USA > Pennsylvania > Mifflin County > History of Mifflin County : its physical peculiarities, soil, climate, &c. ; including an early sketch of the state of Pennsylvania Volume I > Part 11
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her husband. Their descendants were Frances, Hugh, Samuel C., Martha, Thomas C., Margaret, Mary and John.
" Hugh Alexander, born 1781. Came, as before stated, with his parents to Little Valley, in 1787. He married, in 1806, Elizabeth Brown, a daughter of Colonel A. Brown, a brother of Judge Brown, one of the first settlers in Big Valley, and settled on a farm near where the seminary now stands. He died October 16, 1868. His descendants were, Fanny, Jane B., John, Brown, Polly Ann, Margaret, Elizabeth, Francesca and Nancy T.
"Samuel Edimiston Alexander, born in Sherman's Valley, Janu- ary 17, 1785. Was two years old when his parents moved to Little . Valley, near Lewistown. On December 28, 1809, he married Mary, daughter of James Alexander, of West Kishacoquillas, a second cousin, and raised a family of fifteen children, and celebrated their golden wedding, January 17, 1859, and died January 17, 1862, ex- actly three years after his anniversary. His wife died December 9, 1869, and both are buried at Little Valley Presbyterian Church.
" Thomas Clark Alexander, named after his maternal grand-father, was born in Little Valley, in 1799, removed to East End, Big Valley, in 1831 ; to Ohio in 1856. Died January 3, 1858. Left numerous prominent descendants that emigrated to various western and east- ern States."
Did space permit, we would be glad to quote the entire record of this family, and their numerous and prominent descendants in Little Valley, but we forbear; but numerous births are recorded between 1790 and 1810, of those whose records are creditable to our State and Nation, and them and their descendants Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Iowa owe much to for the intelligence and moral influ- ence brought to those States by them.
James, second son of John Alexander and Magaret Glasson Alexander, was born about the year 1726, and was about ten years old when his father moved from county Armagh, Ireland, to Ches- ter county, Pennsylvania. He afterwards makes a journey to this, then an extreme frontier region ; explores from Jaek's to Stone Mountain, and laid his land warrant on a tract of land forest-clad, well watered, beautifully located, a rich limestone soil, a perspec- tive heritage for his rising families. This was in 1755. He did not come on the daily fast line of the Pennsylvania Railroad that now traverses the Narrows, nor even take the canal, but with his wife and children; goods and chattles packed on the backs of horses,
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James Alexander arrives in Kishacoquillas Valley to engage in the work of the true pioneer.
Judge William Brown was located near the entrance of the Val- ley, at "the meeting of the waters," and he proceeded five miles westward to the tract he had selected and received his warrant for. "Near the middle of the tract Spring Run rises from several large gushing fountains of clear water, and flows south into the Kishaco- quillas Creek. Near one of these fine springs, and near this run, he erected a sheltering cabin, until in after time a large log house could be raised by hands brought from a distant Juniata settlement. Around the chosen location grew an ancient forest of oaks and other noble trees, some immensely high and others of vast bulk of trunk and wide-spreading branches, forming a temple sacred to si- lence, save when disturbed by the savage yell, the twang of the bowstring or the cry of some wild bird or beast. Wolves, foxes, bears and deer traversed the Valley from mountain to mountain. Spring Run and Kishacoquillas Creek rippled with shoals of speck- led trout." To remove these forests and prepare this virgin soil for tillage, was an important work which only the brave and hardy pioneer could perform, and work was often done with loaded rifles close at hand, and boy and dog as sentinels, on the lookout for the Indian foe. Sometimes they returned to their homes to find them reduced to ashes. Undaunted they renew their toil. Of the first growing crops, raccoons, bears, wild turkies, squirrels, &c., had their liberal share. The den of twelve to twenty rattlesnakes had sometimes to be removed. To other trials were added the cold weather and deep snow falls of the winters. "At the end of the honse was a great chimney stack of stone with a fire place to re- ceive sticks five to eight feet in length. A back log, often requiring two men to roll or carry it in, was placed against the back wall, and in front of this, upon great andirons or stones, was mounted a goodly pile of logs and sticks of hickory and oak or ash. All these, kindled with rich knots of pine, raised a blazing, crackling, roaring fire, which conquered both the gloom of night and the wintry cold, while busy housewife and attendant daughters, with long-handled implements, cooked the family meal. Spinning-wheels whirled in the house by day and the flails in the barn sounded their timely strokes upon the bounding sheaves of grain. If there was little society abroad there was cheer and comfort at home. If the pro- ducts of the early tiller were small, the hand of nature added thereto wild fruits and berries and the royal dainties of fat venison,
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wild fowl and the delicious trout. Nor did the boys and girls lack. for bushels of six or eight kinds of nuts to crack and pick in winter nights from fall till spring." The moral and intellectual culture was not neglected. There were not the temptations to the young and inexperienced of the present day. There were not the politi- cal gatherings, the county fairs, the Sunday beer gardens, nor the camp-meetings of the present times. The pions father and mother did not neglect the souls, nor the moral instruction of their child- ren. The home of the pioneer was a bethel morning and night. The Sabbath was improved with instructions and catechisms.
