History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 65

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 65

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" Your very humble servant, " EPHRAIM DOUGLASS."

This letter was written between the 6th and the 11th of February, 1784, a few months after the erection of the county and before it was fully organized. Gen. Douglass mentions the temporary court-house (which had then been used but once for that purpose, viz. : at the session of the previous December), but he says nothing about a jail. Soon after that time, however, and during the spring or summer of the same year, a log building that stood on the rear of the lot now oc- cupied by the residence of the Hon. Daniel Kaine was made into a temporary prison, and was occupied as such for three years, and until the erection of a stone jail on the site of the present one.

Alexander McClean, the veteran surveyor, and the man who was probably the most widely known of any in Fayette County for a period of more than fifty years, moved into Uniontown in 1783, and soon after- wards became possessor of lot No. 20 on the original plat, the same on which the Clinton House now stands. On this lot he built a two-story log house, which was by far the most pretentious dwelling in the village. It had a covered balcony at the upper windows on the west end, and the interior was finished with paneled work, carved cornices, and some other ornamentation unusual in houses of that day west of the Alleghenies. In this house he lived until his death in 1834, about half a century after its erection. The property was then purchased by the Hon. Andrew Stewart, who built on it the brick residence in which he lived for many years, and which is now the Clinton House.

On the east of Mr. McClean's residence, and on the same side of Elbow Street, he purchased ( Dec. 31, 1798) lots Nos. 17, 18, and 19. On the last named, adjoin- ing his homestead lot, he built the log house which is still standing on its original site. This house and lot he gave to his daughter Elizabeth at the time of her marriage to Thomas Hadden, who made this his resi- dence during the remainder of his life. He (Had- den) built, next east of his log house, the brick build- ing which he used as an office, and which is now the residence of his two daughters, Sally and Elizabeth.

In 1809 (November 16th), Mr. McClean sold parts of lots 18 and 193 to John Withrow, a wagon-maker, who had his shop on the front of the lots and his dwelling farther in the rear. He was elected sheriff of the county in 1817. In 1813 he sold his lots to Ann Stevens, She, on the 25th of December, 1820, sold them to John M. Austin, who erected the brick house which is now the residence of the Hon, Daniel Kaine. East of Withrow's wagon-shop, on the same side of the street, was Lewis Williams' wagon-shop, standing on the lot where Mrs. E. D. Roddy now lives. Still farther east was another blacksmith-shop, owned and carried on by John P. Sturgis,

On the south side of Elbow Street, eastward from Piper's " Jolly Irishman" tavern (which was nearly opposite where Mr. Kaine now lives), Gen. Ephraim Douglass owned the lots as far as Redstone Creek. On the site where Mr. Cochran's residence now stands he built a brick house, in which he dispensed a gen- erous hospitality that made it a favorite visiting-place for young and old. This house, in which he lived during nearly all the remainder of his life, was de- stroyed by fire about fifteen years ago. After the

1 The appointment of prothonotary of Fayette County, which he re- ceived in October, 1783.

2 Col. Alexander McClean was appointed recorder of deeds Dec. 6, 1783. He received the appointment of justice of the peace for Fayette County, March 19, 1784.

3 In the sale of the lots east of his residence, Mr. McClean provided for an alley twelve feet wide, running from Elbow Street, on the east side of lot No. 17, north" one hundred and fifty feet from the Main Street, and thence extending westward, parallel with Elbow Street, in the rear of his four lots. This is the alley which is still kept open as a thoroughfare in the rear of MI. Kaine's residence and the Clinton House, and between the conrt-house and jail.

285

UNIONTOWN BOROUGH.

death of Gen. Douglass, Mary Lyon, whose history is well known to many of the older citizens of Union- town, lived in a log house east of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. It is supposed that one (and perhaps the principal one) of the " five retail shops" mentioned in Gen. Donglass' letter was that of Jacob Beeson, who, as tradition says, established himself as a merchant in Uniontown in 1783. His ledger marked "J" (which leads to the supposition that it was the ninth or tenthi book used by him in his business) is still in existence, and commences in the year 1808, containing accounts of two years' transactions. He was succeeded in business by his son William, whose brother Isaac became first his clerk and afterwards his successor. His (Isaac's) sons, William and J. K. Beeson, still continue the business. The store which they occupy was built by their father, but the precise date of its erection is not known.

