USA > Pennsylvania > Huntingdon County > History of Huntingdon County, in the state of Pennsylvania : from the earliest times to the centennial anniversary of American independence, July 4, 1876 > Part 21
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CHAPTER XXXV.
1
TOWNSHIPS-DIVISIONS AND SUB-DIVISIONS-ERECTED FROM TYRONE-FROM IIUNTINGDON-FROM BARREE-FROM HOPEWELL-FROM SHIRLEY-FROM DUBLIN-TOWNSHIPS FORMED SINCE THE ERECTION OF THE COUNTY, IN THE ORDER OF THEIR AGES-BARREE-HOPEWELL.
The townships wholly or partly within the present limits of Huntingdon county at the time of its- erection in 1787, were Tyrone, Barree, Huntingdon, Hopewell, Shirley and Dublin. Frankstown and Woodbury townships, which were within the county when formed, were parts of the territory of which Blair county was erected in 1846. Tyrone town- ship was also partly within the latter county.
Those six original townships have been divided and sub- divided, until the number is now twenty-five. Four of them -Barree, Hopewell, Shirley and Dublin-are still in exis- tence, although much reduced in extent, while Tyrone and Huntingdon no longer exist in Huntingdon county. The townships erected from each of them are as follows:
From Tyrone have been formed Franklin, Morris and Warrior's Mark.
From Huntingdon have been formed Henderson, Porter, Walker, Brady, Juniata and part of Oneida.
From Barree have been formed West, Jackson and part of Oneida.
From Hopewell have been formed Union, Tod, Cass, Penn, Carbon and Lincoln.
From Shirley have been formed Clay and parts of Spring- field and Cromwell.
From Dublin have been formed Tell and parts of Spring- field and Cromwell.
The present townships at the time of their formation did not all belong to the original townships, some of them being the result of two or three subdivisions. Thus Warriors' Mark, although a part of the original township of Tyrone,
263
HISTORY OF HUNTINGDON COUNTY.
was formed from Franklin. The townships erected since the county, in the order of their ages, are as follows :
TOWNSHIP. WIIEN ERECTED.
FROM.
Franklin,
March, 1789,
Tyrone.
Springfield,
December, 1790,
Dublin and Shirley.
· Union,
June, 1791,
Hopewell.
Morris,
August, 1794,
Tyrone.
- West,
April, 1796,
Barree.
Warriors' Mark, Toll,
April, 1810,
Dublin.
Henderson,
November, 1814,
Huntingdon.
Porter,
November, 1814,
Huntingdon.
Walker,
April, 1827,
Porter.
Cromwell,
January, 1836,
Shirley and Springfield.
Tod,
April, 1838,
Union.
Cass,
January 21st, 1843,
Union.
Jackson,
January 15th, 1845,
Barree.
Clay,
April 15th, 1845,
Springfield.
Brady,
April, 1846,
Henderson.
Penn,
November 21, 1846,
Hopewell.
Oneida,
August 20th, 1856,
Henderson and West.
Juniata,
November 19, 1856,
Walker.
Carbon,
April 23d, 1858,
Tod.
Lincoln,
August 18th, 1866,
Hopewell.
Barree township, in 1771, the year of the erection of Bed- ford county, embraced a much greater extent of territory than in 1787, a very large proportion of it having been taken off between those years in the formation of other townships. It then included all that part of the present county of Huntingdon lying northwest of Jack's mountain, and may be said to be the mother of townships, seventeen having been taken from her original limits. She has thus been reduced in· extent to about four miles in average width, from West and Oneida townships to Jackson, and ten or twelve miles in length, from the summit of Standing Stone mountain and the Mifflin county line on the southeast to the summit of Tussey's mountain and the Centre county line on the northwest.
The only considerable elevation between the mountains which form two of its boundaries is Warrior's Ridge, cross- ing it south and east of its centre. On one side of this ridge flow the waters of Shaver's creek, and on the other side
January, 1798,
Franklin.
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HISTORY OF HUNTINGDON COUNTY.
those of Standing Stone creek. The two branches of the latter unite in the township.
It contains iron ore, yielding forty-two per cent. of metal. The extent of the deposits are comparatively unknown, as they are yet undeveloped.
Monroe Furnace, situated in the extreme northwestern corner of the township, near the Jackson township line, was built in 1844 or '45 by General James Irvin, of Centre county. It now belongs to the Logan Iron and Steel Com- pany, and has not been in operation for many years.
