USA > Pennsylvania > Jefferson County > History of Jefferson county, Pennsylvania, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 63
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Constable, Myron Gibbs; supervisors, John Mclaughlin, Ami Sibley ; auditors, Milton Johnson, Thomas McCormick, Joseph McCurdy ; township clerk, Thomas McCormick ; overseers of the poor, Myron Gibbs, Joseph Mc- Afee ; assessor, Milton Johnston ; inspector, Myron Gibbs ; fence appraiser, James Ross.
At the election held February 15, 1887, the following persons were elected : Constable, James Graybill; supervisors, Samuel Clodgers, Henry Humphrey ; school directors, R. J. Thompson, John Britton ; poor overseer, James Kear- ney ; auditor, William Bond, sr .; judge of election, Thomas Hutchinson ; in- spectors, M. B. Holt, S. B. Firman; town clerk, Frederick Lane ; tax col- lector, John H. Robinson ; assessor, A. J. Firman ; treasurer, John Keys. The justices of the peace in Snyder township are J. N. Atwell and H. Humphrey. The members of the board of school directors previously elected are John Frost, Nelson Atwell, Neil McCay and Henry Humphrey.
Snyder township paid a bounty for volunteers during the war, of $3,365.90.
Statistics of Population and Taxables .-- In Snyder township the number of taxables in 1835 was 41 ; 1842, 72 ; in 1849, 69; in 1863, 117 ; in 1870, 245 ; in 1880, 317; in 1886, 270 (Brockwayville was made a borough in 1883. which accounts for the decrease in taxables and population). The population, according to the different census reports was, 18.40, 291 ; 1850, 306; 1860, 597 ; 1870, 792 ; 1880, 1,048. In 1843 part of Snyder township was separ- ated from it and annexed to Elk, which accounts for little or no increase in the population from 1840 to 1850.
Value of Property-The triennial assessment of 1886 gives the number of acres seated land 11,356 acres ; valuation. $39,261 ; value per acre, $3.46; number of grist and saw- mills, 8 ; valuation, $2,355 ; unseated, 6,915 acres ; valuation, $23,083 ; average per acre, $3.34; number acres surface, 5,462; valuation, $13,062 ; average, $2.39 ; number of acres mineral, 7,743 ; valua- tion, $15,486; value per acre, $2 ; number of horses, 189; valuation, $3,- 473 ; average value, $18.37 ; cows, 268; valuation, $2,095 ; average value,
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SNYDER TOWNSHIP.
$7.82; 23 oxen ; valuation, $94; 112 occupations ; valuation, $31, 150; aver- age, $27.90 ; total valuation subject to county tax, $102,059 ; money at in- terest, $23,330.
School Statistics .- According to the report of education for the year ending June 6, 1886, there were six schools in Snyder township; term, six months ; number of male teachers, 4; females, two; average salary, $30 for male, and $25 for females ; number of scholars, 108 males ; females, 132 ; average num- ber attending school, 157 ; per cent. of attendance, 87; cost per month, 78 cents ; number of mills levied for school purposes, 12 ; for building purposes, 8; total amount of tax levied for school and building purposes, $1,336.28 ; for the winter of 1886-7 there are 7 schools reported, with 259 scholars.
BROCKWAYVILLE.
Brockwayville is the only borough in Snyder township, and was incorpo- rated September 13, 1883. In 1880 it had only a population of three hundred and sixty, but this has largely increased since the place has become a railroad and shipping point.
Where the town is now located, the first settlement in Snyder township was made in 1822, when Alonzo and Chauncey Brockway, for whom the town is named, built their cabins upon its site. The town was not started, however, until 1836, when Dr. A. M. Clark bought property there and removed to it. He at once began to lay out the town in lots, and was the first to give it an onward impetus.
