USA > Pennsylvania > Jefferson County > History of Jefferson county, Pennsylvania, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 68
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In 1825 Moses Knapp built a saw-mill on Knapp's Bend, about forty rods above where the western railroad bridge of Malone's Cut crosses th c eek. Soon after building the saw-mill Knapp inserted one run of stone, which he brought from the Clarion River. This was for some time the only grist-mill in Clover, the one in Troy having stopped short, never to go again. This, Knapp's mill, was burnt down and rebuilt.
In 1838 Moses Knapp built a grist-mill alongside of the above saw-mill,
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having two run of stones. Knapps ran the mill till near the time of Polk's election, 1844, when Hanse Robinson, bought it and ran it three years. The saw- mill went out in the great flood of 1847, taking the Troy bridge along as it went. The grist-mill stood for years after its use had ceased, and gradually wasted away, a part of it being taken and put into other buildings. In this connection it may be proper to mention that perhaps about fifty years ago there was whisky manufactured in the vicinity of Dowlingville, in a small still owned by John Calvin, also that there was a bucket factory erected in 1850 by Darius Carrier, and ran by him and a man named Leech for five years.
Seventy years ago (1816) there was a saw-mill in Troy owned by Solomon Fuller, and one on Welch Run owned by John Welch. The Fuller mill was afterwards owned by Henry Lot, and still later by - McElwaine. In 1820 the Carrier brothers, Hiram, Darius, George, Nathan, Euphrastes and John bought ninety-six acres of land and all the mills in Troy, and having rebuilt several times have owned them ever since.
The first grinding of grain in Clover was done by a run of stones " picked up hereabout," which were set in the Fuller mill.
The first grist-mill was built in Troy by Darius Carrier in 1836. The pres- ent grist-mill was also built by "Unele " Darius in 1861. It is now owned by W. Scott Carrier, who, in November, 1886, inserted the roller process and other modern improvements, thus making it a first class mill. The present saw and planing-mill was built by A. A., G. B. and S. D. Carrier in 1878. This mill, about 1880, under the firm of Carrier & Raine, filled immense orders of oak lumber for car building. An ax-handle factory has been inserted in this mill by Cassius and S. D. Carrier and R. B. Vermilyea. The value of the mills in Summerville would nearly approach fifty thousand dollars.
Manufactures. - There are two mills in Clover for the manufacture of bar- rel staves. One is owned and operated by Nelson Smith and 1. H. Shields, and the other by Simpson and Templeton.
There is a wagon and carriage-making shop in Summerville owned and operated by the Garvin brothers, and one in Dowlingville by E. D. Thompson. The Wilson brothers, in Dowlingville, do a large amount of general black- smithing. There are three blacksmith shops in Summerville, conducted by the Garvins, William Miller and Darius Baldwin.
There are in Summerville two manufacturers and repairers of fine boots and shoes, viz., Calvin Simpson and John Anderson, and one in Dowlingville, S. C. Weister.
George A., H. W. and Philip Carrier are preparing to build a saw-mill at the mouth of Watertrough (formerly Welch) Run.
There are two steam threshers and choppers in Clover, one owned and operated by George A. McAninch and Newton Hall, and the other by Miles and Harry Anderson.
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There are three stores of general merchandise in Summerville, besides sev- eral smaller ones. These are kept by Carrier and Eshelman, C. E. Carrier and H. F. Guthric.
Groceries, millinery goods and notions are kept by F. J. Strong, and gro- ceries by James Welch.
At Baxter, M. A Campbell has a fine large store of general merchandise and sells a large amount of goods.
In Dowlingville, Jacob Eshelman and Joseph Knapp each sell groceries, cigars and tobacco.
SUMMERVILLE.
Summerville, the principal town of Clover township, was incorporated a borough, in March, 1887. It is a wide-awake, growing town. The census of 1880 gives the population as three hundred and forty-eight. The business enterprises etc., are noted in the foregoing pages. The first election, after it was made a separate election district, was held March 15, 1887, with the fol- lowing result: Burgess, H. F. Guthrie ; justice of the peace, Charles Jacox ; constable, D. L. Moore; high constable, W. M. King; overseers of the poor, R. B. Brown, G. S. Garvin; town council, B. F. Osborn, H. W. Carrier, J. Van- devort, R. B. Vermilyea, D. K. Moore, J. K. Brown ; auditors, C. E. Carrier, David Campbell, John McElroy ; assessor, James Guthrie ; school directors, S. W. Osburn, S. W. Carrier, G. S. Garvin, H. F. Guthrie, J. C. Simpson, E. Carrier ; judge of election, Frank Flick ; inspectors, R. M. Dehaven, F. H. Haven.
