USA > Pennsylvania > Greene County > History of Greene County, Pa. : containing an outline of the state from 1682, until the formation of Washington County in 1781. History during 15 years of union. The Virginia and new state controversy--running of Mason's and Dixon's line--whiskey insurrection--history of churches, families, judges, senators, assembly-men, etc., etc. > Part 25
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& Co., while J. Higinbotham, Richard Gregg, A. Wilson and B. Campbell & Co. were doing business in the same line, consist- ing of Dry Goods, Groceries, Drugs, Hardware, Notions, &c. There also seems to have been need of doctors in those days, and consequently Dr. J. Goucher tells the people of Waynesburg that he will serve them "with all his former energy, attention and tenderness." Dr. F. B. Wilson also informs the denizens of this borough that he will not only attend to curing the or- dinary ills that humanity is heir to, but also extract their old teeth and replace them with "incorruptible teeth." It appears from this old paper there were also lawyers in that day ; hence I find the card of Howell & Wells, which firm consisted of J. B. Howell & J. H. Wells. Could this be Joshua B. Howell, of Uniontown ? If so I knew him very well ; heard him make a a speech as General of Volunteers about the last of May, 1846, at which time he and I and a multitude of others tendered our services to the President, offering to go to Mexico. The last time I saw Gen. Howell was at Jefferson in 1861 when he and Judge James Veech were trying to raise soldiers for the war of the Rebellion, in which Howell was finally killed. But perhaps this was another man. At the time General Howell made this speech the locusts were so abundant in the orchard where the volunteers were formed into a hollow square, that their cries in part drowned his voice. Another law firm in 1846 was Hager & Phelan, composed of C. T. Hager and J. Phelan. Their office was in Mr Hays' front room opposite the public square. Another title is "Not in Oregon yet," under which J. & T. A. Barnes inform the public that they still continue to manufacture wool at the old establishment, on Muddy creek. two miles below Carmichaels. It seems that some people also got married in those days. Hence it is an- nounced that Mr. Craven Hoge and Miss Violette Mitchell, of Franklin township, were married by J. Clark, Esq. There
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were also candidates in those days, for it is announced that Mr. Thomas Hill of Franklin township would like to be elected Sheriff at the ensuing election; also that Mr. Samuel Jacobs of Alleppo township would fill the office of Commissioner if the people would be good enough to elect him. The Franklin Rangers are ordered to meet at the house of Peter Syphers in Franklin township on the 29th of August, 1846, at 10 o'clock, J. N. Burk, O. S. J. Thomas, Sheriff, advertises a writ of par- tition for a tract of land in Cumberland township, containing one hundred and thirty-seven acres, late the property of Abra- ham Scott, deceased. The writ is issued at the request of Jas. W. Bayard and Joanna, his wife. The heirs were John, Abraham and James Scott, James Barnes, guardian of James Wiley, and Rebecca Jane Wiley, heirs of Jane Wiley, dec'd, formerly Jane Scott, John Hartman and Rebecca his wife, formerly Rebecca Scott. These heirs are notified that an inquisition will be held on the premises on the 27th of August, 1846. T. Harn in- forms the people of Carmichaels and vicinity that he still car- lies on the shoe-making business, and will take all kinds of produce in payment. The editor warns the people to look out for a counterfeit Mexican dollar. Rinehart & Minor notify their patrons that they will take "all kinds of cash" and pro- Tuce at their store. And many other things are found in this oid relic, interesting to the reader, but to which we cannot refer.
WAYNESBURG MUSEUM.
