USA > Pennsylvania > Jefferson County > History of Jefferson county, Pennsylvania, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 59
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After being prisoners for over three years, these two girls, with two Eng- lishmen, escaped, and after innumerable perils, succeeded in reaching Fort Duquesne, at Pittsburgh.
The Mahoning Creek, upon which Punxsutawney is situated, was called by the Indians, " Mohulbucteetam,3 i. c., where canoes are abandoned," and is one of the historic streams of the country. The signification of the name proves what has already been said about the Indians ascending as far as Punx- sutawney in their canoes, and then proceeding across the mountain by the Chincklacamoose path on foot.
Some writers have claimed that the name Mahoning meant in the Indian tongue, "dancing waters," and "fountain of the clouds ;" but both these sig- nifications are erroneous. Mr. J. W. Jordan, of the Pennsylvania Historical Society, who is familiar with the Indian dialects, says : " The Delaware word Mahoni means a lick. This name was a very common one for rivers and places in the Delaware country, along which or where the surface of the ground was covered with saline deposits or efflorescence provincially called licks, from the fact of deer, elk, and other animals frequenting them and lick- ing the saltish earth. I may add the following, Mahoni is Delaware for a lick. Mahonitty signifies a diminutive lick, and Mahon-haine a stream flowing from or near a lick."
This proves, therefore, that the white settlers discarded the Indian name of the stream, "Mohulbucteetam," and merely retained the signification of
1 Chinklacamoose, on the site of the present town of Clearfield.
2 Punxsutawney, in Jefferson county.
3 Corrupted from Mochoolpakiton .- J. W. Jordan.
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
the licks from where it had its source, which has become corrupted into Mahoning.
Early Settlers .- In 1818 Dr. John W. Jenks came to Punxsutawney and at once began to make preparations for a permanent settlement there, and for over thirty years was one of the most prominent citizens of the county. In 1820 he built, in connection with David Barclay, the mill on Elk Run. " His first house was a small log one built a little north of what was known as Farmer's Alley," and he afterwards built a commodious residence where his son Phineas now resides. Dr. Jenks kept open house all those early years of his residence in Punxsutawney. Travelers from far and near made his house their stopping place. His hospitality was dispensed liberally, and without any compensation, and it was owing to this hospitality and generosity that he did not become a rich man. It was said of him, that while his house was the best patronized in the county in those early days, the only difference between it and the hotels was that the " Jenks House had no license, and made no charge."
Rev. David Barclay came with Dr. Jenks in the summer or fall of 1818, and selected the land upon which Punxsutawney is now located, for their future home. They then returned east for their families and were accompanied on their return to the wilderness by Nathaniel Tindle and family, and Elijah Heath. Dr. Jenks on his arrival left his wife and one child, David Barclay Jenks, at the house of Carpenter Winslow, while he got his own cabin ready for them to occupy. Mr. C. R. White, an aged citizen, of Covode, Indiana county, who came with his parents to this region in June, 1818, says:
" I went with my father, John White, to the place (where Dr. Jenks was building his house), and there were three persons besides Dr. Jenks, and they were raising the rafters on the roof of the house, the house had been raised a day or two before. There was Johnston Bailes, Dr. Jenks, and I think Daniel Graffius, a millwright, father and grandfather of the Graffiuses that live about there yet. The other man's name I cannot remember. C. C. Gaskill and James E. Cooper came here in the year ISIS, and Mr. Gaskill married Eliza Weaver, of Freeport, and Mr. Cooper married Molly Brady."
Mr. Gaskill had been sent by the Holland Land Company to act as their agent, in the disposal of their vast tracts of lands in Jefferson and adjoining counties. He settled in Punxsutawney in 1821, and his daughter, Cornelia, now the wife of Rev. John Graham, of the Erie Conference, was the first white female child born in the place. Phineas Jenks being the first child born there. Mr. Gaskill remained in Punxsutawney until 1849, when, having sold the remainder of the Holland Lands that he had not disposed of to settlers, to an eastern company, he returned to his home in Philadelphia, and died at Coop- er's Point, N. J., opposite Philadelphia, in 1872.