CHAPTER XLV.
HISTORY OF GASKILL TOWNSHIP.
G ASKILL was the fourteenth township, and was organized in 1842. It was formed from a portion of Young, and was named for Hon. Charles C. Gaskill, agent of the Holland Land Company. The township is bounded on the north by Henderson, on the east by Clearfield county, on the south by In- diana county, and on the west by Bell township.
This township occupies the southeastern corner of Jefferson county. A considerable part of the township is uncultivated woodland ; other parts of the region, as for example the ravines of Ugly Run and Clover Run, are rugged from the outcrop of the Mahoning sandstone. The surface generally is high. Chestnut Ridge in the southeast corner has elevations of nearly two thousand
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
feet above tide-water, along its summit and western flank. This ridge is the dividing one between the waters of the Susquehanna and the Ohio. Its sum- mit (and anticlinal axis) is just east of Jefferson county in Clearfield, hence all the surface drainage of Gaskill township flows into Mahoning Creek. Accord- ing to barometric measurement, the water level of Mahoning Creek, at Big Run village, is 1,226 feet above tide ; the top of the bridge at Bowser's, is 1,931 feet above tide ; Ugly Run has an easy fall ; so has Clover Run, though less gentle than the other.
The coal seams found in Gaskill are small, and the principal one is the Freeport Upper coal. It is not found over three feet thick. The Freeport Upper limestone is the principal feature in the geology of the township. This limestone underlies the coal from twenty-five to thirty feet, and is of good quality. It has not received the attention it merits, as it would be invaluable to the farmer for fertilizing purposes.
Early Settlements .- The family of Carpenter Winslow, who came from Maine, in 1818, were the first to settle in what is now Gaskill township. They cleared the land and made the first improvements. Two of Carpenter Wins- low's sons, James and Joseph, are yet living. A sketch of this family will be found elsewhere.
About the year 1820, Francis Leech, Daniel Coffman, Reuben Clempson, John Bowers, Philip Bowers and John VanHorn came to Jefferson county and settled in what is known as the Bowers Settlement. They came from the Shen- andoah Valley, in Virginia, from whence they traveled in wagons, occupying six weeks in their journey to the town of Clearfield. After their arrival at their destination in Jefferson county, Philip Bowers crected the first cabin, and then sheltered his companions until they had erected a cabin for each family. This first cabin stood near the present residence of Isaac Bowers, while that of Daniel Coffman occupied the site of his son, Samuel's present residence. Philip Bowers died in July, 1866, aged seventy-nine years, and Mrs. Catha- rine Bowers, his wife, died January of the same year, aged about sixty-eight years.
When these families settled in the neighborhood, game was very plenty, and it is said that they were frequently obliged to go out at night and drive whole droves of deer out of their grain fields. Like all the other early pio- neers. these people had to encounter hardships, privations and dangers, which called forth all their powers of endurance, and they were for many years obliged to practice the closest economy ; but hope, faitli and endurance overcome all difficulties, and they lived to see beautiful farms, as the result of those years of toil.
R. M. Winslow was the first person born in Gaskill township.
The first lumber was taken out about 1836, by Philip Bowers.
The first church was built at Hudson, about 1848, and the first school- house in the Bower's Settlement, in 1844.
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The first grist and saw-mill was built in 1843, by a man named Neel.
The first store was started in 1868, by A. G. Winslow, at Hudson, on the old Winslow homestead. The post-office of that name, the only one in the township, is located there. There has never been a hotel in the township.
The first graveyard was located at Philip Bowers's, about 1840. There are now one public and four private burying-grounds.
Present Business. - The only store is that of T. J. Long, at Hudson, who has been justice of the peace for about twenty-five years. The saw-mills are owned by A. G. Winslow, at Hudson, which cuts about 600,000 per year, and John Hopkins, on the headwaters of Clover Run, built by D. Remaley, about thirty years ago. It cuts about 300,000 a year, principally pine, hemlock and chestnut. There is one grist-mill, the property of L. Elbel. There is also the shingle-mill of Bennett Brothers, which cuts about 10,000 per day.