On the evening of January 9, 1883, I visited the Sherman House, kept by Thomas Bradley, who is a native of Bealville, Washington county, Pa. He has been engaged for many years in collecting a cabinet of curiosities, which he took great pleasure in showing, and among the collection I found the fol- lowing: A petrified soak. of czormou size, which was found
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on the waters of Fish Creek, Greene Co .. Pa .; an old Continen- tal button, cut from a uniform of a Revolutionary soldier ; some of the hair taken from the head of old "Jimmy" Kent, a soldier of the war of 1812, who died a few years ago. A small bottle of peach brandy seventy-five years old, furnished to the proprietor by James Barnes of Muddy creek ; a helmet which was once a part of the armor of one of Napoleon Bonaparte's Invincible Cuirassiers ; a Prussian bullet from the field of Wa- terloo; a piece of the wood of the bridge constructed by General Braddock in 1755, across the Youghiogheny river ; a piece of wood that was once a part of the flag-ship of Com- odore Perry in his victorious conflict with the English on the 10th of September, 1814 ; also the keys of the old jail and Court house which were the first erected in Waynesburg. Several pieces of crockery ware said to have been found in one of the old camps of the Delaware Indians; also pipes, picks and hatchets all of stone. Tomahawk made of iron and steel of the kind used in the old French and Indian war; also an In- dian's skull and leg bone ; a petrified turtle ; the butt end of the stock of Lewis Whetzel's gun, said to have been broken by striking an Indian ; part of the flag carried by the Ameri- cans at Yorktown in 1791. when they accepted the surrender of Lord Cornwallis; an old paper containing the obituary of the "Father of his Country," General Washington. The paper is all draped in mourning between its columns and around the margin, but I could wither find its name nor the date of its ssue. A pair of elk horns from the Rocky mountains; a pet- rified squirrel; a Barlow pen knife bearing the figures 1766 : making it 116 years old ; an old law book, dated 1776, with the name of Henry Taylor written in it -- he was one of the first Judges of old Washington county before the erection of Greene county. This name is probably in his own hand-writ- ing. An old newspaper, called "New England Courant," is
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also found among these antiquities. It is dated February 11, 1723, and is said to have been edited by Benjamin Franklin, The paper is so blurred that I could not find his name on it. An old weaver's reed for manufacturing home-made linen, said to have been brought to Maryland by Lord Baltimore when he first founded that colony. But time would fail me to tell of all the old relies contained in these old cases, such as petrified woods, punk, snails, &c. ; a'so cannon balls, bullets of various sizes, etc., etc.
A JOURNEY IN WINTER.
Although this may not seem like Greene county history, yet I insert it in my book in order to make the people of this county content with their condition in the locality in which their lot has been cast. On the 1st of January, 1883, at G o'clock A. M., I boarded the train on the W. & W. R. R. at Deer Lick Station. At 8 o'clock I arrived at Washington, and at ten I was in Pittsburg where I purchased a ticket for Chi- cago by way of the P. & F. W. R. R. As we were ascending the up grade from Beaver Falls, I remarked to a young man by my side "that it would require a long time to make the trip if all the way was this steep." An elderly man across the aisle replied, "Oh ! don't be discouraged : we will soon be out of Pennsylvania and then we will be done with the hills." I then innocently asked, "are there hills no where else but in Penn- sylvania ?" to which he replied with great emphasis, "no, sir. It is the most deplorably rough, hilly, mountainous State in the Union. You could not give me a farm in Pennsylvania and compel me to live on it. I live in Illinois where we don't have to tie our pumpkins to the stones to keep them from: rolling out of the field. We don't have to let our sheep down over the rocks into the little hollows in order to get a few mouth-fulls of grass We raise from 75 to 100 bushels of corn
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to the aere, 40 bushels of wheat to the acre," &c. After the fellow had poured out a constant stream of gas of the above kind for perhaps half an hour, he subsided from mere exhaus- tion. I found time to say "well, sir, this is my third trip to the regions beyond the Mississippi ; each time passing through your great State of Illinois, and there are a few things that have always puzzled me. Why do you not all become million- aires in a few years ? Why can't you afford us poor Pennsyl- vanians a feather-bed to sleep on when we come out among you ? Why must we be compelled to eat your "Long Tom" potatoes boiled with the skins on, in connection with a little piece of the toughest kind of beef, and then pay fifty cents for each meal, and an additional fifty cents for the privilege of sleeping on one of your straw-beds? I hail from Grecne county where we are content if we can get from 40 to 50 bushels of corn to the acre; 15 bushels of wheat is considered a good crop, and still we live, have plenty to eat and plenty to wear. and, above all, have good health." This may seem like a matter entirely foreign to our history, but I introduce it as a specimen of Western "gasconade" that has already had its mischievous effects on many good livers in Greene county, causing them to "pull up stakes" and leave comfortable homes in Pennsylvania expecting to have all these gassy promises realized in the West. A few bettered their condition, but the majority would have been better off if they had remained in the place of their na- tivity. But how about our journey ? By the time this con- versation was ended we were in Ohio, and the snow was falling very fast, which it continued to do until we reached the Indiana line when the air became so intensely cold that the snow ceased to descend. When we reached Chicago the bliz- zard was at its height, making even the hard faced "suckers" keep their heads in doors. As the fifty cent omnibuses were scarce, I started to walk to the North Western depot. Feel.