Aunt Betsy Gray, as she is familiarly called, is probably the oldest living resident of Punxsutawney. She is eighty-seven years of age, and came to the
LITTLE
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Insmore 1
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YOUNG TOWNSHIP AND PUNXSUTAWNEY.
town in 1825 from Westmoreland county, making the journey on horseback, and carrying her child, Fleming Caldwell.
Isaac P. Carmalt, John B. Henderson and John Hess, came to Punxsu- tawney in 1821. The former purchased a lot, but the following year pur- chased the property in Young township, where his history has already been given. Joseph Long settled in Punxsutawney in 1824. Then came William Campbell, Thomas McKee, John R. Reese, G. A. Mundorff, Ephraim Bair, William Davis, George Slaysman, James Torrence, John Drum, John C. Zeitler and others.
Joseph Long was born on the Rhine, at Radenloch, but had become a citizen of the United States in time to participate in the War of 1812, being commis- sioned an ensign by Governor Snyder, of Pennsylvania. In 1824 he removed from his home in Centre county, and settled in Punxsutawney, where he built a house on the southeast corner of the public square in 1825, occupied at present by Captain John T. Bell. In 1829 he purchased the Charles Barclay property on the site of the former St. Elmo Hotel, where he died on the 30th of November, 1832.
His son William, who is still a resident of Punxsutawney, was born in Cen- tre county in 1816. In 1839 he was elected first lieutenant of a volunteer company called the Jefferson Rangers, and was commissioned by Governor Porter. In 1840 he was chosen captain of the company, which office he held for seven years. His company, which was in the Third Battalion, Second Brigade, Fifteenth Division of Pennsylvania Militia, offered their services to the government during the first engagements in the war with Mexico in 1846, but their offer was not accepted by the president, enough troops being already in the field. Mr. Long still resides in Punxsutawney.
James St. Clair located in Punxsutawney in 1831, and lived first in a house on the corner of Penn street, north of the public square In 1839 he kept the National Hotel, but removed from it to Brookville, upon being elected sheriff in 1849. After his term of office expired he returned to Punxsutawney and resumed hotel keeping, which he continued for fifteen years, when he removed to Bell township, residing there until the spring of 1880, when he removed to Young township, adjoining the borough of Punxsutawney, where he now re- sides. In 1848 he was elected one of the associate judges, and in 1851 he built his grist-mill, which he still operates. Mr. St. Clair is now in his seven- ty-eighth year, and is yet active and able to superintend his business. Mrs. St. Clair, nec Margaret Mitchell, is but a year or two younger. Of their seven children, all are married, and all but one reside in the county. Robert, the oldest born, being a resident of Denver, the others, with the exception of the youngest daughter, Mrs. J. A. Scott, who resides in Brookville, live in Punx- sutawney.
William Campbell and his twin brother, Robert, came from Williamsburg, 62
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
Huntingdon county, in 1832, to Punxsutawney, and engaged in merchandis- ing and lumbering. The first lumber they took out they ran to Pittsburgh, where they found the cholera so bad that they could not sell, and ran on to Cincinnati, where they found the same state of things. There being no sale for timber, Mr. Campbell rented a saw-mill and manufactured his timber into boards, which he sold before he returned home. In 1833 he brought his fam- ily to Punxsutawney, where he continued a prominent and useful citizen until his death, March 30, 1868. Mrs. Campbell, née Martha Slaysman, died Octo- ber 12, 1873. Both were members of the Baptist church. Two of their sons, Thadeus and George, are prominent business men in Punxsutawney. William F., the other son, died August, 1887. Of the daughters, Mrs. Anna Altman and Mrs. Martha Stumph reside in Punxsutawney, Mrs. Amelia Murray in Gaskill township, Mrs. Margaret Little in Buffalo, N. Y., and Mrs. Sarah Smith in Brookville.
