History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 30

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 30

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"WM. MCCORMICK,

JAS. DAVIS,

" JOHN STEVENSON,

WILLIAM CONNELL."

ESTABLISHMENT OF COURTS.

The act by which Fayette County was erected pro- vided and declared "That the Justices of the Peace commissioned at the time of passing this act, and re- siding within the county of Fayette, or any three of them, shall and may hold courts of General Quarter Sessions of the peace, and General Gaol Delivery, and county courts for holding of Pleas ; and shall have all and singular the powers, rights, jurisdictions, and authorities, to all intents and purposes, as other the Justices of Courts of General Quarter Sessions, and Justices of the county courts for holding of Pleas in the other counties, may, can, or ought to have in their respective counties ; which said courts shall sit and be held for the county of Fayette on the Tuesday pre- ceding the courts of Quarter Sessions and Common Pleas in Washington County in every year, at the school-house or some fit place in the town of Union, in the said county, until a court-honse be built ; and when the same is built and erected in the county aforesaid, the said several courts shall then be holden and kept at the said court-house on the days before mentioned."

Under this provision and authority, the first term of the Court of Quarter Sessions and Common Pleas for Fayette County was held in the school-house at Uniontown on the fourth Tuesday in December, 1783, before Philip Rogers, Esq., and his associates, Alexander McClean, Robert Adams, Jolin Allen, Robert Ritchie, and Audrew Rabb, all justices in and for the county of Westmoreland. The Grand Inquest was composed as follows: John Powers, Ebenezer Finley, Henry Swindler, Jolin Beeson, James Ritter, Nathan Springler, Thomas Kendall, David Hogg, William McFarlane, Samuel Lyon, John Patrick, Thomas Gaddis, Jacob Rich, Edward Hatfield, Den- nis Springer, Charles Hickman, Nathaniel Breading, Reuben Camp, and Hugh MeCreary.

The first business of the court was the admission of attorneys, viz. : Thomas Scott, Hugh M. Brackenridge, David Bradford, Michael Huffnagle, George Thomp- son, Robert Galbraith, Samuel Irwin, and David Red- ick. There were brought before the court five cases of assault and battery, one of assault, and two of bas- tardy. The court proceeded to fix " tavern rates," to license tavern-keepers, and to subdivide the county into nine townships,1 viz. : Washington, Franklin, Lu-

zerne, Menallen, Union, German, Georges, Spring Hill, and Wharton. The holding of this first court for Fayette was mentioned by Ephraim Douglass, in a letter to President Dickinson, dated "Uniontown, 2d February, 1784," viz. : "The courts were opened for this County on the 23d of December last; the gathering of people was pretty numerous, and I was not alone in fearing that we should have had frequent proofs of that turbulence of spirit with which they have been so generally, perhaps so justly, stigmatized, but I now take great satisfaction in doing them the justice to say that they behaved to a man with good order and decency ; our grand jury was really re- spectable, equal at least to many I have seen in courts of long standing. Little business was done, other than dividing the County into Townships."?

At the June session of 1784, Richard Merryfield was brought before the court "for prophane swearing and for contemptuous behaviour to John Allen, Es- quire, one of the Justices of this Court, now attending Court. And it being proved to the Court that the Deft. swore one prophane oath in these words, 'By G-d,' the Court fine him 108. therefor, and order that he find surety for his good behaviour till next Court in the sum of £50, and that he be committed till this Judgement be complied with."

The first judge " learned in the law" who presided in the Fayette County courts was the Hon. Alexan- der Addison, who held his first term at Uniontown on the third Monday- in September, 1791, Fayette County then forming part of the Fifth Judicial Dis- triet. Judge Addison's successor was Samuel Rob- erts, who first presided in March, 1803, and was com- missioned April 30th in the same year.

The Fourteenth Judicial District, including Fay- ette County, was established by act of Assembly in 1818, and in July of the same year Thomas H. Baird was commissioned president judge of said district. His successor was the Hon. Nathaniel Ewing, appointed Feb. 15, 1838, to fill a vacancy, and continued in the office for ten years.