Farms. - Some of the finest farms in Jefferson county are found in Gaskill township ; a nice rise of table land running almost to the Susquehanna River. Among the best farms are those of Joseph Winslow, Bernard Keegan ; this is the old Andrew Brown place, for which Mr. Keegan paid $5,000 in cash. George M. Brooks, besides the one hundred acre farm on which he resides, also owns the old Corslet farm of one hundred and sixty acres. Also thie farms of John and Calvin Brooks, William A., Andrew, Eli, Jacob, Henry and James Bowers, John, Peter F., David and D. F. Bowser. The MeGhee farm, now owned by Jacob Zimmerman, George Rhodes, jr., T. J. Long, R. C. Winslow, Samuel Neal, V. S. Murray, William Williams. On all these farms are good buildings, and excellent orchards of the best varieties of apples, peaches, plums, pears, grapes, etc.
Elections. - At an election held in Gaskill township in 1841, the following persons were elected: Constable, Joseph Winslow ; supervisors, John Piper, Henry Miller, John Kaufman; auditors, Henry Philippi, Philip Bowers, Thomas Thompson ; school directors, Henry Miller, Jonathan Strouse, David Haney, Philip Bowers ; judge of election, John D. Philippi ; inspectors of elec- tion, John Pifer, Levi Anthony; assessor, John Pifer ; overseers of the poor, Jonathan Strouse, Thomas Thompson ; township clerk, Henry Miller ; fence- viewers, John Pifer, Andrew MeCreight. At the election held February 15, 1887, the following persons were elected : Constable, Jacob M. Bowser ; col- lector, Isaac Bowers; supervisors, Peter F. Bowser and W. E. Coffman; assesor, John Brooks; poor overseer, David F. Bowser; auditor, Peter Kline, sr .; school directors, Peter F. Bowser and John R. Bowers ; judge of election, Da- vid Sheesley ; inspectors, Joseph Craft and Jacob F. Bowser. The justices of the peace in Gaskill township are T. J. Long and Daniel Couch. The mem- bers of the school board previously elected are A. J. Davis, Jacob M. Bowser, Henry Sheasly and R. R. Long.
Taxables and Population .- The number of taxables in Gaskill township in
72
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
1842 were 78; in 1849, 112; 1856, 166; 1863, 77 ; 1870, 116; 1880, 159; 1886, 204. The population by census in 1850, was 603 ; 1860, 303; 1870, 478; 1880,540. The falling off in number of taxables and population from 1856 to 1863, was on account of Henderson township being taken from Gas- kill in 1857.
Assessments. - The triennial assessment for 1886, gives the number of acres seated in Gaskill township as 8,473 ; valuation, $33,803 ; average value per acre, $3.99 ; houses and lots, 2 ; valuation, $270; acres unseated, 3,553 ; val- uation, $10,744 ; average value per acre, $3.02 ; number of horses, 124; valu- ation $4,174; average valuation, $33.66; number of cows, 159; valuation, $1,550; average value, $9.75 ; occupations, 22; valuation, $550; average, $25. The total amount subject to county tax, $51,091. Money at interest, $2,900.
School Statistics. - The number of schools in Gaskill township according to the report of June, 1886, was four; average term five months; number of male teachers, four ; salary, $29 50; number of male scholars, 80; female, 77 ; average attendance, 102 ; per cent. of attendance, 65 ; cost per month, 82 cents ; number of mills levied for school purposes, ten ; number of mills lev- ied for building purposes, five. Total amount of tax levied for school pur- poses, $705.49.
CHAPTER XLVI.
HISTORY OF WARSAW TOWNSHIP.
W ARSAW, the fifteenth township, was formed from Pine Creek, and was organized in 1842. It was named for a city of Poland. Warsaw is one of the largest townships in the county, and is bounded on the north by Polk and Heath ; on the east by Snyder and Washington ; on the south by Wasli- ington and Pine Creek, and on the west by Eldred.
The natural characteristics of the township have been thus described by Mr. W. G. Platt, in his geological report of the county :
" It consists mainly of elevated upland, thinly covered with coal measure rocks. Much of the surface is too rugged to repay cultivation, and a good part of the township is, therefore, uncleared land. The drainage goes south through the valleys of the North Fork into Redbank. Mill Creek forms the eastern boundary of the township, south of the Snyder line. Its valley is more than three hundred feet deep, usually with rather steep slopes, along which runs the outcrop of the Homewood sandstone, nearly to the Snyder township
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line. Mill Creek has few tributaries, and none of any size except Little Mill Creek, which starts at Maysville. The North Fork, on the other hand, has several affluents, all of which flow through wide ravines. The main stream enters the township at the northeast, and flows westward, keeping close to the Polk township line, until it comes up against the Bagdad (Brookville) anticli- nal, which deflects it by a sharp bend, whence its course is southwestward, almost directly following the axial line. The valley is from three hundred to four hundred feet deep, and is a total wilderness from end to end. A great variety of forest scenery is thus presented, from a broad expanse of unbroken wilderness, extending as far as the eye can reach, in every direction, over hill and valley, to some extremely picturesque views along the water line, where the stream of crystal clearness flows at times under a nearly perfect arch formed by the overhanging boughs. Moreover the slopes are often thickly clothed with laurel, which furnishes them in early summer with a wealth of flowers."