John Drum came to Punxsutawney in 1832. He was born in 1806 in Westmoreland county, where he learned the trade of a carpenter. He was an excellent mechanic, and there are many mementoes of his handiwork in the buildings erected by him in Punxsutawney. He served as county commis- sioner in 1844-6, and as justice of the peace for fifteen years. Mr. Drum and his wife are both dead. Of their children, only two reside in Punxsutawney- Mrs. John Evans, and Mrs. R. C. Winslow.
The first church was erected in Punxsutawney, a few rods west of the pres- ent Baptist Church ; it was built of hewed logs, and was used by the Presby- terians ; it was also used for a school-house. The first school-house in the Joeality was built about 1822, of round logs, and was located near the site of T. P. Pantall's residenee.
Punxsutawney, though the oldest town in all this region of country, having received its name over two hundred years ago from the Indians who first dwelt along the banks of the Mohulbueteetam, and planted their com in the " Indian bottom," and being also the first town laid out by the white man, its history as a " white man's town," dating from 1821, when it was laid out by Rev. David Barelay, did not improve very fast, and was but a small town until the devel- opment of the rich coal fields in its vicinity, and the building of the Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh railroad wakened it into life, and made it a town of importance as a coal center.
At the same time that he laid out the town, Mr. Barclay donated the plot of ground known as the public square, in the center of the town, which he had farmed for several years, and thus made it ready for the use to which he designed it-a publie park. The deed of gift was duly recorded in the office of the recorder of deeds of Indiana county, but for over sixty years this spot that was no doubt designed by the generous donor to be made a "thing of joy and beauty forever," received no attention from the citizens of the town,
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YOUNG TOWNSHIP AND PUNXSUTAWNEY.
but was allowed to lie unfenced and uncared for, a pasture for the festive geese, and the spot where the traveling showman erected his tent, until within a year or two a fence has been erected, and trees planted, and a promise is thus held forth that the people of Punxsutawney will yet convert this spot to the use for which it was undoubtedly intended.
Fire in Punxsutawney .- On the night of October 9, 1886, Punxsutawney was visited by a disastrous fire which destroyed the best part of the business portion of the town. The most prominent losers were: I. S. Rosenberger, large brick block and store goods, $14,000; insurance, $6,800. Mrs. M. A. Reese, dwelling and barn ; loss, $4,000 ; no insurance. Mrs. M. J. Stumph, millinery store ; loss, $500. F. Hummell, National Hotel ; loss, $20,000 ; in- surance, $3,500. St. Elmo Hotel ; loss, $20,000 ; insurance, $11,000. G. S. Campbell, groceries ; loss, $600; no insurance. Mrs. John G. Graf, residence ; loss, $2,500 ; insurance, $1,500. George M. Graf, furniture dealer ; loss, $250. First National Bank, $600. Joseph Williard, household goods, $1,500 ; insurance, $500. Barr & Cromer, loss on hotel, furniture, etc., $12,000 ; insu- rance, $4,700. Dr. Joseph Shields, drug store, $1,000. Jacob Zeitler, two story brick block and residence, $5,000.
The Business of Punxsutawney .- The first store was started in Punxsutaw ney in 1820 by Charles R. Barclay, where the City Hotel now stands ; the next by William Campbell, in 1832, who continued in the business of general merchandising for several years. The third store was started in 1836 or 1838 by John McCrea.
In 1832, according to Gordon's Gazetteer of Pennsylvania, Punxsutawney contained fifteen dwellings, two taverns and a store.
Since those first small beginnings, merchandising has been conducted by various parties, and those operating the different business enterprises, in 1887, are recorded below, with the changes that have occurred from time to time in the respective firms.
Ephraim Bair, general store; commenced in spring of 1865 ; he owns the brick building in which his store is located.
George W. Zeitler, general merchandise, from 1854 to 1879; now engaged in the grocery, flour and feed business.