Samuel A. Gilmore was appointed and commis- sioned president judge of the Fourteenth District Feb. 25, 1848. In October, 1851, he was elected, under the constitutional amendment making the office elective. He was commissioned Nov. 6, 1851, and served more than ten years. James Lindsey was elected in October, 1861, and held his first term as president judge in December of that year. He died Sept. 1, 1864. His successor was John K. Ewing, appointed and commissioned president judge in No- vember, 1864. He presided at the terms of Decem-

1 Additional townships of Fayette County have been erected as follows: Tyrone, March, 1784; Bullskin, March, 1784, Redstone, December, 1797; Salt Lick, December, 1797; Dunbar, December, 1798; Bridgeport, No- vember, 1815; Brownsville, November, 1817; Connellsville, Oct. 31, 1822;

Henry Clay, June 9, 1824; Perry, .Inne 7, 18339; Jefferson, June, 1840; Nicholson, Dec. 19, 1846; Youghiogheny, Dec. 11, 1847; Springfield, March 10, 1849; North Union and South Union, March 11, 1851 ; Stewart, March, 1855, at which time the township of Youghiogheny ceased to exist, a part of its territory being included in Stewart, and the remainder annexed to Springfieldl. In September, 1877, Tyrone township was di- vidled and formed into the townships of Upper and Lower Tyrone. " Penna. Arch., x. 553.

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HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

ber, 1864, and March, June, and September, 1865. Samuel A. Gilmore was elected in the fall of 1865, and served on the bench till his death, which occurred in May, 1873.

Judge Edward Campbell was appointed to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of Gilmore, and presided at the terms of June and September, 1873. The Hon. Alpheus E. Willson was elected in Octo- ber, 1873, hell his first term at Uniontown in De- cember of that year, and is still president judge of the Fourteenth Judicial District, comprising the counties of Fayette and Greene.

Orphans' Courts were established in Pennsylvania by an act passed in 1713, which provided and de- clared "that the justices of the Conrt of General Quarter Sessions of the Peace in each county of this province, or so many of them as are or shall be from time to time enabled to hold these courts, shall have full power and are hereby empowered, in the same week that they are or shall be by law directed to hold the same courts, or at such other times as they shall see occasion, to hold and keep a court of record in each of the said counties, which shall be styled 'The Orphans' Court.'"

By act of the 13th of April, 1791, for establishing courts of justice in conformity to the constitution, provision was made for the holding of Orphans' Courts "at such stated times as the judges of said courts in their respective counties shall for each year ordain and establish."

The first record of the Orphans' Court of Fayette County is dated Dec. 24, 1783, at which time a term of the court was held by Justices Alexander Mc- Clean, Philip Rogers, Robert Adams, John Allen, Robert Ritchie, and Andrew Rabb. The business done was the appointment of guardians over the three minor children of John Moore, deceased, viz .: George Cott for Philip Moore, Thomas Kendall for Henry Moore, and Michael Moore, Jr., for George Moore.

The old constitution of Pennsylvania provided that Orphans' Courts should be held quarterly in each city and county of the State. The present constitu- tion declares that "judges of the Courts of Common Pleas, learned in the law, shall be judges of the Courts of Oyer and Terminer, Quarter Sessions of the Peace and General Jail Delivery, and of the Orphans' Court."

COUNTY BUILDINGS.

and school-house in one." How long the school- house continued to serve the double purpose is not known, for nothing is found in the records having reference to the erection of the first court-house.

The act erecting the county declared, "That it shall and may be lawful to and for Edward Cook, Robert Adams, Theophilus Phillips, James Dough- erty, and Thomas Rodgers, all of the aforesaid county, or any three of them, to purchase and take assurance to them and their heirs of a piece of land situated in Uniontown in trust, and for the use of the inhabitants of said county, and thereon to erect and build a court- house and prison sufficient to accommodate the public service of said county." The cost of the land and buildings was restricted by the act to one thousand pounds current money of the State; and the commis- sioners and assessors of the county were authorized and required to assess and levy taxes to that amount (or such less amount as the trustees might deem suf- ficient), " for purchasing the said land and finishing the said court-house and prison."

