USA > Pennsylvania > Fayette County > History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 64
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The mill remained in operation at this place be- | The numbering of the lots commenced at the east end tween twelve and fifteen years, and after that time was abandoned, when of course the old raceway was discontinued. During the century which has passed since then it has become entirely filled up, and all traces of it obliterated except a slight depression which is still visible on the east side of Gallatin Avenue. But while the old mill remained, and par- ticularly during the earlier years of its existence, it was a place of no small note and importance to the settlers between the Youghiogheny and the Monon- gahela. The locality was known far and wide as "Beeson's Mill," and here in 1774 was built a strong block-house of logs as a place of refuge for the few inhabitants of the surrounding country during the uni- versal panic which, in the spring and summer of that year, attended the opening of the hostilities known as Dunmore's war. When this primitive defensive work was built, there were few, if any, inhabitants other than Henry Beeson's family within the limits of the present borough to avail themselves of its protection ; but there were many other settlers located within a few miles of it, and its site was probably chosen because of its proximity to the mill, which was the most public place in all the region,-the place to which the earliest intelligence of Indian in- cursions would naturally come, and where, moreover, there was usually to be found a considerable supply of grain and meal for the subsistence of families who
were suddenly driven from their homes and obliged to seek its shelter against the savages. The site of this old block-house was on the brow of the bluff, and very nearly identical with the spot where the sheriff's residence now stands.
lel to Elbow, and which he named Peter Street. The south side of this street, of course, bordered the rear of the Elbow Street lots, which lay opposite to it. of Elbow Street, on its south side, and continued up to Meadow Alley (the lane between the Fulton House and the residence of the late Judge Ewing), there reaching No. 10. The next number (11) was on the north side of Elbow Street, at its east end, opposite No. 1. Thence they numbered again westward to No. 20 (where the Clinton House now stands), which was joined on the west by the "Central Public Ground," or " Public Alley." Lot No. 21 was that on which the old Ewing mansion now stands, and the lots numbered thence west on the south side of Elbow ( Main) Street to No. 34, which was on the line of the present Morgantown Street, then the western limit of the village plat. Then the numbers recommenced on the north side of Elbow Street, at the angle, No. 35 being a part of what is now the court-house ground. Thence the lots continued to number westward on the north side of Elbow Street to No. 47, at the western bound of the plat. Recom- mencing, No. 48 was on the north side of Peter Street, just west of the old mill i where now is Gallatin Ave- nue), and extending westward from this, on the same side of the street, were six other lots, ending in No. 54, the last one, and marking the northwest corner of the plat.
Tradition says that the fifty-four lots laid ont in the plat of the village of Beeson's Mill (for it had not then received the name of Beeson's Town, which antedated that of Uniontown by several years) were disposed of by lottery, the drawing of which is said to have taken place in the old mill on the day when
1 Henry Beeson was a blacksmith by trade, and opened a shop at his new town. Veech says of him that he " made his customers dig his mill race, while he made er sharpened their plow irons, etc."
N.
ET BLOCK HOUSE.
MILL
PUBLIC ALLEY
20
19
18
17
16
15
14 13
12
11
35
48
36
N. 60 W.
ELBOW
ST.
49
37
50
38
51
85 W.
21
10
9
8 7
6
5
4
3
2
1
52
ST.UM. S.
41
24
2.
Beeson.
20. John McClean.
38. Mary Beeson, Jr.
3.
Hatfield.
21. Charles Brownfield.
39. James Kendall.
4. William Jotleff.
22. Joseph MoClean.
40. Mary Beeson, Jr.
44
5. John Waller.
23. Henry Dawson.
41. Edward Brownfield.
45
ST.
27
71 |W
7. Augustin Moore.
25. John MoIntire.
43. Samuel McClean.
46
28
47
ELBOW
29
RACE .
31
32
33
34
BEESON'S TOWN. 1776.
15. John Collins.
33. John Beeson.
51. Thomas Gadd.
52. Thomas MoFortine.
53. Dennis Stephens.
54. John MoTortin.
19. Augustin Moore.
37. Obadiah Stillwell.
48. Spring Lott.
13. Elizabeth Brownfield.
31. John Patten.
49. Andrew Hoover.
14. Nathan Springer.
32. Alexander McClean.
50. Mercer Beeson.
16. John Hansucker.
17. John Beeson.
18. Adam McCarty.
36. Dennis Springer.
47. E. Brownfield.
11. Alexander McClean.
29. Samuel Stillwell.
46. Peter Patrick.
30
10. Josiah Springer.
28. George Fordyce.
44. Aaron Robinson.
8. Thomas Wilson.
9. James McClean.
27. Richard Parr.
45. John Kidd.
26
6. Benjamin Brownfield.
24.