One of the old residents of Brockwayville, who, in 1887, passed off the scene of earthly action, ending a long and useful life, was James W. Green. "Squire" Green, as he was called, came to Snyder township in 1818 or 1819. He was a prominent member of the Methodist Church, and held many offices of trust in the township. He was justice of the peace when he died, and Gov- ernor Beaver appointed his son to fill his place. Mr. Green's children are among the prominent citizens of the town.
Among the other old citizens are: Dr. W. C. Niver, whose biography appears in another column, A. J. Thompson, and R. W. Moorhead.
Cemeteries .- The first death in Brockwayville was that of a little child of Alonzo and Huldah Brockway, who died in 1828 or 1829, and was buried on the bank of the Toby Creek, near where the old hotel stands, but its grave has long since disappeared. The next burial place for the dead was a field by the roadside, on what is now the Marvin Alien farm, and where, in one corner, the first to die in the township, also a little child of Jacob Shaffer, was laid away. In that little city of the dead, which was called " the Shaffer's burying ground," were buried Joel Clark, and Chloe, his wife, Bailey Hughes, A. J. Ingalls, Jacob Myers, Comfort D. Felt, Joel Clark, jr., and Mary, his wife, with their children, Hiram, Willie and Jane. This grave-yard, which is about one mile
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
from Brockwayville, is not now used, as Mr. Marvin, at his death, requested that no more interments should be made there.
There is also an old grave-yard back of the John Morrison lots, on the Alexander place, but the bodies of those resting there have been nearly all removed to the new cemetery, and the place is not now used as a burying ground.
The Clark family burial plot, on the old homestead farm, where several of Dr. Clark's children, two of Dr. McKnight's, and children of Dr. W. C. Niver and C. K. Hahn were buried, has also been vacated by the dead being removed to Wildwood Cemetery.
Wildwood Cemetery was started in 1866 by twenty five citizens of Snyder township subscribing twenty-five dollars each. It contains ten acres, and is beautifully situated about half a mile from the center of the town, on land pur- chased from Dr. Clark. Prominent among those furthering this project were Dr. A. M. Clark, Dr. W. C. Niver, W. W. Wellman, Peter Galusha, N. B. Lane and A. J. Thompson.
The first person buried in Wildwood was Mrs. Fannie P. Johnson, wife of John Johnson, who died August 26, 1868. Part of the ground is laid out in lots, some of which are tastefully ornamented with shrubbery and flowers, one of the most noticeable being the lot of Conrad K. Huhn. It is circular in shape, surrounded with a hedge fence ; a little brook meanders through it, the sides of which are beautifully terraced. Robert Humphrey has a nicely arranged lot, surrounded by an iron fence, with marble posts. The lot of R. W. Moor- head, where his wife, Mrs. Olive Moorhead, is laid, is surrounded by an iron fence, and is tastefully kept. In this inclosure is a large Italian marble mon- ument. There are some other fine monuments in these grounds, prominent among which is the Scotch granite one of James McClelland. The officers of the Wildwood Cemetery Company (1887) are : President, Henry Humphrey ; secretary, Robert Humphrey ; treasurer, William D. Clark.
Elections .-- The first election held in Brockwayville after its incorporation as a borough, was in 1883, and then the following persons were elected to the different town offices :
Justice of the peace, John Morrison ; constable, L. S. Short ; high con- stable, J. L. Bond ; assessor, W. T. Mclaughlin ; town council, O. A. Sibley, Arnold Groves, B. T. Chapin, A. L. Hoy, R. W. Moorhead, P. Bowdish ; bur- gess, W. C. Niver ; school directors, J. G. Dailey, Alton Chapin, C. G. Knight, Ira Felt, James Groves ; overseers of the poor, T. Myers, William Morey ; auditors, A. J. Thompson, Daniel Riley; judge of election, M. B. Moorhead ; inspectors, Joseph Prindle, H. A. Frost.