Under the authority so conferred on them, the trus- tees purchased a site for the public buildings from Henry Beeson, proprietor of Uniontown, who on the 16th day of March, 1784, " for and in consideration of the love which he bears to the inhabitants of the county of Fayette, and for the further consideration of sixpence to him in hand well and truly paid," con- veyed by deed to the said trustees for the county the following described lot of ground, situate in the town of Union, and at that part thereof known in the gen- eral plan of the town by the name of the Centre Pub- lie Ground, containing in breadth eastward and west- ward on the street called Elbow Street ninety-nine feet, bounded westward by lott No. 36, one hundred and fifty feet, thence in the same direction forty feet across Peters Street ; thence by the school-house lott north sixty-four degrees and three-quarters, east two lıundred feet to Redstone Creek ; thence by the said creek seventy-seven feet, then by lott No. 20, two hundred and forty-two feet, to the place of beginning, containing one hundred and forty-six perches."

The ground then conveyed to the trustees was the lot on which stand the present public buildings (court- house, jail, and sheriff's residence) of the county. On this lot was built the first court-house of the county, but (as before stated) nothing is known of the date of its erection, its size or style of construc- tion. The only reference to this old building is found in an entry in the commissioners' records, dated Jan. 7, 1796, which shows that on that day the board re- solved to sell the old court-house ; and it was accord- ingly advertised to be sold at public auction on Tues- day, the 26th of that month. The sale took place ac- cordingly, and the building was purchased by Dennis Springer for €15 12s. 6d., to be removed from the pub- lie grounds.

The courts of Fayette County were first held in the school-house in Uniontown, as provided and directed in the act erecting the county. In February, 1784, Ephraim Douglass, the first prothonotary of Fayette, who had then recently removed to Uniontown to as- s'ime the duties of his office, wrote a letter to Gen. Irvine, in which he described the appearance of the On the same day on which the commissioners re- new county-seat, and said, "We have a court-house i solved to sell the old building (Jan. 7, 1796) they

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COUNTY BUILDINGS.

contracted with Dennis Springer "to procure two stoves for the use of the New Court House, and to set them up in complete order." This shows that a new court-house was then in process of construction and well advanced towards completion. On the 30th of March, 1796, a bill of ten dollars was allowed " for Sconces for the use of Court House."

June 28, 1796, John Smilie and Ephraim Douglass, Esq., were appointed by the board of commissioners to proceed, with Dennis Springer, contractor for the new court-house building, " to judge the extra work of said building and determine the value thereof, and the sum said Springer shall receive over the sum con- tracted for." On the 14th of December following, Messrs. Smilie and Douglass reported "that the work done by Den. Springer more than his agreement is worth £121 178. 9d., equal to $325.03," for which sum he then obtained an order on the treasurer. He had previously received an order on the treasurer for $1037.50; total, $1362.53.

Ephraim Douglass, Alexander McClean, and Jo- seph Huston having been selected by the trustees and Springer, the contractor for the new court-house "to view the said building and Judge of its Suffi- ciency," reported, Jan. 16, 1797, to the commissioners " that the work is sufficiently done according to Con- tract, as per report filed." On the 25th of April, 1801, Col. Alexander McClean was instructed and empowered by the commissioners " to level the Court House yard, and wall the same at the south Ex- tremity of the Offices, and erect stone steps to ascend from the street, or rather the public ground upon the walk or yard, and to gravel the said Court House yard to the door of the Court House and each of the office doors, erect stone steps, prepare and set up the necessary gates on the Avenues, &c., and to be al- lowed a reasonable compensation therefor." On the 17th of September, 1802, John Miller rendered a bill " for a Bell for the use of the Court House, with the necessary Smith and carpenter work, $219.03." Feb. 1, 1812, the commissioners contracted with John Miller, of Uniontown, " for roofing the Court House and public building, at $7 per square."

March 27, 1838, "Commissioners, with Carpenter, engaged in adopting a plan for improvement of Court House." Whether the contemplated improvement was carried out or not does not appear from the records.

On the 4th of February, 1845, the court-house was destroyed by fire, which broke out while the court was in session. The circumstances of the occurrence are narrated in the commissioners' records as follows :

" COMMISSIONERS OFFICE, Feby. 4, 1845.

" Board met. Thomas Duncan, Robert Bleakley, present P. F. Gibbons.