42. John Kidd.
PETER
43
S. 85 W.
25
MEADOW ALLEY
22
53
23
54
39
40
42
12. James Gallaher.
30. Conrad Walter.
34. Jesse Bseson.
35. Jacob Springer.
26. Dennis Springer.
281
UNIONTOWN BOROUGH.
the Declaration of Independence was signed, July 4, 1776. This is not improbable as to the drawing, and it may be true as to the date. The names set against the members of the several lots on the map are those of persons who were settlers in the surrounding coun- try (but not in the village of Beeson's Mill) in that year, and there is no especial reason to doubt that they had taken chances in such a lottery scheme as that mentioned. No deeds were given by Henry Bee-
son to those names appearing on the plat as the owners , original name, " Beeson's Mill," was soon supplanted of the lots, and none were given (at least no record of any is found) to any person for lots prior to March 7, 1780. And it is probable that many of the lots were never taken, as it is found that a number of them were afterwards sold by Henry Beeson to other par- ties. Alexander McClean and several other allottees did eventually receive deeds for the lots set against their names on the plat, and Col. McClean afterwards became owner of other lots, among them being No. 20, on which he built his residence.
The terms and conditions on which the lots were purchased are recited in many of the old deeds given by Henry Beeson, as follows : " Whereas at the laying out of the Original Town of Union the purchasers of Lots were obliged to build on the lots so purchased a good substantial dwelling House of the dimension of at least Twenty feet square, with a good chimney of Brick or Stove well laid in with Slime and Sand, and always keep the Same in good repair from time to time, and moreover pay or cause to be paid to the said Henry Beeson, his Heirs Executors Administrators or Assigns the Sum of one half of a Spanish Milled Dollar or the value thereof in Current money of the Commonwealth aforesaid for each and every Lot of ground sold or purchased as aforesaid at the Town of Union aforesaid in each and every year forever." The purchasers also were required, and they agreed, to observe "such Rules and Regulations as may at any time hercafter be directed by Law or introduced by Lawful or Approved Custom for the Cleansing Re- pairing and Improving the Streets Alleys and Walks in said Town for the health and convenience of the inhabitants of said Town. And if at any time it shall so happen that any part of the rents aforesaid shall be behind and unpaid for the space of ninety days next after any of the Days aforesaid appointed for payment thereof, or any failure shall happen on the part of the purchaser in any of the Covenants aforesaid : It shall and may be lawful for the said Henry Becson and his wife, their Heirs Executors Administrators or Assigns of the Rents aforesaid into and upon the said Lot of Ground and Premises or any part thereof in the name of the whole to enter and distrain for the Rent or Arrearages if any then due thereon and for want of sufficient distress to satisfy for the said rent or arrear- ages and the cost of distress the same to hold and enjoy as fully and effectually as if these presents had not been executed or any matter or thing relative thereto had been done until said Rent and Arrearages !
and Costs accrued by Reason of the distress be paid." With regard to most of the lots the ground-rents were afterwards commuted 1 by the payment of a certain fixed sum, eight dollars per lot; but in some cases the commutation was not paid, and ground-rents were continued on a few lots as late as 1850.
The new "town" was very sparsely settled, and remained in a very languishing condition for several years, until about the close of the Revolution. Its by that of "Beeson's Town," by which it continued to be known to some extent till ahout 1800. The name Union Town, however, began to be used as early as 1780, as is proved by its occurrence in de- scriptions of land in deeds of that year.
The earliest deeds found recorded of lots in the town of Union were made March 7, 1780, to John Collins and Empson Brownfield. Collins' purchase at that time embraced lots Nos. 23 and 40, at forty shillings each. The former was on the south side of Elbow Street, where J. K. Ewing's residence now stands. He sold it, September 2d of the same year, to Michael Whitlock, blacksmith. Lot 40 was described in Collins' deed as " being the same lott of ground now occupied by the said John Collins." The adjoin- ing lot (No. 41) was conveyed to him by deed dated the following day, March 8th. On the last-named day he also purchased of Beeson, for £50, a tract of five acres, with the privilege of access to the mill- race "for watering Cattle or other Creatures." Mr. Jesse Beeson says he recollects when John Collins lived in a log house south of the race, at the place where Church and Morgantown Streets now join. An old orchard stood in the rear of his house, not far from the Presbyterian Church. This was, of course, after Collins had retired from tavern-keeping, and the place on which he then lived, as recollected by Mr. Beeson, was without doubt the five-acre tract above mentioned as purchased in March, 1780.
