield, who had become by that time a man of means and a large land-owner, lived at Tuckertown until his death. He served in Redstone township as justice of the peace for the space of ten years, and associate judge of the Court of Quarter Sessions. There were besides Johnson's the taverns of Peter Colley and others on the pike within the limits of Redstone township, but they were of no especial consequence, and came in for only irregular and uncertain patronage.
Richard Mills, an old man of more than ninety, still living in Minnesota, was in his day a famous character in Redstone, and indeed a famous man from one end of the National road to the other. He lived on a portion of the Hatfield place, and was known far and near as a slave-trader. When the season per- mitted it he traveled the road between Virginia points and the Monongahela in charge of gangs of slaves, purchased in the Old Dominion. The sight of Dick Mills marching a company of chained slaves was a common one in the olden time.
Timothy Canfield, who emigrated from Ireland to America in 1809, came to Fayette County in 1813, and in 1820 took a contract to do a large amount of work on the National road. In 1834 he bought a farm in Redstone originally occupied by Joseph Woodmansee. There he settled and lived until his death in 1874, aged ninety years. Three of his sons are still living,-Thomas on the old farm, John in Iowa, and Daniel in Kansas.
Cook's Mills, so called from the establishment at that point by Thomas Cook in 1812 of a saw-mill and grist-mill, is a small hamlet lying on the Redstone in the northeastern corner of the township. The settle- ment at Cook's Mills was founded by John and Rich- ard Fallis, who about the year 1800 built there a grist-mill and fulling-mill. They pursued the busi- ness until 1812, when they sold out their interests to Thomas Cook, previously living near Perryopolis, where he located in 1791, and carried on until 1812 the business of general mechanic. With the mill property on the Redstone Cook acquired from the Fallis brothers about seventy-five acres of land, and building there a shop for the manufacture of plows, etc., he set himself to the pursuit of that industry, while he gave to his son John charge of the grist-mill, and leased the fulling-mill to William Searight. The elder Cook was a skillful workman in iron, and in the manufacture of plows was so famons that people came from afar to give him orders. He was, moreover, a millwright and carpenter, and until a few years before his death in 1842, at the age of eighty-seven, was in- dustriously employed in mechanical pursuits at Cook's Mills and the vicinity.
milling, and protested to his father that he would make a sorry mess of it, but the old gentleman in- sisted, and John determined then to do what he could to promptly master the situation. The first grist he ground was a three bushel lot of wheat for Joseph Woodmansee, and out of it he got one hundred and twenty pounds of flour. John knew the quantity was np to the standard, but he was not quite sure as to the quality, and with much solicitnde he begged Mr. Woodmansee to report upon the flour after the family test had been made. Accordingly Mr. Woodmansee happened at the mill three days afterwards, and, much to Cook's gratification, reported that the flour was the best the Woodmansee family had ever had in the house. Cook was delighted, and to this day refers with pleasure to the excellent Inck he had with his maiden grist. He got to be a successful and even famous miller, and did such a brisk business that he ground day and night on custom and merchant work. Sixteen barrels of flour was his average yield for twenty-four hours. He bought wheat all over the country from Uniontown to Belle Vernon, and shipped flonr to Philadelphia, as well as to many customers along the line of the National road in Fayette Connty. For fifty-five years, or from 1812 to 1867, John Cook stuck faithfully to his post as the miller of Cook's Mills, and during that extended term of service he never lost a day while he had health and strength. He is still living at Cook's Mills in his ninety-third year, and in the enjoyment of moderately good phys- ical health and mental vigor. In 1832 he built a new grist-mill, the one now carried on by his son Henry. From 1812 to 1881 the mill property has al- ways been in the hands and possession of a Cook. The old log fulling-mill that had been operated by the Fallis brothers upon the present site of the Cook Brothers' woolen-factory was leased by Thomas Cook to William Searight, who made the business so suc- cessful that he had in a few years saved five thousand dollars from it. He fulled as high as two hundred pieces of cloth in a year.