Good coal is found in Warsaw, the principal seams being the Kittanning coals, which are found from three to five feet in thickness, of good, clean coal. The ferriferous limestone is also abundant. It is over five feet thick, is easily quarried, and makes good lime. It is extensively used by the farmers for fer- tilizing purposes. Fire-clay and iron ore are also found.
Early Settlers -The first settlers in what is now Warsaw township were John and Jacob Vasbinder, who came from Mifflin county about the year 1800. Jacob Vasbinder first cleared the farm adjoining the farm of James Harris, on the east in Pine Creek township, which is now owned by George Vasbinder and Benjamin McClelland. He lived on this place until 1841, when he moved to the farm now owned by his son, Jacob, where he died in 1848, being at that time seventy-two years of age. His wife died at the age of eighty six. Jacob Vasbinder had eight children, four of whom are living. His sons, George and T. Miles, reside in East Warsaw.
John Dixon settled in what is now Warsaw about the year 1803, on the farm now owned by C. H. Shobert. The venerable John Dixon, of Polk town- ship, a son of the above pioneer, relates some of the incidents of those early days. He remembers when coffee was seventy-five cents, and tea four dollars per pound, and salt ten dollars a barrel. His father on one occasion walked to Indiana, where he bought a bushel of salt, for which he paid four dollars. He carried it home on his back, and then found that he had been cheated in the measurement, as it lacked considerable of a bushel. The family subsisted chiefly on wild game, deer, bears, and wild turkeys being abundant. Their corn was ground on hand mills, or else taken to Blacklick, in Indiana county, until Joseph Barnett erected his little mill at Port Barnett.
Mr. Dixon was the first school-teacher in Jefferson county, and was an exemplary citizen. He died in 1834, aged about seventy-six years. Mrs. Dixon, née Sarah Ann Armstrong, died in 1860, aged about ninety-two years.
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
Isaac Temple came to Jefferson county in the fall of 1832, with Thomas McCormick and his son, John McCormick, to look for a site for a home, and having selected a location in what is now Warsaw township, he moved his family the following April, an old-fashioned six-horse wagon, for which Pen- nsylvania was celebrated at that time, being used to transport the household goods, and a small wagon, drawn by one horse, for the accommodation of the family, or part of it, as there were ten, all told. Mr. Charles E. Temple re- lates the following incidents of the journey :
" On the night of April 2, we encamped on the Galbraith farm, two miles south of Brookville. The country was an unbroken wilderness, and in the evening of that day we called at a log cabin by the roadside to get some fire, which we carried, alternately, a distance of eight or ten miles, as no matches were then in use, and no houses, our camping seemed inevitable. Late in the evening a site was selected for a night's sojourn near a brook where the road now crosses on the aforementioned farm. A fire was made on the ground, the horses tied to trees, and after our evening repast we laid down to rest, some on the ground and some in the wagons. The night passed away, and much refreshed the next morning we resumed our journey. On reaching Brookville we were somewhat delayed. Red Bank Creek was at a rafting stage, and there were then no bridges, so the horses were detached and mounted to find a ford- ing place. After numerous crossings and consultation with citizens, the point below the present Baptist Church was selected as the only one at all practica- ble, and all the family were carried over on horseback, requiring considerable time and involving some risk. When all were landed, and goods and wagons safely over, our fears were allayed, and we were ready to move forward to our future home. Having no house ready to move into on reaching our destina- tion, we took lodging with our friend, Milton Gibbs, a bachelor, who had recently come from Armstrong county, who had settled adjoining my father's purchase. His small cabin was filled to overflowing until an opening could be made and a temporary shelter provided.
" It being Saturday night when we reached our journey's end, the Sabbath was spent in much needed rest, as was our wont. The entire week had been spent in the journey of one hundred and ten miles. Early Monday morning work was commenced, and on Friday the Dixons, Vasbinders and others, from six to ten miles distant, came to help us raise our log cabin home, into which we moved our effects on Saturday, and forthwith began preparations for crops, clearing and planting by the Ist of June six acres of corn and potatoes. The family consisted of three girls and five boys, my youngest brother, Joseph M. Temple, being born on the 7th day of June, just two months and four days after our arrival. Two of the girls are still alive, and all the five boys. The eldest, Rev. John Temple, has been pastor of many Baptist congregations in Pennsylvania and Ohio, and is now located near Cleveland. Charles E. is now
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living in retirement in Brockwayville. After following farming for many years in Warsaw, he exchanged his farm with Warren O. Sibley, for his town prop- erty, and the latter now resides on the farm in Warsaw. Samuel W. lives on the old homestead. Isaac is in Mitchell county, Kan., and Joseph a resident of Hamilton county, Texas."
