History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 182

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 182

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807

808

HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

was appointed president of the Court of Common Pleas and Quarter Sessions ; was associate judge of Fayette County in 1791, and from 1796 to 1798 treas- urer of Westmoreland County.

It will be seen that Col. Cook's public record was a remarkable one for that or any day, and in its brief chronicle tells in unmistakable terms that he must have been very high indeed in public esteem to have won such distinction. He was one of the foremost men of his time in Southwestern Pennsylvania. His landed and other interests were extensive, and these he looked after closely despite the pressure upon his time by his official cares. He built a saw-mill and grist-mill on Cook's Run, laid out Freeport (after- wards Cookstown, and now Fayette City), and was largely engaged at his home-farm in distilling. He was conspicuous in the Whiskey Insurrection, and having been prominent in some of the meetings of the insurgents, his arrest was ordered, but in the mean time, before any action could be taken, he ap- peared (Nov. 6, 1794) before Thomas Mckean, chief justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, and in presence of William Bradford, Attorney-Gen- eral of the United States, voluntarily entered into recognizance to the United States for his appearance before the justices of the Supreme Court of the United States at the next special session of the Cir- cuit Court held for the district of Pennsylvania, " then and there to answer to such charges of treasonable and seditious practices and such other matters of misde- meanor as shali be alleged against him in behalf of the United States, and that he will not depart that court without license." Having taken this bold and honorable course, he quietly awaited the result, which was simply that nothing was found against him, and he was not molested in person, but some cavalrymen belonging to the army that came out to quell the in- surrection visited his home, and did considerable damage, nearly demolishing his distillery, knocking in the heads of the liquor casks, and spilling a vast amount of whisky.

Col. Cook was one among Gen. Washington's per- sonal friends, and on two occasions at least entertained Washington in the old stone mansion now the home of William E. Cook. On one of the occasions named Washington was journeying that way to visit his lands in Washington County, and stopped at Col. Cook's for a brief rest. Cook was at that time engaged in reviewing a body of militia near by, and knew nothing of the arrival of his distinguished guest. Word of the arrival was whispered to the men before it reached the colonel, and when he, observing the commotion, learned what was in the wind, he relaxed all discipline and set off unceremoniously for the house. The militiamen followed at the double-quick, and hurrah- ing enthusiastically for Gen. Washington, brought him to the porch, and evoked from him in reply a good- natured, fatherly speech, which the soldiers cheered to the echo.

Col. Cook had but one son, James, who married Mary Bell. The colonel's yearning ambition was to become a grandfather, and when the news came to him that he had a grandson his joy knew no bounds. In the exuberance of his delight he waited upon his old friend, Joseph Downer, and insisted upon his drafting a will, in which all the Cook estate should be left to the grandson Edward, and it was only by per- sistent effort that Downer persuaded him from the project, and convinced him that as there might be more grandchildren such an act would be one of in- justice.

Col. Cook died in the old stone mansion, Nov. 6, 1812, and his remains rest in Rehoboth churchyard. His widow survived him twenty-five years. She died in 1837, aged upwards of ninety. Col. Cook's son James had a family of six sons and one daughter. The daughter, Martha, lives now in West Newton. Of the sons, Edward, James, Joseph, and Michael are dead. John B. and William E. occupy portions of the homestead farm.

One of Col. Cook's early friends and neighbors was Andrew Lynn, who made his first settlement in South- western Pennsylvania, on the Redstone, about 1761. He was driven away by the Indians, but returned not long afterwards to remain permanently. He bought land not only on the Redstone, but a tract below there, in what is now Washington township, and lived a while upon the last-mentioned tract. The Wash- ington land, now owned and occupied by Denton Lynn, was sold to old Andrew by Thomas Pearce, and conveyed to him by deed dated Ang. 20, 1769. Thomas Pearce entered an application for the tract April 3, 1769. A warrant was issued to Pearce. An order of survey was issued to Andrew Lynn June 3, 1788, and a patent for one hundred and thirty acres granted March 1, 1790. The tract was called Sedgy Fort, from an Indian or prehistoric fort that stood on it.