Very few settlements (if any besides that of Henry Beeson, where he built his first house in 1768) had been made within the limits of the present borongh, west of Morgantown Street, prior to 1784. On the 12th of March in that year, Henry Beeson sold to Jacob Beeson, for the consideration of £100, Penn- sylvania money, all his title and interest to and in the "Stone Coal Run" tract, which had been sur- veyed to him on warrant No. 3455, on the 27th of September, 1769, as before noticed. But it is evident that this sale by Henry to Jacob Beeson was soon afterwards modified (though no record to that effect is found until four years later), so that instead of the whole of the Stone Coal tract, Jacob Beeson purchased only a part of it (abont two hundred and thirty-six acres), and the remainder (about one hundred acres) was sold by Henry Beeson to William Campbell. For some cause which does not appear, Henry Bee- son had never received a patent for the "Stone Coal Run" tract, surveyed to him fifteen years before, and now that the tract was sold in parcels to Campbell and Jacob Beeson, these purchasers naturally pre- ferred that the patents should issue directly to them,1 which was done in March of the following year.

1 In the return of a survey of a tract of 217 acres, made to William Campbell in 1789, the surveyor ( Alexander McClean) makes the follow- ing description and remarks: " Situate on a branch of Redstone Creek, about one mile from Union Town, in Union township, Fayette County, and contains a part of a survey made for Henry Beeson by order of sur- vey No. 3455, which survey was formerly returned into the surveyor- general's office ; but the said Henry Beeson having sold the part de- scribed to Wilham Campbell, and the residue to Jacob Beeson, and they desiring to have separate patents, I resurveyed the same agreeable to their purchase."

The patents were issued to Campbell and Jacob Beeson in March, 1785, as above mentioned, and about three years later (Feb. 13, 1788) they received deeds from Henry Beeson of all his right, under warrant No. 3455, to and in the tracts in question, viz. : tbat sold' to Jacob Beeson, containing 23634 acres, with an allowance of six per cent. for roads, and "including my improvement made in 1768, near Thomas Douthet and Johu llenthorne." and that sold to William Campbell, containing " one hundred and four acres, strict measure." The consideration paid by Campbell was £40, and by Jacob Beeson, for the " Mount Vernon" tract, £85.

The part which was purchased by Jacob Beeson was named by him " Mount Vernon," and on a part of this tract he platted and laid out two additions to Uniontown, which are referred to in the following re- citation found in a deed in the register's office, .viz. : " Whereas the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, by patent dated March 28, 1785, did grant unto Jacob Beeson a tract of land called Mount Vernon, and whereas Jacob Beeson did lay out a tract of land ad- joining the town of Union, and called the same 'Ja- cob's Addition,' and did afterwards lay out another tract called ' Jacob's Second Addition,' " etc. By this the fact is shown that two additions were laid out by Jacob Beeson on the Mount Vernon tract west of Morgantown Street, though no' plats of them are known to be in existence, nor has the date of their laying out been ascertained.

Another addition to the town was laid out at about the same time by Henry Beeson, on the southwest part of the Mill Seat tract, and called "Henry's Ad- dition." Reference to this addition is found in a deed from Henry Beeson to Jacob Johnson, dated Feb. 27, 1802, as follows: "Whereas the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, by patent dated 11th day of August in the year 1786, did grant unto Henry Beeson a certain tract of land called Mill Seat, situate on Redstone Creek, in the county of Fayette, on which the town of Union had been previously erected, and whereas the increase of inhabitants made it necessary to en- large the original town for accommodating of appli- cants, the said Henry Beeson for that purpose laid out sundry lots of ground on both sides of the road leading from Uniontown to Cheat River, within the limits of Mill Seat aforesaid, and called Henry's Ad- dition." No map or plat of this addition has been found, and it is believed that none is now in exist- ence.

All lots in Henry's, as also in Jacob's First and Second Additions, were sold subject to the same con- ditions as those in the original plat of the town, and in the cases of all lots through which Beeson's race- way ran, the privilege was reserved to maintain and repair it when necessary, and to enter upon the lots for that purpose.

The first conveyance which has been found of lots in Jacob's Addition is that of lots Nos. 9 and 10, to Mary Beeson, April 12, 1785. At later dates are found deeds of various lots, among which were No. 6 to George Mitchell, Nos, 3, 13, and 14 to Jesse Graves, No. 3 to Joseph Huston, and No. 5 to Dr. Henry Chapese. Lot No. 19 was sold in 1794 to Joseph Hedges. Afterwards it passed to Jacob Medtart, and in 1811 was purchased by Thomas Brownfield, who also, Oct. 5, 1807, bought lot No. 20, lying between where his son Nathaniel now lives and Campbell's Run, described as " situate on the north side of Fell's Alley, along the west side of Mill Street seventy-two · and a half feet to the southeast corner of lot 19, thence

286

HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

westward one hundred and fifty feet to Jacob Beeson's mill-yard." The property, including the "White Swan" tavern, was bought by him in 1805. In the conveyances of these lots, "Fell's Alley," as men- tioned in these deeds, was afterwards widened, and formed the part of Fayette Street which is west of Morgantown Street.

