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 5
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GEOLOGY .- In geology very little has been done in a sci- entific way by which the reader can be enlightened. The rocks however appear to belong to the upper series of bituminous coal formation, consisting of alternate strata of sand stone shales, and limestone with intermediate beds of coal of from two to six feet in thickness. These alternate stratas extend nearly all over the county, deeply buried in some of the central parts, but cropping out on both the eastern and western slopes in the vicinity of the larger streams, where an excellent article of stone coal is found in connection with a hard blue limestone. In some of the more elevated regions coal for fuel must be transported a few miles, while a soft, yellow limestone is found on the sumits of the very highest hills. These hill-tops are the favorite sleeping places of the numerous flocks of fine sheep that
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are being rapidly bred and kept upon them, and the time is not far distant when it can be truthfully said that the flocks are roaming "on a thousand hills."
TIMBER .- A history of Greene county would be incomplete without a description of the magnificent timber with which her hil's and valleys are adorned. Much of this original growth has been wasted by the prodigal practice of girdling, or deadening,) by which means some of the loftiest forests have been destroyed in a few years ; yet vast groves of it still remain, consisting of oak, poplar, hickory, ash, walnut, &c. A few years ago in! making rails, we eut several oaks that made five rail cuts to the tree. During the last summer while we were building a barn, we had no difficulty in securing trees that would square eigh. or ten inches, fifty feet long. One of my neighbors cut several logs sixty feet long ; he also cut one tree which made three thousand five hundred shingles, each shingle twenty-eight inches long. We also eut one poplar tree the smooth trunk of which measured sixty-nine feet in length. The timber in these groves is so perfect that it can be riven into shingles that need ahost no shaving. Some twelve years ago a man in my woods split four hundred rails in a day, the timber being previously cut ! The upper end of this county is very justly called the region of "White Houses," from the fact that almost all the buildings are weatherboarded with poplar, which, when painted, is much whiter than pine.
EXECUTIVE COUNCIL .- In examining the Acts of this body I find a few scraps of Greene county history. One is dated Phil- adelphia, August 7th, 1788, as follows: "Two certificates from the County of General Quarter Sessions of the peace for the county of Washingfon, that a division of the districts of the townships of Cumberland and Morgan in said county, has been? made agreeable to Act of Assembly, dated the 31st of March,! - 1784, for the election of Justice of the Peace has been proper;
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and will be useful, which were received and read on the 6th of May, were this day taken into consideration and the decision as made by the same Court'confirmed." Also that Thomas Ryerson was appointed and commissioned Justice of the Peace of Rich- hill township, at Philadelphia, on the 8th of April, 1789." Also that "John Minor, Esq., was appointed and commissioned a Justice of the Peace, and of the Court of Common Pleas in and for the county of Washington upon a return made according to law from the district of the township of Greene," (now in Greene county). This was done at Philadelphia Nov. 30, 1789. Also a lecter was received at Philadelphia from Thomas Rier- son, Esq., on the Sth of March, 1790, relative to the defence of the western portion against the invasion of the Indians. The constitution of 1790, going into effect at this time, the body called the Supreme Executive Council was abolished. Although its minutes fill twenty-eight octavo volumns, yet as our county had no separate existence then, it is only occasion- ally that I find a serap that I am able to localize as having ref. erence to any part of this territory.
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CHAPTER II.