In 1829-30, Thomas Cook, Jr., built the present woolen-factory, stocked it with valuable machinery, and leased it to Ephraim Pilling, James Pilling, and James Hamer, who were the first to manufacture woolen cloths at Cook's Mills. Thomas Cook, Jr., took possession of the factory business after a while, and carried it on until his death in 1873. His sons, Thomas and Playford Cook, are the present proprie- tors of the business, in which they mannfacture blan- kets, flannels, satinettes, cassimeres, jeans, and all kinds of yarn. They use both steam- and water- power, and employ usnally a force of six hands. John Smith is believed to have opened the first store at Cook's Mills, but when he opened it or how much of a store he had are now not to be ascertained. Likewise Shadrach Negus did a small tanning bnsi- ness on the creek at Cook's Mills, but recollection of
John Cook, whom his father placed in charge of the grist-mill, knew scarcely anything about practical |him as well as of Smith is vague and uncertain. The
733
first store of any consequence was first kept by Thomas Cook, Jr.
The store now at Cook's Mills was established there by John S. Marsh in April, 1881. He was a store- keeper at the place twenty years or more before that date, but in 1862 transferred his store just over the creek into Jefferson township, in which year he was appointed postmaster of Tippecanoe post-office. The Tippecanoe post-office was established about 1856, at which time there was a sharp contest between the residents of the respective localities of Cook's Mills and the Sharpless paper-mill for a post-office. Mr. William Colvin, of Jefferson, acted on behalf of the paper-mill location, and not only suggested the name as not borne by any other office in the State, but was mainly instrumental in securing the office location at the mill. W. C. Johnson claims that he and Post- master Sloan, of Brownsville, fixed upon the name of Tippecanoe, in remembrance of the old-time election songs of the Harrison campaign. John B. Patterson, then keeping a store at the paper-mill, was appointed the first postmaster, and was succeeded by William W. Strebig. In 1862, John S. Marsh was appointed, moved the office to Cook's Mills, and since that date has been the postmaster.
Cook's Mills' first resident physicians were Dr. Washington Barras and his brother William, who practiced in partnership from 1862 until a short time afterwards. Both are now dead, William being said to have been blown up on a Southern steamboat. The next physician was Dr. Houston Finley, who re- mained about three years. He resides now in Strea- tor, Ill. Dr. John Davidson, who came after him, stopped but two years. He is now in Perryopolis. Andrew Guiler, the present village physician, located here in 1879. A Dr. Baltz built a water-cure estab- lishment in Redstone in 1846, and conducted it to 1850, when, discouraged with his poor success, he | abandoned the enterprise.
William Thornton, one of Redstone's early settlers, was killed in 1853 by one Peter Kelly. They met on the National road, and in the heat of a controversy that was but a renewal of an old feud Thornton was killed. Kelly was sentenced to a term of twelve years' imprisonment and served his full time.
TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION AND CIVIL LIST.
In March, 1797, certain citizens of Menallen town- ship petitioned for the division of the township, whereupon the court ordered at the December term in 1797 as follows: "On the petition of sundry in- habitants of Menallen township praying a division of the same township, beginning at the corner of Ger- man township ; thence with Dunlap's Creek to Eb- enezer Linsley's saw-mill ; thence with the great road to John Townsend's mill ; thence with the new road leading to Brownsville to a draught or run at Thomas Fitz Randolph's; thence with the said draught or run past Conrad Muller's to the forks of the same at
David Brewer's; thence in a direction to intersect the Broad Ford road at the house of Andrew McKin- ney, the property of John Tate; and thence with the said road to Redstone Creek, it is considered by the court that the said township be divided according to the prayer of the petitioners, and that the lower or western division thereof be called 'Redstone' town- ship, and that the upper or eastern part retain the old name." In November, 1817, Brownsville township was erected from a portion of Redstone.
The records of the elections in Redstone have not been well kept, and it is therefore impossible to ob- tain a complete civil list of the township from the time of its erection. A list of the principal officers of the township from 1840 to the present time is given below, viz :
JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.
1840. William Hatfield. 1859. James J. Hastings.
John Brown. 1860. James Craft.
1845. William K. Gallaher.
1864. W. P. Clifton.
William llatfield.
1865. R. Hagerty.
1850. William C. Johnston. F. Chalfant.
John Cunningham.
1869. J. Armstrong.
1854. Griffith Roberts.
J. Craft.
Uriah Higinbotham. 1877. Jacob Gallaher.
1855. James Craft.
1880. George Krepps.
1859. William G. Patterson.
1881. T. H. Higinbotham.
ASSESSORS.
