USA > Pennsylvania > Greene County > History of Greene County, Pennsylvania > Part 30
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85
339
HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY.
these things were done no one is more painfully sensible than the writer, and he sincerely prays that a like apparent necessity of trying to do so many things at the same time may never come again, though he is scarcely less busy to-day. The adage about too many irons in the fire, doubtless conveys a useful lesson in its ordinary appli- eation, but Adam Clarke used to say it conveys an abominable lic, and some lives seem to illustrate that there are men who can keep many irons going, and manage all of them reasonably well. If there is a position, however, which demands all the service of head and heart that any man can give, that position is the presidency of a col- lege, which aims at the noble work of training young men and young women, not only in the knowledge of science, but for virtuous lives, and to be consecrated workers for the well-being of society.
"In dismissing this reference to my own efforts to build up the college, perhaps already too long, I desire to state distinctly that it is not my intention to cast any reflection, directly or by implication, on the Pennsylvania Synod, the trustees of the college, or on any other party to whom it might reasonably be supposed I could have looked for pecuniary support. Any man who knows what it requires to establish and sustain a respectable college will certainly agree with me that, considering the pecuniary resources of the community in which the college is located, the inaccessibility and obscurity of the place at the time, and especially that the sole ecclesiastical dependence was a single isolated synod, the prospect of success at the beginning must have been very moderate indeed. As early as the spring of 1855, while Mr. Longhran was yet in the college, even Hon. Jesse Lazear, who had been chiefly instrumental in having the college located at Waynesburg, and who was its patron financially-if it then had any-wrote to myself and Mrs. Miller during the vacation, de- ploring the fact that he saw no reasonable ground of hope for re- inuneration for our work if we continued in the college, expressing also the conviction that the church had perhaps undertaken entirely too much in attempting anything beyond an academy. Had we acted upon his suggestion the career of the college must have elosed even then. The Synod has ever given the college a large share of its time, and has ever been willing to devise plans for raising funds, however unsatisfactory many of them have proved; and the trustees have ever been willing to carry out any measures proposed either by the Synod or the faculty; but have found an easy relief from feelings of pecuniary responsibility by simply reiterating that the church is to support the professors.
" Finally, for the encouragement of all who may be called to sustain like burdens, and without seeming presumptuous, I de- sire to reaffirin the sustaining and abiding conviction, that the Lord has signally opened the way for my support and success in this
340
HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY.
work. Congregations have encouraged and supported me. Many generous friends have helped me and my family, I have been called to marry a great many people who gave me generons sums, and have been called to lecture before teachers' institutes in various parts of the country, which, though hard work, generally brought a liberal compensation, a portion of which has been devoted more than once to pay the salaries of our professors."
The most remarkable example of unselfish devotion to the inter. ests of a publie institution in the whole catalogue of our struggling colleges for existence and permanence is contained in these last statements of President Miller. Here is a man occupying the posi- tion of president of a college, a position of great responsibility, and entitled to bonum otium cum dignitate, but meagerly paid, if paid at all, earning something by marrying people, and devoting time, that should have been given to rest, to lecturing before teachers' in- stitutes, and then giving the money, which was clearly his own, and doubtless much needed by himself and family, to the payment of the salaries of professors and teachers. Such unselfish devotion as this deserves to live on the brightest page in the history of American colleges. Such devotion as this could not fail to make successful the effort to found Waynesburg College.
As has been seen the female department was at the outset con- ducted as a Female Seminary, the graduates receiving a diploma em- blazoned with that title and embossed with its seal. The first prin- cipal, Miss M. K. Bell, who subsequently was united by marriage to President Miller, was largely instrumentalin giving the college repu- tation and standing for scholarship, and deserves, mention with the presidents of the institution. She was the daughter of Andrew Bell, and was educated at the justly celebrated Washington Female Seminary. She was possessed of good natural abilities, well schooled, and a remarkable gift for teaching. Through all the years of her too brief life she served Waynesburg College with great acceptance, exerting a strong and healthful influence over her pupils. " On the evening," says President Miller, "of February 10, 1874, after a day's ordinary work in the class-room while she was sitting at her own fireside, paralysis fell on the wearied brain and nerves, and released them from the tension in which they had for years been held by the power of a dauntless will. Ten weeks of helplessness passed, but not weeks of suffering, when the final fatal stroke came, . bringing to the exhausted physical powers the unbroken rest of death, and dismissing the noble spirit to its joy and crown in heaven."