Soon after the middle of the Eighteenth Century the region of country lying west of the Allegheny Mountains became the Eldorado of emigration. The hardy bucksin-clad explorer had ¡crossed that lofty barrier, had paddled his hand-made raft across the turbid waters of the Monongahela and held on [his western way' until he had stood on the margin of "The ¡Beautiful River," Ohio. Then he had turned his face eastward and had described, in terms of exaggerated wonder, the country
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he had seen, its fertile hills, its quiet valleys, its pearly streams, its magnificent forests of oak, poplar, sugar and hickory, until the denizen who had years before purchased his few acres on the banks of the Brandywine around Havre De Grace, along the Susquehanna, or on the sites where now the cities of York, Columbia and Lancaster stand, when a feeling of uneasiness takes the place of contentment, and a desire to migrate to "enter in and possess the land" becomes wide-spred. But the Hory does not stop here ; it is carried by the "white-winged messengers" that had begun with considerable regularity to plow the mighty Atlantic, until the tale of "Homes for the Homeless," "Land for the Landless" is again repeated in a still more exaggerated form around the turf-fires of the medium classes of Scotch Irish in Ulster, Antrim and Derry, until the bosom of the Old World heaves with a sigh of anxiety. But in order to make "assurance doubly sure," they call in the mes- senger who has brought these glad tidings, and ask him the all-important question, how are we to get to these delightful lands ? Does no one else have a claim upon them ? The face of the hitherto exhultant messenger becomes elongated; his brow becomes thoughtful, as he somewhat unwillingly admits that from "Wills Creek" (Cumberland) to the "Western Wilds," there is no road, no bridges, no houses of entertainment, no food except what game may be found in the woods. Then comes the blood !- curdling question from the excited wife, "But hoogh about the Injuns of whom we have hearn tell soo much ?" To this question the messenger replies that the red man is still lord of the soil ; but his tomahawk is buried in an unknown place, his pipe of peace is in his hand, and he is ready on all occasions to smoke it with his pale-faced brother. As to his land, he sets no price on it and is ever ready to barter it away for a few strings of beads, a few yards of brilliant goods, pow- der, lead, hatchets, etc. He is then ready to exchange "speech
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belts," and live on terms of friendship and amity with all who may wish to become his neighbors. The fears of the intending emigrants are quieted by these representations, and the ques- tion is again repeated with reference to roads. On this subject the messenger can give no new light, and so the conversation ceases, and the emigrants remain where they are. But as the Land of Canaan was prepared for the Hebrews, so this land must be prepared for the Scotch Irish. How is this to be done? Precisely in God's plan of making "the wrath of man to praise Ifim" and restraining the remainder thereof. Hence although the Royal Charters of Virginia and Pennsylvania had both been granted by English Kings, their right to sell this domain was by no means admitted by the rest of mankind. France claimed the country on the waters of the Ohio by right of pri- ority of discovery by La Salle in 1669. Immediately previous to the date at which our history begins, the French determined to expel all the English traders and erect a line of forts con- necting their dominions in Canada on the north with their do- minions in Louisiana in the South. To effect this purpose in 1749, Captain Celeron de Bienville, with a detachment of two hundred soldiers, was sent down the Allegheny and Ohio rivers to take military possession of these streams and their tributa- ries and all the lands that were drained thereby. In order to do this in a tangible way they halted at all prominent places and deposited plates of lead with suitable incriptions thereon. The one at the point between the Allegheny and Monongahela is dated at the Three Rivers, August 3d, 1749. This laid the foundation of the long and bloody French and English war in which France placed the tomahawk and scalping knife in the hands of the Indian to be used in exterminating the traders and colonists of Great Britain. The French had the advantages of transportation on their side by descending the Allegheny river, while the English were compelled to cut at first a path and then
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a wagon road for the transportation of ordinance and supplies to the seat of war. This path was traveled by Washington,' guided by Christopher Gist, in the month of November, 1753,' on their way to Fort Le Boeuf. When the war had progressed: for some time the chivalrous Gen. Braddock was sent out to exterminate the French. This man had no notion of doing things by halves ; hence one of his first attentions was given to the straightening and widening of this path into a road,1 which has ever since borne his name. This road was (soon after the expulsion of the French from Fort Duquesne by Gen. Forbes) lined with wagons and pack horses conveying emigrants to what afterwards became the counties of Fayette, Washing- ton and Greene. Yet it could not be considered the thorough- fare of the two latter counties, for the main trunk of this road diverged from the route afterwards occupied by the Old Na- tional Road near the top of Laurel Hill, and bore more north- wardly, passing the new improvement of Christopher Gist on the sight of Mount Braddock; thence by way of the "Wash- ington Bottoms" now Perryopolis; thence directly to the mouth of Turtle Creek, where it ceased in consequence of Braddock's defeat. There was, however, a branch road leading from Gist's Plantation to "Redstone Old Fort" (Brownsville.) This was the road along which the carly settlers of this region came. Arriving at the Monongahela river and finding their road at an end, they distributed themselves up and down the river, until the prime lands on the eastern side were taken up.