1840. Daniel C. Phillips.
1861. Samuel W. Rammage.
1841. Washington Brashear.
1862. Reason A. Moore.
1842. Griffith Roberts.
1863. J. W. Linn.
1843. William Hastings.
1864. J. Radcliff.
1844. Jacob Shackleton.
1865. A. Beal.
1845. Samuel Arison.
1866. W. Waggoner.
1867. J. W. Linn.
1847. John C. McCormick.
1868. W. T. Gribble.
1848. William S. Hatfield.
1869. O. Brasher.
1871. R. Tate.
1872. R. A. Frost.
1873. H. Y. Roteruck.
1852. James J. llastings.
1874. S. P. Chalfant.
1853. Alfred Dearth.
1875. R. S. Smith.
1854. George N. Crable.
1855. William Waggoner.
1877. J. D. Simpson.
1856. Elliott Hibbs.
1878. J. A. Beal.
1857. William C. Johnston.
1879. J. A. Woodward.
1858. Nelson Randolph.
1880. J. R. Van Kirk.
1859. James Craft.
1881. J. E. Frost.
1860. John Irons.
AUDITORS.
1840. Samnel P. Chalfant.
1841. George Colley. 1854. Finley Chalfant.
1842. Samuel P. Chalfant.
1855. Benjamin Phillips.
1843. Eli Abrams. 1856. John Radcliff.
1844. William K. Gallaher.
1857. Andrew Linn.
I845. James Watson.
1858. George Craft.
1846. James Craft.
1847. Earhart (irable.
1848. Daniel C. Phillips.
1849. Alexander Baird.
1862. Abraham Garwood.
1863. Samuel Baird.
1864. W. Colvin.
1852. William K. Gallaher.
I865. E. Grable.
1853. Lorenzo D. McCormick.
1859. Oliver P. Randolph.
1860. Thornton Randolph.
1861. Elijah Van Kirk.
1850. Abraham Garwood.
1851. William B. Craft.
1876. R. P. Brashear.
1849. Solomon Colley.
1850. George Wagoner.
1851. James Colvin.
1846. William Colvin.
47
REDSTONE TOWNSHIP.
734
HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
1866. W. Colvin, Sr.
1867. E. Craft.
1868. G. Roberts.
1876. James Craft.
1877. Alpheus Craft.
1870. A. Rush.
1871. S. Colvin.
1879. J. F. Grable.
1872. C. N. Hatford.
1880. L. D. Craft.
1873. James Craft.
John Gallagher.
1874. Finley Chalfant.
G. B. Clemmen.
SCHOOLS.
Brief mention only may be made of Redstone's early schools before the organization of districts in 1835, and less even about the schools at the last- mentioned date, since the school records beginning then have disappeared. In 1807 a log school-house stood in the Centre school district near the Quaker Church, and in it the teacher that year was old Sammy Lappan. In 1810, John Simpson taught school in a log house that still stands in the Redstone District and is the residence of Aaron Hess. In 1812, John Hankinson taught in a house near the Green Tree tavern, and in 1813 there was a school-house in the Bunker Hill District near Gallaher's, but who was the first teacher is not known. In the Colvin neigh- borhood a school was taught by a Mr. Walbridge in 1803. Of course schools were taught in Redstone some time before the earliest of the dates above given, but the oldest inhabitants do not recollect any earlier particulars than those mentioned.
In 1828 a hewn-log school-house was built upon land donated by Robert Baird near the Luzerne line, in Oak Hill District. It measured twenty-four by eighteen feet, having windows on three sides. Each window was nine feet long and two feet and a half high. Many years afterwards the fourth side was pierced for a window. Desks were fastened along the wall below the windows, and upon slab benches the children sat and pursued their studies. Those concerned in the building of the house were Hon, Charles Porter, Robert Baird, Sr., Johnson Van Kirk, Aaron Baird, Maxwell Dearth, Alexander Baird, James E. Breading, and others. The carpenter was Joseph Mahaffey. School was opened the second week of May, 1828. Sarah Henderson, the first teacher, taught there four years. Then she removed to Ohio, where she died in 1834.