At the election held February 15, 1887, the following were elected :
Burgess, R. A. McElhaney ; councilmen, J. L. Bond, 3 years, W. D. Clark, 3 years, B. T. Chapin, I year ; constable, L. C. Bond ; high constable, Henry
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SNYDER TOWNSHIP.
Leeper ; assessor, Samuel Mclaughlin ; tax collector, I .. C. Bond ; overseer, Peter Burkhouse; auditor, D. D. Groves; treasurer, A. R. Chapin ; school directors, M. B. Moorhead, 3 years, Peter Galusha, 3 years, J. H. Groves, 2 years ; judge of election, D. C. Nelson ; inspectors, Peter Galusha and Edward Green. The justices of the peace for Brockwayville are W. D. Clark and E. A. Green. The members of the school board previously elected are C. G. Knight, P. Berkhouse, Ira Felt and George S. Himes.
Population, Taxables and Assessments .- The number of taxables in Brock- wayville in 1886, was 204. The population, according to the census of 1880, was 360. The triennial assessment gives the number of acres of seated land in Brockwayville as 394; valuation, $4,857 ; average per acre, $12.33 ; num- ber of houses and lots, 213 ; valuation, $13,032 ; number of horses, 44 ; val- uation, $945 ; average value, $21 ; number of cows, 32; valuation, $288; average value, $9 ; number of occupations, 137; valuation, $5,355 ; average value, $39 ; total valuation subject to county tax, $24,477 ; money at interest, $11,146.
School Statistics .- The number of schools in Brockwayville for the year ending June 7, 1886, was 3 ; term, five months; number of male teachers, I ; female teachers, 2 ; average salary of male teachers, $40 ; females, 32; num- ber of male scholars, 59 ; females, 60; average attendance, 106 ; per cent. of attendance, 94 ; cost per month, 99 cents. Thirteen mills were levied for school, and seven for building purposes. Total amount of tax levied for school and building, $565.16. The number of scholars for winter of 1886-7 were 150.
Past and Present Business .- The first store started in Brockwayville was by Robert W. Moorhead, in 1854, who conducted the business of general mer- chandising until 1861, when he disposed of the business to Wellman Brothers, who in 1872, resold to R. W. Moorhead & Son, the Wellman Brothers return- ing to the State of New York, where they engaged in the banking business. The store then passed into the hands of Mrs. R. W. Moorhead, who sold to B. T. Chapin & Co., in 1878. The store is still owned by B. T. Chapin, and is one of the best in the town.
D. D. Groves, general merchandise, started November, 1881, is, with Cha- pin's, the principal store in the place.
Daly & Kearney, dealers in boots and shoes and gentlemen's furnishing goods ; established by J. G. Daily in 1882; copartnership established in 1884.
The Buffalo Clothing Store, R. Cohen proprietor, keeps a large stock of clothing and men's furnishing goods; established in March, 1886.
Bond & Cooper, dealers in hardware ; established in March, 1882.
J. R. Baird, drugs, agent for J. L. Bond ; established in May, 1884.
Dr. J. W. Hoey, drugs ; established in August, 1886.
Rankin & McClelland started a drug store in December, 1883. Scott Mc-
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
Clelland retired from the firm December 1, 1884, and William Condick pur- chased his interest, the firm being Rankin & Condick.
Ira Felt, groceries and provisions ; established in November, 1882; asso- ciated his son, C. Felt, with him in the business January 1, 1887. Mr. Felt is also engaged in the manufacture and sale of cigars.
George W. Sibley, dealer in groceries ; established July, 1882.
J. W. Smith, dealer in groceries, provisions, flour and feed ; established in September, 1883. Mr. Smith also has an extensive meat market in connec- tion with his store, furnishing nearly all the meat consumed at the Clarion mines.
H. D. Hodgkinson, dealer in groceries and confectioneries ; established in 1887. Mr. Hodgkinson also runs a five cent counter.