Thus far the student of Pennsylvania history has halted on the banks of this western "Jordan," and has only viewed the land of promise from the opposite shore. We are now about to cross over into this Mesopotamian region, and look into the beginning of things over there. But let us advance slowly, for the red man still lurks in those valleys and builds his camp fires on those hills, and he possibly may demand our hair as the
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penalty of squatting on his land. Before we make our domicil on the west side of this muddy river, we had better ask the question, "Whose dominion will we be under?" for this is an unsettled question. William Penn has a charter for a tract of land five degrees of longitude west from the Delaware river, but this distance has not been measured yet; it has not yet been determined how long a degree of longitude actually is in this degree of latitude : for, although all parties are agreed as to the length of a degree on the Equator, we are now 40 de- grees north of the Equator, and the degrees shorten as the lines of longitude approach the Poles. All these questions are unsettled. Virginia as the Old Dominion, claims all lands not granted to some other colony. On the strength of this claim Virginia erected all the territory that was in dispute into three counties, viz: Ohio, Monongalia and Youghiogheny. The Court house of Monongalia county stood on lands of Theopolis Phil- lips, near New Geneva, immediately over against the territory that afterwards became Greene county. Lord Dunmore, the Gov- ernor of Virginia, maintained that Penn's five degrees would. run out by the time the sumit of the Alleghenies was reached, while even some of the sanguine friends of Pennsylvania rule thought that their western boundary would not go beyond the Monongahela. Dr. John Connolly, the tool of Lord Dun- more, finding the civil arm they pretended to wield too weak to answer their purposes, finally in January, 1774, usurped all power, civil, military and mixed, over this entire region. These and other reasons which existed from 1749 to 1774, will in part account for the tardiness of settlements on the west side of the Monongahela. And yet through all these perplexing complications the settlers came. The first permanent commu- nity seems to have been on Muddy Creek, spreading out to- ward Tenmile on the north and Whiteley on the south: The beginning of this settlement seems to have been in 1769,
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and seems to have consisted of persons who were favorable to Pennsylvania rule. As the question of Dominion had at least been partially settled by the extension of Mason & Dixon's line in 1767, as far as the second crossing of Dunkard creek, near where the town of Mt. Morris now stands, where they were forbidden to proceed by the Indian Chiefs, who seem to have thought that as this part of the country was a "bone of «ontention" among the whites, they (the Indians) the lords of the soil, might be permitted to gnaw it a little also. While we tind Virginia spreading her mantle of government over this dis- triet under different names, first as West Augusta and then as Monongalia county, Pennsylvania was by no means indifferent to her interests in this direction. Hence, she claimed jurisdic- tion over this same region as part of Bedford county. These county officers in 1773 made the first assessment of the taxable nhabitants as part of Springhill township, the major part of which lay on the east side of the river. in what is now Fay- ette county, where it still retains the same name. According to this assessment the population of this settlement of Muddy Creek at this date was not less than five hundred. These set- tlers like those of Fayette county, had mostly come from along the Potomac, some from Virginia, some from Maryland, some from the Kittatinny valley and some from Ireland.