The rolls of the pupils of this school for the years 1828 and 1829 had upon them the names of Aaron Langley, Alexander J. Baird, Jr., Allen Bird, Caleb Hibbs, Daniel Mcknight, Enoch F. Baird, George G. Baird, Harrison Johnston, Hugh Laughlin, Jacob J. Porter, Jolin Porter, James P. Baird, John Dearth, Johnston V. Dearth, Jonah Dearth, Jacob Meredith, John Coulter, C. W. B. Henderson, Joseph H. Coul- ter, John Smith, Levi Bunting, R. J. Baird, R. McC. Porter, Robert A. Baird, Samuel Allamon, Samuel MI. Baird, Samuel N. Baird, Theodore Van Kirk, Thomas W. Porter, William F. Baird, William J.
Baird, William Riley, William Hanna, Eliza Jane Van Kirk, Elizabeth J. Porter, Ellen and Mary Ewing, Hannah and Phoebe Porter, Isabella and Rebecca Laughlin, Martha J. Johnston, Martha Mc- Knight, Mary McKnight, Susan Hadley, Amanda Offord, Anna Dearth, Erie, Eliza, Harriet, and Jane Baird, Harriet and Hannah Riley, Virlinda J. Riley, Harriet and Mary Ann Meredith, Jane Dunlap, Mar- garet Moulton, Mary J. Coulton, Miranda Van Kirk, Sarah J. Hibbs. The books used were the United States Speller, New Testament, English Reader, Mur- ray's English Grammar, Smiley's Arithmetic and Western Calculator, Goodrich's Geography.
Following is a list of school directors elected in Redstone during the last forty years :
1840. George Craft. 1862. John MeCormick.
Robert Finley. Parker MeDonald.
1841. Samuel Linn. | 1863. A. F. Dearth.
Jacob Shackleton. W. B. Downs.
William K. Gallaher. 1864. A. F. Dearth.
1842. John Roderick. A. Garwood.
John Craft.
1865. S. Ramage.
1843. William Hatfield.
D. Ilibbs.
Washington Brashear.
S. McCormick.
1844. William Hastings. William B. Randolph.
1866. T. Simpson.
1845. Griffith Roberts.
1867. J. Cook.
John McCormick.
S. B. Page.
S. Cammarine.
S. M. Baird.
William B. Craft.
1868. J. Thornton.
1847. John Iibbs. Huston Todd.
F. Chalfant.
1848. William K. Gallaher.
1869. J. Higinbotham.
J. Armstrong.
1849. Henry Cook. Eli Cope.
1870. W. Norcross. Alexander Van Kirk.
1871. S. M. Baird.
J. Palmer.
1872. J. C. Thornton.
1851. Joel Vernon. Amos Woodward.
W. G. Higinbotham.
A. Dearth.
1852. William Hastings. John Roderick.
1873. John Reisback.
1853. W. S. J. Hatfield.
Leonard Thompson.
Daniel C. Phillips.
Aaron Beal.
1854. David Hibbs.
1874. Paul Hough.
Elliott Hibbs.
1855. Isaac Linn.
1875. James Jackson.
W. G. Higinbotham.
Il. J. Ritenhour.
1876. John Moore.
1856. Eli Cope. Wilson Ilill.
1877. Thomas Higinbotham. Isaac Lyons. Solomon Cummins.
Robert Finley.
1858. William Corbin.
William Hopkins. Uriah lliginbotham.
1859. John Radcliff. William Hastings.
1860. John Kelly. William Ilopkins.
1861. Robert Finley.
Nelson Randolph.
1878. W. S. Hatfield. W. 1. Grable.
1879. John Simpson. John Moore.
1880. J. B. Stephens.
T. C. Linn.
1881. T. W. Finley.
W. Kefover.
Thomas Coffman.
J. Linn.
1846. William Hetfield.
Samuel Linn.
Washington Shriver.
A. Beal.
1850. Samuel Lino.
Alexander Baird.
Washington Shriver.
James Dunn.
1857. Samuel Lino.
W. S. Clemmer.
1869. W. Sharpless.
1878. Anderson Craft.
1881. J. Palmer.
1875. John Armstrong. George N. Gallaher.
735
REDSTONE TOWNSHIP.
CHURCHES.