I. S. Rosenberger has been in the general merchandising business for about twenty-two years.
North & Miller, general store ; dealers in carpets, millinery, etc. This firm own a large brick building ; their store, two rooms connected, one hundred and sixty feet in length ; started April, 1883.
Johnson & Fink, general store; established December, 1886; own a large brick building.
Dr. Joseph Shields, drug store ; also dealer in dry goods and groceries ; established in 1864; owns building in which he does business.
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
N. D. Corey, dealer in dry goods, groceries, etc., established by Shields & Dinsmore in 1885, then Dinsmore purchased the interest of Shields, and in turn sold to N. D. Corey in 1886.
J. A. Weber, clothing store, established in the fall of 1881.
St. Elmo clothing store, owned by Loeb & Co .; M. Fishman, manager ; established in 1882.
Greer Brothers, hardware store; established May, 1883.
F. J. Norton, general hardware store ; established February, 1887.
E. N. Wherle, watchmaker and jeweler ; established February, 1883.
W. M. Nickle, five cent store ; established June, 1885 ; Miss Cora Camp- bell, manager.
J. A. Lowry, dealer in tinware and stoves ; established April, 1882.
Dr. William Altman, drug store ; established May, 1883.
Dr. W. F. Beyer & Bro., drug store ; established April, 1880; owned by J. M. Beyer since 1883.
George S. Campbell, dealer in groceries and confectionery ; established in 1879.
Mrs. M. J. Stumph, millinery store; established about 1882.
Jacob Zeitler, saddlery and harness ; established about 1852.
James C. Shields, dealer in furniture. Furniture factory was started in 1873 by Morris & Shields, then W. A. Custer bought Morris's interest and it was run by Custer & Shields, then by J. C. Shields, then L. P. Graff became a partner, and was run by Shields & Graff for a short time, and then J. C. Shields again became sole proprietor.
William Riddle, shoemaker.
North & Morris, clothing store ; established in the spring of 1887.
B. Stumph, shoemaker; established about 1868.
D. W. Robinson, merchant tailor ; established in 1870.
Miller & Swartz, merchant tailors; established 1886. Mr. A. B. Miller, of this firm, has been in the business in Punxsutawney for over thirty years.
Nancy A. Y. Hoover, millinery store; has been engaged in the business for about eighteen years.
Kate R. Laughlin, millinery ; established in 1887.
Low's music store ; established spring of 1887.
Thomas Pantall, harness maker; established in 1882.
F. S. Thompson, Keystone Billiard Parlor ; established October, 1885.
J. W. Brown, billiard parlor ; established in 1885.
George A. Young, meat market ; established about 1884. J. J. Young, meat market ; established in the spring of ISS1. Haag & Co., meat market, 1887. John Lanzendorffer, watch maker and jeweler ; established November, 1873. W. J. Brillhart, jewelry store ; established in 1887.
George Graf, dealer in furniture ; established in 1884.
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YOUNG TOWNSHIP AND PUNXSUTAWNEY.
A. C. Robinson & Bro., marble works ; established in 1875. This firm are also engaged in the undertaking business, having bought out J. C. Shields, who had been engaged in the business for fourteen years.
M. Cohn, boot and shoe store ; established November, 1886.
E. H. Weiss, grocery and bakery ; established September, 1882.
S. E. Wilson, wholesale liquor store ; established April, 1886. Joseph C. Gibson, feed store ; established fall of 1886.
Frampton & Work, photographers; established, 1883. Mr. J. W. Green was engaged in the photography business from 1860, until his death.
A. N. McQuown, dealers in stoves and tinware ; established in 1886.
J. T. Kelso, flour and feed store ; established in 1887. W. F. Zeitler, flour and feed store.
William Ake, grocery.
C. K. McCartney, news depot and green grocery.
Samuel Ake, Acme Restaurant ; started in 1886.
Rowe Brothers, saloon and restaurant ; established in 1882.
Joseph McDonald, restaurant and billiard parlor ; established in 1877 by James St. Clair, since which time it has changed hands several times. Mr. McDonald has been in possession since April, 1887.