On the occasion of her death the Board of Trustees of the col- lege passed the following resolutions: "Mrs. M. K. B. Miller, Prin- cipal of the Female Department of Waynesburg College, having de-
341
HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY.
parted this life, the trustees of the institution pay this tribute to her memory.
" Many years ago she came to this place, in the bloom of life, and with a noble desire to do good, she applied with indus- try and zeal all the energy and resources of a vigorous mind, dis- charging the duties of principal of her department in the col- lege to the entire satisfaction of the Board of Trustees, and of every one under her care. During all these years of unselfish devotion to the cause of education, she filled her position with consummate ability, and with the greatest advantage to the institution. With a inind pure and cultured, she endeared herself to all who knew her, and from the young ladies under her care for instruction she always received the highest proofs of uninterrupted confidence and attach- ment. We may truly say,
Her life was too pure for the pencil to trace, And her goodness of heart could be read in her face.
"Although a mother, and having the care of a family, her love for the institution she fostered and so nobly had helped to sustain, never slackened, but seemed to grow more intense, until she was stricken by death. Her demise occasions a vacancy in all her relations to the society she so much adorned, and one that will be difficult to fill."
Monongahela College, located at Jefferson, Jefferson Township, Greene County, was chartered by the Legislature in 1867. The af- fairs of the institution are managed by a Board of Trustees of which the original organization was as follows: Hon. A. A. Parman, presi- dent; Rev. R. W. Pearson, vice-president, and Rev. C. Tilton, secre- tary. The buildings are located just outside the borough, on a beau- tiful plat of ground containing some fourteen acres. It was founded by members of the Baptist denomination of southwestern Pennsyl- vania, and West Virginia. Though under the management of mein- bers of this denomination it is no way sectarian in its practical workings. The Rev. Joseph Smith, A. M., was its first president. In 1877 Mr. Silvius' in his centennial report of education in Greene County, says: "Money has been subscribed to liquidate all indebt- edness of the college, and it is supported by a permanent endowment of $30,000. The total income of the institution per annum is $2,800. The friends of the college are seeuring philosophical and chemical apparatus, and have begun the collection of books for a li- brary. The faculty of the college is as follows: Rev. H. K. Craig, president; Rev. J. M. Scott, D. D., professor of mathematics and physical science; W. P. Kendall, A. B., professor of Latin and Greek; Miss Lizzie Patton, principal of the female department, and Mrs. H. K. Craig, teacher of music." Rev. J. B. Solomon, A. M., was afterward made president of the institution, and Mrs. Solomon prinei-
342
HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY.
pal of the female department. Miss Nannie Pollock was appointed as- sistant teacher and subsequently became principal. The course of study marked out is similar to that pursued in other American col- leges granting the degree of A. B. It also has a normal depart- ment in which large numbers of the common school teachers have been trained. The college has latterly been suspended.
CHAPTER XXII. 1
THE WAYNESBURG " MESSENGER" __ THE WAYNESBURG " REPUBLICAN" -- THE WAYNESBURG "INDEPENDENT"-THE GREENE COUNTY " DEMOCRAT."
MIWHIE Waynesburg Messenger, the oldest newspaper in Greene County, was established in 1813, and has been published continu- ously under the same name since. It was originally edited and published by Dr. Layton. He was succeeded by John Baker, and Baker in turn by Thomas Irons. The latter subsequently associated with him his brother, John Irons, who finally became sole proprietor. The changes thus indicated covered some fifteen years of the early exis- tence of the paper. John Irons was an excellent practical printer. Ile was of Irish birth, and had served an apprenticeship of fourteen years in the office of the Washington Reporter. He was a gentleman of fine ability and high sense of honor. He conducted the paper with marked skill until the spring of 1837, when he sold it to John Phelan, who had learned the business in the office of the Messenger.