James Alexander died in 1791, was buried at the brick church in West Kishacoquillas. His children were as follows : Jane, born in 1763; Robert, born in 1766; Elizabeth, born in 1768 ; John, born in 1769; James, born in 1772 ; Hugh, born in 1773; Joseph, born. in -; Rachael, born in 1780; William B., born in 1782 ; Ro -. sanna, born in 1784; Reed, born in - . Two or more are said to have died young and are not recorded. From these dates we infer that two or three of their older children were born further- east and brought here on the removal of the family on horseback. Jane, the oldest, married a brother of Judge Brown. Colonel A .. Brown had three daughters, descendants, born in 1785 to 1787. From the others, are descended the Barrs, Vances, Browns, Sem- ples, Mc Alvey, Thompsons, Shannon and other names of this county. Also Gibboney and Davis are names among their later posterity.
John Alexander, second son of James A., born 1769, died 1820, married in 1791, to Annie, daughter of Henry Taylor, of Kishaco- quillas Valley. She was born 1774. and died 1853. He was a farmer in this valley. This homestead of John is now occupied by his nephew.
Thomas Alexander, son of the second and grandson of the first. of that name in Big Valley, was born at Spring Run in 1801, No- vember 27, has been a farmer, a merchant. and a trader, owns val- uable property in this valley, in Illinois and in Virginia. He married Celia, his cousin, and a daughter of Robert Alexander, of this valley, February 17, 1834. Their children are, Jane Elizabeth, born 1836; James P., born 1838; Celia Ann, born 1841 ; Missouria M., born 1843; Napoleon B., born 1845; Napoleon B., died 1846 ; Matilda V., born 1847, died 1855; Lucy J., born 1850, died 1871 ; Robert A., born 1852; Emma R., born 1854. These and their descen- dants are scattered over this and the western States, fair represen- tatives of Mifflin county's substantial people. We quote below some
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dates of land titles of the Alexanders and others, that are points of much interest. The Alexander family, above noted, hold titles of lands from the British Government at an early date. We copy the following from the original, in the hands of James Alexander of Kishacoquillas Valley :
"A draft of land situated in Kishacoquillas Valley, in Cumberland .county, containing two hundred and thirty-nine acres and one hun- dred and twenty-five perches, with the usual allowances of six per ·cent., surveyed for James Alexander, in pursnanue of a warrant from the honorable proprietor, bearing date the 5th of Feb., 1755; " JOHN ARMSTRONG, D. S.
" To Mr. JOHN LUKENS, General Surveyor.
" Attest : A true copy of this, 25th of March, 1796.
"DANIEL BRODHEAD, S. G.
" Before me a J. P., for this majesty, in Cumberland county, &c., &c "HUGH ALEXANDER."
(Signed)
Also another dated, 1755, in dispute, but settled by an arbitra- tration in 1770. We also quote the following :
" Whereas, James Alexander, deceased, did appoint me one .of his executors in his will, and as it doth not suit me to act in that business, I hereby give up all my right of administering on said will, unto Robert Alexander, son of the deceased; and I will not act or do anything concerning the same.
" Given under my hand and seal, this 7th day of Nov. 1791. "WM. BROWN.
" Attest :- JOHN BROWN."