One of the settlers on the original plat prior to 1786 was Samuel Salter, who in that year purchased of Colin Campbell lot No. 43, west of John Collins' tavern. On this lot Salter opened a public-house. Later he kept where J. K. Ewing's residence now is. His sons William and Samuel afterwards carried on the foundry business on the site of the present school- house. William became sheriff of Fayette County. He removed to Hanging Rock, Ohio, where he died. Samuel Salter, Sr., died in Connellsville.

Samuel M. King, a merchant from Adams Co., Pa., came to Uniontown as early as 1789, and on the 14th of November in that year purchased of Aaron Booth three lots, viz. : " Lot No. 25, lying on Elbow Street, on the west side of the old mill-race in said town, and the other two lots lying opposite to and south of lots 27 and 28." The first mentioned was adjoining the lot of Ellis and Reuben Bailey. Mr. King kept a store at this place till his death in 1803. His daugh- ter Anna was married in 1817 to Dr. Robert McCall, and after his death became the wife of Judge John Huston. She is still living in the old stone house at Redstone Furnace.

Benjamin Campbell was a silversmith who removed from Lancaster, Pa., to Hagerstown, Md., in 1774, and from the latter place came about 1790 to Union- town at the solicitation of Samuel Salter, Samuel King, Clement Brooks, Dr. Henry Chapese, and Henry Purviance, each of whom advanced a small sum as an inducement for him to come to and locate in Uniontown to carry on his trade. He moved into Alexander McClean's log house (the same which he afterwards gave to his daughter, Mrs. Hadden), in which he, Mr. Campbell, lived until the year 1800, and in which his son, Dr. Hugh Campbell, was born in May, 1795. On leaving this house Benjamin Camp- bell removed to a dwelling where the First Na- tional Bank building now stands. He died Sept. 24, 1843. His son John learned the saddler's trade with John Woods, and was postmaster of Uniontown and a justice of the peace for many years. Hugh, another son, studied medicine with Dr. Daniel Marchand, be- came a prominent physician in Uniontown, and died Feb. 21, 1876. His sons, Judge Edward Campbell, and Benjamin Campbell, are now living in Union- town.

Christian Tarr was a potter who carried on that business on lot No. 29 of the original plat, a place that may be designated as just west of Bank Alley on the south side of Main Street. "Joseph Huston, Iron Master," purchased lot No. 3 of Jacob's Addition for £5 on the 29th of December, 1791, and sold it to !

Christian Tarr for £75, April 27, 1795. From this lot Mr. Tarr procured the clay for use in his pottery. Its location was on the south side of Elbow Street, adjoining Jacob's Alley (now Arch Street), and is the site of the present Eagle Hotel. Christian Tarr after- wards removed to Jefferson township. He was elected a member of Congress, serving from the year 1817 to 1821.

Another pottery in Uniontown was that of Abner Greenland, who prosecuted his trade in a small log building standing on the north bank of the raceway just east of Morgantown Street. Cornelius Lynch, father of Daniel P. Lynch (ex-sheriff), was a brewer, who before the year 1800 was 'carrying on that busi- ness on the west side of Morgantown Street between South and Main Streets.

As early as 1793 a distillery had been erected, and was operated by John Porter on a little run on the east side of Redstone Creek southeast of the old grave- yard.

The assessment lists of Uniontown for 1796 show the names of William Little, John Kinglin, and Wil- liam G. Turner, " schoolmasters;" those of 1798 men- tion John Lyon and James Morrison as attorneys; and in 1799, Isaac Wood appears as a schoolmaster, - Mowry and William S. Fry as printers, A. Si- monson and Solomon Drown as physicians, and John Canady (Kennedy), Thomas Hadden, and Thomas Meason as lawyers.

Ellis Bailey and Reuben Bailey, brothers, located in Uniontown as merchants about the year 1800. The earliest mention that has been found of them is in a deed dated Ang. 14, 1801, by which George Ebbert conveyed to "Ellis and Reuben Bailey, mer- chants," lot No. 26, in Henry Beeson's original plat. The lot in question had been sold, April 13, 1790, by Mr. Beeson to William and John Lee, together with an out-lot lying south of the town plat. They sold the property to George Ebbert, in May, 1801, and he to E. and R. Bailey, as mentioned. Upon this lot- which is the same now occupied by Dr. Sturgeon- Ellis and Reuben Bailey carried on their business as merchants for many years.