" The Commissioners are in session on account of the Special Court. The court having met this day at

nine o'clock, was not in session more than an hour when the court house was discovered to be on fire, supposed to have caught from one of the stove pipes or chimneys, and notwithstanding the exertions of a great number of people, together with the aid of the two fire companies of the borough of Uniontown with their engines, the progress of the flames was not ar- rested until the roof and second story were entirely destroyed. The offices at the east and west ends of the Court House were saved from the fire, though the roof over the Commissioners', Sheriff's and Treas- urer's Offices was considerably injured by the falling of the gable end of the Court House. The fire hav- ing been arrested and the fire companies dispersed, the Commissioners employed John Mustard to pro- cure hands and clear off the ashes and rubbish which had fallen on the 2nd floor, when it was discovered necessary to take up considerable part of the floor, on account of fire between the floor and ceiling. Mr. Patrick McDonald was employed to keep watch from 11 o'clock at night until daylight.

" Adjourned."

Feb. 5, 1845 .- "The special court is sitting in the upper room of John Dawson's Brick Building." On the 25th of February "the Commissioners agreed with the trustees of the Presbyterian Church in Union- town for the use of said church to hold the courts of the County in, at the rate of $40 per quarter."

Sept. 22, 1845 .- "Commissioners in session to an- swer to a writ of Mandamus issued by the court against them on the 13th inst., commanding them to erect a new court-house where the old one stands, on as eco- nomical a plan as possible, or shew cause, etc. The commissioners, with their counsel, T. R. Davidson and R. P. Flenikin, appeared before the court at the commencement of the afternoon session, and the case being brought up by Mr. Flenikin, the Court stated that they were mistaken in the law, -a mandamus would not lie against the county commissioners, and ordered the mandamus and rule discharged, which was done accordingly."

June 25, 1846 .- "Commissioners engaged in pre- paring the warrants and duplicates for militia fines ; also examining the specifications for the new Court- House preparatory to having them printed for gen- eral circulation."

Aug. 4, 1846 .- " Commissioners in session for the purpose of receiving plans and proposals for the construction and erection of a new Court-House and county offices on the site where the old ones now stand, publie notice having been given four times or more in the Genius of Liberty, Brownsville Free Press, and Washington Examiner." On the 12th of August the commissioners agreed to contract with Samuel Bryan, Jr., of Harrisburg, for the erection of a new court-house, to be eighty-five by fifty-eight feet in di- mensions, two stories high, with county offices in the first story, and court- and jury-rooms on the second

13G

HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

floor, agreeably to plans and specifications. Contract price, $16,000. The articles of agreement and speci- fications were signed and filed on the 2d of September following, and the site fixed for the new court-honse, which, by the terms of the contract, was to be com- pleted on or before the 1st of December, 1847. The old court-house and offices were purchased by the contractor, Bryan, at $400.

The court-house (the same which is still occupied by the courts of Fayette County ) was not completed at the time specified in the contract, but was finished during the succeeding winter, and the court occupied the new building at the March term of 1847. The bell and fixtures were purchased on the 12th of July following, for the sum of $373.60. On the 14th of October in the same year the commissioners con- tracted with Samuel Bryan, Jr., for casing four fire- proof vaults in the new court-house, for building a wall on the south and west sides of the grounds, grad- the entire work.

ing, paving, and erecting outbuildings, at $2700 For , and to provide for materials to repair the same," and

COUNTY PRISONS.

The erection of the first prison for the use of Fay- ette County was referred to in a letter of Ephraim Douglass to President Dickinson, dated Feb. 2, 1784. "Necessity," he says, " has suggested to us the expe- dient of building a temporary Gaol by subscription, which is now on foot." The temporary prison (a log building) was erected soon afterwards, on the lot now occupied by the residence of the Hon. Daniel Kaine, at Uniontown. This continued in use until 1787, when a stone jail was built on the court-house ground. The following reference to it is found in the minutes of the Court of Quarter Sessions :

"June 26, 1787 .- The Grand Inquest for the body of the County of Fayette upon their oaths respec- tively present that the new Stone Gaol by them this day examined at the request of the Court is sufficient.

"June 29, 1787 .- On representation of the prison- ers in the new Gaol complaining that their health is injured by the dampness of it, the Court, upon con- sideration thereof, order that they be removed back to the old gaol for fourteen days."

On the 26th of June, 1799, the county commission- ers requested the opinion of the court "with respects to the building an addition to the Gaol." Upon which the court recommended postponement of the matter, which the commissioners concurred in.