Mr. Alexander has also tax receipts dated September 3, 1771. Messrs. McNitts of East End have records of titles from the En- glish authorities in 1755, but General J. P. Taylor holds the oldest, by one day, of any we have yet met, viz : February 4, 1755. Dates of General Taylor's lands, conveyed to William Taylor, Novem- ber 9, 1767, also 28th of November, 1767, and 23d of June, 1767; title to John Templeton, June 13, 1766, but for extreme antiquity, the warrant to Robert Taylor, February 4, 1755, exceeds all others yet found.
We get interested in looking over the experiences of the early pioneer, and we feel as if we could not know too much, nor detail in the work before us too closely the surroundings of our early ances- tors in this country; even the old revolutionary battles, and Indian struggles are fought over again in imagination, as we converse with the old men and women calling up reminiscences of pioneer days.
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HISTORY OF MIFFLIN COUNTY.
WHEN THE PILGRIMS LANDED, it is pretty well understood by the average American, that they wore old-fashioned clothes, and look- ed very solemn in the face. They didn't find any white people here ahead of them, and they traveled back into the country, put their hats on their ears, and bragged a good deal about their go- a-head enterprise. The pilgrims left England, it is pretty generally understood, because they couldn't live as religiously over there as they wanted to. Ten millions other English people could tolerate English ways, and customs, but 150 to 200 of the pilgrim fathers and mothers couldn't. So they packed up their clothes, collected all the little debts that was owing to them, but we are not fully in- formed if they paid all their own little balances, or not, but they set sail for America. They were a long time in getting here. They were so long on the road, that some of them did not care whether they ever saw another clean shirt or not. The Mayflower was none of your big overgrown modern ships, and most of them had to sleep with their legs drawn up, or get no sleep at all. Then after they had got away from England, and fairly to sea, the women dis- covered that they had forgotten their looking glasses, and there was little on board, but their rum and a euchre deck or two, to cheer their drooping spirits. The crew of the Mayflower finally sighted land, and the people on deck gave orders that a new barrel of rum should be opened in honor of that event. These old pil- grims, like the old early inhabitants of Mifflin county, were very devout, but they knew what good rum and good whisky was, as well as though each of them was the proprietor of a wholesale liquor store. The first sight of America wasn't very cheerful. There was a good deal of wild wilderness of hill and mountain forest, and comparatively very little America in sight, and it was probably only a very short time before some of the men would be inquiring for the corner hotel, and the women would weep sad tears, because they couldn't see any sign of " Millinery and Dress- making."
It was a week or more before our pilgrim fathers concluded to put up with things as they found them. Some wanted to go back to England, others wanted to lick somebody, and but a few of the oldest advised patience and perseverance, predicting that there would be dead-loads of fun hunting coon and going huckleberrying. Little did they dream that two hundred years afterwards, we, their successors, could say in all sincerity, "you are mighty right, old fel- lers." Well, their gools were lande.l, and the men bossed the jobs of
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building a few huts, and by and by things began to look like liv- ing, and the pilgrims grew independent and began to imagine they- owned the whole country, and that the Indian had no rights that the pilgrim boys were bound to respect anyhow. They put in some corn, planted some horseradish and got a few pumpkins growing, and when the first year closed all was lovely. The resources of the country were varied. There was bears and Indians, raccoons and black walnuts. Not much wild oats sowing was done, but there was slippery-elm-nice enough to melt in their mouths. The settlement improved, prospered and increased. Three or four of the old ones died the first year, but in their place seven or eight pair of twins were born ; and before many years, hired girls were so plenty that wages came down to fifty cents a week. The second year after the landing of the pilgrims they began to have trouble with the Indians. Historians say the Indians became jealons. Perhaps they did. An Indian feels as if he were entitled to wear just as good clothes as anybody else. But it is likely some of the pilgrims wanted to put on style over the red man, and thereby brought on a feud. The origin of the feud was never made clear. Historians have jumped over that part of the record, but a man came in one day with his ears missing; some of the Indians had sliced them off to remind him that his ways were not pleasant ways nor all his paths peace ; and to give his companions to understand that the sooner they left America the better it would be for all con- cerned, especially for them. This was the beginning of an arrange- ment that lasted a long time-that was not remarkably healthy for any of the parties concerned. When the pilgrims caught an Indian they asked the Lord to forgive his many sins and chopped his head off or shot him. When the Indians got their hands on the sanctimo- nions old settlers they did not care whether the Lord forgave him or not, they made meat of them for their dogs. There were many bad sides to the war, but it had its redeeming features. It kept the women from gadding round in the daytime and it kept the men at home nights. The experiences of the pilgrims in their first ar- rival can be found stereotyped in the early inhabitant of every country ; at least it was so here.