The oldest Presbyterian Church in Greene county is on the waters of Muddy Creek. At the house of John Armstrong, in the bounds of this settlement, Rev. John MeMillan preached his second sermon west of the mountains, in August, 1775, having preached his first sermon in the west at old Mount Moriah Church in Fayette county on the previous day. The first appli- cation that was made for supplies to the old Presbytery of Red- stone (after its erection in 1781) was from Muddy Creek and the South Fork of Ten Mile (Jefferson). There were also Bap- tist Churches on Whiteley, Muddy Creek and Ten Mile organ-
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ized at about this date. I expect to give a sketch of the history of each of them as I proceed. But inasmuch as I have some personal knowledge of the Muddy Creek Church which extends back nearly fifty years, I may be permitted to refer to it here. This church has long been called New Providence, and is lo- lated principally on the south side of the town of Carmichaels, the house of worship being about two miles from the village. Fifty years ago Rev. George Vaneman was pastor of this church. He was a short, stout man, nervous and quick in his movements, and somewhat remarkable for his sallies of quick wit, as the following will illustrate: About the year 1830 the Presbytery of Redstone convened at Georges Creek Church. An ordination was to take place, and Rev. Vaneman was ap- pointed to preach the sermon. He retired from the house to make his preparation. The day was warm and sunny, caus- ing him to seek the shade on the northwestern side of the
house along the grave yard wall, where he began to pace back and forth the entire length of the shade. While thus engaged in thoughtful meditation, one of his brethren came out of the house to indulge in chewing a quid of tobacco. At the corner of the house he encountered Rev. Vaneman, who during his meditations had lighted his pipe. The intruder immediately assailed him with the accusation, "Ah! you are at your Idol!" To which Mr. Vaneman instantly and mournfully replied, "Yes, but I am burning mine while you are rolling yours like a sweet morsel under your tongue." For many long years-I do not know how many, but think it must be fully forty-Rev. John McClintock has been pastor of the same old Church. A man as orthodoxy as John Calvin himself ; exceedingly fraternal; a most exemplary pastor, who is almost alone in this fast age from the fact that he has the good fortune of wearing well. He never indulges in any kind of levity. I have heard it posi- tively asserted that he never did laugh in his life. This I,
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could scarcely believe : but the assertion was positively made and maintained at a wedding where I officiated in the town of Jefferson, 20 years ago, on the part of the bride, who gave the following story to prove her assertion : "We were regular hearers of Mr. MeClintock at Jefferson. One hot day my father had gone to church while I stayed at home to prepare dinner. Father brought Mr. McClintock home with him. When they arrived I had the table set on the back porch. I was about to remove it and place it in the dining room, when Mr. Mc- Clintock interfered and insisted that we should leave the table where it was. Just after we had seated ourselves and the blessing was asked, footsteps were heard approaching around the upper end of the house, and immediately the crazy man, Me Nurlin, made his appearance, looking tired, dirty and hun- gry. Father at once directed me to get him a plate, etc., which I did, the crazy man all the while maintaining a pro- found silence. When all but him were done, the preacher re- turned thanks. As soon as the voice of prayer was heard McNurlin reverently bowed his head and remained quiet until it was over. The family then withdrew from the table, but remained seated on the porch, Mr. McClintock leading the conversation while I served the crazy man who had taken an- other cup of tea, and still continued to eat. Finally he was done, when he at once duly crossed his knife and fork on his plate, which he pushed back a few inches, laid his hands rev- erently on the table, and said; "Now Lord I thank thee for what I have eaten over and above since the preacher thanked thee, amen !" The rest of us withdrew from the porch in order to take a hearty laugh, but Mr. MeClintock remained quiet, his countenance bearing a more sober look." I gave the argu- ment up, and have ever since regarded Rev MeClintock as one . of the most remarkable men of our age. In the bounds of this congregation sixty years ago lived David Vecch, the father
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of the 'Hon. James Veech. Of this old gentleman's antece- dents I know nothing, but he himself was remarkable for his steady and quiet, even-going industry. I heard my old annt who raised me tell this as illustrative of his "dilligence in business" as well as his "fervency of spirit," and urbane hospi- tality. The date was upwards of sixty years ago. It was seeding time in the autumn ; the dav of the week was Saturday ; the next day was communion. My aunt and her sister had ridden across from old Dunlap's Creek ; preaching was at 2 o'clock. When the service was over no one was more diligent hunting up the strangers than Mr. Veech. He was about the List man to leave the place, for fear some stranger would not be supplied with lodging. My Aunt and her sister were two of the many guests that were taken to Mr. Veech's own house. After the horses of the strangers were all fed they were turned out in the big meadow in the best pasture on the farm. Sup- per was now ready, and when all were fed, and there remained nothing more that he could do for the comfort of his guests, Mr Veech quietly withdrew to his barn, slipped the harness on his horses, and in the twilight hooked them up to his plow and peacefully laid over his furrows side by side, round and round the field until nine o'clock at night, while his female guests sat on his spacious porch and watched the operation by the light of the full moon. He did not claim two or three hours sleep on Sabbath morning to compensate him for this extra labor, but was the first to rise and assist his family and numerous guests in preparing for the sanctuary. I had one little business trans- action with this old gentleman about the year 1851, after his removal to Uniontown. I was building a new house and was in need of some clear pine lumber, and as habit had become second nature with Mr. Veech he must have something to do, and consequently he kept a small board yard of pine lumber I was advised to go to him as he would "do better for me than