There are three post-offices in the township-Cornpropst's Mill, on Standing Stone creek, and Manor Hill and Sauls- burg, between Warrior's Ridge and Shaver's creek. At each of these places there are villages containing schools and stores, and the latter two have hotels. Manor Hill is upon the " Shaver's creek manor," surveyed for the proprietaries of the province in 1762, from which the place derives its name.
Hopewell township, now reduced to one of the smallest in the county, is bounded on the north by Lincoln, on the southeast by Tod and Carbon, being separated from them by Terrace mountain, on the southwest by Bedford county, and on the northwest by Blair. The Huntingdon and Broad- Top Mountain Railroad runs through it from northeast to southwest, and the Raystown branch of the Juniata winds its serpentine course in the same general direction. The sur- face of the township is rugged and broken, its proximity to the giant road Top giving it many of the features of a mining region without the advantages of being so in reality. The township contains no post-office, the people being ac- commodated with this facility at Coalmont, in Carbon town- ship, and at Saxton, in Bedford county.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
DUBLIN TOWNSHIP-THE SHADOW OF DEATH-EARLY SETTLERS-ALEXANDER BLAIR-MANUFACTORIES-DEVELOPMENT OF MINERAL WEALTH-SHADE GAP-INCORPORATION AS A BOROUGH-CHURCHES, ETC.
Dublin township is situated in the extreme southern end of the county, extending farther south than any other. It is separated from Franklin county on the east, by the Tus- carora mountain, from Springfield and Cromwell townships, on the west, by Shade mountain, and is bounded on the north by Tell township, and on the south by Fulton county.
The Indian war-path, upon which the traders and other early adventurers traveled, traversed this township, and therefore we trace the presence of white men back to the expeditions of Conrad Weiser and George Croghan in 1748. "The Shadow of Death" is mentioned by John Harris, in his " account of the road to Logstown," in 1754. The name has undergone some changes, appearing in warrants issued between 1762 and 1767, as the "Shades of Death." Within the recollection of persons still living it was known as " The Shades," and more recently it has been transformed into " Shade Gap," the name of a flourishing borough, and the only post-office in the township.
In addition to the warrants dated prior to the Revolu- tionary war, there is other evidence attesting the presence of settlers before that period. There are graves scattered in out-of-the-way places through the township, of which no ac- count is given except that they are the resting places of the earliest white residents of the region. In a field of Mr. Kough's are pointed out the tombs of Samuel Paul and wife, who lived and died there, perhaps the very first in the township. Half a mile distant are buried four unknown persons, and other graves are to be found equally obscure.
George Croghan, whose name appears so frequently upon the records of the Land Office and in connection with early titles in this county that we cannot mistake his proclivities
266
HISTORY OF HUNTINGDON COUNTY.
towards speculation and jobbing, had surveyed upon a war- rant a valuable tract of land near Shade Gap, containing about 876 acres. This was among the first surveys, if there were any preceding it, and upon it was made one of the first settlements.
The following account of the family which has there re- sided for more than a hundred and ten years, is furnished for this work by Dr. J. A. Shade :
" In the year 1755 a Scotch-Irishman by the name of Alexander Blair came to Chester county, Pa., where he stopped awhile, and married a woman (Rachel Carson,) who came with him, somewhere about 1765, to Dublin township, and having bought a part of the Croghan tract of land, set- tled thereon ; and during all the subsequent years this land has been and is now held by the family.
" On this land these pioneers are buried-here they led a most adventurous and eventful life far from the associations and attractions of civilized society, occasionally visited by the savages, and in the beginning with a natural constant fear of their incursions.
" It is related that about this time, during a hard winter, Alexander Blair traveled on the snow in snow-shoes to his neighbor Jacob Gooshorn's house in Tell township, about nine miles distant, with a bag of corn on his back, when the two made a small light sled, and on this each one put his little bag of corn, and with snow-shoes on their feet hauled it on top of the deep snow to a mill that stood on the Juni- ata river somewhere below McVeytown.
"From a very early day the old Blair house, built by Alexander Blair, and which was burnt last fall, was the centre of trade and travel. All the wagons going to and from Baltimore made it their stopping place; all the law- yers passing to and fro between Chambersburg and Hun- tingdon sojourned over night there; all the elections and all the militia trainings were held there. The first store was established there, as well as the first tavern. It was for a very long time the only stopping place between Shir- leysburg and Burnt Cabins, and from all accounts was in-
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HISTORY OF HUNTINGDON COUNTY.
deed a grand old hostelry of the olden times, full of good cheer, and belated travelers would push long into the night to make that their resting place.