Mr. Irons removed to St. Clairsville, Ohio, where he bought the St. Clairsville Gazette, and published it for six months, when he sold it, returned to Waynesburg, and at the end of Mr. Phelan's first year, in the spring of 1838, repurchased the Messenger. This was the year of the Gubernatorial contest between David Rittenhouse Porter, Democrat, and Joseph Ritner, Whig, or Anti-mason, as the party was designated at that time in Pennsylvania. The contest was a heated one, and the Messenger conducted the canvass with great spirit and success, the majority for Porter in the county reaching over 700, nearly double the Democratic majority up to that time. Mr. Irons retained control of the Messenger until the autumn of 1840, when he sold it to Charles A. Black, and went to Uniontown, where he be- came proprietor of the Genius of Liberty.
*
343
HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY.
Mr. Black was a polished writer and gained deserved reputation as an editor. But he retained the paper but two years, when he sold it to James W. Hays. At the expiration of two years more Mr. Hays sold it to W. T. H. Panley in the fall of 1844, just prior to the election of James K. Polk to the Presidency of the United States. The Democratic majority in this election reached about 900. Mr. Pauley sold the paper in the spring of 1852 to John M. Stock- dale and James S. Jennings, but at the expiration of a year the Mes- senger reverted to Mr. Pauley. In the spring of 1857 Mr. Pauley sold a half interest in the paper to James S. Jennings, and in the spring of 1859, having rented his half interest, retired to a farm where he remained till the spring of 1867, when he again took full control of the Messenger. Mr. Panley conducted it with his usual success until Jannary, 1883, when he leased it for a term of five years to Col. James S. Jennings, who in turn rented it to Messrs. Wood- ruff and Dinsmore, and before the expiration of the original lease of five years the paper had been transferred to A. E. Patterson.
On the 1st of January 1888, at the expiration of the five years lease, the Messenger reverted to its owner. W. T. II. Panley, who associated with himself his two sons, James J. and John F. Pauley, by whom it is now published. With the exception of a period of four years, from 1838 to 1842, Mr. Pauley senior has been elosely associated with the Messenger, in the various capacities of appren- tice, publisher, owner, and editor, for a term of over fifty-five years, -having first entered the office as an apprentice to John Evans, on the 14th day of May, 1833. The Messenger has always been a Demo- cratic paper, and radically so while under the editorial control of its present senior editor.
The Waynesburg Republican was founded in 1833 by Job Smith Goff, the editor and proprietor. The first number was issued on Tuesday, May 14. of that year, under the title of "The Greene County Republican." It was published weekly. After an existence of a year or more the paper lapsed for want of support. In 1838, . however, the type and presses were purchased by James W. Moor- head, and the paper was again started under the title of the Greene County Whig. A brother of Mr. Moorhead afterwards acquired possession of it and it was published until 1841, when it again lapsed.
In 1843 it was revived by S. Sigfried, Jr., who had charge of the paper until 1851, when it passed into the hands of Thomas Porter, a .young man of spirit and enterprise, who purchased a new press and type. Young Porter died, and as a consequence the paper was not published for some months. In 1852 the leaders of the Whig party in Greene County purchased it and induced General J. H. Wells to 1 assume charge of it. At the retirement of General Wells the press and outfit of the office were purchased by Joseph Cook, who changed
344
HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY.
the name of the paper to the Waynesburg Eagle. In 1856 E. R. Bartleson became the editor and proprietor. Under his charge the original name, Greene County Republican, was again restored. From his hands the paper passed to the charge of L. K. Evans, who remained as editor during the period of the civil war 1861-5, though during the period that Mr. Evans was in the army the paper was in charge of George Cook, but with the name of Evans appearing as editor.
The paper subsequently became the property of Ridde and Clark, and was placed first in charge of A. Watkins and afterwards was con- ducted for a short time by G. W. Daugherty. In 1866 it was purchased by James E. Sayers, under whose management the paper flourished. He gave it its present name, the Waynesburg Republican, making the change in order to identify the paper with the town. In 1868 Mr. Sayers disposed of the paper to James N. Miller, who changed its name to the Repository, but only retained possession of it for two years, when he sold it to W. G. W. Day, who remained in charge of the paper for a longer period of time than any of his predecessors. He again restored the name Waynesburg Republican. He proved himself .a spirited and able editor, and during his ownership the paper was enlarged and improved. He purchased a new press and introduced steam power.