Isaac Temple, sr., was a man of more than ordinary intelligence and exten- sive reading, as were all his family, the sons being noted for their fondness for political and religious controversy. Being all professors of religion, and no two belonging to the same church, they were frequently pitted against each other. Charles E. Temple is well known throughout Jefferson county for his earnest advocacy of reform principles, temperance, prohibition, the Bible in the schools, and the recognition of the Supreme Being in the Constitution.
Isaac Temple, sr., died at his home in Warsaw township, March 14, 1851, and Hannah Temple, his wife, survived him until September, 1881, having resided in Warsaw township almost fifty years. She was a woman of unusual qualities of heart and mind, and of great physical strength, having, when a girl in her Westmoreland home often shouldered a three bushel bag of wheat while standing on or in a half bushel. She was a woman of great tenderness of heart, and demonstrated the fact that robust health and physical development are not inconsistent with the most womanly gentleness. Mrs. Temple was universally respected and beloved, ardently attached to what she believed to be truth. She was kind and benevolent to all, and very few of the early pioneers made more sacrifices for the comfort of the early settlers, as there are those yet living can testify. Her house was ever open to travelers, and many a weary, footsore wayfarer found rest and refreshment under her roof.
Daniel Goup came to what is now Warsaw township, in 1837, and pur- chased one hundred and twenty-nine acres of Holland land from Hon. Thomas White, three miles north of Brookville, where he has resided ever since. He built the Russell mill on the North Fork. Mr. Goup is now about ninety years of age, but is able to walk to Brookville, and his intellect is undimmed.
Russell, father of Eben Russell, settled in the Warsaw region in 1834 or 1835, and built a saw-mill on the North Fork. The property is now owned by the Litches.
John Pearsall settled, at an early day, the farm now owned by his heirs. His brother, Arad Pearsall, moved on a farm in the same neighborhood, in 1835, and then moved to Brookville. This farm is now owned by James Bris- bin.
Milton Johnson, who was a soldier in the War of 1812, settled in Warsaw in 1834. He died March, 1860, aged eighty-six years.
Henry Keys moved from the Beechwoods to Warsaw in 1848, and lived on the farm now owned by Gabriel Stahlman, until his death, in 1880. He was a respected citizen of Jefferson county for fifty- seven years.
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
Elihu Clark settled in Warsaw in 1835. David McCormick, Moses B. St. John, John Wilson, Nathan Perrine, about 1838. William Weeks, John Bell, Peter Rickard, Nelson Riggs, Andrew McCormick, Jacob Raught, and John Dawson were also among the early settlers.
The first settlement near Richardsville was made by James Moorhead, who built a house on the farm now owned by the heirs of Jackson Moorhead, in 1835, but he did not move his family there until the spring of 1836. John Wakefield built a house and moved on the farm now owned by Joseph Mc- Cracken, in 1836, but returned to Indiana to spend the following winter. William Humphrey built a house on the farm now owned by his son, Samuel M. Humphrey, in the fall of 1836, and moved his family there in April, 1837. Michael Long built a cabin on the farm now owned by Mathew Humphrey, in 1836, and occupied it for a short time. Isaac Walker built a house the same year on the farm now owned by Thomas Brownlee, to which he moved his family the next spring. Mathew Humphrey commenced operations on the farm on which he still resides, in 1837. He is the only one of the original set- tlers of West Warsaw, remaining. He says when he came to the township there were no roads, only a trail leading through the woods to " Boot-Jack " (Hazen).
The Indians had left the country before this part of Warsaw was settled, but two of them returned in 1836 and remained a short time at James Moor- head's.
Early Improvements .- The first school-house was built in what is now East Warsaw, at Isaac Temple's, and the first church at Maysville, in 1845.
The first road was opened from Richardsville to Brookville, in 1838. The first coal was dug out of the head of the hollow below the present school- house at Richardsville, in 1845.
The first saw-mill was erected at Pekin, by William R. Richards, who sawed the first lumber, about 1839. The first grist-mill was erected on Mill Creek by E. Holden. The first hotel was kept by Isaac Richards, and the first stores by S. Wyant, near the present residence of Jolin A. Fox, and David Moorhead.
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