R. A. McElhaney, dealer in furniture and undertaker ; established in 1875. R. A. Hubbard, watchmaker and jeweler, 1887.
Thomas Ralston, saddlery and harness ; established in the fall of 1882.
A. Miller, shoemaker ; established in 1885.
Miss N. MeMinn, millinery and dressmaking ; established in 1878.
Mrs. J. R. Kelts, millinery and dressmaking, September, 1881.
Mrs. M. C. Slagle (now Mrs. R. A. McElhaney), millinery ; established May, 1884.
J. A. Adams, billiard room; established by Webster Reed in 1883 ; sold to Adams, December, 1885.
Alexander Hynd, barber shop; established May, 1886.
Smith Strickler, blacksmith shop; established fall of 1870.
MeLaughlin Brothers, wagon making and general blacksmiths; established May, 1872.
Frederick Walker, blacksmith ; established fall of 1881. Mr. Walker has also been engaged in the livery business since 1871.
The Railroad House was built in 1853 by John Arner, but only partly completed, and was first kept as a hotel by John Russell, afterwards by W. H. Schram, Nathaniel Clark, Henry Welsh, B. F. Townley, R. M. Bennett, R. T. Kelly, R. M. Overheiser. It is now under the supervision of Andrew Logan, who took charge of it in April, 1885, and is known as the Logan House. It has been owned by R. W. Moorhead, Smith & Waterhouse, Henry Welsh, and now by Robert Smith and A. J. Thompson.
Clark House, started in 1886.
Restaurant, boarding and eating-house, Mrs. E. A. Andrews ; established December, 1882.
The present physicians are Drs. W. C. Niver, J. W. Hoey and M. M. Rankin.
The town has no member of the legal fraternity, or dentist, Dr. E. I. Marsh, of Du Bois, paying stated visits to the place to look after the molars of the community.
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ELDRED TOWNSHIP.
CHAPTER XL.
HISTORY OF ELDRED TOWNSHIP.
E LDRED was the eighth township organized, and was taken in 1836 from Rose and Barnett, and was named for Hon. Nathaniel B. Eldred, then president judge of the judicial district of which Jefferson county formed a part. This township is bounded on the north by Barnett and Heath townships; on the east by Warsaw ; on the south by Union, Rose and Pine Creek, and on the west by Clarion county.
Its eastern and western sides consist of rugged forest land. The cleared and cultivated portion of the township lies mainly along the Brookville and Sigel road, which follows a high and narrow divide, running almost due north. This divide is crossed at Sigel, in the northern part of the township, by an- other belt of high land extending nearly east and west, so that the skeleton of the drainage system has the shape of the letter T. North of the cross-piece (along which runs the Spring Creek road), the waters go direct into the Clar- ion River ; south of it, and on the left hand side of the upright arm of the let- ter, they go into Big Mill Creek, while on the right hand side of that arm they flow into the North Fork.
Geology .- There is considerable coal found in Eldred, but the seams are small, and are principally the Mercer coals, not over 3' 6." The principal banks are those of Jacob Mineweaser, John Beach, and the bank on the farm of E. Robinson. The latter is bright, firm coal, well protected from moisture by a compact roof of tough, black slate. Iron ore is also found in the township, and speciniems from the farm of Perry Kable have been analyzed by Mr. S. W. Smith, of Brookville, the bed showing twenty-nine inches of ore in a depth of three and a half feet. The ore is of good quality.
The Early Settlers .- The first settlers who came into Eldred were Isaac Matson, in 1828, James Linn, Walter Templeton and Robert McCreight, in 1829, and were followed the next year by E. M. Graham and John McLaugh- lin ; Jacob Craft, David English, in 1831 ; Paul Stewart, James Templeton and James Trimble, in 1832 ; Stewart Ross and John Wilson, in 1833, and Thomas Hall in 1834, William and George Catz, and James Summerville.