This fort was located upon an elevation close to the present site of Denton Lynn's barn. There was a large space inclosed, having within it a spring and some Indian graves. Near at hand was a fine sugar- bush, whose near presence may have accounted for the location of the fort upon that site. The field was called, and is yet called, "Old Fort Field." Indian relics and skeletons have been frequently turned up from that field by Mr. Denton Lynn. In 1859 he came upon several skeletons, and upon investigation concluded that the bodies must have been buried two deep. Each body appeared to have been surrounded with earthenware dishes, composed of baked mussel- shells and clay. One of the skeletons proved to be that of a man fully eight feet in height. Some of the skeletons were so placed as to give the impression that the bodies had been interred in a sitting position. When Andrew Lynn came to the place (in 1774) the line of the old fort was marked by a growth of thick bushes and straggling stone heaps. Andrew Lynn,

809

WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP'.

Jr., son of the Andrew Lynn first named, inherited the lands to which he came with his father in his eighth year, or in 1774. He told the present Denton Lynn, his grandson, there was then no clearing on the tract. Being out in a field with Denton one day, ! Andrew, Jr., said to him, " Denton, in this fiekl was built the first cabin put up on the Lynn farm." Den- ton replied, " Well, grandfather, it seems queer to me that, whoever the man was, be should have put up his house here upon low ground, while he could have chosen a dozen higher and better spots." "The rea- son was," remarked old Andrew, "that the man had only his wife to assist him in putting up the cabin, and his chief desire, therefore, was to get where trees were handy. That's why he selected a low spot." The first Andrew Lynn increased his original lands by the purchase of an adjoining tract that had been tomahawked by William Lynn,-not related to An- drew. The entire farm of four hundred and fifty acres came into the possession of Andrew Lynn, Jr., who lived upon it from 1774 until his death in 1855, at the age of eighty-nine. Three hundred and twenty of the four hundred and fifty acres are now owned by Denton Lynn.

Andrew Lynn, Jr., was a man of local note, and among other things was distinguished for having served as justice of the peace forty years. He built in 1790 a stone mansion, fashioned after the one built by Col. Edward Cook in 1772, but it did not turn ont to be as durable an edifice as Cook's. The latter stands yet and serves its original purpose, while Lynn's, abandoned as a human habitation in 1866, is fast falling to ruin. Near the Lynn mansion stands a famous locust-tree, under whose wide-spreading branches Gen. Washington, Andrew Lynn, and Col. Edward Cook are said to have met and tarried for some time in social intercourse. The tree is reck- oned to be at least one hundred and sixty years old. Its circumference near the ground is nearly twenty feet. Its lower branches, blown down some years ago, measured fully one hundred feet from tip to tip.

Abont 1783, Joseph Downer, a resident of Boston, Mass., moved westward in search of a location for trade, and finding it on the Monongahela River at Elizabethtown, opened a store there and sold goods until 1794, when he came to Washington town- ship and bought a tract of land of Col. Edward Cook, situated on a fork of the stream now called Downer's Run. Here he set up a store near Col. Cook's. In 1799 he built a mill and began to make flour on the present Cooper mill-site, about a mile below the Col. Cook mansion. When the mill was Adjoining Andrew Lynn, Jr., on the river lived a colored man known as London Derry, who in com- pany with Andrew Lynn and about sixty others went on a land-looking expedition to Marshall County, Va. They were attacked en route by a body of In- dians, and compelled to seek safety in a flight which included the swimming of the Ohio. Lynn's escape fairly in operation he gave up his store business and devoted himself exclusively to milling. He had not been on the spot long before he concluded to move farther down the stream to Col. Cook's newly laid- out village of Freeport, and on the present Hamer mill-site erected a second grist-mill, and still below there put up a saw-mill, of which the ruins may yet | was so narrow that he lost a portion of his scalp,