DUNLAP'S CREEK PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
Presbyterian preaching, and perhaps preaching of any kind, was first heard in Dunlap's Creek Valley in 1765, in which year Rev. James Finley, living on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, made an expedition through that region. He preached wherever oppor- tunity offered, in tents, groves, school-houses, and barns. He made similar tours in 1767, 1771, and 1772. In the summer of 1774, Philip Tanner, a com- panion with Rev. Mr. Finley in 1765, and a settler in Redstone soon afterwards, agitated the subject of the organization of a church in his neighborhood, and invited Rev. James Power, his son-in-law, to come out from Chester County for the purpose. Mr. Power responded promptly, and in September, 1774, he or- ganized the Dunlap's Creek Church at a meeting held in a sugar-grove on Mr. Tanner's farm. There were sixty-one constituent members, of whom the ruling elders chosen were Charles McClean, Andrew Frazer, Robert Baird, John Parker, Samuel Torrance, Daniel Reeder, Ebenezer Finley, and William Frame. The large number of constituent members would seem to indicate that nearly all, if not quite all, the church-going people in that region were Presbyterians. The region tributary to the church organization soon embraced not only Dunlap's Creek Valley, but Union- town, Brownsville, and the country known as the Red- stone settlement. Mr. Power preached two years, and then being requested to settle permanently among the people as pastor returned to Chester County for his family, and with them came over the mountains in the fall of 1776 hy way of Braddock's road. He rode upon one horse, his wife and one child upon an- other, and his two other children upon a third in baskets slung across the animal's back. Shortly after Mr. Power organized the church a log meeting-house was built upon Mr. Tanuer's farm, and in that house -and occasionally in tents in the woods-the Dun- lap's Creek congregation worshiped until 1814, when a new edifice was erected. Mr. Power was comfort- ably settled with his family, and was promised a yearly salary of £120 ($320). He remained, however, but three years, when he accepted a call to be the pastor at Mount Pleasant, where he afterwards preached for thirty years. Rev. James Dunlap was secured to succeed Mr. Power at Dunlap's Creek. Mr. Dunlap was the first installed pastor, for it was not until 1781 that the Redstone Presbytery was organized. The Presbytery intended to take action that year upon the call to Mr. Dunlap to be pastor at Dunlap's Creek and Laurel Hill, but the members did not assemble because of prevailing Indian tronbles, and so it was not until Oct. 15, 1782, that he was installed, although he had been officiating as pastor from 1780. The Pres- bytery consisted that year of the Revs. James Powers, of Sewickley and Mount Pleasant ; Thaddeus Dodd, of Ten-Mile; John McMillan, of Pigeon Creek and
Chartiers (who preached at Dunlap's in 1774 and 1775 in conjunction with Rev. Mr. Power); and Joseph Smith, of Buffalo and Cross Creek.
Mr. Dunlap continued to be the pastor until 1789. In 1787 the church had a session of eight elders and eighty-three members. The elders were Charles Mc- Clean, Robert Baird, Ebenezer Finley, Samuel Tor- rance, Andrew Frazer, John Parker, William Frame, and Daniel Reeder. The members included the fore- going-named elders and their wives, together with William Lynn, John and Jane Moore, Margaret Smith, William and Anne Norris, John Jones, Linn Oliphant, Linn Gilillen, John and Sarah Miller, Widow Mckinn, James and Margaret Adams, Thomas and Ann Gallaher, Samuel and Agnes Mckinley, Samuel Adams and wife, Jacob and Eleanor Reeder, George Hill, William and Mary Grey, Stephen Reeder, Susanna Adams, James Brown, David and Mary Reeder, Eliza and Jemima Reeder, Mary Hubbell, William Rose and wife, Elizabeth Adams, James and Susanna Frame, Richard and Elsie Watts, James Adams, Jr., Benjamin Adams, George Smith, Sarah Wilson, Samuel and Elizabeth Sprout, Mary Alton, Mary Wilson, John Baird, Wil- liam Powell and wife, Eleanor McClain, Absalom Little and wife, William Conwell and wife, Lewis Davidson and wife, Joseph Moss, Reuben Winget, James and Agnes Mclaughlin, James and Rebecca Veech, Samuel Adams, Jr., and wife, Martha Work, and George Lee.
Between the date of the departure of Mr. Dunlap and 1792 the church depended upon supplies. In the year last named Rev. Jacob Jennings was installed as pastor, and remained in the pastorate until 1811, when he resigned because of age and infirmities. He con- tinued his residence at Dunlap's Creek, and occupied the pulpit occasionally until his death in February, 1813. Mr. Jennings was a physician as well as min- ister, and during his entire pastorate pursued the practice of his medical profession.
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