The proposal to build an addition to the jail was again brought up in the fall of 1801, and early in the following January the plan was prepared and the ne- cessary estimates made. On the 6th of February the contract for building the addition was awarded to John Fally, of Union township, at $1149.

In April, 1812, the commissioners decided to collect and prepare materials during the succeeding summer for the erection of a new jail. On the 2d of May the board "received proposals for furnishing stone for

building a new jail on the public ground near the old jail," but nothing was done until June 18th, when the board contracted with James Campbell for stone, at 84.50 per perch, " delivered on the publie ground near the old jail." A contract for lime was made with William Jeffries, of Union township, and on the 26th of October, 1813, the board "contracted with Morris Morris, late commissioner, to superintend the building of the new Jail this fall."

Jan. 7, 1814, " a bill of work done at the new jail to the amount of 82400.75} being settled for with Thomas Hadden, late treasurer, but not entered in minutes, no order has been issued until the settle- ment." It appears evident that up to this time the work had been done by the day, but on the 22d of March following the board received proposals " for completing the new jail, etc."

On the 30th of July, 1814, the commissioners held a meeting, "occasioned by the burning of the jail, an order was issued to Robert McLean for $2.25 " for whiskey furnished the men while extinguishing the fire in the jail."

In 1820 (September 21) " the Commissioners agreed with Edward Jones to raise the jail wall for $3 per perch, as follows, to wit : On the South side to be raised up even with the eaves of the roof of the Jail, to be dressed inside and outside in the same manner that the front of the Jail is, and to extend about six feet beyond the southwest corner; the East Side to be raised as above, in the same manner that the un- derpart of the same has been built."

At the March term in 1827 the grand jury recom- mended " that the Western and Northern walls of the Jail be raised on a level with the southern and East- ern walls, and that they be covered with shingles, the roof to project about three feet over the yard, supported by braces, and that the whole inner sur- face be plastered." The work was accordingly done as recommended.

March 10, 1845, Absalom White and William Doran, of Union township, contracted with the com- missioners "to repair the upper floor and put on a new roof on the County Jail, which was damaged by fire on the 4th inst., for the sum of $135." The fire referred to as having damaged the jail was the same that broke out in the conrt-house, and so nearly de- stroyed it that the present court-house was built in its place. Less than a month after that fire (viz., April 1st) " the stable on the public ground, ocenpied by the Sheriff, was destroyed by fire about one o'clock A.M., supposed to be the work of an incendiary, with the intention of destroying the county buildings by fire."

The building and construction of the present jail was awarded by contract on the 10th of April, 1854, to John P. Huskins for $15,973, " for building county jail as per plans and specifications." The building, comprising jail and sheriff's residence, was completed

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COUNTY BUILDINGS.

in 1855. On the 13th of July, 1870, the construction of the iron cells in the jail was let by contract to R. C. Chapman for $6900.26, and other work to be done on the building was awarded by contract to D. S. Walker.

COUNTY OFFICES.

In March, 1796, the Court of Quarter Sessions of Fayette County approved a plan submitted by the commissioners for the building of offices for the use of county officers and the safe-keeping of the county records. The work was advertised to be let by con- tract to the lowest bidder at Uniontown on the 16th of May following, but at that time the best bid re- ceived was from Dennis Springer, at $2475, which the commissioners regarded as too high, and the "sale" was postponed to the following day, when no bids were offered, and another postponement was made to the 24th. Again there was an absence of bids and an adjournment to the 25th, when the com- missioners were compelled to accept the first bid of Dennis Springer, to whom the contract was accord- ingly awarded. In the following March the com- missioners " enlarged the plan of offices, the former one not allowed large enough ;" and on the 21st of June, 1797, the commissioners "met at the Court- house to agree on the place for building the offices and lay off the ground for the foundation, which was done agreeably to the enlarged plan."

The records do not show when the offices were completed, but it appears that on the 16th of Novem- ber, 1798, the commissioners " proceeded to business, removed the chest of papers from Jonathan Miller's to the new public offices, and filed the papers that lay promiscuously in it in the respective boxes, agree- able to their dates." And Dec. 26, 1798, the board "issued an order in favor of Dennis Springer for $362.50, being the last payment in full for building the public offices." On the 27th, by recommendation of the court, the board issued another order in favor of Springer for $267.67, in addition to the original contract.

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History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 30

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