" John Blair, one of a number of sons and daughters born here to this worthy old couple, is a marked man in the his- tory of Dublin township. He early displayed his charac- teristic energy and force; he bought some two hundred acres more of the Croghan land adjoining his father's prop- erty, and soon developed it from its native woods into a beautiful farm, where he lived and died at a good age in 1841. For a good many years, from quite a young man, Mr. Blair was Justice of the Peace, and a ruling Elder in the Presbyterian church. During all the long period he held the office of magistrate, the records of Huntingdon will show that no appeal or certiorari was ever taken in any case decided by him, and no criminal business was passed from his docket to the Court of Quarter Sessions. His in- fluence and energy were exerted up to the very last of his useful life for the benefit of the neighborhood, and he died much regretted."
David Cree and wife, from Philadelphia, settled on a fine tract of limestone land in the southern part of the township, owned by Nathan McDowell, of Peters township, Franklin county, from whom they rented, about the year 1773. They paid an annual rental, as appears from the original article of agreement, of ten pounds. The land was afterwards bought by Cree, and remained in the possession of his family until a few years ago. Ten children were born to him there, and they and their descendants are among the most respectable people of the county. One of the latter is Thomas K. Cree, so well known in connection with the Young Men's Christian Association. The farm passed into the hands of James Clymans, its present owner, and is now one of the best in the township.
About the same year, John Walker settled on a tract ad- joining Cree's, and extending to the Tuscarora mountain, near by. This land was also held by the Walker family till very recently.
268
HISTORY OF HUNTINGDON COUNTY.
James McCardle, at the time of the Cree and Walker set- tlements, lived on the Tuscarora mountain, about a mile from the latter. It is supposed that he was among the very earliest settlers and his house one of the first built in the township, dating back anterior to the advent of Cree and Walker.
During the decade from 1780 to 1790, the number of set- tlements increased rapidly. Many then came to the town- ship whose descendants still occupy the paternal acres. It was in or about the former year that James McGee took up some land adjoining the Croghan tract.
In 1782 George Hudson came from Carlisle and settled at Shade Gap, living in a cabin and purchasing some " squatter claims," for which there were no warrants, and thus secured a large and valuable scope of land immediately adjoining the gap, much of which remains in the possession of his descendants to this day. He was a man of fine quali- ties and of great usefulness and influence. He became a magistrate and established a woolen mill and a grist mill near the gap at an early period, improvements which were of vast value to the community, but which have been re- placed by other and better ones. "Good morning, neigh- bors," was the salutation of old Mr. Hudson, as he met the fathers at the door of the church coming up to worship.
William Morrow and John Appleby settled along the Kittanning or Indian path, in the ridges about two miles east of Shade Gap, and James Wilson and William More- land in the same neighborhood. The land there was con- sidered the most desirable because it was smooth and easy to clear in comparison with that along the mountains, but now the preponderance of value is largely in favor of the latter. About the centre of this settlement was built per- haps the first school house in the township. Another was built on Jerry's ridge shortly afterwards, if not at the same time. Among the earliest teachers were James McGee, William Woods and George Moreland.
Settlements were made about the same period by Robert and Alexander McElroy and Robert and William Marshall
269
HISTORY OF HUNTINGDON COUNTY.
on the Hunting ridge, and by James Morton and Wil- liam Fleming at the foot of the Tuscarora mountain. Arch- ibald Stitt also settled near the foot of the same mountain, adjoining Tell township, where he lived a long and useful life. He was a respected elder of the Presbyterian church for many years, and has left numerous descendants in the township and county. Peterson, Johnson, Harper, Jeffries, Curry, Neely, Rouse and Shearer are names of other settlers whose families are yet to some extent represented in the township.
There was no blacksmith shop nearer than Burnt Cabins or Orbisonia previous to 1803, when Michael Mills estab- lished one near Shade Gap. It was in existence until the death of his son William Mills, three years ago.
Esquire Blair and Mr. Harper each conducted tan-yards from an early period. Within a few years past the Blair yard has developed in the hands of John Minich, who bought it, into a large steam tannery, doing a heavy and successful business. The Harper yard has gone out of use.
The only other manufacturing establishments of ancient or modern times worthy of being mentioned, are the distil- leries, which were not uncommon in the beginning of this century, several having existed in the township for a long period, making a considerable market for rye, which was then largely cultivated. From all accounts intemperance was not then any more prevalent than at present and was quite as unpopular.
The date when a wagon road was made through the township and through Shade Gap is uncertain. Joshua Morgan, of Black Log valley, who died many years ago, is said to have been the first man who drove a team through the gap.