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any one else ;" yet when I asked him his prices they were so high that I almost declined purchasing of him. But as the team was there I concluded to risk it, and found that "he did do better for me than any one else ;" every board with the least fracture or knot was laid aside, so that I should have exactly what I contracted for, "clear stuff." This little transaction gave me a high opinion of the old gentleman's conscientious in- tegrity. To his son, Judge Veech, I am greatly indebted for many of the facts and dates of this history. I have drawn on him freely for everything but phaseology. The first time I ever saw him was about 1837. Hle and his sister Rebecca, (who afterwards became the wife of Rev. Joel Stoneroad) were, on a isit to Fayette county. I knew more about the son than I lid about the father, and yet I have written much more about the latter than I intend to do about the former, from the fact that it would seem like a piece of unpardonable egotism for mc to attempt, with as feeble a pen as mine, to describe the pre- found scholar, the successful lawyer, the exalted judge, and the accurate historian, which all found their embodiment in the per- son of James Veech. The last person that I shall at present mention as living within the bounds of this settlement fifty years ago, is James Barns, a millwright by trade, and one of the few men justly entitled to the name of mechanic. The first time I ever saw him was in 1831, while he was engaged in building an oil mill for Andrew Olihpant, Esq., in Fayette Co. As an oil mill was something new in this section of the country at that date, Mr. Barnes received a great deal of gratuitous ad- vice from would-be machinists, who thought they "knowed it all." To all this unasked advice he respectfully listened, then took his own way, and when the mill was done it was found to be a model of perfection. We may inadvertantly allow our- selves to think that in a dense, heavy timbered wilderness, such as this was one hundred and fifty years ago, all the roads
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HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY.
were started by guess, and all the lands taken up at random. Nothing is farther from the truth than. such a conclusion. As an illustration, the old pack horse path from Wills ercek (Cum- berland) across the mountains, that was located without either compass or quadrant, was ascertained to be the very best grade that could possibly be found. So with many of our Virginia roads. This was also the case in the taking up of land. It was not done at rendom; but on the contrary "our fathers" 'seemed to have had a map of the whole country, as it would be in one hundred years, spread out before the eye of their mind before they made their selection. Such was pre-eminently the case in the settlement of the eastern part of Greene county. I am quite extensively acquainted in Western Pennsylvania, and I know of no body of land of equal extent that is so mag- nificiently situated as the region fronting on the Monongahela river, between Whiteley creek on the south and Tenmile on the north, including the entire region of Muddy Creek, the valley of Ruffs Creek and extending up the south fork of Ten- mile beyond Waynesburg. Much of the land is almost levei, just rolling enough to drain it completely. Its serpentine creeks, runs and rivulets are in many places adorned with fringes of evergreens, such as pine, hemlock, cedar and laurel, beneath whose perpetual foliage, steep bluffs, huge chasms and rugged rocks all assist in lending "enchantment to the view." Some of these groves and caves in the vicinity of Jefferson de- serve particular description. About one mile west of the town the south fork makes almost a complete circle, reaching at its furthest eastern extremity, almost to the brick house built by old Mr. Luse, and occupied twenty years ago by my friend M. W. Denny, Esq. The creek then returns westward until it is within some six or eight rods of the place where it began the curve. Down the center of this dividing ridge the great "drove road" from west to east divides the splendid little valley into ;
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about equal parts, and then passes over a noble ridge near the Denny mansion. I have often wondered that some capitalist did not utilize this water by throwing a dam across at the upper end of the curve, tunneling through the narrow hill and erect- ing mills of some kind below. One pine grove demands a no- tice in the history of the "State of Greene." It is on the north of the town of Jefferson, overlooking the creek just above the mill dam that belonged to William Davis twenty years ago. This grove one hundred years ago was very extensive, covering the entire "plateau" of level land where the village has long stood. But it has been curtailed until it does not exceed three or four acres, part of which was enclosed in the fair grounds a score of years since, and is now the site of Monongahela Col- lege.
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