In the early years of Uniontown's history, Peter Street was fully equal, if not superior in importance to, Elbow, or Main Street, and the former was much the most traveled highway, both because it was a better road, and because it led to the mill, the distil- lery, the tanuery, and other places of traffic. What is now the rear of the Main Street lots was then occu- pied by business places and residences fronting on Peter Street.

The dwelling of Jacob Beeson stood on the site of Mr. S. A. Gilmore's present residence, of which the old house forms a part. This place was long the home of Lucius W. Stockton, who was mail contractor on the National road for many years. A grist-mill was built by Jacob Beeson on the east side of Campbell's (or Beeson's) Run, south of Elbow Street. Later it

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UNIONTOWN BOROUGH.

was converted into a saw-mill by David Veech. Mr. Beeson also built a tannery, and carried on that business near the foot of the hill, below the present residence of Clark Breading.

John Miller, a tanner by trade, came to Uniontown from Washington, Pa. He worked in the tannery of Jacob Beeson, and became the husband of his dangh- ter Rebecca. He afterwards built for himself a tan- nery at the place where the old woolen factory stood, and there carried on the business for many years. He built the brick residence, which is still standing, known as the Miller house. About 1835 he removed to Illinois, and became one of the pioneer settlers at Rockford, in that State. His oldest son, Jacob, was born on Veech's Lane, Uniontown, and became prom- inent here as a lawyer and editor. Other children of John Miller are Mrs. Dr. David Porter and William H. Miller, of Uniontown, and Alexander Miller, of Pittsburgh.

EARLY TAVERNS, AND LATER PUBLIC-HOUSES.

The first public-house in Beeson's Town was that of John Collins, who, in the year 1780, purchased the village lots Nos. 401 and 41 (where Commercial Row was afterwards erected), and built thereon a log tav- ern, which he kept until 1799. The earliest mention of this tavern that is found in any record or other document appears in the minutes of a "Court of Appeal," 2 held by Alexander McClean, sub-lieutenant of the county of Westmoreland, " at the inn of John Collins, in Union Town, on the 8th day of May, 1782." Similar mention of Collins' tavern at later dates is found in other parts of the same minute- book.

At the first session of the court of Fayette County, in December, 1783, John Collins, Jonathan Rowland, Daniel Culp, Matthew Campbell, and John Huston, all of Union, and Thomas Brown, of Redstone Old Fort, were recommended as suitable persons to keep taverns.3 The place where Jonathan Rowland kept

1 The deed of lot 40 was made March 7, 1780, to "John Collins, Inn- keeper," and the lot was mentioned as "being the same lott of ground now occupied by the said John Collins," which makes it probable that he had opened his tavern upon it in the previous year, 1779.

" A sort of military court, which was convened from time to time to haar the reports of the several militia captains, and to decide the cases of men who had refused, nr failed from whatever cause, to perform the tours of military duty to which they had been assigned.

3 At the same session the court fixed tavern-rates as follows :

£ 8. d.

" A bowl of Spirit Toddy

0 1 6

A bowl of Rum Toddy

A bowl of Whiskey Toddy

A bowl of Peach brandy toddy

A bowl of Apple brandy toddy

1 2

Peach brandy by the half-pint. 0

Apple brandy by dittu

Whiskey

Diet per meal

Hay per night

Oats by the Quart ..

0 2 Beer p. ditto.

Cyder p. ditto.

1 11

The following extract from the American Pioneer (vol. ii. p. 378) is given as showing the extravagant prices of tavern accommodation three

his tavern is not known. There is no record of a later application by him for license.

Daniel Culp had purchased lot No. 25 (near where Dr. Roberts now lives), on which he had erected a log tavern, which he sold in July, 1784. The pur- chaser was John Huston, who had been licensed in December, 1783, but where the house was, which he occupied prior to this purchase from Culp, does not appear. The court records show that he was licensed as an inn-keeper for two or three years after the pur- chase.

Matthew Campbell bought, in 1784, lot No. 10, at the west end of the present Fulton House, and erected a log tavern upon it; but in 1785 and for several years after that he was licensed in Menallen township.

In September, 1784, the names of William Patton and William Brinton appear as inn-keepers. Two indictments were brought against the latter for keep- ing a tippling-house. The last indictment (in 1787) seems to have driven him out, for his name does not appear among the licensed tavern-keepers after that time.