In 1884 Mr. Day disposed of a half interest in the paper to 1. 11. Knox. It was conducted under the charge and editorship of Day and Knox until February, 1885, when Mr. Day disposed of his re- maining interest to G. W. Ray and J. P. Teagarden. The firm of Knox, Ray, and Teagarden, now publishing the paper, was then formed with Mr. Knox as editor and manager. The paper is the only organ of the Republican party in Greene County and is one of the foremost country papers in the commonwealth.
The Waynesburg Independent was founded in 1872 by two printers, Z. C. Ragan and J. W. Axtell, who conceived the idea of establishing a paper untramelled by partisan interest, and especially devoted to the growth and prosperity of Greene County. Before the first number was issued over 1,100 subscribers had been obtained. At no time has its patronage been less, and at present it has a eir- culation beyond most county papers of the State-3,100. The enter- prise was not, however, without its share of good and ill fortune; but in face of the predictions of failure, and the trials incident to so large an outlay dependent upon the caprice of public patronage, it has attained a firm footing, and in May, 1875, the proprietors in- troduced the first power steam printing press in Greene County. This was regarded as a remarkable indication of enterprise and skill.
In the fall of 1877 Mr. Axtell disposed of his interest to W. W. Rodehaner, who continued a member of the firm for about three years. In the fall of 1880 he sold his interest to W. W. Evans,
MUM: Clelland
347
HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY.
previously of the Moundsville Reporter, who is still associated with Mr. Ragan, one of the original founders. As in its inception, the paper continued to meet with opposition. The Independent had taken a firm s'and against the liqnor traffic, and other sources of evil, which provoked bitter resentment. In November, 1884, the office of the Independent, machinery and entire outfit, were utterly destroyed by fire, entailing a loss to its proprietors of nearly $5,000, on which was an insurance of only $2,000. This was a discouraging reverse, and one which swept away at one blow the accumulations of many years, and threatened to stamp the Independent out of exist- ence. But the gentlemen who were at the head of the enterprise were of that stuff that knows no such word as fail, and after the lapse of four years, with its rebuff's and struggles, it has been re-established with something more than its pristine strength and vigor, and still maintains unswervingly its original mnotto.
The Greene County Democrat. Through the solicitation of promi- nent independent democrats, who believed that it would be for the best interests of their party as well as of the people, to have two Demo- cratic papers published in a county where the majority of the dominant party is so large, J. F. Campbell, an experienced news- paper man of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, came to Waynesburg in the fall of 1881, and with the assistance of D. R. P. Ilass, an attorney of the Waynesburg bar, established the Greene County Democrat. The material with which the paper was first printed had been used in the publication of the Washington (D. C.) Standard, a paper that had ended its existence after a brief career, and was purchased at the National Capital by Mr. Hass. The first number of the Democrat was issued Saturday, December 17, 1881. Mr. Campbell published the paper with varying success until March, 1882, when he disposed of his interest to a company of Waynesburg capitalists, who held it but a short time until it was sold to Simon R. Hass, Jr.
Mr. Hass entered upon his duties as editor and proprietor April 15. 1882, and under his management the paper prospered in the in- crease of its circulation and popularity. On the 11th of July, 1884, the entire property was purchased by F. M. Spragg, who conducted the paper with the aid of Mr. Hass, who was retained as associate editor, with credit to himself and satisfaction to its readers. On April 11, 1885, a half interest was sold by Mr. Spragg to Colonel James S. Jennings, whose experience in the newspaper business ex- tended through many years. Messrs. Spragg and Jennings, editors and proprietors, with Mr. Hass as associate editor, published a paper that was generally recognized as an excellent local sheet, and the organ of the party of commanding influence, in Greene County.
James W. Hays, Jr., became sole editor and proprietor on Oc- tober 3, 1887, and under his able management its circle of readers is
348
HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY.
daily widening. The Democrat is in the convenient form of a folio, 22×28, and is printed on a large Taylor steam cylinder press. To the old Stundard outfit much new material has been added from time to time by its successive publishers until the paper now ranks among the best equipped country printing offices in the State. The job department is complete, its facilities for plain and fancy work being unexcelled.
CHAPTER XXIII.