be seen. The grist-mill he equipped with the ma- chinery of the first mill, and moved his family into a house that he built in Freeport, on the site now occu- pied by the Roscoe Thirkield mansion. About 1820, Downer sold the abandoned mill on the Cooper place to John Roe, an Englishman, who agreed to fit it up as a cotton-factory, and upon his part Downer agreed to take an interest in the enterprise through his son. Samnel Roe made the start as agreed, but failing to make the payments to Downer as contracted was obliged to relinquish the property to the latter. Samuel Downer thereupon conducted the business for his father, but the work proving unprofitable was given up after a few years. Mr. Downer died in Cookstown in 1838. Further notice of Mr. Downer will be found in the history of Fayette City borough.

Mention of the Downer organ is called for, how- ever, here. Mr. Downer possessed all his life a strong musical taste, as well as much mechanical genius. When he left Boston for the West he carried with him a crude impression of the mechanism of a pipe organ, intending when he reached his new home to construct one for his own use. Upon settling at Elizabethtown he selected a lot of black walnut tim- ber and seasoned it thoroughly. During such odd hours as he could snatch from his business duties he spent his time in the construction of the organ, and at the end of about a year finished it. It measured ten feet in height and five feet across each side. Every part of it was composed of black walnut, even to the keys and pipes, of which latter there were three hundred and sixty-five. The face of it was handsomely ornamented with scroll-work, the which he fashioned with a pocket-knife. To all the country round about it was an object of curious interest, and , from far and near people frequently came to see it and to hear Mr. Downer play upon it. It possessed an excellent tone and volume, and to play it was one of Downer's greatest delights.

The organ is still in the possession of Mr. Downer's daughter, Mrs. Thompson, of Fayette City, and al- though nearly a hundred years old is not only an ornament, but yet makes very good music. Mr. Downer constructed also for Col. Cook a small pipe- organ containing a chime of bells, now in the pos- session of Eliphalet Downer, of Monongahela City. His art ran also to painting, and as achievements in that direction he painted his own portrait from a looking-glass reflection, and executed also what were called most excellent portraits of Col. Cook and his wife.

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HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

while Derry saved himself by burrowing beneath the roots of a tree.

Michael Springer, likewise one of Andrew Lynn's near neighbors, was a German. He bought his land from the man who had tomahawked it, and gave in exchange a shot-gun and a hog.

Levi Stephens, of Bucks County, was a govern- ment surveyor, who in 1769 assisted in surveying Southwestern Pennsylvania. He was so well pleased with the land lying along the southern border of what is now Washington township that he made a purchase there of a large land tract, and there concluded to make his home. Although after that busily engaged on his land, he found opportunities to do considerable surveying from time to time as his services were his money until he was looked upon as a wealthy called for. The compass used by Mr. Stephens is man. In an evil hour he joined others in the glass- still in the possession of his descendants. His sons , manufacturing business at Perryopolis, and lost all were four in number, aud named Nathaniel, John, he had. In his old age he was very poor. Not only he but other well-to-do farmers in Washington were ruined by the disastrous results attendant upon the Perryopolis glass-works enterprise. William Nichols lived near Patterson, but nothing has been preserved to show who he was or what he did. Levi, Jr., and Thomas. Of Nathaniel's sons Nathan- iel, Jr., Levi, and Joshua are living. Of Levi, Jr.'s, sons the living are Jehu, Israel, Johnson, and James. David is the only living son of Thomas. The widow of Levi Stephens, Jr., now resides in Washington township, aged eighty-five years. Nathaniel, the eldest son of Levi Stephens, the surveyor, was a noted river trader. The Stephens were long-lived. Levi, the surveyor, died in 1808, aged sixty-four, two years , after the death of his father, John, who lived to be ninety-one; Levi Stephens, Jr., was eighty-seven at his death in 1878; and Nathaniel eighty-seven when he died in 1869. All those named were buried in the cemetery at Little Redstone Methodist Episcopal Church.