Empsou Brownfield opened a tavern in 1785. He had purchased, March 7, 1780, lot 39, lying between John Collins' house and the old mill-race, but had not occupied it, and it does not appear that he was a resident in the village, for his name is found as a su- pervisor of highways in Georges township in 1784. But in 1785, having asked and received license to keep a public-house, he opened tavern on his lot ad- joining Collins' and continued to keep it until 1790.

Colin Campbell (whose name first appears in 1784, in a deed conveying to him lot No. 43, on Elbow Street, near where the Standard office is) was licensed as an inn-keeper in December, 1785. In 1786 he sold his property to Samuel Salter, for £140, but continued as landlord of the house until 1789, when it was taken by Salter, who kept it till 1810, when he removed to Dunbar township, and opened a public-house there. Before coming to Uniontown in 1789 he had been for at least two years a tavern-keeper in Wharton township.

Margaret Allen was licensed as a tavern-keeper at the June session in 1788. Her stand was on the east side of the creek, where is now the residence of Wil- liam Shipley. The locality was for many years known as "Granny Allen's Hill." She died in 1810, at the age of ninety-one years.

Patrick Logan and Jacob Knapp were licensed in

years earlier, owing to the great depreciation of Continental money at that time:

"The order book of Ohio County [Va. ] Court contains the following entry under date of June 6, 1780: ' Ordered, that the ordinary keepers in this County sell at the following rates : For half-pint of whiskey, $6; breakfast or supper, $4; dinner, 86; lodging, with clean sheets, $3; one horse to lay over night, $3; one gallon of corn, 85; one gallon of oats, $4; half-pint of whiskey, with sugar, $8; a quart of beer, 84.'

"Oct. 2, 1780, the cont increased the price of strong heer to $6 per quart. March 6, 1781, dinners rated at $20, and breakfast and supper at 815. Jnne 4, 1781, whiskey was ordered to be sold at $8.50 per pint. All this was, of course, in Continental money."

3 Pasture for 24 hours.

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HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

1788. Logan's name does not appear afterwards, bnt Knapp was licensed in succeeding years to 1792.

Dr. Robert McClure opened a tavern in December, 1792, on the west part of the ground now occupied by the residence of Alexander Ewing. He kept the house until 1813, and was owner of it as late as 1819. In April of that year he advertised it for sale, men- tioning it as "the house nearly opposite the conrt- honse, which has been occupied as a tavern, and is one of the best stands in town."

Thomas Collins (son of John Collins, the pioneer inn-keeper of Uniontown) received a tavern license in 1794, and opened a honse where the Tremont building now stands, on the sontheast corner of Main and Morgantown Streets. This became one of the leading public-houses of the town.1 An open grass- plat adjoining the house on the east was a favorite resort for lawyers and clients during the terms of court. South of and adjoining the tavern lot was the market lot, on which stood the old wooden market- house, thongh the date of its erection is not known. Thomas Collins kept this tavern until 1811. In the war of 1812 he was in command of a company locally known as the " Madison Rowdies." When the major of the regiment to which it was attached was wounded, Capt. Collins, as senior line-officer, became major.

The one act of his life which (though not entirely unjustifiable) he regretted more than any other, was the giving of an nnlncky blow to Patrick McDonald, a hatter, who kept a shop west of Gregg's hotel, and was a son-in-law of Christian Tarr. This man, when under the influence of liquor, having applied oppro- brions epithets to his wife, Capt. Collins promptly knocked him down, and he died almost instantly from the effects of the blow. Collins was arrested, tried, and honorably acquitted, but the affair was al- ways afterwards a source of great distress to him, for

1 Capt. John F. Gray, the veteran conductor on the Pittsburgh and Con- nellsville Railroad, and grandson of Capt. Thomas Collins, has, or recently had, in his possession an ancient and time-yellowed card, printed on the ace of hearts, being an invitation to a young lady of Fayette County to attend a merry making at Collins' Hotel eighty years ago. The follow- ing is nearly a fac-simile of the card:

*UNION : November 9th, 1802 .*

The Company of Miss Molly Meason is Requested at a Dance on Thursday evening the 16, inst. at the House of Col. Thomas Col- lins in U'nion-Town. Thomas Hadden, James Morrison, Managers. William Lyon.

The Miss Molly Meason mentioned in the card became the wife of Daniel Rogers, of New Haven, Fayette Co. She was a daughter of Col. Isaac Meason, the first proprietor of Mount Braddock, who built the mansion now ocenpied by William Beeson. She was a sister of Gen. Thomas Meason, the eminent lawyer of Uniontown, with whom the Hon. John Dawson, the father of E. B. and John N. Dawson, studied law. She was likewise the sister-in-law of Mrs. Mary Meason, who died quite recently in Uniontown.

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History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 65

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