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ing that I would freeze, I turned into a great dining saloon where I obtained a tolerably good meal for which I only had to pay seventy-five cents ! I finally arrived in Jackson county, Iowa, where, upon my complaining of their cold country, the reply was, "Oh, this is nothing; the thermometer is only eigh- teen degress below zero this morning. Wait till it comes down to thirty-eight or forty, as it sometimes does." I con- cluded not to wait, but turned my face Eastward, as soon as my business was completed, and fled from the "blizzards" with all possible speed, arriving at my home on Saturday, the 6tlı, traveling near two thousand miles in six days and transacting business to the amount of four thousand dollars, But perhaps the strangest part of the affair was, that my family had not found out that there had been any unusual amount of cold, as the mercury had not reached zero at all instead of eighteen de- grees below. Reader, keep out of the North-West in the winter season.
AN OLD REMINESCENCE.
On my arrival at home I found a letter from Benj. Covert. dated "Rice's Landing, December 28, 1882," referring to a statement I had made in the early part of my history about : man striking him at the big muster. He says in his letter : "That statement was the truth. It happened over fifty years ago at the general muster near Moorfield, O." Mr. Covert then expresses great gratitude for the notice I have taken of him, and also a desire to assist me in any way that he can, and in order to make a beginning in that good work, he makes the following statements that will, no doubt, be full of interest, as the tragic part of it occurred on the soil of the present Greene county. The story is substantially this : In 1771 Rev. James Finley, who was born in the province of Ulster, Ireland, in 1731, crossed the Allegheny mountains on horse-back in com-
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pany with his oldest son, Ebenezer, for whom his father wished to purchase a farm. They must have been good judges of land, which they displayed in selecting a magnificent tract on Dunlap's creek, Fayette county, near the town of New Salem. The father preached several times during his stay to the widely scattered inhabitants, and then returned to his home East of the mountains. Some time after his return home, he became suddenly downcast and dejected, his thoughts all the time brooding over the seeming impending fate of his absent 'boy. After a few hours his dejection departed, and he ex-" claimed, "the danger is past." IIe made a note of the time, which, when the dates came to be compared, was about the very hour when his son Ebenezer made such a narrow escape from the Indians, the circumstances of which were about as follows : In the year 1774 the Indian war, known in history as "Dunmore's War," broke out. This was brought on in con- sequence of killing several Indians by Virginia settlers, on the west side of the Monongahela. The Indians seem to have regarded this river as the line between Pennsylvania and Vir- ginia, and hence they confined their depredations to what they regarded as Virginia soil, now Greene county. A requisition was made for help from the east side of the river, and among the soldiers was Ebenezer Finley. At what point they crossed the river my informant cannot tell, but the adventure was on Greene county soil. The Indians being scattered, it was de- termined to send out the whites in patroling parties of twos. Mr. Finley and one other man had penetrated deep into the forest without seeing any signs of the foe, when they espied a deer at some distance from them. Anxious to procure its flesh for food, both guns were discharged at it, when suddenly out sprang two Indians with uplifted tomahawks. There was but one chance for our soldiers, and that was run, which they did for considerable distance, when Mr. Finley's friend fell be-
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HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY.
hind and was slain by the merciless hatchet. While this was being done and his scalp removed, Mr. Finley made his escape. This man Ebenezer Finley I have often seen as an Elder in Dunlap's Creek Church when I was a small boy. Ihave often passed through the splendid farms that were formed out of the original tract that was located by Rev. James Finley, who was the first Presbyterian minister west of the mountains, although he does not seem to have crossed the Monongahela until after . the arrival of Rev. John McMillian in 1775, who did cross the ¡iver. I also find that the incident referred to and - described by Mr. Covert has already become a matter of history among i'resbyterians, as Rev. Joseph Smith, D. D., in his book "Old Redstone," on page 284 refers to the same thing, no doubt. i find that Judge Beech in his secular history corroborates the same thing in his date and circumstances of the Dunmore war and Connolly usurpation. The same thing is established by reference to the minutes of the old Synod of Virginia, which notices the appointment of Rev. James Finley in 1771. No further appointments were made for this region, except Rev. John King in 1772, until 1774, when Revs. John Hanna, Wil- liam Foster and Samuel, Smith were appointed to go to "the frontier parts of Pennsylvania and Virginia," the very wording showing how careful the old fathers were not to meddle with the vexed boundry question. It will be seen by the above that Mr. Covert, although a most devout Methodist now in the $3d year of his age, has by his very welcome letter brought to remembrance quite a page of Presbyterian history.
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MESSENGER AGAIN.