Contemporaneous with Levi Stephens in Washing- ton was John Reeves, who served as a colonel in the Revolution, as did also his father. John lived on the farm now occupied by Jehu Stevens, upon which once stood a famous red oak that measured eleven teet in diameter.

owned by Col. Cook, and later by Mr. Kyle and An- drew Brown, and for years was known as the pro- prietor of Galloway's Mills. The Houseman place, adjoining Galloway's, was the home of John Patterson some little time before 1800. Just when he became a resident is not known, but it is remembered that Pat- terson was fond of telling how there was not, when he came, a clearing "big enough to lay the broad of his back on." Patterson built the stone house now on the Joseph Houseman place, and inscribed over the door "J. P. 1800," yet to he seen. He was a blacksmith by trade, and had a shop on his farm. For strength, endurance, and rapid work in the har- vest-field he was noted. He worked hard and saved

Joseph Patton was the owner of a large land tract over towards the Perry line, where his grandchildren now live. In 1780 Andrew Brown bought of Col. Edward Cook the place upon which his grandson, Andrew Brown, now lives. Brown bought also the adjoining mill-site, and carried on the mill some years, as well as a distillery near by. Mr. Brown's children were seven daughters and three sons. Of the latter only John lived to grow to manhood. He died on the old farm April 15, 1872, and there his widow still lives with her son Andrew.

In 1771, John Willson landed in Virginia from Ireland, and from Virginia in 1788 he removed to Washington township, Fayette Co., to occupy a two- hundred-acre tract bought for him by his sons Hugh and John, living respectively in Allegheny County and Perry township, where they had then been re- siding some time. The two hundred acres, lying on the line between Westmoreland and Fayette Counties, were bought for Willson from one Jones, and into the house Jones had put up Willson moved with his fam- ily. In 1804, Mr. Willson replaced the Jones cabin with the log house now standing on the place. Three sons came with him in 1788. They were James, Robert, and David. James died in Washington in 1827, Robert moved to Ohio, and David, inheriting the homestead, died there in 1863, at the age of ninety years, after a residence of seventy-five years on the farm. John, the father, died in 1807, aged eighty- two years. It is worthy of mention that three of his sons-Hugh, John, and Robert-saw service in the Revolution. Of the children of David, the living 'ones are John R., Mary J., and James M.

John Brightwell, a Marylander, lived where J. B. Stephens now resides. Brightwell's wife was a brave- hearted woman, and although ninety-nine years old at her death was active and hearty to the last. During her early lite in Washington she not only crossed the mountains once or twice to visit Eastern friends, but made a memorable horseback-trip to Cincinnati alone, and brought her niece with her on the return journey. Such an undertaking, involving a ride of about six hundred miles through a wild and unsettled country for a great part of the way, was no trifling task. Its accomplishment was something unusual for even a pioneer's wife. Along with the Stewarts, the early settlers in the Stephens neighborhood included the Piersols (one of whom captured the last bear seen in this section), William Nutt, Thomas Coon, Thomas Taggart, the Jeffries, Parkers, Peter Marston, and Jacob Harris. Robert Galloway, one of the early . Allen Farquhar (a Quaker) came from Maryland about 1790, and located upon a farm of which his settlers on Dunlap's Creek, was also an early comer to Washington. He bought the mill-site originally | grandson, Robert Farquhar, now owns a portion.

811

WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP.

With Allen Farquhar came his three married sons, Robert, William, and Samuel. Allen, the father, bought two hundred and nineteen acres of Levi Stephens, and divided the tract between his three sons. Robert, the only one to remain permanently in Washington, died in 1823. His brothers William and Samuel moved to Ohio, and died there. Robert had nine children, of whom three were sons,-Joseph, Robert, and William. Joseph died in his youth, Robert and William settled and died in Washington.