"ONE HUNDRED YEARS FROM NOW."
In recording the history of families, ancient papers and customs all passing away, we are forcibly reminded that we, too, will one day be gone, and it suggested the above heading, and the following :
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The surging sea of human life forever onward rolls,
« And bears to the eternal shore its daily freight of souls, Though bravely sails our bark to-day, pale death sits at the prow, And few shall ever know we lived a hundred years from now. Oh mighty human brother, who fiercely war and strive ; While God's great world has ample space for everything alive, Broad fields uncultured and unclaimed are waiting for the plow Of progress that shall make them bloom, a hundred years from now. Why should we try so earnestly in life's short narrow span, On golden stairs to climb so high above our brother man, Why blindly at an earthly shrine a slavely homage bow, Our gold will rnst, ourselves be dust, a hundred years from now. Why prize so much the world's applause ? why dread so much its blame ? A fleeting echo is its voice of censure or of fame.
The praise that thrills the heart, the scorn that dyes with shame the brow, Will bear long-forgotten dreams, a hundred years from now. Oh penitent heart that meekly bears your weary load of wrong. Oh earnest hearts that bravely dare, and straining grow more strong, Press on till perfect peace is won, you'll never dream of how You struggled o'er life's thorny road, a hundred years from now. Grand lofty souls that live and toil, that freedom, light and truth Alone may rule the universe, for you is endless youth,
When mid the blest of God you rest, the grateful lands shall bow, Above your clay in reverent love, a hundred years from now. Earth's empires rise and fall, oh time, like breakers on the shore, They rush upon thy rocks of doom, go down and are no more. The starry wilderness of worlds that gem night's radiant brow, Will light the skies for other eyes, a hundred years from now. Our Father, to whose sleepless eyes the past and future stand, An open page, like bahes we cling to Thy protecting hand. Change, sorrow, death, are naught to us if we may safely bow Beneath the shadow of Thy throne, a hundred years from now.
William Wilson.
Another of the pioneers of the east end of Kishacoquillas Valley, was the gentleman whose name is above. He was present in the - field when young McNitt was taken by the Indians, and witnessed that event. Here he resided and underwent the privations of the early settler, raised his family to enjoy the fruits of his industry, and passed away as is the fate of all humanity, and was succeeded by
Henry Wilson,
His son, who disposed of the old estate in East End, and re- moved to the beautiful Valley of the Juniata, seeing that
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"Twas here that all nature had spread o'er the scene, Her purest of crystal and brightest of green ;
There is here the soft magic of streamlet and hill, And here there is something more exquisite still."
For here he resided and prospered, and a young and growing family soon surrounded him, and among them there arrived on January 10, 1810,
William Wilson,
Who was named after his grand-father. The old family relatives in the Kishacoquillas Valley, are the McNitts, the Reeds and the Milroys. Mr. Wilson last named, like his ancestors, is of the sub- stantial class of Mifflin county's citizens, and one of the substan. tial of the substantials. Of his descendants eight are living. He has enjoyed a good line of health, and, though approximat- ing his three-score and ten years, he has the appearance of a score or two more being in waiting for him. He served as school director twenty-four years in succession, was also county commis- sioner, and poor-house commissioner, &c., as his neighbors and friends highly appreciated his services ; hence his frequent re-elec- tions through these long succession of years.
" Lives of these men all remind us We can make our's too sublime, And departing, leave behind us, Foot-prints on the sands of time."
James Sterret Woods, D. D.