Since writing the history of the Messenger I have received a letter from Major J. W. Hlays which throws additional light on this history, as well as giving several items of interest in the biography of a prominent resident, of Waynesburg, near the commencement of the present century. as follows : William T. Hays commenced merchandising in Waynesburg * in 1804. In addition to his variety store he concluded to open a saddler shop (as there was none in the place at that date). He also determined that Greene county should have a news- paper. For this purpose he purchased a press and type in Philadelphia, in 1813, brought them on to Waynesburg and set up the press in a house of his own next door to the one in which he lived. Having abundance of business on hands, without personally attempting to edit and print a paper, he employed, sent his team for and moved John Baker into a house that he (Hays) had rented for Baker's use. In this way the paper was run for about five years. At the expiration of that time, in 1818, Dr. Thomas Layton became editor. who retamed John Baker as his printer. William T. Hays was more or less connected with almost all the prominent affairs of Waynes- burg and Greene county at an early day. Ile was a Prothon- otary of the county for an unbroken term of about twenty years.
ADDITIONAL LEGISLATORS.
The same letter that contains the above information niso gives the names of the following persons as members of the State Senate, viz: Isaac Weaver, William G. Hawkins, Chas. A. Black and John C. Flenniken. Also members of the House of Representatives, viz : Rees Hill, Adam Hays, W. T. Hays, Thomas Burson, W. S. Harvey, Joseph Sedgwick, Thomis Rose, John Phelan, Fletcher Brock, Dr. D. W. Gray, John
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Hagan, (who died daring his term and was superseded by) Thomas Laidley, William Kincaid and Patrick Donley. Isaac Weaver was speaker of the Senate at the same time that Rees Ilill was speaker of the House, an honor conferrel on this county which is said to have fallen to the lot of no other county in the State.
ADDITIONAL QUAKERC.
I have been informed that the following names caught to be added as forming a part of the membership of the old Quaker Church, on Muddy Creek, during the first quarter of the pres- ent century, vis: John Haaks, William Morgen, Jacob Burg, Shedlock Nigus, Joseph Gregg, Thomas Miller, William Mil- ler, Isaac Johnston, Jonathan Johnston. Joseph Johnston, Joseph Cope and Joseph Kinsey. I have also heard it sug- gested that the Gwynns, Barclays, Crafts and Huftys were not originally Quakers. How this is I do not know, as I had good authority for the first assertion and not quite so good for the Jatter.
THE GREAT REBELLION.
We now come to the saddest chapter in the history of our beloved country. One so dark that I have seriously thought of passing it over in silence. This course evidently would not be acceptable to a multitude of my readers, as I have re- ceived numerous letters asking me to at least refer to this sad event. We are all, to a certain extent, dependent on our an- cestors for our opinions, both religious and political, and inas- much as the original settlers of this county were, to a great extent, from Virginia, it is by no means strange that many of ; their descendants should have imbibed the notion of "State Rights," in consequence of which they were ever on the alert
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watching for any act of the General Government that had the appearance of sectionalism. This, many of them thought they saw in the effort to coerce the Southern States, and in- terfere with their domestic institution, hence they hesitated- looked back on their old record when as the "Virginia Ran- gers," their grand-fathers and great-grand-fathers had stood between the living and the dead (in the old Indian wars) so valiantly that the savages gave them the name of "Long Knife." They reviewed their record further until they found among their sires here and there a man who had shed his blood at Brandywine or Monmouth in the revolutionary struggle. They sa'd if we were sure that the intention is to maintain the in- tegrity of the Union, "We would accept the situation and as- sist in erushing out the rebellion :" but if the intention is to wage a war against the slave-holders for the purpose of libera- ting the colored race who (in their opinion) did not desire freedom, "Then we are not ready to assist." This uncertainty, with reference to the intentions of the leaders, caused many to "halt between two opinions." This hesitaney existed until the opinions of the Southern leaders became "self-evident," that nothing would answer their purpose but division of this broad fand (that evidently the Creator intended to be one and undi- vided), and that most likely the division-if it was ever accomplished-would be in part along Mason's and Dixon's Line, the southern boundery of their own county. Then there arose up in Greene county as strong a union sentiment as ex- isted anywhere else. If an isolated individual was occasion- ally found who had the "cheek" to wear a "copperhead" or "butternut" breast-pin, he was almost sure to be a poorly-in- formed man. If any huzzned for Jeff Davis it was because he , was ignorant of the intentions of the President of the "South- ern Confederacy." Many of the sons and brothers of Greene county offered themselves as willing sacrifices for their coun-