Lanzendorffer & Mclaughlin, restaurant ; started May, 1887.
Harry North, barber shop, started in 1883; Frank Grosse, about 1874; L. C. Smith, 1886; Charles R. Zeitler, 1886; Charles Bilduck, 1882.
John Cricks, livery stable ; established about 1869; L. C. Myers, livery and sale stable, 1885 ; Rishel & Fackiner.
John Crawford, blacksmith, about 1862 ; John Walton, 1875; J. S. Drum- mond, 1885.
The town of Punxsutawney is supplied with natural gas by the Mahoning Gas and Heat Company, which was organized November 11, 1884, with the following stockholders : H. P. Malone, R. E. Thompson, E. D. Willis, A. C. Weill, of Bradford ; John Q. Hoyt, New York ; H. C. Campbell, of Punxsu- tawney. H. P. Malone is treasurer, and Christian Miller, of Punxsutawney, superintendent. The well from which the gas is supplied is situated in Canoe township, Indiana county, about four miles south of Punxsutawney, and about two and a half miles from the Jefferson county line.
Hotels. - The first hotel was kept by Abram Weaver, who built a log house in which he entertained travelers as early as 1816, and where he got license to sell liquor in the thirties. This "hotel " stood just above where the drug- store of Dr. Shields is now located.
The Eagle Hotel was built by Elijah Heath, in the year 1824, and a brick addition built to it by Isaac Keck, who was ye landlord for many years. Hon. James St. Clair also owned and occupied this house in 1839-49. It is now known as the City Hotel, and is owned and occupied by John S. Barr, who has had the buildings refitted, repaired and remodeled.
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
The first building erected on the St. Elmo site, on the northwest corner of the public square, was built by Charles R. Barclay, in 1820 or 1821. It was. purchased in 1829 by Joseph Long, who died there in 1832. It was then pur- chased by James Campbell, who first turned it into a hotel, calling it the Ma- honing House. It then passed into the possession of Henry Jennings, and was known as the Jenning's House, until his death, when George Kramer bought the property, and erected the large hotel known as the St. Elmo. It then be- came the property of B. K. Fisher, and was destroyed by fire, in June, 1879, who immediately rebuilt in the fall of 1880, completing it in the spring of 1881. In May, 1886, Mr. Fisher exchanged hotels with A. B. Barr and J. B. Cromer, of the American House, Brookville. He taking charge of the American, while Barr & Cromer assumed control of the St. Elmo. It was destroyed in the fire of October 9, 1886, and has not been rebuilt. Since which time the property has passed into the hands of the Mahoning Bank.
The National Hotel was built in 1851 by Ezra Root, for a boarding house. In 1853 John Gilpin purchased the property from Root, who built an addition to the house, and made it into a hotel. Since then its landlords have been Jo- seph Carr, Jacob Burkett, George Weiss, who in 1860 enlarged it, Jacob Her- wick, James MeHenry, James St. Clair. It is now owned and managed by Barr & Cromer, who purchased the property from John Foutz, in the fall of 1886, after they had been burned out in the St. Elmo Hotel.
The Washington Hotel was built by John Drum. Those who have had charge of this house since that time have been Henry Jennings, William Gillespie, Charles Pounds, Isaac Keck, Edwin H. Little and Peter Weaver. Frederick Hummell purchased the property in 1869, and about 1880 it was destroyed by fire, and rebuilt by Mr. Hummell, and was again destroyed in the great fire of October 9, 1886. Mr. Hummell is now erecting a large brick hotel building on the site of the ill-fated Washington House.
In 1858 J. P. Covert commenced keeping the Temperance House in Punx- sutawney, which he continued for several years. Mr. Covert was one of the early settlers of Young township, having moved into the Morris settlement in 1822. He is now dead.
Statistics of Population, Assessments and Schools. - Punxsutawney was or- ganized as a borough in 1849. The population by census of 1860, was 415 ; 1870, 553; 1880, 674. The number of taxables in 1856, were 108; 1863, 105; 1870, 245 ; 1880, 205; 1886, 380.