THE CUMBERLAND ROAD-RECOMMENDED BY WASHINGTON-CANAL- OHIO ADMITTED IN 1802-ACT AUTHORIZING ROAD IN 1806 ALBERT GALLATIN-REFUSES TO INTERFERE-PRESIDENT MADISON -- BY WASHINGTON -- FINISHED IN 1820-SPECIFICATIONS-AP- PEARED EXCELLENT-MATERIAL DEFECTIVE-TRAFFIC IMMENSE --- SPEEDY REPAIRS-DELAFIELD AND CASS-LIMESTONE RENEWAL- CEDED TO THE STATES-TOLL HOUSES-". OYSTER LINE"-MONKEY Box LINE-1852 PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD AND BALTIMORE & OHIO OPENED -- BALTIMORE & OMO PUSHED OUT OF PENN- SYLVANIA-CAUSE OF OPPOSITION-WASHINGTON & WAYNESBURG RAILROAD-BY THE HILLS-CIRCUITOUS-NOVEL EXPERIENCE.
W TILLS CREEK, or, as it was subsequently called, Cumberland, Maryland, was regarded as the extreme verge of civilization in the early stages of colonization. It was by this route that the early pioneers from Maryland and Virginia went as they penetrated into the Monon- galiela and Ohio country. This route Washington followed on his expedition which terminated in the disastrous affair at Fort Necessity, on the 4th of July, 1754, and this Braddock pursued in his un- fortunate campaign of the following year. An apology for a road was ent through this rugged country for the passage of artillery and trains, on the occasion of these expeditions, to Redstone on the Monongahela River; but the frosts of winter, and the rains of spring and fall, soon effaced the small improvements made, until there was scarcely a trace left of them. The later military expeditions followed the route of Forbes, which was wholly in Pennsylvania, correspond- ing to the Pennsylvania Railroad as that by Cumberland did to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.
As we have already seen the progress of the carlier settlers was very slow and toilsome in the first years of settlement in reaching
349
HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY.
the lands upon the Monongahela. The war of the Revolution coming on, for eight years the subject of a great highway to the west, which had begun to be seriously considered, was interrupted. Soon after the close of the war, General Washington, who had come to feel a fatherly care for all that pertained to the welfare of his country, and who had long meditated the necessity of easy communication between the East and the West, made a journey of exploration to the Ohio country. His favorite project was a great water-way from the waters of the Potomac to those of the Ohio. He conceived that a canal might be cut by way of the head-waters of the Potomac to some point on the. Monongahela River which could easily waft the vast tonnage and passenger traffic which he clearly forsaw would soon set towards this delectable country, the new Eldorado. In the year 1784 he made the journey. From Cumberland to Redstone was familiar ground; but when arrived at the head-waters of the Youghiog hany he took to a canoe, and floated down that stream to the Falls of the Ohio; thence he rode across the country to the Monongahela; thence up that stream into Virginia, and finally across the country to the Ohio River. At convenient points he met the settlers, and made particular inquiries in regard to the feasibility of the several routes. It was while on this journey that he met, for the first time, Albert Gallatin, then a young man, who subsequently became eminent as an American statesman, by whose opinions and testimony Washington was much impressed.
But Washington became convinced, that, in the financial em- barrassment of the country, it could not undertake the vast out'ay needed to build a canal over the Alleghanies; but he was strongly impressed with the feasibility of a great national road across the mountains. In his administration of eight years the subject was kept before the people; but was not urged, as debt still rested, like an incubus, on the young nation. In Adams' administration the subject was brought before Congress, but failed of any action. Pres- ident Jefferson in his first message recommended action, but nothing resulted from it. Finally, in 1802, Ohio was admitted into the Union as a State, and in the act of admission it was provided that one-twentieth of the proceeds of the sale of lands should be devoted to the construction of roads from the Atlantic sea-board to the Ohio country. In 1806 an act was passed authorizing the laying out and making of a road from Cumberland to the State of Ohio, and com- missioners were appointed for its survey. If a straight line be drawn from Cumberland to Wheeling, Virginia, the objective point aimed at, it will pass through New Salem and will cut Jefferson, Nineveh and West Finley. It was not, of course, practicable to lay the road on an entirely straight line; yet it was, eventually, laid on almost exactly such a line until it reached the Laurel Ridge, when
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.