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try's good. And yet they went with altogether different mo- tives and intentions from those that actuated some of the most blatant politicions of that day who regarded it as a glorious opportunity and privilege now offered to them of urging on the soldiers in shedding the blood of their Southern brethren to avenge the long quarrel that had existed between them. Not so with the soldiers of Greene county ; they had no enemies to punish ; they had no quarrels to avenge : but they seemed to view the matter in the same light that the great military commander did when he said "Oh! wretched neces- sity." They also resembled the latter of the two great States- inen, who, when his opponent had said, "My country always when she is right," immediately, replied, "My country always -whether she is right or wrong." Actuated by such feelings as these, multitudes from this county pressed forward to fill up the ranks of the Union Army. I have not yet been able to find anything like a perfect list of our soldiers, but will do the best I can in securing it. I have been kindly assisted by Capt. James E. Sayers,, in procuring the names of a large ma- jority of the men who went from Greene county as soldiers in the late war of the rebellion. Inasmuch as many of them were in the Eighty-fifth Regiment, I propose giving a brief account of that organization as follows: On the 1st of August, 1861, Joshua B. Howell, of Uniontown, was directed by the Secre- tary of War, to recruit a regiment of infantry, which, when full, was rendesvoused at Camp La Fayette, near Uniontown. On the 12th of November, 1861, the regiment was organized by electing Joshua B. Howell, Colonel ; Norton McGiffin, Lieutenant Colonel; and Absalom Guiler, Major. While in this camp a flag was presented to the regiment by the ladies of Uniontown. Near the close of November it was ordered to " Washington City. At Harrisburg the State colors were presented by Governor Curtin. Upon arriving at the National
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Capital the men obtained their arms and were carefully ir- structed and drilled. A few weeks later it was removed to Camp Good Hope, across the East Branch of the Potomac, where it became part of Colonel Tidball's Brigade. In March, 1862, the regiment was removed to Miredian Hill, where it was assigned to General Kiem's Brigade. On the 29th it left Alexandria in company with the fourth corps on its way to Fortress Monroe, where it was united with the Army of the Potomac on the 1st of April. It took part in the seige of Yorktown, and on the retreat of the enemy it joined in the pursuit by the Winns Mill Road. The first battle in which it was engaged was at Williamsburg, in which two of them were wounded -one mortally. The regiment still pressed on through a heavy artillery fire, to the banks of the Chickahom- iny, which it crossed near Bottom's Bridge, on the 20th of May, 1862. Here the Eighty-fifth was directed to fortify its position a little in advance of Fair Oak Station. Their works were but partially constructed, when at 1 o'clock r. M., on the 31st, the enemy-like a rushing hurricane-charged upon them. Notwithstanding their unprepared condition they succeeded in holding their half-finished rifle pits, valiantly aided by Hart's battery. In this action Lieutenants James Hamilton and Thos. S. Purviance were among the killed, and Julius A. Smith was mortally wounded and taken prisoner. The entire loss of this regiment in the campaign of the Peninsula was eighty-seven killed and wounded. When Gen. McClelland evacuated the country between the two rivers, Keys' Corps remained on duty at Fortress Monroe. On the 5th of December Wessell's Bri- gade, to which the Eighty-fifth was attached, was ordered from Suffolk, Va., to Newbern, North Carolina, to re-enforce Gen. Foster, who was on the point of departure to White Hall, on the Neuse. On the 13th the column reached West Creek, where the Confederates were posted to dispute the
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passage. Here a sharp action took place, in which the Eighty- fifth distinguished itself in charging and routing the enemy : on the right of the road, while the Ninth New Jersey did the same on the left. The troops still pressed on toward the town of Kingston, on the north bank of the Neuse, wad- ing through a swamp which had boon considered impassable by the enemy until they beheld the soldiers at their very gates, when the charge was sounded, and the enemy routed and triven across the river. Towards the close of the month General Foster was ordered to South Carolina to co-operate with General Hunter in his operations against Charleston. The Eighty-fifth arrived at Hilton Head on the 1st of Febru- ;ry. Col. Howell was now put in command of the brigade, while Lieutenant Col. Purviance was advanced to the com- mand of the regimont. About the 1st of April the brigade moved to Cole Island, where it crossed Folly river and landed D .: Folly Island, at which time the troops witnessed the first bombardment of Fort Sumpter by Admiral Dupont. Howell's Brigade was left to garrison the Island after the withdrawal the rest of the troops. Folly Island is about seven miles ong and one wide. Light house Inlet about six hundred yards "ide separates it from Morris Island on the north. Early in Jano General Hunter was superseded by General Gilmore, who immediately commenced operations to possess Morris Iland. For this purpose batteries were created on the north end of Folly Island. This was accomplished almost exch :- sively at night. After the fifty-two guns had weakened the enemy's position, an assault led by General Strong was made, in which the first line of the Confederate works was gained ; but Fort Wagner still held out. General Gilmore now determined to reduce it by regular approaches. On the 20th of August the Eighty-fifth Pa .. One Hundredth New York and the Third New Hampshire were detailed to occupy the ad-
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