The son of Samuel and Frances (Sterrett) Woods, was born in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, in April 18, 1793. His parents were Scotch-Irish, and one of the best families in the Cumberland Valley. They were remarkable for intelligence, integrity and en- ergy. Their piety was scriptural and practical, resting on a sound basis of clear and thorough doctrinal knowledge. The greater care was taken in the training of their children. Samuel Woods, the father, was a man of the highest probity and courage and relia- bility. During the war of the revolution he acted as Indian scout, a most perilous undertaking, in the service of the government, or on behalf of a neighborhood, when this spot and country was the red man's home, his undisputed territory. The mother, whose maiden name was Sterrett, was a woman of devoted piety and pre- eminent in her faith. The character of her children are her best
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enlogy, and they were members of the Presbyterian Church of Car- lisle, Pennsylvania. Here Mr. Woods first professed religion. James S. Woods received his classical education with Mr. John Cooper, of Hopewell Academy; graduated at Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and got his theological education at Prince- ton, New Jersey, and was licensed by the Presbytery of New Bruns- wick in 1817. His first settlement was in this (Mifflin) county in 1819. From this time until 1822 he labored as an evangelist in the Juniata Valley, from Lewistown to Shade Gap. Through this field lie labored, embracing McVeytown, Newton Hamilton and Shir- leysburg, and laid the foundation for the present churches. Here he is claimed by all as the father of Presbyterianism in this region He often preached in private houses, school honses and barns. He mingled much with the people, catechising statedly faithfully, and visiting the sick and dying wherever known. Many still live in all the above-named towns who count him their spiritual father, and hold him in the highest esteem. In the bonnds of these places a work of grace was carried on for two years which he considered one of the most powerful he had ever seen.
He resided in the vicinity of McVeytown, and was in 1822 called to take charge of the Lewistown and McVeytown churches. In the spring of 1823 he removed to Lewistown, and continued the pastor of the church there for thirty-nine years and nine months, which was to the time of his death.
Mr. Woods was married before he came to Mifflin county, to Mariane Witherspoon, a daughter of John Witherspoon, D. D., one of the presidents of Princeton college, and the only clergyman who signed the declaration of independence. He was a lineal de- scendant of the eminent Scotch reformer John Knox and one of the most illustrious patrons of religion, learning, and liberty, in America. This lady, a native of Princeton, N. J., was possessed of fine mental powers, and great moral worth, and exercised an important influence in the formation of her husband's ministerial character. The fruit of this marriage was nine children, six sons and three daughters. In the religious training of her children, Mrs. Woods was assidnous, till the time of her death, in 1846. Two of the sons have died, one John S., while preparing for the profession of law, and the other, Lieutenant James S., of the U. S. Army, while leading his company in the storming of Monterey, Mexico. The father of this family lived to see his children become his hope and his joy, and closed his life in the prospect of meeting
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his loved ones in heaven. His household circle was a rare example of unmarred communion. He was always its attractive centre. The "appreciating visitor could not fail to see how each heart elung as the tendril of the vine, to that true and trusted support, as they fondly twined each other. His grand children were merry as lambs under the charm of his smiles. Let us survey a little further his public and professional life, as it embraced a pastorate here of forty years. He possessed a commanding presence, his temper was warm, social and genial. There was dignity, seriousness and kindness in his mien. His piety, staple and practical; his convictions, earnest ; his purposes decided ; principle, duty and honor, he never sacrificed nor compromised. If descent from an honored ancestry, an alliance by marriage to one of the renowned families of America, long life and personal worth, entitle one to a grateful remembrance by posterity, Dr. Woods has a claim thereto, for his long fruitful ministry fills one of the brightest pages of church history. His honorary de- gree was conferred on him by the trustees of the college of New Jersey. Here in Mifflin county, Mr. Woods began his pastorate, and . here it closed. From an inscription on a marble slab in the Lewis- town graveyard we copy the following : "Rev. James S. Woods, pastor of the Presbyterian Church, of Lewistown, for thirty-nine years and nine months; born 1793, died 1862." From other, "Samuel Stanhope Woods, born September 8, 1820, died February 5, 1873 ;" and another reads, "Lieutenant James S. Woods, of the 4th infantry U. S. A .; died 1846, aged 21 years, 11 months and 17 days. Fell at Monterey, Mexico." Still another reads, " Sacred to the memory of John Witherspoon Woods, son of Rev. James S. Woods, and grandson of Rev. John Witherspoon, D. D., one of the signers of the declaration of independence, died January 7, 1839, aged 20 years."
Our final rest, There is a land immortal, A beautiful of lands, Beside whose shining portals, A sentry grimly stands; He only can unfold it, And open wide the door, And mortals who pass through it, Are mortals never more. That glorious land is heaven, And death, the sentry grim, The Lord thereof hath given
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