The first settler of whom we find any mention, in the northern part of Eldred township, was Frederick Kahle, who settled there in 1836. Mr. Kahle first came to Clarion county, where he hired a hunter named Tommy Guthrie to go with him into the wilds of northern Jefferson, where he designed locat- ing. After reaching their destination and looking about for a suitable place for Mr. Kahle to make his future home, night overtook them and they were obliged to camp out in the woods. During the night they were attacked by
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
wolves, numbering hundreds, as it appeared to Mr. Kahle; but the old woods- man was not at all disconcerted, pouring some powder on a piece of bark, he set fire to it, and then fired his gun, and the wolves scampered off to be heard no more. Mr. Kahle moved his family, consisting of a number of small chil- dren, into these woods that same year, and their first years were scenes of danger and hardship. During the first summer he killed seventeen large rat- tlesnakes near his own door.
Mr. Kahle was an excellent man, and worked early and late to rear his large family, and before he died had one of the best and largest farms in that region under good cultivation, with good orchards, etc. His family was raised carefully and conscientiously, his only regret being that the exigencies of the times did not admit of his giving them a good education. He died in No- vember, 1878, aged about eighty years, and his son, David, now resides on the old homestead.
One of the next to penetrate into the wilds was S. W. Smith, who came to Eldred in 1842. Mr. Smith, who was a native of Livingston county, New York, started in the fall of that year to hunt up a place to make a home for himself. He was accompanied by a young man named Nathan Smith (not a relative of his, however). On reaching the little town of Ceres, on the Alle- gheny River, the two young adventurers embarked in a skiff, and started on their trip down the Allegheny. They proceeded on after night fall, and were soon surprised to hear the loud roar of falling waters. Thinking that they were approaching an island, they rowed on, but soon found to their horror that they were approaching the State line dam. It was impossible to turn back or reach the shore, and soon the frail boat was engulfed in the seething, rushing flood. Down, down it dashed, twice dipping bucketsful of water, but at length reached the safe waters below the dam, and looking back the voyagers beheld the peril they had passed. Mr. Smith says that to this day he cannot recall that night of danger without a shudder. As soon as a landing could be ef- fected, they pulled to shore. After this they proceeded on their voyage with- out further trouble. After stopping for a while at the Indian Reservation, in Warren county, they at last landed in Butler county, but not liking the " lay of the land " in either Butler or Clarion, they made their way into Jefferson county.
Mr. Smith relates a singular incident of their journey. While on their way down the Allegheny River, they saw thousands of black squirrels, all journeying eastward. They would climb the trees on the west bank of the river, and drop from the outspreading branches into the stream, and then swim to the other shore. Mr. Smith and his companion would hold out their pad- dles to the little creatures, and they would scramble into the skiff, and some- times stay with them for hours, when they would spring into the water again and make for the eastern shore. When Mr. Smith and his companion reached
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ELDRED TOWNSHIP.
Strattanville, on their way into Jefferson county, they found the citizens shoot- ing the squirrels off their fences, the migration still going on. They did not seem to avoid towns or people, their only aim being to travel towards the ris- ing sun. The older citizens will remember what a bitter cold winter that of 1842-3 was, when the snow was three feet deep, with a frozen crust that would bear man and beast. Surely it is wonderful that instinct alone should have caused these timid animals to thus migrate from the sure death that awaited them.
Mr. Smith settled in Eldred township, on the farm now owned by Joseph Raught, and went to work resolutely to reclaim it from the wilderness. He worked there in company with his brother, Claude, for three or four years, and then returned to New York, where he married a daughter of Captain Van Nostrand and brought her to share his home in the wilderness. They resided in Eldred until about 1855, when he removed to Brookville, at the solicitation of the trustees of the Brookville Academy, to engage as principal of that institution. After several years of service in this capacity, he served two terms as superintendent of common schools, and has resided in Brookville ever since.