While there have been no startling discoveries made in this township, and no unexpected attractions presented to invite and stimulate rapid increase of population and wealth, there has been a healthy onward movement, which is gather- ing force as it progresses, and just now bids fair to culminate in splendid developments. It has been found that the town-
270
HISTORY OF HUNTINGDON COUNTY.
ship contains large deposits of very valuable fossil and hema- tite iron ores, which have already been partially instrumental in originating two furnaces, among the largest in the State, within six miles of Shade Gap, with an accompanying rail- road, which is expected soon to traverse the township and perhaps lead to other furnaces. The lands that were in the woods a hundred years ago, have been changed to fruitful fields. Numerous farms and homes of beauty and culture have taken the place of the wilderness of that day. A thou- sand people now dwell in comfort where it was then difficult to trace a single white man, and a flourishing village, the centre of trade of the township, attests the march of improvement.
Dr. J. A. Shade settled at Shade Gap, in 1842, to practice medicine, and as the only buildings there were occupied by B. X. Blair, as store and residence, and by W. Mills, he found it necessary to build himself a dwelling; and having erected a tasty and substantial structure, for the times, others were induced to follow his example. In 1849, Milnwood Academy came into existence through the energy and zeal of the Presbyterian pastor, Rev. J. F. McGinnes. Its pros- perity added to the prosperity of Shade Gap, and thenceforth the village grew, until, on the petition of Dr. Shade, H. R. Shearer, S. D. Caldwell, George Sipes, and divers other citizens, it was at the April Sessions, 1871, ordained a borough by the Court of Huntingdon county.
The incorporation of the place was followed by a marked increase in building and more attention to the improvement of the streets. It now contains several stores, two hotels, the various mechanics, and two or three doctors, all doing well. Thirty years ago, Dr. Shade was the only physician in a territory now sustaining fifteen medical gentlemen.
The Methodist church in Shade Gap was built in 1846. There had previously been a log church belonging to the same denomination, in the southern part of the township, on lands of Isaac Thompson, built largely by his means. This has been vacated and is now gone, but a better struc- ture took its place at Burnt Cabins, two miles distant.
271
HISTORY OF HUNTINGDON COUNTY.
The Presbyterian church adjacent to, but not within the borough, was built in 1848 or '49, under the instrumentality of the pastor, Rev. Mr. McGinnes. It succeeded a white rough cast church, which was the original structure the early settlers worshiped in, and which was probably built about 1790, though the records fail to indicate the time of its erection or the organization of the congregation. The first pastor of whom there is any account was the Rev. Mr. McIlvaine. He was succeeded by Rev. George Gray, who for more than twenty years ministered to the spiritual wants of the people. The present pastor is Rev. Mr. Kuhn. Including the church at the foot of Tuscarora mountain, three miles from Shade Gap, built eight or ten years ago, the number of members is about one hundred and eighty.
CHAPTER XXX VII.
SHIRLEY TOWNSHIP-EARLY SETTLERS-MILLS-STORES-DRAKE'S FERRY -- CLINTONVILLE-SANTA FE-MOUNT UNION-IRON ORES OF THE SOUTHERN PART OF THE COUNTY-IMPROVEMENTS IN MOUNT UNION AND VICINITY- JET D'EAU AND HOTEL DES INVALIDES-SHIRLEYSBURG.
Shirley is one of the largest, and with its two boroughs, Mount Union and Shirleysburg, is the most populous town- ship in the county. It extends from the Juniata river on the north to Cromwell township on the south, and from Shade mountain on the southeast to Jack's mountain on the northwest. There are running through it, parallel with its two last mentioned boundaries, Black Log mountain, Owen's ridge, Chestnut ridge and Stony ridge, dividing it into a number of valleys, each of which is watered by a stream flowing towards the Juniata. The principal of these are Black Log creek, the Aughwick and Hill valley run.
The township, as well as the town of Shirleysburg, derives its name from Fort Shirley, which was located within the limits of the latter.
A few of the remote descendants of the early settlers of Shirley township may be found in the Davis, Morgan, Clugage and Sharrer families. The Galbraiths, who were pioneers of Germany valley, the Warners, of Shirleysburg, and the Matthews, who lived south of the town, have not left their names to perpetuate their memory. The Matthews burying ground, on land of Mr. A. L. Ricketts, containing a score or more of the old settlers' graves, cannot now be recognized, having long since been farmed and plowed over.