The triennial assessment for 1886 gives the number of acres seated as 40; valuation, $5,528 ; average per acre, $138; number of houses and lots, 259 valuation, $72,758 ; number of horses, 59; valuation, $2,010; average value, $34 ; number of cows, 40 ; valuation, $515 ; average value, $13 ; number of occupations, 232 ; valuation, $7,680 ; average, $33. Total valuation subject to county tax, $88,491 ; money at interest, $62,068.
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YOUNG TOWNSHIP AND PUNXSUTAWNEY.
The number of schools in Punxsutawney for the school year ending June 7, 1886, were 4; term 6 months ; number of male teachers, 2 ; females, 2; aver- age salary of male teachers, $60; females, $32.50; number of male scholars, 115 ; females, 108 ; average number attending school, 172 ; average per cent., 88 ; cost per month, $1.05; number of mills levied for school purposes, 13 ; for building, 2. Total amount of tax levied for school and building purposes, $1,403.81.
Elections. - The first election held in Punxsutawney after it became a sep- erate election district, was on the 5th day of May, 1857, when the following persons were elected : Constable, William A. Dunlap; assessor, John Drum ; school directors, James Torrence, Ephraim Bair ; overseers of the poor, George Miller, Adam Keck.
The following comprise the elective officers of the borough for 1887 : Jus- tices of the peace, John T. Bell, John St. Clair ; assessor, J. T. Kelso ; high con- stable, A. Stockdale ; councilmen, S. S. Hamilton, William B. Weiss; consta- ble, H. H. McHenry ; school directors, I. S. Rosenberger, A. B. Miller ; tax collector, John Lang ; auditors, H. F. Fishman, L. C. Myers; overseer of poor, J. M. Beyer ; judge of election, W. C. Torrence ; inspectors, John T. Mitchell, G. A. Weiss.
The members of the school previously elected are, J. B. Bair, S. C. Allison, J. M. Brewer, and W. W. Winslow.
CLAYVILLE.
Jacob Hoover was the first white man to settle in what is now the village of Clayville. He was born in Hagerstown, Maryland, in 1793, and spent his early days in Baltimore. In 1814 or 1815 he came to the Mahoning Valley, and purchased land of the Holland Land Company, comprising what is now the village of Clayville. His land extended as far east as the residence of Cap- tain Hastings, in Punxsutawney. He built his log cabin a little east of the Gil- lespie mill, and then proceeded to build a story and a half log grist-mill 18 x 25, in which he used burrs of native stone. He afterwards erected a frame grist- mill 40 X 40, three stories high, with a carding-machine in the upper story. The old mill became the wheel-house, and there were two sets of burrs in use. He then built a saw-mill, on Mill Run, between his cabin and grist-mill. In 1840 he built a foundry, the first in the county, in Clayville, and in 1852, erected the large steam mill lately burned down, as the property of J. U. Gil- lespie.
For a long time after he settled at Clayville, Mr. Hoover " kept bachelor's hall." His lonely cabin life being enlivened occasionally by visits from his younger sister, Nancy. In 1820 he married Nancy A., daughter of William and Jane Young, old residents of Armstrong (now Clarion county). Nine children, .all girls, were born to them, of whom only three survive: Caroline, now Mrs.
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
James E. Mitchell (first married to H. W. Mundorff, deceased) ; Nancy A. Y. Hoover, of Punxsutawney, and Mary Jane, wife of Gibson A. Mundorff, of Pittsburgh. Mr. Hoover led a busy life, farming, lumbering, and overseeing his mills. He was one of the best and most enterprising of the early settlers, and an earnest Christian, being one of the early Methodists of the county. He died in 1853, and his wife in 1851.
Clayville, which was made a borough in 1864, adjoins Punxsutawney on the west. It is the present terminus of the Rochester and Pittsburgh railroad.
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