Nathan Smith, the other voyager, located near his companion, and cleared and improved a large farm. He was a very earnest Methodist, and a man of strong self-will. When the war commenced he was opposed to it, as he claimed that the slaves should be at once liberated, and would have nothing to do with it until Mr. Lincoln issued his emancipation proclamation, when he at once shouldered his gun and set out for the front, declaring that the war was now a holy onc, and that it would succeed, as God would now prosper the cause of the North. No persuasions of friends or family could deter him from entering the service, in which he served until the end of the rebellion, and then returned to Eldred township, where he soon sold his farm, and removed to Frankfort, Kan., where he is living in comfort, and where he was elected jus- tice of the peace.
The forests being covered with such a dense growth of pine and underbrush, and homes of the settlers being so far apart, traveling was very unsafe, from the prevalence of wild beasts, and the danger of being lost in the woods. In February, 1836, James Beals, who had been assisting to raise a log cabin for a neighbor, who lived five miles distant, started home late in the night, and while going through the woods was overcome by the cold, and perished near his own door.
About the year 1857 James Cowan, who with his brother, William, had previously purchased some land in Eldred, came from Schuylkill county, with his family. On their arrival at Brookville, they could get no team to take them to their destination, and, shouldering their bundles, started on foot. Before they reached their destination, the house of Mr. Winlack, near where their 67
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
own land was situated, night overtook them, and they were unable to proceed in the darkness. Mr. Cowan, leaving the family with strict injunctions for them not to stir from the spot until his return, started to hunt a house which he knew to be in the vicinity, and finally reached it. The owner of the cabin, Mr. Fiscus, was absent, but his wife got up at Mr. Cowan's call ; but on his re- quest for a candle to show them the way through the woods, said she had not a single one in the house. She, however, proceeded to rake out the coals on the hearth, and then put some butter in a saucer, melting it, put a rag in the liquid, and lighted it. After trying to induce Mr. Cowan to remain with his family for the night at her house, with this feeble light Mr. Cowan returned to his fright- ened wife and children, and by its aid they finally reached their destination about midnight. There was no house ready for the family, and they moved into a school house, and Mr. Cowan started off to hunt work at his occupation of coal digger. While he was absent in Clarion county, and while his family was domiciled in the school-house, Mrs. Cowan was ill for some time. At length a cabin was put up, but Mr. Cowan had to work at his trade to keep the wolf (hunger) from the door, and his wife, in his absence, chinked and daubed the cabin with mud, and made it ready for winter. As soon as a piece of ground was cleared, Mr. Cowan proceeded to plow it with a yoke of oxen. He was not skilled in the work of a farmer, and in going over some roots the plow was jerked with such force that he was thrown to the ground, breaking several ribs. This placed him hors de combat for the time being, and his son, Peter, took the helm, or the plow, rather, and though but a boy, he contrived to scrape over the ground sufficiently to get in some potatoes. Mr. Cowan, who had his farm to pay for as well as his family to support, took out coal whenever he could get such work to do, and for some time worked at the old Brown furnace in Clarion county. He would walk home on Saturday night and back to his work on Monday, and labored in this way for nine years. On one occasion, wishing to bring a wheelbarrow with him, he put a bag of flour on it, and started to wheel it home. At Corsica he stopped and added some groceries and a bag of beans, and then proceeded homewards, and this extra toil was accomplished after a hard day's work in the coal bank. Mr. and Mrs. Cowan came from the city of Glasgow, in Scotland, and of course did not know anything about the hardships of settlers in the wilderness, and were totally unacquainted with farm life. When they landed in this country their only acquaintance with that useful animal, the cow, was the diluted arti- cle called milk, sold by the city milkman. Soon after his arrival in Schuylkill county, Mr. Cowan bought a cow, but the next morning the family found they could not use the milk on account of the thick, yellow substance that had formed upon it. He took the cow back to the farmer from whom he had pur- chased, and informed him of the fact, and got another in exchange ; but the farmer did not enlighten him as to the difficulty. However, it was not long
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