Empson Brownfield's purchase, made on the same day with Collins', as mentioned above, was of lot No. 39, adjoining Collins' lot on the east, and the same now occupied by Mrs. Dr. David Porter. Brownfield
' In the Western Telegraph [then published at Washington, Pa.] of May 17, 1796, is found the following advertisement of Mr. Beeson, an- nouncing bis proposed abolition of the ground-rents, aod the terms on which it would be done, viz. :
" The Subscriber, considering the inconsistency under our equal and republican government of disposing of lands on which an annual ground rent is reserved, hath determined to abolish the rents on all Lots in the Town of Union, Fayette County, of which he is proprietor, on the fol- lowing terms, viz. : Owners of Lots on Payment of Eight Dollars per Lot shall have a release and quit claim from all ground rent or restric- tion forever. The Subscriber pledges himself to the Public, that if the owners of Lots comply with the above proposal he will appropriate oue- fourth of all the money thus received for the Lots to the improvement of the Streets, ways and other public uses of said Town, which fourth part he will deposit in the hands of such persons for the said uses as a majority of the inhabitants shall appoint.
" HENRY BEESON, " Proprietor of Union Town.
* May 10, 1796."
282
HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
opened a tavern and store upon it, and continued both as late as 1790. Afterwards a (log) school- house was built on the lot, and was occupied as such for many years.
Deeds bearing even date with those to Collins and Brownfield ( March 7, 1780) were made by Henry Bee- son to John Kidd and Alexander McClean (jointly ), and to John Downer, of lands outside of but contigu- ous to the village plat. Kidd and McClean's pur- chase was of a small tract "adjoining the Town of I'nion." The consideration was forty shillings, but the land was " subject to an annual rent of one shil- ling per acre forever, with the privilege of such a quantity of water as they may stand in need of for carrying on their distillery and malting business, with access to and from the channel which is now made. The distillery erected on this land stood east of the old raceway, in what is now the roadway of Penn Street.
John Downer's purchase, referred to above, was of " a tract of land adjoining the Town of Union," be- ginning in the middle of the north end of lot No. 50, " and having for its south line the east half of the north line of lot No. 50, and all of the line of lots 48 and 49, extending northward, embracing one and one- quarter acres and fifteen perches." The consideration was £5. On this land Mr. Downer had previously built a tannery. Three and a half years later (Oet. 2, 1783) he sold to Capt. James Neal, for the consid- eration of £300, "one lot and a halt, with all the buildings, houses, outhouses, stables, and fences, where the said John Downer now resides in Union Town; also one acre and a quarter and fifteen perches of land, with a Tan Yard, which the said Downer hath occupied a number of years." This last was the lot of land which he had bought of Henry Bee- son in March, 1780, and tbe tannery upon it was evidently the first one erected in Uniontown. Near to its site, on the south and east, have been tanneries from that time to the present. John Downer was a surveyor who came to Uniontown from Wharton, where his father had settled. After his sale to Capt. James Neal he removed to Kentucky.
John Kidd purchased lot No. 35 on the 8th of March, 1780. This lot now forms the west part of the court-house grounds and the alley on the west of them, it being sold for that purpose by llenry Beeson in 1783, when the public grounds were purchased. From this it appears that Kidd had, after his pur- chase, reconveyed or in some way relinquished it to Mr. Beeson.
In the same year of the purchases above mentioned, John Collins bought of Beeson, a tract of about eight acres of land " on Redstone Creek, nearly adjacent to the town of Union, beginning on the east of the mill- race. . . . " The price paid was €15, and the land was also subject to an annual payment of one shilling for every acre thereof, ground-rent, to commence the first day of November, in the year of our Lord 1776;
which last clause is an indication that Collins had really purchased the land in the year of the laying out of the village, but had not secured his deed until four years later. The tract was situated south of the village plat and east of the old race, as mentioned in the deed.