David Hough, one of the early millers in Fayette County, built a mill on the Little Redstone, but moved, after a brief time, to Jefferson, where he died. In 1801, John Hongh bought one hundred and eight acres of Hieronimus Eckman for £220 188. 9d. Two years before that Eckman bought the land for $100. The patent for the tract was granted in 1788 by the State to Josiah Kerr, who had previously built a saw-mill upon it and called it "Minoria." Martin Lutz settled about 1800 on Lutz's Run, near the Westmoreland County line. There he died. His six sons were named George, Martin, David, Henry, Barnet, and William. All but George and William are still living. John McKee, traveling westward in. 1809, stopped on one of Col. Cook's farms, and re- mained there as a renter. McKee was an ex-Revolu- tionary soldier, and boasted an honorable record of service. His son John, aged nearly ninety, is still a resident of Washington township. On the place oc- cupied by J. B. Gould, near Belle Vernon, the Wiley family lived as early as 1800, and after them George Haselbaker, who lived in a log house on the bank of the river. Farther up was his brother Jacob, a shoemaker, and beyond Jacob was John Dinsmore. J. B. Gould, who was teaching school at Cookstown in 1828, bought the Wiley place that year, and since then bas made it his home. Mr. Gould is now in his eighty-sixth year. In 1810 he came to Fayette County with his father, who settled then near the Red Lion, in Jefferson township, a noted tavern in its day, the fame of which penetrated even into far-off New England.

TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION AND CIVIL LIST.

Upon the division of the county into townships, at the December session of the Court of Quarter Ses- sions in 1783, the court ordered the laying out of " A township beginning at the mouth of Spear's Run; thence by the line dividing the counties of Westmore- . land and Fayette to the mouth of Jacob's Creek ; thence by the river Youghiogini to the mouth of Washington Mill Run; thence up the same to the head of the south fork; thence by a line to be drawn to the head of a small branch of Crab-Apple Run, known by the name of Hardistus branch ; thence down the same to Crab-Apple Run; thence down Crab-Apple Run to Redstone Creek; thence down said creek and Monongahela River to the place of beginning; to be known hereafter by the name of Washington township." March, 1839, the court

created the township of Perry from portions of Ty- rone, Franklin, and Washington. In June, 1840, Jefferson township and Cookstown borough were erected from Washington, and Belle Vernon in 1863, leaving to Washington the territory it now contains.

Imperfect records forbid the presentation of a com- plete civil list for Washington. Such as could be ob- tained are here given, viz. :

JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.

1840. Harvey Barker. 1865. John R. Willson.

James Cunningham. 1867. Samuel C. Griffith.

1845. Harvey Barker. 1868. Samuel C. Griffith.

John B. Gould. John R. Willson.

1847. Samuel Griffith.

1869. J. N. Dixon.

1850. John B. Gonld. F. C. Herron.

1852. Samuel C. Griffith. 1873. John R. Willson.

1855. James Springer. Levi J. Jeffries.

John B. Gonld.

1874. J. S. Moss.

1857. Samnel C. Griffith.

1878. James Galloway.

Joseph Brown.

1862. Samuel C. Griffith.

ASSESSORS.

1840. John B. Gould.

1861. Samnel C. Griffith.

1841. Robert Baldwin.

1862. John B. Gould.

1842. Samuel Galloway.

1863. Thomas Patton.

1843. William B. Nutt.

1864. Samuel Galloway.

1844. James C. Cook.

1865. John B. Gould.

1845. John Thompson.

1846. Thompson Turner.

1847. John R. Willson.

1848. John B. Cook.

1869. B. M. Chalfant.

1849. George Lutz.

1871. Joseph Galloway.

1850. Levi Stephens.

1872. William Patton.

1851. John B. Gould.

1873. Euclid S. Griffith.

1852. Samnel C. Griffith.

1874. C. P. Powers.

1853. Juseph Galloway.

1875. Levi J. Jeffries.

1854. Jobn B. Gould.

1855. Joseph A. Ebert. 1856. Johnson R. Stephens.

1877. Robert G. Patton.

1857. Robert Farquhar.

1879. Samuel Galloway.

1858. Jacob Honseman.

1880. Alexander Luce.

1881. J. Whetzel.

1860. E. C. Griffith.

AUDITORS.