The first grist mill of any note in the township was the old log mill on Fort run, above the one now owned by Mr. Heffner. Other old mills stood near Mount Union, in Hill valley near the site of the Brewster tannery, and on lands adjoining William Morrison's heirs. These preceded the Bedford Furnace mill, now Mr. Thomas E. Orbison's, at Orbisonia, which far exceeded in capacity anything of the
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HISTORY OF HUNTINGDON COUNTY.
kind in its day in that section. It has been succeeded by Baker's, now Bell's, mill, on the Juniata, at the lower end of Germany valley, built about the year 1800, by Peter and Abraham Baker, who came from Maryland; by Heffner's mill, built by David Eby ; by the Old Log mill, built by Mr. Crownover; by the Aughwick or Brick mill built by Eby & Madden, and by a second mill on the stream or run near Mount Union, built by the Shaver brothers, and now owned by Mr. David Etnier, who has greatly enlarged and improved it.
There were two powder-mills in operation in the town- ship in the early part of the present century, one built by the Sharrer brothers below Shirleysburg, and the other by Adam and Paul Sharrer on Sugar run.
In 1820 Shirley township, then including parts of Crom- well and Clay, had but two small stores. There was none south of it nearer than Burnt Cabins, nor north nearer than the Red house, above Mill Creek. Now there are within the same territory twenty-five or more doing a prosperous business. Prior to the making of the Pennsylvania canal, merchandise was brought into that portion of the county in wagons, by way of Shade Gap, and the surplus productions were carried away by arks, one ark each spring being suffi- cient and it was sometimes necessary to make out the load with whisky and locust posts. Immediately after the com- pletion of the canal, agriculture took a new impetus and population began to increase. Additional iron works were erected within the portion of the township from which Crom- well has since been formed.
Drake's Ferry on the Juniata, above the present site of Mount Union, owned and managed by the Drake family, was a source of considerable revenue, as it was on the great thoroughfare from Huntingdon to Chambersburg, Hagerstown, Harper's Ferry and Baltimore, and the principal route of traffic during the first quarter of the present cen- tury. Merchandise from Baltimore came into the county by way of Fort Loudon, passing around the end of the Kit- tatinny mountain, and through Cowen's and Shade gaps.
S
274
HISTORY OF HUNTINGDON COUNTY.
From Bedford furnace the road struck the end of Sandy ridge, below the furnace, and followed the top and bench of the ridge to near where the Dunkard church now stands in Germany valley, thence to the gap near Christian Price's resi- dence, and following nearly its present bed to Drake's ferry, "a route," in the language of John Dougherty, "first trod by the deer and elk, followed by the Indian, the trapper, the trader and the wagoner, and, on the extension of the East Broad Top railroad, sixteen miles, to the water shed divid- ing the Juniata and the Potomac rivers, and thence by way of Cowen's gap to Richmond, the present terminus of the Southern Pennsylvania railroad, trade and travel will again flow through these channels from Mount Union to Baltimore and Washington cities, and cars laden with East Broad Top and Rocky ridge coal for the counties of Fulton, Franklin, York and Adams, and western Maryland, will bring back red and brown hematite iron ores from the iron mountains of Fulton county to mix with the fossiliferous ores mined from the foot-hills around Mount Union, and make it neces- sary to utilize the twenty-two feet fall at the bend of the Juniata river, where iron may be made at low cost and re- munerative prices."
On the opening of the Pennsylvania canal, Thomas T. Cromwell, proprietor of Winchester Furnace, located a town, to which he gave the name of Clintonville, at Drake's ferry, and Dr. James G. Lightner and Colonel Pollock built a wharf there, from which pig metal from Matilda and Win- chester furnaces was shipped.
Whilst Messrs. Cromwell, Lightner, Pollock, Cottrell Caldwell and Fenn were endeavoring to build up a town at that point, William Wakefield and Joseph Strudc opened a store, wharf and warehouse at Shaver's aqueduct, at the lower end of the present site of Mount Union, and John Shaver and James Kelly occupied with their wharves and warehouses other positions along the canal west of the aqueduct. Kelly called his locality Santa Fe, the city of the holy faith, a name that Queen Isabella gave to a city built on the site of Granada, the last stronghold of the crescent in Spain.
275
HISTORY OF HUNTINGDON COUNTY.
From 1830 to 1850, trade, business and travel were con- fined to the vicinity of the canal, and although the Penn- sylvania railroad was completed in the latter year, and churches, town hall and numerous dwellings and places of business have been built south of the railroad, yet a consid- erable portion of trade and traffic is still done along the canal, the owners of wharfs and warehouses awaiting the day when barges and packet boats shall not only rival but take precedence of locomotives and Pullman palace cars.
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