James McCullough, a blacksmith, purchased from Henry Beeson, Sept. 2, 1780, lot No. 28, situated on the south side of Elbow Street, and in November of the next year he purchased No. 27, joining his former purchase on the east. For many years he had his blacksmith-shop in operation on these lots. After- wards the old Union Bank purchased the property, and erected upon it the building which is now the depot of the Southwest Railroad.
Jonathan Rowland, a saddler hy trade, was located in Uniontown before 1783, and in that year com- meneed business as an inn-keeper. His later residence was in the brick house erected by Joseph Huston, the first brick dwelling built in Uniontown. It is still standing, a little east of Dr. J. B. Ewing's resi- dence, on the north side of Main Street. Rowland was a justice of the peace in 1803, and held the office for many years.
In or about 1783, Jonathan Downer built a large double log house on the north side of Peter Street. In this house Gen. Ephraim Douglass became a boarder with Mr. Downer in 1784. At a later date a school was taught in this house.
A deed to " Matthew Campbell, Inn-keeper," dated Jan. 7, 1784, conveyed to him lot No. 10, on which he had previously erected a log house for a tavern. This lot is the one on which the Fulton House now stands.
Aaron Sackett, "taylor," located himself on lot No. 7, and received a deed for it on the 17th of March, 1784. His lot was on the south side of Elbow Street, nearly opposite the present residence of the Hon. Daniel Kaine. In the spring of the same year John Stitt, "breeches maker of Uniontown," sold nine acres of land outside the village plat to James Bu- chanan, of Lancaster County, Pa., for sixteen pounds fifteen shillings. It is certain that Stitt was pursuing his vocation in Uniontown in 1783, as in that year a complaint was made against him to the court by Alexander Morrison, his apprentice, for violation of the terms of his indenture.
On the 23d of July, 1784. Arthur MeDonald sold to Samuel Pounds and Jonathan Downer "my Tan Yard, adjoining the mill of Henry Beeson, with all the appurtenances thereunto belonging; also all the Tan Bark now procured by me for the use of the yard." On the 5th of September in the next year Jonathan Downer purchased of Henry Beeson a lot of land "situate near and adjacent to the town of Union, beginning at the northwest corner of the Mill House, northward and eastward to the verge of the tale race ; then up the west side of the tale race to the place of beginning." On this land a tannery was
283
UNIONTOWN BOROUGH.
erected and vats were sunk, the beds of which can still be located by depressions in the ground at that place. The tannery was afterwards removed to the opposite side of the street, where it is yet owned and operated by the sons of Levi, a son of Jonathan Downer.1
Peter Hook, some of whose descendants are still living in Uniontown, was a hatter, and located here | tween Main and Morgantown Streets, is still in use,
in that business at least as early as 1781, as in that year there is found a record of Thomas Mckinley being bound " an apprentice to Peter Hooke to learn the trade and mystery of hatting." On the 31st of August, 1783, he (Hook) purchased, for the consider- ation of twelve pounds, Pennsylvania money, lot No. 22 of the original plat (a part of the property on which was built the residence of Judge Nathaniel Ewing). He owned the property as late as the year 1813, and there is found in the Genius of Liberty of January 28th in that year his advertisement,-" To let, the house and lot now occupied as a tavern by Jacob Harbaugh, situate in the borough of Union, nearly opposite the Court House." He also at the same time advertised for sale "a Set of Hatter's Tools."
Colin Campbell, mentioned as a " teacher," pur- chased lot No. 43 on the 15th of March, 1784. He occupied and kept tavern on that lot five years later. He sold it to Samuel Salter.
In or about the year 1784, Henry Beeson's old mill was abandoned, and its machinery removed to a new building which had been erected for it, and which is still standing, on the north side of Main Street, a short distance east of where that street crosses Camp- bell's (or Beeson's) Run. A principal reason for this removal is said to have been that the loose and porous nature of the soil through which the old canal was cut, near the brow of the slope south of the mill, caused a great leakage of water, which it was found impossible to remedy. It is probable, however, that there were also other reasons for the change which are not understood at the present day. The removal of the mill of course caused the abandonment of the old raceway, and a new one was constructed, starting from Redstone Creek at the mouth of Spring Run (which flows from the old mansion house of Henry Beeson, now occupied by Andrew Dutton), and running northwestwardly to an alley in the rear of the present residence of Dr. Smith Fuller; thence a little more northwardly across the line of Fayette Street, and by the lot of the Presbyterian Church, to and across Church Street, then more westwardly along the north
side of that street to and across Morgantown Street at the intersection of South Street, and from that point, in nearly the same course, across Arch and Main Streets to the mill, the tail-race discharging the water into Campbell's Run, which joins the main stream of the Redstone a short distance below. This raceway, now arched for a considerable distance be- after nearly a century of service.