1840. Levi Stephens. 1859. John Lutz.

1841. Samuel C. Griffith. 1860. Robert Boyle.

1842. Joseph Krepps. 1861. James M. Springer.

1843. Abram P. Fry. 1862. John R. Willson.

1844. William D. Mullin.

1863. John B. Gould.

1845. Joseph Houseman. 1864. Levi J. Jeffries.

1846. William E. Frazer. 1865. William G. Huggins.

1847. John B. Cook. 1866. John B. Gould.

1848. Brazilla Newbold.

1867. John McClain.

1849. Roger Jordan. 1868. William G. Huggins.

1850. George Lutz.

1869. William Elliott.

1851. Levi Stephens.

1852. Roger Jordan.

1853. George Lutz.

1872. John R. Willson. Samuel Galloway.

1854. Joseph llouseman.

1855. Solomon Speers.

1856. John R. Willson.

1857. Thomas Stephens.

185%. John B. Gould.

1870. Hiram Patton.

187]. William Patton.

1873. John R. Willson.

Samnel Galloway. Nathan B. Brightwell.

1874. Levi J. Jeffries.

1860. James M. Springer.

1859. Joshua N. Stephens.

IS76. J. B. Honseman. John Stephens.

1866. John McClain. 1867. John Brown.

1868. John B. Gould.

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HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

1875. Johnson Diasmore.

1878. John Whetzel.

1876. John R. Willson.

1879. Jasper Coldren.

John Q. Adams.

1880. J. Q. Adams.

1877. L. P. Stephens.

1881. J. Shook.

1878. Taylor Taggart.

SCHOOL DIRECTORS.

1841. William Everhart. William Krepps.

1863. John R. Willson.

Samuel L. Smock.

1842. Joseph Houseman.

1864. David P. Stephens.

Samuel Larimore.

John Coldren.

1843. Edward Mansfield. Philip Lenhart.

1865. Levi J. Jeffries. A. B. Brightwell.

J. K. Willson.

1845. Harvey Barker. James Hamer.

1867. John Coldren.

1846. William D. Mullin. David Shearer.

James M.Crory.

1868. John Annell.

1847. Thomas Stephens. John B. Cook.

Johnson Dinsmore. Denton Lynn. 1869. E. D. Stewart.

D. M. Shearer.

Johnson Cunningham.

1849. John B. Gould.

Rohert Farquhar.

1850. Joseph Houseman.

Johnson Dinsmore.

1870. Jehu Stephens. John Kennedy. 1871. Levi J. Jeffries. William Huggins. James Montgomery. Samuel Galloway.

1851. Jesse Coldreu.

John R. Willson.

1852. Joshua G. Newbold. Robert Patterson.

1853. Johnson R. Stephens. Roger Jordan.

1854. Samuel C. Griffith. John S. Van Voorhis.

1855. James Davidson.

Jaeoh Houseman.

1875. Jasper Coldren. N. S. Houseman.

1856. Philip Linhart. Daniel Forney.

1857. Levi Stephens. William B. Nutt.

1858. Thomas Patton.

James Davidson.

1878. Denton Lynn.

John Reeves.

L. P. Stephens.

Frank Fields.

John Armell.

1860. Joshua N. Stephens.

1879. Andrew Brown.

James Davidson.

E. C. Griffith.

Abraham Hough.

L. C. Dinsmore.

1861. John R. Willson.

1880. William Leonard.

James Davidson.

William Cook.

Joshua N. Stephens.

188]. M. Miller.

1862. Levi J. Jeffries. John Levans.

Joseph MeKee.

EARLY ROADS.

At the September sessions in 1785 a petition for a road from Col. Cook's mill to his landing, and to the road to Cherry's Mills, was granted, as was the peti- tion for a road from Col. Cook's to Thomas Fossett's. A report of a road from the mouth of Little Redstone to James Rankin's farm was made at the September sessions in 1795 by Thomas Patterson, James Finney, Francis Lewis, Chads Chalfant, and Samuel Davis. The road began at the Monongahela River, a little

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History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 182

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