A description of Uniontown as it was in the begin- ning of 1784 (a short time after the organization of ¿ the county of Fayette) is found in the following letter, written by Ephraim Douglass to Gen. James Irvine, viz. :
" MY DEAR GENERAL :
" If my promise were not engaged to write to you, my inclinations are sufficiently so to embrace with alacrity any opportunity of expressing the gratitude so justly due to your valuable friendship, of declaring the sincerity of mine.
"This Uniontown is the most obscure spot on the face of the globe. I have been here seven or eight weeks without one opportunity of writing to the land of the living, and, though considerably south of you, so cold that a person not knowing the latitude would conclude we were placed near one of the poles. Pray, have you had a severe winter below ? We have been frozen up here for more than a month past, but a great many of us having been bred in another State, the eating of Homany is as natural to us as the drink- ing of whisky in the morning.
"The town and its appurtenances consist of our president and a lovely little family, a court-house and school-house in one, a mill, and consequently a miller, four taverns, three smith-shops, five retail shops, two tan-yards," one of them only occupied, one saddler's shop, two hatters' shops, one mason, one cake-woman (we had two, but one of them having committed a petit larceny is upon banishment), two widows, and some reputed maids, to which may be added a distillery. The upper part of this edifice is the habitation at will of your humble servant, who, beside the smoke of his own chimney, which is intolerable enough, is fumi- gated by that of two stills below, exclusive of the other effluvia that arises from the dirty vessels in which they prepare the materials for the stills. The upper floor of my parlour, which is also my chamber and office, is laid with loose clapboards or puncheons, and both the gable ends entirely open ; and yet this is the best place in my power to procure till the weather will permit me to build, and even this I am subject to be turned out of the moment the owner, who is at Kentuck, and hourly expected, returns.
1 The tannery property sold (as before mentioned) by John Downer to Capt. James Neal iu October, 1783, was evidently purchased after- wards by Henry Beeson, for he, on the 30th of May, 1787, conveyed the same property (one and one-fourth acres and fifteen perches, the same amount sold by John Downer to Neal) to Jonathan Downer. On the Sth of June, 1793, a new deed was made by Beeson to Downer, correcting an error in the deed of 1783, and conveying to Downer an additional piece of land on the west side of the former purchase.
" The two tanneries referred to were those of Capt James Neal (pur- chased by him from John Downer in 1783) and of Arthur MeDonald, which latter was sold to Samuel Pounds and Jonathan Downer in 1754. The distillery mentioned by Douglass was that of John Kidd, with whom Alexander McClean was a partner in the business.
28
HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
" I can say little of the country in general but that it is very poor in everything but its soil, which is ex- cellent, and that part contiguous to the town is really beautiful, being level and prettily situate, accommo- dated with good water and excellent meadow-ground. But money we have not, nor any practicable way of making it ; how taxes will be collected, debts paid. or fees discharged I know not ; and yet the good people appear willing enough to run in debt and go to law. I shall be able to give you a better account of this hereafter.
"Col. Maclean received me with a degree of gen- erous friendship that does honor to the goodness of his heart, and continues to show every mark of satis- faction at my appointment.1 He is determined to act under the commission sent him by Council,2 and though the fees would, had he declined it, have been a considerable addition to my profits, I cannot say that I regret his keeping them. He has a numerous small family, and though of an ample fortune in lands, has not cash at command. .
"The general curse of the country, disunion, rages in this little mud-hole with as if they had eaclı pursuits of the utmost importance, and the most op- posed to each other, when in truth they have no pur- suits at all that deserve the name, except that of ob- taining food and whisky, for raiment they scarcely use any. ... The commissioners-trustees, I should say-having fixed on a spot in one end of the town for the public buildings, which was by far the most proper in every point of view, exclusive of the saving expense, the other end took the alarm and charged them with partiality, and have been ever since utter- ing their complaints. And at the late election for justices, two having been carried in this end of the town and none in the other, has made them quite outrageous. This trash is not worth troubling you with, therefore I beg your pardon, and am, with un- feigned esteem, dear general,
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